The cavern was unlike any of the others they had passed. It was huge, and
had been crafted by the hand of man. Numerous fluorescent lights hung from
the ceiling, illuminating the vast chamber. The group stood at the edge of a
natural hole in the side of the cavern wall. Looking down, they could see a
torrent of water the size of a small river, racing several meters below
their perch. From the opening they could see the tremendous size of the
chamber. It was easily a hundred meters long and just as wide. A huge
reservoir of water was contained behind a man-made dam, which allowed the
water to flow over it and form the river they had heard. Several huge pipes
dipped into the reservoir, channeling thousands of gallons of water. The
loud vibrations and noises coming from the conduits made it easy to tell
that water was actively flowing through them.

Above the reservoir, a man-made stonework bridge spanned one side of it to
the other. The side the group was adjacent to was much smaller, with only a
handful of machines and control panels whose purposes even Iron Rose could
not determine with the distances involved. The far side was much larger. It
was there that the bulk of the machinery resided. Soft hums and loud
throbbing noises could be felt permeating the air. It was like a giant
factory that had been left to run on automatic.

"We need to get over there and check this out," Iron Rose said. Turning her
gaze to the vast array of machinery in the cavern, her brilliant mind began
to categorize what purposes the machines might serve. Within moments she
suspected what their true design was.

The others nodded in agreement. Thor said to Captain Japan and Hawkeye,
"Hold on to my neck and climb on." Neither felt particularly comfortable
with the way she looked at them as she issued the order, but neither of them
could think of a reason to openly protest. Besides, as much muscle as the
goddess had, she was still infinitely more to hang onto then clinging to the
metal hide of Iron Rose. After only a moment's hesitation, the pair grabbed
onto Thor's neck. One throw of Mjolnir later, Thor once again traveled
through the air.

Iron Rose brought Daredevil along, who likewise rode by grabbing under her
neck and traveling on her back. The quintet of heroes landed safely and
stood on the far side of the cavern, gazing at the machinery before them.

Within seconds the Iron Rose confirmed her suspicions. "This is a coolant
system for a reactor. I'm not completely familiar with the design, but that
seems to be its purpose."

"And you would be correct in your assumption."

The five heroes turned in the direction of the voice. It came from the
cavern's single exit  a large manmade passageway that could accommodate a
small truck and led upward. Four men stood some twenty meters away. Two were
quickly recognized as Power Man and Swordsman. The other two were strangers.
One was a somewhat slender man who wore a full body costume. His boots were
a light red, as was his trunks, gloves, and the middle of his outfit's
torso. A deep purple, almost the color of black, covered the legs, arms, and
lower and upper torso. A white 'M' and 'W' crossed over one another in red
section of the upper body. The only part of his flesh that showed was his
nose and mouth. Red goggles were sewn into his headpiece, covering his eyes.

The other newcomer, who had spoken earlier, was far more subdued. He was
wore loose white pants and shirt, and had a vest and bracers made of some
sort of scaled mail. Hoop earrings hung from both ears, and oddly enough,
pantyhose was wrapped around his head and waist, serving as a headband and
sash respectively. A couple of gourds were tied to his waist by the
makeshift sash.

Captain Japan turned to Daredevil and pointed to the stranger. "Now there's
your gay guy."

"I am not gay!" the man shouted.

The man dressed in blue and red said, "That's right. Pantyhose just uses
pantyhose as his gimmick. It goes with his name."

"His name?" the duo asked.

"Pantyhose Tarou." The man in purple and red moved faster than the eye could
follow, barely avoiding the fist Tarou aimed at his head.

"I told you never to call me that!" Tarou raged.

"But it's your real name. I tried giving you a super-villain one for when
you were accepted in our ranks, but you told me you didn't want one because
you thought they were all dumb," the man in purple protested.

Captain Japan smirked. "If my name was something as stupid as Pantyhose, I'd
have been happy to call myself just about anything else. Even something as
lame as 'The Dazzler'."

"Yeah, It's even dumber than that idiot Whizzer's  name," Hawkeye laughed.

"Hey! You can't call me that anymore!" the man in purple shouted.

Hawkeye looked at him in surprise. It took a moment to place the voice.
"You're the Whizzer?"

Daredevil snorted. "Of course he is. Couldn't you tell? He's standing right
there."

"But he completely changed his costume. It doesn't look anything like his
old one," Hawkeye pointed out.

"Oh. I hadn't noticed." Seeking to change the subject, Daredevil said to the
speedster. "What's your name now?"

"Speed Demon," Mint preened proudly.

The heroes applauded.

Hawkeye said, "Good choice. Much better than that awful name and outfit you
had before. If I didn't know you were such a moron, I'd probably be
intimidated a little bit."

"Thanks. I thought it was better, but hearing it from the competition makes
me know I made the right choice," the newly dubbed Speed Demon said in
sincere gratitude.

Tarou rolled his eyes at his comrade's stupidity. He postured before the
quintet of heroes and boldly proclaimed, "Enough talk. I would ask you guys
to make things easy by giving up, but somehow I doubt you'll see things my
way. And to be honest, I'd kick the crap out of you anyway even if you did
give up." He grinned evilly and cracked his knuckles.

Posturing just as definitely, Captain Japan said, "Buddy, the day I can't
beat some pathetic loser with a pantyhose fetish, is the day I finally
choose a fiancee."

"Why you..." Whatever Tarou was about to say died on his lips. Instead, he
gave Captain Japan a confused look. "I have absolutely no idea what that
meant. Was it supposed to be an insult or an attempt at bravado? It wasn't
very good if it was either one."

Captain Japan just shook his head. "Ah, like you said. Enough talk. Let's
get to it!"

"Wait!" Hawkeye shouted to the others as she unleashed an arrow at the group
of villains standing thirty meters away.

Only Speed Demon reacted in time and fled the area as the arrow was launched
over the heads of the group. At first it appeared that the missile would
sail far over the Lethal Legion's heads, until it began emitting an ear
piercing shriek, making the remaining trio of villains cover their ears in
pain. To make matters worse, the arrow began flying in a large circle over
their heads rather than merely sailing past.

Despite the twenty meter distance, Thor, Captain Japan, and even Hawkeye
winced at the pain from the sonic arrow she had fired at the group. She was
about to shout at the top of her lungs to let the arrow continue until it
used up its battery when she saw Daredevil writhing on the ground in even
worse pain than the opposition.

"MAKE IT STOP! MAKE IT STOP!" he shouted, covering his ears and rolling on
the ground unable to stop himself.

"What's going on?!" Hawkeye shouted, then realized the end of her sentence
was the only sound in the cavern. She and the others looked back and saw
that the arrow was lying on the floor. A shuirken had destroyed the
arrowhead, ruining the sonic device.

"What the-" Was all Hawkeye got out as Captain Japan shoved her out of the
way. The force of the push bowled her over and to the ground.

"Stay down!" he shouted as he held his shield above both his head. A moment
later, a loud clang resounded off the protective disc, and a red and flesh
colored body arced over it to land on its feet with a feline grace

Hawkeye saw that the absent Elektra had finally put in an appearance. She
had evidently taken the time during the face-off to crawl along the ceiling
and position herself above the heroes. She had been far enough from the
sonic arrow to be unaffected by its cry, and had destroyed the weapon that
had immobilized her comrades then went after one of her opponents. Hawkeye
felt she should have been flattered that the ninja had chosen her as the
most dangerous and first to neutralize, but it was sort of hard to do from
her position on her back.

Before Hawkeye could turn her starry eyes to the awesome hunk of heroism who
had saved her life, she heard Tarou shout, "Get them, but leave that Japan
guy to me! No one calls me a queer and gets away with it!"

