A TANGLED WEB Part 8: Endgame
Chapter 33
by Charlie Nelson a.k.a. Ordinaryguy2
Updated: 2-26-20222
The main crossovers in this chapter includes: The Addams Family (1964-1966); The Colour of Magic (1983); Deadpool (2016); The Incredibles (2004); Jake 2.0 (2003-2004); Land of the Lost (1974-1976); The Munsters (1964-1966); Star Trek: The Next Generation (1987-1994); ThunderCats (1985-1989)
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What came before… (a quick recap)
With the Borg drones beginning to swarm on them, the heroes and villains had to stop fighting each other and join together in order to survive. They have built a wall to fight from, but the Borg managed to breach it on the villains' side. Also, Sela made contact with Lore just before spotting the familiar lines of red light in the shape of a triangle on Lore's chest…
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"Down!" she cried. Without thinking, Sela tackled Lore, knocking him down just before a blast from a weapon put a hole in the wall just behind him.
Lore rolled clear, brought his weapon up, and began to scan the hilly area behind him for the Yautja sniper. "The damn alien hunters are back! They've got horrible timing!"
"How many?" Sela managed to ask. Her shoulder ached from where she had made contact with Lore during her tackle, but she was feeling fortunate that the heavily padded shoulders of her Romulan uniform cushioned some of the impact with the solid android body.
"One at least."
She wanted to snap off something sarcastic but had to roll out of the way of reinforcements coming to try stop the Borg.
"Midway up the hill near that long slide." Lore fired his phaser, but the Yautja shooter dropped into the midst of the people. "When the hell did they put a slide in?"
She smiled despite everything going on. She knew Data, Lore's android sibling, would never say anything like that. "It's how I came here with the rest of my party. It was made magically, if you can believe that."
"Damn it! I've lost track of him!"
"What are you doing?" Jake Foley jumped down next to the android. "They're coming through over there, not up on the hill!"
Lore bared his teeth in fury, but was impotent to lash out at the young man who had managed to gain control over him. "The shot that almost destroyed me came from over there!"
"Then it must have been an accident," Jake stated. "This many people jammed up together with all this firepower, there is bound to be a couple of stray shots. We need to-"
Lore closed his eyes, his mind quickly calculating all the different ways that he could kill Jake, as well as running a self-diagnostic to check for possible damages to his positronic brain caused by the stress of trying to bare putting up with this insufferable Human. "You don't understand. These particular aliens are trophy hunters – and we're the trophies! And they want me in particular because I shot off one of their arms, even if it was just after they shot off one of mine. Do you understand now?"
Jake's eyes were riveted on something else. Lore turned and saw a large, stout drone that had not been fully processed in the drone-making procedure was forcibly coming through the wall.
"Try not to hurt him!" someone shouted from the ranks of the heroes. "He's one of ours from the first charge! Broadway of the Gargoyles!"
"Then you fight him!" snapped Rag Doll, as he climbed out of reach of the Gargoyle-drone's grasp and onto his back.
Another villain, Solomon Grundy, took matters into his own hands, literally, by grabbing a hold of Broadway and throwing him high up into the air, barely giving Rag Doll a chance to jump to safety. The skyward Gargoyle stretched out him wings to gain control of his impromptu flight and was soon slowly spiraling downwards again to rejoin the attack.
Using the distraction, Sela came up close to Jake and put her phaser in his back. "All right, I want you to undo whatever you did to Lore right now." She knew she had to hurry. The confusion of the breach in the wall would only distract people so long, and that included Professor Xavier, with whom she had been in telepathic communication just a few minutes before.
Jake's eyes widened in realization to the new threatening situation on his life. "You got to be kidding, right?" He looked to Lore. "Tell me she's kidding."
"Sela," Lore began, "there's an aspect of the new protocols I have to follow that you should know about before you go any further."
Sela glanced at Lore and raised an eyebrow. She kept Jake close to her so that prying eyes couldn't see the phaser she had planted tightly in his back.
"The Professor," he said, indicating one of the first contacts they had in this strange land, "turned out to be one of the Time Lords we were told about. And when he managed to reattach my arm, he also included something he called the Asimov Three Laws of Robotics. One of these laws mentions not allowing any Human to come to harm. But Jake here managed to make it so that I could only obey him. And also, to make sure his safety is my highest concern."
"Meaning that if I try to harm your 'boss', then you have to try stop me."
Jake suddenly smiled. "Hey, that's right."
Sela didn't let go. "But it could also be interpreted that if you did try and take him away from me, it would most likely cause Jake harm by my shooting you in the back."
Lore smiled. "I see what you mean."
