Here it is, comic fans! The Justice League and the Avengers arrive on the Avengers' Earth, and now these two teams are working side by side against the biggest big bad guys in Marvel history! It's time for super-action!
Chapter 4: The First Major Battle (Part 1)
The Justice League and the Avengers were instantaneously beamed from the Earth that the League knew and in a matter of seconds, the thirteen heroes were on the Earth where the Avengers belonged. It took only a moment for the group to recognize that they were New York City, which was thankfully the same as it was for the Justice League.
"Ah! Home at last!" said Spider-Man with relief. "Now we can get our bearings at the Helicarrier and be on our way to take down that miserable, sneaking, crooked Doctor Doom!"
"It might be a little early for that one, soldier," said Captain America as he pointed to a TV screen mounted on a skyscraper. "Look."
At that moment, the Avengers realized what was happening. Some of the most dangerous super-criminals they had ever faced were now creating an all-out crime wave, and they were all near Times Square. Green Goblin and Venom were damaging business outposts. Doctor Octopus was raiding the First Residential Bank, Crimson Dynamo was mounting an attack on the mayor's office, and Baron Zemo and the Wrecking Crew were ravaging the residential areas near Times Square. But the thing that caught the eyes of Justice League the most was Abomination, who was tearing directly through Times Square on a rampage.
"This is going to require us to work together strategically," Superman said with a serious nod.
"Yeah, and what's the plan? We form up and kick their sorry butts. Same as always," Iron Man quipped.
"This is no laughing matter, Stark," Batman said sternly. "We may have them outnumbered, but raw strength alone will only take you so far. Brains are going to get you out of a lot more jams than brawn ever will."
"Take it from Bats, you guys," Green Lantern added. "When we started the Justice League, he was all about giving orders, but only because he had a plan up his sleeves for every situation. Trust me, I know. I've seen him do it."
The Avengers considered this, and after a moment, Captain America said, "You're right, Lantern. We need to work together and have a ready battle plan if we're going to stop them quickly and completely. So let's plan, prepare, and take it to them."
…
As the escaped criminals' attack progressed on, reporters from the Daily Bugle were focusing on Abomination as he rampaged closer to the center of Times Square. The police and the National Guard had moved out to corral him, but the horrible super-monster shook off their firepower like it was only plastic darts and water-powered rocket toys.
Even as the Avengers showed up to take on Abomination and the other escaped supervillains, Abomination only laughed as they approached and then threw a filled oil tanker at some of the civilians who were still fleeing. But to the shock and rage of Abomination, the oil tanker never hit the ground, for Superman caught it in an instant and safely lowered it to the ground. Then as the Avengers moved out to take the rest of the escaped supervillains, the Justice League moved in to aid them as per the plan.
"Everyone, stick to the plan now," said Superman. "That Abomination creature is mine."
Superman touched down for a moment, then took off flying at lightning-fast speed. He went straight for Abomination and punched the hulking horror in his muscular gut without holding back. Superman's punch sent Abomination flying for a full hundred yards before he skidded through the streets and rose up from a bulldozed heap of asphalt.
Superman readied himself for the fight as Abomination charged with a wicked sneer on his beastly face. His punch never reached its mark, for the Man of Steel only raised his left hand and caught Abomination's fist. Though it nearly destabilized his footing, Superman managed to stop the punch completely and then dealt a super-punch of his own. He began punching and pounding Abomination hard enough to actually bruise the beast, and he blasted him with his heat vision, which stung the monster's impervious skin. Superman even used his freeze breath to encase Abomination's feet in ice before launching him away with a double-uppercut.
Batman and Spider-Man went after Green Goblin and Venom, and right now, Spider-Man had to hurry to stop Goblin before he went to damage the higher levels of the residential buildings. He swung around on a web and then grabbed the Goblin Glider from its underside, sending himself and Green Goblin falling toward the street below. The armor-clad villain saw Spider-Man climb on board, and he growled, "So at last you come!"
"You didn't think I was going to let you run New York's property values into the ground, did ya, Gobby?" quipped Spider-Man.
A voice crackled over his comlink earpiece, "Spider-Man! Keep your head in the game!"
