Reticence Saga

Severed Web

Chapter 22: Quintessium

"Well, taking down the Goblin wasn't easy. In fact, we've had some really close calls. But thankfully, he's back in jail and not getting back out again any time soon. The problem is he wasn't the only villain that's busted out. Right now, we're looking for a pair of really nasty ones: Electro and Hydro-Man."

"I give up! Just keep doing it, don't mind my sanity!" snapped Matt.

Kala said calmly, "Please, keep it to a minimum. I think Matt's a small step from cracking after the last month." She petted Matt kindly.

"Yeah, envy is not good for his state of mind," said Chloe.

"Envy?" asked Matt.

"Well, me and Kala get upgraded powers, stronger forms, new aliases. You're still stuck as Lazard," said Chloe.

"I'm...fiiiiine..." said Matt through gritted teeth, a metallic screech heard as his claws tore gashes in the table he was sat at.

"Yeah, you are," said Chloe, in the tone one would say to someone who was about to see if he could fly.

"Yeah, I can definitely smell the green-eyed envy over here," said NegaMorph. Matt turned to glare, his eyes glowing and NegaMorph managing a 'Totally worth it' before he popped.

"So, Chloe, any new leads on Electro?" asked Spider-Man.

"You know, there are other people Fury could assign to work on this," said Chloe.

"Well, you're an experienced tracker, you have a heightened sense of smell, and most importantly, you're an electric elemental yourself," said Kala.

"That doesn't mean I know where he is," snapped Chloe.

"But it does make you more likely to be able to find him," said Spider-Man, "Why don't we check out the power plants?"

Chloe grumbled, "Great...I'll end up looking like a walking tribble every time I wolf out."

"Better Electro than Hydro-Man," said Kala, "How long do you think we'd last against a water elemental?"

Chloe shuddered. "I'm trying not to think about it," she muttered.


The power plant looked like another dead end. "What do we know about this guy, anyways?" asked Lazard.

"Electro's not really the brightest bulb," said Spider-Man, "He once had control over all of New York City's electricity and the only thing he could think of on his own was make the people give him their money."

"So...a moron. We can work with that," said Lazard with an evil grin.

"I'm guessing his invasion didn't last the night." said Moonshock cheerfully, leaping across a roof.

"Nope. He spread himself too thin, literally," said Spider-Man, "He might be able to generate 10,000 volts a minute, but he still has a 1MB brain. Blew a fuse when he did too much multitasking."

"Oh, that's glorious," said Lazard happily.

"Still, being shocked like that does hurt," said Spider-Man.

Lazard snorted and said, "Maybe for you. Chloe's zapped me so many times I've built up a resistance."

"And naturally, as an electricity elemental myself, I am completely immune, nay, feed on electricity," said Moonshock boastfully.

"That and your lupine nose make you ideal for sniffing out Electro," said Salamandra.

"Though every time she tries to use her main elemental powers, she fluffs up like a poodle," said Lazard gleefully, laughing as he avoided a shot from Moonshock.

"So what do we know about the other one?" asked Salamandra.

"Well, Fury caught Hydro-Man a long time ago. I don't know much about his past, but he was apparently one of the most dangerous villains that Fury ever caught," said Spider-Man, "He had to lock him away in a super-secret prison with no water."

"That...sounds worrying," said Lazard nervously.

"Here, watch this video of him attacking the Triskelion," said Spider-Man. The video showed a tidal wave rushed towards the Triskelion, a laughing face on its surface.

Lazard hovered in place, looking at the tiny screen. "Well...I'm never swimming again...ever," he said in a small voice.

"How did you not get drowned?" asked Salamandra.

"Because we had an elemental of our own," said Spider-Man, fast-forwarding the video to the part where Sandman and Hydro-Man were fighting each other.

"There's another one?" yelped Lazard.

"Don't worry. Sandman's on our side," said Spider-Man, "He just prefers to be alone."

"I'll...keep that in mind," said Lazard, making a note to cancel his and Kala's plans for a moonlight night on the Triskelion beach.

"Let's focus on finding Electro," said Salamandra, "I don't think we'd last very long against a water elemental."

"Yes, always start easy," said Lazard.

Moonshock landed, her eyes closed before she turned to look to the right. "Someone...over there..." she said, pointing.


Moonshock led them to a lower corner of Midtown, eventually to a jewelry store. "Don't tell me Electro's going back to petty cash," said Salamandra.

"I don't think he has," said Spider-Man. Swinging around the back, he saw a pair of people trying to get the back door open. One of them was a black woman, the other a redheaded man. Considering they were both dressed in black and the woman was zapping the electronic lock with electricity told Spidey they didn't work at the store.

Moonshock winked at Spider-Man before dropping down silently behind the duo, coming up silently behind them before yelling cheerfully "LOST YOUR KEYS?" The woman yelped before zapping Moonshock out of reflex. "Mmm...tingly," said Moonshock.

Spider-Man swung down to the street and said, "It's been a while since I've done some old-fashioned street-crime-prevention. I can't even remember the last time I stopped a pair of burglars."

The man looked insulted at that. "Burglars? Do you even know who you're speaking to?" he snapped.

Lazard landed on the roof above them in dragon form. "Lunch?" he joked, giving a toothy grin, or more accurately, showing off a lot of predator teeth.

"Shocktress, we shouldn't get involved with superheroes," said the man.

"And just let them walk over us?" asked the woman, "They threw down the gauntlet, Invisiblio. We can't just ignore that."

Lazard stared before laughing, "Finally, someone who has a worse super name than mine!"

"'Moonshock' isn't that much better," muttered Moonshock.

"I think it suits you," said Salamandra.

"It sounds like a wrestler name," said Moonshock.

"Well, you're built like a wrestler, you dress like a wrestler..." said Salamandra.

Moonshock glared before sending a bolt of lightning at Salamandra, who yelped, hopping on one foot as she clutched her knee. Lazard facepalmed with a sigh, "The one night I try to be professional...ish."

"Let's get out of here," muttered Invisblio before becoming invisible.

"Leaving so soon?" asked Moonshock before sniffing, "Here's a tip: don't wear aftershave to burglaries." She reached out, grabbing something before shaking Invisiblio back into the visible spectrum, growling.

"Get off him!" snapped Shocktress, zapping Moonshock.

"Uh, we just went over this," said Moonshock dully.

A second later, Shocktress was webbed up. "Well, it's not Electro, but it's someone." he said.

"How many electricity-users can there be in New York City?" asked Moonshock. Lazard just pointed at the bright lights of lit windows and flashing billboards. "Oh, God. I'm gonna be going to bed with a migraine," Moonshock muttered darkly.

"Well, maybe something will draw him out," said Salamandra.

"Like what? Spider-Man, I believe we'd be fired if we asked Fury for a big chunk of money as a lure, right?" said Lazard, head down on his front paws, before he spat a small blast at Shocktress's feet, having noticed her trying to cut free. "Nuh-uh," he said waving his claw in a mock warning.

"And who knows what will draw out Hydro-Man," muttered Salamandra with a shudder.

"Hold a swimming pool hostage?" suggested Lazard with a smirk.

"I doubt he's that simplistic," said Spider-Man as he webbed Invisblio to a wall, "Anyone got a pen?"

Salamandra shrugged, walking over before dragging her claw along the glass, scratching 'To the police...two free criminals, signed Salamandra' The others twitched, before Lazard managed "Please...use a pen next time." in a weak voice.

Moonshock asked, "Are my ears bleeding?"


The orbit around Earth has become pretty cluttered with satellites over the last few decades. As such, it makes it easier to tell when something is falling to Earth, though sometimes it makes it hard to identify. In any case, something from beyond the moon was heading straight to Earth and a SHIELD satellite was able to detect it.

Other, older satellites were also looking...


"Ok, that's the third group of hackers we've busted. Don't people do normal criminal stuff?" snapped Moonshock, before glaring at Lazard, "And just cause they told you to go back to Skyrim was no reason to eat their computers."

"What was I thinking?" asked Lazard before coughing up another computer chip.

"It was worth it to see their faces," said Salamandra.

"Easy for you to say. The inside of your mouth isn't all cut up," said Lazard.

"Oh please...it's not cut up and you know it," complained Moonshock, before a fireball screamed overhead. "What was that?!" yelped Moonshock.

Their wristcomps lit up at that "Warning...all personnel...hazardous stellar material alert. Contain and incinerate," said a voice.

"Great, probably an alien virus that's gonna turn everyone into mushroom zombies," said Lazard dryly.

"That happens?" asked Spider-Man.

"Sometimes. Thankfully nowhere we've been," said Lazard.

Just then, Spider-Man's communicator beeped. "Just a minute," said Spider-Man before answering it.

"SHIELD Agents be on alert. An unidentified object has been detected entering Earth's atmosphere. Crash trajectory is being calculated," said an automated voice.

"Guess we're on the same job," said Lazard.

"You know where it's gonna land?" asked Moonshock.

Spider-Man looked at his communicator and said, "Hmm...looks like it's going to be on the outskirts of Albany." The others gave him a blank look. "You know, further up the river," said Spider-Man. The others still looked blank. "The capital city of New York," said Spider-Man.

"Wait, New York City isn't the capital?" asked Salamandra.

"Lets just find the space rock before someone else does. I don't want it to be corrodium or something nasty," said Matt with concern.

Then Spider-Man's communicator rang again. "Yo, webhead. You get the news about the space rock?" asked Nova.

"Uh, just now," said Spider-Man.

"Cool. Race you there?" asked Nova.

"Now that hardly seems sporty," said Spider-Man, "You can fly and I can't."

"All's fair," said Nova before the comm went dead.

"Yeah, sure, like I ever get a jetpack," grumbled Spider-Man.

"Who needs a jetpack?" asked Lazard, "You'll be flying Dragon Air."

Spider-Man yelped as Lazard helped, flicking him up briefly in the air to land on the dragon's back. "Hold on...but please no pulling on the horns," Lazard called, before cracking his tail, the two shooting off with a crack.

Salamadra took one look at Moonshock's obviously heavier body and grumbled, "Oh, how is this fair?"


The asteroid had hit an old warehouse, blowing out the windows badly and smoke rising. As the gang turned up, a black car drove away from it at high speed.

