Validus
!SOUND EFFECTS! "THOUGHTS"
Chapter Eleven
"So gracious of all of you to appear in my humble abode."
The Leader and several other supervillains were gathered around a large table inside of the Leader's orbiting satellite, surrounded by some of his mechanized and rubber based robots. The Leader sat at the head of the table, the master of all he surveyed.
It had taken some time for him to set this meeting up by making some promises of money and lucre to gather this assortment of villains inside his satellite for his big plan, but if his plan succeeded it would all be worth it.
"Cut the chatter, Leader. When do we create chaos and mayhem? And more importantly, when do we get paid?" Cain Marko, the Juggernaut said, cracking his powerful knuckles in such a way the sound resembled machine gunfire.
The Leader regarded the large, domed behemoth before him with a look of hardly veiled hostility, but spoke as if he had not interrupted him. "We're gathered here to take on the so-called mighty West Coast Avengers."
"Is your plan so great as to be able to take on the Avengers including the likes of Thor?" said the human jet fighter, Airstrike, from within his armored suit with his arms folded over his chest.
"I could easily handle Thor if that was necessary, but it won't be. I've coordinated my plans along with those of Count Nefaria. At the right moment, the Avengers will be too busy dealing with him and his new group of Masters of Evil."
"That's good. Then we'll be able to do what we need to do without any interference," the Speedfreek said with a sense of glee, thinking of all the destruction he was going to cause. He wore a silver blue suit of armor and red shades along with blades coming out of his forearms. He also sported a long mane of purple hair, cascading over the suit that gave him the ability to move at lightning fast speeds.
"Not quite. If you had been listening you would have known I said West Coast Avengers."
"The West Coast Avengers took a powder! Everybody knows that the West Coast Avengers are no more," a short gruesome, misshapen bald-headed man said with a sneer, tapping the table impatiently.
"No, Gremlin. The West Coast Avengers have reformed themselves, but they are a motley crew of second-raters who will be easy to beat."
"Who's in that group of Avengers?" said Janice Olivia Yanizeskl, the real name of the new super villain called the Joystick who wore a dark blue bodysuit with yellow trim and sported a couple of red sticks in her hands.
"The members of this group include Hawkeye, Moondragon, Quasar, the original Human Torch from the 1940s, Squirrel Girl, Validus and a new superheroine called Supergirl," the Leader answered.
"I heard this Validus guy is like the Hulk except better looking while being smaller and faster, but I can take him. But who is this Supergirl, some Melissa Benoist wannabe?" Titania replied with a sense of derision.
"It may be beyond your ability to understand this, but Supergirl is from another universe. I don't know how she ended up here but my sources tell me she's powerful as you are, Titania if not more so. Do not take her lightly. You can assume she has all the powers of Superman from the comics and television show."
"She couldn't beat me. No way!"
"Did you say Squirrel Girl?" Captain Boomerang interjected. "Those wankers must have been pretty hard up if they're letting a joke like Squirrel Girl join. That's girl's nothing but a furball, much like this pussycat over here."
"What?" Feral, the fur covered cat reddish-brown cat woman hissed in the Aussie's direction, her claws out menacingly. "One more word like that and I'll cut you into ribbons!"
"So the kitten has claws. Listen here, little kitty! I'd slice you into catnip before you could even get to me, furball!"
"Furball? Why I'll..."
"Enough! Now pay attention to my plan. It must be followed to the letter in order to succeed."
"Why should you be the one giving the orders?" Titania said, pounding the table and showing surprise when the table withstood her tirade. "I'm the most powerful one here! I should be in charge!"
"I am the Leader, therefore I am in charge."
"Big words, big head! Can you back them up?" Speedfreek said as he got up from his seat. He had intended to strike the Leader but right before he could get to him he found himself in a stasis field. Eventually, all of the villains were in a stasis field which didn't let them move.
"I know of all your powers. If necessary I can send you to outer space or in another dimension. Would you like that? You don't want to know what else I can do. Are there any more questions?"
"No. Not at all," Black Tom answered. We was just testing ye; that's all."
"The same goes for the rest of us," Speedfreak said, hating the fact he couldn't move.
"I'm not afraid of you or anyone, Leader!" Titania said still hanging in the air. "But I'm willing to let you lead; it's your satellite after all."
"Good. If there aren't any more objections, here is the plan."
As the Leader gently had his stasis field put his confederates down and explained his plan to them, he thought about the real reason he had hired out these villains.
