Reticence Saga
Severed Web
Chapter 2: Wolf-Bat
Author's note: (Underline indicates narration and fantasies.)
"Another day at SHIELD Academy for your friendly neighborhood Spider-Man. But today, we've got some new people from out of town. And by 'town', I mean solar system. Or galaxy. Or universe. I'm not really sure which. But let's meet our new roomies. First, we've got Matt..."
The door opened in time for the head of a training drone to fly out. Inside the room, Matt was using his ion blade and a blaster to rather deadly effect, always seeming to move out the way of shots a split second before they were fired. And judging from how many drone parts were lying around, Matt had been in there for quite a while.
"Hmm...we'll get back to him," said Spider-Man, shutting the door. "And we've got new girls around here, which is definitely something the other guys have noticed. First, we've got Chloe and Kala, Matt's sister and girlfriend respectively."
Spider-Man walked by to see Nova floating in front of Chloe and Kala. "Hey ladies, anyone ever shown you the brightest star in the galaxy?" asked Nova, trying to sound impressive.
"I'm guessing Nova didn't read the memo about the new guys, again," said Spider-Man.
Kala said "Really?" in a warning tone.
"And some of you are wondering, is Nova really that bad with girls? Well, not as Sam Alexander, but the superhero business does make dating unnecessarily complicated."
"You know, I already have a boyfriend..." said Chloe warningly, her eyes glowing amber.
"Wait, really?" asked Nova.
"How many times have I told you to read memos?" asked Spider-Man, "We don't just hand them out to play wastepaper basketball with."
"Yes, the memo would have said that me and my boyfriend are werewolves," said Chloe, grinning with teeth that included rather sharp canines.
"And that Matt gets super-violent with anyone who makes a move on his girlfriend," said Kala, her eyes literally burning.
Nova gulped at that before saying, "I think I hear Fury calling." before flying off.
Spider-Man moved towards the canteen. "And last is Silvana. She's got some...strange food habits," he said, opening the door to show Silvana happily chewing on the food tray.
"Uh, you know you're supposed to eat the food on the tray, not the tray itself," said Agent Venom.
"But this metal's so nice," said Silvana, throwing the last piece into her maw and chewing.
"Uh, actual food is more nutritious," said Agent Venom.
"Not for me. Good ore makes for healthy scales," said Silvana happily, before looking at Venom's empty drinks can. "You gonna eat that?" she asked. Agent Venom slowly held it out at arm's length.
Chris walked in at that, looking annoyed and in werewolf form.
"And this is...um...er...um..." Spider-Man stumbled at that.
"Chris Anderson," said Chris in an annoyed voice.
"Right, Chris, Chloe's boyfriend...who's also a werewolf..."
Chris paused. "Who are you talking to?" he said, sniffing suspiciously.
"Uh...nobody," said Spider-Man.
"Are you one of those self-narrating types?" asked Chris.
"Yeah...it's just something I do," said Spider-Man.
Chris pausing, "Fine by me. Regular weirdness is a nice change."
"So anyways, these guys are here because some of their teammates have been stranded on Earth. Unfortunately, one of them is Lady NegaMorph, one of the various bad guys that I've crossed paths with."
"Seriously, I've heard narrating. Who are you talking to?" snapped Chris.
"Do you mind sticking your grandma-what-a-big-nose-you-have somewhere else?" asked Spider-Man.
Chris glared before saying, "You're lucky I already ate." before stalking off
"Hey, at least you're not being shunned by everyone," said Silvana.
"Yeah, except no one knows me as anything more than 'Chloe's boyfriend'," said Chris in an annoyed tone.
"Don't your fellows say that recognition is a good way to get shot?" said Silvana.
"There's a lot of area between making yourself a target and being a wallflower," said Chris before adding, "But there's nothing wrong with you being a wallflower."
"Thank you," said Silvana, "What's a wallflower?" Chris sighed, before tensing up. "Did you hear something?" asked Silvana.
"Get the others. We're going to Pier 31," he said, getting up.
"Where's that?" asked Silvana.
"Just...get the others," said Chris, sounding aggravated.
"So, what's the big emergency?" said Matt.
Chris glared and said, "There's a problem. There's still some NSC here and they're calling for help. Looks like a lockup's under attack."
"Wait, I thought the base under the coffee shop was the only one," said Kala.
"You know the expression 'don't put all your eggs in one basket'?" asked Chris, "It's a Disperse Inc facility, my old corp. Looks like their contract is hazardous artifacts."
"As if there isn't enough of that here," said Matt.
"Look, it's just a waystation; joint run between the Combine and us. Any artifacts are stored there and taken to their lockup," said Chris, before snapping, "So let's get there and stop that damn attack."
"You do remember that we're not supposed to leave this place without an escort, right?" asked Silvana.
"What Fury doesn't know won't hurt us," said Chloe.
"How the hell did he find out?" muttered Matt as the group were marched into Fury's office.
"I have to deal with an academy full of super-powered teens who sneak off all the time. You think you can away that easily?" asked Fury.
"Look, we need to get there. Something to make the waystation hit the panic button'll go through anyone here like it's not even there," snapped Matt.
"What's so important about this waystation?" asked Fury.
