A Spider's Focus

by lyokoMARVELanime

After a battle with his greatest arch-nemesis throws him into the world of Cocoon, Spider-Man eventually finds himself joining forces with the L'Cie heroes in their quest to save their world and defy their fate all while battling monsters, solving mysteries, and challenging the conspiracies of the Fal'Cie. Just another Wednesday for your friendly neighborhood Spider-Man huh?

10. Palumpolum Problems

AN: Okay, so this chapter's going to be quite the long one, so I'm not going to waste everyone's time by blabbing too much with the characters so you guys can get right into it. Or at least, I'm going to try to. I can't say the same for the rest of the cast.

Sazh: And what's that supposed to mean?

AN:...I'm not going to answer that. Anyways, right down to business in the department of answering reviews. First off, to everyone who's wondering about the sequel/possible sequel...I guess it couldn't hurt to go ahead and tell you guys a few details since we're pretty close to the halfway point of this story, and it's definitely starting to look like I might go ahead with the idea I have in mind. For starters, Peter will end up in Etro's realm with Lightning at first, at least until Noel shows up, along with someone else: one Miguel O'Hara, Spider-Man 2099. Those two then go over to New Bodhum together to find Serah, and start their journey together, along with Peter shortly afterwards. Unlike in 13-2 though, they're not just going through time; they're also going throughout the Spider-Verse as well. The reason, Noel isn't the only one who's alone when he arrives in Etro's Realm. Caius has some additional support of his own: That being a very serious villain that has proven to be one of the worst that any Spider-Man has ever faced at one point or another in his life. So yeah, you've got two Spider-Men (Peter Parker and Miguel O'Hara) tag-teaming with Serah and Noel, while traveling through time and the Spider-Verse in order to stop Caius and his partner. One last thing, the worlds of the Spider-Heroes that they go to, they may not all be from cannon comics. There will be one or two in there that may come from my fanfictions, or even a few in there that may surprise you. I'll leave you to think on just what that last bit means.

Snow: What? You're not going to tell them that after Spidey ends up in Etro's Realm he gets to...

AN: DAH! SPOILER! [hits control]

Snow: [suddenly gets dropped down a trap door that leads to a poisonous snake pit] AAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH! SOMEBODY HELP ME!

AN: Phew. That was close. I said I was revealing a few major details, not every last thing. I want some of the things in the sequel to be a surprise, ya know.

Hope: Have you come up with a title, yet?

AN: Still working on that, actually. Anyways, next review I'd like to answer, is in response to the reviewer "CRUDEN", namely his review for Chapter 9. Yes, I do indeed plan to do a Spider-Verse kind of event with all my stories that have Spider-Man in them, or at least a good number of them, and I don't just mean the sequel to this story, because that's more focused on events in 13-2 than anything else. You can find some information on that on my profile, but for those of you who are too lazy, you'll find it under Future Projects, entitle Enter the Spider-Verse: A Code Avengers Story. Mainly, it's basically a tie-in to my Code Avengers series, a crossover series between Avengers EMH and Code Lyoko, but it takes place at a future date that said series has yet to reach, and it will indeed feature the worlds of the Spider-Men from my other stories as Spider-Man and the Code Lyoko heroine Aelita travel throughout the Spider-Verse to stop the latest scheme of one of Spidey's greatest enemies.

Lightning: I have to admit. I'm actually kind of interested in that.

Spider-Man: Is it mostly because you and Aelita have similar hair color?

Lightning: Hmph, no. I just happen to think it would be a good story.

Spider-Man: Sure Light. We believe you. [stage whispers] Please note the sarcasm.

AN: Okay, that's really all I wanted to cover here this time around, so let's get moving. Like I said this is a long one.

I do not own anything from any Spider-Man or Final Fantasy franchises or any other franchise mentioned in this story.

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Chapter 10: Palumpolum Problems

On a typical day, Palumpolum at mid-morning would be bustling with your typical crowds of people going about their daily lives, doing things like shopping, meeting with friends, or whatever you may think of. Today was not a typical day at all, as Sanctum soldiers were dropping down into the city in endless waves in an effort to quell a suspected threat from Pulse and the l'Cie from said world. The fact that so many members of the military were coming in was naturally making everyone nervous, but if you were to ask people about what made them more nervous between Pulse l'Cie and the Sanctum military, they would tell you the l'Cie every time. At least, anyone who was ignorant of the actual situation would tell you that, and that would apply to anyone who was not in Spider-Man, Lightning, and Hope's positions at the moment.

The three had made it past the entrance into the commerce capital without anyone noticing them, but just seconds after doing so, they found their way forward blocked by several trucks and groups of soldiers that comprised just one of the many task forces making up the Sanctum operations that were now taking place in Hope's hometown. You did not need a Spider-Sense to know that the three were likely going to be heading into trouble after they started moving forward again, but all the same, it did not seem to deter Hope's confidence too greatly. "We can make it," Hope declared, showing this fact the minute he just glanced at his protectors. "Get to the station, and board the train for Eden."

"Assuming it's still running," Spider-Man pointed out.

"Well, if it isn't, we'll make it run."

"Then punch straight into the heart of the Sanctum? Now you're thinking like a Pulse l'Cie," Lightning commented as she studied the way ahead, feeling like there was something odd about the groups of soldiers before them. At the same time, she could also not help but wonder if Hope was being a little reckless with the way he was thinking, but then again, it was not like she was any better at the moment, given that was pretty much her idea to begin with.

"You mean he would be if we were planning to go there and cause problems for Cocoon," Spider-Man pointed out. "We're not going to Eden to start a fight. We're going there to clear our names and prove we're the good guys."

"We know that, but this is Operation Nora," Hope reminded Spidey. "The Sanctum's still gotta pay for what it's done up until now." He looked over to Lightning to see if she would back him up on that, only to see that she had a hesitant look in her eyes, so he immediately grabbed her hand to give her a little shake as he said, "Hey, you're the one who said we had to fight, Light. Every minute we waste, we're tempting fate."

Spidey was about to argue with Hope, but he did know that he was right to say that they would be taking a big risk if they just waited around in one place for too long. That, and Lightning could not help but point out, "He is right about one thing. If we do want to get through, we're going to have to fight at some point."

That earned a nod from the web-head, because he knew that she was right. With this many soldiers just at the entrance to Palumpolum, there was no doubt that they would encounter even more inside, and getting past them unnoticed was just like asking for a miracle. He then turned to Hope and said, "All right, Hope. This is your home turf, so you got any ideas on how we can avoid being noticed right away? Maybe we will have to fight, but it would be a good idea to at least not have to do it right away. We'll need as much of our strength as possible for when we get into some serious trouble."

Hope instantly nodded and pointed to a distant area off to the side as he said, "There's some underground tunnels not far from here. I used to play in them when I was a kid. No one uses the entrance anymore, so even the army doesn't know about it. But I know where it is. We can sneak in under their noses."

"And now you're thinking like a Spider-Hero," Spidey complimented.

"Sounds good," Light nodded in agreement.

Hope just beamed in response to both of the comments. Hearing that kind of thing from Spider-Man and Lightning really made his day, but he would have to celebrate that fact later, so he simply steeled his resolve as best as he could and turned to move again as he said, "Great! Here we go."

The two boys of the group were practically off and running the minute Hope had said that, but they were quickly pulled back into cover again when Lightning realized what had seemed so odd about the soldiers before them. "PSICOM's brought in the Guardian Corps," Lightning noted for the two boys from behind their cover, indicating the soldiers who were wearing the armor and uniforms that were synonymous with said military division.

"Well that's just great. Rivalries are over but at our expense, and you've now gotta fight some of your old coworkers," Spidey sarcastically commented.

"That's only if anyone from the Bodhum Security Regiment is here," Lightning pointed out. "Either way, we're going to have quite the fight on our hands when we go on the offensive."

"Let's avoid that for the moment. Remember, we're trying to avoid being noticed right away, so let's try to go a route where we'll only be noticed by very few or no soldiers at all," Spider-Man pointed out.

"There's an old drainage pipe just ahead. We can use it to avoid being seen," Hope informed the two. "The tunnel entrance is a little further up from there."

"Oh good. We're going to go through the sewers. Like I didn't do that enough back home when fighting about half of my rogues gallery," Spider-Man sighed in continued sarcasm.

Lightning and Hope both gave Spidey odd looks for that remark, but decided to save the questions for later this time and instead waited for an opportune moment to move forward and into the drainage pipe. Spider-Man had wanted to web up some of the soldiers so that they could speed things up, but Lightning dismissed that idea before he could even attempt to fold his fingers over the trigger of his web-shooters. She explained that if Spidey were to use any of his webs right now to restrain so much as one soldier, then the Sanctum troops would know in an instant that at least one of them was here, and getting through to the train to Eden would become that much more difficult, never mind getting to Hope's house, because they were still going to do that, no matter how much the boy wished otherwise, and Peter had to agree with her on that. His webbing would eventually dissolve, sure, but it would still be some time before that happened, and if he was not careful about where he webbed someone up, the restrained person would be easily spotted by a passing patrol, so he did his best to restrain himself from using anything other than a short web-line to move forward for the time being.

Getting through to the drainage pipe was easy, and just like Hope said, it did not seem to have been used in quite some time, so they did not have to worry about trudging through any nasty liquids that they did not want to think about the contents of. More than that, they were also glad to see that it also ran right under both the patrols and the barricades that had been set up to bar their way in, so that was another welcome relief to them all. The only downside was that it could not take them all the way to the tunnel entrance; they needed to get through a second pipe in order to do that, and unfortunately, that left them open to the few soldiers that were patrolling the area. Hope and Spider-Man were quick to fire off a few webs from their respective web-shooters, binding the soldiers where they stood for a moment. A moment that Lightning was able to use in order to swiftly remove them from the equation with a few simple swings of her gunblade and a couple of spells. Thankfully, Lightning's spells had also erased any traces of the webbing that had been left behind, so there was little reason to worry about that, but still, there was one or two soldiers that had not been felled by Light's blade, and those were webbed up to walls or crates that were well out of anyone's sight for the moment, something that Spidey had made sure to do when he had snagged them in his webs.

Finally, the trio made it through to the tunnel that Hope had indicated, and set off down into the depths below Hope's home, hoping that they would not face too much more trouble while they were down there. Though they did not breathe any sighs of relief until Hope finally confirmed that they had reached the safe area of the tunnel, or at least the area that was safer in comparison to where they were before. When they entered said area, Spidey had to pause in awe for a moment at their new surroundings. Even compared to the other underground locations that he had been in, this place was incredible on so many levels. There were multiple different floating platforms moving back and forth between the walkways they would no doubt need to take in order to get through, while the area itself seemed to go on forever if you were to look down or up. No doubt this place covered the entirety of Palumpolum's underground just as Hope had said, but the fact had not really registered for Spidey until just now. The crowning point of it all was a large, glowing object that was in the center of the area, at least what Spidey assumed was the center of the area, and slowly spinning around. He could not really tell much about what it was from this distance though, and right now, he was not really much for caring, considering that there was a chance that the Sanctum soldiers could wander in at any moment.

Apparently Lightning shared his sentiment, and Hope must have noticed given how on edge they both were. "Don't worry, it'll be fine. Only kids like me know about that entrance," the boy reassured the two as they continued keeping their eyes peeled for any sign of an enemy.

"They'll find it," Lightning disputed. "They'll call in a team, and canvass the whole tunnel system."

"Then I guess we can't afford to just stand around all day," Spider-Man commented, nodding for Hope to lead on. When the boy nodded and began to move forward again, the superhero and ex-soldier fell into step behind him with the former then asking, "So do you have any idea where this place comes out at?"

"Well, it…it-I don't really know for sure," Hope stuttered in admittance.

That spiked Spidey's concern to a whole new level, while Lightning just seemed to take that as a challenge as she patted Hope on the shoulder as she walked past him and said, "We'll find out today."

Spider-Man could only sigh, thinking that this was just like the last two areas that they had been traveling through all over again, and moaned, "Here we go again. This whole going through unknown places without any foreknowledge at all is going to get us killed sooner or later, you guys know that, right?"

The web-head's words went mostly ignored, as the other two seemed to be a bit more focused on getting through, so Peter just figured that for now, he should just go with the flow and whine about this reoccurring nightmare they kept getting into later. After all, there was still likely to be some variety of security system or domesticated monsters down there with them, and that proved true when they eventually came upon what Peter could only describe as living sludge with arms and hardhats. Hope quickly identified them as Flanitors, creatures that were mainly bred to maintain the operations that happened in their current location, Nutriculture Complex, at least in regards to Palumpolum, and despite what one would think, he also assured Spidey that the creatures would leave their group alone so long as they left them alone. Even so, Peter was not all that eager to get too close to the sludge-like janitors, as Lightning had described them, be it in regards to attack range, or smelling range, because he was sure that they did not have a pleasant odor about them. That was still nothing compared to what they had discovered afterwards.

When they were finally close enough to the center of the area, Spider-Man was able to see that the large, spinning object in said location was actually yet another fal'Cie. The two extensions that spun around it's diamond shaped center had a face on the outside that gave the appearance of it being asleep, and that alone was enough to confirm what it was without Hope identifying it for them. "That's the city's food-production fal'Cie. Name's Carbuncle," the boy explained. He then narrowed his eyes a little and added, "That's one of our enemies, being Sanctum and all."

"So…kill him, and cut off the food supply. That'll make us popular," Lightning noted.

"Yeah let's not get crazy, Light. People already hate us enough without us messing with their food," Spidey warned off, with Hope nodding in agreement. "Trust me, hungry people make for much angrier people."

"Fair enough," Lightning shrugged in agreement. "But it's not like we can't at least take advantage of this thing in some way."

Spider-Man did not quite get what Lightning was implying, but Hope was able to catch on quick enough. "We can use it as a landmark and head in its direction. Maybe even find a way that will lead us out."

