Four Arms then charged straight at the Tubby Mutant, cocking back his two right fists as he did. Blob however just lowered his arms and made no attempt to avoid the Aliens attack. Once he was close enough, Four Arms then launched his fists at Blob, his attack striking directly into his gut, causing his massive belly to ripple from the impact.
However, much to the Alien Teens surprise, the portly villain didn't even flinch from his attack. In fact, the attack didn't seem to have any effect on the Mutant as he didn't move an inch from where he was standing. It was as if the Super Strong Alien didn't even hit Blob at all.
Blob smirked as he looked at the Aliens Heroes shocked expression. "Hehehe, that tickles. There's a reason I'm called the Immovable Blob, Genius."
He then pulled back his massive, pudgy fist and delivered a powerful right cross to Four Arm's face. Sending the Alien Avenger flying across the ally and into a wall causing it to crumble on impact. Groggily, Four Arms picked himself back up, mildly surprised that someone that fat could be that strong, obviously there was more to this guy's powers than he originally thought. That blow did hurt but it was far from the hardest he had ever been hit when compared to Vilgax.
However, before he could get his bearings, he was suddenly struck in the face by a silver blur, knocking him off balance. He didn't have time to register what just happened, he was suddenly struck again just as quickly and rapidly as before, causing him to spin around on the spot before one final strike knocked him off his feet, onto his stomach. The Big Red Alien then raised his head to see the silver blur come to a stop in front of him, revealing it to be Quicksilver, who stood over the downed Shapeshifter with a smug look on his face.
"And here I was thinking you'd be tough." He gloated.
"You thought right, Speedy." Four Arms retorted as he swung his top left arm at Quicksilvers legs, in an attempt to trip him. Unfortunately, the Speedy Mutant was too fast as he easily avoided his attack by moving back. But it did give the Alien Avenger some space to be able to stand up. But he was then immediately met with a few more strikes from Quicksilver, as he sped around the Muscle Alien. It didn't take long for Four Arms to realize that his current form was no match for the speedy villain, and once Blob manages to lump his massive frame over to them along with the other Mutants, he'd be outnumbered. Better he switches things up and take down the Running Man before figuring out how to deal with the others.
In the midst of his rapid fire assault, Four Arms managed to reach his lower left arm to the Ultimatrix dial on his chest and tap the symbol. In another blinding flash of green light, Four Arms transformed.
"FASTTRACK!" The blue alien shouted. He then swiftly leaned to one side to avoid Quicksilvers fist, before it could collide with his face. He then proceeded to chase after him, both speedsters dashing all over the area, leaving silver and blue streaks in their wakes.
In a few short moments, Fasttrack managed to catch up to Quicksilver, who looked over at the Speed Alien with wide eyes. Fasttrack simply smirked as he sent a haymaker at his opponent's face. But Quicksilver was able to block his fist. He then sent his own lift hook back at the speedy alien, which he then blocked. The two speedsters then proceeded to send a series of super-fast punches at each other, each one trying to out-manoeuvre and trip the other. But each time they manage to block and parry each strike as quickly as they could attack.
Meanwhile in the city, Carol was walking down the street to her home after the disaster of a lunch date she just had. She didn't blame Ben for it though, he was just trying to introduce his friends to her. Though a part of her wishes he hadn't brought them over, so that they could've had some alone time.
She could've flown to her place but despite her love of flying she didn't feel up to it right now and preferred walking just to try and clear her head after the fiasco. But what she really wished she could do, was go into a bar and drink some of her frustrations away. One of the many pains of being underage. Course that didn't stop her from downing a bottle in the past. But that was before SHIELD. When she was still living with… No she wouldn't follow that train of thought. Never again.
"Who does she think she is throwing that in my face?" Carol muttered to herself as her mind recalled Laura's words to her about her betrayal of Ben's trust. "I know I messed up with him before, but I made up for that mistake, Right? Plus, it's not like I tried to kill him like she did. As far as I'm concerned that's even worse than what I did. I mean I try to be civil with her and she goes and verbally attacks me like I'm some recently paroled criminal."
Carol stopped walking when she came to a red light in her path, the temptation to fly coming to mind again but she suppressed it. Her mind wandering to Laura again, she had read up on the cloned girl from SHIELD's database. Formerly classifying her as a priority threat to be captured due to her actions of attacking SHIELD facilities, the order was rescinded when she apparently turned her claws on HYDRA. The SHIELD agents thought of her as a loose cannon with a temperament more easily provoked than Wolverine which was saying something. She was also believed to be mentally unbalanced due to her lack of knowledge in certain areas. She still didn't get how Ben befriended someone like her despite having heard about her already. Maybe it was his kind nature that partially tamed her savagery.
A smile formed on her face as she recalled how he forgave her after learning about her mission to get him to side with SHIELD. The smile and innocence he showed her that day when they made up still brought warmth to her heart.
The sound of a car passing by broke her thoughts as she looked ahead to see the light go from yellow to red again showing that she had spaced out and missed her chance to cross now because of it.
Carol sighed, pinching the bridge of her nose and considered flying away now before her ears caught the sound of voice.
"Carol!" a female voice called out to her.
The human/kree hybrid cringed as she recognized the voice and slowly turned around to see much to her dismay Laura approaching her.
"What do you want Laura?" Carol asked with a barely restrained tone of annoyance as she was in no mood for more of the girls bashing.
Laura caught her tone but ignored it as she stopped in front of her. "Have you by any chance heard from Ben after we left the restaurant?"
