Reticence Saga
Severed Web
Chapter 5: Sleeper Hit
Chloe walked through her mindscape, that of a large library. It was a peaceful place to go when life got her down. At the moment, she was following several torn-up books That was particularly upsetting to her for two reasons. One, she didn't like people desecrating books. And two, those books represented parts of her mind.
She paused, hearing giggling around a corner before turning the corner to see a small mauve experiment holding one of her books. "Put that down, you bookworm," said Chloe, referring more to the destructive insect than a book lover.
The experiment turned to grin at her before saying in her voice, "But it's mine."
"I don't think so. You're a pale imitation of me at best," said Chloe.
"Oh really? You sure you're not the imitation?" sneered the experiment, Chloe noticing she was shrinking.
"If I'm gonna be facing other people in my head, can I at least meet the one that's a reflection of me?" asked Chloe.
"Not really. We're gonna be very close," said the experiment, now as big as her before jumping at her...
And Chloe screaming and almost falling out of bed, Zira sitting on her chest with a happy grin. "Come on. We get to explore," she said happily.
"Whoop-de-doo," said Chloe flatly.
"Oh, don't be grouchy, sis. It'll be fun," said Zira.
Chloe rolled her eyes. For spending 30 years in a ventilation system, Zira acted too much like a kid. There was also the problem that she was barely child-sized now. She wasn't unaware of the irony. As General Silvia, she had condemned a lot of people to being like this, even Lilo. But at least as General Silvia, she was a proper height.
She felt a poke, looking down at Zira, who was a head shorter. "I heard one of the humans talking. They got cake. Maaybe it's...that cake?" she said, Chloe feeing a twitch.
Chloe felt her mouth starting to water before fighting the impulse. "It could just be chocolate cake," said Chloe.
"No, I heard the corp thieves telling them not to put it out. Said it was coconut cake. I've only heard stories of it," said Zira happily.
Chloe twitched. "Let's go and see," said Chloe.
Matt meanwhile was sitting, a transparent door between him and...well, him. "So...Falcore..." he said calmly.
"What do you want?" asked Falcore.
"Tell me where Megan is and I give you my word, I'll find you a cure," said Matt calmly.
"There is no cure," said Falcore.
"Course there is. Did she tell you that?" said Matt.
"She destroyed my memories, she used dark magic and science. You can't undo that," said Falcore.
Matt sighed. "You seem...cooperative. I've read the files. This place has some sort of breakout once a week," he said.
"Don't blame me for that," said Falcore.
"It's not your fault..." said Matt.
Falcore glared. "Are you sure of that?"
"The point is that you don't take the chance to escape," said Matt.
"She lied. She said she would...I don't know. I just know she lied," said Falcore, adding, "Closer to her...I didn't care..."
"I'm sorry, what?" asked Matt.
"I...urgh...why are you here?" said Falcore.
Matt said, "Megan, where is she?"
"Who?" asked Falcore.
"Lady NegaMorph," said Matt.
"Can't tell," said Falcore.
"Don't play with me," warned Matt.
Falcore snapped, "I literally can't tell."
"You can't or you won't?" snapped Matt.
"I cannot. The mistress made sure I can't," snapped Falcore.
"How?" demanded Matt.
"She said it was...a geese?" said Falcore.
"That can't be right," said Matt. Matt paused. "Ooooh...oh, a geas," he said, before he heard a clunk above his head, the guards looking up too. "Ok, who's crawling around in the vents?" asked Matt.
There was another clunk, Matt standing up before the vent gave way and something green landed on him.
"For the last time, I wasn't involved," said Matt.
"It was my fault..." said Chloe, who was sitting on Matt's shoulder.
Fury glared, "You went into a restricted area."
"We took a wrong turn," said Chloe.
"I told you to turn right," said Zira.
"Maybe you need a little stay in the detention center to see why it's a bad thing to be in there," said Fury.
Chloe and Zira growled at that, Matt saying desperately, "Maybe just house arrest? Experiments really hate being locked up."
"Sounds too lenient," said Fury.
Matt turned to glare. "They play by those rules or back in the pods," he said.
"Matt, I shouldn't even be like this," growled Chloe.
"Sis, you went along with this." said Matt.
Zira added, "Step sis, she's an experiment like me."
"No, she's supposed to be human," said Matt. Zira just laughed, Matt glaring before saying in tantalog, "She was infected by one of your company's bio weapons. I got a taste too once or do all humans speak fluent trog?" Zira's laugh faded at that.
"I'm sure there's a lot you need to be telling her," said Fury, "And as long as it's in one spot, I don't care what it is."
"If they go out of line, I'll...it'll be dealt with in-house," said Matt, walking to the door, Zira blinking before numbly following.
"You were...wait...did what Matt say...was it true?" said Zira, the two following Matt.
"We have been trying to tell you," said Chloe.
"That's horrible..." said Zira, sniffing sadly.
"It's not that bad," said Chloe, "I've been lots of different things."
"It explains why 783 isn't with you. You...I mean 784 and 783 were inseparable..." said Zira.
"Who?" asked Chloe.
"He was...well, Silvia's brother and bodyguard. She did the planning and he did...I think father called it 'the leg work'," said Zira.
Matt gave a small sigh of relief. "I thought she was going to say 'bushi-bu'," he muttered.
"No, Silvia had a thing for experiment 799...Onimus or something," said Zira, Chloe and Matt getting blank expressions best translated as 'I need to find lots of alcohol'
"Uh, why were you two in the vents, anyways?" asked Matt.
"We were looking for the coconut cake," said Zira happily.
"You could have walked to the cafeteria like a normal person," said Matt.
"But we're not usually allowed," said Zira.
Matt said, "As long as you don't hulk out when you eat it. We're fine."
"It's not like we're giving her coffee," said Chloe.
"No, that's worse. You forgot what happened last time?" snapped Matt, Chloe racking her brains for the memory but with nothing. "Look, just stay out of trouble," said Matt, "We're wearing our welcome thin enough as it is."
"Fine, I'll make sure Zira keeps out of trouble. How's Chris? Is he ok?" asked Chloe, Matt pausing. Chris had been spending alot of time at the coffee shop base...
"He's...been adjusting," said Matt.
"Right, not so eager about dating a plush toy, I bet," said Chloe dourly.
Matt sighed, "Chloe, I'm sure the cure on the Bladestorm'll work. We still got dozens of doses..."
Chloe said icily, "The one that, even if we called now, would take years to get here?"
"Well...Kala's designed to cure EXP. As soon as we snap her back to her senses..." started Matt.
Chloe glared. "She's gone. This isn't brainwashing. Someone hit the reset on her," she snapped.
"I refuse to believe that!" snapped Matt, "Years of a relationship can't be erased at the flick of a switch!"
"For us, yes. But Zira, all of these, they're products. That's why I kept telling you to not get involved," said Chloe, deciding for tough love, only for Matt to hiss "Don't you mean like you at the moment?" before he walked off, Chloe's ears flat
"Guys, guys, let's all calm down and have something to eat," said Zira.
Chloe watched as Matt walked off. "I've lost my appetite," she said gloomily.
Meanwhile, Omnirus was trying to work on installing the Galvan core into her Omnitrix. Which wasn't easy considering the Omnitrix was located on her belt buckle.
"Ok...allllmost...alllllmoooost…" she said, slowly taking the broken core out before someone yelled "WATCHA DOING!" causing her to scream, the broken core dropping and exploding.
"You nearly blew us to Hoboken!" snapped Omnirus.
"Oh come on, take a joke," laughed Kala, her and Dark Start laughing their heads off.
