Spider-Man: Arkham Island
by Gunman
Disclaimer: I do not own Marvel, DC, Evangelion, or it's characters.
Summary: Shinji goes to rescue Poison Ivy and Peter goes to rescue Batgirl.
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
Chapter 3
Gathering Of Forces
(Avengers Tower, New York)
The Avengers were currently playing host to several representatives from four other teams of heroes.
Colossus, X-23, Sunspot, Surge, Armor and Nightcrawler had arrived from the X-Mansion.
Wonder Woman, Green Lantern Jessica Cruz, Flash, Cyborg, Hawkgirl and Red Tornado had arrived from the Hall of Justice in Metropolis.
Starfire, Raven, Beast Boy, Tempest, Terra and Speedy of the Titans.
And lastly was Nova, Namorita, Turbo, Rage, Darkhawk, Speedball and Silhouette of The Warriors.
Standing against them: The Avengers - Black Widow, Wasp, Hawkeye, Ant-Man, Scarlet Witch, Quicksilver and Tigra.
Each of these teams had worked with Spider-Man and Super Soldier over the years and were rather anxious to help them. Especially when they found out they had been kidnapped by an unknown force and were fighting the super criminals from Gotham...somewhere.
Batman had yet to call or give any indication that he knew what was going on. Despite that it was his rogues the pair were facing.
"Thank you all for coming." Wasp said to the assembled heroes. "I apologize that some of our team aren't here right now to greet you."
"Where's Thor?" Wonder Woman asked.
"Asgard."
"Where's Iron Man?" Cyborg asked.
"With Force Works in Asia."
"Where's Captain America?" Speedball asked.
"Following up a lead, he said, which is why we've called you in."
"Cap wanted us to call in everyone we could." Black Widow explained.
"Why, exactly?" Starfire asked.
"Spider-Man and Super Soldier are missing." Scarlet Witch said.
"We know that! What we don't know is why we've been called in to help." Beast Boy said, slightly annoyed as his nap had been interrupted.
"Earlier this evening Spider-Man and Super Soldier were reportedly fighting Green Goblin and Hobgoblin in Queens. The Goblins are in custody, but Spidey and Soldier disappeared shortly after that. Soldier usually checks in shortly after these fights, but he didn't. We were concerned, and tried to find him, and then we saw this." Black Widow said as she brought up the video on the main screen.
The group looked at the YouTube video of the two heroes fighting Killer Croc.
"Is that Killer Croc?" Speedy asked.
"Where are they? Arkham Asylum?" Raven asked.
"No. The old Arkham facility was shut down a few years back. And after that whole Arkham City incident..." Black Widow said, causing everyone to groan.
"So where are they now?" Jessica Cruz asked.
"It's possible they are in a new facility." Widow explained.
"Without it being announced?" Flash asked.
"Best way to keep people from trying to break in or out." Tigra snapped.
"Why would someone break into an asylum?" Surge asked.
"To get the crazy people out?" Speedball replied.
"Regardless... that isn't something we need to concern ourselves with. What we need to do is find out where they are." Widow said.
"Why? Is something wrong?" Turbo asked.
"Clint, show them." Widow said.
The first video Hawkeye showed them was Spider-Man fighting against Bane and The Penguin. Not to mention more than a hundred heavily armed thugs. The second video showed Super Soldier battling Two-Face and exactly two dozen prison inmates, half of whom were wearing white outfits, the other half wearing black outfits.
What's more is that the pair were also apparently rescuing a trio of female hostages, who looked like they were villains in of themselves.
The heroes looked shocked.
"These vidoes were uploaded a few minutes ago." Widow said. "The first video of Spidey and Soldier fighting Croc, almost an hour ago."
"Is that Harley Quinn... and who are the other two?" Speedy asked.
"We've identified them as Candy and Tracey. They work for the Penguin." Widow said.
"Not any more, it seems." Rage said.
"Someone is playing a very twisted game here." Namorita said.
"Where are they?" Nova asked the obvious question.
"No clue. We've been trying to hack the feed, but the locations are being blocked." Wasp said.
"They could still be in Arkham." Speedy said.
"We've considered that. We sent Quicksilver to investigate the old Arkham Asylum facility, but nothing is there. No power, running water, and no sign of any one or thing living there. Not even squatters." Scarlet Witch said.
"Place was creepy enough when the guards were there. Why would anyone live there at all?" Beast Boy said.
"Cap is trying to follow up a lead of his own, but we're calling in everyone we can get." Widow said.
Just then, several more people walked into The Tower.
War Machine, Machine Man, Firebird, Living Lightning, Gilgamish, Vision and Mockingbird.
"Who are these guys?" Beast Boy asked.
"Several of our Reserve Avengers." Scarlet Witch said.
"There are still a few more who haven't responded." Wasp said.
"Like the Doom Patrol." Tigra said.
"And X-Force." Hawkeye said.
"X-Factor." Ant-Man said.
"The Fantastic Four." Black Widow said.
"You called them?" Silhouette asked.
"We even called Alpha Flight." Scarlet Witch said.
"Like I said, we're calling in everyone we can get." Widow said.
"Just for two guys?" Hawkgirl asked.
