Hello there, True Believers! Welcome to another exciting installment of Spider-Man: Secrets of Oscorp! While Peter and Jessica were enjoying their lovely night in their hotel room, what have our villains been up to? Where is Iron Man, and what has he been up to all this time? What is this "Secret Project" that Miriam is working on in her private lab? You will find out in this chapter of Spider-Man: Secrets of Oscorp! Excelsior!

Disclaimer: All characters are owned by Marvel. Also, Excelsior belong to the almighty Stan Lee and the State of New York.

A/N: I'm sorry that this chapter took really long to write. I was getting a bit busy with my work life, but here it is and I hope you like it!

As usual, reviews and general feedback are ALWAYS appreciated. And I wanted say thanks to all my followers, new and old. All of you are a big reason why I keep writing this story. So, keep on rocking as usual! :)

Chapter 12: The Quiet Before the Storm

Oscorp Industries, Manhattan, NY

Harry Osborn looked out his window from his room from the 50th floor and saw the dark night being filled with busy night life of people hustling and bustling about. He smirked as he thought to himself, A world without these so-called heroes is quickly approaching. There will be a new police in town that can truly help its people in the most efficient way.

He walked near his bed and gazed upon the picture of a woman. She had Harry's brown hair and deep blue eyes just like him, and Harry held the picture as he thought to himself, The Avengers will pay for what they did to you, mom. And every superhero who acts outside of the law will meet their end. We're so close mom. Just you wait.

He turned off the lights as he took the elevator to the top of the building on the 100th floor. He walked down the hallway and opened the door. He saw his father talking the holographic face of the man with the skull mask as Norman said, "How long do we have to wait?"

The man with the skull mask replied, "Any day now, Norman. She's very close to finishing it, so we might be looking at a timetable of less than 3 days to strike."

Norman calmly replied with a stern voice, "Let us know, Taskmaster. The battalion will be ready to strike at once on your signal."

Taskmaster replied, "Will do."

His holographic face disappeared from Norman's desk as he turned around to give his attention to his son. He said, "My dear Harry, what brings you here to my office at this hour?"

Harry walked over sat on the chair that was facing Norman as he said, "How's our little conquest plan going?"

He opened the top of his wrist gear as he noticed that the red goo was twitching on about in the container as he said, "My little friend's getting itchy for some action. He's craving for blood."

Norman chuckled as he replied, "Taskmaster said that we will be attacking the Helicarrier in a couple of days, so don't you fret son."

Harry slightly frowned as he crossed his arms and said, "I don't trust him, nor any of our ragtag group of friends that we recently made. Just how long are we gonna be keeping our alliance around?"

Norman gave a sly evil look in his treacherous eyes as he said, "Taskmaster won't last the battle. He maybe a skilled assassin, but he can't take on all the troops in the Helicarrier, especially not with Captain Marvel and Captain America holding down the fort."

Harry furrowed his eyebrows as he said, "But didn't Justin Hammer give him the Adamantium-Fullerite gloves that could take him down?"

Norman chuckled, "Son, you underestimate Steve Rogers. There's a reason why they call him the master of hand-to-hand combat. Just because Taskmaster's got new toys to play with doesn't mean that he will win. He won't be around after the siege of Helicarrier, and I say good riddance."

Harry questioned further, "What about the others?"

Norman placed his hands together as he said, "They will be dealt with accordingly as soon as we get what we want from them."

Harry sat still silently as he crossed his arms. Norman regarded his son carefully as he said, "Is something else troubling you my son?"

Harry let out a sigh as he said, "I've been having nightmares…..about mom."

Norman furrowed his eyebrows as he said, "Is it the same nightmares that you've always been having?"

Harry glanced up at his dad and looked down as he replied, "It's worse. She dies in my hands every time by the end of the dream."

Norman slightly twitched his eyebrows as he said in a stern voice, "You need to go to bed earlier. You've been staying up too late and working on your lab projects."

Harry sighed as he replied, "I know."

After a moment of moment of silence, he asked Norman, "Dad, were the Avengers really responsible for my mother's death?"

Norman sighed as he said, "How many times do I have to tell you, Harry? Your mother could have been saved in the building that she was trapped in but the Avengers just let her die in there because they wanted to make sure their fancy Avengers Tower didn't suffer any damage from the crumbling building. So yes, Harry. It was them who essentially murdered your mother."

