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NEW YORK CITY

A shaky camera feed righted itself to focus on a pretty red-headed woman, who hastily brushed her bangs behind her ears and raised a microphone to her lips. In the background, the midday cityscape.

“This is Patricia Ann Love for Channel Seven News, and behind me-”

“MRAAAAAAAAWWWWWWW!!!!”
A bestial roar filled the air, followed by a crashing sound of steel and glass.

“Behind me, wages a war for the streets of New York City.” Patricia gestured to her camera to follow her, and she strode over to the where the viewer could see they were about to peek over the edge of a building's roof. The camera panned down to record the tumultuous battle.
“See here the Fantastic Four engaged in a fight with some bizarre creature. Police have retreated to establish a perimeter, urging civilians in the area to fall back behind their lines.”

Leaping from the side of a building, Orga dodged the stretching arms of Reed Richards, and nearly snatched Johnny Storm out of flight.

“Not even two days after the appearance of the ‘Godzilla’, a number of other giant monsters have emerged all around the world. This one, which is possibly the nastiest thing to crawl out of a New York City subway in the past week, according to witnesses has actually eaten local hero Spider-Man!”

“That’s a bunch’a hooey!”

The camera panned to the right in a blur, where it focused again on a middle-aged man with grey hair and olive colored liver-spotted skin grimaced at the reporter. He stood among a gathering of other bystanders, and she quickly stuck the microphone under his mouth.
“Spider-Man ain’t eaten!” He continued to scold, “I seen him take a bus to the face when that ilíthia malákas Rhino fought him.”

Patricia eyed the camera warily, “I’m not sure we can say that on TV but, sure, Spider-Man is known for being tougher than he looks. You, Ma’am!”
Stepping over to an elderly woman who wore a knitted shawl and thin-framed glasses, she leaned down to put herself on the same level with the stooped matron.
“Do you think our friendly neighborhood Spider-Man is currently digesting in the bowels of that creature?”

“Oh I don’t know, I think it’s all terrible.” The woman shivered, pulling her shawl closer over her shoulders. “We never had all these fights with super-powers and monsters when I was a little girl. I tell you, it’s all those damn Democrats in the state leg-”

“Thank you Ma’am.” Patricia sputtered, cutting of the woman before things got too dicey. “Let’s take another look at ground level shall we?”

The yellow beam of Orga’s cannon swept across the street, obliterating a car and 30 yards of storefront. Johnny Storm flew by overhead, strafing the alien with a torrent of fire that set the asphalt alight. Orga bellowed in protest at the annoyance, leaping after The Human Torch, but upon catching a Buick to the gut instead, was knocked back to the road.

“I think you may need to turn up the heat on your dainty little fingers Johnny!” Thing said, throwing his arms around another car. “You’re little fireworks ain’t doin’ nothing’ but turning him into a hot-head!”

“Oh great pun, Ben!” Johnny shot back sarcastically, “How many times can you re-work the same insult?”

“Stop quibbling you two!” Susan Richards growled, creating a light barrier to restrain Orga as it tried to get back on its feet. “And focus on getting Spider-Man out of that thing!”

With a strained grunt, Susan pushed on her force-field as she walked, shoving Orga back into a building, pinning him to the side. The monster snarled and raged against the Invisible Woman’s power, firing the shoulder canon skywards in a vain act of frustration.
“Reed darling.” She growled, “You could help any time now!”

Emerging from the windows of the building, the long limbs of Mr. Fantastic stretched out to wrap themselves around Orga’s arms.
“We have to be very careful with this one Sue, if he gets his mouth on any one of us, it could be disastrously interesting.”

“WHAT?!” His wife yelled.

Reed’s arms and legs continued to coil tighter and tighter, biding Orga in place.
“I just mean to say that, what could arise from some controlled exposure of different genetic information to this creature could provide us with invaluable information in genetic sciences.”

Orga leaned his head to the side, attempting to snap his jaws on Reed. All around him was ever more covetous genes to assimilate, impervious skin, fire control, invisibility and force-field projection, elasticity. With these powers, he would finally achieve the mission his race had scoured the universe for.

“Ben! See if you can extricate Spider-Man!” Reed yelled as he stretched his head around to see everything. “But, try not to do it by killing Orga. If you can.”

Thing grumbled. “Jeez, Reed.” He said, rolling his eyes. He walked over to a streetlight post that had been knocked over in the fight, and bent it in half.

Orga wailed as he exerted, managing to pry himself forward by a few inches. Pinching her eyes shut, Susan began to shake under the strain of her effort.
“I can’t hold it for much longer!”

As Thing approached, bearing the folded steel pipe like a baseball bat, Orga faced him, howling to the urge to integrate the cells.
Rearing back with the handmade bludgeon, Ben Grimm scowled. “Ah, quit ‘yer bellyaching’!”
With a resounding SMACK!, he smashed the light post against the side of Orga’s head, and with a pained cry the monster seemed to calm itself down.
“Alright, now you’re give us back our little spider-buddy.”

Laying a hand on Orga’s stomach, Thing pushed in, hoping to feel for something that could give him a sign. As he pushed, something inside pushed back. Recoiling slightly from the surprise, he used his other hand to tap on the skin a few times. Somewhere on the opposite side, the number of taps was repeated against the pressed-in hand.
“Oh, I bet it ain’t too nice in there. And it ain’t about to get no better, kid.”
Without any warning, Thing pulled back with his right, and delivered a tremendous body-shot to Orga’s midsection that sunk in at least four feet.

The Millennian doubled over from the blow, its mouth wide open as it gasped for breath with a pathetic wheeze.

Sue altered her posture, re-aiming her force-field to hold open Orga’s maw.

“Coming in!” Johnny landed next to Thing, and channeled a stream of fire into the monster’s torso. When Orga sucking in air to scream, Sue pushed her construct deeper down his throat, opening his gullet.

Reed maneuvered his head precariously into the darkness of the alien esophagus.
“Fascinating…” He remarked, eying the ring of flesh that served as the sphincter to the rest of the digestive system. He dare not go past where his wife’s power held back Orga’s mouth, thinking that even momentary contact could allow it to copy genetic material. In front of him was not an esophagus familiar to an earthling, but a writing mass of convulsing knobby protrusions that the throat emptied into.
“Spider-Man!” He called out. “Spider-Man can you hear me?”

It wasn’t a voice that answered him, but a red gloved hand surging through from between folds in the quivering surface, covered in a syrupy pale green liquid. Without any hesitation Reed stretched his head towards it, letting the fingers grip into his malleable tissue. Contracting the neck, Richards yanked and pulled until he felt Spider-Man slipping through to the open space, flailing and scrambling once his limbs were free.

Spider-Man sucked in deep breaths as he crawled his way out of the mouth, throwing himself recklessly to the ground in a mad scurry.

“You okay Spider-Man?” A stunned Johnny Storm asked, he and Thing standing over him.

Parker held up a single finger as he took a few more moments to breath and collect himself. He rolled over onto his left side, pulled his mask from over his mouth, and vomited.
“Ugh…[spit] Did you guys really have to hit him in the stomach so many times? I was in there you know.”

Mr. Fantastic began to wonder about what occurred. “Intriguing… Orga shows no sign of having assimilated any of Spider-Man’s abilities. I’ll have to get a closer look at what exactly his costume is made of.”

Out of the corner of her eye, Susan saw the alien stir, “REED! LOOK OUT!”
In a surge of motion, Orga pushed himself backwards into the building, escaping her hold on its mouth, and dragging Reed with him. The two of them disappeared in a cloud of chaos and wreckage as the stories collapsed on top of them.

“A shocking turn of events here in Manhattan.” Patricia narrated from her position atop an adjacent building. “Spider-Man is in fact alive-”

“Told you!” a familiar voice called out.

“And now the monster and Mr. Fantastic, Reed Richards have been crushed under the weight of several tons of office floor. Right now I’d like to ask one of our city’s more famous residents what he thinks of what he’s just seen. Taking refuge with us, is celebrity comedian and actor, Jerry Seinfeld.”

Patricia posed the microphone to the slightly befuddled actor, who caught off guard, glanced between her and the camera for a few seconds.
“What do I think? I think I’m a little tired of seeing my city get torn apart by super-villains and giant monsters! I mean, what’s the deal with these giant monsters?! I glad Spider-Man’s alive and all, but something has to be done about all this destruction!”

“YEAH!” Several of the other refugees cried in support.

Grabbing the microphone, Jerry continued on in frustration: “And while I’m at it, what’s the deal with these parking restrictions and property tax hikes?!”

“Yeah!” The crowd repeated.

The angry rant was interrupted by a long and sorrowful moan. Camera and audience were again taken over the edge.

“I don’t like the sound of that!” A worried Human Torch said, backing away from the rubble pile.

“Just keep digging!” His sister reprimanded him, using her powers to lift and toss steel beams and chunks of concrete. “We both know Reed couldn’t have been hurt, I’m more worried about getting that creature under control.”

Hefting a section of wall aside, Thing scoffed. “I think having a building fall on his head did the job pretty good Suzie.”

“I wouldn’t be so certain about that.” Sitting on a curb and holding his arm, Spider-Man shook his head cautiously. “That thing took some pretty bad lumps before you got here. Wilson’s got one of those ‘Wolverine-y’ healing factor gimmicks.”

“Wilson?” Johnny asked. “Like the volleyball from Cast Away?”

