#everyone assumed he died in an accident on the space station and his body burned on reentry

[identityquest]

man im really putting him through it

[angstalottle]

Lana On The Case

Part 3

Lana knew she shouldn’t have been expecting much, especially after spending the last week lying in bed stewing in her own filth and misery.

That didn’t change the fact that her current appearance still shocked her.

Her skin had gained an ashen quality about it and dark circles under her eyes.

She was sure is Red hadn’t practically force fed her she was have lost much more weight then she already had.

She felt drained and heavy, like her life was sucked out from her when Hannah left her…

Keith showing up had given her a small glimmer of excitement perhaps even hope but as soon as he was gone and she was left alone to her thoughts they turned right back to the fact that her best friend was gone from her life forever.

That thought hurt even more than knowing her sweet wonderful Hannah killed people.

Job offer or not Lana likely would have spent the rest of her life lying in her bed if her aunties hadn’t decided to do something about it.

One moment she's dozing staring into space, the next Blue has pulled her covers away while Re dumped a bucket of warm soapy water over her.

The two manhandled her out of bed and into some clean clothes before giving her two options.

One was to stay cooped up inside and suffer through them inviting every nosey friend they could think of over to omard her with questions and pinched cheeks followed by of course the dreaded relationship advice that everyone over a certain age believed they knew.

Or go down to the police station and actually do something with her life/

Though neither option was particularly fun in the end Lana chose to go out mainly because Red had also made a swinging joke which of course practically sent her bolting through the door.

The police station like everything else in the village was only a short walk away from the Altea estate, you could get pretty much anywhere by cutting through the large gardens that have unfortunately fallen into a state of disrepair.

The lady of the manor had died when Lana was away and since then the place hadn’t been the same, like some of the beauty of the world left when she did.

As far as she knew the only daughter of the family Allura was away for school or something while her father worked in London.

Lana had fond memories of Allura, being a few years younger then the girl and quite a bit poorer, she always seemed like this fairy princess that could have anything or do anything.

Looks like not even princesses could escape tragedy.

Lana hiked up her skirt as she climbed over the thick mess of weeds and flowers careful not to disturb anything as she passed through.

Even if everyone took the shortcut it was an unsaid rule that you were not to disturb the gardens or ever go close to the house.

Of course when Lance got her foot caught in a bramble and fell face first into the ground she broke that rule by flattening at least a dozen flowers beneath her.

“Oh dear are you alright?” A woman wearing a veil and long white gloves asked as she hurried over from the main house.

Odd appearance aside what really caught Lana’s attention was her snow white hair. A characteristic that was common amongst the Altean family.

Going off her build she could have been anywhere between 20-30 but without the face or hands it really was impossible to tell.

Lana felt her cheeks burn as she pulled herself up and dusted herself down frowning at the rip that now worked its way up her blue skirt.

The woman put her hands on her dress and examined the rip tutting softly “we really must get the gardener back in this place really has fallen to ruin.”

Now that she was closer Lana could smell the sweet scent of roses coming off her in such a large volume it would almost be suffocating if they weren't outside.

“Do you work here?” Lana asked trying to swallow her embarrassment while this strange woman kept hold of her skirt.

One strong breeze and she would see next weeks washing.

The woman chuckled “not exactly. I used to live here I never actually planned on returning but in light of my father's disappearance I suppose I didn’t have much choice.”

Lana couldn’t help but flinch, since what Hannah did came to light any case of men running off in the middle of the night or simply not returning after a day out is now considered suspect.

Their still digging up all the bodies and people have been flocking from all over in search of their missing husbands, fathers and brothers.

Lana then realised something very important.

Mainly that if Alfor was missing and this woman was his daughter then it must have been Allura!

“Allura?”

Lana couldn’t see her face but she imagined a smile on those pretty pink painted lips she used to know very well.

“That’s me, im sorry but who are you?”

Lana had her suspicions of course that this was all a scam, someone swooping in to steal the Altean family fortune, but she wasn’t really in the mood for any other mysteries right now.

That and according to Keith she was pretty forgettable.

“Oh im Lana… I used to play with you in the garden as a kid.”

“Oh my i'm so sorry Lana, im afraid my memory hasn’t been that good since the accident. She gestured to her veil and gloves “I got caught up in the Blitz and i'm afraid my appearance paid a higher price then by mind.”

Lana felt guilt crawl into her stomach, well at least she didn’t outright accuse  her of being a con artist. Besides Coran was a dear friend of the family, there's no way someone would be able to just take over Allura’s life without him noticing.

“Im sorry, I didn’t realise.”

Allura waved her off finally letting go of her skirt “don’t worry about it, ive made my peace with my situation, it is a tad lonely though, people aren't exactly eager to visit the manor these days.” She sounded so sincerely sad that Lana couldn’t help but feel for her.

She knew what it was like to lose everything because of a situation out of her control, the war had stolen many things from them, Lana was lucky to keep her beauty at least.

“Well then I suppose I have no choice but to come round for tea, I would invite you to my aunts cottage but they tend to get too excited around anyone they used to know.”

Lana gave her the best smile she could manage and was rewarded by Allura taking her hands and kissing them.

Once again her face turned an interesting shade of red.

“That sounds simply wonderful Lana, how about Thursday at 8 o'clock?”

Lana had lost her ability to form words so simply nodded earning her a small chuckle in response.

“I don’t want to keep you if your busy so ill just see you Thursday?” Allura asked startling Lana out of her stupor.

“Yes I should go, but i'll erm see you then I promise.”

