Morbius 2099UG #5A

PROLOGUE:
(outside the ruins of Alchemax)

A bright flash.

The blinding explosion.

Very likely the end of everything ... and Le'Osha and the rest of
Morbius's followers are there with front-row seats.

All have seen the giant barrier erect itself around the site mere
moments before the explosion of the Virtual Unreality gate (See SPIDER-MAN
2099 AD #3); some have seen debris fall their way, through the shield,
limply, passively, to the ground; still others claim they have seen men,
two of them, fall from the high floors of the tower, but never saw them
land; and still others fear for all within. The turmoil around the
site is horrendous, with SHIELD, Public Eye, many Specialists, and several
civilians simply blankly staring at the tableau, shocked and amazed.
Each cannot believe his eyes. Some gasp, others faint, and still more
sit unaffected. Nothing will ever be the same.

And it is one voice that permeates through the crowd behind Le'Osha,
one cry above all others:

"The Leader is dead!"

As Le'Osha tries to calm the army down, she remembers exactly what
happened to all of them just over an hour ago. They were all led by
Morbius in a march on Alchemax Tower but were dissuaded when the various
nearby armies blocked their route. Morbius told his brethren to fall back,
that he would go it alone; but they would not listen and thus attacked
some of the Specialists. A number of them had been shot down, in a
ratio with only one Specialist felled by their ranks. Le'Osha
administered last rites as she knew how, and promptly left their bodies for
cremation. Now she wonders if Morbius is even alive, now that the building
into which he went is no more. She has great fear that this day Morbius
would pay for acting without thinking, without considering the scope of
his actions.

Other voices ring out through the air as she continues to stare at the
blazing inferno within the dome. "The leader is dead!" "He is gone
trying to save us all!" "He has purged a demon from our midst!" And yet
Le'Osha cannot think that Morbius could achieve such an act as mass
homicide and suicide as the evidence before her so clearly alludes to.

All of the men and women in Morbius's band now begin to dissociate, to
flock left and right without direction. Rather than believe that their
savior had decimated the company in self-sacrifice, or perhaps it was
just that they never cared for him at all, they all go away save for
Le'Osha and a few others as the minutes tick by. Not much activity is
going on in front of the building's remains. Le'Osha begins to cry at the
thought of Morbius not getting out alive. Just then a clawed hand taps
her on the shoulder. A wrinkly, green, shape-shifting hand.

"What are you crying for, lady? You should be happy! Happy, happy,
happy!!!!"

She turns around to face the creature who had attacked Morbius, not
physically, but psychologically just a day ago. He stands six and a half
feet tall, his skin bright green in tinge, and his clothing in black
shreds hanging about his lithe body. He cannot conceal his laughter and
his disdain.

"Who the shock be you?" Le'Osha asks.

"I 'be' Halloween Jack," the green figure states, staring directly at
her and grinning from ear to pointy ear. "And I be here to take your
worries away! After all, I've seen what happened in yonder Alchemax
building, and it looks not to be fun a'tall!" He bows before her then
scrapes his own cheek, letting blood cascade down his face. "And from the
place I once called my workplace -- yes, I used to work in that sty,
can you believe it? -- I have questions. And what questions they are!"
He sticks the finger in his mouth and sucks the blood off of it.

"You say ... that you have worked here before. I assume you be
different then to now? They make you this way, green man?"

"They make me this way, no. They start the process, the evolution,
yes! Though when I was a worker in the hive I went by another name..."

"Boone. Jordan. Loki. Jack. I see, I know, I understand. Why did
you come back? Why you been buggin' Morbius?"

"That's a strange question. Some strange answers also, let me tell
you, sis. But as much as I want to answer you, I'm afraid I must be off.
Just wanted you to know that your bud's dead as a twencen doornail,
kaputt, finito, morte, croaked!"

Le'Osha looks at Jack curiously and shakes her head as if she knows
something that Jack does also but does not acknowledge. "He be not dead.
Dat I know. You're not tellin' the whole truth, I see dat. Tell me de
whole story."

"I can't, wouldn't be fair!" Jack laughs.

Le'Osha counters with a knife to Jack's throat. A moment's pause,
then: "Now you be up for reconsiderin'?"

