Chapter Fifty Five: Better Call Pool.
Spider-Man was in the middle of a fight with Shocker. He just happened to be swinging around on his neighborhood patrol and was about ready to call it an evening, but he heard an explosion and then he saw Shocker about ready to hold up a bank.
"Really, Herman, you would think you would learn this lesson by now?" Spider-Man asked. "I don't care how many times I have to tell you this, but you keep ending up in jail….and you keep getting out. Or you keep getting released. But crime doesn't pay."
"You're the one going to pay, Spider-Man!" Shocker yelled. He aimed the gauntlets toward Spider-Man, but the web slinger dodged it. "I'm done with you making a mockery out of me!"
"Nah, I think you do a pretty good job of doing it yourself just fine," Spider-Man said. He decided to take this fight away from the people in the bank and like the genius he was, Shocker followed him. "Come on, just a little bit closer, and you'll get it, just a little bit….."
Shocker fired a blast from his gauntlet at Spider-Man in an attempt to take him out. The web slinger dropped to one knee and rolled out of the way. He avoided getting nailed with a gauntlet blast once again.
"Come out and play!" Shocker yelled. A pair of web blasts wrapped around his arms. Spider-Man tried to propel himself at Shocker, but a shield appeared around him.
It caused the web slinger to bounce off like a ping pong ball. He was directed back and he crashed down to the ground. The wind was knocked out of him.
'Okay, really wasn't the best idea in the world, he's upgraded,' Spider-Man said. He could see Shocker untangle himself. 'Herman gives me an idea.'
Spider-Man rolled on the ground and tried to kick his legs out from underneath him. Shocker crumpled down to the ground, hitting hard.
"You son of a bitch, you're going to pay!" Shocker yelled. He prepared to click the gauntlet and take down Spider-Man.
Only he never had a chance to take him down. There was a flash of light emitted and there was something or rather someone which came down on the back of Shocker's head.
Spider-Man stood back and stared. He could see Shocker get curb stomped into the ground by this individual who was wearing a red and black suit, with a pair of Katanas draped over his back.
"And how you do it, bitch!" the man said. "Yee-haw, boo-yah, bee-yotch!"
Spider-Man wondered if this man was cracked in the head. He decided to ask the question. "Just who are you?"
"You've never heard of me, well I'm hurt, wounded," he said, shaking his head. "Someone get this boy a Wi-fi, because he's obviously never been on the Internet."
Shocker was down on the ground and his breathing was ragged.
"Don't worry, I didn't make him unalive….he's not far enough up the food chain to waste a perfectly good blade or bullet on," the mysterious crazy man said.
'Hey, calling me crazy wasn't nice, I'm not crazy, I'm just unique, unconventional,' the voice inside this man's head said. 'Okay, fine, I guess I might just be a little bit crazy, but…..if you've seen some of the shit I've seen, you would be too.'
"And now, I think it's time to have a proper introduction, and I thank you for skipping the entire, let's fight thing, because I'm even getting sick of it," the man said. "Deadpool, Merc with the Mouth at your service, here's my card."
He handed Spider-Man the card, who took it. The web slinger frowned.
"It says Pedro Sanchez, Home Appliance repairman."
"Okay, I don't have a card," Deadpool said. The crazy man shrugged. "But, we do have one thing in common. Unless of course you have a secret stash of Golden Girls Rule 34, then we have two things in common."
"What are you talking about?" Spider-Man asked.
"You know, Rule 34, anything can be made into porn, will be made into porn, no matter how depraved and disturbed it could be, there's an audience for everyone," Deadpool commented. Spider-Man raised his eyebrow. "Yeah, I completely lost you, didn't I?"
"Pretty much," Spider-Man confirmed. He didn't really want to delve too closely into how this depraved individual and his mind worked. The imp from the fifth dimension he and Kara encountered a while back was bad enough. "And I was asking about the one thing we had in common."
"Oh , well I've been hot on the trail of the missing scientists, and when I mean hot, I mean hot, hotter than the sun hot," Deadpool said. "You see, they've been kidnapped by recurring pain in the ass of mine. The recurring pain being our good friend Nathaniel Essex, or as he's sometimes know, Mister Sinister."
