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Chapter 9

The world is my circus

‘I know I told myself that I would tell them of my friends, but I just can’t.’ Parker thought as he swung through his new city. It has been roughly tree weeks or so since the comet mishap, and the spider had yet to tell his team about his past allies. ‘More to the point, how would I tell Lexi about Black Cat without her going ballistic…I mean if she likes me that is.’ He thought and added that last part before images of her in MJ’s head could be formed. He landed on a building, looking around the quiet city until something big blocked his view. He turned around and saw a strange flying object. “Time to call in the cavalry.” He said and went for the com link on his suit, but was interrupted by a voice that sounded strangely familiar.

“Greetings, citizens of Acmetropolis.” The voice said happily and then added, “Feast your eyes on the inter-planetary space circus: the greatest show in the universe.” Spider-Man could only think of one thing when he heard the word: circus.

‘I wonder if the leader of this circus is anything like the one back home.’ He thought, reminding himself of the encounter of Maynard Tiboldt: Ringmaster. The memory he had was that of his strong man: Power Man crushing him or Tigra treating his webs like cat toys.

“Meet the spectacular - Galactic Oddities.” He said to the people inside the floating tent. “Gathered from every corner in the galaxy for your eye popping enjoyment; you’ll be thrilled, chilled and astounded, so run, don’t walk to the greatest show in the universe.” The ring-man said as he appeared through an elevator in the floor. The man truly looked strange, but the people in the tent only thought him looking like that was all part of the show, so they cheered when he made his entrance. “And without further ado I give you the: Galactic Oddities.” He said and through one of the doorways came combos of: bull/elephant, buffalo/giraffe, alligator/bison, eagle/rhino. The elephant combo came right at him, but the headman activated his cane: causing the creature to spin over him and land on a ball; the others did the same – just without the ball.

“That is so cool.” A blonde haired youth said to his mother as he watched the beginning; unfortunately his sentence was muffled by the roar of the crowd. All of them watched as the animals ran in a circle around their master.

“These bizarre creatures were seen wondering the Astral Nebula of the Lobracian Galaxy.” He enlightened the crowd of where he ‘discovered’ the beasts before him. The father of the boy heard the info clearly and could only think of one thing.

‘That guy must have one heck of a rocket engine to go to that sector, come back, and present them to us.’ The group then watched the four balance each other on one small ball. First it was: elephant combo-bottom, buffalo and alligator combos-sides, rhino combo-top. Then after a spin cycle: alligator combo-bottom, elephant and rhino combo-sides, buffalo combo-top; another spin to go back to their first stance.

“Don’t try this at home kiddies. Otto the odd is a trained professional.” He told them; displaying the fact that while they were watching the four: he was putting his partner on a circular object that had a spiral design. They all saw the elephant reached into a tub of glowing balls, sucked them all up, and turned to the pinned man. Taking that as some sort of signal the ring leader spun his ally while adding an evil chuckle.

‘This may actually hurt.’ Otto thought as he saw what was happening while he was spinning. The truck based combo unleashed his combo, everyone was waiting for the results, and when the spinning died down: Otto was safe and the spheres were all around him. Soon the show was over and the people were able to go back to their homes; no one realized that the two that gave them that performance: were watching them leave.

“The perfect specimen…” The leader said while sitting in an unknown room and then added, “Hit him with the Sonic DNA scrambler.” His partner, who was in there with him, was more than happy to oblige.

“How about a little crocodile in the mix.” He said before pressing down on a small pad in his hands. The screen before them showed a blond boy and then skeleton heads of a human and a gator followed by several flashes on the screen showing the boy’s skeletons. The boy that was hit with their strange weapon was walking home with his parents and they were almost there, but the lad had to stop for a moment.

“I don’t feel so good.” He said after feeling something strange come over him. Before anything else his whole body changed from human into some form of crocodile/goat mix. He then let out a bleat and then ran down a road without his parents being the wiser.

“Hon, did you hear something?” The mother/wife of the family said while looking around. Her mate looked around after listening to her question.

“Tommy?” He questioned in a whisper while looking for their son. Spider was still in the city and was just enjoying himself until he spotted another familiar site as he looked to his right.

‘A balloon this far up. Guess someone lost track of it.’ He thought before landing on the side of a building. He angled his arm and fired a web-line, and thankfully this time the ball of air DID NOT pop; he reeled it to him and climbed down. ‘Haven’t done this in a while.’ He thought after making it to the ground. He spotted a pair of people and went over to them.

“Honey, look there’s Spider-Man.” The woman said to her man while pointing to the blue triangle hero as he walked over to them. He leaped over the street and landed in front of the two.

“I guess you two lost this.” He said with a hint of confusion in his voice. The male civilian took the balloon and filled the hero in.

“Actually, this is our son: Tommy’s balloon.” He said and then added with complete worry, “And we cant find him anywhere.” The three of them looked around and saw nothing. The arachnid tried to remember if he saw anything.

‘Strange, I didn’t see anyone while I was swinging.’ He thought before looking over to his com link and remembered of a new device in the com link. “I could try something that Tech made.” He said to them and stuck his arm up. “Scan the area for any other humans besides us three.” He said and the device did, but it was unable to scan into the alley that he was beside which is where the beast went.

“Welcome, my new Galactic Oddity.” The top-hat man said after stopping the creature with the power of his cane. He then looked past the latest addition and saw Spider-Man talking to the rest of the victims and it was then that an idea hit him.

“According to this there are no other humans aside from us.” He informed them after the data appeared on the small screen. He looked over and saw that the parents were even more nervous than before. “Don’t worry, I’ll find your son; I promise.” He told them with a serious tone. The two of them took his words to heart and left, hoping that he could do what he said.

“Hey, web-head, better head back: Zadavia wants to speak with us.” Lexi said through his com link. The once solo superhero put his communicator near his mouth and answered back to her.

“On my way cottontail.” He then began to swing back thinking of that family, but there was another thought going through his head, ‘Why do I keep calling Lexi cottontail?’ He was unaware that the other two that was in the alley were back at their home with one of the two feeding the children.

