Gamma Relations

By Michael Weyer

Wanda and Pietro entered the main meeting room of Avengers Tower to find the rest of the team already assembled. "How is it you speedsters always tend to be late for things?" Spider-Man spoke up. "I was halfway across town and I got here first!"

"We were delayed," Pietro snapped.

"We can talk about that later," Steve stated, all business as usual. "We've got a serious situation." He nodded to Tony, who activated his wrist device to allow a holographic screen to appear above the round central table. It showed video footage from what appeared to be several street cameras showing a group of men hustling out of a café, carrying a trio of limp forms.

"An hour ago, Bruce was kidnapped," Steve explained.

"Someone kidnapped the Hulk?" Pietro scoffed. "Who should we be sending the condolence cards to?"

"Not just him." Tony paused the video and zoomed it in on the blue-furred figure carried by two men. "Hank McCoy, genetics genius. Met him a few times before he went all Papa Smurf, good sense of humor and sharp understanding of genetics. Bruce had said he was going to connect with him to talk on mutant matters. It looks like it didn't end well."

"Who's the woman?" Sam Wilson asked.

"Jennifer Walters." Everyone looked to Natasha, who had her arms crossed. "She's Bruce's cousin, met her once, a lawyer from L.A."

Tony frowned. "Bruce never told me about her."

"That you actually find that odd speaks volumes."

Jane Foster rubbed her chin. It still seemed odd to see her in the garb of an Asgardian warrior with Mjlonir at her hip. Thor stood with her, having recently changed to a new uniform himself with a darker set to his armor and a shorter red cape, more chain male along his legs and his upper arms bare. "It looks like Bruce was the target and McCoy and Walters were just along for the ride."

"Any leads?" Carol Danvers asked.

"As it happens, yes," the Vision spoke up. He nodded to a figure leading the attackers with another screen highlighting his face. Spider-Man's eyes opened wide. "Hey, I know that guy! Otto Octavius!"

"Indeed," the Vision noted. "A leading pioneer in genetics and radiation."

Peter nodded. "I did a report on him last year. He developed these metal arms to use handling dangerous materials, pretty smart guy. But something happened and he got fired and then vanished."

"According to records, he was caught doing illegal experimentation at his college," the Vision stated. "It should be noted that the man who turned him in was Hank McCoy."

Tony nodded slowly. "So Otto's got a beef and Bruce is Bruce. That's not a good combo."

"Any idea where to start looking?" Wanda asked.

"Whoever did this shut down the tracker I had put in Bruce's ID card," Tony stated. "However, Bruce helped me come up with a scanner just in case he went off the grid again. Even when he's in a calm mode, he puts out a trail of gamma radiation so if you know how to track it, you can find him." He tapped his wrist device to show a small glow from a warehouse near the docks. "Looks like we got it pinpointed."

Cap looked to the others. "Suit up. We scope it out first, then we hit."

"Should we wait for everyone else?" Sam asked, noting the absences."

Cap shook his head. "T'Challa is busy in Wakanda and Scott and Hope have a mission on their own. The sooner we get Bruce, the better."

They all nodded and began moving off. Wanda and Pietro moved to Cap. "Captain," Wanda began. "The meeting we checked out took a turn."

Cap frowned as he continued. "A man appeared, calling himself Magneto. He began stirring things up with talk of fighting against humans before they strike mutants."

"He had two followers," Quicksilver added. "One controlled flame and the other could change her shape."

That got Carol's attention. "Shape-shifter?"

Pietro nodded. "She made herself into a copy of Wanda so exact, I would have been fooled."

Carol looked to Tony. "You'd better upgrade your security. Trust me, I've run into a few shape-shifters who can cause major problems."

Tony sighed. "Pepper's gonna love that." He paused to think. "Then again, if I can get her to look like Pepper…"

Brushing him off, Cap looked to the twins. "We'll have to continue to keep an eye out. For now, Bruce is our priority."

They nodded as they moved to join the others and Steve sighed as he realized once more how complicated this modern world was.

