Chapter Sixteen

The Rhino threw part of the chassis of the demolished taxi cab off of himself, then stomped out of the pile of flaming debris that used to be the rest of the vehicle. "What'd ya do that for?!" he bellowed at Shocker, ticked off to have been blown across town by the explosion a few moments earlier.

"Relax, Rhino," Shocker sighed. "We both knew that blast wouldn't hurt you." He looked around cautiously, kicking aside some of the wreckage. "But it had to have killed Captain America. Come on, help me find his body."

It was at that moment that Shocker felt someone tap him on the shoulder. He slowly turned around to see Captain America, covered in oil, grease, blood and dirt, gritting his teeth and clenching his fists.

"…oh, crap," Shocker whispered.

Cap grabbed him and wrenched one of his arms painfully behind his back, then pulled Shocker in front of him like a shield. He grabbed Shocker's other arm and forced it out straight in front of him, despite Shocker's screams of pain. Cap aimed his arm at Rhino and squeezed Shocker's wrist, sending a shockwave straight at Rhino and hurling him back into the flaming wreckage, knocking over a hot dog stand on the way. Then he spun Shocker back around. Cap delivered a right hook to Shocker's jaw, then a left cross, then a sharp kick in the abdomen, sending Shocker reeling back into a brick wall. Cap grabbed him again, spun him around and slammed his head right into the wall, hard. Shocker crumpled to the ground, unconscious.

"And this time, stay down," Cap declared.

Rhino came bursting through the flames with a wild roar, charging horn-first at Captain America. Cap raised his shield and stood his ground valiantly.

"Come on, gruesome," Cap said under his breath. "Let's finish this." He braced himself for an impact he wasn't sure he'd be able to withstand.

Suddenly a blue and black streak of wind blew past Captain America, snagging the Rhino in mid-charge and whisking him away. Cap stood there for a moment, unsure of what had just happened.

Miles away on an interstate highway, the Rhino's screams were drowned out by the deafening sound of the wind rushing by him as he was hurled like a baseball by some unseen force. He didn't even have time to throw his hands up in front of him before he crashed headfirst through the back of an 18-wheeler, tearing through it as it if were made of paper and shooting out through the other side like a bullet. He smashed through a UPS truck and a U-Haul without even losing momentum, then finally broke through a guard rail and went tumbling over the side of an overpass. He landed in the middle of another section of highway, just in time to be hit head-on by a Greyhound bus.

. . . . . .

Back in the middle of the city, Mysterio was sprinting down the street, tossing out more holo-cubes as he dodged traffic, creating more terrifying illusions. A group of terrorists, armed to the teeth. A fleet of tanks, firing into the crowd. Deranged killer clowns feasting on human flesh. Godzilla. Mysterio stopped for a moment and looked behind him to see if Hawkeye was still on his tail.

Before he knew what was happening, he was being hauled upward into the sky with the power of a rocket blast. There was a force clamped around his arms like a vice. He gasped, but the speed at which he was pulled upward made it hard to take air into his lungs. He clawed at the dome-shaped helmet over his head, struggling to get it off so he could breathe easier, even as he climbed higher and higher into the air.

His ascent stopped for a moment. He now hovered high enough above the city to see it all at once. He could feel that someone or something was behind him, holding him up. Then, from behind him, red beams of pure heat shot out over his shoulder, firing down into the heart of the city. One by one, the illusions that he created each vanished. The thing behind him had somehow fried all of his holo-cubes.

Mysterio was quickly spun around to face his abductor. He stared in awe at the man clad in blue and black leather and a yellow visor, who was somehow defying gravity. The ascent abruptly continued as they shot higher and higher into the sky. Mysterio tried to speak, but the words died in his throat. As the air pressure thinned with the higher altitude, the dome he wore over his head began to crack. As they climbed ever higher, it finally shattered completely, exposing the face of Quentin Beck. A face that was starting to turn pale with oxygen deprivation.

It was then that Quentin began to have his own hallucinations. The lack of oxygen sent his brain into a state of panicked turmoil, and he began to see the marmalade trees and tangerine skies of his favorite childhood song. He saw his father beating his mother. He saw the animals he'd tortured as a child. He saw the trailer park home he'd set on fire, burning away to nothing…

Clark watched the life beginning to flicker from Quentin Beck's eyes, and stopped their ascent once more. How frail, how fragile this human life was. And yet these humans considered themselves to be so powerful. How could they presume to rule this planet? How, when they could be so easily extinguished? And yet, even as he felt overwhelming contempt for these pathetic creatures, some part of him, part that was still truly Clark Kent, felt compassion. A desire to help them, not hurt them. Protect them, not rule them. He quickly descended back toward earth, carrying an unconscious Quentin Beck in his arms.

