Marvel: A Tale of Shadows

The investors and Pepper were shocked and nervous. While the children were more curious than scared. Ethan on the other hand only sighed.

He approached one of the computers the children had set up for research, "Miss Potts, do you know what is going on?" Gwen asked.

"Umm… I believe we are in lockdown. It would occur if there is a large amount of heat or an explosion detected on site. Of course the doors would still be opened if security deemed it necessary to evacuate." Pepper explained while a frown appeared on her face.

"Okay then what is he doing?" asked the kid from before. He was pointing at Ethan as Ethan was quickly typing on a computer while humming.

"Mr. Hilt?" Pepper asked as she walked over to see what he was doing, "oh, he is hacking into the security system. I could've just logged into my account."

"Already tried that. Apparently they disconnected the building from the servers. Which restricts connection access to only a singular wireless network. Probably a failsafe built in to fail in this way." Ethan explained, "I am done."

He pulled up the camera feeds for the building. Pepper and him watched as four men with guns walked around entering various units and coming out with various pieces of technology. Adding it to a box of technology that sat on a trolley. Two of them started at the third floor and worked their way down. While the other two started at the underground level and worked their way to the first floor. It only took them five minutes to ransack each floor. But it appeared they saved this unit for last.

"Hmm… kids and investors it would be best not to resist or get in these peoples way when they come in." Ethan explained and Pepper nodded in agreement.

"We will have to practice safety first so when they come in they will probably take anything that looks valuable including your inventions." Pepper explained.

Ethan zipped up his hoodie as the door slid open and the four robbers entered with weapons in hand. "Ladies, Children, and Gentlemen we are taking anything we want. Stay out of our way or get beaten to a pulp." The voice came from a skinny man who started to look over a list. He told the two other people something and they grabbed the chemical formula, all of the metal plates, and some other chemical formula that another kid in the room was working on.

It was going well until the young blonde couldn't take it anymore. She went to punch one of the men and hit him in the abdomen and he went down. Before she could get another hit one of the other men pointed his gun at her and shot. She thought for a moment she was dead, then she realized she was underneath someone who jumped in the way of the bullet.

The robbers quickly shuffled out of the room. While the majority of the students and investors were too stunned to react. But Pepper reacted almost immediately, she ran up and pulled the injured Ethan off of Gwen. "Ms. Stacy, are you hurt? Visually check your body to see if you have an injury." Pepper told her while she put pressure on the bleeding hole that was in Ethan's abdomen.

Gwen looked around her body and saw no injury, "no, I am fine." She looked at Ethan, "will he be okay?"

Before Pepper could respond Ethan spoke up, "yes it appears the bullet got stopped by my rib cage. It must've been a low quality gun." Ethan slowly lifted his head up, "can one of you check to see if you can call the police now. I will probably need a doctor to remove the bullet."

Ms. Corazon started dialing while Ethan lay on the ground. But not too long after dialing the lockdown was lifted and several police officers and paramedics came into the building. Then Ethan was put on a trolley bed and rolled out to the ambulance and then to the hospital.

While Ms. Stacy was scolded by her father when he arrived. Apparently Ethan was the only person to get hurt during the incident.

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Meanwhile, the robbers arrived at their hideout.

"Okay we are done here are your cuts." The man called Rhino distributed the earnings. Then two of them quickly left while the skinner man was stopped by Rhino, "if you help me real quick you can earn half of my cut."

The skinner man thought for a moment before nodding.

A few hours passed and Rhino was outfitted with all sorts of armor plating and tech. And several serums were ready to be injected into his system. "Okay, Rhino, whenever you say we will begin the bonding process.

Rhino breathed in then out, "start." A moment later he felt four needles enter his skin and inject him. Then an electric charge shot through his body. Rhino screamed in pain as he felt his bones and muscles expanding. His screams grew hoarse and more animalistic with each passing second. Finally after ten minutes an electromagnetic pulse radiated out of him. All the power in a one block radius went out.

