Spider-Man and Power Girl

Chapter 16: Annihilus

As soon as Captain America said those words that's when the chaos started. The battled quickly broke out as Avengers and Annihilus' forces clashed. The entire large room was a free for all but while the creatures had the numbers, the Avengers had teamwork. They would cover each other's backs, help out another when they needed it or called for it, they would move through the horde like a well-oiled machine.

Even Power Girl was finding herself getting into the flow of things, she had experience working with teams in the past so while she wasn't used to working with the Avengers, she was able to slip into the team dynamic. Even with her powers not at full power or even fully stable she was still holding her own and helping out where she could. She wasn't sure what this Annihilus could do, so she was leaving him to the more experienced members if she could.

The creatures were proving to be an annoyance as usual.

There was a hallway off to the side that seemed to open up and let in more and more of the creatures. She wasn't sure if that was the main hallway or maybe it was leading to some kind of barracks or incubation chamber or something. She tried using her x-ray vision to look but got heat vision instead. She burned through a few of the cyborg monstrosities glad none of her teammates had been there.

"Okay, no x-ray vision until I'm out of this place," She sighed which sent a small breath of frost out. "Or apparently breath heavily as well."

She saw Thor and Annihilus fighting, his hammer would clash with his rod as the impacts shook the room and wild and random powerful sparks of energy would fly off the impacts.

Her view was blocked as several of the larger brute types came at her. Well, she was eager to accept their challenge as she rushed in with her speed, which was faster than she wanted to and slammed into one of the brutes hard enough to send it flying. The other two grabbed her arms but she brought them together to slam them into each other.

Peter was trying to keep ahead of the horde as he was calling it in his mind. For every one of the cybernetic bug creatures they took out more seemed to come. He knew they couldn't keep this up as he jumped over a few of the fighters, dodged in mid air to avoid one of the flyers as she landed to the entry point where they were coming out of and started to web up the door.

"Man, I really hope this holds them off," Peter muttered, he was also wishing he brought a pair of his enhanced webbing that he used for stronger opponents. He could feel more secure about the stopgap measure he was making.

"Reed and the others are better be getting close to finishing whatever they are doing," She-Hulk said taking one of the slim fighters and throwing it at a flyer in midair. "Because I have no idea how many more of these things he's made to throw at us."

"I have full confidence in Reed," Steve caught his shield on its return from having bounced off several enemies.

"Oh, I know he'll do it," she stated punching another minion. "I just wish he would hurry up."

While she had been an FF member to replace Ben for a bit, she got to know the superhero family and if anyone could figure out an alien system it was Reed.

"Anyone got comms with them?" Hawkeye asked them in the middle of a fight close by.

"FF you there?" Iron Man was heard asking the communications device he had on his armor. "How close are you guys to making this place light up?"

With the Fantastic Four they were knee deep in it. Sue was holding them off Reed and giving help where it was needed but with all the creatures pounding against her shield it was starting to task her. She had to keep her concentration up as she could feel the strain on her. Reaching up to her communicator she responded to Tony's question.

"We're still working on it, Reed?" She asked her husband.

"I think I have it translated, I'm just trying to figure out the operating system and how the ship's systems are set up." He called out.

"It's going to take a bit more time," she told him.

"I bet Doom would have had it figured out by now." Tony joked.

"Now that's uncalled for," Reed spoke up hearing that while still working.

"Tell old Bucket Head if he thinks he could have done better, then he should have gotten his mug down here instead!" Ben yelled out smashing up more of Annihilus' monstrosities as Johnny was trying to make a ring of fire around his sister's shield to help keep the strain off.

Back with the Avengers everyone was scrambling as the webbed off corridor was cut open from the other side and more monsters were slowly making their way back in. Karen then saw that Annihilus had finally managed to knocked Thor back, the golden rod hit the Asgardian sending the large man flying back as several members of the Avengers had to dodge out of the way.

She saw this as and opening as she flew at the large bug like creature, cocking her fist back and slammed it forward.

To her surprise Annihilus had quicker reflexes than she thought who caught her fist. He did move back an inch as his feet scrapped the floor, but he was a lot stronger than he appeared to be, that or she was also a little weaker than she figured. She didn't have time to think as the cosmic rod then whacked her across the face sending her flying. She smashed into a wall as her body dented it.

"Okay, ow," She saw stars and suddenly the taste of copper. She wiped her face and saw the red blood on her glove. Checking she saw a small trail of blood had been knocked out of her nose. Her body was still healing fast, so it didn't last for long, but it was the first time in awhile something made her bleed.

