ULTIMATE MELEE
CHAPTER 11
The police that surrounded the building had cleared enough room on the streets in front of the Fisk Tower for Cyclops to land the jet. People were watching overhead as the big, great, black machine that had been flying around downtown had finally set foot down on the pavement, and one of the X-Men emerged from it.
"Can you please explain to us what's going on here?" one of the FBI agents that approached Cyclops as he got out of the jet asked. "Where is S.H.I.E.L.D.?"
"Listen," Cyclops said quickly, "Thor is currently under influence that is messing with his head, and he and Iron Man are battling it out above. Until we're sure that Thor has been cleared from the air, all S.H.I.E.L.D. helicopters and jets can do is circle around the city, waiting for him to go away!"
"Well, do something about him, then!" the FBI agent demanded. "Captain America and a few others just went into this building, and we have no idea why! This isn't our department. S.H.I.E.L.D has to handle this, not us. So go take care of Thor!"
"How the hell do you expect me to do that?!" Cyclops asked, enraged.
"I'll fly you up there," Storm, who had just emerged from the crowd of cars and police officers, said. Logan followed closely behind her. He was dripping blood and full of bullet marks.
"Logan, what happened to you?" Cyclops asked, rushing forward to meet with them.
"This ain't the time to explain," Logan said. "Storm says Iron Man isn't doing so hot up there. So we need you to fire up those old optic blasts of yours."
"Alright, but if we're going to do this, we have to do it quickly," Cyclops decided. "Iron Man won't last up there forever. Storm?"
Storm walked behind Cyclops and grabbed him around the waist.
"Wish us luck," Storm said.
Together, they began floating, and as her speed increased, they quickly launched up into the air.
It was the greatest feeling Flash had ever felt. A wonderful sensation of energy was flooding out of the ground and onto his body. He sensed himself becoming stronger in every single way, and incredible feelings of warmth and power settling in his arms and legs.
"What are you doing, foolish boy?!" The Leader, who was watching the young man Flash Thompson step onto the center slot of the platform, yelled in fury. But that had just about drained all of his strength, and he then passed out.
Captain America and Colossus also noticed this happening, and they had abandoned their duty of fighting The Leader's followers and had begun running up towards the platform.
Time to put these energies to the test, Flash thought. Even as the energy extraction was occurring, Flash raised his arms towards the two attackers, and fired off laser blasts from his arms just as he had always done since he joined the organization.
Only this time, the laser blasts were at least five times as powerful as his old powers were that he got when he joined the organization, and as Colossus and Captain America were hit by the laser blasts, they were sent flying into the air.
They crashed on the walls and sunk to the floor, defeated.
"Incredible!" Flash yelled triumphantly.
Suddenly, Flash felt the energy coming towards him starting to die down. The energy extraction was ended.
Pretty soon, it stopped altogether, and Flash felt that it was completed.
The prophecy was fulfilled.
Flash looked around at the three other teenagers surrounding him, who had all been temporarily drained of their strength, and had dropped to the ground, asleep. He particularly looked at Spider-Man. Peter Parker. One of the most obnoxious aspects of his life.
Oh, how Flash wanted to kill Parker right then and there.
But no, he thought. Flash would deal with him another day, when the two of them were alone.
Flash's hood and cloth had concealed his face, so Parker had no way of knowing that Flash was even here today, or of his involvement with this organization.
But now, it was time to get out of here.
However, just before Flash prepared to make his dramatic exit, he was interrupted.
"You disobedient traitor!" Erasmus spat, pointing his trembling finger at Flash. He and Flash were now the only two conscious people in the chamber. "That power was for our master only!"
"Not anymore," Flash said in a taunting tone. "You seriously thought I joined you guys because I was interested in what you stood for? Never. It was power. It was always about power. And now I have it."
Just then, Flash tested out another portion of his new powers. He formed a baseball-sized fireball in his hand.
He smirked. "What do you think, Erasmus? How many special abilities will I discover?"
Erasmus said nothing, completely in shock of everything that had just gone wrong.
Flash flung the fireball at one of the corners of the chamber's ceiling. A loud explosion occurred, and a huge chunk of bricks had been vaporized, leaving a hole there.
Flash looked back at Erasmus, and with one last grin, he said, "See ya later!"
With unbelievable speed, Flash darted off the floor and flew through the hole, which led back into the building's lobby.
Flying through the lobby, Flash zoomed passed Hawkeye, and punched him with high intensity.
Flash heard a loud thud behind him as Hawkeye dropped to the ground.
He flew through the front doors, and entered the streets, which were flooding with cops.
Flash floated still in the air for a moment, as they all watched him.
"Remain where you are!" one of the cops yelled over a megaphone. "Put your hands in the air, and drop down onto the ground.
Flash grinned. That was a demand that he couldn't fulfill.
He resumed flying, and with speed faster than ever before, he flew towards the sky. None of the bullets that the police fired even came close to him.
Logan watched down from the streets as the purple-robed man flew away. "Damnit, they actually did it…we failed."
The one who had gained the powers of the Trinity had succeeded, and he was now gone.
Erasmus awakened the two other followers that had been knocked out by Colossus. Once they were up, all three of them ran towards their master.
"My lord, are you awake?" Erasmus asked.
The Leader groaned, and with eyes closed, said, "What happened? Did the boy get the powers?"
"Yes, my lord," Erasmus replied glumly. "I'm terribly sorry."
