The Black Knight and Hellcat made their way into the main street of Nueva Mesa., with its businesses and official buildings packed tightly down the main avenue of the town. Venom stayed slightly behind the other two, keeping mostly to the low rooftops, keenly aware of the difference in architecture styles between New Mexico and her native New York City.
The two on the ground are able to quiet move from one corner to the other. Several late-night business appear open; the lights and signs of the local diner, and a corner Shell station are all on. However, the streets are deserted, and there seems to be no activity anywhere down any of the streets. The gas station attendant calmly read a newspaper, the waitress cleaned the counter of the diner and chats with the cook -- but neither of the two businesses had customers. Nobody sat at the tables, no cars lined the approach tot he pumps. All seemed deserted and lonely.
Suddenly, out of the corner of your eyes, Black Knight and Hellcat see a movement. The Black Knight motions to Venom with his hand, and she follows them to an alleyway. Sneaking down the alley is the only citizen they've seen all night on the streets of this town -- and it's a kid! A middle-school aged kid is wearing a red safari-type jacket, black pants and polished boots, and red-colored sunglasses! He moved with cautious, careful movements down the alley back toward the late-night diner they had just passed...and while they had noticed him, he had not yet seem them.
The boy in the red safari jacket and red sunglasses straightened, but continues down the alley, ducking behind a group of trash cans. The Black Knight followed the more aggressively-tracking Hellcat as the two silently hurried down the alley, following the mysterious kid. Venom, too, tries to head off the boy by passing over rooftops, landing silently out-of-view but ahead of everyone -- behind a convenient dumpster.
The Black Knight and Hellcat cautiously transversed down the alley, and soon ccame face-to-face with Venom! All three of the heroes stared at one another, none of them quite sure of what had just happened. Venom silently shook her head-- the boy didn't pass her yet, she's sure of it, isn't she? But BK and Hellcat didn't pass him, did they?
Black Knight began to search the corners of the alleyways for some sign of his elusive quarry. Venom concentrated, sending out her telepathic rapport with the spiders around her, while Hellcat raised her runestone and bends her head concentrating. They must find the boy-- he's their only clue!
The child tensed, thinging Is that lady pointing that thing at me?! Whatever it is, it doens't look inviting! Venom shouts, "There he is!" a split-second after the young kid leaps from beside the wall, suddenly coming into view as if stepping out of some unseen and obscuring shadow!
The boy leaps straight toward Hellcat, before she could even complete the spell. His body slams into her side painfully. Hellcat scrambles for another runestone, planning on blinding the boy who just lept out of the shadows to hit her, and calls out "Knight! Venom! Try to restrain him without injury if possible!"
"Righto. Sorry, lad, but you done brought this on you'self!" exclaims the Black Knight, and with that, he raises his sword to bring it down upon the boy's head!! The boy uncannily manages to avoid the blow with ease! Hellcat concentrates, and the spell is loosed, but to little effect; the boy had turned his head at the last minute, as if anticipating the blow.
The Black Knight, quickly recovers from his dodged blow and swings his sword intently. "Bloody 'ell! Slippery little bugger! Obviously took it too easy on the lad the first time. Not this time!"
The boy staggers back from the blow, clutching the side of his head as he bumps against the alley wall. Blood streams from a very large gash on his head. "Jesus Christ, you lunatic! We wanted to restrain the boy, not kill him!" yells Hellcat.
Venom just just circles back, not really pressing close the triangle facing the boy against the wall, while still trying to prevent him from getting away-- "maybe I can establish a good standing in the kid's mind for when we try to talk to him about what's happening in the town."
MEANWHILE...
Moon Knight and Zemo (and Rick Jones and Thor) continue to make their way through the quiet town, heading purposefully toward Hellcat's "flare." Zemo notices in the distance a helicopter is seemingly converging on the same place....
At the same time in the alley, the scene pauses as they take in the amount of damage Venom gasps as all of a sudden, standing stock still, as her "spider sense" goes blank -- there were spiders in the alley, right? But closing her eyes, Venom feels as if she is unconected -- floating in a null space. For the first time in a long, long time, Marta has been cut off from the world-wide web!
