Marvel Monsters Unleashed: Beware the Glop!

by Steve Behling

  © 2017 MARVEL

  All rights reserved. Published by Marvel Press, an imprint of Disney Book Group. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without written permission from the publisher. For information address Marvel Press, 125 West End Avenue, New York, New York 10023.

  Designed by David Roe

  Cover Illustration by Skan Srisuwan

  ISBN: 978-1-368-01059-7

  Visit marvelkids.com

  Contents

  Title Page

  Copyright

  Epigraph

  Prologue

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 24

  Chapter 25

  Chapter 26

  Chapter 27

  Chapter 28

  Chapter 29

  Chapter 30

  Chapter 31

  Chapter 32

  Chapter 33

  Chapter 34

  Chapter 35

  Chapter 36

  Chapter 37

  Chapter 38

  Chapter 39

  Chapter 40

  Chapter 41

  Chapter 42

  Epilogue

  Stats

  “There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, Than are dreamt of in your philosophy.”

  —William Shakespeare, Hamlet

  “All we can do is pray that mankind remains eternally vigilant, so that whenever the creatures attack, we can defeat them.…”

  —Stan Lee, Journey Into Mystery #72

  HAVE YOU EVER tried to smash a big blob of goo with your fist?

  No?

  Of course you haven’t. Why would you? It’s a silly question. You have better things to do, like play video games or read comic books.

  But the Hulk couldn’t say the same thing. Because right at that moment, he quite literally had nothing better to do—nothing else he could do—than to smash a big green gamma-powered fist into a gigantic, oozing mess of goo.

  “Hulk smash!” thundered the jade giant. His balled-up hand went flying into a wall of wet glop. It made the Hulk mad, this goo or whatever it was. It was alive, somehow. It seemed to think. It kept coming after the Hulk. It wanted to hurt him.

  Why couldn’t the stupid goo just leave Hulk alone?

  He had been fighting like this for, what, hours now? Maybe longer than that. The battle began in a remote California desert, where Bruce Banner had been working on an important renewable energy project for S.H.I.E.L.D. During a test, something strange had happened: something attacked the laboratory. What it was, exactly, Banner couldn’t say—he had never seen anything like it before.

  Given time, Banner could have studied it, found out exactly what the thing was. But all the excitement caused his pulse to race.

  His heart beat faster and faster.

  In a matter of seconds, Banner underwent a startling transformation.

  Where once stood a mild-mannered scientist, there now stood a seven-foot-tall green man-monster that the world called the Hulk.

  As the Hulk roared, he slammed another impossibly huge fist into the mysterious goo that had suddenly disrupted Banner’s experiment. The substance flew apart where the Hulk hit it, and little clumps of it flew all around him. The Hulk snarled, turned, and saw the various bits of goo slowly flow back to each other, coalescing as a whole.

  What was this stuff?

  Whatever it was, the goo reared upward, and somehow towered over the towering Hulk. It seemed to move with a mind all its own. Like a tidal wave, it flowed toward the Hulk, enveloping him completely!

  If you were there in the desert at that precise moment, you would have heard the Hulk’s roar, muffled through the thick layers of glop. The substance stretched over and around the Hulk, and started to squeeze his body all over. It constricted his rib cage. No matter how the Hulk expanded his chest, the goo kept on getting tighter and tighter. No matter how the Hulk clawed at the substance with his fingers, the goo clung to his skin.

  The Hulk wasn’t big on realizing things while he was in the middle of a fight. But something started to dawn on him.

  He couldn’t breathe. He could survive for a while without oxygen. He was the Hulk, after all. With his gamma-powered lungs, he could survive underwater or even in the vacuum of space.

  But only for a while.

  This made him angry.

  And the madder the Hulk gets, the stronger he gets.

  The green behemoth began throwing punches toward the sky, trying to smash his way out of the glop. He kicked, too. His mighty legs nearly broke through, but somehow, the goo managed to stick to the Hulk.

