Spider-Man/Muppets Fanfic: The Spectacular

Yeah! Me too Please!

Chapter Twenty-Three (Part Two)

At the highest part of the construction site, Robin had been watching Spider-Man’s punishment at the hands of Venom and Sandman. It wasn’t long before Nicky “Scorpion” Holiday joined in and got his licks in on the wall-crawler. After a while Robin couldn’t watch any more of the torture and focused his gaze on a more serene view: the New York night skyline. Out of all the terror that surrounded that very spot, it was all that seemed peaceful at the moment. He almost wished he could’ve shared it with the terrified young soul that was bounded to that girder with him.

Robin heard Stanley whimpering behind him and felt so worried about him that he said, “Relax, Stanley. Everything will be okay.” The young frog knew he was kidding himself by telling him that, because Spider-Man and Kim Possible were all they had to depend on. And now the both of them were caught in the trap that had been waiting for them by the sinister terrorists.

And just when it seemed as if things could’ve gotten any worse, Robin spotted something straight ahead that was rocketing across the New York skyline that looked almost as terrifying as the ones who had kidnapped them. And if its appearance wasn’t scary enough, its maniacal laughing sure was, sending a chill down Robin’s spine instantly.

The closer the flying object had gotten to the construction site, the better Robin had a view of it. He could make out some disturbing features like a gold, red-eyed, metallic goblin face, the black cloak it was wearing over itself, and the large, wide glider that it was riding on. Robin had almost seen something so monstrous before…but where?

Then it struck him.

The Green Goblin, he thought, watching what he could only imagine to be a “cousin” of the Green Goblin fly to a section of the construction site and land there for a moment, looking down at the brutal onslaught happening far down below with a hint of amusement.

It was already clear enough that this Green Goblin replica hadn’t come to rescue them; otherwise it wouldn’t be watching Spider-Man being beaten to death instead of helping him. It was bad enough already that eight terrorists were mixed into this situation…now there were nine?

Robin knew he made a mistake in telling Stanley that things were going to be okay, because this whole situation seemed very helpless. It would be only a matter of seconds before Spider-Man and Kim Possible would be done for, and all of New York would be at the hands of…

“Are you boys alright?”

A feminine, kindly voice came out of nowhere. Robin looked around to see where it had come from, but didn’t see a single person around them. It would’ve been impossible for anyone to be around them, since they were thirty-five feet up high on the girder.

Curiously, Robin asked, “Who said that?”

“Look up.”

Robin had done so and immediately spotted Lori Thomas right above him and Stanley, floating in midair and smiling at them. She looked very different from the usual way she looked. Her hair had changed from reddish-brown to black (which blended in well with the black silky blouse, trenchcoat, pants, and boots that she was currently wearing), her skin was almost white as a sheet, her physique appeared slightly muscular, and her eye color had turned red. If it were not for the friendly look on her face, she would’ve come off as something more frightening than the terrorists.

“Miss Thomas?” Robin exclaimed. “What happened to you?”

“It’s a long story, sweetie.” Lori remarked. “Let’s just say that I got quite a genetic makeover from my friend, Edward Morbius.” She hovered herself downwards and positioned herself in front of Robin, dropping the friendly smile on her face. “They didn’t hurt you boys, did they?”

Robin seemed a bit hesitant to answer. “No, but…Stanley…he’s…he’s really scared right now, Miss Thomas.” Lori looked past the tiny frog and towards her cousin, who barely even took notice of her unusual arrival and bizarre appearance. “I tried to keep him calm the best way I could. The situation was looking so bad that I couldn’t bare to tell him…”

“You did just fine, Robin.” Lori said. “Just keep hangin’ in there, while I try to get you boys to safety.”

Not once taking her eyes off of her cousin, Lori began to set both him and the nephew of Kermit the Frog free from the black webbing that had restrained them to the girder. As she tugged on it, she quickly realized that it was remarkably strong, and despite the fact that she had gained super-strength of her own from Edward’s formula, there was no possible way to break it apart. But she didn’t give up, straining to snap it so that her cousin and one of her best friends could get away from all the chaos happening there and get back home safely.

It didn’t help very much to hear an insulting voice coming from the girder across the one they were on either. “Hey, freak! Why don’t you come and rescue us? We want some payback…and we want it now!”

Lori’s eyes shifted to that girder and glared directly at the person who was addressing her. Though it had been a few days, she clearly recognized him as the cab driver that had brought Edward to the Happiness Hotel on his first day in New York City. She couldn’t understand why exactly he was dressed as a “man in black” and hanging around with members of the same organization that had once kidnapped Gonzo to obtain vast alien knowledge or something like that. But she didn’t have the time to guess or even ask him why he made the transformation, which she believed was the only reason he was in this mess. Instead, she kept on with trying to set her friends free.

Meanwhile, Ryan was still trying to insult her into getting them free first, while having failed to realize that Ed Singer (who had regained consciousness at the same time his cohorts did) had already been on it, using a small intergalactic knife with a plasma blade to cut through the black webbing. It seemed to have been the only thing capable of doing so, considering that other materials from bare hands to even teeth seemed useless.

And in the case of Lori, it wasn’t very long before something else stood in the way of setting her friends free.

“Time to die, you murderous human sack of crap!”

Lori looked downwards to see where the grotesque-sounding voice had come from, and when she realized that it was none other than the same lizard creatures that she encountered in the alleyway (one—the mad scientist known as Professor Krassman—and the other—her brother). The one that was once Sean Thomas had been holding a girder in his massive arms, which he used to try and knock Lori off from the girder that Robin and Stanley were bound to.

Fortunately, Lori glided away from it before he even had the chance to do so, settling herself down on the concrete platform below. As Krassman’s lizard creature stood behind Sean’s, he said to him, “Show her no mercy, brother. She killed our people…turned some of them into slaves before doing so…make her pay dearly.”

Say what, Lori thought, as she listened to the lies Krassman had been feeding into her brother’s amnesiac mind.

“Sean, don’t listen to him! It’s all crap!” She exclaimed. “You’re not his brother! You’re my brother!”

Thomas wasn’t listening to her. The intense anger coming through him refused to let himself be influenced by the enemy standing before him. With strength that was just as intense as his anger, he swung the girder at Lori. It came at her so fast that she barely had enough time to dodge out of its way. When it connected to her body, a brutal force like no other had sent her flying back several feet into a large stack of long, metal pipes.

If it were not for her newfound strength, the blow would’ve surely killed her the moment she and the girder connected. However, she was still left reeling in agonizing pain as she stood up and faced her brother, who had tossed aside a bent girder while advancing towards her.

“Sean…you have to remember…remember me…remember Stanley!” She begged, backing away from him with each step he took towards her. “He’s scared right now, man. He needs us. We have to get him away from this mess.”

Still he wasn’t listening. “I will rip your spine out and floss with it!”

“Good-ness, bro. That morbid even for you.”

Not wasting any time on listening to Lori’s remarks, Thomas reached out and grabbed his sister’s throat with his giant, clawed hand, lifting her high above the floor. Lori could barely utter another witty remark more less breathe as she choked under his mighty grip. She tried to reach into her trenchcoat pocket with one hand while clasping onto Sean’s massive hand and trying to release his grip with her other. Noticing this, Thomas’s first thought was that she was going to pull a gun out on him. So, not taking any chances, he quickly tossed Lori away from him and smacked her into a girder.

The pain in Lori’s neck and the back of her head felt like h*ll, as he tried to refocus her gaze on Sean, who was coming in again for another fierce attack. Growing tired of having her butt handed to her by her own brother, she made quick decision. “I’m not going to kill you, Sean. But if beating the living crap outta you is the only way I can save you, then so be it!”

Lori then charged at her brother with enough speed and force to knock the both of them over the edge of the platform they were on and fall several feet through the structure of uncompleted plaza. They suddenly landed hard a few floors down, creating a massive crack in the concrete of another platform. The two combatants…the two freaks of nature…the two former siblings…fought heavily over the crumbling platform, exchanging incredible blows that sent one flying back into a set of construction equipment before the other.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Pounded back and forth between Sandman, Venom, and the Scorpion, Spider-Man’s bloodied body slammed to the ground. He lay there, trying to will himself to get to his feet, to grow four extra arms or become ten times as strong. Something, anything that would give him a fighting chance.

Nicky Holiday stood over his battered body, with his cybernetic tail looming high over his head and grinning face. “Bye-Bye, Spider-Guy!” He was about to bring the sharp hook on his tail down on the helpless Spider-Man, until…

Like a blur, something sped past Holiday’s rear, snatching his tail in the process and pulling him away from Spider-Man. Screaming from the top of his lungs, Holiday was dragged across the ground at rapid speed by a creature that resembled a semi-armored velociraptor and known to some that were familiar with it as “XLR8.” In truthfulness, it was actually Ben Tennyson in another one of his alien forms, courtesy of his Omnitrix.

Venom and Sandman watched puzzlingly as Holiday was being dragged around by the speedy alien. Venom himself was about to make a move, until another strange life form appeared out of nowhere and clasped onto his face. This one was none other than Stitch (the “pet dog” of the family from Hawaii), whose appearance had seemed to change that moment. He had gained two antennae, three spines from his back, and two extra arms that clashed greatly with his blue fur, big black eyes, huge ears, and sharp claws (which had dug fiercely into Venom’s skin, causing him to unleash a great howl of pain).

With the three terrorists’ attention distracted, the weakened Spider-Man was soon approached by Gonzo, Rizzo, Ron Stoppable, Gwen and Max Tennyson, and the rest of the family from Hawaii. They had all come to check to see if he was alright, but as soon as he made it clear that he was, he quickly said, “Go help those people in the bus!”

They all had done exactly what he ordered and made their way to the service elevator that had took them up to the top of the construction site. As Spider-Man watched them go, high above him he heard the sound of groaning metal and looked skyward through blurred vision. The noise was coming from the Dumpster, shifting in the web and leaning more and more toward Mary Jane’s taxi.

Desperately he tried to haul himself to his feet to get there in time, and suddenly the Dumpster tore away and plummeted straight down. Spider-Man, horrified, could only watch as the Dumpster winged the cab, causing it to roll onto its side.

Mary Jane smacked up against the driver’s-side door, popping it open. She shrieked as she fell from the car. Grabbing, she snagged the closed door on the driver’s-side, reached through, and clung to the steering wheel. She dangled there, clutching on for dear life.

“M.J.!” screamed Spider-Man.

With effort he willed himself to stand. He swayed in place, trying not to puke inside his mask—

Five hundred tons of sand pulled together, sweeping up tractors and power shovels as it rose to form a gigantic Sandman.

He loomed over Spider-Man, hundreds of feet high, with a roaring sound like that of a tornado brought to life. It—for he would simply not have seemed appropriate—came after Spider-Man, smashing the ground with its massive fists and feet as it tried to crush the dodging blue-and-red-clad figure.

Spider-Man had a brief glimmer of hope, because as powerful as Sandman was, Spider-Man had him beat on speed. He was too quick and agile for the lumbering giant to catch. But Sandman apparently came to the same conclusion, for he changed his form again, extending his hands into giant paws that reached down for Spider-Man.

