A TANGLED WEB Part 8: Endgame
Chapter 28
by Charlie Nelson a.k.a. Ordinaryguy2
Updated: 2-20-2022
The main crossovers in this chapter include: Angel (1999-2004); The Avengers (2012); Buffy the Vampire Slayer (1997-2003); DC Comics; Ghostbusters (1984); The Legend of Zorro (2005); Magnus: Robot Fighter; Star Trek (1966-1969); Star Trek: Deep Space Nine (1993-1999); Star Trek: The Next Generation (1987-1994); Star Trek: Voyager (1995-2001); Vampirella; Voltron (1984-1986)
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THE WOODS OF THE LAND OF THE LOST
Captain Benjamin Sisko ran through the brush using his arms to clear the foliage as best as he could. Ahead of him he could hear screams and phaser fire mixed with the thunderous roar of something huge.
Behind him he could hear Ro Laren following in his path; the mysterious Batman that had attached himself to their group had raced on ahead at an incredible pace considering the terrain. Looking up, he came to a stop and then tackled Ro so that they landed behind a massive tree. The area around them exploded into broken tree branches as they huddled in their unsure shelter.
"What was that?" asked an incredulous Ro Laren.
Sisko looked all around but saw nothing. "Something threw a tree aside."
"Did you see it?"
"The tree that was coming at us, yes; the thing that threw it, no."
They listened as more trees were pushed aside to give way to whatever was passing through.
"From the phaser shots we heard, the others must have encountered whatever threw that tree," commented Ro.
"We shouldn't have split up with the others in order to follow Megatron." He got to his feet and moved aside a few large branches that now littered all over.
"We needed to know what he was going to do, and the others were traveling too slow. We made the right choice," she said, trying to be reassuring.
"And now we see what it may have cost us."
"Hindsight is always 20/20, sir."
Once clear of the drop zone they were able to pick up the pace again and soon saw their comrades. McCoy was examining Janeway while Spock took readings of the creature that had evidently left. Picard stood a few feet away with phaser out with one hand and scanning with his tricorder in the other.
"What happened here?" barked Sisko, not caring about protocol at the moment.
"First came an attack by our sniper friend," Picard answered, referring to Boba Fett. "A glancing shot managed to stun Captain Janeway, but then a giant hand came down through the trees and took Kes. We fired on it. Thanks to the thick foliage, it must have only seen the shots coming from the sniper. The creature had actually torn up a tree and threw it at him, hopefully killing him."
"Where's Batman?" asked Ro.
"Went after the beast to try save Kes."
"Ro and I will go after-"
"No," answered Captain Picard. "I'll go with Ro. You can-"
"Picard." Sisko never felt comfortable around Picard. Sure, Picard had been an unwilling pawn to the Borg; Sisko knew that. He accepted it as a fact. But it had still been through Picard, once a mouthpiece of the Borg, that his wife had died at Wolf 359 along with the ship he had been serving on. Many of those he had served with, as well as some of their families, had also died. Not to mention all the other Starfleet vessels that had been destroyed there. Neither man could forget that. "Ro and I are faster than you."
"I can be very fast for my age," corrected Picard. "Besides I have some experience tracking-"
"Are you two roosters going to take time off of posturing to go rescue Kes anytime soon?" snapped McCoy. "All three of you go after whatever that was that took Kes. Spock and I can take care of Kathryn."
"But-" began Sisko.
"No 'buts'! Now you two make nice and go save Kes with Ro's help. And that's an order!" As they disappeared in the brush he added, "And Godspeed."
"General Martok wasn't with them," commented Spock.
"I wouldn't worry about General Martok," replied McCoy as applied another hypospray to Janeway's neck. "He's not one to shuffle off this mortal coil quietly. Not there was anything quiet about what had just happened. And as you well know those Klingons are damn hard to kill." He examined the results of his medical tricorder again. "Meanwhile, I'm going to take a moment to treat some of these cuts on Kathryn's face. That should provide a little comfort to her when she wakes up."
"Can you revive her, admiral?"
"What did I tell you about that admiral stuff, Spock?"
Spock raised an eyebrow. "As you wish, admiral. 'Bones', can you revive her?"
McCoy glanced up after sealing one of Janeway's cuts. "Why do you want to revive her now? She could use the rest; we all could, damn it!"
"It's our sniper problem; I'm sure he'll try to take advantage now that we have divided our forces yet again."
McCoy frowned. "How about we compromise? Let's move her to a more hidden location that can also provide us with some cover. Then once that bounty hunting sniper returns, I'll revive Janeway."
Spock contemplated it for a moment. He knew that his old friend Admiral McCoy was thinking more like a physician than as tactical leader in a combat situation, but he didn't think now was the time to point that out to him. "There seems to be a cave opening over there. We could take shelter there."
"All right then." They gently lifted Janeway, each man taking one of her arms over their shoulder. McCoy grunted. "Remind me to thank Q for the rejuvenation. I haven't been this active in decades."
"Is your back holding up?" Spock asked, with what might have been a note of concern.
"My back's probably doing better than yours. My only concern is that all this activity is moving my bowels something fierce. I think I'm going to be adding some 'McCoy' brand fertilizer to this lush land in a few moments."
"All I ask is that you add it somewhere outside the perimeter of the cave."
"Duly noted."
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THE BATTLEFIELD ON THE LAND OF THE LOST
Xander leapt back to break away from the attack of the elder Yautja hunter only to stumble over the unconscious form of Bengali of the Thundercats and the villain Multi-Man, who was dead. The young hero raised his lightsaber to slice through a net projectile that had been fired at him before it could pin him down.
