#chapter; cure begets curse

[iobartach]

@healingbrews // short thing starter

In every reality, there existed certain constants. Day followed night, needed to be stopped. And Alchemax continued to be a blight on society.

It didn’t matter the dimension, whether it was his own or one of the countless others he'd traversed; wherever Alchemax existed, it thrived on greed, exploitation, and the reckless pursuit of progress at any cost, aiming to line the pockets of investors. He'd seen no other megacorporation come close to matching their vile tactic, short of Stark-Fujikawa, and whilst that company happened to also be present in this particular city, it didn't pose enough concern to warrant checking out.

From his perch in the dim recess of a towering scaffold, Miguel let his gaze fall upon an Alchemax facility, which bustled with a concerning amount of activity despite the late hour. Blindingly white floodlights buzzing overhead as they shone down upon every corner, illuminating a loading bay. At its entrance, a transport vehicle idled, standing by to receive shock knows what, while a handful of guards loitered nearby, their postures easy but their weapons close at hand. Given all these observations combined, it didn't take Miguel much time to conclude that whatever was going to be loaded into that truck, the higher-ups didn't intend for it to be seen by the public.

Concerned for this, and what it would entail, as Miguel began to climb down the scaffolding, hatching a plan, a new variable stops him cold. Not a guard, nor an company executive in an expensive suit. Someone out of place; a person, attempting to get inside the facility's compound.

Eyes widening in shock, the Spider regains his composure quickly as he picked up the pace, sliding off the scaffolding to cross the street in a single lunge, landing upon the roof of a parked car that sat between the stranger and the facility's front entrance, making as little noise as possible. The last thing he wanted to be dealing with was drawing Alchemax's forces on him, potentially capturing the woman before him in turn. What was she doing all the way out here?

"Don't go any further." Calling for a halt to her strides, he implores her to stop, to back away from a decision that, should it go pair-shaped, would ruin her life and reputation forever; something that Miguel himself had learnt the hard way, when attempting to cut ties with Alchemax. "Nothing good's gonna come out of whatever you're planning to do."

[iobartach]

@healingbrews asked; ( hungry ) : half starved and malnourished [Hinoka being hungry, apparently having a Spider Metabolism hits different]

lack of sleep starters

He had prepared for this, saw the moment arriving miles in advance. A inevitability, that adhered to a long established rule; all beings that lived would eventually require sustenance, in some shape or form. He'd found the solution for his own altered appetite in a carnivorous diet, meat favoured over other options, to his own detriment. What remnants of humanity still existed in his DNA required vitamins and nutrients that couldn't be found from preferred sources, so he'd turned to science for a solution, and had managed just fine ever since.

Reminding himself of these challenges, Miguel's gaze settles upon Hinoka's crumpled form, chasing a rest that refused to embrace her. How long she'd been lying here was not currently known, but given that he had tracked her to the sewers, seeking the comfort of darkness and damp concrete, he had guessed that she'd been down here for a day at least.

Which meant they had time, before the first pangs of hunger took hold, and a tremendous ache began to pulse within her jaw. But perhaps... her situation would turn out differently, his attempts to compare wasteful, despite noble intentions. Seeing this as a possibility, he shelves what thoughts linger in his mind to lean over her prone form, laying a hand carefully upon her shoulder.

"Hey, I know you're awake." And that you're starving, but he decides to leave that out for now, let it rest until -- he hopes -- she feels the need to mention it herself. "There's better places than this to stay."

[iobartach]

chapter definitions

hey heys! i've finally updated this post with something meaningful! using the following tags, i intend to track particular story arcs & events that occur on this blog , with a emphasis on plotted and/or long form / long term stuff

all of these will use my main verse as a basis - details can be found here!

if we've been plotting together and worldbuilding for a while, i'm liable to (quietly) add a tag. so, without further delay, let's see what miguel's been up to! ;

added 2023

chapter; las vegas -- miguel & thera spend some time in sin city!

chapter; force of nature -- not all anomalies are spider-man villain variants, as miguel is quick to learn; but not before he gets stabbed in the side!

chapter; past meets future -- cut off from the society and 2099, miguel finds himself stuck in the modern day, where a chance encounter with a stranger blooms into something else entirely.

