Takes Place After Spider-Man 2099
#42 (Marvel Series)
Spider-Man's fist flattened the organ legger's nose in a gush of blood. "DO! NOT!"
He huffed mightily towering over the craven creature, "TOUCH HER!"
The watch-out collapsed to the ground in a fetal
position, clutching the shapeless mass that had been his nose. His two
cohorts down the alley way froze, ceasing their sick work of organ
removal for a quick buck. They released their prey, a young blonde girl,
and shrank down the other end of the closed alley. With slow deliberate
strides, the harbinger of Thor approached them.
"Not so fast," Spider-Man hissed as he flashed
menacing, razor-sharp finger tip talons. "You want to play surgeon,
we can play surgeon."
Dread welled inside the two thugs as their eyes
transfixed on the red stylized skull across the chest of the
Spider-Man's blue-black outfit. It was less terrifying than the mask.
With the red sickle-shaped markings that highlighted the space where the
eyes should be, just something about it made it nothing short of
sinister.
His exposed talons balled hard into fists, his knuckles
audibly cracked under the pressure. The young girl, quivering and
sobbing, slid out of her savior's way and against the side brick
wall.
A world of hurt was about to be unleashed.
The air whistled above and an all too familiar sound
boomed in the narrow back way. "PUBLIC EYE! Surrender or face
extreme prejudice!"
The lone skycycle circled the entrance of the alley
before touching ground. In brown para-military garb, the corporate pay
cop dismounted his flying equivalent of a motorcycle, hand-blaster in
firing position.
"Lucky." Spider-Man shook his head at the two
soulless creatures before leaping up and with the aide of his foot and
hand talons attached to the side wall. Quickly he scurried up and over
the ledge.
An icy breeze picked up as Spider-Man, known to a few as
Miguel O'Hara, galloped from roof top to roof top. The use of the lyte
byte material attached to the back of his costume and the occasional
strong updrafts found in skyscraper dominated Uptown allowed for brief
moments of airborne flight.
The night was quickly dissolving into day, the horizon
now a bluish color began to take over the sky from the inky black.
Miguel didn't have to run from the Alchemax owned Public
Eyeball stooge. But he did out of habit.
Everything had changed so fast in his life, and it
wasn't just the talons, fangs, super-strength, agility, and organic
webbing. No, the Spider-Man thing was old news.
But Doom taking over America and then uniting all the
mega-corps. That was a shock, but not nearly as earth shaking as him
being put in charge of Alchemax, the largest and most powerful corp on
the planet.
Doom was gone, whereabouts unknown, and the puppet
presidency of Captain America collapsed left the country once again
fractured. In a gentlemen's agreement, the corps pledged not to double
cross each other for the time being. A new government was being erected,
and Miguel got to put his two cents in.
He was no longer at odds with the system, he was the
system. He could lord over it and dictate to it. His will was
law...after the appropriate paperwork had been filed and the bureaucrats
enforced it.
If, if they enforced it. A problem he would admit, but
over time Miguel figured he would finally reel in all his department
heads.
Ahead of him sat one the most posh sections of Uptown
New York City. Tyler Stone, his former boss, had secured him a residence
in the exclusive Babylon Towers. The name itself oozed overt decadence.
Nothing less for one of the brightest minds at Alchemax, as Stone said.
But Miguel knew better, he was the brightest mind there.
Miguel slowed his fever paced race to beat the sun home.
Today was going to be an alright day, he might as well indulge a little
in it.
Really, how many of those did he get?
Next Issue: It begins...
It's been a long time since I've done anything like
this.
And what I mean by "anything like this," is
writing.
The last time I wrote was in mid-2002, maybe a little
before summer. So, to say it was an experience knocking the rust off in
2004 by tackling both Spider-Man 2099UGR and X-Men 2099UGR would be an
understatement. Not that it hasn't been fun, but between hurricanes and
putting together a kick ass staff, the writing was a chore at first. But
I love and will continue to do it... regularly... (I'm serious Alex,
stop rolling your eyes.)
I've always dug Miguel O'Hara. He's a character with
flaws, especially on the personal level. He doesn't do this Spider-Man
thing because of "great power comes great responsibility." He
does it mostly to cause trouble or get himself out of it. The last thing
Miguel wants is to be a hero, and most of the time he doesn't feel goaded
into being one. And I can dig that.
This book has been nothing but fun since I started.
And I'll continue to write it until it stops being fun. Which might be
quite aways, away. So sit back and, hopefully, enjoy the show!
-Michael Shirley
January 10th, 2005
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