Super Science
Ch. 130: Retribution
One day, in an American hospital, a woman with short blonde hair lay peacefully in an ICU bed. Her face was still, almost lifeless, until she began to twitch and stir as if waking from an unpleasant dream. Her twitching became more and more violent until she was practically shaking her bed! Finally, she stopped and stood still for several seconds before her eyes shot wide open, each one glowing a strange white color.
Meanwhile, in another part of the hospital, a young nurse was typing away at a computer when a tall, well-built blonde man, dressed in casual jeans and holding a bouquet of flowers, walked through the automatic sliding doors.
He walked up to the desk, where the nurse immediately recognized him and happily chirped, "Oh! Captain America, are you here to visit Miss Danvers?"
The man, Captain America, nods his head and asks, "I am. Are there any new revelations?"
The nurse solemnly shook her head and said, "I'm afraid not. I have her readings here, and…that's strange." suddenly, she paused as she looked at a nearby computer screen, her face having concern and confusion on it.
Captain America noticed this and inquired, "What?"
"Maybe one of the machines has a bug," the nurse said out of nowhere, jumping from her seat and marching briskly to the ICU, followed closely by America's number-one hero.
The nurse quickly walked down the hallways to the ICU. She entered the room that held the woman in question, and Captain America stood outside to wait. Suddenly, a sharp gasp exited from the nurse, and the captain ran in while dropping the flowers.
"Nurse? What's wrong?!" Captain America exclaimed, thinking she was in trouble.
Just as fast as his sense of duty kicked in, so too did his shock. In front of him was a destroyed hospital bed and equipment, with a large hope on the roof.
The nurse, who was half against the wall in shock, could only say, "She's…gone."
"Oh no." was all Captain America could say as his blood ran ice cold.
Meanwhile, in the N.I.P. facility, Hankoyo was in one of the hallways with a very angry expression on his face as his head tentacles hissed and writhed like snakes. In his hand was a wad of long black hair, and attached to that hair was a very scared and meek-looking Quelaag. Despite the man-spider being far larger, stronger, and more imposing than the much smaller man, Hankoyo manhandles him like a small child.
"What do you mean, you have a new sister! When were you going to tell me!?" Hankoyo yells at the spider.
Quelaag practically sobbed in fear and regret as he begged, "I'm sorry, Lord Hankoyo. Don't be mad! I was just so busy!"
Hankoyo yanked harder to the hair and yelled, "Busy, my fifth tentacle! You've just been hunting the remaining criminals on Pacifica and gooning over Ungoliant."
"Worship and gooning are two different things," Quelaag argued all before Hankoyo divulged into a hysterical screaming rant.
At the same time, Egon was walking down the same hallway with Izuku. He went on to explain what had happened in Izuku's absence, holding off on one particular part that he was saving for last.
Once he brought him down this hallway, they were met halfway by a familiar face. One that Egon introduced, "And I'm sure you know who this is, Izuku."
Izuku immediately recognized the person walking toward them and squealed with excitement: "Oh, my God! Your Lady Nagat! I'm such a big fan!"
"And she's our newest bodyguard," Egon adds, making Izuku fanboy squeal again.
Nagat smiles at the excited green boy and suddenly exclaims, "It's always nice to meet a-shit!" as she spots Quelaag in the other hallway.
Without missing a beat, Nagat ducks into a roll activates her quirk, and shoots off the top section of the man-spider head. Blood and brain matter go flying as Hankoyo gets covered in the viscera before jumping away with the remnants of the man's hair in his hand.
After uncurling himself from his body, Egon shouts at the woman, "Dammit Nagat! That thing is one of our assets!"
Quelaag's head begins to reform in seconds; with his mouth still untouched, Quelaag says, "There is only one person I know in this shit hole world that would take one look at me, and their first reaction would be to take a shot. Nagat, how the hell are you?"
Nagat put her quirk away and exclaimed to Egon, "Why is that thing here?!"
"I called him for questioning, but damn, I never knew your regeneration was this powerful." Hankoyo was the one to answer as he cleaned himself off with disinfecting wipes.
"All thanks to Lady Ungoliant," Quelaag adds with a whimsical tone.
Nagat looks to Egon for an answer, and the man explains, "He was kind of an accident, and seeing as we had a problem, he was the solution."
"Innocent people are a problem?" Nagat argued back.
Pushing her back, Egon tells her, "They were death row and life sentence inmates. Even if we did bring them back, what did you want us to do? Release them back into society. The death row inmates would have been killed, and I'm sure the government would silently snuff out the life sentence prisoners." Nagat looked like she wanted to argue but ultimately couldn't, as she knew his words were true. Seeing her conflicting emotions, Egon tried to assure her, "I'm sorry, Nagat; I know it's not ideal, but it's what we could do at the moment."