  The more he struggled, the more stuck the Hulk seemed to become. He was gasping now, desperately trying to draw oxygen that wasn’t there into his gamma-powered lungs. It was getting hard to see, and his world was becoming dark.

  He had faced Ultron. The Abomination. Loki. The most powerful beings in the world (and other worlds, for that matter). And this was how it was going to end. Not with a bang, but with a glop.

  The giant thought he heard something then, a noise coming through the ooze that had wrapped itself around his head. It sounded a lot like someone saying, “Get down!”

  And that’s what the Hulk did. Not that he had a choice, really. He was on the verge of collapse, and collapse he did. With a deafening thud, the behemoth slammed into the desert floor.

  With one eye now open, he saw her. A young red-haired woman, dressed in crimson, wearing a black overcoat. She shouldered what looked like a shotgun, pointed right at the Hulk.

  No, not at the Hulk.

  At the creature?

  Hulk heard the shotgun blast, and another sound. A scream? Was he screaming?

  No, the ooze was screaming!

  The woman fired another blast at the ooze, and suddenly, the Hulk was breathing again. The goo had fallen away from his face, and air rushed into his oxygen-deprived lungs.

  “Who…?” asked the Hulk, as the woman continued to blast the strange creature. With every blast, the ooze fell away from the Hulk, until at last, he was free. Something about the shotgun blasts was causing the creature pain and at the same time was also shrinking it. Hulk wasn’t sure of much, but he was sure that was no ordinary shotgun.

  “Get on your feet and help me contain it!” the woman shouted.

  Normally the Hulk wouldn’t react kindly to someone yelling at him, but considering that this person had arguably saved his life, he ignored it. The Hulk hefted his massive form, getting to his feet.

  The goop tried to slide away from the woman, but the Hulk smashed the ground with his left fist, blocking its path. The vibrations sent the goo scattering.

  She fired yet another blast at the goo. And suddenly, it stopped moving.

  Was it dead?

  “I’m Elsa Bloodstone,” said the woman, nodding in the Hulk’s direction. “And you have to help me get that thing into this thing!” She nudged her shotgun toward a metal container—it looked like a giant thermos.
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  The Hulk scooped the inert goo off the desert floor and put it inside the metal container. When he was done, he handed it to Elsa, who promptly clamped a lid on top, screwing it shut.

  “What was that thing?” the Hulk asked.

  Elsa stood quietly for a moment as she placed the metal container into a pack she had slung along her back. “I’m not exactly sure,” she said. “I’m still in the process of determining its origins. But it’s dangerous.”

  “I think I figured that out already,” Hulk said.

  Elsa laughed.

  Elsa Bloodstone said her good-byes to the Hulk as the giant coiled his massive legs like springs. Releasing his muscles, the Hulk jumped into the air, disappearing into the sky with a mighty leap.

  “Save the world, meet the Hulk,” Elsa said. “My bucket list is looking pretty good.”

  At that moment, a wall of shimmering energy appeared out of nowhere behind Elsa. She must have expected it, because she walked right into it without a moment’s hesitation. She disappeared into the light, and a second later, the energy wall disappeared as well.

  Once again, the desert was still.

  Except…

  Except something was moving.

  No. Something was oozing.

  Drip.

  Drop.

  That’s how it starts.

  With something little. Something so small that our eyes barely notice. Drips and drops, a little here and a little there. Before long, what was small becomes large. And it happens right in front of us. A process so gradual that no one really thinks to say anything until it is far too late.

  Which is exactly how IT wanted things to be.

  Because, you see, IT could remember. IT remembered what had happened before, when IT was “born” inside a remote castle. IT remembered when IT lived…when IT oozed, creeped, and shuffled among the humans. When IT terrified them.

  The humans.

  How IT hated them. For all it took was one of their number to put an end to IT.

