Doom Patrol (11): The Chief, Robotman, Elasti-Girl, Negative Man, Flex Mentallo

New Mutants (14): Cannonball, Magik, Wolfsbane, Karma, Douglock

His name is Flex Mentallo. The mighty man of muscle mystery stood with his comrades the Doom Patrol in the stadium as Wizard Shazam watched. They were supposed to fight, and part of him wanted to. Part of him still wanted to be the Hero of the Beach, and an unseen force made him feel as though he wanted it more than ever.

Flex thought to himself as he examined the field of battle, finger stroking over his chin. The arena was quite a peculiar place, if it could be considered a place at all. There were no spectators, there was no rhyme nor reason for any of the things he had witnessed there. There were barely even any other witnesses.

“Where did they all go? The winners all stay here, but what happens to the losers?” he pondered as he thought about the events that occurred over the past hours? weeks? Days? How long had he been trapped in here. He supposed, that the losers would be returned to their original location–but what of the winners?

He then noticed the New Mutants charged towards him almost as if they were in slow motion. He carefully examined the look on their faces as they charged forward with so much youthful exuberance. They too had been summoned here to fight. He could see the look in their eye, they wanted to be the Heroes of the Beach. Everyone in this whole twisted contest did.

Perhaps he and the Doom Patrol deserved to be here, perhaps they could face the challenge of the uncertain. They had on several times defeated the irrational, the absurd, the kind of existential threats that would leave one only to wonder: What, why?”

…but could the New Mutants? Could those fresh faced kids? Flex Mentallo struck a pose, curling his arms and flexing his muscles, and in an instant the New Mutants had disappeared.

WINNER: Doom Patrol

New Gods (2): Orion, Highfather, Lightray, Mister Miracle, Big Barda

TMNT (10): Leonardo, Raphael, Donatello, Michelangelo, Master Splinter

“Alright brothers, last fight is over. These guys looked pretty tough in their first fight.” Leonardo addresses his team.

“Aw shucks, you’re gonna make me cry.” Raphael pulls out his sais and spins them over in his hands.

“Scott, how’s it looking?” Barda asks of her husband.

“Just keep them off of me, I’ll figure it out.” Mister Miracle steps onto his aero-disks and starts flying around the stadium.

“Keep them off of you? My specialty. Big Barda stomps off to confront the Turtles. The rest of the New Gods stand behind, confident in Barda’s abilities.

She reaches the four turtles, Mega-Rod in hand, from a few feet away, she shoots out a wide arcing concussive blast. The shock wave forces all four turtles and their rat father onto their back.

“Not cool.” Michelangelo complains.

“Ow…” Donatello adds.

“We can’t give up, keep fighting!” Leonardo flips up and attacks. He pulls his twin katanas and starts slashing. Barda deflects a number of the strikes but a few get through. Leonardo is as skilled with his blades as any, training his entire life to master their secrets, and while he’s been able to use them hundreds of times to get out of many different situations, they simply aren’t enough to damage a New God.

Raphael is next up, joining his brother jab and slicing with his sais. Barda bats a few away, but event the true shots, straight on, deflect off of her Apokoliptian armor and the few that get around it, are equally ineffective against her skin.

“COWABUNGA!” Michelangelo dives into the fray nunchaku spinning.

Donatello slides in with his Bo staff and fights Barda as well. He loads up and bring the staff down over the crown of Barda’s head, CRACK, The staff breaks in two. “Guys, we HAVE to try something different, I think she’s ten times stronger than Beebop and Rocksteady combined!”

“You can try, but nothing you can do could beat me.” Barda finally counters. She bashes Raphael’s side, he blocks, but she pushes straight through. She cracks down onto Michelangelo, he tries to duck out the way, but she’s far faster than he anticipated. She grabs Leonardo and Donatello by the back of their shells and smashes the two into one another.

She steps past the fallen turtles to confront Splinter. She holds out her weapon and Splinter kneels. “I can see that this battle is already over. You have won.”

WINNER: New Gods

Avengers (1): Captain America, Iron Man, Hawkguy, Vision, Wasp

Guardians of the Galaxy (8): Vance Astro, Yondu, Charlie 27, Martinex, Starhawk

Vance Astro stands, stunned, staring at his idol. Captain America glares back up and down and walks out. Astro raises a hand and waves his teammates back, they wait as the two meet cordially in the middle of the field. Cap extends his hand. “That’s a nice piece of hardware you’ve got there.”

Astro nervously accepts the handshake, “Thank you sir, I’m a big fan.”

“Now let’s see who uses it better.” He winks and trots back to the Avengers. Getting back he looks over, Astro already standing with his companion. “You ready son?”

“As ready as I’ll ever be! Let’s go!” The two teams charge the middle on cue.

Yondu starts the assault, launching an arrow into the air, over his team, and whistling it down. Hawkeye sees the shot, waits for the moment it breaks and shoots it down. Yondu takes another shot, and Hawkeye knocks it out of the air as well. “Looks like we’ve got a couple of archers.” Hawkeye notes.

“You know these arrows aren’t easy to get, right?” Yondu dashes to the flank to get a clean shot off on Hawkeye. He fires straight, waiting for Hawkeye to counter. As soon as the arrow is loosed, Yondu whistles his upward. He whistles sharply as Hawkeye notches another. The Yaka arrow steers clear of the grounded Avengers and sticks in between plates in Iron Man’s armor.

