Chapter 14: The Game Begins!
Disclaimer: I do not own any Marvel Characters or logos.
Foreword: I saw how many errors were in this chapter when I first posted it, so I proofread it a little bit to make it a smoother read. Maybe I should do that more often.
Sitting on a bench in the local park, Scott Summers heaved a sigh of exhaustion as they rested for the first time since lunch. Warren had been a nice guy to treat them, but needless to say they had both come close to fainting once the bill came back. Even knowing that their friend came from a wealthy family, they were quite surprised when the angel-like mutant paid the waiter in cash and seemed completely unfazed by the financial loss. To people like Scott and Jean, the money he had shrugged off while paying that bill would've kept them good for about a week. It wasn't as if working at the Institute didn't have its benefits, but they themselves were far from being rich socialites.
Jean gave her teammates a slightly bitter smile as she rubbed her ankle, looking upset that they hadn't found anything during the day's investigation. Noticing the undertone of her expression, Cyclops placed a hand on her shoulder in a comforting way, to which she snuggled up into his chest. It was the end of summer and the weather was beginning to cool, but she was just fine nestled comfortably in his arms as he shielded her from the brisk night breeze. She laid a hand on his chest and leaned in, quietly listening to the soothing sounds of his heartbeat as the romantic embrace overrode the weariness in her legs and back. Even after training to hone their physical abilities, it had still been a rough day walking through Manhattan on foot.
Angel spared a small glance over his shoulder at the couple nestled comfortably on the wooden bench before turning his attention towards the sky. On some nights when he was certain few people would see him, the wealthy heir would take flight in his superhero costume and admire the city from views that most people could only imagine seeing. While he often did this while patrolling for criminal activity, he would occasionally do it for his own enjoyment. Although many people hated this crime-ridden chunk of suburbia, seeing it from the air when the moon was just right made him feel like there wasn't a single trouble in the world.
After several minutes, the pair behind him lifted their heads to see that their host was still standing several feet away. Jean nudged her boyfriend lightly to alert him of this, to which he rubbed his head embarrassedly and muttered an apology. The female telepath distanced herself from Scott and sat with a perplexed expression as the two of them watched Warren stare at the sky, his actions or lack thereof causing them both to join him for a moment or two. The beauty of the stars was not lost on them, but they quickly growing bored and decided to address him.
Standing up quietly, Jean stepped behind him and gave their host a light tap on the shoulder. Rather than react with surprise, the man cast his guest a welcoming expression. "Are you guys ready to go back to my place?"
Scott waved his hands gently, although his expression was polite. "It's polite of you to offer us a place to stay, but we already rented a room at the hotel down the block, and we wouldn't want to intrude." He replied with a friendly expression. "Thanks anyway…"
"It's my pleasure." Warren replied with a casual shrug as he began to walk in the opposite direction, the tails of his trench coat gently blowing in the summer breeze.
Realizing that they had the same root to travel for the most part, the two X-Men followed after him to which he did not object. As they walked on in silence, Cyclops decided that now was as good a time as ever to ask some questions he had been contemplating. Although Warren Worthington was a good friend and a valuable ally, he had to admit that they knew very little about him aside from what he had told them personally. Thinking that he would be prying, Scott bit his lower lip, but after several minutes of continued silence he decided to be a little bit discreet.
"So Warren, all things considered you seem like a pretty normal guy." He stated awkwardly.
Angel let out a small snort as they continued to walk. "Um, thanks… Being the only man I know with wings, I guess I'll take that as a compliment." He seemed to find the assertion humorous at best, although there was a slightly awkward note in his voice.
Jean looked from the man beside her to their host and sighed as if expecting this to happen at some point. Quickly pulling her thought together she addressed him again. "I think Scott was trying to say that you seem pretty down-to-Earth for the son of a multi-billionaire."
"Exactly what I was trying to say…" Cyclops took a second to gently rub his neck. "You know how you see all those rich guys on TV and they all seem to be a little out there. You're apartment's really big but it doesn't exactly compare to a mansion, and I don't recall any housekeepers around the place."
The man walking ahead of them paused mid-step, causing the other two mutants to stop walking as well as he turned to face his guests. Jean reached to the bench and grabbed her backpack before following after them, quickly going through the contents to make certain that she still had everything. The trio continued onward, but after a few tense moments, the winged man rubbed broke the silence. "Thinking back, maybe I should have been more open with you guys from the beginning. I told Professor Xavier about my life once during a visit to the institute… It's wasn't a secret or anything, but it looks like he never shared any of it with you guys."
Jean relaxed a little, looking relieved that he wasn't bothered by their curiosities. "Naturally the professor wouldn't have shared any of it if he didn't feel it was his to tell."
"If it's something you'd rather not say then don't bother, but we were just thinking about how long we've known you, and realized that even after fighting alongside each other for years we still don't know you very well." Cyclops added quickly.
The flying mutant took a short pause as he thought back to his childhood and decided that there were some things he would rather not say, but in truth he didn't think that all of the details were really necessary either. He had originally seen the wings on his back as a curse and spent his childhood trying to hide it from his friends and family, but then again anyone would have done the same if they had lived with his father. Although the existence of mutants had been revealed by Magneto little more than a year ago, many people had already known due to their own experiences, and the government had been aware for much longer than people were willing to believe.
Warren's father knew about the condition due to his extensive connections, and hated the very idea, although Angel had been careful to hide it all these years. Thus as a child he was afraid of what his father would think and usually tried to hide it with thick clothes. Once when he was still very young, he spent an hour in the bathroom with knives in an attempt to cut off his own wings, although it was an incredibly painful process from the very beginning, and when they grew back he realized that they were a part of him just like his arms and legs.
Growing up with a father than hated what he was made for a miserable existence, but he eventually grew up and moved beyond that and continued on with his life. After a sort of falling out with his father, he went to New York and had been here ever since, rarely talking to anyone from his family. Part of the family fortune was his to spend, and thus he had used it to finance his new life these past few years. Using his powers he began to save people from the dangers of Manhattan and its numerous criminals, and that was when Magneto found him that Christmas two years ago.