"It's more than that." Widow said.
"Nevertheless, we need to figure out where Spider and Soldier are." Wasp said.
"You said that they went missing, and they appeared on that YouTube video." Wonder Woman said.
"Yes." Wasp answered.
"Someone has obviously taken them and hidden them some place which has access to villains from Gotham City." the amazon said.
"But where? They could be anywhere in the world. Another dimension. A cyber-space gaming system. They could be on the moon or on an alien space ship out near Jupiter for all we know." Flash said, just spit-balling ideas.
"Which is why we called all of you. People disappearing into thin air is not unusual. Heck, we've all had our own shares of being kidnapped by super villains. This might be the latest, but we need to know where they are and who's behind this. Come on people, we need to start breaking this down." Wasp said.
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
(Arkham Island, Kitchen Area)
"Take it easy. Just breathe." Spider-Man said as Candy and Tracey just drank their water from the glasses he had given them.
"Can't believe that asshat! After everything we did for him!" Candy grumbled.
"Bloody rotter! Just leaving us dangling like a worm on a hook." Tracey spat.
"There was something strange about him, though."
Tracey looked at her partner with an arched-eyebrow.
"I mean it. It was like he didn't recognize us, he... just seemed... different." the dark-skinned woman said.
"What? You mean like possessed or something?"
"I don't know. Brain-washing? Matter Hatters chip thingies? Maybe Scarecrows fear gas messed with his mind and he saw us as someone else."
"Maybe."
"But even so... after this..."
"What are you trying to say?"
"Maybe we should try looking for new jobs?"
Just then, Super Soldier walked in with a half-conscious woman in a weird nurses outfit.
"Is that Harley Quinn?" Spider-Man asked.
"It is. Two-Face and his goons were guarding her." Super Soldier said.
"Well, better him than Cobblepot. He hates the Clowns." Candy said. "Probably would have killed her. Or worse."
"Mostly cause they cost him A LOT of business." Tracey said.
"Like that truck of cigarettes and booze that Joker dropped into the river? Or that weapons cache that they both stole from him?" Candy said.
"Well, she's safe now." Super Soldier said as he sat her down on a couch.
"We have to rescue the other hostages." Spider-Man said.
"How many?" Tracey asked.
"Catwoman, Lady Shiva, The Al Ghul sisters, Copperhead, Batgirl, and Poison Ivy." he said, counting on his fingers.
"Don't see why you would." Candy retorted.
"Yeah. Most of them aren't exactly...innocent?" Tracey said.
"Agreed. But they're being held as prisoners. And not by very friendly people. We have to save them if we can." Super Soldier said.
"Why?" Candy asked again.
"Because if we don't, they're going to die." Spider-Man stated.
"Again, not exactly innocent." Candy repeated.
"So why bother?" Tracey asked.
"Because it's what heroes do." Spider-Man replied.
"And you're heroes." Tracey said in a sassy tone.
"It's an example we try to live up to." Super Soldier said.
Just then a screeching static caught their attention as Hugo Strange appeared on a TV that was mounted up on the wall.
("You have done well, heroes. So much so... I've decided to reward you.") Huge grinned.
"Why do I not like the sound of that?" Spider-Man asked rhetorically.
"We're listening, Strange. What else are you going to throw at us?" Super Soldier asked.
("Lester Buchinsky. You might have heard of him.")
"Buchinsky?" Candy mused, trying to remember where she heard that name from. In a flash it came to her. "The Electrocutioner! Hired hitman with a weaponized electrical suit." she said, snapping her fingers as if to emphasize her point.
("Precisely.")
"Anyone else?" Super Soldier asked.
("Victor Creed. I hear he's a real animal.")
"More than he is a man." Spider-Man said.
"A blood-thirsty, feral mutant with superhuman healing powers and razor-sharp claws, enhanced senses, and is as strong as ten men." Super Soldier said.
"At least." Spider-Man said.
"Anyone else?" Super Soldier asked.
("Oh, I've got a couple more surprises in store before the night is over.")
The monitor went dark as the heroes looked at each other.
"Dramatic much?" Candy asked.
"I hate when they do that." Super Soldier said.
"Now we've got Sabertooth and Electrocutioner running around? Fantastic!" Spider-Man groaned. "This is why I hate playing by the villains rules."
"But it also means..." he said as he turned towards the three women.
"Oh. You don't mean..."
"Yeah. I do."
"What's going on, babe?" Candy asked.
"You're going to have to come with us." Spider-Man said.
"What?" she gasped.
"We have to rescue a group of hostages from a bunch of lunatics and super criminals, and now we've got a murderous carnivore running around as well? What if he finds you while we're saving the other hostages?"
"We can handle ourselves." Harley said, finally speaking up.
The quartet looked at the blond clown.
"She really is blaine." Tracey said.
(AN: Blaine rhymes with insane)
"No doubt." Candy stated.
"Whoever is behind this, like really, really behind this, they had you all trussed up like live bait. And the other 'hostages' are all there too, we need to be smart about this." Super Soldier said.
"We can't stay here, we're too exposed." Spider-Man said.
"What about the Storage Area? Where they warehouse all the supervillains weapons and gear?" Harley asked.
