Reticence Saga
Severed Web
Chapter 31: New York 3145
Once again, our heroes are traveling through the multiverse, pursuing Lady Nega. This time, they were able to enjoy some relative peace and quiet.
"Ah...a day without narration," said Matt happily, his feet up on the controls as he looked at a readout.
"I'm glad someone learned a lesson from our last trip," said Chloe.
"By the way, NegaMorph should be finished detoxing soon," said the computer.
"Let's leave him in for 5 more minutes," said Matt cheerfully, looking over at Chloe. She'd shrunk down a little since the trip but she was definitely no less strong. He'd seen her in the ship gym at the weights.
Her fur was a little damp from the sweat she had worked up, so it was easier to see the very solid definition of her muscles. Though Matt was a little more concerned that Chloe hadn't shifted back to human form after they left.
"Hey, we're approaching another stop. Shift to human, won't you?" asked Matt.
"What's the rush?" asked Chloe dismissively.
"Cause humans tend to panic when werewolves walk around...except for dimension M-550 but they're weird there," said Matt.
"And we've got an alien experiment. I think a lycanthrope would rank lower in weirdness," said Chloe.
"That's why he's staying on the ship," said Matt stubbornly before the ship shook violently, the lights going red.
"Subspace distortion...class 8...damage to decks 3 and 6," said the computer as a control station exploded in sparks.
"Not another tight bend in the wormhole," said Spider-Man.
"Bigger one, this'll be rough," snapped Matt, looking ahead to see a huge energy wave bearing down on them.
"Should I hold my breath?" asked Spider-Man.
"If you like," said Matt.
The ship bore down on the wave, smashing through it and out into real space. "Warning...main engine stall," said the computer before a klaxon began to sound, Matt seeing a flashing warning and running out the room, pushing Chloe aside.
"Oh, we're not dead," said Spider-Man with relief.
"Not yet," said Chloe with worry.
"Alert...containment degrading on reactor core 2," said the computer.
"Oh...radiation leak?" asked Spider-Man.
"Reactor breach in 3 minutes," said the computer.
Chloe glared and snarled "Please shut up,"
The group ran into the engineering deck, the room taken up with two glowing columns, one leaking white gasses and crackling. "Warning...reactor breach in 2 minute...manual ejection only," said the computer.
"Why didn't I get this tuned up sooner? Lever over there!" snapped Matt at Chloe, an explosion heard deeper in the room.
"Warning...coil breach in 1 minute," said the computer, a red light shining over a lever. Chloe leaped across the room in one bound and reached the lever.
Matt pulled a lever near him, an alarm sounding, "Preparing core eject system...depressurising in 10 seconds."
"Hang onto something!" yelled Matt.
The glowing tube shot out the bottom of the skyraid, floating out before soundlessly exploding, a wave of energy shooting out, at the same time that lights seen on the dark side of the nearby Earth flickered.
Spider-Man was looking out a porthole to see that happen. "Uh...maybe they won't be able to notice us?" he suggested.
"Yes, we just EMP'ed their planet. Sure they won't notice," muttered Matt, the lights flickering.
"Caution...main drive offline," said the computer.
"Well, we're not going anywhere for a while," said Matt.
"Vessels approaching," said the computer calmly.
"Uh oh," said Chloe.
"Computer...how long till power's online?" asked Matt nervously.
"20 minutes," said the computer.
"Uh, Chloe, you think you can give us a jump start?" asked Matt.
"The engine room's still open to space," snapped Chloe, the ship rumbling and a light shining through a porthole.
"Uh oh, I think the cops have arrived," said Spider-Man.
A clunk was heard down the hall at that, sparks flying from the wall before a section fell in. Chloe gulped, "Oh...they didn't." as Matt stared, mouth open in horror.
By now, Spider-Man has learned about the correlation between Matt's temper and the state of his ship. "Matt, it's nothing that can't be fixed," said Spider-Man in a soothing tone.
"They...they...they..." whimpered Matt, before just making incoherent whimpering noises, waving his hand at the hole as several troopers ran in.
Their leader spoke with an electronic vibe behind his voice, something Chloe recognized as a universal translator being used, "Attention aliens, you are under arrest for orbital assault."
"But...but...me...nuuu." squeaked Matt, the troopers exchanging looks before one tapped the side of his helmet.
"Is the translator working?" asked the trooper.
"Maybe he's just not coherent. I mean look at him," said the other trooper.
Chloe sighed before raising her hands and saying, "We surrender."
Lady Nega meanwhile was not in the best of moods. They'd been in this world 2 weeks and their first heist had been...aborted...
2 weeks ago...
"It's easy enough. We go out, cause some mayhem, then go into hiding while they're scrambling. We pulled the same trick back in New York," Lady Nega began, opening the doors of their hideout and pausing, her and Gary staring as a giant monster went past, chased by jets, before Lady Nega said "Mayyyybe later." closing the doors again.
It turned out this place was a bit more advanced than she had expected. At least the Earth had managed to get its environmental problems fixed by 3145.
"We should leave. Giant monsters are too much," said Gary, adding, "They keep turning up. I feel like I'm in a Japanese monster movie."
"And where do they keep coming from anyways?" asked Lady Nega, "Is there a breeding ground for these things?" Gary opened his mouth before Lady Nega said, "On second thought, I don't want an answer to that."
"Indeed, we should leave," said Gary.
"After what happened in the last world?" asked Lady Nega, "We can't leave here empty-handed. I'd never be able to respect myself as a villain again."
"Yes, but we also won't be shot by things that take down kaiju," pointed out Gary.
Lady Nega went slightly wall-eyed as her brain pointed out the pros and cons. "Ok...but we're stealing one of those mechs before we go," she finally said.
"Pardon?" asked Gary flatly.
"You realize how powerful we'd be with one of those mechs?" asked Lady Nega, "We'd be unstoppable everywhere else."
"And how will we get one? I doubt we can walk up to a SWORD base and take one," pointed out Gary, though he knew he was in a losing conversation.
"Which is why we're going to get one of the local professionals to help," said Lady Nega.
"We're not going to the local Doctor Doom again, are we?" asked Gary nervously.
Lady Nega shuddered before saying, "Nope...not this time."
Gary gave a sigh of relief before asking, "Who then?"
"Well, we know a couple of tech experts from where we started," said Lady Nega.
"Like who?" asked Gary
"Well, I would think that Doctor Octopus might be more than smart enough. Or MODOK, hard to find someone better with tech than him," said Lady Nega.
"The flying potato man?" said Gary skeptically.
"Well, that head isn't full of hot air," said Lady Nega.
"Some may beg to differ," said Gary dryly.
"Anyway, the local MODOK's different," said Lady Nega, bringing up a file.
The MODOK she had met before was really little more than a giant floating head with tiny arms and legs. This MODOK...didn't appear to have any limbs. In fact, he looked pretty much pure robotic. "Well, this MODOK certainly has built up a reputation," said Lady Nega, "One of the most dangerous villains on the planet."
"This does not seem like the best idea," said Gary.
"If we don't go big, we don't go home," said Lady Nega sternly.
"Urgh...so, where is he?" asked Gary.
"A maximum security prison," said Lady Nega.
"Ok, maybe we should aim lower," said Gary.
"No...he's the only one who could build our mech," snapped Lady Nega.
"Surely there are-" started Gary.
"We're getting MODOK. End of discussion," snapped Lady Nega.
"Ma'cherie, this is a foolish idea. MODOK is hardly trustworthy and-" began Gary.
Lady Nega snapped her fingers and Gary froze up. "I warned you what I'd do if you didn't obey me," Lady Nega snarled. Gary's skin crackled as he started turning to stone. "I'm tempted to leave you petrified, but I can't storm that prison by myself," said Lady Nega.
"Intercepted data on targeted subject. Alien vessel matching requested parameters has been arrested at Earth border," said the computer.
"Oh, great, they've caught up," said Lady Nega with annoyance.
"The ship and crew are in SWORD custody awaiting transfer to SHIELD planetside custody," said the computer, adding, "Charges are illegal detonation of an EMP explosive in high Earth orbit."
"Is that what that blackout was?" asked Lady Nega.
"Affirmative," said the computer.
"Ah, well, that should hold them up for quite some time," said Lady Nega, "Now then, show me the blueprints for the prison holding MODOK."
To be a mercenary in Nullspace meant to expect to be interrogated by professionals. The companies had various ways. Black 13, for example, installed pain dampers that could be turned on to prevent the subject feeling pain, while Disperse Inc. added extra genomes to cause the same effect. CPS, however, just trained their operatives to send the interrogator nutty.
"You know, I feel like singing a different tune," said Matt cheerfully.
"Grr...You do realize how much trouble you're in? Flying some museum piece into orbit and dropping an EMP explosive?" snapped the interrogator.
"It is not a museum piece!" snapped Matt hotly.
"It is. We got rid of ion engines years ago. If it wasn't for those booby traps you installed, we'd have stripped it for parts. You're looking at 10 years in the Raft," snapped the interrogator.
"Now just a minute. That EMP was an accident," said Matt, "We had to jettison a damaged part."
"Yeah, right, not exactly easy to prove with that junker," sneered the interrogator.
Matt twitched before saying, "You're pushing my tolerance and it's low enough as it is."
"Then tell me who sent you," snapped the interrogator.
Just then, the door opened and a woman stepped in. Matt was half-expecting Nick Fury, though this woman reminded Matt a little of him. She wore a green-tinted version of Fury's uniform, including the longcoat. The greenness extended to her sunglasses and her hair. "Stand down," she said, "We know where they're from."
"Director Brand, he was just about to crack," said the interrogator, saluting.
"Right, crack his skull," snapped Matt.
"I said stand down," said the director pointedly, the interrogator saluting and walking out, the director sitting down opposite Matt. "What is it with you people?" she muttered
"My ship isn't a museum piece," snapped Matt.
"Of course not," said the woman dryly, "Museum pieces are maintained better. Do you have any idea what year this is?"
"The 3000's judging from the D-44 plasma blaster on your hip," said Matt smugly.
"Try the 3100's," said Director Brand.
"D-22's were always a little glitchy for my liking anyway. What can I do for you, Miss 'I know all about Nullspace'?" said Matt.
"Mostly to see what sort of vagabond Nullspace has coughed up this time," said Director Brand.
"Confusius says none of your beeswax," said Matt stubbornly.
"I'm being civil enough to give you a chance to explain yourself verbally," said Director Brand, "I could make you tell us in much more unpleasant ways."
"I've had worse..." said Matt confidently, before pausing. She seemed honest enough. "Fine. We're after an...ill member of my crew. She's going by the name Lady NegaMorph."
"Oh, her," said Director Brand.
"We want her..." said Matt calmly, "Sooner we have her, the sooner we're out of your hair."
"As soon as we can determine you want her for the right reason," said Director Brand, "I know how a lot of you Nullspace types work. When someone goes after a criminal, 'justice' isn't always what's on their minds."
"She's a member of my crew and she's ill," said Matt icily.
Director Brand checked a device on her wrist. "Polygraph's coming through clean. You're telling the truth," she said.
Matt raised an eyebrow, "And Mr. Angry didn't have one why?"
"Sometimes lies can reveal more than truths," said Brand.
"Oh, you definitely went to the same school of mind games that Fury did," said Matt.
"Fury taught the class," said Brand.
"Ok, I think I know how this goes. Yes, we'll agree to a chaperone, no you can't take a look at my ship's jump drive." said Matt.
"What's worth looking at?" asked Brand dismissively.
"If you had jump drives, the NSC would be happily kicking seven bells out of Earth's enemies," said Matt calmly.
"We're already expanding out into other galaxies," said Brand, "We don't need to deal with outlaws from other dimensions as well."
"She's not an outlaw, she's suffering the after effects of a weaponized mutagen. Megan's as much a victim here as everyone else," said Matt darkly, his eyes glowing threateningly.
"I wasn't referring to just her," said Brand.
"I'm not an outlaw..." said Matt warningly.
"The state of your ship seems to suggest otherwise," said Brand.
"I like my ship," snarled Matt.
"Anyways, aside from your own Spider-Man, you're the most human member of your crew," said Brand, "I'm not sure I would want your other crewmembers running loose on Earth."
"We're a package deal. Plus I've seen that you guys aren't above being dodgy. I'm keeping my crew exactly where I can see them," said Matt.
"Fine, but you're going nowhere without an escort," said Brand.
"Fine..." said Matt finally, standing up, "And who's going to be escorting us?"
"Our biggest expert in transdimensional travel," said Brand, "You'll be meeting her soon enough."
Once Matt made sure NegaMorph was fine, he went to check on Chloe. He was more than a little concerned. He still remembered Paradise Falls. He could also hear a commotion ahead, turning the corner in time for a 'whack' noise and a doctor to fly out the room. "Ah, she's fine," he said happily, stepping past the dazed doctor who was being helped up.
"Was just...getting...saliva sample..." said the doctor dizzily.