Angel cracked his knuckles in a lazy manner. "Well I can't say my life is some kind of big secret, but I guess there's no harm in sharing a little bit." With this said be began walking again, signaling them to follow. As thee three continued walking down the sidewalk, he addressed the first question the asked. "You said I'm down to Earth for a rich boy, but when your father hates mutants and you happen to be one, that's bound to teach you some sense of humility."
"Your own father hated you?" Jean asked incredulously.
"Not me specifically, but he never did accept what I was and still seemed to hate others like me even though his dislike wasn't always directed at me. Because of this he often funded anti-mutant research that was being conducted by some private labs." Warren added with a note of disgust.
"There were people working on anti-mutant experiments even back then?" Scott questioned.
Angel gave them a firm nod, as if he were hesitant to talk about it. "Mutants were known to a select few people for a long time before Magneto made it all public knowledge with that Sentinel stunt last year. When I was younger my father was funding some freak named Hebert Landon who was supposedly working on a cure for the mutant condition."
Jean looked away and closed her eyes for a second as if she found the thought disconcerting, but quickly recovered. "To think that someone would want to fit in so much that they would forsake their own right to be what they were born to be…" she added with a pained expression.
Her boyfriend shook his head. "Most of us consider it a gift, but looks how badly Rogue suffered because of her abilities. Not even mentioning all she went through when Apocalypse and Mystique used her as a pawn earlier this year. She still hasn't gotten over what happened yet."
"To be completely honest the idea actually appealed to me for awhile." Warren added, although he immediately seemed ashamed to have admitted something like that. "My powers caused tension within my family that wasn't helping anyone, but one night when the moon was dark, I decided to spread my wings and took flight for the first time. I realized then that there was nothing wrong with what I was, nor did my father have the right to hate people like me just because they were born differently than most people."
"I can't say my power ever gave me that same realization, but the professor was the one who taught me what being a mutant was really about." Scott replied with a shadow of a smile.
Jean imitated his gesture. "Although he had instructed Storm and a handful of others over the course of his early career, we were two of the first students to attend the institute. He believes that to best use our abilities we have to first perfect them through rigorous training."
Cyclops nodded in agreement. "The world is filled with mutants who would abuse their powers, but the professor believes that we can use our abilities to help people, and should also be equipped to combat those who would use their gifts for evil."
"You guys had Professor Xavier help you with that last part, but I discovered those things on my own while living here in Manhattan." Angel replied with a sense of irony. "From your encounter with the Rhino yesterday, you know that there's a lot of super powered weirdoes in this city that do as they please. Some even work secretly for the city's crime lords, forcing people like me to take action whenever there's trouble."
"Speaking of which, you said that you were acquainted with that Spider-Man guy that we met earlier." Jean added with a slightly confused expression. "Do you have any idea who he is or how he got his powers if he's not a mutant."
Warren merely shook his head. "There's a reason why Spidey wears a mask, and that's because messing with this city's crime lords might endanger someone close to you. The New York Police Department gets it on a regular basis, and unfortunately for us, most of the freaks around here work for the many crime syndicates occupying this city."
The female psychic raised an eyebrow in concern. "Just how many super villains and gangs are there in this place?"
"Beat's the hell out of me? I'd wager on the sight of hundreds." Angel replied with a casual shrug. "That guy you asked me about earlier… The Kingpin is supposedly the mastermind pulling the strings from the shadows, and coordinating about a third of all organized crime around the world."
"I take it we picked the wrong guy to mess with?" Scott pointed out the obvious with a note or irony.
Angel looked suddenly more serious than before, but for some reason it seemed as though he wasn't reacting to them either. Looking out into the distance he could hear giant crashes echoing through the night. His eyes widened in shock as he several police cars rushed past them, heading in a direction that he knew all too well. Reacting automatically, the winged hero glanced around to make certain that no one aside from his companions were watching before removing his trench coat, revealing his superhero clothing underneath. Reaching into his pocket, he strapped the mask over his eyes and prepared for the battle to come.
"What's going on?" Cyclops replied, looking concerned by his friend's sudden change of demeanor.
"There must be some kind of emergency situation going on at the Vault, the city's highest security prison." Angel replied frantically, his wings stretching as he prepared to take flight. "I'm going to head on over and check it out in case the cops can't handle it by themselves."
Jean called out after him. "Do you need any help?"
The winged mutant took off without even answering, the gust from his gigantic wings instantly scattering the trash littering the streets as he took off into the starry skies. The female psychic exchanged concerned glances with her boyfriend, but they decided to contemplate quickly before doing anything rash. Scott began searching frantically for a way to chase after their comrade, but before he could come up with an answer, he was lifted off of his feet as if an invisible arm had grabbed him from behind. Jean let out a small giggle as she saw her boyfriend's face, soon joining him as she wrapped her arms around him and supported them both with her telekinetic powers.
"Are you sure we should be doing this after hearing what Warren said about the jerks in this city?" Cyclops asked with a concerned expression.
His girlfriend laughed. "Unlike some people I always like to be prepared on the off chance that we run into some trouble. I put our gear in my pack before leaving the hotel this morning in case we ran into more creeps. Plus we can't just let Warren handle this alone." She glanced below, looking for a place where they could change clothes before tossing him his visor.
Cyclops caught the eyewear and exchanged it for his sunglasses, pocketing the more delicate specs for protection. "Leave it to you to think ahead." He smiled appreciatively.
"That's why I came on this mission with you." She replied with a smile.
As they prepared for battle, Angel had already reached the scene and was desperately trying to figure out what was going on without bothering the law enforcement already on duty. Several police were stationed outside of the prison, hiding behind cars and walls with their weapons poised to fire. There were already holes blasted in the walls of the prison as if someone had used explosives to break into the building, but rather than act foolishly the winged mutant kept his distance as he watched from the skies.