"Yeah, laugh it up, fuzzball," said Omnirus in an annoyed tone before inserting the new core in, "I'm getting the last laugh."
"New core accepted...searching...searching...backup fires located," said the Omnitrix.
"Reset default form," commanded Omnirus.
"Scanning...multiple options found...displaying..." said the Omnitrix, two images appearing, that of her...current situation and the other being of a brownish red experiment with green eyes.
"Well, that's a no-brainer," said Omnirus, reaching forward.
"Ah, we should really have a girl's night out," said Dark Start. She reached forward and poked the female form.
"Please confirm," said the Omnitrix.
Omnirus panicked. "Don't touch that!" snapped Omnirus.
She prodded the experiment form picture twice at that. "New default accepted...applying in 3...2...1..." said the Omnitrix.
Omnirus was covered in green light before shrinking down. As the light faded, he was in his old experiment form again, the one he gained after breaking out of Ben's Omnitrix. He was noticeably taller than the others, looking more like a bear than a dog or rabbit, which was accentuated by the Gourmand ears he had. The Tetramand and Galvan features were also present in the form of his extra arms and eyes respectively.
"Overcompensating?" said Dark Start.
Kala said, "Quit showing off and turn off the extras. Nobody's impressed."
"I wanted to make sure this form still worked," said Omnirus, tapping his Omnitrix before shrinking down again. This time, he looked more like a brown version of Stitch with green eyes and an Omnitrix on his wrist.
Dark Start nodded, "Much more like it...and we can still go out. Kala needs something to loosen her up anyway. She's still got some leftover of that stupid 2.0."
"Let's go vandalize all those jumbotrons with the big loudmouth on them," suggested Leroy.
"You know...it's not the same. I have a date, what about sis?" said Kala, walking over to Omnirus, before whispering in his ear.
"You really want to use what's left on that?" asked Omnirus dubiously.
"Yeah, he'll be on thin ice at the moment. Going on a little rampage'll seal the deal," said Kala, before whispering, "I'll be very grateful."
"Ah, what the heck. It'll be a good laugh if nothing else," said Omnirus.
Kala smirked before kissing him on the cheek. "I told you I'd be grateful," she said, before running off to get Cyber's help.
Chloe and Zira eventually did hit the kitchen. Chloe was mostly there to make sure Zira calmed down...in this case, Zira having turned the kitchen into a greenhouse. It was in this state that Spider-Man found them.
"Did I take a wrong turn or are we have extra salad for dinner?" asked Spider-Man.
Chloe jumped onto a tabletop. "That's just Zira. Coffee rush. She'll be fine," she said.
"So...I heard you and your brother had a fight," said Spider-Man.
"You and every other person on the Triskelion probably. It's my fault. I poured salt on a wound," said Chloe gloomily.
"Me and my team bicker all the time," said Spider-Man.
"Did you ever bring lovers into it?" asked Chloe.
"I...don't know how to answer that. Not a lot of dating going on around here," said Spider-Man.
"Seriously?" asked Chloe dryly, "You're telling me Cloak and Dagger are the only couple here?"
"I wouldn't call them a couple," said Spider-Man.
"Right, and I'm a frog princess," said Chloe sarcastically.
Spider-Man paused as a plant with a fang-filled mouth 'peered' at them, Zira sitting on its top with a twitching grin before it went into the vent. "It'll be fine. She only had one cup," said Chloe.
"So what started the fight?" asked Spider-Man.
"I told him that...well, Zira, Kala, they were all made in a lab. It made sense that there'd be a reset somewhere. That's why I kept trying to keep them as friends," said Chloe.
"I don't know much about creating new life from scratch, but I can tell you what I told Scarlet Spider: you're a lot more than just where you came from. He definitely grew beyond what he was designed for and I don't think it'll be any different for you guys," said Spider-Man.
"I know. Matt took it badly. It's not his fault that Kala and I were lab-m...I mean Kala," said Chloe, shaking her head, glaring as she heard a laugh in her head...Silvia 'spring cleaning' again.
"I think Matt's been worrying about you," said Spider-Man.
"I'm fine..." said Chloe, wincing again.
"Maybe you ought to get your-" started Spider-Man before an orchid-like flower sprouted up in front of Chloe. She stared at it before it released a cloud of pollen into her face. She sniffed twice before falling over.
Zira landed. "Yousaidsheneededarestsotherewegoanymorecoffee?" Zira said at high speed, her eye twitching.
"No more caffeine for you," said Spider-Man.
Zira's smile fell. "Aw...whataboutcake?" she said, a vine ripping a fridge open to show several sweets, Zira making the plant throw her into the fridge.
It took longer than they thought to get Zira out of the fridge, namely because Zira wouldn't leave until Spider-Man had her completely webbed up.
"Yeah...coffee, sugar and experiments..." said Chloe, her voice trailing off. "Hyperdrive fuel and matches," she finished by comparison.
"Lesson learned," said Spider-Man.
"I'd like to teach Matt a lesson," growled Chloe, "He has no idea what I'm going through."
"Chloe...you ok?" said Spider-Man with concern.
Chloe's outburst caught him off guard before she snapped, "Everything goes right for him...and I'm the one who ends up being brainwashed." before punching a wall, leaving a sizable convex dent.
"I don't think Matt would agree with that," said Spider-Man.
"And you wouldn't think your own luck is great either," said Chloe.
"Well, I do get dumped on a lot," said Spider-Man.
"And every time you rise to the occasion. Same for Matt. Me, I end up thinking I'm a different person every other month," said Chloe. Chloe snarled before breaking into a grin. "It's be way too easy to give him a taste of my medicine," she cackled before pausing.
"Maybe a stop at SHIELD's shrink would do you some good," said Spider-Man.
"I do not need a shrink." snarled Chloe.
"That's exactly what someone who needs a shrink would say," said Spider-Man.
Chloe glared at that, "I am not going to a shrink..."
"So...Miss...Lynch, is it? How long have you thought you were human?" said the shrink.
"I was human. I was born human. I've just been stuffed into a two-foot teddy," said Chloe gruffly, not feeling very comfortable in her webbing.
"I had the doctors scan you. There is no sign you were ever human," said the shrink, looking at his computer.
Chloe glared, "You'd be surprised. Now just mark me as sane so I can go put itching powder in Spider-Man's mask in revenge for this indignity."
"You seem to have a lot of aggression. What do you think is the seat for that?" asked the shrink.
"My idiot brother activated a piece of ancient tech when we were barely teens and we've been stuck going from adventure to adventure since..." said Chloe dully.
"Interesting. So, would you say that your need to return home has been compelling you for a long time?" asked the shrink.
"We can't. The dimension's trapped behind an energy field that won't let anything through," said Chloe.
"An interesting metaphor for-" started the shrink.
"I'm not talking metaphors," said Chloe, "We literally can't go back. The best we can hope for is duplicates of us to be sent back in our place, so our family won't think we've disappeared forever."
"Hmm...and how did you become child-sized?" said the shrink
Chloe twitched. "I'm not usually this size," she said angrily, struggling.
"You believe you are a sizeshifter like your...cousin, was it?" asked the shrink.
"No...I...I didn't mean to call her that. I'm human, just a little confused. Stupid experiment virus," Chloe snarled, pulling again.
"So you feel the need to compensate for your lack of height," said the shrink.
"Wouldn't you? Yesterday I had a boyfriend," snapped Chloe.
"Ah, that's where you're feeling most inadequate," said the shrink.
"I think you're putting words in my mouth," said Chloe.
"No...you're putting words in your mouth," said the shrink, Chloe snapping.