"And I'm sure you were wanting to sample more than that!" snapped Chloe.
"Chloe, he's a doctor and you're still in wolf form. Turn back. It's getting silly now," said Matt annoyed.
"Why should I?" snapped Chloe.
"Chloe..." growled Matt.
"Ok, ok, fine," snapped Chloe before she shifted, "Happy now?" Matt gave her an odd look. "What?" snapped Chloe.
"Erm...ok, let's get it over with...mirror time," said Matt with a sigh.
NegaMorph held up a mirror. Chloe looked at it. She didn't really see much difference. Ok, she might need a longer shirt, she was showing off a bit too much stomach, a stomach with rock-hard abs. "Ok, what's your point?" asked Chloe.
"Your ears," said Matt flatly.
Chloe squinted before noticing her furred pointed ears...the very canine ones. "OH COME ON!" she snapped.
"That's not all," said NegaMorph, pointing behind her.
Chloe glared before peering over her shoulder to see her tail still there before she snarled and in a blaze of blue energy was back in her wolf form. "Bugger!" she snapped.
"Ok, enough fooling around," said Matt, "Get human now, 100%."
Chloe closed her eyes concentrating, Matt and NegaMorph watching as it looked like she was holding her breath before she reopened her eyes. "I...I can't," she said with worry.
"What do you mean 'you can't'?" asked Matt, "Do you have your nanites in a snarl?"
"I don't know," snarled Chloe angrily, her eyes glowing demonic red for a second before she said, "Usually I can feel it there...but there's nothing this time."
"I suppose you can't turn dragon either," said Matt.
"Of course I can. I could feel that easy...but...but my human side..." she snapped before slumping down sadly.
"Ok, maybe you soaked up too much magic back in Simeria," said Matt, "Maybe if you just spent it, you'll be able to turn human again."
"It doesn't work like that and you know that," snapped Chloe, starting to panic.
"We can work it out later," said NegaMorph impatiently, "It's already too late to hide you're a werewolf anyways."
Chloe glared before huffing, "Fine...how did the interrogation go?"
"They already know we're from Nullspace," said Matt, "They thought we were something more meaningful, like industrial spies."
"Oh please. NSC tech retrieval wouldn't be as sloppy as us," said NegaMorph cheerfully. Matt and Chloe glowered at NegaMorph. "Hey, it's true. We have all the stealth of an elephant in a nightclub," said NegaMorph.
"Hurtful but fair," grumbled Matt.
The Lynches looked at Spider-Man who shrugged, "I gotta side with NegaMorph. You guys aren't exactly subtle."
"Ok, but if we were trying to retrieve tech-" snapped Chloe.
"You'd be caught in the first 10 minutes," said NegaMorph bluntly.
Chloe opened her mouth to object before sighing, "Point taken." before the door to the room opened, two guards walking in.
"We're to take you to your chaperone," said one of them, the other making the mistake of giving Chloe a wolf whistle.
"Ok, let's go over this one more time. My name is Peni Parker and I am New York's only Spider-Girl. Ok, not quite like the other Spider-Girl I met. Oops, said that too soon. Anyways, like a lot of heroes, I use a mech to fight with. Mine is pretty unique because my co-pilot is a genetically-enhanced spider. Together, we're SP/dr. I used to think we were unique. But then I got thrown into another dimension with a bunch of other Spider-People. We saved the multiverse from collapsing on itself and then we went home. I lost my father's robot when that happened, but I built a new one. And because of that, SHIELD now thinks that I'm their go-to girl when interdimensional stuff happens."
A humanoid robot with Peni made several inquisitive beeps as they headed down a corridor. "I dunno, I just feel like someone has to be told that," said Peni. The robot beeped again. "No, I'm not starting to sound like Spider-Ham," said Peni in annoyance.
A SWORD trooper was thrown into view at that, scrambling up to run. Peni and SP/dr peered round the corner to see some anthro wolf being held back by some sort of black blob man, a humanoid lizard and "Spider-Man?" Peni said in surprise.
Spider-Man looked over to see a schoolgirl who obviously had Asian heritage with a somewhat hulking spider-like mech standing behind her. "Oh, the local Spider," said Spider-Man, "I guess I shouldn't be surprised."
"Let me at that wolf-whistling git. I'll give him an all-over bad hair day!" screamed Chloe, Matt shifting to full dragon form and sitting on her. His compressor might have made him small enough for the room but the footprints left behind indicated the weight was still there, Chloe struggling some more before glaring.
Peni walked over to Spider-Man and asked, "Are you a Peter Parker?"
"Yeah. Your friendly neighborhood Ultimate Spider-Man," said Spider-Man cheerfully.
Chloe glared. "The lounge lizard sitting on me is Captain Matt Lynch. I'm his sister, Chloe," she said darkly.
"And I am NegaMorph, not a demon, an alien genetic experiment," said NegaMorph.
"I didn't think you were a demon," said Peni, puzzled.
NegaMorph staring in equal surprise. "Really? You're not gonna call me a demon?" he said in a faintly happy voice.
"Everyone knows there's no such thing," said Peni.
"Can we keep her?" said NegaMorph happily.
Matt reached over and flicked the back of NegaMorph's head. "We're not here for her. We're here for your niece, remember?" he snapped.
NegaMorph, splattered against the wall, rasped "Fine." before sliding down.
Chloe, propping her head up in her hands, said, "So...you gonna help us find Lady NegaMorph."
"Who's that?" asked Peni, scratching the side of her head.
"The person we're after. Wait, the Director knew about her," said Matt, curiously.
"I've kinda been out of the loop for a bit," said Peni, "Had to rebuild my robot from scratch."
Matt shifted back to human, activating a hologram of Lady NegaMorph. "Her real name's Megan Roph. She's been affected by a nasty mutagen virus that causes a split personality. Perfect mirror of the original; good becomes bad. And Lady NegaMorph's the bad side...and in control," he explained.
Chloe punched him before continuing, "She's a sorceress-in-training and she has knowledge of genetic manipulation technology, though we cut that off at source."
"Sorceress..." said Peni, sounding disbelieving.
Matt raised an eyebrow before pointing at himself and Chloe. "Magic...spookiness...things that tend to be hard to squash?" he tried.
"Never seen anything like that," said Peni, "Unless you count a talking pig from a cartoon world."
"Not touching that," said Matt finally before he said, "This just means she's even more dangerous. Magic tends to trump tech in my experience."
"Though a universe where there's no magic of its own may weaken any magic user who comes there," said NegaMorph.
"After the top up she got at the last stop..." said Matt.
"Enough to get me overflowing with werewolf power," said Chloe dryly.
SP/dr peered closely at Chloe before beeping, shrugging.
"Well, if she's the only magical being on this planet, she ought to stick out like a sore thumb, right?" asked NegaMorph.
SP/dr nodded, beeping something at Peni. "If she's giving out the same sort of magic signal as Wolf Girl, she'll be easy to find," she said cheerfully.
"That's a relief," said Spider-Man.
"Of course, we'd have to sweep the whole planet first," said Peni.
"Ah...that may take some time," said Spider-Man.
"No...wait...we don't need too. New York is a nexus. Everything happens here. She'll be here, I know it," Chloe said sternly, dusting her fur off.
"Yeah, there's no real reason to think she's anywhere else," said NegaMorph flatly.
"Yeah...my armor's in no state for a fight though," said Matt.
"What's wrong with it?" asked Peni.
"New computer bugs," said Matt in annoyance.
Peni walked over, pulling out a scanner. "Wakandan tech...old model," she said calmly.
Matt raised his eyebrows. "Old model?" he repeated.
"It's the 32nd century. They haven't used this stuff since they colonized Mars," said Peni cheerfully, before sayin, "I should be able to fix this back home."
"I feel so outdated..." muttered Matt.
"Hey, I can get your armor running at 32nd century standard in an hour," said Peni cheerfully, adding, "Plus I've always wanted to examine Wakandan tech."
"Uh...it might have some security features that will keep you out," said Matt.
"Got it," said Peni, Matt blinking. She said, "It's a thousand years out of date."
"Not unlike a certain someone," said NegaMorph in a smug tone.
Matt turned to glare at NegaMorph at that, his eyes glowing for a second, NegaMorph wincing before realizing he hadn't exploded. "That was a fluke!" snapped Matt.
"Then try again," sneered NegaMorph, Matt glaring again, only this time nothing happening, his nanites saying "Mana depleted...shutting down abilities to prioritize genetic stability."
Matt's eye twitched before he hissed, "You better watch yourself later."
NegaMorph just smirked, Matt glaring harder, before Peni said, "Looks like the AI was damaged. I can repair it easily enough."
"I wouldn't say it was damaged so much as improperly aligned," said Chloe, "Matt was never that good with software installation."
"Oh come on," protested Matt, "Not you too."
"Hey. Don't hate me cause it's true," smirked Chloe, Matt glaring daggers.
"I'm starting a list now and you're both on it," said Matt.
"Ooh, I'm shaking in my furry paws," said Chloe sarcastically. Matt glared, before stomping out.
"So, you mind showing a fellow Spider around New York?" asked Spider-Man.
"Sure...and I'd love to hear about life in your dimension. Do you have kaiju too?" asked Peni cheerfully.
New Rikers was an impressive facility, having been upgraded over the centuries to house the worst of the worst. Its security was said to be impenetrable. Lady Nega was currently testing that theory, several security drones being crushed by a shadow spell.
The only real concern she had was that her reserves weren't repleting after each use. She knew this place was heavily pro-science, but she didn't think it was anti-magic.
Gary was doing better, though he was currently only in his 'Manhattan clan' form. Of course, he didn't really require much magic, considering his forte was brute strength refined with savante.
Lady Nega paused at a guard post, before blowing the door off its hinges with a shadow tentacle, not magic but it did the job, to see a technician in a guard uniform cowering. "Hello, I'm here to see a prisoner, MODOK? If you cooperate and tell me where he is, I'm sure this will be a lovely little story for your kids. Do something stupid like-" began Lady Nega before sending a blast into the controls, frying the panic button there "-that and they'll be orphans, am I clear?" she warned, her eyes glowing red like her uncle's.
"I'm not married," whimpered the technician.
"Oh, so no one to mourn you," said Lady Nega.
"Ok, ok, he's in cell 103! But you don't want anything from him," gibbered the technician.
"You need to relax," said Lady Nega, "All stress can just lock you up." The guard flinched back before the paralysis spell hit him.
She smirked at the gray form of the now-petrified guard. "Gary, cell 103," she snapped.
"Don't you think petrification was a little too much?" asked Gary.
"He'd have ratted us out," said Lady Nega darkly before glaring at Gary, "Now find MODOK."
Gary frowned before noticing a few cracks in the technician's arm, which weren't raised as high as they were before. He then went to look for the right cell. It didn't take long and the door was easy enough to tear off its hinges. "Monsieur MODOK?" he said into the darkened room.
He saw something large and vaguely egg-shaped clamped into the walls. Gary noticed the clamps were relatively low-tech, nothing more than very strong hinges. There also appeared to be another sort of clamp on the top which he guessed kept MODOK offline.
He looked around before noticing his wristcomp flickering. "Who...is...theeere.?" rasped a voice before Gary's wristcomp failed.
"Monsieur MODOK? My lady wishes to hire your services," said Gary, "In exchange, you'll get your freedom."
"Freedom?" sneered MODOK, his voice still rasping.
"We only require your unique skills to...acquire something," said Gary, a bit of disdain entering his voice.
"Really? And what might that be?" said MODOK.
"A mecha," said Gary.
"That I can do..." sneered MODOK.
"Then we have a deal?" asked Gary.
"We have a deal. Release me," said MODOK darkly.
Gary went to the clamps and easily pried them open before removing the clamp on top of MODOK's head. Immediately, MODOK's red optics lit up as he floated up in the air. He really was nothing more than a large robotic head, though a few relatively small tentacles were now extending from his sides. "I am MODOK, the Mechanical Overseer Designed for Opposing Kaiju!" proclaimed the villain.
"Kaiju?" said Gary, before remembering that weird Japanese film from one movie night on the Bladestorm. Then he recalled the giant monsters that he had seen since they've arrived here. "Yes, I suppose they're a problem here, aren't they?" he asked.
"A great problem that requires a great mind to counteract," said MODOK, "I was designed to coordinate attacks with mecha squadrons to respond to kaiju attacks. But my creators feared that I may turn my attention towards attacking cities myself."
"But you did attack cities. That's why they locked you up," pointed out Gary.
"I could be running the cities far more efficiently. But you know how meatbags are. They only respect power and intimidation," said MODOK.
Gary opened his mouth to object before remembering Megan needed this megalomaniac's help. "Of course, Monsieur," he said with a polite bow before yelping as he was grabbed and his head pulled up to be examined.
"Interesting, I do not have your species on file," MODOK commented.
"Well, I'm not from-" started Gary.
"Enough, take me to your master," said MODOK, letting him go.
