05/28/2016

Disclaimer: Before we get going, I want to point out that the sports world lost one the greats. In fact, he was THE GREATEST and will never be forgotten.

Cassius Clay, batter known as Mohammad Ali, has passed away at age 57. He floated like a butterfly and stung like a bee, and now he flies like an angel. Thank you, Ali. Rest In Peace.

Chapter IV

The Quinjet rocketed across the sky carrying inside of it the remaining six Avengers. Within its confines, Clint and Carol were at the helm piloting while Tony and Bruce Banner, the Hulk's less angry alter ego, studied the device they'd taking from Doom's castle. In the meantime, Steve and Vision were nearby discussing the probable locations that the device would've sent Doom, Thor and Natasha. So far, they'd ruled Asgard, the Kree Empire and even the Negative Zone. It was also unlikely that they'd been displaced some time in the past or future. Heaven forbid they might have been thrown to Sanctuary and in the lap of Thanos.

As they were copiloting the Quinjet, Carol noticed that Clint appeared distracted. He hid it well enough to focus on the task at hand, but that didn't mean Carol would rest on her laurels and let him fly the jet alone. She wasn't stupid either; she knew that Clint cared about Natasha and more than he'd have wanted to admit. The Avengers were like any other family in that respect; they had their internal squabbles but when it came time to fight, they fought as one. Carol wanted to reassure Clint and decided to take the chance.

"You okay, Clint?" she asked.

Clint briefly looked at Carol and then looked back at the viewport. "Yeah. I'm just, uh…"

"Worried about Natasha, I know. Look, we're going to get her and Thor back to us. We just got to let Tony and Bruce figure out how that thing works." Carol said.

"Yeah, assuming Tony doesn't use it to blow up the world." Clint said.

"I heard that." Tony called out.

"Could be worse; Bruce could go green and break it and open a black hole in the universe." Carol claimed.

"I heard that." Bruce replied.

"Now I kind of wish they were deaf." Carol claimed.

"Me too." Clint agreed.

This time, both Bruce and Tony replied collectively, "We heard that!"

"Maybe we should shut up now." Carol said.

"Agreed." Clint said.

Tony and Bruce ignored their fellow Avengers and returned to studying the device. The technology was so advanced that it was a wonder how Doom managed to get it working for him in the first place. The broader question was its point of origin. It appeared in the middle of Central Park one day while the Fantastic Four were enjoying a much-needed day off. Naturally, Reed Richards had to bring to the Baxter Building to study it. Then Doctor Doom had to send one of his Doombots to steal it, disabling the quartet's Fantasticar in the process. So the Avengers went to take it back from Doom and it ended with Doom, Thor and Black Widow vanishing in a portal.

Tony and Bruce wanted to know how it worked, but Steve just wanted to bring his friends back. "You figure anything out about this thing, Tony?" Steve asked.

"Ah, outside of the clear fact that I didn't build it myself, which I kind of wish I did but didn't, I've literally got nothing even close to this tech." Tony casually stated.

Bruce was at least a bit more serious, but not by too much. "Cap, this is technology WAY beyond anything on Earth even remotely close. How Doom managed to get it working in his lab is beyond me."

"But he did manage to get it working, so we've got to figure out how to do the same." Steve said.

"Well technically, Bruce and I have to figure it out, Cap. You just have to be… you." Tony quipped, to which Steve wryly smirked.

"If might be so bold as to offer a suggestion…" Vision said in a calm demeanor.

"We're all ears, Vision." Steve said.

"Perhaps our most prudent course of action at the moment would be to return the device to the Baxter Building. There, Mister Fantastic may be able to determine its inner workings and bring our people back. Alternatively, he may be able to send us to where they've gone." Vision surmised with great detail.

"Either way, Reed will get it working and I'll be extremely jealous." Tony joked.

"That would be a first." Bruce claimed.

"Vision does have a good idea…" Steve started to say.

"For an android." Clint muttered to Carol.

"…but let's keep in mind that our priority is finding out where Thor and Widow were sent with Doom. Clint, set a course for the Baxter Building. Jocasta…"

"I am here, Captain Rogers." Jocasta replied.

