The SHS Show 'Moving On' - Chapter 12

Chapter 12 – What if...

Author’s note: I’m sorry this chapter took 9 days to write, I didn’t know how to word the dialogue (plus the new submit art system is kind of unreliable), I promise the next one will be better than this.

“Here you are doctor” Kingpin then threw Spider-Man’s limp body on the floor next to Ms. Marvel’s “consider it our apology for failing you before.”

Dr. Doom stepped away from his throne looking at the unconscious heroes “Yes! With all the Machina Codes at our disposal nothing will stop us from ruling the universe!” He then proceeded to do his equally embarrassing victory dance much to the embarrassment of the others in the throne room.

Ultron then proceeded to take the Machina Codes that Scarlet Spider and Warbird had stolen “Excellent work you two, Lord Doom the final location for the last Machina Code has been decoded up to 89%.”

“Great work Ultron, our time shall come where we finally rule over all in our way! MWHAHAHAHA!” Ultron then left to decode the rest of last set of coordinates as the rest of the Machina Codes were handed over to Dr. Doom for safe keeping.

“Warbird! Scarlet Spider!” The clones stood to attention as Dr. Doom approached them “I am surprisingly impressed by both of you; you two have been exceptional in retrieving the Machina Codes and are to be highly commended for your actions!”

The two nodded “Thank you Lord Doom.”

“We are honoured to have your praise Lord Doom.”

“However, you two are to now take our guests over to the prison cells so they won’t interfere with our plans, I wish to have our final Code retrieved with as little possible problems as possible.”

The clones proceeded to carry the bodies of their counterparts towards a prison chamber, the same that was used to hold the Silver Surfer at bay to drain his cosmic energy. Once at the chamber they activated two force fields around the sleeping heroes as they started to sit in the fields as if they were meditating.

With that out of the way, Scarlet Spider rubbed his hands together in satisfaction “so with that over and done with, what’s your answer?”

Warbird just looked confused “Answer to what?”

“The date.” Scarlet Spider had great confidence while Warbird just looked down at the past conversation they had hours ago.

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*Flashback*

Warbird never really thought that Villainville was a pleasant place to fly around in, there were no plants to bring git to life, no bright colours to help it stand out, it almost seemed that Super Hero City had all the charm and personality while Villainville was just left to rust away like an old climbing frame that no one played on or a swing that was left abandoned in the park.

Warbird increases her flying speed in annoyance, Ultron had told her how those ‘heroes’ ran them out of the city and forced them to live in this dump. While Dr. Doom has been successful in transforming most of this place into a castle it still doesn’t make this gloomy place anymore interesting.

As she flew back to Ultron’s lab, she saw him conversing with Scarlet Spider.

“...Now please, I have a call waiting.” Scarlet Spider watched Ultron retreat into his lab to answer Dr. Doom giving Scarlet Spider an opportunity to equip his newly designed web-shooters. Warbird decided to talk to him and make sure he was comfortable.

Once she landed she asked “So Scarlet, settling in well?”

“Yeah, I’ve just finished an impact webbing formula, should be handy in a fire fight.” After the wrist devices were clasped to his wrists he slowly stood round to face the Ms. Marvel clone “Hey Warbird, I’ve been thinking...do you think we could go out sometime?”

Warbird whipped her head at him in shock “What?!”

Scarlet Spider stepped back a bit in due to her reaction indicating that she may hit him “I-I just thought you might want to try it out, I mean it’s just that...well seeing as how...um...I just...well...I like you. You seem nice, strong and brave so I...I’m sorry I know this sounds really stupid but...er boy, would you like to spend some more time together?”

Warbird was surprised, not at him but at herself, she hadn’t considered the feelings of Ms. Marvel that resided in her as it seemed that he found her attractive due to Spider-Man’s memories and feelings. She did find Scarlet Spider quite cute and he seemed nice, but could they be anything more than friends considering that they are just clones?

“So?” Warbird faced Scarlet Spider who was patiently waiting for her answer.

Warbird however gasped slightly and stood to attention like a soldier after seeing Ultron exit the lab and walk towards them.

Scarlet turned around to see Ultron approaching to which he also stood to attention quickly deciding to finish this conversation later. “Dr. Doom wishes to initiate the 'plan' soon. You two understand what you must do?"

"Yes" they both answered in unison.

*End of flashback*

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Warbird looked back up at Scarlet Spider as Ms. Marvel’s memories of her growing feelings before her creation flooded her and rose the butterflies in her stomach. Unaware that she was blushing she replied “Well I guess we could. If they can I don’t see why we can’t.”

“Really? Great, so how about...” Scarlet’s proposal was interrupted by moaning inside the force field containments where Spider-Man was starting to wake up while shaking his head to stop the spinning his eyes were experiencing.

“Uh, my head... what-wait. What the?”

Spidey knocked on the force field before proceeding to hit it in order to break free “What the heck!”

Scarlet Spider grinned under his mask “I know pretty impressive right?”

Spider-Man lashed his head around and gazed in anger “YOU! Where am I and who are you?!”

“Me? Why I’m merely a perfect, if not, better replica of you. You may call me Scarlet Spider.”

Spider-Man’s gaze shifted towards Warbird, whom he recognised from yesterday “Okay I’m going to go out on a limb and say you guys are either MORE clones made by Jackel or the Chameleon and Mystique.”

