(A/N) sorry for the long wait. I wanted to get this up two days ago but things kept getting in the way. anyway, this chapter should give a little more insite to some of the characters than the last one, so I hope you like it.

Episode 4: Battle of the Rust Buckets Part 1

Chris McClain, wearing his Spider-Man suit, Carly Williams, in her Blue Beetle suit, and Steve the Camera Guy, with all of his gear, appeared atop a sky scraper in New York City in a flash of light, having traveled there from the C.O.B. via teleporter. "So we'll be traveling to the location of the previous challenge for every recap shoot?" Chris nodded as he looked over the script for the recap shoot. "And you'll be doing something superheroish to make it seem more awesome even though most of them will be potentially dangerous to yourself and, more importantly, me?" Chris nodded again. Steve paused before saying, "Sounds fun, let's do it."

"I am so glad this suit let's me fly." Carly mumbled to herself.

"Okay, so here's the plan." Chris said after finishing his papers, tossing them aside. "Steve is going to stand on the edge of this building with his camera. I'm going to swing down on a web from that taller sky scraper over there, going right in front of the camera, and Carly, you're going to fly by right after me. We're both going to say, Last Time on Total Drama Heroes, and then we'll record the rest on audio only. Got it?"

"No, I think I have a migraine." Steve said. "You're voice just does that to me."

"Yeah, same here." Carly agreed.

"We're doing this." Chris said flatly.

With that, Chris swung up to the higher building and Steve and Carly reluctantly took their spots. "Fifty bucks says he freaks out and forgets his line." Steve said to Carly.

"You're on." Carly chuckled.

Once Steve had his camera set up, he told Chris everything was ready to go over the walkie-talkie and Chris got ready for his jump. After a few brief stretches, he jumped off the side of the building, waiting only a few seconds before shooting a sticky spider web rope from the suits wrist so he could swing by the camera. Just in time to pass by the camera directly behind Chris, Carly fired up the flight mechanism on her suit. "Last Time on Total Drama Heroes…" they both said, in unison, to Steve's astonishment.

Chris started the recap. "We introduced our sixteen contestants, and boy, are they a lovely bunch of coconuts. We've got everything from a pagan psychopath to an overweight speedster to a feline nymphomaniac to… this guy."

Later, during the editing process, Steve would edit in a clip of Darrell saying, "Metal. We're in space."

Carly continued from there. "After choosing roommates, the sixteen teenage superhumans got better acquainted… in one case, very acquainted." There Steve would place a clip of Aphrodite dragging Jax into her room, slamming the door behind them. "Immediately the next morning it was challenge time and the competitors were taken to New York City in out Spider-Man and Blue Beetle based challenge, getting to Times Square without touching the ground."

"And what a challenge it was!" Chris declared. "Almost immediately, Riley, Rachelle, and Marji were forced to disqualify themselves due to lack of adequate powers. But that didn't stop Riley and Rachelle from messing with the others! Using his illusion abilities, Riley made Jax think he was lost in New York when in reality he was actually circling the same building over and over again! As for Rachelle, she almost killed Marissa, Aiden, and Ana by breaking a crane arm, but they managed to fix it and move on. Sandro was our ultimate victor, claiming immunity for the newly formed Team Hero! At the Round Room Ceremony, the Sidekick and Antihero teams were forced to vote somebody out, and Jax was the first hero to step into the Capsule of Shame and be shot back down to earth from the Cannon of Losers. And who got the immunity page? Why, sweet little Marji, of course."

"What will today's challenge bring?" Carly asked the camera. "We have no idea, thanks to the new set up of the show. So why don't you join us and find out today on…" she paused so that Chris could join her.

"Total… Drama… Heroes!"

~INSERT THEME SONG~

At dinner the night before, Marissa groaned as she sat down in the dining hall for dinner that night, exhausted from a lack of sleep. The last few nights had been rough, to say the least… very rough. After the challenge a couple days prior, Marissa had practically challenged her roommate, Aphrodite, to stop her from sleeping in her own bed again. Aphrodite, being who she was, decided to make a game out of this… and was winning. Marissa had barely slept for the last two nights, and when she did sleep it, unfortunately, wasn't in her bed.

