Call Me… Doc Ock – Arc One: Origin

Chapter 33: After-Action Report

Nicholas Fury was having a rough day. There was no other way to describe his mood at the current moment. Ever since that light show in West New York, he's been mobilizing his agents all over the place to find anything about whatever that was. After finally getting into contact with Coulson, Fury had been expecting to finally get some answers and start making sense of this mess. Of course, Coulson's direct report had only led to more confusion…

As he sat there in his office with Coulson, Fury could begin to feel his eyebrow twitch having heard directly from Coulson.

"…so not only are we dealing with something that can just pump out enough gamma and cosmic radiation to cover all of New York, you're telling me that we got energy readings similar to the tesseract."

Coulson's normally blank expression was replaced by a tight smile as he nodded. "Yes, it was almost impossible to detect due to the presence of Cosmic and Gamma radiation, but we did pick it up. After triple checking with the agents and staff watching over the tesseract, we can confirm that the third energy source detected within the site was similar."

Fury pinched the bridge of his nose, trying to stave off the growing headache that came with the implications of that statement. "Do we have any footage of the area around the time of the incident?"

Coulson shook his head. "No sir. Our satellites weren't focused on the area at the time due to the ongoing shootings in major cities at the time. By the time our guys tried to get satellites focused on Perrysburg, there was enough interference from radiation that the images were blurry beyond use. Our tech staff is still working on it, but we're likely to get nothing out of it."

Fury sagged into his chair with a sigh. "Alright, so nothing there." He sat up straighter. "Then what about the cosmic and gamma radiation we detected. Last I checked, radiation in that large a quantity should leave most of the tri-state area as a modern-day Chernobyl, yet so far, no one within the area has shown any of the negative side effects of radiation exposure." Fury leaned forward and folded his hands on his desk. "Do we have any idea what that's all about?"

Coulson frowned at the question. "No sir, even now our guys can't make sense of it. By all accounts the readings said Cosmic and Gamma rays, but they didn't… act like it."

The eyebrow over Fury's visible eye rose. "Didn't… act like it."

"According to our tech team, while they did pick up gamma and cosmic rays, the effects from both were inconsistent with what was expected," Coulson went on. "From what few witnesses we could find within the surrounding area, when the gamma rays were most prominent, all they could feel was… sheer malice 'like the devil himself was going on a rampage but worse' according to one statement."

"That's it… no signs of symptoms consistent with radiation poisoning?"

Coulson shook his head. "No sir, nothing of the sort. Then when the burst of cosmic radiation occurred, it apparently… nullified the presence of gamma radiation."

"'Nullified,'" Fury deadpanned.

"That's the most we could get, sir."

Fury stared at Coulson for a long moment, before reclining back into his chair with a sigh. "Alright, just have our boys keep at it, in the meantime, check in with the Niger government and let them know we'll be looking into the area where we detected that radiation."

Coulson nodded. "Yes sir."

Now here he was overseeing the investigation in a protective suit that was way too hot for this type of climate. 'We seriously need to redesign these suits…'

Putting that thought aside, Fury quickly catalogued all the markings on the floors and walls, from what he could observe and what other agents could discern, these markings were possibly a language far older than anything on record. The best linguistic experts could make neither heads nor tales of what they meant at the moment and would need to consult with several experts before they could give anything remotely concrete to work with.

Setting that aside, was the obvious signs of fighting. Scorch marks, gouges here and there from close range weapons and cracks in the wall all pointed to a major fight that had occurred. More to the point, the fighting had been very recent, if the few wisps of smoke he could see were anything to go by.

Which of course led to the corpses, of which there were quite a few throughout the cavern. While some of them had definitely belonged to people who had died within the past few hours, most of them were old and it showed in the rot and decay.

…which is why it was very alarming to see that the corpses had shown signs of very recent wear and tear. Fury had really been thrown for a loop when examinations of the corpses informed them that the corpses had apparently been moving on their own swinging about weapons that looked like they came out of the stone age.

And just like before there had been a well of Gamma Radiation, followed by a short but powerful surge of Cosmic Radiation, or something like that. Because just like in New York, despite giving off signs of the two respective energy sources, they did not act like normal radiation.