"Notify Dr. Richards and tell him that we need his expertise with the device. We'll be at the Baxter Building in a few hours." Steve requested.

"The message has already been sent, Captain Rogers." Jocasta replied.

"Here's hoping Ben doesn't instigate a fight with Bruce." Carol said to Clint.

"I got five on the Hulk." Clint said back to Carol.

"You're on." Carol said.

Black Widow had no idea what happened or where Doctor Doom brought her and Thor, or even where Doom and Thor were now. But she knew that wasn't in Latveria or New York… she wasn't even her Earth. She also knew that was being shot at by a group of men with semiautomatic guns, led by a man in a white business suit and wearing black skull mask. She managed to duck behind a container amid the gunfire that was coming her way. She grasped her left arm and found trickles of blood seeping through the fabric of her suit. It wasn't a serious wound but it did royally tick her off.

As Black Mask and Falcone led the gunfire on their mysterious visitor, a cloud of smoke suddenly exploded in the middle of the gang of thugs. They went from shooting a fixed point to shooting everywhere. Then a shadow dropped into the smoke, and Black Widow managed to catch the faintest of glimpse at the shadow. Before too long, several of the thugs plus their bosses scurried from the smoke and Black Widow made her move.

She went for the nearest thug first, quickly and deftly running up and across the side of a container and dropping legs first onto the thug's shoulder. She reared her body back and flipped the thug up and over with no trouble, rose up and went after the next thug. This one was a little more aware but he was still not ready for the assault to come. He brought his gun up but Black Widow was on him fast, landing a number of strikes and quickly flipping him onto the ground. One straight punch to the face knocked him out, and Black Widow stopped briefly to see the man, or creature, fighting several more thugs… alone.

Batman didn't notice the woman in the black bodysuit looking in his direction, instead fighting off three or four of Black Mask and Falcone's thugs' singlehandedly. As one after the other came at him, Batman expertly leveled them to the ground, disable whatever weapons they had at their disposal. A couple of Falcone's men moved in with guns, but Batman threw a Batarang at one of the men's face and then launch a Bat Claw at the other. He pulled hard for the gun, bringing the hapless thug along for the ride, and then dropped him with a hard kick to the chops.

The other thug tried to recover but failed to notice a glow of grayish-blue goo on his chest. He still fired several shots and Batman ducked out of the way. Then there was a small explosion that rocked the thug and distracted him long enough for Batman to move in and take him down. More of Black Mask's guys came at Batman, and he took them down with a three more Batarangs before they could even pulled the triggers on the guns.

Watching from the sidelines, Black Widow was mildly impressed before she noticed Black Mask aiming his own gun at her. He fired what was a semiautomatic pistol and forced Widow to scurry behind a container. He didn't stop shooting, even when Falcone joined in the assault with his own gun. They two crime lords glanced at each other briefly before going back to shooting at the container.

"We don't know who you are, lady, but you went and picked the wrong time and place to show up out of nowhere." Black Mask shouted at the contained and fired more shots.

Without warning, Black Widow leapt from the top of the container and in midair, fired a pair of electrified darts at Black Mask and Falcone's guns. The guns instantly shorted out and burned the hands of the two bosses as Black Widow landed behind Falcone. Before he knew what happened, Black Widow grabbed his right arm around his back, flipped kicked the guns from Black Mask's hands, spun Falcone around and punched him hard in the face. After Falcone went down and out, Widow turned toward Black Mask as went for his gun. She fired a dart at Mask's arm to shock him and them ran for the gun herself.

Batman was just finished mopping up the last thug when he spotted the mysterious woman picking up the gun and aiming it at Black Mask. In an instant, he tossed a Baterang and knocked the gun from Widow's hand. He then moved forward with great speed, knocked out Black Mask in one pass and tackled Widow to the ground. They tumbled over each other fighting for the dominant position but neither could gain it. They wrestled on the ground for a few more minutes until they finally fought back up and Widow, unknown to Batman, had another gun in hand. Batman threw another Batarang to knock it out of Widow's hand.

