The Avengers Battle the Earth-Wrecker by Otto Binder Read Free Book Online

“The other three of us will approach from three directions. Goliath and Wasp will assume their fighting forms at their own discretion. Okay, this is it….”
    With an unvoiced exchange of glances that said “Good luck,” Goliath, Captain America, and the Wasp spread out a hundred yards apart and slowly advanced up toward the ramparts of the peak. They all shivered in the icy winds, but as Avengers they were inured to hardships and discomforts that would incapacitate other people.
    Cautiously, they looked over the final ridge. The mighty magnet machine came into sight first, towering high and surrounded by its eerie nuclear glow. Then, as their sight came to eye level, they saw Karzz…facing them with a mocking smile as he swung his gaze to each of them.
    “Dumbkopfs,” he greeted them sneeringly. “Did you think to sneak up on me unawares? My ultramonitor saw your craft approach and land. I presume you have come to play the same game Iron Man did. The game of Save the Earth, which you will lose.”
    He waved at his monstrous machine.
    “You won’t wreck my ultramagnet, which is pulling the giant comet into its proper collision course with earth.”
    Even from yards away, they could see his frosty eyes flash defiantly.
    “Five against one, but I can easily hold you off. Earth science pitted against mine is like an atom pitted against a star.”
    “We’ll see about that,” said Captain America gratingly, and then he raised his voice to shout, “Charge!”
    Goliath had already assumed his giant ten-foot size, and he ran forward to pick up a huge boulder weighing at least a ton. Mighty muscles propelled it straight at Karzz, who turned to face the oncoming juggernaut without flinching.
    Incredibly, striking the force-field aura in front of him, the hard stone shattered into countless pieces.
    “Yes, we know you’re shielded from the front,” came Captain America’s voice behind him. “But Goliath’s move was only to make you face that way, while I—”
    Having raced across the wind-swept rock at his superOlympic pace, Cap was already within reach. In one headlong plunge, he hurled his body straight at Karzz’s back, ready to send him off his feet with a knockout blow.
    Klang!
    Though Karzz had not turned, Cap’s shield met another kind of invisible shield and bounced back, nearly knocking out Cap himself.
    Slowly turning, Karzz said softly, “After Iron Man taught me that I was vulnerable from the rear, naturally I fixed up my force-field shield to curve all around me. I am now invulnerable from all sides… voila!”
    His hand went to his belt. “Now, spangled Avenger, let us see if your shield can save you from my repertory of weapon rays.”
    Lurid beams sprang forth—purple, red, green, blue—each carrying a different form of destruction. But Cap’s shield, coated by Anthony Stark’s inventive genius with a superalloy impervious to known forces, deflected them all. Cap drove forward again and slammed into Karzz’s force-field aura with such muscle-driven power that Karzz—force-field and all—was shoved back several yards.
    “Ach du lieber, what manner of man is that?” said Karzz, startled.
    Cap was not just making a grandstand play. Out of the comer of his eye he had seen Goliath lumbering toward the giant magnet. He had distracted Karzz from turning and noticing.
    Reaching the machine, Goliath put his great arms around one of the steel-truss support legs and heaved mightily. Could he topple the gigantic contraption? Metal groaned as Goliath grunted, straining every massive muscle.
    Karzz heard, and whirled as Captain America bounced back again from his force-shield. “Colossal fool!” shouted Karzz. “My dis-beam will turn you into a puff of nothingness.”
    He touched a stud on his belt and the ray sprang forth, disintegrating rock close to Goliath.
    “My next shot,” Karzz warned, “will get you… Yeow!”
    The last was a pained yell as something sharp jabbed into his hand before