Category: Uncategorized

CSA (3): Owlman, Ultraman, Superwoman, Power Ring, Johnny Quick

FF (13): Ant-Man, She-Hulk, Darla Deering, Medusa, Zero-G

Owl Man peers through his mask at the rest of his team, and knows they feel it too. The Crime Syndicate of America from Earth 3 generally need little provocation to start a fight, and while most probably couldn’t tell the difference, he knows that something makes him want to fight the rainbow oddballs across the stadium. He’s about to call to his “friends” when he realizes there’s no need, Johnny Quick is gone already, Ultraman has taken to the air, and power ring is creeping behind Superwoman as she marches towards punching someone.

Simultaneously, Ant-Man looks at his compatriots with steely determination, “Alright team, the Fantastic Four chose US for a reason! Let’s put together a plan!… So… anyone?”

The confident suggestion to formulate a plan, while well meaning, did little to help as before any FF member had a chance to respond, Johnny Quick streaks in and punches Ant-Man in the jaw at super speed. The helmet takes a good piece of the blow, but the force turns his head sideways and floors him.

“How about don’t get punched?” She Hulk pounds into the ground shaking it up, forcing the speedster to stumble and fall.

“How about we pull them apart, piece by piece?” Medusa suggests while reaching her magnificent auburn locks out to apprehend their foe.

“How about, why am I ever here with you guys? I’m not really a part of this!” The youngest member of the team, Alex Power offers, as he scuttles behind Medusa.

“How about, we CLOBBER ‘EM!” Darla pushes her two “Thing Rings” together, and not a moment too soon, as the orange rocks fly from shrunken down size to cover her power she’s met by Superwoman.

“A good idea!” Superwoman charging in, belts the She-Thing in the chest. Causing her to fly back from the team, smash against the wall, and slump into a pile of crumbled rock which once armored her.

“How about…”, Ant-Man begins as he pushes himself up.

“How about, no.” Superwoman steps out and presses her heel into the back of Ant-Man’s head, denting the helmet.

“How about…” She-Hulk let’s her actions finish the sentence and lashes out at Superwoman with a stiff uppercut, causing her to fly back.

Witnessing the events transpire, Ultraman usually likes to take his time, gingerly settle down, and really intimidate his opponents before making his opening move. But seeing his love get decked like that left his already limited patience tried, and he swoops down, two fists forward and pick up speed to attack She-Hulk.

She-Hulk, being pretty used to battles by now, catches the shift in his momentum and quickly turns her attention upward, “Oh I’m sorry, is she your girlfriend or something?” and rears back her arm to repel the oncoming missile. The moment before he arrives, as she starts punching forward, she’s surprised to find her fist held, suspended behind her by a giant glowing green lobster claw. It’s all Jen can do to utter a faint, “Uh oh….” as Ultraman’s attack hits square at full force.

Gee, seeing his friend punched out so quickly, pushes out, forcing the gravity around Ultraman to increase tenfold. Ultraman looks up and smiles. Seeing what little effect this has, Power pours it on, increasing the localized gravity to 100 times the normal force. No effect still. He maxes out his powers, letting the planet beneath them pull down. This is the moment that Ultraman relishes. As he slowly walks amid the increased pressure, starting to sweat, just barely, as the boy in front of him is slowly covered in black rectangles, as he call on all of the force he possibly can. As Ultraman reaches within striking distance, the two are at a virtual standstill. He pushes out, raising his arms through the increased gravity. Finally, the strain of the young one it too much, he collapses at Ultraman’s feet. The glorified gangtser bends down, just enough to reach the frightened child below, and swats him away.

Medusa tosses the crimson clad criminal towards the green ringed villain and topples him, causing his construct to break, but too late to help She-Hulk. Medusa’s hair turns sharply and latches onto to Ultraman’s arms and legs. He’s visibly struggling to escape and then noticeably shocked when he can’t.

“But… how?” Ultraman mutters before the hair starts pulling him, with enough stress that even his invincible body starts to feel it.

She finally turns her gaze to the superman and sneers. The moment would be more than enough for most to get distracted, but Medusa is Queen of the Inhumans. A member of the Royal Family, she was chosen for being one of the most powerful of her incredibly powerful people. It would be forgivable if she missed the stealth of Owlman as he sneaks behind her and pulls a torch to her hair. Though, she doesn’t.

“Wha…?” Owlman steps away as Medusa’s crimson whips swat towards him. Superwoman, recovered, barrels into the fray from behind. Medusa, not to be caught off guard, Ultraman still in grip, flips her captive behind, creating a shield between the two women. Owlman jumps back and pulls out three owlarangs, tossing them towards his opponent. Each get swatted by strands of hair as Ultraman begins sparring with Superwoman behind, being played like a puppet. Superwoman ducks, and dodges, trying to get around Ultraman before the stress and frustration finally get to her and she gives up and punches him in the face. The power behind the undefended attack, the exhaustion of pushing through the gravity fields, and the struggle of attempted escape are too much, and Ultraman’s head drops unconscious.

Owlman continues to press the attack, trying to engage Medusa hand to hand. He’s even more surprised that she’s an adept combatant, and a LOT stronger than he gave her credit for. Ducking in and out of calculated strikes, Owlman questions his partner, “What are you?”

“I’m kicking your ass,” she sneers just before grabbing one of Owlman’s strikes in her hand, pulling him forward, and tossing him to the side. She finally drops the debilitated Ultraman and turns to Superwoman, who has pulled out her golden Lasso of Submission, spinning it in the air.

“I’m getting through to you one way or another!” And with lighting speed the rope wraps around the majestic mane of Medusa. Again and again until the powerful hair falls limp under the spell of the binding. Superwoman uses the moment of shock to suckerpucnh Medusa. With little time to retaliate the attack lands. Medusa’s focus turns to freeing her hair, while trying to deflect an array of hits until finally one rings true, square to the nose, at incredible speed, with magnificent force. Medusa falls to the ground.

