Super Human

by R.Obliv

Change comes to the Ultimate Spider-man Universe. Spider-man's team expands as he grows closer to adulthood, however new forces covertly attempt to alter the public's perception of Super Humans. Why are they doing this, what are their plans, and can Spider-man and his team stop them? AU started mid-way through Season 2. Action adventure with Ava x Peter. Contains mild language.

3. Chapter 3: Prison Break

The lights of the hall activated as Bobby and Maddy walked swiftly through the Tricarrier. At a nod from Maddy the two parted and they both stopped at a different door. Bobby knocked politely on Luke's door and waited for a few moments, only to be answered with silence. Sighing he walked down the corridor to Danny's room, where Maddy shook her head.

"They're not here either." She said, twirling a strand of her hair with her fingers.

"Should we start the training without them then?" Bobby asked awkwardly, checking his watch. It was starting to get late and there was no sign of anyone other than Jonny.

"I don't know, I mean they could be offended if we do and their late, and then they could mention that to Fury andthenhemaygetannoyedwithuswhichcouldleadto-" Maddy began to monologue, her voice getting faster as she panicked.

"You're over thinking things again…" Bobby sighed, interrupting her, "And how do you even talk that fast anyway?"

"Maybe it's a second super power." Jonny's voice answered from down the hall, "How about a new secret identity Maddy? The Amazing Motor-Mouth Girl!"

"So I'm guessing the other rooms are empty?" Maddy asked, ignoring Jonny's comment.

"Yep. So go over this again, what happened at lunch?" Jonny asked, leaning against the wall.

"Ava was on her phone looking up the news," Bobby started to explain.

"People actually do that? I've only ever seen it in movies." Jonny asked, causing Bobby to roll his eyes.

"Yes Jonny, they do. Anyway, she stopped on one article then passed her phone to Peter, I think they were about to go somewhere to talk about it when the lunch bell rang. We saw the five of them talking in the hallway in-between class but that was the last time we caught sight of them." Bobby explained.

"So I'm guessing you don't know what the article was about, seeing as she only passed it to Peter." Jonny inquired, trying to think things through.

"It was about the murder of some tigers in central zoo." Maddy explained.

"How did you know that?" Bobby asked in surprise, Maddy hadn't told him about that.

"I caught a glance of her phone while she passed it over and then I looked at the page online in class." Maddy explained, trying to ignore Bobby's disapproving look.

"Err, shouldn't you have been focusing on the teacher, I mean with all the time you seem to spend on homework." Bobby asked, and Maddy jabbed him in the ribs.

"Seriously Bobby, you're not my dad." She sighed.

"Pot calling the kettle black there anyway, if I rightly remember you were up 'til midnight all last week." Jonny said, trying to hide a grin at his own comment, before asking "Anything in the article?"

"The tigers were white and there was information about them. Stuff like their age and that they were bred in-" Maddy began.

"Relevant things Maddy." Bobby sighed.

"Oh, right. Some guy called Kravin was mentioned by an officer at the scene. We don't know who he is though, and google just linked me to a conspiracy theorist page." She finished.

"Well it's just too bad we are not in the base of a government organization with the most conclusive list of criminals in the world, now we'll never know." Jonny said sarcastically.

"Do you think it's alright to go peeping into this though? I mean if they wanted us to know about it they would have told us." Maddy hurriedly asked and Bobby nodded in agreement.

"We should just get back to the Danger… I mean simulation room." Bobby concurred, but Jonny gave the two a look of disappointment.

"Look you two," He began, putting one of his arms around Bobby's shoulders and raising the other for dramatic effect "The thing about being in a team is that you've got to stand out. Staying in the background means getting the icky jobs. 'Don't worry Jonny, we have Doctor Doom, you just break in via the sewage pipe and open the gates.' I mean it's not like I'm also a Super Hero too, ok I was younger than them but still!"

"Speaking from experience there Jonny?" Bobby asked, lifting Jonny's arm off of his shoulder, but Jonny grabbed it again, this time with more force.

"Yes, I do speak from experience. And here I see a team in which there is no ageism, where everyone is equal and the three of us are on top." He beamed.

"If everyone is equal Jonny…" Maddy sighed, but he grabbed her as well.

"But to reach this dream of mine we need to do something big. Now the whole Shocker incident didn't really endear me to anyone." Jonny continued.

"You could say it drove them away." Bobby sighed, wondering why they were friends again.

"Maybe, but by catching someone that set off the old team this much we will be heroes amongst heroes, meaning they'll let participate in the big missions, saving the world and defeating evil wherever it may be. And then The Thing can suck it and stop bragging about the last time he beat Loki!" He said, his voice growing louder as he finished his rant.

"What a brilliant master plan, with a mind like that I am surprised you are not the leader." Bobby said in a deadpan voice.

"Well one step at a time." Jonny smiled, running along the corridor.

Bobby stared at him for a few moments, then looked at Maddy and asked "He is kidding around right?"

"I wish I could say yes." Maddy sighed in response.

"I really wish you did." He replied and the two of them ambled along after Jonny.

---

As they walked along another identical, cold, metallic corridor Bobby sighed. He hated the Tricarrier, it was impersonal and lifeless. It made a prison look like a party. It really was a true government vehicle, completely soulless. At the very least a painting would liven things up a bit, or maybe a photo of a forest, anything to bring colour to the grey and silver monochrome.

A couple agents moved towards them, feet stamping as the marched across the room, heads held high and egos higher. Jonny was marching behind them in an overly dramatic fashion, testing how far he could go. Maddy chuckled at this and the agents scowled, turning to Jonny who span around and walked in the opposite direction, winking at him and Maddy.

Bobby moved faster to catch up, passing the scowling agents. This was all so different from the world he was used to, even with Jonny and Maddy there. Sometimes he wondered if he should have outed himself as a mutant and remained at the Xavier institute, he was happy there. It was home.

Well at the very least he seemed to be enjoying the Tricarrier more than some, he had once heard Cloak refer to the place as a cage. Bobby always thought it was weird that Cloak and Dagger hadn't just left S.H.E.I.L.D. by now and stayed at the Xavier institute with all the complaints they seemed to have.

"Well, that was a fun distraction." Jonny smiled, waving at the agents as they rounded a corner.

"You really know how to get under people's skin, I don't know if that should be called a gift or not though." Bobby sighed cheerfully.

"It's no gift Bobby, it is years of practise and meditation, training with the monks of aggravation on the great mountain of frustration." Jonny rambled in a voice somewhat reminiscent of Danny.

"You're still no better at the jokes though." Maddy laughed, causing Jonny to go a tinge of red in embarrassment.

"Nor impressions, that was of Mr Fantastic right?" Bobby lied.

"Screw you guys! You spend way too much time with Ava." Jonny sulked.

"Jonny, if we spent too much time with Ava we wouldn't tease you." Bobby smiled friendlily.

"Really?" Jonny asked with a grin.

"Yeah, we'd just insult you instead." Bobby said with the same smile.

"Err, which one were you doing just then?" Jonny gulped.

"We'll let you work it out." Maddy teased.

---

They reached a large door with a slot to the left for a key card and password. Jonny cracked his neck, stretched, then pulled out a card with the name COULSON on it and scanned it, then tapped in a code and the door opened.

"How did you know that?" Maddy asked, stepping back.

"An agent traded the info for an autograph. It's best way to get information by the way." Jonny bragged.

Maddy continued to eye the card he had in his hand, "And that?"

Jonny looked at it and sighed, "Ok, I may have slipped that while he wasn't looking, but you need to have a bit of risk in your life."

"Jonny, what the hell?" Bobby snapped, "You don't pinch things from Coulson, it's like stealing things from the government itself."

"If we get caught we may get kicked out." Maddy whispered. Jonny looked at the two of them then shook his head.

"Guys, this is the only way we can actually find out about this Kraven guy. It's not like he's killed anyone on the team or anything, and don't you want to know what's going on?" Jonny groaned, looking at the two of them.

"Well maybe if we leave it Ava or Peter will tell us anyway." Maddy suggested.

"Yeah, and then we can continue to be shoved into the background!" Jonny shouted.

"What is it with you and being in the spotlight?" Bobby asked, looking concerned, "You don't need to be the centre of attention all the time, Jonny, so stop with this stuff. And anyway, what if we find something we weren't supposed to. Look, just chill out Jonny."

Jonny paced around for a few seconds then stopped. "I'm going in and looking this stuff up. If you two can, keep an eye out for me. If anyone is coming make a noise and leave, that way you can't get involved with me if I'm caught." He told them and walked in.

Maddy and Bobby looked at one another then moved to either end of the hall, checking around.

Bobby liked Jonny more than any of the other guys, he was a laugh and despite his behaviour he definitely was a hero. He would frequently go on patrols by himself late at night and, outside of trying to pick up girls, he was a pro at them, catching more criminals than anyone else. The problem came with him almost craving attention in the team. Bobby had a hunch that it was to do with his role amongst the Fantastic Four, but he seemed to be trying to be a poster boy for the group.

He took another glance around and nodded at Maddy, signalling that everything was all clear. Maddy was probably his closest friend in the team. Although he was still not ready to tell her about his issues with the Tricarrier or his parents, he could talk to her about smaller things such as their powers and ways of refining them. She was embarrassingly interested in teen romance novels, which he would endlessly tease her about, but she in turn would mock him for liking a 'boring' sport like soccer.

Weirdly though, the both of them seemed to have known each other before joining the team; however Jonny would always clam up whenever he asked about it and Maddy was even worse, sometimes leaving the room. He guessed it was best not to pry, but it annoyed him none the less.

There was a sound from inside the records room and Jonny stepped out, looking worried. He locked the door behind him and signalled for the two of them with a fearful look. He seemed to be panicking as they caught up.

"Crap, crap, crap. I did something stupid guys. That was stupid." He muttered, glancing behind his back.

"Jonny, what's wrong?" Bobby asked, putting his hand on his shoulder.

"I found out about Kraven. Long story short, he's a hunter themed super-villain but has no powers. I think the Daily Bugle called him Hunter-man when he surfaced." Jonny quickly explained and Bobby looked at Maddy quizzically.

"So what's the problem then?" she asked.

"Well, he…" Jonny began, but stopped himself. "There's something that he did… It's something we really shouldn't know."

"What?" Bobby inquired, and Jonny looked in his eyes with worry.

"It was something to White Tiger, and if I tell you and she does plan to later…" Jonny muttered "I'm in trouble. I didn't think it was anything personal, I thought it would be an arch enemy thing, like Reed and Doctor Doom at the worst. She'll know I know and she will kill me."

"Jonny you're over exaggerating." Maddy smiled, but Jonny did not change his expression.

"I'm not, I would be angry if one of you guys looked up information about my past without me knowing, and she already hates me." Jonny gulped.

