Cleaning up a Mess

Reed Richards was a smart man. If he were honest to himself, he was probably one of the smartest men on Earth, capable of coming up with formulas and understanding problems in ways that most men couldn't fathom.

But for some reason, he just couldn't figure out the mystery of Alexander Osborn.

For all intents and purposes, Osborn bought the plaza and simply let them be. He never asked them to work on projects or come up with ideas for his company; he just… let them do what they will.

Reed may have been a genius with an IQ of 267 and had numerous degrees in various fields of sciences, but he had next to zero skill in the business side of things. However, even Reed knew that this was a horrible business move on Osborn's part. Compound that with the fact he wanted to study Victor… things just didn't make sense.

Because of this he started researching, and he came up with a hypothesis.

Osborn was not what he seemed.

Osborn was smart, both in science and in business. He created the armor and a variety of other gadgets for the police and the military after taking over for his deceased father. In doing so he was able to quickly and almost casually bring the company out of the shadow of Stark and Hammer while also getting out of the mound of debt that his father left him in trying to create… something. Whatever it was, it was always kept quiet, but Alex not only overcame that, but he also took over Starks deal with the military when Stark quit making weapons after that fiasco in Afghanistan. This gave him an even greater edge in the business, by giving the military sturdy and durable weapons (Unlike Hammer Tech whose weapons would short circuit or overheat in any temperature hotter than ninety degrees.) along with armor that could protect them from enemy fire, even going so far as to buy various factories to mass produce his gadgets. Most if not all of the branches in the military are looking to Oscorp for their weapons instead of companies like Hammer Tech or Frost International.

But at the same time, he refused to use the scientists or even Reed himself for his company.

Why?

Reed was nothing if not persistent though and eventually discovered something while hacking Osborn's security camera footage.

An old video of Alex training and exercising in his personal gym.

Normally that wouldn't even illicit a second glance from the genius, but something caught his attention.

Specifically the fact that the workout machines were radically more advanced than what most individuals would need. One of the weight machines (Or at least what he suspected to be a weight machine) looked more like a plate that came down from the ceiling, the pressure it was using to test Osborn is what really caught his attention though. Four thousand pounds were being easily bench pressed by the owner of Oscorp Industries. Two tons were being lifted almost easily by the wealthy genius.

"Could it be?"

When Richards first saw Osborn's so called "Achilles Armor" he was somewhat impressed, not really as impressive as his unstable molecule comprised suits, but impressed none the less. He quickly forgot about them however, deeming them as unimportant to his research.

Then he met the Goblin in the fight with Dr. Doom and he quickly drew a connection between the suits that Osborn created and the Goblins own suit. Initially he assumed it was simply someone with contacts willing to fight criminals, but now though….

Was it possible for Alexander to be the Goblin?

Surely someone of Osborn's status as the owner of a major company wouldn't actually do something like this? Surely he wouldn't needlessly put himself in danger like this?

But as he watched the weight slowly grow heavier, growing from four thousand to five, then five to six, he realized that maybe he overestimated Osborn and his unwillingness to do what the Goblin does. While his being Goblin didn't answer why he doesn't use Reed for his mind like so many other companies did, it did answer a few other questions like why he wanted to study Victor.

But for every answered question, even more remained unanswered, how did he get his abilities? Why is he using them for good? Why did he buy the Four Freedoms plaza while asking for nothing in return?

For now though, he will back off and keep Osborn's secret. When Osborn needs help, the Fantastic Four will be there, if for no other reason than Osborn being willing to help them first, against Doom, and for helping them out of their financial troubles.

Now. Back to working on that quantum splicer…

/

(Alex POV)

Life has been insane, it had been only a couple of weeks since the fight against the Evolutionist, and I had been able to discover a few things about his staff as well as downloaded the total sum of his genetic work from his computers in his base, unfortunately for the girls I hadn't been able to permanently reverse the process, I could only create a serum which granted them the ability to change to their human forms through an act of will. Spider-Man was the only one who thought it was awesome.

Another problem was the girls families, most of these girls had been missing months and their families had simply declared them dead. Others held out hope though. Bringing their wives/daughters/sisters back home is where the problems started though, some of the families accepted them with open arms, others…

Not so much.

One woman named Lauren was altered to look like a snake and had lost her hair while gaining scales, fangs, a forked tongue, and eyes like a snake or cat. Her husband took one look at her and slammed the door in her face, claiming that she wasn't the woman he married. Another one, a child named Sarah who was only thirteen was almost immediately shunned by her family for looking like a 'demon woman'. Sarah was the one with spider legs coming from her back and the mandible like jaw. Greer Nelson went to her husband and while at first he accepted her, it quickly overwhelmed him.

Their cases were unfortunately more prevalent than not…

So I tried my best to help them, those who weren't accepted by their family I gave them jobs, I gave them apartments, I tried to give them lives.

It was hard, but it was doable.

Besides helping them though, I went through the Evolutionary's hideout, and it was horrifying.

Failed experiments lay dissected on tables throughout the base with various mechanical tools covered in dried blood. The girls who weren't in the tanks were killed and used to further his experimentations. Dead bodies lay in cells covered in fecal matter, blood, and vomit, their features nearly as twisted and disfigured as the High-Evolutionary's face itself.

It was gruesome…

On the bright side, if there is a bright side to this mess, the Evolutionary and his assistant were the only scientists in the building and the security guards had no clue what was happening beneath them, just that they were getting paid, so that let me go through the building without any problems. I was able to get every last bit of paperwork and data he had, every last bit of information the Evolutionary had, I took it all and after giving it a quick once through, I gave it to Oscorps medical research department. Maybe they can use some of it to make better and more reliable medicines.

The base itself was rather simple. Five rooms, each with a different purpose. There was the central chamber room where I fought him, it was about the size of a football field with a twenty foot ceiling and seemed to reach under a few other warehouses nearby. Along each wall was about twelve tubes (Now broken thanks to our fight) and against the far wall was a work station of some sort with what looked to be notes of various genetic sequences and observations. Next was what appeared to be a prison that held girls who had yet to be experimented on or had been but failed… that was a gruesome sight. Unfortunately all of the bodies appeared to be experimented on. The room itself was about forty by thirty with a few cells per wall that only held a bed and small toilet. The third room held what looked like an exercise room meant to test the girls new abilities, but it looked fairly unused, almost like they never got a chance to use it. Next was what can only be a medical chamber with numerous medical devises meant for surgery: scalpels, needles and thread, and a few other things as well. This room was covered in blood though, and I did not need to test it to know it was the blood of his 'experiments.' Finally was the room I came in from the elevator, it had nothing but a couple of computers.

This place was once used for unspeakable evils, but now… I can use this. I can't keep using Oscorp to store Doom and the Evolutionary without questions being asked. Already some of my employees were starting to get suspicious, not to mention Harry getting close to actually discovering my workspace in my room. I would need to clean it up in the extreme, buy the building itself, and set the place up with better security and set it up with some better tech, but in the long run I can use this as my personal base.

So many things on my plate right now it isn't funny… Fix this place up, create a few more devices for the future opponents I may face, furthering Oscorp's business ventures, fully curing the were-women, discovering how Doom can do what he does and reversing it (And maybe figure out how to reverse the Four's powers as well in the off chance they turn evil), find out if mutants exist (You would think they would be easier to find, but either Xavier is doing a better job at keeping them secret than in comics, or there just aren't any, because it is pretty hard) and upgrading my current suit to take harder hits and give harder attacks as well as create a lighter version of my suit

"Back to work…" I mutter.