"She's right out there," said Gary, pointing a thumb.
Lady Nega was waiting as MODOK hovered out of his cell. "Mr. MODOK, I hear you are quite the artist when it comes to mechas. I wish to commission your services," she said smoothly.
"Commission implies payment," said MODOK flatly.
Lady Nega nodded, saying, "My ship has a choice of precious metals on board."
"Well, that makes things interesting," said MODOK, "Do you expect me to do a custom job or modify an existing mecha?"
"You must have something that you don't need anymore," said Lady Nega.
"Well, there is something that's been collecting dust..." said MODOK.
"Oh? Tell me as we leave," sneered Lady Nega.
Peni lived in an apartment with her mother, who was out at work. They seemed to be well-off, having some futuristic luxuries that included a laboratory where SP/dr had been rebuilt in.
Matt sat down, a scanner running a light over him as Peni examined his armor. Peni, watching the readout, kept stealing a look at Matt before she said simply, "Ok...according to this DNA scan, you should be dead."
"Yeah, yeah, got so much dragon, werewolf, and elemental in me that I shouldn't even look human," said Matt offhandedly.
NegaMorph took a glance at the readout. He also noticed there was a portion of kaiju DNA detected, but he probably shouldn't mention that. What he did mention was, "It also says you're about 2% Japanese."
Matt paused at that. "Say what?" he said in confusion, NegaMorph cackling before yelping as Matt pushed him aside to look. "Hey, why's it say my DNA's copyrighted to Toho?" he snapped.
"I'm more concerned how your DNA is able to work at all," said Peni.
"Very ancient nanotechnology that I never asked for," said Matt gloomily, before pressing 'delete' on the readout.
Peni snapped, "Hey."
Matt said in a stern voice, "If you dunno why my DNA works, you don't get the information. It'd be incredibly dangerous bio-tech if used wrong."
NegaMorph said, confused, "Now you act responsible?"
"Hey, it's not like I'm spreading my DNA around the multiverse," said Matt. He paused before saying, "That came out wrong."
"I get it, dangerous technology. Next time, at least ask," said Peni, a little sullenly. She clearly had been looking forward to studying the information before she said, "Well, I think I can get your armor working in an hour or two..."
"Ok...what can we do for an hour?" asked Chloe, looking around. She looked at the scanner and said, "I wonder what my DNA looks like."
"Probably better off not knowing..." said Matt, before his, NegaMorph's, and Chloe's wristcomps beeped. "Oh, looks like we got a hit," said Matt before checking.
"What hit?" said Peni, leaning over and seeing the readout. "Hey, that's a SWORD frequency!" she said in shock.
Matt grinned. "You may be better at us in some ways but nobody outhacks the NSC," said Matt evilly before checking his blaster.
"Whoa, whoa, don't you think you should hold back?" asked Chloe.
"What do you mean?" asked Matt.
"Well, your armor's still in the shop, you've got a limited magic reserve, you're kinda on the vulnerable side right now," said NegaMorph.
Matt raised an eyebrow. "Really?" he said flatly.
"I'm just concerned," said Chloe, "If you run out during a battle, you'd be an open target."
"Oh, and I suppose you have an unlimited supply of werewolf juice," snapped Matt.
"Werewolves are different. We make our own," said Chloe.
"Yeah, sure," said Matt disbelievingly.
"Guys, guys, ease up," said Spider-Man, "Matt's still important to the team."
"As cannon fodder," said NegaMorph with a smirk.
Matt glared and said, "I do still have hand weapons and ammunition."
"Yeah...against supervillains? Megan'll eat you alive," sneered Nega.
"I can take on any supervillain here!" snapped Matt.
"With your armor, but we have some serious villains here," said Peni carefully.
Matt shifted to his anthro dragon form and snapped, "Do I look like I need armor?" He paused before shifting back, panting. "Ok...ok…" he managed.
"You ok?" asked Chloe with concern.
"Ok, you win..." said Matt gloomily.
"It's not that bad," said Spider-Man.
"How so?" said Matt a little nastily.
"I know a lot of people who are great heroes even if they don't have powers," said Spider-Man.
"Yeah, because they've got tech to back them up," said Matt.
"It isn't always the tech," said Peni, "It's your mind that's your best weapon."
NegaMorph grinned, "Yeah...Matt's not in that department either." earning a slap from Chloe.
"Too far," she growled.
Matt sighed, walking out as Nega snapped, "It's true, the number of times he only beat me with that plasma control of his. In a fair fight, we'd have beaten him like a drum."
"That doesn't mean you have to keep undercutting his self-worth," snapped Chloe.
"Oh, he can have jabs at me but I can't return fire?" snapped NegaMorph, "How many times does he win just by turning into a flying flamethrower?"
"Are you suggesting Matt has no skills outside of being a dragon?" snapped Chloe.
"Oh, he has plenty of skills, mostly relating to getting himself in trouble," said NegaMorph dryly, "I mean, seriously. The number of times he's almost got us all killed is ridiculous. He treats this like a game. I think a dose of reality'll do him good."
"Except you realize now he's going to be driven to prove you wrong," said Chloe.
"He's not that big an idiot." said NegaMorph, before he said "Anyway, we need to go grab my niece."
"So what did she do to show up on the radar?" asked Spider-Man.
Chloe looked at her wristcomp and said, "Apparently, she broke MODOK out of prison."
"MODOK? Oh, that's not good," said Peni, with concern.
"MODOK? Well, he's really smart, admitted, but he's mostly a big blowhard who had power...over...technology..." Spider-Man's voice trailed off as he realized the implications.
"Don't worry. SP/dr's immune to Potato Head's tricks," said Peni cheerfully.
"Well, that's a relief," said Chloe, "You probably ought to install some anti-MODOK firewalls in Matt's armor too."
"Already on it. You guys should be fine. I'll stay here in case Matt comes back," said Peni.
"And I better go find him before he does something really stupid," said Chloe.
"Hey, we can't let Megan let a supertech version of the tech potato loose," snapped NegaMorph.
"Well, I guess not," said Chloe, "Anyways, I'm sure Matt hasn't forgotten how to handle himself. Even before he became part dragon, he was usually a problem that happened to other people."
NegaMorph nodded, "See? His luck'll keep him nice and safe. Now let's go."
"Uh, you guys go look ahead," said Peni, "I need to check on something."
Matt wasn't particularly hard to find. Peni found him brooding on the edge of the rooftop.
"Hey there. You ok?" asked Peni, walking over, SP/dr walking along beside her.
"Oh, just fine. Nobody has any faith in my natural abilities, but that doesn't bother me," said Matt sullenly.
"So, what's up? I mean...you're in the future. It's gotta be a little cool, right?" said Peni cheerfully, sitting down next to him.
"Wouldn't be my first time," said Matt, "Though I haven't been this far ahead."
"Well, they probably have a point, but think of it as a holiday. You can relax and most villains won't take you serious till it's too late," said Peni, remembering what Chloe had told her to say.
"And I'm supposed to just throw barbed words at them to tick them off?" asked Matt dryly.
"Chloe told me you once held off an entire corporate army singlehanded," said Peni.
"Well, yeah," said Matt, "Man, that was a long time ago."
"And you're more experienced than you were then. Local villains won't stand a chance if they go for you," said Peni, SP/dr making some desperate beeps.
"Yeah, these villains are so used to the hi-tech stuff, they forget about old-school techniques," said Matt.
"That's the spirit," said Peni happily, SP/dr facedoming.
"I don't need to hide. I'll get Megan myself. Thanks, kid," said Matt before stepping off the roof, a grapple biting into the edge a second later and some cheerful 'woooo's' heard all the way down. Peni yelped, her and SP/dr peering down in time to see Matt's grapple gently deposit him at street level.
Spider-Man peered down and said, "Looks like you lifted his spirits a little too much."
"We should follow him, right?" said Peni weakly.
"Yeah, I think he might get in over his head," said Spider-Man.
Lady Nega looked up at the unpainted mech. MODOK had led them to a hideout SHIELD did not know about, which had housed this beauty. "That'll do," she said finally.
MODOK nodded, "There is the matter of payment..."
"Yes, I'm sure we have enough gold to pay for it," said Lady Nega.
"I have no interest in money. I am interested in technology," said MODOK coldly.
Lady Nega paused before smirking, "I have something just perfect. It's from another dimension. The height of biotechnology in a device the size of a coin."
"Do I look like the kind interested in biology?" asked MODOK.
"You do if you want to have kaiju under your complete control." said Lady NegaMorph
"Is that so?" asked MODOK, sounding interested.
"Indeed, the chip can be programmed for control and specific mutations...and before you get ideas, me and my companion are immune," said Lady Nega smoothly.
"Yes, I surmise you would require more specialized equipment to control the pair of you," said MODOK.
"I just want the mech then I'm gone," said Lady Nega, before pausing, sniffing the air and grinning, "Hmm...it seems we have company."
MODOK tensed up before turning as a humanoid wolf landed in his view, some sort of blob creature materializing. "Megan, I see you're still keeping..." The wolf woman trailed off as she got a good look at MODOK. Even as a giant floating robot head, there was just something off about his appearance. "Ok...that's just wrong," she said.
Lady Nega grinned. "How about a demonstration, MODOK?" she sneered, her hand blurring and Chloe yelping gripping her neck before handing MODOK a control. "She's all yours," Lady Nega sneered, Chloe snarling and charging.
"Heel, hound," said MODOK, activating the control. Chloe paused, gripping her head and howling, a small disk just visible in her fur.
"Megan, you did not just give the floating head a control collar!" snapped NegaMorph.
"Quiet you. I recommend you deal with him, MODOK," said Lady NegaMorph darkly.
"Let's see how effective this beast is," said MODOK before pressing another button.
Chloe screamed again, before turning with a growl to face NegaMorph, her eyes glowing red. MODOK meanwhile was using the link to examine this creature. The DNA was a mess, but the nanites he detected, while inaccessible to him (something that fascinated him) seemed to act as a switch, activating or disabling the extra DNA as needed.
"Such an interesting creature," said MODOK, "And what have we here? It almost looks like kaiju DNA, though of a variant I have never seen before."
"How the hell..." began Lady NegaMorph as her uncle tried to fight Chloe off.
"Let us see what happens when it's active," said MODOK before tweaking the settings.
Chloe stopped mid-attack before clutching her head and screaming. "Uh, I don't think this is a good idea," said Gary with worry.
"Silence your mutant," snapped MODOK as he applied more power.
NegaMorph snapped, "STOP IT!" sending a hail of fangs. A force field appeared around MODOK that the fangs pinged off of. "Of course the floating head has a force field," said NegaMorph dryly.
"I have more than that," said MODOK coldly.
"MODOK, that isn't a toy," said Lady Nega.
"Silence," said MODOK calmly.
NegaMorph charged again, a red beam shooting out from MODOK and through NegaMorph's head. "Megan, I'm gonna ground your...beef very finely, you want to make sure you get all the meat ready to make into patties..." said NegaMorph, his eyes going in different directions.
"Oh no, his brain's picking up the cooking channel again," muttered Lady NegaMorph.
Meanwhile, Chloe had hunched over as she gripped her head. From behind, it was very clear to see that her shirt was straining and ripping apart. It wasn't just because of the increase of her size and muscles. A row of spikes were clearly growing out of her spine.
"Impressive genetics. Where did you get this technology again? It's far too advanced for Oscorp or Stark. Maybe even the Wakandans," asked MODOK calmly.
"That's none of your business," snapped Lady Nega.
MODOK's eyes narrowed, noting unsecured nanites as well...a compression field. He triggered it, making sure that, until needed, his new pet wouldn't smash the roof or knock over his machine.
While Chloe didn't get big enough to break through the ceiling, it was certainly too big for her clothes to contain. Fortunately, a thick layer of scutes now covered her front and kept her from being exposed. Of course, she was far more than an oversized werewolf now, considering the spikes down her spines, at her elbows, and the bigger claws.
"Ok, that's enough." snapped Lady Nega. It wasn't out of concern...but she knew the APOCALYPSE that Matt would drop on her head if he found out.
"Indeed...an impressive specimen of a kaiju," said MODOK calmly.
"I didn't know her dragon side could manifest like that," said Gary.
"I don't think that's her dragon side," said Lady Nega with concern, her well tuned 'incoming betrayal' sense tingling. "You know? Keep the mech," she said, nodding to Gary.
"Oh, the mech is yours," said MODOK, "It's not complete without you."
"What?" snapped Lady Nega.
MODOK grinned. "A computer AI is insufficient...not creative enough," he said evilly.
Lady Nega glared, readying her Virk side's shadow blast...no magic in this case, only for Chloe to tackle her. "Get off me, you grande-sized Great Dane!" snapped Lady Nega.
"I do not think she will listen," said MODOK with an evil grin. Gary roared and lunged at Chloe, the kaiju wolf flicking her tail out and sending Gary flying out a window.
"Ok, that's enough!" Lady Nega snapped as she tried to push Chloe off.
