by J Niessen
I’ve always hated clowns. My enemy that goes by the name Clown has his face painted like one. Standing no more than 4 feet and weighing over 500 pounds, he’s grotesquely obese. He has a massive creature hiding inside him called Violator. Violator’s huge head looks like that of a fly. Giant tusks protrude from the side of its face, and another curves up and forward (like a raised scorpion tail) from a boney hump on its back. Its lower jaw, lined with vicious teeth, opens like a crocodile’s. The creature hunches at 12 feet. Its gangly body is extremely powerful. And Violator’s the only creature to make it out of Never Verse.
My costume is an extension of my body. It’s called K7-Leetha. My suit’s accessories (spikes, skulls, chains, crimson cape, etc.) are part of an organism that has bonded to my central nervous system. This being serves to protect me, even when I’m unconscious. The cape spans over 10 feet, moves as if the wind is blowing through it, and seldom touches the ground.
It doesn’t matter if I make it back from Never Verse. My objective is to cross through the portal. From there I need to find the Darkened Star and eliminate it. It’s an energy source that Thanos needs for the project he is working on.
Overt-Kill is waiting for me. The rift lies just beyond his guard. He and I were in the U.S. military together. His name was Marcus “Tank” Howzer. We were part of a 10-man team. He commanded one half and I the other. Our views on tactics differed.
One of my first missions when I became Spawn was to bring an end to Overt-Kill’s corruption. Through his military career Tank was able to enhance his body. It was a special military project called CODENAME. It infused Tank’s flesh, bones, and brain with cybernetic implants. That’s when Tank was named Overt-Kill by the government. His life’s goal was accomplished once he became a colossal living weapon.
The Overt-Kill that’s waiting for me is a first-generation model. Since Tank’s physical upgrade he and I have had several confrontations. On subsequent meetings he’s enhanced his body to overcome design flaws I’ve utilized.
Overt-Kill stands as a giant sentinel. I glide weightlessly among the skyline of abandoned buildings, appearing as a crimson cape in a slow descent. His locating system targets the pattern directly above. The cannon built into his arm raises and a heat-seeking warhead is launched. My suit forms into an equally shaped instrument, and the cape wraps tightly around its hull. Additional guns surface from Overt-Kill’s body. In mid air I intersect with the launched projectile. Shrapnel rains from the brilliant explosion. In the shape of a 1-ton bomb, I continue to fall. Guidance wings on my impenetrable surface multiply as .50 caliber tracer rounds zip past.
Overt-Kill backs away to avoid a collision, but as I pass the wings from my shell extend. Their edges are sharpened blades that cut through him, severing the external tubes that run along his body. Electrical circuits crack and pop. His engine whines down as he fights to move. My cape and suit revert and I walk past the inoperable cyborg.
* * *
I’ve always wanted to be Superman, except that there’s something troubling me.
My energy is slowly draining.
I have a backpack on beneath my cape, but I’ll explain that later.
My powers come from two sources: the Superman costume, and earth’s sun.
There’s a haze over the city, blocking the solar energy from coming through.
As I’m flying toward the source I notice Green Arrow has veered off course!
My jaw and skull crack inside my head from a blindsiding blow to the face.
Falling to earth in a daze, I spot a dark figure in the sky.
It’s my doppelganger… Bizarro!
Some of his powers match mine, while others are reversed.
He blasts me with freeze vision as I struggle to rise from the impacted rubble.
I’m growing weak and he’s becoming stronger.
If I’m defeated no one will be there to stop the bank robbery Thanos has planed.
Shielding myself with a massive slab of concrete, I fly in close.
Getting my hands on his suit, I tear Bizarro’s abilities away from him.
The body of the revealed student falls gracefully, and disappears before impact.
After that I only have a few seconds to fly above the smog and recharge.
Doomsday arrives with a spiked back-plate made of bone, and matching gauntlets.
Lowering to the ground I deduce…Doomsday, though nearly indestructible, is flawed.
Like me, he’s Kryptonian. This means he is becoming weak also.
I hurry inside the pollution factory, where Doomsday and I fight.
In the process the facility plant is destroyed.
My energy is drained as I’m thrown through a major pipeline in the wall.
As I lay lifeless Doomsday plunges through the spray of water after me.
I use my freeze breath, then…with the last of my energy…punch the frozen suit.
Epic Chaos, Part III
The backpack beneath my Superman cape holds Skyler’s costume.
He missed the random draw. Wouldn’t you know he arrives after Doomsday’s defeat.
Taking the change of clothing he equips the Aquaman suit and helps me outside.
