Hey my peeps! Chapter 3, major plot goes in this chappie...enjoy it...

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Kazar was bored out of his mind.

Sitting in a room with lab tech and chemical tubes might be fun for some people (*cough Iron Spider cough*). But he needed to move, to fight, to do something aside from sit there on a stool with his head in his hands and his shoulders slumped. The smell of chemicals was beginning to burn his nose too. While Kazar was no stranger to strong scents, having grown up in the Savage lands, he still wasn't used to these kind of crude smells. The worst he's come up against back at the Savage Lands had consisted of swamp gas and monstrous skunk odor; dinosaur poop too - you always had to watch where you stepped.

This smell, however, while it was headache inducing to Kazar, it didn't seemed to bother Amadeus Cho; who was heavy at work at a lab table in front of Kazar; probing and observing different mixed chemicals.

The young boy was wearing a red shirt with the picture of a name-tag with the words Hello, I Am a N.Er.D on it. Only it was "funny" because the word "nerd" was spelled with letters from the periodic table, the names of the chemicals the letter represented was labeled beneath the designated letter.

Kazar didn't get, or even care much, about the joke - all he really knew about it was the story behind that particular shirt. He didn't know too much actually, only that the shirt had belonged to Spider-Man, and that Spidey and Amadeus had fought over it before it had been bought. Kazar was a bit fuzzy on the details, but now Amadeus stole it whenever he wanted to wear it - which was quite often, especially now. Kazar wished he remembered the whole story, it had been amusing to watch those to quabble over it.

He frowned at the thought, hating the worm of sadness that squirmed in his chest whenever he thought about the Infected. Of course Kazar missed his teammates, the ones who were all down in the Academy, but his sadness usually centered mainly on his lost brother, Zabu. They'd never been separated for this long, and the stretch of time was beginning to take a bigger toll on him than he thought it would. It felt like there was a chunk of himself missing with the absence of his brother, and it was getting harder and harder to deal with the missing pieces as each day progressed.

Everyone was feeling the effect of that monstrous gas, Kazar understood that - so he tried not to make a bigger deal about it. He wasn't the only one crippled with worry and heartache for his friends/kin, so he promised himself he'd deal with it like everyone else too.

He only wished he had something to do to take his mind off it.

Amadeus looked pretty wrapped up in his equations and formulas; must've been nice to have a distraction. Kazar has already burned through all the different stages that the training rooms had to offer, and he wasn't scheduled to go out on a patrol through New York until later tonight, so he came down here with Amadeus to both keep him company and to watch his back.

After Wolverine, the mutant who was sent into the Academy to put up surveillance, was caught and imprisoned by Spider, Director Nick Fury had decided to re-enlist the help of the villains he had held in the prison block. They've already done this once before, but after the S.H.I.E.L.D systems failed during an important drop-mission to the Academy, rumors that one of the villains caused it thrived like a bunch of dandelions and Nick Fury decided to cap them all, and they've been hung up in their cells to prevent any further harm or damage ever since. Until now...

They didn't have any real hard evidence that one of the villains did it, but everyone knew that bunch couldn't be trusted.

Anyway, after Wolverine was captured, Nick Fury was grasping at straws. He reenlisted Kraven (a notorious and power-crazy hunter) to watch and observe the Infected to get a good view of the pack's dynamics and intelligence-development. Not too soon after, Doctor Octopus was also taken from his cell and was now working in the labs alongside Tony Stark, Sam Wilson, Bruce Banner, Amadeus Cho, and (sometimes) Dr. Curt Connors. It was only a matter of before one of the other prisoners were pardoned as well.

In their resident science room, Tony Stark and Bruce Banner were in their own corner muttering to each other as they both took turns looking into a microscope and discussing their personal observations. Sam Wilson was taking a small nap in the teenagers dorm rooms, and Dr. Connors had gone off somewhere and had yet to return (he seemed to be doing that a lot nowadays).

Kazar knew Tony and Bruce would be able to handle themselves fine, he was mostly worried about Amadeus Cho. The kid was a genius, right up there with Tony and Bruce, but he has been known to cut himself off from the real world when he got into a project. With Dr. Octopus now in the room, Kazar didn't trust that 8-tentacled psycho with his life, or Cho's. Someone needed to watch the child genius's back, and sense Kazar had literally nothing else to do, he decided he'd be the one for the job.