“Hello, my precious, precious beauties.” The short one said while pushing a trough of sludge. The creatures within the glass cases were ticked off: not of their forms, but of their captivity. “Time for dinner.” He chided to them not noticing a small monkey/chameleon combo ran by until it was right in front of him. “Hey, get back here.” He said and gave chase, he cornered it to a corner, but it was able to get away causing the man to trip and fall into some sludge. Otto looked at the elephant hybrid, who seemed to be looking at something other than him, and when he looked at the wall he saw the small critter appear. The chimp landed on his head, forcing him to meet some sludge a second time, ran a little while, and blended into a sliding door: which revealing the head man of the circus.

“Otto, what’s going on?” He questioned after seeing his partner covered in that slop. The shorter of the two sat in that stuff and decided to explain the complication of one of the hybrids.

“We should never have mixed her DNA with a chameleon lizard: that’s trouble with a capital ‘T’.” He said to him and then added another question that seemed right at the time, “How’d it get out of it’s cage?” He knew that it was in its cage since he took great pleasure in putting her in there.

“I let it out.” He said proudly with a bow. He then raised his head and added with confidence, “She’ll lead them right to us.” He then ended that comment with an evil laugh. The six animals were in the conference room with their hologram ready for their boss to give them their latest mission. After a few moments of waiting for Zadavia’s message Lexi decided to kill the silence by talking to the other brainiac: Tech.

“Tech, is that a new toy?” She questioned, knowing full well that he gave off a mouthful of words when anyone asked that question.

“My latest and perhaps: greatest invention –the Gluco Gell 9000!” He told her the name of the gun in his hands and then added the tech behind the gizmo. “The plasma energy core fires an impenetrable gelatinous substance which provides a safe and effective way to trap all enemies.” During the explanation the female bunny rested her chin in her right palm.

“In other words: Tech upgraded a glue gun.” A familiar voice, Spider-Man, said which he came in through one of the windows in that room. The other approved of his abridged answers rather than the coyotes. The wall-crawler jumped inside and took to one of the chairs; he was grateful that they did not have them named.

“Yeah, yeah, yeah: where’s Zadavia?” Duck said in his usual annoyed tone of voice as he sat to Spider’s left. The hero knew that duck preferred to sleep in rather than listen. “Did someone forget to pay that Holo-com bill again?” He asked while pointing to the blank hologram. Peter decided to use a low-key to his usual humor by twiddling his thumbs.

“Patience is a virtue duck.” The agile bunny said to the mallard, saving the web-head of being blamed. That comment did not ease the duck one bit.

“What are you – a fortune cookie?” He questioned which surprised her a little bit, but this time it was Peter’s turn for a return comment.

“No a fortune cookie would say something like: Confucius says black duck will stick webbed foot in big beak.” He answered back while glancing at her, and he saw that her expression changed a little bit. Ace sat down and understood what the duck meant.

“It’s not like her to stand us up. Are you sure we got the time right?” He asked since he knew how that woman liked to operate, and he knew that she preferred business that pleasure most times.

“Put a sock in it guys. I’m hearing something I don’t like.” The echo sensitive one spoke after getting an ear full of a new sound. She looked to Peter, since he lived for pranking them, but he was lounging in his chair with his feet up.

“Please.” Danger said to her, not liking her: Miss know-it-all routine, and walked over to the starving member of their group. “It’s probably the sound of Slam’s stomach gurgling.” He told her with a wink and holding the bottomless pit’s stomach. They all then heard an animalistic howl in the room.

“Told you.” The gymnast said proudly to the others. On the far wall the same monkey/chameleon appeared before them and then shouted something in its foreign tongue while pointing to the door. None of them knew what to make of that thing, but the mallard responded in fear.

“A hideous beast is invading HQ: RUN FOR YOUR LIVES!” Duck yelled to the others before seeing the others calm and raised eyebrow expression so he decided to change it, “I…mean…attack; ATTACK!?” He shouted that last part as a recovery and pointed to his target. The head bunny saw the fear in the creature and decided to step in.

“Wait a sec, duck.” His words were ignored as the water fowl threw an egg storm, but the arachnid had a feeling how that was going to end.

‘He should have known that his plan wasn’t going to work.’ He thought as he watched it back flip and then disappeared on one of their walls. ‘I’ve fought Conner’s when he was the Lizard and Beast has been mistaken for an ape-man.’ He added to his thought before catching Danger Duck enhance his ego.

“Once again, I have saved the day.” He said to the others while punching into the air. None of the others believed him since they, just like spider, saw it dodge.

“Duck, give me a break.” Lexi spoke for all of them, what they were thinking. Unknown to them was that the chameleon creature came over to them from behind by walking around them. The ‘hero’ saw the blonde and brown creature appear and intercepted it by quacking behind Ace.

“Watch out.” He said before he quacked, not knowing Ace sighed for his friend’s energy, and once the mallard was bending over to grab the creature. Their visitor on the other hand jumped over the duck’s head, causing him to shake his head, and landed into Ace’s waiting arms.

“I think it likes you Ace. She said to her fellow rabbit with a big grin. He knew that she spoke the truth since the creature seemed a lot more calm with him, and without it moving around he saw something around its neck.

“Hey, check out the collar Lexi.” He informed her of his find. He then waited until her and the others were watching before flipping over something that was on the collar. “It’s from the space circus.” He said when he saw the writing: Space Circus Union# 3635.

“Wow, a Galactic Oddity.” Lexi said in surprise and then her softer side added, “Poor thing it must have escaped and gotten lost.” As the others were thinking of what to do with that thing now that they knew what it was: Duck was the one that opened his bill.

“Eww, don’t touch it. It’s probably infested with intergalactic blood sucking fleas. I say we get rid of it: pronto.” He said and just that first part was all the wall-crawler needed to open his mouth.

“But you had those kind of fleas after the fuz-z moment and we kept you.” He said and during his comment the yellow bunny saw the combo animal shake its head vigorously in the ‘no’ fashion.

“I say it’s time to take a trip to the Big Top: let’s jet.” The field leader said to the others and got ready to leave, but was stopped by Spider-Man who jumped over them and landed in front of the door.

“Hold it guys, before Ace gets rid of his hybrid pet how can we carry it? Even though it likes Ace’s arms the most.” He said to them and he could have sworn that the last sentence actually caused the creature to look around in an embarrassed fashion.