Light instantly nodded in agreement, confirming that Hope's idea was exactly what she had in mind, and the three were soon heading off once again. Heading for the fal'Cie at the center was easier said than done though, as the walkways of the complex were like a large maze when it came to navigating. Thankfully, Hope and Spider-Man were able to figure out a way to keep track of which paths they had been down already, and which they had not, so that made things a little easier. Lightning would have pitched in here and there, but she was good at keeping track of where they had already been without the need of any markers, so she put most of her focus on dealing with any monsters that did decide to try and attack them. Sure it might have been reckless to try and fight such battles on her own, but that would imply that she was doing all the fighting herself, and she most certainly was not, especially since Spider-Man seemed intent on making sure that he was always watching her back, something that almost drew her mind back to what she had been thinking about in regards to her feelings towards him for a moment or two. Almost.

All the same, knowing that there was a Sanctum fal'Cie looking down at them, despite whatever outward appearance it gave off did leave Spidey feeling a little nervous. What if it realized that Lightning and Hope were Pulse l'Cie or that he was the menace that had been reported about in that news report they had heard just the other day? Would it sound some kind of alarm out to the rest of the Sanctum, or would it just send the monsters in the area after them in an attempt to purge them from its location? Neither of those two scenarios, nor any of the other ones that Spider-Man's mind thought up were very appealing to the web-head, so that was all the more reason for him to hurry them along in finding the way out. Hope and Lightning on the other hand, could not help but take a moment to pause and note the irony behind the whole thing that was going on right now.

"Look at us: Pulse l'Cie and a 'masked menace,' using a Sanctum fal'Cie to tell where we're going. Sort of strange," Hope had remarked once they had reached another open area where they could take a breath once again, all the while observing Carbuncle as he did along with Lightning.

"Not really," Lightning shrugged, drawing Spidey's full attention away from getting out as fast as possible and into the conversation. "We've relied on them our whole lives. The food we eat, the light and water, it's all from the fal'Cie. You know, I think Cocoon was really built for them. The rest of us, we're just leeches. Parasites."

"That's a pretty dismal way of thinking," Spidey remarked. "I mean, if Cocoon was built for the fal'Cie, then how come both fal'Cie and humans all live here together? And more than that, who even built Cocoon in the first place, and why? Was it really just to be some kind of artificial moon where the fal'Cie could live and play god with the humans inside of it?"

"Well, it's said that the fal'Cie deity Lindzei created Cocoon to be a safe haven from the dangers of Pulse, though no one really knows who it's protecting specifically. At least, in regards to whether it's protecting the fal'Cie it created in order to maintain Cocoon or the humans who live here," Lightning revealed. "It doesn't really change my point though."

"You think," Hope asked, following along his own train of thought as he did. "They protect us, nurture us. They take care of, well, normal people."

"Thanks for that. I'm sure no one here's the least bit insulted," Spidey quipped in good humor, gaining a small smile from Hope while the most reaction that Lightning gave was the corners of her mouth turning upwards a little. Hope resumed was he was saying soon after though.

"The treat us like we're special, almost like…" Hope had to pause for moment to think of the right analogy, until he finally clapped in his hands in success at finding it before he turned to his two protectors. "Like we're pets!"

That realization caused both Spidey and Light to go wide-eyed in shock, but while the former was stunned by this idea, and a bit upset by it, the latter seemed to be having an entirely different revelation of her own. "Like pets," Lightning muttered as she stared at Carbuncle in shock, slowly moving forward a little as her mind whirled with all kinds of different thoughts and conclusions, while Hope and Spider-Man both watched her in concern. "To them, we are just pets," Lightning said in barely more than a whisper, though somehow, it was still loud enough to practically echo for the two boys who were with her. "That's it. Now it makes sense! I've been so blind."

"Uh Light," Spidey called out in concern, but it did not seem like the rose-haired woman heard him, as she simply continued on with voicing what was currently running through her head.

"I was born into a fal'Cie world, raised on a fal'Cie leash. It was the only life I knew how to live. When it was taken from me, I was completely lost. Without a master to follow, my life had no purpose," Lightning finally concluded. Her eyes then seemed to become like steel as she looked to the others and said, "Hope, Spidey, listen to me. This l'Cie curse, it took everything from me. My future. My dreams. I didn't want to think, so I fought instead. As long as I was fighting, nothing else was real. I was running away. And you two…You got swept along with me."

"Yeah, I could've told you all of that a long time ago. In fact, I practically did. This isn't really that much of a revelation, Light," Spider-Man pointed out.

"But it is because now I know the reason as to why," Lightning insisted.

"Guys…I don't really understand what you're both getting at," Hope cut in.

Lightning looked from the masked man she had come to call a friend to the young boy that had been traveling with them, and informed them of one simple thing that she figured could only be the result of what she had now learned. "Operation Nora is over."

"Come again/What," Spider-Man and Hope both asked at the same time.

Lightning was not sure what else she could say at that point, but Hope had a few choice words for her. "You told me to fight," the boy shouted.

"I made a mistake," Lightning snapped.

"You can't do this! You can't just build something up like that, then abandon me," Hope argued.

"Hey, hey! Everybody calm down a minute," Spider-Man interjected. "No one is abandoning anyone here, okay? And nothing is over just yet." Seeing the two turn to him, Spidey went on to explain, "Operation Nora as Lightning knows it, or even as you originally knew it to be may be over, but the truth is, it's not actually over until you find that answer Hope. The answer on what you should do in regards to your revenge. Maybe some mistakes were made along the way to this point, maybe they weren't, but bottom line is, no matter what happens from here on out, we're all in this together. More than that, Light, if you really believe what you've just said, about how humans are nothing but pets to the fal'Cie, then maybe it's high time we showed them that we're more than that. And not just them, but everyone in Cocoon as well."

Lightning and Hope both glanced down and to the side, thinking over what Spider-Man had just said, but gave no other response than that, until Lightning came around to stand in front of Hope, placed her hands on his shoulders to draw his attention to her, and assured him, "Like Spidey said, Hope, we won't abandon you. I won't."

Hope seemed to be a little more reassured by that, but not by that much, because he eventually shrugged her off and said, "I can't just throw in the towel. Not right now."

Peter and Lightning could then only watch as Hope started off again, heading forward to wherever the path would take them after this. Peter had already said what he felt that he could for the moment, while Light had to wonder if she had done the right thing just now while contemplating Peter's words at the same time. In the end though, none of that mattered now. They needed to keep moving forward and keep protecting Hope, and they were not going to be able to do that by just standing around watching him leave, so they set off at a brisk pace in order to catch up with him, and to make sure none of the monsters that were ahead of them would bring harm to the boy before they caught up.

---

The three had carried on their trek in silence after they had all regrouped again, a feat that someone would probably have found strange for any group that Spider-Man was in. Spidey could not really blame any of them though. After Lightning's little moment of revelation and her decision to put an end to Operation Nora, or at least what was the original intent behind it, anyone would have had a lot to take in, and that was without accounting for the fact that both she and Hope were still trying to process so much just on their own, never mind what they were trying to process about what the other believed or said, or even what he had said afterwards. Lightning was now even more lost on what her place in the world was after discovering how it seemed the fal'Cie treated humans, Hope had no clue how he should go about getting his revenge, assuming he did still want to get it, and meanwhile, Spidey himself was caught up in the middle of it all trying to keep the two from falling apart. He was just glad that there was nothing trying to kill them at the moment, because there was no way either of them were in the right mindset to put up even a half-way decent fight right now.

All the same, he could not help but wonder just what it was that the two wanted to do now. Lightning had made it clear that she had wanted to go to Eden in order to do something as some form of payback for both Serah and her becoming a l'Cie, but after learning what she had, it was hard to tell what sort of goal she wanted to work towards. Beyond keeping him and Hope safe, mostly Hope though, Spider-Man did not think Lightning really had much of a direction for herself at the moment, and that was likely going to cause a lot of problems later on. There was no denying that Lightning was a fierce combatant and possessed many skills even outside of a battlefield, but without any kind of direction or goal to move towards, she was not likely going to be able to do all that much. He debated whether or not telling her that he wanted to find a lab so that he could cook up a way to reverse the harmful effects of being a l'Cie, mostly so that they could return Serah to normal, but in the end, he figured that was probably not a good idea, given how she had reacted to Snow's constant insistence that Serah was still alive and could be brought back. The web-head did not want to get punched by the rosette ex-soldier.

Hope on the other hand seemed like he was more lost than ever. The fact that one of his protectors was now losing her nerve about the mission that they had set for themselves definitely was not helping either, but at the very least, Peter was glad to see that the kid was at least able to keep from completely losing his head with worry. No matter how you sliced it though, it still came as no surprise that Hope's first question upon speaking up again ended up being what it was when they stopped to take a short rest.

"So what do we do now," Hope questioned when they came to a stop on a deserted area of the walkway they were currently on, pulling both Lightning and Spider-Man's attention to him, but not getting much answer from either of the two. "We're l'Cie! Ticking time bombs. Enemies of Cocoon. If we can't follow the plan, do we just lay down and die?"

"Yeah, if you want to give up without even trying anything at all," Spider-Man tried to joke, only for his attempt to fall flat.

"This isn't funny, Spider-Man," Hope snapped, startling the web-head a little bit as he just raised his hands in apology.

"He knows that, and he is still right you know. No one means that we should give up," Lightning clarified for Hope.

"Then what battles do we fight, and against who? Tell me that," Hope demanded, desperate for Lightning or Spidey to give him some type of answer.

"I don't know yet," Lightning admitted.

"You don't know yet?!"

"That's right. I don't know yet, but I do know we can't lose hope," Lightning informed the kid.

"Uh, real quick? Do you mean 'hope' as in the belief, or 'Hope' as in the kid," Spider-Man questioned, though it was clear he was not entirely serious. When he only received a look from Lightning, he just nodded, "You mean as in the belief. Okay. Just making sure of that."

"There is no hope. Not for l'Cie," Hope protested sadly, taking a seat on the stairs that were just in front of them, clearly needing to brood a little right now.

"You realize how ironic that is coming from you, right," Spider-Man asked.

"It's just my name, not who I am," Hope continued to argue, though it was more with sadness than it was anything else.

Seeing Hope like this must have sparked something in Lightning, because stepped to the side for a moment to think, until she finally revealed, "I was just like you." That surprised both of the two boys, and their attention was now fully set on Lightning as she went on to explain what she meant by that. "My parents died. I had to be strong for Serah, so I thought I needed to forget my past, and I became Lightning. I thought that by changing my name, I could change who I was…I was just a kid." She then paused to look up into space for a moment, clearly indicating that it was a little hard for her to recall all of this even now, before continuing on. "Lightning…It flashes bright, then fades away. It can't protect. It only destroys."

That must have struck more of a chord with her than she realized, because seconds later, Lightning felt the need to sit down as well, and she was soon plopping down right next to Hope, while Peter leaned against the railing on the other side of her. Both Peter and Hope were now watching her with concerned eyes, wanting to do something to comfort Lightning, but still knowing that now was not quite the time. She needed to get this out of her system right now. "Serah tried to tell me, but I wouldn't listen…I threatened her…and I couldn't even realize that without someone else's help." That prompted Peter to look to the side, since he knew full well what she was talking about, having been there when it happened. "The only one who truly believed her was Snow."

"Don't say it," Hope suddenly snapped, startling both Light and Spidey with his outburst. "Don't say his name. It brings everything back," the kid then elaborated, his sorrow showing in every word. "I keep playing it in my head, what happened to her, and then I see his stupid face and…and he's smiling. How can he smile when she's dead? I know there's nothing I can do about it. I hate knowing that. No matter what happens, she's not coming back, but at the same time I also know it's not entirely his fault, and I do remember that he regrets what happened, but that just makes me even more confused and I can barely even think about what I need to do."

Lightning wanted to comfort the boy, but he was already up on his feet and looking everywhere except at her or Peter. "When I was fighting, there was no time to think about it," Hope carried on, his hand going to the l'Cie brand on his other arm. "It felt good just to give in, but now, Light, you start talking about hope…And I think about what you said Spidey, and it just…"

This time, Lightning did not give Hope a chance to pull away, because she was on her feet again and gently grasping his arm as a show of comfort to him. Hope seemed to appreciate this, but no smile managed to reach his face, because the pain of the memories he was thinking about and the confusion he was feeling was far too dominant. "I'm sorry. I'm messed up," Hope apologized.

"No. It's my fault," Lightning whispered.

"It's not either of your faults," Spider-Man disputed, gaining the attention onto him because of how serious he suddenly sounded. Even though he knew what the two were silently asking, he did not respond right away, but he did still eventually look to Hope and said, "Despite what you may think about that moment, Hope, Snow wasn't really smiling. Take it from someone who knows about the subject, there are many different kinds of masks, and while they're all worn for some different reason, they all serve the same purpose: to hide something."

"What do you mean," Hope asked, Lightning asking the same thing through the confused look on her face.

"That smile you saw Snow sporting when we met up with him after what had happened, it wasn't real; it was his attempt to hide how upset he was feeling. He was kicking himself several times over for what happened both to your mom and to everyone else on that bridge that had been killed, but he couldn't let anyone else know that. There were people who were looking to him for inspiration; to be a pillar of strength and hope in an otherwise hopeless situation where they barely had the smallest chances of getting out alive. So, he just decided to grin and bear with it, and put on a front to make it seem like he was his usual cheerful, yet somewhat cocky self. That kind of thing can only be bottled up for so long though, and when you and I met him in the Vestige and you had that talk with him, you saw what happened when it finally came loose. That kind of despair and self-hate doesn't just appear at random. It builds up steadily over time, until it just can't help but break free."

"How do you know so much about that," Lightning asked, feeling a bit disturbed about how certain Peter sounded throughout that speech.

