Authors Note: All properties are the rights of their respective owners, Marvel, Respawn Entertainment, etc.
Thanks to ravens18 for betaing this chapter.
By complete accident, this is the longest chapter to date so I won't say much, but I will be going back to weekly uploads, at least for a while.
Blaze1992: Yes, generally its just an out for me so I don't have to worry about logistics simply because this ain't that kinda story.
God of Vampires aka Alucard: To your point about Cooper needing Spartan-II like augmentations, I'll quote the Titanfall wiki. "Pilots do not require augmentation as part of their job, with the majority simply being the most skilled and disciplined soldiers the factions of the Frontier have to offer - in other words, Pilots are not supersoldiers, merely highly-trained and refined personnel with access to the best equipment their respective armies have to offer." So there is that, which also leads into why he has the exo. That enables him to recreate those 'superhuman' feats in a believable way. I'm not going to argue power levels, but the reason he doesn't have the same kind of strength or reflexes as Spidey is to differentiate them and give them a speciality. Cooper has the Titanfall arsenal while Parker has the edge in hand to hand with his superhuman abilities. There's also the matter that I don't want Coop to become an all powerful god or Mary Sue type or anything like that.
Lore and power aren't the main reasons, I just want to emphasize that. I like the fact that Cooper is just a guy, a badass guy, but with dedication and discipline anyone can become the same underneeth all the gear, armor, and tech. As those great Call of Duty ads say, "There is a soldier in all of us."
I hope that didn't come off as too rant-y, I just want to give a complete picture of how I view those things, because those choices are intentional ones that I put thought into. You can disagree, but I want you to understand exactly what you're disagreeing with. Now if only politics was handled the same way. Though if you have any question or comment that you wouldn't mind an excessive answer to, feel free to use that review button.
As for the chapter, we have a song most commonly associated with Pat Benatar and bagged her a third grammy. Not much to say, but in a chapter with two instances of women sneaking around under cover of darkness it was too on the nose to not use. Yes, that means we have another MJ stealth section, sorry, but I don't think they kill the pacing of the story like they did in the game. Also, the music video features Private Hudson himself, Bill Paxton, as a German radio operator, which is too weird of a factoid not to include.
Power Without Question – Chapter 37: Shadows of the Night
We're running with the shadows of the night
So baby take my hand, it'll be all right
Surrender all your dreams to me tonight
They'll come true in the end
And now the hands of time are standin' still
Midnight angel, won't you say you will
Felicia had missed this.
Lurking in the shadows, invisible in her catsuit as she felt the wind against the only part of her face that was exposed. Unlike her old gear, this set included a high tech mask and hood that covered her length of platinum blond hair, leaving only her nose, mouth, and chin exposed. A smirk played at her lips as she looked at her target, for the first time since her return, she was tackling a difficult one, the others had been cakewalks in comparison. Oscorp had been a tough nut to crack the first time, and now Sable International had added their own manpower and state of the art tech to bolster the already impressive defenses.
A spike of anger flared in her chest, both at Rawlins and at herself. Rawlins for what he had done to her, and herself for letting him scare her as much as he had. She couldn't believe she had fooled herself into thinking she could lead a normal life for so long, and now every heist she pulled off only reinforced her belief that she was the Black Cat. The feeling that she got was one nothing else could replicate, feeling liberated, yet one single error could change that in an instant.
That feeling was bolstered by another factor. Looking up, she blinked twice in quick succession, her mask sending out an IR pulse. After a second, she noticed a flash on the same frequency, the sensors for the night vision integrated into the softly glowing green eye lenses picking up the flash. Matthew was in position, and since they were operating on radio silence in order to not tip of Sable International, they had to resort to alternate methods.
Working with a partner was a new experience when it came to her burglaries, but not an unpleasant one. Even if said partner often had to keep his distance, the thought that he was watching her back was still comforting and motivating. Felicia had always had an exhibitionist streak in her and loved showing off, having Cooper as an audience was just another way for her to do that.
That thought brought a grin on her delicate features as she began to descend down the fire escape towards the ground, knowing full well that her Cowboy was probably checking her out through his rifle's scope. Once in the shadow of an awning, the Black Cat waited patiently for the next patrol to pass, eye lenses dimmed to be as black as the rest of her gear. Two men in white armor passed by, totally unaware of her presence before she emerged from the shadows and sprinted across the street and extending her claws to climb up the three-story building. The timer on her HUD displayed 13 seconds, more than enough time to get up and out of sight.
Once up, she allowed herself a short break to catch her breath, moving to the opposite edge of the rooftop to overlook the next section. This area was the block around the corporate headquarters and heavily defended with troops and automated security. To most people, the layers of watch towers, search lights, barriers, anti-riot minefields, roaming patrols, and heavy vehicles would make for an impenetrable defense, but Felicia Hardy was not most people.
Most of last night had been spent observing, looking for chinks in the armor, things she could exploit to get her inside the building. It hadn't taken her long to peel back the layers to reveal that the defense was meant to weather a massive siege more than provide airtight protection against a stealthy infiltrator. The main roads were mined, and the barriers were fitted with alarms, but the smaller checkpoints where Sable foot patrols came and went from had neither of these defenses.
Getting a feel for the timing as the searchlights swept up and down the street below, she saw what she had been waiting for, a squad of Troopers heading back to the checkpoint to be replaced by another. Anchoring her grapple to the roof, she quickly lowered herself down to street and got behind a van as the light swept past. "Anytime now boys, don't keep a girl waiting" encouraged Felicia quietly until she saw the barrier drop. Grinning in victory, she raised and fired her grapple hook at a radio tower as she swung through the darkness and through the opened barrier before gracefully landing on the radio tower.
Usually she would get the feeling of the wind whipping through her hair, but sadly she had to give that up for a bit of extra stealth. Still, she was able to see her destination, an underground car park and loading dock that was lightly defended due to its small size, though it did offer one unique benefit that suited her purposes:
Maintenance Access.
Only the space between her and the entrance was an open field with a pair of watchtowers and several quad rotor drones overlooking the space. But it didn't take Felicia long to subtly pick out the patrol patterns and decide on a route. Setting waypoints and timers to ensure she would avoid detection; the Black Cat stalked her way down the tower and steeled herself before making her first dash across the field.
At the waypoint, Hardy took stock of her surroundings and immediately noticed that something was wrong, one of the drones had deviated from its path and gone right where she had been a few seconds ago. Suppressing the flicker of panic that shot up, Felicia flicked through different vision modes until she settled on Magnetics and cursed her overconfidence.
Pressure sensors had been hastily buried on the lawn and linked to the patrolling drones. The resulting mounds would have been easy to spot in daylight, but at night and the amount of light limiting her ability to use night vision, she couldn't spot them until she was now in the middle of a minefield.
The Thief raced through her options and quickly settled on the only one that could work: misdirection. Using her claws to scoop up a lump of earth, she tossed it at a sensor in one direction and sprinted off in the opposite one, looking over her shoulder and smirking in satisfaction as one of the search beams adjusted to highlight the disturbance. Her victory was short-lived however as a drone was coming right at her, forcing to abandon her plan and move. Felicia had magnetics on and eyes to the ground while treading lightly to avoid any more hidden sensors.
Even though she had successfully thrown off that drone, the third was circling past; they were slowly boxing her in, narrowing down where she could be until they finally found her. Mentally cursing, she decided to reach into her bag of tricks, coming back with a fantastic gadget she had stolen from an arms dealer two years ago. Aiming the emitter of what looked like a tiny toy ray gun at the drone, she pressed the button on it and smiled as the drone bobbled in mid air before crashing, opening up her escape route. The burst of microwaves the device emitted served to 'jam' and fool the sensors, while the effects depended on the target, drones thought they were in a spin and tried to recover, thus crashing.