"We don't know, precisely, but there is bound to be something in there that's very dangerous in the wrong hands and we can't afford to waste a lot of time," said Chris.
"It's a waystation for an acquisition and containment team. The inventory will change weekly, bet that pier gets alot of UFO reports," said Matt.
"So, for all you know, there's a doomsday weapon being stored there right now," said Fury.
"Could be doomsday weapons, could be the recipe for some Atlantean scientist's sandwich," said Matt.
Chloe snapped, "We agreed to never mention that."
"Point is, we need to get there now," said Matt.
Fury gave him an evaluating look before saying, "Fine, but Spider-Man goes with you." He thought a second more before saying, "Cloak and Dagger as well."
"Deal but they do not go into the facility with us. We got training for this stuff, they do not," said Matt.
Being so secret that the locals don't even know about it, the defense force at the Disperse Inc. waystation were rather confident they didn't have a lot to worry about. So suddenly being assaulted en masse was very surprising.
"Keep down!" yelled the squad leader, a force of ragged-looking aliens all firing at once from cover at them.
"How did these raiders even find us?" yelled another guard, before a tazer shot shocked him out cold.
"If somebody ratted us out..." growled another guard before he got hit by three tranq darts.
"Shit...fall back! Fall back!" yelled the squad leader, firing a burst that turned two of the raiders to dust.
Matt fell to the roof, gagging. "No...more...Cloak...travel..." he said weakly.
"Oh, it's not as bad as NegaMorph's shadow travel," said Chloe. Matt glared at Chloe, her smile getting faker before her cheeks bulged and she ran out of sight.
The group looked down to see a ship that looked like it was made of junk and guns, and 2 dozen aliens firing into the open pier hanger. There were also a couple of police cars down there, most of them wrecked. Police officers could be seen lying in the streets.
"Stunners, the base AI will be programmed to melt down if the team on site all die. Those guys'll be shooting to sleep," said Matt, transforming to anthro form. "Let's see em handle me," he said, spreading his wings.
"Are you scales bulletproof?" asked Dagger.
"Never tested..." said Matt, jumping off the roof and spitting a plasma orb that sent several raiders flying, a few of the other raiders turning and firing blue bolts that knocked chunks out of the walls they hit.
"Mercs...switch to lethal." yelled their leader
"Mercs?" asked Matt, sidetracked by the word for a moment.
A second later, a far larger yellow bolt knocked him back, the raider ship taking off, its main cannon glowing from the shot before it flew after Matt, firing tracer rounds from its smaller turrets.
"Ok, now I'm annoyed," said Matt before firing at the ship. The plasma bolt hit something a few feet from the ship, ricocheting into a luckily empty apartment. "Oh nuts," muttered Matt, the ship firing again, Matt trying to block it, only for the bolt to hit him again.
"Uh, shouldn't we be helping?" asked Silvana.
"Matt can handle one old corvette. We got those guys to worry about," snapped Chloe, transforming and jumping down, landing on a luckless merc, the wounds from his fellows' shots visibly healing as fast as they were made before she grabbed him and threw him in a wall. A couple of web shots immobilized other mercs as the team jumped down to join the fray.
"We got specifics! Shit!" snapped the leader, several of the mercs running into the base, the others moving with practice, a few dodging a few webshots the same way Matt had dodged the drone shots.
Silvana was finding it easy to snatch the guns out of the mercs' hands, ramshackle as they were. She took a bite of one before spitting out. "Bleh, too much rust," she said.
A second later, she was knocked back from a hail of red laser bolts, the remaining mercs laughing, before backing off, three larger figures walking slowly forward, one holding something with a red glow. "This isn't your business, heroes," said the lead one, "Find someplace else to fight."
"Oh, that's just cheating," muttered Chloe, the one on the right, saying "They stay." pointing at Chris and Chloe, adding "The NSC has a bounty for their heads."
"What am I? Chopped liver?" asked Kala.
"No, you're mincemeat," said the middle one before firing at her.
Kala yelped, trying to fly up before screaming as the bolts peppered her wings. "Even dragons can get their wings clipped," said the leader smugly.
"They're not leaving. Take em," sneered the last one, the three charging.
It was rather annoying to have access to your old plasma powers and then face something that's shielded against plasma attacks. That meant that Matt had to go through a different strategy.
"Shitshitshit!" yelped Matt, shots shooting around him as the corvette tried to blast him out the sky, Matt luckily proving a better dodger then they were aimers. "Can't believe I'm running for my life from a junkship," said Matt.
A second later, another of the yellow energy blasts shot past him and removed a few floors from a delict building, before the ship veered off, heading into the city proper. "Oi...we're not finished!" yelled Matt, tipping his wings to follow. The ship was now using its lasers to shave the roofs off a few buildings. "Hey! It's me you're fighting! Not them!" snapped Matt.
The ship flew around a corner before pulling into a hover, an identical gun to the upper yellow cannon folding own and aiming at a family. "NO!" yelled Matt, swooping down on reflex, and being blasted square in the back and into the tarmac, the cannon firing repeatedly.
"Warning...armor at 40% and dropping...energy will pierce scales," said the armor's Atlantean VI calmly.
