Chapter Thirty-Six:
As far as plans went, Tony had to admit that it was one the best in the world. However, it was not one the worst. It would have to do in a pinch.
"We're going to need something strong to bait the Technovore here," Tony answers with a soft sigh. The expression his face grows very calm and crisp. "And I have the perfect bait...right at hand...or rather right here."
Tony pats the area of his chest where his heart is located. This movement causes Daisy, Kara, Gwen, Sue, and Peter all to look at him in shock. Peter decides to be the one who says something.
"Are you sure?"
"Yes, and I'm more than aware of the risks," Tony responds with a dismissive wave of his hand. "You know because I caused the risks. But, we're going to have to do something and do it soon. Otherwise, there's going to be problems."
Another television feed goes down. Tony nods. Pretty soon the entire Eastern seaboard will black out. Unless of course they stop it and stop it immediately. Time runs out.
"And besides, a Dead President is a lot more popular than an alive one these days."
Everyone groans at Tony's gallows humor.
"Too soon?"
"Yes, very," Daisy agrees.
Peter moves over to track the system, only to realize something wrong. Kara and Gwen realize it too a second after he does.
"Oh, Rao," Kara groans.
Tony raises his eyebrow. "Problem?"
Daisy moves into the system and notices something coming on. The war drums of a louder heartbeat into her chest.
"Yeah, a big problem," Daisy admits. The SHIELD Director corrects herself. "A huge problem actually. It's heading to Horizon."
That classified as a huge mind, and three scrambling figures rushed to get things offline.
"We need to get them disconnected, now."
Peter realizes the score and Gwen and Kara rush in to go after them. If the Technovore breaks through the security leading into Horizon, then it could get to the satellites. If it can get to the satellites, then it could take over SHIELD and potentially the entire world.
Only if they let him, and Peter performs a disconnection protocol. It's not the easiest thing in the world to perform, but it's necessary to get the satellites away from the tower and out to space.
Peter breaths, at least for now. They got a reprieve.
"We won't have any problems," Peter says. He amends his statement. "Well, we won't get have the problem of them spreading out in about eight different directions thanks to the satellites."
"Thankfully," Daisy concludes with a soft sigh.
Of course, the fact the first layer of security has been bombarded with one of the Technovore clouds puts them on edge. Daisy waits for the other shoe to drop. Peter positions himself to further disconnect any technology which the Technovore could get.
"Going to be hard to go in there blind," Peter says.
"We should do things the old fashioned way there," Tony comments with a sigh "Which we will be doing if the Technovore ends up blasting all technology back to the stone age."
Of course, Tony decides not to bring up the grimmest theory. The fact that it might not stop at technology when it evolves enough. The evolution of the monster makes Tony think it might continue to people. First, the meta-humans and the mutants of the world, to satisfy its insatiable lust.
"It was built to withstand pretty much anything."
"Yeah, well the Technovore was built to devour everything in its path."
Something had to give and Tony did not know what. They were going to find out because the Technovore hammered the side entrance.
"Cut as much power to the lower levels as possible once it breaks free!"
Daisy raises her eyebrow at Peter's statement, but then she immediately gets it. Kara rushes down to the elevator to pick up the item they spent so much time sealing up.
It either works or makes the Technovore invincible. They do not have that much left to lose at this particular point.
Tony takes a deep breath and pats his heart. He hopes this works out well.
The good news was that all of the Technovore clouds come charging to one particular area. The bad news is that all of the Technovore Clouds charge to one particular area.
X-X-X
The rocks of the cave lay with dust coming out. Several red tendrils shoot out from underneath the cave and rip them apart. The Carnage Goblin breaks free from the cave and yells in agony.
"That fool thinks that he stopped me. Even if he did, there's no stopping the Technovore from ripping everything apart. One way or another, I win!"
The thunderous voice of Norman Osborn grows more sinister when he speaks. He takes a half of a step forward and sinks down into the ground.
The symbiote holds him together, menace and malice erupt from his eyes. He lifts up off of the ground.
The Technovore cloud blasts back and takes apart the former OsCorp building piece by piece. The Carnage Goblin does not bother to pay it any attention. That was a part of his life which is long since over. The future is now and the future will cause him to rise up to take down his enemies.
The Carnage Goblin sensed the chaos, the destruction. A smile crossed over his face.
Several military officers approach him. They all stop short when coming up against the Carnage Goblin. They pause, and he just grins at them.
The two sides enter a stalemate.
