Clunk!
The tiled wall in front of the toilet opened. Felix walked through. Purple and pink string lights blinked along the ceiling and the sidewalls, as well as tiny disco balls. Why? Hobie. Hobie was still upgrading the corridor, it seemed.
"Hey, you're late!" Hobie hopped off the hammock at his arrival. "Saw you talkin' with some homeless guy. We have been getting a lot of them lately. Think we should do something, mate?"
Felix was blunt with it. "I met the Sorcerer Supreme."
"...so a homeless guy?"
"Sorcerer Supreme. Does it not ring a bell?"
Hobie swung his hands up in an uncaring shrug. "Uh—oh! Former wrestler?"
Felix pinched the bridge of his nose. "Nevermind." He just nodded at Xina, who was seated in the open side of the van with a laptop on her knees. He then nod-greeted at Maria. She was at the steel table of the operated old man android with her arms crossed. Anderthrop Henton no longer had flesh. It had been stripped from him completely. All that was left was a grey mute android with his forehead unsealed and exposing components that Felix could not fathom. Massive storage spaces, wiring, and a unique armoured core. He couldn't see the energy within. Hell, the only reason he knew that was indeed an energy source was because Herbie had been updating him on the basics of the android.
To think underneath that skull was all that tech. That tech could replicate humans so faithfully that other tech couldn't recognize it.
'The future…is terrifying.'
He did not need to agree with Rash. That was exactly what he was thinking.
"I hope the memory analysis stuff is good news."
"Yeah, I'm not going to sugar coat it, mate," Hobie said. "There's a lot of bad news and some good news."
"Oh boy."
"Bad news: much of the data is not accessible. Like a roided up trap door, really nasty viruses were put into the security of the android's memory banks. We thought our supercomputers circumvented 'em and everything buuut…" Hobie threw his arms up. "We were wrong. They only got a small crack of the door open."
"Are the memories gone forever?" Felix asked.
"Nah, will take some more tip-toeing is all." Hobie's fingers acted like they were stealthing on a surface. "We'll have to be nice and slow."
"How long will it take for complete recovery?"
A shrug from Hobie. "No clue. Like mentioned, nasty ass viruses. Real unpredictable shite. At minimum, I wager months." Felix clicked his tongue at that. Hobie tried to inject his nonchalant enthusiasm. "Ehh, we probably should have expected as much. No way the Big Man was going to let a walking, talking trade secret android without the best of the best security measures."
Felix pinched the bridge of his nose. "And the good news?"
Hobie dramatically directed a hand at Xina. He did not say a word, she did.
"We managed to squeeze one short clip." The laptop on Xina's lap was already rigged up to the standing projector. The laptop was like an intermediary, snaked with wirings on both ends, one of Henton's ruined body and the other of the projector. "Aside from minor audio issues, it's a perfect memory recreation."
The project threw a rectangle of light on the concrete wall, grainy at first, then sharpening into focus. The clarity was very digital. Quite lifelike too. It was not at all grainy like a film.
Arms crossed, Felix walked closer and watched the memory of the android.
The projector opened to a room, dark and lit only by the cold blue glow of monitors set into black glass walls. The person in the memory was walking. Anderthrop Henton was walking. A sealed door with two body guards came into view.
"Woah. Look at them," Felix commented. "Are those swords?"
They were swords indeed, that they instantly unsheathed and used as metal detectors on Anderthrop Henton. Scanning him, metal nearing his throat and eyes and lips. Everywhere, as though to threaten him and to keep him in his place. They were cyborg ninjas, legs and arms of dark metal plating and a pulsing red core on their chests. They looked terrifying.
"Who are these guys?" Felix asked.
"Anderthrop Henton is afraid of them," Xina commented. "I believe these are the Black Op Mercenaries. The Big Man allegedly employs them as protection."
"Wannabe cyberninjas are a dime a dozen. But these two, yeah, I've heard of 'em. Never encountered them but they're known to be a handful. Real super soldier with experimental tachyon drives that let them fight at the speed of light in bursts. Heard they massacred a whole block of gangsters in a single night."
"Hm."
The memory finally progressed. The inspection was done, the Black Op Mercenaries affirmed via their earpiece that Anderthrop Henton was here, and the sealed door opened. Anderthrop Henton entered a grand, luxurious office. If everything before this was dark and blue, this was red and black. Somehow, there was a brightness to everything here. A hope.
