MONSTER - PETER PARKER

Chapter Six : The Victims

*First Draft 

(In this chapter Remus is speaking Russian, Geran is speaking English.)

Three days later.

The first thing to greet the Imbyite was a cool grey wall. After a slow blink and a moment of sniffing, it noticed that the surface in which it was on was surprisingly soft. Never in its existence - that it could recall, had been on something so soft and warm. Leaning into the warmth, it began to wriggle, trying for it to reach its whole body. 

When this was unsuccessful, it flopped back over with a grunt. With its large obsidian eyes it looked around the room. It was square and grey, empty of anything except the soft surface it was currently on. It slowly heaved itself off the ground, ignoring the cracking in its bones, and made its way to the edges of the room and began to sniff. 

It smelled of chemical clean and metal. It reached up and began to smell the wall. It smelled of a different metal, the origin unclear to the Imbyite. 

As it sniffed at the surface, the metal slowly shimmered away revealing a sleek surface and the Imbyite was suddenly greeted with another creature. It resembled one of its kind, the same outline and large beady eyes, yet this one looked sickly. Dark grey pulled over sharp bones and long white scares stretched over the body. As the Imbyite paced, the other mirrored its actions. 

The Imbyite brittled and, digging its claws into the floor, launched itself forward. 

Instead of colliding with one of its own, its head smashed against the hard surface and, before it could tell what happened, was flung back with twice the force. The Imbyite's back hit the wall, sending ripples of pain down its spine. 

"That's a mirror." A voice sounded amidst the pain. 

In a mere second the Imbyite went front dazed in pain, to a predatory stance, its chain like tail unfolding into three separate tails. 

The two figures flinched, ones hand lowering to something near its hip.

There was silence as the Imbyite inspected the two of them. One had curly black hair, brushing against dark skin. A light stubble lined the chin and wide hazel eyes looked upon the creature with a mixture of - the Imbyite couldn't tell. Large obsidian eyes trailed to the other figure - this one older by quite a lot. Salt and pepper hair matched the short scruffy beard that clinged to pale skin. Firm, assertive grey eyes warily watched the Imbyite. 

After a moment of a standstill, the younger one hesitantly stepped forward. 

"It's-It's nice to meet you," the stranger greeted. "My name is Remus Nowak, I am a doctor for S.H.I.E.L.D. and this is my friend, Geran Merman - He's a good man." 

He said this all slowly, as if the Imbyite couldn't understand. He was right in that aspect, the words,  though sounding increasingly familiar, didn't make sense to the Imbyite. Instead the creature took to studying the two of them, its head slowly tilting until its head was completely upside down. 

"Jesus Christ." Geran whispered.

Remus eyed Geran from the corner of his eye before switching his focus back to the Imbyite, or rather, Sergei Volkov, a boy taken from a small village in Russia at the age of ten. Assumed to have died with the rest of his village in a wild fire. Pluto 1 was looking for people with AB negative blood, as they came to the conclusion that was what was needed to be turned. Sergei Volkov was the first to be turned and was considered the best that Pluto 1 had produced, that is until they took the dehumanization to another level. 

Apparently, after that, this one had refused to kill and ate as little as possible and began to fight with the other Imbyites with the intention to kill. Looking further into Sergei's files, he had shown high levels of intelligence and and often forsook the hierarchy. Two things that defined him as more than an Imbyite. 

This traits were proven even further when S.H.I.E.L.D inserted a chemical that was supposed to clear their minds and peel back the block on their emotions. Most, when this occurred, began to tear at themselves and go besurk. Most were currently in hospital care since they severely hurt themselves. 

This one, however, seemed mostly unaffected if not better than before.

This gave Remus hope that he could be helped. 

"Do-do you want to know who you are?" Remus asked before pulling out a photo from one of his folders. From it came a photo of a little boy, black hair a stark contrast to snowy white skin. Green eyes where pull to half moons as the boy in the picture gave a wide smile full of white and gums. 

The Imbyite froze slightly before bringing his giant eye closer to the photo. A deep pain pierced the creatures heart, causing it to shake and give a low whimper. The boy looked familiar, too familiar, its heart ached. 

"This is you," Remus held the photo firmly. "Your name is Sergei Volkov, born in Russia and taken by an organization called Pluto 1. They-they experimented on you until you turned into what you are now-" 

The Imbyite began to shake, its eyes still trained on the photo. It's claws dug into the floor. 

"-Something without emotion or thought, but we can fix that."  

The Imbyite sat on its back legs causing it to tower over the two men. Extending its paws outwards, the Imbyite waited. 

Remus paused before gently placing the photo in its giant claws. 

It brought the photo close and sat silently before slowly bringing one claw to touch the boys face. The claw, as sharp as it was, pierced the paper splitting it in half. The Imbyite let out a low howl and began to shake and thrash. 

"What happened?" Geran shouted, his hand still resting on his gun.

Remus ignored the question and quickly pulled out another picture of him. He had thought this might happen and brought another. 

"Hey, hey - I have another one," Remus brought the picture upwards, shouting to get the creatures attention. "Look, look!" 

The Imbyite slowed and inspected the photo before holding out its paws again but Remus pulled it back causing it to give a low growl. 

"Geran go get some tape," Remus said in english.

"What? Are you out of your fucking mind? No-" 

"Go." Remus hissed. "Please."

Giving one more glance towards the Imbyite, Geran cursed before stepping out of the room. leaving the two of them alone. A minute passed and Geran came back, Remus let out a sigh of relief. He was seventy percent sure the Imbyite would bite off his hand. 

Taking the picture and the tap, he tapped the picture onto the wall as high as he could. Turning back to the Imbyite, he spoke; 

"You are not an it, you are a person. And I will help you come to realize that, even if that means you're the only patient I see for years. You will be you, you will have an identity. I promise you that." 

The Imbyite sat, staring at the photo for a long time. Long after Remus and Geran left, long after the mirror vanished and was replaced with a gray wall, it sat there and watched the photo.