The Vault was the most impenetrable prison in all of New York City, its specially designed facilities powerful enough to hold even the most vicious of super villains. Warren dreaded thinking about what would happen if there was a jailbreak in such a place, but his thoughts were cut short as several gunshots went off below. Another one of the prison's walls was smashed in as a familiar shape emerged from within, the horned forehead and armored body alerting them to obvious conclusion that the Rhino had escaped. The police fired their weapons at the behemoth in an attempt to take him down, but the large man let out a bestial roar as if being shot was merely and annoyance.
"Pour it on, I can take it!" Rhino screamed as he charged forward through the shower of bullets, using his immense strength to lift and throw one of the police cars at his attackers.
The cops scattered in different directions, but some of them could not get away fast enough to avoid the impact. Angel dove with his enhanced speed and seized hold of the two officers in the path of the flying car, pulling them to safety as he lifted them into the air. Although they were both surprised, the guards did not protest and were soon returned safely to the ground where they joined the others in creating a defensive formation around the prison yard. Several of the people present pointed in surprise at the appearance of one of the city's supposed superheroes, but the murmurs about his sudden appearance subsided as three more men stepped through the hole that the Rhino had made.
Kraven the hunter stood in front, alongside the Vulture and Sandman, leaving behind a trail of destruction as they forced their way through. The cops turned their attention on the wild man, shooting at him like an animal, but he seemed to sense each shot and dodged using his inhuman agility, spinning around and flipping through the air with a certain ferocity that belied his human appearance. Busy dealing with the police, he was tackled from behind by Angel as the mutant broke into a second dive, pulling up away from the raining bullets to avoid being harmed along with the villains.
"No one will ever capture Kraven the Hunter!" the man screamed as he recovered from the strike, jumping behind one of the broken police cars as a wall of sand blocked the bullets from reaching him.
Sandman smirked in response to their futile struggles as his body broke down, the sands that composed his being swirling and growing into a miniature funnel cloud as he slow absorbed the stones and dirt around him. His powers grew with the incorporation of the elements into his own body, allowing him to transform himself into a living sandstorm in the process. The guards fired their weapons but many of the more experienced members of the force were familiar with this man and quickly ordered a hasty retreat. The others followed suit as the reaming police pulled back to the outer walls of the prison, but the sandy winds began suffocating several of the less fortunate, rendering them unable to breathe.
Angel watched from above as the police were slowly defeated, almost afraid of being caught in the raging sands himself, but was forced to dodge as the Vulture made his move. The green-clad villain swooped down using the enhanced abilities and flight systems gifted to him by his harness, almost smashing Warren out of the sky. Hovering several meters apart, the two flyers began a brawl in the sky during which the mutant had a natural advantage due to his natural born flight abilities when compared to the older man's artificial wings.
"How's it feel when you get a taste of your own medicine?" the Vulture jeered mockingly. "Not so much fun when your opponent can fly, is it?"
"I don't need to hear this from a guy who needs plastic wings to fly." Angel replied with a slightly bitter expression.
Unlike some of the heroes he had met, Warren wasn't much for banter and instead decided to tackle his opponent in mid-air in an attempt to finish this fight with minimal damage to the city below. Shooting forward the Vulture met him in mid-air and the two flyers exchanged blows. While the villain seemed just as fast as he was, he seemed to be less talented with his flying device than Angel was with his real wings, allowing him to outmaneuver his opponent as he dodged the other man's strikes and retaliated with a series of mid-air tackles. Having honed his abilities since childhood, the flying mutant was noticeably better at changing direction and controlling his flight patterns, and did so with ease.
Although he was winning, the winged mutant was more concerned about the others, seeing how he was outnumbered and too preoccupied to help the police. Noticing that his attention was focused on the other villains fighting on the ground, the Vulture took advantage of this distraction and attempted to finish his opponent, but before he could a sticky rope-like substance shot out and bound his wings. Angel quickly guessed what had happened and rammed the flying villain with full force, knocking him out of the sky.
Looking over at the prison wall for the source of the webbing, the winged mutant caught sight of a familiar figure. Lowering his altitude, Warren moved so that he was at eye-level with the masked hero. "You always know how to make an entrance." He commented.
"I heard all the commotion down here and decided to come and help, seeing how this is my turf after all." Spider-Man replied casually.
Angel nodded courteously. "Always a pleasure to work with you."
"Wall crawler!" a third voice bellowed him below, causing both heroes to divert their attention to the remaining villains.
"Whoops, better save the pleasantries for later!" Spider-Man added as he watched the Rhino smash headfirst into the base of the wall.
With this said, Angel flew out of reach while the web-slinger using his iconic abilities to swing away from the crumbling wall, but before he could land safely a jumping body leapt from the rooftop of the prison and pushed him out of the sky. Kraven the Hunter grappled with his long-time nemesis as the two fell from the sky, landing with a crash on the pavement below as the Rhino came charging back onto the scene. Angel dove again and pulled Spider-Man out of harm's reach as the armored villain plowed into Kraven, who attempted to move but tripped over the Vulture's unconscious body.
Spider-Man and the winged mutant managed to move seconds before the three villains landed in a heap on the ground, but the hunter had rolled sideways to avoid being crushed by the larger villain's heavy form, leaving the Vulture to take the punishment alone. The wild man glanced over at Sandman who appeared to be holding off the police and quickly decided to go with the smarter decision and make a run for it.
"Get off me!" the Vulture screamed, his back giving out under his teammate's weight.
"Sorry about that?" he apologized. Scratching his head in a thick manner, the thuggish villain pushed himself into an upright position.
The smaller man struggled to stand and tried to activate his wings, but the artificial appendage exuded sparks and broke apart before he could take flight, only adding to his anger. "You imbecilic subhuman, you ruined my flying device!"
Rhino shoved his new teammate backwards, looking equally upset. "You little mouse! No one calls me stupid and gets away with it!"
He stepped forward and raised a foot to crush the smaller man, but was stopped as a shot of webbing wrapped around his arm. "While I would love for you guys to continue beating on each other, I can't say there's much honor in hitting an old man when he can't even defend himself. Isn't that right Einstein?" Spider-Man mused sarcastically.