Lana stuttered deciding it was best to continue on her way before she made an even bigger fool of herself so mustered up what grace she had to give an awkward curtsy realising that was dumb halfway through and instead turned and hurried on her way hitting herself muttering “stupid stupid stupid” over and over again until she finally arrived at the police station.

As expected of a small town the police station was fairly quiet this time of day home only to the drunks that were picked up the night before and only now being released to go back to their family or in some cases the church.

Of course one would expect it to be much busier with the number of bodies being dug up but unfortunately since Hannah left and it became national news the investigation had been taken over by some fancy out of state law enforcement that walk around in nice suits and a stuck up attitude to match their overall pompous appearance.

Going off the sour atmosphere in the station no one was too pleased to have the villages first ever big case stolen from under them.

Lana did her best to smile politely as she made her way to reception preparing herself for awkward small talk with someone she really hoped wouldn't recognise her.

“Hello im here-”

“If you got a crime to report fill out the form if not get lost.”

The woman behind the desk looked too young to be working, her slight frame and big doe eyes making her seem like she couldn't be much older than 15 but then again looks can be deceiving. Like the fact that despite wearing big round glasses and squinting at a book in front of her the glass within the frame appeared to be purely decorative and not actually serve any function.

Lana cleared her throat “no actually i'm here about the job. Im expected.”

This time she at least bothered to look up from her book and glanced Lana up and down “what they replacing me with some tramp, i've worked here ten years and they bring in some totty to take my job”

Lana quickly held up her hands feeling actually pretty threatened by this tiny angry lady “no! No i'm the new consultant im supposed to be working with Keith and-”

“Oi Keith! Some broad here says shes your new partner!” She yelled and just like that, all eyes were on her.

Lana smiled awkwardly at them really wishing a hole would appear beneath her and swallow her up whole so she could escape this situation.

However the only thing the universe sent her was a very flustered keith running in from the back.

He was carrying a stack of papers and had that god awful mullet tied back in a ponytail that honestly didn't look half bad on him.

“Thanks Katie i can take her from here.” Keith dropped the papers on her desk “Also Griffin needs you to file these for him.”

“He could do it himself” Katie grumbled grabbing the papers and flicking through them “he didn't even bother filling some of these out!”

Keith quietly grabbed Lana’s arm and pulled her towards him as Katie got distracted with her angry mutterings “Sorry about her, she's just pissed that her dad lost his job to a hot shot whos dad just happens to be a governor.”

“Ah where would be be without nepotism” Lana chuckled letting Keith led her back into a small office where five other people were sat. She assumed the cells were behind one of the closed doors and perhaps the archive room behind another.

It had been a long time since she had been back here, it was certainly before the war was even a possibility and she had broken the wrong persons window and ended up having to wait for her mother by Corans desk.

People tend to say that places from your youth always seem so much smaller when you visit them again. Until now Lana wasn't really sure she bought into that nostalgia fueled nonsense.

But seeing the row of chairs her feet used to dangel off while she prepared an excuse for her behaviour for her furious mother now looked like they would fall apart if she just got too close let alone sat on one.

At least not all the changes were bad. Coran really did deserve that nice office and the title Detective neatly painted above his name.

“You know I was starting to think you wouldn't be coming” Keith said as they came to what Lana assumed was his desk. It was a little away from the others and scattered with paper work in various states of finished. It lacked much personality beyond a couple of knives and oh boy keith standing next to an incredibly attractive man that Lana realised fairly quickly must have been his older brother.

“To be honest i wasn't sure either, my life kinda went to hell but Aunt Blue and Red practically shoved me out of the door.”

Keith chuckled in response as her perched on the edge of his desk “that sounds about right. Though I hate to say it but you've kind of come on boring day. Everyones so desperate for something to do that their even taking the grunt work from me.”

“So what your just sitting around all day?” Lana asked right as a hand collided with her behind.

Lana likes to think herself an understanding woman. Or at least she tries to ever since the instadent where what she thought was a gropper on a train turned out to be a blind man having dropped his cain. So rather then turning around and grabbing the arm of whoever just did that to break over her knee she calmly turned to them.

She came face to face with a tall man that she unfortunately recognised.

James Griffin top of the class when they went to school together and by far the most arrogant man she ever met. And that was before he got a cushy job thanks to his dad.

Lana glared up at him giving him a chance to apologize or say he had mistaken her for his girlfriend that was into that kind of thing.

Instead he just smirked “wow Keith how did you find yourself this hot piece of ass.”

Ok she was going to break his nose now.

Unfortunately before she got the chance keith stepped in front of her “don't talk to her like that Griffin, Coran hired her himself as a consultant and i'm sure he wouldn't take that kind of behaviour.’

James rolled his eyes but did visibly tense as he shot a glance at the closed office door. “Whatever. This whole thing is just for press, whoever heard of a woman police officer. Their far too emotional.”

“Last I checked you were the one that cried when i kicked you in the nuts as kids.” Lana huffed crossing her arms.

“Ah buck teeth Lana! My my you did fill out nicely. How about after work I take you out?” Jame smiled looking her up and down in a way that made her skin crawl.

“How about I tell your mother that you slap my ass, if i remember right she was a reasonable woman.”

Oh how quickly his attitude changed. He swallowed whatever response he had ready and scurried off to his office next to Corans.

“What a creep.”

“Yeah but a rich one.” Keith sighed “you ok?”

“Yeah just kinda pissed i didn't get to make that jerk squeal like in highschool.” Lana noticed a small smirk appear at the corner of keiths lips at that and decided to take it as a win even if she could still feel his disgusting hand on her.

Unfortunately the next few hours were not as exciting.

Lana pulled up a chair across from Keith and kept herself busy by flicking pieces of paper at him, an activity that he avoided joining in with for exactly ten minutes.

