Garfield: *holding a note*
Kimberly: Hey there tiger. What do you have there?
Garfield: It's a note…It says it's from a group called the Phantom Thieves of Hearts.
Kimberly: The Phantom Thieves of Hearts…*takes the note* How strange. Have you heard of them before?
Garfield: Not at all…I wonder what it could be about. But my next chapter is up and that bad feeling is still there. I'm a little nervous about how this will turn out.
Kimberly: *Communicator chimes* I have to go to my universe, some monster is attacking Angel Grove *kisses cheek* It will be fine…I promise you it will…
Garfield: I hope so…
A Symbiotic Bond: A Venomous Titan
Chapter Sixteen
Mazong Mountain - The Mandarin's Mansion
Team Rocket
"I can't believe it was that easy to get into this place," Rocket noted as their makeshift team stepped inside a long stone corridor after entering the mansion's front doors.
"Yeah. Other than the giant fist destroying our ship," Black Cat replied dryly.
"Fair point," Rocket conceded before the four stopped.
"Is it a little too quiet in here?" Red X asked. "Considering we had a hell of a time getting here in the first place?"
"Hey, don't jinx us," Garfield said. "I'd rather this weird calm feeling over nearly getting crushed or blasted any day. Though I will say…This place is rather big."
"It wasn't this big before though…" Black Cat noted. "This part is definitely new."
Rocket opened her mouth but then the purple glow of her belt began to flicker before fading off. "Shit. Something is wrong with my belt. It's power is being sapped."
"Yeah, I'm not going to lie, I'm feeling more exhausted in here," Red X said.
Without warning, Garfield's spider-sense started to go off. "We need to get out of this corridor!" Garfield exclaimed.
The moment he did, the ceiling fell down towards them at a rapid pace. Seeing this, the group of four lifted up their arms and stopped the ceiling from crushing them all.
"Welcome intruders," A calm voice said throughout the mansion. "I am the Mandarin and welcome to my home. I see my thieves have betrayed me and let you two heroes to me. I wish I could say I was surprised by this but I would be lying."
The weight of the ceiling began to get heavier.
"And it is apt that my betrayers are in my newly made trap known as The Gateway of Betrayal," The Mandarin stated. "The only way to escape is to reach the lever at the end of the hallway but every second that passes, the ceiling gets heavier. Not even the mightiest heroes can escape it. If you are fast enough, maybe one of you can escape certain death but without the strength of the four of you, the ceiling will fall faster. I am curious to see what happens..."
The knees of the four intruders began to shake as the ceiling began to get heavier. Red X placed his forearm against the ceiling and said "Ok, this is totally fucked."
"Agreed," Black Cat said with a worried look on her face. "One of us should try to make it to the lever."
"But none of us are fast enough," Garfield noted.
"Black Cat would be able to do it," Red X said. "She's faster than all of us. She will be able to get to the lever in time before we're all dead."
"How do we know she won't try to leave us for dead?" Rocket asked with a skeptical tone.
'Oh boy, this is not the time for this…' Both Red X and Garfield thought in unison, sweat instantly falling down their hidden faces.
"I won't do that Rocket," Black Cat said. "I want to get out of her but not at the cost of your lives."
"How can I trust that? You've made it painfully clear in the past that you are willing to do whatever is necessary to get your way," Rocket said, anger showing in her voice.
"I changed my ways Rocket," Black Cat responded as she looked away from Rocket.
"Have you? Because if none of this shit with the Mandarin would have happened, you would still be the same lying, backstabbing thief you always were!" Rocket exclaimed.
"Guys, this thing is getting heavier," Garfield said.
"He must be using his ring to force this wall down on us…There is no other way this thing would be beating out strength," The Symbiote said thoughtfully.
'So that means we're boned,' Garfield said.
"What do you want me to say?!" Black Cat exclaimed. "Yeah, I used you to further my goals as a thief Raquel! Is that what you want me to say? That I am sorry? Because guess what? I am!"
"Is this really the rig-" Red X began.
"Shut up!" Both Rocket and Black Cat shouted to Red X, who slowly looked towards Garfield, his mask's eyes narrowing at him.
"I used you Raquel and I betrayed your trust and I feel horrible about it!" Black Cat explained. "When you told me you were Rocket, I thought about leaving you. I didn't want to hurt you or break your heart."
"But you did," Rocket said. "You took my heart out of my chest and stomped on it. How could you do that to someone you claimed you love?"
"Whoa…" Red X said. "You two were together?"
"Yeah…We were best friends and things progressed," Black Cat said with a shameful expression on her face. "But I fucked it up after she told me who she really was…I used that knowledge to get away with stealing anything I desired."
"You certainly are your teacher's apprentice," Red X said with an impressed tone. "That's the making of a damn good thief."
