Chapter 4
Manhunt
It was amazed at its new environment. Everything was a new experience and it couldn't get enough of it.
It moved through the air high above the street, extending its body to allow to swing from one perch to another. It looked for new things.
As it swung above the streets, it noticed a room filled with strange sounds and colors. It was fascinated by it and it wanted more.
It dropped to the ground perfectly with agility that was well beyond Olympic gymnast. But surprisingly no one noticed. Until it went into the room of color and sound.
The people screamed and ran away. Some were being trampled. It was intrigued at what it saw. These machines that produced the color and sound were the only things left in the room. There was one machine in particular and that was some type of game that involved a plastic gun that was fired at the screen. It watched as projectiles came at the screen causing it to flash with bright light.
In addition to the game, the name of it the game was also fascinating to it. In big red letters that had bullet holes peppered through the design. It read: Corner Carnage.
"Car . . . " It tried to say. The voice was alien. It continued to try and speak as several NYPD cruisers came with their sirens screaming. The officers came out and couldn't understand what they were looking at. Some even ran off, while others tried to carefully approach it.
But it was scarred at it decided to defend itself and several razor-sharp tendrils shot from its hands. Breaking the store front glass and slicing the cruisers to pieces. The cops went for cover and then it finally said its first word. It was something special to it and it wanted everyone to know. "CARNAGE!" It screamed in its alien voice.
The media went wild with what happened at a Manhattan arcade. But for Maxine Wells, she was more focused on cutting through Manhattan traffic than the radio.
After going through the checkpoints she made it to the underground parking garage of New York's Federal Building. She had her gun, ID and badge in tow. But instead of going upstairs to the FBI or the other federal agencies. Wells went deeper underground till she arrived at a dead end. There she stood an entered the coveted password through a hidden keypad in the wall. After a few seconds, a door appeared and allowed Wells to continue deeper underground. For that Maxine Wells belonged to the Supreme Headquarters International Espionage Law-Enforcement Division better known in the intelligence community as SHIELD.
After walking down a long corridor Wells arrived in the nerve center of SHIELD. It had the appearance of any law enforcement agency. With people moving back and forth, some wearing different uniforms and tv broadcasting news from all over the world. This was the headquarters of SHIELD. Some believed that SHIELD was in some base that floated high above the city. But that was only a rumor given to conspiracy theorists. SHIELD may be black budget but they had to be realistic when it came to spending.
Wells said hello to a few co-workers and continued to walk moving closer to her destination. The office of SHIELD's director: Colonel Nick Fury.
The receptionist outside of the office waived her right on by and when she opened the door. Fury was sitting down at his desk puffing away at his cigar. While it was illegal to smoke in government buildings, the government was reluctant to tell that to a war hero.
"Take a seat, Agent Wells" Fury instructed her
She took a chair and sat across from him.
"You know why I called you tonight?"
"No sir"
Fury nodded. "Good, now what I'm going to tell you must not leave this room. As you know if you are caught by foreign operatives. SHIELD will deny your existence."
"Spare me the Mission Impossible crap, sir."
Fury smiled. "That's why I like you Wells. Always to the point. That's why I'm asking you to run this."
Wells was surprised by this. In the five years as an agent she had yet to run her own operation. Now Fury himself was giving it to her.
"What is it you want me to do, sir?"
Fury produced a file from his desk and gave it to Wells. He then pointed to a tv screen behind him.
"Take a look." He pointed the tv
Wells watched as a reporter stood in front of a trashed storefront. He explained that police came in contact with some kind of being that caused severe damage to their cars. And they were unsuccessful in capturing it.
"Why am I doing this, sir? This is something the Avengers could handle, sir."
"SHIELD wants this thing because of its origins, Agent Wells."
"Excuse me?"
Fury once again pointed to the tv. Now there was another image. It was that of a security camera that was actually in pretty decent condition. It showed everything going normally in the arcade. When suddenly this strange red creature appeared. It went around looking at the machines as people ran from it. It then came to a particular machine and studied it. Then the cops came and it attacked. Shooting something from its body and destroying the cars. Whatever it was, Wells noticed that creature had some feminine features.
"We got this tape from our liaison in the NYPD," Fury stated "It's been instructed that SHIELD take control in investigating and possible capture of this thing."
"Why us, sir?"
"As you know Agent Wells, anything of alien nature falls under SHIELD's jurisdiction of foreign activities. You're in charge of either bringing this thing in or if need be taking it out. Either way is fine with me. But some of the defense brass want it for study. So if possible, try to take it alive."
"I'll do what I can, sir."
Fury smiled once again. "Good, now I want a team assembled for a briefing at 2200."
"Yes, sir."
Wells took the file and went out of Fury's office. As she went through possible choices for her team. The mayor of New York was on tv telling citizens to stay in their homes. Till this creature was taken care of by proper authorities. Wells looked at this as her chance to prove herself to Fury and maybe even save the city in the process.
The city was quiet and the air occasionally had the sounds of sirens as the NYPD was out in force. For Spider-man he was also searching for the creature. From what he heard it had a name: Carnage. Or that was what the cops were calling it. Spidey figured symbiotes never had the need for names.
He web-slinged his way up and down Manhattan looking for Mary Jane. He knew she was somewhere in there. But figured she wasn't in control. He needed a way to have Mary Jane control the symbiote so that it wouldn't cause mayhem.
He was past Times Square where he noticed several NYPD cruisers racing south towards Lower Manhattan. Spidey followed the cars with remarkable speed. His symbiote aided him in his abilities and that helped him immensely with his duties.
The cop cars made a swift turn and pulled into a crowd of flashing red and white lights. He heard from some of the cops that the creature or Carnage had been seen and the police were taking no chances when it came to stopping this thing.
But for Spider-man he needed to get in through that barricade and find her first. Otherwise, he would lose Mary Jane forever.
To Be Continued