While Rhino's screams stopped, the skinner man could smell roasted flesh. But when he looked at Rhino he saw that he was twice as tall as before they started. The various armors and technologies integrated and sealed together. Rhino looked himself over for a moment. Despite his growth in size he had plates, and armor covering every part of his body. Including his mask and helmet, which increased in size as well. He almost looked like a genuine rhino except he was standing on two legs and he had more blinking lights.

Aleksei had all the capabilities he had before but now he was stronger and in a suit of armor. He immediately dialed up a number. The other side answered the call, "I'm ready, send me the information." He then hung up and moved around to look at a mirror that was in the warehouse. Each step of his shook the ground. After looking in the mirror he chuckled. He then turned to the skinny man, "I just transferred your payment into your account. You can leave now."

The skinny man nodded and ran out of the building. After he left Rhino smashed all the technology around him, just to make sure no one could reverse the process. He then sat and waited for tomorrow. Hoping it could come sooner.

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"If there is anything else you remember, please call me." The detective handed her card to Ethan. Ethan looked at the card.

"I will, Detective Yuri Watanabe." Ethan accepted the card as the detective walked away.

Ethan put his head back on the pillow ready to sleep in the hospital for a day. Only for a young pouting woman to come in a second later.

"Damnit Ethan," She walked up to his bedside. "How bad is it?"

"I can actually walk perfectly fine. But they are going to make me stay the night." Ethan explained. He was surprised at first but he realized it was probably another ability that allowed him to regenerate faster than a normal human. Not at a rate that is excessive but enough for it to be noticeable to him. Not to mention the fact that the bullet was stopped by one of his rib bones.

"Hmm… shame we won't be able to go out on a date tonight." Felicia stated as she looked over at him.

"Bah- That's not true. We can have hospital food for dinner or you can pick something up that is quite literally around the corner." Ethan explained. Then he shrugged, "besides I need to call out tomorrow from work anyways."

Felicia nodded then smiled mischievously she leaned close and whispered something in Ethan's ear. Ethan smiled, "fine. But we will have to be quiet." Felicia giggled as she walked out. After she left Ethan picked up his phone and called off work. He then thought for a moment before he called another number. The name on this number was Gada.

"Hello this is Gada's Pub & Restaurant. How can we help you today?" Ethan recognized the voice of the bartender.

"Hello I need to cancel a reservation and offer my apologies for the inconvenience. I had a mishap while out, it was an unfortunate accident but nothing to spill milk over." Ethan heard a silence on the other end for a minute.

"Understood. We are saddened but I do hope you will drop by the next time it is convenient. Many of our other diners would have liked to see you." Ethan could hear the smile the bartender had. Probably because this was the first time Ethan was showing that he knew what that place actually was, as well as flexing the knowledge that he was aware his parents were hiding there as well.

"I will drop by when I want but I have other priorities. So tell them to worry about their own reservations. I heard there are some others that want their spot. You know how those scaled snakes are." Ethan told him calmly, but he could hear the bartender suck in his breath on the other end.

There was a few minutes of silence as no doubt the bartender was checking the information Ethan just told him, "understood I will inform them. Anything else you want me to pass on?" The bartender asked.

Ethan smiled, "just tell them to steer clear of baby licorice. I know that Black licorice was looking into meeting baby licorice and her mother." Ethan then hung up.

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The bartender after setting down the phone thought for a moment with a confused face. Then he stood up and walked to the backdoor, "watch the pub for a moment." He called out to the waitress.

Once he went through the backdoor he went upstairs to the third floor. When he opened the door there was a dagger held to his throat. "Nice to see you too, Black licorice." The bartender said.

The woman that was holding a dagger to his throat retracted it, "oh it's just you." She walked back into the living room while humming. "You almost never leave the bar during business hours. What rare opportunity is this?" As soon as they walked into the living room he understood why their son called.