"My, you are a feisty one, darlin'. Morb -- perfectly ludicrous name,
huh? -- picked a good one when he picked you, gypsy-girl. How little
he knows about himself and about what he's truly capable of."

"You know more than you be tellin'? I slit your throat, I will,
Boone."

"All right, all right, you win. Though I might not go telling you that
he's alive, I can't say for certain he's dead, so I'll make you a deal,
lady. I'll go in and see if he's alive. If he is, I'll bring him out
to see you. If he's dead, then I'll bring his body out and you can
give it all the rites you want to. Can you get a better deal than that?"
Le'Osha shakes her head and withdraws the knife. "That's what I
thought." He morphs into a cat and leaps away onto a nearby rooftop. "I
will return!"

With that, he is gone, while Le'Osha silently wonders, "What about the
dome? How do you get by that, eh?"

*******************************************************************

The blackness surrounds all, envelops all in an all-consuming void to
which Morbius awakens, weary, tired, and bruised. He can feel the
hunger building within him, and who knows what else may be happening? It
was becoming harder to control himself ever since he had been injected
with Vamp-X, and he had been hoping to cure himself of that forever when
he entered Alchemax Tower a little under an hour ago.

Where can he find a match, or some form of lights? He does not know,
and that frightens him. He feels around only to find himself encased
below several feet of debris. Then he remembers what has happened: the
Virtual Unreality gate that O'Hara, Spider-Man, told him about. It must
have overloaded, he thinks. That is his only answer. He prays that he
is wrong.

He quickly spies the tunnels carved out in the concrete all around him,
and then looks down, seeing the main scientist, Aeneas Thoreau. He
checks to see if the man is breathing; to his relief that is the case, and
Morbius gives an exasperated sigh before picking him up and lifting him
under his arm. He sees the man's body battered and bloody and worries
whether or not he will survive. >>I could end his life right now and
prolong my life here, for I once again have the hunger. However, I may
have use for this 'Aeneas'...and may find out what has become of me,
what the drugs have done to my body. I must learn...<<

The tunnels are short up ahead, and so Morbius must make his own way
topside; then he can sort out this mess and prioritize; he can return to
his followers, who must surely think him injured or worse; and he can
return to Le'Osha.

With strength unparalleled Morbius begins to dig above him where there
is a hint of a tunnel. Dust and rubble begins to rain down upon him
and he must be careful not to let the doctor be injured any more
seriously. He digs and digs, higher and higher, using some mild flight powers,
feeling the wings protrude from his back from will this time and not
thirst. He will get out, and he will bring the scientist with him.

Suddenly he feels a coolness to the air, an intangibility that presents
itself. He hears a burrowing from below that comes closer, ever
closer, and when he turns to look, he sees a mound of concrete rising, and
from it comes a black seed and then an appendage rising into the tunnel;
that appendage finds many more, and they all congregate to form a
bluish-black being who pulls himself out of the hole, and into a position
separating Morbius from Aeneas.

"Who are you to have released us from our prison here in the bowels of
Alchemax Tower?" the being says, showing rows of fangs in his mouth,
and between those rows there comes a tongue, sloshing back and forth.
"We must repay you for your service."

Morbius looks at the stranger, vaguely recognizing him from catching a
brief look just prior to the huge explosion. Then he connects this
vision with another prior occurrence; namely, the news reports he had seen
a day or so ago. He remembers something about Spider-Man fighting some
sort of creature in the city, a creature which had to be brought back
to Alchemax for study. That creature's name was Venom.

But this is not the selfsame Venom he had heard of before in Downtown.
That creature had been the madman Kron Stone; this one Morbius was less
familiar with. It seemed that a creature come from one of Alchemax's
side projects had escaped, fought Spider-Man, and then once in captivity
the symbiote found and bonded with this "Roman", this Sub-Mariner, and
demented this creature, deluded it into something purely evil. It
declared war on the surface world and on Alchemax, but had been stopped by
Spider-Man not once but twice now. Would that hatred of Alchemax make
him a friend to Morbius...or an enemy?

"We can sense that you are a kindred spirit," Roman said, grinning,
"and since we can see that, we would like you to help us."

"What kind of help, foul beast?" Morbius says, looking with anger at
the character. He feels he can glean thoughts, intentions, from Roman's
head, and does not like what he believes he finds there.

