"She's late," MJ thought, before trying to call you again for like the fourth time, but all it would do was ring and ring and eventually go to voicemail, which was beyond weird as you pretty much always had your phone. You didn't have rehearsals anymore and she wasn't aware of any plans you had with Loki that morning, even recalling that you told her you were sleeping in as you had nothing to do, sounding overjoyed. She prayed that's what it was, you stayed up late at the Cast and Crew party and were just sleeping, at least then she could yell at you for being irresponsible, but something seemed very off. She grabbed Peter and headed over to your house, they knocked on the door and rang the doorbell repeatedly but there was no answer, so they may or may not have broken in. There was no sign that you were there recently, only your snake Lily, who seemed really agitated, and they realized they couldn't leave her alone as it appeared as if she was already destroying the place because she was so upset by your absence.
They called up Cloak, giving him the location so they could take Lily with them as they headed over to Avengers Tower, as that was the only place left on their list where you could possibly be. They arrive and Lily takes off slithering away as she could smell Loki and Thor nearby, but she ran into the Thunderer first, quickly wrapping herself around him, knocking him over in the process. "Ah, Lily, did Miss Gracie bring you by?" Thor asked with a grin, thinking he'd see you and your warm smile shortly, but instead, he's greeted by the Man of Spiders and two other young heroes from the Shield Academy. All the heroes greeted Thor politely before asking if you were here as they couldn't find you and you weren't at your house nor were you answering your phone. They thought seeing as you and Loki were so close and the fact that you had slept over with him in the past, you might be here, you didn't really go anywhere else so this was the only other place they could think of. Thor got up, a bit annoyed now, believing his brother broke the rules again and had you over without telling anyone, so with the young heroes and Lily in tow, Thunderer and friends headed off to Loki's room.
Thor pounded on the door and after waiting a few moments the Thunderer just let himself in, seeing Loki come out of the bathroom in only a towel, still wet from the shower he just had. The God of Mischief let out a groan, using magic to dry himself off and summon some clothes so he didn't end up flashing anyone, as the only one who could possibly see him naked at this point was you. Speaking of, Loki saw Parker, Ms.Watson, and Lily, all your closest friends were here standing in his room but you were nowhere in sight and the God of Mischief demanded to know where you were. At his inquiry, the group's mood dropped even more than before, all except Thor, who thought his brother was playing a joke of some kind, but Loki would never joke about you, not like this. MJ came closer, removing the mask of her Symbiote suit, looking at Loki with a very serious expression saying, "Gracie didn't show up for practice today and she isn't answering her phone, Spiderman and I went to her house but she wasn't there either... and based on how Lily reacted when we arrived are guess is that she hasn't seen her in a while, the only other place we thought Gracie could possibly be was here, with you". Loki stared out into the void, his eyes going wide as the worst possible outcomes started flashing through his mind as "no, no, no, this can't be happening, this can't be" repeatedly played in his head.
So with officially saying you were missing, they started an investigation, going back to the school where you were last seen, hoping to find some kind of clue. Thor stayed with Lily, as they couldn't have a giant snake just wandering around, while they called in back up from the Shield Academy, getting the Iron Spider, Agent Venom, Iron Fist, Nova, and White Tiger to help out. They arrived and split up, looking around inside as well as outside the school, starting with the auditorium, finding something very interesting but more so concerning on the roof. Nova was the first to spot it as he was the only one who was flying around, quickly calling over the Iron Spider to use his suit to take a closer look at what he found. "We got claw marks, no animal match, they seem more humanoid," Amadeus says into the comms, before analyzing some DNA hoping to find a match in the Shield Criminal database, but no luck.
"Based on my initial estimates, we're looking for a large humanoid creature, at least 7 feet tall with thick and powerful claws," the Iron Spider followed up and Spidey asked how he determined that from just claw marks. The Iron Spider didn't base his analysis on the claws but on the large handprint bent into the metal nearby, seeing as it also had the same kind of claw marks he determined it came from the same creature. Amadeus explained that he could get an approximate size and shape going off of the average hand-to-height ratio, it wouldn't be exact but it was a good place to start, as someone that big would be kind of hard to miss. They found more claw marks and similar handprints all over the place near the theatre, some inside as well and Loki was absolutely freaking out, blaming himself for not being there. "Uh, guys... we got blood", Flash hesitated, quickly following the trail until it led him to something horrifying and Agent Venom was full-on gagging as he called it in, walking away to throw up in a nearby trash can.
