"Marvel: Tomorrow Initiative"
Chapter 3: "Between Dreams and Nightmares"
Disclaimer: The universe depicted here largely belongs to Marvel Comics in terms of settings, concepts, and character archetypes. I only own certain specific characters, as I came up with them myself.
Author's note: This chapter is going to show you Audrey's introduction to the X-Men and induction into the anti-registration forces. It will also develop the relationship between her and Karin/Fearless a little more. I won't talk too much here; I don't want to spoil what happens in this chapter. Read on.
The SHRU hovercrafts continued to pursue Fearless and Audrey. The lead hovercraft fired a laser net at the two girls, but Fearless whirled and slashed through it with her baton blade. She deactivated the blade extension and shot an energy grapple at a building, swinging from it while carrying Audrey. Still, the SHRU hovercrafts persisted in following them, firing laser nets at them. Fearless slashed through the laser nets, finally firing an energy grapple at one of the hovercrafts and swinging onto it.
"What are we doing?" Audrey asked.
Fearless' response was to extend the energy blade on one of her batons and stab it into the engine of the hovercraft. The hovercraft immediately began to descend uncontrollably, prompting Fearless to jump off while carrying Audrey. As they descended, Fearless withdrew her baton again and extended the chain blade, striking all the hovercrafts' engines. Immediately, the hovercrafts began to descend against the will of their pilots.
"What was that about?" Audrey asked.
"Preventing them from following us," Fearless answered simply. Catching Audrey's dismayed body language, Fearless tilted her head. "They're not going to die. They can easily eject from their hovercrafts and live to report to their bosses. In the meantime, I'm going to take you far away from here."
"Sure," Audrey spoke, her voice slightly hesitant.
With that said, Fearless swung away from the tableau with Audrey in tow. As they swung, Audrey reflected that she almost felt safe with Fearless, like she was in a familiar place with a familiar person. Almost unconsciously, she held Fearless tighter, but not so tight that she broke anything. After what seemed like an eternity of swinging through the city, they found themselves in an abandoned tunnel.
Fearless took Audrey's hand and placed it on her shoulder. "Hold onto me and you won't get lost."
Audrey obeyed, holding Fearless' shoulder and walking behind the other girl. After a certain interval, they stopped before a hidden entrance, which opened to reveal Daybreak. "You must be Spider-Woman," the pale-skinned girl greeted. "Nice to meet you."
"Um, I haven't called myself anything yet," Audrey replied bashfully.
"Come on in," Daybreak said, escorting Audrey and Fearless inside. Audrey looked around in undisguised wonder.
"This place is . . . I don't know how to describe it," she uttered.
"Spider-Woman," X-23 greeted.
"Is that a suggestion or are you picking my codename for me?" Audrey asked.
"Would you prefer to be called Audrey?" Fairbrook asked.
"How do you know my name?" Audrey asked.
"We know because we know it was you who was bitten by that spider," Fairbrook replied. "We know the spider's venom was dosed with a biochemical agent derived from the DNA of Spider-Man, which re-sequenced your DNA to resemble his, giving you powers and abilities similar to his."
"How?" Audrey asked.
Fearless unsealed her mask from her face. "We know because I'm your classmate. We know because I took a sample of your blood while you were comatose from the spider bite. We know because Milton Labs doubles as both a biomedical lab and a biotechnology firm. In its latter function, it – along with other biotech firms in this country – has been using the DNA of pre-registration heroes to recreate their powers in agents of the CSA."
"Karin?" Audrey uttered, stunned by Fearless' revelation of her identity.
"Yeah," Karin confirmed.
"I suppose that explains how I got spider-powers," Audrey said. "But that guy . . ."
"You feel guilt," X-23 said. "For what?"
"I killed him. I was trying to save a boy from these crooks and I killed one of them. Kicked him too hard and his neck snapped. Didn't even know my own strength."
"And that's why you're going to go through some training," Peter spoke up, making his presence known. "You need to know the limits of your abilities before you go out there again."
Audrey gasped. "Oh, my God. You're Spider-Man!"
"Yes," Peter confirmed. In a darkly wry tone, "Nice to meet a fan."
"You wanna take that mask off?" Impetus asked.
"No," Audrey replied. "I like it."
"Fine," Peter said. "But as soon as your training is finished, I'm giving you a new costume."
"And when do we start?"
A grim smile came to Peter's face. "Now."
"Now? But I have to go home! My parents will wake up and wonder where I am!"
"You have worse things to worry about right now. The CSA has probably already gotten your blood work from the hospital where you were staying, meaning you can't go home. Ever. To do so would be to endanger your family and friends, assuming you don't intend to go to one of their training camps."