"You are an experiment of Alchemax, have been experimented on and now
search for your identity. We--I have such a dilemma as well. I don't
know--who we are anymore. The thing--the symbiote--creeps into my head
every moment of every day and I don't know what thoughts are mine and
which are ours--its." A tear dripped from Roman's eye.

"What the shock do you want me to do about it?" Morbius sneers.

"It wants nothing more than to get out of this building, this
dilapidation which you helped create. The damage has been done. I, however,
wish that those who have entrapped me here shall pay. One such person
you have in your hands. I sense that you too show a great deal of
distaste for this man. Let us kill him--you and me, not the symbiote, for it
is grateful--and find our identities at last. Is that good? I can see
you want what I do." Roman steps closer to Morbius, gesturing with his
hand to the body of the scientist. He then begins to shake and
convulse.

Morbius looks at Roman disdainfully and turns away. "I am sorry,
Roman, Venom, whoever you may be; I need this man. I need the knowledge
within his head in order to realize what I truly am. This is my quest for
identity, and it is almost over. I will not jeopardize my solutions
for a game of petty murder. Not for you, not for anyone. I hope you
understand my predicament." Morbius then begins to walk away.

"Oh we understand all right," Morbius hears from behind. Turning
around he hears the hissing of the costume responding to Roman's mental
commands. It congeals and surrounds Roman once more, giving him that
devilish grin that is the trademark of this new hybrid creature. "We do not
have to like it!" And with that Roman attacks Morbius, slashing him
across the face, letting blood flow free. He slashes and slashes again
and again until finally Morbius manages the strength to push Roman from
his body with his feet. Roman flies up hitting the dirt ceiling before
falling to the bottom of the tunnel while Morbius releases the
still-unconscious scientist and diving in for another attack.

Morbius wastes no time but Roman recovers quickly. The two tussle in
the tunnel, with Morbius getting hungrier and hungrier for a new feast
such as this one. He thinks briefly about taking Roman, but considers
better of it due to the creature's not-of-this-world origin. Wings
sprout from Morbius's back and he flies full-force at Roman, who ducks
under and grabs hold of the wings, tossing Morbius deep down the tunnel.
The two leap at each other again and again, neither having an upper
hand. Finally Roman beats Morbius over and over again, no words coming
from either of their mouths, the only sounds being snarls. It is then
that Morbius sees a small coil protruding from the building debris. It
sparkles with a sort of charge. An electric charge! Morbius takes hold
of the coil as Roman leaps in for the kill, and he lifts the coil to
Roman's chest, channeling millions of volts of electricity through
Roman's body as well as the symbiote. So much current, Morbius thinks, would surely subdue the beast.

Roman sinks quickly to the ground, the symbiote receding into his body
cavities, retreating. Morbius kneels and realizes the exact nature of
Roman's condition: that Roman is a half-breed human and fish creature,
with gills like a fish and body like a human. Morbius thinks that due
to the fish side of the creature, the electricity dehydrated the
creature and thus defeated it.

Morbius tosses the body further down the tunnel, hearing various
thumping noises as the body banks against several walls. Satisfied that the
body is broken and done, Morbius picks up the body of the scientist,
and with more than a little thirst, Morbius struggles to get topside
through the rubble.

If only Morbius could get to the surface, for there his thirst could
safely be satiated! He could feast on one of the enemies up there,
draining them of their biochemical energies and curbing his appetite. He
digs and digs upward still, alas seeing the light that the night brings
out in the city. He claws at the dirt and debris and is finally
confronted by his goal. His hands find level ground and Morbius pulls himself
out of the tunnel and out into the open spaces. Dragging the scientist
behind, he collapses once above.

It takes Morbius a few minutes to realize what he has done and then
feels totally spent. He sees the city but then notices an odd reddish hue
to the air around him. Stumbling closer to the edge of where the
complex once ended, Morbius feels heat. This heat becomes quite intense and
begins searing Morbius's skin. Something is wrong, Morbius thinks. It
cannot be like this!

Just then the scientist, Aeneas, awakens. He feels the sudden onrush
of heat and it is enough to make him sit up and take notice of the
situation. He looks at Morbius and screams.

"What are you doing?" the scientist asks Morbius.