At hearing that Carol growled internally thinking Laura wanted to hang out with Ben again despite them all leaving him at the restaurant due to their argument. "No I haven't and I doubt he'd want to see either of us until tomorrow."
Laura gave her a look not understanding what she meant at first until her mind figured out that Carol was implying that she wanted to find Ben to spent time with him alone. She gave the older girl her usual stern look before answering. "I'm looking for him because I'm worried that something may have happened to him.
Hearing that Carol lost her stern look and was replaced with one of surprise "What makes you think that?"
"I tried calling him on his cell but he hasn't picked up." Laura said while taking out her cell and looking at it with worry wishing it would ring with Ben on the other line.
Carol raised an eyebrow at hearing her worries "He's probably taking some alone time after our spectacle at the hotel. Either that or he doesn't want to talk to you cause you started the argument."
That remark got Laura's anger as she gave a glare and flexed her fingers trying to keep her emotions under control, so she didn't lash out at her with her claws "You don't understand, Ben always answers my calls, no matter what. The only time he's ever not answered my calls was during Kang's invasion. Even if he was upset at me for what happened at the restaurant he still would've answered to at least tell me that he wanted to be alone."
Carol now had a surprised expression after hearing what Laura said. She didn't think her boyfriend was that close to the female assassin but apparently, she was wrong as they shared a special bond. Then again now that she thought about her boyfriend, he was a nice guy and Laura was someone who had been alone for a long time and Ben was likely her first true friend and therefore Ben made sure she wasn't alone by always answering her calls so she'd have him to talk to whenever she felt lonely.
"When did you try calling him?" Carol asked as she decided to give her a chance.
"About 17 minutes ago." Laura answered as she then saw Carol take out her cellphone and dial a number. The two of them waited for a moment before Carol frowned and lowered her phone.
"No answer from him, I'm starting to think you might be right." Carol stated before her mind started wonder what might've happened. Did the Masters of Evil return and attack Ben while he was alone? The thought of that made her start to worry as well.
Before Laura could reply she caught sight of something up above and looked to see none other than Mania swinging their way. The female symbiote bearer appeared to spot them and changed her course to swing down to them as she gracefully landed on the ground beside them. Her suits shifting back into her civilian clothes as she did.
"Hey girls do you know where Ben disappeared to? I went back to the restaurant to find him but he wasn't there anymore." She said while keeping the fact she went back to the restaurant to try and get some, one on one time with him to herself since she didn't need them making a fuss about it.
Laura now looked a bit more worried after hearing this while Carol was starting to get suspicious about the situation.
"We don't know, he's not answering his cell phone and Laura seems to be worried that something may have happened to him." Carol answered earning a surprised look from Andi before she got a skeptical look.
"What makes you say that, couldn't he just be ignoring you girls cause of…"
"I already went through this with Laura." Carol interrupted as she didn't want to have to waste time explaining what Laura told her about her special bond with Ben in communication.
Andi tilted head. "Ok then I'll give you the benefit of the doubt so how do we find him? Should we call Fury to run a search for him?"
Carol grimaced at that idea. After she ceased her mission of trying to recruit Ben and stopped informing Fury of whatever she learned from the Avengers, the two haven't been much on speaking terms. She even wondered if he would waste the time granting his request.
"We don't have time for this. Let's look for him ourselves now." Laura practically demanded.
Carol was about to retort when her mind recalled something about the assassin. "Say Laura don't you have a very advanced sense of smell? Couldn't u have followed Ben's scent?" she asked wondering if she even tried it.
Laura gave Carol an annoyed look. "I tried that already but when I was following it his scent suddenly disappeared as if he vanished. That's why I came to find you."
Now both girls were sure something was up.
"Take us as far as you can follow his scent before it vanished perhaps we can find a clue on what happened." Mania requested as Laura nodded before she turned and ran back to where she came from with the other two following right behind her.
Meanwhile, back in the ally. The fight had not been going good for the alien shapeshifter.
Fasttrack's high speed fight against Quicksilver was even at first until the silver haired mutant revealed to be the faster of the two when he accelerated to faster levels than Ben could keep up with. He then toyed with him a bit as he started landing blows on him and then speed away for Ben to follow. Unfortunately, that turned out to be a trap as he was lead back to where the others were waiting, and he ran right into Avalanches path who then shook the ground and made him lose his balance where he slipped and crashed into a light pole that got bent from the impact. Domino then took the chance to start firing shots at him and it was only with Fasttrack's quick reaction that he avoided the shots. That was until an unbelievable bit of bad luck, one of the bullets ricocheted off the light pole and actually hit him in the back of his right leg. That injury slowed him to normal levels and Toad then took his chance to spring at him and fire his slime at him.
Using his arms and good leg Fasttrack avoided the disgusting assault and quickly changed into Swampfire. Removing the bullet lodged from his leg he quickly threw seeds at the Toad which sprung and restrained him, allowing the plant alien to deal a good punch to his face which instantly knocked him out. That was the only progress he made as Quicksilver had then blurred around him and cut him to pieces using a sign he plucked from its hinges and his high speed added more force to the blows. Naturally he managed to put himself back together, but he knew he had to change form again. This time he transformed into Water Hazard, but while he had stopped to transform, Blob had taken the chance to charge at him, not even slowing down when the green light blinded him for a moment.
"Gahh!" Water Hazard cried out as he crashed into a wall and fell to his knees before he looked up to see a dumpster descending towards him courtesy of Blob after he tackled him to the wall. Acting quickly, he sprang to the side avoiding getting flattened.
