Chapter 26: Releasing the Phantom
"Ugh… Stupid, degenerate, undisciplined…" Taskmaster sulked on the commander's chair in front of the command terminal after learning of the team's escape out of the city. Deadpool popped his head out from behind the terminal.
"Hey, Tasky! What's eating you?" Deadpool curiously asked.
"Nothing… Just that my men have failed to destroy Spider-Man and his team! Iron Man has transported them via a jet out of the island and out of my reach…" Taskmaster stood up and interacted with the terminal again, this time with grief. "I'll get them yet."
"Oooooooh, that's a bummer… sucks, oh well! Hey can you turn off that communications block you have over the city for just a few seconds!?" Deadpool inquired with enthusiasm.
"What?!" Taskmaster glanced at Deadpool. "Why do you want it down?"
"Well… I want to order subs from a really nice place downtown and I need to be able to call them! Plus they have a totally awesome deal on their combos! And I'm hungry! They got nothing but junk up here in this helicarrier, I want some real food, maaaan!" Deadpool pleaded. Taskmaster gave him a blank stare.
"Do you take what we're doing here seriously… at all?" Taskmaster finally asked.
"Nope! Not really! I'm just waiting to be paid is all! So will you… please turn it off for just a little bit?" Deadpool asked one last time while bowing his head as though he were some sort of angel.
"No." Taskmaster returned his attention to the terminal.
"What?! Why!? I'm staaaaarving!" Deadpool dropped to his knees and begged dramatically. "I missed lunch and dinner time is almost over! Don't let me starve, Taskmaster! Pleaaaaseee, I beg you!"
"We brought enough food on this operation to last us a week, why haven't you gone to our agents handling that and asked for food?" Taskmaster asked while still interacting with the terminal, watching troop movements in the city.
"You expect me to eat those ready-to-eat meals?! Are you kidding me?! Hey! I may be a mercenary but I eat like a king!" Deadpool demanded, but Taskmaster ignored him. "You're going to make me angry, huh? Well listen here, you won't like it if I'm angry!"
Taskmaster sighed. "You're not the Hulk, Deadpool. I highly doubt you'll ever become a Hulk anytime soon."
"You don't know that! They might make a story about me one day! You'll see! And I shall become… Hulkpool!" Deadpool exclaimed valiantly.
"Ha… Give me a break, Deadpool." Taskmaster shook his head.
"Okay, okay! Maybe not anytime soon but whaaaatever! Will you help me order the subs now?! C'mon, Tasky! I know you love-a the fancy meatball sub-a!" Deadpool tried to coerce Taskmaster in an Italian accent.
"No." Taskmaster repeated himself.
"Grrrr! Damn you, Tasky! You're just no fun!" Deadpool marched away in anger.
Taskmaster just shook his head. "I'm beginning to regret ever making a truce with him."
As the heavy thunderstorm over the city continued as the day now turned into evening, Iron Man guided the team inside the jet over the old industrial district where Taskmaster's old hideout was said to be. They found a small landing spot in what appeared to be a junkyard and they quickly got out, meeting up with Iron Man.
"Whew, that was a close one!" Iron Man stated with relief. "I was almost sure that missile was going to get you guys."
Yeah, no kidding, it almost did… Gee, I hope S.H.I.E.L.D. can teach me some flying lessons after all this is over, I don't want to be put in that situation again.
"Yeah, and thanks for watching out after those fighters got on our tail. I thought for sure we were going to get downed, then." Spider-Man told Iron Man in a relieved tone as well.
"You should've let me take the wheel, Spider." Tiger shook her head. "Reckless, much?"
"It is all right, White Tiger. He did well under pressure." Iron Fist assured her.
I'm really going to need to have a make-up talk with her if she's ever going to get off my back about what happened to Nova and Powerman…
"Iron Fist is right, as long as we're all okay, that's the important part. I'm sorry I couldn't send for an actual jet with weapons, I just wanted us out of here fast enough and a stealth jet was all I could think about… they aren't built to attack." Iron Man apologized as he placed a hand on his black jet, as though he were proud of his piece of machinery. "Anyway, the good news is that we're out of the helicarrier's communications block, we can freely contact anybody out here now."
