Chapter 6: Evershade by The Cure

Luigi dumped Daisy's purse out, pushing her phone and her wallet to the side. He grabbed the cash money, handing Daisy everything else.

"Okay," he said, "So, basically, we can take everything here, except for the ID, phone, and cards. They'll trace them no matter where we use them."

"So, how exactly are we going to get up to New York with barely fifty bucks?" Daisy asked.

Luigi sighed. "That's where I'm stuck," he muttered, "Maybe we could hitchhike?"

"I have a better idea," Daisy replied. She reached into her jacket pocket, pulling out a turquoise, circular broach.

"No!" said Luigi, "That was your mom's, it's-"

"I know," said Daisy, sadly, "But this is worth more to me." Luigi searched her face for any signs of faltering, but he could find none. As elated as he was that they'd found a solution, it came with another heap of guilt as he silently blamed himself for further ruining the life of the woman he loved.

"I'll find a way to get it back," he whispered, hugging her, "I swear."

"I know."

One quick walk down to the pawn shop later, while Daisy was handling the money, Luigi borrowed a nearby computer, stuffing the flash drive into it. Accessing his secure email, Luigi sent a short message to Evershade Valley.

"THIS IS ALL THE DATA. NEED TO MEET IN PERSON. WILL BE THERE IN A FEW DAYS. -GREEN THUNDER."

With their task completed, Luigi and Daisy pooled all the remaining money, buying a rough, but still functioning old truck, setting off for the long journey to Specter University. Unfortunately for poor Luigi, he wasn't running anymore, and as a result, he'd made the tiniest slip up. Ocelot's technician's had managed to crack his computer, and had added his screen name "Green Thunder" to their search bots. When he'd sent the email, it was immediately traced to the University, down to the cellular biology department, down to Evershade: Professor Elvin Gadd.

During the road trip, it was decided that Daisy would be the better driver. If Luigi freaked out too much on the road, it would be a complete disaster. As they silently proceeded through the night, Daisy decided to try and start a conversation.

"So, you really don't remember a thing when you transform?" she asked, "When he saw me on the lawn, and in the cave, I swear I saw you in his eyes. Like he knew me."

Luigi stared out the window for a minute before he answered. "Nothing from the fight, like normal, but in the cave...I don't know how to describe it, I kind of...woke up at the same time as him. It was like I was outside of the body, because he was driving it. I talked to him, but...he wouldn't explain anything. Or he couldn't."

"Wait, what?!" Daisy exclaimed, almost taking her eyes off the road.

"When I look at my reflection," Luigi explained, "Sometimes...sometimes I see him staring back at me. Sometimes he talks...about how he wants to get out. I asked him why he helped you, but all he would say is that he's not all me. I...I didn't understand."

"That's what he said to me in the cave," said Daisy, "Maybe...maybe he's not a separate thing at all. Maybe he's just part of you, given some kind of form by the serum. What if it's all the rage you've been suppressing or something like that?"

"I don't care," Luigi said, firmly, "Even if I could control it, I don't want to. I want him gone."

"But-"

"No. I'd rather go back to being a wimp who can't bring himself to get angry than be someone who can't get angry without someone dying."

He would say nothing else on the matter. Unknown to Daisy, after their conversation, Luigi looked in the window and was unsurprised to find the Kong replacing his reflection. The beast didn't look angry or hurt, but unsure, as though he were lost. The creature didn't understand most of the words, but he could feel Luigi's thoughts. The man turned away from the window. He had enough on his mind without a giant monkey trying to guilt him.

Patriots Military Base

Mumkhar Valek never thought that he'd be asking to receive multiple injections directly into his spinal column. Not to mention he'd be asking for the same treatment more than once. Yet, that was exactly what he was doing. With the second dose of the serum in his body, Ocelot sent him off to relax. Now that they were aware of Martin's final destination, all they had to do was lie in wait for him, then snatch him.

As he rested up in the bathroom, Mumkhar found himself secretly hoping they'd fail once more. He didn't know Martin personally, but he knew enough about the man that he could tell he was a complete idiot. Luigi Martin, in an innocent attempt a scientific progress, had stumbled upon the secret to the greatest power, the greatest weapon ever created. It made Samus Aran's Iron Woman look like a popgun. And yet, the man not only refused to use it, he was actively trying to get rid of it. It was the greatest waste of power Mukhar had ever heard of.

