Jason Fuller & The Elementals: The Stones Of Olympus (Book 1)

by Andarion The Storyteller

This story is about the adventures of a young mutant named Jason Fuller and his friends as they embark on a journey to save the world from Doctor Doom and the Masters of Evil. Lives will be changed, destinies will be fought, ancient magic will resurface, and for Jason, a question that has plagued him since his parents death, about what it truly means to be a hero, will be answered.

34. Chapter 34: The Elementals Are Born

Chapter 34: The Elementals Are Born

Cleanup took a good 3 hours. Taking down most of the villains (some got away) was barely a warm up, as me and my team rounded up a good 200 Yellowjackets, Deathloks, Omega Red, Sandman, Kraven, and Ghost. Without Doom, the demons evaporated back to whatever hell holes they crawled outta, and the Hand ninjas bailed too. So yeah, the villain cleanup didn't take too long; tho I did notice how I couldn't access most of my powers. Yeah, dunno what I expected from the Olympus Stones shattering in my chest (definitely had to get that checked out), but it busted me down to basics, as I only had access to Sea Force/waterbending and Zeus Lightning. Eh, easy come easy go. As for cleaning up the city…..well, that was a different story. Grant and Strange did most of the heavy lifting, as Grant repaired roads, restored greenery, fixed skyscrapers, etc. Strange, with the help of the magic users, conjured up a spell that reversed time around certain objects; raising whole houses, buildings, apartments, etc., from rubble! Me and Allyson dashed around, collecting Doombot pieces (I may have stashed a few in some abandoned train yards), finding and capturing stragglers, and rescuing trapped civilians who put their chips on Doom. The final/most difficult part was organizing the re-population effort. Me and Cho worked together to make a system that brought in roughly two million people every two hours based on residence, transportation, and got the taxi and train systems working again to help streamline the population readjustment. While the algorithm was running the numbers (I may have 'accidentally' put my mom up in the first group), the heroes and agents all gathered in Iron Man's penthouse to ditch their power suits, recoup, and celebrate a little. Me, Grant, and Allyson stayed together as we navigated the crowd of heroes and agents giving us congratulations.

"Ah!" Thor said as we came across him. "Warriors, you fought well and bravely today! The Aesir themselves would marvel at your deeds! Know that you have earned the respect of the god of thunder, and that if it were up to me, you'd be Avengers for your heroism!"

Grant's tongue may as well have been in knots right now! He scrambled frantically to get his autograph book out!

"Hey," he started. "Uh, thanks for that. So, uh, I know this is kinda lame, but Doctor Strange gave me this autograph book, i'm a big fan of heroes, you're my favorite actually, so, I mean-"

Thor took the book and pen from him, signed it, and raised it in the air.

"HEROES!" he boomed. "MY FRIEND HERE WISHES TO COMMEMORATE THIS GLORIOUS VICTORY OVER THE FORCES OF EVIL WITH SIGNATURES FROM THE NOBLE WARRIORS WHO PARTICIPATED! MAKE SURE YOU DO NOT LEAVE THIS BUILDING, BEFORE YOU SIGN IT!"

There was a little bit of laughter as Thor placed the book on Tony's bar stand (I could definitely go for a shot), but to his credit, Namor was the first in the long line to sign it! Me and my friends sat in some comfy chairs, next to the Nova Twins, Power Pack, Young Avengers, and Runaways shortly afterwards. We all talked and bragged about how good we were in the fight (Allyson and I practically superglued our hands together) for a good ten minutes, before my communicator bleeped. Mrs. Kennedy sent me, Grant,and Allyson a memo to meet her and Fury on the penthouse patio in five. That was bound to be a lotta fun, and you can be damn sure we were over the moon as we walked out to meet Fury and Kennedy, who were sitting at one of the patio tables. We did our usual shtick. A rundown of what happened, with a few snarky jokes and digs in here and there.

"So, Doom isn't dead?" Fury asked.

"No, he is," I responded. "But he swore up and down he'd be back to get revenge. He can get in line."

"Or stay dead?" Allyson asked. "I like that option better."

"So do I," Fury said. "But bad guys and heroes alike have a bad habit of not staying dead. Any idea about what your shadow friends will do next?"

"Nope," I responded. "Also, y'all are really chill about the stones exploding in my chest. Anybody wanna check if i'm ok?"

"I already scanned you," Mrs. Kennedy said. "You're about as normal as you'll ever be, you don't have access to all seven god energies, and a set of dangerous cosmic artifacts are off the table. Triple Yahtzee."

"Here's hoping we don't gotta do this again. Last thing I need is to find some cursed rock that makes me turn into you."

Allyson and Grant strangled laughs in their throats, and even Fury gave a soft chuckle.

"I'll almost miss that," he said. "It sure has been one helluva week. The world owes you three a debt it can never repay, but you'll be happy to know I pulled some strings, and made some moves you'll appreciate. Jason and Grant, I put out a detail to Men In Black anyone that saw your powers activate, as well as scrub any footage off the face of the earth. By tomorrow, nobody, other than your family, will even know you have powers. You can rejoin your team, and you won't be prosecuted by an angry mob. Allyson….you have your $#!+ straight, so nothing I can do there, but you'll be happy to know Stark is putting up the dough and resources to reimburse the St. Mark Industries Holiday Helping Hand Initiative. All the little boys and girls will receive their presents tomorrow."

"That actually does make me really happy," Allyson smiled. "Thanks, Director. You too, Agent Kennedy. Thank you both for everything. Though there is one thing you actually can help me with. Jimmy, the guy Doom tricked into fighting for him? He's a good man, and he doesnt deserve to rot in jail. So do what you have to do, but I want him to be pardoned of his actions, and set free, with as minimal jail time as possible. And by minimum, I mean none at all."

"That one I genuinely will miss," Kennedy said (of course she would).

"Ditto," Fury responded. "And on that note, as much as it pains me to say it, with the current threat dealt with, this task force must now be disbanded. Gonna need those morphers back."

All three of us had a slight pullback, but Grant took it the hardest of all.

"What?" he almost yelped. "That's it? 'Thanks for savin' the world, now gimme my $#!+ back, and get lost?' Really?"

"Did you miss the part where I literally gave you another shot to be on your precious football team again?" Fury calmly responded. "Also, you've got at least half a billion dollars worth of gear on your wrist there, Mr. Jackson. Not even the season of giving could compel me to just let you take that. Besides, you're a shoe in for the Avengers or X-Men. You'll get another suit."

That clearly wasn't the point, Fury was being an asshole, and Grant was bout to tear him a new one. Before this got bad, I set a good example (for once), powered down, detached my morpher, and held it out. Instant silence.

"This suit didn't make me Storm-Lord," I said. "That goes for Geo-Titan and Sunbird too. Everything we need, we already have. So yeah, I can live without the fancy suit."

Fury took my morpher, and put it in his trench coat. Allyson was the next one to power down and relinquish her morpher.

"Eh," she said. "Too much black for my liking anyway."

Fury took her morpher too, and looked at Grant expectantly. Grant held on for a little longer (poor guy), but he eventually softened up, powered down, and gave Fury his morpher.

"You're a punk, Fury," he said. "But ya did me a huge solid, so thanks."

"Thank you, Mr. Jackson." Fury said. "You've got the right stuff. All of you. Please don't become super villains; I really don't need the extra work. And hey, when you graduate, maybe think of a career at S.H.I.E.L.D. You might even get these back. Oh, and on top of your usual rate, ya got ten grand in your bank accounts. Yes, bank accounts that have been made and registered for you. Agent Kennedy?"

She pulled out three individual debit cards (Mom wouldn't be happy I was Wells Fargo) and gave them to us. Allyson had a galaxy on hers, Grant had The Avengers, I had a lion. Fury and Kennedy unceremoniously split afterwards.

"Well that sucked," Grant said.

"Eh," I shrugged. "We need a little downtime anyway. I gotta chill with my mom, and figure out where the hell i'm goin' to school after break. We'll catch up soon, and talk about the hero stuff later."

"Speaking of which," Allyson said as she pulled out her phone. "I'm givin' you two my number, and you better freaking call me!"

"My phone took a dive with the Helicarrier," Grant said.

"Ditto for my iPod and my jackets," I said. "I never got a phone. But I will ASAP."

Allyson sighed (not my fault she was glued to her phone).

"Fine," she said. "At least friend me on Facebook. I know it stopped being cool since our parents figured out how to use it, but it'll help bridge the gap."

"Deal," Grant said.

"Deal," I followed. "As soon as I make a Facebook."

Allyson laughed and gave me a kiss on the cheek. Try as I might, I couldn't stop myself from making it thunder.

"Oh, quick second," Grant said. "Ima go see if I can get some numbers of my own. I mean, might be good to keep in touch with the up and coming heroes, right?"

Me and Allyson shrugged, and Grant went back inside to mingle with the heroes. We held hands, and Allyson rested her head on my shoulder as we talked.

"So when does the whole city re-population thing start?" she asked.

"In about 10 minutes," I said. "My mom comes through an hour after that. Why? I mean, if you wanna be with your family-"

"It's not like that, Bolt Boy!" she laughed at me. "Just wanted to see if you and Grant wanted to fly me home is all!"

Oh….sorry. And yeah, no problem. Uhhh, do you want me to meet your parents?"

"Not now. With all the crap that's been this last week, neither you or them are ready for that step just yet. But make no mistake, Jason Fuller as of 3:21, December 24th 2014, you are my angsty/sparky boyfriend. Now gimme a kiss, hero."

I cupped her face, and pulled her in for a deep, soft kiss. I could feel her heat up a little, and did my best to suppress the thunder, as I savored her soft lips tenderly crashing, retracting, and crashing again on mine. We relished each other's soft moans and gentle caresses for a good 30 seconds, before Grant returned.

"Bad time?" he asked.

"Nah," Allyson said. "That should be enough to tide me over for a while. I was actually gonna ask if you wanted to fly me home with Jason."

"Oh yeah. I was bout to head out too. I'm almost glad I don't have my phone on me, cuz my mom's probably blowin' it the f*(# up! Gimme a sec to grab my autograph book, and we'll head out."

Me and Allyson nodded, and proceeded to enjoy a good minute and a half of cuddling, before Grant came back, and we set out on our way. It woulda took us maybe a minute to fly from New York to Alabama, but we goofed off like crazy! Maybe it was the relief of not havin' to save the world anymore, but I suddenly realized how much fun flying was, as me, Grant, and Allyson had mini-races, did corkscrews and tricks, took selfies (Allyson changed her screensaver to her giving me a mid-air kiss on the cheek) and even created some constructs for a Quidditch game. Hell, when we were actually serious about flying, we were cruising more than anything; tryna savor what felt like our last time together. We did finally arrive at 10,000 feet above Allyson's house, and had a group hug.

"I love you guys," she said, as she gave us both a cheek kiss. "I'm so proud to have been a part of this team. No matter what happens, let's stay together. Let's try and make a real difference in this world that's our job to protect. It's like you said, Jason, everything we need we already have. Delta Force forever?"

"We never did find our name," Grant sucked his teeth.

"We still got time, buddy," I said. "But for old times sake, one last Delta Force?"

I stuck my hand out, and my teammates followed.

"6,4,3, DELTA FORCE!" we shouted, before joining for one last group hug, and letting Allyson fly down to her family.

Grant and I dapped each other up real quick, said our goodbyes, and flew our separate ways home. I was on my own for about three seconds, and already started to miss them. That pit seemed to grow more and more as I arrived home, and sat alone in my room for the first time in a week, waiting for the first transport of civilians to arrive. I filled the void by catching up on my YouTube subs, and finishing my Percy Jackson book for the 100th time. Thank God we stalled flying Allyson home, cuz the wait to pick up my mom was just a little under half an hour. Speaking of which, she was scheduled to be dropped off at Williams Bridge train station. That was literally a nine minute walk from my house, so I waited till the last five seconds before her transport group was scheduled to come in, and zoomed over. Again, me being selfish, I had her at the head of the group, so while everyone was shuffling outta the mini-portal, I ran up to give her a big hug, escort her in a nearby alley, and zoom us both back to our house in Norwood!

"Wow!" she laughed. "You know i'm gonna make you do pickups from Benny's, right?"

"You gon' pay me?" I joked at her.

"If you don't stop right now, boy!"

She playfully slapped me on the shoulder, and it was all I could do not to do a goofy laugh. Despite living with her since I was seven, I never really embraced her as my mom. Now, after all i've been through, it was like meeting her for the first time. I was almost at a loss for words. She seemed to sense my nervousness, and pulled me in for another hug. I felt better immediately. I was with my mom, and everything was gonna be alright.

"So," my mom said, as she pulled away. "Is it over?"

"Yeah," I said unconvincingly. "We beat Doom, no more comet, everything's all good."

"You and your friends gonna be Avengers now?"

"Maybe. Right now we're just taking a break. Oh, me and Allyson are dating now…..so there's that."

"Her folks like black people?"

"Mom!"

"Hey, i'm just sayin'! Ya gotta know these things, baby."

"Well, I mean, I guess they do. I dunno, I ain't met em' yet."

"Ok. Just things you should keep in mind. Now come on, sparky, it's Christmas Eve! We gotta be up all night to get tomorrow's dinner ready! And no powers! Now take a shower, get in your PJ's, and let's get to it!"

"Yes ma'am."

Yeah, that was another one of our things. Christmas Eve and Christmas day had a strict PJ's' only rule. We'd turn the heat up to make it super cozy, played Christmas music all day, watched Christmas specials and movies, and made Caramel Surprise! We had to skip the Christmas specials, but we jammed to Christmas jingles, took plenty of selfies (my mom was surprised when I suggested it), and had two glasses of Caramel Surprise, as we prepared an avalanche of turkey, mac and cheese, meatballs, fried chicken, collards, sweet potato pie, rice, ham, and cherry lemonade for Christmas dinner (oh, my mom's salon friends come over every year). We were never outta each other's sight for more than five minutes, tho I was the one that had to finish up, as she got tired after almost 8 hours of cooking. She put on Elf (great flick) as she crashed on the couch, and after finishing up the jello and Teriyaki Stir fry (we like to diversify Christmas dinners), I grabbed some covers, and crashed on a couch across from her's. Today must've been a real doozy on me, cuz as soon as my face touched the pillow, it was lights out.

When I woke up, mom was just coming down from the bathroom. She rushed down to give me a hug and a kiss on the forehead.

"Merry Christmas, son!" she beamed at me.

"Merry Christmas, mom." I responded. "So nice to wake up without any supervillain threats above my head."

"Don't speak too soon, baby. The Cowboys are playing the Jets today."

"Crap. Dorinda and Ms. Carry."

"Oh yeah. This year came with a strict 'no alcohol' rule. Let's hope for the best. Now, let's pray, and open presents!"

I groaned.

"What's wrong, Jason?" mom asked me.

"The stuff I got you," I said. "I got you a Steven Universe belt, and a set of Hufflepuff gloves and snow cap, but it kinda took a dip in the ocean when Doom trashed the Helicarrier. I'm really sorry, mom."

"Don't worry about it, baby! Everything I need for Christmas, I got right here. Now come on, smile for me. This is a good day!"

That earned a laugh outta me, as we bowed our heads to pray. Soon afterwards, we went upstairs to the spare bedroom (mom put the tree and gifts up there) to open my gifts. I was expecting maybe five gifts to be under the tree at most, but in addition to the longboard and trick board mom got me (thanks mom!), there were ten extra presents under the tree (an all time record)!

"Wow!" mom shouted. "Late night shopping?!"

"Not me," I said.

I moved to pick up one of the presents, and noticed the smallest one had a note card taped to it. It was literally a Hallmark card with Doctor Strange on it, saying: 'May your holidays be filled with magic' (yuck). I opened it, and as if he knew i'd be skeptical, Doctor Strange literally wrote his message in fire that somehow didn't burn the card (was this blasphemy?).

He wrote:

It would be a shame if such nice things were to go to waste. Merry Christmas, Mr. Fuller.

P.S. The world may have need of the Storm-Lord soon.

I didn't dig that last ominous statement, but quickly forgot about it as I opened my first present. It was my iPod! Just as good as the day it fell in the ocean! I kinda scrambled to open the rest of my gifts, and was ecstatic to find my Lakers, Eagles, and Red, Black, and Blue Wild Force jackets! Also my free iPad from the Christmas party! Mom found my gifts to her, and was really happy with them. I gotta admit, I was feeling an odd mix of disappointment and relief that my morpher wasn't here. It was almost kinda confusing, as Strange sent me that cryptic ass message, but I took that as all the more reason to take a step back, and just enjoy being with my mom. Speaking of which, in addition to the boards, she got me an iPhone 6! Apparently I was on her unlimited plan for a while now, but I never asked for a phone once.

"To think," she said. "This was just to help keep in touch when you're out late, and now I might have to monitor you and Allyson."

"Please don't make me install a military grade encryption phone, just to keep you out," I responded.

"I'm not even gon' ask how you can do that. Alright, let's get this food girls will be here in a few."

We spent the rest of the morning setting the table, taking selfies, flipping the TV to the game channel, and when the time came, opened the door for my mom's friends: Dorinda, Ms. Carrie, Felicia, Juanita, and Margaret. The rest of the day went pretty smooth. Dorinda brought baked chicken, Ms. Carrie brought cranberry sauce, Felicia brought Apple pie (she knew I didn't like sweet potato pie much anymore), Juanita bought homemade churros (her churros were the $#!+), and Margaret brought baked potatoes and Uno cards. My mom's friends were happy to see me, and for the fifth time ever, I was happy to see them (they were a bit much to deal with). There were hugs, kisses, and gift exchanges all around. Mom got all her friends gift bags full of Starbucks gift cards, bath stuff, and fancy truffles she totally bought at Wal-Mart. They all got her what she got every year: enough hair dye to last her at least three months! Hell, the girls actually got me some good stuff this year. Dorinda got me the first Eragon book (I was tryna start seriously collecting my favorite book series), Ms. Carrie got me a set of Adidas cologne and body wash (same every year), Felicia got me books 3, 7, and 42 of the Animorphs series (i've never been able to read most of em'), Juanita got me a Battleship board game (always fun), and Margaret got me a Red Mighty Morphin Power Ranger Funko Pop and a Black Panther face mask (first Pop i've ever had, I could take or leave the mask). We all exchanged small talk for a bit, ate dinner, watched the game (The Cowboys beat the Patriots in overtime), and played 3 rounds of Elimination Uno (I won one, Juanita won the other two), before everyone left at around 8:30 P.M. The rest of the night was me and my mom putting food away, cleaning dishes, and planning out our post Christmas shopping spots. Yeah, my mom was all about the super discounts stores offered, after they needed to get rid of the extra $#!+ they didn't wanna shove into inventory. Tomorrow we were gonna hit up all the beauty stores, electronic shops, malls, and eat some good news was that I could just speed us everywhere, so we could save money on trains, cabs, or gas money (mom liked to have multiple options). Before hitting the sack, I made sure to transfer all my data to my new phone, put my books away, and seriously contemplated texting Allyson, until the knots in my stomach beat me into submission, and I punked out.

The next day was actually a lotta fun. I woke up, showered, put on a white T-Shirt, jeans, my Red Wild Force jacket, and my Jordans. Mom wrapped up in a white wool sweater, tye dye snow jacket, heated leggings, and to make me feel all warm and fuzzy, the Hufflepuff gloves and snowcap I got her.

"Ready to go?" I asked her as I came down into the living room.

"I am," she responded. "Where in the world do you think you're going dressed like that?"

"I can survive the freezing depths of the ocean, mom. A little snow and cold won't affect me. So, where we goin' first?"

"Manhattan Beauty. By the way, how's this gonna work? Running me around and all that?"

I walked up to her, turned her around, and grabbed her by the shoulders and the back of her neck (didn't want her to get whiplash). Before she could ask anymore questions, I zoomed us both out the door (vibrated us through it), and into a nearby alley, just a few blocks away from Manhattan Beauty, in a little under a second! Mom did a bit of a Goofy laugh (something that would be a recurring thing), took a few seconds to shake off the slight disorientation, and then lead the way to Manhattan Beauty. I insisted on paying for everything today, and after showing her how good S.H.I.E.L.D. paid, she at least was adamant on paying for the pizza. I agreed, and we basically raided Manhattan Beauty. Mom got more hair dye, make up, shampoo & conditioner, nail polish, perfume, and a new blow dryer. I stocked up on some dread care products (i'm pretty minimalist). We exited the shop with enough beauty products to stock a small startup salon, and ducked in an abandoned alley. Not gonna lie, I really didn't wanna make three trips to carry all this $#!+ back to the house, so I experimented with taking one back via Static Jump. After confirming that doing a Static Jump doesn't shred any of the material, I teleported back, and carried the other twenty bags (not joking) back to the house spare bedroom.

"God, I wish you got your powers sooner," Mom laughed as I teleported back.

"Is that all I am now?" I joked back as I set her up for another sprint to Hip Hop Closet. "Your personal grocery boy?"

"That's not all you are. But I sure do appreciate it!"

I laughed, and zoomed us near Hip Hop Closet. We were only there for like 10 minutes, as I had Jimmy set up the Yellow, White, and Wolf Ranger Wild Force leather jackets for me in the printers, paid for them up front, and went back out to zoom me and mom to the Manhattan Mall. I was more active this time around on shopping, as I got myself some new shoes, pants, shirts, sunglasses, and a case for my phone (phones are practically naked without cases). Mom basically spent the whole day in Spencers and Hot Topic, getting every superhero snapback/T-Shirt, Rick and Morty PJ's, decorative cat ears (must be a new phase), and Snorlax slippers. We ended up with so many bags, I had to make trips to the house with every store. After the mall, I stopped by Hip Hop Closet to pick up my jackets. Afterwards, I took mom to see The Force Awakens (she was into Star Wars more than me). As someone who's not a Star Wars guy, I really liked it. I'm excited for the sequel, and may give the franchise another chance. Anyway, after the movie, I zoomed me and mom near Best Pizza. We sat at our usual window booth table. Mr. Tony was happy to see her again (I swear he had a thing for her), and even spotted us some free hot wings (love that guy). We ordered our usual: two large pizzas, one supreme, one meat lovers, and two 2 liters of sprite. As we waited on our food, mom dropped a bit of a bombshell. My school (which Magneto trashed) was gonna have to be repaired, and construction would last through the summer. I'd have to be transferred to another school for the next semester. The good news was I had a voucher to attend any public school I wanted in the city.

"So, any idea where you want to go?" she asked me.

"Wherever," I shrugged.

"Really? Would it kill you to show some interest in your education?"

"I'm an expert on Quantum Mechanics, Engineering, Theoretical, Nuclear, and Particle Physics, mom. At this point, i'm just riding out the rest of school. Good news is I figured out what I wanna do."

"Really? Go on."

"I wanna be an inventor more or less. Me being exposed to all manner of advanced tech that the big guys are just sitting on didn't sit right with me. So much stuff that could make people's lives better in intercities, impoverished countries, and so on, just wasted. It blows my mind how dudes like Stark have so much, but don't do a lot with it, even with the consideration of their tech being used for evil. I wanna change the world for the better. Not with my fists, but with my brain and drive. And hey, there are worse things than making millions on the side."

Mom was beaming at me. It was…..strange. Don't get me wrong, my mom was the poster girl of positive reinforcement, but i've never seen her smile at me this way. She took my hand, and squeezed it.

"I'm so proud of you, Jason," she said. "Just…..so proud."

I lowered my head in slight embarrassment, but was grateful for her words. Anyway, the pizza came a few minutes later, and we ate, drank, and talked about the movie, possible schools I could transfer to (she was set on somewhere in Queens), some ideas for inventions I wanted to develop, Grant and Allyson, and other stuff. I was actually getting pretty lost in the conversation, until I heard the current news segment on the TV (Tony replaced the one I shattered). I used my airbending to mash the volume button up, until I could hear it better.

"Reports are now coming in that The Avengers and The Fantastic Four are responding to violent unrest in Latveria, the home of deceased Victor Von Doom," said the blonde reporter. "Details are still sketchy, but it has been verified that a mysterious successor to Doom's throne and resources, going by the name Victorious, has mobilized an attack force against the United States. Her transmission was received by S.H.I.E.L.D., who delayed the declaration from the rest of the world, in order to assemble a preemptive attack against the self proclaimed 'Lord Empress of Latveria'. We go now to her statement."

The screen went to an all black screen that just had a picture of Doom's mask on it, and a woman with a thick Romanian-esque accent started talking.

"Heroes of America," she started. "Today, you have stolen the greatest hope our people had for true prosperity. Victor Von Doom was the one true savior of our race, and in your arrogance and stupidity, you cut his glorious reign down before it could begin. I, Victorious, First of her name, Lord Empress of Latveria, Doom's Justice, and the Cosmic Centurion, will not let such an affront go unpunished. I will raze your land to dust, destroy every false image you've convinced your sheep of a nation into erecting in your 'honor, and one will finish what All-Father Doom started. To the upstarts that actively opposed, and personally murdered Lord Doom, your day of reckoning will come as well. Doom will be revenged!"

A little bit of thunder sounded off, as I could feel my blood boil at one of Doom's lackeys calling me out. Mom took my hand again.

"You ok?" she asked me; her face heavy with worry.

"I'm fine," I responded. "If little miss Doom Jr. wants a piece, she can catch these bolts whenever."

Mom laughed at me, and we continued to eat. We wrapped up in ten minutes, paid the bill, and boxed up our leftovers. Just as we were about to leave, my Speed Sense went off like an avalanche! It was like a hurricane was all around me! I couldn't even figure out where the hell it was coming from! That problem eventually solved itself, as two things happened. First off, I sensed a massive surge of Olympus Force, like enough to fry a good chunk of Manhattan, literally covering all of Ryker's Island (prison in East River, between Bronx and Queens)! Before I could even figure out how to respond, a dome of Olympus Force energy covered all of New York, boxing us in! Something big was goin down, and I had to get my mom to safety. I quickly got her into an alley, and zoomed her to Juanita's apartment in Manhattan (no way I was takin' her home, near Rykers).

"Jason?!" mom asked me.

"I dunno!" I responded. "I dunno, but ya gotta stay here!"

"Jason-"

"Get inside! Stay here! Don't leave for anything! I gotta figure this out!"

"No, Jason!"

She grabbed my arm, and tried to hold me with all her strength. It took everything I had to tear her away.

"I gotta go," I said; giving her a hug before I backed away. "I'll call you. I'll be alright, I promise, but I gotta go. I love you. I'll see you soon. Just…just get inside. Stay safe."

I zoomed away, as the irony of my statement hit me in the head. Rykers was still on fire, and my mind was racing with a million questions. Was this Doom? Victorious? The Shadow Gods? I was so filled with a mix of rage, fear, and confusion, but my main concern right now was getting a suit. Really missed my morpher right now, but I had to make do. I ran back to my house, put on my Black Panther mask (can't believe this became important), and replaced my leather jacket with a gray hoodie, before zooming out into the streets. I took up a vantage point on a random apartment complex in The Bronx. First thing I tried to do was call Allyson. Dunno how her folks would feel about me calling her to another battle, but I needed some backup here. Didn't matter anyway, cuz the Olympus Force barrier was jamming contacts to and from New York! Everyone inside could still talk to each other (mom was blowin' up my phone), but getting help from the outside was a no go. As if it couldn't get worse, The Hood (what a punk ass) projected a giant version of himself above Rykers, and started runnin' his mouth.

"What's Up New York?!" he shouted. "Hope everyone had a great Christmas! Hugged the family, exchanged gifts, had some turkey, kissed someone under the mistletoe! But the new year is coming with some big changes! See, Doom promised us…..undesirables that we'd be running this whole show by now. As you can see, that didn't work out. Don't worry about ol' Hood though. I always find a way to land on my feet. Before, I was a small timer. Weapons smuggling, hits on important political figures, human trafficking, bounty hunting fools who thought they could skip out on soul debts they owed; jobber work. Doom, f*(# em', never liked his ass anyway, gave me a taste of the big time. And ya know what, I f*(#!% want it all! You heard it here first, folks, The Hood is gonna be king of the whole damn planet, starting with New York City! Sure, you may think I don't got the power to back that up, but like I said, I always land on my that magical energy lying about had to go somewhere, and what better way for me to use it, than to supply a whole damn army I run! From the gangs and street thugs of New York, to top tier ninja $#!+ with The Hand! Hell, tonight's little performance will be a little bit of a showcase for some potential buyers I got lined up! As of right now, The Hood is the law! Though that does seem to make the boys in blue a little repetitive, eh? Take care of that, crew."

Reality shifted (i'm starting to hate that), and I suddenly found myself surrounded by five dudes. One of em' was like if Brawl (Decepticon from the first Transformers movie) was human size, with War Force surging through him. Based on his readings, via the Power Grid, this wasn't a suit. It was just the guy! The other one of note was this total edgelord that was made of Death Force charged living shadow, in the shape of the Grimm Reaper, with a Death Force scythe made of damned souls (ok, that was pretty cool). The other three dudes were normal, but had magic weapons. There was a black guy with God Steroid Power Gauntlets (more or less), a white dude with an Apollo Fire Gatling gun, and a Hispanic chick with a Zeus Lightning Machete! They eyed me suspiciously, as me wearing a Black Panther mask was probably sending the wrong message.

"The hell?" the black guy asked. "The f*(# is this dude? He ain't one of our squad."

"Looks like a Dollar General Black Panther!" the mini Brawl metallically laughed.

"That it, dude?" the Hispanic chick said as she hefted her machete. "You tryna be a hero? Better go home while you can."

I didn't like being talked down to, and was gettin' ready to smoke these fools, but got momentarily distracted by the 52nd Precinct blowing the f*(# up! I heard similar explosions across The Bronx, and sensed even more going off all across the city! Hood really wasn't messin' around! Before my would be attackers (chumps) could jump me, I let loose three non-lethal Phantom Bolts to take out the normal ones. Before the others could react, I went into Thunder Form 2, smashed right through mini Brawl as a lightning bolt, and reformed my body on a nearby building. Grimm Reaper didn't take too kindly to me thrashing his buddies, and flew at me with a good amount of speed, but absolutely no control. I flipped over him, pelted him from the side with a Phantom Bolt, and crashed him into the pavement with another one from above! Grimm Reaper quickly rose to my height, his cape billowing like a dark bonfire, and his scythe raised for the 'kill'. I quickly created a mini vortex ball in my hand, and launched it into his chest. The result was a vortex ball sucking him in from the inside out! Brutal, I know, but I didn't have time to play nice. Hell, this wasn't' even enough to off him, as I had to literally launch him into the barrier to blow him up. If it wasn't obvious to the surrounding thugs that I was a good guy, it sure as hell was now, as my Speed Sense picked up hundreds of blasts comin' my way! I couldn't leave the building I was standing on to get blown to hell, so I covered it in an electric barrier. I followed that up by using a series of Phantom Bolts to pick off my attackers, use airbending to launch their weapons into the barrier (my makeshift furnace), and zoom off into the thick of the fight!

I knew i'd get nowhere just runnin' around and thrashing dudes (tho I did plenty of that), so first thing I did was run through every inch of New York, getting a mental note of where all the precincts were, while taking out a good chunk of thugs, escaped convicts, and worst of all, escaped supervillains, who were supposed to be on The Raft! Yeah, Hood really wasn't bluffing! With this much firepower on his side, and most of the heavy hitters on the superhero side not even in the state (God I missed my friends), he really did have the deck stacked in his favor to take the city, if our defense lagged too much. The good news was the heroes we did have on deck were already out and about, puttin; their best foot forward. Spider-Man was in an armored version of his suit, complete with glowing blue-green eyes, and a spider that had that same glow around it on his chest. He was fighting his heart out, flipping, kicking, punching, and dodging for his life. I woulda stopped to help him, but in addition to his mad fighting skills, he was letting loose a wave of spider drones that blasted taser blasts, web grenades, and electric, high impact, and incendiary webs. He also had help in the form of Mockingbird, She-Hulk, Rogue, and Gambit. That was also a strategy weak spot on our part. Pretty much all the heroes were based in Manhattan. Bronx, Staten, Long Island, and Queens (usually Spidey's turf) were virtually defenseless, as the cops were dead in the water (which I was only halfway sorry about). Not to worry, I had a plan for that. After making an in depth trip around New York, I tried calling in an army of cloud nymphs and Venti (they were both on my side now) down to act as a defensive network around the precincts, and act as an extra measure in protecting and moving civilians outta danger. Just one problem: that damn dome kept them from getting inside! Okaaay, Plan B. I did another round to the precincts, and placed clouds on them, thick enough to cover the buildings. So rather than a glorious cavalry charge from above, reinforcements came in from bottlenecked positions. Not ideal, but I had to make due. With my bases covered, I was finally able to dig in and get my hands dirty.

Bronx was first (hometown trumps all), as I systematically took out Hood's goons via speeding punches and Phantom Bolts. Hell, most of the fighting was handled without me needing to lay a finger on any of em', as I was able to use the Power Grid to pick off 70% of my enemies, who couldn't even see me most of the time, with Phantom Bolts. Hell, when you count all the K.O.'s my nymphs/Venti did for me, it rounded up to 80%. So yeah, I was able to get The Bronx under control in a good ten minutes. It wasn't my most challenging fight, but some of my noticeable kills included a Molten Man (not the Spier-Man one) made of Apollo fire, who I trashed by unleashing a water spiral on top of him, and turning him to a statue. I also trashed a dude's giant Death Force powered Cerberus mech with a lightning strike, and had to kill a guy with a fucking Nethertrench trident, via throwing my Sea Force charged trident into his neck. That last one freaked me out, as this was the last straw I needed to truly comprehend how crazy Hood was. Anyway, Bronx cleanup went smoothly. The only crappy part was that all the defeated goons that I didn't kill got teleported back to Rykers (ironic), so they'd be back. I was able to salvage that by constantly trashing their gear on the barrier. After picking up one of their comms, to keep track of enemy movements, I ran over to get Queens situated. It was pretty hilarious, as these dude's were freaking the f*(# out!

"YO!" someone said in the group chat. "WHO DA F*(# TRASHED BRONX SQUAD?! WHY THE F*(# ARE THESE CLOUD BITCHES SWARMIN' AROUND?!

"PROBABLY THAT STORM BITCH! YA KNOW, FROM THE X-MEN?!"

"THAT BITCH CAN'T MAKE CLOUD PEOPLE, F*(# HEAD!"

"MIGHTA BEEN ONE OF HAMMERHEAD'S BOYS! CAN'T TRUST MAFIA, MAN!"

"HE'S OVER IN QUEENS NOW! 104TH PRECINCT! HE'S GOT SUPER SPEED, AND STORM POWERS! FORM UP AND CAP HIS ASS!"

Damn. I was havin' so much fun thrashing Queens squad, I got careless, and left myself open! The good news was that I had every thug, villain, and Hand ninja comin' my way. That gave my other nymph/Venti squads time to bulk up on their defense. Hell, as the army started to close in around me (the real kicker of getting pinned down in the middle of a city), my cloud army was able to pick off a good chunk of em'. I used the Power Grid to incinerate a decent wave of em' (the gloves were off right now), and was a human bug zapper for the incoming thugs, but those damn Hand Ninjas killed my vibe, as a good two dozen of em' just teleported around me, and went ham!

One of em' almost took my head off with a giant Zeus Lightning charged shuriken, but I side flipped over it, controlled the lightning around the shuriken, and shredded a good dozen Hand Ninjas in one fell swoop! For every ninja I shredded, three more took their place, and my existence was basically me keeping up a series of Phantom Bolt buffers. The Hand ninjas were definitely annoying, but easy enough to deal with, as I toasted all the ones who didn't have some kinda Zeus Lightning weapon. The ones that had said weapons, absorbed my bolts into their weapons of choice, and thus could get close enough for an actual fight. Hell, they were quick enough to where I had to put up a decent amount of effort to fend them off, but with a mix of Static Jumps, my predictive brain, and some lightning sword and shield constructs, I hacked them into pieces. Yeah, it wasn't pretty. Anyway, I had the ground on lock, and was keeping a fragile hold on the periphery only problem was that the bad guys kept amping up the fire power! First, I fried a squad of machine/Tommy gun users, then had to use the Power Grid to isolate Olympus Force charged rockets in lightning domes so the surrounding buildings wouldn't get blown up. worst of all, had to stop an armada of f*(#!^& tanks and drones! This was honestly one of the most intense training level fights i'd ever been in! The good news was that all the fighting drew a lotta bad guys in, who really shoulda been concerned with the rising amount of storm spirits in Queens. While the bad guys were surrounding me, all it took was one mental command to get my storm army to ambush them in the same way they thought they were gonna ambush me! With Queen's now stable enough for the nymphs/Venti to take over, I ran over to Brooklyn, expecting the same treatment, but props to Hood's crew; they were smarter than they looked.

"HE'S IN BROOKLYN!" a chick shouted in the comms. "CLOSE THE GATE!"

'Closing the gate' was worse than I thought, as the entirety of Brooklyn got locked under a cage of black lightning, that completely cancelled out my nymphs/Venti, and made me feel like I was in a damn microwave! Seriously, this thing musta been some kinda anti-lightning, cuz every nerve of my body felt like someone was cooking me under a giant magnifying glass!

"GOT EM'!" the chick continued (she deserved a promotion). "SEND IN THE RUNNERS!"

I wanted to laugh at how she called speedsters 'runners', but the laughs ended when I sensed over four dozen speedsters closing in on me (I really gotta stop setting up shop in the middle)! They were all powered by the Anti-Lightning, and with how this cage was preventing me from tapping into SMS, that was a massive red flag incoming! I experimented with my powers to see what cards I still had in the deck, and breathed a sigh of relief when I realized I could still use the Sea Force, and tap into Thunder God, which wasn't affected at all by the Anti-Lightning! I feigned weakness as the Anti-Lightning speedsters closed in on me, and busted into Thunder God as they got too close to change course! I shot them up with a huge gust of wind, mixed my Thunder God powers with a $#!+ ton of Sea Force, and after summoning my trident, created a torrent of Zeus Lightning charged water spikes, and impaled a good dozen of em' before they even hit the ground! As the speedsters closed in, I hunkered down inside a water dome and kept shooting out lightning charged water spikes! My body count quickly rose into the 100+ territory, as the speedsters kept zooming in! It did eventually get to the point where the Anti-Lightning speedsters were starting to pile up, and had to blast a path clear to get some room. I imagine they thought they had me, now that I wasn't safe in my bubble, but literally five seconds out here proved what I knew to be true: these guys weren't trained! I ran circles around em', using tight corners, alleyways, rooftops, and phasing tactics to hack these guys to pieces, and smash them into walls! In another five minutes, my kill count got so high, I don't like to think about it even now. Still, for all the blood I had on my hands (literally), it was pretty funny to hear the chat straight up lose their $#!+.

"DAMMIT!" the chick roared. "SEND MORE RUNNERS! SEND EM' ALL!"

"WE AIN'T GOT NO MORE RUNNERS!" a dude responded.

"THE FUCK DO YOU MEAN WE AIN'T GOT NO MORE RUNNERS?!"

"WHAT I SAID, BITCH! WE USED UP ALL OUR RUNNERS! WHO DA FUCK IS THIS DUDE ANYWA-...OOOOOOO! HE'S BOUT TO BE TOAST! DROP THE GATE! MOLTEN MAN INCOMING!"

This dude must've been the biggest Molten Man fanboy on the planet, and for what it's worth, Spidey's D-List villain got a major boost! As the barrier dropped (which thankfully ended my skin crawling), the winter air went straight to 110 degrees, as Molten Man (think discount Human Torch) dropped from the sky as a giant lava/War Force missile! At the speed and power he was comin' in, the dude was gonna blow a hole where this neighborhood used to be, so I summoned my trident, and shot the biggest Sea Force charged water spiral I could up at him! The water torrent cooled him down just enough for him to reform his body 30 meters away from me (we made one hell of a public sauna), and I immediately knew I had to keep him from amping up. This dude didn't care about collateral, and with my Thunder Sense picking up hundreds in the area, I had to wrap this $#!+ up quick!