They were so wrapped up in their game that they didn't notice coran standing next to the desk until after Keith made the winning shot and jumped up to let out a victory cry.

“It's nice to see you've found a way to keep miss Mclain here entertained during our slow day.” Coran chuckled as Keith startled and quickly cleared his throat trying to hide the blush quickly creeping up his face.

“Detective i can explain”

Coran held his hand up quickly cutting him off “no need, I understand the importance of a bit of fun to avoid dying of boredom. The time for that has now sadly passed im sending you to look into a missing persons cases.”

Keith and lana exchanged a look, while lana’s was excitement Keiths was confusion.

“Sir while im happy for a case why not give it to someone else? Im sure all the others would kill for a case right now.”

Coran simply chuckled to himself handing over a case file “because Kogane your the only officer here I trust not to get side tracked while investigating. That and i'm sure Lana here will make sure your eyes don't wander too far.”

Lana wasn't really sure what he meant by that until they got to the scene of the crime.

Or as everyone else calls it the ‘Galra Gentlemens Club’.

When the club first opened it was met with outcry from the church and the school boards and well anyone with too much time on their hands.

Now after being open for more than a decade, those same people have become the most lucrative clientele, who know stuck up prudes could have such deep pockets for the sinful arts.

Keith had kindly offered to give Lana a ride on the handlebars of his bike since the club was located uphill from the station and there was no way the poor old police car would make it up the whole way. Apparently a replacement was on its way but they had been promising it since before the war.

Lana had of course told Keith that while she appreciate the offer she would find the very idea outlandishly improper, so of course made him ride the handle bars while she put her years of missing the bus and not wanting to be late training to good use.

After a quick check with her compact and a nod to Keith they entered the club.

Lana was no stranger to Gentlemens clubs, she had been to more than a few during the war to meet with people who were usually a lot more willing to give up information when they had a few drinks in them.

This club was no different, everything was a sickening deep purple as if the colour alone could make it classy or hide the disturbingly prominent wet patches on the couches.

Lana tried her very best not to stare at the men already here this early on a weekday morning and instead focused on following Keith back to see the manger.

“Just let me do the talking, guys like this aren't always that nice to women” Keith whispered as he knocked on the door and it swung open to not show a greasy man but instead a very tall muscular woman with short black hair wearing a suit.

Lana felt her mouth go dry just looking at her.

“A-are you the manager here?” Keith asked clearly feeling equally intimidated and aroused as Lana was.

“Yeah i am, who wants to know?” She asked leaning against the doorway and looking down at him. Her gaze however moved quickly from keith to Lana and a smile spread across her face.

“Usually we don't hire new talent outside of auditions but for  a beautiful girl like you im willing to make an exception.”

“I” Lana squeaked finding herself speechless for the first time in a long time.

Thankfully Keith came to her rescue before she could actually contemplate working for this greek god of a woman.

“Actually we came from the police station. You called about one of the dancers going missing?”

The woman nodded and stepped back into the room hurrying them inside before closing the door.

“Yeah my best girl Ezor, she was seen leaving the club last week but no one has seen her since.”

“Does she often disappear like this? Perhaps to visit a gentleman caller miss...?” Keith asked pulling out a notebook while Lana looked around the office.

“Zethrid…. And trust me she's not the sorts to make house calls.”

It was fairly empty save for a punching bag in the corner and a few pictures on the walls. Most of them were group shots of all the dancers in costumes. But those actually on the desk seemed only to contain Zethrid and a slim woman with pink hair tied in a high ponytail. It was just the two of them over and over again smiling like they didn't have a care in the world.

“Is this Ezor here?” Lana asked picking up one picture showing the two in the park, judging from the bunting and celebrating in the background it was the day the allie ‘won’ the war.

Zethrid nodded “yeah that's her… we actually live together and yeah she disappears sometimes but never for this long and never without contacting me.”

“Is it possible she ran off with a sweetheart?” Keith asked taking the picture.

“She wouldn't. I know she's been taken its the only explanation.”

Something told Lana that this relationship was deeper than friendship “The last night she was seen, was there anything unusual happening?”

Zethrid thought for a moment “now that you mention it there was a black car parked outside the club all day. I didn't give it much mind incase it was a customer trying to work up the nerve to come in but it left right after she did.”

“Did you happen to catch the plates?” Keith asked hopefully only to let out a disappointed sigh when she shook her head no.

“But the car was old looking with a dent in the drivers side door.”

Keith noted it down “thanks we will be in touch.”

He led the way out but Zethrid grabbed Lana by the arm before she could leave “please i can't imagine life without her… she's my best friend.”

Lana knew what it was like to lose one of those. So she smiled and put a hand over hers “I promise ill do everything I can to find her.”

Once they were safely outside keith let out a groan “you should promise people anything, it just means you'll get attached to the case.”

“Isn't that the job of a detective though? How can i love a case if i don't care about it?” Lana huffed hitching up her skirt and getting on the bike.

“I'm just saying that it will end up hurting you more if we find her dead in a ditch somewhere.”

Lana rolled her eyes “ever the optimist huh Mullet. Besides we have a lead how many people in town have old black cars?”

“Excluding the police cruiser i'd say seven.” Keith noticed the sceptical look Lana was giving him and rolled his eyes.

“My brother owns the mechanics remember, i help out sometimes and not many people really have cars round here.”

Lana sighed “maybe we should get a second opinion from your dreamy brother.” she batted her eyelashes playfully at him as he climbed onto the handle bars.

“Shut up and pedal we've got a lot of groundwork to do.”

Five hours!