Captain Japan jumped clear of the fallen archer and met Tarou head on. The
move allowed Hawkeye to return to her feet, just as the battle swung in full
force.

As though a subconscious decision, opponents began to square off against one
another in pairs, gaining distance from one another in order to operate more
efficiently.

"Those are some seriously nice breasts," Power Man said as he swung his fist
at Thor.

For just a split second Thor was taken aback. Reflexively she was about to
shout out she had no interest in perverts. Unfortunately that left her open
for a moment in which Power Man connected fully with a haymaker to her jaw.
The  blow staggered even the goddess, and she fell down, lying fully on her
back.

"That takes care of that." Power Man dusted off his hands. No one could
withstand a solid punch to the head. Not from him and his tremendous
strength.

His theory was proven erroneous just as quickly as a boot connected with his
gut from his fallen opponent. The blow had such force behind it that it
caused even Power Man to double over.

"Thou dost possess some measure of strength behind thy blows. Now feel one
that is backed by the true might of Asgard!" Thor meeting of Thor's fist
with Power Man's flesh sounded like one of her thunderous bolts. The
villain's body went sailing across the reservoir and into the far wall. The
force from the impact embedded him in the side of the cavern, creating a
crater that resembled a meteorite impact, one that had crashed vertically
into the rock. The large man hung in the wall, motionless.

"That matter hath been resolved." Thor took inventory of their surroundings.
The others were locked in pitch battle, but it was painfully obvious this
so-called Lethal Legion was nothing more than a collection of lackeys. There
was someone else that was in charge of this lot and pulling their strings.
It was beneath her to deal with these underlings. She was Thor, scion of the
Realm Eternal. To her the leaders of armies fell.

Satisfied things were well in hand, she threw her hammer in the air and
sailed into the opening from whence the Lethal Legion had entered the
cavern. Let the others waste their times with those fools. She had more
important people to defeat. Then she would bring back the defeated body of
this lot's master, and if the battle still raged, would call a halt to
things as she showed that she had vanquished the enemy's leader. She would
show that Iron Rose what it meant to scoff at the Goddess of Thunder's
prowess.

Xxxxxxxxxxxx

"So your name is Pantyhose, huh?

"Call me that again and I'll feed you all your teeth instead of just half of
them, Flag Boy! Or is that Fag Boy?"

Tarou took a swing at Captain Japan, only to meet air as the Captain ducked
underneath it. He tried to retaliate, but Tarou leaped into a ball and spun
out of the way of the high kick aimed at his jaw.

"Like someone wrapped in pantyhose has any business accusing someone else of
being gay!" Captain Japan's next punch was deflected, as was the leap kick
he tried to use.

"What's your name, Flag Boy?" Tarou's punch impacted solidly with the
shield. A resounding thump rose from the sound of flesh meeting metal.

"Captain Japan, Leinderhosen Man." Captain Japan tried hitting Tarou with
the flat of the shield, but missed as the youth dodged out of the way again.

Tarou backed just out of reach and smirked. "By the time I'm done with you,
I'll have you busted down to Private Parts while you'll be calling me
General Bad Ass."

Both men tried to kick each other, each hitting the other's leg in an
identical move.

Captain Japan said, "You don't completely suck." He aimed a blow for Tarou's
stomach, barely missing.

"You do. I'm just toying with you." Tarou proved his point by throwing a
straight punch towards Captain Japan's face. His longer reach enabled him to
connect, the force of the knuckles snapping the Captain's head back. Before
he could follow up, Captain Japan brought his shield up, cleanly connecting
with underside of Tarou's jaw and driving the youth back.

Tarou scowled evilly at the circle of metal. "Hey, Flag Boy, ditch the
shield and fight fair."

"Okay." Captain Japan hurled the shield like a discus to their left.

Even as the disc left the Captain's hands, Tarou had already jumped up in
the air and prepared to administer a kick that would finish his opponent. He
taunted, "God, you're a complete idiot! I'd never give up an advantage!"

At that moment, the shield, which had bounced off a nearby wall, returned.
Tarou intercepted its flight with his back. The blow hurled him several feet
away and stunned him badly enough that he didn't return to his feet
immediately.

"I wouldn't either, sucker." Captain Japan retrieved his shield and squared
off with his foe once again.

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxx

In the opening moments of the battle, Iron Rose tried focusing on Speed
Demon. She had thought her armor's tracking computer made him her ideal foe,
and she would bring him down with but a single blast. But his speed proved
too quick even for her technological wizardry to match. Each time she
thought she had him he would dart out of the way. Even when she thought she
had anticipated where he would be, he would suddenly veer off course and her
blast would go astray. The only consolation was that he wasn't foolish
enough to hurl his limited strength against the durability of her armor. It
was just a test of patience now, his endurance to her armor's power supply.
She had little doubt about emerging victorious from the fight.

And then a voice came to her right.

"Armored foe, turn from that jackrabbit and test a warrior that is worthy of
your mettle."

Iron Rose turned to see the Swordsman standing before her. He saluted her
once with his katana. "Though it pains to employ my talents against a woman,
I fear my erstwhile comrade in arms would fall before your might. So it
behooves me to relieve you of the burden of this fight. Fear not, for I
shall be as gentle with thee as the wind." He danced forward with his sword.

Underneath her armor, Iron Rose let her teeth gnash together. The way this
imbecile babbled reminded her of her brother. It would be her pleasure to
'relieve him of the burden of this fight.' As a sign of contempt, she
targeted his sword rather than the man himself. Without it, he would be as
useless as... well, as useless as her brother had always been.

The Iron Rose's repulsors were locked on to the blade when she froze. The
katana! Impossibly, she recognized it, having designed the weapon herself.
It was no mere blade of metal, but rather a KTK-1103B constructed of
adamantium alloy. It had been one of the last projects she worked on before
her accident. But there had been only the one prototype made, and that was
by herself personally. She had not had the chance to share the design with
anyone else, and it would have taken the experts at Kunou Enterprises months
to figure out how to reverse engineer it. She would have known if they tried
when she had returned. To the best of her knowledge, the sword should have
still been in the prototypes vault at Kunou Enterprises. How could it be in
the hands of this gaudily dressed buffoon halfway across a continent?

She was so surprised by the appearance of the weapon she neglected to fire.
The hesitation cost her as the tip of the blade shattered the circle that
made up the center of her chest weapon array. The Swordsman discharged a
power blast through the blade just as the tip breached the armor's exterior.
Past the insulation provided by her armor, the blast instantly overloaded
the majority of her systems. Only the surge protectors she had placed
throughout the suit kept it from being ruined forever, though the smell of
burning ozone indicated not all the systems had survived the blast. Iron
Rose herself received a nasty shock from the backlash through the armor from
the discharge.

Between the weight of the armor and the shock, Iron Rose was unable to stay
upright. She fell over, almost completely inert. Within the confines of her
bulky metal coffin, Kodachi felt as though her chest was on fire. "Not the
pacemaker," she thought to herself. That was the most heavily protected part
of the entire armor, the only thing that kept her alive. If it shut down,
she would  die. It was supposed to be on its own separate system, but the
shock she had personally received might have disrupted it, and unfortunately
its back-up system was linked to the armor, which was in the process of a
complete crash.

Praying it was nothing more than an errant heart palpitation and that
Swordsman didn't try to press an advantage, she prayed and rebooted her
armor.

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

"You really shouldn't have come here, Daredevil!" The admonishment was
delivered during the course of four punches delivered to various parts of
his body at super speed.

