"Hello, Abraham Lincoln."
Panicked eyes opened to a dark ceiling and the terrifying scarlet of Spider-Man. The white lens and the vein-like complexion of the superhero struck a particular understanding. "S-Spider-Man! Y-you…!" He tried to break free and could not. He was laid down and trapped in a small compact space. His eyes attempted to scan but there was a loud sizzle. "Nnggh! W-what did you do to me!?"
Darkness reigned supreme and prevented Abraham from figuring where he was. No X-ray vision or thermal mapping or anything of that sort.
"You follow the Big Man. You are an enemy." Those eyes of his seemed to glow. "I treated you as such."
Heavy breathing was followed by calm. "I understand. Fine, I am your captive."
"Yes."
Abraham relaxed and seemed to feel out where he was laying. Not that it would help him figure out where he was. It was small, that much was certain. "What do you want? Why have you not killed me?"
"I want some questions answered. It is better to get them answered from the source." He leaned down closer. "I want to know about the Big Man."
"...I see." Calmness exuded Abraham. It appeared he was not a foolish man. He was a bearded young fellow with what seemed to be a sharp wit. "We were not at all aware that a Spider-Man as powerful as you was living here. We—I will leave as soon as I can and inform my boss."
"That is not what I am asking."
"I cannot reveal details about the Big Man."
"Even if I torture you?"
"No." Abraham's dark eyes met his head-on. "Considering I am not dead and that my eyes have been tampered with, you likely know I am an android. And yet…you interrogate me. It means accessing my memories is not within your means."
"Yet."
The expected silence did not follow. Abraham promptly replied, "Then I cannot help you. I have been programmed not to give any details about the Big Man. And due to the sophisticated technology that has made me, I assure you, you will not be able to trick me into it."
"..."
"A deal then, perhaps? Perhaps we can arrange a meeting. A truce between worlds. I repeat, we did not know a man of your calibre existed—"
"You did," Spider-Man interrupted. "You know I was here. You just went ahead anyway."
"We apologize, we did not expect your power to be this great. I repeat, we apologize. We understand our folly, and you should too. The Big Man and the power of Nueva York, there need not be bloodshed."
Spider-Man stilled, head hovering and clearly thinking. "What do you suggest?"
"I can make contact with the Big Man. I can arrange a meeting."
"Where?"
"We can discuss in detail. When I am let out of these."
Spider-Man stared and stared at Abraham. "I will think about it." Without warning, a fist smacked down on his forehead and knocked Abraham out.
'You assume I don't know where your portal is. Hobie and Xina are heading there as we speak.'
This little interrogation was nothing more than a test to see the sophistication and ability of these androids. The back of the van doors automatically opened and he hopped out. Webbing from his shoulders dragged Abraham and his bed out too.
"That went well," Maria remarked. She had been listening outside the van and watching via the laptop. Cameras and sensors were situated all throughout the van for monitoring, naturally.
"What do you think?"
"It's incredible. It appears the Big Man attempted to replicate Abraham Lincoln himself. His mannerism and negotiating skills were nearly up to par."
"But there were some flaws."
"Digital age misinformation or perhaps an intentional change. The real Abraham Lincoln wouldn't work for the Big Man at all, would he?"
"True." Spider-Man glanced at the bed of the android. His eyes then drifted to the other bed-ridden, unconscious android: Miguel. He was next. "But first, we did capture all the necessary brain wave data for a truth virus, right?"
"Mhm. We should be able to make one in a couple hours."
"Excellent."
Truth serums existed for humans, albeit with mixed effectiveness. But computers? Androids? Truth serums could not be any more effective.
…
…
…
"Hello, Spider-Man."
That was how Spider-Man decided to greet the android rendition of Miguel O'Hara. It worked. The android was stunned. "You…you have no idea who you're dealing with, do you?"
Android Miguel O'Hara struggled and could not break through. His muscle composition was confirmed to be vastly superior to that of Abraham's. In fact, in every combative measure, he was deemed greater. Whether he could beat someone like Hobie, for example, was up for debate. In Hobie's totally objective opinion, he would wipe the floor with him.
Regardless, the cuffs could not be broken. The interior of the van had transformed and gave the illusion of a prison.
