Columbus Avenue between 84th and 85th street.
Wolverine charged, leaping from car wreck to building rubble. He scaled the precarious fire escape to the top of what remained of a five story apartment complex. He stood at what could be considered shoulder-height of the thirteen headed hydra.
"Hey, bub! Ya hungry?" Wolverine yelled.
One of the Volkswagen-sized heads turned in the mutant's direction and roared. On the ground, Cyclops, Beast and the Black Knight also yelled, at Wolverine. Only the hydra was heard. The beast lashed out with fangs bared. Wolverine stood his ground until the last second. Just as the monster was about to bite into him he leaped up an onto its head. He steadied himself by driving both sets of adamantium claws into the hydra’s snout. The creature howled and bucked but Wolverine could not be budged.
Wolverine kept his eyes on the surrounding heads. He knew that he would not be safe for long and began slashing away at the armored skin. A second head thrust an open maw at the mutant. He took teeth, muscle and bone with a swipe. Two heads of the hydra bellowed. He heard the repeated slams of what sounded like brick against scales as Ms. Marvel hammered away with her fists on the green carapace of the monster.
Opposite Ms. Marvel, on another side of the hydra, Goliath had both hands occupied grappling two more heads. Someone wearing gold and brown that Wolverine didn't know was on the ground blasting the monster. Spider-man used hit and run tactics to keep as many heads occupied as possible. The all too familiar sound of Cyclops's optic blast discharging came to Wolverine a second after the beam struck a third head coming up behind him. He clawed through the dense bone and hit his gray-matter target.
"Sayonara, sucker," Wolverine said.
The head he rode bucked more violently. A second head dashed forward again and again Wolverine ripped open a face, claiming an eye. The head he had lobotomized began drooping to the ground. Wolverine began traveling the neck at a run. I'll just take this thing down one head at a time if he have to, he decided.
The second head, with flaps of meat and a nearly unhinged jaw, came into view again but stopped short of getting within striking range. The third head dashed in as before, and was blasted back again as before, by Cyclops. Wolverine leapt into the air from the collapsing neck of the failing head for another.
A fourth head struck like lightning and snatched him out of the air. Venom sacks pumped enough toxins into Wolverine to kill a dozen men. The X-Man’s agony was immediate. His veins felt as though they carried acid. His body burned like no fever even the fast-healing mutant had ever suffered and he howled in agony. The shredded head blasted the pinned mutant with it’s venom breath. Wolverine thrashed with his claws at the jaw hinge and destroyed the eye of the head that had him in a death-grip. It dropped Wolverine, still thrashing, his senses completely failing him. The world was nothing but agony.
=====
"Easy, Logan. I have you." The Beast caught his fellow X-Men twenty feet from the ground and landed deftly.
Two of the hydra heads locked on the speedy blue target. They shot out only to be smashed back in pain from the optic blasts of Cyclops.
"Pull him back, Beast! Cyclops, maintain fire!" Black Knight said.
Black Knight activated the radio communicator that the Black Widow had issued to everyone fighting the creature. She then focused SHIELD on organizing civilian rescue efforts and weapons and strategy preparedness for a Beta-Level threat in a populated area should the super humans fail.
"Marvel, Goliath, sound off. Status!" Knight yelled.
Cyclops blasted back two heads before they could strike. The head Wolverine had lobotomized shrank and withered while two more, emerald green stalks grew from the neck.
"I can't believe this thing hasn't fallen yet," Cyclops said.
*I am hitting and firing with everything I have. It's hurt but a long way from down!* Ms. Marvel's said through her comm.
*Same here. It heals faster than I can injure it. We've stopped forward movement but — ARGH!"
Black Knight saw Goliath on the far side of the hydra. One of the heads had latched on the giant's leg. Goliath stomped the head to ground with his free foot then went back to striking at the lunging and weaving heads.
*The poison works fast, Knight. Don't know how long I'll be standing,* Goliath said.
"What ever you do, stay at maximum height! If you shrink to normal you're dead."