Like the previous battles, Superwoman is expecting herself to reappear in her seat, teammates revived, with her defeated expunged from the stadium. She looks around, thinking it may be a trick. She kicks over the body of Medusa, motionless, barely breathing. The large green She-Hulk remains lying. The girl with purple hair still encased in a pile of rocks. The young boy that Ultraman was (probably) a little too cruel too appears to have actually died. And she wonders aloud to herself, “Maybe we have to kill them all?” Smiling she turns to her most recent conquered.

As she reaches down, out of nowhere, a small bug flies and punches into her chin, with an incredibly tight density, hitting like a bullet. Ant-Man, a little dinged, and a little wobbly emerges from his shrunken form, ready to finish this battle.

Luckily for Superwoman, she’s bulletproof. Without moving, her heat vision blares from her eyes. As the beam approaches Scott Lang’s chest, the battle ends.

WINNER: Crime Syndicate of America

X-Men (5): Wolverine, Storm, Rogue, Gambit, Cyclops

Sinister Six (12): Doctor Octopus, Kraven, Vulture, Mysterio, Sandman, Electro

As the X-Men arrive on the battle scene, ready for a fight, they are startled to find Sabretooth standing in the middle of the arena. Worried that Wolverine will act too rashly in the presence of his greatest foe, Cyclops and Storm urge him to stay calm. Yet Logan’s adamantium claws are already drawn before the rest of the X-Men can stop him.
“You picked the wrong fight bub!” Wolverine shouts as he charges toward his arch-nemesis. Yet just as he’s about to slash his opponent, he finds himself caught in the clutches of four mechanical arms that feel as strong as his own adamantium skeleton.

“Such primitive instincts Wolverine. It’s a wonder Xavier even keeps you around,” says the sneering voice of Dr. Otto Octavius as he appears from the shadows. Wolverine grimaces as he sees Kraven the Hunter, Vulture, Sandman and Electro standing behind Ock.

As Wolverine cocks his head to look his captor in his eye, he sees not Sabretooth, but the master of illusions himself Mysterio! Cackling, he gloats, “Your heightened senses are not easy to trick, but nothing is impossible to a master such as I!”

“Still, you are a unique specimen. Unlike Spider-Man you were born with these incredible gifts. If only your brain was as remarkable as your genetic comp–“.

Yet before Doc Ock can finish his sentence, he is interrupted by the ping of an energy-fueled card. “Enough chit-chat Ock. Thought we were here fer a fight,” Gambit says as he and the X-Men charge toward the Sinister Six.

Quickly, Doc Ock throws Wolverine across the arena while Electro unleashes a powerful blast at him. Cyclops retaliates, hitting Doc Ock hard; while Storm brings down a roar of thunder and lightning upon her opponents. Vulture takes to the sky to get on her level. Meanwhile, Gambit and Rogue go after Kraven and Sandman.

“Don’t know about you darlin’, but I reckon these fellas here ain’t on the same level as the Brotherhood,” Gambit says to Rogue as he tries to hit Sandman with his staff. Yet unbeknownst to him, the staff goes right through Sandman’s molecular structure. Gambit’s staff glows lilac for just a moment as Gambit smiles. The incandescence flows through the staff and begins to radiate through Sandman’s body. Flint Marko’s head, sitting atop his sandy body looks concerned, then pained, and then… BLAM! Sandman explodes with a flash of white light! While Gambit is caught admiring his own cunning, Kraven seizes the chance to unleash a silent one punch KO against him.

“Gambit!” Rogue exclaims as she charges toward Kraven, trying to absorb his powers. Yet before she can reach, a blast of Electro’s energy sends her hurtling toward the other end of the arena. After Vulture comes from behind to attack Storm, she taken off guard and pulled to the ground by one of Doc Ock’s arms, and violently smacked with another.

With Wolverine just regaining consciousness but tormented by Mysterio projecting visions of his dead loved ones, Cyclops is the lone X-Man standing. “Not today!” Their fearless leader erupts a titanic blast pushing through Electro’s electric arc and knocks the villain out. He whips his head upward to blast at the Vulture, who is swiftly using the youth recently taken from Storm. He finally clips a wing, sending the Vulture crashing to the rock below. As Cyclops swing again to a wall of sand trying to recollect itself, he widens his beam and blasts back the encroaching Sandman. “THREE DOWN!”

Cyclops hears a foul cry that he has heard too many times, “RAAARRRHHRRRAAARH!” the shrill scream of Wolverine’s berserker rage. He sees his Mutant brother stand, as he has so many times before after injuries that’d kill any other. He sees, through a stream of red, Wolverine pushing through Mysterio’s illusions, and watching the caped fishbowl collapse as he’s stabbed in the gut. Kraven’s eyes light up as he breaks toward the berserker and the two begin what it is that they do best.

Cyclops knows the damage Logan can do, but doesn’t have time for the responsibility of it. He turns to Doc Ock. The dumpy criminal lashes out with his mighty metal arms. Cyclops uses his optic beam to push one strike away as he sidesteps another, but he’s unable to avoid a third, which smashes down at his feet, sending him falling to the ground with a thud.

Hitting his head on the ground, Cyclops feels foggier than expected. He hears Doctor Octopus over him, “You’re no Wall Crawler!”. He hears the too familiar sound of Wolverine’s snoring and looks up weakly though his cracked ruby quartz lenses and sees Storm, Gambit, Rogue, and Wolverine floating, held, one in each of Doc Ock’s mechanical appendages. A moment too late, he realizes, he’s fallen for Mysterio’s illusions.

Flanked by Kraven and Mysterio, Electro saunters up besides, the Vulture swoops into Cyclops field of vision, and Sandman reforms behind them all, Ock quips to his team. “Gentlemen, remember that the mind is the greatest weapon.”

WINNER: SINISTER SIX

Young Justice (6): Robin, Superboy , Wonder Girl, Speedy, Impulse

BPRD (11): Hellboy, Abe Sapien, Liz Sherman, Lobster Johnson , Johann Kraus

As the teams face off, Hellboy groans to his comrades that they’re up against a bunch of teenagers.

“Aw crap, these kids wanna mess with us? Even that rookie agent we just got is older than these punks,” he remarks.

“C’mon Red, at least this’ll be a piece of cake. I could use a break after that last demon we took down,” replies Liz Sherman as she draws up a flame of blue fire.

