The MARVELOUS Muppets: The Great X-Muppet Caper

[The Count]

Yeah... It's coming along rully well. I like the anx Gonzo has in meeting Scooter, reminds me of the character of Nightcrawler from the movie. And Scooter's with Tony Stark? Shouldn't it be Nick Fury?
Oh well, hope for more soon.

 

[muppetwriter]

And Scooter's with Tony Stark? Shouldn't it be Nick Fury?

Oops. Didn't notice that.


Hey, this may be off-topic, but did anyone catch the 7-minute sneak preview of X3: The Last Stand last night on FOX? They'd shown what I think is the first couple of scenes from the movie, introducing Beast, Callisto, Psylocke, some "spiked" mutant that I don't know, and Angel--the newest characters in the series.

If anyone's interested in seeing the footage, here's the site they're showing it on:

http://www.dell.com/html/us/xmen/index.html

 

[muppetwriter]

Chapter Seven​

Bloo and all of the other imaginary friends from Foster’s hadn’t stopped talking to Gonzo, ever since they had left city limits. He was barely listening to all of the stories they were telling them, like how a girl named Goo made millions of imaginary friends at their residence and how Bloo and Mac competed for Frankie’s affections up until the point where she broke up with a guy that she thought was nice but turned out to be a jerk. With all of the stories that they were telling him, Gonzo barely had the opportunity to tell them that his name wasn’t “Magneto.”

Once the group arrived at the Victorian mansion that was Foster’s Home for Imaginary Friends, Gonzo thought he had the chance to escape as they stepped out of the bus. But as he looked around at the area, he realized that he was very far from New York City, and it would’ve taken possibly a week to get back to Kermit. Gonzo figured there had to have been a quicker way back; the only achievable way was to tell the Foster’s gang who he was and that their lives were very much at stake.

“Come on, Magneto.” Mac told Gonzo. “You’re gonna love it here at Foster’s.”

“Yeah, I bet I will.” Gonzo said, and while they were walking towards the mansion, a beat-up Studebaker pulled up on the other side of the street. It was driven by Angelica Jones, and its passengers included Peter Parker, Kermit the Frog, and his nephew Robin. They watched Gonzo as he was brought into Foster’s by Mac and Bloo, shortly after they had closed and locked the door behind them.

“This sure is a funky-lookin’ place.” Angelica said. “Kermit, are you sure that they called him ‘Magneto’ as soon as they saw him?”

“I’m sure, Angelica.” Kermit affirmed.

“Why would they address him by that name?” Peter asked. “Unless they have connections with mutants, there’s no reason they should be calling him that.” Kermit looked around and noticed how the residence was not that far from Westchester, which meant that Gonzo was right back where he was only a couple of months ago—that is, if he was the Gonzo that had departed from Xavier’s mansion and not the Happiness Hotel.

“So what’s the plan, Uncle Kermit?” Robin asked. “How’re we going to get Gonzo out that big place?” Kermit looked over at Peter, who was looking back at him; the both of them had secretly formed a plan that Angelica and Robin obviously didn’t know about.

“You and Angelica are gonna keep watch out here,” Kermit told Robin, “While Peter and I sneak into the house and try to find Gonzo and get him out of there, without being noticed by any of the characters in there.” That was one part of Kermit’s plan that he could share with Angelica and Robin; however, there was another part that was solely for Peter’s and Kermit’s ears (although Kermit didn’t really have ears).

“And if you feel as if anything’s going wrong, just honk the horn and we’ll be back in a flash.” Peter added.

“Gotcha.” Angelica & Robin acknowledged.

“Alright. Let’s go get Gonzo.” Kermit said, just before he and Peter jumped out of the headed over to the Foster’s territory. When he had climbed over the black iron fence that surrounded the territory, Peter was careful not to show off the acrobatic talents that he was known for (while as the Amazing Spider-Man). Kermit easily squeezed his slippery amphibian body in between the metal bars of the fence.

Angelica and Robin watched closely from the Studebaker, as Peter and Kermit ran to the back of the mansion; when they were no longer in sight, Angelica and Robin just did what they were supposed to do and monitored the area carefully. Kermit and Peter crouched very low to the ground when they neared some windows that several imaginary friends were passing by. They had stopped once they came up to a pipe connected to the building that went all the way up to the roof of the mansion.