*I was thinking that myself.*
The Black Knight turned to face the Beast. "Hank?"
"Yes?" Beast was fighting to keep Wolverine from cutting him with his mad slashing.
"How is he?"
"I believe his healing factor is in overdrive and may not be up to the challenge."
Wolverine was kicking and striking like he fought a dozen assailants. His eyes were rolled back in his head. Foamy spittle sprayed from his mouth.
"Goliath was just bitten. Can you synthesize an anti-venom from Wolverine's blood?"
"Well, I don't know. I could try if I was in my lab."
"Knight to Widow. Is that mobile lab on site yet?"
*Affirmative, Knight. Why do you ask?* the Black Widow said.
"The Beast is in route. We need an anti-venom yesterday."
Only the Beast's vastly superior strength kept Wolverine immobile as he bounded away.
*It is at your disposal, Knight.*
Cyclops blasted again.
"Cyclops, where are the rest of the X-Men?"
"We're one of three teams. The island's inhabitants are starting to lose it. There's rioting
on the surrounding blocks. Everyone else is on containment and rescue detail.”
Cyclops finally blasted through the scales of one of the heads. It dropped limp and almost immediately began to grow two more in it's place.
"Archangel, Jean, Shadowcat and Joseph are a few streets up to the north of us. Iceman, Colossus, Nightcrawler, and Havoc are to the south."
The few people we have are dying fast. Think, Whitman! I need a plan fast or there won't be anyone left to execute it.
=====
Spider-man dropped flat on his back. The hydra slammed it’s jaws shut where he had been. He fired both feet up into the soft underside of the monster’s jaw. The head hissed and pulled back. A second head replaced the first, forcing the web-spinner to roll right, spring to his feet and dive off the building narrowly escaping a third head that destroyed the roof behind him.
He reached out and adhered to the building with his right hand then pulled his body in. He remained still, waiting to see if the hydra had seen his last minute dash for cover. He wasn’t scared. Not for himself. He was more worried that one of the heads that he failed to occupy would hurt or kill an innocent. There were people still to be evacuated in the building he clung to. If the hydra was looking for the fast-dodging Spider-man then it wasn’t plowing through another structure.
Nothing he did seemed to hurt the monster. It was extremely frustrating but then Spider-Man knew he wasn’t really a monster-from-myths-fighter kind of super. I usually leave this to the Avengers, who are missing, or the Fantastic Four, who are also missing. The big boys are gone, heck, Hercules’s dead. I can’t believe that. Aren’t all gods immortal or something? Playing Jerry in a lethal game of cat and mouse is not my idea of a good time.
MJ is waiting on me to get home for dinner. It’s hot dogs and mac tonight too. I’m already late. You can’t reheat macaroni and cheese. It’s only good straight out of the pot. Why is that? Maybe conduct--
“Whoa!” Spider-man slid down the wall ten feet before his wall-crawling ability turned back on.
What was that? Spider-man examined the bricks he was touching for instability or slickness he had over looked. His spider-sense hadn’t warned him of anything. Did I slip? Maybe I didn’t have a good grip to begin with, I am tired.
When this monster hit the news Spider-man jumped right into the red and blue jammies and swung out into action. There were heavy protests from his wife, MJ. In the end she knew that her husband wouldn’t be able to live with himself if someone was hurt or killed and he didn’t give his all to try and help.
Spider-man began his descent towards the ground. It was still a fifty foot fall. More than he could jump, especially if his power cut on the way down. His spider-sense screamed once then faded away.
“C’mon,” Spider-man said.
One of the great green heads of the hydra eased around the corner of the brickwork. Yellow reptilian eyes the were the size of bowling balls leveled with Spider-man.
“You don’t want to eat me. I am going to taste all spidery. It takes a long time to get that taste ou--whoa!”
Spider-man slipped off the wall and fell. He tried to fire a web-line but the web-shooters were calibrated to fire only when under three hundred pounds of pressure. It was an impossible feat for a man without any spider-strength. Spider-man was preparing to break every bone in his body when a flash of white and red snatched him away, feet from the ground.
