Arc Nine. Chapter Two Hundred Forty-Four. In The Red

Reed had stormed off after that. Peter had made it perfectly clear that he was no longer welcome with the rest of the expedition. 

“Sue, I won't hold you to your contract, nor you Ben, but let's be clear. People make mistakes, I've made plenty. I don't care, I cared he lied. If he covered up those accidents, what else has he covered up,'' Sue looked guilty at her hands while Ben’s face was frozen in a hard rock face of anger.

“Reed just doesn't know better, can you give him one more chance?” and Peter shook his head, 

“Sue, he caused at least four accidents, the red flags went up when I found out even Banner isn't banned from the campus he trashed. I needed to know.” but it was Viktor,

“It is okay Miss Storm, While Peter may not, I will happily take the young Richards under my wing. He may accompany me, as we explore the ship further.” and Peter shrugged, “I assume we are exploring further?” and Peter nodded.

“As long as Reed follows your instruction and doesn't touch anything I label as off-limits, sure,” and Viktor smiled, “Sue, tell me now though” and she shook her head,

“Johnny?” and he shrugged,

“I uh, just came along for the ride. I was bored. I’ll give that harness a shot though, can it fly? I mean, Iron Man can fly,” and Peter huffed

“No, it can’t fly. This version can’t fly, but we’re working on adding in a few modifications.” or we are now Peter thought to himself.

“Well then,” and Viktor threw away the dregs of coffee in his mug and stood, “I will find Reed and persuade him to accompany us, and well, Good luck Mr Parker,” and Peter sighed and nodded.

While Reed wasn’t a fan he had just split apart a group that had been together for years, even unintentionally and there would be fall out. It would be a barrier between Sue and Reed, and if Reed was as oblivious as she said, it might even break them up. Ben's face hadn’t shifted, and even without powers, Peter knew that he was angry and betrayed at Reed's admission. It was one thing to lie about the accident but another to let the man follow him blindly acting on that assumption.

“Okay, the plan for today is to see if we can access the rest of the ship. From yesterday I doubt anything is working, but access will get us to the parts we need to strip. Shuri should send us some help to dismantle the ship and transport it to Wakanda,” and the trio nodded, with very little enthusiasm. “Hey, it’s fine, If you three want to take a day I don't mind, it's not ex-” but Reed stormed back into camp

“No,” and he stood in front of Peter, “Viktor offered me a position, Ben one for you and Johnny too. Sue, I know Gwen promised you a researcher position but Viktor does have a bio-organic fuel department, and Peter did offer to let you out of your contract,” but Sue stared at the cup of coffee in her hand,

“But it's not biochem Reed, and that is what Gwen is working on. I’d be working with Gwen.” and as she stared at him, “Don't you get that?” and he shrugged.

“Still Parker Inc, still with him.” and even Peter sighed.

“Dude, stop being an ass. She cares about you, and met me once, grow the fuck up.”

“Peter, you're my boss, not my friend. Stay the hell out of this,” Sue snapped and Peter shrugged and finished his coffee.

“Be at the entrance in the next hour.” and walked away.

“See?” Reed pointed at Peter's receding figure, “he’s interfering.” but Sue moved and put a hand on his shoulder,

“I knew about the labs, Reed, but I didn't think you hid it from Ben. You need to apologise to him, and make this right.” and Sue lifted her head and kissed him on the cheek, “we’re fine, we’ll always be fine. My job is just a job, you are important to me.” and as she pulled him into her embrace “but I'm not quitting my dream job to work on biodiesel. Now Ben.” and as she brushed the side of his hair with her fingers she smiled, “it’ll be fine Reed.”

Sue let go, and headed to the main entrance as well, leaving Johnny, and Ben alone with Reed,

“Yup, great talk” and as Johnny patted Reed on the shoulder, “don't screw this up, my sister is a lot more forgiving than he is.” he heard to catch up to the pair.

“Ben I uh” but Ben shook his head,

“Did you save me because I was there, or because you wanted to?”

Redd was confused, “I saved you because it was right. I caused an accident, and I hid that from you but I didn't save you or lie because I wanted to, I saved you because it was right.”

“And the lie?” and Reed looked at Ben

“I didn't want to lose my only friend.”

Ben snorted and shook his head, a small grin creeping into the corner of his mouth, “I gotta say though, this harness, it's pretty great, you got a harness?” and Reed laughed,

“I'm sure I could make one. I mean, if Parker can build one, how hard can it be?”

Jackass, Peter thought to himself, I should steal your girlfriend just for that alone, and as he shook his head she smiled at Sue.

“Great, Johnny, is everything fixed?” and Johnny nodded,

“Viktor offered me a post. He's got a few cars for the European market that need test drives.”

Peter looked at Sue, who shook her head, “You're a crash test dummy.” and as she nodded, “Perfect, at least you're qualified,” and Peter laughed.

