Marvel Monsters Unleashed: Beware the Glop!

by Steve Behling

  Ben and Cindy’s plan worked!

  Which was good!

  Except they were now out of paint thinner!

  Which was bad!

  Cindy and Ben took one look at each other, and without saying a word, raced for the windows. They opened one and crawled out while the Glop remained behind, recovering from the kids’ attack.

  They landed on the ground right beneath the window—it was a good thing the school had only one floor! The kids turned, and started to run…

  Until they ran right into it.

  “IT” WAS SLIZZIK! Kid Kaiju’s monster hadn’t left. It had waited for the kids, as if it knew its help was still needed. The huge reptile bent down, then motioned with its huge head toward its back.

  “I think it wants us to get on!” Ben said, climbing on top of Slizzik.

  “Are we really gonna go for a ride on a flying whatsit?” Cindy asked.

  SHLORP!

  The art-room wall suddenly dissolved and was gone, as the Glop absorbed it into its body. The creature had recovered from Ben and Cindy’s initial attack. It shambled through the large opening and into the night, coming closer and closer to Slizzik, Ben, and Cindy.

  Without another word, Cindy climbed on, followed by Ben.

  “This is fine,” Cindy said.

  With a loud whoosh, Slizzik flapped its leathery wings, and the three were airborne. Below, the Glop stretched and distorted itself, trying to reach up into the sky to grab Ben and Cindy. But the kids’ paint-thinner attack must have really hurt it—it let out an ear-piercing shriek and recoiled back in on itself.

  Slizzik’s wings flapped as they flew away from the school.

  Below them, the Glop seethed.

  And it began to follow.

  Kei laughed at the fact that he was the only kid from his school who was awake at this hour, trying to find a way to help a couple of kids defeat a giant alien made of gross, living glop.

  Kid Kaiju yawned and checked the Tales to Astonish message board. He hoped there would be an update from Ben. He hadn’t heard anything from him in a while. Had Slizzik been able to help? And was Ben able to figure out a way to stop the runaway monster?

  There was nothing Kei loved more than monsters, but they were becoming a big problem. He laughed at his own joke—“monsters,” “big problem.” He was doing everything he could to help anyone who ran into a monster problem. But he couldn’t be everywhere at once.

  “We can’t keep running,” Cindy said, hanging on to Slizzik’s back. “Slizzik is great for a rescue, but even he can’t hurt the Glop. What are we gonna do?”

  Ben remained silent. Whenever he was quiet like this, Cindy knew that meant he was coming up with a plan. Sure, usually that plan involved him pranking her. But if he was using his “evil” powers against the Glop, who was she to judge?

  “Mount Minor!” Ben blurted out.

  “Mount Minor?” Cindy shot back. “You mean that dinky little hill? What’s on Mount Minor?”

  “Mr. Pierce!” Ben replied.

  “The art teacher? The really, really old art teacher? The really, really, REALLY old art teacher?” Cindy asked. “How is he gonna help us?”

  “I think he knows something about the Glop! When I showed him a picture of the statue the other day, he acted like he knew something about it. Like he had seen a moving statue before! Besides, even if he doesn’t, he’s an artist! He lives on Mount Minor, all by himself. And what does he like to do?”

  Cindy shrugged her shoulders. “I don’t know, what, paint?”

  Paint.

  Because where there was paint, there was…

  “Paint thinner!” Cindy exclaimed.

  Ben smiled and nodded. From their vantage point, Ben could see almost the whole town from above. Even in the darkness, Ben could see Mount Minor. After all, it was the tallest point in town. Again, not saying much, but still. He patted Slizzik on the head and pointed in its direction. Slizzik seemed to know exactly what that meant and headed for Mount Minor.

  And on the ground below, so did the Glop.

  BEN MANAGED a glance at his phone as Slizzik came in for a landing atop Mount Minor. It was 6:00 a.m. The sun would be coming up soon.

  Had he and Cindy really been running from the Glop all night?

