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Grendel. Julie could only stare at the massive monster with a mixture of shock and fear. She’d never seen Grendel before, at least not in person. The Slackers had never been unlucky enough to encounter him…until now.

Nearly everyone had heard of Grendel, a powerful behemoth who appeared without warning, left a swath of destruction, and then vanished just as suddenly as he’d come. Some of the most powerful heroes and groups in the world had fought Grendel, and the most anyone had been able to do was to halt his rampage before he vanished. No one had ever been able to definitively beat him. Grendel was just as big a threat as Loki or Force…if not greater.

Julie tried to wrap her head around the fact that Denise Roberts the doctor who’d patched up Lady Hexx and who had saved Ms. Miracle’s life…had transformed into Grendel, right before her eyes. It didn’t seem possible.

Grendel pulled his head back and let out a deafening roar, right before he snapped his head back down and vomited a blast of green energy into the crowd of heroes. Neon immediately leapt to the front, creating a wall of glowing green energy, though he and his wall were still thrown back from the force of the attack. The White Knight rushed to his brother’s side, and a glowing white shield formed against the glowing green one, reinforcing it until the blast stopped.

“Grendel,” Force exclaimed, and Julie thought she heard fear, or at least worry, before he began laughing. “Now, this should be entertaining…” And with that, the former hero floated up into the air, making no move to attack Grendel. Instead, he seemed more interested in watching the monster attack the heroes.

“Now this is what I’m talking about,” Loki exclaimed with a maniacal laugh. “That fucker is even better than anything I could do… Smash em Grendel… Kill all these fuckin heroes…”

Though Grendel didn’t appear to be paying attention to Loki, he still charged forward. The Miracle Men rushed up to meet him, with Quartz taking the lead while Splash sent a blast of water at his face, holding the water in place as though trying to drown him. Grendel punched at Quartz, who was thrown back with heavy cracks through his crystal shell. A moment later, Surge followed up by firing a blast of electricity at Grendel, though the creature barely seemed to notice it.

“Eat razor sharp shuriken,” Shuriken exclaimed, right as he sent a dozen metal throwing stars flying at high speed towards the creature. Every one of the shuriken hit the massive target that Grendel presented, though none of them seemed to do more than scratch him.

“KEEP BACK,” Target yelled, trying to get in front of Grendel and he moved forward. The monster swiped his massive claws at the heroine, but she ducked out of the way and dodged another attack. “I’ll keep him focused on me…”

“Careful, Mom,” Shuriken told her, backing off but still sending more shuriken at the monster.

“Hey,” Target called out. “Big, blue, and ugly…”

The monster roared and lashed out again, though this time, Target wasn’t fast enough to avoid his blow. A moment later, the heroine was sent flying at least half the length of a football field before she came back down again. Julie might have been horrified at that, if it wasn’t for the fact that Target was invulnerable. Even her own family didn’t seem to be worried about her, or one of them probably would have caught her.

“Careful,” the White Knight ordered while the Face opened up and fired a blast of golden energy out of his mask. Grendel snarled and turned his attention to the Face, though didn’t seem to be hurt, just annoyed. A moment later, the massive monster leapt straight at the Face.

Suddenly, Grendel was frozen in the air, surrounded by a sphere of golden energy. “I’ve got him,” Mystik called out, holding out her staff.

Julie stared at the captured Grendel in relief, though she quickly looked to Force, who no longer seemed content to merely watch Grendel. She scowled, knowing that with his ego, there was no way that he was going to let everyone forget he was there. With only his dark expression and arrogant sneer for a warning, Force suddenly threw out his hands and fired a blat of raw force, which sent heroes flying in all directions.

Julie looked around at the other heroes, seeing that most of those who’d been caught in this concussion blast had just been knocked around, though not all were unharmed. Figment cried out in pain, holding her arm which appeared to have been broken. Agony looked like she’d broken her leg, but she still got to her feet anyway, with a twisted grin on her lips.

Not to be left out, Loki held up her staff and exclaimed, “Let’s get the whole band together… Bring Circuit Monger and the Scepter here…” A swirl of sickly purple energy formed around her staff, then shot off into the distance.

“Not good,” Julie whispered, wishing that she had enough energy to call for help. Calling up Anabelle had used up what little reserves she’d managed to regain.

A moment later, a flash of golden light smashed into Force, sending the former hero flying back. It took Julie a moment to realize that Ms. Miracle was now floating in the air, glowing with her golden aura. This wasn’t the original Ms. Miracle whom Julie had previously hosted, but the second one…the one who had been severely injured and in male form the last time Julie had seen her.

