Wire To Wire
| Oh, would you look at that, the cavalry's arrived. |
Note(s): And the plot is starting to pick up: and it's accompanied by these cute little side-plots which I'm subtly bringing in. This chapter isn't as obscenely long as the previous one, but I tried to make things interesting regardless. Also, this is unbeta'ed so please don't refrain from pointing out any mistakes.
Warning(s): The same warnings from chapter 1 apply but let me be kind, rewind, because there's an awfully-written action scene in here as well. /Bonus: my efforts in trying to describe a robotic squid.
Chapter Summary: In which there is friendship, teasing and good advice. Also, Spiderman and Iron Fist work together to prevent a kidnapping from happening, plus Powerman and Nova decide to crash the party when it's already over.
I hereby disclaim any rights.
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After any old motherfucking blow, I'll be back. - dEUS, instant street
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After dinner, his aunt finally gotten round to use that Surinam recipe she won in a windsurfing competition, Peter tiredly makes his way up the staircase and pushes his door open with his shoulder, nearly slumping against the wood and collapsing into his bedroom. He blinks slowly when he notices Danny, in his Iron Fist uniform, sitting in Lotus pose on his mattress with the lights dimmed and the window inconspicuously open. There's a chilly draft coming in, leaving a wave of Goosebumps in its wake on his friend's lower arms and wrists as it passes.
"Most people send a text message when they come over." He jokes, shutting the door behind him and dropping face-first on the bed, next to Danny. His eyelids slide shut and his head settles on his crossed elbows.
Letting out a long-stretched sigh, the martial artist straightens his back and hums pleasantly, "Agent Coulson decided you and I should patrol the area around the Mount Sinai Hospital first and foremost. Powerman and Nova will relieve us at half past two in our task at surveying the city." His shoulders square, muscles moving underneath the tight material of his outfit. "You do not mind, do you?"
Rolling on his side, the teen suppresses a yawn and replies, "No, that's a good plan.. Sounds like a sweet deal.. You done sittin' like a flower, Danny?" He doesn't bother hiding the teasing edge to his statement.
"The practitioners of yoga call this position the Padmasana." His legs unfold and stretch, until they're dangling off the bed. "I have received word from director Fury that Harry knows about his father's awakening.." Danny throws a look at Peter, "Why didn't you talk him out of visiting the hospital? Yes, director Fury knows you were present at the time." On his lips, a private smile blossoms.
Peter turns on his back, staring at the ceiling, "Oh com'on, Danny. He deserved to know and technically, I didn't tell him so Fury can sic his blame on someone else this time. Besides.." He quickly continues underneath Iron Fist's inquisitive stare, "I could protect him if Norman fooled everyone and their mother and was out to get him.."
Hauling a hand lazily through his hair as he sits up straight and gets up from his comfortable pillows, the teen walks over to his backpack, haphazardly thrown into a corner. "You just should've heard 'em, Danny. I was worried he'd turn all symbiote-daddy issues on me for a moment and ping, he turned as meek as a lamb. I don't know what's going on between Norman and Harry, but it's everything but healthy."
Zipping open his backpack, he reveals the folded red and blue material of his suit. "What should I do?" His question slips out of his mind into the open easily, hanging between the two superheroes.
Danny pushes himself off the mattress, stretches his arms high above his head and cranes his neck until there's a satisfying pop. "Perhaps you are asking the wrong question, friend. What can you do? You can protect his father from external demons, wrong-doers and people with ill intentions. What can you do not? Mend a relationship between father and son. That, they will do on their own."
"I should take a lesson K'un L'un philosophy pronto." Peter quips as he pulls his mask down, over his chin. "Apparently it *breeds* brain cells." He kicks his backpack under the bed and jumps onto the window sill.
They go to the hospital by bike, cruising over Fifth Avenue between taxis and regular cars at a steady pace. On the holographic dashboard, the GPS bleeps their destination in a glaring red dot on the street grid. Spiderman turns right into a small one-way street, surrounded by tall gray buildings at both sides. They turn left at the end and ride straight towards the hospital; Danny's arms tighten when the wheels screech to a halt and leave a trail of rubber on the concrete. He waits until his teammate hops off to kill the engine and steps off himself, swinging his arms and clapping them in front of his chest. That's about the moment the earth started rumbling and little pebbles bounced up and down rapidly.
He cocks an eyebrow underneath his mask, "Uhm. I didn't do that. Did I?"
Iron Fist scans the parking lot apprehensively, taking a fighting stance to defend himself for the unexpected. "What's that moving in the dis.." He leaps to the side when something gray and colossal stampedes towards him.
Spiderman shoots a string and flies to the main hospital building, balancing himself on the wall. "Rhino?! What is big, mean and mutated doin' over here?!"