"...and that's when I superglued his trash can over his head and locked him in his office toilet," said Chloe, sitting opposite Zira.
"You lasted longer than I thought," said Zira.
"You mean the webbing lasted longer than you thought," said Chloe.
"No, you did. You got rigid self-control. I woulda snapped after that long," said Zira, before saying, "I don't think you should prank your brother though."
"Just cutting his ego down a little," said Chloe, "Nothing permanent."
"It's not a good idea. He's still sore over your comment," said Zira.
"He has reason to be," said Chloe.
"Then why do you keep pushing him further?" asked Zira.
"I...he deserves it," snarled Chloe, Zira taking a step back.
"No, he doesn't, and you don't really think he does either," said Zira.
"Yes, I do. I must otherwise I'd not want to," snapped Chloe.
Zira snapped, "That's just our temper. We all have it."
"You don't have a problem with yours," said Chloe.
"Sure, I do," said Zira, "She just has a persona of her own."
Chloe paused. "Ok...I'll go apologize to him..." she said with reluctance.
Zira smiled. "Great, Kira said she'd knock your heads together if you didn't," she said happily, Chloe going wide-eyed and taking a step back. "She's also demanding pie," said Zira, "I'm not sure why."
"Trust me, alternate personalities rarely make sense," muttered Chloe, walking out and jumping back as several troopers went by, leading a prisoner. "Hmm...overkill. Who's this guy supposed to be?" asked Chloe.
The prisoner glared at her and said, "I am Scorpio, leader of Zodiac. You should know better, little rabbit."
"Rabbit...better then trog, I suppose," muttered Chloe, taking some deep breaths to stop herself biting this guy's ankle.
Scorpio scoffed and said, "I thought Fury's SHIELD was little more than a house of cards. Now he's turning it into a house of freaks."
Chloe snarled at that, two dark energy daggers appearing in her paws. "He's not worth it," said Zira, "This is just some second-rate bad guy." Scorpio smirked at that, Chloe glaring before following Zira.
Matt meanwhile was in the quarters, checking a picture of him and Kala. Despite what Chloe said, he knew he and Kala still had a future together. He had literally seen that future.
"She's wrong. I don't care what she says, little trog," he muttered, before yelping as a rip portal opened and a delivery drone popped through, the NSC post being one of the few corps with rip engine licenses.
"You Lynch?" the drone said
"That depends, do you have a bomb for me?" asked Matt.
"Not my business, bub. I'm just programmed to deliver the parcel. It's not ticking if that helps," said the drone, taking a small parcel out its storage buffer and opening a holoview. "Fingerprint at the bottom," it said.
Matt's instincts should have told him to be suspicious. The package could have been anything from anyone. It could either be a psychic parasite sent by Taleth or love potion-laced chocolates from Keenai. He wasn't sure which would be worse.
Then again, the NSC postal service was known to get...upset if someone refused to take a parcel. "Fine..." he muttered, pressing his thumb to the hard light holo, the drone dropping the parcel on his foot and going back through the tear. "Who would send this to me and how would they know I would be here?" muttered Matt to himself.
The drone peered back through and said, "We're the postal service. We know where you are all the time." before closing the portal, Matt staring numbly in dull terror.
"Ok, I suppose I should open it now and disarm it rather than wait for it to go off later," said Matt. He shrugged before putting it on the bed and using his deactivated ion blade to gently open the box from a distance. When it didn't immediately explode, Matt ventured a little closer. He peered in to see a small nozzle, a red light coming on. "Oh crap," muttered Matt, before it sprayed him.
"I still can't believe he fell for the old Trojan package trick!" laughed Omnirus, watching Matt writhe through the package's camera.
Kala nodded, smiling but not laughing like the others...for some reason she felt bad. She assured herself that Matt would feel a lot better and look a lot handsomer this way.
"Ok...now to put him out of our fur," said Omnirus evilly, before tossing something to Cyber. "Call this comm and tell them there's been a Class 9," he said.
"What are you doing?" asked Kala.
"We all know he'll find some way out of this. So before that wears off, I'm making sure the NSC lock him in a nice deep hole," sneered Omnirus.
"Seriously? That seems like overkill," said Kala.
"Trust me, for this guy, this would be underkill," said Omnirus.
"But why not send the same thing you did to Chloe?" said Kala.
Omnirus glared, "You getting cold paws?"
"It was your idea, wasn't it?" asked Dark Start.
"Yeah, just to get him on our side. Not throw him in the experiment level of Kryos," said Kala.
"He's more trouble than he's worth," said Omnirus.
Kala sighed at that before saying, "You got a point."
"So who are the NSC gonna send?" asked Leroy.
"Mancer, you're up," called the contract assigner.
"About time, mates," said Mancer, "What slimeball are ya sending after this time?"
"You're in a bioweapon cleanup. Nasty little bioweapon. Can infect and convert multiple hosts. Your job's contain, not destroy. You'll be going in with a corps team from Z.P.S.," said the contractor.
"Your blokes will only slow me down," said Mancer.
"After the last contract, you'll go in with them. You're going to Earth and they're not as hardy as you are used to," said the contractor calmly.
"Earth? Terrible name for a planet. They might as well call it Dirt. Planet Dirt," said Mancer.
"You want the job or not?" said the contractor icily.
"Just show me what I'm baggin'," said Mancer.
The contractor displayed a hologram of a general form experiment. "Don't let it fool you. These things come in alot of nasty flavors. The standard one can bench press a Kree battletank."
"Cute little nippers," said Mancer, "I suppose they turn into something nasty."
A hologram appeared of a colony, a powered-armored marine and its team firing heavy weaponry at something, before a grey furred experiment landed on the power armored trooper, pulling its head off before spitting acid at another and biting a third, all while soaking up the shots like it was nothing. "Yeah...they don't need to. They're already nasty."
"Pint-sized super-soldiers," said Mancer, "What will they think of next?"
"God help us if they do. Your orders are to capture it if you can. Terminate if you can't. Sonics work well so try that," said the contractor.
"Good thing that's my specialty," said Mancer.
"Good luck...and don't kill anyone that's not on the list this time or the next contract's on you," said the contractor icily.
It took a bit of prodding to get Chloe to see Matt and try to patch things up. "I'm doing this under protest," grumbled Chloe as she was being carried by Spider-Man.
"It'll help. O'hana shouldn't fight," said Zira, who was crawling along the wall.
"What's this 'o'hana' you guys keep talking about?" asked Spider-Man.
"It's the Hawaiian word for 'family'," said Chloe.
"Yeah, the first of us learnt it long ago," said Zira.
"Jookiban experiments take family very seriously," said Chloe, "You should have seen how much grief they gave this one girl because she inadvertently caused her stepbrother to break up with his perfect match and never owned up for it because she thought they were both annoying."
"Family's important," confirmed Zira.
"I agree, which is why you shouldn't argue with-" started Spider-Man before his and the girls' enhanced hearing picked up laughter. Not 'evil, maniacal laughter', but 'gut-busting, rib-cracking laughter'.
"You hear that?" said Chloe before saying with worry, "Oh, God, my brother snapped." before running towards the sound.
"I don't think so," said Spider-Man, hurrying after her, "I know that laugh too well."
Zira followed, sliding to a halt next to Chloe to see some person in a blue and gold uniform, wearing a black and red helmet...and "783?" she said in surprise, seeing the black furred experiment.
The experiment gave her an annoyed look and said with Matt's voice, "Wrong."
Zira stared before saying, "Oh dear." Chloe staring, before she began to laugh as well.
"I hope you laugh yourself to death," said Matt with annoyance.