"Sir!" Shaken out of his brooding, Fury turned to the agent who had run up to him.

"Agent Moore, anything to report?" Fury wouldn't say he was desperate for answers, but he would really like something to work with.

Moore shook his head. "No sir, we've just received calls from the Niger government and the EU. They're sending out requests to send in teams to investigate the caverns. Despite our best efforts to placate them, they're becoming insistent."

Fury sighed as he fought the urge to rub his head. Just what he needed. Looking around, he could begin to see that his agents weren't going to find much else in these caverns, so his team could withdraw for now.

"Alright, let them know that we'll be clearing out soon."

"Yes sir," Moore saluted.

As the agent left to send the response, Fury allowed himself to rub his head to stave off the growing migraine. "Seriously… what the fuck happened here?"

'What happened indeed.' It had been a long time since Druig had found himself perplexed for this long by an unknown scenario. In fact, he could count on one hand the number of times he had been this thoroughly confounded.

Infiltrating this group of baselines had been a simple matter. A few mental whispers here and there had ensured that none of them would question his presence within the caverns. Of course, upon directing their thoughts to ensure they did not question his presence, he had taken the time to learn what they knew about the situation. Naturally, none of them had discovered anything that the Eternal had already picked up before arriving in this cavern.

'Really,' Druig thought with a sneer, 'with how far behind their technology is behind our own, I don't know why Zuras felt that they would uncover anything ne-"

*CRUNCH*

Snapped out of his thoughts, Druig directed his gaze downward to see his foot buried in newly broken femur. Lips curling in disgust, Druig took a moment to wipe the sole of his boot on one of the stone tablets within the cave. "Honestly, why did I even volunteer to investigate this place in the first place," Druig though as he glared at the corpse beneath him. "It's not like there's any new information for me to filter to Zuras that our sensors didn't alre-"

Druig paused as one of the scanners of his helmet picked up an energy reading from the corpse at his feet. Putting his focus onto the corpse, Druig carefully examined the corpse before suddenly reeling back at what he detected.

"This is-!"

Suddenly wary, Druig calibrated his helmet to block out the faint traces of cosmic and gamma radiation from his first scan. With his helmet no longer focused on the two more prominent energies, he quickly discovered more of that same energy source.

"Magic," Druig whispered.

…that… that could pose a problem. Magic was… one of the few exotic energies that all Eternals had… difficulties with. There had been several theories among them as to why, but the most prevalent one had been due to magic's… uniquely chaotic nature. Druig rubbed at a particular spot at his chest. Even now after several thousand years, he could not forget about that incident with that infuriating witch, who had-!

Druig immediately brought a forearm to his mouth and bit hard enough to draw blood, forcing himself to stop thinking for a moment. "No… no… no…" Taking several deep breaths, the Eternal went through several mental exercises to calm his nerves. He would not allow the memory of that… incident to shake him! Never again!

Face twisting into a scowl, Druig steeled his will and went further into the cavern, it would seem that there would actually be something to investigate after all…

"-top story: the entire Tri-State area is currently on lock-down as experts in all things Radioactive scour west New York. Bill, were currently locked down for now, right now you're the only guy we have in Perrysburg; tell us: what in the world is going on down there?!"

"Well, Tom, I've only just managed to get my feet into this mess and local law enforcement has been a bit tight-lipped, but I did manage to pick up a few things here and there. So far from what we can tell apparently, an abandoned was the site of a sudden surge of thermal energy acting up a bit."

"Bill, I'm no expert, but when I think thermal energy, I think lava and magma and that sure as shoot didn't look like lava! That looked like something straight out of a terminator film!"

"Well Tom, like I said the boys on the force have been really tight-lipped so I can't really tell you what was going on, one way or another. But I will tell you this: the locals have been really spooked by this whole thing and are getting ready for Armageddon. Like let's Lucy here. Hey Lucy, tell us what you can about how this went down!"

"Well Bill I-"

"-and I'm telling you, this is another government-run false flag op! I've been trying to tell you guys all this time: this whole war in the middle east was a big fat con! There aint any weapons of mass destruction! People were startin' to catch on to how full of shit the Bush admin was and those bastards need a way to keep us off their trail!"

