Marvel: The Mutant Outbreak (IC)

(Please go to the OOC before posting here)

“Man, this is bad...” Peter Parker said to himself as he watched the late-night news from his Queens home in New York City. He was sitting on the edge of his bed in boxers and a t-shirt, his dark room illuminated only by the television on his dresser. The reports were going on and on about the recent Mutant Outbreak – a virus that had infected thousands of people across the globe, giving them strange abilities. It would only grow worse with time, and Peter was more familiar with the roots of the virus than he cared to admit...

SIX WEEKS EARLIER...

Peter sighed as he cleaned off his glasses with a napkin, having just been hit in the face with a water balloon. He sat in the lunch room at Midtown High, soaked and surrounded by laughing students and a smirking Flash Thompson, who had thrown the balloon.

“What're you gonna do about it, Parker?” Flash asked with a laugh. “Nothing! Because you're a fucking pussy!”

Peter looked around, and sure enough, there didn't seem to be a teacher in sight to intervene. He hated confrontations, but Flash was beginning to get on his nerves. Suddenly, a second balloon smashed into the back of his head, this time thrown by the very obese Kong, who happened to be Flash's best friend. Peter stared in anger as he saw Kong laughing.

“Isn't there a doughnut waiting for you somewhere, lard-ass?!” he snapped before he could stop himself. He instantly began to panic as Flash, Kong, and their friends moved in closer.

“You little fuck!” spat Kong. They grabbed Peter, dragged him into an empty classroom, covering his mouth so he wouldn't scream for the teachers. The other students just stared, some smirking as they knew he was about to get his ass beat. And did he ever. The five larger guys began punching and kicking Peter, slammed him into the wall a few times, and then threw him on the floor. They each took turns kicking him in the stomach until they felt he had had enough.

“You watch your fucking mouth in the future, Parker,” Flash said, gripping his hand around Peter's throat. Beaten and bruised, Peter curled up and clutched his gut as the five guys left the room, laughing.

I hate you all, he thought to himself. I wish you would all die...

Later that afternoon, while cleaning out his Uncle Ben and Aunt May's basement, Peter stumbled upon an old shoulder bag that belonged to his father, Richard Parker. Inside, he found an Oscorp I.D. tag that had his father's name and picture on it.

“You never told me my dad worked for Oscorp,” Peter said as he confronted his aunt and uncle upstairs. “You told me he worked in a drug store!”

“Peter, we did what we thought was best, it wasn't--” began Aunt May.

“Tell me the truth!” Peter snapped.

“That's enough, young man!” boomed Uncle Ben. “You will not raise your voice to your aunt like that in my house!”

“I'm sorry,” he apologized instantly. “I just... I just want to know the truth about my father...”

Ben sighed, looked to May, and then back at Peter. “Yes, Pete, your father worked for Oscorp. You don't remember because the crash that took Richard and Mary from us also put you in a coma for five weeks. When you woke up, you had lost quite a bit of your memory – remember how confused you felt?”

“But why hide my father's job from me?”

“Because, just before the crash, your father was worried that someone in the company was out to get him. If there was any truth to that, we didn't want to risk you getting involved with Oscorp – sons have a tendency to follow in their father's footsteps, and you are more like Richard than you know. You have to promise us you will stay away from that place.”

“I promise,” Peter lied. “If someone at that company wanted my father out of the picture, I'd be pretty stupid to go waltzing in there. I can't even deal with bullies at school.” They all laughed, and then Peter went up to his room. He immediately sat down at his desk and started searching online for any hints to his father's involvement with Oscorp. He unearthed one particular article that had a picture of his father and three other men – Curt Conners, Reed Richards, and Victor von Hassen.

After looking up more information about the three men, he discovered that Richards was currently working for NASA down in Florida and Von Hassen was out of the country, but that Curt Conners still worked for Oscorp and also taught classes at Columbia University.

The next day after school, Peter took the bus to Columbia, and Professor Conners was overjoyed to see the son of his old best friend. He began a routine of going to visit Conners every day, telling Uncle Ben and Aunt May that he was studying at the library. After a week or so, Conners let Peter come tour the facilities at Oscorp.

“I have to attend a quick meeting, so I'll leave you to look around,” explained Conners. “You can look, but don't touch, and for heaven's sake, stay out of the restricted section – you're more like your father than you know.”

“Heard that before,” laughed Peter. As soon as he was alone, he made a beeline right for the restricted access area, using a security key he swiped from Conners to get in. He grabbed a lab coat and acted as if he belonged there, and the few people he passed in the halls didn't pay him any mind. He was there for one purpose – to see if he could find anything out about his father's supposed killer. However, he did find the various genetically altered animals and insects incredibly fascinating, especially the chamber that had “super spiders.”

“Damn it, Peter!” snapped Conners in a harsh whisper, suddenly showing up and dragging Peter out of the room. “Are you trying to cost me my job?!”

“No, I just – Ow!” Peter felt a sharp pain on his neck and instinctively slapped his hand on his skin. He felt a bulge, grabbed it, and pulled it out – it was one of the super spiders, now dead.

“Please don't tell me that spider just bit you...”

“It's just a spider bite,” said Peter. Conners sighed, then dragged him into his office and inspected the bite mark.

“That spider was one of a hundred that were bred with the prototype Oz Compound,” explained Conners. “We have not made it to human trials yet, so there is no way to know what the substance will do to you if any of it transferred in the venom of that spider. Do you feel nauseous at all? How is your head feeling?”

“I'm fine,” Peter reassured him. “What does this Oz Compound do?”

“It's supposed to enhanced one's physical parameters,” explained Conners with a sigh. “Have you ever heard of Captain America?”

“Yeah, some war hero from the forties,” replied Peter. “Liked to dress up in red, white and blue. The media made up stories about him being a super soldier and having powers to scare the Nazis.”

“Those were no stories, Peter. The formula used to make Captain America a super soldier was lost when the lab it was created it was attacked. Scientists have tried for decades to recreate the formula, and Oz is the closest we've ever come.”

“That seems so unreal,” Peter said in shock. “Sounds like something out of science fiction.”

“It is very real,” insisted Conners. “So for the next few days, I want you to come see me every day so I can check your vitals and make sure there are no drastic changes. If you start to feel anything abnormal, call me immediately.”

“Will do, Doc,” agreed Peter. When he left Oscorp, he felt fine, but on the bus ride home, he felt increasingly ill. As he walked in the door, he ran to the bathroom and puked into the toilet no less than six times. He kept assuring his aunt and uncle that everything was okay as he dragged himself up the stairs and climbed into bed.

The next morning, he still felt lousy and stayed home from school. While his aunt and uncle were at work, he swallowed down his vomit long enough to sneak out to see Conners.

“My god, Peter,” he gasped as he looked into a microscope. “You... you're DNA sequences are all off! It's as if the Oz is trying to replicate the genetic structure of a spider within your body!”

“Does... that mean I'm going to turn into a giant insect or something?” he asked.

“Peter...” said Conners slowly. “This mutation could destabilize your entire genetic structure. At the rate it is evolving... It is likely to cause complete organ failure within seventy-two hours... Peter, I'm so sorry...”

“No,” said Peter, his eyes watering up a bit. “This is not going to kill me. It can't.”

“I'm sorry Peter, but the damage is done, and it grows worse by the hour. Damn it, why didn't you stay out of the restricted area? If we report this, I will lose my job.”

“Well I'm sorry my impending death is a burden on your fucking career!” snapped Peter, tears rolling down his cheeks. He turned and ran from the room.

“Peter!” Conners called after him. “Damn it...”

Over the next few days, Peter began to feel worse, but then the symptoms vanished and he started feeling normal... No, better than normal. He felt fantastic. He was full of energy and soon discovered he didn't even need his glasses anymore.

“Remarkable!” exclaimed Conners, looking at a new blood sample under the microscope. “The spider DNA has merged with your own DNA flawlessly! Not only has the former genetic damage been repaired, but your physical attributes have improved drastically!”

“I do feel amazing,” agreed Peter.

“Do you know what this means?!” asked Conners happily. “We have had our first successful human trial of the Oz Compound! Imagine if I injected myself with a mixture of reptile DNA and Oz – I could regrow my arm!”

“But we have no idea if the procedure would play out the same,” suggested Peter. “It could kill you, or turn you into a monster.”

“Yes, yes,” he replied sadly. “You're right...”

The next day, Peter went to Conners office to see the Professor grinning ear to ear – he had two arms again.

“Doc, you didn't!”

“It worked, Peter!” cried Conners happily. “It worked! I mixed the blood of a lizard with Oz and voila!”

“But... How did it happen overnight when mine took days?”

“I increased the amount of Oz to speed up the mutation.”

“That was very dangerous...” said Peter slowly.

“But completely worth it, my boy! Oho!”

Over the next few days, Conners pretended to be wearing a prosthetic arm to hide the truth from his superiors. He continued to monitor his blood, but one morning, he noticed something different – the Oz in his blood had mutated into a sort of virus. Once he realized this, he immediately called Peter to his office and checked him, but he was fine.

“Who else were you close to that could have caught this virus?” he asked.

“I don't know...” replied Conners. “My barber, maybe. A few taxi drivers. The problem is, I have no way of knowing without tracking them all down and taking samples of their blood...”

“Who's your barber? Do you remember the names of the drivers?” asked Peter. He got what information he could, then went to the barber's shop. Using his new enhanced agility, he was able to prick the man's finger quickly and then run from the shop, down an alley, and a few blocks down. The pricker had a drop of blood on it that he put into a small vial. He repeated this with the drivers Conners was able to remember, and then returned to his office.

“Damn, this is not good...” he said after analyzing the blood samples.

“Are they infected?” asked Peter.

“Yes,” replied Conners. “All of them. And I'm afraid it's more than likely that they passed it on to their customers. Oh my god... If the drivers infected passengers they were taking to the airport...”

“This could turn into a pandemic,” Peter completed his sentence. “We have to tell someone...”

“We can't!” demanded Conners. “We have to keep this a secret! Look, look! The virus seems to be dormant in all three of these samples. If there are no visible symptoms in the infected, then know one will ever know.”

“But any doctor who gives them a blood test will know,” explained Peter.

“Yes, but they won't know we caused it. Do you realize what would happen if we came clean? If we shed light on this and became known as the creators of a pandemic? We'd be locked away in a federal penitentiary, for starters.”

“Because we conducted genetic experimentation outside the confines of a government-sanctioned facility...” said Peter.