Suddenly, Impulse takes off and creates a whirlwind around the BPRD. In response, Lobster Johnson uses his psychic abilities to stop the speedster; while Hellboy and the others go on the offensive.

“Enough blabbering! Let’s get this over with!” the big red shouts as he fires his gun at Superboy. Despite the impact of the blast, it quickly rebounds off Connor Kent’s Kryptonian body.

“Aw crap,” Hellboy remarks as he gets blasted by Superboy’s heat vision.

The battle commences as the teenage crime fighters charge toward the paranormal super-agents. Speedy fires off a few exploding arrows at Johann Kraus, while Lobster Johnson and Abe Sapien team up to take down Robin.

Meanwhile, Wonder Girl flies toward Liz Sherman, effortlessly deflecting her opponent’s blasts of fire. After several minutes of heated blows and hand-to-hand combat, the Amazon warrior emerges victorious as she delivers a knockout punch.

Hellboy reemerges, only to be met once more with the fiery heat vision of Superboy and a vortex-like whirlwind created by Impulse.

Shortly after, Robin outmatches Lobster Johnson with his martial arts expertise, swinging through the air and delivering a mighty blow with his staff.

“Sorry shadow-man, you’ve got skill, but I was trained by the Bat!” Grayson exclaims.

Surrounded by his opponents, Abe remains the only BPRD member still standing.

“Yes well, I suppose the victor here is quite apparent. No need for me to resist,” he says.

“Wise choice fish-face,” Speedy replies with a delightful smirk. The teenagers emerge victorious.

WINNER: Young Justice

Authority (4): Midnighter, Apollo, Jenny Sparks, the Engineer, Jack Hawksmoor

Heroes for Hire (13): Luke Cage, Iron Fist, Misty Knight, Colleen Wing, White Tiger

The Heroes for Hire huddle around one another looking at their opponents from across the field. Luke Cage addresses his team, “I don’t know anything about these suckers, but I know if we have to fight our way out of here, we’re going to!” Turning around to charge, he’s surprised as Apollo and Midnighter are already upon them. “Sweet Christmas!”

Midnighter smiles and punches Luke Cage in the face. “Ow! Not expecting that!”

“They never are!” Luke Cage cracks his knuckles and punches back, sending Midnighter flying some twenty yards back.

“That was a mistake.” Apollo makes a stern face and pick up Luke Cage, flies high into the air, and launches him into the ground.

“I don’t think you want this fight buddy!” Danny Rand, the Iron Fist leaps into the air to avenge his best friend. He focuses his chi to a point, the very tip of his toe, and kicks out. To Apollo’s surprise, the strike hurts. It hurts… a lot! He’s thrown back and lands on his back.

“Nice kick sugar!” Misty Knight hollers as she rushes past with Colleen Wing to attack the remaining three members they’re fighting. She reaches the Engineer and punches. The engineer’s chromed finish absorbs the blow, then, it connects with Misty’s machine prostetic.

“How interesting.” The Engineer grabs the arm and it lights up with blue electric. “This arm is mine now.” She takes control of Misty’s arm and swings it around 180 degrees. The attack surprises Misty’s partner Colleen, and lands square in the nose. Colleen Wing falls hard.

Misty, horrified by the action, moves quickly to remove the arm, taking advantage of the confusion, Jenny Sparks dives into the Engineer’s back, transferring to electrical energy, building power and momentum, and flies out her front, tackling Misty Knight and pushing her out cold.

Racing past teammates, Hawksmoor arrives to aid Midnighter. Huffing and puffing, “Midnighter, this… (huff… huff…) is not the place for me.” He helps his teammate up.

Blood curling from his lips, Midnighter responds, “No worries, this is EXACTLY, where I’m supposed to be!” And he takes off back to the fight. Having seen Iron Fist kick his love mid air, he knows that he’s dealing with a martial artist. Based on the amount of force needed for a man his size to take that far into the air and given the distance that Iron Fist kicked him back, given Apollo’s strength. He knows how hard Iron Fist can strike. Knowing all of these variables, Midnighter is far more prepared than when he cavalierly attacked the larger man with the yellow shirt.

Iron Fist notices the resolve from his new sparring partner and meets him halfway. The two punch, kick, push, grab, jump, roll, in a brilliant dance. Midnighter is astonished at this man’s mastery. Even having seen the power and precision, the control, focus, and depth of martial knowledge is nothing short of astonishing. Midnighter, slowly learning Rand’s prefered moves, general habits, blocks, and counters, is able to start turning the tide of battle. He’s the first to finally land a solid blow, a jab to Iron Fist’s chest, sending him reeling. Wasting no time he follows it up with a low leg sweep, sending Iron Fist to his back. Just as Midnighter has gotten the measure of his opponent, ready to axe kick down, White Tiger leaps in to help her partner, and the dance begins anew. She’s verocious, fighting like an animal, difficult to predict, difficult to read. Midnighter signs, and starts to learn this new fighter.

As the two battle back and forth Luke Cage peels himself off the dirt and looks up to see Apollo floating in front of him.

“Impressive” Apollo offers, as he soars down and punches Cage back into the ground.

“That one might leave a mark…” Luke Cage attempts to peel himsle up again. On his hands and knees Apollo punches him down again. Luke lifts his head, trying to keep fighting, and he’s struck down again.

“You’re very tough. But I assure you, I’m stronger.” Apollo races off and grabs White Tiger and Iron Fist, one in each hand, and cracks the two together. He looks around to confirm his assumptions.

“No fun, I had those two!” Midnighter complains as the five Heroes for Hire disappear and  the Authority are returned to their seats

WINNER: Authority

 

Suicide Squad (6): Rick Flag, Harley Quinn, Captain Boomerang, Killer Croc, El Diablo

Champions (11): Ghost Rider (Blaze), Hercules, Black Widow, Iceman, Angel

The Suicide Squad stand shoulder to shoulder, Rick Flagg raises his rifle, “Squad, I think we know how to handle this, we’re the bad guys, remember?”

“The worst!” Harley Quinn swings a rather large wooden mallet off of her shoulder and readies it for combat.

“I’ll take the Motorcycle guy.” Deadshot lifts his arm and fires.