"Not yet...but it will be. It will be better. Organic bodies fail. You will not have to worry about that," sneered MODOK.
The bar didn't really have a name. It was just a bar where villains went between jobs. Given the bar had several surplus war droids as security, the no-fighting rule was obeyed. It was to this peaceful ecosystem that, like a rogue asteroid about to turn a lizard civilization into so much coal and oil, came Matt.
The only plus side was he hadn't actually come to fight, instead just for a drink. "Looks like punk culture hasn't changed much in the last 1100 years," muttered Matt as he looked around at the various bar patrons, "But then, it could hardly get worse."
"Hey...no mech suits," said the bartender, the war droids looking at Matt before going back to observing the bar patrons in general.
"Mine's in the shop right now," said Matt.
"Fine...try not to bleed if you piss off the regulars," said the barman.
Matt ordered a soft drink as he looked around. Places like this were great for safely examining the local villains. There weren't many that he completely recognized. He thought one looked like a variation of the Goblin. That guy might be an alternate Shocker. Could that one be this world's Kraven?
Just then, a thick finger poked Matt's shoulder. "Tiny man," said a deep voice with a Russian accent, "You are in my seat."
Matt paused before he said "I didn't see your name on it."
The barman paled before he said, "Victor, he's new. You know the rule: new guys get one free pass."
"Yeah, so just-" started Matt before someone lifted him up by the back of his shirt before dropping him on the floor. "Ok, that was particularly rude," said Matt.
He stood up, dusting himself off before looking at, and then up at the Russian man mountain now in his seat. "Wow...this world's Tohru," he muttered before saying, "Hey, I want my drink."
Victor picked up the glass and gave it a disdainful sniff. "Soda pop, should have proper drink like real man, little boy," he said.
"I find being drunk before a job's stupid. Also I need stronger then what's here to get past my medical nanites," said Matt.
"Featherveight likely not need much to get drunk," said Victor dismissively.
Matt sighed. "Fine, just gimme my drink back," he snapped.
Victor started handing Matt the glass only for it to 'slip' out of his fingers. "Oopsies," said Victor insincerely.
Matt's eyes narrowed, a few of the other patrons edging away. Now it was worth noting even before the Shar nanites had booted up, the Lynches were trained killers. CPS at the time had been rolling in government contracts and as a result had received the best training programs. The nanites responsible were also programmed to make sure their host was strong enough to do damage. Couple this with Matt being in a bad mood and Victor couldn't have chosen a worse time to be a jerk.
The barkeep seemed to sense this, saying, "Hey...I'll refill it...on the house," in a worried tone as Matt continued to glower at the smirking Victor.
Matt scanned Victor over. Yes, he was a big man, but not all of that was solid muscle. He could pick some sag in the guy's flesh that told that he didn't use his muscles as often as he should. Not to mention there were some implants that looked like he was supposed to be wired into something.
"Power armor user, eh?" he commented, smugly.
Victor grinned. "Da...I am pilot of best armor in New York," sneered Victor, before Matt interrupted "Thought you looked a little flabby." A stunned silence spreading out across the room, some of victors friends standing up with growls.
"Is there something you vant to be saying?" asked Victor in a steely voice.
"Oh, perhaps you and I could step outside and resolve this like gentlemen," said Matt.
"Vhy should I bother for puny, little man?" asked Victor.
"I'm only asking you to go right outside. It's not like I'm sending you on a wild goose chase," said Matt.
Victor's friends suddenly took a step back. "Vild...goose?" asked Victor.
Matt also looked confused. "What's so bad about wild geese?" he asked.
"I HATE THE CHASE OF GOOSE!" yelled Victor before throwing a punch at Matt.
Matt yelped, jumping back, before grinning. "Someone had their sandvich stolen by the lake once too often?" he taunted, leaning to dodge several swipes from Victor.
Victor grabbed a bar stool and threw it at Matt. Matt yelped, ducking the stool as the barman yelled "HEY! NO FURNITURE!"
Victor snapped something in Russian and his friends charged Matt. The first one pulled out a nasty-looking blade, swiping at Matt before the merc grabbed said knife, punched the guy in the throat before stapling his hand to a table with said knife.
Two more tried to double team Matt next. Of course, they made the classic mistake at coming at him from opposite sides. Matt ran at one, grabbed him, and swung him around into the other.
The last one pulled out a blaster, trying to hit Matt as he ran around the room before tackling the goon and punching him out, tossing the blaster aside...right before he felt like the moon had landed on him, a blow from Victor sending him flying.
Matt groaned as he got back up. "Do big bones run in your family or was that a special order?" he asked.
"Hah...funny vestern humor. Now I break all your bones," said Victor smugly, walking forward as Matt looked around before grabbing a glass from some sort of reptilian alien and tossing the contents in Victor's eyes. "Gah!" yelled Victor, wiping the drink away from his eyes. However, it didn't seem to be stinging him. It didn't even smell flammable.
A second later, Matt slapped his hands on Victor's ears, causing the larger man's head to ring before dealing out a rain of blows, ending with a roundhouse kick across the chin that caused the man to stagger back.
Victor wiped his mouth before looking down to see a smear of blood from a split lip. "You...LITTLE!" he began only for one of the war droids to aim at him.
"That's enough, Victor. You're barred for a month. This crap wouldn't have happened if you hadn't been a hothead," snapped the barman.
Victor glared at Matt. "You vant ve take this outside? Ve take it outside right now!" he snapped before grabbing Matt by his shirt.
There was a click and a hum at that, Victor's eyes lowering to see an old plasma magnum aimed at his gut. The wall would stop the blast but it'd go through Victor to get to it. "I think this is over," said Matt icily.
"That is vhat you think," snarled Victor, but he dropped Matt.
Matt kept aimed till Victor was gone, before noticing the droids transferring their aim to him till he holstered his blaster before finally noticing the stares, the silence broken by the whimpers from the goon who had his hand impaled to the table, his friends helping get him free.
"Now, about that drink," said Matt.
There was a chorus of cheers at that, a couple of cat aliens dragging Matt to the bar and buying him a drink, others yelling numbers at the barman. Matt was too happy at the welcome to note that a board above the bar marked 'dead pool' now had 'lunatic stranger: stomped by rhino within 24 hours: 20-1'.
Meanwhile, Spider-Man and Peni were watching from a nearby rooftop. "So...you've met other Spider-Men before," said Spider-Man conversationally.
"Yeah, you remind me of one of them," said Peni, "Except you're younger and...in better shape."
"Oh...well I met a medieval one once," said Spider-man.
Peni said, "Met a talking pig version."
Spider-Man said, "You met Spider-Ham?" before they looked down to see a rather large man stomp out.
"Uh oh..." muttered Peni, ducking down.
"You know him?" asked Spider-Man.
"Victor Techenko. He pilots the Rh1n0 assault suit, stole it years ago," hissed Peni, pulling Spider-Man down out of sight.
"So your Rhino is a mech?" asked Spider-Man.
"Isn't yours?" asked Peni.
"Bio-augmentation," said Spider-Man, "Alex actually used to be a good guy until Doc Ock got his claws into him."
"Oh, like a kaiju," said Peni, before she said, "We'd better get Matt out." before she went over to SP/dr.
"Say...say...wha is thiz stuff?" said Matt dizzily, his arm around the cat alien, who looked at the half-empty bottle, and at the liquid inside. After some drunken contemplation, he slurred "'S Green." Matt nodded. "Like green...more green."
"You know, maybe we can continue this elsewhere?" asked a green-skinned girl in a suggestive tone.
"Oh, no, no, no, I gotta girlfriend," said Matt, "She'd burn everyone if she found out."
"Aw...sure she won't..." began the girl, her eyes glowing before her green turned paler. "I'll leave you alone," she said, her psionic probe having sense Matt wasn't kidding.
"So...anyone got any chips?" asked Matt.
"What's a chip?" asked another merc.
Matt paused. "The future is a dark place indeed if potato chips are extinct," he said in a small voice before the door into the bar opened.
Everyone turned to see SP/dr crouching in the doorway, a smaller but similarly dressed man with it. The mercs scattered away from Matt who looked at the two. "Hey...you...six..." he said happily, moving to stand up and falling flat on his face, giggling.
"Oh boy," muttered Spider-Man.
The mech said, "Let's get him out before some of these losers try to collect on him." pointing to the board that the barman was trying to cover.
Spider-Man got on his comm and called NegaMorph, "Uh, Nega, you wouldn't know any particular ways to wake up Matt if he's...had a little too much to drink, would you?"
"Open the mouth and...apply a lit match for a lovely show before eating..." said NegaMorph's voice, which sounded a little off.
Spider-Man blinked before he said, "Er...could you repeat that?"
"Set oven to 350 degrees for 10 minutes..." said NegaMorph.
Spider-Man blinked before saying to himself, "Ooookaaaay." before hanging up.
SP/dr just grabbed Matt by the leg and started pulling him outside. "Of all the times to be careless," grumbled Peni. There was a clunk as Matt's head went over the doorstep, followed by him giggling.
Spider-Man turned to the bartender and asked, "You got any horseradish?"
Matt shot upright with a scream, clutching his throat before taking the offered glass of water and gulping it down. "That...was so...mean…" he rasped.
"Well, we don't really have time to waste on waiting for you to wake up," said Peni, "We've got to get MODOK before he does something really bad."
"The flying tech potato?" managed Matt, wiping tears from his eyes.
"In a city filled with very advanced technology," reminded Spider-Man.
"Oh lovely," muttered Matt glumly, "Well, I'm sure NegaMorph and Chloe can handle him."
"Uh...I'm not sure if NegaMorph is in a coherent condition," said Spider-Man.
"Pardon?" asked Matt.
"He sounded like he was doing a cooking show," said Spider-Man.
Matt blinked before saying cheerfully, "Oh, like when that knife got stuck in his head. That was a fun week."
"He's still loopy, give me a second," said Peni before pulling open the back of Matt's shirt and dumping ice down it.
"Gah...really, it was. He had this great recipe for Zantaran tikka masala," snapped Matt.
"Right, and if NegaMorph's out of the loop, what must be happening with Chloe?" asked Peni.
An explosion was heard at that, a siren starting to wail. "What's that alarm for? And yes I know I probably won't like the answer," said Matt.
"That was the naval base," said Peni.
"New York has a naval base?" asked Matt.
"You know how many kaiju we have?" asked Peni.
"Good point," said Matt.
"You are to be going novhere!" snapped a tinny but familiar voice.
"Aw no," muttered Matt, turning around.
Stomping towards him was a bipedal rhino mech suit, though he was willing to bet it could run on all fours for ramming. The chest armor parted to reveal Victor piloting the mech. "I said ve vould take this outside," said Victor.
"You picked a fight with Rh1n0?" snapped Peni.
Matt shrugged, "It's a hobby." before he drew his blaster and started firing.
Victor laughed as the blasts bounced off his mech's armor. "Let's see how tough you really are," said Victor before the armor closed up. Rh1n0 pawed the ground and snorted.
"Oh shit," muttered Matt, saying, "Please tell me you brought my armor."
"It's still debugging," said Peni.
"Just give me the armor," said Matt slowly, before Rh1n0 charged on all fours.
"Ok, sending delivery signal now," said Peni.
"In the meantime, you should move," said Spider-Man before latching a web onto Matt's back before yanking him out of the way.
Matt managed to drop one of his homemade sticky bombs onto Rh1n0's back, the bomb exploding, barely leaving a scorch. "Hah...little firecracker," sneered Rh1n0 before opening fire.
"Isn't putting guns on that thing overkill?!" yelped Matt as he ran to avoid being perforated.
"Not everyone vants to hold still and be trampled," said Rh1n0.
Rh1n0 took aim before a blow staggered him, SP/dr dealing another blow before jumping back, Spider-Man webbing over the viewing slit on the armor.
"Feh, puny spiders. Alvays vith sticky webs," sneered Rh1n0, "Vhen vill you get real veapons?"
"Hey...didn't the barman tell you to treat out-of-towners better?" snapped Peni, blasting him.
"Haven't you learned from last time, this is no game for little girls?" sneered Rh1n0.
"Hey...no hitting girls in super mechs!" snapped Matt, throwing an EMP grenade. Rh1n0 grabbed the grenade before throwing it right back. "Wow, good reflexes," commented Matt. The crushed grenade rolled to Matt's feet, sparking. "Those things are expensive," he mumbled.
Rh1n0 sent another blast out. Matt ducked under the blast before running. "Vhere are funny jokes now?" sneered Rh1n0.
"They stopped when you crushed my toy," snapped Matt, readying his ion blade.
"Then there's no reason to prolong fight," said Rh1n0 before jumping forward and grabbing Matt.
Matt slashed out with his ion staff, and stared in horror as the blade emitter under the energy blade shattered before he was thrown into the alley. Fortunately, New York hadn't advanced so far that there wasn't a pile of garbage to land in, though that may be because this was a more rundown neighborhood.