"Are you making fun of me?" the armored bad guy replied with a growl.
"Nothing gets by you, does it Sherlock?" the wall-crawler replied as he swung further away.
Ignoring the winged villain, the Rhino turned on his nemesis instead. "Either way I'd rather kill you than waste my time on fly boy!"
As the other villains prepared to attack their enemy, Sandman had just finished driving the cops away with his sandstorms. "You morons, we were only told to free that oversized tank from jail and head back. Let's just make this quick and leave or the boss ain't gonna be so happy!"
"He's right!" Kraven called out to he others. Although he had been facing off against Angel, the wild man leapt from the roof of the prison, landing gracefully in the prison yard below. Lifting the Vulture's injured form over his shoulder, he signaled for the Rhino to follow him. "Give us some cover so we can escape!"
The Sandman quickly created another sandstorm, this time purposely whipping up large amounts of dirt and dust to create a type of smokescreen. Under the cover of the storm the group fled for the hole in the prison wall, fully prepared to make a getaway rather than fight the heroes for the moment. They all knew that the Kingpin wouldn't be happy if they were late and probably even angrier considering that the Vulture had lost his equipment, meaning that they were probably already in for it when they got back to his lair anyway.
Warren was hesitant to fly too low for fear of being caught off guard of suffocated by the miniature sandstorm. "Can you see them?" he called to the masked hero.
"My spider sense takes care of that problem, but running into a sandstorm and fighting them head on while on the ground would probably be suicide by myself." Spider-Man answered with a note of exasperation.
He prepared to intercept them as they neared the gates, but before the villains could escape, a large red beam nailed the Rhino squarely in the chest, sending him tumbling backwards as he took the full force of the blast. Kraven felt unusually light as his body was lifted into the air and thrown back into the boundaries of the prison yard, the Vulture's body ironically cushioning his impact as he bounced off of the flying villain and righted himself with animal-like dexterity. He ignored the other man's cries of pain as he turned to find the source of the attacks, looking surprised when two more heroes entered the scene.
Cyclops lowered his hand from his visor as he placed it back over his eyes, having used a full force blast of energy to put the Rhino down. Walking through the open gates with Jean, the two seemed surprised to find the villain they had defeated trying to escape, but even more surprised to see that Angel was fighting alongside the masked man they had seen the other day. She dusted off her clothing as they entered the scene, looking ready for the fight that was sure to come.
Spider-Man landed beside them, looking surprised. "Didn't think I would see you guys again so soon, but I can't say I'm complaining." He greeted the two familiar faces.
"Likewise I guess." Scott Summers replied with a small shrug.
Angel touched down nearby as well, quickly rushing over to see his friends. "Good to see you guys both managed to suit up for this. Looks like our chances of beating these guys just improved quite a bit."
"I take it you know them?" the web-slinger sounded surprised by this new development, but the group was forced to shift their attention as the villains squared up to fight their way through.
"Bring it on!" Angel replied, sounding notably more confident than before.
The two sides clashed again, but as they battled outside the prison there were some more problems going on inside. Although the commotion outside had rocked the prison to its core, several of the prisoners remained locked away safely in the lower levels while the ones that managed to escape due to the Rhino's rampage were bring recaptured in the upper levels. In a dark cell in the basement of the prison where the most dangerous prisoners were kept, a brown-haired man sat with a bored expression, the soft-walled room and vacuum-sealed door preventing him from causing any further trouble.
Known to the rest of the world as mass murderer Cletus Kasady, he was a noted mass murderer who had temporarily gained great power through terrifying means. After being defeated by Spider-Man he had been sent back to jail and forced into this miserable confinement and forced to spend his days trapped in an endless cycle of boredom. Glancing around the room with an odd expression, his insane gaze shifted towards the door leading out of his cell for the umpteenth time that day. As if hearing his pleas for freedom, the metallic door emitted a strange groan before opening with a resounding creak, surprising him somewhat.
Kasady hesitated as he had half expected the guards to enter his cell, but quickly realized that no one was coming. Whether it was an accident or not, the psychopath seemed not to care and simply walked through the door of his cell as if he were leaving a store on the streets. Looking both ways he realized that the guards were gone and smiled as opportunity arose for the first time in what seemed like years. Upon leaving his solitary confinement, he noticed that several more cells were open, almost like someone was trying to free the prisoners. Shoving his way past the other inmates, he seemed to ignore them as if something was calling for him.
Running through the halls of the Vault, he instantly noticed that every single door was unlocked and wide open, a rather strange scenario that he quickly took advantage of. He walked into the crime lab where scientists working for the New York Police Department would often analyze weapons and other evidence, usually locking up the more dangerous equipment like the weapons used by super villains. Interestingly enough it seemed as though even the lab technicians were gone. While this was also strange he seemed not to care at the moment entered the next room where they locked up the most deadly weaponry.
Sitting in heavy glass cases were several familiar objects, including the Shocker's pulse gauntlets, Scorpion's costume, and the transformation belt worn by the Chameleon. Although he had died earlier that year, the police had also kept a crate of Mysterio's hologram cubes, all which were contained inside a separate case. No doubt they had planned to do research on these objects for the benefit of weapon science, but Kasady remained uninterested in any of these otherwise useful weapons and continued looking for that which belonged to him.
His eyes lit up with a glimmer of insanity as he caught sight of a large transparent tube on the other side of the room, containing a strange fluid mass with a face-like design close to the top. It looked like some kind of red blob, but the substance moved and twisted as if it were alive. In reality the matter trapped inside was actually an alien symbiote capable of bonding with hosts and influencing their actions, sometimes driving the person mad in the process, and even replacing their mind with its own consciousness.
"I'm back!" Kasady ran up to the tube and pounded against the safety glass with his fists, but the containment unit had been designed to withstand virtually any type of penetration. Growling in annoyance, he began looking around frantically in search for a solution. "Open up!" he screamed, slamming his fist into a random spot on the nearby control panel.