“I’ve got just the thing, it’s a specially designed…” The canine of the group started to talk, but stopped when the speed warrior was no where to be found. With the sight of a returned red dash he finished his comment even though the bird already had the item he was talking about. “Cage for small creatures. Thanks Rev!” He said while snatching the gold colored cage from the bird’s hand. Normally Rev would reply with words or phrases of ‘Your Welcome’, but his mind was currently on the Space Circus.

“Your going to be okay.” Ace said while petting a section that was fur through the fur. He looked at the others and the said, “Now, let’s jet!” They went over to the exit hatch, put on their packs, but their field leader had to say one last thing, “Duck you hold this.” He gave the mallard the cage and flew off before the duck could say anything as a reply.

‘Why? Why does this feel like a bad idea?’ Peter thought as they flew over to the floating structure that he saw earlier. He could tell that one in particular of the team was really enjoying this delivery.

“Maybe we’ll get free passes to the Interstellar Orbiting Space Circus for doing a good deed by returning a Galactic Oddity to its home. Oh, Yes! I love the circus there’s so much good stuff to eat: candy, and popcorn, and delicious taffy – that would be totally sweet, sweet, sweet.” He said to them as they flew, landed, and took of their packs. The monkey creature chattered in agreement for despite its present predicament the person under the scale and fur did enjoy the circus too.

“Hey! Zip it, Lizard Lips, this is all your fault.” Duck said to the small wonder. He decided to ignore the laughter that came from Lexi and Peter.

‘I better help that thing out before Duck puts an egg in there or something.’ Tech thought and used his magnetic powers on the cage to lay it down gently on the ground, and after he pressed a button on his com link the door of the cage opened. “Your free to go, little one.” The brown/green furred genius said in a collected tone. Most of the others could see how frightened it was, like it REALLY didn’t want to be there, but not Danger Duck.

“You heard him, Chimp-zilla! Shoo! Scram! Buzz off!” He shouted at it and began to stomp to the cage. This caused the creature to leave, but it stopped at the door and began to jump up and down for a little bit while shouting in chimp term ‘follow me’.

“I think she wants us to follow her.” Ace said to the team and they all followed the little combo inside in this order: Ace, Duck, Spider-Man, Lexi, Tech, Slam, and Rev. The group found themselves in a hall but the long eared leader kept his sights on their friend until something caught his nose.

“Somethin in this place smells fishy.” He said to the others after sniffing the air. He looked over to a water tank and added, “Oh, that would be you.” He was currently looking at a creature that seemed to me a combo of a camel and an eel. They all were looking at the creatures until they spotted theirs, but just like before faded into one of the walls.

“Security – go and retrieve our new stars.” The leader said as he saw the Loonatics on the monitors in a secret room. ‘One of my contributors has asked for a special combo for you.’ He thought as he stared at the female who was on a monitor by herself. A pair of doors opened revealing creatures on their hind legs and a combo of: vulture and rhino.

‘These guys must be bad.’ Peter thought as he saw the small critter go out of chameleon and cower in a corner. The speed creature paid no head in terms of the little one and decided to roll with one of his ideas.

“Maybe these guys can help. We have your lost friend, can we have free passes to the circus that would be: sweet, sweet, sweet.” Rev said to them and it was at that time that the other flier decided to put his two cents in.

“But first: take back your fuzzy lizard thing before we all catch Monkey Flu.” Danger said while grabbing their friend by the tail and holding it up to them. The rhino creature smiled at what he was doing and the fact that the monkey was trying to bite the duck. A second creature of the same combo walked in from behind the first and then punched the duck. The water fowl went flying into a crate, which broke instantly, and the monkey landed to safety.

“Hey, what’s the big idea?!” Danger demanded after he got out of the remains of the box. “Okay, now you’ve asked for it.” He added before getting out of the pile of wood and got ready to fire one of his eggs. “Eat egg, wise-guy.” He said after creating one he threw it at the one that hit him.

‘What is that?’ He thought with a surprised look on his face before getting hit. The twister maker decided to get in on this by creating twister legs and attacked the other one, knocking him down in one move. Lexi saw the first one had gotten back up and was charging, but she was ready to put him back down. She ran a little ways, jumped forward and brain blasted him; she landed in front of the collapsed body: feeling proud over what she had done.

‘You pink furred witch.’ The other guard thought as he rushed at her with hands forward, but his attack did not reach her. At that moment Spider and Ace gave him a combo kick: Ace’s right and Peter’s left, through the doors that they came from.

“And in the center ring…” The lead bunny said after walking to the hole to see what was inside. The leader saw them go inside, but he was not nervous about it, he was actually anticipating this.

“I’ve waited a LONG time for this moment.” He said as he watched them and added an evil chortle for the fun of it.

“What, no clowns?” Lexi questioned as she and the others entered the room. The other bunny decided to add his own traditional circus reference.

“Nope. Not even a dancing bear.” The fact of that and of that device before them excited the leader, since he often wondered the origin of these oddities. “Fascinatin.” He said with a smile and then walked toward the device. “Tech, check out the hardware.” Ace said to him, and when they were close to the chair to the main console that was exactly what he did. “How’s the hacking, Tech?” He questioned after a few moments since he knew the coyote was fast when it came to typing on anything.

“Genetic manipulation codes.” He answered back and then continued while presenting images of DNA, “Human mixed with every animal on the zoological spectrum. It’s an experimentation log – a very disturbing one.” He was not happy that someone was using the gift of science in this manner.

‘No way in hell is that doof here!’ Peter thought after he heard the words: genetic manipulation, human and every animal. There was one man back home that was into that sort of thing, the same man that turned innocent people into gargoyle like wannabes – Doctor Anton Sevarius.

“Let me get this straight: these freaks are human.” Lexi said as she saw an image of the latest human victim. Her comment only made Peter’s blood boiling even more. After he fight the clones of his friends and heard the torture the humans to gargoyles had gone through he vowed no one will have to suffer like that. In his pursuit of anger he failed to feel his spider sense and had to hear it from the leader.

“Watch out! It’s a trap!” He alerted the others when the door they came from was blocked with a new one. With that seven separate tubes were successful in containing them.

