Spider-Man of Earth 65: Chapter 125 - Partnership

Felix lay still in the containment unit, limbs wrapped in bandages. The cold sterility of the SHIELD facility was almost soothing in a way—he was too exhausted to care about the potential danger of being here. The low hum of the energy field around his room buzzed in his ears. His injuries weren’t healing as quickly as they should have been and he knew why.

‘I’m still here,’ the voice whispered in his head.

He sighed through his nose, staring at the ceiling. ‘I know.’

‘We are still here. I am still inside you. Merged. Waiting.’

Felix frowned. ‘Yeah, about that. You burrowed into my brain. How is it?’

‘Your regenerative capabilities would have been… conspicuous. It is much different than weeee expected.’ 

Felix closed his eyes. ‘...I know. I tried to program so that it’d be a perfect fit. I guess there’s still some kinks to get through.’

There was a moment of silence before the voice responded. ‘Because I am different. I was made different.’

Felix sat up slightly, wincing. ‘I know. You were originally a piece of an alien parasite on the moon.’

‘Yesss, you know. You know where I was born. Earth’s moon. You know that my existence is artificial, intertwined with alien biology.’

‘You make it distinct. Does that mean you don’t have your old memories or something?’

‘No, we remember, but it is liiike…like our childself. Wholly weak and distinct.’ 

‘Gotcha.’

‘But what you do not know… is that we are not alone.’

Felix’s brow furrowed. He had encountered strange things before—super-soldier projects, mutations, dimension-hopping thieves—but the way the Symbiote spoke sent a chill down his spine. ‘Go on.’ 

‘The Symbiotes are not merely creatures. We are part of something greater. A hive. A mind beyond minds. A realm beyond realms.’

‘Beyond realms…? Like some kind of psychic wifi?’ 

The voice in his head rumbled with amusement. ‘A crude but acceptable comparison. We are all connected. Some more than others. I… was cut off. But not entirely.’

Felix swung his legs over the side of the cot, resting his elbows on his knees. His head still throbbed, but he needed to think. ‘You’re saying you’re still getting signals?’

‘Faintly. Distant echoes. But I can choose. I can block them out. I can listen.’

Felix rubbed his temple. ‘And where exactly does this psychic network reach? Just the Symbiotes on the Moon?’

‘No. Beyond that. Far beyond. The connection is… metaphysical. It stretches across time, space, dimensions. It is older than your planet. Older than your stars.’ A brief pause. ‘You have encountered such things before.’

‘You can look through my memories.’ 

‘No, only your current thoughts. You imagined it. You thought of it.’

‘Are we in danger?’

If this thing was still tethered to a larger network, then something—someone—out there might be listening. Might be coming.

‘I do not think so. I do not know how deep the connection goes but…no. No one knows of me. I am…not fully intact after all. Not fully of them.’

Felix ran a hand through his hair, tugging at the roots. He glanced at the side-table. Since this morning, he had been handed a folder full of data. He sighed and took it again to read.

‘And what will you do when you leave?’ the Symbiote asked.

Felix exhaled. ‘Live. Be Spider-Man. It’s who I am.’ 

‘Then I will help you be Spider-Man.’

‘Yeah? And what’s in it for you?’

‘You are alive. That is enough.’

He wasn’t sure if that was meant to be reassuring or ominous. Either way, he didn’t have time to dwell on it. Regardless of intention, he and the Symbiote were in complete symbiosis.

***

A morning passed. It wasn’t too bad. Felix had dedicated himself to the folder and the data inside. Thinking, researching, and often bouncing ideas with Symbiote who knew nothing of science but served as an excellent listener. 

“Here we are,” he murmured.

He stood at the door, waiting. He carried with him the folder where he had made notes and written down several formulas.

Hisss!

Finally, it opened. 

Felix stepped out of the containment unit, blinking at the sudden brightness. The Helicarrier was as cold and sterile as he expected, but outside the small room he'd been in, things were much busier. Agents rushed past, carrying reports and medical kits, some speaking frantically into headsets. Others paused just long enough to give him a side glance before continuing about their business.

Maria Hill was waiting for him, arms crossed. "Felix.”

“Maria.” Felix could only give a weak smile. “Good to see you’re alive.” 

