Note: Garfield (aka the Caped Avenger), Odie and Jon are all copyrighted by Jim Davis, so I write this story with absolutely NO profit motive.
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The story opened in the Arbuckle home about two months after the Caped Avenger's epic battle against Lord Stinkipottso, where Garfield was swatting around a few spiders just for the heck of it as the orange cat was totally bored out of his skull (plus, let's face it, his hatred of spiders is infamous). Apparently, the procedure that gave him his super-powers also fixed it so that his energy would be fully replenished after just a half-hour's sleep and when his Caped Avenger energy is THAT high, he can't sleep even if he WANTS to.
The trouble was, except for the battle with Lord Stinkipottso and an incident a month before this story's setting involving a small band of super-powered international terrorists, he hasn't faced any headline-grabbing challenges in the two months since he started secretly operating as the Caped Avenger for real. Oh, there was plenty of crime for him to fight, but it's been almost all bank robbers, muggers, car thieves, low-level racketeers and would-be kidnappers; the sort of stuff that was child's play with his powers. He fought that crime because it was good for his heroic image to pay as much attention to the non-super-criminals as the super ones and crime-fighting DID help him work up an appetite, but the fact remained he longed for a real challenge; something that would allow him to put his powers to the test and, therefore, gain greater glory upon victory.
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Little did the orange cat realize that his desire for some REAL action would be granted all too quickly for, at that exact same time, a small team of scientists at a lab elsewhere in the city was analyzing some scraps of alien technolgy left over from the Caped Avenger's battle with Lord Stinkipottso. As the scientists analyzed the energy readings from the extra-terrestrial materials, they failed to notice a small spider creeping toward the piece with the highest energy reading. After a few seconds, the spider crept away as unnoticed as it arrived on the scene.
Due to the energy the spider absorbed, it very slowly started to increase in size, proportionate physical ability AND intellect. Within one hour, that spider was fifteen inches long, had peak human intelligence and twice the proportionate physical abilities of its non-mutated counterparts. What's more, the spider also had a telepathic link with all other spiders within its immediate area AND could emit optic beams capable of enlarging other spiders to two-and-a-half feet long and increasing their proportionate physical powers fourfold (though, unlike the original spider, NO increased intellect or telepathic abiilities were included).
Using its newfound telepathic control over other spiders, this super-intelligent spider very quickly brought sixteen spiders within the range of its optic enlarging beams and these mentally-controlled archanids quickly webbed up all of the scientists in the lab and allowed their leader to seize control over the aforementioned lab, even as the leader continued to grow in size, power and intellect.
Within two hours of its exposure to the energy from those alien materials that spider had become twice as large, proportionately powerful and intelligent as before. What's more, it could now enlarge its arachnid minions to four times its own size and proportionate physical power while still maintaining full mental control over them (providing they stay within a mile of their leader). Under its mental control, the fellow spiders under its command dug a large enough hole to conceal themselves until their leader's powers were fully-developed AND it had enough practice using those powers.
By the end of the third hour, the original spider had grown to five feet long and had four times peak human intelligence, eight times the proportionate physical powers of an ordinary spider, could enlarge any other spider to EIGHT times its own size and proportionate physical prowess AND completely control any other spiders within a two-mile range. By this time the spider cackled "My mental calculations have already determined that my growth and power increase will stop within an hour, but, by then, my powers will be great enough to control every spider in this city AND enlarge them to a size that will render most of these lousy humans powerless. Not even this Caped Avenger I've heard stories about will be able to stop my mighty arachnid armies once I've reached my full power." though this spider was smart enough even in the first hour to keep the spiders he enslaved and enlarged close enough to the lab and deep enough underground to NOT attract the Caped Avenger's attention until it was powerful enough to unleash its armies with confidence.
Finally, true to the spider's calculations, it stopped growing at the end of the fourth hour at the size of ten feet and three tons with sixteen times the proportionate physical abilities of a non-mutated spider, eight times peak human intelligence, absolute mental control over all fellow spiders within a four-mile radius and the power to enlarge other spiders into 160-foot, 12, 800-ton monsters with 256 times the proportionate physical abilities of normal-sized spiders.