“These cylinders must have been designed to withstand our individual powers.” Tech said in a muffled voice as he tried to get out with his ability, but nothing happened. If being captured wasn’t bad enough they saw one of their tormentors.

“Brilliant observation.” The ring-man said as the other angled the tubes so the Loonatics could properly see their captor. “They don’t call you egghead for nothing.” He added with a cruel sneer.

“That’s Doctor Egghead to you.” The coyote said angrily, now seeing who it was that was misusing Science he was even more ticked off.

“And what’s your name, Fancy-pants?” Ace questioned their captor of what his name was. The man in question wasted in time in answering the question.

“They call me the Ringmaster.” His proud statement ended with him leaning toward the male bunny. Ace was not impressed by the name, so decided to answer in a way like Spider-Man would.

“Doesn’t ring a bell. Ya might want to hire yourself a publicist?” He offered and then glanced at the blue member who was near the center of the mechanism. He spotted that the arachnid gave him a thumbs-up: liking what he said and added to it.

“Come to think of it I think I heard that there were a few camera crews there, at his show, but they all thought he was a little crazy, so they decided against it.” Both the spider and the rabbit were getting on his nerves so the circus man pointed a finger at the seventh member.

“I am the greatest showman in the universe!” After he said that he went from a pointed finger pose to an arms across his chest pose while adding, “And you, my friends, are about to become my new opening act.” Once those words left his lips he gave off a laugh.

‘Man, this guy practically has the madman’s laugh too.’ Peter thought and added, ‘Just another reason to kick his butt.’ He knew that the case was built to handle his powers, he and the others in there cases got comfortable while the two men began working on that strange device.

“Hey, Ringo, what’s with the carnie contraption?” Ace questioned after sitting in his cylinder. The villain answered the captured animal with a simply selfish purpose.

“I’m always trying to improve my big-top, so I had this device built to accommodate your unique genetic makeup.” He answered and walked over to a screen that had Ace’s outline with his DNA. The others including Spider each had one. “It will manipulate your super-powered DNA and transform you into monstrous hybrids under my control.” He finished his statement. For each of the screens it showed two outlines of animals for each hero. None of them approved of this guy’s idea and it was their strength that told the man.

“Your nothing but a psycho!” Slam shouted at him in his tongue. The others could not tell what most of the words were, but they knew they heard: psycho. The member to the devil’s right followed his statement.

“Ugh. I’m with ya Slam.” Lexi said and it was at that time that their tormentor decided to try to defend his intentions.

“I’m not clinically insane. I’m a master performer.” She said and then turned to the arachnid and said to him, the others to, with evil glee: “By the way, this is going to hurt - a lot.” He turned from the hero to his partner who was more than ready to flip the switch. “Otto, proceed.” When that order was given the short villain pulled the switch to him and the sphere floating in the center began to pulse. While the devise pulsed it sent powerful blasts at all of the tanks.

‘This really sucks.’ Peter thought as he saw the others also getting the same treatment. Rev, Tech, and Ace to his left and Danger, Lexi, and Slam to his right. Despite the pain of feeling his body slowly changing into its new form, again, a thought crossed his mind, ‘I just hope we can reverse it.’ His thought referred to the Labyrinth clan and how they are forever like that. Unknown to the arachnid their field leader was not ready to throw in the towel.

“Tech, your gluco gel thingy?” Ace said after glancing in the other container and saw the canine’s holder. The egghead prepped his gun and then tried to aim it. Despite feeling his body still changing he was able to concentrate.

“Here goes nothing.” He said and fired it into the hole that was the cause of his discomfort. Surprisingly the glue flew through the pipe and covered the ball, but that did more harm than good.

“Otto! Otto what’s going on?” The tall man questioned after he saw sparks coming from the device. He could see that his partner was freaking out over what was going on so he had a feeling that it was really bad.

“He’s gumming up the machine.” Otto said to him before the whole thing blew. The explosion caused the doors to fly off, the enemy to fly out of the room, and free the Loonatics, but there was a slight problem with that last part.

“Aah! Unh. Ooh, what was THAT all about?” Lexi questioned after a mysterious blue typhoon died out. It was at that moment that the team saw that their bodies has changed. Ace: Cheetah/Deer, Rev: Pig/Bat, Tech: Alligator/Zebra, Slam: Lion/Chimpanzee, Duck: Antelope/Gorilla, Lexi: Frog/Skunk. All six of them were looking at a certain new body part: tails, antlers, ears, and head. They ignored their new look and got ready to fight him, which was good since he too stood up.

“You wrecked my Sonic DNA scrambler, spoiled my new attraction, and I’m not sure but I think I chipped a tooth. For that you will pay most dearly.” He said, listing the things the team did to him. He stopped a couple of feet away from them, just in case they became more violent. His worry stood true when one of the creatures spoke.

“Ace, give him a laser blast.” The skunkett suggested which he tried to do. His eyes light up like they usually do when they use their powers, but instead of his eyes he felt something come from his hands. He glanced down and saw two sphere which out of fear he dropped to the floor causing them to splat. With his powers out of whack the leader turned to the lion.

“Slam, give `im a Tornado Punch!” He said to him which the former devil got into the stance to start one, but his brain suddenly started to feel really weird. That strange feeling caused him to stop what he was trying and shake his head in a combo of clearing and to stop the sudden headache.

“It’s time for you to get in the center ring NOW.” Ringmaster yelled out, not giving them a chance to figure out what was going on. He then raised his staff which glowed and opened up the cage doors. The creatures ran out just in time to hear their order, “Attention, Galactic Oddities, round them up! All of them!” That order given the beasts that were once human did just that.

‘I know I must look like a real freak, but I can’t hide and watch this.’ The seventh one thought as he was the army against the six. Spider opened up his wings and took flight: heading straight for them. He got there just in time to see Ace create an egg and toss it at a croc fusion, but it only added orange to his green face.

“Uh-oh! I hope you like your eggs sunny-side up.” He said when he saw that the attack failed. The creature let out a roar and kept charging. “Heh, heh, guess not.” The cheetah creature said and tapped into the quacking ability causing the opponent to hit noting but air. After dodging the attack Ace appeared on the rhino combo, the Ringmaster’s back, and into the gorilla creatures arms while saying in fragment form, “This…is…totally ridiculous.” The former mallard did not like what the leader said about his abilities.