Meanwhile, Venom had struggled desperately to remove the creature that was just as grotesque and frightening as he was away from his face. The best that he could do was used parts of the symbiote around his head to grab at Stitch and toss him away from his face, leaving him pinned by a large portion of the goo on the ground. Once he had dealt with the abomination, he refocused his attention back on Spider-Man, who was now several feet above him. Immediately, Venom swung his way towards the hero, unexpectedly catching the attention of XLR8, who stopped dragging the dizzied and dazed Nicky Holiday long enough to let Holiday go and run up the side of the half-completed building to catch up with Venom.

Firing a web line, Spider-Man bounded clear of the terrifying hands of the Sandman, but he didn’t get far. Venom came leaping forward, intercepting him in midair and landing a powerful kick that knocked Spider-Man into a girder.

XLR8, seeing the trouble that Spider-Man had quickly found himself, picked up the pace more than he already had, running up the side of one girder before leaping onto the next, trying desperately to get to his hero and partner in time to help him. However, one problem suddenly stood in his way, as his chest began to flash a bright red color and a noise that was all too familiar to him sounded out from his body…the sound of the watch timing out.

“NO!” XLR8 bellowed.

There was an intense bright flash of red light and then…

…XLR8 had disappeared—instantly replaced by the small, useless form of Ben Tennyson, as he was momentarily running up the side of a girder. It wasn’t long before his pace began to slow down and gravity took over, leaving Ben to start falling away from Spider-Man and towards the ground below.

He fell a few stories down, screaming wildly as he did, and then something had caught him by the same arm that he wore the Omnitrix on, putting his freefall to an immediate halt.

“I’ve gotcha, Ben!”

He looked up to see Gonzo, leaning over the side of a girder and straining to keep the 10-year-old from falling to his death. The weirdo’s fuzzy blue hand was clasped directly over Ben’s alien watch, which suddenly began to flash a yellowish color through Gonzo’s fingertips, although neither Gonzo nor Ben took notice of this occurrence.

Meanwhile, Spider-Man was running out of time.

He was scampering up one of the girders when a black web line wrapped tightly around his throat, yanking him backward. He dropped two stories, smacking onto a crossbeam. One story below, Venom was pulling on the web line, strangling him. The world was turning into a red haze around Spider-Man, and in the distance he heard Venom shouting…

“Now! Kill him now!”

Going on the assumption that Venom wasn’t addressing him, Spider-Man figured he was talking to Sandman. Sure enough, a shadow loomed over the struggling Spider-Man—it was Sandman all right, bigger than King Kong and twice as formidable.

From one top floor of the construction site, the “Arla’s” had stood there, no longer fighting against their adversaries (seeing no point in doing so) and instead watching the chaos that was unfolding all around them. They looked from the sight of Sandman looming over Spider-Man while Venom was strangling him to the sight of Gonzo trying to keep Ben from falling to the sight of Stitch pinned down by the portion of the symbiote to (finally) the sight of Rizzo, Gwen, Max, and Hawaiian family trying to rescue the group inside the wrecked Electric Mayhem bus while Ron was trying to find a way to save Kim.

They also noticed Mary Jane plummeting from the taxicab and tearing through the weaker strands of the gigantic black web. She was finally halted by the bottom-most strands of the webbing and bounced up and down for a few moments, steadying herself, and then looked up to see what new calamity was about to befall her. The taxi was ten stories above her and about to tear loose from its precarious perch on the web.

Marla, Darla, and Carla should’ve been pleased to know that their side was coming out the victors in this war against the do-gooders. But it was hard for them to feel happy over something that neither of them ever wanted to happen. Lives were about to end before their very eyes…what was the joy in that?

One woman, however, was taking great pleasure in watching the torment of the so-called “Web of Heroes,” and that was Rachel Bitterman. She smiled with glee behind her sinister golden replica of Norman Osborn’s original Green Goblin mask, as she watched Spider-Man struggle against the webbing that was holding him down, trying to get clear of the massive form of Sandman that was about to annihilate him.

Finally! After all this time…after all this hard work…after so much convincing, scheming, and getting my butt kicked by a no-good waitress…I’m finally getting what I deserve. This, right here, is undoubtedly the end of the Muppets…and the end of Spider-Man!

And just when Rachel Bitterman believed her own fantasy was coming true, something had seemed to shatter it all very quickly as she noticed a tiny copper ball sail out of the clouds and lodged on the back of Sandman’s massive head.

Sandman turned, sensing something behind him, and Spider-Man or anyone else barely had time to see that what had landed on Sandman’s head was shaped like a pumpkin before it detonated. Chunks of sandstone exploded from the side of Sandman’s head. Stunned by the impact, he crumbled like a massive statue.

“What the h*ll?” Rachel didn’t know where to look first. She saw the mighty Sandman collapse, she saw Venom looking up in confusion, and then she twisted around and saw what Venom was already looking at: two figures astride a familiar flying hi-tech snowboard that was roaring like a jet engine. She recognized the gadget immediately, the two riders a moment later. “Harry…and Jenny?” she cried in a mixture of surprise and anger. “You have got to be kidding me!”

TO BE CONTINUED....

Yeah, if there's some confusion in the translation, it was only because I wrote this real late at night and didn't have time to think of continuity. So I apologize for that. lol!

But, no, in the case of M.J. and the taxi cab, let's just say that door's having problems functioning properly due to all of the chaos. And, yes, Lori is the one who looked at Thomas, her brother-turned-lizard-creature.

As far as Stitch goes, it's in his genetic code to change his form like that. It was how Jumba created him.

that is so awesome cool!

Wonderful, sorry it took me so long to get to this update. I've still got to go back and read your X-Men ones. I'm anxiously awaiting a day to do that...

Thanks, Melissa. I hope you'll enjoy reading those stories. I'll try to have more of this one up this weekend.

I'm in a marvelously good mood today! Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer just came out today on DVD!

So, since I'm in such a good mood, I'm going to post the next segment of Chapter Twenty-Three. Enjoy!

Chapter Twenty-Three (Part Three)

Though Mary Jane felt a quick flash of anger over the way Harry had manipulated her to hurt Peter, for whatever reason he was now coming in on the side of the angels. There was still a lot to be explained, a good deal she didn’t understand—for one thing, my God, what happened to his face?—but it could wait until they all got out of here alive…an optimistic view to have, but at least she suddenly had one.

Jenny leaped off from Harry’s Sky Stick to the girder that Gonzo was straining very hard to keep Ben Tennyson from falling on and helped the weirdo get the 10-year-old onto the girder. Meanwhile, Harry chortled with self-satisfied glee as he rammed the Sky Stick into Venom, knocking him aside and sending him crashing against a crossbeam like a beanbag.

Unable to understand what had just happened, Spider-Man looked up at him tentatively, confused. Instead of bothering to explain, Harry simply extended a hand to his old friend and helped him to his feet.

“I…can’t believe you’re here,” Spider-Man said.

Harry nodded. “Apparently just in the nick of time.”

Spider-Man rubbed the back of his neck and Harry suspected that, under his mask, Peter was wincing. “Well, five minutes ago would have been good, too.”

The distant sound of snapping web lines caught their attention. They looked up just in time to see the taxi above Mary Jane tearing loose. She rolled aside, barely avoiding the car as it ripped down through the weakening strands of black web. It continued its death plunge, tumbling end over end several times before crashing to the ground sixty stories below. But in passing, it damaged the web that M.J. was clinging to. The entire thing was rapidly shredding.

Clearly she only had seconds left.

Harry revved the Sky Stick. “Hop on!” he shouted.

Spider-Man needed no further urging. He leaped aboard, and they raced upward toward Mary Jane.

Too late.

The giant black web gave way. Mary Jane tore loose from the last of its strands into thin air.

Harry angled the Sky Stick around, diving after her, and he would have been surprised to learn that Peter was thinking the exact same thing. “Give it everything!” He shouted as the Sky Stick raced to catch up with her. Harry gunned the engine, zipping after the plummeting Mary Jane. They were heading straight for the ground, Harry now coming to a terrible realization.

“We’re diving too fast! I won’t be able to pull up!”

“Just a little longer—”

“Pete—!”

“Almost…”

Harry wanted to be heroic enough that he’d be willing to crash the device into the ground before he’d break off pursuit. With a sinking heart, he knew he wasn’t, and he hated himself for that weakness.

“I’ve got to pull up! Now!”

“Go!” Spider-Man shouted.

He dove from the Sky Stick an instant before Harry pulled up. Spider-Man intercepted Mary Jane in midair and, wrapping his arm around her, fired a web. It snagged an overhead girder and they arced upward, barely missing the ground and soaring mere inches over the head of a boy who was watching in the crowd. “Wicked cool!” crowed the kid.

The crowd went wild as Spider-Man swung along with Mary Jane in his arms. Harry watched it all from a distance—he had just witnessed why exactly Peter Parker was a true hero who deserved to get the girl. He resolved right then that his ridiculous crush on Mary Jane was at an end. Peter deserved to have her, and if that was what she wanted—

Harry had made a tactical blunder. Allowing his mind to wander, even for an instant, was a costly mistake.

Rachel Bitterman took full advantage of attacking Harry while he wasn’t looking. She didn’t hesitate for a moment to try and kill her one and only nephew, because of the betrayal that was ruining her plans. She took out a small, metallic disc with sharp blades at its edges and hurled it directly at Harry. Unfortunate for her, the disc missed its original mark (which was the back of Harry’s neck) and slashed across his right arm.

Harry, quickly taking notice that his aunt was ambushing him, angled skyward, trying to get away from her before she unleashed any other fierce attacks. No luck. She was way ahead of him, revving up her own glider and heading towards him in high pursuit. “You chose the wrong side, sweetie! That’ll be the last mistake you’ll ever make!” Harry was listening to her threats intently, while doing all he can to escape her wrath.

Knowing pumpkin bombs would’ve been useless against a survivor of one like him, Rachel resorted to hurling only something just as deadly…daggers. She threw at least four directly at Harry, and each of them shot perfectly straight at him, but only one was able to find at least one area to weaken him. A dagger had gone deep into Harry’s ankle, and he shrieked, immediately yanking the dagger from his bleeding leg before it had done any further damage. Realizing that wasn’t enough to stop him, Rachel then proceeded to pull out a long Samurai-like sword from beneath her cloak and charge at Harry with it held high over her head, looking twice as menacing.

From the girder that Jenny, Gonzo, and Ben were balancing on, they watched the intense chase commence between Harry Osborn and Rachel Bitterman. Ben felt like he had to help Harry in his dilemma, but at the same time knew that it was impossible for him to do anything with the Omnitrix having to reset itself like it had been currently doing. Feeling very useless at the moment, he turned to Gonzo and Jenny and desperately demanded, “We have to do something to help him!”

“Harry can handle his aunt.” Jenny remarked, before she pointed to where the group in the Electric Mayhem bus were only seconds away from falling through the snapping black web they were caught in, unless their rescuers (in the form of Rizzo, Gwen, Max, and the Hawaiian family) were successful in getting them all out. However, due to the great distance between the platform inside the construction site and the bus itself, it was physically impossible for the average rescuers to reach them. “You two go help get everyone out of that bus.”

“What will you be doing?” Gonzo asked her.

Jenny took a deep breath and said, “I’m going to go find Venom.”

“He’s too strong for you, Jenny!” Gonzo exclaimed with a mixture of fear and concern. “Let us take care of him, while you go and help the others.”

“No, Gonzo. This is something I must to do.” Jenny contradicted. “I’m not scared of doing this. I have nothing else to lose. If something were to happen to me tonight, I wouldn’t care one bit.” She then smiled blissfully. “At least I’ll be with my father again.”