“Argh!” the armor protects him from the arrow penetrating too far, but as he grips the arrow from his shoulder joint and pulls it out, a thin trail of blood follows, and he knows hs armor has been compromised. He halts and tracks the origin of the shooter. “Arrows? Really?” Stark stops and starts blasting his repulsor beam down. Yondu scatters to escape the barrage. Iron Man track the Centaurian around the course until he finds himself face to face with Starhawk. “What do we have here? I’m Iron Man. I’m very rich, a celebrity, incredibly handsome. And you are…?”

“Not impressed.” She blasts Iron Man out of the sky with one clap, releasing quantum energy. Iron Man plummets to the ground and lands at the feet of Charlie-27.

“Good shot ‘Hawk!” Charlie calls above, stepping over the armored Avenger’s chasing after Hawkeye. “You know my buddy doesn’t really like missing.”

“I guess he shouldn’t have tried to beat me then!” Hawkeye pulls an arrow and fires it straight into the mammoth chest of his foe. On contact, a fiery cracks through the air, and orange flames engulf the Guardian. The blast makes way to a cloud of smoke. As it disipates, Charlie-27 begins to laugh.

“Ha haha, ha.” Hey buddy, gonna take a lot more than that.” He lurches at Hawkeye, but Hawkeye, used to tussling with the like of the Hulk and Thor, having trained with Captain America himself, is ready for the obvious tactic. He slides around the behemoth and fires another arrow at Charlie’s side. “Ah! Okay, that one stung a little.”

“He reaches out and snags a hold of Hawkeye. He pulls him back, preparing to throw when Wasp streams in. She shocks Charlie-27 with everything she has. It’s just enough to force Charlie to release his grip. He swats at the pest, she weaves in and out of his clutches until he gets one good smack in, and he presses on.

He continues chasing until Hawkeye fires an arrow into the air as he runs. A line of cable trails behind the shot as the grapple arrow grabs a hold of Vision’s foot. Hawkeye tugs on the rope and spring off, simultaneously evading Charlie-27 and alerting his teammate that he needs help. Vision looks down and scans the Jovian. He immediately calculates the exact force and duration needed, and the gem on his forehead glows. It fires out a thin beam that hits Charlie-27 in the chest and knocks him over. Vision floats down, the beam continuing to push on Charlie’s heart. As he lands, he pulls his head up and beam off.

“Thanks for the assist!” Hawkeye rushes past.

“I am glad to be at your service.” Vision floats up to search for his best match when BONK Captain America’s trademark red, white, and blue shield come flying in, ricochets off Visions head, and spins back to its future owner. Vance Astro.

“You have vast psionic powers. But you cannot use them.”

“I don’t need them!” He charges shield first. Vision phases through the attack and grabs Astro by the scruff of his neck as he passes.

“They would do you little good against myself even if you did posses them at full strength, which I’m reading is… limited.” He tosses Astro into the air and bolts from the ground ready to make an aerial assault when PTCHU Starhawk blasts him, knocking the Avenger off course. Astro tumbles to the ground, breaking his fall with the shield.

Landing on the ground, ready to take flight again, Vision gets encased in a chunk of ice. He turns his attention to the more immediate threat and walks through the ice.

“Not enough for you? How about this one!” Martinex rockets out a torrent of flame. Vision walks directly through, reaching the Guardian and grabs both of his hands.

“Very interesting, silicon based life. Under normal circumstances, I would love to learn more about you.” He grabs the Pluvian around the shoulder and takes to the air. “Unfortunately,” Vision turns downward and increases his density, the two dive, “these are not normal circumstances.” Martinext lands on his back and Vision drops directly on top of him, weighing tons. Martinex’s crystalline body shatters.

Starhawk blasts down at the Vision again, though this time, Vision is slightly more prepared, having learned, he whooshes above to confront her. She looks calmly into his optic centers and state, “Not yet.” She blasts of an odd light that temporarily places his optics offline. Clutching his face, Vision flies back down to the back of the line.

Protecting the android, Captain America stands ready as Vance Astro approaches rebounding off of his fall. Cap hurls his shield, testing the future Major. He swipe it out of the air. The shield returns to Cap. Astro launches his version of the very same shield. Captain America takes two graceful steps and bounds off of the shield as it flies, landing a kick into Astro’s chest. “I’m sorry it has to be this way. He grabs his shield with two hands and thrusts it down. Vance rolls out of the way, pops up, and begins running for his shield. Cap tosses his again, it clips the runner’s ankles, and forces him skidding to a halt. Cap’s shield flies back to his hand.

“I’ve got a few tricks up my sleeve too!” rolling to his back, he pushes out with his psychic pulse. As Cap clutches his forehead, trying to fight through, Astro scrambles to his feet and grabs the shield. He turns to attack and gets punched in the face.

“Battle’s about more than a few tricks.” He punches Astro again. Vance swings his shield wildly to push his foe away, but Cap intercepts the attack, slips his wrist down the inside, and takes the shield. “Maybe you can get it back when you’ve shown you know how to handle it.” Cap smashes Astro in the head from each side with the two shields. He tosses the extra on the ground and takes off.

He finds Yondu circling around collecting his discarded arrows and takes off in pursuit. Yondu noticed and fires one off. The arrow bounces easily off the shield. Yondu fires another one with the same result. He stops running and looses a third, really concentrating on it. It dips and dodges, but Captain America’s perfect reflexes are too good, the arrow pings off. This time though, Yondu stares out and whistles hard. The arrow turns off of the shield and swings around, sticking into Captain America’s back. Yondu smiles and dashes off again.