"You should move."
"Freeze, you son of a bitch."
The biggest smile ever crossed over the Carnage Goblin's face. So this is the game these fools wished to play.
"Don't say I didn't warn you."
One of the blades shoot out and stab the officer in the face. The possessed officer turns on his men and fires at them. The bullet wounds open up and allow the Carnage Goblin to sink his tendrils in. He slashes their shoulders and injects them with the symbiote pieces. Their eyes glaze over and horror erupts in their eyes.
"No, you can't...we can't…."
"You only feel the need for one thing. And what is it?"
"CARNAGE!" We hunger for Carnage."
The Goblin breaks out into a smile. He knows there will be more. The city will be in darkness, then the entire world. Then only the symbiotes would reign supreme. He cannot help and be pleased how everything went at this particular time.
"CARNAGE RULES!"
Osborn moves over. He's much more in control of the symbiote than the fool who wore this before.
A tank rolls over to the city. His Carnage army approaches the tank and rushes it two at a time. They jump on the tank and smash down onto it. The echo erupts throughout the city the second the Carnage army goes all over the tank.
"Come out and play!" the Carnage-Goblin howls.
The Carnage Goblin taunts his prey and sure enough, it is not long before they exit the tank. They scream in agony and the Carnage Goblin raises the blades of his symbiote. The madman brings the boom down onto the heads of his enemies.
X-X-X
No plan survives first contact with the enemy, especially an enemy as dangerous as the Technovore. Tony stands at the end of a long hallway with his Arc Reactor exposed. One of two things would happen.
Either this would be the bait they need. They would be able to trap the Technovore and finish it off once and for all. Or they would just make it stronger.
Of course, on that second one, Tony would be a slight bit too dead to care. Funny how that seems to work out. Tony hitches in his breath and waits impatiently. One thought amuses the billionaire. Tony would much rather be up against Congress again then deal with this monster. Tony just needs to grit his teeth, face it, and whatever happens, happens.
"Better enjoy the ability to breath why I can."
"We're standing by. The gates are coming down. We're going to let it inside."
Tony does not find that much reassurance from Peter's voice. He just finds a cold sense of extreme dread instead. The frustration mounts and builds through his body.
The gates come down and the large red cloud makes its way inside. It's enormous and gnawing at the circuits at the wall. Tony takes another step forward and decides it's go time, for better or for worse.
"Hey, hey, hey!"
Naturally, this display by Tony got the Technovore's attention. Well, Tony's voice, not so much. The Arc Reactor, on the other hand, that particular item got the attention of the Technovore. The armor-clad hero braced for battle. Tony held up his gauntlet and motioned for his creation to come over. A couple of blasts from the gauntlet stirs up the swarm. It does not do anything more than give them a tiny taste of the power that Tony wields and the power they can grab.
"You remember me? I'm the guy who unleashed you on the world. And now I'm the guy who is going to stop you."
The Technvore swarms Tony. Time almost seems to freeze around him.
Three grenades roll out onto the ground and a sonic attack bombards the Technovore. A few seconds pass before Spider-Girl swoops down for battle. The Technovore goes right after the grenades to dismantle and disable them. A second remote blast of the sonic attack goes after them.
"Now!"
Daisy pulls Tony into a side corridor and then Kara arrives. The Girl of Steel holds up the orb in mid-air. Kneeling down, Kara hopes to pretty much anyone who will listen this little trick works. Kara turns the orb on, to bombard the Technovore with the full blast of energy.
The Technovore rushes towards the orb and then it stops suddenly. It hovers in mid-air and attempts to make sense of some kind of technology it cannot properly assimilate. Time passes until the point in time when the Technovore begins to rattle. Glowing light erupts from the orb to ensnare it even closer. It attempts to break out, but there's no breaking out of a situation like this. Flamebird moves closer, to ensnare the Technovore in an energy field. A rattling sound goes stronger and brings the Technovore in closer, closer, closer.
It shrinks in power and also turns from one big cloud, into a much smaller cloud. The energy field depletes its resources rather quickly and shrinks the virus.
"Sue, on my signal!" Kara yells.
Sue moves in with the portable portal. Kara thinks she can shrink down the Technovore Virus a little bit more. It once again dives towards the orb and then stops.
"It can't assimilate this technology," Kara comments with a smug expression on her face. "We got it, we really got it. We got it right where we wanted it."
