Wow, it's actually been a couple of months since I sat down to write for this story. So, as of this writing, I've just started publishing the first wave of chapters for Venom: Resurgence, just as a timestamp, and by my guess, that makes it at least two months since I wrapped up the first half of A Very Bad Idea (s3)

Creativity: Yeah. It feels good to be back.

Author: Do say. Anyway, I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas and enjoyed the Christmas Special for this story! Now, I haven't started writing it yet, since I don't know exactly what kind of special I want to make for it. Or rather, everything I just said in past tense. Godzilla, this stuff is so weird to write when it comes to backlog.

Creativity: Tell me about it. We haven't even started publishing season 3 yet!

Author: Well, that means, or rather, will have meant that we had two months to think of and write the special, so it is/wasn't that bad.

As for the timing of it? Well, we wanted to start at the beginning of a month, and when we did a bit of checking, we found that we actually would have ended a few days before Christmas, so there you have it!

Creativity: Plus, we just REALLY wanted to have a healthy backlog ready for then we started publishing again, so that we wouldn't be stuck missing a few days like the end of season 2

Author: That too, yeah.

BUT WE'RE BACK! AGAIN! And we're proud to present chapter 9 of A Very Bad Idea (s3)


Rothstein groaned as he leaned back in his seat aboard his aircraft. His hand unconsciously rested over one of his wounds from Skull Island, from the weapon that had exploded and left him burned and with several shrapnel wounds. Unfortunately, one of which was rather dangerous, but also proved more dangerous to deal with.

A fragment of the weapon's firing mechanism, one that was heavily dosed in radioactive material, had gotten wedged in an place that was borderline impossible to operate on. As a result, he was stuck with a piece of irradiated shrapnel that was constantly leaking radiation into his body. He'd managed to acquire medication to abate the symptoms of his problem, but that wouldn't last him forever. Now, he had an even more pressing reason to acquire as many vaults as he could.

While much study had been put in to treating radiation poisoning, both in and out of E.V.O, there wasn't anything to solve Rothstein's current problem. However, he knew that Yorburg had put plenty of study into radiation, considering all his research on Godzilla and those like him. Therefore, he would likely have developed several concoctions in the event that he started suffering any effects of radiation poisoning himself. Of course, this all assumed that Yorburg had been successful AND that the vault those secrets were potentially stashed in had not been pilfered by Augustus already. Still, he had to hope. He didn't have much left aside to save his life but hope.

His musings on his own mortality were broken when the autopilot signaled to him that they were approaching his destination: An automated manufacturing facility hidden in the Arctic. He turned to a screen and pressed a few buttons, starting to transmit clearance codes to open the door to the facility.

As he approached, the snow began to shift as massive doors began to open, revealing the facility to be underground. He maneuvered the aircraft inside and activated a virus to be transmitted inside, which would reprogram the cameras and other surveillance equipment to behave as if he wasn't there. Since the only time anything flesh-and-blood came inside was to deliver materials or for a monthly inspection, he wouldn't have to worry about being found out. Rothstein smirked to himself as he climbed free of the cockpit and stepped onto reassuring solid ground. Rothstein remembered Yorburg arguing for facilities such as this with much fervor, and this was one of the first ever to be constructed. This particular one had been constructed specifically for weapons manufacturing. They were in the midst of transitioning away from flesh-and-blood soldiers to replace with humanoid machines. However, they still wanted flesh-and-blood soldiers to use to create combat algorithms for their new robotic soldiers, and for the more elite within E.V.O to have weapons to defend themselves with.

Additionally, this facility also doubled as a testing ground for prototype weapons and combat machines. Specifically, a set of weapons designed for modular use, both in projectile and how the weapons were handled. While they had developed robots capable of full human articulation, they were still making adjustments that would allow a robot to be able to functionally grip a gun. Despite the various grips they'd designed, both on the robots and weapons, the robots still had a butterfingers problem. Thus, the solution was to construct the weapons and guns to be able to fix to each other. As an added bonus, that would mean a slightly shorter window of time between the signal to fire reaching the weapon. In fact, Rothstein was half-considering taking a few pieces for himself. With his condition, he'd be at a severe disadvantage in a fight now and would likely require some form of backup.

