Chapter 28: Gladiator Games

I walked into a mansion bustling with heavily armored heroes, agents, and soldiers. Mrs. Kennedy gave everyone the Tron armor treatment (Cap's look was gonna sell so much merch), all except for the Wakandans, who stuck with their S.W.A.T. gear. I ran into Strange, Fury, and Cap, all of who drilled me hard about the upcoming battle. Some of em' brought genuine concerns to my plan (I realized I left out a few heroes in the battle plans). By the time I was done, I had no patience left for Cyclops.

"Hey," he said to me. "Storm-Lord, was it?"

"Yeah," I said. "Look, the plan hasn't changed. Just do your part, and cross your fingers."

"Oh no, it's nothing like that, son. Just wanted to thank you for your efforts. I know it couldn't have been easy for you, what getting your powers, and being drafted to save the world during the learning phase."

"Damn near had to cut the learning entirely. Most of what I can do, I learned as I was fighting for my life."

"Commendable. I'm confident we'll win the day, and as i've offered your friends, you have a place with my X-Men should you need it."

"Not exactly the best pitch, considering you and your's were the ones that took over the world a few years back."

"That was a…..more nuanced situation to say the least. Still, a valid argument. Things were done by me that I will regret for the rest of my life. Still, this is bigger than you and I. Mutants are in danger more than ever with the recent resurgence of our kind. I'd rather not see them rounded up, slaughtered, or become victims of bigotry. The new generation will have to be like you, and learn to defend themselves in a world that will never show them mercy."

"That's a pretty downer attitude, Cyclops."

"If you'd seen even a third of what I have, you'd know it's the truth. So, what do you say?"

I paused, givin' it some genuine thought.

"I'm not sayin' yes or no," I said. "But i'll give it some thought. Hell, i've got so much $#!+ to figure out in my personal life, I haven't considered if ima stick with this hero gig after today. Still, thank for the offer. If nothing else, I might need a way to blow off some steam."

"Good man. I'll leave you to your thoughts. I'd offer some advice, but like I said, i've studied on your efforts. You're as good of a leader as any of us veterans. Not to be a heckler, but if you could remember-"

"Not to ice the old man? Don't worry, he'll get a broken arm at the worst."

That didn't exactly reassure him, but he didn't wanna push an already tentative agreement. He shook my hand, and left.

I quickly morphed into my battlesuit, and searched for Grant and Allyson, who I found chillin' out beside the pool patio with the Young Avengers, Runaways, Power Pack, and Nova Twins. They all gave me a passing glance (even with their helmets off, the Nova Twins looked the exact same), and resumed whatever conversations they were having.

"Hey guys," I said to Grant and Allyson.

"Sup, bro," Grant said.

"Hey, Storm-Lord," Allyson smiled at me.

"Ya'll ready?" I asked them.

"As we'll ever be." Allyson said. "I'm so proud of my team! The Nova Twins, and I found cool ways to use our lightspeed powers and blasts in cool ways, America and Molly are ridiculous power houses, like Grant, Power Pack are way stronger than I gave them credit for, and Stinger, Cassie's new name, has so many cool ways to use the shrink/grow gimmick! I wish you could see what we got in store for those creeps!"

"My helmet has recording capabilities," Kira (no way was I saying her full name) said. "I can document the battle for you, Sunbird."

"Sweet!"

She high fived Kira, and I chuckled at her. Allyson would always find a way to befriend everyone.

"Now's not the time, guys," Patriot spoke up (yup, couldn't stand that dude). "Everything's at risk today; we need to stay focused."

"Lighten up, Bradley," Hulkling said. "Stress won't help."

"Excuse me for worrying about a magic comet that'll destroy the world as we know it."

"How do you think I feel?" I spoke up. "I can feel the damn thing as it gets closer. Worst headache ever."

"Then let's hope your plan works this time."

"Let's."

"So...." Allyson thought to me and Grant. "This is it. Dang….feels so long ago I met you two in the Helicarrier cafeteria."

"First thing you said to me was that you liked my hair!" I thought back to her.

"Better than just outright sayin' I thought you were hot!"

"That's always my opening line," Grant thought. "So far, only Dragon Empress didn't fall for it."

"Did you really flirt with she-dragon?!"

"Hey, she's usually super hot! On the plus side, I think I have my first nemesis! Already movin' up in the hero biz!"

We laughed with each other (had to explain to the others that we were telepathically talkin'), and gradually calmed down. With only ten minutes left before game time, Allyson got serious.

"Promise not to die?" she asked me and Grant. "I know that's a big promise to make, but I can't bear the thought of losin' either of you. Despite what we've been though, you guys have made this strange nonsense some of the best days of my life."

