Strike Force: The Battle With Magneto.

Magneto. This Is The Battle You've Been Waiting For!


Today, I ended my association with the Heroes United.
But I attained something far greater: a super-team of my own!

I said: "Swamp Thing here. My strike force to aid J'onn J'onzz,
in his battle against Magneto is assembled."

I took part in an adventure which involved the following heroes:

Green Lantern Kilowog.


Power Girl.


The Bulleteer. [She'd been de-magnetized.]


The Frankenstein Monster
and the Bride.


and Zatanna.

Together, we were collectively known as the Strike Force.
Our mission: to save the life of the Martian Manhunter
from his other dimensional enemies from a divergent universe.
My Strike Force had our confrontation with Captain Koma and Magneto. Lady Blackhawk took us to the Martian Manhunter's headquarters at the Hall of Justice, which once housed the Justice League's meetings. Inside, we soon found out the Martian had gone after Koma on his own. Power Girl and Zatanna found evidence J'onn had been poisoned, several oreo cookie crumbs were found at the bottom of an empty glass of chocolate milk he had consumed. Strangely enough, the cookies have bizarrely addictive alterations on his alien body chemistry. We had to save him from himself if need be. Time was of the essence. But where was Green Lantern Kilowog? He arrived late and behaved very strangely, saying he was held up in space. He said he didn't want to wear out his power ring, so he boarded the plane with us. Oracle had scouted up Koma's secret lair. The Blackhawk jet dropped us off at our destination at record speed. Inside, the Martian was already confronting Koma, doing considerable damage to Koma's female android lover. "Manhunter, you will pay!" Koma shouted at his opponent from within his lair. Kilowog pushed the rest of us aside [which didn't make Frankenstein too happy with him], and shouted, "Open up, ya poozers!" J'onn opened the door for us. He seemed to have the situation under control, but the effects of the food poisoning were already telling on him. Koma took advantage of our concern for J'onn and teleported himself away. Kilowog angrily shook his head, "Great. We turn up to kick this poozer's ass and he does a disappearing act on us." Then, in a slightly effeminate, and oddly monotonic voice he added, "I am so going to kill him for this." Kilowog's red eyes seemed to turn bright yellow for a moment. No one else seemed to notice, so I gave this distraction no further attention. Then we heard the following recorded message over an intercom: 'Koma has left the building by emergency teleportation. All heroes in the lair are asked to vacate in an orderly matter or they will be attacked by Synthoids.' "Hey, we still get to fight!" Kilowog persisted.
Oracle's voice then came from it, arguing against Kilowog, who still wanted to stay and fight. Outside, Lady Blackhawk left us in her jet. Clearly, Magneto's attack was about to begin. Suddenly, the fallen android began to change shape, morphing itself into another female form. "It's the TX Terminator!" the Bulleteer shouted. The battery in J'onn's hand turned into a metal spear and almost killed him, were it not for Power Girl's super-speed. Oracle warned us to get outside and fight Magneto, for she could not hold off the Synthoids forever. The TX struggled viciously with Power Girl, Kilowog, Frankenstein, and the Bride. I traced the walls with a special vine to find a weak spot. Finding it, I commanded the Bulleteer to create a fast exit for us.

"Out of the frying pan and into the fire!" she said.
As soon as we were outside, I told the Strike Force to leave the TX to the Synthoids. Kilowog swore he'd get even with the TX. Power Girl asked him why he didn't use his power ring on it. Kilowog had no reply. Zatanna expressed worry to me the Lantern's ring may have lost it's charge. I replied in stating how we had no time to worry about that. Magneto was already coming into view.

Magneto issued this challenge:
"Swamp Thing! You'll soon know the folly of challenging my Brotherhood of Mutants with your Strike Force."
Captain Koma, who stood at Magneto's side asked, "Magneto, you said you'd let me destroy them first. I just finished teleporting my Synthoids out to save them from being terminated by your TX."
"Very well." Magneto sighed, "Have it your way, Koma."
"Let's see how your Strike Force go up against my new and improved synthoid army." Koma said. The Synthoids appeared, surrounding us. The Martian was in an outrage. Power Girl asked J'onn to calm down, she'd handle it. Power Girl moved at great speed and within seconds, she took out all of the Synthoids. "No!" Koma shouted running toward us. "You've smashed my Synthoids! Don't you heroes ever play fair?"
"Shut up and sleep it off, Captain Comatose." Power Girl laughed, headbutting Koma to knock him out cold. "A most impressive display, Power Girl." Magneto grinned. "Are you prepared to face real power?"
The powerful superheroine stood her ground. There was no denying her determination.
"We'll soon find out." Kara replied, "Hit me with your best shot."

