The Vulture

Keep your eyes on the skies, New Yorkers! A menace is terrorizing our city from above! A flying monster man known as "The Vulture"! I must have web fluid in my ears. Jonah's ranting about a menace, and it's not me! Of course, he's probably just Spiderman in some new fangled costume. And order is once again restored. Seriously, a new costume? Like I've got that kind of money. And what's he think this is, Halloween? Trick or treat, webslingers! Argh! Trick or treat, maties! This holiday is nothing but an excuse for masked vigilantes to extort candy from hard-working citizens! Yo, Fury! And before you ask, no sign of our winged target yet. Stay on it. S. H. I. E. L. D wants this Vulture out of the skies. Right, 'cause that's your turf. Seriously, how do we even know Vulture's a bad guy? I mean, he hasn't hurt anyone. Not yet, but he's committed crimes. Against other criminals. Maybe he's just misunderstood. You know, like a certain webslinger once was? Oh, and F. Y. I, I'd find him faster if I could fly. Jet pack! I'm gonna take that as a maybe. Someone help! Stop, thief! Someone! Stop that thief! That sounds like a cry for a friendly, neighborhood Hey, where'd he go? Vulture? Hold it, feathers! We need to talk! Yeah. Maybe not so friendly after all. No, no, no! Don't do that! Aw, man! Get off of me, before we both get squished! - addic7ed. Com - Wait! Aren't you gonna cut me down? Cops will do that, you thief. Right now, I got a vulture to catch. Yikes! Who knew The Vulture could fly so Fast? Whoa! Okay. Since Fury won't spring for that jetpack, I need this bird with my smarts. I could use my smartphone! Or better yet, use S. H. I. E. L. D tech. Okay. Birds of prey like to stay close to home, so Vulture's gotta have a nest nearby, right? Fortunately, the Bugle online was kind enough to provide the locations of all its attacks. Just cross reference that, with the G. P. S. And presto! We have a territory radius centering right There! Thank you, Spiderman. You've just made my vulture hunt that much easier. Ooh! Ominous. Now, what do we have here? Dark, high, and totally abandoned. Perfect spot for a vulture's nest. Nice chandelier. Guess who forgot to charge his night vision goggles. Good thing I got a low tech back-up. Oh, yeah. This isn't creepy at all. Where's the what'd I do with the Seriously? Sorry, Harry. I'm gonna have to let you go to voicemail. Again. Looks like our Vulture's feathering his nest with some serious bling. And he also likes Other people's family photos? Okay. Creep factor of nine. What's this guy's deal? Now, it all makes sense. I'd recognize this tech anywhere. This is one of Doc Ock's labs, who, thankfully, is locked up aboard the S. H. I. E. L. D tri-carrier. What is it with him and the animal experiments? Ock's whipped up more weird formulas than a fancy coffeehouse. Uh, Lizard-Man? Uh, Vulture-Man? Oh, what's next? There a Kangaroo-man out there who wants to fight me? Vulture must be another one of Ock's DNA mash-ups. Better warn S. H. I. E. L. D before Intruder alert! Something like that happens! Oh, right, it's Wednesday! I must be fighting Octo-bots. But it's much more fun to let the Octo-bots do the fighting for me. Nice try, slow-bot! Now, what do we have here? Okay. Either I just ordered the world's tallest Latte Or I just woke up The Vulture. I awaken to another night of meaningless existence. So bleak and dreary. "Bleak and dreary?" Okay. So somebody woke up all emo. Uh, not that there's anything wrong with that. The emo thing was just a joke! No need to be so sensitive! I think I'm starting to miss the Octo-bots. Whoa! Birds of prey have keen eyesight. How about I mess up yours? What happened? Other than you freaking out and trying to tear me apart with those pointy toenails? - Not much. - Who are you? Why are you here? I could ask you the same, Beaky. You might as well call me "Vulture. " All the city news-hounds do. Hey, don't blame me. My media profile's even worse than yours. - What's your story? - I wish I knew. My true name, my home, my family, anything of my past. My memories are like a forgotten song, a moon-less night or a coffin of emptiness. Okay. That's a little