"Should we go after them?" asked Spider-Man.

"You go after them," panted Salamandra, "I need to set down this half-ton werewolf."

"I am not half a ton," snapped Moonshock as Lazard took off again after Spider-Man had gotten off.

"It's a big one, wristcomp's going nutty," he called down, also looking for Nova.

Salamandra looked at her wristcomp and said, "Huh, I'm picking up some kind of radiation. Can't make heads or tails of it though."

"Same here...hey, where's Lord Buckethead anyway?" asked Lazard as he flew back, referring to Nova.

"Probably stopped for a burger because he knew he could outfly me," said Spider-Man.

"Ok..." said Lazard, lowering down into the building, shifting to his half form and readying a container. "Ok, this should be simple enough," he said, walking forward and twitching.

"Uh, you ok?" asked Salamandra with concern.

"Just fine," said Lazard, "Feeling a little buzzy." Lazard shook his head before saying, "Really buzzy." in a humor-filled voice.

"Uh-huh. Maybe I should get the rock," said Moonshock before walking towards the warehouse. However as soon as she crossed the threshold, she seemed to lose her balance, her eyes glowing.

"Chloe?" asked Lazard.

"Uh, I feel kinda..." Moonshock trailed off as her fur suddenly let out several sparks. The crackling got worse till she was suddenly in a similar anthro dragon form to Lazard, her scales a crackling yellow.

"Hey, haven't seen you use that form for a while," said Lazard.

"It's...not...me." said Moonshock, looking at the meteor in the crater.

"Ok, maybe I should get the rock," said Salamandra, walking towards the meteor. But soon she started panting. "I'm...feeling hot..." she moaned. Alarmingly, smoke was starting to come off of her. Hers was the most extreme, probably cause she made it the closest, literally bursting into flames. "Oh bugger," she grumbled.

"KALA!" yelled Lazard before looking around. The warehouse was next to the Hudson. He sent a plasma orb into the river, causing a small explosion that sent a wave of water at Salamandra.

The rock was picked up and pushed away from the trio into the corner, Salamandra extinguishing. "Gee, my hero," she said darkly, dripping.

Just then, Nova flew down to them, eating the last of a burger. "Hey Spidey," said Nova, "I didn't think you'd be here so soon."

Salamandra shifted to dragoness form just in time, the three looking up. "Gee, better late than never," she snapped.

"Don't get your tail in a knot," said Nova, "It's only just a..." The smug look on his face vanished when he saw the meteorite. Spider-Man noticed that the meteorite had veins across it that were lit up with bright colors, mainly yellow and red, with a few deep blue veins shimmering.

Lazard noticed that "Erm...You look like you've seen a ghost."

"Guys, I know what that meteorite's made out of," said Nova with worry.

"What is it?" asked Lazard.

"It's called quintessium," said Nova, "It generates and enhances elemental energies. It's the same stuff that powers Star-Lord's element guns."

"And I have an elemental core," said Lazard, him and Salamandra flying up, Salamandra grabbing the re-wolfed Moonshock.

"Yeah, this thing will probably supercharge any elemental," said Nova.

"Great, how many elementals do we have here on Earth?" asked Spider-Man sarcastically.

"Us," said Moonshock, adding "And Megan."

"And there are the two elementals we've been looking for," said Salamandra.

"If any of them get their hands on that." said Nova

"Yeah, I think we need to get this thing off the streets," said Spider-Man.

"Better call SHIELD for containment," said Nova, "I'll have to ask Star-Lord how to handle this stuff."

"Ok...so how are we supposed to even go near this, let alone guard it? I've heard stories of how...psycho my elemental is," said Lazard with concern.

"Radiation's radiation," said Spider-Man, "There ought to be something that can shield it. Let's try lead first."

Salamandra looked around before flying up, coming back with some lead covering from a nearby roof on an old building. "Okay, I should be able mold this into something usable," said Salamandra as she started heating up the lead.

Lazard gulped, "Honey...please be careful." before he jumped as the fire that came out got...bigger.

"If I can handle hot flames, molten metal shouldn't be a problem," said Salamandra.

Moonshock, hiding behind Lazard, called, "True, but you're melting the wall as well."

"Am I?" asked Salamandra before turning around.

She jumped back to see that, while the flame had caused the lead to melt neatly over the meteor, there was now a large section of bricks melting over the lead. "Ok, I didn't think I could produce that much heat," said Salamandra.

"You must have soaked up more radiation than you thought," said Spider-Man.

"Ok...you need to be care-YIPE!" said Lazard, pointing at Salamandra and yelping as a plasma blast shot out his claw and blew another hole in the warehouse. "I think we all did," he yelped.

Spider-Man stepped carefully away from Moonshock and said, "Uh, Moonshock, for everyone's sake, don't try to touch any metal."

"Oh please, I'm just fi-" she began, slapping Lazard, a flash seen before Lazard shot through the hole in the wall in a flash of static.

"Remember, kids: always wear rubber gloves would electricity," he gibbered.

"Yeah, we need to get this meteorite back to SHIELD ASAP," said Nova.

"The talking bucket is RIGHT!" said Lazard dizzily, grinning aimlessly.

Just then, Spider-Man's communicator beeped. "Oh, they're sending Power Man with a container that should contain the meteorite radiation," said Spider-Man.

"Power Man? He's not the guy I'd pick for express delivery," said Nova.

Lazard said dizzily, "I wanna hug the bucket."

Moonshock said, "He'll be fine in a bit."


Lazard couldn't follow the black car far as it had driven to a more crowded area where Lazard couldn't fly so easily and it was lost among all the other cars. But there was someone who wasn't so hampered with physical form and was more drawn to what the black car was carrying than Lazard.

In this case it was the supervillain, Electro. Usually he'd have robbed a bank or two by now, or gotten out of the city. But there was...something in that car. It was easy for Electro to get the car to where he wanted. Messing with a few traffic lights, making a few cars lurch forward. Traffic soon forced the black car towards a scrapyard.

He watched smugly as four goons got out, arguing with the apparent driver before the leader pulled out a small pistol and vaporised said driver.

Well, that might make things a bit more difficult. But Electro has been working on new ways to use his powers, like electromagnetism. And look at how much magnetic metal was in the scrapyard.

One of the goons actually looked up at that, before pointing and looking at his fellows before all three opened fire. Pieces of charged scrap started flying at the goons. They ducked behind the car to avoid getting hit. One tried to aim only to be knocked senseless, the others turning in time for a car wreck to sandwich them between their car and the wreck, knocking them out too.

"Ok, now let's see what you guys were carrying," said Electro, opening the car's door. He soon spotted some kind of fancy container that he could feel some kind of power inside. There was a pretty advanced lock on it...but sadly it was an electronic one and a second later Electro was opening the container.

Inside it was a piece of rock, but one that was shining electric yellow. And just looking at it made Electro feel more charged up. "What's this? Some Hydra toy?" he muttered, reaching out and grabbing it.

It felt like he had stuck his finger in an electric socket, but in a good way. His body started crackling with excess electricity. "Ok...I like," he said with a grin, sending a lightning bolt out, and jumping as every light on the block blew out, if the chorus of alarms was any indication.

"If this is just what a small piece can do, imagine what it'll be like if I had more," said Electro, ambition flaring up with his energy level.

A second later, said energy came right back down as the small shard lost its glow, turning black...and useless. "Ah come on!" snapped Electro, "I barely had any time with it!"

He paused, realising he could still sense the tingle...weaker but there was definitely some of that rock in the city. "Let's just see where that rock came from," said Electro before jumping into the power lines and surging away.


Lazard looked at his wristcomp. "Ok...two more minutes then I glass that rock," he snapped, in an annoyed tone before hearing a bike.

He looked up to see Power Man riding towards them on a motorcycle. Lazard could tell at a glance that this bike was custom-made by SHIELD for Power Man. Obviously designed to carry heavier loads than a normal bike, with greater frame durability.

"About time," snapped Moonshock.

"You're the only one they sent?" asked Salamandra.

"Sending in a big convoy would draw a lot of attention, wouldn't it?" said Power Man pointedly.

"This thing is like speed for elementals," snapped Lazard.

"And there are elementals we don't want getting their hands on it," said Power Man. He held up a cube-shaped container and said, "This thing was designed to contain gamma radiation. It oughta do the same for this rock."

"Ok...who's gonna grab it?" asked Lazard, looking at the rock.

"I got it," said Power Man, "I'm invulnerable and non-elemental." The trio actually looked disappointed for a second before backing up. Power Man carefully picked up the meteorite in its cooled lead shell. "I can almost feel it tingling," he said before putting into the container.

"Not elemental, he said," snapped Salamandra.

"Ease up," said Nova, "We're supposed to be taking it away, remember?"

"Yeah...and we aren't taking it to the Triskelion. I've seen the number of break-ins that place has had. Might as well have a revolving door," snapped Moonshock.

"Then where else? Avengers Tower? The Baxter Building?" asked Spider-Man.


"The coffee shop?" said Kala dully.

Chloe said, "We got defences that can hold off an army. A couple of morons we can handle."

"Are you sure?" asked Spider-Man doubtfully, "You haven't faced the likes of Electro before."

"Of course we have," said Matt, "We've faced Chloe when she's in a bad mood." Just then, a nearby lamppost sparked before the bulb popped. "Very funny, Chloe," said Matt dryly.

"Hey, that wasn't me," snapped Chloe. Then they noticed that lights were dimming and flashing all up and down the street. "Seriously, this isn't me," said Chloe.

"Really? Have you still got some?" snapped Kala, stomping towards Chloe.

"Isn't it obvious?" asked Nova flatly.

"What?" snapped Kala.

Just then, electricity started sparking across metal surfaces before it started gathering right in front of the coffee shop. That electricity took on the form of a bluish-white man. "Spidey, long time no shock," said Electro.

Chloe twitched at that, as the others backed up. "This...izzzz the elemental?" she said, her voice getting a slight buzz as cracks appeared around her eyes.

"That's Electro alright," said Nova, "His wattage is brighter than he is."

"Already made that joke," said Spider-Man.

