Marvel: A Tale of Shadows

"This is some steamy stuff," Felicia said as she read the 2008 diary. She had already learned that his ex-girlfriend was Emily Lyman or rather Emily Osborn. The deceased wife of Norman Osborn and mother to Harry Osborn, who is friends with Mary Jane who had the book.

At the moment she was at the start where he and Emily had some fun and adventurous times. While he had read them before, he knew that Emily could certainly write.

"Yeah… when she puts her heart into it she can really write." Ethan explained while resting his injured body. He could feel some of the scratches have mostly healed but it should finish in a day or two. "I have no work for the next few days. What do you want to do?" Ethan asked.

"Well…" Her eyes were glued to the book, "I think we should go to ESU tomorrow to sign up for classes. I know what I want to do and you could get more degrees for bragging rights."

Ethan looked at her, "oh and what should I study?"

"Computer sciences, chemistry, biochemistry, just about anything. Hell you could become a medical doctor." Felicia marked the page in her book before she set it on the bedside table.

"Okay I will think of that but then what will you be studying?" Ethan asked as he felt himself relaxing.

"Well… I want to help those people that are getting suppressed for being different. Like the mutants, so I want to become a teacher. To be someone reliable for those kids. So for now I am getting a minor in teaching and a major in biochemistry." Felicia seemed genuinely interested in this career path.

"Oh? Is that all?" Ethan asked surprised.

Felicia chuckled, "no I kind of want to do something like these 'raids' of yours on the side."

"Mmm… in that case I will do genetics this semester. Then maybe chemistry, biology, medicine, and biochemistry." Ethan responded.

"Mmm…" They snuggled as they fell asleep.

—-------------------------------------------

The next four days went off without a problem. Ethan and Felicia spent their time relaxing and seeing the sights and a few musicals. Peter, MJ, and Harry started to dig into the numbers that Harry found but all they figured out was that it was some code; as for the Reaper, they found no traces.

Oscorp was in a scramble trying to figure out how Jackson got into the building and why he shot at the guards in the monitor room. But Ethan had already figured it out. It was related to those spiders, that Project Arachnoid.

Director Fury was in a scramble when he got a heads up that both the Brotherhood of Mutants and a Hydra hit squad are on their way to New York. He had a feeling it had something to do with that mutant school but he wasn't going to tell them, they were useful bait to catch the rats. Anyways he was getting his Avenger Initiative started he already had five candidates, he figured with a tech wiz he would have a complete team.

Stark on the other hand made progress on his Defenders project. He had gotten Jessica Jones, Luke Cage, and Danny Rand, better known as Iron Fist to join in. It helped that they needed a paycheck. Daredevil and Spider-Man were proving elusive. But he also happened upon another vigilante called White Tiger and was looking into having him join. But at Pepper's request he was also requesting one of the X-Men to join them so that they could help curb the racism against mutants. He also made some more iron man armor.

As for Charles Xavier he had a headache of his own. Stark requested a teammate to join his new super hero team that would help the police fight villains and supervillains. There were also numerous threats on the children's lives; he had to figure out which ones were real and which ones were false flags.

So he handed a bunch of duties off to Jean Gray & Ororo Munroe who dismissed Scott from decision making, because he kept trying to persuade them to cancel the outside activities. Jean and Ororo also noticed Xavier was working on a request for a tutor internship they were interested in, apparently it would only be during the weekends and the intern's would be tutoring for a specific subject. They would set up an interview within the month.

Then as for the Stark Tech Youth Center, Stark Industries changed the name, there were no problems. In fact, the other schools very greatly enjoy interacting with the mutant children and sometimes share equipment between schools.

Doctor Faustus on the other hand noticed a plot brewing. He was going to snatch a few kids at the Stark Tech Youth Center but now that the Brotherhood was arriving he would wait until they strike at the Chess Tournament. Then he would get a whole new set of bodies for his mutant experiments. He would also get a chance to hunt down the missing X-23, the only other survivor of the Weapon X program besides X-1 or better known as Wolverine.

—--------------------------------------------

At the moment Ethan and Felicia were having a picnic in Central Park.

"I still can't believe you have a child. What's her name?" Felicia finished the 2009 diary earlier this morning. She put it off because she was busy. But surprisingly she was okay with Ethan having a child with another woman, besides after she asked him if he loved her and he looked sad she understood that it was Emily who stopped their relationship.

"Why is that so unbelievable? We had almost a quarter of a book's worth of sexual adventures in that book, a lot of which I didn't get a chance to put a condom on for." Ethan remarked avoiding the other question.

"That is fair, but you are so young so it was a surprise. Is she cute?" Felicia took a bite out of her sandwich.

