In eight minutes, he "beat" Moira MacTaggeret. That was to be expected. The original plan was to keep her talking and for either Hobie or Gwen to knock her out.
Except that didn't end up happening for one reason or the other.
Sigh.
Felix dug through her drawers. Moira's room was spacious, fitted with a walk-in closet, a bathroom, a kitchen, a living room, and of course the bedroom. The bedroom was to the left, the living room in the middle and the kitchen at the end. Being a messy scientist, like some college student, a majority of her stuff was strewn around the bed.
He searched and searched. She had clothes—a lab coat too. No pants or shirt that fit his size. Dammit.
Whatever. This was a nude colony. Felix put on the lab coat and did his best to cover himself up. "Something is better than nothing," Felix muttered while buttoning what he could. Unfortunately, his most intimate bits still hung out when he walked. The lab coat wasn't his size and the buttons only covered up his chest.
It didn't matter too much. He had electronics to go through, starting first with the laptop on her desk.
Password:
[ ]
"Password, password…" He glanced at Moira who was unconscious. "Or fingerprints."
Gripping the laptop with one hand, he returned to Moira, controlled her arm with his other hand, and got her finger to go down on the fingerprint scanner.
The scanner went green. No password needed and he was in.
"Nice."
First things first, he checked her private files, standing up straight. Unfortunately, while her theses were impressive and well-thought, they had no connection to what was happening here. These were all Moira's personal work.
"I will memorize this, thank you." He scrolled and scrolled, smiling when he finished a document and then clicking onto the next one. "Woah, theoretical applications on Vibranium. All tested too. This will be useful for my suit. Ooh, and atomic vision lasers, something she worked on privately with Otto Octavius and Howard Stark before he passed. Hm, it's highly theoretical because of the energy output but…I think I can make this work in my suit. Maybe."
These were all top-secret works but it didn't seem like anything sponsored by Princess Ororo or the nation of Kenya.
"With Herbie, this would be so much easier. Alright, let's think, when did she stop pumping out private papers?" Never. She kept going. "Okay, so when did she slow down?"
A minute of scrolling and comparing dates…
"I can't tell. Her output is consistent. This laptop has files that are super old too. Decades old. She must have transferred them." Felix wiped the sweat off his brow. "Okay, process of elimination. It must be in their databases here. Probably established protocol to stop things from leaking. I wonder…"
Felix flipped the laptop over and with his spider-grip yanked out the covering for the battery. He squinted.
"A mini-explosive, tracked so it won't leave here. And attempting to remove it will short-circuit it anyway."
Smart. In some ways, these people were ultra careful and in others they were sloppy.
"I bet I could disable it with my black lightning. However, that's not my mission." He flipped the laptop back over and began typing fast. "Dammit, the Vibranium in this place absorbs all forms of shit, even outside radio waves and the internet. Hm, think Felix. How do they get the internet here then? There has to be a tunnel or a gap. An opening for them and therefore Herbie to use."
Felix did some more typing and clicked his tongue.
"I'm no master hacker. Hacking the internet through this laptop and then getting to the main database is impossible."
Without looking, he grabbed Moira's phone. He opened up the back. The same red blip was attached to the battery.
"Okay, alright. I'll have to use what I can."
He darted to the kitchen and ran back to Moira carrying
He glanced once at her sleeping form.
Quietly, he moved to the other side.
In the kitchen, he found what he needed: a clear drinking glass, a half-empty bottle of wine, and a folded paper napkin. Afterward, he darted back tk her.
Moira's hand hung off the mattress, fingers slightly curled. Carefully, he lifted the wine bottle and poured just enough into the glass to make it believable. Then, balancing the glass in one hand, he reached for her other.
He gently guided her index and middle fingers against the glass. Her skin touched it naturally, as if she were mid-dream.
He set the glass down on the nearby desk.
Next—
Thwip!
He reeled in a jar of baking powder—Moira had left it out from tea it seemed—and lightly dusted the edge of the napkin. Felix gently patted the powder across the glass's surface where her prints had been pressed.
A soft outline appeared.
Felix smiled faintly, tapped a piece of clear tape (thwipped from a utility drawer), and pressed it over the dusted print. A perfect lift.
He transferred it onto a flat card and slipped it into a fabric-lined pocket in his lab coat.
Mission complete.
Knock, knock.
Quietly, Felix approaches. Quietly, he opened the door just barely enough for a human to fit through.
No human did.
"Bro ain't leave no dick for the rest of us. Greedy motherfucker."