"I'm not going to let you get me that easy!" Xander jumped back up on his feet and then used his lightsaber to deflect a plasma blast up into the air where it narrowly missed the space dragon, Zok, flying overhead.
"Come on, Xander, focus on the force and all that jazz," he muttered to himself while trying not to breathe hard. He rolled aside as a spear embedded itself in the ground barely missing him. The quasi-Jedi took a sweeping swing at the alien humanoid's legs, but the Yautja easily jumped back and the used the power sword he had appropriated earlier from Hordak's dead hand to block another blow from Xander. The magic power sword and the lightsaber flared upon each contact, sometimes blinding Xander, leaving him to trust his Jedi instincts on whether to attack or duck. And yet Xander still managed to slip in a pool of Multi-Man's blood and fall flat on his back.
The alien hunter looked down at his prey, knowing he had overcome a talented foe. Even so, the elder Yautja was feeling his age at that moment. The excursion from the long fight had left him winded; his joints and back were flaring with pain. He had begun to think he may have found a worthy adversary to overcome him and end the pain that had come to settle down on him in his old age. But now he could see that while the young fighter with the energy sword was skilled, he was not yet a seasoned warrior. And thus, not worthy of being the one to strike him down.
In frustration, he engaged his shoulder mounted plasma canon so that he could end the fight and free himself to check on his younger charges. But before the plasma canon could fire, a circular red and white metal shield thrown through the air struck the weapon, damaging it and knocking the elder Yautja off balance.
The angered hunter turned to fire his netgun at his new attacker, a man dressed in a red, white and blue chain-mail type uniform.
Xander, seeing that his rescuer was about to be fired on, used his Jedi abilities to reach out with the Force and sent a nearby ten-pound rock flying so that it struck the arthritic hands of the elder Yautja.
The Elder cried out in pain, much to his shame at having his body betraying him. He refocused on his attackers knowing that he had to end this sooner than later. And perhaps collect a few more trophies before he expired.
The man in the red, white and blue outfit picked up his shield on the ground and then offered a hand to help Xander up. "I'm Captain America."
"Yeah, I know," Xander said. "That Professor X guy that did the telepathic update checklist as to who is on what side filled me in on that." He didn't feel the need to tell the superhero that he had a large comic book collection back in his home dimension in which he was a very popular comic book character.
Captain America nodded. "Professor X is a good man. But I don't recall this fellow you are facing on the mental chart the professor gave us."
They spread themselves out as they approached the Yautja in order to complete a two-prong attack.
"According to one of the Doctors -don't ask me which one- our fellow here is more of an equal opportunity killer," commented Xander.
Captain America held back for a moment, hesitating on a thought. "Perhaps this is his people's territory. They could be reacting to our intrusion on their lands."
"Not quite," Xander said. "He's on safari and we're all the potential trophies he wants to take home to brag about in his old age as he elaborates telling stories of how he bagged us to the kiddies he bounces on his knee."
Captain America noted the net bag attached to the elder's belt; even more, he noted the decapitated heads that were being carried in it. One head belonged to one of the Rock Soldiers, another to one of the Gorillas, and still another belonging to a Sleestak. The patriotic hero's frown tuned into a scowl. "I see."
The elder Yautja visually assessed the interfering Human. He was pleased to note from Captain America's stance that he was an extremely skilled and experienced fighter. He was also astonished to note that the only weapon he seemed to carry was the circular metal shield that he had thrown with such precision. As for his other opponent, the young Human identified as Xander, his energy sword was rather remarkable, but the young man… He seemed quite skilled until losing his concentration, at which point he became a much easier prey.
The elder hunter decided to make their deaths quick so he fired two Smart disks, flying bladed weapons that would seek the target that they were fired at.
Both men surprised him. Xander had not only struck at the Smart disk with his energy sword, but had cut it in half. Captain America had not bothered to duck but instead used his shield to bat the disk away where it cut an oncoming drone in half before getting stuck partway into the back of a rather pissed off General Traag who had been bludgeoning another drone to death with his rocky fist. And Captain America's shield hadn't even been damaged.
Seeing that it was quite possible that he was going to be taken down, the elder hunter took a handheld plasma canon from his belt and fired it at the ground in front of them in order to force them to take cover from the flying debris. Then he leapt away. He didn't like the thought of leaving the fight, but he knew his chances of claiming them would be better if he could face them individually on another occasion. One of the hardest lessons to learn in the hunt is when to go in for the kill, and even harder, to know when not to try and make the kill.
oOoOoOo
Magnus struck the Cyberman twice more to cause it to break open. The corpse that filled the inner working of the Cyberman fell out even as the Cyberman shut down.
"That's different," Magnus muttered to himself.
He dove to the side when he spotted a glow out of the corner of his eyes. A flash of energy hit the destroyed Cyberman unit, partially disintegrating it.
Magnus had rolled and was back on his feet. He had four opponents, none of whom seemed to have the weapon that had fired on him.
One of the men was an odd-looking fellow with large tusks. The next man was a bald, muscular brute who carried a large mace. Beside him was a muscular being that looked like a deranged Durlan with a hunched back and cruel eyes. The next man was greying at his temples, and his shirt had chains. It was only after he noticed that the man with chains had another man in glowing blue chains floating behind him. It was that the checklist of who was on their sides that the mutant Professor X had given to the heroes telepathically. Captain Jack Harkness.
"You missed, Shagrek," chuckled the man holding the mace.
The orange hunchback growled with annoyance.
"Let me try," said the man with the tusks. He then lowered his head, and then to Magnus' surprise, the man's two tusks grew out towards him with astonishing speed over a dozen feet, but still not fast enough to stab Magnus.
"You missed, too, Tusker!" laughed the man with the mace. "My turn!"
Magnus readied himself even as big brute rushed forward.