Loki was the first one there but even he had to turn away for a moment, covering his nose as the smell was terrible, but despite that he couldn't really look away, as you might have had a run-in with whatever did this. The God of Mischief stood frozen, thinking about all the terrible things a monster like this could have done or currently be doing to you, he couldn't handle it, he was nearly at his breaking point. Spider-Woman was the next to arrive, horrified by what she saw as well, but fighting the urge to freak out or hurl she approached the God of Mischief, placing a hand on his shoulder in an attempt to comfort him. She knew how much you meant to him, even if Loki did his best to hide it sometimes, MJ took a moment to remind him of how tough you were and your healing factor, "she'll be okay, she's strong, we'll find her". The God of Mischief took a deep breath, trying to calm down, thanking Ms.Watson for what she said, it was a cold comfort but he appreciated the attempt. MJ then stepped away to call in Shield to let them know what was happening, as this was now all hands on deck, as their missing person's case just became a homicide investigation.
There were several dozen agents securing the area, with Agent Coulson supervising the whole thing, as this was not your typical murder/missing person's case. This person they found was torn to pieces, ripped limb from limb, guts and blood covered the alley where he was found, but his head lay intact, severed from the rest of his body. Loki recognized the victim right away, as the man who kept asking for your picture, even though you said no over and over again, but this didn't seem like a coincidence. Considering how violent the murder was and, adding you into the equation, it wasn't much of a leap for him to come up with a suspect, but he needed to find some kind of evidence because at the moment it was all just a theory. The God of Mischief kept it to himself, for now, only mentioning to the others that this guy attended the musical last night and stuck around for a while, perhaps a little too long.
White Tiger then called in that she found all your stuff still in your locker, your phone, your wallet, keys, and bag were all accounted for, so you didn't even make it back to get all your stuff before you disappeared. Loki teleported to Ms.Ayala's location, knowing exactly where she was because he'd been to your locker before, sneaking in to see you but as MJ, but you figured it out surprisingly quick. "I was with her last night, another student said they were locking up the school soon so it had to take place within that time frame," Loki said, coming to the conclusion that this was planned in advance. "I think you're right, there's no way this was just a spur of the moment thing, they had to know where she was or at least where she was going in order to get in, grab her, and get out before the security systems were turned on", White Tiger stated, pondering more on what they had discovered. Although they kept finding lots of clues, with each one, there only came more questions, questions that they couldn't find answers to as they were still missing a huge chunk of the puzzle.
A second body was eventually found, her remains were thrown into a dumpster, she wasn't dead, she was alive but barely, unconscious for who knows how long with bruises all over her body and at least a dozen broken bones. Loki recognized her too, she was that annoying girl from last night, the one who was rude to you, as well as the one who interrupted your alone time with him, recalling that her name was Kim. With another student somehow tangled up in this, everyone involved with the school musical as well as every guest that attended was called in and questioned. Loki and a few of the other heroes watched all the students and teachers get interviewed, not really finding out anything new until a girl named Amy was questioned.
They asked her about Kim first, if anything seemed different or off with her and Amy told them she was just her normal bitchy self, running her mouth, stirring up trouble, "I told her to shut it like usual but of course, she didn't and eventually left to "get some air"... she smokes... like a lot, she went out to her regular spot by the dumpsters to have a cigarette and I didn't see her after that". They then asked about you, if anything seemed out of the ordinary with you yesterday, but Amy said the only thing she recalled was that you seemed nervous about the show but other than that you seemed fine. Amy then said that the last time she saw you was just before you went into the changing rooms, you said hello, showing off your bouquet, offering her a flower saying your "sweet boo" got them for you. "She seemed really happy... going on about him, saying how amazing he was and all that romantic crap, I didn't see her after that but... huh..." Amy said but as she thought about it, something else came to mind. "You know she might have run off..." Amy began, with the Shield agent asking her to explain what she meant, "like I said earlier Kim was running her mouth, I don't know why I didn't think of it before but she was actually talking shit about Gracie... the usual mean girl stuff, you know calling her a slut, and a whore for "leading on all the boys" as she put it when Gracie already had a boyfriend". Amy then admitted to calling her a jealous bitch, and before long Kim was telling anyone who would listen that she caught you and your boyfriend hooking up in the theatre. "I mean, Gracie is a sweet, sensitive soul and if she heard that, I have little doubt she would have run off crying, I mean, I would be crying too but of course, I cry all the time because I'm a fucking mess," Amy said before asking if she could leave, she had an hour of brooding and staring at a wall scheduled for three and she couldn't cancel it again.