Spider-Man just stared Chloe managing "That's...what E.X.P...does..."
Matt glared, "Yeah, yeah, laugh it up."
"Oh man, I am so posting this," said Nova, working with his phone.
Matt glared, jumping up and grabbing the phone before throwing it in his mouth. Uh-uh," he said through a full mouth before chewing and swallowing.
"Dude!" snapped Nova, "That was my phone!"
"Tough cheese. I am not being on YouTube's greatest hits," snarled Matt.
"Would someone explain how this happened?" asked Spider-Man.
"A little present from Kala," said Matt darkly.
"At least you'll be a cute couple now," said Zira.
"I'm not staying like this," snapped Matt.
"Why not?" asked Zira.
"Well, for starters, none of my clothes fit, I can't drive anything, and no one's going to take someone seriously when they're adorable."
"Preaching to the choir," said Chloe dryly.
Matt twitched. "Yeah, I only presumed it was from Kala," he said, glaring at her.
"How did she do that?" asked Spider-Man.
Matt paused though he continued to glare. "Urgh...I just hope there's enough cure," he said darkly.
"I was looking for a specific answer," said Spider-Man, "Like did she hit you with a slow-acting dart or something?"
"She just sent it through the mail," said Matt.
"I'd have used the dart," said Chloe.
"If it was through the mail, wouldn't there be a return address?" asked Spider-Man.
Matt paused, before going over to the box, before he hung his head. "Kala..." he muttered.
"So I guess tracing it back to her won't be that easy," said Spider-Man.
"It never is," said Chloe.
"I'm gonna kill that Cyber," muttered Matt darkly.
"So you're both living teddy bears now, big deal," said Nova, "At least no one can get you here."
"Hey, that was uncalled for," scolded Zira.
Chloe went wide-eyed. "Apologize," she said desperately to Nova.
"What, the living teddy bear stuff? At least you don't look like ra... You could look worse," said Nova.
"We're experiments...not teddys," said Zira, her voice slightly deeper.
"Well, maybe whoever made you shouldn't have designed you to look like stuffed animals," said Nova.
Zira twitched at that, before hulking out. "Didn't read the new members memo again?" asked Spider-Man.
"I said we're not teddys!" roared Kira in Nova's face.
"Duly noted," squeaked Nova.
Kira immediately tuned back into Zira who said sweetly, "Thank you."
"I wouldn't try to push if I were you," Chloe told Nova in a teasing voice. But inside, she felt a small surge of envy that Zira was able to grow big, buff, and beautiful just by getting a little ticked while Chloe was stuck stewing under a yard.
Matt waved a paw in front of her at that. "Earth to sis...anyone home?" he said.
"Well, at least you won't be lording it over me now," said Chloe.
"I'm still an inch taller than you," said Matt.
"Are not!" snapped Chloe.
"Am too," said Matt smugly
Chloe snapped "Am not!"
The conversation went on for some time along those lines.
6 hours later...
"ARE NOT!" yelled Chloe.
"You guys hungry yet?" asked Spider-Man.
The two experiments turned, their stomachs supplying a positive confirmation. "Thanks, man," said Matt, jumping onto the table before seeing the time. "Almost midnight? Damn."
"Anything we missed?" asked Chloe.
"I'll fill you in on the war between the Mole People and the Squirrels later," said Spider-Man.
Matt blinked. "Oookay...ooh, ham," he said, tearing the wrapper off a sandwich.
Chloe sniffed her sandwich. "Bologna's a bit fattening, isn't it?" she asked.
"At least you don't have to watch your figure now," said Matt.
Chloe shrugged before tossing the sandwich in. "Mmm...gotta find the shop this came from," she said, before the lights flickered.
"Lights out time?" asked Matt.
"I don't think so..." said Spider-Man. He checked his comm and asked, "Hey, is anyone else still up?" There was just silence, before the intruder alarm began to ring. "Yeah, that should have been expected," said Spider-Man.
Matt peered out before saying, "So where are the security?"
"That is a good question," said Spider-Man, "It's too quiet for an invasion."
Zira walked round a corner at that, yawning. "What's with the noise? How are you guys sleeping through it?"
"There are people still sleeping?" asked Matt, sounding less incredulous than worried.
"Yeah...I tried to wake them but nothing worked," said Zira.
"This can only mean one thing," said Matt.
Chloe said "Trouble..." she said, footsteps heard behind them.
"Spider-sense is confirming that," said Spider-Man.
Three troopers in black carapace armor came around the corner at that, holding bulky rifles, the helmet optics glowing green. "Who are these guys? HYDRA?" asked Spider-Man.
"NSC! SCATTER!" yelled Matt, the troopers soundlessly raising their rifles before opening fire with a deafening 'buddabuddabudda'. Heavy rounds tearing up the corridor,
The group quickly leapt out of harm's way. "Wait, I'm confused. You said you were from NSC, whatever that stands for," said Spider-Man.
"I did mention we were having a civil war, right?" asked Matt.
"Targets on the move..." said one of the troopers, the group adjusting their aim to fire.
Chloe snapped, "Just run or fight."
Zira pounded a fist into the ground, causing vines to grow up and ensnare the troopers before the group ran. "How is it she's able to make plants grow in metal?" asked Spider-Man.
"I use the ground underneath the tower...plus the hydroponic gardens under this floor," said Zira, before screaming as a round caught her shoulder.
"Zira!" cried Chloe with concern.
"I'm ok. That shouldn't have happened. We're meant to be bulletproof," said Zira in shock.
Spider-Man pulled the rifle out of the shooter's hand with some webbing. "This isn't your average six-shooter," said Spider-Man, examining the gun, "Though ballistics aren't really my specialty.
"It's designed for us," said Chloe weakly, looking at the casing on the floor that looked more at home in a tank cannon.
"And it's no coincidence they showed up now just after I got furried," said Matt.
"Kala must have ratted you out," snapped Chloe, the group running for it.
"I'm blaming Cyber more," said Matt, "That half-metal trog has more than a few screws loose."
Spider-Man paused, his spider-sense kicking up a storm. Just in time for another three to come round the corner, firing at them. "Can someone explain how nobody's waking up even during this loud invasion?" asked Spider-Man.
"It's gotta be a sleeper deeper, locks you in your conscious state you were in when it activates," called Matt, tearing a piece of metal off the wall and throwing it at the troopers, nailing one.
"Simply put: if you're asleep, you can't wake up. If you're awake, you can't fall asleep," said Chloe before sending electric blasts at the troopers.
"So we're on our own?" said Spider-Man, trying to web one of the troopers up.
"Unless there were any other late-nighters up," said Matt.
"Bleedin' jokers..." muttered Mancer, watching the NSC team try to capture the experiments. He wasn't surprised that these troopers were failing so bad at bagging the little koalas. But if there was one thing Mancer had learned, it was how to learn from others' mistakes. "Ok...time to bag me some bounties," he muttered, readying his blaster rifle and leaving the room.
Matt grabbed the rifle from a webbed-up trooper who snapped, "You wait till I get free, you little trog."
"I'm not a trog," said Matt with annoyance.
"Like I care. Command wants you freaks locked up. We wasted enough on cures," snapped the trooper.
Matt said, "And this guy is the sort of people we're fighting."
"Yeah, our civil war is being over more relevant reasons than others," said Chloe.
"We're not gonna let you freaks loose on the populace," snapped the trooper.
"Uh, we're not the infectious type," said Chloe, "Do any of us look like viral clones?"
"I got my orders, freak," snapped the trooper.
"That's the problem with your side: you don't question your orders," said Matt.
"Yeah...but you're missing three of us," sneered the trooper, the group turning to see three troopers aiming.