Bobby could understand where he was coming from, if, say, Sam had looked up his past he would freak out, and whatever this Kraven guy has done to Ava sounds much worse than simply being kicked onto the streets.

"Jonny, if you're so worried about it, I'll say I looked it up and told you." Bobby suggested and Jonny's look of worry went to one of anger.

"What? No way am I sending a friend down river for me! Screw that." Jonny shouted before returning to his previous state. "I'll have to tell her, she is reasonable, I guess. I mean that's what Sue always said when I screwed up, tell the person… But she'll be pissed…"

Together the three of them walked back to the training room, Jonny double guessing himself the entire way. As they opened the door they saw Cloak and Dagger waiting for them inside.

"What's going on?" Dagger asked walking towards the three of them "Since when we're we the first ones here? If this is revenge for us always being late you should take it out on our school."

"Something's… come up." Bobby answered, unsure what to say or in what detail.

"The rest of the team went off afterschool and still haven't turned up." Maddy continued.

"We've been looking for them." Jonny finished, regaining his composure after confirming that Ava wasn't there.

"Is that why you aren't in costume, you've been looking for them or something?" Dagger wondered, Cloak joining her.

The three looked at one another then cursed, they knew they had forgotten something.

"So the three people who actually need their costumes because of their powers forgot them, isn't that always the way." Dagger smiled, "You guys better go get them before Fury gets here. We can stall a bit more if you want."

"And how will you hold him up if he does come?" Jonny asked while turning to leave.

"Cloak will do some impressions for Fury, he's great at impressions." She laughed, causing Cloak to go rigid with fear.

"Please hurry." Cloak stammered.

---

Unbeknownst to them at the time, Tombstone was working on his escape from the Tricarrier. He had watched the way the guard shifts altered and used that time to tear his mattress free from the bedframe, allowing him to use it as a cushion for when Nitro was ready. They had no way of knowing what Kingpin would do to break him out, or when, but he assumed it would be soon.

The guard passed his cell and Tombstone gave the man a toothy smile, causing him to shudder. Tombstone chuckled to himself; even in a cell his figure could inspire fear. A quick bit of surgery on his teeth and he had become a nightmarish figure. Although his gargantuan size probably helped as well.

He glanced at Nitro and the two nodded at one another, Kingpin would not abandon them. Even if he didn't care too much about them personally, he would not let a defeat against him slide so easily. The Kingpin needed to be at the top, he needed to remind people of it, because the moment he failed the criminals that once worked under him would tear him apart.

That's why he considered himself smarter than the Kingpin. He relished that his place was a business man below an even greater one; it meant he could inspire fear and get the job done while not being the symbol of all that was wrong with the criminal enterprise these days. Tombstone was always certain of one thing; the Kingpin had it rough at the top.

---

Iceman was first to return, and as he entered the simulation room he saw that the rest of the team had arrived. White Tiger was pacing, with Spider-man and Power-man trying to calm her. He tried to turn around and leave, so he didn't enter on his own, but Nova shouted out at him, "Hey, why are you so late?"

Without thinking he replied "what about you?" before holding his mouth and stopping like a deer caught in the headlights. Everyone other than Cloak and Dagger stared at him, and he swore time stopped, until Iron Fist spoke up.

"We were pursuing a criminal." Iron Fist explained calmly and everything began to move once more. Iceman breathed out a sigh of relief, and cursed at himself. What was he thinking there, there was a time and a place for being a smart ass, and when whoever they were chasing made Jonny's face go pale like that, it was not either.

Behind him he heard an awkward cough and turned to see Veil and Jonny enter, who was looking incredibly worried by the presence of White Tiger. Power-man seemed to notice this and asked about it. With a gulp Jonny looked at Iceman and Veil and went quiet.

Iceman had a hunch what Jonny was thinking, whether he should lie and hope for the best or tell the truth and face the reaction now. Of course Bobby knew what Jonny would choose. He doubted that Jonny would ever risk his place in the spotlight by revealing the truth; he was in bad enough favour with the group as it was. Despite Veil's continuous worries about being kicked out or forgotten, it was Jonny who was the most likely to get the boot.

Jonny shoulder's slumped forwards slightly and he looked at White Tiger and said with a frown, "I'm sorry, but I did something that I wasn't supposed to. And I feel like crap about of course." He hastily clarified. The team looked at him judgementally, Spider-man giving a small sigh.

"So did you blow up the lab again?" He asked exasperatedly, "Because that's Fury's thing, not ours and we're way too tired to deal with that right now."

"No," Jonny replied.

"You didn't break into one of our rooms, right?" Dagger inquired, "You know, while looking for everyone."

"No!" Jonny yelled, his voice sounding high in shock, "I'm not a thief."

"Then what did you do?" White Tiger asked, lost in her own thought as she paced.

"I looked up Kraven's file on the S.H.E.I.L.D. database." He whispered in reply, causing her to stop pacing.

"Huh?!" She said, snapping into reality.

"We tried to look up about him on google and yahoo, but we didn't realise that Kravin was actually Hunter-man, the police never released his name." Veil quickly butted in.

"So you've seen everything that he's done? The crimes he committed?" White Tiger asked, ignoring Veil. There was venom in her words.

"Yeah, but I didn't tell anyone else." Jonny muttered, glancing at Iceman.

Iceman felt the need to step in, to say something. He knew his Jonny was feeling pressured and White Tiger had a mean streak to her which seemed to thaw out only with time. He desperately tried to find a way to calm the situation before something kicked off.

"That's good." She replied slowly, "I'd rather explain my past to everyone when I chose to, so thanks for not talking about it. Is that the only thing you've done?"

Jonny looked shocked, "You're not mad at me?" He bewilderedly stuttered.

"Not really, I mean we all make mistakes and looking up information about someone before pursuing them is a smart choice. Plus you came to me and admitted what you've done, which takes guts. It's actually more than I'd ever expect you to do." She smiled, "However if you want to make it up to me, there is one thing you can do," As she continued, Iceman noticed the smile had become much more forced and her voice loader. "What I'd like you to do, is to explain to me why Kravin the Hunter, a murderous, psychopathic super villain, was not imprisoned in the Tricarrier with the rest of the sinister six, but instead was in a completely ordinary, mundane freaking prison?!" She yelled. "Cause the guards there sure couldn't!"

Jonny backed away a bit and she calmed down. "Sorry" She sighed and slumped to the floor, Spider-man running over to help her back up. She shook her head at him and just sat there, "Was there anything in the document?" She asked sadly.

"Kind of." Jonny replied awkwardly, "It just said that he was transferred upon a routine inspection of the Tricarrier." With that White Tiger nodded and got herself up, walking to one of the walls and hitting it with all her strength and leaving a dent. Jonny looked at her and, feeling a mixture of relief and failure, walked over to Iceman and Veil.

The team stood in silence, uncertain of whether or not it would be right to do anything, before White Tiger turned around and said in a painfully forced voice, "Right, so should we do a bit of training while we're all here?" With that she quickly ran over to a control box and set up a scenario.

The team probably had their worst ever session that day, nobody really communicating with one another and everybody trying to avoid upsetting anyone else. Every now and then someone would stop, to check if Spider-man's wound had healed properly or whether a solid punch from Power-man had knocked out Nova by accident, but then once everything was checked out alright it was back to the dull, quiet fighting.

Even Nova and the Human Torch, the two most likely to cause commotion were quiet throughout, Bobby knew why for the latter, but had no clue what was going on with Nova. Maybe he needed there to be someone else to butt heads with, or maybe he was more thoughtful to his teammates than Bobby had earlier assumed.

As the scenario drew to a close, what should have been a simple battle against Loki in a ruined Asguardian temple, Nick Fury walked in, looking dishevelled and tired, next to him stood a woman who Iceman swore he had seen before, but couldn't put a finger on it.

She was in the normal S.H.E.I.L.D. agent outfit, but she had a black mask that should have covered her eyes but was now pulled up and being used as a headband, and she seemed to be wearing a costume underneath. He guessed she was a superhero, but he didn't recognise the suit, which meant that he had to have seen her elsewhere, when out of costume. He turned to ask Veil and Jonny, and saw how Veil seemed barely unable to contain her excitement.

"It's Ms Marvel." She squeed quietly making Bobby feel a twinge of embarrassment and causing him to edge away slightly.

As he looked back at Fury he saw White Tiger marching towards him, the woman who Veil called Ms Marvel stepped forwards suddenly, blocking Ava. White Tiger tried to push through, but Ms Marvel grabbed her arm and twisted it around. "Stand down, White Tiger." She ordered coldly.

Ms Marvel released her arm and White Tiger fell back, she went to move forwards once more and Iceman ran forwards, stopping her along with Spider-man. She glared at the two of them, then looked at Fury. "Why was Kraven there?" she yelled, and Fury blanked her.

"I heard from the agents that this training session went poorly, I would like a review about the reasons why later." He stated without even looking at them. Even Iceman felt like hitting him at that point.

"Why was he there!?" White Tiger yelled again, causing Ms Marvel to step forwards. Fury shook his head and she stopped.

"I was planning to send you on a mission later this week that would have normally be handled by the avengers, however after today I'm beginning to question that decision." As he continued, Iceman realised that he was not going to give any answers about what he had been doing or why Kraven was in the wrong prison. He secretly wished Jonny had found something to make Fury talk.

He then suddenly remembered that thanks to the X-men he probably knew more about S.H.E.I.L.D. and Fury's secretive past than Jonny could ever know, even with access to the records room. Wolverine had always been a bit quick to talk when he was drunk.

"Whatever happened to Hellfire anyway?" Iceman asked loudly, causing Fury to choke in the middle of a reprimand for the team's lateness.

"Who the hell is Hellfire?" White tiger hissed, but when she saw the way Fury was staring at Iceman with shock and fear she wised up.

"What are you talking about?" Fury gulped, his voice sounding panicked. Bobby noticed how Ms Marvel was looking at him and Fury walked over to Iceman. "What do you want?" He whispered into his ear.

"Answer White Tiger's question." He replied in a whisper. Fury straightened up at this and walked back to where he was previously standing. With a sigh he began to explain.

"S.H.E.I.L.D. is under government investigation and inspection like any other division, particularly as we are involved with so much international work, and unfortunately the stumpy little man who reviewed us this year deemed that we had held Kraven in the wrong place for what he had been charged for, and ordered him to be transferred."

"I thought anyone dangerous enough could be held here, hell, if they're too dangerous some can be tried in their absence." Spider-man mentioned.

"Kraven was tried for multiple cases of assault and attempted murder, but we couldn't actually get him for murder itself. And without super powers or a murder charge, he was deemed to be too low priority to be here." Fury replied, looking at White Tiger as he finished, waiting for the inevitable reply.

"But he… How could you not get him for murder?! There was plenty of evidence." She snapped, carefully avoiding talking about her history.

