Location: New York City
Date: November 8, 1988
---
Mark P.O.V.
Mark knew he could not just leave now.
He needed to at least get close enough to see if the captive was still alive.
The warehouse was dark, the only light was coming from a corner office were several men were grouped together. He could still see, but only just.
However, when he started to move stealthily the template started guiding him on moving quietly. It caused him to pause in surprise for a moment. Mark had focused his training on getting stronger, but his skills may offer more that at first appears.
'Now is not the time.' dismissing the line of thought for now. But he made a note to think about this later.
He easily moved to the ground floor unseen.
A thick layer of dust covered the floor and as he used the nearest crate for cover, he saw they were equally neglected. The crates were large, much larger than any he had seen before and made for great cover.
Moving toward the open area near the front of the building until he reached the edge of the crates. Some 10 feet ahead he could see the person in the chair. It was a man, tied down, and a bloody gash ran across his throat. He was dead. His body was bruised and bloodied as well, possibly tortured for information.
Mark's mood darkened.
If he could find, or create an opportunity to take these thugs down, the world would be better for it. Looking carefully at the men in question, they seemed to be waiting around next to the office. But there was also one guy looking over a crate nearby, just the thing Mark needed.
Slipping back, deeper into the dark maze, he started moving toward his target.
"Hey, Jerry! Find anything?" called a man from the group.
"Nah. These've been here awhile. Not labeled with contents neither. Should I break one open?"
"Whatever, just don't take long."
Mark had moved into the shadows beside the crate that "Jerry" was checking.
"Kay. B-." Mark did not let Jerry finish his sentence before pulling him into the darkness, his hand clamping down over Jerry's mouth.
This was the first physical contest against a human opponent since getting the system. He used all his strength to headlock Jerry and cut the blood flow to his head. Their strength was still rather close but Jerry seemed to grow tired quickly.
"Hey Jerry?"
The group could not see Mark's attack, but while quiet, it was not completely silent. Meanwhile Jerry went limp and Mark was not sure if he should continue or lay him down.
Despite a close struggle in strength he was not tired at all, even continuously exerting maximum force. Mark's stamina was growing much more compared to his other physical abilities.
Footsteps started approaching and Mark had to lay down the now very unconscious and probably not dead Jerry. He put him behind a crate and waited.
"Yo Jerry, you fall on your ass over here?" said the thug, starting to grow cautious as he reached the shadows.
As Mark watched his approach he was a little surprised at himself. He was calmer than he expected, despite never having done anything like this before. Not only was his mind clear, with a clarity that had come ever since his template was equipped, but his command of himself and his emotions was much greater too.
'Is this what it feels like to be Batman?' he thought briefly as the thug stepped forward into the shadows. Unfortunately that thought did not last long when they all started pulling out guns of various kinds.
'No more messing around then, I need to get out of here before I get shot.'
A final step forward brought the thug passed the first row of crates and Mark struck with a full strength Sparta kick. He almost even said the line in his head. The sudden movement caused his target to turn and face him, ensuring a perfect hit that cracked ribs and knocked him off his feet.
The trigger happy thug also reflexively fired off a shot into the air, alerting all his buddies outside and anyone else in the area too.
'Of course.' Mark thought slipping deeper into the stacks as the men standing guard outside entered through the doors and the group next to the office to start closing in. It did not take long for them to find their two out of commission friends followed by shouted orders.
Mark considered his options as they began a haphazard search through the maze of crates. He did not really have a plan and now was dealing with more than he could handle. Taking all these guys head on was above his current level and would be stupid to try.
He could get back to the catwalk and slip way if he wanted. Though, letting these people get away felt wrong.
'Actually...' Mark considered for a moment, 'Yeah. It does not need to be me alone, if I can just draw some attention and bring in backup...'
With that he started moving carefully toward what looked like the largest group of men all of whom had pulled out some flashlights. He waited at the corner of a crate, standing as menacingly as he could manage while the three or four men slowly got closer.
The effect was everything he had hoped for.
They froze for just a moment before all bringing their guns up, but Mark did not hesitate to dive behind cover as they all opened fire, ripping the corner of the crate apart.
'Hopefully that was enough noise to get someone's attention.'
He was already heading away toward the catwalk when he head something odd behind him. A loud crack from the damaged crate was followed by its full contents spilling out.
"WHAT THE FUCK!" came a shout, followed by a shocked silence. Then a gaging sound and he could hear them moving away when he caught the scent on the air. It was worse than bad. Mark had smelled rotting meat and dead animals before, but he had never imagined anything could ever smell like that.