Android Miguel hissed as he attempted to use his scanners. "Y-you…! You REALLY don't know who you're shocking dealing with!"
"Please. Enlighten me."
Miguel breathed hard. "He'll kill you. He'll invade your universe without you knowing it. He'll take your loved ones. He'll destroy your economy until he smokes you out and kills your for himself."
"Mm. That all?"
"Bastard—!"
Bam! Spider-Man smacked a fist down on his ribcage and Android Miguel started sputtering and coughing. An instant of attack that the android could not compute. He registered the broken rib and growled.
"The fact that they sent you to this Earth, like some thrown away toy. I wonder, does the Big Man have an army of Miguel O'Haras? Of Spider-Men?"
That remark earned a glare. The android did not respond. 'Alright, how about this.' From his wrist, Spider-Man procured a USB and jammed it into the android's neck. A gasp echoed and from the injection, blue spread. "This is a virus that will hopefully earn the truth from you. Now, tell me, is the real Miguel O'Hara captured?"
"Y-yes," the android responded. "I-I am the first! The only model!"
"Why were you sent?"
"M-my first initiative is to take over this Earth! Gah! S-second initiative is to find Peter Parker and Miles Morales."
"Indeed. The Big Man mentioned that he would come to deal with it himself. And you, Miguel O'Hara are a Spider-Man, or so I have heard."
"I-I would be able to gain their truth," the android continued. "And ambush them with the Big Man!"
"What about the Sheath?"
"T-that is a tertiary objective."
Right, because they believed this Earth was not good enough to hoist it or something. 'Talk about misplaced arrogance.'
He did have it. He held the answers to many things.
"What did they do?"
The veins blued brightly. The android struggled greatly. This was experimental, rushed technology made by two supercomputers on a state-of-the-art super machine. Spider-Man waited patiently.
"The Big Man did what he usually does!" Miguel gasped out. "He went into Earth 615 a-and kidnapped their loved ones! To gain influence! To use them! Secretly! Shadows!"
"So Miles and Peter attacked?"
"T-they did and they failed to save their loved ones! Now, now, now!" A bzzt interjected in the android's voice. "Now they are on the run! Universe to universe! Running! Running! R-r-r-r-running—!"
"Okay, Herbie, Marilyn, you can stop the virus now. This thing looks like it's about to break."
The blue veins gushing through the artificial flesh ceased and retreated back into the USB. Spider-Man unplugged it with a hand-like thread from his shoulder. The android huffed and puffed. "Y-you'll pay for that! Bastard!"
"I doubt it. We'll be sorting out the kinks of this technology and getting more answers out of you." Spider-Man had yet to really move. He loomed over like a menacing demon. "Seems far more effective than scanning your memories."
Android O'Hara growled. Spider-Man slammed a fist down his forehead and ended the session. He hopped out the van with Maria awaiting.
"Taking loved ones…that's slightly overbearing for the Big Man," Maria murmured, fingers around her chin. "He tends to negotiate and play things relatively fairly. He enjoys the shadows. So why change things?"
"Perhaps Earth 615 is special. Perhaps getting a foothold is difficult, so his only option is to blackmail the heroes there."
"What kind of Earth would require the Big Man to act so desperately?"
"I don't know. Maybe there's like a billion superheroes or something." Felix shrugged. "There's two Spider-Men already there. There could be way more."
"The blackmailing, what, it failed?"
There was a glow of pride when he said, "I suppose us Spider-Men aren't easily blackmailable."
"Hm…" Maria stopped thinking and hung her arms by her side. "Okay. What's the plan then? Do you want to ambush the Big Man here? Or do you want to go to Earth 2099?"
"Nothing has changed. The ambush will go on. Once he's defeated, I'll go to Earth 2099."
"You better hurry. I've reminded you once and I'll keep reminding you, there is a time flow difference between the Earths. Three days here is roughly a month over there. If he doesn't have an army of androids now, he might have them in the coming months."
Every day counted. He knew that, which was he had been training and doing his best to mitigate his weaknesses. Trying to be as efficient as possible while establishing a plan. Getting answers.