Yondu circles around and confronts Hawkeye. “So, you’re the one that keeps shooting my arrows down, you don’t look like much to me.”

“I’ll just have to cry about that later,” Hawkeye ounches out, bow in hand. Yondu pulls back, avoiding. Hawkeye swipes with his bow, Yondu bends at the waist and dodges. Hawkeye steps in, pulling an arrow, and stabs down. It buries into Yondu’s thigh.

“Quick, I see, Yondu pulls out the arrow and stabs a matching wound into Hawkeye. “Not going to be quick enough.” He yanks the arrow out of Hawkeye’s leg and stabs it into his side. He sees Iron Man streaking over to help. Yondu reaches into Hawkeye’s quiver and grabs an arrow with a unique head. “Let’s see what this one does.” He shoots, hitting Iron Man in the chest. The arrow expands a foam, covering the Iron Man suit, locking him down. He lands on the ground and foam sets as adhesive. Yondu punches Hawkeye before taking off again.

Vision tracks Yondu’s movements, waiting to get clear shot as Yondu grabs Hawkeye’s quiver and starts firing random trick arrows. Vision is familiar enough with the set to counter each, but the constant barrage is occupying his primary focus capacitors. It’s a tiny glimmer of hope, as Vision notices dancing amongst the hail, the demure Wasp.

She arrives unnoticed in Yondu’s face, “Try this on for size!” zapping him. He drops him bow and buckles over. She buzzes around and continues hitting him. Yondu can’t focus enough to track her down, and he falls to her assault. She takes off after the Vision to help with the final member of the Guardians of the Galaxy.

Starhawk flies around Vision, firing off her concussive light blasts. The shots phase through Vision one by one. After witnessing a handful of her energy flythrough the android, the blue energy around her hands turns green. She lets loose and the energy connects. Her cosmic blast forces Vision to go solid and she follows it up with her another force blast. THis time, it connect solid, and Vision it dropped to the ground.

Trailing behind him, Wasp takes up after he falls. She hits Starhawk with her bio-electric wasp sting. The shot hurts, but normally wouldn’t be enough fell Starhawk. But, the coursing energy is specific enough that triggers a premonition. Starhawk grabs her head as it’s flooded by her cosmic surroundings. She sees the Beyonder pulling together Battleworld, she see him talking to the Watcher. Finally, she sees Vision jetting off of the ground and bursting forth with his solar energy beams.

As Starhawk struggles to shake the forewarning, the synthezoid takes off and fires. It’s too much all at once while she’s defenseless, and the Avengers win.

WINNER: Avengers

Fantastic Four (1): Mister Fantastic, Invisible Woman, Human Torch, Thing, H.E.R.B.I.E.

JLD (8): John Constantine, Deadman, Swamp Thing, Zatanna, Madame Xanadu

As the Fantastic Four face off with their occult adversaries, a cocky John Constantine scoffs at his opponents and flicks a cigarette to the ground.

“And they call us freaks eh? I s’ppose you bloaks are just a mere science experiment gone wrong,” he remarks.

“Can it Sherlock! How about you go back to London and send your friends back to Hell,” replies a trash-talking Ben Grimm, whose eagerness to take down these foes overwhelms him.

Yet before this banter can continue, the mighty Madame Xanadu unleashes a blast of mystical energy at an unprepared Johnny Storm. The Human Torch is temporarily unconscious on the ground, prompting his friends to retaliate.

“It’s clobbering time!” The Thing exclaims as he, Mister Fantastic and the Invisible Woman charge toward their supernatural opponents.

Mister Fantastic strikes a blow to Constantine with his elastic arms and wraps him in an inescapable cocoon. The occult detective struggles to break free from his opponent’s grasp, while admiring the intellectual approach of Reed Richards.

“Not bad for an American Richards. I s’ppose not all of you are lousy drunks,” he says.

“Look who’s talking,” replies Mister Fantastic.

Facing off with Deadman, the Invisible Woman tries to anticipate the demon’s next move. Yet in the blink of an eye, the deceptive Boston Brandt disappears before Sue even knows it. Mere seconds later, Sue feels a strange force seep through her, like a ghost. As Deadman reappears on the other side, Sue is left baffled and is too late to dodge a powerful attack by Zatanna in which the sorceress suspends her in an alternate dimension.

“Ta-da! Time for the Invisible Woman to disappear permanently,” Zatanna exclaims.

Yet the battle takes a different turn on the other end as the monstrous size of Swamp Thing proves to be no match for the awesome might of The Thing.

“Sorry tree-face, but you ain’t got nothing against these rock-solid bones of mine,” says Ben Grimm as he pummels the deformed monster to the ground.

Before his sister is forever trapped inside a demonic realm, Johnny Storm awakes just in time for an insane idea to pop into his head.

“Stand back guys!” he says to his comrades. Defying the laws of physics in an already psychedelic-fueled battle, the Human Torch sums up all of his power to create a supernova and trap his foes inside the vortex.

As the members of the JLD find themselves engulfed in wildfire, Sue breaks free from Zatanna’s spell and emerges from the flames mostly unscathed.

“I promise that’s the last time I do that,” Johnny says to his teammates with a look of unparalleled mischief on his face.