Before the others could respond, black tentacles reached around the corner and grabbed them. The troopers were knocked out, Agent Venom and Spider-Woman coming into view. "Spidey...who the heck are these guys?" asked Agent Venom.
"Space mercenaries," said Spider-Man.
"Yeah...insultingly bad ones," said Matt.
"Oh, you're so adorable," cooed Spider-Woman as she reached down to pet Matt.
"I bite," said Matt darkly.
"I'm sure he's only saying that," said Spider-Man, reaching down to pet Chloe's head.
She grabbed his wrist and painfully twisted it. "Do and you'll have to redesign your web-shooter to have to work with less fingers," she growled.
Zira walked up and pushed Chloe away. "I think we have more to worry about," she snapped.
"Right, SHIELD Academy is being invaded, everyone else is in an unwaking sleep, and we're the only ones who can stop it," said Spider-Man, "Say how are you two still awake?"
"My symbiote won't let me sleep. Can't you hear it?" said Venom.
"No, not really," said Spider-Man.
Chloe paused, her ears twitching before saying, "A high pitched whine?"
"Yeah, one that gets louder as you start to doze off," said Spider-Woman.
"Well, the good news is that as long as the sleeper-deeper's up, you can't fall asleep now," said Matt.
"The bad news is we could set off a foghorn in the others' ears and they'd never wake," said Chloe.
"So we're the only one who can do anything, unless someone else was still awake at this ungodly hour," said Matt.
"I didn't see Iron Spider in his bed," said Spider-Woman
"He's probably in the lab," said Spider-Man, "Hopefully he didn't nod off halfway through an experiment again."
"Aw...you leavin' so soon, mates?" said a voice, the group turning to see a humanoid alien holding a rifle. He would look human except his skin had a greenish tinge and the scruffy beard he had was made of small barbs. "So, you little fuzzes are the things the corp want?" the man said, checking his rifle.
"Who's the alien Aussie?" asked Agent Venom.
"Name's Haze Mancer, mate. Best bounty hunter in the sector," said the alien, adding, "Now hand over the cuddly toys and I'll leave yer to yer night."
"When have I ever handed anyone over to obvious villains?" asked Spider-Man.
"How should I know? I just met you," said Mancer, "But I ain't a villain. Those koalas yer pallin' with are dangerous criminals."
"Are not," said Matt.
Haze Mancer saying "Not getting into that." leveling his blaster at Matt.
"You know I'm bulletproof, right?" pointed out Matt.
"Against regular bullets, maybe," said Haze, "But I'd be a pretty poor hunter if I didn't pack the right ammo." Matt gulped as Mancer said, "So...you hand over the fuzzballs ad we call it even."
"I've considered your generous offer...and decided to turn you down," said Spider-Man before shooting webbing into Mancer's eyes.
Mancer staggered back, firing his blaster on reflex, the air rippling with an ear-splitting shriek. Agent Venom and Spider-Woman's costumes writhed a bit at the sound, but the group quickly turned and ran.
Haze pulled the webbing off before seeing them vanishing round a corner. "Nice...not as much fun when they give up," he said, walking after them. After all, his team had locked the place down.
After a bit of running, the experiments and Web Warriors stopped to assess their situation.
"Ok, that guy's not one of ours...but that was effective," grumbled Matt, his head aching.
Zira nodded, "Enhanced hearing has its minuses."
"Our symbiotes sure didn't like that blast," said Spider-Woman.
"Of course not," said Chloe, "Sound is a symbiote's greatest weakness."
"There's a whole locker at the base full of sonic weapons..." said Matt for confirmation, shaking his head, adding, "We can assume he's smart. We need a good plan..."
Those words causing Chloe to twitch. "First off, we need to assess whether or not Iron Spider is still awake," said Chloe, "Then we'll need to find where the sleeper-deeper beacon is and deactivate it." Chloe continued as everyone stared. "Ok, the beacon would need to be high to maximize coverage, somewhere their ship could land...the roof, the helipad? It'll have high end security. Cho can break that. Mancer'll be harder, clearly a professional. He might try to get backup," she said, her tone changing to that of Silvia's.
"That makes a lot of sense, so why does it seem creepy?" asked Spider-Man.
A pair of spines came out of Chloe's back at that, as she continued, "It's also most likely they have shut down access to the outside. Yes, yes...that's what I'd have done."
"Does she normally have them?" asked Spider-Man.
"She barely uses her experiment form, but I think that's not a good indication," said Matt.
'Chloe' looked around. "Well? You thinking of a better plan?" she said, before spotting Matt, "Krak? When were you activated?"
"Crack? Did you just call me 'Crack'?" asked Matt.
"K-R-A-K. You wouldn't have been called something that ridiculous," said 'Chloe'.
"Well, 'Krak' isn't much better! I mean, come on! That's the kind of name a dumb, thuggish muscle-for-hire would have!" snapped Matt.
"Krak...783...are you ok?" said 'Chloe' with concern.
"He's fine. He's just been out of it for a while," said Zira.
"Urgh...Zero...great," muttered 'Chloe' before noticing the others. "Oh...two klyntar hosts and a human..." she said scathingly.
"What's a klyntar?" asked Agent Venom.
"Urgh...ok, you heard my plan. It's the best one you have against an NSC Kill-Team," Silvia said loftily.
"Yeah, because you're the best strategist in New York," said Agent Venom dryly.
"I am," said Silvia haughtily.
Zira said, "She is. She was designed that way. Think she was meant to go to UN space command."
"You do know no plan ever survives the first part of battle," said Spider-Man.
"Mine tend to. Kill teams are very predictable if you know their thinking. They're no doubt here for me, Zero and Krak...and they'll avoid lethal force against you lot," said Silvia smugly.
"We still don't know what all this Mancer guy is capable of," said Spider-Woman.
"Yes...he's a bit of a wildcard..." muttered Silvia to herself.
"He has weapons that will work against both you experiments and the symbiotes," said Spider-Man.
"But you don't have any specific weaknesses, do you?" asked Silvia.
Matt slapped the back of her head before saying, "Sis, you know its rude to ask people their weaknesses."
"Right, my bad," said Silvia, "But what I mean is that Spider-Man has nothing that Mancer can readily exploit."
"There's Cho too," said Agent Venom.
"We still need to see if he's still awake," said Spider-Man.
"Extra hand could help...on one condition..." said Silvia.
"Are you in much of a position to be imposing conditions?" asked Spider-Woman.
"Well, it amazing how much trouble one experiment can cause. I want Chloe gone, out of my hea-" she began, before gagging as Matt chopped her throat.
"First off, it's not your head. It's Chloe's head. You're just a...a leftover genetic memory of whatever experiment Chloe's original EXP virus was modeled off of. You're not even the Silvia that appears when Chloe has gone Shar-Virk. You're a pale shadow, an imitation at best," snapped Matt, "Secondly, well, having Chloe removed for your convenience just seems absurd now, doesn't it?"
Silvla glared, before twitching. "Lynch...why do you torture me?" she snarled.
"It's what I do best. Not so tough and invincible without flunkies to back you up, are you?" sneered Matt.
"One day Lyn-mmmph" began Silvia before vines cocooned her.
"Her plan's good. She'll back stab us," said Matt.
Zira nodded, "She's a bad experiment."
"Let's add another layer to that," said Spider-Man before webbing up Silvia.
"Now let's find Cho before some of my ex-fellow officers find him," said Matt.