“Yes,” replied Conners. “The labs at Oscorp are legal – my office is not. We must keep this a secret, Peter.”

“You're right,” he replied, sighing. “I won't say anything.”

Over the next couple of weeks, reports started flooding into the news stations about people gaining special powers. It didn't take long at all for people to discover it was a virus, and they were able to link it to Oscorp through the traces of Oz, but not any one in particular. Conners warned Peter to lay low and stay away from him for the time being, since the labs were crawling with government officials.

The guilt began to eat away at Peter as he watched news reports of more and more mutants surfacing, many of them becoming menaces to society. Despite this, he did not take action against the mutants he helped created. At least not at first. His views changed drastically the day his Uncle Ben was killed by Flint Marko, a thug who gained the ability to turn into and control sand.

He dressed in jeans and a hooded sweater, pulled on a pair of gloves, and slipped on a baklava mask with two eye-holes. He lifted the hood up over his head, and then jumped out his bedroom window, vanishing into the shadows. His outfit was entirely black, which made it easier for him to spy on various criminals from ledges or allies, listening for leads to Marko's location. He had developed the ability to cling to walls at will and his “Spider Sense” helped warn him of impending danger.

After spending several nights in a row running around the rooftops and beating up thugs for leads, Peter finally tracked down Marko, and an epic battle ensued. In the end, he managed to explode a few propane tanks right under the “Sandman,” turning most of his body into shattered glass. The small part that remained formed into a face and laughed.

“You are no different than me,” it hissed. “You selfishly chased after me while letting others suffer. People you could have helped.”

“I am nothing like you!” spat Peter.

“Yessss, yes you are,” he laughed. “Your uncle would be disgusted with you, hahaha. You tracked me down, destroyed most of my body, and now you are going to murder me. You uncle would be ashamed, boy, hahaha.”

“Shut up!” cried Peter, “Shut up! Gah! Fuck! God damn it! Arrghh!” he screamed and punched a nearby wall several times until the brick started to crack.

“Don't fight it,” Marko urged. “Give in to your hate. Kill me! Avenge your dead uncle! Hahaha!”

Peter balled his fists and gritted his teeth, then let out a long, deep sigh. “No. I will not fall to your level.”

“You're already there, boy!”

Peter turned and walked away, ignoring Marko's taunts. He disappeared into the shadows, returned home, and then threw his black crime-fighting clothes in the trash. He sat on his bed and sobbed as he stared at a picture of his Uncle Ben.

“I'm sorry, Uncle...” he wept. “You always said with great power comes great responsibility, but I wasn't very responsible with my power... I have the power to help people and fight these new mutants, therefore I am obligated to. I will make you proud, Uncle...”

A few days later, Peter began fighting crime in broad daylight, wearing a red and blue suit he made himself. He had “borrowed” a few things from Oscorp to build himself web-shooters and several other gadgets. When rescuing a family from a burning building, the mother asked, “Who are you?”

“Your friendly neighborhood Spider-Man!” he replied before swinging off.

Thomas was all frown and glare during his working hours as a thug for the Black Wolves, his record as a thug was normal, do it and do it without question. Sure he may have, swayed some things he had been asked to do but he had mostly done as he was asked. Lives were worth nothing in the Ghetto, even if Thomas himself saw a value in lives did he know he couldn't save everyone, so the ones he killed were given a clean and swift end even if he was to beat them up a bit. He often pretended to have accidentally punched some guy too hard, thus breaking his neck, when he was to be tortured for hours or days even, sure the boss was less likely to ask him to do the job from then but it also gave him more missions to waste people sadly enough.

But ever since he was found by Venom has his life taken a turn for the better, for nearly two months has his new powers and abilities made him an unknown shadow, a killer of criminals and glorified crime lords. The first one to die was Reek McGraft, an Irish blooded gang leader of a group calling themselves the Irishmen who used drugs and hand weapons, mostly axes and clubs, to brutally hold his territory afloat in blood cash and drug cash. He had climbed up the ten story building in which the gang and their leader made their Headquarters.

In there he had used his tendrils to grasp the unknowing gang leader as he was raping a young girl, dragging him out of the window and up to the edge of the roof were he with gleeful fingers grasped his throat and tore his head and spine out of his body before dropping his corpse off the side of the building. The girl, who had fainted, found herself lying the next morning in a hospital bed, having been told to be found by a elderly couple unconscious on the grass of a park.

The death of Reek caused no attention except for the brutality of the deed. But in the following four weeks had over fifty gang members been beaten to near death, sixteen gang members had been killed and six more gang leaders been found with their bodies torn apart or thrown off buildings, only the gang leaders were missing their heads, the other thugs heads had been pinned into their own bodies with the use of their own spikes, sometimes in a provocation fashion. The gangs got tense and nervous and two of the local crime lords, both representatives of the Crime Lord Kingpin, gathered a meeting with some of the gang leaders to figure out what to do to maintain the peace and find out who had killed the gang leaders.

With the use of his suit he had made the entire ceiling look like it was painted black, and as the doors were closed in the sound isolated chamber and the crime lords began to speak to the gang leaders, Venom began to act. It started slowly, a creek there, a flickering lamp there, and as the meeting was in the first hour Venom Struck. Sharpened tendrils tore out of the ceiling, thin like wires, and snared the throats of everyone within the room before tendrils beneath the table grasped their bodies and then with a mighty tug, pulled their heads and spines clear off their bodies.

The corpses were also taken. And the next morning, at the front of each police station in the city was a corpse of a gang leader and crime lord places, their own heads in their laps, their cold fingers pressed into their noses. While seven heads of gang leaders was hung like a wind chime over the door to the Police Chief's office. A message was painted out across the doors of the stations. The City is Riddled with Vermin, And We are the Venom that will Cleanse it.

This caused a manhunt of the size which had never been seen before, gang leaders gathered in groups to work together to take down those they thought to be this group calling themselves Venom. Gangs fought Gangs, Crime Lords accused Crime Lords and the Kingpin fought down a headache at the chaos. Thomas, or Venom as he was referring to himself as now in his costume, gleefully took out thugs and criminals like flies, he didn't kill all of them but those he did were strung up like sign posts by their gang's hold outs.

The Ghetto has less crime now, but it is still a lawless zone in the city and Venom has begun to crawl his presence out of the Ghetto to reach for the bigger crime lords, those hiding under the titles of politicians, corporations, religion and more.

*Current Date*

Venom crawled over the rooftops of the richer part of the city, his tentacles and powerful leaping abilities letting him leap across rooftops and even in some cases, up onto the top of a building. He had been following this priest for two hours, the man was pious and a fanatic believer in the might of god, yet the man smelt of blood and sex, like a mockery of sin in the cloth of a man of god. Near the edge of a local school ground he saw the priest follow a young girl into an enclosed alley behind a catholic school, a place for young people to smoke or take drugs mostly.

He saw the priest grasp the girl and begin to attempt to rape her young body against the side of a container, preaching that he was cleansing the sins of young women who have forgotten their place in the world. Without hesitation he leaped down from he rooftop and with his inhuman body he landed without a sound and grasped the priest's head, his maw of teeth smiled at the struggling priest who squealed in terror about demons and devils when he saw the black shape of venom, the young girl stared in horror as the large black creature spoke, his fingers slowly beginning to close around the priest's head.

"You proclaim to be a man of god, a shepherd of the people, yet you act like the filthiest of vermin, god will not save you from us. Cause where there is scum like you..." Slowly as he spoke was the clawed fingers slowly clenching themselves around the skull of the priest and as he paused in his monologue had the entire skull of the priest been cracked like a crushed egg and blood, brain matter, broken skull fragments and two intact eyeballs made a bloody mess that hung limp in his clutching fingers that slowly let go and the priest fell dead to the ground. "There will be Venom to remove the rot."

He then looked at the girl who looked afraid and just pointed at the school she had come from. "We suggest you go back where you came from, this city is not safe for one such as you to walk alone. There is vermin everywhere. Good bye." With a massive leap the alien symbiote powered man sprung up ten floors and landed on the edge of the rooftop before rushing across the rooftops, his black skin shifting into a camouflage to melt in to the surrounding, making him look like a moving haze of heat.

Kris sat at the desk as he looked at the clock drum on by; he had yet to answer any of the questions on the test. As he quickly scanned around, he could see that several students already finished their test and sat quietly waiting for the others to finish their own tests.

As he looked around he saw his so-called friends, all of them were steadfast working on their tests trying to finish the test on time. He could see them look at him and gave a slight smirk before turning back to the test. He did not know why they tricked him, but they took him out to partying

As his gaze at the clock he saw that he had only a few minutes left until he had to turn in the test, he turned back to the test and tapped the pen on the desk. As he quickly looked at the question something strange happened, he knew the answers quickly and wrote them down one after another.

After turning in the test and the next day he found out that he gotten top marks on the test. It was a shock to him as well as to the other students. He even solved a trick question, which was hidden with in the test it’s self. He soon found out that he was able to quickly answer questions faster than the others were who were said to be the smartest in the school.


It was after this that the teachers suggested that he take some other tests which he was able to pass quickly, with that he was able to graduate. Upon his return, he found out why his parents died in a plan crash, which they did not know what the cause of it was.

After their deaths and the reading of the will, he found out that he inherited their workshop. After seeing Iron man saves some civilians from a person who had mutated from the virus. After seeing the armor a few, more times his mind started to deconstruct it. Returning to the junk yard it was there that he built a proto prototype. It was not pretty, Large bulky, powered by engines as well as using liquid fuel for the thrusters. Many of the parts looked uneven as he taken parts from various items throughout the junk yard.

Upon completion, he tested it out at the junk yard in secrecy; he found out that it worked almost flawlessly. The down side was that it did make a lot of noise when moved. Even with silicone, lubrication did not help that much at all. A representative of Hammer Tech Industries happened to be visiting, he saw it and as impressed by it. He sold that one, to Hammer Tech and was able to get a job there.

With money in hand he quickly begun to remodel the workshop to suit his needs, but he did keep some of the same things his parents had. During one of the remodeling jobs, that he discovered a secret he never knew. Both his parents had kept hidden from him ever since he was young one.

Current day/ early evening


The familiar sounds of the machinery within the junk yard echoed all around the confines of the wall, the junk yard. It had changed from what it used to be. Instead of the flimsy sheet metal walls that were full of holes. Almost anyone or anything could get within the facilities and ransack it for parts or as in test of courage as many rumors had spread about evil ghost within the junk yard.

