BLACK WINGS Chapter 10- Ripped and Twisted by Justin Anderson September 11, 2002. Washington, D.C., 9:45 AM "General Peterson. It's good you see you." General Peterson replied, "Yes, sir. It's going to be a long day..." Peterson took his seat in front of the desk. He had been here many times before, but today, even he would be taking things slowly. "I assume your plans for the day haven't changed?" he asked. "They haven't," President Bush replied. "That's good... I will have a security team with you, in case anything goes wrong today." His mind was jumbled. He had too much stuff to take care of. "You all right?" Bush asked. "Yes, Mister President," the General replied. "There are a few other matters I've been dealing with recently, nothing more." "Such as...?" "The Black Wings case. He hasn't been seen in two weeks. And we still can't find Maxwell Dillon," Peterson answered. 1:12 PM, Latveria "...and so, as we all stand here, remembering the loss of a year ago, I must remind everyone that our freedom will not be taken by madmen, nor will we bow before those who would seek to end such freedom out of jealousy and hatred for their fellow man-" Victor Von Doom turned off the television set. It had been a long year. Dealing with Al-Queda activity in Latveria had been relatively easy. They seemed to know better than to show their faces. Even after his publicized theat to bin Laden himself. He read the newspaper article again. Carnage upset him. Not so much that he was back, but the rumors. He knew the claims that Cletus Kasady had gone insane once again were lies. His own spies had seen him in the hospital bed, injured. But he never found where they were hiding Carnage. A witness claiming that Carnage had landed in the rubble with no idea of what had happened to the world Trade Center also baffled him. Someone was using the symbiote, someone with no knowledge of what had happened. He would find out. 3:11 PM, Washington, D.C. "Cletus Kasady wants a Gameboy? Why?" "He's playing with us, doc," the guard answered. Dr. Kafka was beginning to grow impatient with Cletus. No progress in months. He talked very little, spending most of his time catching up on current events. "Is he still stabbing pictures of terrorists?" she asked. "Do we breathe?" he replied. 10:38 PM Cletus sat on his bed, staring blankly at the ceiling, watching the camera. He had an evil grin on his face. The power flickered slightly. He waved at the camera, a signal that he knew something they didn't. The power went out completely. "About time," he said, morphing into Carnage, jumping at the double-layered wall in the front of his cell. It shattered quickly. Dr. Kafka knew from the breaking glass that Carnage was free. He had waved at them right before the power died. Guards were already running to intercept. Carnage wandered through the halls, searching for his exit. He felt bullets slamming into him from behind. "Move it or DIE! I have places to go, people to mutilate!" He ran through the halls, tearing through security doors. Turning a corner, he found himself face to face with a small security squad, armed with rather large guns. Another ran up behind him. "Well, this is convenient!" he shouted. Guns aimed for him, Carnage pondered his options. He had few. Until the wall behind him exploded inward, sending the guards flying. In the confusion, he let fly with a series of shards and tendrils, until every guard was dead. "Well... it TOOK YOU LONG ENOUGH!" he shouted. Electro ignored Carnage's ranting, keeping an eye on the way forward. "I have someone outside taking care of the guards, but we need to make it to the front doors," Dillon explained. "What about the smoking hole in the wall?" "No good. Too many guards that way!" Dr. Kafka ran down the hall, guards surrounding her. She could hear the gunfire echoing through the building. She paused, listening. "Wait- what is that?" The sound of steel being ripped free, elsewhere in the facility. Carnage sped down the hall, Electro close behind. "Hold it!" Shots went off behind them. Carnage threw shards wildly, Electro ducking bullets. "All right, Carnage! No more games!" the security officer shouted. The gun ready to fire, Carnage ran through the options in his mind. Ready to jump, he stood in surprise as a massive steel tentacle reached for the gun and pulled it away. Another slammed the guard down the hall. "Interesting! Electro... and Carnage?" "Ock," Electro said. "Yes, Electro. Thanks to the power being disabled, the security device holding my arms in place unlocked itself," he explained. Carnage shook his head in disbelief. "Can we have this discussion LATER? MOVE IT!" Reaching the front doors, Dr. Octopus ripped them open. The three ran outside. Dead guards littered the area. "NiiiIIICE! Shocker do this?" Carnage asked. "Well... no." They ran outside the fence, clear of the complex. Carnage turned to admire his escape. "Good. This is perfect!" Someone was aproaching from behind. "About time you made it out." Carnage turned. It was the Scorpion. "Ock too," Gargan remarked. "Well? We gonna stay here all night, or are we gonna get moving?" 11:13 PM "WHAT?" General Peterson was not happy. He was downright pissed, in fact. "All right, you get things cleaned up over there, I'll be there in the morning. Meanwhile, talk to no one! I don't want this in the news until tomorrow!" He slammed the phone down, grumbling. "Problem, sir?" "Yes, Agent Johnson, there is a problem!" he shouted. "Nothing happened today. The terrorists were quiet. But NO! Carnage escaped!" 