One Earth: The Marvel/DC RPG

[Batman]

Iron Man and Superman come to a halt at the end of a narrow trench that their crash has carved into the ice.

"Unngh." Tony grunts as he rolls off of Superman and ends up on all fours. He ached all over and he was getting tired of being tossed around like a rog doll.

"You ok?" He asks, turning his head to face Superman
​

Hearing Iron Man's voice reel me back into focus, I pull myself out of a patch of snow, feeling the heat behind my eyes begin to melt it into water. Everything's happening so fast, it's hard to keep track of where The Gorgon's attention truly lies. He seems to be holding the fort extremely well, all things considered. With Batman and Doctor Richards handling the more dire threat, and the rest of us taking him on directly, he should be more desperate and he isn't. I'm surprised to see that even the prescence of Captain America doesn't seem to phase him. Doesn't matter, Clark. You just need to concentrate on trying to fight back as much of the imminent danger as you can.

"My pride's the only thing wounded, Mr. Stark.", I say, accepting his armored hand as he helps me up. "I'm more concerned about the others. Batman and Reed Richards need all the time they can get to be able to shut down The Gorgon's robot."

 

[bkhedr]

We continuously slip and slide down into the cold chambers below, before flattening in a chamber that glows blue from the sun above filtering down through the ice. The shelf we're now on ends in a cliff, and the sound of a rushing ice river can be heard below.

"Tell me, Gorgon," I smile and spit out a bit of blood as my throat begins to heal, "did you see that one coming?"

The Gorgon gives Captain America an angry look then kicks him hard in the mouth so that his head bounces off of the ice behind it. The Captain counters but the Gorgon powers through the blow and punches him in the ribs.​

The truth was that he hadn't seen it coming. Despite all his abilites. The Heart had increased the range and sensitivy of his battle telepathy but it hadn't granted him the ability to cope with it efficiently. There were too many heroes, too many thoughts floating around and if he didn't maintain focus the unexpected could still catch him off guard. The realization had made him angry which only added to the problem.​

He punches Captain America again, knocking the air out of him and forcing him to the ground in a coughing heap before retrieving his sword which had become embedded in a block of ice.​

"your stubborn, but it won't matter." He sneers at Captain America before he leaps upwards, wall jumping from one icy surface to another as he heads back towards the surface "You're simply outmatched."​

****​

"Reed's says he's got a plan." Tony says with a surge of confidence. Being close to this young man in the garish costume actually calms him some, makes him feel like they will win the day. Its almost the same effect Captain America has.​

It helps that he appears to be pretty much invulnerable Tony thinks. The way I crashed into him, I was worried he'd end up a red splatter mark on the ice.​

Tony realizes he's staring at Superman and he suddenly snaps to alertness and nods towards Ultimo.​

"Keep it busy while I find out what he has in mind."​

He then launches himself into the air without waiting for answer as Superman joins the fight against the robot.​

"I'm here Reed." Tony announces as he lands next to Reed and Bruce.​

 

[Byrd Man]

"Keep it busy while I find out what he has in mind."​

He then launches himself into the air without waiting for answer as Superman joins the fight against the robot.​

"I'm here Reed." Tony announces as he lands next to Reed and Bruce.​

"Good," Reed said with a nod at Batman. " We've been busy. Let's get started."

Reed knelt down and began to draw diagrams and formulas in the snow. "According to Batman, that cache of anti-metal is about three kilometers west of our current location. Isn't that right?"

"That was what my jet picked up on its sensors before it went down. Richards says that the metal is highly unstable and nearly impenetrable."

"Nearly impenetrable. As I hypothesized earlier, the vibrational field that encapsulates this metal can be breached and ruptured with a counter vibration that is equal or greater to the frequency generated by the metal."

"The plan of attack is two-fold. One team keeps Gorgon distracted and unfocused, the other team leads the robot to the metal. When he's on top of it, we launch the counter frequency on the metal."

"This is the interesting part. In order to match the frequency, we'll need a volunteer..."

"Superman."

"Superman is capable of moving at extremely high velocity speeds. If he can vibrate his body and create a frequency on par with what this anti-metal is emitting, then he'll provide the catalyst. The volatile elements' vibration field would become stable and rapidly expand, creating a highly destructive shockwave that would atomize Gorgon's mechanical monster. Susan can contain most of the damage with a forcefield."

Reed stood up and pointed at the long mathematical equation he had sketched into the snow.

"Double-check my math, Tony... Just in case."

 

[Andy C.]

"Okay......so that should do it for the trigger mechanism. Now then, if I can get the solenoid in place, then the needle valve should work....."

It's amazing how much you can get done in a short time, if you've got a good idea and a lot of motivation.

Ever since learning about the existence of 'the Kingpin,' the mysterious crime lord who murdered Uncle Ben's killer, I've been hard at work, burning through the rainy-day fund I'd saved up over years of allowance and birthday money to get what I need for this little project, my own special way of giving back to the community.

Spider-Man was a selfish, arrogant jerk who was only out for money. Now, though? He's going to be the terror of New York's criminal underground.

"Hmm....where's the .125cm Philips head? Come on, come on......ah! There we go."

The red-and-blue costume I got that night at the wrestling match is a good start, but I've added a few improvements.

I've jury rigged a couple of miniature GPS trackers made from the guts of old smartphones--they're small enough that a target would barely notice them, and have a powerful enough signal that I could follow them from here to Opal City without any trouble.

I added a concealed utility belt to the costume, which holds a bright LED flashlight, compartments for my trackers, room for a miniature forensics kit (still waiting on that in the mail), and plenty of ammunition for the real star of the show...

The piece de resistance is a two-part project, which I'm still sweating over at the workbench down in the basement. It's the one that's been giving me the most headaches, and the one I've spent pretty much all of my free time putting together.

Part one is a pretty radical polymer I've been cooking up, based on some of my dad's old notes--I never knew too much about my biological father, but I know he was a genius in chemistry. It's a nylon-like elastic compound, extremely adhesive in liquid form, then air-dries into a solid that's got the tensile strength of steel and the durability of kevlar. Testing it out hasn't exactly been an easy process--I accidentally spilled some on my hand and wound up glued to the bathroom door--but the results have been fantastic.

The only thing that keeps it from being a 'miracle substance' worthy of a Nobel Prize is the fact that it dissolves after about an hour. While that means it won't exactly set the world on fire, it does give me a rather handy little weapon; after all, what kind of Spider-Man would I be if I didn't have webs?

"Right.....now onto the nozzle assembly. This is going to take a while..."

The second part is the delivery system, a pair of rather ingenius if-I-do-say-so-myself wrist-mounted pneumatic sprayers. I drafted the design for it in CAD and then ordered the parts online from a machinist and prop designer I met last time I went to New York ComiCon; you would not believe how in-depth cosplayers can get these days.

Storing the web-fluid into pressurized CO2 cartridges, the sprayers work on a dual-trigger activated by pressing down on them with my two middle fingers. When triggered, the fluid is shot through an adjustable nozzle at up to 300 psi. I haven't had the chance to test them out, but I'm hoping to get a solid line of the stuff out to about 60 feet or so.

Of course, that's all purely theoretical until I get these babies put together.

"*GAAAAAAAAAASP!*..........yay."

My phone, letting me know I've got a text message from Gwen.

Knock knock.

Raising an eyebrow, I type a response.

Who's there?

A few second later, I get an answer.

Not making a knock-knock joke, Pete. I'm standing outside--I've been knocking on the cellar door for five minutes. Open up!

Oh, crap. I was so focused on putting together my web-shooters that I didn't even notice her knocking on the door. Real smooth, Parker.