Daredevil recoiled from each one. This was the last person he should have
been fighting. The sonic arrow that idiot, Hawkeye, had fired, ended up
hurting him more than the opposition. Outdoors it would have been bad
enough, but within the confines of the cavern the sound bounced off the
walls, overloading his senses and sending him into a pain filled frenzy.
Even after the arrow was destroyed, it took him a minute to overcome the
pain and return to his feet. He had only just stood up when Speed Demon was
upon him, hitting him all over his body. No two blows landed on the same
spot. With the pain he was in, his radar sense still trying to recover from
being overloaded, and the quickness of Speed Demon, it left him unable to
get a bead on the man. Every one of his attempts to hit the speedster was
off, and they were getting further away with each succeeding blow that was
landed upon him.

"Stand still," Daredevil growled, trying to hit his foe with a billy club.

A chop hit his extended arm, forcing him to drop the weapon. The pain
disoriented him for a split second, and when he tried using his radar sense
to locate the weapon, but he couldn't find it.

"Where?" was all he got out as he discovered the location of his billy club
the hard way when Speed Demon hit him in the back with it.

The speedster finally halted ten meters to Daredevil's right, tossing the
club up and down idly in his hand. "You know something? I like this. It's
small and compact, yet solid. It's got to hurt way more than my fists. I
think I'll keep it."

A plan came to Daredevil's mind. From what little he knew of the villain, it
should work. Wiping some blood away from a split lip, Daredevil said,
"Whatever you do, don't push the button on the grip." The button that would
extend a cable, which would wrap Speed Demon up with the way he was holding
it. The billowing sleeve held up to his lip hid the red-garbed adventurer's
smile. Anyone else wouldn't fall for such a transparent trick, but Speed
Demon was only physically fast, not mentally.

The speedster examined the device more closely. "Ah ha! Found it. See?" He
showed where the button was on the grip. He touched the top of the button,
then grabbed the club in the middle again. "Thanks for the warning. In
gratitude, I'll be gentle when I knock you out."

"What?" Was all Daredevil got out as the club connected with his back and
stomach almost simultaneously. It figured Speed Demon would be too stupid to
fall for a trick that stupid. It was probably the first time in Daredevil's
life that he had literally outsmarted himself.

And with the way the fight was going, it would probably be the last.

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Hawkeye found herself being forced to fight the person who had tried to
remove her from the field of combat in the first place. Elektra was doing
her best to impale the archer on one of the sais she wielded with expert
skill. Hawkeye did her best to not end up impaled on them. Unfortunately,
since the ninja was so close at the beginning of the fight, Hawkeye found it
nearly impossible to use her bow. She needed range to properly employ the
weapon. Elektra seemed to sense this and refused to allow the archer the
distance she needed.

Though the battle had lasted less than a minute, the wounds Hawkeye had
suffered indicated it probably wouldn't go two more. Despite using what
hand-to-hand skills she had learned from her father and picked up on her
own, it was taking everything she had to keep from being skewered. Her bow
was being used more to deflect sai thrusts than to shoot arrows. The only
two shots Hawkeye managed to get off were both easily evaded by the agile
ninja. And even then, she suffered several punches, kicks, and light cuts,
despite all but running away. Worse, she was starting to slow down, and it
was obvious the ninja wasn't even winded.

As Hawkeye spun out of the way of yet another thrust aimed at her leg, she
spotted Daredevil struggling against the flitting Speed Demon. The moron was
doing little more than running around in circles, hitting the red-garbed
adventurer at will. It was a pity they had the opponents they did, since
Hawkeye had thought she had figured out a way to deal with the speedster
since their last fight...

Her plan came together in a split second. Seeing Elektra aiming a kick at
her stomach, Hawkeye took the blow rather than dodge so she could draw the
arrow she needed. The kick hurt, and she suspected one or two of her lower
ribs were broken, or at least bruised. Still, Hawkeye shut out the pain and
fired the arrow at Daredevil's feet.

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Daredevil was seconds away from unconsciousness when he noticed at the edges
of his radar sense one of Hawkeye's arrows approaching. He silently cursed
the archer's errant shot, which was going to land near him. He hoped it
wasn't one of the exploding arrows, which would almost certainly succeed in
crippling if not killing him outright. But there was nothing he could do
about it with Speed Demon slowly beating him to death. The way the fight was
going, perhaps it would be better to meet a quick demise instead of the
lingering and agonizing one that the speedster seemed intent on delivering.

The arrow impacted with a loud squishing noise. The scent of grease reached
Daredevil's nostrils.

"Argh!" Speed Demon cried out as he lost his footing. With his concentration
solely on his opponent, he never saw the arrow. He slipped on the grease and
immediately lost control. His arms were a flurry of motion as he tried to
stay upright. All the arm flapping did was propel him even faster. He
collided with one of the machines that operated the coolant at near maximum
speed and completely out of control, stunning himself. Speed Demon was
remembering something about breasts as a series of chains wrapped around his
entire body, a double layer around his legs.

"One down," Daredevil said in a tired voice as he readied himself to reenter
the fray, all thoughts of admonishing Hawkeye forgotten. Remembering the
archer, he turned to thank him when he sensed what was about to happen.

"Look out!" Daredevil cried in her direction.

Xxxxxxxxxxxxx

Hawkeye turned in panic, wondering if Elektra had moved faster than she had
anticipated and was preparing to run her through again. Hawkeye blindly
brought her bow in front of her in a sweeping motion, hoping to deflect the
incoming blow. Instead she saw in the space between bow and bowstring that
Elektra was backflipping away from her. Breaking off her attack made no
sense. What was she up to?

Hawkeye never got a chance to sort things out as the blast from the
Swordsman's katana fully struck her in the ribs, knocking her backward and
into unconsciousness.

Holding his sword up high, Swordsman boldly proclaimed. "And so yet another
foe falls before my awesome skill. Is there no one capable of giving a
warrior of my character a challenge?"

Instinctively he brought his sword up to block the billy club thrown at him.
He leveled his weapon at Daredevil. "So, you would seek to attack me when I
implore the heavens for an answer to by plea?"

"I am the answer to your plea." A set of chains shot out from his sleeve.

Spinning his sword in a clockwise motion, Swordsman caught all of the chains
with his blade, tying them up in his sword. He then tilted it downward, the
chains falling off and harmlessly to the ground. "A challenge? I think not.
And since you have the appearance of a devil, it's obvious you are not from
above, but rather below."

"No challenge? Try this on for size!" Daredevil smiled inwardly as he threw
a white oval at his foe.

Rather than simply slashing at it, as Daredevil hoped, Swordsman again
whirled his sword, not only intercepting the oval, but somehow arresting its
forward motion and allowing it to sit on the flat of his sword as he held it
outward.

Swordsman looked curiously at the object. "An egg? You would assault me with
poultry products? Truly you are no challenge at all. But since you seem to
have such a fascination with food, I shall allow you to serve me breakfast
once I rule over Kyoto."

He used the blade to toss the egg over his shoulder. He was about to move
forward when the egg landed, cracking open. Rather than merely leaking yolk,
it spilled a volatile substance which created an impressive explosion.
Swordsman turned to look what had happened then returned his attention to
Daredevil. "You cad! How dare you engage in such subterfuge, disguising your
bombs as harmless foodstuffs! Have you no honor?"

"Your sword's disguised to shoots beams of energy, you hypocrite!"

"It's not the same thing," Swordsman contended.

"It's exactly the same thing!"

Leveling his sword in Daredevil's direction, Swordsman softly intoned, "I
will not have someone as reprehensible as you besmirch my noble name."

"How can you call me reprehensible when you're the bad guy?!"

"Again you try to shift the blame."