In his visage, Herbie supplied the time-flow calculations:
[ 1 week in Earth 2099 - 16.8 hours in Earth 65
1 month in Earth 2099 - 3.044 days in Earth 65
3 months in Earth 2099 - 9.13 days in Earth 65
6 months in Earth 2099 - 18.26 days in Earth 65
1 year in Earth 2099 - 36.52 days in Earth 65 ]
He imagined the advancing tech. He imagined the futuristic city, blinking with neon red lights and shadowy skyscrapers. The Big Man was likely getting stronger with every passing moment.
"I need to get back to my lab and think."
***
ONE HOUR LATER - DAXTER BUILDING
Back at the lab, he sat in front of the Fantastic Computer, hands locked. It was his comfort zone. The best place for him to think, forever and always. He was no longer in his Spider-Man suit, having switched to dark red sweatpants and a red tank top.
Behind him, working busily were an army of small robotic Herbies. They were in the middle of constructing the supersonic disruptors. Six of them, appearing like gatling guns except with a large cannon.
"COMPLETION IN TWELVE HOURS. WOULD YOU LIKE TO TRAIN WITH THEM WHEN COMPLETE?" The mainline Herbie said via the Fantastic Computer.
Felix stilled. "Have you downloaded what I wanted from Marilyn?"
See, Herbie had data on Nueva City but come on, it was decades old and outdated. The Reed Richards that arrived and headquartered on Earth 65 didn't return to his Earth. He settled and kept records of his Earth and nothing else.
The answer came in the form of enormous images of a dark, foreboding city. A city of the future, smokey and cold in texture, glowing thinly with lights and flying cars.
The first image looked down on a bridge and the side of yellow neon lights. A spiral of cars and vans, going down hundreds of metres. Felix initially assumed the golden light below was the road. It wasn't. It was more depth.
He didn't see chimneys and yet this fog-like filter splattered the picture. It was unnerving sacrificial urban growth. It was controlled chaos.
"Times Square…are you kidding me? Woah…" Felix pulled himself. Everything was so…tall.
"Like really tall. Where does it end?"
The images displayed lots of angles, lots of directions, lots of comparisons and contrasts. This futuristic Nueva City was industrialized and brutalized by metal and cables. Felix caressed his chin.
"Where would they keep the loved ones of Peter Parker and Miles Morales then…? I assume they kidnapped them and brought them back to Nueva City."
"LIKELY. YET IMPOSSIBLE TO DETERMINE."
"You can't give me at least a couple locations?"
"NO. ALCHEMAXX OWNS TOO MUCH IN THE CITY. DEPENDING ON THE NUMBER OF LOVED ONES TAKEN, THEY COULD BE ANYWHERE."
He looked at the images. Times Square alone was a maze. Buildings running down what must have been over a kilometer. That was just Time Square.
"How much bigger is Nueva City than my New York?"
A beat of silent calculation. "IN REGARDS TO HORIZONTAL TERRITORY, NUEVA CITY CURRENTLY ENCOMPASSES EIGHTY-PERCENT OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK. THAT INCLUDES. NEW JERSEY, THE CAPITAL, ALBANY, ROCHESTER, YONKERS, SYRACUSE. IT STOPS AT BUFFALO."
A map showed that, put simply, Nueva City stopped short of Canada. It was a ginormous ocean of land. A stain in the state of New York. Wonderful. His eyes scanned the Nueva City map and the smaller insignificant map of New York City. Rivers of red boundary lines pulsed outward from a central point that used to be his own city.
"THEREFORE, IT IS FIFTY TIMES LARGER."
The ugly numbers showed too.
[ NEW YORK STATE TOTAL AREA: 54,555 sq mi (141,298 km2)
NEW YORK CITY TOTAL AREA: 472.43 sq mi (1,223.59 km2)
NUEVA CITY TOTAL AREA: 23,665 sq mi (61,292 km2) ]
His entire city, every block he'd bled on, every rooftop he'd ever stood on with the wind in his face, could be folded into Nueva City fifty times over. What an uncomfortable ridiculous feat. What a massive search.
"Looks like it ate Jersey," Felix commented while gazing up at the map.
"CORRECT, MASTER FAETH."
"And that landmass stuff doesn't even mention the actual depth." The skyscrapers, the criss-crossing, the top versus the bottom. He gestured and the map zoomed out into a cross-section map. A city built layer by layer like sediment.
"How deep does it go?"