"There should have been enough, but to protect the identities of everyone involved we had to withhold the most crucial information, and defence used that to break apart the case, we had two options, give the court everything and in the process reveal the identities of multiple super heroes, or allow him to be excused for that crime and get him for the rest. I did what I saw as the only option available, and that was used against me." Fury answered fiercely.

"You make it sound like you were played by someone." Danny observed, causing Fury to glare at him. For a moment Iceman wondered if Fury was going to burst a casket, he seemed to be furious at what was going on and was continuously glancing from Danny to him and finally to Ms Marvel, but after a few moments he calmed down and walked away, Ms Marvel following .

As she left the room it finally clicked who she was in Iceman's mind. "Hey, isn't that your math teacher?" he asked Spider-man, who quickly flicked his head to look at her.

"Crap, you're right, that's Ms Danvers. Seriously, does every single S.H.E.I.L.D. agent work at our school now or something?" Spider-man exclaimed, not hiding his annoyance.

"But she looked like a super-hero, who is she?" Nova asked, walking forwards to join the three of them.

Everyone but Veil looked at one another and shrugged, causing her to shout "How do you not know her?!"

"Well, she's not an Avenger." Luke replied.

"Or an X-man." Iceman continued.

"Despite frequent claims otherwise, we don't have a fifth member of the Fantastic Four, so she's not one of us." Jonny said jovially.

"And we've never seen her on the Tricarrier before." White Tiger finished, sounding almost morbid. Everyone looked at her once more, realising that they had gone of topic, but she waved her hand, dismissing Kraven. "I just wanted to know how he'd gotten free, and now I've been told. He'll turn up again later, so don't worry about it anymore. Anyway, I want to hear about who Ms Marvel is as well." She stated, and after a few moments everyone went back to the conversation.

"Well," Veil began, suddenly feeling awkward as she realised everyone's attention was on her, "Ms Marvel is the leader of S.W.O.R.D., a Washington based group focused on protecting Earth from extra-terrestrial attacks. When my parents and I went to DC for a holiday, she saved us from an attack by a group of Skrulls and she was so cool. I mean you should have seen how she sent them flying across the city. It was amazing, and she seemed so relaxed and at ease while doing it, like it was the equivalent to taking out the trash. Then once everything was finished she spent time with us to check if we were ok, and she was really nice." She explained, gradually becoming more at ease as she spoke. "I also may have started a fan page for her on Facebook, but that was a while back."

"So why is she working here?" Dagger asked politely, causing Veil to look uncertain.

"I… don't know." Veil answered after a few moments, "She also was acting differently. When she saved us she was so cheerful and warm, and she was like that while talking to her teammates as well as she left. But here she seemed cold and lifeless."

"Hell, Fury seemed scared of her." Nova stated.

"Yeah, but he seemed more terrified of that Hellfire thing. What was that about anyway, Iceman?" Spider-man inquired.

"It's something Wolverine mentioned one time. He said that Fury reacts to hearing about a guy called Hellfire. Wolverine said it's someone from Fury's past and something he wants kept quiet." Iceman explained, beginning to wonder whether or not mentioning it was a good idea in the first place.

"Well thanks for that." White Tiger smiled, patting him on the back. "If you hadn't said that I think I would have lost it with Fury. I don't know why he was trying so hard to hide it, but because of you I got the answer I wanted."

"So what about Kraven?" Jonny asked.

"Like I said, he'll turn up, and we'll deal with him then. But for now, let's just relax for a bit." White Tiger said, carefully falling down to the ground and lying back, Spider-man joining her, followed by the rest of the team.

"You know, I think I could set this thing up to a basketball stadium. Colossus taught me how to do it with the one in the Xavier institute. Could be a fun thing to cool down with," Bobby suggested, returning to his normal, flesh form.

"Oh yeah, I remember someone mentioning that in the classroom there." Dagger nodded cheerfully, "Cloak tried to set it up for a laugh, but he made a generic park instead."

"Dagger, please don't mention that, it's embarrassing." Cloak muttered.

"Well someone once made a strip club by 'accident,' so it's not that bad." Bobby laughed, remembering Gambit, but then the other memories came rushing back. Watching on TV as his friends and mentors were butchered by Apocalypse, watching them desperately grasping for victory as they were surrounded by carnage, knowing that he couldn't help.

He knew he was a coward and a weakling that used his young age to keep away from the battlefield. He could just about stand it, he lied to himself and said that he was obviously too young to get involved and was not in the wrong. He was able to keep the lie up until the camera panned over the chaos and he saw Colossus, his best friend who was just a year older than him, lying there, un-moving, his eyes wide open, staring through the camera directly at Bobby.

He rolled over and got up, moving towards the controls. Colossus continued to stare at him in his mind. He opened it and altered the settings, the room flickered and they we're in a plain, dark box that extended away from the forming basketball court. He changed more of the coding and decoration, such as pillars and carpets, rose from the ground and lowered from the ceiling. A red curtain fell above them to cover the wall they were all facing, rising and falling as the screen appeared behind it. He added a projector on the wall and returned to his new friends, standing next to Veil as a basketball flung into the air. All the while he remembered the sight of Colossus.

What was his friend thinking as he died, was he judging Bobby, did he hate him, did he wish that it was Bobby in his place and he here? If he had returned that day, would Colossus despise him? Bobby knew the ones that had survived did. He saw how they looked at him, how they judged him. Was it wrong for him to be scared, he was still young back then, he was inexperienced and weak and anyway, all the x-men around his age who went did not return, so why did they stare at him with such cold eyes?

And when he left the institute to protect himself it was those eyes that followed him through the gates. They watched him all the way to the next city, and he swore he felt them even now. He would turn expecting to see Angel there or perhaps Rogue and see nothing.

But he had gone through hard times himself, his parents would not allow him to return once he left the X-men, he had no income or way to get it and found himself in foster homes for two years. It killed his education; he was scraping the bottom of the barrel and had to study non-stop for weeks just to get a C in class. His foster family hated him and when they suspected he was a mutant, despite all his efforts to keep it secret, they carted him off to a summer camp while they sorted out papers to send him elsewhere.

It was there Fury found him and gave him a chance to be a hero. He didn't care too much, but he needed a home where he wasn't judged, he needed stability and it seemed S.H.E.I.L.D. was the only place he could find that. So he walked happily into Fury's team.

He slumped down on the floor as he missed a pass and felt Veil tap him on the shoulder. "you ok?" She asked, turning away from the etchings on one of the marble pillars to look at him instead.

"Off day." Bobby said, forcing a smile. In the past two years he had realised that he was useless, that he could do nothing alone, he could protect no-one.

There was the sound of voices from behind it and the curtain was torn to either side of the wall, displaying a huge plasma screen that captured perfect angles despite there being no camera. It caught Spider-man jumping from one end of the court to the other, just to be stopped from dunking the shot by a charging Nova.

Nova suddenly noticed the screen and swung back, feeling nauseous. Bobby caught a glance of Nova holding his helmet like a bucket as he slammed down on the floor and heard Spider-man say "Finally found a use for that helmet then Nova?"

---

Doctor Octavius continued to work away on the Octobots, always feeling Hammerhead's cold eyes burning into the back of his neck. He had disliked the man within seconds of meeting him, the way he seemed to look at everyone as if calculating how he could remove them, the way he seemed to know nothing yet ask about everything and the way he appeared when you thought you could finally relax.

He had worked with thugs and hired goons before, but this man was the worst he had ever seen. 3 men had been dragged down to his lab to be disposed, one barely 18, for slights and mistakes anyone could make. Every time the smell of his cigar would waft in, Octavius worried that he would bring another body to add to the growing pile.

The lab itself was good, better than the one Osborn supplied anyway. The walls were white with a few basic notes and posters stuck at the edges. The tables were clean and the cupboards stocked with all the simple equipment he needed. There were some spectrometers and an electron microscope, along with many other things that enabled him to perfectly measure, mix and produce quantities of whatever chemicals he needed for his DNA splicing, and that wasn't even the start of what he had been given.

There was an entire second room to allow him to complete his engineering and programming of the robots, and the computers there were superb. Octavius could not begin to imagine how Kingpin had gotten all of this, although at a push he would have said Hammerhead probably was a big factor.

"When will they be ready?" Hammerhead asked, breathing out a cloud of smoke from yet another cigar.

"Wednesday evening at the latest. I was producing these anyway before I was hired, just in case I needed them, all I need to do now is upload the rest of the programming and test them out." Octavius answered and he heard Hammerhead walk off.

There was no way of gauging whether or not the man was happy with Octavius' progress or not, and he was like reading an open book compared to Kingpin, who was the type to give you a warm smile even when ordering your death.

Hammerhead returned and stated "Kingpin will be here Wednesday afternoon, the prison break will commence then." After a few moments he let in a look of doubt while looking at the Octobots. "How do these things get around a small army of agents and multiple super heroes?" he asked, and with the way he stared at Octavius, a poor answer would not lead to a long life.

"They don't, all they need to do is get in to the prison section and open the doors. The super villains contained will take care of the rest while we get a hold of your three operatives." Octavius answered, trying to sound more sure of himself than he actually was.

Hammerhead gave out a rare smile, "That sounds like a good answer." He then walked out of the room. An hour later he returned, with yet another corpse.

---

In the end the game turned into a complete cluster and it ended with not a single person feeling as if they had won.

Bobby sighed as he entered his room and pulled off the outfit. It was made from unstable molecules and so would freeze alongside him and would then return to normal, unlike his usual clothing which just stayed frozen.

He had stuck up a few posters around the bed and had a picture on his desk of the students and teachers of Xavier institute from back when he was there. He was in the corner above Kitty in the picture and had let his hair grow back then, which looked a bit stupid now he looked back at it.

He walked into the shower and pulled the curtain, thanks to his powers he seemed to be cold no matter what he did, so he ignored the heat setting on the shower and the subsequent cold torrent of water. Once finished he quickly got dressed and looked at his homework.

The notes Ava had given him in the previous week helped, but he still could barely understand what was going on. He spent an hour working through 3 questions of the 6 before throwing it to the side and putting his head on the desk.

After a few moments he pushed the homework to the side and decided to practise ice formation. In the past two years he had decided to act as though he was not a mutant and had ignored his powers, however because of that he could no longer create and mold ice as fast as he once could or to the same quality.

Remembering the form of a rose he closed his eyes and focused, crafting first the stalk in his mind, followed by the leaves and thorns and finally the flower head itself, he then added the more finite detail, the way it was damaged and what petals were about to fall. He opened his eyes to see a frozen sculpture of what he had formed in his mind. Placing it on a rack to the side he set up a timer and tried again, this time with his eyes open and not thinking but just doing.

The form of the rose was much sloppier when he began this exercise, but now he was capturing the details perfectly without even needing to think about it. This also applied to other objects, but the rose he found the most difficult and therefore best to focus upon. The last details formed and he glanced at the timer. He had shaved off a few more seconds. It still was not perfect, but it would suffice.