"Cheap shot," growled Matt, "Bringing innocents into the fight just to get my guard down." He yelled up at the ship, "This is low even for you!" The response from another shot, causing Matt to yell in anger.
However, the bystanders realized Matt was defending him and were shouting words of encouragement toward Matt. Matt twitched, Sokaris's scale color forming from his hands and up his arms, before he yelled as one final shot pierced his armor, throwing him forward, a smoking wound in his back. The ship moved slowly for one good shot, before a very angry roar was heard and the ship tipped forward
One of the mercs onboard turned another and asked, "What was that?" Just then, a large green fist punched through the roof.
Matt looked up to see… "Oh...the Hulk...why are the nanites not healing me?" he said in a drunk voice, as the ship span out of control, before its hull glowed and a pulse of blue threw the Hulk back. "I probably ought to help. Are my arms still attached?" asked Matt.
"You ok, soldier?" said a voice that made the addled Matt think of apple pie for some reason.
"Just give me a cup of tea and I'll be right as rain," said Matt, sounding a little delirious.
A hand grabbed his arm, helping him up. "Are you ok to fight?" asked the voice, before Matt's eyes finally focused as the nanites went to work curing his concussion.
"Just...just give me a second," said Matt, sounding more lucid. Matt shook his head one last time before focusing on… "You...you're Captain America..." he said, in a small voice.
"Yeah, I know," said Captain America.
"And if you're here, and Hulk's up there, that must mean the rest of the Avengers are here, right?" asked Matt.
He turned to see several of the mercs fast dropping down from the damaged corvette, some aiming. "Hand over Lynch!" yelled one of them, aiming an ion rifle.
"Considering what you did to draw him out, I don't think you deserve him," said Captain America.
The mercs looked at once another before aiming, before one of them was frozen from the neck down from an arrow, another aiming to shoot before a blue beam knocked him on his butt. The last one backed up, into a woman who proceeded to judo flip the unlucky splitter into a lamp post.
"Damn...respect," muttered Matt.
Matt looked up and said, "All that's missing is-" Then a thunderbolt shot down and blasted several mercs.
"Villains, you include innocents in your fight?" called Thor, landing, the splitter getting up unsteadily.
"I'm...not scared of you or your lightning," it said, its claws crackling.
"Then fear Mjollnir," said Thor before throwing his legendary hammer at the splitter.
The splitter managed an "Oh sh-" before he was knocked into the wall behind him, which cracked. "Ok...you win," it rasped.
"This...is...awesome..." said Matt, completely overcome.
One merc staggered up, drawing a pistol at that. However, that one was soon flattened by a thrown shield ricocheting off him. Matt span in time for Captain America to catch his shield, Matt's eyes practically shining in hero worship awe. "So...cool..." he said faintly.
However, he was shaken out of his revelry when the corvette fired upon Captain America. His shield could take the hit, but it did knock him backwards a bit.
Matt twitched, slowly turning. "Oh, you didn't just do that," he said, his eyes glowing with plasma control, and finding he could sense the ship's weapons and reactor now.
"Oh shit! Get the shield back NOW!" yelled the co-pilot on the corvette...before Matt's plasma control sucked every piece of energy out of it, Matt looking like he was breathing in.
"I thought he just absorbed plasma, not drain it," said one merc.
"We lost the pulsar...oh no," said another, before a green fist peeled the roof off.
"Erm...parley?" said the same merc weakly.
"Is...is Hulk actually getting in there?" asked Matt as the green behemoth was squeezing his way in.
"He was knocked several city blocks. He...probably has some anger to work out," said a voice, Matt turning to see who had probably shot the arrows, Matt wincing as several yells were heard, a few Hulk roars and quite a few dents, the corvette finally crashing down, a few of the crew jumping out and running for it.
"Well, it ain't my ship," said Matt, "In fact, I wouldn't be caught dead driving it."
The captain jumped out at that, running up to Matt and falling to his knees in front of the surprised Matt and Avengers. "Mercy! It was nothing personal! She said to keep you all busy!" he yelped.
"She who? Who hired you? Was it Tenebra?" asked Matt.
"No, some local girl. She had contact details," yelped the pilot.
"Only one girl that could be," said Matt with a growl.
"You know who sent these jokers?" said Hawkeye.
"Lady NegaMorph...wait...did he say he was distracting us? Oh no," Matt said, trying to take off and wincing.
The three armored troopers were proving to be a little harder to hurt then expected, having taken several blows and kept going. "Don't these things have any weakspots?" asked Spider-Man, trying to web their legs together.
The trooper staggered before tearing it off and aiming a swing with the hammer in its hand, only for some sparks from Dagger's weapons to draw its attention. "You ain't gettin into this, wall crawler," it sneered before turning to face Dagger, Spider-Man noticing some sort of canister clamped into the back, in the center of a turn wheel.
"Hmm, that looks important," said Spider-Man before fastening a webline onto the canister. The device popped out with a hiss, the armor seeming to seize up before the back opened and an anthro saber tooth fell out. "Huh, guess not all the saber tooth cats went extinct," said Spider-Man.
The cat jumped up, drawing a serrated blade. "Die human!" it snapped, only for Spider-Man to web it up.
"Guys, pull out the canisters in their backs," he called.
