Felix Faeth sat on a chair, back straight and arms resting. A chocolate milk protein shake sat next to the keyboard in a dark bottle. Above all else, glaring down brightly was the Fantastic Computer. A huge grand monitor in the center flanked by twelve smaller monitors on each side. Data of all sorts siphoned through here.
It felt good to be back. The black leather chair could turn and creak back. He considered dubbing it the Fantastic Chair.
"I have three primary weaknesses: supersonic waves, water, and cannibalism. That last one is a new one, for sure," he said to himself. "But…I've lost a weakness too. Right, Herbie?"
He crossed his arms and legs. From his wrist, he enveloped the protein shake and snapped it to his hand. He drank it.
"Air. Breathing. The air was so dense in the gravity chamber that it shouldn't have been able to breathe. And yet…I could."
"CORRECT," came the echoing robotic tone of Herbie.
"Your analysis?"
"IT APPEARS YOU CAN ABSORB THE OXYGEN FROM ONE BREATH INTO YOUR BLOODSTREAM AND SUSTAIN IT FOR A LONG PERIOD OF TIME. THEORETICALLY, AN ORDINARY HUMAN CAN HOLD IT FOR 5 MINUTES WITHOUT BRAIN DAMAGE."
"And me?"
"CALCULATING…LOADING AND PROCESSING X-RAY VISIONS…"
The Fantastic Computer's primary large-scale monitor showed him various X-ray films.
"YOU CAN HOLD YOUR BREATH FOR APPROXIMATELY TWENTY-FOUR HOURS."
Felix could hardly fathom that amount of time. A whole day without needing to breathe? Hot damn. "Not bad, not bad at all. Maybe I could go to space too?"
"YES. TEMPERATURE IS NO ISSUE AND NOW NEITHER IS AIR."
"That's great. Real great. The Big Man won't be able to choke me out," he said. "However…water and supersonic waves. Not to mention…Extremis."
From his battle with the Hulk and the Red Goblin, not to mention the usage of the metabolic-draining Mark X, his brain-based Extremis was pushed to the limit and sacrificed his neurology.
"Is the brain damage still there?"
"NO LONGER. YOUR BRAIN FACILITIES ARE SNAPPING FASTER THAN EVER BEFORE. IT IS SCARY. "
"And?"
"YOUR EXTREMIS IS NOT GONE. YOU WILL ALSO BE ABLE TO CONTINUE USING IT."
Felix knew some things were too good to be true. "But…?"
"THERE IS NO BUT. BY FUSING WITH THE SYMBIOTE RASH, YOU HAVE GAINED STRONG SYNAPTIC PLASTICITY, FAR GREATER THAN ANY HUMAN ON RECORD. IT IS ALMOST LIKE A HIVEMIND."
"A hivemind…?"
"YES. PREVIOUSLY, YOU AND THE SYMBIOTE WERE SEPARATE ENTITIES AND BRAINS WITHIN THE SKULL. NOT ANYMORE. YOUR ONE BRAIN IS RAPIDLY MOVING, RAPIDLY WORKING."
He wanted to say, 'You hear that, Rash? He says we're together.'
'We are one, yes.'
…was that Rash? Or was that an echo of Felix himself, affirming what he wanted to hear?
"YOUR CELLURAL HEALTH IN GENERAL IS VAST AND DIFFICULT TO DETERMINE. YOU HAVE SUCCESSFULLY REBUILT ROBUST NEURAL PATHWAYS THROUGH REST AND THROUGH THIS MERGING."
His temple pulsed and he pressed two fingers to it. He wanted to speak to Rash. He just…didn't want to. Maybe even couldn't. As though that person no longer existed. As though…they were becoming one. He grunted.
"That's…" Felix blinked twice and narrowed his eyes. "I don't feel smarter…"
"THAT IS BECAUSE THIS HIVEMIND EXISTS AS A SPACE FOR YOUR ADAPTION, I SUSPECT."
"You're saying…I can overcome pretty much all of my weaknesses now?"