"Strangers! Halt!" A voice commands from the other end of the alley. The voice is strangley hollow, though, and the faces of the poilcemen are similarly dazed, belying their professional and ominous stance, standing with guns pointed on the foursome.
"Well, this worked out well. Remind me never to sneak into a city with Mr. Ginsu and the Walking Signal Flare again" mumbles Venom.
"The bloody bill! At least there's only two o'them buggers" shouts the Black Knight, grinning. " I'll take care of the coppers! hellcat, grab the boy and let's get the bloody hell out of here!" With that he sheathes his mighty ebony blade and grabs hold of the dumpster, heaving with all his might to throw it at the possibly-possessed police!
Venom quickly grabs the wounded boy by the arm and starts running away from the officers. "I'm going to get him out of here by rooftop," she yells to Hellcat. Using some scattered trash cans as a boost, Venom takes hold of the self-named Wonder Boy and makes a flying leap to the rooftops of the main street businesses, sailing cleanly up and over. Wonder Boy struggels quietly but seems quite out of it, and Venom gets a better grip as she runs in the opposite direction of the policemen.
Hellcat manages to erect a protection spell as Black Knight's dumpster rattles end over end, tumbling down the alley toward the policemen. Their guns fire in unison....BLAM BLAM! ... BLAM BLAM! Ricochet scatters off the dumpster and off of Hellcat's shimmering sphere of protection. The dumpster soon finds its mark as the officers, reacting as if under a daze, don't even try to dodge the lumbering, garbage-spewing dumpster. The officers are slammed into the ground as the dumpster hits them and comes to halt beyond them.
Venom comes to a halt at the edge of one of the rooftops. Baron Zemo, carrying Moon Knight, lands beside her, nodding in greeting.
"Did you miss us?" asked Moon Knight, as he dusted off his jacket and stares at the kid with Venom. "You pick up a babysitting job while we're here or what? Who the kid?"
Venom gasps softly, raising a finger in silence. Curious. the others turn their heads over their shoulder... from seemingly out of nowhere, camoflauged trucks and personnell carriers have pulled/are pulling into the main street, just below Venom, Zemo, Moon Knight, and Wonder Boy. Searchlights from various vehilces turn on PUM PUM PUM towards the heroes' direction, momentarily blinding them. What seems like dozens upon dozens of armed, strangely-dressed men fill out into the streets. These... soldiers appear faceless, dressed in what looks like shiny metallic radiation suits. You recognize the Kree symbol from Rick Jones' own uniform.
The men spill out of the trucks, quickly take a stance, cock strange, alien weapons and take aim at the figures atop the roof-- a low hum emanating from the weapons.... Curiously, you can see the waitress of the nearby restaurant wiping the counter as if oblivious to the goings-on outside...
And beyond them all, you make out a strange cry-- it's Thor, barrelling toward the backs of the alien soldiers...but Rick Jones is nowhere to be seen!
The Black Knight notices the confusion and cacophony from beyond the alley behind him. "C'mon, woman," he hisses, noticing Hellcat preparing another rune, "They're down, let's get out of here!" Drawing his sword, he heads down the alley in the direction Venom went. "Is there no end to the excitment? Oh, well, any excuse to kick ass is fine by me!"
Hellcat pauses even as the Knight jumps to action. "Jaysis Christ! Knight, let's get out of here!" She keeps her shield up, and begins to run back through the alley, away from the shiny tin men with the search lights and guns. Discretion, Valor, Cowardice, Etc. Of course, this means that she is running toward the lying-prone figures of the downed policemen.
The Black Knight draws close to the other edge of the alley, peeks over, sees the horde of Kree soldiers, their personnel carriers, and notices that they have both directions of the street blocked!
Moon Knight drops to the ground taking cover behind the roof's ledge. "Who the heck are those guys?"
