Eddie Brock

Eddie Brock/Reporter

Eddie stumbled through the streets of Rio, eyes wide.

He'd showed up with other reporters, all trying to get in on the scoop. Of them all, only Eddie had decided to dig deeper.

BRIDGE was the real story. An organization that big, coming out of SHIELD after HYDRA? And the Avengers? There was something juicy out of all this, Eddie could feel it. He'd spent every moment tracking the Avengers through the city, and got tons of footage of all kinds of things. Dinosaurs, demons, and even knights in armor duking it out!

The Bugle page was blowing up thanks to that. Every person on Earth was following Eddie Brock now, because he went where no reporter would.

But he'd needed more. More acclaim. He was moments from a Pulitzer. From becoming the most well known man in reporting. Just needed one big scoop, a true game changer. He'd gone out to look for that a week ago.

And now he was hearing a voice in his head. Great job, Eddie. He'd been walking for three days, surviving on scraps and hiding.

He stumbled down another alley, breathing heavily. He was close to the beach. All he needed was-

A snarl brought his attention up. Something was in the shadows. As he stared in horror, the thing came out and eyed him.

He felt like crying. A demon. Another damn demon. And this thing was carrying a metal sword.

"Please. Please don't!"

Within him, something snarled. "Oh goodie. We were hungry."

"Come on man, really!?" Eddie spat out in horror.

The demon, a spindly thing eight-feet tall leaped toward him. Eddie's eyes flashed black.

Suddenly, the air behind him seemed to… open. A sucking sound filled the area. Eddie roared at the same time as the demon as they were pulled into somewhere.

For a moment, the empty alley roared with the sound of vacuum pulling in air. Then it faded with a small 'pop', a singularity shutting closed.

-

Monica Rappaccini of AIM

Deep within AIM, a command center sat being monitored by dozens of scientists, all working diligently. A window looked into a larger room outside. Everything within was peaceful, the men and women within working happily.

They jumped when Monica burst into the room with a spiteful glare on her face. Everyone quickly looked down again, trying not to look scared. She tended to jump on weaknesses like fear. Lyle looked over at her, raising an eyebrow.

"Monica. I take it BRIDGE didn't accept our further assistance."

"DAMN HIM!" she grabbed a wrench and stabbed it into a monitor. Everyone around her winced and pretended to keep working as glass flew around her. "Bruce fucking Banner! He just keeps getting in my way! That third-rate-"

"Enough," Lyle narrowed his eyes. "Don't lose your cool."

"My COOL?!" she spun, clenching the wrench in her hand tightly.

For one moment, Lyle and Monica stared at each other. Everyone in the room stared while pretending not to.

"...Monica, either hit me or don't. But I have work to do, so decide quickly," Lyle said dryly.

"...Fine," she slapped the wrench on a console nearby. "Why are you so calm anyway?"

"Because getting into Rio wasn't the only way for us to refine the technology," Lyle looked outside the window. Monica did so as well.

In the room beyond the window, two machines took up either side, identical in appearance and about five feet tall. They each had a series of tubes going to them, circuitry inside them, and a pair of sections like funnels pointed outward. The 'funnels' were pointed directly at each other, leaving three feet of space in between.

"Did you start that thing up again?" Monica asked, her face relaxing.

"Not just yet," Lyle sighed softly. "While Rio was a setback, it was also a good indicator of what to fix for our machine. Those who died in Rio were regretful however."

"What happened anyways?" Monica crossed her arms and looked over at Lyle.

"In a word? Our machine was too sensitive," he looked over at a monitor nearby. "Our biggest worry was getting it to work. We forgot to take into account all the otherevents that were somewhat related to what we wanted to do."

"Other events?" Monica asked.

"Yes," he moved over to let her look at the monitor, which she realized displayed a map with red dots across it. "Over the past thirty years, dozens of events have taken place across the globe that have involved energies that manipulate time and space. In Argentina first, one during the Cold War, New Mexico, New York City of course has had at least three we can account for," he chuckled. "Always New York, isn't it?"

"Is that going to be a problem?" Monica leaned over and noted that, indeed, New York was riddled in red dots. What was happening in that city?

"No," Lyle said simply. "We will recalculate and try again. Basically, our machine, in attempting to activate, was 'pulled' by the energies left by those other events. Well, it's a bit more complex than that, but it's the simplest explanation I can give."

Monica turned to glare at him for the insult to her intelligence, which Lyle ignored. "Still, we should be able to open it again soon. In the meantime," he turned on a screen, revealing an image of two people lying on beds. "We have the successes we pulled through."

On the first bed lay a bald man, older, with a slightly pinched face and pale skin. On the other, a much younger woman lay, her red hair pouring over the sheets. She was beautiful and well-formed, while the older man was almost skeletal in comparison.

"Weren't there three people?" Monica asked idly.

"...the third escaped."

"What?" Monica tried not to sound as though she found that fact amusing. "How?"

"Well..." Lyle put on a video.

On the screen, a naked figure strode down a hallway. Three men with guns confronted him, all wearing body armor. A flash of silver was followed by the naked figure leaping forward. Blood sprayed. An almost inhuman roar filled the air, actually shaking the camera.

From camera to camera, Lyle showed the figure's progress. Muscles bunched beneath tan skin, and black hair flowed as the figure flowed into battle. Bullets flew. He didn't seem to care, or even be hit. Again and again, blades slashed deeply though body armor to dig into flesh. The figure was inhuman. Almost supernaturally agile and strong, lifting men as large as football linebackers and throwing them aside.

At one point, the figure was standing amongst a pile of bodies. Blood poured from his blades. His chest was splashed red. His eyes almost seemed to glow.

"Our security personal were killed," Lyle said softly. "Armed with assault rifles, body armor, and training… and this, savage tore through them."

"Enhanced?" Monica asked almost breathlessly, her eyes panning the muscular mans naked form without shame.

"Maybe," Lyle shook his head. "He escaped into the mountains outside. I have my men chasing him, but whoever he is, he's familiar with forests, even with all the snow outside. Maybe we'll get lucky and he'll die of frostbite," Lyle shut off the video. "But we have these two. And I believe they may be just as useful."

"Hmm..." Monica rubbed her chin. "What about our… benefactor?"

"Nothing," Lyle admitted. "Just more files to enhance our robotics research. I'm not sure if we're going fast enough for him."

"Then we'd better pick up the pace," Monica smirked, looking at a certain folder on the computer nearby.

(*(^!#α $*α &α ^#...!(*#& *ω &!α)

"These bots aren't going to build themselves after all," she said with a greedy gleam in her eyes.