FATR: This Halloween I had express passes to Halloween Horror Nights in Universal Orlando. Oh, gods, I was in horror movie fanatic heaven! I got to do every single haunted maze, and I road the spider-man ride twice! I also noticed that Electro has his own fruit stand in Marvel land. Doc Ock has an atm machine. I would prefer the fruit stand. Which do you think is better? That's in the Islands of Adventure part, btw. ANY-hoo, my favorite maze was Hellgate Prison. There was this really hot guy in there, all punk-ified, singing"Let me join your train of sex." He saw me smiling at him and wiggled his tongue at me obscenely. There was also this guy sitting on the floor spraying pressurized air at passers-by. My friend and I got stopped next to him and he blew air up her shirt. She told him it was inappropriate and he stared spraying her over and over again saying, "Is this inappropriate? How about this?" I was cracking up. Um... Yeah... Boy, this is a long one. I just could not get it to come to a natural stopping point. I hope the one I picked isn't too forced. It begins with an interesting idea that was born out of my late night musings. I hope you like it. This is it! The big experimentation chapter! Three cheers for human experimentation! /cheer, cheer, cheer/ I tried to make it all detailed and elaborate because it is so important. I only hope I did it justice. I also tried to capture good ol' Ocky's use of elevated language but it is not easy. Feel the rhythm, feel the rhyme, come on, kiddies, its chip chip time!

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Felicia walked like a queen despite the gun in her lower back. She was really ticked off that the guy behind her was doing that. With him behind her and the other two flanking her, there was no way she was going to make a run for it. She was brave, but not stupid. Fisk's base of operations was hardly cozy. She had seen his home before. It had been so warm and vibrant. This place was ice cold. It made her see him as the double faced creep he really was on the inside. On one hand he was Wilson Fisk, rich philanthropist. Wilson Fisk had been on the Oscorp board of directors with her mother since she had been a small child. This man, the Kingpin, was a heartless crime lord, infamous throughout the city. She had heard of the Kingpin, but she had never put Fisk's face with that alias. Now she knew. She knew, but she had a feeling that she would never be able to tell anyone about what happened here. Hell, she wasn't even sure if she would ever see the outside world again. Her and her 'escorts' stopped outside a door and it slid open. Felicia blinked once to make sure her eyes weren't playing games with her.

"Go on." The guy behind her poked her with the muzzle of his gun again.

I hate that guy! Her blue eyes flashed steely gray but she held her tongue and forced herself to study the room she had just entered instead. To sum it up in one word it was... comfortable. The walls weren't the glaring white of the hallway, but a more eye appeasing mint. The floor was charcoal gray carpet with mint flecks. On one wall was a folding screen, on the wall opposite her was a three way mirror with a little platform in the middle, the likes of which are found in department store dressing rooms. To her right was a sowing machine and a dressmaker's dummy. There were two women in the room. The first had a measuring tape draped across her shoulders and the other had a clipboard. They were bent over a table with black and white fabric draped across it debating a picture that she couldn't see clearly. The men who had guided Felicia down the hall stepped back and the door whished shut. Now it was just the three ladies in the room. Felicia cleared her throat and the two women looked up.

The first woman beamed kindly. "Oh, good, you're here. Shall we get started then?"

At least they were expecting me. "Er... who are you?"

"I'm Abigail." The first woman shook Felicia's hand. "My assistant is Rachel." The second woman looked up and gave Felicia a pale smile.

"Nice to meet you, I guess..."

"Pardon our manners. We aren't used to dealing with people like you. Most of our clients don't even ask for our names, and we don't volunteer them." Abigail pulled a stool up next to the platform and sat down. "Give your outer garments to Rachel."

They were both women, but Felicia was still hesitant. "Your clients?"

Abigail was puzzled. "We make costumes, of course, for supervillains. Well, those that lack the resources, skill, know-how, or all of the above to make their own. Sometimes they come to us with designs in mind, sometimes we design the costumes ourselves. My male assistant isn't here because, well, you know why. Would you like to see the design? It's simple, but simple is generally the key. Simple is easier to fight in, at any rate. One has to be able to fight now-a-days, not just your average guards, but-"

But Felicia was still back on the whole supervillian thing. "Hold on a second. You make costumes for supervillains? As in super-powered maniacs that run around stealing things, dreaming up schemes for world domination, and that kind of thing?"

"... That is why you're here, isn't it?"

Felicia shook her head. "I think you have me confused with someone else."

Rachel finally spoke. "Well, someone in here is certainly confused."

"You are Felicia Hardy, right? Daughter of John Hardesky?" Abigail asked.

"Yes..."