After hearing all of this, Loki was ready to go finish the job on Kim, with MJ, Peter, Flash, and Nova literally having to hold him back, while Danny, Ava, and Amadeus tried to reason with him, basically saying that it wouldn't help, they had to stay focused on finding you. Loki eventually calmed down with all the heroes in the room putting it together that you weren't just friends, but they didn't say anything, as there was enough going on today, and besides that, they couldn't exactly bring it up and tease him about it seeing as they still had no clue where you were. At the same time, it became clear to at least Peter that without you there was the very real possibility that Loki might go off the deep end, there was no telling what he do if you were really gone. Agent Venom suggested that Loki should take a break, maybe go eat, rest, and then come back, while the others just mentally facepalm, as certainly suggesting something like that would only upset him. Luckily for everyone, the God of Mischief seemed to completely ignore what Flash said, walking away saying he was going to go speak to Agent Coulson for a minute. But Loki's reserved behaviour was absolutely terrifying, as the God of Mischief went from nearly losing it to calm, too calm and it occurs to them that he might have already snapped, just keeping it all under wraps while plotting on how to get revenge.
After talking with Agent Coulson for a few minutes Loki call the Iron Spider over, with the others all promptly following, not wanting to be kept out of the loop. "Amadeus, you still have that DNA sample?" Loki asked, with the Iron Spider soon responding with "naturally, do you have something else to compare it to". Loki looks over at Coulson, who takes them to a secret spot in his old office in the school, having Amadeus connect to his systems the old fashion way, with a cord, as Shield's security systems were pretty much unhackable, well, at least it would take a while. Agent Coulson told him to run a DNA comparison with the student database, considering the frequency of attacks in the past, it seemed logical to have all students' blood types and medical history on file, this included a DNA sample. It took less than a minute for the computer to find a match, the Iron Spider announcing that the culprit in question was in fact another student, "looks like it's ah... Cody Reich".
Everyone looked more or less surprised, except for Loki and MJ, the redhead already deeming him a possible suspect considering what happened less than a month ago. "Wasn't Cody that skinny kid from Chemistry?" Nova asks, recalling what Cody used to look like the previous year and MJ soon responded, "he was, until a few months ago, after coming back from Winter Break he grew about half a foot, Gracie and I chalked it up to a late growth spurt but now, I'm betting he didn't get that tall by eating his fruits and vegetables". MJ knew you wanted to keep it on the down-low, but considering the situation, she filled those in who were out of the loop about Cody getting all violent, destroying a table, injuring you while trying to attack another student, and putting a hole through the wall. "He disappeared after that, no one's heard from him since," MJ said but Loki soon corrected her, saying that he sent another apology-type gift to Gracie about two weeks ago, saying he'd be back and in hindsight, that sounded so much worse now, not that it was great to begin with.
"Okay, so Cody has an obsession with Gracie, he attacked Kim probably because of what she said but how does this other guy fit into all this?" Peter asked and Loki filled him in, "he got a little too close to Gracie last night, my guess is Cody was already watching and saw what he tried to do and after I scared him off, Cody took care of him". "You didn't think to mention this earlier?" White Tiger said, kind of pissed that the God of Mischief didn't say anything before, but she wasn't the only one upset by it. "I didn't believe it was necessary until after confirming that it was in fact Cody who was behind this," Loki said, not batting an eye, only wishing he found and dealt with that bastard sooner. Peter then suggested sending over a couple of Agents to Cody's house, seeing if they could find any clues of where he could have taken you, doubting that if he planned to kill you, he wouldn't have done so yet, or at least have the ability to kill you, considering your healing factor.
"I'll go," the Iron Spider offered, quickly leaving with a few Agents in tow to first get a court order and then head straight over to Cody Reich's apartment to search for more evidence. While he did that the others discussed what else to do, including whether or not they should pay a visit to Wilson Fisk, being Cody's uncle it would make sense to go and talk to him but also a bunch of heroes just showing up would look a little suspicious. He was a crime boss after all, he had men everywhere, for all they knew he could be in on this with his nephew and them all showing up looking into a missing civilian case might connect the dots for him. They took a vote and decided to just send Iron Fist with an Agent or two to go speak to the Kingpin, being the most level-headed of the group it made sense, plus they couldn't exactly let Loki go, as much as he insisted on going as there would no doubt be another body, if not several on their hands.
