Jennifer Walters walked through her office one more time checking on the man curled up asleep on her waiting bench. He'd lasted barely five minutes in the door before he passed out there, didn't even bother taking off the trenchcoat. She sighed as the door opened behind her.
"Hey, Shulkie. Got what you asked for. This one was s huge pain in the ass, I had to call in some favors and whoah.. who's that?" Patsy Walker stepped over to stand beside Jen.
"He's an old client of mine."
"Is he dead?" Patsy resisted the urge to poke him with a stick.
"I know what you're thinking and no, don't you dare. He's just tired and he needs this." With that Jen relieved Patsy of the folded brown paper bag she was holding. It was heavier than it looked. "You paid attention to my directions right?"
"Yeah.. freshly donated, no anticoagulants. I got two pints."
"That'll do." Jen walked over to her desk and pulled an empty coffee mug from the desk drawer. She lifted one bag of blood out of the sack and tore the tube on it open draining it into the cup.
Patsy looked sick. "Oh god, he's not gonna drink that is he?"
"You might wanna look away.." Jen bent down and held the cup under Morb's nose. He caught the scent and woke with a start grabbing the mug with both hands and greedily slurping down the contents. Patsy chose to instead stare at the poster by the door.
Morbius finished and gasped for air while raising the mug upwards, Jen took out the second bag and refilled the cup. "Feeling better?"
"Much. Thank you." He lowered the mug and drank it slower this time, trying to appear more human.
"Don't mention it."
He finished the second mug and gasped out "Is that all you have?" Jen nodded and he licked the rim clean. Patsy tried not to gag.
"Michael this is Patsy Walker, my friend and investigator. Patsy this is Michael Morbius."
He licked the blood from his lips and sat the mug down to reach out and shake her hand. Patsy obliged reluctantly. "Patsy Walker?.. You know I think I know your ex-husband."
"Why am I not surprised..."
"Okay Michael." Jen sat at her desk edge, eyeing him over. "What's going down?"
"I already told you..."
"You told me squat. Give it to me straight."
He sighed. "I'm looking for Stephen to help me destroy the bloodstone. It's too powerful."
"Stephen Strange?"
"That would be him."
Jen sat evaluating him for a moment. "You know, just when I think I have you pegged as rash you actually come up with a decent idea. Stephen guards a lot of powerful artifacts, his are certainly safe hands. I gotta ask what triggered this though? How long have the Legion of Monsters been guarding it?"
"We got it about a year back but recently Blade came seeking it out. I can't let him get it Jen, it feeds off of a need for revenge. In Blade's hands it would be very bad. We already had to risk our lives getting it back from the Punisher."
Jen tapped her desk with a pen. "Okay, we're on it."
"On what? This isn't some public petition or custody battle Jen, this is for me to handle and me alone."
"I owe you one."
Morbius glanced at her with a furrowed brow. "Jen that was decades ago. Plus, you defended me, you don't owe me a damn thing."
"Fine, you can pay me then."
Morbius snorted in laughter. "The FBI has seized my patents and my bank account. I have no funds."
"You'll owe me."
He stood and uttered a resounding "No."
Patsy quickly moved out of his way as he made for the door. There was no way she was getting in the middle of this one.
Morbius turned, "I don't need your help. I'm not a pity case. I can handle this!"
The door burst open with a deafening crash as Blade kicked it down. Two gas grenades rolled in spewing ammonia gas and flashing with UV light strobes. Morbius buckled over onto his knees on the floor gasping for air and Jen bolted over turning green and growing a foot in height. She pushed Morbius behind her with Patsy.
"Blade what exactly do you think you're doing destroying my office?"
He sneered, "This isn't about you. I'm here for the vampire!"
Patsy helped Morb up to his feet and let him lean against Jen's desk. He was looking about a million times worse than when she had seen him sleeping on the couch. She tried to shield him from the light and whisper "Michael are you okay?"
"No.. the gas. Ammonia and silver nitrates, also bacteria that attack my physiology.. he developed it years ago the first time he tried to kill me.." Morbius coughed and tried to hold down the blood he'd drunk. The nausea was overpowering.
Blade pulled out his sword as Patsy picked up Jen's crystal paperweight and threw it through the window shattering the glass. Jen didn't even blink. "Blade. Get. Out. I don't want to have to hurt you but I will if you don't leave my client alone. You're already going to owe me for one hell of a repair bill, not to mention steam cleaning the carpets."
Morbius stumbled to the window taking a large desperate gulp of fresh air. He seemed a tad better instantly but worry crossed his face. "Wait.. where are my Jack and Elsa?! What did you do to them?"
"They're fine! Lost but fine. My beef is with you!"
Morbius stepped up on the broken window crunching the glass against the pad of his foot. He lifted the other leg onto the windowsill and tossed off his coat onto the floor. "Jen I'm sorry!"