Cho, in his armor, was trying to reconstruct a device recovered from where Lazard's ship had been. It was hard as, just when he'd get close, it would seem to fall apart. "You'd think alien technology would be built to hold together better," muttered Cho. The door behind him was heard opening at that, footsteps heard. "Busy right now," said Cho dismissively before his early-warning system buzzed.
He flew up just before a hail of weapon fire chewed the worktop into tiny bits, Cho turning to see three troopers in black armor with an unidentified insignia on their armor firing, before they began firing up at him. "Don't know who you are, don't need to know," said Cho before sending repulsor blasts at them.
The lead trooper was knocked back, the others taking cover and continuing to fire, trying to hit his boosters, neither side noticing a flower belonging to one of the normal researchers glowing and starting to grow.
Iron Spider shot webbing that coated the front of their blasters. The webbing glowed before the heavy caliber tore through, continuing to fire, before one of them was 'swallowed' by the now giant flower. Iron Spider paused to look at the overgrown plant. "When did that happen?" he asked.
The last trooper took aim before a grey koala thing leapt on its head, making the trooper stagger around before he was webbed up. Iron Spider glanced to see the other Web Warriors minus Kid Arachnid. "You guys mind filling me in on what's going here?" he asked.
"The new guys brought some trouble" said Venom, the grey experiment glaring at him
"Space mercenaries," said Spider-Man, "They have some kinda gizmo that locks everyone in either sleep or wakefulness while it's on."
"So we can't fall asleep?" asked Cho, "Huh, I was wondering why I didn't feel tired. I could really use a device like that. Imagine what all I'll be able to create without having to waste time with sleeping."
"That's not a good idea. There's a guy in the Star Light asylum on Central that is a living reason why using a sleeper deeper like that is a bad idea," said the grey koala in Lazard's voice.
Iron Spider retracted his faceplate and said, "My audio receptors must be glitching. I could have sworn that sounded like Lazard."
"Kala sent me a present," said the koala darkly.
"I see..." said Cho, sounding confused.
"You get used to it," said the Lazard koala icily, before spotting… "Hey...that's the BFG 9000 from my ship armory!" he snapped, going over to the gear Cho had been trying to put together, the wreckage seeming to react to his voice and flowing back together.
"I've been trying to put it back together all night," said Cho with annoyance.
"But you aren't me. This thing can take out a small carrier with the right shot," said Lazard happily, "I guess you don't have Doom here." He lifted the gun, which was almost as big as he was, up.
"Doom? Yeah, we got him," said Venom, "But he's in Latveria."
"No...the video game," said Lazard, before saying, "Is that an outer wall? I think I know how to get us past lockdown."
"You aren't suggesting that-" started Cho.
"This...is what the BFG does. Guess what it stands for," said Lazard, aiming and firing a green pulse that blew a huge hole out into the night outside, a wind felt as the air equalized.
"There was a window!" snapped Iron Spider.
"This was faster," said Lazard, checking the blaster.
"Ok, we just web-sling our way up till we find the lullaby machine and turn it off," said Spider-Man. "Hold up," said Lazard, "It can't be that easy." He looked around, grabbing a beaker before throwing it out, a drone shimmering into view and blasting the beaker before vanishing. "Quarantine drones..." he said.
"Then why didn't they start blasting when the hole opened?" asked Agent Venom.
"Quarantine means nothing gets in or out," said Iron Spider, "They won't do anything unless someone tries to do either of those things."
"I heard they were designing those after the Acheron 12 massacre. V-713 got loose, cloner experiment, overran the planetary defense force in an hour," muttered Lazard, glaring at the drone, which was hovering, Lazard sure it was staring directly at him.
"Too bad Miles is asleep," said Spider-Man, "His camouflage would come in handy here."
"We don't need to become invisible," said Iron Spider, "We can just be invisible to them."
The drone finally lost interest, shimmering out of sight, a shape seemingly made of air passing in front of the lights from the city. "The drones must have an IFF setting to recognize who deployed them," said Iron Spider, "We just need to copy one of the intruder's identity and use it to hack their system."
Lazard looked at the unconscious goons. "That could work. Don't try their wrist computers, they're DNA-locked and booby trapped," he said, walking over, before slapping one of the goons awake and switching to splitter. "Wakey-wakey," he said.
"I thought you said they can't fall asleep," said Spider-Woman.
"There's a difference between being knocked out and asleep," said Lazard.
The trooper glared before spitting. "Go to hell, trog," he said.
Matt glaring. "You know what I've got, right? Did anyone tell you what I can do?" asked Matt. He stuck out his tongue and allowed a long drop of green saliva to nearly touch the trooper's face before sucking it back up. "Maybe you'll start turning before it burns its way to your brain," said Matt before drooling again.
The trooper paled, trying to squirm out the way. "You better give us your ID," said Zira in a singsong tone as the drop of drool oozed closer to the trooper's face.
"Not a chance. That's treason," snapped the trooper.
"Would you rather save face or keep your face?" asked Zira.
"Ok, ok, wrist comp, release DNA lock! Authorization Alpha-Alpha 541!" yelped the trooper.
The wrist comp beeped before a recorded voice said, "I'm sorry to hear about your retirement."
The trooper looked horrified before he shuddered, electricity flowing over him before his head feel forward, smoking slightly. "Ok...they never did that before..." said Lazard in horror.
"Is he..." asked Spider-Man.
"Gone, yes," said Lazard, "This is why our civil war is going on. The guy who wants to run Nullspace has absolutely no scruples. There isn't anything he won't do to gain the advantage or maintain order. Anyone or anything that can't be used by him is either expendable or an obstacle." Lazard pried the wrist comp out to see it was back at factory settings. "This works though...for what it's worth," he said.
"Was it worth it?" asked Spider-Man grimly.
"McNeil's a psychopath and a traitor...and I'll be sure the judges make him hear every name before they lock him in Kryos Penal," Lazard said, finding some dog tags
"Let's see if we got anything from this," said Iron Spider.
A series of runes and hieroglyphs appeared, the armor saying, "Analyzing...unknown xeno language...attempting to translate."
"Huh, either you're from a farther part of the universe than has ever come to Earth or you really are from another dimension," said Iron Spider.
"Yeah...how many aliens you know that are two feet high?" said Lazard sarcastically.
Zira added, "Only when I'm in my happy place."
"Can we please move on?" asked Spider-Woman, "I do not wake up in a good mood if I don't get enough sleep."
The wristcomp burst into life at that, "All units, this is command. Additional orders: confirming that one Dr. Connors is on site. Bring in ASAP. Additional: terminate the local help once we're done."
"And now they're not gonna be holding back for us," said Lazard.
The com continued, "Be advised, special containment team from Executive Genetics field office is en route for Connors..."
"As if we didn't have enough to deal with," said Spider-Man.
"More then you know. They gotta be nuts. Last time they played with that serum, the NSC had to magma bomb a colony," snapped Lazard, getting uncharacteristically angry.
"It wasn't even Connors who made the serum, it was Doctor Octopus," said Spider-Man.
"As far as they care, Connors is Patient Zero," said Lazard.
"Ok, everyone, we can still beat these guys," said Zira.
"Let's just turn off that sleeper doohickey," said Venom.
"Take your best go at it," snapped Lazard, snatching the wristcomp and checking, "It's on the helipad."
"All I need to know," said Venom as he jumped out the hole in the wall.
Three drones decloaked, keeping track as Venom climbed the building, as their AI temporarily conflicted. This guy was a timeline specific. They couldn't simply fire...before they got new orders from the containment team: all restrictions lifted, before they opened fire.
Venom extended his missile launchers and fired at the drones. The first drone exploded, before the others activated a translucent shield, the missiles exploding harmlessly before they continued to fire.