It all changed when he got it, in his parents’ will they left everything to him, upon receiving money from selling some of the inventions that he had created. The Junk Yard had changed so much, the normal wood and metal shack turned into a full metal and concert building with improved machinery. However, that was not all that changed. Deep with in the grounds of the junk yard was a secret that only he and his parents knew.

A lone figure stood within the garage, in one hand a large pizza box from one of the local and long with a six-pack of soda on top of the box. With his free hand, he took a hold of a yellow control unit and with the press of a button the sound of whirling gears, pneumatic pistons coming to life. The floor to the garage slowly opened up and revealed a staircase that lead deep within the confines of the room.

As he walked down the stairs, the lights quickly went out as the doors once more closed themselves and with a load hiss and the sounds of locks twist shut the room became secured.

"Lets see where I left off at" Kris said as he made his way to a workbench placing the pizza box on one end of the table. Taking one can he quickly opened it up and sat it aside and quickly took a slice of pizza and slowly went over a schematic of something that he was creating, it was a strange design but truly unique. It had the appearance of a two-wheel motorcycle, everything about it looked normal aside from that it did not run on gasoline. The next image showed that it was starting to transform into a robot, the next one showed it fully transformed.

" Hmm" Kris told himself as he took a bite of pizza as he started to go over the images, tapping the table suddenly a 3d image appeared before him with the three images on paper were in full 3d form.

"Sir need I remind you the 3d viewer is not a food table." a female voice came from out of nowhere,

"I know, but I need to get back to work," Kris quickly told her as he took up a remote and turned the TV on, He was catching the jest of the news. It was mostly about the virus and the outbreak of people with strange powers and abilities appearing more and more. Even the police were having a hard time ringing in these strange individuals.

Something did catch his attention, it was the death of a priest. the mans head was removed and destroyed to a point it wasnt even recognizable to anyone. They didn't show it but from the reactions of some of the officers as well as the cameramen one could tell it was horrible. Even the police found it strange about the death of the priest. Another strange thing was were he was found. It was in a area where drugs were know to be sold and where kids took them. It was near a school so some speculated that he may have dressed as a priest so he could get close to the students at the catholic school

"Lilith Run some tests on these designs as well as the other three I came up with" Kris quickly said as he turned off the tv and grabbed his coat. He also picked up two devices that looked like they would go on the wrists.

"Wouldn’t you want your other suit" Lilith Quickly asks

"No I have the jackets I want," He said with a smile on his face as he walked towards another part of the room,

Outside part of the junkyard floor quickly dropped down revealing a hidden road and soon the sound of revving engine. Kris quickly exited from out of the hidden tunnel onto of a motorcycle, using a remote switch Kris quickly opened large gated door and drove off into the night.

Just another day for Mary Jane Watson

Mary Jane Watson smiled happily to herself as she bounded across her expansive New York condo clad in a pair of red boy shorts that matched her hair, pink socks and naught else. She wasn’t entirely sure what had happened to her over the last few weeks but it was wonderful beyond description and she hoped it never ended. She could leap almost twenty feet straight up, she could run faster, she could lift her couch one handed. Mary dashed across her hard wood floors and slid all the way to the edge of her bed tumbling gracefully into it and snatching up her diary.

Dear Diary
It’s been a long time since I’ve bothered with you and I’m sorry. I’ve just been busy, reporting for the Bugle has a habit of taking up a lot of creative energies and. . .well this is something new, something private and I don’t know who to share it with, I’d love to share this with everybody but I’m not a dummy. I know what’ll happen if word gets out that I’m some kind of freak. They’ll take me to some lab in Siberia or Gitmo and poke me to figure out what makes me tick and I’m not about to be someone’s lab experiment.

Mary Jane tilted her head slightly and dropped her pen. “What was that?” Her pet cat, Isis, was trotting over. It was the oddest thing. Mary could hear the nearly silent footfalls of the black feline making it’s way over to her. “That’s a good kitty!” She gathered t soft cat to busom snuggling with affection. Isis wasn’t much in the mood for snuggles though and quickly wriggled free jumping to the floor and angrily mewling at her. “What?” Isis used a combination of insistent cries and searing glances to guide Mary to an empty food dish.

“Silly cat.” Mary chuckled. Her cat might not speak but that didn’t mean she wasn’t communicating perfectly well. “Okay, calm down.” Isis would not calm down. She continued pacing back and forth staring up and meowing as loud as her tiny lungs could handle while Mary prepared her cat food. “There, there you happy now?” Mary couldn’t quite get out of the way fast enough to avoid her cat knocking the dish free to get at her food and nearly impossibly it didn’t spill. “Wow, that was lucky.” Mary shrugged.

“Well I have to go to work so I can buy food so you don’t get all catty with me.” Mary crooned. The only indication that Isis even heard her was a single ear swiveling toward her roommate but otherwise she was too absorbed in her food to acknowledge her.

A few minutes later Mary was dressed in a pair of snug khaki Capri pants, a white blouse and matching khaki colored coat on her way to work. She’d made it about halfway when a pair of thugs ran up behind her, snatching her purse and cell phone in one pass and running down an alley.

In hindsight it seemed insane that she ran after them instead of. . .instead of doing anything not suicidal but at the time she had the two criminals trapped down a dead end alley when the two men stopped and assessed the situation. “That wasn’t real smart of you was it girly?” The one with her purse dropped it and started approaching her. “It was plenty smart, if she wanted some alone time with us.” The other replied slipping her phone into his pocket, when it came back out he was armed with a switch blade.

Mary was paralyzed for a moment and then she was cut off from her escape route. “Please, just let me go.” Mary whimpered backing against the fence. If she could have passed through it she would have.

“Maybe you can give us a good reason why we shouldn’t hurt you?” The men exchanged a glance. “You are pretty.” The man with the knife came towards Mary and instincts she didn’t know she had, she shoved the first man backward over a trashcan, ducked beneath the knife and drove her knee into his gut doubling him over.

“Wow.” Mary was every bit as surprised as her attackers were.

“You’re gonna regret that missy.” The knife wielding mugger roared charging in. He seemed like he was moving in slow motion to her. She just waited until the last possible moment then slung him into his partner knocking both of them over. Mary calmly walked over and kicked both men in the face ending the encounter.

“Well that sucked.” Mary retrieved her belongings and stepping out of the alley and heading to work.

“I expected you to be here six minutes ago Watson!” The rest of J. Jonah Jameson’s irate diatribe was completely wasted on the ravishing redhead who was already handing in her stories and making a cup of coffee which she handed to him with a sweet smile.

“I’m already on it Jonah.” She’d heard enough to know what he wanted, the same thing he’d wanted since the beginning of the outbreak. What was the cause, who were these people and of course when were they going to take over the world? Mary wasn’t honestly sure how much of his own hype he bought into and how much was just selling papers. As long as he kept writing the checks that let her feed her black cat she didn’t mind too much.

“It’s been a long time since I’ve been home.” Isiah Thompson said as stepped off the freighter. He hadn’t set foot on American soil in decades. No amount of time in Wakanda amongst the locals who loved him for who he was held him in such high esteem that they had made him an official member of the tribe, an unheard of honor, had ever dulled his love for America.

“Will you be needing any assistance?” A man asked standing behind him.

“No. The prince has set up quite the network over the years. If I need anything I swear I’ll head straight to the embassy.” Isiah hefted his military styled rucksack up onto his shoulder without the slightest sign of strain. Which was impressive considering the weight of the equipment.

“You are certain?” The man repeated.

“Yes, I’m fine my friend. Now return home to your family. I’m sorry that I took you away from them for so long but I could not risk flying. The airports are far too closely scrutinized after that maniac attacked. Tell your wife and children that I miss them and I hope sometime soon all of you can come and visit me here.” Isiah wrapped his arm around his dear friend and kissed his cheek. “Now go.”

An hour later Isiah was walking down the same streets that he’d grown up on. It was definitely true what they said, the more things change the more they stay the same. The last time he’d been in New York the corner store had been called Mary & Java instead of a Starbucks, there had still been a park where the Wal-Mart stood but there were still children playing in the streets and adults sitting on their porches exchanging stories.

He passed by the lot where his own house was still standing. It had been painted over, and a second story had been built on it but it was still standing. He resisted the urge to walk over and knock on the door, he had no idea how who lived there now or if they’d somehow recognize him. Not that he looked anything like he had seventy years ago, he was much bigger and more muscular and several shades darker thanks to the Wakandan sun.

Isiah continued his trek through the city he’d been born in trying to keep a smile on his face but it wasn’t all pleasant. The last time he’d visited the Church of Cross and Crown had still been a central part of the community. Today it was covered in graffiti and even from the street he could smell tell it wasn’t the kind of place that honest people went anymore. “I guess here is as good a place as any to start.” Isiah stepped walked into the church. Several minutes later a bunch of thugs who weren’t quite as tough as they’d convinced themselves they were ran out and Isiah started assessing the building that would become his home.

Jennifer Walters becomes She-Hulk

“As you can see my client has been wrongly accused and I am certain that the jury will find that they have no other recourse than to acquit.” Jennifer Walters said from behind her horn rimmed glasses. She wasn’t looking at the jury, not quite anyway. Her attention was focused just beyond them carefully avoiding any direct eye contact with the people she was trying to convince of her case. Somehow the fact that she was going to have to stand up in front of people and talk had evaded her when she applied for law school.

She’d gotten into Law School, Harvard to be precise, because she was brilliant. Even from a young age she’d Jen had excelled in nearly every subject at school. Math, science, history, English, she’d been fluent in three languages by the time she turned twelve and now that she was twenty seven she was fluent in five (English, Spanish, German, Russian and Arabic) in addition she was conversational in Chinese and Japanese but couldn’t read either. All those things came fairly easily to her. Physical stuff not so much. She was far from the stereotypical nerd, she could keep up fairly well but for someone who was used to being the best at everything just by showing up having to struggle to keep pace with the middle of the pack was frustrating so she often simply didn’t.

Dating was another one of those things she’d never really done a much of in high school. She was super skinny, like a stick girl and didn’t get a ton of attention in her limited spare time and a lot of the attention she did get was from geeks who simply didn’t interest her in the least. It didn’t help that she was more than a little socially awkward.

“Is that all you have to say my petite fraulein?” Kristoph Gavin purred in his light German accent from the prosecutors’ bench.