Escape route now open, the Thief bounded out of the closing killbox and towards her destination, reaching it and quickly picking the lock on the door to let her in, but just as the door swung open the Oscrop Tower and surrounding plaza was plunged into darkness. "Not that I needed the help, but it would be impolite to turn it away" she mused as she activated her night vision, the entire world now an eerie shade of green as she slinked her way inside and shut the door behind her.
Evading the few Sable troopers inside the garage was child's play for the Black Cat, and that was without the cover of darkness to help her. Even still, Sable was now on alert due to her 'help' as she crept through the loading bay and made her way to the maintenance elevators. Hearing a soft 'ding' at the end of the narrow hall and with nowhere else to hide, Felicia jumped up, planting her left foot to lift her higher before planting her right in the opposite wall and doing the splits, a foot pressed against either wall.
Smirking, the woman watched the two Sable men pass right beneath her, none the wiser of the view they were missing out on. Their loss she thought as she silently dropped down and stalked towards the elevator and slipped into the shaft, removing an ascender from her bandolier and attaching it to the elevator cable, the Black Cat swiftly shot skywards. From there it was mostly smooth sailing for the experienced burglar, the few laser grids in the maintenance elevator shafts were relatively simple for her to spoof or disable.
The whole plan from here on out was one she had developed for her first infiltration but hadn't used. While Oscorp patched the hole she had used, this one remained wide open, just how she liked them. Osborn's private lab was just below his office with a storage area attached to it that had its own cargo elevator. In fact, it was the cargo elevator that Felicia was watching come up at her as she dangled from a beam on the side of the shaft where a maintenance tunnel intersected with the shaft.
Releasing the beam, she fell only a few feet before the heels of her boots impacted the cargo elevator and she lay flat on it as her ears popped from the pressure change as she made the last leg of her ascent. The elevator approached its destination and Felicia was thankful she wasn't claustrophobic; there was scant little space for her in the gap between the roof of the elevator and the ceiling of the shaft. Waiting patiently as whatever was being moved was unloaded until she heard the doors close and felt the elevator begin to descend downwards.
Coming to a crouch, the Black Cat leapt with the agility of her namesake, burying her claws in the lip outside the doors of the storage area as the elevator continued to fall away. Pulling herself up, Felicia quickly set to work popping a panel off the wall before isolating and short circuiting the doors to open without raising any alarms. Slipping inside, she quickly made her way into the lab itself, her mind reflexively tallying up how much she could get for the scientific equipment.
After reminding herself how much more valuable the information she was after could be, the Black Cat slinked further inside the belly of the beast. Whatever this 'Devil's Breath' was, nothing else had scared her lover more than this nebulous compound, such an effect had spiked her curiosity considerably. Though one thing that didn't surprise her was that Norman Osborn was at the center of it all, the CEO had always been shady and slimy, his name popping up in too many places where it shouldn't have if it were squeaky clean. His association with the Kingpin that she and Cooper had exploited the previous year was simply the most egregious.
Taking creeps like Osborn down a peg had been what Felicia had set out to do when she began stealing all those years ago. Of course, profiting off it was a bonus she didn't hesitate to take advantage of along the way. No matter if it was jewels from the black market, money laundered by the Maggia, or art owned by the Kingpin, Felicia had always reaped the benefits of her labors. Some might have had issue with that, and for a while she thought Cooper would too, since he seemed the self-righteous type. But his response to the question had been music to her ears: It's not your actions that make you a hero or a villain, but rather who you do them to.
Ascending the stairs towards the executive offices, she paused at the door, removing a snake camera from her belt and using it to inspect what awaited her on the opposite side of the door. The muffled voices she could hear through the wooden door confirmed what the camera showed her. Norman Osborn walked past, though the accented female voice that answered him didn't escape Felicia's notice either.
"So both Osborn and Sable are here…interesting" mused the thief as she replaced the flexible wire and began to pick the lock to grant her access to her objective. Softly closing the door behind her, she stalked the CEO and Mercenary in complete silence, having to take extra care with the Symkarian present, though safe in the knowledge that a certain Cowboy was at her beck and call. Outside, she could see drones patrolling one side of the building where she hadn't seen them before, and Sable's body language was very tense as she constantly pressed in her earpiece to clearly hear the radio updates. It didn't take someone as cunning as the Black Cat to deduce that something was amiss.
She had a few thoughts about what that might be, and her infiltration was not one of them, she knew she was good enough to not be detected on her way into the skyscraper. However, the fact that her radio remained silent meant that whatever had Sable's panties in a twist wasn't pertinent or a threat. With that in mind, Felicia had to wait and bide her time as Osborn and Sable spoke in the office for some time.
Thankfully, she didn't have to wait for very long; first Sablinova emerged in a huff, clearly beyond irritated at whatever was transpiring inside. A few more minutes passed by before Norman emerged with a cellphone pressed to his ear. "I'm way ahead of you Wilson. I had my people go through all of your files. If you try to expose our business arrangement, it'll be your word against mine…and I'm not the one behind bars right now" hissed Osborn venomously before he got into an elevator and departed.
Not that she had any qualms about breaking into Oscorp to commit corporate espionage, but now any chance of that had been quashed by the man's admission in his own words. Even if she had known well before of their partnership it still sickened her that anyone could stand to work with the Kingpin of Crime while still parading himself as a paragon of virtue and an upstanding citizen worthy of governing the city. She was a thief, but she never pretended to be anything else, Cooper was the Marauder, but he never hid from what he did, but Osborn actively covered up his actions for his own gain and it was disgusting.
At the very least the man had the courtesy to leave the door to his office unlocked as she slipped inside and took in the modern space with modern styling and subtle lighting. Making her way to the far side of the room and sprawling desk with computer on top, she hummed to herself, running her fingers over the fine wood paneling of the wall until she reached the desk. Searching through the files, it didn't take long to find one that looked promising, a review dated two days ago on the technical name for 'Devil's Breath', GR-27. Opening it and skimming through it, her visor recording the screen as she read the slides, unable to believe the details she was seeing.
She was so engrossed in the information that she didn't notice a grate to the ventilation shaft open in the ceiling and a figure drop down. Indeed, it was only the sound of the feet hitting tile that caught her attention as she looked up into shocked white eye lenses.
The burglar couldn't suppress a sly smirk, "Hey Spider. Fancy meeting you here."
Inside his mask, Peter gaped at the black clad figure standing at Osborn's computer. The skintight suit showcased the womanly curves, a few white accents didn't make the gear any easier to spot, nor did the armor plates or equipment hinder movement. The hood and mask hid the figure's identity, but the voice and profile gave it away to someone who had dealt with her enough. "Hi Felicia" he greeted nervously as he walked towards her, watching her hands in case she tried something, "What are you up to?"
"Same thing you are I'd imagine" replied the woman coolly, gloved fingers still working at the keyboard, though he could feel her eyes on him, watching in case he made any sudden moves. "And I've beat you to it again…you were always a little slow on the uptake" she hummed with the smirk still visible on what little of her face was exposed.
Peter rolled his eyes behind his mask as he caught a glimpse of what was on the screen. "GR-27 Review Summery…conducted by Isaac Delaney" read out Peter in disbelief as the pieces fell into place. Oscorp would have hundreds if not thousands of scientists on staff, having a list of those names would get Li no closer to Devil's breath, but finding one from outside the company paid one time for a top secret project? That was relatively easy. Felicia stepped aside and Peter stepped up to the computer and began looking through the information. "Doctor Morgan Michaels is the Chief Scientist, but the location of the lab is redacted" he realized as he looked at the information.
He was acutely aware that the Thief was distancing herself from him, making a show of looking at some of the items in the office, though he could tell she was still watching him. He kept an eye on her but was far more interested in what Oscorp had been working on. "AI controlled CRISPR?" he breathed in astonishment, "If that actually works…it could cure any genetic disease…" The concept was fascinating, truly science fiction made reality. AI was hardly new and seeing rapid development, true, but applying it in a biological sense and combining it with medicine to treat the human genome was far beyond anything Peter had heard of. "…Cystic fibrosis, Huntington's, this is crazy."