BANG! The bullet hits Ghost Rider directly between his eyes and has literally no effect at all. He (literally) fires up his Harley Davidson and zooms towards Task Force X.

Deadshot sighs, “One of these guys.” And fires round after round at the Ghost Rider. Hitting square between the eyes, center mass in the chest, even trying to take out the tires. Each shot hits true, but has no effect.

Screeching to a halt in the middle of the group, Ghost Rider launches flaming chains in every direction. He ensnares all five Suicide Squad member. “You’re ALL evil. And you’ll all BURNNNN!” Hellfire pulsing through the chains, thugs, gangsters, thieves, criminals, and killers all burn to ash.

“Next time, leave something for me to punch!” Hercules jests.

WINNER: Champions

JLI (4): Blue Beetle, Booster Gold, Fire, Ice, Green Lantern (Guy)

Nextwave (13): Monica Rambeau, Machine Man, Tabitha Smith, Elsa Bloodstone, The Captain

“Hey!”  Shouted Tabitha Smith, formerly known as Boom Boom, Meltdown, and a few other awful codenames into her phone.  “What gives?  Hey!  Can you hear me?”  She looked up quickly, glaring.  “That was, like, an important call!”

“No time, Tabby.”  Monica snapped back, turning her gaze out across the arena floor.  “I don’t think we’re even in the same – “  she began, before a booming voice announcing the brawl interrupted her.  She winced, holding her ears, as three of her four other comrades did the same.  

“Haha, fleshy ones,” muttered Aaron Stack, the Machine Man.  “Your pathetic, flimsy ears are no match for my superior auto receptors.”

Elsa Bloodstone, famed monster hunter since childhood, pulled her hands from her ears, a cross scowl adorning her face as she followed Monica’s gaze across the arena.  “What do you think, darling?  Will we have to beat the lot of them to bits?”

Monica sighed and rubbed her head, glancing at the quietly triumphant Aaron, Tabby furiously mashing the buttons on her phone, and The Captain, who sat up from his spot on the floor and looked dumbly at the empty beer bottle in his hand, then squinted in confusion up at the sky.  She shook her head, sadly, then looked back out again.  “This sort of thing happened all the time in the Avengers.”  she said, wearily, then looked back at her team and barked out, “Saddle up – it’s time to beat people up because some **** on a throne wants to watch us do it!  It’s creepy but this is what they wa – Aaron, stop snickering!”

“Well, Toto.”  Ted Kord, the Blue Beetle, remarked to the man at his side.  “I don’t think we’re in Kansas anymore.”  He frowned, bringing a hand to his chin to rub it, thoughtfully.

“We weren’t in Kansas anyway,” his companion, Booster Gold, replied, as he squinted across the arena.  “New York, remember?  Wait -”  he turned to grab his friend by the shoulder, shaking him violently.  “Ted!  Are you in there, buddy?  Do you remember who I am?”

“Doce mãe de misericórdia!” Beatriz, better known as the heroine fire, blurted at the two.  “Can you two stop goofing around for one second and take this seriously?  Did you hear them – we have to fight!”

“Don’t you worry, doll,” Guy Gardner drawled as he inspected his fingernails.  “Luckily, you’re with the greatest Green Lantern there ever was, I’ll mop the floor with ‘em before your nails can dry.”

“Doll?”  Fumed Bea.  “Doll?!?”  As she swung her head to glare at the red headed Lantern, licks of green flame danced along her clenched fists and upper arms, even as her friend, Tora, put a steadying hand on her shoulder.  

“Bea!  Guy!  This is no time to argue with each other!”  she pleaded, holding a hand up to the Guy as he smirked at the fuming Beatriz, a smirk that vanished when Ted Kord nudged Booster Gold and muttered.

“He said greatest Lantern ever, but I don’t see Jon around,” he joked with a barely concealed snicker, which burst into a loud “Bwa ha ha!  Hey – fire, turn it down a little, I smell burning!”

Beatriz shrugged, baffled.  “It’s not me, Beetle, I’m settled down.”

“Then who – “

“Tick tick tick tick – “ muttered Tabitha Smith as tendrils of fire snaked across the arena, curling around the squabbling opponents.  She grinned slowly, impishly, as she swiftly brought her hands together. “Boom.”

The resulting explosion scattered the five member of the Justice League International, Blue Beetle, Booster Gold and Fire tumbling away while Guy raised his hand swiftly, wrapping himself and Ice in a thick protective bubble, which was punted away, bouncing and rolling across the coarse ground.  

The Captain is so absurdly strong that he once turned a man’s hand to jelly while high fiving him.  They were, in their defense, incredibly drunk.  But it was incredibly surprising to the Brooklyn native when he flew after the bouncing green ball and directly into it, only to bounce off with a yelp, skidding across the floor and into a wall with a loud thud.  

Elsewhere, Nextwave’s surprise attack met with mixed success.  “Lick my exhaust ports!” shouted Aaron as he lept towards the tumbling Booster and Beetle, his arms extending and hands turning into what looked like incredibly unsafe logging equipment.  

Ted recovered just in time to leap and tumble out of the way, “Hey, man, watch it – you’ll put someone’s eye out!”

Booster pressed a button on his force field belt, likewise activating it just in time to ward off the machine man’s attack, then squared up with Beetle as the two of them faced down their foe together.  “Hit him like we did with Ivo’s last creation?”  he casually asked Beetle, who nodded once, then looked over Aaron’s head with his mouth agape.

“What is that thing?” he asked loudly, pointing just above his head.

“You think I’m going to be fooled by your simple organic tricks?”  Aaron seethed, staring directly at the dynamic duo.  “You disgust m -”

The sudden flash of bright light from Ted’s BB gun took the robotic man by surprise, blinding him momentarily.  Booster lept into action, firing a few Booster Shots™ from his gauntlets into Aaron while Ted leapt towards him, sending one foot crashing into his head with a loud clang.  Ted winced, but Booster dashed in for the finisher, swinging a fist into an uppercut and connecting with his foe’s jaw, sending him sprawling to the ground.

“Hey!  That wasn’t bad!”  he exclaimed, turning to his friend as Blue Beetle hobbled on his injured foot, groaning.  He held his hand up for a high five, which was gladly given to him while the duo celebrated their win.  They never say the shotgun being swung at their heads until it connected, sending both of them sprawling.