Sela leaned close to Jake's ear. "So I think you should just release Lore for everyone's sake."
"Um, I don't think I can."
Sela pressed the phaser deeper into Jake's back.
"I mean," Jake began again, "I don't know how to undo it. Or even if I can undo it." He gave her a weak smile. "For instance, if I did try undo my control over Lore, I'd be putting my life at risk because then Lore would probably try to kill me. I don't know if you noticed, but he seems to have that killer android mentality you see in the movies. And even if he promised not to kill or harm me and meant it, well, then I wouldn't have any protection in this place, and that would also be endangering me so he couldn't allow me to remove the very priorities that keep me safe."
She felt a headache coming on. "I'm beginning to not like you."
"Imagine how I feel," Lore stated, firing his phaser in rapid secession at the nearby drones trying to break through the hole in the wall. "And I should warn you, I've already formulated eighteen ways to incapacitate you and free him, albeit, against what I really wish to happen."
As much as she hated to admit it, she knew they were at an impasse, or from what Lore said, at a complete loss. "Very well," she said, letting Jake go. "We will resolve this later. But the threat Lore mentioned is true. That blast was exactly like that of the alien hunters we first encountered."
Jake's face seemed stricken. "Now that you mention it, I remember something that might relate to that. One of the things Professor X told us was that some of the combatants had encountered large dangerous aliens that could disappear and were killing people in order to collect trophies."
Lore grit his teeth. "Not that I want to argue, but when did he tell you that."
"Oh, it was a telepathic warning for everyone." He smiled sheepishly. "I guess your type of brain doesn't receive that kind of communication."
"Coming through, people!" shouted a man in a reddish-orange superhero uniform. Mr. Incredible was carrying a boulder that was almost the size of a bus over his head. People everywhere dove for cover to give him room in case he dropped the mammoth rock. After passing Sela, Lore and Jake, Mr. Incredible threw the rock the rest of the way, shouting, "Watch out!"
Using the boulder as a plug in the wall might have worked, except for the sudden barrage of energy beams that turned the boulder to smoking dust before it even touched the wall.
Mr. Incredible stood there with his mouth wide open. Pumyra of the ThunderCats patted him on the shoulder. They were of different species but fighting together on a battlefield built a type of comradery that transposed any bias. "There will be other boulders. It was a great try."
"Uh, yeah, I guess so," the hero responded, feeling somewhat crestfallen.
A sudden familiar short blurring form stopped in front of him. "Dad! That was so cool! One second it was a huge rock, and the next, Poof! It was ash!"
"Dash!" He picked up his son, pulling him close. "We were starting to get worried."
"Oh man! That evil speedster chasing me was way faster than I am! Johnny Quick even chased me up the back of a dinosaur. Turns out he was just toying with me at first! If it hadn't been for that other speedster, Zoom, I'd be toast!"
"Zoom? Yeah, he was on the TARDIS with us, right?" He glanced around. "Where is he now?"
"He's coming. He's had to take it slower due to some busted ribs."
Mr. Incredible grinned with a wince. "Yeah, I think I might have one or two broken ribs, too."
"You should have your chest looked at," commented Pumyra, before she began firing over the stone wall again.
"It can wait." He grinned again to his son. "Now you go find your mother and let her know you are safe, okay? We've both been worried."
A little disappointed, Dash reluctantly agreed, and sped off to find his mother.
"Seems like a very good lad. He will follow in your footsteps," Pumyra said. "Indeed, he is already."
"Uh, pardon me, but if you could just step aside for a moment. We're trying to play through here."
Pumyra and Mr. Incredible turned to see a seven-foot-tall man with a startling green complexion and bolts on the side of his head.
Pumyra leaned over to Mr. Incredible. "Is he one of the Borg?" she whispered.
Mr. Incredible couldn't help staring. "I… I don't think so."
Herman Munster (the one with the green complexion) pointed down to where his golf ball was near his very large feet. "See, my golf ball's right here and the hole is over that way," he explained pointing in their direction.
Mr. Incredible was the first to find words. "You're trying to play a game of golf… through a battlefield?!"
Herman nodded. "Oh yes, you see, my friend Gomez had this course all set up to play golf before anyone showed up here to fight. But instead of disrupting your fighting, we decided to just enjoy the ambiance as we play through."
"Ambiance?" Pumyra managed to say.
"Of course," Herman said, happy that they seemed to understand. "So if you would just stand aside for a moment." He motioned to the left and due to the surprise of it all they moved. "Perfect."
Herman lined up next to his golf ball, wound up and swung. The golf ball shot out, striking the metallic side of the head of a Sleestak drone – killing it, while bouncing the ball back into the area of the villains, where it embedded into the head of one of Garguax's tall yellow plastic robots which fell backwards and landed on top of Garguax to which the obese green alien began shouting a number of intergalactic curses.