For Silvana, it was easy as stretching out her hand. The last one was stopped when Cloak teleported behind him, the two armors opening up to let in order, a surprised falcon alien and a human with a cybernetic eye.
"Not so tough without your tech, are you?" asked Chris.
The two of them smirked. "We did our job," the falcon said, as a shuttle lifted into view behind the base and flew off.
"What was that?" asked Chloe.
"I think we just got punked," said Chris, the shuttle disappearing from sight behind a building, before he ran into the building.
The NSC troopers inside were all out cold, the far doors melted.
Chris knelt by one door, looking at its edges. "Oh no..." he muttered, looking at the file notes, and noting the doors melted lock. "Guys!" he called.
"How bad is it?" asked Kala, still wincing from her wings healing.
"This is tech from DC-919, genetic tech," said Chris grimly.
"Wait? DC as in..." asked Chloe before pausing, looking towards Spider-Man, Cloak, and Dagger, before lowering her voice and whispering, "The other comics?"
"Yeah, Neo-Gotham, nasty tech. Sort of thing the NSC would vaporize," said Chris.
"Seems like a very irresponsible thing to leave here of all places," said Chloe.
"This is a waypoint. It was scheduled to be shipped to a disposal facility tomorrow," said Chris angrily.
"And now it's in the hands of whoever," said Kala.
"Oh, we know who," said Chris, pointing at the melted edges.
Chloe peered at it before sniffing. "Megan," she snarled.
"Does she even know what she has?" asked Silvana.
"Definitely. This is the only melted door," said Chris.
Chloe sniffed and said, "You sure she took everything? I think I smell something."
Chris sighed. "I'll check it," he said, getting up. He walked into the room, alert for any nasty surprises Megan might have left. "Huh...what am I saying? She wouldn't lay traps for me. Mr. Nobody..." he muttered, walking in to see, of all things, a laboratory, several devices in parts on various tables, and a canister of orange fizzing liquid on one.
"Huh, why would she leave that one?" asked Chris. He picked it up, just as a left over merc, left behind took aim at him. However, the cocking of his gun was picked up by Chris's sharp ears. Chris turned, still holding the vial as the merc fired, the shot going through the vial and into Chris, which just annoyed him. "Not silver, big mistake," growled Chris.
The merc was about to fire again before he was hit by several web orbs, gluing him to the wall. "I had him!" snarled Chris.
"Then when were you going to get around to it?" asked Spider-Man.
"He was mine," snarled Chris, his eyes glowing.
"Whoa, easy there," said Chloe.
"He took my prey," snarled Chris angrily before storming out.
Chloe turned to Spider-Man and said, "When werewolves get worked up, they get a little more feral. Tend to think in terms of 'prey' or 'predator'. And you...kinda stole his prey. I'll speak to him though. It's not like him."
"Sure..." said Spider-Man, backing away.
"Don't worry. If he was gonna kill you, he'd have jumped you," said Chloe in the world's worst attempt to calm someone.
"I think I'll check on those prisoners now," said Spider-Man.
"Ok, I'll check on Chris." said Chloe, walking after Anderson. "Chris, wait up," called Chloe.
Chris turned to glare at her. "Oh, someone finally remembers I exist," he snarled angrily.
"What is this about?" asked Chloe.
"I actually saw my file in the Triskelion: 'alien crew'," snarled Chris.
"And?" asked Chloe.
"That's it!" snapped Chris, "The only other thing anyone knows about me is that I'm your boyfriend."
Chloe sighed. "Chris, that's stupid, really, really stupid. You almost ate Spider-Man," she snapped.
"At least people would remember it!" snapped Chris.
"Are you even hearing yourself?" asked Chloe.
"Yeah, we're supposed to both be the alphas..." snapped Chris, pushing Chloe back.
"What point is there in being alphas without a pack? And don't even try to suggest we make a pack," said Chloe.
"I'm just your shadow," snarled Chris.
"I know how that feels." Both Chloe and Chris jumped in surprise to see Cloak hovering next to them.
"You do?" said Chris.
"Easy to not be noticed when you're mostly a cloak and shadows," said Cloak, "And people pay more attention to Dagger than to me."
"I usually just stay on the ship. This is the most action I've seen in months," snarled Chris.
"Maybe you ought to go out and do something together," said Dagger, stepping behind Cloak.
Chloe and Chris both said "What?"
"You know, have some fun, go on a date, go clothes shopping," said Dagger.
"Dagger, you are aware I'm a guy, right?" asked Chris flatly.
"Then go on a date with Chloe," said Dagger, adding, "You're in New York. Have some fun."
"You know, Chris, you could use a wardrobe update," said Chloe.
"Hey..." said Chris.
"You want to get noticed? Then how about wearing something that doesn't make you look like just another space marine?" asked Chloe.
"Fine..." snarled Chris angrily. He turned to Dagger and hissed, "I blame you for this."
Dagger said with a smile, "You wanted to be noticed."
Matt was kinda expecting a bit of gratitude from Fury for stopping those mercs before someone innocent got hurt. However, that wasn't exactly what he got. "These guys are saying you have some sort of bounty on you...one they looked to collect," said Fury icily.
"It wouldn't have been easy for them to have followed me here," said Matt, "There's a...time difference between our universes."
