SPIDER-MAN 2: Enter the Red Demon
A fanfiction by Chipolata
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Chapter 6
Bulma stared in horror at the blackened ruins that once served as a lab. Nothing was left untouched: Not the tables, computers, papers or any other bits of equipment. None of her research was left.
"No." She whispered, and collapsed to her knees.
"Could anyone have been in the room at the time?" Spider-man asked her.
Bulma stood up, panicked.
"TRUNKS! MOM! DAD!" She yelled.
Mrs Briefs ran in.
"Oh, Bulma! Were you in the lab? Are you okay?" She cried, and rushed over to her daughter and began checking if she was okay.
"I'm fine, Mom. Is anyone else hurt?" Bulma asked.
"No." Mrs Briefs replied. "Your father's in the shower and Trunks went over to Goten's earlier."
'What about me?' Vegeta thought.
"What about Vegeta?" Bulma asked.
"Vegeta's still in the Gravity Room, as far as I know."
"Was there anyone else in the house?" Vegeta asked.
"Oh! Spider-man? What are you doing here?" Mrs Briefs asked. "No, no-one else."
"That's not right, Mom. What about Piccolo?" Bulma asked.
"Piccolo? But he left a while ago. I tried to say goodbye but he didn't notice. He seemed like he was talking to someone." Mrs Briefs explained.
"But Piccolo confined to his bed! He can't walk without his crutches or someone to help him!" Bulma exclaimed.
"That's funny, he seemed fine when he was leaving." Mrs Briefs told her. "So what are you doing here Spider-man?"
"Uh, I'm here because..." Spider-man fumbled for an excuse. "Because Ms Briefs here was mugged and I offered to take her home!"
"What do you mean, Piccolo was fine?" Bulma asked.
"He seemed fine. On edge, but fine." Mrs Briefs told her.
"Where's Vegeta? Even he can't ignore an explosion like that one!" Bulma demanded.
'Uh-oh!' Vegeta thought. 'I can't be in two places at once! How do I get out of this?'
"Ms Briefs, I'd better be off. I'll do some checking into that problem you told me about and see if it links at all to this." Spider-man said.
"Oh! Okay then Spider-man. Thank-you." Bulma said.
Spider-man jumped to the roof, Instant Transmissioned to the Gravity Room, put on his training outfit over the Spider-man suit, then walked calmly out to Bulma's lab.
"Vegeta! Where have you been?" Bulma demanded.
"Training. Where have you been?" Vegeta demanded.
"You let Piccolo walk out of here and totally missed someone exploding my lab just so you could train? I can't believe you!" Bulma ranted.
"Why would someone want to blow up your lab? And how could Piccolo just walk out?" Vegeta asked.
'Not that it isn't good news that he can walk again. But I wouldn't admit that out loud.' he thought.
"Well maybe if you'd caught either of them I could ask them! But nooooo, you had to TRAIN didn't you?" Bulma yelled at him. "That typical of you isn't it? When the Green Goblin got me, you were ASLEEP! When Evans got me, you were WATCHING! No wonder your planet was destroyed, perhaps you slept through that one as well!!"
"Now just a minute! That's going too far, and you know it!" Vegeta yelled back. "You know there was nothing I could do about Freez--"
'Spider-sense!' Vegeta felt the warning shock.
"What is it Vegeta?" Bulma asked, knowing Vegeta wasn't kidding around.
"We're not the only ones here." He said, turning to the shadows.
"What do you mean?" Bulma asked, staring at the same spot Vegeta was. "I don't see anybody."
Vegeta slowly walked towards the shadows, cautious of whoever, or whatever, was hiding there. He stepped quietly on the ash covered floor, and reached a hand out to the darkness, reached out and touched...
"The wall. There's nothing there but the wall." Bulma said. "You and your overactive imagination! Why can't you--"
"What the heck...?" Vegeta pulled his hands away from the wall, taking a black, sticky substance with them.
The goo stretched like bubble-gum. It stuck to Vegeta's hands when he tried to pull it off. Pretty soon, Vegeta was tangled in it.
"A little help here?" he asked.
"V-V-Vegeta, behind you!" Bulma squeaked.
[Minutes Earlier]
Piccolo poked his head out of the doorway, and checked to see if anybody was coming. They weren't.
"Quickly! Down the woman's lab." The voice of the demon told him.
"What?" Piccolo asked. "Where are you?"
"I'm always with you, Piccolo." It told him. "Now, to her lab!"
"Why are we going down to Bulma's lab?" Piccolo asked as he walked down the hall.
"Someone else was in on this." It said. "Somebody told Bulma to make that... thing. They're the cause. They should be punished, along with the others. That's why we need to access her computer. It will tell us what we need to know."
Piccolo crept down the staircase. Once he reached the bottom, he turned the corner and headed towards the back of the house, where Bulma shut herself away and worked on her new and exciting inventions.
"Oh my! Piccolo, are you feeling better?"
Piccolo turned. It was Mrs Briefs.
"Ignore her!" The voice said.
"But!" Piccolo began to protest.
"She will only ask what we are doing! Do you want to give us away so easily? We may never have our revenge."
Piccolo nodded and continued down the hallway until he reached the door marked 'SCIENCE LAB 1 - BIO CHEM'.
"Inside!" the voice ordered.
Piccolo obeyed.
"Oh dear, I'm not sure he's allowed in there." Mrs Briefs turned around. "Vegeta's been training a long time, he'll be extra hungry. I'll start dinner now."