As Molten Man changed his arms to rocket launchers, I willed the water to double, and shot another Sea Force charged water spiral at him, just as his missile barrage went off. Our attacks just barely cancelled each other out in dulled, steamy explosions, and I went to work creating a three-pronged spell seal. My spells of choice were: More ./|.(_)-._ to keep multiplying the water, Drain ]_)/.'|-. to siphon off Molten Man's War Force, and Boost |...().-_.| to strengthen my attacks. I wrapped a good chunk of water around myself, reshaped it into Swift, from Angel Wars (that was a good series!), and smacked Molten Man across the pavement with a hard blow from my giant hammer construct (Thunder God mixes really well with Sea Force)! Molten Man recovered, changed his arms into Gatling guns, and opened fire on me from 400 meters back! I sprouted huge wings from my back, constructed a giant Roman shield to cover my front, and dashed for Molten Man head on! My shield was just strong enough to keep the bullets from ricocheting off to the surrounding buildings, and I started to close the gap on Molten Man. Lava Boy was starting to get antsy, but before he could do something stupid, I used the Power Grid to make an inverted blastwave crash into him! With Molten Man slightly off-balance, I turned the dials up to 112, and slammed a wave of water into him! As I kept at the attack with several hammer strikes, spinning wing attacks, and trident slashes, I used the steadily building amount of water to smash Sea Force charged water spirals, sharks, swordfish, Ripjaws, warrior mermaids, and kamikaze squids into Molten Man! He tried to fight back, but every blast he got off was instantly kneecapped by the constant waves and constructs I was lobbing at him. Five minutes later, my Sea Force spell drained Molten Man of all his War Force. A swift Vibration Punch to the head (didn't know the dude had metal skin) knocked him down for the count, but before I could celebrate, my Speed Sense went off, and I just barely got outta the way as a dude materialized behind me in a flash of Anti-Lightning, and almost gutted me with an Anti-Lightning sword construct! I recovered outta my forward roll, but wasn't quick enough to avoid getting kicked in the chest with a running drop kick so hard, I skipped 400 meters across the pavement (ouch), and crashed into a police car! My Speed Sense managed to keep up this time around, and I just barely dodged the dude tryna vertically slice me in half! This time I got up a Zeus Lightning shield to block his next kick, and after he made impact, I slammed him point blank with a power blast; launching him half a mile back! This dude made it abundantly clear that he was not one to take lightly, as he launched me into the sky via Anti-Lightning geyser, did a Static Jump just above me, power blasted me to the ground again, and before I faceplanted into the asphalt, the dude materialized in perfect position to give me a twisting side kick across my face, smashing half of my Black Panther mask (which I got really attached to for some reason), and sending me careening from Cambria Heights, and Halfway to Queen's village! The dude did his teleporting trick again, but I used the Power Grid to sense him, twisted my body accordingly, constructed a Zeus Lightning thunderbolt in my hands, and rammed it straight to the chest!

Two things. Number one: This was f*(#!^% Electro! Yeah, apparently spreading his atoms apart was nothin' a good night's sleep couldn't cure, cuz he looked just as good as new! Number two: Stabbing him in the chest didn't kill , big shocker, but attacks that should totally kill people, don't seem to work on the bosses. Still, my Zeus Lightning to him was what Anti-Lightning was to me! Electro's body vibrated and convulsed like crazy, as my thunderbolt made his atoms go crazy, but he was able to get me off him via Anti-Lightning blast from his eyes; which I just barely dodged! Before he could build up any momentum, I clapped my hands together, and launched him backwards with an intense blast of voltage charged air! As soon as he landed just a block away, I trapped him in a Zeus Lightning tesla sphere! I managed to hold Electro inside for a good ten seconds, but he busted out with an explosive wave from inside (just enough to break out, but not cause any damage), and made a mad dash for me! I was willing my body to stay on high alert at this point, so Electro's attacks weren't as blindsiding anymore, but still more than fast enough to where I had to work for it. At the moment,I was able to time his attack just right, and get him under the chin with a backflip kick. I recycled the momentum into a Vibration drop kick, adding a Zeus Lightning bolt shooting outta my feet, and Static Jump with him; a Zeus Lightning thunderbolt primed for another stab! Electro was fast on the recovery tho, and had an Anti-Lightning shield ready to block my strike. He quickly changed his shield to Anti-Lightning sabers, and did a Static Jump just behind me! My Thunder Sense was too sharp to get tripped up by that, and after ducking under Electro's wide swing, I spun around and got him in the ribs with a spinning slash, before blasting him backwards with a Zeus Lightning supercharged ball of storm cloud, rotating at 300 mph, about the size of my hand, which officially dub the Vortex Rasengan! Electro went flying backwards, and I showed him how to do a proper Static Jump attack, as I teleported in front of him, and after quickly stabbing him in the gut, teleported all around him, and stabbed him full of holes! Electro was dead in the water, as he couldn't seem to sense/predict where i'd land, and even when he managed to block one of my strikes, I just stabbed or slashed him somewhere (his sword fighting skills left a lot to be desired), and kept up my teleport attacks! After a solid minute of being a pin cushion, Electro flipped $#!+, teleported away, and after disappearing into the grid for like ten seconds, popped up sky high, surrounded by an insane surge of Anti-Lightning around him! He was freaking the f*(# out, as he brought down the thunder on me so hard, I had to run up and down all of New York, just to make sure his voltage rage quit didn't trash a certain part of the city too much!

"YOU REMEMBER ME, YA LITTLE PUNK?!" he roared at me, as he kept blasting wave after wave of lightning at me. "HOW YA RIPPED ME APART, AND SCATTERED ME ACROSS THE EARTH! YOU GOT ANY IDEA HOW PAINFUL THAT IS KID?! YOU GOT ANY IDEA HOW MUCH IT HURTS TO PULL YOURSELF BACK TOGETHER FROM NOTHIN'?! I'M GONNA-"

'Kill you', 'f*(# you up', 'destroy everything you care about,' and a whole bunch of other totally original bad guy speak, but thank God I remembered a trick I had up my sleeve! See, my three pronged spell seal was still up and running! This whole time it had just been sitting in the Sea Force, absorbing energy into itself! I pulled that energy to me, absorbed it into myself, and overcharged every atom of my cells with Sea Force! I was coursing with so much power, it hurt! I didn't know how long my body could sustain this, so I had to make the most of it. That brings me to interrupting Electro's speech. I ran until we got over a stretch of water, poured on a crazy amount of speed, and just before I hit the barrier, did a Static Jump behind Electro, flew straight through his Anti-Lightning barrier, and slammed him into the barrier with a Vibration Punch! Before he could move, I created a Zeus Lightning/Sea Force dagger, overcharged it as much as possible, and threw it into Electro's back! This time, I made sure to keep a mental hold on the construct, and willed it to pulsate energy through Electro's body! The dude's form went haywire, and there was no way he was gonna be able to do any more Static jumps, so I summoned my trident (I gotta name this someday) and let loose the fury of the sky and sea!

We're talkin' an entire thunderstorm's worth of Zeus Lightning, Sea Force charged waves big enough to topple skyscrapers, water spirals, sea animal constructs, the whole 9 yards! Electro was havin' a $#!+ time right now, as I was relentless in my attacks, but even with my disruptor dagger in his back, he managed to dig deep and blast his way free with a Final Flash level power blast from outta nowhere! I just barely had time to Static Jump outta the way, but Electro was not havin' it, and made a beeline for me! He blasted a pretty sizable barrage of Anti-Lightning bolts at me to cover his entry, but I blocked em' with a Zeus Lightning barrier, and when he failed to punch through it, I knocked him upside the head with a Vibration Punch! Electro went flying halfway to Manhattan, and I kept up the momentum with a series of Phantom Bolts, bullet trains, Cannonbolts, and Ultimate Spider Monkey Sea Force/Zeus Lightning constructs! I almost pushed him into the other side of the barrier, but Electro managed to keep his cool, blast me outta the sky, and through several skyscrapers on the way down! I crash landed in Queens, and had just enough time to get back on my feet as Electro came down with an Anti-Lightning Rasengan (this dude needed to get his own style)! I trapped him in a Zeus Lightning tesla sphere before he could descend below skyscraper height, cutting his momentum to a halt. Again, Electro was havin' none of it, as he managed to blastwave his way free, and charge me again. This time, I simply Static Jumped to his side, and tackled him head on. We spent a good five minutes beating the ever living $#!+ outta each other every which way! Our favorite dance was to smack each other around New York DBZ style! Granted, Electro wasn't anywhere near as good as me. Even tho we exchanged a minimum of 500 hits and kicks per second, I was outpacing him 5 to 1 in hits that connected. Props to him tho, cuz he made every hit count! Whenever either one of us knocked each other outta the sky, the battle would shift to boots on the ground running, as we dashed back and forth across the city, scaling skyscrapers, and dashing in and outta tight corners as we blasted and punched at each other. Electro was good enough to keep up on this front, but was clearly a flyer, as he wasn't able to land a single blow, while I nailed him at least 600 times in two minutes! Electro quickly got tired of that, and took to the skies again, where we entered Power Grid construct fighting. Basically, Electro would form Phantom Bolts, swords, axes, other Sinister Six members, etc. around me, and tried to bombard me from all sides. I blocked his constructs with Zeus Lightning shields, and countered with Ben 10 aliens, mythical creatures, and G1 Transformers. This was the final L in Electro's fight with me, as his basic constructs couldn't keep up with mine. Still, for all the battles I was winning, I was losing the war. Electro and I battled across New York for a good six minutes, and while I was dishin' out most of the hits, he was takin' em' like a champ. Even worse, I was runnin' outta steam! My body couldn't maintain Thunder God and the overload of Sea Force for much longer, and my power level was starting to drop like a rock! I figured I only had a good three minutes left until I was a sitting duck, and hastily came up with a plan to finish Electro before time ran out.

I fought him back and forth around the city a few more times, opting to keep the fight strictly physical, as I channeled more and more energy into the disruptor dagger still lodged in his back. Once time clicked down to a minute and a half, I had Electro chase me until we reached the lower bay off the coast of Staten, and then willed the disruptor dagger to explode! Billions of volts of Zeus Lightning/Sea Force surged though Electro's body, and I willed that energy to increase and expand inside him, as I ripped him apart (I was feelin' the rage at the moment)! Electro screamed and fought, and our respective energies created a violent tesla sphere that steadily grew, until it was in danger of reaching Staten and Brooklyn! Despite how much the Anti-Lightning stung (like someone peeled my skin off, and dumped me in acid), I managed to shoot Electro into the energy dome top with a water spiral as big as an F4 tornado! Electro's fluctuating body was starting to break down, as the feedback from our respective energies, as well as the dome, were finally overloading his body! Still, I could feel Electro starting to fight! If he got back in the fight, i'd never get another chance to take him out, so I summoned my trident, and went all or nothing! This was gonna take a nasty bite outta my energy, assuming the effort didn't kill me, but I used my Thunder God/Sea Force power to charge my F4 level spiral blast with the spirit of an electric eel! First off, Zeus Lightning worked pretty well with Sea Force! It acted as a temporary boost that instantly filtered itself outta the Sea Force when it was done! So yeah, I accidentally struck a winning combo! From there it was just a matter of twirling my trident overhead, as the electric eel spirit powered the water spiral. Once it hit full capacity (with five seconds to spare), I put everything I had into ramping up the spiral blast, and succeeded in shredding Electro into atoms! Oh, and then my energy plummeted to rock bottom, and I sunk into the bay. It was a good thing I could breathe water, cuz it was lights out for me.

I groggily woke up some however long later in some kinda lab. I heard people talking just a few feet away from my bed, and when my vision cleared up, I could see Storm and Spider-Man talking frantically.

"He's been unconscious for over 4 hours, Spider-Man!" Storm hissed. "You're the big brain! Can you help or not?!"

"First, please don't go all sparky, Ro," Spider-Man responded. "My phone's charging right under my chest piece, and I didn't get the extended warranty. Second, this guy's been damaged down to the cellular level. Even if Reed had a device down here precise enough to operate at that level, I didn't go to school for subatomic surgery. Look, my scans are showing his cells are healing on their own. If we mess with that process, there's no telling what might happen."

"I'm fine y'all," I said (they really had no idea I was up the whole time) "Well not fine. I feel like $#!+. Still, I'm alive. Who fished me outta the bay?"

Storm caught me, as I tried to stand, but ended up almost faceplanting into the floor. Her and Spidey sat me back on the bed, and gave me the rundown on what's been down since I was out. First off, Ms Marvel found me floating in the bay, and fished me out. She was teaming up with Spidey to stop a squad of goons tryna retake Brooklyn. Yeah, with me unconscious, my cloud nymphs and Venti evaporated. Still, I gave the heroes enough breathing room to coordinate, and make a plan of attack. We didn't have much to work with, but Spider-Man, Wolverine, and Storm organized a series of shifts to keep the bad guys at bay, while also assuring the heroes didn't fight themselves to death. We were also using safehouses established by Stark, Richards, and Fury, hidden in under the subway system. The safehouse I was in (just me) was an emergency tech storage established by Stark, and Richards, in case they ever needed to go on the run. I was lying in some state of the art medical bed that kept my body from deteriorating, as it tried to heal itself. Still, things weren't lookin' so hot. No communications in or out of the city, and according to some feed from the bad guys, a whole lotta Olympus Tech (why do the bad guys always get the good $#!+) was being sold to A.I.M, Hydra, Hammer Tech, and other bad guys who would most likely want a piece of the Big Apple pie. Unless we got some reinforcements soon, it would just be a matter of time until Hood took over the city.

"Well," I shrugged. "Guess I better get back to it."

Storm sat me down without even looking at me.

"Yeaaaah," Spider-Man said. "I don't think the lightning lady agrees with that. Besides, it's gonna be another 3 hours until you're in fighting shape."

"So I just do nothing?! Dude, my city, OUR CITY, is being taken over! No disrespect, but until we get backup, IF we get backup, i'm the best player on the whole roster! Wait! Mom! I gotta call-"

I pulled out my phone, but my spirit deflated as soon as I saw the fried beyond repair piece of glass and metal (with some irreversible water damage for good measure).

"Nice to know you've got the humble part down," Spidey joked. "And if you want something to do, look around. I didn't just drop you off in the most secure science center in all of New York so we could watch reruns of Friends, dude. You need a new suit. I'd offer you a spare, but my other good suits are still at the cleaners. Not to worry. We got all the bells and whistles here, bud. We even got an almanac i'm sure the guys wouldn't totally mind if an unstable teenager with anger issues and the power of a god reads through. So yeah, while I go back out there and be the…...I dunno, third string line up, get your Storm-Prince on."

He jumped away, and exited the compound before I could tear his ear off.

"By the way," Storm said. "You can do more than just make a new suit. We've managed to organize a schedule, but we're still virtually aimless. We'll need to establish vantage points, perimeters, a communication unit, and a way to keep the civilians fed and safe."

"Pretty sure the bunkers have some kinda way of communicating with each other," I said. We can start there, and use commlinks with secure channels. We need to see how far the rot has spread, and establish some kinda homebase in one of the cities above, and clear the bad guys out from there. I know Iron Fist is filthy rich. If he buys all the food places in New York, we can establish food routes to the civilians. Hell, I can see some standard issue suits over in the corner. If we have enough, we can temporarily arm the cops enough to actually stand a fighting chance."

I must've put some venom in that last statement, cuz Storm eyed me curiously.

"Not fond of the police?" she asked me.

"Are you?" I responded.

"No."

"There's your answer. But they may be a necessary evil in making sure the bad guys don't get a foothold in any of the cities. As soon as we fight our way outta this mess, the weapons go bye bye."

"Agreed. I'll leave you to work, Jason. I wish it was under better circumstances, but it is good to see you again."

"Ditto. Hey, how am I supposed to work if I can't move off this bed? Is there some kinda hover chair nearb-"

The bed was apparently sentient, and literally restructured itself as a hover chair around my body!

"I gotta get one of these!" I geeked out.

Storm laughed, wished me luck, and left the compound to start her shift. It kinda sucked being by myself, but time really did fly with all the work I had to do.

First off, I got in contact with the five other bases that were occupied. Luke Cage was in charge of Manhattan, Spider-Man was in charge of Queens (of course), Cloak and Dagger had Brooklyn, Moon Knight had Staten , and Wolverine had Bronx. After getting our heads together to figure out what we were working with, I was actually surprised to see how many fighters we already had on the ground. Some of our big guns included: Ghost Rider (the motorcycle one), Colossus, She-Hulk, Blue Marvel, and Ant-Man. Alright, so we could hold the line at least. Next order of business was protecting and feeding civilians. Luke brought up the idea of relocating the civilians underground, but even if we could keep a clear and consistent path down to the Microverse safe houses (cuz we had those), it would be too dangerous to move them in an active war zone, and way too difficult to get em' out once we wrapped this up. I put forth my plan, and after a bit of debate on the subject, we put it to a vote. I won 3-2 (Luke and Wolverine voted against me). Iron Fist was totally down to buy literally all the food in New York (the dude kinda resented the fact that he was rich), and as it turned out, we already had a way of delivering it out in rations. One thing Pym had developed a few years ago was micro supply trucks that could fly undetected, shrink, keep, and organize a continent's worth of stuff, and project it back out! I got to work organizing the food acquisition, rationing, zoning, and redistribution protocols. Hell, I got all the local businesses in on it, who would profit decently from this, so pat on the back for me. We had enough food to last a little over a week, but we had to blow this dome and fast. We didn't have any way of communicating with the outside, so we had to go on hope that the heroes not in New York were working on something, but I did start a frequency canceler in the shop. Only problem is it would take two weeks to finish. Not much hope, but better than nothing. Our best hope was smoking out Hood and making him take the barrier down ASAP, so interrogation and surveillance was gonna be a must from here on out. Finally, I needed a new suit, and to fix my phone. The latter was easy enough. The motherboard was still intact, so I just used the machines to cut it outta my trashed phone, and after commissioning some major upgrades (universal signal, hologram tech, Z.O.R.D.O.N., emergency medical functions, and a Reverbium case), I just had the machines make a new phone around it. While that was going on, I started on a new suit. It wouldn't be much compared to my old one, but I had to make do. First, I used some of the nanobots to retrieve the stash of Doombot wreckage I stored away, and bring it back here. I put the metal into a matter manipulation chamber, ground it down to dust, and infused them with a nano material that would respond to my thoughts. Kinda like Grant's All-Metal, but just one metal, and only enough to make a sword, shield, bullets, maybe a missile, and smaller projectiles. I also built this cool gauntlet that was like the size of my forearm, and had a glowing blue tesseract space unit on the back of my hand (think a bigger, less cool Ultamatrix). It was a little bulky, but it would hold anything I needed inside, so it was staying on my arm. Onto the actual suit, it was a simple Kevlar/Titanium weave, mixed with Unstable Molecules. I did the suit exactly like Mrs. Kennedy did my old Kevlar, and rigged it to constantly feed me with half a million volts of lightning per second. The suit was also wired to lock onto and enhance my connection to electromagnetic energy (I tried using it once, but passed out). It would basically work as training wheels/workout gear, as the more I used it, the stronger i'd get. Hell, I decided to ramp that up even more, and designed something I called the Polaris Fury. It was made of Xandarian steel, and had an electric field around it that was so unique, even Magneto wouldn't be able to manipulate it. On either end of the staff were three pronged spear points, arranged the same way a plug going into a socket would be. At the base of either spearheads were arc reactors configured to channel and boost electromagnetic energy. The staff itself was programmed only to obey a constant stream of code that only physical contact with my suit could provide. Also, whenever I didn't need it, the staff was programmed to literally become one with the earth's electromagnetic spectrum! I was really proud of this one!

Back to the suit, It was mainly just a variant on the Fantastic Four uniform. Mostly black with dark blue boots, gloves, a belt, and for my symbol, I shaped a blue lightning bolt into an Omega. Not gonna lie, I was feelin' myself on this one! Total construction time would be four hours, and in an effort to calm myself down a little, I started constructing suits for Allyson and Grant. I didn't have any idea if they'd be able to make it, but some part of me knew they were watching, and would try like hell to reach me. Figured I might as well take a leap of faith.

Grant's Kevlar didn't have any mutant steroids this time (dude didn't need any juice anyway), but I made him this weapon that looked like glass with nanites running through it, that could change its shape, and amplified whatever energy was put into it. I gave Allyson one too (mighta gave myself one as well). Final touches were the logo and colors. Grant rocked the black and green pretty damn good, so why fix what ain't broken? Same deal for Allyson. When it came to logos, Allyson was simple. I just made some fiery wings, and slapped it on the chest part. Grant was a little harder to nail down. After tryna incorporate a logo that was plant/earth based, and not getting anything that didn't look totally f*(#!^% stupid, I went simple, and just made a green GT (identical to the Dragon Ball GT logo) for the chest. Last thing (for real this time) was some domino masks that had colored lenses to match our suits. It actually came together surprisingly well! With the suits and my phone in construction, I reconverted my chair into a bed, and took a quick nap while they finished up.

I woke up at 5 A.M. feeling like a million bucks, and ready to get back in the game! I quickly tried on my suit, got accustomed to the voltage/electromagnetism surge, and summoned my weapons for a quick test. Everything was working just fine! I programmed Grant and Allyson's suits into my gauntlet, and checked my phone. Again, everything was all good, but mom was absolutely blowing my phone up! I had 30 messages and 15 missed calls! I felt a gut punch of guilt, as she was probably worried sick, but I couldn't call her yet. Once I cracked that dam, the water would crash out and never stop. I had to make the city safe for her. I had to focus on making our city safe for her. Still, she hadn't heard from me for hours. I had to fix that.

"Hey, mom," I started my text. "Sorry I didn't answer. My phone got fried when I was fighting Electro. I fixed it, and I even got a new suit. I can't come see you yet tho. Lotta bad guys are comin' in, and the heroes are rallying best they can. We kinda got a plan, and i'm pretty much gonna be fighting non-stop. I promise to text you on the dot every hour to let you know i'm ok. I love you. I'll see you soon."

I capped the text off with a heart emoji, and tapped into the shared comms as I dashed outside to kick some more ass.

"This is Storm-Lord," I said, as I started wailing on some goons tryna loot a bank. "What's the situa-WHOA!"

Yeah, the bad guys weren't f*(#!^% around! The rooftops of damn near every apartment building were decked out in squads who were raining down Olympus Force powered bullets, grenades, and rockets! Hell, in addition to the magic weapons/magic powered goons, the new kids on the block include Olympus Force powered Deathloks, Yellowjackets, and these weird orange troll things. I had to get inside a lightning barrier, and even then, the barrage was strong as $#!+. I had to use Phantom Bolts to clear off entire blocks of bad guys, and use my electromagnetism (no better way to test it) to stop/redirect their bullets, and throw their missiles into the dome! Ms. Marvel, Rogue, Storm, and Nightcrawler were also tryna clear the rooftops, but repeated enemy air assaults were keeping them from going full out. I did my best to help clear the skies via using my magnetism to crush the Yellowjackets in their suits (not proud of that), or knock them outta the sky with Phantom Bolts.

"Welcome back to the rodeo, sugah!" Rogue said (God I love her voice). "Yeah, the problem is everywhere. These manure huffers have damn near all the city rooftops under their control. Only Manhattan is safe. Also they've taken control of the trains, subways,and stations. We've got nowhere to retreat to. Think ya can give us a jolt, speedy?"

"Not yet." I said. "The cops are just getting their artillery. I'm plugged into their suits and integrating them into the comms. I've already laid out a plan to teleport them to various points in the battle. I'm gonna clear out some of those areas myself. Everyone else stay down and time your clocks down from 3 minutes. When the clock hits zero, wherever you are, come out swinging, and take the city back! Rogue, Nightcrawler, Gambit, Wolverine, and Psylocke, we're gonna take out the bad guys underground. Trains, subways, stations, strongholds, all of it! Everybody ready?!"

I got a resounding yes from the comms, and immediately Static Jumped to the closet rooftop to start whuppin' ass! I was fighting at 110%, slashing, blasting, and crushing bad guys. I actually found out the nanobots in my gauntlet could grind and integrate the magic metal into my pile. Also, the metal seemed to be alive. Like, I felt an intrinsic connection to the Zeus Lightning powered weapons I sucked in, and knew I could really do some damage with it (god I wished I had my full powers right now)! But yeah, a quick cleanup of all the boroughs was a good little warm up for me, and when the clock struck zero, all hell broke loose!

Cops teleported in the streets and rooftops, in uniforms that were a mix of S.W.A.T and Tron, and started going at the villains blasters blazing! Heroes followed suit, and we evened the playing field in a little over ten minutes. I was really feeling the groove, as I teamed up with Rogue, Gambit, Spider-Man, Nightcrawler, and Storm to clear out most of Queens, before me and the subway team (sounds like we were doing a food run) started on busting up the train stations! Wolverine was already doing his thing over in Manhattan (we'd work our way over to him). From Jamaica, to Hollis, Forest Hills, Bayside, Broadway, Queens Village, Long Island City, Far Rockaway, and over a dozen train stations, busting up squads that were at least 200 strong, we cleared all of Queens, then Brooklyn, Bronx, Staten, and caught up with Wolverine (who only cleared three) to finish of Manhattan. Someone must've got the word out that the underground wasn't safe anymore, as the comms blew up with alarms for the underground team to prepare for an attack! Flattering to think we'd have a welcome party waiting for us, as Nightcrawler portaled us into 72nd Street Subway Station!

We took a different approach with this one, and split up. Rogue and I were basically the Drano of the operation (I dig it), as I let her get a small jump of my powers via her touching my face (surprisingly soft hands), and we zoomed throughout the entirety of the NYC subway networks. More often than not we were just bowling balls bulldozing through pins, as we took out squads of 10-20 guys with running/flying punches. On the rare times we did encounter a group reaching the 30-50 range, we were able to really have some fun. For example, we took out this squad in Staten by blasting them with a condensed ball of F3 level winds, and shocking the f*(# outta them with a Power Grid voltage surge. We took out another in Queens by blasting them apart with a voltage grenade, and picking off the still conscious dudes one by one. In Brooklyn, we got into a fight with a dude charged up on God Steroids, lookin' a helluva lot like Gorro! Rogue and I took him down in two shots. Little communication we needed, as Rogue had my memories and experiences. We both knew what to do, cuz it's what I would do (i'm almost certain that's egotistical). I ran full steam at Gorro Man (Gorro's already taken), Rogue closely flying behind me, Static Jumped 50 ft behind him, and let Rogue slam a Vibrating Punch into his chest! Gorro Man went flying my way, but I summoned an Olympium (official name for the Olympus Force enhanced metal) glove around my fist, charged it with Zeus Lightning, and slammed Gorro Man back at Rogue! This is where the metal being almost alive came into play. All I did was charge it with Zeus Lightning. The damn thing turned itself into a giant metallic eagle head, that hit with enough force to knock Gorro Man halfway across Manhattan! Rogue's Speed Sense must've kicked in, cuz she just barely flipped outta the way as he bulldozed her way!

"Christ alive!" she yelled at me (I kinda deserved it) "Ya almost ran me over!"

"Sorry," I said. "Still workin' out the bugs."

She looked like she was about to tear me a new one (probably with a lotta sweet potato pie metaphors), but we both heard the sound of a subway incoming. A quick Thunder Sense ping gave me the rundown. A speeding train filled with 500 goons transporting weapons. Again, Rogue and I were in complete sync, and as the train came our way, we did a Static Jump on board, and started whuppin' ass! We teleported in on opposite sides to box the bad guys in, and divide their attention. Rogue used her brute strength and speed to take out three cars on her own, before anyone on her side could even comprehend what the hell was goin' on. I used the Power Grid to knock my half out with Phantom Bolts, while I willed my Olympium to form into a locust swarm, and eat the entire cache of weapons. We did this a few more times across the underground, and eventually linked up with Wolverine, Nightcrawler, Gambit, and Psylocke in the Bronx.

"What now?" Wolverine asked as he sunk his claws into some poor schmuck.

"Z.O.R.D.O.N.'s pickin' up increased Yellow Jacket and Deathlok activity in Staten," I said. "We could-"

Yeah, f*(# my plans, cuz Z sensed a massive spike of God Steroids coin' in from…..well, everywhere! I almost didn't know how to deal with the massive energy surge, but the party came to us, as me and the team were caught in a flash of orange light, and suddenly found ourselves surrounded by these….trolls? Goblins? I mean, they were orange creatures with eyes that looked like Mike Tyson clocked em' full force. They ranged from five feet tall, scrawny, only clothed with a fur pelt for a skirt. Others were 7 ft tall, jacked as hell, wearing He-Man armor, and wielding swords that could decapitate a rhino (some of em' had four arms). Hell, that's not counting the fact that the runts were armed with God Steroid blasters, knives, swords, clubs, and shields. Also, based on the rumbling I heard above ground, these guys had way more, and way stronger artillery!

"WITNESSES!" one of the big guys roared. "KILL THE SURFACE WALKERS!"

Man, what is it with underground/underwater cities and their hatred for us surface people?! I mean, i'm not saying we DON'T deserve it, but there's gotta be some nuance here! Anyway, me and the team fought for our lives from all sides! Wolverine, Nightcrawler, Psylocke, Gambit, and Rogue took one side, while I took the other. I know that sounds like me flexing…..and it is, but what can I say? That's not to say my teammates weren't bringing it. Psylocke, Wolverine, and Nightcrawler were absolute beasts, as they slashed through whatever these things were,like they were wet paper! Gambit stayed at a distance, throwing energy charged cards at them (this dude must've been banned from Vegas), and smacked them down with his bow staff whenever they got close. Rogue went into Thunder Form (dunno how I feel about that), bulldozed through the bulk of the other side's lines, threw them into disarray as she blasted them with Lightning Rasengans, and mowed dozens of em' down with a lightning construct Combine Harvester! Not bad, Rogue! I see you! As you can see, my team had their situation well in hand, and so did I.

My lightning game was so strong, I didn't even need to move a muscle. As the beasts came in, I willed a storm cloud to form around them, and lit up everyone inside with a $#!+ ton of voltage! I kept up the barrage with some electromagnetic lightning (officially Polaris Voltage) Gatling gun constructs, lightning grenades, and Olympium arrows! I almost felt bad for the creatures, as not even the big guys could get through. Still, they kept sending more to the meat grinder, and even more troubling was the fact that Z.O.R.D.O.N. was picking up some kinda mechanical device that was radiating a ridiculous amount of energy, just barely a few miles ahead. Whatever these things were planning, the set up was well underway!

"So what the hell are these things?!" I asked my team.

"Moloids!" Wolverine responded. "Nasty little $#!+$. They're monsters from the underground kingdom of Subterranea, led by Mole Man!"

"Great! So now we gotta deal with an army of orange gremlins!"

I sensed my side of the army finally thinning. As the remaining five dozen came around the curve, I charged a giant voltage construct of Cannonbolt, and bulldozed them down. My team had cleared out their side about the same time I did, and Rogue and I flew everyone on a current towards whatever device the Moloids had planted near us. When we finally did get to the bomb (it was no doubt a bomb), I honestly had no idea what to make of it. The bomb was about the size of a crate, made of black metal, with glowing orange lines and circles snaking across the surface. There were no buttons, strings, wires, or any kinda kill switch to deactivate it, and all I had to go on was the fact that it was humming with energy, and the cadence was building up.

"Z.O.R.D.O.N.?" I asked my A.I. "Do me a favor and scan this for me, eh?"

Z scanned the bomb box (I like it), and projected the schematics in front of me. I had to give it to Mole Man, as this bomb was top notch. Hell, even with my encyclopedic knowledge of mechanics, I could only get a 65% understanding of how this thing worked. It had a complex, microscopic wiring that acted like a nervous system. The neuron-like wiring acted in unison with four energy cells that powered the central core, that was more or less a swirling ball of energy surrounding a Vibranium orb (T'Challa really has to police this $#!+ better). The four energy cells were more or less fuel rods powered by Zeus Lightning, God Steroids, Plutonium, and f*(#!^& Pym Particles! The only way I could see any kinda deactivation for thing was from the inside out. It was tricky, but after fiddling around with my Olympium, I sighed with relief when I realized I could manipulate them at the microscopic level. My mind started to run through hundreds of simulations (795 to be specific), and found one that had a 73% chance of success.

"The hell are we waitin' for?" Gambit said as he pulled out a Joker. "Let's turn this noise box into confetti and be done with it."

He lit his card up, and I blew it outta his hand with a wind blast.

"Anybody ever tell you it's not a good idea to use explosives on other explosives?!" I snapped at him.

"Ain't met a problem yet my cards couldn't solve," he shrugged.

"Well here's one! You blow this thing, you take us and all of Staten out! Leave the sci-fi bomb defusion to the pros."

I summoned a clump of Olympium, big enough to cover the box in a dome, and summoned my trident and Polaris Wrath (I musta looked like a bargain basement Gandalf). I did a three pronged spell seal for sleep -_.|._.._|.\ phase |.\].[/.'_-._ and consume '.,.(.|-_..-../|-._ Surprisingly, my Olympium straight up jacked my spell seal, and absorbed the magic into itself! The metal visibly shuddered, almost like it was happy, and reflected the blue glyphs over its surface. Doing a three pronged spell seal is usually a moderate strain, but with my Olympium literally doing 3/4ths of the work for me, all I had to do was keep my trident out to hold the spell steady.

"Was that s'posed to happen?" Gambit asked.

"No," I said. "Sometimes I impress myself. Now gimme some silence. This only has a 73% chance of working."

"73%?!" Rogue damn near exploded.

"Hey, that's a C, and a much better alternative to the 0% chance of blowin' it up. So unless you got a better plan, which I know you don't, let me work!"

That was a little mean, but bomb defusing is a bit of a nerve racker. Anyway, down to the operation. The first step was simple enough. Using the phasing spell, I sent several million nanites down into the neuron bay. The neurons immediately reacted like white blood cells, as they tried to reject my nanites, and send an emergency signal that woulda blew us all to hell, but my sleep spell did its magic (didn't mean to do that pun), and sent them into a catatonic state. So far so good. Next step was draining the energy cells. They had to be drained at the same pace simultaneously, and would immediately blow us all the f*(# up if I rushed it. A $#!+ ton of pressure for sure, but I was easily able to maneuver my nanites into the energy cells and drain them dry. The power core immediately went unstable, and was gonna blow New York to bits, but I quickly put my nanites on the core, and had them drink the swirling energy down, like it was a Slurpee. With the bomb drained of all its juice, there was nothing left to do but have the nanites to literally eat the bomb box husk. They did so in no time, and hot damn did my Olympium get one hell of an upgrade! The metal buzzed to life! Literally! I could feel it as if it was an extension of myself, and Z.O.R.D.O.N. was literally integrating the tech with his systems! I experimented with a bit of the metal, and summoned a Sea Force charged arm cannon that was a Gatling gun, missile launcher, and plasma blaster in one! The weapon was completely in sync with Z's targeting systems (knew I installed that for something!), and I felt like a kid in a candy store! Oddly enough, I got even more excited by the fact that Z.O.R.D.O.N. was picking up six more bomb boxes (one for every other borough, with three being under Manhattan alone)! More tech for the pile!

Me and the team worked quickly to dismantle the other bomb boxes. Our plan was simple. Rogue and I would fly everybody into the heart of the base (the bombs were guarded by squads of 200-300 Moloids), and after clearing out a place to work, I got to defusing the bomb. The process didn't take more than 3 minutes (2:09 was my personal best), and I was usually done in time to get in a small piece of the action around me. We cleared Brooklyn, Queens, and Bronx in no time, and made our way to Manhattan; just under the Financial District. Yeah,this was were $#!+ got really hardcore. My Thunder Sense was pickin' up almost 3,000 Moloids total, and there was no way my team could take that many goons on their own (no offense); especially given the fact that we just jumped right at the head of the army. Before the Moloids could attack, I slapped my hands together, and made the Power Grid surge with lightning strikes (making sure to avoid the bomb boxes) from here to Midtown! That killed a good 500 or so Moloids, and allowed me and my team to find our footing as the monsters responded to my friendly hello. Wolverine and Nightcrawler did their hack and slash thing, Rogue flew full steam into the thick of the Moloid army, and started blastin' lightning left and right. Gambit quickly blew though his last set of cards (gas stations and dollar stores must love this dude), but he pulled his weight with his energy charged bo staff attacks. As for me? I decided to really take my Olympium for a test drive! I wrapped myself in Olympium armor, shaped like an angel in the style of Darksiders (good design)! I gave myself six wings (cuz of course I did), with the feathers being Zeus Lightning/Sea Force constructs! My arms were constantly at the ready. I could switch from Eagle Power Gauntlets, Ironhide Cannons, Halo Swords, rocket launchers, and had the Blades of Chaos, Blade of Olympus, and a giant cleaver, shaped like a lightning bolt, ready to make at any moment!

You better believe I wrecked all kinds of hell up in these subways! I started off with Ironhide Cannons in Gatling gun mode, and went full Rambo on the Moloids with 100 Zeus Lightning/Sea Force bullets per second! Any Moloids that didn't get shredded, got blasted to ash via heat seeking rockets (located in between my wings). I did that for a good few minutes, got bored, and decided to switch it up (the fight was that one sided). I ditched my blasters, summoned my Blades of Chaos, charged with my Zeus Lightning/Sea Force combo, and went full on ape$#!+. I twirled my blades in circles, sliced them in wide arcs, spun em' like helicopter blades, and shot em' out like I was Scorpion! Each move of my blade spelled the end for half a dozen Moloids big and small, and that was me on casual! The real fun came from what I could do with my wings! My favorite move was to flap em' as hard as I could, and supercharge the air with voltage and Sea Force; frying all Moloids within a 100 meter range! Another move I was fond of was turning my energy wings into bolts, and launching them at my enemies rapid fire as I walked leisurely through the carnage (I was havin' way too much fun with this). A final trick I used a few times was to ball myself up inside my wings, and roll over my enemies, like Sonic! Between me and the rest of my team, we managed to clear the Moloid stronghold in no time. Oh, and you better believe I had my nanites devour as much Olympium as I could get my hands on!

"You guys get above ground," I said to the team. "I'll defuse the bombs."

""I'll stay with ya, Storm-Lord," Rogue said. "Just in case more boll weevils show up. We'll catch up with resta y'all."

The rest of the team agreed, and Nightcrawler teleported them all to the surface. I made quick work of the three bomb boxes (no other Moloids attacked), and used my Thunder Sense to check out the fight above. I suppose it could've been worse, but not by much. The Deathloks, and Yellowjackets were out in full force with the Moloids! The underground goblins must've planned this, as the heroes and cops were being systematically overwhelmed by their God Steroid weapons, and admittedly badass war machines! I had to respond in a big way to turn the tide back in our favor.

"Go," I said to Rogue, as I dropped my angel armor, and summoned my trident and Polaris Wrath. "I'm bout to go full on Magneto meets Clash of the Titans!

"Release The Kraken!" Rogue winked at me, before Static Jumping to the city above.

I took her advice, and started my rise! I created a 100 ft tall Olympium tower in the middle of Wall Street (there's a good money joke in there somewhere…), and had Z.O.R.D.O.N. integrate into its CPU. Z and I went to work cleaning up the mess. We sent out a massive scan for Olympus Force energy, and made the Olympium tower spring a hundred energy blasters! Z.O.R.D.O.N. locked onto the targets that were just the goons and Moloids with weapons, and blasted non-lethal rounds (i'm not a complete psycho) all around New York! While that was going on, I had Z prepare five SUV sized pods in the chamber, and targeted them to land in the center of each respective borough. I had the pods shielded by some electromagnetic force fields (Mole Man's war machines tried to shoot em' down), and once the pods landed, I dissolved them into millions of nanites, controlled by Z.O.R.D.O.N. My partner went to work collecting more Olympium for the horde, and as Mole Man's war machines started to realize our superior game, we amped it up into its final stage! The Olympium tower doubled in size, and started to take the shape of the Clash of The Titans Kraken, with a Zeus Lightning/Sea Force arc reactor in its chest! I teleported inside the control center of my mecha beast, and inserted my trident, enchanted with a multiplying spell to keep doubling up on Olympium (which I did get to keep), into the nano-grid floor, to give my Kraken a power boost, and give it a proclivity to make sea based fighter drones. Yeah, Mole Man's warships, drill tanks, and fighter ships started coming in from all sides, but I had somethin' for em'!

I willed my mecha Kraken to sprout laser cannons and missile launchers from its shoulders and back, along with energy tentacles, also extended from its back! I willed the missiles and laser cannons to go off, taking a good amount of ground and air assault vehicles, while Z.O.R.D.O.N. created an armada of sea creature fighter vehicles, and launched them out via the Kraken's hands! And again, all I had to do was get the ball rolling! Z took the reins after I set him up, and proceeded to trash everything Mole Man threw at us, and absorb the wreckage into our arsenal! While that was going on, I used Z's radar system to ping Mole Man. I found him in three seconds, and man was this dude the ultimate glow up! This guy went from a short chubby dude in a green jumpsuit, to literally He-Man (tho his bucked teeth couldn't be fixed)! The God Steroids in his system turned him into an 8 ft tall beef mountain! He had a huge He-Man sword, blazing with God Steroids, a Trojan shield, and half a spear strapped to the back of his all black Achilles armor (we mighta been friends in another lifetime) that had Tron lines going up, down, and around his armor and weapons. He knew how to use em' too, as he took out a squad of cops in Times Square, and was currently taking it to Luke Cage, Iron Fist, and Jessica Jones! She-Hulk jumped in to give them a hand, but Mole-Man was packin' some serious heat! In addition to his strength and speed (he was an ok fighter), his tech suit worked like my Olympium (which I technically stole), as he summoned this mega blaster from outta nowhere, and blasted She-Hulk halfway through Central Park! Yeah, this guy had to go. Not just cuz he was a bruiser, but because the jewel on his crown was emitting an electromagnetic signal across the city to the Moloids. If I took that from him, I could make the fight do a complete 180 in a snap! That was all the motivation I needed to summon Eagle/Shark Power Gauntlets around my fists, charged with Zeus Lightning/Sea Force, and Static Jumped on top of Mole Man's head with a brutal set of punches! He staggered back a few feet, but the dude looked more annoyed than anything, as he hefted his sword and shield, and charged me.