"That... might not be here." Candy said.
"She's right. This place is practically brand new. Still under construction. Maybe they haven't moved everyone's stuff in here yet."
"They moved the prisoners, but not the freight. Great." Spider-Man groaned.
"Ideas?" Super Soldier asked.
"Any chance of us sending a distress call? Get the superhero calvary coming to save us?" Harley asked.
"No. At least... nothing around here we can use." Soldier said.
"So... aside from the super-criminals and villains that are guarding the hostages, not to mention the still roaming packs of inmates here on this island, we've got some additional super villains trying to kill us. And we don't know where they are. Plus we've got these lovely ladies to watch out for." Spider-Man said.
"I ain't some damsel in distress, ya know!" Harley snapped.
"Well..." Spidey said.
"I know, I know, I know! Hostage." she huffed.
"We can't protect them and fight off all these bad guys at the same time." Super Soldier said.
"It's what Strange wants us to do." Spider-Man said.
"We could really use some help here."
"If nothing else, we need to find..."
"Batgirl seems to be the only heroine here."
"Hey! I'll bet Red could help us!" Harley pipped up.
"Red?" Super Soldier asked.
"She means... Poison Ivy." Spider-Man said.
"We can't trust her, can we?" Super Soldier asked.
"You can trust her like you trust me." Harley said.
Spider-Man and Super Soldier looked at the nurse-garbed harlequin and then back to each other.
"Oh. Right." Harley sighed, realizing they didn't really trust her either.
"We don't have time for this. We need to find both of them." Spider-Man said.
"Are you sure?" Super Soldier asked.
"Not really, but it would be better if they were on our side."
"What's the plan?"
"We get to the warehouse. Maybe there's some stuff we can use. Some equipment that they've moved in. Maybe not everything, but.."
"That's kinda iffy, isn't it?"
"Yes."
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
The quintet were able to get to the warehouse, which was actually right next door to the kitchen area where they had been hold up for a time.
They filed inside as Super Soldier kept watch. Inside the warehouse were dozens and dozens of crates and boxes, filled with everything from costumes to weapons.
"Guess they didn't get everything transferred." Spider-Man said.
"It's enough. Quick, start looking for stuff!" Harley said.
While Super Soldier stood watch, Spider-Man and the three ladies were all tearing through the boxes with reckless abandon. They found several outfits and costumes, as well as some weapons. Not what they all thought they needed.
While they were doing that, something caught Shinji's attention. He raced out to see what it was, and froze when he saw six men in orange jumpsuits, armed with various weapons, being led by a man in a black suit with heavy metal gauntlets and a strange respirator mask.
"I take it you're Lester Buchinsky? The Electrocutioner?" Super Soldier asked.
"I am. And I'm here for you?" Lester declared.
"Do you even know why you're here?"
"Yeah. I'm a hired gun. That's why."
"Do you even know who you're working for?"
"Don't care. They're offering me a lot of money. That's it. Now... time to light you up!"
Shinji held his shield up ready to defend himself. Lester just laughed.
"A metal shield? You think that's gonna save you?" he laughed as he fired his electricity at him.
BLAST!
Lester looked on in shock as his electrical blast just connected with the silver and blue shield, but nothing happened. The energy crackled around the edges of the metallic shield, before dissipating.
"What the...?" he gasped.
"Guess no one told you about Vibranium." Super Soldier said as he rushed the seven men.
He slammed into Lester, shield first, knocking him back and blasting four of the other men, stunning and knocking them out. Super Soldier pulled his fist back and punched Lester hard in the face, knocking his mask off and rendering him unconscious.
The other two men looked at each other before taking off. Shinji grabbed his shield and hurled it towards them, missing them by inches. The two thugs would have laughed, but cried out in panic when the shield ricocheted off of a nearby wall, slamming into one of the thugs, then into the other thug, before flying around the yard and back towards Shinji who caught it.
The young super soldier sighed as he turned around and went back inside. He paused, briefly, and looked around.
'Weird. I thought someone else was here, but...I don't see anything.' he thought as he went inside.
From a nearby rooftop, a large hairy shadow emerged, and a low feral growl wafted through the air.
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
(Inside the warehouse)
Spider-Man was searching through the piles of boxes, looking for some kind of communication device or at least a radio of some kind.
Candy and Tracey were trying to find weapons to use to defend themselves with. They had found some guns belonging to Mister Freeze and Captain Boomerang's customized throwing weapons, but had yet to find anything resembling a regular gun.
"Does that thing even work?" Tracey asked.
"It does." Candy said as she pulled out a small cylinder with a blue liquid inside. She shoved it unto the top of Freeze's cold gun which caused it to activate. "Victor Fries was a real genius. Made this thing rather easy to use."
Harley, meanwhile, had found her boxes and immediately tore off her 'sexy nurses' outfit. She fitted herself with her red and black halter top, Daisy Duke shorts which were a matching black and red, white tennis shoes with a black right stocking and a red left stocking, both of which went up to her knees, and red fingerless gloves with black diamonds on the back. She even found her old black-colored baseball bat with red diamonds on it. The last was her black and red leather jacket.