"YES. NOW THAT EXTREMIS LIVES IN SUCH A HIVEMIND, THE LIMITS OF YOUR ADAPTIONS HAS INCREASED. THEORETICALLY, YOUR SYMBIOTE-CLADE WEAKNESSES TO WATER AND SUPERSONIC WAVES CAN BE OVERCOME AT LONG LAST."
Afterall, unlike Gwen, he had Extremis. He had this divine ability to adapt and overcome all physical abilities.
Felix's fingers left his temple and went to his lips. He thought about it. He smiled. "Heh. Hahaha. This…is perfect."
"SHALL I ARRANGE TRAINING REGIMENTS?"
"Yes. Immediately." Water and hypersonic waves, get ready to disappear forever! "And all the appropriate food too."
On the left hand side monitor, hundreds of online e-commerce websites opened up. Herbie scanned and checked-out the materials required, while at the same time, the right hand monitors brought up the SHIELD (Elsa Brock-made) blueprints of the hypersonic wave weapons.
He frowned a little, then smiled to himself. "Heh."
"YOU SOUND HAPPY. PERHAPS YOU HAVE AN ADDITIONAL PLAN, MASTER FAETH?"
"Just a little plan, nothing big. See…I think I'm going to pretend I still have those weaknesses when I go to Earth 2099. Act like I'm no different than Gwen, since I assume he has that data on her. Then, when the time is right...heh. It I will be a very fun surprise for the Big Man, that's for sure. He won't know what's coming."
Felix cackled, and then quieted down.
"Although…that does beg the question of what I'll do there."
"SYSTEMIC CHANGE? IS THAT NOT WHAT SPIDER-MAN DOES? MAKE THE WORLD A FRIENDLIER PLACE?"
"True, but...I don't have the time to stay there and rebuild their whole system. This is my home. This is my city. Ideally, I want to give the tools for change to Hobie and the actual natives to that Earth. Ultimately, what I want is for Earth 2099 to live Earth 65 the hell alone." Yeah, that was ultimately what this was about. That Earth had been messing around and acting superior for too long. "I'm going to kill the Big Man and severe any and all ties they have to Earth 65."
"THAT WOULD REQUIRE DESTROYING THEIR MACHINES."
"More than that," Felix said, "I want to use their own technology to stop anyone from any Earth from ever breaching into Earth 65."
"THAT WILL REQUIRE IMMENSE TECHNOLOGY AND INTELLIGENCE."
Felix stroked his chin. "I know. I don't have the specifics down but maybe…maybe I can use the Big Man for this. Maybe I can use Reed. I don't know." He exhaled. "I don't have much data on him nor do I have eyes on him so I can't make a super elaborate plan." He snorted. "Maybe I should ask that Sorcerer Supreme for his magic eyeball thing."
"MAGIC?" Herbie repeated. "MAGIC IS NONSENSE."
Felix looked up at the computer. "Err, what? You've seen magic. Remember Thor's gauntlets?"
"APOLOGIES. THIS IS A SYSTEM-WIDE SUGGESTION FROM THE CREATOR. DO NOT TRUST MAGIC."
Felix snorted. Then he blinked. "Wait, wait, wait." In all the emotion of seeing a young man exactly like Reed, logic skipped him. "Which…which one?"
"WHICH ONE? THE CREATOR," said Herbie.
He got up from his chair, a finger pointing down at him. "Yes, your creator. The Reed that…that made you. From Earth 2099. Xina told me the Reed Richards of her world developed super AIs."
"CORRECT, MASTER FAETH."
"That Reed then came here to train another version of himself."
"YES."
"Herbie, you have the conversation I had with Xina when I first met her, right? Replay it. Now."
He got a loud beep and on the screen, a first-person perspective of the conversation.
( "Herbie!? Like…like made by Reed Richards!? That one!?" Silently he nodded. Xina got up from her chair and nearly hit her head. "D-do you know what that means!?"
"...no…"
"You're holding the first super intelligent AI in our dimension! E-every AI algorithm is based on Herbie! It's so interbaked that no other name can even take the name Herbie! Reed Richards was a bastard like that!"
A bout of laughter and Xina fell back in her seat.
"Seriously…first, a perfected Symbiote and now the very first AI of my world…who in the world are you, Spider-Man?"