11:28 PM Carnage dangled from a tendril line attached to the warehouse ceiling. "What are you doing, Carnage?" Octavius asked. "Trying to think of a single reason not to kill the three of you!" Octavius stared at him with contempt. The Scorpion stayed out of it. "This is pointless! Carnage, you want Spider-Man dead more than any of us!" Octavius said. "Ock, I don't care if he lives or dies. He's just another superhero, another corpse," he replied. Electro stood in front of him, eye to eye. "You've forgotten? The Black Wings?" Carnage replied, "I'm not scared of vegetables." Dillon grabbed a newspaper from a crate, handing it to him. "READ!" he shouted. Carnage scanned the article, landing on the concrete floor. "Hmm... child murderer, six dead...WHAT! The Black WINGS? What paper is this?" He read the top of the page. The New York Times didn't settle his nerves. "If he's out there, then he'll come after you! And the rest of us, just for helping YOu escape!" Electro said. "Might I ask who this Black Wings IS?" Octavius asked. Carnage reeled in embarassment. "Just great... he's ME! He's a copy of ME! I don't believe this. I go away for a year and everything goes to HELL!" 11:58 PM "Guard! Guard, what is going on out there?" a voice asked. "Prison escape!" "Oh, my! I've been stuck in my cell with no power and no one nearby. Who escaped?" The guard simply ignored the prisoner. "Was it Carnage?" He kept walking. Suddenly, a strange green light emanated from behind. He turned to see a massive flash from inside the cell. Running to the small window, he could see no one inside. Only a thick cloud of smoke. October 14. Washington, D.C., 11:22 AM Carnage peered over the ledge. A protest, he saw. He'd heard about this, people protesting a war on a small country known as Iraq. He found the situation both pleasing, and nauseating. "Tell me, Ock! Did someone release a virus worldwide that made people stupid while I was gone?" he asked. Octavius replied, "I do not believe so." The scientist eyed the spectacle himself, simply staring at the crowd of people. "Coulda fooled me. Saddam's still in power, he STILL tortures people, he HAS the weapons..." "SO? I would have assumed you enjoyed that fact!" Octavois said. "Oh, I do. Saddam values a good torture and murder, like me, but... I don't know, something's just... off. This never happened when I was still around." Octavius walked away from the symbiotic killer, ignoring the protests. "Hussein is no better than Osama bin Laden. I hope he is killed very slowly," Octavius said. "Not that I would expect you to care. I know you feel no sympathy for the events of last year. But I don't expect you to! After all, you value no life whatsoever!" "You're right, Ock," Carnage replied, "... I don't." "The others should be arriving at the lab soon. We need that plutonium and adamantium!" "Yeah, yeah... how much more stuff do you need to heist before I get to have some FUN?" Carnage asked. "Ol' Black Wings hasn't shown up. He has to know by NOW!" Octavius answered, "It's the last we need, for now. I take it you're getting BORED, Cletus! What's the matter, I thought you didn't NEED my permission?" He spun, grabbing Octavius by the throat, shouting, "I don't, old man! What I NEED is cooperation. I have someone out there who poses an actual THREAT to not only ME, but YOU too! And as long as we have a common threat, I'm going to work with you rather than slice you apart! And you have ideas, useful ideas... but you keep me silent too long, and I'll lose a use for your ideas, and YOU..." He let go, dropping the doctor. "Very well, Carnage! Have your fun, for all the good it will do," Octavius said. "I will. Now, you get back to whatever you had in mind, and leave me the HELL alone!" Octavius took his leave of the situation. Carnage stared at the crowd of protestors, a month of pent up anger and hatred ready to be released. And he released it, leaping forward into the middle of the crowd standing before the Washington Monument. He quickly tore into whoever got in his way, splattering blood in his insane rampage. 11:29 AM General Peterson was on the phone with a very irate President Bush. And speeding to the scene in a limo didn't help his conversation, or his nerves. "Yes, I know that... I'm ordering lethal force on this one. I'm not capturing this monster alive. Right... I'll keep you informed" He hung up as the car slammed on the brakes. Peterson got out, joining the soldiers and police training their weapons on Carnage, who was finishing his slaughter. "Oh, goody! More sheep!" Carnage remarked. He dodged a hail of gunfire, laughing as they attempted to take him down. He even thought the incendiary grenades were funny, more armaments easily dodged. The gunfire quieted, however, as several officers were shoved aside by a large metal tentacle brushing them away. "I knew you'd attract too much attention, Carnage!" Dr. Octopus continued disabling the police, as Carnage joined in. 11:34 AM, Manhattan He found the news coverage of Washington mildly amusing. 