"Even though destroying these second rate Avengers would be nice, my main agenda is getting all that power back from Rick Jones! It was inconceivable that a fool like him could have defied me in such a manner. Despite the destruction of my version of the Watcher's Ultimate Machine, I was able to salvage something from it. I will still be able to use to drain the power Rick Jones has to the point of overloading the power drain defenses he seems to have. Since my makeshift machine will only work once before it self-destructs, I have one chance at this. I can't afford any screw-ups this time. My henchmen will be able to keep the Avengers busy while I make my plans. Rick Jones' power will be mine!"
XXX
"Are we going to live here, Rick?" Kara asked Validus as he and she worked on the new West Coast Avengers headquarters in Death Valley.
"Yes. But eventually, I plan on having a house around here."
"How about Hollywood or Santa Monica? We can live somewhere by the ocean."
"That sounds nice, but I was thinking about creating a spaceship that would double as a home. This way we can move whenever we wanted to."
"You know how to build a spaceship?" Kara asked as she came from behind him, putting her arms around him, kissing the back of his neck and stroking his massive chest affectionately.
"Yes. I absorbed some of Brainiac Five's intelligence, so I know how to do it. Due to my strength and knowledge, it won't take too long. As soon as I gather the equipment and material I need I'll be ready to go."
"I had no idea you were that intelligent, Rick," Squirrel Girl said after having admired the beautiful, emerald warrior. She deftly scampered towards the couple from the top of the newly created building to the ground at super speed, going so far as to run on the wall without any problem.
"I didn't get my boost in intelligence until recently due to the fact that it came along at the same time I got my other abilities," the well-muscled warrior answered. Squirrel Girl looked at Supergirl quizzically as the maid of steel made shooing motions with her hands that her new lover couldn't see.
"Something wrong with your hands, Supergirl?" the fuzzy chick asked as she zipped right in between them.
"Are you done with your chores for our new headquarters, Squirrel Girl?" Kara asked a little impatiently.
"You can call me Doreen when we're not working, Kara. Yes, I'm done. Aren't we, Monkey Joe?" Doreen asked as the squirrel on her shoulder nodded its head in approval.
"Well, you're pretty fast, Doreen. If the inside is done already, we can all go to our prospective rooms."
"The inside is about done now, Kara," Quasar said, coming outside the headquarters. "All we need to do is get all of our security clearances straightened out and we can get started."
"I'm glad to hear that, Quasar. So where are our rooms?" Kara said, snuggling up to Rick and caressing the center of his back.
"Um. Um. We haven't divvied up the rooms as of yet. But you can call me Wendell. Heh, heh," Quasar laughed nervously with his hand behind his head.
"You OK, Wendell? You seem out of sorts," Kara said, regarding the cosmic superhero with a tip of her head to her right that Wendell found extremely attractive.
"I'm fine. I'm gonna go inside and see how things are going there." Quasar ran away into the building with all haste to the surprise of Validus, Supergirl, and Squirrel Girl.
"He's been acting kind of strange lately," Squirrel Girl commented.
"The fool is in love with the wrong person," Moondragon said as she walked outside the front entrance and over to the three heroes.
"Who's he in love with?" Squirrel Girl asked, enthused at the idea of gossip.
"He's in love with Supergirl here."
"How could he be in love with me?" I just got here."
"Many men have fantasy girls they dream about while growing up that really don't exist. As far as Quasar knew you were a fictional character. It probably embarrasses him when he thinks of all the fantasies he had about you as he grew up."
"You're a mind reader, aren't you?" Supergirl asked.
"Yes. That's right. If I probe hard enough I could probably find out exactly what his fantasies are."
"Don't. Just let him have his privacy," the maid of steel answered stoically.
"That's right! Let's not play waaaay too much information!" Squirrel Girl replied as everybody there stared at her.
"All right. Hopefully, he'll get over it."
"It's strange how beautiful Rick Jones is in his emerald form. Things would be better if Supergirl were to fall in love with Wendell so I could have someone as powerful as Validus for myself. This might be difficult. I can tell from here that her will is strong. So this will take some doing."
At that moment all of their Avengers I.D. cards went off. "All right, everybody! Our training room is ready and it's time we go through some workouts. Everybody inside!" Hawkeye barked.
As soon as everyone had entered in the building, Hawkeye had everyone go through some training sessions, some with each Avenger by him or herself, some with various pairings, and some with all of them together.
Over the course of a few days, the current group of Avengers had become well acclimated with each other, making them an efficient team. Not a moment too soon as the main communication monitor went off.
"Hello! How are you? This is the Governor of California. I called the Avengers in New York, but they're busy right now and the butler there told me to contact you."
"Yep. We're the West Coast Avengers, Governor. What can we do for you?"
