66 Science Mecca

Hello guys. Coming back from a long hiatus. Sorry for pulling a Houdini on you all but I will try to maintain consistent chapter uploads once again. I hope you all show some love. You can curse at me for not uploading all this time too though. Would love to see you interact once again in any form. Enjoy

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"What do you mean?" Peter asked.

Deadpool answered this time, "Things like that." And where Deadpool was pointing, two humanoid robots were approaching along with a platform that was hovering in the air a whole feet above ground.

The robots went straight to the unconscious villains before putting some kind of bracelets on them and putting them on the platform. They then took away the villains with them.

"You will see them soon enough. Now follow along." Betty said in a commanding tone and walked on.

Peter looked up at the building which looked like a bunch of rectangles smashed together in weird angles. The rectangle shapes were jutting out of random places. "I thought the building would look different."

Betty turned back and asked, "Different how?"

"I don't know. Made entirely out of glass, or impressive architecture or something. This isn't bad, but for EAS, I thought there would be more." Peter replied.

Betty chuckled at that answer. "You are really just a teenager huh? The people who come to work here won't even care if we painted the whole building in rainbow colors. This is a place for cutting-edge science. Maybe if they add an architecture department somewhere down the line, there might be buildings as you imagine."

As they talked, they entered the building through the wide gates. Betty walked through an entrance and Spidey was going to follow as well but was stopped by Deadpool. "You don't want to go through that if you want your identity to remain hidden. Just walk in from the sides. Usually, it isn't allowed but they make exceptions for verified heroes and their companions."

Peter turned to Deadpool in shock, "You are a verified hero?"

"Hero, mercenary. What's the difference?" Deadpool shrugged and entered.

"Doesn't letting people in like this cause security issues?" Spiderman asked while looking at the large lobby where many people were going about their own business. Some of them turned or looked up at them but not for long.

"As if. Blue Marvel is a full-time resident scientist in this place. Not to mention the other superpowered scientists and mutants. You would have to be very dumb to break into this place. On top of that, a lot of the villains are already being sent in here." Deadpool shuddered a little thinking about the recent past.

"You tried to break in, didn't you?" Peter caught on quickly and asked.

Deadpool refused to answer but Betty who had come back after doing some formal registration answered, "He was literally hung out to dry on the flagpole for hours after all his muscles were paralyzed. It was a good show. If Savant hadn't been visiting that day, he would still be locked up with the villains."

"Let's continue with the tour, shall we?" Deadpool powered through his embarrassing story and walked ahead in a hurry.

"This is where the designs for the hadron collider to be built out in space are being designed. Oh, and that is the prototype for a type of Dyson sphere. They say it isn't actually a sphere but I am not scientifically literate enough to understand what they meant." Betty was taking Peter and Deadpool on a tour through the physics wing which was so large that everyone traveled through hover-platforms.

"This is awesome! And this is just a small section of the physics wing?" Peter asked.

Betty nodded, "Yes, this is the massive space construction projects department in the physics wing. It'd take days just to go through the physics wing. Then there are the Biology, Chemistry, Engineering, Mathematics, Computers, and all their sub-subjects. It's still very confusing but a powerful assistant AI is said to be in the works to make things streamlined and have better cooperation between departments."

"This place is the mecca for science," Peter said wistfully as they hovered through lecture halls, recreational spaces, and small projects being tested out in the open.

"Now that you have had some taste of the place, let's move on to why you are here. I'll show you what happens to the villains we bring here." As Betty spoke, the platform moved to a wall and after she put in some commands, a portal opened up swallowing them.

"Did we just teleport?" Peter asked as they reappeared in a different building in a flash of light.

"With so many departments and buildings, teleportation is the best mode of transportation here. By next year teleportation for long-distance travel is supposed to be launched for public use as well. The airline companies will probably make a lot of noise. But that's not our problem."

They reached a place where Doc Ock, Green Goblin, and the Lizard were currently being hosed down with water. "This is the first place where the villains are processed. We clean them, take all kinds of samples like blood, DNA, and tissue from them here."

They watched on as the villains tried to protest but were immediately paralyzed and the robots did the processing work. "The bracelets were designed by the combined efforts of Dr. Strange, Chancellor Doom, and Savant. It is a magitech as they call it, a mix of magic and technology. Not only does it send specialized bioelectric signals to paralyze the muscles of any biological creature but it also dampens all kinds of superpowers and mental abilities."

Spiderman was stretching his neck to stare at the bracelets from behind the glass window. He wanted to get his hands on one of those and test how the bracelets work. Deadpool had already disappeared at the start of the tour. He wanted to "catch em' all" or something, but Peter didn't pay attention.

"It dampens all superpowers?" Peter asked curiously.

Betty shook her head, "Not all of them. Sometimes they have to make custom bracelets based on the powers and abilities of the specific person. I don't know how it works though. It's all magic to me."

The platform then moved to a laboratory but they only looked in from outside. "They study the biology of the villains there. For people like the Lizard and Doc Ock, we try to safely depower them and remove the accidental experimental effects that caused them to be like the way they are."

Peter was amazed at what Betty said. If those people were safely depowered then he wouldn't have all the headache of fighting them every other week. And those people can also live a normal life, hopefully.

The platform continued to move and they reached the psych ward. "As you might have guessed, this is where we treat their mental issues. Almost all of them have some kind of mental health problems so it is a continuous process. We have top psychologists, telepaths, and neuroscientists working in this place. I even saw Professor X coming out of here the other day. He looks so cool in that helmet."

Charles Xavier had announced to the world that he was Professor X. So seeing a distinguished psychologist and an expert telepath in EAS was only normal, Peter thought to himself.

"I can't exactly show you but I am obligated to tell you that after the villains are put through treatment and assessments, if it is determined that the villain will not change their ways and will only continue to cause destruction and chaos, they are executed and their body is used for experiments. This isn't something we hide, it will be publicized when the press release happens." Betty said the whole paragraph as if she had remembered this section by heart.

Spiderman could see that this was something she was told to recite to any hero who came to visit. "And who decides if those guys will never change their ways?"

"A panel of top psychologists, law experts, and telepaths who can read minds? I hear they are creating a system that will be announced to the public for debate." Betty answered in a tone that said, you must be dumb to ask this question.

And from Betty's perspective, it was very dumb. If people who study all their lives to learn human behavior and people who read minds say that someone should die, Betty isn't going to sing about human rights. Had they been innocent people, Betty might still have reconsidered, but these were the villains who treated human lives like dirt.

Spiderman wanted to refute it but thought better of it. He couldn't think of any counterarguments either. "What about them being used for scientific research?"

"Oh right." Betty tapped on a holographic panel and the platform continued to move. "When the psychological assessment says that they can be let out, they are then allowed to interact with other scientists through video. Their restrictions are removed over time based on their progress. For now, most of them are in the video-conference stage."

The platform arrived at a place from where they could see down in a garden where some people from different nationalities were arguing about something in front of a whiteboard with mathematical symbols.

"They are scientists from different parts of the world who were driven to a life of crime out of desperation because of oppressive governments, gangs, or some other reasons. They will probably be allowed out in a couple of months."

Peter nodded solemnly and looked on at the scientists passionately discussing some theory in the garden.

"You can go back and tell the other heroes about this. They are always welcome to visit. Although they will find out about it in a few days after the press release anyway." Betty said thoughtfully.