“Are you okay, Spider-man?” Starfox asked.
“I seem to be having a problem holding on to my powers and, you know, vertical surfaces. What’s new with you?”
“I dare say that you should leave the battlefield then,” Starfox said.
One of Starfox’s eyes was swollen shut. His costume was in tatters. The hydra had landed a few strikes to the Eternal from Titan.
“Not lookin’ too hot yourself there, S.F.”
“I’m going to set you down. Ms. Marvel can’t occupy the hydra on her own.” Starfox dropped Spider-man and charged back to the green behemoth without touching the ground. “Stay back even if your powers return, Spider-man.”
Jus tell the whole world why don’t you, Spider-man thought.
“What did he say about you not having powers anymore?” the Shocker said and powered up his vibro-smashers.
This day just keeps getting better and better.
=====
Brooklyn, New York
The apartment of Paulo and Emelina Munoz.
"You're going to tell me before I leave, Crissy," Bonita Juarez said.
"There's nothing to tell! I don't have a boyfriend!" Ines said.
Bonita look at her blushing cousin sitting on the end of the bed. She had taken too long to come and visit her tio Paulo and tia Emelina in New York. Bonita's aunt and uncle would go crazy if they knew Ines was dating a boy when she should be focusing on her studies.
When she was a young girl, Bonita and her brothers had driven up from New Mexico but that was a lifetime ago. Now Ines was in college! She was still wearing pig-tails when Bonita last saw her. Life takes time and runs with it. Next thing you know God makes you a super human in a mysterious way and you're an Avenger. Then time really flies.
Am I really still an Avenger though? There isn’t even a west coast branch of the Avengers anymore. Hawkeye and Iron Man are gone, maybe forever. They might even be dead like everyone thinks. If they are then God will watch over them. That doesn't help us left on earth though.
"I didn't come in here to talk about boys, Bonnie," Ines said.
"So why did you wake me up from so glorious a dream?"
"There's something on the news. There's a big problem near Central Park. Lots of heroes are fighting... something." Ines couldn't quite manage to make eye contact as she spoke.
"What is it?"
"There are Avengers involved," Ines said quietly.
Bonita Juarez, as known as the super-human Firebird, threw off the covers and dashed for the bedroom door.
=====
"As much as I hate to say it, call back your X-men. We're going to need everyone to stop this thing," Black Knight said.
"I think you're right. I hope they won't have to stop anything that will cost lives though." Cyclops said and activated his transmitter. "Bravo and Charlie team, regroup and join alpha at ground zero immediately."
The red and black 'X' Cyclops wore on his belt began to glow.
*Yes, Cyclops,* a deep voice with a hint of a Russian accent said through a hint of static.
*Nien, there are too many wounded here. The police are undermanned and being overrun by looters!* a second voice with a German accent said.
"They are going to have too—" Cyclops was cut off.
"Move!" The Black Knight charged at Cyclops shoving him backwards with his right hand while shielding them with his left..
Ms. Marvel crashed through a building, flying out of control. Blood spattered the ground as she descended. Large chunks of reinforced concrete and masonry trailed her and landed where Cyclops and Black Knight had been standing. Ms. Marvel struck the ground, created a crater and bounced to a stop like she had been a rock poorly cast into a calm lake. The hydra took out the last quarter of the building that Wolverine had used for his leaping assault.
"Back! Back!" Black Knight shouted.
Starfox, an elderly white man in his arms, changed his flight path at the last second. The hydra had altered it’s strike too quickly. Starfox was tired and injured, his eye completely swollen shut. He dodged the toxic spray of one of the hydra's heads, dropped to avoid the jaws of a second but the third head was in his blind spot.
Black Knight heard Spider-man shouting vehemently at the Shocker a few hundred feet away. Cursing, Shocker turned around and blasted twin beams of energy at the unseen head.
The beams missed the mark.