"Blob, nail him I'll keep him still for you." Avalanche ordered in a Russian accent as the large mutant ripped part of a fire escape from a wall and threw it at the crustacean looking alien.
Water Hazard raised his hands to blast the structure away, but Avalanche was expecting that as he then shook the ground causing Ben to lose his focus as he tried to stay standing upright. But knowing he missed his chance to blast the incoming structure away he opted to avoid it by quickly aiming his hands down and blasting the ground causing him to be propelled to the air in an Ironman like fashion as the fire escape hit where he had been standing.
"Hey jerks, surf's up!" Water Hazard said before taking advantage of his air superiority and quickly blasted a large amount of water at the ground that formed into a small tidal wave that flooded the ally and sweep Avalanche away while Blob stood his ground unmoving and Domino in an impressive show of acrobatics had run up part of the wall and jumped high to reach the remains of the fire escape to avoid getting swept away by the current. Quicksilver however used his speed to quickly grab Toad's unconscious body and move him to safety so he didn't end up drowning.
Water Hazard landed back on the ground as Domino jumped off the handle and proceeded to unleash a barrage of bullets at him while Blob stood back. All the shots fired struck his shell but thankfully for the Alien Avenger they couldn't break through his tough exterior.
"What's with you and guns girl, I thought you guys were all about showing off your powers!?" Water Hazard questioned while putting up his arm closer to his face to better protect his eyes since after getting hit by a ricochet shot from her, he didn't want to risk another impossible shot.
"They do things their way and I do things my way." Domino merely answered while taking pleasure since apparently, he had yet to figure out what her powers where. Seeing that her shots weren't working she changed tactics as she aimed her guns further apart, aiming more sideways.
Water Hazard looked at her in confusion. "Huh what're you…?" before he could finish however Domino fired her shots which sailed past him but then, as if they were guided pinballs they ricocheted off the metal poled they struck and veered straight at the water alien where they struck the back of his legs behind the knees where his legs would bend.
"Gahhh!" Water Hazard belled out as he fell to his knees again. Though he didn't really feel pain those shots did sting since they hit his joints. His mind meanwhile was in awe at the impossible shot she just made at him. The guns she was using seemed like standard issues that didn't use anything special like energy-based weaponry and her bullets seemed normal as well, so how the heck did she nail him like that?
"Ok either the universe is starting to hate me now or you're actually a better shoot than Hawkeye?" Water Hazard said out loud mostly to himself, but Domino still heard him.
It was quickly starting to dawn on the Alien Avenger that he was at a slight disadvantage in this situation. Not because he was outnumbered, he'd faced those odds before. But because he had no idea what he was up against. He was unfamiliar with these people and had no idea what their full capabilities were and therefore had no idea what transformations he could use against them to give him the advantage. So, either he'd get lucky and find an opening to take them all down, or he'd have to retreat and call in his team for backup.
"I'll take the compliment," Domino said while emptying her guns and replacing the magazines.
Blob took that moment to charge at the kneeling form after seeing Domino cease her firing. The Hard Shell Alien might've been down but he certainly wasn't out as knowing he couldn't blast Blob away he decided try a different approach where he fired a blast of water at the ground which caused Blob to slip forward and fall on his belly.
"Wahhh!" Blob wailed out as his body slid across the now slippery ground uncontrollably as if he were on a water slide.
Water Hazard took the opportunity to jump onto him, using his large belly as spring before jumping off his as the large mutant continued to slide before eventually stopping when he crashed into another dumpster. He saw Domino aiming her guns at him and prepared to blast her as well when all of a sudden a familiar blur speed into the alley only this time it ran around him creating a hurricane like vortex that caught Water Hazard in its grip and started to spin him around wildly.
"Woah! I don't like this!" The Crustacean Alien could only say as he was being spun at speeds that would've already caused a normal human to pass out. His relief came when Quicksilver stopped running in circles and let the twister dissipate before Water Hazard fell from the elevated altitude and landed on his back.
"Urghhh everything's spinning." Water Hazard grumbled out as his vision was disoriented and dazed after that but despite that he still managed to get back up albeit with a stumble on his movements.
Quicksilver dashed besides Domino "You're a real glutton for punishment aren't you punk?" he asked smugly seeing that he was almost down and out.
"I've had worse days Speedy. And win or lose, at least people will know who I am, unlike you D-Listers." Water Hazard retorted earning a scowl from the speedster for his insult before he smirked earning a confused look from the Alien Hero before he heard loud thuds and looked back to see Blob coming at him again and seeing that he was now caught in a pincer manoeuvre.
"Oh, great I'm surrounded, if I turn my back to Speedy and Mrs. Trigger finger they'll nail me and if I don't I get tackled by Mr. Sumo reject." Water Hazard thought and decided that it was time for another change but when he was about to reach for the Ultimatrix the ground beneath him started to shake again and he looked up to see Avalanche on a nearby roof soaked and looking peeved at him.
"The distraction and loss of balance was all Blob need to grab the alien avenger with his large hand and slam him to the ground before he then quickly brought him into a bear hug that was as crushing as an anaconda's deadly embrace causing the shapeshifter to grunt in pain. He tried to get out of the hold, but any method he used, only got absorbed into the Fat Mutants, flabby body. No matter what the Alien did, whether it was punching, kicking or trying to blast him or the ground with his water cannons, none of it worked as the Blob didn't budge and he couldn't gain any leverage to escape. And with his arms pinned to his sides by the Tubby Superhuman, he couldn't reach the Ultimatrix dial to transform into something more useful.