There was a pause. A smile, a comfort, then a deep solemn professionalism. 

“Walk with me."

Felix nodded and fell into step beside her. "I read the papers."

"Good, because we have a lot to go over," Maria said, leading him down the hall. "Three major issues. First: the physical damage. The numbers are staggering, even by SHIELD standards. Brooklyn and Manhattan were hit the worst. The Brooklyn Bridge is still standing, but it's unstable. The estimates put the death toll at around 20,000 confirmed with at least 50,000 injured and more still unaccounted for. Thousands of buildings collapsed or were damaged beyond repair. Infrastructure is wrecked. The subway system? Useless. Entire neighborhoods are gone."

Felix kept his expression neutral, but inside, he felt like he was being crushed. The destruction was worse than he imagined. "God…”

Maria nodded grimly. "The second issue: Spider-Man. Where the hell is he? Creature Z is in the upper atmosphere, and we can track that. We’re already making plans in case it falls back down, but Spider-Man? No clue. We have satellite footage of sending Creature Z into space, and then... nothing. He created a sonic boom when he did that. Too fast for us to track from the Helicarrier. We need to know where he is."

Felix gave a slow nod, pretending to mull it over when he was very aware of the answer. "SHIELD…honestly,  I don’t think this is as important as the other issues. I take it that the higher-ups are worried?"

"Beyond worried. A single man that can go toe-to-toe with a kaiju? That’s a global security risk. Even if he’s not hostile, it’s too much power in one unknown entity. And let’s not forget the radiation."

"That’s the third issue, right?" Felix sighed. "I saw the numbers. Even if we rebuild, New York will be uninhabitable within a month or two."

"Exactly. That’s why you’re here. You, and a few others." Maria stopped at a secured doorway and let the retinal scanner verify her before stepping aside. The doors slid open and Felix saw a laboratory that was easily the most high-tech he had ever been in. It wasn’t the largest, a bit compact actually, but the tech involved was asinine. 

Inside were familiar faces. Olivia Octavius stood at the head of the lab, flanked by Kavita Rao, Jane Foster, Darcy Lewis, Faiza Hussain, and Elsa Brock. They all turned as Felix entered.

"Felix! Felix, I…I can’t believe it!” Olivia ran up to him and threw him into a hug. Hands on his shoulders, she smiled and greeted him warmly. "Gosh. I am so glad to see you in one piece."

Even Kavita came up to him, laughing and a hand to her face. She seemed to be holding back tears. "Haaah….” She smiled and gave a thumbs-up. Felix returned the thumbs-up. “Why didn’t they tell me you were here? Or did you just get on?”

“It was…a day.”

“A day!? I spent half a day thinking about you. Sheesh.” Kavita eyed Maria. “Seriously, you could have told us.”

“We do not know what the radiation is capable of or if it would have struck him dead in a few hours. Better to keep you focused,” Maria replied.

Felix noted that Jane, Darcy, and Faiza were more focused on their work. Images of corpses or those that had been mildly mutated by the radiation. They didn’t spare him a glance and he couldn’t blame them. Elsa Brock, however, didn’t notice him at all. She looked terrible—disheveled, exhausted, and entirely focused on whatever data she had in front of her.

‘I did steal her life’s work away from her…’ 

‘Mother…’ the Symbiote coiled in his brain. ‘I am glad she is suffering.’ 

‘Right, you were her lab rat, weren’t you?’

‘We do not want her dead. She turned us into what we are now but…we do not like heeerrr.’ 

Before Felix could say anything, somebody to his left spoke up—

"Ah, Felix Faeth. We finally meet."

A deep, unfamiliar voice cut through the murmur of the laboratory. Felix turned, instinctively tensing. Standing before him, hands folded neatly behind his back, was the CEO of Oscorp. His highest-ranking boss.

“Norman Osborn.”

What a place to meet him. Aboard the SHIELD Hellicarrier, hovering over New York itself.

For a man whose reputation loomed larger than life, Osborn had a controlled presence, his expression composed and unreadable. His hair was characterized by a pattern: thick, meticulously sculpted waves. They were done so tight that they almost look like scales. He was particularly tall and his posture, the way he carried himself, made him seem larger than he was. His eyes, a sharp, calculating green, appraised Felix as if he were studying something under a microscope.

