Marvel v.s Cenobites
Written by: NeonWiley for THW.
Peter Parker sat in the auditorium, awaiting a speech by his mentor, Dr. Curt Conners. The auditorium was packed with students from every range of science and even media press, this was a pretty big deal by high standards. After a while, all the commotion calmed down and Dr. Conners walked upon the stage, standing infront of a large cloaked object. “My fellow peers, students, and assorted public, we stand at a breakthrough of modern technology, we have..tapped into wavelengths that we believe my harbor secrets of dimensional travel, we will demonstrate this, here today,” Dr. Conners announced, pleasure to the audience, however, Parker felt something breathing down his neck. Dr. Conners raised his one arm, the crowd went silent, “Now, we will demonstrate it now, today, to show the marvel of technology!” Dr. Conners yelled and hit a small remote button and the machine under the cloak whirred to life, Conners pulled the cloak off with a free finger, and the crowd saw what the machine really was. It was taller than they thought, an empty black void between the two elaborate pieces of metal that acted as gates, the top was enclosed with a laser coder, in the form of a square, having a diagonal line to each for interfaces onto the machine, it began to shoot green lasers in a certain pattern an automated computer voice began to take form, “Receiving data 11.4.1.9 from Alpha…new wave intercepted,” it said, the lasers changed color from green to red, and the voice kicked in, “Receiving new data from unknown space, 23.6.05.4, acknowlding data sequencer anaylzing…transportation complete.”
The machine stopped, devoid of any life it had. The crowd was silent for a moment, was this a hoax? Was this some cheap joke to say ‘got you?!’ on the newspaper, no, there was something in the atmosphere, and they would soon find out what it was. The lights kicked on and off, taking a somber rhythm, a strange noise of pressure filled the room, followed by sounds of sheer pain, then it went totally dark. Parker felt this would be his best time, the crowd was in hysteria, he shot a web line up to the ceiling and crawled into an air duct, in a flash he had tore off his geekish pants and shirt and was now wearing his Spider-Man costume. He heard a scream from the crowd below, it wasn’t to late to see what it was, he crawled slowly back to the air duct and jumped down to the ground below. When his feet hit the ground, the lights sprang to life, but nobody was in the room but him. His spider-sense shot off the chart, he jumped back up the roof just as a myriad of chains shot into where he was, digging their large hooks into the thin air.
Spider-Man got a better view of the audiotorium now, and he saw where everyone was: in chunks of meat in the aisles, in front of chairs, but no sign of Dr. Conners, he shrugged and looked down, when he saw what shot the chains. The ‘creature’ was vaguely human, apart from nail insertions in geometrical grids and the sheer design of torture on his cold white skin and black leather clothing, the three other monsters weren’t that different either, a chattering, apparently blind beast, a chunk of tortured and corrugated fat, and a woman who showed no sign of sexual appeal. “Yo, the BDSM meeting is in the next hall!” Spider-Man yelled as he dropped down to the ground, using his quickness and skill to avoid crunching heads. The figures stood prominent, “We are the Cenobites, people who aid others in search for pleasures, and deliver whatever we feel is needed,” the Cenobite, the apparent leader said, the three behind him remained cold as stone. “Well, theres enough sadists in Times Sqaure to fill your needs, buddy. What do they call a creature so ugly as you, Frilly-Willy-Creepy-Guy?” The Cenobite did not utter a smile, or even an emotion, “Xipe Totec,” he announced in his non-changing tone, Spider-Man lurched his legs back., “They call me Split,” Xipe looked at him, a pondering look, “Split?” Spider-Man leaned forward, and with a chuckle announced: “Don’t mind if I do!”
Spider-Man shot into the air and in a flash of webbing slung to the exit, kicking the doors open and tumbling into the main entrance hallway of the building before the Cenobites could blink. His momentum still rolling, Spider-Man got a flip into the air and webbed his way down the hall, coming to a sharp turn…just as his spider-sense kicked in, but it was to late; standing at the end of this hallway was another Cenobite, no eyes, devoid of any life in his skin, wandering, his beady red eyes caught Spider-Man, and he ran his fingers through the deep saw gashes on his face. The Cenobite reached to its back and pulled out a large spinning knife, one that was tipped and edged at every inch, sharp and painful, Spider-Man shrugged, “Guess it must be a plastic surgeon’s dream weekend up here.” The Cenobite threw the blade, which spun through the air, but Spider-Man dropped down just in time, and the blade stuck deeply into the wall. Spider-Man looked to his side, was about to kick open a door and take a window to safety when something grabbed him, it wasn’t cold and icey, the hand of a Cenobite, it was green and scaley, the hand of Dr. Conner’s alter-ego, The Lizard.