"Another rough night?" Riley asked as he, Darrell, and Rachelle sat down at Marissa's table.

"You have no idea." Marissa grumbled.

"I'm still not getting the problem." Darrell said in between chewing his food. Chef's food was terrible, but Darrell had had much worse in his lifetime. "Is she banging someone while you're in the room or what?" he asked after swallowing.

"You could say that."

Rachelle struggled to hold back a snicker, knowing full well what Marissa meant. Living across the hall, she heard everything coming from Aphrodite and Marissa's room. Everything.

"I still don't get it." Darrell said. "Is she masturbating?"

"Okay, you're gone." Rachelle said, slapping him in the back of the head. "Go on. Get." Confused, Darrell got up and went to join another table. Riley laughed at his misfortune. "You too, smart ass. Go pester Rosetta."

"That is an excellent idea." Riley agreed before leaving as well.

With both boys gone, Rachelle turned back to Marissa who still hadn't touched her food. "Is she really that rough on you?"

"Rough isn't the word I'd use. More like relentless." Marissa said. "She won't let me sleep until she's satisfied… and the problem there is that she's insatiable."

"Well why don't you just tell her no?" Rachelle asked. "I mean, she is a nymphomaniac but she's not someone I would peg as a rapist… no pun intended."

"She can be very… persuasive." Marissa explained. She shuttered, a tingle running up her spine at the thought of just how persuasive she could be. "And she's made it very clear that if she doesn't get any from me then she'd bring in someone else. At least this way sleep deprivation isn't the only thing I'm getting… besides, I'm not about to let her win"

"She's already winning." Rachelle pointed out.

"The only battle that matters is the last one." Marissa said. "All I have to do is get one good night's rest in my own bed and I win, regardless of how many times she's beaten me."

"That…" Rachelle stared, then she paused and thought about her friend's words for a moment. "Actually, that is some of the best damn logic I've ever heard. Might I make a suggestion?"

"Please do. I'm too tired to think right now."

Almost everyone else was gathered around another table, watching the game of the night. Since dinner on the night of the first challenge, Jay, Sandro, and Darrell had made a game out of who could eat more of the most disgusting thing on that night's menu. The first time had been biscuits and gravy which tasted (and looked) more like urine and bricks. To no surprise, Sandro had won. The next time was Sloppy Joes without the sloppy part. The meat Chef used to make them was so old and had been reheated so many times that it nearly broke one of Jay's teeth. Obviously, Sandro won again. But tonight not even Sandro seemed to be able to stomach what Chef called "Surprise, Surprise." He was actually on an even pace with Jay and Darrell, but all the smart money was still on him. The other teen superhumans would regularly bet on these games, usually wagering the best part of each meal such as ice cream treats or pumpkin bread. They mostly bet packaged foods not made by Chef and therefore no worse than school food.

"Man, I don't know what this Surprise, Surprise stuff is made of," Sandro said after forcing down another spoonful, "but if I can't eat it then it must not be real food."

~ONE HOUR EARLIER~

Chef stood in his kitchen in front of a large cauldron over an open fire. "Let's see here." He said as he looked into his cook book. "Road kill, saw dust, medical waste, used jock straps, and exactly one copy of Jonah Hex on DVD… what am I missing? Ah! I know." He walked away for a minute and grabbed something from the spice rack. "A little seasoned salt for flavor."

~NOW~

"Giving up, big guy?" Jay asked before shoveling in another mouthful, almost gagging.

"Nev… oh boy." The large boy suddenly sped off to the nearest restroom, vomited, and then ran back. "Yeah, I'm done."

Almost everyone watching started to complain, having bet on Sandro. The few who hadn't, Hiba and Riley, just laughed as they'd just made a bundle. Hiba had bet on Jay and Riley on Darrell, so whoever won would take the whole pool. But almost as quickly as Sandro could run, it was over as Jay got up and ran for the restroom, holding his hand over his mouth. Hiba groaned as Riley started to gloat.