Seems that the only thing his escape attempts managed to succeed in is making Blob laugh.
"Looks like this ain't your lucky day, Kid." He said smugly.
"Sure, seems that way. But I can still turn it around." Water Hazard replied, optimistically.
"Yo did I miss all the action!?" A familiar voice called out as the Young Hero turned to see Toad hopping towards them. Seems he had just woken up which surprised the teen hero a bit. Guess he held back that punch a bit too much.
"Nah your just in time for the grand finale of our annoying little friend here." Avalanche said as he walked forward after jumping off the roof and re-joining his comrades.
"Don't count me out just yet." Water Hazard let out as he continued trying to wriggle out of Blobs grasp.
"U certainly managed to put up quite the resistance but honestly I think u should know when to call it quits." Domino remarked with her arms crossed as she stood on Blobs left side.
"Sorry but I only call it quits when I want, not when others tell me to." The alien avenger remarked while continuing too struggle to no avail. "I may have had some occasional bad luck and mistakes here and there, but I never let that stop me from kicking butt, which is what I'm gonna do to all of you when I get free."
Toad then laughed in response as he walked up to Blobs side. "No chance of that." He said in a confident tone. "We've always got luck on our side, thanks to…"
He was swiftly silenced by Quicksilver, slapping him upside the head. "Zip it, you moron. I swear, sometimes I wish I left you in that MRD cell." He berated the weakling of the group for almost revealing Domino's powers.
"Sorry." Toad said sheepishly.
Quicksilver then turned his attention back to the imprisoned teen. "I can't believe you were the guy that beat up, Magneto. I thought you were supposed to be some big tough guy. This is almost sad."
"Tell the beached whale to loosen his grip and I'll show you tough, Snowflake." Water Hazard retorted with a glare.
This however only caused the Superfast Mutant to laugh in response. "I guess we should be thanking you. After everyone hears how we took out one of the Avengers, everyone will give us the respect we deserve."
"Magneto might actually let us back into Genoshia." Toad chimed in.
"Shut up, Toad!" Quicksilver immediately snapped, harshly at Toads comment.
This did not go unnoticed by Water Hazard as he raised his eyebrow, then smirked. "Really? That's what this is all about? Little Quicksilver, is seeking Daddy approval?" He taunted the villain.
Quicksilver then turned his glare at the Alien Avenger. "You don't know what you're talking about, you little freak."
"You're calling me a freak? Isn't that like the pot calling the kettle black?" The Alien Teen responded with a cocky tone.
This just made the Silver Speedsters blood boil. "And I thought the X-Men were the biggest pains in my neck. I think I've had just about enough of you. Blob, crush him."
"With pleasure." Blob said with an evil grin. He then started to tighten his grip, causing Water Hazard to groan in pain as he felt his armored shell being pressured.
If only he could just find a way to hit the Ultimatrix dial. But in his current form, against an opponent like Blob. It was a very poor matchup for him, he had no way of escaping. To think, Ben survived some of the most powerful villains in his universe and this one, only to be taken down by a bunch of D-List villains, he'd never heard of before. Luck really wasn't on his side today. The only thing Ben wished he could do now, was see Carol, Laura and Andi again and apologies for trying to force them to get along. Too bad it looks like he will never see them again.
The pressure of Blobs bone cracking bear hug was getting so intense that some of the blood that rushed into the shapeshifting heroes head was starting to make him hallucinate as his own groans of pain where starting to sound like Laura's screams. Suddenly, for some reason Blob just dropped the Alien Avenger, causing the Teen hero to gasp as he fell on his butt.
Water Hazard shook his head to clear the dizziness out, he then looked up to the Blob. Only to be shocked to see Laura, dressed in her X-23 suit, pulling on the back of Blobs head, her claws out with her right hand trying to stab the Tubby Mutant in the neck, but it seems the elasticity of his skin made it so not even Adamantium blades could puncture him. But that did not stop her from being able to annoy the large man enough to drop him.
"Hey, get off me you little runt!" Blob angrily protested as he tried to shake the girl off.
For a moment everyone, including Water Hazard and the remaining Brotherhood members, just stared at the encounter between the Mutant Clone and Bloated Behemoth as Blob tried to grab Laura to pull her off him, but his flabby arms prevented him from reaching that far. So all he could do was flail around madly in an attempt to shake her off, but the clawed mutant would not budge from her position.
"Laura?" Was all that Water Hazard could utter as he watched her continue to grapple with Blob.
Quicksilver then got over his surprise and was about to move to assist his teams muscle. But for some reason, when he attempted to move his legs, he found himself unable to do so. The Silver Speedster looked down in confusion and his expression swiftly changed into a shocked one. Covering his feet was some kind of black, web like substance that had pinned both his feet to the ground, preventing him from moving.
"What the?" Quicksilver said in confusion when he heard a whistling sound and turned just in time to see a fist connect with his face, freeing him of his restraints as he was sent flying down the alley before landing on the ground skidding a few feet before stopping as he looked up to see a blonde haired girl with her fists emitting some kind of yellow energy.
"Carol!" Water Hazard called out in surprise and delight to see his beloved girlfriend.
"Looks like we got here just in the nick of time." Carol said before smiling at her boyfriend as he stood up.
"You picked the wrong time to meddle girl." Quicksilver said before Avalanche took that moment to shake the ground Carol stood at, disrupting her balance. However, that soon became ineffective when Carol jumped and was now floating off the ground.
"Drat I hate it when people can fly." Avalanche grumbled as his powers were useless against someone in the air.
