We return to another beatdown of the Sinister Foes of Spider-Man, courtesy of our favorite heroine, Carol Danvers! Welcome back, dear readers. Before we start, have you heard the news from Marvel? February 2014, a new MS. MARVEL title will be released, circling around teenage Arab-American girl who (if I understood right, correct me if I'm wrong) got her powers from the Terrigen Mists from Infinity. I, for one, am stoked for it.

Anyways, next up in the ring, as promised, the Rhino! Enjoy :)

Chapter 5: Rhino

Of all the bad guys her boyfriend faced on a regular basis, this one was clearly one of the more dangerous, and one of the most dangerous-not in terms of psyche, but in brute strength. Not many of the villains they faced as AVENGERS, let alone her own villains, could punch her through five buildings, much less make it hurt.

Quickly recovering, Carol got back up, her angry eyes now glowing and her temper rapidly rising. And she saw that people were just standing there, staring; sometimes, innocent bystanders could be such idiots.

"CLEAR THE AREA!" she yelled at the top of her lungs. Then, she heard the rumblings-the telltale signs that the behemoth was charging through the other buildings, right for her again. "NOW!" she yelled again, and this time, the gawking bystanders responded, having heard and felt the rumblings, and started running in panic. Carol held her ground, defiantly looking towards the direction he was coming in and her fists began glowing, as her opponent came crashing through the final building into the street she was in.

"YOU THINK YOU CAN JUST SHOW UP AND BEAT ME SENSELESS, MS. MARVEL?! NO ONE BEATS THE RHINO!"

"Watch me, O'Hirn!" Carol yelled back as she slammed into Rhino's charging bulk at full unrelenting strength. Rhino, however, was just as powerful as a fully powered Ms. Marvel; she only managed to push him back a half block before O'Hirn secured a sure solid footing, proceeding then to push her back with just as much force. At a literal standoff, the heroine and villain pushed back at each other with amazing strength until Ms. Marvel pulled back slightly enough to fire a powerful dual photon blast into Rhino's chest. The sudden change in force and momentum caught Rhino by surprise as he was blasted across the street into an abandon city bus with a loud crash and boom.

"And that, Rhino, is just a taste of what I can do," Ms. Marvel smirked as she turned away from the villain, convinced he was done. "You know, I can see why Spidey can have a bit of trouble with this guy, being that he isn't on my level…not that that's an issue, it's no problem that he's not on my level; actually, it's kind of cute when he tries to bring me down when we spar, the way he acts…wait what was I talking about-"

BOOM!

The bus she had sent O'Hirn flying into came crashing into her from the ground, causing it to explode on her. Of course, the explosion and heat from the flames had no effect on her, both being kinetic and regular energy, allowing her to simply absorb it all. However, the attack DID succeed in making her very angry. With a snarl, she stomped out of the smoke surrounding her-

And she was greeted promptly by a very powerful fist punching her into the sky.

"And THAT is just a taste of what I can do, Blondie!" Rhino roared as he grabbed two nearby cars. Now, of course, even in the face of imminent danger, innocent bystanders just never seem to get the message and still stick around. Seeing one of Spider-Man's strongest enemies knock one of the strongest Avengers out there into the sky finally made them see reason, and with screams of panic, civilians began running left, right and center. "Yeah, that's right-run your asses outta here! The Rhino is strong enough to duke it out with Ms. Marvel and-"

"Oh, would you shut up?!" Carol yelled as she landed a devastating axe kick on Rhino's armored back, the impact echoing for miles as the villain was forced to crash into the ground with a resonating boom. "Seriously, you talk more than Spider-Man! …well, actually, scratch that, NO ONE talks more than him; well, maybe Deadpool." The heroine then grabbed the villain by the horn and threw him towards Central Park, hoping to minimize collateral damage and keep bystanders away. Flying after him, Carol proceeded to bombard the supervillian with a flurry of photon blasts. "But Deadpool kind of creeps me out so he doesn't really count."

