Three's a Crowd

11) Reputations

O' Hirn brought Smythe right to the foot of the behemoth and explained his frustration. "Okay, science guy. Riddle me this. How the hell am I supposed to conduct my business in this thing!"

"Business?"

"Yeah, business!!"

"Well, you asked for something that would help you take down Spider-Man. The armor is designed to withstand his abilities and render his strength useless against you." He was confident this design would be the appropriate response to someone as powerful as the web-slinger. O'Hirn still looked unconvinced as he shook his head.

"Yeah, yeah.. right. Whateva. Look... " he dismissed everything Smythe had said, "I still got a drug business to keep up. You think that my buyers are gunna want to be seen with that thing by the cops? I'll be like a frickin' sumo Iron Man in that thing! Someone is bound to notice."

Allister looked up at the mechanical suit and considered the circumstances that his raging associate may find himself in. "Well in theory, the armor would have made you unstoppable." He was only confirming everything that had planned out, but O'Hirn only heard that he was unwilling to make changes. "However" he added, "you make a point that it does lack discretion."

"Yeah... no kiddin" O'Hirn commented, glad Allister was finally seeing the problem. "I'll tool around with the design again. See if I can fit your needs" Allister concluded, thinking that there were some ways to change the design while retaining the same purpose.

"Don't worry about the extra work, kid!" O'Hirn suddenly said. "Just scrap the exoskeleton and keep the headpiece. I'll make it work."

"Wait, you don't want me to redesign the suit?" Smythe asked with great confusion. "No way!" Alex replied, "Silvermane has already wasted money on putting this hunk of metal together. Why waste more on developing another?"

"I guess that makes sense" the young lad said, "but still, without the armor, you'll be outmatched."

"HA!" the large O'Hirn chuckled, "not if I can help it." Smythe furrowed his eyes, not sure of what he meant. Then, O'Hirn reached into the inside pocket of his jacket and pulled out a small glass flask like when he fought Spider-Man. He waved the flask around like he was bragging about how he had it. Allister eyed the flask curiously, wondering what it could be. "What is that?"

"Just something I whipped on my own" the confident brute bragged. "It works like a steroid, but it also makes my skin durable while also increasing my strength. When I sniff this, I will have the capability to withstand that red and blue bug." Alex hands the flask over to Allister, who reads the label to know what he's inhaling. To his surprise, he finds that dopamine and epinephrine are two of the ingredients. Immediately, he is concerned with the safety of inhaling this drug. This is because epinephrine is essentially adrenaline, which is necessary during fight or flight circumstances, but can be fatal when there is an excess amount in the body.

"There's epinephrine in this" he exclaimed. "Isn't that dangerous?"

"Of course it is" Alex replied without a hint of worry, "that's what the dopamine is for. To balance everything out." He ripped the flask back into his possession. Allister looked at him with concern, as he could potentially die from inhaling this drug. "I'm surprised you were even able to get your hands on epinephrine" he said, "from what I've heard, it's a very difficult to get a hold of."

"I have my ways" he answered conspicuously. "Now, lets get to work on that headpiece!"

Right..." Smythe said, still curious about why he only wanted the charismatic helmet of the suit. "Explain to me why you only want the head?"

"It sends a message to my enemies, especially Spider-Man" he answered, looking up at the great horn on the helmet. "Like that old saying goes, 'you mess with the bull, you get the horns!' But instead, it will be the RHINO!"

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A/N- Wow it has been a while since I've updated this story. I'm sorry all of you have had to endure such a wait, but I think I'm back to writing things again. So I hope this chapter was worth the wait.

So now I can reveal that one of my villains will be the Rhino, and yes, I have cast Seth Rogan in the role. I've always enjoyed the character of Rhino as this big behemoth that wasn't always the brightest. That tie of character can be quite intimidating in thought, but can also give itself to comedy as well. Rogan has had a career of playing characters that were funny, but dim-witted at times. I thought it would be a very creative choice and I hope you all like what I have planned for him.

Hope everyone enjoyed the chapter. Leave a vote if you did, and don't forget to express your thoughts in the comments. New chapter in the coming weeks, but I can't confirm whether it will be in the month of September. Until next time, BYE!!!