The Genesis Effect
By Fallen Angel Overlord & The Dark's Familiar
Spoilers: The Talon Strikes mainly one or two mentions of the reptile episode and also a shout about that nutcase Christine. The order of these episodes is probably off because we both saw them in awkward formation.
Setting: They went for donuts during The Talon Strikes…
Dedication: To fellow writer Karianna who we both love
DF: But only one of us can ever be attracted to more then her excellent sense of humour
Angelo: DF shut up now
DF: Well it's true! Now if she was Kenneth she'd have the personality and…
Angelo: If she doesn't rip your larynx out and tie you upside down to a tree with extra strength tooth floss when she reads this then I will
DF: If you're into that kind of thing (nailed in head by a random Wok)
Rating: R because of naughty college boys doing things later. Take note: We hold nothing against MJ; she's one of the non-irritating red heads in marvel (ahem-Jean-Grey-ahem) but she should get married to someone else. So you see she won't be in this story That much
- - - - The Genesis Effect - - - -
The Osborne building had top-notch security. It was late evening and the guards had just changed shifts. One of them was walking past Mr Osborne's office.
---The world was green in the darkness, slithering along the ground, the scents showing up as other senses strengthened to allow maximum efficiency---
The guard turned and looked behind him
---Onto the ceiling where he wouldn't look ---
The guard shook his head and turned around. The nick was miniscule, a minor sting on his jawbone. The world spun as he was grabbed in a leathery grip and felt his mind being torn through…then everything went dark as he heard what sounded like his own death rattle.
- - - Meanwhile at the Donut Shop - - -
"I like Glazed don't badmouth glazed" Peter said as Harry reached across to grab the jelly donut from the box. "And might I add that the jelly here is of the petroleum kind"
"You're just saying that to annoy me," Harry said.
"I'm not it's true" Peter said indignantly. "So…who knows? Cheyenne will probably be back some time soon. She really did like you" he lied. He wasn't so sure Cheyenne did care for his friend. She'd not considered him while being the Talon.
"Let's talk about something else like…pfff what?" Harry said as a mischievous gleam shone in his eyes. "Like…are you still a virgin?" Peter gagged on the donut and forced the crumb through his system. "Hmm…hard to gauge that one…that's either a choke that says yes or one that says no leave this subject." Peter looked away. "Hey man! Geez come on fine we won't talk about it then!"
- - - The Osborne Building - - -
The shadow scampered on all fours like a cat down the hall. (A/N: Play the Catwoman PS2 computer game and you'll get the idea). A long talon slid into the lock of the door and eased it open ever so slightly. The door was near the laser lines of the office floor. Squeezing in the door (which was held open the way it was by a green strand) as though boneless was a new way to bypass the problem. Leaping onto the roof the shadow dropped onto the desk and pulled it open.
The papers had said Osborne was dead. The empty drawers proved it – what a disappointment! So if Osborne were dead…sins of the father and the son would pay. Claws pierced the picture of father and son angrily.
"HEY!" glowing green eyes turned to look at the guard in the doorway. The green strands held the door open only at a gap but he'd turned off the system now and was shouldering the door. The sounds of footsteps approaching could be heard to the sensitive ears that rivalled those of a wolf or a bat's.
The door burst open. Bullets fired but warning instincts had gone off. A foot smashed into the shooters face and shattered his teeth. Another man advanced and was speared on 8-inch claws that stabbed into his stomach. A foot placed itself firmly on his chest and shoved him away. The third guard raised his hand to fire his gun – he didn't last a blast of light blew him off the balcony down three floors to crash into the plants assembled like an oasis against the west wall of the 30th floor.
The group of guards arrived in time to see a streak of darkness crash through the window and plummet into the night over New York.
- - - The Donut Shop – an hour later- - -
Harry and Peter walked out of the shop. "Do you actually drink?" Harry asked.
"No" Peter said quietly. Harry grabbed him and hauled him towards the nightclub. "Hey! Harry let go!"
