Chapter 15: Let's go Berserk!

Chapter 15:

July 14th,2011:

It's my birthday today, but as usual, I don't celebrate. Even in my old life I wasn't that fond of birthdays. I don't hate birthdays, but they certainly didn't excite me the way they do others. I still went to the Parkers for a birthday dinner. I might not celebrate birthdays, but that doesn't mean I won't let anyone else celebrate them for me. It feels weird, to know that someone is more excited about your 18th birthday than you yourself are. We were only a few people at the Parker home. Me, Peter, Ben, May, MJ, Gwen and Bernard.

They bring out a cake which I cut after the birthday song, I feed the cake to Bernard, May and Ben, in that order, and then to the rest of them. I received a few gifts from everyone, my favourite of which was a jumper that May knit for me. No matter how rich I get, homemade gifts will always enter my heart. All in all, it was a short affair.

That night, I decide to do something reckless. It was stupid, but it wasn't going to hurt anyone. I was going to visit Professor Eliot Randolph.

I had found out that Professor Eliot Randolph taught at the University of Seville, Spain. He was a leading expert in Norse mythology and currently taught the subject in the University. As I had nothing else to do tomorrow or the day after, I ask my pilot to fly me there, going legally this time. At July 15th, 2011, at 1900, I enter the plane and start the 9 hour journey to Spain. It was troublesome to get the plane ready for a flight at such a short notice, but they managed it.

I reach the SVQ airport, in Seville at 10:00 AM local time, on July 16th, 2011. Taking a cab to the University, I check if I had brought everything I needed. I had with me a few pictures I'd snapped of the Staff, in various angles, keeping them close but not fixed. I knee that they only needed of touch to be fixed, so I didn't let them touch. I had also brought the knife I'd found in the cave and a few pictures of the skeleton. Maybe he could recognise the type of armour worn.

At 12:00 PM, I reach the University and ask around for his office or classroom. Reaching the classroom, I see that he's teaching them something, which I don't bother listening and wait for the class to end. I didn't have to wait long as the class ended at 12:20 PM. I knock on the door once after the students are all gone and enter the room once he permits me entrance.

"Professor Eliot Randolph?" I ask once I enter the classroom.

"Yes, hi. I'm Eliot Randolph. Who am I speaking to?" Randolph asks shaking my hand.

"Hello Professor, nice to meet you. my name is Harry Osborn. I'm from USA, and I have a few questions I'd like to ask you, if you have the time?" I say once he's introduced himself.

"Nice to meet you too. Please sit. I have about 45 miniutes till my next lecture." He offers me a chair in front of his desk, which I take.

"Thank you." I say and take out the photos of the skeleton along with the knife.

"Now what would you like to ask me? If you had an interest in mythology, I could offer you a place in this university but I'm afraid you'll have to get in on merit." Randolph says with a kind smile.

"I'm sorry, but I'm not that interested in Mythology. I'm a scientist, and mythology mostly goes over my head. No, I'm here for this, I want to know what type of soldier he was." I give him the photos of the skeleton. I saw his eyes widen for about half a second before he controls himself.

"I'm not a historian Mr Osborn. I study as well as teach mythology." Randolph tries to give me the photos back while denying knowing anything about the skeleton, so I slide him the photo of the dagger.

"Then you'll surely recognise this knife. I know that the build of the dagger is Norse in origin." I try, while throwing it out there. I don't even know if there's an Asgardian make of a dagger, but I have to try something before telling him I know.

"Well. Yes. This dagger is Norse in origin. It's not exactly the same looking, but a type of this dagger was said to be gifted to a few select soldiers in Odin's ranks to do some exceptional work in service. It was like a medal of honour for them, or so the myths say. Where did you even find something like this?" Randolph says while looking at the picture in reverence.

Huh. Can't believe that worked. I answer while taking out the real dagger and keeping it on the table, "Norway. I was looking for.. something else when I came across this."

Oh, gotcha! I see Eliot stiffen at the mention of Norway and the implied Staff piece. He looks at me in something akin to curiosity and asks, "Why are you really here, Mr Osborn?"

"What do you mean? I came here to find out the type of soldier he is and to know if the dagger has a name." I answer while smirking at him like a normal teenager would.

"Yes, you came here for that. But there's also something else. So what is it?" Randolph says, while glaring at me, like he would a student.

I lose all my playfulness and take out the remaining pictures of the staff pieces and lay it in front of him. He gets a scared look in his eyes and starts going backwards, slowly. Before he can try running, I speak up.