Electro, however, was looking at the storage container. "Hey, if what's in that box is what I think it is, I want it!" he snapped.

"And you ain't gettin' it," said Power Man.

"Step aside, muscles," said Electro before blasting Power Man back with a lightning bolt.

Matt, however, had noticed Chloe seemed to be twitching, "Erm...sis...you ok?"

"You know...I think you're right," said Chloe, "I haven't been uzzzing my elemental side like I should."

Matt's eyes went wide. "Guys? Give her space!" he yelped, running behind a car as the energy cracks got wider on Chloe.

"Help me with Power Man," said Spider-Man. Even his spider-proportionate strength found Power Man hard to lift.

Kala ran over before screaming as a blast caught her in the back, Electro sending another at Spider-Man and Power Man only for the bolt to literally bend at a right angle and hit a lamppost.

Matt looked over at Chloe. She had shifted into her anthro dragoness form again, but now there were glowing yellow lines on her body and her wing membranes were crackling with electricity. Her eyes were like a pair of small dynamos sparking in their sockets.

Electro had also noticed as Chloe said in a buzzing voice, "Pretender...faaaake...you daare." Her mouth was filled with the same light

"Cute, but no one's better with electricity than me," said Electro, firing a high-voltage blast at Chloe.

The bolt literally stopped in the air, before sucking into her outstretched hand. "Tazzzzzty," she buzzed, advancing, lights not only lighting up but exploding as she passed.

"Hey! I'm the only one who does that!" snapped Electro, blasting at Chloe again.

Chloe swatted it aside, walking closer. "You zzzink you are an elemental and know nozzzzing of what an elemental izzzzz," she snapped, a few parts of scale flaking away to show just energy.

"Guys, we might wanna get Chloe to stop," said Matt with worry.

"It looks like she's got this," said Spider-Man.

"Yes, but I'm worried she'll lose herself to the element," said Matt.

"A true elemental doezzzz not just drain...they control," Chloe buzzed, before sweeping her hand and sending Electro into a wall.

"Yeah? Well, thanks for pointing that out," said Electro before pointing his hand at Chloe.

Chloe took a step back as Electro made the same motion, before she began laughing, an almost wasp-like buzzing. "You're not nearly on my level," said Chloe, "You have to be at leazzzt equal to throw me around."

Electro twitched before snapping "I AM NOT WEAK!"

"You're juzzzt an annoying buzzz to me," said Chloe. Electro twitched at that before sending more bolts out, Chloe laughing louder before she returned one of her own.

"I am the Master of-" started Electro when Chloe held out her hand. Electro yelped as he started flying towards her. Chloe caught and easily squeezed him into a basketball-sized ball. Which if he were still made of flesh and bone would have been very messy.

"You a Mazzzter?" laughed Chloe before dribbling Electro, "You're barely past apprenticeship compared to me." She proceeded to throw Electro away before looking around. "It izz clear zis one hazzz been neglecting me," she buzzed.

"Um, Chloe, you still in there?" asked Matt nervously. Chloe turned to glare, Matt yelping as he felt the static from her before he snapped, "Ok, if you don't come out of there...erm...I'm transferring Chris off the ship." Chloe's hand twitched, the elemental looked down and grabbed her wrist as the rogue hand lifted up and slowly extended its middle finger at Matt.

"That a good sign or a bad sign?" asked Spider-Man.

"It's a sign she's still there," said Matt before gagging as said rogue hand grabbed him by the neck.

Chloe snapping, "Do it and I'll snap you in half!" her scales reforming.

"That's my little sister," said Matt, though it was a little hard to tell if he was proud or the lack of blood and air to his brain was already hitting him.

"Let's get that thing sealed away," said Chloe, looking at the box, adding in a small and slightly scared voice, "Before it tempts me too much."

"Right, Kala, keep away from the box," said Matt.

"You too," said Kala, as Taelina and Silvana came out of the shop, Taelina holding a plasma blaster.

"Saw the mess on cameras. What's in the box?" Taelina asked, Matt twitching when he realised she had one of his blasters.

"It's a piece of quintessium, generates elemental energy, super-charges elementals..." said Nova before turning to Spider-Man, "I thought these guys only had one wolf lady."

Taelina looked up. "Oh...you must be the Lord of Buckets I heard so much about," she said with every air of seriousness.

"Ok, who came up with that one?" asked Nova in annoyance.

Matt said innocently, "Yes, I wonder who."

"Uh, hello? Power Man still needs help," called Spider-Man.

Just then, Power Man sat up and said, "Actually, I'm feeling alright." Then he noticed the other's stares. "What? Do I have something on my face?" asked Power Man, oblivious to the way his eyes were glowing blue through his sunglasses, or the blue circuit lines on his suit lighting up.

"Hey, I have the market on glowing blue eyes!" snapped Matt, twitching.

"Maybe we should go inside," said Spider-Man.

"Yeah, about that," said Silvana, before the doors to the coffee shop exploded outward.

"Why do you think we ran outside instead of turning on the guns?" Taelina snapped.

"MY SHOP!" yelled Chloe, her eyes glowing yellow again.

Out of the busted doors walked a glowing orange man. He was giving off a lot of heat and yet his skin had a metallic sheen to it. "Oh, great, the Molten Man," groaned Spider-Man.

"Oh," said Matt, his own rage forming a mad grin, before he gently took the gun off Taelina and began firing it, swearing in what was presumingly splitter.

However, the blasts just pinged off the Molten Man's skin. "Oh this must be embarrassing for you," said Molten Man before forming a fireball in his hand. He blinked as the empty plasma blaster bounced off his head. "Yeah...I'm saving you for last," he muttered before turning to the others. "Who's first?" asked Molten Man.

"I am!" said Kala before breathing fire at Molten Man.

Molten Man rolled his eyes. "Ma'am, you're not seeing anything wrong with this match up?" he asked, the flames having no effect. When Kala finally stopped breathing fire, Molten Man said, "Let me make this clear." He threw the fireball at Kala, only for it to be absorbed into her skin.

Kala and Molten Man stared blankly at each other. "I guess we're evenly matched," said Kala.

"We would be if you had a metal alloy skin," said Molten Man.

"I'm sorry, what?" said Kala, before she was sent flying by a punch.

"Yeah...and again I'm really sorry about that," said Silvana, Molten Man jumping away from her

"Silvana, can't you use your ferrokinesis on him?" asked Matt.

"His heat makes him too slippery," said Silvana, "Also, his alloy tastes awful."

"GET THAT LUNATIC AWAY FROM ME!" snapped Molten Man, grabbing a car and throwing it at her.

"Oh poo," pouted Silvana before the car landed on her, a muffled voice from her saying, "I'm ok."

"Ha, none of you losers can stand up to me," boasted Molten Man.

"Wanna bet?" asked Power Man before punching Molten Man. The Molten Man ended up flying down the street, which was impressive considering his dense metal skin.

"Nice," said Matt cheerfully.

"Huh, didn't expect him to go that far," said Power Man.

"Ok, now I'm mad," snapped Molten Man before throwing fireballs at Power Man.

The others scattered as the fireballs hit Power Man. However, they didn't bother him at all. "I took a bath in lava," said Power Man, "You think this will hurt me?" He charged towards Molten Man, moving faster than normal before punching Molten Man in the chest.

Molten Man was lifted off his feet, doubling up as he had the wind knocked out of him.

"Wow, I never seen you move like that before," said Spider-Man.

"I'm just feeling peppy today," said Power Man.

"I wish he wasn't," rasped Molten Man

"Ok, I think SHIELD can take it from here," said Spider-Man before looking at the wrecked coffee shop, "But I think we're gonna another place to store that quintessium."

"Oh please, he came in through the basement, not the base," said Taelina.

"You have a separate basement?" asked Spider-Man.

"We have an underground base," said Matt, adding "Remember?"

"Yeah, but I thought the base was the basement," said Spider-Man.

"The top level...CPS facilities usually have at least a thousand personnel," said Chloe.

"Oh, good," said Spider-Man, "Then I think we better get this rock off the streets."

"I know just the place," said Matt.


Electro grumbled, draining a battery. He'd been so close. "Would have gotten if if they didn't have their own electric elemental," grumbled Electro.

"Aw, did someone come up short?" asked a mocking voice. Electro looked as water started flowing out of a sewer grate.

Electro sighed, "Great, now it's you. I'm not in the mood."

The water formed up into Hydro-Man. "What's the matter, Sparky? Don't think you'll make the cut?" asked Hydro-Man mockingly.

"I can make the cut as well as you can. More so when I get that stupid rock," snapped Electro.

"What rock?" asked Hydro-Man.

"The one that boosted my elemental power that Spider-Man has," said Electro.

"Spider-Man's got quintessium?" said Hydro-Man in surprise.

Electro snapped, "Why does everyone know what this stuff is?"

"When you're locked up in a SHIELD base for years, there's not much to do but read old files," said Hydro-Man.

"We get that stuff and we won't need Ock's team. We'll control this country, let alone the city," snapped Electro cheerfully.

"What's all this 'we' stuff?" asked Hydro-Man, "You had your chance, sparkplug. Now I'm getting it."

"Good luck. They have their own supers. Ones like us," sneered Electro.

"Yeah? Bet they never dealt with a water elemental before," said Hydro-Man.

"They got a fire elemental and an electricity one," said Electro.

"Ha! Water douses fire and shorts out electricity! Let me demonstrate," said Hydro-Man before blasting Electro with a small torrent.

Electro yelled in pain before he said, "Yeah...well the electro babes got as much control over her own powers as you do over yours."

"Hmm...maybe I should get her first then," said Hydro-Man.

"Good luck," sneered Electro.


In the base, the group was running some tests. Like how much energy Chloe had soaked up and how much electricity she was still packing.

Matt yelped as another watt scanner blew out. "Off the scale again...what was max that time?" he called.

"It's over 9000," said Kala.

"Really?" asked Matt flatly.

"Sorry, it only goes up to 10,000," said Kala.

"This is fantastic. Where can I get some of that rock for myself? We could walk right into Tenebra's headquarters and drag her home by her horn," Chloe laughed.

"Yeah, I don't see that as working out long-term," said Matt, "There are probably a lot of drawbacks to this stuff."