"Really?! Well, jeez, finally!" White Tiger exclaimed.
"Yep. But now we need to bust your 'Phantom' friend out of this hideout." Iron Man crossed his arms. "Like I said, I don't agree with this plan, but I'm trusting you with it, Spidey."
Wow… an Avenger trusting me with this responsibility? Man, he must've lost some serious bet with the Avengers to be allowing me to do this!
"You think there's any chance of counting on the other Avengers coming to help?" Spidey curiously asked.
"I hope so, kid. We weren't really expecting this to be together all at once, even if we share the same Tower. I might be able to summon up Thor and Hulk, but as for Hawkeye, Black Widow, and the Captain… well, they might show up to the party late." Iron Man solemnly told them. "We're on our own for now until S.H.I.E.L.D. can come back us up with some reinforcements… because I don't know if you three know this but that helicarrier has a very powerful nuclear engine that keeps those propulsion systems afloat. Now, if I were Taskmaster, and I end up getting cornered by S.H.I.E.L.D... my last bet would rely on destroying that engine… it would go nuclear."
That's…not good.
"How come the last helicarrier didn't have that?" Tiger asked.
"Because that helicarrier ran by a different engine, not nuclear powered and I figured I could improve on it by using a nuclear engine this go around when Fury asked me to design another helicarrier as well as that precious tri-carrier that the Triskelion decided to whisk away for maintenance months ago." Iron man answered.
"So, you are saying that the worst-case scenario would be that helicarrier blowing up, and wiping out the entire city?" Iron Fist asked.
"That's exactly what I'm saying." Iron Man nodded. "There's an automatic protocol that disables the nuclear reactant inside the engine when these emergencies happen. I just don't know whether or not Taskmaster knows about this. If he does, then that's a problem, because it can be shut off for maintenance reasons, if he doesn't… well… then if the helicarrier were to get shot down, the engine would turn itself off to avoid an incident."
Great, the list of problems just seem to stack up right now…We have a zealous Taskmaster who's taken over the city, a maniac Deadpool helping him out, a Phantom to break out of a prison, and now a nuclear-explosive helicarrier! What more do we have to worry about?!
"Then we better hope he doesn't know about it." Spider-Man stated. "The sooner he's stopped the better."
"Agreed… So are we going to break Phantom out or what?" Iron Man asked.
"Let's do it." Spider-Man nodded, and so they disembarked through the old industrial district of the city, where most of the streets were abandoned aside for a few squatters underneath bridges and in old buildings.
Iron Man watched ahead flying low, while the rest of the team led the way by the directions Coulson had given Iron Fist to the hideout. Spidey knew that it was the right place; even Phantom told him where the location was. All that had to be done now was to get there, get Phantom out, and go get Taskmaster.
"You all right, Fernand?" Phantom asked the dying man in his cell.
"Not doing…so good." Fernand's forehead was sweating, and it was obvious that he was running a fever, possibly from an infection originating with his wound. "I'm not…bleeding anymore."
"Yes, I…saved you from that." Phantom told him, trying to avoid it.
I made a choice, and it's one I have to stand by. Still, he needs to be properly medicated. Come on, Spider-Man… hurry.
"Thank… you, Alejandro." Fernand nodded his head with a faint smile. "You truly are… a hero."
"No… I'm no hero, Fernand. I never was… but I'm not the villain either." Phantom calmly told him. Fernand forced himself to sit up off the makeshift bed. Phantom helped him up and he rested up against the grimy wall of the cell, avoiding his wound from touching it to avoid worsening the infection.
"Whenever Maria spoke about you, she always referred to you as a man trying to change the world, trying to save everyone from dying. She's always admired you, and after years of thinking you were dead… we all ended up admiring you from the stories she told of you, Alejandro." Fernand told him, coughing between the sentences. Phantom just sat and listened to the man.