"Rest easy, doctor, I'll have us out in a few moments. I know the
heat's getting to us all, but--"

"Heat? Heat! Oh Thor no!!!" The doctor curses and crawls to his
feet. He limps closer to the building's former edge, then backs away twice
as fast.

"What? What's wrong?" Morbius asks him. "You know what's doing this?"

"It's the reason why nothing else has been destroyed in whatever
explosion Alchemax has been caught in. Someone figured out how to make the
force field system work. It's heat-sensitive and gives off quite a bit
of heat itself. The system was designed in case of a nuclear strike or
something like that. It's so that no intruders can enter the building.
Fortunately in the case of the explosion it means that nothing can get
out. Unfortunately--"

"even now that the explosion is done, we can't get out."

"Exactly," Aeneas says, his head hung in shame.

"But wait," Morbius says, "aren't there triggers for turning these
gizmos on and off? If they come on somehow, they have to be able to be
turned off!"

"You're right, and wrong," Aeneas says. "There are such devices in the
Alchemax building. However, either the devices are destroyed, or
intact but buried so deep that we can't get to them or identify what they
are."

"You had to tell me that, didn't you?" Morbius says, trying to laugh
off the bloodlust that gnaws at him even now.

*******************************************************************

Outside the rotational harmonic shield that has surrounded the fallen
Alchemax, Conchata O'Hara waits laughing before many a Public Eye and
SHIELD agent until she hears something beyond the barrier. Rocks start
to shift and tumble away from a central site. She begins to step closer
to the barrier but finds it difficult due to the low levels of heat
that the shield is emitting.

She sees a whitened hand come up from the debris. "Miguel...?"

The more she watches, the more she reasons that though she wants it to
be Miguel so much, it cannot possibly be this misshappen creature she
sees before her. She briefly remembers seeing this creature before,
when Alchemax was first udner attack; he only moved in shadows but she
knows he meant trouble for Miguel, her son, Spider-Man. She watches him
with a look of disdain and disgust in her eye. Then she sees Morbius
begin to pull someone, something else from the debris; there must be a
tunnel of some kind down there. And if not, what? Is this creature
responsible for trapping Miguel inside and killing him? Or is he
responsible for saving him somehow? The answers are suddenly blocked by a red
tinge that aids itself to the barrier, making it impossible for anyone
to see what goes on inside. Conchata can only pray that her son is
alive and well.

A hand taps Conchata on the shoulder. "It be your son lost in the
destruction?"

Conchata turns around to behold a slender woman whom only Morbius
knows. "My name be Le'Osha. You be O'Hara's?" She certainly wasted no
time. Conchata nodded. "One of mine is in there too. He's a-fightin'
for our cause. Wit-out a doubt he be the true savior yet. If only he be
not dead."

"Yours....the thing with white skin maybe? Declaring war like everyone
else on this place?"

"Not war. And I know that your son must be alive. Such heroism cannot
die so easily."

Conchata gasps.

*******************************************************************

Halloween Jack, formerly Jordan Boone, feels dejected. Why has he
taken on this obscene task of rescuing this Morbius? Perhaps it is fear of
what could happen to him if he did not take on this job; perhaps it is
fear of what could happen if he didn't help; or perhaps, just perhaps,
he was protecting his own work. He scurried down the passageways
underneath Alchemax, and attributed to blind luck the fact that the barrier
surrounding the tower had dissipated down this low. Well, it hadn't
exactly dissipated, it had more or less become weaker down in the bowels
where much debris lay. The shield phased in and out, and during one of
the periodic "phase-off"s Jack made his way, albeit as a small
snake-like creature, across and into the area below the area where the tower
had once stood. He has run for minutes, and it is at this point that he
hears a rumbling noise coming his direction. Immediately he rolls to
avoid the large body of a man coming along the ground. He jumps to a
higher position and then gazes upon the unconscious body of Roman. He
sees the New Atlantean's eyes flicker open then, and a black haze
surrounds the body as once again it becomes clear that this is not only Roman,
but also Venom.

"What the shock--?" Roman manages to say.

"What indeedy?" cackles Jack, still out of Roman's reach along the
upper portion of the tunnel. "I think I know who you are, but I don't
think either of us has a clue what's going on as of yet. I also doubt you
know me! Shall we begin with introductions, sir? Jorda--Halloween
Jack at your service, my blue-skinned sir!" That was odd. A
psychological response to the trauma at Alchemax? Did too many people know he was
Halloween Jack and Jordan Boone as well? Did it matter? Why did he
begin calling himself Boone?