"Well, Sundance, that's kind of the million dollar question" answers Venom sarcasticly, "Ah, Zemo...I think maybe you...ah..." Venom stammers at the impassive armor, more than a little uneasy in the frigid german's presence. She was going to ask Zemo to fly the kid to safety, but she still doesn't fully trust him. "You'd be more help down on the street. Moon Knight, come with me. We've got to get this kid out of here." She whispers under her breath, to the barely-conscious Wonder Boy "Come on, kid. We'll get this all worked out."
And then, the young woman turns, racing across the rooftops of the shopping district in the opposite direction of the Kree troops.
On another part of the scene, beyond the Kree soldiers, Thor isn't sure what he sees... It seems that a buttload of aliens are between Thor and his friends.
Gah!! Thor thinks, An army! We won't stand a chance against an army! Fists aren't going to do any good here. It's gonna take brains. Luckily Rick is right behind me--- eh? Wha?!? Oh no!! Think man think! Some of them can fly . . . they need a distraction . . but how do you distract a small army?
Thor continues to advance top speed to the army. As he nears, the Kree slightly oblivious to his shamblings, Thor approaches one of the vehicles, and prepares to lift it, stamping his feet in sumo-like fashion. Grunting, Thor doesn't know what is the greater pain-- the strain of his muscles or the fact that this used to be whole lot more effortless. With a mighty yell of effort, Thor lifts the truck dramatically over his head, and lings it to the massed soldiers!
The truck crashes upon the soldiers, crushing many, and tumbles over and over, scattering the strangley-clad men and sending them scrambling... Those on the front of the attack are down -- and many more are injured. Most of the Kree nearby swivel to train their weapons on their new antagonist, firing laser blasts, and a couple even fired canisters spewing an odd-colored gas.
Baron Zemo stands impassively above it all, watching Thor's attack, and noticing the Black Knight peeking around the corner, surveying the situation. "Thor and the Knight can handle themselves. I'll protect the three of you. If you get caught by any of these soldiers you might be in trouble. Run now while I provide cover fire."
Targetting a group further away from Thor's attack, Zemo points his palms outward, letting lose the energy blasts, which sweep the area, catching several soldiers, and doing scattered damage. Zemo then turns, flying after Venom and MK, as laser fire blasts overhead and gas canisters land nearby.
As Hellcat heads down the alley, an eerie sight appears nearby: a semi-clear ooze bubbles up from the ground... quickly forming a familiar form of a floating octopoid shape... A Space Phantom!
"Stop where you are, female!" the White Phantom speaks in a strange disembodied voice, "Resist now, and be destroyed! Succomb, and you will live..." The White Phantom spews out a tentacle to whip at Hellcat. As the Phantom speaks, three others also bubble up from the ground beyond the alley. Flying upward like ghosts finally released from their graves, the Gray, Blue, and Orange semi-clear Phantoms whirl about, hovering just above the rooftops of the buildings.
Venom has to stop herself suddenly -- the Phantoms block her leap to the next roof! Moon Knight and Zemo also slow before the sudden appearance.
Thor groggily blinks his eyes against the greenish smoke from the canisters, and he grunts as the laser fire from the Kree soldiers. Amazingly, most of the laser fire doesn't hit Thor as he lumbers about the scene -- must be that momentum he's able to generate! Other blasts scatter about his frame, making holes in his trenchcoat but generally not harming him.
He looks around quickly for another possible weapon. He sees the strange gas and holds his breath as best he can. As he scans for a weapon and prepares to dodge laser fire he looks to see how the kids in the alley are doing. The Black and Red knights probably have everything well in hand. Wish I knew happened to Rick... he thinks warily. Every muscle in his body aches from the trick with the truck, but it worked he thinks, I can still make a difference... With this thought in mind Thor attacks anew. Thor grabs a nearby streetsign, waving it madly about as he wades into the soldiers, beating a way to the Black Knight on the other side of the assmebled Kree soldiers, causing the soldiers in the immediate area to fly back at the blow... although other start to swarm, giving up the laser fire in favor of melee...