A maw large enough to devour a motorcycle and its rider, streams of venom dripped from each tooth, launched at the unaware Starfox then stopped a foot from it's mark. If possible, the head seemed to look confused then dashed forward again. Starfox was clear. Frustrated at the lack of progress, the head turned, followed by six others.
"She-hulk!" Ms. Marvel yelled in a hoarse voice. She picked herself up from the ground, her nose and mouth bleeding.
All the heroes stared in the direction Ms. Marvel indicated. Holding the end of the Hydra's tail stood the jade giantess called the She-Hulk. She wrapped both powerful green hands around the tail of the beast and pulled back with all her considerable strength. She screamed in defiance with the effort but the hydra did not advance.
"Jenn, let go and run!" Black Knight shouted.
If She-Hulk heard she did not show it but maintained her hold. The hydra's heads, seventeen now, turns to face the small, green irritant. The many heads writhed and lunged. Over a dozen forked tongues tasted the air to get a sample of what it's next prey might taste like. There would be no time for She-Hulk to escape. She had waited too long. To run or leap away would mean death. There were too many heads for even Spider-man to avoid at once. She-Hulk understood her predicament and released the tail. She raised her fists, furrowed her brow and promising herself, "You're going to remember the green skinned beauty you tried to eat today."
"Every one that can, open fire now!" Black Knight ordered.
Seconds from launching into it's death-lunge the monster stopped. All its scaled and scarred heads turned skyward. The clouds were gathering, dark and thick. The sun disappeared from view. The hydra sniffed the air as it thickened. Everyone present could feel it. Just as the rain began to dot the pavement the thunder boomed and lightning struck.
“Avengers!” a voice boomed, deep, and as loud as the thunder that preceded it, “Assemble!”
=====
Brooklyn, New York
The apartment of Paulo and Emelina Munoz.
“Tio Paulo, don’t make me feel guilty. They need my help," Bonita said.
"You aren't an Avenger any more. There is no reason for you go and risk your life like this," aunt Emelina said.
Bonnie couldn't believe what she was hearing. It was true that her parents were not thrilled with her being a member of the West Coast Avengers because of the danger. They had never tried to stop her from doing her duty. They trusted her that much. Her brothers thought it was cool, really. Bonnie slid her foot into the fire engine-red boot of her Firebird costume.
What remained of the Avengers were caught in a life and death battle against the biggest, ugliest lizard she had ever seen. Two Avengers were already dead! Her aunt and uncle didn't think she needed to know. So many honorable, brave heroes were dead already and more were getting added to that list. I was taking a nap! I will never forgive myself.
"I forbid you to go! Your mother will never forgive me if I let you get hurt or worse, killed!" uncle Paulo said.
"I love you, tio Paulo. I love all of you. God put me here, with these powers and I believe it is His will that sent me to New York early for the memorial. I’m sorry but it’s not up to you if I stay or fight." Firebird slid her hands into her red gloves.
None of her family said another word as she opened the window and took to the air.
=====
Iron Fist, the Living Weapon, took his opponent, a hulking, tattooed, Hells Angel, by the fingers, rotated the hand palm up and forced the hand skyward. The biker did not scream as expected. Iron Fist’s left hand snaked the biker’s pistol away and drove a knife-hand to his throat then released him. A roundhouse kick later the biker was on the ground, unmoving.
Iron Fist had just finished interrupting a gang rape on Eighty-Ninth Street when he heard gun fire and homed in on it. Thompson Electronics, one of the many small businesses that run along Amsterdam Avenue in Manhattan, burst into flame. The outlet was one of the larger small time businesses on the street. Half a dozen bikers carried boxes of computer and electronic equipment out of the devastated storefront.
The monster that was destroying the area near Central Park was being dealt with by a number of avengers and having little success according to the latest reports. Iron Fist decided to see if he could help and ran out on his meeting with the Stark-Fujikawa Corporation. Traffic was a demolition derby for blocks so Daniel Rand changed into his Iron Fist uniform and started out on foot. He would have been there already if not for the rampant crime he encountered on the way.