"Like I really care," said Agent Venom as he started making his way over to the helipad.
A second later, a green blast blew a section out of the wall, a larger drone with what was clearly the same blaster Lazard had used attacked, the gun already recharging. "Ok, now I care," said Agent Venom. But then a pair of repulsor blasts hit the drone as Iron Spider flew overhead. The drone, like the others, exploded, before their shields adapted, another of the heavy drones hovering into view while several followed Iron Spider.
"You are in breach of a Nullspace Security Coalition quarantine," said the drone over Cho's com, the image being a pair of red eyes in static.
"I don't answer to Nullspace, whatever that is," said Cho.
"You will land and surrender to decontamination and mind wipe," replied the drone, more plasma fire shooting out, before Cho saw a white dropship dropping its cloak, the words 'E.G.I.S' on the side.
"Those guys part of your quarantine? You know you're not supposed let anyone in, right?" asked Cho.
"Executive Genetics Internal Security have clearance," replied the drone AI, before Cho's view shook at one drone scored a lucky hit.
"Corporate-owned private army," said Cho, "I'm starting to think these guys aren't really a government agency."
The dropship was heading for the helipad, where a small staff, a glowing rotating device on the top, was placed, three of the black armored troopers guarding it. "Guys, I've got a visual on the beacon," said Iron Spider.
"I see it too," said Agent Venom as he tried to web-sling towards it. The three troopers turned, the top of their rifles splitting into a small dish. "Uh oh," said Agent Venom before the sonic blasts sent him flying.
The dropship came into land at that as one of the troopers was sent flying by concussion missiles, before the back opened, a single red optic seen. By that point, Spider-Man and Spider-Woman were also outside, jumping across the drones. "Please tell me that's as big as the robots get," said Spider-Man.
There was a boom, Agent Venom seen flying into the water, before a very large mech came into view, the theme seeming to be miniguns.
"You sure these guys are just after Connors and the experiments?" asked Spider-Woman, "Do they think the Hulk is here?"
The mech said, "We got Lynch's DNA logged. Where is he?"
Several ohter armored troopers with blaster rifles filed out, before a helmetless woman got off. "Team...stand down..."
Spider-Man swung down to the helipad and asked, "What is this all about?"
The troopers aimed at that, the woman just smiling. "My boys are so protective...Mr...Parker According to our files, we're here for the experiments in your facility...and all we want is a word with Dr Connors, that is all. I apologize for Mr. Mancer and his team's overzealousness. He was given specific orders to not use live ammo," she said calmly, her eyes the wrong color, a golden color.
"If you really knew them, you'd know they're not a threat," said Spider-Man.
"Oh please, Lynch is a walking disaster zone. He's responsible for the disappearance of two of our research vessels in the uncharted sectors," said the woman.
"People call me a walking disaster zone all the time," said Spider-Man with a shrug.
"He's the real deal: a kill count in the 5 digits. He should have been locked in Kryos years ago. He actually was once," said the woman.
"Apparently wherever you come from is less open to second chances than we are here," said Spider-Man.
"Try 12th chance," said the woman calmly.
"Me, I give as many chances as they need," said Spider-Man, "Besides, you're trying to take Dr. Connors, who hasn't done anything to deserve this level of besieging."
"He'll be returned. We simply want to talk to him," said the woman with a cold smile.
"Sorry, but that's the kind of smile that screams 'don't believe what I'm telling you'," said Spider-Man.
"Oh...and I thought we were going to get along. The board gave me specific orders," said the woman in a tone that reminded Spider-Man of Deadpool when he was gearing up to un-alive someone.
"The 'leave no witnesses' kind of orders?" asked Spider-Man, getting ready to use his tazer webs.
"Not really. I'm not going to kill any of you," said the woman happily, what looked like feathers appearing in her hands, dagger style, seeming to come from empty space.
"Um, good?" said Spider-Man nervously.
"But then again. It's amazing what a human can live through," the woman said, before throwing the feathers, the feathers narrowly missing and burying them deeply into the steel of the Triskelion.
Spider-Man responded by shooting her with his tazer webs. The woman smiled, leaping over the webs, one of her troopers being shocked unconscious. "Oh, that's so cute," she said happily, turning to see Spider-Woman charging her, pulling a device from her belt and activating it, an earsplitting screech heard.
The symbiote writhed under the sonic assault, which Spider-Woman were barely able to hold in. A second later, a concussive pulse blast knocked her back, the woman smirking before Iron Spider landed on her black. "Let's turn off that bad tech," said Iron Spider, shooting small repulsor blasts at her belt.
The woman's form flickered into a grey feathered owl lady. "Hmm...that's annoying," she said before digging her talons into the armor.
"Oh, you're an owl, which would mean you have excellent night vision," said Iron Spider, "Which by extension means you have very sensitive eyes." At that, his arc reactor let out a bright flash. The owl made a show of shielding her eyes. "Ah, didn't take that into account," said Iron Spider.
"Oh...how old are you?" asked the owl, dodging blasts.
"It doesn't matter," said Iron Spider, "I'm still the 7th smartest person on this planet."
"Oh, that's nice. I'm the 2nd deadliest person in the multiverse," said the owl lady sweetly, before slashing at his chest plate. From range it wouldn't have been too much of a worry had three energy slashes not shot at him.
"Now that's an obviously gross exaggeration," said Iron Spider.
"My name is Owlina. I'm a fixer for Executive Genetics. Now stand down or I'll be forced to fix you," said the owl lady, her men, who had been watching readying their weapons. Owlina smirked at Spider-Man. "Oh, just you left. I don't detect any symbiotes or technology. What can you do?" she said, one of her arms segmenting into some sort of blaster.
"Let's start off with this," said Spider-Man before shooting webs at her face.
Owlina smirked, taking the web off. "Hmm...you're almost as annoying as Mr. Lynch's file," she said, before opening fire, purple plasma blasts shooting out, her men and the mech firing as well.
It took most of Spider-Man's jumping, flipping, rolling, and heeding his spider-sense to avoid being shot. He turned to see the sleeper deeper beeping away happily. "You know, I hear owls are supposed to be very wise," said Spider-Man.
"You really think flattery is going to work?" asked Owlina dryly.
"No, I was just going to say that's a myth. In fact, owls are among the dumbest birds on the planet," said Spider-Man.
Owlina's eyes narrowed. "Are you...trying to upset me?" she said, throwing several feathers.
"That's my usual tactic. Not that you'd recognize a good insult, owl-brain," said Spider-Man.
"It won't work. I'm a professional. I'm trained to suppress rage," said Owlina, two of her men being webbed up as they tried to get Spider-Man in a crossfire.
"Oh come on. I've met pigeons less emotional than you," said Spider-Man.
Owlina tensed up at that, before she threw a storm of her feather daggers. "When I get you, I'll be sure you learn that Avianos are not your weak terran birds," she said darkly.
"Yeah, definitely not. Our birds have much better feathers than the ones you're molting," said Spider-Man.
Owlina glared, before sending several more daggers, these ones landing around Spider-Man before a storm of electricity shot up. Owlina ran forward while he was stunned. "No jokes? I don't hear you laughing now," she snapped, looking to her men, "Sweep the building and find Lynch and his compatriots immediately. I'll be sure to educate my new friend here."
"I've got a few things to teach you too," said Spider-Man, "Like anger management."
"I already know how to control my anger," said Owlina.
"Your nighty-night light says differently," said Spider-Man.
Owlina turned her head to see the sleeper deeper sparking before shutting down. "Oh feather-rot," she muttered, before her face got webbed again.