Meanwhile, Hellcat spits out an answer to the White Phantom's ultimatum. "A generous offer, demon. I hasten to decline." She starts blasting with her eldritch rune, while the White Phantom spews out a tentacle to whip at her. The Tentacle grabs Hellcat by surprise--- "How?! I should have been quicker than that!"--- the Phantom's gooey body oozes over Hellcat, covering the upper half of her body and quickly engulfing her face-- its oddly warm body begin to constrict on her. Soon, her blast goes off, causing eldritch energy to erupt from within the Phantom-stuff encasing her. The White Phantom psychically screams but continues its unrelenting constriction.
Hellcat relaxes her body inside the constricting mass and concentrates, channeling her willpower through the eldritch rune in her hand. This may be the end, she thinks, but if she can take the creature down first--strands of raw energy swirl and coalesce, and a bolt of raw energy erupts outward through her gelatinous captor.
Hellcat can't tell how extensive the damage was-- as her vision clouds over from the White Phantom's unrelenting constriction.
Meanwhile, three other Phantoms confronted the nearby Baron Zemo, Moon Knight, and Venom (with Wonder Boy in tow,) who had turned from the Kree soldiers and their laser fire, away from Main Street, only to be met with the Phantoms, now hovering level with the one-story rooftop and cutting off their escape with threats.
"Venom, get the child behind me so I can protect the two of you! Moon Knight, let's see what we can do!" commands Zemo, and suiting action to words lances the nearby Orange Phantom with his energy beams, blasting off a bit of its goo.
"Bullshit," Venom snarls uncharacteristically.
"Didn't we kill these damn things once before?" questions Moon Knight.
For Venom, the sight of the phantoms stir up the anger and impotence she felt following her last experience of them, coupled with the feeling of Wonder Boy's trembling hand in her own, the inexplicable loss of her spider-sense... Slinging WB on her back, she takes off on a mad dash toward the phantom on the right side where they hover between the rooftops. "Hold on, kiddo," she yells to the child as she plants her hands, extends her body and does one intense flip into the air and down directlythrough the phantom's gelatinous body to the street below. Her foot lashes out, connects, and she sails through the gelatinous Orange Phantom, trailing little pieces of the phantom-stuff with her, and there's a bit of residue left on her and Wonder Boy
But there isn't any significant damage done to the creature at all. It turns to pursue the girl and the boy she is protecting, its tentacles whipping forward.
Moon Knight moves to Zemo's side to provide a united front. He aims for the Gray Phantom and unleashes a Light Blast. Bits of the Grey Phantom fly off, although it rears for an attack, apparently not terribly effected. The Grey Phantom whips its tentacles, buffeting the heroes on the rooftop. Moon Knight feels the blow even against his dense flesh. The Blue Phantom similarly attacks, and Zemo also feels the battering blows.
And on the street below, on the other end of the alley, Baron Zemo watches Thor, dozens of Kree solders between the two hereos. "There's no way he'll ever last alone out there! Isn't anyone else gonna help? Like me?" asks the Black Knight, standing indecisively, divided, unsure what to do. And then his posture changes, striaghtens, and a voice with a different tenor and accent emerges from the dark of his great helm!
"The sounds of combat are as music to the ears fo the greatest and last of all the knights of King Arthur's fabled Round Table! Alas that I lack a horse upon which to sally forth appropriately, but still I shall give them the gift of battle!" With a great cry the Balck Knight leaps forth from the alleyway! "Fear not, good warrior, aid is at hand!" Slashing with his mighty ebony blade at a nearby lamp-post, he chopped it off at the base. He sheathes his sword and grbas up the lamp-post, holding like a lance! Shouting "On for England, Harry and Saint George!", he charges at one of the Kree, lamp-lance before him!
The Kree, not having noticed the Black Knight before, are taken back by the sudden appearance of his figure charging them! Right before collision must be imminent he jams the lance into the ground and uses it pole vault onto the top of the APC, drawing his blade as he flies through the air! Several of the Kree take aim as he sommersaults through the air, laser fire criss-crossing but missing his hurtling form.