“Excuse me!” He shouted while swinging his fists into the air. He stopped for a moment when he saw the pig creature of their family was running from magnetized metal objects. “My powers are not ridiculous.” He protested while the new Slam was dealing with an elephant-octopus. He dodged a few of the tentacle punches and then tried a brain blast, but it blasted Tech instead; the octo creature sucker punched him while he was confused. The lion hero hit one of the arches and fell to the floor in discomfort.

“Uh! Aah!” Slam yelled after reaching the ground. Even while in plain sight none of them attacked the Spider, so he decided to make himself known.

“Here goes nothin.” He whispered before dive-bombing the bison that was chasing his friend. The beast was knocked out the moment his fists met the skull, but the arachnid could feel something wrong with the attack. ‘Better make sure this guy is still breathing.’ He thought and walked over, ready to search for a pulse, but did not know about the second bison creature.

“Don’t worry, Spidey, I got this.” Lexi said as she jumped in front of the seventh one. She knew it was him because just as how their triangles stayed with them so did the spider logo on his back. She then focused on her opponent and tried to give it a roundhouse kick, but instead created a twister that covered all but her head. “Whoa! Ohh! Ahh!” She said when that happened. The former human backed down when it saw that and Spider-Man slammed his hands and new feet to the ground so he did not fly away. Instead of staying put she went off and hit Tech. The mutated brainiac, who was just now coming to from the brain blast, was caught off guard and slammed into a wall.

“Yeow!” Duck shouted when the genius slammed onto him after hitting the wall. As soon as the gorilla creature hit the ground it activated his new laser vision for a while, but it was long enough to hit Rev. With him now as ashes the tools that were chasing him fell harmlessly to the ground. “Rev!” Danger said as soon as he saw what he had done. He ran to the pile and added in a sorrowful tone, “Rev, pal, buddy, speak to me. He’s gone and it’s all my fault. I’m sorry for calling you a disgrace to the bird community, I’m sorry for stealing cookies from your secret stash.” He was truly sorry for the accident until he heard a voice.

“So, you’re the one! I always suspected it might be you, but how could I go right out and accuse you like that without any proof. Man, It’s been bugging me for months! I don’t know why I’m surprised. Duck, If I had to pick one teammate who would stoop so low…” The voice, being the regenerating Rev, shouted at the mallard in anger.

“I liked you better when you were a smoldering husk.” Danger said to him after getting over the initial shock of seeing his friend come back from the blast. Their conversation was put on hold when they saw one of the purple rhino creatures coming at them. Rev was able to get out of the way, but not Duck. “No fair hitting--ow.” He complained with his back to the creature. He then was hit and hit the wall he was facing. “Yuhh!” He yelled once he met his target and then added, “Now I’m quacking mad. Feel the wrath of my laser vision! Nyaa!” After making that proclamation he fired them, but his aim hit nothing.

‘This might be bad.’ Parker thought after recalling what Scott’s eyes could do when not contained. His suspicions were confirmed when Danger was shooting at everything, but not out of evil.

“Help! I can’t control it!” The former mallard said to them with the blast still burning bright. Ace back-flipped one of the blasts and decided to give an order to the current optic-blast holder.

“Yah! Duck close your eyes!” He ordered which he did, and that did stop the blasts. Feeling that in their new forms and switched powers they would only be captured again the other mutant bunny offered something to the leader.

“We can’t keep this up. And this Fifi La Fume look definitely is not me.” Lexi said while placing her scaly hands near the pink colored triangle. The team leader knew that she had a point, even though he did not like living up to the stereotype class of his color, he had no other choice.

“I never thought I’d say this, but haul tail.” He shouted to the others. In instinct Spider took a few steps and then felt something in his own hands. He balled them into fists and slammed the floor, they gave off some form of electricity when they hit, but they did not know how; thankfully the spot he hit held nothing but a hole. Most of them jumped right in, all but duck.

“Where?! Which way?!” The mutated mallard yelled out pacing around with his eyes still covered. Ace grabbed his shoulder causing the gorilla to shout, “Yikes!” The leader of the seven creature through him into the hole causing him to say, “Yahh!” Ace followed right after him, and in the dark looking up he could see that the eagle/rhino guards were at the other side of their hole.

“What’s going on here Tech?” Ace questioned while they were wondering through the catacombs of the flying freak house. Truthfully all of them wanted good news from this egghead.

“My Gluco Gel 9000 destroyed the Sonic DNA Scrambler.” He answered back, praying that would be enough, even though he knew that it wouldn’t.

“But not fast enough. I mean look at us.” Ace said back and then looked at his cheetah skin. The reptilian one added another piece of the obvious.

“It also mixed up our genetic codes which explains…why we’ve switched powers.” He then looked at the seventh fighter who was looking at his reflection.

‘Aside from the Loonatic markings, and the wolf head, everything seems to be exactly like the others.’ He thought as he stared at the wolf face. He then glanced at the reptilian canine and had a feeling what else he was bound to say. “Your probably thinking that one of us would have our whole powers, and your wrong.” He told all of them, and they wanted to know what he meant. “I’ve used my powers for so long so I know how it feels to use them.” He added and then thought of who would have what.

“What’s wrong?” Slam questioned when the seventh warrior just stood there after he said that. Without warning he shot a blast of electricity from his right hand, and even with his big form the strongman of the team was able to back-flip perfectly.

“That was a test to see who has what, and it seems you have my spider-agility.” He said defending his actions. He saw the fellow bat and an idea entered his head. “Rev, climb the side of this sewer with nothing but your hands and feet.” He said to the current magnet-man.

“Sure thing.” Rev said and began to climb. He was amazed to see that he was sticking.

“Wall-crawling power goes to Rev.” He said and then looked at Tech, and knew the irony if he was right. “Tech, you know my finger pose of webbing, I want you to try it.” He offered even though he had a feeling that long-eared egghead would use logic.

“Spider-Man, you know that that power is artificial.” He said in a level headed tone. Peter’s eyes went solid white and a bestial growl erupted in his throat causing the former canine to rethink his sentence. “But…nothing ventured nothing gained.” He said and did as he was offered only using one finger. To his surprise: it actually worked, but he did not swing; he simply let it go.