Quelaag happily inputs, "You'll be happy to hear that all the humans are officially wiped off Pacifica."
"No, it doesn't!" nearly everyone shouts at the spider.
"That's great. No really! That's perfect! NOW, WHY DON'T YOU TELL ME WHY THERE'S ANOTHER OF YOU RUNNING AROUND!?" Hankoyo yells at the half-creature while pulling on his cheek.
"Please, Lord Hankoyo, I was getting to that," Quelaag exclaimed in a plea for release.
Just before he could open his mouth to explain, a huge explosion rocked the building, catching everyone off guard.
After the shaking settled, Egon quickly said to the group, "We'll discuss this later. First, let's see who's attacking us this time."
Everybody nods in agreement and runs to where the explosion hits. Izuku, Egon, and Hankoyo grab emergency power guns from a hidden compartment and run down the hallway with their newest bodyguard and the giant man spider.
Meanwhile, in the N.I.P. break room, several people were standing or sitting around, trying to calm down after another stressful day of trying to bring things back to order. A sense of lingering calm hung in the air, but not for long, as an explosion hit the roof and caused it to fall in! Dust and debris choked out any visibility as everyone momentarily panicked.
As soon as the air cleared a bit, Rogue, who was the only bodyguard taking a break, got up and began to check up on everyone present.
"Is everyone alright?" she asked while helping several frazzled people to their feet and out of the room. Looking around, she asked in shock, "What is the name of sweet Mississippi that just crashed through?"
"Hello, Rogue." came a female voice that was all too familiar to Rouge's ears.
Freezing in place as a cold sweat broke out, Rouge asked before turning around, "Is that? No, it couldn't be…." but once she did turn to the mystery person, her tears were confirmed as she said, "Ms Marvel."
Ms. Marvel was almost as if she remembered her from the last time they met. She had the same athletic build, long blond hair, and blue eyes but a different suit. Instead of the black jumper, she wore a red sash, a yellow lightning bolt across her chest, and a black mask. Now, she wore a full-body suit made of what looked like leather armor, colored red and blue, without the mask.
"So you finally cared enough to know my name, even after you stole my life!" Ms Marvel yelled before attacking.
Rogue nearly had a moment to block the attack, instead taking it head-on as Ms. Marvel punched with all her might. Rouge was manhandled all over the facility, being punched through concrete walls as Ms Marvel enhanced her blows with energy projectiles! Eventually, Rouge was blasted into a small testing chamber where she lay sprawled out on the ground.
Ms. Marvel floated into the open room, her hair blowing behind her. She slowly came up to the downed woman with a terrifying look on her face and ranted aloud, "But I'm not Ms Marvel anymore! Ms. Marvel was a weak patriarchal conforming name given to me by the sexist pigs that run the country! I am Captain Marvel! And I'm going to get back my pound of flesh from you."
At this point, Rouge had managed to regain consciousness and control over her body as she sat up just enough to look at the furious woman in the face and begged, "Carol, stop, please! I did care enough to know your name and your story after what I did!" Captain Marvel stopped, initially shocked, and Rouge continued to tell her, "After that day when I held you long enough to copy your powers full time and a fragment of your mind, I was horrified. It might have led me to see a dark truth finally, but it came at the cost of my life. From that day onwards, I have never been more sorry for the wrong I committed. I knew what I was doing, and it was wrong; I'm sorry, Carol, I truly am."
Captain Marvel seemed to regard her words, looking down and away in thought as Rouge took the opportunity to drive the point home as she tried to assure her, "But now you're back, honey. You can restart your life. Not much time has passed, you can-."
"No." Captain Marvel cut her off before suddenly grabbing her around the throat and holding her up. Looking at her dead in the eyes as her own glowed with raw power, Captain Marvel said, "It won't be over till I say it's over."
Just before the furious woman could snap Rouge's neck, three power energy blasts hit the flying woman in the head, back, and arm, causing her to drop Rouge! Although the blasts were powerful, Captain Marvel still stood and whipped her head to whoever blasted her. There, she saw Egon, Izuku, and Hankoyo all pointing smoking power guns at the woman while Nagat and Quelaag stood by their sides with their own weapons drawn and ready to attack.
"Stand down now, Ms Marble head," Egon commanded her.
"Good one." Hankoyo snickered.
"I thought her name was Ms Marvel?" Nagat questions.
"Well, it's a marvel she still has a hero's license," Izuku adds.
"That's also a good one." Hankoyo snickered again.
"She won't have any kind of license after today," said Egon in an irritated tone.