The Knight stands, striking a dramatic pose, atop the armored personnel carrier. "Now I must needs gain ingress to this devilish machine! But where is the hatch? Where the turret? The Black Knight looks flustered, obviously he expected some sort of hatch to be on the top of the APC, and yet there is none!
The Kree soldiers take this opportunity to fire upon yon good knight, but most of the laser fire that does hit bounces off his armor. The Black Knight leaps off the back of the APC, and, finding the doors to be situated there, he quickly yanks them open and leaps into the vehicle, rushing towards the front. As he does so, the Knight only peripherally notices the Kree that formerly were stationed outside the vehicle take off to form a wide circle about the truck.... even as the Black Knight's singlemindedness carries him inside the vehicle! He races to the front... intending to take the driver hostage with his sword and force him to the Knight's own purpose. Suddenly, the Knight stops, taken aback, as the driver calmly and silently turns, a look of placid determination on his face, and the soldier merely sits there-- no obvious action intended. In his hand.... a grenade-- without the pin....
Thor grabs a nearby streetsign, waving it madly about as he wades into the soldiers, beating a way to the Black Knight on the other side of the assmebled Kree soldiers, causing the soldiers in the immediate area to fly back at the blow... although others start to swarm, giving up the laser fire in favor of melee, but the lasers seem ineffective against Thor's magical armor. Thor only stops his wild assault long enough to marvel at the swashbuckling bravado of the Black Knight. Had he a hat he would tip it to this brave warrior. Instead he swings the streetsign (Reading "Dead end" natch) into the crotch of a Kree soldier. Sensing the wisdom of the Knight's noble plan he barrels his way towards the steel beast that BK has captured, but taking down as many Kree soldiers as possible. With a wild battle cry, "YAAAAAAAAAAHHH!" he swings the street sign like a giant two-handed sword to mow down as many opponents as possible between him and the armored chariot!
Thor makes holes in the pavement, takes out a few straggling trees that line the sidewalk, dents his weapon on the firehydrant, and still manages to takes down the wave of soldiers attacking him, leaving some lying still and others scattered about, but as he is attempting mass destruction, the greenish gas of the area is beginning to make his head woozy.
He presses on steadily continuing his bloodthirsty battle cry. He manages to run through half a block of soldiers, through their blows and laser fire, thining the herd and scattering them left and right, at times seeing >to use his street sign as a shovel, tossing soldiers into the air or raining blows upon them. Thor feels the rage of battle swelling within him, even as laser fire begins to singe his skin and burn into his sides...
Elsewhere, Venom, with Wonder Boy in tow, tries to elude the Orange Phantom. Venom manages to dodge left and right, bounding down the alley -- off walls, garbage cans, etc. as the Phantom's tentacles beat the empty air just as Venom dodges. "You got any bright ideas, kiddo?" she asks Wonder Boy, still slung on her back.
"I-- i'm ... not 'kiddo!" Wonder Boy manages to mumble between jostlings. "I-- I'm ... Wonder Boy!"
As he answers, Venom makes it out onto one of the shopping district's main thoroughfares. "You know," she says as much to herself as to her passenger, "speaking as a scientist, this is a rare opportunity for us. We get the chance to experiment with this ghoul and see what--if anything--he's vulnerable to. And, according to comic books, these nigh invulverable ghoulies always have a real easy weakness, like fire or sound or something."
Wow, it's easy to sound confident in front of a kid, Venom muses in the back of her mind. But I've always been good with the neighbor kids. I guess that's what'll make me a good... that part of her mind clenches up angrily.
As she approaches the front display window of the local general store, her right hand snags a bench, and with ease tosses it through the glass, following it with a leap on through. Taking the briefest of moments to recover, Venom helps Wonder Boy to his feet. Venom pauses long enough to pick up a sizable shard of glass and a cigarette lighter from the front counter and then sprints for the cleansers.