Ethan smiled remembering the tiny blonde haired girl, "the cutest."

Felicia raised an eyebrow, "cuter than me?"

Ethan stared at her for a minute before he responded, "yes." Felicia was about to say something else when he picked her up and sat her on his lap. Felicia yelped in response he then leaned in close to her ear and whispered, "You are more sexy and hot." His hand then slid along her waist, "like these curves." Felicia felt her entire body shiver in response.

She frowned and hit him on the nose. "Stop that. We still have to babysit your cousins tonight so your aunt and uncle can have date night."

Ethan groaned as he stowed his head on her shoulder. "Okay."

—----------------------------------------------------

"Are you really going to do it tonight?" Walter asked.

"Yes, from what I understand they are babysitting Ethan's cousins but once they are done they will head home and that is when we will strike." the old fox told him.

"Finally I have been dying to see their moves but after seeing all they do is eat, sleep, and have sex. I am feeling annoyed." Silver spoke up from the side.

Walter on the other hand just groaned, "I don't need to know that. Besides from what I understand they go out and do something almost everyday."

"Silver is just pent up because they do have an abnormal amount of-" Paine was interrupted.

"Nananana- I do not need to know. Okay, tell me how it goes." Walter then left.

"Well that was easy." Silver stated.

"Do they really have that much sex?" Paine asked.

"Yup, and to be honest," Silver started walking away, "I really am pent up."

—--------------------------------------------

Meanwhile on the Shield Tri Carrier. High in the sky.

Director Fury was looking at five files. One was of Tony Stark but Fury tossed that one to the side. Then there was the next one Reed Richards, who was part of that scandal with the rocket. He was tossed into the maybe pile, but from what Fury understood he was always researching which would probably only ramp up with military funding. The next one was Forge, an X-Men auxiliary member. He might recruit him, but those X-Men hate secrets and Fury was basically the master of secrets.

The fourth one was Hank Pym, but he hates Shield just as much as he hates the Starks. He was moved to the maybe pile. Then there is the final fifth one, he is Samuel Wilson. A sixteen year old recruit from the south with an incredibly high IQ and a penchant for tinkering. He was put on the potential list, but they would first have to up his game.

He put them on the list of heroes that could be trained. Which was a list that was growing by the day. Some they had to search for some they did not.

—----------------------------------------

"Well that was fun." Felicia spoke as they slowly made their way back to Ethan's apartment. They had just left his aunt and uncle's house. They were walking through the neighborhood because the kids had them playing video games the entire time. Not to mention it was only an hour walk which would let them burn off all the excess calories they obtained from the sweets they ate.

"Agreed." They walked and talked for a while before they arrived about a block away from his apartment building. He stopped in his tracks and Felicia who was holding his arm stopped with him, confused. Ethan however glanced up and down the street.

"What's wrong?" Felicia asked.

But instead of answering Ethan picked up a crumbling piece of brick and looked to the roof tops. After thinking for a moment he threw a stone on an arc before it landed on a rooftop. But instead of hearing the collision of stones like she expected.

Felicia instead heard, "ow!" Then there was silence as if someone was being stared at.

Which Silver was, but to be fair she did just get pelted with a rock. Black Fox sighed as he quickly went around and dropped down the roof above the couple he bounced back and forth until he was on the ground. But before he could even throw a punch there was another one coming at him.

Fox swiftly moved back as the punch hit the trash bin and moved it back a foot. Fox got into a boxing form and faced his opponent Ethan who was more than prepared for a fight.

While Silver Sable just slid down the side of the building using a grappling hook. When she got on the ground she pulled out a baton that crackled with electricity. She stood battle ready while facing Felicia who finally understood what was going on. So she just zipped her handbag closed after taking out a powder mirror.

All parties were ready to fight.

—------------------------------------------------

Meanwhile in another part of New York.

Laura ran like her life depended on it. Well it basically did as she dodged under a wooden fence and into the street. She then quickly looked around and ran in a direction. Just as she started running she could hear footsteps behind her and grumbling.

"Get back here brat!" The thug roared as he tripped out of the alley way.

Ignoring him she ran as fast as she could, weaving in between people until she arrived at a busy coffee shop. She ran inside ignoring the yelps of the surprised people. When she was arriving at the back door the thug had only just made it to the door and was looking around for her.

She ran out the back door into the alley she then looked around to find the next place to go to. A minute later the thug ran into the alley through the door ignoring the yelling from the coffee shop owner. When he arrived in the alley he couldn't see anyone and there was no sign of the little girl. He looked around for a few minutes until he cursed and gave up walking out of the alley.

At the same time on a rooftop a few buildings away was the little girl. She was panting as she hid behind an air conditioning unit. Then she pulled out the rolls of cash she had stolen.