"I'm not dyin'," Grant said. "I got too many chores to do."

"Of course you'd say that, Grant! Hey, can I ask you guys somethin'? When the Norn-Fates visited us for the first time…...did you get any other visions? I saw what I thought was my death to Black Hole Girl."

"Same! Not of Black Hole Girl, but of what looked like my death at the hands of Magneto, back in the school basement. Guess the visions were just crucial turning points? I dunno. What about you, Storm-Lord?"

I paused for a few secs, remembering the fear of seeing Doom seconds away from offing me.

"My vision hasn't come true yet," I calmly thought to them. "Mines was of Doom about to stab me in the chest with a black and red sword, while I was pinned to the roof of a skyscraper via thorned vines. But like you said, probably nothin' to worry about."

Grant and Allyson were dead silent (almost kinda nice) for half a minute.

"Guys," I thought to them. "If what you've said is true, the vision isn't what it seems. Hell, maybe I can change it. Don't panic, don't try to talk me outta the plan, just focus on what y'all have to do. Whatever happens-"

"Don't you dare!" Allyson mentally shrieked. "Just…..no. Don't you dare give up on me! You stay alive till either me or Grant can come in to help! Promise me right now! Please!"

"I…...I promise."

She kissed me. No hesitation, no shame, no f*(#$ to give about everyone watching; just me and her sharing a passionate kiss. If nothin' else, I was gonna fight like hell to get several more of those.

"Stay alive, and there's plenty more where that came from. Kay?" she asked me.

"Kay." I said.

"Awwwwwwww," literally everyone else went.

"Shut up!" I laughed at them.

A few seconds later, my watch went off. Time to get the show on the road.

Everyone shuffled into there groups, as Strange sent them into the Mirror Dimension. It took a little over ten minutes to get everyone in place, but we were ready to roll, with 5 minutes to spare.

"Oh, Storm-Lord," Strange said. "What will be the signal to bring our comrades into the battle?"

I thought on it for a few secs, then smiled like an idiot (Grant would know).

"This guy," I said, gesturing to Grant. "Is gonna shout 'Avengers Assemble' as loud as he can."

Grant looked like I gave him the best birthday present in history!

"So be it," Strange nodded. "Best of fortune to us all."

He opened a portal to his Sanctum Sanctorum (eh, whatever), and zipped inside with his magic team.

"So?" I asked Grant and Allyson. "We got this?"

"Damn straight!" Grant said, sticking his hand out. "Delta Force on three!"

"6...4...3, Delta Force!" we all shouted, before hightailing it back to New York.

We zoomed into Midtown Manhattan (after Doom let us through the dome), and stopped just a few miles away from Avengers Tower. A few seconds later, a skyscraper sized projection of Doom shot up from the tower (Stark was probably growling in his suit).

"So," Doom sneered. "You have decided to challenge the rightful rule of Doom."

"Damn straight!" Grant yelled up at him. "Now get your tin can ass out here; I wanna hit ya with somethin' big!"

"A great intellectual response. But surely you were not as naive as to believe that Doom would lower himself to battle you on command? You have already met my might, and are not worthy of the honor of meeting Doom in combat just yet. Instead, you will battle my lieutenants for the honor of meeting your ends at the fist of Doom! Do your best, children, the world watches with bated breath!"

Doom's hologram disappeared, and a wave of War Force trembled through the ground (this was gonna be so much fun).

"Well," Allyson thought. "You were right about him wanting to drag this out, Storm-Lord."

"Figures," Grant thought. "The dude's a punk."

"Focus, guys," I thought to them. "Somethin' big's comin'!"

Doom's voice boomed across the sky, like he was shouting into the world's best surround sound.

"YOUR FIRST CHALLENGE COMES FROM SOME OLD FRIENDS WHO'VE BEEN DYING TO SEE YOU AGAIN! AH, HERE COME THEIR HERALDS NOW!"

The ground splintered as red and black streaks shot outta the pavement, like geysers! I had the team back up against each other, and put a barrier over ourselves until the heat cooled down. 30 seconds later, the hundreds of black and red streaks took form as black and red, gooey, humanoid creatures. They had Mileena (from Mortal Kombat) jaws, glowing red eyes, and long jagged pincers from the elbow down. The dead giveaway was the fact that they had red spiders, exactly how Venom's was shaped, plastered on their chests.

"Aw, great," I thought.

"Yup," Grant responded. "This jackass again."

The Venom army (sounds like a fanclub of some screamo band) charged our barrier from all sides, and Allyson created a bunker, armed with Gatling guns that shot out fire bullets, over the barrier, and started shooting down Venom Soldiers (definitely a screamo band fanclub) 10 at a time.