. . . . . .

Spider-Man and Chloe Sullivan stood on the roof of the Daily Bugle, trying to see where Clark had gone. The entire city was dark now. The only light source for miles was the giant force field that Electro had formed above the power plant. They strained their eyes to make out any detail on the horizon of the dark city.

"Is that him?" Chloe asked, pointing to something off in the distance.

"There's definitely something moving," Spider-Man said, nodding.

"It looks like it's flying away from the city, though," Chloe said. "If it's Clark, where is he going?"

Spider-Man looked back at the electrical force field. Then, at the flying speck off in the distance. Then back at the force field.

"What if he's not flying away…?" Spider-Man said quietly.

"What?" Chloe asked, turning toward him.

"What if he's just building up momentum?"

Chloe spun back around and looked again at the flying speck off in the distance. It seemed to be getting bigger again. Quickly.

Spider-Man's spider senses started going crazy. "Chloe, GET DOWN!" he screamed, throwing her down and clamping his hands tightly over her ears.

The sonic boom was deafening. Office building windows exploded all over the city, cars flipped over and people were blown off their feet. Clark tore through the electric force field like a bullet through paper. He slammed into Electro, ripping him from the force field's epicenter and plunging his limp body down into the frigid waters of New York Harbor. As they hit the water, there was a huge and magnificent explosion of electricity that shot up out of the water like a reverse lightning bolt. The sky lit up with red and yellow and orange. The blast scorched the Statue of Liberty, leaving her covered in a sick black sludge of filth. The smell of burning, rotting ash filled the air for miles.

The pseudo-lightning continued to dance and spark in the air just long enough to create a few more seconds of light in the otherwise pitch-black city. Those close enough to the harbor could just barely make out the sight of a man walking back across the water. Clark carried the limp and broken body of Electro in his arms as he stepped carefully across the harbor, his feet never breaking the water's delicate surface tension.

. . . . . .

Nick Fury stood in the control room, having regained consciousness a few minutes earlier. The Triskelion's backup generators had kicked in, but they were still running on limited power. Nick screamed frantically into his communicator.

"Tony! Steve! Somebody, report in! What the hell is going on out there?!"

Clay Quartermain rushed into the room.

"Sir, you're not going to believe this!"

"There's a damn lot of things going on today that I don't believe!" Fury shouted. "Now what?!"

"Sir… three of the six supervillains… Electro, Rhino, and Mysterio… they were just dropped literally on our doorstep," Clay said. "All three are unconscious. Mysterio's suffering from oxygen deprivation, and Electro and Rhino both have numerous broken bones. Cap just reported in, said he's got Shocker in custody, and witnesses say that Spider-Man took out the Green Goblin. The sixth villain, Bullseye, seems to have vanished, but… no one can account for what happened to those first three… how they ended up like that, or who brought them here."

"I bet can account for it," Fury said grimly. Just then, the computer screens behind Fury lit up. Reports started coming in that power was being restored all over the city. At the same time, a message was being broadcast on television sets all over the world. The broadcast feed appeared on one of the monitors.

It was of a figure standing in shadow, wearing a yellow visor. His features were not quite in focus. He spoke in a hollow monotone.

"People of the world," the man said. "You have seen tonight by the events in New York City that I can be your savior. And, I will continue to be… as long as you turn over the power of your world governments to me. I have already disabled the defense systems of every nation on the planet."

"What?!" Nick cried. He began furiously typing commands into the main computer terminal. "Shit! He's not lying… all our satellites are off-line, all of our missiles, everything! These preliminary reports show that we're not the only ones, either! He's shut everything down in a matter of minutes!"

"How would he know how to do that?!" Clay cried.

"From us," Nick said, pounding his fist. "That damn Eradicator thing downloaded everything it needed to know from our computers!"

"Your planet is now under my control," the broadcast continued. "To resist my will is an exercise in futility. I will expect a formal surrender from your world governments in no less than 24 hours. That is all." The broadcast ended.

"That son of a bitch!" Fury screamed. He grabbed the communicator again. "Tony! Cap! Hawkeye! If any of you can hear this, get back to the Triskelion, NOW! We need to call in everyone! Get me Hank! Get me Janet! Natasha! Pietro! Wanda! And someone find out where the hell Thor is!"

"Sir… you should take a look at this," Clay said.

"What now?!" Fury snapped.

He turned and looked back at the computer screen to see a shot of New York Harbor. The Statue of Liberty had been engulfed by a giant fortress, made entirely of crystal.