Maximum Carnage Issue 6 - "Shocking Debut" by Justin Anderson Friday, February 16th. 1:06 PM Jack sat at the small kitchen table in his apartment, pouring some grape soda out into a large styrofoam cup. He was finishing sorting through the stuff he had swiped from the Lab facility before setting off the explosives. Three .45 caliber pistols, a snub-nose revolver, the large shotgun, a few small pill bottles hidden in the pockets of the coat he had been given, and the money he had taken. He hadn't counted it out yet, but guessed it to be several hundred thousand dollars. Maybe more. Stacks of $100 bills wrapped in small paper sleeves. And the large test tube containing the immortality drug. Despite the fact he was throwing himself around in those last few minutes, the tube hadn't been damaged. He had stuck it in one of the small shelf drawers in his bedroom, under some old 'Mad' magazines. He wasn't about to have the entire neighborhood knocking his door down to get it, and he damn sure wasn't going to carry it with him. His apartment was almost a complete dump, mainly bare wood. Minor remnants of paint remained. He had electricity, enough to run his old fridge, toaster, microwave, radio, and a few old lamps. Everything here was older than he was, aside from a few minor items. He had the small kitchen, living room, bathroom and bedroom. Good enough for one person who couldn't afford luxury. Cletus walked into the room. His hair was black, as were patches of his forehead. Jack looked at him like he was looking at some sort of abstract painting. "Well..... I guess it will do for now. No one should immediately recognize you. But wipe those spots off your face. You look like Marylin Manson's evil spawn...." "Yeah, yeah..... got anything to drink?" Jack pointed to the fridge. Cletus got up and opened the door. Inside, a jug of water, a jug of milk, some meats, and sodas. "What can I say? I eat light. Not healthy, but light" Cletus ignored the remark and removed the jug of milk. Taking one of the cups, he poured some out. "What all did we swipe anyway? That is, of use" Jack sucked down the last of his soda and tossed the cup in a nearby garbage can. "Guns.... some ammo. Lots of money, if it's not counterfeit. Pills, unidentified. The coat, too. It's a little too big for me. I guess I can have it altered. Enough to work as heroes for a while until we can get more" Cletus picked up his cup. Before he could take a drink, the power began to flicker. And it didn't stop. Jack had just noticed. "....odd" Jack got up and walked over to his apartment door. Undoing the locks, he opened the door. The lights in the hall were flickering as well. "Hey, Jack. Look out the window!" Outside, lights of all kinds were doing the same. Traffic lights, windows, all over the small area of the city. "You know, it may be nothing....but I know of only 2 people who could do something like this. Old prison buddies..." "You mean....Electro and Shocker?" Cletus gulped down his glass of milk. "...yeah" Jack picked up his coat from the back of the kitchen chair. He stuffed a few of the pistols in his pockets and grabbed the shotgun. "Okay. Cletus, if we want to be heroes, we might as well not wait around" Cletus changed into his suit, minus the mask. "Dude....I fail to see why you'd dye your hair if you're not gonna use the mask. But for crying out loud, put that gaping mouth away!" Carnage sent out his face mask, the mouth he normally used absent. "Okay....we got weapons, the symbiote....now, we just need to look for where all the police and heroes are gathered. Can you carry me and swing on your tendrils? I really don't want to walk across the city" Carnage let out a quiet sigh. They stepped out into the hall and up the three flights of stairs to the roof. Jack clutched firmly to Carnage's shoulders as he sit a web line to one of the taller buildings and swung off. Times Square. 