"And I hate people who try to harm my boyfriend." Carol said before she fired a blast of energy at Avalanche that struck him in the chest and blasted him back earning a groan from him as that had hurt but thankfully his suit gave some protection as he got back up.
"Can't leave you alone for five minutes without you getting into some kind of trouble." She said in a teasing tone as she turned to her boyfriend.
"I thought you guys took off, why did you come back or even know I was in trouble?" Water Hazard asked, slightly confused.
"You can thank Laura." Carol continued. "She said she tried to call you, but you didn't answer. She tired tracking your scent but strangely she said it vanished?" she said the last part in confusion.
"That must've been because I turned into Fasttrack and was running across the whole place at high speed. My scent trail probably got disrupted cause of that but returned when I came back to this place?" Water Hazard speculated.
"And we came here to find you getting your butt handed to you by these losers." Carol berated teasingly.
"Hey, these guys are tougher than they look." Water Hazard defended himself. "I would've figured out how to beat them eventually."
"When? After Blob turned your spine into sea powder?" Carol retorted but her question.
Water Hazard opened his mouth to argue with her, only to hear X-23 scream as Blob somehow managed to catch the clawed mutant, grabbing her by the head and pulled her off his back. Now the Fat Mutant, held Laura's small head in his massive hand and looked as though he was about to crush her skull.
Seeing his friend in danger, Water Hazard immediately reacted as he reached up and slapped the Ultimatrix dial and in a flash of green light, the alien teen transformed into a large Werewolf like creature.
"BLITZWOLFER!" The alien cried out.
The Alien Werewolf then faced the Tubby Mutant and his snout split down the middle opening up to resemble four pronged mandibles. Despite the fact that X-23 was in the line of fire and he didn't want to hurt her, Blitzwolfer new that her healing factor would allow her to recover very quickly and he'd rather risk hurting her slightly than watching her head be crushed like a nut. The Alien Hero then took a deep breath and unleashed a powerful sonic howl from his mouth at the Blob, causing the Large Mutant to release X-23 and cover his ears in pain. Even with his heightened durability and malleable body, even that wasn't enough to defend him from the vibrations that where assaulting his eardrums.
Although, while the attack was painful to anyone with normal levels of hearing, it was agonizing for anyone with enhanced senses like X-23. The Female Mutant was currently lying on the ground in pain as the sonic assault continued. Lucky for her, Blitzwolfer quickly stopped his attack once he saw that his friend was freed. He then quickly ran over to check on her, while Mania fired some black webbing into Blobs eyes to blind him as he was recovering from the headache caused by the Alien Avenger.
"You ok, Laura?" Blitzwolfer asked his mutant friend.
In response the Clawed Girl, groaned as she shook her head and focused her eyes on Blitzwolfer. Once her vision cleared, she let a small smile appear in the corner of her mouth. "You said you would call, if you ever got in trouble again."
Blitzwolfer smiled back at her as he helped her to her feet. "Didn't really think I was in trouble until a few minutes ago. In case you didn't notice, that guy moves pretty fast." He then gave an apologetic look "Also sorry that I hurt you with that attack I used, I couldn't come up with another way to make him release you."
"It's ok I've felt worse." Laura said accepting his apology.
Domino meanwhile saw the tide was beginning to turn with the new arrivals and raised her guns at Carol and Laura to shot them but before she could pull the triggers a glob of some dark substance collided with her guns and jammed them. She turned in surprise to where it was fired from and saw a female shaped being in what looked like a black costume version of Spiderman with some differences sticking to the side of the wall.
"Didn't your mom ever tell it's not polite to point things at people?" Mania teased.
Hearing her voice, Water hazard immediately turned around and upon seeing her, was even more shocked. "Mania?"
"Hey there cutie." Mania waved at the Teen Hero.
Domino glared at the new intruder and threw away her guns before pulling out a backup pair from behind and shooting at her. Using her enhanced agility Mania managed to avoid the shots by sagging left and right before she jumped back up to the roof and taunted the blue mutant to come and get her.
Domino looked back to Carol unsure if she should go after Mania or stay down here to help out. She got her answer when Quicksilver spoke up.
"Go after her, Toad back her up, the rest of us will deal with these party crashers." The speedster ordered as he faced Carol and dashed at her where he landed a fast punch that sent her reeling a few feet back and caused her to flip in the air before she righted herself and fired a blast of energy at him which he easily dodged.
Upon hearing his commands the mutants nodded before going to their assigned targets. Domino and Toad used their acrobatics to climb up to the roof where Mania was while Avalanche went to assist Blob who finally got the girl off him when he ran his back to a wall which made her jump off to avoid getting crushed between them.
Up on the roof Domino and Toad landed and spotted Mania with her arms crossed and a smirk of her face before she took a fighting stance.
"So, who's first the Smurfette or Mr. Dissection?" Mania taunted and got her response when Domino quickly raised her guns and fired at the symbiotic hero. Mania crossed her arms in front of her and in response, her symbiot generated more mass into her arms, increasing their thickness meaning that when the bullets impacted against her, the symbiot prevented the bullets from reaching her skin.
"Gotta remember to thank Eddie for teaching me that move." Mania muttered under her breath.
Toad then sprang forward and shot a glob of slime at Mania who flipped to the side to avoid it, not wanting to be touched by the disgusting substance. She then shot a line of dark wedding at the green mutant, but he used his jumping skills to avoid getting snagged. Seeing this Mania ran forward and fired a twin pair webbing while Domino had stopped shooting due to seeing her shots were ineffective. Toad managed to avoid the twin lines of webbing but that proved to be a mere distraction when Mania then shot her arm forward and a large claw extended out, surprising Toad who failed to get out of the way in time and was caught by his left ankle and then pulled to Mania like the end of measuring tape that was being recalled.
