Simon Williams gazed up at the giant Zeta beam that was suspended above him. Some men are just born with a tendency towards wrongdoing and evil. Others, like Simon, found themselves in difficult situations that called for desperate measures. Williams Innovations had been founded by Simon’s father as a conglomerate in military technology and weaponry. Under his father, the business thrived as the late Mr. Williams supplied the United States with a good portion of its military supplies. However, once Simon’s father died, opinion turned against Simon because the business world did not believe in someone at Simon’s young age could run such a company. Stocks dropped and contracts were pulled. In a matter of a few years, Williams Innovations fell from the ranks of the conglomerate juggernauts.
Then the hostile takeovers came. Rival corporations, like Roxxon and OsCorp began to buy up stock in a bid to take over Williams Innovations. Before Simon’s eyes, the company that his father had built with his own blood and sweat was crumbling in the wake of the wolves of rival conglomerates. Now desperate for any chance to save his father’s company, Simon turned to his older brother, Eric. In order to protect Williams Innovations, Simon would have to raise a large sum of capital in order to counter the moves the companies bidding for his father’s legacy. However, there was no way of producing that much money legally. Therefore, by the advice of his brother, Simon laundered company money in shady overseas activities, probably tied with HYDRA and AIM activities. While the profit that could be made from this strategy was immense, the risk of being discovered was even greater.
However, Simon was not quite lucky in this regard. Once it was discovered that Simon had laundered company money into shady and probably illegal activities, his career as a business man was officially over. Having been taken up on charges of laundering of company money, Simon saw no way out. The final straw was when another major company,
Thomas Technologies, swooped in and bought out all the other shares in Williams Innovations from the rival corporations that had set their rapacious eyes on what they considered easy prey. Now that Simon had lost his credibility as a business man and the company that his father had built from scratch, there was only one option left for Simon: desperation. Against his own better judgement, Simon went back to his brother, who had gotten him into the illegal activities in the first. Seeking vengeance on the business men who either had tried to or did steal his company away from him, like Norman Osborn or Wayne Thomas, Simon agreed to become the Guinea pig for a bizarre experiment that was being conducted by AIM so that he might acquire the power to punish those who had ruined his life.
It was now time for the Zeta beam to be fired. Even if Simon had begun to develop second guesses about what he had signed up for, it was nevertheless too late to stop. A pillar of purple light enveloped Simon, which sent waves of pain throughout his body. It almost felt as if his very atoms were being pulled apart. Only momentarily did the pain stop when, for whatsoever reason, the experiment was interrupted. However, Simon didn’t know who was interfering. But the pain returned, tenfold what is was mere seconds ago when a second column of purple light descended down to the floor, larger than the last one.
Due to how painful the experience was, Simon thought this was going to be his end. However, once the purple light dissipated, he discovered that he had in fact survived the experiment of those mad scientists who were dressed like beekeepers. He now had the power to punish those who had stolen everything from him. Now feeling the ionic energy pulsing throughout his body, Simon launched himself up towards the ceiling, smashing through the building material in a way that he would not have otherwise been able to do before the AIM experiment. Since he was airborne, Simon soared towards the place where he could find the man who had stolen his father’s company: Thomas Technologies.
In a matter of minutes, Simon was bursting into one of the upper floors of the New York executive office of Thomas Technologies. Chaos ensued as Simon tore up the place while looking for Wayne Thomas. Terror-stricken employees scrambled for the exits as they tried to put as much distance as they could between themselves and this purple monstrosity. However, when he could not find the man that had bought up his company, Simon let out a shout.
“Where are you, Wayne Thomas, you thief!” “Whom are you accusing of being a thief?” Simon Williams turned to face whoever had replied to his outburst. He had expected Wayne Thomas to have been the culprit. However, he discovered a man clad entirely in black. He had a dark cape flowing behind him, while a hood concealed his face. Only the glare of red eyes could be seen from under that hood. Underneath the cape, the man wore protective armor. This was
the Rider.
“Who the hell are you supposed to be?” “I put down those who terrorize the innocent.” The Rider threatened as he pulled out a few shuriken from beneath his cape. Almost as soon as he had finished speaking, the Rider had flung the concealed weapons towards Simon. Although the Rider’s aim was on the mark, Simon merely raised his palm up and incinerated the hooded man’s projectiles. Even the Rider had to leap out of the way of the purple beam of ionic energy, lest he be roasted alive by Simon’s attack.
“I like to see you try.”
Eddie Brock,
Master Bruce,
Half Pint,
Supermaxx,
Altered Tundra,
Sep