1:35 PM The area was filled with police cars, police officers and SWAT officers holding their positions. Not too far away, in the center of the square, a large device sat. Wires from the nearby buildings were attached to the device. Standing guard were two men- Electro and Shocker. An electrical field surrounded them, keeping them safe while the power drained. "You know, Shocker, I can't wait to see the looks on their faces when I absorb all of this. I'll be more powerful than any of them could ever imagine!" Shocker looked over at his partner in crime. "Listen, I agreed to help you for a 50% cut of what we took. It doesn't mean I'm interested in hearing your corny rants" "Right, Shocker. But don't forget- you're just a mere copy of what I can do. You don't even have super powers! Just you're wrist shooters" Shocker was becoming irritated. The insane ramblings were bad enough. The insults were barely tolerable. But Shocker had his sanity. Why should he be playing second to this guy? He fired a few bursts into the crowd to let off steam. Spider-Man watched from behind the crowd. He knew this was bad. Repetitive, but bad. He had seen this unravel before. Electro trying to drain a massive power supply and absorb it into his body. How many times had he almost killed himself in the process? He turned around to see another sight which half eased his mind, and half made him more uneasy. It was Jack and Carnage, sneaking up to the crowd. "You two? How'd you find out what was going on?" Jack pointed at the flickering lights. "We followed the trail of outages. Would've been here sooner, but baby got tired of swinging across buildings and wanted to take a cab! You know how hard it is to conceal a shotgun in one of those things? We finally got stuck at a pile-up and had to walk!" Cletus pretended not to be listening. Parker was about to comment on the situation, but something else caught his attention. "Carnage....what happened to your mouth?" "Huh? Oh, that..... we decided it would be better to go with a solid mask" Jack stared at Cletus. "...'we'?" Parker was getting a little sick of the small argument he'd helped start. "Anyway, guys, Electro and Shocker are draining power. We can't get near them. You have any ideas? Jack and Cletus took a few steps back and went into a small huddle. "Cletus, didn't you mention something about regenerative properties?" "Yeah, why?....ohhhh, I get it" They separated and walked back up to the wall-crawler. Jack pointed for Carnage to take a position out of sight. "Leave it to us, Spider-Man. I'll use Carnage as backup. Stay out of our way" Jack pulled the shotgun out from under the long coat. "Whoa! You aren't planning on...." Jack turned and looked at the hero. "....oh, FINE! We'll take them alive!" Jack waved for Carnage to return. He explained the new plan, to Carnage's disappointment. "Okay....Carnage, get to the side and prepare to tag Electro when I give the signal. And take this..." He pulled the small revolver out of the long coat. Cletus took it and used the symbiote to hold it to his leg. "Okay....Spider-Man, leave it to us. Be ready to step in if we don't make it" "You got it. By the way, you DO know what you're doing, don't you?" Jack stopped dad in his tracks. "uhh..... you got me there. Eh, I'll wing it" Parker's uneasy feeling grew stronger. Jack made his way to the front of the crowd and forced himself around the police lines. He ignored the officers' attempts to stop him. Seeing the young man coming through the crowd, Shocker took aim and fired, hitting Jack in the chest, knocking him down. He layed on the ground for a few seconds and stumbled to his feet. He noticed the scorch marks on his torso. Angry, he pulled out his shotgun and pumped the slide. Seeing this, Shocker jumped out of the way in time to avoid being hit. But Jack wasn't aiming at Shocker. He was counting on the villain to dodge the shot. The pellets hit the machine behind him. The damage was enough to knock out the electrical field around the device. Jack hadn't taken into account the fact the field might disintegrate the shot, but it didn't matter now. Jack pumped the slide again and pointed it at the device again. He saw that Electro was now taking aim at him. He jumped in time to avoid being baked by several lightning bolts. "CARNAGE!!!! NOW!" Electro looked up to where Jack had been facing. He saw something he couldn't believe. It was Carnage. And he was slicing through some of the large wires heading towards the machine. "HEY! Shouldn't he be helping us? I mean, you're the mastermind here, Electro!" Electro ignored Shocker's comments. He took aim to fry the symbiote, but before he could let loose with energy, tendrils shot out and wrapped Electro in a binding mess. It was enough of a distraction for Jack to run up and lay several punches across Shocker's face and stomach. "This is for the burn marks!" He brought a left across Shocker's chin. "This is for the shirt!" A right across his left cheek. "And this....is because I FEEL LIKE IT!" He planted his left foot into Shocker's gut, knocking the insulated villain to the ground. By this point, Carnage had made his way to the machine. He