Chapter Eleven
Natasha dug her nails into the back of Black Canary's head and drove her knee up into Canary's face, sending blood gushing from her nose. Then she spun Canary around and slammed her headfirst into the wall. Canary stumbled, reaching desperately for something to grab onto to steady herself. Natasha was relentless, backing her up and slamming her head into the wall again and again.
Canary managed to grab onto a piece of debris that had flown loose during Iron Man's onslaught on Spider-Man earlier which had left part of the lab in disarray. She spun around and wailed on Natasha with the blunt piece of metal, lashing out and scratching her across the face. Natasha recoiled, grabbing her face and wiping way a trail of blood from her cheek. Canary swung again, and Widow caught the piece of jagged metal with her hand. It dug into her flesh, sharp and deep. She twirled it around, twisting Black Canary's arm behind her back. She kicked Black Canary in the stomach, knocking the wind out of her and forcing her to release her grip on the shrapnel.
Natasha kicked Black Canary again, sending her stumbling backward into the wall. Natasha sprang forward, stabbing the sharp piece of metal into Black Canary's shoulder.
"Aaargh!" Canary gasped in pain as the weapon plunged into her flesh.
Her eyes flew open in astonishment at the sound that had escaped her own lips. Her voice was back.
Natasha, in horror, came to the same realization. "Govno…" she cursed in Russian.
Black Canary let out a piercing scream, so powerful and violent that the sonic waves blew Natasha clear across the room. She cracked her head against a metal pole and slumped to the ground. She lay there motionless, knocked out by the force of the blow.
"Bitch," Canary spat, wiping blood from her lip. She yanked the piece of metal out of her shoulder and let it clatter to the floor.
Across the room, Spider-Man got groggily to his feet, awakened by the sonic scream. He wasn't sure exactly at what point he'd lost consciousness. Iron Man had hit him pretty hard with those pulse waves. The last thing he remembered was Iron Man holding up some kind of cube, and saying that he had wanted Clark to come to the Triskelion.
"Everybody alive?" Spidey asked, holding his head.
"Barely," Canary replied, her voice hoarse and raspy.
"I'm fine, other than the fact that I can't move," Cyborg grunted, still confined to a crouching position. "That iron asshole did something to my circuits. I'm paralyzed."
"Listen, I've gotta go find Clark. Er, Boy Scout. Whatever," Spider-Man said. "I think he's in trouble. Iron Man knew we were coming."
"I'll come with you," Canary said.
"No offense, lady, but you look like you're in pretty rough shape," he replied. She still had blood gushing from her nose, her shoulder was badly wounded, and her face was puffy and swollen.
"You look like you've seen better days yourself," Canary said.
He looked down at himself. His costume was torn and tattered, and he was covered in bruises.
"Yeah, well, they don't make superhero suits like they used to," he said. "When I was just a little Spider-Boy, a good costume would last you ten years."
"You're very weird," Canary said.
"Yeah, I know. Well, like I said, I'm going to go find Clark. See ya." He turned to walk out of the room.
"And I said I'm coming with you," Canary said, starting to follow him.
"Sorry, toots, but you'd just slow me down!" Spidey spun around and fired off a blast of webbing, binding Black Canary's arm to one of the computer consoles.
"Hey!" She struggled to pull her hand free.
"Don't worry, it's non-toxic! But don't try to eat it. It's like Play-Dough. Smells like it would be delicious, but it actually tastes pretty gross. Catch you later!" With that, Spidey shot a strand of webbing into the air and swung out of the room, leaving behind a very angry Black Canary.
Several floors below, Clark Kent stared up at the imposing form of the mighty Thor. He tapped his mystical hammer against the open palm of his massive hand menacingly. He looked pissed.
"You have some nerve busting in here like this, boy," Thor boomed. "I thought you had more respect than that."
"Listen, Thor, you don't understand," Clark said, holding up his hand in protest.
"I think I understand the concept of breaking and entering pretty well, son. You're trespassing, and I'm going to show you out!" He raised the hammer high above his head, then swung it down at Clark. Clark quickly rolled out of the way, the hammer crashing down into the floor, cracking it. He scrambled to his feet as Thor pried the hammer back out of the floor.