"I hate this place," she muttered wiping her face.

"Hey, you okay?" Spider-Man seeing her wipe the blood off as he was trying to keep dodging as best he could nearby.

"I've had worse," He called out to him.

"You think you can defeat me?" Annihilus challenged out to them all. "I shall not be stopped!"

"Oh yeah? Stop this," Power Girl muttered, she knew that her powers were acting strange in this reality, so she tried to activate both x-ray and heat vision. It was rare for her to do both, but it could easily be done and since she didn't know which one might activate, doing both would do the job. She could see past his armor and exoskeleton as there was a flash of her heat beans hitting him in the chest.

Since she was told he could just revive himself after death she didn't have to worry about holding back, which she was thankful for because going all out might be the only way she could be certain she could do damage.

He was a tough bug person though as he took the blast but held up the rod which to her surprise deflected her beams. She quickly turned them off before he tried to direct them at on of her allies or something. She could see the scorch marks on his purple armor and the look he gave her could melt steel.

He roared in challenge as he flew at her, she did the same meeting the challenge as she dodged his fist to go for a left hook to his face. She didn't see where the rod was, but she suddenly felt a blast of energy from it hit her in the stomach knocking her back.

She could feel the pain from the blast, something she wasn't used to but at least it didn't any real damage. Unfortunately, in that split second, she was refocusing he took advantage to slam the rod against the side of her head. She was pretty sure the rod wasn't magical but whatever powered it, now that hurt. Her head twisted with the blow, but she had been in enough fights to get enough experience with hand-to-hand fighting.

Taking some lessons from people like Black Canary helped too.

She grabbed his wrist that held the rod and with her other slammed it into his face. There was a huge impact sound as she wasn't holding back, the exoskeleton of his face cracked form the blow as his head flew back. She twisted his wrist to force him to drop the rod as the pain made him go to one knee. He tried to throw a punch with his free hand, but she caught that one.

"You will never be able to defeat me! Death has no meaning for a superior being like myself! I shall simply-"

Kara cut him off. "You can shut up now."

Taking a deep breath, she blew out as freezing air encased the Negative Zone villain as he cried out from the cold, how it numbed and burned from the intensity of it all. Power Girl had hoped that she could have at least frozen him solid but once again her powers weren't at full power. Still, she could work with this as she caught, She-Hulk not far away and Thor was back up and helping Iron Man with the flyers.

"She-Hulk, serves up!" She called out throwing the frosty villain at the tall green gamma woman.

Jen saw it and had an idea of what she had in mind. "Thor, the ball is yours!"

She did an upper cut that launched Annihilus up into the air. Thor seeing him had his hammer swinging around as thunder bolts danced off it.

"Have at the, fiend!" He yelled hitting him with his enchanted hammer. Annihilus slammed not only into the deck of the ship but through it, more than a few decks from the sound of it too.

"How far down did you send him?" Iron Man asked.

"If not in Helheim, then not far enough," the thunder god responded.

Suddenly there was a rocking sensation and soon a muffled boom followed by flashing lights and sirens that screeched out in an almost nails on chalkboard fashion.

"Did we do that?" Peter asked wondering if the villain hit anything on the way through the ship.

"Guys, you might want to get back to the ship, and I mean fast!" Johnny's voice called over the communicators.

"Sounds like Reed and the others did their job," Captain America stated. "We need to quickest way out of here!"

"Well, the ship is directly in that direction but there's no direct path," Tony pointed in a direction as the map he was looking at in his HUD wasn't showing him an easy way back. The place had too many twists and turns.

"Then how about we make one?" Power Girl against used both x-ray and heat vision to try and cut a way through while the others were still fighting off what was left of the cybernetic bug army.

"Good job," Steve said throwing his shield as it sailed through the air, bouncing off four other creatures before returning to his hand. Steve pressed the small communicator in his ear under his mask. "Reed, can you get back to the ship in time?"

"Ben has that covered," Reed spoke as the sounds of smashing and thunderous footsteps were heard.

"Well sounds like they got it covered, let's blow this popsicle stand," Peter landed next to the super solider.

"Didn't think people still used that," Steve grinned.

"Eh, I like the classics," Peter shrugged humorously.

Both teamed ended up carving a straight path since they didn't have to worry about stealth or the safety of the ship. The Fantastic Four have made it back to the ship first just as the Avengers were turning a corner.

"Better hurry up, not sure how much more this ship will last!" Ben yelled out from the open doorway.