  Or so they thought…

  THE AIR WAS crisp and clean. The ground was still wet from last night’s rain. The smell of smoldering leaves wafted through the center of town. Store merchants were just starting to put pumpkins outside their stores.

  Fall.

  Ben Lee hustled through the town square on his way to school. He was early, but then, he was always early. Since his family had moved from New York City to the tiny town of Highland Park, Ben had come to the quick realization that there wasn’t very much to do here. That’s the way it was with small towns. They were quiet and, as his father liked to say, “dull and uneventful.” But that was okay with Ben. It gave him some extra time to pursue his passion in life. “Wait up, Ben, or I’ll tell Mom!”

  Ben sighed. “If you want me to wait up, then hurry up!” he yelled without looking. He arrived at a covered bus stop on the town square where no bus had stopped in years. Standing opposite the bench in the town square was a large statue of a big man wearing what looked like a parka. Ben supposed it might be the town’s founder. Or maybe the town just liked statues of guys wearing parkas.

  He sat down on the bench and pulled a black book from his backpack. It was about the size of your average school notebook, and it looked beat-up. Like, really beat-up. One look and you could tell this was a well-loved, treasured item that Ben had toted with him everywhere. On the front cover, in bloodred letters, were the words:

  MONSTER JOURNAL

  PROPERTY OF BEN LEE

  DO NOT READ OR YOU WILL FACE THE WRATH OF FIN FANG FOOM!

  Ben pulled out a pencil and a small pencil sharpener. He twisted the pencil a few times, until it had a good point on it. Then he cracked open his monster journal to a blank page. And he started to draw.

  “You’re such a dumb big brother some times,” said Cindy Lee, huffing a bit as she approached the bus stop. She threw what seemed to be a backpack weighted with rocks or anvils onto the bench, upsetting Ben’s book. His pencil tip snapped. Ben huffed.

  “And you’re such an annoying little sister!” Ben replied. He was only a year and a half older than Cindy. But like most big brothers, he wanted her to remember who was boss. “You broke my pencil!”

  “Did not,” Cindy said, sitting down.

  Ben rolled his eyes, shook his head, and sharpened the pencil again. It wasn’t worth having an argument with his sister right now. There was only a little time before they would have to resume their walk to Kurtzberg Middle School. And Ben wanted to use that time wisely. There was a monster that he wanted to capture in his journal.

  Cindy sat next to her big brother and watched as he drew what looked like a large dragon with wings. But the dragon appeared to be walking upright, almost like a person.

  “Who is that?” Cindy asked. Ben smiled as he sketched.

  “It’s a monster I read about. It’s called Fin Fang Foom.”

  “Fin Fang Whom?” Cindy asked.

  “Foom.” Ben laughed. “I read about it last night on Tales to Astonish.”

  Tales to Astonish was talestoastonish.com, a website. But it wasn’t just any website. It was Ben’s FAVORITE website. It was a message board, devoted to thousands and thousands of threads and pages all about Ben’s best-loved subject: monsters. Nobody knew who ran the website; that part of it was a mystery. But it was an amazing, one-of-a-kind, all-in-one repository of monster knowledge.

  “Let me see!” Cindy said, practically ripping the monster journal off Ben’s lap. She can be annoying, Ben thought, but she sure does love monsters just as much as I do. Plus, she was one of the only people who didn’t think his monster drawings were completely terrible. Ben wanted to draw just like Kid Kaiju, one of the regulars on the Tales to Astonish boards. He seemed to know so much about monsters, almost like they were real! And Kid Kaiju could draw…oh, man, could he draw! Much better than Ben could. But that didn’t stop Ben from drawing. If anything, it made him try harder.

  There they sat, brother and sister, lost in a world of monsters.

  That’s when IT arrived.

  “WELL, WELL, WELL! Look at ‘Kid Kaiju’ and his big, bad book of monsters!”