Yeah, his speed was ok. Nothing to get worried about, but just short of SMS worthy. I countered his charge, and just before we collided, Static Jumped away from his swing, rematerialized in the same spot, and got him under the jaw with a damn good uppercut! I managed to punch him slightly off the ground, and after Static Jumping behind him, blasted him in the back with a Phantom Bolt, and drove him into Central Park! I tried to Static Jump on top of him with another set of gauntlet punches, but he blocked my hit on his shield, and blasted me off! He was faster than I let on, cuz my Speed Sense alerted me to the fact that he was jumping straight up to skewer me on his sword! I recovered, twisted outta the way, and struck Mole Man with a punch to the chest, which was quickly followed by a point blank Sea Force blast! He careened into the ground, and I pumped the gas on the beatdown!

I teleported to the ground and started running my ass off around New York! I'd do a lap every half sec, and come around with a brutal punch before the second was up! I smacked Mole Man around Central Park for a good minute, but he tried to break my combo with a God Steroids blastwave. I anticipated this, and already had my body covered with Olympium, which absorbed his attack, and hit him with one last running punch that was bolstered by what my Olympium absorbed! Mole Man skipped across the park, and landed at the northernmost part, with me not far behind! Mole Man didn't want the hands again, as he powered his shield up, and blasted me full on with a God Steroids Final Flash! I shot my Olympium suit out, transformed it into a giant energy container, about the size of a car, and teleported to Mole Mans' side! I grabbed his shield, coated it with Olympium, and absorbed it into the horde! Yeah, that may have proved to be a mistake, as Mole Man straight up lot his $#!+, and straight up doubled his God Steroids aura! I just barely dashed outta the way of a downward fist, and had to keep backtracking as Mole Man bulldozed after me! I managed to kill his momentum with some precise Phantom Bolt strikes, as well as some Olympium train constructs, but even with his momentum killed, I was just barely strong enough with my gauntlets to keep him at a stalemate. Despite getting in 50 hits per second, swiping his sword and spear when he tried to stab me, and trapping him inside a Zeus Lightning tesla sphere, his God Steroids aura refilled itself as soon as I knocked even a little of it down! Also, the fact that the guy couldn't even land a hit on me eventually got to him, as he called for backup. My Thunder Sense pinged several dozen Moloids converging in from all sides. I trashed most of em' with Phantom Bolts and electromagnetically charged metal shrapnel, but I also sensed Mole Man turning his warships on me personally (overkill much?)!

"Yo, Z?" I thought to Z.O.R.D.O.N. "Can you trash Mole Man's ships in the Manhattan area real quick? Also, dispatch a squad of fifty Ben 10 alien constructs to Central Park."

"I gotcha, dude," Z.O.R.D.O.N. said.

The sky was soon lit up with my pal thrashing Mole Man's ships, and I heard fifty successive thuds impact Central Park, and start to transform! As me and Mole Man continued to fight, I saw various Zeus Lightning/Sea Force charged metallic constructs of Heatblast, Ripjaws, Stinkfly, and even Spitter (odd choice) doing damage control for me, while I focused on the main man himself, who really f*(#!^& hated me using his tech!

"FILTHY LAND WALKER!" he screeched, as he continued to swing and miss at me. "THAT TECHNOLOGY BELONGS TO MOLE MAN! YOU'VE NO RIGHT TO IT!"

I continued to dodge his attacks as I led him closer to the pond.

"You sure, dude?" I taunted him. "You got a whole ass army, and i'm out here makin' better $#!+ from the jump!"

Mole Man grunted and continued to bulldoze after me.

"BAH!" he spit words out (literally). "ALL YOU LAND WALKERS DO IS STEAL FROM YOUR BETTERS! FOR YEARS YOU'VE MOCKED ME! DISMISSED ME! I AM THE KING OF SUBTERRANEA! I MY KINGDOM SPANS THE VERY BEDROCK OF THE ENTIRE EARTH! THE WORLD'S RICHES, KNOWN OR OTHERWISE, IS MINE! YET WHEN DOOM EXTENDED HIS HAND FOR SUPPORT, I RECEIVED NO INVITATION! THE TIME IS LONG PAST DUE FOR MOLE MAN TO RISE! THE TIME-"

Good speech. No really, the guy was on a roll, but I had successfully lured him to the lake. I quickly teleported behind him, blasted him in the back with a Phantom Bolt, grabbed him with a water hand, and dragged him to the bottom of the pond! Mole Man powered up like hell, and the next three minutes were me charging the pond with Lightning, Polaris Voltage, and Sea Force,and crashed it in on itself around Mole Man! Again, for every drop of God Steroids I knocked outta him, he replenished it just as fast! Hell, the guy was on some Hulk level $#!+, cuz the more he raged, the stronger he got! He got so strong to where I couldn't hold him anymore, as he exploded outta the water with a whole new getup! The all new Mole Man grew another two feet, was orange, had red eyes, and four huge arms with sharp talons on his fingers! The guy looked like the unholy union of Fourarms and Gorro! Yeah…..this wasn't working. Me simply whacking Mole Man around was not it.I had to mix it up. Luckily, quick thinking is my specialty, and I whipped up a new plan in no time! I commissioned Z.O.R.D.O.N. to prep some specific designs for me, while I relocated Mole Man somewhere more private. I dodged his blind charge, launched him upwards via lightning geyser, and after securing that God Steroid energy canister I made a while back in an Olympium cannon, shot Mole Man straight towards the Bronx! I flew after him, keeping the momentum going with some Storm-Lord Specials, and Phantom Bolts, before flooring Mole Man into the center of Yankee Stadium (that was gonna do wonders for my image)!

"Now ,Z!" I thought to my A.I.

Z.O.R.D.O.N. pulled through, as I heard the thuds of two dozen cylindrical energy siphons cover the field perimeter, as well as a few dozen more electromagnetic field generators cover the perimeter of the stadium, and light a giant ass purple force field over the stadium. The barrier was strong enough to withstand the force of a nuke, so Mole Man wasn't goin' anywhere anytime soon. Not that either of us planned a long stay. As Mole Man powered up (my energy siphons were workin' like a charm), I went full Thunder God, and the fight was on!

Mole Man started off by summoning two huge war hammers for his upper arms, and two longswords for his lower arms, before charging me inside a huge God Steroids inferno. Cute, but my first order of business was to drain that energy aura of his. I summoned my trident and Polaris Wrath, willed them to surge with Sea Force and Polaris Voltage/Zeus Lighting respectively, and as Mole Man got close, I threw Polaris Wrath at him. My electromagnetic spear exploded with enough force to trash a good chunk of the stadium field (I never liked the Yankees anyway), and knock Mole Man on his ass! Before he had a chance to recover, I slammed the butt of my trident into the ground, and willed a wave of Sea Force to ripple through the stadium, and fill all 400 feet of the field in enough water for 12 foot depth! Mole Man was definitely surprised by the sudden influx of water, but wasn't completely helpless, as he was able to propel himself outta the water, That wouldn't do, and I charged the water with Zeus Lightning/ Polaris Voltage, and had myself a grand time with construct pummeling! From Power Rangers, Zords, mermaids, Wizard 101 monsters, Bakugan, water spirals, and a healthy amount of Mega Lightning strikes, I dogpiled Mole Man under a veritable f*(# ton of firepower, until his energy aura was on its last legs! I took care of that in an admittedly overkill way. See, I was charging my water wonderland with the spirit of a humpback whale the whole time. With Mole Man on the ropes the way he was, I consolidated the electrified/spirit charged water around my trident, and threw it at Mole Man, who was currently in freefall from 100 ft up. As my trident impacted Mole Man, I enveloped him in an Olympium sphere that trapped him and the ensuing explosion inside! I dropped the sphere once the explosion died down, and as Mole Man fell to the ground, I summoned an Olympium sword to my hand, sliced his tendons, and made a series of cuts up his arm and legs, before he hit the dirt. He'd heal, but for now he couldn't move for $#!+. With him immobilized, I snatched his crown away, and tried to exert my willpower over it and the Moloid army. Dunno what I expected, but the crown rejected my brain waves, like I was entering the wrong password. Mole Man started to laugh at me.

"Stupid boy!" he yelled. "The crown of Subterrania is mine! So long as I live, it shall never obey another!"

I summoned my trident, and hovered the prongs just above Mole Man's chest.

"Order your force to retreat," I said calmly. "Go back to your 'kingdom'. Don't ever attack my city again. Do it, or you die."

Mole Man looked at me quizzically; probably debating whether or not I was one of the 'no kill crew'.

"Peasants do not make demands of kings, boy!" Mole Man growled.

I sensed him transmit an order through the crown's crystal, as well as Mole Man's warships starting to target the buildings!

"STOP!" I roared. "I'LL KILL YOU! I SWEAR TO GOD I'LL KILL YOU RIGHT NOW! CALL IT OFF!"

"NEVER!" Mole Man responded . "I ALONE RULE SUBTERRANEA! MY WILL IS THE WILL OF THE MOLOIDS! MY WILL IS FOR THE SURFACE TO RUN RED WITH THE BLOOD OF THE LAND WALKERS!"

He wasn't f*(#!^% around! Z.O.R.D.O.N. was doin' double time tryna keep his war machines from thrashing entire apartment complexes and landmarks! That crazed look in his eyes also gave it away. He was calling my bluff.

I ran his chest through with my trident; killing him instantly.

The effects were immediate, as the crystal basically forgot his brain pattern, and was waiting for a new one. I wasn't sure if I even wanted to take up the vacancy, but just by way of me directing my thoughts to the crystal, it took my brain patterns, and started the new bonding process!

First and foremost was the information sharing, as every atom of my mental pattern and memories were pulled into the crystal, and projected out to the Moloids (I didn't even get a choice)! In return, every Moloid's memories and experiences were projected into my brain! I learned their names, history, culture, and especially how $#!+ Mole Man was as a king. The guy was practically a dictator that ruled over them with the constant threat of blowing their heads off with a mental command. The Moloids didn't like him, but they were so used to living under a king, the idea of not having that didn't even occur to them. Again, I didn't seem to be given a choice, as a voice I recognized as Skullcrusher XII (nice family line there) mentally boomed to the Moloids.

"MOLE MAN IS UNDONE!" he roared. "HIS WEAKNESS IS PURGED FROM SUBTERRANEA! ALL HAIL THE STORM-LORD! ALL HAIL THE KING OF SUBTERRANEA!"

The Moloids turned their thoughts to me. They clearly accepted me (God knows why), now the question was whether or not I accepted them. I fingered the crown tentatively as I thought about the Moloids. My mind shifted to their beautiful cities that give even Atlantis a run for its money. They had cities that were like if you merged the Jak and Daxter aesthetic with Matrix, an entire continent's worth of diamonds so bright, you needed to wear special shades to see it, and even had a race of water breathing Moloids with their own cities under the main one! I thought about each and every Moloid I killed. How I dismissed them as mindless monsters, when each had their own thoughts, personalities, and families. I felt such shame at how easy it was to dehumanize someone that didn't look like me, and couldn't help but feel how disappointed mom and Allyson would be in me.

"Guys," I thought to them. "I killed hundreds of you. Hundreds of your friends and family were killed by me and my team. Hell, i'm not even one of you. Why would you want me to be your king?"

"You are strong," Skullcrusher responded, as the Moloids started a sorta mental drum beat. "You are smart. You have vision, you are ruthless, you are kind. You can protect our weak, lead the strong, and inspire our people. As you know us, we know you. Do not weep for the fallen. From the ground we are born, to the ground we gladly return. We accept you, Jason Fuller. We pledge our life and loyalty to the Storm-Lord! Will you be our king?!"

I felt a burning fire in my chest at the devotion shown before me. I immediately felt unworthy of it, and knew it was a responsibility I could never take for granted. Hell, I didn't really have a choice. I killed their king, and coulda thrown their entire world into chaos. I had to do right by them.

"Moloids of Subterrania!" I thought to them. "You have crowned me your king, and I intend to honor you tenfold! From this day, until I also return to the dirt, my life, my power, my heart belongs to you! Mole Man has misled you! Made you fight in a battle for his vanity and glory! He has attacked my city, my home, and for that I killed him! Will you help me defend my home, as I swear to defend yours?!"

The Moloids roared/screeched, and I could sense them changing their tune in the real world! Rather than the heroes, the Moloids were training the weapons on the bad guys, who suddenly found themselves in the middle of an ambush! I instructed the Moloids not to kill if they could help it, and to loot the weapons for themselves and the kingdom (I had enough Olympium at the moment). With the Moloids on our side, we cleaned the city up in less than three hours! The bad guys were literally tripping over themselves to get underground (bad move), or retreat outta the city (no idea where they were teleporting too). Still, Hood didn't drop the barrier, so as the sun started to come up, it was still no rest for the weary. I put the Moloids to work, and set up massive encampments in the five boroughs to work alongside the heroes. We worked out a series of patrol shifts to allow the cops and heroes to get some sleep after all the fighting. I didn't get a break until 5:30 P.M., with the exception of taking some time to melt down Mole Man's crown, and embed the control gem inside Polaris Wrath (bigger boost for the signal). Afterwards, I hightailed it to my house, took a quick shower, stashed my suit in my room, and zoomed over to my mom. After a quickly round of hug and kisses, she finally allowed me to crash on the sofa.

"Rough night?" Juanita asked me, as she gave me some pizza.

"Yeah," I said tentatively; tryna figure out a good enough lie to cover my tracks. "See, I was-"

"Don't bother, baby," mom stopped me. "She knows. I told her."

"Mom!" I threw my hands up at her. "Secret identity!"

"Oh please," Juanita rolled her eyes. "I know where you be at when you pretend to be at the library. You ain't foolin' nobody."

I went silent real quick, hoping my mom would think that was a joke, as I settled in to rest a bit.

"So how y'all holdin' up?" I asked mom, after a little bit of silence.

"We're good," she sighed. "Hard to sleep with all this ruckus. Especially with all the explosions and flying people always gettin' close to crashing through the windows."

"Yeah? Don't worry, mom. Lemme take care of that real quick."

I pulled up Z.O.R.D.O.N. on my phone, and went to work. Long story short, I commissioned a series of nanites, linked to the Power Grid and electromagnetic spectrum, to spread out and coat every building in NYC with force fields strong enough to tank a hurricane. This would ensure the battle to come (no way were the villains gonna give us a whole day to rest up) wouldn't affect the civilians too much. Only thing I had to do was recalibrate the food shipment drones to emit the right frequency to bypass the force fields. Hell, I spent a good ten minutes tryna figure out how to cancel out Hood's force field over the city, but magic wasn't my area of expertise (other than Sea Force).

"You'll get it," mom reassured me, as I dropped my phone in frustration. "And if not, i'm sure your friends on the outside are thinking of something."

I deflated a little. Enough for mom to notice, and give me a reassuring squeeze on the shoulder.

"Don't think like that, Jason," mom said, as if knowing how defeated I felt inside. "Everything's gonna be ok."

"I know,"" I sighed. "It's just…...ya know, if you were to ask me a week ago, i'd say I didn't need anyone except you. Now I got two more people on that list. I need my friends, mom. I can't do this without them."

"They'll be here. If everything you've said about them is true, there's no doubt in my mind they're doing everything they can to try and help. Until then, you seem to have a lot of friends out there that believe in you. Maybe it's time to return the favor?"

"You really make self loathing hard, ya know that?"

"It's called being a parent. You'll know one day."

That gave me immediate thoughts of my potential future with Allyson; which was just as unsettling as it was exciting, so I changed the conversation real quick. Me and mom talked about my battles, settled on which school i'd go to when classes started up, and discussed the ramifications of the fact that I was the king of underground people now. She got a laugh outta that one, but got deadly serious after I told her my plans regarding government reform, recognition by the UN as a sovereign nation, trade, politics, contingencies for rebellion, etc. I think a scared her a bit.

"Daaaaamn!" Juanita whistled.

"Juanita!" mom snapped at her.

"Sorry, Doris, but ya gotta admit, the kid's got it goin' on!"

We all laughed a bit, and mom allowed me to doze off for a good half hour, before my shift started again.

"Be safe out there, baby," mom said as I got up to leave.

"I will," I said. "Don't worry, i'm gonna end this soon. I promise."

I gave her a kiss on the forehead, waved bye to Juanita, teleported to my room, suited up, and took to the streets. It was pretty boring for a good hour. Not a single peep outta anyone. Hell, I got inside a warship with Skullcrusher (surprisingly chill dude), and played some games on my phone. Of course the peace wasn't for long, as the ship's sensors started to pick up a massive amount of Death Force, and hundreds upon hundreds of other Olympus Force pings, all converging in from the coast, tunnels, subways, and the sky! Not a good place to be. Hell, the one good thing was the fact that a little of Strange's Holy Waters of Eden spell was manifesting over my body. Not much, but I had to stretch this sucker for all it was worth. I immediately had Z.O.R.D.O.N. make a computer chip, take a sample of the power, and after inserting the chip into his mainframe, had him begin integrating to the rest of my tech. Download was clocked in at ten minutes. I dunno if we had that long.

"ATTENTION GOODY GOODIES!" Hood's voice boomed. "ME AND MY BOYS HAVE BEEN TAKIN' IT TOO EASY ON YA! I GOT MISSING TECH, DEAD ALLIES, AND I AIN'T EVEN HAD THE CHANCE TO PISS OFF THE EDGE OF AVENGERS TOWER YET!"

The Death Force haze started to take shape as an army of wraiths, skull warriors, angels of death, and masked riders on horseback. I could sense a huge focal point due south at the base of the legion; a presence that actually scared me a little bit. My mind raced a million miles a second, as I desperately thought of ways to even this fight out. I began to experiment with what little Eden Water I could. My best idea was to infuse the power with a giant cloud, bring down the rain, and if I was lucky, merge it with my lightning. A great idea (I would know), but as I tried to make a mini version of it between my hands, I was havin' a really hard time making the power take to mine's the way Allyson did. Didn't help with Hood's yammering going about!

"PLAYTIME IS OVER, KIDS! DADDY'S HOME, AND HE'S BOUT TOLD SHOW YOU, YA DON'T F*(# WITH THE HOOD!"

"Come on, God!" I desperately prayed. "Without something drastic, we don't have a chance! Please, let this work! I need your help!"

Apparently praying does work (mom always said so), as I felt the Eden Force (shoulda called it that from the start) collapse into me, and merge with my powers! I could finally create storm clouds that could produce Eden Force rain and lightning! Hell, who knows how much damage I could really do in my Storm, Thunder, and Sea Form?! I was itching to find out, as Hood finished his crappy speech, and unleashed the horde of villains!

I immediately created a storm cloud, big enough to cover the city, and waited until the battle got in full swing. For ten minutes (long enough for my Moloid army to get the Eden Force update), I tested out my Thunder Form (which was totally Eden Force Lightning!), as I got into the thick of the fight, and mowed Death Force wraiths down by the dozens with Eden Force Phantom Bolts, Fulminata Blasts, Lightning Tornadoes, and of course,me getting my hands dirty, and slashing down dozens upon dozens of wraiths with Eden Force swords! Granted, while I was kickin' ass, the rest of the heroes weren't doing all that great. Me and the Moloids were basically holding Staten all on our own, but the rest of the boroughs were already neck deep in Death Force ghouls, grunts, and super amped villains! The problem was mainly that the heroes and cops didn't have an effective counter for the Death Force. Storm, Rogue, Gambit, Nightcrawler (who actually did retain his own Eden Force aura), and even Wolverine were really the only ones who were holding their own. Everyone else was crumpling under the weight of the sheer enemy numbers. It didn't help that a ton of new players were in the mix (we'll get to them). Anyway, after a good ten minutes of fighting, the battle was pretty evenly spread out around the city. Perfect time to execute my plan. Everyone was gonna hate me for drenching them in the freezing cold, but I opened the floodgates, and let it rain holy water! And i'm not talkin' regular rain! We're talkin' that kinda rain that's so bad, you park your car as close to the building, mentally prep yourself, and dash inside, like the rain's acid! It was pouring buckets! Again, the heroes were totally gonna hate me (no way was Storm gonna take the wrap for this), but at this moment, i'm sure they were too busy celebrating the fact that the Death Force wraiths (as well as a few superpowered bad guys) were no longer an issue! Yeah, the wraiths all started melting! Some of the stronger ones managed to stick around, but with them being so depowered, literally anyone could just clean em' up. So yeah, thanks to me, we had a fighting chance again, and I started zooming around to break some strong bad guy setups in Manhattan, Bronx, and Queens. I thrashed a whole lotta Hand ninjas, Yellowjackets, and Deathloks, having a good time, but the Eden Force (which was pulling a Speed Sense) alerted me to a massive amount of Death Force tryna take me out! I managed to get up a shield construct just in time to block a Death Force scythe from taking my head off! I launched whoever it was upwards with an Eden Force geyser, but before I could turn around, he teleported right in front of me, and slashed at my midsection!

I recognized this dude….kinda. He was Grim Reaper. Wonder Man's brother. Had an energy shooting scythe for a hand. He was kinda in the midst of a major glow up, as he had completely given in to the Death Force. His costume was an armored version of what it usually was, with his face part just being a Death Fore charged skull where his mouth shoulda been.

Anyway, I blocked his strike with another Eden Force shield, summoned my nanosword to my hand (which became an Eden Force saber), and stabbed Grim Reaper in the gut! The Eden Force mix didn't go over well with his new set up, as his body structure went haywire! Reaper countered with a mouth blast, but I teleported behind him, and skewered him in the back! For a good minute or so Reaper kept swinging and blasting at me wildly, while I teleported and ran around him, poking him with my sword and Eden Force charged Olympium daggers! Reaper didn't seem to like me destroying his body, and slammed his scythe into the ground, creating a Death Force tornado, and blasted me into the whirlwind! Reaper kept the heat on with some skull barrages and Death Force bolts, but the worst he could do to me was some heavy turbulence. I quickly recovered, teleported up into the clouds, focused and expanded a torrent of water around me, and just as Reaper realized what was going on, blasted an F3 sized holy water spiral blast down at him! Reaper was quickly on the draw tho, and focused his Death Force tornado upwards in a counter attack! Our blasts collided with each other for a good few seconds, before mine started to overtake Reaper's! He panicked a little, transformed his whole body into a giant Death Force skull, and tried to fly up and chomp me in half! Cute, but no bueno. I tapped into the Power Grid, and trapped Reaper in a Eden Force lightning tesla sphere! He bucked and fought, but I was able to subdue him, and blast him back into the pavement! Dunno why I was so worried about Reaper. This woulda been one helluva fight beforehand, but the Eden Force was next level! Still, Reaper was no quitter, as he suddenly grew into a giant Grim Reaper, with a huge scythe (sooooo creative). Again, cute, but I was on a whole nother level! As Reaper came in with a wide swing, I shifted into Thunder Form 2, and reconstructed myself as a giant Eden Force Lightning Bruticus (it's a Transformers thing). I caught his strike on my helicopter propeller shield, blasted him with some Eden Force, and kept the heat on with a mix of missile barrages, and my swift hands! Yeah, this guy was all hype, no substance. I smashed him real quick, and disposed of his remains via Mega Lightning Strike! Dunno if he was dead, but seeing as his wraith army dispersed into nothing, I was having a hard time actually caring.

The lack of the Death Force wraiths made a notable impact on the fight, as I sensed my guys starting to bounce back. We lost a good bit of ground, but we were steadily rebuilding a strong perimeter, well away from Avengers Tower. I summoned Polaris Wrath, and started to pick up the pace, via ripping the armor off Yellowjackets, A.I.M. soldiers, Hydra Soldiers, Deathloks, and goons. It was lowkey hilarious, cuz I barely had to do anything! Hell, I was still plugged into enemy comms, so listening to everyone freak out as I kept jacking their $#!+ was f*(#!^% hilarious! The best thing was how I literally just had to wait, let them converge on my location, and keep stealing their gear, as I zapped em' down with Phantom Bolts and Power Grid constructs! I held my position for a good five minutes, absorbing everything my attackers threw at me, and swating them down! Then, in a moment akin to the calm before a tornado hits, all the villains cleared out real fast! I probably shoulda moved right then, but I wasn't sensing anything particularly dangerous to me, so I was kinda lookin' around like an , that was a mistake….

The attack came from outta nowhere. One second I was fine, and then BOOM! A metric f*(# ton of energy bombarded me from all sides, and sent me flying halfway across Staten! That blast knocked the wind outta me, and f*(# me if my attacker wasn't playing around! Barely three seconds after I stopped skiding across the pavement, I felt a foot as big as me stomp me into the ground! The blow hurt, but the guy was completely made of Zeus Lightning, so I wasn't dazed too , the dude stomped me a few more times, before I was able to get a Polaris Voltage shield up, but I was gonna make him pay for that…...or so I thought. Yeah, while I may have been new to this whole Magneto Jr. thing (never call me that), I knew I just put up a shield that could stand up to a fleet of tanks. This guy didn't seem to get the memo, as he simply changed the energy signature of his hand (now shaped into a jagged spike), and phased his strike right through my shield! I just barely managed to summon an Olympium shield to block his strike, but this guy wasn't slowing down, as he transformed his hand into an energy tendril around me, and started slamming me around the city! I tried like hell to blast free or teleport away, but this lightning monster thing just absorbed my blasts, and actually kept my molecules solid! I was stuck! The lightning monster thing slammed me around the city a few more times, before flinging me against a building! I bounced off the force field projectors, and landed on the ground. Again, the monster wasn't far behind! He tried to pin me down again, but I summoned an Olympium bunker around me, as he kept pummeling away from the outside! I tried teleporting again, but this dude was keeping the escape routes to a minimum. The only thing I could do was phase, but I had a feeling escaping into the subway lines was an even worse idea. Nope, it was time to get some help.

"Z.O.R.D.O.N," I called my A.I. "Scan this fool. Lemme know what i'm dealing with here."

Z.O.R.D.O.N. did a quick scan, and gave me the rundown.

"Zzaxx," he said. "Dude's completely made of energy. Usually it's low frequency voltage, but the guy's been juicing heavy on Zeus Lightning. Looks like he can absorb and shift his energy signature to damn near anything. You're not gonna be able to blast your way outta this one."

"You got a bead on his energy frequency?" I asked.

"Locked and loaded."

"Cool. On my mark, condense the bunker around my body as the Jungle Fury Wolf Ranger! Have the suit constantly emit the counter frequency for Zzaxx. Send out a squad of nanites and gather me some more metal. Can't make an arsenal at the moment, and I doubt i'll be able to trash this fool with just sonic blasts. Oh, and thanks for your help. You've been a real pal."

Dunno if Z could really feel emotion, but considering the fact that Ultron is a constant pain in the Avengers asses (and the fact that the Terminator movies had me shook), I figured it wasn't too much trouble to thank the A.I. that was literally about to save my ass.

"No problem, man," Z said. "Prepare to morph in 3..2..now!"

The Olympium dome contracted and formed around my body into the Jungle Fury Wolf Ranger (the emitting energy even had a faint purple hue to it)! Zzaxx was caught off guard, and I slammed him point blank with a sonic blast! Z.O.R.D.O.N. really outdid himself, as this frequency blast made Zzaxx go haywire! Finally able to get some much needed payback, I zoomed into action, racing all up and down Zzaxx with Storm-Lord Specials and sonic blasts! Hell, when Z.O.R.D.O.N. got me a decent amount of ammo, I bombarded Zzaxx with sonic missiles, bullets, and grenades! After a good three minutes, Zzaxx was barely able to keep his form intact, and was totally set for the finishing touches, but he pulled a fast one on me at the last second!

Yeah, i've decided I hate electric people going in my body. When me and Electro did it, it felt gross and weird. Zzaxx was takin' that to level 70, as he broke his form down into a rush of lightning, infiltrated my suit, and then forced himself into my body, via mouth and eyes (yuck)! Zzaxx was definitely pissed at me for the whole sonic beat down thing, as he literally tried to blow me up from the inside out! It took all of my effort to keep him down, and it felt like tryna stifle the world's deadliest burp (never thought hiccups would hurt so much)! When that didn't work, Zzaxx tired frying me from the inside out. Yeah, I know that sounds bad, but the dude was pure Zeus Lightning. It burned a good bit, but the worst I felt was a really bad heartburn. I tried ejecting Zzaxx outta me, creating one hell of a tesla sphere around myself, as the lightning monster fought to stay inside (that came out wrong)! I couldn't get Zzaxx entirely outta me, and while he couldn't blow me up, he wasn't lacking for strategies that could f*(# me over! I read Zzaxx's profile, and one of the most disturbing things about the dude was the fact that he needed to eat the electricity of someone's brain to survive (so he was a zombie?). Guess he figured he'd have a midnight snack in place of a Storm-Lord bomb, as the son of a bitch literally started to eat the voltage in my brain! It felt like a million ants gnawing away at my skull! More annoying than painful, but it stung like you wouldn't believe! I did my best to resist Zzaxx, putting up mental shields as I redoubled my efforts to eject him outta me, but I couldn't shake him! Even worse, I could feel him starting to wear me down! I noticed how tired I started to feel, as well as how difficult it was getting to think. Yeah, I had to shake this up right now!

While keeping up what little defenses I could around my mind, I struggled to shift into Thunder Form 2. Zzaxx made it hard, but he was too busy tryna munch on brain voltage to keep me in solid form. Granted, that didn't make it any easier (or less gross), as Zzaxx and I clashed and fought as a giant lightning vortex! Both of us tried to exert our control over each other, as Zzaxx kept tryna eat me, while I tried to push him away! We fought like this for a good few minutes , before I started to feel strange. I felt myself slowly becoming a part of something. My energy form was being used to make a foot, followed by a hand, until I could feel the outline of some giant humanoid monster thing, about 60 ft tall. It was like being a construct from the inside out, but I wasn't the one at the controls! Eventually, I could feel the construct start to take a definitive shape, and woulda screamed my head off, as I realized I was literally the filling for a giant Zzaxx! I surged like crazy, trying desperately to break free, but Zzaxx had me in a deadlock! Even worse, I could feel my energy signature start to merge with his! The dude was literally digesting me! The more I struggled, the faster I got digested, and I was starting to panic a little, until a realization hit me. Zzaxx tried like hell to make a meal outta my brain….what if I could do the same to him? I quickly did a scan, and found that while Zzaxx didn't exactly have what translated as a brain, it was close enough to where it could be hacked! I kept up my struggling, but kept it minimal, to conserve energy, and give Zzaxx a false sense of security. The latter was really important, as I needed every advantage I could get. Anyway, after getting a read of Zzaxx's 'brain',and assessing the necessary charges and counter charges to literally fry him outta his own body, I focused what little energy I had left into a surge that shot up the monster's head, and into his brain! Zzaxx wasn't prepared, and I succeeded in shredding his brain into nothing! Yeah, I just killed a guy, but he tried to eat me, so forgive me if my sympathy was a -12.

Zzaxx's body had finished digesting me, just as I took control of his body….which introduced a bigger problem. I was stuck!

Yeah, no matter how hard I tried, I couldn't shrink back down to my body! Not gonna lie, I started to panic a little! I was certain being stuck in the body of a freaky lightning monster wasn't gonna go over well with Allyson on date night (as you can see, my priorities were in order)! After a good minute of failing to revert back to my regular form, I realized I could still break myself down into raw voltage! I experimented with dissolving and reforming my hand a few times, before I did one of the dumbest things in the history of history. I prayed to God that this wouldn't scatter my atoms beyond repair, and in an all or nothing move, dissolved my entire body into the Power Grid!

I went unconscious for a little bit, but eventually regained consciousness, and man was it a feeling! I could literally feel my atoms spread out across all of New York! I was in the sky, on the ground, and in the subways all at once! Ok, so step one was a success, now to see if I could do step two. I willed myself to spark as Phantom Bolts here and there across the battle. I took out some Hydra Warships (badass flying battleships that had giant tentacles stretching down outta the bottom), some A.I.M. tanks, and straight up fried several ambush attempts coming outta the subways and tunnels! Ok, so I still had control. Now for the final test. I focused on a spot in Staten, where a group of Deathloks were mobilizing, and focused on recreating my body. It was hard at first, as it was literally me moving enough voltage to nuke the entire United States (not joking) in one spot, and harnessing it into a solid form. Needless to say, I caused one hell of a fireworks show, as a good half mile of park got roasted under a field of voltage! I was eventually able to make an outline of my body with lightning, but something was wrong. In addition to my regular lightning, Zeus Lightning, Sea Force, and Polaris Voltage were all violently exploding into the mix! It was like tryna funnel a hurricane into one spot! I strained like crazy to keep it all together, and was eventually rewarded, as I felt my body start to reform! First my bones, then my organs, inner flesh, and finally my skin and hair (also my battlesuit)! I immediately collapsed to the ground, struggling for breath, as I still wasn't done! An entire maelstrom of energy, a.k.a. the rest of me,was still surging into me! I felt like I was leaning back on a chair, constantly on the tipping point. If I gave up now, i'd be unraveled into energy all over again. I hunkered down, grabbed fistfuls of grass, and forced myself to absorb the rest of myself! It felt like tryna drink an ocean of energy, and my mind went back to the story of when Thor was tricked into drinking from a horn that was connected to the sea (somehow…). My lungs burned with need, my head pounded like a marching band, every atom in my body felt like it was on the verge of bursting, but somehow I was able to do it, and succeeded in sowing myself together!

My body had an immediate reaction, as a surge of Zeus Lightning, Sea Force, and Polaris Voltage, big enough to cover all of Staten, exploded outta me! When the power surge died down, I was left feeling like a complete f*(#!^& god! My power level was off the charts! What woulda been me in Thunder God was now just me! I felt like I could snap, and make F5 tornadoes, and it felt like the world's biggest supercell storm was buzzing inside every one of my cells! As if that wasn't enough,I had gained a new form! Granted, it was kinda messed up, as it was just literally the ability to shift into Zzaxx's brain dead energy corpse (Jesus, that's dark!), but I could make it adapt to my regular voltage, Zeus Lightning, Sea Force, and Polaris Voltage! I called it Thunder Form Z (I think Zzaxx woulda wanted it that way). I had maybe three seconds to appreciate my new power, and catch a small breather, until Hydra and A.I.M. came in to crash the party! Yeah, my little lightshow caught their attention, as I was now being circled overhead by dozens of flying warships, all training their cannons on me! I coulda done any number of things. Running away, and teleporting to safety were the top two, but something was different about my Speed Sense. Usually it just alerts me to danger, but as the firepower came raining down, and time slowed to a crawl, I felt my Speed Sense link with the Power Grid, and automatically start to form a voltage barrier, big enough to cover an entire park. The voltage shield was weak, as if waiting for me to give it the green light to really kick it into high gear. I gave it the go outta curiosity, and was not disappointed! Like I said, my base power level was Thunder God, and my barrier was easily tanking enough laser shells that could decimate half a city! Hell, I barely even felt the strain! If this was my defense, I knew my offense had to be on some god level $#!+, and wasted no time in takin' it for a test run! I locked onto all the warships, snapped my fingers, and trashed em' all at once with skyscraper sized Mega Lightning Bolts! It was a beautiful/terrifying sight to watch over 100,000 tons worth of enchanted metal start to rain down over me, but again, I wasn't done testing how f*(#!^% god tier I was now! I stretched my hand out, and focused on the electromagnetic spectrum. This woulda been suicide not even an hour ago, even with Polaris Wrath, but I could feel the absolute maelstrom of power coming to my aid. Without even breaking a sweat, I stopped the falling warship wreckage in its tracks, like I was goddamn Magneto! Ok, even I had to admit how f*(#!^% cool that was! And hey, free ammo! I quickly summoned a horde of nanites to munch down and assimilate more metal for the Olympium horde. Granted, there were a ton of bad guys on the ship, and while most were killed in the initial lightning strikes, I couldn't pretend not to be aware of the possibility that my nanites had some organic chunks in their metal salad. Anyway, more warships flooded in on my position, as well as all over New York. Apparently I caught the vanguard of a huge aerial attack. Not a bad play from Hood and crew, but they had the bad luck of having to deal with me on a mad power trip!

I made the skies light up with the fury of the gods, as I systematically trashed waves upon waves of enemy warships, and dissolved their scrap into my Olympium horde! I had piled up enough metal, after five minutes of this, to set up giant Zeus Lightning Olympium towers in every borough, that helped me and my Moloids (who were pretty damn good fighter pilots) keep the skies clear! Also, I never get tired of hearing the bad guys $#!+ their pants after I f*(# their plans sideways!

Random Thug 1: "YO, WHAT THE F*(#?!"

Random Thug 2: "HOW'S HE TRASHIN' ALL OUR $#!+?!"

Random Thug 3: "KEEP UP THE HEAT! WE'LL GET EM' EVENTUALLY!"

Random Thug 4: "SON O A BITCH TOOK OUT MOST OF OUR SECOND WAVE! WE DON'T HAVE ANY FIRE POWER LEFT!"

The Hood: I'VE HAD IT WITH THIS GUY! MORDO! MOVE STAGE 3 UP TO NOW! KILL THAT BASTARD!"

Before I could take a guess at what Phase 3 was, a tidal wave of Nethertrench energy flooded the entirety of the city dome; trapping us in a really eerie pitch black casing! I barely even had a chance to utter a single cuss word, before thousands of Nethertrench demons rained down from the sky (my Eden Force cloud bit into their initial offensive), and started to give us the business! I managed to keep my Eden Force rain cloud going, and constantly kept the cloud buzzing with Eden Force Lightning, so the attack from above wasn't that bad. On the other hand, the attacks from the lower ends of the dome were straight up hell! I got swallowed and ragdolled around by a wall of clawing/biting demons, who were just barely kept at bay by my Eden Force aura! I got jostled from Staten, halfway to Brooklyn, and just barely managed to stop the momentum by summoning my trident, lighting it up with Sea Force, and shooting a skyscraper sized, Sea Force charged torrent of water into the heart of the Nethertrench horde, and proceeded to flip $#!+.

Yeah, this was where that mega energy boost from Zzaxx came in handy, cuz I started tearing into the Nethertrench army like crazy! From my position, I kept amping up a blastwave of Sea Force charged water that tore into the maelstrom of Nethertrench demons! Little by little, I created a mini Sea Force hurricane that formed a defensive barrier around half of Brooklyn and Staten. The barrier was still growing, but not fast enough. I had to offset that by calling down massive Eden Force/Sea Force bolts from above to violently attack the outer parts of the oncoming Nethertrench army. It felt f*(#!^% fantastic to cut loose, and I almost wished my Moloids (they were still wreaking havoc with the Sea Force powered warships) weren't helping me keep the fight just barely under control. I would greatly come to appreciate their help as my Speed Sense just barely alerted me in time to block an incoming projectile that trucked me all the way from halfway to Brooklyn, to all the way in the middle of the Bronx! Hell, Mordo probably woulda pinned me against the energy barrier, but I managed to floor us both with a Eden Force Mega Lightning Bolt! Mordo bonded with the Nethertrench horde before I could capitalize, and with me being so deep in the Nethertrench storm, I had no choice but to hunker down under a Sea Force charged Olympium bunker, keep the energy waves pulsating, and take a good seven seconds to establish a new set up. I took into account my Sea Force magic, nanite force field emitters, and the amount of energy I had at my disposal, and strung together a plan that woulda either saved the night, killed me, both, or be a complete disaster on every level.

I started by giving Z.O.R.D.O.N. instructions to switch the power source of the building force fields to Sea Force, and after reaching peak capacity, let loose pulsating waves to finish off the Nethertrench assault (more on that later). Next step was to draw a three pronged spell seal for boost: |...().-_.| Yeah, you can just triple up on one spell. Pretty cool. I took that spell, and threw it into the Olympium dome; which released a Sea Force blastwave so strong, I could hear Mordo howl from the Final Flash level blast he took to the face! Step three was to draw the main spell my three pronged spell seal would be boosting: Amphitrites' Fury. This spell was basically a giant Sea Force storm that was powered by the collective might of the original 50 Nereids, and hundreds of fish, seals, and dolphin spirits! If Amphitrite didn't make this spell herself, she owed whoever did immortality! So yeah, I merged that spell with my Olympium dome, and activated it! The atmosphere immediately changed, as the oppressively dense level of Nethertrench got bombarded by what felt like a nuke of Sea Force that kept shooting out shrapnel! The storm was f*(#!^% crazy, and I immediately got the gist that this was a spell I had to concentrate on, or it would run wild, and tear New York to the ground (didn't plan that part out, not gonna lie). I couldn't exactly tell what was going on outside, as the Nethertrench was interfering with my Thunder Sense, but based on the various roars, screeches, wails, and heroes/villains losin' their $#!+, it must've been some war in heaven type $#!+. Speaking of which, it was high time I quit it with the turtle act, and get back in the fight. I took this spell to go, via wrapping it around myself as this cool silver/blue armor that was fish scale shaped chainmail under plate armor that was embellished with seashell designs. I had on boots and gauntlets that had giant fin designs going along the sides. Also, on my right arm was this sick looking full arm gauntlet decorated like a turtle's shell, that had a pauldron, made of shark teeth, attached to my shoulder! Finally, I put a greek helmet on my head that had a giant fin going down it in place of the plume! In other words, I was ready to do battle! The problem was….I kinda didn't know where to start!