“That’s the problem with you yanks,” groused Elsa.  “You never know when it’s appropriate to celebrate.”  She peered skyward, seeing two illuminated figured roar around the sky, one wreathed in green flames and the other bursting with all manner of colors.

With one well aimed blast, however, the green fire was seemingly extinguished and the brazilian tumbled from the sky, saved only by the sudden ramp of ice that appeared to slow her fall and send her rolling across the arena.

Gritting his teeth, Guy Gardner stood with one hand raised, Ice by his side with chill frost falling from her hands.  “Just wait here, toots.”  he said over his shoulder.  “I got this!  Hey chumps!  Come get some!”

With his battle cry sounded he ignored Ice’s shout of, “Guy!  Wait!” and charged to the fight, a giant fist of green energy emitting from his power ring and slamming down where the three remaining members of Nextwave had regrouped.  The three women scattered, with Elsa rolling to her feet with her guns drawn, peppering the Green Lantern.  He laughed haughtily, creating a shield of energy and sneering at the monster hunter, taunting her.

“You horrible little man.”  she scowled, then dodged the sudden ball of ice that was flung her way by Ice as the caught up.  The second, however, caught her in the side – not just hitting her, but freezing her to the floor.  Her eyes widened as Ice approached, the air cooling around her.

“I’m so sorry, I wish we didn’t have to -” Tora begin, before streams fire skirted around her and exploded once more.

“She just, like, seemed really boring, y’know?”  Tabby asked Elsa as the two of them watched Ice as she was launched into the distance, unable to be helped by Guy while he attempted to fend off Monica, the former avenger.  

“C’mon, lady, can’t you do better than that?” he teased as another burst of cosmic rays bounced off his protective bubble.  He brought his defenses down to swing a green bat at her as they fly across the sky, but quickly had to block her next attack.  

“I’ve had enough of your **** mouth,” she retorted, then turned around and sped away, leaving the Lantern laughing behind her.  

“That’s right, babe, run away!  Hey – there’s no shame in being scared, I’m Guy Gardner, after all!”  he called after her, resting his hands on his hips.  He floated, proudly, until the woman turned, speeding back towards him – then vanished.  “Hunh?”  he asked dumbly, looking around.  “That’s cheating!”  

The blast of electricity hit him solidly in the back, causing him to jerk and spasm, then fall from the sky.  With a sigh, Monica raced to meet him, catching the unconscious man carrying him to the ground, only to drop him with a heavy thud, eliciting a groan.

“Shut up,” she muttered, tiredly, giving him a kick, then looking around the now peaceful battleground.  “Is that all of them?  Sit rep – Elsa?  Aaron?”

“Always a good day when I get to put some Colonials back in their place.”

“I’ve got something to put in your place.  Hah hah.”

“Shut it, Aaron.  Okay, where’s The Captain and what the **** is Tabby doing?”

“This one’s cute!”  Tabitha called as she scrawled a series of digits on Booster Gold’s chest with red lipstick.  “You think he’ll call?”

WINNER: Nextwave

 

 

X-Force (7): Cable, Domino, Shatterstar, Warpath, Archangel

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

The red dirt of the stadium opens to emit a glowing white light on either end. Two teams stand across from one another. One end features soldiers, trained to take the most extreme actions to achieve their lofty goals. They’re led by a grizzled man with white hair, a glowing left eye, and scars over the right. He is holding a very large gun. Without looking back, he commands his strike force, “You know what to do”.

The four anthropomorphic turtles and their rat father stand across the way. Their approach is usually a little bit different. They’re used to attacking from the shadows, remaining a secret, and striking without notice. The situation does not seem to favor them, but they’ve fought against all manner of mutants, the Shredder, and an alien invasion force called the Krang. They don’t know exactly who these foes are, but they DO know that they’ve faced long odds before. The huddle together for a moment to gather themselves. The moment is very quickly broken as a plasma blast fires across arena. Luckily, their focus is such as they’re able to scatter a moment before it arrives and the flip back, in unison, out of the way. They draw their weapons, swiftly move to strike.

Leonardo calls to his brother, “Take out the guns first, and we’ll circle back to rest of them!” Without saying any more the turtles know their formations, Leonardo and Raphael charge up the middle, their best martial artist, they’re able to move with uncanny quickness and jump, flip, roll, and duck all of the incoming shots.

As they approach, getting just within launching distance, Raphael’s focus is just barely overcome by his battle rage, and he misses a shot at his feet. He’s tripped and slides onto his face, skidding to a halt at the feet of Cable and Domino. Domino smiles, “That one’s mine!” And she winks at Cable.

Cable, seemingly emotionless, retorts bluntly “Lucky shot.”

The tight formation of X-Force served its purpose. It brought their enemy to them and allowed them to get a ranged advantage, and with a member of the opposing team on the ground, Warpath needs no prompt to know he’s up. He steps from behind the gunners and lifts the Turtle off of the ground. Holding onto the top of the chest portion of Raph’s shell in his left hand, he pulls his right back to deliver a mammoth punch when his left hand is struck with surprising force, as a bo staff comes streaking in from the side. Though gifted with strength and a fair degree of physical toughness, Warpath drops the turtle and turns his gaze to the purple masked brother. Twisting his face up, Warpath lunges for for Donatello.

“Uh… sorry?” Donny chides as he pulls his head into his shell to avoid the first attack. Warpath silently swings his arm back as a counterstrike only to have it leapt over. Donatello back steps another few steps and Warpath charges after him. Using his speed and smarts to his advantage, he sidesteps the strongman and jams the bo between his feet. As Warpath is stumbling forward, the staff is lifted and cracks off the back of Warpath’s feathered head, forcing him to the ground. Donatello has virtually no time to celebrate his momentary victory, as he finds himself lifted from the ground.

Archangel is silent, as he swoops over the Turtles, carrying Donatello high above the teams below. He’s observed that he’s the only flyer on the field and knows that will be the advantage that X-Force needs. As he reaches the apex of the dome, he drops his flightless passenger. Donatello reaches his staff up, just enough to catch the foot of his flying aggressor, and is able to push off, hopefully, just enough that he slow his descent to where it will just hurt a lot, and not kill him.