"I am Roman, son of New Atlantis. A side project of Alchemax's gone
bad. Somehow this creature, Venom, has--"

"--bonded to your genetic structure, making it nearly impossible for
you to live without it? I knew all that, buddy boy. I see the holos.
You're quite a popular boy, you. But riddle me this: why, out of all
the times, are there now two people purporting to be Venom?"

"Two--?" Roman stuttered. "I don't know what the shock you mean!"

"Well it seems on the holovids that another yahoo, excuse me, another
son-of-a-yahoo has become Venom and battled an unidentified man
somewhere across the city. Name of Kron Stone, unless I'm mistaken. Some part
of that suit split off to live happily ever after or what? Both parts
are sentient, but--"

"I have the symbiote, and it's trying to control me. I can't explain
it but Alchemax ran some tests on the suit, from what my "other" says,
and the symbiote split into two pieces (see PUNISHER 2099 UG #7-8
--GMM). One piece is probably as you describe, but this piece was tested and
re-tested to exhaustion until it played a part in further corruption of
the world by Alchemax. Then, if you want to refer to it as a disease,
I "contracted" it while going on a rampage through Alchemax (see
_SPIDER-MAN 2099_ #44 --GMM). It wanted me to destroy this place and any
sign of the experiments which hurt it so badly.

"And you?" Roman asked.

"I'm glad you asked that, buddy boy," he says, although he isn't; the
fact that the questions Roman was raising had something to do with a
company he used to hold near and dear was terrifying, and if he told
anything about his old self (why talk about Boone again? he muses) then he
would surely be killed. "I am in search of this guy named Morbius."

With that, Roman's eyes light up. "I know who you're talking about.
The shockin' thing almost killed me and this suit."

"Oh really?" Jack has the hint of an idea. So Morbius is alive, is
he? Jack thinks over the options in his evil mind. He knows that no-one
else could possibly even think of getting through the portal, and here
below everything no-one could see anything that occurs. So, then, he
now thinks of what Morbius has meant to him before (see issue #1) and
decides it best to pursue another path--one that none could possibly say
did not occur. "And where is Morbius at this instant?"

"He's with that wretched Dr. Thoreau, and I believe they've gone
topside."

>Topside?< thinks Jack. >No, they cannot have gone far in this time.
The dome that surrounds prevents them from escaping. But with Dr.
Thoreau--? This is unprecedented. Morbius is further along with his
"answers" than he believes! But if Thoreau manages to pick out my--< Jack
stops. >--Boone's name, it's all over. And besides, that Cajun bitch
will never know the difference!<

"I do believe I have the perfect plan, my friend Roman," Jack expounds.
"The simple folk do this: since you have met with mixed success in
trying to stop Morbius and kill the doctor, it only makes sense that you
need a little helping hand. Let me be that hand and I'll promise you
that neither Morbius nor Thoreau leaves this place alive!"

Roman looks at Jack, smiles, and then the two explode into uproarious
laughter that echoes through the tunnels.

*******************************************************************

Morbius looks down at the ailing Thoreau. "So we're stuck up here
amidst all this rubble, with no way out? Is that what you're saying,
Thoreau?"

"Precisely. What's more, the system must have gone untested. They
never completed it in sufficient time. The heat generated by the system
is building up, and it's getting hotter in here. You might notice,"
Aeneas says, "that the barrier is beginning to glow red. Anything that we
try to get through the barrier will be incinerated--no, atomized on
contact. Look, let me show you. See, you couldn't do this until the
barrier built up enough power. But now--!" Thoreau picks up a chunk of
debris from the ground, and, weak as he is, he manages to throw it wide
at the barrier. Morbius looks and sees a twitch of light from the
barrier, then it glows red. The glow spreads to the junk Thoreau threw and
a miniature explosion ensues, causing Morbius and Thoreau to guard
their eyes.

Morbius is not impressed. He looks at the barrier, surveys it with his
eyes and notes a small hole which seals itself quickly. He disregards
this attributing it to his vision tricking him, and turns to Thoreau,
who holds his head in his hands. He walks over to him, careful not to
come too close for fear his lust for energy will cause him to do things
against his will. The time for answers has come.