Wonder Boy takes the entire counter in a bear hug, and rips it from the ground, tossing it to block the window they just crashed through, and follows Venom into the store's interior. The Orange Phantom follows, only temporarily stopping to crush the discarded counter in its gooey tentacles.
Meanwhile, on the rooftop above the Kree Soldiers, Moon Knight and Baron Zemo face down dual Phantoms while the greenish gas fills the area. "We'll just have to kill them again!" Zemo snarls towards Moon Knight as he lets loose another blast of energy from his armor, which rips into the Phantom even as it continues its attack, which clangs loudly but harmlessly against Zemo's armor. "Moon Knight! We must finish off this creatures so that we can help the two children! That foolish girl should never have run off! What hope does she have without us?"
Moon Knight thinks to himself Funny, running was my Plan B... Then, aloud: "We need a better gameplan, this one-on-one stuff isn't getting the job done."
Moon Knight prepares another Light Blast, but this time opts for the double-team and unleashes on the Blue Phantom that Zemo is attacking, but only clips the Phantom. "Zemo, I've got an idea. Has anyone tried electricity on these things yet?" MK looks around the roof for a power line or something, seeing only the phone lines that might have a little juice running through it.
The Grey Phantom moves in for his attack, the tentacles flailing and ringing off the armor and dense skin of the heroes.
On the other side of the battle field, the soldiers had cleared an area around the APC that the Black Knight had just infiltrated. Inside, BK is confronted by a stoic soldier, holding a pinless grenade. "Curses, what new sorcerous perfidy is this! The Black knight shall not stand for any more such foolishness!" And so the Black Knight swings his sword straight for the soldier's grenade! But even as he does so another voice cries out from underneath his helm! "No you idiot, it's a grenade!"
And the Black Knight's wrist twists sharply, attempting to avert disaster and divert the might sword's attack from toward the grenade and instead towards the soldier's wrist, only praying that the severed hand will not lose hold of its deadly possession!
... and Thor watches from the middle of the street as the APC explodes in a mighty ball of fire.
Above the scene on the nearby rooftop, Baron Zemo continues to blast at the Blue Phantom. "Moon Knight! Let's continue to concentrate on this monstrosity! And please quit with the childish jokes. They do not befit a hero of our stature!"
Moon Knight screws up his determination and lets loose his own light blast at the same Blue Phantom, who manages to throw a few tentacles about, landing a few powerful blows, before exploding into showers of gooey blobs from the twin blasts of energy. Moon Knight has only time for a brief smile before theblood pounding in his ears causes his world to go black.
The Grey Phantom wastes no time-- almost before Zemo can react, he is smothered in the Phantom's gelatinous body, the Phantom filling whatever orifice or open joint, however miniscule. It can't penetrate the armor fully, but does make it feel to Zemo as if he is slowly being frozen in amber...
Down and around the building, Hellcat is having the same problem. Hellcat feels the Phantom consticting upon her, and soon feels hereslf lifted into the air!
Thor feels his battle rage boiling... with a mighty yell, he swings his sign in another arc. His strenght, momentum, and prodigious leaps have carried him to about 30-40 feet of the burning husk of the APC that the Black Knight had entered. As if on cue from some silent command, the soldiers about the scene fall back, and Thor and the APC are left in a wide circle. The Black Knight lies still within the burning confines of the APC. Thor growls.
Descending upon the scene, the White Phantom, carrying the limp figure of Hellcat within a mass of its own body, joins another descending figure, the Grey Phantom, with Baron Zemo similarly entrapped, and the unconscious figure of Moon Knight held by his jacket collar.
The White Phantom motions to the Grey one: "Leave us! Prepare them and we will bring the others shortly." The Grey one does not say anything, but soars straight up into the night sky and floats over Mesa Nueva with Zemo inside and Moon Knight in tow.
The White Phantom speaks to Thor: "Surrender, warrior. Your efforts are fruitless. You are surrounded and your friends cannot help you. Surrender .. . . or die!"