"Nah we need to unwind, have fun and dance the night away"
"I have a chemistry thing due and -"
Harry hauled him over to the doorman, showed him the Osborne ID and was let in. The club was neon paint and flashing strobe lights in a jungle motif. "Club Safari" Harry said. "Great cocktails"
"Harry I really have a lot of stuff to do - "
"Come on you can brag to MJ that you partied!"
"We've just had an hours worth of glazed and jelly donuts! Dancing will make sure we see them again," Peter warned.
"Through caution to the wind. Kiss the nearest person to you! Drink something with an ambiguous colour! Go home with someone else's underwear and phone numbers written on your chest!"
Harry hauled Peter over to the bar. Peter was beginning to believe that going to the club that was directly beside the Donut shop was NO accident. It had been a plan. He just didn't want to get totally smashed. Harry on the other hand…
"Hey" Peter turned around. The girl was a tiny bit shorter then him; she had green streaked hair and Asiatic features. Her hair had a small orchid in it and she was wearing a long green dress. "Can I get in there?" she asked.
"Sure" Peter murmured as he let her get close to the bar. Harry whistled as he looked down the girl from head to toe.
"Who's your friend?" he breathed.
"I don't know, she's just here," Peter said. "She asked to get close to the bar…"
"Are you two new to the club?"
"Not really" Harry said.
"Yes" Peter nodded vehemently. The girl steadied his head with a roll of her eyes.
"I'm Jade. Jade Malian" she smiled. "Wait…I've seen you before" she said to Peter. "Oh! I remember! Kurt Connors! You're his lab assistant!"
"Was…he died" Peter said.
"Oh I'm sorry. I was the lab assistant to a colleague of his, Doctor Gina Van Hack, I saw you in his lab once or twice when Dr Van Hack was lecturing" Jade said. "Well, ignore my ramblings, I'm doing what I always do…which is explaining stuff in ramblings because I'm feeling strangely on edge for some reason and I really should stop talking now."
"Wow Pete" Harry said. "She has the same habit as you"
"Pete?"
"Peter" Peter said. "Pete and Petey make my head hurt. This is Harry"
"Charmed" smiled Jade. "So tell me – either of you boys up for a dance?"
"Two left feet" Peter said.
"You're just saying that" Jade grinned. She grabbed him and Harry by the sleeves and pulled them out onto the dance floor. "Just so you know I'm being friendly you have no chance of a date with me"
"Oh?" Harry said. "Are you sure?"
"Positive"
"Lesbian?" Harry asked. Peter elbowed him with a shocked look on his face.
"Hah! No" Jade said.
"Boyfriend?" pressed Harry.
"Husband" she replied as she flashed him the ring on her finger mid dance.
"Oh…can't we convince you to leave him?" Harry managed able to form words in his shock, as opposed to Peter who'd stopped trying to dance and was staring at her.
"I already have. When I moved here they wouldn't let me move the grave" shrugged Jade. "Like I'd want to. The plaque was attached to about 3 feet deep of concrete under ground."
Harry started to move again. "S-so you're still married?"
"Totally" Jade said. "I'm one-third Lebanese, one-third Japanese and one-third South-African," she explained. "My families were old-school so I have another while to go before they'll willingly see me date again. Not that they're around…they're mostly dead or in their respective countries far from here awaiting various passages to the good old US of A or reasons for not being here to pass. I guesstimate about 10 more years."
She was dancing to the beat in a hypnotic manner. "So ESU? I go to NY Institute of Science. I got a scholarship because I worked so deeply with Dr Van Hack" she grinned. Peter stared at Harry's hips. He'd meant to be watching Jade but he'd never noticed how gorgeous Harry's hips w—what was he thinking? A man in a tiger outfit was handing out shot glasses of a new drink. Peter downed three… maybe he was having one of those moments of transferral! Yeah! That was it! He was NOT checking Harry out.
"Easy Pete!" Harry warned. "This new stuff could be total -"
"Poison" finished Jade for him. "Come on, let's get him a drink with more body" she said as she led them both over to a booth. It was quieter there. "I'll be back with two drinks of unusual colouring that glow in the dark. My treat"
"No mine" Harry said handing her the credit card. "I run up bar tabs"
"Uw! Platinum!" Jade grinned.