"It just occurred to me... shouldn't we tell Gracie's mom that she's missing?" Flash asked, and they all turn to look at him, before thinking about it for a moment, with Loki realizing that your mother was supposed to be at home right now, how could she not notice you were gone? Loki said he'd call and inform Dr.Andersen later, as apparently, you gave him her cell number for "emergencies", but for now they would continue the search, going over surveillance footage from the school and the surrounding area. It took a while but they finally got a couple of good shots of Cody, as despite his new speed and strength he couldn't avoid all the cameras, especially with how big he was now. Cody was nearly unrecognizable, he was about 7 foot 6 inches, a little shorter than the Hulk, but just as wide, and a similar Hulk-ish face, with monstrous bloody claws, gleaming from the shadows. His skin and overall pallor also seemed off, looking between a mix of scales and stone, his complexion taking on a grey-ish undertone, although it was hard to tell as they could only brighten up the images to a certain point. What was apparent was his green glowing veins and eyes, which peeked out from under a dark cloak of some sort, they caught the light the way a cat's would, it was so creepy. Even worse was when they caught a glimpse or two of your unconscious body, seeing how small you looked in comparison was almost too much for the God of Mischief, but it only made him that much more determined to get you back.
Spidey then held a meeting back at the Triskelion, filling in the whole team on what was going on, that you were missing and who the culprit was, starting off with what Amadeus found out while at Cody's apartment. Besides the usual things, he found empty syringes that previously held some kind of black substance and what appeared to be a shrine dedicated to you. "The substance itself appears to be Gamma C, an old formula that was meant to recreate the Super-Soldier Serum but based on the name I'm sure you all can guess what went wrong with it", the Iron Spider said before continuing his explanation. "In small doses, it will temporarily increase the overall build of the user, giving them a slight strength, speed, and durability boost, but in high doses, the downsides to the serum become much more apparent... side effects include physical abnormalities, a decrease in overall intelligence, an increase of paranoia and irrational behaviour, as well as extreme fits of rage with the changes becoming permanent, the results, as you can see here are quite monstrous," Amadeus said pulling up images of what Cody used to look like versus what he looked like now.
"And now for the bad news..." the Iron Spider began, pulling up new images as everyone else in the room was looking even more shocked thinking "that wasn't the bad news?". "This version of Gamma C is even more unstable than the original formula, it's very likely that side effects will become worse, much worse, I posit that Mr.Reich won't have more than a few weeks until the worst comes to pass", Amadeus said, before proposing several possible outcomes. The first potential outcome was that Cody would get even stronger, and enter into a fit of rage that would continue until his heart gave out, the second being that he would mutate beyond control to the point his DNA wouldn't be able to support the change and he'd died that way, most likely in an explosion, due to the build up of Gamma Radiation, or third, most terrifying of all, if he somehow got you to use your healing abilities on him, there was the possibility that it could stabilize his new form, basically adding another unstable Hulk variant to the world, one that has already killed. After explaining what they were up against, he suggested tracking down the few people who were confirmed to know how to make Gamma C or involved with the project to find out if they knew anything.
They then moved on to discuss what Iron Fist found out with the Kingpin although there wasn't much to report, Wilson Fisk did cooperate but didn't give any new information besides possible locations. Danny doubted Mr.Fisk was completely transparent about everything he knew but they had to be careful about pushing further, the Kingpin was a powerful man, and this wasn't a situation where they could punch their way through to find the answer. They decided to follow up with the Iron Spider's idea of tracking down those involved with Gamma C as well as send agents to the list of different locations Wilson Fisk provided for starters. While the others ran down the list of leads, Amadeus was able to contact Dr.Reed Richards and together they started working on a way to track Cody through the formula as it was Gamma based, as well as find a way to reverse its effects. It was unlikely for either idea to work, but it was a place to start, with each hero hoping they could get to you in time, wondering where on Earth you could possibly be right now. With Cody escaping on foot, how far could he have actually gotten?
Pretty far apparently, for as the sun began to set that evening, just over 18 hours after you disappeared, Cody had reached the base of the Rocky Mountains, less than an hour away from his destination. It was quite an impressive feat as these mountains were nearly 3500 kilometres away from New York City and in an entirely different country, which would definitely make it a lot harder to find you. Speaking of, you were waking up again but Cody simply pulled out a cloth and covered your mouth and nose with it, watching as you struggled half-asleep to fight him and remove the fabric from off your face. Cody thought you looked adorable as you tried to fight back, he didn't feel bad about it per se, but he was certain it wasn't fun for you and apologized, "I know you don't want to sleep right now my love but it's better this way... please don't fight it, I know it hurts but with your healing abilities I needed to use something a little stronger than chloroform...". You weakly whimpered as you struggled to stay awake while Cody merely commented on how it was so different in the movies, one sniff and you're out but in real life, it takes a few minutes to knock someone out this way. He waited until he was sure you were out again, giving the top of your head a little kiss before continuing, whispering how excited he was, "come, my love, we're almost home".