Morbius 2099UG #4

"WHAT THE SHOCK DO YOU WANT???!?"

He stood before me, glaring, utterly mad. I didn't know this side of O'Hara was even present, to say nothing of actually meeting face-to-face with his fury.

I wanted to punish the head of Alchemax for providing Downtowners with the virulent drug Vamp-X, which changes people into vampire-like beings, then changes them further, warping their personalities, turning them into killers who don't give a damn what they do or whom they kill. Believe me, I have killed a great many of these creatures, although I wish I had not done so. Some I have killed out of rage; others were so far gone that it seemed a kill out of pity; and more seemed to only melt into mush when hit. And when the news of the real dealer of the drug came to me, I was adamant about launching an attack on CEO Miguel O'Hara, and immediately dropped by his apartment in the Babylon Towers.

Things did not go as planned.

I went alone, and climbed straight up the Tower. I found his window, slightly ajar, and crept inside, finding him asleep in his bed, so innocent-seeming, so helpless. I could have had him right then and there. But was I there to survey my prey or simply do the deed? I couldn't decide, but my decision was made for me as a figure, transparent and golden, showed up before my very eyes.

It was a very beautiful-looking woman, only it wasn't--just a hologram. Probably O'Hara's own holoagent. Nothing.

"Would you like a crueller?" the holoagent asked. "I imagine you're a friend of Miguel's. I'm Lyla. He has such interesting friends, but very few choose the manner of entrance you do!"

"What madness is this?" I asked aloud.

"Please, sir, Miguel is asleep. I'd ask you to leave now. But would you like a crueller before you go? They're really good..."

This "Lyla" got on my nerves. I nearly yelled at her, "No! I do not want any of what you have. I just want O'Hara to pay!!!"

"The cruellers are his, he's already paid for them."

Swiftly, I turned around again and climbed to the windowsill to make my exit. As I rose to the frame, I saw the eyes of Miguel flicker open. I paid no attention to this, and climbed out of the window, listening slightly to the conversation as I went.

"Lyla, what the shock's going on?" O'Hara asked, in a barely-awake voice.

"There was a horrible man in black! And he went through there!" the holoagent Lyla replied, pointing toward the window.

"Okay Lyla, good girl," O'Hara replied in a disregarding tone, sinking back into his bed.

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Seeing, knowing my target made the next part easy. I gathered my army of sorts, those who support me like no other, and hours later I organized a march toward Alchemax. The sun in the sky would not matter to me, for the chance for revenge was too great and could not be missed. The problem I encountered this time was a rather large army of flying Japs surrounding the establishment. They ordered us to turn back or face the consequences. My army and I fought valiantly against them, but finally the rest of my army decided to leave me alone. Shows how much faith they have to stick by their savior. I forged onward.

It took more time than I would have liked, but alas I came to the building itself and began a search for O'Hara. here, now, I find him. I had hoped to also run into the corporate raider of Alchemax, the so-called Spider-Man. A worthy challenge before O'Hara, as I wanted both their blood.

Then came the unexpected, everything delivered to me on a silver platter.

Spider-Man's costume I saw as I entered the room. But I saw it in the most unexpected of places:

On the person of Miguel O'Hara.

The expression on his face, one of rage. He had fangs! And when he screamed at me, it seemed he was in great pain.

But that didn't matter now. My two greatest enemies, rolled into one.

I would enjoy this.

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The grim voice speaks from the portal to one side of the room. The generator still hums, and energy, in its purest form, pours in and around the Virtual Unreality gateway as Morbius glides softly to the ground, his black leather suit flapping in the wind from the window behind.

The voice, calling itself Thanatos, was coming closer, becoming louder, a boom unlike any other. It has spoken before, to Miguel / Spider-Man, and its words were none too soothing. Unnerving.

Morbius stands to forge onward when he is surprised by Miguel, pulling his mask over his face and lunging headlong at him, talons out, fangs bared and outlined through the mask. Morbius tenses, then evades the attack by falling flat left, onto the ground, rolling over and then to a standing position. Miguel, now Spider-Man, lunges again and this time catches Morbius, pulling him down with a "thud" to the floor.

