Reticence Saga

Severed Web

Chapter 1: Friendly Neighborhood

(Author's note: this fic is set in the Ultimate Spider-Man verse, which shares the same universe as Hulk and the Agents of SMASH and Avengers Assemble seasons 1-4. Guardians of the Galaxy and Black Panther's Quest are in a separate universe they share with Marvel's Spider-Man. It's the best and only way those shows can fit together.)

After an unexpectedly long delay on the nanite world, it was far past time for the Bladestorm to rendezvous with Megan to see how her search for the cure to the Virk virus was going.

"Captain, we're approaching the wormhole. It appears to be instable. It's...shrunk. We're not getting through that," said a tech, Matt seeing the wormhole, before the light caught something.

"Aria, what is that? 34 by 772 to the east of the hole," he said, squinting.

"Scanning...enhancing..." said Aria. There was a bit of silence before she said, "It's the remains of a cruiser."

"What?" said Matt, the cruiser appearing in magnification.

"Oh God, it's ours," Kala said in horror, covering her mouth. The cruiser itself was only the front, the neat cut a sign that the wormhole had shrunk mid travel

"If it's the front half, does that mean they were trying to escape?" asked Chris.

"Confirmed. The ship has suffered complete life support failure. No survivors," said Aria, pausing before saying, "I'm detecting a mana matrix on the ship, designed to boost paranoia."

"Meaning someone cast a panic curse?" asked Kala.

"Who I don't know. It doesn't match any known matrix on file, definitely not for that dimension," said Aria.

"Are the computer records still accessible?" asked Matt.

"Partial records only...all I can gather is that Megan evacuated before the ship tried to enter the wormhole," said Aria, pausing, "This is strange...the ships internal clock is out of alignment by over 2 terran years."

"What? Nobody said anything about time-" started Matt before pausing. "Delete that part," he said.

"Sir?" said Aria.

Matt snapped, "When NegaMorph finds out, he'll tear that dimension to ribbons to find who did this."

"First, he'll tear you to ribbons for sending Megan there in the first place," said Chloe pointedly.

"That too...but I'm more worried about the return of General NegaMorph, coming to that dimension over there," snapped Matt, before saying, "Kala, get Chloe...and Silvana. I don't wanna leave her alone in her current state. We'll take a shuttle and grab Megan," said Matt.

"I better go with you," said Chris, "Things tend to get...off track when you Shar-Khan are left by yourself."

"And how would your presence mitigate any of that?" asked Matt, "And if me and Kala and Silvana all go Virk, and Chloe goes feral, what would you do?"

Chris paused before snapping, "I'm gonna protect Chloe."

There was a long pause before Matt said, "I can respect that."

Chris grinned and said, "Us future brothers-in-law gotta watch out for each other."

"Don't push it," growled Matt.

He looked at Kala, "Fit Silvana with...the Khan suit Mina was meant to have. She can make better use. Then meet me at Bay 2."

"Ok, but how are we going to make sure NegaMorph doesn't follow?" asked Kala.

"Don't tell him about the dilation, we'll have a good 6 months inside," said Matt.

"I'm not sure how long I can keep NegaMorph distracted," said Aria, "I'm not even certain about the time relativity at this point."

"Just give us as long as you can," said Chris.


Silvana was sitting sadly in her quarters. She could still remember seeing her family fly off with that traitorous purple, before she looked up as the door opened, a drone bringing in a box. "Orders from the commander: this is your equipment. Report to Bay 2 as soon as possible."

"Equipment? But-" started Silvana.

"Report to Bay 2 as soon as possible," repeated the drone.

Silvana watched the drone leave the box and hover out, the young Khan walking over to the box and opening it to see an armor from her father's stories; the metallic dragon head of a Shar-Khan.

Silvana wasn't sure about wearing the armor. Then again, she was still getting used to wearing clothes at all. But this soft human form that seems to be her current default did need extra protection.

Aria said behind her, "Atlantean tech, it'll work with all your forms..." causing Silvana to yelp.

"Don't do that," said Silvana.

"Sorry, there's also an ion blade in there," said Aria, Silvana taking the aforementioned blade out and activating it, recognizing it as the one from the dreamscape. "Standard procedure on long voyages is to record dreams confidentially to spot space fever. I thought you'd like to see a familiar blade," said Aria kindly.

"I'm not sure I'd be comfortable with it," said Silvana, "I think I'd cut my own hand off."

"You'll be fine," said Aria, a holographic hand petting her on the shoulder, "Now I believe you have a mission with Mr. Lynch and Miss Kala. Bay 2."

"Ok, ok," said Silvana. She started taking the armor out of the box before turning to Aria and asked, "Um, do you mind?"

"I'm an AI, not a peeping tom," said Aria, rolling her eyes.


Sometime later, Silvana walked towards the landing bay. The armor felt rather tight on her. Matt was making final checks to a section of the shuttle when he heard her. "Looking good, Silv. Erm, you don't need to wear it all the time. Fold it up and let's go," he said.

"Fold what up?" asked Silvana.

"The armor...here," said Matt, tapping the gem on the neck, the armor beginning to segment and fold up into a neck clasp.

"Uh, I think I'll just keep it on for a little longer," said Silvana, "Get used to it and all."

"You did put clothes on under the armor, right?" asked Chloe.

Silvana, who had hit the gem again, said, "Noneofyourbusinessgoingtomyroomontheshipbye." before running up the ramp, Matt pausing when he saw she had a small backpack with a trouser leg sticking out. "Oooooh…" he said weakly.

"Remind me, how old is she again?" asked Kala.

"How old are you in actual years?" countered Chris.

"Point," said Kala.

Matt rubbed his hands. "Ok, let's fly," he said.


The shuttle shot out of the wormhole and into a field of debris, the center of which was the back of the cruiser. "Least that confirms they tried to flee. Let's see here...course takes them to...not Smilodia, not Smilodia...oh thank God, Earth," Matt said.

"Smilodia...why does that sound familiar?" asked Chloe to herself.

"Because your pet is a smilodon?" asked Chris.

There was a happy yip at that before the aforementioned experiment-hybrid saber tooth kit ran up. "Mama," she said.

"I thought Coldladh wasn't living in her anymore," said Matt.

"She isn't, but apparently she lived in her long enough to leave some residual traces," said Chloe.

Chloe turned to Matt. "Are you ok? Not mad?" she asked before noticing that the controls in Matt's hands were cracking.

"Ok, I am going to ask this only once: who else is smuggling anything?" asked Matt.

"Got nothing," said Chris.

"I've got nothing," said Kala.

"I have nothing on. I mean, nothing to say," said Silvana quickly.

"Silvana...put some clothes on under your armor," said Matt icily, checking the first stop, "Knowhere...I know that at least." he said.

"You know nowhere?" asked Kala.

Matt twitched before putting the ship into full throttle. "NOT GOING THERE!" he snapped.

"I'm so glad I already used the bathroom before this trip," said Chris dryly.


Knowhere itself was a gigantic metallic head. "If someone starts acting up, you are more then allowed to bitchslap them..." Matt said, before turning on the com, "Knowhere control, this is KnightShift 414 requesting landing pad."

"Request granted, but crew will be under watch while in Knowhere," came the reply.

Matt looked confused, "Confirmed, control...just need a pad. Be advised under NSC statutes we will defend ourselves if attacked."

"Identify 'NSC'," came the reply.

Matt looked confused "Never mind...but we reserve the rights to self-defense," he said

"Acknowledged," came the reply.

"I should have asked Aria to specifically identify this dimension," muttered Matt.


The market himself was a little more organized then he expected. "Definitely not the Knowhere I know," he said, before saying to the others, "Split up. Chris, guard the ship and eat anyone trying to steal it. Consider it protein. Everyone else, hit the bars and gathering places. She stopped me so we look here."

"Matt, we can't take her into a bar," said Chloe, pointing at Silvana.