But that could wait until later. For now, he had a vault to track down.


Augustus grumbled as he weaved through several transportation drones, who were, well, transporting materials to be used for manufacturing more weapons and robots. As much as he wished they'd keep to specified lanes that stayed out of his way, he had to admire the craftsmanship, as well as the AI the machines used. Everything had not insignificant path-finding programming, as well as communication to a massive central 'hive' that relayed communications between almost every machine, as well as facilitated maintenance, updates and upgrades, as well as changes on what to manufacture. The structure of it all was astounding and perhaps one of the greatest things he'd seen come from E.V.O. He could certainly see why his uncle had pushed so hard for them to begin constructing locations such as this. If only more things could be so efficient.

But alas, his musings of such a world were interrupted when a device strapped to his wrist started beeping. He held it up and cursed. Someone else was in the facility. They'd only just entered, since Augustus had inserted a protocol to hide from all surveillance as well as alert him if the hanger doors were opened, which had just been tripped.

"Why do I always have someone nipping at my heels as of late?" Augustus muttered aloud before picking up his pace. This was getting ridiculous. At this rate, he was going to be beaten to his prize eventually, and if he lost even a single vault, he'd be unable to reach the location where his uncle was keeping his contingency plan. More than just living up to his uncle's (and his own) perfectionism was riding on his success. Their revenge was riding on it the most.

According to the map he had acquired from the vault, his uncle's vault was stashed in a secret room that his uncle had programmed in after the completion of this facility. In addition to it being fully automated, the facility's entire floor-plan was completely modular, allowing one to change the layout or create rooms for specific and/or temporary purposes. Additionally, his uncle had informed him in a message unlocked from the last vault, that there was a device inside that allowed for swift alterations to an area of the facility that wasn't directly tied to ongoing manufacturing. If he could get to that, he could severely thin out the 'competition' for his uncle's vaults. He could turn the facility into a deathtrap for anyone who dared try to steal what was rightfully his.

As he continued towards the secret room, he paused briefly to take a look at one of the weapons that was being manufactured here. It looked like some form of assault rifle, designed for thermos-nuclear ammunition. It appeared the gun also came with a few optional upgrades, ranging from having a mini nuclear reactor to take the place of a magazine, an onboard specialized AI to assist with aiming, to a multitude of other upgrades. The AI upgrade actually gave Augustus a thought: Perhaps he should see about… acquiring his own AI. It could be useful in helping him find out just who was trying to steal his inheritance. Well, aside from those Monarch lackeys of course, though they were likely to be in pursuit of his competition than the vaults. Perhaps he could use that to solve one or both of his problems.

He immediately shunted that idea aside. He didn't have time to ponder how to use one problem to solve another. He had to focus on his objective. And that objective was to find his uncle's vault.

Fortunately, that wouldn't be too long as he soon came to his destination, which seemed like a blank wall at first glance. Augustus removed a device from his built that looked like a pen, and then pressed a button on it that caused the tip of the pen to start glowing red. He pressed it to the wall and watched as the wall began to shudder. He heard the sound of machines whirring as the wall began to shift and slide, creating a doorway to a short corridor. He stepped through and made his way to the room at the end of the corridor, which looked like some form of security hub. The room was large and oval shaped, with the vault situated on a pedestal in the center of the room. Additionally, there was a device set into the pedestal, just below the vault. Augustus grinned as he grabbed the device and began examining it. It was definitely the right device, allowing him to control the layout of certain sections of the facility at will. However, it appeared that in addition to not controlling all aspects of the facility, it also didn't work outside this room. So whatever offensive he mounted, he'd have to do it from inside this room. Fortunately, it quickly became apparent that such a task would be easier than he initially thought. The walls began to shift and revealed themselves to be enormous monitors, allowing him to see all of the areas that he could control with the device. He held up the device and gave it a onceover again. He needed to figure out the device quickly if he was to lay his trap.


