Marvel Team-Up
Starring Spider-Man and Smasher
"A Different Kind of Smash"
By Tony Thornley
"You have got to be kidding me!" Izzy Dare grumbled.
"Hah!" Peter Parker exclaimed. "I say that at least three times a day! I should really trademark it. It'd make a great catchphrase."
"Spidey?"
"Yeah?"
"Shut up."
The pair of heroes hung over a New York City street, Spider-Man by a webline attached to the nearest building, Smasher using the flight patches that were a part of her Imperial Guard uniform. Below them, a mob of alien creatures swarmed over the street. They were short, compact with flat, angular features- Peter mentally compared them to muscular dwarves. The datalink in Peter's mask had already linked to SHIELD and identified the aliens as Moombas, a sentient plant race. The last and only known sighting of a Moomba (which was actually the proper name of the only known member of the species) was in Africa in the 1960's. They were strong, durable, psychic, and could levitate. The file speculated a relation to the alien hero known as Groot, but that was sketchy at best.
"So, I know I'm a rookie and all, but shouldn't we, uhm… stop them?" Smasher said. Peter grinned at his white, red and black-clad comrade. She had only been a superhero a short time, but Captain America had vouched for her, and her Shi'ar given powers- five or so abilities she could use one at a time thanks to the alien goggles she wore- also included training. In short, she had proven herself quickly as a great ally.
"We've got to use a battle cry before we attack them," he said. "Something to strike fear in their hearts."
"A battle cry?"
"I'm sure you have one," he said. "Smasher smash maybe?"
"Seriously?"
"No," Peter said. "You should see the look on your face though. Your goggles brief you on these guys?"
She nodded. "Their race is unpronounceable by humans. Generally speaking they're asses, but we can fight them off without back up."
"SHIELD calls them Moombas. How about we go with that?" She nodded with a grin. "Great. Let's go." Peter released his line and dropped headfirst several feet before twisting and flipping.
"Hey ugly plant guys!" he yelled. "What's shaking?" They turned their attention skyward and Peter sprayed a mass of them with webbing. The small mass began writhing and moaning angrily. He dropped into the middle of the small mass and began alternating between fighting them off and ensnaring them in webbing.
Smasher followed, switching her powers to her massive ultra strength. The Moombas jumped her immediately, and she shook them off. She spun, punching several and punting them down the street.
"My database says that these guys normally don't shut up!" she called. "This is just weird." She kicked another and it cartwheeled away.
"Yeah, that's what SHIELD says too!" Peter exclaimed. He flipped over a small group of Moombas, and shoved them into each other. The trio that ran into each other seemed to stick together, then, slowly… merge.
"Oh hell," Peter muttered. "I'd say this just keeps getting weirder, but it is an alien."
"You have no idea Spidey, really," she said. "This is just scratching the surface. You should see some of the Subguardians."
"I was Captain Universe for a while," Peter said. "I know."
"Really?"
"Yeah, really. I've been around the block kid. Oh my hell, I just called you kid. That's so embarrassing." The merged Moomba rushed at Peter and tried to grab him. He ducked underneath the first attempt, then jumped over its arms as it tried again. He flipped and sprayed it with twin streams of webbing, sticking its arms to the ground. It grunted and strained, then broke free.
"Oh crap!" Peter exclaimed as it swung at him again, this time catching him square in the gut and sending him flying through the air. He threw his arms out, ready to spray more webbing to stabilize himself when his spider-sense flared, almost to the point of incapacitating him. It passed quickly, but he realized what his powers were telling him.
There was something more to this than they were seeing and he passed it as he flew through the air.
He stopped himself with a pair of weblines that stretched and strained before pulling him forward. He yanked, pulling himself forward faster, then fired a fresh line. He swung low over the street, directly into the Moombas. He scattered them like bowling pins. The giant one turned towards him and growled.
"Smasher, I got a whiff of something else going on here," he said. "I'm going to track it down. You good?"
"Absolutely!" she said, blasting the plant creatures with her exo vision. "Kind of having fun really. Teaching me to switch my powers on the fly a lot better." Peter saluted and swung away. One of the aliens jumped on her back and bit her shoulder. She cried out, grabbed it by the skull and threw it. It bounced off the cement wall off a nearby building and landed on the ground hard. She flew into the air, several grasping her clothes and jabbering incoherently. She threw them each to the ground, and then spun, throwing off the last one clinging to her.