"I really hate him," muttered Matt, before seeing a delivery drone flying down to him, dropping the amulet at his feet.
"If this doesn't help me beat that jerk, I may as well quit," muttered before putting the amulet on and activating it.
The familiar HUD appeared, before a calm female voice said, "Systems online...armor ready...wait, you aren't Wakandan."
"It wasn't made for a Wakandan," said Matt, "Wait a minute, since when does the suit AI talk back?"
"One moment, compiling..." said the female voice before a loading wheel appeared in the middle of the HUD.
"Oh, I do not have time for-" snapped Matt.
"Compiling complete. Atlantean and Wakandan data sorted and synchronized. Hello, Matthew Lynch, I am the Internal Organization Network, but you may call me ION for short. I am programmed to assist you with using your armor and learn from your actions," said the voice.
"Lovely, me and my friends are under attack by a lunatic in a 32nd century assault mech," said Matt cheerfully.
Ion said uncertainly, "I was hoping you'd take things easier for the first day on the job..."
"If you're going to learn from me, then you know it's never easy. That's lesson number one," said Matt as the rest of his armor formed over him.
"Oh dear," said Ion before Matt charged out, surprised how fast he was able to move, Rh1n0 peering over as he charged.
However, Matt overshot and went right past Rh1n0. "Oops, turn around," said Matt.
"The Wakandan leopard class power armor is 245% more efficient then the closest NSC or Combine model," said Ion cheerfully.
"This armor was modeled after a dragon. Speaking of which, my wings do work, right?" asked Matt.
"Deploying wings and ion boosters," said Ion cheerfully.
"Deploying what noAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!" screamed Matt as he was shot into the sky.
Rh1n0 and the two Spiders watched Matt rocket off. "How long has he had armor?" asked Rh1n0.
"Not very long," admitted Spider-Man.
"Ah...I shall deal vith you vhile vaiting for him to crash," said Rhino calmly, aiming his arm's plasma blaster at Spider-Man.
"Uh, can't we talk this over?" asked Spider-Man.
"Nyet," said Rh1n0.
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHH!" screamed Matt, Ion having taken control once she realized Matt probably couldn't hear her before she snapped "HEY!" giving him a light electrical shock.
"Ow!" snapped Matt.
"Now, if I may have your attention, shall we go over the flight manual?" asked Ion.
"I can fly with wings..." snapped Matt, a little calmer now, finding the wings responded if he twitched his shoulders the same way he did in dragon form.
"Excellent," said Ion, "The ion boosters can be used to increase speed as well as provide thrust in environments that would impede normal flight."
"Very nice, like the old orbital insertion suits," said Matt cheerfully, frowning as Ion laughed.
"Sorry," she said embarrassed, adding, "Nobody uses insertion suits."
Matt turned his head on reflex, given Ion's voice had gone into his left ear and stared. "The hell is that?" he snapped.
Climbing up one of the buildings was a twelve-foot wolf monster. Matt could only see it from the back, but he could see the spikes going down her spine. Yes, her figure told that she was female even from way over here.
"Ion...what's that thing?" Matt asked, concerned.
"It appears to be a kaiju of unknown origin. Scanning...scan complete. The kaiju has DNA from several creatures, including Avalarian electric dragoness, daedric werewolf, dire wolf..." started Ion.
"CHLOE!" snapped Matt.
"Oh, so that's Chloe? I shall add her current form to my file on Chloe," said Ion.
"How...how did this happen? The only time this happened was back in Tokyo when those...things adopted us and she didn't look like that," snapped Matt.
Ion said, "You realize when you can say that without being surprised, that your life is a mess, right?"
"You're learning fast," said Matt dryly.
"I am programmed for that. My scans indicate that her DNA is still in flux. It appears that Chloe is still metamorphosing," said Ion.
"Ok...this isn't normal..." muttered Matt, preparing to head for her before remembering Rh1n0. "Say...how outgunned is Rh1n0 now?" he asked evilly.
"Shall I go through your onboard weapons?" asked Ion.
"Please do," cackled Matt.
"Stay still, little bugs!" snapped Rh1n0, firing at the two, Spider-Man's and SP/dr's spider senses meaning he kept wasting ammo.
"Now I know why my Rhino doesn't waste time with guns," said Spider-Man, "Rhinos have very poor eyesight."
"I vill be viping smile off face!" snapped Rh1n0 before pausing and aiming his cannons off to the side.
"Your aim is getting worse," said SP/dr.
"Is it?" asked Rh1n0. The rounds slammed into a hover-car passing overhead at that, sending it spiraling down, the passengers getting out and running.
"Hey! This is between us!" snapped SP/dr.
"Da," sneered Rh1n0, aiming at another vehicle.
Some webshots covered up the cannon's muzzle. "Keep your toys in the playground," said Spider-Man. Rh1n0 turned to glare. One spider was annoying enough…
Just then, they heard a loud howl. It sounded like a very large wolf was not too far away. The trio turned in time for a combat drone to crash, a shape seen in smoke. "Chert voz'mi...another kaiju?" snapped Rh1n0.
"Odd, I would have gotten a call about a kaiju before it got into the city," said SP/dr.
"Does that monster look familiar?" asked Spider-Man.
Matt flew past the creature's head. "Ok, Ion, just repeat things. That's...my sister?" he snapped, shuddering inwardly at the pinprick pupil of an amber eye.
"Either that or someone has gotten a hold of her DNA and twisted it all around before cloning it," said Ion.
"Chance of it being a clone?" asked Matt.
Ion paused. "If my sensors are right...0.6%, sorry," she said before Matt flew up to one of the ears and he yelled, "CHLOE! YOU STOP CHEWING ON THIS BUILDING RIGHT NOW! BAD GIRL!"
The giant werewolf roared before swinging around at Matt. Matt flew backwards, but had gotten a good look at her front. "CHLOE, HOW DARE YOU RAMPAGE THROUGH THE CITY WITHOUT ANY- Oh, wait, those scutes cover everything. Never mind."
Chloe roared again, swinging a paw at Matt. "Nonetheless, I'm betting the people in that building are getting more than an eyeful. Don't make me knock you down like King Kong," said Matt.
This time the paw did connect, sending Matt shooting off with a scream of 'You're groundeeeeeeed!'
Now that the annoying pest was out of the way, Chloe climbed all the way to the top of the building and let out a mighty howl, proclaiming this city as her territory.
A second later, several missiles narrowly missed her, a swarm of SHIELD vtols homing in. Chloe snarled before light shone in her throat. With another howl, a blast of lightning shot out of her mouth. The vtols scattered, the pilot of one ejecting shortly before his vtol was vaporized, another firing a missile that hit Chloe in the face, though leaving no mark.
Chloe roared before swiping at the vtol. Of course, one of the biggest advantages that the vtols had were that they were smaller and more maneuverable. Not to mention, Chloe couldn't really swipe very far without falling off the building.
The vtols eventually peeled off when they realized their missiles and lasers weren't doing anything. Chloe huffed before turning her head to snarl at two hulking humanoid shapes in the smoke before an amplified voice said, "Unidentified Kaiju...surrender."
Chloe just roared in defiance. "Has that ever worked?" asked the other mecha, "It's not like these dumb brutes have the brains to understand us, let alone surrender."
Chloe snarled before spitting a lightning blast, the left mecha staggering before they both opened fire, Chloe leaping nimbly off before getting ready to vanish among the buildings.
"How can something that big move so fast?" asked the right mecha.
Chloe meanwhile was glaring, getting ready to back off before squeezing her eyes shut and baring her teeth, her master's voice commanding her to attack despite her wanting to run.
This was not how the wolf fights. The wolf is a beast that's always on the move. Its superior speed and agility gives it an edge against enemies. And this crowded city was hampering her maneuverability. She would prefer to run, or at least lure these attackers into an ambush where the fight would lean in the wolf's favor...but no...the annoying voice was demanding an open, brazen attack. Chloe snarled. As she could, she would chew that annoying voice to pieces. But its will was strong.
She moved before lunging out of the shadows and tackling one of the mechs, ripping its armor plating off to get at the innards. It was very disappointing she only found metal inside it. The beast craved meat. Her prey's head shot off on a plume of flame, surprising her before the second mech got her in a headlock, trying to squeeze the life from her.
Chloe roared before the spines on her back lit up with energy. The mech's lights flickered as lightning crackled through her spines, the mech falling back with a metallic groan. The wolf didn't even have time to celebrate its victory before the voice gave orders again, though this time it was orders it agreed with. All those tiny morsels below...and it had just told her to eat as many as she wanted...
Matt had to admit, Chloe had a good arm. It took him a while to fly back, just in time for her to short out the other mech. "Ion...tell me there's something of her in there," said Matt weakly.
"Fortunately, your sister isn't the first person to become a kaiju. Though the record shows a slower rate at recovering higher mental faculties," said Ion.
"Aw man..." muttered Matt before Ion said "Hold on...there's a high band digital signal coming from her."
"Hmm...let me guess, a control signal?" asked Matt.
"Most likely. I don't seem to be able to jam it though," said Ion in puzzlement.
"Can you trace it to the source?" asked Matt.
"Scanning...stand by...I've traced it to an abandoned block roughly one quarter kilometer east," said Ion
"Good, I'm sure that SHIELD can take care of Chloe while I deal with whoever's holding her leash," said Matt.
"Are you sure about that?" asked Ion with worry. Chloe had started swiping at the ground, and there was a lot more screaming than before.
"Chloe, no!" snapped Matt, snapping at Ion, "Jam that signal, any way you can."
"I can create some interference, but I think we need to find the source to break the connection," said Ion.
"Do it!" snapped Matt, Chloe pausing in her swiping, her eyes wide.
"Ah, crisis averted," said Matt with relief. Just then, blue fires lit up on Chloe's back. "Uh oh," said Matt as the fires started spreading across her form.
Matt pulled himself into a hover as Chloe's form was engulfed in the flames, her form seen straightening up onto two legs. "Erm...boss? Maybe you shouldn't be so close? BOSS!" snapped Ion shocking Matt out of his hypnotized stare.
"Ow, sorry, just got a feeling of de...ja...vu..." said Matt, trailing off when Chloe rose up higher. The black fur had been burned away, revealing golden scales. Her lupine features had been overwritten by saurian ones, ones that Matt had seen before.
"Oh no...Tokyo," muttered Matt, backwinging as the new slender saurian looked around angrily. "I hope they have a lot of experience with this," muttered Matt.
The new saurian looked down at the mech she'd stunned as a wolf, the mech powering back up before she stomped on its chest angrily.
Then Matt heard the sound of jet engines. The vtols were swooping back in, with missiles armed and locked. This time the kaiju didn't even flinch when the missiles hit, turning her head before, as if swatting flies, swinging her tail out to smash several of the vtols.
"Great, can't stop the signal if I have to stop Chloe," grumbled Matt before getting on his comm, "Hey, Spider-Man, you still tussling with Tusky?"
A second later, a missile slammed into his back. Matt recovered quickly before he hit the ground. "I'M ON THE PHONE!" he snapped.
A second missile knocked him down at that. "System error...attempting to reroute," yelped Ion before Matt hit the dirt, seeing Rh1n0 watching forward slowly.
"Ah...you have power armor, da? Zen nobody can be saying this vas unfair fight," he sneered, Matt trying to fire his weapon only for nothing to happen, and Rhino kicking him flying.
Matt winced as he skidded up the street. "This couldn't be a worse time," he snapped, "Don't you have anyone else to play with?"
"No, your friends are too soft-hearted. I lose them in confusion," sneered Rh1n0, aiming his arm cannon at Matt.
"Warning...at this range, the armor will not protect you," reminded Ion, the kaiju pausing in her rampage and slowly turning her head to look in their direction.
"I warn you, there will be people upset if I'm scrapped," said Matt.
"Like who?" sneered Rh1n0 before the sun was blotted out. Rh1n0 turned and looked up to see the saurian kaiju looking down at him with the expression someone would give an annoying bug.
"Would you believe that's my sister?" asked Matt. The kaiju snarled, lifting a foot up. "Scuse me, gotta go," said Matt quickly before activating his thrusters.
Rh1n0 managed a panicked yell before a size 200 kaiju foot landed on him, squishing him into an imprint in the tarmac. "Ow..." he rasped as the kaiju looked around before locking on with laser focus onto the fleeing Matt.
"Chloe, whatever particular insult you're mad about right now, I take it back!" yelped Matt as he flew.
Chloe didn't even roar, just following with a dark look.
MODOK glared, trying to get the signal back, the screen filled with Wakandan text. "Idiots..." he muttered, before looking over at an interface chair that had a panicking Lady Nega strapped in.
"Organisms, so unreliable, so unpredictable, they cannot be trusted unless completely controlled," snapped MODOK.
"You realize you're screwed, right?" sneered Lady Nega.
"I've yet to play my full hand," said MODOK.
"Oh? I think you're down to your last cards," smirked Lady Nega.