It took about twenty minutes for the team to gather roughly two blocks away from the warehouse. Naturally, Quicksilver was waiting with that smug smile. "I took a quick look," he explained. "About a dozen guards on the outside doing patrols and spotted some cameras. I'd be nothing but a blur if they caught anything but sure they've got the place better wired."

Tony accessed his armor's sensors and nodded. "Yep. Motion detectors and infa-red. Whoever's behind this has some serious power."

"How do we play it?" Spider-Man stated. "I could try sneaking in, my sense would warn me about any dangers."

Cap rubbed his chin. He trusted Peter but obviously was unsure of sending a kid into danger like this. Seeing his worry, Carol spoke up. "He does seem the best bet right now, Cap."

Cap nodded. "All right. He and I go in first with Vision, try to access the lower levels."

"Ugh, the sewers?"

Cap went on. "The rest of you wait for our signal to go in. Falcon, Thor and Jane…"

"She really needs a code name," Spider-Man interrupted. "Lady Thor? Thorina? Hammer Gal?"

Jane rolled her eyes as Cap continued. "You'll take out the exterior guards, the rest in with us. We hit them fast and try to stop this before it gets out of hand."

"Has that ever actually worked?" Carol asked.

"There's always a first time."

Bruce had never been this angry without being able to call on "the other guy." Jennifer had stopped screaming, at least, but was slumped on the table, heaving for breath as the ray finally finished. Sterns, Sinister and Octavius were studying the nearby readouts as if not even caring about the agony Jennifer was going through. "Jen?" Bruce called out. "You hear me?"

Jen moaned softly as she looked at him. Bruce was struck by the green shimmer in her eyes. "Next time…I call…ahead…"

"We're seeing metasizing of cells," Octavius noted. "But not at the rates we wanted."

"Increase power by five percent," Sinister suggested.

"It might be fatal."

"It won't." The Leader moved to adjust the device. "I created this after all."

Hank was glaring at Octavius. "I knew you were egotistical and daring, Octavius. But I never dreamed you'd do something so monstrous."

"Science is sacrifice, Doctor McCoy," Octavius answered.

"Indeed," the Leader smiled. "And knowledge is power."

"God, that's a crap saying," Bruce muttered. "Trust me, I've been in places enough to know that a lot of folks with knowledge have no understanding of power. It's wisdom that counts and however much you brag about your intellect, you obviously don't have the wisdom to handle it."

The Leader scoffed. "I am beyond your petty philosophies, Banner. And once my new race of Hulks is created, you will be superfluous to my plans."

Bruce rolled his eyes. "I preferred you when you were just an obnoxious punk."

"Evolution has its quirks," Sinister remarked. "Speaking of which, I get these touches to our guest downstairs…The results should be most intriguing."

The Leader nodded as he once more activated the ray to cause another round of screaming.

Steve Rogers had a lot of experience breaking into hidden facilities. He'd learned a simple rule a long time ago: They never think to guard the sewer entrances.

Once more, he was proven right as he, Spider-Man and the Vision carefully made their way through the hallways of the lower level of the warehouse. It turned out to be bigger than expected, a large area with several rooms clearly having been constructed recently. Spider-Man held up a hand as the other two paused. Cap and Vision moved quickly to the side, Vision phasing through a wall while Peter just leapt up onto the ceiling. A pair of men in lab coats passed by, talking to each other in low tones before heading down a corridor.

The trio gathered with Peter nodding to the camera at the other end of the hall above a doorway. "The play?"

"Fast," Cap noted. Nodding, Spider-Man fired a quick ball of web to cover the camera lens. At the same time, Cap and Vision charged in, bursting through the doors. A few technicians were in the laboratory, jumping in surprise at their arrival. There were also a few guards who instantly opened up fire with their machine guns. Cap held up his shield to deflect them as the Vision knocked another back before phasing through the bullets fired at him.

Spider-Man leapt over, using his webbing to stick the shoes of the scientists to the ground. "Stay low so you don't get lead poisoning!" he yelled out. They ducked as Spider-Man grabbed one soldier and yanked him off his feet. "What is this place!"

