Moon Knight starts his story "Well, I feel kinda guilty calling you all here. In retrospect, I wonder if it's truly something that would require all of our talents... But, yeah. Yeah, I guess it does."

Rick drinks his Fresca, a little peeved that no one else seems to like the frosty beverage.

"You see, I have some... underground connections, so to speak" Moon Knight continued, "and they are all pointing to something major happening tomorrow at 4pm. At an abandoned warehouse on the other side of the pier, there is going to be a who's who of the criminal element of the city. Someone, I'm not sure who, is mobilizing every hoodlum, hired gun, and professional thug in the city for... well, something! Something big. According to my sources, whoever-it-is has even got both the Maggia and the Silvermane family to call a truce, and both crime syndicates are to be well-represented at this ... convention."

Hellcat eyes Thor's goats, which, although standing in the hallway with their owner, have nibbled small patches into the carpet and are starting to strip the molding on the walls...

"Moon Knight, I respect your desire to do good," began Baron Zemo. "However, I don't think you need all of us for this task. I don't know if I wish to lower myself to fighting lowlifes and minor league scum."

"Now, now....the lowlife scum of today is the world-beater threat of tomorrow. Think of it as a pre-emptive strike!" joked Rick

"Eh, can't we fight any already full-time villains instead of practicing on the small fry?" complained the Black Knight. "If it's so important to you just plant a bomb in the building, that'll take all the blighters out, and for good!

"So...why is this our task? Do these people have warrants out for them? Why don't we tell the NYPD, and let them handle it?" Rick says warily. "I mean, don't get me wrong - I'm glad to help you, 'Knight, especially if you think its important, with no other questions asked. But...why us? Why not NYPD?"

"If all these guys really are getting together, do you honestly think the NYPD has the fire power to contend with them?" countered Moon Knight.

Thor tosses his empty bottle to his goats, hoping to help spare the moulding.

"So... I suggest we find out what's going on. No matter how you add it up, it all spells trouble. I'd thought I'd throw it out to all of you... how do you want to investigate?"

"If we really need to know, why don't we stash one of our imager devices inside the building?" asked Rick

"So we can spy on them from a distance, eh? Not bad." commented Moon Knight.

"I assume you want to use my imaging devices?" answered Zemo. I don't usually waste my equipment on normal criminals. Why don't we just send in the inbred Knight and let him beat them all to a pulp. He'd have fun and none of the rest of us would need to dirty our hands."

Baron Zemo shakes his head as the Avengers decide whether or not to investigate the "Crime Convention."

"One other thing I might like to point out," he announces to the room, "Is that my Projective Electro-Imager will only project the image of the user, such as a futuristic telephone might. It can't be used as a spying "bug" device, and even if it could, it would require infiltrating the warehouse *anyway* to plant it...."

Baron Zemo catches himself mid-thought: "'Infiltrating...?' Moon Knight! What exactly do you mean by having "criminal contacts" by which you are invited to such a meeting in the first place! Have I already sullied my hands with a base thief?"

Thor stands in the wallway, judiciously moving himself to block the veiw of a well-eaten patch of carpet. The goats happily munch on discarded cans of Fresca, and the black goat noses his way inside Hellcat's office, sniffing at a nearby coffee table. Thor's mind has begun to wander-- back to the time when he watched with satisfaction the well-oiled battle manuevers led by that leader of leaders, Balder...

With all eyes suddenly on him, Moon Knight holds his hands up and says, "Whoa! Slow down there, chief! I can't help it if I know people who know people. Do I look like I spend my spare time hanging out at sock hops? Didn't think so. Sure, before my resu...uh...return to the Big Apple, I used to hang with a bad crowd. And like most people I've done some things I'm not so proud of. But, I think I've more than proven that I belong here. This is my shot at a little redemption, okay?"

Thor leans in from the hallway where he is standing. He now has his goats under each arm in a vain attempt to keep them from munching anything. "The Moon Faerie has proven himself to me! And if he asks for my help I shall freely give it! With that he pulls back into the hallway and tried desperately to find a spot he can stand where the attenuated rech of the goat's maws cannot further rend and destroy . . .

And then hoping to turn attention away from himself he quickly adds, "Besides, Black Knight over there is the one wanting to blow up buildings!"

Thor leans into the room once more, "The Knight has proven himself to me! He is a slayer of giants and a warrior. His plans may be brutal, but in var not to fight to vin can be the most brutal plan of all!" And with that, Thor once gain tries to find a munch free haven.

"Cheers, mate!" responds the Sable Swordsman. "The bomb thing was a joke, based on the way all o' you chaps are staring at me. Sides, where would I know to get a bomb, anyway? Ahem... We're sure about the bomb thing? yeah, i guess so..."

Rick rises from where he has been sitting, and, holding his Fresca aloft, gestures Shakespearean. "Thor has proven himself to me! A peerless warrior in battle, he is fearless and resolute, and his fame in battle shall live forever."

"And his fame in the tavern shall last e'en longer!" mumbles the Black Knight.

"But if we need someone to enter the Lions Den," continued Rick, "wearing our electro-image-inducer-thingie -- with apologies to His Excellency the Baron for munging its name -- I volunteer. Without the Kree battlesuit, I'm pretty much left to my own devices -- or the one device of Herr Baron -- and so if the merde hits the air occilation device at least I'm no worse off for not having anything but civvie clothes."

"I'd go in yer place, mate, but this tin can don't come off, sad to say. Wreaks havoc on me love life let me tell you!" joked -- kind of -- the Black Knight.

"After all, I'm used to living by my wits - and half a living is better than no living at all, neh?" concluded Rick.

"Count me in too," adds the Moon Knight. "I've got an invitation more or less so I can get us in. They don't have any reason to be suspicious of me and I can give Rick a crash course on the etiquette of street thugs. We can check this out, a little peek just to see what's going in. I should be able to identify most of the people there on sight and I'll know their background. That'll help us decide if this little convention will require any more attention or if I've wasted our time."