Nothing has happened...yet. But if anything he heard about from the past was correct, then Dr. Octopus was not one you turned your back on.

Kazar wasn't sure how long he's been sitting in there, but he leg was going dead and his butt hurt from the hard texture of the stool and made him squirm unpleasantly in his seat. He didn't plan to leave his teammate, but if the boredom wasn't going to kill him, the stool might!

Amadeus, on the other hand, was drawn from his pleasant pocket-dimension of science and mathematics as he noticed Kazar readjust his position on the stool, again. "Kazar," he spoke up patiently, "if you're sick of sitting there, feel free to take a break or...something." Of course Amadeus knew why the jungle-teen was there, he thought it was a good idea to have someone watch his back. But it was obvious the other teen was having a hard time sitting still for long, useless periods of time.

But Kazar shook his head firmly, "No. I said I stay in here, so I will." though he did fancy the idea of getting something to eat. A sandwich sounded like just the thing.

Amadeus shrugged, "If you insist." he replied, returning back to his microscope and scribbling information on his paper. But no long after, his eyes were drawn back to movement, as Kazar squirmed once again, causing more little creaks and squeaks to pierce the silence. The two made eye contact and Kazar rubbed his neck sheepishly while Amadeus gave him an exasperated look.

Sighing, Amadeus looked back down to finish writing. This time, the stool screeched bumptiously against the floor as Kazar moved it closer to the table, as to lay his head on it. Then it went back to squeaking as he fidgeted.

"Oh for the love of all things Einstein and atoms!" Amadeus burst out within a few minutes of the wretched squeaking; dropping his pencil on his paper as he glared at Kazar.

"Sorry." Kazar mumbled.

Amadeus pinched the bridge of his nose, but couldn't bring himself to be too mad. Kazar was just used to moving around, he could understand that. The other teen just needed something to distract himself with. Talking was also a good distraction (or so Spider-Man said), and Cho was feeling the weight of loneliness himself - a bit of conversation might do him some good too.

"If you're so intent on staying here, then feel free to talk about something." Amadeus said, picking up his pencil once more.

"What should I talk about?"

Amadeus shrugged violently, "Well, I don't know! The first time you met Spider-Man I guess - those tend to be crazy stories."

Kazar laughed in agreement. The first time he met Spider HAD been a crazy story; he would have a hard time ever forgetting it. "Alright," he grinned and shifted in his stool once more to get comfortable. "Well, I first met Spider-Man back in Savage Lands. He said he was offering me a position in the New Warriors, a team he was creating. Well, this was after I attacked him and his friend," Kazar admitted sheepishly. "Kraven and Taskmaster had captured Zabu earlier, I wasn't ready to trust Outsiders."

Amadeus hummed in whole-hearted agreement, "Makes sense," he commented as he nibbled on the end of his pencil in thought.

"Anyway, even though I declined his offer, Spider-Man still offered to help get Zabu back - with Wolverine of course. We found Zabu's capturers farther in the jungle, but we got trapped in one of Kraven's traps. We would've been goners if Spider-Man hadn't swung us to safety with his webs. Still surprised we didn't hit a tree or any of those spikes. Spider-Man did get hit with a poison dart though."

"Poison?" Amadeus repeated, quirking an eye up briefly in interest.

"Yeah, a nasty one too. Once its injected in you, it brings out..." Kazar trailed off suddenly. After a minute of silence, Amadeus glanced away from his paper and up at Kazar's thoughtful expression.

"Brings out what?" he urged.

"Its brings out the savage side of you." Kazar finished quietly, his eyes were dark and averted in deep thought. He didn't know much about this technological and scientific world; everything here was flashy and new and loud. But in all retrospect, this world didn't know much about the Savage Lands either. Still, Kazar couldn't help think about the prominent problem to their long-term problem: the bundle of unidentifiable factors in the virus that no one had any idea about.

Was it possible that...perhaps....yes....yes, that might be it!

Kazar jumped to his feet suddenly and Amadeus lurched back in surprise. The child-genius was about to demand what the jungle-teen's problem was, but the excited look on the kids face stopped him. Before he could question it, Kazar ran around the table and stopped in front of Amadeus in elation.

"I think I figured it out!" He shouted, grabbing Amadeus shoulders shaking him roughly, albeit unintentionally.