Martin didn't even deserve the strength of the Kong. Before joining the Special-Ops, Mumkhar had spent his entire life building his body to the absolute best condition he could. Since childhood, he'd always wanted to serve as a soldier, utilizing his personal strength to crush those who stood in his way. Martin hadn't ever worked for power, choosing to work in a dimly lit laboratory running numbers and crap, only to be given the strength to move buildings in one day. He hadn't even gone through the extremely painful administration of the super soldier serum. The thoughts only made Mukhar more and more furious, gritting his teeth and sweating. If he got another chance at the Kong, he would be sure to carve him open.

Mumkhar was so focused that he didn't even examine the injection sites on his back. If he had, he would've seen his back muscles ripple, as his spine pushed further and further up. Soon enough, his spine had three long columns of large bumps jutting out above his skin, nearly piercing through the flesh, almost like spikes. His body shuddered as he broke out into a cold sweat, but it only served to fuel his vengeful desires. He grinned, failing to notice the considerably sharper fangs he'd begun to develop.

New York

Luigi and Daisy had unfortunately been forced to ditch their truck in a seemingly endless traffic jam, so they were now left walking through the city. Some happy loser would find the truck, hopefully. Now, all that was left was to find a way to get to Specter University. The pair stood in front of a city map.

"It's on the other side of town, all the way in Harlem" said Daisy, "The subway entrance is pretty close."

Luigi just looked at her. "Me, in a pressurized metal tube, underground, surrounded by dozens of people, in the most populated city in the country?"

Daisy shrugged. "Touché," she agreed, "Do we have enough for a cab?"

"God, I hope so."

A few minutes later, Luigi was beginning to question his own decision making capabilities. They'd somehow managed to end up with the most aggressive taxi driver in the entire city of New York, which is not an easy feat. The cab swerved like a Mario Kart player using the Wii Wheel, nearly slamming into every single obstacle in it's path. It zipped between lanes, never once bothering to use the turn signal. Stop signs and crosswalks went completely ignored. The driver, a stick thin man in purple clothes, wasn't exactly the most stable, as you may have guessed.

"Outta my way, Meester Eyeballs!" he shouted, "Waluigi ain't got no time for you wimpy driving!"

Luigi clenched up his entire body in the back seat, his monitor beeping dangerously fast, as he tried to take deep breaths. He gripped Daisy's arm with both hands, teeth clenched as he did so.

"Breathe," she ordered him, trying to ignore the iron-hard grasp on her own arm. Luigi nodded, almost pitching forward in his seat as he did so.

Waluigi then proceeded to run about three red lights, nearly hitting a woman as he did so. "Move it, you steenky moo-cow!" he roared, "Why you so slow? Waluigi got places to go, money to get, a game to put on Kickstarter that Waluigi not actually gonna finish!"

Daisy couldn't take it anymore. "STOP THE DAMN CAR!" she screamed, nearly deafening poor Luigi.

Thankfully, Waluigi was sane enough to actually listen, pulling up on a nearby curb, albeit nearly ramming a garbage bin in the process. Luigi stumbled out of his seat, followed by a fuming Daisy.

"What is wrong with you?!" she shouted directly into the driver's seat window.

Waluigi seemed remarkably unaffected. "What's wrong, baby?" he chuckled, "You no like Waluigi's wild ride?" He winked.

That did it.

Waluigi was apparently smarter than he looked, as he drove off to cause some more traffic accidents before Daisy could start kicking the cab. "YOU ASSHOLE!" she screeched, followed by a long stream of unprintable obscenities. After she'd run out of swear words, she bent over, panting, while Luigi stood off to the side, his expression being one of complete and utter shock.

"Um...are you okay?" he managed to get out, "I know some pretty good anger management techniques, if you're-"

"Shut up," Daisy cut him off, "We're walking. End of discussion." She grabbed him by the wrist, dragging him down the sidewalk. Luigi gave no resistance, deciding he'd probably be safer that way.

Specter University, Harlem, New York

Professor Elvin Gadd was grateful to finally be done with classes for the day. It wasn't that he disliked teaching, but that he had to endure the bad puns. When your name is literally "E. Gadd," you tend to attract of a lot of knee slap worthy jokes. It didn't help that he was short, and his hair had been reduced to a long, white wisp that extended from his cranium. He knew that all the jokes were just in good fun, even laughing along with them, but it got old real quick.

As he dragged his belongings down the front steps, he suddenly became aware of a voice calling out his name.

