Marvel: A Tale of Shadows

Ethan had left the apartment early for work. He was working the early morning shift. He would be back in the afternoon. As Felicia looked over the classes for ESU she finally decided what she wanted to do for her first major. She would major in biochemistry and get a minor in teaching. She kind of wants to help young kids like those Xavier Institute students. Especially if she can help bridge the gap that was clearly being made.

As she was looking up her classes she noticed that one that she could do was a tutoring internship. She marked it down. She had enough credits from taking random classes at the Florida public college that she could jump right into that.

She continued going about her day excited for what her future would bring.

—-------------------------------

At Midtown High School. During a study session they had.

Mary Jane was stunned. Earlier after getting the little information she had on the Rhino she determined three possible targets considering the last two places were properties of Roxxon. One of them was too high profile. Another was a warehouse where all their menial labor occurred and generic products were produced. The last was a research lab. She determined the research lab was the likely target.

But that was not what MJ was stunned at. Harry was sitting across from her working on finishing his homework. He apparently found new encouragement to study. What stunned MJ was the contents of the diaries. She had gotten through 2007 and only half of 2008, she skipped the hot and heavy stuff. She did remember to take a picture for later.

But she still couldn't believe it. His mother was poisoned and his father was a two-timing bastard. Now she doesn't feel bad about suspecting that Rhino was hired by Norman. To be fair the only one to benefit from this Rhino fiasco was Oscorp.

She was even more surprised that his mother had a secret lover that no one knew about. Throughout the day she kept the books and continued to read. Once she finished all of them she was truly stunned but she wanted to check something first. So the next thing she did was look to see if there would be a fingerprint scanner anywhere.

It turned out that Harry could use one from Oscorp. So she and Harry headed to Oscorp after school. But when they got to the building they saw a fleet of police cars and ambulances around the building.

MJ sighed and started walking away, "maybe not." Then her phone started ringing.

She answered it to hear Peter on the other end, "hey the Stark Youth- ah you know what they need to come up with a concrete name for this place. It is open again and they gave us all new equipment to use."

"Cool thanks Peter, we are on our way over now." MJ said.

They walked to the Stark Youth… Pete's right they need to figure out a better name. As they walked in they immediately noticed the increase in security. The building had a whole new set of cameras and guards. Not to mention they now required students to wear bracelets and guests to wear name tags with chips. Guests also had to check-in.

They went in, MJ was an investigative reporter for her school paper so this stuff was interesting for her to notice. Then they went into Midtown's Unit when they went inside they saw the shiny new equipment. Most of it was for manufacturing and processing parts and technology. There wasn't much to study.

"Hey Pete, do any of the groups have fingerprint scanning tech?" MJ asked, but Harry looked at her with wide eyes.

Peter was working on some flexible lens, probably for the suit he was making. "Yes, the Horizon group has a fingerprint scanner and a DNA scanner. Apparently it can even lift a DNA marker off of a fingerprint." Then he sat up and frowned, "which now that I am thinking about it, makes the fingerprint scanner redundant."

Harry scratched his head confused.

Peter then dialed up a number and there was an answer on the other end, "hey Anya, I have someone that wants to use the Fingerprint and DNA Scanners."

"Fantastic!" The phone was on speaker, "I have been dying to test it out on something useful." Then the phone disconnected.

Peter nodded as he continued, "there you go." MJ and Harry looked at each other and then left. Peter sighed when he heard the door close. He wanted to help Harry with his issue but he seemed to not want his help. He just hopes MJ will be able to help.

When they knock on the door it opens as a hispanic high schooler with black hair welcomes them in. "You must be MJ and Harry." She quickly shook their hands then held them out, "what do you need me to check?" She seemed oddly excited.

MJ handed the bag with the diary over to her. "Just the cover, don't open it."

"Cool, follow me, I am Anya by the way." Anya led them to a work area that had a bunch of fancy equipment that MJ definitely knew what they were, she was not feeling out of place at all.

