The Univengers: Reign of Doom

Chapter 17: Unexpected Enemies

Letty's trek down to the tooncopter took a few minutes but once the Doombots were out of her sight, she started running. The odd aircraft was getting closer. Time to call Morshower and end this mess, Letty thought. WHEW-BOOOM! The tooncopter exploded and Letty was flung back. A few tiny bits of the aircraft scratched her arms and face. She sat up and saw that their mode of transportation was no more than a pile of rubble with some flames. Letty stood back up and took her walkie-talkie out of her pocket.

"Come in, Univengers," she said. In the castle, the rest of the group stopped walking in the hallway once they heard Letty's voice.

"Letty?", Spider-Man said into his earpiece, "Is that you?"

"Yeah, I'm alright," said Letty. "Woody got me out. Listen, our ride's been compromised. I think one of Doom's towers blew it up. You guys are in the castle, right?"

"Yeah," Harry said into his walkie-talkie.

"I can't contact Morshower for reinforcements, Doom confiscated my phone," Letty reported.

"I'll call him," said Optimus.

The sound of running footsteps emitted from in front the rest of the Univengers.

"Hold on," Harry said to his friends. They stopped. Out of the green smoke behind them appeared Woody, still wearing his gas mask.

"Hey, guys," he said. "Did I miss anything?" Woody was standing still, but they still heard the sound of running footsteps. The woodpecker was about to ask what was the matter until he noticed the sound too. He walked to the front and Spider-Man leaped in front of him. A long arm appeared out of the fog and grabbed the wall-crawler by the neck. Spider-Man was shoved violently onto the ceiling. Woody ran into the fog. In half a second, he was kicked back out so hard that he hit the front of truck Optimus and fell unconscious. Harry pointed his wand to the arm and cast Rictumsempra. The arm didn't budge. Harry stepped forward and went back to casting his wind spell. The green gas cleared to reveal the zombified corpse of Reed Richards, his red eyes glaring at Harry. The Hulk lunged forward and grabbed Richards like an action figure. The zombie stretched its head and eventually body towards the Hulk's neck. He started to wrap around the neck and tighten. The green behemoth was blinded by Richards's suit. The Hulk grabbed Richards and tried to pull him off but he kept getting longer. Richards reached his other hand towards Harry's neck and grabbed it tightly. Harry pointed his wand in front of him but it was snatched out by The Invisible Woman and thrown into the fog. E.T. got off the bike basket to help but was met with a severe kick to his left eye. He fell back and hit the floor. Popeye got out of Opitmus's passenger cabin to investigate the disturbance. The sailor got kicked in the stomach and punched in the right eye. Popeye swiped his left foot in front of him and hit a pair of invisible legs. With Harry's wand gone, the toxic smoke came closer.

"Storm," Popeye called. "We need ya's over here." Storm ran to the front to push the gas back. The zombified Thing and Human Torch appeared out of the cleared fog and charged toward the Univengers. Storm's wind powers increased to stop them. Arnie got out of his motorcycle and aimed his Winchester at Richards's arm that was holding Harry. BOOM! Harry was free, and Richard's arm snaked back with blood pouring out. Harry saw that the wand was on the floor when the smoke was cleared thanks to Storm and he rushed over to grab it. BOOM! Arnie shot off the arm that was holding Spider-Man to the ceiling. The web-slinger hit the floor, coughing. His spider sense began to sting. Spider-Man got back up and was horrified to see The Human Torch putting his hands together, ready to burn him.

"Get down, Spidey!," Optimus said. Spidey ducked down. Just before the flames touched him, Optimus put his hand in front of him to block the fire. The Autobot smacked the Torch into the right wall and Spider-Man ran to his left. My God, he thought. This can't be them. The handless arms of Richards were not keen on giving up. His left arm wrapped around E.T.'s and Popeye's necks. The Thing grabbed Arnie and threw him into the left wall covered with gas. After a few seconds, Arnie walked back out like it was nothing. Harry pointed his wand at the arms of Richard.