"Dr. Gadd!" He turned, coming face to face with a young woman with bushy auburn hair. "Hey, I'm Daisy Ocelot, from Woohoo."

A memory surfaced in E. Gadd's brain.

"Oh, Dr. Ocelot!" he said, "I read your papers on gamma radiation with that Luigi feller! Nice work, I gotta say."

"Yeah," sighed Daisy, "There's somebody here who needs to speak with you."

She stood aside, allowing Luigi to come up to the steps. He smiled politely, holding out his hand to E. Gadd.

"Evershade," he said, "Nice to finally see you face-to-face."

"Green Thunder?" asked E. Gadd, surprise filling his features, "Thought you'd be a youngster, given all your apprehension."

"Well, you'd be surprised."

"Sometimes, I wondered if I'd made you up," E. Gadd confessed. The trio had moved to the professor's office, cluttered with paranormal articles, science journals, and half-finished projects. "All that power, something that shouldn't even be possible...even when I looked at your old blood samples. It's crazy."

"So, I assume you managed to make the cure? Now that you have everything?" Luigi asked, unable to keep the hope from creeping into his voice.

E. Gadd directed his gaze to the floor. "Well..." he mumbled, "I did put together...something. And I have a pretty good idea of an exact dosage. But as for being a full on antidote..."

"What's the good news?" asked Daisy nervously, before Luigi could.

"In the tests I managed to run, it did manage to reduce radiation levels to a much safer point," said E. Gadd, "The blood was almost completely restored to normal."

"And the bad news?"

"I don't know if it's permanent. Even if we induce a transformation, and we give ya exactly the right dose, we don't know if that'll cure you forever. It might just be a one-shot for that particular...incident. We don't know if it's just your blood that's been irradiated. Could be your organs, which we'd have to cut open to find out. In which case your only option would be to carry around a tote-bag of the stuff. Not to mention the risks..."

"Risks?!" exclaimed Daisy.

E. Gadd nodded. "The chemicals we had to use for this cure...they're pretty toxic. If we overshoot the amount, by like, I don't know, zero point one millimeters, it might..."

"Kill me," Luigi finished. Daisy looked at him. "I'm not too worried about that. It's pretty similar to the original formula we used, and we got that dose right."

"I don't know, feller," said E. Gadd, "I mean, maybe you should do the prepping."

Daisy answered, "I'll do it. If anyone's got the experience for this, it's me."

"There's also the inverse," continued Luigi, "If we give me too little to have any effect, you'll be at the full mercy of the giant monkey...thing. He won't exactly be happy to be in a small room with needles sticking in him."

E. Gadd waved a hand. "Listen, sonny," he said, "I'm an old man. I ain't got nothing better to do, or even that much time left. Going out in style like that? Hoo-wee! I'm all for it."

Daisy casually leaned over to Luigi. "Are you sure about this guy?"

"Believe me," he answered, "He's not nearly as crazy as he looks...I think."

Patriots Military Base

Mumkhar should've been thankful he was irreplaceable on this mission. If he wasn't, the choppers would've taken off without him about ten minutes ago. However, Ocelot made everyone wait, just so his best soldier could come down from whatever high he got on from that super soldier serum. When he finally showed up, he crammed into the only seat left on the chopper, breathing heavily as he did so.

"Alright," said Ocelot, "You know the drill. This time, we are bringing in Martin without incident. It's not like we have anything left to deal with his alter ego. For the love of God, just shoot him in the butt with a tranq and bring him back. Do I make myself clear?"

"Sir, yes, sir!" came the reply.

With that settled, the pilot started up the engines, talking off at last. One of the soldiers on Mumkhar's side turned to him, noticing that the British man still had a few drops of sweat on his head.

"You feeling up for this, man?" he asked.

Mumkhar smiled maliciously, one of his sharp teeth nearly piercing his lip.

"You have no idea," he cackled.

The soldiers on either side of him wisely scooted away.

Specter University

E. Gadd kept himself busy, setting up all the expensive lab equipment for the dangerous procedure they were about to attempt. The antidote, a greenish liquid inside a large, cylindrical glass container, was hooked up to a dialysis machine, along with several other empty ones. He attached the remaining containers to IV tubes, and dusted off the mechanical reclining chair in the center of all the machines.

"Get yourself prepped, sonny," E. Gadd ordered Luigi, "Let's get this show on the road."