A lengthy, obsidian desk sat at the back-center with a high-backed chair facing toward a dark-tinted window looking out over a skyline unlike any other.
Towers stacked with towers.
Cars whizzing through the air.
Without colour, with this dark-tinted window, with this projection of a memory, perhaps what Felix saw was distorted.
But nevertheless, this was the future. This was Earth 2099 at night.
The memory of Anderthrop Henton showed what Felix had only heard of.
"Big Man, I have arrived."
This was Anderthrop Henton's perspective of meeting the Big Man. He lowered his head and promptly lifted it.
'Holy shit,' Felix thought, lips slowly smiling. 'This is it! This is how I've found him!'
The chair turned. Felix's chest went pitter-patter, stammering harder and harder until it burst.
"—oh Sue, you're way too way!"
"Am not! Hehe, you're the funny one, dear!"
"Oh stop it—ah, hello there, Andy! How are you doing, man?"
The Big Man leaned forward into the blue light with both elbows on the desk, grinning like a boy. He was slight in every measure, so "boy" was indeed accurate. Narrow-shouldered and dressed in a rumpled button-down with the sleeves pushed past his forearms. Ticking watches were then put on full-display, appearing more like gauntlets than anything else.
The boyish Big Man's hair was swept back, brown with strips of purple in between. It was a measly attempt to be elitist. On the obsidian desk of the Big Man, in a leg-crossed idle sitting position was a blonde woman. She was laughing far too hard and smiled far too big.
No one expected it. Brown-hair, unassuming, nerdy, arrogant, and adorned in high-tech watches.
This was the Big Man. This was him in the flesh.
'No. No way.'
The features of this young man's face didn't make sense. Biologically, physically, it was fine. It was not something out of this world. Overly handsome that the beautiful blonde should have been laughing like that. No, it wasn't about the effect of his looks. It was the nature of who he looked like.
Because, to Felix, it was like staring at the biggest, greatest figure in the world. He wasn't dark-skinned or a teenager. But when he heard Maria staring at him from the side, he knew the truth.
'That's Reed.'
Reed Richards of Earth 2099 was the Big Man.
On the big screen, the Big Man put two fingers to his forehead, thinking. "Android Anderthrop Henton. Your mission was…oh yes, Earth 65." His brown pupils flicked up and down. He looked damn proud of himself. "I already went there a couple times. Have some people on the ground and all that."
"Yes, sir."
"The pizza is REALLY good there. New York pizza, man. Real ingredients. Real heart. The lovely couple I helped with their business, oh," he snapped his finger thrice, "I can't recall their names…oh, right, Ms. and Mr. Line! Yes! Be sure to be nice to them, 'kay?"
"Yes, sir."
"Our economic ties and takeovers begin and end with them. Once they die, which they will soon considering their old age, we will hound their children with lawyers and accountants of our own. They won't even know what funds are being used!"
He spoke like Reed. He had his disposition. He had his genius.
"And if they rebel?" Anderthrop Henton asked respectfully, without throwing the authority Felix recalled him to throw.
"We replace them with androids. Although, haah," the Big Man rolled his shoulders in annoyance, "I prefer only to make one."
"I understand. Anything else?"
Where was the old Anderthrop Henton? Was this a matter of confidence? Or of obedience toward his creator? Maybe both…
"You can, uh, I don't know. Establish Eco Central? Maybe take over Oscorp? Earth 65 was awfully underdeveloped from my time there. The only thing I enjoyed was the food. And the ladies." The perverted smile on Reed's face was a new one to Felix. "There was this hottie named Elektra. I bought some bombs from her, and trust me, she had some bombs on her, hehe!"
The blonde pouted. "Awww, are you trying to make me jealous?"
"Of course not, Sue!" The Big Man grinned. Ironically, the longer the memory went on, the smaller he looked. Sure, he was sitting, but there was no question he was not an inch over five-foot-six. "You'll always be my favourite!"
"So, she's one of your favourites now?"
"No, no, no! It was strictly business! I needed some EMPs and junk, and she supplied."
Sue continued pouting. Felix found everything about her equally as strange and foreign. It wasn't like his butler Sue didn't pout but on this Sue, it was ten times thicker. It was as though this woman lived for nothing but to please the Big Man. "Mmm…"
"Plus, the food, Sue! I had to ask her for some reccs!"