“Like the Kingpin. He’s got a big appetite.”

The rubble heaved, causing Sue and Ben to step back. Then a stream of yellow energy burst through, sending debris flying. Sue created a shield to protect herself and Johnny, Thing just put a forearm across his face.

“Yup.” Spider-Man mumbled, “Wilson’s doing just fine.”

Orga’s hand erupted from the wreckage and came down with a thud, clawing out of the heap. When its body appeared, they were surprised to see Reed wrapped around the mouth, keeping its shut while the monster picked at him to pry him off.
“I think… I think it must have been Spider-Man’s suit! Orga needs direct skin-to-skin contact to absorb the genes!”

A wretched cry was all the Millennian could manage to squeak out before the coils tightened.

“Great to know Reed!” Johnny congratulated, “Any ideas on how we beat it?”

“I got a few!” Running up the pile, Thing seized the hand, using all his strength to haul Orga out of the hole and fling the alien down the avenue.
“How ‘bout I start the clock on Clobberin’ Time!”

Susan fell in behind Ben Grimm as he went after the monster. “If you overexert its healing factor, I think you could render him inert long enough for us to incapacitate him!”

Gliding beside them both, Johnny smirked. “Ben, I think that’s science talk for: ‘beat him to a pulp’.”

“I’mma shove you down his throat, matchstick!” A surly Thing barked.

Orga planted his claws into the street, facing the oncoming foes, and fired his shoulder cannon. Susan dove to the side and disappeared, Thing bore his shoulder into the blast, driving forward one step at a time.

Reed quickly analyzed the situation, “Johnny! Hit him from the side!”

Johnny dove at an angle, “Hot stuff coming through!” He came into Orga’s left flank and poured on a torrent of fire so scorching the asphalt underneath melted. Skin blistered and seared despite the regeneration, eliciting a screech of agony and a reflexive move to put his back to the flame.

Spider-Man, who kept himself at a distance, watched the combined attack unfold. He saw Thing capitalize on the opening and ram his body into Orga’s injured side, knocking it over onto its back. Reed extended his arms and legs to wrap around the monster’s wrists, arresting them together.
“Now they’re just torturing that thing.” He said, shaking his head. “Just because it regenerates doesn’t mean it doesn’t feel pain.”
Orga tried to leap away from them, but Susan reappeared on one of her construct disks, and snatched him out of the air. Plummeting to the street, the alien was still bound when it landed on its back, breaking into the sewer line below.
“Poor fella heals almost as fast as they hurt it, they could be at this for hours. There’s gotta be a better way.”

As the monster thrashed in the sinkhole, particles of golden energy began to coalesce in the shoulder pocket. Before it got the chance to fire however, Susan formed a light construct in the breech to block the discharge.

Orga’s shoulder exploded in a shower of blood and bits of extraterrestrial meat. Whimpering and twitching, he resistance failed him and he wilted into quiet submission. With the alien beast slumped onto its face in defeat, Reed disentangled himself and joined his family as they approached.
“I’ve synthesized some Secondary Adamantium in the lab, I have enough to forge some restraints, but it’ll take me at least an hour.”

“Get cracking on it then Stretch.” Thing said, pointing to the monster. “’Cause he’s starting to patch himself up.”

The blown-out wound was already morphing and re-solidifying, forming topical dermis. The loss of mass however, meant that the waning influence of Hulk’s regeneration couldn’t restore the shoulder cannon. With a weak moan, Orga opened his mouth slightly, letting the organ that dwelled in his throat bloom and unfold like a deflated balloon.

“He’s desperate.” Sue remarked, listing to the pained cries and heavy breathing. “His regeneration is overtaxed and he doesn’t have the material to compensate.”

Spider-Man walked in between them to crouch down and take a long look at the wheezing monster.
“A creature that absorbs genetic material of native species… that means either its own genetic structure is unstable, or it can’t survive on our planet without adapting our traits.”

“A good working theory Spider-Man.” Reed commended. “We’ll have to find a way to contain him safely enough to conduct observations. Maybe you’d like to help me with that?”

“Really?” Peter Parker exclaimed under his mask, “That would be amazing!”

Johnny laid a hand on Spidy’s shoulder. “Just be prepared for Reed to forget you’re even there five minutes after you arrive.”

Susan stifled a chuckle, while her husband made a confused grimace.

“So what do you want us to do with him in the mean time?” Thing asked.

“We just make sure he doesn’t escape. I don’t think he’s got much of a fight left in him at this point.” The Fantasticar hovered over to where the group stood, and Reed reached up to extract his translucent tablet device from his compartment, entering a few commands. “I’m getting the process started now, but like I said it’ll take a little bit.”

“Sweet!” That gives me time for a little public relations!” Jetting off, Johnny made his way to the top of a building where a group of citizens were assembled.

“Johnny Storm!” Patricia called out, dashing over to him as the camera focused on his approach.
“The Fantastic Four has saved New York once again, and probably saved the life of your fellow super-hero, what do you have to say?”

Pretending to consider the question, Storm put his hands on his hips and looked off in the distance. “Well it’s a tough job, and somebody has to get it done. With SHIELD still recovering from Godzilla, the Avengers and X-Men out fighting their own battles, you can bet that the Human Torch and the rest of the Fantastic Four are here to look out for New York City.”

“And Spider-Man!” A voice from the audience called out.

“Yup, and Spider-Man too, great guy, heart of the city.”

Patricia nodded her head. “So Mr. Storm, what do the Fantastic Four plan to do with the creature, now that you’ve defeated it? And does it have anything to do with the other monsters?”

“Well….” Johnny stalled, rolling his eyes. “For starters its name is actually ‘Orga’, weird, I know. And uh… For the time being we’ll get it safely contained and try to figure out what exactly we’re dealing with.”

“Uh-huh, and what about its relationship to Godzilla and the others?”

“Listen, there’s some stuff that I’m not sure I should be spilling the beans on, and-”

“What aren’t you telling us Johnny Storm?” The camera whirled around, and saw Seinfeld standing in front of the other spectators. “What don’t you want us to know about these monsters tearing our city apart?”

Johnny began to raise his palms defensively, but after a moment realized who it was.
“Jerry Seinfeld? What are you doing here?”

The screech of tires on the street roused the attention of the heroes, Reed and the others turning to see Armored Personnel Carriers of the United States Army rolling into position around them.

“What’s with all this?” Sue wondered.
Reed pursed his lips. “SHIELD has been crippled. DoD must be stepping in to fill the shoes.”

“Hey, I’ve seen that logo before.” Spider-Man pointed to a graphic on the side of one of the APC’s, the insignia of the Hulk-Busters.

The rear door unfolded, and Major General Thaddeus “Thunderbolt” Ross stepped out, dressed in ACU fatigues and a MOLLE load bearing vest. His crisp and stiff patrol cap bearing down on his stern face.

“What can we do for you General?” Reed asked as the man approached, soldiers behind him scurrying to establish their own security. The two of them weren’t on the best of terms, the stereotypical conflict between a thinker and a fighter. Morso however, was the incident when the Fantastic Four had taken in Bruce Banner and refused to hand him over to Ross’ unit. The intervention of SHIELD preventing the Baxter Building from becoming a combat zone.

“You can start by getting your rubber-ass out of the way of my men.” The General huffed. “The Department of Defense has been given authority to assume tactical command of the region in the absence of SHIELD. As such, my unit is specialized to deal with threats like this, and we’ve been tasked with capturing and containing this ugly bastard.”

“I’m afraid you’re a little late to the party General.” Susan growled, leaning next to Reed. “We’ve got that covered.”

“And the Army thanks you for all your hard work, but we’ll be taking it from here.” Ross put his hand in the air and waved it in a circle, “Let’s get that crane in here!” He yelled to a section of his troops. “And send in the Deacon boys!”

“With due respect to your men, Ross, I don’t think you’re equipped for this.” Mr. Fantastic took a step forward, “It took the five of us to subdue Orga. You really should let us-”

“Don’t mistake the situation you’re in Richards.” Ross said, leveling a finger at Reed’s chest. “I have lawful jurisdiction here, so if I think you’re hindering my operation in any way, I’ll come down on you harder than that building you freaks dropped.”

As Ross and the Richards continued to talk, Spider-Man and Thing watched on.
“Why’s that General guy such a head case?”

“Eh, he’s been a bitter crank ever since he started chasing the Hulk around.” Thing explained. “Obsessed with turning Banner into a weapon, always comes up short.”

Glancing around, Spider-Man noted the array of scientific teams that poured out of the armored vehicles.
“Now what would the Army even do with something like Orga?” He wondered to himself.
A massive dump truck backed down the street, aided by a man on the ground to help guide it. A pair of cranes also entered the perimeter, chain harnesses dangling from their hooks, with links as thick as Parker’s bicep.
“I hope these guys know what they’re getting themselves into.”

Breaking away from the conversation, Reed put a hand across his chin both to think and calm his blood. His wife trailed him, leaving Ross alone to supervise his men.
“What are we going to do? That idiot can’t contain the Hulk, and he sure as hell can’t contain that thing.”

“There’s not a whole lot we can do Susan, Ross has the legal authority to take Orga into his custody. Like it or not, we’re just civilians.”

“Maybe we can get Captain Rogers to do something.” She suggested. “He’s the acting head of SHIELD, he’d be on our side.”

