When the team arrived, Luke was happy to see that everyone seemed calmer and more relaxed; he hated fighting and arguing. Even Ava and Sam seemed to have relieved the tension that had been so prominent between them earlier. Spiderman clapped his hands for attention. "Alright team! Huddle up- ya boy Spidey's got a plan!" Power Man chuckled and patted Spidey's shoulder.
"No offense man, but ghetto speak's not your style. Stick to science geek, it's more… your speed." Spidey pouted. "Fine. The plan is to do a group patrol tonight. We all stick together, help as many as we can- major or not."
Iron Fist nodded. "Where are we headed Spiderman?" "We're going for the whole of South New York. But tonight we go together." White Tiger frowned. "If we split up we'll cover more ground. Why do we have to go together?" Iron Fist shrugged. "Why not? Stand together or fall alone, remember?" "Because I don't think I can stand more than ten minutes around Mr. Iworkharderthanyou without being the one to explode into a supernova."
Well. Power Man amended. Maybe Ava and Sam hadn't worked their differences out, but hopefully as White Tiger and Nova they'll do better. Spiderman glanced up at the sky. "I don't know guys. Something just doesn't feel right. Just… humor me- okay?" Nova was almost tempted to mention his disturbing feeling earlier, but the thought of White Tiger's merciless teasing curbed his desire to share information.
Spiderman knelt and traced a pattern on the ground using his finger as a representation for the path they would take. "Nova, you'll be our eyes in the sky. White Tiger and Iron Fist, you guys will take the sides. Power Man and I will take ground way. Everyone ready?" Everyone nodded or bobbed their head in consent.
"Good!" Spiderman said as he flipped off the building, dropping into a deserted street below. Power Man jumped right after Peter, and White Tiger and Iron Fist followed suit. Nova stayed behind for just a second; almost positive a set of unfriendly eyes was watching him.
The five ran/flew for a good three miles without any trouble, in fact, the streets were suspiciously crime free. "Does anyone get the feeling something's up?" White Tiger called to her colleagues as she flung herself over a telephone pole narrowly avoiding an accident with a passing car. Despite her nonchalance, Spiderman detected a strain in her voice and maybe… fear? Before he could come up with an answer, Iron Fist beat him to the punch. "I sense… disturbances."
The K'un-Lun warrior grimaced. "Watch yourself my friends." Up above Nova cemented the feeling by telling them about his feelings of being watched. "It's almost as though someone cleared the streets for us on purpose today."
Usually the team had to take down foes like the Juggernaut, the Frightful Four, and Beatroc the Leaper. Tonight, all they'd done was stop an attempted robbery of a broken down atm and taken in a rowdy drunk. I don't like this. Spiderman thought. I'd better contact S.H.I.E.L.D. I'd rather be paranoid and safe, than wrong and sorry. He lifted his communicator to his mouth. "Spiderman to Fury-could you have a plane or two shadow us? I've got a bad feeling about tonight." There was no answer- not even static.
Hmmm. That's weird. Maybe mine's just down. I'll wait a few minutes and try again. A few minutes later his communicator still wasn't working. Spiderman was starting to get worried now.
He tried again and failed once more. "Everyone stop! Guys something's up. Try your communicators and get Fury on the line." Each one of his team members tried multiple times but none succeeded. Power Man growled. "Argh, I hate not knowing what's going on." He smashed his fist into a nearby dumpster. "What is going on?" Nova asked. White Tiger whirled on him. "If we knew, we'd be halfway to the solution dweeb." Nova flinched. "Did someone miss their catnap?" White Tiger clenched her fists, but chose not to respond. Spiderman silently tried to thank her for not taking Nova's bait with his eyes; until he remembered he had a mask on.
The team was arranged in a loose semi circle around Spiderman. "Guys this isn't good." Spiderman said. "Nah, really Captain Obvious? I thought this was walk down easy street." Nova sighed. "Cut the sarcasm Power Man, Webs is serious." Spiderman almost fell over. Nova-Nova, defending him? Something was definitely messed up. "Just watch your backs." He said. "My Spidey-sense isn't tingling but something's not right."
They had barely started running when all of the sudden a bright light flashed in the darkness, temporarily blinding them. "What the !;*?" Power Man shouted. The Spider felt a hot flash of terror- had he led his team unwittingly into a trap? "Everyone group up!" "White Tiger- where are you?" "I can't group up." She snarled. Off to the right there was a frightened shout paired with the sound of metal claws scraping something impenetrable. White Tiger shrieked in disgust. "Guys! Help! They're-" She cut off with a choking sound. "White Tiger, NO!" Nova yelled, having recovered his sight more quickly than the others, and began to try to find an entrance in her throng of attackers. The rest of the team ran blindly to where they thought she was. "White Tiger- No! Hold on we're coming." Power Man shouted rubbing his eyes futilely as he crashed through a building. Iron Fist managed to grab her foot, but she was pulled away. "They're everywhere!" White Tiger screamed. And by time their eyes readjusted, the Tiger was gone.
This time it was the Spider who snarled as he put his fist through a solid brick wall. "I should have seen that coming!" The others backed up, unnerved by this display of uncharacteristic anger. Spidey took a deep breath. "New plan, find White Tiger and don't get separated." Almost as though fate was mocking him, the bright light flashed again. "Everyone stay close!" Power Man yelled, but this time it was he who was taken. When the light dissipated, Power Man was gone.