added 2024

chapter; entangled in obsession -- what lengths will a man go to achieve what he desires the most? miguel isn't sure, but he's about to find out when he becomes ensnared in trouble involving one salvador octavius, and his fixation with the members of the vasquez-navarro family

chapter; teeth a white row -- what's worse than reluctantly working for a criminal organisation? why being watched over by a man-sized mountain, of course! here, miguel operates under the careful eyes of an ever grinning mauga, whose remit is to ensure that Talon's reluctant Spider thinks twice about defecting.

chapter; alive and well -- from thefirst moment they threw fists whilst fending off alien fighters together, such an unlikely duo were bound to cross paths again. miguel shows broly what it's like to live in the year 2099.

chapter; angels with dirty faces -- paradiso's angels have descended upon nueva york, only all is not what it appears to be. in miguel's search for answers, the prophetesses of casualty will reveal what's at stake.

chapter; lightning in motion -- after a crispy encounter, misconceptions are addressed as a new ally is gained.

added 2025

chapter; sorching sun -- the creator god amon ra reaches out to miguel with an offer to become his sun king. miguel declines.

chapter; cure begets curse -- when encountering a researcher with intentions of stopping the distribution of alchemax's latest product, miguel is quick quick to lend a hand, only for disaster for strike.

chapter; mind in chains -- a sort of what-if where miguel and otto octavius are colleagues at alchemax!

chapter; never will fall never will end -- chronicling the adventures of miguel and his friend, the cosmic contender rex!

chapter; in need of time -- miguel searched the vast expanse of the multiverse for a glimpse at his other selves. upon finding one who happened to perish, and be a father at the same time, the choice before him seemed obvious; he would step in and replace his deceased version, acting in his place. / this will also be used to single out threads where miguel grieves for his daughter!

for fun

chapter; olympic games -- miguel competes in the mario olympics... just so he could beat a legendary saiyan and mutant turtle in points

chapter; night of the spooky boops -- that time when booking was all the rage one halloween... :)

more tba'd eventually!

[iobartach]

Restricted to the periphery, he had found a new position and hunkered down, perching in the shadows, beyond the glare of the facility's loading yard and entrance. Of the plans he could run with, over half advocated for infiltration, for finding an unguarded access hatch and crawling his way inside. Which might've had some chance of working, if it wasn't for a lack of schematics, or any hint at all that could paint a picture of the building's layout.

Thus, as annoying as it seemed, Miguel was left with little choice but to wait for the woman's return, should her plan go off without a hitch, and she somehow avoided drawing the full might of an entity like Stark-Fujikawa down on her head. Alchemax would certainly be watching, waiting for the first signs of weakness to deploy their Corporate Raiders, make a play that would potentially see a hated rival's assets be acquired.

In any case, he stayed put, learning the pattern of the guard's patrols in his efforts to pass the time, whilst keeping the bulk of his attention trained on the same doors that the woman had vanished behind, anticipating trouble.

But was unable to determine what form it was going to take. Or who exactly it would affect.

Unfortunately for Miguel, the security assigned to the escort detail weren't nearly paid enough to question someone who was otherwise qualified to be present. It said so on the redhead's badge, Yoshitaka Hinoka M.D. PhD; Lead Project Analyst. Sure it wasn't her project but she had access to it for the sake of making sure Stark Fujikawa and Alchemax were staying within ethical and scientific guidelines.

Even if one wasn't necessarily staying in the lines like the other.

She passes through secure door after secure door, occasionally idle chatter that could rattle through the labyrinth of vents within the building's internal structure. Conversation about the transportation, how it was going, was handling of the 'serum' being followed to the letter?

It wasn't necessarily a large amount of substance, but it was R&D's next potential miracle drug and cash cow--as long as the patents still held.

Roughly twenty to thirty minutes pass involving traveling corridors, security, bio and retinal scanners before finally reaching the clean room.

"Hey!" Hinoka could be heard chastising one of the handlers, "Careful with that! Did no one tell him about proper dress protocol? Get that guy out of there, I'll do it myself!"

"Someone grab me a clean suit while I run decontamination."

This would be her chance to do the ol' bait n' switch. Then she could properly dispose of whatever manipulative horror she knew it would be turned into.

[iobartach]

Details began to pool to the surface, not as a steady stream as hoped, but more of a trickle, that demands patience to oversee. To hear she was afflicted by a terrible hunger, devouring the equivalent of her own body weight in food, only to derive little sustenance from it carried shades of his own problems, a nearly beat for beat replica of altered dietary needs. Only his hunger tended to take a different form, surfacing occasionally, rather than demand constant attention, as seems to be the problem in her specific case.