Her words came straightforward to Gonzo, and the expression on her face told him that she was dead serious about the task she had placed before herself. It was a bold move on her part, but the weirdo couldn’t help but to feel as if it was a form of suicide. He wanted to tell her that she did in fact have something to live for, such as her upcoming marriage to Ronnie Crawford or marvelous friends like the Muppets. But between the situation at hand and the fact that Jenny seemed to have been far from thinking rationally, he figured it was useless to even try.

All Gonzo could tell her before he and Ben left her side was, “Be careful.”

She nodded in understanding and thankfulness as she watched the two heroes race across the girder and then across a nearby platform, heading directly into an elevator that would take them to where their help would be needed. Jenny was about to head off the girder herself, until something wrapped tightly around her ankle and violently yanked her off of it.

Crashing hard into a large pile of wooden planks, it took Jenny a moment to shake off the excruciating pain coursing through her body. Once she had, she realized that the thing that had yanked her off the girder was the cybernetic tail from the fierce “Scorpion Armor” worn by Nicky Holiday, who was glaring down at her with his vicious green reptile-like eyes. “Why take on a monster, when you can have a demon?” He then tightened the grip that he had on Jenny’s ankle (nearly crushing it in the process) and proceeded to swing her around the platform at rapid pace.

Jenny’s body was sent smacking repeatedly and inhumanly into girders and several construction equipment, becoming battered, bruised, and even bloodied in the process. She truly believed that she was on the verge of dying after fifteen swings and crashes. But in the midst of the cruel punishment, it dawned upon her that the only thing that was keeping her alive through the onslaught was her cat suit. And as protective as it was of her at the moment, she was amazed and yet startled to see how it was suddenly coming to pieces under Holiday’s wrath, exposing certain parts of her battle-scarred body.

When Holiday finally decided that enough was enough, he sent Jenny smacking hard against the concrete platform, with the weight of her body putting a huge crack in the dried cement. He released the hold that he had on Jenny’s ankle, leaving her to just lay there in pain. With parts of the cat suit that she once believed was indestructible tattered, parts of Jenny began to return to normal form. Sections of her hair had returned to its natural brunette color and one eye was brown while the other was green. Between her genetic instability and battle-ravaged appearance, she would’ve passed off perfectly as a work of Picasso…or, in this case, Holiday.

“Bitterman told me that she’d have the pleasure of killing you, instead of the rest of us.” Holiday told the weakened Jenny. “But seeing as how she has her hands occupied with her snot-nosed, bratty nephew, I guess I’ll be the one to take all of the glory…or should I say gory.”

Holiday raised his hook up high, coming in for the final death blow on the helpless Jenny. She watched in horror as he had positioned it at an angle that would have surely come down upon her chest and grotesquely pierced her heart, thus putting an end to her life. The only thing that the young former waitress could do at that point was wait for her unfortunate end, as Holiday braced himself for what could’ve been one marvelous kill.

Then suddenly a voice spoke out from above. “Not today, Holiday!”

He looked upward towards a girder that was fifteen feet above the platform. For a brief moment, he had expected the voice to come from a Muppet. But it was no Muppet standing on that girder. Much to Holiday’s surprise, it was Mickey Mouse, dressed in his familiar Sorcerer’s Apprentice costume and glaring down at him. But Mickey’s glare wasn’t intimidating Holiday at all. In fact, Holiday couldn’t help but to let out a loud, sarcastic chuckle.

“What’re you gonna do, Mouse?” He sarcastically asked him. “Throw a broom at me?”

“Actually, I had something better in mind.” Mickey remarked, just before he twitched his left index finger, causing some of the broken pieces of the wooden planks that Jenny had crashed into to fly towards Holiday and smack him across the face and in the stomach. Holiday was sent reeling back from the battered Jenny, who—realizing that her life had been spared for the moment—began to crawl away from the scene.

Holiday quickly shook off the unexpected blows that came fast and furious, and he suddenly began to take the cartoon icon very seriously. “Alright, buddy! You just became number one on my hit list!”

“Ohhh…I’m so scared.” Mickey mocked.

The mouse soon realized that now wasn’t the time for witty remarks, as he saw Holiday swing his cybernetic tail in his direction, attempting to catch him with his sharp hook. Mickey had dodged out of the way just in time, leaving the tail to hit the girder instead and scrape the hook across its surface, unleashing a few sparks.

Mickey soared across the air at remarkable speed and flew himself directly towards Holiday, sticking his gloved fist out in front of him. Nicky barely had enough time to get out of the way, as Mickey’s fist connected with his face. His head swung heavily to the right, with a mixture of green blood and yellow saliva flying out of it. Never before had he felt such a hard punch, especially from someone like Mickey Mouse.

By the time Holiday was able to relieve himself from the punch, another one abruptly came in, this time connecting with his gut. He felt all the air in his body immediately come out of him, as a huge dent with knuckle shapes was left in the abdominal area of his armor. Even as he got down on one knee and tried to regain his breathing, he felt very alarmed by the intense power that the famous mouse was carrying in him. What he went through in that subway with the Black-Suited Spider-Man was nothing compared to what Mickey was putting him through.

Any more of this and I’ll be dead! God! Where the h*ll are Marla, Darla, and Carla? They’re supposed to be backing me up!

Little did Holiday realize that his three female cohorts were near the battle scene, watching Holiday get punished by a two-foot tall cartoon mouse with a great deal of interest. As soon as they noticed Mickey’s surprise appearance, the three “Arla’s” made an immediate decision not to assist Nicky Holiday. It was retribution for Holiday over the years that he had spent ordering them around, leading them into crimes that the girls only took part in because he had assured them that things would go smoothly. Ever since the Muppets interfered in their attempted theft at the Mallory Gallery, they had blame one person over all that occurred that evening: Nicky Holiday. And now they had something as horrible as kidnapping and killing innocent people and becoming freakish monsters to blame him with. His sister was a cruel soul, always insulting them and their sense of fashion during the time they were models for her company. But Nicky was much, much, much worse. And for Marla, Darla, and Carla, one Holiday was bad enough.

Nicky was almost scared to stand up straight, because he knew that if he did, Mickey would’ve been sure to surprise him with another punch. So he had done something that he knew would lead on to a perfect result. He waited for a moment, listening closely. And then he quickly stood up straight and instantly reached out forward.

Mickey’s eyes nearly bulged out of his head, just as soon as he found himself caught under the mighty grip of Nicky Holiday. He had heard many things about the crook, for one thing being how dim-witted he was. But, apparently, at that moment, he was smart enough to time his catch just right. It was so flawlessly accomplished that even Mickey was surprised by the move. And even as he became the one gasping for air while Holiday held a massive grip over his neck, he suddenly began to show signs of intimidation.

“Now it’s time to say goodbye….to all our company!” Holiday snickered.

“I COULDN’T HAVE AGREED MORE!”

An incredible gust of wind blew past Holiday and Mickey, knocking off Mickey’s sorcerer hat in the process. And then there was a bright golden flash of light in between the two. Before Holiday and Mickey could even realize it, they were knocked far back from each other, landing at least several feet apart. And as soon as they regained their senses, they looked towards the golden flash of light that had separated them. It was a near blinding sight to behold.

But it wasn’t long before the light had dimmed a little and revealed a small figure that was quite familiar to the two people staring directly at it. Its details became much clearer, and from what Nicky and Mickey were able to make out, the small figure had been a bright golden tuxedo, completed with a top hat that was just as bright as the rest of them. Yet something clashed with all of the gold: green foamy skin. And the skin part was what became a huge clue to Nicky Holiday of who and what this bright figure was.

“Kermit?”

Kermit looked down at Holiday and confidently said, “That’s MANHATTAN MARVEL to you, Holiday!”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Only a few more cuts was all that it took for Ed Singer to set himself and his C.O.V.N.E.T. companions free from Venom’s black webbing. However, the fall that the five had taken after being set free was anything but enjoyable, as they hit the floor with a hard thud. Singer paid no mind to the pain, unlike his fellow comrades were. He was too focused on finding the one responsible for putting him there in the first place.

“Come on, boys!” He exclaimed. “Let’s go and find our alien!”

Butch, Clyde, and Rentro were anything but thrilled about continuing on with their mission. “Ah! Give it a rest, will ya?” Butch said, without even first considering to whom he was addressing. “We’ve been goin’ after this guy several times, and each time he always beats us!”

“Yeah…sir.” Rentro stated. “Don’t you think it’s about time we just gave up?”

With a look of surprise and anger on his face, Singer shot up to his feet and shouted, “GIVE UP? When we’ve come so far? I don’t think so, my friends! Venom shall be ours for the taking! Not Max Tennyson or any of his friends or family!” He then went over to a spot on the platform where a huge amount of black webbing was restraining a huge pile of state-of-the-art, chrome-plated C.O.V.N.E.T.-registered weapons. Cutting all of the black webbing, he reached into the pile and pulled out a C.O.V.N.E.T. weapon that sort of resembled a rocket launcher. “And this JK-49 Standard Sonic Blaster will make certain of that!”

Ryan then went to the pile and pulled out a weapon of his own, which closely resembled a shotgun. “I’m with you all the way, sir! Let’s go bag ourselves an alien!” While departing with Singer into the elevator, Ryan took one last look at Rentro, Butch, and Clyde and shot them a disgusted look that was highly offensive towards the three C.O.V.ies.

As soon as Agents Ryan and Singer left down the elevator, Clyde focused his attention across the platform and made certain if the other lizard creature wasn’t watching them. Seeing no sign of him whatsoever, he took a deep breath and then looked skyward at Robin and Stanley, who were both still tied to their spot on the girder. “What do we do about them? We can’t just leave them there.” He mentioned to Rentro and Butch, who noticed the two small Muppets as well and agreed with Clyde’s point.

Rentro looked around to see what could be useful in helping the youths. He spotted the same powerful knife that Ed had used to cut the strong black webbing with, sitting near their formerly webbed-up gear, and realized how useful it would be for that situation. Getting to his feet and walking over to pick up the knife, Rentro turned and smiled to his two friends while asking, “I wouldn’t suppose either of you two would be a good climber, now would ya?” Judging from the way Butch and Clyde had exchanged nervous glances, Rentro felt as if he got the answer to his question in a most uncomfortable way. “I guess not.”

TO BE CONTINUED....

Yeah! I love Mickey in this story!

ohh, you're leaving me wanting more..

After this segment, there'll be only one more left before the end of the chapter. So expect the unexpected from here on out.

Chapter Twenty-Three (Part Four)

A stiletto blade clicked out from the back of Harry’s bootheel. Harry had only little time to throw together a few pieces of the armor, but what he had chosen had been canny. Directing his Sky Stick around and heading directly for his aunt, he braced himself for a quick attack. Rachel got a firm grip on her sword, preparing to counter-attack whatever Harry had up his sleeve.

Just as soon as the two came close together, both attacked at the same time. While Rachel was able to execute a perfect slash across the side of Harry’s body, Harry jammed the blade down into Rachel’s shoulder. The two Goblins howled in agony, as their gliders rocketed away from each other.

Quickly removing the blade from her shoulder, the furious Rachel Bitterman immediately ignored the pain and the blood oozing down from her wound and focused her attention on five pumpkin bombs that she had removed from a secret compartment built inside of her glider. “You wanna play, Harry Osborn? Then let’s play, sweetheart!”