"Sinister, figures," Spider-Man groaned.
The rumors of Essex's demise were greatly exaggerated, but criminals not being able to stay in the ground were nothing really new for those in the hero game.
"Yeah, , and I'll be short and blunt," Deadpool said. "Why don't we do the team up thing against Sinister and his Marauders? Everyone likes a good team up and work has been pretty sketchy as of late. Sure there was the fight with the Joker I had in another universe, and boy was that battle insane, but the fight was then and I'm here now."
"I don't know anything about you," Spider-Man said.
"Oh, you'd like me, if you got to know me," Deadpool said fluttering his eyelashes underneath his mask, even though Spider-Man or any voyeurs watching couldn't see it. "I have a wonderful personality."
Deadpool shuddered when he said the words "wonderful personality."
'And we're getting the slash fan girls riled up for something not going to happen,' one of the voices in Deadpool's head said. 'Maybe if we were a female.'
'Hey, I'd tap it,' Deadpool prime interjected calmly.
'Would fucking your interdimensional gender swapped self be incest, masturbation, or just plain hot?' another Deadpool voice commented.
'Yes,' Deadpool said. 'Hey, where did Spider-Man go?'
'Hey must be hanging around the Wayne chick too much? You know with the sudden disappearing thing. Granted, we can do it , because we're all ninja like and stuff.'
Peter couldn't dwell on the little meeting he had this morning. This was the first day of the fall semester at ESU and he was making his way there. A worried Gwen was waiting for him, but she perked up. Jean, Kara, and Jessica were all hanging around. Mary Jane and Liz were at new student orientation, and could not join the group.
"So, you ran into trouble this morning?" Gwen asked.
"No," Peter said. He swept her up into a one armed hug and gave her a kiss. Jessica, Kara, and Jean gave mock pouts and Peter gave them the attention these girls felt they deserved. He pulled away from them. "I ran into Herman."
"Oh, so no trouble at all," Kara said.
"Yeah, you must have beaten Shocker at least a dozen times," Jessica said, careful to keep her voice down. Thankfully they were about the only ones outside.
"We better get to class," Jean suggested. She hated to tell them what to do, but Peter was running a little bit late and it was frustrating.
"Well, I didn't really beat Shocker this time, there was some guy who ran interference and helped me," Peter informed the girls. They all turned around and looked surprised. "I don't really know what to make of this guy, his name was Deadpool."
The name Deadpool caused Jean to stop in her tracks and Kara, who was behind her, to nearly slam into the back of her. Jean turned around and looked Peter dead in the eye. "Please tell me you're kidding."
"So, this is a bad thing, right?" Peter asked.
"Yeah, Deadpool….well he's a real wildcard," Jean said. "He could be on your side, but more likely, he's on no one's side, but his own. He is skilled, and completely out of his mind."
"Well, I figured about much as," Peter said. He really wished he could talk about this even more.
Jean decided to link all of their minds with her powers, so they could speak freely without having to worry about anyone overhearing. This also allowed Peter to replay his conversation with Deadpool to the girls in a more concise amount of details.
'There was a professor at ESU disappeared right before the start of the semester,' Jean thought. 'And….you know, Deadpool might be bent, but the man does have a point. This is reeking of Essex.'
'And Chloe mentioned some of these scientists were on the watch list, either because of their credentials or the fact they could be a potential meta-gene,' Gwen said.
'The line between the meta-gene and the X-Gene is very fine,' Jean thought. 'What makes someone a meta human? What makes them a mutant? Not even Professor Xavier has been able to fully explain it to me or the rest of the team.'
Peter was trying to wrap his head around it.
'It has to do with the origins of the powers, where they came from, and who they were descended from,' Kara said. 'You have to break down the DNA really carefully in order to figure things out.'
'SHIELD and ARGUS are about ready to butt heads,' Peter said.
'Which is really not anything new,' Jessica said. 'I half think this is just another dispute between Waller and Fury. You know one of those martial dispute things.'
