Sorry it took so long to upload but this one is really long and I had my last exam today. Hallelujah, it's over.
Now for this chapter; there are some things that I need to warn you about.
Warning: Blood (gross), the proper introductory of my two OCs, annoying and terrible rhyming (Sorry) and not as many annoying jokes from Spiderman (Yay).
Enjoy.
Peter's/Spiderman's P.O.V
Chapter 9
Thursday 24th May
17:22
I tread through the halls of the Tri-carrier depressingly. I'm too depressed to make an introductory and by now, you guys should get the point.
I lean my head against the door to the Training Centre. I haven't heard anything from Danny since our talk from yesterday. He didn't show up at school and the team said that he locked himself in his cabin.
I can't believe Danny. He is unbelievable. Is he just going to sit around and wait for death? How is he even sure that he'll die? Does it have to do with the visions he's been having? Like that one when he was being beaten up and coughing blood?
This is all so confusing. Iron Fist, why do you have to be so freaking confusing?
To make my life worse, Coulson has organized a training session. And Iron Fist is supposed to be here. I'm sure he'll show up. I know that he won't make something as small sharing a really, really awkward moment with us as to come between the team's bond. Right?
It'll make things awkward talking to him or fighting with him after he told me that he's going to die. That'll be really awkward. I hate awkward.
You know what. I'm going to march in there and tell him what I think about this whole situation. Yeah, that it's stupid and annoying and how mad I am at him for not telling us what's actually going on? I am seriously pissed off.
And if he tries to calm me down with that fortune cookie junk. I'll just say, 'I don't want to hear your pathetic lingo, man,' like they did in that movie that I forgot the title off and the actor who said it.
I punch open the doors of the Training Centre and I storm into the room, like a boss.
"Iron Fist," - I pause when I see he's not here – "is not here," I sulk.
Coulson lays in the control room on the platform, looking like he's about to fall asleep. My teammates lie on the floor in different positions in different areas.
"There you are Webhead," White Tiger hisses. "We've been waiting for an hour."
"Where's Iron Fist?" I ask, ignoring Tiger.
"He still in his room," Powerman answers.
"Still? But he's supposed to be here," I state, angrily.
"So were you," Nova says. "Now come on. I want to get this Training biz out of the way."
"Get in position, Spider-man," Coulson says through the microphone in the control room.
"No!" I shout. "You know what we should do instead? We should march right into Iron Fist's room and demand that he tells us what this whole dying sitch is. Who's with me?"
"If it means ditching Training, I'm in," Nova says.
"Same here," Powerman agrees.
We wait for White Tiger to say something.
She sighs.
"I'm in too," she mutters.
Before Coulson can yell at us, we march out of the room and into the cabin section of the Strata-carrier, like a boss.
I knock – no, I bang on Danny's door, like a boss.
"Danny! Open up! NOW!" I shout, like a boss.
I don't hear an answer. I lean my ear against the door. I hear moans, yowls of pain and curses. All of them belong to Danny. I get worried.
"Iron Fist! Are you OK?" I shout, sounding less serious.
No answer but the noises get louder.
"Powerman, knock down his door!" I order.
The door snaps open in one swoop of Powerman's punch.
Iron Fist's room is a mess. Never mind that. Iron Fist is in the corner. His back turned to us and is sitting on the floor, cross-legged.
The back of his arms move, but I can't see what he's doing. He continues to hiss in pain.
"Spider-man – ah – p-please leave," he begs without turning around.
White Tiger walks up to him and pulls on his collar, spinning him around to face us. I gasp at what I see.
Iron Fist is covered in blood. His hands seem to be bitten in every direction and fresh blood trickles down his bitten fingers. His mouth is dotted with blood, in the corner of his lips. His orange t-shirt is stained with blood almost everywhere.
What has he been doing?
He's been biting himself. Any idiot, like Nova, can figure that out. But why?
"Danny…" I mutter.