She took the book out of the bag using a glove and placed it vertically on a pedestal. "Meet my research project, a next generation processing unit for DNA. It doesn't even need to touch the DNA." She then closed the cylinder and started typing on the attached computer.

A moment later there was a humming sound, "Are you using a range of light to reflect and process information?" Harry asked while he watched it work.

Anya was surprised, "why yes but there have been false positives. Which I have been trying to get rid of."

"Then shouldn't you work on getting rid of excess light. Like putting it in a dark environment?" Harry asked.

"I tried that but there were still problems." Anya responded sadly. Then there was a ding like a microwave.

"Ding?" MJ was surprised at such a generic noise.

"Yup it is done. Okay there are five distinct DNA and fingerprints." Anya told them.

"Five?" MJ was even more surprised now then she remembered, "can you eliminate Harry and my fingerprints and DNA?"

Anya nodded, "sure just…" she grabbed a metal plate with a wire coming out of the back of it. "Put your digits on this."

They both put a finger on it and they felt an electric shock, "ow!"

"Sorry I am still working out that bug, okay I have eliminated your prints. Only three are left. Okay before we toss them in the system to see if we get a match we should just give this a glance- ohh?" Anya was now curious. "It seems that one is an adult woman in her early 30s and a young man in his early 20s and the third has half of the genetic markers of both of them so I can only assume that she is their child."

Anya spun around to look at them, "can I please know what is going on?" At this point she was thinking about some super secret affair, which she was right about.

Harry shook his head, "no, you only need to find the young man's identity. Ignore the woman and child."

Anya pouted but shrugged and put the DNA and print into the database. Then a second later it stopped. "Huh? A link?" A digital link popped up in a text box, an alert from a criminal database. Harry and MJ frowned when they saw this. Anya clicked the link and the screen went black then a moment later there was a 8-bit grim reaper swinging a scythe back and forth on the computer.

"What the hell?!?" Harry yelled loud enough to grab the attention of the other two people.

Johathan and Gwen ran over, "holy crap it's the Reaper!" Johathan spoke in a stunned voice.

Gwen however moved the confused Anya to the side and started typing on the keyboard but stopped, "Joh get Peter from Midtown I am going to need his help to counter hack and save the data." Johathan ran out of the door. "What are you guys doing that you would catch The Reaper's attention?" Gwen asked as she brought over her laptop from her workstation.

"Who's The Reaper?" MJ asked.

"He is a high grade hacker that has popped up within the last 6 years. Aside from the fact that no one has discovered his identity he also has a notorious streak for being a good samaritan to innocents and absolutely wicked to those real nasty bad guys." Gwen quickly explained while Peter came running into the room with a strange looking keyboard. "But it is mostly theorized that he is a mercenary since he has caused major leaks and damage to government facilities as well."

He attached the USB male port that was attached to the wire on the side of the monitor' female port and it stuck there. He then quickly started typing and the system cleared up. Both Peter and Gwen both sighed.

"Fortunately it wasn't malicious code, heck I would say it was more of a warning than anything else." Gwen explained while looking at a snippet of code she obtained.

"How much did you get?" Peter asked.

"Enough to make a counter code for the time being until he patches it." Gwen responded while looking over the code. Then she stood up, "oh."

"Oh?" Anya asked.

"Umm… well the code wasn't malicious but it did send out two things. First is the current location and the second…" she pointed at her laptop's camera, "it took a video of us."

Anya turned towards MJ and Harry, "okay now I really want to know where this diary came from."

Harry was pale faced as he snatched up the diary and put it in his bag. While MJ just shook her head, "can't it be a secret. But this does give us a lead and some insight."

Harry nodded his head in response, "thank you for this." Then he walked out. MJ followed him out.

They turned to Peter who shrugged, "I am in the dark, they won't tell me anything."

