C164 Spider-Man (Patreon)
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“Our best option is probably the Nova Empire.” Peter says after a moment of thought. ‘Technically we’re already allied with Asgard, but an extra ally shouldn’t cause any trouble.’
The Nova Empire is an interstellar hegemony made up of multiple alien species that maintains a strict but benevolently personified rule over a good portion of the galaxy.
While the Empire is made up of various alien races, it is ruled primarily by the Xandarians, who are externally indistinguishable from Humans, except for the fact of sometimes have different eye colors and other minute differences.
Other races known to inhabit the government are the Krylorians, the Aakons, the Hurctarians, and countless others.
“Based on the data Jarvis compiled, Ronan was a huge enemy of theirs, so we should already have some good will with them.” Peter explains to the rest of the Avengers Council. “I’m sure they’ll be happy to accept the gift of Ronan’s remaining soldiers.”
Despite the recent treaty between the Kree and Nova Empires, Ronan the Accuser was disgusted by the treaty which signaled an end to the Kree-Nova War, so he continued massacring Xandarian outposts across the galaxy, slaughtering children and families in the process.
The logs of these escapades were carefully stored in the databanks.
“We could also gift them Ronan’s body, though they could possibly find that offensive.” Magneto offers his thoughts.
“The Nova Empire would find such an offering distasteful, though they would still need the body for proof of death.” Jarvis informs them as he has access to all of their information.
“Alright, we can seal his remains in a coffin and hand it over during our first meeting.” Fury was in agreement as well.
“Good, Jarvis can you use the Kree ships to contact the Nova Corps and schedule a meeting with Nova Prime.”
The Nova Corps is the intergalactic military and police force of the Nova Empire, led by an individual holding the rank of Nova Prime.
‘If I recall correctly, the current Nova Prime is a woman, though I don’t remember her name.’ Peter thought as he remembered her from the Guardians of the Galaxy movie.
“Would you like me to schedule the meeting here or on Xander?” Jarvis asks.
“Whichever is more convenient for them.” Peter replies, as he could portal back and forth easily. “Also, be upfront about Ronan’s involvement with Thanos. If they’re going to be our allies, then transparency is important.”
“Should we be so open this early on?” Fury asks as he’s used to playing spy games. “It’s likely that they’ll refuse if we tell them.”
“Then they weren’t worth being our allies, to begin with.” Peter says with a shake of his head.
———————————————
With the Council in full agreement on who to ally themselves with, Peter and Tony split their time between outfitting their new fleet of warships and finishing up the Super Soldier Serum.
Jarvis would notify them when he had a time and place for their meeting with the Nova Empire. That is, if they don’t get scared off upon hearing the Mad Titans name.
As for the Super Soldier Serum, it was pretty much finished by this point. The only thing holding them back from calling it a finished product was the fact that they weren’t sure how the newer version of the serum would react to Vita Radiation.
Vita Radiation is electromagnetic radiation with a specific wavelength that has stabilizing properties. It was used to activate the properties of the Super Soldier Serum in Steve Rogers and would be needed in the new serum as well.
‘The only way to find out is through testing.’ Peter thought as he and Tony started building a miniature test chamber for rats.
...
“Either we’re going to have some buff rats running around, or it’s back to the drawing board.” Tony jokes as they lock a rat into a miniature chamber, similar to the one shown in the Captain America movie.
“Good luck, Chucky.” Peter wishes him luck as the chamber locks shut.
Turning to the side, Peter saw Tony insert a vial of blue Super Soldier Serum into a line that leads to the chamber with the rat. Behind him against the wall is a huge old-style network of machines, which are used to pump the Vita Rays into the Chamber.
“Are you sure that your dad's old equipment still works?” Peter asks as he looks over the ancient machinery.
“Yup, I tested it yesterday when you went home to spend your night with Fury’s daughter.” Tony says with a teasing smirk.
“Don’t be so loud!” Peter yelled as they were in the Tower at the moment, and anyone could hear.
“Oh, relax.” Tony chuckles as he rolls his eyes. “The workshop is soundproof and locked to anyone that isn’t me, you, and Pepper.”
“Speaking of Pepper-” Peter turns the tables back onto Tony.
“No.” Tony groans as he knew he fell into a trap.
“What?” Peter asks with a smirk. “You can’t just avoid the subject. Either you convince her that you won’t cheat on her and start dating, or you stay alone for the rest of your life. Because my Aunt is off limits. I’ll kill you before I let her even leave the house with you.”
“Well, we don’t necessarily have to leave the house...” Tony says as his perverted smirk returns.
“...” Peter doesn't grace him with a response and just glares in silence.
“...okay, relax. I’ll stay away from your mommy.” Tony laughs awkwardly as he turns away from Peter's intense glare.
“Good.” Peter nods though she wasn’t his mother, he wouldn’t say anything as he got what he wanted. “Now let’s talk about the real problem.”
“What?” Tony asks as he had a bad feeling.
“Your obvious cowardice.” Peter says as Tony looks at him like he was mentally impaired.
“I just fought ships full of alien soldiers with you. I’d say that disqualifies me from being a coward.” Tony corrects him.
“Really?” Peter asks as he crosses his arms and stares unconvinced. “Then how come you haven’t asked Pepper out yet?”
“What are you talking about? That’s all I’ve been doing!” Tony’s tone started to get heated.
“No, you flirt and try to seduce her, but she always turns you down, and then you pretend it was all a joke.” Peter explains the cycle that he has seen countless times. “The only way you’ll ever get a real answer is if you seriously ask her out. No games or jokes. Just invite her on a date and make it clear that you want to be monogamous.”
“She won’t believe me.” Tony says with a sigh, knowing his lecherous past has tainted her belief in him.
“Well, find a way to make her.” Peter says with a shrug. “You’re a smart guy. I’m sure that you can figure it out. You know her best after all.”
“...” Tony stayed silent for a moment before they heard the sound of scratching on metal.
Looking down, they could hear the rat in the chamber scratching at the door, trying its best to escape but failing miserably.
“Let’s just focus on the experiment.” Tony says with a relieved sigh. “I can fix my love life later.”
“Sure...” Peter says as they get to work.
Within minutes they begin the first experiment, hoping everything would go well.
With the flick of a switch, a tiny amount of blue-colored Super Soldier Serum shoots through small pipes, which lead to needles that eject from the chamber and stab into the frightened rat.
High-pitch painful squeaks rang out from the mini chamber, drawing both Peter's and Tony’s attention.
“Hit him with 5% Vita radiation.” Peter calls out.
“On it.” Tony says and flips a switch, activating his father's old machinery.
With the twist of a dial, a bright light began to appear from the closed chamber window as the painful squeaks grew louder and more frequent.
“Bump it up to 10%.” Peter says as Tony shrugs and twists the dial up to 10%.
Soon enough the sounds from the rat completely died down, meaning that the experiment was probably over.
When Steve went through this procedure, they had to boost the vita rays up to 100%, but this was a small rat so 10% should be more than enough.
“Shut it down.” Peter says and with another flick of a switch the machinery shut down.
As the light died down, Peter opened up the small chamber, releasing some steam and revealing a much bigger rat.
“Damn, Chucky.” Peter says as he sees the packed muscle on the rat that seemed to grow twice in size. “You’re ripped.”
Just as Peter was staring in shock at the muscle-bound rat, it jumped out of the chamber, denting the metal with its feet, as it landed on Peter and bit him on the arm.
“Ahhhh! Motherf*cker!”
A/N: 1483 words :)