Now she felt like her old self again.
Super Soldier returned to the warehouse and found the others.
"You get anything?" the soldier asked.
"An old walkie-talkie. Looks pretty beat up." Spider-Man said, handling the old tech.
"An AN/PRC-6?" he asked, looking at the small ID plate on the old communication device.
"Yeah. Probably hasn't been used since Vietnam." Spider-Man said.
"Wonderful. Where did you find that?" Soldier asked.
"In a crate marked for someone named Edward Nygma."
"Riddler had one of those things?" Harley wondered as she came over to them.
"Guess he figured it could be useful." Spider-Man said.
"Can you get it working?" Soldier asked.
"Maybe. But I'll need some special parts."
"I'll say. Do they even makes parts for that old thing?"
"Figure it out on the way." he said as he stuffed the radio in a duffle bag, along with a couple other things.
"On the way?" Candy asked.
"We have to get going." the soldier said.
"Trouble?" Spidey asked.
"I think so." Soldier replied.
"Where too?"
"Poison Ivy and Batgirl."
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
The now armed quintet made their way across the island, looking for their respective allies, only to find that they had to separate.
"So what now, oh fearless one?" Spider-Man asked his partner.
"You, Candy and Tracey go find Batgirl. I'll take Harley and go find Poison Ivy." he said.
"You sure this is a good idea?"
"No. But what choice do we have, right?"
"Right."
The pair fist-bumped before parting ways. Tracey and Candy rushing to catch up with Spider-Man while Harley tagged along with Super Soldier.
It was at this point that Harley began talking.
"So, they call you Super Soldier, right?" she asked.
"Yes."
"Have you considered a name-change?"
"Name-change?"
"I mean just calling yourself 'Super Soldier' is kinda un-original and a bit self-grandizing. I mean, it's not like you got super powers or anything like Superman."
"What would you suggest?" he asked, quickly wondering if that was a good idea.
"Well, you're not really American, are you? Maybe something like 'Sergeant Asian!' or how about 'Sentai Ranger!' Or there's always the popular...
"Absolutely not!"
"We could call you Bucky."
"No!"
"Winter Soldier?"
"You're pushing it, Harley."
"What about something with Star in it? Maybe something like Ultra Star or Power Star?" she kept suggesting.
Shinji just groaned as he continued listening to her.
"Or maybe something with Patriot. Like Power Patriot or Patriot Star or maybe just Patriot. Like Silver Patriot or Major Glory!" she said with enthusiastic fist-pumping.
Shinji just shook his head but didn't try to stop her from ranting. He doubted even Batman could have stopped her from ranting. Even so... he didn't mind her talking. It was rather moot trying to be stealthy at this point.
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
(Boiler Room, East Building)
Candy and Tracey were walking behind Spider-Man, who was leading the way, just staring at his butt.
Spider-Man and the Penguins two former secretaries had arrived at another location.
"And how do you know she's here?" Candy asked.
Spider-Man just pointed to the nearby wall. The dark-skinned woman saw a picture of a Bat with an arrow pointing down the hallway.
"Least they made it easy to find." she snarked.
"Bloody trap, this is." Tracey groaned.
"For me. Not you." the webslinger stated.
They entered the lower levels of the large building and stopped when they came to a steam boiler room with tons of steam pipes that seemed a little too big for the building itself.
"This place looks... wrong." Tracey said.
"I know. A lot of this doesn't seem necessary."
Spider-Man got the feeling they were right. Leading to the two women they followed several of the pipes towards a large open area where they saw Batgirl, tied and gagged and suspended by a rope in the middle of the room. His spider-senses were buzzing, but not heavily. He looked around and wondered where her guard was.
Unless he was mistaken, Solomon Grundy should be around here somewhere.
The metal grating on the floor, the pipes on the walls, and a very large chamber towards the back of the large circular room, with the heroine dangling in the middle of the room, gave the whole place a very video game feel. It was like he was waiting for the big boss to show up so he could fight him.
'Which means... if I move to rescue Batgirl... Grundy will appear and attack.' he thought.
He then got a very devious idea.
"Girls... I'm gonna need your help." he said to the pair.
"What?" they asked in unison.
"I need you to go and rescue Batgirl." he said.
"What?!" they asked again.
"Trust me. This is a trap, meant for me. The second I step into the kill box to rescue Batgirl... the big bad boss is going to come out and we're gonna have a problem. But... if you do it, there's no problem."
The pair looked at each other in shock.
It did make a kind of sense, but still!
"Okay. But you owe us for this." Candy said, shocking Tracey.
The pair proceeded towards the middle of the room with Spider-Man keeping watch.
He didn't care for the situation, but then again it was a trap.
Batgirl was hanging in the middle of the room from a rope. She was about ten feet off the ground and looked unconscious.
"How we gonna do this?" Tracey asked.
"I'll shoot the rope... you snap it with your boomerangs." Candy said.
"I never used these bloody things before!" Tracey snapped.
"Captain Boomerang does it all the time."
"So?"
"So... don't Australians know how to use boomerangs?"
"I'm British, not Australian!"
"Aren't Australians originally from England?"
"Grrr!"
"Ladies! Please?" Spider-Man called out.