“True, but he must have a thousand things to concern himself with right now, I doubt he’d be interested in a jurisdiction dispute with Ross and the DoD that he doesn’t need to have.”

The soldiers worked quickly as the chains were lowered into place, attaching them around the wrists, ankles and neck. Several buckets of a shiny grey adhesive were poured onto the area that had been the shoulder cannon, solidifying to halt any further regeneration of the weapon.

Working in tandem, the cranes lifted the body as the dump truck backed into place below.

“Be careful with that thing!” Ross yelled. “We don’t want it banged-up any more than it already is!”

“General Ross! General Ross!”
A commotion came from the perimeter, where a news reporter, her camera-man, and a throng of civilians had gathered to gawk at the work being done. The red head with the microphone singled out the General and started yelling in his direction.

“Aw hell.” Ross snarled. “If there’s one thing I hate more than these spandex-wearing freaks, it’s the god-damn media!”

“Care to comment on the superhero community’s global effort to combat the monsters?” Patricia asked.

“Yeah!” He hollered from where he stood. “Don’t quit your day jobs!”

“Harsh words from General ‘Thunderbolt’ Ross.” She said to the camera. “A man known for his antipathy towards superheroes, and the Hulk in particular.”

Thaddeus took off his cap and beat it against his thigh. “Christ Almighty.” He grumbled. “Somebody get that crowd back!”

Two soldiers moved in on Patricia and herded her and the others farther back despite their protests.

The cranes came to a halt as Orga was positioned above the bed of the truck, a coordinated effort of men on the ground directed the process.

“Think they’ll turn him into dog food?” Johnny Storm asked, landing next to Spider-Man and Thing.

“Naw.” Spidey said, “Even dogs know not to eat stuff like that.”

Crossing his arms, Thing smirked. “You’d think that wouldn’t cha. But I had a dog when I was a kid, tried to eat everything it could. Sometimes twice if you know what I mean.”

“Eww.”

A clanking of the chains drew everyone’s attention up to where Orga was wriggling in the harnesses, barking and wailing

“Everybody just stay calm!” Ross ordered.

The chain that held Orga’s right arm snapped, the length of it swinging down and sending several men diving out of the way.

Spider-Man stuck his working arm out, shooting a web line that stuck to three men, giving them a hard yank out of harm’s way. Thing managed to get his hands on the wild end of the chain, keeping it from striking out as the monster struggled.
“A’right! Settle down you!”

The neck of one of the cranes groaned, the steel bending under the weight of the violent thrashing. Orga reached back with his free hand, grabbed the other crane, and wrenched it of balance.

Susan rushed forward to create a construct to keep the machine from toppling over, as the tug-of-war between Thing and Orga got rowdier. The dozens of soldiers took firing positions, and truck-mounted machineguns turned on the alien. Civilian onlookers aimed their cameras to capture every second of it.

“Spider-Man, see if you can re-enforce the damaged crane!” Reed stretched himself up to aide his wife stabilize the tilted one. Wrapping his arms around the boom, he tied off his legs to an APC vehicle and pulled.

Having a much harder time with his task, Spider-Man gripped the spine of the boom and tried to keep it from snapping.
“Sure, send the one armed guy to do heavy lifting!”

The second crane came back down on its stabilizer legs with a jarring thud. Temporary slacked, the chains jerked on the hoist line of the damaged one, and it defied Spider-Man’s attempt to keep it up. “Look out below!”

“Uh-crap.” Thing muttered, watching as Orga descended a few feet and the free chain became wrapped around one of its fingers. With a curl of its arm, Orga yanked Thing upwards, and caught him with its mouth. Thing was able to put his hands on the outside to brace himself from going in further, but his head and most of his shoulders were now in the clutches of the grasping pink organ.

Johnny flew up to Orga‘s head and began blasting it with flames. “Stop eating my friend!”

“Susan, a hand!” This wasn’t the first time Ben Grimm had found his rocky self in the maw of some alien creature, and the team had a practiced technique for dealing with it. Reed maneuvered himself over the top of Orga, and coiled his arms around Thing’s waist, and finding another anchor in the rear axle of the dump-truck, tried to free Ben. Susan likewise encircled her power onto Thing’s legs, and put her own effort into the rescue.

A barrage of firepower also began to pepper Orga’s grey hide, but as seconds passed, and more of The Things’ durability was copied, the rounds simply ricocheted off.

“Chaos in Manhattan today!” Patricia said into her microphone as she and the camera took cover behind a concrete corner, the scope just wide enough to record the scene. A few reflected bullets pinging off the wall.
“After the victory of the Fantastic Four and Spider-Man over a monster now known as ‘Orga’, Military units had arrived to take control of the scene, only for a single mishap to throw everything into a disaster! The creature now appears to be attempting to consume the Thing, while the rest valiantly try to free him!”
She dared a peek around the corner, and witnessed the transformative effect of the alien’s ability.
“It um… It now uh… Whatever this Orga animal is, it seems to be replicating the famously tough skin of Ben Grimm. No doubt sucking on him like the world’s grumpiest jawbreaker.”

With a SCHLOCKING sound, the Richards finally wrested Thing from the alien’s mouth, the three of them falling back in a heap.

“AIR UNITS MOVE IN!” Ross screamed into the radio on his shoulder. “Prepare to engage!”

An invigorated Orga bellowed in rapacious savagery, the damaged crane boom finally giving way and dropping him in a tangle of chain and twisted metal. Orga reached out to swipe at a stumbling soldier, only for Spider-Man to put an arm around the man’s chest and leap away with him.

Gunships, designed to battle the Incredible Hulk, banked around a city block and brought the monster into their sights. The three of them gave each other some space, and opened fire with a combined attack of large caliber rounds and guided missiles.

Reed covered his wife under his malleable flesh, shrapnel raining into it as the rounds bit off chinks of asphalt and steel. After the initial barrage, they retreated to better cover behind one of the armored vehicles
“I didn’t think he’d recover this quickly!” Reed said.

Susan threw-up a shield to deflect a portion of the shrapnel being ejected from the fight. “How are we going to stop it now?”

The explosives struck Orga and everything around him, severing the other chains. His hide sparked with hundreds of bullets, but none of them penetrated his newly armored skin. Swallowing the membrane back into his throat, the Millennian strode forward as two rockets slammed into his chest and burst to minimal effect.

The helicopters jockeyed to stay in position, pouring their ammunition into the creature’s front.
“HA! Look at that!” Tucking his M-4 into his shoulder and squeezing off a few rounds, General Ross looked on happily as his air units unleashed hell on the alien. “Good old fashioned American firepower.”

Orga’s growling and salivating face glared at his surrounding attackers, seeing through the machines to inspect the pilots, finding nothing worth assimilating. Grasping the fallen crane, he hurled it in between them, causing them to scatter sideways. One helicopter was separated from the other two, and it was this one that Orga seized on, bounding towards it through the air.

As skilled as the gunner was, putting every round he could into the oncoming monster, it wasn’t enough to prevent Orga from grappling the craft in its hands and taking it down. The helicopter was spiked on the ground, rupturing the frame and fuel tanks, the men’s screams drowned out in the explosion. Another salvo of machinegun fire sparked off his back, the remaining Hulkbuster units finally rallying to establish a line of fire.

Posting a 240B machine gun on the hood of a maroon civilian car, General Ross crushed a stogie between his teeth before yelling a series of commands into his radio and loosing a few iterations of controlled bursts.
“DEPLOY MECHA UNITS GODAMMIT! THE HELL ARE YOU WAITING FOR?!”

A large specially designed armored flatbed truck took a left turn around a corner, the tires of the same side nearly coming off the road. On the platform, were three 10-foot tall mecha suits, armed to the hilt. Desert tan, armor plating like a tank, and manually controlled by a pilot inside, these were built to fight the Hulk in hand-to-hand combat. Bearing enough firepower to conquer most small nations, and capable of reacting to the pilot’s movement in real-time, they sped towards the fight as the team members climbed into their seats.

An enormous hand swatted the burning wreckage of the helicopter in the direction of an APC with two MK19 grenade launchers mounted on top, sending the gunners scrambling for cover inside the vehicle. Orga was turning to attack the remaining gunships when a slab of concrete was broken over his head.

“You like the taste of rocks huh?” Thing roared, picking-up another chunk of masonry debris. “Then why don’t you suck on this ya big palooka!”

Just as Orga lunged to attack him, Thing shoved the jagged boulder in its mouth, stunning the creature momentarily.
“Ya come inta’ my town!” A right cross into Orga’s eye socket, staggering it back.
“Ya’ wreck my neighborhood!” A left cross to the jaw.
“Ya’ try to eat my friends!” Right uppercut.
“And ya’ try to eat me!” Double-hammer fist across the teeth.
“You come onto the wrong side a town pal!”

Thing charged forward, tackling the monster and driving it back into a tram support pillar, nearly knocking it out. Grimm followed it up with a series of body shots that thundered out like a piled river going through granite. In response, Orga clubbed him in the back with one of his hands, buckling Thing’s knees.

It was good that he did, as a barrage of explosions erupted across the alien’s body. A dozen High Explosive shells struck Orga virtually at once, thrusting him through the support pillar and tumbling rearward.

The three Hulkbuster mechas continued their approach, the cannons on their arms leveled. Loaded into their arsenal, were miniature artillery shells, small conical fuses in the front that initiated the primer in the body. Inside they were designed to channel the explosion forward, a copper plate just behind the fuse superheated and shaped to penetrate several layers of steel.