The group ran into a dark haired man in his late thirties, with one arm. He was talking to a red haired woman with green eyes who looked to be around his age or maybe slightly younger than him. He was Doctor Curt Connors and she was his wife Martha. Peter and Kara were going to have his class this term, with Jean and Gwen having it last year.
"Doctor Connors?" Gwen asked, when she looked at him. "And Doctor Connors."
"Gwen, hello," Martha Connors said with a warm tone. "I trust you've had a productive summer."
"Yes….this is Peter Parker and Kara Danvers, they'll be taking your husband's class this semester," Gwen said.
"Ah, yes," Martha said. "Congratulations on getting an internship with the Wayne Foundation, both of you. You must have been very proud, because it is notoriously hard to get."
"Oh, you better believe it is," Peter said with a smile. Funnily enough, the fact he was sleeping with the person who made the final decision didn't make his chances much easier. "But, thank you Doctor Connors….and Doctor Connors…."
"You know, call me Martha, it does get a trifle confusing with two Doctors in the family," Martha said. She smiled. "Curt, this is Peter Parker….Richard's son."
"Right, I met your father, when he was giving a lecture when I was going here to ESU and had a chance to speak with him and strike up a rapport with him," Curt said. "He seemed very interesting, and it's an honor to work with his son. And it's very tragic what happened to him."
Curt Connors might be a tad bit preoccupied, but he heard about the scientists being kidnapped and it actually went back further than a few months. Richard Parker told him if anything ever happened to him, no matter how innocent, to look into a man named Nathaniel Essex, because he would be the man who was behind this.
Connors also was intrigued with the formula Richard created would eventually be turned into OZ, it was intended at first to be a trigger to activate the meta gene within a person. The flame to ignite it so to speak. Those who didn't have the meta gene would be horrifically mutated, case in point, what happened to Norman Osborn.
When modified though, perhaps combined with animal DNA, it could do extraordinary things, and what Curt hoped to do. Spider-Man was living proof of . Perhaps it could help Curt with a problem he had been having for the past five years.
"I'm looking forward to having you in my class, Mr. Parker, and you two, Miss Danvers," Curt said. "I heard from some of your other professors you could be challenging, and I hope to be able to meet your expectations."
'Seems like a nice guy, although he is a bit absent minded,' Peter thought.
'Maybe, but he does know his biology,' Gwen said.
The group prepared to head off to their first classes of the semester.
'It was a dark and stormy night,' Deadpool mentally narrated. 'Okay, fine, it was bright and sunny and in the middle of the afternoon, but what one of those sounds more epic. I'm on the prowl for someone, extremely dangerous and nasty. Although none too bright.'
Deadpool saw a large bulky goon who looked like your typical overgrown thug. His name was Blockbuster and he worked for Mister Sinister. He wasn't the highest up the food chain, but maybe if Deadpool got to him, he could find someone who was a bit higher up and the next person up would lead him straight to Sinister.
Good idea in theory maybe, but how would it work in practice? He would have to find out in a moment.
The goon sat in front of the bar, getting his drink of choice. He downed it and slammed his fist on the table. "Get me another."
"Sure thing, tiny," the waitress said in a bored voice. She was used to men who had a shoe size bigger than her IQ trying to order him around.
"You know, didn't your mother ever tell you to be polite to a lady?"
Blockbuster turned around and was about to ask who was really sick of breathing. He could see Deadpool standing there.
"You!" Blockbuster growled.
"Yes, me," Deadpool said. "And you…..and this pool cue!"
Deadpool broke the pool cue over the large chest of Blockbuster. only served to reduce the weapon into toothpicks and also gave an added bonus of really pissing off Blockbuster. He grabbed Deadpool around the head and hurled him halfway across the bar.
He slammed against a wall with darts on it.
'In hindsight, this might not be such a good idea,' Deadpool commented. Blockbuster approached him quickly and Deadpool tried to rise to his feet. 'And this is going to suck just a little bit.'
Blockbuster nailed Deadpool with a huge punch to the chest and another punch to the face. He slammed his arms down onto Deadpool.
A venom blast named Blockbuster in the back and he turned around, growling like a mad man.