"Nail him, Black Mace!" called out the man identified as Tusker, who had shrunk his tusks back down.
"Yeeah!" Black Mace swung and Magnus blocked the blow, and kicked him twice, once for the gut and then for a knee.
Grinning, Black Mace climbed back to his feet. "Looks like we have a Karate Kid type here boys." Black Mace spat on the ground. "Val Armorr is probably the only Legionnaire that I have any respect for because he fights down and dirty even though he's got no powers. But that don't mean I ain't gonna take your head off."
"My turn again!" Tusker shouted as he dropped down and fired his tusks again.
Magnus dove while also kicking the tusks to one side. Tusker, surprised, extended his tusks further than he had meant to, and speared a Sleestak drone.
"You are a fool, Tusker," commented the man wearing chains.
Black Mace laughed as Tusker tried retracting his tusks from the drone. "Ease off, Grimbor. Or did you just want your turn at the hero? Shagrek is still recharging before he can blast anything. And my knee is still bothering me a bit. Or do you just want the one plaything you already have?" He waved a hand toward Jack Harkness.
Magnus, remaining stoic, regarded Grimbor, who was doing the same with him.
"Fine," muttered Grimbor. He casually reached for one of his chains, pulled off his shoulder and tossed it hard towards Magnus.
Magnus' eyes tracked the chains. He noted how they shifted in the air towards him. He had no doubt if he were to try and duck them, that they would follow him. These chains were guided by some form of artificial intelligence. He twisted around and flipped over Tusker's still extended tusks and ducked under them. The chains followed and became entangled by the tusks, wrapping around them. They also sent a jolt of electricity through Tusker's tusks, making him cry out before collapsing.
Black Mace was laughing along with Shagrek. "Shagrek, why don't you pound this guy into the ground instead of blasting him?" Black Mace knew he was setting his teammate up, but he liked a good brawl, and he wanted to see more of how Magnus fought before trying to take him on himself. Plus, Grimbor was fuming and readying another trap to try on the hero. Grimbor was an arrogant bastard and deserved to be knocked down a peg or two in his opinion.
Shagrek stomped toward Magnus with his weird laugh, his hands out as if to grapple with him. Magnus was beginning to wonder if Shagrek was a mute.
Before that could happen something with large leathery wings swooped down and grabbed Shagrek from behind.
They all looked up to see what had happened. The winged figure belonged to a black-haired woman in what some might consider a thin, red, provocative bathing suit.
Magnus was the only one there to know who she was since she had talked to him in the Doctor's TARDIS while he picked up more people to help in this battle. Vampirella was her name, and she was more lethal than most suspected her to be.
While he was an orphan brought up by a robot, and trained to disable any robot he came across, Vampirella was an alien from the planet Drakulon, and her people were known as the Vampiri. On Drakulon, there were blood oceans and streams until one of the local stars exploded and made living on Drakulon very challenging. When some astronauts from Earth crashed on her world, she met them. They attacked her, and when she defended herself, she was surprised to learn that they had blood in their veins. She made the decision to travel to Earth and learn more. Learning that there was a stigma against someone displaying abilities that she had, she decided to break the stereotype and chose to be a hero.
Magnus rushed his assailants, using Tusker as a kickboard for a side leap. The sudden change of direction had helped him to avoid the automatic swing of the mace that Black Mace used. Magnus managed two solid strikes to the villain's groin, causing him to drop his weapon and fall to his knees. Magnus knew from the way he swung his mace that the man had some level of super-strength, so had gone for the sure way to bring him down, at least for a few moments.
Grimbor had been about to send some pieces of glowing paper at him when Shagrek fell from the sky onto him, killing Grimbor.
Shagrek, blinded by pain, fired disintegrating beams from the two curved antennae on his forehead. The only thing for the beams to hit was Captain Jack Harkness, leaving very little of him behind.
Vampirella landed next to him, looking guilty. Both Magnus and Vampirella knew that accidents happened in battle.
"I didn't mean for-"
"I know."
Tusker was shrieking. And they turned to see what new problem was upon them.
Grey veins made by Borg nano-probes were slowly crawling through Tusker's tusks from the drone he had accidentally stabbed towards him.
"Get it off! Get it off!"
"Vampirella," Magnus asked. "Can you break his tusks?"
"I could give it a try." She picked up Black Mace's mace and used it to render Black Mace out for the foreseeable future.
"They're unbreakable!" Tusker shouted. "That's the only reason the other villains would put up with me."
Magnus considered the problem. "There might be one way."
"Do it!" Tusker insisted even as he extended his tusks so that the creeping nano-probes would be farther away.
With Vampirella's help, the two of them dragged the stunned form of Shadrek over by Tusker. Magnus had used Grimbor's other chain to bind the alien so that he would be less of a problem. Between the two of them, they started to rouse him to conscious and explained that they needed him to do. They also explained that they would leave him here with Tusker when the nano-probes took him over. Tusker as a drone could contend with the bound Shadrek.
Shadrek grimaced, but managed to fire off a blast of disintegrating energy that enveloped both tusks in a flash of light. Tusker screamed. When they could see again, Tusker no longer had any tusks. Just two burnt out holes in his mouth. Shadrek laughed until Vampirella struck him with the mace and stunned him.
The drones were coming near, and Vampirella picked up a boulder that she through at them, resulting in crushing one and knocking three to the ground.