Still, if the choice were available, he'd still swap, missing already the ritual of preparing daily meals, as much as sitting down to eat them himself.

"You'll adjust, it'll take time." Spoken with confidence, he aims to sound convincing, leaving unsaid the very real possibility that her body will not adjust to the changes claiming her, causing her to perish. It weighs on him to know this, a burden that causes his brows to furrow with sympathy behind a still maintained hard light mask, especially in the face of her unprompted gratitude.

"Because I... know what it's like." To be terrified. To rise, half-awake, and devour what food happened to be lying around. It all came back to him in a instant, and took twice as much effort to shove aside again. "And, fortunately for you, that's not my style." Basking in the misery of his enemies was a luscious luxury, but for all accounts, this woman happened to be a bystander, with half-baked plan, and all the altruistic intent to prevent a megacorporation from closing another deal with a lucrative rival, dooming the city a little bit more.

"Plus, I've been where you are. Alone, without help. Trying to... adjust." It's a struggle to make it through this point in their conversation, hitting bump after bump. "There's no turning back. I have... tried."

"Y...Yeah, uh, anything I could eat at my apartment...." She managed to groan out, "Protein shakes, cooked meat-."

She paused, the sound of her voice filling with shame, like she'd been reduced to that of an animal, "Raw meat."

"Didn't much like that last one."

Another pang ran through her body and she curled tighter, green eyes still peeking out under the mess of red hair.

"I ate everything, every last thing I had it..it wasn't enough." Like she had said, nothing seemed to stick. Not for long enough to make her comfortable. When Miguel gave her reassurance, her eyes shined with something and her whimpered tone increased as she at least tried to raise her head to look at the man properly.

"T...Thank you," She murmured, "But...why? Would you want to help me...?"

Her memory wasn't so bad that Miguel's little warning hadn't slipped her mind entirely. The encounter--aside from the incident itself -- had been the precursor to a life-changing event.

"Isn't this," She grumbled, "The part where you say ' I told you so'?"

[iobartach]

Did she wish for him to provide her with a tabulated list? In short, his answer would be many, encounters that happened with enough frequency that it saw him default to being suspicious, rather than believe in the ingenuity of strangers he's encountered. As a result, a brusque "more than you would think" is shared in warning, body shifting as insightful fragments of information came to light.

She was an employee? This surprised him for a moment, the lines on his mask furrowing in tandem with this breaking news as he worked through what it meant. Sabotage from within. Now didn't that sound familiar? But, faced as he was with the blueprints for an pending incident, before he could respond in kind, the woman was on her way, plan invariably put into motion, leaving him with little choice but to spectate.

And see how this plan of hers would turn out.

Cut firmly out of the picture, a stretch of arm above his head would see Miguel seek a higher elevation, retreating to the rooftops that would afford him with a prime view of what was to unfold. From here, garnet hues saw her pass by security unobstructed, a move that spurred a quizzical arch of brow for the lack of hasher questions put to her. But as it appeared that she was making genuine progress, Miguel would soon make the decision to get closer, leaping across the gaps separating adjourning buildings, whilst staying out of site of guards stationed on the facility's roof.

Surely someone would stop her at some point... right?

She gave the expressionless mask a flat look.

"Seriously? How many people have you met that just think running in blind and hoping everything ends up okay?"

She sighed, "yeah, of course I've figured out how to stop it. Making sure the serum doesn't get delivered. I work here, I'm not exactly suspicious."

Granted slinking around in the shadows was awfully suspicious to begin with but considering this guy just scuttled down from the roof to try and stop her wasn't any more suspicious than her just existing.

"Uh, okay? Thanks for the absolutely unnecessary opinion." Hinoka huffed before she shuffled her clothing and hair around slightly, as if she'd been hurried. Without much more of a word she departed from Miguel, jogging ans pretending to be winded as she approached one of the guards.

Seems she'd been telling the truth, she gave some half-assed excuse for being 'late' and that her 'assignment' had come last minute since her director couldn't make the send off. Unimpressed, the armed guard spoke into a radio before waving her through. Shows what that spider guy knew. She'd been planning this for months, hell she was the whistleblower in the first place.

This was going to go smoothly and without a hitch, it had to.

[iobartach]

The lack of a reaction raises a worrying flag, filed away as his gaze skims over the rest of her crumpled form. In every regard, whether intentional or not, she resembled a creature trying to hide, withdrawing into the darkest crevice possible, rejecting the change that's consumed her entire being.