"Oh, um, hey Gwen, sorry about that," I say as I open up the cellar door to let her in.

"No problem; I'll just mark that down in the 'you owe me lunch tomorrow' file," she says with a kind of amused grin that makes it hard to tell whether she's kidding. "So what are you working on down here?"

I look around and realize that I've still got all of my stuff lying around. The chemistry set's still wide out in the open, my notes and blueprints are scattered around on the desk, and the half-assembled web-shooters still sitting on the workbench.

"Errm, nothing, nothing at all!" I say, darting over to the workbench and throwing an old tarp over it. "I mean, nothing important, anyway. It's just something I'm fiddling around with, kind of a hobby thing. No biggie, heh."

Gwen looks at me skeptically.

"Well, can I see it?" she asks.

"No! I mean, it's....it's not ready yet. I don't want to show it to people until it's done."

"Are you sure? I could help. I mean, I'm pretty good with chemistry too, y'know."

That's an understatement--Gwen's the only person in our AP Chem class with a higher GPA than me.

"Thanks, but it's just.....it's a personal project. Something I wanna keep a secret, okay?"

The look on her face changes from skeptical to concerned.

"Peter," she says, "you've been acting weird for weeks now. You don't talk to me or Harry at school, I never see you online anymore, and your aunt says you're spending all your time down here working on something, and you won't tell anyone what it is. Pete, you're not......you're not, like, making explosives or something, are you?"

"What? No! Come on, Gwen, you know me better than that."

"I know, it's just.....I'm worried about you," she says, putting a hand on my shoulder. "I know things haven't been easy for you since you lost your uncle. I just want to make sure you're going to be okay."

"I'm fine, I promise," I say, backing away sheepishly. "I mean, okay, I know how it looks. Weird kid gets picked on, has a life-changing trauma, spends weeks building stuff in his basement, and then before long you've got a national tragedy and the subject for the next Michael Moore documentary. But I swear, I'm not going to do anything stupid. What I'm doing, I'm just....I need to do something to keep my mind off of things. You've gotta trust me, okay?"

"I do trust you, Pete," Gwen says, smiling gently. "But you don't have to shut yourself off like this. You can trust me too, y'know."

She looks me in the eye, peering over the rim of her glasses and I swear, right into the heart of me. When you've been friends with someone as closely and as long as we have, you connect with them on levels most people wouldn't get. If I were the kind of person who believed in something as cheesy as soul-mates, Gwen would definitely be mine.

"Okay, okay, I'll tell you," I say, guilt washing over me as I take a deep breath. "Over the last couple of weeks, I've been making....."

"....yes?"

".........a sex robot."

There's a pause long enough to drive a fairly sizeable fleet of trucks through it while she stares at me in disbelief.

"....a sex robot?"

"Well, not like a full-on android, I mean," my face turning bright red as I go with the story. "It's more like, I dunno, an artificial mouth that I--"

"Peter! Eww!"

"I know, it's gross and pathetic. But a guy's got needs, y'know?"

"Oh God, shut up, I'm not hearing this," she says, clapping her hands over her ears as she marches towards the cellar door in disgust.

"Just don't tell anyone, okay? If Flash Thompson finds out about this, my life is over!"

"Tell anyone? I'm trying to forget I even heard it myself!"

Gwen high-tails it out of the basement, and I let out a sigh that's a little bit of relief and a whole lot of self-loathing. I mean, she comes to me out of genuine kindness and concern and caring, and I scare her off by telling her I'm some kind of techno-perv.

Still, would it have been any better if I'd told her the truth? "Oh, these? These are gadgets and weapons that I'm going to use to wage a one-man war against the entire criminal underground of New York City. I got it in my head that I can take down a crime lord so powerful the police can't even touch him, but it's okay because, oh, didn't I tell you? I'm a mutant freak with spider powers these days! Hey, why are you calling the cops?"

She's better off thinking I'm a skeezy pathetic sex-freak than knowing I'm probably going to get myself killed playing super-hero. Heck, she'd probably be better off thinking I'm going to blow up the school.

"Peter?" Aunt May calls from upstairs. "Peter, do you have someone down there with you?"

"It was just Gwen, Aunt May," I answer, "but she left."

"Oh, well, that's too bad," she says as she comes down the stairs. "I was going to see if she wanted to stay for dinner. I'm making chicken marsala tonight."

"Awesome," I say--her chicken marsala really is the best. "But, erm, yeah, she had to run. Something about a project for school."

"That's a shame; it's always nice to have a good friend to keep you company," she says, her voice cracking a little bit. I feel terrible for her--without Uncle Ben, she's all alone, apart from me.

Suddenly, her eyes brighten a bit.

"Oh! That reminds me, dear, an old friend of mine is moving here from Metropolis," she says. "Anna Watson. It'll be so good to see her again. She has a daughter your age, you know. Mary Jane, a lovely girl. She has such a wonderful personality."

Yikes. From what admittedly little experience I have in the dating world, "wonderful personality" means "try not to pay attention to the fact that she's an ugg-o."

"Well, that's good for you, Aunt May," I say, kind of dreading what she's probably going to follow that up with.

"They'll be here this weekend, and I hope you don't mind," Oh God, here it comes.... "But I told Anna that you would take Mary Jane out and about, help her get used to living in a new city. It could be fun!"

"Oh yeah, I'm, um....I'm sure it'll be great," I say, a mortified smile on my face.

"Wonderful," she says, pleased with herself. "Now come upstairs and wash up for dinner, Peter."

Well, isn't this just wizard. I've been set up on a blind date that I'm only doing for Aunt May, and the girl is probably going to be some weirdo whose "wonderful personality" includes smelling her fingers or something like that. And I don't even have anybody to talk to about it, since my best friend now thinks I'm building a high-tech blow-up doll in my basement.

At the very least, I should have my web-shooters finished after dinner, and then I can take the whole thing out for a test run as soon as Aunt May goes to bed. If Spider-Man can survive the criminals and mobsters this city has to offer, then I'm sure I can handle whoever this Mary Jane Watson turns out to be.

 

[MST3K 4ever]

Lex looks over 3D renderings of his battle suit very closely. Studying them as though he were studying a rare butterfly.

He smiles and asks, "How soon before we can go to prototype and field testing Alexis?"

Alexis replies, "Within a month and a half. 2 weeks if all other projects are put into secondary stasis."


Lex nods and says, "All other projects except for the tracking of The Hulk are as of now in secondary stasis. I had a hand in creating the Hulk I will have a hand in bringing him back in."

Alexis replies, "Acknowledged. A reminder Mr. Luthor you have a lunch meeting in 30 minutes with Senator Ross about the highway constrution bill which LexCorp is competing with several other companies."

Lex says, "Very well inform Senator Ross I am on my way. Begin the Battle Suit prototype right away. No call during my meeting with Senator Ross unless it has to do with The Hulk, a battle suit issue, or we found a cure of disease."

Alexis replies, "Acknowledged."

Lex leaves his lab.

 

[bkhedr]

Thor races towards the slaughter with his jaw firmly set and anger rising in his chest. From what he had been told the Colonizers were invaders and murderers of the highest order but when he looked at Tana Nile who was the only Rigellian he had ever met, all he saw was a frightened girl with no malice in her heart. Perhaps the others were not like her, perhaps she was an exception amongst a race of heartless conquerors but even if that were true, even if they were all monsters, they still did not deserve what was happening to them now.