"Figured...out...what?...." Amadeus managed to stutter out, before pulling the other teen's hands off his shoulders and distancing himself a foot or two. Kazar didn't notice, or care, as he rubbed his hands together in excitement.

"The chemicals that you cannot figure out!" Kazar said. "I think I-" but he stopped when he noticed Doctor Octopus looking at him in annoyance from across the room. Kazar's excitement faded a little as scrutiny entered his mind. His face cut down into a suspicious scowl, his eyebrows dropped in a line, his eyes narrowed. and his lips pursed in cynical hesitance. Dropping his volume down several notches, he turned his back to Doc Ock and whispered, "I think I know what they are."

Amadeus froze as soon as he heard Kazar's words. His face was a mirror of shock for a minute and his hands hovered in the air with his pencil still poised in his fingers, but he quickly shook himself out of his state of inactivity and gazed at Kazar in all seriousness. "Are you sure?" he asked. They couldn't give anyone false hope; that would be heartless and cruel. And Amadeus refused to allow false hope to enter his heart either, equations were so much easier to handle than emotions.

Kazar nodded eagerly, "Yes. Yes, I think I know what they are."

"Are positive?" Amadeus strained.

This time Kazar paused, noticing the stretched nerves in the child-genius's tone. He thought for a moment longer. Was he sure?

Kazar slowly nodded, before looking back at Amadeus firmly, "Yes, I'm positive." he assured steadily. The determination and sureness in his eyes look truthful and Amadeus allowed a seed of hope to burrow in his chest.

But he looked around dubiously; searching for signs of enemies who could be overhearing. His eyes landing on Octavius's form the same time as Kazar's did. "I still don't trust him." Kazar whispered from the corner of his mouth, gesturing to the subject of his suspicion with a subtle jerk of his head.

"Agreed." Amadeus replied back, in the same manner.

As if sensing he was the subject of their scrutiny, Doctor Octopus looked up from his notes and met the boys' eyes with a steady gaze. The crazy-scientist studied them stoically for a moment, before his lips quirked up in an arrogant smirk, as if saying: You're nothing but children, what would you know? Almost as if Ock knew what they were talking about. He looked back down at his papers unceremoniously. As if the two younger people were of no interest to him.

Amadeus scowled and pushed Kazar a few steps away from the older man. "Let's go talk about this back at the dorms. Anywhere away from him." he suggested, glancing fleetingly at Ock. "I'll call the rest of the team. If what you say is true, then we'll go to Director Fury immediately."

Kazar nodded in agreement and the two managed to stifle their nervous excitement, and stride calmly out of the room, past the guards lining the perimeter and guarding the door. But as soon as their feet touched the corridor floor they took on running.

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Meanwhile, back in the Academy.

Wolverine grunted as he was manhandled away from his position against the wall by a member of the Pack. This one being the mutated form of the Prince of the Inhumans, Triton. Fish-boy must've taken a dip in the showers though, for his hands were cold and dripping wet. A few drops of water landed on Wolverine's face, one on his cheek, one on his forehead, and another on his nose. He tried to shake it off, but the drops were irritatingly stubborn. It was annoying, being unable to rub them away, but still easily ignored.

Forgetting the frigid water, Wolverine clenched his jaw and craned his neck to look where he was being taken. Triton roughly grabbed the mutants bound arms and shoved him forward and onto his knees. "Watch it!" Wolverine snapped as he almost fell forward and hit the floor. Not that a smooshed nose would hurt him, but he figured he got enough blood on the partially visible remains of suit; there was no use it completely staining it red.

Triton hissed at him and pushed him again. The message was annoyingly clear: Get going!

Huffing, Wolverine got to his feet. He stayed still for a moment, observing his "cell" again. It really wasn't a cell, but actually one of the training room in the Academy. Wolverine shared it with the Infecteds' other prisoner, a S.H.I.E.L.D agent he didn't know the name of. The two were separated though, the agent on one side of the room while he remained isolated in his own little corner.

Everything looked the same; the same boring, metal-grey and silvery-white walls with grooves and lines etched into it, hiding section of the walls that could split away and store L.M.D's for equipment. Wolverine didn't think Spider knew about those yet though.

He also really wished he knew where he was being taken to. But then he caught scent of another one of the Infected. This one smelled dusty, but not in an overbearing way, he could smell the scent of fur (a near-constant smell in the Academy), but there was no mistaking the disgustingly sweet scent that now permitted the area; thankfully only in small waves. Though, while Wolverine could smell him, he couldn't see the target of his senses.