Realizing what she was about to do, Harry raced faster than before away from his vicious aunt. However, by the time he was able to pick up speed, Rachel had already launched the pumpkin bombs. They didn’t get very close to Harry as soon as they all had exploded, but the shockwave was powerful enough to damage the Sky Stick. That much was certain from the laboring sound that the engine made.

As Harry angled around, he saw Spider-Man landing on an upper portion of the skyscraper, where a small platform had been set up for construction workers. He watched as Spider-Man set Mary Jane down there and breathed a sigh of relief that at least she was safe.

The ground stirred, twisted, grew, and a gigantic Sandman once again rose up before them. The missing portion of his head had reformed. “Uh-oh,” said Harry, which by startling coincidence was exactly what Mary Jane said as Sandman loomed in front of them. Peter Parker said something a bit more colorful, but his mask muffled the words.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Gonzo and Ben ran out of the elevator and straight into the situation that was taking place at the particular floor of the uncompleted skyscraper. They saw how Rizzo, Gwen, Max, and the Hawaiian family were making dire attempts to get the passengers of the Electric Mayhem bus out before the web gave way.

“Have no fear! We’re here to help!” Ben exclaimed.

Max and the others turned their focus towards Ben and Gonzo, feeling slightly overjoyed to see them there. “And not a moment too soon. This web support could snap at any moment.”

“Then perhaps it’s time I went hero!” Ben said, while fiddling with the Omnitrix again, setting the dial on the particular alien hero that he wanted to transform into. He looked at the insignia on the dial of an alien that he was familiar with named Upgrade, a biomechanical being with liquid metallic skin and complex systems of self-forming organic circuits. Using his reshaping ability, Ben could easily merge with the bus and upgrade it by spreading over it like liquid, enhancing it far beyond its original design, and afterwards control it as he would his own body (perhaps in this case, upgrade it with a hover conversion and fly it safely back to the ground).

Unfortunately, as with many other times Ben Tennyson had with the Omnitrix, things did not seem to go as he originally planned.

Just as soon after he slammed his hand down on the dial, the green flash shined throughout the section of the floor, forcing those near Ben to shield their eyes in protection from the bright glow. Once the glow had vanished, so had Ben (again)…only this time he was replaced not by Upgrade, but by the form of Gonzo. Strangely enough, he still had the same clothes on, the Omnitrix was still on his wrist (flashing a white glow instead of a red, yellow, or green one) his eyes were still the same color (only less human), and his messy brown hair was still sitting on his head. The only main difference was that he had blue fur just like Gonzo and even his same blue hooked nose.

The others (especially Gonzo himself) stared at Ben in utter disbelief, while Ben himself had done the same, staring down at his furry hands that contained four fingers on both. “What the heck!” Ben exclaimed with a voice that sounded like Gonzo’s, only slightly younger, more high-pitched, and just as groggy. “I’m a Muppet!”

“You’re…me!” Gonzo shouted in amazement.

“But how is that possible?” Gwen asked.

Max soon found himself recalling the time that he and his grandkids went to New Mexico and discovered a wolf-like creature that had accidentally scratched the Omnitrix, resulting in its DNA to be added into Ben’s selection of aliens. And seeing as how Gonzo was an alien, this might’ve seemed to be the case when he accidentally touched the Omnitrix as well and added his own DNA to Ben’s alien selection.

But before Max could’ve had the opportunity to explain it all to Ben or anyone else, he was interrupted by the nagging voice of Blooregard Q. Kazoo from the Electric Mayhem bus. “HELLO? Innocent victims about to fall to their certain death here!”

“How am I supposed to save them in this form?” Ben asked. “What else does Gonzo do besides enjoy getting hurt all the time?”

Gonzo felt as if Ben had just gotten himself into quite a predicament with his new alien form, because he couldn’t figure out exactly what abilities his species possessed that could assist him in his rescue. However, that was until he remembered the event last year that occurred when he gained extraterrestrial superpowers that he once believed were the result of being born as a mutant. But they were only useful at a certain point in his lifetime, which he worried might not have been the case for Ben. Although there was also the possibility that he shared the same psychic powers that his brother, “The Ubergonzo,” had before his bold sacrifice to defeat the wicked alien known as Exod.

The weirdo could only hope for the best as he made a quick suggestion to Ben. “Try thinking of something really cool that you’d like to do, Ben, and see if it’ll happen.”

Ben didn’t quite see the point in doing so. It wasn’t like he could just think of breathing fire and then out of nowhere he’ll—

FLOOM!

All of the sudden, a massive burst of flames shot out from Ben’s mouth, much to the 10-year-old’s surprise and pleasure (as well as Gonzo’s). He could do whatever he wanted in his new form, just from thinking about it. That was the function of this new alien form: a mixture of physical and mental ability. And it was at that moment when he began to take great pleasure in being a weirdo…an Alter-Weirdo!

“Stand back! It’s ‘Hero Time’!”

Thinking very hard, Alter-Weirdo made himself fly up high in the air and soar towards the Electric Mayhem bus, which was only seconds away from snapping through its last five web strands. The alien hero flew downward and positioned himself at the underbelly of the bus. Then, while imaging himself having super strength, he started to lift the bus off from the web that it had been caught in and carried it down the side of the skyscraper.

Gonzo, Rizzo, Max, Gwen, and the Hawaiian family watched with great interest as Alter-Weirdo had brought the bus back down to ground level, setting it gently down in the midst of several groups of construction equipment. As soon as his task was completed, Alter-Weirdo heard the sound of struggling nearby and turned his head to see Stitch fighting to get free from the symbiote that was pinning him to the ground. Realizing quickly that Stitch needed assistance, he thought of having a supersonic scream. It worked just as his other powers had, unleashing a powerful shockwave that had affected the symbiote heavily, dissolving it instantly and freeing Stitch in the process.

Stitch got to his feet and approached the Alter-Weirdo, at first believing him to be Gonzo, but finding out immediately that it was someone completely different. “Gonzo have makeover?”

“Not exactly.” Alter-Weirdo remarked. “I’ll explain later. We have to go find and stop Venom now.” With that being said, he grabbed Stitch and flew the both of them back up to the floor that Ben was previously on, where—much to his horror—the symbiote-powered monster himself had suddenly attacked his friends and family.

Max was doing the best he could to fend off the black-suited menace with weapons that he had brought with him from the “Rust Bucket,” such as a plasma cannon that only seemed to slow down Venom for just a few minutes. In the meantime, Rizzo, Gonzo, and the Hawaiian family went into hiding. Gwen, on the other hand, stayed behind to assist her grandfather, who objected to her doing so, by using her magic to keep Venom from getting any closer to them. The best she could do was place a purple force field in between them, which Venom had pounded his fists against several times before putting enough physical and mental strain on Gwen to force into removing it.

Seizing the moment to attack the two Tennysons, Venom lunged at them. But Kim Possible, who arrived at the scene just in time to give Venom a swift kick across the face, quickly thwarted his murderous attempt. She was joined by Ron Stoppable, who was successful in getting Kim out of her web by using something as simple as a long, metal pole to pull her to safety. And while Ron was staying out of harm’s way, Kim commenced in doing all she could to defeat the monstrous Venom, from giving him several kicks to the stomach, legs, and face again. Unfortunately, this wasn’t nearly enough to slow him down. Even as she came in with a perfect roundhouse kick, Venom caught her by the leg and performed a vicious clothesline that knocked Kim completely out.

“K.P.!” Ron cried, helplessly watching Venom as he stood over her, looking as if he was getting ready to attempt another vicious attack.

But before Venom could try anything to the unconscious Kim Possible, he was suddenly caught by surprise with another few blasts from Max’s plasma cannon. After those blasts, Venom decided that enough was enough, and he fired a massive glob of black webbing directly into the barrel of Max’s gun. When Max pulled the trigger again, he was instantly forced back from the small explosion that was given off by his malfunctioning gun.

Gwen watched in horror as her grandfather fell violently to the floor, shaken up from the horrendous misfire. She immediately went to his side and checked on him, while Venom stood confidently before them, making a “Bring it on” gesture with his hands and saying,

“Anybody else wanna bring something to the table?”

As if responding to Venom’s challenge, Stitch immediately leaped from Alter-Weirdo’s hands and towards Venom. But the symbiote monster seemed ready for the abomination this time, and before he could even reach within a few feet of him, Venom fired a web line that attached to Stitch’s small frame and swung Experiment 626 around and around, until he finally threw him aside and forced him to crash into a once perfectly stacked pile of metal rods. The rods had fallen off the edge of the platform and down to one below it, giving off a loud, hollow noise that was powerful enough to disrupt Venom’s symbiote skin.

Seeing how Venom was kneeling down and screeching in pain with parts of his costume shooting out from all sides of him, Alter-Weirdo saw a marvelous opportunity to show the monster who was boss. “Let’s try something spectacular!”

Ben then began to think about each and every one of the alien heroes that he had accessed through the Omnitrix. And, one by one, he used their greatest abilities to unleash a number of attacks on Venom, all while still in the form of Alter-Weirdo.

Thinking of Stinkfly, Alter-Weirdo fired an immobilizing jelly from his hooked nose that covered Venom from the neck down. The jelly only worked partially, slowing Venom down at a certain rate.

Thinking of Cannonbolt, Alter-Weirdo rolled into a ball like an armadillo and increased his rotational momentum, rolling into the immobilized Venom as an attack. While Venom was left falling hard to the floor, the balled-up Alter-Weirdo ricocheted off of him and between several girders, before coming to a complete stop in the middle of the platform, where he returned back to his average form.

Thinking of Upchuck, Alter-Weirdo opened his mouth and stretched out four strong, adhesive tongues, latching onto a girder and reeling it in with relative ease. He afterwards swallowed and digested it, then converted the ingested item into an explosive ball of liquid that shot out from his mouth and towards Venom with great accuracy. The explosive reaction to the liquid ball was enough to knock Venom a few feet away from Alter-Weirdo, as well as disrupt his senses again, bringing him down to both of his knees and screeching.

“I’ve got you right where I want you, freak!” Alter-Weirdo exclaimed, before he thought of two aliens at the same time to unleash another amazing attack on Venom. With XLR8’s super speed and Fourarms’s remarkable strength, Alter-Weirdo made himself seem very invisible to Venom, as he executed several massive punches to his body.

Venom’s head swung in all directions, as he felt the unbelievable force of a rapidly moving fist connect to the front, sides, and back of his head. He tried fighting back, but even he seemed to move too slowly for the speedy alien. After one fierce and fast punch to the gut, Venom flew back several more feet across the platform, smacking hard into another pile of steel rods that collapsed and gave off the same hollow noise that disrupted Venom and his symbiote skin like before.

Alter-Weirdo approached the heavily weakened Venom and stood over him, feeling highly confident in his well thought out plan of attack. After having so much fun kicking Venom’s butt, he decided that it was time to strike the final blow. Thinking of his most favorite alien hero, Heatblast, the hands of Alter-Weirdo began to ignite. His final plan would be to finish off Venom with a projected bolt of flame from his hands, remembering Jumba and his Grandpa Max’s theories on the symbiote being vulnerable to intense heat.

“The heat is on now, V!” Alter-Weirdo exclaimed. “You’re goin’ down for sure!”

And just when Alter-Weirdo was about to let loose his attack on Venom…

BLAM!

…an incredible blast of concentrated energy struck his body and knocked him away from Venom, as well as extinguishing his hands. What was more surprising than the unexpected attack itself was the unusual sense of enjoyment that came over Alter-Weirdo as a result of it.