“It’s probably not best if I change here,” Peter said, “Someone might be watching nearby.”

“Well, what if someone sees you, while you’re climbing up the pipe?” Kermit asked, and Peter realized that he had a point. He wasn’t sure what he could’ve done, until he spotted a nearby hammock and detached it from the two trees that it was hanging from. Tearing the hammock to shreds, Peter tied a small portion of it around the bottom part of his face (covering his nose and mouth) and around the upper part as well (covering his hair and forehead). After the two sheets were placed on both parts of his head, leaving his eyes the only exposed part, Kermit didn’t hesitate to give him an honest statement. “You like a train-robbing bandit that’s ready to tag team with Hulk Hogan.”

“Okay, so it’s not as good as my Spidey mask, but it’s only temporary.” Peter said, and he looked around cautiously to see if anyone was nearby, and then he began crawling up the side of the mansion. Kermit just could not get over the notion that the meek photographer of the Daily Bugle was actually Manhattan’s greatest hero, Spider-Man. It was the first time that he’d ever seen Spider-Man, in his true identity, doing what a spider could.

Kermit never would’ve thought that the incident with Doc Ock would lead him to discover the true identity of Spider-Man. It was during the time that Doc Ock had captured Spider-Man when Kermit first found out the truth. He went over to Harry Osborn’s mansion, where Octavius had left Spider-Man to die at the hands of the vengeful son of Norman Osborn (a.k.a. “The Green Goblin”), just as he had unmasked the hero. Together, Harry and Kermit had learned the shocking truth; one had taken it with a great sense of pleasure and security, while the other had been haunted since that very day.

Peter was careful not to let any of the imaginary friends inside the mansion see him through the windows, as he crawled pass them. He had a very close call when he came near one window that had a view of the kitchen, where Bloo had gone to get himself a glass of milk. Parker kept himself very still, as the imaginary friend moved over to the counter, which was right in front of the window, and poured some milk into his glass.

“Why did you stop?” Kermit shouted, and Peter placed an index finger over where his lips should’ve been, signaling for Kermit to keep quiet. Unfortunately, Bloo heard Kermit’s voice from behind the close window, and as he began to open it, Peter moved over to the pipe that was right next to him and hid behind it. Kermit noticed how Bloo was opening the window, and he quickly hid his small green body in the tall grass, camouflaging himself.

“Anybody out here?” Bloo uttered, sticking his head out of the open window and looking all over the backyard to see where the voice had come from. When the imaginary blue character saw nothing, he shrugged his shoulders and stuck his head back in, after closing the window again. Kermit stood back up and Peter came out from behind the pipe. Suddenly, as Peter grasped onto the pipe, it dislodged itself from the wall of the mansion and bent violently back, with Peter still grasping onto it. Kermit watched helplessly as Peter hung from the pipe, fifteen feet away from the ground. Back inside the mansion, Bloo was about to leave the kitchen, until he stopped and heard the sound of the pipe creaking loudly as it bent. “Now I know I heard something!!”

Bloo glided his way back into the kitchen at rapid speed, and he went back up to the kitchen window to open and look out it again. But when Bloo tried again to see what caused the noise, he only saw the bent pipe, which Peter was no longer hanging from. He was really puzzled and upset, wanting so bad to see who or what was causing all of the noise.

“Frankie’s really got to fix these darn pipes! They’re driving me nuts!!” Bloo shouted, as he went back inside and closed the window again. If Bloo had looked a little longer, he would’ve noticed how Peter was right above him, with his hands and feet attached to the wall. Down below, Kermit was sighing in relief over the close calls that Peter has had, while crawling up to the roof.

Once Peter had succeeded in his task, he had taken off the sheets that were covering his face and began switching from his ordinary clothes to his Spider-Man costume, which was right under the clothes. After getting his mask on, Spider-Man examined the rooftop of the Victorian mansion; there was a door nearby that he immediately went through. Instead of walking around the mansion—an easy way of getting caught—he crawled his way around the mansion on the ceiling, looking out for Gonzo in the process.