Magnus decided that now was a good time to use his robot fighting abilities to take down as many of the drones as he could.
oOoOoOo
If asked, Wesley Wyndam-Pryce could not have told you how he had come to cross the battlefield unscathed only to join those working on trying to undo the drone process. In truth, it had been after he had glimpsed the emerald-skinned Wotan magically summoning the Borg nanoprobes out of one of Shredder's Borg infected ninjas. Never had he seen anyone mix magic and technology with such a degree of success before. He felt awed as he tried to take mental notes. "What's that he's mixing together?" he whispered
"It's a warding powder," Ray Stantz of the Ghostbusters answered, in a hushed tone even as he watched in equal awe while Wotan ground the Borg nanites with his fist into part of the discarded armor from a fallen Horde Trooper.
Egon Spengler, also of the Ghostbusters, was more intent on taking readings of the ritual being performed with his spare EKG-meter. "He seems to be using an elemental binding spell similar to one I found referenced in a Nabuian manuscript. I believe he is joining it with the 'Crimson Bands of Cyttorak' that he keeps muttering under his breath. The power levels he's tapping into are astounding; I've had to dampen the range on my EKG-meter twice to keep it from exploding."
Wesley glanced over to the device in Egon's hand. "Would you mind showing me how that works later? It looks very useful for one in my line of work."
"What is it that you do?" asked Ray.
"Oh, I used to be a Watcher, which basically means I was responsible for the training and handling a Vampire Slayer, more or less, but now my team and I are monster slayers for the forces of good."
"Monsters, huh? Yeah, we've seen our share of those, but we focus mostly on ghosts." Ray pulled out one of his Ghostbusters business cards out of his uniform front pocket.
"Thank you," said Wesley, glancing down at the card. "Though I'm not sure that I can use it since we both come from parallel universes."
Ray shrugged. "In our line of business, you never know where you might end up."
"True enough," agreed Wesley. He reached into his coat pocket and pulled out one of his Angel Investigations cards. "Here. If you are ever out our way, look us up and we'll see what we can do to lend a hand getting home."
"Keep it down, you two!" snapped the nervous villain, Brain Wave, who had a large bald head on top of a scrawny body.
While others fought tooth and nail on the battlefield, an uneasy truce was being held in their small corner of the battlefield as people from both sides worked to restore those that had been infected by the Borg. When Wotan was freed of the connection to the Borg Collective by the ectoplasm explosion of Stay-Puff the Marshmallow Man, he had used that time to purge himself of the nanoprobes in his body as well as heal himself.
"Wotan," called the Borg drone that had once been the third generational Zorro. Since being freed of the Borg, he and a number of not fully processed drones had been working to undo the work the Borg had done to their bodies. "We are running low on ectoplasm."
"Then get more! Just don't interrupt me!" snapped the evil mage as he tried to concentrate on the power he needed to use.
One of the freed drones carefully removed the prosthetic Borg limb, revealing the stump that used to be Zorro's right hand. "What little remains is evaporating quickly. We need the barrier you promised now."
"What do you need the ectoplasmic ooze for?" Dr. Peter Venkman had relished the chance to break away from the fight after the wrestling forms of Giant-Man and the Animal-Vegetable-Mineral Man had almost crushed him while he had been blasting away at the magnetic villain Dr. Polaris. Behind him had been the villain called the Killer Moth who had been about to shoot him only to be aptly smooshed like a bug instead by the wrestling behemoths.
The Zorro/drone turned to Peter. "The ectoplasm interferes with the signal that keeps the drones connected to the Collective Mind. It also affects some of the components on our person and allows our minds to be free. Without it, we will revert to being zombie-like slaves of the Borg again."
"Uh oh, guys." Winston, another of the Ghostbusters tapped on Peter's shoulder. "Looks like some of them are already receiving a signal from the Borg."
As they looked around, they could see some of the drones that had been temporarily freed start to stiffen.
Wesley glanced about for weapons and shelter. Suddenly inspired he reached down and scooped up some of the residual ectoplasm and mixed it with a little dirt to give it more shape. They he threw it like a baseball at one of the closest drones who had been Zorro. The ectoplasm stuck to the drone's chest and Zorro visibly relaxed. "Thank you," Zorro managed to say.
Ray, following Wesley's lead, jumped up and down repeatedly into a small puddle of ectoplasm spraying those closest around with the ghostly charged residue.
"There isn't enough ectoplasm left," pointed out Egon.
Winston powered up his proton pack. "Looks like it's time to go home school again."
"We must delay them," said Zorro. "We must do whatever we can to give Wotan a chance to free us."
"Wait a minute." Peter turned to his friends. "All we need is ectoplasm, right? No problem." He turned and whistled as loudly as he could. "Hey Spud! Get over here!"
"Why do you want Slimer?" asked Ray.
Egon smacked his forehead. "Oh course."
Meanwhile Slimer had been chasing after the flying form of Imp, the smallest member of the Hordak's Evil Horde much like a dog would chase a cat. Hearing Peter calling to him, however, Slimer broke off his pursuit.
Stantz was backing up as the nanite infected Jitsu, one of Skeletor's warriors, walked purposely toward him, or rather toward Wotan who was behind him. Rattlor of the Evil Horde was likewise moving toward Wotan only to be mentally forced back by the Thinker and Brain Wave. On the ground, Brak fought against his infected brother, Sisto, who was also under Borg control again. T.O. Morrow and Sivana, Jr. huddled behind Dr. Sivana while the little mad scientist used a white sound gun to knock several of the drones down. Zeddmore was trying to push back the infected Captain Nemo only willing to use his proton pack as a last resort.
Peter Venkman problem was bigger than that by several hundred pounds. Coming toward him was a large gorilla that at one time answered to the name of Monsieur Mallah while the brain displayed in the glass jar on a pedestal that the gorilla carried was that of an evil French scientist only now known as the Brain, a longtime foe of the Doom Patrol. Both beings showed the grey tell-tale circuitry on their surfaces; fluid spilled from the glass jar from the hole near the top where the nanoprobes had been introduced to the Brain.
