Norman and Taylor: An Obsessive Love Story
Norman's Point of View:
There she is. Lying quietly in the hospital bed, she speaks to me louder than any of the voices in my head. My Taylor. I knew she had a crush on me; I'm not stupid, I went to private school, you know. I can tell when a woman has interest in me. The way she would hide her smile from me, the way she would look at me when she thought I wasn't paying attention, the way she pulled away from me when if our bodies touched as she walked by—I could tell. Taylor was…is…is, she is still alive, the best assistant I've ever had. My Taylor. Menken, stupid man, thought he could take my company and power from me. The fact he was in bed with Karla Sofen empowered him. Just because he was dating a psychiatrist, he thought he could dupe me. I'm crazy, not stupid. I allowed him to play his little game; it was fun watching him arrogantly parade around thinking, "I got one on the master strategist." Ha! You should've seen the expression on his and Karla's face when I trapped them. Again, I may be crazy, but I am not stupid. The whole time Menken played his game I had Taylor, my Taylor. I painstakingly search for an assistant who would not betray me; one whom I could mold and shape to be whatever I wanted him or her to be. I happened upon my Taylor when I attended an event for Empire State University. There she was, perfect, in every way I needed her to be. When I laid my eyes upon her, I knew she was the one I would mold into the perfect assistant. Taylor was top of her class. The youngest woman to receive a PhD from ESU, a brilliant mind full of potential. I watched her every move that day; she exhibited all the characteristics I was looking for. My Taylor is a sweet, loyal, beautiful young woman. The kind of young woman I wished my son would have had the sense to marry. I approached her about a job, and she smiled at me. "You want to hire me? I would love to take the job, what would you have me to do?" I took her to Oscorp and explained my situation with Menken and Karla and what they had planned for me. I told her how Tony Stark assigned me director of the Thunderbolts, and subsequent injection of nanobots for control. Taylor's blue-grey eyes lightened up as she asked me, "Would you like me to trick him? We cryptographers have a way of breaking codes and setting up false systems. I can paralyze the nanobots, and make them relay what Stark wants to hear." She started typing on the computer. "I need a sample of your blood." I rolled up my arm, and she tightened the tourniquet around my arm. "You trust me to do this?" I looked at her sternly and she replied, "I won't ask any foolish questions anymore sir, I apologize." From that moment I knew I was in complete control, all I had to do was look at her and she knew what to do. My Taylor. The blood results showed Karla was skimming my meds; the voices screaming in my head was a pretty good indicator, but I wanted to be sure. Taylor gave me a slow-release injection of my meds to trick Karla's blood test and reprogrammed the nanobots to relay the message. "All is well, you are in control of your mental faculties and the situation. Please bring down Stark, I hate him. Just because he is the great Tony Stark, I'm supposed to hop in his bed at his request." Before I left to leave for the many missions I had with the Thunderbolts, Taylor stopped me and said, "Sir, I will be honest with you. I am a mutant, one with a cyberpathic mind, is this a problem for you?" I stopped turned around and gave her the same look I gave her before. An embarrassed look came across her face as she quickly responded, "I see it is not a problem; I will continue my work." She turned and faced the computer typing furiously. I closed the door, and apparently she thought I could not hear her, most people forget about my enhanced hearing, I heard her say, "Gee, Taye, you almost blew it. Great job!" She typed a few more keystrokes and added, "A handsome face and pretty blue eyes and you go all ga-ga and stupid." I knew I had her, my Taylor.
When I returned to home base, Taylor would do blood work, keep the medication constant in my body and update me on Oscorp latest research, which she is in charge of. Every bit of work she does is precise and impeccable. Granted she has the gift of the cyberpathic mind, but that just makes her better than all other women I encounter. Taylor met Karla a few times and I could tell she hated her. As all women, Taylor saw Karla as a threat. I used Karla, yes, I admit I did, but that was the extent of my relations with her. Karla could not hold a candle to my Taylor; I don't think there is a woman alive who can. Karla thought she was only going to take over the Thunderbolts; she had no idea of my larger ambitions. If she wanted the power she thought she could handle, Karla should have hopped in the bed with Tony Stark, and I'm not entirely convinced she didn't do that. The looks Karla and Taylor exchanged were deadly. Karla perceiving Taylor as a naïve school girl, and Taylor glaring at Karla as if she were a street whore (which to be honest with you, is probably the most accurate assessment of the woman). After killing the Skrull queen, I rose to power. My Taylor smiled so sweetly at Stark when he was stripped of his power. The guise of total innocence, she relished in the thought of her hand being involved behind "The Great Tony Stark's" downfall. After Stark's downfall, Karla realized the totality of my ambition. She fled to Menken, she knew they were in danger. Menken, being arrogant, did not believe her. When I broke in to his apartment in full Goblin gear, Menken realized it was over. I killed him quickly, but Karla ran out the door. I thought she got away; then I heard the gunshot. I cautiously walked out the door of the apartment, and saw Karla's lifeless body lying in a pool of blood on the floor of the hallway. I looked up to see the smoke coming off the end of the barrel of the .44 magnum my Taylor had in her hands. Taylor smiled when she looked at me, "I hope I assisted you well in this endeavor." I was smiling under my Goblin mask. At that point and time, I had no idea she could handle a gun of that caliber, and much less be capable of murder. I was so pleased with her. My Taylor was coming along very well. She learned well. Just by watching my behavior, listening to my plans, and thinking up ideas of her own, my Taylor was shaping up to be more than I could ever expect. The feelings I felt for her were much more than I expected as well. She is mine, Taylor belongs to me! She is everything I need her to be and much more.