dark. Your memories will come back. Until then, the right here and right now might be better than yesterday. Yesterday? Yesterday is what I need! I have to know who I am! What I am! Vulture, wait! Huh? This marking it holds the key to my past. - I know it. - Hold it, flyboy! What you got there? I said, wait! Ahh! Look, I can't just let you go. And I can't let you stop me. Uh-oh! This is definitely coming out of bird-boy's security deposit. I need an update on The Vulture situation. I'm fine. Thanks for asking. Anyway, turns out Vulture is another one of Doc Ock's animal experiments gone bad. Still think he's a candidate for our "new warriors" program? Okay. So he's a little flighty and loses control now and then, but he doesn't seem like a bad kid. He's just mixed up and a little heavy on the angst. Which makes him just the kind of superpowered loner the Taskmaster would go after. Not if I find him first. He said, he needs to know who he is. I have a pretty good idea who he thinks might have the answer. Oscorp. That means Norman Osborn. Now, what have you got for me, Doctor Octopus? If Vulture was hatched for oscorp, Norman must have a file on him. Just need to figure out his password. Easy, slugger. Spiderman? What are you doing? Harry Osborn. His dad, Norman Osborn, May be evil, but Harry's my best friend Well, Peter Parker's best friend. Uh, sorry to bust in like this. I'm looking for info on one of Oscorp's DNA experiments. And I wasn't sure I was welcome. I can't say I blame you. After all my dad did in the past. I just wish I could have done something. Hey, don't beat yourself up. You're not your dad. But in the meantime, we may be able to help someone else, if you know your dad's password. I don't. All I know is that the password has five characters. The password Five characters Something Norman would remember. Ah! H-A-R-R-Y! Dad used my name for his password? That's a good thing, right? There must have been some good times. Hold that thought. It looks like we unlocked the motherload on Doc Ock's animal DNA experiments. Hey, he really did make a kangaroo! Looks like Ock offered cash to down-on-their-luck kids to participate in his scientific studies. Aw, but it doesn't say who any of these kids were. Norman Osborn, I want my memories back! There's no future without a past. Only darkness tomorrow without yesterday's light. Skip the soliloquy, sunshine. You got the wrong Osborn. And my dad's not here! That's unfortunate for you. Could really use a jetpack right about now! Whoa! Hold on, Harry! Guess who? Argh! Sorry. "Argh" is incorrect. Looks like you forfeit your prize! I got you! Whoa! Whoa! Tell me where your father is! Whatever my dad has done to you, I promise, I'll make it right! Whoa! Can you give me back my memories? How about we make some new ones? Like the time you didn't let Harry go splat on the sidewalk? I'll drop him. Makes no difference to me. I don't believe you're the kind of person who'd hurt an innocent kid. How would you know what kind of person I am? I don't even know what kind of person I am Or was. Then let me help you. Harry isn't responsible. A guy named Doc Ock did this to you. A mad scientist-type with robo-appendages. I remember, a six-armed man. See? It feels good to not let people turn into street pizza. I'll handle Buzzard Beak. Go! Thanks, Spiderman. But what if what if I can never remember? Or worse, what if remember and find out I was a horrible person? That's the great thing about the past. It's in the past. If you made mistakes, you've got your whole future to do better. I made mistakes in my past, but people in my life help make my future special. Maybe you've noticed, I don't have people in my life. Or maybe I do I don't know! You have me, and together, we'll find your past. I promise. If we could just find this Doc Ock who did this to me. Yeah, about Ock You know where he is, don't you? You have to take me to him! It's my only chance! Okay, but it's not gonna be easy. Well, what's breaking a million S. H. I. E. L. D regulations compared to helping out a friend that I hardly know, who just tried to croak me and Harry? Yeah, this is a really bad idea. Okay, I know I