"Look, I'm not here to fight, I just want to-" Clark began to protest again when Thor lashed out with Mjolnir, cracking him across the face with it. Clark was sent tumbling backward, clutching his jaw where the hammer had struck him. Searing pain shot through his whole skull. He only knew pain like this when dealing with kryptonite or magic, and apparently Mjolnir had enough magical properties to qualify as something that could actually hurt him. He stumbled back against the wall, bracing himself with one hand and holding his injured jaw with the other.
Thor reared back with the hammer and swung it again, bringing it up from below like a golf club. With super speed, Clark grabbed the handle before the blow could be struck, wrestling against the momentum of Thor's powerful swing. The blue energy emanating from the hammer crackled and sizzled against his skin, burning his flesh. Clark screamed even as he fought to gain control of the weapon. Thor fought back, pushing Clark back against the wall and getting right up in his face.
Clark sent a blast of heat vision tearing forth from his eyes straight into the handle of the hammer. It heated up, roasting Thor's hands just as the blue energy burned Clark's. The Norse god cried out in surprise, but did not release his grip on Mjolnir. Instead, he pressed harder, shoving Clark's back harder against the wall and screaming a warrior's cry, spraying spit and sweat in Clark's face. Clark gritted his teeth and pushed back, wincing and struggling. He continued to fire a torrent of heat vision into the hammer, resisting the urge to release his own grip as the blue flames licked at his skin.
Suddenly, a blast of energy overtook Thor from behind. A yellow beam coursed through his entire body, causing him to convulse and his eyes to roll back in his head. He opened his mouth to scream but no sound came out. He let go of the hammer, and the blue energy radiating from it dispersed. The weapon fell to the ground, and, a moment later, so did Thor. He dropped to his knees, swayed back and forth, and then toppled over like a house of cards.
Standing behind where Thor had previously stood was a being of pure energy that Clark immediately recognized as the Eradicator in its elemental form.
"Eradicator?" Clark gasped, stunned. He felt woozy. "What are you doing here?"
"Kal-El," the Eradicator said, its voice a hollow echo. "Anthony Stark has released General Nicholas Fury from the Phantom Zone. In so doing, he has released several phantoms from their captivity and into your world."
"Oh, no…" Clark sighed, sliding down the wall. "More phantoms…" He had accidentally let a host of phantoms loose after his own experience in the zone, and it had taken months to round them all up.
"I can return these phantoms to the Phantom Zone for you, Kal-El," the Eradicator continued. "Do you have the shield with you? The shield that bears the mark of your ancestors?"
Clark nodded, weakly. Ever since he'd let those phantoms loose, he had carried with him a small shield with his family crest that allowed him to send the demons back to their prison dimension. Even after he'd returned them all to the zone, he continued to keep it with him, partly in case he ever encountered another phantom, and partly out of seeing the symbol as something of a good luck charm. He reached into his pocket and pulled out the shield. His hand trembling a little, he handed it over to the Eradicator, who took the shield gently in his energy-based hand.
"Thank you, Kal-El," the Eradicator said. Then, in a quick flash, the being vanished.
Clark stumbled forward, still dizzy from the blows he'd taken from the enchanted hammer. He made his way into Doctor Garner's open cell.
Garner sat in a chair in the center of the room, surrounded by metal bars that stretched from floor to ceiling like a jail cell. As soon as Clark stepped into the room, red flood lights embedded in the floor, walls and ceiling snapped on, bathing everything in an intense red glow.
"Red sun lamps," Garner said, gesturing to the lights. "They negate your powers."
Clark, apparently needing to see for himself, grabbed the bars of Garner's cell and pulled on them. He found he was unable to bend them. His powers truly were being sapped by the lights.
"Clark, they didn't get it, did they?" Garner asked. "They didn't get the shield?"
"…What?" Clark asked, confused.
"The shield with your family crest…" Garner said. "It would allow Stark to get into the Phantom Zone and free General Fury. He didn't get it… did he?"
Flying through the sky outside the Triskelion, the figure that had appeared to Clark as the Eradicator reached into its chest. It pried loose a holo-cube that had been embedded there. With the cube removed, the figure now took on its true form, that of Tony Stark in his Iron Man armor. He would have to remember to thank Quentin Beck for his holographic technology, which had once again come in handy.
Armed with Clark's kryptonian shield and the knowledge that Xavier had gotten from Garner's mind, Iron Man flew toward the Statue of Liberty and the secret fortress that was hidden there.