I say, "I haven't touched it yet if you're afraid of that."

Randolph takes a few deep breaths and calms down before asking me again, "Why are you here, Mr Osborn?"

Instead of answering him, I take out a small device and press the button. This button destroys any and all recording devices known to man by an EMP pulse, but doesn't harm anything else. I then look at him seriously and say, "I'd like to share a secret. It is so you can trust that I won't share your secret." And look at him meaningfully. He nods at me to continue after gaining a look of understanding.

"About a month ago, Thor's hammer fell on Earth, as you know from our dear friend Coulson, who thought it to be a satellite. I worked with him on that hammer for 2 days and studied it. During my studies, a symbiotic being separated itself from the hammer and made its home in me. This being can absorb any solid material into itself and sometimes it can also assimilate it into its being." I then show him Venom while also bringing out a knife made out of Praedium.

"This ability allows me to make a few weapons like this. I wanted to know if I could absorb this staff into myself like I did the pieces of this metal, or will I turn into a berserker once I start absorbing it." I finish my piece and look at him expectantly.

"I'm not an expert in these things Mr Osborn. I just used the staff, I didn't make it myself. Heck, I was just a foot soldier." Randolph says, now dispensing with all the pretending.

"Yes but you used it for years. Probably even centuries, I don't know how old you are, but you still definitely used the staff more than those who made it." I try once again.

Randolph looks at the staff sadly and says, "I broke it for a reason, you know. The staff is a curse. You won't be you again. Why do you even want to use the staff?"

I smile kindly at him and say, "I was there when Loki sent Odin's Destroyer to kill Thor and his friends. I saw Sif stab it, punch it, heck the Black-Spider punched it back only a few feet, and he was able to hold back The Hulk's clone. But Thor came in and destroyed the destroyer within 5 minutes. I foresaw someone who is 10 times stronger than Thor attacking Earth in a few years. And I want every advantage I can get to defeat him. I don't care if I'm not the one to shoot the killing shot. But I want to help defeat that monster. I won't ask you to join my fight, but I'll take any help you can give." I plead while telling him an edited story. I don't trust him enough to tell him everything.

Randolph looks at me for a while, and I look back. Finally he speaks, "The Berserkers were at their weakest as well as sanest during a lunar eclipse. When the smiths forged the staffs, they made it so the others had some way of defeating us if all of us went against Asgard. If you try to absorb the staff during the lunar eclipse, you won't face the consequences as much as you would if you try it during any other time. I don't know what will happen after the eclipse is over. As no one was ever able to do what you do. I won't say anything else."

I listen to his heartbeat through his tale and can tell that he's telling the truth. Hiding some things probably, but not lying. I nod at him and gather the pictures together. I keep the dagger back in the scabbard on my hip and ask him again, "You really don't know what type if soldier he was?"

Randolph looks confused for a second but gains a look of understanding and says, "He was not a berserker if that's what you mean. He was a foot soldier too, judging by the armour. Though on a lower level than most, probably only a few centuries old. Older soldiers have better swords. And he used a steel sword. The armour and the dagger were heirlooms probably. His father or someone in his family did something worthwhile to get the dagger and it was passed down to him. Why do you wanna identify him so badly?"

I think on it for a second and answer him, "I know that for an Asgardian, dying in battle is like the best thing you can do. So killing yourself so that you won't suffocate and die must be really bad. It made me feel bad, honestly. I didn't know the proper funeral procession, so I buried him in the cave. As there was no way to bring him out of the cave."

Randolph has tears in his eyes when he says, "Thank you. I didn't know him, but he'll be thankful for that small act of kindness."

"You're welcome, Professor Randolph. Now, I'd appreciate if you don't tell anyone about my guest, and I'll return the favour for your own secret. Thank you for taking your time off for me. I appreciate it, but I really must be going home now."

I nod at him, he nods back and I return to the plane in a daze. Well at least I found out when I can do the assimilation most safely. I'll have to check when the lunar eclipse is. I can't wait to get the staff back together!

I was in luck, a total lunar eclipse was scheduled to take place on December 10th,2011. Not exactly close, but I can wait a few months. I go to the airport and take the plane back to NY and drive back to my house.

July 17th, 2011:

The next day, I get a mail from NYU that I got accepted into the Masters program for Computer Engineering. Term was scheduled to start in September, so I still had a couple months to prepare. Just to pass the time, I open up my unfinished plans and scroll through them, when I suddenly come across something interesting. The file I made on General Ross. I never posted it, did I?