"And who the hell are you freaks?!" Captain Marvel demanded.
"Well, isn't she charming?" Nagat said under her breath.
Turning her ire to Egon, the woman yelled in demand, "Who are you, a self-righteous idiocratic pig, to tell me, a strong, independent woman to do! Do you think that just because you're a man in your toxic male society of patriarchy, you can give me orders?! Teaching your vile ooze to the impressionable child who should be ashamed of being born into this life the way he is, the other brainwashed red-pilled woman you have under your spell, but at least you have respect for the spider woman to allow her to show her true self and not be ashamed of her bare breasts."
Quelaag blinked at her a few times before saying, "Uh, I'm a guy."
Captain Marvel paused for a moment before divulging into near hysterics, "Of course, a guy like you comes out and about with his shirt off to flex and peacock around so you can flirt with the ladies. Give me a break! Everyone knows your toxic traits are completely unlikable."
Everybody was more than confused by her constant mood shifts, and Quelaag turned to the group, where he stated, "And you guys say I'm a head case."
Ignoring every piece of whatever that slithered out of her mouth, Egon replied back with increased aggravation, "And I'd say I have a lot of rights, considering you just broke into my facility, destroyed my property, and attacked my employee!"
"You have no idea what she did to me! What she took from me! Do you even realize what she is?!" Captain Marvel demanded in question.
Egon nods affirmatively and states proudly, "I do, and that's why I gave her a chance to redeem herself. And so far, she has. The record of her transgressions is scrubbed clean, but you, on the other hand, are adding them up. So stand down now while you still have a chance."
Hearing this, Rouge can't help but smile at the man. After she's able to speak again, Rouge pleads with the blond woman, "Please, Carlo, you can make better decisions."
Captain Marvel shakes her head rapidly and shouts to all of them, "No. I know I'm right; I'm always right! I'm the strongest hero there is! I will have it my way or be paid to reprimand me!"
The captain begins to charge up another energy attack at Rouge, but before she can, Quelaag shoots a burning web at the woman and hooks her to the wall.
Quelaag marches in, lava scythe at the ready, and proclaims in ecstasy, "Oh, Blah blah blah! Let's cut the talk and jump straight to the fun part!"
Just as he raises his weapon to strike the woman, she suddenly breaks free of her restraint and blasts the man spider with the full force of her power, creating a beam of energy that goes down the middle of his body.
The two half stay heated as Quelaag says in strained surprise, "Damn, you're tougher than I thought." all before his body is split into two halves, vertically, both parts falling to the floor.
"Quelaag!" Hankoyo shouts in terror, only for the woman to put her eyes on him. Hankoyo freaked out and exclaimed while firing his weapon, "Oh crap."
But Captain Marvel dodges the attack and blasts him with an energy blast that sends him flying! Next was Nagat, who managed to land several shots at the woman but only managed to cut her skin. Marvel tried to speed-blitz her, but Nagat used Air Walk to escape. Once she was on a higher plane, she used her semi-automatic function, but Marvel put up an energy shield that blocked the attack. From there, she made her energy explode in a flash that blinded Nagat, who was quickly grabbed by Marvel and thrown with high force.
Not thinking in the moment, Egon shouted as he ran to the thrown woman, "Nagat! I gotcha!"
Egon did catch her but at the cost of both being flung across the room and crashing into a wall!
"Egon! Lady Nagat!" Izuku shouted in concern, only to have his attention grabbed as Marvel floated menacingly down to him.
Izuku tried to blast her a few times with his gun, but Marvel blocked or reflexed the attacks with her own. When Izuku hit her with a constant beam, she met it on her own and continued to advance. Eventually, the woman got tired of this and overpowered the weapon, causing it to fry in Izuku's hands.
As he dropped the weapon, he backed away from the threatening woman, telling her, "Stay back, you feminazi wacko!"
But Marvel quickly grabbed him up in one hand and charged up a power energy blast in the other, ready to send it straight through him.
"Carol, stop! This isn't you, honey!" Rouge tried to seek reason with the woman.
But the face on Marvel told Rouge all she needed to know as she sneered, "It is now. You took so much from me; now I'll take everything from you!"
Just as Marvel turned back to finish Izuku off, Rouge finally finished her internal battle and yelled while flying towards her in a rage, "NO!"
Then, in one swift motion, Rouge snapped Izuku out of Marvel's grip and punched her away from him! Then, with all her speed and strength, she punched Marvel all over the small room before punching her straight into the air! From there, she wailed at the blond woman over and over until they were hundreds of feet above the sky! Marvel finally managed to get a hold of herself and fought back, countering and trying to punch back! But no matter what, Rouge took the blows like a champ and gave it back tenfold!
