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Marvel: King of The Swarm Chapter 23: Vigilante
🕑 Added 2025-06-05 18:41:01 +0000 UTCThe city was a blur around Harry as he swung his body through the air, copying the movements he had seen Gwen perform as she zipped and swung around during their fight. Using his symbiote as webbing Harry flew through the city swinging between skyscrapers and using momentum and elasticity to pick up a dizzying amount of speed.
Fortunately, a majority of the city was still asleep during the twilight hours meaning Harry didn't need to worry so much about prying eyes or cameras. But even then with the dark coloration of his suit and ariel speed most would only catch a dark shadow dashing across their vision before disappearing from view.
However, it was only a matter of time before rumors would begin to spread, which is what Harry wanted. Manipulation, deception, and control were second nature to him, and he would use them to get what he wanted. And what Harry wanted was New York. He would control the entire city, there wouldn't be a single aspect, organization, or individual beyond his influence. But all that power held within the hands of a single individual would draw far too much attention, even within the city alone Harry knew there were certain individuals and groups he had to avoid at all costs with his current level of power.
Which is why Harry made the decision to invent several alter egos for himself that would work independently to stir up chaos and muddy the water so no one noticed as he switched between masks. So far Harry had established two identities. His born persona, Harry Osborn son of Norman Osborn, heir to one of the most powerful pharmaceutical companies in the world. And Genesis, a mysterious cult leader with unknown powers and a growing following of fanatics.
Drawing a connection between the two was a leap in logic that only conspiracy theorists would make. But with them, Harry could spread his influence through the city, at a frightening rate. Still, it wasn't enough, so Harry would introduce a third component into the mix.
After a few minutes of swinging through the city, Harry landed on the roof of an old warehouse in the industrial district looking across the street at an old sawmill, which seemed rather unassuming except for the two heavily armed guards stationed at the back door and the mass of biosignatures within the building kept in far too small of a space.
Through his followers, Harry had learned of a massive human trafficking ring that spread throughout the city fed through international smuggling operations that prayed on exploited migrants, without a home or resources.
'The perfect demographic for a cult,' Harry thought darkly as he jumped off the roof and dashed through the air towards the back of the sawmill.
Not bothering to hide his approach Harry dropped down in front of the guards, who understandably screamed seeing Harry's terrifying visage.
While his overall shape was humanoid Harry's suit was decidedly more alien and monstrous than most superheroes.
Instead of elastic spandex, Harry was covered in a layer of dark purple scales with thin golden highlights across his body that stamped from a glowing crystal embedded in the center of his chest. However, in some places such as his fingertips, elbows, feet, and down the length of his tail the golden accents formed sharp dangerous, claws, talons, and spikes. A small crown of golden horns adorned Harry's brow as well, below which sat a pair of canted solid gold eyes.
Confronted with such an alien visage the two armed men didn't hesitate to level their guns at Harry's center mass from point-blank range.
But before they could even place their fingers on the triggers of their weapons, the back of Harry's suit split open as four serrated tendrils emerged each tipped with a hooked barb at the end.
In the blink of an eye, two of the tendrils shot forward piercing through each of the guards' chests despite the bulletproof vest hidden under their clothes.
Fountains of blood cascaded onto the ground as Harry lifted the two men into the air and drained their bioenergy before throwing their bodies to the side.
Grabbing the handle of the reinforced door Harry pulled and sheared the solid piece of metal off its hinges instantly alerting anyone inside that something was going on.
Walking forward with the door still in hand Harry looked around and found himself on the ground floor of the sawmill with most of the old machinery still lying around with logs piled high atop of convert belts.
The factory was then flooded as a small army of armed guards came pouring in from their stations, and immediately firing at Harry with everything from pistols to shotguns to rifles.
The first barrage of slugs slammed into Harry's improvised shield, the door he had ripped off its hinges, sending hot slag flying through the air.
Bending his knees Harry slammed the door against the ground and braced letting the guards waist their ammo as they tried to shoot through an inch of solid steel.
Though not all of them were so stupid and Harry watched with his biovision as a group of four split off and tried to flank around him.
Turning to face the ambush just as they came around a stack of logs, Harry pointed his fist in their direction as a barbed golden spike emerged from his wrist.
The muscles in Harry's arm bulged before compressing generating enough force to send the spike flying through the air. The foot-long barb pierced into the forehead of an unexpecting guard immediately killing him before embedding itself into the pile of logs and just so happening to severe one of the fastening ropes holding everything in place.
There was a brief second before two loud snaps cracked through the air as the other two ropes failed to hold back the tons of wood that came tumbling down flattening skulls and snapping bones.
Turning his attention back to the main group Harry stood up as he cocked back his arm and threw the now bullet-ridden door like a frisbee.
Those closest guards couldn't jump out of the way fast enough as were practically bisected at the waist with their flesh turned to paste and bones to fragments.
Even then the door had enough force left to slam into the far brick wall sending chips raining down on the guards stained with the blood of their friend's violent deaths.
Before the men could collect themselves Harry was in their midst appearing as little more than a dark blur as he threw himself at them.
Tackling one of the guards to the ground Harry pulled his arm back as another spine emerged from his wrist, but instead of firing it, Harry dragged the serrated edge against the man's neck drawing a jagged red line.
"Fuck this, man!" One of the guards shouted as he turned preparing to flee only for a golden hook to emerge through his chest pulverizing her heart and lungs before throwing him against the wall with a wet splat.
In the blink of an eye, more than half the guards had been taken out causing desperation to set in. A hail of bullets slammed into Harry from point-blank range, but they simply pinged off his scales only leaving behind faint white marks.
Still, the sensation was far from pleasant and Harry decided it was time to finish the public outing. The four tendrils on his back morphed growing large scythe-like blades that rose into the air with gleaming golden edges.
The tendrils turned into a blender flailing through the air in deadly arcs cutting through, metal, brick, wood, and bodies like butter, carving massive scars in the building and sending dismembered body parts flying everywhere.
A handful of seconds later the factor was silent except for the faint dripping of blood. Standing up Harry looked over the violent massacre and nodded seemingly satisfied, 'That should be enough to get the ball rolling.'
Walking over to a blank stretch of wall, Harry paused before his tendrils flashed out again in a very precise pattern carving the name of his new identity into the wall.
With his calling card left behind Harry moved on making his way to the back of the factory where he found a shipping container bolted shut with a chain a padlock. Inside he could see the scared and afraid victims huddling toward the very back of the container.
Slicing through the chain and lock Harry left the door slightly ajar before camouflaging and leaving through a shattered window.
'Hopefully, Gideon got that 'divine' dream that told him to check this seemingly random sawmill,' Harry thought as he resumed swinging through the city.