“God bless those boys.” Ross muttered, striding past Spider-Man and the Richards as they winced at the alien cries.

One round after another pummeled Orga, the canisters ejecting from a port on the underside, the rest being fed into the chamber via the belt that lined the elbow and triceps of the suits. The monster was overwhelmed at first, the shots blowing pits into his flesh, the regeneration and acquired durability doing all it could to keep him from being torn apart.
He slammed both his fists into the ground, the wave rolled under the mechas who went unfazed as the shock absorbers in the legs compressed and expanded.

Under the hail of the destructive projectiles, his instincts told him to flee, to seek shelter and survive for another day. But something in the back of his mind, something primal yet not his own sparked, refusing to be silent. The spark became a flare, burning brighter the longer the humans continued to attack. It kept repeating the same thought over and over again, the opposite of what his mutilated consciousness told him was the best way to continue surviving.

It told him to fight, it told him to go through his enemies, it cried out for war.
Glaring at Man’s machines, he listened to that call. With a roar of renewed defiance, Orga charged at the belligerent exosuits, swatting one aside before the others dove out of the way. The lone suit somersaulted back and onto its feet, only to find a hand close around it with a crushing grip. Like a child in a tantrum, Orga smashed it against the ground again and again before tossing it to its teammates.

As the war between flesh and machine raged, mankind watched on. Looking down at his broken hand, Spider-Man thought hard about what he was about to do.
“This has gone on long enough.” He turned to the others, “I’ve got a plan, but it’ll take all of us. General Ross, can the suits self-destruct?”

Ross narrowed his eyes for a moment, thinking over how much information to divulge to a masked civilian. But then again, this was Spider-Man after all.
“In case any foreign agents like HYDRA or the Chi-Coms ever got their hands on them, yeah, we can blow ‘em. Why?”

“Because I think we’re going about this the hard way.”

“Are you suggesting we apply Ockham’s Razor?” Reed asked.

Spider-Man smirked under his mask. “Something like that, but more like: ‘Godzilla’s Razor’.”

The two mecha suits were in retreat, continuing to fire as they backpedaled. Orga, turned his face away for a moment, his throat undulating to a sickening gurgling noise. When he whipped around, he spat a glob of sicky green goo onto one of the suits, coating it from head to toe. The slime immediately began to eat its way through the armor, the pilot inside frantically trying to get the emergency eject button to work.

The second pilot, taken off guard by the new attack hesitated when he glanced over to his comrade. Taking the opportunity, Orga slammed his knuckles to the ground and swung his legs forward, dropkicking both of them across the street.

Landing next to the exosuit that Orga had savaged, Spider-Man looked into the small window to see the unconscious pilot with his head lolled to the side.
“Thing! Help me get him out!”

“I got’cha kid.” Thing gripped around the seam of the pilot cab, exploiting the already damaged armor to peel it open enough for Spider-Man to grab the man from inside and slide him out.

Millennian drool fell in ribbons to the asphalt, the mix of the green slime in the viscous fluid creating pot holes as it burned.

“You think your stuff is hot?” Behind Orga, Johnny Storm hovered in place. “Let me show you how it’s done!”

Hugging himself onto the monster’s back, Johnny amplified his flame, covering Orga’s entire back in a blanket of intense fire. The massive claws failing to be able to reach him, Orga thrashed madly as his skin blackened and crackled.

When the APC crashed into Orga’s left side, the alien never saw it coming, Ross jumping out of the driver’s seat a second before impact. The vehicle slammed into the leg and bent itself around with the momentum.

Coming over the side of the truck, Reed wrapped around Orga‘s arms to pin him against the vehicle. “Get clear Johnny!” He yelled, giving his brother-in-law enough time to avoid being squished in between.

A feral bellow protested his restraint, but like before, the elasticity of Mr. Fantastic was able to keep Orga in place. The cry was cut off into a sharp cough however when his mouth was stuck open, unable to close.

Susan Richards concentrated her powers on forming a ring around the inside of Orga’s jaws, growing it as the lips separated evermore. Finally, the mouth was pried open to its hilt, the membrane folding out like a muscle reflex.
“Do it now Ben!”

With the damaged Hulkbuster suit over his shoulder, Ben Grimm felt like he was back in his old football days, dashing into the enemy territory like a fullback.
“Chew on this!” He barked, using both hands to dunk the suit right down Orga’s throat.

The exosuit disappeared down into the belly of the beast, earning a confused and startled grumble.

Swinging in from above, Spider-Man landed on Orga’s head, detaching the web cartridge from his right wrist. He tossed it next to the writing tongue, where it landed in a puddle of the acidic saliva.
“Let it go Sue!” Spidey called out, casting a web-line and slinging himself away.

Closing her hands with a snap, her light construct dissolved and Orga’s mouth folded back down. A moment later after, a small explosion went off in his mouth and the entire orifice was clogged with the webbing material.

Orga tried to regurgitate the machine from his gut, but found it and his screams blocked by the adhesive.

Holding out a hand sized transmitter device, General Ross entered a number code, and pressed his right thumb onto a small digital panel.
“Thanks for the test run.” He smiled, pushing a square red button in the top right of the interface.

As the mecha suit roiled around inside the monster, a series of alarm chimes began to go off, the power core accepting the self-destruct command.

Orga’s eyes opened wide in terrifying remembrance.

The top of Orga’s body was obliterated in an instant, blasting bits of grey scale and purple tissue in a billion directions. Reed retracted himself from the corpse, being spared any damage. The body wavered for a few moments before falling forward, a slurry of organs and bodily fluids spilling out, much to the disgust of all who saw.

They all let a few moments pass before speaking, some of the soldiers swarming over the mecha suits to help the pilots out.

Fixing Ross with a hard stare, Susan poked a finger into his shoulder. “Since I doubt you’ll be destroying the remains, my advice is that you keep them in separate containers, and at a low temperature to inhibit any regeneration.”

“I’ll do that.” He grumbled, giving her a slight but respectful nod.

Sitting on a chunk of concrete with rebar sticking out of it, Spider-Man held his right arm to his chest, using his remaining webbing to create a hasty sling.
“From your reputation, I’d say you have an accelerated healing factor.” Coming to a stop just beside Spidey, Reed knelt down to take a closer look at a ragged hunk of alien flesh about the size of a grapefruit that had landed a few feet away.

“Yeah. Nothing like super fast like Wolverine, but I’ll be alright.”

“My invitation was serious Spider-Man, come by the Baxter Building, and maybe we can work on improving your web formula or the spinneret devices.” Taking a hold of the flesh chunk, he quickly covered it with his hand and put it behind his back.
“Plus I’d like to get some fresh eyes on a few projects.

“Sounds great Mr. Richards.” Grunting as he got up, Parker stretched his back. “Right now though, I really gotta get home, take a shower, and spend the next week washing this uniform.

“Because you’re thinking it might carry some alien bacteria?”

“Because it was really smelly and gross inside that thing’s belly.”

“Ready to get home Ben?” Johnny asked Thing as they walked away from the scene.

“Yeah, it’s Sunday and- wait… Ahhh crap! I’m missing the Knicks game!”

With a sigh, Johnny put a hand on his friend’s shoulder. “You know we live in a house of futuristic technology right? We can record shows off the TV?”

Seeing his men fast at work securing the site, collecting the alien’s remains, and aiding their wounded, Ross stepped around the back of the APC that lay on its side and took a satellite phone from his cargo pocket. Dialing a number, he waited until the ringing gave way to a scrambled voice that spoke only: “Go Ahead.”

“Tells the lab-jockeys back at the base we’ve got one of the monsters. The one that my SHIELD contact says defeated Hulk. It’s mostly intact and probably dead, but something tells me they’ll have more than enough to-”

A number of surprised voices cried out, alerting Ross to peek around the corner, and see his men dashing back from Orga’s remains. The alien body dissolving into a black powder and falling apart like sand.

General Ross clenched his teeth at the sight, his face turning red as it contorted into a twitching sneer.

“The battle is finally over.” Patricia Love said into the camera. Standing behind the perimeter of the arriving first responders, the picture featured her to the right side, the background showing the destruction littering the streets.
“The monster known as Orga has been defeated by the combined efforts of The Fantastic Four, General Ross’ anti-Hulk unit, and local hero Spider-Man. Any connection to Godzilla, or the other giant monsters has not been made known to the public, and speculation abounds as to their true origin.
For now however, let’s just hope that the crisis in Connecticut can… be…”
Patricia’s last few words trailed off, the woman staring at something beyond. The camera feed jostled, and the sound of people running and talking excitedly could be heard as a pair of brown shoes made their way over to a railing that overlooked the bay.
Off picture, Patricia spoke with astonishment. “Ladies and gentlemen, I’m not sure how well the camera is seeing this, but something has just appeared over the harbor!”

Hundreds of onlookers rushed to the railings, pointing out the glowing mass of colorful lights that shimmered above the water.
“A strange light phenomena has formed above the water, we’re not sure what it- oh my god!”

The crowds screamed when a huge, metallic clawed foot stepped out of the lights, and into the water that came up to its shin. The screams rose into a panicked clamor as the rest of Kiryu entered the world, holding a small aircraft in its hand.
The portal closed behind him.