"I don't want to go, anyway, but how am I a danger to my own family?"
Karin cut in. "If you have powers, you have to register. If you're registered, you have to become part of the CSA's Initiative. There's no choice. You don't get the luxury of a boring civilian lifestyle if you have powers. I learned that the hard way."
"That isn't right."
"Of course not, but there's a superhuman cold war going on right now. The major powers of the world are scrambling to compete with the United States' arsenal of super-soldiers and the U.S. government is scrambling to remain king of the mountain."
"Arsenal? You talk as though we're nothing but weapons."
"To the humans, that's all we are. Weapons concealed in human visage."
"What about this superpower replication project? Where are they getting the DNA from?"
"They've had the DNA for years; superheroes bleed, too. In Captain America's case, they had an entire corpse to work from."
Audrey's hand went to her mask-covered mouth in shock. "This . . . this is just wrong. How could they do this?"
Karin scoffed bitterly. "It wasn't like people didn't try to fight it at first. But when everyone who either spoke out peacefully or took up arms against it started getting neutralized in some fashion, people eventually got the hint."
"It's not as if this is a whole new thing," Daybreak observed. "My grandfather was from the future. He knew and taught me what sort of fascism could be allowed to flourish if the people let it happen. And let it happen they did. The ones who didn't lose their will to fight, like us, went underground to avoid imprisonment or death. We're still fighting. Sometimes, it feels like we're the only ones who are."
"Now do you understand?" Peter asked. "Do you understand the magnitude of what you've stumbled into?"
Audrey nodded shakily.
"Then let's begin. Follow me."
Audrey followed Peter to an arena-like chamber with a monitor room set above. "What is this place?"
"A VR-simulated combat environment, a.k.a. the Danger Grotto. Here is where you'll train until you get a handle on your powers." He pointed to the monitor room. "That's where I'll be, controlling the simulated environment. Your job here is to stay alive." With that said, he departed for the monitor room, leaving Audrey alone in the Danger Grotto.
Soon enough, the Danger Grotto began to quietly fade out, replaced by a city environment. Time immediately slowed down and Audrey found herself flipping away from a tail attack by the Scorpion. Metal pincer-tipped tentacles shot at her, only for her to dodge those as well. Lightning bolts came down on Audrey, almost too fast even for her to dodge. In fact, one of the lightning bolts grazed her side. A wave of sand came down on her and she leaped up to evade it, only for it to hit her legs and knock her down.
Audrey tumbled backwards and onto her feet, rising up to find herself surrounded by the Scorpion, Dr. Octopus, Electro, and Sandman. "I count four of you. Aren't you supposed to be the Sinister Six?"
"Don't waste time taunting them," Peter's voice coldly advised from within the monitor room. "Just take them down."
Dr. Octopus shot his tentacles at Audrey again, but she jumped up and out of the way, coming down on him with a kick to the head. Unfortunately, one of his tentacles looped around and grabbed her leg. The other tentacles looped around as well, binding her other leg and her arms. Audrey struggled in the tentacles' grip, but they were even stronger than she was.
"End simulation," Peter's voice spoke and the simulation disappeared, leaving Audrey to drop on her rump. "Not an auspicious start, Audrey."
"I'm new at this," Audrey protested.
"If that had been the real Dr. Octopus, you'd be dead now," Peter answered bluntly, "which is why we're going to try this again until you learn how to coordinate your spider-sense with your reflexes so that you don't screw up like that again."
"Spider-sense?" Audrey asked.
"That tingling feeling in the back of your skull that warns you of danger," Peter replied.
"I don't get a tingling feeling," Audrey said. "Time just slows down."
"Even better," Peter said. "Now try again."
The simulation restarted and time slowed once again for Audrey, enabling her to dodge Dr. Octopus's tentacles. This time, she grabbed the two tentacles that were shooting at her and flipped over them, striking Dr. Octopus in his more vulnerable body. The strike sent the mad scientist flying off the rooftop. Scorpion attacked next, swinging his tail at her, but she jumped over it and kicked him in the head, disorienting him enough for her to get in a few more hits. Electro shot his lightning bolts at her, but she stayed aerial to avoid his bolts.
Sandman extended his arms into a rolling wave of sand, but she jumped over it and kicked him in the head. His head shattered into scattered particles of sand but quickly regenerated. Electro shot a lightning bolt at Audrey, but she leaped out of the way to tackle him. After several seconds of rolling around on the rooftop, she kicked him off her and jumped off the ground in case he had any funny ideas like shocking her while she was grounded. Scorpion's tail shot forth at her head, but she touched it, attaching herself to it, and swung on it to kick him in the head.