There's a moment of silence as we study Danny's self-inflicted cuts. He's the first one to break the silence.
Danny suddenly breaks into laughter, showing his blood-stained teeth. Madman laughter. Not exactly villainous, but untimely more or less. He gets louder and louder until tears of joy form in the corner of his eye. He wipes it away, his laughing dying down.
I am officially creeped out. In the movies, isn't it a bad thing to be near someone laughing like a psychoneurotically disturbed psychopath covered in blood?
He stands up and rubs his hands together, spreading the blood around evenly. I almost hurl. If I start now, I think I can make a good distance between us before he pulls out the knife.
"I apologize, my friends," he says, smiling. "I didn't expect a visit from you. If I had known you were coming, I would have tidied up. And maybe I would have washed of the blood from my hands."
"Iron Fist, what did you do?" I manage to gasp out of my throat.
"I made my iron fists utterly useless," he answers calmly and with a grin.
He walks over to his dresser and goes through his draws, taking out a strand of thin bandages and a towel. He wipes his mouth with the white towel, staining it.
"What? Why?" Nova says.
"For when they come," Iron Fist continues as he wraps his right hand neatly in the thin bandages.
"Who are they?" Powerman asks.
"People," Iron Fist says as he wraps.
"Oh, great! We know they're people. Instead, of mutant dragons after your flesh," I say sarcastically.
"I guess," Iron Fist says, moving onto his left hand.
"What people?" White Tiger asks.
Danny shrugs.
"People," he says again.
"Danny, this isn't funny," I say.
"I never said it was," he says calmly.
Before I can blow a fuse, the room begins to shake. An earthquake? But we're in flight. An air-quake?
"They're here." Danny smiles to himself.
"Who are here?" I ask even though I know it'll be hopeless.
The lights in Iron Fist's cabin flash red and an alarm plays loudly. Speakers from the walls outside of the cabin deliver Nick Fury's voice.
"All soldiers on deck. Perimeter breached. This is not a drill."
"They're here," Iron Fist mutters again.
"Yeah, we heard you the first time," I say.
I run out of the room and my team follow, including Iron Fist. We head to the main deck where Nick Fury is standing in front of a holographic computer.
"Fury, what's wrong?" I say, panting slightly from all the running I've done.
"There's an intruder. They are unidentified and we can't find them," he says.
"Why? Have they shut down the security?" White Tiger asks.
"No," Nick Fury retorts.
"Maybe they have an invisibility cloak," Powerman suggests.
"We can't locate their heat signatures anywhere," Nick Fury says.
"Then, how do you know that there's an intruder?" Buckethead asks.
"They have set off alarms on the roof and in seven rooms in the tri-carrier as if they're looking for something," he explains. "As soon as they enter a room, they disappear of the radar and we can't catch them on camera. Like they can teleport."
I spot, in the corner of my eye, Iron Fist smiling to himself, almost laughing.
"What's so funny?" I ask.
"They're coming," he says again.
"Who?" Nick Fury asks.
"They."
The ground shakes again.
"Sir, the intruder has been located in another room," one of the S.H.I.E.L.D agents using a holo-computer says.
"Where are they?" Fury asks.
"They're in the Training Centre, sir."
I run off towards the Training Centre and my team follow. We barge into the door like Rhinos.
The Training Centre is dark. Some of the lights have been turned off. What's more shocking is seeing Coulson on the floor out cold.
"Coulson!" I shout. We run over to him.
"What happened?" Tiger asks.
"He's… everywhere!" is Coulson's reply before going back into unconsciousness.
A girly giggle echoes through all directions of the dark room.
"Are you sure it's a he?" I say.
The giggle returns.
I spot Danny, his smile disappearing. He looks… sad, miserable even. What's going on?
"Where are you?" Nova screams, lighting the room with his glow.
Another giggle is his only answer.
He begins shooting bolts randomly around the room.
Iron Fist drops to his knees, his expression is unreadable.