"I always save the best for last," said MODOK as he activated the interface chair.
Lady Nega looked confused before screaming as energy crackled round her head, turning it to where NegaMorph was. "Un...cle..." she managed.
"Cook for 45 minutes or until the edges brown," said NegaMorph.
"UNCLE?!" snapped Lady Nega before her eyes crossed and she began drooling.
"Download complete," said a female voice from the towering mech.
"Excellent. Now, it's time for a test drive," said MODOK.
"Confirmed...scanning systems...organic download optimal...error...two mental datacycles detected…" said the computer.
"Hmm...that is interesting," said MODOK.
"Should I purge the extra datacycle?" asked the mech computer.
"Store on a separate drive for later study," said MODOK, "I may wish to examine it later."
"Confirmed...downloading excess datacycle to secondary drive...alert...class 10 kaiju approaching this area..." said the mech.
"Really? There wasn't one on the radar earlier," said MODOK, "You turn your attention away for a few minutes..."
"Shall I activate weapons?" asked the mech.
"Proceed," said MODOK.
Now that Rh1n0 was out of the way, Matt could turn his attention to more important matters. Namely stopping his sister's rampage. "Hey, Spider-Man, you got a minute?" called Matt over his comm.
"Kinda busy with getting civilians out of the way right now," said Spider-Man, "You'd think these people would have a more organized response for kaiju attacks."
"They weren't in Tokyo the last time," muttered Matt before yelping and dodging a swipe from Chloe. "Ok, Ion says there's some sort of control signal causing this," he explained.
"Where from?" asked Spider-Man.
"It's from an abandoned warehouse-" Matt started.
"Located one quarter kilometer east," chimed in Peni, "I just picked it up too."
"Can you two handle that? At the moment I'm playing follow the leader with my sister. More she does that, the less people she pancakes like Rh1n0," said Matt, yelping as he avoided another swing.
"You sure you can handle her?" asked Spider-Man.
"No, I don't but I'm faster then her for now," said Matt, steering away from a building.
"Good luck with that," said Spider-Man.
"Thanks...but please hurry. I dunno how much longer I can keep her attention without firing at her," said Matt.
"I think she can take a few hits," said Peni.
"Yeah, but I won't when she recovers from this and remembers I shot at her," said Matt.
"I think you need to re-prioritize," said Spider-Man.
"Just hurry!" snapped Matt, before noticing Thunrai had lost interest. "Oh no you don't," he muttered, flying into her field of view. "Yoo hoo! Hey sis! Over here!" only to have to fly to the side as Thunrai ignored him, having decided the tiny flying metal mortal wasn't worth her time.
"Oh God help me..." muttered Matt before yelling "THAT KAIJU FORM MAKES YOUR BUTT LOOK BIG." Thunrai pausing and slowly turning to look back at him. "Also, you definitely outgrew your deodorant coverage!" called Matt.
Thunrai snorted before turning to leave. "Ok, she's a god monster at the moment. Usual insults won't work. What would upset the daughter of Godzilla?" Matt muttered before whimpering and calling "KONG COULD TAKE YOU IN A FIGHT."
This time the reaction was more interesting, Thunrai's spines crackling with energy as she turned to glare at the little bug that had just insulted her.
"Should I up the ante? No, better stick with her current level of wrath," muttered Matt.
Thunrai's reaction was to roar angrily and start lumbering towards Matt. "Oh shit," muttered Matt, spinning in the air. "AFTERBURNERS NOW!" screamed Matt.
"Engaging," said Ion before suddenly Matt shot forward at incredible speeds.
Matt yelped, noticing the building going at a blur before realizing he was quickly leaving the city itself. "STOOOOOOOOOP!" he screamed.
"Isn't it the idea to keep her from catching us?" asked Ion.
"Yes, but we can't completely escape her," said Matt, "If we get away, then she'll turn her attention back on the city."
On cue, a scanner view showed a large blob heading for the center. "I don't think that's a problem," said Ion, before the ground exploded. Thunrai proving that while she was a sedate walker, she burrowed like a rocket, as proven as she exploded out of the earth, mouth open in an attempt to chomp Matt out the air, who screamed and flew out the way just in time.
"Ok, keep flying!" yelled Matt. Thunrai snarled before loping after her. "SHITSHITSHITSHIIIIIT!" screamed Matt as she tried to catch up.
Meanwhile, Spider-Man and SP/dr were heading for the warehouse. "Assuming this is MODOK's work, what's the plan?" asked Spider-Man, "We're protected from his tech-control, but what else does he have?"
"Usually some robots protecting himself," said SP/dr.
"I got practice fighting robots," said Spider-Man, confidently.
Just then, SP/dr pinged something. "Hang on," said Peni, "SP/dr just detected an alien lifeform."
Spider-Man followed as SP/dr flew down towards a building that had its window smashed in, several groans heard from inside. "I think we can rule out 'hostile invader' here," said Spider-Man
The two peered in to see whatever had smashed in had collapsed some of the wall too, the groan coming from under some bricks, before some of the bricks began to move. SP/dr picked up the bricks and tossed them aside easily. "Does he look familiar to you?" she asked.
"Gary?" said Spider-Man in surprise, before webbing the clay brown-skinned gargoyle who groaned "This is not a good time." under his breath.
"Sorry, but can't really risk you going into 'guard dog' mode on me," said Spider-Man.
Gary glared at that. "No, Madame NegaMorph has crossed a line...and put Megan in danger..." he snarled, struggling against the webbing.
"Wait, you're disagreeing with her now?" asked Spider-Man, "I thought she had you under a goose."
"A geis," said Gary.
"Thought that didn't sound right," said Spider-Man.
"I could disagree at any time...but not to this extent. Her magic's fading the longer she's here," said Gary, one of the strands of webbing giving way with a snap.
"Uh-huh. That would be comforting, but how long will it last?" asked Spider-Man.
"She would need to recast it like after we defeated Mephisto...and I will not allow that this time," growled Gary, his eyes glowing white.
"Good to hear," said Spider-Man, "Let's not give her the opportunity. Where is she now?"
A crash got all three's attention, a large mech in yellow and black livery was rising from a nearby warehouse. "That is Megan," said Gary.
"That doesn't look like Megan's style," said Spider-Man.
"I doubt Megan has any word in the matter," said Gary.
"Oh no," said SP/dr, Gary turning to glare, the webbing finally giving way.
"You know what Monsieur MODOK did?" he snapped.
"I'm still catching up on things. I thought MODOK's powers were limited to technology," said Spider-Man.
"He designed a way to transfer organic minds like computer programs." said SP/dr.
Gary snapped, "Then we reverse it."
"Ok, so MODOK has both a kaiju and a giant mech under his control. What's he going to do with them?" asked Spider-Man.
"Easy," said SP/dr, "He'll make himself the hero."
"He intends to attempt to kill Chloe?" said Gary faintly, his skin going a little paler.
"Terrible idea on multiple fronts," said Spider-Man, "For starters, Chloe's not gonna just lie down and die, even under mind control."
"And if he somehow succeeds...the captain will flatten the city to get his claws on MODOK," said Gary weakly.
"Assuming there's anything left of the city after the first fight," said SP/dr.
"We have to stop...to stop her before she hurts anyone," said Gary, in a reluctant voice.
"Just one last thing: where's NegaMorph?" asked Spider-Man.
"I...assume he's with Megan," said Gary a bit uncertainly.
Gary paused, his hearing picking up what sounded like...a cooking show? He looked up to see a black blob descending at high speed before backing up before NegaMorph 'landed', gibbering "And if you follow those instructions, your souffle can't fail..."
"Uh, is there a way to change his channel?" asked Spider-Man.
Gary walked up to NegaMorph who had started describing how to make bread, hmming before bringing his fist down on NegaMorph's head, ramming it between his shoulders like a nail.
"Was that supposed to help or did you just need stress relief?" asked Spider-Man.
NegaMorph, in a muffled voice, groaned, "Thank you...he threw me out after I picked up an old rerun of Gordon Ramsey and called him an idiot sandwich."
"Ok, that's better. Now about the giant robot..." said Spider-Man.
"MODOK put my niece's brain in that thing. He's-" began NegaMorph, SP/dr finishing "Gonna make Chloe throw the fight so he can look good for the world."
"Chloe? Oh no, that's not her at the helm. Maybe when she was that wolf beast. But now she's Thunrai. And she doesn't take orders from floating heads," said NegaMorph.
"Thunrai?" asked Gary, before NegaMorph gave a brief explanation of what had happened in Tokyo while Gary and Megan had been on their cure hunt. Gary's eyes went to pinpricks as NegaMorph explained in detail the damage Thunrai had done the last time.
"So yeah, I don't think this is gonna be any easy fight for MODOK in any event," said NegaMorph, "In fact, the chance of him actually winning is around 1%, so we don't worry about Matt's reaction. Of course, that just means Thunrai's gonna demolish the city after she's tearing apart that robot to get to-"
Gary twitched before grabbing NegaMorph, shaking him and yelling "MEGAN'S STILL IN THAT MECH!"
"Oh...right. If Thunrai gets to that thing's processor..." said NegaMorph. His complexion couldn't really get pale, but his tone did. He activated his comm at that.
Matt was busy...mostly screaming. Thunrai seemed to have some form of the fabled breath, in the form of thick blasts of green lightning, before a lucky shot sent him into the trees below.
"I never thought our partnership would end so soon, Ion...with me as toe jam," gibbered Matt. Thunrai looked down darkly and raised a foot before she paused, turning her head back towards the city.
"Ok, gonna...catch my breath first..." panted Matt. Then he got a ping on the comm.
"Matt, you gotta stop Thunrai!" snapped NegaMorph.
"Give me...a minute..." panted Matt. "You don't get it. MODOK's gonna try to use her to make himself look like the hero and save the day," snapped NegaMorph.
"Trying not to hyperventilate...explain," gasped Matt.
NegaMorph screaming in one breath, "Megan's being used as an AI in a mech and your psycho kaiju sister's gonna snap the mech and therefore my niece in half and if you don't do something I'LL MAKE YOUR LIFE HELL!"
"Did you say MODOK's gonna try to slay Chloe?" asked Matt.
"Yeah, but we both know how likely that's gonna be," said NegaMorph, "MEGAN'S THE ONE IN DANGER!"
"So...you want me to keep her attention then..." said Matt weakly.
Ion sayid, "Surely there's a way...this planet fights these things all the time."
"True, but let's try to break it down first. How did she go kaiju in the first place? I'm pretty sure she doesn't know how to do it herself," said Matt.
"I detected foreign technology when we made a pass. It's feeding her some sort of radiation. The problem is we need to get close for a target lock. Too close and the anti-radiation shielding's offline," said Ion.
"Which means I'll be getting a taste of that too," said Matt grimly.
"A brief taste, one that will dissipate once it's offline. And I don't mean to sound selfish, but I'm more concerned about what your shapeshifting will do to me," said Ion.
"I get a low enough dose it won't come to that. But if it does, download to the ship's storage buffer," said Matt.
"What about the armor?" asked Ion.
"The ship's equipment storage buffer. Knowing Wakandan tech, you hacked the ship as soon as I put you on. Just get it to grab you and we can get you and the armor back later," snapped Matt, taking off. "But first..." he muttered before firing a hail of missiles into the back of Thunrai's head. "OI! SIS! I KNOW YOU UNDERSTAND ME, YOU BIG GALOOT!" he yelled over the suit's loudspeakers as Thunrai turned and actually paused at this little thing's audacity.
Matt could see several drones watching, news drones and one recon drone in yellow paint, probably from MODOK's mech, before he said, "Ok, Thunrai, you know me even if you're pretending. You coulda killed so many people back in Tokyo but you didn't…"
"Oh god, he's dead," whimpered NegaMorph, a view on a holo-jumbotron showing views of the tiny silvery power armor in front of the kaiju.
"You're not just some monster, you're a hero. Yeah, you smash buildings, but you don't smash people. And if you go fight that mech, a good friend's gonna get hurt," Matt continued, Thunrai's eyes narrowed as she leaned her head in close.
"What is he doing?" asked MODOK with annoyance.
The Megan AI said, "I believe he is attempting to talk the kaiju down."
"Please, you gotta stop. Some tech on you did this. Just let me get it off and this all ends peacefully as we tapdance on MODOK's fat head," said Matt.
"He dies first," said MODOK darkly.
"What do you say?" said Matt hopefully, Thunrai getting a thoughtful look, before in one rapid move, she spat her rad-lightning breath into Matt, before turning to continue heading for the mech.
Matt was still airborne, though now he was covered head to foot with soot. "Ok, sister or not, I'm kicking her ass," snapped Matt.
"I've lost all radiation shielding. You just took a serious dose," said Ion with worry.
"As in gamma radiation?" asked Matt. Green was not his best color.
"I don't recognize the bandwidth," said Ion with worry, adding, "But it matches hers."