"We're not going to order her a drink," said Matt, "And everyone keep an eye out for-" He stopped to grab a wrist that was reaching into his pocket, squeezed it until it popped and its owner screamed, before shoving it away. "Thieves," continued Matt.

"He broke Jix's hand, get him!" snapped several creatures, drawing plasma blasters and firing, the shots pausing in midair, Matt, his eyes solid blue, turning to look at them.

"I just got here. Be wise and leave," he said, the shots vanishing as they ran out of energy.

The lowlifes quickly scattered at that. "I've always wondered, do you feed off of energy?" asked Silvana.

"A little...it tastes like lime," said Matt, the group walking into the town, the lowlifes backing up as they walked, maybe caused Silvana had chosen to be in hybrid form.

"Not nearly as filling as you think it would be," said Chloe, "But then again, our elements are forms of energy. Maybe more solid elements are better food substitutes."

"Hmm..." said Silvana, grabbing a passerby's data pad and taking a bite. "Hmm...tastes nice," she said.

"Silvana, you can't just steal things. Even here," said Matt.

"Ok...but if we need gear his ship has a load of illegal ionic pulse blasters...how did I know that?" said Silvana in confusion, the guy snapping "Hey..." before aiming his blaster at her.

"I can pay you back," said Silvana.

"How?" demanded the guy.

Silvana hacked and coughed before suddenly spitting several coins into her hand. "Will this cover it?" she asked.

The guy looked suspicious, taking a coin and licking it, "This...this is pure platinum."

"Really? I was trying to make silver," said Silvana.

"This is better. I can fuel more with this. Shame you won't be arou-" began the goon before he was dragged up by a vine.

Silvana looked up to see what looked like one of the Growths from the Ancient Grove, though less colorful. "Matt...why is there a golem up there?" she said in a small voice, her hand going to her blade till Matt grabbed her wrist.

"Easy, that's Groot...which means a pyromaniac racoon's aiming a quadrifle at us right now," he said.

"Who you callin' a raccoon?" snapped a voice. Matt looked down to see the raccoon he was talking about, though wearing a blue uniform.

"You're not my Rocket," said Matt in confusion.

"Well, there ain't any others," said Rocket, "There's no one in the universe like me, except me."

"I know...Silvana?" said Matt, Silvana, who was behind Rocket saying in a polite voice "Please don't shoot my teacher." Matt facepalming, having expected something a bit more forceful.

"Kid, just stand over to the side before you get hurt," said Rocket.

Silvana's eyes narrowed at that. "I said, leave us alone. We have done nothing to earn such anger..."

"Everyone calm down," said Kala, "There's no reason for anyone to get worked up." She walked over to Rocket. "Ok...why are you attacking us? We just arrived and all we are here to do is find a friend," she snapped disapprovingly.

"Oh, probably just because I called him a raccoon," said Matt.

Rocket growled before Kala snapped "ENOUGH!" several flammable materials nearby exploding, her eyes glowing red hot. "Apologize to the furry bounty hunter, bushi bu...NOW!" she snapped.

"What did she call me?" asked Raccoon, more confusion than anger.

"No, she meant me," said Matt, "Sorry I called you 'raccoon', I should have said 'raccoon-like alien'."

Rocket glared, though seemed calmer, before an orange aura picked him up, Kala, her hand glowing the same color said, "Don't think you're off the hook. How dare you attack us like that? Matt hasn't even done anything stupid yet."

Matt saying "Hey..."

"For crying out loud, lady. I didn't even pull the trigger," snapped Rocket.

"Good. Silvana, just in case, eat his gun," said Kala, Matt and Rocket saying in unison "Not Quaddy..."

"I am Groot?" asked Groot.

"Yeah, we are getting off-track," said Rocket.

"Uh, can I be put down now?" asked the goon Groot was holding.

Groot dropped him in a dumpster at that. "Bounty?" said Matt, walking up and doing a scan of his own, to see the guy was known to the NSC too, as a looter of restricted tech from NSC wrecks "Hmm, I might need to have a word with this guy," said Matt.

"That's our krutackin' bounty," snapped Rocket.

Matt said, "And he's yours. I just need to ask him something." before lifting the guy out and showing a headshot of Megan, "You sell anything to her?"

The guy glared. "Flarg off," he snapped, Matt sighing before grabbing one of the alien's finger's and squeezing till it cracked.

"I don't have time to be nice. You have...7 more fingers. then I move on to other bodyparts...and when I run out, I'll use a medishot to heal you so we can start all over again," he muttered in the alien's ear.

"Ok, ok, I'll talk!" yelped the alien.

"Huh, cracked like an egg," said Chloe.

"Yeah, sold her a ship. She wanted to go to some mudball in the Sol system," snapped the alien.

"You know, we should have checked Earth first," said Kala, "It would have saved us some time."

"Trust me, there's lotsa places that shuttle coulda gone," said Matt, before he turned to the alien, "Now...you're gonna give the Guardians the shuttle that she was on. I know the Milano always needs parts and some high-end NSC parts would help them for months. If you don't, next time I'll not be as nice...ok?" The creep factor was upped by the fact that through the entire conversation he'd been smiling happily.

"Uh, right, sure," said the alien nervously.

"Good, now I'm also gonna hand you over to him," said Matt, tossing the alien at Rocket's feet, "He's all yours."

"Ok, you plannin' on making trouble here yourself?" asked Rocket.

"It looks like business here is done, unless someone wants a drink or something," said Matt.

Silvana bowed her head before Rocket, "Thank you, small warrior. You have helped us find the path to our wayward friend."

"Ah, forget about it," said Rocket dismissively.

After they were gone, Matt said, "Let's go...now. Before the psychic dog finds us."

"Psychic dog?" asked Chloe incredulously.

"Yeah...psychic Russian dog," said Matt conspiratorially.

"Cosmo is a dog?" asked Silvana, "I wouldn't have guessed."

Matt paused before he said, "We're leaving..."


"So, we're just heading for Earth?" asked Chris.

"Yeah...trust me, this is a busy galaxy," said Matt, checking the controls before turning on the com. "Megan, you there? I know it's been a long time. We're coming to take you home," he said on an open frequency.

However, there was no reply at all. "Damn, maybe her com's out," Matt said to himself.

"Or she might not be wanting to talk to us," said Chris grimly.

"I'll try Gary's. Gary, pick up...pick up, dammit," said Matt.

"Nothing," said Chloe, "They could be anywhere on Earth."

"Not just anywhere," said Kala, "I'm willing to bet they're in New York City."

"Why there?" asked Matt.

"One, because Megan used to live there. Two, there's an NSC base there. And three, everything happens in New York," said Kala.

"Kala, you're a genius," said Matt, kissing Kala on the cheek...


"Ok, everyone remember where we parked," said Matt, the group walking off the ship, which was hidden in a cave in the woods close to the city.

"You do realize New York is the biggest and most populated city on Earth, right?" asked Chloe.

"Yeah...and only one's part NegaMorph or part gargoyle," said Matt, checking his scanner only for it to explode in sparks. "Unless there's a jammer in place..." he said

"Or there are so many crazy weirdos that it can't pick them out," said Chloe.

"Maybe. Let's head to the base. Hopefully the team there didn't side with McNeil," said Matt.


For once, the NSC base was not in the warehouse district. In fact, it wasn't that far from Central Park.

"Comet Coffee...guess the budget ran out before the name was invented," muttered Matt, walking up to the door, a section of the doorframe opening silently to reveal a hand scanner.

Kala peered inside the place itself, noticing the thick amount of dust. "It looks like no one's been here in years," she said.

"It's probably only 'open' when a team's in residence. Look...says 'between management'," said Chris, pointing to a small sign on the door, Matt scanning his hand before the door clicked open.

"Ok, everybody in," said Matt. The group walked in, Matt noticing some scorching on the wall before drawing his blaster. "Guys..." he said quietly, pointing to the blaster mark. "Sweep out...teams of two..." he said slowly, heading for behind the counter.