WINNER: Fantastic Four

JLA (1): Martian Manhunter, Green Arrow, Flash, Green Lantern (Hal), Aquaman

GotG (8): Star-Lord, Gamora, Drax, Rocket, Groot

“Alright so what’s the plan here?” asked Star-Lord as the Guardians of the Galaxy were being lowered their end of the arena in a group huddle.

“I am Groot,” replied Groot matter-of-factly, giving a leafy shrug.

“He’s right,” snarled Rocket, “Those guys are basically gods!”

“We’ve beaten gods before! We have the power of friendship on our side!” shouted Star-Lord, raising his arms. His expression was met with disdain from the other members of his team, except for Drax who was ready for the challenge.

“There’s no way,” said Gamora, echoing the sentiment rest of the group.

“Okay fine, there’s no way we’re going to beat them, you think I don’t know that?! But let’s try, you guys!” cried an exasperated Star-Lord, “Let’s at least take out the guy in the stupid Robin Hood outfit.”

“Haha! I will defeat the puny arrow-man!” Drax said with a jolly laugh, “And his ridiculous clothes!”

They land on the ground with the Justice League of America standing at the other side, Rocket is able to get a few shots off-but soon a red blur moves around them, each of the members quickly being stipped of their various weaponry by the scarlet speedster The Flash, who threw them across the battlefield at random.

“Stick to the Plan!” shouted Star Lord as the Guardians of the Galaxy valiantly ran towards their target.

“Are you ready to initiate the plan?” Drax asked looking over to Groot as the rest of the Justice League came running towards them.

“I am Groot!” shouted Groot summoning all the Strength and growing large enough in size to lift Drax from the ground and hurl him in the direction of the emerald archer. Before anyone in the Justice League could react, soon the Destroyer found face to Face with Oliver Queen. With a powerful headbutt, Drax defeats Green Arrow, “The plan is complete! The arrow man is now defeated!!”

Star-Lord gave Drax a thumbs up, and at least the Guardians could rest easy know that, well the had defeated that one guy. First, however, they were given a severe pummelling by the four remaining members of the Justice League.

WINNER: JLA

Trinity (1): Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman

Red Hood and the Outlaws (9): Red Hood, Artemis, Bizarro, Arsenal, Starfire

As the DC Trinity descends into the Arena Batman confirms his plans with his two team members, it seemed as though this was one of the many situations that the Dark Knight had prepared for, “Just like we practiced, plan Delta-Zero-One.”

“You think you can hold them off for that long?” Superman asked, turning his head to Wonder Woman.

She replied with a grin, “Watch Me.”

Red Hood seemed equally confident about his plan, “Take out Batman and then we win. There’s way more of us then there are of them.”

Roy raised an eyebrow, “Why is that always your plan?”

Red Hood groaned and continues, “Alright, Bizarro, you don’t go after Batman, we’ll handle the rest.

“BIZARRO NO CRUSH BATMAN! BIZARRO NOT HIT BATMAN LAST!” shouted Bizarro

The two teams were lowered down into the arena and both started to enact their plan, Wonder Woman took a giant leap forward and was soon entangled with four of the outlaws, sword in one hand, the lasso in the other as she quickly snagged Starfire and began to deflect bullets from her Amazonian bracers.

Bizarro took off with Amazing speed, hurtling towards Batman and Superman. With his incredible Kryptonian speed Superman scooped up the caped Crusader and began to fly around the arena with Bizarro in tow, gaining on them. Batman pulled a small device from inside his utility belt.

The Outlaws had started to weaken Wonder Woman, though she still made a formidable opponent one handed. She struggled to dodge the barrage of bullets and arrows while trying keep up with the furious melee of Artemis.

“Batman–” Wonder Woman said with a grunt as she endured a blow from Artemis, “NOW!”

The device Batman pulled from his utility belt was nothing more than a tape recorder, but as Bizarro draw close he hit play, and the sound boomed from the Bat Speakers on his belt. It played a simulated recording of the rest of the Outlaws:

“Bizarro is so strong!” laughed Starfire, “He’s the strongest there is!”

“I no believe it!” said Artemis, joining in the laughter, “Bizzaro always weak!!”

“Strong, but also handsome! Bizarro least handsome of them all! Look at Bizarro face!” chortled Red Hood

Bizarro came to a dead stop, his pale white face turning red with rage. Describing how Bizarro feels is at best weird, but for the sake of clarity let’s just say he was very displeased in the conduct and candor of the people he thought were his friends.

“BIZARRO WEAK!! BIZARRO SHOW YOU!” He flew down into the melee, and punched Artemis, knocking her into one of the arena walls. “BIZARRO WEAKEST OF THEM ALL!”

“BIZARRO MAKE YOU HANDSOME!” he growled, gripping Red Hood’s helmet and throwing him to the ground, “WHO HANDSOME NOW?!”

Superman plucked Wonder Woman from the brawl and they flew away and let Bizarro finish off the rest of the Outlaws. “Well done Bruce.”

“Don’t get too cocky we still have to defeat Bizarro,” explained Bruce, tucking the recorder back into his utility belt, “By my calculations we only have twenty five seconds until he’s done fighting the Outlaws.”

“Don’t worry, I’ve got this” said Superman with a knowing wink before running over to Bizarro in a red and blue blur.