"At the time, I thought I was so damn good but time is a fickle thing," Black Cat said. "My greatest pride at the time became my greatest shame…" Black Cat then looked to Raquel and said "I can't make up for what I did to you. I was the worst person back then and I can't ask you to forgive me but please Raquel, trust me enough to help us get out of this…Let me show you that you can trust me again..."
Rocket was silent for a moment before she nodded and said "Alright…I'm trusting you with my life here. With all of our lives…"
"I won't let you down," Black Cat said.
"Alright then, now go!" Rocket shouted.
Black Cat nodded and lowered her arms away from the ceiling and sprinted down the corridor, which caused the ceiling become heavy enough to bring the three remaining intruders to their knees.
Black Cat leapt forward and dove out into the open and rolled to her feet and looked back at her three friends holding the ceiling and immediately ran towards the lever, which was located on the wall down the hall.
Where four robots were guarding.
"You gotta be kidding me," Black Cat hissed in anger as the robots launched themselves towards her.
Black Cat unfurled her whip that laid tied around her waist and leapt into the air and sliced through the first robot that came close to her, ducked a roundhouse from the second robot and then leapt into the air and cracked her whip towards the lever, which wrapped around the large steel switch.
Black Cat tugged herself forward sharply towards the lever and slammed her heels into the face of a third robot before wrapping her legs around its neck, placed her hands on the ground and threw the robot forward with her legs, sending it colliding with the fourth robot.
She back flipped to her feet and was punched in the face by the second robot but used the momentum to leap off her feet and land a side kick to the robot's face, sending it to the ground along with her.
She flipped to her feet and activated her claws and pierced through the machine's head and then rolled backwards to avoid its explosion and pushed herself onto her feet only to turn around and knee another robot in the face, sending it to the ground where she then pierced its head with her claws.
She pulled her hand out and quickly ran towards the lever and went to push it up but the last robot grabbed her wrist and slammed its right knee into her gut, knocking the air out of her lungs before it threw her backwards.
Black Cat, hand still gripping her whip, tugged herself forward sharply and slammed her feels into the chest of the robot, which caused it to fall backwards onto the ground where she immediately flips her whip to switch the lever up.
"There. Easy as pie," Black Cat said as she turned around to the ceiling rising back into the air.
"Sorry about that, there were a ton of robots in the way of the lever," Black Cat said as her three teammates approached her.
"We heard," Red X said before he took off his helmet and gave her lips a small kiss. "You did great. Thanks for saving us."
"Seriously, I thought my ass was going to become flat back there," Garfield said with a thumbs up.
"I tried to speed it up but those stupid things," Black Cat said, flashing a smile to the spider before she looked to Rocket.
"You did great," Rocket said with no hesitation.
"Thanks…" Black Cat said as the two shared a smile.
"Alright, let's move," Garfield said.
China – Airplane
Loki Odinson
"Alright, stop!"
Loki stared up at the figure of Thanos with fear in his eyes. He had just stopped his brother, Thor Odinson, the rightful king of Asgard from being tortured by the Mad-Titan's group, the children of Thanos.
He should have known that Odin's death would have caused Thanos to rise from the shadows and complete his plot.
"W-We don't have the Tesseract, it was destroyed on Asgard!" Thor yelled, his voice echoing amongst the desolate part of their ship.
Loki couldn't help but feel a stab of guilt hit his heart as the Tesseract bloomed to life within his hand.
"You really are the worst, brother," Thor said, his voice heavy with exhaustion.
"I assure you, brother, the sun will shine on us again," Loki said as he held up the tesseract to Thanos, who smirked at these words.
"Your optimism is misplaced, Asgardian," The Mad-Titan said while Loki held up the Tesseract in his hands towards the imposing figure.
"Well for one thing...I'm not Asgardian. And for another…We have a Hulk," Loki said and moments later, he leapt out of the way as the Hulk attacked the Mad-Titan.
Loki ducked into a clearing and took a deep breath and began to mutter a spell. Using the power of the Tesseract and all of the magical energy in his body, an ethereal blue energy began to form around his form.
"Hear me, God of Mischief of an alternate world. Do not think I am an illusion to trick you. If you think so then I shall quickly prove that I am not. How can I prove this? Simple…Darcy Lewis, France, before the incident in New York. Now that I have your attention, listen and listen clearly."
"Today is my final day amongst the land of the living due to Thanos but if you hear this, there is still a chance to stop this madness. In your world, there should be the infinity stones. Hunt them down by any means necessary and stop what will befall you, your oaf of a brother and half of life in your universe…"
Loki paused as a beam of rainbow and gold colored light shined in the area. "Heimdall…He must have used dark magic…Time is running out for me here…You must succeed where my universe has failed…In this message is my memories of all that we have and will go through. Good luck and happy hunting…"
Loki opened his eyes and glanced out the window, a frown gracing his face as the memory faded into the back of his mind.