As the Thunderer grows nearer the firestorm he begins to feel the incredible heat of overcharged weapons and burning reactors and more, he begins to see the bodies dozens upon dozens of them, floating lifelessly in the void. A tendril of white hot force lashes out somewhere to his right and he turns his head instinctively and sees yet another Rigellian cruiser begin to burn. No longer able to tolerate the massacre, Thor increases his speed ten fold and races through the chaos, past the killing fields and into outer reaches of the planet’s atmosphere.

The daunting scale of the task before him is not lost on the Odinson but as ever he knows no fear and he spreads his arms wide as if to motion to the hostile world that it shall not pass.

“Hear me you who are called Ego!” He bellows at the top of his lungs “I am Thor, God of Thunder, and I bid you end this slaughter!”

But if Ego can hear him he does not listen. The planet continues to spit death at the retreating Rigellians and Thor feels the air grow thick and heavy around him as the planet advances and draws him deeper into its atmosphere in the process.

“So be it.” Thor says, frowning “If words will not get your attention then let the hammer of Thor speak for me!”

The boom Mjolnir makes it as it descends echoes all around Thor and when the hammer strikes the distant surface of the planet it does so with the force of a falling meteorite. Even at this great height the Thunderer’s keen eyesight can make out the impact, the resulting eruption of dust and Earth and the crater pounded into the planet’s crust. It is a devastating blow, but against an entire planet? Thor cannot be sure that he has even gotten Ego’s attention.

That is until the seemingly impossible happens. Forests, mountains, oceans and valleys; all begin to shift and change before him. Thor has seen many things in his long life. He has fought demons and monsters possessed of incredible size and stature. From Surtur, to Fafnir to the Midgard Serpent, but he has never seen anything like the awesome display taking place before him now and his eyes widen in disbelief as his senses struggle to deal with the scale of what they behold.

“By all the Gods…” he whispers before his ears are assaulted by a voice so loud that it seems to rattle his teeth and shake his bones.

“INSECT! YOU DARE ASSAULT EGO?!”

Ego’s voice is like the grinding of continental plates, his every spoken word is like a physical assault on Thor and the Odinson strains against it and roars to be heard.

“Hear me!!!”

“HEAR YOU?!” Ego acts as if he has been insulted and his voice is charged with rage “WOULD YOU HEAR A FLEA?! WOULD YOU LISTEN TO A MICROBE!!?"

There is a loud rumble from deep within the planet that grows louder and louder causing Thor to instinctively raise Mjolnir in a defensive manner.

“NO! YOU WOULD SWAT IT OUT OF YOUR WAY AS I DO NOW!”

Thor hears the words ringing in his ear even as a column of elemental fury rushes up from the planet and assaults him. He grits his teeth and holds Mjolnir before him to absorb the brunt of the attack but the force is unbearable and he screams in pain before mercifully surrendering to unconsciousness.

 

[bkhedr]

Reed stood up and pointed at the long mathematical equation he had sketched into the snow.

"Double-check my math, Tony... Just in case."

Tony kneels in the snow and gives the equation a once over and has Jarvis does the same before he looks up at Reed.​

"It checks out." He stands and makes sure he has both Reed and Bruce's full attention before he continues. "I mean I can't think of any reason it won't work, but you realize that if it doesn't we will have given the Gorgon what he wants."​

Tony does not relish playing the pessimist, that's more Bruce's area of expertise. Ussually he'd make some witty remark and leave worrying about the potential consequences of their actions to someone else. Maybe its because of how banged up he is, or maybe its because of that small voice in the back of his head that his been growing steadily louder for the last few minutes. The one telling him that he could really use a stiff drink right about now.

 

[Byrd Man]

Tony kneels in the snow and gives the equation a once over and has Jarvis does the same before he looks up at Reed.​

"It checks out." He stands and makes sure he has both Reed and Bruce's full attention before he continues. "I mean I can't think of any reason it won't work, but you realize that if it doesn't we will have given the Gorgon what he wants."​

Tony does not relish playing the pessimist, that's more Bruce's area of expertise. Ussually he'd make some witty remark and leave worrying about the potential consequences of their actions to someone else. Maybe its because of how banged up he is, or maybe its because of that small voice in the back of his head that his been growing steadily louder for the last few minutes. The one telling him that he could really use a stiff drink right about now.

"If you have any other options, I'm open to them."

"This will work," Richards said with a nod. "I'm confident in the math, I just need some help setting it up."

"That's where we come in. If Captain America, Grimm, and myself can keep Gorgon occupied, then the rest of you can deal with the robot and getting it to the trap."

Batman stepped away from the two men. He activated the communicator in his ear. "Superman, I think Doctor Richards managed to work out a plan. You're needed."

 

[Batman]

Batman stepped away from the two men. He activated the communicator in his ear. "Superman, I think Doctor Richards managed to work out a plan. You're needed."

I try not to grimace at the poorly timed interference, as Batman's request for my presence with the scientists comes just as the Ultimo robot sets it's sights almost exclusively on me. I barraged it with a few precise heat vision blasts to get it's attention, trying to focus it's attacks away from Captain America and the other members of The Fantastic Four so that they could counterstrike when he wasn't looking, but it took some time to really get him mad. The machine certainly knows how to assess it's targets, I'll give it that.

"Gotcha. I'll be there momentarily,"

The robot places it's arms together to form some sort of a makeshift canon, and fires a concentrated burst of white hot energy. I only barely manage to catch and repel the attack with a free hand, feeling the sting begin to rise off of the skin of my palm. It's got a kick.

"I'm a little tied up at the moment."

Fighting back the persisting energy blasts, I finally duck under them and manage to fly up close enough to strike down at the robot with both hands clenched together in a powerhouse swing. While it reels, I take in a gust of the artic wind that surrounds us and blow out something I've never quite managed to produce before - a cloud of zero temperature musk, coating the machine's arms and chest in a thick sheen of snow and ice.

Turning my attention down to the Captain and the others, I give them the OK to advance as Ultimo tries to break free. "Alright, that should hold him! Don't give him a chance recover! The others need my help, apparently..."

Chartering a new flightpath, I turn around and reach maximum velocity to reach the position of Batman, Doctor Richards, and Mr. Stark, who are all standing at forty yards away from the battlefield. I try not to mess up Doctor Richards' written notes in the snow as I gently land infront of them, placing my hands to my sides.

"Gentlemen. What have you got?"

 

[Carnage27]

​

We exit the wormhole, and the sight that greets me is something that takes my breath away. A giant, floating planet. With eyes. And a mouth. And it's fighting a gigantic fleet. Literally fighting them, "Well, seriously. You don't see that everyday. It would have been nice to know something like this was out there."

"You could have visited the archives," Tomar-Re responds from beside me.

"We have no time for this," Sinestro snarls as he prepares himself for battle.

"What are we waiting for!?" Kilowag cracks his knuckles and speeds off towards the living planet.

The rest of us follow suit, and as we do, Ego's voice booms out through space. I can see Thor, floating in front of the planet, and then I see the planet swat the God of Thunder out of the sky like an annoying bug. The ease at which Ego does it astounds me.

“NO! YOU WOULD SWAT IT OUT OF YOUR WAY AS I DO NOW!”

Thor hears the words ringing in his ear even as a column of elemental fury rushes up from the planet and assaults him. He grits his teeth and holds Mjolnir before him to absorb the brunt of the attack but the force is unbearable and he screams in pain before mercifully surrendering to unconsciousness.

Thor flies by me, still reeling from the strike, and I form a large baseball mitt behind him that catches and slows him down. Not waiting to see if he's okay, I continue heading towards Ego.

Before I get there, it notices us, "LANTERNS! YOU DARE DEFY ME!? YOU DARE COME TO THE AID OF THESE INSECTS! ONE THING IS CERTAIN! OA IS NEXT!"