"Oooh, my Big Man, why didn't you bring any food?" Sue asked, changing topics with a coo.
"Aw, baby, you know why! It's rule number five of interdimensional travel: don't carry food! You'll vomit it! Or the atoms will split and cause a chain reaction that destroys the planet!"
Sue found that funny. Somehow. "Oh Big Man, you are sooo silly!"
"Thank you!" The Big Man then turned back to the silent cyborg. "Oh, and the Sheath too. Yeah, check it out. I mean, I doubt it's there but you never know, right?" The snort that accompanied showed he genuinely didn't think it was there.
Anderthrop Henton lowered his head. "Right. Anything else, sir?"
"Nah, that's it for now." The Big Man rose from the chair, stretching both arms overhead. It began as an ordinary stretch and did not stay that way. His shoulders widened, his jaw squared and sharpened, and his whole narrow frame swelled into the build of a magazine cover bodybuilder. "Hrrrn! Except these gains!"
"Oh my Big, Big Man!" Sue laughed and pressed a hand flat to his newly widened chest, delighted. "You've become SO big now! You're so silly!"
"Silly? Heh, true, but is it better?" the Big Man asked with that stupidly raw, rectangular jaw.
"No way! Heh, I like my old Big Man!"
The Big Man laughed, pleased by her answer. For good measure, his entire arm looped around Sue and pulled her into a hug. "Good girl! Henton, you can leave now!" And as Henton turned, they saw the Big Man get REALLY big. As in, nearly ten feet tall.
"See that?" Hobie clenched his teeth. "That's how he chased me like a fucking demon! He can stretch himself and literally change his face and his build!"
Did that answer why the Big Man was so slippery? Yes. Yes, it did.
On the screen, Henton was walking toward where he had come from. The recording cut to static upon reaching it. The projection faded and the group of four stood in what felt like darkness.
Felix wasn't sure what to say. The man that began all this, the man that was once his best friend, was now his enemy? There was no mistaking it. No questioning it. Reed was the Big Man.
How? Why? Those questions flooded his mind and he received no answers. No comfort. Nothing but terrible implications. There was a moment of dizziness in Felix, questions that made his fingers itch.
Then he locked in.
"Is that it? Is that all we have of the Big Man?"
Felix could not wallow and suddenly lose perspective forever. This was Reed. This was a Reed. In the vast calculations of the multiverse, it was possible for an intelligent young man like Reed to lose his way. To exist as a villain.
It was what it was. He had to push his feelings aside. He had responsibilities to fulfil.
"The Big Man was careful with securing his cyborg's memories. It's hard to get more," Xina said. Her eyes narrowed at her laptop, since she hadn't moved an inch. Her brows furrowed and furrowed till she could at last smile. "But…ah! It's here and downloaded. A slice of audio. This takes place a week before this video tape."
"Is it crucial?"
"The android has played this memory over and over again." Felix went to Xina's side. On the laptop, she saw a graph. "We've charted certain memories over this period of time. It's our focus since it has interactions with the Big Man. This here, this part, it's highly codified. Like we're not supposed to know what's here. What order he was given."
"But you've got the memory, right?"
"Audio only."
"Play it," said Felix.
Tap! Xina pressed enter and audio echoed from the speakers in the and the laptop, the youth voice and the tone casual and full of swagger:
"Oh, don't forget your other task. If you find Peter Parker and Miles Morales of Earth 615 hiding there, contact me immediately. I'll personally deal with it."
This was the swagger of the smartest man in the world…and Peter Parker and Miles Morales were his prey. The Big Man was aching to catch them. Anyone could hear it in the audio.
But…why?
"Peter Parker…and Miles Morales…" Felix repeated, brows furrowing. "What the hell? Why them?"
What in the world was happening? Both names were ones he was familiar with, and both were the last names he expected to hear. Peter Parker was the nephew of Ben and died a long time ago. Miles Morales was an ordinary student and the son of Rio.
"I don't know. I don't have anything on Earth 615," Xina admitted.
"Huh…"
That was Hobie and all heads turned to him. That little noise was clear as day. Obvious in tone too. Hobie knew, or at least had an inkling.
"What? What is it? What do Peter Parker and Miles Morales of Earth 615 have to do with anything?" Felix's concern for his Miles was seeping in, perhaps. First Reed, now Miles. The circumstances were shaping up to be very, very strange. "Tell me."