"No need to tell us twice," Peter called back as the Avengers got in. When the last one got in, Ben closed the hatch and yelled out to Reed to get out of there as fast as possible. Reed unlocked the ship and flew off as quickly as possible. He tried to make the explosion a delayed on and by his calculations they should have a few more moments but he was low balling the time just to be on the safe side.

There were unknown factors into every calculation and so he tended to give himself a few minutes on either side normally. He just wasn't sure how powerful the core was, he hadn't had time to fully analyze it so he had put in his best guess on how big the explosion would be.

Inside the ship a figure was pulling himself out of the hole, Annihilus growled out in hatred as he looked to see the remains of his forces. His ears heard the alerts as he flew up to the control room. The drones he created weren't very creative and those that stuck to their assignments were blindly following the simple commands, so they had no way to fix whatever problem was going on.

"Out of my way!" He threw a drone aside looking at the computer readouts. His eyes widened as the engine core was in the process of overloading. He tried to undo whatever was done but the core was too far gone. Just then the ship was rocked one more time as the core exploded.

He had just enough time to roar out in rage before the explosion engulfed him. The ship exploded sending pieces across the Negative Zone, including a small golden rod that flew through the space.

The Avengers and Fantastic Four had just cleared the ship when the explosion sent the little vessel tumbling. Not everyone had time to find a seat and strap in when the ship was rocked, and the occupants were thrown around. After Reed was able to stabilize the ship did Sue looked behind her to check on everyone.

"Everyone okay?" Sue asked hoping no one was injured from there.

Peter felt a bit of pain from his back and the back of his head. He had been caught off guard and hadn't been able to stock to the floor with his feet, plus he was sure something or someone had slammed into him. As the pain subsided, he noticed he was being smothered by something. There was definitely someone on top of him now, he was sure of it he could feel them over his body.

"Mhose mon me?" His muffled voice called out.

"Oh sorry!" It was Power Girl because of course it had to me. She pushed herself up and the first thing he saw was cleavage.

His eyes widened as he suddenly realized what exactly had been smothering him. Her face was red as she realized what happened, but she tried to compose herself as she got off him and offered a hand to help him up.

"Thanks," Peter said letting her offer the help. Trying very hard and failing to not think what just happened. Okay sure he was in a dry spell and wasn't seeing anyone, which meant that he kind of missed the close contact you get in a relationship. It also didn't help that Kara was a very beautiful women with some…impressive assets.

'She's your friend Peter, come on it was just an accident,' he thought to himself. 'Just don't think about it, don't think how they felt, how her skintight costume leaves nothing to the imagination. Then again, most costumes do that, but she wears it so well-okay stop! Down!'

He took a seat as he really hoped it was a short ride back, he could use a shower, maybe a cold one.

"Lucky bastard," Johnny muttered having seen what happened. Only to get a slight tap to the side of the head by Jen.

"Grow up Johnny," she told him.

"Ow, hey that hurts." He said rubbing the spot.

"You know I could have hit you a lot harder than that right?" She-Hulk asked him with a raised eyebrow.

"Yeah, but still," Johnny complained.

"Everyone should strap in," Cap said as he wanted to make sure they were ready for any more bumpy rides.

As they all took their seats Power Girl was the closest to Spider-Man and he had the only real empty seat, so she took it.

'Great going Kara,' she thought. 'First friend you have, and you shoved your breasts into his face. Can't get anymore awkward than that, no wait there are worst ways. At least he didn't try to cop a feel not that he would.'

She had known him well enough to know that he wasn't a creep, not that anyone here would do that. Even the immature Johnny knew better than to do something like that but when you looked like she did sometimes you'd attract the wrong type of attention. Although Spider-man was keeping his eyes forward she internally sighed, this was going to be a long trip home.

"So, you think green an ugly survived dat?" Ben asked form his extra-large seat.

"You know him, he'll be back," Johnny shrugged it off knowing either way they would see him again.

"Still, at least we stopped his invasions before he could really get started," Captain America stated. "We did a good job today we should be proud of that."

Eventually they arrived back in the Baxter Building as Karen started to feel better the moment they came out of the portal. She sighed in relief as things were slowly starting to feel normal again.

"Feeling better?" Peter asked her seeing her in a bit more relaxed state, saying the first thing to her since the little incident earlier.

"Much, thanks," she smiled glad to be finally out of there. "Just so you know, I really don't like the Negative Zone."

"We don't make a habit of going there," Iron Man's lighthearted voice was heard behind the mask. "It's more of a Fantastic Four thing."