Domino threw a knife at the webbing to try and free Toad but the blade bounced off the elastic like rope.
"Time for you to go nighty night." Mania said with a grin before she reared her fist and punched Toad who could nothing but scream in panic and close his eyes as he got KO'd for the second time. Once he was out Mania threw his body to the side, so it wouldn't be in the way as she turned her attention to Domino who was looking unsure right now.
"Now that just leaves you." Mania said before her hands grew larger into claws. Domino responded by taking out something from a compartment in her belts pocket which then expanded and became a staff that sparked with electricity on the ends.
"I prefer it this way actually, I do my best fighting without teammates to hinder me." The blue beauty responded before twirling her weapon and taking a fighting stance. The two combatants then charged at each other.
Back down in the alley the others faced off against their opponents.
"I'll take Speedy, Carol you deal with Jumbo and Laura you take care of Mr. Shake but try not to cause him any permanent damage." Blitzwolfer requested as the female assassin nodded before they all charged at their assigned opponents.
"You chumps are going down hard." Avalanche proclaimed before using his powers to shake the ground where all three of them stood. However, things went different this time as Carol simply hovered off the ground and continue her charge while Laura and Blitzwolfer had reacted fast and jumped off the ground. But it didn't stop there as Blitzwolfer and Laura grabbed each other's hands where the alien werewolf spun her around him before throwing her at Avalanche where she performed a frontal flip and then shot both her legs forward planting them on mutant's chest in a hard double kick that knocked the wind out of him.
"I'm gonna squash you!" Blob said before charging at Carol who continued on course as the two powered brutes collided with Carol dealing an uppercut punch on Blobs head that actually caused him to stagger a few steps back to avoid falling on his butt.
"Not today lard butt." Carol retorted before flying at him again.
Blitzwolfer saw Quicksilver blurring at him where the silver haired mutant started running around him again creating another twister to disorient him. "Not this time pal!" the werewolf alien said before tapping the Ultimatrix dial and changing his form into Terraspin before he spun his limbs at high speeds, adding more power to the twister which caught Quicksilver off guard when the twister was turned against him as it sucked him.
"Hey! What! Woahhh!" The Speedster could only yell out as he was now being spun around in the vortex although thanks to his powers he didn't get disoriented since he was used to moving at fast speeds even if he was spun.
Avalanche was having just as much trouble as he tried knocking the mutant assassin off balance or even create a fissure to catch her in, but the girl was too agile, acrobatic and had a great sense of balance. She even used a cartwheel manoeuvre to continue advancing on him before she was literally right on top of him he tried to punch the girl but that proved to be a mistake when Laura brought out her claws and slashed his hands, tearing his gauntlet apart before she performed a spin kick that knocked him to the ground. She then kneed him in the chest when she landed and brought her claw down on his head or at least that's what it seemed before she planted it besides his neck.
"This is for harming my friend you creep." Laura said before she punched the guy's lights out.
Over with Carol she and Blob had been in a fist fight trying to bring the other down. It seemed like a stalemate as while Blobs body was durable enough to withstand Carols super strong punches, Blob couldn't take her down either thanks to her flying abilities and her own durability which let her withstand any punch being dealt at her.
"You're really starting to get on my nerves lady!" Blob angrily shouted before slamming the ground and then tearing up a large chunk of the street before throwing it at Carol who merely punched the slab of earth to rubble.
"And you're a stubborn mule." Carol retorted with annoyance since nothing she did brought him down whether it was her strength of photon blasts, none of them managed to down this overweight mutant.
Back at the roof Mania clashed with Domino as they fought in close quarters. Mania had thought she would be able to win by now, but Domino proved to be a very formidable opponent especially with her staff weapon. She had taken a hit from it already and did not wish to again as it was painful to both her and the suit getting electrocuted.
Domino swung her staff to counter a swipe of Mania's claws and then reared her head back to avoid a shot line of the suit that tried to lash out at her face. Mania went for an uppercut slash, but Domino struck the ground with her staff and used its leverage to perform a backflip that also had the benefit of striking Mania's jaw with the front of her boot causing her to stagger back. Mania responded by firing a web line to try and snare the blue mutant while she was still mid-air, but Domino reacted by bringing her staff up and rotating it sideways where the web line ended up snagging one of the ends of the staff and causing the web to dislodge courtesy of the electric shock that burned it off.
When Domino landed on her feet she quickly took out some capsules from her belt and threw them at Mania where they exploded into a smokescreen around her, hiding Domino from view.
"I so do not like this." Mania thought to herself as her mind recalled what Carol told her about Domino after they first saw who was attacking Ben before coming to his rescue. Apparently the blue mutant possessed the ability of good luck where events were altered so that they favoured her in however they can. Not only that but she was also a very skilled fighter and shooter where SHIELD had her listed as a valuable possible recruit if she wasn't currently on the side of villains.
Mania's thoughts were broken when she turned around just in time to get jabbed by Dominos spear which shocked her, making her scream in pain and her suit to thrash wildly. However, she fought through the pain and her suit retaliated by creating multiple spikes that expanded outward. Domino jumped back to avoid skewering but some of the spikes managed to cut her right cheek and left shoulder causing them to bleed slightly as she jumped back to gain some distance.