Peter was quiet for a minute before he finally answered, "Because I know how to use a mirror, or as you had put it, Light, I was just like you guys once." Peter did not even need to look in their direction to know that Lightning and Hope were both giving him disbelieving looks that demanded an explanation, though mostly because he was going to give one regardless. "Despite what some might think, I'm not this pillar of eternal optimism, courage, and strength to never give up. I do have my limits. There have been days where I asked myself if being…well, me, was even worth it, especially on days when it affected my life outside the suit and powers. It was even harder in my earlier days, especially when you add in the fact that I was just a teenager at the time. People have often said that I try to take the entire world on my shoulders, and maybe they're right at times, but I can't always help myself, and when I do take on too much, it would eventually start to blow up in my face somehow. Despite those few bad days though, it never got too bad for me, because I still kept at it regardless. But that was before the list of my greatest failures started to grow a little longer."

"Your greatest failures," Hope asked, honestly surprised at what he was hearing. Ever since he had met him, Spidey had always seemed like he could handle anything that was thrown at him and shrug it off like it was nothing, but now, he was learning that was not always the case. The mere idea that Spider-Man could ever have failed at anything had just seemed so out-there to him, never mind the idea that it could have such a huge effect on him.

"You're talking about things like what happened to your uncle, aren't you," Lightning asked, though it was not really a question. Part of her knew that he was likely also referring to what had happened to his aunt, but given how fresh the pain from that loss likely still was, she was not going to call him out on it anymore than Peter was likely to mention it.

Spidey only nodded after a moment before continuing, "While losing my uncle may have been a driving force to my decision to become Spider-Man, I still think of it as one of my greatest failures, and sadly, it didn't stop there. I've lost other people who were very important to me as well, both friends, allies, even people who were more than that. Some of them had been killed because they were close to me, while others had made the choice to give their lives in order to help me, but no matter what the case, it didn't make the pain of losing them any easier, and I still blame myself for what had happened. I keep thinking that if I had been a little stronger, a little faster, or a little more anything, I could've done something to save them, even if there really wasn't anything I could've done. It only really got bad after my final face-off with Norman Osborn, when someone I cared about ended up dying in my arms, despite how hard I had tried to save them."

Lightning was stunned into silence as much as Hope, but she could tell that there was far more to that story than Peter was letting on. The fact that he had mentioned it twice now without going too far into detail was what really clued her in, but it was the overwhelming amount of pain that she could sense coming off of him as he had spoken about the event that let her read that like an open book. The fact that someone had died in his arms was certainly traumatic to be sure, be it friend or otherwise, but there was something more about the person Peter was referring to; something that seemed to cause him a great deal of pain just thinking about it. If it were not for the current atmosphere around them, she would have tried to pry some more information out of him about that, but now was not the time for that. Not when Spidey was trying to make what was obviously a very serious point.

"After that night, I would constantly go over and over in my head what I could've done differently, and what I could've or even should've done in order to have stopped Goblin. Not only that, but one thought kept going through my head nonstop for an endless amount of time: no matter what I do, no matter how hard I try, it's the ones I love who will always be the ones who pay. I honestly believed that was the case for lord only knows how long, and every time I put on my Spider-Man suit afterwards, it felt like that was becoming more and more true by the minute. Eventually, it became too much for me, and that was when I finally decided to just stop. That was when I finally said that I am Spider-Man no more."

"You mean you…you quit," Hope gasped right along with Lightning, despite the fact that she kept her words in her head.

"Yeah. I just wanted a life of my own, and I thought that being Spider-Man was keeping me from doing that, so I gave it up. I even went so far as to throw my costume out. I spent almost a month without ever once going to try and so much as put on my web-shooters after that, and I went about my day-to-day life like I probably would have if I had never gotten my powers in the first place. It didn't do much good though, because there were still times when I would hear a passing siren or notice someone getting mugged and feel compelled to try and do something, only to remind myself of my decision and walk away seconds later. I guess I just never realized that being Spider-Man had such a huge impact on my life before I decided to stop, or maybe I did and just chose to ignore it because I didn't want to acknowledge the fact."

"What changed," Lightning asked. "You clearly didn't stay away from the fight forever, so something must've brought you back."

"Well, the fact that Captain America showed up at my apartment one day wanting to know why Spider-Man hadn't been sighted in about a month helped. I don't know why, but I just felt like I had to tell him the whole story, or maybe, I just needed to tell someone for a long time and Cap was the one who ended up being my impromptu shrink. Either way, it actually did help a little, and Cap told me that even after that, he could still see that I had the heart of a hero who just wanted to do good no matter what was thrown at me. He told me that he honestly believed that Spider-Man gave people hope; that he showed people that there was a hero in all of us that keeps us honest, gives us strength, and makes us noble, even though sometimes we have to give up the thing we want the most. Add in the fact that he considered me to be an inspiration to him, Captain Freaking America considered me to be an inspiration for him, and well, how could I stay away from the action after that?"

"Guess Cap's a pretty great guy, huh," Hope asked. "Just like you."

"Cap's the best, but I don't know about me, Hope," Peter disputed. "Even after that little chat, I didn't really get out of my rut. Sure, I started being Spider-Man again, but after that, I spent more time in the suit than I did in my normal life. Instead of giving up Spider-Man, I had tried to give up being Peter. In a way, I guess you could say I was still running away from my problems, just on a different road than before."

"When did you finally stop," Lightning asked.

Peter just sighed and said, "I don't really know for sure. Maybe it just passed without my noticing, maybe something a friend said had finally gotten me to see what I had really been doing, or maybe I'm still running from my problems somehow. I mean, it would make sense if I was, considering what's happened to me in the last week." If Peter was hoping that his joke would lighten the otherwise somber mood, he was very disappointed, because it had no effect at all. "My point is this: we all have a moment where we think that there's no hope for us, and we all try to hide that pain in our own way, either by masking it somehow or just finding a target to take it all out on, deserving or not. In the end though, how we reclaim our hope and move past our troubles is up to us, but sometimes, we need a little help getting through."

Hope and Lightning had fallen silent again after that, though it was not as somber a silence as the previous one had been. Yes, it was still contemplative due to how much they had to think about, but at the same time, it did not carry the same weight of worry and despair as the previous one had. More than that, they also needed time to process what they had learned about their friend. Or rather, they needed to take a moment to really let it sink in just how human Spider-Man really was behind what they had seen and heard from him up until now.

---

After their last chat, the three had been nothing but silent and thoughtful, but at the same time, they also kept their wits about them for any sign of an enemy. Just because they had a great deal to think about, did not mean they were going to let their guard down. Even through that vigilance though, Hope could not help but keep thinking back to everything he had heard from Spider-Man and Lightning, until he finally came to a decision on what they should do now. Until they finally figured out what battles they should fight, Hope figured that they should finally go to his home so that he could tell his father what had happened to his mother. Hearing that Hope now wanted to meet his dad without any prompting or encouragement from them honestly surprised Lightning and Spider-Man, but all the same, it did not stop them from being proud of him, as seen through their smiles, or at least through Lightning's smile and Spidey's nod, seeing as the latter's smile was hidden behind his mask. With a new destination now well in hand, they quickly rushed to get out of the underground area of Palumpolum in record time, or at least before PSICOM finally caught up to them, with Lightning encouraging Hope to talk to his father about more than just his mother's fate. Hope was a bit hesitant about that idea, thinking that his father would never believe anything else he would say that did not pertain to his mom, but Lightning and Spidey both insisted that he would if Hope gave him the chance. It was that encouragement that allowed Hope to realize in full just how much Snow had believed Serah, and that they were encouraging him to give his father the chance that Serah had not been able to give her sister, so how could he really argue with them.

All sentimental thought and concerns quickly evaporated after they had reached the elevator that would take them up into the center of Palumpolum, because shortly after they had gotten at least halfway up, Spider-Man suddenly tensed up and started telling the two to get ready for a fight. Since they were well aware of why Spidey would be telling them such things like he knew it was coming, Hope and Lightning were both quick to start tensing up so that they would be ready to strike or run right from the moment they got off the elevator if they had to, with the latter drawing her gunblade and keeping it ready to fire on anything that dared to approach them in a threatening manner. Spider-Man also took the time to check how much web fluid he had in his web-shooters one last time, just to be sure that he would have enough for whatever kind of fight they would get into, and once he had confirmed that he did, he braced himself for whatever they were about to face.

When the elevator finally came to a stop, they found themselves above ground once again, but this time in what Hope had identified as the Agora, and seeing it completely void of any life did not make anyone feel at ease. Lightning and Spider-Man both slowly stepped off the elevator once they were able to while Hope glanced around nervously from behind them, only to run after the two when he realized he was falling behind. It was not until after they had stepped out of the shadows that they realized that an announcement was being made over the speakers of the nearby, large news broadcaster that they really began to worry. "In a recently convened emergency conference, the Sanctum announced that the fugitive l'Cie have been located. The military plans to apprehend the l'Cie and carry out a public execution. In addition to this, the Sanctum also announced that there are suspicions that the masked vigilante-turned threat, Spider-Man may be with the l'Cie as well. When asked what actions they would take in regard to this individual, the Sanctum merely said that their response would depend entirely on what actions that Spider-Man would take, though they do hope that he will choose to surrender peacefully and allow himself to be taken into custody."

"Well, it's good to have dreams," Spidey quipped, now suddenly a little eager to prove that he would be doing no such thing, but the other two were still too concerned and worried to really care about his joke at the moment, especially when they heard that the images on the large screen before them was displaying live feed from Palumpolum.

The second that she saw their images appear on the screen, Lightning quickly raised her gunblade to fire, and then began glancing around every which-way as she asked, "Where are they going to come from, Spidey?"

"The left," Spider-Man easily replied, only to correct himself a second later. "No, wait…the right…No, above us…"

"Which one is it," Hope finally snapped in worry.

"You'd be better off asking which one it's not," Spider-Man finally revealed after a few more seconds. It was barely more than half a moment after he had said that when they saw what they could only assume was a majority of the Sanctum forces deployed to Palumpolum surrounding them from all sides, some coming in on foot while others dropped or flew down from the skies, and at the head of them all, no doubt acting as the general's command ship, was a moderately sized transport, atop which was a man with silver hair, styled in thick, collar length bangs and a short ponytail, and sporting a black uniform that Lightning identified as that of a PSICOM lieutenant colonel, and a military saber on his belt.

"These are l'Cie. Show no mercy. They aren't people; they're targets," the man ordered his troops, drawing glares from both Lightning and Spider-Man.

"Director Rosch, Spider-Man is here as well. How should we proceed," they overheard one of the troops say into his radio.

Rosch looked down, his steely gaze locking onto the web-head and being returned in equal ferocity, proven by how the eyes on Spider-Man's mask narrowed, and then tapped the comm. device in his ear so that he was broadcasting on an open channel and said, "Spider-Man, you have but one chance. Surrender now and assist in eliminating the threat to Cocoon, or we will show you as little mercy as the l'Cie."

"Help you murder innocent people in the name of a belief that was spurned on by hate and fear of something you don't know or understand, including my friends? Thanks, but even if I was the type to willingly kill my enemies, I'm gonna have to pass, you wannabe samurai. I fight for what's truly right, and that includes keeping others safe and alive," Spidey instantly retorted.

"Have it your way then," Rosch huffed before shutting off the open channel so that he could address his troops again. "Men, eliminate Spider-Man as well."

The glare he drew from Lightning after giving that order was hot enough to have burned the entirety of Cocoon over a thousand times at least, even if it was laced with a bit of disappointment for some odd reason, but she knew that she would not be able to do anything about it right now under these circumstances. With so many soldiers focusing on them, there was no way she was going to be able to keep Hope safe, even with Spider-Man's help. She was not even sure if she would even be able to keep herself alive right now, or if Spider-Man's abilities would allow him to stay alive either, and when she felt Hope back up into her, she found that there was only one decision that she could make.

"Start running. I'll keep 'em busy," Lightning whispered to the two boys.

"But…" Hope started to protest, hardly believing what she had just said.

"You survive. The others will need you both," Lightning ordered the two.

"How about you take Hope and run while I keep them busy instead? After all, I am something of an old pro when it comes to being the ultimate distraction," Spider-Man offered, though it was clear that he was not just making a suggestion.

All the same, Lightning still tried to argue. "No! Even you can't defeat all of these soldiers by yourself!"

"Who said anything about defeating them? I'm just aiming to take as many down as possible until I'm sure you've left so that I can swing out of here later," Spidey smirked in reply.

Hope was not sure he wanted to hear this. No matter who won this argument, in the end, he was likely going to have to watch as a friend made themselves a target for all of these people who wanted nothing more than to kill all three of them. He did not want that at all. Lightning and Spider-Man had already done so much for him, and he felt as though he owed them for all of that and more. He wanted to do something that could help make sure they survived no matter which of them stayed behind, but for the life of him he could not figure out what he could do. Hope was reduced to praying for some miracle to come and save them when suddenly, his wish was granted by an explosion from a balcony somewhere up above them.

That same explosion had also drawn the attention of nearly everyone else, including Spidey and Lightning, until they saw a soldier suddenly fall from the smoke like he had been pushed off, shortly followed after by what looked like a glowing, light blue crystal. Seconds later, they faintly heard a gunshot, and the crystal suddenly exploded releasing a massive explosion of ice magic into the area, forming several ice tracks that sent soldiers flying left and right around the trio, and causing a pair of large, feminine figures to suddenly materialize into the air above it.

"Are those more monsters," Spider-Man shouted over the gunfire that had started up soon after.

"No…I think they're Eidolons," Hope gasped. His guess was proven true when a figure suddenly leaped over the rail of the balcony, while the two figures reconfigured into a very impressive looking motorcycle, and when the person in question had reached them, he ended up dropping into the driver's seat, while another person dropped down behind him, taking up position as a passenger while shooting at anyone who the driver had raced past. When the motorcycle riders finally rode by close to them, Hope was able to get a good look at the two, and excitedly cheered, "It's Snow!"

"Celebrate later; run and fight now," Spider-Man shouted as Lightning grabbed Hope's arm and pulled him along as she started shooting at any soldiers who were either distracted by or not entirely focused on the large blonde and his new friends, while Spidey jumped high into the air to throw out webs at everyone else.