Although his display of anger did nothing, the tube seemed to react to his desires and slowly retracted into the ground, freeing the creature within. The symbiotic alien gravitated towards him as if drawn by his murderous instability, eliciting an insane laugh from the psychotic inmate. As the substance leapt onto his body, Cletus Kasady reached for a surgical knife on one of the lab tables, using it to slit open his own wrist as the monstrous life form fused with his body, covering every inch as the rest slithered into his bloodstream through the self-inflicted wound on his arm.
The mass murderer writhed and shook violently as the symbiote finished fusing with him, and in place of the insane man stood a much larger and more intimidating figure. His entire body was now covered with a red substance, with piercing gaze, greater height, and vastly more muscular physique making him seem like something from a nightmare. His teeth were sharp and angular, giving him the appearance of a demon, his murderous personality showing through even bonded with the alien monstrosity. Together, they were Carnage, one of the city's most frightening and deadly villains.
The villain used the symbiote's powers to mutate his arm into the shape of an axe, his insane strength easily ripping a hole into the floor above his head as he opened his passage. A red web-like substance shot out from his hand and stuck to the ceiling in the room above, allowing him to pull himself up to the next floor where several prisoners were rioting with the guards who were trying to restore order to the prison.
"Carnage has returned!" he screamed wildly, causing everyone in the vicinity to look towards him. The web-like material from his right hand shot out, ensnaring three of his fellow prisoners as he used his left arm to rip them apart.
Most of the people present fled from his wrath as the blood of his victims coated the room's walls, but the murderer's tentacle-like cords shot out and seized several escapees by the legs, dragging them back into the room so he could tear their bodies the shreds, shaping his hand into a giant blade as he decapitated his victims. The police that remained inside the building didn't even try to stop him as they fled for their lives, many of them having heard rumors about Cletus Kasady's murderous nature when amplified by the symbiote. Even Spider-Man fighting alongside several allies barely survived during one encounter with the murderous villain, and even then they had barely managed to win, only separating the alien from Kasady's body and imprisoning them both.
The murderous villain let out a sick chorus of laughter that almost sounded like two people speaking at the same before casting aside the bodies of his victims. "This is boring… Where's the challenge?" He relished in the thrill of the hunt, but at the same time seemed disappointed that it was too easy.
As if on cue, another voice sounded from the prison intercom, but it didn't sound like the dispatcher or the warden speaking. "Spider-Man's in the prison, and he brought some friends… Now's your change to get your revenge!"
Although the voice was conniving and jeering, Carnage wasn't very interested in who it was, but rather what he was saying. "Where is he?" he screamed in the hopes that the other man would hear him. When no one answered, he let out a frightening snarl and decided to begin a search of his own in the hopes that what the stranger said was true. He smashed down a nearby door with his bare hands and began to run through the hallways, using his knowledge of the prison's layout to his advantage as he began to make his escape.
He effortlessly and indiscriminately slaughtered anyone who crossed his path, not bothering to see if the people he had attacked were dead or not before continuing his rampage. Those who knew him did not bother to struggle and fled like cowards, but he was uninterested in attacking them. After smashing down several doors and traversing the maze-like hallways, the symbiotic villain reached the exit and quickly entered the yard. Seeing the villains outside, he watched them fight the heroes, two of which he recognized while he wasn't quite sure who the others were. Ignoring this little complication, Carnage slid through the shadows and waited for the right moment to strike.
Meanwhile the Sandman appeared to be winning his fight against the others, fighting all three mutants at once as he tried to suffocate them with his sandstorms. Scott fired several blasts of energy into the core of the twister in an attempt to slow him down, but his blasts passed through the elemental villain, doing no noticeable damage. Angered by his opponent's attempt to injure him, Flint Marko reformed his human body and attacked them directly, shaping his hands into a pair of hammers and pummeling Cyclops with full force.
"Leave him alone!" Jean screamed, repelling the villain with her powers.
Scott took this opportunity to shoot another beam at the enemy's solidified body, but Sandman shifted his body's shape and composition to avoid the blasts. He raised his hand to finish off the mutant, turning his fist into a giant mace, but was tackled from behind as Angel swooped down and smashed through his intangible body, forcing him to reform. Scott didn't give him the chance to rebuild his body and quickly shot him full of smaller, more focused energy blasts in order to delay the process or regeneration, but the villain willing dispersed his body and whipped up another storm, returning to his original strategy fairly quickly.
Warren flew above, silently racking his brain for a solution as he looked around for something that could stop their opponent. Although his body was virtually untouchable under normal circumstances, there had to be some kind of solution. Searching from above with his hawk-like sense of vision, the flying mutant quickly caught sight of an emergency fire hose inside of a glass case on the wall of the prison yard. When water was added to sand it became more solid, so perhaps this would also apply to their current situation.
"Use the hose!" he screamed to the others, pointing to the unit on the wall. "Sand becomes more solid when doused with water."
"Oh no you don't!" Sandman screamed, turning his body to sand once again.
Cyclops ran towards the object that Angel had pointed out but was quickly stopped as the enemy turned his attention towards the male mutant. The Sandman reassembled his body in front of the hose, forcing his three opponents into a retreat as he focused his efforts into stopping them from reaching the fire hose. While the Sandman held off the three mutants single handedly, this forced Spider-Man to combat Kraven and the Rhino all by himself.
Slipping underneath the larger man's legs, he avoided being crushed by the villain's charging attack and climbed up the nearby wall to escape. Seeing that the enemy was about to smash the wall he was standing on, the web-slinger jumped back to the building but was unable to change direction as Kraven the Hunter came crashing down on his back. The two grappled in mid-air before colliding violently with the ground, but the animalistic wild man had managed to get to safety while his opponent wasn't so lucky.
Peter Parker hit the ground and made a quick recovery, but the wild man used the opening to kick him in the face, shoving him backwards and into the Rhino's crushing grasp. The wall-crawler struggled with all of his might to escape, but the armored villain's strength was much greater than his own. Noticing his attempts to break loose, the larger man pinned down his arms and laughed triumphantly as his teammate came over to inspect the situation, both of them looking pleased that they had captured their long-time nemesis.