Herman looked embarrassed when he glanced over to Mr. Incredible and Pumyra. "Um, do you think I should take a mulligan?"
"…I would," Mr. Incredible finally managed to respond.
Herman nodded gratefully. "Oh, thank you. I'm rather new to this game." The greenish-hued man looked down to his left. "A new golf ball please, Thing. I'm taking a mulligan."
Mr. Incredible and Pumyra looked back down the row of fighters to where Ben Grimm, also known as the Thing, was just finishing putting the last boulders in place. Before they could ask Herman to clarify, they both jumped at seeing a dismembered hand scampering across the ground and place a new golf ball on a tee.
"Thank you, Thing."
The dismembered hand made an 'okay' sign and then scampered away on its fingertips through the throng of feet.
"Uh, that thing…" Mr. Incredible found himself at a loss for words.
"Yes, that was Thing," Herman said, smiling. "He's very handy to have around." The large green man began laughing at his bad pun but seemed somewhat embarrassed when he realized he was the only one laughing. After lining up with the ball, Munster took a mighty swing, sending the golf ball flying high up over the attacking drones. Herman burst out laughing again. "Oh boy! Oh boy! Oh Boy! Did you see that stroke?" A moment later he spotted something. "Ah, I see two of the other players. I should really go check in with them. If you see my partner Gomez, tell him we are over there. Now excuse me. Good luck with your fighting." He turned and put his golf club in his golf bag before picking it up.
Pumyra turned to Mr. Incredible. "What type of Human is that exactly? He gives off a vibe that has all the hairs of my back standing on end."
"Uh, I'm not sure he's considered a Human anymore." He stared after the large, green-skinned man. "I think he's a kind of walking dead person. I've fought a few here and there, but I try to leave that kind of thing to the magic-based heroes because they are better equipped to handle the dead. Plus, some animated dead tend to have a very infectious bite from what I hear. But all that aside, the really weird thing is that I've never heard of one so polite or… well, jolly."
As Herman left, people cleared out of his way, leaving confused and wary people in his wake who were saving their strength for fighting off the Borg.
"Hi, guys," Herman said. "Did you see that last shot I just made?"
"I'M AFRAID NOT," spoke a tall, gaunt figure wrapped in a dark cloak. "RINCEWIND WAS JUST EXPLAINING HOW HE HAD GOTTEN LOST WHILE LOOKING FOR HIS GOLF BALL."
Rincewind, a ragtag looking skinny wizard with a wispy beard, gave a sheepish toothy grin, shrugged. "These things happen, right?"
"You should take a mulligan. I just did, too," Herman said, trying to be supportive.
"Er, I guess I could," admitted Rincewind, wondering what a mulligan was, "but I seem to have lost my sticks as well."
"THEY ARE CALLED GOLF CLUBS," informed the tall bony figure.
"Here," Herman said, reaching into his golf bag. "You can use one of mine."
"Pardon me for interrupting," said a dark-haired man standing next to Rincewind. "But have you seen any children around here? I'm looking for my son and daughter." His eyes darted around, searching through the people trying to push back the attacking Borg drones. While Rick Marshall had only spent two years in this micro-universe previously, he had never seen so many people here before or so much chaos.
"Oh dear." Herman scratched his chin. "Unsupervised children can get into so much trouble. I understand your concern. I'm a father myself."
"Really?" Rick managed to say, his imagination trying to formulate what a child of Herman's would look like. "Well, anyway, Rincewind told me he saw some children here, and I have to see if they are mine. But even if they aren't Holly and Will, there shouldn't be any children in a battlefield. Someone should have tried to get them out of here to some place safe."
"PARDON ME. HOLD THAT THOUGHT FOR A MOMENT." The dark cloaked man tapped a small hourglass he had taken out from a pocket with his bony finger.
Rincewind brought a trembling hand up to his wispy beard. "Um, is that…would that happen to-" He paused only long enough to swallow a lump in his throat. "Is that an hourglass for a wizard?"
"YES," answered Death. Noticing the curiosity in his companions faces, he decided to explain. "AS THE INCARNATION OF DEATH, ONE OF MY RESPONSIBILITIES IS TO BE PRESENT AT EVERY WIZARD'S DEATH."
Rincewind's eyes grew wide with alarm. "M-m-meaning me!" He willed his feet to move but they seemed to be frozen in place. "You've been wrong before!" declared the frightened wizard, his eyes staring at the dwindling sands in the hourglass.