WINNER: Trinity

Secret Six (7): Catman, Deadshot, Scandal Savage, Ragdoll, Bane, Knockout

Excalibur (10): Captain Britain, Meggan, Kitty Pryde, Colossus, Nightcrawler

“Dibs on the guy wearing a Union Jack,” Deadshot explained flatly as his boot crushed the cigarette that had fallen from his lips just moments ago. He pulled his mask over his face, adjusting his sights so that Captain Britain was locked in his sights.

“OOOH dibs on the hot one!” Ragdoll delights.

“Aw, I wanted the hot one!” Knockout eyes Meggan.

“No, the BLUE one!” Ragdoll clarifies, “RRRRow!”

“Don’t care. Looks like we’re the only team in here with six people. Either we got really lucky, or REALLY unlucky. Given our history, my money’s on the latter, let’s try to make it quick.” Deadshot lines up the barrel on his left arm and fires.

“I have broken the Bat, I will break these little ones.” Bane charges in behind the shot.

“Don’t have all the fun without me!” Knockout tromps along side Blip.

The bullets bounces off the center of Captain Britain’s forehead, hitting perfectly at the intersection red on his flagged uniform. His head rocks back with surprise. “It looks like I’ve been shot, I’ll have to show him these yanks how to aim.” He rises above his team and zooms across to confront the shooter.

“#*&@. Because why not.” Deadshot complains, “Switching to armor piercing.” He rockets off another shot at Captain Britain, hitting him square over his heart. The shot knocks him out of the sky, Deadshot trots off to pursue. He get about halfway before Brian Braddock, the magnificent Captain Britain, floats quietly in front of him, landing gently.

“You Americans and your guns.” He reaches  out and grabs Deadshot’s wrist mounted firearm. Two rounds go off in his hand and Deadshot tries to escape, and the rifle falls to the ground.

“That was expensive.” Deadshot complains as he pulls a knife and swipes at the hero.

“Bill me, I’m rich too.” Captain Britain grabs and punches him. “If you ever wake up.”

Behind Deadshot’s ill fated advance, Bane and Knockout meet up with Colossus. “Good afternoon friends, I am sorry to have to fight you.” Colossus greets, “But one must do, what one must…”

POW! “Quick, right Lawton?” Knockout calls back to Deadshot after clobbering Colossus.

“Boz moi…” Colossus mutter under his breath, clutching his jaw. He springs around and wallops Knockout back, staggering her a few feet. “I hope, for your sake malyshka, that your fighting skills are better than your manners.”

“Hahahah! This one has spirit, come combatiente, let’s see how strong you are.” Bane pumps the Venom on his electrical wrist mounted injection system. His muscles bulge and he lumber in to grab the Russian. The two lock hands and grapple. B,ane gets the jump and pushes Colossus back, for one, brief moment, he believes that he has the advantage, and then Colossus pushes back.

First he buckles Bane’s hands backwards, then, Bane’s entire body bends back, feet planted. Colossus leans in, and headbutts. Bane drops to his knees. Still locked in the grapple, Colossus pulls Bane to his the feet, drops his arms, and gut punches him. Bane hops a few feet into the air and lands on his face coughing. Colossus stomps forward and PTANG!

Knockout’s punch rings throughout the stadium, Colossus reels sideways. “Aw, come on now, you didn’t think I’d give up that easily, did you?” She drives another blow to Colossus’s face, spinning him around. Her foe still teetering, she grabs his shoulders, lifts him up, and smashes him into the ground. “Strong enough for you, Bane?” Knockout taunts her teammate as she turns around to help him up.

Colossus stands, snarls, just a little, and re-engages. He grabs Knockout and turns her around, punching her head. The shot takes her a little by surprise, and allows Colossus to follow through with a second. He pulls both arms high, towering above the New God, he screams, “DASVIDANIYA!” and smashes down, clobbering Knockout into the ground. He reaches down to continue his assault and Bane is just able to snag his arm and redirect.”

“NO ONE BESTS ME!” Bane knees into Colossus’s side, punches his head, and lifts the his off of his feet. He tosses him into the ground. Colossus rolls over, pops up, and grabs Bane with an extended left arm.

“Please comrade, you are embarrassing yourself.” He tosses Bane aside, “Worry not, rebenok, I will come back for you.” Colossus hadn’t noticed Knockout rising behind him, coughing out the crushed earth kicked up in the fray. He turns to check her status and gets hammered in the face. Status checked.

“Okay tinman, NOW I’m pissed!” She limps to the follow through and punches him again, and again. Each strike pushing him back a step of two, until he lurches forward to stop the offensive, hoping to wrestle her down. The two lock up and push. Through gritted teeth and strained muscles, Knockout feels Colossus starting to slip. She surges forward, and takes control. She grabs him around the neck and slings in to the ground. This time without a moment of hesitation or boasting, she punches down. Colossus falls, out. Knockout sits atop his lofty chest, hair frazzled, covered in dust, and take a deep breath. “Good fight big man.” She kicks a leg into his side. “I’m gonna need a minute here.”

Slinking past the match of titans, Ragdoll makes his way to the fuzzy blue of his affections. “I hope your insides are as adorable as the rest of you.” He whispers in the mutant’s elfish ears.

“Da, you’ll find many things about me remarkable, I’m sure mein freund.” BAMF Nightcrawler disappears in a cloud of midnight sulfur, reappearing a six feet in the air, behind Ragdoll. He strikes out with his two toed foot and kicks him in the back of the head.