Creating a VPN, I send the files to CNN, WHiH World News, Fox news as well as the United Nations Organisation. The UN should know that an American general acted on foreign soil without permission. It'll definitely ruin him. I even send a copy to Stark. He'll definitely run Ross through the mud. Stark had offered to take Blonsky off the general's hand to start up a team that takes down dangers to the society. Not smart of Stark to try and take in a criminal, but who am I to judge?

Looking over the files, I see a lot of proof of Ross' wrongdoings; his hand in creating Hulk, provoking the Hulk into a fight, forcing Banner to turn into Hulk in Brazil, Creating Blonsky, sabotaging dangerous experiments, just to say the few.

2 days later, I see an interesting news on WHiH World News. Apparently CNN didn't either like the file, or they didn't want to face the consequences of outing a US general.

"Good evening. I'm Christine Everhart from WHiH World News and I bring to you, today a shocking news. Two days ago, an anonymous whistleblower sent us a file containing various video files and documents that prove the wrongdoings of a General of the US Army. This general was not only responsible for the monster, Abomination who attacked Harlem, but was defeated by the conbined efforts of Spider-Man, Black Spider and the Hulk, but he was also the one who actually made The Hulk. Yes that's right, people, This general sabotaged an experiment and forced the scientist working on it to be exposed to Gamma radiation, which turned him into a hulk. For privacy reasons, we won't be telling you the Scientist's name. When the Hulk then appeared before them and refused to be an attack dog for the military, the general then had the scientist declared a terrorist and started a witch hunt against him, which is still going on to this day. So who is this General that did all those things and is still working in his position? General Thadeus Ross."

The reporter then went on to show the public a picture of Ross and went on to recite all the crimes he ever committed in his position. There were a few interviews with the witnesses for the attacks in Harlem as well as Culver University. They even got his own daughter Betty Ross to speak up against Ross.

Within a week, thanks to me, and Stark publicly speaking against such actions, General Ross was dishonourable discharged from service. He was to go to a UN hearing to answer for his crimes.

Hopefully he'll go in for a long time. At least now, there won't be Sokovia Accords to get Avengers under control. I'd rather write the accords myself to suit the team better, rather than be forced it upon me.

The next few months are spent in preparation for the absorption of the staff. I learn meditation techniques so I could calm myself down if I do go berserk. I started with my MS in September at NYU. Though it's still slow going. I'm going to all the lectures this time, at least for now, as the lectures are interesting. I even sit in on a few extra classes like Calculus. I just liked it that much. Other than that, nothing else has happened.

December 10th, 2011:

It was a few months after the fiasco with Ross. He was arrested for the crimes he committed and sentenced to prison for 25 to life. Peter's 18th birthday was in August, which we celebrated the same way as mine. I gave him a new suit in private. Ben bought me and Peter our first beers. I didn't like it much so I only had one. Peter had 2 cans before he got tired of the taste. Thankfully none of us 2 were drunk. Ben laughed at my face at the taste of beer, and calmly drank 3 cans. Other than that, nothing interesting happened.

I was now waiting in my lab for the lunar eclipse to occur, I was finally going to merge the staff and then absorb it.

"5 minutes left till Lunar eclipse, Boss." Siri's voice interrupts my musing.

"Thank you, Siri. Keep an eye on my vitals, please." I tell Siri, who nods at me.

I then say out loud, "Venom, separate with me for a while. I'll touch it alone at first, if the effect is manageable to me, then you may absorb it into yourself. No offense, but if you give into your rage, you'll kill me and everyone else."

Venom grumbles but separates himself from me and says, "Yeah, yeah. I know. Just give me that amazing chocolate fudge later and we'll call it even."

I snort at him and say, "Sure, buddy."

Soon it is time for the lunar eclipse. As soon as it occurs, I touch one of the pieces of the staff, I feel growing a little stronger, but it's not as much as I'd expect for a normal day. I see a few of my bad memories flash by, my father's death, my previous death, and a lot more. But I see those memories everyday, so it doesn't affect me much, and I use my meditation techniques to calm myself down and ignore the memories. Seeing that I'm not going crazy, I pick that piece up, pick the next piece in other hand and join them together. A flash occurs as the pieces merge, but no more change in me.

"So far, so good. Let's get to it." I say out loud and pick up the last piece and merge it with the other two. Another flash of light and the staff is fixed.