Description
NEW YORK CITY

A shaky camera feed righted itself to focus on a pretty red-headed woman, who hastily brushed her bangs behind her ears and raised a microphone to her lips. In the background, the midday cityscape.

“This is Patricia Ann Love for Channel Seven News, and behind me-”

“MRAAAAAAAAWWWWWWW!!!!”
A bestial roar filled the air, followed by a crashing sound of steel and glass.

“Behind me, wages a war for the streets of New York City.” Patricia gestured to her camera to follow her, and she strode over to the where the viewer could see they were about to peek over the edge of a building's roof. The camera panned down to record the tumultuous battle.
“See here the Fantastic Four engaged in a fight with some bizarre creature. Police have retreated to establish a perimeter, urging civilians in the area to fall back behind their lines.”

Leaping from the side of a building, Orga dodged the stretching arms of Reed Richards, and nearly snatched Johnny Storm out of flight.

“Not even two days after the appearance of the ‘Godzilla’, a number of other giant monsters have emerged all around the world. This one, which is possibly the nastiest thing to crawl out of a New York City subway in the past week, according to witnesses has actually eaten local hero Spider-Man!”

“That’s a bunch’a hooey!”

The camera panned to the right in a blur, where it focused again on a middle-aged man with grey hair and olive colored liver-spotted skin grimaced at the reporter. He stood among a gathering of other bystanders, and she quickly stuck the microphone under his mouth.
“Spider-Man ain’t eaten!” He continued to scold, “I seen him take a bus to the face when that ilíthia malákas Rhino fought him.”

Patricia eyed the camera warily, “I’m not sure we can say that on TV but, sure, Spider-Man is known for being tougher than he looks. You, Ma’am!”
Stepping over to an elderly woman who wore a knitted shawl and thin-framed glasses, she leaned down to put herself on the same level with the stooped matron.
“Do you think our friendly neighborhood Spider-Man is currently digesting in the bowels of that creature?”

“Oh I don’t know, I think it’s all terrible.” The woman shivered, pulling her shawl closer over her shoulders. “We never had all these fights with super-powers and monsters when I was a little girl. I tell you, it’s all those damn Democrats in the state leg-”

“Thank you Ma’am.” Patricia sputtered, cutting of the woman before things got too dicey. “Let’s take another look at ground level shall we?”

The yellow beam of Orga’s cannon swept across the street, obliterating a car and 30 yards of storefront. Johnny Storm flew by overhead, strafing the alien with a torrent of fire that set the asphalt alight. Orga bellowed in protest at the annoyance, leaping after The Human Torch, but upon catching a Buick to the gut instead, was knocked back to the road.

“I think you may need to turn up the heat on your dainty little fingers Johnny!” Thing said, throwing his arms around another car. “You’re little fireworks ain’t doin’ nothing’ but turning him into a hot-head!”

“Oh great pun, Ben!” Johnny shot back sarcastically, “How many times can you re-work the same insult?”

“Stop quibbling you two!” Susan Richards growled, creating a light barrier to restrain Orga as it tried to get back on its feet. “And focus on getting Spider-Man out of that thing!”

With a strained grunt, Susan pushed on her force-field as she walked, shoving Orga back into a building, pinning him to the side. The monster snarled and raged against the Invisible Woman’s power, firing the shoulder canon skywards in a vain act of frustration.
“Reed darling.” She growled, “You could help any time now!”

Emerging from the windows of the building, the long limbs of Mr. Fantastic stretched out to wrap themselves around Orga’s arms.
“We have to be very careful with this one Sue, if he gets his mouth on any one of us, it could be disastrously interesting.”

“WHAT?!” His wife yelled.

Reed’s arms and legs continued to coil tighter and tighter, biding Orga in place.
“I just mean to say that, what could arise from some controlled exposure of different genetic information to this creature could provide us with invaluable information in genetic sciences.”

Orga leaned his head to the side, attempting to snap his jaws on Reed. All around him was ever more covetous genes to assimilate, impervious skin, fire control, invisibility and force-field projection, elasticity. With these powers, he would finally achieve the mission his race had scoured the universe for.

“Ben! See if you can extricate Spider-Man!” Reed yelled as he stretched his head around to see everything. “But, try not to do it by killing Orga. If you can.”

Thing grumbled. “Jeez, Reed.” He said, rolling his eyes. He walked over to a streetlight post that had been knocked over in the fight, and bent it in half.

Orga wailed as he exerted, managing to pry himself forward by a few inches. Pinching her eyes shut, Susan began to shake under the strain of her effort.
“I can’t hold it for much longer!”

As Thing approached, bearing the folded steel pipe like a baseball bat, Orga faced him, howling to the urge to integrate the cells.
Rearing back with the handmade bludgeon, Ben Grimm scowled. “Ah, quit ‘yer bellyaching’!”
With a resounding SMACK!, he smashed the light post against the side of Orga’s head, and with a pained cry the monster seemed to calm itself down.
“Alright, now you’re give us back our little spider-buddy.”

Laying a hand on Orga’s stomach, Thing pushed in, hoping to feel for something that could give him a sign. As he pushed, something inside pushed back. Recoiling slightly from the surprise, he used his other hand to tap on the skin a few times. Somewhere on the opposite side, the number of taps was repeated against the pressed-in hand.
“Oh, I bet it ain’t too nice in there. And it ain’t about to get no better, kid.”
Without any warning, Thing pulled back with his right, and delivered a tremendous body-shot to Orga’s midsection that sunk in at least four feet.

The Millennian doubled over from the blow, its mouth wide open as it gasped for breath with a pathetic wheeze.

Sue altered her posture, re-aiming her force-field to hold open Orga’s maw.

“Coming in!” Johnny landed next to Thing, and channeled a stream of fire into the monster’s torso. When Orga sucking in air to scream, Sue pushed her construct deeper down his throat, opening his gullet.

Reed maneuvered his head precariously into the darkness of the alien esophagus.
“Fascinating…” He remarked, eying the ring of flesh that served as the sphincter to the rest of the digestive system. He dare not go past where his wife’s power held back Orga’s mouth, thinking that even momentary contact could allow it to copy genetic material. In front of him was not an esophagus familiar to an earthling, but a writing mass of convulsing knobby protrusions that the throat emptied into.
“Spider-Man!” He called out. “Spider-Man can you hear me?”

It wasn’t a voice that answered him, but a red gloved hand surging through from between folds in the quivering surface, covered in a syrupy pale green liquid. Without any hesitation Reed stretched his head towards it, letting the fingers grip into his malleable tissue. Contracting the neck, Richards yanked and pulled until he felt Spider-Man slipping through to the open space, flailing and scrambling once his limbs were free.

Spider-Man sucked in deep breaths as he crawled his way out of the mouth, throwing himself recklessly to the ground in a mad scurry.

“You okay Spider-Man?” A stunned Johnny Storm asked, he and Thing standing over him.

Parker held up a single finger as he took a few more moments to breath and collect himself. He rolled over onto his left side, pulled his mask from over his mouth, and vomited.
“Ugh…[spit] Did you guys really have to hit him in the stomach so many times? I was in there you know.”

Mr. Fantastic began to wonder about what occurred. “Intriguing… Orga shows no sign of having assimilated any of Spider-Man’s abilities. I’ll have to get a closer look at what exactly his costume is made of.”

Out of the corner of her eye, Susan saw the alien stir, “REED! LOOK OUT!”
In a surge of motion, Orga pushed himself backwards into the building, escaping her hold on its mouth, and dragging Reed with him. The two of them disappeared in a cloud of chaos and wreckage as the stories collapsed on top of them.

“A shocking turn of events here in Manhattan.” Patricia narrated from her position atop an adjacent building. “Spider-Man is in fact alive-”

“Told you!” a familiar voice called out.

“And now the monster and Mr. Fantastic, Reed Richards have been crushed under the weight of several tons of office floor. Right now I’d like to ask one of our city’s more famous residents what he thinks of what he’s just seen. Taking refuge with us, is celebrity comedian and actor, Jerry Seinfeld.”

Patricia posed the microphone to the slightly befuddled actor, who caught off guard, glanced between her and the camera for a few seconds.
“What do I think? I think I’m a little tired of seeing my city get torn apart by super-villains and giant monsters! I mean, what’s the deal with these giant monsters?! I glad Spider-Man’s alive and all, but something has to be done about all this destruction!”

“YEAH!” Several of the other refugees cried in support.

Grabbing the microphone, Jerry continued on in frustration: “And while I’m at it, what’s the deal with these parking restrictions and property tax hikes?!”

“Yeah!” The crowd repeated.

The angry rant was interrupted by a long and sorrowful moan. Camera and audience were again taken over the edge.

“I don’t like the sound of that!” A worried Human Torch said, backing away from the rubble pile.

“Just keep digging!” His sister reprimanded him, using her powers to lift and toss steel beams and chunks of concrete. “We both know Reed couldn’t have been hurt, I’m more worried about getting that creature under control.”

Hefting a section of wall aside, Thing scoffed. “I think having a building fall on his head did the job pretty good Suzie.”

“I wouldn’t be so certain about that.” Sitting on a curb and holding his arm, Spider-Man shook his head cautiously. “That thing took some pretty bad lumps before you got here. Wilson’s got one of those ‘Wolverine-y’ healing factor gimmicks.”

“Wilson?” Johnny asked. “Like the volleyball from Cast Away?”