---------

It was approximately two months and three weeks since Nick Fury and his organization of S.H.I.E.L.D. had dealt with the threat of the unstoppable-yet-incredible Hulk in the San Francisco community. No longer working alongside the watchful eye of General “Thunderbolt” Ross and fighting the Hulk, Fury had started a new war on something that was more global and could’ve possibly been a threat to humanity: the mutant race. Several S.H.I.E.L.D. agents joined Nick Fury in his massive warship, as they scoped from the heavens for mutant activity in the tri-state area.

“We’re now right above Westchester, sir.” A soldier informed, sitting by the hundreds of controls in the huge cockpit of the warship. Nick Fury was a patient man; he sat there in his swiveling chair, carefully monitoring his agents.

“Anyone detecting anything abnormal in the community?” Fury queried, and the soldiers checked over their readouts closely. A female soldier had encountered some brief information on her screen, which was backed up by a map of the Westchester area that had a lot of red dots in one particular section of it.

“I’m reading some strong activity somewhere in the southwestern hemisphere, General.” The female soldier indicated, and Fury got up from his chair to look over the female soldier’s shoulder, seeing what she saw. “I had the computer check anything that wasn’t human or animal in the Westchester area, sir. And, according to the readouts, everything in this section is anything but human or animal.”

“If you’re right, soldier, then you may’ve found Charles Xavier’s School for Gifted Youngsters.” Fury remarked. “But, fortunately, we’re not hitting that area.” All of the soldiers in the cockpit were a little puzzled; they were under the impression that their general wanted to hunt down every mutant in the world. “I’m not going to turn into some psychopathic supremacist like William Stryker, killing off every mutant that I see fit to kill. I’m just focusing on capturing mutants for interrogation. I want to know how I can find the real mutant threat…Erik Lehnsherr…Magneto!”

“Permission to ask a question, sir.” A young soldier said.

“Permission granted.” Fury said. “What is your question, soldier?”

“What if the captured mutants don’t know the whereabouts of Erik Lehnsherr?” The young soldier inquired, and Fury just grinned.

“Mutants are strongly connected in a way that no human being could possibly be to another.” Fury replied. “These mutants must know something about Erik Lehnsherr. There’s not a mutant on this planet that couldn’t know about Magneto—their greatest ‘savior’.” The soldiers wondered if Fury really wasn’t trying to make himself up as a copy of William Stryker, a former S.H.I.E.L.D. that died while trying to eliminate the “mutant threat.” “I’m going to keep the mutants that we’re capturing down there, and I’m going to hold them under strict surveillance back at headquarters, until they give me the information I need! Is that understood?”

“Y-Yes, sir.” The young soldier said.

“I wanna hear that from all of you!” Fury exclaimed. “Is that understood?!”

“Yes, sir!!” The soldiers affirmed.

“Good.” Fury said. “Now let’s get a squad down there, so we can start kickin’ some serious butt!” As Fury went back to his chair, each of the soldiers looked to one another with concern, wondering if Fury was hiding a vendetta of his own against the mutant race, which could’ve been similar to the one William Stryker had.

--------------

It had been a full hour since Peter/Spidey and Kermit had left the Studebaker and went over to the Foster’s mansion, and Angelica & Robin were still looking around for signs of anything. The two had decided to take turns looking out for anything, just so one of them could take a break and relax for a little while. They were careful not to let themselves drift off to sleep; though at times when they sat back and closed their eyes, they’d appeared to be sleeping.

“Boy, they sure have been in there for quite a long time.” Robin said. “You don’t think they might’ve got themselves in trouble, do ya?” Angelica didn’t respond to Robin’s question, which alerted the small, young frog a little. “Angelica? Angelica.” He looked over at her and noticed how she seemed to be sleeping. “Angelica!” Robin added a bit more volume to his voice and Angelica quickly woke up, accidentally slamming her head against the ceiling.

“I’m up! I’m up!” She exclaimed, rubbing her aching head.

“For a second, I thought you were sleeping.” Robin said.

“Oh, no, I wasn’t…” As she spoke, she yawned a little; the stakeout was boring them to the point of exhaustion. “…sleeping.”