Pure chaos followed afterwards, as Snow and his new friend raced across the ice tracks that had formed, some of which were still coming into being, shooting at anything that was affiliated with Rosch's forces, while Lightning and Spider-Man easily flowed through it all like a river through a stone. Hope on the other hand took cover wherever he could for the most part, feeling that he was still not quite ready for a fight of this scale, but he did provide support whenever he spotted a chance by throwing out fire spells, along with a few other ones as well when he deemed it necessary. For the most part though, he mostly went with healing magic so that Lightning and Spider-Man could stay in the fight longer. He would have cast a few for Snow too, but with how fast the big guy was moving around the area, he was not sure he would be able to cast the spell properly, so he just left Snow to his own devices.

From where they were, Spidey and Light could also see that Rosch was trying to take off, even after Snow and his partner started shooting at him, only to succeed in destroying the camera that was spinning about near him, and the web-head was not planning on letting this man get away so easily. He was just about to fire off a web-line that would allow him to slingshot up to where Rosch was when he was forced to dodge a stray rain of bullets that came from the person who was riding with Snow, earning said person an indignant look along with him shouting, "Hey! Same side! Shoot the other guys!"

He did not know if the person in question heard him or not, but he did know that Lightning's fighting style became a little more aggressive after she had noticed him almost get shot by whoever it was that was riding with Snow at the moment. Of course, she was mostly taking it out on the poor fools that were currently trying to kill them, but that did not stop Peter from wondering where this sudden burst of angry fighting had come from. Sure, she was normally in a bad mood whenever Snow was around, but this was not that. It was like someone had just suddenly done something that she considered unforgivable and she was now fighting to right that wrong in any way that she could, even going so far as to throw out a few spells of her own to deal with the soldiers. Whatever the case was, Spidey just shook it off, because now was not the time to be wondering about someone's motivation, so he just went right back to webbing up any soldiers that tried to attack him and his friends, or knocking those same soldiers out before they could even attempt to raise their weapons towards him.

As a result, Spider-Man and Lightning were soon fighting back-to-back, once again executing a fighting style that was so fluid and graceful that it almost seemed like a dance. When Lightning would swing her sword at one enemy, Spider-Man would simultaneously duck under it to pull an enemy towards him via web-line. Upon drawing that foe in, Spider-Man then landed a hard spin kick that was supplemented by Lightning taking out the same foe with a blast from her gunblade's rifle mode just seconds before switching it back into sword mode in order to deflect a strike from a third soldier. While she held the locked blade and it's wielder in place, Spider-Man was able to spin overhead and snag the soldier from behind so that he was able to yank that same enemy away from Lightning once he had landed, webbing him up in a cocoon of webs after he had collided with another Sanctum soldier and dropped to the ground. He then fired off a pair of Impact Webbing pellets before unleashing a pair of spin kicks, followed up by an equally hard pair of punches that would have likely caused serious injury to the men who had been on the receiving ends of his blows if they had not been wearing armor. While he did that, Lightning swiftly took down the soldiers that had been webbed up with a single swing of her gunblade, and then jumped in to knock out any remaining forces that Peter had missed.

The two of them kept this deadly dance of webs, punches, kicks, and blades up for another few minutes, until finally, the area seemed to have been cleared, at least of any soldiers who had been fortunate enough to get away before Snow's surprise entrance had taken out their colleagues earlier, and who had been stupid enough to stick around in an attempt to retake the battle in their favor, and Spider-Man was once again ready to go after Rosch, seeing that his transport still appeared to be nearby. Once again though, he found his attempts at a chase cut short by a certain blonde giant of a man and his mystery partner, as the two came rocketing through the air of jumping off the ice tracks. Of course, he was not the one who was nearly hit by the blonde's new motorcycle. He was just the one who had to push said person out of the way before her head had gotten hit. No doubt Lightning was going to be more than a little annoyed with Snow now after that had happened.

If Snow registered any of that, he did a superb job of not showing, because the second his fancy bike's hit the ground and he had spun it around to a screeching halt, which had the added sound effect of skidding across ice, he looked to the three and was immediately beaming widely at them all while his passenger dismounted from the bike with a smaller, yet still smug-looking smile of her own. "Lightning! Spidey," Snow waved as he climbed off the bike as well.

Lightning just gave Snow a hard, annoyed glare in response, quickly wiping the smile from Snow's face so that it could be replaced by a much more serious look that would have seemed out of place on the blonde had it not been for what had occurred when he and Lightning had last met. Spider-Man on the other hand was a bit more open with his own greeting, as he quickly walked over to Snow, making the blonde think that he was going for a high five or something. He was a naturally surprised when the web-head instead socked him in the jaw. "Hey! What was that for," Snow asked.

"You almost hit me and Light just now, and your new friend there almost shot me," Spidey instantly replied, indignantly.

"You're welcome," was the only thing that the woman in question had to say in response.

"To be fair, I did let it slip to Fang that you could dodge bullets, so…" Snow revealed.

That was as far as he got in his explanation though, as he suddenly found himself having to catch Hope when the boy nearly face-planted after he was pushed towards him by Lightning. "Take care of him," Lightning ordered Snow.

"Oh no! You are not doing this again, you hear me? We told Hope we'd look out for him…" Spidey started to say.

"And right now the best way to do that is for him to go with Snow," Lightning interrupted. "Now that they've seen the three of us together, they'll be expecting to find us as such. They won't expect us to split up into different groups."

Spider-Man had to admit that Lightning made a good point, but he could also see what else she was doing by having Hope go with Snow. She was pushing Hope forward in making his decision on how to go about his revenge, at least in regards to Snow. Glancing over to Hope told Peter that Hope had realized that as well, but Snow on the other hand seemed clueless on the matter. Not that Peter could blame him, considering that Snow had not been there for Hope's moments of opening up, but then again, it looked like Snow had something important that he needed to tell them. "Lightning, listen to me," Snow begged after helping Hope regain his balance.

"Get moving," Lightning interrupted before he could get too far in, hoping that Snow would take the hint and go. He did not.

"No, no, you don't understand! Serah's all right! She'll-MMPH!" This time, Snow was cut off when a glob of webbing suddenly slapped his mouth shut.

"Dah-di-di-dih! Please, don't start that again just two minutes after we've met up," Spidey begged. Snow did not seem to listen, as he just looked at Spidey and tried to say something that was completely muffled by the webs on his mouth. "Hey, be glad that it's just your mouth that's webbed up and not your nose too, otherwise you'd probably suffocate." The blonde then pointed to the webs on his mouth, making it clear what he was asking this time, and prompting Spidey to say, "Don't worry, that'll dissolve in like one or two hours, give or take. It kinda varies depending on the area and a few other factors."

This time, it was easy to tell what Snow was saying, even with the webbing muffling his mouth. "One or two…! No, no, no, no! Come fix this!"

"One or two hours. You kinda deserve that for earlier," Spidey repeated. Snow then started trying to say something else, only for Spider-Man to continue teasing him, at least until Snow finally spun his head in Lightning's direction, allowing the web-head to see her charging off into the distance. "Are you kidding me?! She went and ran off without me anyway?! Unbelievable! Should've shot some webs at her feet."

"And then there were four," Fang commented under her breath with a shrug, taking off after Lightning with a chuckle afterwards.

Spider-Man would've gone after the two women right away had he not noticed a number of fresh troops coming into the area, while some of the ones from earlier were getting back up. Snow must have noticed this as well, since he instantly pulled Hope onto the back of the motorcycle that was also his Eidolon and gunned the engine, taking off once he had. While Snow easily plowed through ever soldier and mech that was opposing them, Spider-Man used the distraction to fire a Spider-Tracer from his web-shooter onto Fang, making sure he would be able to find her, and possibly Lightning later on, and then back flipped up onto the side of an ice wall that had been created earlier when Snow had made his grand entrance. That landed him in the perfect position to see when Hope lost his grip on Snow as the blonde raced around the battlefield, and then swoop down on a web-line so that he could pull the kid to safety, letting Snow really cut loose in the fight.

After landing somewhere safe, Hope and Spider-Man were treated to the sight of Snow fighting side-by-side with his Eidolon, which seemed to consist of various attacks that were enhanced by ice magic, along with a finishing move that unleashed a massive storm of ice that sent several soldiers flying as a result. It did leave him with one large mech to deal with afterwards, but the big guy was able to tear it apart on his own with a few hard punches and some powerful ice magic, proving that Snow had been getting stronger since the two had last seen him. In no time at all, Snow had vanquished ever last enemy that had been in the area, and Spidey and Hope were now able to swing down and talk to him without any interference. Of course, talking with Snow was going to be made much easier after Spidey finally freed him of the webs that were covering his mouth.

"Ah, that's better," Snow breathed in relief once the webs were off. "But why couldn't you do that before?"

"I just wanted to mess with you a little," Spider-Man shrugged in good humor. "Well actually, I was originally planning on just letting the webbing dissolve after a couple hours, but you do kinda have a few answers that we need right now."

"Like where you've been all this time," Hope asked, his voice even but not as antagonistic as even he was expecting it to be.

Snow sighed in response, knowing that was going to be coming, and placed his hands on his hips as he replied, "I got taken in." That was probably not the best starting point, seeing as it drew distressed looks from the other two, so he quickly reassured them, "Not by enemies. It was the Cavalry, not PSICOM."

"And now you've lost me. What the heck is the Cavalry," Spider-Man asked.

"It's a division of the Guardian Corps. They usual patrol the skies from a sweet airship, and they tend to deal with the monsters that wander the uninhabited areas of Cocoon, along with any other disturbances. Leader's name is Raines. He said he'd lend us l'Cie a hand, and he seems to be a bit of a fan of yours, Spidey. So now, your hero is back!"

"I thought you were Serah's hero," Spider-Man teased, knowingly.

"More importantly, why would the army help us? That doesn't make sense," Hope pointed out, silencing any joking around before it could fully start.

"Military's got all kinds. Not all of 'em like the Sanctum," Snow explained as plainly as he could.

"See, now that's the first thing I've learned since coming here that I can actually fully understand," Spider-Man admitted. "What I'm hearing is that the Cavalry just uses their official job as a cover to hide the fact that they want to take down the Sanctum for the crimes that they've tried to cover up, right?"

"Pretty much," Snow shrugged. "And guess that they're counting on us to handle the bad guys."

"Well, they're going to the right guys for the job," Hope admitted. "Though more in the case of Spider-Man and Lightning."

"Hey, what about me," Snow asked. His answer was a look from Hope that made him recoil a little, and caused him to drop his cocky attitude at the remembrance of what was currently between him and the kid. "Right. Sorry."

"Save it for later, Hero. We've got to get moving. You two do what you can to shake off the remaining PSICOM forces. I'll go after Lightning and Tang," Spider-Man ordered.

"Fang," Snow corrected.

"Whatever." He then turned to Hope, handed him a Spider-Tracer, and said, "Hope, you try to keep yourself and Snow alive until we regroup, and we will. That tracking device I just gave you will help make sure of that."

Hope nodded in response, knowing that Spidey was not just referring to keeping Snow safe from any Sanctum forces in the area when he said that, and the two watched as the web-head launched himself into the air and away from them. Neither of them would have guessed that the web-head was not going directly to Lightning and Fang's location though.

---

Rosch was not having a good day at the moment. Not only did the Pulse l'Cie escape, but now there were more in the area, and he was not about to let them poison Cocoon with their existence for long. Not only that, but Spider-Man made a mockery of his troops, soldiers who were supposed to be the best of the Sanctum's military, along with the Pulse taints on a live broadcast that had now likely been seen by all of Cocoon by now. Needless to say, he was well aware of what his superiors would think after they saw this, but that did not matter to him. What mattered was killing the l'Cie by any means necessary, just as the people of Cocoon desired. Sure, he was now ordering his troops to open fire the minute they saw Spider-Man or the l'Cie, and to ignore all fire zone restrictions, which would likely lead to severe collateral damage and civilian casualties, but then again, it was those same people who were crying out for his forces to protect them from the terrors of Pulse and its l'Cie, so he was not about to look weak to any of them. More to the point, he was not about to let this so-called superhero interfere with that, and that was why he was now more than willing to use all available resources to deal with Spider-Man the next time he saw him.

That next time came much sooner than he was expecting, as the web-swinger suddenly sprang up onto his transport before him, knocking one of his guards off as he landed. "Hey guys! The Innocent People Slaughter transport left at 10:30 this morning. Ya missed it," Spidey announced as he snagged another soldier with his web and pulled him in for a quick kick to knock him out.

"Then perhaps I should consider myself lucky that I'm on a transport for the ending of irritating insects," Rosch commented, drawing his saber when he did.

"Seriously? I swear, it's like some sort of cosmic conspiracy of stupidity if people who aren't even from my neck of the woods can't get it straight that spiders are arachnids," Spider-Man groaned while preparing to engage Rosch. He did not wait for the PSICOM director to make the first move, but instead charge him in an attempt to take him out as swiftly as possible. Rosch surprised him though by dodging the web-head's blows quite easily, and if it were not for his reflexes and Spider-Sense, Peter was sure that when Rosch tried to counterattack with his barrage of hand-to-hand attacks, he would have been easily taken down.

Rosch continued to press the advantage he gained from Spidey's surprise, as he swung his saber at the web-head in an attempt to end him, but thankfully, Spider-Man was able to either dodge or deflect the blade before it could scratch him, giving him a few opportunities to land glancing blows here and there against Rosch. Spider-Man then tried to slow down his opponent with a few blasts of webbing, but Rosch must have seen this tactic coming because the minute that Spidey's fingers had folded into position to fire his web-shooter, Rosch batted the offending arm away from him, making Peter fire his web in a completely different direction, and leaving him open for Rosch to kick him back. Thankfully, Spider-Man did not let that throw him off for long thanks to an easy back flip that landed him in a crouch, and once he was upright, he fired both of his web-shooters at Rosch. The PSICOM director easily sliced through one set of webs that were fired at him, but the second set ended up catching his leg, thus trapping him where he stood, much to his irritation. That did not stop him though, as he quickly proved by parrying every blow that Spider-Man tried to throw afterwards, while simultaneously attempting to cut himself free.