Harry then clenched his fists as he replied, "Then we need to make sure we destroy them all for good. They need to pay for their sins, and I will make sure to tear off Captain America's head for good when we attack the Helicarrier."

Norman gently tapped his son's shoulder as he said, "We will, now settle down…and have you been taking your meds lately? You know that it helps the Carnage side-effects in check."

Harry let out a huff as he said, "No."

Norman sighed as he got up and grabbed a bottle of water from his personal fridge and grabbed a pack of blue pills and gave it to his son.

He then twitched his eyebrows at him as he said, "Take your meds and get some sleep."

Harry nodded as he popped a pill in his mouth and drank it with water. He then proceeded to go back to his room as he waved goodnight to his dad and left the premises.

Norman sat in his room as he thought to himself, That should make him more obedient. But soon the pills won't be enough and Harry will want to know what happened to his mother. And we need to do put this Helicarrier plan into motion quickly before the Carnage completely takes over Harry's body.

Undisclosed Location, South Korea

It was a dark room that was located 1,000 ft beneath the surface. Something about the room had a very minimal clean design to it, as if it looked like an empty space where people have just moved in. There was a table with three gigantic computer screens above it and a dangling lamp was hanging on the ceiling as that was the only source of light in the room. There was a man in his mid 30's with a considerable beard as he was wearing a ruffled yellow collared shirt and black pants.

His name was Tony Stark who has ran from the Avengers Tower 6 months ago when he was supposedly accused of stealing the Vita Rays containers from the S.H.I.E.L.D. Helicarrier. In Tony's mind he still wasn't sure if he was cleared of his name but he didn't care about that. He just wanted to make sure that he could find out whoever stole his Mark VII Suits and bring them into justice before they could do any kind of physical harm against the ones who he cared about.

His Mark VIII suit was in thick glass case adjacent to the computer screens as it was all charged up and ready to be used for deployment in the future. He thought to himself as he paced around the room, It's been more than 6 months already since I've went rogue on the Avengers. I know that I shouldn't have done that, but when someone steals my tech, it's my problem. And I'm gonna do everything I can in my power to take care of this situation before it gets out of hand. I wonder how Pepper is doing these days. I haven't spoken to her in months…god, I feel fucking terrible.

He then heard a beeping sound on the center computer screen pressed a button on the projection, and an Asian woman in who looked like in her mid 30's came upon the screen as she said, "Hey, Tony."

Tony got up from his seat as he said, "Hey, Helen. Were you able to find anything on our little buddies at H.A.M.M.E.R.?"

Helen Cho was a colleague of Tony Stark back in the college days when they both attended CalTech together about 10 years ago along with Bruce Banner. She helped him design some of his early suits such as the Mark IV and Mark V and also was a great assistance of building J.A.R.V.I.S. when Tony was building his tower. Now she has settled down with a husband and had a son while still being a government-sponsored scientist for South Korea.

Helen replied from the screen as she sighed, "You're in a real shithole, Tony."

Tony lightly chuckled as he replied, "Story of my life. Well, what you got for me?"

Helen replied, "Well, I had one of our government's top agents residing in Manhattan right now look into the matter and she found some really disturbing stuff."

Tony crossed his arms across his chest as he said, "Disturbing. I love disturbing! Fire at me, Cho!"

Helen replied, "I need you to look at the screen on your left."

Tony looked at the giant computer screen on his left as there was a picture of a man with the skull mask. He furrowed his eyebrows as he said, "So, what about this skeletor look-alike dude?"

Helen said in a concerned voice, "Well, from the reports that she gave, this masked man is a double-agent for Hydra and his name is Taskmaster, A.K.A. Tony Masters who has infiltrated S.H.I.E.L.D. for past 2 years now. And he also was the culprit who stole your Mark VII suits and used them to steal the Vita Ray containers in the S.H.I.E.L.D. Helicarrier."

Tony got up from his seat as he palmed his face and slowly paced around back and forth as he said, "Great, this fanboy works for a resurrected radical political party filled with bunch of racists and he's framed me. And what kind of name is Taskmaster anyway? It seems like a name that you would give to a kitchen appliance!"