It took five hours to find all the cars, to check for dents and alibis.

In that time Lana fell into two ditches, got attacked by a chicken and the rip in her dress traveled up to past her knee.

As her mother would say she's only some red lipstick away from looking like a whore.

Lana wished she could say that time was well spent and while watching Keith getting chased by an angry family of pigeons that had taken resident in one of the old cars they ultimately ended up on a dead end.

So while the light began to fade and the two slowly walked up to the station the mood was sour.

“It could always have been someone from out of town?” Lana suggested holding the split in her dress to try and keep it from travelling any higher.

“No they would have been too noticeable. If someone from out of town drove through here everyone would know about it by now. We must have missed something.”

Lana shivered in the cool air and was surprised when Keith handed over his jacket without taking his eyes off the path.

The red really did suit him better but the warmth from his body made her feel better.

“We should check surrounding houses tomorrow, maybe one of the cars was taken without the owner realising.”

“And what they dented it and then undented it?’ Keith snorted “no if the dent was fixed it would have had to come through the shop. Shiro may be able to help.”

“I'll try to hide my disappointment” Lana laughed earning her a playful push from Keith which she returned.

The two were laughing and having a moment of fun that when cold hard reality finally came crashing down Lana felt like she had been punched in the face.

Just as they walked in the car they were looking for pulled in behind them.

Old, black and with a large dent on the side.

The only problem was that it was Coran driving it.

[parkersharthook]

All My Sides Ch. 3

(Peter Parker x female!reader)

warnings: tension, stupid decisions, kidnapping

3.5k+ words

Ch 2

“Spider-man… I have something you want.”

Peter’s blood ran cold as the video panned over to Y/n who continued to hold her head high despite the fear in her eyes. She had a bruise forming around her right eye and blood spotted on her bottom lip. Her wrists were bound behind her back and her feet were tied to the chair she was currently sitting in. There was a gag in her mouth. Peter sprung to his feet, running to get his suit on immediately.

“Spider-man… this is a live video that is playing on every news station and screen available. Every billboard in Times Square, every phone in civilians’ hands, every radio and TV station… they will see your beloved Y/n Y/l/n die if you don’t listen to every instruction I give.” Peter watched on the TV in his room as Dr. Connors appeared with a sinister grin. “Meet me in Time Square in thirty minutes or…” he glanced back to Y/n, “well you can guess.”

“Mr. Parker, Sir is calling you.”

“Decline.” Peter’s voice came out rough and gritted as he pulled on his civilian clothes over his Spiderman suit and shoved his mask into his backpack. He slung it over his shoulder and sprinted down the steps of the tall tower, and continued running the short distance to Times Square. He saw the hordes of people stopped and staring at the billboards and then to the sky as numerous avengers began to appear in the sky overhead. Peter pulled up his hood and dropped his head. He knew what Dr. Connors was looking for, and if he let Y/n get hurt due to his stupidity… he would never let himself live it down.

The mad scientist came back onto the screen, “I’m glad you followed my orders Spider-man. But I see you didn’t show up as you… I’m proud. You remembered our little game. Citizens of New York!” His voice bellowed out of every speaker nearby, “We’ve been missing a certain web slinger for the past week. No one knew why, until now. Our friendly neighborhood Spiderman,” he spat out every word, “has lost his powers.” Gasps rippled through the crowd.

He continued, “He is just an ordinary boy. But this is no ordinary girl, you see. This is Y/n y/l/n. Not only is she the daughter of former police captain but she has a special relationship with Spidey. And if he doesn’t cooperate then at 6:30 pm her body will be dropped from the bell tower of St. Margaret’s church. You know the one.” Y/n’s eyes filled with terror and her body tensed against its restraints. “So… Spidey. You know where to meet me. It’s where we first met. Just you and me. You have twenty minutes.”

Peter could still see the avengers with the ability of flight soaring through the sky scanning the people below them. They were looking for him, trying to stop him from doing something stupid. He noticed Sam tuck his wings and turn tightly around, heading towards the large church in search of Y/n. Peter shook his head and fell into the crowd of people. He knew that Y/n wouldn’t be there. He quickened his steps as he walked towards what might be the place of his demise. He had shit to do.

~.~

“Can anyone see him?” Tony barked out from his spot above the pointing crowd

“Nothing.” Bucky muttered as he pushed through the crowd.

“He should be here!” Steve growled out into the comms.

“That guy said that this was a game.” Wanda stated, looking down back alleys for him. “They’ve done this before.”

“So Peter’s not here?”

“He said that Spiderman showed up but not as ‘him’.” Natasha muttered and then it clicked, “he’s not out as Spiderman.”

“Fuck.” Steve muttered, “We’re never going to find him.” He turned his head towards the sky as Sam began to fly back in, “Sam?”

“She’s not there. Nobody is.”

“It’s a game guys.” Wanda repeated, heading towards the rendezvous point. “Nothing is going to be straight forward. Stark, don’t you have some kind of tracking on his suit?”

“If he even has the suit…” Tony muttered, “But it’s only activated when he has the mask on.”

“Well we know he’s going to confront this guy either way. We’re just gonna have to wait.” Sam suggested.

“Not gonna happen.” Bucky growled out.

“Bucky’s right.” Clint said, “let’s find out everything we can about this guy.”

“We can’t waste time going back and forth between the tower and here.” Natasha met Bucky’s eyes from across the crowd and nodded slightly. “Meet me and Bucky on the corner of Broadway and 7th. I have a plan.”

~.~

“Seriously guys?” Tony said with a raised eyebrow as he stepped through the doorway into the small apartment. Natasha rolled her eyes and walked to a small linen closet.