Kraven cracked his knuckles as he squared up to the trapped hero. "Hold him still for a minute… I want to savor the moment when I finally take the arachnid's life."
The hunter reached forward to throttle his old enemy, but to his surprise the Rhino pulled him out of range. "Who said you would be the one who gets to kill him, jungle man? The boss will pay extra to whoever offs him, so what if I wanna be the one to finish him off?"
"Nice to see I'm so popular, what with you guys fighting over me." Spider-Man attempted to kick his captor in the ribs, but if it caused him any pain he ignored it. "How's about you guys just let me go and no one gets killed?" the web-slinger replied in hushed breaths through the armored villain's chokehold.
"Shut up, bug boy!" the Rhino growled as he tightened his hold on the smaller man's neck. "I'm gonna snap your head off and present it to the Kingpin as a gift."
The wild hunter stepped forward with a hostile expression, looking even more like an animal than before. "He is my prey! I shall be the one who does the deed… Give him to me!"
Despite Kraven's orders, the armored villain continued with his attempt to crush the life out of the web-slinger, but before he could do anything else, a rope of red-colored webbing wrapped around his leg, pulling him to his knees. Spider-Man looked surprised by this sudden development, but from the direction he had been facing it was obvious that his allies were busy fighting off the Sandman. Using the distraction to his advantage, he pried himself out of the Rhino's loosened grip and spun around just in time to see Kraven the Hunter captured by another strand of webbing. Spider-Man scrambled up the nearby wall and prepared himself as he saw Carnage swinging the two villains over his head like lightweights.
"Sorry, but the honor of killing the wall-crawler belongs to me!" the monstrous murderer screamed as he tossed them both away like sacks of garbage, using a second blast of webbing to bind them to the ground.
"Oh great… not now." Spider-Man grumbled as he faced off against the symbiotic villain.
While the two web users lashed out at each other, Sandman created more miniaturized sand twisters in an attempt to finish off the mutants. Trapping Scott and Jean in a torrent of sand, he tried to suffocate them like he did with so many other people. Watching them struggle fruitlessly against his powers, the elemental villain grew to confident and did not notice what was happening behind him. Jean focused her powers on the hose, causing it to unravel and turn on in a single swift movement. A pressurized jet of water splashed Sandman from behind, making his powers less effective and distracting him long enough for the others to free themselves from his sand storms. Cyclops followed up by peppering the villain with smaller but more focused blasts, the slowed regeneration of his body making it difficult to recover as efficiently as before.
Angel had left his friends to fight in an attempt to aid Spider-Man against Carnage, but the alien symbiote proved to powerful and was now reeling both heroes in like fish on the line. Having trapped them in layers of his tentacle-like fibers sprouting from his torso, the murderous psychopath turned his arms into a pair of axes and prepared to slice them up. Before he could deliver the final blow, a beam of energy pierced his shoulder, causing him to release his victims as the red webbing was severed from his body. Spider-Man used his enhanced strength to break the binds while Angel spread his wings, both heroes distancing themselves from the deranged madman.
"Who are you supposed to be?" Cyclops addressed himself to the newcomer.
"There's no need to tell a dead man anything!" the villain screamed as he shot several more blasts of webbing from his hands.
Scott toasted the webbing with his own powers as his girlfriend blasted their enemy off his feet with a telekinetic blast, but the enemy seemed to flip around in mid-air and sent countless more attacks in their direction. Pieces of the substance incasing his body formed into spears and knives, which he shot at them with machine-like accuracy like a rain of death. The killer's deadly assault forced the two X-Men to take cover behind a row of abandoned police cars, which were instantly skewered as the strange weapons pierced them like bullets through cheap glass.
Spider-Man attempted to strike back but found himself beating a hasty retreat as he fell victim to the same attack and followed their previous example. Swinging through the air, he barely managed to avoid death as more synthetic weapons pierced the spot where he had been moments before, severing his webbing as well. The heroic wall-crawler landed beside Scott and Jean with an unceremonious plop, rubbing his head in embarrassment.
"So, you guys come here often." He replied with a cynical sense of sarcasm.
Jean Grey peaked over the car they were hiding behind, shocked to see that Angel was holding off the psychotic criminal by flying around at extreme speeds and using himself as a diversion. "Who is that crazed lunatic anyway?" she asked the masked man kneeling beside them.
The web-slinger sighed wearily. "He's a mass murdered named Cletus Kasady who bonded with an alien symbiote that grants him superhuman abilities and makes him even more insane. The alien becomes a costume and messes with the host's mind while granting them powers similar to mine, but about five times stronger. When bonded together, he calls himself Carnage."
"So basically he's a glorified nut job? Jean added with a distasteful expression.
"I don't think Angel can hold him off for much longer…" Cyclops glanced over at the battle unfolding before them before turning back to the masked hero sitting beside them. "Does this guy have a weakness we can exploit?" he asked hastily.
Spider-Man sat for a moment wracking his brain as he remembered his previous battles with Venom and Carnage, and recalled that the symbiotes could be harmed by certain extremes of temperature or noise due to the creatures' enhanced senses and overall body structure. Looking up at the male mutant. He looked as though he had been hit with sudden inspiration. "That power you have… Is it thermally based?"
Scott blinked twice behind his visor but nodded nonetheless. "You mean heat… I guess so, but what does that have anything to do with that freak."
"The alien parasite bonded with Kasady is actually weak against heat." The web-slinger rationalized. "If you can produce enough energy, there's chance we can take Carnage down from a distance without putting our necks on the line."
"All right, let's do it!" Scott began to stand, but the female psychic pushed him back down.
His girlfriend shook her head like a mother to a child. "You're still in pretty bad shape after that sand creep hammered you. You should hide here and wait until you can get a clear shot without hurting anybody."
The wall-crawler nodded in agreement. "That's sounds like the best idea we've go right now… The rest of us will distract him, and once he stops moving, you give us the word and let him have it with everything you've got."