"I'd like to see your receipt for that!" Iron Fist said sprinting to Thompson Electronics.
Two of the bikers continued carrying their large, unopened boxed of computers and game systems to the nondescript van parked nearby. The last one took his time placing the boxes on the hood of a stalled taxi before raising the Uzi he wore slung over his shoulder. Iron Fist leapt into the air as bullets cut by beneath him. He landed one foot into the biker's face while tearing the gun from his grip. The bald, scarred biker fell to his back, his head smacking off the pavement.
Iron Fist ejected the clip and bounced the weapon off the sidewalk. He was about to move on to the other members when he noticed the biker's head. He knew he had landed a solid front kick to his nose yet there was no blood. Iron Fist squatted near the fallen man. The cement where the head impacted was cracked. No normal man's head can— the bald biker grabbed Iron Fist by the ankle.
"Uh oh," Iron Fist said.
The yellow and green clad martial artist applied his grip to the nerve cluster in the man's hand without effect. Iron Fist had just realized that the muscle structure beneath the skin was all wrong when the biker swung him off his feet. He spun Iron Fist over his head once and threw him at the nearest brick wall.
Trained in the mystical City of K'un L'un, as both acrobat and master martial artist, Iron Fist rotated in mid air, planted both feet on the wall and sprung back at his attacker. Backed by momentum he ripped his knuckled across the face of the biker. He expected the blow to tear flesh and put down his foe where the earlier attack had failed. Iron Fist did not expect what he saw.
The Hell's Angel biker, not slammed by the blow, turned back to Iron Fist missing the flesh on his face where the blow landed. Beneath the missing skin was polished gray metal.
Iron Fist regulated his breathing, his inner harmony obeyed his will and the pulse began to flow into his right hand. The robot advanced on Iron Fist. When the summation of his chi made his fist feel as thought it was aflame the Living Weapon dashed forward. The robot raised his fist to strike down Iron Fist. The blow the robot suffered opened up its chest cavity and launched the mechanism across the street.
A prickling pervaded his senses, Iron Fist turned to his left. The other two robots as well as the first one he thought he knocked out closed on him. He was about to set in motion towards the two when one robot's head jerked to the side. A crossbow bolt stuck out from the side of the head. A second later a blur of white landed on the other.
"Moon Knight!" Iron Fist took the extended hand of the robot trying to sneak up on him, dislocated the arm and flipped it to the ground.
"How many of these have you encountered so far?" Moon Knight said taking a hatchet to the head of the robot the he landed on.
"Just these four." Iron Fist rotated the head of a robot one hundred and eighty degrees. With a synthetic squeal, it froze.
"Any idea why someone is dressing up bikers like robots to rob electronics stores?" Moon Knight asked.
"Not at the moment. How did you know those weren't real bikers?" Iron Fist asked.
Moon Knight was already running back to the rope ladder suspended from a crescent shaped airship.
"They weren't breathing. The action’s this way, Iron Fist!"
Iron Fist followed the Fist of Khonshu.
=====
“Beware, spawn of Echidna! None may harm those Hercules calls friends! Any that do suffer unto the Lion of Olympus!”
“Hercules?” Black Knight said.
Hercules produced a weapon that none of those assembled had ever seen him use. He had not used it in well over a thousand years. The yew-wood bow complained as he knocked an arrow and pulled back on the bow string. The arrows were crafted by the blacksmith god, forged of the strongest adamantine. Hercules steadied himself for the span of a breath and loosed.
Seventeen arrows flew in seventeen seconds. Each thrum of the bowstring for one of his fallen comrades (or the worthy foe that also voluntarily gave up his life). Seventeen eyes of the ancient evil burst spilling yellow and red on the rubble below. The hydra howled. Seventeen heads thrashed. Hercules nodded and leapt to the street below.
“Hail, Avengers! Time is short. The beast shall heal itself soon.”
