Marvel 2000 Proudly Presents...

# 15
Written by Anthony Crute

Things were not going well for Doctor Leonard Samson, things never went well for Doc Samson, but today was a particularly bad day for our green haired hero.

He had been so far ambushed by The Absorbing Man, tied up in the back seat of a car and dragged half way across the city to the docks which looked out across the bay. It was in this unusual location the hero and the villain discovered the most unusual love nest. It was here that Titania, the wife of The Absorbing Man (and the woman Samson had been brought to win back in some super twisted version of Cyrano) had set up home with the Atlantean Super-criminal known as Orka.

He had been so far manhandled and thrown around by all three in the bizzare love triangle. All of this by themselves would be bad enough without Titania and Creel coming to an arrangement for the first step of their marriage counselling. Mary had agreed to take back her husband if he killed the good Doctor. This was not an idea that Doc was too keen on himself.

"Creel please think about this, you can't be serious," Leonard tried to reason but in the time it took for him to get his words out Creel had already begun to rush him. Len, not liking foul language as a general rule, couldn't help but to swear aloud and rock forward.

His hands were bound to his sides by The Absorbing Man's unbreakable metal chain. The momentum managed to carry him to his feet for a split second and then he let the muscles in his legs contract sharply hurling him into the air. The fact that his upper body was restricted, he was a little groggy from his various beatings and Creel had managed to brush his toes with one of his solid metal arms meant despite carrying himself high into the air he span out of control quickly and came down with a resounding thud.

The wooden boards below him screamed at the extra gamma-infused weight which had landed with force onto them. He grunted slightly, he grunted significantly more as the solid metal boot of Creel smashed into his ribs. He was sure he felt them crack, it was not something he was used to.

"Please," gasped Samson as he tried to suck in air. He was unable to fight and so was instantly falling back on a plan he didn't hold much hope for. He was going to try and talk some sense into one of the pair. He'd tried before, others had tried before but it never seemed to work. The couple were bad news for each other, they were constantly going through swings and roundabouts of recidivism as one or the other fell off the super criminal wagon. The problem was that they were truly, madly and deeply in love with one another....a heavy emphasis on the madly.

In their last encounter Samson thought he had talked some sense into Titania, he thought she finally understood that what would be best for them was to be separate. It was the only way he saw it that they could be happy and fulfilled. She saw it differently. Since then his words had apparently had some effect and she had gone off to for a relationship with Orka. This is how he was in his current predicament.

"I gotta do it," said Creel as he lifted Samson up to his feet. "I got nothing against you personally Doc, you've done right by me in the past but I have to do whatever I have to do to win her back. You understand that right? You've got a chick or two of your own."

"Stop talking to him Carl and do it," grinned Titania manically from behind Creel. Samson eyed her, Carl had problems no doubt but it was obvious now that Titania was the one who had real issues with relationships and herself. He was beginning to think she, due to her self-esteem problems and the traumatic childhood she had lead may have actually pushed her over into the realms of Psychopathy. The joy on her face at the thought of of him dead certainly indicated something more than he ever suspected.

The Absorbing Man's hand closed around Samson's head. He tried to struggle but the chains and Creel's strength restricted him too much. A swift kick to Creel's leg seemed to have no effect on the now non-human physique of the man.

Creel let out a grunt of effort and Samson prepared for the worst a split second later the grip was released. Samson opened his eyes to see Crusher creel spiralling through the air and into the open hatch which dropped into the sea.

He landed with a resonating SPLOOSH!

Samson looked up at Orka, the giant Atlantean behemoth dwarfed even him. He looked down with a grimace on his face. His arm was still extended from the whip and throw treatment he had just given to Creel. "I've said it before Orka, I'm not here to cause you any trouble." Samson would have raised his arms in a surrender move if he could. He instead took a step back.

"You were talking to him?" Orka said with a turn of his head to Titania. He spoke with an accent that Samson had not heard before, obviously Atlantean speaking English.

"No I wasn't baby," Titania shook her head and held her hands up. "I was telling him I was with you, then the green haired one tried to convince me to take him back. The two of them tried to kidnap me."

Samson swore in his mind. He thought over whether he would try and talk to Orka but given that the two of them had no built up levels of trust and given his intimate relationship with Titania he could bet on who Orka was going to listen to.

He braced his knees and then tossed his body forward slamming into the gut of the behemoth, Orka hunched forward slightly and then pounded both fist's into Samson's back flooring the man again.

"Kill him baby and then lets get out of here!" commanded Titania.

It seemed she had developed somewhat of a vendetta against Samson. He felt himself being hauled into the air and then dropped back suddenly. Orka landed on the deck next to him. He looked up to see the soaking wet Crusher Creel standing over the stirring Orka. he growled down at the two of them.

'Give me that,' he gripped the chain and with a simple flick of the wrist sent Samson spinning across the deck unravelling him from the chain as he did so. His body began to shimmer and change as it became plated in metal. "Ready to go!?" he growled at Orka and launched forward.

Len pushed his hands into the deck and pushed himself up "You better believe I am" he answered to the question that no one had asked him.