Cyclops looked from the masked man to his girlfriend and a grim understanding seemed to pass between them. As Spider-Man swung back into the battlefield, Jean gave her boyfriend a small peck on the lips and joined the others as she ran back towards the fray. Back in the battle Carnage had outlasted his opponent and once again ensnared the flying mutant, but was dropkicked in the face by his arch nemesis before he could complete the kill. He turned to attack them but the female telepath noticed the bricks from the walls that the other villains had busted down and shot them at her opponent like bullets using her powers.
Cletus Kasady was thrown off balance by this assault, and then dive-bombed by Warren who barreled into him with full force after breaking into a tackle from several hundred feet in the air. Several more web-like appendages shot out of Carnage's body in an attempt to ensnare the other heroes, but Jean use her powers to lift several police cars and toss them at the symbiotic monstrosity. His appendages shaped themselves into axes, which he immediately fired at the incoming vehicles, shattering the metal cars into scrap with the sheer force of the impact.
While the others fought off Carnage, Spider-Man reloaded a new cartridge of web fluid into his shooter. He had specially made this batch to capture super villains and people with incredible strength, but this was the first time he was actually testing it out in the field. It was probably a bad idea to find out if it worked this way, but at the moment he was running out of options. This new type of webbing was made to be stronger and more durable than the kind he usually used, but needless to say he was about to find out.
"Is that the best you've got." He screamed, looking more entertained than frightened of his three opponents. "If you can't do any better, I'll eat you all alive!"
"Eat this!" the masked web-slinger retorted as he fired off a sample of his new invention. The new webbing expanded like a net and covered his opponent from head to toe, instantly tightening as it contracted to keep the target trapped.
"You should know by now that your little party streamers can't hold me!" Carnage replied, his arms flailing as he attempted to break the binds.
Spider-Man jumped down from his perch atop the wall. "I made this one for catching jerks like you. It's not only ten times as strong as the original stuff, it also had the ability to restrict movement by shrinking down around the target's body." Hearing the sound of ripping fibers, the masked hero hesitated slightly. "Of course, it does have its limits." He added hesitantly.
With a mighty roar, Carnage's appendages formed into a pair of blades, which he began using to slice through his bindings, but the wall-crawler matched him by firing off several more blasts in an attempt to keep the madman from escaping. Jean focused on the communications tower on top of the prison, using her powers to collapse it and guide it to land on top of Kasady. The psychopathic killer produced several more web-like appendages, which wrapped around the structure like extra hands, stopping it from crushing his body. Although he looked rather busy with his arms struggling against the layers of webbing and his webs holding back to the falling structure, the villain took a moment to laugh at the absurdity of their struggles.
"Do you bastards really think this can take me down?" Carnage asked with an insane cackle. "The chaos in this universe is something that will never disappear, and I am a living example of this. You can't stop me any more than you can stop the rain, the snow, or the lightning, because everything I do is a manifestation of mankind's true nature!"
Jean looked completely flabbergasted by his insane rant, while the flying mutant seemed indifferent, but to everyone's surprise, Spider-Man was clapping as though he found it entertaining. "Nice speech." He added sarcastically. "Too bad this fight's over…"
"Now!" Cyclops screamed as he emerged from hiding, shooting a very powerful focused beam at the enemy's torso.
Carnage let out a scream of pain as he lost his grip on the tower, causing it to fall on top of him in the process. The remaining heroes moved aside as Scott Summers closed his eyes and removed his visor, looking rather determined as he faced the murderer. "You lose!" he stated, opening his eyes and allowing the full force of his power to strike down the enemy.
The symbiotic villain screamed in agony as he felt the thermal blast wash over his body, thrashing and writhing in pain as the explosion burned his body. After a few seconds of enduring the intense pain, the alien substance began to detach itself from Kasady's body, expanding to the point where it looked like a costume too big for its wearer. The wound in his arm spewed forth as the symbiote tore through the opening to escape his bloodstream, and in a matter of seconds it had begun to peel away. Cyclops noticed this and replaced his visor so as to avoid killing the human host. Kasady fell to his knees like a broken man, but the pile of alien matter that had left him slithered into a nearby storm drain. Scott focused a blast of energy in an attempt to fry the alien, but it was gone in a matter of seconds.
"Don't leave me!" Now human once again, the murderous villain dove at the storm drain and tried to force his hand through the grate where his beloved partner had disappeared. "Come back!" he screamed, but found himself being pushed backwards by Jean's telekinesis and then ensnared by Spider-Man's webbing.
Cletus Kasady swore angrily but the web-slinger made certain to wrap some webbing around his mouth. "Well…that oughta shut him up for while." Spider-Man commented as he approached the other heroes.
The web-slinger wasn't used to working with a lot of other superheroes and seemed grateful, but he wasn't quite sure how to thank them at the moment. "Wow, this is the second time you guys saved my butt from getting kicked." He began. "If you guys hadn't been here to help out, I might not have survived."
"You never even caught our names the last time… They call me Cyclops." Scott Summers walked up to the masked man, extending a gentleman's handshake, which the masked hero wholeheartedly accepted.
"I'm Jean…" the female mutant added with a knowing smile. "I would ask for your name but from your outfit and mask it looks like you would prefer to keep that a secret."
Despite having been impaled in the shoulder by the enemy, Spider-Man grimaced underneath his mask and tried to ignore it. "Got it in one!" he replied with a pointing gesture.
Angel nodded in agreement as he stepped forward with a dismal expression. "We wear masks to avoid being discovered by the enemy and putting other people in danger… I believe I mentioned that to you guys earlier." He glanced at his guests. "Nevertheless, the criminals in this city make superheroes a necessary factor to keep them in check."
"Speaking of which, what happened to that sand guy and those other creeps we were fighting before that Carnage guy showed up?" Scott interjected with a confounded expression.
"Rhino and the hunter grabbed hold of Sandman and the Vulture and ran off while we were dealing with the psychopathic murderer." Warren replied with an apologetic look. "I'm sorry I couldn't stop them, but I was busy distracting Carnage when the others were getting away. In my defense, he would've gone after you guys instead if I hadn't kept him busy as long as I did."