Hmph… I just remember a young fool who gave up so much trying to make things right… My youth… gone from serving, always serving… as both a militant, and an agent of S.H.I.E.L.D., which ended up costing me my life…
"And I thank you for that, Cruz. I don't think I ever could have been able to do all that in my life… I wanted a good life, a better one than the one my parents had…" Fernand told him.
I'm not here to listen to his life story…
"Are you saying I didn't live a good life?" Phantom caught that sentence in Fernand's words.
"No, I didn't mean that… I just meant I don't think I could've ever accomplished all the things you did. The military, working at S.H.I.E.L.D…. I guess I just wasn't the kind of man ready to be a part of that, but I admire those that do." Fernand clarified to Phantom.
There's nothing admirable about all that… I didn't do much in my time in the military and I didn't do anything of note when I worked with S.H.I.E.L.D…. I was an agent, with accomplishments that were never known to the public… I don't want a 'thanks' for any of it.
"What happened? How did Taskmaster find you?" Phantom then asked Fernand, trying to change the subject.
I kind of don't want to know about the things Maria has said about me… it just reminds me of how many things I've missed in a span of sixteen years… a painful thing I'm trying so desperately to forget.
"Oh… now that was a bad thing." Fernand straightened himself out before continuing, his wound still obviously giving him pain. "We were enjoying dinner when a bunch of masked soldiers showed up at our apartment door. I thought it was S.H.I.E.L.D. at first, and that they were trying to look for you. But they threw me down to the floor and tied my wrists, putting a black bag over my head as I yelled for Maria and Selena to run and… they couldn't escape in time."
I'm going to make Taskmaster pay… I swear it…
"I see…" Phantom didn't want Fernand to have to live through that painful memory. "I'm… terribly sorry that Taskmaster reeled you into this…"
"It's fine… Alejandro, I understand…"
"But why? Why do you understand?" Phantom couldn't make sense of it. "How are you so reasonable? I've never met a person who can endure so much and not feel some sort of remorse towards it. You know I won't be offended if you're angry that this has happened."
"Ah, well, Cruz… I'm nothing if not a man who knows how to endure. I always try to look on the brighter side of things, I do my best. I might've not had endured the harsh things done to you, but believe me when I say I don't blame you for any of this… It's not your fault." Fernand's reasonable nature was almost alien to Phantom's thinking.
Hmph… If he had to endure a life-changing experiment that practically destroyed the human he once was and was forced to be imprisoned in a cell for sixteen long years then I'm sure he would feel differently about that… or maybe not. Perhaps that is where he and I differ, I refuse to understand why bad things happen to good people… but he seems to just take the punches, and carries on with optimism. I like his spirit, but it doesn't do me any good.
Fernand felt for his back as seemed to had felt a sharp pain arise. "Argh… damn this."
Phantom helped him lay back on the make shift bed. He didn't have anything else to exchange the bloody shirt underneath with, so he turned the shirt around so that the clean end touched his skin. He didn't want that infection to worsen, especially with the fever he was coming up with.
"Just, rest some more, Fernand. We'll be out of here, soon." Phantom assured him as he stood back up and looked over the iron bars to the rest of the cell block.
We're running out of time, Spider-Man.
The team took cover behind the large concrete wall that surrounded what was left of the old Oscorp facility. Iron Man landed on the ground with them to avoid detection from whatever was beyond the wall.
"Give me a second while I quickly scan the area to see what we're up against." Iron Man whispered to the group as he stood away from the wall and quietly hovered up high into the clouds to avoid being seen.
Jeez… this facility is huge! I wonder how the heck a private army was able to hide itself here, especially one as large enough to attack Manhattan with!
"I'm going to sneak around to see if there's another angle to enter with." Tiger whispered to Iron Fist and Spider-Man. She snuck past them and around the corner of the wall.
Now's my chance to talk to her for a bit!