So, the Reed that taught his Reed was from Earth 2099? That made some sense.
"Reed," Spider-Man said. "What became of him in your world?"
"Can't give specific detes, I was a girl when it all went down. But, they say the Big Man went after him and got him to high-tail out of Nueva City." Xina crossed her arms. "Seems it's true, except what they got wrong was the where and how. Reed must have developed cross-dimensional technology decades before anyone else. He was the smartest man on our Earth by a long shot so I can see it. He invented the first AI and all the preem cybernetics of our world. Cross-dimensional tech probably isn't that nova an achievement either." )
The footage ended. Felix couldn't believe he forgot about this.
"The Big Man Reed Richards…chased Reed Richards out…when Xina was a girl…?" Felix murmured. "Hrm. Hrmmmmm. Then came here to train another Reed…?"
"ESTABLISHING ME AND THIS ENTIRE HIDEOUT, IT APPEARS," Herbie added.
First off: how old was the Big Man? The Reed Richards he saw in that memory replay was young, in his early twenties, maybe in his late teens.
Felix was no longer in his chair, pacing in his circles behind. He recalled something else:
"He was your friend. It's understandable. Although..." Felix was too deep in his thoughts to notice Maria going, "Nevermind."
Maria suspected the Big Man was Reed.
Xina too mentioned that the Big Man's face was familiar.
"Makes sense, without the time dilation thing, they're about the same age. Young girls when Reed Richards was around in her Earth. Still…"
Beep, beep, beep! On the bottom, the big monitor flashed with a strip of green with a name and image. Maria Hill. What a coincidence it was that Maria Hill decided to call him. 'Right when I was thinking of you too."
"Put her on speaker." He hopped over and plopped down on his chair. "And answer."
"Felix?"
"Hey, Maria, how is it going?"
"It's…going well." To the common ear, she was calm. To him, she was slightly on edge. "I think I have something to tell you though."
"What is it?"
"I spoke to Xina about…the Big Man. He looked familiar to her, so I told her about…Reed. Except she said something that confirmed a suspicion I had."
Felix put in a pause for dramatic effect. "What? What suspicion?"
"The Reed Richards of Earth 2099 fled from the Big Man. I was a young girl back then and neither I nor Xina could remember the details. Luckily, Marilyn has a couple newspaper reports on it. It happened and we can confirm the creator of the first super AI fled from the Big Man's cyborgs. They announced him MIA but…you and I know he was alive. He fled the universe. He trained your Reed and you…ended up inheriting his Herbie. His technology."
Was the world full of coincidences, or was the world just how it was? Regardless, Felix felt a flutter in his heart.
"This also means," Maria continued, "That the Big Man isn't the Reed of Earth 2099. He's someone else. Something else, but using his face for some reason."
"...thank you Maria."
He realized and deduced all this literally a moment before she called. Felix appreciated nonetheless. It meant Maria was fully trustworthy. That she was who she said she was. That she liked him and cared for him. She had a suspicion and acted on it. For him.
"Really. Thank you," Felix said. "That makes me feel better."
It did. Hearing it out loud, it truly did.
"Just doing my job. I didn't want to tell you before I could fully confirm it with Xina and Marilyn."
"Ha, guess getting those newspaper clippings was difficult?"
"A little," Maria admitted. "Anyway, I'll see you later."
"You busy?"
"Hobie is calling Xina and I back to the station. He says it's half-important. I suspect it's just another disco ball on the ceiling."
Or maybe Hobie was about to tell them he had actually already finished the portal. Felix chuckled. "Night then."
"Night."
The call ended and Felix was alone. He looked up at the Fantastic Computer. At the legacy of Reed Richards. He couldn't believe that he allowed himself to be swept up in emotion.
"I BELIEVE YOUR HEIGHTENED EMOTIONAL STATE IS CONNECTED TO YOUR NEWLY MERGED SYMBIOTE."
"Really?"
"YES. A HIGHER ACTIVE BRAIN MEANS GREATER EMOTION."
Well, that was a weakness he would need to get rid of.
"...I want to go to Reed's grave."