"Iron Fist, what's going on?" Powerman asks.
"I'll miss you when they take me." His voice is barely above a whisper.
"Will you shut up?" Tiger snaps angrily.
Suddenly, my Spidey-sense hits me hard. And it seems to be coming from behind me. I turn around to come face to face with a vampire mask.
"Boo!"
"Ahh!" I scream, jumping into Powerman's arms.
The vampire mask giggles without its fangs moving.
The mask falls to the floor to reveal another mask. A girl wearing a white mask that covers most of her face except for the layer of her dark blue eyes. Long blonde hair flows upwards in a ponytail and then down her back. She is wearing a white ninja suit that shows her arms from her shoulders to her wrists. A black belt of knives lay over her waist. A wide black sheath with a samurai sword handle sticking out hangs over her back. Over the chest of her ninja outfit is a black Chinese symbol.
'乌鸦'
"You should had seen your face, dude," she says. "I was like 'BOO!' and you were like 'Ahh!'. Comedy gold."
"Yeah… so, who are you and what are you doing here?" I ask, climbing off Powerman.
"I'm… here to pick up a friend," she says, turning towards Iron Fist. "Ready to go, Daniel."
Danny remains silent on his knees, his hair covering his expression.
"Danny, is that the person who's going to take you?" Luke asks.
His hair shakes slightly as he nods.
"Take you where?" Nova asks.
"To his death," the girl says dastardly.
I gasp.
"I'm sorry but I'm not going to let you take my teammate," I declare.
The girl laughs girlily (Don't care if that ain't a word.)
"That's adorable!" she mocks. "You think you can decide the fate of your friend. That's hilarious." Her voice suddenly becomes creepy. Like stalker creepy. "Daniel has already witnessed what lies for him in the future. There's no going back. He shall pay for what he's done."
"What? Danny didn't do anything. He wouldn't hurt a fly," I say.
"Really?" The girl pretends to be shocked. "And did he tell you that."
"Well, no but…" I don't know how to finish that sentence.
"Tick, tock, tick,
"Time is running out,
"I hear the shadows calling for me,
"I must join them. No doubt," the girl says, randomly.
Rhymes? Really?
Before I can comment on that, she begins to sink into the ground quickly. Her faint shadow becomes darker as more of her is sucked into the floor. When she is no longer visible, the spot that is her shadow moves around, further into the darkness.
Uhh, weird but I've seen weirder.
The Training Centre, abruptly, becomes pitch black. The only source of light is Buckethead but it's enough.
"You may run, hide but don't beg,
"Anything but that,
"Listen, look and hear the shadows,
"That's where you'll find me at."
The girl's voice echoes throughout the Centre.
"Danny, was I right when I said that you didn't do anything?" I ask him. "When I said that you wouldn't hurt a fly?"
"Not exactly. I do squash flies," he jokes, still on his knees.
"Where is she?" Nova begins blasting beams randomly again.
"No brutal. No force.
"Hand him over. Be nice.
"Whether you see me or not,
"Your comrade will pay the price."
"Pay the price?" I repeat.
"Is she talking about you?" White Tiger says to Danny.
Iron Fist finds his way to his feet.
"Yes, my friends," he says. His hair still covers his expression. "Please, just let me be. I don't want you to follow the same fate as me."
I'm just going to assume that he rhymed by accident.
"Stop talking rubbish," Powerman scoffs.
"WHAT DO YOU WANT WITH DANNY?" I shout at the top of my lungs.
"Your friend is a criminal,
"He shall take his final breath.
"As he has committed a crime,
"Punishable by death."
"Crime? What crime?" Buckethead says.
"He is a thief,
"He has stolen from the King of Yauwa.
"He has dishonoured K'un L'un,
"And I shall be his murderer."
Stolen from the king of Yauwa. What does that mean?
"Enough of this," White Tiger shouts. "Show yourself!"
"Awe, but we're having so much fun.
"You can know Daniel's sin.