Fury ignored that comment at that, "You were lucky they were bad shots. It was rush hour."
"Hey, I always cover for bystanders," said Matt, "I took several shots for them. My first priority is leading them away from where people could be hurt."
Fury paused at that, looking at the report from Captain America. "Cap vouches for that...but should we expect any more visitors?"
"That would...be facing incredible odds at least," said Matt, "Any people following me would take far too long. They'd have to be already waiting for me here. And I don't think that would be possible."
"Ok, that's a relief. That ship, what's left of it, Connors said it coulda flattened the city with those power levels on that gun," said Fury.
Matt nodded "Lucky it was part plasma. My advice: fill it in with concrete. I assume the NSC crew are ok."
"They were already gone, if that's supposed to confirm it," said Fury, "My team couldn't find anyone or anything."
"Standard procedure in a breach at these waystations: seal the facility and use holocloaks to hide in the general populace till a cleaner team arrives from command. I'd advise keeping the pier clear. DARKRIFT'll certainly have teams. They'll clear house, destroy the dangerous tech and leave..." said Matt.
"Then all that's left is figuring out what, if anything, went missing and who has it," said Fury.
"I assure you, if anything's missing, me and my team are the best equipped," said Matt, adding, "Or we would be if someone hadn't nuked our ship..."
"From what I've heard, weren't these formulas supposed to be more cosmetic?" asked Gary.
"Not exactly..." said Lady NegaMorph evilly, "It's less...extreme then Doctor Octavius's serums but they're just as effective. Bird mutagen grants flight, snake grants poisonous fangs, and they stay sentient..."
"Er, maybe you should test it before making your army," said Gary.
"Why should I?" asked Lady Nega.
"Because I don't think there are dosage instructions," said Gary.
Lady Nega looked at the injector guns. "Good point. Oh look, a test subject," she said evilly, looking at the unconscious merc.
"Megan, this is getting too far," said Gary.
"It's already gone too far," said Lady Nega, "Why stop now?" She turned to glare at Gary. "Someone will get a shot. It can easily be you. Now help me choose a serum," she said, taking the data crystals, "I'm going to read the notes."
"Er, yes, dear," said Gary nervously.
Chris meanwhile wasn't feeling too good, sweating a little as he and Chloe walked down the street, both in human form.
"You ok?" asked Chloe, noticing Chris's sweating.
"I'm...I'm fine...let's get something to eat," said Chris, shaking his head.
Chloe felt his forehead and said, "You feel a bit hot. Maybe we should get you a cold drink."
"Yeah...yeah," said Chris, the two walking into a small cafe, Chris pausing "Urgh...could really use a nice rare steak"
"Let's wait until later," said Chloe.
"Really...need something...to eat…" said Chris, sounding a little breathless.
"Chris, keep it together," said Chloe, "We'll get you some lunch." Chris nodded, his hands shaking a bit before he steadied them
"And look over there, a New York-style hotdog vendor," said Chloe. She looked at the sausages with a dubious look before muttering, "Desperate times call for desperate measures."
"Two do...dooo...sausages in buns please," said Chloe.
"Ya want anything on it?" asked the hotdog vendor.
"Everything," said Chris.
"Brave one, aren't ya?" said the hotdog guy.
"Just give it," said Chris darkly, taking the offered hot dog and demolishing it, to Chloe's shock.
"Napkin?" asked the hotdog guy weakly.
"More," said Chris with a guttural snarl, licking up the ketchup before spitting it out.
The hotdog quickly handed over a dog and backed away. "It's on the house," he said as he started wheeling his hotdog cart away.
Chris glared at Chloe before guzzling the hot dog down. "Miiine..." he snarled.
Chloe sighed, "I'll get you a pig heart next full moon." She glanced at her watch. She had recently gotten a watch designed for fishermen that tells the phase of the moon as well as the time. "Hmm...weird...he shouldn't be like this..." she muttered.
Just then, they heard a meowing sound. They both turned to see an alley cat looking at the scraps hungrily. Chris turned to snarl, before running at the cat, which just looked at him, before Chloe tackled Chris down.
"Ok, Chris, I'm taking a rain check on this date until you settle down," said Chloe.
"No..." snarled Chris.
Chloe sighed before punching Chris between the eyes. She pulled out the shield communicator she'd been given as Chris went over. "Guys, I think somethings wrong with Chris," she said.
"Let me guess, he didn't like the clothes you picked out for him," said Spider-Man jokingly.
"No, he just tried to chase a cat...and he ate two NYC hotdogs...with all the toppings," said Chloe.
"Ok, that's not normal. Well, human-normal. I don't know about werewolf-normal," said Spider-Man.
"Not werewolf normal either..." said Chloe, looking at Chris, in time for him to tackle her. "Chris, knock it off. We're in public," said Chloe in an annoyed tone.
"Mine…" snarled Chris, his mouth revealing fangs.
Chloe backed away, actually unnerved by those sharp teeth. Chris also paused, before running for it into the alley. "Chris, wait!" called Chloe. Chris turned, before shrieking at Chloe, before jumping over the far wall.
Chloe got on her communicator again and said, "Ok, there is definitely something wrong with Chris and I don't think it's just moon fever."
Later...