Meanwhile, Venom and Wonder Boy head deeper into the general store, Venom single-mindedly running to the cleanser section. Wonder Boy soon catches on to her tactic, but motions silently with a finger to his lips. He points to the wall, pulling Venom close to it, similarly pressing his own back against the wall, keeping very still...
The Orange Phantom broke through WB's makeshift barrier with ease, and made its way into the dimness of the store, hovering slowly.
Venom stays very still, and soon recognizes WB's tactic-- through the corner of her eyes, Venom sees WB's form suddenly become semi-transparent, mimicing the colors of the wall and perfectly blending his body to the enviornement. Looking down, Venom sees the same thing happening to herself as well.
The Phantom slowly hovers by . . . an eternity passes . . . as the Phantom slowly moves past and further into the store. The two young heroes realize they've been holding their breath, and with a long sigh, breathe out. They step from the wall, and with a silent nod between them, rush back the way they came silently but as fast as they can. Outside, they slowly stick close to the walls as they make their way .... away.
Meanwhile, at the scene of the battle...
Thor blinks through the greenish gas and through his burning rage...and begins to pick up large chunks of flaming debris from the explosion. With Jarn Grieper he can do this without burning his hand . . . he flings the debris at the White Phantom and any soldiers that approach. He howls in rage like a wounded dire wolf .
The Black Knight starts to come out of his swoon, even with his mighty ebony armor he is feeling the pain something fierce! "OOOOOOOHHHHHHH, me aching... everything! Gor...." he mumbles as with great effort sits up and looks around, noticing his disheveld comrade screaming with unearthly rage, but hears nothing. He realizes that he has been rendered deaf by the explosion! "Bloody deef! Goddamn that arsehole!"
The Black Knight struggles to rise to his feet. He sways and tips but eventually gets there. "I've done had enough of this bleedin' nonsense! To hell with it!" he says as he sheathes his ebony blade (not even during the explosion did he relax his grip on his weapon) and raises his hands in the air!
"Allright, I surrender! Thor, give it up, we've done the best we could, now we'll just have to surrender!" Thor ignores him, continuing to advance on the foemen until BK jumps in front of the raging barbarian, forcing him to notice him.
"We're done! We've lost! Give it up!"
The Knight quickly notices that Thor can't listen to reason. His rage is in full swing, and is taken with the single-minded fixation: BATTLE! Thor ignores the Knight and swings flaming metal at the Phantom, even as the other scattered soldiers begin firing again!
Black Knight ducks, using Thor for a makeshift sheild against some laser fire, and unsheathes his mighty sword. Using his sword, BK makes for the nearby manhole cover, prying it open as laser fire riddles his armor. He drops down inside, making his way out of the battle via the sewers.
High above the area, Baron Zemo remains entrapped within a Phantom body, with his fallen comrades unconscious and similarly bound. Zemo thinks to himself I hope Moon Knight is not hurt. He was a brave fighter and deserves to fight another day.
"Foul beast! Baron Zemo shall never give in to things such as you!" he snarls, and at the last possible minute, Zemo manages to blow away enough translucent chunks of the goop encasing him that he manages to free himself from the flying blob. Without a second look back, Zemo jets away with all the energy his armor can provide. Safely away, Zemo resolutely turns toward the retreating Phantom figure, keeping it in sight.
Thor has caused thousands of dollars of property damage within a few short moments. He continues his unrelenting attack, scattering soldiers and reducing the gooey phantom a good two feet in stature, but even a momentus force will lose inertia eventually, and soon the tide of battle shifts, and Thor stumbles. Blood streaming from his wounds, spitting out blood, Thor falls to one knee, blinded and beaten and still fighting on as laser fire and pummeling tentacles begin to take their toll, and Thor falls.
Elsewhere, Venom and WB begin to slow from their flight. Venom talks out loud to herself, somehow finding comfort after the long stretch of silence. "Okay, let's see, we got to get you safe, unless we can double back. My friends probably need help, or maybe they are searching for us..."
Wonder Boy cuts her short, putting his hands to his temples and staring at the ground intently. "Actually," he begins, "I just might be able to ...track them..."