—
Night shrouded Oscorp Tower in a deceptive stillness.
From across the street, the building's sleek glass exterior reflected the city lights like a massive obsidian monunt to scientific progress. Or hubris, depending on the observer's perspective.
My team watched from the shadows, four figures with very different motivations united by a common goal.
"Rember," Jessica whispered, her purple costu barely visible in the darkness, "minimal contact, maximum efficiency."
I nodded, glancing at Madelyne and Felicia. "Ladies first? Or should the ghost lead the way?"
"Ghost definitely leads, duh," Felicia replied, adjusting her sleek black mask. The transformation from casual cat burglar to the Black Cat was pretty striking. Now confidence radiated from every curve of her leather-clad form. "Less chance of triggering motion sensors."
Hard to disagree. I activated the Omnitrix, the familiar green light washing over as my DNA rewrote itself. My skin turned transparent, my body elongating into the ghostly, one-eyed form of an Ectonurite.
"Ghostfreak," I rasped, my voice echoing from sowhere beyond physical space. "Ti to get spooky."
Jessica rolled her eyes. "Just don't get caught, Casper."
I floated upward with my spectral form entirely invisible in the night sky.
Ghostfreak was truly a cheat. I could fly, and also do the stuff that were the main tricks of many superheroes. Such a Kitty and her phasing power. The sensation of phasing through solid matter never got old – like moving through thick syrup that offered no resistance. The outer wall of Oscorp yielded to as easily as air, my molecules passing between atoms of steel and glass.
Inside, I found myself in a sterile corridor bathed in blue-white light. Dozen security caras pivoted on silent motors, scanning empty hallways. Motion sensors created invisible webs of detection that would trigger for anything solid.
Good thing I wasn't solid.
I drifted through three more security checkpoints, marveling at Oscorp's paranoia. Laser grids. Pressure-sensitive floors. Even what appeared to be so kind of molecular scanner that might detect unauthorized DNA signatures. All useless against an intangible alien ghost.
One particularly impressive setup used cross-referenced thermal imaging with heartbeat detection. Such technology would've stopped any normal intruder cold. I could almost appreciate Norman Osborn's thoroughness if he weren't a psychopath. The sheer amount of money poured into keeping people out made wonder what else he was hiding besides illegal genetic experints.
This place had more security than so military installations I'd seen on the news, yet between my transformations, Madelyne's subtle telepathic nudges, and Felicia's seemingly encyclopedic knowledge of blind spots, we might as well have been strolling through Central Park on a Sunday afternoon.
Reaching the main security hub on the 30th floor, I spotted two guards monitoring banks of screens. Ti for phase two.
I turned visible just long enough to give them a proper scare – my eye widening dramatically as my body twisted unnaturally.
"Boo," I whispered, my voice sohow coming from behind them.
The effect was imdiate and hilarious. One guard actually fell backward out of his chair, while the other reached for his weapon with trembling hands.
"W-what the hell is that?!" the fallen guard stamred.
I dove into their bodies and rendered them unconscious. Oh, this was so fun.
Before either could wake up from their short term coma, I return to human form before transforming again. Green flashed and my body morphed into living technology.
"Upgrade!" I whispered, and my voice now had a chanical resonance as my liquid tal form surged forward.
Sorry Jessica, I thought, rembering her warning. But sotis you need the right tool for the job.
I rged with the security console, my consciousness spreading through Oscorp's digital infrastructure like wildfire. Circuits, processors, and code beca extensions of my being. Security caras, motion detectors, heat sensors… what else?
Everything fell under my control.
"System compromised," I announced to my team through the comm unit, and my voice accidentally emanated from every bathroom in the building. "Oops, sorry about that."
Creating a digital blind spot around our planned route was child's play. I installed a recursive loop in the surveillance system – a virus that would continue masking our presence even after I disconnected. For good asure, I then downloaded the building's complete schematics and security protocols.