"I am not shifting any blame!"

"Since you are unwilling to own up to your own inadequacies by projecting
them upon me, I will force this lesson of not slandering your betters upon
you." He sent a blast of force Daredevil's way.

The adventurer responded by leaping out of the path of the beam. "It's not
so easy to hit someone that knows your little trick, is it?"

Swordsman held his sword in a guard position. "Then I shall employ more
brutal methods to force you to accede to my demands." He rushed forward to
attack.

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Captain Japan's fist impacted solidly with Tarou's shoulder.

Tarou's attempted palm strike to the chin ended long before coming close to
its intended target when it hit the shield. Worse for him, he fell victim to
a low kick to the side of his leg, and then a knee to the gut.

Pantyhose was taking three blows to one, and now it was getting closer to
four. He was losing quickly, and it was all the result of that damnable
shield. It was more than a weapon, it was an extension of his opponent's
arm. And that made all the difference in the fight. His technique allowed
some of his adversary's blows to be deflected by his bracers, but not
anywhere near the number that were being blocked by his opponent's shield.

Tarou attempted another knuckle strike, having some measure of success with
it in the early stages of combat. But this time Captain Japan was prepared
and brought the shield down on the arm before it could connect. Tarou roared
out in pain from the blow.

Before Captain Japan could finish his opponent off, a backflipping figure
finally stopped her movement by landing her feet into the small of his back.
He gave out a short growl of pain even as he lashed blindly backward with
the shield. Elektra had crouched low upon landing and the edge of the shield
went over her head. She brought her sai forward, the tip slashing through
the material of Captain Japan's uniform across the center of his chest. A
thin trickle of blood formed where the metal had caressed flesh.

A second fist had more luck by connecting cleanly with Elektra's face,
sending her backward, though not off her feet. Captain Japan fingered the
crimson line across his chest. "Ordinarily I don't like hitting girls, but
in your case, I'm going to make an exception."

"You're not going to get the chance," a voice behind him warned.

Captain Japan turned to see Tarou now stood several meters away. The Captain
sneered. "Go ahead and take me two-on-one if it'll make you feel better."

"I've got something a little harder in mind, Flag Boy."

"Like what?"

Tarou pulled one from the gourds out of his pantyhose sash, opened the cork
on the top, and poured the contents over his head.

Captain Japan's eyes widened as pinkish flesh gave way to green scales. Arms
once lined with lithe muscles became bigger and stronger, containing ten
times the mass they once possessed. The head became squatter and sprouted
horns and a snout, becoming an inhuman visage. Wings, feathered and green,
sprouted out of the back of a torso that became inhumanly large and
deformed. Even a tail sprouted out of the back of the spine, moving
independently and possessing the head and fangs of an eel.

"Okay, I didn't see that one coming," Captain Japan admitted.

Senses returned but hands and legs still bound, Speed Demon said, "Behold
the awesome fusion of ancient transformation magic, controlled gamma ray
bombardment, and bad attitude. Where once the man known as Pantyhose Tarou
stood, now there remains only a monster. Witness the majestic strength, the
unimaginable might, the incomprehensible power of... the A-bra-mination."

The A-bra-mination bellowed out a cry of rage and flew over to Speed Demon's
prone form. He picked up the bound speedster and roared again in his face.
The color seemed to wilt from Speed Demon's mask.

"What?! What?!" Speed Demon babbled. "I didn't give you that name for the
re-christening of your new form. It was the boss. He thought it was in
keeping with the whole Pantyhose motif. Don't get mad at me!"

Roaring at the fortress above their heads, the A-bra-mination tossed Speed
Demon away. He hit stomach first across some machinery.

"That hurt just a little bit," he moaned.

Once again the A-bra-mination turned its attention to Captain Japan.

Looking up at the two-ton monstrosity, the Captain said, "I don't suppose if
I throw my shield away you'll go back to your human form again, would you?"

The A-bra-mination shook his head.

"Somehow I didn't think so."

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Ryouga Hibiki shone the flashlight's weak beam in front of him, hoping the
sounds he heard coming from up ahead were people who could help lead him out
of this complex set of caverns. This time ending up lost was not his fault.
He thought he had seen something shiny in one of the branches off the first
cavern he had entered. It turned out to be just his light glinting off a
small puddle of water that had formed below a stalactite, but when he went
to return to the exit, he had discovered it had moved. That made the
situation... bad. He was underground with no food or water and only a
flashlight for a light source. Since no one was looking for him, no one
would find him and lead him to an exit. He couldn't remain where he was
since he would eventually starve, so that meant wandering around and finding
the way out. Unfortunately, there was more than one way to go. In fact, it
seemed like someone had constructed a maze out of the chambers and
passageways leading through the mountain. He was certain he was going around
in endless circles, his flashlight growing weaker as the battery began to
give out, when he heard what might have been thunder from up ahead. Luckily,
the tunnel he was in had only one opening and no side passages, so he hoped
that by going straight he could find the source of the noise and have
someone help him get out of the labyrinth. Spelunking was for idiots, he
decided.

xxxxxxxxxx

A pair of eyes opened. Slowly, the dawn of realization came to them. "Wow!
Not only does she have nice titties, but she can hit hard, too." Power Man
wondered if the heady miasma fogging his thoughts was love, or a concussion.

Mindful of the river below, Power Man carefully pried himself out of the
wall. Luckily the vertical impact crater was deep enough for him to get a
good hold with his feet and hands so he could leap across the river and back
onto the far side of the reservoir. Once more he would help his Lethal
Legion comrades take care of the intruders so the boss could get back to
more important matters, like ruling the world. He chose his target and moved
forward, intent on being able to say that he had defeated at least one
opponent today.

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

About 33% of the Iron Rose's systems had come back on line when she saw
Power Man land only a few meters in front of her.

"Oh dear." She looked at the display, focusing on one system in particular.

Repulsors: 52% Efficiency

"I suppose that will have to do," she lamented as she manually targeted him
and unleashed a double beam upon Power Man.

Unprepared for the attack, Power Man found himself blown off his feet and
backward. Rather than striking just once, like a fist would, the repulsors
were continuously focused on him, hammering him with unrelenting force. He
was driven backward, hurting every meter of the way until a bank of machines
prevented him from losing more ground. He was in the process of being driven
into the machine itself, when the beams abruptly stopped. Catching his
breath, he saw the armored warrior doing something to her gauntlets. Despite
the pain from the blasts, he forced himself to his feet and ran forward.

Iron Rose mentally cursed that sword-wielding buffoon again for shutting
down her system. It was his fault the power sent to the repulsor rays was
more than the damaged wiring could bear. She had opened the emergency panel
in her gauntlets and was about to switch the power coupling over to a good
circuit when she noticed her opponent had withstood her assault and was
charging toward her. Maybe Power Man wasn't such a bad name for him. She
fought down the urge to panic as she rerouted the power cable to her left
repulsor. She could feel the trembling of the earth through the bottom of
her metal-shod feet as her large, powerful foe drew closer.

"Got it," she shouted, brought her left arm up, and fired. Unfortunately,
Power Man was already upon her. His mighty fist struck her breastplate with
devastating force, sending her shot to go wide.

xxxxxxxxxxxx

Ryouga stuck his head out of the hole just in time to see a blast of energy
hit the ceiling directly above him. His eyes widened as the repulsor blast
proved too much for the tunnel's ceiling, and it collapsed on top of him.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Power Man picked up his opponent and slammed her headfirst into the ground
for the third time in a row. Unlike the previous attempts, her feet no
longer moved afterwards. Just to be certain, he kicked the arms a few times,
but again there was still no response.