Black Knight, Starfox, Ms. Marvel, Goliath, Spider-man, the Shocker, Cyclops and She Hulk gathered together. Hercules wore a roman-style chest plate with a dominating image of a lion’s head centered on it, brown leather pants and black boots. A golden mace, almost too shiny to look at hung on his hip. The bow and quiver he slung on his back.
“Hear me, my allies, there is but one way we might grasp victory this day.”
Either because half of them were too stunned to see Hercules alive or because nothing else the gathered heroes had tried worked, everyone obeyed Hercules immediately and without question. When the heroes (and the Shocker) broke rank, the hydra, it’s sight repaired, locked all seventeen heads on Hercules and charged.
"Come to me spawn of Echidna!" Hercules bellowed with arms outstretched.
He walked away from the other dashing heroes, straight at the hydra. The creature knew of nothing in the universe save his ancient murderer; the son of Zeus. Hercules drew his bow and again knocked adamantine to animal gut. Again Hercules began targeting the eyes of the great dragon.
Starfox lifted the Shocker into the air and flew to the hydra's right. The creature paid them no attention. She-Hulk leapt to the hydra's right. Goliath, moving much slower than normal, ran to the right as quickly as he could. The hydra failed to notice.
"Ready, Knight?" Cyclops asked.
The Black Knight braced himself behind his shield. "Just make sure you two hit the shield."
"Fire!" Ms. Marvel said.
Cyclops unleashed his optic blast on the Shield of Night at full power. Ms. Marvel exploded with her own energy discharge straight at the Black Knight's shield. Black Knight felt the shield begin to vibrate as it contained the energy assault. In moments the Sword of Light began to glow.
Fifty feet in front of the charging hydra Starfox carried the Shocker. The villain unleashed terrible and destructive twin beams of vibrational energy that tore a great trench into the asphalt as they flew over it. When the strafing run was finished the scar on the road was ten feet wide and one hundred feet long.
=====
No sooner had the gash been cut but the hydra noticed it. So fast and fierce was it’s charge that it had trouble stopping. The prize was not so far ahead, what the beast could see of it through healing eyes. The murdering god, so close, still firing arrows that took it's sight so painfully. One great, clawed fore-limb (it had only the two and a long tail) tested the stability of the trench. No sooner was the claw raised then a green blur charged in from the right.
=====
She-Hulk wrapped both arms around the tree trunk sized leg. She couldn't get both arms around it but the rough hewn scales were enough to provide an adequate grip. She screamed a battle cry and rotated the leg with a violent jerk. The bone grinding sound was heard by everyone on the block.
All seventeen heads of the hydra roared in agony. The pain so consumed them that it did not attack. All that seemed to interest it was getting away from the creature that had so grievously hurt it but She-Hulk would not release her prey. In it's mad thrashing the Hydra's right leg slid into the ravine.
"Back away!" Black Knight ordered.
The Sword of Light was glowing so brightly the wielder could not bear to look at it. Cyclops and Ms. Marvel had charged the magical weapon up to the maximum that it could hold. It vibrated painfully in the Black Knight's hand. He swung it in the direction of the crippled hydra and discharged the energy. The bolt flew true utterly shattering the right leg of the hydra and the beast slumped to the ground without a means of support.
Goliath, who was in position behind the hydra, dropped onto it's scaled back more from weakness than design. Sweat pouring down his face, nauseated, Goliath did his best to pin the writhing hydra to the road.
"Now, Avengers! Destroy the heads if you have no the means to cut! Only then will we know which head be immortal! Move with haste, for should the beast multiply before finding that cursed head our troubles will double!" Hercules bellowed.
The Lion of Olympus charged forward, golden mace shining though the sun lay hidden behind clouds, and cracked one hydra head with bone crunching results. It did not move afterward.
She-Hulk leaped from forelimb to hydra head, linked both hands and smashed with everything her gamma-spawned strength could muster. The head became concave and began to divide. Starfox had come back and aimed Shocker for a few more blasts that crushed two heads even as She Hulk killed hers. Black Knight, his sword still powered by the energies of Cyclops and Ms. Marvel, blasted another two. Ms. Marvel tore through the air to get closer to the foe and blasted two heads.