Spidey wanted to scream with frustration, but he was able to prevent himself from punching a hole in the wall this time. Nova powered down to come stand next to Iron Fist and Spiderman. "They're picking us off. Like, one by one. What do we do?" Iron Fist held up a hand. "First we must ensure that we are not so easily blinded. Turn on night vision." With that command, each boy pressed the side of his mask/helmet. "Now at least, we have the advantage of sight." Spiderman nodded his head in thanks towards Iron Fist.
They began walking slowly, cautiously, down the road. It seemed to get darker every minute they walked, the sinister and shadowy alley almost smothering from a light-blighting presence. Up in the air Nova shivered. "My night vision isn't working so well. Is it just me or is it getting darker?" "I think it is, but I'm sure that's just a figment of our fears." However, Spiderman soon realized that it wasn't just their imagination- it really was getting darker. "Guys the attack is going to happen any minute now stay close!"
Nova powered down. "You don't have to tell me twice." He muttered. "Iron Fist, where are you?" The responding silence was almost deafening. "Oh no." Spidey whispered. The two superheroes spun in a circle, but their chi-powered friend was nowhere to be seen. "Uh… Hey, Webs. I don't know about you, but um." Nova moved so close he was nearly a part of Spiderman's space bubble. "I'm kind of scared." A hiss sounded from the alley way. Nova made a valiant effort to actually become part of Spiderman's costume. He swallowed. "I take that back, I'm really scared."
Spiderman tried to think. "It seems that whoever it is wants all of us, so we can figure out a plan when we get there. For now, stay close." Nova nodded forgetting the Spider couldn't see him in the dark. "Actually-", Spiderman revised. "Grab my hand." He winced. "No homo." Nova smiled for the first time that night as he clasped hands with Spiderman. "No homo bro."
Almost immediately, Spiderman sensed other beings in their vicinity. Well. He thought. It's attack or be attacked. He broke his grip with Nova and went to assail his opponents. They had a shadowy texture. He thought dodging a kick to his head. They seemed to be more vapor than anything. They were, he acknowledged after narrowly escaping a decapitation, very hard to defeat. They seemed to be everywhere yet nowhere at all. Wait! Shadowy texture? Unearthly speed?"
He was struck with an idea. "Nova! Light us up!" Nova didn't hesitate but instead rolled into a ball fast enough to produce a supernova. He flashed bright and their enemies… disappeared? That normally wouldn't have bothered him, but Spiderman had disappeared as well. No! He thought tears welling up in his eyes. Did he accidently vaporize his friend? "Spidey!" He called his voice nearing hysteria. Someone grabbed his hand from behind. Nova screamed; his voice two octaves higher than usual.
There was a slight laugh. "Relax." Nova's grip tightened on the stranger's hand ready to throw him into the nearest wall.
"It's me Bucket-head."
"Webs?" He said trying not to let the panic leak through his voice. Everything had happened so fast. One moment the web-head was telling him to stay close and the next minute he had ripped himself away and had started taking down adversaries Nova hadn't even known were there. Web's voice came back smooth and comforting. "I'm right here Nova. We're fine."
Unconsciously, Nova relaxed. Well, until the hissing noises in the alley started again. And this time, by the sound of it, they were cornered. Nova stiffened again, wary of his surroundings. "I'll get them from above. You get them into a corner." He said from the corner of his mouth. "No need." Spiderman whispered in his ear. "Come on, we need to get out of here. Meet me at that steeple over there."
Nova frowned, the voice sounded off, but that was probably just because of stress. He exhaled, for once not disappointed to miss a fight. He had flown almost two hundred meters before he realized that Spiderman was still down in the fight.
He pulled up short. He could have sworn the Spider was right next to him. Unless… He started flying back towards the fight but something knocked him out of the air onto the ground. "Gotcha didn't I?" Spiderman said. He looked up from his position on the ground, surprised to see not Spiderman, but a hideous face covered in scars. He didn't even have time to scream, to warn the real Spiderman before the man covered his face with his hand world went black.
Back on the street, Spiderman's enemies scattered, abandoning the fight. It was almost as if they didn't really want to hurt him. He checked himself. A couple of swollen fingers, a few bruises on his legs, and a cut on his arm. Nothing that wouldn't be fine after a nap and a shower. It was weird. The attack hadn't really seemed like… well, an attack. It looked more like a distraction. Something just to distract him… distract him! Where was Nova? "Nova! Nova!" He yelled. And just his luck, no one replied. Where had they been taken? It was almost as though they had gone with the passing wind.
"Argh!" He slammed his fist into the ground creating a man sized crater. It had been a distraction and he had fallen for it. He had allowed them to take his last team member. It was all his fault. If he hadn't insisted they patrol together some of them might have escaped. He hadn't prepared them for blind assaults yet, and he allowed himself to be blinded four times. Twice from the light and twice from the dark.
He hung his head in shame, crushed by guilt. How could he have let them capture his whole team? So much for Ultimate Spiderman, more like Failed Spiderman. What kind of leader was he? He shot a line towards the skyline determined to find Fury and figure out what was going on.
Can I just say? Worst. Birthday. Ever.