“Like the Kingpin. He’s got a big appetite.”

The rubble heaved, causing Sue and Ben to step back. Then a stream of yellow energy burst through, sending debris flying. Sue created a shield to protect herself and Johnny, Thing just put a forearm across his face.

“Yup.” Spider-Man mumbled, “Wilson’s doing just fine.”

Orga’s hand erupted from the wreckage and came down with a thud, clawing out of the heap. When its body appeared, they were surprised to see Reed wrapped around the mouth, keeping its shut while the monster picked at him to pry him off.
“I think… I think it must have been Spider-Man’s suit! Orga needs direct skin-to-skin contact to absorb the genes!”

A wretched cry was all the Millennian could manage to squeak out before the coils tightened.

“Great to know Reed!” Johnny congratulated, “Any ideas on how we beat it?”

“I got a few!” Running up the pile, Thing seized the hand, using all his strength to haul Orga out of the hole and fling the alien down the avenue.
“How ‘bout I start the clock on Clobberin’ Time!”

Susan fell in behind Ben Grimm as he went after the monster. “If you overexert its healing factor, I think you could render him inert long enough for us to incapacitate him!”

Gliding beside them both, Johnny smirked. “Ben, I think that’s science talk for: ‘beat him to a pulp’.”

“I’mma shove you down his throat, matchstick!” A surly Thing barked.

Orga planted his claws into the street, facing the oncoming foes, and fired his shoulder cannon. Susan dove to the side and disappeared, Thing bore his shoulder into the blast, driving forward one step at a time.

Reed quickly analyzed the situation, “Johnny! Hit him from the side!”

Johnny dove at an angle, “Hot stuff coming through!” He came into Orga’s left flank and poured on a torrent of fire so scorching the asphalt underneath melted. Skin blistered and seared despite the regeneration, eliciting a screech of agony and a reflexive move to put his back to the flame.

Spider-Man, who kept himself at a distance, watched the combined attack unfold. He saw Thing capitalize on the opening and ram his body into Orga’s injured side, knocking it over onto its back. Reed extended his arms and legs to wrap around the monster’s wrists, arresting them together.
“Now they’re just torturing that thing.” He said, shaking his head. “Just because it regenerates doesn’t mean it doesn’t feel pain.”
Orga tried to leap away from them, but Susan reappeared on one of her construct disks, and snatched him out of the air. Plummeting to the street, the alien was still bound when it landed on its back, breaking into the sewer line below.
“Poor fella heals almost as fast as they hurt it, they could be at this for hours. There’s gotta be a better way.”

As the monster thrashed in the sinkhole, particles of golden energy began to coalesce in the shoulder pocket. Before it got the chance to fire however, Susan formed a light construct in the breech to block the discharge.

Orga’s shoulder exploded in a shower of blood and bits of extraterrestrial meat. Whimpering and twitching, he resistance failed him and he wilted into quiet submission. With the alien beast slumped onto its face in defeat, Reed disentangled himself and joined his family as they approached.
“I’ve synthesized some Secondary Adamantium in the lab, I have enough to forge some restraints, but it’ll take me at least an hour.”

“Get cracking on it then Stretch.” Thing said, pointing to the monster. “’Cause he’s starting to patch himself up.”

The blown-out wound was already morphing and re-solidifying, forming topical dermis. The loss of mass however, meant that the waning influence of Hulk’s regeneration couldn’t restore the shoulder cannon. With a weak moan, Orga opened his mouth slightly, letting the organ that dwelled in his throat bloom and unfold like a deflated balloon.

“He’s desperate.” Sue remarked, listing to the pained cries and heavy breathing. “His regeneration is overtaxed and he doesn’t have the material to compensate.”

Spider-Man walked in between them to crouch down and take a long look at the wheezing monster.
“A creature that absorbs genetic material of native species… that means either its own genetic structure is unstable, or it can’t survive on our planet without adapting our traits.”

“A good working theory Spider-Man.” Reed commended. “We’ll have to find a way to contain him safely enough to conduct observations. Maybe you’d like to help me with that?”

“Really?” Peter Parker exclaimed under his mask, “That would be amazing!”

Johnny laid a hand on Spidy’s shoulder. “Just be prepared for Reed to forget you’re even there five minutes after you arrive.”

Susan stifled a chuckle, while her husband made a confused grimace.

“So what do you want us to do with him in the mean time?” Thing asked.

“We just make sure he doesn’t escape. I don’t think he’s got much of a fight left in him at this point.” The Fantasticar hovered over to where the group stood, and Reed reached up to extract his translucent tablet device from his compartment, entering a few commands. “I’m getting the process started now, but like I said it’ll take a little bit.”

“Sweet!” That gives me time for a little public relations!” Jetting off, Johnny made his way to the top of a building where a group of citizens were assembled.

“Johnny Storm!” Patricia called out, dashing over to him as the camera focused on his approach.
“The Fantastic Four has saved New York once again, and probably saved the life of your fellow super-hero, what do you have to say?”

Pretending to consider the question, Storm put his hands on his hips and looked off in the distance. “Well it’s a tough job, and somebody has to get it done. With SHIELD still recovering from Godzilla, the Avengers and X-Men out fighting their own battles, you can bet that the Human Torch and the rest of the Fantastic Four are here to look out for New York City.”

“And Spider-Man!” A voice from the audience called out.

“Yup, and Spider-Man too, great guy, heart of the city.”

Patricia nodded her head. “So Mr. Storm, what do the Fantastic Four plan to do with the creature, now that you’ve defeated it? And does it have anything to do with the other monsters?”

“Well….” Johnny stalled, rolling his eyes. “For starters its name is actually ‘Orga’, weird, I know. And uh… For the time being we’ll get it safely contained and try to figure out what exactly we’re dealing with.”

“Uh-huh, and what about its relationship to Godzilla and the others?”

“Listen, there’s some stuff that I’m not sure I should be spilling the beans on, and-”

“What aren’t you telling us Johnny Storm?” The camera whirled around, and saw Seinfeld standing in front of the other spectators. “What don’t you want us to know about these monsters tearing our city apart?”

Johnny began to raise his palms defensively, but after a moment realized who it was.
“Jerry Seinfeld? What are you doing here?”

The screech of tires on the street roused the attention of the heroes, Reed and the others turning to see Armored Personnel Carriers of the United States Army rolling into position around them.

“What’s with all this?” Sue wondered.
Reed pursed his lips. “SHIELD has been crippled. DoD must be stepping in to fill the shoes.”

“Hey, I’ve seen that logo before.” Spider-Man pointed to a graphic on the side of one of the APC’s, the insignia of the Hulk-Busters.

The rear door unfolded, and Major General Thaddeus “Thunderbolt” Ross stepped out, dressed in ACU fatigues and a MOLLE load bearing vest. His crisp and stiff patrol cap bearing down on his stern face.

“What can we do for you General?” Reed asked as the man approached, soldiers behind him scurrying to establish their own security. The two of them weren’t on the best of terms, the stereotypical conflict between a thinker and a fighter. Morso however, was the incident when the Fantastic Four had taken in Bruce Banner and refused to hand him over to Ross’ unit. The intervention of SHIELD preventing the Baxter Building from becoming a combat zone.

“You can start by getting your rubber-ass out of the way of my men.” The General huffed. “The Department of Defense has been given authority to assume tactical command of the region in the absence of SHIELD. As such, my unit is specialized to deal with threats like this, and we’ve been tasked with capturing and containing this ugly bastard.”

“I’m afraid you’re a little late to the party General.” Susan growled, leaning next to Reed. “We’ve got that covered.”

“And the Army thanks you for all your hard work, but we’ll be taking it from here.” Ross put his hand in the air and waved it in a circle, “Let’s get that crane in here!” He yelled to a section of his troops. “And send in the Deacon boys!”

“With due respect to your men, Ross, I don’t think you’re equipped for this.” Mr. Fantastic took a step forward, “It took the five of us to subdue Orga. You really should let us-”

“Don’t mistake the situation you’re in Richards.” Ross said, leveling a finger at Reed’s chest. “I have lawful jurisdiction here, so if I think you’re hindering my operation in any way, I’ll come down on you harder than that building you freaks dropped.”

As Ross and the Richards continued to talk, Spider-Man and Thing watched on.
“Why’s that General guy such a head case?”

“Eh, he’s been a bitter crank ever since he started chasing the Hulk around.” Thing explained. “Obsessed with turning Banner into a weapon, always comes up short.”

Glancing around, Spider-Man noted the array of scientific teams that poured out of the armored vehicles.
“Now what would the Army even do with something like Orga?” He wondered to himself.
A massive dump truck backed down the street, aided by a man on the ground to help guide it. A pair of cranes also entered the perimeter, chain harnesses dangling from their hooks, with links as thick as Parker’s bicep.
“I hope these guys know what they’re getting themselves into.”

Breaking away from the conversation, Reed put a hand across his chin both to think and calm his blood. His wife trailed him, leaving Ross alone to supervise his men.
“What are we going to do? That idiot can’t contain the Hulk, and he sure as hell can’t contain that thing.”

“There’s not a whole lot we can do Susan, Ross has the legal authority to take Orga into his custody. Like it or not, we’re just civilians.”

“Maybe we can get Captain Rogers to do something.” She suggested. “He’s the acting head of SHIELD, he’d be on our side.”