Meanwhile MJ caught up with Harry, "Harry maybe it would be better if I held onto the diaries." Harry nodded in response.

"How could my mother get involved with some criminal element?"

"It probably isn't as simple as it seems. You said to yourself that something else was going on beneath the surface." MJ explained. Then she shrugged, "Besides, The Reaper doesn't sound too bad."

Harry smiled, "maybe you're right. But if we are going to go up against him we might need to get Peter in on this. I am no good when it comes to hacking tech."

MJ smiled and started walking home, "okay come tell me when or after you tell him."

Harry on the other hand called his driver and had him take him to the villa. He will talk to Peter tomorrow. When he got to the villa he sent the driver home and ordered another pizza. Then he walked into his mother's room making another catalog but this time he started seeing which things were probably 'shared' items.

But as he was doing this something caught his eye. On the bottom shelf of the bookshelf where his mother's diaries used to sit were gone. The diaries were all gone. In their place was a note instead. Harry picked up the note which just had a bunch of numbers on it.

Harry pulled out his phone and called MJ. It was ringing for a moment before there was an answer. "MJ are you there?"

"Ugh… head hurts… need help… auntie… out cold…" Then the line went dead. He immediately called Peter. Something was very wrong.

—-----------------------------------

Earlier in the day.

Ethan was stretching as he prepared to get off shift for the day. He heard the door open and turned to see the Boss and another guy. Ethan had seen him a few times.

"Hey Ethan, before you leave is there no way I can convince you to continue working here?" Boss asked. Ethan had recently handed in his two-weeks notice, and because he was always on time his boss was very saddened by the loss of a perfect employee.

Ethan shook his head, "eleven days." Boss sighed when he heard that.

"Man it doesn't help that I recently laid off that moron Jackson as well. Well I am glad I have those two transfers coming in today." Boss said as he walked over to the computer terminal next to Ethan.

But Ethan caught sight of something on one of the screens. It was Jackson. He looked soulless like that doctor did before and he was walking along a hallway with a gun, in fact it was an MP5. But he looked at the corner of the screen and saw it was the hallway outside the monitor room. The room they were in, then he heard the door open.

Ethan swiftly turned around to see Jackson pointing the gun into the room.

"Down!" Ethan screamed as he dropped to the floor and kicked the rolly chair towards the assailant. Gunfire tore through the room as one of the first shots went through Boss's head. As soon as a few bullets had hit the boss Jackson pointed the gun at the other guy and unloaded a few rounds.

He went down as well, catching a few bullets in the gut and one in the shoulder and ear. Jackson then turned the gun to Ethan but at this moment the chair smacked into him. While Ethan had pulled out his extendable baton and thrown it like a tomahawk.

There was a loud crack as Jackson groaned in pain. Ethan used this chance to charge at him. But Jackson recovered quicker than he thought he would and unloaded more bullets at the charging Ethan. 

Ethan brought his body lower to the floor and brought his arms up to defend his face as he charged. But it didn't stop a few bullets from grazing him nor from a bullet going clean through his shoulder.

As Ethan closed in he gave Jackson a quick jab which made him fall back into the hallway. But before he recovered again, Ethan snatched up his baton and brought it down on his elbow which resulted in Jackson grunting in pain and staggering completely into the hallway. Then before he could recover, Ethan jumped behind him.

But Jackson was ready for that and pointed the gun over his shoulder. Ethan slammed the baton onto the side of the gun but there was a snapping noise and before he could process it Jackson fired.

But instead of Ethan dying a bullet went through Jackson. While Ethan felt a metal object lodge itself in his arm. As Jackson collapsed he looked over and saw that a piece of his baton had embedded itself in the gun causing the bullet to ricochet and kill Jackson instead.

Ethan sat down on the wall of the hallway as he saw a few guards running down the hallway. The man in front, a balding man in his late forties, was the second in command of security; he usually ran the more dangerous parts of the facility under Norman's supervision.