"SHUT UP AND DIE!" Rhino roared as he ripped one of the boulders from the ground and flung it at her. Unimpressed, Carol simply dodged the projectile. What she wasn't expecting was Rhino to jump right at her after throwing the boulder and slam her into the ground. Using the momentum of his fall, O'Hirn dropped right onto Ms. Marvel, the impact echoing for miles. Taking advantage of the situation, Rhino immediately started landing powerful punches on her face and chest, each one more powerful than the last and more unrelenting.

"I'm gonna kill you, you hear me?! I'm gonna kill and show your bloody body to the Web Freak, you b-"

Ms. Marvel's powerful hand suddenly grabbed Rhino's powerful fist. "You know something, Rhino," she snarled as her eyes started glowing in power and fury. "I really hate it when someone calls him a freak!" With her leg, Carol kicked the villain's armored chest, sending him flying back straight into the nearby trees with a thunderous crash. Standing up, Carol fired a powerful photon blast in the direction Rhino flew, sending him back a few more dozen meters. This was going nowhere, she realized.

'Ok, think Carol, think. This scumbag is armored all over, and it enables him to take anything I can dish, plus he can match me blow for blow. But I can take anything he can dish, too. That doesn't help; c'mon, soldier, think of something-'

Her thoughts were suddenly interrupted as almost a dozen trees flying over her head. Turning to that direction, Ms. Marvel instantly saw what the intention was.

The trees had crashed into a nearby tour bus and a few cars. Already, people were running away in terror, but those in the cars and bus were trapped. She needed to help, now. In less than two seconds, she was at the first car, flinging the trees back into the park, careful as not to hit anymore bystanders. As she progressed, though, Carol felt the ground trembling again. It was clear at that moment: Rhino had used the trees as a distraction to occupy her while he struck her with a charge.

"Huh, he's smarter than Peter lets on," she mused to herself.

Working quickly, Carol got the people in the cars out easily, but the tour bus had almost 30 people inside and that required a bit more patience. That was something she couldn't afford at the moment; turning back, she saw the Rhino charging straight at her, and if she moved, the civilians would be crushed since Rhino couldn't maneuver easily; but if she stayed, the sudden impact and momentum would send her back, crashing into the bus and people anyways. This was a lose-lose situation, until Carol got a quick idea. Grabbing the door of the bus, she ripped the metal back, creating a larger opening for more people to get out.

"EVERYONE MOVE, NOW!" Carol screamed as the terrified tourists made their escape, the last one now out of the bus.

Just in time, as at that moment, when Carol turned around, Rhino tackled her, the momentum of his charge crashing them right through the abandoned tour bus. Ms. Marvel, however, wasn't about to let the villain take her down so easily. Slamming her feet into the ground, she built up enough friction to slow the momentum as well as Rhino's charge. The kinetic energy of the friction absorbed through her body, her strength was augmented more. With a yell, she grabbed Rhino's horn and brought his face into her knee, enticing a roar of pain from the villain; she then flung him back into Central Park, the impact of the villain and the ground sending tremors for blocks around.

"Now stay down, O'Hirn," Carol snarled as she landed a few feet away from the large man, her fists glowing with energy. "I'm being nice and offering you a last chance to surrender. But hey, I'm more than willing to keep-"

Rhino then flung a large fistful of dirt into her eyes, blinding her. Caught by surprise, Carol instinctively flew her hands to her eyes in an attempt to get the dirt out. Rhino was now free once more to go all out on the Avenger. Grabbing her by the face, he slammed her into the ground savagely repeatedly, then grabbing her leg he thrashed her back and forth on the ground before throwing her into one of the nearby boulders with a thunderous boom. To finish it off, Rhino then charged right at her, ready to impale the heroine with his powerful horn-

But just as he was about to impale her, Carol grabbed the horn and with her powerful legs brutally stopped the charging bulking brute.