"Yeah. Let's not find out what," said Kala.

Just then, they heard a gurgling yawn. Lana walked into the room and asked, "What are you guys babbling about? You know how hard it is to get to sleep when you can see through your own eyelids?"

Taelina glared, pulling out a throwing dagger and tossing it, Lana yelping as the dagger went through her harmlessly. "Hey, you could put someone's eye out with that," said Lana.

"What is this thing? Some mad summoner's attempt to breed Argonians with an Ice Atronach?" asked Taelina.

"First off, thanks for putting in the image that I'll need to thoroughly scrub out of my head," said Matt, "Secondly, this is Lana. We met her in the Savage Land. She used to be a lizard alien until she got elementalized."

"Who's the walking carpet?" asked Lana.

Taelina twitched, "Carpet?"

"Lana, this is Taelina, ex-demigoddess, daughter of the hunt, yadda, yadda, yadda," said Kala dryly.

"You will address me by my titles with respect," growled Taelina.

"Maybe if you ever earn my respect," said Kala.

Lana blinked as Taelina tackled Kala, the two punching each other as they rolled across the floor. "Erm...is this a bad time? I was just wondering how I get the toilet to stop talking."

"Stupid Japanese toilet," muttered Matt.

"Are they always like this?" asked Power Man.

"I don't know. I don't spend a lot of time here," said Spider-Man.

"Now I see why," said Power Man, "Uh, you guys got a communicator I can call my folks with?"

Matt clicked a small disc off his wristcomp, tossing it over. "Please keep the calls to this planet. The offworld rates are criminal," he said, before pausing, "Wait, we don't have Japanese toilets."

"Tell them you might be late for dinner. Little too busy to think of a proper excuse," said Chloe.

"My folks are SHIELD scientists," said Power Man.

"Oh, well that's convenient," said Chloe.


Spider-Man turned to Power Man and said, "So, I have to ask, what was up with that glowing? And since when could you absorb energy?"

"No clue. Not really happened before," replied Power Man.

"I can't help but think I've seen this before," said Spider-Man.

"You've seen me glow before?" asked Power Man.

"No, no, it was that particular glowing...when we fought Scorpio! Remember when he used that defective power serum?" asked Spider-Man.

"I mostly remember being stuck in a lava pool," said Power Man.

"Well, yeah, I think that's important too. When I used the Scorpio Key to get you out, you got exposed to a lot of energy, remember?" said Spider-Man.

"Yeah," nodded Power Man.

"But we don't know a lot about that energy. Or that power serum for that matter," said Spider-Man.

"No, but I know who does," said Power Man before taking off his glasses and activating his communicator.

Pretty soon, Walter and Amanda Cage appeared on the communicator screen. "Uh, Mom, Dad, is this a bad time?" asked Luke.

"Not at all, sweetie," said Mrs. Cage, "Is your mission going alright?"

"Well...something weird happened," said Luke, "I got blasted with plasma energy, but I absorbed it and suddenly I started to glow blue and was even stronger than before." Walter and Amanda exchanged glances.

Spider-Man paused before saying, "And that's the 'grown-ups are keeping a secret' look."

"Well, we hypothesized this might happen, but we never expected it to," said Walter.

"What?" asked Luke.

"Luke, when Fury assigned us to remake the super soldier serum, we didn't think we could perfectly replicate what happened with Captain America."

"But Fury wanted more than that. Zodiac was a big threat then, so he wanted something that counter the Scorpio Key," said Amanda, "That serum was designed to give people the ability to absorb the Key's energy."

"So the Scorpio Key runs on electricity or plasma?" asked Spider-Man.

"The Key's energy is unique," said Amanda, "But we had to consider a wide spectrum that it would exist in."

"The short of it being that exposure to enough Scorpio energy unlocked an ability to absorb most forms of energy," said Walter.

"So how come I can do this now...and why didn't you tell me after I rescued you?" asked Luke.

"We didn't know if the energy absorption activated or not," said Amanda, "And we don't think you have an instinctive intuitiveness for this."

"Huh?" asked Luke.

"You can't consciously absorb energy," said Walter, "What kind of parents would we be if we told you to grab some high-voltage wires to see if you'll get charged up?"

"Good point," said Spider-Man.

"We hope we can help train you with this now that we know it's there," said Walter, "Though you should finish your mission first."

"Uh, one last thing," said Spider-Man, "Luke's suit looked like it was powered up too. But I thought Amadeus made that suit and how could he know?"

"We had Amadeus build the suit to our specs just in case," said Amanda.

"Huh. Makes sense," said Luke, "Ok, but when we take care of this meteorite, we're gonna have a talk about 'need-to-know'."


Matt looked at Lana. "Lana, honey, show me where this toilet was." before a sprinkler pipe above sprung a leak.

Kala looked up and asked, "Lana, did you leave the tub running?"

"Why would I? If I don't concentrate, I go all watery," said Lana.

More pipes started leaking, forming puddles on the ground. "I hope your machines are waterproof," said Spider-Man.

"I don't think that's normal," said Kala, looking up from choking Taelina, before the water seemed to coalesce together.

"Lana?" asked Matt.

"Not me," said Lana.

"No, that would be me," said a watery voice as the water started to rise up.

"That's the talking toilet!" yelped Lana.

The water formed into a manlike shape. "Let's make this brief," he said, "The name's Hydro-Man and I hear you got something I really want."

There was a series of clicks and sizzles before Hydro-Man noticed that, with the exception of Spider-man and Power Man, everyone else in the room had some form of blaster pointed, except for one of the wolves who had twin fireballs in her hands.

"Didn't you see the sign upstairs?" snapped Matt, "WE'RE CLOSED!" before they opened fire with a hail of plasma orbs.

The multiple blasts splattered Hydro-Man into several puddles scattered across the floor. Kala looked down at the puddles and said, "Huh. From your descriptions, I thought he'd be a harder fight."

The water began to flow and rise, Hydro-Man snapping, "Do you know how much evaporation STINGS?"

Lana nodded, "Yeah, I told them that but they never listen."

Matt snapped, "Stop agreeing with the intruder."

"This feeble elemental is hardly worth the fight," said Taelina.

"Do you ever stop boasting?" asked Kala in annoyance.

"Not as long as she's got air in her lungs," said Chloe.

"Now there's an idea," said Hydro-Man. He threw several balls of water at the group. But instead of splashing against them, they enveloped their heads and stayed there.

Most of the gang began struggling, except Lana who just rolled her eyes, walking forward and slipping into her elemental form as she did. "You've had your fun. Now leave," she said.

"You think you can make me?" asked Hydro-Man, "We're two elementals of the same type and equal strength. You can't make me leave anymore than I can make you."

"Is that so?" asked Lana before her surface became covered in ice, "Then I suppose you have control over other forms of water."

Now Hydro-Man was a professional, so he didn't simply say no. "Of course I can," he bluffed. Lana raised a watery eyebrow before she stuck a finger in him, ice spreading out from the contact rapidly. "Ha, I can take c-c-c-colder th-th-th-that th-th-th-that," said Hydro-Man, but his rather obvious shivering was very unconvincing.

"Your voice says yes but your stammer says no." said Lana happily, shoving her hand deeper, causing the freezing to get faster

"I c-c-c-can br-br-br-br-br-" Hydro-Man could barely speak through his shivering, though the way his body was solidifying was obviously a big hamper. His concentration on his water balls was also slipping.

"Let em go or we spend the next week using you in slushies," said Lana evilly.

Kala's water ball was steaming and bubbling as Hydro-Man's control over it slipped. Soon it popped, allowing Kala to take a loud gasp before coughing up water. Matt's popped shortly after, Matt hyperventilating and shaking.

"Now are you going to release the others? I can have someone carve you into an ice swan," said Lana. Hydro-Man shakily nodded, the other bubbles popping before he finished freezing solid.

Once the others had finished coughing up water, Taelina snarled, "I did not enjoy that."

"For once, we agree on something," growled Chloe.

"What should I do with the idiot?" asked Lana, turning back to normal.

"Taelina, you got a warhammer I can borrow?" asked Matt.

"I was only joking about the slushies..." said Lana in shock.

"Lana, no one is going to want to drink him," said Matt, "Besides, he's an elemental. It can't really kill him."

Lana saying, "It can't?" before she spun, roundhouse kicking the statue, shattering it.

Hydro-Man's face landed at Kala's feet before it managed to say, "Ow."

"Ok...let's sweep this guy down the chute," said Matt cheerfully.

"Uh, shouldn't we be taking this guy to SHIELD or something?" asked Power Man to Spider-Man.

"Ah, we can catch him again later," said Nova, "Especially with Aqua-Lizard on our side."

Lana's eyes narrowed before she sent a blast of ice cold water into Nova's face. "I can choose my own super moniker, thank you very much," she said loftily.


In retrospect, throwing out Hydro-Man might not have been a good idea. But at least the gang disposed of him in as many different places as possible: down the toilet, into the river, at a sewer grate on the other side of Manhattan...

As it was it took him till nightfall to pull himself together. Electro was waiting when he turned up. "Not the cakewalk you expected?" he grinned.

"No one told me they had their own water elemental," complained Hydro-Man, "And she has ice powers too! That's just not fair!"

"Nobody told me they had their own electrical elemental." said Electro

"Well they have that rock now and not even attacking their base together will get it," said Hydro-Man.

"They have to leave that base sometime," said Electro.

"Hah...if they're smart they can just sit in that bunker of theirs, safe and sound," said Hydro-Man.

"Well, I can cut off their power," said Electro.

"I bet they have their own generators," said Hydro-Man.

"Hey, I've taken all of the city's power before. I can take theirs too," said Electro.

"Wait...you managed it once and never tried again?" said Hydro.

"Well...I guess I never thought about it," said Electro.

Hydro-Man threw up his hands in disgust and snapped, "Ugh! All that power is wasted on a two-byte crook like you!"

"Yeah? Let's see you do better!" snapped Electro.

Hydro-Man paused before smirking. "No, we can do better," he said.

"What are you talking about?" snapped Electro.

"Just think: how long could this city last without water or electricity?" asked Hydro-Man.