"I'll say this, you're as good as I've heard. It's a shame you're not with SHIELD, you'd have made one heck of an agent." Mania remarked to catch her breath for a moment as the suit healed her wounds and dulled the pain her body felt.
"Sorry but I have no interest in serving a government agency looking to use me as a tool. Especially when it does nothing about the injustice against mutants." Domino replied before running at her again as Mania took a defensive stance.
The two met again as they engaged in another close-range fight with Mania playing defence now. The symbiote hero focused on blocking and evading the staff's electric shocks before she finally found a counter opening as she sharpened her claws into thin blades and then with a swipe she managed to cut the staff in two making it useless as Domino threw it away and took out a pair of knives.
Before Domino could use them against Mania however she was suddenly kicked from behind as she fell forward but managed to roll herself back up to Laura now charging at her with her claws out. No doubt she had scaled the opposite side of the wall to sneak up on her while she was focused on Mania.
"This is not a lucky moment for me." Domino thought to herself as she tried slashing at clawed mutant only for her claws to cut through her knives as if they were cardboard but managed to kick the girl away from her before the blue mutant took out her guns again and fired multiple shots at Laura that produced a pained reaction from her, but she didn't go down.
Needless to say, Laura did not appreciate that action as she growled before running at the blue mutant while Mania did the same from the other side. Seeing she was boxed in Domino waited for Laura to get close before she grabbed the girl by the wrists and then using her momentum against her she threw the girl at Mania. Laura got a startled expression when she saw that her claws were still out and now about to impale her ally, so she reared her claws back in and moved them to the sides to avoid harming her. However Laura still collided with the symbiote hero as the two fell to the ground. They quickly got off each other and stood back up to face their enemy.
"Ok she's getting really annoying." Mania remarked.
Laura simply snarled while unleashing her claws again. Prepared to charge straight in to reengage her opponent. But before she could, Mania placed a hand on the Mutants shoulder, stopping her.
"Hang on a sec, sister. I think I've got a plan to take this chick down." Mania said with a smirk earning a suspicious look from Domino and a confused look from Laura.
"What plan?" Laura questioned.
"Don't worry all we have to do is keep her attention on us for a second and then I'll spring my trap." Mania said while secretly counting in her head.
Domino meanwhile was on guard as she faced her opponents. The fight was clearly one she might not be able to win since both her enemies could survive being shot and stabbed. Besides her guns and knives, she didn't use much else in weaponry. Her staff was one of the few exceptions but now it was destroyed, and she didn't have much else besides some smokescreens capsules and small explosives which she knew wouldn't do her any good against these kinds of opponents.
The blue skinned beauty saw Laura rushing towards her and just as she was about to try a counter offensive stance she felt her legs stuck and looked down to see the black symbiote restraining her legs from the ground. Before she could try to get free she saw Laura punch her in the face as Mania then extended her arm and wrapped itself around her face suffocating the blue mutant.
Domino's hands griped at her covered face trying to tear the substance from her face, but it wouldn't come off. Eventually her struggles seized when she ran out of air and seemed to pass out as her arms fell to her sides and her body went limp.
Seeing her movements stop Mania quickly recalled the symbiot to untangle from Domino's face but before it was completely detached she fired a web line at Domino's body to restrain her in case she woke up again.
"Well looks like my plan worked." Mania said cheerfully happy it worked out.
Laura however was confused. "How did you restrain her legs?"
Mania smirked as she lifted her leg and Laura saw a symbiot tendril withdraw from a hold in the ground that was beneath her foot. Laura then looked over to Domino and saw a similar hole near her foot, where the symbiot that was restraining the mutants foot retracted through.
"Oh well, when you caught her by surprise and she turned her attention from me to you, I secretly drilled a hole into the floor beneath my foot and then extended a tendril to the area under hers so that it could restrain her when I needed it." Mania explained while Laura was somewhat impressed by her plan, it was simple yet surprisingly effective.
"I wonder how cutie is doing?" Mania said to herself as both her and Laura ran to the edge of the roof to see how his fight was going.
They saw Ben in the form of what looked like a turtle shell as he was spinning part of his body to create powerful gusts of wind that were pinning Quicksilver to a wall off the ground. Carol meanwhile was still looking to be caught in a stalemate with Blob.
"Looks like he's got it handled, we should help Carol out." Laura said before she jumped down followed by Mania.
Back with Ben he had a hidden smirk on his face as he had Quicksilver pinned. After turning his twister against him and spinning him around for a while he then created his own sideways twister that slammed the speedster to the wall and now had him pinned, unable to escape.
"Looks like I got you old timer." Terraspin taunted earning a glare from the speedster. They both turned to see Laura and Mania running their way.
"Hey girls, looks like you finished up your ends." Terraspin said while keeping his vortex going.
Quicksilver looked around and his eyes widened in shock at the sight of his fellow teammates defeated forms. Then his surprise morphed into anger, then displeasure.
"We're going to help Carol finish up her fight." Laura said as they ran past Ben and headed for Carol. Seeing this Quicksilver panicked knowing if Blob was taken down then he would be all alone.
"BLOB DO SOMETHING!" Quicksilver yelled out to his last standing comrade.
Blob heard his friend calling him and turned to see the girl with claws and the one with the black suit heading towards him. That meant the rest were beaten and now they were coming after him. He saw his leader restrained to the wall and thought on how to assist him.
"Eyes this way big boy!" Carol said before punching Blobs cheek making his head tilt to the side, but he still refused to go down. Blob got an angry expression and when Carol went for another punch he managed to catch it and then used his strength to throw Carol away from him over the roof of their surroundings before she managed to stop herself mid-flight. However, that gave him the time he needed to lift a nearby sewer hatch and throw it at the alien hero as it sailed past Laura and Mania.