"Oh great, and now the circus comes to town." Venkman powered up his proton pack. "Ok, Mr. Mighty Joe Young, stay back or I'll turn you into a crispy critter!" Instead, the large gorilla continued coming toward him. "Wotan, tell me your recipe is ready."
"Soon, Human. Just keep them back a little longer."
"I'm not sure we have any longer!"
Flying down next to him, Slimer raised his arms. "Ta da!"
"About time." Reaching out, Venkman grabbed what he could of the green ghost, and pushed the startled spook into and through nanoprobe infected form of Monsieur Mallah, leaving a thick layer of ectoplasmic ooze on the back and front side of the gorilla.
Slimer looked annoyed at Venkman, but Venkman cried out in joy as Monsieur Mallah looked about in bewilderment. "It worked! Slimer, quick, fly through the other Borg controlled people! It's up to you; only you can save them."
"Me?" The little green ghost went from a look of surprise to one of determination, flying first through Jitsu and then on to the others.
Venkman wiped his ooze covered hands on the chest of the drone that claimed to be Zorro. "Here you go. You definitely need this more than I do. Ugh, I'll never get used to this stuff." He flicked his fingers to try shake more of the ectoplasm off only to get some in his mouth. "Oh yuck! How come I always get that stuff in my face?"
When he was able to look up again, he saw that the glass dome that encased the Brain, Monsieur Mallah's creator, master and only friend, had disengaged itself from his pedestal and sprouted six long, thin metal legs. Jumping down to the ground, the Brain-mobile moved rapidly on its metal legs toward Wotan, who was still chanting over his mixed ingredients.
"No you don't!" Venkman raced forward and kicked hard, sending the Brain-mobile flying out into the combat zone.
"No!" cried out the ape, Monsieur Mallah, who then barreled past Venkman and after the bouncing Brain that was his master/creator.
Venkman slowly picked himself off the ground. "Well, at least it could never be said that I came between an ape and his brain." He gingerly put his foot down only to grimace in pain. "Yep, I broke it. Damn!"
"Hey, Venkman, I think Wotan's on the final part of his spell," called out Ray.
"About time," snarled Brak, who was struggling to keep his Borg-controlled brother Sisto pinned to the ground. He jumped back as Slimer dove down and phased through Sisto and into the ground. The pudgy green specter came out of the ground a few feet away with arms raised while cheering.
Wotan walked past the worn out but exuberant Slimer to a point about ten feet from them and then began to slowly pour the mixture as he walked in a circle around them.
Ray nudged Egon. "What's with the EKG reading?"
Egon frowned. "Something must be wrong. I'm barely reading anything."
"Of course not," stated Wesley. "The energy for a ward of this magnitude can't be transfer to its components until the circle is complete."
Egon and Ray looked at each other in embarrassment.
"We knew that."
"Yeah, of course we knew."
"Guys?" Venkman looked past them at something. "Tell me you guys know something about a big white ape."
"It's only logical."
"The circuit needs to be completed before it can be powered. Even Peter knows that."
"Big white ape!"
They regarded him with confusion.
He, in turn, pointed enthusiastically behind them. "Big! White! Ape!"
They turned just in time to see the rushing massive white ape and throw themselves to the side as it raced past them.
Looking up from where they had fallen on the ground, they could see that the large albino gorilla wearing a strange type of red vest had come to a stop next to Wotan; to add to their amazement the big ape had begun to speak.
"Wotan! I have need of your expertise!" said the white ape, in what could only be considered a frantic tone.
"In case you haven't noticed, Ultra-Humanite, I am currently preoccupied with a task of some importance."
The large ape's nostrils flared more from fear than Wotan's brush off. "Time may be of the essence!"
"It usually is." Wotan continued pouring the mixture of crushed nanites, a few other crucial ingredients, including his blood, bringing the circle closer to completion with every step.
The Ultra-Humanite held out his arm which showed a savage bite wound and quite a bit of blood. Now that the white ape wasn't moving anymore other red claw marks could be seen on its body. "I tell you I was bitten by a werewolf!"
Wotan glanced over while continuing to pour his ingredients. "It does rather look like the handiwork of a werewolf. Messy beasts. And often times quite contagious, as well."
The ape that was the Ultra-Humanite seemed on the verge of hyperventilating. "Does that mean I now carry the curse of lycanthropy? Can you cure me if I have contracted this malady?"
Wotan seemed to almost pause in retrospect. "You know, I've never actually tried curing someone of lycanthropy. I'm more the type who curses someone with it. I have heard it is much harder to remove the curse then to apply it. Especially those placed on a person by me. I did hear of a Dr. Adam Spektor who broke the curse on himself."
The albino ape shuffled nervously after Wotan as the evil green mage continued with his project. "What if I transfer my brain to another body? The contamination of the bite may not have crossed the blood-brain barrier to my brain yet; if I were to transfer my brain to a different host body very soon, would the werewolf curse still apply to my brain?" Being the genius that he was, the Ultra-Humanite had had his brain surgically transferred out of his weak, old original body to several other host bodies, some of which he stayed in for years at a time. He'd experienced being a woman for a number of years; he had even had his brain placed into that of a giant flying ant in order to contend physically with his longtime rival, Superman. The current simian body he occupied was one he had bred purposely to give him strength and endurance. No, it was not fear of a deformed body that bothered him, but what the werewolf curse could do to his mind, his greatest and most cherished asset.
"Yes, any decent curse would affect all of you." Not out of a desire to help his fellow villain, but of needing to complete his current task Wotan decided to offer his services to the terrified villain. "I am almost done with this. I'll inspect the wound then. Meanwhile try to think of what physical traits this werewolf had. It's always helpful to know what breed of werewolf it is."