“We don’t tell you everything Stark.”

Tony sat down in an office chair and spun around slowly, “but maybe you should.”

Wanda picked up a throw pillow with a small smirk, “it’s cute.”

Bucky fought back a groan, “don’t make us regret this.”

Clint folded his arms and leaned against the wall, “so what’s the point of this. Why are we here?”

Natasha pulled out 2 large metal briefcases from the closet and set them on the dining room table, “It’s close to times square and St. Margaret. We can use this as a base until we know for sure what is happening. It saves time and energy.”

“We have more resources at the tower.” Tony drawled out in a complain

Steve rolled his eyes, “Natasha has everything we need right here, and I know you have your mobile computer with you. You take it everywhere.”

Tony grumbled under his breath but still pulled out a rectangular device. He flicked it in the open space causing blue holographic projections of the news to appear. Wanda and Clint took a step closer to examine each broadcast and headline. Anything that could give them a clue.

They all worked in silence for a while, trying to solve the mystery when Tony spoke up, “A secret apartment? Really?” Everyone groaned in annoyance, “next thing we know, you’ll be telling us that you two are married.”

Natasha walked by him with a stack of reports. She sent him a devious wink, “maybe we are.” She sat down at the table with the folders and opened them up one by one.

Steve, who had been looking over her shoulder, stopped her movements. “Check out this one.”

“But you guys aren’t… right?” Tony turned to Bucky who was concentrating on the profile of Dr. Connors, “married, I mean.” Bucky glanced up at the older man but offered no answer as he just got back to work.

“What’s important about this one?”

“Look at these.” He spread out the photos of a fight that Spiderman had been in a few years ago.

“What about them?” Wanda asked as she came up to the table. “It’s just Peter fighting a big lizard.”

“Right but look at this one.” Steve repositioned a grainy photo of Peter fighting a large lizard who had a shredded lab coat on his back.

Clint picked up the photo and looked at it closer, “I remember this. It was something with Oscorp before they went out of business. SHIELD try to uncover the details, but everything was pretty much burned to the ground.”

“Gross… Oscorp.” Tony said with an exaggerated gag

“Do you remember anything else about it?” Steve asked Clint. Behind them Bucky’s eyes had widened as he read a particular file sheet.

Clint scratched his head like the old man he was. “I think that this lizard guy was some guy who experimented on himself. Went completely wrong, as they always do. But after the battle with Spiderman he didn’t show up for a while. We assumed he died.”

“Guys…”

“Why hasn’t anyone asked Peter about this?” Wanda asked

“It never came up, I guess.” Natasha supplied

“Guys…”

“Well after all of this is over we need to get more details on this.”

“Agreed.”

“Guys!” everyone turned to Bucky who had grown paler. “The lizard is Dr. Connors.”

“What?”

“Look here.” Bucky showed them all the written report on the scientist, “He was a scientist at Oscorp for years and then he suddenly went off the grid after that incident. He lost an arm from an accident and his main topic of research was regeneration of tissue.”

It clicked for Tony, “he tried to regrow his arm and turned himself into a lizard.”

Wanda furrowed her brows, “please connect the dots.”

Tony swiveled to face her, “lizards have a regenerative property. Dr. Connors probably studied them and mixed their genetic makeup with something else producing a mix of the super soldier, hulk, and Spiderman serum. He injected it into himself and it went wrong.”

“Meaning that he turned into a big ass lizard?” Steve asked, obviously still not convinced.

“Think about it. This doctor guy suddenly disappears after this incident with a large lizard which is the animal he happened to experiment on. Then he suddenly comes back looking for revenge on Spiderman?” Bucky said, “It’s obviously him.”

“Okay but how would he know Peter’s identity? Or his connection to Y/n?”

Wanda smacked her forehead, “Y/n had an internship with Oscorp back in Highschool. She literally worked next to the guy.”

“Okay but Peter and she weren’t dating back then.”

“But they were still friends.” Wanda supplied, “she told me that her and Peter would sometimes meet up for lunch during her break and talk about all this sciencey stuff. Dr. Connors even approached Peter about him working there full time.”

“But he decline because he had an ‘internship’ with Tony Stark.” Natasha supplied. Wanda nodded at her.

“Okay but how does he know that Peter is Spiderman?”

“Ladies and gentlemen! The main act has arrived!” The TV which had not been previously on, switched to life with the live broadcast.

Clint frowned deeply as he stared at the television, “oh shit here we go.”

~.~

Peter froze as the broadcast came over his phone.

“Hello there Spiderman! Still dressed as a civilian I see… good boy.” Dr. Connors’s voice was chilling. He continued on, “I’m proud of you for going where I wanted you to, but you aren’t finished yet.”

“Leave her alone!” Peter’s voice came out rough and hoarse.

“Tsk tsk tsk. Not so impatient young man. But congratulations are in order as you have solved my previous riddle. But alas neither I nor this fair maiden is there.” Peter moved to turn around and walk right back out of the sewer, but Dr. Connors’s voice stopped him. “Awww, don’t leave yet Spidey. In fact, I don’t think you can.” He laugh maniacally, “I have a camera on you right now. You turn around… you reveal who you are.”

Everyone tensed. Everyone in that apartment full of superheroes, everyone on the streets of New York, everyone who had a radio in their car, everyone who was hearing this tightened their muscles.

Natasha, though nervous for the boy, still had her mind in spy mode and took notice that Peter seemed to be in an abandoned subway tunnel.

“He has his backpack.” Wanda whispered, “That means he has his suit.” At least that was some good news.