In a second he was thrown against the wall, his bones crunching under the sheer power of the Lizard, but deep inside his brain the thought of the lanquid Cenobites lumbering after him. In a quick and desperate mix of adrenaline and rush, he slammed his foot into the Lizard’s face, throwing the Lizard back a few feet, giving Spidey the chance to bash the door open and get to the window, but he could hear the Lizard getting up again, being ready to strike again. The Lizard shot up with a furious growl and snatch, just as he felt the blade stab deeply into his side, the Cenobite had reclaimed his blade, and made The Lizard his trophy.
The Lizard snatched the blade out and hurled it back at the Cenobite, the sheer momentum and velocity of the attack decpating the Cenobite dead in his tracks. The Lizard advanced toward the door again, his claw raised into the air when he felt a shake of tremendous pain, he growled and looked down, down at the sparked barb that had him through the side of his hand. The hooked barb and chain began to slowly yank him back as Spider-Man shot his webbing around The Lizard and snatched a line of his own, he took The Lizard with him into the room, but the chain still held a bit of The Lizard’s hand in place. The sheer amount of pain in this caused The Lizard to transform into Dr. Conners, his hand slowly healing some during the process, Spider-Man leapt from the building, Dr. Conners in hand, and shot towards an empty place to rest.
Spider-Man had dropped Dr. Conners off at the front of a hospital, and headed straight home, changing into his façade of Peter Parker for his Aunt May. His first priority was to make necessary calls, not the police, police were probably useless against these guys, he knew who to call. In a minute, he had phoned Prof. Charles Xavier, a man he had met once a few years ago, he knew him well, and knew this would mean a great lot. “Prof. Xavier here, who is this?” Xavier asked, a light and educated voice, “Professor, this is Peter Parker, you know..” there was a brief pause, “Ah yes, I know you, and how are you doing?” Parker caught his breath, “I was down at Dr. Conner’s dimensional gate transfer, and these things came out, these monstrous looking guys, with nails and sewed up skin and everything!” There was yet another pause, this time on Xavier’s part, “Where at?” he asked, Parker replied, “The college Science Department Auditorium.” Xavier shook his head, “I heard something on the news that the police were headed there…but I can have a look at it, thank you, Peter.” “No problem Professor, just be safe.” With that he hung up and decided to don his Spider-Man persona once again.
The police screeched up to the building, sirens blaring, guns drawn, they saw the figures staring out of the door. One of the cops had a megaphone in his hand, “Come out with your hands up!” he yelled, the door opened, and in the same second 8 Cenobites strided out. It was Xipe and the three behind him, and five new ones, who’s body was more of a sacriligious temple of evil than an actual construct. The Cenobites showed no emotion or care, simpily stood there, to the amazement of the police. “Freeze! Don’t move! Stop or we’ll shoot!” the police all seemed to yell, the Cenobites stared, then Xipe opened his mouth, “Do not meddle in our business.” The police looked around, Xipe raised his hand up, and a rookie cop fired upon him, his bullet hitting Xipe in the shoulder. Xipe stared down, then looked up, then looked back at the wound, his head shot up and in the same instant at least forty hooks and chains ripped from the ground, digging and seething their way into the police’s flesh, they all writhed and screamed, blood pumping and flowing on the sidewalk and streets sorrounding them.
The Cenobites walked over the carnage and lumbered toward the city street ahead of them, a look of intention in their eyes, the general public had seen them, knew it wasn’t a gimmick, saw the bloody remains of the cops, and fled like the wind. The Cenobites remained walking in their direction, aimless and with a hidden intent, it was then that something caught their eye. The figure was tall and upright, muscular, with a gritty face and beard, in his hand was a large assault rifle, and a glimmer in his eye. “Don’t move,” he said, moving back his black trencoat to reveal the skull insignia on his chest, the mark of the Punisher. The Cenobites kept walking, and the Punisher fired upon them, his gun made a loud noise as the bullets recoiled and shot out, pumping into the Cenobites with high velocity. He had taken one or two of them down, blown their heads off, but there were till 6 or so left, and they turned their attention onto him. “Oh fucking shit,” the Punisher muttered as he began firing more rounds, the creature’s, these walking mutilations took the blows, but did not register the slightest pain. The Cenobites stopped in their tracks, Xipe raised his hand, and in a second a chain came flying from out of the darkness of a sewer grate, heading toward the Punisher with fierce speed, the hook gleaming with flesh chunks, it went, but did not complete its travel.