Matt grumbled darkly, "Great…" before Ion snapped "LOOK OUT!"
SP/dr, Gary, Nega and Spider-Man winced as Matt was tail-whipped, before a second later a silvery blur smashed into the building Gary had been in.
"Ok, I don't think we can count on Matt to help us storm the castle right now. And by 'castle', I mean 'giant MODOK-piloted robot'," said Spider-Man.
NegaMorph shook his head. "My mouth mighta been tuned to the cooking channel but I wasn't. That mech's on remote. MODOK talked about some command center under his warehouse," he said.
"You mean that warehouse?" asked SP/dr, pointing.
"Yup...probably be pretty heavily defended." said Nega before a growl was heard from where Matt had landed.
"Hey, Peni?" asked Spider-Man.
"Yes?" asked Peni.
"Do you have a spider-sense too?" asked Spider-Man.
"Yep," said Peni.
"What's it saying?" asked Spider-Man.
"Keep your distance," said Peni.
"Yeah, just wanted a second opinion," said Spider-Man.
The rubble of the wall was shaking before a sea green, almost blue scaled arm punched out, what looked like a humanoid kaiju pulling his way out and glaring, eyes shining the same color as Thunrai.
"I got this one," said NegaMorph smugly, walking over. "Hey there!" he called cheerfully, the kaiju's snout whipping round, eyes narrowed.
Matt's form now resembled a certain iconic giant lizard. However, there were a couple of key differences. For starters, his limbs and torso were of a more human proportion. The spike plating extended to the top of his head which made up a kind of Aztecan headdress. His face was also the same as his dragon form, he had several spikes extending from his jaw. NegaMorph noted the armor had adapted perfectly, the glowing spines slitting neatly out the back and the arms, legs and head free.
He was also about a foot taller than his human form, something NegaMorph realized as the kaiju straightened up and looked down at him. "Hmm...you're looking good. Haven;t seen you since Tokyo," gulped NegaMorph as the kaiju's eyes narrowed.
"Nice armor, by the way. Very intuitive and adaptable, I see. You won't have to repair it all the time you change shape," said NegaMorph. The kaiju just glared at NegaMorph, small talk wasn't really pandering to him. "Aaaanywho...you wanna find the guy who set Thunrai on you?" asked NegaMorph. The kaiju lifted his head to look at where Thunrai was re-entering the city before snorting, turning to leave and sadly sending NegaMorph flying into the wall.
"Wait!" called Gary, the kaiju pausing and turning back, eyes narrowed and a faint growl heard. "That machine, you know what it will do," Gary snapped, pointing at the mech heading for Thunrai. "It will kill her and you know it. But we know where the one responcible i-urk" began Gary, before the kaiju grabbed him by the neck, lifting him up to head height and saying in a soft but guttural voice, one simple word "Wherrrrre?"
SP/dr detected the control signal for both the mech and Thunrai's control disk before tracing it back to the particular warehouse. "Under there," she said, pointing at the warehouse and projecting a target on it.
The kaiju glared over at the spidermech, snarling "Traaap." throwing Gary aside and taking a step towards SP/dr.
"It's not a trap. If you get down there, you can shut down that mech and free your sister in one blow," said NegaMorph, "We don't even have anything to trap you with."
The kaiju glared at NegaMorph before starting to walk towards the warehouse. "MODOK will still have a lot of robots guarding his person," said SP/dr.
"Who cares? We have a Hulk now. Well, the next best thing to one," said NegaMorph. There was a pause before NegaMorph asked, "You do have a Hulk in this universe, right?"
MODOK sent several command programs to his mech, a targeting reticule over the incoming kaiju. The chip signal confirmed it was the same one that he had sent in. That said his mech's giga cannon would easily neutralize it. Even if she wasn't responding to the chip anymore, it could throw off her concentration.
He gave the order to fire only for the command to be denied. "You cannot defy me," growled MODOK.
The holographic image of Megan appeared before him. "Yes I can, egghead," she snapped.
"Hmm...fascinating...a secondary personality," said MODOK calmly, trying to reroute the commands.
Then Lady NegaMorph's hologram appeared and said, "I don't really care what happens to Chloe, but I don't like being used as a game controller."
"I am trying to orchestrate a heroic moment!" snapped MODOK.
"You..." snapped Megan, her hologram stomping over to Lady NegaMorph before punching her on the nose.
Lady NegaMorph staggered back, clutching her face. "I did not expect to feel that," she said nasally.
"Guess it's because we're both holograms," said Megan, "And as such..." She grabbed a handful of Lady Nega's head tendrils and pulled.
MODOK glared, pressing a button and both holograms flickering, clutching their heads. "As interesting as this is, you are little more than annoying viruses at the moment," he said coldly, "And right now, I only require one of you to be piloting the mech,"
"And what makes you think we'd do that for you?" snapped Lady Nega.
MODOK gave a cold smirk and said, "Because your lives literally depend on it. If the mech is destroyed, its processor will go offline and take you with it. And if it isn't incentive enough, the mech is also connected to your flesh body's life support."
"You're joking," said Megan in horror.
MODOK said calmly, "No, I never joke. It's not in my programming."
"I'm beginning to see why you were kept offline," said Lady Nega, "You're almost as bad as Ultron."
"The computer virus? Hardly a threat," sneered MODOK, looking at each hologram.
"For your sake, I hope he never gets interdimensional transportation," said Megan.
"Your prattle is becoming too distracting," said MODOK, "And I have a kaiju to slay. So which of you shall be fighting for your lives?"
"The choice is obvious. If it will get me my freedom, I'll happily put that beast down," sneered Lady NegaMorph, MODOK nodding before pressing a button, Megan vanishing.
There was a long pause before Lady NegaMorph asked, "So, are you going to send me in or what?"
"Where did you think I sent the other one?" asked MODOK.
"Into storage?" guessed Lady Nega.
"No, kaiju thrive on aggressiveness. You would have simply been another statistic. Your other is far better equipped. You however, will be interesting to dissect electronically. Maybe as an AI for an assassin bot," sneered MODOK before the room shook, a dull 'boom' heard.
"If you're so smart, why are you having your giant monster fight right above you?" sneered Lady Nega.
"Impossible. They are positioned in another part of the city. The mech is programmed to keep the fight away from here," said MODOK.
A drone hovered up. "The main blast door has been breached. The SP/dr has been detected on the premises. Several other possible metas have been detected and a Class 14 lifeform is attacking first responders," it said calmly.
"Is your hard drive fragged? The class system is reserved for kaiju and not one of them is lowly enough to rate a Class 14," snapped MODOK.
A holo-screen activated at that, showing several tank bots firing at something before what could only be a humanoid kaiju charged into view, running at them, the blasts bouncing off before he began ripping them apart. "Class 14 detected...possible class one progenitor," said the drone with a hint of smugness before the camera zoomed to the side to see SP/dr, the black blob and feather winged mutant seen and what looked to be someone dressed in a Spider-Man costume before the line went to static.
"I knew I should have gotten a more secluded base," grumbled MODOK.
"Gary's coming to tear you apart. I might be able to call him off if you put just me back in my body. You can keep that goody two-shoe other," sneered Lady NegaMorph.
"I am not afraid of some primitive would-be hero," said MODOK, "My robots can deal with them easily."
"I'm not a hero and neither is my uncle or my deal lackey," sneered Lady Negaorph.
MODOK glaring and pressing a button, a side hatch opening. The hatch opened to reveal a large mech. In appearance, it was essentially a scaled-down version of the one currently engaged with Thunrai. The main difference was that this mech had no head. MODOK hovered up, his head plugging into the mech which began to animate. "I should have done this the first time," he said coldly.
Megan, meanwhile, was more than a little concerned. Her view had shifted to what looked like a miniature toy city...till she realized she could see movement at her feet and noticed a streamlined mechanical hand with a blaster at the wrist and the glow of a repulsor cannon in its palm.
"Ok, this would be really cool if this has been voluntary at all," said Megan. Then she heard a loud roar. "Oh yeah, and I'm about to fight Chloe who's in the form of a tyrannosaurus with a toothache," added Megan.
A calm female voice said, "Alert...Class 2 kaiju in range...arming offensive weapon systems." before her vision zoomed in a yellow line sliding across her vision to cut through the smoke to reveal a glowing red image of the kaiju.
"I don't suppose there's any point in trying to talk her down, is there?" asked Megan. A blast of green lightning shot out and into her chest at that, Megan yelling as she felt like someone had punched her in the gut.
"Warning...static shields down to 74%," said the voice.
"I can feel it?" asked Megan with worry.
"Key phrase detected. Playing appropriate recording," said the female voice.
"If you can hear this, then the pain sensors in the mech have been triggered. Call it an incentive. This kaiju will destroy you. You had better destroy it first," sneered MODOK's voice.
Megan glared before raising her other arm on reflex as another blast shot at her, a translucent energy kite shield sprouting to deflect the blast. "Ok, that's impressive. Why couldn't he have just made mechs to defend the city from real kaiju threats?" muttered Megan.
The smoke cleared as a rather Godzilla-eske roar deafened the city, blowing out several blocks worth of windows nearby, before Thunrai marched into view, her eyes narrowed.
"Why couldn't I just be fighting Chloe? I can handle an oversized werewolf with lightning powers," said Megan. Just then, Thunrai sent a lightning bolt at Megan's mech.
Megan yelped, ducking behind her shield again, just in time. "Never mind," gulped Megan before something made her look behind her and down a little, following Thunrai's gaze to several police transports being used as evacuation ships. It didn't take much to guess what the kaiju had in mind as her spines began to glow. "NO!" yelled Megan, boosters on her back shooting her forward and shoulder bashing Thunrai off her feet, the blast going harmlessly into the air...well...mostly harmlessly.
Thunrai turned and snarled at Megan. "Humans are off the menu today," said Megan before punching the kaiju in the jaw. The kaiju roared as a tooth came flying out.
Victor groaned, coming too and checking his readouts. That damn lizard had crashed half his systems and half his weapons were down...but he'd faced worse. He'd find that punk from the bar or may he be skewered where he stoo-
His vow was interrupted as a tooth like a tree trunk embedded itself in the tarmac right where he'd been a second go. "Ok...Victor give pass," said Victor in a small voice.
Thunrai snarled, glaring and rolling her shoulder before charging Megan, who aimed her wrist cannon, a hail of blue bolts shooting into Thunrai, several small explosions erupting. It didn't seem to leave much marks but Thunrai screeched, rearing back. "At least MODOK didn't arm me with blanks," said Megan.
A second later, Thunrai had tackled her, clawing at her chest plate with angry roars. "Ow, ow, that pain simulator's a little too accurate!" snapped Megan.
Thunrai glared, raising both her fists, before Megan raised her palm on reflex and repulsered the kaiju in the face, Thunrai gripping her face with a screech. "Warning, do not damage the control chip," warned the VI.
"Good to know. Where is it located?" asked Megan.
A small dot went over a small spot on the flailing kaiju's neck, Megan taking aim, only to struggle to fire. "Warning...destroying the chip is against Master MODOK's command," said the VI.
"It would be the most efficient way to stop her, wouldn't it?" asked Megan.
There was a pause before the VI said, "Your logic is infallible...releasing weapon safety." before Thunrai spoiled the moment by grabbing Megan's shield arm and tearing it off.
MODOK didn't include external speakers for the mech, so no one could hear Megan's scream of pain except for her. "WHY WOULD HE LET ME FEEL THAT?!" she screamed.
"Pain receptor system failing..." said the VI, the pain easing off just in time for Thunrai to blast her point blank, the force from such close range sending her flying into an empty building. "Warning...power grid at 54%. 64% of weapon systems compromised...auxiliary power at 82%..." said the VI.
"I can't die like this, I can't die like this, I can't die like this!" gibbered Megan in panic. She lifted the mech's head to see Thunrai stomping towards her almost disdainfully, the target lock still on the chip, Megan lifting her other arm. "I'm not dying like this!" she snapped, firing, the bolt flying straight and true into Thunrai's throat, the kaiju staggering back, more in surprise before looking at the mech with surprised eyes.
For Thunrai, that annoying voice that had forced her to make such obvious mistakes in the fight that had gotten her hurt was finally silenced...and her opponent had stopped it. An unfamiliar rush of empathy hit her. She...started to recall something.
The machine was down and it had helped her...plus she had someone to deal with first.
MODOK frowned as he watched his mech be disabled, and shoot out the control chip. It was time to leave. If this was anything like other kaijus, it was already on its way. But first...
"I think it's best if we split up," said Spider-Man, "Me and Peni will take on MODOK. You two find where they're keeping Megan's body."
On cue, the door to the control room exploded inwards, MODOK's voice saying "I do not believe I requested your presence."
"Too bad. You should have kept your deal," snapped Gary.
"Really? She asked for a mecha...I gave it to her," said MODOK's voice, two glowing eye lights in the smoke.
"Tell me she wasn't vague on the details or essentially gave him a blank check," said NegaMorph with chagrin.