The hooded form nodded. "BUT THIS TIME I AM CERTAIN." Putting the hourglass away, Death grasped his scythe firmly.
An explosion at the wall threw debris and bodies everywhere. Death swung with his magically lethal scythe. Rincewind let out a shrill scream.
Despite the panic, with the help of the telepaths directing people, Sun Emperor and Radiation Roy were able to melt and burn away most of the nearest drones before being stunned themselves. The villainess Thorn made use of her incredibly large thorny vines to form a barrier, but the drones, having experienced her vines before, began to burn them down as fast as she grew them. Destro and the Baroness tossed in a few grenades to slow down the drones, but the drones continued to push forward, keeping their personal force fields in place to protect them from the majority of the harm.
"Help! Help!"
Rick heard the cries off to his left. He coughed as he tried picking himself off the ground. A sharp pain alerted him to something wrong with his left leg. Sitting up and brushing off some of the dust, he noted a small blood stain on his leg. A quick exam showed that it was only a superficial wound. Looking around he could see others scrambling to stop the Borg from gaining any more ground. Finally, the screaming began to register. Crawling through the rubble, he came upon Rincewind buried under a body.
"Help!"
"Calm down," Rick said. Confirming that the body on top of Rincewind was actually dead, Rick heaved it over to the side. "Are you hurt?"
"Hurt? Of course not! You don't hurt when you're dead!" Rincewind shouted, jumping to his feet.
"You're not dead." Rick quickly pulled him back down. "But you might soon become so if you don't keep down."
"I'm not dead?" The wizard from Ankh-Morpork carefully considered this new information. "But he said…"
"I SAID A WIZARD WAS ABOUT TO DIE," spoke Death. "AND HE DID."
Rincewind glanced to the body next to him. The man was dressed in all black with a large black top hat next to his head. "He's a wizard?"
"HE WAS WILLIAM I. ZARD OTHERWISE KNOWN AS 'THE WIZARD'. HE USED HIS POWERS FOR EVIL AND PERSONAL GAIN IN A PARALLEL UNIVERSE. HE WAS ACTUALLY CALLED A SUPER-VILLAIN AND OFTEN WAS A MEMBER OF GROUPS OF SUPER-VILLAINS SUCH AS THE INJUSTICE SOCIETY AND THE SECRET SOCIETY OF SUPER-VILLAINS."
"Heh! So it was him all along and not me that was going to die."
"SO IT WOULD SEEM."
Meanwhile the Wizard was trying to pick up his wand from where it lay on the ground, but his fingers kept going through the magical instrument. "Damnation! What kind of trick is this? What did they do to me?"
"There is nothing wrong with you," spoke a voice behind him.
Turning around, the Wizard recognized the speaker as one of Batman and Hawkman's regular foes, the Gentleman Ghost. "What's happened now?"
"It's quite simple, really," said the Gentleman Ghost, who appeared in an 18th century white suit complete with a top hat and monocle, but his face appeared to be invisible. "You're dead, like me."
He only had a moment's confusion before comprehension showed upon his face. "So now what? Do we just follow him?" he asked, pointing towards Death.
"He's just the hatchet man, if you will pardon the pun. Where we go after this… I really can't say as I've managed to put it off to deal with some unfinished business."
"But you interact with the living." His thoughts raced as he tried to take it all in. "How can I do that?"
"Mine was special circumstances. With you, I don't know. But since you were a wizard, you might be able to stay and participate with the living, but in a more limited fashion."
The Wizard looked down at his wand and hat regretfully, not wanting to leave them behind.
Meanwhile, unaware of the spiritual conversation, Herman sat up. "That was an explosion worthy of Grandpa!" He glanced around. "Gee, I wonder where he is?"
Rick Marshall hurried over. "I can't believe I'm going to ask this, but… are you okay?"
"Oh, fine. Just got the wind knocked out of me."
"I think we should probably get you over to that trauma station over there."
"I'm fine really," Herman stated.
"Maybe you should look at your right hand."
"What?" He automatically lifted his right arm. "That's strange. My hand is missing." His eyes widened. "My hand is missing! Lily! Grandpa! Eddie!"
"Try and remain calm," Rick said. "Come on; get up."
Once on his feet, Herman stumbled forward toward where Rick led. Finally, Sivana, Jr. showed them a place near in the trauma area next a big rock that Herman could recline against.
"Geez, normally I wouldn't recommend plastic surgery in the middle of a battle zone," Sivana Jr. stated. "But in your case, I'll make an exception."
"Doctor?" Rick said. "We're not here about plastic surgery, (as hard as that is to believe), it's his hand."
The junior Sivana managed to take his eyes off Herman's disfigured face and look where Rick indicated. "Ah, yes, well, I guess the first thing we should do is stop the bleeding. Say, that's not blood, is it?"