Even immobilized, Spidey had to admit that Rosch was a difficult opponent, but aside from that, there was something vaguely familiar about his fighting style. It was almost as though he had seen someone else fighting in the same way before. Maybe not in the exact same way, but still very similar to it to him. That was when it struck him. Lightning would sometimes use similar tactics in the battles that they had been fighting up until now, and he remembered her using a few moves that were similar to Rosch's during their sparring match the other day. The main differences between then and now was that he actually had the help of his Spider-Sense this time, and the fact that Rosch was fighting him in a much more aggressive manner than Lightning had been. This, coupled with the disappointment he had seen in Lightning's eyes earlier when Rosch had first appeared, convinced Peter to make a mental note to ask the rosette about this later, but for now, he had to deal with Rosch. There was no way he was letting the man get away from this unscathed if he could help it.

Said goal turned out to be easier said than done when Rosch suddenly reached into his jacket with his free hand, and pulled out a device that he immediately slipped onto his hand before unleashing it on Spidey in a single punch. When Spidey was struck, he felt as though several volts of electricity were just sent through his body, while he was sent flying all the way to the other side of the ship. He would have fallen off the vessel had he not managed to secure a hold on the side at the last second, and as such, he was not able to recover before Rosch finally freed himself from the webs holding him in place while the lieutenant colonel studied the device that was now on his arm.

"I must admit, when the newest addition to our tech division first gave devices such as this to me and my troops, I was rather skeptical at how effective they would be, but now…I can't help but wonder why I did not use this sooner," Rosch confessed as he approached Spidey, who had just climbed back up onto the transport.

Spider-Man did not stay there long though, as Rosch then swung the gauntlet forward releasing a powerful shockwave of energy, forcing the web-head to leap into the air in order to dodge it. He attempted to get in close using his webs, but Rosch must have known he would do that, because he reared his gauntleted arm back and hit Spidey with another powerfully enhanced blow that sent Spider-Man flying once more. This time, the web-head did not get the chance to remain in the fight, because he ended being so dazed by the blow that he was unable to recover fast enough to keep himself from falling too far from Rosch's ship, and so, he settled for just using a web-parachute to slowly descend down to a nearby rooftop. Rosch then watched as Spider-Man discarded the parachute and leapt down into an alleyway before tapping his radio and ordering, "Attention all troops: Spider-Man is now somewhere in the city as well on his own. Any troops who are armed with our newest armaments are to engage him at once with said weapons."

At that very same moment, Spider-Man was jumping from wall to wall in an attempt to put some distance between him and Rosch. He knew that there was no chance of getting back up there again without being shot at by every Sanctum soldier in the area, and even he was not able to dodge that many bullets at once, so for now, he needed to make a tactical retreat. Besides that, Rosch's new toy had given him a few things to think about. There was something about that gauntlet that was far too familiar to him. Not in the same way that Rosch's fighting style was similar to Lightning's in a small, subtle way, but like he had seen something just like it somewhere before. He ended up putting that train of thought on hold for a minute, as a number of PSICOM soldiers suddenly came swooping down on him, many of them using some sort of jetpacks, or at least, that's what he would call them, to carry down some of their comrades, but while some of them seemed to use what looked like the standard issue variety of said flight devices, others utilized one that was a bit more elaborate. The ones that did not look standard issue had large wings on them that included talons that appeared to be razor sharp, but from what he could see, that was the only notable difference, since it still used the same type of propulsion system as the others, only with said propulsion being housed in the backpack that connected the wings together and to the soldier's suit while being condensed down so that it was not quite as noticeable.

Once again, Spidey was hit with a sense of familiarity, only this time, he was able to place where he had seen this type of tech before easily. It was almost exactly like the flight suit that his old enemy, Adrian Toomes alias the Vulture, had utilized since beginning his life of crime. How PSICOM could have something like that, Spider-Man was not sure, but right now, one thing he wanted to do more than anything else was avoid seeing how much like Vulture's flight suit these things were, especially if the talons on those wings were anywhere near as sharp as Toomes's, so he quickly booked it out of there as fast as he could. It ended up being a little more difficult than he would have liked, given that the troops who had been carried down were using gauntlets like the one that Rosch had, and seeing these troops use them in pairs was what helped Peter place where he had seen such devices before. It was all-too-similar to the gauntlets that the Shocker had used. Seeing two sets of tech that were similar to that of his old enemies was two too many for Spider-Man's comfort, and he figured that he needed to get some answers about it, mostly just to make sure that it was an odd coincidence or something along similar lines. With that goal set, Spidey quickly managed to lure one of the gauntlet wielders away from his comrades once he was well out of the flying soldiers' view, and webbed him to the wall before pulling the gauntlets off of him so he could analyze them.

Taking the gauntlets apart and then looking them over piece-by-piece, wire-by-wire, Spidey was met with an astonishing discovery, one that he felt deemed it necessary for him to snag one of the Vulture-wannabes so that he could analyze their fancy jetpacks as well. Upon doing so, he discovered the exact same thing that he had in regards to the gauntlets. "These things aren't just similar in terms of capabilities to Vulture and Shocker's tech; they're practically exact replicas of them, only with some obvious upgrades using some of the resources and tech that Cocoon has," Spider-Man announced aloud, though mostly to himself. "More than that, even with the added upgrades, the design of it is way too familiar. It's almost like they were made by…No, it couldn't be, could it? Rosch did mention that PSICOM had a new member in their science division, and he is the only other person besides me who would know anything about these devices, but still…" He fell silent for a few moments after, thinking over the possibilities and likely scenarios that were now running through his mind, but every time, he kept coming back to the same final conclusion, and the only one that made sense in his eyes. Knowing that though, he found that his next move was also just as obvious. "I've gotta find that Fang woman. With any luck, Lightning will be with her too, and it'll be that much easier to get answers from her."

With that, Spider-Man pocketed the components of the Shocker gauntlets in his belt and swung off, not bothering with the PSICOM-styled Vulture wings since he did not think they would be that much of a help to him anytime soon. As he was going, he also had to smirk a little, because he felt that now would be the perfect time to try out something that a friend had convinced him to install into his suit for just such an occasion.

---

Fang and Lightning had very little trouble losing their pursuers, if you can believe it. I mean really, one would think that it would have been difficult to lose two incredibly lovely young women who were also just as incredibly deadly, not that either of them were bragging or anything, but they pulled it off. Now all Fang had to worry about was making sure that Lightning kept a cool head despite the current situation, and why Snow had yet to check in like he was supposed to have by now. After waiting another few minutes for the big guy to call with no such response, Fang was just about to call him herself when suddenly, she found one of her arms stuck to the wall by a surprise web. It did not take any longer for either her or Lightning to figure out where the web had come from than it did for said individual to drop down in front of them, but they were much more confused about how his voice suddenly sounded so much deeper than it did before.

"Hey, surprised to see me again so soon," Spider-Man asked in a very deep, growling voice as he approached Fang, only acknowledging Lightning's presence with a quick nod. "You may have information that I need, and you're going to give it to me now."

Fang just stared at the web-head for a minute in silence, until she finally asked, "What's wrong with your voice?"

"What do you mean what's wrong with my voice," Spidey inquired, still using the deep voice.

"You do remember that I was right there with you when you were talking with Snow and Sunshine over here, right? Besides, I know what a girl sounds like," Fang pointed out.

"I'm not a girl! I'm a guy," Spider-Man snapped, indignantly, and the fact that he was still using the deeper voice when he said that almost made Lightning smile a bit.

"Look, I don't care what you are. Boy, girl…"

"I'm not a girl! I'm a man! Seriously, it's in the name: Spider-Man!" Peter then shook his head, knowing that they were off-track, and he quickly said, "Okay, I've just dealt with soldiers who were using tech that is way too familiar to me, and from what I heard, a new guy in their science division designed it for them. Since I'm assuming you work with the Cavalry, I'm also guessing that means you might know something about that. Give me a name, or else."

That last bit got more of a reaction out of Fang, because a second later, she had cut herself free of the webs using her spear, and then spun it around before slamming the end of it on the ground, startling Spider-Man a little when she did, and breaking him from the character he was trying to show. "You don't really do that much intimidating when it comes to getting answers, do you," Fang asked, rhetorically.

Spider-Man tried to hold the spear-woman's gaze, but in the end, he just sighed, tapped the spider-emblem on his chest and said, "Deactivate Interrogation Mode." That earned him an amused snort from Fang while the corners of Lightning's mouth moved upwards a little more, but he paid it little mind as he returned to addressing Fang, this time speaking in his normal voice. "Look, the weapons being used by those soldiers I just fought earlier, I know them because I've fought guys who used them just about every day back where I come from. Rosch said that PSICOM's newest addition to their science division was the one who made it all, so if you know anything about him…"

"Do you really think I'd know something just because I work with the Cavalry," Fang asked.

"Well…maybe," Spider-Man hesitantly admitted. "I mean, you're pretty much the only person I can think of who would know something about it."

"Why not ask Snow?" That earned Fang a small look from both Spidey and Lightning, to which she nodded in concession, "Okay, fair enough. Plus, it's not like Snow's been working with us for all that long, anyway."

"Do you know something or not," Lightning cut in. Her curiosity had been peaked the moment that Spider-Man had said that he encountered people using weapons that were familiar to him, but at first she thought that it was not anything too significant. He had admitted that they had guns back in his old universe, but with the way he was grilling Fang about this and asking for a specific name, she had a feeling that they were much more important than that.

"Do I look like the type to specialize in intelligence gathering," Fang asked the two. She knew what their answers would be when she was met with nothing but silence, aside from Spider-Man's moaning in misery as he leaned back against the wall, looking a lot more tired than he actually was at that moment. She heard him mutter something under his breath about a Cocoon-style Sinister Six or some other gibberish before she finally locked her gaze on him again and said, "You know, Snow told me that you helped out a very important friend of mine earlier on, despite the trouble that said person may have given you. Don't know a lot of folks who would go out of their way for a random stranger like that."

Spider-Man knew that Fang was basically saying that she felt like she at least owed him something just from that simple sentence, and he was not about to let this slip away. "It's more than just a familiarity in terms of function when it comes to those weapons I saw. The way they were designed made it seem like someone had replicated the original ones and then upgraded them with tech from here. Not only that, but the design style was way too familiar to me to be just a coincidence. If you know anything about this guy in their science division, you need to tell me now, because it may help save a lot of people."

Fang considered these words for a moment before she finally said, "The Cavalry doesn't really get all that much intel from PSICOM aside from what we either grab or are given from them, and when it comes to the guy you're talking about, all I know is that he keeps to himself a lot. I've heard some folks tended to call him Doc or something."

"Like 'Doctor,'" Spider-Man posed.

"Maybe. Like I said, the fella keeps to himself. Almost no one has ever seen him in person outside of PSICOM's higher-ups like Rosch," Fang shrugged. She then paused to think for a moment before she added, "Though I did hear one other rumor. Apparently, the guy is modifying one of the monsters that PSICOM uses in some of their operations for his own purposes with some of the tech he's created, and he intends to make it so that he can assume full, personal control over it at a moment's notice. Don't know what the thing is aside from how everyone says that they would know the beast when they saw it as being his."

"Well, that helps narrow things down a little," Spider-Man remarked. He may have come across as sounding a bit sarcastic, but he just chalked that up to the fact that he was just so tired after the day he had been having so far.

Fang then took that chance to make the call to Snow, giving Lightning a chance to step up beside Spider-Man so that she could ask him a few questions of her own. "Do you have some idea about who the person designing these weapons is?"

"Oh I've got an idea all right. It's someone from my world," Spider-Man revealed.

"How's that possible? I thought you came here by yourself, and aside from Madame Web, I was under the impression that no one else from your universe could get here," Lightning questioned.

"I may have landed here alone, but that doesn't mean I really did come alone. There's only one person I can think of who could be behind this, and while he did get pulled into that vortex with me, I thought for sure that he might have landed himself into something else," Spidey revealed.

Lightning was about to question Spider-Man further, when Fang finally got an answer from Snow, and immediately shouted, "You damn well know what's up! Why haven't you called in?" There was a short pause in which the two could only assume was meant for her to hear Snow's answer, after which, Fang just sighed and said, "Right…What's your status?" Another pause, followed by Fang saying, "I'm great, you're great, everybody's great. Oh, and your friend in red and blue pajamas is here with us too."

"Hey! Lay off my suit! This thing is made with state-of-the-art tech, thank you very much," Spider-Man snapped.

Fang did not seem to pay him any mind as she handed her communicator to Lightning. "Reunion time. Figure out a rendezvous point," Fang told the ex-soldier. Seeing the concerned expression on Lightning's face immediately clued Fang into what she was likely worried about, and she reassured her, "Don't sweat it. That line's hyper-encrypted."

Lightning just nodded in response before turning to speak into the device, only to scowl a minute later when Snow beat her to it on the greeting, leading her to give a reply she was starting to get a little tired of giving the blonde. "I'm not your sister."

"Yet," Spider-Man coughed. When Lightning turned to glare at him, he quickly glanced the other way and just whistled innocently, leaving her to the conversation, while Fang just assumed a spot against the wall that Spider-Man had now perched himself on.

The two just remained silent as they listened to Light converse with Snow, until Fang finally asked, "Is that really comfortable?"

"Well, yeah. For me at least," Spidey shrugged, knowing that she was referring to his current position on the wall. He had gotten that question a lot of times in the past, so it was not hard to figure out what she was referring to.

Fang just nodded with a hum and fell silent again before she smirked at him and asked, "So you need a high-tech suit to help you with interrogations?"