"Ben look out!" Carol called but it was too late as the disk collided with the alien turtle causing him to stop his spinning and freeing Quicksilver who wasted no time dashing across the place and punched Laura and Maniac to the opposite walls before he joined Blobs side.
Terraspin groggily got up and was re-joined by Carol, Laura and Mania as they turned to face Quicksilver and Blob.
"Give it up man, now you're the one who is outnumbered and outmatched!" Terraspin remarked as they all took fighting stances again.
For a moment Quicksilver just continued to glare. Then a smirk appeared on his face. "Don't think you've won yet, E.T. You're still gonna pay for what you did to my father. Mark my words this is far from over."
Before anyone could respond, Quicksilver dashed around the area, so fast, that it created a small tornado that kicked up all the debris and dust that was knocked loose from all the earlier fighting, obscuring the villainous mutants from view. In response, Carol tried to blast the villain with her photon beams. But with her vision obstructed, she was firing blind into the roaring winds. Mania tried to shield herself with her arms as her symbiote generated some extra tendrils from her legs, to root her in position. Laura had both her arms up, trying to block the winds, while also trying to focus in order to predict the speed villains' movements. All the while Terraspin tried blowing some of the wind away as he tried to shield the girls from the flying debris, as they all endured the harsh winds.
Suddenly, after what felt like hours, the winds suddenly stopped, and the debris cloud dissipated. Everyone then lowered their guard, only to find that the villains had completely disappeared. The heroes immediately started to scan the area, but found no sign of them, even Domino was gone from where Mania had tied up and stuck her to the roof.
Mania immediately scratched her head in confusion. "Ok how the heck did they do that. I mean, I can see that disappearing act working for, like a few of them. But how the heck did the Stay Put Marshmallow Man, pull that off?"
"I don't know." Carol admitted, equally confused. She then looked to the clawed mutant. "Can you track them down?"
In response Laura started to sniff the air, utilizing her heightened senses to try and pick up any scent that would lead them to the Mutant criminals. Unfortunately, after a while, she frowned in defeat.
"The intensity of the winds and debris that Quicksilver disturbed, scattered their scent in all directions. It is impossible to determine where they went in this condition." Laura confirmed, clenching her fist in anger.
"In other words. They got away." Mania stated, bluntly. Placing a hand on her hip.
Terraspin then let out a deep sigh as he tapped the Ultimatrix dial and turned back into Ben. This certainly wasn't his lucky day.
"That's just perfect." He remarked sarcastically.
Just then he felt a hand rest on his shoulder. The Teen Hero turned to see Carol looking at him with sympathetic eyes.
"Hey, it's not that bad, Ben. You win some, you lose some. At least next time, you'll be ready for them." She stated.
"Yeah, Ben." Mania then chimed in. "Next time you'll show those Freaks, who's boss."
"You are the most adaptable person, I know. If anyone can find a way to win, it is you." Laura added, giving the Alien Avenger a warm smile.
Hearing those words of encouragement from the girls, certainly did improve Bens mood. It was in that moment that something just clicked inside his head.
"Hang on a sec." The Wielder of the Ultimatrix said, suddenly. "Did you three just agree on something?"
The girls looked at him confused for a moment and then exchanged glances with each other. They then, with the exception of Laura, who's expression remained neutral, smiled and looked back at him.
"I guess we did." Carol admitted.
Mania then spoke up. "While we may not agree on a lot of things. For now, we can safely say that the one thing we can agree on."
"Is how much we care about you." Laura finished.
Ben grinned at the three, where a small blush started to appear after hearing the comment. Seeing that caused Carol to giggle as she kissed him in the cheek.
"So, I'm guessing that means, you three can be friends?" Ben asked.
Carol then thought for a moment. "Hmm, I think we'd be like oil and vinegar." She stated.
"We go together, but we don't mix." Mania concluded, as her Symbiote shifted into civilian clothes.
At that comparison, Ben gave them a smirk. "Good enough for me."
Just then, Andi stretched her arms and let out a sigh. "Well, don't know about you guys. But facing off against a bunch of bad guys sure worked up an appetite. How about we take another crack at that dinner?"
"So long as you can keep your hands and legs to yourself. I don't see why not." Carol replied in a joking, but also stern tone.
Andi then giggled in response as she held her hands behind her back in an innocent way. "Well that just depends on what I'm in the mood for." She then playfully winked at Ben, causing him to nervously chuckle.
The teen turned to Laura, who stood silently on the spot. "You coming, Laura?"
Laura looked hesitant at first. Stealing glances at Carol and Andi. But when she turned her attention back to Ben, seeing his innocent looking eyes, her body language softened. "…Yes. I will join you."
With that, Ben, Carol, Laura and Andi all walked out of the ally, in the direction of the dinner. The whole way there, Ben couldn't help but smile. Sure, the day hadn't gone quite as he had expected it to. But despite all the bumps in the road, he always managed to reach the right destination. Such is the life of a Hero. And he wouldn't have it any other way.
So there it is. The revised chapter. Hope this makes up for the mistakes I made in the last one. Special shout out to Masamune X23, for helping me improve this chapter. And Id also like to thank my friends Jade and Just Q for being honest with me and calling me out for my mistakes in my previous attempt. It was a real eye opener for me and I swear I will never make a mistake like this ever again.
Until next time. CaptainRex75 out!