Rick grimaced, as he looked at the black liquid dripping out from the stump of Herman's hand. "You should still stop the… leaking."
"I think I'm going to faint," Herman murmured, turning his head away. "Oh, what is Lily going to say?"
"Hmm," contemplated Sivana, Jr. as he took a belt from one of the dead ninjas. "I think it might be some type of ichor." Using the belt, he began to make a tourniquet. "It's not my field, but I can at least stop the loss of fluids until someone that is more versed in that area of expertise can lend a hand." He chuckled at his bad pun. "Maybe they can even reattach it."
Rick tried to smile reassuringly to Herman. "I looked around, but I didn't see it anywhere. Sorry."
"Herman, old man!" exclaimed someone behind them. "Are you worn out all ready? We're only halfway through the course."
"Gomez?" Herman glanced over to where his friend Gomez Addams was coming over with his butler Lurch totting his golf bag. "I'm afraid I won't be able to continue with our game." He indicated the stump where his right hand used to be.
"That would get you quite the handicap," Gomez commented as he took a smoking cigar out of his inner coat jacket pocket and began puffing on it. "Can't they just reattach it?"
"Reattach it?" Rick found himself speaking up. "His hand was just blown off! I'm surprised he's even conscious!"
Gomez shook his head in amusement. "An excitable fellow, isn't he? But, not to worry, Munster. I've got just the thing." He turned to the crowd and whistled.
A startled scream came from the crowd at the wall. Moments later a severed hand came scampering across the ground towards them on its fingertips.
Sivana, Jr. grabbed Rick by the sleeve. "Do you see what I see?" Rick only managed to nod in response. "Do you think it's just magic or some type of strange scientific experiment? Hee! Hee! Whatever it is, it's alive! It's alive!"
"Ah, Thing!" Gomez knelt down next to the reanimated severed hand. "Herman seems to have gotten himself in a fix and can't continue his game without you."
Thing made a slight gesture.
"What happened to him?" Gomez interpreted. Mr. Addams looked back at Herman. "Why don't you show him, Munster?"
Herman, embarrassed and in some pain now as the shock was clearing, lifted his stump of an arm up.
Thing showed surprise. And then reluctance.
"It would only be temporary," insisted Gomez. "We wouldn't want you growing attached to Herman. I know what a free spirit you are."
After a moment's deliberation, Thing finally gave the okay sign.
"Fantastic!" Gomez turned to Sivana, Jr. "Now if you can just attach Thing to Munster's arm, then we can get back to our game."
"Me?" Sivana, Jr. "Uh, I guess I could try, but I'm not sure I could under these conditions." He ducked down as a nearby explosion showered them with bits of rock.
A body in a red suit bounced on the ground and let out a muffled moan.
"Oh dear," Herman commented. He looked to Gomez. "Do you think he's hurt?"
The person in question slowly sat up with a string of foul words, then he looked up at Herman. "Hey there, tall and dark, can you give me a hand up?"
Following social protocol, Herman reached down and gave him a hand up.
"Thanks, the name's Deadpool." Deadpool was moving all his joints to test which ones were all the way healed.
"That was quite a fall, Mr. Deadpool," Gomez said with a toothy smile. "I'm Gomez Addams. This fine fellow is Herman Munster. The young dapper mad scientist is Dr. Sivana Jr., and then there is this fellow that I haven't met yet."
Rick tried not freezing up at this strange development. "Rick Marshall."
"Oh, and that is Thing down there."
Thing gave a wave from the small boulder he was on.
"Nice to meet you. Are you here for the picnic?" asked Deadpool.
"Nope, just playing a round of golf through while we enjoy the melee and smell of napalm."
"Huh, you sound like some people I could really like. But first, how do you feel about chimichangas?"
Gomez brought out a lit cigar from his inner coat pocket, and took a puff. "Gram-mama makes them from time to time. They can put up quite a fight but once you beat them into submission, it is a tasty treat."
"Lily has a recipe like that, too," Herman joined in. "One of them got away and made a home under the porch. It lived there for nearly a year before Spot caught it."
"Um, sir? Mr. Deadpool?" asked Dr. Sivana Jr.
"It's just Deadpool, kid. What is it?"
"You seem to have a piece of metal shrapnel stuck in your back."
"That would explain the itching." He tried reaching for it, but couldn't quite make it. Deadpool glanced at the others. "I don't suppose one of you could… you know." He pointed at the shrapnel sticking out of his back.
Herman held up his stump, and grimaced.
"I got it, Deadpool." Gomez put his lit cigar back in his inner pocket. "Just turn around."