Bill Foster, Goliath, gave a moan, and collapsed on the hydra, completely inert.
"Bill!" Black Knight said.
Cyclops fired in earnest. Three shots took down five heads thanks to the X-Men's ability to control and aim the ricochet of his blasts. Only two heads died and began to multiply. Cyclops hit the single head again. The head growled at the mutant leader. The monster shuddered and rolled the very still body of Goliath off to the side.
"Hercules! That head! The one standing tallest!" Cyclops shouted.
"She-Hulk, secure Goliath!" The Black Knight yelled charging closer.
Hercules found the snapping head that Cyclops indicated and leaped into the center of the tangle of necks thrashing, dying and regenerating. The immortal head hissed at Hercules and lashed out. Hercules backhanded it away. When again it struck, Hercules belted it with an uppercut and broke the creature's jaw. More of the green scaled heads darted and struck trying to bite the Lion of Olympus. Hercules dove and sidestepped batting them back, each in their turn.
"Is that madman smiling?" Black Knight asked.
"I think so," Cyclops said, grinning himself.
Avenger and X-Man fired, destroying more heads. Ms. Marvel and Shocker struck from the air while She-Hulk pummeled the trunk of the hydra while keeping Goliath from further injury.
Once Hercules had dislocated a third mandible he grappled the neck of the hydra’s immortal head. The Creature thrashed and bucked as well as it could on two healing legs. Hercules would not be moved but gripped with ever increasing strength.
"Art thou enjoying... the gift, monster?" Hercules growled.
Hercules seized tighter and arched his back. The immortal head howled. Citizens watching the spectacle gasped and shook as fear wracked them. Again Hercules tightened his grip and shifted at the waist. Louder than before the hydra roared. It seemed to know what Hercules was attempting, like it remembered the last time the creature fought son of Zeus a millennia ago.
=====
Ms. Marvel saw the monster lock it's gaze on the Olympian and fired blast after blast at it. The hydra writhed and avoided the blast.
"Damn you, thing," Ms. Marvel said and charged, leading with both fists.
The hydra saw the creature that fired and brought pain blazing through the air. One head tracked the incoming morsel. The hydra's jaw opened dripping poison death. Ms. Marvel knew the danger but continued anyway. She couldn't allow Hercules to take the bite. He might be the only one that can kill the mythical monster.
=====
As if sensing Ms. Marvel's intent, Hercules gave a mighty crushing to the hydra's neck. All the heroes heard the great cracking as the hydra seized and tried to get loose. Ms. Marvel delivered a kick to the creature's jaw that would have sent the head flying were it not tethered to the neck.
"Know that I take great pleasure in your... end, creature!" Hercules bellowed.
Utilizing every pound of his god-given strength Hercules crushed and lifted tearing the immortal head of the hydra from it’s body. Twenty-eight heads roared and hissed and thrashed knowing what had happened and what it meant. Hercules watched the immortal head thrash on the ground too long. One of the hydra's jaws clamped down on his left arm.
Hercules howled. Ms. Marvel blasted the head. Her innate sixth sense told her to turn, something threatened her from behind, but another was launching from her left. There would only be time for one shot. She hoped the Beast was working on that cure and attacked the one attempting to flank her. She turned to the left in time see flames engulf it and the hydra pulling back, thrashing wildly.
"Firebird!" Hercules said tearing free the offending hydra's mandible, "Burn that fallen head's trunk black!"
Firebird jumped at the forcefulness of Hercules's command but reacted instantly. She flew low and let loose with a stream of flames cauterizing the monster's neck. The thing's thrashing eased and stopped.
"We've got a chance now," Cyclops said.
"Firebird, keep to the air and out reach! When we get one of this thing's heads off move in and seer the stump immediately!" the Black Knight said.
Firebird nodded and flew in after Shocker destroyed the next head. It continued for forty-five more minutes. Heads were torn free or blasted to ruin and Firebird blazed, always keeping out of reach though there were close encounters. In the end the great and ancient hydra's body lay broken, burnt and bloody.