By the end of a week, the lead spider; who started calling itself the Arachnid King; had amassed an army of 128 160-foot spider-soldiers and had tunnels carefully constructed so that his subjects could strike anywhere in the city and he could remain carefully hidden but still within the four mile range of his control. With that, the Arachnid King replied "All is now in readiness, my faithful followers. With your awesome power under my guidance, we'll soon bring this city to its knees. So says the Arachnid King."
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All too quickly, the Arachnid King's armies started to strike at the unsuspecting city. At an army base, four of those giant spiders under the Arachnid King's control hopelessly disabled all of the military weapons and vehicles and trapped all the military personnel with the use of their awesome physical strength and impossibly strong webbing just before, under the Arachnid King's control . At two of the city's police stations (the four mile range on the giant spider control meant the Arachnid King could only attack the police stations one at a time), all of the cops are kept trapped in the buildings by the spiders' webbing.
By the time of the THIRD police station attack, however, the Caped Avenger was on routine patrol and happened to be over the area four of the spiders were attacking. The feline hero sighed and thought "I suppose this is supposed to be some sort of poetic justice. After all the normal-sized spiders I've swatted and squished, I now have to face a set of GIANT spiders. Oh well, I said I wanted a challenge." as he swooped down after the four 160-foot spiders he saw.
With a powerful right hook, the Caped Avenger sent the first spider flying only to end up getting caught in the webbing of the other three spiders. Though this webbing was too strong for even the Caped Avenger to break, the super-powered feline started flying up before the three giant spiders stopped spinning their webbing, dragging all three 160-foot spiders with him while simultaneously using his laser vision at full power to cut through the webbing ensnaring him. After he flew the spiders up to 32, 000 feet but BEFORE he finished cutting through the webbing, the Caped Avenger started spinning around very fast using the resulting centrifugal force to take the fight out of those three spiders. By the time he was done cutting through the webbing, the Caped Avenger had those three giant spiders too dizzy to put up a fight. As they all fell, the mighty feline caught all three of them (one in both front paws and one each in one of his hind paws) and brought himself down just as the spider he punched coming in started to get up and was joined by four others, who were insructed by the Arachnid King to back up the one getting back to its feet.
Wasting no time, the feline hero threw each of the giant spiders he was holding into one of the others and then flew up to the last two, grabbed each in one of his front paws and slammed their heads together before dropping them hard on two of the other six spiders. Grabbing a spider in each paw, the Caped Avenger lifted and threw the four he grabbed into the other four just as they were starting to get up. "Not too shabby. Eight 160-foot spiders defeated in four minutes." the Caped Avenger thought with a conceited smirk as the action news copter arrived and the feline hero standed over the eight giant spiders he just defeated like a big game hunter with a new trophy.
"I'll let you think you've won, Caped Avenger, and lie low with the rest of my arachnid army for a few days. However, that'll be merely to lull you into a sense of false confidence AND give myself time to carefully plan out my next move." the Arachnid King cackled to himself as he watched the embarrassingly egotistical feline hero taking dramatic bows and posing for the press, unaware of either the Arachnid King or the rest of his followers.
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A week later, which was six-and-three-quarters days longer than the Caped Avenger needed to repair all of the damage done to the military base and police stations in the Arachnid King's first attempted siege (though the Caped Avenger could only repair the military equipment with the unseen telepathic guidance of the now super-intelligent Odie), the Arachnid King, now commanding an army of 1024 160-foot spiders and wearing a special crown (which boosted his telepathic power enough for him to command his armies from a radius of 256 miles) created using fragments he dug up in the science lab that unwittingly created the Arachnid King, said "I think we let that conceited cosmic-powered cat dangle long enough. Now it is time for us to launch our next attack. I will send 64 of you, in teams of eight, after both military bases within a 256 mile radius of the city AND all six of the police stations in this city. Then I'll put out a signal that will instantly alert the Caped Avenger to the situation. When he shows up, I want all of you out on the field to fight him as hard as you can, even though, to be honest, he probably WILL defeat the first few teams of you. However, the more of you he'll have to take down, the more tired he'll get and the more tired he gets, the weaker he'll become. In the event that he DOES defeat all 64 of the troops, however, I send to the surface, I'll then put out a signal that will lead him right to this lair, where the REST of my army will be able to very quick work of an already exhausted Caped Avenger. I've underestimated him ONCE, but he won't be so lucky a second time." finishing with the typical arch-villain cackle.