“You were all making too much noise for me to sleep,” Ms. Miracle announced, earning some quick cheers from the Miracle Men and a smile from the White Knight. “So I thought that I’d come and join in the fun…”

Force just sneered in response, not seeming the least bit intimidated by Ms. Miracle. Of course, the fact that she was wearing her bloodstained and damaged costume probably encouraged his attitude. “After I’m done dealing with all of you,” Force announced, “there’s a pink haired girl that I’ll need to deal with…”

Without warning or hesitation, the White Knight flew straight at Force, punching the former hero as hard as he could. However, Force saw him coming and took the blow without even flinching. A moment later, he punched the White Knight, who was thrown back from the force until Neon caught him with a giant baseball mitt made out of green energy.

“Protect me,” Loki commanded as several heroes tried to attack her. A moment later, Icarus tried to punch the villainess, only to go through her as though she was a ghost.

Julie had almost allowed herself to forget about Grendel, until he let out a deafening roar. The golden sphere burst under his furious assault, releasing the creature. Without hesitating, Grendel charged forward.

“Oh no you don’t,” Mega exclaimed, diving for Grendel and smashing into him just a moment before he reached Mystik. Grendel turned his attention to the Mega, who was currently over twenty feet tall. And even though she was nearly twice his height, she still visibly paled. “This is gonna hurt…”

Grendel slammed into Mega, and to Julie’s surprise, Mega was thrown back with a scream. Grendel leapt at her again only to get charged from behind by Chrome, Nike, and Warchild. However, even their combined assault wasn’t enough to draw the monster’s attention away from Mega.

In the air above, Ms. Miracle and the White Knight fought with Force, while Nike circled nearby, looking for an opportunity to join in. They took turns charging Force, though he continued to shrug them off, acting as though this was just a game and he was merely playing with them.

“What the hell happened to you, Scott?” the White Knight demanded of Force. “How did you become such a monster?”

Force snarled at that, glaring at the White Knight with clearly growing anger. Then he looked down at the heroes gathered below and exclaimed, “I failed to kill your family the last time. This time I’ll make sure they’re all dead…especially that pink haired bitch…”

The White Knight yelled in rage and flew straight at Force, swinging a sword made of white energy. However, Force dropped to the ground, and as soon as he hit, there was an explosive blast that sent everyone flying back. Julie screamed as she was flung through the air.

Suddenly, someone caught Julie in mid-air, and an unfamiliar voice announced, “I’ve got you…”

As soon as Julie was released, she turned to look at her rescuer and was surprised to see an enormous blue skinned woman. The woman was eight feet tall, heavily muscled, and had breasts the size of beach balls. And not only was her skin blue, but her hair was dark blue and her eyes were yellow. Bony spikes grew out from her shoulders and elbows, which along with her sharp teeth and clawed fingers, made her look more than a little intimidating. And since the only things she wore were a silver chain mail bikini top and loin cloth, Julie had a clear view of her entire body.

“Um…thanks,” Julie responded in surprise and confusion. She stared up at this stranger, then demanded, “Who are you?”

However, the blue skinned woman turned her attention away from Julie and looked towards Grendel, which made Julie realize just how many similarities the two of them shared. They were both big and blue, with bony spikes growing from their bodies.

The blue amazon had a deep scowl on her face as she yelled, “GRENDEL.”

Grendel threw Mega away from him, then snapped around to stare at the woman. He backhanded Marvel, casually knocking her out of his way as he started to approach the blue skinned woman.

“Grendel, come here,” the blue woman commanded. To Julie’s surprise, Grendel did as the woman ordered and went right over to her. He crouched down and she gently put a hand on his cheek. “Good boy…”

“No way,” Zero Key gasped. “A girl Grendel…”

“You’re Grendel’s Mother,” the Face exclaimed in surprise, his voice sounding worried. “I’ve heard of you…”

“Grendel’s Mother...?” Mega exclaimed as she got back to her feet. She stared at the blue skinned amazon, who had Grendel patiently crouched in front of her. Her eyes suddenly widened in realization. “GM…? Will?”

Grendel’s Mother smiled faintly and told the giantess, “I told you that I was here as an insurance policy…” She gave a meaningful look at Grendel and added, “In case this very thing happened…”

The Face seemed to be staring at her, though with his mask, Julie couldn’t be quite sure. She wasn’t sure what Grendel’s Mother was going to do, but for the moment, she seemed to be holding Grendel back.

Julie had heard of the creature called Grendel’s Mother, a female version of Grendel, who was smart and able to control the monster. However, until now, Julie had thought that Grendel’s Mother was just an urban legend.