“Ow! You like to play rough!” Ragdoll lurches forward to attack and BAMF, he disappears again. Whipping around instantly, Ragdoll find Nightcrawler above him again, this time punching chest height. Ragdoll bends backwards 90 degrees, avoiding the punch. BAMF Nightcrawler teleports into another attack, again Ragdoll contorts into an impossible position to avoid.

“You are not so easy to hit, I see.” Nightcrawler pops across, giving himself some distance.

“Ve may be here a while.” He ‘ports again and the two tussle in a confusing cloud of indigo.

Jogging past the smokey confrontation, Scandal Savage arrives face to face with Meggan, “Looks like I get the hot one.” She winks, but wastes no time in attack. He plunges her Lamentation Blades towards Meggan’s midsection. On instinct, Meggan conjures her abdomen into rock hard plates. The attack glances off. “Interesting,” Scandal pulls back, “This could get fun.” She slashes again, Meggan raises her arms and scales appear, blocking the strike. Scandal flips over Meggan, hoping to land as a surprise, preventing the automatic mutations. Wings pop out of Meggan’s back and flap once, propelling her away from Scandal. “This could be a LOT of fun!” Scandal smiles and spins low, tripping Meggan, knocking her onto her back. Scandal pops up and ax kicks down.

Meggan rolls out of the way and on all fours, she grows twenty feet tall, her neck stretches out, her face pulls, the armored scales on her midsection and arms sprout around her body, the leathery wings expand, and a long tail stretches out. “Still fun?” The looming dragon snaps at Scandal.

“Not fun, not fun!” Scandal turns to run, but Meggan flaps into the air and in one thrust, has Scandal in her talons. She tosses her upward, and snaps her up in her jaws.

From the ground, Catman’s gaze follows the dragon around the arena and back to her starting area. As it lands, he’s confronted directly in front of him by a young woman in a blue tights, a leather jacket, and a mask. “Well, hello there.”

“Are those whiskers? What are you? Cat-Man, or something dumb like that?”

“Uh, well, yes…”

“I’m Kitty!” Shadowcat smiles and punches him in the nose.

“Of course you are…” He mumbles through the bloody nose. “Look, I really don’t to hu…” she punches him again. “Okay listen little girl! I…” she punches him again.

“Good luck!” She taunts pressing her advantage, she punches out again, though this time, Catman grabs her arm.

“I’ve had enough of this!” He pulls her into him, ready to punch. He’s a hunter, a tracker, a fighter, he puts everything he has into the punch, he pushes through the target. He’s incredibly surprised to find the he actually punches through the target though, as Kitty Pryde phases through his grip and his attack. He loses his balance and falls on the ground. Kitty kicks him in the head.

Catman turns on the ground and tosses three catarangs. They glide through their target, the same as his punch. She kicks him again.

“Ooh! Cat toys?” She swipes into his utility belt and empties its contents on the ground in front of them.

As Catman scrambling to collect BAMF! Nightcrawler cracks him the back of the head with a kid. “Guten tag Katya, I know you do not require my assistance, but I believe zat I require yours!” He grabs his long time friend and teammate and BAMF

“I thought you’d left me forever, oh I’m so glad that I you’re back! I can’t wait to wear your fuzzy skin as a cape!”

“See vhat I mean?” Nightcrawler shores up with Kitty. Captain Britain flys over ands with them. Seeing her teammates, Meggan flies over in her dragon form and settles with a WHOMP. She turns back into her human form, standing next to her husband.

“More of them? I hope they aren’t as tough as the metal guy.” Knockout walks up behind Ragdoll.

“I hope they are.” Bane rolls his head, cracking his neck. He reaches down and doubles his Venom dosage. His muscles pop, his veins bulge, and he flexes, ready to fight.

“Two’s company, three’s a party, five… I guess we’ll see.”

Nightcrawler BAMFs out above Bane and kicks down, Bane is far quicker than Nightcrawler anticipated for a man his size. He grabs the foot.

“I think not señor.” Nightcrawler tries to teleport away, Bane’s kung fu grip refuses to relinquish.

“Mein Gott!” Nightcrawler pops in and out around around the stadium, bane refusing to let go. He tries one final tactic, launching himself him, and a series of as many short trips as he can make. “I know zat I am used to my powers, I have found most others are not!”

“You will find I do not give up easily.” The two reach the top of the domed energy field encapsulating battle. Huffing and puffing, Nightcrawler passes out. The two plummet to the ground, landing in a cloud of dirt.

“Kurt!” Kitty Pryde calls out.

“”Yes… Kurt was his name, I knew that because he and I were very close.”

“You son of a… “ Kitty storms off after Ragdoll. She throws a punch and he swings underneath it. She grabs his arm and he pulls it immediately out of her grasp. He smacks her coolly as he swings it back around. “I see why he hated you so much.”

“Hated? Why ‘m hurt!”

“Not as bad as you’re about to be.” Shadowcat dives on top, as Ragdoll impossible pulls himself out from under her, he’s abruptly stopped. He stares down, his legs having been phased into the ground. “Dodge this.” Kitty kicks him in the head.

“I can pull you out!” Knockout walks up

“NO NO NO NO! I’LL BE RIPPED IN HALF!”