Thanks to this little activity he could control the paths almost as quickly as he had once done and this allowed him to avoid Jonny for longer periods. He was getting better and would soon catch up.

With a sigh he put the ice roses in the sink to melt, then went back to his homework.

---

Bobby awoke the next morning and dragged himself through yet another day of school, listening to lecture after lecture and barely comprehending it no matter how hard he tried. The only lessons he felt he had a grasp on were English based, but even then he was missing something. He felt like no matter how hard he tried to climb out of the hole someone was always making it deeper.

The only time he ever felt relaxed was during lunch and now that it was raining there was little chance he could have a game of soccer or even kick the ball around. He sighed as he checked his phone and decided to part with everyone and head to the library. He might as well do some homework while he was here, he barely finished it the previous night.

As he walked along the corridor he passed Agent Danvers, who tapped him on the shoulder. "Could we talk quickly?" She asked kindly.

Bobby nodded and she led him to her classroom, where she sat down at one of the tables and invited Bobby to join her. "So what is it?" he inquired coldly, remembering how she behaved yesterday.

"I just called you because I wanted to apologize to you and your team. I've been trying all day but unfortunately it seems that your friends won't even look at me at the moment." She said sadly, "I was legitimately worried about Director Fury's safety when White Tiger stepped forwards, she was furious, and after that it was not my place to talk."

"Why didn't Fury just answer her question then?" Bobby sighed.

"Because it is not his place to do so. He's not allowed to reveal such confidential information and in doing so he is saying that he trusts you over a normal S.H.E.I.L.D. agent. In fact because of what you made him reveal he is already under fire from the council. Whatever that Hellfire thing is, you using it as blackmail against him has seriously hurt his standing with them." She frowned, "what was it anyway?"

"I don't know, Wolverine just referred to it as a trigger word for getting information" Bobby replied awkwardly. "And it can't be that bad revealing that Kraven was transferred anyway."

"Seeing as how there is a chance that Fury may be demoted because of this…" She paused "It was kind of bad."

Bobby looked at her in shock. He never expected something so minor to be able to cause such a huge problem. He just assumed that Fury was being needlessly rude to Ava and had completely forgot that this team was still overseen by the government. It was not like the X-men in which secrets were held due to personal reasons or someone being a douche, it was because there were procedures that had to be followed.

"Ok, I understand that you just wanted to help your friend, I just hope you know how getting information that way can affect things." Danvers smiled softly. "Also could I ask about that girl, Veil? She seemed familiar, has she met me before?"

"Yeah, she said you and S.W.O.R.D. saved her and her family from the Skrull in D.C. one time." Bobby answered and noticed how her face dropped.

"Ah, so that's who she was, I remember now. The poor girl really has really had her share of bad luck… But at least things have improved for her now she has your team." She frowned.

"A Skrull attack isn't that bad." Bobby replied hesitantly, causing Danvers to look awkward.

"Ah, yes… I suppose so." She muttered quietly, and Bobby could obviously see she was hiding something. After a silent pause she smiled once more, "On another note, I've seen your training records today, and the X-men really did train you well. I mean after a two year break to still be this good and to be improving at such a rate is just outstanding."

The compliment caused Bobby to feel warm and as he looked at agent Danvers again he couldn't help but notice how beautiful she was. Her golden blonde hair which flowed like a stream and her soft features that seemed to take any troubles away, it all made her shine even in the simplistic suit she was wearing. Feeling his face redden, Bobby looked down and tried to think of something else. As he thought through the school day, in an effort to return his face to its normal shade, he remembered his homework and let out a small sigh.

"Is something wrong, Bobby?" She asked cheerfully causing Bobby to hide his blushing face once more.

"Just homework." He squeaked, groaning as he realised how high his voice went.

"Well don't forget I'm also a teacher." She chuckled, "let me help you out with that quickly. Maybe you'll benefit from a one to one lesson."

Once the lunch bell rang once more he felt, for the first time since entering Midtown high, that he knew what was going on.

---

Bobby gulped some water from the drinking fountain and sat down, trying to regain his breathe. They had just completed half of one of the most intense obstacle courses he had ever been involved in and he felt as though he was about to die. Even worse was that he knew he had to get up again in a few minutes and continue.

It had been two days since they had found out that Kraven had escaped and things were calming down.

He rubbed his numb legs, hoping to regain some feeling, and looked up at the artificial sky. Stretching, he stood and returned to Jonny's side. "So how did your date go?" Bobby asked tiredy.

"Which one?" Jonny panted, also struggling to catch his breathe.

"Last nights. How many dates have you had this week?" Bobby inquired.

"Oh, that one. Meh, she was a bit boring but food was alright." Jonny answered, propping himself against one of the obstacles. "So you think we will really have to continue doing this thing, or will Fury let us stop here."

"I think this is revenge for getting the info out of him on monday, so I'm half expecting us to have to do a second set." Bobby gulped, causing Jonny to let out a pained moan.

"Well at least we're not the only ones struggling," Jonny sighed, looking over the rest of the exhausted team. "God, imagine if we were attacked now, I doubt that we could even exit the room." He smiled.

"Jonny, you know not to jinx things like that." Bobby chuckled as Veil began to walk over.

"It's not like it would ever actually happen." Jonny smiled, nodding at Veil. Then they felt the ground shake. "Please tell me that was just my mind playing tricks on me…"

The room shook once more and Bobby glared at Jonny. "God dammit." He sighed, "I hate it when that happens."

---

The Octobot tore through the hull, sending shards of glass and chunks of steel flying down the hallway. Octavius knew where the cells where and guided the robot towards them, smashing any oncoming agents into the walls and roof as it passed them. It cut through the wall to the left of the main door, which Octavius noted was weaker than the actual door.

He had left the other Octobots on autopilot, and he glanced on the other screens to watch as they smashed their way around the Tricarrier, distracting and attacking the agents. But Octavius knew Fury would work out what was going on and move quickly to stop it, so he had to act fast. With the press of a few buttons he burst into the cells and began to work on breaking the prisoners out.

Octavius felt a hand pat him on the back and turned to Kingpin's grinning face. "You're doing an absolutely fantastic job so far doctor, now let's see if we can get my men out shall we?"

---

The team rounded the corner and saw a man-sized robot crawling towards them. It had a rounded body with 7 or 8 tentacles attached towards the back. At the end of each tentacle was a claw, with the exception of one arm, that had a sharp blue flame ignited.

Spider-man jumped over the robot, firing a web from each arm at its joints, andthen swung it over his head, hammering it into the ground with a deafening crunch. Iron Fist ran forwards and, with his fists ignited with an ephemeral glow, landed a series of precise punches causing the robot's tentacles to fall off.

The robot rolled around the floor before a jet emerged from inside the body, causing it to be sent flying at Dagger. Cloak moved in front of her and grabbed it, his cloak then began to engulf the wreckage and once he pulled away there was nothing left. From behind them a second appeared, and Dagger shot blades of light through its metallic shell, causing it to malfunction and smash around the room. It hurtled towards Veil, who instinctively turned into gas to avoid it.

Finally sick of everything Jonny flamed on behind her and flew straight through the robot, leaving little more than melted scrap in his path.

"Ok, so why the hell are there robots running around the Tricarrier?" Jonny asked as he extinguished his flames.

"Did someone leave the training room door open or are these from the research division?" Dagger wondered, pushing the empty hull of the melted robot.

"No, those things weren't from here." Spider-man explained, "They're built by Doctor Octopus, so it looks like this is his work."

"Doctor Octopus?" Jonny scoffed, "what a pathetic name, so are all your enemies animal themed or just most of them Peter?"

"Trapster." Spider-man replied simply and Jonny shut up.

"So if we have these things running around the Tricarrier, what does that actually mean? Is this Doctor Octopus trying to bring us down, get some of S.H.E.I.L.D.'s research or coming for us?" Bobby asked, going through the usual check list.

"Those propositions seem too bold for him, or at least too bold when not here personally. But perhaps it is something different. If we think about it, with Kraven's recent release perhaps he is attempting to reform the sinister six." Danny suggested, "Three more of the team's members are imprisoned aboard the Tricarrier and finding out about our current numbers may have caused him to act."

"Seems possible," White Tiger nodded, "We better head over there then."

The ten of them began to run, destroying the occasional Octobot on the way until they reached the prison cells. There was a gaping hole in the wall and they crowded through it, jumping into the room.

There was a single Octobot there, broken and being dismantled by four agents as two watched the cells. With a nod one got up.

"Fury increased security here since Goblin broke out. We spent a lot of time working on ensuring that even the prisoners didn't realise that so they would be caught off guard in case of any escape attempts. Looks like everything worked, even if the attack was coming from outside." The man explained, trying to hide his satisfied grin.

"Well, if this place is under watch we'll check around the perimeter." Spider-man said, looking a little bit more relaxed. "I was half expecting a villain team up underway once we got here."

"That usually seems to be the case." White Tiger added.

As they began to leave, Bobby noticed that one of cells had a mattress against the door. Confused he moved towards it. "I doubt this is supposed to be here." He stated, getting the agent's attention.

"Hey, Tombstone, pull that damn thing off of your wall." The agent shouted, sounding annoyed, moving towards it.

"I would prefer not to." Tombstone yelled from behind the door. "Despite my strength I can still get quite hurt by a strong enough force, so I'm using this as a bit of a buffer."

"What the hell are you talking about?" The agent asked, but Bobby, seeing things like this happen before, pulled him into the corner and blasted a wall of ice at the cell door. However it was to no avail.

In the opposing cell the man Tombstone knew only as Nitro began to shake. He screamed loudly, feeling each molecule vibrate apart and break their bonds. The skin separated from muscle only to evaporate into gas, layer by layer. The pain was unimaginable, but the sense of fulfilment once it was finished was unmatchable. As his scream grew louder Nitro began to turn to a bright gas and his eyes began to illuminate.

The prison cell exploded suddenly, everything in its path was vaporized and within the battered, burning wreckage of the cell Nitro reformed. The shockwave splintered the ice through-out the room, sent Iceman and the agent catapulting into a wall and knocking Tombstone's cell door flying into his cell, smashing Tombstone through the back wall and allowing him to escape.

The doors of the other cells suddenly opened, releasing the contained super villains. They poured out as Cloak grabbed Iceman and teleported him into a hall. "We can't take them all on in that space." Dagger yelled from beside them, struggling to hear her own voice, deafened by the explosion.

"What about the agents?" Iceman shouted in reply, still holding onto the man he had tried to save. Cloak shook his head and pointed down. Iceman realised then just how still the agent's body was. He saw how the eyes were trapped open and how the blood was leaking out of the corner of his mouth.

"The shockwave would have killed them, Cloak teleported us away when that guy started to explode and everyone else had a way of coping with it, but the agents had no chance to survive it." Dagger explained, looking at Cloak for help.