"Yeah, I've got a lot of friends who aren't gonna be happy with you now," said Spider-Man.
Owlina glared. "All teams, abort mission, get back to the roof," she snapped into her com.
Just then, huge tentacles of seaweed rose up out of the harbor. Owlina glared, her eyes seeing Zira riding the big one which formed into a toothed head. "Kids, eat your greens before they eat you," Zira cackled before it lunged at Owlina who sliced it up.
"Uh, why couldn't you have made those before?" asked Spider-Woman.
"You have any idea how far I had to reach to get this much seaweed?" asked Zira.
Owlina was on the defensive before backing into someone, turning to see Power Man. "Well...you've been eating your vitamins," she said cheerfully before she was knocked flying.
Agent Venom managed to crawl back up onto the Triskelion and said, "Save some for me."
Owlina got up, a little unsteadily before smirking. "Please...one extra?" she said.
Then a shot of webbing hit Owlina's face. "I don't know who woke me up, but I do not like being woken up," growled Scarlet Spider, landing beside the others.
Owlina glared, before saying a little uncertainly, "Ok...two's a little harder."
Then the rest of the SHIELD students came charging out the door. Not only that, but the beach rose up as a roaring Sandman.
Owlina looked around, spotting her target smirking before she smiled, putting her hands on her head. "I assume my men are unconscious," she said.
"Unconscious, unable to move, not gonna be able to help you," said Spider-Man.
"Did you account for all of them?" asked Owlina.
Mancer peered out as several agents ran past, before he walked into the cells, firing a blast in that shorted out the cameras. "Seems my employer's not in any state to pay the bill," he said to himself.
Mancer raised his eyebrows when he saw all the various villains that were locked up here. There was a swirling body of water that occasionally made an angry face as it crashed the sides, an electric bulb that had a humanoid being trying to break out, a huge demonic man that was literally snorting fire, and...some weird green guy with an oversized helmet covering his eyes.
"Yeah...you're trouble..." he said, walking onwards before someone banged on their door, getting his attention.
He paused at the cell of a hooded man wearing a scorpion motif costume. "Let me out," said the prisoner, "I can make it worth your while."
"Yeah...what sort of while? I don't work for blind faith," said Mancer, pausing at the prisoner's cell.
"I'm very well-connected," said the prisoner, "I am the leader of a vast and powerful army."
"Yeah, yeah, but is it a wealthy army?" asked Mancer, rubbing two fingers together meaningfully.
"5 million dollars enough?" said the prisoner.
"Not quite so good in the galactic economy, but it's a start," said Mancer.
"A more permanent income too if you help my organization," said the prisoner,
Mancer thought about it before blasting the door, which melted. "We'll see...boss," he said
"C'mon, c'mon, c'mon," said Matt frantically as he ran towards the detention center, "Stupid little legs." He skidded round the corner to see Mancer and some weirdo in a hood, the door to the confiscated items melted open and the prisoner holding some sort of key. "Ok, put down the tacky bling and put your hands up," said Matt.
"Tacky bling? This is the Scorpio Key!" snapped the hooded man, "The most powerful energy weapon on Earth!"
"As in the constellation Scorpio?" asked Matt, looking at the key, "It looks nothing like the sign of Scorpio. If anything, it looks like Sagittarius." A second later, he was blasted through a wall. "Ok...now I get it..." mumbled Matt.
"He's a tough little bugger," said Mancer, "Why don't ya hit him again? For safety?"
Matt managed to get up before a larger blast pinned him in place, before everything went dark...
...and he came too to see Nova and Spider-Man over him. "Ow..." Matt mumbled.
"You ok?" asked Spider-Man.
"Everything hurts...should fur hurt?" mumbled Matt, before Chloe's voice snapped "Get away from him."
"Wait, before she gets close, is that really Chloe or Silvia?" asked Matt.
Snowbell landed on his chest before saying "Bad version's asleep..." as Chloe ran up.
"That's good," said Matt before Snowbell licked him, "Ah! Bad kitty!"
Chloe sighed. "You need a bath. I'll call Chris and he'll bring the cure," she said, saying, "Looking forward to be the right size."
"Chris had a cure the whole time?" asked Matt with annoyance.
"I'm sure he has a good reason for not providing it now," said Chloe.
"WHAT DO YOU MEAN YOU ONLY HAVE ONE SHOT?!" yelled Chloe.
"I checked every freezer. Looks like Megan raided the lab for supplies. Most of the serum's gone off. One dose left," said Chris as Matt held Chloe back.
"Don't they have a synthesizer back at the Triskellion lab?" asked Matt.
"Not one that can bypass the nanite security...and the longer you're like this, the more likely you snap," said Chris, before saying, "So...who wins?"
Matt sighed, "All yours, Chloe."
Chloe seemed thoughtful before saying, "No, you should take it."
"No, not a chance. Silvia's playing marbles with you," snapped Matt.
"And you're gonna demolish any large city you see," said Chloe.
"I'm fine..." snapped Matt.
Chloe yelled, "You threw an empty bus at the jumbotron!"
"Ok, raise your hand if you've been itching to shut up the mudslinger since we got here," said Matt.
"Ok, I'll give you that...but you didn't even check of people were in it," said Chloe, before grabbing Matt and pouring most of the contents down his throat and looking at the dregs. "We got stores of the stuff at the Bladestorm. Maybe I don't need much?" she said, downing the last.
"We wouldn't be needing it that much if Kala were still around," muttered Chris.
Matt glared before hiccupping and shifting to dragon form. "Well...least I can find a spare uniform first," he said, "Did it work?"
"I don't feel different. Let me..." started Chloe before shifting to her dragon form, "Oh, that's better. Boy, I haven't been able to use this for a while."
"Yes you have," said Matt, "You just preferred your werewolf form."
"It goes to my head," said Chloe, walking into a side room as she shifted to human, before coming back in her Shar armor.
"Can you still use your werewolf form?" asked Chris.
"Let me check," said Chloe. She concentrated, but nothing happened. "Ok, this is weird," said Chloe.
"Maybe you're just low on moon power," said Chris.
"I'm a daedric werewolf. We never run empty," snapped Chloe.
"Well, moonrise should be...I don't know when," said Matt, "You could stand to use your dragon form more often, anyways."
"Ok, 'mum'." said Chloe sarcastically as Matt went to get his armor
"Well, I guess we need to be looking for Scorpio and Mancer now," said Chris.
However, Chloe put a hand on his chest and said, "Not so fast, lover boy. We've got some catching up to do."
"I'm sorry?" said Chris before yelping as Chloe kissed him.
Matt walked back in and said, "Seriously, Chloe?" before a lightning bolt shot him out.
"I want some me time with my boyfriend," snapped Chloe.
"Well, I want me time with my girlfriend, but you don't see me-" started Matt.
A second lightning bolt knocked him out...
Owlina looked up smiling as Fury came into view. "Mr. Fury, what can I do for you?"
"I just want to compare notes," said Fury.
"About Mr. Lynch and his friends?" said Owlina.
"If you're wanting to talk about them," said Fury.
"What would you like to know?" said Owlina calmly
"Can we start by leaving out the propaganda?" asked Fury.
"What propaganda?" said Owlina with a cold smile.
There's another chapter. This one actually went through a small revision. Originally, Scorpio was going to be featured instead of Taskmaster. But we couldn't really think of any follow-up for Scorpio and, by extension, Zodiac. But we will be seeing Taskmaster again, though I'm not sure when.
Anyways, there's going to be a short hiatus. The next few chapters are going to be in a big arc and there are a few additions that need to be made. If all goes well, it can start posting next week. Keep an eye out for it and please review.