Deadpool turned around.
Gomez grabbed the jagged shrapnel and quickly extracted it in one sudden movement.
"Gahhh! Charlie Brown on the pitcher's mound! That really hurt!"
"Hmm, it was in about five inches inside," Gomez commented as he studied the piece of metal.
"Probably blew off one of those robots out there," Sivana commented.
"Doctor," said Rick Marshall. "Shouldn't you stop the bleeding before he bleeds to death?"
"He's already stopped bleeding. He's one of those quick healers." Sivana Jr, turned to Deadpool. "Am I right?"
"Lucky for me, yeah." He drew the two katanas from his back. "And now I have to see a seven-foot-tall, anthropomorphic, pink rabbit with superpowers about some payback!"
"Um, Deadpool?"
Deadpool glanced back. "Yeah?"
"Well, our families are having a barbecue later. If you want to stop by, we'd love to have you. Um, you too, doctor," Herman said, adding the last part to include the young mad scientist.
Deadpool nodded. And turned to race out onto the field, because as for as he was concerned, it was rabbit season.
"I hope you don't mind, Gomez," Herman said.
"Inviting these two? No, they would fit in fine." He eyed Herman for a moment. "There was an ulterior motive, though, wasn't there?"
Herman looked embarrassed. "I just thought that Deadpool might be perfect for my niece Marilyn. Of course, the young doctor might, too."
They glanced over to Sivana Jr, who was taking a sample from the blood left by Deadpool.
"He sure is dedicated to his job," Herman remarked.
"Herman, what in the seven layers of hell are you doing here?"
"Grandpa?"
Herman's father-in-law approached, brushing dust from the battle off his suit. "This whole place is about to take a turn worse than the Alamo!"
"Grandpa." Herman lifted up his stump. "Ouchie."
"Herman, you're falling to pieces at a time like this?"
"Dracula, old man," Gomez through an arm over the other man's shoulder. "Do you think you can attach Thing to Herman's arm long enough for him to finish playing this round? I'd really hate to stop the most exciting game of my life unless we absolutely have to."
"Where's his hand? I could reattach it if there isn't much damage. I've done it a few times already." He chuckled. "I guess you could say I'm an old hand at it."
Herman, however, could not see any humor in the situation. "It's lost," Herman pouted. "Perhaps forever."
"Nonsense," Gomez said, patting him on the shoulder. "When things calm down a little here, we'll send in the kids to look around the corpses and debris for it. It'll be a kind of treasure hunt for them. You wouldn't believe how giddy Pugsley gets digging thru cadavers. And if you give Wednesday a pair of bolt cutters, she will be cracking ribs happier and more thoroughly than someone trying to get at the meat in the hard-to-get spots of their lobster meal. Your son, Eddie, looks to have a good nose on him. Perhaps he can track down your hand. Besides, if worse comes to worst, and we can't find your hand, we'll just look among the corpses strewn around here for a hand-me-down."
Grandpa took Herman's arm and checked the damage. "Well, I should be able to get Thing on in just a few minutes. How that will affect your game, I really couldn't guess."
"Really? You're going to attach it right now?" Sivana, Jr. listened with rapt attention. "You don't mind if I watch? I really don't get a chance to examine much connected to the mystical arts. My father kind of frowns on it."
"By all means." Grandpa smiled as he brought out a small tool kit he kept tucked in his cape for emergencies.
Rick shook his head, but then spotted a familiar patch of blonde hair. "Holly?" He broke away at a run, brushing past people as he crossed into the trauma center. "Holly!"
A blonde teenage girl looked up from where she had been sitting with a younger girl, True Danziger. "Dad?" She turned to where her brother Will was helping a wounded man back from a small makeshift latrine that had been made with two blankets. "Will! It's dad! He's here!"
Will almost dropped Lt. Paul Wang on to the ground. But once Wang was lying down, Will hurried away without even giving an apology. "Dad!"
Holly pulled her father in for a deep hug. "Oh, we missed you so much!"
Will joined in the hug, and even though he squeezed tightly, his sister didn't complain of being squished. "How'd you get back? We thought you were lost forever."
Rick blinked back tears. "I almost gave up hope of ever seeing you again."
"Rick!" came another familiar voice.
Rick looked up in surprise to see his brother approaching. "Jack? What- how did you get here?"
Jack laughed and pulled his brother in for a bear-hug. "I'd been out searching for any sign of you and the kids. I knew the route you were supposed to take. I went down it week after week looking-"
"I know," Rick acknowledged. "I talked to your neighbors- the Wilsons."
"So you made it back home?" interrupted Will.
"Did you really, dad?" Holly looked up, wide-eyed.