“Suit yourself,” Knockout drops his raggedy hair and moves on to his attacker, she opens her arms and Kitty phases right through. She whirls around and finds Kitty reaching out, pulling her into the same ground, then running off. “Think that kind of thing will work on me?” She pulls her legs up and bursts through the ground. “I’m made of sterner stuff than that one!”

“I’d hope so, for your sake.” Captain Britain saunters up and punches. Knockout takes the hit and cracks back. Meggan rushes to his aid, transforming into a werewolf along the way. She leaps, fangs bared, claws out, and latches onto to Knockout.

While his adversary is tussling with the lycanthrope, Captain Britain gets in his shots. He punches around Meggan with every available opportunity. He smashes down, as hard as he can hitting legs, sides, back, head, until Knockout gets a good grip and tosses Meggan aside.

Turning her full attention to Captain Britain, Knockout unleashes a thunderous flurry of punches. The two box away, each refusing to yield. Knockout is stronger, tougher, has slighgtly more endurance, but the fight with Colossus took a lot out of her. Captain Britain came in fresh, full of confidence. The two stand heaving, each punch losing a small amount of force until a shadow slowly casts over them.

Meggan, morphed into a gryphon, lands claws first on Knockout. Pinned to the ground, Knockout struggles to escape. Meggan’s beak, pounding down, tearing at the flesh of the Fury. Eventually escaping, Knockout slips out from under the monster. Captain Britain pulls together all of his strength and punches Knockout as she gets up. Knockout and Captain Britain both collapse.

Meggan rears her eagle head and lets out a cry before taking to the air to survey her opponents. Just as her feet leave the ground, she notices Bane climbing out of the crater he made, holding a lifeless Nightcrawler. He runs up, springs over her head, and lands on her back. He activates his Venom once more and wraps his arms around her neck, choking her as she flies. She gets a few feet into the air, unable to shake her assailant when an idea pops into her head.

Using her eagle eyes, she finds Shadowcat, standing and ready to fight. Meggan makes a hard turn barrelling through the air on a direct collision course with her friend. Kitty knows the play here. As her friend arrives she phases. The mythical beasts and it’s passenger zoom through. Meggan passes unharmed, but the electric mechanism that affords Bane his strength is compromised as it phases. The wristband sputter with electricity that tracks up Bane’s Venom tube, shocking him. He tumbles off and rolls on the ground. The hose on the back of his head pops off and the green liquid oozes out. Bane tries to stand, but the bruises and cuts of are starting to show. The wounds he was able to push through on Venom take their toll, and Bane crumbles.

WINNER: Excalibur

Guardians of the Globe (6): Invincible, Atom Eve, Rex Splode, Robot, Duplikate

Doom Patrol (11): The Chief, Robotman, Elasti-Girl, Negative Man, Flex Mentallo

The Chief wheels around, addressing his team, “Doom Patrol. I know that we’ve encountered more than our fair share of hard to explain phenomena. I also know that the Doom Patrol has always persevered through our shared adversity. This time will be no different!”

“Why not?” Cliff Steele, better known as Robotman, storms off, “Maybe I’ll feel better after some punching.”

“I’ll watch over your corporeal form Lawrence.” The Negative man slips out of his body and rushes ahead. Elastic-Girl and Flex Mentallo follow in suit, somewhat reluctantly stomping off to battle.

Robot scans the Doom Patrol as they’re huddled, taking orders. “Interesting power readings.” He watches the body of Larry Trainor drop. “Most interesting…”

“Interesting powers? I’ve got you covered!” Rex Splode leaps in front of his team, reaching into his pockets and grabbing the small staves he uses for just such an occasion. He pushes them to an unstable molecular stability and throws them. The resultant explosion scatters the morosely advancing Robotman, Elastic-Girl, and Flex Mentallo. Negative Man streaks past, seemingly unaffected.

“How’d I miss that one?” Rex questions without noticing the trail of his blast turning back to him.

“It didn’t, he’s absorbing it!” Robot shouts too late, Negative Man pulls together the remainder of the blast and redirects it at Robot. “Can it tin man!”

“Hey now! Let’s not make this a robot thing!” Robotman bellows from behind, gathering himself up and resuming his march.

“I guess there’s no reasoning with them, Eve.” Invincible turns away from his partner and dashes off, punching Robotman in the gut. The force of the blow bends him in half, dents his steely exterior, and send him flying back.

“I think I see a worthy contender!” Flex Mentallo picks himself up and begins to stride toward Invincible.

Seeing the confident visage of Flex Mentallo approaching, Invincible turns his attentions and confronts him. He punches Flex in the face. The hit turns Flex’s head, blood shoots from the side of his lips and he takes a step back. Flex recenters and punches back. Invincible is stunned that Flex could take the punch. He hits him back, as hard as he can. Flex braces for it, a bizarre “Hero of the Beach” appears glowing above his head, and Mark’s hand crumbles punching into Mentallo’s chest.

Pulling his broken right hand back, Invincible looks confused and angry, he lashes out with his left. Flex Mentallo puts his hands on his hips and puffs out his chest, “Hero of the Beach” appears again. Invincible’s left smashes against the muscular chest.

“Mark!’ Atom Eve shrieks taking to the air, “You bastard!” she forms up large pink glowing constructs around her fists and starts pounding as she reaches the Man of Muscle Mystery. Surprisingly, her constructs push through the Hero Halo and Flex drops. Atom Eve continues to punch until Elasti-Girl reaches out, growing to suit, and grabs her from behind. Eve, furious, busts out of Elasti-Girl’s hand and punches her in the face. The strike topples the giant, but Eve stays in pursuit, shouting, “They always just get back up, don’t they? NOT TODAY!”