But the words his alternate self had shared to Thor kept replaying inside his mind.
"I assure you, brother, the sun will shine on us again."
And that was a promise he was intend to keep.
No matter what happens.
Mazong Mountain - The Mandarin's Mansion
Team Rocket
"This guy is really pissing off with these robots!" Garfield exclaimed as he webbed the face of a robot and tugged it down to the ground hard.
The group had entered the mansion after leaving the Gateway of Betrayal but the moment they stepped foot into the lobby of the mansion, dozens of robots came pouring out of the woodworks to attack them.
Garfield leapt to the ceiling of the large and shot three strands of web towards and oncoming robot and spun around in a circle before launching the robot towards two more machines, sending all three out of a window.
Garfield then jumped from the ceiling down to the ground and shattered the machine behind Rocket, who had just punch a robot down the long hallway.
"I know. These robots are all over the place. It's like battling Ultron all over again," Rocket growled out before she flew forward, tackling two robots with her arms before crashing through the wall.
Red X smirked beneath his helmet as a flash of red appeared in his right hand and once it faded, a red and black scythe appeared in his hand.
"He's trying to tire us out before we meet him. Ingenious really," Red X said as he charged forward and slashed three robots through the middle of their heads.
Red X leapt up to avoid a tackle from a robot and slammed both of his feet into the back of the robot's head, which caused it to slam into the ground.
Then with his right hand outstretched, Red X fired three X-bolts from the palm of his hand at four oncoming robots, destroying each of them.
Meanwhile, Black Cat ran up a wall and kicked off of it just before a robot slammed into the wall beneath her. She landed on the ground and whipped her whip around the neck of the machine before she tugged back sharply, removing its head.
She then spun her body and sliced through several machines from hip to hip with her whip before she pulled the weapon back and blocked a wide side punch from the Robot and pierced its head with her left hand.
"Well if this barrage keeps up, he's going to succeed in his plan!" Black Cat shouted as she removed her hand from the defeated machine and tossed its body into a group of oncoming robots.
Rocket flew back into the room with a robot in her grasp and repeatedly punched it before she tossed it down towards Garfield, who jumped to the side and landed a kick on the falling robot, sending it crashing against its brethren.
"Then there is only one thing to do," Rocket said before she landed on the ground and said "One of us is going to need to go ahead to fight Mandarin."
"But who?" Black Cat asked as she blocked a hard jab from a robot then leapt into the air and wrapped her limbs around the arm and forced it to the ground hard where she broke the arm and tossed it to Red X.
Red X caught the arm and used it as hammer, ramming it against a robot's head repeatedly before he said "We need to send someone quicker than us. The rings can't hurt what they can't hit."
"Red X is right," The Symbiote stated as Garfield blocked a right jab with his forearms. "It has to be us. With our Spider-Sense and agility, we are better suited to fight him."
'Of course it has to be me,' Garfield thought as he flipped over the extended arm and wrapped a web around its neck and tossed it over his body and onto the ground hard. "Then that is my cue to get to fighting," Garfield told the trio.
Red X ducked a roundhouse kick and then blocked a right hook from the machine before he leapt up and kicked it in the chest, sending the machine on its back while Red X back flipped away from the robot and landed beside Garfield.
"His chamber is upstairs down a long corridor. Be careful, he will not hesitate to kill you up there," Red X told the spider-like hero.
Garfield nodded and said "Meet me when you guys can," before he shot a web up to the second floor of the mansion and zipped himself towards it and landed in a kneeling position on top of the banister.
Several robots flew to get him but Rocket flew into the air and began to combat the man-made objects. Rocket managed to get them away from her for enough time to look to Garfield.
She quickly flew close and kissed the area where his lips were and whispered "Good luck Spider," before she dove back down to the robots to continue the fight.
Garfield leapt off the banister and ran down the long corridor until he found himself in a large chamber.
And sitting in a large throne was a middle aged shirtless Chinese male, with long black hair and a black goatee and he sat in the lotus position, ten rings glowing on his fingers.
"It seems you all have made it into my chambers. I am very impressed Spiderman" The man said calmly as he reached out and poured himself a cup of tea. "But to follow me to this universe has impressed me greatly. Are you looking to perish that badly?"
"Don't call me by that name," Garfield said, a venomous edge in his voice. "I may share his abilities but I am not Spiderman and I will not die by your hands. Not now, not ever."
The Mandarin took a sip of his tea then said "Admirable but foolish to make that claim."
And with those words, the man launched his tea cup towards Garfield and with a shine of the small circular ring on his right thumb, the tea cup changed into stone and formed the shape of a lion's head and heading straight towards Garfield.