Yeah, my spell was working a little to well, as giant spirit turtles, leopard seals, and various kinds of fish (the spell wasn't choosy on that last bit) were duking it out with nightmare shadow beasts all across the city, as well as a constant storm of intense Sea Force bolts striking anything that even had a hint of Nethertrench on it! It was like being in the world's most violent lava lamp, and I had to constantly move about to make sure I wasn't crushed under some spirit battle! I was eventually able to find my footing, as well as my guy, as Mordo got shoot outta the sky, via some Nereid punching him so hard, he got punted outta the Nethertrench, and plummeted into the heart of Central Park (Central Park seems to be my go to battle place)! I did a Static Jump right on top of Mordo, and got my trident prongs within a few inches of stabbing him in the neck, but Mordo kept me at bay with a Nethertrench pentagram shield, and yanked me backwards via some Nethertrench tentacle that threw me across the park! I recovered just in time to get a load of Mordo summoning this massive wave of clawing piranhaoid spirits, and launching it at me full force. Scary, but nothing I couldn't deal with. I countered by consolidating and amplifying the surrounding water into a Sea Force shield that just barely managed to keep the demon wave at bay! Yeah, I immediately recognized the many ways in which my plan could go wrong if I made even the slightest mistake. First off, while Zzaxx gave me a massive power boost, using magic still took a lot, and especially when I was maintaining this magic sea storm! At the rate I was going, I had a good half hour before I burned myself out, and my body shut down from physical/spiritual exhaustion. On the bright side, the nanites would only take 25 minutes to take in/start transmitting Sea Force waves to clear the city. So all I had to do was fight against a dark wizard, using powers I just barely beat when I was much stronger, and somehow manage to not die and/or lose control of my spell. I always marvel at how much I can up the ante when I think i've done it all. Anyway, back to the battle.

I called the spirits of five Nereids, a school of swordfish, and a walrus into a water current I was maintaining around my trident. My plan was to steadily boost their power in my trident, and throw a mini nuke at Mordo after I had enough juice. I was expecting it to take a little longer, but those triple boost spells in the trident really came through, as what I expected to take at least 20 seconds, got done in five! I grinned, hefted my trident, and catapulted it straight at Mordo! The Sea Force charged spear cut through Mordo's blast (looked like Moses parting a black sea), pelted him in the chest, and let loose a wave of Sea Force charged water/some pretty violent sea spirits, who immediately started givin' Mordo the business! While they thrashed him about, I summoned several waves of Sea Force charged water to flood the park, and bombard Mordo over and over again under hundreds upon hundreds of metric f*(# tons of holy water! If it hurt, Mordo didn't show it, and was fast as hell on the comeback! After a good 20 seconds of getting the $#!+ kicked outta him, Mordo cleared himself some space inside a Nethertrench tornado, and expanded it to a Cretan Sea Serpent construct, the size of that worm thing from Transformers 3! Mordo looked like he was gonna spew fire at me, but I expanded and reshaped the water until all of Central Park was literally covered in a huge rectangle of water that reached as high as an average apartment complex (don't even get me started on how much water this thing was packin')! Mordo caught those fins real quick, as I created a horde of sharks, Blue Wild Force Rangers, mermaid warriors, and King Neptune water constructs to bombard him from all sides, in addition to the Nereids, clownfish, and walrus sea spirits still continuing to thrash the hell outta him! Again, I was able to hold Mordo down for a good minute, but he put the brakes on my pool party with a Nethertrench blastwave that straight up decimated my setup, and razed the park to rubble! That blast took a good chunk of wind outta my sails, and Mordo was just gettin' warmed up, as he peppered the area with Nethertrench pentagrams that shot out hundreds of blades closing in from all around me! I slammed the butt of my trident on the ground, and shielded myself inside a small, but extremely strong dome of Sea Force charged water! Before Mordo could ramp up his attack, I called down a Zeus/Poseidon Cannon from above, and blasted Mordo with an attack that was so DBZ level, I could blasted a hole into the sewers if Mordo wasn't blocking it with a Nethertrench barrier! Speaking of which, Mordo was full of pants $#!++!^% tricks, as with a clap of his hands (I assume he clapped his hands), Central Park was covered in a thick layer of Nethertrench, which was swiftly forming an esophagus, and teeth the size of flagpoles! Yeah, I was so over this whole getting eaten alive thing, and blasted the forming demon apart with a geyser/blastwave of Sea Force charged water! Once again, Central Park got engulfed in another rectangle of water, but this one was mixed with Nethertrench, so it literally was the world's most dangerous lava lap at war with itself, as Mordo and I went at it again!

Mordo and I threw everything we had at each other for a good ten minutes, and props to the old dude, he didn't give me a single inch! Mordo favored Cthulhu-esque demons and monsters, dragons, medieval weapons, and various pentagrams/spell seals that did anything from power blasts, gravity wells, distort reality, summon energy tendrils, cloning, and unleashing an army of Nethertrench charged demons that looked like clumps of dough with piranha teeth! I kept Mordo's attacks off me with a mix of shields, spiral blasts, successive Sea Force blastwaves, and tornado reflectors. On my end, I attacked with a slew of water construct rockets, sharks, sea serpents, Beyblades, Bakugan, Transformers, and Gatling guns, but Mordo stonewalled all my attacks with Pentagram shields, and summoning a lotta Nethertrench demons to take the damage for him (poor managerial skills in my opinion). We might've spent another ten minutes throwing blasts and constructs at each other, but Mordo flipped the script one more time, and started to consolidate a lotta Nethertrench energy towards him, transform it into an ever growing twister, and took me for a ride! I hunkered down inside a Sea Force body shield (took a few lumps from some Nethertrench bolts), teleported to the southern end of the park with a Static Jump, and took in Mordo's oncoming setup! Yeah, Mordo's Nethertrench tornado was starting to form into a huge hulking monster that had hooves for feet, four huge tentacles flailing from its back, and huge horns jutting from the sides of his head! Mordo wasn't as good on constructing combat avatars quickly, so while he finished up his Nethertrench Ichthyominotaur, I had already constructed a Sea Force charged water construct of Fourarms, with a missile launcher pack strapped to his back! Mordo started the fight via coming in hot with a bull charge, tentacles thrashing, but I had something for his ass! I counter charged his attack, and before we collided, side flipped over him, changed my four arms to sword blades in mid flip, and sliced his tentacles off! Before Mordo could stop his momentum, I changed my legs into Astro Boy boosters, and hovered in the air as I unleashed a barrage of Sea Force rockets on his ass! The explosions decimated the southern half of the park, and by the time Mordo was able to make a jump for me, his Ichthyominotaur was missing it's right arm, both of it's horns, and was riddled with so many holes from the neck down, it looked like a rotten piece of Swiss cheese! Did him no good anyway, as I put my four arms together, transformed them into a giant Sea Force Proton Cannon, and blasted Mordo point blank with a Final Flash level blast! Mordo exploded into Nethertrench goo, but the dude was no quitter, as he reconstructed himself around me as a giant Nethertrench Hydra! Mordo's construct bit chunks out of/breathed fire on my Fourarms construct, taking it apart piece by piece! I managed to summon some more water, towards the northern end of the park, and Static jumped into it. By the time Mordo caught up to me, I was inside a Motaro construct, wielding a big ass cleaver, and sliced all his heads off in one swing! Mordo of course reconstructed himself as a Nethertrench version of Dormammu, and obliterated my Motaro construct in one blast! Hell, the dude must've actually been channeling some of the demon, cuz he mowed through Sea Force charged water constructs of Optimus Prime, Megatron, Ironhide, Poseidon, and Way Big! It was like tryna fight a rhino with an army of wet tissue paper! Yeah, my constructs vs Dormammu was a no go, so I switched up strategies.

I called in the storm from all sides, and straight up barraged Mordo under a f*(# ton of Nereid, fish, dolphins, and sea lion spirits! That slowed the flaming goliath down just enough to call in the next two waves of my stalling attack. Oh yeah, I had a little over three minutes to run down the clock till the big Sea Force bang, so I was on full 'bring the f*(#!^% house down' mode! Getting to the second wave, this was a two fold attack. First, I summoned and concentrated all the water in the park below Mordo, and blasted him with a Sea Force charged water geyser, which was then recycled into water balls (I was doing too much to make it super fancy), rained back down on Mordo, and the cycle repeated. The next part of the second wave was a lightning superstorm slamming into Mordo from above. Like, enough energy to rip Manhattan to pieces, but focused on the Central Park area! So yeah, the big idea was that Dormamordo (that's good!) was the filling for a water/lightning sandwich as I ran the clock down. The guy didn't make it easy, as I had to suppress multiple Nethertrench blastwaves and demon swarms pretty much every 1.5 seconds! It felt like tryna keep a thrashing rhino pinned down with my mind, and Mordo got close to breaking free, but I managed to keep him pinned down long enough (with a little help from some Moloid ships delivering Sea Force bombers) for the force fields to take the energy transfer, and start the energy blastwave bombardments!

It was the most ultimate detoxing in history, as the entire city started to emit Sea Force blastwaves that Oxi-Cleaned the f*(# outta the Nethertrench Demons, who immediately dissipated back into the darkness! It woulda been the perfect maneuver, but Mordo wasn't goin' down that easy (it was starting to get on my nerves). Granted, the blastwaves made it to where he couldn't hold his giant Dormammu form, but he was still holding steady as a Nethertrench construct of himself, tho I guess he got really jacked, and let his hair grow out. Hell, now that I think of it, he kinda looked like young Shang Tsung from MK9, and was totally aping off that mindset, as he was steadily absorbing a ridiculous amount of Nethertrench souls into himself in an effort to not disintegrate or something. I mighta been able to wrap this up quick, but I was starting to really feel the strain of holdin the spell. I couldn't drop it, as I needed to keep Mordo as weak as possible, but just like Mordo, I had to go as minimal as possible. He summoned two Nethertrench scimitars, I hefted my trident, and we dashed at each other with murderous intent!

Before we collided, I did a Static Jump right behind Mordo, and forked him in the gut with my trident! Usually this is the part where the guy falls down dead, but Mordo's Nethertrench makeover seemed to be cellular level deep. Granted, my stab gave him one helluva Sea Force flare through his body! It would take a bit of carving, but i'd wear him out. Speaking of which, it was a good thing his fighting skills were at a six, while I was a 12. Yeah, that's a little mean, but it was the truth. Mordo was a good fighter, don't get me wrong, but if this was Troy, he'd be Hector, while I was Achilles. He would slash, hack, and stab at me with some decent Jackie Chan/Jet Li skill, and even threw in some Scorpion teleport strikes, Shang Tsung skull blasts, and constantly switched his weapons from scimitars, to war hammers, kunai knives, razor fans, and spears, but it did him no good. For starters, I had his fighting style and attack patterns down within the first ten seconds of the fight, and could predict/break down his next attack before he even threw the next swings! This meant I was able to rack up punches, kicks, stabs, and cuts in the hundreds, while Mordo didn't touch me once! For example, after dodging and backpedaling from a rigorous knife attack (great form on his part), Mordo tried to get me with a teleport stab from behind. I simply pivoted, and caught Mordo with a trident stab to the gut! Mordo managed to push himself off the trident, switched his knives to Shao Kahn war hammers, and came rushing at me. I backpedaled again, letting Mordo gradually close the gap, and threw my trident at him. Mordo ducked under it of course, but after getting stabbed so many times by the damn thing, the idiot thought he was in the clear, and rushed at me hammers blazing (literally). He got one double wide swing in, before I teleported behind him, and while ducking under his attempt to come back around with a desperate recovery swing, summoned my nano-blade, charged it with as much Sea Force as I could, and sliced Mordo clean though his torso! I know for a fact he felt that $#!+, as the dude combusted into Sea Force flames, and even when the flare died out, was peppered with tears and see through holes that weren't healing anymore. Hell, Mordo's attacks were getting sloppier as the seconds went on, until I was the one controlling the fight with a Sea Force charged Olympium sword and shield. I hacked, stabbed, and bashed him again an again, until the guy was Swiss cheese. I quickly came down with the final strike, but Mordo really was a sore loser, as he did the cosmic terror version of flipping the checkerboard when you know you lost!

The dude exploded in a Nethertrench bomb that put a city block sized crater in Central Park (this is why apartments here are dirt cheap), and continued building until he was literally a Nethertrench reverse black hole that kept getting stronger by the second! From just a few seconds of charging, the thing was already strong enough to start putting a strain on my Sea Force pulse waves. And sure, maybe it wouldn't be strong enough to completely overpower them, but the energies were already causing major dimensional friction! If I didn't put a cap on this soon, New York might literally get swallowed into a void! As was such, I was kinda f*(#*^, as the best I could do was repurpose my Amphitrite spell around the singularity and try to suffocate it, but I was dirt tried! Magically speaking, I was running on fumes, and maybe had three minutes left in me before I died from exhaustion! I did have one last ace tho. My three-pronged spell seal was still active, and had a f*(# ton of built up energy for me to tap into! My first idea was to crack my savings open, assault the black hole with an onslaught of Sea Force, and pray that I had enough juice to snuff it out, but Namor caught me at the last second. Oh yeah, Namor must've been paying attention, cuz he shot me a telepathic call (a little late, but whatever).

"Hold, Fuller!" he mentally shouted. "You've only one chance to get this right, lest you lose your city to the cracks of the void! Listen to me very carefully! Your predicament is noted, and various heroes are coordinating to aid you. Help is coming. At the moment, the only spell strong enough to neutralize the Nethertrench singularity is the Seven Seas Wrath spell. It will be hard, but if you absorb the energy of Amphitrite's Fury, and combine that energy with that which you have acquired from maintaining your three-pronged spell seal for so long, you can manage it. I am currently attuning myself to your Sea Force Aura. When you're ready, I will also perform the anchor of your spell. We can do this together, Jason. I have faith in you. Now stand and prove why you deserve to be Janus' successor!"

Huh. The sea elf had a heart. Who knew? Ok, so as to what the hell he was talking about, i'll make it as short as I can. The Seven Seas Wrath was the equivalent of a magic nuke. Basically you summoned a tidal wave of energy from each body of water, along with the spirit of some kinda sea spirit, into your trident, and threw it at your target, releasing the continent cracking power upon your target. The Nethertrench black hole was the perfect target to try this out on. Oh, and as for that anchor thing, when casting big spells, you can dual cast it with another, and lessen the strain on yourself. In order for it to work, Namor had to be in complete sync with my Sea Force aura, and mirror my movements exactly. I could feel him already working on that first part, as I was starting attune to his signal (like when you pass by a WiFi signal your device remembers). That just left me to get this party going. Without further ado, I stuck my trident base into the dirt, and willed the Amphitrite spell to flood into my body! I think i've already used the analogy of swallowing a Category 5 hurricane, but it seriously tracked with this! Absorbing the power of 50 Nereids, as well as hundreds of various fish and sea lion spirits into myself, was like trying to stuff 10,000 pounds of steak all at once into mouth! I felt at any moment I was gonna explode, or even worse, lose control, and accidentally nuke the city. Thankfully, I was able to scarf it all down, and once that was over with, broke the cap on the energy built up in my three-pronged spell seal, and added it to the already ungodly amount of power I was just barely able to keep contained! At that point, I kinda blacked out/went into a trance. It was like I had switched from having full control of my body, to sharing it with someone who had one hand on the wheel with me. It felt strange, and I rejected it a little, but as I thought of casting the Seven Seas Wrath spell, I could feel the other hand on the wheel helping me along. Speaking of which, the magic trick was actually pretty complex.

First I had to establish the base via summoning an ever growing turret of water around my trident with this spell:

|..'/ |. ] | [-._./|-|.,/].[.-|.(.\/|. ] | [-._.(.'.,-._/ . |

By The Might Of The Ocean

Upon casting the spell, my trident was converted into a hard water construct, and suddenly felt like it weighed ten tons! I could feel the unbelievable power of the ocean, somehow contained in my small trident, swirling, crashing, and thundering in my palms! It felt alive in my hands! It felt like it was angry at Mordo for daring to sully the world with the vileness of Nethertrench Energy! To be honest, I was a little afraid of it, but Namor and I had to keep this show moving. Oh, the way the spell worked was that you went north, then south, east, west, and then centered in the middle with the Atlantic. Along with a sea animal for each ocean, each ocean required its own specific trident formation, spinning technique, and incantation.

Starting with the Arctic, the initial stance was with my feet planted firmly, my legs in squatting position, and my trident pointing up. Because Namor was my anchor, he was in the same position, but with his trident pointed down. I wasn't sure how much I bought into the spell needing an anchor, but the wave of power I felt from one simple movement made me glad to have him spotting me. It was like a hurricane rippled through my trident! If I didn't have that help to keep me steady, I woulda lost control of the spell before I even started to cast it! With that not at all nerve racking realization set in, I began my first spell routine, which was twirling my trident overhead (Namor was stirring his, like he was makin' soup) while I cast the first spell, which went as such:

\ /.-|. ] |.| [-._-_./.'/]\/.'.,/-._./|-|.,/].[.-|.(.\/|. ] | [-._|\.-|| | _-_)\ /.].[/.'|._-._

With The Savage Might Of The Killer Whale

As I spelled the enchantment out, a torrent of water formed behind me as a giant killer whale construct, absorbed my spell, then got absorbed into my trident! One down, six to go. I was starting to feel lightheaded now, but I powered through it.

Moving onto the Southern/Antarctic Ocean, I resumed my planted stance, with my trident facing down. Namor's trident was now pointing up. I started the stirring technique, while Namor was twirling it overhead, and started my next spell:

\ /.-|. ] |.| [-._. | - .-_)_)-|\/|'/ |-|.|..-|. | - ..(.\/|. ] | [-._|._-._/]\-|/.'.] | [/ . |

With The Terrifying Bite Of The Leviathan

Just like last time, a huge water construct of an Antarctic Leviathan formed behind me, gobbled up my spell, and took a dive into my trident. My head felt like someone was carving it with an ice pick now, and my arms felt like they were falling asleep. Nothin' to worry about.

Next up was the Indian Ocean. For this one, I stood upright, held my trident perpendicular to the ground on my left, and after grabbing the trident with both my hands, and started spinning it in a circle, while rotating it clockwise around my body. The spell for this one went as such:

\ /.-|. ] |.| [-._'.,.-.|./|./-|..(.\/|/.'_-._/.'_-._)|.\-| /.-|

With The Cunning Of A Sea Serpent

Second to last were the Pacific Oceans (the pacific and Atlantic were divided into north and south for some reason). Yeah, we had a two for one with this. No biggie, just had to put in the extra brain effort. Tho it was getting hard to breathe now, so easier said than done. Anyway, this verse went a little something like:

\ /.-|. ] |.| [-._-_.|.\.._ ]'..(.\/|/.']'..(.|._|.\].[|-./ . |]'.|.\_).(.. | - .'.,.-|-|.(.|.(.\/|/.'].[.-../||.\|.. /.''.,|\.\ /.].[/.'|._-._

With The Speed Of A Dolphin, And Protection Of A Humpback Whale

Final one. Atlantic Ocean. Almost every part of me was numb, I was seeing white spots everywhere, and I think my heart stopped a few times, but Namor really came though for me as my anchor, and kept me going. So yeah, victory lap. Basically the reverse stance of the previous. Trident held perpendicular to the ground, spinning the trident counterclockwise around my body for the final spell. For the win, the final magic words were:

\ /.-|. ] |.| [-._|.\.(.\ /.-_).(.\/|/.'.,/_-./.'.-|\ /.].[-|. | - .-_.].[/.'_)|\./ . |]'.|.\-_)_-._)/-\_)/ . |'.,-._.(.\/|/.'].[/.'./|./|-_)] [- ./.']'.

With The Power Of A Great White Shark, And Perseverance Of A Hammerhead

My trident surged and bubbled like crazy; as if it could barely contain the energy it was storing! I felt like it was gonna explode any second now, and with the last bit of strength I had left, chucked it into the Nethertrench black hole! What came next was like if Fantasia and a nuke had a baby! The spirits of 50 Nereids, as well as the various sea spirits I managed to load into my trident, burst out in an explosion of Sea Force and water, that was like the unholy union of a nuke and a typhoon! The spirits literally ripped the black hole apart, like hyenas tearing apart a carcass, while I lied on the dirt, dead tired. Granted, they had me worried for a sec, as the black hole seemed to be expanding, but it was just setting up for a big fizzle, as Mordo exploded into a black powder (not sorry at all). So, all good, right? Storm-Lord saves the day again? Yeah, you haven't been paying attention, huh?

I mean sure, I took out Mordo. Big win, but i'll be damned if Hood and his boys didn't flip out a reverse card, and turn this $#!+ into a big fat L. As if he was waiting for it, a horde of Olympus Force powered demons materialized around the perimeter of the city, and flooded in from above, out of the tunnels, and were backed up by a buncha Hydra and A.I.M. warships opening fire on all the Burroughs from the sky! Hell, from the warships rained down hundreds upon hundreds of villains and Hydra/A.I.M. soldiers! This kinda squad woulda been hell on us even if we were at full strength, and we were far from that after that Nethertrench debacle! I could sense a good chunk of my Moloid air team taking a beating, as well as the current wave of bad guys swiftly starting to overtake Bronx, Queens, Staten, and were closing in on Brooklyn and Manhattan fast! Even worse, Hood really put the hit out on me, cuz a whole militia of demons, soldiers, and even goddamn Radioactive Man was comin' after me! These guys must've had orders to not f*(# around, as they were comin' down guns blazing! Helluva time to get me, but I wasn't one to give up so easily, and as the energy blasts rained down, I searched myself for any kinda ace I could pull, and damn near leapt outta my skin when I found one! Long story short, my Thunder God energy was full, and I could use it to get what amounts to an insane adrenaline boost! This would carry me for a good half hour, but the downside was that this was the equivalent of doing a Kao-Ken. I'd get an insane power/energy boost for half an hour, then i'd drop like a rock, and unless I had someone to bail me out…..yeah, that would be it for me. Not exactly what i'd call a solid deal, but it was all I had. So yeah, I turned on the Thunder God, and damn near forgot about all of my problems! Yeah, I have no doubt when I say I was strong enough to create a hurricane big enough to decimate half the continent! I felt strong enough to take Grant in a fight, and in all honesty coulda tanked all these shots comin' at me without moving an inch! Hell, I was about to f*(# some shit up, until I felt a wave of Nature Force engulf the park, and a cluster of trees as thick as redwoods engulfed me in a shield! After the branches took the damage, they retracted back into the ground, and out came an army of Nature Force charged plant animals (lions, tigers, bears, stags, etc.), mythical creatures, and the biggest of all, giant plant tentacles that thrashed outta the ground, swatting bad guys outta the sky, and trampling demons underfoot! The tentacle mass gradually formed into a giant dude from the waist up, decked out in tree bark armor, wielding a giant vine whip that could tear apart bridges in one hand, and a butterfly shaped shield on his other arm. That was the first sign that this backup, while appreciated, wasn't who I was looking for. A butterfly shield, while not outta the realm of possibility, wasn't like anything Grant usually constructs. Hell, a closer look revealed giant grass dreads tumbling down out of the back of the tree giant's helmet! The realization was such a warm welcome, it almost made up for the disappointment of Grant (and Allyson) not being here! Before I could get a word in tho, my Speed Sense kicked in, as Radioactive Man (juiced up on God Steroids) was makin' a beeline for me! Seeing as how my buddy here was handling the bulk for the forces, I decided to take on Radioactive Man head on!

I wish I could've said it as a good fight, but like I said, Zzaxx gave me one hell of a boost! Radioactive Man got four shots in (which I easily dodged), swung on me once (side flipped over it), and then got slammed to the ground, compliments of a Storm-Lord Special! Just that one hit alone was enough to knock Radioactive Man's God Steroid aura completely out! The next one sent him on an express flight into the Hudson (i'm sure he was conscious enough to swim to shore). With him outta the way, I focused my energy on damage control to the nth degree! Yeah, Hood's cavalry force was already closing in fast! Barely a few minutes in, and everyone on my team was getting their asses kicked from the sheer number of enemy fighters we had to deal with. Those that were strong/lucky enough to get away were retreating to Manhattan. The others….we don't like to talk about the others. I did my best to help with the defense/fall back efforts by taking out the warships (more scrap for the Olympium horde) with lightning bolts, and tapping into the Power Grid hardcore to send out Phantom Bolts, Yu-Gi-Oh, Mortal Kombat, and Greek mythological monster constructs across the city to try and stem the flow of bad guys gaining ground. I shredded a whole bunch of A.I.M soldiers with Zeus Lightning chimeras, obliterated demons by the blocks with Xodias, and straight up torched whole tunnels with voltage; taking out entire platoons by the handful! Still,for every bad guy I trashed, it seemed like ten more took their place. Nothing short of dropping a hurricane bomb across the city (that was a new move waiting to happen) would give us the space we needed to regroup. The best I could do was keep up my lightning attacks across New York, while ordering Moloid evac teams to drop down in various air, land, and water transports to get as many heroes and cops outta the danger zones as possible. Ten minutes flew by, and our position gradually became a glass half empty/full scenario. On the bright side, my continuous attacks (aided by Storm and Jimmy really stepping up) kept the bad guys from mounting an overwhelming force to trample us under, and the constant influx of heroes and cops made it to where we managed to hold the line around Manhattan, but again, we were gradually losing ground, and even with me, Storm, and Jimmy firing on all cylinders, we could only hold out for so long. Hell, just a few minutes later, and the bad guys were starting to get a foothold over the Manhattan city limits! I was really starting to feel the heat now, and was heavily considering that hurricane bomb hail mary, but a sudden flash of white light, that engulfed the entirety of Manhattan, put a hold on that. Yeah, Namor wasn't lying when he said backup was on the way; tho this wasn't exactly the cavalry I was expecting! For starters, more demons flooded outwards into the battlefield! Granted, these demons were non-Olympus Force powered, tho they were just as freakish. They were a various mix of red, brown, and black colored, and came in shapes ranging from four armed dragon centaurs, ogre-like brutes, demonic satyrs, giants, man-bats, and chimeras. It woulda given me an aneurysm if it wasn't for a familiar voice barking orders into his comms as he popped up just behind me.

"Alright X-Men!" Cyclops shouted into his comms. "Hold the line, and stick to the plan. Team A, bottleneck the tunnels, Team B, strafe the enemy lines; keep em' from building up momentum. Team C, rescue and medic. Let's get the injured in Avengers Tower. Start at the lobby, and fill up the floors as you need. Shouldn't take more than the first four. Hold for further instructions!"

Cyclops, Magik, Emma Frost, Magneto, and this six armed silver haired chick named Spyral flanked me from both sides. Cyclops went to work with his Etch-A-Sketch laser blasts, Magneto started shredding warships, and bringing down electromagnetic lightning, Emma had this huge f*(#!^% blaster, and was mowing down enemy fighters down by the dozen! Ironically, Magik, easily the most trigger happy of the bunch, was hanging back with Spyral. After a quick rundown of whatever they were gonna do, they teleported away to who knows where. I was kinda confused, until I felt the familiar sensation of Emma linking my mind to Cyclops', and he exchanged battle tactics with me.

"You alright, son?" he asked me.

"Not your son," I responded. "I've been better. Thanks for the save. And hey, you seem fully capable. Any ideas for how to get outta this? I'm open to suggestions."

"Already in play. You've done a good job getting the wounded and stranded to Manhattan. Quicksilver, and Transonic are rounding up the stragglers. For now, we hold the line, but I need you to order a controlled ease backwards. Get as many of ours inside Avengers Tower, and when the time is right, ramp up your speed, and zoom the rest in as well. Magik and Spyral are gonna teleport us upstate to the X-Mansion. It took a lot outta them to get us inside, and it's gonna take damn near the rest to get us all out. Once we're safe, we'll regroup and devise another strategy."

Gotta admit, he talked a good game, and it was way better than my plan to just fight to the end and hope for the best. Yeah, for once I decided to let the grownup take charge. Hell, props to Cyclops, his plan got us through. With me, Magneto, and Storm running heavy field control, as well as the other strike teams slicing down villain traffic from the tunnels, Quicksilver, Transonic, and my Moloid rescue crews got the rest of our team in Manhattan, and we held the line until everyone was inside and ready for transport (Jim decided to stay behind and distract the bad guys). I felt a little bad about leaving the city kinda defenseless, but my Sea Force powered nanite shield was still up, and the food transports were still active. Besides, this was just a temporary retreat. After regrouping and a little rest, Hood could be sure i'd come back to kick him and his goons outta my city! Still, I had to live to fight another day, and after Cyclops gave the signal, I zoomed him and the other X-Men on perimeter defense inside Avengers Tower! Magik and Spyral were on standby to zap us outta Manhattan, and as soon as Emma shot them the mental go ahead, Avengers Tower filled with this light blue energy, and in the blink of an eye, everyone in the tower was now spread across the X-Mansion lobby! Kinda reminded me of the West Coast Avengers facility, but with a more old time England kinda feel. Looked like the kinda yard you'd see dudes play crochet on. Anyway, the team wasn't lookin' the best, but were all here in one piece. I ordered my Moloids to take a dive underground, and wait for further orders. I was about to talk to Cyclops about plans to strike back at Hood…..and then my body quit on me.

I assumed I faceplanted in the grass, cuz when I woke up, it smelled like someone set the lawn on fire. Granted, that made no sense as I wasn't anywhere near grass at the moment. As my eyes gradually focused, I realized I was in some kinda infirmary (home sweet home). The place gave me the creeps, as everything around me was metallic, and I was laying on what was basically a surgeon's table, but the $#!+ didn't even have a mattress! Jesus, X-Men, y'all make S.H.I.E.L.D. look like a day spa! Anyway, I managed to pull myself up, and survey the area. First and foremost, I realized why it smelled like burning grass. Surrounding my bed, as well as Magik and Spyral's (still unconscious from the teleportation spell), were these pans filled with burning weed. Hell, the weed wasn't really my concern (tho mom would beg to differ), rather than the fact that it was glowing green, and was strong enough to where it made me feel dizzy (tho that coulda been me still recovering from all the magic I did). Before I could make an attempt to stand up, Jimmy grabbed my shoulder (nice of them to leave my costume on by the way).

"Easy, guy," he said in a silky smooth voice. "You're lucky to be alive. Just rest a little, and let the herbs do their thing."

I turned to take a look at my…...acquaintance was the most appropriate word, and I gotta say, the dude was looking pretty dapper. He still had his god-like physique, and ruggedly handsome 35 year old good looks from Doom's transformation (the only good thing he ever did), tho his dreads were grey now. His eyes were now bright green, and he was wearing a sweater and pants that looked like they were weaved from various plants. It was a little awkward to see him after he tried to kill me like a day ago, but seeing as he saved my life, I decided to cut him some slack.

"Yeah," I said, wincing a little. "I might've overdid it with the magic, huh?"

"You can say that again. Your chi was completely spent, and your spirit was in the midst of deteriorating. It took me, Storm ,and Iron Fist to stabilize you."

"Is that what the weed's for?"

"I resent that. It's…..well, i'm not really sure what it is. I worked with Iron Fist to make a chi boosting plant. Took a few tries to get it right, but now it's saved into my powers' memory….or something."

"So like Senzu Beans? No, Senzu Weed! Never gonna drop that by the way! You gotta teach my friend how to make this stuff! Speaking of which, how ya feelin'? Ya know, after the whole Doctor Doom thing?"

Jimmy sighed, and rubbed his hands together nervously. Guess it was a sore subject for both of us.

"Well," he started. "Thanks to your friend, S.H.I.E.L.D. didn't throw me in jail. They poked and prodded me like a damn lab rat, but after giving me the good cop bad cop act, they let me go…...kinda."

"They drafted you, didn't they?" I asked.

"Yup. Sweet pay, a vacation house in Montana, dental, pension, the works. All I gotta do is help em' come up with various plant based surveillance, poison, interrogation, combat techniques, and weapons."

"You good with that?"

Better than rotting in a cell for eternity. Oh, i'm immortal now."

"The hell?"

"Yeah, i'm tapped into this…...this force. It's like i'm one with all plant life on the planet. I can hear the trees, i'm workin' on this dryad who totally wants me, and i'm apparently supposed to train your other friend in the ways of the Nature Force as he calls it."

My face must've been priceless, cuz Jim looked like he wanted to bust a rib laughing at me! Probably woulda if the infirmary door didn't open, with Cyclops, Wolverine, and Emma walking through.

"Ah, you're awake," Cyclops said curtly. "Good, we need you in the briefing room. Something just came up."

"He's still in no shape to do anything heavy," Jim protested.

"Then roll out a wheelchair, bub," Wolverine grunted. "In case ya forgot, we're in a friggin' war."

I struggled to my feet, and after almost crashing to the floor, managed balance myself on the table until my legs were able to hold me up. Jim sighed, and summoned some grass to make a satchel. He filled said satchel with a dozen green rice cake lookin' things, and gave it to me.

"Eat one of those every hour," he said. "No powers for at least another 12 hours, and absolutely no magic for the next three days. Your chi needs to recharge, and when it does, you'll have double the energy for spell casting."

"What's the word on Magik and Spyral?" Cyclops asked.

"They're fine. Not as resilient to fatigue as this one, but they just need a full night's sleep to recover. I'll keep you updated on their progress."

"Good man. Storm-Lord, follow us."

The X trio walked out the door, leaving me to play catch up. We walked out of the chrome decked basement, and into the mansion proper. Again, sweet digs. After walking past the main entrance, we walked up the stairs, down a long corridor, and went inside an office room that was as big as a living room. Inside were a lotta familiar faces. Cage, Iron Fist, Nightcrawler, Spider-Man, Storm, Rogue, Gambit, Colossus, etc. All the chairs were taken, so I chilled against a wall alongside Pietro and Psylocke. Cyclops sat in the head chair (which Wolverine didn't seem to like), and Emma linked everyone on the facility in on the conversation (briefing room my ass).

"Greetings everyone," Cyclops' voice resonated in my mind. "I hope your recovery is going smoothly, and though I regret to disturb you, we all have a pressing matter to discuss."

My mind was suddenly filled with an image of Hood and his goons celebrating in the city as they started to occupy Avengers Tower. Hood made a big show about it, but Emma fast forwarded to the part that actually concerned us.

"AND AS FOR THE F*(#&%$ THAT THINK THEY'RE SAFE IN THEIR LITTLE MANSION, I GOT SOMETHIN' FOR EM'!"

A dome suddenly formed over the mansion (well ten minutes ago), and Hood started laughing.

"Oh yeah, the mighty X-Men! Ya know, since gettin' in the magic weapon biz, some nice folks reached out about dealing with y'all in particular. I was a little hesitant about opening my prospects to so many middling organizations, but hey, what is Capitalism if not a chance for the little guy to work his way to the top? So ya know what, let's give em' a shot! To the rats holed up in the X-Mansion, who so generously left New York City to me, you got until sundown tomorrow to get ready. After that, The Purifiers, Friends of Humanity, Church of Humanity, Sapien League, The Right, The Reavers, U-Men, along with some of my A.I.M., Hydra, and personal buddies who got beef, are gonna blow your collective asses off the face of the planet! This is gonna be broadcast to the masses, so we'll play fair, and give you a chance at a decent defense. All units have to attack from a three mile radius of the dome, from the ground first, before moving in with air drops. So again, I bid you a fine night before your obliteration. Sleep well, and remember to put on a good show!"

Man, that guy was a prick.

"So as you can see," Cyclops said. "We have a bit of a problem on our hands. In addition to the usual, we'll be facing down an army composed of the X-Men's most dangerous adversaries, who don't split hairs about differentiating mutants from those that help them. They'll strike hard, fast, and merciless. They've already committed many atrocities on our ground. So make no mistakes, the gloves are off, and luckily, we've had enough experience with them to plan around what they'll most likely do."

The mental vision transferred to these guys in white hoods, black pants, wearing face masks, and wielding elaborate taser batons.

"These are The Purifiers," Scott said. "They were previously led by Williams Stryker, but now work in a joint partnership with The Right, as a multifaceted anti-mutant terrorist group, under Cameron Hodge. The Purifiers' weapons usually aren't very strong, nor are they very formidable by themselves, but we have to assume Hood will be boosting their arms. Best strategy for them is to use group efforts to break their formations, and keep them from gaining momentum. Definitely avoid getting surrounded or isolated by them."

The vision transferred to a group of guys in these Iron Man knockoff suits, that had a Cheshire cat level smile painted on the helms, under the cartoonish eyes. They were suited with blasters, machine guns, and flamethrowers.

"These are the standard issue battle suits of The Right," Scott continued. "Even in their base form, these things are fitted with energy blasters, machine guns, and flamethrowers. We've no idea how much their weapons will improve, but best case to deal with them is to aim for their guns, and neuter their offensive capabilities. Stronger and quicker combatants will have an easier time with this. Ranged fighters should get behind cover and shoot for critical areas."

The vision shifted to a group of guys in what looked like a pope's uniform, but with ski masks hiding their faces. They were armed with energy lances, flamethrowers, and grenade belts.

"The Church/Friends of Humanity. Not very well armored, but expert marksmen and field control tacticians. Best strategy is for our speedsters to take as many of them out from the start, and send our damage resistant fighters out to engage in close quarters combat, where they're ineffective."

The vision shifted to a bunch of men and women in army fatigues, wearing Jason Voorhees-like facemasks, armed with machine guns, grenade launchers, and knives. In the center of the group was this woman who had third degree burns all over what I could see of her head and arms. She gave off serious big leader vibes.

"The Sapien League. Well trained, disciplined, ruthless. These guys are the epitome of what we train to fight against. Expert hand to hand combatants, proficient with military grade firearms, precise and efficient as a unit and individuals. Best strategy to fight them is to break their formations, disorient them, and flank them where they're weakest."

The vision switched to a group of ninjas in red and black, but with a more armored aesthetic. It was like if The Hand leveled up. In the center was this guy that looked like a leaner version of Sabertooth. Red eyes, brown skinned, messy brown hair, and razor sharp talons comin' outta his fingers. He was also wearing a bad ass black suit.

"The Reavers. Even more dangerous than The Sapien League. Not exactly a mutant hate group, but they've been beefing with the X-Men for a long time. Incredibly fast, and expertly trained in Ninjutsu. Effective as units and individuals. Traps set along the grounds, as well as ambush tactics are a must when dealing with them. Hand-to-hand combat is not recommended unless absolutely necessary."

The vision switched to a group of Sentinels. Some were the big hulking behemoths that were the nightmare of every mutant ever (even I sparked a bit in anger), others were only 7 feet tall. Except for one of the smaller ones that was colored red and black, they had the purple and blue aesthetic.

"Sentinels." Cyclops said. "I doubt anyone here needs a refresher on them. Led by Bolivar Trask, the Sentinels can act on their own, or under manual control, as shown by the smaller Sentinels. Your average Sentinel isn't very strong. Strong ranged attacks to their repulsors, eye sockets, and leg propulsors will reduce their combat effectiveness, but your goal should be to strike at their chest repulsors and cause a chain reaction of explosions along their interior, and put them down in one stroke."

The vision shifted to a bunch of guys in big black Hazmat looking suits. Some had flamethrowers, Gatling guns, and laser cannons. Others, wearing slimmer suits, were either flying, on fire, vibrating, or surging with lightning. In the center was this white guy with slicked back black hair, wearing a costume that woulda made Grant drool. Kind of a mix of Thor meets Iron Man, the guy's armor was black, with purple boots, gloves, and cape, all trimmed with gold. On his chest was a golden diamond outline, with a purple U slapped on front. The guy looked like he would be a pretty cool superhero, if he wasn't a mutant hating prick.

"The U-Men," Cyclops said. "A scientific cult obsessed with forcing themselves to evolve, by way of stealing and grafting themselves with Mutant DNA and organic tissue. They've unfortunately refined their process over the years, to where they can mimic the powers of various mutants they've violated. Each member can be expected to wield the powers of myself, Colossus, Quicksilver, Shadowcat, Surge, Pyro, Sunspot, Gambit, Multiple Man, Rockslide, and God knows how many others. The main honcho, John Sublime, is the real threat. By way of techno organic implants, he's managed to permanently retain the powers of the mutants aforementioned, and is extremely capable. Do not engage him alone."

The vision shifted to a mach battlefield with bad guys galore charging from the forest. Most of them didn't make it to the force field as the forest was literally trashing drop machines, and tearing up infantry soldiers. The ones that made it inside instantly regretted it, as one of Magik's portals blazed to life, and swallowed them into Limbo.

"Phase 1 is banishing the bulk of the initial force that makes it through the forest with Magik's portal spells. Illyana can only do this twice, and one is reserved for an emergency evacuation of the students, if we fail to hold the line."

The vision shifted to the mansion's expanded defense network. Laser cannons sprouting outta the lawn, collapsible segments that operated as trenches that could move with the ground, mortars, adjustable minefields, mini rocket launchers, and laser grids. A pretty sweet setup in my opinion.

"Phase 2 is to let the enemy waste as many of their forces on our defenses as possible, before we actually engage. As you can see, we have more than enough firepower to whittle down and adjust potential engagement positions as the situation develops. Once the invaders break the inner sector, and promptly get fried by the energy mines, we storm outwards and finish the job. Any questions?"

Nobody spoke up, and I was kinda ready for the briefing to be over with, so I bit my tongue (mentally speaking). Still, as Cyclops ordered the meeting adjourned, my mind flooded with images of several people. I recognized Trask's personal red and black Sentinel, The Leper Queen (leader of the Sapien League), Graydon Creed (literally Sabertooth Jr of The Reavers), and Cameron Hodge of The Right/Purifiers. Still, there were some new guys that Emma briefed me on. One was this big beefcake of a man with long blond hair, wearing a Kevlar vest, army pants, and wielding a flamethrower. His name was Mr. Clean (the jokes write themselves), and while he was just an average guy, his skin was so hard that even Wolverine's claws couldn't pierce his skin. Next to him was this….I dunno what to call it. It was decked out in a pope's uniform, but it didn't seem human in any way, as dark energy radiated out of its sleeves, and the jewel on the staff it was holding. It was called the Supreme Potentate, and was apparently an immortal of mysterious origins that had a vendetta against mutants. Looked like a good fight.