The Technovore cloud's shrinking turns it into a small swarm about as big as a fist. It realizes it that it's survival is not guaranteed anymore and it breaks free, zooming as far into the other direction as humanly possible.
Instincts to preserve itself cause the Phantom Zone to free, but never fast enough.
A burst of light erupts and launches the Technovore to the Phantom Zone, to a section of it where no technology can survive.
Tony stands at the hallway, his hand on his heart for a second. He realizes everything in intact. One of his most dangerous creations completely gone and really not a moment too soon.
"Can we breath yet?"
Spider-Man steps into the picture and then suddenly, his spider-sense goes completely bonkers. He turns his attention towards the window where the Carnage Goblin appears at the window and smashes through it.
"Not yet!"
"Give me that orb!"
The Carnage Goblin makes a mad dash for the orb, with his tendrils razor sharp. Flamebird nails him with a beam of heat vision to back him off.
"You got to be kidding me!" Flamebird yells. "Why doesn't this guy stay dead?"
Spider-Man gives her a very sympathetic look. He's been asking this question for years, and to be honest, there's been no success in getting any kind of lasting answer. Peter fixes his gaze on the Carnage Goblin who charges them all. Daisy quakes the ground underneath The Carnage Goblin to throw him off guard.
Not enough, never enough.
X-X-X
To say Norman Osborn angers quickly would be the understatement to end all understatements. The Carnage Goblin swings the blades down on the ground in a violent move to take out his enemies in one swift attack. He sends Spider-Man, in particular, flying down the roam. With sadistic fury, the Carnage Goblin slams Flamebird into the wall.
Spider-Girl bounces off of the back of his head and he catches her, wrapping two clamps from his suit around her legs. He flips Spider-Girl over onto the ground. She does a tuck and a roll and lands hard from the impact. Just long enough to avoid the ax being lowered from her.
"I won't ask you nicely again!"
Spider-Man rolls a cart down the hallway and smacks the Carnage Goblin in the chest. The monster staggers a couple of inches and then smashes through the cart. Carnage Goblin keeps coming like some demented slasher villain. Carnage Goblin slams Spider-Man into the hallway and whip him halfway across the room.
"Oh, I need to put the breaks on this thing rather quickly."
The web-slinger flies down to the ground below. He avoids hitting the ground, only to look down to an army of symbiote affected people. A literal army of symbiote affected people, with Spider-Man dangling above them. They all swung at him and one of them tried to grab onto him.
'Got to get back up. Got to save them. Got to save them now.'
Back inside of the building, the Carnage Goblin shoots spikes and then modified explosive bombs from his body. This range of attacks causes the heroes to scramble in every direction.
"I'm so sick of you do-gooders getting in my way!" the Carnage Goblin howls. "You think that you're something special…."
Three rockets nail the Carnage Goblin. The first one hits him in the chest, the second one nails him flush in the face, and the third one rips him in the stomach.
Iron Man, now back in full suit, locks eyes with the Carnage Goblin. The monster gives a mighty roar and Iron Man hits the Carnage Goblin with more attacks.
"Yeah, that's what the good guys do. Glad you're with the program, Osborn."
"I will tear you out of that suit."
"Wouldn't be the first time someone tried."
The Carnage Goblin grabs Iron Man by the throat and tries to carve him open like a sardine can. Iron Man kicks off high into the air from this particular position and then slams down hard. The Carnage Goblin flies down onto the ground.
Daisy and Gwen bombard the Carnage Goblin with as many shots as possible. The Carnage Goblin swings an axe at Daisy and almost takes her out.
"I told you once!" The Carnage Goblin yells. "And if I told you once, I told you a second time….those who love him, they don't have a really good track record."
An energy cannon fires and sends the Carnage Goblin into the wall. The Carnage Goblin fights back from the power and knocks Iron Man back into the wall. He slams Iron Man into Quake and Spider-Girl. All three of them crash down to the ground halfway down the hallway.
"And now, I'm going to rip all three of you apart."
The Carnage Goblin remembers the orb when he sees Flamebird with it down the hallway. If it's powerful enough to take down his Technovore, then it's powerful enough for him to use.
"Give me that!"
"You want it!"
Flamebird sends a gust of super breath down the hallway and shoots the Carnage Goblin down to the ground.
"You come and get it, Osborn."
"Osborn is long since gone, it's only the Carnage Goblin!"
"And then that's music to my ears!"
X-X-X
The Carnage Goblin eyes flare in rage. He comes head on with Spider-Man who nails him as hard as humanly possible. The slam of Carnage Goblin slams him to the ground.