With the cloud layer tapered off, I’m able to gain some strength.
Twisting in the air, I funnel the smog, drawing it away as I elevate.
In the darkness of space Jango Fett’s Slave1 spaceship battles a fleet of spacecraft.
Clones in body sized ships blast ray weaponry at security vessels.
I rush to gear up in a lead suit back at base.
Off the coast is an underwater fortress made of Kryptonite, my enemy Darkseid occupies.
I plunge into the ocean where Aquaman and I are safe from Darkseid’s Omega Beams.
Because water conducts energy, this immense power of his would vaporize us all.
Darkseid vanishes from the castle, reappears, and grabs hold of me from behind.
Still in my lead suit, I’m teleported into the Kryptonite fortress.
Green glowing columns, lined with crystal green glowing spears, tower high above.
Squeezing my suit and body from behind, Darkseid forces me toward the deadly spikes.
My head is about to rupture from his hand gripping my helmet.
Beyond the walls Aquaman changes form into a shark, and swims off.
But to shape shift is not one of Aquaman’s characteristic abilities…Imposter!
I’m able to get my right arm free from Darkseid’s hold.
His eyes glow orange. In a split second I force his face into the impending spears.
Clayface, falsely posing as Skyler, has reached Mr. Gresham’s beachfront estate.
I shoot out from the dark ocean and fly to the property.
* * *
I’m fed up with being at this zoo. Using my Batarang, I cut down netting from a nearby wild animal exhibit, tie up Scarface and the two remaining thugs, and then hurry to the aviary.
Animal Man uses his dogs to track Batgirl, who’s gone missing.
Ivy’s after a group of rare birds. Pterodroma phaeopyga, or Galapagos petrel. It only breeds on Ecuador’s Galapagos Islands. An article (dated June 16, 2009, from the Environment News Service) describes the species’ dwindling numbers, explaining Gresham’s interest in them.
“Adult mortality occurs when Galapagos petrels are caught on barbed wire fences on agricultural land, and collide with power lines and radio towers and guy wires. Development of a wind power project on the island of Santa Cruz was a potential threat to many breeding colonies on that island, but the development plan aims to minimize effects on the species. Long-line fishing in the eastern Pacific and in the Galapagos Marine Reserve is a threat because the petrels dive on the baited lines and get snagged or entangled.”
A law of nature taught in our school institutions is “survival of the fittest.” This promotes disregard for any species that is unfit to sur
vive.
My foremost duty is to apprehend Ivy.
When I arrive she has two petrels captured in a cage made of vines.
“Leave the birds, Ivy, and I’ll let you walk from this. Clayface and Scarface are done. Bane’s captured too. You’re the last one.”
In a humored tone she laughs, “Hahahaha. So you think I’m gonna go back to Thanos as a failure? I don’t think so, Batman!”
Panic sparks from something wrapping around my ankles. Thick vines tighten around my legs, which I quickly hack apart, then lunge forward to avoid being captured by my waist. A wall made of vines with giant leaves blocks the exit. The plants close in and I’m overtaken. They squeeze to suffocate. Fright grips my body before I pass out.
The beach-house I’m in is sophisticated, yet unfurnished. Its ocean-view room is spacious. At the far wall Gresham stands, loading stacks of money into a door-sized vault built into the thick wall. I’m to believe Superman and Green Arrow failed to stop the bank robbery.
My head’s pounding and my body aches when I wake up. It was more than a dream just now. Intuition suggests that Thanos planted that vision. Now I’m strapped to a metal gurney, in a lab located below Mr. Gresham’s shoreline property, with Batgirl captured alongside me.
Superman barges in wearing a lead suit. Opposite him a caped villain, Magneto, enters the area, hovering with one hand gracefully held out at Superman. The lead suit seems flawed, with Magneto possessing control over metals. Dr. Doom appears in the conference room doorway behind Magneto. I realize the armor’s magnetized when Superman, within seconds, takes from the building a thick support beam and restrains the two with it. Green Arrow arrives and further subdues Magneto and Dr. Doom with a sleeping serum. Curious to observe Superman’s reaction, I inform him of what’s hiding in the casual observation room of the house.
* * *
Batman’s tone is dark when he says to me, “Superman. The safe’s upstairs.”
I scan the area with my extrasensory vision.
Thanos is content to watch the happenings from a monitoring room.
Rushing to the first floor I cut an opening into the lead door of the hidden vault.
Flying back downstairs to free Batman and Batwoman, Green Arrow retrieves the money.
“This money’s going back to the bank,” Green Arrow shouts, running toward the exit.
He’s overcompensating to impress Batwoman, with two full duffel bags of loot.