From below, Cable recognizes the maneuver and takes aim. As he’s lining up his shot on the falling target, his gun flies from his hands, and Michelangelo stands nunchucking back and forth.

“Bummer for you dude, no toys!” Shatterstar knows it’s his turn to step in, and bring down all three of his blades on the party dude. “EEEK!” Mikey screams at the clash of metal, as he notices that his older brother has saved him from the attack.

‘Maybe try to pay a little bit more attention Mikey?” Leo pushes through gritted teeth as he fights the other swordsman.

“Maybe lighten up a little!” Michelangelo teases as he cartwheels off of Shatterstar’s head and turns into a kicking off of Cables chest. The kick has less effect than he figured it would. “Looks like the football pads are more then cool looking, huh?” Cable punches at his taunter who sidesteps away and, nunchuck still spinning, swipes the back of Cable’s hands. Shaking the pain off, Cable steps in again, and again, his hand is smacked away. Cable’s biggest surprise though, is a four foot long turtle shell flying falling out of the sky directly on top of his head.

Donatello recovers from the fall, pulls his head out of his shell and happily exclaims, “Physics!”

He’s kicked in the chest and stumbles back, and then falls over as a gunshot cracks from Domino’s weapon, “Hey buddy, I’m supposed to be the lucky one!” Donny looks up briefly, smiling at the shooter, before his head hits the dirt.

“No fair!” Michelangelo exclaims, as he swats the gun out of Domino’s hands, “I think he liked you!”

“If you think I need a gun to beat you, you’re sorely mistaken!” Domino ducks and dodges all of the incoming Nunchuck. Just as the flurry starts to be too much, Domino blindly backflips. Michelangelo pursues, but finds himself running into the not too worse for wear Warpath, who punches into the turtle’s back and sends him reeling into the stadium walls.

“You do NOT get to treat MY brother that way!” Raph screams, pushing himself off of the ground. He lets one of his sais fly and his training proves true. Warpath is too surprised to dodge the projectile, and it hits square in the chest. The weapon is thrown just precisely enough to hit between ribs, just sharp enough to penetrate the targets tough skin, and at just the right moment to catch Warpath off guard. Raph rushes past his fallen foe and prepares to launch his other sai at Domino, when he’s stopped cold by a sheet of metal feathers raining down in front of him.

Archangel glides to the ground, confronting Raphael. Raph picks up a razor sharp feather from the ground and launches it back at its originator. The steely wings of archangel close around their body, as if independent of their master, and Archangel begins walking towards his target. Well before Raph could reach his opponent, the wings arc forward and slash at the turtle. Raphael leaps back. No one to be on the defensive, he glances over to see his brother still clashing swords back and forth with Shatterstar. He turns, shouting out, “SWITCH!” Archangel takes to the air to intercept when he finds himself impaled in the chest with a sai. Raphael looks up, “Can’t block with ‘em when you’re ‘em”. He grumbles. Archangel lands on the ground with a thud.

Meanwhile, Leonardo, hearing his brother’s stratagem, has already turned to switch fights, he barrels past the fallen Cable, Archangel, Warpath, and jumps into a kick against Domino. Mid air, his leg is grabbed by Warpath. Dangling upside down, leonardo see Warpath pull the sai out of his chest and grumble, “I heal fast”. Tossing the weapon aside and flinging Leonardo towards his other discarded brother, against the arena wall. Just as he’s getting up Michelangelo finds himself breaking the fall of Leonardo, and collapses again.

Raphael quickly scours the ground to recover his discarded sai, and pulls the other from its home in Archangel’s chest. His reflexes pull him aside, KLANG! He gets the weapons up just in time to block Shatterstar attack. The swords continue to fly. His speed and skill are almost as good as Leonardo’s, Raph thinks, (better maybe?!) He doesn’t have time to think, he only has time to fight. Raph uses his physical advantages, while Shattertar has hit the chest and back multiple times, they’ve done little to no damage beyond scratching the shell; parrying every attack, the graceful strikes of Shatterstar seem effortless while Raphael’s counters seem to more and more labored until finally he falls back with the force of Shatterstar’s attacks.

Finally, Shatterstar thinks to himself, his opponent is vulnerable. He swings his swords sideways and catches the two sai. He’s able to hook them between the tri blades and pull them from Raph’s three fingered hands. Lifting for a killstrike, Shatterstar abruptly falls to the ground. Leonardo stands over the collapsed Shatterstar, “You think you can get rid of me that easy? Think again!”

Helping Raphael up and handing him his sai, the two stand shoulder to shoulder looking a few yards away at a very confident Domino and Warpath. Raph breaks the tension of the moment, “I put you down once big guy, I’ll do it again!” And he charges at the two.

“Oh boy…” Leo mutters and toddles after.

Warpath pulls out two large knives as Raphael sprints forward, “Didn’t think you’d be worth it, guess I was wrong.” The two clash a few feet in front of Domino, who, still standing still, kicks one of Archangel’s feathers, still sticking out of the ground, at Leonardo.

“Not that easy!” Leo swats away the feather with one sword and slashes down with the other. Domino turns at her hips and evades. Leonardo swings down again, and Domino sticks out a leg. Leonardo’s follow through is sloppier than usual and he trips over Domino’s outstretched leg. Falling the ground. He sees the feet of Warpath and Raphael dancing around in front of him.

Warpath knives are almost as dangerous as Shatterstar’s swords, and somehow, a little faster? When the fight began he was not expecting the combatants to be so adept at hand to hand. Spinning away from the knives, Raphael roundhouse kicks into Warpath’s chest, hitting him where the sai hit earlier. Warpath grimaces, but seems otherwise undeterred. Raph headbutts him the same spot, steps back, and slides between his legs. He goes to stab into Warpath’s back, and is astonished as the 7 foot tall Native America whirls around and swats away Raph’s arms. Raph jumps back and calls out again, seeing his brother just getting up, “SWITCH!”