"There are five of us," pointed out Silvana.

"Snowbell counts, that makes six," said Chloe.

Silvana said in a quiet voice, "They're dead...I can hear their last moments."

"Is that a psychic imprint thing or is this place haunted?" asked Kala.

"I think it's the imprint...the team here was killed...eaten by the darkness..." said Silvana, shaking like a leaf.

"Boy, I hope that doesn't mean what I think it means," said Chloe, peering nervously into the shadows.

"Ok, Chris, go downstairs, find the self-repair systems and com room. The rest of us need to secure the rest of this-" began Matt before the shop front windows blew in.

"Take cover!" yelled Matt.

The group dived down, Silvana peering up. "Some ogres are stealing green paper from a vehicle," she said.

"Oh, not directed at us," said Matt before looking up to see who these 'ogres' were.

Several rather well-muscled humans in colorful outfits were in the middle of a mess. One, holding a crowbar, taking out several federal bags...a heist. "Hmm...hey, Silvana. It's time for your first lesson..."


Wrecker laughed as he tore the last of the safe boxes out. "Pay day, boys," he said in a Brooklyn accent with a grin.

"And no dumb Spider-Jerk here to mess it up this time," said Bulldozer.

"Yeah, that Doc Ock's makin' trouble uptown and with the Avengers outta town, it's like Christmas," laughed Thunderball.

Wrecker tried to pull the last box out, only for the metal around it to go liquid and pull it back into place.

"What the?" said Wrecker before rubbing his eyes.

The Wrecking Crew turned as they heard a voice say, "Nice one, Silvana. Now see if you can trap one of them." The Crew saw two apparent Inhumans, reptilian with bat wings, walking out of the deserted coffee shop across the street.

"Man, these Inhumans get weirder every day," said Piledriver.

"Who are you calling inhuman?" asked the silver one defensively.

The blue one said calmly, "Hey, that's my apprentice you just insulted, muscle head."

"Well this is her last day on the job," said Thunderball before swinging his wrecking ball at the silver one. However, the ball didn't get close to the silver one and actually went back with more than enough force to hit Thunderball in the head and throw him backwards.

"Yeah, metal against an ore-mancer. Bravo, dumbass," said Matt.

"Why you-" started Bulldozer, running at Silvana. But Silvana just held up a hand and Bulldozer found he couldn't get any closer to her, no matter how much he pushed.

Piledriver charged next, pausing just in time when the other had a plasma blade ignited in his path. "I'd wait your turn," said the Inhuman, "You're probably able to take a lot of blunt force, but how are you with cutting edges?"

Piledriver glared before aiming a punch, the Inhuman leaping nimbly out the way. "Gotta be faster," taunted the blue one. Piledriver just kept swinging at the blue dragon. "Boy, you're not just slow at moving," he said.

Piledriver glared, tearing a bumper off a car and swinging at the draconic Inhuman, who slashed at the other end, the end falling into slices into a shower of sparks. "If you give up now, all that'll be hurt is your pride," said the blue dragon.

Piledriver glared before taking another swipe, the drake spitting blue flame that melted the bumper before a second blast melted the asphalt at Piledriver's feet, the road resolidifying rapidly. "Now think about what you've done," chided the blue dragon.

The silver dragon meanwhile was being beaten back, Wrecker's crowbar proving immune to her powers. "What's wrong, lady? Can't make my crowbar grab me?" he sneered. Silvana was trying to take control of it, but the crowbar's magic made it resistant.

Matt, who was now fighting Bulldozer, yelled, "Make some metal of your own. There's plenty to go around." before he headbutted Bulldozer and threw him into a car hard enough to almost bend it at a right angle.

Silvana looked around before making a lamppost bend down and whack Wrecker. "Hey, you think that'll stop me?" Wrecker snapped.

Silvana's eyes narrowing and causing the armored car to lift up and slam into him. "I think that will," she said sweetly.

"Nice work," said Matt.

Bulldozer just growled and tried to ram Silvana. However, Silvana lifted him up by his helmet and shook him hard enough that he eventually fell out of it. "That helmet doesn't give me my powers," said Bulldozer, "It just braces my neck." With that, he charged at Silvana again.

Silvana took a bite of the helmet, chewing it for a second before spitting what looked like quicksilver onto Bulldozer's legs, the metal solidifying in seconds.

"What the-" said Bulldozer before he fell over.

"Ok, not bad for your first supervillain fight," said Matt.

Thunderball was getting back onto his feet but looking pretty wobbly. Silvana turned to look at Thunderball, before saying in an echoing voice, "Boy, do I feel tired."

"Boy, do I feel tirrrr..." repeated Thunderball before falling over.

"And that makes four. Well done, young padawan," said Matt cheerfully, looking at Piledriver, who was recovering. "Unless you wanna take us both on," he said with a grin.

"Uh..." said Piledriver hesitantly.

"That's what I thought," said Matt.

"So what do we do with them now?" asked Silvana.

Matt turned to look as a few police cruisers and a SWAT van came into view, a news copter overhead. The police, as soon as they saw the two, aimed their guns, Matt calling "No, wait! We're on your side! We stopped these creeps hitting the armored van!"

One of the drivers, who had been thrown nearby, said weakly, "It's true. I saw it."

"So who are you supposed to be?" asked a police lieutenant.

Matt paused, his usual smartarsery failing him.

However, Silvana was able to come up with something on the fly. "I'm Metalurga," she said, "And this is my mentor, Lazard."

"Wait wha-ow, I mean yes," said Matt, yelping as Silvana made a hubcap slap his ankle.

However, the police didn't look entirely convinced. Just then, Chloe, Kala, and Chris, wearing their street clothes, came out of the coffee shop. "Oh, you stopped those awful robbers," said Kala, "You're so brave."

Chloe walked up to the cops. "Yeah, these guys smashed our shop front. We were worried we'd be next before they turned up," she said, shaking Matt's hand before hissing, "There will be words later."

"Oh, there will be," said Matt, giving Silvana a brief glare.


Later, in the 'basement' of the coffee shop...

"You're all over the city news." snapped Chloe angrily, Silvana wincing, looking tearful.

"And as one of the worst names ever thought of. Seriously? Lazard?" snapped Matt.

"You...didn't seem like a 'Korono'..." said Silvana timidly.

Matt twitched. "Korono sounds smegging awesome..." he snapped angrily, before Kala banged his and Chloe's heads together.

"She's a hatchling. You're scaring her," she snapped before walking up to Silvana. "It's ok. Say sorry, guys," she said, snarling at the Lynches.

"Sorry..." muttered Chloe and Matt.

"Well, I don't think Matt could have matched up to 'Korono'," said Chris, "He's way too scrawny. Maybe when he gets a big upgrade."

Matt glared and said, "I will get you back for this."

"Well, we're all over the news. Some blowhard called Jameson's singing our praises and hoping we go after a local hero called Spider-Man," snapped Chloe, turning on a holoviewer on the wall.

"Did you say Spider-Man?" asked Matt.

"Just watch," snapped Chloe, tuning into the Bugle news.

"A new pair of heroes has appeared in New York: Metalurga and Lazard. The two of them made their debut stopping an armored car heist by the Wrecking Crew. Where are they from? What are their intentions? No one knows for certain except this: they couldn't be worse than that menace Spider-Man and hopefully they'll put an end to his web-slinging hoodlum acts soon," said a mustached man.

"Oh nuts...him," muttered Matt to himself.

"Huh, I don't remember J. Jonah Jameson being quite that loud," said Chris.

"That's because comic books don't make sounds," said Kala pointedly.

"He's a blowhard," said Matt, sighing. "Look, we just lay low. Silvana, can you turn human?" he asked.

Silvana concentrating, but nothing happening "She's too shaken up right now," said Kala, "Just let her calm down and she'll be fine."

