Maximum Carnage Issue 19: Vegas Showdown by Justin Anderson
11:13 PM They heard the screaming in the hall on their way to the room. Kicking the door in, they found a woman, struggling to get away. Away from what, they didn't know. They couldn't see anything. Jack spotted someone outside the window. It was the same one he'd seen earlier. Taking quick aim, he fired the twelve-gauge. He'd hit something. The glass shattered, yes, but he knew a few of the pellets had hit flesh. The woman had stopped screaming. Her invisible assailant had vanished. "Come on, we'd better go find him!" Jack said, running from the room. Cletus followed. "Jack... was she wearing anything?" "How the fuck should I know?" They ran through the halls, ignoring those who came out of their apartments to investigate the noise. "I feel a bit light headed," Cletus said. "What was that pill you gave me?" "Never mind," Jack shouted. They ran to their room. Someone was waiting on them. Two men, same light blue skin. One was clutching his shoulder. "You two... no. Something's wrong, I can't tap into their minds!" one of them shouted. The other gave a cold stare. "Then we shall leave!" They floated out the balcony door. Both men fired, but the two were well out of sight. 11:21 PM They'd left the hotel before anyone could ask about the commotion. Driving along the strip, they spotted the two floating above the city. But they were moving slowly, hovering low. They were injured and starving. But the traffic only made things worse for the hunt. Jack could barely keep up with them, let alone make a decent pace with the traffic and late night gambling crowds. He blew past traffic by cutting into the opposite lane. He was damned if he was going to lose them. Not now. He followed them straight into the desert. No lights. Perfect, considering the two hated light, and Vegas certainly had enough of them. Slamming the brakes, the car stopped in a skid in the sand and dust. Jack exited the driver's side, grabbing as many weapons as he could. "They're out there," he said. "And they aren't going back to that city!" Thursday, April 25th, 2002. 11:27 PM. Las Vegas Jack knew they were somewhere out there. The stretch of dust that passed as a desert on the outskirts of Las Vegas, no lights whatsoever. They'd have to go on foot. Driving in this stuff at night would prove rather difficult. Jack exited the vehicle, switching on his flashlight. He found them in the trunk- two pairs of night vision goggles. 'Glad I grabbed these,' he thought. He tossed the second pair to Cletus, slipping his own on. "We'll be able to see anything that moves. Let's just hope these two aren't too smart." Cletus switched his pair on, commenting, "bet they can see in the dark." They could see fairly well, if only in a sort of greenish haze. Cletus just hoped they didn't end up shooting each other. 11:31 PM Jack spotted them floating above. Several shotgun bursts caused them to scatter. Hard to tell if he'd hit them, but he had their attention. He chased them with pistol fire, but they moved quick. Cletus ran after one, firing like mad. His target fell, but hung in the air, low. He'd hit it. His target managed to flee, but the blood hitting the ground was a sure sign he'd done some damage. Jack fired, hitting the same target. A massive lump hit the ground. He watched the skies. The other had already left. They examined the body. Barely breathing, Jack finished him quickly. "That's one down," he said. Cletus looked for the other, but found nothing. Nearby, out of view, Terror hovered. They had killed his brother. Survival would be much harder now. Feeding on the electrical impulses of the human brain would require more effort. He really didn't care that his brother was dead. He was far too selfish. 11:38 PM He was leading them around. Terror would hover above their heads, dodging their fire. All he had to do was lure them far enough away from the car, and fly straight for the city. They would never catch him. It was a shame his vision at night was so poor, but he had no trouble finding them. Their gunfire told him what he needed to know. 11:44 PM Cletus didn't know of course, but the Triazomine pill he'd been given was wearing off. Terror knew this. He could feel the man's mind suddenly open. He read the man's deepest memories. Sorting through them, he chose one. Cletus barely dodged the Scorpion's tail. "You fucker!" he shouted, firing at nothing. He was locked in battle with his imagination. The Scorpion was gone. Carnage jumped out of the shadows, swinging his blades. Carnage laughed at him, mocking him. He kept firing, the shots hitting nothing. "What the HELL is wrong with you?" Jack screamed. Cletus dropped the gun, realizing nothing had been attacking him. "The other one's not far." He had just become useless. The thing could tap into his mind, make him hallucinate. He could be firing at his target, or nothing at all. But why didn't Jack suffer the same hallucinations? "Come on," Jack said, "I've had enough of this." 11:53 PM Terror examined the car. His assailants hadn't fired at him for some time. He'd lost them. But simply stalling them by leading them away wasn't going to be sufficient. If they no longer had a car, they would never even make it to the city before he'd drained everyone in it. Checking the front seat, he found no keys. He popped the trunk. If they had explosives, they may be useful. He was shot the second he opened the hatch. Blood poured from the wound in his shoulder. Jack climbed out, ready to fire again. Terror, running on pure adrenaline, flew into the air. This was not going to end so easily. He tried to dodge the hail of bullets. One had caught his left foot. He was dropping slowly. Using what strength remained, he headed for Vegas. Tapping into Cletus's mind, he blanked himself from the sky. But Jack could still see him. 11:56 PM Terror touched down on the pavement. He was losing too much blood. He hadn't fed on brain impulses. He was starving to death and bleeding to death. If not for the horrible sounds roaring in his ears, he may have heard the car approach. He couldn't see it, of course. The headlights were off. In seconds, he fell over, dead. The gunfire had seen to that. "What now?" Cletus asked. "Well," Jack replied, "we could wheel back into town and check into another hotel. But... I'd rather just go home!" He sped away, stripping off his goggles and turning on the headlights. He'd let the government clean this one up. They'd certainly done a poor job keeping it on order. Notes: Basically set in the Marvel Universe, I will be using a lot of my own continuity for this series, and generally focus on the main characters. Appearances by Marvel's universe will be special occurrences. Crossovers with characters/titles from other companies will be treated as "single universe", not as "2 universes crossing temporarily". I will also try to ignore major Marvel comic story arcs. Cletus Kasady, Carnage, and other Marvel characters are copyright Marvel Entertainment Group, Inc. Other characters are either my creation(copyright myself), or copyright their specific owners if non-Marvel licensed characters. Characters used without permission/not for profit. These are strictly fan stories. Permission to reprint extends to placing this text, unaltered, elsewhere online. It may not be altered, and especially NOT TO BE SOLD, unless Marvel wishes to license this series from me.