Initially when she started living on the streets she stole food or begged for it. But after being on the streets long enough she started to notice the places where drug dealers and other crimes were happening. So she stole from them and repaid for the food she stole. Mostly because she didn't feel right about stealing.

But it had gotten more dangerous recently, some of the thugs had been recognizing her. Maybe it was time to move to a different area. It would be safer that way. She started walking to the edge of the roof and looked to see which direction she would pick. Once she picked a direction she ran to the edge and jumped to the next rooftop.

—---------------------------------------------------

At a Hydra base somewhere in Ohio.

"Viper," the Scottish voice spoke. "Get a team together you will be going to attack the X-Men at the 'Chess Tournament', when you do so capture as many mutants and test subjects as possible."

Viper in her hypnotized and controlled state nodded and saluted before leaving. But in her mind she was panicking, 'no-no-no not again!'. Eventually her body arrived at a desk where she pulled up the information about 6 mutants. They were her choices for this mission. For the front line fighters there was Sabretooth and the Hydra Variant. Then Emma Frost, Diamondback, and herself for midrange. While Asp and Black Mamba would be their ranged fighters.

With 7 mutants in total they should be able to take care of 3 experienced mutants and anyone else they run into. But with the fact that they were showing up at a public event they might run into some of the X-Men's opposites, the Brotherhood.

Thinking that, she started making a request for a dozen mutant inhibiting collars. This battle would probably end up as a three-way battle. She then walked towards the quarters of the science team to requisition the Hydra Variant. Meanwhile she would be getting access to the other 5 mind-controlled mutants for the mission.

But before they did the mission they would need to train to get ready.

Back with Doctor Faustus he was preparing to send three different Hydra recon teams into New York, in order to find the only other survivor of Weapon X Project besides that annoying Wolverine. He figured he had a limited time before Silvermane pressed him to stay out of New York.

—---------------------------------------------------------------

At a house in Queens.

Harry was shocked to learn that Peter was Spider-Man. But Peter was even more shocked that Harry's mother had an affair that resulted in a sibling, and that his mother was probably murdered.

"So the hacker known as 'The Reaper' is one of your leads in this case?" Peter was confused but mostly annoyed. Because an attack happened right next door without him knowing.

"Yes… we think he is the one that both broke into my house to steal the rest of the diaries and broke into MJs to steal the more important ones. He might be either working for my dad which is a possibility or my mother but post-mortem. But it has to be one of them, they are the only ones that would be invested in this information." Harry explained.

"Okay… Well, it isn't the end of the world. We know he is a hacker and that he either hired someone or came himself to take the diaries. Either way we know he has access to unknown equipment, because this knockout gas is not a known knockout compound." Peter explained as he had already analyzed the chemical compound.

"Yeah… not to mention he has a custom made computer so tracking him through some purchases would not be possible." Harry determined this because of the known facilities 'The Reaper' has supposedly hacked into.

"MJ, do you think we could discreetly get records from Empire State University?" Peter asked as he looked at MJ who was quietly looking over some documents and frowning. "MJ?" There was silence, Peter looked at Harry who only shrugged.

"Anyways if your mother's lover could be located it would mean a new lead." Peter explained as he started typing on a document.

"Yeah… hey how is that Rhino thing going?" Harry asked.

"He hasn't shown up for a bit. I plan to go out in the morning to see if I can find him in the act again." Peter explained.

While MJ looked over a bunch of documents she discreetly stole from Oscorp during a visit with Harry. She had been looking into projects that had been active during their field trip to the building but none of these fit the bill with spider related themes.

She has been stuck so she started to look through the documents to see if she can find any leads on where Peter's powers came from. He might not be worried about side effects but she very much is. She was so focused on what she was doing she did not even notice when Peter called to her.

Then as she was looking she found something called Project Arachnid. Arachnid means spiders, she looked to see what info there was on the file. Nothing. It looked like the information was deleted. In fact there was only a single thing a nondescript van rented for the project. Apparently it was signed in by someone named 'Bruce Hoxsin'.

She smiled as she found her lead. A name related to a seemingly disappeared project. He would be her 'in' to find out about the project. She looked at the time and stretched, she would look for him tomorrow. When she stretched she caught the attention of the boys.

She looked at them as they stared at her with weird looks on their faces, "What?"

"What are you investigating that has got you so focused?" Harry asked.

"I will tell you when I am done." MJ responded with a smile as she started to put the stack of papers she stole from Oscorp in her bag.

Unknown to the group of high schoolers. Under one of the tables in the room sat a small metal device that was blinking with a light. It had a single label on one of its chips, 'Oscorp'. On the other side of the device a man sat in his office with an angry scowl on his face.