"Why now, shock you??" Spider-Man cries through his mask. His fretted brow is seen through the fabric; angry and perplexed by the recent situations, he curses as he hits Morbius's face over and over again: "Why won't all of you leave me alone? Leave Alchemax alone? First it was Hikaru this morning, then those shockin' Specialists outside, then Halloween Jack finds out that I was his favorite fall guy, Miguel O'Hara, back when he was Jordan Boone! And now you come in, catch me off guard just as some lunatic I'd faced before comes back through this gate! The nerve of you! On top of all of this, this VU generator is going to blow in a little under an hour because some SHOCKHEADS didn't fix the shockin' reservoirs to the shockin' device!"

He continues beating Morbius, and Morbius feels deep within a feeling of compassion, just an ounce of it--but disregards it as nothing. The one name stands out to him--that of Halloween Jack! That was the one who had taunted him with clues as to Alchemax's involvement, wasn't it? (See MORBIUS 2099 #1! -GM) Could Jack have been more? Meant more? As he strains to pick himself up off the floor and push Spider-Man away, he watches in horror as a form of almost total energy forms.
"Spider-Man!" Morbius cries through a blood-filled mouth.

"Shock you," he replies.

"SPIDER-MAN," a voice from behind echoes.

"Shock you, too," he again replies, only to realize the fatal error he has made just moments later. "Oh, shock..."

Spider-Man stops punching and Morbius feels at last more at ease as Spider-Man's body is pulled from off of Morbius's chest and to a spot far above the ground. The energy takes form above and once again the being known as Thanatos has Spider-Man in his clutches.

"ENOUGH OF THIS, YOU PATHETIC WHINER. I AM HERE FOR YOU. HERE TO GIVE YOU THE EXECUTION YOU SO RIGHTLY DESERVE." Thanatos, once again clad as-was when he and Miguel had first encountered (SPIDER-MAN 2099 #11-13! --GM), stands in all his glory and begins to crunch Spidey's throat. Spidey lets out a yelp, and his body writhes all around, legs kicking, arms flailing but to no avail.

Morbius watches in horror and disbelief. **So this is the great and mighty Spider-Man. Also the mighty Miguel O'Hara. And here is an experiment from beyond, gone horribly awry. It should be fitting, yes, that I should leave them both here to kill each other, to be destroyed when this device of Alchemax's builds to overload? Why doesn't that feel right? I am vengeful for this, but perhaps ... perhaps the one should be saved. Punished later, when I and I alone can carry out the appropriate sentence. It makes sense that no one else but I shall have the head of Miguel and Spider-Man.**

With this Morbius suddenly feels hungry again. With the hunger comes the urge to feed; with that, the transformation begins. It is different, supremely different from what had gone before -- the Vamp-X drug seemed to cause mutagenic effects upon his body, even more than before. Nightfall no longer brings the changes out--this he knows. It is day and yet the things that have happened before, the heightened vision and hearing, but now the drugs give him the blue patches of fur, the accelerated muscular development all over, the gory whiteness, paleness of skin, the elongated fangs, clawlike hands and the hunter's instinct -- all place themselves, and the seven-foot tall figure propels himself upward, feeling something lift him over to Thanatos, and more, push him away from Spider-Man. With a gasp Spider-Man is gone from the crushing grip of Thanatos, and Morbius is slashing at the VU construct, over and over and over, pure energy leaking out through the seemingly-human being.

Spidey is on the ground, choking, getting his breath back, still overwhelmed by his bad fortune this day. He stares up at the unfolding battle, stares at this new creature which has ventured into his offices, and feels he should do something. But what? His stamina is already low, and he should by rights devote the rest of his time to preserving all life within Alchemax Tower. Halloween Jack made the shutdown a momentary setback; Alchemax technicians made it a nightmare; and Thanatos keeping the portal open sealed the building's fate.

The strange creature was turning battle's tide, though, and as soon as Spider- Man rises to join him, Thanatos lashes out at the side of the building wall, leaving a huge hole there, large enough for him to crawl out. Bruised, energy seeping from every wound, Thanatos stands at the self-made exit and salutes the fallen hero:

"TO YOU, SPIDER-MAN; YOU HAVE MADE MY NEW MISSION POSSIBLE. BATHE IN THE RUINS OF ALCHEMAX TOWER, NOT AS YOU, MIGUEL O'HARA, BATHED IN THE GENETIC FORMULAE WHICH RE-ENCODED YOUR DNA AND MADE YOU WHAT YOU ARE, BUT BATHE IN TORMENT, NEVER-ENDING HEL AND BRIMSTONE. FARE THEE WELL. BEWARE WHAT YOUR SHORT FUTURE HOLDS." He then leaps out the aperture and Spider-Man runs to the hole after him.