So engrossed by the possibilities, he hadn't heard the burglar circle around so that she was behind him. "Unbelievable…isn't it?" she asked, seemingly aloof, though there was something in her voice, something he couldn't quite place. "Hard to imagine anyone, even Oscorp, doing that…unless they had help" she supposed as she made an exaggerated show of looking inside Norman's liquor cabinet.
Something was undeniably off; venom was present in the undertone of her words that he hadn't heard from the heiress before. Confronting her was not going to work, he had learned that the hard way, she knew something, and hopefully it was what was on the coming slides. The next slide proclaimed that 'GR-27' had 'High Efficacy' and 'Consistent Results' but no further details, which prompted Peter to move on.
The information on the next slide was far less promising, the compound was faulty, incorrectly the immune system part of the genome and mutating it while being highly contagious. All subjects died within a week…when only one had been exposed at the start of the tests. "Creepy" he observed when a picture of the dead rats was waiting for him on the following slide. The final conclusions were most damning. One infected subject could trigger global epidemic; Lab techs nicknamed it 'Devil's Breath'. "GR-27 is 'Devil's Breath'" realized Peter, "It's designed to cure diseases."
"But right now? Right now, it's a bioweapon" hissed Felicia as she stormed over and pulled up the next slide that detailed why the compound was so unsuccessful.
Using samples obtained from Subject M we have discovered the compound (Composite Solution [CS]:T) that makes human cells more accepting of radical treatment and isolated it. We are hoping that this is the key to make GR-27 a successful endeavor when combined with existing biomedical AI already in development.
However, our current understanding, or lack thereof, of CS:T due to its advanced nature has made progress in the control of it slow. CS:T is the key to making GR-27 effective while also proving to be the projects greatest risk.
Peter chewed the inside of his cheek as he read and reread the text, each piece slowly coming together one at a time. Subject M? Radical Treatment? New compound of an 'Advanced nature', this CS:T? "CS:T was in the stuff the Marauder gave Osborn" he realized.
The implications of that fact hung heavily in the air above the two infiltrators. The man one considered a friend and the other a lover, in an attempt to be a protector and do what he loved had accidentally enabled the creation of a weapon of mass destruction. As much as the Texan gave off a drawl filled air of indifference, it was easy for those close to him to tell that he did care about people, especially those he deemed worth protecting. Knowing that Devil's Breath was out there and that he was partly responsible would not be something that he would allow idly.
A spandex covered arm lashed out and the attached hand gripped the Thief's tightly, causing the woman to tense, extend her claws, and get ready for a fight. "We can't tell him about this" said Spider-Man seriously as he stared down at the Black Cat. Her green eye lenses conveyed no emotion, though the snarl her lips were fixed in did enough. "If we do, he'll kill Osborn."
Felicia didn't back down. "You're saying he shouldn't?" she asked bluntly, "I may not agree with everything he's done but this…"
"Norman hasn't done anything wrong!" hissed Peter, cutting of Felicia as she yanked her arm away, but made no other moves.
"Other than create a weapon of mass destruction you mean?" retorted the platinum haired woman sarcastically. "Last time I checked that went against a few laws. Worse than the ones I've broken."
Peter didn't want to admit that she had a point, because she did, but that still didn't mean that killing the CEO was a good idea. "Just don't tell him that Osborn used the technology he gave him to do it, okay? If he thinks Oscorp created Devil's Breath on its own, he'll probably just want to destroy it. But if he learns they used his tech to do it? He'll take it personally."
Felicia cursed under her breath as she mulled over the proposal. "You know you're asking a lot, right Spider?" she asked, getting a solemn nod in return. It would be like the Marauder asking MJ to lie to him, but that didn't mean this wasn't the best option. "Good, which means you owe me…give me a minute head start to get out of this place" she suggested as Parker slumped his shoulders in defeat and Felicia grinned in success. "Good, starting…now" she said as she slinked towards the door, "Night Spider" she whispered across the room before slipping out.
Sighing, the Webhead went back to the slides as he pulled up the last one, detailing the next steps in the project. "Dr. Michael's keeps the only sample with him at all times" muttered a gob smacked webslinger. Because Osborn was still demanding the project continue despite the massive risks. He morosely noted that the risk of death if an outbreak occurred wasn't listed, only the potential PR nightmare. "That's why Li wants him. We find Michael's, we find Devil's Breath."
Being a man of his word, he checked that sixty seconds had passed before jumping up into the air ducts and replacing the grate before making his way back out of the building.
Matthew Cooper grimaced as he carefully listened to what Felicia found inside Oscorp, his fists sub consciously clenching with each detail he learned. A secret off the books experiment gone horrifically wrong, a cure all for genetic diseases turned out to actually be a weapon. Not just any normal weapon, no, that would be too easy, but a biological weapon of mass destruction that by Oscorp's own estimates could cause a global pandemic. Yet in the face of all of these risks and faults, the project was continuing and there was a sample of the compound in the middle of a massive metropolitan area. The sheer stupidity of the entire situation left the Pilot at a loss for words.
There was one other thing they needed to talk about. "Was there a reason you didn't tell me that Spider was the one trying to break in and almost blew my cover?" asked the Black Cat, her emerald green eyes flickering with mirth as she twirled her platinum blonde hair in her fingers. Matthew sat back in his chair in the armory basement of his home, still wearing their gear but with faces exposed, helmet and hood on the table between them.
Now usually, Cooper could look into his girlfriend's eyes and feel his heart come to life as he always took a moment to appreciate her beauty, especially when she did her best to emphasize it. No matter what had happened or whatever was on his mind, he couldn't help but respond with a cocky grin, succumb to her charms and melt in the thief's hands. But instead, his blood only boiled hotter as he ground his teeth to dust. "You had it under control, didn't want to interrupt" he answered quietly, eyes darting around the room as he searched for a solution to the problems plaguing his mind.
Hardy narrowed her eyes as he tried to meet her gaze but found he couldn't do it, his fists still clenched tight, his foot now tapping as well. "Something you want to share Cowboy?" she purred, though he could hear the genuine worry in her voice as he forced himself to take a deep breath and relax.
"Just don't like sitting here on my ass when there's a WMD out in the city somewhere is all" he answered genuinely. "If Li gets his hands on it…it'll make the City Hall bombing a footnote. And worst of all I…" he began before trailing off. Swallowing his fear and pride he admitted, "I wouldn't be able to do a damn thing about it. All the guns and bullets in the world can't stop a virus…I'd be useless." That feeling, powerlessness, was something he hadn't experienced in a long, long time. He would prefer to keep it that way.
Since arriving in New York, that feeling that the city was his home that he would fight and kill and die for it had only grown stronger over time. The city itself, as well as those who inhabited it, those who became colleagues, neighbors, friends, and in Felicia's case, his lover, had all earned a special place in his heart and mind. They had given him something that a year prior he thought he would never have, something few people did: Purpose. To think that he wouldn't be able to fulfill that purpose of keeping the city and its people safe…it almost felt like he would be betraying them.
Felicia got up from her chair and strutted around the table, placing a gloved hand on his neck and sliding it under his shoulder pad to rub away the stress and tension. "Which is why you aren't going to let Li get it" she said with calm certainty. "You're going to go find Li and Michaels, and you're going to put yourself between them. And when Li comes, you're going to kick his ass." Cooper couldn't help but crack a smile at that as he chuckled at the refined woman's uncharacteristically coarse words. "Do you know how I know that?" asked Felicia, Matt just shook his head in reply. "Because I'll be there to help" she answered with a cocky smirk.