He had to think fast. He was weighing up his options as he leapt into action. One he could try and talk them down but given the variables in action, the fact that Titania seemed to want him dead and didn’t care who did it...or whom she ended up with. Then that both men seemed quite happy to snuff him out. He didn’t really think that would be the best one.

Secondly he could do a runner. He could cut his losses and get out of there, call the police or reinforcements to handle any crisis which was occurring in the meantime. This thought passed swiftly, while he had been trussed up in the car he’d heard lots of hustle and bustle. The docks were likely full of workers and he couldn’t just leave them with three brawling super-villains.

Thirdly he was back to his final resort (which sadly also seemed to be the most frequent one) fight. But who?

His decision was made for him as Titania tackled him around the waist and dragged him to the floor. She mounted him in seconds and began to unleash her thunderous fists across his face. Len managed to throw up his elbows to protect his face and tilt his body to tip her sideways.

He used the momentum and rocked sideways launching his own fist into her face. Titania’s head rocked back and a split second later her body shot backwards by the force. Len rolled onto his hands and knees and tilted his head up.

Creel and Orka had stopped mid pummelling. Creel had his chain wrapped around the chest of Orka and was pulling it tight while Orka was trying to choke out the steel man. Their eyes were fixed on Samson having seen the doctor just punch the woman they both loved.

“I think that may have been a mistake,” he sighed to himself and forced himself to his feet. He leapt into the air and connected both knees with Orka as the atlantean rushed towards him, Creel bouncing along on the end of the chain behind him. The massive blue man crumbled backwards.

Samson landed with one foot on either side of the frame of the creature only to find himself knocked further down by the steel hand of Creel to the back of his legs. “Carl please just think about this,” pleaded Samson.

“You shouldn’t have hit my wife Doc, I’m going to have to hurt you before I kill you now.”

“We’ve talked about this before Carl, your relationship with Titania is not a healthy one. It keeps leading you both into bad situations. Can’t you see this?”
The Absorbing Man slammed his fist into the ground next to Samson who managed to dodge out of it’s way at the last split second.

“I gotta do it Doc, She’s the only woman who I ever loved who loved me back...the only one who ever loved me for who I am. She’s never wanted to change me, she’s worth anything.”

Samson and Creel were both to their feet now and were exchanging powerful blows. Samson was probably the stronger of the two but the fact Creel’s steel body limited or completely nullified the pain of the blows meant they were fairly evenly matched.

They rocked each other back and forth as they swung their mighty fists. Samson let out a roar of anger and followed a big right hand with a clubbing blow coming in the opposite direction. It over balanced the massive weight of Creel and sent him stumbling sideways.

“Can’t you see that’s part of the problem?” Samson growled.

He flicked his eyes to Titania, she was stirring. He had maybe a minute before she was back up to her feet with her super constitution and he was thinking right back to step one in this fight.

“She loves me Doc how is that a problem?” Creel slammed his elbow sideways into Samson’s gut.

“She loved you for who you were not who you are,” Samson gasped. “I’ll level with you Carl, you were a two bit thug and hood who lucked into your powers and got a whole lot worse.”

The two men took a brief respite from their physicality as they were catching their breath. The idea of unlimited positive regard seen most commonly in therapy quickly left his mind.

“Will one of you hurry up and kill him!” screamed Titania. The two men turned to look at her as she sat up.

A roar behind them drew their attention in the other direction. Orka was back to his feet.

The two men without exchanging a glance, without sharing a look or a signal launched forward and landed a blow in the monster’s stomach hunching him forward before landing massive uppercuts into his face.

Samson went one step further and seized Orka, using his martial arts training he rolled his hip and tossed the 20 foot tall Atlantean across the room into the climbing body of Titania. The two went down again.

Samson admired his handiwork for a second before the massive arm of Creel slammed around the side of his face and sent him crumbling to his knees.

He was yanked quickly back to his feet and then lifted even further into the air. His head lolled to the side, his mind was swimming from the strong blow.
“You’re a better man now,” Samson mumbled.

“What?” Creel’s fist was held back in the ‘trigger’ position ready to launch forward into Samson’s face and possibly end the situation.

“You’re not a two bit thug anymore...not if you don’t want to be,” Samson shook his head as best he could, which was practically unperceivable.
Creel watched his face. Samson’s eyes flickered open, they were glazed and he blinked several times trying to get the blurring in his vision to dissipate.

“You’ve done good things, you’ve went straight and tried to live a good life. You put your past behind you and moved on. Mary wouldn’t let you, that would have made you a different man....a better person than she was and she couldn’t have it.”

“Are you saying she sabotaged me those times?”

Samson shook his head. “Not on purpose...she probably didn’t even know it at the time. She just couldn’t change, couldn’t let you change. She loved you for the man you were not the man you wanted to be. She wont let you grow.”
Creel stared at Samson and was then sent spiralling sideways spilling the green haired psychologist across the floor.

The body of Orka had collided with them both with massive force as it had been hurled by his wife.

Titania walked calmly across the floor. “If you’re both too useless to do this for me I’ll do it my damn self.”

She began to unfasten one of her spiked wrist straps and twisted and bent it. She got to Samson’s body and put the strap down across his throat so the spikes were touching his flesh.