Helen sighed as she added, "Well, this kitchen appliance had another reason for stealing your suits."

Tony groaned as he replied, "Looking forward to it."

The picture of Taskmaster disappeared as two pictures of blueprints appeared side by side. One of them was a blueprint of Tony's Mark VII suit and the other was Bolivar Trask's Sentinel V model.

Tony became stunned as he said, "W-what is this? I didn't give anyone my blueprints for the Mark VII…and is that…is that a fucking Sentinel?!"

Helen replied, "Taskmaster brought the Mark VII suits to Justin Hammer and he was quickly able to whip up a blueprint out of scratch."

Tony thought as he clenched his teeth, that damn sleazy bastard.

Helen added, "And I suppose you know what the Sentinel means."

Tony clenched his fists as he said to himself, "Bolivar Trask."

Helen let out a huff as she said, "Apparently they're combining these two models together to…"

The two pictures of the blueprints on the left combined together to form a much more sinister and dangerous looking robot.

Tony became speechless as he remarked, "My old man would definitely have something to say about this."

He then furrowed his eyebrows at Helen as he added, "How the hell did your super secret agent get all this information?"

Helen smirked as she said, "She's a covert employee for Oscorp."

Tony rolled his eyes as he said, "well, that explains everything."

He then looked at the blueprint of the robot as he notice something unusual about the arms. He zoomed in the picture of the arms as he took a holographic image of that and placed it in front and center with the wave of his hands. He zoomed on blaster that was attached on the arm as he became shocked and said, "That-that's Hank Pym's Particle Accelerator Beam!"

He then pressed a red and gold button as the Marl VII suit broke through its glass casing and began to attach itself to Tony's body as he was gearing up for battle.

Helen furrowed her eyebrows as she said, "What are you doing?"

Tony retorted as pieces of armor began to clink around him, "What does it look like I'm doing?"

Helen said in a concerned manner, "You do realize that you're a fugitive from your own country, right?"

As Tony finally put on his Mark VII suit, he closed his golden mask as he said through his monitor, "It doesn't matter. I have to warn the Avengers, because I'm the only one who has the slightest idea of how to nullify that weapon and I'm gonna do what I can to stop Hammer and Trask's plans before my friends make a mess of themselves. The world needs Iron Man at this moment, and it damn might as well be now."

He then turned off all the monitors as he began to fly through the narrow hallway and flew up towards a narrow tube and flew himself into the deep night skies over the East Sea. He then got a beeping sound from his monitor as J.A.R.V.I.S. said, "Mr. Stark, it's Mrs. Cho on the line."

Tony sighed as he said, "Put her on the line."

Helen's face appeared on the small screen inside his helmet as she said, "You know, I wasn't exactly done talking to you."

Tony joked, "Geez, Helen! It's been less than a minute and you miss me already? I thought you were married!"

Helen snapped back as she said, "Stop fooling around! There's something you need to know about the S.H.I.E.L.D. Helicarrier."

Tony replied as he was traveling about at the speed of 5 Mach, "Good. I was just heading in that direction anyway. What you got for me?"

Helen replied, "Osborn and Hammer are going to launch an invasion on the Helicarrier because S.H.I.E.L.D. has something they want. And they want to give that to Doctor Doom. The only thing is we don't know when they're going to attack and we don't know exactly what they're looking for."

Tony replied, "So, S.H.I.E.L.D. has something that the Latverian crackpot wants. Do you have an E.T.A. at least for the invasion?"

Helen let out a huff as she said, "Well from the reports, it might be less than 2 days as of now. But that's just a guess."

Tony firmly replied, "Good enough, I'll take it from here. And by the way, Helen…"

Helen replied, "Yeah?"

Tony let out a smile as he replied, "Thanks for taking care of my rebel ass all these months. The food was great."

Helen smirked back as she said, "Hey, you're welcome here anytime. Besides, Amadeus enjoyed your company and now he has his own ideas for his own Iron Man suit."

Tony chuckled back as he said, "I'll tell you what, when you guys come over to Manhattan next time, I'll give him a personal tour of the Chamber of Armors in the Avengers Tower."

Helen smirked back as she said, "Will do, Tony. Well, look at the time! My son needs to go to school now!"

Tony then perked up as he asked, "He's a high school senior right? How old is he again?"