Leonardo hops towards the behemoth before him and their blades begin to clash. Leonardo, slightly more skilled with his swords than Raph is with his sais, is able to hold off the knife attacks. Warpath is however, still too fast to land any meaningful blows. The mele brings out the best in him though, as he calls to his brother, “They’re too good. I can’t beat either one of them!”

“Thanks for the update brother, lot of help!” Raph grunts as he stumbles around Domino, unable to land anything meaningful himself. “So what, we just give up?!”

“No, I can’t beat either one!”

“Ohhhhh…” Raphael rolls over Domino’s back and slides towards Warpath. Leonardo and Raphael strike in unison, the push the battle to keep Warpath between themselves and Domino, and while Warpath is quick enough to swat away the first few attacks, as the turtles press the advantage they’re able to take down the giant.

As Warpath falls Domino picks up her gun and fires at his back. He falls with the shot barely skimming the top of his head and blasting Raphael in the chest. He flies off of his feet and lands unconscious on the ground. Mid air, his arms flailing, the butt of his sai smashes into his brother’s nose, knocking him down as well. Domino walks to the fallen turtles, and kicks Leonardo in the head, ensuring he’s down for the count as well. She spins, arms outstretched, victoriously twirling for the crowd. She takes a bow and stops. She rises slowly, looking confused, a small stream of blood falls from her lips and she falls.

Kneeling behind her, Master Splinter is holding Leonardo’s blade. “Luck is a wonderful tool to possess, and when mixed with your skill, it it is difficult to beat, but focus, attention, and patience, will always win out in the end.”

WINNER: TMNT

Inhumans (4): Black Bolt, Crystal, Karnak, Gorgon, Triton

Batman Inc (13): Mister Unknown, El Gaucho, Man-of-Bats, Nightrunner, Knight

The Inhuman royal family exchange stern and knowing looks. Through years of working with their silent leader, they know what to do. Gorgon steps out front and begins stomping the ground, creating a low hum throughout the stadium.

The Batmen stumble around as they try to get their bearing for their ensuing response. Nightrunner, quite adept at navigating difficult terrain, nimbly bounces over the protruding earth as it dances before him. Man-of-Bats slowly begins to jog toward the phenomenon, while the other three Bats follow suit. Nightrunner reaches the disturbance first, leaps off of ground and kicks out towards the hooved man causing the imbalance.

Mid air, Nightrunner spins around, Karnak slips in, seemingly from nowhere, and slices an open palm across the back of Nightrunner’s knee. Nightrunner rolls away as Man-of-Bats charges in and punches Gordon square in the nose. The punch is formed through years of training, crime-fighting, and exercise, though to an Inhuman, there’s little effect. It gets Gorgon to end his terrain obstruction, however the grin that appears shortly thereafter says almost everything that the Batmen of Many Nations need to know.

With the seismic quakes stopped, Mister Unknown, is somehow, through an open battlefield, able to sneak up behind Karnak. Apparently you can’t see the flaw in something when you don’t see it at all. He reaches into his utility belt and places a small metallic device on the back or Karnak’s bald head. There’s a large shutter of electrical current as Karnak writhes and twitches, before falling to the ground with a cloud of black smoke.

Triton stabs into the mist to notice Mister Unknown mysteriously missing. Though slightly out of his element, Triton still possesses incredible strength and durability. He’s not the least bit surprised as a rope bolo with twin orbs come hurling at him, ensnaring the aquatic Inhuman around the chest and arms.

El Gaucho follows through with his attack launching into his incapacitated foe with a stern uppercut. Triton stumbles back, shakes off the attack, and bursts out of the rope. El Gaucho, looking more than a little concerned, flips back, shakes his head, and reaches into his jacket to see what might have more effect on the monster in front of him. Overconfident, Triton lunges forward reaching out as he’s slashed from the side.

Knight, shining in his armor,stands over his foe, sword in two hands, waiting for retaliation. Triton turns his head slowly as El Gaucho reaches out and punches again, this time, directly into the sword wound. This attack’s efficacy is felt slightly more than the previous one. Without waiting, Knight lashes out again.

Mid strike, he’s blown back by a gust of cold air as Crystal joins the fray. Using her base elemental powers, Crystal pulls up the dead Earth in front of her family, pushing the Batman back. She searches the area, the air itself for water to wash the Batmen away, but can scarcely find enough to make the air palatable. So as here nimble assailants start cresting her new formed hills, she simply uses the wind to once again gust them back. She walks over to Triton to check on her wounded cousin, when out of the shadows of her landmass Mister Unknown appears once again. He drops to the ground and kicks the feet out from under the Inhuman princess. He follows the attack up with an ax kick to her midsection and disappears again.

Unfortunately, this time he disappears into the sturdy hands of Gorgon, who, upon scooping him up off of the ground, flings him across the stadium. He stomps one foot down and shatters the rock fort constructed by Crystal. Gorgon stomps again, amid the rock shards pelting the other four Bats and strikes down with one hoof around them. They fly back, scattered to the four walls of the stadium. He looks around, accounts for all 5 assailants, picks up Crystal, and then grabs Triton. “You okay?”

Triton response blankly, “I’m fine, let’s check my brother.” As the two walk to the incapacitated Karnak, they find themselves bombarded by a number of various gadgetry. Knives, bat shaped throwing stars, nets. As the agents of Batman Incorporated have the Inhumans surrounded, using every trick in their utility belts. One stray object, its specific identity lost in the mass, strikes Gorgon’s head particularly hard and he’s felled before reviving his teammate.

Crystal’s demeanor goes from confident to angry. “Enough playing around!” She turns to the scattered Batmen advances upon them and waits for them to all be within striking range. She creates a huge fire ball that chases the Batman around the circle and take them all out.

WINNER: Inhumans

US Avengers (7): Sunspot, Squirrel Girl, Red Hulk (Maverick), American Kaiju, Captain America (Cage)

Rogues (10): Captain Cold, Heatwave, Trickster, Mirror Master, Golden Glider

The US Avengers, an assemblage of heroes young and old. New to the game, and seasoned vets.

The Rogues, a crew of villains and thieves, each of whom has battled the Flash to a standstill more than once. And more importantly, a family.