Standing with Morbius beside him, he asks to the air: "How did he know that?" The answer comes in a wisp of wind, and he speaks yet again, even as a blue- furred, white-skinned hand wipes across his masked face: "Delgato?"

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"You insolent insect!" Morbius roars as he decks Spider-Man across the face, sending him into the equipment. he rushes up to him, pulls the weak Miguel up, and continues: "If you had not performed such a grisly task as become part of Alchemax, then possibly I could have avoided this, if I only knew you as Spider- Man. But I know you also as Miguel O'Hara, CEO of the company which made me who I am! Do you know what I'm talking about, Miguel? Do you?" With this he rips Spidey's mask off his face and throws it to the ground.

"Who are you--? The man from my apartment last night...but why...?"

"'Why the shock am I doing this?' I've heard it before. My name, as you should know me now, is Morbius. And though I fashion no time for fancy explanations, I shall inform you that I am sixteen miserable years old. Alchemax left me to rot, I tell you!"

**Sixteen?** Miguel thinks. **He can't be, unless....the files! The other day the files I went over from 2083! Some bits and pieces were missing from the holodisks. Some kind of experiment. Could he be....Oh, for the love of Thor...**

"I don't know what the shock you're talking about," Spider-Man then says. "I hadn't even joined the company in 2083, fella. If you think I'm responsible for you, Morb, I think the man for you to go see is Tyler Stone."

**I already saw him,** Morbius thinks, then says: "But he's not the one who is still committing the wrongs!" And then he gives Spidey another punch to the gut, adding to his pain.

"I don't understand! Alchemax is trying to help the community! We--"

Hit again.

Then, from Morbius: "You poison Downtown with the filth that you sell. You do this still, unaided by Stone."

"Rapture? Rapture's been the craze for the longest time! It's legal, although I don't condone it, and--"

Hit yet again. Kick to the groin.

"Not Rapture. Rapture is heaven's food to the people compared with the stuff which the vermin sell on my streets now. What I'm talking about--" he pulls out a small vial of violet liquid and holds it before a stunned Miguel -- "Is this virulent poison called 'V-X'." Instead of letting Miguel fully away, he punches him again, and again, holding him almost paralyzed, and Miguel slumps weakly to the floor.

"V-*choke*-X?? Never heard of it. What is it?"

"You know about this drug, Mister O'Hara. Your company manufactures this poison based on my unique body chemistry, somehow. Somehow it has very similar properties in connection with what I have become."

"Can I analyze it?" Miguel asks. He is very tense, choking, feeling something wet in his chest, deciding it to be a cracked rib. He re-dons his mask, manages to stand, just barely, and reaches for the vial. Morbius sweeps it away.

"You make it. You know what it is."

"And this is why you are here? To stop production of this drug?"

"No. I am here not only for this, but to deal death to all who manufacture it. You will pay the ultimate price for your transgressions against Downtown!" Again, Morbius rises to hit Spider-Man, but Miguel ducks down, rolls, picks up his Spider-Man mask, and wears it as he fires a web up to the ceiling, swinging at Morbius, feet forward.

He connects with Morbius's jaw, hearing a distinct crack. Morbius counters by slashing across Spider-Man's chest with his claws, shredding some fabric over the skull pattern. Spidey responds furiously by screaming and slashing at Morbius with his own claws. Both are full of rage, their rational minds gone from the ordeals they have endured up to now. And the day is yet young.

"I shall make an example of Alchemax!" proclaims Morbius as the thirst for energy becomes even more ravenous. Spidey waits a few feet away even as he sees Morbius start to lurch forward, then down to the ground in apparent pain. Neither of them knows it, but the mutagenic changes within Morbius's body triggered by the Vamp-X have not yet stopped.

There is first a howl of pain emanating from Morbius's throat, then cracking noises from his backside, and something fluid, something like slime, shooting from his shoulder blades. Suddenly two sharp rods extend from his backside and grow outward, black and thorny. The rods seem to blossom then, as two gigantic bat-wings take shape and Morbius subconsciously rises from the ground, up into the air and soon, with another howl, up out of the same hole Thanatos made, only up toward the roof of the immense corporate structure.