"Remember when I told ya that when I was sixteen, I invented the Multiverse Travel Device? And remember when I told you how I went around different Earths like I was backpacking Europe? Aaand how I got my lessons on the Spider-Sense from another fellow spider?"
No way.
"Yes way," Hobie said, reading his mind. "Peter motherfuckin' Parker of Earth 615. He's THE Spider-Man, man."
"The?"
"The Amazing Spider-Man. The Spectacular Spider-Man. The Friendly Neighbourhood Spider-Man. The Cool Spider-Man. He's the man, man!"
"Peter Parker..."
"I wasn't the only one, Miles was there too to learn from him. Peter was THE guy. On some main character bullshit if you know what I mean."
"Two more Spider-Men…" Maria murmured. "And…they must not be in Earth 615 anymore. They must be disrupting Alchemaxx."
"My best guess, yeah. Peter isn't into the whole multiverse schtick, but…Gwen. Yeah, if he and Miles are searching for her, then maybe they crossed paths with Alchemaxx and the Big Man and shit got stirred," Hobie said. The more he spoke, the greater his confidence spiked. "Yeah. That might be the case. And even if they have my MTD or any other, they can't come here."
Because Earth 65 was locked. Earth 65 had only one connection to the multiverse, and that was Earth 2099.
All of a sudden, Hobie snapped his fingers. "Right. Right! Holy shit, I forgot, you killed Morlun. Holy shit…did that make 'em spring into action?"
Felix blinked innocently while Hobie paced and stroked his chin.
"The day you fought Creature Z, there was a surge in the Web of Life. Yer Earth was already pretty dark in the lights because it wasn't mystical and whatnot. But you, Felix, you doin' what you did and killing Morlun made it near impossible for folks to come in." Hobie laughed a little, his accent thickening too.
"Aside from the tunnel connecting Earth 65 and Earth 2099," Felix affirmed.
"Bingo. Except those two Earths. So they've probably been jumping Earth, disrupting Alchemaxx businesses, and now, the Big Man wants them."
"It's a guess," Maria pointed out.
"I…actually agree. I don't think he's wrong," Xina said. "When I stole the blueprints for the multiversal drive, there was a weird vibe in the multiversal division of Alchemaxx."
"Like someone was ruinin' their shit?" Hobie grinned. He stopped pacing too. "If it's Peter and Miles, I expect nothing less."
There was this tingle of infectious hope around Hobie. He seemed to believe good was going to come out of this. Felix was too, until he remembered who the Big Man was. His smile fell and he wasn't sure how to feel.
***
Xina mentioned the Big Man looked immensely familiar. She couldn't put her finger on it though. Her own database of profiles couldn't find a match, and without access to Alchemax's database, that meant it was a dead end.
It wasn't. Felix knew. He just...couldn't will the name into existence. He couldn't think properly. Everything was hazy until he pulled himself together and talked to Hobie off to the side.
"Hobie, is the portal done yet or what?" It was quiet question with slow blinks.
"I choose what," Hobie joked.
"Ten days have passed," Felix stated stoically, "and I was told the arc reactors would recharge in a week. So...?"
"Oh yeah, it's done. Portal, van, everything. All of it. It's all good."
"All of it?"
"All of it," Hobie affirmed.
"...what? I was told that...that the portal was near impossible to do for Xina. She didn't understand it and—"
"Yeah. For her. Not me. That IS why ya brought me along, didn't ya mate?"
Yeah, he was the portal expert. He created the multiversal device for Gwen. "Why don't they look like they know."
"They don't."
"....you didn't tell them?"
"Nope. It was fun to see them argue though."
Felix gave the expression and not the words: "Why?"
"I don't fully trust Maria, if I'm being totally honest. And Xina...eh, I'll tell her in a couple minutes. She's an old lady, I don't want her too relaxed or too tense."
"O…kay." Not an answer, Felix wanted to say.
"Anyway, you got some people to visit and loved ones to talk to, aye? Hell, there's a Black Cat party member that we're missing. She probably wants to go back, no? So find her. Get a MarsBar. Chill out a little. Clap your latina wife's cheeks."
"And what will you do?"
"Research the Sheath. Duh. We still have that."
"Are you sure?"
"Positive. I probably won't be able to get good insights like you could but I'll do my best."
"You're way too relaxed about the Big Man."
"Maybe. But you're too paranoid. And paranoia isn't going to help your bloodthirsty Symbiote, mate."