Rachel studied the clipboard. "We have here that Mr. Hardesky was the Cat and you wish to follow in his footsteps as the Black Cat."

"Who told you that?"

Abigail was getting impatient. "We never ask questions in our line of work. Now if you would please hand your outer garments to Rachel so we can take your numbers, we are paid only upon completion."

Felicia sighed and did as she was told. As she disrobed a strange thought crossed her mind. "Have you ever seen any famous supervillains in their underwear? Or does the guy take care of that?"

"Well..." Abigail thought. "None really worth noting. Both of the goblins hired us."

Neither of them noticed Felicia wince when the goblins were mentioned. Though, if she had been on Abigail's end of the conversation, she wouldn't have called Jason not worth noting. Besides being a lying, shallow creep, he had been handsome and well mannered. Well mannered up until the point when she had discovered he was the Hobgoblin.

"I don't know, Mysterio had a pretty tight ass," Rachel grinned as she took Felicia's skirt, blouse, and vest and hung them up. "Like two muffins you want to squeeze to see how fresh they are."

Oh, God, that was far too much information. Felicia shuddered inwardly.

"So much for professionalism," Abigail laughed then gestured to Felicia. "Step onto the platform."

Felicia kept talking, but only to mask how nervous the information she had recently received had made her. Desperate for any topic, she grabbed the only one that was on her mind at the time: dating supervillains. "Have you ever dated any? Or are they only into other... er... super-people?"

"I'm sure some of them are, but there aren't nearly as many female supervillains as there are male. I don't know. Perhaps women tend to be better adjusted? Anyway, I've never dated one, but I heard it through the grapevine that Scorpion hooked up with a civilian–that's what we call people without powers–named Sarah. I don't know if they're still together or not. Why do you ask? You looking for a little romance in your career as well?"

The thought just about appalled Felicia. "Me? No! No, no, no... just making conversation. Besides, I hardly plan to make it a career..."

Abigail gave her client a curious upward glance. "A self-hating supervillain, huh? I've only met one of those before..."

Felicia finally snapped. "I'm not a supervillain! I'm just a girl! I'm just..."

"Alright, alright, calm down," Abigail soothed. "I didn't mean anything by it."

From then on there was silence except for Abigail occasionally calling out numbers to Rachel. The oddest part, for Felicia anyway, was when she measured for her mask. When they were done Felicia excepted the warm cotton robe they offered her.

"Are you sure you don't want a final word on the costume? It is yours, after all."

"Well..." I guess I should make the best of it. "Yeah. I think I will." Felicia joined Rachel at the table and looked over the picture spread out there. Rachel was in the middle of diagraming in the numbers. It is kind of cool, but... "I think it could do without the ears and tail."

"See?" Rachel crowed. "I knew it!"

Abigail chuckled. "The girl does have taste. Not like Mysterio."

Rachel shook her head. "I tried to talk him out of the outrageous color scheme but he just wouldn't listen."

Felicia felt a real smile slide across her lips. Rachel and Abigail had an odd job, but they were surprisingly nice. It was almost like discussing boys and clothes with her friends. Almost like it, but not quite. Just then the door slid open again and the men with the guns were back.

"Are you finished yet?" The one Felicia wanted to beat up oh-so-badly asked.

Rachel went over the note pad and nodded.

"Good. Time for step two."

Felicia bit her lip and they left the room in the same formation they had come in before. Though she tried to rise above it and make her face stone, her stomach was churning. What are they going to do? Will it hurt? Please, God, don't let it hurt... They stepped into the elevator she had been in three times now that night. Or was it still night? She had no idea anymore. She was too pumped full of adrenaline to be tired, so it didn't really matter. What mattered was what was about to transpire. The elevator jerked to a stop and the doors slid open. They approached the lab door. Her heart pounded harder and harder with each step and she pulled the robe tighter around her. The floor was like ice on her bare feet. She swallowed the lump in her throat. She took a few deep breaths, trying to still her now shaking limbs. Felicia wasn't really afraid of dying. It was the prospect of pain that really frightened her. It's okay. You can do this. You... The door opened and she got a look at the large metal vat of green liquid. ... can't do this. She glared at Kingpin. You can't do this to me! When she stopped walking the man behind her nudged her to keep moving. "Stop doing that!" She suddenly snarled whipping around. There was silence and she felt eyes on her. She glanced to the side and saw Dr. Octopus giving her a crooked smile. Before the silence became awkward, it was broken by Fisk.

"You may leave use now," he told his men. When they had gone he turned to the young Hardy. "You do not need to be frightened, my dear. You are in the hands of two of the best scientific minds in the city."