"I see." Offering acknowledgement, if nothing else, Miguel changes his approach in light of this, voice dropping in volume so as to lessen the strain placed upon her settling senses. She, who no more than a week ago, had lambasted him for his attempts prevent her from following through with her plan. From ending up like this.

A species of regret knots in his chest all of a sudden, coaxing his own eyes, unaffected by the absence of night, to narrow unseen. She needed job, and he only needed to learn--

What exactly she required.

"Did what you try to consume contain protein? Would you be willing o make a second attempt, as long as you don't question what I bring you back?" For he wouldn't need to venture far. Caught in a pinch like this, deprived of nutrients, the sewer's rodent population would fill the void, at least temporarily.

Withdrawing his hand, he shuffles along beside her, feet changing position with the barest of sounds as he puts forth theories, knitted together from various sources.

"Well... you've been in an accident." Speaking plainly, it needed to be said, established by a source not actively enduring an internal rewiring. "And you're not dying. Not in the usual sense, at least." For that would be too easy for creatures like them, who felt every painful shifting of bone, as their form adhered to a new configuration.

"I'm here with you. It's going to get worse, but I won't leave your side, you hear?"

She doesn't even flinch when the hand is placed on her. A faintly familiar voice rings in her head and a green eye peeks out from dirty, disheveled red hair. She doesn't have the strength to try and fight back if this person intended to hurt her. Her whole body aches in both pain and in craving something.

"It....Was the only place that was quiet." She mewled, trying to curl up further into herself. Ever since the accident at Fujikawa everything had gotten so damn loud, it was unbearable. Scents were stronger, and she could swear that she could feel the vibrations of people walking the streets. It was beyond sensory overload and the doctor had no explanation. Sure, it was the least decent smelling place but it had brought her minimal comfort. It was quiet, or at the very least everything was muffled.

"I can't sleep, I...I tried eating but...nothing, nothing sticks." It didn't make her sick, but rather her body treated as if she had never eaten at all.

"I don't know what's happening t...to me." She groaned halfway through her sentence, the words practically hissed through clenched teeth, "I'm dying, I can feel it, I don't know what to do."

Hinoka sounds like she could be sobbing but the tears don't come, "I'm scared."

[iobartach]

The startled reception builds up the chance of a positive outcome. Good, the stranger appeared guarded at least, which led his next subsequent burst of thought to think that whatever she was plotting right now had been arranged in advance. Something that also meant... dissuading her from proceeding could be challenging.

"I'm not with anyone. No-one sent me." These statements see the Spider draw closer, claws gripping at the edges of the car's roof as he leans forward over the wind-shield. Such words however told a version of the truth, for in some respects he was representative of a certain organisation, a Society that was intent on fixing damage inflicted upon the fabric of reality as much as it was duty-bound to respect Canon Events, fixed points in time.

Could this be such a occasion, too?

He wasn't entirely certain, and would not be rebuffed so easily until he had a concrete answer. Hence, instead of stoking the ambers of a brewing debate, he pivots the angle of his criticism, trying a new approach. "I don't doubt that, but have you given any consideration to--" For a moment, the pilfered keycard are wafted in his face, like a prize, "--how exactly you're going to stop that truck from leaving?"

A slashing of tires might not cut it, and aside from slipping into the driver's seat, given the attention pinned upon the vehicle already, he doubted she'd have time to turn the shocking thing on before being hauled away.

"But since you seem so insistent, go right ahead." An arm is waved in a dismissive gesture, making the decision to stay put. "Just don't come crying to me when everything falls apart."

The immediate visceral reaction her body wants to perform is to whip around and get into a defensive stance, but those years of training are distant enough that she simply tensed. The woman is far shorter than the Spider that looks down at her, and while her eyes briefly size him up the warning and positioning of his body tells her she's outmatched by leagues.

Green eyes narrow at the masked face she looked back towards before returning to watching the patrols and preparation of the truck.

"Look I don't know which group sent you but clearly it's not one I talked to." She stated flatly but quietly. She is determined, that much is clear. "If you think that, you're sorely misinformed."

She pointed towards the patrols.

"What I'm planning to do is a hell of a lot better than what will happen if that truck gets loaded, and at least I have the credentials to get inside without looking like--" She halted and instead briefly revealed a staff keycard to Miguel.

"So, unless you're here to help me out kindly go back to whatever roof you've scrambled down from."