"I got one!" he shouted to the others. Things were looking good. Speed Demon
was out, but so was the archer, and now the armored warrior. To improve the
situation, Pantyhose had changed into the A-bra-mination, and had the guy
with the shield clearly on  defensive. Only the red guy he had knocked out
in the airport was holding his own against the Swordsman. Elektra seemed
content to remain off to the side, waiting for a moment to enter a fight
when an opening would present itself. Only Thor was missing.

Power Man was still mentally debating whether to knock the red guy out again
or search for Thor, when a roar of anger --as deep as the one the
A-bra-mination bellowed when Speed Demon tried giving him the 'villainous'
name of Garters Jockstrap-- shook the air. On the far side of the cavern a
fountain of boulders that had been pulverized into gravel shot upward. What
emerged from the cloud of powdered stone reminded Power Man of the
A-bra-mination, mostly because what had leapt across and was sailing through
the air was muscular, green, and very, very angry.

The Hulk landed in front of Power Man and raised his fists high above his
head. "Who tried to bury Hulk? Was it you, Not-So-Little-Man? Did you try to
bury Hulk?"

"I'll take care of their reinforcements!" Power Man shouted, and hit the
Hulk with a solid right to the jaw, snapping the green goliath's head back.

The Hulk's head returned slowly to its original face-forward position. He
glared at Power Man in anger. "You hit Hulk! Now Hulk hit back!"

Power Man was vaguely aware of something, perhaps an atomic bomb, exploding
in his stomach. Then there was definitely the sensation of flying, only to
be followed by an abrupt stop. His eyes were barely able to focus on the
crater of rock surrounding him, and at the people that now stood below,
staring in awe at where he had ended up.

"I think I'll stay put this time. Good night. " The eyes rolled into the
back of his head and the world turned black.

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

The Hulk turned in fury to the remaining people. "Who else is going to try
to hit Hulk?"

Captain Japan turned to the A-bra-mination. "How dare you call the Hulk
stupid and ugly!"

The A-bra-mination looked in surprise at his foe.

"Hulk is not stupid or ugly!" the giant protested.

The A-bra-mination tried protesting, but all his vocal cords could produce
were grunts and growls.

Captain Japan 'interpreted' the sounds for the Hulk. "He also says he thinks
you're weak and have bad breath, but I disagree with him."

"Hulk is strong and brushes his teeth all the time!"

The A-bra-mination tried to hit the little man, bit Captain Japan proved too
nimble as he leapt out of the way. The monstrosity was about to try again
when he saw the Hulk run forward, shouting, "Hulk does not have
Hally-Toe-Sis!"

Due to his own tremendous size and weight, and being within the close
confines of the cavern, the A-bra-mination elected to stand his ground and
braced for the collision. Ever since his employer boosted his strength and
endurance with a controlled gamma ray bombardment, he went from simply being
a bad ass to being invincible in monster form. He could even take multiple
blows from Power Man and remain standing. Though this newcomer was big, he
didn't know who he was messing with. The A-bra-mination would take the green
oaf's first shot, then return it with interest.

At least that was what he thought until the Hulk slammed into him full
force. Nearly half of the coolant system was destroyed as the
A-bra-mination's body was hurled through row after row of machinery before
coming to rest against the rock of the cavern wall. Luckily, the impact did
nothing to loosen the ceiling of the reinforced chamber.

The Hulk smiled in satisfaction at his handiwork. "Now Hulk showed who is
strongest one of all." He took a sniff of the air. "Oh, Green Cow not smell
so good himself."

"Yeah. Nothing a good bath in acid wouldn't take care of," Captain Japan
said.

The Hulk looked at the smaller youth, scratching his head in confusion.
"Hulk thinks he remembers you. Wasn't Hulk trying to smash you before?"

Remembering the results of their last encounter, Captain Japan thought fast
and said, "Ah, no, no, no.  That was my evil twin brother."

"Evil twin brother?"

"Sure. Every hero has one. It makes life interesting for them when they pop
up and besmirch their good name."

"Does that mean Hulk has evil twin brother?"

"Now that's a scary thought." Captain Japan considered what the world would
be like with two Hulks after his blood.

Before their conversation could continue, there was another tremendous roar
that came from the direction the A-bra-mination had landed. The Hulk looked
up and saw his foe flying towards him. The green feathered wings couldn't
make the A-bra-mination's flight graceful, but it mattered little, given the
monster appeared as enraged as the Hulk had been upon discovering himself
buried under a ton or so of rock.

 "Hulk doesn't like stupid Green Cows that have been smashed and don't know
it." The Hulk snarled as the mightiest legs on the planet tensed up and
sprang forward, propelling him upwards to meet the A-bra-mination head on.

For a moment, both green titans hung suspended in mid-air, motionless as
equal physical forces canceled each other out. But then the A-bra-mination's
wings made the difference as they continued propelling him forward. He
smashed the Hulk into the ground, further pulverizing the machinery that had
already been ruined by the A-bra-mination initial journey courtesy of the
Hulk's fist.

The Hulk picked himself up off the ground. "Hulk doesn't like being hit by
smelly Green Cow! Hulk will smash!"

The A-bra-mination mirrored the Hulk's sentiment as he landed and the two
began to pound away in earnest upon one another's emerald hides.

Even Captain Japan backed away from the fight. The force from the blows the
pair exchanged were producing winds that he could feel even twenty meters
away. "I'm not getting involved in that unless big and stupid is really
getting his head handed to him," he muttered to himself.

His attention was still riveted to the fight when heard something move
behind him. He spun around, his shield in front of him, just in time to
prevent a pair of sais from being buried in his back. "Don't you ever give
up?"

Elektra said nothing as she picked up the fight against him once again.
Captain Japan's counterattack drove the fight to the bridge that spanned the
raging torrent formed on the far side of the reservoir. It was there the duo
entered their dance of violence in earnest.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Thor strode through the vast halls of the mountain fortress, becoming
further enraged with each step. The low ceiling prevented her from flying,
forcing her to search on foot. Worse, the true master of the fortress was
undoubtedly hiding from her wrath rather than confront her in combat. In
truth, there seemed to be no one else present. No more lackeys, no internal
defenses, not even a pack of rabid guard dogs. Even Loki used to keep rabid
guard dogs around his various hideouts. It was traditional.

Thor's fists were itching to smite an opponent, and she was beginning to
think abandoning the fight below was a mistake. For the fourth time in as
many minutes, she yelled, "I will not dally around with thy lackeys,
villain! Show yourself that we may do battle and decide who is the mightiest
of all!"

Silence was the only response.

"Very well! You leave me but one course of action!" She brought her hammer
back and threw it. Mjolnir easily transformed the closest stone wall into
rubble. A resounding boom from the impact echoed throughout the fortress.

*This way.*

Thor looked wildly around. The voice was soft, like a serpent's, though it
dripped honey more than venom. Also it had seemed to come from within her
head. "What sorcery is this?"

*Over here.*

Thor turned to the left. Yes. Somehow she knew that was the direction the
voice was telling her to go. It was about time the villain who ruled this
place found the courage to confront her. Soon she would dispatch her foe and
end this farce. Besides, she had to get home soon or her family might grow
concerned with her absence.

*You're almost there.*

Upwards Thor traveled, following a large ramp until she came to a wall made
of metal rather than stone. There appeared to be no door. Instead there was
an opening wide enough to allow her godly form to enter without being
hindered. Eager for battle, she strode through the opening, ready to
confront her opponent.

The room was vast and circular, metal lining the entire chamber. It appeared
unadorned and uninteresting. Smoke filled the room, coming down from vents
overhead. It was thick enough to shroud the far side of the chamber like a
fog. A dull whine came from overhead, filling the room so it was nearly
impossible to hear herself think.