Skidding to a stop, the adversary turns his head to regard Iron Fist, pants escape through his thick lips; he moves about so he's facing the martial artist, scrapes his left foot menacingly over the ground and bows to raise his sharp horn. "Costumed guy will pay. Rhino angry."
"Geez, what did Iron Fist do to upset you? He's a vegetarian and he recycles. Guys like him don't make rhinos go extinct, y'know." Spiderman helpfully supplies as he whirls in front of Rhino to whisk Danny away from his rampage.
Rhino growls in frustration, "Spiderman stay still! Squashing goes easier that way!" He nearly walks into the wall, pushes himself off and starts to run towards the duo again.
Iron Fist raises his fist, sparkling in a golden glow, and smashes the concrete underneath them to break off the even ground and hopefully throw Rhino off balance. He indeed topples over and howls out in pain from the collision; he tries to get up again, waving his heavy arms around in order to restore equilibrium but Spiderman webs his massive appendages to large pieces of rubble.
He grins, "Sorry, Alex. Guess the concrete jungle just isn't your playground today." Crossing his arms in front of his chest, the young hero purposefully tilts his head to admire his work, "Not that you could handle the monkey bars well."
"Urgh. Stupid Spiderman. I'll get you for this!" Rhino roars, trashing wildly but unable to break through the improved web fluid.
Iron Fist frowns, side-stepping the trapped villain and looking in the distance. "There is something stirring in the East."
Shooting another puddle of web fluid over Rhino's obscenely large mouth to shut him up, Spiderman says to his teammate, "Dude, NYC, not the Himalayas. What's going on?"
"Duck!" He stretches his arm and envelops his friend's shoulders, forcing them both to fall down next to the mutated boy, narrowly missing a cascade of darts, which lodge themselves into the wall before them.
Spiderman carefully supports himself on his hands, keeping low to the ground and observes their surroundings. "What was that?" His gaze falls upon the mechanic darts, "Kraven?"
"No.." Iron Fist contradicts, settling in a crouch, "Doctor Octavius sent one of his miscreants."
He jolts upwards, shooting a string in one fluid movement and swings to the third floor, surveying the area. His eyes widen when another row of darts fling themselves in his direction and summersaults away, using the solid window underneath his feet as leverage. Soft sounds of glass cracking resound as the weapons' stingers stick into the window. Spiderman lands on his feet shakily, nearly falling over and sees Iron Fist fighting a moderately big robot shaped as a squid with paw-like tentacles.
"You gotta be kiddin' me." He breathes out and jumps into the fray, using his SHIELD-issued web-balls to distract the robot from stinging at Iron Fist.
They bounce off the panzer easily, tumbling down without leaving so much as a dent. However, they manage to draw the robot's sensors to him and he waves wildly for extra effect. It starts to move, paws trampling the concrete beneath them and one stretches to grapple for a SUV, snatches the vehicle and throws the car into Spiderman's general direction. It comes whizzing straight for the wall and the hero quickly catches it mid-air with two strong webs. He hurls it back against the robot's head, effectively crushing the operating device and making it step back. Iron Fist charges, the energy transcending from his clenched fist gushing onto the concrete and collides forcefully with one of the extended paws. Metal crunches, bends and bolts pop from the girder-like legs, flailing through the air like champagne corks.
Spiderman peers over his shoulder, sees their fights drew attention from the medical staff and sighs loudly in response. He jumps back to avoid being hit by the robot's mantle, or what should constitute as a mantle with a regular squid, shoots a few quick webs to keep it from collapsing entirely against the hospital's main building and waits for Iron Fist to finish destroying the two largest tentacles which seem to operate under a different control center.
"Woah, looks like this place really lives up to its credentials." Nova jokes as he comes shooting through the night sky, his appearance is shortly followed by the telltale roar of Powerman's motorcycle.
Iron Fist nods grimly, "Rhino and an Ock-bot. This seems to become a perilous night and we haven't reach the peek yet."
"Rhino?" Nova echoes, landing onto the robot. "You let 'em go?"
Spiderman rolls his eyes, "Of course not, I webbed 'em to.." He turns to look at the small-scale crater where they've toppled him over and captured him. It is empty, safe for the large pieces of rubble with the webs torn. "Ah, this is great. Just great. How couldn't we notice that?"
Laughing, Powerman steps away from his amped-up bike and puts his hands on his hips, "Don't ya worry, Web-Head. He'll come back, it's awfully susp'cious that both Doc Ock and Rhino showed up near the hospital, don't ya think? Next time he rushes by, me an' Nova will shake 'em up."
"Maybe Iron Fist and I should stay here as back-up." He suggests, feeling uneasiness settle in his stomach. One of the tentacles twitches, but falls flat once again after Nova blasts it with one flimsy bolt fired from his index finger.
He blows the smoke off his gloved forefinger and grins widely, "Bug-Breath, chill. We got this. You still need to patrol Times Square. Iron Fist," Nova turns to his teammate, "Coulson wants you back at the Tri-Carrier for a special training session tonight. We're here 'til half past three. White Tiger gets the graveyard shift 'til six."