I experiment with it a bit, by spinning it around a few times. Seeing that everything was fine, I turn to Venom and hold my hand towards him. Venom merges with me and starts assimilating the staff into myself. As soon as he starts the process, I feel a sharp pain start up inside my body, everywhere at once.

"Boss you, okay?" Siri says and starts scanning me.

"Keep.. going.. Venom!" I grit my teeth in pain. It hurt so much, everything hurt at once, my body, brain, muscles as well as bones. It felt like my bones were smashing and fixing themselves again and again. Soon the whole Staff was absorbed into us and I feel weak again. Like I'd just run a marathon around the Earth.

"Yeah.. that hurt, a lot. I don't feel anything different though." Venom grumbles out.

"Wait till the Eclipse is over. The staff is still weaker than normal. Siri, report." I'm still shaking a bit. My body is not completely healed up yet, it's only standing thanks to Venom.

"Your vitals are now normal, though your heart rate is still fast, and blood pressure is higher, it's going down to normal, slowly but surely. Nothing has changed in your muscle density, so I don't think you've gotten any stronger because of the staff, but I'll keep an eye on that once the Eclipse is over. It's still 27 minutes until the eclipse ends."

"27 minutes? Wasn't the eclipse supposed to last for like 51 minutes?" I ask, bewildered.

"Yes boss. You lost consciousness for a while there. It's been 22 minutes since you started the merging process." Siri answers while still scanning me.

Huh. I didn't even notice losing consciousness. Though I'm getting real tired right now.

"Siri, I'm going to bed right now, alright? Keep an eye on me and tell me everything tomorrow. I'm really tired." I say, and somehow manage to reach my bedroom. I'm asleep as soon as I hit the bed.

December 11th,2011:

The next day, I wake up at 5, as usual, and go to the gym. There I notice that nothing much has changed in terms of my strength, so I try something else.

"Siri, bring out the scanners, I'm trying something stupid." Siri complies while sighing a little.

"Should I write an eulogy?" Siri asks sarcastically.

"Oh haha, Siri. Very funny." I say and ignore her smirk.

"Venom, you ready buddy?" I ask Venom, who by now knows what I'm trying.

"If I say no, will you stop?" Venom asks me bitterly.

I blink at that. "Well of course I'll stop. I would never do something your uncomfortable with, without your permission. Unless it is to embarrass you, of course." I smirk at him.

"Yeah, yeah. Lets get on with it." Venom grumbles, but I can hear the relief in his voice. I'd never force anyone to do something they're not comfortable with, least of all Venom who sleeps in my body and can take over it.

Venom starts to bring out the staff from himself. It's less bringing out the original staff and more making a new staff exactly like the old one, including all the markings on it. It would have been tough, if the staff wasn't literally a part of us. Which means we know everything there is to know about the staff's physical looks. I can't tell what spells were cast on it. Though if the spells will come with the staff or not? I have no fucking clue.

As soon as the full staff is out of us and in my hand, I feel myself growing stronger, it was euphoric! This time I didn't get my old bad memories, I just started growing stronger. It was how I imagined Goku feeling when he goes Super Saiyan. It felt just that good! Soon, before I want, it was over, and Venom speaks up,

"Whoa! I feel so strong! Like no one can ever stop me! I can take over the whole universe and no one will ever stop me!"

"Venom! Snap out of it! Control your power, don't let the power control you." I say and start thinking positive thoughts. Soon I can hear Venom start controlling his thoughts.

"Yeah. Thanks. I can't believe I'm saying this, but without you snapping me out, I'd have gone on a killing spree." Venom grumbles.

"Don't mention it. Siri, give us the verdict!" I say.

"Your muscle density has increased, again. Congratulations, boss. You're officially bullet proof. They'll still hurt you, but won't penetrate your skin. Your calculated strength has now approached that recorded of Hulk during his fight in Harlem, but a little weaker." Siri says. I whistle at that. Damn! I'm already almost as strong as Hulk? Nice.

I absorb the staff back into myself, and suddenly drop down to my knees. Damn! I feel so weak.

"What the hell? Siri, what happened?" I shout out, breathing hard.

"I.. Don't know. The staff somehow increased your strength when it was outside, but as soon as you absorbed it into yourself it got turned into regular metal and you lost your extra strength. So you relatively feel weaker? I don't actually know, sir, it's just a hypothesis." Siri whispers out. I can tell she's scared.