"Ok, we can come up with a plan if not. Tomorrow, we have a job. We got a coffee shop. We'll have dozens of people to overhear about Megan," said Matt.

"Matt, you can't really be thinking about running a coffee shop," said Chloe.

"Why not? We're looking for a teenager and teenagers are drawn to cafes like birds to corn," said Matt.

Chloe paused before Kala said, "It's not like we don't know how to. The computer does it all...and we need a cover."

"This sounds like something from a sit-com..." muttered Chloe.

"Somehow, I think it'll be more anime," said Chris.


Matt glared, scratching the neck clasp that was his folded-away armor before getting a passable smile. "Welcome to Comet Coffee," he said, as someone came up.

"Uh, yeah, can I get a mocha latte?" asked the guy in line.

"You want foam with that?" asked Matt.

"Uh, sure, say, I hear you got some sorta gimmick staff," said the guy, looking around.

"She's a little busy at the moment, but I'm sure she'll be out soon," said Matt, "I'll go check on her and I'll be back with your drink."

Matt walked into the back room, hitting the sound masker that made anyone outside only hear noises from a kitchen. "Tell me you can turn back," he said, to Silvana, a medi drone saying "There is no human DNA prevalent..."

"I can't go out like this," said Silvana, sounding embarrassed.

"Look, all they'll think is that you're a superhero fan. Put on a pair of glasses and no one will think you're an actual hero. It works better than you think," said Matt.

"No, I mean, I can't go out dressed like this," said Silvana, indicating her uniform.

"It's not that bad," said Matt.

"The shirt's too small," said Silvana.

"Look, if anyone gives you trouble, tell me," said Matt kindly, saying, "You're one of us. You got this."

"Thank you," said Silvana, hugging Matt. Matt hadn't really paid much attention to Silvana's figure, but now he was aware there was a lot of padding between them.

"Ok...now go out there and be your own super fan," said Matt, Silvana sighing, flexing her wings before taking the order the replimat had formed, before walking out with a smile. "Chris was right, this is more like an anime," Matt muttered to himself.

Matt walked out to the counter again before noticing an older man taking an order from Kala. "Eyes up, I think the fuzz is here..." he muttered.

"You sure?" asked Chris, "Doesn't seem like the type."

"Look how he moves: pure training...and I can smell a pulse blaster in an ankle holster," muttered Matt, his hand slipping under the desk to where a blaster folded out of a hatch as the guy came up. "Anything else, sir?" he asked.

"Pardon me, but where did find your...employee?" asked the guy.

"Worked here for ages. She's practically part of the family," said Matt finding himself meaning it.

"Ages, you say. And yet your shop has only opened today," said the man.

"Yeah...we always seemed to get bad luck and we wanted to fix it ourselves, not use Damage Control," said Matt.

The guy didn't seem convinced and looked at Silvana. "That is a rather convincing costume she's wearing," he said.

"Yeah...she's a huuuuge fan of the new heroes so she made a costume," said Matt, adding, "It's her special talent."

"You don't see cosplayers such as her every day," said the man.

"She's a big fan. She's almost like a daughter to me. She...lost her parents and we took her in," said Matt, a half-truth.

"Isn't she a bit old to be 'taken in'?" asked the agent.

"She's younger then she looks," said Matt, his voice getting a dangerous tone and for some reason envisioning biting this pest's head off.

"Is there a problem, sir?" asked Kala, approaching the counter.

"I was just asking, that girl seems a little old to be adopted," said the man calmly, Kala's smile seeming to fossilize while the warmth bled from her eyes.

"Are you a social worker?" asked Kala in a faux-friendly tone.

"No...I just came in here for a coffee," said the man calmly.

Matt said, "Well that'll be 3.50...to take away, I assume?"

"I'm not in a rush," said the man.

"Unless you have a badge to show, I don't think you have a reason to stick around," said Matt. The man's eyes narrowed before he dropped the requested money down and walked out, Matt sighing. "Crap...the alien hunters," he said.

"He seemed more like a basic creep," said Kala.

"He also had a blaster in an ankle holster," said Matt.

"Ok, that makes him a dangerous creep," said Kala.

"Yeah. We need to be smarter. We need to get Silv a holocloak before people work out that's not a costume," said Matt before they heard a surprised squeal.

"Somebody had better have not done what I think they did," said Matt.

Matt and Kala walked out to see a person putting their payment in the tip jar and leaving. They also spotted some high school jocks who Silvana were serving. "Of course, teenaged boys who can't keep their hands to themselves," said Kala, "The scourge of girls everywhere."

Matt walked up. "Silvana, you ok? These guys causing trouble?" he said, glaring at the group.

"I'm fine. I just felt something sharp," said Silvana.

Matt turned to the group. "Did you...pinch her?" he said.

"Who us? We'd never do something like that," said one of the teens.

"Silvana...did it feel like this?" said Matt, gently pinching her on the cheek. Just then, Matt felt the heat rise behind him. "In retrospect, that was stupid," said Matt.

"It's ok, Kala. Matt was just helping me realize that one of these people pinched me," said Silvana with an innocent smile.

Matt's eyes glowed before he turned slowly to look at the kids. "You did what?" he said icily.

"Guys, who's working on the coffee?" asked Chloe, stepping out from the kitchen.

"These guys just cancelled their orders but are insisting on leaving Silv a great tip," said Matt, the group glaring.

"Ok, here's a tip: stop dressing like a fantasy nerd," said one of the teens.

Matt's eyes narrowed. "Get out before I call the police and tell them you groped my waitressssss," he said, his voice slipping into a draconic snakelike hiss.

"Just leave," said Chloe in an annoyed tone.

"Hey, it's not our fault she dresses like that," snapped their leader, poking Chloe with his finger...and regretting it when she grabbed it and promptly broke it from muscle memory.

"Please leave before we call the cops," said Chloe.

"You broke my fin...ger…" he said, before noticing Chloe's eyes were glowing yellow. "You're mutants," he said with worry.

"Oh great. Barely one day in and we have to mindwipe somebody already," said Kala with annoyance.

"Wait, wh-" began one of the goons, as Matt put his mind wipe glove on and flashed them with it.

"You will leave and never come back here..." said Matt as Kala whispered their crime to Silvana who glared and added "and every time you grope someone, you'll punch yourselves in the nuts."

After the teens left, Chloe said, "We're not gonna have many regular customers at this rate."

"Yeah, we gotta get you a holocloak, Silvana." said Matt


At the Triskelion, Spider-Man and his team were summoned to Fury's office, apparently with a new assignment. "So I here this is supposed to be an undercover job," said Miles, "At least I'll be good at that."

"Yeah, pretty easy to overlook you short guys," said Flash.

"I'm not that short," said Amadeus, "I just haven't hit my growth spurt yet."

"I just hope it's not Damage Control again," said Peter, the group walking into the office, Fury looking up from his computer.

"Ok, this shouldn't be too hard for you," said Fury, "A simple information-gathering mission."

"Recon? That's all?" asked Miles.

"Hope you like coffee. You'll be investigating Comet Coffee, near Central Park. SHIELD has a feeling that the heroes who took down the wrecking crew have a connection to it," said Fury.

"Hey, I think a few of my old pals went there," said Flash.

"Good, it shut down last year when its owners vanished," said Fury, a newspaper cutting showing a trio of men under a missing person's headline.

"Uh huh, well, that's a good way to start off the mission," said Peter casually.

"A few days ago, it reopened and suddenly national files said that these three people never existed," said Fury pointedly.

"You think this is an alien invasion scouting thing?" asked Flash. The others gave him odd looks. "What? It makes sense," said Flash.

"These two caused alot of damage in their battle. The silver one was able to manipulate metal like it was nothing. In the hands of someone like Taskmaster, or Lady NegaMorph, they could be trouble," said Fury

"Sounds more like someone Magneto would be after," said Cho.