Ms. Marvel’s groan brought everyone’s attention to her. After lifting her head up and observing her surroundings a scowl emerged on her face “Oh great, Ultron did find the cloning machine, I really don’t know why Dr. Doom didn’t destroy it.”

She then looked at the clones “I should warn you that the Super Hero Squad has...” Scarlet Spider put his hand up and interrupted.

“Has lost their Machina Codes, we now possess them and are close to finding the final one.”

Both Spider-Man and Ms. Marvel were in shock at this as the blond heroine started to smash at her force field containment “C’mon webs we’ve gotta get them back!”

Spidey just stood as best he could “Save your strength M&M, I tried punching through earlier, doesn’t work.” He turned to the clones “Look if you two are clones of us then you’ll share our intentions of helping people because the villains get their hands on the last Codes loads of people will be endangered!”

“Don’t act all innocent, our master Ultron has told us about how he wants robots and humans to live in peace and create a better world. You so-called ‘heroes’ are just trying to...”

“And you believe him? Ultron isn’t trying to help make the world better; he’s trying to take over it!”

Warbird just snorted “Oh please, you are the ones who have discriminated us!”

Ms. Marvel’s eyes grew at this statement “What?”

Warbird’s temper got out of hand “We’ve been told how you lot ran everyone in Villainville out of town because you all wanted all the credit for helping to change the world! All they wanted was make things better and you lot wanted to hog all the glory to yourselves! And you lot claim to stand up for peace and equality!”

Ms. Marvel looked at her “What lies has Ultron been feeding you two? We never discriminated against anyone here, they were trying to make the city their own way by threatening to hurt people and destroy everything!”

“No they aren’t!”

Spider-Man argued back “Well you’re one to talk aren’t you, I mean you were the one who smacked me against a wall and from what you said earlier it sounds like you stole those Codes from the vault, how many people did you kill and how much collateral damage was there in the midst of it?”

The clones were silent before Scarlet Spider retorted “Look we were trying to get them because you lot were just trying to get them for more fame while we want them for trying to make the world better!”

“Yeah, I mean I’m sure Ultron will help make the world better when he orders you two to hurt the people he wants to ‘help’, what kind of help is that when you cause as much damage as possible?! Plus are you two okay with how evil Dr. Doom is when he talks about his plans to ‘make the world better’ or are you just unbelievably naive?” Ms. Marvel’s rant came to a halt.

The clones just stared at them for a moment without knowing how to answer Spider-Man and Ms. Marvels’ questions.

“If you’ll excuse me I’m going to get ready for when we find the last Code. You two enjoy yourselves.” Scarlet Spider was clearly just trying to leave the room quickly; Warbird followed him after giving them both a hard glare and walked after him.

Spider-Man watched the two leave and after the doors closed he turned to Ms. Marvel and knelt down “Hey M&M, don’t worry we’ll get out of this.” She shuffled round “How? We’re stuck in force fields and the villains will find the last Code soon!”

“Think about it; Dr. Doom has us as prisoners and knowing him he’ll send M.O.D.O.K. and Abomination to guard us and knowing those two they’ll be our key to getting out of here.”

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While the real heroes were planning a possible escape plan their clones were heading through the castle to shake of the intensity from the recent argument. As the two walked back to the main hall Warbird noticed Scarlet Spider’s quiet demeanour, those ‘heroes’ must have gotten to him.

“Ignore them Scarlet, they’re just stubborn.”

“Yeah but I can’t help but wonder, what if...we left Villainville and did things our own way?”

“What do you mean?”

“Well I’ve looked up on the history of the super humans that the ‘heroes’ have also fought and most of these people have become the most memorable by working and performing their feats without being in this city. I presume that this Green Goblin person and the U-Foes are not as discriminated as us because they have not been in this city all this time and looking at what they’ve done they seem to have accomplished much more than us ‘villains’ have accomplished before Ultron and ourselves arrived.”

“I even found that Ultron has been known to be one of the more hated robots towards the city, because he wanted robots to help everyone and they thought he was trying to enslave them.”

Warbird just shook  her head at this “Look Scarlet, I honestly hope that you become great but I doubt that anyone here would even think about going at it alone. Besides even if we did try to Ultron wouldn’t allow it since we owe our allegiance to him for creating us.”

“I know Ultron would most likely never allow us. My point is that, maybe if we try and fly solo we could accomplish more as a tag team rather than a large team as it seems to have worked with small groups such as the ‘Super Hero Squad’ that resides in the city. So don’t you think we could accomplish more if we were freed from Villainville and had the right to make our own decisions?”

Warbird just stared at the Spider-Man clone as she processed what he just told her. It seemed legit, she had the potential to be one of the deadliest here in Villainville but under the command of others she wouldn’t get to have a say in any plans or make suggestions “Well, I guess-”

“Scarlet Spider, Warbird.” A robotic voice approached them as Ultron

“The final set of coordinates has been decoded. We will be departing with the other villains within 6 to 9 minutes. Preparation suggested for our ‘plan’.”

“Yes Ultron” They both followed him to the throne room where the other villains were snickering at their soon-to-be-claimed victory. Dr. Doom stood from his throne and stepped down towards Ultron and his clone minions “Superb work Ultron, soon we shall finally claim what’s ours and shape the city in our image!”

He then turned to the other villains who gathered the other Machina Codes “With all these Machina Codes I WILL RULE THE UNIVERSE! MWHAHAHAHHAHA *cough, cough* urrr where’s my cough medicine?”