The Ultra-Humanite just stared at him in bewilderment. "How would I know what it's pedigree is? I'm a scientist, not a student of the arcane! What I can tell you about the monster is that it was huge and ferocious with long, sharp claws and teeth. As soon as it broke off its attack on me to chase after Skeletor's cat-beast, Panthor, I hightailed it over here."
Meanwhile, Wesley and the Ghostbusters were comparing notes as to what they thought of the Ultra-Humanite. "Do you think he's a demon of some sort?" asked Wesley. "It's certainly bigger than any normal ape I've heard of."
Egon waved the EKG meter in the direction of the white ape. "Wotan shows a lot of power, but not the ape. It's not magical in nature. And judging by that surgical scar going around the top of its head, I'd be willing to bet that it's not natural to nature either."
Winston blinked. "You think someone played Frankenstein with that thing as a result?"
Venkman threw his arm over Winston's shoulder. "That's what I love about this job: the variety of challenges we come against."
Ray frowned. "I don't think they were using the Frankenstein concept, Winston. I think it was more along the lines of brain swapping."
"That runs along my theory," agreed Egon. "The body is most likely a mutation; the albino appearance is perhaps a result of the genetic manipulation during its creation."
Venkman was aghast. "You mean someone made a body like that on purpose so that they could transplant their own brain into it!? Geez, talk about making a monkey out of yourself."
Wesley gulped. "And he's not even the biggest monkey." The others looked to him in confusion, but then raised a trembling finger to point into the distance.
"Oh…" started Ray.
"…my…" added Peter.
"God!" concluded Winston.
oOoOoOo
The massive form of the composite battleship Voltron struggled against the force fields that the giant Borg drone had created to push it backwards. Inside the body cavity of the Voltron ship Commander Keith Akira Kogane tried to regain the robot's balance, but he couldn't stop it's fall onto a small hill on its back.
"Damn it! That's a new trick." He did a quick glance over the readings of the gauges. "Lance, one of the servo-connectors to your ship is losing power. Your 'arm' is starting to go limp to the responses I'm sending to it."
"I'm working on it already!" answered Lance excitedly through his monitor.
Pidge's voice piped up from his screen. "I warned you guys that this could happen. I said we should have upgraded to the Spacely Space sprockets at our last refit. But you all wanted to stick with the cheaper Cogswell cogs."
From another monitor screen, Hunk, whose Yellow Lion ship made up the left leg of the Voltron composite fighter unit, spoke up. "We can argue about it later. I'll even volunteer to do all the upgrading with the sprockets myself if we can just survive this." Tsuyoshi 'Hunk' Garett was trying hard to keep up with the damages to his ship. A few controls in his ship had already failed causing a small fire on the left side of his panel. He'd been fortunate to have been able to put it out but now had to wear an oxygen mask due to the smoke in his small cockpit. Unfortunately, one of the controls that had been damaged had been ventilation so now the smoke had nowhere to go and was partially blinding his stinging eyes.
"Here she comes again!" cried out Princess Allura from her cockpit in the Blue Lion ship that made up the right leg of Voltron.
The giant drone was close to the same size as the mecha known as Voltron. The organic half that made up the large drone had originally been the villainess known as Giganta of the Legion of Doom, captured when she had tried to escape service to the Master and ran into drones of the Borg. Because of her large form, the Borg had used a good part of the segments collected from the atomic powered, sentient robot Mr. Atom they had captured earlier and replaced her right arm, leg and part of her head.
With Voltron still on the ground, Kogane kicked out with the blue right leg into the chest of the Giganta / Mr. Atom drone. The drone grabbed the leg and held on while two tubules the size of fire hoses emerged from Giganta's arm and dove into the right arm of Voltron.
"It's penetrating my hull!" hollered McClain.
Commander Kogane fought with his controls. "I'm trying to break it loose!"
"I'm losing power!" added McClain.
"I'm firing," informed Pidge, temporarily overriding Kogane's control of his segment of Voltron to fire point blank at the giant drone's chest.
After the flare of the blast faded, they noted to their amazement that the drone was still there.
"Not even a scorch mark," comment Tsuyoshi 'Hunk' Garett. "How is that even possible?"
"She's adapted her force fields to the energy frequency of our weapons," informed Commander Kogane. "When they connected those hoses to Lance's lion ship, she learned what frequencies our weapons are on."
"Then we disconnect her," answered Princess Allura.
McClain's was started to look more concerned on his screen just before it went blank.
"McClain!" shouted Hunk. To the others, she said, "we have to do something!"
Commander Kogane, with control of Pidge's vessel once again, tried grabbing the tubules in order to extract them, only to be shocked by a force field. "I can't stop it."
"I'm going to try something," informed Princess Allura. "Make sure you rescue Lance first."
"First?" Commander Kogane looked at the screen that displayed the Arusian princess. "What are you… Wait! You're disengaging your ship!"
As the right leg of Voltron was disengaged, Princess Allura engaged her rocket thrusters away from the main form of Voltron. And since the Giganta / Mr. Atom drone was holding her ship to its chest, it was forced backwards causing the tubules to be pulled out.
"We can't hold the form! Everybody, disengage!" Commander Kogane barked orders as he freed his lion ship from the others. "Pidge, Hunk, get Lance out of his ship; it's been compromised. I'll see to the princess."
As the leader of the Voltron Force, Keith felt protective of those under his charge and refused to let any of them to be injured or killed. His ship had barely had time to complete its change to its lion-like configuration before he was already firing on the drone that was still being kept off balance by the thrust of Princess Allura's vessel.
"Get out of there!" he told her visage on his monitor.