"I can't believe I lost. What is your stomach made of, Darrell?" Hiba asked.

"Believe it or not," Darrell said, sounding almost woozy, "I've had worse." And then he vomited all over the floor and passed out.

"C'mon, buddy." Riley said as he grabbed Darrell under the arms. "Let's get you to bed." But before he dragged Darrell off he glanced back up at the others. "I'll be back for my winnings." He said.

"We'll that was a waste of a perfectly good ice cream sandwich." Aphrodite grumbled as she tossed it down on the table. Then, after a second thought, she picked it back up, unwrapped it, and took a bite.

~CONFESSIONAL CAM~

"Yes, because an American girl is totally going to give up chocolate AND ice cream." Aphrodite chuckled to the camera. "Let's face facts, I'm not trust worthy."

~END CONFESSIONAL~

"Hey, Aphrodite."

As the cat-girl shoved the last bit of the delicious treat into her mouth, she looked over her shoulder to find her current favorite plaything coming towards her. "Well hey there." She said after swallowing. "Getting randy already? I like that in a girl… or boy. I don't really care so long as I'm taken care of."

"Yeah, knock it off. These nightly sessions we've been having are over." Marissa said firmly, crossing her arms.

"Oh really?" Aphrodite asked, cocking an eyebrow. "Guess I'll have to import something new to play with then. What do you think the chances are of Jay and Aiden being into a threesome?"

"Oh, just shut up." Marissa snapped. "Now, you and I are going back to our room and having a little chat and then I'm going to bed. If you want to have an orgy then you can take it elsewhere."

Aphrodite smirked and leaned in close. "You wanna bet?"

Marissa grinned back at her darkly. "Bring it."

~THE NEXT MORNING~

Aphrodite wasn't at breakfast the next morning, and when Chris called everyone into the Round Room to announce the challenge she didn't show up either. Chris went over the intercom multiple times over the next fifteen minutes before finally becoming fed up. "Does anyone know where the hell that freakin' feline is?" he demanded of the other fourteen superhumans.

"Chris, I thought you were taking anger management." Carly said.

"She's right, man." Steve agreed.

"You do have temper issues, Chris." Chef agreed.

"Oh, like you've got room to talk, Hulk." Chris grumbled. Chef just glared at him.

Rachelle turned to Marissa who didn't seem the least bit concerned. "I take it you have something to do with this?" she asked with a grin.

Marissa just smiled. "You're idea worked… I won."

Rachelle just laughed and stood up. "Aiden, Rosetta, could you come with me please?"

"What for?" Aiden asked.

"So we can get Aphrodite and start the challenge already."

Rachelle led the other two up to the room that Marissa and Aphrodite shared and when they opened the door they found Aphrodite there… frozen in a block of ice. Rachelle and Rosetta immediately burst out laughing and Aiden chuckled as well. They spent a few minutes making jokes and just laughing before getting down to business. Aiden started with a simple fire spell to begin melting the ice and Rosetta, using her copycat ability, did the same. When Aphrodite was freed from her icy prison, she collapsed onto her knees and started shivering violently. They helped her to her feet, wrapped her in a blanket, and half carried her to the round room where she took a seat as far away from Marissa as possible. Marissa leaned back in her chair with her hand locked behind her head and a grin on her face while Aphrodite just glared at her and mouthed, "You're dead."

"Okay. Now that everyone's here," Chris said, "Marji, why don't you come up and pull the lever so we can see what today's challenge is."

Without a word, obviously, Marji walked up to the machine and pulled the lever. The two sides of the screen began to spin rapidly and soon slowed down before coming to a complete stop on two different superheroes. On the left was the helmet of one of the most popular superheroes out there, Iron Man. On the right was a face that only a few recognized from a bad nineties movie. The face was made of plain metal, probably iron or steel, and looked like it had been modeled after an actually human face. "Well all right." Chris said. "Looks like today's challenge will be based on Iron Man and his DC equivalent, Steel!"