"At least they're still vulnerable to fire!" she thought to me and Grant. "You guys need a couple Blazing Sun Swords?"

"I got it myself!" I thought, creating two swords of sun fire in my hands.

"Wicked!" Grant thought. "And yeah, G-Force works just fine, Sunbird. Let's barbeque these suckers!"

We let loose a small explosive wave, taking out a good 50 Venom Soldiers in one blast, and split up. All in all it took two and a half minutes to clean up a little over 500 Venom Soldiers. I activated my Thunder Form, and flew across the area, slashing down 10 soldiers per second. I was a lot better at flying now, and these dip$#!+s couldn't maneuver to save their lives. That mixed with Thunder Sense, giving me precise info of what was around me, and I was sittin' real pretty in this fight. Allyson and Grant were also kicking some major ass. Allyson in particular had bullet spraying gun constructs all along her arms, back, and bottoms of her feet. She kept moving, drawing a huge crowd of Venom soldiers to her, and blasting them down 10-15 at a time with fire bullets. Hell, one time she torched over 50 of em' at once with a quickly mini-sun burst! Grant was sticking with a mix of what me and Allyson were doin'. He was flyin' about in his G-Blazer, slashing down enemies with his axe and sword, but also using Geo-Force charged shards of All-Metal as homing missiles. Even when he wasn't directly attacking anything, he was racking up kills like a camper (those dicks who stay in one place and snipe you all game). Like I said, this didn't take long.

"AN ADEQUATE DISPLAY!" Doom said as we regrouped. "LET'S SEE HOW YOU FARE AGAINST OLD FRIENDS WITH NEW TRICKS!"

A screeching red comet shot outta Avengers Tower, and made a beeline towards me and the team. I couldn't see inside the blood red comet, but that was the least of my worries, as hundreds of red missile constructs formed around it, and shot themselves at us! I quickly used the Power Grid to summon a series of Phantom Bolts, and blow the constructs to hell, while Grant and Allyson combined their energies to make a Delta Cannon aimed for the red comet. I was expecting them to knock the damn thing outta the sky, but right before the blast made impact, the comet doubled its energy output, and held its own against the Delta Cannon. Lucky for me, they were able to hold the comet at a stalemate; giving me enough time to ground the thing with a Zeus Cannon from above.

"Up the gravity GT!" I thought to Grant, as me and the team descended to the road. "Sunbird, light the bastard up!"

Before Venom (and yes, it was clearly Venom) could get up, he was pinned to the ground with 10X the earth's gravity, and had a bright yellow bonfire dropped on top of his ass! Allyson really didn't wanna deal with his $#!+ again, cuz she rained down mini-suns in addition to the bonfire, actually melting the asphalt around Venom. For a second, I hoped to believe that we actually one-shot the creep, but of course, no such luck. The ground rumbled, and a huge explosive wave of Ares energy blasted us apart (destroying a good chunk of surrounding buildings)!

"WE DON'T WORK LIKE THAT, NO MORE!" I heard Venom roar (more deep and demonic than raspy), as he rocketed straight towards me.

Once again, the bad guys never fail to single me out of all people, even though there were arguably bigger threats to deal with. My Speed Sense went off, giving me time to recover, and I gotta say, Venom was lookin' kinda badass. He was his usual build, but now had blood red eyes and a matching spider emblem. He had shoulder spikes, glowing red talons, and his body had a more scaly look to it. He had his jaws wide open for a bite of Storm-Lord, but I was havin' none of it. I slammed him in the chest with a Power Gauntlet/Vibration Punch, knocking his form slightly outta focus. I hit him with a left, but his form went all gooey, absorbing the blow, and locking me in place. I struggled to get out, but this goop was like liquid steel. Oh, and as if that wasn't bad enough, Venom made four blaster tentacles (like Doctor Octopus' arms), and blasted me point blank with enough force to rock a battleship. I forced my Thunder Form to take the brunt of the blast, but if Grant hadn't clocked Venom upside the head with his axe, i'd've been deep friend for sure. As such, Venom loosened his grip on me, giving me time to blast him away with a Final Flash! Allyson caught up to him, half a mile away, and smacked him to the ground with a giant ping pong paddle! Me and the team honed in on him like missiles, but Venom had toughed way the hell up since our last fight! He created an outward barrage of axes and swords made outta the symbiote, while sandwiching us in with a barrage of War Force missile constructs from behind. Not even five days ago, this woulda tripped me up so hard, but me and the team had come a long way in five days! I transformed into Thunder Form 2, snaked around the constructs as a lighting bolt, and cracked Doom in the face at Mach 3! Grant and Allyson also weaved around the constructs (which quickly faded after I hit Venom), slammed him with an axe swing and Power Gauntlet punch respectively, and kept flying in their own paths. We kinda silently got on the same page, and kept circling back, hitting Venom at least 30 times per second with the force of freight trains!