"Ok...we keep this in-house," said Matt, looking at Chloe and Kala.
"As small a circle as possible," agreed Chloe.
"Yeah, we find him, we sedate him and drag him back here," said Matt.
"Do we know where he's going?" asked Kala.
"Somewhere that he can feed at," said Chloe, "Probably a butcher shop or two."
"Are you saying my sister's dating a vampire?" asked Matt, his eye twitching.
Chloe slapped him at that. "Focus! This is not the time for UNDEAD!" she snapped.
"Let's try to figure out what's going on with Chris," said Kala.
"He did seem to act weird after you stopped those space mercs," said Spider-Man.
The group jumped at that, Matt spinning, "IS THIS 'GIVE MATT A HEART ATTACK' DAY?"
"Relax, I'm here to help with Chris," said Spider-Man.
"How do you know there's something wrong with Chris?" demanded Chloe.
"Uh, because you called me right after he started freaking out," said Spider-Man. Matt turned to glare at Chloe at that, who looked embarrassed. "Don't worry, I can keep a secret. Ask Harry," said Spider-Man.
"Fine..." said Matt suspiciously.
Chloe said, "We need to be careful. Even in his state, he'll still have NSC flash training."
"And he'll be a lot less reluctant to eat Spidey than us," said Matt.
"Say what now?" asked Spider-Man.
"Nothing," said Chloe, before saying, "He was heading east. Unfortunately, all we can do is wait for a police report." before tuning her wrist comp, and the sound of police broadcasts coming out
"I didn't know your communicators could tap police broadcasts," said Spider-Man.
"Actually, it's a SHIELD-issue one," said Chloe, "You didn't know they could do that?"
"But that's-" began Matt till Chloe kicked his shin.
"Are you guys always like this?" asked Spider-Man.
"You're an only child, aren't you?" asked Matt.
On cue, Chloe's comp beeped with a message. "All units in vicinity of central park, 10-91V in progress. Repeat...vicious animal sighted in Central park...all units to aid animal control," said the dispatch.
"Well, unless it's another animal-based supervillain, I think that's Chris," said Chloe.
"Either way, we probably should respond to that," said Spider-Man.
"Yeah...before Fury finds out," said Matt
The group landed in central park, Kala giving Chloe a lift to see a few smashed police cars, lights in the distance indicative of a police cordon. "Ok, we're on the right track," said Matt, noticing pawprints on the ground.
Laughter was heard at that from the bushes before a laser bolt knocked Matt on his side, a dart falling to the grass with a bent needle. Matt raised an eyebrow and asked, "What was that?"
"Lady wants to get you," said a rasping voice.
"Uh, I think this guy isn't Chris," said Kala. A hunched figure ran out with a mad laugh at that, Chloe trying to shock him, only for the guy to dodge it, his body hunched in the shadows.
"This is where night vision comes in handy," said Spider-Man, tapping the eyes of his mask to make them glow. What he saw was an anthropomorphic hyena of all things, in the ragged remains of the merc armor from the pier. "Uh, you guys have night vision too? Because you're not gonna believe me if I tell you," said Spider-Man.
"I can smell cat." said Matt, before gulping.
"Actually, hyenas are neither cats or dogs. While they're more closely related to cats than to dogs, their closest relatives are actually meerkats and mongooses," said Spider-Man, pulling down a chart to illustrate that.
The hyena merc actually paused in confusion at that, allowing Matt to clock him on the jaw. "Keep narrating. You're breaking his brain," he called, before the hyena merc jumped on his back and bit down on his wing.
"Considering a hyena's jaw strength is enough to break ostrich eggshells and giraffe bones, I think we need to get him off Matt," said Spider-Man before shooting webbing at the hyena merc.
The hyena yelped, staggering back before leaping into the shadows again, the park allowing the hyena-like laughter to come from everywhere at once. "You can't beat me, child. I was fighting monsters from your nightmares before you were borrrn…" he laughed.
"You haven't seen my nightmares," said Spider-Man.
The laughter got louder at that, more genuine. "Don't make me laugh..." the merc said, before Spider-Man's spider sense rang like a bell, Spider-Man dodging just as the merc lunged at him, backhanding Chloe across the jaw as she leapt, sending her into a tree, where she slid to the floor, whining.
"Oh, now you've started it," said Kala before making fire leap up where the hyena was standing. The hyena turned before jumping out the way, clawing her sides. Kala snarled before breathing fire at the hyena.
"Kala, watch it!" yelped Spider-Man, as the dry grass ignited as the hyena danced around her shots laughing. He shot a few freeze webs at the fires, which thankfully snuffed them out.
A second later, a blast hit Kala, causing her to glare and spit more fire, her horns getting small pilot lights that started to flow down. "Ok, that's cool. Probably not a good thing, but cool," said Spider-Man. Kala growled more, her hands bursting into flames next as another shot stung her, before her eyes turned a bright orange. "Uh, Matt, shouldn't you calm your girlfriend down?" asked Spider-Man.
Matt who was taking potshots at the hyena looked over. "Oh no...Kala, not a good time to do your impression of the Human Torch," he said, running over, the hyena, unnoticed, dragging Chloe off.
Kala snarled at Matt, the air around her becoming uncomfortably hot. "Kala, it's me, happy thoughts," said Matt desperately.