"Show-off," Jessica's voice crackled through the comm.
Disconnecting from the system, I returned to my human form and then transford back to Ghostfreak and phased through the floor to rejoin my team at our entry point – a service entrance on the ground level that I'd unlocked remotely.
They slipped inside as they moved with practiced stealth. Jessica led, her enhanced strength and durability making her our front-line fighter if needed. Felicia followed, her movents so fluid she barely seed to touch the ground. Madelyne brought up the rear, her gothic appearance replaced by practical black tactical gear borrowed from Jessica.
"Thirty-fifth floor secure?" Felicia asked as I materialized beside them.
"Clear path all the way up," I confird. "But we still need to handle the human elent."
As if on cue, two security guards rounded the corner ahead, flashlights sweeping the corridor. Before anyone could move, Madelyne stepped forward, her eyes narrowing in concentration.
A subtle pulse of psychic energy left her. It should have been invisible but sohow it was perceptible to in my Ghostfreak form. The guards froze, expressions going blank for a mont before they casually turned and walked in the opposite direction.
"Nothing on this floor," one said to the other, sounding bored. "Let's check the cafeteria."
"...Powers like that should be unfair," Jessica said with a dejected look. As a victim of mind control herself, she could speak in this matter.
"Co on, it's not that bad," Madelyne murmured, a small smile playing on her lips. "I'm barely touching their minds – just suggesting they look elsewhere."
"Yes, yes. Less gloating, more moving," Jessica urged, though I caught the impressed look she shot Madelyne.
We ascended through the building. The architecture grew increasingly impressive with each floor. The lower levels had been mundane – offices, conference rooms, public research facilities. But as we climbed higher, Oscorp's true nature revealed itself.
The 20th floor housed a botanical research lab where plants grew in unnatural patterns, so glowing with bioluminescence.
The 25th contained what appeared to be chanical exoskeletons in various stages of developnt.
By the 30th, we were passing chambers filled with strange animals – genetically modified creatures that existed nowhere in nature.
"Jesus," Jessica whispered as we passed a tank containing what looked like a cross between a scorpion and a gorilla. "What the hell are they doing here?"
"Playing god," Felicia replied bitterly. "Creating monsters they can't control."
The 33rd floor was particularly unsettling – a series of reinforced cells, most empty but so containing dical beds with restraints. The walls were scratched deeply from the inside.
"This place makes Dr. Frankenstein look like an amateur," I comnted, floating ahead to scout. "And I thought Animo would be bad news."
All Animo did in this world was get abducted by Magento. Was sothing similar going on in Genosha…?
We reached the 35th floor without incident. The laboratory level looked like sothing from a science fiction movie – white sterile surfaces, advanced equipnt humming with power, holographic displays floating in mid-air.
"This was too easy," Jessica said quietly as we paused in an empty research bay. "Way too easy."
Felicia nodded, her cat-like eyes scanning the surroundings. "Even with your ghost boyfriend disrupting security and Phoenix Girl mind-tricking the guards, we shouldn't have gotten this far without at least one alarm."
"Uhm. Maybe we're just that good?" I suggested, though their concern was starting to infect too.
"Or maybe they wanted us here," Jessica countered.
Madelyne touched a nearby console, her fingers hovering over the surface. "There's sothing... strange about this place. I can sense minds above and below us, but this floor feels... muted."
"Like it's shielded?" Jessica asked.
"Or empty," Felicia suggested. "Perhaps evacuated in preparation for moving my father."
I floated higher, surveying the lab. "Let's not overthink it. Maybe cosmic-level telepathy and intangibility just make industrial espionage easier than expected."
Felicia moved to a computer terminal, fingers flying over the keyboard. "Patient records should be in this database. If I can just…"
"Got it," she announced after a mont. "Walter Hardy, Patient 42B. Currently in Isolation Chamber 7, east wing."