Jennifer blushed and she wasn’t certain if it was from the embarrassment, the sexy sound of his voice, the sudden heat in the room or simply her being nervous that he might have convinced the jury to put away an innocent man. She managed to squeak out something that confirmed she was before she retreated to her desk.

“It’s gonna be okay.” She whispered reaching out beneath the table to take her client, Cletus Kassidy, by the hand and give him a reassuring squeeze. “I know your innocent.” She had her doubt, little bits of his story that didn’t completely add up but not enough to convince her he was guilty of the multiple murders he’d been accused of. The prosecution had him painted as the worst man since Charles Manson and Jennifer wasn’t even sure he was a killer. She took a moment remind herself that her job was to provide the best possible defense and that if he was guilty of something else he screw up and they’d catch him.

Jennifer was still sitting there with Kassidy when the jury returned from deliberation. Jennifer could tell exactly what was going to happen before they actually spoke. She could see it on their faces.

“We find the client. . .” Jen tried to keep Cletus’ hand but he managed to slip from her grasp, “-guilty.”

“Of course you had no choice.” Kristoph replied adjusting his glasses upward on his nose.

“I’ll fuckin’ kill you!” Cletus screamed and leapt into the air somehow sticking to the courtroom’s rooftop and scampering across it towards Kristoph. The German prosecutor had enough time to look upward before Cletus, now transformed into what looked like a skinless muscle red monster pounced onto him. He didn’t have enough time to scream after that. “And for you, you worthless whore!”

Cletus turned toward Jen and leapt toward her. Jen fared better than Kristoph, just before he impacted her she transformed from the twiggy waif Jennifer Walters into the six foot seven inch green skinned Amazonian beauty She Hulk. She was throwing her hands up in fright but the force was more than enough to nearly send Cletus through the roof. When gravity dragged him back down her reflexive shove toppled the prosecutors desk before Cassidy came skidding to a halt.

“This is awesome.” Jennifer shouted triumphantly leaping almost twelve feet into the air. “Oh wow, I jump high.” Jen stopped to look at her arms. “I’m green. . .nice shade though. Like emeralds.” Cletus was still recovering when Jen strode over to him lifting a desk over head and pinning him under foot.

“Die.” Cletus commanded. His hand sharpened to a point and narrowly missed spearing through the underside of Jen’s head. In the process she dropped the desk directly onto Cletus’ skull crushing it.

“Oops?” She stop from chuckling though, until she realized the way everybody was looking at her. “I’m gonna need a lawyer aren’t I?”

“I think given the circumstances Ms. Walters nobody will be pressing charges and the only questions we have is WHAT EXACTLY ARE YOU?!”

“Aside from absolutely gorgeous? Happy to be alive? Green?” The room remained silent. “My guess is as good as yours but whatever it is, it’s awesome!”

It had been a rough few days, having only recently managed to get through airport security in two countries (Australia and then America) without getting searched. Plenty of others had been stopped by security and asked to step aside, but the amber haired woman had managed not to raise suspicion. Perhaps it was because she looked more like a business traveler, with her black straight pin stripe pants and a white turtleneck. The trench coat, in tan, that covered her seemed rather bulky but she didn't beep when passing through the metal detectors. A smile, and making sure to put her belt, keys, cell phone and handbag in the tray before sliding it through seemed to do the trick. It made her look well practiced, as if she traveled enough to know the process.

The flight had been uncomfortable, her wings begging to be let out, within a few days she wondered if there would be any way of hiding them. Even now she couldn't sit back very far, and propped herself forward with one of the complimentary cushions.

But that was almost a week ago, and since then she had been staying in low cost motels and burning through her small savings account like no tomorrow. Mostly she had been watching T.V. Hoping to find some clues as to what had caused her change. She assumed it was this virus, a cross-species pathogen that had been spreading across the world at a rapid rate.

Would there be any more changes? She hoped not. This was already too much. And as she lay on her stomach watching the flickering screen before her, she stretched her wings. They were now fully grown, and if she tried to flap them, she could almost get off the ground at a run. Flight was still beyond her though, at least she felt as if it was.

A knock at the door caused her to look up startled. "Miss, your credit card has been declined. I'm going to have to ask for another one, or cash up front. Otherwise we can't accommodate you any longer. Tonight will be your last night." David, the assistant who worked behind the counter was nice. He smiled enough to seem friendly but not too much to appear like a creep. Whilst he was only nineteen, he didn't seem to think that Penelope looked too old for him. Her twenty seven years old only looked to be in the early twenties.

"Oh, sorry for that. I'll have to ring home and double check. If not I'll be at reception before check out tomorrow, thank you for letting me know," she replied, standing up to speak through the door.

She knew she'd spent the last hundred dollars on this room. Now she was broke. Well, she could try and see if they had a room free tomorrow, and bargain to exchange staying for cleaning or something. But she knew there were plenty of people needing rooms, and most would have at least some money.

Sitting down, she sighed, flapping her wings enough times to cool the room down. She hadn't been able to afford a room with air conditioning, and for some reason she was still running a temperature. Flopping back onto the bed, she stared at the ceiling. "Bloody good mess you've got yourself into, Ness." Closing her eyes, she dozed off, the TV still playing through the news.

It wasn't until someone began to yell out that Penelope woke, rather in a daze from her deep sleep. A rushed knock at her door again alerted her to someone standing outside, their harsh rapping indicating something was wrong. Not thinking of how she might appear, she opened the door and saw a look of utter panic on Davids face.

"The motel is on fire..." he began, before looking down at her frame. She hadn't really got much further than putting on her underwear and a short tank top after her shower earlier. Her stomach and pierced naval open in full view. Nipples, rather visible through the white cotton fabric, accentuated her 32D breasts and her tanned cleavage wasn't exactly fully contained either. Her long legs, hairless and smooth, and equally tanned from long hours sun baking on the beach seemed to go on forever.

"Umm," he said, before the sound of a fire truck pulling into the motel's compound broke him from his dirty thoughts. "Please, you need to get downstairs and into the emergency evacuation area. I have to warn everyone else..." he blurted before giving her a smile (and another quick look up and down).

Stepping forwards, her wings shuffled behind her and he seemed to notice them. His eyes sort of went wide as he took off to the next room, unsure if he'd seen some weird kinky costume or something more real. With everyone going on he had no time to really ask her to do a pirouette to check. There were six floors, of badly made wood rooms.

The smoke was already spreading upstairs, and she could tell that the fire must have started near the office building, but it was jumping from room to room at a rapid pace. People ran down the stairs, before a woman screamed.

"Katie! Oh god, my daughter!" she yelled, trying to get the firefighters attention. They looked upwards, a room directly above the office had caught on fire and a young girl clung to the balcony railing. The mother was dressed in fishnet stockings and short black leather skirt and top. A street worker, probably just returning back from earning her wage.

Black smoke billowed from the window, as fire broke through into the next room. Luckily nobody seemed to be in there, and it simply burned without problem. But soon the entire floor was alight, and people poured out of the bottom floor carrying what few possessions they had.

Standing, leaning forwards to see clearer, Penelope was only a couple of floors away from the girl and could probably catch her if she fell. But she could probably also climb up. Jumping over the railing, she climbed up the terracing, using the white lattice as a ladder. And soon, despite a few slips and creaking bits of wood, she arrived just under the girl. Her white wings hanging half opened behind her as she looked up at the child.

"Katie, my name is Nell. You need to climb down to me, okay...just a couple of meters..." she said calmly, but the girl was beyond listening. She clutched at the balcony rail as if it was all that stopped her for dying, leaning out over it to escape the smoke that was beginning to suffocate her.

With a loud crack, the door behind her blew out, heat searing the child and pitching her over the edge. Penelope grabbed the girls hand as she fell, but lost grip and plummeted with her. Pulling the girl in close, she unfolded her wings and flapped hard, the wide wingspan curling the black smoke before she managed to slow their fall enough to tip onto her back and wrap her wings around them both in a protective manner. With the child as safe as possible, she landed atop one of the firetrucks, and crumpled. One of her wings rolled off the side of the firetruck, and Katie was revealed unscathed beyond smoke inhalation and a few burnt hairs. But there was no movement from Penelope, who had hit hard enough to knock the wind from her badly.

All was black as she heard a mother crying out for her saved child, and felt strong hands and the rasping of a fireman's helmet as she was picked up and carried towards blue, white and red flashing lights. A paramedic shone a light in her eyes, but it seemed to push her further into her dark daze, and soon there was nothing but darkness.

"Clear!" a muffled sound entered her ears, and she shuddered.

"We got rhythm!" a female voice said, and she felt tossed around a bit as people rushed about.

Fade to black. For now she would have accommodation in the closest hospital, the story of a winged woman with dark red brown hair, wearing nothing but a white singlet and pair of panties, appearing on the news. They were even nice (or stupid) enough to show the front of the hospital where she was being kept under observation.

She stood at the door of her apartment. Jeans and boots, check. Tank top and trench coat, check. Gloves, scarf, sunglasses, and hat. All good. Her tail came up her back and only twitched a little bit. Cutting the hole in her jeans had bothered her immensely. But better that than the pain she learned about when she kinked the tail up out the waistband.

She started to turn the knob to head out but stopped and shuddered. If anyone she knew saw her what would she say? What would they think? She had become something inhuman. A monster. Steeling herself she cracked the door open, peeking about to see if anyone was in the halls. No one out there, great. She slide out of the door locked it and headed out.

Down the stairs at a speed most would call impossible, and out the back door. Again a look around for witnesses, none, she leaped, grabbing a window ledge. From that ledge across the alley to another ledge higher, again and again to the roof of her apartment. "Okay Greer, that's getting to be easier and easier." she said to herself.

From rooftop to rooftop she sprang, following the path to the grocery store. Down the back of the building she went and into the store. People looked at her but said nothing about the way she was covered. She was awarded a wide berth by the other shoppers and she got through the shopping process and back up to the roof tops heading toward home.

As he drove through the town, he could see that the few people who were out stared at his bike. He did not know why he was driving around in this area of town. However, it did feel good to get out of the junkyard, as well as leaving that workshop. Even though he did have an apartment, he spent most of his time in the underground room. It had everything he needs to live as comfortably as he wanted to. There was one bad thing it didn't have a few.

Kris quickly stopped his bike almost losing control of it and falling to the ground, as he looked up he saw several men running away. He caught the jest of what they were saying; he heard them shout about some big guy kick them out of their hole. As he looked at them, he could tell that a few of them did look like junkies or they were pushers or both.