"Specific happy thoughts," called Spider-Man, "Try to make her remember good times."
"Kala...erm...remember when...erm...this is harder than I thought," said Matt with worry.
"Matt..." said Spider-Man with worry, the grass around Kala starting to ignite.
"Remember that beach on Avalar, the one where we had fun after Keenai lost her claim for me," said Matt. Kala glared, grabbing Matt and lifting him up, Matt rasping "Remember when we went...to...the future...and saw...kiiiiids..." he gasped
Kala paused in mid-snarl. "Kidsss..." she hissed.
"Yeah...and...if you choke...me...to death...no kids..." rasped Matt, his scales turning a little too blue. The flames around Kala started to die down as her grip relaxed.
Matt fell to the ground, coughing, before Kala said "You...no...die..." before she turned to glare at Spider-Man "You...can...die…" she hissed.
"Uh, no need for dying here," said Spider-Man, "Me friend. Me help Kala."
"You...physicals...so...smart..." snarled Kala, readying a fireball.
"Not your enemy! Not your enemy!" yelped Spider-Man.
Kala's eyes narrowed, readying a throw, before Matt got in the way, "No frying my friends, honey."
"Not frying, charring," growled Kala. She paused before adding "And why did you call me a physical plane consumable?"
Matt sighed, "Oh, god, it's Drax all over again. Dear, please don't kill anyone...except the hyena."
"The hyena..." growled Kala before looking around, "Where did he go?"
Matt and Spider-Man looked around, before Matt noticed a Chloe-shaped hole near the tree...and some drag marks, his own eyes starting to glow. "Oh, he is DEAD!" he snarled, his voice getting a similar echo to Kala's.
The hyena merc's warped mind wasn't capable of much complex thoughts, but it did know a good opportunity when he saw one. Chloe, duct taped-up good and proper, glared. "My brother's gonna peel you like a grape," she snarled, before noticing the hyena pulling out an injector full of orange liquid. "That's not a bottle of Orange Crush, is it?" asked Chloe.
"No...boss said you need to learn to laugh," giggled the hyena.
"No thanks. I have a good sense of humor already," said Chloe nervously before giving a very unconvincing laugh.
The hyena paused, before starting to walk forward. "Needs work," he said, before a shriek stole his attention, coming from above. Chloe also looked up, even as she was trying to claw the tape off of her. The hyena noticed that. "Not yet," he snapped, running towards her, before...something grabbed him, his screams cut off with a crack and a slurping noise.
"Ok, that's not a good sign," said Chloe. Just then, something landed in front of her, some tall, dark, and furry. "Chris? Is that you?" asked Chloe. Her nose was picking up Chris's scent, but something was off about it.
The thing turned to glare with white eyes, a pair of wings visible...before it threw the definitely dead merc aside. Living people had more blood.
"Chris?" asked Chloe nervously. The figure stepped forward towards where there was more light. It was Chris in werewolf form...a heavily modified werewolf form. For starters, he had a pair of bat wings growing from his arms and his ears were a lot larger. There was also the fact that his muzzle was shorter, with a large leaf-shaped nose on it and there was a lot of drool trailing from his sharp fangs.
"Oh shit, the genetic Kool-Aid. That's what you were covered with?" snapped Chloe, the creature pausing in confusion and taking a step back, shielding itself with a wing. "Well, judging by the shape of your nose, your fangs, and what you did to that cackler, you've been spliced with vampire bat DNA," said Chloe, "I mean, what other kind could it be? No one ever uses fruit bat DNA.
The bat creature looked confused before its eyes narrowed, beginning to take a step forward, before squeaking in shock as Chloe snapped, "Don't you dare. Listen, Matt already has enough trouble with our relationship. He won't like you trying to turn me into a werebat." She paused and said, "No, no, that's not right. Living vampire? Definitely not. Bat-Wolf? Wait, wait. Wolf-Bat, that's it."
Wolf-Bat rolled its eyes at that. "Well, I can't call you Bat-Wolf, that's just begging for a copyright infringement lawsuit," said Chloe.
The wolf bat growled at that, before lunging at Chloe, mouth open to bite. Chloe got a claw free and smacked the creature's nose. "No! Bad boyfriend!" she snapped. Wolf-Bat squeaked angrily, backing off, clutching its nose, Chloe advancing "You want another one? You sit down and wait for the others..." she said, before yelling "NOW!" Wolf-Bat immediately sitting down with wide shocked eyes.
Just then, Matt, Kala, and Spider-Man ran over. Wolf-Bat squeaked and hissed as Kala got closer, using his wings to cover his sensitive eyes from her light. Matt stared before firing a plasma blast, which missed, Chloe snapping "EVERYONE...STOP IT!"
"Chloe, that's a werepyre!" snapped Matt.
"It's Chris, you moron. It's splicer tech," Chloe snapped.
"But he's a vampire," protested Matt.
"Vampire bat!" snapped Chloe, "It's not actually the same thing as a vampire!" Chris was about to bite Chloe from behind at that, only for her to hit his nose again.
"Ok, there has to be some way to help Chris. At least he can't suck the life energy from people, right?" asked Spider-Man.