"You have a chance to learn,
"The secrets he has hidden."
As much as I want to end these annoying rhymes, spooky shadow girl has a point. We have a chance to know what this whole event is about.
"Wait. What secrets?" I say quietly.
Iron Fist's eyes widen.
"Don't tell them!" He shouts. "Don't get them involved."
"Hush young monk,
"It's my turn to play.
"You have had your fun,
"But it's my turn to say."
"Any question you'd like to know,
"I can answer anything you can throw."
Answer anything, you say.
"What did Danny steal?" I ask.
"The Chi Bang coin, so rare,
"He stole one half, he was hostile.
"King Michael Crowt wants it back,
"He is the son of the former King, King Kyle."
"What's a Chi Bang coin?" I say. I think I've heard that before.
"The Chíbang Dragon.
"It is a cage for that creature,
"Mankind will fall at its feet,
"Chaos is its best feature."
Her rhymes just keep getting worse and worse.
"What is the Chíbang Dragon?" I ask.
"A dragon of course,
"Eating people is its behaviour,
"And it rewards eternal life,
"To its saviour."
I'm having trouble processing the things she has just said. All I know is that Danny stole some coin and this king is pissed off at him for it and they're going to kill him. And this coin is important because it contains some Dragon that eats people. I don't quite understand the eternal life thing. If you understand, don't bother telling me. It's probably not that important.
"Now that I have enlightened you,
"Will you ever be so kind,
"As to hand over the traitor,
"I'm almost running out of time."
"No! Danny stays with us," Nova shouts, blasting more beams at nothing.
"Very well then." The girl's voice is concentrated to one area; behind us.
I swear I'll punch her if she tries to scare me again. Instead, she is arising from the shadows. As soon as she's out, the room illuminates. The darkness disappears.
"I love doing things the hard way," she says. I'm just happy she stopped rhyming.
The first attacker is Nova. But the weirdest thing happens. He shoots a laser beam at her. She doesn't move. The beam doesn't hit her. It circles around her like it is stuck in orbit around her waist.
"Hula hooping," she says and begins twirling her hips as if Nova's beam is a hula hoop.
I've seen weirder.
"What? Come on," Nova whines.
"Bam!" The beam detaches itself from the girl at the sound of that word.
It heads back at Nova, twice the speed and knocks him out of the picture.
"And then there were three," the girl says.
"Bring it on!" White Tiger says.
So you pretty much know how fights go. White Tiger tries to claw her and stuff but the girl dodges every single attack, like she's more agile than Ava. Then, Powerman tries to punch her but only gets in the way of White Tiger.
For some reason, my feet don't move. I just observe. Iron Fist is looking away from the fight, his expression; unreadable. Nova picks himself of the floor and joins the battle, only to be blasted by his own beam again.
My eyes go back to the fight. The girl in white kicks White Tiger in the head, knocking her onto the ground. The girl then stamps on Ava's forehead, knocking her out. Ouch! At least she wasn't wearing high heels.
Now it's just her and Powerman.
Powerman and Rhyming girl!
VERSUS!
FIGHT!
Why am I observing? I should be out there showing that girl who's boss.
"Danny…" My faint voice gets his attention. "Why – Why didn't you tell us about your… crime spree?"
"What was the point?" he says. "You would only get frustrated by trying to help me even though, I'm beyond help."
"No, you're not!" I snap.
"Whatever you want," he murmurs. "Just promise me one thing. Hand me over. I don't want Kadisha to kill you."
He points to the unconscious White Tiger. Her forehead is bleeding wildly and staining her white costume. She is unconscious, right? Of course she is.
"Wait! Haven't I heard the name, Kadisha, before?" I say, going back to my thoughts.
"You should recognise her. I've been meeting with her every day since the Wednesday last week," he says.
"That's the girl who may or may not be your ex-girlfriend?"
He smiles and nods.