Rothstein grunted in frustration as he made his way towards the vault. He didn't know the precise location, but he did have a good idea of where to look. Unfortunately, there weren't any 'human only' lanes available for him at the moment, meaning he had to deal with machines constantly getting in his way. This was taking far too long. He couldn't afford to linger too long, otherwise he'd either be caught be E.V.O once they caught on to the virus looping the video footage or messing with their robots. Additionally, he had no insurance that Augustus hadn't been here already or was here. It had become a bit of a recurring pattern for the two of them to run into each other. Hopefully, if he was here, Rothstein could… extract the whereabouts of the vaults from him, then dispose of him. What a service to the world that would be.

Unfortunately, it seemed that such wishes would not be granted, as he suddenly felt the ground rumbling and saw that a large section of the facility was beginning to shift. While he wasn't exactly in the loop of what plans were in motion at E.V.O these days, he was reasonably sure that they didn't include a floorplan change this drastic. Whatever this was, it wasn't normal. And probably nothing good.

He picked up the pace, heading for where he suspected the vault was, which unfortunately seemed to be part of where the massive shift was occurring. He cursed as he hurried along as fast as he could. There was no way this could possibly be a coincidence.

And then, as if things couldn't get any more complicated, an alarm began to sound throughout the facility.

"You're sure that this facility is here?" Grey questioned as he checked his gauntlets again. Next to him, Sabrina was doing a last-minute check of her own gear.

"Absolutely. This facility was just beginning construction before my own facility was shut down. I wasn't sure exactly where, but the projected flightpath from both images I caught on satellite let me triangulate where they were headed. Also, I'm picking up E.V.O automation broadcast, so we're definitely close." Ion said.

"I hope you're right. I can barely tolerate Canadian Fall, I am not going to be happy if we flew out to the Arctic in winter for nothing." Sabrina responded as she checked her claws' status.

Grey had been really leery about Sabrina coming along on another mission that potentially involved Rothstein or the other target, but she'd been insistent. She assured them that she wouldn't fly off the handle again like on Skull Island, so they decided to give her the benefit of the doubt.

Along with them for this trip was Nancy from Ford's unit, since Ford was still recovering from his injuries sustained while on Skull Island. All of them were decked out in new polar-gear that Monarch had developed for them. Unlike the previous uniforms that Monarch had made for Gen-1 cross-species, these ones came with sleeves. Paradoxically, they were a little thinner on the torso, but that was because they sacrificed radiation channeling material for special new material they had developed for maximizing heat retention. Additionally, the suits had special built-in gauntlets instead of the originals being fitted over. This was to make sure that the material didn't get in the way of Grey's signals to fire, as well as drawing on his own radiation reserves. Same for Sabrina, who's requested claw modification was carried over to her own suit. Nancy had her own cold-weather gear and was equipped with a thermo-nuclear assault rifle. Ion was currently in the helicopter's mainframe, assisting the autopilot in tracking down the E.V.O manufacturing facility.

"It should be… Ah, there we are! Just let me start transmitting the access codes…" Ion announced before doing just that.

"Ion, are you certain those codes are still good? You've been out of the loop for a while." Grey asked, hoping not to offend the AI.

"I'd be surprised if they didn't work. Worst case scenario, I just have to gain access the hard and more time-consuming way. Don't worry. We're getting in." Ion assured them as it dipped lower to the ground. It was a few minutes before the ground started to shift. Grey's eyes widened as the ground split open and revealed a massive hanger beneath the frozen earth.

"See? Didn't I tell you I'd get us in?" Ion asked in voice that was dripping with self-satisfaction. Grey rolled his eyes.

"Yeah, yeah. Don't pull something while patting yourself on the back. Now, are there any alarms that we should be worried about, or security drones, anything at all?" Grey responded with a hint of snark at the beginning.

"Normally I'd say yes, but I'm doing some interfacing with the main hive, and it seems that there's a couple pieces of malware that are interfering with the security protocols. I don't think we'll need to worry too much about being spotted. However, I wouldn't take that as an endorsement. Also, as you recall, since this an active E.V.O location and not one of the abandoned ones that you've been finding with our last few missions to catch Rothstein. Also, if you have the opportunity, you should get me into a data terminal. I could try to pull some data on other E.V.O bases for us to raid." Ion reminded them. Grey nodded as he cracked his neck and rolled his shoulders.