Chris and Carly stepped into the rings on the machine and, after the flashing of neon purple lights, they reappeared in their designated heroes. If the teens before him hadn't seen him put the suit on, they wouldn't have been able to tell Chris from Robert Downey Jr., as the suit was an exact copy of the one from the movie. As for Carly, her suit was similar except it was a plain, gray-silver color, the face of the helmet had been shaped to look like her face, and she carried a large war hammer with a handle long enough to touch the ground while the head was at shoulder level.

~CONFESSIONAL CAM~

"Is it sad that I still want to… let's say take Carly for a test drive in that suit?" Darrell asked, winking at the camera afterwards.

~CONFESSIONAL CAM~

"Chris can definitely pull off the playboy aspect of Tony Stark's character." Ana admitted to the camera. "But they whole genius engineer thing is far beyond him."

~END CONFESSIONAL~

"All right, everyone, into the teleporters." Carly instructed. "I hope you all don't mind a little heat, because we're headed for a military base in the Middle East."

~LOCATION UNKNOWN~

When Chris, Carly, Steve, and the fifteen superhumans reappeared on the ground, they found themselves on an airstrip, F-22 fighter jets on both sides of them and a hanger not far off. There were various other buildings and vehicles around as well. But two things really stuck out about the place. First, there was sand everywhere, which confirmed to Jamilah that, having lived there, this was in fact the Middle East. Second, the place was completely deserted and they could see military hummers driving away in the distance.

"Where are they going?" Mariah asked.

"My guess: the hills." Chris said, chuckling to himself. We don't exactly want pedestrians around for this challenge, even if those pedestrians are trained soldiers."

"Then what the heck are we doing?" Mariah questioned.

Chris grinned under his helmet. "Follow me."

Chris and Carly lead everyone over to the hanger. There Chris toughed a few buttons on his forearm and the doors began to slide open. They expected to see more planes, but the inside was completely empty with the exception of one big pile of junk, or at least what looked like junk. "This is your challenge." Carly said. "In this pile are reassembled parts to battle suits, including arms, legs, torsos, helmets, and power supplies as well as many other parts that are too meticulous to name. Each team has exactly three hours to build an Iron Man-like suit from the parts we have provided here. Yes, it is complicated, so we will be providing manuals."

"Here's where things get interesting though." Chris said. "There are enough torsos and helmets for everybody, but there are only three pairs of arms and legs and three power supplies. To get the parts you need, you'll have to be the first to grab them. Any team that doesn't have a functioning suit at the end of the three hours automatically comes in last place for the challenge… and for the record, these things can not function without a power supply, so unless you pull something amazing off one team will be disqualified before part two. Any questions?"

"Yes. You realize this sort of technology doesn't actually exist, right?" Jason asked.

"Neither does anti-gravity technology, and yet you have no problem walking around on the C.O.B. do you?" Chris pointed out.

Jason didn't reply.

"All righty then… Go!"

Sandro immediately sped off toward the pile of robot parts, Rosetta copying his abilities and following closely after him. However, Ana was the first to make it to the pile by teleporting. Chris and Carly just stood there grinning, waiting for them to realize that they had no idea what they needed without the manuals they had yet to hand out. "Well then. Team Antihero, since you didn't jump the gun I'm going to give you a manual first."

Jamilah immediately stepped forward and took one of the four books from Carly's hands and then motioned for the rest of her team to follow her as she opened the cover while heading for the pile of parts. Hiba, Marissa, and Jason took the books for their team, but the second they opened them they found something enraging.

~CONFESSIONAL CAM~

"It's in Spanish!" Jason complained to the camera. "Why the hell is it in Spanish?"

~CONFESSIONAL CAM~

"I heard Jason complaining about their book being in Spanish, but ours was in Mandarin Chinese." Hiba said. "I'm suddenly glad that my parents have been teaching Mandarin. Still, I doubt I know half the words in this book."

~CONFESSIONAL CAM~

"I don't even know what language this is!" Marissa complained. "I don't think this is even a real language!"

~CONFESSIONAL CAM~

"Our book was written in Russian." Jamilah said. "Normally this would be a problem, but luckily I'm omni-linguistic."

