SEMI FINALS: MS. MARVEL VS. IRON PATRIOT
For the final match for the Semi-Finals, the chosen place for the combatants was that of Thermopylae, Greece, where energy ropes made an eight-foot square ring that was in between the mountain on one side, and the now-closed road on the other, where the spectators were standing and waiting for the fighters. Inside of the ring was the now, dried up, almost desert-like patch of land that was the place where the famed Three-hundred Spartans made their last stand against the Ancient Persians, and two teleportation pads right there in the center. Seconds later, two flashes of light occurred, and both Ms. Marvel and the Iron Patriot arrived right on queue, resulting in the cheering crowd.
Upon her arrival, Ms. Marvel took a moment to look around at her surroundings and realized where she was. She remembered learning about this place in her history class back when she was in high school, and it was the tale of the Three Hundred Spartans that, aside from her love for flying, inspired her to join the air-force and serve her country. And while she felt great pride in being here, Ms. Marvel also felt disgusted that the Patriot would choose this sacred place as part of his sick game to get rid of her and her teammates.
The Patriot noticed the Warbird looking around, and thus approached her with a cocky smirk behind his faceplate. "Enjoying the scenery, Ms. Danvers?"
Ms. Marvel turned and looked at the Patriot, all while maintaining her disgusted expression. "Well, I guess it's fitting," she told him. "It's a place where few men stood up against an invading army of millions." As she continued, Ms. Marvel pointed her finger at the armored Thunderbolt. "Just like how I am going to stand up to a sicko like you as I pound your face in!"
The Patriot was unfazed by the Warbird's words and chuckled. "Yes, well, I too remember my history, and as brave as they were, the Spartans were still wiped out. And sadly, your chances of winning this fight are as grim as theirs."
Meanwhile, back in Nick Fury's safehouse, Misty and Sharon had just brought in Spidey and Gwen from the Garden just as the match in Greece was about to begin. Upon arrival, it is both Sharon and Gwen who led Spidey over to a nearby bed where Beast was standing by, while Misty went over to Nick to watch the match with him.
Beast had just finished putting on specially made large rubber gloves for his large hands as both Sharon and Gwen assisted the Web-Head in sitting down on the bed. Then, as Sharon walked back over to check on the still sleeping Cap, Beast approached the Web-Head so he can begin examining him. "All right, Peter, get that mask and shirt off, and let's see if I need to fix anything."
Spidey could feel his head throbbing as if he allowed a horde of elephants walk over it. True, he knew that the symbiote made its host stronger, but he never thought the symbiote that bonded with Harry would make his friend this strong. Nevertheless, Spidey complied with Beast's orders. "You're the boss," he told him humorously, then placed both of his thumbs underneath the bottom of his mask, then slowly and carefully pulled it off, revealed the heavily bloodied face of Peter Parker.
The sight of Peter's face covered in blood caused Gwen's eyes to grow huge with shock, as well as feel her heart sink. "Oh, god, Peter!"
"What?" Peter asked with a worried tone, then suddenly felt his shoulder being lightly tapped by Beast, causing him to turn around and look at the small mirror that the furry X-Man was holding in front of him and sees his bloodied reflection. Peter was shocked upon seeing that his face was now a crimson mask. "Oh…right," said the stunned Peter, then decided to brighten up the situation by using humor. "Well, if I didn't spend most of my time wearing a mask, I'd say so much for the hopes of being on a GQ cover."
Oddly enough, Beast didn't seem to be surprised by Peter's answer as he took the mirror away. For the young man's humor reminded him of his fellow X-Man, Bobby' Iceman' Drake, who was back in the Xavier Institute watching the tournament with the rest of the team. "You continue to amaze me with your optimism," said the furry X-Man, then picked up his medical bag. "Does your nose feel broken at all?"
"No, which is surprising, considering how hard Harry was hitting me," Upon mentioning his friend's name, Peter's expression soon changed from a lighthearted to a more saddened one. "I just wish I knew how he was doing under the watch of S.H.I.E.L.D' doctors."
Hearing these words caused Gwen to look down at the floor in silent despair, for she too was worried about Harry's physical, as well as his mental well-being.