“Your turn duck.” Pete said and fired lighting bursts from both hands. About that time he had opened his eyes, grateful that the eyes were back to normal, and turned his attention to the chimp sitting on a pipe.

“Hey, Monkey face! This is all your fault!” He shouted and tried swinging his fists at the smaller monkey. He was able to do that and dodge at the same time. Aside from the blasts it was the raspberry that made him angry, but the blasts he could stop. “Excuse me!” He shouted and just like that he stopped.

“My spider-sense too.” He said and then turned to Ace and had a feeling what would be his. “Ace, could you do me a favor and have your back to me.” Not wanting to disappoint him he did so, and waited to see where this led. “This may hurt.” Spider said and threw a punch square to the back of his head. A form of impulse hit the bunny causing him to dodge the punch and throw the hero over his shoulder and to the ground.

“Sorry, wolf-boy, I don’t know what came over me.” Ace said in an apologetic tone. He was speaking the truth since it felt everything just slowed down and his body felt like it was acting on its own.

“I know what it was: spider-reflexes.” He answered back and knew what that left him with. “Not to sound lazy but, Lexi, care to give me a hand.” The skunk walked over, took his hand, and raised him, but was not prepared for what came of it. “WHOA!” He yelled out before using his claws to stop himself of being flung through the passage.

“Spider, I am so sorry.” She said, and got a big wolf grin as her answer.

“At least now I know who has my: spider-strength.” He said in a praise tone of voice. He and Rev climbed down to join the others, and then the group set off again. None of them knew what could be the bright side in all of this, aside from each of them having a genuine piece of Spider-Man.

“Well, look on the bright side. It can’t get any worse than this.” Lexi said, trying to raise their spirits even though Danger was still trying to hit the cause of their current forms.

‘Oh man, now a headache.’ Duck thought when another surge of pain was at the back of his head. He did not know what it really meant and could really care less. The others on the other hand stopped when they saw ripped in the stream beside them, and when they did notice it they saw that it was a gorilla/snake creature. Before Ace could try out spider-reflexes they were all coiled caught by this predator.

“You had to say, didn’t ya.” The field leader said to the skunk as they were being drawn to the beast’s mouth. All of them were trying to bust free, but even Lexi was having a hard time.

“Ace, what’s the plan?” Duck questioned as he tried to use his form’s natural muscle to break free. The used to be rabbit tried to think and then saw the lion to his left, and knew what to do.

“Who’s got Slam’s power?” He questioned the seven and got a smug answer from the fuzor to his right.

“Ooh! Hey! That would be me!” Lexi said to him and then created a big twister, and when the top of the tornado got to the other fuzor’s face she hit it ten times or so before it went down. “I am so grossed out. That gorilla snake licked me! Yecch! I’m gonna need a hot bath quick!” She said after the twister died and they were free. Slam helped her to her feet and told her a fact about himself.

“I like slime.” The others were just now getting up from their spin, and all of them did not like their new bodies.

“We need to come up with a plan and fast! I can’t live like this.” The zebra fuzor said before looking at his gator tail. He looked to the big cat before him hoping that he had an idea.

“All right, the way I see it, we need to rebuild the Ringmaster’s Sonic DNA scrambler, and reverse the transformation. You up to it.” The cheetah fuzor said finishing with a wink since he already knew the answer. The fellow fuzor dug in his pocket, grateful that their suits were one with them, and pulled out his small computer.

“Normally, it would take me at least two days to reconstruct a machine of that magnitude, but with Rev’s super speed, I need, say, oh…five minutes?” Tech said back while activating four screens, each with different info, and then grouped them into one: presenting the device he was going to make.

“Ok then make it four and a half.” Ace said, knowing that he could do it by then even. The group then went searching for a way back to the surface, and luckily for them they had an expert. After a ten minutes of searching they came to a tunnel going up.

“I’ll go first.” The wolf fuzor said before climbing up with his claws and lifted up the cover just an inch or so. ‘Time to put this sniffer to the test.’ He thought before taking a few whiffs of the air and smelled no danger. “It’s clear, come on up.” He spoke to them before climbing up first, and when they all got out they instantly headed back to the lab.

“Ace, those hybrid creatures have amazing hearing. We don’t want to get their attention.” Rev warned the leader while they were trying to be sneaky even though it was that warning that tipped the guards off. “Uh-oh.” He added when he realized his mistakes. The seven took a battle ready pose before them, but fighting was not their goal.

“Go, Tech, we’ll cover for ya.” Ace ordered to the current speed creature. Tech fired a line in combination with Rev’s speed to get around the guards with style. The other six were put under fire by the guards beam weapons. Slam tried to use his new brain blast powers, but couldn’t get his aim right.

“Golly…” He said in anger, angry that he couldn’t get a handle on his new power. Lexi saw his efforts and decided to go with an idea that he would like.

“Slam, concentrate. Pretend he stole your lunch, and BRAIN BLAST him!” The last part she shouted for emphasis, but before he had a chance to do so the wolf added his own part to it.

“And don’t forget: you do have my spider-agility, so do it with some style.” The devil-lion nodded with a grin at his suggestion. Slam took a few steps followed by a leap straight up, and fired a blast straight at the guard on the left. Ace saw this display and gave the info to the one who had his powers.

“That’s it. We can beat these guys if we work together.” He said to duck and the gorilla fuzor began shooting at them and was able to hit one. As for Tech, who was still swinging, made it to the lab, and saw that the ringmaster was trying to make it work.

“Give it up.” Zebra creature said, but knew had a feeling that he wouldn’t.

“You!” He said bitterly and activated a whip accessory to his staff. When that was drawn he tried to attack the reptilian egghead, but failed.

“Too slow!” Tech said after dodging the first attack. “Missed me.” He said after the second attempt, and just like his way in he was using Rev’s speed. “Try and get---aah!” He said while using a web-line to grab the weapon, and he also let the webbing back into his wrist to make it easier for him. “My turn.” He proclaimed happily and used the piece of gear against him.

“Aah! Ooh!” Ringmaster said during and after feeling the whips attack. He ended being lying against one of the walls: unconscious.