sliced several more of the large wires, which caused some of the nearby power to return. Skipping the last few wires, he formed his right arm into a large multi-spiked axe. "Here goes nothing! ....man, this is gonna hurt...." He jabbed his weapon into the heart of the machine, tearing upwards as pieces came flying off. The electricity was flowing through his body, but not enough to knock him out. But he was in an incredible amount of pain. The machine began to smoke, but ran out of energy before it could explode. Cletus pulled his arm out of the machine, with enough energy left to barely stay standing. Electro had seen this. His plans ruined by someone who should have been happy to see the city in a panic. Charging up his own energies, he shocked the hard symbiotic material around him until it cracked and shattered. "YOU!! You....ruined everything! Too bad you had to change, you could have had a part of this! Now, Carnage.....Feel the wrath of-" Electro's speech was cut short as a blast of energy knocked him to the ground. It was one of the Shocker's power blasts. "I've had enough of that guy! I didn't even want to be here. He promised so much money! Like we had a chance! You'd think we'd learn...." Shocker looked up at Jack. "....I give up" He stood and headed towards the officers, removing his shocker gauntlets. "Take me back to prison! Just don't lock me up with that guy!" The officers handcuffed Shocker and took him away. Electro tried to get up, but was stopped as a gun was stuck in his face. He looked up to see Carnage holding it. "You....wouldn't...." Cletus pulled the gun away. "No..... but I will do this..." Electro closed his eyes as Cletus brought a foot across his face. The villain lay unconscious. The police ran up and dragged the man away. Carnage ran over to Jack, picked him up, and jumped upward, shooting tendrils and climbing to a nearby roof before anyone noticed them. Everyone except Parker, who followed them. "So....if anyone asks, who do I tell them saved the day?" Both men looked at each other. Cletus had the answer. "Tell them..... Maximum Carnage has switched sides" Jack put his shotgun under his coat. "Good enough for me. Beats 'Jack and Cletus'. Anyway, let's get out of here. I'm hungry" Parker was about to wish them good luck, but remembered one small detail. "Hey, wait a second. You promised to tell me what happened at the labs!" Jack let go of Carnage's torso. "Oh, right....well, I have to go to the public library in Manhattan tomorrow. Meet me there at, oh....say, ten" "Deal. And the both of you... good luck" Both men headed off. While swinging back to his apartment, Jack had an idea he had to share. "Say, Cletus.... don't you think that was a little....easy?" Cletus almost missed the next building as he thought of an answer. "Yeah, actually. Maybe we should leave the regular super villains to the veterans" "Right. We should try to handle the stuff 'mortal men' can't...." Cletus thought about what Jack said. "You know, Jack. It may be possible this was just a test of some sort. I don't know.... I just have a feeling that things will get a lot harder, and a lot stranger. Call it...well, call it a gut feeling" Jack didn't answer. But he'd been having the same feeling. And it was a feeling which frightened him. THE END Author's Notes: This is the only "true Marvel hero tale" I will do with these two. I probably would have skipped it completely, but I didn't want 2 inexperienced heroes to start out with the bad stuff immediately. Next issue breaks away from Marvel's style and gets into the real intention of this series. From now on, expect the real dark stories. Notes: Basically set in the Marvel Universe, I will be using a lot of my own continuity for this series, and generally focus on the main characters. Appearances by Marvel's universe will be special occurrences. Crossovers with characters/titles from other companies will be treated as "single universe", not as "2 universes crossing temporarily". I will also try to ignore major Marvel comic story arcs. Cletus Kasady, Carnage, and other Marvel characters are copyright Marvel Entertainment Group, Inc. Other characters are either my creation(copyright myself), or copyright their specific owners if non- Marvel licensed characters. Characters used without permission/not for profit. These are strictly fan stories. Permission to reprint extends to placing this text, unaltered, elsewhere online. It may not be altered, and especially NOT TO BE SOLD, unless Marvel wishes to license this series from me.