As I turn to view Arrow my eyes widen while Batman’s face goes pale.
“NO!” I shout after examining the contents. My reaction is too late.
The lower level’s metal ceiling vibrates from the tremendous explosion.
Sensors at the home’s front doorway are what triggered the planted devices.
Arrow cries out in pain, his body scorched and maimed from the blast.
The money’s destroyed. I feel helpless, and hear responding law enforcement in route.
* * *
Violator crawls out from the deep, red-glowing chasm. I want to saw off its head.
“This time I’m gonna rip your arms and legs off, Spawnie,” Violator hisses.
The two metal skulls on my chest shoot out with chains attached. Wrapping beneath the beast’s shoulders and chaining around them, I summersault through the air and land on the vile demon’s back. A barbed chain, extending from my skull belt-buckle, twists around its neck. Green necroplasm explodes out my chest from the organism in my body. In the form of a spearhead it pierces into Violator’s back, tapping into its spine. I ride to the portal with Violator under my control, where Angela is waiting. Thanos should have known better than to choose her. Her greeting is warm…
“Spawn. I don’t want to fight you. What Thanos plans to do is wrong. If you want to destroy the Dark Star to keep Thanos from getting it, we need to work together.”
“Yes, Spawnie. Release me and I will help you also.” I can only trust Angela’s word, but we will need Violator so Angela can get back, so the three of us enter the Never Verse.
Grey snow covers the land. The parts hidden beneath the frozen surface are what make up the star. It drains me of energy to resurrect the instruments. The ground rumbles and the crust of ice splits upward. Masses of bone and grey flesh emerge and join together. Purple energy pumps through the creation’s regenerating veins. Two monstrous, decomposed snakes slither to the surface and attach to the compiling upper body. The creature’s massive head, slumped lifelessly on the soot covered ground, looks like a decayed elephant skull. The beast rears up on dinosaur legs. Spikes which extend from its spine fold inward and encase its midsection. The snakes strike to push us back as we watch the energy centralize in the chest of this towering monster. The Dark Star is complete. Now we can destroy it.
* * *
Not only do I sound like a god, but wearing this Thanos costume has made me a god. To say that this day has been glorious is an understatement. Through the sacrifice of my team, my designs have gone as planned. Seeking his female companion, Animal Man comes to me. I cage him and his pack of dogs in the security wing of my underground stronghold. Green Arrow, having disobeyed instruction to work with Superman, by following Batgirl, is soon to arrive also.
Knowing my rival’s interest to learn my plan, project “Sleight of Hand” is crafted.
Anything that may be incriminating in my underground research lab is masked. When authorities inspect the grounds they’ll find the property up to proper code.
There is nothing Just-Cause can do. The surveillance video proves the robbery.
I’m not foolish enough to use real money in the stacks I’ve planted. Only the outside bills are real, with the inside layers fake. The loaded paper is soaked in propellant. When the electronic devices, planted in the fake stacks of money trigger, the paper becomes an explosive.
With documents to prove 5 million dollars was in the vault, the safe company reimburses me at the insured rate. Through homeowner’s security, I collect on another $5 million. The actual amount of currency is spent on equipment for this and last year’s project. Now I have the funds to move forward on next year’s plot to acquire and take over this bankrupt province.
* * *
As the group’s leader I suspected each robbery was a distraction, which Thanos devised, to veer our focus away from his ulterior motives. What Gresham doesn’t realize is I’ve created an additional superhero, named Timetable. By explaining Scottie’s abilities to the group early on, this knowledge could have put us all at greater risk. One of Timetable’s functions is the ability to mimic the attributes built into the action suit that each kid is equipped with.
The students wear a clear body garment under their costume that monitors their vitals. A teleportation device triggers when life is lost, or the suit is removed. It brings the student back to the school. They arrive at a different classroom, returning without any knowledge of these events. They exit the classroom, following the instructions written on the chalkboard, “Pick a costume from the coat rack, and enjoy the festival!”
When we discover our attempts are a disaster, I use Timetable to bring the rest of our team back to the second classroom. The kids are momentarily dazed from the travel. Rather than sending them off to the festival disoriented, I have a group activity planned to ease their bearings.
“What’s the one special ability you wish you could have?” I ask my students. Their feedback supplies great inspiration for next year’s campaign.
The organized attacks led by Mr. Gresham never take place. This is because each villain is instructed not to act until there are signs of a superhero. As Thanos and his team wait aimlessly, my costumed students and I exit the classroom to join the rest of the town at the Fall Festival.
* * * This Year’s Ending * * *
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