The pair looked at the webslinger, who was crouched up on the upper catwalk.
"Fine!" Tracey huffed as the pair parted and moved to opposite ends of the large room. Candy aimed the freeze gun at the rope just above Batgirl's bound wrists and fired. She missed twice because of the recoil, but managed to hit the rope with the third shot. Tracey was the same way, missing three times with her boomerangs. But the weapons came right back to her. She threw again a fourth time, and missed, only for the weapon to come back around and slice at the rope.
SNAP!
Spider-Man saw the dark angel of Gotham fall, and moved. He leapt out from the catwalk, flying over the large open area, over the falling Batgirl, firing his webshooters and catching the redhead by her wrists and yanking her up towards him. He caught her in his arms and landed on the other side of the large room. He cradled her in his arms and raced down the stairs to the side and back down to the ground floor where Candy and Tracey were waiting.
"Well, that's a great leap of faith, right there." Tracey said.
"Yeah. But couldn't you have done that earlier?" Candy asked.
"No. If I had touched the rope or the floor, we would have had a villain attack." Spider-Man said.
The trio looked at the costumed vigilante in Spider-Man's arms who was slowly coming around.
"Wha... Spider-Man?" the redhead asked.
"Good morning, Batgirl. Or do you prefer just Miss Girl?" he said.
Batgirl could barely roll her eyes at the joke as she looked over and saw Candy and Tracey, both armed, and standing in front of her.
"What the...? Why are they here? Where's Penguin?" she asked groggily.
"He got caught up with something." Spider-Man said.
Suddenly, a loud screeching sound, from the loud speaker, caused the quartet to cringe.
("Very Clever, Spider-Man. Using your rescued hostages to rescue another hostage.") Hugo Strange said over the loudspeaker. ("You knew your presence on the floor would alert Grundy and cause him to attack you. You tried to avoid this...but, that's just so boring.")
Spider-Man didn't like where this was going.
("So... I'm pressing the 'Cheat' button.") Strange said as he pressed a button that was out of frame.
The pipes started to steam, the lights in the area suddenly flickered.
"You Son Of A Bitch!" he said as he set Batgirl down on her feet.
The floor grates in the middle of the room split open revealing a large cylinder tank rising up from the floor. The quartet stared in curiosity as the cylinder opened to reveal a large, hulking figure in a torn black suit. He had gray skin, white hair, red eyes, a rope around his neck and several knives sticking out of his back and chest.
"SOLOMON GRUNDY! KILL ON A MONDAY!" the zombie bellowed.
"I thought it was Thursday." Spider-Man said as he pushed the dark angel behind him..
"This is not good! We gotta go!" Batgirl said.
"We run, he chases. You girls get out of here! It's me he wants." Spider-Man said as he jumped up on the platform.
"What? We can't leave you!" Batgirl shouted as he leapt away from the trio.
"And just what the hell are we supposed to do against that?" Candy asked, clearly panicked.
Grundy screamed as he charged at Spider-Man. The webslinger charged towards the zombie, before sliding underneath his much larger form, and then spring-boarding up into the air. Grundy spun around to catch him, but Spider-Man was nowhere to be seen.
"Incoming!" The webslinger shouted as his feet slammed into Grundy's head from up top, stunning the zombie momentarily. "Ouch! It's like stomping on concrete!"
"You've got a gun, right?" Batgirl said to Candy.
"And it's half empty!" the dark-skinned woman said.
"We Gotta Go!" Tracey said, her hands fidgeting with the boomerangs in her hands.
Spider-Man leapt out of Grundy's reach, his speed the only thing keeping him alive. He leapt at the zombie, punching and kicking him in the face and chest, which did little good, except to make him mad.
"Figures you'd be built like The Hulk." Spider-Man groaned as he leapt out of reach. "Uglier too."
"GRUNDY PRETTIER THAN GREEN MAN!" Grundy shouted.
"No you're not!" Spider-Man argued.
"RRRRAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!"
"Dude, use your indoor voice." the webslinger cringed as he jumped out of the way as Grundy brought his fists down upon him, missing again.
"STAND STILL!" the zombie shouted again.
"Not Even If You Paid Me!" he shouted as he leapt into the air and fired several web balls into his face. Grundy just pulled the webbing off of his skin, growling in anger.
It was then that Batgirl noticed something.
"I got a plan!" she said to the pair.
Candy and Tracey looked skeptical and hesitant. As if thinking this could only end badly for them.
"Alright. We're listening." Candy said.
Spider-Man was running and dodging the still enraged zombie, barely keeping out of his path. He wasn't as fast as The Hulk, but he was just as durable. He leapt up, firing more webbing at Grundy's feet, trying to slow him down. This was only making him more aggravated.
Suddenly a batarang slammed into Grundy's head.
Both the webslinger and the zombie turned and saw Batgirl rushing towards them. She fired a line from her grappling gun at Grundy's head. However, the harpoon slammed into Grundy's neck, which only annoyed the zombie. She started pulling on the line, without making much headway.
"A little help!" Batgirl said.
"Okay." Spider-Man said as he fired his webline at Grundy, sticking to his head and started pulling him from the other way.