“THAT is for calling me egghead!” The zebra-man said after breaking the handle of the whip and tossing it at him. While he went to work the others were finishing up with the guards. Rev put his wings to good use and flew up pretty high, and used his temporary spider powers to cling to the wall before tapping into his limited magnet power.

“Nighty-night, lights out, sweet dream, see ya.” Rev said to him after tossing an entire light post at a couple of the guards. Peter decided to put his wings to the test.

‘Here goes something.’ He thought and charged straight at one of them, but not before getting Lexi’s attention. She watched as her…friend flew right at one of them and went with him. The guard saw him coming and tried to blast him, but he was able to dodge. ‘Got to time this just right.’ He thought: forcing himself to stay on target. He charged up his claws with the energy within him: ready to give him a jolt, and at the last second he stomped onto the ground and stared at him. The opponent did not know what to make of this strange behavior. Spider saw that he let his guard down and he heard a familiar wind which made him go up with one big leap. “Fake-out!” He shouted, snapping the creature out of his thought.

“I can’t believe that worked, wolf-man.” She shouted at him after her attack was done: The attack was that of Lexi’s legs becoming a twister and giving the rhino-man a punch with the strength of a spider followed by a double-fist slam by Spider-Wolf. He gave her a thumbs-up while still in the air, but as the two were congratulating one another they were unaware that they were being watched.

“My, beauties!” Otto said after he saw the centurion fall. The short man was angry that they were damaging HIS creatures which meant that he may have to get his hands dirty.

“Huh. Reconstructed in under four minutes flat.” Tech said as the device he was working on appeared in one of the functioning energy beams. “The Genetic Descrambler ready to re-scramble.” He added after he took it from the beam and put the metal glove on his right hand. He then walked out of the lab, trying to decide on who to go with first.

“Tech, I see you found the reverse switch.” Deer-Ace said as he and the others got into the hall; only to see that he was already almost done. ‘Guess super speed has its perks.’ The leader thought as he watched the zebra change an elephant back to it true kid form.

‘Last one.’ Tech thought after a mental sigh. He pointed the glove at the gorilla snake, lit up his eyes, and activated the device. In a blink the kid appeared in the big cage: undamaged.

“All right guys, time for a group photo.” Spider-Wolf said as he landed behind the six since he hoped they were next. The green skinned egghead raised his arm and let the gloves powers change them as well. “Good to have my normal face back.” He said as he made sure that he no longer had a muzzle. That is also when he saw that the monkey that brought them there got hit with the reverse sound waves as well. ‘Let’s see who you really are.’ He thought and got his answer in a red cloak.

“I’m back, hello duck.” She said to them: the first part was of her usual calm tone, but the second part had an edge of anger in it. As soon as he saw the founder in the spot where he heard a monkey sound he got REALLY, REALLY nervous.

“You mean, all along, that monkey thing was … uh…heh, heh. ” Duck trailed off when he felt the boss’ eyes bore right through him making him even more nervous. “You never looked better.” He said hoping that a compliment would ease her anger.

“We need to talk.” She said calmly to the insulter of the team. The mallard was praying for some form of miracle to get him out of her sights. As if lady luck was on his side their foe was groggily walking into their hall; he saw them and attempted to run.

“Sorry, love to chat, but gotta stop Ringmaster.” He said with a panicked gulp, and then he and the others gave chase.

“Uh…ehh…ahh.” Ringmaster said while he was fleeing from the heroes. Ace saw him making a break for what he guessed was an escape pod, but he did not want the villain to leave so he fried the access panel with his heat vision. As soon as that was destroyed the door immediately shut in front of him. He turned and saw that they were ready to kick his butt in this line up: Duck, Tech, Ace, Lexi, Slam, Rev, and Spider-Man clinging to the wall.

“And that’s a wrap, circus boy.” Ace said, once again trying to be like Spider. The fellow bunny decided to finish his statement.

“The show is over.” She and the others were ready to kick his butt over what had happened to them. The problem was that the Ringmaster was not their true target.

“No. Actually the show must go on.” Otto said, coming out of the darkness. The Loonatics got out of their attack positions and just stood there: all but Spider-Man who still stuck to the wall.

“What are you talking about Gnome man, don’t tell you brought over your circus freaks here too.” He said in his comical style, but was completely ignored.

“For we have one last surprise. Feast your eyes on our main attraction.” He said while pulling out and pointed a pocket sized DNA scrambler at the Ringmaster.

“NO!” The man screamed before he was severely altered by the waves. A seriously ugly yet cool looking chimera stood before them, and just like the kids: he too could not speak English. “The Ringmaster’s only the face of this circus. I’m the real brains under the Big Top. HE works for ME.” He informed them while pressing a few buttons on the small device.

“Attack!” Ace shouted and blocked on of the tentacles that make up his feet. It did not destroy just gave enough pain to force it back. While the others had its attention Tech, with his gauntlet, ran to a different spot, and tried using it.

‘We can take this guy on faster if he was smaller.’ Tech thought after he activated it. With his attention on his own task he failed to realize one of the tentacles coming at him until the last second; it knocked the glove out of his hand, and before he could reclaim it the monster smashed it: making it useless for the genius. “NO! How could I have let this happen?” He announced in anguish when he got to the destroyed device.

“I control this circus.” Otto said watching with evil glee over what was in front of him. Duck tried to use himself as a distraction by using his quacking powers: which he was grateful of having back.

“Silly monster, your tentacles are no match for…Danger Duck.” He said to the opponent through four quacking spells before seeing the wrong end of his fist heading for him. “But your fist is a contender.” The mallard said while laying in a small crater. Spider-Man saw him and only one thought entered his mind.

‘He seriously needs to consider changing his name to Darkwing Duck since that’s what would happen to him.’ That’s when he saw the purple furred bruiser tear away a massive yellow claw from the monster. The instant it left the body a new one took its place. Finding no other use for it the devil chucked it back at the owner, but he bounced the object with it’s left claw causing it to skid and force Otto into the wall behind the monster.

“Whoop!” Slam said to himself after seeing what had happened, but luckily he had someone with a sense of humor to ease him for a little bit. Peter leaped from the wall and landed behind the Tasmanian.

“You aren’t having any luck with the whole ‘dismembering’ thing are ya?” The purple member knew what he meant, since the golem pulled about the same thing on him. Their conversation was cut short when they heard the Odd one speak from beyond the claw.