"Never mind that both of them are out of their minds," she mumbled.

"Pardon?" Fisk asked.

Felicia shook her head and whispered, "Nothing."

Fisk raised an eyebrow. "Indeed." He would have liked to witness the transformation, but to avoid any awkwardness he had decided to let Octavius and Landon oversee the entire operation. "I have a meeting to attend. I will check in with you later." He exited, leaving them all wondering just who he had addressed that last statement to.

"Okay." Landon took her arm and escorted her to a machine that looked like single person transporter from Star Trek. "Enter, please." When she hesitated he added, "It's only for preliminary measurements."

Felicia entered cautiously and stood there, eyes darting around. A digital voice chirped, "Subject is a white female. Height is five feet, six inches. Weight is 125 pounds..."

It rattled off a few more numbers but she was too nervous to pay attention. Both Ock and Landon were watching her now. So this is what a lab rat feels like.

The computer finished and Landon gesture her out of the machine. He didn't want to say what had to be said next. Instead he moved to the control panel of the super soldier machine and made himself look busy. Maybe Octavius would deal with it. The octopus, however, also seemed preoccupied with something else.

Neither Doc Ock nor Landon had moved yet. The seconds ticked by, each one seeming to stretch into hours, days and years. Felicia hugged herself and looked around, wondering what she was supposed to do now. Just as she was wondering this, two tentacles hooked around her waist and pushed her towards their creator. Octavius turned to her as the tentacles returned to their place behind his back.

He didn't even hesitate before he spoke. "You may leave the robe on that chair."

Octavius' voice was very businesslike. Landon couldn't help peeking over his shoulder to watch Felicia's reaction. She was so bold, so fiery, it had to be more than just a little entertaining. It was also the reason he had not wanted to ask her himself. She only glared and pulled the robe tighter around her.

Felicia didn't want to take her clothes off in front of these creeps! They wanted to abduct her? Not great, but okay. They wanted to do experiments on her? She believed she could learn to deal with that. They wanted her to take off her clothes? No. No way. No way in hell.

"Do you require assistance, Ms. Hardy?" Octavius smirked and reached towards her.

"Do not touch me," Felicia hissed, stepping back. It's just part of the procedure. Don't let this freak make you so uncomfortable. When she spoke again her voice was softer and not quite so laced with malice. "I can... do it myself..." She turned her back to him and slowly unknotted the robe. As she started to slide it off her shoulders she felt eyes on her back. "Do you mind?" She snapped at the octopus.

Octavius shrugged and turned away. He waited a second and then, keeping his head down and his hands busy, stared at her with his eyes. He remembered the first time he had abducted her. He had kept her at an abandoned rocket assembly plant. It had been Anastasia's fault that he had been in that disfiguring explosion. If she hadn't cut off his funding... she owed him that money. It was his by right. He had kidnaped her daughter to get it, and an inane arachnid humanoid–who shall remain nameless–had taken it away from him. She turned to put the robe over the chair and he eyed her profile. Apparently she was cold. His eyes returned to his task though his mind was somewhere else. He was remembering a time, while young Ms. Hardy had been tied to the engine testing launch tower, when he had looked up to speak to her and had seen up her skirt. A brief moment, a moment paled by what he had just witnessed.

"Dr. Octavius and I are going to attach these sensors to you so we can monitor your body as you change," Landon explained.

"Change?" Felicia tried to keep her voice level and curious but it still cracked a bit towards the end. Landon was right behind her and Octavius was right in front of her. She felt so naked and vulnerable, and small.

Landon brushed her hair aside and took note of the dark bruises between her shoulder blades. He looked to Octavius but he wasn't looking back. Landon ran his tongue along the back of his teeth and pressed the sensor gently into place. She still flinched. "Sorry." He may not have be the most moral person in the world but he wasn't a sadist.

Last one. Doc Ock looked into her ice blue eyes but they were on his hand.

Time seemed to move in slow motion as his hand pressed the sensor over her heart. The touch of his hand made her feel sick. Suddenly all she wanted to do was wake up. Yes, that was it, this was just a nightmare, and any moment now she would wake up in her own bed. Her warm, snug–but most of all safe–bed... "Now what?"

Landon nodded towards a flight of stairs against on side of the vat. "Watch your step."

"In there? But..." Felicia looked helplessly from one villain to the other. A monitor beeped as her heart rate increased. "Do I have to?"

Doc Ock put his human hand on her back and began pushing her towards the stairs. "Are the sensors functioning properly?"

Landon's hands flew over the computer keys. He was almost used to working with his one three clawed hand."All of them are active and transmitting. Subject's heart rate is a little elevated but all other vital signs are normal."