As for Beast, he let out a discouraged sigh as he opened his medical bag. "Well, I'm sure that Harry is the care of S.H.I.E.L.D.'s best doctors, Peter. But for now, let's focus on getting you patched up. Namely tending to your face, as well as making sure that the stitches in your chest are still in place." Beast briefly turned his attention to Gwen, who was still worried about Harry. "Ms. Stacy," he told her, causing her to snap back into reality and turn to face him. "You're welcome to assist me once again with bandages and stitches if you…"
At that moment, Gwen's eyes soon lit with renewed vigor upon hearing how she could help the wounded Peter and thus began rolling up her sleeves. "On it!" she said, cutting Beast off, then walked over to a nearby sink to wash her hands.
This left Beast utterly amazed as he saw Gwen jump into action.
As for Peter, though, he was not the least bit surprised by Gwen's sudden emotional change. "Might as well keep your mouth shut, Parker," he thought. "You know there's no use in talking Gwen out of something when she gets serious." Moments later, Peter turned to where the big screen was and saw that both Ms. Marvel and the Patriot have arrived in Greece. "And speaking of feisty blondes…be careful, Ms. Marvel."
Back in Greece, the Ref Bot, announcer's face and all, had already hovered in between Ms. Marvel and the Patriot, ready to get the match underway. "Now, I'm sure that you both know the rules, so let's try and not have as chaotic a match as the last one, shall we?" said the announcer, getting a nod from Ms. Marvel, but no response from the Patriot. "All right then…" at that moment, the Ref Bot flew high above the sky and at a safe distance. "BEGIN!"
Once the word was given, it was Ms. Marvel who started things off by holding up her right hand, charged it with Kree energy, and fired an energy blast at the Patriot's buckle.
However, the Patriot saw this attack coming and thus mentally activated his armor's forcefield bubble, which deflected the Kree blast. Shortly afterward, the Patriot deactivated the bubble so he could hold up his left hand and fire a return shot in the form of a repulsor blast.
Ms. Marvel, on the other hand, spotted this and dashed to the left side, avoiding the blast and saving her belt buckle from being destroyed. With the Patriot still in her sights, the Warbird flew straight towards him at high speeds, with the intent of tackling him to the ground.
As for the Patriot, he powered on his jet boots and rocketed towards the charging Ms. Marvel head-on.
It wasn't long before both combatants wound up both of their right fists, and upon getting close enough, both threw a right hook, resulting in their fists colliding. This resulted in creating a powerful shockwave that makes the ground shake, something that both worried and enticed the Greek spectators. Afterward, the Patriot kept the match going by throwing a left jab, aiming for Ms. Marvel's masked face.
However, thanks to her years of combat training, Ms. Marvel used her left hand to catch the Patriot's wrist, stopping the attack. From then on, the Warbird gave him a quick right back fist into his faceplate, stunning the Thunderbolt long enough for her to give her armored enemy a judo shoulder throw, sending him flying forward.
The Patriot, on the other hand, showed great agility on his part by flipping forward and landed safely on his feet. Moments later, the armored Thunderbolt turned around and spotted Ms. Marvel speeding towards him and going for a right legged front kick. As such, he used both of his hands to catch the Warbird's foot, then spun her around at high speeds and threw her up high into the air.
Thankfully though, Ms. Marvel was able to flip backward and stop himself, but her eyes grew wide open when she spotted the Patriot rocketing towards her and throwing a right uppercut, forcing the Warbird to fly backward to dodge the punch. After avoiding her opponent's attack, Ms. Marvel soon flew in and delivered a hard-left hook that connected to the side of the Patriot's faceplate, then continued her assault by throwing a right cross.
But even after taking two brutal blows, the Patriot still refused to give up, as he proved by holding up his left arm to block another one of Ms. Marvel's left hooks, then held up his other arm to block an incoming cross. Afterward, he counterattacked by powering up his jet boots and performing a rising right knee strike, nailing the Warbird in the chin and knocking her senseless. From then on, the Thunderbolt held up both of his hands over his head, interlocked his fingers, and bashed Ms. Marvel in the head. This sent the Warbird down towards the ground and, more specifically, to a spot that had a specially placed mine. Something that would slow Ms. Marvel down and make winning easier for him.