Iceman continued to stare at the lifeless body of the agent and Cloak grabbed his shoulder. "I had him right in my hands, and I still couldn't save him." Iceman stuttered

"We can't save everyone, and you tried, that is enough." Cloak said sadly, moving his hands over the agent's eyes, closing them.

"If it wasn't for that ice state you would probably be dead too, Bobby. You should be happy you're alive, for a moment there we doubted that you would be." Dagger added, "And it was probably quick, he may not even of noticed."

"That doesn't make it any better." Bobby choked, getting himself up and wiping his eyes with his hands.

"Bobby, we'd like to help you get through this now, but there's a bunch of super-villains that are escaping this very moment, so come on, let's get back there and help everyone else." Dagger told him, "And once we're finished here we can all talk about this."

"I don't need help!" Iceman shouted, "It's not like I've ever seen a dead body before or failed to help someone, so don't patronise me."

Dagger stared at him for a few moments then her and Cloak ran forwards, leaving him on his own. Iceman gave them a few seconds and then followed.

Nothing had changed.

He was still useless.

---

The hall outside the cells had become the site of an all-out brawl, with a variety of super-villains attacking the heroes, some agents and even each other.

Iceman stopped at the edge of the carnage, he saw Veil and The Human Torch weaving around attacks, Jonny leaving paths of flames to trap the villains together and make it easier for Nova to take them out with a few blasts of his gloves. But Iceman couldn't move, images of Colossus and the agent ran through his head.

How could someone as useless as him help in such a situation? He couldn't even protect someone he had been standing right next to. Images of Colossus flowed through his mind, would he have been just another body there too, unable to do anything but fall?

Spider-man saw the three of them approach and yelled "Go that way, Luke and Danny are chasing Tombstone, that explosive guy and Shocker, they'll need more help than us." Suddenly he jumped, avoiding a blast of electricity from Electro and launched himself off of the wall to kick The Beetle.

Iceman didn't even need a second to think as ran away from the battle. Maybe he would be helpful in smaller fights, but then again, he needed to be saved even when he fought Shocker.

As he rounded the corner he saw a hole in the floor from yet another explosion and quickly created a layer of ice to go over before he fell down it. As he ran over the newly formed floor another Octobot smashed through the layer, sending him hurtling towards a wall.

He quickly made a slope of ice and cancelled his momentum, before turning and seeing the Octobot curling around the hall, its tentacles feeling their way about it. Once again worry settled into his mind, causing him to doubt his own skills, he began to step back, but stopped himself as he saw the robot turn towards the approaching Cloak and Dagger.

Why was all this affecting him so much, why did it always seem that he was going backwards?

Remembering what Agent Danvers said he advanced forwards. How could he be getting weaker? He had seen his times, he had completed a bunch of simulations near flawlessly and she had told him herself that he was outstanding.

As he ran a niggling doubt in the back of his head whispered his faults to him, but for once he ignored it, forming a source of ice in the palm of his hands and outstretching them, causing an eruption of ice as the moisture in the air froze in front of him, trapping the robot in place. He then followed by pushing down on the floor, creating spikes that rose from it to pierce the robot's shell and break the electronics within.

The Octobot remained unmoving in the ice as Cloak teleported himself and Dagger over the hole to Iceman. "Thanks for the help." She smiled, heartily patting him on the back.

"Yeah." Cloak added, before the two of them ran on, Iceman following and overtaking them on a pathway of ice.

As they moved from corridor to corridor they saw signs of more fighting, walls dented and pierced, unconscious agents and the occasional charred hole from an explosion. Despite this, they could never actually hear the fighting itself. As they rounded yet another corner they found a man punched through one of the walls, his legs hanging still in the air.

Iceman had never seen this guy any of the reports that Fury had given him and was unsure how to react. He was a giant of a man, probably standing at about six and a half feet, and was built like a brick house, muscles and veins bulging in his neck. He was wearing an orange jumpsuit, suggesting that he was also a prisoner, and below the neck line Bobby swore he could see the glimmer of metal.

"Is he dead?" Iceman asked, concerned. He seemed too still and his long, white hair too tattered for him to be simply knocked out. A trickle of blood crawled down his fingertips as Bobby approached. He guessed that the other two heroes had been attacked by him while they were chasing Tombstone and didn't have time to check if he was alright once they took him down. But to leave the man like this seemed excessive, normally Power-man held back enough not to break whoever he was fighting.

As he reached down to the man, ice forming in his palm just to be safe, his eye's burst open and he grabbed Iceman's arm before punching him square in the jaw, with a force far beyond what he should have been able to manage. Bobby was flung backwards as the man pulled himself out of the door, his body making an unnatural whirring noise with every movement. Grinning a bloody smile and showing some chipped teeth he began to move foward. "Gotcha now, you little-" he spat, but Bobby never heard what the man was about to say, as Dagger had already launched one of her blades of light at his head, knocking him out once more.

"Ok, I'm freezing this guy until we get back. Hopefully no one will be dumb enough to go near him when he's like that." Bobby spat, feeling a crack on his leg, which he knew would develop into a cut once he returned to flesh and bone.

The guy had super strength, and, from the noise that he was making whenever he moved as well as the metal below the jumpsuit, Bobby guessed he was an android. It would explain why Danny and Luke had left him in such a state. They would have been certain that was not enough to kill him. If anything Bobby was now annoyed they hadn't gone further.

"Sounds like a smart idea." Cloak nodded quietly, glancing down at Bobby's leg and trying to avoid eye contact.

"Iceman, your leg, is it ok?" Dagger asked, following Cloak's gaze.

"You mean the crack? I can barely feel it." Bobby smiled awkwardly. "Come on, let's get going."

---

Tombstone paused for a moment to catch his breath and leaned against a wall. "Where is Herman?" He gasped, looking around.

"Must have buggered off while we were running, he did complain about us not stopping at the research lab to pick up his busted glove and suit." Nitro sighed, clutching his wounded shoulder. A random agent had gotten a lucky shot in. unfortunately for Nitro the bullet had probably shattered his collar bone leaving him no state to explode again. And anyway, even if he could, this part of the Tricarrier had no more floors below it; if he exploded he would fall for miles until he hit the sea.

Tombstone paced back and forth, before clutching at his hair. "Why the hell are we having so much trouble, those robots seem to be bursting through the ship by the dozen and yet they still can't find us!" He shouted, hitting one of the walls with so much force his hand punched straight through it. "Kingpin needs me, so why is he being so god damn lazy about this?"

"You're over exaggerating your worth there mate." Nitro coughed, he was feeling dizzy and could barely breathe. As he realised just how bad his wound was affecting him he began to wonder what he was going to do. "Let's just stop this, please."

"No, we can get out of here, Nitro." Tombstone affirmed, ignoring his allies pain "Kingpin needs me. I'm one of the few who know his identity and more than that, I'm the only one of his associates whom people are prepared to talk to about failure. Hammerhead will shoot you dead the moment he thinks something has gone wrong, Whiplash is just plain creepy and even I don't know who the so-called middle man is. God forbid telling Kingpin himself about your failure. Without me any flaws in his empire will fester and grow. They will plague his actions and bring him down. He needs me." Tombstone monologued, before noticing that his words were falling on deaf ears. "Nitro!" He yelled, shaking the man.

After checking his pulse and feeling how faint it was Tombstone kneeled down and slung the man over his shoulders. "The stuff I do for my men." He chuckled awkwardly before stopping at the two figures in front of him. "Ah, this isn't good."

---

Power-man ran straight at Tombstone, who quickly moved to drop Nitro before swinging into an uppercut, which knocked Power-man back a step, however Power-man moved his entire body forward in response, head-butting Tombstone and causing him to lose his footing. As Tombstone stopped himself from falling he felt a fist hit him square in the jaw and was surprised by the fact it caused him pain. Recoiling in fear from the foreign experience he tripped over Nitro's body and found himself looking up at the enraged super-hero.

"First you hurt one of my friends, then you and your lackey kills that many agents and yet you still think you can escape?" He asked quietly, cracking his knuckles. "You know I hoped you would try to break out, it would give me a reason to take you down, but this..." He said, surveying the carnage "I don't know how I'm going to be able to hold myself back from breaking every bone in your body." As he went to throw another blow there was the sound of the air splitting and Power-man was knocked back into Iron Fist by Shocker's gauntlets.

"Hey there kid; long time no see." Shocker smiled, playing with the settings on his gauntlets once more. "I think the scientists may have altered these settings a bit, hell, I hate to admit it but they've been improved by leaps and bounds. On top of that, I got these things." He smiled, picking out a few grenades.

"Herman, pick up Nitro and let's get going." Tombstone ordered, taking one of the grenades and turning back to Power-man. He looked down at him as Power-man began to get himself up. "You know Spider-man is a pathetic hero really, I'm surprised he's made it this far. Perhaps it's because you idiots kept in the pond and only just now ventured into the sea of crime that controls New York, but there are sharks here, and we will rip you apart before you can even cry out." With that he pulled a pin of the grenade and threw it at Power-man's feet, watching as it exploded. He let out a disappointed sigh when he noticed that the two of them had moved back at the last second, so to avoid the explosion, however the gap it left was too big for them to jump.

"Come on Tombstone, there's a few robots back here to transport us off of this thing. They've already broken out a good half dozen c-listers. This rescue party truly has been busy."

"Well then, what are we waiting around for, let's get a move on." Tombstone smiled, his sharp teeth grinding together as he began to chuckle. They were free.

Suddenly a flash of light appeared in the corner of his eyes and he ducked on instinct, barely avoiding the bright, fluorescent dagger. He grabbed another grenade and threw it at Dagger, however it was frozen in place by Iceman. Tombstone gritted his teeth and then swung around, finding his way halted by Cloak. They stared at one another for a second then Iron Fist and Power-man jumped out of the shadows within.

Tombstone pushed Cloak and ran past him, dodging a hit from Power-man. "There are too many of these guys!" he yelled, feeling the wind push against his neck as Power-man tried to grab him.

"Come on, the robots are this way!" Shocker shouted back, trying to balance Nitro as he ran.

As they rounded yet another corner Tombstone stopped in awe of the behemoth that stood in front of him. It was a robot shaped like the rest, but it was three times the size and barely fit in the corridor. He was drawn back to reality as one of its tentacles slammed against a wall and it gave out a cold, mechanical scream of fury.

It zoomed straight past him and rushed at the heroes, smashing Power-man into a wall with one tentacles, while simultaneously slamming another down upon Iron Fist, who was protected by a shield of ice that materialized above him. Iceman slid past and tried to freeze the joints of the robot however it smashed him through one of the walls and into another room in retaliation. Iron Fist punched at the Robot's shell and it flicked him away with yet another tentacle then outstretched two more, grabbing Cloak and Dagger and smashing the two of them into each other. It went to repeat this action but was pulled back by Power-man.