"Somewhere muties belong!" one guard snarled as he fired a burst.

"Hey, hey, what's the deal?" Spider-Man yelled as he dodged the attack. "I'm not a mutant! Not that there's anything wrong with that! Although there is something wrong with doing twenty year old lines from Seinfeld so if you want to kill me for that, I understand!"

Captain America hurled his shield to knock a guard back. He hit a large cage as Cap shook his head. "This looks all too sadly familiar," he muttered. He pushed it aside to punch another guard down, a second firing a burst from his rifle.

Spider-Man grunted as he avoided the shots, the bullets flying at the cage behind him. They sparked as the lock was broken off. Spider-Man moved to quickly web up the attacker and then move back on the attack.

"Oh, no," one of the scientists whispered as he saw the cage door start to open. "He's loose…Oh, dear God, he's loose!"

A low growling sound cut through the air as Spider-Man turned, his sense going off. He saw the door pushed off as a figure slowly stepped out and into the light. He wore a complex headset of some sort, clad only in dark shorts. He was of short stature yet something about the way he was glaring at the suddenly nervous guards made Peter straighten up. The figure glared at them all before clenching his fists.

SNIKT

"Sir!" A technician ran into the main lab. "We've got intruders in the lower labs!"

Bruce smiled. "I think my friends just showed up. Give up now and you'll save yourself a very nasty headache."

The Leader just smirked as he hit a button. "Deploying countermeasures."

Octavius frowned. "We should get going."

"Patience, Doctor," the Leader said as he looked to Jen, whose skin was taking on a green tint. "If this works as I predict…and my calculations are infallible…then the Avengers are going to have a lot more to worry about."

"You have got to be kidding me."

That was Captain Marvel's reaction to the sight of nearly fifty brightly pink humanoid creatures rushing out of the doorway to the lab. They had no faces, clearly not truly alive yet it was hard to tell what else they were. Automatically, she fired off a blast of energy to knock one back. The figure fell down but slowly rose up, not seeming the mind the gaping hole in its chest.

"All right, whatever they are, they're tough but not alive!" Carol called out. "Which means no holding back!"

In a blur, Quicksilver was running, slamming fists against several of the figures in unison. Behind him, Wanda was using her own powers, sending one flying back into a wall while another was torn apart. She was thrown to see its limbs still trying to move about despite being severed from the body.

The Falcon flew upward, using his wings to give him an advantage as he fired his own guns off. War Machine was with him, firing rockets and his machine guns to blast down several of the humanoids. Thor and Jane were using their weapons to create bursts of lightning around. Jane slammed her hammer down to send a dozen of the creatures flying about.

"Oooh, nice strike!" Carol called out.

"Strike…" Jane mused. "Thunderstrike." She smiled. "I think that works." She swung her hammer to knock another back. Natasha was firing her pistols as Iron Man flew in, knocking a half dozen creatures back.

"Looks like your security force is lacking," Hank dryly noted as he looked at the screens showing the battle outside.

The Leader shrugged. "They're easy to make, quite loyal but obviously still some kinks to work out."

Octavius moved away from his console. "Sterns, this has gone far enough. We can't wait any longer, we need to leave!"

Sinister pursed his lips. "I'm inclined to agree. The Avengers are a risk we're not fully prepared for."

The Leader shook his giant head. "Both of you fail to understand, once the process is complete…"

The door to the lab burst open in a huge explosion. Everyone looked over as a pair of armored figures stepped through it. The guards opened up their machine guns which did nothing. "Just out of curiosity," Iron man called out. "What was the play? I mean, you really think we wouldn't find Bruce by now? Or that those overgrown action figures would keep us down?"

"No but delaying you is enough," the Leader snapped. He had a hand over a button. "If you make one more move, Banner and McCoy will be hit with enough electrical power to light up a Times Square billboard."

Widow and Marvel had joined the other two as behind them, the rest of the team were still dealing with the pink creatures. "You've got one chance," Marvel called out. "Give it up now or we're shutting you down."

The Leader put his hand right on the button, clearly prepared to press. "Don't do it, guys!" Bruce called out. "I've survived worse!"