"The point is we need to find them before someone more nefarious does," said Fury.


Syntax Error...Location Jammed...

A showing of the bugle was turned off...by a spike of shadow. "So...they actually came," said a female voice, darkly.

"Well, this is what we've waiting for, right?" asked another voice hopefully.

"Yes...revenge..." said the first voice, the smashed tv crackling before a scaled tail smashed down on it.


Setting a coffee shop to attract teenagers was working out pretty well. Actually, rather too well. "Ok, that's two lattes, one cappuccino with extra cream, and a green tea," said Matt, twitching from stress.

"Ok, who ordered the vanilla frappe?" called Kala.

"This is insane. We need to be out there looking for Megan," said Matt angrily to himself.

"Megan will come to us. Now hurry up with that bean grinder," said Chloe, "And we better not have run out of biscotti."

Kala looked worried. "Erm...you think she's getting into this too much?" she asked,

"Where are those cookies?!" snapped Chloe.

"Does that answer your question?" asked Chris.

"Ooooh...she's going native," muttered Matt, before the same sense he'd got when the agent had been in the shop went off again...far higher than before. "Kala, make sure Silvana has her holocloak o...oh no," said Matt, as Silvana, in her anthro 'fan disguise', came out to serve some drinks.

"Matt, why is she out looking like that?" asked Kala.

"Well, I told her to put the holocloak on, but I don't think she really understood-" started Matt.

"No, I meant out like that," said Kala, pointing at how Silvana had altered her shirt to have a deeper neckline.

"Oh, her shirt was too tight on her and we probably should have had a bigger one made for her," said Matt. Kala gave him a dubious look, "C'mon, this is a café, not Hooters. Our front's supposed to be a respectable business. Silvana...a word," said Matt, as Kala's glare continued, pulling her behind the scenes.

Kala's dragon hearing picked up a muffled argument and the sound of the replicator, before Silvana came out wearing a more normal shirt and Matt came out with a scratch on his face. "Thanks, Kala," he said, icily.

"No problem," said Kala before noticing four boys walked in. They didn't seem much different from other teenagers, but something was telling her they were more than what they seemed, especially the tallest one.

"Kala?" said Matt, noticing her stare, "You ok?"

"Keep an eye on that big one," said Kala, pointing.

Matt looked at the guy, before tapping his glasses to take a weapon scan...and paling as a red biohazard symbol flashed. His weapon scan also noticed the Asian boy was carrying something in his backpack that gave off a lot of energy.

"Bloody hell. Kala, tell Chloe we have more alien hunters or even aliens themselves. One confirmed goo muncher," Matt said quietly.

"What?" asked Kala.

"Just tell her. She knows what it means," said Matt.

Matt nodded before turning to face Megan, as she had been before she'd been infected with Nega DNA...though also older. "Hello, captain," she said, smugly. Megan was definitely different looking. For one thing, her hair was longer and she was wearing it in dreadlocks. She also had more makeup, with very dark eyeshadow and black lipstick. Matt could see she was taller, but her heavy jacket made it hard to see other differences.

"Megan, you come to leave? Why didn't you answer?" said Matt, saying, "The team here was nuked. We need to leave as soon as poss-"

Then Megan said casually, "I know...you know anyone else with weaponized shadows?"

Matt paused at that, "Megan, I know you've been here a long time-"

"Three years," interrupted Megan, "Three years has it been since I last saw you. The first year, not so bad, got to see the galaxy. But that didn't last."

"Yeah, you got a rep on Knowhere," said Matt, adding "You killed three NSC troopers...why?"

"Because they wanted to call you," said Megan.

"That doesn't make any sense," said Matt.

"Don't you get it? I like it here. I'm my own person here," snarled Megan.

Matt's scan displayed a warning of Virk DNA detected. "Oh no...Megan...you caught it..." he said.

"Caught what? Oh, you mean this?" asked Megan before something grabbed Matt by the leg. Matt didn't look up before stamping hard, Megan biting her lip. "That was uncalled for," she said through gritted teeth.

Matt said, "So was killing three troopers."

Megan waved a hand, "I'm being nice. I'm giving you 2 days to leave. I'm not going with you. This city's mine."

"You're not a protector, are you?" asked Matt.

"Oh, I'm protecting, alright," said Megan, "I'm protecting my territory."

Matt reached down before calling, "I'm sorry, we're closing early today...family emergency." The last two words were said looking at Megan.

"I don't have family," said Megan in a low voice, "I never did."

"You're lucky NegaMorph's on the other side of the dilation," said Matt as most of the civilians walked out.

"Well, isn't that convenient?" asked Megan.

"Yeah, he could beat you...and I can easily beat him...and I'm not alone," said Matt darkly, reaching under casually for the blaster.

Two pairs of arms grabbed Matt's arms at that. "Care to test that?" asked Megan, her eyes turning red as three more appeared on her forehead.

Two things happened at that, firstly Matt hit the panic button, the glass cameras opening up to reveal energy blasters, and secondly, his eyes, and Megan, glowed blue and she was thrown back like a freight train had hit her. Naturally, everyone who wasn't already out was fleeing, except for a select few people.


Peter jumped aside as the guy at the counter used some sort of psi attack to throw a woman into a wall, as several hatches opened to allow some heavy artillery to fold out. The last of the civilians ran out before a red light flowed around, before focusing on Flash and a voice said something in an alien language, shutters covering the windows and the cannons altering their aim to Flash.

At that point, the symbiote was spreading across Flash, apparently agitated by something. Several of the guns seemed to alter into what were clearly sonic cannons, before their laser sights aimed at Flash, the voice saying gibberish before saying, "Alien symbiote, you are an illegal lifeform, remain still and submit to eradication."

"Yeah, like that's gonna happen," said Flash before the symbiote finished forming. Missile launchers extended from Agent Venom's shoulders and shot at the cannons.

A blue field covered the guns before impact, before they began firing yellow blasts. "Alien symbiote, submit to eradication," said the computer again.

The others used the distraction to change into their costumes. They had their hands full, trying to help the woman up, the teller having vanished behind the back doors.

"You ok?" asked Spider-Man, noticing the girl wasn't really older than himself.

"You boys are such gentlemen," she said in a suspiciously smug tone.

Iron Spider said, "Erm...Spider-Man? I'm getting a voice ma-" before there was a clang from outside, the shutter over the door bending inward.

"What was that?" asked Kid-Arachnid.

"Oh, that was my assistant," said the woman politely, her eyes turning reptilian. It was that point that the Web Warriors knew what their spider-senses were really trying to warn them of. "You heroes just had to poke your noses in," sneered the woman, shadows flowing around her and cocooning her.

The dark cocoon lifted up and floated to the middle of the room. Once it was upright, it came apart, revealing the female figure beneath. She wore a black sorceress's robe that had a plunging neckline, a diamond-shaped cut to show off the N-shaped mouth on her stomach and ended in three parts to show off her legs and tails. Of course, the alien features made her more intimidating than enchanting. Lady NegaMorph smirked and said, "All those fights and you still can't recognize me when you see me. Well, I'm going to make sure that mistake won't happen again."

The guns, which had been trying to perforate Agent Venom paused at that, the computer said, "New target...re-assessing...reprioritizing…" before every gun aimed at her.

Just then, Matt came back in. "Ok, Megan, this is for your own-" he started before he saw her.

Her hybrid form was a lot different from when he last saw it. For starters, she had two arms on each side. Her wings and legs were a lot more draconic in shape. Her tail now ended with a small dragon's head that was hissing at him. She only had five eyes in her head and one long pointed ear on each side. "Like my new look?" she asked teasingly.

Matt shrugged. "Hmm...more Nega'ry...this should just annoy you then," said Matt, before sending a plasma orb at her. A blast of shadow shot out of Lady NegaMorph's hand and hit the plasma orb. Matt looked at the group. "Hey, a little help?" he snarled.