"YOU NOT STRONG ENOUGH!" Grundy chuckled as he grabbed the two lines and started pulling on them, tossing the pair through the air and landing on opposite sides of the room.
Spider-Man shook his head when he noticed Candy moving around the room on the outskirts, using Mr Freeze's cold gun to freeze several of the beams that were supporting the large room. He also saw Tracey planting bombs, that were shaped like bats, around the other pillars.
"GRUNDY SMASH!" the zombie shouted as he charged towards Spider-Man.
Spider-Man scrambled to his feet and leapt over the charging zombie, landing in the middle of the room, next to the large cylinder that had been holding him.
"Keep Him In The Middle Of The Room!" Batgirl shouted.
"Right!" he shouted back.
Grundy snarled again as he pulled the harpoon out of his neck and charged towards the webslinger. Spider-Man leapt at Grundy, punching and kicking him in a long series of hit-and-run tactics, leaping away at the last second before he was grabbed.
Batgirl grabbed her grappling line and fired it at one of the pillars.
Spider-Man leapt over Grundy again and again. The zombie roared as he quickly spun around, and managed to grab Spider-Man around his waist.
"AH!" Spider-Man screamed.
"CAUGHT YOU!" Grundy laughed as he started to squeeze.
Spider-Man could feel his ribs starting to implode, his arms trapped by the large muscular sinews of the zombie.
'Gotta... break... free!' he thought in desperation.
"SPIDER-MAN! NOW!" Batgirl shouted.
"Gimme...a... sec... NOW!" Spider-Man struggled as he wrenched his arms out of Grundy's grip, right as the zombie loosened his grip in order to squeeze him again, bringing his arms over his head and smashing his fists into the sides of Grundy's head.
"ARGH!" Grundy howled as he released the webslinger, and held his aching ears.
Spider-Man looked around at the posts that were either frozen or covered in small bat-bombs. He fired several weblines at the posts while Batgirl fired her grappling gun at another post. Grundy was shaking his head to get the pain out of his ears. He was wobbling left and right, his equilibrium all but shot. But he was recovering quickly.
When he regained his balance and looked around, he saw Spider-Man and Batgirl standing next to the other women, while he himself was tangled in spider-webs and grappling lines, he started to get angry.
"NOW!" Batgirl shouted as Tracey pulled out a small remote and pressed the red button on it.
The bat bombs exploded as Grundy pulled on the weblines and grappling lines. The iced up pillers weakened by the cold snapped somewhat easily. The damaged pillars that the bombs were on also broke apart. Grundy pulled on the weblines holding him, which pulled all the pillars to him.
The moaning and whining of metal bending and breaking was heard, at a nearly deafening level. Grundy barely registered it all, before the ceiling itself started to buckle and pieces of plaster and concrete dropped on his head.
"Uh-Oh!" Grundy muttered as the entire room suddenly broke to pieces and came crashing down right on top of him.
The deafening BOOM! of steel pipes and concrete practically knocked the two heroes and two ex-secretaries off their feet as Grundy was buried under untold tons of debris.
(Cough, Cough) "Well, that was... entertaining." Spider-Man groaned. "Think that damn zombie fractured something."
"Yeah. Thanks for the save, but... would someone tell me what's going on here?" Batgirl asked.
"Talk and walk, babies. That bang is gonna bring others here." Tracey said.
"She's right. Let's move." Candy said.
Spider-Man nodded and lead the trio out of the boiler room. While he did that, Batgirl started asking questions about how he got there, where they were and what was going on. And especially why Candy and Tracey were helping them. Needless to say, Spider-Man had a lot to catch her up on.
As he did, he failed to notice the small camera on the wall, watching him.
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
(The Garden)
At the west center of the island stood a large dome-like structure that was like a large hydroponics plant. This was The Garden, part of the new rehabilitation program for the prisoners which would also double as a small farm for the prison itself. Cut down on food costs because it was capable of growing crops year-round in a completely controlled environment.
Super Soldier and Harley Quinn arrived at The Garden. They had been drawn here by a series of signs that depicted an imprisoned Poison Ivy in a large dome structure.
They hadn't encountered any gang members or super criminals, which was making Shinji nervous. Until he remembered that Poison Ivy was being guarded by two super criminals.
Mr Freeze and Firefly!
He knew that Candy had Mr Freeze's ice gun, but maybe he had another weapon? Maybe Strange had supplied him with a different super weapon? And what about Firefly? What surprises did he have? Shinji had heard about him. He was an arsonist who was equipt with a flame thrower and a jet pack.
What really bugged Shinji was... what were they being offered for this job? Money? Power? Revenge? No, that last one didn't make sense. He'd never encountered these two before. He knew that Freeze was doing this probably for his wife. But Firefly? He was most likely doing this for money, or something just as valuable.
The second they stepped into the entrance way, they heard a voice speak to them.
("Greetings Super Soldier. And Doctor Quinzel. Welcome.") Hugo Strange spoke over the loud speaker.
"I ain't a doctor no more, Stranger!" Harley snapped.
("Regardless... welcome. You will find Miss Isley in the center of The Garden. Be careful though. Her guards are most anxious to finish you off.")