~END CONFESSIONAL~

"Okay, Darrell, I want you to grab the joints for the wrists." Jamilah instructed as she speed-read the manual.

"These ones?" Darrell asked, holding up a couple small parts.

"Those aren't even joints. Thing hinges on a door, sort of." She took a quick glance at the pile. "Like this one here." She picked up a part and showed it to Darrell. It didn't look much like a door hinge but it was the closest comparison he could think of. "We'll need four of these."

"I've got all the pieces for the torso." Riley said after returning from where their team was placing their claimed parts.

"Great, now see if you can find what we need for the helmet."

"Yes ma'am."

"Marji, I want you to find the power supply." Jamilah said, turning to her friend. "It will be circular, about four inches in diameter, and fit into the chest plate." Marji nodded and started sifting through the parts to find what she needed.

Not far off, Team Antihero was struggling just to figure out what parts the needed with their unreadable manual. Jason had no idea how to read Spanish and the rest of his team was just busy collecting random parts. "By Zeus, I hate that man." Jason growled.

"Let me see the book." Ana said, walking up to Jason. She scanned a few lines before pulling it from his hand. "This isn't Spanish, you idiot, its Portuguese. I'll be reading the instructions from here."

"Take them." Jason growled as he went to join Aiden and Rachelle.

Meanwhile, Team Sidekick was having a similar problem. "I've never even seen this language!" Marissa complained as she turned the book to every angle in a vain attempt to understand it. "What backwards country reads this garbage?"

"Probably whatever one Riley comes from." Rosetta said as she worked her way through the pile, then she spotted something they needed. "Yes! Power supply!

~CONFESSIONAL CAM~

"I think I've earned my safety." Rosetta said with a grin.

~END CONFESSIONAL~

As Jay walked by, he caught a glimpse of the contents of the book and was baffled by the fact he recognized the language. "Could I take a look at that?" he asked. Without a word, Marissa handed him the book. He looked over a couple lines before he started laughing. "Oh my god, Chris is evil!"

"What? You understand this crap?" Marissa asked.

"You bet I do." Jay said. "This is Klingon. It's from Star Trek. My friends and I used to be obsessed with this crap and we actually learned the language!... probably why I failed French, come to think of it."

"Get to the point!" Marissa snapped.

"I can read this. Let' me give the instructions."

"Fine. Whatever." Marissa agreed.

Meanwhile, Hiba was having more trouble with his instruction book that he originally thought he would. "Should've paid more attention to those lessons." He grumbled to himself. "Does that say… hell, I don't know.

"Hiba!"

Looking over his shoulder, Hiba was shocked to find that not only did their team already have what looked like all the parts they needed, but some parts were already built. "What the heck?" she asked.

"It's Sandro." Mariah explained. "He's moving really fast and trying every possible combination of parts until he gets it right."

Hiba grinned. "I could kiss that boy right now." He said.

"No thanks, unless you're willing to change into a girl." Sandro said as he managed to complete one of the hands of the suit.

"Besides, I saw him first." Mariah said.

Hiba and Mariah looked over to Aphrodite, who was also watching Sandro, and waited for her to say something. When she saw them eyeing her, she just cocked an eyebrow. "What?"

"You're not going to say anything?" Mariah asked.

The cat-girl scowled at them. "I'm a nymphomaniac, not a prostitute." She said.

"Done!" Sandro suddenly announced.

Hiba and the two girls looked back to where Sandro was working and were in complete awe when they saw the completed suit. It had everything! Helmet, Torso, arms and legs were all there. "Oh! Wait! Never mind." Sandro suddenly said. "Haven't found a power supply yet."

"Don't bother." Mariah said.

"What?" Aphrodite demanded. "But it won't work without that thing and then we'll come in last!"

"Don't worry." Mariah assured her. "I have a plan. Sandro, do you think you could remake the hands so that they can take in an electrical charge from the palms."

"I have no idea how to do that, but you can only get it wrong so many times." Sandro agreed. "And I can get it wrong more than a hundred times a minute."