CHATPER 16: MONSTER MEN
Norman Osborn was not a happy man, Dr. Octavius was loose and there was no telling what was going on. He had to explain the death of that man as the doctor going nuts, the Daily Bugle was already having a field day when it 'leaked' that the doctor had gone insane from improper safe guards he used on his research and killed an innocent by standard.
He himself linked that to the Bugle, it would take the heat off of himself if his company was the 'victim' in this. He already had a few false reports set up and ready for circulation as well as paying off a few employees. It would look like Octavius' accident would have been the result of his 'incompetence' at least this way by the time Octavius shows up no one would believe him, also there wouldn't be many places for him to hide later anyway. Although the police had already been searching for a few days and still no leads as to where the man was hiding.
He was currently in his office taking a glass of bandy he really needed it at the moment. His jacket was already thrown over a chair and he took off his tie and rolled up his sleeves. He sat down and looked at the paper on his desk, another edition of the Daily Bugle with the title 'Vigilante or Villain?' on the cover.
There was an old image of that Spider-Man person again Norman had to admit that Jonah seemed to be a bit obsessive over this person. Although Norman himself had to admit he wouldn't mind a shot at his DNA and see if what he could get out of it. There were a few other stories in here, more of the serial killer that was stalking New York, but what caught his attention was something about explosions that were gang related.
There were reports of a man laughing and flying on some creature that was throwing some type of bombs. A few of the people there had been rumored to been a local crime syndicate men were found with razor sharp bat-like objects in them. Norman knew that it was part of the Goblin weapons that he sent to Fisk and it looks like he was making good use of them as well.
It was no skin off his nose if Fisk was using his company to make war on the streets, he was being paid well and also the fact that if some street scum got wiped out? Well too bad for them being stupid enough to go up against the Kingpin.
Normal pulled up one of his personal files about the new projects. Smyth was doing well on nearly finishing the first generation of Spider Slayers. It was basically a giant robotic black widow spider only this thing was deadly. The younger Smyth who was now confined to a wheelchair had made it a passion. He and his father worked very hard on that and he wanted to complete it. Thinking about that reminded him of his own son and his failings. Why couldn't Harry have that kind of devotion?
Although after doing some digging he had found that his son was friends with one of the mutants in that mansion, one Peter Parker. He had hacked into his son's computer and copied all the e-mails that had gone on between the two. It seemed his son or that MJ girl didn't know that Peter wasn't exactly human. The aunt most likely was although at the moment he could care less. Norman was a firm believer in 'Know thy enemy' he had read The Art of War and memorized it when a young man.
He was driven to turn his company that would rival men like Stark, Shaw and Toomes or any of those other big shots. He was going to become a very powerful person one day it was too bad his son was too weak to take over the family business. He didn't have the intelligence or the drive for it.
The buzzer on his desk sounded as the voice of his secretary chimed in, "Mr. Trask is on line one for you sir."
Norman sighed he pressed the button and picked up the receiver, "Hello Trask what can I do for you?"
In his underground base in New York Trask was on a cell phone in an observation room. It was cold steel all around with computers al over the place as he looked out a full length window. Out side the glass there stood the first of his creations the first ever Sentinel as it was going through construction. "I'm just letting you know that a few of the parts that you promised me are still late."
"I know, that attack at the facility set back what I could make. A lot of those parts have to be made special and the process is long and hard."
"I'm behind my schedule because of that," Trask said looking out at the mostly completed Sentinel. He should have been in the testing phase already. So far there were a few pieces that he needed to have in order for certain things to work. The weapons systems had no cooling units and the processors needed for certain functions weren't installed, not to mention some of the armor and servos as well as various other things.
"I'll get them to you as soon as I can but you also asked for secrecy, if I rush this then I can't promise you as much security."