Audrey leaped off the Scorpion's tail and kicked Electro again as he tried to sneak up behind her. Dr. Octopus made a return appearance, shooting his tentacles at her, but she dodged each and every one of his attacks. Getting an idea, she flipped over toward Electro's position, prompting him to shoot a lightning bolt at her. She moved out of the way of the lightning bolt as Dr. Octopus shot his tentacles at her. The lightning bolt connected with the tentacles, shocking Dr. Octopus out of commission.
The remaining three villains attacked Audrey with sandblasts, lightning bolts, and a scorpion-like tail. She dodged all of them, diving off the rooftop and ricocheting between buildings. That didn't stop the villains from coming after her, Sandman turning himself into sand and sliding down the skyscraper façade, Electro zapping himself after her, and Scorpion jumping to tackle her. When Audrey ricocheted over to the façade of the skyscraper off which she had initially jumped, the sand prevented her from clinging and she tumbled down the façade, only to be wrapped up in Sandman. When Electro made the mistake of firing a lightning bolt at Audrey while she was tangled up in Sandman, he turned the sand into glass and she broke free, shattering the Sandman.
She leaped into the air and brought both fists down on Electro, sending him crashing down to the ground. Now all that was left was the Scorpion, who was clinging to the façade of the skyscraper via pincers in his gloves. He jumped off and lunged at Audrey, only for her to jump into the air and kick him. She reached between his legs and grabbed his tail, swinging him around as she descended and finishing by body-slamming him into the ground.
She flipped off him and onto the façade of the far skyscraper. "How's that?"
"Better," Peter's voice spoke, ending the simulation. Audrey fell again, this time flipping in midair and landing in a graceful crouch. "Looks like you actually used your brains."
"How long have I been at this?" Audrey asked.
"It's almost sunup, judging by my time," Peter replied.
"I have to go back home," Audrey insisted.
"You can't," Peter stated coldly. "If you do, the CSA will find you. They will connect the 'Spider-Woman' that was being chased by the NYPD's Cape-Killers to the young girl that was bitten by a spider they'd experimented on. And then they will come for you and if your family or friends put up a fuss, they'll be taken out of the picture. Is any of that sinking into your head?"
"I need to see my family. I need to at least say good-bye to them, if I'm never going to see them again."
"What exactly are you failing to grasp here?" Peter asked. "The fact that as it stands, you'll be a danger to your family and friends just by being near them? Is something about that not sinking in? Is it the danger part that's not clear? Will it become clear when you're standing amidst corpses that used to be your family, that used to be your friends? Will it?"
Audrey took a few steps back before running out of the Danger Grotto. She ran past the X-Men and Karin, X-23, Impetus, and Karin seeing her clearly due to their abilities. Both X-23 and Karin's advanced senses detected Audrey's distress. Impetus was about to run after Audrey, but Karin snapped her arm out, thus blocking him. She gave him a stern glare before running after Audrey, leaving her mask behind.
Karin caught up with the spider-like girl midway in the tunnels leading to the X-Men's base. "Audrey! Audrey, wait!"
Audrey turned around, looking at Karin through a mask that made reading her emotions through her face impossible. Fortunately for Karin, she didn't need to see Audrey's face to know how she felt. She knew Audrey was scared, confused, and frantic with worry for her family and friends. She slowly began to walk toward Audrey, keeping her hands visible at all times and giving the younger girl every opportunity to flee. Audrey just stayed still, watching Karin walk toward her while her body tensed in preparation to fight or flee.
Finally, Karin was standing right before Audrey . . . and Audrey was stunned at just how tall Karin was. Roughly five feet ten inches by her estimate, considerably taller than her five-foot-six self. That astonishment didn't show on her face, as it was still concealed by her mask, but it was evident in how she tensed up again. Karin gently reached down and found the seam connecting Audrey's mask to her costume, unsealing it from the front.
Audrey tensed up again, to which Karin answered, "I already know who you are. You already know who I am . . . trust me, please."
Audrey must have heard the sincerity in Karin's voice, as she relaxed slightly and allowed Karin to remove her mask. Once the mask came off, her hair spilled out in tangled, slightly frizzy brown curls. Her "deer in headlights" expression was clear as day on her face, almost literally as Karin could see despite the lack of immediate light sources. Karin gently pulled Audrey into an embrace.
"I promised you while you were still in the hospital that I would be here for you. I intend to keep that promise. Do you hear me? I'll be here for you."