"On the Golden State Bridge Black Tom, the Juggernaut and a few other supervillains are demanding a ransom of one billion dollars or they'll blow the bridge up along with the few people still left on the bridge in their cars. They've already killed a few people there including some state National Guard soldiers who have arrived to try and stop them. Most of them have surrounded the bridge waiting for my further instructions. As you probably know with all of the financial problems of the state we can't begin to afford to pay out so much money," the governor explained.
"We're on our way, Governor. You can count on us," Hawkey answered. "You heard the governor, everybody..."
"Avengers assemble!" Squirrel Girl exclaimed with enthusiasm, interrupting Hawkeye."
"Couldn't have said that better myself," Validus answered, smiling.
XXX
As the Avengers arrived at the Golden State Bridge there were several cars occupied by the few people who hadn't managed to get away. On both sides of the bridge were reinforcements of the State National Guard watching and waiting. The first wave of the State National Guard had met defeat at the hands of this new group of super villains. Even several varying types of aircraft and armored vehicles had been decimated by the Leader's motley crew including attacks seemingly out of nowhere. The men and women of the State Guard gave a silent sigh of relief when they saw the Avengers quinjet land nearby.
"So the mighty Avengers have shown up to play. We'll be giving them something they'll never forget," Black Tom said as he pointed his shillelagh in the direction of the quinjet.
"You got that right!" Joystick joined in.
"Oh, no you don't!" Quasar put up a golden force field around the Avengers aircraft, making the offending bolts bounce off harmlessly.
"Land the quinjet right among those national guardsmen, Rick," Hawkeye ordered as the jade warrior complied.
When the quinjet had landed and the Avengers had exited their aircraft the state guardsmen cheered them on as Hawkeye lead his team towards where Black Tom and the other villains awaited.
"Try to get the civilians out of there when the fight starts!" the Avengers' archer called out to the general in charge of the state guardsmen as he took off in a mini-sky-sled.
"All right, Avenger. We'll do everything we can to aid you. Now get out there and kick some ass!"
"So the second rates Avengers have arrived. It will be a good day for our reputation when the so-called West Coast Avengers go down in a blaze of glory!" Black Tom exclaimed, pointing his wooden weapon at the oncoming Avengers.
"Don't count your chickens before they hatch, Tommy," Squirrel Girl said as she sped over towards him.
"The Avengers seem to think me a weakling if they're sending a wee lass like you against me," Black Tom said as he attempted to blast the speeding girl, coming at him.
"Wee lass? I'm a whole lot better than you can possibly imagine," Doreen said as she dodged energy blasts from Black Tom's shillelagh. But little did Tom know that he was being set up.
!ZWING!POP! "Oof!" Black Tom groaned as Hawkeye's boxing glove arrow hit its mark, knocking the Irishman out.
"Good work, Squirrel Girl!" Hawkeye called out from overhead.
"That was my friend! I'll get you for that!" Juggernaut screamed as he grabbed a nearby car and threw it up at the archer who had no problem evading the large automobile.
"There are people inside that car! It's about to..."
"I got it, Hawkeye," Supergirl said as she flew up to the car at super speed, grabbed it and gently put it down, but before she could do or say anything else. !POW! "Ungh!"
"You're not so tough, you Supergirl wannabe!" Titania said, cracking her knuckles after having struck the girl of steel in the back, knocking her back several meters over the bridge and into the sky.
"Come back and fight, you cowardly, little girl! So much for that Melissa Benoist wannabe over there. I knew she couldn't stand up to..." !ZOOM!BOOM! !POW! "Ungh!" the giant-sized woman moaned in surprise at the onset of the maid of steel's powerful attack.
"Wannabe? I'm the real deal. You're acting all tough after Spider-Man kicked your ass in that Secret Wars miniseries," Kara said, standing over the prone form of Titania.
"Miniseries? I'll show you an ass kicking!" While these two powerful women fought other battles went on.
"Hold it, Juggernaut! You've caused enough problems." Validus stood there over him, practically posing as he hovered in the air a few feet above him.
"You're that new guy who's supposed to be as strong as the Hulk. Well, I defeated the Hulk in the past, so I'll defeat you just as easily."
Rick paused for a moment. "Just bring it."
"Here we go, little man!" The two titans clashed with each other trading blows that practically sent off shockwaves through the area until Validus grabbed his opponent and threw him far over the bridge in one swift motion. As soon as Juggernaut was in the air Validus leaped into him, striking him with a powerful roundhouse kick that was more designed for knockback purposes than damage thus sent Juggernaut far away into the Pacific Ocean. At the same time Airstrike came from behind the fiery flying form of the Human Torch and blasted him with explosive missiles that sent the android crashing down into the ocean under the bridge.
