Marvel 2000 Proudly Presents...

# 14
Written by Anthony Crute

Doctor Leonard Samson struggled against the chains which he found himself bound in, they weren’t budging though. The enchanted metal held strong against his Gamma irradiated muscles no matter how he twisted, flexed or contorted. He sighed and stopped struggling. His brawn wasn’t going to get him out of this.

He of course realised that it was the using of his brain which had gotten him into this mess.

It had been a few months ago that he had been at the Pym Prison working with Titania to get to the bottom of her criminal problems. Unfortunately for him this was the time that The Absorbing Man decided to bust his sweetheart out of the inch high pokey and he’d been swept along in the mess.

He’d ended up in their home combating Titania around their kitchen whilst trying to get to the route of their problems why they both kept constantly re-offending. It seemed they had a co-dependant relationship, Titania had led a difficult life, a difficult and lonely life which is part of the reason for her lashing out with such violence. She had found one person who loved her for being her and she was determined to stick with him if it destroyed both of them.

Samson had highlighted these concerns about her behaviour, in what he thought was an unsuccessful attempt to show her the light of day. It seemed however that it may have worked better than he thought.

Creel had attacked him in the street following a meeting he’d had with The Purple Man and bound him with chains before tossing him in the backseat of the car. It seemed Titania had left him and he held Samson accountable, now he needed him to get her back.

“Carl what do you think you’re doing?” Samson called over the front seat at the back of The absorbing Man’s head.

“You caused this mess…you made Mary leave me and you’re going to convince her to come back. You screwed her mind over with your crap and you can screw it right back.”

“Firstly,” Samson Sighed “Supposing I can help you, tying me in chains and kidnapping me is not the best way to forge a strong Doctor-Patient relationship.”

“Me and Mary are wanted criminals? You think you’d have come to me with anything but the cops if I called your office?”

Samson nodded gently. “That was point two. Point three is I don’t know if I can help you.”

Creel’s eyes narrowed as he shot the reclined Samson a look in the rear view mirror. Samson was trying to read whether he was angry or confused. “It’s my job to do the best for all my patients and even though she’s escaped and is on the run Titania is still my responsibility and like I pointed out to her, your relationship isn’t healthy. You keep dragging each other down into the same old patterns over and over again.”

“It’s crap like that,” Creel growled through his teeth “that made her leave me. She was thinking about something you said when you were playing inch high private eye and ‘re-evaluated’ her life,” the tone of voice he took when he said re-evaluated showed he didn’t really believe it. “She decided she was better off without me and left…after I rolled Black Goliath to get her back to normal height too. Broke a damn finger doing that.”

“Carl if she doesn’t want to come back to you what do you really expect me to do?” Samson had returned to struggling now. He was beginning to think that talking to Crusher Creel wasn’t going to help and knowing the couple should they get to wherever she was this could end up in violence and he wouldn’t really want that to happen…especially when he was tied up.

“I expect you to talk to her! Convince her!” he screamed turning completely to glare at The Doc before turning back. Samson caught a glimpse of desperation coming through his fearsome expression. He was frightened, he needed Titania as much as she thought she needed him and unless someone did something to point out how truly bad their relationship was then it’d make them both miserable.

Leonard was silent again for a minute, he was trying to think this through. It was obvious Creel was upset, frightened, angry and confused about his relationship and what would become of him all at the same time.

“Carl,” he began after a little while. “I don’t want you to get angry and just calmly answer me a few questions…”

“I don’t want you screwing around in my head,” he growled and began to turn the wheel of the car.

“No, no I wont do anything funny,” he would have held his hands up in a defensive manor if they hadn’t been shackled behind his back. “All I want to do is ask some questions and get some information on how you and her interact. So just remain calm and answer after a few seconds.”

Creel looked at him in the mirror again and then nodded with a gentle head movement.

“Do you love her?”

Creel looked like he was about to shout and then seeing the look of patience on Samson’s face he stopped for a few seconds. “She’s the only thing I’ve ever loved.”

“And what would you do for her?”

“I’d do anything! I’d steal any jewel, knock over any bank or store to get her whatever she wants. I’d do anything that made her happy.”

“What if the only way to make her happy was to stay away, let her get on with her life without you?”

Creel was silent for a moment, his brow furloughed as he thought things over. He thought it over for a few seconds. “Shut up! This the crap I was talking about, you’ve got me all turned around…Mary can’t be happy without me. She said so herself lots a times. We need each other and you just got us confused!”