The Rogues waste nary a moment, in their experience, every moment matters. If you can strike before your foe can think, you have a chance. A swirling blue stream of ice flies across the battlefield, engulfing all five members of the US Avengers. The momentary capture might be just enough to call it a quick end. Perhaps if they being encased were help seconds longer it would have, but the ice explodes as General Maverick doubles in size as he transforms himself into the Red Hulk.

“Unexpected!” The Golden Glider skates towards her adversaries, “But they’re gonna have to do more than bulk up if they want to beat us!” Tossing small jeweled bombs as she passes the Avengers.

Diving over one of the bombs, Squirrel leaps onto Glider’s back, tail waving behind, “You know, you don’t HAVE to do evil of you don’t want to!”

“Off my sister!” Captain Cold shoot off his cold gun at Squirrel Girl. Through years of working together, Golden Glider anticipated the move, and was able to set up Squirrel Girl perfectly. Squirrel Girl drops in a chunk of ice.

“Not gonna work as well as you hoped.” Red Hulk lifts the block and hurls it at the Rogues. I think I’ve seen the “X-Men do this one.”

Sunspot sees the ice and melts it down so Squirrel Girl arrives at the scene ready to scrap. She lands on heatwave ends up perched, squatting on his chest. She looks at his hand and ask, “This another one of those fancy ice guns?”

“Not quite.” Heatwave flares out from his flamethrower, startling Squirrel Girl. As she back flips off the Trickster tosses a mirror over her. The Mirror Master reaches through it, grabs the hero, and pulls her in, then pops back out.

“Cute trick.” Sam Guthrie boasts as he explodes across the grounds. He tackles the Trickster and smashes him into the arena wall. He bounds back and get hit by Heatwave. The flames have no effect on Cannonball’s impenetrable blast field.

Heatwave jumps out of the way at the last second and turns to his partners in crime, “It’s a bit trickier when there’s more than one, isn’t it?”

“Only for morons.” Mirror Master quips back as he pops up through the icy surface Glider is leaving behind her. He punches Captain America in her jaw and slips back through the ice grab Sunspot.

Sunspot burns hot and shakes the Mirror Master preventing another mirror trap.

“We can’t have that.” Captain Cold takes aim to cool off Sunspot but he’s surprised as the Red Hulk steps into his path. Stomping through the accumulation of ice, Red Hulk reaches Snart, grabs his cold gun and crushes it in his fist. Mirror Master pops up behind and punches Red Hulk in the back. It has little to no effect. Heatwave shoots him and he simply walks through the flames to grab Heat Wave’s gun as well. Golden Glider skates around and attempts to ensnare him with an expanding necklace. It holds for a moment, and the Red Hulk flexes. The golden chains snap.

Captain America rushes past, her advance masked by the Hulk. She socks Mirror Master once and he’s out entirely. She takes after the skater, the one Rogue she doesn’t think the Hulk will catch.

Glider reaches her fallen comrade, the Trickster, and rifles through his bag of tricks. She tosses out a toy, she pulls out a yo-yo and launches it at the Captain. Cage deflects the razor edge of the toy with her shield and reaches out to Golden Glider. Just a moment too slow, as Glider takes off again. She works her skates us and forms a small ice bridge, allowing her to take to the air.

Finally annoyed enough to enter the fray, American Kaiju transforms into his gargantuan kaiju form. He stomps down through breaking Golden Glider’s support. Rolling on the ground, she sees her other three teammates have been handled by the Hulk. She sees through the shattered Ice Squirrel Girl force her way back into the physical world and she knows that she she has no hope.

WINNER: US Avengers

Legion of Doom (2): Lex Luthor, Brainiac, Sinestro, Solomon Grundy, Cheetah

Young Avengers (15): Iron Lad, Wiccan, Hawkeye, Hulkling, Marvel Boy

Without hesitation, Hawkeye draws an arrow and fires across the arena. “Let’s go!” She encourages her fellow Young Avengers.

Cheetah jumps in front of the bolt and grabs it, tossing it to the ground, she take off on a four legged sprint. With uncanny speed, she’s on her prey. Hawkeye falls to the ground trying to fight the animal of a warrior off. Luckily, her friends are there to help, and Hulking is able to scoop up Cheetah and toss her aside.

The opening gambit is enough however, to allow the rest of the Legion of Doom most into position. Solomon Grundy arrives on a yellow chute and punches Hulking back with monstrous force.

Iron Lad floats up and blasts down at Grundy.  “Impossible! I don’t have any recollection of this event, I have no idea who these people are, or what to do here!” He’s pulled out of the sky by a giant, iridescent, yellow monster, with gnarly teeth and long claws.

Wiccan turns his staff sideways and the two ends are engulfed in blue orbs of magical energy. His stern looks passes as soon as he’s hit in the chest with a green bolt of energy.

“I never cared much magic.” Lex Luthor remarks, almost bored after taking out the young magician.

“You monster!” Hulking sprouts large leathery wings and takes to the air to confront Luthor. Luthor blasts him out of the air, he falls just next to Grundy, who has begun trying to catch Marvel Boy.

“Missed me!” Noh-Varr ducks one of Grundy’s sluggish attacks. “Missed again!” He punches through the heavy attacks, but his punches are ineffective against the mass that is Solomon Grundy.

Hawkeye rolls over and empties her quiver into Grundy’s back as Marvel Boy dances around him. Two normal arrows stick out of his coat, one wraps a bolo around his arms, the tether snapping like string around the zombie. A boxing glove bounces off, a glue arrow cements his feet to the ground, but he wasn’t trying to move much anyways. And finally an explosive arrow causes Grundy to buckle over. He rises slowly, pulls one foot out of the glue, then the other. He stalks towards the injured archer but his leg is grabbed by Hulking.

“Born on a Monday.” Grundy scowls and punches down. Hulkling’s grip fails and Grundy stomps off toward the rest of the Young Avengers. Iron Lad gets up from Luthor’s plast and aims in Grundy’s direction. He blasts out and the shot fires just past Grundy, hitting MArvel Boy square in the chest. Brainiac has two tendrils linking him to Iron Lad’s armor.

Cheetah wastes not a moment diving on the vulnerable Marvel Boy and shreds him.

WINNER: Legion of Doom