  Slizzik’s clawed feet touched down on the green grass of Mount Minor. It was a surprisingly soft landing. Slizzik bent down, making it easy for Ben and Cindy to climb off. Their feet planted firmly on the ground, they looked at Slizzik. The reptile stared back, and if Ben didn’t know any better, he could have sworn that the corners of Slizzik’s mouth rose slightly. Was that a smile?

  “Hey, you kids!” came a voice from a tiny ramshackle house about a hundred or so yards away. “Get off my lawn!”

  It was Mr. Pierce.

  He was dressed from head to toe in a dark green dressing robe and an old-fashioned sleeping cap. His glasses were perched atop his nose, and he cast his familiar sneer as he walked closer to them. All in all, Mr. Pierce looked like he had stepped right out of a Charles Dickens novel. That, or he could have been the headmaster at an exclusive school for witchcraft and wizardry.

  “Mr. Pierce!” Ben said quickly. “I know this looks weird.…” He gestured toward Slizzik. “Understatement. And I know it’s, like, six thirty in the morning! But we need your help!”

  Mr. Pierce dismissively waved a hand at Ben. “Aaaaah, save it,” he said, taking out his teeth and putting them back in. “I figured one of you kids would show up here sooner or later.”

  “Really? With a flying lizard, too?” Cindy asked, somewhat sarcastically.

  “Let’s just say it doesn’t surprise me,” Mr. Pierce said. “At least it’s not trying to burn my face off.”

  “Look, Mr. Pierce, we don’t have time to explain,” Ben said, trying to explain anyway. “But—”

  That’s when Mr. Pierce turned his back and headed toward his house. He held up a hand. “Aaaaah, save it,” he said, which must have been one of his favorite things to say. “Everything old is new again.”

  “But, Mr. Pierce!” Ben called, but by then, the old art teacher had gone back inside his house.

  In the distance, Ben and Cindy heard a gurgling, rumbling sound.

  They knew what it was.

  They knew who it was.

  They knew it was coming closer.

  It was a matter of time before the Glop arrived. And without paint thinner, without anything to stop the Glop, they would all be doomed.

  “Ben, that hot mess is going to be here in just a minute!” Cindy said nervously. “And we’re just standing outside the house of a creepy art teacher who plays with his false teeth!”

  Those facts weren’t lost on Ben. Had he been wrong? Maybe coming to Mount Minor to get Mr. Pierce’s help was a mistake.

  “Here, grab one o’ these,” said Mr. Pierce as he came back through the front door of his house. He was holding what looked like three large squirt-gun rifles, like the kind Ben and his sister would use to chase each other around the yard. Each rifle had a big cylinder connected to it, full of some kind of liquid.

  There was another loud, gurgling rumble.

  Shambling up to the top of Mount Minor was the familiar, gooey shape of the Glop.

  “I said, take it!” Mr. Pierce ordered and shoved the squirt rifles at Ben and Cindy. They took them in hand.

  “Now FIRE! Like your life depends on it!” yelled Mr. Pierce, taking aim.

  AND THEY DID! Ben, Cindy, and Mr. Pierce, squirt rifles in hand, blasted the Glop with streams of liquid. The towering Glop advanced, and Slizzik let loose another fire blast to keep the creature at bay while the others attacked.

  The streams hit the Glop. At first, nothing seemed to happen. The Glop moved closer and closer.

  And then…

  The Glop screamed.

  Ben and Cindy gasped as they watched glop fall away from the Glop! Everywhere they hit the creature, the gloppy goo seemed to dissolve away, to evaporate, just lik
e in the art room.

  “Paint thinner!” Ben shouted.

  “Paint thinner!” Mr. Pierce replied.

  They continued blasting the Glop all over its “body.” The Glop continued to scream. Where it had been advancing, seemingly unstoppable, about to crush everyone, the Glop now tried to get away from the trio. It shifted its bulky “arms” as it tried to protect itself from the constant bursts of paint thinner.

  The more the trio sprayed the Glop, the smaller he seemed to become!