"Not long," grinned Electro.

"Even if we can't cut them off, they'll have to bring us the rock if they don't want their precious city to dry up," said Hydro-Man.

"Nice...so when do we start?" grinned Electro

Hydro-Man frowned a little and said, "You know, we've had a hard enough day. Let's start in the morning."


The next morning...

Matt yawned, opening his eyes. Finally, a good night's sleep. The only thing he had to complain about was a little dryness of the throat.

Matt walked to the bathroom only to find a line there. "Really?" he asked, "It doesn't take that long."

"I think there's something wrong with the plumbing," said Silvana.

Matt sighed, walking over to a panel, calling up a diagnostics. "Huh...exterior pipes are out..." he said, switching it to internal, not noticing that power had been switched to the main reactor too. "Maybe the pipes are frozen over," said Matt.

"In June?" asked Kala disbelievingly.

"Scanning municipal works...water has been disabled at source," said the computer.

"Ok, did we forget to pay our water bill?" asked Matt.

"Extending scan...water works offline for entire district...extending scan...no water pressure detected..." said the computer.

"Ok, that's not normal," said Matt, "What does the TV have to say about that?"

Chloe switched to a TV feed only to get static, which was revealed to be on more and more channels. "Ok, this isn't right," Kala said nervously, before the computer said "City Power disabled at 05:31 AM. Scans indicate that vehicles have also been disabled."

"Both the electricity and the water is gone?" asked Chloe, "This can only mean one thing."

"Possible scenarios. Possibility 1: Tactical EMP as prelude to invasion. Possibility 2: Hostile Elemental action. Given the absence of military traffic, Possibility 2 is most like...incoming transmission on all public channels," said the computer, the TV stuttering back to life.

It wasn't much of a surprise to see Electro's smirking mug on TV. "Think we can change the channel?" asked Matt.

Chloe flicked through a few, only to get the same face, "Incoming megalomaniac gloat in 3...2..." she said

"Hey New York! Remember Electro! I'm taking all your power again! But I'm not an unreasonable guy. I'll give it back if some certain heroes will give me what I want? What's that? Think you can live without electricity? Well what about water? That's right, my pal, Hydro-Man, has taken all your water. Feeling thirsty already?"

"Oh shit," muttered Matt before Electro sneered "Wanna find where they are? Look for the place with the lights on."

Matt snapped, "Computer...cut all water and power to the shop."

"Hang on a second," said Chloe, "We need to hear out his ransom demands."

"I said the shop, not the base," said Matt as Electro continued.

"So if you heroes want to make sure that the Big Apple doesn't turn into the Big Raisin, you're going to bring that space rock to the Niagara Power Plant," said Electro, "And it's a long trip so I think you better hurry before things start running dry."

"He's insane. He'll kill hundreds in the hospitals alone," said Lana.

"Just to make sure you don't think of chickening out, I'm putting the hospitals on a timer. They have power...for now. Better hurry before they start flatlining," said Electro.

"Crazy and cruel," said Chloe, "I think I'd rather hear Hydro-Man gloat."

"I just hope I blacked out the shop in town or we'll have pissed-off civilians down here," said Matt grimly.

"But how are we supposed to get all the way to Niagara Falls now?" asked Kala.

"We get out there and fly before-" began Matt before the alarms rang, "Warning...breach in topside security." said the computer.

"The rioters are efficient in this city," commented Lana.

"Security override," said the computer at that.

Matt snapped "Too efficient." aiming at the lift.

The lift door opened, revealing Spider-Man, Power Man, and Nova. "I hope you don't mind eating and flying," said Spider-Man.

"How bad is it out there? We literally just got up and saw the gloat," snapped Matt.

"Pretty bad," said Power Man, "People are unhappy enough without power. Taking away water makes it even worse."

"Please tell me you weren't followed. I don't have all the access codes here and the computer will probably act...accordingly against a lynch mob," said Matt.

Nova snickered and said, "It's funny because your last name is-"

Matt's eyes glowed red. "Finish that sentence..." he said warningly.

"Makes me look forward to taking Chris's name," said Chloe.

"Taelina, go get the box then you and Silvana hold the fort. Anyone tries to rob us is fair game," said Matt.

"Sounds like fun," said Taelina.

"So how far away is Niagara Falls?" asked Lana.

"The opposite side of the state," said Matt.

"Oh nuts...and I'm betting if we take any of the vehicles in the base, they'll stall the minute they go outside," said Lana.

Matt nodded, "Most likely."

"They don't expect us to fly there, do they?" asked Kala.

"Well...computer, how long would it take to walk to Niagara Power Plant?" asked Matt.

The computer calculated before it said, "Several days."

"Well, we don't have much choice," said Matt, "We're just going to have to wing it."

"Literally," said Chloe


A few hours later...

Matt, Kala, and Chloe were all aching by the time they got to the western edge of the state of New York. "They couldn't have chosen a closer hydroelectric plant?" groaned Chloe.

"Maybe they want us tired when we arrive?" grumbled Matt.

"They could have at least let us fly a jet," snapped Kala.

"Then we wouldn't be tired," panted Chloe

"You know, I'm just realizing this: how can they control the power and electricity of New York from Niagara?" asked Matt.

"They were probably actually hiding in New York and then took a shortcut to Niagara so they know we'd be exhausted when we get there," said Chloe.

"Oh...those...assholes..." muttered Matt.

"Can we use a little of that quintessium to speed things up?" asked Kala.

"No. The last thing you need is that thing," said Nova, flying alongside.

"Oh come on!" snapped Kala.

"No...he's right...we'll probably cause more damage under that stuff's influence," said Matt.

"But-" started Kala.

"Lets just deal with these idiots," said Matt.

"Hey, you're not the one who had to carry 500 pounds with you," snapped Chloe, Spider-Man and Power Man riding on her back.

"You need the most wing exercise," said Matt.

Chloe glared. There would be a reckoning later.


Eventually, they reached the Niagara Power Plant. Spider-Man, Power Man, and Nova hung back so as to not alert the villains.

Matt landed. "Ok, you two morons...special delivery," he roared.

Water flowed upwards and electricity sparked before Hydro-Man and Electro appeared on the bridge. "Had a nice flight?" asked Hydro-Man mockingly.

"Sarcasm...nice opening," said Matt icily, Kala landing holding the box, before Matt aimed a plasma orb at it. "Let's start with you restarting the city utilities before I vaporise your rock," he said.

"How can you even be controlling them from this distance?" asked Kala.

Hydro-Man grinned. "Wasn't that hard. Most power grids are like a stack of dominoes anyway. All we did was push the first one over and kept it pushed," he sneered.

"And the water?" asked Chloe.

"Ok, a few redirected pipes here and there. Completely kills the water pressure," said Electro, "Now about that space rock..."

"How do we know you're going to turn the water and power back on after we give it to you?" asked Matt.

"Don't you trust us?" asked Hydro-Man, sounding mock-hurt.

"About as much as you trust each other," said Matt flatly. The two looked at each other before Matt said, "After all...I don't think there's enough for both of you."

"Be honest, you were planning on stabbing each other in the back from the beginning, weren't you?" asked Chloe.

"No…" said Hydro-Man, a little unconvincingly.

"Why not? After all, less for him is more for you," said Kala.

"Yeah, I mean, you were so dangerous Nick Fury made you your own prison while he just gets a cell in Riker's," said Matt cheerfully.

"And Electro had the power of the Siege Perilous at his command and used it to turn an old Helicarrier into a giant robot," said Chloe.

"He did?" asked Matt.

"Didn't you read the files?" asked Chloe.

Kala said, "Plus, as Matt said, there's not enough for both of you."

Electro and Hydro-Man glanced at each other. "To be honest, I am getting sick of this dim bulb," said Hydro-Man.

"Well, I think you're all wet," said Electro.

"All wet?" snapped Hydro-Man, aiming a blast of water that Electro dodged.

"You know, it's times like this that make the job worth it," said Matt happily as Electro sent a blast at Hydro-Man.

"I don't think we should be standing in the crossfire," said Kala.

"Oh please, let's go reset the breakers and water while these idiots tire themselves out," said Matt, turning on his com. "Spider-Man? You and the others can come in. The morons are fighting each other."

"How long do you think they'll be at it?" asked Lana, flying over. She had discretely flown with them from a distance.

"I don't know and I don't care but please tell me you can get this on Youtube. Nothing ruins a villain then bad publicity and they'll be laughing stocks after this," cackled Matt in such an evil way Nova flew back a few centimeters.

"Anyways, I think we should take the quintessium far from here," said Lana, "I don't know why you had to bring it when you were going to trick them into this ruse."

"You didn't check the other box?" said Matt, flicking the box he'd brought with him open to show a rock. "Couldn't risk em not taking the deal. You're carrying the real stuff," said Matt, adding, "And by the time they realise that, they'll have tired themselves out."

"Again, why bring it at all?" asked Lana, "We could have left it back at the bunker."

"Not safe there. Hydro-Man got in...and I didn't wanna risk Lava Boy coming back," said Matt.

Just then, a jet of water hit Matt. "You know, if you're going to gloat, don't do it so close to the action," snapped Hydro-Man, flying aside to let Electro blast the wet Matt

"Now hand over that rock," said Electro, zapping Nova.

Lana shrieked, blasted aside and dropping the box, the two elementals lunging for it.

"Give me that, sparks-for-brains!" snapped Hydro-Man.

"I don't think so, you walking puddle!" snapped Electro.

The two touched the quintessium at the same time, big mistake as it turned out as there was a bright flash of light. The two of them screamed as their hands touched each other on the meteorite. Hydro-Man evaporated while Electro dissipated into sparks of light.

There was a deafening boom that tossed everyone back. "Ouch. What happened?" asked Matt.

"Looks like electrolysis," said Spider-Man.

"Huh?" asked Matt.

"When an electric current is run through water, it disconnects the molecular bonds, reverting it back into hydrogen and oxygen," said Spider-Man.

"They exploded?" said Matt dizzily.

"Well, Electro probably got all his energy dispersed and Hydro-Man is currently Vapor-Man," said Spider-Man, "They might reconstitute eventually."

"How eventually?" asked Power Man, looking up.