By the time he was fully recovered, he realized that Venom had escaped into the shadows. He also noticed Agents Singer and Ryan arriving at the scene, holding their large weapons and glaring down at Alter-Weirdo, believing him to be the real Gonzo.

“Stay out of our way, alien!” Singer warned. “Or I swear that I’ll do whatever I can to suck out that brain of yours!”

And just as quickly as they had appeared, the two C.O.V.N.E.T. agents disappeared from the scene, continuing their pursuit of the symbiote-powered villain. Once they were away, Alter-Weirdo didn’t hesitate to ponder aloud of what he thought of the two. “What a couple of paranoid, delusional freak-boys.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Spider-Man grabbed Mary Jane in a tackle hold and leaped with her out of harm’s way as a gigantic sand fist pounded into the building. It trembled violently under the impact but remained standing.

Harry saw it all, but was distracted by his own problem. His Aunt Rachel was coming at him with another fierce attack, with her Samurai sword held high again. Seeing this, Harry carefully planned out his next move. He gazed down at his Sky Stick and thought of any possible weapons that he could’ve used to counter any attack by her. He was able to think of one.

Tripping a switch, a few panels at the bottom of the Sky Stick instantly opened and five mini-rockets were released. Rachel immediately halted her glider as soon as she noticed the mini-rockets and turned it around, heading in the opposite direction. She found herself in the same dire situation that she had put Harry in only moments ago. However, the mini-rockets proved to be way too fast for her, and they hit their mark—directly into Rachel’s glider. There was a huge explosion beneath the feet of the Hobgoblin, which sent her flying off her destroyed glider and left her soaring through the air.

From where Harry was, he could hardly see what had happened to his aunt after the explosion, due to the tremendous amount of flames that obscured the sight of her falling from the glider. Once the flames had subsided, Harry watched his aunt’s demolished glider fall to the ground, without her on it. He quickly realized that she was nowhere to be seen and could assume that she had been vaporized by the explosion.

Freed of her wrath, Harry shot straight toward Sandman. The towering creature had just taken a swipe at Spider-Man, who swung himself and M.J. to safety…safety being a relative term. Trying desperately to buy Peter some time, Harry buzzed past Sandman’s face as a distraction.