She was about to shout when she saw him appear through the smoke on the far
side of the room. He was slightly tall and slender of build. His hair was
long and white, traveling down his back and ending only slightly below his
waist. His age indicated he was only a few years older than her mortal form.
His face was passingly handsome, strong, and full of character. He possessed
a certain haughtiness that implied this was the sort of man who was used to
being obeyed by others, similar to the All-Father.

His trappings were colorful, almost gaudy. His outfit was close and
form-fitting, showing a lithe but powerful body. He wore what appeared to be
a shirt made of some kind of scale armor. A long purple cape flowed behind
him, as though it possessed a life of its own. But the most noticeable thing
about his appearance were his hands. On each finger and thumb there were
rings. They were not filled with various gems of wealth, but with odd
projections that seemed to cover every color of the spectrum. They were
large enough to be easily noticed even with the distance between the two of
them. The stranger looked down upon Thor, as though a king might look upon a
lowly dog.

"At last thou shows thyself, cowardly villain. Art thou prepared to do
battle?"

The man's disdainful look remained as unmoving as his lips. Thor heard in
her head, *You will address me by the title that I have chosen until I
conquer the world. I am the Mandarin.*

"I shall refer to you as the Vanquished!" Thor rushed forward, intent on
wiping the smirk from his face with a powerful left hand. He remained
motionless, smirking the entire time. Almost as enraged as the Hulk was
dozens of levels below, Thor snarled as she unleashed a punch that would
have taken a normal man's head clean off.

Her blow went through the man as though he were no more substantial than a
ghost. Off balance by the unexpected lack of matter, the Goddess of Thunder
lost her footing and went crashing to the ground. She slowly rose to her
feet, more enraged than before. "What foul sorcery is this?"

The image laughed at her. Again she heard in her mind, *Thanks to my
Mento-Intensifier ring, you see what I want you to see.*

"Tricks," she spat out. She had little tolerance for tricksters; her
half-brother had seen to that centuries ago. Now that she was warned, she
countered this trick as she had Loki's by concentrating on shutting out the
intruder in her mind. Sure enough, the image wavered before disappearing
altogether.

The sound of metal striking metal hard caught Thor's attention. She turned
to see that the entryway she had used was now covered by a large door. It
merged perfectly with the walls of the chamber. Had she not known better,
she would have sworn there had never been an exit to the room.

The sound of gears grinding above her head caught her attention. She looked
above, wondering if the ceiling was going to come down in an attempt to
crush her, when she saw that instead of dropping, it was retracting. Once
fully in its housing, Thor saw the cause of all the smoke: three colossal
engines poised directly above her. She had seen their like before on
television, during the telecast's of rocket launches: the type that went
into space. The engines were currently spitting out tremendous amounts of
smoke, making it difficult for even her godly lungs to function. The acrid
smell of some kind of fuel filled the air. Already she could hear the
build-up hit its highest pitch yet and felt the temperature rise enough to
make her body sweat. Orange flames began forming in all three engines,
threatening to spit out a fiery death as powerful as Surter the Fire Giant
could deal with his mighty sword of flame.

"No," Thor gasped and brought her hammer back, intent on throwing it before
she was roasted alive.

*It won't save you, fool!* the voice spat in her head. *You'll just cause it
to blow up. The explosion will destroy my rocket, its true, but it will
still kill you, and all of your friends below as well.*

It was true. Given the size of the rocket, it could very likely blow the
entire fortress off the map. Thor sought an alternative way out.

*Go ahead and try the doors. They're composed of a special osmium-titanium
alloy that you'll never breach. This is your end, intruder!*

With the last word, the engines roared fully to life.

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Down below, din of battle drowned out the roar of the rocket's launch.
Despite the conflicts between Daredevil and Swordsman, as well as Captain
Japan and Elektra, it was the clash between the Hulk and the A-bra-mination
that filled the cavern with deafening noise. Again and again fists flew.
There was no style or skill to the fight; all such trapping had disappeared
within the first handful of blows. In its simplest terms, it was nothing
more than a matter of two immovable objects trying to employ irresistible
force against one another, neither yielding an inch.

For his part, the A-bra-mination began to grow worried. Not the type of
all-out fit of panic worried, his control over his emotions was too good for
that, but rather it was the seeds of doubt that led to making an alternative
set of plans when victory might not be imminent, or even if it was coming at
all. Never before had he faced such naked strength or savage ferocity. This
Hulk was more akin to an unrelenting force of nature than a humanoid being.
He showed no signs of weariness, no signs of weakening or even acknowledging
he was being beaten upon. If anything, he seemed to be getting stronger as
the fight progressed, and the A-bra-mination knew that even with his gamma
enhanced strength, he had upper limits. If things remained as they did, the
odds were he was going to lose.

The A-bra-mination decided to try something that he hoped would gain him a
breather and a chance to come up with a more effective strategy against the
green juggernaut. Rather than remaining standing still, he used his wings to
take off.

The unexpected move caused the Hulk's next blow to miss. The A-bra-mination
didn't as he lashed out with his hoof-like feet from above, connecting
solidly with the Hulk's head. The force of the blow shot the Hulk across the
cavern like a rocket, his body firmly striking the bridge spanning the
river, destroying it in the process, before continuing on to the water
below. His massive form created a huge fountain of displaced water in the
process, kicking it up high into the air, like a geyser.

Captain Japan was facing the battle of the titans as he prevented Elektra
from running him through. He saw the Hulk's headlong flight and understood
what was about to happen. He leapt backward as over a ton of pure muscle
collided with the bridge like the force of a dozen sticks of dynamite. The
mortar and rock were no match for the humanoid rocket, and shattered under
the force of the impact.

Elektra was caught completely by surprise, and with the destruction of the
bridge, her footing was taken from beneath her. A piece of debris from the
Hulk's impact was sent upward and struck her in the head, rendering her
instantly unconscious even as she began her decent into the waters below.

Captain Japan managed to grab onto the remains of the far side of what had
once been the bridge. He had caught the fate of his foe even in the middle
of his leap. He watched as her limp form went headfirst into the water
below.

"She tried to kill me and the others," he told himself. It wasn't even good
enough to be called a weak excuse. Sighing, he released his hold and dove
into the water where he had seen the ninja vanish.

Xxxxxxxxxxxxx

Above, the A-bra-mination landed. He knew the water would not fend off his
opponent for long, and he prepared himself for the next round fighting.

His wait was not long as a green figure shot out of the water at an even
greater speed than the A-bra-mination had imagined. He wasn't prepared for
his opponent's velocity, and only had a split-second to catch sight of what
emerged from the spray of water. Any attempt at a defense was lost as the
A-bra-mination stared at what was coming for his head.

Where the Hell had a green, muscle-bound piglet come from?

He didn't have a chance to wonder for long as a hundred pounds of porcine
might shouted out "BWEEE!" then hit him right between the eyes. The
A-bra-mination staggered back, momentarily stunned. The Incredible Bweee
continued his assault by leaping into the A-bra-mination's stomach with his
head, momentarily winding him.

Angry as he was, Bweee made the mistake of not using his superior agility
and attempted to engage the A-bra-mination in hoof-to-hand combat. He leaped
up onto the scaly miss-matched monster and tried batting his face with his
hooves. The stubby legs were no more than an annoyance to someone of the
A-bra-mination's durability. He grabbed Bweee and punched the piglet as hard
as he could. The Hulk's cursed form had nowhere near the ability to absorb
the punishment his humanoid body did. The blow rendered him unconscious even
as he flew through the air as fast as when he had leaped out of the water.