Garfield's eyes widened before he leapt into the air to avoid the large lion's head, shot several dozen strands of web against it before he used all of his strength into toss the lion's head back towards the man.
The man lifted up his right hand and the purple star shaped ring gave a bright shine and the lion's head seemed to bounce off of a light purple shield and through the ceiling. The man then pointed the still glowing ring towards Garfield.
"Jump out of the way!" The Symbiote shouted.
Garfield leapt to the left as a beam of purple energy left the ring and slammed into the wall that was behind Garfield, causing a large hole within it. "Quick," The man noted as the small circular purple ring glowed.
Garfield skidded on the ground and began to charge towards the man but then his spider-sense began to ring. Garfield quickly dodged to the left a stone dragon exploded from the ground and towards the spider-like hero.
Thanks to his spider-sense, Garfield was able to roll to the left to avoid the stone dragon crashing into the ground where he previously stood.
Garfield then leapt into the air and shot two webs beside the Mandarin's sitting body and whipped himself forward to kick him with both feet but seconds before impact, a cement made wall appeared before him, which Garfield quickly kicked off of and landed a few feet away on his feet.
The wall then shot towards Garfield at high speed before morphing into a large alligator, which roared in fury.
Garfield quickly leapt over the stone made alligator and relentlessly webbed the creature to the ground where he then shot strands on the creature, landed on the ground and launched it towards the Mandarin.
The Mandarin leaned forward and sipped is tea as the creature flew towards him before the ring with a simple blue circular gem on his right middle finger began to glow.
A blue ethereal glow wrapped around the stone made creature and stopped it just before it the Mandarin's body.
"Very quick indeed," The Mandarin noted before he shot the creature back towards Garfield, who leapt to over the creature and kicked off of it and shot straight towards the Mandarin.
The ring on the Mandarin's left pinky finger that had a gem shaped like four tiny black-blue dots, arranged in a square shape in groups of two began to glow a deep black and an inky black portal appeared in front of Garfield.
Spider-sense going crazy, Garfield quickly shot a web towards the ceiling to pull himself back but then the Mandarin ring on his right middle finger glowed again and an intense wind began to pull Garfield towards the portal.
"You are quick but that shall be your undoing. Now begone to the Realm of Darkness, Spiderman," The Mandarin said.
"I'm not Spiderman!" Garfield yelled before the force of the wind caused the ceiling strand of web was attached to break, sending Garfield through the portal, just as Red X, Rocket and Black cat entered the chamber.
"Garfield!" Rocket shouted as Garfield's head disappeared into the portal before it closed behind him.
"And with that, one is gone," The Mandarin said as he sipped his tea with his eyes closed. "Now…Who is next?" He asked calmly.
Unknown Location
Garfield Mark Logan
An inky black portal appeared in what looked to be a forest with a dark purple sky and dark blue trees and grass and Garfield flew from out the portal and slammed into the ground hard.
Garfield groaned and pushed himself off his feet and shook his head.
"That was not fun," The Symbiote said.
"Yeah…I agree with that," Garfield said before he looked around in confusion.
"Well, we're definitely not in China anymore…But the question is where are we now?" Garfield asked as he looked around him.
"You are in the Darkforce," A female voice with a light Russian accent said from behind him.
Garfield turned around to see a pale skinned blond haired woman in a black suit with a white spade on her chest which held a black diamond in the middle of the spade, white pair of gloves and a white belt.
But it was her face that was hauntingly familiar to him.
'It can't be her…' Garfield thought to himself.
"Who is she to you?" The Symbiote questioned curiously.
"I am Laynia Petrovna, known as Darkstar. Former member of the Soviet Super-Soldiers a Champions of Los Angeles," The woman introduced herself but Garfield shook his head.
"I know who you are," Garfield said with shock. "…You've been here this entire time?" He asked her with a sad tone in his voice.
The woman looked at him with confusion and asked "I have. For the past seven years. Why do you ask?"
"W-Well…The only reason I ask is because…" The mask melted away from Garfield's face, revealing himself to her, which caused her to gasp in shock.
"Oh my god…Garfield?" Laynia whispered.
"Hey Auntie," Garfield replied softly.
Garfield: Whoa, that is a shock beyond shock! What is she doing in the Darkforce?!
Kimberly: So things have gotten worse. Loki is heading there. You're trapped in the Darkforce and the Mandarin looks unstoppable. How will this all end?
Garfield: Damn it…This isn't looking good…
Ron-Pool: Well I just received word that this next chapter will be the end of the Champion City Arc and will go into the…wait…This doesn't look right…
Garfield: What?
Ron-Pool: It looks like the next arc is called "Gotham's Most Wanted" Arc.
Kimberly and Garfield: WHAT?!