“But Spiderman you seemed to overlook a few key details. Yes… it is true. I wanted you to end up where you are, but that isn’t where we first met. Think hard, Spidey. You can do it… you’re a smart boy.”

“Why don’t you just reveal my identity now? Why do this? What’s your end game?” Peter called, his back still turned to the camera

“What’s all the fun with that?” he cackled loudly. “You have 30 minutes to get where you need to be. And please… do show up as Spiderman. It’ll just make it that much more dramatic.” The screens went blank and it took a few moments for the shock to wear off.

Peter got moving immediately. He knew exactly where he had to go.

~.~

“Where is he going?” Tony asked in frustration as he slammed down some paper on the table

Steve pressed a finger to his ear, “Sam? Status?”

“Empty.” The voice came back static, but everyone still heard the message. They deflated.

“If he isn’t at the Oscorp building and he isn’t at his apartment, then where could that fucking mad man be?”

Natasha sat in silence, fingers pressed together as she thought over everything. She turned to Bucky who was in a similar position as her, “where did Y/n intern?”

“Oscorp Industries.” Bucky replied stoically.

“Yeah I know that. But where? Which location.”

“What do you mean which location?” Natasha rolled her eyes at her sometimes clueless boyfriend and pulled some papers closer to her. She checked them over once, twice, and then a third time again. Something wasn’t adding up. Click.

She opened her laptop quickly and typed out a quick google search. She let a small smile slip over her lips. “Boy oh boy, are you guys lucky to have me on the team.”

“What do you mean? What did you find?”

Natasha turned her laptop around as everyone crowded around, “The location listed under Y/n’s place of work is the Oscorp in Midtown. But if you go through the records of their listed employees she isn’t listed there.”

“An unpaid intern?” Wanda asked. Natasha shook her head and pulled Dr. Connors’s file closer.

“Look at his. Place of work, same building Red Division.” She pointed to something on her screen, “This Oscorp building was very open to the public. It had tours and interns and schematics online, but as we know Oscorp was into some very shady stuff.”

“They had a secret division with a secret building.” Tony said as he smacked his forehead, “how could we be so stupid?”

“But we would have found out about that when Oscorp fell.” Clint pointed out.

“Not if it was listed under a different name. That Oscorp building was organized into 3 colors or access levels: blue, green, purple. And if Y/n was as high up as she is labeled as, she would be in blue. There is no red.”

“Then where did Connors work?” Wanda asked, studying the file and still not making sense of anything.

“Here.” She typed out a quick search and spun the screen back around towards her teammates.

“Location not found?” Clint gave her a look

“Exactly. It doesn’t exist… anymore.”

“Wait… that address. That seems familiar.”

Bucky looked at the paper, “that’s because it was the Red Line Grocery Market back when we were kids. We worked there for two summers.” he looked up at Natasha, “but the address would still exist.”

“Not if they redid the gridlines in that neighborhood. That grocery store is still in business, bought by one Norman Osborn almost 2 decades ago. They moved locations once the gridlines were redone to a new and upcoming neighborhood… in Queens.”

“How did you even find that out?” Wanda asked somewhat amazed.

Natasha shrugged, “googled red division with Oscorp. The article that the Red Line Market was under new ownership came up. Researched the given address, linked it to its old address and the gridline renewal. Found its current location.”

“So, that’s where he’s hiding Y/n? In a grocery store?’

“Not exactly. A block from that store is a supply warehouse where they keep their inventory. I bet you, that’s where we find them.”

Bucky slowly shook his head, “I don’t doubt that this is all a connection but how on earth would Peter have his first meeting with Connors at this warehouse that no one affiliates with Oscorp?”

“I’m honestly not sure, but we’re gonna find out.”

~.~

Peter took a deep breath and walked through the warehouse doors. He didn’t even remember this place for the longest time, but as he took in his surroundings the memory came flooding back.

“Hey Peter!” Y/n called as she walked down the sidewalk with a new-found energy. Peter spun around, his bag of groceries hanging from his fingers. He smiled widely.

“Hey Y/n! What are you doing down here?”

“My boss sent me to pick up some supplies from the warehouse around the corner. I’m meeting another scientist there.”

Peter chuckled slowly as they fell into a steady rhythm, “no offense but that sounds kind of shady.”

Y/n laughed and tucked a strand of hair behind her ear, “I thought so too honestly but a ton of the other interns have been here before and have met this Doctor, so I think everything will be okay.”

“Do you want me to walk you?” Peter suggested lightly, “Just in case?”

Y/n bit her lip and looked up at Peter through her eyelashes, “I’d like that.”

Peter pulled the mask over his face and threw his backpack behind some random shelf. He didn’t really care if he lost this one. “Spiderman!” The loud booming voice came through a set of speakers on the wall. Peter shivered, knowing that the man behind the voice was much closer.

“Welcome everybody! To the final act! This next performance will truly test your precious Spidey’s heroics… if he really is the hero you believe him to be.”

“Let her go!”

“Sorry Spidey… no can do.” his words came out slow and taunting. Peter wanted to punch him in the face. “do you remember?”

“remember what?”

“the first time we met. You stood in front of me, shook my hand, smiled, worked beside me.”

Peter shook his head and frowned, “I wish I never met you.”

“hey now. Don’t say anything that you’ll regret.” He stepped out of the shadows, crazed look in his eye. He cocked his head to the side and smirked, “words hurt you know.”

“Where is Y/n?”

He clicked his tongue, “oh don’t worry… I’ve been taking very good care of her.”

~.~

“Guys! Guys!” Wanda yelled loudly pulling everyone out of their heads. “he’s back on.”

Bucky leaned against the back of the couch as he stared at the TV, “well Nat he looks like he’s in a warehouse.”