Audrey looked into Karin's eyes, seeing nothing but sincerity in them, and tears seeped out of her own eyes. Karin held the younger girl, letting her weep for the life, the family, and the friends that were now lost to her. As Audrey wept, Karin thought of the life she had had before becoming Fearless, of the friends and family that she could never see again. She had been alone then . . . and now she wasn't, not anymore, not ever again.
Meanwhile, Peter had passed by the X-Men, who were all staring at him as though he had single-handedly murdered each of their beloved pets, on his way back to his lab. He acknowledged all of them with a simple glare, voicelessly saying, "What?"
"Audrey ran away!" Impetus exclaimed. "What the hell did you do to her, you ass?!"
"Watch your mouth," Peter spat in response. "And I did nothing. Nothing but prepare her for reality."
"And what reality is that?" Daybreak asked softly. "A world of suffering? A world where she is to be exploited simply because of her abilities, abilities she did not even ask for? A world where she will be forced to hide for the rest of her life simply because of what she can do?"
"Yes, that reality," Peter answered bluntly. "A reality we have been fighting a losing war against for decades."
"You have your doubts, why don't you go back to your friend Tony?" Impetus asked.
"Enough, Impetus," Fairbrook spoke up. "This isn't the time."
"Doesn't mean you get the privilege of being a prick," Impetus spat at Peter, who impassively stared at the blue-haired speedster before going back into his lab. Impetus grumbled something under his breath that sounded suspiciously like, "Yeah, walk away, you son of a bitch."
"Impetuous ought to be your name from now on," Synergy remarked.
"Someone had to say it," Impetus retorted unrepentantly.
X-23 smelled and heard Karin gently escorting Audrey inside. She turned and it didn't escape her notice that Audrey was leaning on Karin for support. It also didn't escape her notice that Audrey's mask was off and hanging on her shoulders like a hood. Impetus was the first to react to seeing Audrey without her mask, darting over to her other side.
"You know, you look better in that costume than he did."
"Thanks," Audrey answered wanly. Karin simply tugged her gently but insistently away from Impetus. "Where's Spider-Man?"
"The bastard's in his lab," Impetus grumbled.
"What happened to make him that way?" Audrey asked. "The Spider-Man I heard of always seemed to love his work."
Daybreak sighed. "It's not my place to say, but he loved it until everyone he loved died because of it. He has no one now, no one except us . . . and he won't even let us near him."
"How can anyone be so alone?"
"Cruel circumstance and honest errors."
"We should have introduced ourselves sooner," Fairbrook said. "We're the X-Men. I'm Fairbrook."
"X-23."
"Wireless."
"Impetus."
"Sandstorm."
"Synergy."
"Daybreak."
"X-Men? I thought you guys were all . . . dead," Audrey said.
"That's what we let the world think," Fairbrook replied. "And that's what they're going to think until the government needs the threat of mutant terrorism as an excuse to go draconian on even normal humans. We're not fighting for Charles Xavier's dream anymore. We're fighting just to keep posthumans – mutant or not – alive and free."
"Why do you think they're trying to replicate superpowers?" Daybreak asked. "They don't want superheroes; they want super-soldiers. They can't control superheroes, but super-soldiers answer directly to them. The strongest or most useful power sets are replicated and transplanted into human agents controlled by the CSA and once they've finished that . . ." A bitter smile colored her face. "A human with a mutated genome is hardly different from a mutant. In any case, they'll all be exterminated in the same way. That is our future, unless we stop it."
Karin looked Audrey in the eyes. "Will you help us stop this?"
Audrey looked Karin back in her eyes. "Yes, I will."
Instantly, Impetus was zipping around her with measuring tape, wrapping it around her bust, her waist, and her hips. "Nice. I like those measurements on a girl." He pulled the measuring tape away and used it to measure her arms and legs. "Now to get them to Parker so he can get to work on your new costume." He zipped away and into the lab, only to come out mere seconds later. "The bastard kicked me out!"
"You were probably interrupting his work," Wireless stated neutrally.
"What are you going to call yourself?" Karin asked.
"What do you call yourself?" Audrey asked.
"Answer a question with another," Karin mused. "Clever. And it's Fearless . . . because I am."
"Spider-Woman's too derivative," Audrey said. "So's Spider-Girl. And I obviously don't have the genitalia to call myself Spider-Man. Call me . . . Arachne."
End Notes: There you go. The end of the third chapter of Marvel: Tomorrow Initiative. I wanted to spend some time on the CSA Avengers, but the plot I had going in this chapter went on too long for me to do anything but a superficial glimpse and I thought these characters deserved better. You'll definitely see them in the next chapter, though. And you'll see some other familiar characters and archetypes in future chapters, as well as the X-Men in action. Until then, see you next chapter and let me know what you think, both good and bad.