Trask thought that over on the phone. He needed this operation to move smoothly and he could always use the few mutants he had captured at a preliminary test, they weren't that powerful and could be enough to set the base line for the Sentinel. Then he could start moving up the food chain to more dangerous mutants after that.
"Do what you can then," Trask finally said and turned off the phone.
Norman signed and hung up his phone and massaged his head. He could feel this was going to be one of those days. He finished his drink as he walked back to the cabinet to pour himself one last drink, Trask paid well but the man was frustrating to deal with. Norman was also dealing with all the fallout of that lost factory in Bayville. It was currently being fixed of course but it was expensive and the loss there was a major set back.
But he hoped to gain some ground with the mutants. They were very interesting and he was already making plans to not only attack the mansion but maybe that other group as well. Although from what he saw the more powerful and useful mutants were in that mansion. He was already thinking that maybe the Spider Slayers might not be enough.
He had to capture and contain those mutants, and already a facility was being built to start extracting their DNA. But he would need muscle to help with that, and to guard them. Not just the usual kind either he needed 'specialist' for this. Those that knew how to get things done that was for sure, he thought about a few of the contacts that Kingpin could put him in tough with.
He was just reaching for the bottle when he noticed something strange, the liquid in the bottled moved a bit. He was stunned for a moment and then it happened again, a ripple effect but that only happened with strong vibrations. Then he heard a muffled 'thump' sound soon to be followed by another. They were getting louder and he quickly pressed the security button under his desk.
He had no idea what was going on but something was up that was for sure. He went to the large windows that made up one 'wall' in his office and looked out into the night sky. Suddenly a large metal cylinder shaped thing with three little 'fingers' on it smashed into the bullet proof glass. Norman stumbled back against his desk and quickly ran behind it as another one appeared.
Soon in the light of his office the form of Doctor Octavius came into view. He was in tattered pants and his bare chest you could see the harness that looked fused to his flesh while wearing an old and very worn coat. One of the metallic limbs smashed into the glass shattering it, they were designed to stop anything short of a ballistic missile but they weren't designed for those arms that could smash through them like a truck.
Doctor Octavius walked into the hole and glared at Norman with all the hate in his soul, "You! You did this to me! Look at me Osborn! I'm a freak and you tried to kill me, you sent that man to murder me in my sleep and now they are hunting me instead!"
Norman slowly backed away from him, he never thought that he would actually come after him like this. "I…I have no idea what you're talking about, but I'm sure we can fix this."
"Fix this!" The rage in the doctor's voice was evident, he had spent his time in hiding on the streets. He had no one to turn to and had nothing left, not his old life, his reputation, his work. It was all gone and he was hunted by the police like a monster. "This is fused to my body there is no fixing this! Not to mention everything else that you've done to my life."
It was then that the security guards came into the office through the door, Norman gave a breath of relief but then saw them freeze at the sight, "Don't just stand there! Shoot!"
That got things moving as they drew their side arms and took aim. Octavius used the robotic limbs to grab that desk and use its thick wood as a shield as it stopped the hail of bullets. He threw it at the men as they dived out of the way. Then it was his turn, he used his many new arms to take the weapons and crush them then turned to the guards. He now knew how to control his arms now and he easily threw them around like rag dolls. But they weren't his target and he noticed that Norman wasn't there anymore. "You can run Osborn but you can't hide."
He ran to the open door and through the reception area ignoring the scared young woman who hide behind her desk. He went out through the double doors and managed to catch an elevator closing. He just managed to get a look at Osborn's face as it closed.
Octavius was furious that he let him escape like that and went after him. But then more security guards showed up, he knew they would slow him down but he knew that Norman wouldn't get too far.
Norman was pressing a certain button in the elevator as fast as he could his heart hammering in his chest. He wiped his brow from sweat wondering what to do now? The police were most likely already called but it would take a SWAT team to take him down. He needed to hole up somewhere safe, somewhere where he couldn't get at him.