“I wouldn’t blame ya if you did.” Robin said. “At first, I thought being the lookout was exciting; but now I’m worried that Uncle Kermit and Peter won’t be coming back.”

“Oh, Robin.” Angelica said, stroking her left index finger gently down Robin’s tiny back. “They’ll come back…with Gonzo in tow.” Robin smiled at Angelica; but that happy look on his face slowly turned into a grimace. “Ow! Ow! OW!!!” Angelica, realizing that her gentle stroking was starting to burn the tiny frog, immediately removed her finger from him.

“Oh, I’m sorry! I’m so sorry, Robin!” She exclaimed. “Are you alright?”

“Uh, yeah…” said a puzzled Robin, who was relieving himself from the slight burn on the skin of his back. “That’s one of the things that I hate about summer…these seats always get so darn hot!” Angelica was relieved that the little frog was alright and didn’t suspect anything. While Robin was cooling off his back, he looked out the window and noticed a teenage girl walking up to the front of the Foster’s mansion. “Hey, look! Who’s that?” Angelica also noticed the unfamiliar girl, and she took her presence as a sign to warn Peter and Kermit.

“I don’t know but I’m calling the boys back.” Angelica said, and she was about to honk the horn of the car, until the barrel of a gun that poked the side of her neck had stopped her.

“Don’t move…mutant.” said a deep, raspy voice, and Robin looked past Angelica to see a heavily-armored man whose face was obscured by a black ski mask, poking Angelica with the barrel of his rifle. The sight of the man and what he was doing to Angelica frightened Robin, whom the man had addressed while he was still staring at Angelica. “Relax, kid. I’m not going to let this freak hurt you.”

“I would never…” Angelica said, but the man refused to let her finish.

“Keep your mouth shut, Firestar, and get your butt out of the vehicle…NOW!!” The man demanded, and the angry tone in his voice scared Robin a little, yet the small frog was puzzled as to why the man called Angelica a mutant and addressed her by the name of “Firestar.”

“S-She’s no mutant.” Robin told the man, and he turned to Angelica. “Go ahead and tell him that you’re not one, Angie. A-And tell him that your name’s not ‘Firestar’ either.” Angelica wanted so desperately to do just that, but there was no fooling the guy that was a twitch away from blowing her head off. Robin noticed how long it was taking for her to carry out his command, which made him a little suspicious. “Angelica?” She just looked over at the small frog and smiled, just before she used some super fast reflexes to yank the man’s gun away from her neck and grab its barrel tightly.

“Hey, what’re you…?” The stranger (as well as Robin) watched in shock, as Angelica used her mutant powers to melt the barrel of the gun away. The man was forced to drop his gun, when it got really hot and nearly scorched his hands. Angelica knocked him down by opening her door and slamming him with it; she then got out and kicked him in the back of his head, knocking him out cold. The whole situation had taken Robin completely by surprise, and as Angelica looked back at him, she noticed the stunned look that the little frog was giving her.

“Well, he did tell me to get out of the car.” Angelica joked, but not even her jokes could change how Robin felt about her that moment. Angelica looked back at the Foster’s mansion and saw how the teenage girl was walking right in. “Uh…we’d better warn your uncle and Peter about that girl, okay?” Robin just nodded very slowly, as he got out of the Studebaker and followed Angelica over to the Foster’s mansion.

END OF CHAPTER SEVEN​

 

[The Count]

Rully good stuff... The best part was the scene with Angelica and Robin... You might want to go back and change Robin's lines though. You have Robin saying he's worried about Robin and Peter, did you mean Kermit instead?
And the scenes with Peter climbing to the rooftop to change into his costume was well done also.

It's better to have Nick Fury in charge of S.H.I.E.L.D., though Tony Stark (Iron Man) would work as well.

And if he's anything like the character from the animated series, Spike's supposed to be Storm's nephew.
Hope this helps.

 

[muppetwriter]

Rully good stuff... The best part was the scene with Angelica and Robin... You might want to go back and change Robin's lines though. You have Robin saying he's worried about Robin and Peter, did you mean Kermit instead?

Thanks for pointing that out, Count. I went back and changed it. It's supposed to be "Uncle Kermit and Peter". My bad.

And the scenes with Peter climbing to the rooftop to change into his costume was well done also.