Now the cocky grin was on Cooper's face, "You sure about that darlin'?" he drawled as he turned and put his hands on her hips to hold her in front of him. "I won't be letting ya' get in any free shots like I normally would. You'll have to keep up on your own, you up for that?" he challenged as he gave her a squeeze in the way he knew she liked. She may have been able to exert complete control over him at a whim, but he had a few tricks up his sleeve too.
The heiress shuddered and bit her lower lip with a hungry look in her eye, "Why don't I show you I'm up to the task?" she purred as she sat down on his lap. Only now, when his mind had finally moved on did his prayers from earlier get answered, his phone ringing loudly, ruining the moment.
Grumbling incoherent curses as he picked the offending device up off the table, his blue eyes widened as he saw who it was and answered instantly. "Go for Marauder" he greeted curtly, though he still frowned as he looked at a put off Felicia who still remained on his lap. Though upon closer inspection he could tell that despite her appearance she was interested in what was about to happen and not resuming their romantic moment.
"Good news" informed Watanabe bluntly, "I got a lead on where Michaels is. Sable has him stashed in a safehouse somewhere in the city. He's under 24/7 protection" she informed. Though Cooper could hear the 'but' coming and had a feeling it would be big enough to rival the one his hand was currently on. Sure enough, he was right. "But they won't tell which one they have him at."
That was a problem. "Shit" he answered simply, "I thought we were all supposed to be working together? Why the fuck have these Sable guys decided not to play ball all of a sudden?" he growled out before it became obvious why, Osborn. "Because I just found out why Li wants Michaels. Oscorp has developed a weapon of mass destruction…and Michaels has it."
"You're fucking shitting me, right?" blurted the dumbfounded cop, though the unmistakable tone of fear was mixed in with the curses. "Please tell me you are, there isn't enough Tylenol around here to ease the headache I'm about to get if you're not joking."
"Then you better send the probie down to the pharmacy" deadpanned Cooper. "That info came straight from the computer in Osborn's office, it's legit" affirmed the Renegade SRS Pilot. "This isn't the time to be playing games, we need to find Devil's Breath and destroy it. For whatever reason Osborn is keeping the project open and won't do it…so it falls to us."
Thankfully, there was no pushback from the hardnosed policewoman on the other end of the line. "I'll see what I can do on my end, but I've expended most of my options already just to find out what I did" admitted the Cop, obviously none too happy at now being on the outside looking in. It was a position Cooper could easily sympathize with. "But I have a few ideas you might be able to make happen; I'll send them your way."
"Thanks for that" said the Marauder genuinely. "After that do me another favor Yuri…go get yourself some sleep" advised Cooper. Though he could tell she would object he wouldn't be hearing any of it. "You sound like hammered shit" he pointed out.
There was a bit of a mirthless laugh on the other end and a long drawn out silence as Cooper awaited whatever answer she would give him. Watanabe didn't like to be told to stand down, but she wasn't stupid, sleep was quickly joining sanity, coffee, and peace as a handy resource there wasn't enough of. "I'll be back on the clock at eight a.m. sharp, I want a report on what you find no later than 8:15" she stated firmly.
There was a ding to signify he had an email form the Captain, "Yes ma'am" he assured before the line went dead and he looked at the email. The information inside was quickly added to the board as Cooper and Hardy, mostly Hardy, pieced together the entire tangled web. Watson had sent him a copy of the file and relayed an important find: Osborn had Fisk build him a lab somewhere on the island, but specifically ordered it kept off the record. It had to be for Devil's Breath, nothing else either could think of would warrant such measures. Moving on from that was how Li knew of it in the first place, neither knew that, but it was obvious that he knew where to look in order to pick up the trail.
Hardy quickly went through the new information, most of it was leads that the Police were looking at, though for one reason or another none of them fit in the big picture. Most were tangents that Li might pursue, but the pair knew what the Demons were after, the only thing related to Devil's Breath was a name they had already encountered, Charles Standish. NYPD had pegged his location as Sable's Main Operating Base in Central Park after his lawyers had come to them about being denied the ability to see their client. Since Cooper didn't want to put the screws to Osborn, at least not yet, this was their best shot at learning something. Even better, Standish might even be cooperative, especially if he agreed to deliver a message.
Cooper had an idea, a really stupid one, so stupid in fact that if he was going to do it, he wanted another source to ensure that it would be worth it. Dialing another number, he was met with a voice that was clearly caffeine assisted, though to be fair most were at this point. "Hey Coop, going to interrogate me? Pete told me he ran into Felicia tonight at Oscorp, and I think we both know she didn't cheat on you" quipped Mary Jane.
"Oh I know, otherwise I'd give your boyfriend a makeover, and not one you'd approve of" deadpanned the Pilot, though there was a mirthful smirk as he said it. "This isn't about that; I just got some info from Watanabe and I wanted to see if you could confirm it. It's about the location of Charles Standish, know where he is?"
"Oscorp's CFO?" asked the reporter as there was a pause after hummed an affirmative. A few moments later after she looked through her info the redhead gave her answer. "My sources say he was last seen going into the Sable International camp at Central Park" said the reporter. "Why do you ask? Think Li wants to go back after him?"
There was an unmistakable tone of curiosity in MJs voice, the tone that usually got her into trouble. Cooper sighed and explained what he was scheming. "No, Li is for sure gunning for Michaels, and considering what we know about Devil's Breath it is critical Li doesn't get it. Standish is our only lead and failing that, our only options are cracking Sable security or scouring the entire city. One of which is a total crapshoot and the other is only for those with a death wish." A deep sigh escaped Cooper, betraying how dire the situation was becoming, all he wanted was to be on the field in the right place with a gun in his hands, getting there was supposed the be the easy part. But nothing about the past few weeks had been easy. "I'm going to go and see if I can talk to Standish."
"And if they don't let you?" asked Watson.
Cooper shrugged, "Then I guess I'll have to improvise" answered the Marauder with a wry grin, ignoring the snickers from Felicia as he ended the call. "What?" he asked dryly, "I have great improvisational skills" he asserted.
"Oh Cowboy" she said before giving him a peck on the cheek. "When you start to improvise is when insurance companies start to go bankrupt."
Mary Jane Watson had a lot of good memories in Central Park, dates, picnics, time with family and friends. One or two times she had a romantic moment at night and a few fun moments while in the spot she was at right now, with a great view but was completely concealed from the outside world. Right now, that spot had a few new uses for the redheaded reporter, such as spying on paramilitary compounds. The Sable camp was massive, with 15-foot-high walls around the white tents and buildings inside. Several watchtowers also overlooked both the inside and outside of the camp.
One side seemed to be a relative soft spot and with caution, the reporter crept down and closer to the wall when her phone buzzed in her pocket. "Hey Pete, what's up?" she whispered in answer as she found a rock to get out of sight. She had spoken to him earlier; both knew what he had found inside Oscorp and what they needed to do. Though as soon as she was off the phone with Cooper, she had come down here, knowing that, if nothing else, there would be a story for her to report on.
"Nothing much" admitted the webslinger, though considering how winded he sounded she had her doubts, though she wasn't brazened enough to push him on that front. Despite what Peter would think, she did in fact have limits. "Just wanted to know if you have anything on Michaels?" he asked hopefully.
MJ bit back a curse as she peeked over the rock and was relieved at the lack of armored goons nearby. "I may have a lead" she admitted quietly. "Charles Standish is being held at Sable's Central Park compound – if anyone knows Michael's location it would be Oscorps CFO" reasoned the journalist. "I'm trying to reach him now" she admitted, almost as an afterthought.
"Reach him?" repeated Peter, dumbstruck at the suggestion. Though he didn't know that the Marauder would be there if things got rough, though the nagging voice in the back of her head said that he probably wouldn't have cared. "That place is crawling with guards. How are you going to reach him?"