The special weapons department in the sub-levels would do. Plus the extra Goblin weapons were down there, he could at least defend himself as well. He looked at the numbers lit up and wishing they would hurry. He didn't know how much time he had left and time was running out for him.
Finally the elevator opened up just as he heard metal from above him being twisted. 'Damn it, he's in the elevator shaft. I don't have much time.'
Norman Osborn ran out of the elevator and found a security station. Mainly he just told them to shot whoever came out of the elevator shaft if they wanted to keep their jobs the next day. He quickly ran to down the halls, a few minutes later the sounds of fighting could be heard. He just hoped that they slowed him down or got a lucky shot off.
He was panting heavily for breath by the time he reached one of the security doors. He typed in his personal access code and the door slowly swung open. He cured the designers for making this open so slowly. The sounds of fighting had ended so he took a small change to look down the hall. As soon as the door was opened wide enough he slipped through and then hit the emergency button on the other side that would close it after him.
He just hoped that would hold him. He quickly went to the other security door and typed in the second code. This wasn't as thick so it opened faster then the other one, by the time it opened he jumped as a loud banging noise was heard behind him.
Norman gritted his teeth and jumped into the other room filled with the Goblin weapons. The gliders wouldn't be any good so he grabbed a few of the pumpkin bombs and hit behind one of the larger creates. He waited and it didn't take long for the pounding to turn into this tarring sound like fingernails on the chalkboard only fifty times as loud. The sounds made his teeth hurt and he fought the urge to cover his ears.
After that stopped there was the pounding sound that he guessed were those damn arms. "Come out from hiding Osborn, you're only delaying the inevitable."
"If you insist then!" Norman yelled out and threw out a couple of bombs. Octavius' metal arms blocked most of the explosion but he was sent flying off against a wall. He felt the sting of some shrapnel biting into his thigh and arm. He hissed in pain and glared at Norman's direction in time to see him ready another bomb.
He quickly used two of the arms to grab a large bat-like device as a shield the bombs impacting into it. He could feel the concussive force from the blast and then threw the device at his enemy's position.
Norman jumped out of the way as the bat glider sailed through the air smashing into the crates. He lost one of the bombs in his hands as he watched it roll away from him. He cried out in pain from part of the glider had pinned his legs to the ground. He wasn't sure if they were broken or not but the pain was intense.
He knew that he was dead now if he couldn't move. But he froze in horror as the bomb he lost rolled to a set of canisters. "No…"
The canisters contained a chemical gas that his company had been working on but it had never been perfected yet. He watched as the bomb blew up close to one and he covered his head. The sound of the explosion blew out his ear dumps but he didn't care about that. His hearing would return, instead he saw the green gas start to engulf the armory room.
Dr. Octavius had seen the explosion and was glad hadn't been seen, but the green gas really trouble him. He heard Osborn cry out for help and he guessed that the gas was toxic. He grinned at the thought of leaving him to a slow and hopefully painful death. "Well now Osborn looks like you're in real trouble now, but as much as I'd love to stay and watch I don't think it would be too healthy."
Although he had no way of knowing that at the moment Norman couldn't hear him, he just laughed as he exited the room. He closed the door behind him to not only make sure the gas didn't leak out to him, but to keep it inside. 'Now that that is taken care of I can…can…'
He froze then, he hadn't thought of what to do now. His life was ruined even if Osborn was dead so now what? He would have to think on it, but first he had to escape and see to his injuries. Then he would figure out what to do with his life. 'What can a man do who is a freak? Who is hunted by the law?' He wondered as he went down the hallways looking for an exit.
Back inside the armory Norman Osborn was coughing from the exposure of the gas. His lungs felt like they were burning up inside and soon it spread to his nerves. His last thoughts weren't of his son, there was no flashing of his life before his eyes. All he had was his hatred, for what had happened to letting it end like this.
He saw one of the Hobgoblin like mask that looked like it was laughing at him, at his life. He glared at it as the world started to turn black. Although for a split second…he thought that the mask…turned green.