"Now you know the leaders and/or figureheads of these cows," Emma thought to me. "The rest of the X-Men have 'kill on sight' clearance. I'm sure the slayer of the mighty Doctor Doom will perform well."

It wasn't a question. Not to flex, but I was one of the most powerful mutants here, and a lot of this battle was riding on me. No pressure.

From like 3 A.M. to 5 P.M. (with a one 1 hour lunch break) Cyclops had everyone working their asses off in the Danger Room. From practicing our ranged combat, physical combat, handling different Sentinels, and getting a handle on how to use the mobile trenches. We trained relentlessly. It was rough at first for the cops, as most of em' weren't used to fighting people that could fight back, but we managed to whip them into some kinda rough shape that was good enough to hold the line. Still, after over ten different scenarios (me, Cyclops, Nightcrawler, and Wolverine made a good team) it was depressingly obvious that most of these guys wouldn't make it through the night. The good news was that I managed to send a signal to Subterrania, and instructed 4,000 Moloids to tunnel their way to an underground escape hatch (the mansion was magically enhanced to house everyone here). They brought miniaturized tanks and weapon caches with them, so we got some much needed firepower along with the numbers. Hell, we were thinking about using them as an alternative retreat option, but Hood must've been tracking our movements, cuz once the Moloids got in, the energy dome went deep into the ground as well. Nothing else was getting in or out that way.

"I take it you're unhappy with Magneto's current situation?" Cyclops asked me, as we chilled on the mansion rooftop, waiting for the invasion to begin.

"Well," I responded. "He seems to have got off with a wrist slap. Not exactly the 'punishment' I was looking for."

"Looks can be deceiving, friend. He's on what basically amounts to community service/house arrest. Repairing outposts, longer scouting shifts, and restricted to the island, unless given express permission by myself or Emma to leave."

"Ooooooh, harsh. Community service and house arrest. Ya know he tried to kill me, right? He played a part in almost destroying the world. And you're just gonna let him off with a half assed grounding?"

"You'd rather fight this battle without him?"

"I'm not stupid. I know we need him, but I don't have to like it."

We stayed silent for a little while, but Cyclops restarted the conversation after about a minute.

"You did a good job, by the way," he said. "The past few days? Organizing the police and heroes into a functional defense force? Impressive. I know it seems like i'm just coming in and stealing your thunder, no pun intended, but your performance really is to be commended."

"I'm not mad," I shrugged. "Just glad you saved my ass. As you've seen, my plans don't exactly pan out."

"If I had a dollar for every one of my plans that fell apart before the halfway mark, i'd be Tony Stark rich, son. You've shown a remarkable ability to assess, re-strategize, react, counter, and proactively cut your opponent's legs out from under them. Trust me, if it wasn't for you, New York would've been taken by day two."

"Why do I feel another recruitment pitch coming on?"

"That obvious? I need to work on that, but yes, Jason. Assuming we make it out of this, which I think we will, I really want you to join my team."

"All the way in San Francisco? That's a big ask. I mean the commute…"

"Is that supposed to be funny? If so, near miss."

"Yeah, yeah, but seriously, don't get your hopes up. I'm still not sure about this hero thing."

"The hell you're not. Doom is finished. Your stop was long gone, yet you hopped on the next train as soon as you were needed. Sure, you'll say to yourself 'it's just this one last time', but is it? When the next big threat to this city or the world rears its head, are you really going to sit back and do nothing?"

My silence was telling. I couldn't even look him in the visor.

"Still not seeing what this has to do with me joining your team," I responded.

"You'll see," Cyclops responded. "Logan wants a school where mutants can pretend they don't live in a world that wants them dead. That veil of willful ignorance is about to come crashing down. When you see what our enemy's can do…...the unconscionable ruthlessness they're capable of, you'll know. Our kind needs to prepare for the brutal fight we have ahead. Not pretend it isn't already here. Not hide away, and hope we'll be looked over. From the day they got their powers, mutants, young and old entered a war. Sooner or later, it will find you. I'm determined to win it. To prepare us to win it."

There was a huge amount of bitterness in his voice, and I was tempted to pry a little, but I was saved by the alarm, as the mansion detected the literal carriers descending outta the sky, and landing in the forest to the east of the mansion. Cyclops and I quickly got inside the attic door, and dashed down to the briefing room to scope out the oncoming fight. Overall…...we were kinda f*(#€&. We were talking bout 50 carriers implanted in the forest, not counting the two dozen A.I.M. and Hydra Helicarriers surrounding us from the sky. The carriers on the ground, big rectangular Olympium devices as thick as skyscrapers, opened up and the rate at which we were fucked increased tenfold! Yeah, these things weren't carrying anything, but were portal devices that connected to the heart of multiple strongholds, where thousands of enemy troops were waiting on standby. Oh, and as for Jimmy wrecking them with his plant powers, that was a no go. These things were locked down with Grade A force fields protecting them. Out of one of the Death Force portal boxes (kinda like that name) Supreme Potentate exited, hovered above the carriers, and in a dark, raspy voice that froze my spine, began to speak.

"AND NOW, NOBLE WARRIORS!" his unearthly voice seemed to crack the fabric of reality. "BOLD FRIENDS OF THE LORD MOST HIGH! GO FORTH WITHOUT FEAR AND OBLITERATE THE ABERRATIONS, THE HEATHENS THAT DARE DEFY THE DIVINE WILL OF GOD! LET THE GROUND BE SOAKED IN THE BLOOD OF THE ABOMINATIONS, AND RAZE THEIR TEMPLE OF UNHOLINESS TO THE GROUND! THE LORD IS WITH US!"

Hundreds upon hundreds of troops charged out of the portals and towards the mansion. Once again, the situation proved to be even more fucked than we thought. Long story short, Jimmy was doin' his damnedest to shred apart the incoming enemy fighters, but for every ten coming in, he was only able to kill three. Their armor was hardcore; taking blows that could crush an elephant, and projecting energy shields and sabers that could cut though fully grown trees! So yeah, the mansion lawn started to quickly fill up with enemy fighters within minutes. The Purifiers, Sapien League, and Reavers favored the War Force exclusively. The Church of Humanity favored Apollo Fire (as close to God as they'd ever get). The Right, who fought in Smileys, mixed it up with War Force and God Steroids. The Sentinels and U-Foes ran the gamut of the entire Olympus Force spectrum (some were even using Nethertrench energy). All of it rampaging towards the mansion in a multi-colored array of bigotry and death. Cyclops moved up the timetable a few clicks, as he told the trench team to get on standby, while he amped up the mansions' laser cannons to max power. I tried to help out by sending out some Olympium nanites to eat the enemy's armor and weapons, but this time was different. The nanites were meeting resistance…...as if the armor of the bad guys were alive all of a sudden.

"Z.O.R.D.O.N.?" I thought to my A.I. "What's the matter, bud? Lost your appetite?""

"Hardly," he responded. "I'm sensing a rival A.I. This f*(#!^% guy is easily stronger than me! Whatever it is, it's keeping me from assimilating their tech. Unless….yeah, yeah, ya gotta kill em'! The suits ditch there hosts as soon as vital signs are flat. You kill em', I clean em'!

"So basically I do the hard work, and you collect the reward?"

"Wanna say that again, but this time like you didn't make me orchestrate an entire army to do the heavy lifting for the last few hours?"

Damn. Schooled by my own A.I.

Anyway, I tried Z's advice, and tapped into the Power Grid. I didn't spare any expense, and after getting a lock on my targets, sent supercharged Phantom Bolts at their heads! The results paid off big time, cuz after leaving a smoking crater where their heads were, I sent out a cluster of Olympium to collect some new scrap for the heap! I continued that for a good five minutes, eventually collecting enough scrap to add Olympium swords (shocker, energy charged super metal can penetrate energy charged super metal), maces, shurikens, axes, and boomerangs to slice and dice the bigoted baddies into several pieces. They upped their shields after the first few dozen killings, but it barely helped them, as me and Storm just turned up the voltage, and tore through them! That mixed with the laser cannons still going, gave us enough time to get our ground soldiers into the trenches. Thank God, cuz as good as me and Storm were, the bad guys slowly but steadily kept coming, until they were barely 50 meters from the front door!

"Trench soldiers, get ready to fight!" Cyclops mentally commanded. "Magik, portal on my mark! Ready…...steady…..NOW!"

A huge portal blazed to life across the mansion grounds that dimmed away as quickly as it flared up. Nothing remained, and I was kinda miffed that Magik threw away a large chunk of perfectly good Olympium. Eh, can't win em' all. Anyway, the bad guys remained determined, and pressed forward with their attack. This time it was all hands on deck, as Cyclops pulled the trench warfare card, ramped up the laser cannons, and gave me the signal to deploy my Moloid war machines. Yeah, my underground crew didn't spare any of the heat, as they brought tanks, mortars, catapults, and Olympus Force seeking mini-missile launchers (myself excluded from the targeting of course)! By the time the next wave of bad guys stepped up, they were smacked backwards with a wave of Olympium weapons, lasers, lightning, and pretty much anything we had we could throw at them! Ima be totally real, for a hot minute, that $#!+ was a massacre! Everything from Purifiers, Sentinels, dudes in Smileys, and Reavers all caught that ass whuppin'! I was collecting Olympium scrap hand over fist, and even reassembled scraped Smileys and Sentinels (didn't get any of the big ones yet), powered em' with Zeus Lightning and Sea Force, and opened fire back on the invaders! I enjoyed the carnage for every second we could squeeze in….so about a minute and a half. After that….well, that's when the big boys entered the field. First the Anti-Mutant Crew (might as well give em' a name) released the big Sentinels into the fray. This wasn't a code red issue, as we still had enough firepower to hold them at bay (and this was my chance to finally snag one of them), but they were just pawns to help the Anti-Mutant Crew gain some ground. While our warm-up crew was busy with them, Supreme Potentate pulled a fast one right under our noses, and for a split second shrouded the mansion grounds in total darkness! When the lights cut back on, we were completely surrounded! I'm talkin' bad guys, hundreds upon hundreds of em', in all 360 degrees. They weren't f*(#!^% around either, as they were already slaughtering the poor unprepared bastards that were unlucky enough to get pulled outta their trenches, and to my indescribable rage, my Moloid army!

I acted so fast, I don't think my brain realized what I did until it was too late. Call me crazy, but I took my short few hours as King of the Moloids very seriously! These guys believed in me, and raised me up as their ruler, leader, and protector, all because their last king was so bad, they were willing to place their futures in the hand of a complete stranger, and land walker of all people. I was not bout to let them down, and I teleported onto the roof of the mansion, summoned an Olympium double bladed spear (trident on top, lightning bolt shaped blade on the bottom), and after lighting it up with Zeus Lightning and Sea Force (took me a few seconds to realize I was in Thunder God), let loose a Fulminata Blast so strong, my Sea Force/Lightning tendrils fried through force fields and armor all the same, cleaning a good 200 Anti-Mutant soldiers off the board! Hell, one of the big War Force charged Sentinels set its sights on me, but an overcharged Olympium spear to its chest reactor, sending a wave of explosions all up and down its infrastructure, until I succeeded in scrapping, absorbing, and repurposing one of the big Sentinels to my side! Not gonna lie, I was a bull seeing red, mixed with a Tasmanian devil. I zoomed across the mansion grounds, covered in so much Zeus Lightning, my energy runoff was strong enough to break through force fields! I sliced up bad guys left and right, and put Z.O.R.D.O.N. to work again, creating a horde of Zeus Lightning/Sea Force powered Ben 10 aliens, Power Rangers, Greek gods and monsters, Zatch Bell Mamodos (underrated anime), and Transformers for him to inhabit and f*(# $#!+ up. Together we cut through at least a few hundred Anti-Mutant losers on our own. Hell, it wasn't until I saw the familiar twisting lasers from Cyclops, and Colossus literally being chucked into a big Sentinel, compliments of Magneto, that I realized the battle was in full swing!

"Jumped the gun a little there, son!" Cyclops thought to me.

"Not your son, Slim Shady!" I thought back. "And I wasn't bout to let these fools take down my guys! In case you didn't know, i'm the new king of the Moloids! That means anyone who steps to them the wrong way gets a lightning bolt to the head!"

"Namor got to you first, didn't he?"

I didn't justify that with a response, and kept fighting. For about ten minutes I cut through hordes of Purifiers, Smileys, Reavers, and Sentinels, until my Speed Sense did something weird. Usually it only triggers when i'm in danger, but I was currently sensing Nightcrawler, who just got punted into the ground, about to get torched by Mr. Clean (man that will never not be funny)! Spider-Man, Deadpool, Iron Fist, and Moon Knight were tryna close in on tall, blond, and muscly, but this dude was strapped up to the max! He was wearing a War Force powered Olympium bulletproof vest, camo pants, and along with his trademark flamethrower, had a big ass Olympium gun on his back that was literally a Gatling gun with a missile launcher, and laser cannon! Plus, the guy had a pretty hefty force field shielding him. No way they'd be able to do any real damage before Kurt got fried. This was perfect justification for what I was about to do to detergent man. I snapped my fingers, creating an air current that moved them into some trenches, and literally dropped a F5 level vortex, condensed into the size of a field goal post right on top of him! Ten seconds of that, and Mr. Clean's force field was no more. Before he could even get his bearings back, I Static Jumped in front of him, a Zeus Lighting eagle head gauntlet around my left arm, and slammed a Storm-Lord Special into his chest! His armor shattered like glass, exposing his bare chest, and again, I ended it before he even knew it began. I vibrated my hand into his chest, made it surge with voltage, and literally cooked Mr. Clean's insides! I looted his Olympium armor and weapons before his dead body hit the ground, and moved on with the battle. Like I said, I had no f*(#$ to give for these guys.

I pressed forward with my attacks for another ten minutes, mixing up sword combat with lightning blasts/constructs, occasional uses of the Clean Cannon (might as well name his weapon after him), and a few team-ups with Magneto, Wolverine, Warpath, and Iron Fist. The bad guys got the memo that we weren't gonna give them an easy meal, and they started to send down the cavalry. So in addition to Anti-Mutant losers, we had Hydra, A.I.M., and The Hand to deal with. I cut them down/looted them all the same, but noticed how the Anti-Mutant crew seemed to have it out for me specifically. An extra batch of Sentinels here, a few Reaver ambushes there, and an entire silo of missiles trying to turn me into a crater! At first I figured it was because of the dream team I was workin' with, but one of the Friends of Humanity literally shouted 'BURN THE HEATHEN! BURN THE ABOMINATION WHO SUMMONS THE PRINCE OF THE AIR!'' as he trained his flamethrower on me. Guess word got around about Mr. Clean gettin' waxed off (yes, yes I am proud of that). I disposed of him in three seconds, and was eyeing a squad of A.I.M. goons, when my Speed Sense hit me again!

The threat was aimed at me, and I just barely had time to get my trident out and summon a Sea Force barrier around myself as Supreme Pontiff, f*(#!^% radiating Nethertrench Energy, slammed into me with the force of a million falling trucks, and almost shattered my barrier in one blow! He probably coulda smashed my barrier with one more hit, but this guy was more of a 'infiltrate and bomb' kinda guy, as he literally teleported inside my barrier, and almost shanked me in the back with his spear! I just barely sidestepped the attack, and whirled around with a trident slash. Supreme edgelord blocked my attack (Jesus, he was strong), and my Speed Sense once again sent shockwaves through my body, as he started to release a Nethertrench blastwave that woulda wasted the whole damn estate! I countered by wrapping myself in a Sea Force charged Olympium Ninja Storm Blue Ranger suit (no skirt of course), and engulfed me and Supreme Pontiff in the strongest Sea Force dome I could muster. Just a few seconds of that was enough to give me a good handle on how big a threat Supreme Pontiff was packing! Holding this guy's blastwave within my ten feet dome was like tryna plug a fire hydrant with my hands! Spoiler alert: the fire hydrant was gonna win! As the seconds ticked on, Supreme Pontiff's blastwave started to push mine's outwards, and like an ever expanding balloon, it was only a matter of time before it popped. Hell, even with me putting a layer of swirling storm cloud over the Sea Force barrier, and pushing down with all my Thunder God strength, I only bought myself maybe an extra minute It wasn't that I couldn't beat Supreme Pontiff (tho he wasn't a walk in the park), it as that our battle would waste everything/everyone here if I didn't end this…(carry the one, divide it by pi)...right now! Even in Thunder God mode I didn't have the power to pull that kinda magic act in…..I'M A GENIUS! No, i'm a dumbass! Maybe both. Let's see how this works out.

Yeah, I know Jimmy put me on a strict three day 'no hocus pocus' prescription, but we wouldn't last another three minutes unless I pulled this off! I prayed to whatever god would listen to me as I conjured a three-pronged spell seal at the base of my trident with the spells: teleport: . | - .|._-._|.\.(_).-| time crawl: .-|-|./|-._'.,_)/.'\ /.|._ teleport: . | - .|._-._|.\.(_).-| Jimmy wasn't kidding around, as doing a simple three-pronged spell seal was enough to make me feel lightheaded. I quickly put the spell seal onto my Olympium armor, to help with the strain, and activated the first two spells.

The funny thing was I was teleporting me and Supreme Pontiff to the same spot. Where we were going didn't matter, as the important part was using my time crawl spell to drag the microsecond we should've stayed in the Sea Force into like 15 seconds. And let me tell ya somethin', the Sea Force was not havin' any of that Nethertrench $#!+ in its house, and attacked Supreme Pontiff like white blood cells on a fever! Sea Force spirits of all kinds came in droves to give this dude such an ass kicking, I almost felt sorry for bringing him here! After a good fifteen seconds of getting mauled by Sea Force sharks, whales, swordfish, dolphins, and giant lobsters (good on Larry), I activated the other teleport spell on my trident, and poofed us back to the battle. Supreme Pontiff was not lookin good. His 'body' was more a Nethertrench version of a half melted playdough man, and his breathing, if this thing needed air, was like glass in a garbage disposal. Some part of me deep down felt some semblance of pity for this thing, but not enough to not pull the power boost on my completed three pronged spell seal, and stab him in the chest so deep, my trident was halfway in the grass! Supreme Pontiff let off an unearthly screech as he contracted into a black ball and fled the battle! All eyes were on me at that point, and you better believe the bad guys put a big ass target on my head!

Seriously, you'd think mortally wounding a nebulous immortal being that maybe a monster from the 7th circle of Hell would REPEL attackers, but I guess Hood put a big damn bounty on me, cuz the next 20 minutes were an endless flurry of Hand ninjas, A.I.M. goons, Hydra goons, Smileys, Purifiers, and ESPECIALLY Church of Humanity nuts! The good news was my Olympium armor had soaked up so much Sea Force, that the first 15 minutes was just me going full Katara as I wasted baddies by the dozens with Sea Force charged water spirals, octopus tentacles, giant shurikens, electric eel water constructs, and Wizard 101 Krakens! Hell, I loaded most of the excess Sea Force in my armor into a continuous stream of mini-rockets that peppered the battlefield, and gave us some more breathing room to work with. I was really starting to get into the groove, which attracted the attention of one of the big fishes, as I sensed a guy in a huge mech suit, wielding huge laser swords that shout outta his armor's wrists, making a beeline for me! The dude had some speed on him, or at least relative too he did. Don't get me wrong Mach 5 is nothing to sneeze at, but I mean…...come on, that's my equivalent of a warm-up jog. I planted him to the ground with a lighting strike, and as he got up (a bit quicker than I expected), I slammed him point blank with a Storm-Lord Special! I had two things to consider when the dust cleared.

1: This was Cameron Hodge, Leader of The Right/Purifiers. His armor was kind of like a mini Hulkbuster, but with a red and white paint job.

2: Even after a punch like the one I just gave him (I really put my back into that one), his force field was still intact!

I barely had time to visibly express my bafflement, before Hodge blasted me point blank with a huge War Force repulsor blast! The blast propelled me into the ground, tho I managed to get a Zeus Lightning barrier around myself and catch my breath. Hodge was doing his damnedest to make sure I didn't have too much of a break tho.

"ALL PURIFIER AND RIGHT UNITS TO ME!" he roared into his comms. "I WANT THIS MUTIE SCUM SCRUBBED FROM THE FACE OF THE EARTH!"

Credit where it's due, Hodge and his crew brought the heat. Olympus Force Smileys, machine guns, grenade launchers, Gatling guns, plasma cannons, all of it….and they still didn't stand a goddamn chance! After a good squad of em' were lined up, I overcharged my barrier, and sent it out as a blastwave, thrashing a good dozen right off the bat! I quickly shifted into my Storm Form (now surging with Zeus Lightning) and proceeded to clean up in less that five minutes, as I shifted myself into a lightning breathing storm dragon, and disposed of all the oncoming grunts so fast, most of em' weren't even sure what hit em'! After I took care of them, I turned my attention to Hodge. I started my attack by condensing myself to a mini twister around him and battered his force field with a barrage of lightning and wind attacks. As strong as I was tho, I barely put a dent in his force field's power level. The damn thing kept recharging itself as quickly as I bust it down, as it seemed to have a pretty hefty power source. No doubt I could power through it, but the amount of power i'd have to put into the tornado would kill pretty much everyone in the process. Looks like I had to handle Hodge the old fashioned way.

I reformed my body, and while keeping him at a distance with some lightning blasts, sent out a swarm of Olympium nanites to latch onto and leech his force field down, while I kept the ranged attacks up. Credit to Hodge, as he had a good amount of skill on him. He kept me on my toes with a consistent volley of heat seeking shoulder rockets, tried to restrain me with energy bolos, oh, and his suit could teleport; meaning I almost got shanked with his energy blades more than a few times! All well and good, but my lighting attacks/energy siphoning eventually did the trick, and drained Hodge's first force field dry! I say first because after summoning an Olympium sword to relieve him of his head, the blade stopped short of his face! Yeah, the suit apparently had some auxiliary power that kept an invisible body shield around Hodge. My nanites were already on leeching that one too, but I really spooked Hodge, as he was now comin' at me like a cornered animal! He blasted me full force with a volley of repulsor rays and shoulder rockets, but I easily blocked em' all with some shield constructs, and pinned him between two meat grinder constructs. Hodge grunted and screamed at the fear of getting shredded into deli meat, but eventually managed to teleport his way free. He tried to shank me from behind again (you could tell he wasn't a fighter), but I sidestepped the attack, and turned around with an Olympium gauntlet (eagle head shaped of course) swing to his head! We went at it for a good minute, as Hodge tried to blast and shank me at close range, while I bobbed and weaved around his attacks, and kept hammering his chest, arms, legs, and back with Storm-Lord Specials, while also striking him in his joints with precise Phantom Bolt strikes to keep him off-balance. Hodge was able to get in a few breaks here and there with some desperate explosive waves, and using his portal tech to get some distance and launch a repulsor/missile volley, but it was all the same in the end. The nanites drained his auxiliary power dry, his suit crashed to the ground, I teleported over him with my trident in hand for a finishing stab.

"WAIT!" he bellowed at me, and I struggled not to laugh.

Like what was he bout to say that would convince me to spare him? Nah, he was done. I stabbed my trident deep into his chest, and that was the end of him. Just as I finished adding his mostly intact suit to my horde of Olympium, I felt my Speed Sense ping at me from above and behind!

Dive bombing me with two machine guns was the Leper Queen, decked out from head to toe in a War Force Tron suit that was almost certainly packing more firepower than a laser disk. From behind, my Thunder Sense was picking up this behemoth of a man, 7 feet tall and jacked like a WWE Superstar! He was also wearing War Force armor in the style of his dearly departed daddy, and by the way he was snarling at me, Sabertooth Jr. was venting that anger out on me!

I had nowhere to dash to, and didn't wanna spread this fight out, so I tried to block both attackers by making em' crash into a Zeus Lightning barrier. In Leper Queen's case it worked. Her bullets impacted my barrier with explosive charges that were not to be taken lightly, but forced her to roll off the side of my barrier and fallback. Creed was different. I dunno if it was his suit, or the special drugs he was on (no way he wasn't juicing on something), but he straight up powered through my barrier, and almost took a chunk outta my back with a claw swipe! I barely managed to backflip over it, dropping my barrier to get some room, but it looked like this was a 2 on 1 fight as my Speed Sense alerted me (not in time) that Leper Queen had teleported just a few feet away from me (everyone's teleporting now), already letting loose a shot from her grenade launcher! The blast hit me on the shoulder, and the explosion knocked me halfway across the mansion grounds! I landed face first in the gravel road, feeling like someone clocked me with a sack of bricks, but didn't have time to whine about it, as Graydon, who was fast as $#!+ even by my standards, was already pouncing at me with his teeth bared and ready to tear me to shreds!

I used his momentum against him, and decked him from behind with a Phantom Bolt, sending him careening into the distance. Leper Queen also wanted to make this up close and personal, as she came down with a volley of throwing knives all directed at my head (props for accuracy tho)! I had a hunch that the knives were explosive, and used the winds to reverse the momentum, and send them back her way! My hunch proved correct as Leper Queen got one helluva War Force bombardment that blasted her damn near into the dome covering the mansion! Graydon finally came back around, charging on all fours like a f*(#!^% monster, but I quickly realized he only had one plan of attack: attack. As he got closer to me, I tripped a Phantom Bolt right under him, and before he could recover, rammed him from behind with a Zeus Lightning train construct. I leaped over the voltage locomotive and sandwiched Graydon in between another charging voltage train, which made a nice little explosion as my man also flew sky high! I didn't have time to celebrate that one, as Leper Queen tried another point blank teleport blast (this time with a Gatling gun). I managed to maneuver around the bullet storm, getting a nice spinning kick to Leper Queen's head, but was disappointed to see a kick that should've had her scrambling back 100 meters only barely put her in a falling tailspin! Hell, as soon as she landed, she busted out bullet shooting gauntlets (awesome) and proceeded to duke it out with me in a brief melee!

She was good. Just as fast and as strong as me, and I was picking up Krav Maga, Kung-Fu, Jujitsu, White Lotus, kickboxing, and a little Capoeira in her blended techniques. That mixed with the constant bullet storm threatening to take out my kneecaps and vital areas made her a pretty damn good sparring partner. I was almost having somewhat of a good time, but then Graydon came back around, this time pouncing at me from the roof. Credit where it's due, this was the most creative strategy thus far by him. Not good enough tho, as I simply used him as a battering ram via airbending him straight into Leper Queen, and blasting them both at once with a Zeus Cannon from above! The blast kept them pinned for a good five seconds, but props to their armor, they were able to crawl outta the blast zone and converge on me from either side. I made their encroachment hard, as I blasted them with Phantom Bolts, put barriers such as spiked walls in their way, and launched a flurry of Zeus Lightning bullets, grenades, rockets, and Cell Jrs. Leper Queen and Graydon slowly made their way towards me regardless, and I was waiting for the moment Commander Charred teleported behind me for a plasma rifle blast, but this time both Leper Queen and Graydon pulled the Nightcrawler act! I instinctively swiveled around lookin' for em' but they switched it up a bit (finally), as I was suddenly surrounded by a bunch of Reavers and Sapien Leaguers! They opened fire on me from all sides, showering me in a storm of War Force blasts, bullets, grenades, rockets, and shurikens; all of which were just barely held at bay by my barrier. I didn't play defensive for too long tho, as I merced em' all from above with Zeus Lightning bolts, as well as calling in a squad of Moloids to ambush them from behind (i'm almost certain eating your opponents alive is against the Geneva Convention). This lured Leper Queen and Graydon back in the open, where they started pacing around me.

"Careful, Leper Queen," Graydon growled. "This one's tough."

"No $#!+, litter box," I said back. "You're somehow even dumber than your dad was."

Low blow I admit, but I needed Graydon even more berserk than usual for the plan I just thought up a nanosec ago.

"Calm yourself, Creed," Leper Queen spoke, her voice like cracked paper. "If it has a heart, it can be killed."

"Guess that makes y'all immortal," I said as one last joke before I launched my plan into full effect.

I launched myself at Graydon, propelling us both towards the outskirts of the mansion. I picked a place packed to the brim with enemies and allies going at it. With all the commotion going on, Leper Queen's teleporting gimmick was dead in the water. Speaking of which, while me and Graydon went 12 rounds, I had her busy with a barrage of Olympium weapons, Ben 10 constructs, Moloid ambushes, and Power Grid attacks. Forget me, at this point Leper Queen was fighting for her f*(#!^% life! As for Graydon, i'm not gonna lie, he could actually fight pretty well in close quarters. I was wailing on him with a series of Storm-Lord Specials, kicks, and a few lightning strikes for good measure, but the dude kept me at bay with a decent use of fast and brutal MMA techniques. Like Leper Queen, the guy woulda made a decent sparring partner. He wouldn't stand a chance in hell of beating me, but he woulda been an alright warm up. The real problem was his armor. Him being about as fast and strong as me was irrelevant, but his armor made it to where it was like tryna cut through a tank with a plastic knife. I could hammer away at it all night and barely make a dent in it. Like always, the bad guys needed that extra effort to put em' down, and extra effort is what I did best. I kept Graydon busy for a few more minutes while I cooked up somethin' big. Just above the X-Mansion, I started building two huge Olympium arc reactors, both big enough to completely encompass said mansion. Took me a few minutes, but once they were done, I created a giant Zeus Lightning wolf construct, snapped Graydon in its jaws, and whisked it in between the two reactors. With the rabid kitty cat in position, I summoned my trident and Polaris' Wrath in each hand, and created two Final Flash level blasts, each made with the trifecta of Zeus Lightning, Polaris Voltage, and Sea Force. The blasts fed my arc reactors, which multiplied them by 10, and engulfed Graydon in an energy storm intense enough to power the entire east coast! Ten seconds of that and his armor (plus a good chunk of my energy) was spent. As he fell, I charged both my spears with the energy trifecta, and hurled them both at Graydon. The spears made a satisfying THUMP of metal piercing flesh, and the energy charges detonated, sending Graydon backwards in a spray of red, as I kinda sorta blew a hole in his chest so large, his entire rib cage and its contents were vaporized! His body teleported away, tho unless he inherited daddy's healing factor (cuz that did wonders for Sabertooth…..), doubted any medic could do him any good.

With Graydon taken care of, I turned my attention back to Leper Queen, who was not having a good time at all. At the moment she and whatever goons she could scrounge up were in a shootout with my Moloids, some cops in the collapsible trenches, and were constantly getting bombarded from above with Olympium Stinkfly bombers. Her armor was falling apart, I could tell she had a pained look on her face under that mask, and decided to put her out of her misery via creating an Olympium sniper rifle, loading it with a bullet that was overcharged with Sea Force, took aim at her head, and squeezed the trigger. Half a sec later, Leper Queen and her goons went up in a bright blue explosion! The old hag herself survived and teleported away in defeat, but I noticed her right arm was missing as she scrambled away. She must've sounded the alarm as she retreated, cuz a blaring siren cut through the air, and one of the enemy carriers literally started shooting hordes of Sentinels into the air, which then came soaring down at the mansion in all directions! Just an initial count had them at over five dozen and climbing. That amount of firepower would be hell on us, even if I turned the mansion grounds into a mini-hurricane. Then it hit me. I had the husk of a living lightning monster inside of me! Hell, bonding it into myself damn near tripled my power level! Time to take Thunder Form Z for a real test drive!

I focused on combining my three energies together, and right before the sentinels hit, transformed into a 60 ft tall energy behemoth, shaped like the burliest dude ever, with no skin over raw tissue, and a face that resembled Dormammu's! I felt Zzaxx's strength engulf me like a wildfire, and the sudden rage I felt burning through every cell of my being was equal parts exhilarating and terrifying. Luckily one of the Sentinels blasted me in the head with a Nature Force repulsor blast. My rage suddenly had a target, and you better believe I vented!

For maybe five minutes, I tore through the Sentinel hordes like they were stacks of tissue paper! First, I ripped them apart like a demon possessed savage. After getting more of a hold on myself, I discovered Thunder Form Z was pretty much like an insanely boosted Thunder Form 2. I could twist and shape parts/all of myself into various weapons and constructs, and did so with glee! I sliced down dozens of Sentinels with my sword arms, blasted them outta the sky with my arm cannon blasters, and chomped them to pieces as a giant shark! Hell, I vaguely remembered getting shot at hundreds of times, but it hardly mattered as my body was like an energy deflector in this form. Rockers, lasers, and bullets alike just kinda melted at my touch! The only variance was that Zeus Lightning blasts gave me an extra charge, and Nethertrench blasts stung a little. But yeah, I cleared out the Sentinels in record time, and after I trashed all his toys, Trask finally showed up in a kinda big way.

First off, forget human size, the guy's Sentinel was just as big as me, armed to the teeth in missile launches, plasma cannons, and the only one that mattered: energy disruptors! Trask opened that puppy on me full force, making a loud SCREEEEEE as it bombarded me with soundwaves that made my energy form go all screwy and scrambled! It was like someone dunked me in a ball of lava, and was shaking me like a snow globe! Trask had me for a good ten seconds or so, but I quickly adapted to his attack, and countered with my own! I dissolved my form into pure electricity, and infested Trask's suit. It took me all of three seconds to cook it and him from the inside out, and absorb his Sentinel scrap into my Olympium horde. I followed that up with reforming my body in a collapsible trench, next to a few cops having a shootout with some Purifiers, while I caught my breath. Yeah, going Thunder Form Z wasn't a cake walk. Like all my forms, I had to get acquainted to the strain it took, and gradually build my stamina. Hell, I was so tapped out, I wasn't even in Thunder God anymore.

"How ya doin'?" a Hispanic guy called over to me.

"Not bad," I huffed out. "Yourself?"

"Peachy! What a way to end the year, eh?!"

I smiled, surprised I could still do that, but quickly snapped back to focus as Cyclops shot me (and assumedly all X-Men) an S.O.S.

"To anyone hearing this, Sublime has breached the mansion! Rogue, Colossus, Gambit, and myself are engaging, but we need backup, he's trying to make his way to the children!"

That really got me in gear! No way was I gonna let this f*(#!^% guy kidnap and harvest kids! I tapped into .D.O.N. and got a quick X-Ray of the fight. Ultimate Man (what else would that U on his chest stand for?) had just finished givin' Colossus a ten piece combo with a biscuit, and uppercutted him clear of the mansion! Gambit, Cyclops, and Quicksilver were keeping his duplication powers at bay via taking out the clones, while Rogue was slugging it out with the guy. Props to her for maximum effort, as she absorbed Colossus' steel skin Cyclops' laser vision, Gambit's energy charge ability, and Quicksilver's speed, to give Sublime one hell of a fight! Hell, if it wasn't for Ultimate Man matching her blow for blow, I woulda said Cyclops was cryin' wolf. As was such, I knew this was a stop gap, and my comrades really needed a break. I had Z.O.R.D.O.N. give me a read of Ultimate Man, and picked out those techno-organic implants in his body. Yeah, these were child's play. The implants in pretty much all over his body were sufficient, but bulky. He woulda been better served to create a neuron-like nanite system to bond to his cells and work collectively. At least then he had a chance of programming a system that wouldn't fall apart at the slightest cyber attack. Speaking of which, I hit him with one hell of a cyber attack! While Rogue kept him busy, I did a Static Jump behind him, grabbed him by the back of the head, and injected millions of nanites into his body! The microscopic legion did a number on Sublime, as they short circuited his gear, in no time flat, and made him combust into flames for a few seconds! He teleported away in a wail that sent chills down my spine. I hope he died, or at the very least would live in perpetual excruciation.

"Good work, sugah," Rogue said a little outta breath. "Had em' on the ropes, but I ain't one to turn down. A helpin' hand."

Again, there was that impossible smile that struck my face at Rogue's charming southern accent. I wish the bad guys would let me have more than a second to enjoy these little things, but bad guys have no lives, so they dedicate their days to ruining mine. This smile killer came in the form of an alarm blaring from inside the X-Mansion. Based on everyone going pale as printer paper, this was a pretty big deal.

"BASTION!" Cyclops mentally roared out. "ALL HANDS ON DECK!"

Before any hands could get on the deck, a huge THOOM! rocked the ground, and a mechanical voice resounded across the battlefield.

"BASTION ONLINE!" the robot's voice thundered though the air. "OBJECTIVE: TERMINATE THE MUTANT CALLED 'STORM-LORD'!"

It was my turn to look like i'd seen a ghost.

"SEARCHING, SEARCHING, SEARCHING!" it continued. "MUTANT: 'STORM-LORD' LOCATED, COMMENCING TERMINATION!"

I immediately did a Static Jump high in the air above the mansion. Whatever this thing was, it was aimed at me. Not exactly a good thing, but if it was focused on me, it wouldn't bother with the kids in the mansion, so the glass was half full at least. Bastion, a white dude with slicked back grey hair and goatee, wearing a black and purple jumpsuit, rocketed towards me with frightening speed, and I tapped into Thunder God (took a lot to get that one started again) as he closed the distance.

"Subject has teleportation powers," Bastion monotoned. "Analyzing…..forming counter strategy….counter strategy complete….attacking."

Bastion poured on the speed, tryna hit me with an uppercut, but I sidestepped it, busted out my Olympium Gauntlets and started wailing on him! My first 100 punches got through his defenses, but Bastion gradually increased in strength, speed, and skill. Barely a minute in and the dude was starting to overwhelm me as he gradually forced me on the defensive!

"You can't beat it, Jason!" Emma thought to me. "Bastion can analyze, counter, and even copy anything you throw at him. The more you fight, the stronger it gets!"

"Kinda figured that!" I responded. "Don't worry, I have a plan. Whether or not I live to see it through is an entirely different matter all together!"

As if to punctuate that, Bastion hit me across the jaw, kicked me away, and blasted me with a barrage of repulsors and mini-rockets; knocking me halfway across the sky! Even in Thunder God that $#!+ hurt! I managed to recover via getting behind a Zeus Lightning Roman Shield wall construct, and exploding a compressed tornado spiral right under him, launching him into the barrier for a quick deep fry. I say quick, cuz no way was I gonna keep him pinned down for long (I even tried shackling him with chain constructs). My goal was to buy enough time for me and my trusty A.I. to save my ass.

"Hey, Z?" I thought to Z.O.R.D.O.N. "What do we got here?"

Bastion broke free and made a beeline for me.

"Remember that rival A.I. that was blockin' my flow? he responded. "Yeah, this is that guy."

I twisted around his charge, grabbed his feet as I recovered, and after taking him for a tornado spin, launched him into the side of the dome. Before he could recover, I created a barrage of Zeus Lightning/Sea Force charged Olympium missiles, and went full DEFCON 12 on his tin can ass!

"This dude's got the X-Men spooked. What's the big deal?"

Bastion flew at me, shielded inside an energy shield. As he approached, he doubled in size, bulked up to Brock Lesnar beefage, and fitted his arms with laser cannons, his shoulders with mini Gatling guns and missile launchers, as well as some energy spikes comin' outta the bottom of his shoes! He pursued/blasted at me relentlessly as I put up both Zeus Lightning and Olympium constructs in his way; desperately tryna stay ahead of him.

"How about this? Superhuman everything, target analysis and adaptation, technoforming, techoshifting, techno-kinetic possession, energy manipulation, and time travel! Not gonna lie, you're kinda f*(#€£. Hell, the only reason he hasn't absorbed me yet is he don't see me as a threat or asset."

Bastion eventually closed the gap, and I busted out an Olympium sword and shield. As I weaved around his attacks, I vibrated my sword and managed to hack off a leg, and arm (which I absorbed into my Olympium horde for Z to analyze). Bastion got a little defensive about that, and showered me in a bullet/missile storm. I stayed strong behind my shield, and after doing a small countdown, did a Static Jump behind him, and swung my sword into his neck! I wish it cut clean through, but that adaption thing kicked in quick! My sword made it to just under halfway through Bastion's neck, and his mechanical neck suddenly hardened to where I couldn't budge my sword an inch! He quickly turned his head 180 degrees (even for a robot that was creepy) and blasted me off him with a Final Flash level blast from his mouth, sending me hurtling backwards, with white spots dotting my vision. I managed to recover as my Speed Sense pinged Bastion launching a volley of energy coated metal javelins at me. I managed to erect a wall of Olympium, but my Speed Sense hit even harder as the javelins punctured through the wall as if it was wet tissue paper! I just barely managed to weave outta the way of the spears, and continue on the retreat as Bastion pursued!

"Any chance you can shut him down?" I asked Z.

Bastion caught up to me, and we had a vicious hand-to-hand back and forth, with Bastion getting in most of the hits.

"Unlikely," Z responded. "This dude's network is beyond anything i've ever seen! It spreads across the present, the future, and even different earths! Even if I could shut him down, he'd probably just turn the power back on!"

Bastion gave me a good 20 piece combo, and almost stabbed me in the gut with his Assassin's Creed wrist blade, but I flipped over his head and launched a giant Zeus Lightning fist at him! The fist rocketed the robot to the ground, and I made a bigger Olympium version of it, and did my best Metroplex smashing Megatron impression (seriously, the Cybertron games were aces)!