However, thanks to the debriefing of the battle arena's plans back at the Avengers' mansion, Ms. Marvel knew about this mine, and just barely managed to stop herself from landing on the mine when she was just inches away from it. Afterward, she hovered up until she got in an upright position, looked up, pointed both of her hands at the still airborne Patriot, and fired another energy blast at him, aiming for his buckle.
The sight of the Warbird recovering left the Patriot slightly stunned, but not completely shocked, as he proved by hovering to the left side to avoid the energy blast. "Damn, I almost forgot that Stark found out about my traps and no doubt passed that knowledge to his teammates," thought the aggravated Patriot. "It seems that I'll have to end this the hard way." With this in mind, the Patriot soon flew down towards Ms. Marvel, expertly dodging her energy blasts along the way.
Upon seeing the Patriot pull his right fist back to pound her into the ground, Ms. Marvel had no choice but to cease firing her blast and back away from the mine and allow the Patriot to punch it instead.
Unfortunately for the Warbird, though, the Patriot also managed to save himself by pulling his right fist back and using hidden thrusters in the front of his armor to stop himself in mid-air and just inches away from the mine. Moments later, he looks straight ahead to see Ms. Marvel flying backward and thus attacked by holding up both of his hands and firing two repulsor blasts, aiming for her buckle.
Ms. Marvel spotted this, though, and thus acted by planting her feet on the ground, then held up both of her open hands. Moments later, she allowed the repulsor blasts to hit her palms, then with a little concentration, she absorbed the blasts into her person, causing her body to glow brightly. Now feeling stronger, Ms. Marvel decided to give the Patriot a taste of his own medicine by pointing both of her fists at him and fire a much more powerful Kree blast.
Seeing this attack coming his way, the Patriot charged up his Uni-Star on his chest plate and fired a massive blast, which met Ms. Marvel's blast head-on. It didn't take long for the blasts to collide, and thus, the two strong-willed combatants to engage in a 'tug of war' by pushing their blasts forward and trying to overpower the other.
After a few seconds, it appeared that Ms. Marvel was the strongest of the two, and she proceeded to walk towards the struggling Patriot while increasing the power of her blast, overpowering the Thunderbolt's beam.
This, of course, prompted the Patriot to secretly send a mental command to his armor to pop open a secret compartment in his right shoulder and fire a small missile, which sped towards Ms. Marvel's face.
However, Ms. Marvel herself saw this as a minor annoyance and was mildly annoyed by it. As such, she avoided it by moving her head slightly to the right, allowing the missile to pass by her, then went back to looking at the Patriot with a determined expression. "Sorry, Osborn, but your toys aren't going to save you this time!"
The Patriot, even with the Warbird's blast about to push through his massive beam, only smirked behind his faceplate. "Exactly what I wanted you to think."
Suddenly, and without warning, the missile soon revealed itself to be that of a heat seeker, as it quickly made a U-turn and headed right back towards the unsuspecting Ms. Marvel. Seconds later, the missile hits the Avenger in her lower back, which caused her to grunt painfully, as well as make her lose concentration in strengthening her blast.
All which gave the Patriot the opening he waited for. "Divert all power to the Uni-Star, now!" he commanded, and at that moment, his uni-blast became stronger, plowing through Ms. Marvel's blast and soon hit the Warbird herself, more accurately her mid-section, including her belt buckle, which shattered instantly and allowed the yellow energy to consume her body. The Patriot then stopped firing his beam and saw the now frozen Ms. Marvel hit the ground and allowed himself to hear the cheering of the Thunderbolt supporters within the Greek spectators and the hushed silence of the Avengers fans.
With the match now over, the Ref Bot to hover down next to the still-standing Patriot, with the announcer's face appearing on the screen. "Here is your winner…THE IRON PATRIOT!"
Whether it was from the Ref Bot or the Green natives behind the energy ropes, the Patriot smiled in delight as he heard the cheering of the Thunderbolts fans, whom he thought of as his 'sheep.' He walked over and looked down at the fallen and immobile Ms. Marvel; all he could do was think this to himself. "Fifteen Avengers down…one Wall-Crawling pest to go."
WINNER: IRON PATRIOT