Power-man, who had kept a hold of the tentacle that had smashed him into the wall, pulled down and dragged the robot towards him, making a gap just big enough for the rest of the heroes to run through. "The rest of you keep going, I've got this." He grunted, veins bulging on his arm as he dealt with the force of the struggling robot. "Hurry up! I can't keep this up much longer!"

Iron Fist pulled Cloak and Dagger from the robots grip and the three heroes reluctantly ran past. Once they were out of sight Power-man released the Octobot and hammered down on a tentacle with his fist, breaking it in half. "That's one down, just seven more to go." He gulped and lunged forwards.

---

Iceman awoke in a dimly lit room surrounded by papers and files that had been strewn across the floor when he had been thrown in. He picked on up and noticed it was headed by the name "Peter Parker." Putting it back down he concluded he was in the records room and, with that knowledge, realised which corridor he had just been in. He grinned, knowing exactly where Tombstone was heading, and quickly ran out the door so to cut him off.

---

Cloak leaned to the left, narrowly avoiding a blast from one of Shocker's gauntlets and looked onwards. Tombstone had long since ran out of sight and Shocker had taken his ground, keeping the three of them off with well-placed attacks.

Whenever Cloak went to teleport Shocker would notice and disrupt his concentration. He gulped, there was a bunch of ideas running through his head, ways of getting past Shocker, but he couldn't do them alone. He knew the only way to get through this was to consolidate with Iron Fist, he was the most experienced out of the three of them and he was the best suited to close combat and would be ideal for fighting Tombstone if the only option was to get one of them past Shocker.

It wasn't that he was scared of Iron Fist, he wasn't exactly scared of anyone, but the words so rarely seemed to come to his mouth and his thoughts so rarely resembled a their usual state when he was around others. Tandy was the only one who he didn't have this problem with, probably because she had been with him through the worst, but using her as a communicator would just put her in harm's way.

He thought he saw a gap for a moment and tried to teleport behind Shocker, but Shocker realised just in time and fired at him, knocking him to the ground.

"We need to do something quickly." Iron Fist muttered, jumping over a shot aimed at his feet.

"I don't really have any ideas here." Dagger replied, throwing everything she had at Shocker who calmly side stepped it.

Cloak gulped, if the two of them ran at Shocker, Cloak would have a suitable gap to get behind him and take him out, but he needed to tell them to do it. Cloak knew the code for such a manoeuvre, all he needed to do was say it but the words were stuck in his mouth.

Suddenly an Octobot burst into the ship besides Shocker, who stared at it and then grabbed on, leaving the unconscious Nitro on the floor. "Well, looks like my ride is here, I'll catch you kids later." He smiled, giving a little wave. As the Octobot flew off he shouted back to them "Actually, on second thought, let's not meet again. I don't think we have much in common." And with that he was out of sight.

"He got away." Iron Fist frowned glumly, his shoulders slumped in disappointment, before he straightened back up and looked at the two of them. "Well there was nothing we could do, so let's get going after Tombstone, if he's still around."

Cloak watched as Iron Fist began to ran, he had a plan so why the hell did he have to freak out now of all times. With a small curse under his breath cloak joined Iron Fist and Dagger.

---

Tombstone ran past the hole in the floor and into the room. He stared at the frozen robots, one of which flailed on the floor with all but two of its tentacles trapped in a solid block of ice. "What took you so long, Tombstone? I was forced to chill out with these toys instead of you." Iceman asked, sitting atop one of the frozen robots. "And don't bother trying to thaw these ones out, the circuits inside have broken, they're not suited to this temperature."

Tombstone glared up at him, giving an ugly frown. "I do hope you know what you have done boy?" He hissed, his face contorted in rage.

"I stopped you from escaping." Iceman replied, moving his hand up, "And for my next trick I'm going to catch a z-list super-villain." With that the area in front of Tombstone turned to an approaching wall of ice. Tombstone jumped out of the way, sliding on a patch of ice and hitting his shoulder against the floor. He rolled over as the area he was began to freeze over and leaped up onto his feet.

"You think I'm some easy catch, me?!" He yelled, running forwards and punching at the ice Iceman sat on, causing it to split in half and knocking him to the floor. "I am one of the few people who know who Kingpin is. I have communicated with more villains than the Red Skull and I am far stronger than you could possibly imagine."

With that Tombstone lunged at the fallen Iceman, who spun around and kicked at Tombstones head. Tombstone simply ran through the kick, unflinching, and rammed Iceman into a wall. He grabbed Bobby by the head and then began to hammer it repeatedly into the wall, leaving a dent. Desperately, he pushed his hands onto Tombstones chest and formed a pole of ice, which immediately extended and pushed Tombstone back a few metres.

Dazed, Iceman leaned against the wall and formed a sledgehammer out of ice, quickly swinging it at the charging Tombstone, but it broke against his head. Tombstone pushed Bobby down to the ground and held his arms down with his legs. "I'm going to tell you what's going to happen now." Tombstone smiled, showing his teeth off once more. "First, I'm going to push my fingers into those eyes of yours and see if I can crack the ice that makes them. After which I will drop you down that hole over there and watch your blinded, battered body plummet all the way to the sea." He broke into a deranged grin as he thought about that future, crunching down with his teeth for emphasis. "Then once another Octobot comes my way, I'm going to get a ride back to New York and buy a nice new suit, orange just isn't my colour. Finally, with that all done, I am going back to that school and blowing it the hell up, this time with every single student and teacher inside!"

With that Tombstone pushed his thumbs down on Iceman's eyes. Iceman knew that if he was in his normal state they would be gauged out, but thanks to the organic ice he was resisting, if only for a few moments more. He tried to pull his arms out from underneath Tombstone, but to no avail. He felt his eyes were beginning to give way.

Suddenly a flash of movement appeared in the corner of Bobby's vision and he saw Iron Fist hit Tombstone in the side of the face with all his strength, launching Tombstone off of his feet and through the ice wall. His body crashed through about 4 steel walls, and he finally stopped just before he was knocked out of the Tricarrier.

Iron Fist charged after Tombstone and landed a series of punches on the man, each one powered by as much chi as possible. Tombstone, who had long since lost the need to block anyone's attacks, was beaten to a bloody pulp and felt terrified. Each punch hurt more than he had previously imagined possible, it felt like his bones were breaking with every hit. The pain was worse even than when he fought Power-man.

In a panic, he attempted to tackle Iron Fist, however he simply jumped over Tombstone, causing him to run through the walls back to the room where Iceman laid, now being tended to by Cloak and Dagger. Tombstone tried to take one of them hostage, but Iron Fist was too fast, suddenly appearing in front of him and upper-cutting him into the ceiling.

"I won't let you harm anymore of my friends." Iron Fist said coldly, changing his pose to maximise the number of punches he could get in.

Tombstone pushed his head out of the ceiling and fell back down, just next to the gap which the Octobots had used to enter. He knew there was no way out for him, he was trapped.

---

Kingpin watched the screens sadly and turned to Octavius, "you've done a great job here doctor, unfortunately it seems that Tombstone has been most useless in the actual escape. On top of that he was stupid enough to mention my existence to those kids." Kingpin sighed. "He used to be so good, you know. A proper business man. But recently I seem to hear so many failures from him compared to everyone else, and with this he has shown himself to be just another useless thug. I put too much faith in him and I think I'm going to have to let him go."

"What, you mean you are going to abandon him?" Octavius asked, preparing to have all robots return to base.

"No, I mean I want you to kill him." Kingpin smiled. "I see there is one robot that is, at least partially, unfrozen, have it knock him off the Helicarrier." He ordered, keeping up the warm smile.

"Wait, why kill him?" Octavius asked, but Kingpin pushed on his shoulder.

"Don't question me, doctor." He threatened, tightening his grip "Now remove that idiot from the realm of the living before I have Hammerhead do the same to you."

---

Tombstone noticed the frozen legs of the flailing robot dis-attach as he turned back to Iron Fist. "Fine, you've got me, I surrender." He panted, trying not to look Iron Fist in the eyes. "Just so you know, Fury won't get anything about Kingpin from me, he hasn't got a thing in his arsenal to make me tal-"

The octobot slammed into his side, and he fell towards the gap. As time slowed down he noticed Iron Fist move to grab his outstretched hand, but he gripped too late. Perhaps Spider-man could have shot a web at him, or Iceman created a floor below him, but they were both unable to help. He glanced at both Iron Fist and Iceman and saw the look of helplessness on their faces; heroes really are too forgiving, he thought to himself, as he fell through the Tricarrier.

He stared at it as it began to fade into the background, it was so majestic from the outside, why had he only noticed that now? The realisation dawned on him that he was about to die, this fall was far too great for even his incredible strength to shrug off.

Kingpin had thrown him away like so many others before him, and yet, for some reason, he had been blind to that possibility. If there was one solace in it all, it was that in doing this Kingpin had sealed his own fate. Without him, Kingpin's empire will crumble under its own weight and Kingpin will be punished. Despite what was about to happen, Tombstone let a smile slip across his face.

However that faded once the fear set in. What would happen once it was all over? Was this going to be it? Was there going to be little more than nothingness to await him? At least let there be a hell, he thought to himself, let there be something no matter how bad. Another fear set in as the view of the Tricarrier began to look much more familiar, would he feel the drop?

Iron Fist dropped to his knees "He's dead." He frowned, looking at his hands "I almost had him, if I reacted just a moment quicker."

"You couldn't have known that would happen. Who would have expected that Octobot to push him like that." Dagger frowned, "Whoever this Kingpin is, he truly is detestable."

"We will find him, a monster like that can't be left alone." Iron Fist affirmed, turning to Iceman and giving him his hand.

"Wow, you kicked his ass." Bobby croaked, returning to his human form, cuts forming on his body and his eyes bloodshot. Thinking to himself that he was useless once again.

"You did a good job yourself, Bobby. If not for you Tombstone would have escaped." Iron Fist sighed, pointing at the frozen robots.

"But then he would have survived." Bobby said glumly, "he wouldn't have died if I didn't get in the way."

"It doesn't work like that. If he had escaped he would have killed again." Iron Fist muttered, outstretching his hand and lifting Bobby up. "Are you feeling alright?"

"Err… yeah, I'm fine." Bobby nodded awkwardly. "We better go help Power-man now."

---

Power-man had already pulled off 5 of the legs from the behemoth Octobot and left a series of dents all over the metal by the time the four of them reached him. Iron Fist assisted by punching a larger hole in its side and Dagger finished it off by flinging a blade of light at the circuits within. They then picked up Nitro and returned to everyone else.

On the other side of the ship Spider-man was already bringing the escaped criminals back to their cells. He noticed the five of them coming empty handed and looking dejected, so subtly signaled for Iron Fist to go with him to talk about it. Bobby watched this all as Cloak quietly assisted him to walk, releasing him to Jonny when he sprinted over in worry.