"I'll be right back." Spidey whispered to Iron Fist, who just stared blankly as he followed Tiger around the corner.
"I shall be here, I guess." Iron Fist whispered to himself.
Spider-Man snuck up on Tiger as she stopped to peek over a corner in the wall, she quickly pinned him to the wall with her claws at his throat, thinking he was an enemy. She got off of him as soon as she realized it was him. "Don't sneak up on me like that, you know I hate surprises."
Yep… I sure do know that now.
"Look, what's your problem?!" Spider-Man whispered loudly to her, she turned to give him a blank look.
"What are you talking about, web-head?"
"You know exactly what I'm talking about! You're giving me hell about leaving Nova and Powerman behind, so much so you're using it against me for everything! Look, I know I messed up all right?! Whatever happened to them is my problem to handle!" Spider-Man told her loudly, all in whisper.
"You think I don't know that?! Damn it, Spidey! What was the first thing Fury told us to do when we got together as a team!? To work together as a team! How could you have forgotten that?!"
"I made a bad call, Tiger…" Spider-Man sighed. "I feel bad for leaving those two! If I could change time, I would so that we can go back and have fought them off as a team!"
Tiger just remained silent, crossing her arms and leaning up on the wall.
The silent treatment… nice, Tiger. That's definitely the mature thing to do!
"If you're mad at me, fine, I just didn't want… I didn't…" Spidey shook his head. Tiger looked at him, waiting for him to finish his sentence. "I didn't want my mistake to ruin what you and I have… granted, I care about what Iron Fist thinks about the decision too but… I don't know what I'd do if I lost your support in this too… The fact is, I can't do this alone… I… need you."
Tiger just looked at the ground, trying to make sense of what Spider-Man just said. She was obviously thinking about it.
(Sigh)… I'm just going to go back to Iron Fist before I make her angrier than what she already is…
"I'll just… I'll go back to Iron Fist… I'm just… sorry." Spider-Man started to walk back before Tiger stopped him by placing her hand on his shoulder.
"I'm… sorry too, Spidey." Tiger softly told him. "I didn't want to say it but… really it was all our fault. All three of us decided to leave Nova and Powerman behind… for the sake of the mission."
Huh! Well I never thought about it that way, I always thought since being the leader of the group, the fault just fell on top of me!
"I don't want you blaming yourself for that, Tiger. I don't want anybody to feel that way for a decision I made."
"When Fury first contacted us about forming this team a long time ago, I didn't want to. I thought him pairing me up with you knuckleheads was about the dumbest thing anyone's ever asked of me. And heck, it was hard the first few weeks having to adjust living on the helicarrier with them. But they grew on me, and before you came along, we all looked out for each other." Tiger explained to Spidey. "Hell, even after you came along, we still looked out for each other at school. Why do you think we never hung out with anyone else besides each other?"
That would explain a lot, yeah.
"The fact of the matter is, Spider, is that we're a family now." Tiger finally stated what she was trying to say. "We don't leave family behind."
"I know that, Tiger…" Spider-Man hung his head low. "I hope they're okay."
She nudged his chin up. "Chin up, web-head. We're still not done, yet. The sooner we get Phantom out, the faster we can get to dealing with Taskmaster… but I got a couple of things to tell him first." She beckoned Spidey to follow him as they continued to scan the concrete wall.
"Like what?"
"Like I'll claw his face out if he tries something against you, again." Tiger answered.
Well then! This will be a lot more interesting than I had thought. We got Iron Man who got beat by the Phantom and now White Tiger who's mad at him for beating the snot out of me on the bridge… and then there's Iron Fist… who couldn't be mad at anybody for anything. Good ol Iron Fist the Human Fortune Cookie.
After a few minutes of scanning the perimeter of the concrete wall, they couldn't find any other means of getting through it other than jumping through it. The front gate was reinforced and locked. So they headed back to where Iron Fist just sat, leaned up against the wall waiting for somebody to come back to him.