"I haven't so I would be grateful to avoid it," Hank had to add.

Sinister smirked at the group. "This will go quite easily if we just calm down. All we require is a head start and-"

A loud howling came across the lab. Heads turned as Spider-Man raced in, ducking over a table. "Coming through!" he yelled.

Sinister was about to yell at the guards to shoot him when the other figure burst in. His eyes widened as he took in the short man with what appeared to be three razor-sharp knives sticking between the knuckles of each hand. "He's loose…He's loose, kill him!"

A trio of guards opened up with their machine guns. The man charged in, not even seeming to notice the bullets tearing into his skin. He slashed out with his guns, cutting one of the rifles in half. He then stabbed them into the gunman while slashing out with the other hand, the knives raking the face of another soldier. He screamed in agony as he fell to the ground, allowing this Logan to stab both fists into the other.

Natasha whispered a Russian curse. "Росомаха."

The man was charging about and the distraction was all the Avengers needed to move. Carol blasted her bolts at the Leader to knock him away from his console. She moved in to grab him by the neck. "Okay, just give it up now and…"

The Leader grabbed her right back, his hands at her temples. His eyes flashed green and Carol gasped out before her eyes took on the same glow. She turned her head to glare right over at Iron Man and War Machine. "Oh, hell, not again," was all Tony got out before Captain Marvel flew to tackle them both out of the lab.

Tony hissed as he felt Carol blast at him. Thor turned to see them, instantly figuring what was happening. He and Jane exchanged nods to launch blasts of lightning at Marvel. She twisted about in the air to avoid them but that left her open for Quicksilver to run up the side of the warehouse, then leap off to attack her with a punch. He landed onto a handy pile of humanoids as War Machine fired a barrage of missiles at her. Again, Captain Marvel avoided them, firing off a shot but that left her open for Mjlonir to smash into her jaw and knock her back.

Jane caught it as she looked to Thor. "I thought Tony was being overtly paranoid insisting we figure out ways to fight each other. It would appear he was right."

"I know. I hate admitting Stark is right too."

"I heard that!"

The Leader smiled and moved to the device. "Time for the main event!" He hit the button to unleash another blast of gamma energy, larger than the others to strike Jennifer full on.

Jen let out a scream of agony as she shook hard. Her skin began to darken, shifting into a bright green color. Her hair matched it just as green as her body bulged, muscles blossoming about. Her height grew a few inches as well, pressing against the metallic bonds around her. They groaned as if trying to fight her but finally shattered as Jen pulled to her feet. Her clothes were torn but hanging on as she glared at the scientists with utter fury.

"Oh my stars and garters," Hank whispered.

The Leader's face was a grin of pure joy as he shut the ray off. "Yes…yes, it worked!'

"Jen?" Bruce whispered. For the first time, he finally knew what it felt like for people to see himself when he transformed.

The Leader grinned as he stood before her, his arms held out. "You are the first, Jennifer! The first of my army. The first to change the world!" He spun around, pointing at the Avengers. "And your first task for your Leader is to annihilate them!"

A meaty hand clutched around his throat and Sterns gasped as he was lifted up. He found himself turned around and getting a close-up look at a very upset woman whose eyes were gleaming in a way he found very uncomfortable. "Buddy," she hissed in a growling tone. "On the list of people I listen to, you fall between Howard Stern and Nickelback."

Looking at her eyes, the supreme genius of the Leader could say only one thing. "Oh, crap."

Jennifer smashed his face into a nearby console, then into a table. She then punched him twice in the face, smashed him against a table and finally tossed him hard into a wall. The Leader was motionless for a moment before slowly slinking down to the ground, a very hard indention left in the wall where he'd struck.

"Now I see the family resemblance," Spider-Man intoned.

"Dammit," Natasha cursed. She moved before Jen holding up her hands. "Okay, Jen? Listen to me….listen…You need to calm down….Focus…I'm a friend…Friends are good."

"Nat, I know who you are and if you want me to be calm, stop talking to me like a three-year old."