"Did you forget about me, Norman?"
Sadistic menace went through the Carnage Goblin's face when he rose up to face Spider-Man.
"I thought that you went Spider-Splat."
"Yeah, I get that a lot."
"You remember when I told you that your biggest mistake was not killing me ages ago?"
Two large axes retract from the Carnage Goblin. He charges Spider-Man a second later. Spider-Man does a deadly game of ducking and dodging, to keep the axes from driving into him. The web-slinger needs to keep a few steps ahead, as to not get ripped into pieces.
"Yeah, I remember that," Spider-Man comments. "And I really get the point, well I get the point most of the time at least."
"My biggest mistake was not ripping you apart sooner!" The Carnage Goblin howls in rage. "Allow me to correct that mistake right now!"
The Carnage Goblin charges at Spider-Man as fast as humanly possible. He almost wipes out the web-slinger from the attack. The Carnage Goblin grabs Spider-Man around the top of the head and plants him down onto the ground with a thunderous and vicious attack.
"And now, I'm going to crush you. I'm going to make sure there's not a single drop of your blood left to spare when I'm finished with you. No one will ever remember you exist!"
"Oh, I disagree!"
Spider-Man takes a deep breath and his eyes lock up into those of the Carnage Goblin.
"You're right where I want you."
Four sonic cannons bombard the Carnage Goblin from four different sides. He howls in ever present agony when they drop him down to the ground. Daisy, Gwen, Tony, and Sue all bombard them. The Carnage Goblin rises up to his feet, the sonic energy causing the symbiote to go crazy.
Yet, the Carnage Goblin rose up, the symbiote no longer affected.
"You are fools! I'm evolved past this! This no longer hurts me."
"Yeah, I know...but this just might!"
Despite the modifications, the symbiote cannot shake its inner nature and Spider-Man banks on this more than anything else in the world. He kicks the Carnage Goblin into a chamber and causes a blast of energy to erupt to seal it.
The symbiote tears off of Norman Osborn and gets sucked into a different pod. The hideous face of Norman screams when he makes a frantic attempt to reclaim the symbiote.
"I swear, with my dying breath that…."
Osborn collapses to one knee and then down to the ground. The trauma of the symbiote being ripped off of him makes Osborn's entire body size up, twisting and shaking like crazy. Norman collapses and fades to nothing.
Then, one final breath with blood splattering out of his mouth, and Norman's lost all control of his bodily functions before dying. The stench of death hit the lab.
The roar of the Carnage Symbiote echoes. The symbiote slams and looks to try and break through to kill one of its most hated enemy. Well, it will try and break through, if they let it and they are not about to let that monster breakthrough, no way, no how. The hideous scream of Carnage grows even louder.
"Kara."
"Right."
They let it out just enough to send the monster packing. The Carnage Symbiote fades to absolutely nothing, getting sent on its trip to the Phantom Zone. Where it would remain stranded, hopefully forever.
Now, the pain the Carnage Goblin inflicted on Spider-Man sets through. Spider-Man staggers a couple of steps before Daisy and Gwen catch him and prevent him from collapsing down to the ground.
"Okay, that wasn't easy," Peter responds.
Of course, the real hard part was always the aftermath of something like this. It was hard to believe that Norman Osborn was gone as was Carnage.
They finally took a deep breath.
X-X-X
Peter stands as the SHIELD agents load Norman's body into the machine. A pull of the level cremates the remains of the hated Green Goblin. It seems like an end of the era, something that haunted Peter since his high school days.
Thankfully, Osborn's done and gone, and Peter can move on, move on. There will be other threats, some of them about as persistence as Osborn, some as dangerous, but somehow, none of them would be as personal as Norman Osborn. It feels like Peter Parker 's entering a new era of his life, and has no idea what will happen next. He only needs to consider some options, many options.
Peter needs to be here to oversee Norman's cremation and the storage of his ashes. Experience tells Peter that one can never be too particularly careful, especially with a situation like this. The web slinger's eyes glaze over a half of a second later.
Daisy puts her hand on his shoulder. The web-slinger moves closer to see her.
"So, it's over," Daisy comments. "How do you feel?"
"I don't really know how to put how I feel into words," Peter admits to her.
Daisy leans in and wraps her arms around Peter's neck. A very soft sight continues when she leans closer to him.
"Then don't worry about words," Daisy tells him. "Actions always speak louder at any time, anyway. That's something that you'll always going to have to worry about."