The one thing I have to give Tony Stark is that he doesn't give up. Never. One of the few things he and I have in common. However, he doesn't plan very well, and doesn't look for outside factors in revenge scheme—especially those who appear totally innocent. The night Tony Stark sealed his doom he acted in a rash and quick manner. (A manner I have learned to control…after much trial and error.) Disgruntled, Tony tried to impale me with an adamantium sword. Number one, if he knew anything about my past he would have known I've been impaled before. Yes, it hurts like hell, but I survived. Number two, he did not know Taylor was at my home adjusting the amount of medication in my system. Number three, he did not anticipate Taylor taking the blade through the chest for me. Taylor's cyberpathic mind is the mutant ability she focuses on, but she has a precognitive ability. Anticipating Iron Man's appearance seconds before he attacked, Taylor shoved me out of my chair to the ground and took the sword. I remember the slicing sound it made as the blade went through her body. It sounded much different that the crushing sound I experienced when I was impaled. Tony stopped and took off his Iron Man helmet and did not say a word. He had a look of shock and regret on his face. (One of the many draw backs of having a conscious.) I was pissed off, and I wanted to kill him in that moment. However, Taylor turned her head and looked at me and gasped, "Don't kill him. Allow him to remember what he did to me for the rest of his life. That is the appropriate punishment for him." She hit her knees, her ashy brown hair falling in front of her face. She gasped again, as a brushed her hair out of her face she whispered, "Well, that hurt as much as I thought it would." Taylor collapsed and was gone, but I brought her back. My Taylor has the same blood type I do. I took the blood she was using for my medication adjustment and started giving it to her. I patched her chest and back up, and called for the best surgeon available. With all the equipment I have at my home, I was able to stabilize her until the surgeon came. I paid him under the table, and waited for hours as he operated on my Taylor. As I waited, I drew pint after pint of my blood to give to her. Dr. Winterhaven thought all was lost and she would die. I knew my Taylor would not die, not with my blood pulsing through her veins. I was hoping my enhanced DNA would fuse with hers, and my hopes would not be in vain. Dr. Winterhaven was shocked when Taylor made two weeks progress overnight. He got his money and left. Now there she lies, a quiet testament of loyalty. So beautiful, as if she were Sleeping Beauty waiting for a kiss from her Prince Charming, I lean over and kiss her lips. I walk out of the room to deal with Tony. I have a cell waiting for him in the Negative Zone; the punishment is Stark must witness the attack on Taylor over and over and over again. She was right, that is the appropriate punishment for him. I hang the phone up and go back into her room. My Taylor is so much like me now. I shaped her into what she is today; by circumstance she is even more like me. She'll have a scar on her chest, just like me, enhanced DNA, just like me, and I plan on giving her my last name. Why not marry her? I know she will not be unfaithful, and she is intelligent, young and beautiful. I would be crazy…well, maybe I should not word it that way. Taylor Shayne Adams is mine, she belongs to me. She is stirring, those blue-grey eyes look up at me and ask, "Norman, am I alive?" She attempts to pick herself up into a sitting position, she groans loudly and replies, "Yes, I'm alive, the pain verifies it." Taylor touches her hand to her chest and notices the ring I placed on her finger while she was sleeping. She raises and eyebrow and I look at her with a smile on my face. She simply replies, "Norman, were you even going to ask me?"
I laugh and say, "Do I have to?"
She rolls her eyes slightly and says, "No. You know I will." Pointing at her chest, my Taylor says, "This should be proof enough I would do anything for you."
"And so it is my dear, and so it is." I answer.