"No! It was just something a friend said I should put in when I was drawing up design specs for it," Spider-Man snapped indignantly. When Fang just shot him a disbelieving look, Spider-Man could only sigh as he muttered, "Stupid Interrogation Mode. Jess, I swear to god, if I ever see you again, I'm gonna kick your shapely butt for ever suggesting that."

Their conversation was interrupted when Lightning started shouting Hope's name into the communicator, indicating that the boy had taken over on Snow's end of the conversation for a moment, along with the fact that something was wrong. Moving closer so that he could hear a little better, Spidey could hear a bit of static and a faint whine was starting to muffle out whatever was being said on the other end, and he knew that it could only mean one thing. He figured that Lightning knew it as well, but it did not stop her from trying to get through to the kid, at least until Fang stepped over to her again. "Yelling doesn't fix it. It's called interference," Fang informed the rosette, speaking as though she were talking to a child, and earning a small eye-roll from Lightning in response.

"Yes, thank you for informing us of something we are well-aware of. You can't really blame her for at least trying to hope that something would be able to get through said interference," Spider-Man retorted on Light's behalf, drawing a small, unnoticeable smile from her as he did.

"Either way, you can all chitchat when we get there," Fang informed the two as she took back the communicator from Lightning. "I've got point, you two fall in behind."

"Yeah-no. I've got point, and you've got the middle," Spider-Man argued, leaping off the wall and directly in front of Fang. "Unless of course you have a literal danger sense."

Fang just stared for a minute before she shrugged in defeat, knowing that they did not have time to argue right now, and then turned to Lightning as she said, "Well either way, you'll still need to see if you can't cool off that head of yours." She then fell in step behind Spider-Man as he started leading their march forward just in time to ask him, "Out of curiosity, how'd you find us anyway? I'm pretty sure you didn't follow after us right away."

"I put a tracking device on you," was Spider-Man's simply reply as he tapped a couple controls on his left web-shooter, which revealed the Spider-Tracer to all before it actually jumped off of Fang and scuttled over to its owner like an actual spider.

The two women just stared at Spidey in silence for a moment as he pocketed the tracking device in his belt, until Fang finally said, "Handy, but aren't you worried that someone else might be able to pick up the signal?"

"Nope," Spider-Man confidently replied, and quickly signaled for the two pause and keep silent a moment later when he heard someone talking from just around the bend. Looking in the speaker's direction, the group was greeted with another squad of soldiers who were clearly conversing amongst themselves about recent orders that they had received, and naturally, Spidey wanted to listen and hear what they were saying before making any moves. Of course, he also wanted to see if any of them would leave the area afterwards, but somehow, he doubted that they would. Right now, he was just glad that none of them seemed to be in possession of the tech that had been used against him earlier.

"This will be a joint operation, conducted in unison with members of the Guardian Corps. PSICOM will retain command authority for the duration," the lead soldier informed his troops.

"What happened? Are they here? The l'Cie," another soldier asked.

"Yes, so do not hesitate to shoot on sight. Spider-Man has been confirmed to be aiding them as well, so if any of you are in possession of some of the Doc's new weapons, you are to engage him using those at once. Director Rosch's orders."

"The army's getting desperate. We're about to have a lot of company," Lightning noted.

"A couple of lovely, dynamite women and a masked, handsome devil like us? It'd be a little strange if we weren't at least a little popular," Spidey joked.

While Lightning rolled her eyes in response, Fang actually gave a small smile as she informed him, "I think I'm starting to like you, Bug-boy."

"Ooh, Bug-boy. Never heard that one before," Spider-Man sarcastically remarked. "Seriously, why can't anyone remember that spiders are arachnids?"

"Maybe because nobody really cares that much," Lightning offered. "Now can we please get through these guys so we can get to Hope's house?"

"Yeah, sure thing," Spider-Man shrugged, and like that, the three were off.

At this point it does not really need to be said how effective a fighting team Lightning and Spider-Man made in the confrontation that had followed, though in the case of Fang, that would be a different story. The mysterious spear-woman proved to be just as deadly in battle as Lightning, perhaps even more so, which was an impressive feat given that Fang did not use a weapon that had long-range capabilities like Lightning's gunblade. Though her fighting style was decidedly much more brutal than Lightning's, one thing that stood out more than anything else was that her fighting style was more like that of a hunter than a soldier. More than that, there was also something else about her that made Spidey feel like it was only half as effective as it could have been at times, like Fang was missing a crucial part of her typical battle strategy. Thankfully, he and Lightning were more than able to make up for that, and in no time at all, the three had made it through the first wave of soldiers that were in their path.

They did not want to waste too much time afterwards, so Spidey made it a point to remove as many soldiers that came after that first wave as he could, while Lightning and Fang dealt with the ones he could not. This mostly consisted of Spider-Man tying up several of the basic soldiers while blinding the ones using larger mechs and heavy-duty armors. Despite what you may think, this actually proved to be an effective strategy, because with the small fries out of the way, Lightning and Fang were able to put more of their focus into the bigger targets without worry, and battling said targets was made all the more easier when Spider-Man joined in wherever he could. In short, it almost seemed like Light and Spidey had made Fang a major player in their battle styles and formations flawlessly, like she had been an old friend rejoining the group after a long time, even though they had literally just met her a few minutes ago.

Eventually, they managed to catch a break from the action and were moving forward once more, only to pause for a few seconds when Spider-Man sensed something up ahead and signaled for the other two to wait as he peered around the corner to see what was waiting for them up ahead. Feeling curious herself, Fang moved over to where Spidey was perched on the wall, and snuck a peak for herself, though she did not see anything that would warrant concern, but she clearly knew that was no reason to just charge ahead recklessly. When she stood up straight again, it was just in time for Lightning to catch a glimpse of something odd on her arm: a l'Cie brand, similar to hers, but white in color and seemingly faded out. Noticing that particular mark instantly put Lightning on guard as she slightly backed away a little from the spear-woman, discreetly signaling for Peter to do the same, and then asked the all important question that she and her arachnid friend had been wondering since she first appeared with Snow.

"Who are you," Lightning demanded.

Judging by how she glanced at the brand on her arm, it did not take Fang long to figure out why Lightning had asked that question, and the small glance also drew Peter's attention to the brand as well, making him wonder how he had not noticed it until now as well and silently ask the same question at the same time. Fang on the other hand, just sighed as she rubbed the back of her neck, seemingly hesitant, but in reality just a bit unsure. "Where do I start," Fang questioned, only to receive nothing but silence from the other two. She then smirked a little in reply to this silence before she looked back to the other two and began to reveal her secret to them. "I've got a few screws loose, but I'm a l'Cie, same as you two."

"Uh no. I'm a metahuman, she's a l'Cie," Spider-Man corrected.

"Sure you are," Fang sarcastically agreed. "Look, I heard about the whole 'l'Cie proof' thing from Snow, and honestly, I don't buy it."

"Well, you're gonna have to, because I've never had a l'Cie brand before or after Light and the others became l'Cie, and I don't think it's likely that I'm ever going to, seeing as apparently, being a totem of the Great Web of Life and Destiny makes that impossible," Spidey informed her.

"Uh-huh. I've heard stories about the Spider-Totems and their great web, pal, but that's all they are: stories. Things that parents would tell their kids to teach them right from wrong, along with the idea that you should be careful around said totems," Fang informed him, surprising both spider-hero and ex-soldier alike. The idea that someone somewhere in this universe had come up with stories about Spider-Man, or at least the more mystical point of his origins was not something that had ever occurred to either of them for even a second, and they were sure that no one on Cocoon could have come up with them since no one had ever even seen or heard of someone or something like Spider-Man until now, but apparently, someone had according to Fang.

"Well, you might want to start believing, because we saw a fal'Cie try to turn him into a l'Cie and fail. He doesn't have a brand anywhere on him, and I've seen more than enough proof to back his story up," Lightning added in Spidey's defense.

Fang stared at the rosette for a minute before she just shrugged and said, "All right. If you say so."

"Really? You'll buy it just like that after Light tells you this, but you remain skeptical when I tried to tell you," Spider-Man asked.

"Does she really look like someone who would just make up a story that crazy?"

"…Good point."

"What's that supposed to mean," Lightning demanded of the two.

"Just that your incredibly serious, and not one to indulge in telling wild stories that would be far too crazy for anyone to actually believe," Spider-Man teased in response.

"I'll take that as a compliment," Lightning smirked in response.

"If you two don't mind, perhaps you lovebirds could save your flirting for after I've explained myself," Fang interrupted.

"We're not flirting/We're just good friends," Spider-Man and Lightning simultaneously retorted, both with slight tinges of pink on their cheeks.

"Right," Fang replied with an amused eye-roll. "Anyway, like I was saying, I'm a l'Cie like Lightning. Difference being…I wasn't born on Cocoon."

"Come again," Spider-Man exclaimed while Lightning gasped in shock, knowing what Fang likely meant by that.

"I'm from Gran Pulse. The 'world below' you all hate so much," Fang continued. "My partner and I'd turned to crystal there and gone to sleep, but when we came around, here we were." Fang only paused for a second to let that sink in before she delivered another shocker to the two of them that they did not see coming at all. At least, not entirely. "The reason Cocoon's in such an uproar is the same reason you're both here now. Vanille and I woke up."

"You and who," Spider-Man practically shouted in disbelief.

---

Hope and Snow had barely stopped moving for more than a few seconds after they parted from Spider-Man, but considering it was either that or get shot by the soldiers that were lurking around every corner, they were not complaining at all. If anything, it kept them from really thinking too much on topics that they did not want to worry about right at the moment. For Hope, it was the reminder that he was currently hanging around the guy he had once placed all the blame for his mother's death on, while in Snow's case, it was thoughts of Lightning's reaction to seeing him, and of how he had not been able to tell her about what he learned regarding Serah yet. Of course, those were not the only things on their minds, but those were the most dominant thoughts at the moment. That was not to say that Snow was not thinking about his promise to Hope's mother, or Hope had forgotten about some of the things that Lightning and Spidey had told him during their travels together up until now, but at the moment, both of their minds were more focused on getting through the soldiers that were now standing between them and Hope's neighborhood, and their planned meet-up with Lightning, Spider-Man, and Fang.

Even so, they did get a few breaks here and there, including the one where Snow received Fang's call so that he could report on their status, and then get Hope's address from Lightning. He had no idea what Hope had been talking about when he had spoken with Lightning (something about an Operation Nora or other), but he did know enough to realize that they were not likely going to be getting anymore calls to or from the other three anytime soon after the line went dead, along with the fact that they were likely going to run into even more trouble afterwards if they did not get moving right away, so that's exactly what the two boys did once Snow had pocketed the communication device again. That did not mean that he was not worried about the others though, but he did not give voice to it as easily as Hope did.

"Do you think they're okay," the boy asked the massive blonde.

Snow just laughed a bit and said, "Trust me, it'll take a lot more than anything these guys have got to take down Lightning. Besides, you're the one who's been traveling with her and Spider-Man, so you should know pretty well how tough they are just from that."

"Fair enough," Hope shrugged in admittance, while his eyes gained a far-off look as he reminisced on some of the fights he had gotten into with those two, namely the ones that he was mostly just watching. "The way those two just move through a battlefield together is just…it's hard to really describe the feeling in words."

"Huh. I never really noticed before when we were all traveling together, but that's probably understandable," Snow commented. He then slowed to a stop and waved for Hope to do the same before looking around the next corner to see if the coast was clear. When he saw that it was, he looked back to Hope and could not help but study the kid a little, as he finally noticed something in the boy that he had not before now. "You've changed, haven't you, Hope?" When the boy just gave a confused look, Snow elaborated, "It seems like you've toughened up a bit, in more ways than one."

"I'm a l'Cie. I had to," Hope pointed out. "Besides, like you said, I was traveling with Light and Spidey, so getting stronger was necessary if I wanted to make it."

Snow just grinned in response before asking, "Lightning didn't give you too hard a time, did she?"

"Not really," Hope admitted, not wanting to bring up the events that had led to the fight with Odin. "And besides, even if she did, I doubt Spidey would've let her get away with it."

"You noticed that too, huh," Snow asked. "How the web-head seems to have reigned Lightning in a little?"

"I wouldn't quite put it like that, but yeah, I noticed," Hope nodded.

"Well, it's good to know that she's got a couple of friends looking out for her," Snow nodded. He then looked out over the area before waving for them to keep moving once he saw that they were in the clear. When he glanced back at Hope again, thinking about what the kid had gotten dragged into, Snow could not help but sigh as he said, "The only ones that ought to be fighting the army are us dumb grown-ups."

That got Hope's attention, and his anger up a few notches, since in a way, Snow had just called his mother stupid. Still, he managed to keep his voice calm as he asked, "You think it's stupid to fight?"

Snow had to pause in his advance for a minute so that he could really think, bringing Hope to a stop behind him as well. The two just stood there for a minute in silence afterwards, until Snow finally spoke up again. "I used to think that it was if you got killed, but that was before I met your mom and Spider-Man. Ever since then, I've figured that if you've got something worth fighting for, then it definitely isn't stupid to fight. I don't know the full reasons for why Spidey does, but I do know that it's because he has a philosophy that prevents him from looking the other way if he thinks there's something he can do to help."

Hope had to agree with that, but there was still something that confused him in regards to what Snow said. "How did my mom help you figure that out though?"

"You're kidding, right," Snow asked with a chuckle. He quickly sobered up when he saw that Hope was serious, and said, "Hope, you just need to look in a mirror to know what it was that your mom was fighting for. I may not have ever known my parents, but I do know enough to know that to any real parent, there's nothing more important than their kid. That alone makes your mom one of the smartest and bravest people I've ever met."

Hearing that from Snow made Hope feel a little lighter for some reason, like some powerful weight had just been lifted from his shoulders a little, but at the same time, it also made him feel like another one had been dropped onto him. If what Snow said was true, then did that mean that his mother would not have died if he had not been so weak back then? That was not a question that Hope wanted to think about, so he quickly moved on to another question. "What about the Sanctum soldiers?"