"The first move is to be mine? Quite sporting of you, my dear." Magneto said. The Mutant Master of Magnetism unleashed his attack upon Power Girl, magnetizing the metallic particles in the very air surrounding her. She was flung into a nearby deep salt lake, plunging all the way to the bottom. I took control of the plants beneath her, attempting to force the immensely strong but now suddenly helpless superheroine to rise to the surface. But Power Girl remained below, submerged beneath the water by the force of the magnetic repulsion.

Magneto was determined to drown Power Girl if possible. I told my Strike Force I would go into the lake to save the Kryptonian heroine physically, if I had to. Then Magneto unleashed his next magnetic assault upon all of us, except Zatanna. The lady magician had already disappeared, as she was the most vulnerable of us. She reappeared amongst the waiting Brotherhood of Mutants. Zatanna, now only wearing her bikini, took the Scarlet Witch by a martial arts chokehold and asked, "Hey, Wanda. That lake Power Girl fell into looks great. Let's go for a swim, huh?" The women vanished, immediately to join Power Girl at the bottom of the lake. Wanda, unable to concentrate, quickly lost her breath under the pressure and shock of the sudden submersion and passed out in the more aquatically-adept Zatanna's arms. Swimming rapidly to the surface, Zatanna used her own power and the power expended from the Witch's failed attempt to cast a hex. Power Girl, now freed from Magneto's power rose to the surface. Kara gasped to regain her breath and thanked Zatanna for saving her life. Zatanna said she couldn't stay, for now she had to take the Scarlet Witch prisoner and find out why she betrayed the Avengers and rejoined Magneto. Before Power Girl could begin to protest this, Zatanna and the Scarlet Witch were gone. Power Girl raced to us.

Power Girl's return was well-timed, just as the rest of us were about to fall before the power of Magneto. Even my power to alternate my frequencies were not enough to escape him. The demagnetized nanotech-powered metallic-skinned cyborg Bulleteer, the immortal undead creation Frankenstein and his wayward Bride, and the aliens Kilowog and Martian Manhunter were equally helpless. Bulleteer said Oracle was reporting to Alix via her headset that the female mutant shapeshifter known as Mystique was not amongst the Brotherhood.
I didn't see the importance of this. Power Girl came to our rescue then, slapping her hands together to break Magneto's concentration, freeing all of us. The shock was too great for the evil mutant leader, and he could only expend his remaining power to protect himself. Magneto then cordially congratulated Power Girl for stalemating him. He complimented how magnificent she looked after the few minutes she'd spent trapped in the lake, the distinguished look of her pretty face, her golden glittering slicked-back blonde hair, how the sunset's light shown on the cleavage of her lovely breasts as shown by her immodestly bright, sexy costume. For a moment, she laughed.

Power Girl said this wasn't a date and to get ready for a serious fight. Magneto said that we in the Strike Force didn't know the half of it. Then he gestured to the TX Terminator who suddenly stood behind us. An electronic shockwave disabled us all, forcing me and my allies to the ground and into unconsciousness. This when our planned wave of reinforcements from the Heroes United, led by the X-Men, finally reached our reality and attacked the invasive Magneto on our behalf. Rogue was the first to join our fight. Scantily clad and confident, she boldly crashed into the Brotherhood of Mutants. Rogue forced the evil mutants to break ranks, lest she absorb their minds and abilities with her own mutant powers. "Cavalry's here, y'all." Rogue proudly smiled.

Storm was the next to arrive. She separated the TX from us with a bolt of lightning. The fierce savage African warrior queen shouted, "MAGNETO! STAND AND FIGHT!!!"
Wolverine attempted to attack Magneto, but was intercepted by the TX. "Not you again!", the killer machine protested furiously.
"Well ya hunk'a scrap, the only way yer gonna get rid o' me is ta dump Magneto." Wolverine taunted the monstrous female Terminator.

