Validus AKA Rick Jones

!SOUND EFFECTS! "THOUGHTS"

Chapter Thirteen

Rick was sitting down reading while on monitor duty, the other Avengers away doing other things. Kara was flying, exploring the countryside out of curiosity and taking in the sights at the time.

"Well, nothing's going on here."

However, Validus was quite mistaken as the alarm phone sounded. !BEEP!BEEP!BEEP! "Hello?"

"It's the Abomination! He's here in Las Vegas, Nevada!" Rick heard the voice on the other end of the line exclaim frantically.

"I'll be right there!" Rick super leaped into the sky for Las Vegas like there was no tomorrow.

In a matter of seconds, Validus arrived there, seeing one of the familiar buildings on the Strip violently demolished by the Abomination. "Hold it, Stersky!"

Validus stood there impressively, balled fists on his hips as he hovered several yards above the ground. The hero regarded his new adversary, his blackish/green eyes unflinching as his broad chest heaved with physical as well as mental strength.

"You! Where's the Hulk? He was rumored to be here, and I wanted to talk to him instead of some pale look alike," the creature answered, making his way to him.

"What did you want with him?" Validus asked, touching down as the creature got closer.

"Since you're here, I might as well tell you."

"Tell me what?" Validus asked.

"This!" !POW! Upon the powerful left-handed punch of the scaly, green creature, Rick flew back several yards, head over heels, smashing into a well-lit casino entrance with glass flying everywhere.

"Yeow!" the powerhouse screamed as electricity coursed through his body. "Huff! So you wanna make it like that."

At that point, Validus got up, still smoking from having been electrocuted. Then he took to the air, making his way towards his new opponent, smashing into him fists first right into the Abomination's midsection. Validus' attack carried him and his opponent through a couple of blocks over the street, stopping in an intersection. As the two combatants rolled on the ground, people stopped their cars or did their best to drive around them. However, an oncoming bus either couldn't keep away from them or didn't see them.

!CRASH! "Eeek!" As soon as the bus crashed into the two combatants, the driver slumped forward unconscious while most of the passengers broke through the emergency exit in the back, running away as if their lives depended on it.

"Your strength is nowhere near that of the Hulk. You cannot defeat me," the scaly creature said as he attacked the green-haired Validus with powerful fists.

"I'm more than strong enough to deal with the likes of you." To the surprise of his opponent, Validus maneuvered and blocked several punches. Then he counter-attacked, pretending to punch the scaly creature. However, instead of using his fists to attack, Validus struck his opponent in the shins with a couple of low kicks. For the fight, Rick took one hit for every four he got in. Eventually, he attacked with a roundhouse kick that struck home, knocking the Abomination several blocks back.

"Coward!" the Abomination yelled out as Rick made his way to him. "Fight me like a man instead of some dancing fool!"

"I'll fight you any way I want!"

"Yeaargh!" the creature screamed and then clapped his hands together, creating a shockwave that sent his opponent a couple of blocks back end over end.

As Rick went flying, the Abomination leaped into him, taking him even further than Rick had knocked him back just seconds ago. As the two crashed into a building with Rick taking the brunt of it, Abomination stood over him and began to pound him into the ground.

"What's wrong with me? For some reason, my strength isn't increasing even though I've fairly angry right now. I must have lost my berserker rage enhanced strength when I lost my green skin. But despite that, I still should have enough strength to deal with the Abomination."

Validus used his agile legs to grasp his opponent and performed an acrobatic maneuver that allowed him to propel the Abomination across the street several blocks away while his own hands were on the ground.

"You won't defeat me so easily, Jones." The Abomination picked up an empty car and threw it at Validus, knocking the golden warrior down.

"Ungh!" Upon recovering from getting slammed by the vehicle, Rick looked up to find the Abomination looming over him.

!SMASH! The scaly creature raised his hands and pounded on Validus with both fists, shaking the ground around them.

"You are a poor substitute for the Hulk, Jones. Now, I shall put you out of your misery."

"Never!" At that point, Validus reached down deep inside for that little something extra. Starting with shaking his fists while being repeatedly struck by the Abomination, he began to shake his whole body.

"What do you think you're doing?" the creature demanded as the blows seemed to be having no effect on the jade haired warrior.

"I'm making myself stronger!" Validus stood up, glared at his opponent with his eyes widened, He then blocked the last two punches with his left arm, striking back with his right hand!

"Aargh!" the creature screamed as he went flying back a couple of blocks away from the emerald gladiators. And before he could get his bearings, Validus leaped into him feet first right into his midsection, knocking him backward further.

"You think I can't handle someone like you? I hate it when everybody underestimates me! Aaaaah!" As Validus screamed, the ground around them shook while the sounds of thunder seemed to be coming from everywhere, even though there were no clouds in the sky. After this increase in power, Validus struck his opponent countless times with punches and kicks while taking only a few blows in return.

"You're stronger without the rage!" the Abomination screamed, reeling back a few feet from the last punch he received. "You're not even that angry. But how?"