In trying to get Sandman’s attention, Harry was all too successful. Turning away from Spider-Man and Mary Jane, Sandman opened his hand wide and sent it blowing toward Harry at gale force. Harry tried to angle away from the blast but was enveloped in a small tornado of sand. He shielded his eyes with one arm, as the sand flurry worked its way into the innermost recesses of the Sky Stick. Harry cut hard on the engine, dropping down out of the assault, but then the engine started to choke and sputter. He tried to get it under control but to no avail as the vehicle hurtled across the sky, its gyros and servos disabled and its steering mechanism completely shot. Fighting to stay aloft, Harry veered behind a distant building, cut off from the war that now waged without him.

~~~~~~~~~~~~

Kermit the Frog (or “The Manhattan Marvel,” as he so proudly referred to himself as) displayed some of the most spectacular wizardry that anyone had ever seen. The lessons that he had learned from Mickey Mouse, who helped him sneak into Harry’s penthouse unnoticed and retrieved his golden tuxedo (the source of his marvelous magical powers), had seemed to pay off extremely well in his two-on-one fight against Nicky Holiday. With Mickey and both of their remarkable skills at his side, it seemed like they had an easy victory over him. That seemed very much the case, even as Kermit used a certain spell to paralyze Holiday long enough for Mickey to come in with one swift and amazing punch to the crook’s face, knocking him flat on his back.

The Manhattan Marvel then came up with a spell that he seemed to have learned on his own. Making swift gestures with his hands, he lifted Holiday’s battered body off the floor and started smacking him into girders, poles, crates, and all other things. He finished him off by levitating him forty feet in the air and bringing him back down at full force, smashing him to the floor. He lied face down at the feet of Kermit and Mickey.

“You think our F.A.S.A. licenses could be revoked ‘cause of this much violence we’re unleashing?” Mickey asked Kermit.

The frog turned to his old friend and mentor with a smirk. “Let ‘em revoke whatever they want. I’m having way too much fun!”

Kermit lifted his arms up high and was going to place what would be his fiftieth attack spell on Holiday. But something that the frog had least suspected kept him from doing it.

Holiday’s cybernetic tail suddenly swung at Kermit, knocking him away from his wounded body. Screaming from the tops of his lungs, Kermit soared fast towards a set of steel crates and violently hit one of them, placing a small dent on the side of it. Mickey watched in terror at the sight of Kermit falling to the floor and then into unconsciousness.

The mouse had been so horrified watching his greatest friend suffer from such a fierce surprise attack that he barely even caught himself crying out his name. His eyes focused on Kermit’s inert form for a moment and then they shifted towards Holiday, who slowly stood up and glared viciously at Mickey.

“You can throw all the little spells you want at me, Mr. Mouse,” Holiday uttered, “But as long as I have this armor on me, I will always keep getting right back up again.”

Mickey was furious at Holiday for what he had done to Kermit and everyone else that evening. He wanted to make him pay dearly for all his wrongdoings. But he knew that would take forever to do. Holiday was right…he was still unstoppable with that dreadful armor of his. However, with that resourceful mind of his, Mickey realized one thing…

He might be unstoppable on the outside, but he isn’t on the inside!

What Mickey had done next was something that he never tried before with his sorcery, mostly because he wasn’t certain if he would ever come out alive from doing it. It was something never meant to be done by someone who wasn’t absolutely familiar with the rules and regulations of a powerful sorcerer, such as Kermit the Frog. Even though he had truly impressed Mickey with all the lessons he had taught him in such a short period of time, there was still one lesson that he hadn’t learned and that Mickey couldn’t have taught him: ultimate sacrifice.

And it was sacrifice that Mickey immediately put himself through as he made his next move, without even first negotiating with himself over it.

Mickey leaped towards Nicky Holiday, and Holiday had braced himself for whatever attack he had planned. But not even cleverness could counter the supernatural attack that the mouse had unleashed upon Holiday.

There was a bright flash of white light, and Mickey had disappeared before the very eyes of Nicky Holiday. He looked around for a moment, wondering what the mouse had done to himself, and then he began to feel a bizarre sensation that had coursed through his entire body. It started from his gut and then proceeded down towards his feet and up towards his head.

“What…in God’s name…is…?”

Suddenly, a sharp pain had pierced the sides of his head, causing him to let out one loud scream. As he opened his mouth to let it out, not only did the noise come out, but a large beam of white light came out as well. It wasn’t long before other parts of his body began to shine through his armor. Sections of his face began to light up brightly, until it was entirely engulfed in white light itself.

Nearby, Kermit had slowly regained consciousness and quickly took notice of the unusual situation happening to Holiday. Marla, Darla, and Carla, who continued to watch the entire scene unfold from one section above, joined in the frog’s bewilderment. They weren’t as familiar with magic as he had come to be over the past hours, but they knew that whatever was happening to Holiday was for his own good.

The remarkable light that Holiday’s body was giving off proved to be too much for the eyes of Kermit and the “Arla’s” to handle, and they were quickly forced to shield them away from the sight. What they couldn’t see was Holiday’s lit body and armor slowly melting away. As soon as there was nothing left to melt, the light had extinguished itself and nothing more had been left behind than a puddle of what used to be Nicky “The Scorpion” Holiday.

Gazing at the puddle, the “Arla’s” knew that their partnership with Nicky Holiday was officially over, now that the brave Mickey Mouse had wiped him out. They immediately left the scene, while Kermit, who slowly got to his feet, walked over to the puddle and found it hard to believe that Holiday had gone out in such a horrible way. But he then remembered what type of person Nicky Holiday was and realized that it suited him perfectly.

Kermit’s thoughts on Holiday’s bizarre death were then shifted to that on Mickey Mouse, who he noticed had suddenly disappeared from the scene. He was about to call out for the mouse, but stopped himself before he could even utter just a syllable of his name. It occurred to Kermit that what happened to Holiday was something Mickey had done himself. He looked back towards the Holiday’s remains and recalled what Mickey had told him about a spell that he never executed before, because of his fear of not being able to come out of it alive.

This must’ve been that spell, Kermit thought.

The frog then shook his head sadly, as it dawned upon him that his friend had never made it out of the spell alive. He immediately moved himself away from the puddle, which he knew contained as much the remains of Mickey Mouse as it did Holiday’s, and flew himself up to the top section of the skyscraper to find his nephew. All that he could’ve done at that point was do his best to get over his friend’s unfortunate death in order to help his family and friends and vow never to try Mickey’s spell himself.

TO BE CONCLUDED....

I love it! Awesome!


Happy Birthday EPCOT!

Great recap, Count. It helps me knowing whether or not if I had everything in order with all these battles, rescues, and deaths.

One thing I have to correct you on though is that Alissa wasn't unconscious when we last left her with Thomas. You'll find out what happens to her in the next and final segment, which will come (hopefully) sometime this weekend.

I can't wait to read what happend next!

Here it is, folks. The final part of Chapter Twenty-Three. Obviously, it will be followed with an epilogue after this.

Chapter Twenty-Three (Part Five)

Rentro, Butch, and Clyde climbed high up the girder, neither of them not daring to look downward at the tremendous distance between them and rock bottom. Butch and Clyde weren’t exactly expert climbers, but they found getting up the girder was easier than they hoped it would be—the real trick was getting down.

“I don’t get why all three of us have to climb up, when it should only take one to free the kids.” Clyde thought aloud.

Butch, who had been climbing between Clyde and Rentro, looked down at his friend and said, “We’re doing it this way in case one of us just happens to fall!”

Clyde thought over the idea, and even though it still confused him quite a bit, he agreed with it anyways. “Great idea, boss…I mean, Butch.”

Meanwhile, Robin and Stanley were looking down at the three C.O.V.N.E.T. agents as they climbed towards them, feeling a tad bit relieved that help had finally come again. Robin knew that they were in safe hands with Bobo, Butch, and Clyde being the rescuers, considering the fact that they had rescued them a year ago from another dangerous situation.

With this positive thought in his mind, he decided to share it with Stanley, who was not highly familiar with the three Muppets. “Don’t worry, Stanley. Everything will be fine now. I trust these guys with my life after the space adventure I was on with my Uncle Kermit and…”

The tiny frog quickly stopped talking, just as soon as he spotted something dark and sinister approaching the bottom half of the girder and climbing up towards them at an incredible speed. He soon realized that it was the lizard creature that was Professor Krassman, and it looked as if it was bent on ripping all of them to shreds then and there.

Quickly Robin shouted, “LOOK OUT!”

Hearing his warning, the three C.O.V.ies looked downward and were shocked to see the reptilian monster head their way. Clyde felt very ashamed in himself for failing to scout the area carefully to see if Krassman was still around. He didn’t bother telling Butch or Rentro how sorry he was for his blunder, because he was too mortified to do so. Instead, he just closed his eyes and hoped for a quick death. Butch and Bobo had done the same thing, while Robin and Stanley looked on helplessly.

Although…it was a good thing that the two young Muppets had kept their eyes open, otherwise they would’ve never witnessed the awesome display that occurred next.

Krassman suddenly stopped climbing up the girder, as soon as he noticed how his entire body had been engulfed in a marvelously bright golden light. He then felt a wicked tingling sensation come over him, while everything around him seemed to have gotten incredibly big. His clothes started to feel as if they were way too large for him, and they even slid off his scaly body as he let go of the girder and fell to the floor. When Krassman had landed, his clothes were completely off of him, and he found himself crawling on all fours.

From up above, the three C.O.V.N.E.T. agents realized after a moment that they were still alive. Curious to know why, they opened their eyes and looked down. They were just as surprised as Stanley and Robin were to see a small iguana sitting near a pile of what used to be the clothes of Professor Krassman.

“What in the name of Jerry Juhl happened to him?” Bobo asked.

And before his question could’ve been answered, they all were caught by surprise again at the sudden appearance of Kermit the Frog (still clad in his golden tuxedo), as he walked up to the iguana and gazed upon him with a big smile on his face. “Looks like the Professor just found out the hard way that it really isn’t all that easy bein’ green.” He commented.

“Uncle Kermit!” Robin exclaimed.

Hearing the joyous sound of his nephew’s voice, Kermit looked upwards and spotted him, Stanley, and the C.O.V.N.E.T. agents there on the girder. He then raised his arms up high and flawlessly performed a spell that had vanished the black webbing binding Robin and Stanley, freeing the two Muppet kids. After that, they floated—along with Rentro, Butch, and Clyde—safely back down to the floor. Robin ran straight up to his uncle and gave him a warm hug, feeling very grateful that he had arrived in time to save them.

“You made real good timin’ there, sir.” Bobo told Kermit.

“Where’ve ya been, Kermit?” Butch asked.

“Yeah, everybody’s been wondering where you are lately.” Clyde added.

Kermit wanted to just come out and tell them that Mickey Mouse was gone. Just come out and tell them, so that he would no longer have to worry about finding the right time to let them know what happened. He never did like giving bad news to anyone…no one ever did. And he just couldn’t bring himself to tell them at such a time like now. He needed for them all to be braving long enough to survive whatever threat was left to face.

He only responded to their curiosity by saying, “I’ll have to explain later, boys. For now, let’s just try to—”

SMASH!

Kermit was suddenly interrupted by the sudden tremor over the platform, which was soon followed with a large, ominous figure that had crashed through the concrete. It was only then that Kermit realized that it was another lizard creature; he assumed that it had to be one that was—unlike Krassman—once an ordinary lizard. This one had seemed to suffer quite a beating, as its clothes were tattered more than they already were and blood was trickling from the sides of its mouth.

I wonder who punished this poor fella, Kermit thought.

The answer to his unasked question came as soon as he, Robin, Stanley, and the three C.O.V.N.E.T. agents noticed Lori Thomas gliding up through the hole that the creature’s body had made on impact. She had shown signs of being involved in a struggle herself, with the bottom half of her trenchcoat shredded off, sections of her pants torn and revealing parts of her ghostly white legs, and the bottom part of her black blouse ripped off and showing her well-toned abdomen. Her appearance had taken Kermit by surprise, just as it had with Robin, considering the fact that it was only a few days ago when he had last seen her.

“What happened to Lori?” Kermit asked.

“She said that Mr. Morbius gave her a genetic makeover…whatever that means.” Robin replied.

They watched her step over the lizard creature, just as it had suddenly shot up and grabbed Lori by the throat and again lifted her off her feet. Kermit immediately knew that she needed help. He was about to perform the same spell that he did with Krassman, until Stanley quickly ran up to him and halted his attempt.

“No, Mr. Frog!” He exclaimed—for the first time since his kidnapping, actually speaking out loud. “It’s Cousin Sean!”

Kermit’s face expressed quite a startled reaction to what Stanley had just told him about the lizard monster that Lori was confronting, as he looked upon it with disbelief for a moment, seeing how Lori was able to kick herself away from it and put some distance between them. He then turned back to Stanley and said, “That’s Sean? How…?”

“That evil professor did it to him.” Stanley replied before Kermit could even finish his question. “Please, Mr. Frog. Let my Cousin Lori get him back to normal. I know she can do it. She’s always been good at setting things right. And I don’t want anyone else to get hurt.”

Kermit looked carefully at the Muppet child, who was no smaller than his own nephew. He could see how desperate he was to convince him not to interfere in the “family affair.” So, without a second thought, he decided to stay out of the fierce confrontation, even though he wished he could do something, as he noticed how Lori seemed to be in a tight spot.

She suddenly found herself forced to start dodging for her life, as soon as the lizard creature began hurling several wooden and steel crates at her. Lori was able to dodge a few steel crates, but her incredible speed proved a little difficult to dodge the wooden ones that came after it. So she decided on something different. Instead of dodging, she used some fancy martial art techniques that she rarely ever used to knock away the crates. Even though she was normally a bit sloppy with her moves, Edward’s formula seemed to have helped out greatly, giving her enough airtime to deflect the crates.

But the real challenge arrived with the last crate that the creature hurled at her, which was another steel one. She realized that if she tried deflecting this one, it would be possible that her leg or arm would be broken in several places. Dodging it would’ve been a perfect option, if it hadn’t been coming at such an unbelievable speed. So she took her chances with another remarkable move.

Lori flipped herself forward and straightened out her body in a horizontal position, with her feet sticking out towards the flying crate. As soon as they had both connected, she was amazed to have learned how much her super strength had come out as the victor in this situation, once she watched (and felt) it deflect off the soles of her boots and fly back towards the creature. Its eyes widen in shock as it watched the crate fly towards him, and it was his shock that had kept him from moving out of the way in time.

The steel crate bounced off the chest of the monstrous lizard, completely taking the wind out of him and knocking him back in the process. While he landed on the floor with a sickening thud, Lori took the opportunity to come up with another surprise attack. She reached inside of her trenchcoat and pulled out a syringe filled with a blue liquid substance. Then she leaped across the air and landed on top of the creature’s huge stomach, where she crouched down and raised the syringe high over her head.

“This’ll only sting for a sec, bro!”

Lori brought down the syringe with enough force to penetrate the needle through the creature’s durable scaly chest. It roared in pain, as she quickly injected the blue substance into its blood stream and pulled the syringe away from him afterwards. She jumped away from his body and watched along with Kermit, Robin, Stanley, and the C.O.V.N.E.T. agents as the creature continued to scream in pain while lying on its back. Soon its screams began to settle down, and it just lay there quietly, his body twitching a few times. Its large frame suddenly began to shrink, and its skin suddenly went from being green and scaly to brown and smooth in seconds. Silky black hair began to form on top of its head, which began to form from alligator-like to human-like. Claws and razor sharp teeth had soon disappeared, replaced with normal feet, hands, nails, and teeth.

In moments, Lori and the others found themselves staring directly at the inert human form of Sean Thomas. Tears began to form in the eyes of Lori, as she felt very thankful that Edward’s antidote had worked. Stanley slowly walked up to his cousin, as he started to regain consciousness and slowly sat up, rubbing the side of his head. Sean opened his eyes and looked around at his surroundings, with a very bewildered look on his face.

“Where am I?” He asked, even though his question was not answered. He looked to his right and immediately noticed his cousin standing next to him, remembering what had happened to him in the church (a situation that—to him—was only seconds ago). “Stanley! Are you okay?” He gave Stanley a big, warm hug as he asked his question.

Stanley’s voice broke up a little as he replied, “I’m okay, Cousin Sean.”

“Thank God.” Sean remarked. “I don’t know what I’d do without you, little guy.” Letting Stanley go, he then looked directly into his eyes and said, “I love you, Stanley. I always have. And I promise with all my heart that I’ll never treat you the way I did before ever again.”

