ULTIMATE MELEE
CHAPTER 9

When Peter had first learned how to sling across the city with his webs, it had almost come as a natural instinct to him. His ability to jump high and his enhanced reflexes gave him an advantage in keeping his cool up there.

Now, however, it felt like he was learning how to do it all over again. And with no powers, he felt like he was going to die flying in between buildings with nothing supporting him but his web. He dared not hit a wall.

He had just escaped Erasmus and the cult that had kept him against his will, and now the question arose: Where should he go?

Peter thought about the Ultimates. Surely they had no way of knowing that he was here, and the Xavier Institute was too far away, especially while he was web-slinging under dangerous circumstances such as these.

Then he suddenly remembered what had to be done.

Peter carefully began lowering towards the streets, and looking from below, people watched as the hero they knew as Spider-Man violently dropped down on to the ground, and tripped as he landed.

"Whoa…what the hell was that?"

Peter looked over at the teenage boy who said that, and he was shocked in disbelief at who it was.

The last person he expected to see today.

Kong.

"Yo, Spidey, something wrong with your landing?" Kong, who had always admired Spider-Man, asked.

Peter didn't quite know what to say except, "Hey, um, do you have any spare change?"

Seeming thrilled at the idea, Kong immediately reached into his pockets and pulled out half a handful of dimes, nickels, and quarters.

Other people who had also seen Peter had taken out camera phones and other devices to create evidence that they had met Spider-Man. Several teenage girls came over and asked him for his autograph.

This flattered Peter. After the bad criticism he had been getting lately, it was nice to know that he still had admirers.

"Here you go, dude," Kong said, putting the large amount of coins in Peter's hand. It was definitely more than he needed.

"Uh, yeah…I'm just going to make a phone call, so I don't need all of this," Peter told Kong.

"Doesn't matter, man, keep it all," Kong said, happy to have given his hero some help.

"Thanks," Peter said, and he began walking away until he spotted the nearest phone booth and went into it.

Making sure the people around him weren't watching too closely, Peter quickly dialed the number of the Parker residence.

Gwen was the one to answer. "Hello?" she said.

"Gwen, it's me, Peter-"

"Dude! Where the hell have you been?!"

"It's a long story. Listen, I can't talk long, so I just want you to tell Aunt May that I'm not going to be coming back soon. Just tell her…tell her not to expect me for the rest of the day."

Gwen seemed dumbfounded. "What kind of excuse am I supposed to make?"

"I don't care!" Peter said impatiently. "Tell her I'm at the library or something!" And before Gwen could respond, Peter quickly added, "I can't talk right now. I really gotta go." He then hung up.

Peter banged his head against the phone booth's wall. This was bad. Really bad.

Suddenly, Peter looked up into the sky and saw Thor, one of the two Ultimates he hadn't met up with these last 12 hours, fly by at an alarmingly quick speed.

"Thank God," Peter said, rushing out of the phone booth.

"Hey, Thor!" Peter yelled quickly, hoping to catch the thunder god's attention.

But Thor took no notice of Peter or anyone else who happened to be yelling his name in the crowded streets below him.

However, Peter did manage to catch someone's attention.

"Oh, $#&," Peter whispered, as he watched three of the purple-robed men coming towards him. Flying towards him, in fact.

They had found him.

"Pym was right," Hawkeye confirmed. "Thor's just shown up on the radar. His course is going to collide with ours in a few minutes."

"Something doesn't feel right about this," Logan suspected. "Fury said that he couldn't contact Thor even after he had entered the U.S. And now Thor just knows where to find us right away, especially on a plane with a cloaking device thingie?"

Several of the Ultimates and the X-Men were now aboard the jet. Xavier and Fury had agreed that it was probably best not to send everyone to the Fisk Towers, and keep most of the X-Men at the mansion, send several of the Ultimates back to the Triskelion along with Banner, and have the rest go on the mission.

The team that was now aboard the jet consisted of Captain America, Hawkeye, Logan, Cyclops, Colossus, and Storm, with Iron Man flying alongside them outside the jet.

"Well, Logan," Captain America began explaining. "While most of S.H.I.E.L.D. believes Thor is nothing more than a former mental patient under the belief that he is a god, we are all convinced that he definitely has some kind of special ability; something concerning reading others' minds. This may explain how he knows our exact location."

But Logan was not convinced. "You think there's any chance that-"

"Whoa," Hawkeye interrupted.

Everybody turned to look at him.

"I'm looking at the radar right now and it looks like Thor has just dramatically accelerated his speed," Hawkeye said. "Almost as if he's getting ready to ram into us…"

"Then it might just be possible…" Cyclops predicted. "Thor could be under the influence of one of those phone calls."

"Tony, are you listening to this?" Hawkeye addressed to the plane's radio.

"Yeah," Tony replied from outside the jet. "I'll fly ahead a little. If Thor really is going to attack us, I'll distract him long enough for you guys to get away from him."

"You can't do that!" Captain America criticized, sitting down in the chair next to Hawkeye's. "If he's attacking us, then we're all going to fight back!"

"Thor is not the main priority here, Steve," said Tony. "Your job is to rescue the three little minors. If there's any danger, let me deal with Thor."

"Negative, Tony!" Cap exclaimed. "I am not going to go along with this!"

"Neither am I," Storm, who was walking towards one of the jet's exit doors, said. "You'll need someone who can fly and counterattack Thor's lightning."
And with that, Storm opened the door and jumped out into the vast sky.

"You know," Cap said. "I always thought parachutes were for girls, but she's proved me wrong."