Ock stopped pushing her when she got to the bottom of the stairs. Felicia turned to him, one last plan forming in her brain. "Please don't do this." Doc Ock took an insidious step towards her and she took a shaky step back, now on the first step. "Look. If you could have had a say in what happened to you, would you have really chosen to be... would you have changed it?"

Landon glared at her, his one orange eye glowing. "We didn't have a choice. What makes you think you get one?"

Okay... Felicia stepped back as Octavius raised his tentacles from their relaxed positions. That couldn't have gone over much worse. She looked over her shoulder. And I'm just about out of steps.

"Besides," Ock added as he ascended the steps after her, forcing her to the top step. "I wouldn't trade my knew appendages for the world." One of them snapped for her face and she jumped back, tripping and falling into the clear green liquid. He grinned triumphantly at her as she resurfaced, crossing her arms over her now see-through white bra. "It is futile to resist the power of Dr. Octopus, my pretty. You should know that by now."

Landon rolled his eyes. His ego is bigger than Central Park. "I am engaging the gamma cross rays. I suggest you stand clear."

As Doc Ock turned and made his way down the stairs, Felicia dove for the side of the vat. Before she could reach it, however, an invisible force stopped her in her tracks. She struggled against it but to no avail. A green light rose out of the serum and engulfed her. The harder she tried to move, to get out of there, the more it hurt. It was as though her muscles were iron and the light was a magnet trying to pull them out.

"Blood pressure is rising," Landon observed. He noticed she was starting to shiver from the strain of fighting to get out. Then she just let her arms drop to her sides and tilted her head back in a silent scream. He couldn't tell what she was trying to say.

Let me out! I don't want this! Her vocal chords were locked up. At that point she had just about given up trying to escape. The damage was more than likely done, and, on the bright side, perhaps once she was changed she could kick some cuttlefish ass. She really didn't have a whole lot against the mutant lizard guy... Landon was it?... but Ock had pissed her off time and time again that night. There was not much she could do about it before but now... The humming of the machine ceased and she was suddenly no longer held up by the green light. Before she could recover full mental control of her muscles, she lost her balance. A tentacle plucked her out before her head went under and brought her shaking, dripping form over to the chair where she had left the robe. As Landon placed it about her shoulders she took in her surroundings. The first thing she noticed was that everything seemed sharper, clearer, brighter. It made her head hurt so she closed her eyes, collapsing into the chair.

"Has anything changed?" Landon asked.

Felicia opened one eye and focused on his face, wincing inwardly at the texture of his reptilian skin. "I don't know. Has it?"

"He is referring to your auditory, optical, and/or olfactory senses."

Felicia stared at the octopus for a moment. The crack in his lenses was glaringly obvious to her now. She re-closed her one open eye and lowered her head. "Can't we save the vocabulary lesson for a time when I don't feel like my eyes are going to spontaneously combust?"

Landon and Ock looked at each other and Landon nodded. "Alright. We'll let you rest before we move on to phase two."

Her eyes flew open and her head snapped up. "If you think you are putting me through that again, you had better have another think coming."

"You are in no position to make threats," Doc Ock responded.

Felicia clenched her teeth, and glared at the floor out of the corner of her eye. Even the floor was alive with mind boggling shapes and textures. There was no peace anywhere. I'll just have to get used to it. "Can I go sleep now?"

"You must answer some questions first."

Felicia sighed and hugged her knees to her chest. Would this ever end? She let Landon grab her arm and move her to an examination table, where she was once more forced to surrender the robe. It didn't matter though. Now that the worst had come and gone, and the adrenaline was abating, she didn't have the energy to fight. "Why don't I look any different?"

"Your appearance will not change until phase two," Landon explained distractedly, his lack of care very apparent. "Have you experienced any internal changes?"

"I can see better."

"Mhm..." Landon pulled out a pen light. "Look at the wall behind me." He examined each eye in turn. The light reflected back as a greenish color. "What exactly do you mean by seeing better?"

"Edges are sharper. Things look... brighter. It kind of makes my head hurt."

"Anything else?" He moved around to check her ears.

"No. Not that I've noticed." The lizard man and the octopus conferred with each other in hushed tones. What are they whispering about? Felicia endured more poking, prodding, and interrogating, about an hour's worth. Finally she was free to go to bed. She had really hoped she would get to tell her dad all about it, but no. She was shown to a holding cell at the back of the lab and left there. Felicia curled up in a corner and surrendered consciousness to sleep.

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FATR: Please answer the fruit bar/atm question. If it has any bearing on anyone's answer, the fruit bar had alcoholic beverages.