Spider-Man : The Morales Trilogy

Chapter 3

"Alistair Smythe?" Dil queried. Smythe had been all over the news recently and not positively. The supposedly deranged scientist had been sacked from Oscorp after one of his experiments had been responsible for the death of most of his coworkers. And Max had invited him here?

Alistair appeared out of nowhere on the stage, in a flash of blue light. "Good to know that the teleporters work," he muttered. He gave Max a curt nod then turned to face the students.

"Definitely the reaction I was expecting," he said and forced a smile. "Many of you must have seen the news, where my image has been publicly tarnished. Well, I'm not here to defend myself. I'm simply here to present my tech and I'll leave you be."

Silence.

"Well then, I present to you, my latest donation to public security, the Smythe Robots!" Alistair Smythe yelled and there was shimmering in the air next to him and some blue and black, nicely-designed robots appeared.

"Next-gen cloaking technology, in-built weapons and guidance system and they are remotely controlled so you don't need to worry about the safety of whoever pilots these suits," Smythe continued. "They also have in-built biometric scanners and they are entirely bulletproof and partially laser proof."

Few people clapped. "The world is in danger. You might feel protected by the walls of Horizon High but that would be stupid. The criminals out there are fearless now because there is no hero to fear. The cops are pulling back, abandoning city districts, leaving civilians at the mercy of these criminals. But that's going to change.

"Tomorrow, these suits will be deployed publicly to various city districts where they'll begin the task of cleaning up and rounding up the city's most dangerous criminals. The world may not have heroes with extraordinary abilities anymore but we don't need them. What we need is for science and technology to be applied correctly, for the good of mankind. And that's what I've done with these robots."

One of the robots powered on and the eyes glowed a brilliant shade of blue. People cheered but Smythe's expression made it clear that the robot was clearly not intended to power on.

"Smythe, what's happening?!" Max yelled.

"Someone has hacked and gained access to the robot's systems. Evacuate the auditorium now!" At that moment, the other robots powered on too.

"No one move and no one will be hurt," said a deep, menacing voice over the PA systems. "We've waited for the perfect opportunity to attack Horizon High and Mr. Smythe has given us just that today. Thank you."

"Who are you?" Smythe asked.

No answer. Instead one robot turned to face Smythe and aimed its left hand at Smythe. There was a whirring sound and it fired a beam of energy at Smythe.

Smythe disappeared in a flash of blue and the beam hit the wall instead.

"Teleporting," the voice said. "Not very nice of you. You're supposed to be in jail, Smythe. That was the point of causing that explosion at Oscorp and framing it on you. But you're a lucky man. But not anymore!"

"What do you want from me?!"

"I was your friend. And I was dying and you were supposed to save my life!" the voice yelled. "But you didn't. You wanted me to die."

"Hammer?"

"Yes. Justin Hammer. Alive and well," the voice said. "Well, maybe digitally. And I hope Mr. Modell here doesn't mind if I help myself to some of his technology."

Some of the robots shot upwards, leaving a hole in the top of the auditorium while three robots remained behind, probably to watch the auditorium.

"Smythe, isn't there a way to shut them down?" Max asked.

"It has to be done manually. By damaging the circuits in their heads."

"Why couldn't this be done remotely?"

And the two of them continued arguing over the best way to have designed the Smythe robots.

"Hammer can't be allowed to get Modell's technology. If used negatively, Modell's technology has the power to end the world," Miles muttered.

"And what do you plan on doing?" Dil asked. "We don't have superspeed or strength or spider powers. We can't go up against 8 robots and whatever else Justin Hammer has hacked."

"We don't have to fight them. We just have to disable them."

"What are you talking about?"

"The entirety of this school is powered by a core. I think I can reengineer parts of it in order to release an electro-magnetic pulse blast that will disable everything electronic within Horizon High."

"And how are we supposed to get to wherever the core is?"

"It's a couple of levels beneath us. It's supposed to be off-limits but we don't have a choice right now."

"I have a choice," Dil said. "And I choose not to commit suicide. I think you shouldn't do that too."

"I'm going with or without you. It's gonna be like an unofficial tour of the school, man. I'll see all the cool science stuff that Modell probably wants to keep hidden. Maybe even keep some to myself."

"Fine, I'm coming," Dil muttered and rolled his eyes.

"Let's go!"

Dil and Miles got up and started sprinting towards the auditorium exit as fast as they could and although Miles hadn't planned for this, the other students got up and started running for the exit too while some charged towards the robots.

"We've started a movement!" Dil yelled.

"Good, no one's going to notice us head for the core."

Dil and Miles exited the auditorium and ran for the nearest elevator. Dil pushed the button but there wasn't the usual chime. "Elevator's unresponsive."

"Hammer is in control of everything electronic in here. We're going to have to take the stairs. The core is only five floors beneath us based on the plans I've seen."

"Where in the world did you see the plans for the school?"

"The internet. Right before I started looking at the Oscorp-Thompson war on Glitter."

"Let's just go!" Dil said as the remaining students burst out of the auditorium. They rushed towards a blue door which led onto the stairwell, pushed it open and started heading down.

"If I die because of you, Miles, I'll kill you," Dil said.

"Whatever, mate," Miles said as they rushed down the stairs. Soon they burst into a room with blue tinted light that contained various things.

Vials containing chemicals, broken mechanical pieces left on counters and jars containing insects.

"This is terrifying."

"Yes, it is," said a mechanical voice and they swirled around to see one of the hijacked Smythe robots behind them with its left arm aimed at them.

"Any last wishes?"