Spider-Man made no reply, but he did climb aboard the wobbling, twisting, turning glider. Green Goblin threw a number of punches, only for Spider-Man's enhanced perception abilities to allow him to dodge. While he dodged Green Goblin's blows, the arachnid hero threw punches of his own. He hit the weak spots on Green Goblin's suit and even managed to crack the right eyepiece of his mask. At length, the villain managed to land a kick to Spider-Man's chest that would have sent him falling to his death had he not hooked the glider with his webs. That got Venom's attention, and he curled his snake-like tongue over his razor-sharp teeth.
"I think I'll kill you now, Parker," he sneered. "Once I drag you away from Goblin, of course."
But before he could, Batman tossed a few smoke bombs from his utility belt to cloud Venom's vision. Then he stepped out of the smoke and said, "You're not killing anyone, Edward Brock."
The sudden interference caused Venom to turn to face Batman, who managed to make even the cold-blooded villain jump with surprise.
"Huh. A new player," mused Venom. "You don't look so tough. I think I'll enjoy killing you first, then Spider-Punk."
"You're welcome to try," Batman answered with a chilling scowl.
With that, Venom lashed out with his great, clawed arms, only for Batman to dodge every swing and leap over Venom's elongated arm attacks. He used capsules of resin when Venom tried to charge him, but Venom did manage to pull himself free. By now, he was getting pretty irked, and he released some of his black webs to try to catch Batman. Again, the Dark Knight was two steps ahead and used a few Bat-frost bombs to freeze the webs so they became as brittle as glass and shatter when he got loose.
Then as Venom charged him, Batman took a portable high-frequency sonic device from his belt and tossed it at Venom's feet. From the device came a sound so loud that it rattled the vicinity, and even Green Goblin had a harder time keeping his glider in the air. For Venom, it was worse. The sonic vibrations were pounding into his ears, into the depths of his skull, and the Symbiote-suit kept twisting and writing as it tried to cling to Venom's body. Finally, the suit was torn off by the sonic vibrations, leaving only the beaten Eddie Brock, nauseous and half-deafened. He collapsed to the ground, where Batman took the opportunity to clamp an inhibitor collar around Brock's neck and then bottle the Symbiote so it couldn't get back to him.
Spider-Man managed to get back on the Goblin Glider and finally brought Green Goblin down to the ground. He disarmed the villain of his Halloween-esque arsenal and pulled off Norman Osborne's armor suit, and in a second, Mr. Osborne and Eddie Brock both found themselves down for the count.
…
In the threatened residential area near Times Square, Baron Zemo had permitted the Wrecking Crew to level every city block in their path, which the four crooks accepted with maniacal glee. Zemo himself was hovering over the streets on a levitating speeder bike, and he was reveling in the prospect of instilling fear without the Avengers to stop him, or so he thought.
"Tremble before Zemo, Amerikaneren!" Baron Zemo crowed. "This city belongs to us, and this time, your heroes are not here to save you!"
"Wanna bet on that?" came the voice of Captain America as he leapt from one rooftop to another and then let fly with his shield. But instead of aiming for Baron Zemo himself, America aimed for his speeder bike, and the shield blew out the main engine.
Baron Zemo dropped like a stone as he fought to keep his craft in the air. Unknown to him, Green Lantern was helping Captain America run as fast as he could down a trail of green light-energy. He tackled Baron Zemo and tossed him aside, and the speeder bike rammed into the ground and flew apart in a burst of flame. Baron Zemo rose to his feet with his most deadly firearm: his plasma mazer, in his left hand and his sword in the other. He recognized Captain America at once, but he got the surprise of his life when he saw Green Lantern levitating in the air.
"Ah, Kapitan Amerika," the masked villain said with unveiled disdain. "So you managed to return after all. But your companion is strange to me. Is he another friend of that meddler Iron Man?"
Green Lantern focused on Zemo and replied, "I am more than a friend to people who value freedom, Purple Face. I am willpower. I am strength. I am the Green Lantern!"
With those words, he fired an energy beam from his power ring, which Baron Zemo leapt away from. But to his shock, the beam curved and forced him to keep jumping and dodging to avoid it. As he leapt over a heap of rubble, the beam of Green Lantern's ring hit him in the back and sent him toppling into another damaged car.
"He's rocked! Let's take him!" Green Lantern said to Captain America, and the two heroes ran to confront Zemo.
Baron Zemo jumped up and opened fire on Captain America, but his mazer shots were only deflected by the Captain's shield. Captain America kicked out hard, knocking the Baron off his feet, and then began pounding at his face. However, Baron Zemo grabbed Captain America's leg and twisted it, sending him to the ground. It wouldn't take too long for that wound to heal, but Zemo wasn't going to risk it. He primed his mazer and aimed when Green Lantern knocked him away with an energy fist from his ring.