"What do we call this one?! Allyson asked.

"Delta Speed Storm!" Grant answered.

"Sweet! We should-"

Yeah, after the 500th hit, Venom had enough. He transformed his body into a giant blob, and when Allyson and Grant got within a few feet of him, he reformed himself into a massive tornado of Ares charged black goo! That was either the most disgusting thing i've ever seen, or pure genius.

"Guys!" I thought to them. "Delta Vortex! Burn him out!"

They quickly recovered, and let the symbiote vortex ablaze with Geo-Force and sun fire (looked like the world's coolest lava lamp). I joined the mix, and after a few seconds of turbulent energy swirling (like a cosmic dryer), Venom retreated upwards, reformed his body 100 ft above us, and rained down a barrage of War Force blasts. Before the blasts could even get 10 ft away from him, I did a Static Jump above his head, and hammer punched him to the ground. Me and the team were on his ass faster than he could blink!

For the next five minutes, we slammed Venom with everything we had. We used Aerodynamics, Hammer Time, Delta Speed Thrasher, Delta Killer, Demolition Derby, Delta Barrage (man, how did we remember all these moves?), and even blasted a Delta Cannon through Venom's chest! No matter what we did, we couldn't keep him down long, as he always hit us with an explosive wave, construct barrage, or changed his form. Hell, when we blasted him through the chest, it just confirmed what I feared when we dropped a Delta Vortex on top of him; this guy didn't have a physical body under that symbiote! Worked out pretty good for him; right now, he was a 30 ft tall black mass armed with Gatling guns, rocket launchers, blades, claws, and a Unibeam!

"Damn it," Grant thought to me and Allyson, as he tried corralling Venom with hundreds of explosive All-Metal shards. "Smashed, burned, stabbed, beat down, and a f*(!^& hole in his chest, and the dude's still fightin'! The hell do we do now?!"

"We haven't tried sonics yet!" I thought back. "Lemme give it the Black Bolt approach!"

"What?!" Allyson mentally yelled at me. "Storm-Lord, you'll level the city!"

"Yeah, cuz we're doin' a great job at controlling the fight! Don't worry, I know my own strength! Can you get him into a ball for me, please?!"

"Only because you asked nicely!"

She encapsulated Venom in a layer of light and, reshaped him into a giant ball, big enough to use statues as bowling pins.

"Hurry up, Storm-Lord!" she thought to me. "Can't keep him this way forever!"

I quickly vibrated my vocal chords, disrupted the electrons around Venom, and charged the building energy with voltage. Last time I tried this, I blew five holes in the Helicarrier's infrastructure. Not a damn thing changed since then; only the fact that I had more open room to fall back on. I whispered something stupid and inappropriate to Venom, and let loose a wave that blew the glass off the surrounding buildings for the following 200 meters (God, taxes were gonna be a bitch next next year). Venom wailed awfully, and his form went to looking like it got thrown into a blender! He collapsed to the ground, and I flew down after him. I quickly wrapped his disorganized form in a layer of voltage and air, and made the aura around him vibrate like crazy! Venom bucked, shrieked, and shifted his form like crazy, but I managed to keep him pinned down and deep fried, until he just up and disappeared! I looked around like crazy, using my Thunder Sense to try and ping him, but he was nowhere in sight!

"ROUND ONE GOES TO YOU, CHILDREN!" Doom's voice boomed out. "THOUGH ONE WOULD THINK YOU'D TRY TO RESOLVE THE SITUATION IN A LESS PERMANENT MANOR! HAD I NOT SNATCHED HIM AWAY FROM YOUR MERCILESS CUSTODY, VENOM WOULD NOT BE LONG FOR THIS WORLD! THEN AGAIN, YOU'RE NOT STRANGERS TO TAKING LIFE, ARE YOU?!"

The ground went dark with purple mist, and just at the base of Avengers Tower, three giant energy pillars of Death Force shot down, and steadily burned into the pavement. A few seconds later, the purple mist that permeated the roads of Midtown started to gain form. The mist started to wail, and misty silhouettes of damned souls started to gravitate towards the three Death Force pillars. Ten seconds later, the the mist had dried up, leaving supercharged versions of undead Taskmaster, Goblin, and Abomination. I could sense that Taskmaster and Abomination were charged with the power of 5,000 damned souls, while Goblin was straight up double what they were! The only good news was that Goblin wasn't sportin' his black armor and weapons, so we wouldn't have to get around that again.