As Rouge wailed at her, she ranted aloud, "I admitted my faults. I hurt you, and I regretted it. I saw what I did, and I decided to change! I decided to change for you, Carol! I decided to be a hero like you! I decided to do better for you! And now that you are back, you do this!"
Then, with one swift movement, she used both her hands to hit Marvel straight to the ground! Marvel precomposed herself long before hitting the ground and began to blast a barrage of energy at Rouge, who flew at top speed to avoid them.
As she flew around, Rouge shouted at the woman, "Now you make me wonder why I even bothered to be better."
Marvel screamed in anger, continuing to try to blast her as she yelled, "I'll never stop! I'll come back! Always! Until you and your friends are dead!"
Rouge stopped mid-flight as she punched an energy shot and, with a dark expression on her face, said in a threatening tone, "Then you leave me with no choice!"
With one swift motion, Rouge zoomed down towards Marvel, hands out, ready to grab! Marvel immediately knew what she was doing, and instead of trying to blast her as she got closer, she panicked as she fell from the sky to escape, screaming as Rouge closed in, "AH! No! No! I won't go back into a coma! I won't!"
Rouge quickly caught up, grabbed her face, and brought it close as she whispered, "Gonight suga." all before the two of them fell right back into the ceiling hole in the facility.
When they fell, they crashed so hard that they kicked up a small dust cloud in the small testing chamber. Once the dust cloud cleared enough for them to see and breathe normally, Egon and Nagt were the first to recover.
As the woman helped Egon to his feet, he asked, "Hey Nagat, are you okay?"
"Yeah, thanks for the save. Thought that was my job." Nagat thanked him while rubbing her shoulder.
"Is everyone else okay?" Egon called out.
A small pile of rubble was pushed away as Hankoyo emerged from it and asked, "I'm good! Where is Quelaag?"
Suddenly, an arm shot up from the ground and called out, "Down here, Lord Hankoyo. Just need a minute to pull myself together."
Looking at where the arm was, the group was equally shocked and disgusted to see Quelaag's two halves slowly restitching themselves into one whole part. His spider half had been fully healed, while his human half was only about a third of the way there.
Nagat was the one to say what was on everyone's mind and yelled, "Jesus! Just how far does your regeneration go? Can you even die?!"
"Ya know, I'm starting to question that myself. Oh well, I'll have more time to exonerate Lady Ungoliant." Quelaag said with an uncaring tone of apathy.
"Where's Izuku?" Egon suddenly asked, remembering they were still two short.
Suddenly, Izuku came out of nowhere, rubbing his neck as he asked, "I'm over here! I'm okay. What about Anna?"
"Rogue? Anna!" Egon called out for the woman.
Only for her to suddenly come out of the remaining dust cloud, looking a bit worn out from all the extreme fighting, and she said, "Right here, honey."
"Where's Marvel?" Egon asked her, getting worried and fearful glances from everyone as they looked around the room.
Luckily, Rouge showed them to the other woman, and the group found her sprawled out on the ground in a small creature, seemingly unconscious.
Izuku immediately feared the worst and asked Rouge, "Did you-."
But she stopped him quickly with a head shake as she explained, "No, I couldn't bring myself to do that to her a second time. She'll be in a coma, but only for a few days."
"That's a relief," Izuku said with a sigh, glad that the woman did kill her and not have to worry about her mental state.
"Well, let's not waste time. Let's get her wrapped up and sent to prison," Egon said to the group as he pulled out his pad and began informing the public, urging them to bring a restraint tube for Marvel.
As the professor was doing this, Rouge continued to look down on the unconscious blonde and said with a sad tone, "It really is a shame to see a once bright star crash and burn so hard."
"She brought it upon herself. She didn't learn, unlike you, and made herself worse for it." Izuku assured her while placing a hand on her shoulder.
"I hope you can make better decisions in the future, Carole," Rouge told the woman while leaning down to push aside some of her hair from her face.
Just as the restraint tube was brought in by a robot and joined by Wily, the small man quickly approached him and began to say, "Uh, sir?"
Egon immediately knew what that tone meant and told him flat out, "Oh, what now? There had better be a giant monster attacking the city, or I don't wanna hear about it." Just then, a huge flying something soared over the sky of the facility, causing the whole building to shake as the shadow quickly flew towards the city. Egon looked up at the sky, then back down to Wily, where he said, "Oh, you gotta be kidding me."
Hey guys, sorry for the long wait; I've been busy lately. Anyway, I want to ask if you guys would like to have a chapter on Quelaag's sister Quelana's origins. Please Review, and have a Plus Ultra day.