"Looks like something interesting is happening" Kris said with a smile as he quickly gunned the engine and took of towards where they ran from. As he came to what he thought was the place, it had the appearance of a church. However, not anymore, as it looked like those men had turned it into their own private dump. He could see graffiti almost covering most of the walls. Most of it was profanity, others were strange symbols or names of people or gangs.

Kris quickly stopped the bike in front of the church, he slowly let the head light wash over the church trying to see if he could see a figure move within the church. He figured that a big guy like many of them claimed to have kicked them out wouldn't be hard to see. Nevertheless, he didn't see anything move at all, with a heavy sigh he slowly turned off the bike, slowly preceded to the door, and knocked on the old wooden door. All that he heard was the echo of his knocking through out the church. Swoon the fluttering of wings, and the cries from the pigeons that made their nest within the church.

"Hello, Anybody in there?” He quickly asked as he slowly pushed the door open.

He suddenly stopped before he fully opened the door, he hadn't that of what if this person was the one who killed that priest. If it was then he would be in a world of trouble as it would take a person with inhuman strength to do that to a person skull. Or a person with type of bashing weapon, after the short pause he quickly pushed the door open. Within the darken room he tried to let his eyes adjust to the dark.

Spider-Man sat atop a tall building, perched on the ledge like a cat. He had only been a superhero for about a week, but had already done so much, and was so busy that he had almost forgotten his eighteenth birthday was fast approaching. Everything was a mess with all the mutants running around, and the FBI was crawling all over Oscorp, so he couldn't get close to it -- he still hadn't solved the mystery of his parents' deaths and if someone within the company was responsible.

It was getting late and he had school in the morning, so Peter started to head home, but heard sirens and decided to follow. They led him to a hotel fire where he witnessed a winged woman save a little girl. He jumped into the building to double check and make sure everyone was out, then approached the paramedics.

"Is she okay?" he asked them.

"She'll need to spend the night in the hospital, but she'll be fine," replied the ambulance driver.

"That's good, no casualties here tonight," said Pete, but then he heard the scanner of the police officers that had shown up on the scene.

"Damn it, not these Venom freaks again," one of the officers said. "They're out again tonight and causing problems in East Harlem. We can't question criminals if these idiots keep killing them!"

"I'll see what I can do," Peter said as he shot out a string of web to a nearby building.

"Whoa, whoa! Wait a second there, buddy," the cop laughed. "You're not going anywhere. You need to come with us and answer some questions."

"But don't you have to go back up your boys? Try to catch these nut-jobs? That's actually what I was planning to go do. To help you."

"We don't need your help," replied the officer. "Mutants like you are the reason our city is in such a mess right now. In the last twenty years, the crime rates have dropped drastically. But the second these powers started popping up, the rates sky-rocketed again."

"But I am trying to help fight these new mutants. Did you see me, just now? I jumped into that burning building to try and save people. Just like that winged woman there. Not all of us are bad, dude."

"Doesn't matter," replied the cop. "I have orders to bring in as many mutants as I can so we can figure this thing out and stabilize the city again. You may wear that suit and act like a hero, but you don't fool me -- you're under arrest, 'Spider-Man'. You're coming with me."

"Sorry chief, that's not part of the plan!" laughed Pete before shooting off into the darkening sky. No respect, no respect at all. Fucking figures, he thought to himself as he web-slinged towards East Harlem.

Once Spider-Man arrived at his destination, he began prowling toe rooftops near the scene of the dead gang-members' bodies for any hint of this Venom group. He caught something out of the corner of his eye and turned, following whatever it was. A few more roofs over, he sat perched on the edge of the building, when suddenly his Spider Sense started tingling. He looked around frantically for the cause, when suddenly a black tentacle wrapped itself around his ankle and yanked him off the roof to the ground below. It slammed him against a dumpster and then a brick wall a few times, then flung him down the alley and into another dumpster.

"Ow," replied Peter as he pulled himself from the dented metal and gazed upon a muscular, black-skinned creature with large teeth and a long tongue.

"Why are you following us?!" it demanded in a hideously disturbing voice. "More vermin to snuff out?"

"Well aren't you a bottle of sunshine and rainbows," said Pete with a laugh -- a laugh that just barely hid his fear -- this guy was terrifying! But he had to keep cool, and hide the fact that he was about to shit in his tights. "Those teeth must be a bitch to clean, but I bet the girls love the tongue! I'd say they would love the tentacles too, but come on, this isn't Japan!"

Spider-Man flipped to the side as the creature roared angrily and swung another tentacle at him. He kept flipping and dodging as multiple tentacles kept trying to grab him. "Hey, don't take this the wrong way buddy, but I'm not really interested in starring in your hentai movie!"

After flipping and rolling behind the dumpster, Peter shot a strand of webbing to a nearby sewer lid and pulled it to him. As Venom lifted the dumpster and threw it to the side, Spidey swung the sewer lid at him like a frisbee, slamming into his jaw. "Ziiiiing! Just call me Captain America!"

Using his brief opening, he ran forward and unleashed wave after wave of webbing onto the creature's face, then slid under his legs, grabbed the sewer lid again, and then connected a string of webbing to it and began to spin around in circles, swinging the lid around and around and then slamming it very hard into the back of Venom's head.

"Did I hear a hollow sound when that hit your head? Gooong, church is in session!" Spider-Man dodged as Venom angrily threw the lid back at him, but then his heart jumped into his throat as he realized the creature had predicted his next movement -- he evaded the sewer lid only to land right into the grasp of several tentacles.

Peter yelped out as he was slammed into the ground, wall, dumpster again, punched in the face a few times, and kicked in the side. He felt the creature take stronger hold of him and felt like he was draining the life away from him.

"No... fair..." he said faintly as he grew weak and lightheaded.

Laura's grit her teeth as her ears picked up the faint movement of clothing and the gentle sweep of leather, bracing herself before the crack of the whip could even echo off the metal walls around her. Even still she screamed as her back was torn open by the sharp barb on the weapon's tip. She was naked and in the cold depths of their freighter ship the blood felt like streaks of fire as they raced down her back. Within moments though the tricksle slowed and her pain fade away, the long tear on her back closing up as if an invisible hand were zipping her up again. Again the whip lashed out, though this time Laura managed to hold herself to a grunt of pain. Instead of the expected third strike Laura heard the sound of footsteps behind her, getting closer. She was held in place by four magnets, pulling her adamantium coated claws to keep her arms and legs outstretched.

Laura tensed as she suddenly felt a finger running slowly up her back, the feeling causing goosebumps to rise across her skin. As her tormenter leaned in closer Laura's nose was filled with Kimura's familiar scent. Laura's head was suddenly wrenched back violently as the other woman yanked on her hair. An elegant caramel hand slid into Laura's peripheral. With disturbing intimacy the hand stroked Laura's cheek before grasping her chin, forcing her head to turn.

"You know why I hurt you, don't you X?" She whispered into the girl's ear. "Life is pain." She emphasized the last word with a sharp pull on Laura's hair. "Without pain there is no life, and without pain..." Her voice trailed off expectantly.

"I am nothing..." Laura responded, her voice barely audible.

"Very good!" Kimura praised, releasing the girl and walking around her as she coiled the whip and tied it back onto her belt. The woman's eyes were like two cold pools, as if she wasn't even looking at another human. Kimura stepped closer and closer, until her face was mere inches from Laura's. The cold leather of the older woman's suit pressed against Laura's skin. "We have things for you to do today X." She said, smiling. "Very important things." She reached up and stroked Laura's hair gently, working out a few tangles that had formed, "But I'm afraid I can't go with you, some in the city may still remember my face." Laura nodded mutely, every muscle in her body rigid with tension. "I know you'll be a good girl though, because we both know that no matter what happens I'll be waiting for you." She leaned closer almost as if to kiss the younger girl, but instead slowly licked a drop of blood that had spattered onto Laura's cheek. "And you don't want to make me angry. Do you?" Laura shook her head quickly, that was the last thing she wanted.

Stepping back Kimura looked over Laura's shoulder and shouted to the guards waiting outside the cargo crate. "Alright! Come wash off this blood and get her some clothing!"

------------One hour later--------------

Laura was sitting in the back of an indestinct tan station wagon. Thankfully she was dressed now: black knee length skirt, grey tights, sneakers and a black t-shirt with some kind of white butterfly design on the front. To the average observer she looked like no more than a normal, if somewhat glum, teenage girl. Next to her sat a large man in a dark blue suit and sunglasses, as they worked their way through traffic he opened his suit jacket to check something. Laura glanced over and saw the two small canisters cleverly hidden within, tiny tubes connecting them to a pair of the man's buttons. Each was unmarked except by a colored square, one red and one blue. Just seeing the canisters caused Laura's nostril's to flare and her fists to clench. She knew what they were for. Each container contained a perfume, scents two subtle for normal humans to detect but overpowering to Laura's nose. The blue one was to make her docile and compliant, the red one was for when they wanted her to...to hurt people.

The driver adjusted his mirror and spoke, "We have several potential opprtunities being monitored, once something happens I'll drop you off with her. Once you're on the ground you are on your own, you'll have to bring her back to the pickup point after it's all over." The man in the back nodded, buttoning his coat up once again before turning to look Laura up and down, his sunglasses hiding whatever thoughts were behind his eyes. Suddenly the radio in the driver's ears came to life, Laura was able to pick up bits and pieces
of the conversation despite its' "privacy" volume. "We may have something." The driver said after a moment, flipping on his blinker and turning down a side street.

Thomas growled as he shifted his jaw as he began to assimilate the strange mutant's powers, that dumpster and sewer lid had struck his jaw, twice in a row, it stung but other then that he was fine. He was tough but even he could feel pain. Thankfully had it not been a drawn out fight as the strange guy in red and blue hadn't been too hard to predict.

As he felt new strength fill his veins he also received something else, memories, they were spread out and not all solid, possibly because of the many hits he had made to that insult spewing wall crawler's head. But he learned a few important things, very important even.

FLASHBACK: Spiderman's Memories Part 1

“Damn it, Peter!” snapped Conners in a harsh whisper, suddenly showing up and dragging Peter out of the room. “Are you trying to cost me my job?!”

“No, I just – Ow!” Peter felt a sharp pain on his neck and instinctively slapped his hand on his skin. He felt a bulge, grabbed it, and pulled it out – it was one of the super spiders, now dead.

“Please don't tell me that spider just bit you...”

“It's just a spider bite,” said Peter. Conners sighed, then dragged him into his office and inspected the bite mark.