“Creel I don’t know what you want me to say or do, really but I just need you to think…”

“No you got it right before, you got it just right Doc,” Creel nodded.

“What did I say?”

“I need to do something, do something which shows I love her, something that shows how much she means to me and how much she needs me.”

“You’re talking about a labour of love like Hercules?”

“What, that skirt wearing jerk? No I mean something to show I love her. That’s where you can come in doc, you’ve got to think of something that’ll get her to come back to me and away from her new boyfriend.”

“New boyfriend?” Samson raised an eyebrow. Titania going from one relationship directly into another was not the sort of personal growth he had in mind for her. Chances are she’d end up going through the exact same motions with this new man and end up in the exact same situation if not worse.

“Yeah, see for yourself.” The car suddenly screeched to a halt and Creel practically threw himself from the car. He opened the side door of the car and dragged Leonard out.

Leo hit the wood of the dock with a dull thud and was soon dragged to his feet. He looked around, it was an abandoned dock yard. The stench of old fish guts and the salty water filled the air.

“She lives here now? Who is this new boyfriend of hers?”

“You wont believe it until you see it Doc,” growled Creed. His grip on the chain tightened and he dragged Samson across the length of the dock towards one of the abandoned buildings which stood there.

His skin began to transform to metal as he strode towards it, his powers absorbing the metal from the chain which bound Samson. He growled and shoulder barged the door open.

The room inside the building did not smell any better than the air outside. In fact it felt a little worse as it had the added bonus of being musty and enclosed from the fresh air.

The door bounced across the floor smashing into pieces. The noise caused Titania to jump a little, she didn’t give away too much though. The powers she had did not lend themselves to having much fear about anything.

She was chest deep in a pool of salty water, her thick skin and deep hardiness meant that the cold and salty water didn’t really seem to bother her. She in fact judging by the smile on her face was enjoying it.

“Carl!?” she half shouted and half questioned. She moved her arms to cover her breasts and pushed herself backwards in the water.

“Where is he?” Creel growled.

It acted almost like a cue, as he said it a shape began to emerge from the water and cascade down as a figure came to the surface. Doc Samson recognised him instantly, the shape and features could belong to no one else.

“Orka?” Samson questioned in wonderment as the 20 foot tall whale like atlantean climbed from the pool of water.

“Yeah, sickening isn’t it? Like bestiality…” Creed growled at Orka. “I’ll keep fish lips busy and you talk some sense into Titania.”

“Creel…no,” Samson’s words fell on deaf ears as Crusher Creel began sprinting forward. His heavy metal feet pounding on the deck and he flung himself at the massive Atlantean.

The Absorbing man tossed himself into the air, the metal of his body meant he could only jump four or five feet up despite his immense strength but he managed to plough his weight into Orka’s midsection and drove the Atlantean to the floor

“Carl, what are you doing?” Titania screamed. She was turning her head this way and that looking for her costume which Doc Samson could see was piled in a far corner.

“I’m going to teach Nemo a lesson and flush him down the crapper,” he growled pounding a metal fist into the fish man’s face. His sparkling gold fists were becoming tarnished now. “You’re mine Mary, and I’m going to make sure you know…”

Creel never got to finish the last part of his sentence. Orka’s massive hands gripped the cold metal of his head and then flew out tossing him hard into one of the concrete walls. The room shook.

Leonard’s eyes panned up as Orka stood to his feet. The giant looked down at him and sneered his lip. “Believe it or not I have nothing to do with this,” he tried to explain, he flexed his muscles to their peak again to try and bust the chains.

Orka reached out his arm and gripped the chains tossing Samson behind him with little more than a thought. Samson bounced across the deck and over the hole which led to the sea before careering into the half dressed Titania.

“What the hell do you think you’re doing here?” She growled as she pulled up her costume and fastened it before pulling herself up. She grabbed Len by his shoulders and pulled him to his feet.

“Carl brought me, I’m supposed to convince you to stay with him. You can see it’s not exactly consensual on my part. If you can get me out of these chains I’m sure we can do something.”

“Why would we do something?” Titania raised an eyebrow at Samson and then shoved him sideways “There’s one thing I love more than a big beefy man fighting for me…that’s two.”

She smiled as Creel slammed the back of his elbow down on to Orka’s head, the giant Atlantean had somehow been felled by the metal man.