"Wait, wait a minute… Your dad's na is Walter Hardy?!" Jessica asked, stunned. "But isn't that-"
"Yes, the original Cat Burglar," Felicia cut her off. "Family business, you know? Look Ben isn't surprised."
I shrugged.
Jessica snorted. "I can't believe this. Your father stole sothing from one of my relatives once. Like father, like daughter. Let's move before our luck runs out."
Maddy and I exchanged glances. Then we navigated through a maze of laboratories, and sohow each one was more disturbing than the last.
One contained rows of animal specins floating in preservation tanks, creatures with unnatural mutations. Another held what appeared to be prototype weapons based on biological principles. Stingers, claws, and venom delivery systems scaled for human use.
"It's almost as if Norman Osborn is… I don't know, building an army?" Jessica murmured as we passed a chamber filled with combat exoskeletons.
"Not just any army, if that's the case," Felicia added. "A superhuman one."
As we approached Isolation Chamber 7, I found myself reflecting on how surreal this mission felt. Infiltrating a high-security corporate fortress should have been one of the more dangerous things I'd done all sumr. Instead, with Madelyne's Oga level telepathy clearing our path and my alien transformations handling security, it felt almost like a training exercise.
"You know what's weird?" I said, floating creepily right behind Jessica's hair. "I've fought intergalactic warlords and cosmic threats, but sohow breaking into a pharmaceutical company feels more morally ambiguous."
"Welco to the gray area of heroism," Jessica replied. "Where the villains wear suits and the monsters are made in labs."
Felicia stopped abruptly at a junction, holding up her hand. "Guys, I think sothing's wrong."
"What is it?" Madelyne asked, her eyes scanning the corridor.
"This floor feels too clean, don't you think?" Felicia whispered. "There are no guards, sure, but no researchers either. Not even night staff. A facility like this never sleeps."
Jessica tensed beside . "Almost like…"
"Like they cleared the floor for sothing," I guessed.
Madelyne's eyes suddenly twinkled before they narrowed. "Everyone, get ready for battle. Soone's coming. Not a guard, soone... different. Powerful."
We pressed ourselves against the wall as footsteps approached. Not the heavy tread of security, but the light, agile movents of soone who didn't want to be heard.
"On three," Jessica mouthed, preparing to ambush whoever was approaching. "One... two..."
She lunged forward just as a figure rounded the corner, both of them freezing in mutual surprise.
"You?!" they exclaid in perfect unison.
Before us stood a lithe figure in a red and blue costu, white eye lenses widening in shock.
"Jes- Jewel?!" Spider-Man's voice was pitched higher than usual in surprise. "What are you doing here?"
"I could ask you the sa thing, Spider!" Jessica replied, lowering her fists slightly. "Don't tell you're working for Oscorp?"
They had t before during the Harlem incident, as well as a few other incidents that Jessica had told about. They were sowhat familiar with each other's works.
"Hell no. Co on, do you think I'm that type of friendly neighbourhood spider?" Spider-Man's attention then shifted to the rest of us – Black Cat, Ghostfreak, and Madelyne standing in Oscorp's restricted section like we were on a field trip.
"Whoa, whoa, whoa," he held up his hands. "Did I miss the mo about a superhero convention at Oscorp? And what's with the floating Casper reject?"
"That's Mr. Casper Reject to you, Spidey," I retorted, floating closer. I didn't know it, but it was pretty insane to think I was talking to Spider-Man right now.
"Oh wow, a talking ghost." Spider-Man's head tilted as he studied . "Wait... that symbol on your chest… I know you! You must be part of the sa team as that Four Ard hero from the Harlem incident?!"
"Uhm…" I didn't want to reveal my na or identity yet, even if I knew Spiderman was one of the most trustworthy people in this entire hellish universe. "Yes, that's right. You can call Ghostfreak. And you're the amazing Spider-Man. Now that introductions are out of the way, why are you creeping around Oscorp at midnight?"