"We heard you the first time. Anything else we should know about this place?" Grey inquired as they approached the floor of the facility.

"Actually, there is one thing I might have missed in the initial overview. The facility is designed to operate with little-to-no human oversight, as you'll recall, but the facility is also designed to be able to have the floorplan completely altered to better fit the manufacturing process of a specific item, or for other such purposes. So, be careful. It's unlikely that Rothstein or the other target can make such changes, but you never know. Exercise caution if the facility begins to shift." Ion added as the ramp began lowering and the team disembarked, with Ion jumping into Grey's headset.

As they advanced through the facility, Grey couldn't help but marvel at the technology on display. Not so much the weapons as the manufacturing process, though the weapons were a definitely a marvel as well. And then the alarms went off.

"Ion, I thought you said we'd go unnoticed!" Grey shouted as loud sirens began blaring throughout the facility. They weren't too far into the facility, so this was not a good sign.

"You should have been, what with multiple pieces of malware attacking the surveillance systems! Something must have quarantined them and rebooted the system! Probably a security AI, but I'm not positive. You have to get me to a terminal, so I can shut the stupid thing off!" Ion responded heatedly. Grey wanted to fire back with a retort but bit his tongue and started searching the terminal Ion had mentioned; a task that became much more difficult when security drones began descending upon them.

"Oh, well isn't this wonderful!" Sabrina shouted as she began blasting them. Nancy also started cutting them down while Grey shot down a few while hunting for that damned terminal. Things only got crazier from there.

"Everyone, I hate to add pressure to the situation, but you know how I mentioned that this facility was modular and could change its floorplan if told to?" Ion began, only for Nancy to cut it off.

"Let me guess! The floorplan is changing right now?!" She all but shouted. Grey cursed as he hunted for something, anything to get the security drones off of them, then had an idea.

"Ion, can you get access to the security center through one of the security devices?!" Grey yelled as he blasted two more drones out of the sky.

"In theory, yes, but I'll have to contend with any security AI they have patrolling the system. It'd be much easier to go through the terminal channels." Ion responded.

"We don't exactly have time to find a terminal!" Grey responded before leaping into the air and grabbing one of the drones out of the sky! Ion jumped into the drone and set to work on accessing the security protocols, fighting off any opposing AI with little difficulty (They were not nearly as well designed as she was) and trying to pin down the source of the changing floorplan.

Soon enough, the drones were deactivated, and the alarms finally shut up, but unfortunately Ion wasn't able to figure out what was causing the floorplan to be altered. It seemed that whatever was causing the changes wasn't connected to the main hive at the moment or was otherwise disguised from it. Deciding to cut losses, Ion jumped out of the drone and back into Grey's headset.

"Well, obviously I got the security measures off our backs, but I can't trace where the orders for the floorplan change are coming from. I have two suggestions. Either we call it quits, head back to the helicopter and avoid a potential deathtrap set by Rothstein or the other target, or we keep going and hope that we don't get crushed by the moving walls, floors and whatever else may be moving." Ion offered. Grey and Sabrina both rolled their eyes.

"We're going after them." Sabrina responded as they turned and continued making their way deeper into the facility. They could see the shifting up ahead.

"Suddenly I'm thinking that this wasn't such a good idea" Grey muttered as they kept getting closer. Thankfully it eventually all settled and they could keep going without worrying about the shifting machinery crushing them with one misstep. Unfortunately, they had no idea what they were walking into. And what they were walking into, was a trap.


As Augustus strolled back towards the hanger, he couldn't help but sport a smile that was absolutely dripped with self-satisfaction. He'd created a small gauntlet of traps for any would-be pursuers, secured the next vault, and used the remote his uncle had made to set up a corridor that basically walked him all the way back to the hanger! The one thing he wished he had was a monitor so that he could watch his competition and the Monarch team stumble around in his trap. Unfortunately, his schedule didn't allow for such entertainment. Instead, he hurried back to his aircraft and clamoured inside before exiting. He half-considered sabotaging the Monarch helicopter, but decided it wasn't worth the time and effort. Instead, he simply flew away, eagerly awaiting when he returned home to open this latest vault.