He immediately covered his nose. If his mask was filtering the smell then he really did not want get the full experience. But he also could not leave yet.
'What could possibly be the source of this?'
He forced himself to go back, breathing as little as possible. Quickly reaching the broken crate he froze. Human bodies in individually sealed packages, a whole pile had fallen out of the damaged side of the crate. The smell was coming from the packaging that was pierced by gunfire.
Mark focused sharply on the crate. It looked standard, but was covered in a thick layer of dust and the label did not provide anything comprehensible. Then, looking around himself at the surrounding identical crates, his blood ran cold. There could easily be hundreds of bodies here.
'Why in the hell would the system store sell me a key to this place?'
Mark quickly moved away from the scene before he was sick. The dead body in the front of the warehouse was one thing, but this was industrial. It required more than simple disregard for human life to do something like this. But whatever had been happening here, this place had been abandoned for a long time.
As he moved away from the smell, he could hear the thugs talking in raised voices at the front of the warehouse and headed that way. It was pretty obvious they had no idea about the bodies in this place.
It was then that the sound of approaching police sirens started to be heard.
'Looks like backup is coming after all.' he thought, and they would find the bodies here as well with a smell like that.
Mark headed straight for his catwalk exit as the thugs also heard the sirens and genuinely panicked. As he made it to his exit door he could see them scattering out various ground floor entrances. He cracked open his door to the catwalk, checking for anyone who might see him.
Down below the panicking thugs started a running gunfight as the police were beginning to converge on the building.
He needed to go while everyone was distracted, pausing to lock the door before quickly crossing over to the next building and slipping away into the night.
'I had bought this key to try and learn about the system.' he thought as he looked down at it in his hand. 'Why give me a key to a place like that? No, why a key in the first place? Is it supposed to be an adventure hook or something?'
Mark sighed and put the key in his pocket. He could not do anymore tonight.
-----
Location: New York City
Date: November 11, 1988
George Stacy P.O.V.
Captain George Stacy had been a police officer for a long time, and he had never been more grateful to head home at the end of the day. He had seen all kinds of thing and knew very well how dark the world could be. But this was one of the worst weeks in his entire career.
At first, officers had respond to reports of gunfire, which lead to a shootout with members of a criminal gang believed to work for the Kingpin. They even found the body of a man confirmed to be connected to the Maggia that had been tortured for information.
All that alone would have been significant enough, but somehow was only a footnote instead.
Never one to stay behind a desk, he had gone to see the situation for himself.
Almost 1,800 bodies.
Early reports from the labels on the crates suggest they were organized into three groups. The first two groups did not seem to have anything in common so far. But the the largest group, nearly half the bodies were all young women at the time of death, between the ages of 15 and 25.
He sighed, 'Gwen turned 17 this year.' The thought that something could happen to her was a constant worry for him.
The few victims that had been identified so far were all reported missing over 15 years ago. But identification was slow going. The initial coroner's report said the bodies had been packaged with preservatives but they were not meant to be stored like that long term. After all this time in an uninsulated warehouse the bodies have suffered serious decay.
Even so, there is significant evidence of healed and partly healed surgeries, missing organs, autopsies, and possibly human experimentation.
Then apparently something happened that ended the operation and no one ever came back to restart it or even dispose of the bodies. Potentially related, the warehouse owner died under strange circumstances about 15 years ago as well, the same time the bodies were abandoned.
He had never seen anything like it before.
And then there was the involvement of a mask. The same individual as the Halloween night homicide.
George considered the Halloween report. The connection there was concerning.
Upon arrival, officers observed 1 deceased victim at the scene.
The victim presented with extreme emaciation, pale complexion, and significant physical deterioration that was inconsistent with immediate trauma alone. The body was found impaled through the torso on a wrought-iron fence.
No active assailant was present at the time the officers reached the scene. Witnesses stated one unidentified individual fled the scene prior to police arrival. They described an adult male, wearing a mask and dark clothing, consistent with Halloween attire, and exhibited no visible signs of injury after the encounter.
Background investigation into the victim revealed they had a terminal diagnosis. Following that, they had recent contact with an unlicensed medical facility operating in Manhattan that has since been abandoned. All patient records and digital data appear to have been deliberately erased.
Recovered intelligence suggests the location was a clandestine clinic indirectly funded through shell entities linked to the Maggia. It was engaged in experimental procedures including emergency trauma intervention, unregulated "last-resort" medical treatments, and something they called "synthetic blood substitutes".