"TO EXPLAIN IT SIMPLY, THE EMPIRE STATE BUILD IS NO LONGER CONSIDERED AN IMPRESSIVE SKYSCRAPER ON EARTH 2099. THERE IS NOW AN ADDITIONAL BRANCH OF ARCHITECTURE CALLED SUPER SKYSCRAPERS. TO CONTEND, THEY MUST BE OVER 1 MILE OR 2 KILOMETERS TALL."
Felix snorted.
"ABOVE THAT ARE THE PEAK SKYSCRAPERS. THEY REACH THE MID-LEVEL CLOUDS AND STAND ABOVE 3 MILES OR 5 KILOMETERS."
Felix winced. "Jesus."
"PLEASE REMEMBER THAT IS NO LONGER THE YEAR 2099. IT IS 2133. TECHNOLOGY HAS VASTLY GROWN. REED RICHARDS IS AMONGST THE MOST BRILLIANT OF THEM, BUT HE WAS NOT THE ONLY BRILLIANT ONE. HERBERT WYNDHAM, AMADEUS CHO, THEY HAVE ALL MADE NUMEROUS STRIDES IN THEIR RESPECTIVE FIELDS. IN ARCHITECTURE, IT WAS PYTHAGORAS DUPREE."
"Pythagoras Dupree?"
What a name...
"HE IS OFTEN LISTED AS THE SIXTH SMARTEST MAN IN HISTORY. HE DIED IN 2122. HIS INFLUENCE IN ORCHESTRATING THE SKYSCRAPERS OF NUEVA CITY CANNOT BE EMPHASIZED ENOUGH."
"Good to know, good to know." Felix had Herbie show him more images of the city. It was an appealing cyberpunk hell. He couldn't deny wanting to visit it. He played some videos and saw the perspective of a police officer. He was sitting on the roof of his flying, turbo-boosted car, gazing down on hundreds upon thousands of vehicles in air traffic. The police officer smoked and drank.
There were some other videos he watched. A cyberpunk futuristic dystopia was apt indeed.
"Alright, I get it. But if I'm Alchemaxx and I want leverage, where do I put it? That's the real question…"
He glanced over his shoulders. The Herbies were still working on the hypersonic devices. Meanwhile, the screen split into a grid of dark towers. All potential candidates. "Over seventy, I see," Felix murmured. "Looks like a human's touch is needed to narrow it down."
"YES. APOLOGIES, MASTER FAETH."
Herbie started with seventy-four potential locations. In four hours, Felix narrowed it down to four. Marilyn possessed a decent amount of data. Not perfect, but to investigate was to work without perfect data.
"FIRST CANDIDATE," Herbie said, beginning the summary, "THE ALCHEMAXX SPIRE ITSELF, FORMER LOCATION OF THE ORIGINAL WORLD TRADE CENTER FOOTPRINT. THE UPPER LEVELS SERVE AS EXECUTIVE AND RESEARCH FACILITIES. THE LOWER SUBBASSEMENTS ARE ENTIRELY UNLISTED IN PUBLIC RECORDS."
Hiding something under the crown jewel. It tracked. It also was where the Big Man was in that memory with Anderthorp Henton, near the top. The Big Man seemed the type to want important matters close to him.
"SECOND CANDIDATE YOU NARROWED DOWN: AN OFFSHORE PLATFORM DESIGNED AS SITE NINE. IT IS ANCHORED AT THE FORMER ROCKAWAY PENINSULA, NOW SUBMERGED UNDER RISEN SEA LEVELS. ACCESSIBLE ONLY BE SUBMERSIBLE OR RESTRICTED AIR TRANSPORT."
The obstacle of water no longer scared the way it once did. That didn't mean the Symbiote didn't tingle under his skin. And biases aside, it made sense.
"THIRD CANDIDATE: THE FORMER RIKERS ISLAND COMPLEX, ABSORBED INTO ALCHEMAXX'S PRIVATE SECURITY DIVISION A CENTURY AGO AND REBUILT AS A CLOSED CORRECTION AND CONTAINMENT FACILITY. RECORDS ARE SEALED."
A corporation with their own prison sounded ridiculous, yet with what the city had become, it was what happened. Private security turned into militaries which then turned into police which then caused the need for prisons.