"What about taking him over? Think you can infect and take over his programming?"

Z.O.R.D.O.N. went quiet for a few seconds, and just as Bastion turned on his electromagnetic powers and hurled my fist back at me (I just barely dispelled it in time), Z came back with an answer.

"I got good news and bad news on that one, chief. Good news, I can do it. Based off the gear you sent me to analyze, while I can't take Bastion down as a whole, I can isolate this section of it, infiltrate his programming, run parallel to it, and absorb it into myself in one swoop. Once i'm in, all their tech is mine, and their bases go up in flames! I can't wait for the come up!"

Bastion teleported behind me, and in a desperate move to not get stabbed, I vibrated, let his attack breeze though me, and grabbed two handfuls of machinery as he passed by! I had a garden hose length of wires, and a few power cells to dump into the Olympium as Bastion turned his head 180 again and Final Flashed me with his mouth. I was ready for that one, and teleported a good 200 meters away from where he was facing, before launching a Zeus Lightning/Sea Force Final Flash at him in turn.

"Sounds great," I thought to Z, as Bastion turned around and met my blast with his own. "What kinda bad news could be enough to kill that vibe?

"For starters," Z responded. "The takeover would have to be slow and stealthy. I'd be leavin' you high and dry for 10 minutes. Also, with me gone, I can't operate the Olympium constructs. You and your team would lose the backup."

I thought about that for a few seconds as Bastion's blast started to overpower mine (I had a plan for that). I gave a mental memo to Cyclops, and he approved of the plan.

"Not to worry, Storm-Lord," he thought to me. "If your plan succeeds, it'll be worth it. Also, don't think we've forgotten about you. I've got some X-Men on standby to assist when given the signal. Best way to stall Bastion is to trigger only one ability adaption at a time, and send in a counter for it. Stay strong and fight hard. When we get through this, i'll make you an X-Man."

Well then. Now the stakes were really raised.

"Alright, Z.O.R.D.O.N.," I thought to my A.I. "Have all your Olympium constructs kamikaze the biggest clusters of bad guys you can, and then get to hacking! You can do this, buddy!"

I tapped into the Power Grid and trapped Bastion in a giant Zeus Lightning tesla sphere. The sudden voltage storm around him threw his blast off, and allowed mine to steamroll him into the barrier for another extended deep fry!

"Likewise, man," Z responded. "See you in ten. Do me a favor and be alive when I get back, eh?"

Z.O.R.D.O.N. launched his kamikaze blitz, and subsequently fell silent as he started his hacking. I wasn't too worried. I figured I was doing pretty good so far, so surely I could survive ten minutes with the safety net of X-Men backup, right? Yeah…..Bastion had somethin' for my ass.

Minute one:

As we had another back and forth, this time a ranged battle filled with lightning, Sea Force, tachyon energy blasts, bullets, and missiles, Bastion read me my death sentence.

"Initial battle data analyzed," he said. "Subject relies on speed and aerial maneuverability as primary combat. Commencing countermeasures."

Bastion multiplied himself into dozens of copies and ambushed me! I managed to trash most of em' with Power Grid blasts and constructs, but a few got though, and stabbed into my arms and legs! I yelled, but immediately teleported to the ground. That turned out to be a big mistake, as Bastion shot a gravity mine into the dirt! The pull was strong enough to where I could move, but there would be no flying around. Oh, and for some reason my Speed Sense wasn't working! Hell, if I hadn't looked up to roll outta the way, Bastion woulda put his spiked boots in my head! I retreated backwards as I launched waves of Olympium weapons at him, which Bastion's energy shield easily deflected! I was mortified to learn that my speed and healing were dead in the water, then remembered my fight with Taskmaster! A quick internal maintenance confirmed my theory. Bastion had injected me with speed killing nanites!

Minute two:

Bastion advanced on me, and in a last ditch attempt to stall him, I created two sonic emitters, powered by Sea Force, engraved with the spell for disrupt: ]'.-|_).-.|.\.-| The disruptors worked like a charm, snuffing out Bastion's energy shield, and with that down I tapped into my electromagnetic powers (aided by Polaris' Wrath) and started ripping him apart! I didn't get very far on my own, but thankfully Cyclops was keepin' an eye on me, and sent Magneto my way to help with the shredding. Together we dissected Bastion almost as quickly as he regenerated himself, and my Olympium horde got a lot more Bastion tech to use (I couldn't wait to see what it could do when Z.O.R.D.O.N. and I properly adapted this stuff to our arsenal)! While we kept him busy, I created a Olympium nanite cleanup crew to flush those nasty Bastion bugs outta my system.

Minute Three:

Bastion didn't like being broken down for parts, and responded by doing his Multiple Man impression again. Magneto and I worked together to hold the army at bay. He kept rippin' em' apart for me to to stash away, while I either used the Power Grid to blow them apart on impact, or swallow them whole with Olympium goo. Bastion was starting to get annoyed (I think), and turned up the heat. Magneto and I noticed we couldn't electromagnetically manipulate his regenerating body anymore, which was now sporting these wicked metal wings that were more a collection of four wickedly sharp scythe blades that formed into a rough semblance of an angel's wings on his back, and didn't look aerodynamic in the slightest. He switched his jumpsuit for a completely…...not metal, but still extremely tough looking exterior that was glowing with purple Tron lines. He also grew talons on his hands and feet. With his new suit up and ready to go, he took it to me and Magneto with a vengeance! In just twenty seconds he had both of us on the ropes! We did our best to hold the line, creating a Polaris Voltage storm, launching waves of Olympium weapons at him, and with my speed back in play, and that pesky gravity mine absorbed into my Olympium, I ran circles around Bastion and tried pummeling him with my Storm-Lord Specials. My blows barely moved him, and he kicked my ass with just a few punch and kick combos, stabbing me in my sides with his wings, and almost fried me with his blasters! Magneto jumped in to save me, wearing his chainmail that gave him the strength of all the electromagnetic spectrums of the solar system. That got Bastion's attention for a little bit, but he gradually broke Magneto's suit down, and punted him away!

Minute Four:

Nothin' gets those creative juices flowing properly like being an inch from death. I rolled away from Bastion's driving stab, and ran for my life while I requested some X-Men from Cyclops' delivery service!

"Hey, Slim!" I thought to him all panic stricken. "Get Sunspot and Magma here pronto. Tell them to be ready to shoot Bastion with everything they got! Also, tell Magneto and Colossus to team up! When I give the signal, launch the metal head at Bastion full force!"

Cyclops obliged my request, and after running Bastion around the mansion grounds a few more times, I snuck an Olympium gravity mine under him, halting his movements right in the middle of the mansion's circular driveway. A pity to melt it down (especially the Xavier statue), but Magma and Sunspot let the inferno loose on Bastion, who took the brunt of the attack for a few seconds, and then started to make himself colder to compensate! After a bit more heat/cold, I gave Magneto the signal, and he launched Colossus into the air, before hurling the can man on top of Bastion! Just like I thought, the intense cold turned Bastion brittle, and the bot shattered into pieces under Colossus' smash! I didn't waste a second, and swept up the pieces in my Olympium horde! I allowed myself to feel a spark of joy, but even I knew it was wishful thinking to believe it was over just like that.

Minute Five:

I think we were startin to hurt Bastion's feelings, as he reformed in a way that only someone who was compensating for something would reform. After transferring his consciousness into an empty human sized Sentinel, he technoformed the machine to match his previous appearance, and then grew to 60 ft tall! He trained his arm cannons on us, and it took the collective strength of me and Magneto creating an electromagnetic shield to keep him from destroying the mansion. I cursed myself as I strained against the might of his blast! The goal from the start was to move the fight AWAY from the mansion and the kids inside! I couldn't let Bastion wipe them out! I would not allow Bastion to wipe them out!

While still maintaining the shield, I created an electromagnetically charged construct of Humungosaur to match Bastion's height, and had it suplex him into the dirt! I quickly teleported inside, transferred into Thunder Form 2, and had my voltage form completely inhabit the Olympium construct for a Rock em' Sock em' bout with Bastion! We clobbered each other with fisticuffs, kicks, and energy blasts, but Bastion's armor was easily tearing through mine. I expected this, and kept the fight going to run the clock down as much as I could. As Bastion shredded my Humungosaur construct to where it could barely support its own weight, I let my ace loose! See, Bastion put a lot of time into making sure his body was sturdy and $#!+. That made sense, in a fight you usually go for the face and body, but I was willing to bet Bastion wasn't counting on me targeting his eye! As Bastion came around with another swing, I willed my construct to shatter, and for the shrapnel to pierce his eyes! The gambit payed off, as my Olympium tunneled into Bastion's head, and with a single thought, I willed the Pym Particles in the Metal to expand, shredding Bastion from the inside out, and absorbing him into my Olympium (the guy had to be going through some heavy PTSD right now)!

Minute Six:

I reformed my body as far away from the mansion as I could, and felt my Speed Sense trigger as Bastion attacked me as a literal techno ghost! Seriously, the dude was like Ghostfreak meets the shredder! He slashed and blasted at me, but I noticed, even with the Power Grid, I couldn't touch him! Naturally I ran across the mansion grounds, like a chicken with my head cut off, as I frantically thought of a way to move this fight back to a corporeal setting! I doubted my phasing attacks would work, but an idea about flooding Bastion with an ungodly amount of viruses, malware, etc., popped in my head. Sure, that would only slow him down for maybe two seconds, but I had an idea involving myself, Storm, Iceman, Magneto, and Colossus. I thought the plan to them, they agreed, and we all prepared for the ambush.

As Bastion kept up his relentless chase, I pulled out my phone (obviously to text my mom and let her know how much fun I was having), and manually loaded up all the digital malware I could in the span of about five seconds. Side note, I definitely had to make a backup A.I., cuz texting while running is not a good look. Anyway, I synced my phone with Bastion's CPU (the guy really shoulda looked into a secure network), and loaded him with the malware bomb! Bastion's form defaulted to regular, and he skidded across the dirt! I gave Iceman the signal, who came ice riding on the scene to give Bastion a sub-zero treatment! Bastion did his ice sculpture impression for a few seconds, before heating his body up to where Iceman's frost was hardly affecting him. We kept that going for a few more seconds, and when Bastion was finally able to stand up, I gave Storm the signal, and we doused the robot in a torrent of ice cold water, creating one hell of a sauna! Bastion was immobilized as the suddenly cooled metal was rigid, and was subsequently shattered into pieces again as Magneto and Colossus did their Magnetic Fastball Special again!

Minute Seven:

Bastion reformed himself as an ever expanding army of himself (in the purple jumpsuit form), while his main body remained still in the air as it surveyed the battle. I got the message. Bastion was done playing around, and was gonna put a lid on this $#!+ soon.

The main battle itself called for all hands to combat. Every X-Man and powered person were on Bastion control duty. We all pretty much had a good understanding of what we could do, and organized ourselves into teams to take out the most robots as quickly as we could. Hell, Rogue went around and absorbed pretty much everyone's powers, so she was a one woman wrecking crew! Bastion just stayed in the air, taking in the brawl.

Minute Eight:

"ANALYSIS COMPLETE!" Bastion eventually blared out. "MULTIPLE TARGETS AND ABILITIES ACCOUNTED FOR! COURSE OF ACTION DETERMINED! COMMENCING TELEPATHIC ATTACK!"

I'm not sure how battle effective it is to loudly proclaim your attacks before you do it, but who am I to tell the genocidal war machine how to do his job? Anyway, Bastion went full force with his Psi attack, and for a few seconds it felt like someone was nuking my head from the inside! Based on how pretty much everyone on my side had the same reaction, Bastion was finally starting to spread that love around! Thankfully, Rogue and Emma were on it, as Emma was using Cerebro to repel Bastion's mental attack, while Rogue assisted. With that painful ordeal behind us, everyone who was an X-Man (I guess I was still in training) attacked Bastion in full force! Our initial attack actually put the big guy on the defensive, as the multiple attacks and combinations from myself, Storm, Iceman, Magneto, Cyclops, Rogue, Colossus, Gambit, Nightcrawler, Quicksilver, and Wolverine wrecked him pretty good!

Minute Nine:

Yeah, that was a nice 30 seconds, but Bastion didn't let it last beyond that. He scanned Emma in the mansion, and actually changed targets from me to her, as he surmised the best way to take me out was to remove the mental protection we had at the moment! Everyone did their best to keep the dude from breaching the mansion, but one by one Bastion took most of us out! Wolverine and Colossus went down first. The big guy got uppercutted into the dome, fried a little bit, and cratered into an unconscious heap in the dirt! Wolverine got the absolute $#!+ beat out of him, and took a repulsor stream point blank, leaving him a bloody slab of meat by the end of it! Even with his healing factor, that was gonna take a while. Magneto, Storm, and Iceman ate it as Bastion sent individual missile volleys and laser bolos their way. Iceman got cut in half with one of the laser bolos (he could regenerate, so not to worry), while Storm and Magneto took individual volleys point blank, and crashed into the mansion via the hole in the roof! Gambit got swatted aside after blowing five whole decks of cards on Bastion. Nightcrawler caught a taser bolt to the neck. Quicksilver got his left knee dislocated by Bastion. That left me, Rogue, and Cyclops to hold down the fort!

Rogue and Cyclops went ham on Bastion. Rogue literally grabbed an oak tree, uprooted it, charged it with Gambit's powers, and brought the whole thing down on top of him! Cyclops took off his mask, and let his optic blasts run wild! I created some Olympium energy enhancers in his way to boost his blast, while me and Rogue joined in on the fun! Bastion was pinned down for almost ten seconds, but literally transformed himself into a giant cannon, and let loose a blast that powered through ours! I just barely had time to get us inside an energy shield, as we were punted straight into the heart of the X-Mansion!

Minute Ten:

Cyclops was knocked out from the blast, and I was just barely hanging on to Thunder God. Rogue was still up and at em' but if Bastion had anything to say about it, it wouldn't be for long. He came crashing down, and tackled us both down three floors into the hall where Cerebro was located. It was just us between him. Rogue and I quickly got to our feet and started wailing on Bastion as hard and as fast as we could. We mixed up our punches, kicks, energy attacks, and kept up a series of teleport attacks to throw his sensors off, but Bastion was not about the bull$#!+. He eventually got a hold of Rogue, and injected her with nanites. All her powers suddenly fizzled out, and she started to choke! I injected her with my own nanites to clean her out, but the toll was too great for her to get back in the fight, and she passed out. That just left me with Bastion, and while I wished I could say I gave him a good fight, the dude clobbered me! All my energy attacks reflected off his body shield, and once he got his hands on me, he pummeled me with energy hits hard enough to knock me outta Thunder God, before tryna carve me up with a huge blade! I managed to dodge/block a lot of the attacks, but I got shanked in my thighs, my abdomen, and my left shoulder, before getting punted away a few feet!

I was starting to black out, but I just barely managed to keep Bastion at bay with a series of Sea Force charged Olympium walls and turrets while I crawled away. Bastion eventually caught up to me tho, and stomped so hard on my chest, I could hear four ribs crack! I screamed like a wounded banshee and Bastion trained one of his arm cannons on my head!

"Initial target incapacitated," he said. "Primary objective re-engaged. Commencing terminat-at-at-at….ERROR, ERROR, ERROR!"

Bastion twitched and spasamed, until Z.O.R.D.O.N. completely took over his systems!

"Holy Hell!" he shouted at me. "Dude what the….oh $#!+, their Helicarriers are about to nuke the mansion!

Even on the brink of death (it's weird how casually I can say that), I could sense the A.I.M and Hydra Helicarriers training their missiles on the X-Mansion. These guys were the definition of sore losers.

"OVERRIDE THEIR SYSTEMS!" I shouted at him! "BLOW EM' UP AND HARVEST THEIR SCRAP!"

I heard several loud booms, and the distinct sound of creaking metal, before the sounds evaporated entirely! A quick Thunder Sense check confirmed the enemy carriers and Helicarriers were toast, and Z.O.R.D.O.N. was currently nuking their bases! With no backup, the remaining fighters were stranded, and our side didn't take a heavy amount of casualties while Z was away! I was pretty sure we won the night, but the world had one last middle finger to give.

Yeah, just when you think you finally got over the hump, f*(#!^& Venom shows up and ruins your night! I wish I was kidding about that, but Venom, who was sporting huge bat-like wings outta his back, and was bonded to Nethertrench Energy, literally came down, stomped on my chest (just what my ribs needed), and embedded his razor sharp nails into my chest! I screamed somethin' awful as Venom hoisted me skywards, and then dropped me like a rock! I woulda face planted into the gravel, but Z.O.R.D.O.N. piloted Bastion up to me, opened the killer robot up, caught me, and reassembled it around my body Iron Man style! I was barely conscious enough to recall what happened exactly, but I remember the Bastion armor (I had to think of a better name for it) scanning my body, and after determining my injuries, flooded the suit with Sea Force charged water! It took me about another minute to regain full consciousness, and if you're asking what Venom was doing during that time, he was too busy getting his ass kicked!

The armor, piloted by .D.O.N., was attacking Venom with Sea Force blasts, missiles, bullets, energy blades, and blade wing slices! Venom put up some resistance with his Nethertrench attacks, but true to its old programming the Bastion armor kept upping the ante every time he heat turned up!

"Z.O.R.D.O.N.!" I screamed out loud. "The hell is goin on?!"

"Oh, you're awake!" my A.I. started the obvious. "Yeah, man, I told you the glow up was real! Bastion's tech/framework integrated with my own has some sweet benefits! I'm still calculating and processing all of what I can do! One obvious thing is emergency rescue and medical procedures! You had four broken ribs, were internally bleeding, and had a to me, you're almost as good as new! Oh, and i've been handling this creep while you were sleepin' it off! You want a piece?!"

"Sure, why not?"

Z.O.R.D.O.N. gave me control of the Bastion armor, and I IMMEDIATELY understood the hype! First off, the suit briefly had a mental probe of my head, and took into account everything I knew of Venom, the Nethertrench, the Olympus Force, and my preferred combat methods. As Venom came around with a giant Nethertrench morning star for a hand, I side flipped over it, and my armor created a special missile made of Olympium nanites! When the missile shot into Venom, his form went rigid! I mean, sure, he could move, but stretching/reshaping his body was a no go! The suit then analyzed and targeted weak points in Venom, which I guess were chi points, and launched a volley of mini rockets into several areas in his legs, chest, back, and arms! The missiles burrowed in Venom and let loose a Sea Force explosive wave that wrecked Venom from the inside out! Just like that,his Nethertrench flow was done! I loved this f*(#!^% suit!

Venom's form cycled though a quick surge of the other Olympus Force energies, until he settled on his old favorite: War Force. In any other case it would be super heart racing to see Venom with so much power, especially considering this was round three for us, but I felt invincible! I was in my new armor, and was gonna kick his ass! Just one little problem with that…..the batteries kinda ran out, and the suit automatically reverted into my Olympium collective! Venom smiled (I think), and began to chase after me with War Force blasts and constructs, while I flew ahead of him, doing my best to keep him at bay with Phantom bolts and lightning constructs!

"What the hell, Z.O.R.D.O.N.?" I asked my A.I. "Where's my suit?!"

Yeaaaaah…" he responded. "See, the thing about that is the suit ran outta power….."

"WHAT DO YOU MEAN, IT RAN OUT OF POWER?!"

"What I said. See, Bastion's programming and energy source is powered by tachyons and harnessed from the flow of time throughout the multiverse. This is why he's so strong. I cut this one off from the rest of himself, so we gotta get to building a power source to sustain it. We'll just jot it in the to do list, eh?"

I loved how casual he was about the fact that I didn't have access to my bug guns, while facing down a villain with six of em', but that was a discussion for another day. Currently, Venom was doin' his usual song and dance, albeit with more than just War Force blasts and constructs to throw at me. I still wasn't at 100% just yet, but kept the fight up as best as I could. I started off by creating some Polaris Voltage charged Olympium energy disruptors, and blared them full force at Venom! He screeched and went through another power surge, but managed to power through it, and make a beeline for me! I rolled outta the way, and came up with a Storm-Lord Special, uppercut style, to his jaw, as he tried to take a bite outta me! I teleported in the air, activated the Power Grid, and trapped Venom in a tesla sphere, but he simply switched to Zeus Lightning, absorbed my voltage, and closed the distance with one flap of his wings! He wrapped me in a bear hug, and undoubtedly woulda bit my head off, but I rolled with the momentum, and blasted him into the dome back first with a calculated burst of air! As he sizzled, I wrapped a rams horn helm around my head, and slammed it into his teeth! Venom's grip lessened after that, and I managed to teleport to the ground, summon my trident and Polaris' Wrath, and send a Sea Force/Polaris Voltage cannon up at Venom! My goal was to put everything I had into the blast, keep it pinned on Venom, and hopefully fry him between it and the barrier. Unfortunately, Venom was fully recovered, and responded with his own 6/7 Olympus Cannon! Our blasts collided and struggled against each other for a good ten seconds, but Venom's 6-2 advantage won out, and I just barely dashed to the side as the blast cratered into the ground! Venom seemed to anticipate this (since when could he think?), as I felt a web latch onto my ankle! I barely had time to wrap myself inside an Olympium Master Chief suit (first thing that came to mind), as Venom took me for a pretty nasty spin around the mansion grounds, before yanking me back towards him! I didn't much appreciate the scenic tour of the grass very much, and activated the rocket boosters in my boots, and tackled Venom into the barrier again, before slamming him into the ground! I immediately set up my final stand, as I quickly constructed a ring of Olympium cylindrical turbines that were equal parts energy siphons and disruptors, spanning 50ft! The turbines got to work, and Venom shrieked and writhed at the pulsations, and I could see massive chunks of Olympus Force start to drain from his body! Still, he was good enough to stand and fight, as he transformed his hands into Apollo Fire coated blades! I created a Sea Force powered Olympium sledgehammer in response, and charged into battle! We wailed on each other for maybe five minutes; neither one of us giving an inch! I hit Venom with countless Storm-Lord Specials, clobbered him from head to toe with my sledgehammer, and created mini Gatling guns and missile launchers all over my armor to keep the pressure on, but at best I was keeping Venom at a gridlock. For every ten hits I got in, he did just as much damage , if not more, with just two hits. Whether it was a War Force charged sledgehammer, a Death Force skull blast, a Nature Force Final Flash, or his personal favorite: Apollo Fire morning stars, I found myself having to do constant repairs to my suit, until Venom broke it down to just barely covering my body, while my head was completely exposed for him try chomping it off!

"ALL ALONE!l" he roared at me. "WEAK! AFRAID! WE CAN'T WAIT TO TASTE YOU, LITTLE GOD MAN!"

I was gonna respond with somethin' witty about how I wasn't on the menu, but before I could unleash my poetic genius, a sound like thunder cracked the sky! Literally everyone on the field looked up in a mix of awe, confusion, and a little bit of terror, as the dome faded away! Before any of us could even ask who did it, Venom suddenly bellowed in pain as a glowing blue sword protruded from his chest!

I recognized that blade!

Hulkling's Excelsior!

The magic blade expelled Venom's War Force connection, and his body automatically switched to Death Force. As if she knew it would happen that way, an Eden Inferno mini-sun, the size of a house, slammed into Venom from above, and cleansed him of the Death Force! Continuing the pain train (no special treatment for my girl), Sister Grimm teleported in front of Venom (now sporting Nature Force), and sliced him clean from brain to balls with a purple blade that was protruding out of her magic/cyber arm (that was a whole thing)! The slash relieved Venom of his Nature Force, and it was onto the next! Wiccian came around this time, and bound a flailing Venom in blue energy chains! The chains constructed tighter around Venom's body, until he was forced to give up his God Steroids! Finally, Grant came in, wearing a football helmet, and an all black tracksuit. He hit Venom in precise areas all around his body, with the force off grenades going off, until Venom's Apollo Fire was no more! That left the tar man with only Zeus Lightning, but Magik apparently wanted a piece, as she teleported on top of Venom, and brought her blade down in his neck! She jumped away as the Zeus Lightning left Venom with a loud sizzle, and before he could even think about running away, Princess Powerful and Ms. America came flying out of a star portal, and cratered him into the ground! He was done for the night.

Allyson straight up tackled me, and wrapped me in a hug/showered me with more kisses than I even knew what to do with! It probably wasn't the best time for it, but I didn't care, and kissed her back/held her tight. I was almost afraid this wasn't real. It was only a few days since we last saw each other, but I felt as if I waited an eternity. As The Avengers, Fantastic Four (guess they were finally back), Young Avengers, Runaways, Nova Twins, Power Pack, and S.H.I.E.L.D. cleaned up the scraps of the previous skirmish, I kept a hold of Allyson. Her insanely warm skin reminded me of how freezing it was outside, and I made a note to tell her that her Kiwi shampoo was the best thing ever, and she should always use it. We eventually let our lips depart, and gazed at each other as if it was the last time we'd see the other person again.

"I'm sorry," I said (great choice of words). "I'm sorry I didn't call. First, I was so busy with my mom, then villains took over New York. Oh! Hood! He probably bailed by now! He's been makin' these crazy weapons, powered by Olympus Force, and givin' people powers, we gotta-"

Allyson shit me up with another kiss, and wrapped me in another hug.

"You're alive, and we're together," she softly hummed. "That's all that matters. I missed you, Bolt Boy."

"Ditto, Briquette," I hummed back.

We finally let each other go, and I took into account what Allyson was wearing. A Fantastic Four T-Shirt, fingerless white gloves, black leggings, and camouflage combat boots. She could use a mask, but luckily all the bad guys were being stored away. As the heroes and agents started on medic patrol, I joined up with my friends and extended teammates.

"Dude!" Grant said as he dapped me up, and pulled me in for a bear hug. "Sorry we took so long, man! That dome was hell to get through. It took a precise chi attack from me, The Nova Twins doing a satellite blast, Hulkling and Wiccan doing some magic with his sword, and Namor ramming it with a tidal wave. Took us a little bit to coordinate, but better late than never, right?"

He flashed his million dollar smile at me, and I felt my worries melt away. Grant was a master of makin' you feel like you won the marathon, even if you just barely crawled over the finish line.

The next half hour passed in a blur. The injured were taken care of, and everyone who could stand pooled their resources together for one last mission. Apparently, Wiccian and Sister Grimm were way ahead of me, and trapped Hood and a good bit of his crew inside Avengers Tower. A read from my Thunder Sense also picked up hundreds of his goons guarding pretty much all of Manhattan from a potential attack. It was cute how formidable it was in comparison to a few days ago, but between my new powers and gear, as well as the hefty reinforcements, they were scrimmage at best.

"I've half a mind to make you all Avengers," Captain America said to me and my team, as he walked our way. "Over the past few days, those of that have fought with us, and defended the earth in our absence have shown incredible courage and valor. Let's take our tower back, get some rest, and then we'll talk."

He extended his hand, and I shook it.

"Flattered, Cap," I responded. "But don't count your chickens. I got a lotta offers. Ima need some time to consider my options. But like you said, y'all are in need of some house cleaning, and i've got a few ideas on how to do that."

(1 hour later)

Me, Grant, Allyson, Namor, Power Pack, the Young Avengers, The Runaways, and the Nova Twins were holed up inside one of my Olympium Helicarriers, piloted by Z.O.R.D.O.N. We figured it was best to give the enemy cannons multiple targets, as opposed to one. In total there were five Helicarriers descending on Manhattan. One filled with S.H.I.E.L.D., the other X-Men, cops on the third, Atlanteans in the fourth, me and my team in the fifth. I could sense the enemy ground troops starting to scramble to positions/prime their weapons, but it was all for naught, as I ruined their night from the jump! As our Helicarriers descended on different sections of Manhattan, I gave the mental command to my Moloid army, lurking under the island, to bust to the surface with a fury! Olympium weapons fired off, turning Manhattan into a disco tech! Goons, Hand Ninjas, A.I.M., Hydra, Yellowjackets, Goblin Knights (i'll explain later) and Deathloks went flying, and Olympium weapons dissolved into thin air, as my nanite swarm was already on the case! It only got worse for the villains as the cavalry landed! The Avengers and X-Men landed in Harlem, and quickly got started clearing the area; as well as Morningside Heights and East Harlem. S.H.I.E.L.D. and the cops landed in the Financial District and Greenwich Village respectively. Their goal was to box the enemy fighters between those two points, squeeze them dry, link up, and continue the momentum up to Garment District. The Atlanteans and Moloids had Midtown West, Midtown East, Upper West Side, and Upper East side on lock, while me and my team landed in the heart of Midtown, and made a beeline for Avengers Tower!

Me, Grant, Allyson, Speed, Jimmy, and Namor took point. Starbright, Wiccan, Hulkling, and Hawkeye covered our left flank. Starlight, Mass Master, Energizer, and Victor covered our right flank. Patriot, Hawkeye, Stature, and Xavin took the rear. Ms. America, Princess Powerful, Sister Grimm, Iron Torch, Zero-G, Lightspeed, and Karolina covered us from the air. Together, we cut through hoards of enemy fighters like nothing in a flurry of blasts, punches, kicks, arrows, constructs, rocks, plants, and fire! It took us all of two minutes to close the distance to Avengers Tower, and start to take it back from its unlawful residents!

We crashed into the lobby in an explosion if energy attacks and 'SURPRISE MOTHAF*(#as!' and started to wreck shop! From an outside perspective it looked like we were all acting solo, but it was part of the plan. We couldn't attack the floors from 1-100 in order. Not only would that take too long, but it would give our opponents time (albeit not much) to plan a counter. Instead, we split up into groups, and handled certain sections. America portaled herself, Molly, and The Nova Twins to floor 30, where they started thrashing goons, and worked their way down. At the same time, Patriot, Hawkeye, Speed, Jimmy, Stature, and Xavin worked their way up from the lobby to floor 30. Ground team only made it to floor ten, as America, Princess Powerful, and The Nova Twins were a pretty stacked team, but points for effort. Tho it is worth mentioning the later took out Titanium Man, Crimson Dynamo, and Whiplash. Power Pack got portaled (via one use teleport stone) to floor 31 and fought their way up, while Iron Torch, Victor, Namor, and Magik fought their way down from floor 60. They actually kept the ratio at a perfect 50/50, but Namor and his crew edges them out for the W, as they took out Red Skull, Zemo, Viper, and Baron Von Strucker (Cap was gonna feel totally left out). That left me, Grant, Allyson, Sister Grimm, Hulkling, and Wiccan to clear out floors 61-the penthouse.

We worked out a good system. Hulkling, Grant, and myself dashed into the thick of the battle, mowing bad guys of all kinds down, like bowling pins. Sister Grimm, Wiccan, and Allyson acted as Vanguard, as they were absolute beasts in the air, and rained down magic and fire faster than me and the boys on the ground did! Hell, Wiccan got extra style points, as he had a glowing spell book in his hands that had all the spells from every Mamodo from the Zatch Bell series! The dude mixed up spells from Zatch and Brago, and was an absolute unit! I had to tap into the Power Grid and start frying floors ahead of them (I did that up and down the building to clean up stragglers anyway), I was feeling so bad. Anyway, we battled our way to the penthouse, and whatever Hood was expecting, we made sure to exceed it in full! Like I said, a staggered approach allowed us to cover more ground than we would floor by floor. So by the time we reached the penthouse, the rest of the team had caught up with us, and we attacked Hood as one!

Granted, we needed every hand we could get, as Hood's personal guard was not one to play with. Long story short, there were these new guys on the scene called the Goblin Knights. They dressed like their dearly departed idol (swapping the spandex for chainmail), and had weapons ranging from pumpkin bombs, to medieval weapons, to hi-tech blasters. Not exactly the world's deadliest team, but more than enough to give us a good fight. Speaking of which, while they fought valiantly, they 'fought' for somewhere between 12 and 17 seconds. Me, Grant, Speed, America, Molly, The Nova Twins, and Lightspeed dashed all up and down the penthouse and broke their initial formations with our attacks, while Allyson, Wiccan, Energizer, Sister Grimm, Hawkeye, Iron Torch, and Karolina cleared out some corners/high ground, and boxed enemy fighters in between their blasts, softening their unit cohesion even more. That left Patriot, Mass Master, Xavin, Hulkling, Namor, and Victor to get in the thick of the battle (me and my team circled back to help them), and finish off the ones still standing/tryna run. We had the Goblins rounded up, stripped of their gear, and bound in no time. That left Hood, who…...yeah. Up on the second floor of the penthouse was this huge beach ball of swirling blood…..that had eyes….and like a sea of teeth. The ball glowed with magic runes, and I could hear muffled chanting inside it. Before I put two and two together, the runes glowed brightly, and the orb teleported away to God knows where!

"Damn!" Sister Grimm said as she kicked a sofa.

"Was that Hood?" Patriot asked.

"Yeah. He got away. Powerful blood magic that trumped me and Bil-"

"Bad guys literally right there!" Hawkeye snapped.

"Oh," Sister Grimm facepalmed. "Right, sorry. Anyway, Hood got away. But how'd he get so much blood to power a spell like that.

"Carnage," I said. "Blood doesn't usually have eyes and piranha teeth, right?"

Everyone sighed, as the win was kinda deflated now. The good news was that we did indeed win. With Hood gone, the bad guys were runnin' for the hills. Unlike last time tho, they had magic to get away, so cleanup haul came up shorter than we woulda liked it to. Still, New York was free, and I was finally able to take down the nanite force fields around the building, and let the people free.

"So what now?" Grant asked.

"Now, we get some food," Hawkeye said. "Come on, Starks cafeteria is A.I. automated, and J.A.R.V.I.S. makes one hell of a meat lovers and caviar pizza!"

"I'm a vegetarian," Karolina said.

"Fine, we'll also get a…...I dunno, spinach and kale. Less talk, more pizza!"

I'll admit, my stomach was all in favor, and after a quick vote, everyone made their way to the elevator. Not a second after Jimmy hit the button to go down to the cafeteria, Allyson, Grant, and myself got phone calls from our parents, and…...yeah. It took a good minute to calm my mom down, and let her know I was ok. I told her i'd be over to take her home in an hour, and she agreed once I told her I was actually hanging out with friends. Grant's people just wanted to make sure he wasn't staying over at some girl's place, and to make sure he was home in time for work. Allyson's parents were a little more strict, as she was supposed to be home as soon as she was done here (she just barely managed to get their permission to even do this), but after a little bargaining, pleading, puppy dog whining to her dad, and a group picture to send to her mom to ascertain our character (I made sure to look like an upstanding gentleman), they allowed Allyson another hour to socialize.

"Aww," Mass Master mocked Allyson. "Ain't that sweet?"

"Zip it, cloud boy," Chavez spoke up. "They have folks that are around. That care. I'd give anything to have my moms back."

An awkward hush fell over the group, but livened up a little as Kate took America's hand and gave her a kiss on the cheek. Everyone awed, and the pairs in the group (me/Allyson, Hulkling/Wiccan, Karolina/Xavin, even Grant and Molly) started to cuddle and peck each other with small kisses. After reaching the cafeteria, Kate went to the automated chef, punched in a few buttons, and got to ordering. We got the meat lovers/caviar pizza (spinach and mushroom for Karolina) but ended up getting breadsticks, chili fries, nachos, cupcakes, and a whole lotta strawberry lemonade to wash it all down! We ate, joked around, got to know each other a little, and blared/sang along to a playlist made of a mix of everyone's favorite songs (never woulda thought Jimmy was a K-Pop fan).

"So," Grant said as we were setting to wrap up and hightail it. "What do you guys think about….ya know, us?"

"What do you mean?" Patriot asked.

"Come, on, dude, don't play dumb. Most of us here had a piece of Doom the other day, and together we just blew through an army in no time flat. Sure, we're all on different teams, but if we joined forces, we'd really be somethin'!"

"I'm in!" Mass Master said.

"Jack!" Lightspeed scolded him.

"What? It's time for me to move up in the world. This is our chance to make the big leagues."

"Ok, first," Patriot said. "You're like sixteen."

"So about the same age we started," Hulkling owned him.

"Second….speak for yourself. Me and my team are full fledged Avengers."

"Ok, timeout," Wiccan spoke up. "This is the equivalent of a high school reunion, Eli. We haven't been a team for some time, and we sure as hell didn't make you leader."

"True," Chavez shrugged. "Plus, what's the value of bein' an Avenger? Literally everyone is an Avenger! Cap'll be givin' the new kids their keycards any day now. And let's face it, if your name ain't Captain America, Iron Man, Thor, Hulk, Black Widow, or Hawkeye, then your second string at best. Benchwarmers more likely."

"Am I the only one that remembers fighting alongside the Avengers in space, in an intergalactic war, against Thanos?" Eli asked.

"Oh yeah," I said. "I keep hearing about this epic space mission. Anyone wanna fill a guy in?"

Oh boy. This was a doozy.

Ok, so Thanos, big purple dude with a dried prune for a chin, got tired of being friend zoned by Death (yeah, Death is apparently a super hot goth chick…..ok?), and decided nothing was better than the pain of rejection. And when I say nothing, I literally mean nothing. The dude literally wanted to shred the entire universe into oblivion to prove his devotion to Death, but he needed a few things. First, he didn't have the Infinity Stones, as certain heroes had them on maximum lockdown (Namor had the Mind Stone, but was sworn to never use it). Instead, he took a much more convoluted path.

First was to gain absolute control over matter, gravity, light, and energy, aka, the fundamental forces of the universe. His best hope of that was to attack the Kymellians (horse people that had the same powers as Power Pack), and take the powers of King Silvermane (it's insane how i'm not laughing at that). Him and the Black Order (his lieutenants) sieged Kymellia II (the horse people blew their first planet up tryna use anti-matter as energy), and left a brutal swath of death and carnage across a good quarter of the planet, before attacking and mortally wounding the king. Thanos didn't get the goods tho, as Silvermane expelled his power (he was basically the Avatar of the Kymellians) to a couple of Novas (Kira and Daiya's parents), who got the Kymellian's distress signal, and did all they could to help. They absorbed the power into their helmets, and hightailed it for Earth to give the powers to Power Pack, with an entire fleet of thousands of Chitauri (those things that invaded New York 20 years ago), led by Corvus Glaive, Proxima Midnight, Ebony Maw, and Black Dwarf.

Quick break. Process that. Stick a pin in it. Moving on.

While most of the Black Order were inbound to Earth, Thanos was already on step two of the plan. He led an assault on Skrullos IV (home planet of the Skrulls) in search for Excelsior, Hulkling's sword. Him and Supergiant (another member of the Black Order) wiped out half of the already endangered species (Galactus eating their first planet, a failed attempt to conqueror earth, an ongoing war with the Kree, and a mini-war with the Inhumans was rough on their population growth), only to get to some ancient temples, and realize that:

Only one-third of the key was there.

The other two-thirds were on Hala (Kree capital planet) and Majesdane (home planet of Karolina's race).

Only someone of mixed Skrull/Kree descent could wield the damn thing.

So, old wrinkle chin had to split his approach again. He sent Supergiant to Majesdane to get another key part, while he took another squadron to Hala to get the third. Supergiant got her job done quick, as she used her telepathic abilities to make the Majesdanian military slaughter each other, and walk straight to the throne room. She made the king watch as she forced his wife and kids to strangle themselves, and then demanded he give her the key part. She coulda dug the info outta his head easy, but Thanos' crew liked to be vindictive. It was all for nothing, as the key vault was impenetrable, and could only be unlocked by the chosen great descendant of some star god or whatever. Karolina was that descendant, but when she was forced to try and open the lock….access denied. Turns out Karolina was really Xavin in disguise (man, this is getting good)! Yeah, something about an arranged marriage, and Xavin taking Karolina's spot. Supergiant wasn't pleased with being duped, and damn near melted Xavin's brain tryna get Karolina's location. Xavin busted out a can of Super Skrull whup ass on Supergiant, and while she was able to hold out for a good while, the telepath eventually got the info outta her, and placed her under mental control. Guess she could use a good bodyguard.

While that was going on, Thanos wrecked shop not just against Hala, but three surrounding planets, their Accusers, and most of their elite military crew! The Kree sent out an S.O.S. to any surrounding assistance, and the Guardians of The Galaxy were the only ones to respond (for 2 billion units). They hightailed it to Hala, waded through hordes of Chitauri, and ambushed Thanos, who was beating the $#!+ outta some Accuser, named Ronan, that was guarding the vault for another key part. The Guardians got their asses kicked, as Thanos shrugged them all off, got the key piece, and teleported back to his ship. After getting a general bead on the situation, The Guardians took another 3 billion to chase after him (Rocket wanted to pocket the money, and bolt the other way).

Another break. Listen to some tunes. Ready? Round 3.

Thanos was really starting to gain momentum, and took to the stars, in search of Galactus.

Meanwhile, approaching Earth, the Nova Twins' parents weren't doin' so hot. The Black Order's chaser squads were wearing them down, and even with all the same weapons Daiya and Kira would have access to, they still couldn't hold off for long against a fleet of thousands. Still, they fought just long enough to get in range of Earth, and expel the powers into the atmosphere. Hell, they apparently busted out all the stops to take as many of Thanos' goons with em', but they were eventually overwhelmed, and….yeah. The Nova Twins needed another minute.