"Sorry to have kept you waiting, Iron Fist." Spidey apologized to Iron Fist, who stood up as he saw them approach.
"It is all right, friend. I just hope whatever angry storm you two had between each other is at calm." Iron Fist calmly told them.
I wouldn't call it a storm, more like a catastrophic apocalypse whenever Tiger and I get at each other's throat for something. She and I are both pretty damn stubborn.
From the sky, Iron Man returned, hovering quietly as he landed on the ground in front of them. "Well, I scanned the facility. But what do you want to hear first, the scanning of the facility or the news that I bring?"
"Let's go with the news, Iron Man." Spider-Man told him.
"Well, I made a call while I was up in the sky back to Jarvis at Stark Industries. The National Guard's been alerted to what's happened and has sent an entire division to come try take it back. They're stationed at the shores surrounding the island, nothing can go in however, because of the defenses Taskmaster's set up." Iron man told them. "On the other hand, S.H.I.E.L.D.'s dispatched a task force to come help them."
Well that's great and all but that's it? We have the army and some S.H.I.E.L.D. help but…
"…and, I was able to get Hulk, Thor, and the Captain to come back us up." Iron Man crossed his arms.
"Holy cow! You mean, you got the Avengers to come help out?!" Spider-Man was amazed.
"Well most at least, Hawkeye and Black Widow are just going to have to sit this one out while they're doing their assignments around the world. They said they'd be here soon but by the time they're here, we'll be long done with whatever outcome." Iron Man clarified. "But the rest will be here soon, I informed S.H.I.E.L.D. to set up a forward operating base near the area once we get these guys out of the facility. They're still not letting up on Fury though, that will have to wait until after this is over."
Man, that's the news I wanted to hear! Taskmaster wouldn't be afraid of armies, but I know one thing for sure is that he knows he couldn't best the Avengers.
"What does resistance look like in there?" Iron Fist inquired.
"Ah yes, the scans! Well, it looks like Taskmaster left only a very small number of soldiers here, most likely a crew to destroy all evidence and serve as a back-up command post. I don't think we'll face a whole bunch of resistance here." Iron Man projected a holographic layout of the facility, with maybe less than fifty soldiers remaining in the building.
Well it's a good thing Taskmaster got careless when it came to this place. That'll make busting Phantom out of here much easier.
"So what's the plan?" Tiger asked Spidey, who gave it much thought.
"Well, Iron Man, since you're most effective when you're outside with room to fly, you think you can distract the majority of them by leading them outside so that the us three can sneak around into the building to search for Phantom and his family?" Spidey asked the Avenger, who nodded.
"I can definitely do that, kid. Just tell me where to go and we'll start." Iron Man jumped up and hovered a few feet from the ground.
"We can jump through this wall once Iron Man's got their attention." Tiger told Spidey as they readied to begin.
I've never tried to do a breaking and entering style kind of approach when it came to these things. I don' t like handing Iron Man the bulk of the action but we'll need to be quick and get Phantom and his family out of there instead of wasting time taking down bad guys.
"Let's go." Spidey gave the word and Iron Man flew out over the wall and made circles around the front of the facility. The rest poked their heads out of the top of the fence waiting for the soldiers to come out to engage Iron Man.
"Time to shake things up a bit." Iron Man started beaming away at the facility with a full force assault, causing loud explosions and sounding an alarm throughout the facility. Several soldiers came rushing out to shoot at Iron Man but he flew around too quickly for them to get a straight shot.
He shot missiles at them as well as shooting back at them but waited until a good number of them were outside before giving the team the nod which cued them to enter underneath the cloak of the dark storm raining above. They jumped over the concrete wall and snuck to the rear of the facility, behind where the fight between Iron Man and the soldiers took place.
"Over here." Spidey found a doorway and they entered the facility through there, entering an old and dim lit corridor that wreaked of gasoline.
That's not a good scent to smell… Good god… They have this entire place coated in gasoline… they intend to burn it to the ground! We should probably hurry before Iron Man accidentally lights the entire place on fire!