“That spider was one of a hundred that were bred with the prototype Oz Compound,” explained Conners. “We have not made it to human trials yet, so there is no way to know what the substance will do to you if any of it transferred in the venom of that spider. Do you feel nauseous at all? How is your head feeling?”

“I'm fine,” Peter reassured him. “What does this Oz Compound do?”

“It's supposed to enhanced one's physical parameters,” explained Conners with a sigh. “Have you ever heard of Captain America?”

“Yeah, some war hero from the forties,” replied Peter. “Liked to dress up in red, white and blue. The media made up stories about him being a super soldier and having powers to scare the Nazis.”

“Those were no stories, Peter. The formula used to make Captain America a super soldier was lost when the lab it was created it was attacked. Scientists have tried for decades to recreate the formula, and Oz is the closest we've ever come.”

“That seems so unreal,” Peter said in shock. “Sounds like something out of science fiction.”

“It is very real,” insisted Conners. “So for the next few days, I want you to come see me every day so I can check your vitals and make sure there are no drastic changes. If you start to feel anything abnormal, call me immediately.”

FLASHBACK: Spiderman's Memories Part 2

“My god, Peter,” he gasped as he looked into a microscope. “You... you're DNA sequences are all off! It's as if the Oz is trying to replicate the genetic structure of a spider within your body!”

“Does... that mean I'm going to turn into a giant insect or something?” he asked.

“Peter...” said Conners slowly. “This mutation could destabilize your entire genetic structure. At the rate it is evolving... It is likely to cause complete organ failure within seventy-two hours... Peter, I'm so sorry...”

“No,” said Peter, his eyes watering up a bit. “This is not going to kill me. It can't.”

“I'm sorry Peter, but the damage is done, and it grows worse by the hour. Damn it, why didn't you stay out of the restricted area? If we report this, I will lose my job.”

“Well I'm sorry my impending death is a burden on your fucking career!”

FLASHBACK: Spiderman's Memories Part 3

“Remarkable!” exclaimed Conners, looking at a new blood sample under the microscope. “The spider DNA has merged with your own DNA flawlessly! Not only has the former genetic damage been repaired, but your physical attributes have improved drastically!”

“I do feel amazing,” agreed Peter.

“Do you know what this means?!” asked Conners happily. “We have had our first successful human trial of the Oz Compound! Imagine if I injected myself with a mixture of reptile DNA and Oz – I could regrow my arm!”

“But we have no idea if the procedure would play out the same,” suggested Peter. “It could kill you, or turn you into a monster.”

“Yes, yes,” he replied sadly. “You're right...”

The next day, Peter went to Conners office to see the Professor grinning ear to ear – he had two arms again.

“Doc, you didn't!”

“It worked, Peter!” cried Conners happily. “It worked! I mixed the blood of a lizard with Oz and voila!”

“But... How did it happen overnight when mine took days?”

“I increased the amount of Oz to speed up the mutation.”

“That was very dangerous...” said Peter slowly.

“But completely worth it, my boy! Oho!”

FLASHBACK: Spiderman's Memories Part 4

“Who else were you close to that could have caught this virus?” he asked.

“I don't know...” replied Conners. “My barber, maybe. A few taxi drivers. The problem is, I have no way of knowing without tracking them all down and taking samples of their blood...”

“Who's your barber? Do you remember the names of the drivers?” asked Peter. He got what information he could, then went to the barber's shop. Using his new enhanced agility, he was able to prick the man's finger quickly and then run from the shop, down an alley, and a few blocks down. The pricker had a drop of blood on it that he put into a small vial. He repeated this with the drivers Conners was able to remember, and then returned to his office.

“Damn, this is not good...” he said after analyzing the blood samples.

“Are they infected?” asked Peter.

“Yes,” replied Conners. “All of them. And I'm afraid it's more than likely that they passed it on to their customers. Oh my god... If the drivers infected passengers they were taking to the airport...”

“This could turn into a pandemic,” Peter completed his sentence. “We have to tell someone...”

“We can't!” demanded Conners. “We have to keep this a secret! Look, look! The virus seems to be dormant in all three of these samples. If there are no visible symptoms in the infected, then know one will ever know.”

“But any doctor who gives them a blood test will know,” explained Peter.

“Yes, but they won't know we caused it. Do you realize what would happen if we came clean? If we shed light on this and became known as the creators of a pandemic? We'd be locked away in a federal penitentiary, for starters.”

“Because we conducted genetic experimentation outside the confines of a government-sanctioned facility...” said Peter.

“Yes,” replied Conners. “The labs at Oscorp are legal – my office is not. We must keep this a secret, Peter.”

“You're right,” he replied, sighing. “I won't say anything.”

FLASHBACK END

"...So... This Conners is the one who has caused all these mutants to appear. Carelessly toying with genetics and causing a danger to the world even greater then the great plagues... such foolishness and vainity... He will pay." Venom stood up from his position at the dumpster and turned his back to spiderman as his tentacles let him go, he was just an innocent bystander, the true villains here were Oscorp's sponsors, CEO, scientists and Conners, they would all pay. But first he would have to take out Conners before he spread more of the plague around.

"We will find the man responsible for this chaos Peter Parker. Conners will pay for causing such pain and despair to the innocent, including yourself. We, Venom, Shall End His Plauge On Earth!" With that Venom pointed his clenched fist upward and a white strand of white web erupted out of the middle of his knuckles, he had assimilated his spider powers and with their base had his symbiote learned to create and shoot spider web from his own body.

Grasping the web line Venom pulled and with the memory of Parkers own web slinging he flew out into the skyscapes and when he was high enough he laughed and cheered as he flung himself across the skyscapes as he found a deep joy in the act of web slinging. The memories of Parkers own enjoyment of this way of movement was affecting him more the he realized.

"Taste the rainbow slime breathe!" Came a sudden shout and Venom let go of his web line as Spiderman came flying from across another skyscape. Smirking the symbiote powered vigilante sent out his own web line and grasped Spiderman's and jerked it, causing the hero to sway into the direction of one of the steel and glass towers of the city.

The spider powered hero managed to flip and land on the surface of the glas while Venom swung himself at the hero and kicked him in the gut. They fell onto a rooftop and in a flurry of kicks, punches and tendrils they clashed. Venom proved to be physically superior to the spider powered hero however and with both his tendrils and the spider webs of his own suit he managed to gain the upper hand. With a sudden bull rush Venom sent them both over the edge and crashed on top of another rooftop, using the downed hero as a support for his feet he jumped up and web slinged away.

Spiderman followed soon and Venom found himself in a race of fist fights and web slinging across the rooftops. His powerful strikes forcing spiderman back and giving him some bruises as the spider empowered hero tried to stop him from reaching Conners. Through out the chase they traded both insults and comments, some nasty some down right funny. "We're going to end Conners Spiderman, no matter your interference is his life forfeit!" "Dream on smudge face! I won't let you!" "You do not get to decide what we do Spiderman! This is Justice!" "Fuck you, you badly made tentacle monster!" "We don't do dudes spiderman, keep your hands to yourself." "Guh! That's not what I meant and you know it!" "Whatever you say spider-fruitcake."

The sun was getting lower on the horizon and a blood red sky was greeting Venom's eyes as he and spiderman fought across the rooftops of the city as they got closer to Conners Condo.

Isiah dumped his bag in the corner of what looked to have been an office before those punks had made it into some kind of makeshift bed room. "This place needs more than a little cleaning up." He mumbled to himself. The place was a style, used needles, empty beer bottles, half eaten fast food all piled into corners.

"Hello, Anybody in there?”

Isiah turned toward the door. His first instinct was to go and beat the crap out of what had to be one more gangster but he stopped himself, took a deep breath and stepped out. "Yes, I'm here but you and your punk asses need to find some other place to slum it. I'm cleaning up this neighborhood and I'm starting with this place. I can't believe you had the audacity to turn a house of God into. . ."

Isiah stopped when he got a look at his visitor. "You don't look like you're with those punks so let me start over. "My name is Isiah what's yours?"

When he heard a voice call back out to him and he saw a figure step out from the shadows. Who ever he was, the ones who took off in a real hurry were right. This man before him was big, not fat but big with muscles. He also figured that the, man before him knew how to use his strength.

He almost shot back at the figure when he heard say he was a punk, but stopped himself

"A punk really in this get up" Kris thought to himself as he looked over the clothes he was wearing.

Before he was able to tell the man others wise, he heard him add that they had the audacity to turn the house of god into. That was the point when he heard the man stopped speaking, it was as if he was re choosing his words after he got a better look at the stranger before him.

Kris became more at ease but still had to be on guard, he heard the man give his name as Isiah he even said that it did not look like he was part of the group that used to live here in the church.

"Its Kris.....Kris Schatten" He said quickly as he held out his hand,

"No I'm not, I just almost ran over a few of them," Kris added

When he got a better look at the figure that stood before him, He didn't seem or act like a dangerous man. On the other hand, one who may have recently killed that priest, which he figured that he was not the one to cause that, mans death.

Still he had to be on guard just in case the man did try something he would have reacted. From what he did calculate, the 9-volt batter would be enough for one shot at full power or at least two at half power.

"What brings you here" Kris quickly asked Isiah,” You also may want to call the cops and have them go through this place to make sure there are no drugs within this place"

He did not know if drugs were still present within the church, but he figured that with the paraphernalia. Along with the men that ran away they might try for some payback, call the cops to this place, and have him arrested.


"Some of the cops may not like a person who looks like you in a known drug crash house"

"Well Kris," Isiah shook his hand giving it a good squeeze, not enough to hurt, before releasing him. "I'm not sure I'm going to be informing the police of anything but I will make sure this place is thoroughly cleaned." He looked Kris over for a second time. What is that you have anyway and what do you mean the police may not like someone who looks like me? If they have a problem with me being black. . .well they can take it up with me in person." He smiled slightly. "I will not be bullied by the government, not now, not ever."

"As for what brings me here," He wasn't really sure if he wanted to volunteer that information or just what he was supposed to say. After a moment Isiah settled on a truth adjacent tale. "I heard about the outbreak and. . .I have a similar condition. I was hoping I could help or find someone to help me. What brings you here?"

The white light that filtered into Penelope's eyes as they fluttered open several times was shocking. She tilted her head to the side, trying to shield them and raised a hand. But as her hand came up off the bed, it stopped abruptly, a metal handcuff keeping her securely in bed. That realization brought her slowly back to full consciousness. The room was sterile white walls and floor, the curtain that gave her some privacy not thick enough to hide the movement of several people milling around outside. She was groggy, and looked up to see a clear plastic bag feeding liquids into the needle that was taped to her arm.