"I can have it cancelled in 5 minutes"
"Damn! No time to go and buy those solid gold shoes I saw" Jade sighed. She vanished into the crowed of dancers dressed in plant and animal motifs. When she returned she had three drinks on a tray. One of them was brilliant scarlet and tapered off into amber at the top with a parasol and slice of lime teetering on the cusp of the glass that curved in then back out before reaching the stand.
The other was brilliant green and in a tall glass with sugar frosting and harpooned cherries on the rim. A flare of yellow rose in the hypnotic depths. The other was bright blue in a wide glass with three straws and pretty frosting on the rim with a parasol. The red one looked interesting.
Peter drank it. The fruity taste had a pungent kick to it but it made Peter go all fuzzy.
"Easy there pal" Harry muttered. "He's normally not a drinker"
"This stuff is - addictive" Jade shrugged. "I thought you came here regularly"
"I do" Harry said indignantly.
"And yet the rookie can down one faster"
"I see thine challenge and raise thee" Harry grinned
"Whoa no! No drinking excessively fast," Jade snapped. "It could be the death of you". She clinked glasses with him and took a sip of her blue drink. "Nostrovia" she toasted and sipped the drink.
Peter felt funny. Everything was exciting in a slow and lazy kind of way. He was noticing things. Like Harry's Adam's apple…his hands…the rise and fall of his chest… the way his hair fell on his face. There was suddenly a lot of heat flooding his face and groin.
Time was passing, he could feel it and he was feeling so lazy.
- - - -Later - - - -
"I love you Pete you're my best friend!" giggled Harry as he and Peter staggered along the road guided by Jade. She shook her head and muttered "what a waste"
"Okay boys" Jade said as they reached the elevator. "Up and at 'em tomorrow it's a weekend so I hope you can nurse those hangovers" she sighed as she put Harry in one armchair and landed Peter onto another. "Honestly you guys had better thank me" she muttered she walked over to the phone and paused beside it. 5 new messages…she shook her head and put the Platinum card and her own card beside the phone.
The door slammed and Peter stirred. Harry tried to get up. He fell down three times but on the forth he stayed out of the chair. "Hey Pete we're ha-ah-am-hammered" giggled Harry. He fell onto the couch.
"Yup. S a new thin for me" slurred Peter as Harry slipped in his attempt get up and fell on top of him. "Who why'd you b-bring that spit-s-tepid…dumb card wit you? We might' a bin kick'd out f'ya hadn't had that an then we wood nut be drink…drunk…"
"S fun bein drunk" laughed Harry. He looked down at his friend who was pinned under him. Slowly he reached out and touched his lips. "Y-you've got nice lips. Der sorta pouty but cute"
"Yuv nice eyes" Peter said. And Harry kissed him. It was a very drunk kiss, the alcohol really tasted on his tongue, which Peter was stroking with his own. Harry pulled away and stared down.
"You kiss good"
"So do you" Peter said. "Sleepy"
Harry stumbled off towards the stairs and clung like a man caught in rapids to the banister as he tried to reach his room and instead fell asleep on an extra couch near the top of the stairs.
- - - The Next Morning - - -
His mouth tasted like a floor mat. Harry groaned and sat up. Last night was a blur but he knew he'd said "how about another" so that explained a lot. It probably wasn't the only time he'd said it in that hour.
"Hey" Peter groaned as he came up the stairs. Pale drained looking. He handed the platinum card to Harry. "Jade left a card: "it reads home the hangovers aren't too bad, we should do it again some time and you owe me big time for dragging your buts home. Call me" and then there's her number".
"We should," murmured Harry. "She was nice"
"And widowed" Peter croaked. "It's a phone number for Gina Van Hack"
"I'll call your voice is like sand paper on a brick" Harry said. "What time is it?"
"Noon"
"Hope she's in"
"It's Saturday"
"She's a lot like you" Harry shrugged and picked up the phone. He dialled the number and then someone picked up.
"Hello?" a woman's voice answered the call.
"Hello I'm looking for Jade Malian"
"Who's speaking" the accented voice asked casually.