"Now those guys are definitely idiots," Snow instantly said. "Sure, some of them may be signing up to protect Cocoon and all of that, but most of them have joined up because they're afraid of anything that might be from Pulse, and they just want to kill it the minute they see it. That's no real reason to fight, so that makes them dummies."

"And You? Where do you think you are in this," Hope questioned.

Snow did not answer right away this time, but when he did, it was with a bit of uncharacteristic sadness as he admitted, "I'm not entirely sure. Yeah, I went into the Hanging Edge to save Serah, along with whoever else I could, and I'm still fighting to save Serah and get you home, but considering what had happened back then, and how much I've really done to help you up until now…" Snow could not bring himself to finish, so instead, he just shook it off and flashed a quick smile and a confident wink at Hope as he said, "Anyway, just lay low. Let the dummies duke it out. The army's…"

Hope was a bit put off when Snow did not finish that last sentence, and he could not help but ask, "The army's what?"

"Forget it," Snow immediately said. He honestly figured that his gang's usual catchphrase would not be something that would go over well with the kid, since he knew that his team and Hope's mother shared a name.

"If it's anything to do with what you and your gang call yourselves, don't worry about it. Lightning already told me where you got the name from. Besides, I kinda want to hear it," Hope reassured Snow.

Feeling a bit reassured at that, Snow took a deep breath, smiled again, and finished, "The army's no match for NORA, right?"

Hope said nothing for a moment, and simply stared blankly at Snow for a few seconds before he smiled a little too and said, "Yeah, that's right, in regards to both you and your friends, and Mom." Snow smiled a little wider at hearing the kid say that, and quickly started to press onwards again, not knowing that Hope was looking at him with new understanding, mostly because he was now able to see something he had not before, thanks in part to what a certain wall-crawler had said. 'He was smiling…No, he was putting on a mask. Just like you said, Spidey.'

The two continued on silence afterwards, though it was much more comfortable than before, but their advance soon came to another halt, this time due to a couple of Sanctum patrols flying past and overhead. Ducking into cover, they then heard what sounded like soldiers making an announcement, and they quickly picked up on the words "evacuation protocol" and "secure location." Moving ahead so that they could get a better look, the two peaked over to see PSICOM was ushering a crowd of civilians out of the area. Seeing this might have reassured the average person, but Snow and Hope both knew better, having been through this once before. They were well aware that these soldiers were not likely ushering anyone along to anywhere for their safety.

"The Sanctum follows fal'Cie orders. It's not just after l'Cie," Snow whispered. "They'll target civilians, and Purge everyone who's a threat."

"And more innocents get killed," Hope finished, glaring at the soldiers ahead of them when he did.

"You can't take the blame for that," Snow told Hope, knowing that the kid was likely thinking that right now.

"Someone has to," Hope argued. "Just like someone has to do something to stop this."

"Don't worry. I wasn't planning on just sitting back and letting these people suffer," Snow reassured the kid. "If we let loose, we'll bring the army right to us."

"Draw their fire," Hope asked, not liking the sound of where this was going, considering that it had a large chance of getting them killed.

"I'm supposed to protect you, both for Lightning and Spidey, and for your mom, but I can't let this happen. It's a tough call, that's for sure," Snow lightly informed Hope.

"Not really. I don't want to just sit here and let this happen either," Hope admitted.

"Well then, I guess the only choice is to try and save everyone, huh," Snow asked with a confident grin. "So, Hope…are you with me on this?"

"Yeah," Hope nodded after a moment. "I've got your back."

"Thanks," Snow nodded back in appreciation. "Here goes nothing!"

The two were off and running after that, bashing in the heads of the PSICOM soldiers that were rounding up the citizens who were likely about to be Purged. It was not exactly all that easy though, considering that the two were not used to fighting with one another, and they had to learn to adapt to the other's fighting style quickly, but thankfully, Hope was able to adapt pretty smoothly, having seen how Snow fought a few times before now, and his training with Lightning and Spider-Man was a huge help as well. Snow eventually managed to figure out a rhythm that worked with Hope as well, and soon enough, the two were almost at the level of a well-oiled machine when it came to working together. The only reason they were not entirely there was because there was still an air of tension between the two of them due to the various amounts of drama, but they were not letting that get the better of them for the sake of all the people that they were trying to save. They tried to refrain from using their magic too much though, knowing that doing so would likely scare the people they were trying to save, but that did not mean that they did not use any at all. They just stuck with spells that were not quite as noticeable like when Snow would coat his fists in ice magic for a frost strike, while Hope carefully threw out a fire spell or two when no one was paying attention. Hope also made sure to use healing magic whenever he had the chance, knowing that they would need to stay in top condition at all times, and thanks to his training, he was able to figure out how to use said magic in a way that went unnoticed, and allowed others to think that he and Snow were just very resilient and tough.

Then again, the two did not have to do all that much for most of their fights, because for the most part, it seemed pretty clear that the soldiers they were fighting were no tougher than the ones that they had initially encountered back in Lake Bresha. There were some fights that were harder than others, but those were few and far in-between, and most of those battles were only more difficult due to the fact that they seemed to possess tougher armor that almost seemed impenetrable for whatever reason. In addition to that, the soldiers wearing said armor seemed to have an extra bit of physical strength to their punches, but for whatever reason, most of them still just tried shooting at the two first. Maybe it was just out of habit, or maybe it was because some of them actually knew who the two were, after all, Hope's face was just plastered all over the news barely more than an hour or so ago so that would not have been a surprise, but whatever the case might have been, both Hope and Snow were glad that they did not have to deal with the full strength of the guys who were using the new armor up close right away. It was a feeling that was only reinforced by how they saw one guy in the new armor crack the ground beneath their feet with a single punch, not to any great extreme, but definitely enough to be noticeable. Aside from that one little hiccup, they really had no problems dealing with PSICOM, until they reached another plaza that is.

With the barricades at all the streets out and numerous soldiers surrounding the area, you would have had to have been either blind, incredibly ignorant, or just plain crazy to not notice the crowd of people just ahead of the two that had been rounded up right in the open, and since they had already seen what had happened to Bodhum, Hope and Snow both knew what this likely meant. That on its own would have been cause enough for them to get involved, but what really made it serious for them was when they spotted a few kids in the group, including a small girl who was clutching a stuffed toy as tight as her little arms could. Snow did not hesitate to charge forward with Hope hot on his tail, and the minute they had gotten close enough to draw a soldier's attention, Snow took action, starting by decking the soldier that had first noticed them. His attack on the soldier immediately startled the crowd into a mild panic, but it was not quite to the point where Snow had been aiming for. Instead, people just backed away from him, muttering in confusion or huddling up in fear of what was happening, including the mother of the little girl that Hope had noticed earlier, and Snow could only think of one way to get everyone to do what he wanted them to at this point, much to his chagrin.

When he saw the blonde grimace a little and then scoop up the soldier's dropped weapon, Hope instantly figured out what Snow was planning, and he made his way over to the woman and her daughter as quickly as he could, knelt down next to them, and whispered, "Don't worry. I know he may not seem like it, but my friend and I are here to help you. The minute he makes his next move though, I need you both to run and get out of here as fast as you can. Follow the crowd at first, but the minute you get a chance, break off and run to the nearest transport out of town that's still running. Okay?"

The mother just looked at Hope in confusion, not entirely understanding him, but the girl seemed to get what he was saying, so she simply nodded in reply, drawing a smile from Hope before he patted her head a little, both to show he was glad she understood him, and to show the mother that he was indeed friendly. It seemed to do the trick, as the mother smiled in response a minute later, and then started moving both herself and her daughter further into the crowd and away from Snow, but much more calmly than they had been before, leaving Hope to wonder how and when he suddenly got so good at calming people down. He shrugged it off as being something that was a result of Spidey's influence, but mostly because that was all he had time to do, as Snow had enacted his plan by raising the gun into the air and firing it into the sky. "I am a Pulse l'Cie," Snow shouted as the gunshots rang out, startling the crowd into a panic to start running. "I'm here to kill you all!"

Hope glanced around to see that while most of the people were fleeing in terror, the mother and child he had spoken to were only running along with crowd like he had told them too, and it looked like a few others were doing the same, indicating that they had probably overheard him when he was talking to the two. When the last of the crowd had vacated the area, he immediately rushed up to Snow and asked, "Don't you think that might've been a little too much, or that maybe that kind of open declaration might come back to bite us later?"

Snow just shrugged as he tossed the emptied and smoking gun aside before turning his gaze upwards to where some airborne soldiers were flying in from, and replied, "Doesn't matter right now. I did what I was trying to do: Clearing the area."

A shower of gunfire was quick to punctuate Snow's sentence, drawing Hope to quip, "Couldn't you have done that without making us even bigger targets than we already were?"

"Wouldn't have mattered either way," Snow retorted as he pushed Hope down into cover. "They'll still open fire on a crowd. Doesn't matter who dies. Just wipe 'em all out!"

Hope would not have argued even if he wanted to, because he knew Snow was right. He had seen firsthand what PSICOM and the Sanctum were willing to do in order to eliminate any thing that so much as came into contact with something from Pulse, and he was not about to let them bring harm to the people of his hometown. Of course, the other reason he did not argue was because they now had to deal with a lot of airborne PSICOM soldiers, which was much more difficult than fighting the ones that stayed on the ground, but that was really more of a minor detail in his book. On the other hand, those same, airborne soldiers were also using jetpacks that had large wings attached, as opposed to the standard variety that Snow and Hope had both seen at one point or another, so that did make the fight a bit more important than trying to argue with Snow on anything at the moment.

It took a while to deal with that first squad, even with the use of magic, though that was mostly because the soldiers had displayed that the wings on their jetpacks could be used for more than just aiding in their aerial maneuvers. They would occasionally fold the wings over them in order to form a defensive shield and even swing them towards the two so that a series of talons would be launched out at the two. Neither of the two wanted to know just how sharp said talons were, but they ended up getting a very good idea when one of those talons cleanly sliced through a steel guardrail that Snow had been standing in front of before having to jump aside, and the blonde would not deny that he went a little pale at realizing just how close that was to being him. Still, the two were able to take down the first squad in a reasonably short time, but the ones that followed proved to be a bit more difficult, partly because they were also dropping off shock troopers that were using gauntlets that fired out powerful shockwaves, some of which actually tore a nearby wall apart with just one blast. Thankfully, Snow and Hope were able to keep the playing field a little even with their magic, which they were now using openly and freely. After all, why try to hide what they could do now that likely the entire city knew who and what they were due to the broadcast that had been playing earlier, and Snow's earlier actions? There was still a downside to those actions though, and it came much sooner than they had been hoping it would.

After taking out another squad of soldiers, Snow had quickly spotted a standard version of the jetpacks that PSICOM was using, and rushed over to it thinking that he could get it working again in order to help them escape from the crossfire they were caught in. As he did so, he did not notice that a small child had huddled up nearby, crying in fear, but Hope did, and he quickly went to see if she was okay. It was around that point that the people he and Snow had helped earlier made themselves known again, only this time not as an ignorant crowd, but an angry mob, all shouting at Snow and Hope to get lost and die. Hope had to scowl a little at the people of his hometown. He and Snow had just saved their lives, and that was how they were thanking them? Then again, it's not like most of these people really knew any better, but it still left him feeling upset. When the girl noticed the mob, she quickly stood up and pushed Hope down as she ran over to them, and Hope was about to get upset at her to when he realized that she was the same girl from earlier, and upon glancing over to her, he saw that she had already run into her mother's arms before the both of them turned back to throw Hope a subtle wink, drawing a small smile onto Hope's face.

Snow on the other hand did not notice the exchange, as he was more focused on the crowd at large after hearing them approach. In response to the angry shouts and bared arms, Snow simply flexed the arm his brand was on for them all to see, while it began to shine brightly to signal he was preparing to use some form of magic. Hope realized this soon after the crowd had jumped back a little, and he did not want Snow to attack these people just because they did not understand what was really going on, so he started looking around for a way to appease both sides. Eventually, his eyes were drawn upward towards some old scaffolding above them, and he then quickly turned to the blonde and shouted, "Snow, up there!"

Snow glanced upwards and immediately caught on to Hope's train of thought when he saw the scaffolding. He then waited a minute for the mob to back up a little more before he released a powerful blast of ice magic on the old, rusted metal, causing it to come loose from where it was held and then collapse down on the street between the two sides. Seeing this display of magic definitely persuaded the mob to back off, but hearing their fear induced voices still brought a sad frown to Hope's face, making him wonder once again if they were right to fear him and his current partner. When he stood up again, Hope faced the people on the other side of the collapsed metal and muttered a brief apology before turning to Snow as the blonde finally finished starting up the jetpack. With his task done, Snow quickly grabbed onto Hope and flew them both out of the alleyway just seconds before another squad of soldiers had shoved through the crowd and opened fire on them, unable to do anything more than that besides watching as the two flew away and out of their sights.

---

Their escape flight was so far from being considered as smooth, that you would have to have been as crazy as the craziest man Spidey knew to so much as begin to think otherwise, but all the same, Snow and Hope still made it to a safe location, at least for the moment. Snow knew that they needed to keep moving, but since there was no way he was going to get the jetpack flying again, they had no other choice but to continue on foot as they had been before. He probably could have summoned the Shiva Sisters again to help out, but considering that they were now traversing across rooftops, that did not seem like the best idea, especially since PSICOM had now practically placed the entire city on lockdown, at least from his perspective. He was just glad that Hope was able to identify where in Palumpolum they had landed, and thankfully, he also confirmed that his neighborhood was not too far away now, so there was that saving grace at least. Still, they had to get there before night had fallen, otherwise, there was no telling what would happen, and it was already entering twilight hours.