"Joe! C'mon man! There is no way the anyone in the Whitehouse would sign off on popping off a nuke on American soil! That's the kind of thing that would get you impeached within a week and lined up for a firing squad the next!"

"Oh yeah if you're so goddamn sure of yourself, then how do you explain all that radiation in the air?! Huh?! Huh?!"

"We don't know that it was radiation of any kind!"

"Buddy! The tech geeks at my place were screaming radiation all over the goddamn place! And trust me, these are the kind of guys that would get into an argument about the right temperature to-"

"It couldn't have been radiation because that source of energy didn't behave like radiation! At that amount, the entire area should be a glowing hotbed of death!"

"Are you fucking blind?! Of course it was radiation! It had our sensors-"

"Well clearly, your sensors need some fine tuning, because the immediate effects on the surrounding area don't match up with-"

"STOP INTERUPPTING ME, JACKASS!"

"THEN STOP PULLING SHIT OUT OF YOUR ASS!"

"OH, THAT DOES IT! I-"

"GENTLEMEN! Please! Let's all just calm down for a bit! There's no need to get hostile. I'm sure that there is a reasonable explanation for-"

"-times! Armageddon is upon us! Heaven has unleashed Hell on Earth to wipe all the unclean to so that we might-"

"-far the Whitehouse is still currently looking into the matter. So let me be clear: we do not have reason to believe that this is the result of a nuclear attack. We are currently working with the nation of Niger to determine what is going on at the moment and will have answers for the nation as soon as they come!"

"But what about the reports of the sudden spree of shootings throughout New York state? Does that have any connection to the incident near Perrysburg?!"

"Once again, I am not at liberty to give any relevant information at this point. President Bush is currently in talks with our nation's finest experts and the Niger government to determine what has occurred to today. A full report on the issue will be provided as soon as possible!"

"Oh, c'mon, don't' tell me you don't already-"

"There is no way this isn't a nuclear at-"

"What is the Bush admin doing to keep us sa-"

"Everyone! Please, keep calm! Rest assured that-"

"-and that's it," Vincent finished. "The monster at the heart of it all has been dealt with."

If it weren't for the fact that a lifetime of dealing with a drunken wretch for a father had put him off of it, Arthur Dolan would probably be a few shots into a bottle right now. As it was, he could only sit and stare at the two mages in front of him slack jawed. The entire story sounded crazy and he some part of him had wondered if he really had cracked under pressure at some point around the start of the light show, but seeing the serious expressions on Drum and Azelea's faces somehow convinced him that he was not going crazy.

No, it was the world itself that was going completely nuts!

After several attempts to get his jaw working, Arthur finally managed to find his voice. "So… let me see if I got this right: this big bad monster, the- the-"

"The One-Below-All," Drum interjected.

"Right, the One-Below-All," Arthur continued, "is like the source of all our worst impulses, like a- a deadbeat dad, slapping his kid, or some guy deciding to just pull out a gun and shoot a place full of kids, or some punk deciding to force himself on some poor girl."

Vincent nodded. "In a manner of speaking, yes. Anytime we act on our darkest impulses, it's there, no more than a bare whisper, but always there."

"Right, right, right," Arthur nodded. "And this thing is the source of Gamma Radiation or something like that?"

Vincent nodded again. "From what we could tell, there is a hidden element within Gamma Rays that has the capacity to destroy or mutate into a monstrous form."

"And the people, t-the cult," Arthur asked. "They were trying to open up a door to let this thing loose?"

"Correct."

"And…" Arthur felt his lips go dry as he tried to ask the next question. "And these people, this cult of Logos… they tried to turn Isaac into a meatsuit for this thing?!"

Vincent and Daniel's faces went dark at the mention of Isaac's dreadful ordeal. "Yes, they did," Daniel answered after a bit. "He was to be their perfect vessel for the monster."

Vincent snorted. "Yeah, they thought that they were going to go on some sort of crusade. Wipe out all of their enemies and sit at the top of the world as kings and all that."

"Jesus…" Arthur leaned back in his chair, aghast at the insane plot. "What the Hell did they think they were doing playing around with dangerous shit like that?"

Daniel shrugged. "From what we know they were originally being hounded by En Sabah Nur and his forces. It is an unfortunate fact of life that people are more easily tempted by the promise of power offered by evil forces."