"So...who are we supposed to be fighting here?" asked Iron Spider.

"Let's go with the devil we know," said Spider-Man before shooting webs at Lady NegaMorph.

Lady Nega snarled, though she found it hard to split her attention, before smirking, kicking a chair at Matt's legs, knocking him down and causing his plasma blast to slice into the ceiling.

Several more web blasts hit Lady Nega soon after. "You realize you're very outnumbered, right?" asked Iron Spider.

"Oh please, I'm never alone. OH GAAARRYYY!" called Lady Nega, before the blastdoor finally gave way.

Gary didn't seem to be that different, other than being older and bigger. The biggest change was that he was just wearing a pair of grey shorts. Gary rubbed his shoulder and said, "That door was a lot harder to break down than you think." A second later, he was tackled by Venom. "Could you please not be here?" asked Gary, "This is a very personal matter."

"Anyone tell you you're too polite to be a villain?" asked Agent Venom.

"Many times," said Gary with a sigh, before a black beam hit him.

"I don't need you like this, Gary, dear," said Lady Nega.

"Megan, please, not Nightclaw again," said Gary.

"How many times do I have to tell you to use codenames outside the lair?" snapped Lady Nega before zapping him more. His skin turned black as his eyes started glowing red. With a roar, he threw Agent Venom off of him.

Matt yelped, switching to khan form, before sending several blasts at Gary. "Bad gargoyle," he screamed. Nightclaw just roared before picking up a table and throwing it at Matt. "Oh no," muttered Matt before he was knocked through the wall, sliding to a halt in front of his own team. "Megan's in a bad mood," he said dizzily.

"Well she's wrecking my shop," growled Chloe.

"Enough about your damn shop! She's gone insane! GRAB HER BEFORE NEGAMORPH FINDS OUT!" roared Matt in Chloe's face, blowing her hair back.

"Like 'mad with isolation' insane or-" started Chloe.

"Like 'gone Shar-Virk' insane," snapped Matt.

Chloe blinked before she said, "Oh...oh shit..." in a faint voice.

"What's so bad about Shar-Virk?" asked Silvana innocently.

"We'll explain it later," said Matt, "But Megan is not likely to be talked down."

"Enough, we need to go help those heroes," said Kala loftily.

Chris glanced into the room and said, "Yeah, they really need it."

"Kala, Chloe, would you kindly scale and fur up?" Matt said with a bow.

"Doesn't Chloe have a dragon form?" asked Silvana.

"It's stuck under my werewolf curse at the moment. I can do it if I concentrate, but this isn't the time for that," said Chloe, her voice getting slightly guttural as her form shifted to a lupine form. Kala shifted to her dragon form with a brief flash of fire. "Was the fire that necessary?" asked Chloe, a bit annoyed.

"Hey, if I'm going to start a superhero career, it might as well be with style," said Kala.

"Well, you set the carpet on fire," said Chloe.

Kala looked down and said, "Oops."

"Enough. Let's just grab Megan, give her enough tranqs to knock out an elephant and drag her back to the ship," snapped Matt. With that, he headed back into the room, only for Spider-Man to be thrown at him. "Ow..." groaned Matt, the girls looking to see Lady Nega and Gary going toe to toe with the rest of Spider-Man's team.

"Ok, hit them hard and fast, ready?" asked Chloe.

The three charged out at that, Kala tackling Gary from the side while Chloe and Silvana lunged at Megan.

Lady Nega's eyes then started glowing and flashing different colors, causing Chloe and Silvana to stop in their tracks. "Why are you fighting me when you're surrounded by enemies?" Lady Nega said smugly.

Chloe and Silvana turned to look at each other before Chloe snarled and tackled Silvana. "Not each other..." snapped Lady NegaMorph in annoyance before a hail of plasma bolts forced her to shield her face, Matt and wolfed-out Chris firing stun shots at her.

"Stop that!" snapped Lady NegaMorph, throwing up a wall of shadow between them, "Nightclaw, get them!"

Nightclaw, aka Gary, turned to glare at the two before ripping a table up and throwing it at them. This time, Matt was ready and blasted the table before it hit him. Nightclaw just snarled, ripping sections out the wall and furnishings, using them as ammo before his face was webbed and the turrets, what were left, started peppering him

Lady NegaMorph was also finding herself being webbed, which was getting increasingly frustrating for her. "Stun her! For God's sake, stun her!" yelled Matt, struggling with Nightclaw.

Just then, a blast of shadow energy threw everyone backwards, webbing evaporating as it touched it. Lady NegaMorph glared. "Ok, this is boring now. It's too easy. Lady Nega, out. Nightclaw, come," she snapped, opening a shadow portal.

"We were just getting started," said Kid-Arachnid.

"Another time," said Lady NegaMorph dismissively. She paused before saying "That said, here's a consolation prize. Those two..." said Lady Nega, Chloe and Silvana snarling at the group. "See you later," said Lady NegaMorph before she and Nightclaw went through the portal.

Matt fired several blasts as the portal closed, sighing, before Chloe, red eyed, glared and snarled, "Silvana...enemies."

Matt turning slowly to look at her. "Chloe, I am not in the mood for this. Snap out of it right now!" snapped Matt.

"DIE!" snarled Chloe lunging.

Matt twitched before, in a different tone said, with a grin "You first!" before he fired a blast of black plasma that knocked her through the wall.

"Oh no, not again," groaned Kala.

"I'm busy, whoever you are," said 'Matt' stepping past the group who had been knocked over by the blast.

"Oh, for crying out loud," groaned Kala before turning to the Web Warriors, "Hey, you guys are the local heroes, right?"

"Wait...he snaps like this before?" said Agent Venom, several blasts shooting past the hole.

"Fairly frequently," said Kala, "Usually because someone messed with his ship."

"Wasn't there another one?" said Iron Spider, before he went rigid.

"Oh...right..." said Kala, suddenly remembering.

Silvana, using her claws to cling to the roof, was looking at the armor with an almost mad hunger, before she yelped as several webs and a venom blast from Kid-Arachnid hit her...worse with the blast as it seemed to conduct.

Silvana twitched before falling off the ceiling. Spider-Man quickly wrapped her up and said, "Ok, that's one crazy dragon down."

"She's only a kid. Megan caught her by surprise," scolded Kala before the building shook.


Chloe yelped, putting her werewolf agility to desperate use as Matt, or whoever was at the wheel, sent blast after blast of the black and (judging from how a car had melted) highly corrosive plasma at her. "What's up? Thought you were gonna kill me...not so tough, eh?" sneered the drake.

Just then, a coffeepot bounced off the back of the drake's head. "Lazard, leave her alone!" yelled Kala.

The drake turned to look, putting a claw to his chin. "I don't like that name..." he said, before getting a black aura.

"Too bad, you should have thought of a better name while you had the chance," said Kala, "Now are you going to calm down or am I going to have to get rough?"

"Why would I do that when I'm having so much fun? Where am I anyway? A good answer may get mercy," said the drake smugly.

"Is this the same sun dragon persona we met when we were dealing with those wendigos?" asked Chris.

The drake's head whipped round at that. "Oh, I remember you now. The idiot humans," he sneered, the aura vanishing.

Kala thought back frantically to what she heard about that encounter. Unfortunately, the only one present who had been there was Chloe and she wasn't in a reasonable state. "You're Sokaris, right?" asked Kala.

"Oh...is that my name? Seems ok to me," said Sokaris, before saying, "Tell your friends to come out or I'll fury and incinerate this street."

"Let's not get carried away here," said Kala, "You're in a new world and you're confused."

"Yes...a brand-new world...and I don't smell a single other drake, other than you. Which means there's nothing to stop me," said Sokaris with a happy smile.

"Uh, considering you're in New York, I can think of at least three superhero teams that can stop you right off the top of my head," said Spider-Man.

"We're one of those teams, right?" asked Agent Venom.

Sokaris turned to look at them with smug contempt. "Please..." he sneered.