"Ah," Grant mentally sighed. "Good times."

"You mean that time you and Storm-Lord almost died violently?" Allyson casually asked him.

"Yup."

"I'll take Taskmaster," I thought to them. "You two take Goblin and Abomination. Either take em' out, or hold em' off until I can regroup."

"You sure about that, bro?" Grant asked. "Taskmaster kinda kicked your ass last time."

"I was playing on his terms last time. This time he's playing by mine's. Don't worry, I got this."

"The battle cry of legends!" Allyson laughed at me (gotta love the optimism in the face of certain death).

"BEHOLD!" Doom continued. "THE SINS OF YOUR PAST! LET US SEE IF THEY WILL CONSUME YOU!"

Doom let the dogs loose, but right before they collided with us (we held our ground), Grant teed them up with Geo-Force geysers, and we split up to fight our respective opponent's.

Like I said, Taskmaster had me last time cuz he made me play by his rules. Whole new ballgame now! I flew after him in Thunder Form, and knocked him around the city via Power Gauntlet/Vibration Punches. After getting him with about 30 swings hard enough to kill elephants (which i'd never do, f*(# poachers), I busted out Excelsior, changed it to spear mode, and skewered the asshole! Just like always, Strange's Holy Waters of Eden magic kicked in, giving Taskmaster all kinds of…...well, not Hell, but whatever. Anyway, I could feel the Death Force hemorrhaging outta Taskmaster. I had to keep slashing and stabbing him to keep him from recovering, and I was more than happy to keep dishing out the Adamantium/Vibranium love!

I kicked Taskmaster off of my spear, and batted him away with a Phantom Bolt. For the next few minutes, it was nothing but high octane, DBZ level fighting. I transformed Excelsior to sword mode, and flew at high speed, slashing and stabbing at Taskmaster 50 times per second. I managed to keep him pinned down for a good 10 seconds, but the dude was way faster than I gave him credit for. He managed to block one of my strikes, and elbow me in the face. He tried for a stab, but I did a Static Jump behind him, stabbed him in the back, and blasted him to the ground via lightning bolt from above. By the time he recovered, I was running circles around him, poking him fulla holes. Again, I slashed him up somethin' fierce, but I could only keep him in this new position for so long. He managed to block one of my slashes to his legs, and tried to hit me across the face with a backhand. I ducked under it, and hit him in the chest with a Vibration Punch, sending him flying. I managed to get behind him, skewer him in the back with my spear (didn't want him to slam into Midtown East Pizza), and blast him forward into empty road. From there, it was pretty much all downhill for Taskmaster. I slashed and stabbed him Static Jump style, took him to the sky when he got too comfortable, and had him chase me on the ground when he got his bearings in the sky. I never let him get the upper hand for more than a second, and a minute later, I shredded his body into nothing, and purged the remaining Death Force energy with a slash of my sword. I quickly honed in on Grant and Allyson, who were duking it out a few miles west of Avengers Tower, and man were they kickin' ass!

They didn't stay together (hard to keep two hulking death monsters in the same place), but they somehow managed to kinda sorta work together anyway. Grant was in the air, duking it out with Goblin DBZ style. He switched it up a lot, using a combination of weapons, unarmed, Geo-Force, and All-Metal combat. Him and Goblin were trading blows so hard, the ground was shaking, even tho they were at least 1,000 ft up. Dunno if I could say they were evenly matched tho. Grant was getting in so many punches, blasts, slashes, and stabs off, while Goblin just barely managed to hold his own against the Geo-Titan. Allyson, who was duking it out against Abomination at ground level, was doing surprisingly well. For starters, Grant was givin' her a little help, constantly ensnaring Abomination in vines thicker than anacondas. They didn't keep him down, but they slowed him considerably more, making him even more hopeless against Allyson in the speed department. Yeah, she was flying circles around Abomination, slashing and stabbing him at least 30 times per second with her spear. Whenever he got too much momentum, or managed to break free of Grant's vines, Allyson would stay ahead of him, blasting him with mini-suns, and blindsiding him with things like a train, giant fist, or ram construct. She also kept a constant fire engulfing Abomination, chipping away at his form even more than she already was. I could sense Abomination's form was at that tipping point; where Allyson was just a few good hits away from putting him on the ropes, so I decided to help her speed along the process. I summoned my Sky Shield, charged it with lightning and Sea Force, got a two mile running start, and ran in Allyson's direction.

"Comin' in hot, Sunbird!" I thought to her. "Go high!"

She got Abomination one last time under the jaw with a backflip kick, and took off just in time to avoid a shield throw that cut through Abomination's stomach, like a hot knife through butter.