A moment later, Tony finally said over the radio transmitter, "I see him! Thor is approaching!"

Looking out through the front window, Cap and the others could see Iron Man a couple hundred feet in front of the jet, with Thor coming in ahead from a further distance. He was far away, but he was visible. Storm had also flown ahead towards Iron Man and Thor.

As Thor got closer, Cyclops said, "I don't mean to go all Star Wars on you guys, but I have a bad feeling about this."

"Quiet," Colossus said softly. "Thor might be attacking any-"

Suddenly, a large thunderbolt came out of nowhere, and appeared to hit Iron Man.

"Tony!" Captain America cried out. "Are you okay?!"

Tony, who was out in the Iron Man suit, still flying, but badly shook up about the hit, said, "I'll deal with him! Lower your altitude! GET OUT OF HERE!"
Hawkeye immediately obeyed Tony's order and made a quick shift in course down towards the city.

At the moment, Hawkeye had a sudden urge to get out of the jet and help Storm and Iron Man. After all, his arrows would surely affect Thor, he thought.

"Alright, let's get down to business," Captain America said, turning back to look at the three remaining X-Men. "Grab some parachutes, because we'll be making the jump down to the Fisk Towers in a matter of moments. Cyclops will remain, since we need someone to land the jet."

"Why does it have to be me?" Cyclops asked.

"Well," Captain America began to explain, "do you really trust anyone else in here to do it?"

Cyclops looked around at the other men in the room. "Point proven," he said as he looked back at Cap. "But where am I supposed to land it?"

"Right on the streets outside of the building," Cap replied. "Where else?"

"CRAP! CRAP! CRAP!" Peter continually screamed as he ran from the flying robed-men, occasionally turning around to shoot web at them to slow them down.

He had attempted to swing away, but lacking his super-powers, he was unable to achieve a proper jumping start, which he needed if he was going to start web-slinging right from the streets.

There was only one thing he could do.

He immediately entered the nearest building, an apartment complex, and began running up the stairs.

While going up the building, he did not dare to look down to see if the men hunting him were following him. His mind was completely focused on getting up the stairs, no matter what.

When he reached the top floor, he opened a door leading to the roof of the building.

"Perfect," he whispered to himself as he ran towards the edge of the roof. He was high enough to swing once again.

He heard a large rumbling of thunder out into the distance. He couldn't let weather conditions stop him. He had to get out of New York.

Suddenly, the three robed men rose from the side of the building and right onto the edge of the roof.

Peter stopped dead. How could I be so stupid, he thought.

The man in between the other two said, "We've found you, Parker. I never would have guessed it was you who's been flying around as Spider-Man all this time, right under my very nose." He had a very amused and proud voice.

And also a very familiar voice.

Suddenly, the man raised his left hand, which revealed to be holding a gun similar to the one the Punisher had.

There was no spider-sense to help Peter out this time as the man fired the gun, and the bullet jerked into Peter's stomach.

It's paralyzing me, Peter thought, as he attempted to walk backwards, away from the hunters. Fight it, he thought, fight it, fight, figh-

Before Peter could make another movement, he passed out.

It was unbearable.

Thor was too strong.

"KILL THE ULTIMATES!" he roared every single time he fired off some lighting at Storm and Iron Man.

"Upload Thor file," Tony said to his transmitter. "We need to take this guy out."

"Just a second…" the voice over the radio said. After a short pause, it announced, "Tony, I'm sorry, but we have no Thor file."

"You're kidding me!" Tony yelled as he dodged one of Thor's lightning attacks.

"What am I supposed to do?!"

"Fire off any random unspecified type of laser."

Tony did so, and the beam hit Thor right in the forehead, leaving the Norse god to yell in pain.

Without much accuracy, Thor let off more lightning, this time in such a rage, that it was flying everywhere.

Tony dodged each one.

Unfortunately, Storm didn't.

She was knocked out, and began falling down towards the city…

Erasmus and the Leader walked side-by-side through the lobby of the building, towards the door.

Three members of their organization, who all came in carrying the unconscious Spider-Man, and the Punisher followed them, immediately met them.

"So, which one of you did it?" Erasmus asked curiously.

"It was me," one of the robed men said. "I took out Parker."

"I see," Erasmus said. "I don't suppose we have any more use for the Punisher over here."

"I think we do," the robed man said. "You see, on our way back, we spotted a jet flying overhead. It looks like the one the X-Men use. I think they found us."

"How could they possibly have figured it out?" Erasmus asked, shocked.

"Never mind that," the Leader said quickly. "We need to unlock the Trinity powers, now that we successfully have all the pieces." He started walking towards the elevator. "To the chambers, immediately! Leave the Punisher to guard this floor!"

The members obeyed, and carried Spider-Man's body into the elevator. Erasmus ordered the Punisher to keep guard in the lobby and fire on will at the Ultimates should they appear. Erasmus then entered the elevator as well.

As soon as the door shut and they were all inside, the Leader pressed his thumb into a plate by the elevator's buttons.

A small beeping noise followed, and then a soft, female, computerized voice said, "Identification confirmed. Restricted floors unlocked. Please state your destination."

"Floor Negative One," the Leader said loud and clear.

"Now transporting," the voice confirmed, and the elevator began moving.

As the men waited to arrive on their specified floor, the robed man who had defeated Spider-Man broke the silence. He said, "Tell me, master, have I done well?"

The Leader thought of the young man, and knew how unreliable and obnoxious he could be. He was one of the lower-rank members. But this one successful act had atoned for all of that.

"Yes, young one," the Leader replied. "You have done very well, Flash."

TO BE CONTINUED...