"Ugh," I grunt, pulling up and creating a barrage of missiles from my ring. "Shut up!"

They slam into Ego's face...and basically do nothing, "PUNY LANTERN! NOW SUFFER THE WRATH OF EGO!"

He goes to destroy me with some sort of energy, but the other lanterns and I create a combined forcefield of protection. Instead of killing us instantly, we're thrown through space before coming to a stop.

"This is not going to be easy," I respond to the spinning in my head.

 

[Byrd Man]

Fighting back the persisting energy blasts, I finally duck under them and manage to fly up close enough to strike down at the robot with both hands clenched together in a powerhouse swing. While it reels, I take in a gust of the artic wind that surrounds us and blow out something I've never quite managed to produce before - a cloud of zero temperature musk, coating the machine's arms and chest in a thick sheen of snow and ice.

Turning my attention down to the Captain and the others, I give them the OK to advance as Ultimo tries to break free. "Alright, that should hold him! Don't give him a chance recover! The others need my help, apparently..."

Chartering a new flightpath, I turn around and reach maximum velocity to reach the position of Batman, Doctor Richards, and Mr. Stark, who are all standing at forty yards away from the battlefield. I try not to mess up Doctor Richards' written notes in the snow as I gently land infront of them, placing my hands to my sides.

"Gentlemen. What have you got?"

"A plan."

"We hope," Batman said, his arms crossed.

"The idea is that, we divide our forces. Half of us distract Gorgon, the other half take on his robot. We lead the robot to a cache of highly unstable, explosive metal and set it off with a catalyst."

"The catalyst being you."

"Yes. Superman, in our last meeting, you were able to move at extremely fast speeds. If you vibrate your body at such speeds, it'll provide the spark we need. The metal's vibrational field will shake the robot apart and destroy it."

"There's a chance you could be extremely wounded in the explosion."

"But not much," Reed said with a nod. He stretched his arm out and gently punched Superman's chest. "He's made of stronger stuff than that robot... much stronger, if my hypothesis is correct."

 

[Batman]

"A plan."

"We hope," Batman said, his arms crossed.

"The idea is that, we divide our forces. Half of us distract Gorgon, the other half take on his robot. We lead the robot to a cache of highly unstable, explosive metal and set it off with a catalyst."

"The catalyst being you."

"Yes. Superman, in our last meeting, you were able to move at extremely fast speeds. If you vibrate your body at such speeds, it'll provide the spark we need. The metal's vibrational field will shake the robot apart and destroy it."

"There's a chance you could be extremely wounded in the explosion."

"But not much," Reed said with a nod. He stretched his arm out and gently punched Superman's chest. "He's made of stronger stuff than that robot... much stronger, if my hypothesis is correct."

For a moment, I remain silent.

Not because I'm skeptical of their plan in the least. Doctor Richards is one of the most renowned scientific geniuses in any field that he's worked in, and I've long been an admirer of his work since before he was even apart of the Fantastic Four. Tony Stark knows his robotics, as evidenced by that armor he's wearing. It's the most advanced looking piece of machinery I've ever seen, and it's probably only one of several different armors he keeps hidden away. And Batman...

Well, looking at his posture, Batman doesn't really look like someone prone to make a questionable judgement call. That's all I'll really say on the matter. What leaves me frozen for a moment is the integral nature of my role in the plan. I'm not worried for my own safety, but I am very worried that I can't live up to the task. I've never vibrated my body at top speeds before - never even attempted it. And if it goes wrong, we won't have time for them to come up with another plan of attack. The Gorgon will have won.

No pressure.

"To be honest, what you're asking me to do is something that I've never even tried. My velocity has only been tested on land and in the air, in a forward momentum,", I explain. "Generating enough vibration is another matter entirely. I don't know whether that'll be possible for me to be able to pull off."

Before any of the three say a word, I hold up my hand, giving them a reassuring nod.

"What I'm saying is, I'll do my best. Personal safety isn't a concern. Like Reed said, I'm made of some pretty stern stuff."

 

[Carnage27]

I struggle up towards the sun and fresh air behind the Gorgon. I'm bruised, broken, and bleeding, but I'm not going to give up. I'm stopping this bastard no matter what it takes. He's threatened all that I hold dear, and for that, he's going to pay.

He's still fresh. I barely put a dent in him so far, and he's taken a lot out of me. Luckily, I've got more back up upstairs. Of course they have no idea that this death machine is about to jump out of the ground and try to slaughter them all.

He reaches the top, and I see his muscles readying for him to spring into action. He's a few feet above me, but I jump at the same time he does. As we both fly through the air, aided by our super human strength, I realize I won't be able to catch him. He readies his blade for a strike from behind on Batman when....

He's slammed into from the side by a blur. I land with a roll, picking up my shield in the process. When I look up, I have to smile at who I see.

"Need some help, Captain?"

"It would be nice," I say, taking Diana's hand and letting her help me up. "What took you so long?"

"Antarctica is kind of a big place," she replies, deadpan.

"Even with the giant robot?"

"I see we have quite the crowd today." she responds, ignoring my joke. All business, this one.

"Yea, and even this might not be enough," I answer as we both face the Gorgon. I call back to the others, "Anytime you guys want to jump in, it would be great."
​

 

[MST3K 4ever]

Bruce listens to Betty explain their current situation. He lays down in a pile of leaves and stares at the sky.

He says, "Betty I'm sorry that I got you in this. If I had only listened to you all those years ago and not embraced the Gamma-Tron project and stayed at Berkley this..."


She walks over to Bruce and says standing over him, "Stop it right now Bruce! Just stop it! We are in our current situation because of me . I was the one who knew full well what would happen once you saw me in danger."


Bruce looks at her and asks, "You wanted me to change?"

Betty lays next to her and says, "Face it Bruce if you were still in Lex's lab who knows what he would've done to you. I had to get you out of there."

Bruce nods and asks, "Well now where do we go from here?"

Betty replies, "You're the genius. I wasn't the one who brought us here."

Bruce says, "Well I wasn't either, but okay well yeah technically I was but then again I don't remember a lot but somethings I...."

Betty suddenly lunges forward and kisses Bruce. At first Bruce is somewhat taken aback, but then gives in and embraces her.

When they stop kissing Bruce asks, "Not that I'm upset, but why did you..."

Betty says, "You were about to get caught up in a circular logic argument that I had no interest in hearing, and besides...I've missed you."


Bruce says, "I've missed you too."

Bruce stands up and looks around.

He says, "There's a cabin nearby. Let's go check it out."

Betty nods and they walk towards the cabin holding hands.

 

[Byrd Man]

"To be honest, what you're asking me to do is something that I've never even tried. My velocity has only been tested on land and in the air, in a forward momentum,", I explain. "Generating enough vibration is another matter entirely. I don't know whether that'll be possible for me to be able to pull off."

Before any of the three say a word, I hold up my hand, giving them a reassuring nod.

"What I'm saying is, I'll do my best. Personal safety isn't a concern. Like Reed said, I'm made of some pretty stern stuff."

"I want you to know, this means a lot. Doing this, I mean."

"Time to start the distraction."

Reed watched as Batman jumped back into the fight, striking and attacking his way through the carnage towards Gorgon.

"Time for us to start our part. Johnny," Reed said, activating the 4 logo on his chest. "Start hitting the robot with firebolts and retreating, drawing it towards the west."

"I'm on it."

"Superman, Tony, you do the same. I'll go collect Susan and meet you at the site."

With a nod at the two men, Reed disappeared into the chaos that was the battle.

*****

​

"Need some help, Captain?"