"I just figured out that I don't need anger to get stronger. What I needed were adrenaline and fighting spirit."

"Then I'll just break your spirit!" The Abomination quickly grabbed the bus that had earlier crashed into them and swung it at his opponent in an arc, covering several areas with so much speed that Rick couldn't get out of the way in time, thus the scaly creature batted away the green-haired warrior, sending him right into the giant-sized, neon-lit cowboy sign that pointed its thumb at himself.

"Yeeaaagh!" Rick screamed as he smashed into the moving neon sign. Upon breaking out of the electronic entanglement he was in, Validus leaped into the Abomination.

"What are you doing?" the scaly creature screamed as the fast-moving, unavoidable fists of Validus slammed into him. Then Validus struck the Abomination dozens of times with punch and kick combinations.

"I'm kicking your ass! Hyaah!" Rick ended his barrage of blows with a somersault kick that sent his opponent upwards. And before the Abomination could land on the ground, the powerful warrior nailed him with several roundhouse kicks with such speed that his legs moved much like a helicopter's blades.

"Oof!" Stersky moaned as Validus struck him repeatedly. The creature tried to hit back in vain as his opponent was too skilled for him, easily moving in and out of the way of his attacks. Out of desperation, the Abomination charged him.

As his opponent came running at him, Rick grabbed him by the wrist and executed a martial arts throw maneuver that sent the monster upwards and then down to the ground. "Ungh!"

The creature got up rather quickly only to take a right hand to the jaw that rocked the monster's head to the side. Then Rick measured him, finally punching his opponent with a haymaker that sent him to the ground unconscious.

"Ungh!"

"Yeah!" Validus screamed as he raised his right hand in victory.

As soon as the smoke had cleared, a police officer walked over to the Rick. "Excuse me, Mister Superhero. What are you going to do about all this mess?"

Validus looked around, noticing the wanton destruction which included several windows having been smashed in, a few bright light signs broken, and more than a few cars crushed. "Um, well. Heh, heh."

XXX

Later the next day, Rick and Kara were in Hollywood, making their way down Hollywood Blvd, a couple of blocks from Vine Street. Visiting tourists and the people who worked there admired the handsome couple who walked arm in arm in a slow but sure gait.

"Come on, Rick," Kara said.

"Do we need to go shopping around here? The stores in Hollywood can be very expensive." Rick looked around nervously while his girlfriend enjoyed the sights.

"Of course we do! This place looks just as good as it did in my former universe. This is the best place to shop for clothes on the west coast, and I don't want to fly out to New York," the tall statuesque blond stated as she walked hand in hand with the one she loved.

"All right. But our Avengers paychecks only cover so much. And I know for a fact that Frederick's of Hollywood is very expensive," Rick replied, taking a good look at the well-dressed mannequins standing in the store's display window.

"I understand that. But I want to get some nice clothes that will fit in with the Hollywood hot spots. What you're wearing is OK. But I'd like to see you in nicer clothes." Rick wore fashionable gray slacks along with a matching jacket over a white button-downed shirt. Kara wore a green, short skirt and skintight blouse that made a show of her bustline. In addition to that, she wore white, knee-high boots.

"All right. I don't think this place sells a guy's clothes though."

"Oh, we're going to some nice places for guy's clothes later after we're done here. I know about some great places that have clothes in your size."

"I see. Are you talking about clothes designed for professional wrestlers?" Rick asked with a knowing look.

Kara turned to her lover, giving him a quizzical look. Then she figured out what he meant.

"I know you're a big guy, Rick. So we are going to some places that have clothes in your size. It's not as if you're a giant; you're still only six feet, six inches tall; that's just six inches taller than me. And you still weigh as much as 300 pounds. There are plenty of clothes for you to wear that will look good on you, even if you're built bigger and better than a champion bodybuilder. Come to think of it, there are even bodybuilders and football players who are a little bigger than you so finding good clothes for you won't be a problem."

"All right," Rick answered. "I guess you have everything figured out."

"That's right. There is something that's been bothering me though."

"What's that?"

"Why are the heroes here so hated? Even as popular as the Avengers are people tend to despise them. I won't even get started at how the X-Men get treated. Where I came from being born with powers as opposed to getting them later was just a sense of timing as opposed to being regarded as a race of homo superior."

"It's complicated, Kara."

"I suppose. The only time people hated superheroes in my previous universe was when Glorious Godfrey used some kind of mind control on the masses. It's a good thing someone of his magnitude isn't here. He'd have no problem getting people here to hate superheroes."

"I dealt with that guy once. Dealing with the likes of him was very difficult, to say the least."

"I must have missed that event. But enough about that. After we're done shopping, there's a Hamburger Hamlet around here. I'm curious to see whether or not the burgers there are as good as they were in my original universe."

"Did you like the food in the future when you were with the Legion of Super-Heroes?" Rick warrior asked.

"The food there was OK." Then the maid of steel concentrated her eyes for a moment.

"What are you looking at, Kara?"

"Looking for movie stars."

"You find any?"

