Web of Deceit
by Carycomic
Chapter 12
MILITARY DETENTION FACILITY.
FORT DITKO, N.J. (1:05 A.M.)
When they got back to Manhattan, Synesthesia transferred custody of Turner D. Century to the FBI while Yankee Girl returned the Time Triangle to Latimer Labs. Meanwhile, a U.S. Army helicopter flew Colt, Spidey, and the Tinkerer to Fort Ditko after first dropping off May Parker atop the NYPD helipad at JFK International Airport (where MaryJane awaited to take her home to Queens). Upon reaching the fort, the Tinkerer was escorted by two armed MP's to an interrogation area. And it was Colt who began the interrogation after Yankee Girl and Synesthesia returned to observe it, first-hand.
Although, not until the latter had temporarily restored Spidey to normal size! Century's umbrella having short-circuited when they tried to re-enlarge the shrunken webslinger with it, too.
"Alright, Tinkerer," demanded the Weapons Mistress. "Start talking. What the blazes did you mean by 'shape-shifting alien'?"
"Exactly what I said. When I first heard that Rick had been killed, as part of his latest undercover assignment, I flew out to the West Coast, ASAP. But, when I got to the LAPD morgue to identify the body, they wouldn't even let me see him! So, I came back later that night. It was child's play, using my scientific acumen to circumvent the morgue's security systems and break in! But, that momentary feeling of smugness was almost immediately canceled out by my astonishment at finding that the drawer supposedly containing Rick's remains... was occupied by something else. Namely, a reptilian humanoid being of some kind!"
"I then used my videophonic wristwatch to snap a few pictures of this being before taking some skin samples for DNA analysis. Because, for all I knew just then, this thing could also have been either a genetically engineered freak... or some kind of mutant. In any case, I sent both pictures and samples to a certain associate of mine. One who currently works for the CIA as a free-lance computer programmer and data analyst. But, he's so much more than that!"
"The name of this associate?"
The Tinkerer grinned. "When I first met him, he called himself 'Dr. Jose Santini.' But, most of his co-workers at the Company refer to him (supposedly, behind his back) as 'The Mad Thinker.' As, whenever he ponders something very deeply, his facial expression makes him resemble an angry version of Rodin's sculpture!"
"And what did this Thinker character finally tell you?"
"That his genetic make-up is literally out of this world! As in, there is no reptile species, anywhere on Earth, with the DNA sequence he found in those samples."
Suddenly, a new arrival literally materialized out of thin air just to the right of Yankee Girl.
"Nightveil!" exclaimed the latter. "What are you doing here? I thought you were doing some kind of favor for General Gordon."
"I just got finished doing it," replied the Sorceress Supreme. "That's why I teleported over here after Dr. Jimenez told me where you guys had gone to."
Whereupon she turned her attention to Yankee Girl's estranged brother.
"Tell me. Is this the being you saw in that morgue drawer?"
As she said this, she placed her right hand two feet above her palm-up left hand. Resulting in a small image fade into view there. An image displaying a what looked like a caricature of the Creature from the Black Lagoon wearing an Olympic male swimmer's "speedos".
"Yes!" exclaimed the Tinkerer. "That's it! That's exactly what I saw!"
"What is that thing?" demanded Colt.
"One of a race of war-like aliens I've had run-ins with before. Back when I was a member of the Sentinels of Justice! It's called a Vardax. And most of his race can transform themselves into identical doubles of almost anyone on Earth!"
The Tinkerer was absolutely drop-jawed with amazement.
"You mean, it was actually this alien who was killed while impersonating Rick? My son- -the real Rick- -might still be alive?!"
Nightveil grimly nodded. But Colt was a little more dubious.
"Why would these Vardax be trying to infiltrate organized crime here on Earth? And how they are involved with what you were investigating for General Gordon?"
The Sorceress Supreme looked at Spider-Man before replying to the Weapons Mistress.
"Ben Grimm was being mind-controlled by someone called the Puppet Master. And the reason he was sending Grimm out to sabotage various Oscorp-owned properties is due to someone called 'The Thinker' having reason to believe that another one of the Vardax... has replaced Norman Osborn, himself."
Needless to say, Synesthesia was as startled as everyone else at this revelation. But, in her case, that astonishment led to her losing her concentration on Spider-man. Causing him to shrink back down to less than a foot tall!
tbc