Spider-Man 2099 UG #1 (45AD)
"After David"
Miguel O'Hara has not felt such inner peace. As a child, the dreams of his father were realized in "his" genius son. His mother was much more compliant back then, and did not challenge George O'Hara. When Gabriel was born, she took a more defensive stance in raising him. She was determined to keep the younger son off the path that George demanded of Miguel. As an adult, he had achieved some minor satisfaction in his accomplishments at Alchemax, but he still toiled under the overbearing presence of the man and father he despises. His accident in the genetics lab made him the idol and bane of millions alike, and just seemed to really foul up his life. His unexpected rise to power was a short-lived emotional high, the exultation of seeing Tyler beaten lasting only as long as his ignorance of the responsibilities of being the director of Alchemax, perhaps the biggest and most publicly-hated and -feared megacorp in the world.
But for now, Miguel can look back on that and laugh. Tyler is beaten--and Conchata O'Hara helped him. What's more, his identity as Spider-Man has actually brought them closer. What's more, with his mother as his secretary and watchdog, he is making changes at Alchemax. Life is good.
And here, atop the Alchemax corporate headquarters, with a gentle breeze blowing through his web-foils, his accelerated vision scanning New York, Miguel O'Hara, the amazing Spider-Man of 2099, is at peace. He allows a smile to form under his mask.
"What are you brooding up here for? You have a meeting with Boru and the unions in an hour. Don't you think you should be preparing for negotiations?"
Miguel turns to his mother, lifting his mask to prove he was not at all brooding. "Come on, ma. Up here, I can think clearly. And besides," as he pulls his mask down and turns, "I was thinking of taking a little swing before I have to be locked up in a room and exchanging benefit programs for promises of regular bathing among all employees." Miguel jumps, and after a few seconds of freefall tenses a forearm, shoots out a webline, and Conchata's little boy is lost among Uptown's towering edifices.
"Oh, Miguel," Conchata whispers as she heads back in to make everything ready for the meeting. She can't quite believe her son is Spider-Man, a hero that inspired her to leave the Wellvale mental home and come back to the real world. She however has pledged not to interfere in Miguel's activities as Spider-Man. Having faith in Spider-Man has been translated into believing in her son; if Miguel wants to go for a swing before negotiating, then he should go. Funny how it took this revelation to really see her son for who he is, and not for what Tyler Stone would have him be.
Gabriel O'Hara has not felt such inner turmoil. He was always protected by his mother from George O'Hara's temper and Miguel's snide commentary. He grew up to become a top-notch computer programmer. Didn't he once help save New York's entire cyberspatial network from a full system's crash by the maniac Discord? Where did it all start to fall apart?
Was it losing Kasey? Perhaps. Spider-Man's "cute buns" eventually took her away from him. Was it losing Dana? Maybe. His brother saw to that, didn't he? Some hero. As Spider-Man, he couldn't even save her from that Venom monstrosity. Spider-Man. Things were fine before Spider-Man showed up. He and his mother could discuss anything. He had a girlfriend. He had a life he was happy with. Now it's his big brother the Alchemax savior. Now it's good old Miggy, the man who promises to clean up Downtown. Shock Spider-Man. Spider-Man is all Mom talks about anymore, that and what a wonderful job Miggy is doing at Alchemax.
He gets up off a dirty park bench outside of some non-descript drughouse in some forgotten neighborhood of old New York, that "helluva town" that was left to rot like a town out of Hell. No cyberspace trip as Firelight can take away his anger. Not even Father Jennifer can help him let go of his rage and pain through faith. No, there's only one person he can turn to. One person that has not let him down yet. Perhaps it's time to let him out of the closet again.
Hikaru has not felt such anticipation. Sure, he's head of the nation's second-largest megacorp, and his R&D seems to come up with some of the most fascinating inventions and discoveries, some that have become part of everyone's everyday living, others so monumentally astounding that to let more than a handful of people know about them could probably end up destroying the planet. But there has always been something preventing him from truly accepting the success of his efforts: Alchemax. More correctly, Tyler Stone. Always Tyler Stone would send some recorded message about what Alchemax was doing this month "just so we don't have any dishonorable misunderstandings" as Alchemax released a new transmat booth that didn't leave customers with that nausea that Stark/Fuji's teleporters were prone to induce. Or like the time Alchemax came up with that "safe" synthetic Rapture. His researchers had just discovered how to make the drug cheaply for mass production when Stone called for a press conference to announce Alchemax's "miracle discovery" of 2088.
But Stone knew how to work upon Hikaru's sense of honor. "You and I are in a competition," Stone told him when they first sat down to discuss their respective agendas when Stone was named director of Alchemax's research and development. "We are competing for all the people of the world. Our playing field: technology. Whoever wins the favor of the most people will be the victor. Do be a good sport." What could Hikaru do? Honor demanded that he accept the challenge and play by these rules.
His furrowed brow straightens. The rules have changed, haven't they, old man? Miguel O'Hara now calls the shots at Alchemax. Does he even know how to play? He had better be a fast learner. Stark/Fujikawa is about to make a power move. Now that Stone has no authority, it's time to find out just how Alchemax always seemed to be one step ahead of the competition. It's time to stop this "kinder, gentler" corporation before people decide that this change is good. Hikaru never trusted Stone, but honor would not allow him to challenge his competitor's word. O'Hara is a new player, and Hikaru plans to make sure the playing field is even.