"No! I will never leave my Magneto and you will never threaten him again!", the TX shouted back, attacking its feral mutant opponent.

This proved a diversion. Wolverine fell onto his back and kicked the Terminator into position for another strategic attack. Cyclops joined the fray, leading the remaining X-Men and their allies.

Cyclops ordered the strange woman named Pantha to assist in our soon to be speedy recovery, covering her run toward us with his powerful optic blasts raised against the evil mutants, as Wolverine continued to battle against Magneto's murderous TX machine.
Magneto stood over me and cursed me for my ingenuity, but I was too far gone for the moment, in my own waking nightmares brought on by the TX to pay any attention to him. An ally of Wolverine called Kodiak attacked the TX, disabling the female Terminator's verbal control systems. "Fools...such fools..." the TX said, throwing Kodiak at Wolverine, forcing the mutant to retract his adamantium claws. "I have so many ways of defeating you." the TX said, "Now what are you going to do? Even if that Pantha girl wakes your Strike Force, it will be too late to stop me." Something emerged from enclosing flames.

It was at this point the changeling named Pantha now came upon us. Instantly recognizing me as an Earth Elemental, Pantha opened the vial of jungle herbs given to her by Shi and administered them to me. I awoke, rapidly rose to my feet, alert and prepared to face what came next. I put out the flames and replicated the herbs, so each of the Strike Force quickly recovered. All except for the poisoned Martian, who was now too weak to stand. "Have to fight this off." J'onn said, "Can't let this infection affect my mind like before."
I told him we needed his help to stop the TX. I helped the Martian to his feet. I thanked Pantha for saving us so quickly, complimenting her on what I believed was her jungle-born abilities. A harmless mistake in my misinterpetation of her origins, but she became irrationally angry with me. She told me, rather venomously, she was not to be mistaken with any different Pantha from any other reality, particularly the one who died in battle with Superboy-Prime on this very Earth a few months ago. Power Girl, who was just waking up became angry in turn for the unfair insults directed against me, and Kara told Pantha to shut up. Pantha then ran blindly from us in a rage in her panther form. The Bulleteer shouted for her to look out, but it was too late. Pantha collided with the massive mutant that Kodiak was fighting called the Blob, and Pantha foolishly knocked herself out. Frankenstein seemed very disturbed by Pantha's bizarrely insane behavior, although he did not explain why. But we were soon to confront much more immediately dangerous matters. Magneto ordered the Brotherhood to attack all of us again, as he took an electronic remote control from the unconscious Koma, reactivated the fallen Synthoids, transforming them into liquid Terminators.

"Well," Magneto said, expecting nothing but triumph,
"This is going to be interesting."

"Yeah! Real interesting!" A loud booming voice behind him shouted. Night fell. Magneto was slammed from behind and sent flying into the growing darkness by Joe Fixit, who is in reality the Incredible Hulk. "It's about time the sun went down." Fixit said, "Banner was about to bail out on me and run, or else turn into Big Greenie." Wolverine approached Fixit, patted him on the back, saying "Good work, bub."

"This job had better pay.", Fixit said to Wolverine, "Seeing as how that night watchman job with the statues in the gallery was a bust. Turned out to be fakes. The statues were already stolen."
"Real shame. I worked there, too." Wolverine agreed.
"But let's can the small talk and do what we came here to do!"
Angel, Beast, and Dust fell in the battle. The Bulleteer fought hard to save them. She succeeded. Cyclops blasted more Terminators, as Frankenstein, the Hulk, and I fought the TX. We destroyed the killer machine's beautiful human facade revealing it's true appearance.

"Beauty is nature's brag, and must be shown in courts, at feasts, and high solemnities, where most may wonder at the workmanship. But true beauty lies within, and there is no such beauty to be found here. In this conflict alone, we are certainly the farthest from being the ugly ones, Swamp Thing." Frankenstein stated.
Magneto now fought Wolverine. Magneto shouted, "Now it's time to pay for all the humilations you've heaped on me, Logan! I hope you have enjoyed your life because now it is over." Wolverine replied, "Go ahead, Bub! I've proven I can take what ya can dish out."
Then came the Iceman.