Jennifer yelled. "Morbius don't you DARE!" But before she could even get the last word out he jumped.
"I am going to kill him!" Jack scratched at the ground trying to get the scent again. He could only get a hint in human form but the hint got them halfways across Manhattan.
"You can't kill him because I'm going to kill the bastard first! You're going to have to settle for kicking his corpse after I'm done." Elsa gently scratched Jack on the back and turned to spit on the sidewalk a few feet away. "So what now lycan?"
"Mike doesn't have many friends and it's getting dark. If he's been hiding somewhere he'll be coming out soon and if he's alone when Blade catches him it could be bad."
"The emo vampire doesn't have many friends? Well, color me surprised."
"It ain't funny Red. Blade's dangerous."
"Forgive me if I'm not worried about your thieving bloodsucker."
"You should be worried about all of us!" He growled. "Morb heals our sick and injured, without him monsters are going to leave the city and go back to the old ways. You know Chinese folk medicine? Things like bear bile and tiger bone pale in comparison to what some of those idiot monster think will help cure their damn colds. You keep insulting him but he's saving lives, not just monster lives."
"Why are you always defending him? He's put your life on the line a lot."
"He's also saved my life a lot. Once from myself even." Jack stood back up on his feet and looked sadly at Elsa. "I wasn't always so comfortable with what I am, it takes a friend to cut the ropes from your neck and not tell anyone." Elsa just stared speechless in return. There was no witty comeback for that. "Look, we gotta go west I think. He might head that way."
A rumble sounded in the distance causing small bits of dirt and cement to fall off the alley wall onto the pair, car alarms sounded and howled nearby.
"Earthquake?"
"Unlikely."
"Then you were right. West it is! Let's go Jack!" She ran leaving Jack Russell to catch up.
Blade held tight to his sword and considered running. Hulks weren't to be messed with. Aside from the fact that they're heroes, they're mean, they're among the strongest beings you can encounter, and this one in particular was smart. You wouldn't think that being smart was such a big deal until you realize that the big green guy's only weakness is his stupidity. Nope, She-Hulk was different and Blade didn't like staring her down. There's a thin line between bravery and stupidity and Blade was tripping over it.
Jennifer Walters stood out on the now cracked street in front of her office building. Several of the other residents crowded around behind her watching the situation out of fear for their offices being in danger. Patsy had fled out the window on Jen's orders to follow Morbius, god knows how far they were by now. "Blade, you move and I'm taking you out."
"I'm registered with SHIELD."
"I'm a damn AVENGER! You think they won't side with me?"
"Shit!" Blade wasn't the kind of man to admit defeat but he pointedly took his sword and sheathed it slowly in front of her.
Only a block away Morbius kicked his feet against the brick facade of a five story building trying to get enough of a hold to hoist himself over the side and climb onto the roof. He failed and sharply hung by his hands hitting the brick with his chest and face, it scraped his skin and he groaned as a small trickle of blood trailed down his forehead.
"Hold on!" Patsy grasped his left wrist from above and pulled him up. He crawled the rest of the way and sat on his folded legs trying to catch his breath.
"Thank god you followed me.."
"Yeah, next time remind me that you can fly. That kind of caught me by surprise."
"Expected me to be dead under that window?" He smirked between breaths.
"Yeah actually. Jen said you weren't the most mentally stable guy. Are you okay?"
"No, not really. That gas takes a toll, that blood was the first I'd had in a week, overall not good."
"Let's get you back then. Jen will kill me if anything happens to you."
"I can't.. I'm providing cover.." He coughed and smiled.
"Wait." She crouched down to sit in front of him and took the backpack from under his arm. The clasp gave easy, inside was a glass vial with a rock. Not a shiny red powerful gem, just a rock. "I don't understand. Why? What are you doing?"
"I have friends, they're taking the gem to Stephen, but I knew Blade would escape and he's a vengeance driven man. This way Blade comes after me, the stone is safe, and my friends and the innocent residents of monsteropolis are safe. He comes to stop me and I've thwarted him before so he forgets all about Monsteropolis."
"What?! What about Jack and Elsa? You said they don't know?!"
"I couldn't tell them. Elsa would rather take the stone back than destroy it, Jack is my friend but he's an idiot for women. He'd tell her the plan. Plus I figured they'd use Blade to find me."
"Yeah, I thought it was odd that you asked about them exclusively back in the office like you knew they were with him. So what's the plan now?"
"I run and wait for word from K'antu."
"And if Blade catches you?"
"I've handled him before I can handle him now." He struggled to stand shaking visibly until she offered him a hand. He took it gratefully.
"Yeah, sure you can. You can barely stand up."
"I'll be fine. Go back to Jen. Tell her that I'm sorry about all this." With that he smiled and made a running start for the other side of the roof, taking a flying leap off of it and gliding away.
She watched him go. "Goddamn... that idiot is going to get himself killed."