ZAP! Negative Man envelopes Atom Eve with negative energy, forcing her constructs to fail, and she drops from the sky, saving Elasti-Girl the fury.

Rex Splode dives towards her to catch her before hitting the ground, he stands her up and asks, “Are you okay?”

“I’m… I’m fine. I don’t know why my powers just… REX!”

Behind them Robotman grabs Rex Splode by the shoulder, and turns him around. Rex fights and kicks trying to escape, but the grasp it too strong. Rex reaches out and grabs a hold of Robotman’s arm and looks back at Eve to yell, “RUN!” Robotman punches Rex and drops him unconscious.

Robotman takes one step away, after the fleeing Atom Eve, when he notices that his arm is beginning to glow. The luminance spreads to his shoulder and grows brighter. “Aw crud…:” Robotman’s body explodes.

“Of course they’d focus on that crude machine first.” Robot scoffs as he quietly sneaks past the Doom Patrol on his way to the Niles Caulder. “I saw the energy form leave that body, and that other man is guarding it for a reason, it stands to reason that’s how I stop him.”

As he sneaks around he notices Invincible’s battered hands, and starts to worry about the uncomputable power of Flex Mentallo as well. He see Invincible take off after him, trying to add to the damage Eve was able to do. “Fascinating, he thinks to himself, “it seems that Eve’s manipulation of the atomic of structure of things was able to force it’s way through, but Invincibles brute was is not.”

Invincible tries to wrap his arms around Flex Mentallo’s midsection and fly off with him, but he continues to slip from his hold until Negative Man soars through the Viltrumite. Invincible seizes up as he’s phased through. Negative Man whips around and blasts down with everything he has. Mark Grayson collapses. With after taking out a few of the Guardians, Negative Man is spent, he rushes back to his body to recoup.

Not a moment too soon, the body of Larry Trainor sits up. He gazes out and see Robot lurking a few steps away. He rolls over and stands. Robot fires an energy blast at newly reanimated body. It bends around him. “I see you have some of the powers when your two selves are bonded.” He rushes towards him, “But I know your physical body holds it’s weaknesses.” Robot reaches to take hold when unexpectedly, the Chief launches himself from his wheelchair, legs dangling behind. He slaps a small patch on Robot’s head piece it falls.

“A little something I keep in case Cliff gets in one of his moods. I can’t guarantee how long it will last though.” He begins fiddling around, probing at the bolts keeping the Robot armor together until he’s able to pop the head off. “My god, there’s a man in here!” Caulder exclaims, removing the helmet.

“Well, ain’t that special?” Trainor walks up to the armor and gives it a swift kick. He hops around after doing so hurts his toe.

The eyes of Rudolph Conner, in the cloned body of Rex Splode, sitting in the Robot armor, open wide. “I may not be able to access my robotic functions, but I don’t need them to exploit your weakness.” he lifts his arm and punches Caulder. Turning to attack his protector, eh witnesses the body collapse again.

Robot moves to strike fast, before the Negative Man can escape, while the body is still vulnerable. He picks him and prepares to dispose of the body when surprising him yet again, the Negative spirit is nowhere to be found. Larry Trainor looks down at the Chief, “Sorry about this.” And he pulls the bandages off of his face. The radiation leaks off in a strange dark glow, focused on Robot. The exposed skin on his Robot’s head begins to form boils and peel off. The two drop.

The depowered Atom Eve is running, chased by Elastic-Girl,  at the far end of the stadium, having witnessed the fall of Robot, Invincible, Rex, and Kate… wait… where’s Kate?!? The answer comes quickly, as three versions of her friend pop out and jump Elasti-Girl. Elasti-Girl pulls one off and tosses it aside, she swats another one and as she reaches to grab the third and pull it off of her, a fourth one is left behind. The three discarded Kate’s attack again, as the fourth is brushed off, falling it splits into two additional. Now six, each clone pops into two and a dozen wash over the towering member of the Doom Patrol.

Flex Mentallo rushes to her aid. He looks into the pile of Dupli-Kates and pulls his arms down, flexing his biceps inward, his “Hero of the Beach” aura pops overhead, and the heap of Kate’s is reduced back to one. Elasti-Girl is nowhere to be found. Flex snarls and glares, pushing his facial muscles to the max, Dupli-Kate drops to the ground.

Atom Eve stands pushing through the Negative Man’s intrusion. Her power begins flickering on and off, like a car trying to start, until POP! She begins glowing with a soft, radiant pink. She pushes out, transforming the air around her into explosive blasts, knocking Flex down, distracting him from focusing his powers. She thrashes down again. She pulls the ground up around him, and brings it crashing down, burying him under a pile of debris. Before he has a chance to flex his way out, the debris turns to water and sits, in a giant bubble around him, as he swims to the edge, the bubble rolls with him.

Eve, concentrating all of her powers on containing the Man of Muscle Mystery, doesn’t notice Elasti-Girl running up to her, hidden in her shrunken down size. She pops up in an instant and punches Atom Eve. The assault sends her to the ground, landing hard on her back. Flex Mentallo washes aside with the water. Elasti-Girl doesn’t waste her advantage and stomps down.

WINNER: Doom Patrol