"Where are we right now?" The Leader mumbled.
"We're still inside the chamber," Erasmus said. "Captain America and Colossus have been knocked out. I can hear sirens coming from outside. S.H.I.E.L.D. will be here soon.
"Then get us all out of here," The Leader ordered. "We can't let them capture us. There's more to be done."
"At once, my lord," Erasmus obeyed. He picked up his master and with the two followers right behind him, they all flew up through the hole that Flash had created, and into the lobby of the building.
Erasmus saw that the police had not entered the building yet, and none of the X-Men or Ultimates were there either, with the exception of Hawkeye, who was lying seemingly unconscious close to the door.
Dozens of the followers were sprawled over the floor, some of them beginning to awaked and stand up, including the Punisher.
"Get up, you lazy fools!" Erasmus shouted. "We must leave this place before we are all arrested!"
That got them going. Immediately, all of the followers got up off the ground and awaited further orders.
"We can't go out the front doors," Erasmus decided. "We'll have to go up the stairs and leave through the roof. Does everybody still have control over their flying abilities?"
They all muttered in agreement.
"Excellent! Up the stairs! Now!"
At once, all of the followers ran towards the stairs, some carrying the ones who were too injured to go on their own, and began flying up the stairway.
Suddenly, Hawkeye awakened and noticed this happening. He grabbed for his bow, which was laying a mere few feet away from him.
Erasmus, supporting his master and his weak condition, was the last one to head towards the stairway.
Hawkeye quietly prepared an arrow and aimed his bow at Erasmus. But this proved to be extremely hard. He was drowsy, and lying on the ground was not the best way to set up his target.
But this was his only chance.
He fired the arrow at Erasmus's back.
It didn't hit Erasmus.
But it did hit the Leader.
"AHH! What was that?!" the Leader groaned in pain, dropping to the ground.
Erasmus turned to find that Hawkeye was awake, and he was the one who had shot the arrow.
"There's more where that came from," Hawkeye said, reaching for his sack of arrows.
Erasmus quickly bent down to pick up his master. "Come, my lord, I must get you out of here."
"No, Erasmus," the Leader answered. "It's no use. I'm slowing you down. You have to go on without me."
"But my lord-"
"You must lead the men now, Erasmus," The Leader declared. He reached into his robes and pulled out the manuscript, still sealed in its glass case. "Take it. You must translate it further. You'll find all the tools you need to do so in my files. The password is 'hermanubis'. Go, Erasmus! Go now!"
Reluctantly, Erasmus obeyed, and took the manuscript. Before he stood up, he declared. "You will rejoin us again, my lord. I promise you that."
Then he turned towards and shot a laser blast from his hand. It hit Hawkeye's wrist, and the archer dropped his bow before he could fire another arrow towards Erasmus.
Before Hawkeye got another opportunity to pick up his bow, Erasmus quickly dashed away, and began flying up the staircase frantically.
"I won't fail you, master," he whispered as he made his way up the building. "I will get you out of here." But at the same time, he was greedily thrilled at the promotion he had just received.
Cyclops and Storm soon came high enough into the sky to get a perfect distance close enough to Thor to make the shot.
They also saw Iron Man, who was frantically dodging Thor's thunderbolts, with not opportunity to fight back. He wasn't going to win this.
"Do it," Storm told Cyclops.
At once, Cyclops pressed the button on his headset to fire the optic blast at Thor.
The stream of red laser erupted from his eyes, and Thor was not even aware of it coming his away.
That is, until it hit him.
Right in the crotch.
"AAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH!" he screamed in terror. It was the loudest noise they had ever heard Thor make.
"Now, Tony!" Cyclops yelled to Iron Man.
Iron Man flew rapidly towards Thor, and without hesitation, fired off several laser bullets.
All the bullets hit Thor in various places, and pretty soon, he was unconscious and beginning to stop floating and he started falling down.
Iron Man made a quickly turn down towards Thor, and with a fast swoop, grabbed him and saved him from falling.
As soon as he did so, he signaled his radio and said, "Iron Man to S.H.I.E.L.D. Iron Man to S.H.I.E.L.D. Do you copy? Over."
"We hear you loud and clear, Tony," Nick Fury's voice said over the radio. "What's the current situation?"
"Thor is down," Tony said, laughing triumphantly. "It is now safe to enter the city."
Tony heard Nick Fury's proud voice say, "Good job, Tony. We're heading towards the building now. E.T.A.: two minutes. Over."
"We did it!" Storm, still carrying Cyclops, cheered. "Now can we please get back down there? Scott weighs a ton."
They all laughed, and just as they began descending, they suddenly noticed dozens of figures start flying up from the roof of the Fisk Tower.
"That's them," Cyclops said. "The people behind this. It has to be."
"They can all fly," Storm said, astonished.
The three of them watched as the army of cloaked figures started rapidly flying away from the building like a flock of geese.
"They're trying to get away," Tony said, worried. "I can't let that happen! We have to find out everything they know! I'm going after them." He dropped Thor into Storm's arms.
"Hey!" she objected. "I can't carry these two!"
"Just get down there!" Tony ordered.
Without a word, Storm began quickly dropping down towards the streets surrounding the building.
Meanwhile, Iron Man flew in pursuit of the army of cloaked men, to bring them to justice and to finally have all the questions answered that were still unclear.
And from not too far behind him, the young ill-intentioned Flash Thompson followed.
TO BE CONCLUDED...