"Maybe a little," said Gary carefully.
NegaMorph slapped his forehead and snapped, "I thought I taught her better than that!"
"How much did you actually teach her?" asked SP/dr.
"Enough...guess it didn't pass onto Lady NegaMorph," muttered NegaMorph, before he said, "Ok...let's beat up the flying potato." stomping towards the smoke before a mechanical hand grabbed his head and squished it. "Ow," he rasped through the hand mouth.
"How about we beat up the flying potato and you go save the damsel in distress?" suggested Spider-Man.
"I am not a potato, human," said MODOK coldly, stepping into view, shoulder cannons taking aim.
"Oh, so he does have a body," said Gary a little weakly.
"I had to offset certain disadvantages," said MODOK calmly, before opening fire, the group scattering under a hail of energy blasts.
"This may require a more concentrated effort than I thought," said Spider-Man. His spider sense went nuts at that as MODOK shot a hail of missiles, before SP/dr tackled the mechanical supervillain, damaging the launcher.
"You bring a mech to fight me?" sneered MODOK as a tentacle extended from his head to plug into SP/dr. However, as soon as he connected, a charge of electricity fried the connection. "Impressive...but irrelevant," MODOK said calmly, trying to bring his blaster to bear.
Several webshots immediately covered the end of the blaster. "Careful, wouldn't want some not-so-friendly fire," said Spider-Man. Gary was next, landing to perch on MODOK's shoulders before tearing one of the shoulder cannons off with a growl.
"Get off me, you savage brute!" snapped MODOK.
"Oh, am I savage just because I don't rely on technology?" snapped Gary before whacking MODOK with the removed cannon.
"Of course," said MODOK darkly, before swiping Gary flying, only for several fangs to sever the pneumatic connections in his arm.
"I'm in a bad mood. You did who knows what to my niece, shot me in the head so hard I sounded like a cooking show for an hour, squashed my head, and turned my best friend into a 30 foot tall killer reptile," NegaMorph snarled, advancing darkly, the shadows lengthening around them and lights he passed under popping.
"She looked bigger than that," mused Gary.
"On a rant here!" snapped NegaMorph.
"An attempt to intimidate me. Interesting but futile," said MODOK calmly, aiming his arm only for a shadow to leap up and through his shoulder, the arm falling off, sparking, sliced as neatly as if a laser had done it.
"Oh, I haven't even started yet," snarled NegaMorph.
Gary said weakly, "Let's give him space. Just trust me on this."
"Should we look for Megan now?" asked Spider-Man.
"I think so." gulped Gary, as NegaMorph took one of MODOKs legs by simply opening a shadow portal and closing it at knee height.
"If you don't put Megan's mind back, I'm going to see exactly how many parts you're made of," NegaMorph said darkly.
"The right mind back," added Gary.
"There is only one mind in my possession," said MODOK.
"Yeah, so abracadabra it back to where it belongs," snarled NegaMorph.
MODOK paused before saying calmly, "Logic dictates I comply." A small data card slid out of the side of his head.
"Spider-Man, please grab that. My hands are a bit full right now," said NegaMorph.
Spider-Man paused, his spider-sense supplying several reasons to not get closer, before carefully taking the card, before MODOK looked at NegaMorph and a hidden laser fired into NegaMorph's face.
"Right now, we're looking at high winds with a 80% chance of thunderstorms," gibbered NegaMorph.
MODOK took off, firing a beam across the roof to block the other heroes before making a beeline for the exit. He would rebuild as he always had, then he would work out who this new spider was and delete him. His thoughts were derailed as he turned the corner to see one of his combat mechs roll into view, another bot dragging itself away.
MODOK paused at that. "Has SHIELD already found this place?" asked MODOK. Just then, Matt, who had returned to human form, walked around another corner and said, "So that's where you got off to." He went over and grabbed the crawling bot and started pulling it away. Matt looked up at MODOK and said, "Don't go anywhere, I'll be right with you shortly."
MODOK raised an eyebrow. "If I had time to dissect him..." he muttered, before continuing before there was a tearing noise above him. MODOK looked up to see a pair of claws through the concrete roof before it was effortlessly torn up. The kaiju looked down darkly before tossing the roof aside, Matt coming into view. "Thanks sis," he called up, the kaiju raising an eyebrow before rolling its eyes...her brother's host was always so annoying.
"So...wanna run? Bet my sis can drop kick you into the Hudson from here," said Matt cheerfully, aiming a repulsor.
"This...does not...compute..." said MODOK, twitching a bit.
"Yeah...Thunrai's excitable...bet she wants to see how flat she can make you." said Matt, grinning. Thunrai made a growling sound. "She also says she's on a timer, so she'd like to get started now," said Matt before pausing, "How did I know that?"
MODOK looked between them. Which would be worse? He immediately tried to hover for it. He made it a while 5 yards before Thunrai got him...
"Uploading psionic patterns," said the medi-comp, Nega, Gary and the Spiders watching. The crashes they'd heard had convinced them that MODOK was taken care of for the meantime.
At least MODOK's suspended animation pods weren't hard to find. NegaMorph had to admit they were pretty state of the art. They weren't simply cryopods, they seemed to freeze the subjects completely in time. "Warning...51,4% of original file missing...proceed?" said the computer.
"Why is there a majority missing?" asked SP/dr with concern.
"Adequate mental data remaining...proceed?" asked the computer again.
"Proceed," said NegaMorph.
"But shouldn't we-" Gary started.
"I said proceed!" snapped NegaMorph.
"Upload complete...administering adrenaline," said the computer, Megan's body stirring.
"Shouldn't we be concerned that more than half of her mind is missing?" asked Spider-Man.
"Gary? Uncle?" groaned Megan, pushing herself up dizzily.
"At least the important stuff is still in there," said NegaMorph.
Megan sighed. "It was horrible. I couldn't do anything to stop her," she said sadly.
Gary's eyes narrowed. "It's not her," he said coldly.
"Wait, how would you-" started Spider-Man before a sudden flare of shadow sprung up in the form of fists, punching everyone back.
"Very clever, Gary," said Lady Nega smugly as she got out of the pod, "What gave me away?"
"The eyes, they were cold...too cold," winced Gary, struggling to get up, before shadows forced everyone to stay down.
"You're too unpredictable. I have no idea what Megan saw in you," sneered Lady NegaMorph, opening a shadow portal, albeit one that was wobbling. "This time I'm going solo, now that the brat's lost in cyberspace. That kaiju of a sister probably ripped her apart," she taunted. She stepped partially through the portal before saying, "Oh, Gary, it's been fun, but you've just been holding me back too much. If I ever see you again, I'll turn you to gravel."
NegaMorph managed to fire a small dot into the back of her shirt as she left, the portal closing just as Matt rushed in.
"Sorry, I just couldn't look away. It was like a glorious car wreck. Where's Lady NegaMorph?" asked Matt before noticing Gary's expression. "Aw man..."
Chloe was not in a good mood for several reasons. Number one was that Lady NegaMorph had escaped...again and had left poor Gary a mess. Number two was that she'd been turned into Thunrai...again. That form was...intoxicating and would be fun except for the disdain for all the squishy toe-sized humans the kaiju felt. And number three was said transformation had wrecked her suit. Luckily, Matt had found an old coat in MODOK's base.
As for MODOK, he was alive...mostly, though needed some serious panel beating before he was in any state to cause trouble again. The added bonus was that Thunrai's appearence had caused, according to Brand, several threatening kaijus off the coast to back up at least a hundred miles from the city.
But the most pressing concern was that Megan's mind was in the mech that Thunrai had trashed. Currently, SHIELD was examining the mech's processor for her brain patterns.
"Hey, sis...you ok?" asked Matt, coming in.
Chloe snapped "I'm fine." her eyes glowing blue for a second, some scales forming just for a second before they and the glow vanished. "Urgh, I hate that kaiju thing. Did the techs find anything?" she asked.
"No, I asked if you're ok. You got turned into that EVO thing again. You've been through the sort of genetic treatment I usually get and I know how that can scramble the gray matter. So I ask again...how...are...you?" said Matt sternly.
"Honestly...I'm starting to worry what I am now," said Chloe, "My DNA's probably even more messed up than yours by this point. I've been a dragon, a genetic experiment, a pterosaur, a raptor, a werewolf, an elemental, a kaiju, and every variation in between. Is there really anything human left of me at all?"
Matt sighed, giving her a hug. "Hey...I could tell you a few stories. We're still us. Who cares what our DNA says?" he said cheerfully.
Chloe rolled her eyes before smiling and returning the hug till a knock was heard, the two looking over to see a SWORD tech. "Brand wants to see you at your ship. We found your friend," he said sternly.
Matt and Chloe gave sighs of relief. "Had us worried for a while," said Matt, "Where was she?"
"Brand told me to bring you two to the ship. She wants two half-kaiju off world as soon as possible," said the tech.
Matt and Chloe both put two and two together to who talked and said in unison, "I'll kill Nega."
"Ok, we're at the ship. Where's Megan?" snapped Matt.
Megan's voice said, "I'm right here...I think," from behind Matt.
Everyone spun around to just see the ship, Gary grumbling "Oh merde."
"Uh, Megan? Where exactly are you?" asked Matt.
"I'm in the ship," said Megan's voice.
"Ok, but where in it? The cockpit, the galley?" asked Matt.
"No, I'm IN the ship. When was this computer last updated?" said Megan in a tired voice.
Matt's eye started to twitch as he said, "No...No...where are the hidden cameras? This is a joke, right?"
Chloe sighed before thumping Matt. "How exactly did she get from the mech's computer to the ship's?" she asked.
Matt crumpled, gibbering as Megan said, "I dunno. I panicked and thought about somewhere safe. Then suddenly I was in some room full of screens with some sort of VI greeting me."
"At least she's safe, right?" asked Gary.
"Asides from the fact that she has no body to return to," said NegaMorph.
Megan sighed, "This sucks." before she paused, saying, "What do you mean 'a spare'?" apparently talking to someone else.
"And we have no idea where Lady NegaMorph has gone," said Gary sadly.
"Au contraire," said NegaMorph, "She didn't slip away as seamlessly as she thought."
Chloe glared before saying, "What did you do?"
NegaMorph grinned, "I slipped a tracker on her as she left. She can run but she can't hide. Plus she'll be going slow. Even the best ship needs more than one person."
"And considering how low in magic this world is, I'm betting she'll be heading to a world that's brimming with it," said Spider-Man.
"We know where she's going? EVERYONE ON BOARD NOW!" yelled Megan, the ship's engines powering up, before Megan continued "I want my body back before she does something dumb with it."
"Cool your thrusters," said Chloe, "We need to do a bit of repair work first."
"Fuck...that...GET ON THE SHIP NOW!" snapped Megan, several defense guns folding out before she paused apparently listening to her assistant VI before she said weakly, "You are so mean to this ship," the engines powering down.
"Hey, I take care of my ship!" snapped Matt.
"Which is why maintenance hasn't kept up for months?" asked Megan.
"We've been busy," said Matt pathetically.
Megan said, "If I'm still a computer when we get back to the Bladestorm, I'm talking to Aria about starting an AI union."
"Talk with Chip, he's been setting one up for his Constructicons," said NegaMorph.
"Fine, I wanna get some flight hours with this armor before we go anyway," said Matt.
"I better make sure his suit's running properly," said Peni.
"And I...I need some time." said Gary with a sigh, remembering Lady NegaMorph's words...was this it?
"There's just one thing," said Chloe, "I think I remember Thunrai sending one blast off into the sky. Did it hit anything?"
"There might be enough of the wormhole open for it to go through," said NegaMorph, "Not necessarily back to where we last were. Who knows where it'll end up or when?"
The Hunting Grounds...
Bah'feliz was pretty annoyed with how her father was treating her. She tried to conquer a mortal realm in his name. What was wrong with that? It's not like he hadn't tried.
"Stupid father. 'It's dishonorable to cast a spell like that.' Just cause I thought if it before him, the stag-antlered git," she muttered to herself, before pausing, looking up to see a portal opening.
"Oooh...a new soul...first dibs," she said evilly, before a redwood-thick bolt of green lightning shot out, heading for her. "Aw...shit," she muttered, the blast hitting her and flattening trees for feet around.
"Well...least it can't get worse," Bah'feliz muttered before there was a faint 'bzz' and her fur fluffed out, making her look like a ball of fluff with eyes. "I gotta learn when to shut up," she muttered gloomily.
There's another chapter. In sharp contrast to the last chapter, this one takes place in the futuristic world of Peni Parker and her SP/dr mech, specifically the one that appeared in 'Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse'. I expanded on that world a bit, including adding mech versions of MODOK and the Rhino. The latter is largely based off the version that briefly appeared at the end of 'The Amazing Spider-Man 2'. And now Matt's got properly working armor and an AI that can help him use it.
The next few chapters are going to a short arc, but one that's very appropriate for the season. Keep an eye out for them and please review.