-New York 25th Precinct-
A tall man with short blond hair, blue eyes wearing a long brown light coat, jeans and a buttoned up shirt walked into the detective's level of the multistory old brick building. The man was on his way to work as he was currently on an important case. Plus he wasn't having a good day either his daughter was in trouble again at school for starters.
Ever since her mother passes away she had been getting more and more rebellious, he tried his best but when you were a cop it was hard to find time some days to spend with her. He shifted his shoulder holster where his firearm was as he got back into the job. He would worry about her later as he passed the desks some with other detectives some without.
He saw someone making a fresh pot of coffee although personally it wasn't much better then that crap from the machine in the hall. Most people didn't realize that cops drank so much coffee was because of all the long hours and what they dealt with left them drained sometimes.
Plus it was habit forming too as well. He moved past some of the few that still smoked regardless of the no smoking signs. Even cops didn't enforce every law, most people didn't even know of the lesser known ones like how in one state it was illegal to have sex outside of marriage for crying out loud. Although he wouldn't mind that if his daughter would obey that law if she had to obey at least one.
He went into a small room with desks lined up facing the front and he saw on the wall a collage of photos, file pages with certain things underlined or highlighted. He saw a few people there working off in the corner as he looked at the images.
He hated this part of the job, the photos were the things of nightmares. Men and women brutally killed there from the crime scene photos. They were still trying to find a pattern or a connection. For a over a month now they were trying to track down this new serial killer but he didn't seem to have any real calling card.
This guy just seems to be totally random at times, and his methods changed. Some of the people here were just suspected because this guy didn't fit the usual profile. It was strange but then again he and a few other detectives were on the case. Even the FBI had gotten involved although both sides didn't much care for each other. Mainly the usual pissing contest that went between them and he could see why. The cops didn't like someone looking over their shoulder or working in their territory. The FBI kind of looked down at the cops and wouldn't always be so forth coming.
It was times like this that detective George Stacy wondered if she should have gone into another line of work. "Hey George how's it going?" He looked over to see Smith a slightly overweight cop in plain clothing like him.
"Could be better, anything from those samples from the last one?" Stacy asked him, they went back a few years. They met up back when he had just been promoted to detective and Smith was over forty and looking forward to retirement.
"Hell no, what is finished is just crap." He sighed as sat his heavy and balding body down, "Although did you hear about that new detachment being made?"
"What new detachment?"
The man sat back and crossed his arms, "Well you know with all the weird crap going on. That devil guy in Hell's Kitchen, that cloak guy with the pretty girl in another part of New York, plus that freak in white that put those punks in the hospital last week." He was referring to how lately people seemed to be coming out of the woodwork now in costumes.
Stacy knew that more would most likely be showing up later too. Plus wasn't there someone about giant lizard monsters in that town of Bayville a while back? Plus those Siren girls too? It just seemed that the entire world had gone nuts.
"Yeah and let's not forget about that Spider guy too," Smith added as an after thought. "I hear they're going to send a few people down to that Bayville place with all the crap going on there as well and set up a special task force up here."
"Why?" This was from the newest detective there who had gotten his promotion last month. "I mean these guys are sure making our job easier."
"They're vigilantes kid," Stacy said to her sternly crossing his arms. He was never a fan of those that took the law into their own hands. Although ever since these masked guys started showing up this had been going on. Officially the police were to apprehend them for questioning but some of them didn't really want to do that. It was a dangerous world out there and if someone was helping to keep the streets clean without spilling blood all over the place then some would turn a blind eye to it.
"Oh lord here we go again," Smith rolled his eyes, personally he was sick of this. "Can we please put this on hold? In case you all forgot we got one sick freak out there carving people up."
Stacy had to admit he was right as he looked at the photos. Just want kind of monster did this to people?
NEXT UP CHAPTER 17: FAMILY PART 1