“And you’re surprised because?” She smirked as she loaded a gun and slipped it into her thigh holster. “Now what are you waiting for? Let’s go get our boy.”

~.~

Connors pointed his finger at Peter and stepped towards a large door, “follow me Spiderman, I’ll take you to her.” Peter took a hesitant step forward as Connors whirled around to face him again, “oh by the way you’re still being broadcasted. Say hello to New York!” He waved his hand excitedly into the air.

“Dr. Connors, you’re sick. You’re not stable.” Peter said calmly and slowly

Connors’s eye twitched and he shook slightly, “I’m fine! But your girl won’t be if you continue like this.” he breath heavily, “now… follow me.”

“Dr. Connors, you know me. You know Y/n. You don’t want to hurt us, and I don’t want to hurt you.” He raised his hands steadying them. His web shooters pointed directly at the man.

He cackled maniacally, “You think that I know you can’t handle your web shooters? You have no powers! You are nothing right now! Oh silly silly boy.” He pulled a small button out of her pocket and hovered his thumb over it dangerously close. “I press this, and she’s gone.”

“What?” Peter’s voice cracked slightly

“There is a gun.” Peter swore he stopped breathing, “Sitting directly in front of Y/n. Fully loaded and ready to be fired. now guess what the button does.”

Peter didn’t know what to do. he was lost. He had never been in this situation.

“now, if you’re’ ready to cooperate. Follow me.” Peter took slow hesitant steps behind the crazy doctor until the two entered a large empty room. In the middle was a metal chair, she was tied to it. Her hair was matted to her face with sweat, small dribbles of blood were falling down her face. A gun sat directly in front of her face. She shook with fear.

“Y/n….” Peter barely whispered. he moved to reach her, but Dr. Connors just moved his thumb closer to the button. Peter stopped and tore his eyes away from Y/n to look at Dr. Connors, “lower the trigger. What do you want? Money? Security?”

Dr. Connors laughed and shook his head, “don’t be ridiculous Spiderman. I know you don’t have any money and the minute that your little Y/n is here, I know you’d send those little friends of yours to find me. No, I want something else. Something that only you can give me.” His smile widened, and Peter felt his blood run cold.

He watched as Dr. Connors slowly walked over to Y/n and pushed the chair forward by an inch, the gun almost pressing against her skin. She whimpered in fear and squeezed her eye tightly.

Peter’s voice wavered, “what do you want? I’ll do anything.”

“I know…”

“please, Dr. Connors.” Peter was one threat away from dropping to his knees and begging.

He laid a surprisingly soft hand on Y/n’s head, but she flinched away anyways. “I want you to take off your mask, Spiderman. Reveal yourself for who you truly are.”

Ch 4

taglist: @awkwardfangirl2014 @givinggoodvibes @unhealthyobsessionwithmarvel

[bxboy52]

Functionality – the quality or state of being functional a design that is admired both for its beauty and for its functionality; especially

  Welcome back.  Hope your Memorial Weekend was restful and reflective.  

This episode of Companies Behaving Badly began with a seed planted by a blog post that was nourished by a vacation experience.  The blog is “Squawk Point” by James Lawther.  I happen to enjoy his writing style but mostly it’s his refreshing point of view of things that attracts me.  The post, Human Error exposes lazy leadership that always assumes, any issue in productivity or safety is due only to human error and never functionality. However we know there is good leadership out there that will actually stop and listen and take a look at the issue.  Which type of leader you want to be is all up to you.  Folks like James and I can lead you to water, whether you drink it, I guess depends on how thirsty you are for knowledge and thought but please don’t give me any of that it’s the culture.  You are the culture.

This human error assumption applies all too often in warehousing, production and manufacturing.  If someone has a digit amputated by a moving part it’s not that the guards weren’t in place, it’s the employee’s fault.  If a new operations procedure fails it must be the workers fault for not understanding.  It’s all great and good when you make improvements in your facility especially when they increase productivity and makes it safer and easier for employees to operate machinery and handle difficult tasks.  I am here today to tell you I’ve survived improvement projects from both sides of the fence, as worker and as management.  What I learned is, even with management’s best intentions or the engineers best ideas or programmers best apps without input and buy-in from the workers who will actually be using the equipment/process you won’t get it right making the rollout difficult due to employee resistance and poor functionality, lowering the chances of success.

Think about how you feel when someone tries to force change on you that you weren’t consulted about.  You resist.  That’s how workers react.  However when you include them on the project team and take their input seriously you’ve now increased your chances of success greatly.

Here’s a real example.  We had to fill 2000 pounds of product into a large bag referred too as a supersack. The brain trust without any input from workers installed new filler tubes to improve flow and produce more supersacks per shift.  However they positioned the fill tube where they thought it should go at the height they decided it should be.  The problem developed when our shorter workers tried to attach the bag to the fill tube, it was too high for many.  They struggled to get the bag on the tube that was over their head and was difficult to hold up their arms for a time while positioning the bag.  It was never taken into account that workers come in different heights.  Imagine that?  Instead this solution only created a new problem, the many creative ways, all unsafe, that workers came up with to compensate for the height difference. Stools, inverted pails, stacked wooden pallets and forklifts were drafted. Some supervisors looked the other way and some just said no!  Needless to say production of supersacks was inconsistent and began to suffer. 