Watson allowed herself a small smirk, knowing how much the answer she was about to give would get under his skin, but also knowing he could take it. "Very very quietly" she replied, as if it should have been obvious. "Gotta go Partner" she finished before hanging up on him as she saw a Sable trooper come out to work on a generator. Now all she had to do was get past that guard, inside the Sable base, find Standish, find out where Michaels was, and get out before her slightly overprotective prospective boyfriend arrived. As the Texan would say, The only easy day…was yesterday.
Reaching into her coat, she came back with one of the circular devices the Superhero had given her. "Time to see if these lures Pete gave me work…" she muttered as she got a feel for the weight of the device as she stalked forwards and crouched behind a low wall. She could see a gap in the main fence that she would be able to squeeze through, but not with the trooper in the way. Picking out a spot, she tossed the lure into the grass by some crates as it began to beep strangely at random intervals. By the third Beep, the Sable guard stood and swiveled his head as he looked for the source, "Outta the way fella" she encouraged quietly, wondering when it was she started to quip and decided to never tell Peter. The redhead smirked as the man moved out of the way, seemingly intent on finding the source of the sonic annoyance.
Picking up the pace, she was soon inside the wall as she got out of sight of the man outside and fought to keep herself calm. "How does Felicia make this look so easy?" she wondered as her heart tried to pound a hole in her chest. She got two more yards before the sound of the filtered voices caused her to reflexively press herself against a crate as she strained to listen to what they were saying.
In a massive stroke of luck, they were talking about the reason she was here in the first place. "Gonna check on our house guest" said one, the condescending tone of voice was impossible to miss, and she could imagine that a corporate suit would garner that kind of attitude. "Stay here" commanded who MJ supposed was the senior soldier marched off into the middle of the camp. There was no way Mary Jane could follow him into that hornet's nest, but the catwalk up above them looked vacant, the only guard was the one left behind in the exchange as MJ reached for another lure.
When he was looking away, the woman tossed the lure up and onto a tent and waited for it to do its work. Sure enough, the Sable man bit on it as he moved out of the way to investigate and Mary Jane darted to the steps and took them as quietly as she could, two at a time to go fast as possible as she prayed that he stayed occupied by the disturbance. Looking over her shoulder, she could see that the lure had worked beyond well, "I'll have to remember to thank Pete later" she reminded herself as she reached the top of the steps.
After taking a look, she saw that this place definitely was as big as it appeared from her earlier perch. The downside was that there was no hope of finding the one trooper or Standish from the catwalk, so MJ steeled herself as she prepared to go down the opposite side but noticed something interesting. One of the bulletin boards had the faces of several men and women on it, all of them were Oscorp employees, all of them had been assigned to the GR-27 project, and all of them had been killed by the Demons. "Why are the Demons killing anyone related to Devil's Breath?" she wondered as she snapped a picture to review later. These murders had gone largely unreported, another question for them to figure out it seemed.
A familiar noise caught her attention, the howl of a small V8 motor served as an indicator of who was coming, and her suspicions were confirmed as the dark green hypercar pulled up to the front gate. As expected, the arrival of the Renegade Titan Pilot drew a lot of attention and a serious reaction, including one man in a very flamboyant yellow button-down shirt being escorted to a tent. Working her way back down to ground level, she picked up an interesting radio exchange. "I'll see what the Marauder wants" said the accented voice of Silver Sablinova shortly. "I want full communications lockdown, nothing about Michael's or Devil's Breath gets out" ordered the Mercenary leader sternly, instantly getting a round of acknowledgements from the different squad leaders around the base.
MJ continued to creep her way through the base, most of the guards were thankfully pulled away to meet the Marauder at the front gate, making it much easier than it should have been to sneak through a high security PMC camp. Still crouched low to use the various crates and equipment to stay out of sight, the reporter could still feel her heart pound in her chest as she fought to keep her breathing deep and calm. Despite her nerves still firing constantly, she was able to keep her wits about her enough to pick up another interesting conversation. "How's it looking? Convoy going to be ready?" asked one.
"Five by five" answered a second white armored trooper across the table from the first. "Soon as boss gives the word, we'll get Michaels moved to the new safe house" continued the trooper as Watson took a knee behind a generator and mulled over that detail. Moving Michaels meant they would be moving Devil's Breath as well, a prime opportunity for Li to take it. With that thought adding a sense of urgency, MJ switched the generator off and scampered away as the lights inside the tent went out and a trooper came to investigate.
While his back was turned, the redhead crept silently into the tent and slinked through the darkened space and out onto the other side. Ahead of her was a wide-open space that had no way for her to sneak through, until she got a stroke of luck, proving there was a god. "Get that truck moving!" barked a mercenary as one of the APCs rumbled to life, "Should have been uptown half an hour ago!"
Rushing to the side of the truck, Mary Jane stayed as close as she dared as it trundled along the track until she was able to pull away and into cover. Unfortunately, she had backed herself into a corner and left her only route out was up onto a catwalk opposite the one she had come from before. On the deck she was met with two more guards and a radio as she listened in to the orders being given. "I want double strength on the convoy tomorrow!" barked the woman fiercely, "Golf and November squads at the very least. I just received actionable intel; an enemy attack is probable."
"Way to go Cooper, whatever you said seems to have gotten her attention" murmured MJ as she knocked a box over to distract one PMC trooper and used a lure to distract the other as she made her way down the stairs and out of danger. At the bottom of the stairs was another boon, it looked like a briefing area, complete with whatever briefing was being given still on the screen. "Looks like safe houses" observed the journalist as she pulled out her phone and snapped a picture. "If Michaels is in one of these then Standish might know which one…"
Only now was she finally in the main area of the camp, the low slung Widowmaker parked near the one of the few solid structures in the base and guarded by three Sable troopers, all very clearly eyeing it and not touching it. Probably out of fear for their lives mused Mary Jane, knowing just how protective the Pilot was of his beloved cars. Though the other troopers who were busy maintaining their equipment at the benches closer to her were much more interesting. "So, what the hell even is this 'Devil's Breath' shit anyway?" asked one.
"Don't know, don't care" responded another as he set his weapon aside. "Osborn wants it protected, so it gets protected. Our job is to keep it safe, don't matter if it's the cure for cancer or a fluffy pink stuffed unicorn for his mistress" drawled the trooper in his helmet's filtered tone. The remark drew a round of snickers and laughter from the other troopers as MJ couldn't help but roll her eyes. She could say a lot about Norman Osborn, and not all of it was good, but he had always been faithful to his wife and she didn't think that had changed.
Pushing that thought aside, she had more important stuff to worry about than protecting Osborn's honor as she used the same trick, disabling the generator to cut the lights and get the Sable troopers out of the tent. After that, she used the cover of her created darkness to swiftly move to the next area, ever closer to the tent where Standish was. It was clear that the base was quickly coming alive with activity, a patrol convoy was returning not long after the one she had used as cover earlier had departed. Watson had to begrudgingly respect Sable International, they were terrifyingly efficient, and part of her hoped Peter wouldn't have to tangle with them.
Peering through the gaps in the stacked crates, she watched a patrol go past and took a deep breath as she pulled out her last lure and chunked it in the direction they had just come from after they were out of earshot. Having to suppress a jubilant cry, she watched the sole man guarding the door to Standish's tent move off to investigate as she threw a bit of caution to the wind and bolted up the steps and into the tent.
Thankfully, the man was busy at work on a Sable computer, probably heavily monitored and limited, especially with the communications lockdown in place. Standing idle for a bit and checking that the way in concealed her from any prying eyes outside, Mary Jane approached the CFO. Speaking tentatively, the reporter asked, "Charles Standish?"
He certainly fit the descriptions she had been given and was just as jumpy too. "Holy crap!" he shrieked as he dropped his coffee cup and jumped up from his chair, turning to face her. Mary Jane didn't back down, holding his gaze as best she could as she held her hands out in a calming gesture.