There was a creepy dual laugh at that. "Not long at all?" said Kala weakly.

They looked up to see a cloud forming overhead. And it was getting bigger and bigger. The way it was darkening and the flashes of light inside didn't look good.

"I think we made a supervillain," said Kala weakly.

Just then, a long tendril extended down from the cloud. At the end of it, a vaguely skull-like face opened its mouth and roared, lightning crackling within. "Correction, we made a super-monster," said Chloe.

"Oooooh...shit," said Matt, before the skull said in the same dual voice "What a rush."

"Uh, is that Hydro or Electro?" asked Kala.

"I think it's both," said Matt nervously, the cloud face twitching before growling

"I think we should be worried," said Chloe.

"Why is he gonna rain our parade?" asked Nova. The cloud creature roared at that, lightning bolts shooting in all directions

"Nova, this isn't the good time for puns," said Chloe.

"Yeah, things are about to take a downpour for the worse," said Matt.

A blast of wind knocked Matt flying as he tried to take off, sending him crashing into the power plant.

"Since when could he make wind?" asked Kala.

"Don't worry. They're both big blowhards," said Nova.

"Yeah...ever heard of storm damage?" snapped Chloe before screaming as a lightning bolt hit her.

"Wait, what hurt?" asked Kala, "But you absorb electricity."

"Too...much." gasped Chloe before another bolt knocked her out the sky, out cold..

"Ok, I think this weather is getting out of hand," said Kala, "Lana, can't you take the water out of that cloud?"

"And give it hail powers? Not a chance." snapped Lana, dodging bolts.

The cloud creature roared before sending down a concentrated deluge of rain. The kind that actually forced them down. Once the others were down, it finally seemed satisfied before pausing once as Matt stirred, some small part making it pelt the plant with bolts till it exploded. "Oh no," said Matt before quickly raising up a plasma shield.

The cloud creature roared before heading in the direction of New York, the others getting up in time to see Matt stagger out the fire and smoke in a plasma shield bubble.

"Ok, that's probably not good," said Matt, "Where's he going?"

"Oh, where any giant monster goes to wreak havoc," said Spider-Man.

"Nearest city's Buffalo. That thing'll flatten the place," said Kala.

"Oh, well at least we won't have to fly all the way back to New York," said Matt.

"So...how do we stop it?" asked Power Man, "I can't exactly punch clouds."

"I better call Fury," said Spider-Man, "This might be beyond our weight class."

"We can at least slow it down. Ok, you three, guard that rock. We'll play Godzilla with the supercloud...no...not Godzilla...too soon..." Matt said, saying the last part to himself with an eye twitch before he and his crew took off in pursuit.

"I'm still calling Fury," said Spider-Man.

"But the power's still out in New York, isn't it?" asked Power Man.

"Nope, I'm getting through," said Spider-Man, "I guess they lost concentration on that."

Nova flew up before calling down, "Looks like they sent someone." pointing to a trio of blacked out SUVs headed for them

"Uh, if those are from SHIELD, why is my spider-sense tingling?" asked Spider-Man.

"Maybe it's still tingling from that quintessium or that fusion monster," said Nova.

The three SUVs skidded to a halt, several men in black armor getting out before, without a word, aiming, what looked like an older Megan getting out.

Spider-Man clutched his head as his spider-sense throbbed. "Guys, even you're getting bad vibes, right?" asked Spider-Man.

"Yeah, I'm feeling it alright," said Power Man.

The new Megan snapped, "Hand over the quintessium and I promise a quick death!"

"Yeah, that's all the convincing I need," said Nova before shooting blasts at the men.

The response was a hail of green plasma blasts, one hitting a tree and, with a sizzle, dissolving a hole, as the faux Megan laughed like a nutcase, igniting an energy blade similar to Matt's.

"Power Man, you can't be cut with energy blades, right?" asked Spider-Man.

"Uh, probably not, but I don't think this is the best situation to test that," said Power Man.

"Kill them all but get the quintessium!" snapped Megan, shifting to an anthro black dragoness form.

"I got this," said Nova before shooting beams at the dragoness.

Megan yelped before flicking her wrist, several black energy constructs shaped like pterodactyls flying at Nova.

Nova quickly blasted at them. "This is like one of those duck-shooting games, but creepier," he said.

"Less than you think," said Megan, melting into the shadows.

Spider-Man was on high alert. He hoped his spider-sense would react- MOVE!

Megan shot out the shadows a split second after he ducked, almost taking his head off. Spider-Man quickly shot his flash webs into Megan's eyes. Megan screamed, clutching her eyes and staggering back, screaming, "I'll skin you alive for this!"

Power Man meanwhile was being pelted with blasts from the masked troopers as they advanced. Power Man's skin may be invulnerable, but it wasn't insensitive. True, it usually took a lot to make him feel anything, but this was reaching that point.

One pulled out a nasty-looking blade and charged, before tilting his head as the blade shattered. Power Man punched the guy, knocking his helmet of. What was underneath...could be described as a skinless head. This is if the muscle fibers were made of circuitry and the eye sockets were empty except for two small lights in them.

Naturally Power Man jumped back, the trooper baring its teeth before lunging. "Guys, I don't think we need to hold back on these things," said Power Man before punching the trooper even harder.

The trooper collapsed from the fatal strike before bursting into blue flame, another charging with a banshee-like shriek, throwing its blaster aside

Nova blasted that one, which soon crumbled to ash. "I'm getting the feeling these guys aren't from around here," said Nova.

"Ya think?" asked Power Man sarcastically.

Megan grinned, trying to slice Spider-Man. "You're smarter than the average hero," she laughed.

"I like to think I think quicker than average," said Spider-Man, "And respond faster too."

"You can't keep it up forever." Megan snapped, two of her minions going for the box.

"How much self-control do you have?" asked Spider-Man.

"Better than the weakling in this world with my face," sneered the dragoness.

"How about we test that?" asked Spider-Man before snatching the box away from the troopers with a webline and catching it. "Say cheese," he said before opening it up in front of the dragoness.

Megan covered her eyes before gagging before laughing. "Really? You need to be an Ekta for that stuff to work," she snapped, sending a blast of shadow at Spider-Man.

Spider-Man held up the box in front of himself reflexively, forgetting it was still open. The shadow blast hit the meteorite, creating a big crack in it.

Megan's eyes widened in horror at that as the rock cracked. "Oh shit," she muttered, backing up, saying to the air apparently, "No, it was an accident. It's only a crack. It would still work."

Spider-Man's spider sense kicked in at that, just before Megan twitched and then exploded in a flash of blue. At least, that's how it appeared at first before the explosion shrank down to a single point before disappearing. "Oookaaay..." said Spider-Man uncertainly.

The remaining troopers staggered before falling over, collapsing to ash. "What the heck just happened?" asked Power Man.

"I don't know, but I don't think these guys were from this dimension," said Nova.

The trio looked over at the flashes of light over Buffalo.


Matt, in his Lazard form, spat a blast of plasma at the cloud. "Dammit, how do you even get this thing's attention?" he snapped.

"Maybe you need to make a little more noise," said Moonshock before clapping her hands together to make thunder. The cloud paused at that, the face appearing to glare at Moonshock before roaring. "Ok, that got its-" started Moonshock before a hurricane-force wind started blowing at her.

"We're not doing a dent!" called Salamandra, grabbing a pair of civilians just in time to avoid a falling car.

Lana sent a blast of water up at the cloud, only for it to be thrown right back at her. "I don't think I can do anything to them in this state," she said.

"Never thought I'd do this...This is Agent Lazard on all frequencies. I need heavy backup in Buffalo City. There is a major threat running rampant and we're barely tickling it. No casualties so far but we can't keep on top forever," he snapped into his com.

"That's fine, but how soon can we expect any backup?" asked Moonshock. Just then, they heard a roll of thunder.

"10 seconds or the first delivery's free," muttered Matt before yelping as a hailstone the size of a basketball almost brained him courtesy of the cloud.

There was a flash of lightning before someone landed in the street beside them. To little surprise, it was the Mighty Thor himself. "Well met, warriors. I can see that Fury did not speak lightly about this storm's intensity," said Thor.

"Yeah, it's Electro and Hydro-Man in one...and none of the brain power," Matt called over the wind.

"But the viciousness of them tenfold," said Thor.

"Well, at least we have the God of Thunder to counter this thing," said Moonshock.

Thor tilted his head and said, "This may seem like an odd time, but have we met before?"

"I don't think so," said Moonshock in confusion

"You seem to remind me of someone...though that might have been a long time ago..." said Thor.

"Uh, evil cloud monster, remember?" pointed out Lazard.

"Of course," said Thor, before blocking a bolt from the cloud, a small part in it apparently recognizing him as the greater threat.

"I'm feeling better about our odds," said Matt, "I mean, I bet you've fought storm monsters before."

"You would think so, but such creatures are not common even in Asgard," said Thor, "How did the Men of Water and Electricity come to be like this?"

"Quintessium," said Lana

"Ah, I know of that mystic ore," said Thor, "It's very rare. It is said the Dwarf Forgemasters of Nidavellir would forgo any payment just for the honor and opportunity to work on quintessium. Though I think that may be an exaggeration."

"Well, it turned them into the angry cloud man," snapped Matt.

"Aye, such power could overcome any elemental," said Thor, "You were lucky you have not fallen to madness."

"It could send us mad?" said Matt blankly, before a hail of hail shot at them.

"You could lose yourself to your element. They have not the same level of reasoning as mortals," said Thor.

Matt thought back to the times he and the others had gone elemental. "I can believe that...so tell me we have a plan," he said.

"In the event that I cannot stop this cloud creature, which seems rather unlikely, Fury has called in another hero to help us vanquish it," said Thor.

"Two for the price of one?" said Matt, before seeing a tanker heading for him. "Oh, this is gonna really sting," he groaned.

Just then, a small whirlwind formed around Lazard, lifting him up into the air. He yelped as the tanker passed before, having the presence of mind to blow it to scrap before it landed on anything.

Then Lazard looked up to see a woman floating in midair. She had dark skin, long white hair, a black uniform that had a red X on the belt, and a cape connected to both her arms. The way her eyes were glowing white told Matt that she had a lot of power.