Natasha blinked in surprise to hear Jen's voice, deeper but still quite clearly her, speaking. Unlike Bruce, it appeared Jennifer still had her full mental faculties when she transformed.

"Oh, boy," Spider-Man muttered. "We've now got a She-Hulk." He was busy avoiding the metallic arms of Octavius, the man cursing. "Stand still, you insect!"

"Spiders aren't insects! Seriously, you've got how many degrees that you have to know that?" Peter avoided a sweeping blow of an arm. "I really am feeling a let-down here, Otto. I did a report on you, got a good grade to boot! Now, you're going Walter White? Just goes to show, never meet your heroes!"

Octavius snarled as he sent two arms flying outward at Spider-Man. He ducked to let them strike a nearby console attached to the generator powering the ray device. The buzz cut through Peter's head too late as he looked over. "Octavius, look out!" he called out but it was too late. The console sparked and then erupted into an explosion directed right at the scientist. He barely had time to scream before he was sent flying out, his skin darkened by the explosion.

Peter raced over, wincing as he saw how the metallic harness looked fused to the man's body, cursing himself at not being able to help.

Jen was moving to the nearby tables holding Bruce and Hank. She grabbed at Hank's restraints, grunting as she pulled before they tore away in her hands. Jen was surprised at what she did as she managed to get Hank out of them. Hank saw a guard rising up from a table a few feet away. He leapt forward, bounding easily to knock the man back. He swept out his hand to smack another one away with amazing strength, then leapt upward to the ceiling to avoid a rifle blast from another. He flipped in mid-air to knock the man off his feet and punch him out.

Bruce was staring in wonder as Jen freed him. "I thought you didn't enjoy fighting."

"I don't," Hank responded. "But as Gandhi said, if the only choice is cowardice or violence, I must choose violence."

The claw-handed man had been ignoring all this, slicing his way through every guard he could as well as one unlucky lab tech. Sinister had been heading to the exit but the man tackled him down, stabbing him in the back. The wound seemed to heal quickly while the man hit again and again, the claws stabbing Sinister across the chest and face. The man gasped out, the wounds healing but the clawed man still going at it.

A whistling cut through the air as Captain America's shield struck the man in the back of the head. It was a blow that would knock a man unconscious yet the stranger simply whirled, his face tight. Cap caught it as he stepped forward. "Logan!" he called out. "That's enough!"

The man stared at him, slowly calming down. "Rogers?" he grunted. "That really you?"

Steve nodded back. "It is. And it's you as well." He looked Logan over and shook his head. "You haven't changed a bit since 1944."

"Yeah….Kinda a long story."

"That…old?" Sinister grunted. "Had I known…my experiments…"

"Shaddup!" Logan jammed his claws into the man's throat, cutting his speech off. He stood up, letting the claws still shine. The Vision had appeared, phasing through the floor. "I have freed the other prisoners below," he spoke up. "They are in need of medical care but it does not appear too serious."

The other Avengers entered the lab, Carol rubbing her head. "Sorry," she was telling Tony. "I couldn't help myself."

"Ah, at least you have an excuse. Most of the time I have no idea why folks want to kill me."

"Really? You don't?"

Iron Man ignored her as he looked around the area. "Looks like we missed some fun." He saw Jennifer, his eyes lighting up. "Hi there, I'm Tony-"

"No!" Bruce yelled at him.

Natasha was coming forward, looking over Logan. "Logan."

He smiled. "Tasha…Been a while, darlin'."

She smiled back in a way that spoke volumes to everyone. "Friend of yours?" Rhodey asked.

Cap nodded. "James Howlett or Logan as he went by when I knew him. He was with the Canadian forces in World War II and helped the Howlers out on some missions." He looked Logan over, noting the claws. "Dum Dum always cracked you had some deal going to keep surviving."

Logan shrugged. "Didn't help me when these bastards nailed me last week in Calgary."

Hank looked to the Vision. "You said others downstairs?'

The Vision nodded. "A dozen in all. They appear to be mutants, used for experimentation." He frowned. "I…also found what appears to be the remains of a half dozen others."