While Hawkeye was in a marksman duel with Boomerang, Squirrel Girl was in a fight in which she barely avoided a move-by-swipe from, "Speedfreak! It's about time I deal with you! Isn't that right, Monkey Joe?"
"Listen here, furball. I'm way too fast for you." But as the super-fast supervillain came at her again, the fuzzy chick sidestepped the attack and used a martial throw maneuver, tossing him through the bridge rafters and into the water. !SMASH!SPLASH! "Ungh!"
"I knew that schmuck was overrated. Now it's time to slice you into ribbons, chica," Feral said, brandishing her claws and showing her sharp, canine teeth in an attempt to intimidate her new sparring partner.
"Let's do it!" Doreen said with a bucked tooth smile and without any fear whatsoever.
"You are a fool not to fear me, child. I am death incarnate. Raoorr!"
!BOOM! "Oof!" Quasar moaned as he took a hit from the high flying Airstrike who attacked the cosmic superhero while he was helping evacuate the people still left on the bridge.
!VROOM! "You should be paying more attention to the battle, blondie."
"Oh, really? Prepare to be grounded!" Quasar said as he attempted to put force walls in the way of the aerial villain who seemed too fast and agile while he evaded such attempts.
'It's your turn, baldy," Joystick said as she attempted to blast Moondragon but she found she could not move or do anything.
"Wrong. It's your turn." At Moondragon's mental command Joystick struck herself with her own energy blades, going into convulsions as she shook practically vibrating until she knocked herself out.
"I sense another presence. Who is it?" Before Moondragon could think on the matter further a bright light blasted her, sending her into unconsciousness.
!ZAP! "Ungh!"
"I'm certain the bald woman was starting to figure out the fact that I was here, so I had to deal with her quickly. Now let's see how this fight turns out," the Leader speculated from his hidden spacecraft several miles above them.
After having defeated Captain Boomerang, Hawkeye shot Airstrike with a specially designed arrow that immobilized his armor, sending him crashing to the ground. "We're halfway done, Quasar! Keep it up!"
"Yeah." Quasar looked to see Supergirl finally finishing off Titania with a roundhouse kick that knocked her larger opponent out, sending her back flying over several abandoned cars. Then he turned to see the cat-like supervillain, Feral, making lightning-fast slash attacks on Squirrel Girl that the fuzzy chick evaded. But what surprised both Quasar and Hawkeye was how when Feral tried to attack with her right, Doreen moved in with an inter-gate blocking attack using her left which nullified the slash attack, then struck the cat woman with a powerful right, stunning her. Then the fuzzy chick capitalized on Feral's misfortune and struck her with several well-placed punch-and-kick combinations.
"What? There's no way a foolish little girl like you would be able to defeat me!" Feral growled as she tried to recover and regroup.
"So you want to surrender now?"
"Surrender? I have more attacks in my arsenal. Watch!" Feral moved in on the fuzzy chick, giving everything she had into one all or nothing attack which Doreen surprisingly jumped over, did a somersault, turned around and kicked her adversary from behind in her shoulder blades with both feet, stunning her. As Feral stumbled to get up, Squirrel Girl moved in on her at super speed with a powerful left forward punch, backed up by her fast movement and momentum, knocking the cat woman out.
"Whew! That was a hard fight, eh, Monkey Joe?"
"Chirp!"
"You all did a great job of teamwork. But I have the feeling there's more to this than meets the eye," the archer Avenger said as Validus descended downward.
At that moment, a beam struck Validus. "Yearrgh!" Rick screamed as the green energy ripped into him, putting him into a world of pain. Then the emerald warrior went down to the ground with a thud.
"I've waited for this moment, Rick Jones! You have power which is rightfully mine, so excuse me while I take it back!" a voice rang out from the sky. When the Avengers looked up, they saw a giant sized hologram of the head of the Leader!
"You won't be able to drain me; you tried that before!" Rick replied still in pain.
"I know that fool! You failed to totally destroy my Ultimate Machine. Therefore I've repaired it, so that I have one last chance to get my power back from you, and now I have it! You'll die in a few seconds, but now I have what's rightfully mine."
Rick slumped to the ground, his skin losing its emerald hue as he lost consciousness.
"Rick!" Supergirl called out, running over to her lover with dread and concern.
XXX
AUTHOR'S NOTES: Now I'd like to thank the people who gave me reviews for the last chapter.
AshK, Radio Driver, Sir Thames, Redzorin, Ywen, hhjykj, gffnf