Luigi complied, removing his shirt and setting himself down. E. Gadd attached electrodes to his temples, and bound his wrists and ankles down with the available leather straps, assisted by Daisy, who struggled to stay calm. IV needles were inserted into Luigi's elbows, as well as just above his ankles, connected to the dialysis machine.

"I'm so sorry," Daisy mumbled, as she held the rubber mouth guard, "That you have to go through this."

"You and me both," agreed Luigi, taking the object between his teeth.

"We ready to go, feller?" asked E. Gadd.

"Ready as we'll ever be, I hope," chimed in Daisy.

"Alrighty," said E. Gadd, pressing a few buttons. Luigi grunted as the IV needles began sucking, pulling his blood free. Streams of red traveled down the tubes, swirling up into the containers on the dialysis machine. "It'll automatically mix the antidote with your blood, so we can administer it all at once. We'll have to actually start a reaction in order to test it, though." E. Gadd picked up a nearby electric prod and switched it on. The device hummed, releasing a few blue sparks as it charged to full power.

"You sure about this?" he asked one more time.

Luigi nodded. E. Gadd then took the rod, and jabbed it right into one of Luigi's temples.

The effect was instantaneous. Luigi roared in fury, spitting out the mouth guard in the process. twisting in his chair and grinding his teeth. Daisy instinctively backed away, aware of exactly what was coming, but E. Gadd couldn't more gripped by the images. Luigi's muscles tensed up, as every vein on his body bulged outward. He opened his eyes as the bright blue faded to a solid brown. He roared in intense pain as his already rock hard muscles began to engorge themselves, as his entire body began to expand, sticking over the sides of the chair.

"Dear God..." E. Gadd managed to mutter, reaching for the controls.

"Not yet!" shouted Daisy, "It's not over yet."

E. Gadd spun around, horrified, as the women's words began to ring true. Luigi opened his mouth again, showing his teeth as they began to sharpen. Brown hair began to grow from nearly every spot on his body, forcing itself up through his skin. The Kong, noticing his bindings, began to pull furiously at them, attempting to free himself from this strange new prison.

"Okay, do it now," Daisy breathed. She looked at E. Gadd, only to find the professor transfixed by what he was seeing. He merely stared at the Kong, mouth open, as he thrashed like a wounded animal. "GADD! DO IT NOW!"

That seemed to bring the professor back to his senses. He rushed over to the main computer console, typing in the commands to begin pumping the newly mixed antidote. Unfortunately, the Kong had grown too strong, causing the binding straps on his wrists to snap. The supporting base of the chair began to crumple like a paper cup under his massive weight. Desperate, Daisy leaped onto the raging beast's chest, looking directly into his eyes.

"Luigi! Luigi!" she cried, trying vainly to hold his arms in place, "Look at me, look at me! It's alright, calm down!"

The Kong looked at the woman he'd once saved, but he could sense what was going on. He spoke no words, merely growling in anger as he tried to get free without hurting Daisy.

"Are you freaking kidding me?!" roared E. Gadd, as the computer began to display error messages. Furious, he rushed towards the dialysis machine, deciding to use the tried and true solution of banging on it like the dickens until it worked. Thankfully, it did so.

The pump began to push down the green antidote, alongside Luigi's blood. The IV needles had managed to stay inside of the Kong during his tirade, and they carried the mixed solution directly into his veins.

The Kong blinked, and Daisy found herself facing not the destructive brown orbs, but Luigi's blue ones. Slowly but surely, the brown hair began to actually retract into his body, disappearing under the skin. His muscles shrank, and his arms and legs began to retreat from over the edge of the chair. Luigi Martin's eyes dropped shut, as his veins swelled a dark blue color once more. Finally, the Kong was completely gone, leaving a small man lying in it's place. Daisy and E. Gadd both held their breath.

"...Luigi?" Daisy finally whispered, fear evident in her voice, "Come on...wake-"

Luigi's eyes snapped open as he inhaled a huge breath. His upper torso lifted off the chair as he gasped for air, before slamming back down and panting. Eventually, his breath settled into a normal pattern, and he visibly relaxed. He looked at Daisy.

"Is it safe to assume it worked?" he asked.

"Yes...yes..." said Daisy.

"Oh thank God."

E. Gadd checked Luigi's vital signs. "Yep. He's good. Tighter'n a young-"

"Language!"