Cap looked down at Sinister, noting the man's throat was already healed. "You're going to pay for that, mister."

Sinister just glared out as Spidey coughed. "Um, we need to get some help for Octavius here."

"And, I know it's sort of low on the list," Jennifer spoke up as she leaned against Bruce. "But could someone find me a new set of clothes?"

It took a few hours to settle the entire issue down. SHIELD arrived to take Sinister and Sterns into custody, both wrapped from head to toe in restraints and under heavy guard. Octavius was transported to a nearby hospital while Hank had called in a friend by the name of Jean Grey to oversee the mutant captives. The team had gathered back at the Tower where Logan and Jennifer had both been given full check-ups. In the main meeting room, a communication screen to Wakanda allowed T'Challa to share the results of them.

"Adamantium." Tony shook his head staring at the screen which showed several scans of Logan's skeleton. "I can't believe someone has gotten it developed to this degree."

"Is it like vibranium?" Steve asked.

On the screen, T'Challa shook his head. "No. They are similar but adamantium is even stronger than some of our objects. It is in liquid form but once hardened, it can make nearly anything indestructible."

"How the hell did someone put that on his skeleton?" Natasha asked.

"More importantly, how'd he survive?" Carol inserted.

"That would be his mutation," Hank spoke up. He tapped a finger to a side screen to show some readouts. "Logan has what is without a doubt the most advanced healing factor I've ever seen. It allows him to nearly instantly recover from any wound, poison or injury and can even regrow his flesh back."

"Plus, the claws," Tony inserted.

Steve shook his head. "No, he had those already although they were bone back then. That explains how he kept coming back from almost any attack without a scratch on him."

"It also slows down his aging," Hank added. "Which is why he can still look almost the same from World War II."

"Damn, how old is this guy?" Carol asked.

"Ain't sure myself." Everyone turned to see Logan stepping into the room, pulling back on a shirt. "My memory has a few patches here and there. Hell, it took seeing Rogers to remember more about World War II." He pulled a cigar out of his pocket and lit it. "By the by, yer gonna need some new restraints on the scanning table. Sorry, but got issues tied down in a lab."

"This is a non-smoking building," Tony stated. Logan just gave him a hard look and Tony decided not to press the issue.

"I'm grateful for the help," Logan said and seemed to mean it. "But I gotta get going."

"Wait." Hank moved over, pulling a card from his pocket. "Here. You said you had memory problems? This man can help."

Logan shook his head. "I'm not a guy who can be helped. Not after my life."

"You were a man who risked his life to save an entire camp of prisoners back in the war," Steve spoke up. "That can't have changed too much."

"A lot of me has."

"Professor Xavier has experience with that sort," Hank pressed. "And maybe can offer you something besides just running."

Logan looked at the card before taking it. "I owe ya, so I'll at least see him. No promises." He gave the rest a nod before marching out of the room.

Tony looked to Steve. "For a minute there, I was worried you were going to offer him a spot."

"Not yet." Steve looked to Hank. "However, Dr. McCoy…."

Hank raised an eyebrow. "Really?"

"You're smart, capable, good in a fight…"

"I'm not going to insult you by saying this is your reasoning…But you must be aware that as soon as you announce it, I'll be labeled the token mutant."

Steve sighed. "I won't lie, that is a factor. But because you can give us insight to a world many of us don't understand. The world is changing and we need to handle that. What do you say?"

Hank mused over it and then slowly nodded. "I accept."

"All right!" Spider-Man called out. "Oh, oh, I got the perfect name!" He waved his hands out. "The Beast!"

Tony rubbed his temples. "That Cisco guy was way too much an influence on you."

"Come on, I missed Jane figuring out her own name!"

Jennifer was flexing a 200 pound weight in one hand and shaking her head. "It's so light…" She was sitting in the main lab, now clad in a tight suit designed to fit her body. She flexed the weight again, marveling at her new strength.

"Yeah, it can be…tricky." Bruce was looking at her, a solemn expression on his face. Jennifer frowned at him. "What?'