“True, but he must have a thousand things to concern himself with right now, I doubt he’d be interested in a jurisdiction dispute with Ross and the DoD that he doesn’t need to have.”

The soldiers worked quickly as the chains were lowered into place, attaching them around the wrists, ankles and neck. Several buckets of a shiny grey adhesive were poured onto the area that had been the shoulder cannon, solidifying to halt any further regeneration of the weapon.

Working in tandem, the cranes lifted the body as the dump truck backed into place below.

“Be careful with that thing!” Ross yelled. “We don’t want it banged-up any more than it already is!”

“General Ross! General Ross!”
A commotion came from the perimeter, where a news reporter, her camera-man, and a throng of civilians had gathered to gawk at the work being done. The red head with the microphone singled out the General and started yelling in his direction.

“Aw hell.” Ross snarled. “If there’s one thing I hate more than these spandex-wearing freaks, it’s the god-damn media!”

“Care to comment on the superhero community’s global effort to combat the monsters?” Patricia asked.

“Yeah!” He hollered from where he stood. “Don’t quit your day jobs!”

“Harsh words from General ‘Thunderbolt’ Ross.” She said to the camera. “A man known for his antipathy towards superheroes, and the Hulk in particular.”

Thaddeus took off his cap and beat it against his thigh. “Christ Almighty.” He grumbled. “Somebody get that crowd back!”

Two soldiers moved in on Patricia and herded her and the others farther back despite their protests.

The cranes came to a halt as Orga was positioned above the bed of the truck, a coordinated effort of men on the ground directed the process.

“Think they’ll turn him into dog food?” Johnny Storm asked, landing next to Spider-Man and Thing.

“Naw.” Spidey said, “Even dogs know not to eat stuff like that.”

Crossing his arms, Thing smirked. “You’d think that wouldn’t cha. But I had a dog when I was a kid, tried to eat everything it could. Sometimes twice if you know what I mean.”

“Eww.”

A clanking of the chains drew everyone’s attention up to where Orga was wriggling in the harnesses, barking and wailing

“Everybody just stay calm!” Ross ordered.

The chain that held Orga’s right arm snapped, the length of it swinging down and sending several men diving out of the way.

Spider-Man stuck his working arm out, shooting a web line that stuck to three men, giving them a hard yank out of harm’s way. Thing managed to get his hands on the wild end of the chain, keeping it from striking out as the monster struggled.
“A’right! Settle down you!”

The neck of one of the cranes groaned, the steel bending under the weight of the violent thrashing. Orga reached back with his free hand, grabbed the other crane, and wrenched it of balance.

Susan rushed forward to create a construct to keep the machine from toppling over, as the tug-of-war between Thing and Orga got rowdier. The dozens of soldiers took firing positions, and truck-mounted machineguns turned on the alien. Civilian onlookers aimed their cameras to capture every second of it.

“Spider-Man, see if you can re-enforce the damaged crane!” Reed stretched himself up to aide his wife stabilize the tilted one. Wrapping his arms around the boom, he tied off his legs to an APC vehicle and pulled.

Having a much harder time with his task, Spider-Man gripped the spine of the boom and tried to keep it from snapping.
“Sure, send the one armed guy to do heavy lifting!”

The second crane came back down on its stabilizer legs with a jarring thud. Temporary slacked, the chains jerked on the hoist line of the damaged one, and it defied Spider-Man’s attempt to keep it up. “Look out below!”

“Uh-crap.” Thing muttered, watching as Orga descended a few feet and the free chain became wrapped around one of its fingers. With a curl of its arm, Orga yanked Thing upwards, and caught him with its mouth. Thing was able to put his hands on the outside to brace himself from going in further, but his head and most of his shoulders were now in the clutches of the grasping pink organ.

Johnny flew up to Orga‘s head and began blasting it with flames. “Stop eating my friend!”

“Susan, a hand!” This wasn’t the first time Ben Grimm had found his rocky self in the maw of some alien creature, and the team had a practiced technique for dealing with it. Reed maneuvered himself over the top of Orga, and coiled his arms around Thing’s waist, and finding another anchor in the rear axle of the dump-truck, tried to free Ben. Susan likewise encircled her power onto Thing’s legs, and put her own effort into the rescue.

A barrage of firepower also began to pepper Orga’s grey hide, but as seconds passed, and more of The Things’ durability was copied, the rounds simply ricocheted off.

“Chaos in Manhattan today!” Patricia said into her microphone as she and the camera took cover behind a concrete corner, the scope just wide enough to record the scene. A few reflected bullets pinging off the wall.
“After the victory of the Fantastic Four and Spider-Man over a monster now known as ‘Orga’, Military units had arrived to take control of the scene, only for a single mishap to throw everything into a disaster! The creature now appears to be attempting to consume the Thing, while the rest valiantly try to free him!”
She dared a peek around the corner, and witnessed the transformative effect of the alien’s ability.
“It um… It now uh… Whatever this Orga animal is, it seems to be replicating the famously tough skin of Ben Grimm. No doubt sucking on him like the world’s grumpiest jawbreaker.”

With a SCHLOCKING sound, the Richards finally wrested Thing from the alien’s mouth, the three of them falling back in a heap.

“AIR UNITS MOVE IN!” Ross screamed into the radio on his shoulder. “Prepare to engage!”

An invigorated Orga bellowed in rapacious savagery, the damaged crane boom finally giving way and dropping him in a tangle of chain and twisted metal. Orga reached out to swipe at a stumbling soldier, only for Spider-Man to put an arm around the man’s chest and leap away with him.

Gunships, designed to battle the Incredible Hulk, banked around a city block and brought the monster into their sights. The three of them gave each other some space, and opened fire with a combined attack of large caliber rounds and guided missiles.

Reed covered his wife under his malleable flesh, shrapnel raining into it as the rounds bit off chinks of asphalt and steel. After the initial barrage, they retreated to better cover behind one of the armored vehicles
“I didn’t think he’d recover this quickly!” Reed said.

Susan threw-up a shield to deflect a portion of the shrapnel being ejected from the fight. “How are we going to stop it now?”

The explosives struck Orga and everything around him, severing the other chains. His hide sparked with hundreds of bullets, but none of them penetrated his newly armored skin. Swallowing the membrane back into his throat, the Millennian strode forward as two rockets slammed into his chest and burst to minimal effect.

The helicopters jockeyed to stay in position, pouring their ammunition into the creature’s front.
“HA! Look at that!” Tucking his M-4 into his shoulder and squeezing off a few rounds, General Ross looked on happily as his air units unleashed hell on the alien. “Good old fashioned American firepower.”

Orga’s growling and salivating face glared at his surrounding attackers, seeing through the machines to inspect the pilots, finding nothing worth assimilating. Grasping the fallen crane, he hurled it in between them, causing them to scatter sideways. One helicopter was separated from the other two, and it was this one that Orga seized on, bounding towards it through the air.

As skilled as the gunner was, putting every round he could into the oncoming monster, it wasn’t enough to prevent Orga from grappling the craft in its hands and taking it down. The helicopter was spiked on the ground, rupturing the frame and fuel tanks, the men’s screams drowned out in the explosion. Another salvo of machinegun fire sparked off his back, the remaining Hulkbuster units finally rallying to establish a line of fire.

Posting a 240B machine gun on the hood of a maroon civilian car, General Ross crushed a stogie between his teeth before yelling a series of commands into his radio and loosing a few iterations of controlled bursts.
“DEPLOY MECHA UNITS GODAMMIT! THE HELL ARE YOU WAITING FOR?!”

A large specially designed armored flatbed truck took a left turn around a corner, the tires of the same side nearly coming off the road. On the platform, were three 10-foot tall mecha suits, armed to the hilt. Desert tan, armor plating like a tank, and manually controlled by a pilot inside, these were built to fight the Hulk in hand-to-hand combat. Bearing enough firepower to conquer most small nations, and capable of reacting to the pilot’s movement in real-time, they sped towards the fight as the team members climbed into their seats.

An enormous hand swatted the burning wreckage of the helicopter in the direction of an APC with two MK19 grenade launchers mounted on top, sending the gunners scrambling for cover inside the vehicle. Orga was turning to attack the remaining gunships when a slab of concrete was broken over his head.

“You like the taste of rocks huh?” Thing roared, picking-up another chunk of masonry debris. “Then why don’t you suck on this ya big palooka!”

Just as Orga lunged to attack him, Thing shoved the jagged boulder in its mouth, stunning the creature momentarily.
“Ya come inta’ my town!” A right cross into Orga’s eye socket, staggering it back.
“Ya’ wreck my neighborhood!” A left cross to the jaw.
“Ya’ try to eat my friends!” Right uppercut.
“And ya’ try to eat me!” Double-hammer fist across the teeth.
“You come onto the wrong side a town pal!”

Thing charged forward, tackling the monster and driving it back into a tram support pillar, nearly knocking it out. Grimm followed it up with a series of body shots that thundered out like a piled river going through granite. In response, Orga clubbed him in the back with one of his hands, buckling Thing’s knees.

It was good that he did, as a barrage of explosions erupted across the alien’s body. A dozen High Explosive shells struck Orga virtually at once, thrusting him through the support pillar and tumbling rearward.