Miguel is not thinking properly, much less in the smallest respect of the word; his world is shattered, people left and right are discovering the identity he fought so hard to keep secret; if he were anyone now he would be the Spider-Man, even to a very powerful extent more spider, more animal than man; an insect capable of only the smallest brain function. And since Morbius is the source of his current torment, the only one in the vicinity whom he can blame without assaulting the Specialists, out he goes into the daylight, up the building he scales, and it is Morbius he sees attacking--aiding the Specialists in a barrage of attacks upon the palace which in less than forty-five minutes will go up in the brightest display of fireworks the city has seen since the latter twencen.

Morbius, from his perch above, looks at Spider-Man with disgust. He must defeat the enemy, and this is the way to do it! All must pay for the sins Alchemax has committed against humanity, against him! He sees red and the hunger is greater than ever: not until he feasts on the blood of O'Hara will he be satisfied this day.

The light hurts him; his eyes will not adjust to the light. He only sees the Specialists, sees Spider-Man, his enemy, thundering up the side of the building at him, and at this he smiles, showing his pointy fangs. O'Hara should be the only one who suffers, he thinks, but there also must be an accounting made of who manufactures the actual product; Morbius knows Miguel is but an overseer, hiding the fact deep beneath Alchemax itself. He must find incontrovertible evidence -- but can he? He sees only one way to bring his point across now, not even seeing the obvious: he thinks and the deed is done. No fragile work can be done with his hands. His vision is painted red with dreaming of Spider-Man impaled on a skewer, of seeing his life energy drain from him; this he wants and nothing more.

"You ... will ... NOT ... destroy ... ALCHEMAX!" yells Spider-Man, the only words he is able to coherently form. He lurches at Morbius, his body resilient, already mending broken bones. He sees beyond his pain and fights for what he can no longer reason as good or evil. His cause is just, like Morbius's he sees only what he wants to see, feels only what he wants to feel, fighting for a special cause his and his alone.

They fight in vain for a cause neither of them could or should champion.

The lust for energy, for satisfying the physical hunger, is far more rampant now for Morbius; he fights left and right, dodging Spider-Man, throwing a punch, returning blow after devastating blow, his body healing but at a much faster rate than believed possible: the changes in his body must be occurring at such a phenomenal rate to warrant this healing factor; it cannot last, and will not. Spider-Man is turning battle's tide, fighting Morbius, then a Specialist, Morbius again, and it goes on from there. It reaches a critical point as Spider-Man tenses his wrist and a gob of webbing squirts directly in Morbius's face, blinding him.

"Insolent insect!" he exclaims again, and he tears at the webbing only to discover it has bonded to his face quite solidly. He claws at it, and the webbing is forcibly removed, but a yowl from Morbius thereafter prompts Spider- Man to re-examine what has happened: that Morbius has actually clawed off part of his own face! His eyes are covered in blood as he soars toward Spider-Man.

Spidey jumps out of the way in time to see Morbius crash into a downed Specialist. Unable to tell the difference between this being and Spider-Man himself, he places his hands at the foe's neck, nods his head to the Specialist's forehead, touching them, and the energy transfers between them. Still Morbius squirms and it is another few seconds, his vision still obscured by the blood, before he pulls another Specialist close and processes his energy as well. Each time, five in all, the Specialists shrivel and wither, but do not die; Morbius, on the other hand, is rejuvenated, his muscle tone reappearing then fleshing out to normal, and the metamorphosis completes its cycle. Hair fades away, flesh takes on a more pinkish palor, eyes become less sensitive, claws become hands once more, and he becomes as he was before his thirst took him out of control. He sinks to the ground, fully healed, no blood, no more animal-creature.

Spider-Man, however, is not impressed nor deterred.

He throws himself upon, Morbius, but too weak to hold his grip, Morbius casts him aside and stands up, pulling him close, up in the air. He begins to speak, and the words that are formed are gentle, caring even:

"I'm sorry for doing this, Spider-Man ... Miguel. Do you understand? Nothing good can come of this."

Miguel remains far from himself, but begins to calm. "Why did you attack?"