“These people aren’t your enemies,” Grendel’s Mother told the monster. Then with an almost evil grin, she pointed to Force and announced, “HE is. Sic em Grendel…”

Grendel let out a roar, then turned and leapt straight at Force. Force had a sudden look of fear on his face, right before the massive blue monster smashed into him, slamming him into the ground. Grendel roared and fired a blast of green energy from his mouth, aimed directly at Force.

“YOU DARE?” Force yelled, nearly frothing with rage.

Force flew straight at Grendel and punched the creature with enough power that Julie felt the impact from where she stood. Grendel was knocked back about a foot, thought the monster just roared and threw himself at Force.

“What the hell?” Chrome exclaimed. “Grendel is on our side?”

The White Knight held back, watching with an expression of surprise and confusion. “I’d never have believed it…”

Grendel’s Mother just laughed, seeming amused by the entire situation. “Well, it’s been awhile since I could cut loose…” Then with an almost scary looking grin, she ran towards Force and joined Grendel in the fight.

“NO,” Loki snarled, staring at Grendel with a look of betrayal on her face. “That fucker should be crushing the damn heroes…”

“And you should be in prison,” Rumor called out, right before Surge blasted Loki with electricity. However, the electricity went right though Loki, who was still intangible. A moment later, Rumor stated, “My turn…”

Rumor vanished from where she’d been standing beside Surge, only to reappear beside Loki. She took a swing at Loki, and to Julie’s surprise, she hit the villainess in the face. Loki staggered back with blood spurting from her smashed nose.

“I’ll kill you,” Loki told her with a furious snarl. Then an evil grin formed on her face, looking even more sinister for the blood that was dripping down.

“Oh no you don’t,” Rumor responded as she charged Loki again. However, this time, Loki swung her staff, hitting Rumor, who took a nasty looking hit to her ribs.

“Fucking bitch,” Loki spat out, glancing to where Grendel slammed into Force, throwing the former hero straight into the ground. “Shit… I wanted to see Grendel fuck you all up… I guess I’ll have to do it myself…”

Julie saw the evil grin return to Loki’s face, and she had a very bad feeling about what was coming. “Look out,” Julie cried out a warning, though she doubted it would do any good.

“Make me stronger than Grendel,” Loki commanded as she raised her staff. “Make me bigger than Grendel…more powerful than Grendel.”

“No,” Julie gasped, her eyes going wide.

Loki began laughing maniacally while black smoke began to pour out of her staff. The smoke circled the villainess, almost like a giant black snake, and then it suddenly lunged forward and rushed into Loki’s mouth. She tried screaming, but no sound emerged.

A moment later, all of the smoke was gone, having entered into Loki’s body. Loki’s face began to turn red, as though she had a severe sunburn, though it continued to become brighter until it was the color of blood.

A fearsome howl erupted from Loki’s throat, right before her armor began to crack and shatter. Just as Julie had seen Denise do a short time ago, Loki was growing, bursting right out of her armor, transforming even more as she did so. Her body was now covered in crimson scales.

Just then, there was another loud BOOM and the ground shook. Julie looked back to where Grendel and his mother were fighting Force. This time, Force had just slammed Grendel’s Mother into the ground, though she got back to her feet in an instant, not appearing to have been harmed at all. Grendel immediately spat a blast of green energy at Force, who used a force field to block the attack. Grendel’s Mother followed that up by leaping up in the air, right to where Force was floating.

However, a loud shriek drew Julie’s attention back to Loki, who now stood twelve feet tall, and she was still growing larger. She was enormous, with scaly red skin, fearsome looking claws and teeth, and glowing red eyes and burned with a fierce hatred.

Everyone seemed so caught up in watching her transformation, or in watching the fight between Force and Grendel, that no one made a move towards Loki. Loki continued to grow, reaching thirty feet tall before she finally stopped.

“This is not good,” Julie whispered, remembering what Loki had said before transforming. If she was more powerful than Grendel, they were all in serious trouble.

Suddenly, a burst of purple energy crashed down from the sky and hit the ground. A moment later, Julie saw a figure standing where the purple energy had struck. It was a woman in armor, riding on the back of a large black cat. In her hand, she held a metal scepter.

“The Scepter,” Julie gasped, quickly recognizing who this newcomer was.

Before anyone could react to this new threat, another flash of purple shot out of the sky and hit the ground. In the middle of the charred ground stood a metalic woman.

“Circuit Monger,” Julie whispered, feeling as though she had a lump of lead in her stomach at the realization that four of the five obelisk guardians were now present…along with Grendel. Those were some extremely dangerous villains with a LOT of combined power. Even if Grendel appeared to be on their side at the moment, Julie didn’t trust that to last long. “This is NOT good…”