Rothstein cursed as he tried to find the chamber where the vault was kept. He knew it was here somewhere! He just had to find it!

Thankfully, the virus he'd snuck into the security system was still working, but he wasn't sure how long it could keep going until the security AI caught onto it. Then he'd be exposed to E.V.O.

He didn't believe that the security drones would turn on him, unless they had marked him a traitor (He considered that unlikely) but being revealed like this would immediately invite E.V.O to come after him, and he doubted that they would play nice, what with his indirect involvement with all of their poor fortune these last few years and his vanishing act two years ago.

Part of him was considering crawling back to them, especially after he got that piece of irradiated shrapnel stuck in him. There was a slim chance that they had the resources to save him, though they would definitely leverage that against him. And all of that assumed they were capable of saving him at all. As it was, he didn't think there was anyone capable of surgically removing the shrapnel, and he only had a sparse number of holding measures to keep the radiation from killing him. Unfortunately, those measures wouldn't last long. Hell, he'd be surprised if they kept him alive for more than a year. No, if he had any chance of surviving, he needed to get his hands on at least one vault. If it didn't contain anything useful, he could try trading it to Augustus for in exchange for something that could.

However, such an endeavor demanded he survived this one, which it was beginning to rapidly look like he wouldn't, as evidenced when the floors suddenly slammed upwards into a box and he felt the temperature beginning to drop. He began cursing profusely. Augustus had somehow managed to reprogram the facility into a death trap!

He began to frantically search for some means of escape, but he suspected that wouldn't be possible. The trap had been set by remote, and it was likely that was the only way to disarm it.

Rothstein continued cursing as he huddled into a corner, trying to conserve body heat for as long as he could. Hopefully he'd survive the ordeal, but he doubted it. Not without a miracle.


"YOU SAID YOU SHUT THEM OFF!"

"I DID!"

"THEN WHY ARE THEY SHOOTING AT US AGAIN?!"

Things had not gone well for Grey and his team after they started on their way towards the shifting factory. In fact, shortly after they passed through one of the rooms the door slammed shut, the lights turned red, and a hoard of robots built for the express purpose of killing (an assumption based on the arm-mounted cannons, heavy armor, clawed fingers and generally menacing demeanor) had burst into the room and started attacking everything in sight. The team was currently sprinting from room to room, occasionally shooting one of the robots as they went. Unfortunately, whoever had designed these robots had also built them to resist thermo-nuclear energy, which was a problem since those were the only weapons they had. Nancy's rifle seemed to fair much better than Grey and Sabrina's gauntlets, probably since it was built for the explicit purpose of being a weapon, as opposed to the gauntlets (originally, at least), but it wasn't doing much better.

"Ion, please tell us that there's a way out of this!" Grey shouted as he narrowly avoided being fried by another blast.

"I would, but I can't find one! Something's interfering with my connection to the central hub!" Ion responded, sounding as panicked as Grey and the others. They kept running through the maze of rooms and doors as the pack of murder bots scrambled behind them!

"Why can't we ever chase Rothstein somewhere that doesn't end in disaster?!" Sabrina shrieked as the group rounded yet another corner.

"Wait! I got through for a second! In the next room I can shut a blast door!" Ion shouted. They ran into the indicated room and the door slammed shut. There was relief for a moment, followed by soul-crushing realization.

"Ion, this is a dead end. Emphasis on DEAD!" Grey shouted.

"I didn't get a good reading, okay?! I'll try to find us another way!" Ion responded. Of course, the sounds of the robots trying to break down the door were not encouraging. Forcing himself to calm down a bit, Grey looked around at their surroundings. It appeared that this room had been either storage for prototyped weapons or an armory. Unfortunately, there seemed to be only one way in or out. And that way currently had a pack of murder-bots on the other side of it.

"Ion, don't bother looking for a way out. Can we destroy those bots?" Grey asked.

"Not with your current weapons. I managed to pull a few specs around the same time I directed you in here, and their armor is too durable for your gauntlets to break. You might be able to break them with brute force; tear them apart and such, but those tactics would likely get you killed." Ion reported quickly. Grey looked around.