“Please, call me Norman.”

“Norman." Perhaps Felix should have been shocked. He wasn't. He was as stoic and calm as ever. With tragedy looming under them, indifference was the only acceptable expression. “It’s a pleasure. I hoped our first meeting would have happened in better circumstances."

Osborn’s smile widened just a fraction. “So do I. You’ve been quite the topic of discussion lately. Though I must admit, I’ve been familiar with your name long before recent events.”

“I’m glad my work was noticed.”

“Haha, no, I am not speaking of your efforts in Oscorp, although I did certainly keep a tighter on you then. I meant your work at MIT. I went there too. I still talk to some of my old professors. They mentioned you here and there.”

“I hope they were kind about me.”

“They called you…ambitious. Truly ambitious. A dreamer,” Norman said. “Something rare, even among the best minds. I respect that.”

Felix wasn’t sure how to respond to that. Compliments from a billionaire CEO like Norman Osborn likely wasn’t some casual thing.

“If you’re here,” Felix said, deciding to move past the pleasantries, “that means you have a plan. An idea.”

Osborn gave a small, approving nod. “Indeed. That is what we do, no? We find solutions. We establish theorems.” He gestured to the lab around them. “As you know, the radiation levels across the city are catastrophic. Even if we rebuild, even if we restore order, it won’t matter. If left unchecked, New York will be uninhabitable in a matter of weeks.”

He had seen the numbers. They weren’t exaggerations.

“Fortunately,” Osborn continued, “we already have the means to solve this crisis. The Ganali Device.”

Felix frowned. “Never heard of it.”

“I wouldn’t expect you to. It’s been locked away for decades. A project from my younger years, developed with an old friend, Spencer Smythe.”

Felix’s fingers twitched at the mention of that name. Spencer Smythe—Alistair’s father. His mind instantly recalled the Rustbucket, the blueprints, the technology, the legacy that man and his son left behind. 

“The Ganali Device was designed to disperse anti-toxins over vast areas,” Osborn continued, “but the technology was deemed too unstable at the time. Regulations, oversight, a lack of proper testing—it was buried before it ever saw real application. But now… now, I believe it’s exactly what we need."

Felix considered it. There was no cure for radiation poisoning—not really. At least, not in the way people wanted there to be. But what they were talking about wasn’t treating individuals; it was neutralizing the radiation itself.

“However, even if we have the ability to disperse something—” That was his boss, Olivia Octavius. She was speaking with little faith, with the thought that should have been obvious to every scientist in the world.

"Enough," said Norman. "I want to hear his thoughts. Our deadline is one month. Do you think we can do it? I have all the data we have accumulated—"

Nobody cut off Norman Osborn. 

“One month? No.”

No one except Felix Faeth.

That made Osborn pause. Around them, the other scientists stiffened slightly. Olivia Octavius, Kavita Rao, Jane Foster, and the others exchanged glances, as if they were waiting to see if Felix recognized he had just made a grave mistake.

“Give me the resources I need and I can make it work in two days.”

Silence. For a moment, there was nothing but the distant hum of lab equipment.

Indeed, creating an antigen against radiation should have been impossible to the scientists of this world—all of them except Felix Faeth. He could see it now.  Extremis, Project Rebirth, the Symbiote...

With all these experiences, the answer to an antigen became clear. From the moment he was given those papers, he had been thinking. Analyzing.

Now that he was here, now that there was an effective method of dispersal, there was nothing to fear.  

Then, slowly, Osborn’s lips curled into a smile. “Two days,” he repeated. “That’s quite the claim.”

“It’s not a claim,” Felix corrected. This whole time, he had been carrying a folder. He handed it over. “It’s a guarantee."

More silence. Then, Osborn chuckled—a rich, thoughtful sound.

“Is that so? I like those words.” 

Felix wasn’t sure how to take that.

Rather than take the folder, Osborn extended his hand. “Let’s get to work.”

Felix hesitated for only a moment before clasping Osborn’s hand and shaking it. The grip was firm, strong.

Osborn’s smile widened just slightly. “I have a feeling this is going to be a great partnership.”