"What the hell was that for?" Widow bellowed.

"No guns, no killing. Now tell me who you are and where you came from." Batman demanded.

"Make me." Widow said and shot an electrified dart at Batman.

The dart struck Batman in the chest and he felt the shock through the suit's material, while Black Widow charged forward at him. Black Widow was on Batman quick and went on the attack with a series of strikes for which Batman wasn't fully prepared. Batman found an opening and fought back with his own combinations of hand-to-hand strikes, showing that he wasn't afraid to fight a woman. They traded strikes back and forth and the momentum that came with each strike. Black Widow had a brief advantage for a few moves before Batman took the advantage for himself, and then Widow took it back. After several minutes of back and forth fighting, Batman finally managed to outdo Black Widow and pinned her against a container.

"You're not one of Darkseid's people. Tell me who you are. Now!" Batman demanded.

"No, you tell me what you've done to Thor." Black Widow demanded back.

The Thunder God of Norse Mythology? Last I checked, that was in storybooks. He's not real." Batman claimed.

"He's more real than you think." Black Widow said and broke free of Batman grip, using her electrical gauntlets to do so.

Batman staggered back and Black Widow pounced on him, sending a series of kicks and punches that managed to partly find their marks. Batman managed to block some of the hits as they came but Widow was relentless, still managing to strike in places Batman didn't know to defend. Eventually stunning Batman long enough, Black Widow ran in the opposite direction and up the side of the container she'd hid behind earlier, and she performed a nearly perfect backflip and an attempt to get behind Batman. But Batman saw it coming and rolled forward just as Black Widow was able to land, and he caught her by the leg with his grapple gun.

Black Widow was pulled down fast and hit the ground hard, appeared to hurt her right shoulder in the process. Batman pulled her toward him but Widow still managed to managed to free herself by shocking the line of the grapple gun. The surge hit Batman and Widow was upright again. Despite her right arm being rendered almost useless, she still made a run for Batman. Batman dropped a smoke pellet and seemed to disappear in the smoke, but Widow didn't stop and charged on… straight into a hard punch from Batman. By the time the smoke cleared, Batman stood over Black Widow and made sure she was breathing before attempting to contact the Watchtower.

"Batman to Watchtower, come in," Batman waited for a reply that didn't come. "Batman to Watchtower, are you receiving me? Cyborg? Wonder Woman," Still he received no reply, so he switched the frequency to a new one. "Alfred, are you there?"

"Yes, Master Bruce? How may I be of assistance." called the voice of Alfred.

"Notify GCPD and tell them that I've subdued Black Mask and Falcone at Port Adams, along with the illegals weapons. Have Commissioner Gordon send a squad to make the pick-up."

"The tip has been sent to the authorizes and they should be at Port Adams in a few minutes. What about you?" Alfred asked.

"The Watchtower seems to be out of contact, so I'm heading back to the Bat Cave now, " Batman looked at the still unidentified woman to make sure she was still moving but subdued. "And I'll be bringing a guest."

"Might I assume it to be Miss al Ghul or perhaps Miss Kyle, sir?" Alfred said.

"Not quite as simple as that." Batman said.

Thor was thrown back into the wall and left a massive depression where he crashed, managing to recover in time to see a glowing green mace coming at him. Without hesitation, Thor barreled forward and smashed right through the mace with Mjornir. The mace shattered into nonexistence, leaving Green Lantern defenseless. Before Thor could close the distance, a wall of black shadow appeared before him. He looked and saw Raven blocking his advance and moved to attack her, but a streak of red started zipping around him.

Flash moved with every bit of speed he could muster, and it was a lot of speed to spare. He managed to land few solid hits on Thor, who tried and failed to strike back with his hammer. Seeing an opening and his reserves charged, Flash sent out a bolt of lightning that caught Thor dead in the chest. When Flash stopped to admire his handy work, he was instead stunned to see the lightning did nothing to Thor. Thor merely looked at the lightning as it seemed to dissipate into nothing, and then he glared at Flash.

"You dare use lightning against the Mighty Thor?"