Hobie was right.
The next thing he knew, his legs dangled off the subway platform edge. The safety line did not exist, the paint too old. Trains didn't come into this subway station either.
Felix sat alone. Like Hobie said, it was time to relax. He left the others and the hideout behind. No more paranoia. He told himself that and still he shuddered. He licked his lips and breathed hard. He wanted to clench his fists. He wanted to think about Reed and the implications of it and couldn't.
'Should I go out for patrol?'
Be Spider-Man. Yes, that was a perfect way to shake off the nerves. Except remembering his own powers, he was reminded of the one that gave it to him.
"Reed…"
"That is not your Reed Richards, you understand that?"
Felix wasn't surprised as Maria slid down next to him. She lifted a knee to her face.
"I know. I'm not bothered by it. It's just…going to be weird. That's all," Felix replied.
"He was your friend. It's understandable. Although..." Felix was too deep in his thoughts to notice Maria going, "Nevermind."
He was thinking. He was troubled. He said he wasn't bothered. That wasn't true. His mind lay in a haze. What should have been obvious and what contradictions he should have noted were like quicksands, gone when he stepped in. His thoughts kept scattering and he massaged his forehead.
Maria observed the train tracks. "When I met the father of this world…he wasn't exactly who I hoped he was either."
Out of genuine surprise, he looked at her. "He wasn't?"
"He was still the same man. Of that, there is no doubt and I loved my time with him. I did. But…there were…marginal differences. He wasn't as much of an alcoholic as my real father. He liked to do scantrons on newspapers. He enjoyed his job. He was…optimistic. My father, my real father, he was not. He very much wasn't."
"But…I bet you could see how he ended up that way, didn't you?"
"Yeah. It was like meeting my father if he lived a better life. It was nice. Really nice."
He wasn't sure if he wanted to see how Reed ended up as the Big Man. Still…
"...I kind of want to meet Miles. Him being Spider-Man…" Felix smiled. "Heh. Hobie called him the Ultimate Spider-Man. I'm pretty excited."
"It'll be interesting, for sure," Maria said with a small smile. "But shouldn't you be going back to your Miles first? Your Rio?"
Felix grimaced. There was a beat and a change of topics. "I also need to talk to Jefferson Davis. He's in prison and if I infiltrate, I might learn something new about the Big Man—"
"Go home." Maria let her leg drop flat and put a hand on his shoulder. "I don't know why you're delaying it so much. You love them, don't you?"
The red Symbiote pulsing through his veins. "I just want to be thorough."
"You've been thorough enough. We can handle everything in New York City. And that stuff with Oscorp, you got lawyers for a reason, Felix. Relax a little."
Relax when the Big Man could be arriving anytime soon? When Oscorp was breaking apart and he was trying to prevent a bad future with his own hands?
"I did promise to protect you," Felix pointed out, if only for the logic.
"True." Maria smiled mischievously. "Want to stay over at my hotel then?"
He looked away with a chuckle. "Talk about mixed signals. You want me to stay or leave?"
Maria put a hand on his thigh. "I want you to be happy. And relaxed." She squeezed and stood up. Her hand moved as well and stayed on his shoulder. "Come on. Up. I'll buy you a drink at Mrs. Chen's."
"That's not nearby though."
"You can web-swing, can't you?" There was a twinkle in her eye. "I've always wanted to try it out."
Felix sighed, smiled, and got up.
…
…
…
Thwip! Thwip! Thwiiiip!
"Oh my GOD, we're so high up!"
It was pretty obvious this was one of the best days of Maria's life. The city dropped away and rose at every thwip and breath, rooftops blurring gold and gray. Water towers and antenna spires flashing past like a filmstrip run too fast. Wind tore at Maria's brown hair, and she laughed.
She kept laughing too. Maria Hill was thrilled as her arms locked around his neck and her legs hooked at his waist. Her shrieks carried a distinctly unprofessional and uncharacteristic amount of delight in it.
Spider-Man was invisible. He couldn't let the world know he gave out joy rides to friends. Spider-Man was supposed to be unbiased.
"Oh my gosh, faster," Maria said into his ear with a big smile.
"Bossy."
Smiling under his mask, he let go of one strand, caught another, and sent them arching higher over Chinatown. The whole area glittered wonderfully and with nothing but the feeling of fun, even as his mind gradually did the opposite.