Spider-Man could. Felix whipped his around and watched as Hobie materialized in the room. Once invisible, not anymore.
"Hobie! Wow, that…" Pretend to be surprised, Felix. "Invisibility is gonna take some getting used to. Were you, uh…"
Hobie checked his handiwork, double-taking at the smell before whistling at the view on the bed. "Listening? Yeah, and god damn, bruv." He peered over his shoulder and specifically glanced at that thing between his legs. Hobie pursed his legs and shook his head. "Seriously! God damn! You work fast! That kinda of anaconda makes me believe I have no game in this game too. Like sheesh!"
Felix jabbed a thumb at the door and what lay past them. "The cameras—"
"Got the men taken care of. Thank Gwen."
"Oh, nice! Okay, I got her fingerprints and got her ID card. Where's Gwen? We should have enough to get through anywhere here."
'Remember, you're a civilian. Act like one. Breathe loudly and be a bit nervous but not too much. You're a smart man after all.'
"Won't be that easy, bruv." Hobie finally turned on his heel to fully face Felix, hands in his pockets.
"What do you mean?"
"Look, this facility is more locked down than we thought. To get to where we need, we'll need three cards."
"One, of course, you've swiped. One…" From his pocket, he wiped out a card. "I got. The last Gwen is getting as we speak."
"Three cards? O-of any type or…?"
"Yep."
"Okay, so the operation is still a go?"
"Isn't that what I said?"
"Yeah, but…sorry, I'm not a spy or a hero so—"
"It's fine, mate." Hobie walked up and put a hand on his shoulder. "The fingerprints were a bit much but aye, maybe we'll need it."
"In a place like this, I bet we'll encounter a fingerprint scanner sooner or later."
"Well, I guess that's why Gwen got you. To be honest, we tend to coast on our powers a lot—me especially. My world is a lot more…fantastical, if that makes sense."
A nod. "Right. Okay, I need, uh, to wear some pants. And a shirt."
Hobie looked around the room. "Moira's a lady so…"
"I saw some other rooms."
"Locked by cards. Or passwords. Not really possible, mate."
"I'm pretty sure I can take a guess."
"A guess?"
Felix winked. "Watch the master at work."
Hiss! The door opened halfway and the pair walked to the other side. Hobie kept a hand pressed to his shoulder, just in case he needed to activate his invisibility. The cameras were off, not the security guards.
Felix eyed the keypad. Every scientist had two options: one was to slide their ID card down; second was to have a six-digit password.
How did he know? Felix's eyes were greater than an ordinary spider-person's. With Extremis, the details and dust were clear. He breathed, he eyed it, and then…
'969301'
Beep. The door clicked.
"How did you…?" Hobie did a double-take and laughed. "Ha, nice! Basic design flaw, after too much usage, you notice the dust."
Felix glared at him. "Shh!"
"Sorry," Hobie whispered. "Force of habit, mate."
Once the door was closed behind them and they were evidently in a male's room, Felix explained, "I'm guessing the custodians got lazy here."
"Damn, the pay is shite too?"
"No. There's only one reason for this inconsistent level of protocol." Felix found some pants! Boxers too! Finally! They were half a size too big which was fine by him. Compared to walking with his dick out, it was nothing. "This place has existed for a long time. A decade or two and not once has it had an infiltration. Protocol is still in play. However…"
"Mans are getting soft. Moira and the other scientists can bring their one-night stands here. The whole island is exclusive too, so it's a triple-guarded secret. Everybody that leaves this place signs an NDA."
"Precisely."
"Still, that's a bit of a jump. A decade? Really?"
Felix pulled out Moira's phone. "Pretty sure."
"Dates match up?"
"More like they don't. Meaning, this place is super old. Prior to the explosion in phones and texting."
"Hm. No wonder they kept shit hidden from me for a good year. Damn."
They headed out. They did not manage to get too many steps in when a blob of red ran across the ceiling and then—SPLAT! Fell down and slowly materialized into a figure.
"Got the ID card," Gwen said with a smile. The blood red of her costume showed her bright face. "Are you two?"
Hobie held up the one he got and Felix did the same.
"Thanks. And, uh, don't worry Felix, I didn't look at your, err, thingie—you know what, let's just move on from this conversation."
Okaaay. He let out a sheepish smile. Was it arrogant to maybe want her to take a peak?