"Slice and dice!" I thought to Allyson, as I summoned my sword.

Together, we finished off Abomination in 7 seconds flat, and expelled his remaining Death Force energy. We quickly flew over to help Grant with Goblin, but Doom clearly knew who had this fight won. He snatched Goblin away, and continued yapping his mouth.

"ROUND 2 IS YOURS, CHILDREN," his voice boomed. "DOOM CONGRATULATES YOU ON ANOTHER AVERAGE SHOW OF COMBAT! PERHAPS IT IS TIME TO INCREASE THE DIFFICULTY OF YOUR TRIALS!"

Orange comets, trailing a green one, shot outta Avengers Tower (were they just hangin' out in the penthouse room?), and made a beeline for us.

I already knew the green comet was Jim, and using my enhanced vision, I could see the Serpent Society, triple the power they were last time, and back for a rematch.

"I'll take Jim," I thought to Grant and Allyson. "Hopefully I can get through to him, but if not, it shouldn't take long to knock him out. Y'all alright with keeping those serpent losers busy for a little bit?"

"No problem here," Grant thought back. "Might actually get a decent warm-up outta this."

"I hate how accurate the statement is," Allyson said. "I'm barely in my zone. Go on Storm-Lord, we'll hold down the fort."

"Thanks guys," I said. "I won't leave ya hangin' long. Now let's Delta Vortex their asses. Split em' up, and take em' down. Ready…..NOW!"

We dashed forward, faking a head on collision, and quickly dashed around our opponents, lighting them up in a vortex of lightning, sun fire, and Geo-Force. We spun them around for a few secs, then made our respective energies blastwave the Serpent Society and Jim away from each other (like the Dragon Balls after you make a wish). I quickly tackled Jim to the ground ( obviously trying the diplomatic approach first), but the guy was a lot quicker than I gave him credit for. He used the momentum to flip me off of him, and came around with a huge axe swing (yeah, he had an axe) to my head. I summoned my trident, and blocked the swing, but damn, Jim had put on some muscle! I was stronger than him, but not by much!

"Jim!" I tired to talk to him between swings. "Ya gotta snap out of it, man! Doom's controlling you! You're nobody's lap dog! You're an artist, a slacker, the Lebowski of the B-Train! Whatever he did to you, we can fix it, we can free you!

"Imbecile!" Jim yelled at me (didn't know he could say words like that). "I am free! Look at me, a bastion of health and beauty, all thanks to the infinite love and mercy of Lord Doom! What would you have me do? Return to wasting my days away with drugs and alcohol? Drawing quaint little pictures for you, in exchange for spare change?"

That last one caught me off guard, and man did I almost suffer for it! My grip slackened on blocking Jim's next axe swing, and the dude sent me flying through two buildings, landing me in a bookstore. He flew after me, but I knocked him sideways with a Phantom Bolt, ditched my trident, and ran after him. I got him with a few hundred punches to his back and front, finishing the combo off by grabbing his axe, and pushing him away with a Vibration Punch to his chest. Had to give Jim credit, the dude could take a punch, and gave as good as he got. Before I could catch him, he recovered, flew back at me, and covered himself in vines, brambles, and thorns, until he was in a giant combat avatar in the shape of a Balrog (wouldn't have pegged him as a Lord of the Rings fan). As much as I would love to duke it out in an epic lightning vs plant life combat avatar duel, I had to wrap this up. I jumped at Jim's combat Avatar, vibrated through it, and punched him through the other side. I quickly grabbed him, punched him skyward with two hard Power Gauntlet/Vibration Punches (gotta think of a better name for that), and after he was high enough, sandwiched him between two Zeus cannons! I didn't bother to hold back (too much), cuz Doom would just yank him outta the game anyway. True enough, when the lightning dissipated, there wasn't a trace of Jim to be found (and no, I didn't vaporize him). I felt bad about Jim; what he said really got to me. Sure, Doom was a megalomaniac to me and the guys against him, but what about guys like Jim? The poor, oppressed, down on their luck kinda guys that were no doubt rooting for Doom to win, cuz at the very least they'd have a life that doesn't suck. Doom was right, despite how I rationalized it, I was just defending the status quo that kept millions in suffering and destitution. Didn't mean I was gonna give up and let him win (he was still gonna kill billions that didn't drink is Kool-Aid), but I was less certain who were the heroes now.