Even though he was still able to keep up with Snow, Hope's pace had become a little slower as his mind went back to the mob that they had been facing earlier. He knew that everyone hated l'Cie, especially in the case of Pulse l'Cie, and that their hatred also doubled as fear, so he should not have been surprised by how that crowd had reacted to him and Snow. Despite knowing that, he still ended up feeling extremely upset about it all, driving him further into the despair and confusion that he was already feeling. How could he really deal with his thoughts about how he would deal in response to Snow's earlier apology if he had to bear the burden of such hatred at the same time? More to the point how was Snow able to handle it and still keep going like this? Yes, he knew now that Spidey had been telling the truth when he said that the blonde had been putting up a front when he had been smiling to hide how upset he was, but that still did not help Hope to find the answers that he was trying to obtain.

Hope was pulled from his thoughts when Snow suddenly came to a stop, pointed off into the distance and asked, "Felix Heights is that way, right?" After looking in the direction that the blonde had indicated, Hope nodded in response, prompting Snow to say, "Still pretty far." He then noticed an advertisement for the area, and had to smile a little as he recited the words in it. "'A great place for family living.' So they say. Guess you would know better than I would, seeing as you actually do live there, huh? Care to comment on how true that is?"

The boy had to think for a minute before he finally shrugged and said, "I don't really know one way or the other. I've lived in the area my entire life, so I can't really compare it to anything else. The only time I've ever actually left Palumpolum at all was when Mom and I…" A small glance in Snow's direction let Hope know that the blonde did not need him to finish that sentence, seeing as the bigger man's head had fallen a little in acknowledgment of this. "Doesn't really matter now though. L'Cie don't have family."

The big guy was not about to let Hope start down that train of thought, and he could only think of one way to divert it at the moment. "You've got your dad, don't you? That seems like family to me."

Apparently, that was not the right thing to say to Hope, as the boy just huffed and glared off to the side as he said, "My dad's never been around. He's always been more concerned with his work than anything else. Ever since I can remember it's always been just me and Mom. Besides, maybe he would have been at least a little happy to see I was okay after Bodhum, but…now that I'm a l'Cie…"

"He's still your dad, and at least you still have that," Snow pointed out to Hope, drawing the kid's attention to him completely. "I'm actually kinda jealous of you, Hope. See, I'm an orphan…I barely got to know my family. Don't even remember my parents at all. Sure, I had my pals in my gang, but aside from that, I was always alone. I figured that there wasn't anything better than being alone for a long time."

"What changed," Hope asked.

Snow had to chuckle a little as he said, "You're probably gonna think this is completely cheesy, but the thing that changed was that…I met Serah. She showed me that there was something better than being alone: being with someone you care about more than anything, and having that person care about you just as much. Not just because she became my girlfriend, but because I could tell how much she cares about Lightning. That's why I decided that someday, I'm gonna have my own family. I still plan to once I save Serah, protect Cocoon, and fulfill my promise to Nora. You know, assuming I survive your revenge, that is."

Hope could appreciate what Snow was trying to do with that small joke of his, and it showed in how the corners of his mouth turned up a little in response to it, but it was gone as quickly as it came when he asked, "How exactly?"

"That's a good question," Snow admitted with a short, humorless laugh. He then turned to face the horizon ahead of them again as he continued, "I want to do what's right, but everyone hates l'Cie. Kind of hard to help someone that's trying to kill you."

"Yeah. Kinda makes you wonder how Spidey did it," Hope commented, thinking back to what he and the others had heard about from the web-head after they had escaped Lake Bresha.

Since he was not there at the time, Snow naturally looked to Hope in confusion and asked, "What're you talking about?"

Hope had to shake his head a little at his forgetfulness of the fact that Snow was not around at the time when they had learned that fact about Spidey, and he quickly explained, "Spidey revealed to us that back where he's from originally, he would get labeled as a menace or a threat a lot, but he acted like it was no big deal. I think he said something like it didn't matter what people said about him, but what he chose to do."

Snow took a minute to process that before he finally laughed a little bit and said, "Well, I guess I've got yet another reason to respect and admire Spider-Man. It sounds like he and I agree on the point I'm trying to make here. Trust me, everything will work out in the end, as long as we stay together and hold on to hope."

"Do we even have any," Hope asked. "Most people think that a l'Cie's only hope is a quick death, so what if they're right?"

Snow was not sure if he had an answer for that, but before he could even give one, the two heard an explosion ring out from somewhere nearby, and they knew that likely meant that PSICOM was a bit closer to where they were than they originally thought, so they immediately raced out of the area and off to Hope's house as fast as they could. The only problem was that it did not matter how fast they moved to get from one area to the next, because they would always seem to run afoul of some soldiers that were patrolling the skies, along with a Velocycle or two here and there. Thankfully, since they were no longer in an area where they would have to worry about drawing attention from a crowd or risk hurting any bystanders, neither of the two had to hold back anymore, and they made sure that they made it quite clear just how strong they really were with every encounter they had with the anti-Pulse task force.

All the same, Hope's earlier words did not stop running through either of their heads. Sure, everyone thought that l'Cie were doomed to live cursed lives for eternity, but did that really mean the only real hope they had left was for a quick death? Snow certainly did not want to think so, not when he had so much he needed and wanted to do. After all, he had to keep his promises to Nora, Hope, and everyone else he had given his word to, and he was not about to die before he fulfilled any of them. Besides that, he just had to believe that their Focus was to save Cocoon, even if he was only basing it on Serah's last words before she had turned to crystal. There was just no way it could have been anything else in his mind, and Snow had never second-guessed any of his decisions in regards to Serah before, or believed that Serah could ever do anything that would bring harm to him or anyone else. Why should he start now? The only question was how could he get Hope to see that? Or to be more accurate, how could he protect Cocoon and finally set things right with Hope after how he had failed to save the boy's mother.

The blonde was still trying to figure all of this out even after they had finally stopped for a rest at a terrace that overlooked the area that counted as the very edge of Hope's neighborhood and had a few drink machines nearby as well. Snow had gone to said vending machines to get something for Hope, thinking that the kid would probably need something to help him regain some lost energy, but Hope declined the offer as politely as he could, so Snow ended up having the acquired drink for himself while gazing out at the view ahead of them, continuing to think about the matter as he did. He was soon stirred from his thoughts when Hope suddenly spoke up again. "Snow? I wanted to ask you something."

"What's that," Snow asked after he had taken a big gulp of his drink.

Hope hesitated for a minute before he finally asked, "Well…If you didn't know about how I wanted to…you know, what would your plan be? I feel like I need to know."

Snow thought about it for a minute before he let out a small smile and said, "Well, if I'm being honest, it would actually be a pretty simple plan: Save Serah, protect Cocoon, and have myself a big, happy family."

"Is that really all," Hope asked, not entirely sure if he believed that was all that Snow really wanted. When the blonde nodded, Hope had to ask, "Well then, what would you do if…if that family was taken away from you? If you couldn't get them back and you knew who was responsible."

"…This is in regards to your revenge against me, isn't it," Snow asked sadly, his smile falling a little.

Hope did not answer that question, but instead, he simply said, "I just want you to be honest with me about this, and not just tell me whatever you would tell others to keep them from worrying about you or the situation surrounding you and them."

"Huh…I didn't think you would pick up on that," Snow admitted with a sigh, even as he tossed his empty drink can into a distant trash bin.

"I didn't at first, until Spidey pointed it out to me, and then I could see it pretty well," Hope revealed.

"Huh. That guy is just too good at everything, isn't he," Snow remarked. He fell silent for a couple of minutes, until he finally faced Hope straight in the eye, his face betraying his true emotions even though it was blank save for a small frown as he spoke. "Hope, I know I've said this before, but…I'm sorry. What happened…It was my fault. I put her in danger despite how much I wanted her to just stay behind so she could keep you safe. Now though, I just want to make things right."

"You told me before that you couldn't," Hope reminded him, thinking back to their conversation in the Vestige.

"And that words were useless, and a lot of other things I shouldn't have said," Snow finished. "Believe me, I've been kicking myself a thousand times over for what had happened, maybe even more when I found out you were the one she meant when she had told me 'get him home.' At the time, I thought if I couldn't make up for it, then all the apologies in the world wouldn't mean a thing, and even now, I'm not entirely sure it would make a difference. So I decided I had to find a way to pay for it first, before I'd even have the right to truly say sorry again. Maybe I was using that as an excuse, so I could run from my own guilt." He then paused for a minute, turning away as he felt that he could not truly face Hope at this point, but still continued on after regaining his bearings. "I don't deny that what happened was my fault, and I am sorry, Hope. I do intend to find a way to make things right, but like I said before, if nothing I do is good enough, then I'll take any punishment you want to dish out, because to me, there's nothing worse than the crime I committed against you: the crime of letting you lose your mother after I failed to keep her safe."

Hope was silent for what seemed like an eternity, though whether it seemed like that more to the boy or the blonde who was apologizing with every ounce of his being, one could not tell you, but you would be hard pressed to think that Hope was doing anything other than thinking over what Snow had just said, along with everything else he had learned from Light and Spidey. After the eternity of silence though, Hope finally managed to choke out a sentence at last. "She's gone, Snow. You can take the blame…but it won't bring her back." Hope could see Snow turning to face him again, only to lower his head in sadness, but he pressed on all the same, keeping the blonde from uttering so much as one syllable, even though he felt like he was going to start shedding some tears at any moment. "I-I knew it all along. I knew it, but…I had to blame someone. I had to. I needed a reason to keep on fighting, but I never once thought that it could have been the wrong reason."

"It wasn't someone's fault. It was mine," Snow protested.

"No, it wasn't," Hope argued, looking Snow dead in the eye, startling the man at how insistent he sounded, even though sadness was still laced in his voice. Hope then pulled out the knife that Lightning had gave him, and then slowly walked towards Snow as he continued, "Maybe you did play some part in what had happened, and maybe that does mean you share some of the blame, but you didn't want it to happen, and if anyone is to blame, then I don't want to try and take it out on them for revenge. After all, revenge is like a poison that can take us over, control us, and sooner or later, turn us into something ugly. I don't want that to happen to either of us, so maybe…Maybe I finally figured out what my answer is."

"And just what is that," Snow asked softly once the kid was standing right in front of him, looking up at him with a sad, yet otherwise unreadable expression.

Hope just stared back at Snow for a few minutes before he grabbed one of Snow's arms, and placed Lightning's knife in his hand, startling Snow at the sight of it when he did, and then said, "I forgive you, Snow."

Snow's eyes slowly became as wide as dinner plates when he heard that, but a second later, he could not help but let a soft, sincere smile cross his face as he slowly nodded to the boy in thanks for that. The touching moment did not last forever though, as the two discovered a little too late that they had been spotted, and as a result, were knocked off their feet and the balcony they were standing on by an explosion that resulted from something blasting them from the air. Snow did not even need to think; he just grabbed Hope from the air, and then angled his body so that he would take the brunt of the impact when they eventually hit the ground. As a result, he ended up falling through some glass awnings, hard, until they finally dropped to the ground, where he let out one last groan of pain before he and Hope both passed out. Though it was not before Hope caught a glimpse of an odd looking monster that seemed to have been enhanced using the new technology that the soldiers from earlier were using, and what looked like a few pairs of long, metal arms.

---

AN: Not bad huh? This is definitely going down as my longest chapter to date, even beating out the records that were set by the Gundam SEED Prime Trilogy, so you know that's gotta be saying something. I'll be honest, though. I wasn't originally going to stop the chapter here, but it started getting to a point where the chapter was getting too long for my liking, while the chapter that would have followed would have been much too short.

Spider-Man: Well on the bright side, I see you managed to work in some Spider-Man: Homecoming references.

AN: Well can you blame me? That movie was AWESOME! No, it was AMAZING, SPECTACULAR, SENSATIONAL! I'm not just saying that, I really mean it! I've seen it three times now, and this is at a time while it is still in theaters!

Snow: Wow. Now that is something else.

AN: I know! Best Spider-Man movie to date! Anyways, I just had to work in that little Interrogation Mode reference (sorry for the spoilers for those of you haven't seen the movie yet), because it was just so funny seeing it in the movie, and I could honestly see Spider-Man using that on Fang when he met up with her again. Expect a few more little tributes to Spider-Man: Homecoming in the chapters to come, just so you know. I want to be able to work as much stuff from that as I can into here.

Moving on, yeah, the fight between Spider-Man and Rosch was necessary, because as far as I can remember, every fight you had against Rosch in FFXIII, he was using some big mech suit, and I wanted him to go toe-to-toe with one of our heroes at least once. Plus, it also gave us a perfect way to show off how some of the tech used by Spidey's villains has somehow found its way to Cocoon. So far, we've seen a rendition of Vulture's flight suit and Shocker's gauntlets, the latter of which also draws inspiration from the previously mentioned Spidey movie in terms of design, and apparently, it was all made by one particular scientist who had just joined up with PSICOM. I wonder who that could be? Well, I already know of course, and I did give quite a few hints as to who it is in this chapter, so I'm sure you can likely figure it out by now if you look hard enough. If you do figure it out though, please don't say anything in a review and spoil it for anyone who can't, even if I am sure that the number of people who can't is likely very small. Of course, with that last clue, and the biggest one, which you received at the end, I'm sure none of you will have a hard time guessing. Aside from that, you'll just have to wait until next chapter rolls around to find out. And in the meantime, we'll head Onto the Preview!...

Spidey's adventure through Palumpolum with Lightning and Fang continues after the l'Cie from Gran Pulse finishes regaling the other two with the tale that had lead her and Vanille to where they are today. While Lightning is still plagued with questions about where she needs to go from here, listening to Fang talk about her own plans seems to be giving her an idea on what to do, especially when Spidey's there to throw in some input of his own. Their moments of contemplation are soon brought to an end when they finally come close to Hope and Snow's location, and the mystery new scientist of PSICOM is revealed at last through the enemy that awaits the three when they finally arrive on the scene. Just who is it that has found their way to Cocoon from Spider-Man's old world, and what will happen after the group finally reaches Hope's home? It's time for some revelations to be unveiled, next time.

Please read and review, and swing on back for next time fellow true believers!