~Iron Family~

Ruh-Roh. It's the Bad Guys.

The man angrily flipped over the small table, sending papers and half-finished building projects flying. He turned, seething, to his assistant.

"What do you mean, we can't afford the alien tech?" he snarled. "We robbed a frickin' bank!"

His assistant, a small, potbellied man with a nervous expression, scratched his behind. "Yes, well, we appeared to have spent it all building your...other projects." He had a vague German accent, barely detectable among the way he blubbered and stammered through his words.

"How many times have I told you not to let me go off on other projects when I still have others to finish?" he shook his fist in the air. The assistant gulped.

"Well, sir, you are quite... Indecisive when it comes to such things."

"And how many times have I told you not to call me indecisive, Julius?"

Julius, the assistant, sighed. "Sorry, sir, but it's true. Especially when it comes to what evil activity you want to do next."

The man ignored the last comment and began to pace.

"We need to expand our horizons. A robot army of normal appliances won't work, especially against the Avengers. We need something more high-tech..." The man slowly scratched his head, looking back at Julius with a puzzled expression. "So...why can't we afford this alien tech from that underground company? What did I spend the money on again?"

"The mech!" Julius snapped. "The mech, sir. It was rather expensive. And don't forget about that big thing we're getting a huge loan for."

"What if the mech doesn't work?" he wrung his hands nervously. "If those Avengers get word of what we're doing, they could easily shut us down. That mech won't stop them."

"But it will slow them down!" Julius piped up, not being able to bear seeing his master in worry. "And they won't hear about it, we'll make sure of that."

"They already have," he whispered to the darkness beyond the overturned table. A single light shone down on him from the high ceiling, as if he would start singing if it were a musical.

Julius laughed. "That spider child in tights? I don't think he's a threat."

"Yeah, well what about Iron Man?" he countered. "That count as a threat?"

"As our virus has picked up, he doesn't believe we are a problem," Julius sighed.

It took a moment, but the man eventually laughed and relaxed. He walked over to Julius and shook his shoulders, despite Julius' discomfort.

"You're so right, Julius," he croaked. "Iron Man's not the problem..."

He sifted through the piles of papers that had flown off the table. Most of them were blueprints that read CLUSTERSTORM. He pulled out a small knife with a purple blade from beneath the mess, an obsessive hunger lighting his eyes as he traced his finger along the sharp edge. Sticking his tongue between his teeth, he used his thumb to press a camoflaged button on the hilt and the blade sparked to life with purple electricity.

"...it's Spider-Man."