Moral dilemma aside, by the time I got back to my team (I was gone for maybe two minutes), half of the Serpent Society were out of the fight. That was in no small part due to the fact that Grant and Allyson weren't fighting with kid gloves on. Grant was doing his Ant-Man impression (Tiny Titan would be a good name for it), smacking Bruiser, Aspe, and King Cobra around the city like pinballs. Each swing shattered another building's worth of glass (glass repair men must've been drooling at the sight), and put the respective snake losers power levels in free fall. Allyson was sky high, In Super Sunbird, beating the absolute $#!+ outta Anaconda, Princess Python, Bushmaster, and Puff Adder! Try as the might, they couldn't lay a hand on her, and she kept punching and blasting them with mini-suns so strong, I could feel a light gravitational pull from even 1,000 feet down! As the fight progressed, she straight up absorbed them all into a giant mini-sun with her, and after 10 seconds, it was over. I regrouped with the team, feeling a little left out to be honest.

"Told ya," Grant said. "Gotta get while the gettin's good."

"Don't be rude, GT," Allyson chided. "Storm-Lord tried to save his friend."

"Actually," I sighed. "I mostly just beat the crap outta him."

"Of course you did. Alright, who's next?"

The protective dome around the Five Boroughs dropped, and I felt a huge tug in my soul. It was like the Sea Force was trying to warn me of something big. Somethin comin' in from the coast of Long Island beach (too many bad memories were startin' to stack up with this place). I hightailed it over there, summoning my trident, as I started to sense what was goin' down. Grant and Allyson followed me, but I had a bad feeling this was somethin' only I could deal with.

"YES!" Doom's voice boomed. "YOU HAVE DONE WELL FIGHTING AGAINST FLESH AND BONE! BUT LET US SEE HOW YOU FAIR AGAINST THE FORCES OF NATURE ITSELF!"

I couldn't wait to punch that smug son of a bitch in his face, but I had to get past a f*(#!^% tidal wave, big enough to wash New York City off the map!

"OH MY GOD!" Allyson shrieked. "HOW DO WE STOP THAT?!"

I focused every molecule of my existence on stopping the wave, and slammed my trident butt into the sand! The tidal wave, which stretched 50 miles, made up of God knows how many millions upon millions of metric tons of water, tall enough to swallow the Empire State Building, and charged with an unbelievable amount of Sea Force, slowed to a stop, just barely a few feet away from me and the team (who were too stunned to cuss or panic). The wave was fighting against me, trying to crash through my willpower, and it was slowly working! Little by little, the wave was getting closer; Hydro Man was just that strong! Then it hit me (in about 10 seconds)! What if Hydro Man wasn't controlling the wave anymore?!

"GUYS!" I thought to Grant and Allyson. "IMA PUNT HYDRO MAN OUTTA THE WAVE! LOOK FOR HIM, AND PUNCH HIS LIGHTS OUT!"

I quickly drew up a spell for eject -._)=|-._'.,.-| and shot it into the wave. Good for me, the ungodly amount of Sea Force in the wave worked in my favor, enhancing and speeding up the effect of the spell. Hydro Man shot up 60 ft above the tidal wave, only to meet a rather hard punch to the head from Grant. Pretty sure the guy was alright, tho I hoped not. See, even tho he wasn't in the wave anymore, I still had to stop the damn thing, and you don't just stop a tidal wave; all that displaced water collects kinetic energy, and ya can't just drop it. Hell, Doom was no help, and to make matters worse, he was gonna continue the challenges even if I was still occupied. I felt two huge energy signatures (Zeus and Apollo) shoot outta Avengers Tower (how the hell did a 200 ft tall dragon fit into a skyscraper?!), and make a beeline towards me and the team.

"Uh, Storm-Lord?" Grant asked me, getting his axe ready.

"Just hold em' off for a little bit," I responded. "After I get this $#!+ settled, i'll take the overgrown lizard!"

"You sure?" Allyson asked me. "Figured you'd want a crack at the old man."

"Promised Cyclops I wouldn't kill him. Best chance for that is for you and Grant to soften him up, while I take Fin Fang Foom down for a swim. Now go! I got this!"

Grant and Allyson flew off to meet our last two combatants, intercepting them just before they crossed into the Long Island Sound. Grant and Magneto had no love lost, and went at it with blows that shattered the sound barrier, and energy blasts that could level skyscrapers (good thing they were fighting way above the city). Allyson was in a giant lion construct, and was attacking Fin Fang Foom with the fury of a savage jungle cat (not to mention a Sphinx, eagle, and rhino). Foom (i'm just gonna call him Foom) did his best to fight Allyson, slashing and biting at her constructs, spraying fire in every direction, and getting her a good few times with some tail swipes. Still, he messed up with the fire, cuz after getting a few good streams in, Allyson managed to put a block in his throat, forcing the energy to ripple inside him, giving him one hell of a coughing fit, on top of Allyson whuppin' that ass! That left me to deal with this stupid wave. I drew up another spell to help me out, '.,/.'|._./| (calm), and gradually receded the waters. It took a little over five minutes to get the water back to non Deep Impact levels, and I damn near passed out from the effort! I had to grip my trident like a vice, and strike myself with a Mega Lightning bolt, just to stay awake! Once I recovered tho, it was all over for Foom! I transformed into Thunder Form 2, and slammed into the dragon as a lighting bolt that could've put a meteor sized crater in the ground!