"The bar just got a call and there were three messages. The first was to leave the person who shot your son alone, because it was more of an accident than anything else." That got the couples attention as they looked up from the plans they were looking at on the table.

"Who knew we were going to kill them? We didn't even tell you." The woman stated.

The bartender held up his hand, "The next message was that Hydra has caught a whiff of you and is giving chase. I went and verified this information, he is on point." The couple groaned in annoyance at this.

"We almost never get a chance to stay near our son for too long." The man stated as he started packing up his gear bag.

"Then the last thing-"

"There is another part to this message?" The woman was surprised, the bartender never got messages, especially in such a bushel.

"Yes, the last part." He turned towards the woman, "is mainly for Black licorice. Who apparently has been keeping secrets." The woman looked away with a mischievous look on her face. "The person said to 'steer clear of baby licorice.' I know that Black licorice was looking into meeting baby licorice and her mother'. So, I don't recognize the name of baby licorice. I can only assume that it is something related to little licorice's various activities."

Both the bartender and the man looked at Black licorice who seemed stunned for a moment before she sighed and shrugged, "I don't know how little licorice is doing it, but it is quite incredible." They continued to stare at her for an explanation. "So it turns out our little accident had a little accident of his own. Unfortunately he and the lady he had it with couldn't exactly make it known. It also didn't help that the lady was having marital issues at the time." Both men were stunned for a moment.

"Wow… that is… amazing." The bartender said. "Where is she now?"

"According to public records she is dead just like the spouse wanted. In reality she is hidden somewhere. Each time I come to New York I troll through old records to see if I can find a hint of them. Honestly now that the warning came in from our son it now makes sense that the information I start looking for disappears as soon as I get close." She sighed, "our son is so smart he knows how to fake a death and wipe all traces of their existence. Sometimes I think our son is too clever. How long do you think he knew about this place?"

"I thought you two told him?" The bartender was now truly mystified.

They both shook their heads, "our exit, while expected to happen eventually, was a bit too impromptu so we didn't really tell him much about it. Also makes me wonder how long he has known we were alive." The man seemed to be in thought until he remembered something. "Ah that's right we need to leave. Before Hydra's dogs sniff us out."

The bartender only shook his head before he walked to the door but he stopped and turned around, "you never said who the mother was."

The woman looked up from the bag she was packing, "ah I didn't. Well she was originally known as Emily Lyman but before she died her name was Emily Osborn." The men just stared at her like she was crazy. But she just rolled her eyes, "yup, that's right. He knocked up and had a child with Norman Osborn's wife without him knowing. But to be fair he was too engrossed in his business, crimes, and various women at the time. Hell from what I understand he didn't even flinch when she took a sabbatical for ten months. Which ended about three months before she 'died' in a very similar fashion to us."

The bartender shook his head as he walked out the door, "this family. They are absolutely nuts, I mean who knocks up the wife of a billionaire megalomaniac with a psychological disorder." He walked back down and went behind his bar. Only thinking one other thing, 'isn't she supposed to have like 15 or 20 years on Ethan anyway?'

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Back at the hospital.

Felicia came back with Reyes' Take out. Which consisted of a sausage in a crispy buttery bread bun for each of them. Then there were also some crispy fries tossed in cayenne and topped with mayo. Felicia topped her sausage with ketchup while Ethan put on mustard.

When the nurse came in to check on him and see what he wanted for dinner she was stunned by what she saw. Ethan was midchew, the nurse frowned for a moment before she looked over the chart. She then shrugged, "I just need to check on the stitch. I will have to interrupt your- is that Reyes'?"

Ethan nodded.

"Aww that is the best, anyways let me check your stitches." The nurse came in and checked on what she needed to and then left. "Maybe I will have Reyes' tonight."

Ethan continued eating his food while they watched the T.V. On the screen was the news. There were a few different interesting stories. Like the one about the people that were on the Experimental Rocket Ship, apparently they survived the experience and even came out with a power.