What did you do when you could sense a spider, but not see them? You look up.

He glanced up at the ceiling and, sure enough, Spider was there, clinging to its surface partially concealed within the shadows of the room. The greys, dark browns, and blacks in the Alpha's fur were great for blending into shadows, but the mottled array of light brown made it easier to identify the arachnid. But it was still startlingly how something so big could move in such ease and silence.

Spider cocked his head to the side in interest, as if pleasantly surprised that Wolverine managed to spot him, and jumped down from the ceiling. He landed softly on the ground in front of the mutant, with nothing but a dull thud pronouncing his landing.

"Hello...Wolverine." Spider greeted with an innocent and hollow-sounding voice that, if you really thought about it, did sort-of sound like the Spider-Man Wolverine once knew. Spider was getting better at talking; it didn't take him as long to think about the words, then say them.

"Whataya want bub?" the mutant demanded. Behind him, Triton growled at his harsh tone and stepped forward to punish the prisoner. But Spider grunted at Triton softly, and the Inhuman backed away again; his hostile behavior now calm and at ease.

"Bring Wolverine...food." Spider said, revealing the bundle of nuts and stale bread from the stash of food he stored. Wolverine looked at the food in surprise. "Must eat." Spider continued. "Or does Wolverine...not need food?" his tone sounded mirthful and sarcastic. At least he could still tease; that at least meant the real Spidey was still in there. Wolverine just wished the real Spidey was back to normal.

He looked back at the food in the arachnids hands and shook his head, "How do you expect me to eat that?" he questioned harshly. "You tied me up, remember?"

Spider looked over the webs binding Wolverine and nodded in affirmation, looking satisfied that the webs were still holding tight. "You are right," he nodded. "Other prisoner...feed you." Spider pointed a barbed finger at the agent in the corner.

Wolverine followed the direction and scoffed. "I might be your 'prisoner', but I won't be fed my food." he growled stubbornly. "Untie me and I'll feed myself."

Spider shook his head firmly, "No." he stated. "Other prisoner feed you."

"Not going to happen, bub." Wolverine snapped back. He felt kind of ridiculous fighting with a mutated-spider-teenager about his dinner, but if he was going to be stuck down here, he at least wanted his pride intact.

Spider's eyes furrowed in annoyance and he shook his head more forcefully. "No! Other prisoner feed you."

"No."

This time Spider growled in frustration. He looked ready to shove the bread down the mutants throat. But then his features slowly relaxed and he stopped crushing the almonds and walnuts in his hands. "Fine," Spider stated calmly. "Then don't eat." he looked back up at Triton and jerked his head back to the corner Wolverine was pulled from.

Soundlessly, Triton nodded and grabbed Wolverine again and shoved him back toward his corner. The mutant grunted as he this time he DID hit the floor. He swore at Triton, which the mutated-Inhuman responded to smoothly with a swift kick in the ribs.

After a few more minutes of shoving and scuffling, Wolverine was thrown aggressively back into his corner. He glared as Trition casually strolled back to the front of the training room; sitting on the floor by doors where he watched the two prisoners easily. Wolverine grumbled sourly and shifted against the wall to try and get comfortable.

He was, admittedly, surprised that Spider was going to even feed him. But then again, the agent was still alive, and that was the cause of 2 things. 1) he wasn't eaten or kill on the spot by the Pack, and/or 2) he was given food and water. In fact, Spider approached the agent and placed the nuts and stale bread a foot in front of him, not even sparing a glance in Wolverines direction, before retreating out of the room and back into the dark hallways.

As soon as Spider was out of sight, the agent quickly lurched forward and hastily gathered the food in his hands. The agent was usually so refined and curled in on himself, so Wolverine never got a really good look at him. Now though, he could see the uniform hanging off the agent's thin frame, and the distinct hungry gleam in the man's eyes. He must not have been fed too much, for some time.

No, - correction - of course he wasn't being fed that much. Spider didn't really care about his prisoners. The food he stored was for his Pack alone, the prisoners could have only enough to keep them alive - though barely. Sighing, Wolverine leaned back against the wall and watched the agent scarf down the measly meal.

And he wondered how long it would take before he acted that way too.