"Yes, I did." He looked at his two children, marveling at the sight of them. "Look at you two. You are growing so fast. And Holly, you look so much like your mother."
"I've been making sure they have been well fed," Jack said.
Rick smiled back at his brother. "So how soon after I left did you show up here?"
"From what the kids have told me, the two events must have coincided at the exact same time."
Rick's face stiffened. "That doesn't sound very accidental, does it?"
Jack made the connection almost as fast as Rick. "You think that someone wanted you out of the picture. But they needed someone here to keep the kids safe."
"And I think I know who." Rick nodded to where Enik stood with Professor Xavier.
To be Continued!
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Original AuThOr'S NoTeS: 11/8/2010
I'm going to be moving soon so I wanted to get this out as soon as possible. Please forgive any mistakes.
I have been working on trying to tie up some loose ends. One of which is the upcoming Lore vs. Predator confrontation. I had been planning for Death to kill the Earth-2 villain, the Wizard, instead of Rincewind for quite a while.
I've also been enjoying the Munsters & Addams golf game through the battlefield. Perhaps I've been enjoying it too much, but oh well.
I used to be a big fan of the original Land of the Lost series, so I was glad to have a chance to reunite Will and Holly with their father, Rick. In the first two seasons of the show, Rick led Will and Holly through adventures in the Land of the Lost while trying to find a way back home. In the beginning of season 3, Rick was tinkering in one of the pylons and was suddenly sucked through a time-portal. The two kids were left alone, but they soon find their uncle Jack, who quickly takes over the parental role. There was no season 4 so everything was left rather incomplete.
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Updated AuThOr'S NoTeS: 2-26-2022
In the Land of the Lost, after the second season ended, the producers had decided that Spencer Milligan who played the father, Rick Marshall, was insisting on too many changes in the show. I don't know what really went on, but in the very first episode of season 3, all you could see of Rick Marshall was the very back of him as he was being sucked away in a vortex. At that very same time, Rick's brother was being brought into another part of the Land of the Lost. It was too bad everyone couldn't get along because I thought Spencer did a great job in his part.
As for Marylyn Munster actually dating either Deadpool or Sivana Jr., I'm not sure who could win her affections. Deadpool can be too… Deadpoolish, and Sivana Jr, I don't know if he could be a kind husband. Oh well, it is only fiction.
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ChArAcTeR InDeX FoR ThE ChApTeR:
Addams, Gomez (John Astin) – from the TV series The Addams Family (1964-1966)
Addams, Gram-mama (Marie Blake) – from the TV series The Addams Family (1964-1966) (mentioned only)
Addams, Pugsley (Ken Weatherwax) – from the TV series The Addams Family (1964-1966) (mentioned only)
Addams, Wednesday Friday (Lisa Loring) – from the TV series The Addams Family (1964-1966) (mentioned only)
Asimov, Isaac – famous writer (mentioned only)
Baroness (voiced by Morgan Lofting) – from the cartoon G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero (1983), G.I. Joe: The Revenge of Cobra (1984), G.I. Joe: Arise, Serpentor, Arise! (1986), G.I. Joe (1985-1986), G.I. Joe (1990-1992)
Batman of Earth-1 / Wayne, Bruce (voiced by Olan Soule) – from the cartoon The Batman/Superman Hour (1968-1969), Super Friends (1973-1977), The All-New Super Friends Hour (1977-1978), Challenge of the SuperFriends (1978), The World's Greatest SuperFriends (1979), Super Friends (1980-1983), (voiced by Adam West) – SuperFriends: The Legendary Super Powers Show (1984), The Super Powers Team: Galactic Guardians (1985), from DC Comics Batman #62 (1950) (mentioned only)
Borg – from the TV series Star Trek: The Next Generation
Broadway (Bill Fagerbakke) – from the cartoon Gargoyles (1994-1996), Gargoyles: The Goliath Chronicles (1996)
Danziger, True (J. Madison Wright) – from the TV series Earth 2 (1994-1995)
Dash / Parr, Dashiell 'Dash' (voiced by Spencer Fox) – from the movie The Incredibles (2004)
Data, Lt. Cdr. (Brent Spiner) – from the TV series Star Trek: The Next Generation (1987-1994) (mentioned only)