Though she was sure that someone had probably heard something and assumed time was limited. "Charles" she began firmly, hoping to keep the man focused on her and not let his mind wander. "Where is Dr. Morgan Michaels?" she asked clearly, laying all of her cards out on the table.
Sadly, Standish's response was to flip the whole table over. "Li sent you" he said in stunned realization. "Didn't he?" he asked accusingly, this guy was definitely jumpy alright. He had gone into flight or fight mode and MJ had backed him into a corner.
"No" she answered, though her eyes wandered to the same object the executives did, the handgun sitting on the corner of a table, and equal distance between them. Sadly, the CFO hadn't calmed down, his breathing become quicker and shallower as his eyes darted from her to the gun and she could see the gears in his head turning. As she tried to think of a way to calm him down, he dashed forwards and scooped up the gun, pointing it right in her face, though he clearly wasn't a master marksman, the shaky grip betraying his fear.
"If he wants to kill me…" he stuttered as both parties took a step back, opening up the distance. "You tell him to do it…do it himself" he answered frantically.
"I'm not with the Demons" said MJ firmly, cutting off the rant decisively as she tried to take back control of the situation. She did not just sneak her way through the camp just to be stopped by some fidgety CFO with a peashooter pistol. If she had managed to work with the Marauder, then she could get this guy to cooperate. "I'm not with Sable. I'm a reporter" she explained, cutting off the questions that were sure to follow. In what was a risky move, she slowly brought her hand down to pull her ID out of her coat and showed it to the man, who took a deep breath of relief at the sight of the Daily Bugle badge. "And I want to see Li stopped, just like you."
"Watson" he said in realization as he lowered the gun and his features relaxed, "I've heard your byline." Mary Jane allowed herself a sigh of relief, never so thankful that she had been recognized before in her life. "Sable won't listen to me" he said suddenly, a switch seemingly having been flipped. "She has Michaels at an Oscorp Property in the Bowery, they're moving him to a new safe house tomorrow at noon, but she's totally ignoring Grand Central" he said.
He had answered her initial question about where Michaels was, but the frantic way he spoke about GCT didn't escape her attention despite that. "Grand Central?" she parroted, prompting him to explain.
"Demons were talking about it while they held me" he explained, though he was clearly nervous about what was going on. Though it seemed for a brief glorious moment that he would finally tell her what he knew. "They're going there to get…" he began when a sudden 'thump' above them drew their eyes up. A familiar silhouette cast a shadow on the roof that sent MJ's heart into her throat, and it was clear that Standish was about to have a full-on panic attack.
"To get what Charles?" she prompted, hoping to get his attention back on her, though she knew that the moment was fading very quickly. Trying to focus her, hoping that Peter would for once in his existence would just stay out of her way for the next sixty seconds. "What do the Demons need at Grand Central?" she asked, trying to get the man to look at her.
But it was no use, "Is that…" he began, eyes never leaving the shape on the ceiling before a hole was torn in the tent and a thick line of synthetic silk slammed into the gun. The pistol was ripped away and replaced in an instant by an imposing spandex clad figure, the malevolent looking white spider logo on his back staring at her. "What the fu…" began Standish as he recoiled back in shock and tripped over a bump in the floor.
"Charles!" yelped Watson as she jumped forwards to try and stop him, but she was too slow as the CFO fell to the floor. In a testament to Standish's lack of athletic acumen made itself known once again as he flailed all the way down to the hard steel floor and slammed his head into it at full speed.
MJ immediately knelt down to try to rouse the man, to no avail, he was out cold. "Oh…sorry" said Spider-Man weakly. Even if it seemed genuine, the apology only caused the anger in the redhead to spike as she rounded on the wallcrawler.
"What the hell?!" she hissed, unleashing her full fury on her so called 'Partner.' Peter flinched noticeably as he shrunk from the redhead's rage.
The webhead's reply did little to calm her down either. "Oh…that was not a Sable guy" he noted dumbly as he stared down at Standish, eye lenses wide. "Definitely not a Sable guy."
"No shit Sherlock!" she shot back in exasperation. Only before she could lay into him more there was the sounds of scuffles outside.
"Heard something" said a filtered voice. "Moving to investigate" said the now moving Sable Trooper as MJ's glare only worsened.
Before she could make a snide remark about how much help he was being, Peter said "Sorry Charlie" right as he scooped MJ up. "Okay, time to go" he whispered as he fired a webline and pulled both of them out of the tent. Watson continued to glower at the Spandex clad feet as the camp was quickly left behind, and with it their best shot at stopping Li.
Of all of the things Silver Sablinova was perturbed at since taking this complete mess of a contract, one that always had an effect on her was seeing that ridiculous car the Marauder drove around. And now that car was sitting in the middle of MOB Yankee, the man who made it famous closing the door, irritation coming off of him in waves so much that Sable could sense it from ten yards away. Proving her right, the Marauder turned to the nearest private contractor and pointed his finger right in the trooper's face. "I'll make this real simple" intoned the Marauder flatly, "You touch my car, I'll kill ya'" he drawled before turning away without another word.
Every part about this contract had proved to be complicated. New York itself had been a challenge, the sheer number of people and incredible amount of vital infrastructure that had to be protected had been a strain unlike any other contract Sable International had taken. The groups she was supposed to work with, such as the NYPD, had not been receptive of her or her men. True, some of them had been polite enough, but clearly were not happy with Sable taking the lead in security in the city that was their home. These weren't unique challenges, but the New York attitude most definitely was.
Then there were the people they had been brought in to stop, the 'Inner Demons', though Sablinova had to fight the urge to roll her eyes whenever someone said that idiotic name, had proven themselves to be a formidable opponent. No matter how many Demons Sable troops engaged more always kept coming, they were well organized, disciplined, and relentless.
Lastly there was the man coming into her Command Post, the Marauder. While the man had once caught her attention as a potential recruit, he had proven to almost be more trouble than he was worth. She would concede, begrudgingly, that he was a formidable combatant, she found out how formidable firsthand. But he had totally refused to integrate into the Sable command structure, instead living out his lone gunslinger fantasy throughout the city. Any attempts to reach out to him directly had been met with just short of outright hostility, and Captain Watanabe had refused to even try and communicate Sable's requests to him. The utter gall of the man to drive his ridiculous car up to her MOB and demand to speak with her almost defied belief. "Ms. Sablinova" he greeted flatly as he gave a nod.
"Marauder" she returned icily before leading him inside, leaving two guards outside the door as the Symkarian and Pilot moved into the building, each moving to the other side of the tactical table as they squared up and regarded each other. After a few tense seconds of tense silence, Sable narrowed her eyes and spoke coldly, "Tell me why you are here or get out, I do not have time for you to waste."
The Renegade Gunfighter shrugged and looked down at the slightly shorter woman, "Alright then. Doctor Morgan Michaels" he said slowly. "Where is he?" he asked casually. Sable looked at him as she tried to keep a straight face. Osborn had made it clear that Michaels was her responsibility and hers alone. Neither the NYPD nor the Marauder had been briefed on him or his importance, the fact that he was asking about him was cause for worry.
Not that she was going to let him know that his question had any effect on her; he had barged into her HQ and was demanding answers for questions he had no right to ask. The Symkarian narrowed her blue green eyes at him. "I do not see how that is relevant infor…"
An armored fist slammed down on the table. "Bull-fucking-shit" he snarled, all traces at politeness gone in a heartbeat as Sable gave no outward reaction to the outburst. "I know Michaels is the lead scientist on Devils Breath. And as of…three hours ago" added the SRS Soldier as he looked down at his tactical pad on his wrist, "Li does too."
Even Sablinova couldn't help but let some of the color drain from her face. "Proklyat'ye" she cursed angrily. "How did he find out?" she asked, her mind already considering what this could mean, specifically regarding the move that was in the works for Michaels scheduled for tomorrow.