  Slizzik took to the air and flew around so it was facing the retreating Glop. It opened its mouth, drew in a breath, and then breathed fire toward the ground. It made a circle of flame all around the creature, Ben, Cindy, and Mr. Pierce. It was trapping the Glop inside the fiery circle with a bunch of paint-thinner-blasting heroes.

  The Glop lifted its still-enormous “hands,” trying to shield itself from the blasts of paint thinner. But it did little good. The gooey glop was dissolving. All over its body, the Glop was helpless but to watch the goo dissolve. There were huge holes now, holes the Glop couldn’t begin to mend. The Glop seemed even smaller and struggled to walk away, toward the fire.

  “Nnnoooooooooo!” it said, its voice growing weaker and weaker. “Mmmmuuussssssttttt ggeeettttt awaaaayyyy…caannnoooottttt endddddddd likkeeeeeeee…thisssssss!”

  “Hit it in the legs or whatever you wanna call ’em!” yelled Mr. Pierce. Ben and Cindy took aim, and squirted the Glop’s “legs.” The goo dissolved away, leaving a much smaller blob of disgusting ooze sitting on the grass atop Mount Minor.

  “This is for that thing that happened, and you know exactly what I’m talking about!” Mr. Pierce shouted and unloaded the rest of his paint thinner on the Glop. The kids followed suit.

  In a matter of seconds, a once-titanic threat to the town had been completely dissolved. There remained no trace of the Glop. The smell of paint thinner filled the air, the only reminder of the monster’s presence.

  “How did you—how did you know?!” asked Ben in disbelief.

  Mr. Pierce looked at the pool of paint thinner on the grass. “Kid, if you live long enough, you see everything.”

  The art teacher looked at Ben and Cindy, and he cracked a smile.

  THE SUN WAS just starting to come up. The day had arrived, and with it, the promise of a world free of glop and free from the Glop. By the time Ben, Cindy, and Mr. Pierce had exhausted their supply of paint thinner, the very last of the Glop had been dissolved. The air was pungent with paint thinner.

  The fiery circle created by Slizzik had just about burned itself out. Mr. Pierce walked up to his house, dragged over a garden hose, and started to spray the smoldering ground with water.

  “Safety first,” he said, chuckling to himself. “Safety saves sickness, suffering, and sadness. Friend o’ mine used to tell me that.”

  “I don’t get it,” Ben said, scratching his head. “Like, how?”

  “Me either,” Cindy added. “How did you know about the Glop, Mr. Pierce? How did you know what would stop him? How did you know we’d be coming to see you?”

  “Why don’t you kids ask as many questions when you’re in my class? You’d all be geniuses!” Mr. Pierce replied. He waved them off with a hand. “I got hired to paint a statue with some kind of glop once. Thirty years ago. In Transylvania. Weird place. Let’s just say I already lived through this. When everything started up in town, I tried to pretend it wasn’t happening. Guess I should have been helping you kids all along.”

  “But—” Ben started, as Mr. Pierce waved him off again.

  “Less you know the better!” he said. “Son, you’re going to find in this world that there are some things you’re just better off not knowing about. This is one of those things. Now get outta my yard! And take yer crazy flyin’ lizard with you!” The fire was now out, and Mr. Pierce headed back to his house. He turned around to face the kids one last time.

  “Oh, and school’s canceled today. But you probably already figured that,” he said, laughing.

  THEY STARTED DOWN the hill, back toward town. For a little while, Slizzik walked along with them, his head bobbing. The kids had grown used to their fiery friend, but they knew he had to leave. Ben grabbed his phone and called up Tales to Astonish. He responded to Kid Kaiju’s last message.

  Ben and Cindy turned to Slizzik, who bent his head down. Both gave him a little pat, and Slizzik snorted. He then lifted his head and started to back away. He flapped his great wings and, within seconds, was aloft. He rose into the sky and flew off into the dawn.

  “Too bad he couldn’t stay,” Cindy said. “Could you imagine the look on Don Cyphers’s face if he ever saw Slizzik?”

  Ben laughed and looked at his phone. Kid Kaiju had responded!