"Harry Osborne" there was silence then the person hung up. "She hung up," he said. "What did I do to deserve that?"
"Maybe that was her mother?"
"She said her parents were dead didn't she?"
"Or in another country" shrugged Peter. He had the funniest feeling on his lips… last night was a blur but his pounding head meant he was NOT getting drunk again. He wasn't even sure why he'd gotten drunk last night. Though he had a wonderful mental image of really nice hips…but who's?
"We should go down there and give that lady a piece of our mind!" Harry said rising as his voice did. He groaned and touched his head. "After Advil and strong coffee!"
"I don't know…"
"Advil and coffee is fine…I think…"
"No I mean…the phone probably disconnected…" Harry touched his shoulder and strangely neither moved for some reason, just (enjoying/ accepting/ handling/ absorbing/ shocked by) the contact.
"I know when – when someone hangs up on me," Harry said slowly, as if breaking a spell on his mind. "So we should just go there and annoy her as payback."
Five minutes and 4 cups of coffee later they were walking to the building Van Hack was supposed to be set up in. Jade was in the elevator, her back to the glass as they entered the lobby. "Well there's Jade" Peter said.
"Follow that girl!" Harry said dramatically. They followed her up in the other elevator. When they arrived at the door the signs all indicated was Dr. Van Hack's lab they got an earful.
"Jade stay away from the Osborne boy"
"You can't stop me seeing prospective friends"
"Jade I am telling you to stay away from him. It's too dangerous!"
"Ah! The games we play are filled with danger and deceit. I will do as I please outside this lab and if I want to freefall off the bloody bridge I will. If I want to wrestle alligators I will and if I want to go to nightclubs then I will"
"Jade I'm warning you! If you keep this up then you WILL get hurt. It doesn't matter what side you're on crossfire can still catch you up and it's worse when you're being shot at!"
"Funny Doc I thought you were a pacifist"
"What would your parents say?"
"Well they're dead aren't they? So they can't appeal to me to stop only to go and do what I need to so I can feel whole again!!"
"You can't do this Jade you know right and wrong it was different in San Francisco the danger was different and what you were doing outside the lab really was okay and good and fine and dandy with me but to hang around the Osborne boy!"
Harry knocked on the door. It was opened by a thin woman with her brown hair in a bun and a pair of wire-rim glasses on her face. She wore a lab coat over a green top and black skirt. Pencil heels and hard sole tapped impatiently on the linoleum. "I'm a busy woman," she said in that odd accent. "What exactly can I do for you?"
"Well for one thing you could apologize for hanging up on me" Harry said.
"Harry Osborne" the woman said and shut the door in his face. He pushed it open and strode in with Peter following nervously. Van Hack gave a nasty glare. "If you don't leave this INSTANT I'll call security."
"Excuse her she's forgetting her manners" Jade said coldly.
"We called earlier but got the hang up treatment" Harry said. "Just a thanks for last night." Jade smiled. "You got us home safe and sound"
"YOU WENT TO THEIR APARTMENT" Van Hack exclaimed.
"How did you know it was an apartment?" asked Peter.
"You're students. I'm a scientist. Do the math," Van Hack said coldly. Peter looked at the blackboards around the room covered with writings on formulae and animals.
"Wow" he said.
"It's Molecular Biology" shrugged Van Hack. "If you understand it it's interesting. If not…I have a few join the dot puzzles for those who don't even try to comprehend."
"Em. Most of this stuff looks like gene splicing" Peter said.
"Some of it is - theoretically" the woman said. "But I don't condone gene splicing its a dangerous game to play. Mother Nature doesn't like people messing with her…she gets…peevish." Jade shrugged at Harry who rolled his eyes.
"Dr Connors' theory on re-growing limbs with reptilian DNA was brilliant but suicidal," explained Van Hack as she and Peter walked over to a computer displaying the DNA of various animals. "An overdose would subdue the human emotional cortex in the lizards as it caused physical mutation of type 3 (the most drastic) perhaps to the point of total loss of all mental facilities…" she sighed. "Kurtis was a good man, he didn't deserve to die like an animal".
"What are you working on right now?"