The chain had been disenegrated and lay in ashes on the ground, the Cenobites spun around to see what had stopped it, and saw Cyclops standing behind them. He had fired a blast, and would have fired another, if not that a chain had swiped from another grate and tore into his face, and with a sickening rip, left Cyclops a bloody heap on the ground. The other X-Men had gotten there, Wolverine, Storm, Jean, the Beast and Gambit, they stared at Cyclops dead on the ground, and looked up at the Cenobites. They stood still, Punisher behind them, saying and doing nothing, the X-Men turned and looked down the street, and saw more Cenobites emerging from the Science Building. Gambit took a small amount of cards and powered them, flinging them into a building that the new Cenobites were walking by, the building collapsed onto them, and the X-Men turned their attention onto Xipe and his crew. Storm nodded, and her eyes flustered white, the X-Men’s hair began to tingle, and the air filled with static discharge, in another moment, lightning ripped through the sky and struck the Cenobites, branching out and tapping into the ground, they were flung back several feet, some into cars, some into other objects, Punisher made a sprint and got to the X-Men, grabbed up Cyclop’s corpse, and ran down the street to safety.
They got to the Blackbird and boarded it, flying high into the air when they called Professor Xavier, “Professor, Scott is dead!” Jean cried, as the rest of the crew stared at the remnants of his face. Xavier nodded, “I felt it, I wasn’t sure though…you aren’t the only one who is having problems with this, I scanned these creature’s minds, they are very strange sentients indeed, please, come back here, I’ve gathered a meeting of various contacts.” The call was cut, the Blackbird soared toward Xavier’s School for Mutants. When they got there, they entered the school and were completely taken by surprise, standing there was a plethora of heroes and even villians! Daredevil leaned against the wall, talking to Captain America.
Scorpion nodded at Reed Richard’s science debate, across the way Prof. Xavier was in a deep conversation with Spider-Man and Dr. Conners, Conner’s hand slowly healing from the hook attack.
“What is this? A wedding?” Wolverine smirked as he entered, followed by the rest of the X-Men and the Punisher, Scott Summers limp, dead body in the Beast’s massive arms. The super heroes stared at Scott’s mangeled, tore up face, Daredevil sniffed the air, “I smell blood, is that Scott?” he asked, the super heroes looked at him, “Hooked through the face,” they answered. Prof. Xavier coughed loudley and everyone turned to look at him, waiting to hear what he had to say, Dr. Conners leaned against the wall in a strange sense of disenchantment. “Talking with Dr. Conners, Spider-Man, and Mr. Richards has enlightened me to come to this conclusion, the Cenobites, so they are called, we’re deviated to this path by a magnetic field.” Everyone looked at him with intent, Jean Grey shook her head, “You mean these..things..came because of a mishap?” Prof. Xavier shook his head, “This…entrance was well studied, and everything was put into order, the laser sequence, the beginning code sequencers, the flux of data from the output to the destination. It is my theory that it is possible that this could be the work of Magneto.” Wolverine looked at him, “This is Magneto’s work? Well, can’t we stop it?” Spider-Man leaned forward, “Magneto isn’t the threat now, the Cenobites are, if we can seal off the portal and push them inside, then we can block them, if not, they’ll keep coming in droves. It can be sealed off by reversing the flow, something came out, so something must go in.” Dr. Conners sighed, “But what..how could he get the information, it was kept within a tight circle of scientists…” Prof. Xavier looked at him, “Yes, but Magneto has a mutant in his Brotherhood that can morph and take on other identities and powers, I guess that is how, but we must take the iniative and attack them.”
They were priming for battle, minor alliances between super hero and villian, it wasn’t permanent, they were just trying to stay alive, however, far across the city, two different types of people were at war. Venom and Carnage had been fighting through the street for God-knows-how-long, each grappling and throwing each other around, bashing and kicking and screaming and growling and kicking, Venom had thrown Carnage through the wall of a building, a building unbeknowngst to him being the Science Audiotorium. Carnage went flying across the large room, hitting each chair with a sickening thud and crashing into the wall, he was bruised, but his symbiotic skin quickly eased the pain. Venom stepped into the room via the hole in the wall, Carnage lept across the room, his arm taking a larger form as he plowed into Venom’s jaw, Venom went reeling back and caught Carnage with a deft kick, sending him sprawling down the aisle. Venom quickly pounced upon him and caught him up by his throat, strangling him and holding him up to his face, his Symbiotic Sense caught something, and he looked towards the Portal, and with a sickening grin, looked at Carnage. He didn’t say anything, but Carnage understood, in the next second Venom hurled him through the air, sending him through the Portal. There was a second, then a flash of red light, the portal began to reverse the laser flow, a data spreadsheet shot out showing information and the final path of the reversal.
Venom laid upon the ground, unconcious, his smybotic skin writhing under the neon red light, that quickly faded. Over the city the glowing red neon light could be seen, dim to some, high to others, and the new team of super heroes and villians saw it also, they decided to go there, to see what had happened. The Cenobites turned and lumbered down toward the flash, and across the way, the powerful mastermind named Magneto made his flight path toward the scene. The heroes got there before the Cenobites; Daredevil, Spider-Man and Captain America ran inside, scoping out the scene, seeing the spreadsheet on the console and the unconcious Venom on the ground, Spider-Man leapt to the spreadsheet and folded it, sticking it inside his suit by lifting up his mask. They ran over to Venom and shook him, he looked up, “Carnage went through there,” he said, then he fell down the ground again.