"FINAL CANDIDATE: THERE IS ICARUS, THE LARGEST BLIMP IN THE WORLD AND UNDER THE OWNERSHIP OF ALCHEMAXX. IT PARADES IN AND OUT THE CITY. TO COMPARE, IT IS FOUR TIMES THE SIZE OF THE LZ 129 HINDENBURG. MOST IMPORTANTLY, IT HOSTS THE X-BAR. FOR DECADES, IT HAS SERVED AS THE CROSSROAD OF THE WEALTHIEST UNDERWORLD."
"It also keeps moving," Felix continued. "Making it hard for Miles and Peter to get their loved ones back. It'd be the biggest hassle to infiltrate and to get someone back. At least from my perspective."
Alchemax were bastards. Taking people, infiltrating universes, trying to take and up their profit. It was all they cared about.
"I do have a question, Herbie. You're the earliest high-level functioning super AI on that Earth. What would your capabilities be then?"
"I HAVE CONFIRMED WITH MARILYN THAT I HAVE BEEN SURPASSED IN COMPUTATION ABILITY AND SECURITY. OUT IN THE OPEN, I WOULD BE FINE. BUT IF YOU WERE TO ASK ME TO HACK ALL OF ALCHEMAXX OR THE MILITARY, IT WOULD BE BEYOND MY ABILITY."
"Being the first, that's not bad."
"I WAS BEING UPDATED BY MASTER REED RICHARDS UP UNTIL HIS DEATH, SO NATURALLY, I AM A GREATER SUM OF WHAT I WAS AT MY CREATION. MORE VITALLY, DUE TO THE PRIMORDIAL NATURE OF MY PROGRAM, I DO POSSESS A UNIQUE FEATURE: WHILE I CANNOT OVERPOWER EVERY SYSTEM, I CAN STILL STEALTH MY INSIDE THEM."
"Huh? Stealth your way?"
"I AM THE FIRST. I AM THE BASIS. I AM THE UNIVERSAL AI, OR A UNIVERSAL KEY. WE CALCULATE THAT 95.6% OF FIREWALLS WILL NOT BE ABLE TO DETECT ME AS A THREAT. I WILL ALWAYS BE REGARDED AS A FRIEND."
"95.6%?" Felix asked, incredulous. "That's…that's a great rate!"
"BUT THAT IS PROVIDED THAT THE SYSTEM IS NOT ALREADY ALERTED OF A POTENTIAL THREAT. OTHERWISE, I AM—AS YOU WOULD PUT IT—COOKED."
Felix chuckled. "Good one." He locked his hands together, thinking. "What if you increase your computational prowess with Marilyn? What then?"
"THE FIREWALLS AND SYSTEMS IN ALCHEMAXX FUNCTION VIA THOUSANDS OF SUPERCOMPUTER AIS ON OUR LEVEL OR EVEN GREATER. IT WOULD MEAN NOTHING. ADDITIONALLY, SHE DOES NOT POSSESS THE SAME PRIMORDIAL FOOTPRINT AS I. SHE WOULD BE UNNECESSARY WEIGHT."
"Hm…but if you went in alone…you'd be able to do some damage."
"NO. I COULD ONLY STEAL OR ANALYZE OR READ DATA. THE MOMENT I ATTEMPT TO DO SOFTWARE DAMAGE, I WILL BE OVERWHELMED IN ALL DIRECTIONS. PLEASE UNDERSTAND, MASTER FAETH, I AM BUT ONE AI AGAINST A CORPORATION BUILT OFF THE BACKS OF GENIUSES AND PROGRESS. WITH REED RICHARDS, THE CREATOR, I AM GREAT. BUT I AM NOT THAT GREAT."
"Hm. Honestly? This is better than I expected. I'm a scientist. Every generation, every ten years, there's a massive leap. There's a genius, there's new technology. Better technology. To still be able to sneak your way in your old age, Herbie…" Felix smiled. "That's really something. It means our chances are excellent."
"THANK YOU, MASTER FAETH."
Defeating the Big Man and infiltrating Earth 2099, he was going to do it one at a time and he was going to succeed. That, he swore on his life as the Spider-Man of Earth 65.
********
[ SOURCE FOR ALL IMAGES IS FROM THE VIDEO GAME NOBODY WANTS TO DIE (2024). ]