"It would be nice," I say, taking Diana's hand and letting her help me up. "What took you so long?"

"Antarctica is kind of a big place," she replies, deadpan.

"Even with the giant robot?"

"I see we have quite the crowd today." she responds, ignoring my joke. All business, this one.

"Yea, and even this might not be enough," I answer as we both face the Gorgon. I call back to the others, "Anytime you guys want to jump in, it would be great."
​

The Dark Knight slammed a semi-conscious ninja into the snow, knocking him out with the swift move. "I'm here," he said to Captain America.

Reaching into his utility belt, Batman pulled out a pair of brass knuckles. He slipped them onto both of his hands. The knuckles sparked to life, crackling and sparking with electrical energy.

"What's that supposed to be?" Ben Grimm asked as he swatted a half dozen of Gorgon's men in the air. "Some kind of bug zappers?"

"For a giant bug," he said, turning to where Gorgon was waiting. "Captain, I'm following your lead."

 

[Eddie Brock]

Special Agent Carol Danvers
​

Metropolis, DE
1200 Hours

"She's hiding something," Corben insists. He's been steaming ever since we left the Daily Planet. To an extent, I can understand it. Lois Lane and Perry White were our two best shots at getting close to this "Superman," but neither proved much help. Lane was uncooperative, to say the least, and Perry claimed that he never had contact with Superman. For my part, I believe Perry. Still, Corben isn't wrong: Lane is the key to making contact with Superman, but I know her type. She's not going to crack under pressure. It's going to take a different approach.

I pick up my coffee. "Of course she is," I reply. "They often do." I take a sip and instantly regret not letting it cool.

Corben, meanwhile, sits perfectly still, cradling his cup in his hands - apparently oblivious to the heat. His facial expression hasn't changed. Though, to be fair, it often doesn't. "I'm going to get to the bottom of this," he swears, and I know that tone of voice. For whatever reason, this case has resonated with him. He's not going to let it go.

"Relax, Corben. You'll get your man," I assure him. I take a second sip of my coffee, this one going down a bit more smoothly. "The General isn't going to let this go, either. Not with his daughter so close to the situation."

Corben's grunt lets me know that he's recognized the sense in what I've said. When the waitress comes by to see if we need refills, Corben waves her off dismissively. He's in a bad mood.


2100 Hours

Back at the hotel, I've found time to relax. When Corben comes knocking, I'm not surprised. If he reported our progress honestly to Quartermain, they'll no doubt be looking to reassign us for the time being. As I told Corben earlier, Quartermain and the General will get together to discuss a new plan of attack for Superman. For now, the Bureau can't be wasting resources. There are too many problems that require our attention.

"Quartermain give us a new assignment?" I ask as Corben enters. He's still wearing his suit, though he's ditched the jacket and loosened the tie. I, meanwhile, have retired to a tank top and yoga pants. I don't worry about Corben seeing me dressed like this. We're both too businesslike to consider this partnership anything more than a working relationship.

Corben nods. "Just came through the fax," he reports. He holds up a packet of freshly-printed papers before tossing them down on the foot of my bed. "We're off to the Big Apple this time."

I pick up the papers and examine their contents. There's a picture of a gaunt-faced man with beady eyes and jet black hair. Next, a second picture of a sad-looking blonde. The rest are news clippings and scientific journal reports. "A scientist."

"A missing scientist," Corben corrects me. He motions to the picture. "That is Doctor Michael Morbius. He's apparently a pretty well-known biochemist from Romania. He's made his home at Columbia University these past few years."

"How long ago did he go missing?"

"Three weeks ago."

After a moment of silence, I say, "There's more, isn't there?"

Corben smirks. "You're starting to get the hang of this job." Nodding, he continues, "That second picture? That's Martine Bancroft. She's Dr. Morbius' fiancee."

"Pretty girl," I remark.

"She was," Corben says, "until she turned up dead in her apartment five days ago."

"Murdered?" I ask, already knowing the answer. I look up to meet Corben's eyes.

He nods. After clearing his throat, he adds, "But there's still more. You see, it wasn't your typical homicide. When the landlady found her body?" He hesitates. He relishes the tension. "She had been drained of all her blood."​

 

[Byrd Man]

​

Previously

Spoiler

La Araña Discoteca
El Paso, Texas

The bouncer outside the nightclub didn't have time to get his answer. A powerful fist struck him in the face and drove him to the ground. The bouncer looked up, his sunglasses astray, and right into the blade of a butterfly knife. The clubgoers standing outside watched on in shock.

"Carlos Fring," Frank said, placing the blade of the knife under the bouncer's eye.

"**** off!" The large man yelled.

"Wrong answer," Frank said as he quickly raked the blade up the bouncer's face. The bystanders recoiled and horror and began to scatter.

"Ahhh!" The bouncer screamed. He held his bloody face with both hands. "He's in the back office!"

Frank flicked the blade back into its handles and slid the knife back into the holster strapped to his thigh. He stepped over the bleeding bouncer and into the club, a sawed-off shotgun hidden under his coat.

Strobe lights flashed and heavy, techo music blasted out the club's speakers. Frank navigated through the jumping and bumping throng of people towards the club's back offices.

A few hundred feet away, Carlos Fring sat at the desk in the club's backroom. He had his pants around his ankles and a woman's face buried into his crotch. While Carlos "relaxed", twin brothers Rob and Roy James were busy at a folding table in front of the desk. They were counting and weighing the half dozen bricks of cocaine and marijuana that were stacked on the table.

"This all?" Roy asked. "This ain't ****."

"Times are tough," Carlos said as he titled his head back and closed his eyes. "In a few more weeks we will have a full shipment. Relax. For now, get your people to...," Carlos lost his train of thought as the woman between his legs rolled her tongue. "... Just, business as usual. Smaller supply, cut it more."

On the main dance floor, Frank started to climb up a flight of stairs when a pair of powerful hands grabbed him by the shoulders. He was spun around and brought face to face with a large, Latino man in a dark suit. He tried to shout over the music, but couldn't be heard. While he was shouting, Frank leveled his shotgun at the man's stomach. The gun kicked in his hands and knocked the man back, but the sound of the music masked the sound of the blast. The dying man tumbled down the stairs and came to a stop on the bottom step. One gyrating young girl saw the dead body and screamed before running towards the exit.

Frank turned around and quickly climbed the steps. Another guard was waiting at the top of the stairwell. Before the man could react, Frank brought the butt of the shotgun up into his face. He drove the cartilage from the man's nose into his brain. The guard collapsed to the ground, spasming from the brain injury as he died.

Frank calmly walked down the hall leading towards the backroom. He was almost there when a black man jumped out at Frank and knocked his shotgun from his hands. The man drove Frank into the corridor's wall and slammed up against him. The guard pummeled Frank with blows to the face. Frank shook off the blows and headbutted the man in the face. The man stumbled backwards and Frank whipped out his knife, flicking it open as the guard charged. Frank took a glancing blow to the shoulder, but managed to drive the blade of his knife into the side of the man's neck. He cried out and fell to his side. Frank loomed over him, his face bloody and bruised, and kicked the hilt of the knife further into the man's neck. He went to scream, but blood bubbled out of his mouth and ran out on the floor.

Frank picked up his shotgun and kicked in the office door. Rob and Roy James looked up just in time to be hit with a shotgun blast. The twin brothers fell to the ground, their heads and chests covered in blood and buckshot. Carlos cried out in pain from behind the desk. The sudden shock of the gun had caused the woman between his legs to bite down.

"Crazy *****!" Carlos yelled. He rolled back and the woman underneath the desk popped up, blood and chunks of flesh coated her mouth. "You bit it off! ¡Oh, Dios. Me voy a morir! Maldita perra."