Van Hack smiled. "In short I'm working on a study of animal evolution and their evolutionary mechanisms. Such as the jumping spiders leaping like the devils they can be. Or the instincts of desert animals that did deep into the sand to stay cool. Or why lemmings jump off cliffs. Or the fact we recently found an electric eel that had suffered mutation of some sort in the depths of the sea and was able to send put quite a nasty burst of electricity. Mutation for Evolution or Evolution by Mutation?"
"I say both" Peter said.
"An interesting point" Van Hack said as she pointed to a screen, which showed a cobra reared back. "This snake is a Spitting Cobra. Its venom was spit at a very impressive five-foot distance at the furthest splatter. It hit its target of course. Once the venom hits the eyes there's a brief stinging…then comes the immense pain and blindness. The damage can be pretty damaging" she tapped to an image of a Rattle Snake. "This is a sidewinder rattlesnake. Its movement is very interesting; few if any other snakes can mimic it in such a graceful manner. It's speed over the sand is quite something and it has potent venom…" the black widow showed up. "Yet this tiny black widow has venom 3 times more powerful"
"Don't black windows eat their mates?" Harry asked.
"No" Jade interjected. "Only if they're in enclosed spaces for long periods of time. That's just a myth the other spiders started because the Black Widow was having a fling with a Bath Spider and her husband took a vacation."
Harry smiled. Van Hack cleared her throat. "As much fun as this has been we have work to do. Goodbye"
"Let's go Harry" Peter said. Harry's phone had begun ringing. Harry answered it as they left, the door slamming with Van Hack's help behind them.
"What?" Harry exclaimed. "Fine I'll come down and talk to the officers but I don't see why!" he exclaimed. He sighed and snapped his phone shut.
"What's up?" Peter asked.
"Well there's been some sort of attack in Oscorp so I've got to go down and talk to the police for some reason. They were really, really vague."
"I'll come with you" Peter said.
"Thanks" Harry nodded.
- - - - Oscorp Building- - - -
"Mr Osborne I'm Detective John Rider" the man said. "This is my partner Detective Marissa Wu". The Chinese woman nodded. Her partner was tall and thin while she was short and curvaceous with that bit of attractive colour in her cheeks.
"Mr Osborn…I'm sorry who's that?" Wu asked as she noticed Peter
"My roommate" Harry said.
"I amn't sure if he should be here" Rider said.
"If he's not here I'm not" Harry said. "Get the idea?"
"Fine" relented Rider. "Come with us"
"Was anyone killed?" Harry asked. The detectives led him up the stairs to his father's office. "I saw ambulances outside…" he stopped. The hole in the window had been covered up but there was a slash across the high leather chair…around where his neck would be.
"The strange thing is that there were no fatalities," said Detective Wu. "One of the men took a drop off the balcony into the plant collection but he's being treated for a medium-voltage shock"
"A medium voltage shock?" Peter repeated. "He got an electric shock? Like a stun gun?" the detectives shook their heads.
"More like…a stun shot gun. He says all he saw as light and then there was an electric jolt in his body that made him feel weird and then he hit went through the plants. A few broken bones and the shock…"
Max Dillon? Could it be him? The slashing of chairs wasn't his style and he was currently in circulation in the National Grid…he couldn't be back.
"Anyone else hurt?" Harry asked.
"Well they removed one guards spleen, the claw marks went into his spleen but cut so the spleen bled through out of the body…" Rider said. "They were like animal claws but very long…they entered the body, but not completely as there's no sign of impact from them wing rammed in all the way, they slid in to hurt but the stab bled the blood in the spleen out so his body didn't fill with the blood".
"Then there's a man with the wired jaw" Wu said. "He claims the attacker dodged bullets and moved like an animal of some sort. We were thinking that Lizard thing but it's dead as a doornail…"
Rider walked over and handed Harry the harpooned picture of him and his father. The claws had gone straight through it. "We think this thing is going after you next. Maybe it's some sort of wild animal that just wandered in…but if it has sentience it could be hunting you"
"Why?" Harry asked as he took the picture.