"Which means they won't be guarding her all that much." Super Soldier mused. "I have to ask, doctor... what did you promise Freeze and Firefly in exchange for my head?"
("Oh, Nothing much. Just a fair trade. Nora Fries for Victor Fries. And money for Garfield Lynns. Quite simple, really.")
"Yeah, that makes sense."
The loud speaker fizzled out, leaving the pair alone. Though Shinji could feel they were being watched.
The pair headed into the hydroponics plant, which didn't seem to be operating. However, the lights were on and the temperature regulators were working.
"Ivy would feel right at home here." Quinn said.
"As long as she stuck to regular plants and not gigantic mutations."
Harley just shrugged. She knew as well as anyone that Ivy would do something like that. Because she could.
"So... what's the plan?" Harley asked.
"I'm afraid you're gonna have to rescue Miss Isley."
"Me?" she gasped. "Ain't that what you're here for?"
"I can't rescue her, protect you and fight off two super villains at the same time."
"I don't need protectin!" she snapped.
Shinji suddenly moved in front of her as a barrage of ice shards slammed into the shield, shocking the clown girl.
He pulled the shield away and they both saw Mr Freeze standing in front of him with Firefly hovering over him.
"Find Ivy. I'll deal with these two." he said.
"Uh... right." Harley said as she rushed off.
The two villains watched her go, but didn't care. Their priority was the man in front of them.
Shinji noticed that Mr Freeze was wearing some kind of new armor, far different than the one he had seen pictures of. It looked like a black bodysuit underneath silver-blue armor plating on his chest, shoulders, wrists, boots, and a belt on his waist. Covering his head was a clear see-through glass dome. Firefly's armor looked more streamlined and high-tech than he had before. Black and yellow, like a high-tech insect. Rocket pack on his back and obvious blasters on his wrists. His eyes were glowing red on his helmet.
(AN: Imagine Freeze wearing his armor from Batman Beyond episode 'Meltdown'. For Firefly, imagine him wearing his yellow and black suit from 'The Batman' animated series episode 'The Big Heat')
"I see your mysterious benefactor gave you some new clothes." Super Soldier said.
"And your gonna need your Sunday best... for when I kill you!" Firefly grinned beneath his helmet.
"I bare you no ill-will, but my precious wife is waiting for me." Freeze said as he raised his arms up. The gauntlets on his arms looked larger than they should have been. Super Soldier realized they were the guns on his new suit.
"Two against one. No, Cap said 'numbers don't matter'. Just keep fighting." Shinji said to himself as he readied himself.
"This Is Boring!" Firefly shouted as he blasted towards Super Soldier and fired wildly at him.
Super Soldier blocked the energy beams with his shield, redirecting a couple of them towards Mr Freeze, who tanked them thanks to his new armor.
"ARGH! Idiot!" he shouted as he fired at the shield-bearer with his ice gauntlets.
"Hey, not my fault!" Firefly shouted as he buzzed over Super Soldier and turned back around to fight him.
Freeze fired at Super Soldier, who swatted the icicles away and into Firefly.
"AHHH!" the arsonist shouted as he was struck with the icicles.
"Not very nice, is it?" Freeze chortled.
"Shut Up! Where'd he go?" Firefly snapped.
The pair looked around and saw that their target was indeed gone.
"He's faster than I anticipated. Spread out! Find him!" Freeze said.
"Don't give me orders, Popsicle!" the arsonist huffed as he flew through the large hydroponics plant.
The pair continued searching for their target, completely unaware that said target was watching them from the upper catwalk of the Garden itself.
The Garden itself was fairly quiet, but the pair were making too much noise to being able to hear just where their target was.
Freeze was on the ground but Firefly was closer to him, about to fly passed him.
Firefly suddenly heard a tapping of metal on metal. He looked up and saw the shield-slinger.
"Hey, Freeze! He's Up AHHHH!" he shouted as Super Soldier leapt from the catwalk and pounced on him, shield first.
"What?" Freeze gasped as he looked up in time to see Super Soldier and Firefly descend towards him, and slam into him very hard.
"ARGH!" he shouted as he and Firefly bounced off each other. Super Soldier leapt off of them and raced deeper into the large Garden.
"It was not my idea to join fores with you, you buffoon!" the scientist growled, almost with emotion.
"Not Mine Either, Icehead!" the arsonist sneered underneath his helmet.
The pair collected themselves and raced after their target.
"He's sneakier than I anticipated." Freeze said.
"I heard he was trained by Captain America himself." Firefly said.
"A straight fight is out of the question."
"Then maybe we out to draw him out."
"How?"
Firefly looked over and saw Harley Quinn trying to break open the lock on the special containment device that was holding Poison Ivy.
The containment device was a large bell jar-like object hooked up to a special generator that was pumping in a type of suppression gas that was keeping Ivy immobile.
"Hang On, Red! I'll Get You Out!" Harley shouted as she kept pounding away on the lock with her baseball bat.
Inside the bell jar, the woman in question was being sprayed with a red gas that was keeping her weak and effectively neutralized.
"How the heck do you get this thing open?" she huffed as she kept wacking at it. "Should have brought my mallet!"