They walked the corridor, ears peeled for footsteps. Felix's was likely the greatest. He could tell that these Spider-People operated differently than him. Felix was careful, a touch paranoid, and something of a spy. Hobie and Gwen were more punch first, think later types. Similar to the Sue Siblings, Felix suspected.
"Wait," Felix hushed, raising both hands to stop them. "Someone's coming. Hobie?"
"On it."
Invisible they became.
Within their view was a giant vault. However, patrolling the halls were two guard with guns. Not nude and fitted with tactical gear.
Felix realized something.
"Take their clothes."
Gwen gave him a look. "What?" she questioned in a low hush.
The guards met at the point where the vault was, stared at each other, turned to the vault, and then walked away in opposite directions. It was a T-shaped deadend for them. No vents to crawl through nor any non-Vibranium to exploit.
They had to follow the rules here.
"Trust me, do it. Knock them out, take their clothes, and come back."
Gwen did not hesitate. As if finding this fun, she hurled her arms out, seized the guard's with her Symbiote tendrils, and rammed their skulls together. Her Symbiote absorbed the clothes off the guard, leaving him naked and Gwen with his clothes.
"Done." Gwen winked. "Your turn, Hobie."
"Remember," Felix began, "these guards have been doing this for a long time. They won't notice the missing guards for a while. Put them in the room we were at before and—"
"Yeah, yeah, got it."
Thirty seconds later, Hobie returned as a security guard. He did fast work.
"Here." Hobie tossed Felix a tablet. "For professionals."
Everything was in place.
Felix wore a crisp white lab coat over a bare chest, the tablet cradled in one arm. He looked the part—confident, curious, inconspicuous. Gwen and Hobie flanked him in matte-black uniforms, sleek and minimal, with ID badges clipped to their belts. Security, in appearance.
At the end of the corridor stood the Vault—a massive door embedded in the wall like a monument to secrecy. It was circular, three meters wide, forged from a composite of Vibranium and obsidian, the surface etched with faint hexagonal patterns that pulsed with subtle blue energy. This wasn't just a door. It was a gatekeeper.
"This thing's gorgeous," Hobie muttered under his breath, eyeing the Vibranium veins that snaked across its edges.
Felix didn't look up from his tablet. "Gorgeous and absolutely unhackable and unbreakable from the outside."
'It uses old-school mechanical locks. Even with Herbie, I wouldn't be able to get it.'
Three slots blinked softly in the panel beside the vault. Each required a physical access card, hardwired into the system through Vibranium resonance. No card, no entry.
Felix pulled the red card from a sealed pouch and inserted it.
Click.
Gwen followed.
Click.
Hobie slotted his card with a flick of the wrist.
Click.
The vault responded immediately. The center spiral of Vibranium plates began to shift, each ring spinning counter to the last, unlocking like the iris of a giant eye. A hiss of pressurized air escaped as the final seal disengaged. Then the door slid open.
Behind it: a marvel.
A colossus of scientific design.
The laboratory beyond the vault wasn't just cutting-edge—it was decades ahead. Everything was a platform held up by huge mechanical arms. The three levels of platforms were connected by escalators.
'This base floor is for computers. Down below…woah. So many cryogenic storage tubes. Above…' His eyes tilted up. 'I hear and see robotic arms as well as people handling them. They're building.'
With all these platforms, it almost felt like they were floating. A triple-helix walkway spiraled upward around the lab's central core—a column of shimmering blue light, presumably powered by a subterranean Vibranium generator. You could live in this lab. You could cure things here no one even knew were diseases yet.
"Everybody's clothed here," Hobie murmured. "Hey, just a theory, ya think they keep everybody naked up there so that smuggling weapons and infiltrating this place would be impossible?"
Felix and Hobie made eye-contact. That suddenly felt like a VERY real possibility.
"Luckily, I have something better than weapons." Felix smiled. "Friends."
Gwen laughed, hand over her mouth. "Aw, you're making me blush."
The mild-mannered scientist stepped through the threshold first, unflinching, tablet in hand like he belonged. Gwen followed smoothly, her hands behind her back, eyes scanning every angle. Hobie walked like a guy who had done this a dozen times before. They were halfway across the lab floor when a voice called out.
"Hey!"
The three stopped.
A somewhat tall man stood near the primary data station. Late forties, lean build, charcoal-grey jumpsuit, and a dark complexion and a moustache. Eyes sharp as a scalpel too.
Adam Brashear.
Lead scientist. The man in charge. His name was on his tag.
Adam strode toward them with authority. "You're not on today's manifest. Who are you?"