Feeling very glad to hear his cousin say that and the fact that he was back to normal again, he then returned the warm hug that he gave him.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Jenny limped her way through a section of the skyscraper that seemed unoccupied at the moment. She desperately needed time to recover from the injuries she had sustained at the hands of the late Nicky Holiday. And with no one around to trouble her (not even the dreadfully vicious Rachel Bitterman), she rested herself on a steel crate.

But her rest didn’t seem to last for very long, as a familiar, furry visitor suddenly approached her. “Jenny! Are you alright?” She looked in the direction that the voice spoke from and realized that it was Fozzie Bear. “I decided to come and help the best way I could as soon as I got the others to safety. You wouldn’t believe the crowd that’s gathered down there. It’s…”

“Fozzie!” Jenny abruptly interjected. “Get out of here! It’s not safe for you to be here right now!”

“But you’re hurt.” Fozzie remarked, taking quick notice of her injuries. “We have to get you to a hospital right away.”

Jenny was about to make another attempt to get him away before any dangers came in their direction, until she and Fozzie suddenly spotted Spider-Man running across a girder, with Mary Jane safely out of the line of fire. Suddenly a sandstone arm smacked him hard across the face, tearing the left half of his mask in the process and exposing part of the face of Peter Parker. It sent him flying downward, and he crashed hard into a half-constructed floor, not very far from where Jenny and Fozzie were.

“Oh, no!” Fozzie exclaimed.

Sandman had reduced himself to his normal size, but that didn’t make him any less formidable. Having transformed his hand into a sandstone sledgehammer, he raised it above the head of a defenseless Spider-Man and growled, “Got no choice. You’re in my way.”

“Daddy, stop!”

To the astonishment of Peter, Jenny, and Fozzie, Marko froze in place, and he turned his head in the direction from which the plea had come: a slowly rising construction elevator. A little girl was emerging from it, along with her mother.

“Penny?” whispered Marko. He hadn’t lowered the sledgehammer, and Spider-Man could have taken that moment to lash out. Instead he made no move at all, waiting to see how this unexpected interruption would play out. “I…I have to do this,” Marko insisted. “You don’t understand.”

“I do understand.”

“Flint,” Mrs. Marko said, “the doctor came. He told us everything.”

Penny sounded as if she was more concerned about her father’s and the doctor’s feelings than her own welfare as she said, “He tried but he can’t help me.”

A crestfallen Flint Marko lowered his sledgehammer arm, all the fight gone out of him. The little girl, seeming much older than her years, continued to speak to her father in slow, measured tones as she approached. “But it’s okay, Daddy. It means you don’t have to keep doing this. You don’t have to hurt people anymore. You can come home.”

Marko shook his head. “I can’t come home. I…” He shifted his gaze to his wife. “I killed a man, Emma. I didn’t mean to…I didn’t want to…but I did.”

He turned to Spider-Man. Penny held on to her mother, unsure of how to react to what her father was saying. Peter, Jenny, and Fozzie could all relate to that; they weren’t sure how to react either.

“I needed money for the medicine, so I turned to this guy who said he could get it for me with the right connections, but I first had to do a job for him in order for it to happen.” Marko said to Peter. “We got the job done, but we lacked an escape plan.”

Peter seemed to have been catching on to the story. “So that’s when you found my uncle?”

Marko nodded; he also seemed to understand why Spider-Man was so bent on making him pay for Ben Parker’s death. It wasn’t just Spider-Man…it was the man beneath the mask…the one who was making it all so personal…and for good reasons. “All we wanted was the car. I was scared. He said, ‘Why don’t you put the gun away and go home?’ I then hear Russell, the guy who promised me my money, urging me to kill the man, because he was a witness. I told him, ‘No, he’s just an old man’ and that he ‘wouldn’t tell anyone about us.’ So then I hear my buddy Caradine running over with Russell’s cash…obviously not the cash he was promising to give me…something that he wanted for some reason. I was scared, and your uncle stood up, and I don’t know, my gun went off…”

Peter continued listening carefully, along with Fozzie and Jenny, who seemed just as dumbfounded as he had been, scarcely believing it.

“There was a flash, a puff of smoke,” Marko continued, “and I was standing there with this stupid expression on my face and the old guy clutching onto me. He seemed wounded at first, and then Russell stepped in to finish the job. In a split second, he was on the ground, barely moving. My buddy, good ol’ Caradine, he jumped in the car and peeled outta there. It didn’t take very long for Russell to run off, too. They both left me behind to take the fall. I got on the ground next to…Ben.” Marko said the name uncomfortably, as if claiming a familiarity that he wasn’t entitled to. “He looked puzzled, like he couldn’t understand what had gone wrong. I tried to pull him to his feet, shouted at him to get up. Then I heard the siren. I let his body slide outta my hands and to the pavement, and then I lit outta there just as the crowd was gathering. I…” He shook his head, reliving the pain, the suffering made real. “I spent a lotta nights wishin’ I could take it back. Wishin’ that I never made that deal with Russell…I didn’t even know the guy’s last name…had I known what type of man he was, I would’ve never teamed up with him.”

Peter was silent. All of this was so different from what he had imagined. It had never occurred to him that this Russell character was the real prime suspect in his uncle’s death and that this whole time he still went after the wrong man. Yes, Flint Marko pulled the trigger, but he was forced to by another man—one that was as much of a hardened criminal than he believed Flint Marko to have been. He now realized that Marko was far from that. He was showing remorse and caring about others.

Wherever Russell, the real conspirator in the murder, had been at that moment, Peter knew that he would eventually pay for what he had done. But he prayed that it wouldn’t be by his hands. He already experienced too much hatred in his heart with the symbiote, bringing out his inner demons. The symbiote had simply unleashed the potential for evil that lurked within him…that probably lurked in everyone.

He thought of what his Aunt May had told him…about what Uncle Ben would have really wanted for them. And going on a desperate search to kill one human soul wouldn’t have been what Uncle Ben wanted. Of all the powers that Peter possessed, it wasn’t his to determine the fate of someone all because of what they had done in the past.

Fozzie Bear had heard enough of the conversation to step out and voice his own opinion. “Excuse me, Mr. Marko? But it sounds to me that you’re not the one at fault here. You said it yourself that Russell fired the shots that really killed Ben Parker. He’s the one who should pay for what he did…not you.”

“That’s right, Flint.”

Another voice suddenly entered the discussion, and they all were taken aback by the sudden appearance of Marla, Darla, and Carla. At first they were cautious of the three former models’ reason for being there, but noticing how neither of them were making any threatening advances, it was safe to assume that the girls were there for more peaceful reasons, with a possible change of heart on the situation.

Marla was the one who seemed to have addressing Marko at the time. “We will help find this man for you and bring him to justice. We’ll make sure your name is cleared of all that happened on that evening.”

Marko seemed a little surprised over their offer. “Why would you girls stick your necks out to do that for me?”

“Because I felt what you felt during the time we were merged together.” Marla told him. “I saw your thoughts of Penny…felt the same pain you’ve been feeling for some time now…for a moment, I was you.” Marko understood exactly what she meant, because he had those same feelings as well, only they were the pain of being under the wing of a tightwad like Nicky Holiday. “Nicky’s dead now. We no longer have to take orders from anyone. We’re free to do what we like. And we’d like to make up for all the wrong we have done in the past by helping clear your name.”

Flint Marko greatly appreciated the proposal made by the “Arla’s.” However, he still felt very guilty in himself. “I…I don’t know. The past just can’t be changed…even if you could get this guy and turn him in.”

With a choked sob, Penny pulled against her mother’s hand, and this time—a bit to Spider-Man’s surprise—Emma released her. “I don’t want you to leave,” she wailed, and threw her arms around her father.

Seeing the emotion on Penny’s face as she hugged her father had brought Jenny to think about her own father. And those thoughts—those memories—of him were what made her think about all she had done herself lately, from donning the dangerous cat suit and trying to punish those responsible for the murder of her father. Rachel Bitterman might’ve been a vicious, heartless woman, but Jenny could never really bring herself to kill another person. And the thought of actually trying to, when she attacked her at Harry’s penthouse, still made her sick to her stomach. It was a feeling that she never wanted to relive again, just like Marko never wanted to relive his past mistakes again.

Jenny slowly got up from the crate that she had been resting on, still feeling very weak and in great pain from her injuries. She slowly walked up and stood in between Peter and Marko as she said, “We’ve all done terrible things. But we have to forgive each other. Or everything we ever were will mean nothing.” She looked in Peter’s direction with a smile, her words connecting strongly to him.

Peter knew perfectly well that what he said, that his beliefs, weren’t going to make a bit of difference in terms of what happened to Flint Marko—he only hoped the promise that Marla, Darla, and Carla made will take care of that. But there was more involved than this. There was a little girl who desperately needed to believe that her father stood for something valuable and good. And he wasn’t entirely sure that he was wrong to believe that.

He paused for a long moment, and then finally managed to get the words out to Marko. “I forgive you.”

And with that said from Spider-Man himself, everyone smiled.

“You all are just absolutely pathetic!”

Their smiles suddenly faded, and they all looked up to see Rachel Bitterman standing at the center of a girder, still holding her Samurai sword. Her entire Hobgoblin costume had been horribly ravaged. The cloak had been completely burnt off her body, leaving just her muscle shirt and pants left on (the bottom half of her shirt was burnt off, exposing her severely scorched abs and lower back, and the bottom half of her pants were burnt off as well, exposing her severely scorched legs). She was still wearing her golden Goblin mask, only the right half of it had been completely blown away, revealing the half of her face that was scorched as heavily as the rest of her—hair, eyebrows, and eyelashes singed off and flesh contorted (she could barely even open her right eye).

“Seriously! You all sound like something out of a A.A. meeting!” Rachel exclaimed. “Hi, my name’s Rachel…AND I’M GUILTY OF BEING ONE MURDEROUS TRAMP!”

She then jumped off the girder and soared high across the air, screaming like a banshee as she held her sword at a stabbing position. It was obvious that her aim was on Jenny, who she blamed for turning her nephew against her. By the time she was near the floor, Jenny had dodged out of the way, leaving Rachel to stab only at the concrete and dig the blade of her sword deep within it.

As she tried using all of her superhuman strength to pull it from there, Spider-Man shouted to Marko, “Get your family out of here!”

Marko hesitated, looking from Spider-Man and Jenny to the frightened faces of Penny and Emma. He hugged them fervently as Spider-Man again cried out, “Go! Save them!”

“C’mon, Flint! We’ll help you!” Marla offered.

Aware of the danger, Marko quickly clambered onto the construction elevator with his family, as well as the “Arla’s.” With the girls’ help, he shielded Emma and Penny with his body should Bitterman try to attack them.

Rachel wasn’t the least bit interested in assaulting Flint Marko’s family. Instead her full focus was on Jenny. But it quickly shifted to Spider-Man, as he lunged at her. Before he could even attempt to lay a finger on her, she jumped up and kicked him square in the chest with such marvelous force that the web-slinger was sent reeling back onto a pile of crates.

With Spider-Man out of the way, Rachel proceeded to attack Jenny, who was being helped by Fozzie to limp away from Bitterman long enough to work up a perfect strategy of fighting back. They didn’t get very far, as Rachel had accomplished her task in pulling her sword from the concrete and started to chase after Fozzie and the weakened Jenny.

Meanwhile, Spider-Man was slowly starting to get back to his feet as two bodies had suddenly fell at opposite sides of him, crashing into what had been left of the crates. He gawked at the bodies, seeming to have recognized them as Agents Ryan and Singer of C.O.V.N.E.T., who he encountered not very long ago in an alleyway. He wondered for a moment who had taken them out again, but his wondering was put to an abrupt end as something large and black landed a few feet in front of him, holding two really big, chrome-plated guns.

It was Venom, letting out an earsplitting roar that resounded while he broke the guns in half. Spidey didn’t need to be a rocket scientist to figure out that it was the black-suited menace that had knocked out the two agents (for what seemed like the hundredth time). He lunged with a howl of rage at Spider-Man, who leaped toward him, prepared to end this one way or the other.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Harry Osborn had always given little credibility to his own technological or scientific abilities, but when push came to shove, he was able to get the job done. In this instance, he had landed the Sky Stick, completed the makeshift repairs, and gotten it off the ground again, all in a few minutes. Hurtling toward the construction site, he now saw Venom and Spider-Man slugging it out, with his aunt and two of his friends (Jenny and Fozzie) not too far away, and gunned the engine so he could get there to help.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Jenny and Fozzie were great danger, as Rachel came real close to the two of them and began swinging her sword madly, forcing the two to dodge out of harm’s way. Fozzie kept himself hidden behind a steel post, while Jenny tried her best to use whatever skills she had left from her ravaged cat suit to fight back. That proved to be extremely difficult with her busted ankle and other serious injures, especially once Rachel had performed a perfect somersault kick that knocked Jenny to the floor.

She kept herself frozen in place as soon as Rachel had pointed the sharp tip of her sword directly at her throat. Rachel painfully grinned, as she said, “You really thought that suit would protect your pathetic carcass at all times, didn’t ya? Well, I’ve got news for ya, sweetie. It’s a prototype, meaning that it’s still got its flaws. One of them being limited durability.”

“If it’s so flawed, then how come you want it so bad?” Jenny asked.

Rachel could barely let out a chuckle, so she just let her witty remark express her amusement over Jenny’s question. “You just don’t get it. It was never about the suit. It was about getting you, your family, and your friends all out of the way for me to become the H.B.I.C. over all of New York City and—hopefully—the rest of the world.”

“Well, it seems as if your mission has failed, Ms. Bitterman.” Jenny remarked. “All of your so-called friends have either turned on you or been wiped out by my friends. You couldn’t possibly try to take over the city all by your lonesome.”

Rachel’s smile grew wider. “Don’t be so certain, kid. I still have my venomous pal with me. And if that fails…well…I guess I’ll just have to improvise.” She moved the tip of her sword away from Jenny’s throat and again held it high over her head at a stabbing position. “Be sure to tell your father that I said ‘Hi’, will ya?”

Jenny just glared at Rachel for her smart remark, as the sadistically insane businesswoman prepped up to put an end to her life. Staring directly at her face, she could see the madness, the bloodthirsty urge to kill another human being. For a moment, Jenny wondered if this was how she looked in Rachel’s own eyes when she attacked her. If so, maybe she deserved to be killed—not wanting to face anyone if she were ever to express this same emotion again.

She freely accepted her fate at the hands of this madwoman. But as she waited for her to bring down the sword, something odd happened. The bloodthirsty look on Rachel’s face suddenly changed to a more serene look, as if she was changing her mind on the whole thing.

Impossible. Even for Rachel Bitterman.

Something was up with her, and that something soon became clear as her chest started smoking heavily. Jenny looked on in shock as a hole began to form there. Rachel looked down upon it, horrified to even see it there. At the same time she was horrified, she was also bewildered. And Jenny was the same way…until, through the hole in Bitterman’s chest, she saw Harry on his Sky Stick, with a cannon dripping with acid sticking out from its underbelly.

Harry looked very calm as he watched his aunt drop her sword, letting it clang loudly on the floor. She didn’t once turn in his direction to see that it was him who had fired the acid at her. It was almost as if she knew right off the bat that it was him, but didn’t bother saying anything about it, because she knew it would’ve happened as soon as she let her guard down on him. Harry wasn’t stupid—he would’ve figured out that she had survived that explosion eventually (especially considering that he survived an explosion himself).

With Harry’s betrayal being the last thought in her head and the sight of Jenny looking at her in surprise being the last image she’d ever see, Rachel Bitterman collapsed to the floor and died.

Watching her dead body sit there, Jenny felt somewhat relieved that her life had been spared. Perhaps it was done so that she could live for the sake of her friends…for Ronnie. She still had a life to live, even though her father was no longer in it. But just because he was gone, it didn’t mean that she could be happy anymore. As long as she had a future with Ronnie and the Muppets, her life would always be pleasant…especially now that Rachel Bitterman was dead. She never wished death upon anyone before and never will—neither did she take pleasure in it. But Bitterman had been a thorn in her side for as long as she could remember. And now that she was gone, a weight had been lifted off her shoulders…a massive one.

Jenny looked in the direction that she spotted Harry in, only to realize that he was no longer there. It wasn’t long before Fozzie came out of his hiding place and approached her, taking one glance at Rachel Bitterman’s dead body and nearly becoming faint in the process. He did his best to focus solely on Jenny as he asked, “You okay?”

“I’m fine, Fozzie.” She said with great resolve. “For the first time in days…I can actually say that I’m going to be alright.”