"Hello?" she called out, a raspy voice making her wonder just how bad she was. Her body didn't hurt, beyond a few bruises that remained.

Checking out her surroundings, she noticed that they had bound her wings behind her back with a brown strip of leather. The buckle looked rather menacing as she tried to stretch out her neck and shoulders.

The curtain was pushed to the side, and a nurse approached her, a doctor soon following as he picked up her chart to examine it. The injuries listed were substantial, but as he passed the chart to the nurse and began a physical examination of his patient, he shook his head in disbelief.

"Remarkable," he said in awe. "Comminuted fracture of the fibula is almost completely fused together again. Lacerations...have scar tissue formed. Greenstick fracture of the collarbone and ribs, healed. Remarkable, you're a miracle."

The doctor looked up at Penelope now, looking her in the eyes rather than simply seeing her as a case to examine. "Young lady, I'm not sure what you are, but your physical recovery is worth studying. Do you mind if I run some more tests?" he asked in a curious tone, but also one of carefulness. Of cases that were popping up, many of the subjects hadn't been voluntarily accepted into 'study programs'.

Penelope was rather bewildered, she had assumed that they would lock her up as a freak, yet this doctor seemed rather accepting of her condition. Enough to warrant asking her to undergo a few more tests. Nodding her head, she gave a shaky reply. "Of course, I'd like to know what I am too."

The doctor and nurse gave each other a nod, before leaving, the curtain closing behind them to isolate Penelope once again. But she could tell something had changed. Two solid shapes moved to guard her room, by the look of their hats, they were police. And the bottom of their pants and shoes backed up that guess.

"Can I get a glass of water?" she called out, but nobody replied. The thirst only seemed to intensify now that they denied her it. She looked at the water jug no more than a meter from her reach. And, without really thinking she reached for it with purpose.

SNAP!

The handcuff on her left hand snapped as if it was a childrens toy. "Oh god, I'm sorry....um" she said, the officers entering her room to see her sitting up, flailing with one hand free. They immediately drew weapons, trained on her, and started shouting.

"Lady, just relax. We don't want to have to hurt you." The youngest officer said, his hands rather unsteady as he tried to assess the situation.

"I'm relaxed, I didn't mean to break it," she said, raising both hands as if to show she was innocent.

SNAP!

The other cuff gave way, and she felt an overwhelming urge to run. Their reactions to her now having no restraints wasn't a good one. They moved in closer, and she backed up in the bed. The gown she wore wasn't much good at hiding her body as she tried to stay away from them.

"Get on the floor now!" the older officer yelled, his tone one of annoyance and anger. Apparently not all people who presented themselves were good. And by the sound of it, he was close to just shooting her to be safe.

"Okay, okay...just chill out okay, no need to chuck a wobbly over a simple misunderstanding..." she said quickly, her Australian accent and slang slipping out as she got off the bed. The movement causing the belt around her chest to flex and slip down around her hips, her wings now without confinement opening. The police must have found this very threatening, because before she could figure out what was happening, she heard the loud noise.

BANG.

Pain seemed to erupt from her stomach as she grasped for something to hold onto. The bullet piercing her side before imbedding in the wall behind her. "Bloody hell," she uttered, blood dribbling down her legs as she grasped at her tummy.

"Get on the ground now!" they started to yell, both at the same time as they paniced.

Suddenly, she felt the urge to flee. Something deep inside not feeling comfortable in this situation, as medical staff rushed in behind the officers with needles and sedatives in hand. Looking at the window, Penelope cringed, before stepping towards it.

BANG!

The sound seemed a lot louder now that she knew what to expect, and her leg tried to give way as the second bullet went through it, smashing the window as she tilted backwards. For a second one of the medic's tried to grab her, but as if in slow motion she pitched over and began falling. The wind felt comforting as her wings opened wide, and although she was scared, her brain was no longer in control as she ran. The survival instinct taking over as she quickly plummeted towards the concrete below. Flapping, she slowed down before she began to glide. Her wings supporting her weight rather easily, and soon, she found herself flying. Heading back upwards, and off over the city. Droplets of blood getting scattered over miles as she flew somewhere safe.

She didn't know exactly what happened, but after about ten minutes her vision began to fade and her head felt light. She dipped and weaved about, trying to maintain flight. The roof that seemed to creep up on her out of nowhere was sloped and old. The faint outline of a cross the last image she remembered before smashing through it. The pews and alter that broke her 'landing' did very little to absorb the impact and she rolled several times before coming to a stop. A pile of light blue hospital gown, blood covered white feathers and golden tanned skin (pale from blood loss) and dark red hair rested in a corner. Hidden by shadow, groaning as it tried to move.

Survival still pushing it to find a safe place to sleep.

"What is what?" Kris asked him unsure of what was he talking about; He figured that he was talking about the thing on his right wrist. However, he did not really want to reveal much info on the item on hand...

"If you mean this." Its something that I can up with, it hasn't been through a trail run," He quickly said as he looked at it once more to check on it. It was different from the first one he built as that one explodes once it fired. Lucky for him it was not on his arm as it would take it off at the elbow. Nevertheless, the good thing it did take out the intended dummy target.

"I didnt mean to offend you..." Kris started when he heard Isiah say that if the police or the government has a problem with him being black then they should take it up with him in person.

"It's just that with how things are going on right now, the police are becoming more and more suspicious of strangers,"


"Me" Kris started as he thought about it; indeed, why he here, any normal person was would call him crazy for wanting to find the priest killer. Kris quickly begun to search his mind for what would be a good answer for Isiah.

"I maybe in a similar position like you, I maybe one of the many that are infected by this so called virus." Kris started off. "As to why I'm here, let's say something came over the news about something or someone killing a priest earlier tonight"

As his spook to Isiah he felt a little more at ease, as he figured for certain that this man wasnt the one who killed the priest. Before he could as another question, he thought he heard flapping noise, but it did not sound like one of the pigeons. It was far too large, as he turned back to the entrance to get a better view and trying to hear the flapping noise better.

Then it happened a figure suddenly crashed through the roof and tumbled through out the church taking out a few of the pews breaking some of them while leaving others unharmed. He didn; t know what it was, but from the sound of it was too large to be a bird. With the sounds of groaning coming from where the figure landed, he could tell by what little sound it made that it had to be human.

it was by reaction, or by being scared that he through out his right hand which suddenly something appeared over his right hand which a metal bar extended to allow him to grip it.


Let’s get some light in here," Kris whispered as he slowly moves back towards his bike, as he reached it he pressed a button that quickly turned of the light. As he angled the front wheel to where the lights would shine upon what ever crashed through the roof. As the lights washed over the figure, he saw that it was female and from the way she as dressed she looked like she had to be a patient from a hospital,

"Wait are those wings" Kris though to himself as he walked away from the bike and headed towards the winged female.

"She looked injured,” He said as he started to noticed that she had blood on herself,

" Isiah do you know anything about medical procedures” Kris quickly asked Him as he approached the female and knelt down beside her. He could still hear her breathing which was a good thing, but as he got a closer look at the wounds it looked like someone or a group of people had shot her.

" Miss you are safe now, we'll treat your wounds and call a ambulance and have you fixed up." he quickly added as he tried to see the extent of her wounds.

He was nervous on how to move her as he didn;t know how to place her so that he wouldn't harm her wings. Even though he was nervous
about being next to her, he was also intrigued by her as he never seen a person like her before in his life.

" Maybe she may be like the others" Kris thought to himself, by others he meant by the ones he lately been seeing on tv who looked human but were still mutated by the virus.

Which he figured that she may have escaped a research facility, if so then it could mean that people would be looking for her.

Isiah turned almost the same time as Kris in time to watch as an angel came crashing into the church. "Oh my God." He wasn't certain at all what was going on and for a moment he was just frozen in place watching. Years in Wakanda and even seeing the things that they could do had never dulled his belief in a single being, a creator father of Jesus, salvation for all mankind if they would but humble themselves enough to ask for it. He wasn't certain if an angel crashing into a church was a good sign or a bad sign but it couldn't possibly just be random could it?

He was still standing there in a bit of a haze when Kris shouted something about first aid. "Yes. I can do that. Keep her still." If man was created in His image and angels looked like. . .well humans, there was nothing male about this angel, maybe the had most of the same stuff. At the very least doing nothing couldn't be the right call. Isaiah went straight for his back and dumped it out snatching out the first aid kit along with some herbs he'd brought from Wakanda and ran back to the angel.

"Handcuffs." He muttered noticing them, and the bullet wounds. "She's been shot." His mind raced through a dozen scenarios while he worked. Had the government tried to attack her, had she attacked them? Was she a fallen angel? That would be the easiest explanation.

I meet a real life angel and I can't ask her if hurt when she fell from heaven because I already know it did. How absurd is that?

He had to push that idea aside though as he turned her enough for him to search. . .good the bullets had gone right through her, she needed to be stitched up but not cut up. He bandaged her as best he could.

"I have some blankets to keep her warm but I didn't have time to pick up any food or water. I know this might be surprising but I didn't exactly plan to be interrupted by you or a fallen servant of the Lord. I didn't even plan on coming to this place I just felt compelled." He left out the part that he was now convinced that God had put guided his feet, there was no other explanation. He was meant to be here and it was meant to be now. He knew that not everybody had the same beliefs but times like these made him certain that his religion was true.

The doors to the church slowly creaked open, rays of sunlight carving through the dust that had been raised by Penelope's fall through the roof.

"Don't bother with the blankets." A girl's voice called out, her tone mournful. Stepping into the old building she let the doors close behind her, transforming her from a silhouette into a scrawny teenage girl, dressed in dark clothing, her hair held back by a strange metal clip. Walking through the pews she eyed the other three, her shoulders slumped and mouth turned down in a sad frown. "I'm sorry." She whispered, almost too quietly to hear, before the tip of her silver hair clip began blinking red and slid open with a soft hiss.