Once everybody had quieted down, Luigi and co. moved back to E. Gadd's office to try and figure out what to do next. Unfortunately, this meant doing the one task harder than beating the Kong off with a plastic spork: Getting E. Gadd to shut up about it.

"OUTSTANDING!" he shouted, dancing through the office, "IT WAS LIKE WATCHING THE CHICAGO CUBS ACTUALLY MAKE A COMEBACK!* LUIGI, MY BOY, YOU ARE ON FIRE! YOU'VE GOT THE POWER OF A-"

"SHUT UP!" screamed Daisy. E. Gadd fell into a shocked silence, staring at her and shaking. "I'm sorry...I'm sorry, we just need to get back on topic."

"Right, right," said E. Gadd. He grabbed the data sheets from the test. "Now, when the transformation started, there was a reaction in Dr. Martin's amygdala. You know, the area of the brain that processes emotion, memory, that kind of stuff. There was a pulse of pure gamma radiation from your amygdala that went throughout your entire body. I think the serum that you took, the one that was supposed to guard against radiation, actually lets you absorb it for a while, until it wears off. Otherwise, the residual gamma radiation would've killed you years ago."

"Well, good to know we didn't screw up all of the experiment," grumbled Luigi.

"Now, feller, like I said, the thing is we don't know if the cure is permanent. We might've just suppressed one particular incident, in which case, you're gonna need to try and take the antidote on a regular basis. Of course, in all of my tests, no subject ever survived, but they didn't have the serum-"

Luigi shot up in his seat. "Test subjects...?" he asked, shock filling his face.

E. Gadd grinned. "Oh, right, the surprise! Come on, I gotta show ya this!"

He lead the two of them down the hall, towards a large, open storage room, filled with glass cases. Inside the cases were dozens of blood packets, filled from top to bottom. Luigi noticed one of them was marked "Green Thunder," along with a date, and recoiled once he realized it was the date he'd sent a sample of his own blood to Evershade.

"This is...this is..." he breathed.

"You, Dr. Martin!" exclaimed E. Gadd, prancing around the hallway, "Took me months, but I did manage to reverse engineer it from the samples in the mail. We started on rodents, but the radiation basically cooked them on the inside. Once we stepped it up a notch, it got way more interesting. Autopsies provided so much, I could make more by the bucket load!"

"All of this..." Daisy sputtered, "Is irradiated?!"

"Yep!" cheered E. Gadd, "And now that I have you here, we know the antidote at least partially works, we can fine tune it! Give the healing powers of your monkey alter ego to anyone! Make it controllable, cure anything! No disease, no genetic disorders! All of humanity problems solved in-"

E. Gadd continued to prattle on, but Luigi wasn't listening. He wasn't even paying attention to the growls coming from the back corner of his mind. He was too busy hyperventilating, trying to make some kind of sense out of what he was seeing. Taking a deep breath, he spoke the one word he could get out.

"No."

E. Gadd stopped dead in his tracks. "What?"

Luigi waved his hand at the room. "This...all of this. We have to burn it. Throw it away. Now."

E. Gadd's jaw dropped. "You're not serious! This is the cure to every problem on this planet! We could-"

"You have no idea what we are dealing with," snapped Luigi, "This is the most dangerous thing to ever come from the mind of the human race. We cannot let them get access to it."

"But the cure-"

"They don't care about the cure! They want armies of those things! They will try to weaponize it, and before you know it, cities will be in ruins, and millions of people will die!"

E. Gadd threw his hands up. "You would discard all of the power in this room because you're afraid?!"

"YES!" screamed Luigi, "I've seen the results of this thing! It'll-"

Unfortunately for poor Luigi, he'd made the mistake of stepping right in front of the window. Across the street, a sniper had been waiting for just such an opportunity, and fired.

Luigi felt the titanium-tipped hypodermic dart puncture the skin on his butt, sending it's sedative poison into his system. His eyes drooped as he fell to his knees. Daisy was shouting something, but he couldn't make it out. He heard a thump as she was suddenly thrown to the side, then felt strong hands seize his throat. He was yanked up, looking right into the face of the man who'd chased him at the university.

"Where is it?!" roared Mumkhar, "I wanted a rematch, not this...trash!"

Luigi couldn't respond as he started to fade. Mumkhar snarled in frustration, elbowing Luigi in the face, knocking him out.

*I promise, that is the only sports reference I will ever make. Mostly because I know basically nothing about professional sports.