Bruce sighed. "We got the readouts. The gamma doses you took were extreme, almost as much as mine. Sterns did alter it a bit which is probably why you still retain your intellect and personality so well. However, the radiation has bonded to your cells in a permanent way. To try and reset it would be a huge overload on your system, no way it could be done without massive genetic engineering that's beyond us…"

"Bruce," Jen cut in. "Skip the science talk and tell me."

"Jen." Bruce took a deep breath. "You'll never be able to turn human again."

His cousin stared at him…and shrugged. "So?'

Bruce blinked. "What?"

She laughed. "Bruce…come on, look at me! I love this! The power, the looks, it's incredible! So I have to go around with green skin, so what? In L.A., I'd barely get a second look on that!" She smiled. "I want to help people, Bruce. I did it with the law but I can do it here too."

Bruce raised an eyebrow. "You want to join the Avengers?"

"Have you seen the rates for a legal office in New York lately? I could use an extra stipend to push me along."

Bruce smiled. "It's a bit wilder than it seems."

"I'm L.A., I'm used to it." Jennifer grinned. "Now how's about we work on getting that other guy out? I'm interested in finally paying you back for that summer camp thing."

"Oh, for…It was an accident!"

"Two months to grow my hair back, Bruce…"

"I warned you about the beakers!"

"Be careful is not a warning!"

"Be careful is exactly a warning!"

Peter was about to leave when he heard his name called. Turning, he saw Tony coming up, the man looking serious. "Pete. We may have a problem." He pulled up a pad and showed a video. Peter frowned as he saw what looked like security footage of a hospital. As Peter watched, a guard and then a doctor were thrown across a hall. Octavius stepped into view, his metal arms flaying about as nurses and doctors ducked for cover. He made his way to a wall, the arms grabbing at it then pulling to rip it away. They then moved forward to allow Octavius to climb out.

"Wait, he still had the arms?" Peter blurted.

"The doctor's report was that the explosion fused them to his body," Tony explained. "They were planning surgery but he woke up first. My guess is, the mental connection to them has grown."

"Yikes," Peter winced. "Guy looks like some psycho octopus…" He frowned. "Huh, Doc Ock…"

"Please stop that," Tony half-begged. "Just needed to give you a heads-up. According to witness, he was screaming about you."

Peter sighed. "Great. I've got my own arch-nemesis now." He shook his head as he headed to the elevator. "Thanks for the warning, Tony but I've got to get home or Ock is the least of my worries."

Tony nodded as he walked out.

The man stared out the window at the New York skyline. He appeared calm but the suited figure before his desk knew that could change in an instant. "So we lost everything?" he said in a cool voice.

The man nodded. "I'm afraid so, sir. SHIELD has taken over the site and their latest purge of HYDRA sleepers also included some of the people we had inside. Plus, the Avengers have taken charge of some of the elements we found inside." He licked his lips. "How do we proceed?"

The man looked at the city and sighed. "Getting that genetic information from Sinister and Sterns would have been valuable. It was a key reason I helped supply and fund their operations. But it looks like we'll just have to write it off." He glanced at the man in the reflection in the window. "You're certain they will have nothing to implicate me in, Jensen?"

Jensen shook his head. "Nothing, sir. The money trail was well hidden and the psychological reports indicate neither is the type to admit they required help from anyone to do their work. Also, the only accountant who might have given evidence…is no longer available."

"Yes, such a tragic car accident." The tiniest smile came to the man's lips. "Ah, well, we'll have to go to Site B then. Ensure this one stays more under the radar with people who can be far more low key. I made a mistake assuming Sterns and Essex would have the intellect and reason not to get the Avengers on our trail." He returned his gaze to the city. "And make sure to keep an eye on that Spider-fellow. I'm still convinced he has the key I can use to unlock the power to rule this city."

"Yes, sir."

"And Jensen? No more screw-ups or you know the consequences."

"Yes, sir. I do. Good evening, Mr. Osborn."

So that finishes this tale as we get Beast and She-Hulk on the team. And the hints of another dark player as well as the arrival of an iconic Spider-Man foe. It may be done but of course, more to come in this post-"Infinity Crisis" world.