"Maybe you stole its hibernation stash?" Peter said in the hopes of uplifting his friend's spirits and putting an arm around his shoulders- whoa there was a weird buzz from doing that. "Or did you get away with your pick-a-nick basket before it could grab it?"
"We'll be putting an officer at your apartment" Rider said.
"Is it Spiderman?" wondered Harry, just loud enough to be heard by Peter…and that hurt. He knew Harry didn't know what had happened in that abandoned house that night…but it still hurt to think Harry hated a side of Peter with such passion.
"Keep in touch if anything odd happens call us," Wu said as she handed him her card.
"This could be anything out of all the craziness in the streets," Rider said. "So be very careful. Don't go out alone. Don't stay home alone. Have a phone with you at all time and whatever you do - "
"Don't go to the zoo?" Harry said dully.
"Don't go anywhere dark and boxed" Rider said grimly.
"Come on Harry" Peter said. "I'll order a pizza!"
"Best not, one of the men from last night…well see for yourself" shrugged Rider as he handed over the photo. A tiny nick on the man's jaw had swollen and darkened, black and green veins spread out along the side of his face, the skin rubbery and blue-grey. "He's undergoing treatment for exotic poisons injected into his body… we aren't sure what exactly they are but it's a nasty concoction some tarantula venom, some cobra, a little dart frog and some other stuff too. Luckily he only received a minimal dose."
Harry shuddered and Peter tightened his arm around his friend's shoulders. It made Harry feel better…they left in silence, a police car drove them home and they could finally breathe when they were back home, the officers were outside the door.
"Maybe we can call MJ" Peter said. "Listen to her "How I Survived Crazy Christina" story again. She does a good impression of her…even if she doesn't like to."
"No, no Spiderman…Peter I think he did this…to those men"
"Why?" Peter asked quietly. Harry was sitting on the sofa whit his head in his hands.
"Because he killed my father and he's coming after me…" Peter wanted to scream he felt…it was a pain in his heart and he was pretty sure he wasn't having a heart attack so…he swallowed the lump in his throat and climbed the stairs. "Peter?"
"I just need to get some work from my room" Peter managed. Harry was one of his oldest and dearest friends. And he hated Peter…well Spiderman but Peter was Spiderman…and it hurt so much.
- - - - The Rooftops Nearby - - - -
Green vision looked at Harry from a distance. Then with the movement of light there was movement up a girder and into more darkness a promise of vengeance in the air…
- - - - The Apartment - - - -
"Hey guys this is MJ, listen I've got to go out of town this weekend but I'll be back tomorrow night…there's a perfume commercial audition so fingers crossed. Wish centipedes of broken legs my way. I know I can do this but a little moral boost isn't too much to ask. Stay cool guys I have my cell if you - - -well you won't but it's like a comforter blanket - - - Mommy will see her ickle babies soon"
"She patronizes us," Harry said.
"I've noticed" Peter said quietly.
"So…would you like something to eat?" Harry asked.
"Can I break it to you gently?" suggested Peter. "The kitchen's still in therapy from the chicken…they have it under anaesthesia"
"I laugh…you cook then"
"Aunt May prepared this little man" smiled Peter. "I can make toast, toast or toast!"
"Ah but can you make toast?"
"Only the closely alike toast"
"The toast sounds good"
"How about I use a freezer pizza?" Peter sighed.
TBC:
Next chapter Peter finds out what's been after Harry.
Jade and MJ finally meet and as it turns out they have similar humour! Oh boy…
And Harry begins to ponder precariously the possibilities of Peter's posterior (
Angelo: Yes in that way…why am I writing this? I BLAME YOU KARIANNA if you'd only put ONE kiss in Tangled Webs!)
(DF: I like tangled Webs it's all mushy and sweet...sigh I wish I had that kind of love...and Toby McGuire and that Franco/Harry Osborne dude about to jump out of a cake to dance around in Speedos for me)
Any suspiscions on what's been unleashed on Harry? Theories, suggestions for the next kiss and paranoid dillusional ramblings
(Angelo: About the stories PLOT only I don't care about the aliens using the toasters as transdimensional refill stations! Well...maybe a little)