"Bobby, are you alright?" he exclaimed, grabbing Bobby's shoulders and looking at him in worry.

"I'm fine." Bobby shrugged off, limping back a bit.

"How did this happen? And where is Tombstone?"

"Dead." Bobby sighed, looking away, "After I held him back, and Iron Fist beat the crap out of him, one of those robots at knocked him off the Tricarrier." Jonny stared at him in surprise and looked down.

"Don't blame this on yourself Bobby, that's what Reed always did, and it never ends well." He advised sadly, "He always looked like you whenever a super-villain died, coming up with ways he should have saved him, or wondering if he should have left him alone. Not to sound like a dick, but it is better that he is dead than back out in the real world."

"What?" Bobby asked, startled at his friends morbidity.

"Look, the guy was a murderer, he was a psycho in charge of super villains, and it was better you tried to stop him and failed to save him than leave him alone to continue his carnage." Jonny frowned.

Out of the corner of his eye Bobby spotted Veil run over to join them, "Bobby, what happened to you?" She asked, shaking as she stared at the wounds.

"Jonny, can you explain? I need to lie down." Bobby said quiietly, limping past the two of them. He was tired of all this sympathy, he just wanted to sleep.

---

As Bobby went to fall onto his bed there was a knock on the door and he was forced to get back up. Dragging his feet, he walked over and opened the door, being greeted by Spider-man. "Up for a talk?" he asked.

"I was actually just going to bed." Bobby sighed, not this again.

"It's just Iron Fist mentioned what you were like, something about muttering about being useless. So can we talk for a minute?" Spider-man urged, keeping just enough force on the door to say he wasn't ready to leave yet.

"Look, I'm going to bed, I feel shattered. After that stupid obstacle course and the attack I have no energy left." Bobby muttered.

"Uh huh? Are you sure about that, or are you just wallowing in self-pity? 'Cause I'm a pro at that." Spider-man joked, pulling off his mask to show his concerned face.

"Look, I've heard the spiel before. 'No, it was fine you didn't do anything this time, you'll be helpful the next,' or 'well todays a new day.' I did nothing to contribute to this mission. I watched two people die, a guard and a criminal, both of whom I should have been able to save." Bobby snapped, flinging his arms around for emphasis.

"How? How would you save that guard, the shockwave would have killed him no matter what you did. What about Tombstone, he had left you in a position where you could barely walk. How do you save a man in that state?" Peter sighed. "Look, if you're looking at this from the point of view that you are useless you will just keep finding failures. White Tiger spoke to Veil about this the other week. It doesn't do any good Bobby."

"Well, if I-" Bobby tried to counter.

"And how about we look at the good you've done recently. You helped White Tiger find out about Kraven, you protected Cloak and Dagger from an Octobot that caught them by surprise, you stalled Tombstone long enough for Iron Fist to come in and help and you got a B on your homework." Peter smiled, releasing the door. "You're doing great, don't let a few mistakes keep you down."

"How did you know about the homework?" Bobby inquired.

"Sam was sent to the teacher's lounge and spotted it." Peter answered, looking annoyed at whatever Sam had done to be sent there.

Bobby gave out a small laugh, "Well, that's a load of my back. I thought that work was a D at best. Ava's notes really helped."

"Yeah, they are eerily good, but again, not as good as mine." Peter bragged.

"Well, I think I'm still going to bed, I wasn't kidding about being shattered." Bobby smiled, stretching and giving out a little yawn.

"Ok, I'll see you tomorrow. Although it may be best you take the day off of school to get some rest. You could also go to the undercover division to see if they can mask some of those wounds until they heal." Peter nodded, walking back down the corridor with a little web.

---

"Well?" Ava asked as Peter entered the briefing room.

"He'll be fine, and you were right about what was ailing him, Iron Fist. He definitely looks shattered though. But then again so is everyone else." Peter answered, taking his seat between her and Veil.

"Then should we get a move on with this?" Sam said hurriedly, "He's not the only one who needs sleep, you forgot I had to take out Electro before Veil could knock everyone out."

"Yeah, we know. You've mentioned it a hundred times by now." Luke sighed, "But well done Veil, your powers really were useful today from what I heard."

"T-thanks." Maddy blushed, trying to keep her excitement under control. "I mean I only followed Spider-man's instructions."

"Well it's thanks to you we made it out of there relatively unscathed." Peter smiled, patting her on the back. After a few seconds the atmosphere in the room darkened and Peter asked "So should we go over what we know?"

"Well, we know that Shocker, Tombstone and that guy Fury called Nitro works for him. Or at least worked for him in Tombstone's case." Ava answered, tapping her fingers on the side of her head as she thought.

"From the looks of things, Doc Ock has joined him as well." Peter continued, glancing at Jonny.

"So the guy is some criminal mastermind then. If we look at what Tombstone and Shocker were exactly, an Enforcer and bank robber respectively, we can guess he focuses on more generic crimes than super-villain ones. I'm guessing he probably takes a cut from the big crimes and then assists in some way. Or perhaps he sets a tax for working in his territory." Jonny pondered, spinning a pencil between his fingers.

"Sounds right so far. So why has he gotten involved with us now?" Luke asked.

"Perhaps because of Shocker. Tombstone said Kingpin was reacting to that when we caught him at the school, and this could have just been a power statement." Peter answered, "But if this guy is so powerful and well established, why have we just crossed paths with him now?"

"Timing maybe? Perhaps he had an informant in S.H.E.I.L.D. and used him to keep his men out of our way." Ava guessed, "Or he could have had someone on the streets keeping an eye on us?"

"Could be, but this stuff needed planning, it can't have just been on the fly." Peter sighed, racking his brains to figure it out.

"It was nothing like that." Fury answered from behind them as he calmly entered the room. "I've been on this guy's trail for a few months now. At first I tried spreading multiple different rumours about your positions throughout my ranks to isolate the potential suspect, but it led to nothing. I tried seeing if anyone was watching you in particular, but other than Jameson, again nothing. Kingpin doesn't use minor players like that. His informants are inside the criminal groups themselves. He simply makes sure his crimes are timed to correspond with their much grander ones."

"Wait, so if that's the case, how did we get Shocker?" Peter asked, feeling something was off in the back of his mind. "Did he not time it right that day?"

"No, he had a group set up, the Frightful Four to be precise. It just so happened that for some reason Thundra was unable to make it that day, so they called it off." Fury answered, giving a curt smile.

"Why couldn't she make it?" Luke wondered, watching Fury with confusion.

"Because I told her not to." He replied simply.

"Wait, she works for you?!" Ava said with a start.

"We cut a deal about a year back, I keep her out of prison and she gives me some information here and there. Unfortunately Kingpin always went through the Wizard whenever they were hired and the rest of the team had no clue about him until recently, otherwise he would already be stopped." Fury frowned, annoyed at choosing the wrong mole.

"Wait." Peter said, standing from his seat, "If Thundra has been working for you for about a year, wouldn't that mean she was working with you when the Frightful Four attacked my school?"

"I don't think that is relevant." Fury answered, staring Peter down.

"How isn't it relevant, if you gave me proper warning I could have been better able to defend myself. Instead my friends and I were put in danger!" Peter shouted, edging forwards to Fury, "First Kraven, then this, just how much have you been hiding from us?"

"She barely had enough time to warn me Parker, now stop this idiocy." Fury ordered furiously. "Or I will have to place you under prohibition from the team."

Peter stopped and begrudgingly sat down. "Now I know this has been a tough day, but stay sat down and keep calm. Look, I will tell everything I know about Kingpin if it will aide you, and I guarantee that if I am keeping any more secrets, they are for your own protection, don't forget what I showed the lot of you a week back. I need secrets for a reason." Fury explained, sitting at the head of the table.

"Kingpin is a criminal mastermind. I don't know if you've ever read the Sherlock Holmes books, but he is sort of like Moriarty, he mobilises criminals and uses flashy crimes to hide the more simplistic ones. Even a bank robbery looks small compared to the Wrecking Crew trying to take down the Statue of Liberty. As long as the money is distributed properly nobody cares about what they need to do. The thing is, Kingpin is also paranoid, he is so cautious of people finding out who he is he only reveals his identity to people he knows he can trust, or he knows he can kill before they talk. Most the time both. It makes him near impossible to find out about personally. The problem is, even with these idiotic safety measures, his empire has grown so large it can tap into other criminal organisations. The other week some agents found Hydra weapons abandoned in a warehouse. This guy can get Hydra to ship weapons to New York and then doesn't like the quality and leaves them to rot! He is beyond dangerous. Which is why I have been pushing so hard to take him down, and with Tombstone I finally thought I had a chance, but Kingpin must have seen that too…" Fury explained, giving out a small sigh at the end.

"Then what should we do to get him?" Sam asked impatiently "If there is someone that dangerous shouldn't we just hurry up and take him out?"

"Like I said Nova, we don't know who he is, and if we prod him too much by attacking his properties the man may react violently. Our best bet is to wait it out and try to find Hammerhead, Kingpin's number two. He is guaranteed to have what we need." Fury explained.

---

Coulson flicked through the incoming reports as he tried to sift through for any relevant information about Hydra. Despite Kingpin having access to weapons belonging to them, there was little, if nothing, that suggested they still remained after the loss of the Red Skull in the Pacific. His only guess was that someone had picked up their merchandise and was simply shipping it to a number of benefactors, but he had no idea who it could be.

Sighing he looked up at Agent Danvers, who was filing away some information about a crashed sub found off the coast of Playa del Ingles. She had changed since he had last seen her, at first he barely noticed it, assumed it was just a delayed reaction to S.W.O.R.D.'s destruction, but over time he began to realise her behaviour would switch unnaturally, it was as if there was a switch which made her into the worst kind of agent, and then a switch that returned her to her old self. It was almost like a split personality, but she remembered exactly what she had been doing and always had a nice reason to smooth it all over.

Perhaps he was just over thinking things.

He glanced down at the next document and held it up "The super-human registration act?" He asked, bemused, "Is Senator Kelly that desperate to take down mutants that he would do something this stupid. I mean this is carrier suicide."

Danvers looked at it and nodded, "Yeah, but I thought we should mention it to Fury just in case something happens from it." She urged, however Coulson gave a small sigh.

"Look, with this Kingpin thing I doubt he would want something so small mentioned to him. Let's just leave it to crash and burn." Coulson smiled, filing it in the miscellaneous section. Seriously, how stupid must Kelly be, trying to target the Avengers, national heroes.

---

Senator Kelly spoke to the small crowd, planting the seeds of doubt into their minds. "Do you not see how much damage super-human's cause? Look at the greatest tragedies our country has faced in the past few years, each one caused by a super-human force. We should have proper focus towards preventing them, rather than just stopping them.