What of Spider-Man? Yes, the so-called "corporate symbol of Alchemax". O'Hara even ordered SHIELD to leave him alone. Spider-Man, the man who once saved Hikaru and an associate from a maglev accident during that Discord nonsense. Yes, Hikaru owed a debt to Spider-Man. But Spider-Man is not whom Stark/Fujikawa is challenging. Alchemax is the target, and if Spider-Man has been adopted by them, then he must unfortunately be dealt with in the same manner. Most regrettable, but he has made his choice. And didn't Hikaru "pay back" Spider-Man, at least in some regards already? This thought brings the tiniest wrinkle to his lips, what some might consider a smile of sorts.
Hikaru cannot help but smile just a little, but he quickly returns to his emotionless stare, settling down to his meal of octopus, and dreaming of a tomorrow with a "level playing field". Yes, a level playing field, only canted at an angle so that Alchemax might fall over.
The man once known as Jordan Boone has never felt such boredom. Sure, he used to pal around with Henri Huang, Meanstreak of X-Men fame, but that was always such an unfair competition because Hank had the super speed mutation, and all Jordan had was his cerebrum. Significant brainpower to be sure. Why, some people called it astounding mental capacity, but when the rest of humanity is too microcephalic to understand his ability and accomplishments, what good were accolades and ogling? Who really cared when he changed the "flavors" of quarks when he was only ten? That was dull anyway.
Then came Alchemax. "I'm putting you to work with our best man, Miguel O'Hara," claimed Tyler Stone. "Mike's the best we have, and I'd like you to just look over his shoulder and offer advice and stuff like that." Jordan just smiled, nodded, then moped off to the lab, knowing that this Miguel O'Hara would be another one of these meticulous, cautious, and downright tiresome fundamentalists in research and experimentation. He probably believed in "Newton's scientific method" still, how gauche.
Oh, but there was something good that came out of all that, wasn't there? That lovely Virtual Unreality gate, and all that wonderful disorder with those strange beings, Thanatos and the Net Prophet. And then there was the Val Halla project. Jordan Boone weaseled his way into the program and became the next incarnation of Loki, the old Norse god of chaos. Oh what fun they all had, all those gaudily-garbed heroes, the high-and-mighty Aesir!
It continued when Boone renamed himself Halloween Jack, with the ability to shapeshift, and he took over Las Vegas from those dreadfully dimwitted Synges. He even reconstructed his VU generator and transformed the city into a paradise for the reality-challenged. But then Doom stepped in and set up those pretentious EMP contraptions. Thinks he's so smart; he wanted to protect the world from my unreality (who knows why?) but all he did was destroy the greatest thing to happen to this lifeless planet since . . . well, probably since the event that ended the Heroic Age.
Whether Doom realized it or not (the deceitful megalomaniac probably knew it and never told Jack), the EMPs certainly made a sufficient buffer around Las Vegas, sufficient enough to reverberate the VU wave back throughout the city and focus it back onto the generator, causing it to overload over time by trying to generate a VU wave when it itself was trapped in unreality and explode. That was a real let down, and it hurt Jack as well (although he would have to admit that the visual effect was quite entrancing).
So Halloween Jack sits atop what is left of his casino, alone. Everyone is afraid to go near him nowadays for fear of either his wrath or his insanity. He was pretty distraught over the fiasco. But he has managed to keep up with current events. Doom is out, no need to worry about him for now. And there's news about changes in Alchemax, including a new head of the company: Miguel O'Hara.
Call him slow, call him crazy, don't call him late for Armageddon, but wouldn't it be a kick to visit good old Mike, congratulate him on his promotion, maybe ask a teensy little favor from his former brother in discovery? Seeing as how the VU project was really his idea, perhaps Mike would let him borrow the equipment for a while, for old time's sake. Sure he would, it would be great publicity for Alchemax. Besides, what can Mike do to stop Halloween Jack from making the greatest breakthrough of modern times in extra-dimensional transcendence? Sic Spider-Man on him?
A giggle escapes Jack, as he launches himself off the casino, morphing into an eagle, and heading due east, straight as the VU wave propagates.
Alchemax stands tall in New York. So many discoveries, so much accomplishment, so many newsworthy events, so much profit. The company was destined to be the center of attention for society and science. Despite all of the negative reactions people have to the megacorp, Alchemax affects their lives every second, and mostly for the better. Where would New York be if not for Uptown? Wasn't it Alchemax that saved the world's greatest city from destroying itself in the pits of the old city on the ground? Correcting old New York's problems was virtually impossible, and Alchemax led the way to create "Uptown", a New York that people could be awed by again. Yes, Alchemax does have plenty of virtue strewn throughout its vice.
Alchemax is the center of much of the world. A nexus of science and politics. But what goes around comes around. It always does, and it cannot be stopped. Avatarr knew that, and Doom's timely assassination only delayed the inevitable for the megacorp. Alchemax is too juicy a prize to be left alone to such altruists and those of great moral fiber like the O'Haras. No, eventually the Stark/Fujikawas and the Halloween Jacks come to take what they believe is rightfully theirs. And when blood is drawn, the wolves make their way to feast on the wounded. Alchemax better be ready, because the day is coming.
And is it not always the way--what goes up must come down?
Thomas M. "Drillnot" Imboden
July 26, 1996
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