Moving on, the helmets teleported into their folk's basement, and sent a message that hijacked their phones, and teleported them into the helmets. Daiya was already on her way home from her IT job, so no biggie for her, but Kira was on her way to second base with some dude, so she teleported into the basement half naked! The two got into it for a bit, but sombered down when their parent's final message buzzed to life on their phones; followed by something BIG crashing into their house, like a meteor!

Yeah, Thanos was stepping it up. With the knowledge of Karolina's needed assistance, a Kree/Skrull hybrid (Hulkling), the Power Pack powers, as well as a couple of major boosts (a cosmic cube and those Nova helmets), he adjusted his lieutenants accordingly. Black Dwarf was sent to retrieve the Nova helmets. Corvus Glaive was on getting the Power Pack powers. Proxima Midnight was going hunting for Hulkling. Ebony Maw was after Karolina, and Thanos sent a clone of himself, along with a squad of Chitauri, to attack the Triskelion (S.H.I.E.L.D. 's base in D.C.), and get the Cosmic Cube they had stashed in their vaults.

Black Dwarf ransacked the Nova Twins' home, but the girls managed to figure out a passing knowledge of how to use the helmets (they put them on, and winged it), and battle the hulking alien as best as they could. He trashed them, but they were able to get a good blast in, daze him, and retreat. The helmets fed them the info they needed to get up to speed, and pointed them in the direction of The Avengers.

Proxima Midnight ended up in a Dave & Busters in Arizona, as the Young Avengers were visiting Patriot (formerly retired). Most of em' were caught with their pants around their ankles, and the ones that stood even a small chance against the alien warrior (Hulkling, Wiccan, Stature, Speed, and America) were swiftly dealt with. Stature, and Speed in particular ended up in pretty bad shape, and Wiccan just barely held Proxima Midnight off enough for her to get annoyed, decide the rest of em' weren't worth the hassle to kill, scoop up an unconscious Hulkling (who lasted a total of twelve seconds in the fight), and beam back to her ship. The Young Avengers took a little bit to lick their wounds, gear up, and plan their next move. Luckily (depending on your perspective), their phones buzzed with a national state of emergency, as Thanos' attack on the Triskelion was in full ass kicking mode!

Elsewhere in L.A., Ebony Maw attacked a f*(#!^& IHOP, blew through Chase and Old Lace (his pet raptor), and eventually defeated Molly, Nico, and Karolina. Ebony Maw took another win for the Thanos squad, as he snatched Karolina, and shipped her off to Majesdane. Like Proxima Midnight, he didn't deem The Runaways as a big enough problem to snuff out, and left them to their defeat.

Corvus Glaive apparently went on a bit of a scavenger hunt, as he had to track down the Powers siblings (now with major power boosts) one by one. He took down Jack in Florida at Magic Kingdom (kinda boring, but the fireworks show makes it so worth it). Jack kinda put up a fight, but more so because his powers were in flux. Corvus snatched him up, and joined with Ebony Maw to take down Julie in a minute flat, while she was at an audition. The other Powers kids, Katie and Alex, caught a break. They were in the Baxter Building (The Fantastic Four's HQ), and went the Black Order Duo invaded the place, they used their suped up powers (Alex had a better hold on his power boost) and the Baxter Building's OUTRAGEOUS defense system (how do you even make a black hole/temporal gun?!) to buy enough time to get into the Fantasticar (lol), and zoom outta the building.

Meanwhile, in D.C. Thanos 2.0 absolutely wrecked shop, as him and the Chitauri legions decimated the comparatively puny S.H.I.E.L.D. headquarters. It took a good 15 minutes before The Avengers, X-Men, Thunderbolts, and a few other heroes showed up to stem the tide. Further assistance from Victor (who was apparently a government liaison for A.I.) and The Young Avengers helped keep Thanos' grunts at bay, but when the main entourage showed up, all hell broke loose! I remember seeing some clips of the fight on the news (like a day before I got my powers), but hearing it from those that were there was kinda terrifying.

Proxima Midnight must've had good pressure point aim, or something, cuz she threw her javelin through Hulk's back, and made him power down to Banner! Captain America, Black Widow, and Hawkeye provided cover, but were quickly overpowered. After a good five minutes of just barely holding on, The Young Avengers stepped in to provide much needed assistance. Under Cap's leadership, America, Wiccan, Stature, Speed, Patriot, both Hawkeyes, and Storm beat Proxima Midnight back enough to where she was forced to make a tactical retreat. It was a fleeting victory tho, as Thanos 2.0, Corvus Glaive, Black Dwarf, and Ebony Maw came back around with one hell of a cavalry!

At that point, the battle was waaaaay outta hand! Proxima Midnight took advantage of the chaos, and fought her way to the Cosmic Cube with comparatively little resistance (no disrespect to Cage and Fist). While she bolted outta the stratosphere with her prize, the rest of the Black Order stayed behind to cover her escape, and the matches were god enough for Wrestlemania!

Victor, Hulk (finally getting back in the game), Black Widow, Hawkeye, Wolverine, and…..War Machine took on Corvus Glaive. The dude's speed and ruthlessness was enough to hold the hero squad at a stalemate, until Sister Grimm, Princess Powerful, and Chase (Old Lace was too injured to come with) came in with a killer assist, and pushed Glaive back enough for the alien to decide they weren't the hassle, and fall back!

Iron Man, Wonder Man, Scarlet Witch, Rogue, and Doctor Strange were all on Ebony Maw, and man was that warranted! The pasty, E.T. lookin' mofo was like Professor X, Doctor Strange, and Magneto rolled into one! He easily beat Iron Man back, held Wonder Man off, took control of Scarlet Witch's mind, and made her fight Doctor Strange! The dude probably coulda held out indefinitely, but Alex and Katie had somethin' for his ass! They were tuned into the news, and picked up on the fact that their siblings had been captured, and the guys responsible were duking it out with The Avengers in D.C. The Powers decided to swing by, and give the heroes a hand. Power Pack was not combat ready tho (at the time), and they both got f*(#!^& DECIMATED! Alex ended up catching a steel pipe through the leg, while Katie took a ton of rubble from above! They were in bad shape, but it's usually at moments of near death that people find their hidden super ability that'll save their asses, and the Powers siblings were no exception, as Alex and Katie fused with each other, and formed a bright yellow Power Pony that had both their powers! They kicked Ebony Maw's ass into the dirt via piling hundreds of tons of rubble at him, absorbing/redirecting his magic attacks, and with one well placed pebble being shot into his eye, released his mental hold over Scarlet Witch. He dipped after she got free!

Black Dwarf joined the battle after being late to the party, but made up for it with an explosive first round, as he took on Black Panther, Colossus, She-Hulk, Spider-Woman, and Quake! They held their ground as best as they could, but Black Dwarf was a behemoth, and bulldozed through all of em', until Black Panther was the last man standing (barely). Black Dwarf was a second away from smashing him into kitty litter, but The Nova Twins came in with the save! Kira bulldozed into Black Dwarf at like Mach 20, while Daiya kept her distance, as she got a feel for her suit, and bombarded the big guy with so many blasts, rockets, and bullets, her suit eventually completed the puzzle on its own, and she found herself engulfed in a samurai/War Machine hybrid suit, as she kept pouring it on! Black Dwarf was a tough son of a bitch tho (he also had cosmic weapons), and gradually beat the twins down, until they were just barely holdin' on under a Nova Force barrier! They got into it again (probably not the best time for it), and REALLY GOT INTO IT! Daiya got on Kira for being irresponsible, reckless, lazy, promiscuous, and the fact that she was a grown woman who couldn't take care of herself, and shamed her family with her spinelessness. Brutal, but Kira clapped back in a heart beat. She railed into Daiya for being an uptight, boring, workaholic loser that had no life, and was failing at tryna find one behind a desk job. She called her a jealous, soul sucking ghoul of a human, that only got happiness by taking it away from others, and that if this was gonna be her last day in this life, it was a cruel joke that she had to die with the person she hated more than anyone in the world. Wow…..ummmm…...but there's more. Kira dug that knife in a little deeper by saying 'that's why father loved me more'.

Yikes…..

Daiya threw a punch at Kira, and the two literally exploded into Nova Force energy! A few seconds later, they were inside the body of Richard Ryder, and had all the collective might of Nova Prime! Good thing, cuz Black Dwarf wasn't done yet! He came down with an axe swing, but Nova Prime caught it, shattered it, and proceeded to beat the big guy to a pulp, before literally caving his head in! The Nova Twins were only able to maintain the fusion for the two and a half minutes it took to kill Black Dwarf (they needed to be in sync to get the max fusion time), before defusing, and passing out from exhaustion.

While they took a breather, Thanos 2.0 was wreaking havoc! Thor, Ms. Marvel, Blue Marvel, Hercules, and Photon were the vanguard. Ms. America, Hulk, Wiccan, Stature, Ant-Man, Power Pony, Sister Grimm, and several others gradually joined the fight. None of em' were enough. Thanos 2.0 wrecked em' all, and while everyone got some good hits in on him, it was clear he was more than they could handle. Thanos 2.0 probably woulda killed everyone, but the Guardians of the Galaxy came in with the save, as they zoomed in and fired an atom shredding round into his skull, that literally turned all of Thanos 2.0's organs into mulch! Rocket came leaping out to collect the body, but it disintegrated as he touched it. No body, no payday. While him and Groot were whining about their loss, the rest of the heroes traded notes. The Nova Twins were up and at em' again, and provided the bulk of the intel of Thanos' plans. The Runaways, Young Avengers, and Power Pack duo filled in the gaps regarding their captured teammates. Also, everyone realized the Cosmic Cube was gone, and Thanos was now seven moves ahead. Sucked for sure, but nobody was keen on mopping for long. The Power Pack wanted their siblings back, The Runaways wanted Karolina back, The Young Avengers wanted Hulkling back, The Avengers wanted their Cosmic Cube back, The Nova Twins wanted revenge, and The Guardians wanted to get paid (tho Drax was also reeeeeeaaaaaly into killing Thanos). After a bit of arguing/realizing it was better to keep the remaining pieces Thanos needed off world/on the move, the five teams joined up, boarded the Milano, and made space tracks for Thanos.

Elsewhere in the universe, Thanos must've gotten the unlimited one-day shipping, as he got his cosmic cube and captured Power Pack members, while Supergiant got Hulkling and Karolina. In Supergiant's case, she mind whammied both Karolina and Hulkling. With Karolina's true DNA, Supergiant opened the vault, and retrieved the last piece of Excelsior. With the three pieces intact (Thanos shipped her the other parts), Excelsior formed itself as a sword, and literally flew into Hulkling's chest! Instead of…..ya know….dying, Hulkling's soul went into some Skrull/Kree limbo, where he had to fight the souls of all the previous wielders of Excelsior. Seven in total. If he won, he got the sword, and all the power that came with it. If he lost, he died. Needless to say, Teddy kicked his ancestors asses, and pulled Excelsior outta his chest! The sword immediately broke Supergiant's control over him, and Hulking spread the lover around to Karolina and Xavin! Before long, Supergiant found herself under attack by three extremely pissed off superheroes! Karolina stayed at a distance, pelting Supergiant with light blasts, while Hulkling and Xavin went in with a brutal combo of physical, energy, and combo attacks! Supergiant was powerful, no doubt about it. Her telepathy and telekinesis were no joke, and she gave my teammates a run for their money, but Excelsior made Hulkling too OP. Even when she revealed her true form (she was like….some multi-dimensional Cthulhu lookin' mental parasite thing), Excelsior powered Hulkling up to match her, and he shredded her ugly ass into a million pieces! Hulkling took a break, while Xavin and Karolina had a very nice reunion. While they made out and stuff, Excelsior gave Hulkling the 411 on what Thanos was up to, and hoooooly $#!+, that guy was not f*(#!^& around!

The guy decked himself with armor, made out of discarded Celestial parts, and absorbed the Cosmic Cube's energy into it. With his decked out suit, Thanos went after Galactus (big guy that eats planets), and the two had a space battle so epic, they devastated an entire star cluster, and destroyed five planets (thankfully lifeless)! Galactus put up a damn good fight, and made Thanos earn every inch, but wrinkle chin eventually overpowered him, and used the Cosmic Cube energy to literally reshape Galactus into a purple/blue moon sized Death Star lookin' thing, with the space giant's headpiece acting as the bug gun, jutting out the front of the ship (awesome)! Thanos got to work, and made the ship all homey, by creating a throne at the center of the vessel, and upon sitting on it, plugged into the ship's Power Cosmic supply, artillery, and added Jack and Julie (now in convenient containers) to his power supply, located at various points inside the ship's infrastructure. The guy now had three cosmic power sources in his deck, and had the perfect opportunity to test em' out, as his indicators were pickin' up The Avengers, Guardians, etc. crew approaching his vessel. Yeah, after a day and some change, the…..Ultimate Alliance…...yeah, Ultimate Alliance tracked Thanos down, but I doubt they were feelin' proud about it for long, as Thanos unleashed the HEAT!

Prune chin willed the…..Galactron (not my best work) to shoot out fighter drones, powered by Cosmic Cube, Power Cosmic, Jack's matter manipulation powers, and Julie's lightspeed powers. There were at least 500 drones and counting closing in on the Milano, and if it wasn't for Alex, Katie, The Nova Twins, Thor, and Hulk, they wouldn't have stood a goddamn chance in hell!

These drones were next level as f*(#. Made outta Galactus' armor (and guts?), they were pretty damn durable, and even worse, could change their shape, and matter compositions! Hulk rushed in with his gamma powered sword (dope), and took out the bulk of the oncoming drones with Thor, while The Nova Twins provided crowd control with their Nova Force arsenal. They tried fusing into Nova Prime again, but the two weren't really feelin' each other after those razor sharp words they exchanged back on Earth. First time was luck, but they needed to get their $#!+ together to do it again. The Powers siblings had no such problems, and fused into a Power Pony. Alex and Katie were the game winning combo, cuz Alex's gravity powers were so strong, he was able to crush the drones, even when they transformed into dwarf star material! Hell, Thanos had to call off the energy attacks on Power Pony, as they absorbed the Cosmic Cube/Power Cosmic energy, and tore through dozens of drones by themselves! Star-Lord helped out with some blasts from his ship, and Victor was tryna connect to/hack the Galactus tech (that would be important later). He didn't get far, but he was able to divert some squads away from the ship. Ultimately, the team did land, but totally got f*(# &, as Thanos' ship was like a living maze of death, that easily disabled the Milano, and put the heavy hitters in a real stranglehold! Thanos set his sights on Power Pony in particular, as he made the walls close in around them, and bombarded them with every form of energy he had at his disposal! He got really close to getting the other half of Power Pack, but Hulkling came in with the save, as he used his magic sword to transport the heroes to Majesdane, where he gave them the rundown of Thanos' plans (while they had their wounds taken care of that is).

Thankfully, Victor was able to download full schematics of Thanos' ship, including weak points, blind spots, and energy lines. The team had a way to effectively combat prune chin, but first order of business was getting better gear, as well as an army or two. Stark was on the former, as he popped up his portable armory (so that's what that suitcase did!), and fashioned better gear for himself, Cap, Black Widow, Hawkeye, other Hawkeye, Patriot, and Chase (this is where Iron Torch was born). Karolina got standard issue Majesdanian armor, the one she was wearing now, and gave it a white/gold color swap. While that was going on, Hulkling got to work on getting those armies together, as he used Excelsior to clone himself, and send said clones across multiple galaxies to Hala and Skrullos IV. Hulkling's plan was to convince two warring empires, that had enough beef to feed a solar system, to work together, and take down the Mad Titan that literally wanted to delete the universe. That proposal didn't go over so well on the first bounce, especially since it entailed another potential ass kicking, but Hulkling really knew how to rally the troops. The Hulkling easy123 program for building an army was to:

his Excelsior status, and throw around his 'chosen one that would one day unite and bring prosperity and glory to the fractured kingdoms' weight.

the son of Mar-Vell/Princess Anelle card.

them out for the punk bitches they were, if they for real was about to let Thanos get away with taking a huge dump on the honor of their respective empires.

That last one really hit home. The Kree and Skrull may not have been all in on the kumbaya nonsense, but they were both all on on team 'f*(# Thanos'. As such, Hala gathered all the troops (some of which were defective Inhuman experiments), called every Accuser from every sector, and unloaded all the toys they had to give Thanos what for. At the same time, the Skrulls called up all their Super Skrulls, as well as their experimental weapons. In less than 24 hours, Hulkling had an army 34 million strong! Karolina upped that by another 17 million, as the Majesdanians didn't need much of a push to call the banners.

With the united armies locked and ready, Captain America coached, while Hulkling was the official lead (the Kree/Skrull/Majesdanian alliance all vocally agreed to never follow a human). Cap took stock of the remaining pieces Thanos needed to complete his destruction puzzle:

/Katie

/Excelsior

The Nova Twins' helmets (the extra cosmic power couldn't hurt)

Cap made the call to not go full frontal assault on Thanos just yet. Wrinkle chin needed the pieces so bad, he could come get em' himself. Cap also figured it was better to split the three parts between the Skrulls, Kree, and Majesdanians. Hulkling and the rest of the Young Avengers would hunker down on Skrullos IV. Alex, Katie, Cap, Widow, Star-Lord, Drax, Hawkeye, and Hulk were on Hala. The Runaways, Nova Twins, Thor, Rocket, Gamora, and Groot were on Majesdane (everyone agreed Rocket shouldn't touch Kree weapons). The plan was for Thanos to throw more attacks at the planets, and exhaust his foot soldiers against the heavily fortified strongholds. Skrullos IV and Hala would take most of the attacks, with Majesdane getting a proportionally light assault. Victor was the real ace in the hole. His first interaction with Thanos' ship gave him the idea to more or less inhabit and assimilate Galactus' technology into his systems. The game plan was for Victor to either force Thanos outta his ship, or at least cause enough of a ruckus to free Julie and Jack. Overall, a pretty solid plan. Let's shift over to Thanos' response.

The Mad Titan was getting impatient, and upped his game accordingly. Using small pieces of Galactus, he fashioned cosmic armor for Proxima Midnight, Corvus Glaive, and Ebony Maw. He also powered them with Julie's powers, Jack's powers, and Cosmic Cube/Power Cosmic energy respectively. He gave them legions of Chitauri, and significant chunks of the Galactron to use as command warships. The remaining Black Order members wasted no time in getting their invasions started, and it was one hell of a showdown!

Proxima Midnight and the Skrulls went at it in a huge space battle that lasted an entire day and a half! The Skrulls by themselves had enough firepower to hold Proxima's fleet at bay, but it was The Young Avengers that gave them the edge. America got MVP for single handedly destroying a quarter of Proxima's ships. Stature, Speed, Hawkeye, and Patriot got props for being a kick ass team that took down a good 50 warships, and Wiccan was just under America, as his thunder style-voltage hydra jutsu (not kidding, my man was a goddamn shinobi) cut a path of absolute destruction through Proxima Midnight's forces! Speaking of which, big blue wasn't taking losing very well, and sprinted onto the front lines, spears blazing! I'm not gonna lie, I think Julie's powers are laughable. Love her, and she actually kicks ass in a fight, but it's kinda impossible not to laugh at that rainbow streak. Proxima Midnight had no such problems, as she used that rainbow streak. Proxima Midnight had no such problems with that image, as she used that rainbow power for all it was worth, and SO MUCH MORE! Big blue multiplied her spear blasts into dozens of rainbow colored energy bolts that zig zagged through a good hundred Skrull warships! Hulkling wasn't having any of it, as he zoomed out to meet Proxima head on, and the two engaged in an extremely bright and colorful battle! Hulkling wasn't the best fighter (we'll get him there), but Excelsior had his back, as the sword basically used him as a puppet. He was on some Achilles/DBZ $#!+, and really took it to Proxima, but he had no control over his movements. Excelsior really outdid itself, as it gradually drained Proxima's stolen powers, and as she was reeling back, snapped her spear in two! The sword wasn't about half assing it either, as Hulkling found himself cutting big blue's head clean off!

Despite the geyser of blue blood (which froze instantly in the vacuum), Hulkling held himself together. The guy was a lot tougher than most people gave him credit for, and i'm gonna pretend Excelsior's next actions were to reward him (or at least apologize for jacking his body).

The sword glowed bright blue, and the Galactus tech warship violently split into thousands of pieces! The chunks started pelting the Skrull fleet, like metal hail, and the result was one hell of an upgrade! Skrull tech was already pretty badass (the tech was some type of substance that could change its shape and density on a dime), and the Galactus tech gave them a game changing Power Cosmic upgrade! They of course wanted to betray the Kree, and destroy the rival empire once and for all, but Hulkling kept them on the straight and narrow. Instead, the Skrulls were hightailing it to Hala, where the Avengers/Power Pack were in desperate need of backup.

Yeah, Ebony Maw wasn't f*(#!^% around, and was putting boots to asses (sometimes on heads). Unlike Proxima Midnight, who was mainly a brawler, Ebony Maw was an absolute chess master when it came to war. When he attacked Hala, which was already in pretty bad shape, he targeted the last of their communications networks first. An army of millions was now aimless, and Ebony Maw went full force on his assault. Maw used a wide sweep attack to cover more direct ops, and gradually took down most of Hala's energy, shield, and emergency systems. He focused his attacks on moderately populated cities and outposts, with a special interest in destroying roads/transportation grids; adding another element to Hala;s struggling defense. For a whole 24 hours, Ebony Maw dominated the fight, but The Star Spangled Man With A Plan (love that song) wasn't havin' it.

Rogers, The Powers, and Widow undertook a two day effort to get Hala's defense back on its feet. First order of business was to re-establish stable energy flow, and communications. Ronan, the Supreme Accuser, gave them a heads up about a secret catacomb that led to the Supreme Intelligence (their god, I think?). If they could wake it up again (the Kree rebelled against it some time ago), that would solve the communications and energy problems. For a whole day, Cap and his team traversed their way through an underground maze, attacking/running into stray bad guys, until they reached the temple of the Supreme Intelligence, and woke it up. The green, mutated potato lookin' thing was pissed off at being put on a time out, but after Cap explained how much of a jerk the Supreme Intelligence was (not a benevolent god apparently), and how it had another chance to earn the love/loyalty of its people, the Supreme Intelligence agreed to help. The green potato god linked the minds of everyone fighting for Hala, and while Ronan took charge of the defensive effort, Cap and his team kept going, and gradually restarted Hala's emergency weapons grid; which entailed the planetary ion guns. Maw got a huge surprise, as torrents of green/blue ion rays started to decimate his air forces, making him pull back! Hell, Cap already set the ball rolling, as Hulk, Iron Man, Star-Lord, and Drax were above ground the whole time, moving from city to city, busting up enemy strongholds! Maw suddenly found himself losing, but was able to salvage the setback, as he found a way to shuffle around his attacks, and keep the pressure on. Him and Cap played a game of high stakes chess, as they kept one upping each other, until Maw achieved his goal of luring the underground team back to the surface. The good news was The Avengers/Guardians team was reunited. The bad news was Ebony Maw.

Yeah, my guy must've practiced his ass off with Jack's Powers, cuz when he showed up on the scene, while The Avengers, Guardians, and Power Pack put up a good fight, Maw was on some other $#!+. Cap was decked out in a Kevlar/Vibranium weave suit that absorbed kinetic energy, and transferred it to his shield for redistribution. Iron Man's new suit could morph into any weapon, and was powered by a neutron star arc reactor (WHAT?!). Hulk came hard with everything he had. Hawkeye, kept releasing volleys of suped up trick arrows (i'd love to see what a supernova arrow looks like in action). Widow made as much headway as she could with some Kree energy pistols. Star-Lord kept shuffling through different Element Gun combinations, Drax kept tryna swing on Maw with his big ass sword (never landed a single swing), and The Powers kids gave everything they had as Power Pony. In the end, it simply wasn't enough. For every attack they threw at Maw, he either blocked it, or changed his mass to be stronger than anything they threw at him/intangible so that all his attacks flew through him. He combined his matter manipulation powers with his magic to summon demons, devastating energy attacks, and transform into various creatures of terror, until he eventually wore down all the heroes, save Power Pony. Again, the Powers fought hard, but Maw's cosmic strength was more than they could handle, and he eventually landed a hit on them so hard, it forced them to split up! Maw scooped up Katie, but before he could do the same to Alex, the Skrull backup arrived, and started finishing the job Cap started; decimating the Chitauri fleet to critical levels! Hell, the Skrulls' newly acquired vessel was strong enough to put the hurt on Maw's Galactus tech warship! E.T. quickly did a 180, settling for Katie, as he teleported back to his ship, and flew back to daddy Thanos. Overall, this was another L for the team, but they dusted themselves off, and rallied the now recovering Kree. Cap also radioed over to the Majesdanian front, where the highlights were much better.

The Majesdanians weren't much when it came to war machines, but that's where Rocket came in. In barely half a day, he figured out how to convert their energy harvesters, generators, and construction machines into weapons strong enough to blow up moons (so that's where he got em' from)! He couldn't enact the changes fast enough on his own, so Victor and Nova Prime (the twins were starting to vibe a little better) worked together, and used their technopathy to change enough of Majesdane tech to war fighting ability. The tech was touch/thought based, so even the Majesdanians could do the bare minimum of capable fighting. Corvus Glaive showed up with an army of Chitauri and Outriders (think Wildmutt, but with four arms, with a black and gold dye job, and even more savage) not long after the heroes set up shop. Nova Prime had a little over five minutes left in the tank, and took to outer space to soften up the assault. They weren't alone, as Majesdanian solar rockets, warships, fighters, and soldiers weren't far behind with the assist! Five minutes may not seem like much, but Nova Prime made it work, as they single handedly destroyed five Outrider carriers, two Chitauri warships, and a dozen Leviathans! Their Majesdanian backup was no joke either, as their improved weapons/defense tech kept Glaive's forces from even setting foot on the planet! Nova Prime easily got Corvus' attention, and the three battled it out for a good 30 seconds. In their defense, Nova Prime whuped Corvus' ass for that full half minute, and knocked him down to Majesdanian pavement at Mach 12, but Corvus was tough, and got back on his feet for round 2. This time, Kira and Daiya only had each other (also Molly) to rely on.

The next two and a half days were a real grind, as everyone had their hand full with something. Thor, Nico, Karolina, and Chase were out in space, dealing with Glaive's assault. Props to em', they kicked serious ass, with the Majesdanians! Of the thousands of carriers and warships that Corvus hurled at the planet, only 216 actually made contact. Hell, even when they did land, Rocket and Gamora led the ground troops, and obliterated them with weapons/traps that incinerated, disintegrated, atomized, vaporized, spaghettified, and many other horrible ways for anything to die. Kira, Molly, and Daiya had their hands full with Corvus, in a brutal fight that lasted five hours, devastated three major cities, and circled the entire planet twice! The Nova Twins were definitely getting the hang of their gear, as they bombarded him with more advanced weapons/combos, and kept Corvus on the backpedal with a ton of Nova Force charged DBZ Ultimate Tenkaichi combos, that almost always had a nasty fusion cannon blast at the tail end! Glaive wasn't makin' it easy for em' tho, and countered with Cosmic Cube energy blastwaves, teleporting spear slashes/jabs, and occasionally morphing into a King Outrider (those things were apparently his children….) to savage the f*(# outta the twins! Molly became MVP in those situations, as her ridiculous level of strength was enough to keep Corvus at bay. Lucky for them, the space crew were REALLY good at their jobs. Thor in particular got the gold star, as he kept spinning his hammer for like 5 hours, until it was charged enough to release some super ancient, continent destroying, special lightning bolt, called the Jarnbolt (I should get one of those) at Corvus' Galactus tech warship. The super, ultra, big bang, +12 offense, +8 magic lightning bolt tore Glaive's ship to shreds, and Thor quickly created a portal with his hammer (that thing was SO OP!), and sent a bus sized chunk of the Galactus debris Victor's way. Yeah, robot boy was holed up inside the palace, waiting for a good piece of Galactus tech to interface with. Thor's early Christmas present was more than enough, and Vic immediately started the upgrade, as he touched the scrap, sent his nanites into it, and absorbed the feedback. His mind and body completely shut down while it processed and adapted to the new tech, and Vic would stay comatose for another two hours.

Meanwhile, Molly and The Nova Twins got a major advantage over Corvus, as his Cosmic Cube supply was cut off! He still had enough energy leftover to give the girls another grueling hour of battle, and even went his power was depleted, I doubted he'd be that much easier to deal with, but in a hilarious stroke of luck, they fought their way over to an active energy plant that harvested the planet's solar flares. Corvus got caught up in one of the inferno blasts, and was charred into nothing! Only his glaive survived (that would be important later), which flew back to Thanos' warship. With Corvus out of the fight, the heroes and Majesdanians spent another hour beating back the remainder of his forces. They probably coulda cleaned up shop in another 2-3 hours, but Vic's update finally kicked in, and man was it a killer!

My man dissolved into a billion nanites, absorbed the entire chunk of Galactus tech, and became this whirlwind of Power Cosmic and metal! He managed to reform himself as he exited the atmosphere, but he was…..different. Long story short, Victor was a cyborg, and Ultron was the baby daddy (a shrink could write their retirement on that one). Ultron put something in Vic, called the Victorious Protocol. Basically, if Ultron wanted to, he could flip a switch in Victor's head, and turn him into a world killing machine. Vic could apparently get the same result with Galactus Tech (yeah, it's an official thing) shaking up his latent programming, cuz he formed up in a badass silver/blue armor and cape, with his eyes and hands glowing with Power Cosmic and voltage! The dude went into a rampage, and absolutely destroyed the last of Corvus' forces with a mix of his strength, speed, and ability to change any part of his body to whatever weapon he wanted! Victorious was long eyed tho, and ate up the rest of the Galactus Tech warship! He went full on evil for a little bit, and tried to kill literally anything that moved. It took Thor, Molly, and The Nova Twins to keep him contained, while Nico sent a spell through her Witch Arm (literally 'restricted mode') to revert Victor back to normal. He still had the power boost/weapons capability, but the Power Cosmic/murderous aspect was on permanent hold. After some awkward apologies, Vic analyzed his new programming, and gave the good news that was now wired into Thanos' ship! It wasn't an instant solution, as he still had to compete with wrinkle chin's consciousness, but Vic was now privy to the ship's strengths, weakness, and could give the team instant intel on how the battlefield shifted. So yeah, not exactly wins all around, but as the good guys rallied for the final round, they could breathe a little easier knowing they could see the enemy's hand.

Twelve hours later, the united Kree/Skrull/Majesdanian forces surrounded Thanos' ship, and attacked from all sides. Thanos released the drones again, but the decked out Skrull warships, mixed with Victor messing with Thanos' programming, allowed them to slowly force their way closer to the ship. Grape juice man must've been feeling the heat, cuz he revved up his Galactus Gun, and targeted Hulkling's warship. Excelsior sensed its master about to eat it, and shot outta his hand, straight at the cannon! At the same time, Vic put his hacking skills to work, and messed with the cannon's firing mechanic. Victor and Excelsior basically worked together to clog Thanos' big gig, and the result was a massive explosion that rippled through the Mad Titan's whole ship; severely crippling his defenses! That was as good a time as any to enact the plan Hulkling totally, without any help whatsoever (certainly not from Cap, Tony, Romanov, or Vic), made up on his own.

While the Kree/Skrull/Majesdanian fighters continued to bombard Thanos' stronghold, Thor and The Nova Twins departed the Milano, and started blasting/hammering their way towards the Galactron. Five minutes and a few hundred downed drones later, they powered their way through the first wall of defense, and flew at blistering speed, tryna get to the ship's energy core. The Nova Twins adjusted their suits to Metabot lookin' armor (I gotta rewatch that show) that absorbed, doubled, and redistributed the power into the energy field as they flew at lightspeed against the core's energy flow. Thor did the same, but he didn't need a fancy suit to take the energy barrage (no offense to the twins).

While that was goin' on, the united fleet was really takin' it to the Galactron. Victor was setting the fighters up big time, as he was able to expose turrets, energy tubes, power cores, etc., for nearby fighters to take out. Star-Lord and Rocket took out ten turrets, a weapons silo, and two drone manufacturers, before Thanos got the memo, and turned a good deal of his firepower on them. Dozens upon dozens of fighters chased after the Milano, but Vic (oh, the Young Avengers and Runaways were carpooling with the Guardians) really hooked their $#!+ up! Heat seeking photon rockets, Hydrogen blasters, quantum mines, and an infusion of Pym Particles, so the ship could shrink/grow to get outta trouble! They continued to be a pain in Thanos' ass, and the prune juice man was not havin' it! He powered up a regenerated Corvus with the powers of Jack, Julie, and Katie. Ebony Maw got the same treatment, and the two proceeded to f*(# $#!+ up on the way to the Skrull mothership, where Hulkling and Zero-G were! Yeah, Thanos was goin' for the hail mary!

Corvus and Maw crashed into the Skrull mothership, and left a pretty nasty swath of death up and down the ship, until Hulkling intervened. Even with Excelsior, he was barely able to hold them off. Zero-G stepped in to help (rightfully pissed about his siblings), but Maw and Glaive were counting on that. As soon as Alex stepped up to the plate (getting in some good shots on Maw), Maw teleported all four of em' into some kinda energy harvesting arena, as big as an airport! Alex got hit the worst, as the energy harvester immediately zeroed in on his power, and started draining like a motherf*(#%^. Hulkling was left to take on Glaive and Maw by himself, and respect where it's due, Teddy fought his heart out. Him and Excelsior were finally starting to find a balance, as Hulkling was able to do more impressive $#!+, like energy storms, cloning, invisibility, force fields, elemental attacks, and even some magic attacks! He held Maw to a standstill, but was unable to get around Corvus' speed, skill, and enhanced power. Hulkling got beat back into a corner for sure, but Wiccan was not about to let his husband go out just like that. Without even so much as a courtesy warning, Billy teleported himself, and all Avengers young and old (also The Runaways) into the fray! The rumble was as chaotic as you'd imagine, as The Avengers and Runaways all ganged up on Corvus, while The Young Avengers teamed up with Hulkling to take it to Ebony Maw! Guess it was third time's the charm for The Avengers, as them and The Runaways weren't doing half bad this time around against Glaive! Hulk, Molly, and Cap were all on close quarters combat duty. Iron Man, Iron Torch, Sister Grimm, and Victor were flyby range support. Black Widow, and Clint were guerrilla snipers. Again, it wasn't like they were kicking Corvus' ass, but all things considered, they weren't doing all that bad. The same could be said for The Young Avengers on Ebony Maw. America served as both muscle and speed attacks, as she powered though/portalled between Maw's attacks, and beat him around with some crazy punch/kick combos! Speed was running attack support, Wiccan was ranged muscle, and Kate was also a guerrilla sniper. They actually ended up doing a little better than the other team, as Hulkling's sword negated Maw's magic/mind control, and was slowly, but surely, draining the leftover Black Order members of their stolen power! Hell, Vic threw another wrench in the machine, by shutting down the energy drainer, setting Zero-G free! Things were actually lookin' up for the heroes, but that wouldn't last for long, as Thanos was finally ready to get off his ass, and get the job done. So just as The Young Avengers and Alex were finally starting to get Ebony Maw backed up against the ropes, here came the grape juice man to f*(# it all up!

He teleported into the arena, bathed in Power Cosmic, Power Pack, and Cosmic Cube energy, and slammed into the ground! The ensuing blastwave knocked everyone in different directions, and Thanos immediately went to collect his remaining Doomsday Bomb pieces! He willed the ship to trap Alex in an energy container, and ship him off to God knows where for draining! Thanos also had the ship gear him up in this War Machine meets Megatron set up, and took it to Hulkling big time! The two traded blows for ten seconds, before Thanos blasted Hulkling clear of the arena! The two ended up fighting across the entire circumference of the Galactron, neither getting a definitive advantage over the other, but f*(#!^& plenty of $#!+ up! With Hulkling gone, the respective battles between Glaive and Maw weren't going as well, and the villains were starting to turn the tide south. Thor and The Nova Twins came through tho, as they finally reversed enough of the ship's energy core flow to cause a massive explosion, followed by yet another chain of explosions already rocking a pretty f*(# % up Galactron! Thanos' whole day was goin' downhill fast, as that explosion chain completely destroyed his fuel network; setting the rest of the Powers siblings free! Wrinkle Chin immediately felt his power level drop by half, but was annoyingly calm about the whole thing, as he kept up his battle with Hulkling unperturbed. Long story short, Ebony Maw was on Power Patrol, as he was locked onto Power Pack's respective energies, and went on the hunt! This seemingly left Corvus high and dry, but Glaive called in the cavalry of whatever remained of the Outrider carriers, as well as a few battalions of Galactus Tech drones, and flooded the arena with his crew! This evened out the playing field, as The Avengers and Nova Twins stayed on Corvus, while The Young Avengers and Runaways tried to keep the Outrider pest problem under control.

Elsewhere, Ebony Maw was out to ruin Power Pack's day (or night, I guess?), starting with Jack. The kid (I say as if he's not just a year younger than me) was just barely awake, and had to deal with grey Squidward trying to strangle him! Jack fended Maw off as best as he could, transforming into damn near every element every, but only held out for somewhere between 2-3 minutes. Ebony Maw was dangerously close to bottling Jack up again, but Julie came in at supersonic, and trucked him in the back with a flying kick! Grey Squidward went careening into a wall, and barely had any time to recover, as both Powers siblings were on him with the fury! Mass Master got the MVP medal for this round, as he absorbed and transformed his body into living Galactus Tech! Maw caught an insane amount of hands from my boy, as Jack pummeled him with cosmic powered cross punches, jabs, and SO MANY NUT SHOTS! Julie was not to be counted out tho. Home girl kept up the supersonic punches and kicks; landing some brutal combos! Maw was clearly feeling the heat, as he busted out all the stops just to get Mass Master and Lightspeed off him! The Powers duo found themselves bound in the Crimson Bands of Cyttorak, while also getting their minds attacked! Maw kept the bands super tight around them, and was this close to making them take a nap, but the life threatening stress activated the Power Pony Protocol (I love how that just fits!) Their pony of choice was a white humanoid horse, in a purple uniform, with both their symbols combined on their chest. Maw's mental attack lost all its bite against Power Pony, and to E.T. 's horror, this Power Pony was built WAY DIFFERENT! Yeah, mixing Jack's Mass Control with Julie's speed was a godly combo that Ebony Maw was just barely holding his own against! Power Pony mixed up their form from Galactus Tech, to cloud vapor, to living lightning, and anything they could use to give Ebony Maw the business! They had the guy working for every second! Hell, to make matters worse, for grey Squidward, Alex and Katie had shaken off their remaining fuzz, and were hightailing it to backup their siblings! Maw sensed them coming, and made the wise decision to change up the battlefield. One Power Pony was pushin' it. Another might actually kill him.

Maw did a quick teleportation spell, and Power Pack found themselves ten miles underground, split up (except for Power Pony), and being compacted by Galactus Tech walls! Power Pony kept taking it to Maw, but the guy really had the home field advantage, as he was able to throw energy clones, mechanical traps, and various demons at Power Pack! Grey Squidward almost had em' beat (tho I think he forgot the whole 'take em' alive' aspect of the mission), but Power Pack pulled through at the last second! They did some Care Bear, power of family, sappy bull$#!+, and merged for the first time into Power Unicorn! Maw was finally in the $#!+, as the combined might of Power Pack was too much for him to handle! With Julie's speed, they were too fast to hit. On the off chance Maw did land a blast, Katie's energy absorption did the trick! Maw's Cosmic Cube energy and magic were thrown right back at him with interest! Alex's gravity powers kept Maw confined to a short area of maneuverability, and Jack's Mass control powers both doubled Power Unicorn's strength and durability, while converting Galactus Tech spires, clamps, and spikes to sand! Ebony Maw was toast, as Power Pack wore him down, and sliced him in half with their sword!

Corvus was the last man standing, but not for long. The Avengers and Nova Twins kept the hurt on him; even as he morphed into a cosmic powered King Outrider. Hell, it was just a steady downhill for Corvus, as his Outrider/drone army was straight up obliterated via perfect sync of The Guardians and Power Unicorn coming in and strafing the battlefield with Photon bombs! That left Maw all alone, and after everyone ganged up to give him what for, Daiya destroyed his Glaive with a de-atomizer blade, before Thor smashed his head in with Mjolnir! The re-united Ultimate Alliance has all of ten seconds to catch their breath, before having to quickly board the Milano, as Thanos was making the Galactron change its shape! Yeah…..$#!+ was popping off!

While all the mini-fights were goin' on (no offense to the worthy contestants), Hulkling and Thanos were still duking it out in a battle that easily rivaled the one I had with Doom! Hulkling was still getting the hang of Excelsior, but he had enough of a handle to boost and maintain a higher level of strength, speed, and durability. Teddy hacked and stabbed into Thanos' armor, and occasionally got some good blasts in on him, but Thanos was matching him blow for blow with his ever changing armor. Even worse, Wrinkle Chin's armor was steadily absorbing Excelsior's energy, until the bastard had enough juice to make his own counterfeit Excelsior! With the last piece of Thanos' oblivion bomb ready to go, he willed the Galactron to shift its form, until it was a moon sized spiked ball, with three energy pits spewing bluish white fire-like energy outta the bottom and sides (think I saw something like that on a cartoon)! On top was a city sized space of clear Plexiglas lookin' material, where Thanos and Hulkling were standing. Grape Juice Man didn't give Hulkling a second to even comprehend the situation, much less take a breather, and continued to wail on him with relentless attacks! From Teddy's perspective, he was just tryna survive Thanos' onslaught, but the game was a lot more complex than that.