The next story was about the latest ghost story, Spider-Man. Who apparently beats up and 'webs' up criminals for the police. From the myths it sounds like this guy can stick to walls. He stopped midchew, 'maybe he should try that.'

Another story was about the big green monster that leveled a town in Nevada. Apparently the government is very hush hush about it and trying to put the gag order out. But it didn't help, a five second footage of the muscled giant green guy jumping a few miles was shown.

There was another story about 'Iron Man' and how he stopped a terror attack because the culprits stole his weapons. Attached to it was the robbery at one of his facilities and how it is suspected to be the same people who have been sponsoring the terror attacks.

The final news story that was on was about Xavier Institute and the X-Men. Apparently they have been more active recently and expanding their Institute. When the station's researchers looked into it they found that there has been a rise in mutants appearing around the world which strangely correlated with a rise in missing person's cases and reported kidnapping. At the moment they were talking about how the kidnapping victims are mostly younger children that acted strangely before they disappeared. Which more than likely meant that the children developed mutant abilities.

"That is kind of scary and … sad." Felicia stated as she munched on a fry.

"Which part?" Ethan stated, bracing himself for the response that could make or break their relationship.

"The missing kids of course." Felicia explained and Ethan relaxed. But Felicia suddenly turned to Ethan as if she sensed something, "why did you ask?"

Ethan gave her a gentle smile, "because if you said the rise in mutants was scary then that would have been a deal breaker… kitten." Felicia nodded in response.

But while she was eating she suddenly choked on her food before she turned towards Ethan with a blush on her face. "What did you call me!?!"

Ethan gave her a seductive smile, "kitten. My little kitten to be exact." Ethan brushed her face with his hand. Then leaned in and kissed her on her lips. "mmm...Mayo." Felicia blushed again, not knowing what to do. Then she thought of something.

She climbed into his bed and hugged him as they lay and watched the News story. They also munched on the remainder of their fries of course.

"I'll think of a pet name for you eventually." Ethan smiled as he looked at her cute pouting face. They stayed like that for the rest of the night.

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When dawn struck sirens started ringing as a Roxxon building collapsed completely. While a large man was walking down a silent street towards his hideout.

"Hey, it's me. The job is done. Transfer payment and send me the next job. I will do it tomorrow morning." Rhino explained as a grin was on his face. This armor was far better than he ever imagined. He just needed to punch the main supports once for them to fall.

He hung up the call and waited for a moment watching his bank account until he saw it increase by half a million as per the agreed upon price. An easy half a million, and he barely did anything.

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That morning Yuri Watanabe had a headache as she looked at the destroyed- no a better word would be demolished Roxxon research facility that was in front of her. Apparently at dawn a giant 'rhino' ran through the front which demolished it.

Yuri looked at the front gate and saw the scattered metal that looked like it had exploded. She walked up to it and there was no sign of scorching or fragmentation. So it really was broken with physical strength.

The witness also said the person ran straight through the reinforced concrete wall. She looked at the building remains and couldn't see anything resembling a hole. But to be fair there had to be a building first before she could find a hole in the building.

The two witnesses to this 'rhino' were the security guard in the booth by the front gate and the guard that was walking the fence's perimeter. Of the six guards on duty they were the only two to survive. The other four were inside the building and three of their bodies were found so far. Apparently one of them was on the first floor when the building collapsed so they hadn't dug up enough rubble.

Yuri sighed in annoyance and according to the witnesses the man roared, 'I am the Unstoppable Rhino' in a thick russian accent afterward. Which if she was right was the same nickname as the mastermind behind the bank heists and the tech robbery from yesterday.

It is starting to look like this was a multi-step plan. With 'The Unstoppable Rhino' as the end result.

"Do you need any more help detective?" It was one of the more decent officers. From the few years she has been on the force Yuri had already weeded who most of the bad eggs were from the good ones.

"No… but the press is going to have a field day with this one. After all, we now have a bonafide 'supervillain' in New York." Yuri started to walk towards her car. How in the world was she going to explain this to her boss?