"Uh, yeah, that was kind of the plan." Flash joked.

Thor smirked and said, "Then allow me to show you how lightning is meant to be harnessed."

Thor raised his hammer up over his head and a bolt of lightning came down through the ceiling of the room. Flash had seconds to move when Thor thrust the hammer forward in his direction, and the lightning shot forth. It struck the very spot where Flash stood prior, and the Scarlet Speedster ran around the control room as fast as he could move. Thor didn't let, sending lightning strike after strike against Flash and missing each time, but it was enough of a distraction for Superman to fly straight at Thor. They collided and hit the wall, and the momentum caused Thor to drop the hammer.

Superman immediately started punching Thor in the face repeatedly. Each punch caused the entire Watchtower to shudder from the impact. Thor tried to reach his hand out to summon Mjornir, but Superman just kept wailing on him. Meanwhile, Flash moved for the hammer and tried to hoist it up from the floor. The hammer wouldn't budge an inch, but Flash kept trying for all he was worth. Still, he couldn't move the hammer. So Green Lantern and then Cyborg attempted to move the hammer to no avail.

"Fools," said the voice of Doctor Doom. "None of you are worthy of wielding Mjornir."

"Yep, kind of noticed." Green Lantern said.

"So we'll just deal with you instead." Cyborg said and cut loose with cannon shot.

Doctor Doom erected his force field and retaliated with a duel blast from his gauntlets. Flash ran out of the way while Green Lantern erected his own defense in the form of a shield. Doom sustained his assault just as Wonder Woman closed the distance on him. She managed to catch Doom in the metal mask to stagger him, and then she landed rights and lefts in rapid succession and forcing Doom back. As Wonder Woman went to land another heavy hit, Doctor Doom caught the strike. Then he drove his face into hers to stagger her before blasting her point blank range.

A dark shadow appeared Doom and spread out to engulf him, but Doom was already aware. He spun around and reached his right hand into the shadow. Knowing he had a death grip on her, Doom pulled Raven from the shadow and caused the shadow to vanish. He hoisted the young telepath up and held her there. Raven struggled against Doctor Doom's grip before Cyborg caught Doom with a heavy cannon shot, causing him to drop Raven. Doctor Doom hit the wall hard but was back upright within second, and Cyborg fired another blast that hit Doom clean in the green tunic.

At the same time, Superman continued pounding on Thor repeatedly before stopping briefly to tell him, "At this point, I don't care if you're from Apokolips or not. You made a big mistake coming here."

"I'm not the only one." Thor replied and butted heads with Superman.

With Superman momentarily distracted, Thor reached out for the hammer. Flash was still trying to lift it when the hammer suddenly flew off the floor and towards its owner. Thor grabbed Mjornir, which still had Flash holding the handle, and waylaid Superman with it, sending the Man of Steel into the wall. Noticing that Flash was still holding the hilt, Thor gave him a chilling gaze and Flash smiled before running away. Noticing that Cyborg was attacking Doom, Thor made a move for the scene. But Wonder Woman stood in his way, Lasso of Truth in hand.

"I've no quarrel with you, milady. Step aside so that I might have words with Doom." Thor said.

"You can have words with me. Who are you?" Wonder Woman demanded.

With a bemused glared, Thor replied, "I am Thor, Son of Odin and Crown Prince of Asgard. And you are?"

With a slight smirk, Wonder Woman replied, "I am Diana, Daughter of Hippolyta and Princess of Themiscara."

"Never heard of it. You don't have Frost Giants there, do you?" Thor asked.

"What's a Frost Giant?" Wonder Woman replied, before she was literally hammered by Thor tossing Mjornir.

Thor walked by the fallen heroine while retrieving his returning hammer and said, "They're large monsters from Jotunheim made of ice and snow, have bad temperament and are generally repulsive. My half-brother is one himself."

Thor continued walking toward Doctor Doom and Cyborg's fight while Wonder Woman started to stir over onto her stomach, a sneering scowl on her face. Rising up, she threw her Lasso out and it tied around Thor's free arm as he walked away. Wonder Woman pulled hard on the Lasso, while Thor pulled back as hard as he managed. Wonder Woman pulled on the Lasso and Thor pulled back, and it was a literal Tug 'o War between to individuals that were basically demigods. As neither managed to gain the upper hand, Thor decided to fight dirty.