"So, is this a private party, or can anyone cut in?" Spider-Man asked.
Blockbuster rushed Spider-Man, but he dodged the attack. Spider-Man webbed up two bar stools and flung them at him, nailing him.
"I will crush you!" Blockbuster yelled.
"Well, at least you didn't say you'd smash me," Spider-Man said. "Otherwise, the Hulk would have a decent case against you for some good old fashioned trademark infringement. And since his cousin is a lawyer, he does have perfect representation"
Blockbuster tried to knock Spider-Man out with an extremely powerful punch, but Spider-Man dodged it. One stinger went into the back of Blockbuster's neck.
He filled him enough venom to paralyze a dozen men, but Blockbuster was still standing.
Deadpool swung from the chandelier and cut the wire. It fell down on Blockbuster, trapping him underneath it.
Several blasts of webbing pinned him down. He was buried underneath a lot of black webbing, until only his face is visible.
"So, how did you run into me?" Deadpool asked.
"I tagged you with a spider tracer, figured it would worth it to keep an eye on you," Spider-Man said.
"Oh very smooth, you have been hanging around that Huntress chick too much, tagging unsuspecting people with tracking devices and following them around," Deadpool said without taking a breath.
Blockbuster groaned, but he was not going anywhere underneath the piles of really sticky webbing Spider-Man buried him underneath.
"Tell me, where did Essex take the scientists?" Deadpool asked. He took a lit cigar from one of the patrons, who stood there, looking shell shocked.
"You better talk, Blockbuster, I'm not sure if I can stop him if he gets crazy," Spider-Man said.
"Oh, no one can stop me when I get crazy!" Deadpool yelled. "No one can stop me when I get absolutely nuts! SO TALK TO ME BOY! WHAT DID ESSEX DO WITH THE SCIENTISTS?"
"I don't know….Riptide might know….yeah, Riptide, he might know, or Vertigo, she could know," Blockbuster said. He was looking rather agitated.
"Okay, fine, you don't know anything."
Deadpool shot Blockbuster in the back of the head, causing his brain matter to splatter out everywhere. He was dead, deceased, defunct, he ceased to exist.
"Why did you do shoot him?" Spider-Man asked.
"Oh, it's not a big deal, really it isn't," Deadpool said. "He's about the third Blockbuster I've killed this month. Sinister breeds them in his lab like rabbits. Clones, I tell you, hopefully you never have to deal with one."
'Oooh, possible foreshadowing!' one of the voices in Deadpool's head sang.
Curt Connors sat at ESU, looking through the notebook Richard Parker gave him about two weeks before the ill fated trip which ended up with him and his wife being in a plane crash. Connors looked over the formula, incomplete as it was, he was able to locate several interesting hints hidden within the notes which allowed him to replicate it.
It took fifteen years of his life to do it, but he reached this moment. He could hear his cell phone ring.
Martha, any further work would have to wait. He picked up the phone. "Yes, Martha, what is it?"
"Curt, I ran into some trouble, do you think you could pick up Billy from soccer practice?" Martha asked him.
"Yes, yes, of course," Curt said. "Practice isn't over until after five, right?"
"Yes, Curt," Martha said. She seemed a bit impatient for her husband forgetting what time their son left soccer practice, but she was willing to forgive him, this time, because she knew how hard Curt had been working. "Don't forget."
"I won't, I'm leaving right now," Curt said. He made sure to gather up the notebook and slip it into his bag, along with the graded papers.
He thought about having a word with Peter about this, because this was his father's legacy, but he didn't want to put Peter in the line of fire. Curt was forever looking over his shoulder, because if anyone found out he had a mostly complete version of the formula, he would be hunted down.
The notebook also held vital information about what lead Richard Parker on his road to be inspired to create the formula, the formula would eventually be co-opted by Norman Osborn and turned into OZ.
He cleaned up and made his way down the steps.
"Good night, Stan, I tried not to leave you too much of a mess."
Curt Connors passed the almighty janitor and made his way down the steps. He made his way out to the car, and looked over his shoulder a couple more times.