"She's holding me tight," said Princess Allura. "I may have to use the autodestruct."
"Not acceptable. You wouldn't have a chance to get free of the blast."
"Commander,-"
"You are not blowing yourself up! Do you hear me?"
I can hear you, came a feminine voice in both of their heads. And I think I have an alternative solution.
Keith couldn't believe what he was hearing but considering all that they had seen in the last twenty-four hours he knew he shouldn't be too amazed.
By the time Pidge and Hunk had rescued McClain from his now infected ship, they flew up to lend a hand with rescuing their other teammate. They could see that the princess was still using her thrusters to push the drone back and that their commander was using his lion-ship's blasters to disrupt the ground beneath the massive drone to keep it off balance. But they were unprepared when an ape the size of the giant drone stood up from behind a hill and savagely grappled the drone from the behind.
Do not be alarmed, said a feminine voice in their head. My name is Kes, and I've brought a friend to help. He doesn't have a formal name, but the natives of the island he is from call him Kong.
To be Continued!
¯`•.¸¸.•´¯`•.¸¸.•´¯`•.¸¸.•´¯`•.¸¸.•´¯`•.¸¸.•´¯`•.¸¸.•´¯`
Original AuThOr'S NoTeS: 8/10/2009
Yes, I brought in King Kong. I couldn't help myself. After my computer crash and everything, I just needed a little treat for myself to get the writing flowing again. Plus, I think with Kes's extra abilities (please remember that in this story Kes who had evolved into an energy being has been brought back to corporeal form by Q) that she could have a good amount of influence on Kong, though not control.
Updated AuThOr'S NoTeS: 2-19-2022
Spacely Space sprockets and Cogswell cogs are both items manufactured in The Jetsons cartoon show. I just thought it would be fun to add.
I rather regret having had Janeway become the wounded person. I think I was trying to make it so I would have less personalities to work with and she drew the short straw. But at least I didn't kill her. I actually like her.
I apologize to all Jack Harkness fans. I rarely watched Doctor Who by the time he appeared, so I have no idea of his character. Also, I wanted to show the reality that accidents do happen in battle. I did something similar a couple of chapters back when someone accidently killed the Invisible Man / Skinner from the League of Extraordinary Gentlemen.
ChArAcTeR InDeX FoR ThE ChApTeR:
Allura, Princess (voiced by B.J. Ward) – from the cartoon Voltron (1984-1986)
Animal-Vegetable-Mineral Man of Earth-1 / Larsen, Dr. Sven – from DC Comics Doom Patrol #89 (1964)
Batman / McGinnis, Terry (voiced by Will Friedle) – from the TV series Batman Beyond (1999-2001) (mentioned only)
Bengali (voiced by Peter Newman) – from the cartoon ThunderCats (1985-1989)
Black Mace / Yardreigh, Mick – from DC Comics Adventure Comics #374 (1968)
Borg – from the TV series Star Trek: The Next Generation
The Brain of Earth-1 – from DC Comics Doom Patrol #86 (1964)
Brain Wave of Earth-2 / King, Henry – from DC Comics All-Star Comics #15 (1943)
Brak (voiced by Keye Luke) – from the cartoon Space Ghost (1966)
Captain America / Rogers, Steve (Chris Evans) – from the movies Captain America: The First Avenger (2011), The Avengers (2012), Captain America: The Winter Soldier (2014), The Avengers: Age of Ultron (2015)
Doctor Polaris of Earth-1 / Emerson, Neal – from DC Comics Green Lantern #21 (1963)
Fett, Boba (Jeremy Bulloch) – from the movie Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back (1980) (mentioned only)
Frankenstein, Dr. Victor von (Peter Cushing) – from the movies The Curse of Frankenstein (1957), The Revenge of Frankenstein (1958), The Evil of Frankenstein (1964), Frankenstein Created Woman (1967), Frankenstein Must Be Destroyed (1969), Frankenstein and the Monster from Hell (1973) (mentioned only)
Garett, Tsuyoshi 'Hunk' (voiced by Lennie Weinrib) – from the cartoon Voltron (1984-1986)
Giant Man / Wilson, Ron (Kevin Heffernan) – from the movie Sky High (2005)
Giganta of Earth-1 / Zuel, Dr. Doriz (voiced by Ruth Forman) – from the cartoon Challenge of the Super-Friends, from DC Comics Wonder Woman #9 (1944)
Gorillas – from the movie Planet of the Apes (1968), Escape from the Planet of the Apes (1971), Conquest of the Planet of the Apes (1972), Battle for the Planet of the Apes (1973)
Grimbor the Chainsman / Grimbor, Markx – from DC Comics Superboy #221 (1976)
Harris, Xander (Nicholas Brendon) – from the TV series Buffy the Vampire Slayer (1997-2003)
Hordak (voiced by George DiCenzo) – from the cartoon She-Ra: Princess of Power (1985-1987) (mentioned only)
Horde Troopers – from the cartoon She-Ra: Princess of Power (1985-1987) (mentioned only)
Imp (voiced by Erica Scheimer) – from the cartoon She-Ra: Princess of Power (1985-1987)
Janeway, Capt. Kathryn (Kate Mulgrew) – from the TV series Star Trek: Voyager (1995-2001)
Jitsu (voiced by Lou Scheimer) from the cartoon He-Man and the Masters of the Universe (1984-1985)