Well, it wasn't long before the spiders began attacking their assigned targets and it was almost as fast that the Arachnid King, as planned, planted a special signal device specfically attuned to the Caped Avenger's super-hearing in one of the city's television stations. The message the signal device transmitted was "Caped Avenger, do you remember those eight giant spiders you captured last week? Well, I've got 64 more such spiders attacking all six of this city's police stations and both of the military bases within 256 miles of this city as we speak. That's right, those spiders were under the control of me, the Arachnid King. I challenge you to stop my subjects again, IF YOU DARE, you super-powered feline egomaniac!".
Watching television at the time of the hypersonic signal device's activation, Garfield overhears the villain's challenge and, with a hateful glare, thought "You've got yourself a bet, Arachnid King. I don't know who you are, but I bet your bug buddies before and I'll do it again." as the cat headed for the area where he hid his Caped Avenger costume.
As Garfield was putting on his costume, Odie came forward and telepathically told Garfield "I hate to point this out, but a challenge like that is an all-too-obvious invitation to a trap. I think you might need some help for this case.".
Gently placing his right front paw on Odie's left shoulder, the Caped Avenger thought, with all seriousness, "I appreciate the concern, old friend, but I can handle this. You're best suited providing me with help from a safe distance behind the scenes. I don't want to chance you getting hurt.".
Odie telepathically commented "I sense that you are speaking the truth on that front, Garfield, but it's still only HALF the reason you don't want direct help. The rest of the reason is that you have an ego the size of the planet Jupiter and don't like the idea of sharing the glory. Still, I will admit that, against monsters like these, I wouldn't be of much help directly, so I'll accept that I have to stay behind if you agree to let me see if I can find the Arachnid King's hideout from here and find a way to defeat him from a safe distance.".
"I don't have a problem with that, old friend. By the way, I'll admit you are right about me having an ego the size of the planet Jupiter, but at the same time, I have somewhat of a RIGHT to that ego because I have the powers to back up the VAST majority of my boasts." the Caped Avenger thought simply before he flew off to face the Arachnid King's challenge.
To Be Continued
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The story opened in the Arbuckle home about two months after the Caped Avenger's epic battle against Lord Stinkipottso, where Garfield was swatting around a few spiders just for the heck of it as the orange cat was totally bored out of his skull (plus, let's face it, his hatred of spiders is infamous). Apparently, the procedure that gave him his super-powers also fixed it so that his energy would be fully replenished after just a half-hour's sleep and when his Caped Avenger energy is THAT high, he can't sleep even if he WANTS to.
The trouble was, except for the battle with Lord Stinkipottso and an incident a month before this story's setting involving a small band of super-powered international terrorists, he hasn't faced any headline-grabbing challenges in the two months since he started secretly operating as the Caped Avenger for real. Oh, there was plenty of crime for him to fight, but it's been almost all bank robbers, muggers, car thieves, low-level racketeers and would-be kidnappers; the sort of stuff that was child's play with his powers. He fought that crime because it was good for his heroic image to pay as much attention to the non-super-criminals as the super ones and crime-fighting DID help him work up an appetite, but the fact remained he longed for a real challenge; something that would allow him to put his powers to the test and, therefore, gain greater glory upon victory.
***********************************************************************
Little did the orange cat realize that his desire for some REAL action would be granted all too quickly for, at that exact same time, a small team of scientists at a lab elsewhere in the city was analyzing some scraps of alien technolgy left over from the Caped Avenger's battle with Lord Stinkipottso. As the scientists analyzed the energy readings from the extra-terrestrial materials, they failed to notice a small spider creeping toward the piece with the highest energy reading. After a few seconds, the spider crept away as unnoticed as it arrived on the scene.
Due to the energy the spider absorbed, it very slowly started to increase in size, proportionate physical ability AND intellect. Within one hour, that spider was fifteen inches long, had peak human intelligence and twice the proportionate physical abilities of its non-mutated counterparts. What's more, the spider also had a telepathic link with all other spiders within its immediate area AND could emit optic beams capable of enlarging other spiders to two-and-a-half feet long and increasing their proportionate physical powers fourfold (though, unlike the original spider, NO increased intellect or telepathic abiilities were included).