"That smells… really strong." Tiger coughed as they inhaled the gasoline fumes.
"Our masks should cover it for the most part Tiger, but Iron Fist, try to cover your mouth as best you can, don't inhale too much of this!" Spidey advised him as they trekked through the corridor.
"I'll try my best!" Iron Fist coughed.
As they ran through the corridors, they tried to locate wherever Phantom was located, either by a sign or a clue to some sort of prison.
Just listen for the whispers, Spidey, listen for the whispers.
They crossed corridors and stumbled upon a soldier trying to run outside. Iron Fist quickly stepped up and punched him across the face, knocking him out instantly. They stowed his unconscious body into a nearby closet to avoid any more soldiers finding out that they were in the facility.
The explosions from outside were trembling the old abandoned facility, and Spidey worried that it was going to fall right on top of them. He looked to his communicator and established a link with Iron Man.
"Hey Tony, you might want to calm it down outside! These walls are old and the entire place has been washed with gasoline! They're intending to burn this place up!" Spidey quickly informed him.
"Thanks for the heads-up, kid!" Iron Man replied.
"Man, this place is empty. You'd think finding a prison cell would be easier than this!" Tiger exclaimed as she coughed from the fumes of the gasoline. "This place is going to kill us if we don't find him soon!"
"We just got to keep looking for-.." Suddenly, Spidey heard the whispers, coming from a stairwell at the end of the long corridor. "I hear them! Come on!"
They rushed to the stairwell and ran downstairs as Spidey followed the constant voices of the whispering effect; undoubtedly Phantom was in the area. Spider-Man ran through a steel door in the basement and finally located a cell block with empty cells.
"He's got to be in here!" Spidey told the team as they dispersed looking through the cells. Suddenly, they heard gun clicks. They looked up above to the catwalks that held the other cells and saw three armed soldiers pointing their weapons at them.
"It's over, Spider!" The lead soldier called out. "You're not getting the Phantom out!"
Man! To come all this way just to be cornered by these guys! Spidey, you really got to work on not getting yourself stuck in these situations!
The team put their hands up and the soldiers started walking down towards them. Suddenly, the whispering effect picked up in the entire area, causing the team and Spider-Man to stumble down in pain of the loud whispers. The soldiers themselves turned mad from it and the two fled the cell block, leaving the lead soldier behind.
"Come back you bastards! We got the weapons to kill him!" The lead soldier cried as he covered his ears in pain. He turned to the cell block in front of him and tried shooting his rifle but the rifle was taken from him and he got hit right in the face with the butt of the rifle, causing him to fall backwards from the catwalk and head first into the floor below.
Ouch…
The whispering effect immediately stopped as the team recovered from the ground. Tiger made sure the soldier was gone for good and looked up at the cell; they couldn't see who attacked the soldier. She picked up a set of keys the soldier had, possibly leading to opening the cell.
That's where he is…
The team walked up the stairwell leading up to the catwalks above and found his cell…
The Phantom stood, towering above them with his hands holding a uniquely modified rifle, the one that belonged to the soldier he just took out. He studied the team for a few seconds before speaking to them.
"Spider-Man, White Tiger, and Iron Fist… never in my lifetime did I think I'd ever be happy to see you." Phantom spoke with a somewhat cheerful yet moot tone.
I guess that's as good as a 'thank you' that I'll ever get from this guy…
"I don't get it…" Spider-Man stated at last as Tiger handed him the keys to open the door.
"What?" Phantom asked as he turned to glance at what appeared to be somebody else in the cell lying down at the corner.
"You've infiltrated some high-tech areas with little to no effort yet you can't get out of a simple iron cell?" Spider-Man asked, pointing out the tough irony of it all.
Drawing nearer and nearer to the end of the story! Hope you guys like this chapter! I might be out for a bit these next set of days, so I'll do my best to update the story as soon as I can! As always, feedback is appreciated, Thanks!