To complicate matters, or to simplify them in the case of the Lethal Legion,
the piglet's flight path was directly in line with that of Daredevil. The
blind adventurer sensed the hurtling form at the last moment and ducked. The
move kept his head from being taken off, but the speeding porcine lightly
creased Daredevil's skull. The move was enough to knock the blind youth to
the ground, senseless. A hilt brought into the top of his head, courtesy of
the Swordsman, finished the job, and he embraced peaceful oblivion.

"Tis done," Swordsman announced. He looked around, viewing the results of
the fight on both his comrades and foes. "Where is that knave, Captain
Japan, and the beauteous Elektra?"

The A-bra-mination grabbed one of his fallen gourds and pushed a button on
the bottom of it, heating the contents up. He poured the water over his head
and returned to his human form. "They fell into the river when the bridge
got smashed up."

Swordsman looked to the river, his eyes searching it for bodies and coming
up with none. "Then we must rescue her."

Tarou walked over and began to undo Speed Demon's bonds. "We'll search down
river in a bit. First we do like the boss instructed and bring these guys to
him. Finding that loser with the shield and that hot little piece of ass can
wait. I don't want the hassle of kicking these guys' butts again."

The Swordsman's eyes continued scanning the river. "But we should not leave
her in that fool's clutches. There is no telling what an amorous dog like
that will do to such a gentle flower."

Tarou snorted at the implication. "She's so gentle she'd probably sink a
knife in your gut if you laid a hand on her, and she was 'deflowered' a long
time ago."

Swordsman scowled at the implication. "Nay. I can could clearly tell she is
chaste and pure."

"Pure slut, maybe, though a hell of a lot more professional than you. And
don't get your tights in an uproar. I hate to break this to you, well
actually I'll enjoy it, but even if she is still alive, I'm the one that's
going to get into her pants. I've known women like her and how to deal with
them. And even if I wasn't around, you wouldn't stand a chance. You'd be
completely outclassed."

"How dare you imply that your vile ways with women are more effective than
mine." Swordsman leveled his katana at Tarou.

Speed Demon shouted, "Hey, guys. I think Hawkeye's starting to wake up!"

The tension between the pair dissipated as Tarou walked over to Hawkeye's
fallen form. A low moan was issuing from the archer's lips. "I do believe
you're right," he said, then proceeded to kick the prone form in the gut.
After the first two times, Hawkeye stopped moaning. Tarou added two more for
good measure. "That takes care of that." He turned to Speed Demon. "Pry your
buddy out of the wall and have him help out. Swordy, either pick up a body
or throw yourself on your sword. And if you keep staring at me like that,
your body will be joining theirs."

Barely able to restrain a snarl, Swordsman did as he was instructed
reluctantly, taking great care in carrying Hawkeye's unconscious form up to
the fortress.

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

The Mandarin raised the glass of wine to his lips as he watched the results
of his years long handiwork reach fruition from his monitor room. The
rocket's liftoff had been a complete success, despite the goddess' attempt
at stopping him. In twenty minutes it would reach its proper place in orbit,
and its payload would be released high above the atmosphere. Another hour
for it to activate and move into its proper position after that, and it
would all be over but the bargaining. Within the next forty-eight hours, the
Gods above willing, he would be master of the entire planet.

A loud boom resounded nearby. He placed his glass down on a nearby monitor,
and stared in the direction that it had emanated. Tarou had just radioed
that the Legion had captured all of the intruders.

He called out, "Pantyhose, is that you? Quit horsing around, A-bra-mination,
or I won't change the name I gave you. You'll be stuck with two stupid names
instead of just the one you were born with."

A hole erupted from one of the far walls as a hammer flew through it.
Mjolnir flew back, and a singe-covered Goddess of Thunder strode in.

The Mandarin maintained his composure. He lowly rose to his feet, staring at
her. It seemed every inch of her body had some burns on it. Her hair was
singed, her cape was in ruins, and her costume had holes in it in some very
near revealing places. He shifted his attention uncomfortably away from the
flesh showing near the chest area and reminded himself what was at stake. "I
know it's clich�, but exactly how did you survive that little fire-trap of
mine?"

Closer to a snarl rather than an answer, Thor said, "I did smash mine way
out through the walls of thy inept trap."

"They were two feet thick."

"Indeed. It did take me two blows to set mineself free. T'was a near thing,
to be certain, just as thy well earned beating is going to be a near thing
to death as well."

The Mandarin smiled. "I applaud your resilience. I shall enjoy discovering
the source of your power and subverting it to my cause." He undid the catch
on his purple satin cape, allowing it to pool behind him on the floor.
Unencumbered, he stood before his opponent. "I deem you a worthy opponent to
do combat with."

"A pity I cannot say the same. However I have no choice but to sully mine
hands with thou." She stalked forward.

"Have no fears, then. I have no intention of allowing you to lay a single
finger upon me." He raised both hands and pointed them at Thor.

Sensing something amiss, Thor ducked as stream of fire emitted from one of
the rings on his left hand. Having been burned quite enough for one day, she
ducked, and heard the flames roar as they came into contact with the rock of
the wall.

However by ducking instead of throwing her body aside, she was unable to
evade the white beam that emitted from a different ring on the same hand.
She felt something congeal around her legs, and found her legs and lower
torso encased in ice. Rendered temporarily immobile, a red beam emitted from
a ring on his other hand and struck her high in the chest. The impact was
tremendous, hurting her as it knocked her over. The ice prevented her from
sprawling but left her as immobile as a turtle turned over on it shell.

The Mandarin made a clucking noise with his tongue. "I expected a much
greater challenge from you."

Anger gathered Thor's focus and with a burst of muscle she shattered her icy
shackles. It took a much greater effort than it should have, and it was only
then she realized the toll her body had taken. She had avoided most of the
rocket's flames, but not all of them, and it would take even her godly form
time to heal. Time, the one commodity she did not have.

Thor grit her teeth, firming her resolve. This was no time for doubt. The
key to victory for her forces was before her. This mere mortal sought to
defeat the most powerful of goddesses. Thor had not known defeat since her
rebirth, and she had no desire to taste it now. Certainly not in the face of
this pompous fool who fancied himself a leader of men when he was only fit
to command dogs like those of his so-called Lethal Legion.

She hurled Mjolnir at him, but he twisted out of its way. He displayed
surprising agility for one whose power she had assumed resided in his rings.
He rushed at her almost as quickly as her hammer was returning to her. The
fool was rushing towards defeat if he sought to engage her in physical
combat. He might have postponed the inevitable by staying out of reach with
his rings, but now he was finished. It would take but one, two blows at the
most for her godly might to dispatch him.

Just as the hammer returned to her grasp, the Mandarin brought his foot up
to kick her. At the last moment she thought she saw it glow with a nimbus of
energy. The kick hit with far more force than any normal man could bear,
staggering her for a moment.

Rather than press the advantage, the Mandarin stood in what was clearly a
martial arts stance. "Surprised? My power resides not solely in my rings.
They are but a tool. The true source of power is the blood of dragons that
runs through my veins. You have spirit. I offer you a chance to save
yourself a beating and pledge your life and abilities to me. You'll find I
can be a generous master."

"I have no master, and thy blood will run in rivers before I ever submit to
the likes of you!"

Thor swung at him with her fist, but he dodged the blow. The nimbus of power
surrounded his arms and legs as he lashed out with a chop to her neck and
then one to her elbow. Despite her own godly durability, she felt pain from
the blows. Almost out of reflex she lashed out with a backhand.