-------------20 minutes earlier-----------------

As the car pulled off the street there was a distant crashing sound, though only Laura could hear it inside the vehicle, the man next toher quickly unbuckled them both. The driver had stepped around and opened her door for her, motioning for Laura to get out. Once on the street the man with sunglasses approached her, pulling some small silver object from his pocket. Reaching for Laura's head she saw that it was a hairclip, which he quickly slid into her hair after pulling it away from her face. "We're gonna make our way to the hospital on foot, you just stay quiet and follow me till we get there." His tone was short and professional. He turned to give the driver a nod as the other man climbed back into the car and pulled away, then placed a hand on the small of Laura's back to guide her along. After a few steps she suddenly stopped, reaching out to grab the man's arm. "What are you..." he began, giving her a sharp look.

"Not the hospital." She said, shaking her head, "Whoever it is they aren't there anymore." Her voice was forced, as if she was struggling to tell him the information. "It's this way," she nodded down the street, towards a church steeple that could be seen over the other buildings.

"How do you know?" The man asked, suspicious.

Laura paused for a moment, then sighed, "I can smell the blood." She responded, sniffing the air. The man grinned and set them off towards their new destination.

----------------Present Time-----------------------

As the invisible scent bloomed into the air around Laura's head her muscles tensed, nostrils flaring. The pupils of her green eyes expanded rapidly and despite looking the same it was almost like a different person was standing there. Her stance and posture were suddenly aggressive, threatening, and she flexed her fingers silently. With a small twitch her forearms shifted weirdly before the glint of cold metal emerged from her knuckles. Four blades, each two feet of razor sharp death, glinted in the dim light of the church. Looking down at the blades, X-23 let her gaze slide upward to the group, her grim eyes now emotionless and feral. Without a growl that sounded more animal than human she sprang forward faster than one would think possible, claws raised and aimed right for Kris' heart.

Isaiah turned toward the door as it opened and saw the wisp of a girl step in.
"Don't bother with the blankets." She said before apologizing.

If the girl lying at his feet bleeding, maybe dying was an angel fallen from heaven the woman who'd just stepped in through the doors was certainly some kind demon escaped from hell. At least that simplified the question of if he was supposed to be protecting the angel or not.

"She's not with-" Claws. She has claws just like him. The world was moving a bit too fast for Isaiah at the moment but if she was somehow related to him, and claws, that growl, the way she moved it wasn't impossible. But he wasn't a demon or a monster, just an animal. "Shit!"

There was just enough time for him to yank Kris clear of the young woman. "You know how I told you to go get the blankets? Don't do that. Moving the angel might be dangerous but its less dangerous than her being in here with that demon." Shit. If she was anything like him she didn't react well to being called anything but her name whatever her name was. There probably wasn't time for him to figure out something appropriate. "I'll take care of her. Unless your untested thingamajig is a weapon and one you think can handle her before she cuts us all to ribbons."

Mary Jane had barely gotten through the doors at the Bugle and finished what would normally have been the first round of J. Jonah Jameason angry rants when reports started coming in of a winged woman saving a child.

No way for Jonah to spin this one. Mary rolled her eyes before that tought was even fully completed. Of course he could spin that story, the woman had obvioiously set the fire herself as part of a publicity stunt. She could already hear his rants in her head but fortunately she was already back in the elevator.

Mary hailed a cab and in just a moment she was on her way to the hospital determined to get her story about the mysterious winged heroine.

Only one problem. By the time she got there there just in time to hear two loud bangs followed by the winged woman falling out an upper story window. Mary Jane dropped her purse just barely holding in a scream.

Then something amazing and unexpected happened. Well not that unexpected. Actually Mary Jane had to wonder a moment later why a winged woman falling out of a window registered to her as danger. Of course she could fly!

Except the woman didn't seem to be flying, she seemed to be, what did they say in that old Disney movie? Falling with style. Not so much with style though. More like desperately trying to stay aloft.

Stop thinking about it and go help that girl! Mary Jane thought to herself. There was a fairly large crowd gathered but Mary Jane was pretty sure they were all focused on the woman in the sky and wouldn't notice the redhead sprinting off after her.

"Okay, this shouldn't be that hard. Just like on television." Mary shocked herself a little with how easy it was to leap first to the top of a fence, then to a low fire escape, then off a wall before finally making it to the rooftop. As fast as she could run she wasn't as fast as the winged girl, it was just luck that she managed to even get to the right area and well there was a building with a hole in the roof. That would probably be where the winged woman was.

"What a dive." Mary muttered leaping to the church rooftop just in time to see a woman walk in and apologize. Then she crew claws. Wanting absolutely none of that and hearing a man barking orders she just lowered her head through the hole to observe the scene. A story was a story and Jonah would probably pay triple or quadruple for a story about a bunch of freaks destroying a church!

Kris was about to suggest that he could go and get some supplies of food and maybe a few clothes for her, he watched as Isaiah quickly bandage the girls wounds. He did not know much about treating wounds but it seemed like he did. Which that also made him wonder what he had done for a living.

He was about to tell him he would head out and get those items when another voice broke the silence. As he turned back to the door, he saw a figure standing between the doorframes. It was another female; she looked to be near the age of 19 or so.

It was what she said next, he heard her say sorry to them. What was she sorry about, it was then he saw something shine within the church? It was blades four of them, two on each hands each one looked to be two feet long. He didn't see her draw any blades from her body they just appeared from her hands.

"Hey Lis..." Kris started as he stood up and took a few steps forward. It was then that he didn't expect her to do what she did. The newcomer let out a feral growl and quickly charged after him, it left him with little time to react to her.

Kris quickly felt himself being yanked away; it was fast enough to barely being grazing.
However, it was lucky enough to keep his heart from being skewered by those claws. He heard him tell him that he would take on this new female. Unless his device could work and keep her from cutting them up.


'I'm not sure," Kris told him honestly, but he couldn't let that stop him from trying. It would be better to try than not to try anything at all. The only items he brought with him were that beam blaster as well as the grappling unit. Which that could be used to restrain her, but it would be hard

"I can get about two shots off before the charge is lost you think you could restrain her with something" he asked him as he raised his device up. "But we need to get her away from our injured friend"

However, he really did not want to shoot her, he would prefer to talk this new stranger out of attacking them. Nevertheless, if he had to he could try to restrain her with the wires to his grappling unit.

"We don't want to fight with you," Kris quickly told her as he cocked his hand slightly which in turn pushed a barrel from out of his sleeve. He hoped that with her seeing the barrel would scare her off or makes her quite her attacks and allow them to talk with her.

"We could try to restrain her, I have some light wire cable, or do you think a leather belt would work better in restraining her"

Kris kept his left hand still with the back of his hand facing forwards, he could feel the claws to the grappling unit. thought it was meant to be fired or used in this manner it may just work.

A shred of cloth from Kris' shirt hung from X-23's claws for a moment before she flicked it away, turning to follow her targets. Their words didn't seem to register on the girl's face, her eyes remaining implacable black pools. As she came at them again she did seem to understand what the barrel of a gun meant, quickly diving into a roll to get under his sight. Twisting gracefully as she moved X-23 used her hands to spring upwards, one of her long legs swinging out like a crescent towards Isaiah's ribs. A brief glint was the only warning he had as another blade emerged from her foot. The deadly sharp point just barely pierced through flesh and muscle before he could catch her at the ankle and stop the claw from sliding between his ribs and into lung.

With surprising strength X-23 ripped herself away from the larger man's grip, dancing away lithely with all six blades readied. Mutely she began circling the pair, ready to attack.

She's so fucking fast! Isaiah watched her almost dancing around him and then a kick, well it was just a kick, the arms were what he was concerned about so he braced to take the kick and then counter the inevitable follow up.

SNRKT!

Foot claws?! That shit just wasn't fair, Isaiah snatched her by the ankle just in time to stop her from ending the encounter but not soon enough to do anything else.

"I'll worry about restraining this little monster once I've subdued her!" Isaiah went on the offense swinging and missing several times. For a moment she was just taking advantage of the pews, they were easy for her to jump over and balance on but not quite for him. "Get the angel out of here, I'll. . .manage to stay alive. Kris."

He'd only taken his eyes off her for a split second but that was enough for her to sense the opening and this time it seemed like she was aiming to take his eyes out, or maybe she was going to punch straight through his face with those claws and take out his brain. Either way he tilted his head slightly grabbed her by the wrist and let her momentum carry her head first into the wall.

A normal person, man or woman, would have been knocked out. Whoever this woman was she wasn't normal and the wall got the worst of the exchange. "Adamantium. Fuck." He'd suspected from the moment he saw her claws but it wasn't until he heard the sound it made that he was certain. It was so similar in its properties to vibranium that he recognized the sound it made.

That virtually eliminated blunt force trauma as a way of putting her down. And she was already back on the offense, fast almost too fast but predictable. Isaiah was starting to learn her moves when a kick to the back of his head send him sprawling. She only missed driving her claws through his skull by a hair as he rolled back to his feet. The longer this went on the greater the chances were he'd make a mistake or she'd get lucky. Either way he had to hurry this along or hope Kris had something up his sleeve.

Before he could react, or get a shot off he saw that she ducked underneath the barrel. Before he could get another aim on her she quickly, attack Isaiah. He saw that he was he was able to stop her metal claws from what would have been a fatal wound to himself.

It was strange most normal people would back off from the sight of a barrel, but she did not she still attacked anyways. He heard Isaiah tell him to hurry up and get the angel woman out of the church and that he would deal with this threat.

Kris did not want to leave him all alone; Isaiah looked like he was capable to hold his own against her

Kris quickly ran to the angel, he tried to be careful and pick her up so that he would not harm her or injury the wings on her back. He didn't know where to put her in a safe place but outside would be better than inside. Kris quickly readjusts the way he was carrying her he took off towards the door and arrived at the entrance. He didn't see much place to put her. He saw a large tree and figured that, that would be a good place to place her out of harms way.

Kris slowly leaned her up against the tree and slowly took off his coat, taking it he covered her up, He quickly reverted his attention back to the fight at hand. He saw that Isaiah was holding his own but the girl still was very formable.

" I'm gonna have to leave you here for a short while" Kris quickly told her as he brushed the hair away from her face.

Running back to help his newfound friend, as he entered the church once more he quickly saw where she was. Raising his arm, he quickly fired off one shot. A crackling sound erupted as the blast shot from the barrel. At the same time he threw the grappling claw and wire, he hoped that when he fired the shot she would move where he wanted her. When she did that, he would have to flick his wrist and have the grappling claw wrap around her.


" I do hope this holds her" Kris replied as he noticed that her claws had put scratch marks into what looked like a underarmor. He saw what her claws could do and he figured that they would cut through it with ease. he would be able to, or he hoped he would be able to disable her arms. But he also needed to figure out how to disable her legs