"I told you, he's only a vampire bat mutant," said Chloe.
"So is Morbius, but somehow he's able to do that," said Spider-Man, "Don't ask me how."
Chris glared at that, squeaking angrily as the moon vanished behind a cloud. "Chris, if you're not going to rant like a normal werewolf…" started Matt. With a groan, Chris suddenly started shrinking in size, lupine and chiropteric features disappearing until he was back to human form, albeit with no sleeves remaining. "Oh...well that works too," he began before being tackled and given what some mercs call the 'Homer strangle' by a furious Chris.
Chloe gave an annoyed sigh and said to Spider-Man, "They actually are professionals, current evidence notwithstanding."
Elsewhere, there was a guy who was rather annoyed for being trapped in a cage, a birdcage to add to the annoyance. He didn't even know what he did. He was just grabbed by some big gargoyle and was thrown in here.
Lady Nega finally walked in once the yelling got too much. "I'm trying to watch the TV!" she snapped.
The guy gave her the finger before snapping in a British accent, "Bite me, you Dr. Doom reject."
"Dr. Doom? That's your best comparison? I operate nothing like he does," said Lady Nega.
"Obviously, Dr. Doom at least has a base," said the guy smugly, Lady NegaMorph glaring before the guy said, "And now...a serenade."
Lady Nega's five eyes widened as she yelled, "No, no, no!"
The warehouse windows all shattered at once, dogs for several blocks howling...
Lady Nega's tentacle hair thrashed as she clutched her ears. "Gaaahh!" she yelled, "Something that doesn't sing!" She zapped the kid in the cage with a blast of magic. In a flash, he was replaced by a swan.
The swan gave what could be a smug look and proceeded to honk loudly, Lady Nega's eyes twitching "Must...research...voiceless...birds..." she said through gritted teeth.
The bird paused, Lady Nega pausing, leaning in as it opened its mouth silently. "Silence?" she said, before the swan honked in her ear.
Gary and Weirdwolf were watching the TV as Lady Nega ran past their backs, screaming. "I told her not to kidnap him," Gary said to himself.
"Big mistake," agreed Weirdwolf.
The team's trip to the park did not go unnoticed. Not just because of the fires started, but the spliced mutates were also featured on the news. "Well, on the bright side, Chris got his name in the news," said Matt.
"When I said I wanted more recognition, I didn't mean as a slavering Wolf-Bat," said Chris.
"I think the old 'be-careful-what-you-wish-for' moral applies here," said Spider-Man.
"Shut it!" snapped Chris, his eyes glowing white, till Chloe slapped the back of his head.
"I swear to God, if you mutate, I'll staple your nose," she snapped.
"At least your mutation's a lot more manageable than the others I've seen," said Spider-Man, "And I'm pretty sure I can whip up a cure if I look at the formula."
"The serum all splashed on me...and it'll be mixed with the werewolf genetics. Those mercs stole all the other samples," said Chris darkly.
"Then we'll have to find them," said Spider-Man, "Too bad Laughing Boy can't tell us where to look."
"Look, I wasn't in control of myself...don't remind me," said Chris, now looking a little pale.
"Well, he was the first, but he won't be the last," said Matt, "Especially since those serums are in Megan's hands."
"It'll be bad. The good part is that any further splicers can be reasoned with," said Chloe darkly.
"I hope so," said Kala.
"I know so. When Matt was gallivanting with the Maelstrom crew on Avalar, I was sent with a team to observe splicers...not fun," said Chloe.
"I didn't hear much about that," said Matt.
"Another story for another time," said Chloe.
"How much damage could she do?" asked Silvana.
Chloe said, "I dunno...but it'll be bad..."
"Back for another song?" said the caged guy, Lady Nega bringing the case.
"You'll be singing another tune before long," said Lady Nega.
"If you insist," said the guy, taking a deep breath, Lady Nega scrambling for some ear plugs just in time, though she winced as she saw the newly-replaced windows shatter again in mute.
"Are you sure you aren't already a mutant?" asked Lady NegaMorph through gritted teeth.
"No, just a really bad singer. It took practice," said the guy proudly, before pausing as Lady Nega took an injector gun out, loading a green serum with an Aquila symbol on it.
"Now...take your medicine," she said
"Like I'm gonna hold still for that," said the guy.
Lady Nega's eyes glowed at that before she said in an echoing voice, "Hold...out...your...arm." To the guy's alarm, he found his arm stretching out against his will. "That's right...hold it...careful..." sneered Lady Nega, before injecting the shot, a smaller amount then what had been 'tested'. "I have bigger plans for you, but this is good enough for testing theories," said Lady Nega.
The guy pulled his arm back. "What the hell was that stuff?" he said in a panic before doubling up.
"Just a special formula, with an additive to increase reaction time," said Lady Nega.
The rain outside almost drowned out a scream that turned into an inhuman shriek half way through...and the laughter...
There's another chapter. These chapters may be shorter, but they're updating more frequently. The splicing tech is indeed from Neo-Gotham AKA Batman Beyond. What these particular serums are doing in a Marvel story will be revealed eventually. Also, to make this clear, this story is set between the Spider-Slayers arc and the series finale. The next chapter will be up on Thursday. Keep an eye out for it and please review.