"I am impressed by you, I admit, Lantern. But we will see how well your power matches the simplicity of mine," the rogue nobleman said mockingly, and he drew his sword to face Green Lantern in hand-to-hand combat. To his curiosity, Green Lantern didn't flinch.
"A common broadsword? You're funny."
Baron Zemo was utterly shocked by Lantern's words and he growled, "That will mark the first time a man has dared insult me."
"For any crook like you, it won't be the last, either," Green Lantern replied. Then he readied his power ring and projected a green-energy sword and shield, followed by two other green-energy swords and even a pair of axes and maces.
Baron Zemo blinked incredulously as Green Lantern hovered towards him, and then he charged at the green-clad hero, intending to smite him down. It was here that Baron Zemo underestimated Green Lantern's real power, for the axes, swords, and maces all kept the baron from touching him. Zemo tried to strike again, only for Green Lantern to knock him away with a ten-foot robot of green energy. Baron Zemo's plasma mazer fared no better, for the green-energy shield of the ring only absorbed the blasts. Then Green Lantern said, "You know that little plasma-firing blaster is never gonna cut it! Let me show you what my super-powerful ring can really do!"
He projected a green-energy laser cannon with six muzzles each and then fired. Baron Zemo dodged four of the shots, but the last two hit in the knee first, then in the chest, stunning the villain. As he rose up, Green Lantern trampled him with a rhino-construct, followed by an elephant, and then Captain America gave him a few blows to the face with his shield. Baron Zemo collapsed into unconsciousness, and Green Lantern clamped an inhibitor collar on his neck.
"Three down, seven to go," confirmed Captain America.
A few blocks away from the center of Times Square, Superman was giving Abomination a fight even Hulk hadn't been able to give him. Each time Abomination ran at him, Superman either grabbed his arm and threw him into the street or gave him a double-punch in the gut that sent him rocketing away. Abomination was further surprised that after hitting Superman in the face at least twenty times in total had hardly had an effect on him and the worse it had done was give the Man of Steel a bloody nose. As their fight progressed, the beast grappled with Superman and tried to pound him into the street, but every blow only winded him.
Abomination howled, "YOU ARE NOT LIKE HULK! WHY ARE YOU STILL ALIVE?! WHY… WON'T… YOU… DIE?!"
Superman only answered, "Because you're from Earth, and I'm not."
Abomination only roared and then seized Superman by the throat and slammed him into the ground as hard and fast as he could, but this only had Superman seeing stars for a moment. Then he used his freezing breath to cut off Abomination's vision and then kicked at his gut with both feet.
"I don't use my full strength on every criminal I fight, but for you, I'll cut loose enough to stop you quickly," said Superman. Then he finally gave the monster a pounding he'd never forget.
Superman punched Abomination with astounding speed and force, and every rapid punch he dealt released a miniature shockwave that rattled every building in the area. The blows were so powerful that for the first time, Abomination felt real pain, as though Superman had proven to be his superior in power. Superman also blasted Abomination square in the face with his heat vision, now focusing now enough to actually burn the creature's skin, and his attack only stopped when the ugly super-beast swatted him away.
As Superman rose up, Abomination came charging at him and boomed, "YOU ARE GOING TO DIE!"
"Pipe down and fight decently," Superman answered. Then he steadied himself and prepared to fly with all the speed he could muster.
Abomination leapt into the air with his fist drawn back to strike, not knowing or caring that he was dealing with a being who didn't need emotion to fuel his power. Superman flew at him with the speed of a lightning bolt and both his arms were tensed and ready to strike. He rammed both fists into Abomination's chest and felt the monster's ribs crack under his strength. With a double-hammer fist to his face, Superman finally had Abomination on the ground, and this time, the monster spat up his own dark blood and then passed out, wounded and too weary to fight any longer.
A/N: I hope you all enjoyed this chapter in which some of the first of Marvel Comic's villains take on the Avengers and the Justice League. If anyone's curious, I will have Hulk appearing first next chapter. I chose to have Superman fight Abomination himself because I think even Abomination would have trouble with him since Hulk and his allies and enemies are from Earth and Superman is from Krypton.
Hope you all liked this chapter, and stay tuned for Part 2 of the League's first battle on Marvel's Earth.