Iceman, who had frozen several of the Terminators we fought, was upon Magneto before he knew it, and blasted him with a small ice storm. "Thanks fer settin him up, Drake. Now I'm takin' him down!" Wolverine attempted another attack, but a Terminator blasted him from behind. Magneto laughed. But then, he too was blasted by a Terminator! "Why, Sky?", he asked the TX. The two robots merged, and turned into Ultron!

"Humans. Mutants. All are inferior! All shall be slain by Ultron!"
"Magneto, I didn't do this!", the TX claimed.
"There is another force at Cyberdyne trying to control the robots.
A new entity similar to Skynet. It calls itself Ultron."
"Listen, Magneto. You're being played here! She can't control those things!" Wolverine warned.
"Silence, buffoon!", Magneto shouted, striking Wolverine away and tearing the Ultron apart. "There must be a glitch in the Synthoid Terminator program. My Sky would never betray me!"
Thus distracted, Power Girl and the Bulleteer launched their next assault on Magneto. He pushed the two powerful women away, only to get knocked off his feet by a grenade blast cleverly delivered from the Bride. I advanced on him and pummeled him with my powerful fists. He seemed too injured to rise now. I asked him to give it up.
"This fight is pointless... You are beaten... Do you... surrender?"
"NEVER!", he shouted defiantly. But this time he could not use the air particles against us. I had now removed all magnetic pulses from the surrounding air. But there was still plently left within his magnetic shielding. Still, we at last had him surrounded. Soon to defeat him.
Then Magneto regained his balance, rose to his feet and shouted, "Bah! It doesn't matter how many of you heroes there are! You shall perish at my hands!" Something small and black struck against him, then another. He looked down and saw two dead vampire bats, smashed upon impact with his magnetic shielding. Magneto's helmet suddenly flew from his head, soaring up to the attachment of a magnet placed beneath a descending helicopter. "Local Henchman!" the helmetless Magneto shouted, "You won't escape me this time." But the pilot of the helicopter held steady, as if waiting for something. Magneto was about to use his power to crash the helicopter, ignoring the danger of the suicidal vampire bats. He was attacked by a hoarde of them, as my Strike Force and the X-Men prevented the TX and the Brotherhood from interfering. Magneto destroyed the last of the bats and looked up, his head and neck bare, to witness the source of this supernatural attack: Vampirella!

Before Magneto could react, Vampirella was upon him. She bit him as her bats before had, while his guard was down, as he was previously directing all his power in a split-second attack to slay the rogue AIM agent Henchman, only to have Magneto find himself the vampire's victim instead. While I still detest vampirism, I believe this wretchedly devious and untrustworthy vampire to be a warrior in some aspects of her occasional, seductively deceptive motivations.

Now we turned our attention to the TX, as Oracle had already deactivated the Synthoids the TX had secretly turned into liquid Terminators without Koma's knowledge. The Brotherhood meanwhile fell at last, Frankenstein helped Wolverine to bring down Sabretooth, the Bride cut off Toad's mutant lashing tongue, and the others were soundly smashed by Fixit. Only the TX remained standing before us.

It stared out at us threateningly. The battle raged on, as I attempted to penetrate and dismantle the killer machine's CPU. My plants only just reached the reactor coils before being vaporized. Not good enough. I would need the help of a shapeshifter. I called out to the Martian Manhunter. J'onn forced himself to stand and engaged in our effort. Kilowog held the TX firmly. J'onn could feel the fires burn him, but he did not give up. All he managed to do was deactivate the defense systems, not the TX itself. "Is it down?" Kilowog asked. "Only it's weaponry." I replied. Then Kilowog began to change. He shrank down into a small blue female mutant form. I knew why the GL didn't use the power ring. This was not Kilowog. He was never with us...

This was Mystique!

"Don't worry," she said, "I'm a genius at the work I do. I won't let this filthy machine ever hurt Magneto. We'll destroy it first. That's why I've done all of this. Using a Martian from another universe to bring about this fight, impersonating that other alien, fooling Koma into luring Magneto here, baiting your Strike Force to save the Martian and beat the TX. I am brilliant!" Then to our surprise, Mystique reached inside of the TX's damaged head and shut it down. The TX fell limp to the ground, deactivated and ready to be disposed of.

"And that's how you defeat a Terminator!" Mystique laughed.

Next:
Betrayed By The Heroes: United!