"Perhaps we can help you." a new voice said.
"GULP!" Harley gasped when she saw both Mr Freeze and Firefly standing right in front of her.
"Actually, we can't let Miss Isley go. She's the hostage."
"But maybe we can get two for one here." Firefly said. "I mean, you already have experience as a hostage." he said causing her to growl.
"Miss Quin is too dangerous to be allowed to run free." Freeze said as he raised his gauntlet. "I think she will do better on ice."
"Aww. Too bad. I could use a little fun."
"Then Play With Me!" a new voice said as the trio turned to the side, right before a human battering ram smashed into them.
"HEY!" Firefly shouted.
"AHHH!" Mr Freeze shouted.
"I'm going to kill you!" Firefly huffed.
WHAM!
Super Soldier threw his shield and struck Firefly hard in the face, knocking him down. His helmet the only thing keeping him from losing his head.
"Time to die, soldier!" Freeze said as he got up and aimed his gauntlets at the man.
Super Soldier was faster though. He launched his shield at Freeze, whacking the scientist over and over in the chest, as the Vibranium weapon kept ricocheting against him and back into the hands of it's owner.
However, and it was not stopping the ice-cold scientist from his goal. His suit was heavily armored and while dents appeared all over it, Freeze still wasn't going down.
Freeze fired both of his gauntlets at the younger shield-bearer, Super Soldier pausing to protect himself from the onslaught.
"AAAAAHHHHH!" a shrill shouting was heard as Harley jumped to the attack.
Whack, Whack, Whack, Whack!
Harley used her bat to hammer and bash against Mr Freeze's back, but to no avail.
"Child... you are beginning to annoy me!" Freeze said, undeterred as he spun around and grabbed the bat with his mechanical arm, before freezing it solid.
"Eep!" Harley cried out as her bat was shattered by Freeze with a flick of his wrist.
BLAM!
"ARGH!" Freeze shouted as one of Firefly's beams struck him.
Harley and Freeze looked behind them and saw Firefly was unconscious, but Super Soldier was holding up his limp body, slung over his shoulder with his right arm pointed at the ice scientist. Super Soldier clenched Firefly's fist closed, which caused the energy beams on his wrist to fire.
"AHH! ARGH! AHHHHH!" Freeze shouted as he was pelted repeatedly with Firefly's beams.
Super Soldier aimed Firefly's energy weapon at Freeze's head, the beam blasting the glass dome covering his head, both blinding him and heating it up.
"AAAAHHHH!" Freeze shouted as he became disoriented and weakened.
Super Soldier dropped Firefly and leapt at Freeze. He threw his shield at him, striking Freeze in the chest once again, but the shield ricocheted the other way. Towards Harley. Harley grabbed the shield in mid-air and tossed it back to Freeze, slamming it into his head. The shield ricocheted again, being grabbed by Super Soldier who spun around and slammed the shield into Freeze's head.
Freeze was disoriented as Harley kicked him in the gut. Super Soldier then thrust his shield again and again into Freezes chest, this time damaging the chest plate and causing his armor it fizzle and spark.
"No! My internal power... source!" Freeze croaked as he fell to his knees.
His armor was all but locked up now. He still had his life support systems, and his dome was mostly intact, but he was effectively powerless at this point.
"Don't cha want ta finish him off?" Harley asked.
"No. That's not what I was taught." Super Soldier said. He then looked over at the containment unit. "Did you figure out how to get Ms Isley out?" he asked as the pair walked over to it.
"No! The thing's locked up tighter than a Nuns chastity belt. How do you get this thing open?" Harley stared at the mechanical lock on the bell jar that was holding Ivy.
"Have you tried a bobby pin?" he asked.
"Uh..." she stared blankly at Super Soldier before searching her hair. She growled in frustration, before she opened her jacket and found what she was looking for.
Within minutes, Poison Ivy was free.
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
(Louisiana)
Sam Wilson arrived at the river-side house. He was dressed in full mission gear and walking up to a man who was fixing a truck.
The man looked in his mid-to-late 30s, brown hair, dressed in a white long-sleeved shirt, jeans and boots. He was also wearing thick brown gloves.
"Sam Wilson." the brown-haired man said
"James Barnes." Sam replied.
"I take it this isn't a social call."
"Fraid not. Cap called. Said he's got a mission."
Barnes sighed before pulling off his left glove, reveling a black metal hand.
"Let me get my stuff." he said as he went into the house.
Sam waited on the porch for him. Within a few minutes The Winter Soldier emerged from the house wearing a dark blue jacket with black cargo pants, black boots and a rifle slung over his shoulder.
"What's the mission?" James asked.
"Kidnapping. Two of our own." Sam said.
"Alright, where're we going?" Barnes asked.
"Gotham City."
"Been there before. Didn't like it."
He then noticed Sam was smiling.
"Don't say it." James said.
"Team America is back in action!" he said as he followed the disgruntled ex-assassin out to his plane.
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
Authors Notes:
Been a while getting this story updated.
Also, sorry if I'm not really using Tracey's accent to it's best. I never really got a handle on Cockney rhyming.
Hope everyone enjoys this and will leave me lots of reviews.