Management, rather than say they made a mistake instead dug in their heels and took the stance it was too expensive and time consuming to lower the tube and instead put pressure on the employees to “make it work”.  You couldn’t count on having tall workers to do the job since seniority got you the better jobs in production and this was basically only for the rookies and very low seniority.  It only made things worse as people who didn’t have issues before were now complaining and others began calling in sick with arm strain so then the union dug in their heels.  Back and forth, yada, yada, yada, no real solutions to the problem.  After awhile it became hazardous as there were so many puddles from all the marking of territory, folks were slipping and sliding all over.  

When I first began working here a year earlier, I had made friends with the chief engineer.  He was one of those guys that always looked old and grizzled, even in his 40 year old Navy pictures.  Not only did he create and prefabricate anything a sailor or marine needed for over 20 years in the Navy, he also loved cigars.  I made sure to take my breaks around the time he did so I could be in the smoking area having a cigar.  One thing led to another, we exchanged a few cigars, had other similar interests and I soon had a new grizzled old friend who was a damn good engineer.  Then, one cool early morning during graveyard tour, while we enjoyed our cigar break the subject of the supersacks came up.  After discussing and tossing ideas back and forth, we, mostly him came up with a solution.   Instead of the stool or ladder, we came up with a metal bridge with railings that could be stood on confidently as it was extremely sturdy and easy to clean.  Everyone got to see it, touch it, stand on it and sniff it and then we got a unanimous yes!  The cost of lost production, ruffled feathers and stainless steel bridge probably cost as much, if not more as it would have to move the filler tube but could have cost even less if they had asked for input and listened to the workers in the first place.

Then this functionality challenge popped up while on vacation.  For some reason someone decided that only one towel rack was enough in a bathroom, in a room made for two people.  That entails 2 bath towels, 2 face towels and 2 wash cloths.  The towel rack couldn’t accommodate all 6 towels.  It appears that the housekeepers were without any direction from management as each one employed their own solution to the lack of towel rack space which made for inconsistent presentation and interesting to see how each housekeeper decided what worked best.   

The first day, after some time searching, we found the bath towels folded and stacked on a shelf in the closet in the room and no where near the bathroom.  Then one day the bath towels were sitting on the side of the tub and one day sitting on the sink. Either the housekeepers didn’t think it important enough to report to management or maybe they did and management didn’t think it important enough to listen and just said, deal with it.  At times it was inconvenient but also fun as we bet on where the bath towels would be next. 

That’s how it goes with most Companies that behave badly.  They perceive a need and put a solution in place whether it’s the right one or not.  If you want to get maximum productivity from workers then you need to make it easier for them to do the job and not more difficult and that means asking them questions and listening to their answers. Once we got the supersack station up and running with the stainless steel bridge we doubled production however management didn’t learn a thing from this experience. Each improvement turned into a battle which was totally ridiculous and they wondered why they couldn’t consistently make their goals.  It only takes a few seconds to listen to employees and use their input and then you create a bond where they trust you and you take care of them.  Otherwise you’ll wind up with constant delays, grievances, injuries and just plain old fashion hurt feelings.

  Why the falls won’t stop. Because of you.  Worker killed in fall at Sutter Home winery in St. Helena Yes!  You.  Due to being lazy, stupid or just plain crazy enough to believe you’re immortal, some of you still don’t believe you need to wear fall prevention gear while you work over 6 feet from the ground.  I don’t know exactly what happened but from the info in the story I can tell that there was no cover or other fall protection placed over the skylight and he was not tethered.  No matter how easy the job looks, if you don’t wear proper fall protection gear you may not get a second chance and wind up evaluating your bad decision at the pearly gates.  

Suffocation has to be one of the most horrific ways to die.  Struggling and gasping for air as oxygen is slowly cut off.  The bodies natural instinct is to keep fighting, keep struggling to survive but the gasps get shorter, your lungs begin to burn and you can’t breath and finally you fade out. Unfortunately one man died like this in a trench collapse OSHA: Man killed in Acworth trench collapse worked for Bellows Falls company and another was rescued from a grain bin In the wake of grain bin accident safety officials urge caution.  When you work in a confined space like a grain bin or deep in a trench you should have received training on how to escape in the event of a cave-in.  That may mean ladders or a retrieval system.  When was the last time someone inspected the area?  Don’t assume everything has been taken care off, ask questions and use your own eyes.

We’ll finish this episode with a look at two different leadership styles. There’s an old expression that my High School football coach used to say to death, “When the going gets tough, the tough get going,” and not everyone in the city of Oakland is getting that message.  With everything that has happened recently with the Ghost ship warehouse fire you’d think city department managers would take it up a notch and stay on top of hot spots to almost give a sense of competency to the public.  Yet the Oakland fire department on top of all their regular fire and emergency calls they handle also have to continue to fight fires on vacant city owned property and no one responsible seems to care or the gumtion to take care of the issue.  Oakland fire officials upset over blazes in city-owned building   This is leadership happy with keeping the status quo and does not have the ability to handle unexpected issues or thinking outside the box to respond in an immediate manner.  They had an opportunity to demonstrate their abilities to respond immediately and help out the firefighters while also protecting citizens of Oakland but they chose not too.  On the other hand, the  leadership at Chobani Launches Second Food Incubator Class with Call for Applications understands that a company doesn’t just exist in the here and now but prepares now so it may exist in the future with better products, service and workers.  Yes, it is easy to get caught up in the day to day activities, but with effort on your part you can see clearly what direction you need to go and how you can get there.  The best way to do this, as said at the beginning of this episode, respect, communication and listening to your workers.  You may have ideas on improvements but so do they and they’re the ones doing the job.

Until June 15th. Never keep quiet about safety for the life you save may be your own.

    The latest issue of Companies Behaving Badly-Functionality #workplace #safety Functionality - the quality or state of being functional a design that is admired both for its beauty and for its functionality; especially…