"Go," Frank growled, looking at the woman. She scurried off and Frank walked over to Carlos. The Cartel member was holding on to his bloody crotch and moaning. Frank looked down at the bloody member laying on the floor. "I guess it's true what they say about men with little feet... I had planned to shoot you, but I think this is worse."

Frank kneed Fring in his crotch. "¡Dios mío," the man howled in pain and sobbed. Frank grabbed him by his shoulders and looked him in the eyes.

"Now that I have your attention, you're going to deliver a message to Eladio..."

La Araña Discoteca
El Paso, Texas


The nightclub had been cleared of party goers, local police were interviewing staff member and witnesses while the crime scene unit snapped photos of the dead bodies. Inside the back office, King Faraday and DEA Agent Randal Perkins surveyed the scene before them. Packages of cocaine and marijuana were scattered on the floor around two dead bodies. The two dead men had wide scatter patterns in their chest, indicative of shotgun blasts


"Is this... what I think this is?" Faraday asked as he bent down to inspect a body part laying on the floor in a plastic bag.


"Yep," Perkins said with a nod. "Guy was getting a bit of ole mouth loving when Castle came in. The girl bit down on instinct."

"Well," Faraday said as he stood. "This guy shouldn't be too hard to find."

"The sheriff's already picked him up at the local hospital. If you don't have anything else to keep you here, Agent Faraday, we can go check it out."

*****
​

Providence Memorial Hospital
El Paso, Texas


Carlos Fring was propped up on a hospital bed in the ICU. The covers were pulled back and a thick bandage was on his crotch. His eyes were slightly glazed over from the morphine in his veins. Faraday and Perkins loomed over Fring as he hovered in and out of consciousness.

"Focus," Faraday said, snapping his fingers in Fring's face. Fing's eyes focused through the drug-induced haze. The injured gangster stared up at Faraday with drool leaking out the corner of his mouth. "You said Castle told you to relay a message to Don Eladio. What was it?"

"Lawyer," Fring said, his voice dreamy and distant. "I want to speak to a lawyer. I have... rights.
"
"Rights?," Faraday spat, his hand reaching towards the bandage on Fring's crotch. "Murdering ***holes don't get rights. Talk or I'll rip off those bandages and finish the job that your girl's teeth started."

"No!" Fring shouted. He held his hands out. "Please, don't!"

"TALK! What did Castle tell you?!"

"He told me to tell Don Eladio...," Fring rasped. "To meet him on the outskirts of Juarez."

"Let's go," Faraday said, moving away from Fring and headed out the door. Perkins raced behind Faraday as the two men jogged through the hospital halls.

"Did Fring have any visitors before we arrived?"

"Sheriff's Department said a cousin of his who lives in El Paso came to see him."

"Then Eladio knows," Faraday said. The two agents walked into an open elevator and Perkins pressed for the ground floor. "We're going to Juarez."

*****

Juarez


A dozen dark SUVs pulled up to the front of the vacant lot. A pack of cartel gangsters in suits climbed out the cars. Each man had an AK-47 in their arms. They were Don Eladio's best men, his personal details of bodyguards, killers, and soldiers. He was throwing all he had at Castle, and he wouldn't stop until Castle was dead.

<Fan out,> the leader barked to his men. <Castle is hiding here somewhere, find him.>

The hitsquad began to comb through the underbrush and weeds of the lot, flashlights shining over every inch of dirt. The beam of a flashlight fell on to an object wedge into the soil.
​

"¡Dios mío!" He shouted.

BOOOM!

A fireball flashed as the claymore erupted. The gangbanger was tossed into the air, the concussive blast blowing him apart. Explosions went off across the lot, dozens of claymore exploding. The mines were turning the lot into a killing field.

<Call Don Eladio!> The leader screamed from the ground. His left leg was a blood nub just below the knee. <It was a trap!>

*****
​

Eladio Compound

The bodyguard fell to the floor, coughing blood out and splattering the hardwood floors. He struggled to pull himself upright. There was a throwing knife in his chest, lodged neatly into his lung. He wheezed and tried to call for help, but the blood in his throat and the collapsed lung made it impossible to scream out. Instead of struggling, he gave into his fate. He leaned against the wall and looked up at the figure approaching him.

"Eladio," the man said, placing the barrel of a supressor-capped pistol to his forehead. The bodyguard motioned towards the backyard. The attacker nodded his thanks and pressed the trigger.

The gun kicked, there was a small pop as the bullet raced out the gun barrel and drove through the bodyguard's head. The bullet cut through half of the man's brain before it came to a rest in the middle of his temporal lobe. As his brain died and the body went with it, he saw one last electrical impulse fired in his ocular nerve before the brain severed the link. Although it was a simple image on the attacker's armor, in the man's dying and confused brain, it was the image of death incarnate, come to take him to Hell.

​

 

[bkhedr]

Thor awakens to find himself adrift in a giant green catcher's mitt. His helmet is nowhere to be found and his cape is ruined but he othwerwise unharmed thanks primarily to Mjolnir's ability to absorb and redirect energy.

Sitting up in mitt, Thor looks towards Ego and, as expected, finds a cadre of Green Lanterns struggling to slow the planet down.

It doesn't take long for him to come ot the conclusion that their combined might, even with his own added to it, would not be enough brute force to overpower Ego. Such a realization would have anathema to him once. Once he would have stubbornly railed against the planet, determined to prove himself the mightier of the two. Once but no longer. The Rigellians were dying in their hundreds and this was no time for the head strongedness of his younger days.

Thor whispers a silent prayer of thanks to his Father for having taught him the lessons of humility then rises to his feet and holds his hand open in front of him.

Mjolnir responds immediately, as if awakening from a slumber and races through the void and into his waiting hand.

With hammer in hand, Thor leaps from the emerald construct, which dissapears behind him, and makes his way through to the chaos, to the front lines and the lanterns.

He reaches the human Lantern's side just as he looses a collosal bolt of lighting from Mjolnir. The lightning strikes ego just above the right eye and has seeminly no effect other than to irritate the giant, but it is a momentary distraction and it allows Thor to put a hand on the Lantern's shoulder and demand his attention.

"It is good to see you again Lantern and I'm glad you've brought aid."

He nods at Ego "But I fear the planet's crust is too sturdy to pierce from this distance and Ego will not be reasoned with."

Thor has to stop as the gathered heroes scatter to avoid an energy blast directed towards them by the rumbling planet.

"We should make our way to the surface! Perhaps we'll find some weakness there!" Thor shouts to be heard over the continuous blasts now being fired one after another, towards them.​

 

[bkhedr]

The Gorgon plants his back foot then launches off of it and into the midst of the heroes, seizing the initiative with a flurry of deadly attacks that keep his foes on their heels.

He leaps, his sword clanging loudly off Captain America's shield even as his foot clips Batman in the jaw. He then drops low to avoid a punch thrown by Ben Grimm before sweeping his legs out from under him.

The Amazon is on him then, but he slips out of her grip and barely misses a decapitating strike, leaving an angry red line on her throat.

He never stops moving his every blow meant to kill or maim.

Tony soars over the battle below, taking it in as he does, then looses a double repulsor blast at Ultimo which washes harmlessly off of the robot's chest.

The Robot roars in fury and fires back with its eye disintegrator's. Tony has to bank sharply to avoid being vaporized by the blast and he circles around behind the robot and fires again.

"If we live through this, I'm building a new set of armor." Tony resolves as the robot swings at him with one hand and swats at Johnny Storm with the other.​

 

[Byrd Man]

​

The Gorgon plants his back foot then launches off of it and into the midst of the heroes, seizing the initiative with a flurry of deadly attacks that keep his foes on their heels.