Samson sighed. It was his professional opinion that he was surrounded by crazy people. The thought was fleeting, he knew exactly what was going on and none of it was crazy. Titania and Absorbing Man were both aggressive and violent people with distorted views of themselves and personal relationships, they were also co-dependant with one another…though Titania has transferred her attention to the giant Atlantean Orka possibly one of the eligible males who could hold a torch to Carl in everything that she found attractive.

It now dawned on him that it was up to him. Carl and Mary weren’t going to stop this and Orka, though he hadn’t voiced his opinion seemed happy enough just to fight for the moment, even if Doc doubted that his love for Titania was probably not as strong as Creel’s.

“Mary I need you to listen to me,” Samson was trying to climb to his feet. He panned his vision up to the two behemoths who were beating each other. Orka had Creel held in his arms in a massive bear hug but it didn’t stop Creel from unleashing blows across the big blue Atlantean’s face. “This isn’t right and you know it, you made the step to get away from Creel that you needed but you’ve went straight into the same relationship again just with another man…and now you’re pitting them against each other.”

Titania tore her eyes away from the super-villain fight and back to Samson who was now on one knee and getting ready to stand up. “I did this because of what you said Doc,” she pointed at him as she spoke. “You told me I relied on him, I needed him and it was bad for both of us…”

Titania paused. It made Samson begin to wonder, when last they met and he told her this she made a selfish choice to stick with Creel because she didn’t want to be alone even if that meant being in a bad relationship.

If he was reading her correctly he was beginning to think she had done this for Creel. He had tried to go straight before and been dragged back down into their relationship, it could be that whatever he said to her had made Titania make the unselfish choice. Did what was best for the man she loved.

“…I wont rely on anyone, I did it for two long an d now I’m strong. Too strong to have to have someone else.”

Samson rolled his eyes, maybe not in this case. It seemed he had over estimated how altruistic her decision had been.

It however made sense, Titania had been a small and meek child with low self-esteem and an external locus of control. She had always relied on others to protect her and to care for her, when ever something went wrong for her or even whenever something went right she blamed it on an outside source of power. When doom gave her powers she turned her back on everything she had been

“The chances are that both of your boy friends will be injured badly if you don’t get involved.” Samson was hoping that this would work, its not exactly the most ethical technique he could have ever used but he needed results at the minute.

Titania was still for a moment and then sighed. “Carl! Damn it, what are you doing!” She burst into a run and launched herself at her husband tackling him from atop Orka.

She began to unload her massively powerful fists into the face of her metal husband. Orka used the distraction to climb to his feet and lumbered towards the two only to get a boot from Titania’s foot in warning to keep him away.

Creel swung his arms out, catching his wife on either side of her chest and forcing her back. The spousal abuse spilling between took on a different quality than Samson had ever seen. Seeing as the two were evenly matched it was interesting to watch from a psychological perspective.

Creel wasted no time in launching to his feet and lunging at Orka again. He wasn’t going to let this fight get away from him because of a distraction by his wife. He was up and around Orka’s neck in a second and tightened his arm around the creatures neck and began to squeeze.

Orka swung his arms as he took as big step sideways and reached towards his back. Creel wriggled and tightened the metal arm again.

The big blue man struggled this way and that reaching his arms behind him to try and grab the metal man. It was however a foregone conclusion as the blue creature fell first to one knee and then down to all fours before dropping to the deck with a great thud.

“Carl, what do you think you’re doing?” Titania was angry, she showed no real concern for her new partner, who was unconscious at her feet.

“You and me baby, it’s the way it should be…look I brought the Doc, he’ll explain everything, he just got you all turned around about everything is all.”

“No he didn’t!” Titania shoved her husband backwards. “He didn’t get me turned around, he made me realise something…we shouldn’t be together and nothing he can say is going to change my mind.”

“What about me?” Creel’s voice had a hint of desperation. “There must be something I can do, anything? I can knock over any bank, I can rob any store…I’ll kill for you. I’ll kill anyone you want? Any of those heroes you really hate, I’ll hunt them down and pull off their heads. Anyone!”

There was a moments beat as Creel looked up across the room. “I’ll kill the Doc, anything if it means you’ll come back to me.”

There was silence. “OK,” Titania smiled and then looked up at Samson. “Kill Doc Samson and I’ll take you back.”

Things had just gotten a whole lot worse.

TO BE CONTINUED...

NEXT ISSUE: Domestic squabbles are really a pain, aren't they?