Jack pulled up the Audi in front of an upscale apartment building; he was dressed smart-casually.
"You're wrong!"
"No, I'm not!" answered Marcie passionately, who was invisible.
"The Beatles were destined to brake up, Yoko just happened to be there, all great bands brake up eventually, except for the Stones"
"Don't get me started on the stones!"
The two went on Bickering as they got out the car and headed into the building, after they all got back the night before, and once it had been known that Marcie discovered papers with the diseases symptoms on it, and since Dr Osborn's name was on it, Mina ordered her to accompany Jack.
"Drunken' Limey Jerk"
"Tasteless Yankee Ponce!"
Just as he was done, he walked threw the revolving door and up to the doorman, who greeted him,
"Good evening sir." said the doorman.
"Hello," said Jack condescendingly in his upper-class accent, "I'm expected in Dr Osborn's loft"
"Your name, sir"
"Sir Jason Curtis, Esq"
"Indeed you are," said the old doorman with a smile, he then went to the elevator and Jack and Marcie followed, they went to the tenth floor and the doorman guided them to the Apartment.
After knocking they both entered.
Otto walked down the stairs, with his tentacles hovering around him, on his way to the garden, he was still on New York time and felt cooped up.
As he walked past the study, he saw Mina sitting behind the desk, sporting a T-Shirt with her hair down, examining some papers, for a second he stopped and marveled at her beauty, wondering how can someone so Marvelous and Pure looking, be in fact an Underworld Monstrous Being, he then walked away and stepped into the cold wind of London, he sat at a stone bench and lit a pipe he carried around, taking a few drags at a time.
What an Odd Bunch! The most normal of all of them were a mildly insane Criminal Mastermind and a Hired Assassin, which were misfits on their own, and then there was Marcie, the Invisible Killer, and then there was Mina, and then there was him.
Otto took a drag as he watched a small spider clinging to his web, that eventually gave away and flew along with the spider, Otto didn't like spiders, there was a particular Spider he didn't like, but was a good man, he remembered being finally able to control the tentacles months ago, and succeeding in destroying his horrid creation, he had drowned that night1, but woke up the following morning to find himself on the bank of the river, alive and well, the tentacles had acted on their own when he was half past dead, and swam him to safety, he soon returned to crime, this time there was little opposition, his nemesis, Spider-Man2 was busy battling the Green Goblin2, who had miraculously returned to the living, or maybe it was just a copycat, and was also battling the Lizard2, other Super-Hero New Yorkers such as the Daredevil2 and the Fantastic Four2 were busy frying bigger fish, and he was able to steal as he pleased.
Otto then laid down on his side, feeling the stinging coldness of the stone bench, and staid in that position and smoked his pipe for about an hour, after which he went back inside, and when he passed the study, he saw Mina, still sitting behind the desk, but this time she had a bottle of vodka that she held with both hands and poured into her wide open moth.
Otto was flabbergasted, he never would have thought of Mina as a fish-like drinker, so he went back and stood in the doorframe, and saw Mina toss the bottle next to three others that were completely empty.
"Ms Murray, are you alright?" he asked.
Mina was too busy opening a bottle of Champaign to answer, but as she looked up, "Otto," she slightly slurdly said, "Care for a night cap"
"Err, I guess."
Mina poured some Champaign into an empty glass and took a swig herself.
"You know what sucks about Vampirism"
"What?" asked Otto.
"It takes an awful amount of effort to get drunk."
Mina than took another great swig, as Otto looked at her sideways, 'Okay, An Incredibly Hot, Alcoholic Blood-Sucking Fiend'.
"Are going to drink that?" asked Mina, who had finished off the Champaign.
"No." said Otto as he gave her his drink, which she took in one shot.
"Murray, MURRAY." said Otto, "Why are you drinking like a fish all of a sudden?"
Mina simply gave him the Newspaper.
"I don't get it"
"The Date"
"Friday the 15th of April 2005, so"
"It's my wedding anniversary."
Otto was silent, as Mina stopped drinking and she rested her chin onto the desk and seamed a little more sober, the effect of the Alcohol seamed to ware off.
"Were you ever married?" she asked him.
"Once, she's dead now." answered Otto, somberly.
"I'm sorry, any kids"
"She was pregnant when she died"
"Ugh, Me and stupid mouth!" said mina as she slapped her forehead.
"It's Okay, I'm over it."