However, while they were talking, Chloe had enough time to catch her breath, get her head together...and plan a sneak attack on Sokaris.

"So what? You're gonna beat the Avengers, the Fantastic 4 and SHIELD?" said Kid-Arachnid.

Sokaris thought for a second. "Wouldn't be that hard with enough energy..." he said, Chloe watching with a quiet snarl from behind a car, before she leapt...and was grabbed by the neck by Sokaris. "Bad werewolf," Sokaris smirked, making the mistake of turning his head from the Web Warriors.

Immediately, they started shooting webbing all over Sokaris, and Chloe by extension. Sokaris, webbed to the road, said "Are you serious?" starting to slowly pull himself free.

"Well, I was going to throw in some freeze webs, but it looks like my backup's arrived," said Spider-Man. They then noticed the sound of a motorcycle getting louder before Power Man rode up on his Power Bike.

Sokaris turned in surprise, before saying "Nice bike." before firing a blue plasma bolt at it.

The bike got knocked backwards but was remarkably intact. "Ok, now I'm gonna have to get rough," said Power Man as he got off his bike.

"No armor, no dragonbuster rounds, by all means," said Sokaris with a smirk, bowing mockingly, "Get rough."

"Since you asked so nicely," said Power Man before punching Sokaris in the chest.

Sokaris was sent flying, skidding to a stop on his back, his eyes spinning "Ok..." he rasped, getting up. "I'm...drake enough to admit that was a good punch," he said, getting up, his hands glowing before firing a series of blasts. The blasts staggered Power Man a bit, but he just kept walking towards Sokaris.

Sokaris actually looked worried at that, firing shot after shot before activating his ion blade and aiming a slash, only for it to be knocked out his hands, the blade only scorching the clothing. "That...that's impossible. Nothing can resist an ion blade," he said in shock, backing up before looking up to see a Bugle News chopper. "Ok, you're tough, but can you catch?" he said, firing a shot straight up at the chopper's tail.

"I've got it!" called Kala as she flew up to the chopper.

"Hey! That's my dance partners!" said Sokaris angrily, aiming one of the corrosive blasts at Kala.

A symbiote tendril grabbed his wrist and yanked it back. "Nuh-uh, you keep the people outta the fight," said Agent Venom.

"Oh well..." said Sokaris with a yawn, before starting to grin evilly, starting to glow again.

"Uh, guys, can somebody knock him out already?" asked Agent Venom, his symbiote seeming to be in discomfort holding Sokaris.

"Oh please, the fire drake's too busy playing 'catch the copter' and the only other one's too addled to-" laughed Sokaris, before a car bumper dropped on his head with a clang, Sokaris looking confused before keeling over.

The others turned to look Silvana, who was conscious again. "I had to do something to stop him," said Silvana in a bashful tone, "Uh, can someone please get me out of this stuff?"


Matt groaned, his head feeling like someone had hit it with a bumper. "Maybe I just dreamed I got a stupid superhero name?" he grumbled. He got up from the odd bed he was placed on. "Ok, where am I-" he started before he walked into a transparent wall. He knocked on the wall. "Oi...what's going on? Where's Megan?" he called, before jumping back, seeing his reflection laughing at him. "Oh no...you're the new tenant?" he muttered.

"Well, since your original Other went solo, someone had to take his place," said his reflection.

"Darn, I was hoping I wouldn't have to worry about that anymore. So, who are you?" asked Matt.

"Sokaris of the Sun Dragon Flight," said his reflection proudly.

Matt blinked. "Erm...you got the wrong address. Plasma dragon here, not sunny," he said.

"You have sun dragon blood in your veins," said Solaris.

"No, I got spliced with DNA from a plasma dragon. No actual blood transfusion involved," said Matt.

"Perhaps I'm a genetic memory from the plasma dragon you got your sample from," said Solaris, starting to sound annoyed.

"I'm pretty sure genetic memories aren't brought over on nanites," said Matt.

Sokaris laughed, "Maybe I'm the genetic memory of your womanizing duke ancestor from the medieval era?"

"Oh please," said Matt, "Like I could have had a duke for an ancestor...could I?"

"And there is that uncertainty. The plasma dragons used to be my flight...and you were briefly one of us, or do you forget?" sneered Sokaris.

"Uh...we're not talking about that worshiping thing in El Dorado, are we?" asked Matt.

"Bravo, it awoke the sun drake blood in you," said Sokaris, giving Matt a sarcastic clap.

"Guess those Aztecs were onto something when they said the plasma dragon eggs were 'the seeds of the sun'," said Matt.

"Yes...and this time, you're weaker. Eventually you'll be the reflection in the mirror," sneered Sokaris.

"I think you're overestimating yourself," said Matt.

"Am I? I took control with ease once already," sneered Sokaris.

"Big deal," said Matt, "Draconus took control a lot of times."

"How many times because you were just distracted. Plus, I'd look at your hand," sneered Sokaris.

Matt paused to look at his hand. He noticed he was in anthro form, but the scales on his right hand were a lot paler and brighter than before.

"It's already happening. We're gonna be so close..." sneered Sokaris, before laughing, Matt staggering back, looking at his hand. Matt concentrated on trying to make his scales go dark again, trying to block out his new alter-ego's laughter. "It's not that easy, 'hero'..." laughed Sokaris.

"Excuse me, Mr. Lynch, is it?" Matt turned to see a one-armed doctor on the other side of the transparent wall.

Matts eyes went wide. It didn't take a long shot to realize who this was. "Y...you..." yelped Matt, staggering back.

"I'm Doctor Curt Connors," said the doctor. That naturally made Matt flatten against the opposite wall. "Are you okay?" asked Connors.

"Y...y...you..." whimpered Matt.

"Is he up yet?" called Chloe's voice.

"He is. He seems terrified," said Connors in confusion as Matt backed against the wall.

"Well, he's had a bad experience with the results of your work," said Chloe.

"What work?" said Connors, Matt whimpering, the light scales vanishing from his scales.

"Your reptilian-based regeneration formula," said Chloe.

"I didn't create that," said Connors, "Dr. Octavius did, I was just stupid and desperate enough to use it on myself."

"Doesn't matter. We had a...bad experience with it..." said Chloe, pulling him out of sight of Matt. "Matt, you're going to be ok," said Chloe in a soothing voice, "Dr. Connors isn't going to hurt you. No one is going to hurt you. You're in a safe place."

"Him? The original fucking Lizard?" snapped Matt, snarling.

"Matt, he's not the Lizard. He's the head scientist here at the Triskelion," said Chloe.

"I don't care if he's the High Lord of- Did you say Triskelion?" asked Matt.

"Yes, you're in the SHIELD Triskelion," said Connors

"Remind me, is that SHIELD's HQ or the Helicarrier?" asked Matt.

"Considering they're rebuilding the Helicarrier, again, this is SHIELD's de facto headquarters," said Dr. Connors.

"Great...and what happened?" said Matt gloomily.

"Well, considering we kinda made a scene in front of the coffee shop, we got hauled in," said Chloe.

"Crud...is Silvana and Kala ok?" said Matt, sitting on the bench in the cell.

"They're fine. Kala saved the helicopter, so she's considered a hero. And since Silvana was the one who knocked you out, she's not considered a threat," said Chloe.

"Ok, what about Chris?" asked Matt.

"Nobody really paid much attention to him," said Chloe.

"As usual," said Matt with a smirk. Chloe glared, her eyes glowing and causing a light fixture to zap Matt. "I've felt worse," said Matt.

Chloe looked at a nearby counter and said, "Oh look, Dr. Connors left some needles." Matt yelped at that, backing up. "Now behave and try not to get us into any more trouble," said Chloe.

"Oh, like it's always my fault we get in trouble with the local heroes," said Matt sarcastically.

"It is," said Chloe flatly.

"Not always," said Matt.