There were no signs of anyone, so Curt could live to breathe, at least on this drive. Each scientist in the New York/New Jersey area lived in a crippling terror they would be the next one on the list of this mysterious criminal. The police were baffled, and so was he.
The recently abduction of Ashley Kafka from Ravencroft threw a monkey wrench into any thought of finding a pattern, because she had absolutely nothing in common with the other scientists who had been abducted.
A dark haired female with a mixture of Asian and white features, dressed in black tactical gear lowered herself down into a hole and made her way through an underground tunnel. Daisy Johnson was a SHIELD agent when it fell to HYDRA and she moved on, getting herself into a spot of unfortunate trouble.
She had a debt she had to pay, although she wasn't sure when it would have an end in sight, if it would have an end in sight to paying off the people who got her out of the tight fix.
Currently she was on the hunt for the missing scientists. She didn't know what condition she would find them in.
Daisy kept her cool. No matter what, who she was working for, it was her responsibility to keep people safe.
She found a wall and shifted it with her powers. It leads to an underground facility. Their intelligence was right.
"Quake to base, I'm underground, and you were right," Daisy said. There was a buzzing sound in her ear. "Hello, this is Quake, to base, can anyone hear me? Anyone? Bueller? Bueller?"
Daisy actually wasn't her trying to be funny, Bueller was the agent's name was working mission control for this particular mission.
"Guess, I'm on my own," Daisy said. She walked down the hall and she felt a biting chill, despite the fact she was well protected with the heavy tactical armor.
"Help me."
Daisy spotted someone's breath, cold as ice. She frowned when she approached the edge of the cell. She stepped forward and saw a blonde female with pale skin, looking at her with crystal eyes.
"My name is….Caitlin…Snow…so cold….need heat….unbearable," she breathed.
"Dear god, what has this monster done to you?" Daisy asked. It was an open secret it was Essex and their intelligence indicated he been around since the Victorian times and if anything else, he had only gotten worse.
Daisy wondered if any of the other captured scientists were around, and in what state they were in.
She caught something out of the corner of her eye and she frowned. She stepped forward anxiously. "Spider-Man?"
Something nailed her in the back of the head and caused her to slam face first onto the ground. The wind was knocked completely out of her and she got injected with something I nthe back of her neck.
The next thing Daisy knew, she woke up, strapped to an operating table, and Essex's deranged face stared at her.
"You know, I once had the pleasure of meeting your father," Essex commented. "And the man's a true monster."
"Obviously mirrors don't exist in your world!" Daisy spat back at him.
"You feel weak, unable to move, because I have you trapped," Essex commented to her. He leaned down and cupped her jaw, forcing her to look at him. "Your powers are turned off until I have a need to test their threshold and the tests won't be until the experiments are done. See, I'm glad you're here, Daisy, because your powers are already activated. Therefore, it's less of a mess way."
"What did you do to them?" Daisy demanded.
"I give them the key to their full potential, I'm sure you remember Classified Formula Kr9, or perhaps it's more public codename….Oz," Essex said. "But, you got your powers through other means….so we can begin right away. And I see you've met my friend…..Kaine understands his survival hinges on the success of these experimentations. It took a couple of tries before HYDRA refined the Dark Spider. Much like X-23, implementing the DNA of a female donor tends to lead to a stronger force."
"You won't get away with this," Daisy said.
"Waller sees you as expendable, if you die, she'll just find another freak to be in your place," Essex said. "I've blocked the signal coming from the little device you have, in case she does finally grow a conscience."
Essex dragged over a tray with several knives and syringes on it.
"Shall we begin?" Essex asked. "I apology for the lack of sedative, but it might corrupt my research. This may sting a little."
Daisy tried not to scream. She would not give this bastard the satisfaction of breaking her. This faux Spider-Man, Kaine, watched from the background, almost like he was studying her like a lab experiment.
Sometime later, Peter Parker jerked up out of bed, waking up in a cold and dripping sweat. He saw a girl about to be experimented on, cut into by Essex, and the final images he saw before he woke up haunted him.
A dream or a premonition or something else? Peter didn't know.
To Be Continued on October 4th, 2015.