Izzy narrowed her eyes. It had only been about six months, but she had seen a lot. Most of her experience was off-planet, both alongside the Imperial Guard and Earth's heroes. She felt like she had seen more in six months than even some superheroes had seen in their lifetime. She had heard the stories from her grandfather, his amazing adventures during the Second World War, and now she was living it.
"This is awesome," she said with a smile. And she dove into the crowd of Moombas, firing her exo vision as she dropped.
Peter hung near the spot his spider-sense flared, looking around carefully. The danger sense wasn't a radar or homing beacon. Although it opened up his perception of everything around him, sped up his senses and enhanced his reflexes, it was still only a general warning of danger. If it passed, it was gone. However, it had gradually becoming more intense as he neared the building that set it off, and was now screaming with enough intensity to cause a migraine.
"MARCO!" he yelled. It was a long shot, but maybe… Nothing. Suddenly, it intensified again, and Peter dropped as a giant white form lunged out of a mostly empty parking garage.
"Holy crap!" he exclaimed. He landed on his feet and spun to face his attacker. It was a giant white-furred humanoid, with a metal dome on its head. It made him think of a Jewish yeti. He nearly giggled as the image of the creature spinning a dreidel came to mind.
"Hey there big guy," he said. "Take the wrong turn in Albuquerque?"
"Your Looney Tunes references only mildly amuse Xemnu the Titan!"
"Oh man, we're headed into bizarre She-Hulk territory now, aren't we?" Peter grumbled. "I always hate when things go that way."
"I did come searching for Hulks," Xemnu said. "Do you know where I can find them?"
"Look buddy, you attacked my town. That means you deal with me. Unless you're Hulk strong. Then I'll call them right now."
"You will not need strength of body against me, just strength of mind!" Xemnu's eyes seemed to light up, and Peter felt a new presence, this one in his head. He hadn't had time to learn what Xemnu was, but he should have guessed psychic from the Moomba's behavior.
"Get out!" Peter cried. He jumped at Xemnu and punched him across the face. The monster roared in surprise, and swung at him. Peter ducked, just missing the flailing limb.
"Not used to getting hit, are you? You're more that 'brain make things go boom' type."
"That is one way to put it," he growled. "Your will is strong human. I will break you." He swung again. "One way or another."
Izzy blasted the Moombas with exo-vision, and then spun, switching her powers to super-strength. She kicked one of the aliens, and then punched another.
"Superguardian Smasher!" a voice yelled in her ears. It was Praetor Kallark- the Gladiator. Although he wasn't actually the one speaking, the Imperial Guard AI used his voice when giving important alerts. "You are in the immediate vicinity of a known fugitive and enemy of the Shi'ar empire. It is your duty to bring them to justice."
"I'm well aware," she said. "I'm currently fighting them."
"Incorrect. Higher priority target detected in your viscinity." An image of a large shaggy white humanoid appeared in her goggles' HUD. "Level 9 target, Xemnu the Titan. Currently wanted for genocide, slavery…" She stopped listening to the AI, and spun. Level 9 was bad news, and she would put five dollars on the fact that he was who Spidey just went after. And this was a guy that could kill him.
"SPIDEY!" she yelled and rocketed in the direction he headed, using her superstrength to blow through the crowd, then switched to superspeed and ran down the street. She rounded the corner she last saw him disappear down and saw Spider-Man fighting the giant alien.
"Hey ugly, why don't you take on someone your own size?" She blasted Xemnu in the chest, and he somersaulted away. She sprinted up to Spider-Man's side.
"In the name of the Shi'ar Imperial Guard, I'm placing you under arrest," she said. "You know what you did."
"I was unaware that this planet was under the jurisdiction of the Imperium," Xemnu growled. "But with a native Guardian, this is a much more important world than I thought. Maybe I'm here for more than just revenge on the Hulks. Perhaps, I should start building an army for conquest. Starting with the Spider."
Peter turned to face her. Even without seeing his eyes, Izzy knew he was psychically possessed. Now she had to endure a fight against an ally.
"This sucks," she muttered.
TO BE CONTINUED…