The coroner noted that the victim exhibited signs of advanced systemic failure prior to death. Severe metabolic dysfunction, inability to process conventional nutrients, and neurological indicators consistent with cognitive degradation from prolonged starvation.
The victim likely underwent an illegal medical treatment which sustained vital function while inducing catastrophic metabolic and neurological instability.
The official conclusion: Violent assault by gang enforcer cleaning up loose ends.
But privately, George had not been so sure.
'Extreme emaciation doesn't happen overnight. Medical examination says pre-existing, but witnesses describe high mobility and strength. Throwing around an adult male that is over 6 feet tall, while in that state? The situation was likely more dangerous than the witnesses understood.'
He had also been around long enough to know that when the medical examiners are calling something "advanced systemic failure" it is polite language for "we don't know what we're looking at".
'Then the clinic gets shut down overnight, and a patient turns up dead the same week. Can that be a coincidence with the suspect showing up in this new case?' George sighed.
Now he had multiple criminal suspects in custody, all giving the same masked suspect's description and placing him at the warehouse. Thus putting him at a second location connected to a human experimentation operation.
'Was this guy really an enforcer for Maggia? If so, why not use a gun? Is he involved in a human experimentation operation, or maybe the result of one?' He sighed again. George had been doing that a lot lately.
'Ever sense the Fantastic Four gained their powers, it feels like the world is changing faster and faster.'
Finally reaching his apartment door, he was ready to relax for the night. He had been back later than usual all week and had barely seen Gwen at all.
"I'm home." he announced, already smelling something with garlic.
"I'm making dinner." He heard her call from the kitchen.
George could not help feeling a pang of guilt, but also pride. Raising Gwen alone had been hard, and she had to take on many responsibilities for herself early in life. He was very happy that she was growing into such a wonderful young lady.
She smiled, glancing over her shoulder as he shrugged off his coat.
"How was it?" she asked.
He made a face that landed somewhere between tired and careful as he dropped into a chair. He normally kept work separate from home as much as possible. After hesitating a moment longer before he finally said, "Bad."
"You got your homework done?" he asked.
"Mostly. I've got chem left." She paused, then added, "It's the fun kind though."
"There's a fun kind?"
"If you like knowing why things explode."
"That sounds like the exact opposite of fun."
She grinned. "You say that now."
Dinner was a simple spaghetti with meat sauce and garlic bread. The conversation flowed the same as always but George was distracted.
"Hey, before you head to your room I need to tell you something." he said, having decided he could not stay silent.
She turned to look at him.
"Gwen, your the most important thing in the world to me. I want you to be safe and live a long happy life, but I worry about you sometimes."
She smiled, "I'll be fine dad."
George shook his head, as the image of the crates in that warehouse surfaced again.
"The world is changing Gwen. I have been thinking about this for a while, I think these changes have only just begun. More and more cases keep come up that involve strange things no one can explain, or people who can do impossible things."
He sighed, "This week a large number of missing person, cold cases were solved. Young women that were around your age were the primary victims. It was not just a normal human trafficking operation either, there was evidence of human experimentation."
George could see the color draining from her face. He almost never talked about the details of a case like this unless he believed she needed to know.
"I am telling you this because I love you and I want you to be careful."
---
Gwen P.O.V.
Gwen closed the door to her room and sat down at her desk to finish her homework, but she was having trouble focusing.
She was a little shaken by what her father said. She always knew the world was dangerous but he had never given her a warning to be careful like that before.
'But am I in danger anymore?'
It had been the better part of two months sense she had been bitten by that spider. The next day she had woken up with superpowers, and accidently broke her room's door handle.
She had not told anyone about her new powers.
'Would it put dad's mind at ease if he knew? Should I tell him?' she thought, not for the first time.
'Would he be even more worried if he knew?'
In the end she decided the same as before, she could always tell him later.
Gwen had been keeping a low profile with her powers and had not tested her limits. The idea of being a hero like the others in the news was not something she had been very interested in. However, after actually getting powers she was very much enjoying the process of exploring her new abilities.
Every strength test in particular had been easy so far, lifting her bed with one hand and at arms length was almost effortless.
At this point though, she would need to go out into the city if she truly wanted to test and understand her full capabilities. But that had been something she was putting off as unimportant. Now Gwen was rethinking that after what her father said.
'Maybe I should look for a good place this weekend. Somewhere I won't run into trouble.'