"I'll take it from here!" I thought Allyson. "Get to Geo-Titan!"

"Thanks," she responded as she flew off to help Grant. "Give him hell!"

I transformed myself into a giant lightning Omega Leonidas construct (God I loved the Bakugan video games!), and took Foom on a scenic tour through Long Island! I slashed and punched him over 200 times per second, and blasted him with Final Flashes from my mouth! Foom tried to put up some kinda fight, but when he managed to get his claws around me, I either switched my form up on him, or overcharged myself into an explosive wave, to blow him back. Once we got to the sea, it was a wrap. I beat him back 10 miles off the coast, reformed my body, and blasted him into the water via dropping a Zeus Cannon on his head! I quickly flew into the water, shift into my Sea Form, and made the water bend to my will! Foom tried to get back into the sky, but I kept him in the water via hard water chains around his wings, arms and legs. I reformed myself into something outta the GOW games; a giant image of myself from the waist up, with a giant mass of octopus tentacles from the waist down. I charged myself with Sea Force and lightning, and released the fury of the sea on Foom, who only managed to get out one last desperate blast of fire. Within minutes, Doom whisked him away, leaving Magneto all by his lonesome. I flew back towards Grant and Allyson, who were battling it out with Magneto somethin' fierce! Allyson was in that weird superpowered Sun Form from when she absorbed all that power from the Apollo construct back at the canyon, and was dousing Magneto with blasts that had the power of mini-suns! Grant was in there as well, slamming Magneto in his Tiny Titan form (I made it official for him), knocking him all around Long Island! Magento managed to recover, and get some good swings in on my teammates tho. I dunno how he was doing it, but aside from blasting waves of electromagnetism and Zeus Lightning (ehhh, it works), he was generating metal much in the same way Grant did. Hell, him and Grant would get into metal bending fights (Magneto sucked at making constructs), while Allyson whizzed past their battle, and attacked Magneto with sound barrier busting punches! The two of them coulda handled this $#!+ all on their own, but i'll be damned if they were gonna leave me outta this; I still owed that old coot some payback! I did a Static Jump, landing just a few feet away from him, and slammed him with a Power Gauntlet/Vibration Punch (which i've just renamed as the Storm-Lord Special) to the chest, sending him flying across Long Island Sound. The team and I were about to jump him somethin' fierce, but Doom whisked the old man away at the last second!

At that point, I was just plain pissed! I was tired of playing Doom's game, just for him to yank the board away when I was about to win (like mom does when I bust her up in checkers)! I zoomed back to Avengers Tower, and went off!

"ALRIGHT, DOOM!" I roared. "WE'VE BEATEN EVERYTHING YOU THROWN AT US! GET DOWN HERE AND FIGHT LIKE THE GOD YOU THINK YOU ARE!"

I think I heard him 'humph', and after a bright flash of light, I got his answer. Yeah….we were surrounded from all sides! I'm talking an army of Doombots, Olympus Stone enhanced Demons, and every villain every, surrounding me and the team! And that was just the ground! Above us was more of the same, but also Dragon Empress' army of various dragon creatures, warships, and Doom's knockoff Helicarrier, shooting out more Doombots!

"A TRUE GOD DOES NOT BOW TO THE WHIMS OF ANTS!" Doom replied. "YOU ARE INFERIOR, BENEATH DOOM, AND WILL BE EXTERMINATED AS SUCH! DO YOU HAVE ANY FINAL WORDS, INSECTS?!"

"Now, GT!" I thought to Grant. "Call in the cavalry!"

Grant smirked, and stepped forward, thinkin' he was hot $#!+.

"I GOT TWO WORDS FOR YA, YA SMUG ASSHOLE!" Grant roared, raising his axe. "AVENGERS ASSEMBLE!"

Reality warped so hard, my vision spun like a top! When it cleared, the battle was raging around me! Grant was already sky high, blasting down Doombots and Dragon Men with Star-Lord, and Allyson was flying with America Chavez, searching for one of their various targets. As for me, after my Speed Sense alerted me to a War Force demon about to gut me from behind, I summoned Excelsior, slashed it in half, and got into the thick of the fight!