  Kid Kaiju sat at his computer, smiling in relief. He’d just finished reading Ben’s message—the Glop had been destroyed! He typed away on his keyboard.

  Pushing himself away from the computer, Kid Kaiju leaned back in his chair. He was thrilled that Ben and his town were now safe. Safety first, Kei thought to himself. Just like his dad always said—“Safety first. Safety saves sickness, suffering, and sadness.”

  The threat of the Glop was over. But there were more monsters out there. There were more kids like Ben and Cindy who were going to need his help. He knew he couldn’t be everywhere at once, so it was important that his helpers—good monsters, like Slizzik—were ready and raring to go.

  “Monster trouble,” Kid Kaiju said to himself, softly. He turned to his desk and his drawing pad. He had sketched out the rough form of a huge, gorillalike creature with a tail.

  “Kei, breakfast is on the table!” called his mom from downstairs. “I know you’re awake! Come down and eat, honey!”

  Monsters will have to wait a minute, Kid Kaiju thought.

  But only for a minute.

  BY THE TIME Ben and Cindy reached the town square, it was alive with excitement. It seemed like half the town, maybe the whole town, had turned out. The statue is gone—of course it’s gone, Ben thought. He knew exactly where it went, too! It was eaten by an alien goo that had been dissolved in a shower of paint thinner atop Mount Minor.

  The gloppy trail that had been left behind by the Glop had now dried up. Ben guessed that when the kids and Mr. Pierce put an end to the Glop (and the glop) atop Mount Minor, without a big host body to roll back to, the remaining glop had nowhere to go.

  Sheriff Cyphers stood in the spot where the statue had been and tipped back his hat. He rubbed his forehead, confused.

  “Ben, Cindy,” he said, pointing his chin at them. “I see you came out along with the rest of the town to see what’s going on. Well, it’s nothing. Just a bunch of kids.”

  “You always say it’s kids,” came a voice from behind.

  Don.

  Sheriff Cyphers shrugged. “Well, all they did was steal a statue of Parka Guy, and leave a bunch of dried-up paint or whatever everywhere. Now who do you think it was?”

  Ben and Cindy shot each other a knowing look and smiled.

  “Now if you kids will excuse me, I have to head over to your school. Heard there was a, uh, plumbing problem or something there last night,” the sheriff said, uncomfortably.

  “Plumbing problem?” Cindy asked.

  “Yeah, yeah, a plumbing problem!” Sheriff Cyphers said, heading over to his police car. “They’re gonna have to close the school for a couple of days to fix it. Big mess. I’m gonna go check it out, uh, now.”

  “Hey, nerd!” Don said. “Did you have anything to do this?” he asked, half-accusing, half-curious.

  Ben and Cindy looked at each other again.

  “Don, you wouldn’t believe us if we told you,” Ben said, and he and Cindy walked away from a very long night.

  “Hey, nerd! Come back here!” Don called. “I’m not done talkin’ to you. I’m not d—”

  Don clammed right up as something in the air caught his eye. Something with a large wingspan. Something that resembled a huge flying liza
rd, flapping its wings against the receding glow of the moon. Don stood there, mouth hanging open, as he watched a real live monster fly off into the sky.

  “Hey, Ben!” Don called. “Wait up! Can I see that monster book of yours? Hey, Ben, come on!”

  Ben turned and waited. Don joined them.

  “Maybe you know what you’re talking about after all,” Don said.

  “I THOUGHT THE KIDS made a mess, but this is a million times worse,” said the custodian to no one. After the events of last night—and who knew what happened, thanks to there being no security cameras—Kurtzberg Middle School was closed. There were two huge holes in the walls, the gym was trashed, the art room was a crazy mess…and there was only one custodian to deal with it all!

  The custodian walked through the hallway, inspecting the row of open lockers and some enormous footprints that appeared burned into the floor. He sighed.

  “It’s gonna take more than floor wax to clean this up,” he said.

  As he walked past the lockers surveying the damage, something caught his eye.

  There was something on the floor.

  He knelt down and saw a little blob. He poked it with a finger.

  The blob slowly oozed over the finger.

  THE END?