"Something happens to me. A beast, shall I say. My blood getting the better of me. When the thirst beckons as it has recently, I am not myself."

"The Specialists?" Suddenly Miguel looks at the Specialists swarming the place, and in terror looks at the few fallen on the top of the building.

"Unconscious, they won't be moving for a while. They need to build up their life energies. I assure you, they are not at all dead, nor near it. I daresay that if I had been flying and you had not ducked, you would have been my meal."

"Thanks, it's ... comforting to know. Morbius, is it? You came here, I didn't understand or didn't want to at first. Shock it, if you wanted to know about what's going on at Alchemax, this isn't the right time to come. Ordinarily I'd do my best to clear up what's happened in the streets, to you. It's Stone who ran this place up until a few weeks ago, but ..."

"I understand that now. Thinking more clearly. Some drug called Vamp-X has been in production and on the streets in Downtown. It turns people into vampires, then kills them, depending on some element in their body chemistry. I found a sample, got it from a dealer." Once again Morbius reaches out the vial of purplish liquid, and this time he allows Miguel to hold it and examine it.

"We don't have much time, you know," Miguel says, smiling through his mask. "The place needs to be evacuated, it's going to blow in about forty minutes. And there's still the problem of the Specialists swarming about this place ... I don't know what's going to..."

As if in response to Miguel's words, an armored SHIELD officer upon a skycycle appears, smacking a Specialist away just as the warrior is about to pounce upon Miguel. He then announces to Spider-Man, "Spider-Man, sir, what are you doing here? We need your help, but..."

"I had to help with something at Mr. O'Hara's request. Do you think you can keep the Specialists at a safe distance? Also try and get some of the head personnel out. Mr. O'Hara will tell you about it later. Now go!" And the SHIELD agent is gone.

Spider-Man and Morbius exchange glances. "Morbius? I'll do what I can to help, in the short time we have. The SHIELD agents should be able to take care of some evacuation procedures. Come to the lab."

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"I don't trust you yet, Miguel. But I respect you."

"Respect is a strong word. Especially when you consider the fact I shouldn't be doing this for someone who just beat the shock out of me minutes ago," Miguel says, mask off, as he examines the V-X compound underneath a microscope. "It has a special code on the compounds. Genetic print ID. It's made here, all right. By whom I can only guess."

"Oh? How can you tell all that?"

"Take a look," Miguel says, switching the microscope to a holographic view in front of them, so both can see. He takes a look as Miguel continues. "It looks like something of an offshoot of Rapture, augmented by some compounds not readily available here on this dimensional plane. I've seen the energy materials before, they use them to bond things. I know someone who worked with them, in fact. May be your man ... and he just left about twenty minutes ago."

"That one you talked about ... Boone?"

"That's him. Stingy fellow. Shock him, anyway. But before he metamorphosed into Loki and later Halloween Jack (in THE FALL OF THE HAMMER and X-MEN 2099 #16, respectively! --GM) , he worked with advanced genetics and also the V.U."

"What's VU?"

"Virtual Unreality. That's where that Thanatos character came from. Lots of unexplored territory there. But somehow someone got their hands on that stuff and synthesized it with Rapture into this virulent little poison. That's what I know from this sample. If Alchemax survives, which I'm sure it will, I'll find out all I can to get this stuff out of the company, destroy it totally if possible ..." He pauses briefly, looking at the drug composition, then sees something black appear on the screen, twitching unusually.

"Oh Thor," Miguel says.

"What the shock--?" concurs Morbius.

"There's something I never thought of, Morbius. Some element missing and I think I know what that is. If I am right, then it may be more than just a little synthesized poison going around. And I know which department made that killer cocktail, too."

"Where?"

"You'll never make it in time, Morbius. It's in the sub-basement, and you'd still be too close to the VU generator when it explodes!"

"Tell me. Sub-basement, where?"

"Stasis laboratory, foreign materials. Go, but--what's the other problem you had? About sixteen years ago?"

"Creation is what occurred. You might want to see if you can repair the damaged files and see what filth your dear company had been up to. If you wish to help yourself, and guard against the future of the corporation. Then again, the building will be gone soon. No record of anything left, if indeed it is this company who made the mistake of creation. Good luck, O'Hara," he says as he walks to the doorway. "You will surely need it to understand, and prevent it from happening again. For if you do not learn from the mistakes of the past, then I shall return to exact more precise vengeance. And my wrath will be felt, unchained, inescapable. Farewell, Miguel O'Hara ... Spider-Man."