"I guess she's not over the break-up yet. Now she's trying to hunt you down," I state. "I don't understand why someone who is trying to arrest you and kill you has been visiting you for the last… eight days."
"As I've said before, she's an old friend. As in, we were friends… Once."
"Not completely sure what that meant." I draw my attention back to the throw down.
Kadisha is repeatedly punching Powerman in the face. Her hands are so quick, they leave a blur. Finally, she delivers the final punch which knocks Powerman off his feet.
KNOCKOUT!
Before Kadisha can turn towards me, something grabs her. I look at her feet to see that she's being sucked into the shadows again. Come on! No more rhymes.
"Let go!" she shouts as her head is disappearing into the darkness.
That's peculiar. When her shadow spot begins moving, a series of punches and loud demands feel the room.
The spot flies up the wall, close to the distant ceiling. The girl falls out of her shadow and lands face-first on the ground.
"What just happened?" I ask Iron Fist.
He shrugs.
"That was totally uncalled for!" she shouts at her shadow.
The shadow moves back to the ground and another head appears. Some dude jumps out of his shadow. He's wearing an identical ninja suit of Kadisha's, except his is black and the giant symbol of '乌鸦'is in white instead of black. The belt around him is white also and contains much more knives and stuff. On his back, instead of a sword, are some arrows and a bow in a sheath.
"Enough playtime! We have a job to do!" he says to Kadisha.
"Iron Fist, any chance you know this douchebag?" I ask him.
"His name is Carden."
"If I'm going to arrest one of my friends, can't I at least have fun with it?" Kadisha says as she picks herself off the floor.
"No!" The boy hisses at her.
Nova manages to get up and being the idiot he is, he still shoots a beam at Kadisha.
The beam doesn't even reach her before it changes course, hitting Nova and possibly knocking him out.
"Daniel, are you coming or what?" Carden says.
Danny steps forward but I block his path. I never promised that I would hand him over.
"You have to get through me first," I say as threateningly as I can. Fail!
Carden sighs, annoyed.
"Listen, Peter is it?
"How do you-
"Hand him over!" he orders.
"Make me," I say childishly.
I feel myself grab Iron Fist's arm but I didn't do that. Must be my Spidery-sense. But would my Spidey-sense force me to move closer to the villain, still clutching on Iron Fist?
"What am I doing?" I say as I slowly step closer and closer. "Bad feet! Stop!"
I try to take control of my legs but I do not avail. I find myself moving closer and closer. He's controlling my legs like he did with Nova's beam. How? He's not even moving.
My legs finally stop when I'm two feet away from him. My arms move to grab Iron Fist's shoulders. I push him towards Carden. I sink to my knees and don't move. Not that I have a choice. I'm stuck in this position.
"Ready to go, Daniel," Kadisha says.
Iron Fist nods. He turns around, his hands around his back, ready to be handcuffed.
"You're not going to even try to escape?" Kadisha asks astonished.
Iron Fist shakes his head.
"Not even going to say goodbye to your friends or try to talk me out of it by reminding me what good friends we were?" she continues.
Iron Fist shakes his head again.
"Kadisha, just take him away already!" Carden hisses at her.
"Way to take the fun out of this, Daniel," she mutters as she pulls handcuffs out of nowhere.
That girl is not right.
Carden moves back to the wall. He outlines a huge circle on it. A big black spot appears.
"Take him in," he says.
Kadisha pushes Iron Fist through the hole. It seems to be some sort of portal. That must have been how they travelled from room to room in the Tri-carrier.
Carden undoes his spell on me as soon as Iron Fist is out of sight. I get onto my feet. I shoot a web at him but the web changes course and blinds me.
I remove the webbing from my eyes as fast as I can. But the portal's gone. Kadisha and Carden are gone. Danny's gone.
We failed.
How is that? Your opinion is really important to me. Did I add something that wasn't necessary or did I do well or did I did terrible. What did you fins funny? What did you find sad?
Please tell me.
It's important... sort of.
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