"I won't speak for your friends, but I'm grateful that you gave us the time to devise a way to take that psychopath down." The web-slinger replied with a frown hidden by his mask.
Jean considered them for a moment before speaking up. "Something else has been bothering me… Why would anyone bust that lunatic out of jail anyway? He just seems way too wild and unpredictable to work for anyone but himself. I'm not an expert on this city's criminals, but something tells me that those guys we were fighting before weren't the ones who freed Carnage."
"Impressive deduction…" Spider-Man folded his arms, sounding a little impressed. "I was actually thinking the same thing a second ago. Nobody in their right mind would have let Carnage go, seeing how he would kill them before hunting for new victims."
"Speaking of which I saw several people running from the prison." Angel added in with a note of concern. "I had a feeling that some of them were prisoners, but was too concerned with the super-powered weirdoes to worry about it at the time. Something tells me that there might've been something else going on here tonight that we were unaware of until now."
"Well that's a comforting thought." The web-slinger replied sarcastically.
Cyclops pushed back his hair, wiping the sweat from his brow. "Hearing all this just makes me realize how dangerous this city is. It makes me happy that I don't come through here very often."
Spider-Man shrugged in response. "That actually depends on where you go, but I do understand where you're coming from. Hell seems to have broken loose in the last few days, ever since that metal manipulating freak and his super powered goons kicked my butt a few nights ago."
"You saw Magneto!" Jean interjected, looking as though she had just been doused with a bucket of water.
"So that's what helmet-head calls himself." The wall-crawler exclaimed with a slightly bitter tone. "Since I helped you guys, maybe you can help me out a little bit. Care to tell me why this guy broke into a museum and didn't even take the more valuable artifacts. He didn't even seem to want to kill me after I thrashed his sidekicks. In this city, it just didn't seem natural either."
The female psychic inhaled deeply before addressing the masked hero. "Magneto is a mutant extremist who commits acts of terrorism, and possibly one of the most powerful mutants alive. He's actually the main reason why we came to this city."
The web-slinger let out a soft groan, scratching the back of his head to ease the pain. "I never met a guy who could control anything made out of metal before so I guess he caught me off-guard. I'm sorry that I can't tell you more about what he was up to right now."
Seconds later a siren went off, alerting the heroes to the presence coming police cars. Spider-Man jumped onto the nearest wall and climbed up the side, standing up when he reached the top. "Thanks again… I owe you guys for this one!" he called out before attaching his webbing to a nearby building and swinging off into the night.
Angel spread his wings and took flight. "I suggest you guys get out of here before the cops show up and let them handle the rest of this mess." He warned before flying off.
Jean followed his example and grabbed Scott before fleeing from the area, leaving behind an angry-looking psychopath thrashing on the ground as the police pulled onto the scene. The police inspected the scene and managed to apprehend several of the criminals, but noticed that in addition to the Carnage symbiote, several weapons were also missing from the crime lab and evidence room, leading them to the conclusion that the villains had taken their devices back. Several of the convicts were recaptured, but several of the more dangerous ones had escaped in the confusion during the riot.
A safe distance from the prison, an orange-robed figure standing atop a winged rocket pack scowled in annoyance as he saw the heroes escape unharmed, looking slightly disappointed by the outcome, he crushed the remote in his hand. He began to move away when the communicator on his hip began to vibrate, forcing him to address the situation. Picking up the phone-like device, he flipped the face open and spoke.
"Yeah, what is it?" he answered, sounding rather irritated by this sudden interruption. The Hobgoblin let out a sick laugh in response to this question. "Madame Hydra, what a pleasant surprise." He answered with note of sarcasm.
"Mr. Macendale, have you completed the mission we gave you?" A female voice questioned from the other end.
"If you meant freeing those common criminals from jail, then the answer is yes. I even let Carnage go as you specifically requested." The masked villain replied. "The only problem is that there were some obstacles we did not expect. Spider-Man and three others defeated the symbiote and managed to prevent Kasady from escaping into the city."
Madame Hydra paused for a moment before answering. "The details are of little concern to me, so long as the plan was a success."
Hobgoblin laughed again, a habit that nauseated his employer to no end. "What I don't get is what benefit you could possibly gain by letting them loose in the city. Just what are you playing at what this bone-brained scheme?"
"While I see no reason to explain the plans to you, the Kingpin stole something important from me, and possesses some specific files that could useful to the HYDRA organization." Viper replied in an attempt to simplify matters. "I tasked Silvermane with retrieving this information in exchange for a position as the head of our North American Branch."
"Is that all? You're planning on using that old relic to do your dirty work while the convicts that escaped from jail serve as a diversion. That way, the city's heroes are too busy dealing with them to figure out what's really going on." The masked villain deduced out loud, the thoughtful expression he wore changing into an evil grin. "I love it… The fat man doesn't even know you're the one pulling the strings."
Madame Hydra also smirked in response. "Precisely!" she replied with a note of amusement.
The Hobgoblin looked slightly confused. "What role do you want me to play in this?"
"Just return to the New York HYDRA terminal and await further orders." She replied in a stern tone. "When I require your services again, you will be contacted."
"Over and out…" the flying villain replied with a sense of malice, his smile widening as he hung up on the green-clad woman. Pocketing his phone, the villain increased the speed of his goblin glider, his maniacal laughter echoing into the night as he vanished into the darkness.
Note to Readers: Hope you guys liked his chapter. It was a bit longer than most so far, probably due to the battle scenes. Yeah not much development here, but I figured it was time to add some more action. I'll probably bring the story back to the institute next chapter, seeing how I've been focusing on what's going on in Manhattan for a while now. Sorry if there were any spelling or grammar errors, but it's usually late when I write these chapters for my story.
The lack of support for my story is a bit of a downer, so I hope you guys will REVIEW. At times like this I could use some motivation to keep writing the story. I welcome comments, compliments, critiques, criticism, or even story ideas. If you guys liked a particular scene, tell me so I can play off of it in the future, or use it as an example of as a source of inspiration for future chapters.