Iron Fist nods sagely, "Understood." His gaze rests on the robot, "I'll notify him of the incidents. Clean-up will arrive shortly, I presume."
Spiderman huffs, "Alright, fine, whateffs. Call me when something happens." He walks over to his motorcycle, standing unscathed in the distance. "Need a ride on the Spidey-express, Iron Fist?" He calls back over his shoulder.
"My gratitude, friend. Good luck, Nova and Powerman." They wave their goodbyes at the other two, who, after returning the gesture, occupy themselves by gathering the medical staff back inside.
As the two ride off and disappear from sight, Nova flies back over to the mechanic squid and experimentally kicks the thing over, making it collide face-down on the concrete and buzzing lowly. His concentration is broken by the sound of his communicator, producing a generic tune, and presses the green button to open the holographic screen. He can't help smiling slightly as he sees a miniscule envelop in the right bottom corner.
Powerman rearranges his shades after he's assured the last three nurses that they could take it from here and strolls back over to his teammate. "What are you doin', man? Did you.. Link the communicator to your smart phone?"
"Well duh. Gotta keep taps on my popularity." He retorts cheekily, stare fixated on the message projected from his wrist.
There's an eye-roll in response; Powerman drops down on the tentacle closest to him and places his hands behind his head, fingers laced together. "So who sends you a text at half pas' two, anyway? Ya' network provider?" He has a teasing smirk playing along his lips.
Nova bristles, happy expression quickly replaced by one of annoyance, "Noooo. Tsk, who do you take me for?" One quick push of the button and the screen folds itself like a roll of parchment and disappears completely. "It was Mary-Jane. She, uh, couldn't sleep." His casual tone tries to inveigle Powerman into thinking there's nothing out of the ordinary going on.
He isn't fooled, not one bit. "Right. And she probably texted you for what?, a night lullaby?" His gaze follows the boisterous superhero floating around before landing with both feet planted firmly on the broken concrete.
"I take offense to that." Nova huffs, nose scrunched in distaste at the ridiculous question.
Something rustles in the background, approximately from somewhere behind the battered robot and both heroes crane their necks to take a peek. Powerman signals Nova to prepare for a sneak-attack and softly jumps off the mechanic paw; he quickly pushes himself off once he's hit the ground and runs around the robo-squid's mantle only to see an empty parking lot, except for the three or four cars in the employee slots. He strains his ears in order to focus, but detects no other unusual sounds. Nova scans the perimeters from above and upon noticing nothing of any worth, he returns to Powerman.
He crosses his arms in front of his chest, descending in one straight line. "We're turnin' paranoid here. What 'bout we check out Central Park? Coulson said we should check out the entire area."
"Sure.." His communicator beeps and a familiar face he didn't exactly expect pops up the holographic screen, "Mom?!" Powerman exclaims, pupils wide-blown behind his shades.
Her eyebrows are arched, wrinkles set deeply at the corner of her mouth which is drawn into a thin line. Amanda begins carefully, "Powerman," Her eyes follow Nova's movements in the background before refocusing on her son, "Agent Coulson orders you and Nova to stay near the robot for the time being. We'll arrive shortly to examine the remains and recuperate the data on the hard drive." She lets out a slight sigh, almost inaudible due to the noises of machinery around her, "Approximately four point o' five minutes." Her gaze settles on him again, "Be careful. Signing off."
He drops his wrist, "Okay, well, thanks." Nova hovers close to him, the excess heat of his helmet warming his strong back.
"Dude, she's just doin' her job." It's an offhand statement, brought with Sam's usual nonchalance.
Letting his hands slide over the saddle of the motorcycle, the hero feels a coiling in his stomach and softly bites the inside of his cheek, a tad disgruntled. "I just.. Y'know, I thought they might wanna spend more time with me, but after our reunion, we.. They did tests, man, concentrated on the serum and then, bam, back to the labs."
Nova keeps quiet, nodding to himself and unsure how to proceed seeing as how he's good at giving sarcastic remarks and exchanging jokes instead of solid advice. Why wasn't Danny here, again? Eventually he says, "Maybe they're scared too.. I mean, you guys didn't see each other for a long while. And you kinda thought they were dead. And they kinda thought you were captured. So. I dunno, maybe you still need to get used to being a family again."
His fingers drum upon the leather and Powerman tilts his head, mulling the musings of his teammate over. "Y'know, you're not as much as a Bucket-Head as Spidey makes ya out to be." He grins, teeth bare and contrasting against his supple lips, "Thanks, Nova. And go for it, man."
"For what?" He shoots back, confused.
Powerman shakes his head, fingertips delving into the saddle. "You'll figure it out, Grade-A."
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Updates will be more far in between from this point onwards, I'm afraid.
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