Sure, Thanos' Doomsday bomb was a bit banged up, but in its current state, it could still more than do what it needed to do. With a little more energy from Excelsior (which the Galactron was steadily drinking in), Thanos' bomb woulda been ready to go. More so, if Power Unicorn landed on the field, Thanos woulda easily recovered the energy he lost. Vic accounted for all of this, and as the Milano soared upwards above the battle, he got to tinkering. Basically, he willed a tube to stall here, a valve to dislocate there, and so on, until his death by 1,000 cuts changes were done, so that at the end of the day, the bomb wouldn't function properly. In the meantime, the Ultimate Alliance backed up Hulkling, to give Thanos one hell of a fight! Like, everyone left it all on the battlefield! Thor, Power Unicorn, Hulkling, Wiccan, Ms. America, Hulk, The Nova Twins, Sister Grimm, and Princess Powerful were the big guns of the fight, while the others got in flanking/rushing attacks from wherever they could get them in. Thanos was tough tho, and fought his way through multiple assaults. Power Pony, the Nova Twins, and the magic trio (Wiccan, Hulkling, and Sister Grimm) consistently kept Thanos on his toes with their powerhouse attacks. Power Pony negated Wrinkle Chin's Power Pack attacks (mostly), while the magic trio launched wave after wave of magic attacks, ranging from multi-colored blasts, to inter-dimensional beings that were the stuff of nightmares. Thanos dispelled most of those attacks with his stolen Excelsior energy. Even worse, Thanos' armor was goin' full on Hulkbuster, as it kept making guns, cannons, rockets, plasma rifles, etc., powered by Power Pack/Cosmic Cube energy. His boosted artillery kept the heroes at bay, but Iron Man, Iron Torch, The Nova Twins, Star-Lord, Rocket, and Karolina provided decent return fire. The next ten minutes were a brutal slug fest, with Cap, Tony, Widow, both Hawkeyes, Karolina, Patriot, Xavin, and all the Guardians eating it big time! The Nova Twins were forced to go Nova Prime to keep the fight under control, and between them, Power Pony, Thor, and Hulkling, Thanos' actually got backed up against the ropes a few times! Still, Thanos wasn't fighting to win, so much as stall, and his patience seemed to pay off, as his oblivion bomb was finally charged up and ready to go!

Thanos willed the energy pits around the Galactron to close, and shaped a key hole to form dead center of the battlefield. Dunno if he intentionally set it to where he was like 800 meters away, but the heroes hauled ass to keep him from sticking his sword in it! Like, everyone put all their best attacks out there, and to their credit, got Thanos between a rock and a hard place, as they got him pinned down, and made desperate grabs for his sword (props to Chase for literally tryna burn this man's hand off)! Good hustle, but no bueno. Thanos was a cheater, and switched his sword into a gauntlet! Before anyone could attempt to break his wrist, Thanos snapped….and a destructive wave of energy rippled through the entire Galactron! Yeah, Vic and Nova Prime came through! Vic did a good job keeping his hand on the pulse of the Galactron, and coordinated with Tony and Nova Prime to use the faulty energy processing to their advantage via Nova Prime and Victor using their technopathy/energy manipulation powers to keep the literal f*(# ton of energy inside and rebounding off itself! Even better, Thanos absolutely f*(#%$ himself up! He may have stolen Excelsior's energy, but the energy sure as hell made him suffer for it, as my man looked like someone took a cheese grater to his EVERYWHERE! If Thanos had any fight left, he didn't get the chance to show it. Stress cracks started to form all along the surface of the Galactron, and Thanos got sucked into one. Was he dead? Eh…..hope for the best, prepare to get screwed.

Speaking of getting screwed, the Galactron was going critical! Vic and Nova Prime needed to ice this thing fast! Maybe it wasn't 'destroy the universe' level anymore, but the explosion could easily destroy anything within half a galaxy! Vic, Power Unicorn, Nova Prime, and Thor all worked together to reshape the Galactron into a Dyson Sphere. The device kept the volatile energy relatively stable enough for Power Unicorn to drain the residual Power Pack energy, while Hulkling used Excelsior to more or less merge the Cosmic Cube and Power Cosmic energies into a stable orb. Many questions were raised about the more or less death of Galactus, and what that meant for the universe, how to guard this literal well of substantial cosmic energy, etc., but the only thing everyone knew for certain was the fact that The Avengers weren't getting their Cosmic Cube back.

The following day was clean up and cooldown. The three respective Alliance members began to repair the damage caused by Thanos. The Kree and Skrull empires agreed to maintain an armistice, lest Hulkling actually unite their kingdoms. Karolina was freed from her arranged marriage. Power Pack paid a visit to Kymellia, to honor King Silvermane. Oh, and the Guardians didn't get paid. No body, no units. Rocket was pretty bummed about that, but Star-Lord promised they'd loot some space pirates, then collect the bounty on said space pirates, and sell their ships to the highest bidder. First, they had to give the Earth heroes a ride back home. Needless to say, they got caught up in our business, and here we are.

Cool story.

"That was an accident, and you know it, Bradley," Kate said. "No offense to Nico and her crew, but do you really think Cap and the ivory tower crew would be caught dead takin' the ragtags to outer space?"

"Is it weird that I want us to be called the Ragtags now?" Molly sheepishly asked, earning a mild laugh from most of us.

"Uh, quick question?" Jimmy asked. "First, sorry if I tried to kill any of you the other day, and am I included in this team thing? I know i'm like more than twice your age, so sorry if i'm being weird."

"Nah, you're cool," Chase said. "Heard you make some slammin' weed."

"Which is not in any way relative to this conversation," Allyson snapped at him. "But yeah, I like Jimmy. I say he can join if he wants."

"Same," I said. "He saved my life."

"Also same," Grant said. "Gaea is on my as about you teaching me or something?"

"She's in your head?" Jimmy asked.

Grant nodded.

"I'm so sorry."

"Ok, back to center," Patriot said. "Even if we agreed to do this, what would we even do? Where would our base be? How would we fund literally anything?"

"Can't answer the last two yet," I said. "Tho if we hurry up and copyright our likeness, we could end up makin' some serious bread down the line. As for what we can do, we can track down Hood, and end his weapons game. The guy's gonna be sellin' magical weapons, drugs, armor, you name it, to dudes who don't need to have it. People are gonna get hurt."

"Also," Kira said. "While I don't know most of you intimately, the lack of the Nova Corps, mixed with Thanos' whole thing has left a lotta planets destabilized. Me and Kirakiraboshi could use all the help we can get."

"Also the crimes nobody seems to care about," Victor spoke up. "Lots of people don't know this, but smuggling, racketeering, money laundering, digital counterfeiting, fencing, drug trafficking, protection rackets, extortion, ponzi schemes, insider trading, identity theft, and embezzlement are all a pretty big deal. All of these are not victimless crimes. They hurt the little guy in a big way. Back when I was a part of a short lived group called the Avengers A.I., we would be all over stuff like this….ya know, in between stopping Ultron from nuking the world. I'm pretty much tapped into the internet at all times. Give me some training and a strike team, and we could really take it to the crooks who slide under the radar of the big leaguers."

"While we're on that," Jimmy said. "Can we address tackling the roots of social problems, instead of just jamming people in prisons? You reduce the situations that breed crime, you get less crime."

"How do we do that?" Grant asked.

"Getting rid of gangs and drugs is a good start," Allyson said. "Tho we gotta be careful of that. Last thing we need is a Nixon style war on drugs. I think starting with cartels and manufacturers first is a step in the right direction. After that, maybe we could do our own charity drives to make sure the money is actually going where it needs to. We could fund things like after school programs, mentorships, recreational events, health services for the mental health food drives, affordable housing/rehabilitation for the homeless, and stuff like that. We have a real problem in this country of just relying on cops and heroes to do everything, even when they have no business intervening in these issues. We can do more for the world than just putting bad guys away. Let's help people live/be better."

"Also better technology available to the public," I said. "I've given a lotta thought to what I can do with my brain. I've got a lot of ideas on how to better improve society with better roads, buildings, personal devices, etc. It's only in conception at the moment, and it's gonna take a lot of time and effort, but i'm tired of seeing Stark with all this game changing technology, but only the scraps make it down to the bottom. Not saying everyone should have an Iron Man suit, but arc reactor powered cars, modified so they can't be weaponized, isn't too much to ask for in my opinion."

"It's really important to me that we find and protect runaway kids," Nico spoke up. "Not to turn them back over to their parents, especially if they fled for abusive reasons, but to help them through their problems, keep them from getting in with the wrong crowds that take advantage of them, and if we can, give them a better life than the one they fled from."

"Oh!" Katie Power chirped up. "Alien threats! Me and Jack were the only ones doing it, since Alex was busy hanging out with the Fantastic Four, and Julie was off in Hollywood, but a lotta undercover aliens are conducting experiments on children in states that don't have any heroes. And in other countries its even worse! We finally got our dofus older siblings to help us out. But we could totally use a hand."

"That's absolutely in our wheelhouse, sis!" Kira said to Daiya. "That's like 30 violations of the Nova Corps intergalactic code of law!"

"Which I know you didn't read," Daiya scolded Kira.

"Don't need to read a handbook to know kidnapping and illegal experimentation is wrong. I'm totally for busting some mad scientist heads!"

"See?" Grant gestured to the group. "We can do this! Hell, we got plenty of good things we can do! Let's at least put it to a vote. If you're interested in forming a team, raise your hand."

Allyson, Grant, and myself (after a bit of hesitation) raised our hands.

Of the Power Pack, Katie and Jack raised their hands. Alex and Julie kept them down.

The Nova Twins were unanimously in favor.

Of the Young Avengers, Billy, Teddy, Cassie, Kate, America, and Tommy raised their hands. Eli kept his down.

The Runaways were actually unanimous. Nico, Victor, Chase, Molly, Karolina, and Xavin all raised their hands.

Jimmy also raised his hand.

All in all, it looked like this team was gonna be a thing.

"Alright," Grant said. "Lotta good feedback here. I see a few of you are a little hesitant, but we can work that out as we figure out our flow. Regardless, I think we should stay in touch, just in case. Does everyone have a GroupMe?"

"Yeah, probably not a good idea," I said. "We shouldn't send messages on something that can be traced by any decent hacker. Give me a sec."

I pulled out my phone, pulled up Z.O.R.D.O.N., and after half a minute of some high level coding, sent an encrypted app out that downloaded itself onto everyone who had a phone in the vicinity (I was surprised S.H.I.E.L.D. gave Jimmy a phone).

"Nice!" Grant said. "But what's gonna be our group name? Delta Force is really startin' to sound lame."

"The Elementals." I said; earning looks from literally everyone.

"What?" I shrugged. "Pretty much everyone here either can manipulate the forces of water, earth, fire, and air. Those that can't either have dope powers, like Alex, Julie, Cassie, and Tommy. Or Kate, whose shades alone put her on top tier level. Also Eli…...who…...hangs out with you guys, so he slides by."

Everyone had a small chuckle (except Eli), and we started heading out, as we could see people starting to bustle in the streets (New Yorkers are a resilient bunch). Grant, Allyson, and myself hung out for a bit on top of Avengers Tower (Grant made us take a selfie in front of the A), and talked a little more.

"So what was up with the hesitation, bro?" he asked me, after we finished Christmas gift comparing. "You looked a little squirrely back there."

"Just needed a second to think," I said. "I'm still processing the last few days. Don't worry tho, i'd never leave y'all hangin'. We're a team. No matter what, I got your backs."

"Ditto, bud."

"Elementals Together," Allyson said with a smile. "United Forever!"

Me and Grant looked at her like she just discovered fire.

"Did you just come up with that?!" he exclaimed at her.

Allyson blushed a little, and nodded.

"That's what i'm talkin' bout!" he said, pulling out his phone. "That's the kinda $#!+ you put on T-Shirts! I gotta text this to the crew!"

"Wait," I said. "So is this our 'Avengers Assemble'?"

"Why not? It's catchy!"

"Yeah, as a slogan, but, no offense, Allyson, we gotta cut it down. When it comes to battle cries, less is more."

"Ok," Allyson shrugged. "What ya have in mind?"

"Elements Unite. Short, sweet, to the point, and kind of a double meaning, considering our team is really just five teams, elements if you will, merged together."

Grant and Allyson looked at each other and nodded. He sent the two slogans out, and my phone blew up with feedback.

Kate: So corny! (Laugh emoji)

America: I'll make it cool (insert selfie)

Molly: Awesome!

Chase: Lit

Nico: Is that supposed to be a reference to W.I.T.C.H.?

Jack: This is how it starts!

Julie: Cool, I guess.

Teddy: I'm gonna look so cool with my sword raised, as I shout this!

And so on like this. A little mixed reactions, but leaning on the positive side.

"Oh yeah, this is what i'm talkin' bout!" Grant smiled. "Anyway, I gotta get home. I got stuff to do tomorrow, plus I gotta rethink our playbook. We can't use the same plays for everyone. Thanks for the suit, Jason."

"No problem," I said, as I gave him a hug. "I knew you guys could come for me. Thanks for bailing me out. Sorry the suits not as good as the ones we had before."

"Last I checked, my other suit didn't have a custom logo, or a cool facemask with green eye lenses."

He smiled again, gave me and Allyson a hug, and took off towards Nebraska. Allyson took my hand in her's, and squeezed gently.

"Guess you gotta get going too? I asked her.

"We both do," she said, turning towards me, to wrap her arms round my neck. "My extended curfew is in three minutes, and your mom is undoubtedly worried sick."

"Fair enough. By the way, do your parents know about us yet?"

"Nope. They're a little tense after the whole Doom thing. I'll definitely introduce you soon, but they need a breather. What about you? Does your mom know about us?"

"Yup. I told her, but I think she's an undercover telepath. I can't hide anything from her."

"Woof. Guess that means you got it bad from BOTH of the most important women in your life!"

"What's Mrs. Kennedy have to do with any of this?"

"Ha, ha."

She wrapped my lips in her's, and I heard thunder rumble. All my worries and fears just melted away when we were together, and I was so glad she had her emotional reading ability, cuz words couldn't explain how much I loved being with her.

"Gotta go, Bolt Boy," she whispered to me, as she started to fly away. "Better call me this time. Night night."

"Don't let Nick Fury bite," I said back.

We both cheesed super hard at each other, before Allyson sped away in a blur of golden light.

I stayed on the tower for a little bit, before finally doing a Static Jump to Juanita's apartment, and subsequently getting tackled by my mom! She refused to let me go for like five minutes, and then spent another ten checking for injuries, and offering me every kinda food in Juanita's apartment! Eventually I managed to settle her down, assure her I was fine, and after thanking Juanita for taking care of her, zipped us both back home. Mom was already in her PJ's, so she went straight to bed. As for me, I stripped outta my costume, took a nice, long shower, and after getting in some boxers, crashed on my bed, and knocked the f*(# out.

The next day was mercifully uneventful. I helped mom fill out my electronic paperwork to start the next semester at Francis Lewis High School. I also finished transferring all my games and music to my new phone, and popped down into Subterranea (via special out of order subway car), to make my first real address as their king/start implementing my plans of advancing their technology, education, and living standards. I also got a read of the situation. With Mole Man gone, a lot of guys would like to take over Subterranea for their natural resources. Also, there were some rival underground factions (boar men for example) that would cause trouble, now that they sensed an opening. I'd have my work cut out for me, but I was more than up to the task. I also got a message from Namor, via my trident. My true duties as the Wrath of Poseidon were about to begin. I was to report to Atlantis once a week for training, be up to date on various threats to the kingdom, neutralize them as soon as possible, organize/participate in various espionage missions to gain worldwide intel for the kingdom, and if all of that wasn't enough, I was to lead the reconstruction of Lemuria. Well….it was my brilliant idea to participate in an foreign nation's ritual battle royal to determine who'd be their next holy protector. Anyway, I wrapped up my day at around 7 P.M., and was so busy, I didn't have time to check my messages. My mom showed me the invitation as soon as I got home. Stark was having a New Year's Eve Party, and all of us were invited. The event allowed for both formal and informal attire, and we were allowed to bring up to two guests. Everyone on the team was invited, and were spamming me for an answer. My mom was down to meet Captain America, and Allyson texted me (privately) that this was the perfect place to meet her parents, (with 'dress to impress' instructions). I figured this could be fun, and my mom and I set the date.

One day later, my mom and I walked out an empty alleyway in Midtown, just a few blocks away from Avengers Tower. She was wearing a white Donna Vinci church dress with one of those oversized hats. I was wearing my black and red suit from the Christmas party. Considering I paid an ungodly amount for it, no way was I gonna let it collect dust in my closet. Anyway, me and my mom decided to be fashionably late, and showed up at 8:30 P.M. We walked in the lobby, showed the clerk our invitation, and were escorted to the special elevator that took us to the penthouse. We were met with a party in full swing. Great Intentions by Damato was playing in the background, as tons of guests in anything ranging from full suits, to casual button downs, were joking around, nursing drinks, playing pool, eating finger food (knew we were right to eat before the party), playing pool, or messing around on their phones. I actually ended up making an entire round around the penthouse, running into/introducing my teammates to my mom.

First, I ran into Daiya and Kira. Hell, it took me a few seconds to come to terms with the fact that this was the first time I was seeing their faces. Daiya was the one with her long black hair tied in a bun, with bangs coming just over her forehead, and two strands of straightened hair coming down either side of her face; which seemed stuck in a slightly stern expression. She was wearing a burgundy turtleneck, black leather pants, and matching boots. Kira was all smiles and rainbows (almost literally), wearing a white denim short jacket over a Bulbasaur T-Shirt, rainbow leggings, and white hi-tops with golden stars on the side. Also her hair, in a ponytail with bangs, was green. Dunno if it was a wig, but her hair was green. Mom liked them both, and especially thought Kira was adorable.

Next, I bumped into Power Pack. Alex and Jack were matching with formal tuxedos. Julie wore a kinda retro 80's look, wearing a vibrant, multi-colored, bohemian dress, with a yellow headband and matching boots. She looked like she was about to jump in the Mystery Machine with Scooby Doo. Katie was wearing a pink denim jacket over a white T-Shirt, with matching jeans tucked inside white boots. My mom really liked Power Pack (even Jack was on his best behavior).

The Runaways were next. Nico certainly wasn't about to curb her style for others, as she came in full goth attire, lookin' like the dark version of Alice in Wonderland. Chase was in a dark blue T-Shirt, matching jeans, and brown boots. Molly had on a pink sweater, blue jeans, converses, and was wearing a Jake The Dog fuzzy hat. Karolina was from the west coast, and it showed. Her long hair was in a ponytail, and the girl was wearing blue jeans, a green crop top, and a rainbow bandanna over her head! She must've had that same body warming thing Allyson had, or she'd be freezing if someone opened a window. Xavin (in the form of a black chick with curly hair) was wearing a purple dress, with black gloves. Victor was more formal, as he wore an all white suit. With his slicked back hair, and a casual, yet kinda serious, demeanor, the dude was givin' off major evil crime boss vibes, tho I made sure not to say that out loud (he was sensitive about his dad being Ultron). I was surprised by how much my mom liked them. Other than Nico makin' her a little uncomfortable with the whole magic thing, she got along nicely with them.

Finally came the Young Avengers. Eli was in a blue tux, with a white shirt, and a red tie. He was busy getting schooled by Kate in pool, who was wearing an elegant purple dress, with elbow length white gloves, and for some reason, her purple tinted shades! Hulking and Kate must've traded fashion choices, as he was wearing a purple tux, with a white tie, and black dress shirt. He was in his human look; a blonde white guy (he looked a little like Grant), with a line of piercings and gauges running down his ears. Wiccan wore a red leather trench coat over a black T-Shirt, with matching jeans tucked inside his brown boots. He wore a red scarf around his neck, and was scolding Tommy (wearing a black and green sweater vest over a white dress shirt, khaki pants, and black dress shoes) for hogging all the finger food platters. America was wearing a blouse in the design of the American Flag (Captain America wishes he was as patriotic as her), a matching Uncle Sam hat, a golden eagle necklace, and light blue jeans inside her converses. She rewarded Kate with a kiss for every shot she pocketed (Kate got kissed a lot). Finally, Cassie, who was talking about her favorite horror movies with Jimmy (wearing an all black T-Shirt, jeans, boots, and trench coat attire), was in jeans, heels, and a grey cardigan over a white T-Shirt. Again, mom got along fine with the Young Avengers, tho they were a little abrasive/irreverent in their humor for her taste.

After some quick conversations with my teammates/acquaintances, I heard the familiar laughter of my best friend and my girlfriend.

They were sitting on a sofa, chatting it up with their parents, and makin' small talk with Captain America. Grant's dad as in jeans, boots, and a blue polo shirt under a black leather jacket. His mom was in a white blouse under a black leather jacket, wearing jeans and crocs. Grant himself took a page outta my book, and was wearing his white and green Christmas party suit. Allyson's dad was wearing a pink polo shirt, khaki shorts, and white dress shoes. Her mom was wearing a red Betsey Johnson Star Lace dress. Allyson was wearing a black cheongsam with golden flower patterns. A bit of a dicey choice of fashion, but she did look stunning in it. As I approached them, I couldn't help but feel like I was intruding. I had half a mind to turn around, and somehow orchestrate an organic entrance, but I caught Grant's eye, and he gestured to Allyson to look my way, earning the eyes of everyone present. My heart hammered as I stepped up to introduce myself and my mom, and was thankfully met warmly by Grant's parents, who offered me hugs, handshakes, and moved over to make room for me and my mom. We broke the ice for a few minutes, as Grant, Allyson, and myself kept the conversation moving with new topics and inside jokes.

"Gotta say," Mrs. Jackson said. "You're a little smaller than I expected. The way Grant described ya, I thought you'd be a giant!"

"Don't mind her," Mrs. Grace smiled encouragingly at me. "You seem like a lovely, and bright young man, Jason."

"Glad you think so," Allyson said. "Cuz he's my boyfriend."

I choked on my drink, Grant spit up some bean dip, and everyone, except for my mom and the Graces, stood up and cleared the area. I stared wide eyed at Allyson, who smiled back in a 'you got this' kinda way. I wasn't sure how true that was, but I was in the $#!+, and had to dig my way out.

"Allyson!" Mrs. Grace scolded her. "You just let this boy!"

"Mom," Allyson said calmly. "Please don't talk about Jason as if he's not in the room. Yes, we've known each other a short time, but we've been through more together in a week than most people go through in their entire lives. You already think he's charming and bright, and there's even more to him than that. I wouldn't be so confident in introducing him like this if I wasn't sure you'd approve. Let's just keep talking, shall we?"

"Well" Mr. Grace said with an awkward smile. "What are your hobbies, Jason?"

We talked for a good half hour about my hobbies, interests, future goals, outlook on the world, why I liked Allyson, how i'd treat her, the kinds of dates i'd like to take her on, and other stuff like that. It was nerve wracking as hell, but as the conversation went on, Mr. and Mrs. Grace warmed up to me again, and it all culminated with Mr. Grace reaching a hand out to shake mine.

"You're alright, young man," he smiled at me. "No doubt due to this amazing woman beside you."

"You're too kind," my mom responded. "My son is who he was meant to be. Your daughter, and Grant, were just as big a part of him coming into that as I was."

"Either way, I approve of him and Allyson continuing to see each other. No funny business, Mr. Fuller."

"Wouldn't dream of it, sir," I responded.

"Alright, you kids have fun. Just not too much."

"Thanks, dad!" Allyson squealed as she hugged him, and grabbed my hand to get back in the party.

"Behave you two!" Mrs. Grace called out.

"Pinky promise!

Allyson and I regrouped with Grant, and had fun playing pool, mingling with the other heroes (even Namor was invited), and dancing to the few songs that were actually any good, before Tony called for a toast to the new year, even tho it wouldn't be 2015 for another 40 minutes.

"It's been a long year," Tony said, raising a glass of champagne. "We got invaded by another earth where Cap was a Nazi; nowhere near as cool as the one we got here. We flew into space to take on Thanos for the 50th time, fought alongside a walking, talking, super unicorn, and of course, Doctor Doom tried to take over the world again, with different magic rocks. Congrats to everyone involved! Really, bang up job, pats all around. Bishop, i'll bill you for the caviar pizza; I got that imported from another dimension. But yeah, a big thanks to the young heroes that kept the world safe, for the most part, while we were out seeing the sights of space. You ever wanna go full time, send me an email. We'll work somethin' out."

"And on that note," said the last voice I wanted to hear. "Let's get down to some serious business."

Fury walked out of the elevator, with Agent Kennedy (feels weird to call her Mrs. now) by her side. He wore an all black slacks, dress shirt, and trench coat getup, while Kennedy was in uniform. They strode to the center of the party, and Fury pulled out his all powerful clicker.

"Ah, ah!" Tony said. "Put that away! That thing is like a black hole that sucks all the fun into an inescapable pit!"

Fury clicked a button, ignoring Stark, and a hologram of Doctor Strange popped up.

"Greetings, friends," his staticky voice crackled out. "Hopefully your holidays were enjoyable, and I wish you good fortune in the new year. However, that is where we find ourselves in a predicament. While those involved are to be commended for your roles in defeating Doctor Doom, and in no way does the blame for what is occurring fall on you, our world is in even greater danger than before. Doctor Doom's wanton and irresponsible use of the various principalities, coupled with the destruction of the Stones of Olympus, has fractured the barriers of our dimension so severely, I feared they were beyond repair. I am currently at work mending the damaged barriers, as well as keeping the more dangerous entities from breaching through, but I cannot stop them all. More so, magic in our world has become slightly unstable. Kudos must be made again to those involved with stopping The Hood from getting a foothold in the city, but that was a mere setback. His production of magical weapons and drugs will continue, and even more dangerous foes than him will use the arcane instability to their advantage. To whoever is receiving this message, you must prepare for the storm to come."

The transmission ended, and the room was silent enough to hear a pin drop.

"Well," I said. "Guess that's another thing we can add to the list, huh?"

"What do you mean, 'we'?" my mom asked.

"Oh yeah, mom, and everyone, myself, my friends, The Runaways, The Young Avengers, The Nova Twins, and Power Pack have all joined forces under the name The Elementals. As a team we plan to do a wide range of things involving crime fighting and helping less fortunate communities rebuild. Looks like stopping magical threats is gonna be on the list too."

"Wow." Fury said. "And I had a whole speech planned. Thank God, we can skip a few steps."

"Wait a minute!" Mrs. Grace looked at Allyson. "I did not approve of this, young lady!"

"Mom," Allyson responded. "I've had my powers for over a year now, and i'm tired of playing it safe all the time. You've seen what I can do, and you've seen the people who have my back. Yea, it'll be dangerous, yeah, I could die, but I can't stand by, especially with the whole world in danger, and just let it happen. I finally know what I have to do, and I know in my heart it's what i'm meant for. I can still balance being a hero with my regular life, and will absolutely be careful, and let you know what's going on, but i'm doing this. I'd rather have your blessing, please."

Mrs. Grace looked at her husband, who was too busy smiling at his daughter to register her plea for help.

"James," she sighed.

"We knew this day was coming, Annie," he simply said. "I support, and respect our daughter's decision. Give her a chance. Your little girl is a lot stronger than you give her credit for. Heck, you shouldn't be so surprised. Where do you think she got her willful attitude from?"

"That's not fair."

Mr. Grace shrugged, and his wife could see she was outvoted in this situation.

Grant looked at his parents, and they kinda shrugged.

"As long as you keep your grades up," Mr. Jackson said.

"And keep up football practice," Mrs. Jackson added.

"Your chores and commitments."

"Behave yourself."

"Then we approve."

I looked at my mom, who also smiled at me.

"You know i'm always in your corner, son," she said. "And I can see when you've made up your mind. Go be a hero."

"Well, that was very touching," Fury said. "But let's talk about training, and a base."

"The kids can have the West Coast Avengers mansion," Clint said. "Don't use it much anymore, and the base is big enough for all of em'."

"Yes!" Grant pumped his fists! "California!"

"Now I DEFINITELY do not approve!" Mrs. Grace said, earning encouraging nods from the parents in the room.

"Easy." Fury said. "I'm the best spy on the planet. You don't think I planned for this?"

He clicked another button on his clicker, and a hologram poster of Ravenwood School of Higher Learning hovered in the air.

"It's a nice school, not far from your soon to be base," Fury said. "Mandatory uniforms worn every Tuesday, a great athletics division that gets attention from major Division 1 schools, room and board for five days a week, optional leave for the weekends, oh, and Agent Coulson will be your principal/constant chaperone. Agent Kennedy is already assigned to take over as English professor. Oh, and everyone of age that is not currently in school, has already been signed up for the upcoming semester."

Collective sighs and groans from Molly, Jack, Katie, myself, Grant, and Allyson echoed through the hall. Seeing as we did not approve, our parents were content with the decision.

"More so," Fury continued. "You will all go though 8 months of rigorous training, inspection, field evaluation, and the first year of your team's activities to be monitored. So don't bother with fighting about who'll be the leader. For the time being, I own your collective butts."

"You'll also be getting gear upgrades," Agent Kennedy spoke up. "Bradley in particular will be getting a modified suit based on the Hydra Captain America designs. Not too worry, we've swapped the green, yellow, and octopus skull, for red, white, blue, and a star. The suit will also be fitted with The Falcon's wings. I know you two were close. He'd want you to have them. Jason, Grant, and Allyson…."

She threw small boxes at us. We caught, and opened them to find our morphers, but with a sweet upgrade! They were now touch screen watches, that had everything from morphing, to a battlesuit update/modification app, emergency medical nanites, and a button that used a small amount of magic to make a double of ourselves when it was time for missions! Oh, and there was a weapons training program where I could learn different types of sword, knife, and even bow and arrow combat!

"Yes," Agent Kennedy sighed. "You'll notice you now have full control over suit modification. This is mainly to keep you from pestering me every five seconds when you want a new toy. I still don't trust either of you as far as I can track you, but you did save the world, so goodwill points achieved. Also the fact that you three are still on S.H.I.E.L.D. employ, so..."

Grant and Allyson were too busy ogling their watches, so I don't think they heard most of what she said.

"Thanks," I said to Agent Kennedy. "This is the part where i'm supposed to say 'I won't let you down', but-"

"Jason!" my mom warned me. "What did we just talk about?"

"Sorry, ma. Anyway, if it's all the same to you, i'd like to finish the upcoming semester here in New York, before transferring over to Ravenwood next year. I'm not ready to leave my hometown yet."

"Same," Allyson said. "I can't just leave my cheer squad high and dry."

"And I got another state championship to win," "Grant said. Plus, the highlights will look good on my demo reel for tryouts."

"Ok," Fury said. "But three times a week training, 35 hours of monitored field time a week, and weekends on the base will be required."

"I can deal with that," I said.

"What about special leave for church service?" Allyson asked.

"I'll allow that," Fury said.

"One last thing," I said. "I want half of my S.H.I.E.L.D. checks to go to my mom, and for 30% to go to a trust fund for the kids orphaned by Goblin's attack, able for them to use on their 18th birthday. Also, if you could do me a huge favor and make sure they go to good homes, i'd really appreciate it."

Literally everyone awwed at me.

"I nominate Jason as leader," Teddy said.

"Seconded." Allyson raised her hand.

"All in favor?" Kate asked.

Everyone except Eli (dick) said 'I'.

"Get me for the same deal," Grant said to Fury. "50% of the check to my folks, 30% to the kids."

"I'm not taking any of your money, Ally," Mr. Grace warned her. "We're more than fine on our own."

"Fine," Allyson sighed. "But 10% goes to my church, and 30% to the kids."

"Wait," Jack asked. "Are we all getting paid?"

"Not yet," I said. "But soon. I'm buying up the rights to your logos, and likenesses. Once we hit big, we'll be all over toys, Funko Pops, lunchboxes, Halloween costumes, you name it. Also, while I can't tell you what to do with your money, giving to whatever charity that interests you would do a lot of good, and help your image."

"You really planned this out, didn't you?" Fury asked.

"I've got ideas for team combinations, shifts, special ops assignments, and a media presence all ready to go. It's the caviar pizza. Really helps get the creativity goin'."

"Well then, I guess our business is done. First training session in a couple days, 6 A.M. PST. Don't be late."

Fury and Kennedy took their leave, and I went to the balcony for a little time to myself. I didn't know it until I gripped the rail, but my hands were shaking. I guess I was afraid.

"Yeah," a voice said, followed by a body jumping up from below the balcony, and landing perfectly next to me. "It gets a little hot in there. I think it's Tony. He's like a swirling vortex of white hot ego."

I started blankly at Spider-Man

"Yeah, I just figured i'd swing by and get some take out. The Mrs. had a bit too much fun, and the munchies are gonna be strong when she wakes up. So what's up with you? I can see the 'I-just-got-saddled-with-a-huge-responsibility-i'm-not-sure-i'm-ready-for look plastered all over your face."

"And you know that because….?"

"There's this new scientific breakthrough that allows us to see ourselves. The working title is 'mirrors'. I've been usin' em' for some time now."

I chucked at that.

"Nothin' too big," I said. "I'm just the leader of a new team that will be on the front lines of keeping magical threats away from our dimension."

"And you're afraid to fail?" Spidey asked.

"I'm afraid to fail AGAIN. I've gotten more than enough people killed because of me. I can't do that to my friends."

"Let me give you a piece of advice, kid. You will fail again. You'll fail many more times after that. People will get hurt, people will die. It just comes with the territory. It's easy to think about how many you lost. Those stay with you. They haunt your dreams, and if you're not careful, you'll lose yourself in despair. But ya know what? For every one you didn't save, there's ten more you did. For every failure, there's twice as many victories. Keep that at the forefront of your head. Make it your drive, and above all, trust yourself and your friends. This job is hard enough as it is, and there will be times you wanna quit. Times where you wonder if it's even worth it. Trust me, it always is. When you can do the things we can. When you can use those abilities to help people, but you choose not too? When they get hurt…..when they die….when the bad things happen, they happen because of you. I learned that the hard way, when someone very close to me died because I didn't act when I should've. With Great Power, Comes Great Responsibility. Remember that, kid."

I'm not sure if that was meant to be an inspiring speech, but it did put everything into perspective, and give me a boost of conviction, so…..mission accomplished?

"Thanks, Spidey," I said to him. "I think I get it."

"I know you do," he said. "Just like I know you're gonna do great. Hey, lemme show ya something."

He jumped high into the air, and web zipped onto the A of Avengers Tower. I floated up to meet him.

"A lotta people don't know this," he said. "But I don't stick to walls because i'm sticky. My body emits an electrostatic force that allows me to stick to surfaces. Essentially making me a human magnet. Seeing as you're all about the electrostatic thingamajig…"

I put my palm to the tower, and willed my body to attract the positive electrons to my negative, and vice versa. I gave my hand a small pull to test it, and then did the same with my other hand, as well as my feet. Finally, I willed myself to stop flying, and grinned like crazy when I didn't fall!

"DUDE!" I shouted. "THIS IS CRAZY!"

"I KNOW!" Spidey shouted back. "AIN'T IT COOL?!"

We practiced wall crawling for a few minutes, and then came back down to the terrace. After thanking him again for the pep talk and the cool new trick, we walked inside. I was apparently missing out on a good time, as Kate and Allyson were having the most intense shootout of all time!

"Off the wall," Kate said, as her finger prepared to flick a peanut. "Ricochet to the roof, back to the table, into the cup."

Kate flicked the peanut, and after a few pops to the wall, rooftop, and table, it bounced into the cup!

Allyson grabbed a peanut, and set up her shot.

"Off the wall, to the roof, to the floor, off the other wall, into the cup."

Allyson flicked the peanut, and her prediction came to pass! Based off the full cup of peanuts in the cup, they'd been at this for a little while.

"So what about Cosmic Torch?" I heard Grant ask Karolina.

"Not feelin' it," she shrugged. "What's wrong with Lucy-In-The-Sky anyway? Like, no offense, but Angel Aurora doesn't really feel like me."

"Too long, and no offense, kinda lame. Not worthy of you. Come on, we can do this! Star Streaker! Star Jammer? Diamond Knight!"

"Wrong, wrong, wrong," I said ,as I popped a squat next to Allyson, who nuzzled into my arm. "I'll take it from here, buddy. What's your race called again, Karolina? Majesty something?"

"Majesdanians," Karolina said.

"Majesdia," I said. "How's that?"

"I…..kinda dig it!"

"Majesdia lives!"

Everyone clapped, and we toasted to Karolina's new name.

"How cute," Tony sighed. "I love to see the young ones come into their own. Before ya know it, they'll be fighting each other for petty reasons, and breaking up the band."

"Do not burden the youths with your shortcomings, Stark," Thor said (dude was rocking a blue button down, and jeans). "I sense greatness in them, and wish them all the best."

"TBD, sparky. But hey…..let's christen the young ones!"

"The test?"

"The test!"

"EVERYONE! GATHER AROUND THIS TABLE! THE ELEMENTALS WILL PARTAKE IN THE TEST!"

All the heroes rushed around the table. The Young Avengers looked anxious/excited, while me, my friends, Power Pack, Runaways, Nova Twins, and our parents were confused in the rush.

"Five bucks on the storm kid," Clint said, as Thor twirled his hammer about.

"Elementals," Thor said. "This is Mjolnir. Forged in the heart of a dying star. Enchanted by the mighty Odin himself, so that none but the worthy could wield its might."

Thor tossed the hammer to Steve, who caught it like it was a softball.

"To bless your team, and wish you good fortune in your battles to come, each of you will have a chance to pick up Mjolnir!"

"Dibs on first crack!" Grant stood up.

"Very well," Thor said. "The trial shall start with "Grant, and go counter clockwise until all have had a chance!"

Steve put the hammer on the table.

"Let the test begin!" Thor shouted.

Grant grabbed the handle, and yanked with all his might! He strained and strained, but the hammer didn't budge. After a few attempts, he gave up and sat back. Patriot was next, then Kate, America, Cassie, Teddy, Wiccan, Tommy, Nico, Chase, Molly, Karolina, Xavin, Victor, Alex, Julie, Katie, Jack, Daiya, Kira, and Jimmy. Same results all around. Mjolnir didn't budge an inch.

Then came my turn. I stood up, rubbed my palms together, took a deep breath (why was I nervous?), and reached out for the handle.

Power surged through every atom of my being! It felt like there was a thunderstorm in every cell! I could feel the power of the sky, and the seas at my fingertips! It felt like I could create a storm around the entire world, and crush stars! Hell, just me touching the hammer made a freak storm, big enough to cover the city! The power surge faded just as soon as it came, and I tugged at the hammer….only for it to stay put.

I yanked and yanked on it a few more times, but the mallet refused to budge. I gave up, and was suddenly aware of how silent the room had gotten.

"Wow," Stark said. "Good hustle kid, but Clint now owes everyone here five dollars."

"Yeah," I sighed out. "I dunno. Guess it was some kinda feedback from my powers interacting with the hammer."

"Don't feel bad, Bolt Boy," Allyson chuckled. "You're still plenty cool enough to me."

"Yeah, yeah. But hey, I believe it's someone's turn to take a shot at it?"

Allyson tried to play it off, but nobody was havin' it. Blushing furiously, she stood up, and did a faux getting ready stance.

"Stand back, everyone," she said in a mocking voice as she grabbed the handle. "Lemme show y'all how it's…"

She yanked at the handle, AND LIFTED THE HAMMER!

"...done." she squeaked out.

A surge of light engulfed her, and when it died down, Allyson was literally dressed as a goddess! She was decked out in chainmail from the neck down, with gleaming silver classic greek battle armor covering her torso, with a marching battle skirt. Draped across her back was a hooded red cape that reached down to her lower back. On her head was a silver tiara with little wings on the side, and a blue jewel clutched in the talons of a silver Thunderbird that was engraved into the tiara. On her chest was a bright blue Thunderbird emblem (kinda like the Mystic Force Yellow Ranger's). She crackled with lightning, and a radiance that made her almost hard to look at. She looked just as dumbfounded as the rest of us.

"Wow," she said, staring at the hammer blankly. "This is trippy. This is insane. This is kinda awesome! So wait, how does it-"

The sky lit up with a surge of lightning, and thunder, loud enough to where you'd swear someone broke the sky!

"EEP!" Allyson shrieked, damn near dropping the hammer!

She fumbled it for a few seconds, before catching it, and tossing it back to Thor, who stared back in shock. Allyson reverted back to her former attire, and sat down with a sheepish look. I did my first act as a good boyfriend, and started clapping, setting the tone for everyone else to follow. Allyson was eventually able to overcome her shock and embarrassment, and accepted the praise in her painfully humble demeanor that was probably one of the reasons she was able to lift that damn hammer.

"Does this officially mean you're out of my league?" I asked her.

"If that's your way of trying to bow out of this relationship," she responded. "I'm gonna have to smack you with a god's hammer."

I smiled at her, and shrugged.

For the next twenty minutes, I had fun with my friends and my mom. And the very second the clock struck midnight, My Speed Sense went off, as Allyson rushed to me, and smothered my lips in one hell of a New Year's kiss! We stretched that single second into at least 30, and while I may be biased, this was the best kiss of my life.