He leaps, his sword clanging loudly off Captain America's shield even as his foot clips Batman in the jaw. He then drops low to avoid a punch thrown by Ben Grimm before sweeping his legs out from under him.

The Amazon is on him then, but he slips out of her grip and barely misses a decapitating strike, leaving an angry red line on her throat.

He never stops moving his every blow meant to kill or maim.

Batman landed a blow to the back of Gorgon's head, striking him with his electrically charged knuckles. The zap knocked Gorgon forward, straight into Ben Grimm's rocky fist. The powerful blow from the Thing threw the Hand assassin back. As Gorgon stumbled backwards, he was driven into the ground by Captain America's shield. The ninja was pulling himself up when Wonder Woman drove a powerful kick into his throat, launching him into the air.

Although, their combined blows hadn't done major harm to Gorgon, they were doing their job. They were keeping him busy, keeping him distracted from what was happening elsewhere....

*****
​

​

Tony soars over the battle below, taking it in as he does, then looses a double repulsor blast at Ultimo which washes harmlessly off of the robot's chest.

The Robot roars in fury and fires back with its eye disintegrator's. Tony has to bank sharply to avoid being vaporized by the blast and he circles around behind the robot and fires again.

"If we live through this, I'm building a new set of armor." Tony resolves as the robot swings at him with one hand and swats at Johnny Storm with the other.​

Johnny flew between the robot's legs, firing fireballs at the robot. While Iron Man and Johnny kept the robot moving west, Superman, Sue and Reed were just a few feet from the cache of anti-metal.

"It's almost here," Reed said, looking out at the approaching robot. "Superman, you can wait here, or help out Johnny and Tony. Susan and I will be about a hundred yards back. That should be an adequate distance for a containment field."

"Fifty should do in a pinch. Honestly, I'd prefer to create a larger force field. It not be as structurally sound, but it gives the destabilized frequency a chance to disperse and decrease its intensity."

"Odd," Reed said, scratching his chin in wonderment. "Given the data and circumstances surrounding our current situation, I shouldn't be aroused by your previous statements... but yet, I am."

"Save it for when we're back home, honey. We make it out alive, I'll talk nerdy to you all night..."

"Just one more incentive to save the world."

 

[Eddie Brock]

Special Agent Carol Danvers

New York City, NY
1600 Hours

From "the City of Tomorrow" to "the city that never sleeps." In their own way, each city lives up to its nickname. New York City may not be as advanced in some ways as Metropolis, but it still buzzes with an energy that cannot be matched anywhere else in the country. From the Empire State Building down through Central Park, from Harlem to the Financial District, New York City is alive in every street corner, in every building. Well, in every building, except - perhaps - this one. The morgue.

It's funny. If you've seen one morgue, you've seen them all. They all manage to achieve that kind of detached sterility, that coldness which says "this is not a happy place." Fluorescent lighting makes you long for the sun while footsteps echo on the pristine tile, reminding you just how empty and silent the building can be. I hope the day never comes that being in a morgue doesn't unsettle me.

Corben seems to be handling it better than I. That's no surprise. If nothing else, he's been doing this kind of thing longer. More than that, though, Corben's always been good at keeping his distance. His curiosity draws him to these cases, but he never invests personally. It's part of the reason why he's so good at his job. It also makes him seem, at times, like a robot.

I clutch my arms against my chest. That's another thing that all morgues have in common: they're cold. You can understand why, of course. Can't have the bodies decomposing. Still, it doesn't help the place feel any more comfortable or inviting. Then again, I suppose that's not the point.

This particular morgue's medical examiner goes by the name of Walt Gunderson, and he pretty much fits the picture of your typical morgue worker. Short, plump, beady eyes. Just one look at him, and it's not hard to imagine his whole personality profile. Probably got involved in the "gothic" scene in high school, developed a fascination with death. Doesn't get along well with the living, so he hangs around with the dead. Still, he's well-spoken and polite, so maybe he just likes the quiet.

"I'll tell ya," he begins as he leads us into the main room, "When I got the call, I didn't much believe it myself. A dead body with no blood?" He shakes his head, and I can see the faintest of smirks. Well, that settles that debate. Death fascinates him. He approaches a covered exam table in the middle of the room. "You're not squeamish, are ya?"

Corben and I shake our heads. As he pulls back the cover, the pallid corpse of Martine Bancroft is revealed. Dead bodies are always pale, but Martine's totally white as snow. The pictures didn't lie. She was a beautiful girl. Blonde hair, high cheekbones, a slender figure. I've barely had time to process what I'm looking at before Corben starts circling the exam table.

"How?" he asks, properly articulating the only question that really matters. Martine's body is practically flawless. At first glance, any injuries even visible.

Walt turns over Martine's left wrist with a gloved hand. There, right where the hand meets the arm, are four puncture wounds. As he rotates the dead body's arm, four more wounds appear on the bottom side. "Went right through the radial and ulnar arteries," Walt reports. "For whatever it's worth, she bled out fast."

I resist the urge to cringe. It may be a painless way to die, but I certainly wouldn't wish it on anyone. "What did this?" I ask, surprised that the words nearly catch in my throat.

"These puncture wounds align in a symmetrical arc, and they also line up with the wounds on the reverse side. This type of wound is consistent with an animal bite."

"An animal?" Corben repeats disbelievingly. "What the Hell kind of animal?"

Walt shrugs. "Judging by the size of the jawline, maybe a big dog."

"No way in Hell a dog did that."

"I can't imagine what else could have," Walt responds.

Corben looks down at the wound once more and sneers. "Neither can I." He looks up at me. "I say we go the victim's apartment tonight. See what we can find there."

I simply nod.


2000 Hours

The sun is just setting as Corben and I arrive at Martine's apartment. It's a cozy place on the Upper West Side, only three blocks from Columbia University's campus. I guess Martine wanted to be close to her husband-to-be. Unfortunately, it seems like that may have had a part in her death. Corben and I duck under the police tape and step into the apartment.

The first thing I notice is that it's stuffy. That's to be expected, I suppose. It's been closed up since the landlady found Martine dead on the floor. I just wish she had left a window open. The second thing I notice is how cluttered it is. Martine was a bit of a packrat, collecting odds and ends. Her apartment is decorated with all kinds of peculiar objects. Most look to be souvenirs from a lifetime of traveling and vacationing. It's a shame to see someone who lived so freely cut down so young.

As Corben pokes around in the bedroom, I cut right to the main event: the living room floor where Martine was found dead. Tiny yellow flags, left behind by CSI, mark the exact spot. I kneel down in the dim light of the apartment. As I get closer, I notice a few dried drops of blood stained into the carpet. It's the only evidence that something ever happened here. Strange, I find myself thinking. You'd think if she bled out, there'd be more blood.

"Where'd the blood go?" Corben announces aloud, as thought he was reading my mind. I look up to see him standing behind the couch. "You saw that body. She didn't have a drop of blood left in her." He kneels down across from me, examining the dried blood spots. "If it was an animal bite, there would be a mess."

"Unless it wasn't an animal at all."

Corben and I both jump. He draws his pistol a full second before I can draw mine. At the far side of the room stands a young man in a tan trenchcoat. He's not Michael Morbius. For one, his hair is brown instead of black, and where Morbius has a gaunt face, this man has smooth features. When he makes eye contact with me, I notice his eyes are an icy blue.

"How'd you get in here?" It's impossible. The doors and windows are all shut, and Corben just went into the bedroom. Unless he was hiding in a closet, there's no way someone was in this apartment without either of us knowing.

