THE DAILY BUGLE, SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 23d
HEADLINE: DESTRUCTION IN DALLAS! AVENGERS FOIL ASSASSINATION ATTEMPT ON PRESIDENT KENNEDY!
WRITTEN BY: Robert "Robbie Robertson
PHOTOS BY: Phil Sheldon
PHOTO: Image of a ruined street, littered with the broken and melted remains of several cars. Stains that might be blood can be seen around several of the vehicles, though no bodies are present. A second photo intersects with this one, showing a photo of the motorcade passing through the street before the attack took place.
"November 22nd will be a day that Americans will never, CAN never forget. While President Kennedy's reputation in the southern states has never been high, especially not among the fiercly pro-segregationist states, what occurred yesterday will stand out in our nation's memory for a long time. The office of the President is a dangerous one, being the leader of the free world puts a target on anyone who steps into it, something even the highest forms of security cannot always prevent. But even in our worst nightmares, there has never been anything like this.
There's a type of mental disconnect in today's society that superhuman threats are something that really only affects superheroes, despite all obvious evidence to the contrary, such as the damage caused by the clashes between the original Human Torch and Namor The Sub-Mariner almost 30 years ago, it just doesn't feel "real", it's something that isn't the concern of regular folks. The events of yesterday will forever serve as a sobering wake-up call to America."
PHOTO: A collection of headshots from previous media appearances assembled into one image, showing the Masters Of Evil, including a much older photo, clearly from the 1940's, of Baron Zemo.
EDITOR: From right to left- Melter, Rhino, Sandman, Black Knight, Radioactive Man, Baron Zemo
"At around 12:30 PM yesterday, a group of superhuman criminals, all formerly known to the authorities, took part in an organized terrorist attack on President Kennedy as he was touring through Dallas as part of his re-election campaign. Eyewitness testimony and surviving camera footage reveals Flint Marko, a wanted criminal and fugitive known as The Sandman, using his abilities to destroy much of the street, causing several dozen fatalities and hundred more injuries, while the security detail was disabled by Bruno Horgan, a former weapon designer turned industrial saboteur as The Melter. President Kennedy and the First Lady miraculously survived without major injury thanks to the intervention of Captain America, who served as their security for the trip, but the other passengers in the car died on impact, including Texas governor John Connally....
A man who has been identified as Baron Heinrich Zemo, a former high-ranking Nazi official and war criminal who were up to now believed to have died during the closing days of World War 2, was seen confronting Captain America while he tried to shield the presidential couple, and it is at this point that survivor testimonies become somewhat confusing. Witnesses describe a "bright light" suddenly appearing by the overturned limousine, and the President disappearing. Security officials in Washington D.C report that President Kennedy and his wife appeared on the White House lawn at approximatly 12:36 PM, alongside a masked man who was later revealed as the controversial Avenger member Mr. Sunshine."
PHOTO: Mr. Sunshine flashing a V-sign at the photographer outside a coffee shop.
MORE ON PAGE 3...
...
"God, I'm so sorry, Lyndon..."
Lyndon Johnson was a sorry sight to behold, the hospital bed almost seemed to swallow him. His face was wrapped in bandages, one arm in a cast, but it wasn't just the physical injuries. There was something missing in his normally strong face, like something had been ripped from the Vice Presidents being and leaving him less than he had been. Johnson simply stared out into nothing, refusing to meet Robert Kennedy's eyes.
"They're telling me she died on impact, Bobby..." Johnson said, his voice flat and empty "They're saying there never was any chance of saving her."
There wasn't any need to specify who She was.
"Lyndon, there wasn't-"
"Why did this have to happen?" He said, to no one in particular "Why couldn't I atleast have been allowed to die alongside her? Why didn't that masked fruit just leave me there with her?!"
Robert winced at the bitterness in Johnson's tone "Lyndon, please, you have to pull yourself together! Your family needs you! Your COUNTRY needs you! You can't just give up!"
Lyndon just laid back against the pillow, staring unseeingly up at the ceiling "The country doesn't need me, the country has your brother, the country has you, the COUNTRY has The Avengers. It doesn't need a mutilated old man who's lost the better half of himself..."