"Thoreau. You have to tell me all you know about Vamp-X. About the
project which birthed it, and, I believe, me as well."

Thoreau looks at Morbius with stunned silence. "You know what I
know--"

"Shock you," Morbius says, and grabs him by the collar, holding him up
far above. "Just tell me more. Which scientist gave the control
elements to the Rapture compound? How did the creature Roman taint the
compound? Which records were used to make the new drug? TELL ME!!!!!"

Thoreau shudders under the gravity of the situation, then takes a deep
breath and begins. "I'll tell you everything. Everything I know,
which is not much."

Once more Morbius interjected. "Why keep the drug on premises? You
produce the filth!"

"We produce for research; none of the compound reaches the
outside....at least none produced here! Allow me to explain...

"A bunch of us in R&D in Alchemax were working on synthesizing
compounds using materials derived from alternate locations. What we found were
some samples from one of the scientists in the division, and he came up
with a small portal to a place where we discovered foreign materials
and core samples. We analyzed the materials and based on that knowledge
and our scientific know-how we synthesized the compound originally
known as Rapture. We labelled it thus due to its tendency to make those
exposed to doses of it endure feelings of euphoria and exultation.
However it also proved quite addictive. In all this it was what the
consumer division of Alchemax was looking for. Production of the Rapture was
approved and within days we were the official dealers of the product.

"However one of our scientists leaked the information on how to
reproduce the drug, and so our efforts were for naught, as more people could
buy black-market Rapture at a cheap price. We couldn't keep up. Then
the order came down from Tyler Stone, days before he was shot by persons
unknown (see _SPIDER-MAN 2099_ #35) to go ahead and produce something
better and something which we could place safeguards on so that none
could re-synthesize it.

"We worked day and night on the original compound, digging up holo
after holo on production of past experiments. We somehow came into
possession of certain files which contained evidence of a project between
several world powers, world governments, and Alchemax. We even found some
samples of product and analyzed them, or what we could of them. We
discarded the original notes once we discovered exactly what it was we
stumbled onto."

"That was...?"

"Super-soldiers. A formula to create super-soldiers. As I said, we
destroyed those notes in the best interests of the company, but not
before we got what we needed off the files. It took days to combine the
types into one substance; days again before we were interrupted with a new
task by O'Hara.

"We were given the order by our new CEO to completely drop our current
research and concentrate on unlocking secrets of the symbiote called
Venom (see _SPIDER-MAN 2099_ #38). Once Mr. O'Hara helped us render
discorporate the portion of the symbiote we had for study, we cleaned up
the mess and threw away the dead symbiote, or at least we thought it was
dead."

"It returned?"

"It built up enough of its essence to congeal around the lab. We were
sitting analyzing the real thing one night when it cavorted around and
damaged our equipment. It then found our "New Rapture" and decided to
try it out. Somehow it polluted the solution and produced something
new. In a small way it was alive, but it didn't move by itself. It had
very distinct genetic markers in it that rendered it impossible to
copy. We thought we had found the perfect new drug! It was tested on one
of our people, and--something happened. It produced a euphoric
reaction like Rapture, but was accompanied by feelings of hunger, extreme
hunger! He convulsed and we thought it had killed him. We had to scrap
the project and run with something different. We didn't know that the
formula induced metabolic changes at a cellular level, that the mass
coagulated inside him, and changed him into a dead ringer for a vampire!
He rose from the dead, but didn't last long. A group of our scientists
found him and subdued him, and he was killed shortly thereafter. We
then attempted to dispose of the drug, but--!" Thoreau then stopped,
shocked, in agonizing silence.

"But what? Go on! I beg you, go on, or may Thor smite you down!"
Morbius is on the very verge of answers to all his problems! And now...?

"Perhaps, just perhaps, he doesn't want you to know...for fear that we
and not Thor might smite you both! Oh hee hee, the feeling I get when
a play comes together, kiddies!"

Morbius turns around, and is met by the rushing of Roman, who slams
into his midsection and catapults him twenty or so feet out of the way.
Roman pounces again even as the personification of the voice who just
spoke makes his way to Thoreau. It is Halloween Jack, teeming mad.

...Continued in MORBIUS 2099 UG #5B...