Karate Kid / Armorr, Val – from DC Comics Adventure Comics #346 (1966) (mentioned only)
Kes (Jennifer Lien) – from the TV series Star Trek: Voyager (1995-1997)
Killer Moth of Earth-1 / Walker, Drury – from DC Comics Batman #63 (1951)
Kogane, Cdr. Keith Akira (voiced by Neil Ross) – from the cartoon Voltron (1984-1986)
Kong – from the movie King Kong (1976)
Laren, Ro (Michelle Forbes) – from the TV series Star Trek: The Next Generation (1991-1994)
Magnus – from Gold Key Comics Magnus, Robot Fighter 4000 A.D. #1 (1963)
Mallah, Monsieur, of Earth-1 – from DC Comics Doom Patrol #86 (1964)
Martok, General (J.G. Hertzler) – from the TV series Star Trek: Deep Space Nine (1995-1999) (mentioned only)
McClain, Lance Charles (voiced by Michael Bell) – from the cartoon Voltron (1984-1986)
McCoy, Adm. Leonard 'Bones' (DeForest Kelley) – from the TV series Star Trek (1966-1969)
Megatron (voiced by Frank Welker) – from the cartoon The Transformers (1984-1987), the movie The Transformers: The Movie (1986) (mentioned only)
Mister Atom of Earth-S – from the cartoon The Kid Super Power Hour with Shazam! (1981-1982), from Fawcett Comics Captain Marvel Adventures #78 (1947)
Multi-Man of Earth-1 / Pramble, Duncan – from DC Comics Challengers of the Unknown #14 (1960)
Nemo, Capt. (Naseeruddin Shah) – from the movie The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen (2003)
Osbourne, Daniel 'Oz' (Seth Green) – from the TV series Buffy the Vampire Slayer (1997-2000)
Panthor – from the cartoon He-Man and the Masters of the Universe (1983-1985) (mentioned only)
Picard, Capt. Jean-Luc (Patrick Stewart) – from the TV series Star Trek: The Next Generation (1987-1994)
Professor X / Xavier, Prof. Charles (Patrick Stewart) – from the movie X-Men (2000), X-2: X-Men United (2003), X-Men: The Last Stand (2006) (mentioned only)
Q (John de Lancie) – from the TV series Star Trek: The Next Generation (1987-?), Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, Star Trek: Voyager (mentioned only)
Rattlor (voiced by Lou Scheimer) – from the cartoon She-Ra: Princess of Power (1985-1987)
Rock Soldiers – from the cartoon Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (1987-1996)
Shagrek – from DC Comics Adventure Comics #374 (1968)
Shredder (voiced by James Avery) – from the cartoon Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (1987-1996)
Sisko, Capt. Benjamin (Avery Brooks) – from the TV series Star Trek: Deep Space Nine (1993-1999)
Sisko, Jennifer (Felecia M. Bell) – from the TV series Star Trek: Deep Space Nine (1993-19961) (mentioned only)
Sisto – from the cartoon Space Ghost (1966)
Sivana, Dr. Thaddeus Bodog, of Earth-S (voiced by Alan Oppenheimer) – from the cartoon The Kid Super Power Hour with Shazam! (1981-1982), from Fawcett Comics Whiz Comics #2 (1940)
Sivana, Jr, Thaddeus Bodog, of Earth-S – from the cartoon The Kid Super Power Hour with Shazam! (1981-1982), from Fawcett Comics Captain Marvel Adventures #52 (1946)
Skeletor (voiced by Alan Oppenheimer) – from the cartoon from the cartoon He-Man and the Masters of the Universe (1983-1985), She-Ra: Princess of Power (1985) (mentioned only)
Sleestak / Altrusians – from the TV series Land of the Lost (1974-1976)
Slimer – from the movie Ghostbusters (1984), Ghostbusters II (1989)
Spektor, Dr. Adam – from Gold Key Comics Mystery Comics Digest #5 (1972) (mentioned only)
Spengler, Dr. Egon (Harold Ramis) – from the movie Ghostbusters (1984), Ghostbusters II (1989)
Spock, Ambassador (Leonard Nimoy) – from the TV series Star Trek (1966-1969)
Stantz, Dr. Raymond 'Ray' (Dan Aykroyd) – from the movie Ghostbusters (1984), Ghostbusters II (1989)
Stay-Puff – from the movie Ghostbusters (1984)
Stoker, Darrell 'Pidge' (voiced by Neil Ross) – from the cartoon Voltron (1984-1986)
Thinker of Earth-2 / DeVoe, Clifford – from DC Comics All-Flash Comics #12 (1943)
T.O. Morrow of Earth-1 / Morrow, Thomas Oscar – from DC Comics Flash #143 (1964)
Traag, General (voiced by Peter Renaday) – from the cartoon Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (1987, 1993)
Tusker / Lafeaugh, Horace – from DC Comics Adventure Comics #331 (1965)
Ultra-Humanite of Earth-2 / Shugel, Gerald – from DC Comics Action Comics #13 (1939)
Vampirella – from Warren Vampirella #1 (1969)
Venkman, Dr. Peter (Bill Murray) – from the movie Ghostbusters (1984), Ghostbusters II (1989)
Voltron – from the cartoon Voltron (1984-1986)
Wotan of Earth-2 – from DC Comics More Fun Comics #55 (1940)
Wyndam-Pryce, Wesley (Alexis Denisof) – from the TV series Buffy the Vampire Slayer (1999), Angel (1999-2004)
Yautja – from the movie Predator (1987), Predator 2 (1990), AVP: Alien Vs. Predator (2004), Aliens Vs. Predator: Requiem (2007), Predators (2010)
Zeddmore, Winston (Ernie Hudson) – from the movie Ghostbusters (1984), Ghostbusters II (1989)
Zok (voiced by Mike Road) – from the cartoon The Herculoids (1967-1969), Space Stars 'The Herculoids' (1981)
Zorro III / de la Vega, Joaquin (Adrian Alonso) – from the movie The Legend of Zorro (2005)