"Well, no offense to them but if they can keep me out of any adventures in there, I would be happy for it." She stood up as everyone was making their way to the exit.

"It is fascinating how your body reacts to the Negative Zone," Reed stated rubbing his chin as his mind was going a thousand miles a minute. "I wonder if it's linked to your ability to take in solar radiation or maybe its genetic? Would you care to stay for a bit so I can run some tests?"

Power Girl normally would be happy to help but while she was feeling better, she was also feeling tired. She needed a recharge and just wanted to go home and have a nice sleep.

"Sorry Reed but I really want to just get home and crash." She explained.

"Very well, rest is important." Reed nodded in understanding.

"What time is it anyway?" Peter asked.

Iron Man who had a clock on his HUD looked at it. "Huh, well it's either extremely late or extremely early depending on how you want to look at it."

"Oh man I better get home too," Peter sighed he had a big day tomorrow, well today actually. There was a project he promised to help with, and he preferred not to have to drown himself in coffee to stay semi-functional.

"I think that's for the best," She-Hulk stretched out. "It's been a day."

"Yes, but on that should be remembered in song," Thor jovially grinned happy to show Annihilus the folly to angering Asgard. He hoped it would serve as a reminder to the Negative Zone Warlord to never again to dare enter this home domain.

Everyone said their goodbyes and started to split up glad for another good day on the job and stopping Annihilus and his invasions into their world.

Kara flew directly to her apartment as the sun was just coming up. She stopped for a bit and closed her eyes as she felt the sun's rays on her skin. She started to feel a lot better as her body took in the solar radiation and felt her body start to rejuvenate.

At lease she learned that Negative Zone would affect her now. So that was something good to know in case she had to go back there, which she hoped she never did or at least not anytime soon. With a few minutes to enjoy the sun she opened her eyes and continued on her journey. Flying to the skylight in her apartment she quickly opened it and closed it behind her as she floated down to the bedroom.

"What a day," She pulled off the uniform and looked at it. It was still intact, but it certainly needed a wash. "Thank Rao for unstable molecules."

A fight like that normally would have left her original costumes ripped or burnt in several spots. This looked like it was just dirty (which it was) it really did show up on the white. The golden pauldron on the shoulder was dented. She pressed it little to try and get it the metal groaning from being forced out, but it still looked off and not as smooth as it originally had been.

"I'll fix it later," she sighed throwing it into the bottom of the closet. "Maybe I should ditch it, go back to one of my earlier costumes?"

Her first costume had two little clasps for her cape on either side, then there was the one with the just the one clasp over her left shoulder like the pauldron one she was currently wearing. Maybe go back to that design? Or just ditch them entirely? Something to think about. She was certainly not going back to that red, white and blue outfits with the diamond cut out in the chest area, what had she been thinking with that?

Captain America can pull off the flag look, but the design just hadn't been working for her. The yellow and gold outfit was also out, too many bad memories back when she was lied to about being some lost member of Atlantis.

'I really should have seen through that, but Atlantis is real, well at least in my world and here too apparently.' She mused her past was a royal mess I her mind given she had literally two sets of memories dancing around in her head. Her original reality and then her post Crisis reality were blended together that it made remembering things at times complicated.

"How the hell did Donna deal with this?" She wondered remembering Diana's sister Donna Troy who apparently also had similar issues to herself. "I really should have talked with her when I had the chance."

Karen felt the all too familiar sense of depression hitting her thinking about her lost world(s). You'd think there would be time for everything and then suddenly all that time you thought you had was just gone in an instant.

Throwing the costume parts into the hamper for cleaning later she had another thought.

'Maybe I should think about updating the costume? I mean new world, new life, a new start?' She wasn't sure what to do with it, well she could think on it later.

She yawned feeling tired as she wasn't fully recharged yet by the sun and needed some much-needed rest.

She walked to her bed as she flopped face first down onto it in just her underwear, not bothering with any sleepwear. The whole day had left her feeling tired, something that was a rarity for Kryptonians under a yellow sun. Granted she still needed sleep, but she could normally go without for a lot longer than a human without it.

She had just finally relaxed and could feel herself falling asleep when her alarm suddenly sounded making her jump in bed. She looked at the time and scowled at it wondering why it went off and then her face fell as she remembered what day it was.

She forgot that she still had to go to work this morning.

Karen just groaned into her pillow.

TBC…

Sorry for the long wait, actions scenes can take me a while to do and a few other things IRL I've been dealing with.