"Li tracked down a colleague of Michaels', an Isaac Delaney, and got the name from Delaney before killing him" explained the Marauder as Sable tried to place the name. Working the controls of the table she searched Sable International documents for the name and found a match. Li's men had pulled the name from the records at the residence of Charles Standish, and several memos back and forth between her and Osborn ended with the CEO saying that the man was not one she was being paid to protect. She was less concerned that he had died and more so that he had placed another HVI in danger. "Do you have a record of the information they accessed from Standish?"
Sable could see the logic, so instead of arguing she began to type out the commands to bring up that information. "What do you think he would look for?" she asked, wondering if he would use the same method she would as she searched for an address tied to Michaels, but found that too be missing.
"Michaels isn't a native New Yorker" began the Pilot, "Oscorp would put him up somewhere in the city. From there it's a case of follow the money trail to residential locations for a substantial length of time, at least six months, probably a year" he explained. Sable inwardly cursed herself for that oversight as she narrowed down the list by that parameter and projected it holographically between them. "And then if it were me…" began the Marauder as the blue x shaped visor scanned the dozen or so addresses, "it would just be a bit of leg work to investigate which of these has a Sable presence, sorry, but your people wouldn't know subtle if it punched them in the face." The mercenary quirked an eyebrow at the bizarre choice of phrase before pushing it aside and looking down at her list of deployed troops before the filtered voice sounded again, "He's in the Bowery."
If the two of them could piece Michael's location together with the same information Li would have inside of five minutes, then there was no doubt that the leader of the Inner Demons would be able to place it together before he could be moved tomorrow. "You will stay away. Sable International has the situation well in hand" she defended brusquely. She did not need some renegade cowboy getting in the way to try and play hero.
However, it seemed that the renegade cowboy in particular she was worried about was not on the same page. A derisive snort emanated from the helmet as he crossed his arms defensively. "Frankly, I highly doubt that" said the Pilot dryly, "The Demons have intentionally not engaged you fully; at most you've seen smaller cells. That will not be the case when they come tomorrow…and they will come."
There was something there that put the Symkarian on edge, "What do you mean?" she asked slowly and icily, because if he was not forthcoming then he would find out just what Silver could do in a fight. Instead of answering immediately he reached into a bag and pulled out a small futuristic data pad and began tapping away on it before tossing it down on the table in front of Sablinova.
"Yesterday I assisted in the apprehension of Lonnie Lincoln, who had been paid by Li to build him something. That is a list of materials that Lincoln bought that police compiled after going through the records at his business" explained the Marauder as Silver begrudgingly picked up the pad and began to skim through the list. Massive run flat tires, maritime grade armor plate, and the suspension from a US Army Heavy Engineering Vehicle among other materials. The total cost was in excess of half a million dollars, no small sum. "Conclusion? Li now has a military grade transport at his disposal. Possibly bolstered by MRAPs stolen from Fisk. I know Fisk had some last year, but I don't know how many were left after Cinderblock" admitted the Marauder.
Sable threw the data pad back across the table and keyed the intercom to the officer in charge of force deployment. "Lima Foxtrot, this is Silver Bird. I have a priority dispatch" she said calmly, eyes fixed on the Pilot who stood motionless.
"Copy that Silver Bird, send your traffic" responded the controller.
"I want double strength on the convoy tomorrow!" barked the woman fiercely, "Golf and November squads at the very least. I just received actionable intel; an enemy attack is probable." With the message sent, she released the control and turned her attention back to the Renegade Gunfighter, who stubbornly remained planted in her command center. "Is that all?" she asked dryly, her patience only growing thinner with each passing tick of the clock.
Much to her growing annoyance, the visored helmet shook defiantly. "I will be there tomorrow, something tells me Li won't be waiting around" he informed curtly, seemingly appearing to be willfully ignorant of the ire creeping onto Sablinova's face. She opened her mouth to reply and put it into the simplest terms why that would not be tolerated when he cut her off. "This isn't up for debate. If nothing else I'll have a front row seat when y'all do what I couldn't and bag Li" he said, though Silver simply gave him a deadpan look, drawing the rest of his answer. "Or when the shit hits the fan, I'll be there to clean up the mess" he said matter of factly before turning to leave.
As she watched him leave, she got a look at the kill tally that filled the back of his armor and the latin phrase written on his helmet. It was one she recognized, Primo Victoria, meaning 'Foremost, Victory' and was something she had been raised to believe. Seeing that prompted a sudden outburst. "Why?" she asked quickly, before she even realized the single word was out of her mouth, and part of her hoped that he hadn't noticed.
But the boots stopped dead in their tracks as he turned around and looked over his shoulder at the Symkaria, "Why what?" he asked as he strode back to the table. "You're going to have to be more specific than that" he informed in a calm drawl.
Sable inwardly cursed herself as she tried to figure out that same question herself. How could a man who held the same phrase as she did to be true act so differently? "Why do you have a problem with me? With my company?" she asked finally.
"You're mercs" he answered simply, "I don't like mercs." Such a short, clipped answer was indicative that the man was hiding something, the profile they had on him suggested he rarely held his opinions back. So she simply continued to glare at him, quirking an eyebrow up as she silently awaited the rest of the answer. "You want a why for that too, huh?" he asked bitingly as Sable merely shrugged in response.
"It would be nice" she said dryly, not entirely sure why she was humoring the vigilante Pilot.
"Because you do terrible shit" he began before pausing, shaking his head, "No, that's not it, I've done terrible shit too. But at least I know why I've done what I have" he distinguished with frosty calm. "You either don't know or don't care why you're here, cause if you did…" he said before shaking his head and looking back at the Security Contractor, "you wouldn't be doing what you are."
Before Sable could ask him to explain what he meant by that, the man obliged her. "You ever wonder why you're here instead of Delta Force? The Navy SEALS, hell, even the FBI or SHIELD? It's because of Devil's Breath, but you don't know what the hell that is and don't care, other than a checkbox on a contract."
"I don't see how the nature of why I'm paid to protect is relevant to how I do business" she deflected, teeth clenching as the two squared off.
"When it's a weapon of mass destruction that was developed by your employer and kept in a major metropolitan area, I'd say it's pretty fucking relevant" growled the Pilot lowly, Sable's eyes widened at the words. "Forgot to mention that…little…detail, did he?" asked the Marauder sarcastically. "That 'volatile compound' is a biological weapon capable of starting a global pandemic. Kept in the perfect place to kick off said pandemic and has a domestic terrorist after it. Do I really need to spell this shit out any more than I already have?"
The Symkarian seethed in rage, this contract was like an ever-growing onion, layers upon layers covered by secrets and deception. Mercenary work had always been simple, clear targets, clear objectives, and a way for her to use the training her father had given her before he had died. Only now did she question if there were any such wrinkles that she had missed and been made out as a fool as a result, and if that was why Osborn had hired Sable International in the first place. With these possibilities foremost on her mind, it was easy for her to assume the worst when a trooper burst into the room. "Ma'am, we've had a breach. Someone infiltrated Standish's tent" he reported crisply.
A sneer appeared on her features, "Full perimeter sweep" she snapped instantly. "Remove all non-Sable personnel, including him" she instructed, a finger pointed at the Pilot, "from the base immediately."
The trooper snapped off a quick salute before he stepped towards the intimidating green armored form of the Marauder. "No need" said the Renegade coolly, "I was just leaving" he said, though his blue visor remained locked on the woman as he made his way out.
The Symkarian paused for a moment to consider what she had just been told and quickly doubted what the Pilot had said. The veteran soldier of fortune couldn't believe that the ambitious and image obsessed Osborn would do what the Marauder had claimed. She could hardly imagine anyone, especially the CEO, could possibly be that stupid, it was an impossibility.