Just then, Kala walked in. "Guys, I've been reading over the files they have on Megan," she said.

Matt smiled at that. "Kala, you're ok," he said.

"Don't 'you're ok' me," said Kala angrily.

"Kala, it wasn't me shooting at you...it wasssss..." said Matt, his jaw locking up.

"Yeah, I already know. It's that sun dragon persona," said Kala, "But at least Draconus held back on me."

"That's cause Draconus was just me twisted," said Matt angrily.

"So, what is Sokaris?" asked Chloe.

"Apparently a genetic memory from the sun dragons," said Matt.

"That doesn't make sense," said Chloe.

"That's what I said," said Matt. Matt paused, before punching the glass. "You don't talk about them," he snapped.

"You know, sometimes I wish that I was a plasma dragon like Matt," said Kala, "But stuff like this reminds me of all the hang-ups."


Connors looked at the readings next to Fury. "There's definitely something happening. He can see and hear someone. He could be telling the truth," he said.

"Wouldn't be the first time," said Fury, rubbing his temples with frustration.

"No, this isn't like Wade. Other than this, there is no brain damage. It's closer to a forced mutation," said Connors

"Well, we can't let a time bomb like him be loose in the streets," said Fury.

"Yes, but there's at least two more of his kind who will object to that," said Connors.

"Agreed..." said Fury, looking again at Matt on the screen, now alone.


A short time later, Matt was escorted to Fury's office, though under guard. "Mr. Lynch, while much of the information needs to be filled in, it appears to me that you have come to this planet for a complicated reason," said Fury.

Matt just remained silent, glaring and waiting to hear what Fury knew.

"As the details are still unclear, I am not certain whether or not you are here with good intentions, even if your comrades are supporting you," said Fury, "What I do know is that your methods could incredibly dangerous to the people at large."

"From what I hear, our wayward crew member is worse," said Matt darkly.

"I assume you are referring to this young lady," said Nick Fury as he pulled up Lady NegaMorph's file on his computer.

"Yeah..." said Matt.

"She has caused us a lot of trouble the last two years," said Nick Fury, "She has robbed banks, jewelry stores, she's been known to hex people without perceived provocation, she's set fires and destroyed public property. And yet, we still haven't got a good profile on her personality."

"When I met her, she was a thief, good one too though I'll never tell her that. She stole something she shouldn't have, and it mutated her. Next time we met, she attached herself to the team. It's my fault she was trapped here. Bad guy on my gallery released a bio-genic weapon on a friend of mine's planet. She was following up leads on possible cures," said Matt.

"And what do you think happened?" asked Nick Fury.

"I can't say for sure," said Matt, "But it looks like she got exposed to that bioweapon herself." Matt transformed his hand as proof. "Me, my sis, Silvana and Kala: we're what was meant to happen. Unfortunately, the side effect's a nasty case of mirror personality. No cure short of a sort of mental toxin," said Matt, adding, "This stuff's only meant to effect normal humans. The virus hitting my friends...well, they're not even close to humans..."

"And you say Lady NegaMorph was mutated before she caught this bioweapon," said Nick Fury.

"Yeah, she was already hybridized with DNA from..." Matt paused a moment to think of an appropriate description for NegaMorph, "A twisted plague-bearing clone of a shapeshifting genetic experiment." Fury raised an eyebrow at that. "It's pretty complicated. He's actually a lot better than he sounds now. He's sort of her adopted uncle," said Matt.

Matt paused before he added, "And when he finds out she's...unwell, he can probably tear this planet in half."

"So, your main interest is to catch her," said Fury.

"Apprehend her, attach a mental inhibitor to seal off whatever personality is playing with her body, and get her back home for a long rest," said Matt.

"Easier said than done," said Fury, "Those shadow portals make her untraceable."

"But not invincible. She needs to rest between charges. Max of 5 minutes," said Matt.

"Doesn't mean much if you can't find her before she moves again," said Fury.

"My ship can find her now we know her DNA's out of whack..." said Matt, before pausing, "Uh, excuse me, I just got an alert. May I please go?"

"You're still a prisoner..." began Fury, Matt standing up, in his vision, the words 'ship breach' flashing.


"The alien vessel has been breached, master," said the doombot, the lasered hole in the hull open before it and its companion bots.

"Excellent, scan for any useful technology, collect it, and destroy the rest," came Doctor Doom's answer. The first bot to walk forward, opened a hatch and had its top half instantly turned to slag by a booby trap, the other bots aiming. The trap however seemed to be burnt out

"This may require more Doombots than anticipated," said one of the Doombots.

"You will proceed as instructed," said Doctor Doom, adding, "Proceed to the bridge and disable their security."

"In the name of Doom," replied the Doombots.

The rest of the ship seemed to have similar traps, accounting for another Doombot, till the bridge was finally reached. As they entered everything turned on, a hologram of Matt appearing. "Hello, marauders, you've broken into the ship of Captain Lynch...the last mistake you will ever make."

"This mortal wastes his time," said one Doombot, "Doombots know not fear."

"Activating protocol 9...disabling all safeties on the tachyon reactor...destruct in 5...4...3..." said the hologram.

The Doombots exchanged looks. "I was three days from retirement," said one gloomily.

The few Doomdogs outside were blown off their feet as the ship exploded before the blast seemed to freeze for a second...before it blew out even more powerful than expected, causing a 50 feet crater, before the fire, and the wreckage curved inward into itself and vanished.


Matt's eye twitched as he got the last alert from his ship. "Well, I just lost my ship," said Matt in a mock-cheerful tone.

"Pardon?" asked Fury.

"Some local hoodlums broke into my ship, activated the self-destruct sequence, and marooned me and my team on this planet. Not to mention ruined our best chance of finding my lost crewmates," said Matt. His neck turned with a few clicks so he can give Fury a smile with way too many sharp teeth. "Do you have a training room here? I really need to vent my rage?" asked Matt, the twitch in his eye getting worse.

Fury, for his part, wasn't fazed. He'd seen worse, though the guards backed up a bit. "Take him to the training room," he said.

"Thank you," said Matt, his grin getting too wide.


Lady Nega watched from a repurposed drone as the ship exploded. "And you're stuck too..." she sneered, Gary groaning from a post transformation headache.

"Well, this is a pleasant change. Matt's not gonna be dragging me away anytime soon. Now I have all the time I need to make sure my revenge will make him suffer. But first..." Suddenly Lady Nega's dark tone turned cheerful, "I feel like celebrating. Gary, where do you want to go out to eat?"

"You talk about eating? They came to get us. You used to want that," said Gary, in shock.

"I want to savor this," said Lady Nega, "And honestly I thought it would be a more extended final fight to keep them from dragging us off. But we've got a lot more time than I thought we would. Besides, one can't plot revenge on an empty stomach."

"Urgh...ok, some shawarma. Stark talked about it in his last interview on TV and I'm curious," said Gary with a sigh, before a bark was heard.

"Gary, did you remember to walk Weirdwolf?" asked Lady Nega.

"No...I was busy being that monster," said Gary sarcastically, before Weirdwolf loped in, something green and glowing around his muzzle.

"Weirdwolf, what you have you been eating?" asked Lady Nega accusingly.

"Green goo from Megan's table," said Weirdwolf happily, before he went bug-eyed.

"Oh no," said Megan before Weirdwolf suddenly became three times larger. Weirdwolf gave a doggy grin before lunging...


Here's the start of a new story, one using the Ultimate Spider-Man show. As I've explained, the Guardians of the Galaxy show and Black Panther's Quest do not fit in here. So we're using the first designs for the Guardians here. Matt may have met the other Guardians, but that's another story.

Anyways, in this story, one of my characters has become a villain, though she will hardly be the only one. Things are going to get even crazier from here on out. This story is going to have many chapters, shorter, but hopefully more frequently updated. For the meantime, I hope to at least publish twice a week, not counting this week. Keep an eye out for updates and please review.