"Ok Rhino…no more Miss Nice Guy," Ms. Marvel said with a growl. With a yell, she kicked O'Hirn back and started blasting him again and again. 'Ok, soldier, you need a plan here-everything you throw at him and he just shrugs it off. Thank God, that goes both ways or I'd be done by now…Focus Carol, the armor's extremely durable, covers everything except his face-'

The face…

"THAT'S IT, YOU BITCH!" Rhino roared as he stood back up, cracking his knuckles. "I am gonna crush your skull and impale your heart on my horn!"

At looking more closely at O'Hirn's face, she saw that his nose was broken and bleeding from when she had kneed him there a few minutes ago. That was when Carol finally found the chink in Alex O'Hirn's Rhino suit-his face was completely exposed and unprotected. That was where she needed to strike, and since the armor and all those chemical/mutagen experiments had increased his durability, she could let loose.

"Come and try, Rhino," she smirked, getting into a defensive stance.

With a furious roar, Rhino charged right at her, his horn poised to impale her, quickly building the momentum and charge up powerfully as he charged straight for Ms. Marvel. Timing it exactly right, Carol brought her fist up in a devastating uppercut right into his face, sending the villain flying into the sky. Flying after him, she grabbed his arm and began spinning him round and round in midair, letting go to fling him back into the same boulder he had thrown her in.

"Time to say goodnight, Rhino," Carol yelled as she landed yet another devastating slamming kick into the supervillian's chest. Landing on top of him, she grabbed his horn, bringing his now bleeding face up, and began punching him again and again. With every punch, O'Hirn let out a more and more weakened shout of pain. After a few more hits, Carol stopped to look at the Rhino's bloody and swollen face. She was surprised Spider-Man had never thought to hit him here before.

"I'm gonna…geth you when I geth out, you bith…Cruthh you an thhe Wehfleek-"

POW!

With a final punch, Carol knocked the Rhino out cold and dropped him on the ground.

"What did I say about calling him a freak, Rhino?"

Taking a step back, Carol sighed in relief, knowing that this scumbag wasn't going to be any more trouble. Combing her hand through her hair, she felt a sudden vibration on her waistline; pulling out her phone, she saw she had a text, and seeing who it was from, she couldn't help but smile as she opened and read it:

Hey :) nice fight

Mind grabbing the horn in a pose? I need a pic for Jameson

Laughing to herself, Carol turned to see the growing mass of media and paper reporters, civilians and police trying to keep the former two back. Searching the crowd, she smiled at the sight of a brown haired and fairly cute looking photographer taking pictures of her & Rhino. Turning back to her unconscious opponent, she grabbed his horn once more and pulled him up, making it look like she was making sure he was out cold. After 10 seconds, she dropped the head and looked back at the photographer, who gave her a thumbs up and motioned to the nearby building rooftops; she understood what he meant-he'd be waiting for her up there.

'Good old Peter,' she thought to herself as she smiled. A SHIELD prison transport arrived at that minute to take Rhino to the Raft. Certain that the agents had the situation under control, she stepped back to allow them to do their job; the lead agent came up to her.

"Thanks, Ms. Marvel-we'll take it from here."

"Good to hear, agent," Carol replied. "If you'll excuse me…" With that, she flew off to the nearby rooftops. 'I've got a date.'

XXXXXXXXXX-A/N-XXXXXXXXXX

With that, another round is ended with Ms. Marvel the victor once more. You all know the drill-review, give feedback, suggestions and what I can improve on.

A reminder: the next TWO (yes, TWO) chapters for "Love & War" will be released tomorrow, so keep an eye out. And again, thank you all for your continued support for this series as well as my other stories :)

Now, on a side note, I'm sure you readers of Captain Marvel know by now that Carol's memories are gone & whatnot, and she's again on a path to find herself (life hates her, it seems). We all know, also, that Otto isn't leaving Peter's body any time soon. A thought crossed my mind: what if Marvel finally decided to let the Peter/Carol romance blossom...but in a way we never thought?

Imagine if the Superior Spider-Man and a memory-lost Captain Marvel got together?

Yeah...think about that.

...

And with that, the next chapter is Kraven the Hunter! Until next time readers :D

(You're all gonna hate me for that thought in your head now, I know it)