"What about these?" Grey looked around at the weapons on the wall.

"Maybe… Let me get a closer look." Ion responded. Grey walked over to one of them and held up his hand. Ion jumped inside and began their investigation. The longest minute in existence passed before Ion spoke again.

"I think they just might. Fair warning, these ones were designed more with the robots in mind, thus they're a lot bulkier than other weapons of comparable size. Same goes for the recoil. That shouldn't be too much of a problem for you or Sabrina, what with your enhanced strength, but I'd recommend Nancy either go for a mounted gun or something smaller."

Grey nodded.

"Okay then. We can do this. They have just that small door to get through and we're sitting on some of the most advanced weaponry on the planet. We can do this." Grey muttered as he began examining the guns.

"You don't sound that confident." Sabrina lightly jabbed, even though her voice had traces of fear in it as she began looking at some of the weapons. As Grey continued to sift through them, keeping his ears fixed on the sound of the metal slowly, but surely giving way to the robots incessant pounding. Then his eyes settled on a rather big gun. He picked it up and found it rather heavy, but nothing he couldn't handle. It looked similar in overall structure to a minigun, but it was a fair bit heavier and didn't have any rotating barrels.

"Why am I not surprised you'd gravitate to that one?" Ion snarked off. Grey rolled his eyes.

"Look, we're on a time limit here! Just tell me how it works." Grey growled back.

"This one appears to have multiple modes of fire, though the standard will more than do for our purposes. Its current setup is a quad-barreled automatic fire, with the ammunition being compressed bursts of thermo-nuclear radiation. It should be more than enough to punch through the robots' armor, though it does have quite a bit of kick to it. Make sure you're planted firmly before firing." Ion advised. Satisfied with his choice, Grey took up a position in front of the door and began familiarizing himself with the weapon more. Meanwhile, Sabrina selected what looked like an assault rifle of some kind. It was a bit boxy, but overall had a slim profile.

"This one features auto and semi-auto fire, and was more designed with human operatives in mind, thus it has reduced kickback. However, it does have a lesser clip size and slightly longer recharge cycle than other options. On one hand, you'll be focusing your fire on one point constantly, so you don't need to worry about your shots landing, but you also want to be firing more often." Ion informed Sabrina. She gave the weapon a once over again, before taking a position on the left side of the room, weapon pointed at the door.

Meanwhile, Nancy had selected what looked like a large pistol. She looked it over with a critical eye.

"That one sports manual and semi-auto fire and relatively low recoil compared to the other guns, but rather high compared to pistols of what would be similar caliber. I'd recommend two hands when firing." Ion informed. Nancy took a position near the right wall, furthest from the line of fire. While she had adequate protection with her Monarch gear, she didn't have the benefit of being radiation resistant like the rest of the team.

The door began to dent even more, the metal groaning in protest. Then it began to glow with heat. Grey braced himself, his finger hovering over the trigger. Then the door burst off its hinges! Grey yelped and jumped aside to avoid the door before regaining his bearings and unleashing a hail of thermo-nuclear blasts upon the pack of murder bots, who were trying to get through the door! Sabrina and Nancy had both already opened fire on the bots as well. Grey gritted his teeth, his entire body tensed like serpent coiled to strike. He began slowly walking forward, maintaining fire as he got closer and closer to the door. The scraps of murder-bot were slowly clogging up the door, so he kicked them out of the way and began to swing the gun from side to side, mowing down everything in his path!

"I swear, when we finally get you, Rothstein, I am going to personally relieve you of your hands, bone by bone!" Grey shouted as they continued to gun down the robots.

It felt like ages, but they finally finished off the last robot and hurried back to the helicopter. Thankfully, it was undamaged. They immediately took off and started back for home. Another mission was a bust.


DEAR LORD THIS ONE WAS WAY LONGER THAN ANTICIPATED!

Creativity: Legs… Need new legs… And arms…

Author: Jeez, no kidding.

So, I got nothing particularly in mind to say this time, since this one took a REALLY long time to finish and I'm just glad to be done with this chapter. I hope you all enjoy and… Ima go lay down for a bit.