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EPILOGUE:

Twenty minutes later
Sub-basement B

Still nothing. The place is demolished, Specialists having run rampant through and through, and no sign of anyone. The call for immediate evacuation sounded twenty minutes ago, and that means whoever was here must have taken their precious drug and split. Shock them, thinks Morbius.

Then he happens upon something that changes the situation entirely. He finds a door in the Stasis Lab, locked, and hammers it down with his fists. Clicking on a light, he realizes he has come upon a shelter of some sort. Not that it could withstand explosions: perhaps earthquakes, never a bomb or such material. Nuclear obliteration was out of the question.

And there he finds technicians working diligently: and there against the wall is an assembly of thick liquid flowing through an elaborate system of drains and pipes: and that liquid is purple in color. The smell confirms it, and Morbius's senses override.

This is the drug he sought, right in plain sight, in this secret room of rooms.

And with this comes of course the anger. The hunger comes again, the second time in the day. Perhaps day triggers it more, due to the secretion of different hormones; any case means that he is starting to metamorphose. As he sees the scientists turn around, he growls at them, and hears their responses, from fear, to passing out, to denial. A few even think that Morbius is the devil himself; more believe him to be a Vamp-X vampire.

"What the shock is going on? How did you get in here?" one yells, and Morbius notes that all of them are encased in special suits. Whether these be to protect against stray molecules of bacteria or raw materials for the V-X in the atmosphere, it matters not to him, and Morbius then leaps toward this scientist, slashing the suit open along the chest, though not wounding the man. He leaps to another two scientists, and conks their heads together. He looks to the man who seems to be in charge of the project. He stands before a huge glass tube which holds something Morbius cannot see -- though it looks to be a human form. Morbius corners him, but the man does not show fear. Instead, he is anxious and quite pleased.

"You're one of the ones who succeeded," he says, smiling. "I am honored to meet you. I am your creator. I created the drug which transformed you! I am Doctor Aeneas Thoreau, and I--!"

Morbius shoves him up against the wall, holding him up in the air above. "Your drug did not create me. I was alive, was this way long before V-X hit the streets of Downtown. And neither, do I believe, that the drug is totally your work. Call it dead man's intuition." Morbius smiles and shows his teeth, dripping with saliva. Thoreau shudders.

"Then how did you--? Oh, no, the Project!!!" Sweat beads down Thoreau's face and he threatens to pass out but Morbius looks him in the eye again and goes on.

"To which "project" are you referring, Thoreau? perhaps it would do you good to elaborate. Not much, but some..."

v"I can't. It's true, I - I, I didn't create the original drug compound. I used Rapture as a control element, used some scientist's new bonding process to isolate certain hallucinogenic elements, and the research from some old holorecords, but something went wrong! A foreign object entered into the matrix! The result is what you know as V-X! It's not supposed to be this way...!" As he finishes his sentence a distant crack like thunder is heard, and the building begins to shake.

"The building is coming down! The generator is building up! What O'Hara said is true! Oh, shock..." Morbius says, half in awe, half scared out of his mind.

"The generator? The VU -- Shock! I have to get out of here, now! I--I didn't realize--!"

Morbius catches Thoreau as he tries to escape, holding him in place. "You're not going anywhere. What is this foreign factor in the matrix, as you call it? Tell me, and if I spare your life, tell me you'll agree to do everything you can, find out whatever you can, about my condition."

"I'll promise nothing!!! You're a freak! The foreign factor in the matrix, I'm trying to figure that out now. It rather obviously comes from--" the earth rumbles again -- "THAT!"

He lifts a finger to point at the figure in the glass tube, and Morbius sees a face in the murky fluid -- surrounded by bubbles, the blue-and-black-hued being shows its pupilless eyes, bares its mouthful of sharp teeth, and from its body stretch black tentacles, oozing all over. The building shakes again, and again, and the one who has been both Sub-Mariner and Venom stares at the one called Morbius, and the vampire-like being stares in response.

And those stares last mere seconds before the VU generator, and thus all of Alchemax...

...Explodes.