"Apologies. I was sent by Princess Ororo this morning. Temporary reassignment—something about ongoing neurological evaluations. Rodrigo Guevara, sir."
Adam paused.
Felix smiled, warm and utterly disarming. "I've admired your work on synaptic patterning. Real cutting-edge stuff."
Adam's eyes narrowed. "Rodrigo Guevara," he repeated, quietly. "You worked on the Parkinson's bioregen trial out of Lisbon."
Felix nodded once. "Only the delivery vector. The proteins were someone else's genius."
A beat passed.
Adam took the hand.
"I read your paper," he said. "Your method reduced tremor onset by 42%. That caught my attention."
Felix nodded modestly. "I'm flattered. If you've got the time, I'd love to hear about your current work."
Adam studied him a moment longer, then finally turned.
"Come with me," Adam said. "I'll show you around."
Felix glanced back at Gwen and Hobie. "It worked. He's convinced." Gwen gave a thumbs-up and wink in turn. They followed.
Adam Brashear led them through each sector like a conductor, gesturing with subtle pride at every experiment.
"To your left, we're growing synthetic muscle tissue from nanofiber scaffolding. Useful for reconstructive surgery—or enhancing live muscle in damaged limbs. Full regrowth in mammals reached 86% last quarter."
"Glad to see some people aren't impatient about human testing."
Adam came close to laughing. "The Princess is patient and none of us are mad scientists. We're lucky."
Felix nodded as he watched a mechanical spinner weave sinew-like strands into a partial arm suspended in nutrient gel.
"To the right: targeted gene therapy using Vibranium-stabilized CRISPR. More efficient than anything the States or Europe has managed. We're sequencing mutations in real time now."
They passed a glowing matrix of genome clusters, each rotating in a crystalline projection. Felix was Spider-Man and Spider-Man had eyes and ears like no other. He was making mental note of every in his peripheral.
'Woah, woah, are those Plutonium cores? That's what they use to make nukes, what is that doing here?'
"And here," Adam said, stopping at a sealed observation chamber, "is our most… unique subject."
Behind reinforced glass, surrounded by six scientists with tablets and biometric scanners, stood an enormous man.
He was tall—nearly eight feet—his body sculpted with muscle so dense it looked impossible. His skin was dark, glistening with sweat under the chamber lights. His mouth and eyes were covered, sealed with reinforced dampeners. Shackles the size of engine parts bound his wrists and ankles.
The bed he lay on, if it could be called that, rotated until his head pointed down to the floor.
"This is Subject M," Adam stated, his voice dropping in volume.
Felix stared. "That's the one from the castle: M'Baku."
"You saw him, eh? Don't be intimidated. He doesn't bite."
His chest rise and fell heavily. Too heavily. "He doesn't look sedated," Felix said.
"He's not. Not anymore. At first, he was hostile. Violent. Broke one of our security droids in half. Now he's… quiet. Tamed, for a lack of a better word."
Breathe in, breathe out. Let the scientists inject a needle and don't react. It was equally wrong as it was unnatural and natural.
"I thought you said you weren't mad scientists."
"This is a terrorist and the princess is the mad one."
"Right. Princess Ororo spoke of a gorilla?"
"Ah, that ridiculous story?" This time, Adam snorted. "I as well as many others don't believe it despite the princess' insistence. Once we figure out the truth of the matter, we will put an end to her nonsense."
"You speak quite freely."
"I've been here too long not to," Adam said bitterly.
Felix stepped closer to the glass, peering in. The team around M'Baku continued taking readings.
'This could be me,' Felix thought, before side-eyeing Hobie and Gwen. 'Us. Stripped down. Observed. Measured by people who don't even see a person anymore—just numbers. Just data.'
He kept his face blank.
"Can I see some of the collected work?" Felix asked calmly.
Adam nodded and was handed a tablet by a fellow scientist. "Height: 7'11". Weight: 432 pounds. Bone density: 22.3 times human baseline. Testosterone levels: peaked the meter. Sperm count is off the charts. Testicles and penis are abnormally large. Bladder is slightly unproportional and small. Often too much excess waste. Brain activity is bizarre—oscillating between hyper-aggressive patterns and almost monk-like calm. It's like something ancient got inside him."
Adam handed the tablet over. Felix scrolled through the files, eyes catching every detail.
"He's...infertile."
"A mistake on our end. During an experiment early on in our research, we had little understanding of his body. One thing led to another, a machine went wrong and his sperm lost their ability to give children. It is what it is."