Reed and Ben soon made their way over, and Ben rubbed the back of his head, “I uh, gotta decline Pete. Viktor offered me a job as well, and with Reed workin’ there, I gotta take it. It's just you Suzie. I mean, gonna split up the family?” and as the guilt was laid on thick Sue hesitated for a moment.

“Why don't we actually finish this assignment, and you can decide once you're in New York,” Peter said pointedly.

“Uh yeah, sure, Sorry Pete.” Ben stammered. He was right though, This was still on his dime, and talking about jumping ship with their current boss was bad manners, even if he was just a kid.

Peter frowned “great, now. Once Viktor gets here, we can start” but Reed pointed to the entrance,

“Uh, Viktor already went inside.” and as well as frowning Peter shook his head,

“Then, I guess we should join him, “ not that he could do anything unless there were more symbiotes on Earth, he doubted that anything was able to access the ship’s systems.

Viktor was pouring over Sues notes, and comparing them to a set of hieroglyphics on the furthest wall, “if Miss Storms notes are correct, I believe there are several hidden compartments, storing supplies and weapons. It might be an idea to secure them first before we open anything else. Anything with an active power core should be dealt with, as you said Peter, just in case of an accident.” and while he didn’t say it, they knew he meant Reed.

“Let me” and placing a hand on the table once more Peter accessed the ship's schematics once more. Almost immediately he was swamped by a barrage of error messages. The ship’s engines weren’t just offline, they were empty, and that at least meant no fuel for an explosion. He hoped. While the ship’s schematics were available some of the words didn’t translate through his symbskin properly, a world in the alien language with no English translation he figured and while he could guess it meant fuel, what the actual substance was, he had no clue. Looking for weapons as well, he found that the ship had some projectile weapons, he guessed were missiles of some kind but once more, the error messages he was getting indicated that nothing was volatile, and nothing was active.

“We’re fine, The ship wasn't carrying any heavy armaments, and it must have been fissionable, as even the engines are empty.” he caught a mild look of annoyance on Viktors face, but as everyone had their own agenda, he ignored it. As long as he wasn’t a nazi hydra agent in disguise, Peter could understand wanting to be the first one to market with alien tech. He was having similar thoughts himself.

“Right, we’ve got cargo, medical, engine room is gone, and I mean gone gone not just shut off, and uh, something that won't translate into English but I think might be storage? It's small enough, and uh, whatever is in there is locked behind a,” and he shrugged, “uru is the word I'm getting but nothing in English, some kind of metal I guess or alloy.”

Viktor rubbed a hand on his chin, “can you call up the cargo manifest, or the last ship's log. See if we can find out what their last mission was.” and Peter nodded,

“No journals, worth a shot,” and without explaining he sought out the ship's black box.

“Right, escape craft, no passengers though, only a mineral? Maybe? I don’t know. Other than the medical bay, which we’re standing in, there is only the storage bay accessible right now. We’d need machinery to dig the rest of the ship out.”

Peter was confused. He knew that Shaw and Selene destroyed a lot of the machinery here, but the cave in and the dust didn't look two thousand years old. When he plundered Shaw's mind, he didn't get anything saying that he’d been back to grab the tech. Maybe he did something to himself to stop anyone from finding out. It also explained where he got the cloning facilities from, and why the weapons and engines were empty, but then how did he? And it finally clicked. Harry. Monarch’s ship, the shield generator and the spawning tanks. Harry had been here, and even Shaw didn’t know. He was working with Shaw, and if he found out about the ship, he could access its systems.

“We’re not the first here,” Peter admitted. “I think Osborn came and grabbed everything he could, quietly so as not to alert anyone. That's why it's all gone, and well, it is all gone. When he tried to take over, Shield and I destroyed it all. Whatever is in that compartment is all that is left. Harry must not have known how to get to it, or it was under rubble and he couldn't.”

Reed nodded, “Only one way to find out.” and Viktor agreed,

“Open the chamber, and we can at least see what it is. A new mineral might be advantageous to us both. If there is enough.” Viktor added.

Peter also agreed. If it was Vibranium then he could let them have it, Shuri made sure that Parker Inc got their share of Vibranium and from the size of the compartment, Peter knew it was barely a kilogram. As he accessed the controls, a series of hieroglyphs on the far wall lit up and the wall just melted, leaving an opening.

“Uh, neat” Peter said and Viktor stepped forwards,

“If I may Peter. While this is your show, I would at least like the honour of seeing the discovery first hand,” and Peter shrugged and nodded.

“Sure, but I think it's either Vibranium or an alloy” and as Viktor peered into the room,

“And we are both wrong.” and reaching forwards brought out a box.

The box was still shiny and smooth, with no apparent latch on any of the sides. Viktor held it in his hand, tilting it from side to side but there seemed no way to open it. As they all looked, the top split along the centre line and flipped open. 

As the contents rose on a black material cushion the room was filled with an intense red bright light and as Peter tilted his head, his eyes went wide and he sprang towards Viktor, 

“Don’t!” he yelled but it was too late.

Viktor touched the red gem with one finger, and the world changed.

Malisson

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