Both were silent for a few seconds, before Otto asked, "So, you're married"
"I used to be, twice"
"And that was when"
"Around the year 1900, my first, I married before I... died, he was a solicitor"
"I take it didn't end well"
"I was dead, how could it end well"
"Point taken," said Otto, "So, you divorced"
"He was killed."
"Did you ever found out who did it?" asked Otto carefully.
"I was there, and I don't want to talk about it." Mina said, very sadly and with a touch of guilt.
"Kids?" asked Otto, wanting to change the subject.
"One, his name was Quincy." said Mina, she seamed to enjoy talking about him, "I wasn't allowed to keep him, my late husband's family feared I'd hurt him, and so did I, for years, from a distance, I had looked at him as he grew up, and watched over his children, and his grand children, I'm even a neighbor of my Great Granddaughter."
Mina smiled faintly, Otto was glad he was cheering her up, while Mina went on to talk about her second husband, who's marriage anniversary coincided with that day.
Jack stood on the balcony, smoking a Cuban cigar and drinking from a glass of Sherry, he looked out at his hometown, Just three blocks away was his father's house, he wondered how old Rodney Skinner III was doing, their last encounter did not go smoothly, but that was many years ago, perhaps things have changed.
His train of thought was severed as Dr Osborn stepped out to join him, "The men are starting a game of Poker in a few minutes, care to join"
"Sure, I could use the money," said Jack.
Osborn was silent for a while, and then stepped closer to lean on the fence, and said, "You have been silent for the evening; I mean you were social enough, but you didn't seem to talk about yourself too much"
"I don't want to bore anyone"
"Well everyone else did, it's only fare I know who Sir Jason Curtis is"
"There's nothing to say, really," said Jack, trying to remember what was in Curtis' dossier, "My ancestor in the mid 19th century had great adventures in Africa, was knighted by the queen and the title was passed down till I inherited it, studied in New York and now I live there most of the time"
"Not much of a fan of memoirs, are you"
"I prefer the future, where our sheet of sins and deeds are white as snow."
Marcie walked into Osborn's study and opened the curtains to let some moonlight in, it was a room filled with bookcases, at one end was a desk with a leather chair behind it, on top of the desk was a great pile of papers, all the drawers in the file cabinet were locked so she picked it with a wire she found and looked in it, finding nothing interesting but a plain ticket for Los Angeles scheduled for a few days later.
She locked the drawer and moved on to examine the papers on the desk, barely able to see, when all of a sudden the man from Biocyte's labs, the one with pale skin and long black hair, walked in and took a pause, standing in place for several seconds suspiciously, Marcie held her breath.
The picked some papers off the table and went to close the curtains, Marcie got of the chair and tip-toed to the door, the man followed her soon as he locked the door.
Jack was last to leave, he stood by the door as Dr Osborn approached him and shook his hand.
"Well Jason, it's been a pleasure." said Osborn.
"Likewise, I hope to repay your hospitality soon"
"That would be great, as soon as I return; I'm leaving the country in a few days on business"
"Enjoy your trip then."
The pale man with long black hair approached them and handed Osborn some papers, saying, "Los Angeles is on the line, sir."
Jack donned his coat as Osborn introduced his assistant, "Sir Jason, this is my Personal assistant, Kraven. Kraven, this is a new friend of mine Sir Jason Curtis."
They shook hands, and Jack didn't help but notice how cold the man's hands were, he just smiled and left.
Marcie fidgeted with the buttons of the stereo, till she fund a station she liked and leaned back, "What was your impression?" she asked as Jack drove home through the streets of London.
"It's not him, he may be involved in the experiment but he's not the mastermind behind the conspiracy, he's too calm"
"That's you professional opinion then"
"Yes it is, and don't sell it short, I blackmailed enough people to get the queen to change the national anthem into 'God Save the Queen'3 by the Sex Pistols. Did you find anything?"
"He's leaving to Los Angeles in a few days, I was looking at some of his papers when some guy walked in, I had to leave or I would have been locked in, did you see him"
"Long black hair and the coldest hands ever? Yes I did"
"Cold hands"
"Yes, cold as the dead in a morgue."
Authoris Notes
1 Otto is recolecting on his demise in Spider-Man 2.
2 The first two charactrs are Spider-Man Villians, the Geen Goblin is in fact Harry Osborn, and the Lizard is Dr Curt Conors, both appear in the above movie. The following charactes, are Super-Heroes from the Marcel Universe.
3 Incase ypou don't get the point, the song goes: God save the queen, she ain't no human being.. etc.
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Not my best work but I've been wrestling with muses.