There were times when a merc could be a smart ass and make comments to that end...then there was times when Mr. Self-Preservation would kick in. Lazard gave a salute. "Ma'am," he said nervously.

Moonshock looked up and said, "Wow, Storm."

"Yeah, it's a big storm we have to deal with," said Lana flatly.

"No, I mean that's Storm from the X-Men," said Moonshock.

"I'm not from this planet, remember?" snapped Lana before being splashed by a thrown car. "I'm ok," she said weakly from underneath in a bubbling voice.

Storm floated down and said, "I've never seen a tempest like this. What caused it?"

"A water elemental and an electric elemental got fused together," said Moonshock. Just then, the cloud creature roared and started hailing at them almost in machinegun fashion.

"And it's not done a thing for their personality," Moonshock joked, ducking into cover.

"Its weather powers are strong, but I believe mine are stronger," said Storm. Her eyes glowed brighter and she called out, "I call upon the four winds to blow this creature apart!" Strong winds started buffeting the cloud back, tearing off shreds of it.

The cloud's face turned to face her before sending several lightning bolts out.

Moonshock drew most of the bolts to her, but she cringed with each zap. "This thing doesn't hold back much," she said.

Kala paused, noticing the rain had stopped. "Hey, I think he's running out of juice. No more rain." she called.

They looked up to see that the edges of the cloud were getting lighter. "Hmm...they became a cloud when they fused," said Lana, "But what if they stopped being a cloud? What if we can draw out all the water from that cloud?"

"Worth a try. You up for something that big?" asked Lazard.

Lana said, "It'll flatten the city if I don't."

"I think I know a way to make it easier," said Storm, "Do you know how cloud seeding works?"

"Vaguely," said Lazard

"The problem is that we don't have silver iodide or potassium iodide," said Lana.

"Would salt work?" asked Salamandra.

"It should. But where will we find that much salt?" asked Lana.

"The store?" said Lazard with a shrug

"What store?" asked Lana. Lazard pointed at a nearby hardware store, a sign on the window proclaiming there was a big sale on water softener salt.

"That is weirdly convenient," said Moonshock in confusion.

"I'm not gonna complain," said Salamandra, "It's still gonna be hard enough to get enough salt up there without being electrocuted."

"Or I could create an opposite charge on the lightning rods, which would drain away more energy," said Moonshock.

"Why not both?" asked Lazard.

"Yeah, we might be able to draw them apart from each other," said Lana.

"So who gets to keep them busy?" said Lazard, dreading the answer.

"Fear not, I shall face this storm giant," said Thor, "If I cannot vanquish it, make haste with your cloud seeding."

"Ok...ok...no bruises for once. Let's go shop-" began Lazard before a car hit him, sending him through the store front. "I unlocked the door," he groaned.

"Ok, Thor and Storm keep Cloudy busy," said Moonshock, "Me and Salamandra will work on getting the lightning rods charged. Lazard and Lana can work on getting that salt up there."

"Ok, talking poochie," said Lazard dizzily, Lana helping him up.

"Let's get a move on, people. Buffalo's storm insurance is suffering enough as it is," said Moonshock.


"Saving the day with school physics." muttered Lazard, grabbing an armful of salt bags.

"At least we have the easy job," said Lana.

"Yeah, flying up heavy bags of salt over an evil cloud that's... What are you doing?" asked Lazard, seeing Lana tear open bags.

"Making this easier to carry," said Lana, pouring the salt into her mouth. Lazard could actually see the salt dissolving in her translucent body.

"Are you sure that's a good idea?" he asked with concern as Lana spat out another empty bag.

"We need to carry up as much as we can. And if I can dispense the salt even faster this way, it will be worth it," said Lana as she poured in more salt.

"Ok, but just...don't go nuts from salt poisoning," said Lazard

"It's not like I'm flesh and blood anymore," said Lana before she gave a sickly burp, "And yet I still have a sense of taste."

"Ok...I think you got enough." said Lazard, before the lights flickered with a boom. "INCOMING!" he yelled, pushing Lana down as Thor came through the roof. "So...how's the distraction going?" asked Lazard, unable to resist.

"Tis glorious battle," said Thor, "This is almost as much of a test of strength as arm-wrestling the Hulk."

"That's good," said Lazard, his eye twitching while thinking, 'Is this what I'm like to other people?'

Then Lana burped, "Ok...can we please finish this off before I barf?"

"Oh, right. Hold it in until we get there," said Lazard.

"No promises," gulped Lana.


Moonshock took her hands from a lamp post she'd jammed into the ground. "Ok...another one. That's 6 lightning magnets. Where's that salt?" she said to herself.

Salamandra was making a heat haze around the area. An electric operation like this did not need precipitation hitting it. "Once Electro's separated, how will we catch him?" asked Salamandra.

"Apparently these guys turn solid when unconscious," said Moonshock, "And I don't think they'll be up and running as soon as they're separated."

"Good. I'm sick of this hail," snapped Salamandra.

"I wouldn't mind a tropical climate right now," said Moonshock.

"I half-expected you to snap," said Salamandra conversationally.

Moonshock said, "You have no idea how close to the edge I am...one more thing..."

Suddenly, several lightning bolts struck near them. Electricity sparked around the top of the building before forming what looked like claws.

"Ooooh...that's not good," said Moonshock weakly.

One electrical claw lunged out at Salamandra. Moonshock pushed Salamandra aside, only for the claw to hit her. The sheer voltage nearly made her black out. "I'm getting really sick of being shocked too hard," she snarled as her eyes started glowing yellow.

"Sick...of annoying...two-bit...idiot...SHOCKING ME!" roared Moonshock, hulking out.

"Chloe, this is not the best time," said Salamandra.

"My energy...they using my energy..." snarled Chloe, grabbing the claw as it came down again, her fur glowing and the claw flickering like it was a bad TV signal.

"Uh, how much of that can you take?" asked Salamandra.

"TAKE IT ALL!" roared Moonshock, the claw flickering out of existence, the others recoiling. Moonshock grabbed one of the lightning rods, electricity sparking from it. The other electrical claws seem to be drawn towards it, even though they were fighting hard to escape.

"My energy...MINE!" Moonshock roared, the claws drawn into the rod and then into her. Salamandra noticed that Moonshock was growing bigger, her muscles expanding. Also, her hair, which had turned bright yellow, was standing up in spiky extensions.

The last claw was sucked up, Moonshock letting go, her form now closer to She-Hulk's build. "Well...least Chris won't complain," said Salamandra innocently, before yelping as Moonshock turned to snarl, her canines now overlapping her lips. "It's a compliment?" she said nervously.

Moonshock lifted her head up to the cloud monster and growled, "More power."

Salamandra gulped before saying, "Yeah...but maybe give your brain a chance to catch up?" Moonshock snarled at her more like a bear than a wolf, Salamandra yelping "Just a friendly suggestion."


Meanwhile, Lazard was carrying salt bags up, hoping the cloud creature wouldn't notice. Lana was flying behind him, though she was noticeably slower.

"I can't see Storm. Can anyone see Storm?" he said into his com before holding it away from his ear when Chloe yelled "PUNY VOICE BOX IS GIVING HEADACHE!"

"Uh, Kala, can you see Storm?" asked Lazard.

"Honey...kinda busy...damn, where can I get some gamma rays?" Kala replied, saying the last part to herself.

"I'm going to ignore that part," said Lazard before turning to Lana, "How you holding up?"

"Not...very...well..." said Lana as she started to lose altitude.

"We're almost there," said Lazard encouragingly, before he said into his com, "Storm, if you're hearing this, we're almost in position with the salt."

"Not sure...I can keep...this up..." said Lana as her wingbeats got slower.

"Almost there..." said Lazard encouragingly, the two now over the cloud

"I can't..." strained Lana when a strong wind pushed her upwards.

"Do you two need a hand?" asked Storm as she rose up to their level.

"God, I love your timing," said Lazard with a grin.

"Thor is keeping the cloud creature occupied, but it will notice what we're up to when we start," said Storm.

"So we dump it all. My sister should be easy to steer. She's having ...anger problems," said Lazard.

"I think it's going to be dumped...one way or another..." said Lana weakly.

"Then by all means, let's bring the rain," said Storm.

"Goody..." groaned Lana, before starting to rain.

Lazard turned on his com. "Oh sister..." he said innocently.

"NEED MORE THUNDER!" roared Moonshock.

"It's in the cloud thing. Also the cloud said your butt looked big," Lazard said innocently.

Lazard held the comm away from his ear as Moonshock roared. Actually, he didn't even need the comlink to hear her roar from below.

Lazard looked down in time for a column of lightning to engulf him. Lazard floated stun for a moment. "Shouldn't have pushed her," he said before he started falling.

However, it appeared to have been the cloud responsible as it poured more bolts onto Lazard before there was an explosion and a blue...shape shot up, dragonic in shape, but with only two glowing white eyes for facial features...cold calculating ones.

The top of the cloud roiled before forming into the cloud creature's face, which roared and spat more lightning. The creature looked down with an air of contempt, the lightning bolts either being absorbed or passing harmlessly through.

But by then, the salt spray was starting to take effect. The cloud's water molecules were being drawn to the salt molecules, making it rain down hard. As the cloud began losing more of its mass, its attacks became more furious on those above it.

"Erm...Matt?" said Lana with worry, recoiling in fear as the energy creature drew its look of contempt to her, its eyes narrowing in what could be considered hate.

Then the cloud spat out a huge hailstone at the energy creature. The energy creature glared at the hailstone which quickly melted into water before evaporating. Then it flew up until it was right in front of the sun. It spread out its wings which reshaped behind it until it looked like it was in the center of a giant lens.

The cloud recoiled, a sizzling heard before it began to shrink and reshape. A final lightning bolt fell from the cloud. It dwindled in size and shape as it fell.

Finally two figures fell with twin 'oof's as they landed. One was wearing a green outfit with a rather cheesy yellow mask who jumped up immediately and ran...right into Moonshock's embrace.

The other figure was a guy in a grey jumpsuit that looked a lot like a prisoner uniform. He tried to get up, only for Thor to place Mjolnir on his back.