I once again bring the staff out and once again feel stronger. I notice that this time, the staff came out quicker than before. I reabsorb the staff and once again I feel weak. So yes, maybe Siri's hypothesis is true.

I repeat absorbing and reabsorbing the staff for about 10-15 minutes and notice that I don't get as tired as before. Meaning I get used to it.

"You're right, Siri. Something like that does happen. The more I repeat the process, the more I get used to the sudden loss of strength. Don't worry about it." I say and keep the staff absorbed.

I bring out a plain staff made of Praedium and go start working out a fighting style with the staff. I practice using the plain staff for about an hour and then bring out the real deal and do the same. I had to adjust a few things for the additional strength, but I manage. At least now I have a trick up my sleeve to almost double my strength. Though, if I lose the staff I'll be back to my original strength. I'll have to fix up that issue and do something like Thor. Make it so the staff returns to my hand. But how?

I could ask an Asgardian to bless it or something, but the Bifrost is destroyed and I don't think they'll help someone who stole Asgardian property. I could use an electromagnet. Make it so the magnet is always absorbed within me, but when I bring out the staff, I also bring out the electromagnet. But I'll have to be careful to only attract Praedium and not every metal close to me. Let's get on to it then.

May 1st,2012:

The next few months I spend just training and studying. My classes were going as expected, really good. I published a few papers on Artificial Intelligence in the University Magazine, as that was my best subject. Peter and me caught a drug cartel in Manhattan, which was surprising. Most of the drug cartels focus on Harlem and Hell's Kitchen. It was a good test for our control over our strengths. We knocked them all out, but didn't accidentally kill a single thug, thankfully.

I managed to design and build a wristband made from Praedium, with an electromagnet which attracts only Praedium. I had to work on it for 3 straight days without sleeping, but it was done. Once I call the staff into being, the wristband appears on my right hand. It'll attract the staff if I lose it. I spent the next week just practicing throwing and calling back the staff. I had the bruises on my face to prove it.

There were a few bombings all over the world, claimed by 'The Mandarin'. I knew the one responsible was named Aldrich Killian, so I had Siri keep tabs on him. Iron man 3 events were still more than a year away, so I didn't care much.

My company was flourishing, Dr Octavius earned a Nobel Prize for the miniature sun, finally. And since he did it in collaboration with Oscorp, our market price increased. I had also taken over Hammer industries and renamed it Oscorp Weapons Manufacturing Division. Now I was the leading Weapons manufacturer in the country! Because of both OWMD and Otto, we soon became the 2nd biggest brand in America. Stark was still way ahead of us, and he'd now even built a big Tower in the centre of New York, with his name on it. I wanted one of those but Bernard wouldn't let me. He thinks I'm immature. So I stuck my tongue at him and skipped out of the room eating my lollipop.

It was while I was watching the news that I saw the news regarding the explosion in a research facility in the middle of Mojave Desert. Damn! That must have cost billions. Wonder what they were researching that it blew up so spectacularly?

I let it out of mind until the next night, when I get a visit from Coulson, at 7 PM. Uh oh. I think I know what's happened, how could I forget such an important detail?!

"Phil. What's up? Didn't know you were coming. I really hope its just a social visit." I say as soon as he's inside and I see his creepy smile.

"Sorry, but no. We need you to come in." Coulson says and hands me a tablet. I look at the tablet and read the files on it. Damn! The Tesseract! That's what they were researching.

"Mojave desert?" I ask still reading the report about how Loki came through the portal and took control of Barton and Selvig and took the Tesseract with him.

"Yes. Barton's been compromised. You coming now or will you join us later?" Coulson asks.

"Damn. This is bad. Really bad. Um is Peter coming?" I ask.

"Yes. Deputy director Hill has gone to bring him in. I'm supposed to bring you and Stark. I'm going to Stark next." Coulson says, still smiling.

"Yeah. Let me get a few things first." I say and turn back to go to my lab. I gather my sensor, a camera, a tablet and the medical sensor. I also bring 2 vials of the antidote I made for the mind control drug in Kilgrave. I don't know how much it'll be effective against the Mind stone, but something's better than nothing. I already had Venom on me, so I just tell Siri to keep the lab locked and go with Coulson. Finally, it's starting. What I've been working so hard for. I'm going to fight a God and kill aliens. It's like a few dreams come true.

A/N: The bit about Lunar eclipse and Berserkers being weak is not canon, I just made it up so I can justify Harry absorbing the staff and not going crazy.