Peter responds by nodding, swiftly and calmly. To be perfectly honest, he knows not what's going to happen next. The only thing he can do is go out there.
"The Technovore is gone," Daisy responds. "It's a lesson to all of us, that something that dangerous should not be created."
"And yet, if something that dangerous can be created once, someone can be created again."
He can feel Daisy's frown against him. A couple of seconds pass when she leans closer to him.
"Always the pessimist aren't you?" Daisy asks him a couple of seconds later.
Peter just responds with a very charming smile.
"I prefer the term realist. Wouldn't you agree?"
No matter how much she wants to disagree, Daisy concludes that Peter has a pretty good point. They came way too close, way too many times to getting killed by Osborn. The fact he's dead is only a reprieve. And there's always a chance some ambitious nutcase will try and bring the Technovore back.
"You'll be happy to know that the second batch of Carnage Infected is in good health," Daisy tells him.
"That's always good news."
Peter's symbiote problems have been one that has been ongoing for several years. If he has to see another symbiote again, it will be all too soon for him.
The SHIELD agents bring Norman's ashes out. Jemma leads the way and sighs.
"He's gone this time, isn't he?" Jemma asks.
"Yes," Peter tells her.
"Good," Jemma concludes with a smile on her face. "I'm glad….let's just hope that he's not a clone or anything like that."
Peter fires back one of those looks as if begging Jemma not to joke about something like that. She responds with the most sheepish smile she can muster.
Still, clones, always a sore subject around Spider-Man. Peter has more than had his fill with them, thank you very much.
X-X-X
The latest round of hearings wrap up and Tony would really want to be anywhere else in the world. Of course, his latest round of heroics put his public approval at an all-time high, despite what the news networks would think. Both Fox News and CNN hated his guts, which makes Tony swell with pride.
He really does have a way of uniting people through their mutual hatred of him. Maybe Tony could work on that Middle East thing next.
"Mr. Stark."
Those words cause Tony's eyes to fall onto the stage. The moment of truth is here. Tony could take it out.
At least he assumes that he can.
"Mr. Stark, by a narrow margin, you have avoided being thrown out of the office of the President of the United States. But, remember, you may have avoided this next time, but the next time you are out of line, we will be back."
It's not over, it's never over with these people. Tony's glad he has experience in avoiding certain death from people far more dangerous than anything the opposition might hire to assassinate him. Otherwise, he will be in a whole lot of trouble, to say the very least.
They had been trying to kick Tony out since before he won. Still had not succeeded. Given how incompetent some of his opponents were, Tony found himself grateful they were not their allies.
Still, Tony agrees that a second term may not be the best. Fighting Thanos, Kang, and Ultron on a regular basis is much easier than being the President of the United States.
Tony rises up to his feet and walks out of the building to the cheers of several of his supporters.
If Tony Stark can walk out of his office with his head held high, then that will be the greatest victory for Tony Stark.
X-X-X
Spider-Man lands on the ever-present gargoyle and stares out into the City. Tonight's a quiet night, a peaceful night, with the citizens of New York deciding to pack it in after the attack of Carnage. Spider-Man most certainly does not blame them in any way whatsoever for feeling the need to dial it back a notch or two after that.
The web-slinger rocks back on the gargoyle and continues to peer down into the city. For better or for worse, he's here and he's ready to go, ready to swing, no matter what.
There's going to be other battles, challenges, and trials. Yet, despite all of the hardship, Peter Parker has grown from a long way from that young nerdy kid who had a surprise encounter, with a genetically altered Spider. Despite some people still seeing him as a kid, Spider-Man put his high school days behind him.
As long as there's a need, there will be a Spider-Man. And he could not see his life going any other way.
The web-slinger moves off into the night, to the next adventure.
X-X-X
An image of Spider-Man swinging through New York City flashes over the screen. The ever-present eyes of the Grandmaster look out.
"So, you've won this day, Web-Slinger. Despite the added variables, the forces of what the primitives call good triumph over the forces of what they call evil. Very interesting, you've won today."
The Grandmaster monitors the situation around him.
"But, as they also say, the adventure continues. There will be other challenges. And perhaps one day, your reckoning will come and you will fall from grace."
The Grandmaster observes other events. Perhaps a more direct involvement would add interest next time.
But for now, all The Grandmaster does is watch and wait.
This is the final chapter of plot, but there's still one more shameless smut chapter to go.