"What would Ladybird say if she'd heard you talking like that?"
Lyndon Johnson didn't have an answer for him.
.....
THE DALLAS MORNING NEWS, NOVEMBER 23d, 1963
HEADLINE: GOVERNOR CONNALLY SLAIN IN SUPERHUMAN ATTACK IN DALLAS!
"The Dallas Morning News are saddened to report the murder of our governor John Connally, as one of dozens of fatalities in the horrific and monstrous attack against President Kennedy during his visit to Dallas yesterday. Altough the President survived the assault with no major injuries, many were not so lucky, and among these unfortunates were Connally himself who had been accompanying the President during the motorcade's ride down Houston Street. Lieutenant Governor Preston Smith was hurriedly brought in to take up his new position yesterday afternoon, and was kind enough to take the time to give the following quote to this paper:
SMITH: This... this heinous, unforgivable assault on the great state of Texas will not go unpunished! I will make it the top priority of my governorship to ensure that the death of my predecessor will not go unpunished! I've made it clear to the federal government that nothing short of the highest possible punishment is acceptable for the monsters who perpetrated this atrocity!
We here at the Dallas News join our new governor in his demands for justice..."
.....
"Has there been any sign of Marko? Any at all?" Kennedy said, his arms folded behind his back as he looked out the window of the Oval Office.
McNamara shook his head, shuffling through the reports in his hands "Nothing. We got ships out looking but... Mr. President, may I speak freely?"
"Of course."
"We barely even know where to start here, sir. There simply isn't any prior experience for us to draw on for this. We're so far out of our field here we wouldn't know what we're looking for even if we found it! And it really doesn't help that this... Mr. Sunshine" McNamara almost spat out the name "doesn't even know WHERE he lost track of Marko. We're out there looking for a man made of sand in the middle of the ocean, I don't even know where to begin!"
"I understand, McNamara, but we have to atleast try to find him" Kennedy said, turning back around "From our reports, it seems that the majority of the damage and fatalities Zemo and his horror show caused were from Marko's abilities. We simply can't take the chance of him being at large. Perhaps if we were to enlist the help of Dr Richards..."
"With all due respect, Mr. President" Director Hoover sneered "I really don't recommend you bring in even more of these superpowered freaks into the investigation! It's bad enough that you allowed SHIELD to take custody of the Masters rather than incarcerate them on our own soil! The FBI would-"
"The FBI doesn't have the facilities to house them!" Kennedy said, cutting him off "I'm not happy about this either, Director Hoover, but if normal prisons could hold people like this, we wouldn't even be having this discussion, because most of the Masters would still be in jail!"
"America can handle it's own criminals!"
"Hoover, I'm not risking a breakout because of misplaced nationalism, and I don't want to hear anymore about it" Kennedy turned back towards McNamara "Speaking of SHIELD, what are the status on the rest of the Masters?"
"About what we expected, sir" McNamara said, flipping to the next page of the document "Aleksei Systevitch is still in a coma from what The Hulk did to him, he's stable, but neither our own medical experts, nor SHIELDs, can tell when, or even if he's waking up again. Horgan, Garret and Zemo are kept under maximum security lockdown, and they got a special containment cell set up for Chen Lu. I doubt they're going anywhere."
"Good. Anything else?"
"Yes, just one thing. The guy they caught in the book depository, the one Mr. Sunshine left there before the attack, we've had people look into his story, and it does seem he had nothing to do with Zemo or the others. Name's Lee Harvey Oswald, former Marine, tried to defect to the Soviets back in '59, but apparently he wasn't very good at either. Everything we found on his has him as a bit of a malcontent nonentity..."
"Christ, like we don't have enough to deal with..." Kennedy shook his head "If he's not with Zemo, just have SHIELD release him to us and bring him up on charges. We have bigger problems to worry about right now than one lunatic with a gun."
McNamara nodded "Yes, sir. Next, we've been in contact with China regarding the legal status of Chen Lu..."651