Helen scoffed, "He's 15."

Tony blinked his eyes a couple of times in shock as he replied, "Christ."

Helen laughed out loud as she said, "I'll see you around, Tony."

Tony replied back, "See you soon, Helen."

He shut off his monitor as he headed towards the west coast shore of the United States.

Undisclosed S.H.I.E.L.D. Base, Portland, Oregon, USA

Phil Coulson walked around in a laboratory that was filled with computers and lab gadgets of sorts. There were two people working diligently on their duties who were running around frantically. One was a Caucasian man in his mid 20's with a curly dirty blonde hair, and another was a Caucasian woman with a long brown hard who was around the same age as him.

The man with a curly brown hair said to the woman who with a long brown hair, "Hey, Simmons. How's the new Cap's shield coming along?"

The woman was dripping with sweat on her lab coat as she panted, "It's…going. I'm getting really close to how to properly fuse Adamntium and Fullerite together, but their molecular structure is really tough to pinpoint to bring them together into a new element seamlessly. How's your new motion detectors coming along, Fitz?"

The man with the curly brown hair was tinkering with a small device with his hands as he replied, "Well, all the inside details are finished. Now, I just need to make sure that the machine can detect the size of motion that is the equivalent of an ant moving its antennas. But, I already gave it 25 test runs and it's still not working properly, so the answer is…I still have a long way to go."

Simmons then smiled as she said, "So…did you like the sandwich that I made for you last time for your mission?"

Fitz then blushed lightly as he said, "Yeah…it was nice. I really liked the prosciutto with a touch of pesto."

Simmons looked through her microscope to observe the small speck of fullerite as she said, "Good. I'll make a note of that for next time."

Phil then walked between them as he furrowed his eyebrows at them and said, "All right, you two. Stop flirting and get to work already. The main base is counting on us to make specialized gears for the level 10 emergency."

Fitz and Simmons blushed as they said at the same time, "We're not flirting!"

Phil gave them a cheeky grin as he said, "Uh huh….right."

Fitz then frowned at Phil as he added, "And what are you doing right now sir? You're acting more like a Mr. Boss-man than usual today."

Then a fit Asian woman in her late 30's came down from the metal stairs as she said, "It's because he is the boss-man of this group."

Phil then looked up at the woman as he said, "Hey, Melinda. Did anything come up on our radar yet?"

The woman shook her head as she let out a sigh and said, "Nope….still not a fucking blip."

Phil let out a frustrating huff and then went upstairs as he went inside a small room and Skye was on her laptop and hacking every major security system around the world to look for the whereabouts of Tony Stark. He gently placed his hand on Skye's shoulder as he said, "Did you find him yet?"

Skye palmed her hands together as she stretched her back and said, "Nope. It's like he never existed. I tried to look for his social security number, his birth certificate, his passport number, and just any kind of private information but nothing has come up yet."

Phil had a tired look in his eyes as he said, "Well, we gotta keep trying. Fury didn't give us a level 10 emergency for nothing."

Skye then let out a light smirk as she said, "You know…for a guy who seems very irresponsible and brash, he's really kept his tracks hidden well."

Phil then crossed his arms as he said, "You have no idea, kid. The man is probably almost smart as Reed Richards, but just doesn't have enough street cred compared to him. It's just that he tends to keep a lot of his tricks hidden up his sleeve."

Outside of the base, Wolverine, Luke Cage, and Iron Fist were guarding the base to look out for any unsuspecting enemies coming to attack. Luke Cage stood on the grassy plains as he said to Wolverine, "So, what made you decide to come all the way over here, Wolverine?"

Logan smirked as he replied, "Well, I thought you guys could use some extra manpower. Besides, the scenery is nice here….it reminds me of back home."

Luke chuckled as he said, "Heh, I never took you as the reminiscent and sentimental type."

Logan replied, "Hey even cold killers like me have feeling too, you know?"

Luke looked around the open wide area in front of them as he said, "And you want to give an extra manpower to a guy with an unbreakable skin and a dude who can crack a mountain in half with one punch?"

Snikt!

Logan sheathed his claw on his right hand in front of him as he said, "Well, I'm the best at what I do and you two are still rookies in my book as far as I'm concerned."

Luke then frowned upon the forest that was just beyond the green pastures as he said, "Where the hell is Danny?"