~~~~~~~~~~~

Grabbing a steel pike, Venom swung it around and bashed Spider-Man across the chest with it. His ribs already damaged from earlier, Spider-Man felt a new jolt of pain rip across his torso as he was thrown back against a girder. Venom flipped the pike around, revealing its sharp, jagged edge.

Clinging to the girder as much for support as anything else, Spider-Man grated, “Don’t give in to the anger, Eddie. It just feeds the suit. It wants you to hate. Give it up!”

Venom hesitated, and just for a moment Spider-Man thought he was getting through. But then Venom’s voice grew firm, even challenging.

“How can I give this up? Finally, I’m somebody. Look at them down there…”

He pointed at the crowds below.

“…waiting for my next move.”

He advanced on Spider-Man and said cheerfully.

“I like being bad. It makes me happy. Haven’t ya heard, Pete? With great power…comes greater fun!”

His slow advance turned into a rapid charge as he thrust the pike forward for the deathblow. Spider-Man braced himself, prepared to dodge but not sure if he would make it.

From out of nowhere, Harry flew in, placing himself directly between the pike and Spider-Man.

“HARRY!” shouted Peter, and his heart shattered as the pike impaled Harry Osborn. Harry pitched backward as the pike slid out of him…losing control of the Sky Stick and crash-landing atop a construction platform. In the process, a pumpkin bomb slid out from the Sky Stick and rolled across the floor of the platform that Venom and Spider-Man had been on.

Jenny and Fozzie arrived at the scene in time to see what had happened to Harry. Kermit, Robin, Butch, Clyde, Bobo, and the Thomas family also appeared at the scene, looking on in shock at what just happened. And, finally, Gonzo arrived there with Rizzo, the Tennysons, Kim, Ron, and the Hawaiian family to witness the same horrifying display.

Ben (still in the form of Alter-Weirdo) felt more determined than ever to take down Venom, after watching the way he had taken down Harry Osborn, someone who—to Ben—seemed like quite a hero to step in and save his friend like that. And the 10-year-old wasn’t going to let that heroic action be for nothing.

Alter-Weirdo was about to go after the black-suited menace, just as that familiar sound of the Omnitrix timing out sounded again. “No! Not…” There was a bright flash of red light and the form of Ben Tennyson had returned again, much to Ben’s displeasure. “…now.”

He watched helplessly with the rest of the group as Venom lunged again with the steel pike. Spider-Man twisted aside, and the pike struck the girder with a loud, almost deafening clang.

The black goo of the Venom suit vibrated, migrating away from the shrillness, moving in ripples across Brock’s body. Venom stumbled back, pained.

“What the heck’s happening to him?” Sean curiously asked.

Max Tennyson turned to him and said, “It’s the sound. It’s his weakness.”

“Then we have to make enough of it, in order to take him down!” Kermit exclaimed.

Venom had meantime recovered. He raised the jagged pike and charged yet again. However, his attack was soon disrupted again, as the friends of Spider-Man all picked up lengths of rebars and struck them against the girders. They generated clangs so sonorous that each and every person holding a rebar could feel the vibrations course through their bodies.

“It’s becoming vulnerable now!” Gonzo shouted, pointing towards Venom, who was staggering from the ringing. He was unable to control his forward motion.

Clyde, taking great pleasure at the sight of Venom weakening, turned to his big, blue friend and said, “This is a great way of making up for being bad guys, ain’t it, Butch?”

“You said it, Clyde!” Butch responded with glee.

Gwen Tennyson looked on at the two and smiled, pleased to know that they hadn’t completely turned to the “dark side,” as she had once believed.

They continued to watch Venom lose absolute control, until he suddenly collapsed and accidentally impaled himself upon his own deadly pike. It was an uncomfortable display for the others to look at, but was nothing compared to the shocking display they had witnessed next. Whatever the symbiote had done to Peter, it didn’t compare with what it had done to Brock.

It slithered off him, in response to the sound assault…but it left nothing behind.

All that remained of Eddie Brock was a smoking skeleton, and Spider-Man and his friends couldn’t help but wonder in horror if Brock had even been present at all. It might well have been the alien creature all along, talking and acting the way it believed Eddie Brock was supposed to.

“Whoa!” Sean shouted.

“Good God!” Lori exclaimed at the sight, trying her best to shield the eyes of Robin the Frog and Stanley Thomas from it—but the two Muppet kids were too fascinated to be censored that way.

“Oh! That is so gross!” Gwen remarked.

“No doubt.” Kim added.

“Kinda cool if ya ask me.” Ben said.

“I think so, too.” Lilo agreed with Ben.

“Bama kno cheeba!” Stitch yelled with fascination.

“You people have a disturbing appreciation for the freaky, ya know.” Pleakley commented.

“Man! Why does all the cool stuff gotta be so darn freaky?” Ron inquired.

“It may take me weeks ta get dat image outta my head before I ever eat again.” Rizzo stated.

“I hope this doesn’t mean we’re bad guys again.” Clyde worriedly said.

“Me, too.” Butch said.

“I think we might’ve taken it too far.” Gonzo wondered aloud.

“You think?” Kermit sarcastically responded.

“I might have trouble sleeping tonight.” Fozzie said.

The gelatinous black goo reared up, forming a hideous face with gleaming fangs and serpent-like tongue. It had absorbed the materials of Eddie’s form and fashioned it into its own rudimentary body. An arm or tentacle or some sort of appendage emerged from its amorphous structure as it snared…

“Never wound what you can’t kill.”

They all looked on in horror at the creature, wondering what their next move should be to avoid its wrath.

“I hate to agree with the freak, but it’s got a point.” Sean uttered. “How the h*ll do we stop this thing?”

Lori’s red, vampire-like eyes glared at the creature, not forgetting how it had kidnapped her cousin so viciously and put him through sheer chaos that entire evening. Whether it was the creature itself or Eddie Brock, no one threatening or hurt a member of her family, and she was going to make this thing pay dearly for that.

Using the superhuman strength that she still had within her from the formula of Edward Morbius, she struck her rebar against the girder. Instantly, the creature cringed in pain at the noise again. But pain wasn’t enough for Lori…she desperately wanted to punish the abomination.

Luckily, after striking the girder, she spotted the pumpkin bomb from Harry’s Sky Stick on the floor. She quickly picked it up, and while she activated it in her hand, she looked towards the creature and said, “I’ve got somethin’ for your a**, punk! This is for all the h*ll you put my little cousin through!”

After saying that, she hurled the pumpkin bomb directly at the symbiote creature. Everyone got down immediately, as the bomb exploded near the symbiote, giving off enough heat and vibrations to cause it to sizzle and evaporate. They were sure they heard the creature screaming in protest as the last of the black goo burned off into an inky smoke.

As everyone got back up, Stanley turned to Lori and excitedly exclaimed, “Wow, Cousin Lori! That was awesome!”

Lori chuckled. “Thanks, sweetie. I just wish Edward could’ve been here to see…oh, wait…uh, never mind.” Even through her pale complexion, her face seemed to have turned red with embarrassment over the last part of her comment.

Giving the creature no further thought, the group made their way over toward the platform where Harry had crash-landed. Mary Jane, whom Peter had brought to safety a short distance away, had already run to Harry, and now she was kneeling by his side. M.J. was shaking her head in disbelief, saying, “Oh, no…no, no, no,” over and over.

Harry grimaced, weak, clutching his chest where an ugly red splotch was spreading quickly. “He got me pretty good.”

“I’ll get help.”

“No.” Harry clutched Mary Jane’s hand before she could move. “Stay with me…please.”

She cradled his head in her lap. He smiled sadly up at her and said, “Sorry. About everything.”

“But in the end you came. For Pete…for me…for all of us.”

“I was kind of brave back there, wasn’t I.”

She stroked his hair. “I’m so proud of you. I could never be that brave. Like Peter, you, or anybody else who fought here tonight.”

“No.” Harry shook his head, although the movement clearly pained him. “It’s there inside you. And Peter’s only strong because you’re there.” He coughed weakly and then said, “Hold my hand.”

Mary Jane took his hand and kissed it gently. Harry’s eyes fluttered, but he fought to keep them open as Peter and the others showed up. Peter knelt next to him, pulling his mask off so Harry could see his entire face, while their friends gathered around and looked very sad to see Harry in the condition he was in.

“Don’t leave us, pal,” Peter urged. “We need you. M.J. needs you.”

“It’s you she loves,” Harry said. “It’s only, ever, been you.”

Jenny’s tears were falling fast from her eyes. She did her best to compose herself as she told Harry, “Thank you, Harry. You saved my life. I…I just wish that…”

“It’s for the best that this happened to me, Jen.” Harry said. “I don’t think I’d ever be the same if I’d survived this night.”

“You did real good, Harry.” Sean said.

“For real, kid.” Lori added. “Neither of us would’ve made it if you and Jenny hadn’t showed up like you did.”

Harry smiled at the two siblings. “Thank you.” His gaze then shifted towards the Muppets. “All of you. I’m so sorry that I wrongfully accused you guys for what happened to my father. It’s just that…my aunt…she made me…”

“That’s water under the bridge, Harry.” Kermit stated. “As long as you know that you’ve always had our love and respect, that’s all that matters.”

“Yeah.” Fozzie agreed. “You’ll always be our friend no matter what.”

“Yeah…” Gonzo said, trying his best to think of something just as nice to add to what Kermit and Fozzie said. But all he could come up with was, “What they said.”

He let out a small chuckle, but was soon coughing again and fighting for breath as Peter touched the side of his face that had been terribly mangled. “I…should never have hurt you,” Peter said. “Said those things.”

“I forgive you, Pete.”

Peter looked at him in amazement. “How could you forgive me?”

To Harry, the answer was so simple that he was surprised Peter even needed to ask. “You’re…my friend.”

Peter was smiling through his tears as Harry took his hand and grasped it firmly one last time. Harry returned the smile, and with that on his lips, with the rays of a rising sun stretching over the horizon, Harry Osborn passed away.

END OF CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

Ed said it best. I to await whatever you will bring to us next.