His eyes bounce between myself and Corben as he considers our drawn weapons. "Are you going to shoot me?" he asks calmly.

"This is a closed crime scene," Corben growls.

The man begins to reach into his trenchcoat, and Corben and I both flinch. He throws his free hand up defensively. "I'm not reaching for a gun," he insists. A moment later, he presents a badge. "I'm a private investigator. I'm looking into this case."

Corben considers his badge for a minute before lowering his gun. I do the same.

"Now, I hope you don't mind, but I happened to overhear you. You're not looking at this the right way." He walks up to us, and the tension in the room is still palpable. "An animal bite? C'mon. You know that's not right."

"What else could it be?"

The private investigator smirks. "Do you believe in vampires?"

 

[bkhedr]

Johnny flew between the robot's legs, firing fireballs at the robot. While Iron Man and Johnny kept the robot moving west, Superman, Sue and Reed were just a few feet from the cache of anti-metal.

"It's almost here," Reed said, looking out at the approaching robot.

​

"Get ready to duck." Tony says to Johnny as he flies in close to him.

"Get ready?" Johnny replies "Maybe you haven't noticed tin man, but that's about all I've been doing today."

The two are forced apart by another disintegrator blast from Ultimo.

Johnny opens his mouth as if to say something else but Tony cuts him off.

"EVERYBODY MOVE NOW!!" Tony shouts as a loud whistling fills the air and a fire ball punches through the atmosphere and crashes into Ultimo with such force that it knocks him off his feet and sends him crashing towards the mountain range and the vibranium mound beneath.

"Wow!" Johnny shouts excitedly. "What the heck was that?"

"Something I was building for the US millitary before I had my life changing experience" Tony grins behind his face plate. "It was supposed to be a satellite mounted repulsor cannon but I refused to finish the project and its been sitting in orbit ever since."

Tony looks at the trench of scorched Earth stretching out beneath them that ends with Ultimo covered in a hunk of flaming wreckage.

"And we needed more punch."

"So you threw a satellite at it?"

"Yup."

"Awesome!"

Tony nods "Nothing like eleven hundred pounds of metal travelling at 25,000 miles an hour to ruin a bad guy's plans"

At the foot of the mountain, Ultimo shoves what remains of the satellite off of his metal frame and begins to rise once more. A quick scan confirms that he remains undamaged.

"Or not." Tony sighs then opens a comm channel. "Its in position guys. Its now or never."​

 

[bkhedr]

Batman landed a blow to the back of Gorgon's head, striking him with his electrically charged knuckles. The zap knocked Gorgon forward, straight into Ben Grimm's rocky fist. The powerful blow from the Thing threw the Hand assassin back. As Gorgon stumbled backwards, he was driven into the ground by Captain America's shield. The ninja was pulling himself up when Wonder Woman drove a powerful kick into his throat, launching him into the air.

Although, their combined blows hadn't done major harm to Gorgon, they were doing their job. They were keeping him busy, keeping him distracted from what was happening elsewhere....

The satellite crashes into Ultimo with incredible force and the Gorgon abruptly swivels his head in the direction of the mountain. Though hard pressed, he reaches out with his senses, invading the minds of Reed Richards and Tony Stark in particular.

"No." He growls as signs of realization play across his masked features.

He forces himself to his feet with renewed strength shoving Captain America and Batman out of his way in the process.

He takes one step towards the mountain range only for Wonderwoman and the Thing to step into his path.

"You won't stop me." He mutters as he peels off his mask and angrily throws it onto the snow at his feet.

Diana and Ben lunge at him with fists raised but he opens his eyes, washing the area in front of him in the soft ghostly glow they emit.

"Nothing will stop me." He adds as the two heroes are suddenly stopped in their tracks, having been turned to stone by the Gorgon's deadly stare.

 

[Batman]

At the foot of the mountain, Ultimo shoves what remains of the satellite off of his metal frame and begins to rise once more. A quick scan confirms that he remains undamaged.

"Or not." Tony sighs then opens a comm channel. "Its in position guys. Its now or never."

Guess that's my cue.

Wrestling against the urge to ignore the plan and join the fight against The Gorgon, after what that maniac just did to Ben Grimm and the mysterious woman who showed up to provide relief for the Captain, I focus all of my attention on the charge point that will absorb the vibrations of my body - and hopefully, incapacitate the robot in the process. Doctor Richards gives me the go-ahead signal, prompting me to take off and fly into position. They weren't kidding whenever they said that this part of the plan was dangerous. The doctor and his wife have to maintain a minimum safe distance of at least several yards from the blast radius of the explosion. The fight with The Gorgon is still being held to back the North, which means that if the robot advances any further, this will have been all for nothing. And I can't have that. The lives of too many people - good people, all willing to put their lives on the line - depend on the success of this. The least I can do is offer mine, in the event that this all goes horribly wrong. Which if Reed's data tells me anything, it won't.

However, it's better entertain the possibility while I'm still around to do so. If it happens, I'd rather it happen here - like this - than in some foolish quarrel with a mindless behemoth tearing apart half of a city block. Flying at supersonic speeds into the fray, I call up to the two individuals hovering above me as I land.

"Stark, Johnny, get out of here! We still don't know what the extent of the blast might be!"

They immediately comply with the request, leaving only me... and the giant, rampaging metal monstrosity ahead. Got to admit, as much as I've considered the possibility of my own demise, I think I'd almost hate to be him even more. Because whether or not this fails, he's going down. And if there's any sense of justice left in the world, so is his master.

My body immediately goes rigid, tensing up with every muscle. Every joint freezes and hardens under my will, and I close my eyes, drowning out the harsh climate and escalating struggles of the surroundings so that I can keep entirely focused. My hands begin to shake first, increasing at a rate that soon spirals out of my own control. The sensation crawls up my arms, into my chest, and eventually bleeds up into my head, spine, and legs.

I can hear the snow on the ground seperating all around me. The thick ice beneath it begins to crack under the strain. The vibrational patterns are affecting the environment, creating a small-scale, largely ineffective blizzard to swirl around the area surrounding my body. Reed... do it now. Activate the charge.

Heh. Barely even tickles.

And blow him to kingdom come.

 

[Byrd Man]

My body immediately goes rigid, tensing up with every muscle. Every joint freezes and hardens under my will, and I close my eyes, drowning out the harsh climate and escalating struggles of the surroundings so that I can keep entirely focused. My hands begin to shake first, increasing at a rate that soon spirals out of my own control. The sensation crawls up my arms, into my chest, and eventually bleeds up into my head, spine, and legs.

I can hear the snow on the ground seperating all around me. The thick ice beneath it begins to crack under the strain. The vibrational patterns are affecting the environment, creating a small-scale, largely ineffective blizzard to swirl around the area surrounding my body. Reed... do it now. Activate the charge.

Heh. Barely even tickles.

And blow him to kingdom come.

"Susan," Reed said from the snowbank. "Now!"

As soon as Iron Man and the Human Torch were clear, a giant, shimmering bubble formed around the area. Superman, the giant, and the anti-metal were all encased in Sue's forcefield. "I've got it as tight and focused as I can get it."

The two members of the Fantastic Four looked on as Superman, barely visible due to his rapid body movements, charged towards the anti-metal. His harmonic frequency collided with the vibrational field of the metal, causing a disruption in the volatile anti-metal's field.

Blinding white light flashed through the area. A fiery, massive explosion shot up into the sky. The concussive blast slammed against Sue's barrier with powerful force."I'm holding the explosion," Sue said through gritted teeth. "Or at least trying to..."