  Ben’s heart sank. He knew that voice. It was worse than the sound of any monster. In fact, he’d rather have been Iron Man facing off against Fin Fang Foom right at that moment than dealing with…

  “Don Cyphers!” Cindy snapped. She looked up from the monster journal and saw the blocky form of Kurtzberg Middle School’s most feared, most obnoxious bully. Don Cyphers was by far the biggest kid at school, with the biggest mouth. And the smallest brain, Cindy thought.

  “Oooh, what are you gonna do, small fry?” Don said, smiling. He laughed at his own words, clearly pleased with himself. Don bothered virtually all the kids at Kurtzberg, but he seemed to really love picking on Ben. “You gonna call one of your Super Hero friends? Huh? Maybe Spider-Man’s gonna come and teach me a lesson!”

  Ben had no idea why, but Don really liked to make fun of the fact that Ben had moved from New York City. Everyone knew that New York City was where the Super Heroes lived. Every day, news headlines were full of the exploits of the Avengers, Spider-Man, Ms. Marvel, the Hulk…the list went on. For some reason, Don got it in his head that because Ben was from New York City, he thought he was better than the other kids at Kurtzberg Middle School.

  Ben did not think this.

  And Don did not think at all.

  So there you have it.

  Ben stared at Don, then took the monster journal from his sister. He closed the book and put it in his backpack. Cindy quickly stuck her hand in the backpack, retrieving the monster journal, and put it back on her brother’s lap.

  “Keep drawing, Ben. Don’t let this lamebrain stop you. He wishes he had even half of your talent,” Cindy said. They might fight like cats and dogs, but he and Cindy always had each other’s backs. “And for the record, Cyphers, if Spider-Man were here, he’d web your butt to the side of a building.”

  Don sneered and made a gra
b for the monster journal. Ben yanked the book away, and Cindy stepped in front of her brother. Now she stood between Ben and the big bully. She was shorter than Ben and much smaller than Don. But Cindy gave off an air that distinctly said, Mess with me and you will have trouble for the rest of your life.

  “Don’t you have better things to do than get beat up by me?” Cindy said. She balled her hands into fists and gave Don a fierce look. Ben knew that look. On more than one occasion, he’d found out the hard way what came after that look.…

  Suddenly, there was the sound of screeching tires. And then a deep voice: “You’re not supposed to be here right now. You’re really in for it!”

  A BLACK-AND-WHITE POLICE car had pulled up on the street right in front of the kids. Looking at them from the driver’s side of the car was Sheriff Cyphers—Don’s dad. And he didn’t look happy.

  “Dad!” Don shouted, pulling himself away from Ben and Cindy. “I was just, uh, saying hi to my friends before I—”

  Sheriff Cyphers gave Don a look that said, I’m not buying what you’re selling. He opened the door of the police car and got out. He stood, looking over the top of the car at Don, Ben, and Cindy.

  “Well, it’s almost time for school, kid. Why don’t you and your ‘friends’ keep walking? Otherwise you’re going to be late, and then I’ll have to throw the lot of you Super Villains in jail,” Sheriff Cyphers said sternly.

  The kids looked at the police officer. Was he serious?

  Then, Sheriff Cyphers broke out in a broad grin, and started to laugh. “I’m only kidding! You’d have to do a lot more than that to end up in my jail,” he said. “But seriously, you should all get to school before I call your parents…or tell your mom.” Sheriff Cyphers directed the last part at Don, and arched an eyebrow at his son.

  Don huffed and hurried off, but turned around and looked at Ben. He mouthed the words This isn’t over! Cindy shook a fist at the bully.

  Ben sighed. It was like this every day. It figured that the sheriff’s son would be the biggest bully in town. And as far as Ben was concerned, Don Cyphers was a Super Villain. Worse than the Green Goblin, Red Skull, and Loki rolled into one. Why couldn’t Sheriff Cyphers put Don in jail? Just to, you know, teach him a lesson?