shouldn't text and web, but it's from Harry. "Pete, crazy night. "Almost got croaked. Gotta tell you all about it. We haven't we haven't talked in a long time. " Harry's my best friend, and I've been too busy to be there for him. It's like Peter Parker forgot he was there. Doc Ock didn't wipe my memories. So what's my excuse? The one and only dock Ock. Spiderman What a pleasant surprise. Yeah, well, it's gonna get really unpleasant if you don't spill on my boy Vulture here. Why, I have no idea to what you could be referring. Please, I just want to know my past, who I am, where I come from, anything clue to free me from this senseless life. Since you've put it that way, how can I refuse? However, I will require something in return. My freedom. Don't fall for it. You can't trust this guy. Agreed. No deal. Oh, but you struck a bargain with me long ago. Don't you remember? No, of course, you don't. I had to wipe all your memories to make room for new programming. New programming? Haven't you figured it out yet? I was waiting for you to find my hidden lab in order to lead you to this Vulture. You see, I can trigger him into a remote control destroyer with a mere two-word cue. Carrion feeder! Not getting the joke. Okay. Now, I get the joke. I really hate the punchline! Vulture, that's enough! Ease up, buddy. You have the power to fight Ock's Berserker mojo. But I still have the code word to turn him into my slave warrior. Carrion feeder! Now, free me from this cave. Vulture, no! Don't let him no! Freeze! Don't move! I want every available agent blanketing this city. Shoot Vulture out of the sky. Extreme force. No! Vulture's not a bad guy. He's being used by Doc Ock. Let me try to talk him down. And just what were you thinking letting Vulture on my ship? Well, when you put it that way Okay. I need to find Vulture and Ock before S. H. I. E. L. D does. Since I'm already in trouble, gonna borrow me a tech upgrade and hope Fury has a real short memory. Uh, speaking of memories Whoa! Vulture, listen to me! You don't remember, but you're a good person! Whoa! Fool! Vulture's not a person! He's a DNA project! A living weapon! Whoa! Oh, no, you didn't! You're not gettin' rid of me that easy! Yah! Yah! Hey, Vulture, have you ever seen a spider fly? Yah! You have now! Come on, Vulture! Catch me if you can! Closer! Closer! Eh Too close! Oh, yeah! Did somebody say "Spidey jet pack?" Whoa! Brakes, brakes, brakes, brakes! Okay. So the jetpack Bad idea. Now, finish him! Don't listen to him! You're not a machine! I know you lost your memory, but you can still remember your true enemy. Who did this to you? The six-armed man. What? Wait! No! You will obey me, creature! Carrion feed Give me back my memory! All right. They're on the computer. My files! Impossible! No one has access to my private server! They're gone? Uh if my memories are gone, then so is any reason to spare you Can't let you do that. Why do you want to protect this monster? I ask myself that question all the time. And the answer's always the same. Because I'm the good guy. Maybe you don't have a past, but you still have a future. So, how are you gonna live it out? On your own terms or his? I won't be a villain. Not like you. Quote The Vulture, "nevermore. " I'm putting together a team of new warriors. You'd be a great fit. Thanks, but I can't. I have to follow every Oscorp lead until I find my past. Well, the good thing about memories is you can always make new ones. My Uncle used to say, "where you're coming from isn't as important as where you're going. " When you're ready to face the future, there are others out there, just like you. And we can always use another hand. Or, uh, sharp, stabby, foot thing. I have to find my own path, but thanks to you, at least I know what direction I'm going. - Adrian! - Huh? Adrian! Huh? What? Who? - Why did you call me that? - It's your first name. Come and work for me, and I'll tell you your last. And a whole lot more. - Peter! - I brought food, drink, and eight of the worst monster movies ever made. Bad movie marathon? We haven't done one of these in forever. Oh, that this is Totally unbelievable. This is terrible! I love it! Pass the snacks?