The three Hulkbuster mechas continued their approach, the cannons on their arms leveled. Loaded into their arsenal, were miniature artillery shells, small conical fuses in the front that initiated the primer in the body. Inside they were designed to channel the explosion forward, a copper plate just behind the fuse superheated and shaped to penetrate several layers of steel.

“God bless those boys.” Ross muttered, striding past Spider-Man and the Richards as they winced at the alien cries.

One round after another pummeled Orga, the canisters ejecting from a port on the underside, the rest being fed into the chamber via the belt that lined the elbow and triceps of the suits. The monster was overwhelmed at first, the shots blowing pits into his flesh, the regeneration and acquired durability doing all it could to keep him from being torn apart.
He slammed both his fists into the ground, the wave rolled under the mechas who went unfazed as the shock absorbers in the legs compressed and expanded.

Under the hail of the destructive projectiles, his instincts told him to flee, to seek shelter and survive for another day. But something in the back of his mind, something primal yet not his own sparked, refusing to be silent. The spark became a flare, burning brighter the longer the humans continued to attack. It kept repeating the same thought over and over again, the opposite of what his mutilated consciousness told him was the best way to continue surviving.

It told him to fight, it told him to go through his enemies, it cried out for war.
Glaring at Man’s machines, he listened to that call. With a roar of renewed defiance, Orga charged at the belligerent exosuits, swatting one aside before the others dove out of the way. The lone suit somersaulted back and onto its feet, only to find a hand close around it with a crushing grip. Like a child in a tantrum, Orga smashed it against the ground again and again before tossing it to its teammates.

As the war between flesh and machine raged, mankind watched on. Looking down at his broken hand, Spider-Man thought hard about what he was about to do.
“This has gone on long enough.” He turned to the others, “I’ve got a plan, but it’ll take all of us. General Ross, can the suits self-destruct?”

Ross narrowed his eyes for a moment, thinking over how much information to divulge to a masked civilian. But then again, this was Spider-Man after all.
“In case any foreign agents like HYDRA or the Chi-Coms ever got their hands on them, yeah, we can blow ‘em. Why?”

“Because I think we’re going about this the hard way.”

“Are you suggesting we apply Ockham’s Razor?” Reed asked.

Spider-Man smirked under his mask. “Something like that, but more like: ‘Godzilla’s Razor’.”

The two mecha suits were in retreat, continuing to fire as they backpedaled. Orga, turned his face away for a moment, his throat undulating to a sickening gurgling noise. When he whipped around, he spat a glob of sicky green goo onto one of the suits, coating it from head to toe. The slime immediately began to eat its way through the armor, the pilot inside frantically trying to get the emergency eject button to work.

The second pilot, taken off guard by the new attack hesitated when he glanced over to his comrade. Taking the opportunity, Orga slammed his knuckles to the ground and swung his legs forward, dropkicking both of them across the street.

Landing next to the exosuit that Orga had savaged, Spider-Man looked into the small window to see the unconscious pilot with his head lolled to the side.
“Thing! Help me get him out!”

“I got’cha kid.” Thing gripped around the seam of the pilot cab, exploiting the already damaged armor to peel it open enough for Spider-Man to grab the man from inside and slide him out.

Millennian drool fell in ribbons to the asphalt, the mix of the green slime in the viscous fluid creating pot holes as it burned.

“You think your stuff is hot?” Behind Orga, Johnny Storm hovered in place. “Let me show you how it’s done!”

Hugging himself onto the monster’s back, Johnny amplified his flame, covering Orga’s entire back in a blanket of intense fire. The massive claws failing to be able to reach him, Orga thrashed madly as his skin blackened and crackled.

When the APC crashed into Orga’s left side, the alien never saw it coming, Ross jumping out of the driver’s seat a second before impact. The vehicle slammed into the leg and bent itself around with the momentum.

Coming over the side of the truck, Reed wrapped around Orga‘s arms to pin him against the vehicle. “Get clear Johnny!” He yelled, giving his brother-in-law enough time to avoid being squished in between.

A feral bellow protested his restraint, but like before, the elasticity of Mr. Fantastic was able to keep Orga in place. The cry was cut off into a sharp cough however when his mouth was stuck open, unable to close.

Susan Richards concentrated her powers on forming a ring around the inside of Orga’s jaws, growing it as the lips separated evermore. Finally, the mouth was pried open to its hilt, the membrane folding out like a muscle reflex.
“Do it now Ben!”

With the damaged Hulkbuster suit over his shoulder, Ben Grimm felt like he was back in his old football days, dashing into the enemy territory like a fullback.
“Chew on this!” He barked, using both hands to dunk the suit right down Orga’s throat.

The exosuit disappeared down into the belly of the beast, earning a confused and startled grumble.

Swinging in from above, Spider-Man landed on Orga’s head, detaching the web cartridge from his right wrist. He tossed it next to the writing tongue, where it landed in a puddle of the acidic saliva.
“Let it go Sue!” Spidey called out, casting a web-line and slinging himself away.

Closing her hands with a snap, her light construct dissolved and Orga’s mouth folded back down. A moment later after, a small explosion went off in his mouth and the entire orifice was clogged with the webbing material.

Orga tried to regurgitate the machine from his gut, but found it and his screams blocked by the adhesive.

Holding out a hand sized transmitter device, General Ross entered a number code, and pressed his right thumb onto a small digital panel.
“Thanks for the test run.” He smiled, pushing a square red button in the top right of the interface.

As the mecha suit roiled around inside the monster, a series of alarm chimes began to go off, the power core accepting the self-destruct command.

Orga’s eyes opened wide in terrifying remembrance.

The top of Orga’s body was obliterated in an instant, blasting bits of grey scale and purple tissue in a billion directions. Reed retracted himself from the corpse, being spared any damage. The body wavered for a few moments before falling forward, a slurry of organs and bodily fluids spilling out, much to the disgust of all who saw.

They all let a few moments pass before speaking, some of the soldiers swarming over the mecha suits to help the pilots out.

Fixing Ross with a hard stare, Susan poked a finger into his shoulder. “Since I doubt you’ll be destroying the remains, my advice is that you keep them in separate containers, and at a low temperature to inhibit any regeneration.”

“I’ll do that.” He grumbled, giving her a slight but respectful nod.

Sitting on a chunk of concrete with rebar sticking out of it, Spider-Man held his right arm to his chest, using his remaining webbing to create a hasty sling.
“From your reputation, I’d say you have an accelerated healing factor.” Coming to a stop just beside Spidey, Reed knelt down to take a closer look at a ragged hunk of alien flesh about the size of a grapefruit that had landed a few feet away.

“Yeah. Nothing like super fast like Wolverine, but I’ll be alright.”

“My invitation was serious Spider-Man, come by the Baxter Building, and maybe we can work on improving your web formula or the spinneret devices.” Taking a hold of the flesh chunk, he quickly covered it with his hand and put it behind his back.
“Plus I’d like to get some fresh eyes on a few projects.

“Sounds great Mr. Richards.” Grunting as he got up, Parker stretched his back. “Right now though, I really gotta get home, take a shower, and spend the next week washing this uniform.

“Because you’re thinking it might carry some alien bacteria?”

“Because it was really smelly and gross inside that thing’s belly.”

“Ready to get home Ben?” Johnny asked Thing as they walked away from the scene.

“Yeah, it’s Sunday and- wait… Ahhh crap! I’m missing the Knicks game!”

With a sigh, Johnny put a hand on his friend’s shoulder. “You know we live in a house of futuristic technology right? We can record shows off the TV?”

Seeing his men fast at work securing the site, collecting the alien’s remains, and aiding their wounded, Ross stepped around the back of the APC that lay on its side and took a satellite phone from his cargo pocket. Dialing a number, he waited until the ringing gave way to a scrambled voice that spoke only: “Go Ahead.”

“Tells the lab-jockeys back at the base we’ve got one of the monsters. The one that my SHIELD contact says defeated Hulk. It’s mostly intact and probably dead, but something tells me they’ll have more than enough to-”

A number of surprised voices cried out, alerting Ross to peek around the corner, and see his men dashing back from Orga’s remains. The alien body dissolving into a black powder and falling apart like sand.

General Ross clenched his teeth at the sight, his face turning red as it contorted into a twitching sneer.

“The battle is finally over.” Patricia Love said into the camera. Standing behind the perimeter of the arriving first responders, the picture featured her to the right side, the background showing the destruction littering the streets.
“The monster known as Orga has been defeated by the combined efforts of The Fantastic Four, General Ross’ anti-Hulk unit, and local hero Spider-Man. Any connection to Godzilla, or the other giant monsters has not been made known to the public, and speculation abounds as to their true origin.
For now however, let’s just hope that the crisis in Connecticut can… be…”
Patricia’s last few words trailed off, the woman staring at something beyond. The camera feed jostled, and the sound of people running and talking excitedly could be heard as a pair of brown shoes made their way over to a railing that overlooked the bay.
Off picture, Patricia spoke with astonishment. “Ladies and gentlemen, I’m not sure how well the camera is seeing this, but something has just appeared over the harbor!”

Hundreds of onlookers rushed to the railings, pointing out the glowing mass of colorful lights that shimmered above the water.
“A strange light phenomena has formed above the water, we’re not sure what it- oh my god!”

The crowds screamed when a huge, metallic clawed foot stepped out of the lights, and into the water that came up to its shin. The screams rose into a panicked clamor as the rest of Kiryu entered the world, holding a small aircraft in its hand.
The portal closed behind him.