'Interesting... Dr. Octopus and Carnage working together! This could have certain... advantages in the near future. I have to keep this in mind...' "Mr. Osborn?" Norman Osborn turned from the television. His secretary was delivering a stack of papers. "Right, just set them down on the desk," he said. "Certainly." 5:21 PM, outskirts of New York City The elevator door opened, Carnage and Octavius stepping out. Carnage took to the ceiling. "Well? Did you get those supplies?" he demanded. "Yes. But what do we need them for, Ock?" the Scorpion asked. "The plutonium is a more permanent power source for my small lab. If we drain power from the city, they'll trace the source of the power drain, and those backup generators won't supply enough power for much longer. And the adamantium is in case we need it. Now, where did Carnage go?" They scanned the room. He had disappeared. "Oh, wonderful... Ock, you sure he came in with you?" Electro asked. "Very sure! Now find him!" The three fanned out, looking for Carnage. There were few places to hide for very long in this complex, but he was nowhere to be found. "Where did Carnage go? I don't have time for these- what? NO!" Octavius spotted someone heading towards him, just feet away. The intruder drew a pistol from his coat. Before he could react, the gun was trained on him. "You're dead, Ock." Cletus chuckled over the panic his little prank caused, regaining his symbiotic shape. "You think this is FUNNY?" The other two had joined them, wondering what was going on. Carnage shouted, "Just testing the security around here. While you three stand around yapping, mister goody-good could waltz right in! Now, do I have to do all the watching around here, or are you three gonna DO SOMETHING?" 5:38 PM "Ock, I don't like this arrangement" "I know, Electro!" Octavius said. "I don't like having him around, either! But he may have a use to me, yet." Octavius finished sealing the plutonium within the power cells from behind the transparent wall. His arms carried it to the central reactor. "Not him, necessarily, but his symbiote. Either way, he may be useful in helping keep certain people off our backs." 5:43 PM Carnage perched on top of a crate, keeping an eye on the warehouse floor. He wondered how long it would be until he killed the three. Or how long it would be until they tried to kill him, it didn't matter. He didn't know why he even kept them alive. "What the-?" Birds on the roof. Silently, he knew why he kept them around. He was paranoid. 6:24 PM, upstate New York Jonathan Screl admired the lab. It would do, for now. He needed it, not every lab had the equipment he required. Carefully opening a medical bag, he extracted a small metal container. "All right... now to get started on you. I can't trust Carnage, and the Black Wings will certainly hunt me down sooner or later. Cletus Kasady is proving to be a problem for me, yet." 7:49 PM, Manhattan A large crate opened, the trio of Dr. Octopus, Scorpion, and Electro stepping into the warehouse. Carnage jumped down, joining them. "The power is active. Has been for some time now. Are you going to sit out here and brood all night, Carnage?" Octavius asked. "Brooding, Ock? No... just thinking about how I'm going to kil- wait..." Carnage stared skyward. "Someone's watching us," he said. "Who? The Black Wings?" Electro asked. They eyed the warehouse over, spotting no one. "It's not the Black Wings," Electro said, "but someone's out there. I'm getting some sort of electrical energy in the air. A strong one, someone- no... it just left. They knew we were looking." "Well then, Electro, I'm going inside. You coming?" Octavius asked. Carnage took to the crates once again. He was left alone. 11:31 PM Carnage stirred from his sleep. He couldn't believe he had let himself fall asleep like that. He was panicking, every noise attracting his attention, every moving shadow frightening him. Their visitor from earlier didn't settle his nerves. Had someone been watching, or was Electro lying? And if someone had been watching, who was it? Spider-Man or Venom would have moved in on him. There were few possibilities in his mind, and none of them seemed likely. And why was he paranoid? He wasn't afraid of death. No, he was afraid of being taken out by someone using his name, and his face, for reasons he did not condone. He jumped down, deciding to find a better hiding spot. The noises still got to him. But one in particular. No amount of noise could have drowned out what he'd heard. Amidst the cars and animals, he sound of a gun being loaded still stood out, and he'd been listening for it. He turned. "There you are..." Notes: Set within the Marvel universe, I will be using my own continuity, mixed with new characterizations for some established characters from Marvel's story universe. These stories are a sequel to my fiction series Maximum Carnage. Cletus Kasady, Carnage, and others are copyright Marvel Comics. Jack Arden, Raicaak, and others are copyright myself. Other characters appearing may be owned by separate parties. I make no claim of copyright on any character I do not own, only on these stories and those I do own. Characters used without permission/not for profit. These are strictly fan stories. Permission to reprint extends to placing this text, unaltered, elsewhere online. It may not be altered, and especially NOT TO BE SOLD, unless Marvel wishes to license this series from me. Black Wings song and lyrics copyright Tom Waits.