Felix gave a curt nod. "I see."
"A great waste, truly. With how long we've had, we could have had gallons of his sperm and given them to women to carry. We could have created our very own naturally-born Super Soldier."
"Truly, a waste," Felix remarked without feeling.
"Indeed. But the past the past and we learn in the name of science."
"You let him go outside though," Felix pointed out. "What for? Exercise?"
"Precisely. Keeping him cooped up here will diminish his muscles. We let him go up but on strict rules, including no sex or sexual acts of any kind. We count his heart rate and have a spy on him at all times. As popular as he is, it is best to keep his...essences here. If a woman were to die from, say, radioactive sperm or from his overbearing strength, that would weigh on my conscious terribly. So, I prefer to keep him in line."
Hrm.
"Test for systemic energy resistance," Felix advised. "Use low-frequency vibration through controlled plates and track any nerve rejection rates. You'll get more accurate muscle data."
Adam blinked, then nodded along. "We'll add that to the queue."
Felix handed the tablet back to Adam who handed it back to his coworker. They continued through the lab. They reached a huge black vault, not dissimilar to the one used to get here. But this…this was bigger. Taller and thicker and built with more security in mind.
Adam stopped and turned.
"Apologies. This section is classified. I can show the doors but…" Lead Scientist Adam put on the weakest, fakest smile in the world and put his hands forward as if blocking it. "I'm afraid I can't show this but I can—"
"Special clearance," Gwen interrupted, stepping forward from her guard post.
Adam gave the female guard a look. "Excuse me?"
"Princess Ororo gave him access herself," Gwen said, calmly, professionally. "Direct orders. He's here to be shown the meteor."
Felix blinked. 'The what now?'
Adam was not convinced. "A white woman. What is your name?"
"Gwe-aaanda. Gwanda." Gwen cleared her throat. "S-South African, sir. It's African. I'm South African. No accent though 'cause I was raised here."
"..."
"Here being...America. Sorry, not Kenya. We're speaking English so here means America."
"I did not permit you to explain yourself." Adam took one step closer. Shit, shit, their cover was being blown. "Did I, Gwanda?"
"I...s-sorry, it's just, uh, we're special CIA operatives so...yeah."
Oh my fucking god. Had she really never done spywork before?
"CIA? What?" Panic seeped into the Lead Scientist's eyes. Oh god, she messed up bad. "An American!? And the Princess approved—"
He was cut off. Not because he wanted to but because a tiny tendril struck through his ear and into his brain. Felix and Hobie went wide-eyed.
"Gwen, what the hell are you doing!?" Hobie hissed.
Nobody noticed. Nobody saw. It happened in the snap of a finger.
"Yesss," Adam drawled out, almost drunk. The tendril left his brain and retreated back into Gwen's wrist. The red veins in his eyes darkened. He blinked rapidly, pinched the bridge of his nose, and shook his head. "A-apologies for that, I…I lost focus."
Gwen Stacy was no spy. She messed up and she corrected her mistake with…with brain control. Whatever the hell this was.
Adam put on a smile. "Right. The Princess' orders, yes?"
"Yeah…" Felix said, his senses narrowing on Gwen Stacy. "Princess' orders."
Adam went to the black door. It was protected by four layers of security: a retinal scan, fingerprints, a biometric scan to confirm he was not being threatened, and even a saliva check. 'Ridiculous,' Felix thought. Made of several inches of Vibranium, Felix saw no possible way to break in without Herbie's help.
But Gwen managed to give them a chance.
The black vault opened.
What was inside was unlike anything Felix had seen. The chamber was perfectly spherical, the walls made of reflective alloy, dimly lit by hovering blue orbs. In the center floated an object—a meteor, suspended midair by a magnetic anti-gravity field.
It was black, veined with streaks of burning orange-red, almost like it was still alive. Energy flickered along its edges, making the space feel too still, like the moment before a lightning strike.
Something in Felix's brain shifted. His heart was racing and this time, he was certain it was not because of Gwen or anything else. It was because his Spider-Sense was reacting to it. His Spider-Sense was going haywire.
Only Creature Z had ever affected his Spider-Sense this much. He almost lost balance from the amount of adrenalina that was suddenly rushing through him.
Destroy it, destroy it, destroy it—
The meteor was massive—two meters long, uneven and jagged, but unmistakably alien. A slow pulse radiated from it, like a heartbeat in stone.
His heart threatened to rip out of his chest. 'What the hell…'
"This," Adam announced, "is the Seed."