She smirked down at him and raised her foot into the air.

A glint of colour shot across her vision. Her eyes moved towards it as it rolled and then did a small circle which got smaller and smaller until finally it stopped. It was a little golden band, a wedding ring. She recognised it, it was the one she had stolen for her husband.

She turned her head to see her husband standing over the fallen body of Orka. “It’s over Mary.”

She looked at him like she was having difficulty processing the information. She thought he meant the battle at first but…the ring. “What?” was all she managed to say. She had heard what he had said and thought she knew what he meant. The question was more a stall for time than anything else as she tried to think of something to say.

“The Doc is right,” Creel nodded. He looked directly into her eyes and then flickered them away from her. He couldn’t look at her right now, he loved her with all of his heart. That was one thing he was sure of and if he looked at her as he said this he was certain he would falter and change his mind. “It can’t work between us, were two different people now or we should be at least.”

“Carl you can’t be serious,” Titania took a step towards him. Samson coughed loudly and tried to roll his body away from the two. His head was woozy but he was listening as carefully as he could to the chatter between the two ready to use whatever he needed to in order to help or get away if the chance arose.

“We're nearly done, all we have to do is kill Samson and we can be together. He’s the one behind all of this! He got inside my head and convince me to break up with you,” she pointed angrily at the fallen body of the superhero.

“Think it through Mary,” Creel said with a sad shake of the head. He still kept his eyes averted. “We kill Samson and we’ll have She-Hulk after us and The Fantastic Four and The Avengers with her.”

“We’ll be together, we can…”

“Get caught and sent to prison for life. I’ve done enough time in my life already I don’t want anymore. I don’t want to spend forever getting punched by chumps in tights and behind bars.”

Titania stopped for a second. She looked from Creel to Samson who was climbing to his feet. Her hands balled into fists and she took a faltering step towards Samson before stopping. “It’s all his fault!” she spat.

She was seething but stopped moving towards him. “Fine!” she growled as she turned around. “We’ve beaten on him enough, he knows not to get between us again. We can just leave…you and me.”

She took several rapid steps towards her husband and ran her hand across his hard metal surface. He titled his head up to hers and looked into her eyes. Those eyes which he had so often stared into, the eyes he loved, the ones he could never say no to.

He said ‘no’

Titania stared at him open mouthed. Her jaw quivered and she tried to speak but nothing came out.

“We can’t do it. We’ve tried before. We can’t be together and live a normal life,” he sighed. “It’s over between the two of us. I need to be away from you. I’m sorry.”

He turned and began to walk away to the exit. Titania grabbed his shoulder but he shrugged her off. “Please Carl, talk to me…Carl.”

Samson titled his head up and watched as the two left the building. Creel trying to ignore his wife as she pleaded with him to listen to her.

He didn’t know what he thought was going to happen. He didn’t know whether Creel could go straight or if he would take Titania back. He even thought that this could even be the shock to the system that they both needed to put them back on track but he sincerely doubted it, if he was being honest.

He hauled himself to his feet. His muscles and bones aching. It had been a short fight but it had taken a lot out of him. He checked on Orka and found the giant atlantean still breathing. He moved slightly and Samson thought it best if he wasn’t there when the monster woke up and found himself dumped.

He headed in the opposite direction to the other two villains and out onto the docks. He walked along their length for a few minutes until he came across a group of workers.

They had heard the ruckus and looked at him quite like the didn’t believe him to be real. He smiled as best he could through the pain. “Could I borrow a cell phone from one of you gentlemen?”

Later, the Office…

Samson sat reclining in the chair of his office. A cup of tea sat on the desk in front of him. H e had called Arlette and she had brought him right here.

His appointments for the rest of the day had been cancelled and he was now in full relaxing mode. He would have went home and put his feet up there but he felt he should make a report or two about what just happened to SHIELD, The Avengers and for his own personal files on each of the supervillains in order to get his thoughts down on the matter now.

What he really needed now was a quiet evening in which he could relax and heal.

There was a knock on his office door and then it was pushed open. He opened his eyes and smiled at Louise, she had promised to get him a cookie or two to go with his tea after his hard day and that was really something he was looking forward too.

“Leo I think you need to take this call,” Said Louise in strict contradiction to his ‘hold my calls’ order not just 10 minutes ago. “It’s Stacey, she’s been trying to get a hold of you on your cell.”

Samson smiled. He would like to speak to Dolan. He nodded and motioned for Louise to transfer the call.

“Hello?”

“I’m sorry for not being available earlier. I seemed to have lost my cell in a battle with The Absorbing Man, Titania and a very angry Atlantean,” Samson laughed gently.

“Len,” Stacy’s voice was serious.

“What is it? Is something wrong?” he lurched forward and leaned on his desk.

“That’s an understatement, it’s Killgrave.” Dolan swore loudly on the other end of the phone. “The Purple Man has escaped from The Raft, he’s holding thousands of people to randsom and he’s demanding that you come and face him.”

TO BE CONTINUED...

NEXT ISSUE: The culmination of the run so far, as Doc Samson faces off against The Purple Man!