“What have you done?” He said with the hint of him wanting to cry. The arachnid looked at the former human let out a roar and at that second his spider sense flared up.

‘Never thought I’d be so grateful to have you back.’ He thought before firing a web-line, swung on it, and scooped up Lexi before she was barbequed. Using the same line he swung back to the coyote and the male bunny.

“Guess you can‘t keep your hands off me.” She whispered to him before the two landed causing him to turn purple. When the two touched down the pink one added, “Now I’m getting annoyed.” The one that made the reverse switch knew an alternative of what they could do.

“Sound waves caused the DNA transformations. We need to create a sonic boom.” Tech informed their field leader this. Ace knew that there was a comment bubbling in the web-head’s head of a comment so spoke the moment he heard that.

“Sonic boom, huh?” He questioned and the looked at the true twister troublemaker and added, “Yo Slam, twist and shout!” The hero in question created twister legs and headed for the chimera. He spun so fast the tornado came up to his lower two arms. “Ok, Rev, your turn.” Ace informed while pointing at the purple cyclone which Rev added red to the purple making the tornado circle around it completely. “Now, hit it hard!” He shouted which the remaining five attacked with green, pink, and yellow energy attacks, orange eggs, and impact webbing.

“Aah!” The returning human screamed as he felt his body return to normal. The guys continued their attack for a little longer: just to be sure.

“Now, back off, Loonatics!” Ace said after stopping his attack which the other four did as well. “The sonic vibrations could sent the big top out of the sky.” He informed the others as they went to seek shelter while Rev and Slam kept spinning. The bunny was right as the first explosion was in the twister followed by several others: one even blew the top off of the big top. The two stopped their attack when they saw the man was back in his true form.

‘Dude…I rock.’ Slam thought with a grin after he stopped. The others were making sure they were safe from anymore explosions, and as they were doing that Danger Duck saw a minor problem.

“Uh-oh. The Space Circus just ran out of space.” He yelled out to the others. The airborne vessel was indeed heading for their city, but out of spider luck it glided over the buildings and landed in the sea.

“This guys insurance premiums are bound to skyrocket.” Spider said to the others before they landed and the waves caused the others to pile up with a group ‘Aah!’ All but Spider-Man: who stood there - perfectly fine.

“Ow.” Duck said in a dull tone before quacking from the bottom of the six creature dog pile. The arachnid and the bunny saw a problem which had four legs.

“Hey, guys…” Peter started and it was Lexi who finished it.

“Shorty’s on the run!” In a blast of instinct Spider stuck out his arms and webbed them, but did not see Tech using his glue gun at the same time. The webbing stalled them and the goo kept them there, and the instant they were captured Otto gave the front man an angry look. “Web-head, Tech: you do realize that those were lucky shots - right?” She said to the two men in question.

“True genius is never appreciated.” The green furred one said while stylishly sheathing his gun and put his arms across his chest. The arachnid was about to defend his fellow big-brain, but was interrupted by a new voice.

“Stay calm, boys and girls. The Acme rescue unit is here to take you home,” The voice said. The voice was coming from one of the small air vehicles above them. With Rev and Duck’s help they got done with the rescue. Spider helped Lexi to the ladder since she seemed out of sorts. After making sure the children were all right the team headed back to base. The seven went into the Com room where Zadavia was already waiting for them.

“The Ringmaster and Otto are both in custody, and all of the human that were turned into Galactic Oddities have been reunited with their families.” She informed the team over what they saw when they landed, but they liked hearing it from their boss. Spider, Ace, and the others saw that the mallard was hiding under an old magazine while she was there. “Once again Acmetropolis is in your debt. Excellent work as always.” She added, and it at that time that the bunny of the great bunny decided to put the glory-seeker on the spot.

“Uh, anything you want to add, boss?” Ace questioned while glancing at the duck: who was peaking over his shield.

“Not at the moment, Ace.” She answered back sweetly, even though she knew full well what he was getting at.

“Hmm. Anyone you may want to have a few words with.” He said back to her and heard an angry growl from the beaked one, who was glaring at him.

“I don’t believe so. Zadavia out.” She said and just like that the transmission was cut. Duck, who glanced back at Ace with his magazine protecting decided to ask him an important question.

“Is she gone?” He asked in fear.

“Yeah, Duck she’s gone. You can relax now.” The bunny answered him while getting out of his chair. Slam was behind him and he knew that Duck was going to say something stupid.

“Whew! I thought for sure I’d get busted for ragging on her while she was that disgusting monkey thing.” He told them and added, “Eew! Ack! Eek!” He then slipped back into the usual attitude that the others knew him best for. “I guess this finally proves that Zadavia really likes me best.” He said to them while placing his arms at the back of his head. While he was relaxing for a moment that was when the transmission was put back on.

“Oh, I did forget one thing.” The founder said which caused all of them to stop from leaving the table and look at her. “Duck, we need to talk, alone. NOW.” She added while putting emphasis on the word ‘now’.

“Ha, ha, ha, ha!” Slam laughed, being the last one to leave, but not before lifting up Danger’s magazine and saying, “Busted!” before walking away. The duck saw the other six leave him and then his eyes focused on Zadavia.

“Help.” He said after the doors shut and he hid behind his book. The others have gone on with their own business, leaving Duck to fend for himself. While most of them did their usual: eat, work on gadgets, train, and sports Peter and Lexi called it a day.

‘Good thing I set this up while Danger met that box.’ Peter thought as he recalled placing his camera in the hall they were in - just like old times. He slowed down when he came to the part where he and the others were in their new bodies, and took a closer look at the bunny. ‘She may have said that, but I think she looks great with that length of hair.’ He thought before changing to a picture of himself and added, ‘I’m starting to understand why Talon didn’t want to change back.’ As he was printing off some pictures Lexi was trying to focus on her Trojan War book, but a thought kept coming back to her.

‘He seriously did not look too bad in fur; now the only question is - would he still look that good as a bunny.’ The thought had and air of mischievousness which she answered by tapping the book on her head. “Calm down, Lexi. Besides after that cold shoulder that you gave him when you first met him: he wouldn’t want anything to do with you.” She whispered before going back to her book, and was grateful that the voice was gone.

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