The rest of the heroes: Prof. Xavier, Reed Richards, the Human Torch, Scorpion, Dr. Conners and the X-Men, Wolverine standing in defiance in front of the rest. The Cenobites turned the corner, Xipe, the Female, the Chattering Cenobite, and the Obese one staring at them, Prof. Xavier lowered his head, “I’m trying to scan his mind, see his memories.” The group looked at Xavier as his eyes rolled into the back of his head, he was subconciously in Xipe’s mind now, and he felt an amazing sense of pain. Pain, he saw Xipe being cut and nails inserted into his skull, he could feel the pain and the blood, he saw every victim and felt every action, it was to much, to much! His body went into withdrawl, seizures and pain, he slipped into a small state of coma, and fell back in his chair. “Professor!” Jean yelled running over to him, Xavier looked at her with sympathy, “Jean…he has no drive..but pain..and..” Xavier leaned back and his eyes closed, Jean looked at the Cenobites, who stood still. Xipe nodded, and a dozen hooks went flying through the air, aiming at separate targets, but they stopped in mid-air, suspended by a strange energy.
Magneto flew down with a smile, his red suit flowing behind him. He smiled and looked at the heroes, “Figured out my plan, eh?” he smirked and looked at Xavier’s limp body, “Why Charles…not what you used to be are you? Now, for you,” he looked at the heroes again, “You seem to be wanting an explanation, and here it is, this is a perfect way for me to get rid of you all, and it is an easy way to dispense of what I have called.” Wolverine looked at him with a sneer, “Nobody is going to kill me or any of us! I bet you didn’t figure me into your plan did you?!” Magneto laughed, “Why…you? Of course I did, I even planned to do this,” he moved his hand and snatched the chains with energy, the chains shot across the distance with amazing speed, each hooking into Wolverine’s flesh, four in his face, four on his ribs, and two on each leg, Wolverine emited a tremendous scream, and Magneto ripped the hooks, the flesh flying off his adamantium bones. Wolverine screamed and his body began to try and heal, Xipe shot a dozen more hooks, Magneto snatched the hooks and drove them into Wolverine again, this time taking all of his flesh, exposing only steel bones. Xipe stopped and looked onward, no chains came out, Magneto looked at the Punisher, looked at his assault rifle, with a snatch of energy he pulled the gun away and put it in front of the group, he fired the gun several times, keeping the bullets in suspended animation ahead of them. Magneto laughed as the group gulped, not moving a muscle, he looked toward the Cenobites and smiled, “Your work here is done. I’m taking you away now.” Xipe looked at him, “You cannot, we are eternal!” Magneto shrugged and Xipe’s nails began to tremble, shaking his cranium with amazing pressure, the nails then shot out like pipe bomb, like shrapnel flying through the air, Xipe fell to his knees, it had been along time since he had felt pain. Another force of pressure on his torso and the stiches and metal inside began to rupture, tearing Xipe into nice chunky pieces of white and scarred flesh, Magneto looked at the Female Cenobite and laughed, the object pierced through her nose ripped off, taking all of her nose with it, her throat torture hooks ripped apart, shooting into her face, with another force of energy she exploded around the remaining two Cenobites.
Magneto looked at the Chattering Cenobite, “I hope this dosen’t affect you to much,” with a force of energy the Chatter’s teeth began to lurch and pull, shooting out of his mouth like a torpedo, his face began to twist and contort, and his head exploded under the pressure of metal. Butterball grunted and looked toward Magneto, Magneto stared back and in a second pressure was pulling and yanking at Butterball’s eyes and mouth, in a second they shot out, and his torso was twisted apart in a typhoon of energy. Magneto stared at the Cenobites’ remains, the hooks and flesh laying in a nicely disgusting pile, at this time Spider-Man, Captain America and Daredevil emerged. Magneto was pre-occupied with his laughter, having destroyed these creatures of evil, giving Spider-Man enough time to cast a web net over the gun and bullets, taking them down, Magneto turned around with instinct and was hit by Captain America’s shield. Magneto flew into the side of the Auditorium, his body bruised from the attack, the heroes quickly ganged upon him, taking him with them to the authorities.
Epilouge
The Spreadsheet wasn’t to accurate, to Parker’s tastes, it claimed a dimensional gap, one that seemed non-existent, but he knew Carnage was there, hurled by Venom, he didn’t know the danger waiting for him in the newly created Carnage Cenobite.