Deadpool / Wilson, Wade (Ryan Reynolds) – from the movie Deadpool (2016)
Death / Door, Bill – from the book The Colour of Magic (1983), by Terry Pratchett, of the Discworld series; (Christopher Lee) – from the movies Wyrd Sisters (1997), Soul Music (1997), The Color of Magic (2008), (Ian Richardson) – Hogfather (2006)
Destro (voiced by Arthur Burghardt) – from the cartoon G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero (1983), G.I. Joe: The Revenge of Cobra (1984), G.I. Joe: Arise, Serpentor, Arise! (1986), G.I. Joe (1985-1986)
Dracula, Sam 'Grandpa' (Al Lewis) – from the TV series The Munsters (1964-1966)
Foley, Jake (Christopher Gorham) – from the TV series Jake 2.0 (2003-2004)
Garguax of Earth-1 – from DC Comics Doom Patrol #91 (1964)
Gentleman Ghost of Earth-1 / Craddock, Jim – from DC Comics Flash Comics #86 (1947)
Grundy, Solomon, of Earth-1 / Gold, Cyrus (voiced by Jimmy Weldon) – from the cartoon Challenge of the Super-Friends (1978), Super Friends (1983), from DC Comics Superman #319 (1978)
Hawkman of Earth-1 / Hol, Katar / Hall, Carter (voiced by Vic Perrin) – from the cartoon The Superman/Aquaman Hour of Adventure (1967), Aquaman (1968), (voiced by Jack Angel) – The All-New Super Friends Hour (1977-1978), Challenge of the SuperFriends (1978), Super Friends (1980-1983), The Super Powers Team: Galactic Guardians (1985), from DC Comics Brave and the Bold #34 (1961) (mentioned only)
Johnny Quick of Earth-3 – from DC Comics Justice League of America #29 (1964) (mentioned only)
Lore (Brent Spiner) – from the TV series Star Trek: The Next Generation (1988-1993)
Marshall, Holly (Kathy Coleman) – from the TV series Land of the Lost (1974-1976)
Marshall, Jack (Ron Harper) – from the TV series Land of the Lost (1976)
Marshall, Park Ranger Rick (Spencer Milligan) – from the TV series Land of the Lost (1974-1975)
Marshall, Will (Wesley Eure) – from the TV series Land of the Lost (1974-1976)
Mister Incredible / Parr, Bob (voiced by Craig T. Nelson) – from the movie The Incredibles (2004)
Munster, Eddie Wolfgang (Butch Patrick) – from the TV series The Munsters (1964-1966) (mentioned only)
Munster, Herman (Fred Gwynne) – from the TV series The Munsters (1964-1966)
Munster, Lily (Yvonne De Carlo) – from the TV series The Munsters (1964-1966) (mentioned only)
Munster, Marilyn (Pat Priest) – from the TV series The Munsters (1964-1966) (mentioned only)
Plastic Men of Earth-1 – from DC Comics Doom Patrol #91 (1964)
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)
Pumyra (voiced by Gerrianne Raphael) – from the cartoon ThunderCats (1985-1989)
Radiation Roy of Earth-1 / Travich, Roy – from DC Comics Adventure Comics #320 (1964)
Rag Doll of Earth-2 / Merkel, Peter – from DC Comics Flash Comics #36 (1942)
Rincewind – from the book The Colour of Magic (1983) by Terry Pratchett, of the Discworld series; (David Jason) – from the movie The Color of Magic (2008)
Selay – from the TV series Star Trek: The Next Generation (1987)
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) (mentioned only)
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)
Sleestak / Altrusians – from the TV series Land of the Lost (1974-1976)
Spot – from the TV series The Munsters (1964-1966) (mentioned only)
Sun Emperor of Earth-1 / Douglous, Nigal – from DC Comics Superman's Pal, Jimmy Olsen #63 (1962)
Thing (Ted Cassidy) – from the TV series The Addams Family (1964-1966)
Thing / Grimm, Ben (Michael Chiklis) – from the movies Fantastic Four (2005), 4: Rise of the Silver Surfer (2007)
Thorn of Earth-2 / Canton, Rose – from DC Comics Flash Comics #89 (1947)
Thunderbunny / Caswell, Bobby – from Charlton Comics Comic Crusader Storybook #1 (1977) (mentioned only)
Wang, Lt. Paul (Joel de la Fuente) – from the TV series Space: Above and Beyond (1995-1996)
Wilson, Mr. George Everett – from the comic strip Dennis the Menace (1951-present) created by Hank Ketcham (mentioned only)
Wilson, Mrs. Martha – from the comic strip Dennis the Menace (1951-present) created by Hank Ketcham (mentioned only)
Wizard of Earth-2 / Zard, William I. – from DC Comics All-Star Comics #34 (1947)
Yautja – from the movie Predator (1987), Predator 2 (1990), AVP: Alien Vs. Predator (2004), Aliens Vs. Predator: Requiem (2007), Predators (2010)
Zoom / Shepard, Jack – from the movie Zoom: Academy for Superheroes (2006)