Logan then sniffed his nose as he said, "He's chilling on a Redwood tree branch that's quarter a mile north away from us. He's fine."

Luke crossed his arms as he chuckled, "Man, you really are a dog."

Snikt!

Logan sheathed his claw on his other hand as he growled, "That ain't funny bub."

Danny Rand, A.K.A. Iron Fist was surveying the skies as he was standing on the highest branch of the tallest Redwood Tree in the forest as he gazed upon the picturesque scenery with the sunny skies shadowing the high mountains nearby.

He thought to himself, Man, what would I give to move out here? The air is just so clean and fresh, and it's so quiet and peaceful. I'd like to move out here someday with Misty if we ever get the chance…and maybe even have kids here one day. I wonder how the Defenders are doing these days without me and Luke? Do they need out help? Nah, Murdock's holding down that fort pretty well so I'm sure they're doing fine.

He then heard a small whirring noise that was coming closer and closer. He held his hand over his eyes and squinted behind his lenses of his golden half-mask to see what it was. He became shocked as he clicked on the comlink on his earpiece and said, "Omega HQ, This is Iron Fist. You're not gonna believe what's coming in front of me right now."

Back in the secret S.H.I.E.L.D. base, Coulson got a beep on his comlink as he clicked and said, "Iron Fist. What's your situation? Do you have a bogey in front of you?"

He rushed over to the radar room as Iron fist replied over the comlink, "It's just not any bogey."

Melinda then looked at Coulson as she said, "I think we've found our ex-criminal fugitive."

All of a sudden, Coulson's comlink communication was then overridden as he heard a familiar voice that said, "Hey, Phil. How's your cellist girlfriend doing these days?"

Phil then remarked loudly, "Tony! Where the hell have you've been all these months?!"

Tony was flying in his suit over the forest that was in outskirts of the city as he replied through his monitor, "No time to explain. You need to get your team back to the Helicarrier now."

Coulson replied through the comlink, "Ok, got it. Oh and by the way, you're cleared of all charges. We found out who stole our Vita Ray containers."

Tony kept on rocketing through the northwestern skies as he replied, "Good, because I have a score to settle with him."

Outside the base, Wolverine was on his phone as he paced back and forth and growled, "No, Wade! For the last fucking time, You can't fly the Blackbird!"

The jokey, maniacal voice replied back from the speaker of the phone as he replied, "Aww, come on Wolvie! Don't be such a stick in the mud, you mangy old mutt!"

Logan barked back as he grinded his teeth, "I'm gonna stab you."

The lackadaisical sarcastic voice replied, "Ooh! I fucking love it when you snikt me!"

Logan retorted has he was about pull his hair, "Snikt?! What the fuck is that?!"

The jokey voice replied back, "Never mind. It's something that the writers made up back in the 70's. Kinda like a sound effect, y'know?"

Logan groaned in frustration as he replied, "Whatever. Just get your ass over here, and if I don't see Fantomex in the pilot seat, I'm gonna cut off your-what is it, Phil?...change of plans, Wade. All of you need to fly over to the S.H.I.E.L.D. Helicarrier right now. We just might go hunting."

The maniacal voice almost cackled as he replied, "Ooh! We get to go all stabby today?! Fuck, I can only get so hard!"

Logan then hung up and saw Iron Fist running towards the base as he said, "Pack your shit. We're going back to the Helicarrier."

Weapons and Gear Lab, S.H.I.E.L.D. Helicarrier

Miriam looked around the central room of the lab as no one was around the premises. She then closed the door of her private lab quietly and tightly as she turned around to go to back to work. She walked over to her boiling Erlenmeyer Flasks and glass tubes that were filled with various boiling liquids as she thought to herself while her sweat dripped down from her lab goggles, I'm so close to finishing it. I just need to find a way to stabilize the chemical mixture and then…..I can finally bring him back to life.

She then took a glass tube filled with boiling golden liquid as she poured it inside the Erlenmeyer Flask with a glowing blue liquid that was also boiling. She took a deep breath as she said to herself, "Please…please work this time."

She saw the golden liquid combining with the blue chemical inside the larger glass as she watched the chemical fusion of the two liquids very closely. After about a minute, she noticed that the golden liquid started to dissolve inside the blue liquid and the blue liquid's color remained constant.