"Nope. Oh, well. Maybe next time. Oh, wait!" Kara grabbed Rick's arm and dragged him inside the nearby Frederick's of Hollywood straight into the lingerie section.

"Kara, where are..." There were several mannequins in lace bras and panties, causing Rick to blush a little.

"Don't you think I'd look good wearing this negligee, Rick?" Kara said, motioning to an especially nice ensemble of skimpy underwear. "If you're nice, maybe I'll model it for you. If you're really nice, I'll let you slowly take it off me," the blond-haired girl said with a wink and a smile.

"Really?"

"Can't get that smile off of your face, can you?" Kara said with a knowing smile.

"Well," the large man said with a deep blush.

"That's OK. I'm flattered the idea of seeing me in my underwear makes you so happy. And flattery will get you everywhere," the tall, statuesque young woman said with a smile as she caressed his arm.

The muscular, young man looked into the face of the buxom blond, his eyes working his way downward. Kara was well aware of where her boyfriend's eyes were wandering, so she moved in closer.

However, as she was about to give him a passionate kiss there was a large explosion.

!BOOM!

"What was that?" a customer in the store called out.

"Let me see." Supergirl used her vision powers, searching through the area. "It looks like..." !BOOM!

"Dr. Doom!" Validus exclaimed as the armored, green raiment wearing would be world-beater walked into the department store.

"Yes, it is I, Dr. Doom." The monarch regarded Validus and the maid of steel as if they belonged to him.

"What do you want, Doom?"

"Watch your tone, Jones. I'm not the least bit impressed by your power. What I find interesting is how you've managed to travel to different dimensions. Even this Supergirl of yours has traveled from a fictional universe to this one."

"What does that matter to you?"

"I grow tired of standing around here and talking about it. Thus we shall speak of this elsewhere." In a flash of light, they were in his castle in Latveria, bound up within light blue energy spheres that held their arms and legs up to the stone wall of the castle.

"Whoa!" Supergirl exclaimed, taking an account of their new surroundings, trying to break free of her bonds. "Huff! These things are unbreakable!"

"Of course they are," the monarch calmly replied.

"Is there a reason you've transported us here, Dr. Doom?" Rick inquired.

"I wanted to talk in private."

"Does this have something to do with your mother being trapped in another dimension?" Supergirl asked.

"Yes, you impetuous girl! I want to know how you traveled from another universe that doesn't exist."

"There was a supervillain called the Time Trapper who blasted me into oblivion," Supergirl replied. "However, I don't see how that information would help you."

"I'll decide what will help me and what won't," Dr. Doom stated with authority.

"I've had it with your imperious tone, Doom. And I don't have to take it anymore." Validus shook himself hard, building up his adrenaline thus his strength and power.

"Overrated fool! I know ever since you lost the green of your skin that you've lost some of your rage-increased strength."

"Not quite, Doom. I may have lost my berserker rage enhanced strength, but all I needed was to psych myself up, increasing my adrenaline. With all the martial arts training I've been through I can still attain my greater strength. Here, let me show you. Huff!" !SMASH!

"What? But how?" the monarch exclaimed.

"Anger is an emotion, but instead of using anger, I use pure emotion all together. I've long since learned how to control my emotions."

"I find it strange you would be that intelligent," Doom interjected.

"Everyone needs to quit underestimating me!" Validus screamed as he used his increased strength to break Kara out of her bounds. "I control my strength now, not mindless rage!"

"Fool! Mindless rage made your mentor, the Hulk unpredictable. The fact that you're a more self-controlled Hulk means you can be outwitted and defeated. I will keep everything that has happened here in mind. I will also not make the mistake of underestimating you again. However, for the time being, be gone!" With a wave of his hand, Doctor Doom banished the two superheroes from his kingdom and back to where he had gotten them.

"Whoa!" Kara exclaimed, almost falling to the ground, but Rick was ready and caught her.

"You got to meet Doctor Doom, the most dangerous supervillain in the world," Validus said, helping the young woman to her feet so that she stood upright. "How do you feel about all that?"

"I'm all right. Even though he was very impressive, he wasn't as impressive as the Time Trapper. Now that guy was scary. Let's go, Rick."

"It's rather late. Do you still want to go shopping for clothes?"

"Mmm. Yes, but right now I'm hungry. Let's go get a bite." She giggled a little as her lover put his arms around her waist and caressed her ribs; then they walked away.

In the shadows, a giant-sized figure who had been watching the events as they unfolded regarded the two heroes walking along the boulevard. "It's a good thing I was able to throw that strand sized listening device into Rick's hair while he was fighting the Abomination. It's just too bad my doppelganger is on another planet. I thought about figuring out a way to get myself there, but from what I've learned that planet is dangerous, and the fact that Bruce is the king of that world means he'd have a whole army at his command. There's no way I could hope to defeat him. At least not yet. So I'll have to settle for dealing with his new replacement. I've killed the Rick Jones of my own reality, destroying his rebellion against me in the process. Thus I will do the same to this version."

XXX

AUTHOR'S NOTES: Let me know what you think of this with a review. Thanks.