Using its newfound telepathic control over other spiders, this super-intelligent spider very quickly brought sixteen spiders within the range of its optic enlarging beams and these mentally-controlled archanids quickly webbed up all of the scientists in the lab and allowed their leader to seize control over the aforementioned lab, even as the leader continued to grow in size, power and intellect.
Within two hours of its exposure to the energy from those alien materials that spider had become twice as large, proportionately powerful and intelligent as before. What's more, it could now enlarge its arachnid minions to four times its own size and proportionate physical power while still maintaining full mental control over them (providing they stay within a mile of their leader). Under its mental control, the fellow spiders under its command dug a large enough hole to conceal themselves until their leader's powers were fully-developed AND it had enough practice using those powers.
By the end of the third hour, the original spider had grown to five feet long and had four times peak human intelligence, eight times the proportionate physical powers of an ordinary spider, could enlarge any other spider to EIGHT times its own size and proportionate physical prowess AND completely control any other spiders within a two-mile range. By this time the spider cackled "My mental calculations have already determined that my growth and power increase will stop within an hour, but, by then, my powers will be great enough to control every spider in this city AND enlarge them to a size that will render most of these lousy humans powerless. Not even this Caped Avenger I've heard stories about will be able to stop my mighty arachnid armies once I've reached my full power." though this spider was smart enough even in the first hour to keep the spiders he enslaved and enlarged close enough to the lab and deep enough underground to NOT attract the Caped Avenger's attention until it was powerful enough to unleash its armies with confidence.
Finally, true to the spider's calculations, it stopped growing at the end of the fourth hour at the size of ten feet and three tons with sixteen times the proportionate physical abilities of a non-mutated spider, eight times peak human intelligence, absolute mental control over all fellow spiders within a four-mile radius and the power to enlarge other spiders into 160-foot, 12, 800-ton monsters with 256 times the proportionate physical abilities of normal-sized spiders.
By the end of a week, the lead spider; who started calling itself the Arachnid King; had amassed an army of 128 160-foot spider-soldiers and had tunnels carefully constructed so that his subjects could strike anywhere in the city and he could remain carefully hidden but still within the four mile range of his control. With that, the Arachnid King replied "All is now in readiness, my faithful followers. With your awesome power under my guidance, we'll soon bring this city to its knees. So says the Arachnid King."
***********************************************************************
All too quickly, the Arachnid King's armies started to strike at the unsuspecting city. At an army base, four of those giant spiders under the Arachnid King's control hopelessly disabled all of the military weapons and vehicles and trapped all the military personnel with the use of their awesome physical strength and impossibly strong webbing just before, under the Arachnid King's control . At two of the city's police stations (the four mile range on the giant spider control meant the Arachnid King could only attack the police stations one at a time), all of the cops are kept trapped in the buildings by the spiders' webbing.
By the time of the THIRD police station attack, however, the Caped Avenger was on routine patrol and happened to be over the area four of the spiders were attacking. The feline hero sighed and thought "I suppose this is supposed to be some sort of poetic justice. After all the normal-sized spiders I've swatted and squished, I now have to face a set of GIANT spiders. Oh well, I said I wanted a challenge." as he swooped down after the four 160-foot spiders he saw.
With a powerful right hook, the Caped Avenger sent the first spider flying only to end up getting caught in the webbing of the other three spiders. Though this webbing was too strong for even the Caped Avenger to break, the super-powered feline started flying up before the three giant spiders stopped spinning their webbing, dragging all three 160-foot spiders with him while simultaneously using his laser vision at full power to cut through the webbing ensnaring him. After he flew the spiders up to 32, 000 feet but BEFORE he finished cutting through the webbing, the Caped Avenger started spinning around very fast using the resulting centrifugal force to take the fight out of those three spiders. By the time he was done cutting through the webbing, the Caped Avenger had those three giant spiders too dizzy to put up a fight. As they all fell, the mighty feline caught all three of them (one in both front paws and one each in one of his hind paws) and brought himself down just as the spider he punched coming in started to get up and was joined by four others, who were insructed by the Arachnid King to back up the one getting back to its feet.