"Doesn't change the fact that they were all idiots for going for it," Vincent scoffed. "Honestly, they were just asking to get wiped out, messing around with that shit!"

Arthur rubbed his head a bit. This was a lot to take in, and some part of him sorely wished he had remained ignorant about all of this, but he had long since learned the hard way that ignorance did not guarantee safety. A quick glance at Vincent and the spot where he knew would find a certain scar near his clavicle brought about memories of a… particularly dangerous case. Arthur shook his head. 'Not the best time to dwell on that…'

"Right so the… cultists. Or the ones still alive." Arthur folded his hands on his desk. "What's happening with them?"

Daniel looked at Vincent, whose lips pressed into a thin line. "Well, the three who aided us, have agreed to confess to instigating the shootings throughout the state. They're currently being processed and will be put in a secure facility before the courts figure out what to do with them."

"And what about Isaac's uncle… Remy?"

Vincent sported a tight smile. "Sadly, he won't be fit to stand trial…"

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHH! AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHH! AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH!"

Joe shuddered at the screams. Usually, he didn't mind doing guard duty for the medical ward (it was almost always empty and the few guys that ended up there had not once caused any trouble since his rookie years.) Right now, though he really wished he had taken that opportunity to leave early.

"W-what's with that guy," the rookie (Scotty) piped up. The poor kid was trembling, and Joe couldn't blame him. The one guy they had to watch looked like someone had boiled him alive. There were blisters and cracks all over his skin. His whole body looked like someone to a torch to it and left him looking like burnt wood. The worst of it (in Joe's opinion), were the eyes. They were completely bloodshot to the point of being almost entirely red and had the look in them reminded Joe of someone who had gone on a really, really bad acid trip.

"D-don't worry about that guy," Joe managed to get out. "From what I heard that guy was messing around with some serious shit and got himself blasted with some sort of chemical or some shit."

"Ugh, looks nasty."

"Yeah, no kidding."

Arthur sighed. "Okay, so those guys are accounted for. What about those Akkaba guys? Won't we have to worry about them, too?"

Daniel allowed himself a small smile. "Actually, we may have a lead on that."

Arthur perked up. "Oh? Really? Whatcha got?"

Vincent smirked. "Well, it just so happened that Isaac had considered the possibility of these guys popping up again and then disappearing. After all this is over, we'll be working with… other people who have a vested interest in seeing these guys put down."

"Huh, well looks like you guys have things in hand." The police captain leaned back in his chair. "I'll figure out what to put into the report."

Vincent got up and stretched. "Yeah, it's about time I got going, I need to join the others on the street and start doing patrols for the lockdown."

Next to him Daniel began to open up a portal. "And I must return to the New York Sanctum and speak with the others."

"Right, right," Arthur said absently looking for a pen. He paused mid search and looked back up at the two men with a frown. "Hey, um, so how is the kid Isaac by the way?"

Vincent stopped at the door and turned back to the captain. "Isaac?"

"Yeah, Isaac." Arthur scratched at the back of his head. "I mean, he was smack dab in the middle of all this yeah? I just wanted to know if he was okay."

Daniel closed the portal before turning to Vincent. "Actually, I was quite curious about that myself. To be both possessed by this evil and then to face off against in the astral plane…" Daniel pursed his lips. "That could not have been pleasant."

Vincent rubbed his shoulder as he thought about it. He then looked at Arthur and Daniel. "…to be honest… it was a bit touch and go… for a bit… but he handled things pretty damned well…" A smile came across his face. "The kid's… surprisingly resilient. Although, it probably helps that he got to have a chat with the ghosts of his mom and pop."

"His parents?" Arthur's eyebrows shot up. "Like seriously?"

Vincent nodded. "Yeah, apparently."

Arthur huffed. "If only most people could be so lucky."

Daniel nodded. "Indeed, such a chance meeting with the dearly departed is rare." Opening a portal, he began to step through. "Well, I must get going, I shall speak with you again, once things have settled."

Arthur waved. "Yeah, yeah, go handle your magic business, I got a report to write up."

"Right, well I'll be heading off for my patrol now, Arthur." Vincent began to step out.

"Right, see you in the morning."

"Right, in the morning."