I could guess the reason. Green Goblin was a frequent villain of Spider-Man, it wasn't unusual for him to infiltrate the Oscorp building.
Spidey rubbed the back of his head, and from the looks of it he'd already regained his composure. "Sa reason you're all here, I'm guessing. Investigating Oscorp's illegal cross-species genetics program."
"How did you know about that?" Felicia demanded.
"...Black Cat. It's crazy that a jewelry thief is here too. Anyways, I've been tracking their research for weeks," Spider-Man explained, moving to a nearby computer terminal. "They've been kidnapping poor holess people for test subjects. When that wasn't enough, they started offering 'experintal treatnts' to people with terminal illnesses."
Jessica stepped forward, eyes narrowing behind her mask. "Wait a minute. I think I just connected so dots… Were you the one who broke into my apartnt two days ago?"
Spider-Man's body language suddenly scread guilt. "Uh... about that..."
"You broke into my ho?!" Jessica's fists clenched.
"Technically, I didn't break anything! The window was... surprisingly easy to open?" He backed up as Jessica advanced. "Look, I needed information! I tracked Black Cat's movents to your place and thought you might be involved in the thefts. Sorry! I should have known better. I didn't realize until then that you were working together to stop Oscorp."
"So you violated my privacy instead of, I don't know, knocking on the door like a normal person?"
"Says the woman currently breaking into a corporate lab," Spider-Man countered. "And in my defense, most people don't react well when a guy in spandex shows up asking about illegal genetics experints."
"He's got a point," I interjected, earning a glare from Jessica.
"Not helping, Tennyson."
"It's all in goodwill anyway, and this isn't anyplace to fight." I suggested.
Madelyne stepped forward, cutting through the tension. "If you've been investigating this place, do you know where they're keeping the patients? Specifically Patient 42B?"
Spider-Man's attention snapped to her. "How do you know about 42B? That's the one I've been tracking. Sothing strange about his genetic markers made him particularly valuable to their research."
"He's soone we know," Felicia said quietly, unwilling to reveal too much.
"Fair enough."
"Yeah," Felicia pressed, "where is he?"
"They moved him this afternoon to the secure testing chamber on this floor," Spider-Man said, pulling up a building schematic on his wrist device. "I was about to extract him when I ran into you all. They're planning to inject him with the final serum tonight."
"That's not good. We need to move now," I said, stepping forward. "Spidey, you lead with Felicia. Jessica and Madelyne, watch our backs. I'll–"
The plan was pretty good in my head. But all things never go according to plan.
A deafening alarm suddenly blared throughout the facility, red ergency lights bathing the corridor in crimson.
But the chanical voice that followed wasn't announcing our intrusion.
"WARNING: PERITER BREACH, LEVEL 40. UNIDENTIFIED FLYING OBJECT. AUTOMATED DEFENSES ENGAGED."
The building shuddered as sothing impacted several floors above us. The lights flickered, and the distant sound of shattering glass reached our ears.
"That's not because of us," Jessica said, looking up at the ceiling. Of course it wasn't, Upgrade's work wasn't cheap.
A second impact, closer this ti, followed by the sound of maniacal laughter echoing through the ventilation system.
"Oh no," Spider-Man whispered. "Not him at a ti like this!"
The wall beside us exploded inward in a shower of concrete and steel. Through the dust cloud, a figure streaked past on what looked like a high-tech glider, cackling with unhinged glee. Green armor glinted in the ergency lights, a grotesque mask leering at us as he circled back.
"Well, well, well! What have we here?" The Green Goblin's chanically distorted voice echoed through the destroyed lab. "A spider, a cat, a ghost, and two lovely ladies all sneaking around where they don't belong!"
"Ah yes, of course," I muttered, suddenly not surprised anymore. Invading Oscorp without a Green Goblin cao? That's an impossibility.
Who's directing this crap movie?
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