Wasting no time, the feline hero threw each of the giant spiders he was holding into one of the others and then flew up to the last two, grabbed each in one of his front paws and slammed their heads together before dropping them hard on two of the other six spiders. Grabbing a spider in each paw, the Caped Avenger lifted and threw the four he grabbed into the other four just as they were starting to get up. "Not too shabby. Eight 160-foot spiders defeated in four minutes." the Caped Avenger thought with a conceited smirk as the action news copter arrived and the feline hero standed over the eight giant spiders he just defeated like a big game hunter with a new trophy.
"I'll let you think you've won, Caped Avenger, and lie low with the rest of my arachnid army for a few days. However, that'll be merely to lull you into a sense of false confidence AND give myself time to carefully plan out my next move." the Arachnid King cackled to himself as he watched the embarrassingly egotistical feline hero taking dramatic bows and posing for the press, unaware of either the Arachnid King or the rest of his followers.
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A week later, which was six-and-three-quarters days longer than the Caped Avenger needed to repair all of the damage done to the military base and police stations in the Arachnid King's first attempted siege (though the Caped Avenger could only repair the military equipment with the unseen telepathic guidance of the now super-intelligent Odie), the Arachnid King, now commanding an army of 1024 160-foot spiders and wearing a special crown (which boosted his telepathic power enough for him to command his armies from a radius of 256 miles) created using fragments he dug up in the science lab that unwittingly created the Arachnid King, said "I think we let that conceited cosmic-powered cat dangle long enough. Now it is time for us to launch our next attack. I will send 64 of you, in teams of eight, after both military bases within a 256 mile radius of the city AND all six of the police stations in this city. Then I'll put out a signal that will instantly alert the Caped Avenger to the situation. When he shows up, I want all of you out on the field to fight him as hard as you can, even though, to be honest, he probably WILL defeat the first few teams of you. However, the more of you he'll have to take down, the more tired he'll get and the more tired he gets, the weaker he'll become. In the event that he DOES defeat all 64 of the troops, however, I send to the surface, I'll then put out a signal that will lead him right to this lair, where the REST of my army will be able to very quick work of an already exhausted Caped Avenger. I've underestimated him ONCE, but he won't be so lucky a second time." finishing with the typical arch-villain cackle.
Well, it wasn't long before the spiders began attacking their assigned targets and it was almost as fast that the Arachnid King, as planned, planted a special signal device specfically attuned to the Caped Avenger's super-hearing in one of the city's television stations. The message the signal device transmitted was "Caped Avenger, do you remember those eight giant spiders you captured last week? Well, I've got 64 more such spiders attacking all six of this city's police stations and both of the military bases within 256 miles of this city as we speak. That's right, those spiders were under the control of me, the Arachnid King. I challenge you to stop my subjects again, IF YOU DARE, you super-powered feline egomaniac!".
Watching television at the time of the hypersonic signal device's activation, Garfield overhears the villain's challenge and, with a hateful glare, thought "You've got yourself a bet, Arachnid King. I don't know who you are, but I bet your bug buddies before and I'll do it again." as the cat headed for the area where he hid his Caped Avenger costume.
As Garfield was putting on his costume, Odie came forward and telepathically told Garfield "I hate to point this out, but a challenge like that is an all-too-obvious invitation to a trap. I think you might need some help for this case.".
Gently placing his right front paw on Odie's left shoulder, the Caped Avenger thought, with all seriousness, "I appreciate the concern, old friend, but I can handle this. You're best suited providing me with help from a safe distance behind the scenes. I don't want to chance you getting hurt.".
Odie telepathically commented "I sense that you are speaking the truth on that front, Garfield, but it's still only HALF the reason you don't want direct help. The rest of the reason is that you have an ego the size of the planet Jupiter and don't like the idea of sharing the glory. Still, I will admit that, against monsters like these, I wouldn't be of much help directly, so I'll accept that I have to stay behind if you agree to let me see if I can find the Arachnid King's hideout from here and find a way to defeat him from a safe distance.".
"I don't have a problem with that, old friend. By the way, I'll admit you are right about me having an ego the size of the planet Jupiter, but at the same time, I have somewhat of a RIGHT to that ego because I have the powers to back up the VAST majority of my boasts." the Caped Avenger thought simply before he flew off to face the Arachnid King's challenge.
To Be Continued