She skipped into the kitchen.
With help from the Voice, Piccolo hacked into the computer in the Bio Chem lab. He found the file marked 'Symbisuit' and opened it.
"It doesn't say anything." Piccolo said after skimming through it.
"Check the file cabinet. She had to get funding from somewhere!"
Piccolo rolled on his chair over to the cabinet and forced it open. He pulled out all of the files that might have seemed relavent, but none of them told him anything about another person.
"Whoever it was, they covered their tracks." Piccolo commented.
"Do you see? They knew what would happen and let it!" The voice hissed.
"What should we do?" Piccolo asked.
The voice was quiet for a moment.
"The dish."
Piccolo looked up to the shelf above the computer. On a pile of chemistry books sat a small petrie dish. He took it, curious. Suddenly, he realised what the reddish substance in the bottom was he dropped it onto the desk and backed off.
"No...." he moaned.
"Yes...." The voice told him.
"No. No. No no no no no no..." Piccolo felt his fear growing. Not that! Anything but that!
"Take it. It will help us..."
"No! I can't. Can't. No no no no no no no no..." Piccolo curled up, covering his eyes.
"Pathetic!" The voice snapped. "That's what you've become. Where did the bravery and strength of the Demon King go? Once you would have done anything to see results! Now look at you!"
Piccolo looked up. The voice was right.
"Wasn't it you who said that fears must be faced? That which you fear in reality is your friend! It will help you!"
Of course the voice was right.
"It will make you stronger, and more powerful than ever before!"
The voice was always right.
"Use it!"
Piccolo reached his hand to the dish.
"Let it become a part of you!"
The second Piccolo's fingers touched the red matter it reacted, and like lightning travelled up his arm. In moments, Piccolo felt the warmth of the suit all over him, and his feelings calmed. Having closed his eyes to the shock, he now opened them again, and was surprised. His sight had increased a hunderedfold! All of his senses had.
He cocked his head to the side. His hearing had picked up the approach of the lovely Miss Briefs, no doubt with Vegeta. He grinned, his fangs shining through his new second skin.
He would have his revenge.
But first, he needed some equipment. Wasn't the Engineering lab right next to the Bio-chem?
He threw a blast at the wall, blowing out the entire lab.
"Oops." His new voice grated.
He walked through the hole in the titanium, leaving some Symbisuit behind to imitate the wall. No point in being interrupted in the middle of some looting.
The goo stretched like bubble-gum. It stuck to Vegeta's hands when he tried to pull it off. Pretty soon, Vegeta was tangled in it.
"A little help here?" he asked.
"V-V-Vegeta, behind you!" Bulma squeaked.
"Wha...?" Vegeta turned. A hole had appeared in the wall! Backing off as best he could, he noticed the hole was perfectly round.... Not even a ki blast could have done that.
Standing in the makeshift doorway, standing tall and proud, was a great demon. Finding words to describe him would be a difficult task. His costume was oddly similar to Batman's, being black and rubber looking, and seemed the designer was thinking along the same lines. But unlike Batman, he held the air of evil nobody had held since Freeza. His costume was also fitted to the lines of the Green Goblin, only not so Green, and more demonic. Lines of red scattered across the body of the suit, like heat through volcanic rock.
'Why didn't my Spider-sense go off?' Vegeta wondered.
"Well well well." The demon spoke with the same tone as Cell. "Miss Bulma Breifs. We meet again. I must say, you got the drop on me last time. My assimilation was not yet complete. But don't worry, I assure you I'm in complete working order this time."
"I don't know who you are." Bulma's voice was barely a whisper.
"I think you should." He grinned. "Too busy with your own soap-opera life to notice the little people who come and go." He turned to Vegeta. "Too wrapped up in your worries to see the truth about those you think you know."
"What is he talking about, Vegeta?" Bulma didn't raise her voice.
"I--" Vegeta's words caught in his throat. How could he tell Bulma? It would only put her in danger.
"What do you want?" He demanded, turning to the demon.
"A little song, a little dance, Bulma's head on a lance."
"Revenge."
"Revenge, such a strong word." The demon walked forward.
Bulma looked at Vegeta pleadingly. Vegeta didn't want to risk a fight without knowing how strong his enemy was or why he could evade the Spider-sense.
"Who are you?" Vegeta asked.
"Maybe we can help you." Bulma suggested.
"I don't think so." The demon raised his arms, and the black goo on the wall and on Vegeta melted away to join his cape. "You may call me the Red Demon."
Vegeta stepped in front of Bulma.
"I see." Red mused. "Go through you to get to her? I'd love to. But revenge isn't all I want. You'll soon see what I'm capable of. Perhaps a demonstation would encourage a little more co-operation. A pity, I used to really like the kid."
The Red Demon melted away into the floor. Vegeta turned, following the demon's energy signature.
"What did he mean by 'the kid'?" Bulma wondered.
"Gohan!!" Vegeta gasped. "He's heading for Kakarott's brat!"
"Oh my!" Mrs Breifs commented.
"I have to warn him." Vegeta turned to the door, but Bulma grabbed his hand.
"What was he talking about, Vegeta?" Bulma demanded, looking Vegeta firmly in the eyes.
Vegeta smiled a small smile. "My solution to everything isn't always 'blow it up'."
With that, he ran out of the room, stripping out of his training clothes and pulling on the Spider gloves and mask.