Chapter 188: Arc Seven. Chapter One Hundred Eighty-Five. AIMing Higher

Basking in the glow of three new housemates, a new pool room that they had figured out a rotation and explained the flag system so he didn’t walk in on either Jean or Wanda, life in the warehouse had settled down once more.

Wanda had been brief, she had a slightly glazed look on her face but once Peter refreshed the air and sprayed more neutraliser she smiled, patted him on the shoulder and left, leaving him confused. Gwen just smiled and winked as he came down from his place, and he guessed while she was unwilling, Wanda had ventured up to see if he and Ororo had crossed a line.

Jean had been given a grace period. While she had picked a home, she was still wary of what the professor could do to bring her back to the mansion, something Peter wanted to have a strongly worded argument with him about, but as it was her life, Jean was perfectly capable of doing that herself.

With the Hydra forces mopped up. There was only one issue that needed to be dealt with. Shaw. Before he could even deal with that, another landed right in his lap. As to what the mess would be, Peter still had no idea.

As he sat at the very expensive looking table, crisp white tablecloth and a very expensive steak with roast potatoes in front of him, he listened to the very eloquent and very well dressed man speak.

Aldrich Killian had introduced himself and while Peter first impression was snake oil salesman, not helped by the fact that Justin Hammer was here, the more he spoke, the more it piqued Peter's curiosity.

Aldrich was handsome, greeting hair swept back over a widow's peak. “You see, after some investigation into Stark's new product line we both noticed that while Stark Tech was on the box, your name, or Miss Stacys was on the patent.” He was busy enjoying the same steak as Peter while Justin had a more unusual hamburger and fries. He was a small unassuming man, and Peter would never have guessed, looking at his pencil thin figure and narrow face that sat across from him was supposedly the third richest man in America.

“So, after some digging, I realised that Stark, as always, had taken someone else's idea and ran with it. Acquiring patents from Oscorp and screwing both yourself and Ms Octavious out of a rather large amount of money.”

Peter nodded, unwilling to interrupt the man who seemed to be reciting a speech.

“So, Justin and I are looking for a partner, one who shares similar, let's say, feelings towards Stark. We know about the video, Miss Potts’s indiscretion is of no matter but the way you got back at him, was immensely enjoyable. Myself, he had me arrested in a parking garage, and Justin, well, there are still pages with the world's smallest-“ but Justin cleared his throat, “ah yes, of course, sorry Justin.” and Aldrich smiled. That snake oil salesman smile.

“So, I get that,“ Peter said, “but why me? I mean, you both are famous. Hammer might not get the best press but you still get press, and while I don’t know who you are Mr Killian, someone influential enough to know what I've been doing and bribe their way into the records office to get my file, you must either have connections or money and from your suit, both.”

Aldrich smiled, “please, call me Aldrich and it’s simple Peter. You are smart but more importantly, you are young. An upcoming talent that no one has heard of, well except Stark, but he’s hell-bent on crushing you. We want you to work with us, not for us. We start an umbrella corporation, one under which you can restart Parker Incorporated, my one company, FuturePharm and Hammer Industries. All sharing data, all working to further humanity, and of course, make a lot of money. Advanced Idea Mechanics. One goal, One AIM. nice huh. I think marketing tracked it as scoring positively amongst the general populace.”

“Again, why me? I've no capital, no investors, nothing to offer.” and as he took a drink of his coke, Hammer and Killian shared a look and Aldrich smiled,

“But you do have ideas. The CLS is brilliant, Olivia Octavious still holds the patent for her arcstar reactor and her harness. Gwen Stacy holds the patent for her Stacy formula, that's what we want. Money isn't an issue, a million or two is worth the investment on the hundred million we make back. Even ten or twenty million is nothing Peter. You are the next Stark. We want that. We have money, we need ideas.”

Peter carefully chewed the very nice steak and swallowed. “I need to think about it. I have Shield as well, and Gwen works for Stark, there might be a noncompete clause in her contract. It's a lot Mr Aldritch, really, I mean, you’re expecting me to trust you when Stark took one look at me and punched me through a wall, so forgive me if I'm a little hesitant.”

Justin snorted and Killian laughed, “how about a tour of my latest project. It's what I want Liv to have a look at. We have another of Tony’s ex and disgruntled employees, Maya Hanson. If Miss Octavious has heard of her that should speak for itself, as for non competes, well, we wouldn't want to get Gwen in trouble or jeopardize a new relationship. Say, next week?” and Peter nodded. He had his meeting with Shaw in a few days but as he expected that to come to nothing other than yelling he would be free. As Killian offered his hand to shake it Peter felt something being slipped into his pocket and taking the man's hand and smiling, he ignored it.

“Great, Great. I’ll send a car for you, don't worry we know where you live.” and he gave that smile again, Peter couldn't make up his mind if it was genuine or fake and really didn't want to get into the habit of using his powers to tell. He had seen where it led Xavier and he didn't want that to be his future as well.

As they watched Peter leave, Adrian sipped the last of his wine, “you think he’ll figure it out?”

Hammer dipped a triangle of fries in ketchup, “I hope so, and before it's too late,” and Adrian shrugged. 

Lifting the vial out of his pocket he pulled out the stopper and sniffed, noting that the liquid smelt slightly like machine oil and left a silvery film on the inside of the bottle. Shrugging, he put the lid back on and stuck it back in his pocket. Whatever it was he would get Liv or Gwen to examine it later.