It's better to have Nick Fury in charge of S.H.I.E.L.D., though Tony Stark (Iron Man) would work as well.

Yeah, I wanted readers to see that part as an homage to the scene from the first Spider-Man movie, when Peter was going after the guy that killed his Uncle Ben. It's also an homage to the scene where Peter was hiding from Norman Osborn in his apartment (you know, the scene where his blood drips from his wound and falls to the floor, which Norman surprisingly reacts to).

And it would be nice if Tony Stark was in charge of S.H.I.E.L.D., and he might be (in my continuity), if Fury goes on a murderous rampage similiar to William Stryker from X2: X-Men United.

And if he's anything like the character from the animated series, Spike's supposed to be Storm's nephew.
Hope this helps.

Is that Spike? I wasn't too sure. Because I thought I read someplace that the mutant with the spikes coming out of him was someone different.

 

[The Count]

Well... Given my blind batty eyes, I wouldn't know much about visual scenes, just the parts of the movie's plot.
Regarding Spike, in the animated series, he was Storm's nephew and was the one who had spikes coming out of his body. Not sure if this is the same character, since I don't have an in-depth comic book knowledge.
Regarding Fury and Stark... Would leave Stark out of it for now, maybe a cameo or two as both of his superhero groups (The Avengers West Coast, and IronWorks) interact with S.H.I.E.L.D. HQ.
Would also advise to wait till the movie helmed by John Favro gets released next year as it's currently slated.
Would rather you leave Fury as already presented... Not converted into a mutant-hating supremacist like Striker, just someone who's aware of the bigger picture and greater threat to humanity, thus not hunting down all mutants just cause they're mutants if you know what I mean.
Hope this helps and hope for more story soon.

 

[muppetwriter]

I looked up online to see if the character was actually Spike, and it turns out that it's a similiar mutant character named Quill, who has the ability to grow porcupine-like spikes in place of hair and can be fired as high-speed projectiles (this is how Wikipedia's website describes it). He actually exists in the comics, making his first appearance in "New X-Men: Academy #1", an issue that I'm going to highly consider buying if the character's that awesome in the movie.

Another interesting fact is that the guy that plays Quill is the same Asian actor that played the bad guy from the first Rush Hour movie (also directed by Brett Ratner).

But, focusing back on the story, I agree that it's probably a good idea not to turn Nick Fury into a copy of William Stryker (it would definitely ruin his reputation as S.H.I.E.L.D. leader). And speaking of the new Iron Man movie, I'm so glad that they finally found a director as good as Jon Favreau (not sure I spelled that right) to make the film, because now I'll have something to work with for the whole scenario of Tony Stark/Iron Man being Scooter Grosse's father. Then again, I do have Ultimate Avengers.

 

[The Count]

Hmmm... Will run the name of "Quill" by one of my best friends, who's a comic book afficionado. You might want to do a bit of searching and see if the Marvel Online Handbook/Encyclopedia's still up and running for more informed reference on the character.

*Reads last comment. Oh no! Please tell me you didn't... Quick, don't let Sara read that! Uoy if this is the path you take with Iron Man, I can see it or at least an inkling.
Just take care to keep the Muppets the Muppets when you write, and everything will turn out all fright... We hope.

 

[ReneeLouvier]

because now I'll have something to work with for the whole scenario of Tony Stark/Iron Man being Scooter Grosse's father. Then again, I do have Ultimate Avengers.

...What's Ultimate Avengers??

*Reads last comment. Oh no! Please tell me you didn't... Quick, don't let Sara read that! Uoy if this is the path you take with Iron Man, I can see it or at least an inkling.

And what do you mean Ed, when you're talking about me not seeing that comment???

 

[The Count]

Well...
1 Ulimate Avengers is an animated movie, released earlier this year direct to DVD and UMD. It's about the grouping of Marvel superheroes that for purposes of the movie are called The Avengers, though that team's members are constantly interchanged.
2 Trust me... Tony Stark isn't exactly Father of the Year material. Plus, having him as Scooter's father... Well, let's just say that I think Sean can explain things better than that if he's truly inspired to do so as his work here with these brilliant crossovers demonstrates.