"Vigilantism runs rampant on the streets these days, new super-heroes possessed by some random motivation push and prod at criminals. Their actions have caused an arms race which the average civilian cannot react to. To make this worse, the freedom from recognition has pushed many 'so called heroes' to taking the law beyond what should be allowed, it has pushed them into becoming the judge, jury and executioners of whoever they see as wrong." He continued. He noticed that the crowd weren't exactly buying it. Kelly had some good examples, but none relevant enough to stir people up.

"The super-human registration act sees only to prevent such destruction, prevent vigilantism and to allow us to become safe in our homes once more, no longer fearing that a man with control over fire will burn it down." Kelly yelled, hearing cheers from the occasional crowd member, he was being careful not to be too hateful this time around, there hadn't been any major incidences with a super-human recently and he wanted to take control of the hysteria when it came. "All a Super-human must do is record their name and powers at the time of discovery and then not use them unless circumstances allow them to. In the act of saving their own lives or those surrounding them, in certified jobs in which super-human powers are acceptable and as part of a government sponsored super-hero initiative."

"So what happens if someone doesn't follow those rules?" A man yelled, who from his awkward stance and insecurity suggested that he was hiding something. Kelly guessed he was a mutant himself, coming to check out what Kelly was saying just in case.

"Well, we don't want to push someone too hard, so if they're caught a formal letter shall be sent to caution them about further uses and offer them a chance to explain or redeem themselves. If they are associated with multiple cases they will be placed under arrest for a short while and finally if their actions have caused damage to major property or has risked the safety of people's lives then they shall be imprisoned in a specialised facility." Kelly answered.

"Well what if someone has dangerous powers, like explosions or something?" a concerned man shouted, "Won't this just aggravate them?"

"If someone shows the potential to be a threat then they will be sent to an institute not unlike the Xavier institute to allow them to understand their powers, and in the case of children and teenagers, continue their learning. Regular psychiatric checks will be required to ensure that they are not a danger to others and if they fail then we will be forced to send them to the specialised facility." He said sadly, trying to elaborate that this was a shame. "In the cases that the powers are not too large of a threat, for example, a boost in strength, then the proper authorities shall be notified, police, paramedics, doctors, employers and teachers, so to guarantee that we can offer the best service possible to them and adequately protect one another."

"So you're pushing to segregate them, racist pig!" He heard a young woman yell, and felt a viscous liquid smack against his face. He carefully removed a handkerchief from his suit pocket and delicately wiped his face with it.

"You know my father always said you could tell your words had weight when people began to react." He smiled, folding up the handkerchief and moving towards a table on his stage, putting it down there. "I don't want to push people into this state because I hate them. I want to have the proper safety precautions set up to protect us, as well as them. They have become human weapons, whether by their genetics, magic or another ridiculous lab accident, it is our duty to prevent them from becoming dangers, either to themselves or us."

"Have you not heard of all the tales of when a person has found themselves pushed to a wall, be it by a boss putting too much pressure on them, a bully attacking them, a spouse abusing them or just the general struggles of life, only to find a weapon on their person that will make it all go away. Rage based assaults, manslaughter, and murder can all be caused by such thoughts, and a super-human is always carrying a weapon, for they themselves are the weapons, so we need to be careful to prevent them going off." He continued, "I just want a country where it is no longer common to see a man dressed as a spider fighting a giant green monster that was once a former business man. Where a few thousand dollars are not wasted every day repairing damage that is their fault, yet they give nothing towards it. I just want to go back to the good old days."

He continued for another hour, before finally finishing. There were some murmurs of agreement amongst the crowd, but it was far away from the rapturous applause he used to get from his old campaigns. He just needed an edge, a hook to sink into. Despite all this talk there was nothing that really riled up the crowd. There were things there, complaining about the tax payer's money, making S.H.E.I.L.D. and the avengers a little less perfect, and the danger associated with the powers, but no real examples. He had a few things to dig into prepared in his mind, attacks on Captain America, to strip away at his wholesome Mr America image, and of course what happened to his son, but they needed to be spoken about when he had the public behind him.

Sighing he entered the hotel room he had been kindly given and sat down on one of the arm chairs to think, carefully removing some papers from his briefcase. "That speech was better than expected." A woman's voice announced, giving Kelly a start. He quickly stood up and cleared his throat.

"It is not good for a S.H.E.I.L.D. agent to enter the room of a senator without permission, particularly one who would use that against them in a conference or rally." Kelly announced, straightening his tie.

"How do you know I'm a S.H.E.I.L.D. agent and not a member of Hydra or the like?" The woman asked, and Kelly realised she was sitting on his bed. He must have been too caught up in his thoughts to notice her.

She was around his height and was dressed in a grey skirt suit. She looked remarkably normal, bland even, except for a purple stripe emblazed in her ebony hair. He swore he had seen that stripe before and cast his mind back.

"Your organisation like to talk things out, Hydra prefer their one sided conversations." He answered curtly. "So may I ask, what do you want... Agent Hand is it?"

The woman looked surprised "So you recognise me then?"

"You're one of those agents that turn up in Washington from time to time if I rightly remember." He frowned, if he was correct she was also in charge of intelligence, his least favourite division.

"Well, that's better than the last senator I tried to talk to." She smiled, giving a small chuckle at her own comment. "Enough of this chit chat then, show we talk business?"

"I'm not dropping this bill." Kelly stated firmly, standing tall to emphasize that she did not intimidate him.

"Oh, I'm not here as a representative of S.H.E.I.L.D., I'm here to give you something you want." She said, her smile dropping to show her cold features. She removed her glasses and cleaned them as Kelly stared at her.

"What do you mean by that?" he asked, careful to avoid eye contact. Certain people will flip if stared at directly and Kelly had his bets on this woman being one of them.

"How about this, I'll supply you with information on particular failures of S.H.E.I.L.D., and you can use it to help your case." She explained, putting her glasses back on and staring at Senator Kelly.

"Why would you do that then?" He asked in reply and she gave an unnatural, false grin.

"Because I too want such dangers off our streets, and I feel that, frankly, S.H.E.I.L.D. has run its course under Fury and that such negative press will certainly push those in charge to agree with me." She answered, her grin, for a second, becoming genuine.

"So a mutual benefit then? I get enough information to get my bill passed and you get the position of Director." He summarised, smiling himself. "Don't see why not, I was never a huge fan of Fury either." With that he extended his hand, which she took briefly, and with that she turned and left.

Kelly smiled to himself as the door closed. It seemed that things would soon be getting better.

---

In the middle of a warehouse in the New York docks two men found themselves staring at the corpse of one of their co-workers. They were involved in the drug dealing and had come to the warehouses to get their next stock. However they instead found only the body.

"Should we report this to Kingpin?" One of the men asked, lifting the corpse and examining him. "First we get that red batman wannabe, now we have a psycho with a small arsenal on his back taking us down." He stared at the bullet wound on the man's chest "This was obviously the later. That damn bastard Castle, he's taken all our stock too."

"Well, if you want to report this to Hammerhead…" The second muttered, causing the first to jump up and grab him.

"I ain't saying nothing to that murderous thug. We wait for Tombstone." He spat.

"Well Tombstone isn't around here anymore, S.H.E.I.L.D. got him remember?" the second gulped, "We can try to find Whiplash."

"He's almost as bad; I heard he hanged a guy for bringing up Daredevil in front of him last week. Plus the idiot is supposedly trying to take Kingpin's organisation from within, so he really doesn't want to draw too much attention to himself." The first sighed. "Screw this, we can put a bit of our own money into this month's tax and get the hell out of dodge before he realises the stocks gone. It's what Fred is doing now his 'escorts' have been arrested."

"That's probably for the best." The second nodded, glancing around to make sure no one was watching. "I guess I can go and move in with my wife's cousin in Denver for a few months, you?"

"I dunno, whatever gets me out of this hell hole. I miss the simplicity of New Orleans. Seriously, this whole place has put me off organized crime for life. The supers have ruined it." The first reminisced, and with that the two carefully left the docks, before parting with each other for the last time.

---

Bobby was woken the next morning by the cracks of light which pierced through the gap in his curtains and fell directly on his face. He slumped up and noticed that the pillow had stuck to his face. He slowly peeled it off and realised that it was blood from his wounds that had made the pillow stick. Feeling around his head he found the source, a cut hidden within his hair which he mustn't have noticed the previous day. After dabbing it a few times with a tissue he concluded that it had already healed and he moved to the bathroom.

Once he entered he quickly jumped in the shower and washed himself clean, looking down as the dried blood and dust was carried away down the drain. He got out the shower and stood in front of his mirror, examining the wounds that had been left from the day before. There were a number of nasty bruises covering his chest, a hideous gash across his leg and he had a black eye that seemed to engulf half his face. To make it worse, his eyes were still blood shot and he realised that his vision was now blurred.

Hoping the damage to his eyes wasn't permanent, he began to get changed into his clothes, making sure they were long enough to cover most of his body, he then remembered what Peter had said, about skipping the day of school and getting some rest. Although he could see his point with the way his grades were going it seemed all too dangerous to do such a thing. He hoped the undercover division would just be good enough to mask the wounds instead.

He exited his room, locking it behind him with a key card and turned to see Maddy examining him. "Wow, you look terrible." She announced sadly, causing Bobby to mock pain.

"Ouch Maddy, talk about hurting someone feelings." He chuckled, but she looked on concerned, "Don't worry about it, I'm fine, really."

"Well, what will you say if one of the teachers mentions your bruises?" She asked and he shrugged.

"They should be masked by make up or something from the undercover division, but if it is still visible I'll just say I played a game of Football or something without the proper equipment." He answered and she nodded.

"I guess that will work. You are a sporty guy after all, so they'll probably buy it." She agreed, "But doesn't it hurt at all?"

"Stings like hell, but I would rather not miss school." He smiled, "So how did you do yesterday?"

"I don't think that matters much." Veil said awkwardly, trying to mask her broad smile.

"From the way you're smiling, it looks like you did good, so come on, tell me." Bobby nudged and Veil went on to tell her story, Bobby listening intensively to his friend. He thought to himself that if he could make a friend smile like this, maybe he wasn't so useless after all.

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And another chapter down. I'm hoping I can get the next one completed in fewer words, seeing as at this length even the proof reading takes time, but it may take a while. I have only started the first few hundred words so far, where with this one I was about a 1000 words in once I released the last. Uni is increasing the work load though, so I really can't tell you when the next chapter will be out. Hopefully by Christmas, but if it real life gets in the way it could be longer.

On another note I'm thinking of writing a few mini chapters to take place between these ones, so I can keep the plot in the chapters themselves more focused. They'll generally be little fluff, character moments and back stories that I can't fit into the main chapters without taking a huge tangent. Probably 2000 words at most. At least 3 are somewhat needed, after that they'll be written when I need a break from the main chapters.