Expecting his strikes to incapacitate rather than merely cause pain, the
Mandarin was only partially able to evade the blow. A part of the side of
her hand caught him in the chest, and he was hurled across the room. Even
rolling with the blow, he still suffered more pain than he had in years.

"Die now!" He raised his right hand up and employed his deadliest ring of
all: the disintegrator.

Thor ducked the beam as it arched in a short line right where her head had
been. The beam winked out, and she spun around to see the results of the
silent blast. There was a foot long trail the height of a nickel cutting a
groove clear through the wall. And the wall beyond it, and the wall beyond
that one as well. It was then she realized that the back of her neck felt
revealed. She placed her hand behind it, only to discover something was
missing.

"Thou didst destroy mine hair!" she raged.

"I was aiming for thine neck!" the Mandarin mocked. And he would have aimed
at it again, save that the disintegrator only had enough power to be used
once an hour. Still, he had nine other means of destruction at his
fingertips. It was only a question of which one would spell the goddess's
doom.

Before the Mandarin could decide, Thor spun her hammer around in a circle
above her head. Having seen what the weapon had done to his wall and how
fast it was, he was cautious as he kept his eyes transfixed on the hammer,
trying to time a leap to avoid it once it was thrown.

Only Thor didn't throw it, instead choosing to continue swinging it in a
circle. By the fourth swing it seemed to have taken on a life of its own,
and the winds it produced were unnatural.

A wall of air, invisible to the Mandarin's naked eye, struck him, pinning
him to the wall. He felt the air washing over him time and time again, and
saw several objects flying in fast circles. It felt like tendrils of air
reached down his throat and into his lungs, sucking the air out. Within
seconds the Mandarin felt on the verge of passing out thanks to the goddess'
vortex. He was pinned so effectively that he couldn't even bring his rings
to bear.

No! He would not lose. Not when he was so close to victory. Thor had been
weakened by the rocket's engines and his own rings. She could barely stand.
He was the master of the world. He would not lose to a mere woman. There was
one ring that he could use, its abilities tied to the so-called 'Darkforce
dimension' and not directed in a beam as so many of the others were. He
activated it.

The world went dark around Thor. Surprised by the absolute darkness
surrounding her, she lost concentration and the vortex responded by
lessening its ferocity.

With the gale relenting slightly, the Mandarin acted. Being granted the
ability to see through the darkness created by his ring, he brought his left
hand up and released a short blast of compressed air from his Vortex ring.
While it lacked the raw power of the maelstrom the goddess had summoned, it
was still an effective offensive weapon. Struck by the blast, Thor lost her
footing and stopped spinning the hammer around, sprawling to the ground. Her
body ached from the effort of producing the whirlwind as it did from the
beam she had been hit with.

She returned to her feet, having to feel the floor to get a sense of where
things were. The darkness was absolute, sucking out every hint of light. It
was worse than the time she had visited Hela in the icy domain of death, at
least from a visual standpoint.

"Where art thUrk!" A strike found its way to Thor's throat. To one of more
mortal qualities, the blow would have broken their windpipe. For the
goddess, it served to choke her and prevent her from gaining air.

A stone-shattering kick met the base of her spine. She fell to her knees,
legs rendered temporarily paralyzed. "Where art thou?!" she gasped out.

"Would you like to see?" Darkness was replaced with light. Not a soft gentle
glow, but the glare of a thousand flashbulbs being set off at once directly
in front of her eyes. She recoiled, visual senses overloaded. She covered
her eyes, and still it seemed as though the whiteness was permanently burned
into her retinas.

She felt the air crackle with power behind her. Despite the pain,
exhaustion, and blindness, she turned in the direction that the power was
emanating from, standing proudly.

The blindness prevented her from seeing the huge blue glow that had formed
around the Mandarin. It crackled, and filled the air with power, dancing
along the floor and ceiling above him. "This farce ends now. Musk Dynasty
Final Attack: Roaring Dragon Bite!"

The blue coalesced into the head of a dragon, then shot forward and engulfed
Thor's form as a blast of pure chi slammed into her. To make matters worse,
traveling in the energy dragon's wake, beams of fire, electricity, air, ice,
and kinetic force slammed into Thor. All hit squarely. The goddess of
Thunder was blown through the five walls before the laws of gravity fully
claimed her body and it came to a stop.

The blue left his form, and the Mandarin stood as proudly as when the
goddess had first burst into his control chamber. He walked easily, almost
lazily, as he approached Thor's fallen form. Standing directly above her, he
gazed downward at this bruised, burned, defeated, yet ultimately proud
mountain of a woman.

By all rights he should kill her. She was incredibly dangerous. Even if he
bound her in steel and technology, should she fight her way free she could
cause him problems, potentially kill him with the awesome power she wielded.
The fight had gone his way, but he held no illusions. She had been softened
up in his trap, and still the fight had not been easy. He would not have
looked forward to clashing with her on more even terms.

The safest course of action would be to remove the potential threat by
killing her now, yet he resisted the urge to place his impact ring next to
her temple and pulverize her brain into pulp. Looking upon her with a more
dispassionate eye, when she was not trying to smash him into a fleshy pile
of jelly, he found her physically attractive, despite her rather brutish
demeanor. There was a sort of fire and spirit about her that seemed to
entice his senses and tantalize his desires. His contact with members of the
opposite sex was limited, but instinctively he knew there was something
about this woman that made her more desirable than most he would meet.

There were other factors to consider as well. Now that he was finally on the
verge of achieving his decade long ambition of ruling the world, there was a
future to plan for, specifically, the important matter of progeny. The one
problem with the bloodline of the Dragon Clan of the Musk was that the women
chosen as mates, unless they were also of the Dragon Clan, rarely survived
childbirth. Even the few times they dared breed with other powerful Musk
bloodlines, like those of the Tiger, the women rarely survived the
experience. Had the men of the Dragon Clan been like normal humans, or even
other members of the Musk, the answer would be to merely acquire another
woman, but something in the Dragon blood made acquiring a second mate
repellent, even if it was only for the purpose of bearing more offspring.
Less than a handful of the Mandarin's ancestors had overcome the instinct
and mated with another woman, and even then they did not do it a third time.
That was one of the reasons there had been so few members of the Dragon
Clan, and why he was the last.

However, Thor represented all sorts of new possibilities that the Mandarin
had never considered. If this being before him truly was a goddess --and
since there was such things as dragons, why not gods?-- then a woman of such
a divine nature might not suffer the limitations other women did. Judging by
her tremendous strength, surely she would prove durable enough to produce
more than one heir. And not only was there the possibility of multiple
offspring, but there was the added bonus of imbuing the dragon bloodline
with that of divinity itself. The Dragon Clan would become celestial beings
in every sense of the word

The Mandarin steepled his hands before his eyes, keeping his stare riveted
on the goddess. This was a matter that required some consideration. Yes it
did. Thor would remain alive as long as he could manage. If his schemes
played out as he thought they should, he would rule the world and ensure his
clan's control of it forever. This Thor was a gift from the gods in every
sense of the word.

A laugh erupted from Herb's mouth and echoed throughout the halls of the
Musk Fortress. The world would be his to rule as he pleased, and it would
remain so from now until the end of time.

xxxxxxxxxxxx

Special thanks to Gary Kleppe for punning for me the 'A-bra-mination's name.

Also thanks to prereaders
Gary Ee.
William Morse
Christopher Horton
















             .---Anime/Manga Fanfiction Mailing List----.
             | Administrators - ffml-admins@anifics.com |
             | Unsubscribing - ffml-request@anifics.com |
             |     Put 'unsubscribe' in the subject     |
             `---- http://ffml.anifics.com/faq.txt -----'