He spun Mjornir from the strap to first distract Wonder Woman. Then he quickly threw the hammer forward. Wonder Woman had no time to react and time the hammer straight to the chest, losing her grip on the Lasso of Truth as she was sent flying. Free of the Lasso, Thor returned to his approach toward Doctor Doom. Doom had just subdued Cyborg and Raven and was now approaching the still active portal. Thor shot out a bolt of lightning that struck the floor in front of Doom, forcing him to halt just before the portal.

"You're not leaving, Doom. You shall answer for your crimes." Thor declared.

"Still, you attempt to fight me, Asgardian. You do not realize that you've already failed. I will conquer this universe and rebuild it in the image that our own universe was met to be; one where Victor Von Doom reigns supreme." Doom declared in arrogant triumph.

"Not as long as there's life in my being," Thor spun his hammer and lunged forward, bellowing, "FOR MIDGARD!"

Thor flew straight at Doctor Doom as he fired a heavy blast toward the god-like Avenger. Blocking the blast with Mjornir, Thor came hard and fast at Doom and collided with him. The momentum carried both into the portal, and Superman and Wonder Woman tried in vain to stop them both. It was already too late and the portal closed and the Watchtower fell silent. Superman approached the site of the portal while Cyborg quickly joined to scan the spot.

Flash approach soon after and asked, "What was that all about? Where'd those clown come from?"

Superman looked at the site of the portal while Cyborg scanned it and replied, "You're guess is as good as mine. I'm more concerned about were they went to now."

The portal opened and Thor and Doctor Doom fell through it onto a hard, rocky surface. Thor instantly felt intense heat but managed to right himself, while Doctor Doom managed to land on his feet with minimal effort. It didn't take long before the two foes realized that they weren't on the Watchtower or on Earth… their Earth or the alternate Earth. They were… someplace else. In the distance, they noted giant infernos shooting into a blood red sky and ruins as for as the eye could see. An angry Thor turned his ire to Doctor Doom.

"Where have you brought us now, Doom?"

"Your carelessness sent us here, Asgardian, and yet you still lay the blame upon me." Doom retorted.

"I blame you for many things, Doom, and I have every intention to rectify them." Thor declared and prepared to battle Doom once more.

But the battle to come was suddenly halted by something unexpected. A squadron of aerial tank-like machines was approaching from nearby. The duel cannons made it clear that the tanks were alien, but they weren't like anything Thro or Doom had seen before. It was yet another example of the presence in a universe that wasn't their own world. Soon after the tanks arrive, there was a screeching noise from afar.

A cloud that was anything but a cloud was coming their way, and it wasn't long before Doom and Thor realized that the cloud was a swarm of demonic creatures. The creatures resembled gargoyles in green and gold armor, with grotesque wings and faces with blood red eyes. These demonic creatures dropped down to face the two intruders, forming a circle around them. The tanks hovered above them to block their escape. Atop one of the tanks appeared a hideous looking ape-like beast in light and dark green armor and sporting black hair and fur.

"I am Kalibak, Second-in-Command of the armies of Apokolips. You trespassers will surrender now or face the wrath of the Lord Darkseid."

Thor and Doctor Doom suddenly found themselves standing back to back, with Thor facing down Kalibak. "I'll settle for facing said wrath. Now, are we going to talk further…or are we going to fight?"

Author's Note: That's another chapter in the books. I'd say based on the dialog, there's a high probability of an appearance by at LEAST Reed Richards.

Batman meets and fights Black Widow, albeit briefly. We'll see where that goes, while Thor fights the League and even has some witty dialog with Wonder Woman.

Finally, Thor and Doom end up arriving on Apokolips and meet Kalibak as he makes his first appearance. That should pretty much tell you that Darkseid isn't far behind. Leave a review and I'll be back soon.

IN MEMORY OF
MOHAMMAD ALI
1942-2016