The monster was dead.
=====
Avengers and X-men gathered at the SHIELD outpost where medical personal treated their wounds.
"You okay, Hercules?" Black Knight asked.
Hercules was panting, his skin pale and clammy.
"Aye, Dane. I think the venom does not agree with me." Hercules managed a grin.
"Why aren't you dead?" Starfox asked.
"Tis a tale long in the telling. Know that I was dead but my father and I hath made amends. Mine immortality is restored." Hercules grimaced as a wave of pain wracked him.
"Hank! How are Wolverine and Goliath?" Ms. Marvel asked as a SHIELD paramedic wrapped a gash on her arm.
"Logan's regeneration is nothing short of phenomenal. I truly thought the venom was more than he could bare but he’s pulling through. He's resting now, thankfully. I managed to synthesize a crude anti-venom based on his blood but I will need some time to refine it. Dr. Foster will be fine, I hope. The next twenty-four hours will be critical. I hope he arrived here in time. I note a distinct lack of scientists left in our community." Beast looked at Hercules, "Good to see you among the living, Hercules."
Hercules nodded.
"I understand you were bitten as well? Perhaps you should—"
"Nay, Beast. Save thy talents for those more needy."
“What was your plan when you returned? Did you know Firebird was going to arrive? The Human Torch was already down,” Black Knight said.
“Before departing Zeus’s divine presence, my father did impart one piece of information in further apology for the god’s meddling in the affairs of man. Zeus said that dragon‘s bane would be provided when the time is right.”
Firebird was visibly shocked. That was impossible. She wouldn’t even have known what was going on if her young niece hadn’t been wracked by guilt over lettering her sleep through the battle. If any god was responsible for her actions it her God and not a mythical entity. Though, while standing with Hercules and seeing what he accomplished against the horrible monster did pose a few questions concerning faith.
“Has anyone seen Spider-man?” Starfox said.
“I see the Shocker is missing too,” Cyclops said.
“I haven’t seen Spider-man since he verbally trashed the Shocker into carrying his weight,” She-Hulk said.
“He told me to put him down just before we finished off the hydra. Something about his vibro-smashers being overloaded. I’m wondering if he was lying now,” Starfox said.
“He might have thought we were going to arrest him. I’m sure he’s wanted somewhere by some agency. I wouldn’t have though. The victory might well have been impossible without him,” Black Knight said.
“Knight, I’m going to see how the rest of my team is holding up,” Cyclops said and shook Black Knight’s hand. “You’ve got a great group of people here. It was a pleasure working with you.”
“Right,” Black Knight said wondering what team he was referring to, “Same to you. I think I’ll be calling on you before long.”
Cyclops nodded and walked off with Beast. Both began speaking in hushed tones.
“I know a lot of us are beaten and I won’t hold it against anyone if they can’t carry on but the work isn’t done. There are still people needing our help. Those that will stay I’d like to break us up into two teams. One will help with rescue efforts and the other will stop what remains of the looting and rioting that the police are having trouble containing...”
The Avengers and X-Men continued the work of helping humanity regardless of injury and exhaustion through out the night.
The End
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AUTHOR’S NOTES
Well there you have it. My take on the Prince of Power. I told you he’d be a little different. When I started this, Herc was not borrowing a title from Hulk. He was kickin’ tail on Iron Man in Civil War though. That’s where I got the notion.
Herc was finally acting like I felt he should. Could I write THIS Herc, I wondered. What you have read is the result.
In coming months from the World Without Heroes imprint there will be a number of spin offs from this little mini series. Hercules is slotted to appear next in an upcoming chapter of Dave Golightly’s IRON MAN. There is a FANTASTIC FOUR and an AVENGERS series not too far off on the horizon too. There’s Iron Fist’s mystery to shed light upon and a big ol’ crossover event that is deep into the planning stages too.
Lot’s happening here at MARVEL REBORN. Don’t miss out!
Thanks for reading!
C. William Russette 4.9.2008