"Gah...get off...dumb hammer!" he snapped, Salamandra flying up to the energy dragon.

"Matt...Matt, you can stop now," she said desperately, trying to grab its shoulders only to recoil when there was a hissing noise on contact.

However, Salamandra's reaction got the energy dragon's attention. "Yeah...come on...wake up, please," said Salamandra desperately. The energy dragon seemed to show concern towards Salamandra, though not complete comprehension.

Salamandra's reaction was to snap "SNAP OUT OF IT OR...or..." before she whispered something in where the energy dragon's ears assumingly were.

The energy dragon's surface seemed to ripple before the light started fading from around it, the energy receding back into flesh. Lazard blinked as he finished shifting back before he said "Ok...that was a rush."

"Ok, I definitely see the drawbacks of relying on your elemental side now," said Salamandra.

"As well you should," said another voice. The two of them spun around to see Cydra floating beside them.

Matt/Lazard looked around to see everyone frozen. "Still camera shy?" he said cheekily.

"There are various reasons in general I shouldn't reveal myself where mortals can see me. And quite a few reasons why I shouldn't reveal in Marvel dimensions specifically," said Cydra.

"Is there a reason you're here now or are you and Mr. Black just here to annoy us again?" said Matt, before tensing up as Mr. Black's voice said from the air "I would...watch your tone if...I were you." The aforementioned Black seemed to melt into existence.

"Well, I was hoping that this particular experience has taught you more about your elemental sides," said Cydra.

"Other than quintessium is like drugs for us now?" snapped Matt

"More like a performance enhancer," said Cydra, "And it is actually possible to use it responsibly."

"We don't use drugs..." said Matt loftily

"Commendable, but you realize there are some situations that your dragon powers won't be able to prevail," said Cydra.

"Oh please...like what?" said Matt.

"That creature you just faced," said Mr. Black, "And that may be the most minor opponent that would require elemental power."

"We beat him," said Kala.

"That is so, but could you have done if it were just a little bit stronger?" asked Mr. Black.

"We...we'd have thought of something," said Matt, before Chloe leapt up and grabbed him.

"Chloe work out you call her butt big," she snarled.

"Good heavens, what has she done with herself?" asked Cydra, taking in Chloe's gamma-enhanced werewolf form as if it were a particularly bad hair day.

"She got heavily exposed to gamma radiation," said Kala, facepalming, yelling a little to be heard over Matt's begging and screams, adding, "That said, I think Chris won't mind."

"Well, she needs to be able to understand this conversation," said Cydra before his staff flashed once.

Chloe, who was pounding Matts head into a wall, blinked, her eyes glowing golden for a second before she let go of Matt. "Ow..." she muttered before seeing her reflection.

"What happened to my hair?" asked Chloe, poking at a spiky lock, "I look like an overcharged anime hero."

"That's your only reaction?" asked Kala flatly.

"This isn't my first hulk-out," said Chloe.

She twitched before shifting to human, her skin tone getting a rather...greenish look, though her toned muscles and...altered chest remained, and her hair seemed longer.

"Oh you've got to be kidding," said Chloe, looking at her reflection. She looked a lot like She-Hulk, except the green of her skin was a lighter, yellower look and she still had her face.

"Oh, Jenny, when did you get here?" asked Matt dizzily.

Chloe glared at Matt, before pushing his head through the wall, Matt groaned, "I have a headache..." before a small part of her brain began to point out the improvements.

"Anyways, as I was saying, there will be times where you three will need a power boost," said Cydra.

"A bigger power boost than me looking like the jolly green giant's little sister?" snapped Chloe.

"There are greater threats out there," said Cydra, "Old gods, superweapons, disasters no being of flesh can survive. You will need to use your elemental forms for those crises."

"Erm...I actually had to beat up an old god..." said Matt.

"Don't be ridiculous," said Mr. Black, "We are talking about far more serious threats. Threats that will certainly kill you if you hold back."

Matt gulped, Chloe growling, "Another secret?"

"It's not as serious as you think," said Mr. Black.

"The last secret he kept resulted in Kala being possessed by a psychotic ice dragoness," snapped Chloe.

"Oh yeah," said Kala, "I've tried really hard to forget that."

"Trust me, it's not nearly so serious," said Mr. Black flatly.

"Either way, you'll need a power boost. Sooner rather than later," said Cydra.

"Using that dangerous quintessium rock?" asked Matt.

"No, with these refined quintessium rings," said Cydra.

"Yes, more powerful quintessium, sounds fantastic," said Matt.

"Actually, you're not quite far enough in your training for one," said Cydra.

"What?" snapped Matt.

Cydra said, "Your elements...unusual. We just need some extra time on yours."

"Ooh, tough luck, little brother," said Chloe condescendingly.

"Yes...tough luck," said Cydra sadly.

"As for you ladies, I think you're ready for the next phase," said Cydra. With a small flash, a pair of rings appeared in his hand. They both appeared to be made of crystal, one with a ruby set in it, the other with a topaz. "Needless to say, don't lose them," said Cydra, "But you ought to be able to sense them if you misplace them."

"Cool," said Chloe, taking hers and slipping it on.

"Not the ring I thought I'd be wearing one day, but it'll do," said Kala, slipping hers on.

Matt took a step back, before saying, "I know how this works. Someone's gonna explode."

"Oh, we've progressed far beyond that by now," said Cydra, "It hardly ever happens anymore."

"What was that?" said Kala.

Mr. Black covered Cydra's face screen. "You won't explode," he said calmly, thinking for a minute before saying "Probably."

"Anything else we need to know?" asked Matt.

"Your friend, Spider-Man, has some surprising news for you," said Cydra, "But you should take it with a grain of salt."

"What sort of news?" said Matt, Cydra showed a smile emoji on his face screen before he and Mr Black vanished, time returning.

"I hate those guys," grumbled Chloe..

"Who?" asked Storm.

Matt/Lazard sighed, "It's nothing..."


After Electro and Hydro-Man were sent to prison, the group decided to see what there was in Buffalo. Which ended leading to Matt challenging Thor to a buffalo wings-eating contest.

Matt groaned, face down on his plate. "I concede...stomach...exploding...what the hell was I thinking?" he groaned before saying weakly, "A grand to whoever gives me an antacid."

"Lightweight," said Chloe.

"Says the walking nuclear reactor," groaned Matt.

"You can't talk," said Chloe smugly.

Matt said, "Well, least I'm the right colour."

Chloe looked at her limey skin and grumbled, "I look like I have scurvy."

"You look like you can bench press a pelican," corrected Matt.

"And crush a skull between your-" started Kala.

"Kala!" snapped Matt.

"What? I was going to say 'thighs'," said Kala.

"Hardly better," said Chloe darkly

Just then, Peter, Sam, and Luke walked into the restaurant. "Hey, plenty more of those wings?" asked Luke.

"Grab a plate," said Chloe.

"Uh, when did She-Hulk get here?" asked Sam.

Chloe turned to glare at that. "Funny guuuuy..." she said icily.

"Uh, guys, there's something I need to tell you about," said Peter.

"What might that be? Sam's impending broken bones?" said Chloe angrily.

"Someone tried to take the quintessium while you were fighting the cloud creature," said Peter.

"Who?" asked Chloe.

"Well, it looked like Megan," said Peter, "But I think she was from an alternate future or something."

"Megan?" said Matt in shock.

"Well, I mean it looked like an older Megan," said Peter, "But when she cracked the quintessium, she got really nervous and seemed to be apologizing to someone. Then she...disappeared."

Matt looked at his wristcomp, noticing a notice, before replaying it. "Timestamp event! 16:25 hours...remote activated implosion detonation detected." Matt went pale...implosion devices were outlawed for their cruelty.

"Hey, remember what You-Know-Who said," said Kala.

"About a big problem?" said Chloe.

"About the grain of salt," whispered Kala.

"What?" said Matt in confusion.

"It means it's not what it seems," said Chloe.

"Yeah...plus haven't we met Future Megan? She wasn't evil," said Kala.

"Right, I guess it was a bad future Megan," said Matt.

"But who sent her here?" asked Chloe.

"Whoever sent her didn't like failure," said Chloe, seeing her wristcomp had detected the same implosion.

"Or want her to answer questions," said Kala.

"Yeah..." said Matt, before explaining, "Implosion devices are SUPER illegal back home. Not even the Empire ever used them. Too unpredictable in missile size and too cruel in grenade...mostly as being crushed into an infinite point's not exactly...fast."

"Right, if anyone wants that quintessium that badly, it should be hidden in a very secure place," said Kala, "Where is it now?"

Luke showed the box with the quintessium, the cracked rock clearly inert. "Wait, it's broken?" asked Chloe, tapping the rock.

"Yeah...when she blasted it," said Luke.

"It should at least still be radiating," said Kala.

Lana ran a scanner over it. "Flat as a pancake. The decoy rock has more energy," she said.

"Huh, Electro and Hydro-Man drained most of the energy and the rest got dispersed when it cracked," said Chloe.

"What a waste," said Matt wistfully

"Well, at least we got a little something out of it," said Kala, eying her new ring.

"Alright for some," muttered Matt

Chloe patted Matt and said, "You'll earn yours someday."

"Too hard..." muttered Matt, who had been pushed into his plate.

"This...is gonna take getting used to. Hope it wears off," said Chloe.

Kala patted her on the back, "Sure it'll wear off in a few days."


There's another chapter. This was one chapter where the plot ran away from us. A few unexpected characters here, including Shocktres and Invisibilio, who appeared in the Marvel Rising movie 'Playing with Fire'. We also have a special appearance of Storm, my personal favorite member of the X-Men.

With Electro and Hydro-Man's fused form, I used a bit of the Elementals from 'Far From Home'. This isn't really the first time Hydro-Man has fused with another villain. In the comics, he fused with Sandman to become a Mud-Thing for a while.

As for Power Man's new power, I thought he needed a little upgrade since he's the only one from the original team who wasn't shown getting one. There was a hint of a new power in the episode where he finds his parents, but nothing came of it. I thought giving him a power-up mode would make some sense and keep with his basic powerset.

Anyways, the next chapter won't be much longer. Keep an eye out for it and please review.