Miriam slumped to the ground and laid her back on the legs of the large metal contraption that was behind her as she sulked and said, "Are you fucking kidding me? This is the 100th time already!"

She threw her back as she looked up at the ceiling and thought to herself, I don't know what else to try. I've tried every chemical combination and every permutation known to the human race and I still can't get the damn thing to stabilize!

Then she looked up at the Erlenmeyer Flask again as she noticed something peculiar this time.

She squinted her eyes as she moved closer to the glass container and her eyes began to widen. A small light began to form around the center of the blue liquid as it started to get bigger and bigger and stopped growing once it began to glow brightly around the center of the azure-colored chemical.

Her tears started to drop from her face as hobbled her way up and began to rotate the long metal contraption that was behind her. The metal contraption had a heavily fortified glass that contained a corpse that was well-preserved.

The dead, naked body belonged to a man who had his eyes closed. He had a somewhat athletic build and was about 5'9 and had a cream-colored skin and had curly brown hair.

Miriam bent over the glass as she sobbed in joy and said, "J-Jonathan…I can finally bring you back….I can finally bring you back home, darling."

Four Seasons Hotel, Manhattan, New York

It was 11:30 A.M. and the sun was already bright outside as it was shining through the narrow openings through the series of buildings throughout downtown Manhattan. The sunlight began to creep through the curtains of the hotel room as Jessica began to open the curtains. Peter was still in bed as he started to squint his eyes when the sunlight began to blind his eyes lightly. He got himself up slowly as he saw the reflection of the sunlight shine upon his girlfriend's naked body like broad strokes by a paintbrush as he couldn't help to smile, but still had to squint his eyes.

Jessica glanced back as she said in a soft voice, "Morning, dork-face."

Peter rubbed his eyes as he looked towards the large glass windows and replied, "Man, what a view."

Jessica looked outside the windows as she replied, "I know. The city looks amazing from here."

Peter replied in a playful tone as he still lay on the bed, "I wasn't talking about the view outside."

Jessica then giggled and sensually walked towards Peter as she crawled back on the bed and kissed him on the lips and said, "It looks like someone's still drunk on my pheromones."

Peter then frowned as he retorted, "Hey! I was being serious, you know? And I'm completely sober, thank you very much!"

Jessica smiled at him as she flipped over and laid her head against his shoulder as she said, "I'm just fucking with you, dork-face."

Peter shook his head as Jessica added, "You are so cute when you're mad, do you know that?"

Peter then chuckled as he nuzzled his nose against Jessica's and said, "I could say the same about you." Jessica's cheeks began to flush red as she retorted, "Stop! You're making me blush again!"

Peter then kissed Jessica in the mouth as he said, "This is so perfect."

Jessica put her hand over Peter's bare chest as she replied, "I know…I wish this moment could just last forever."

Peter then looked at Jessica fondly in the eyes as he thought to himself, God, I swear I could marry her right now. She's just so flawless in every way…man, what did I ever do to deserve a girl like her?

Jessica then said, "Yoohoo! Earth to Peter Parker~!"

Peter snapped back in reality as Jessica giggled and said, "Were you fantasizing about me again?" Peter noticed that his girlfriend was pointing to his enlarged penis as he blushed heavily and said, "Oops."

Jessica began to kiss him again passionately as the beeping sounds came from Peter's pants and Jessica's duffle bag. They both groaned in frustration as they went to find the source of the mysterious sound. They both noticed that it was coming from their Avengers Cards as they grabbed it and pressed a very thin and small button it as a holographic image of Captain America appeared as he was in a heavy hand-to-hand combat with a Hydra agent who had the red and black skull and snake insignia on his shoulder.

Captain America shouted, "Avengers Assemble! The Helicarrier's under attack! I repeat. We're under attack! Avengers Assemble!"

The Helicarrier is under attack! Iron Man is back in action! The Avengers are finally assembling with in a usual dramatic fashion! Will our heroes save the day and beat down on Norman and his ragtag group of cronies? Find out next time in Spider-Man: Secrets of Oscorp! Excelsior!

A/N: Age of Ultron was pretty great, and I can't wait for Ant-Man! Also, what did you think of that classic Deadpool moment in this chapter?