When he got to the monitor door with gun in hand he looked over Jackson then Ethan then he peaked inside the room with his hand drawn. He grunted in annoyance at the two dead bodies. "You okay kid? How did he get in?"

Ethan nodded down the hallway, "the blind exit. He wasn't on any cams before this hallway."

The guard grunted in annoyance. 

Less than an hour later he was getting stitches by the ambulance while the chief was giving him advanced leave. So basically he could get paid for the remainder of the time he was going to work without coming to work.

By the time 2 pm rolled around he left. He was able to leave this time because the other injuries were more severe and he only needed a piece of metal removed not to have a bullet removed. So stitches did just fine. But as he was walking away he saw a notice on his phone. He quickly started typing on it, sending snippets of code. Then he saw a video of a bunch of kids. He immediately figured out what was going on so he caught a taxi to Emily's seaside villa and took the remaining diaries as he listened to MJ and Harry's conversation over the phone, he had hacked into MJ's phone and was eavesdropping through the microphone. He then rode his motorcycle that he left there to his apartment where Felicia was looking over classes still.

She looked up to see Ethan in a sorry state as he looked under his sink.

"What happened Ethan?" Felicia asked worriedly.

"Nothing much, just work. Hey, I have something personal to take care of. I will be back in an hour or two." Ethan explained as he grabbed a custom made gas grenade and a gas mask.

"Do you have to do it now?" She asked.

"Yup."

"Then I am coming with you." Ethan was about to argue when he saw her angry stare. So he shrugged.

"Okay, you have 5 minutes. Dark clothes, be ready for a fight. I have another gas mask under the sink." Then 5 minutes later they wore dark hoodies and were riding down the street on his motorcycle.

Once they reached their destination he double checked that the cameras were down then he tossed his gas grenade in the window where the family of two were eating dinner. A moment later the house was filled with gas and he clicked a button on his phone and the block's power went out.

Ethan kicked the door down and walked in with Felicia. He walked over to her bag and grabbed the three books out of her bag and picked up the grenade he threw in. Then they left on the motorcycle.

As they were riding away, Felicia became curious. "Okay now I am curious. What is going on?"

Ethan sighed. It was as good a time as any so he rode to a warehouse that was abandoned in the middle of nowhere. When they entered it looked normal. But when Ethan pressed a button on the motorcycle the ground beneath them lowered and they entered another secret lab under a warehouse.

"Who's secret lab is this?"

"Mine… Mine and Emily's" Ethan saw the look of surprise on Felicia's face. "Emily is my ex." Ethan walked over to a table labeled 2010 then typed on the computer next to it. So the 'trap' would trigger the next time someone entered the warehouse.

"Okay all done." Ethan saw Felicia looking around.

He walked over to the bike and motioned Felicia over. She came and while standing on the bike he clicked a button which lifted the platform back up. He then grabbed the bag that had the books and walked out leaving the motorcycle. 

"What about your bike?"

"Leave it, it is supposed to be a hint." They went and grabbed a taxi back to his apartment.

When they entered he set the bag down and started disrobing and hopping in the shower, "now you can ask your questions."

"What are the books? What does that have to do with that family? Why are you so badly hurt? Why did you and Emily have a lab together?" Felicia fired off questions.

"I am hurt because someone broke into Oscorp and shot up the monitor room where I was. Considering the other two people died, I would say I got off easy." Ethan explained quickly as he started to wash blood off of his body.

"The books are my ex's diaries. From long before she met me, to up until she left." Ethan continued, "we had a lab together because of a cure we were researching to stop a poison and the family was just holding onto the books to research the contents and more than likely me."

"And that is-" Ethan seemed to stop for a moment, "on second thought read the 2007 to 2009 diaries and you will understand."

Felicia feeling conflicted and confused stepped out of the bathroom and started reading the diaries. Soon she was delighted she had.