As he made his way home, Peter noticed a tail but thought nothing of it. It could be Nat, testing him, as he shook his head it could be anyone and he ignored them. Back at the warehouse, a party was in full swing, with Wanda teaching Laura how to dance, while Liv and Gwen were sitting together.

“Good news?” and Gwen shouted,

“Hey, Pete! Guess who graduated?” and Peter frowned. Gwen had been getting credit for her work at Stark Industries but he had no idea it was this close. Deciding to tease her a little, he pointed at himself,

“Well, I have been working hard, and you guys threw a party.” and while Liv chuckled to herself, 

Gwen pouted, “me, you ass.” and Peter nodded and lifted her from Livs lap, pulling her into a close hug and kissing her,

“Congratulations, you deserve it.” but Gwen pulled back,

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“Eugh, what have you been eating?” and Peter shrugged, 

“Steak, I had that meeting with Hammer and Killian today. They bought me lunch,” Peter was quite pleased, in fact, the meal alone had been worth meeting them, and their proposal had merit. He would wait though, if Gwen was graduating then it should be her day.

“Nuh-uh, you taste like ass. Unless you’ve been eating garbage, what did you eat?” and Peter shrugged, 

“Really, we were at the new place, uh Cafe du Mer, the food was great.” Gwen motioned to Liv, who sniffed at his mouth,

“No, I can smell it too. Are you sure it was good? Sorry dear but I need to borrow him.” and taking Peter by the hand she led him into her new home, with a small work surface she used for her PC and lab work. “Arm,” and Peter, used to the routine, presented his arm and as Liv fitted the rubber tubing she took a small blood sample. To test the first one she just left it in the sample tube and they both jumped when, rather than dissolving, it burst into flames.

“What the bloody hell?” Liv shouted as the tube burst. As they watched the black powder slowly consumed itself and burned with a small bright blue flame. “And you think that your steak was maybe overcooked?” and Peter laughed.

“Nothing tasted off though, so unless Aldrich dosed me, I have no idea.” and thinking he took the stoppered vial out from his pocket. He sighed, the lid had come loose as he walked, and there was only the smallest amount left in the bottom. As Liv saw it she shook her head and stepped back, grabbing a sample bottle and placing it on a cart, she wheeled it over to him and he dropped it in and screwed the lid shut.

“I need you to see if you can purge yourself of any foreign material, Peter. If your blood sample burst into flames then we can’t risk taking more. Can you, I don't know, see if you can feel whatever that sample was.” and frowning Peter sat with his eyes closed.

Normally he could feel his cells, he knew enough about his biology now that he could make symbcells at will. He still lacked the fine control that Gwen had with Poison, but she had a cheat, Poison herself. He could only, and he paused, there it was. Venom spread out across his skin, covering him in a dark black sheen, which bled a strange orange coloured liquid. “There we go '' and Liv ran a sample swab over his skin and dropped it into a test tube. “I’ll be upstairs dear, I’ll let you know what I find, but for now, please don't set fire to anything,” and thinking that his blood was flammable, she sighed, “or anyone.” and Peter got the message loud and clear. No sex until they figured out what was going on.

Liv held a test tube full of orange liquid. “It's a virus and a very nasty one at that.” and as the group stared at Peter he shrugged.

“I don't know, I thought I was immune to any viruses. Shouldn't my immune system have taken care of it.” and Liv nodded,

“It did.” In the loft meeting room, Liv pulled out a series of images and began to display them one by one.

“Whatever this virus is has integrated itself into your immune system. If I can hazard a guess, it's a viral serum. Designed to work in tandem with a person's body but ultimately being curable, and therefore reversible. Unlike the original super-soldier serum.”

“So wait? I have more powers now?” and Peter flexed but shrugged, “I don't feel any different.”

“That's the problem,” and Liv clicked her mouse again, moving over to the next slide. “The virus is now active, it co-oped your current powers and it’s mutating. We need to find out who infected you and get the cure. Look,'' and as Liv pointed at the slide, they could see the normally black blood cells, his co-opted immune response was now orange, and worse, there was a sign that his blood was full of them, more than normal. “I think, for want of a better term, you are sick. Isolation might be the best course, but as your immune system is already compromised, we have no way to cure you or figure out what effects it will have. No powers. Remove the Mind Stone from your body, just in case, and under no circumstances are you to even touch any of us. This is affecting your symbcells, the symbiotes are probably not immune to its effects and you may infect us.”

“Uh, should I be sitting here then?” and Liv shook her head,

“It's not airborne and from its size, probably never will be. This is a man-made bloodborne infection. Someone dosed you, and as Aldrich Killian runs a pharmatech company, I will bet it was him.”

“So, phone him to get the cure or you play the bad guy?”

“Do we want to warn him though? If this was intentional then we have to assume that he’s probably watching us, to see what effect it has on you.” and peter huffed

“I was being followed, but as they didn’t follow me all the way here I thought nothing of it, just Fury being an ass or a stupid fan,” and Peter took out his phone,

“Yeah, tell Killian I found his shitty virus. I want the cure or he gets it and his name plastered all over the web, and if he thinks that me fucking Pepper made the internet sing, wait till they get a video of me fucking him,” and Peter hung up.

“You really need to work on your threats dear, that sounded incredibly homoerotic.” and she smirked, “not that I’m complaining of course.” and Gwen laughed as Peter shook his head.

~

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