Wasn't it?
Peter Parker sat perched atop a water tower on the roof of MJ's apartment building as he watched the Bugle reporter march inside, noticing how she never even seemed to contemplate looking back at him as she opened the door and disappeared from view and slammed the door shut behind her. "Well that was maybe the most awkward swing of my life…" he muttered, "MJ is not happy."
The 'partners,' if they could even be called that, had spent the trip in silence. Any thoughts the webhead might have had about changing that were quickly ended when he saw MJs green eyes glaring daggers into the passing landscape, very poignantly ignoring the superhero she was holding onto.
Firing a webline and swinging away, Spider-Man did his best to refrain from calling and trying to explain himself, thinking it would be best if he let the redhead cool off on her own. He would give her space and let her make the next move when she was ready. It seemed she was ready much sooner than he was expecting, as he was only a few blocks from the building when his phone rang inside his mask and he instantly answered. "Hey. Ok. Another thing. 'Sorry Charlie?'" she began without preamble, her speech so rapid fire that he wasn't able to get a word in edge wise. "You knock a man out, destroy my background research, and the best you've got is 'Sorry Charlie?' Is everything a joke to you?"
She was definitely still pissed.
"What?" he answered in shock as he tried to search his brain for a suitable response, though his bag of tricks to web up bad guys was extensive, but when he reached into his bag of tricks for dealing with an irate MJ was not nearly as impressive. So, when he reached in, he drew forth "MJ. No. I screwed up. It was a tension breaker" he tried to explain.
Though the reporter was having none of it. "Tension Breaker" she responded sarcastically, "Right." There was a deep breath on the other end of the line as MJ tried to compose herself, but it seemed that the assault on Peter wasn't going to let up just yet. "You know, this is exactly why we broke up?" she snapped bitingly. Even a year later that still hurt the wallcrawler.
"I thought we broke up so you could focus on your career?" he replied, using her own words against her, which may not have been the greatest plan. But he only realized that once the words were out of his mouth, and he was too irritated to care.
Though the barb didn't escape Mary Jane's notice. "We broke up because you wouldn't stop treating me like a baby!" she retorted angrily as Peter frowned at the memory as he swung through the night sky. "'Don't do this MJ! Don't do that MJ! That's too dangerous MJ!'" she hissed venomously. "I may not have super spider powers, but I'm not made out of glass!" she argued.
But you always do the stupidest shit said Peter internally, though he still had enough self-control to not blurt that out over the telephone. Instead he tried to explain the error in her logic to her. "You snuck into the middle of an armed military…" he began before remembering this was the same woman who associated with the most wanted man in the city, getting caught on film doing it, got kidnapped because of it, and was still doing this stuff. "You know what? Can we not do this right now? Please?" he asked, trying to be civil. "Did you learn anything about Dr. Michaels?"
There was a loud sigh on the other end of the line, "Fine" she huffed. Taking another deep breath, she explained what she had just learned. "Michaels is in the Bowery somewhere. Sable's moving him tomorrow at noon" she said flatly, though there was a stand-offish tone and inflections.
"Awesome" he complimented honestly. "Anything else? Was he saying something about Grand Central before I jumped in?" he asked, trying to pry without being insensitive.
"He was…" began the reporter before thinking better of it…or just wanted to use fewer words to get out of this slow motion trainwreck of a conversation quicker. "No. It was nothing" she said impatiently. "Listen, I gotta go Peter. Filing deadline" she said before cutting the connection.
He came to a stop perched on top of a gargoyle at the corner of a building that gave a beautiful view out towards his old home in Queens, looking at the bridges and water that seemed quite peaceful under the full moon. "Peter" he said sadly, "That's how you know she's still mad. Peter…" he muttered. "Nice work Mr. Super Hero" he chastised as he began to brood over the conversation.
He didn't know how long he was up there for, but his self-imposed silence was shattered by the whoosh of a jump kit and crunch of combat boots on the rooftop. "Hey pal" greeted Cooper in his southern drawl as he came up behind Peter and sat on the edge of the rooftop, setting his helmet next to him and running a gloved hand through his unkempt brown hair. "Hell of a night, huh?"
Peter continued to ignore him, offering no indication that he had heard the Texan. Even though he had long since forgiven Matthew for his role in his breakup with MJ, his presence here still churned up bad memories. After a few seconds of silence, the Commando spoke up again. "Hey man, for what it's worth I think you did the right thing tonight. MJ had no business doing what she was…" he said honestly, though Peter turned to look at the Pilot. The quirk of the corner of his mouth gave away the 'but' that was about to come, "But 'Sorry Charlie', seriously?" he asked with a grin.
"He was pointing a gun at her, I only meant to scare him, not knock him out" defended the Queens native. Though his words only got a hearty chuckle out of the armored vigilante as Spider-Man turned to the Renegade Pilot and narrowed the white eye lenses.
This only caused the chuckle to turn into a laugh. "I wasn't talking about what you did dumbass" he said as he pulled out a protein bar and began to unwarp it. "I was only twenty yards away you know. And lord knows if I had seen that I would have grabbed Standish by his stupid hair and thrown him through the wall" he said with a smile as he took a bite and chewed. "What I meant was…You're supposed to be the one with the good quips, you really couldn't do any better than that?" he asked dryly, a giant shit eating grin plastered on his weathered features.
After staring at his friend dumbly as the Marauder went back to eating, Parker finally lapsed and broke down laughing. "I guess it wasn't exactly my best work" he admitted sheepishly. Cooper stopped eating long enough to give him a 'Ya think?' look before consuming the last of the bar. "But I wasn't thinking…I just saw MJ being in trouble and reacted" he said as he flipped off the statue and sat next to the Pilot before taking his own mask off.
Matthew merely nodded as he looked out, a grimace forming on his features. "Do you remember last Christmas? When Felicia was taken?" he asked carefully. Peter's eyes widened in realization as he recalled the events, what he knew of them at least.
Matt and Felicia were trying to take out the Market and went to extreme lengths to do so. Even so soon after promising to curtail his use of lethal force, Peter remembered that the two killed at least two Market personnel in cold blood. The head of the Market, Rawlins, had linked Felicia to one of the killings and taken her at a charity event. By the time the sun rose the next morning Rawlins was dead, the Market compound destroyed, and the organization exposed to law enforcement across the world. Felicia was safe, which was a relief to him, and soon after the girl who had started the whole saga had been taken back to France to be with her family. Peter hoped she was doing okay after all she had gone through; she deserved a peaceful life. "Yeah, I remember. Though the details are a bit of a mystery."
"That was for a reason" answered the Texan brusquely before softening, "I'm still not proud of what I did. Even if they deserved it, even if it was for the best, and even though I wouldn't hesitate to do it again if given the chance…I'm not proud of it." Peter could tell he was being as candid as always, even though the Texan was speaking barely above a whisper, both knew Peter's enhanced hearing made that irrelevant. "Frank and I…we killed them all. I took BT in there and just…it wasn't even a fight. It was slaughter, and I was the butcher."
Parker just sat in shocked silence at the admission. "You saw a glimpse of what BT could do when we hit that convoy, but only a glimpse. Even if nobody believed what the survivors said about what the Titan could do…there were survivors. All anybody found this time were bodies…if they were lucky. A lot of those guys took direct hits from missiles or 40 mike mikes or got trampled and just…ceased to exist." The blue eyes of the Gunfighter were still almost shimmering, but distant, that 1000-yard stare he sometimes slipped into. "The Punisher killed what? Fifteen guys maybe. Me? I killed at least 50. Just like that" he said with a snap of his fingers. "The worst part? It was just a reaction; I didn't think about other ways to rescue Felicia or anything. I was going to kill every last one of those fuckers no matter what. I sat in that police interrogation room for almost an hour just imagining the ways I would tear Rawlins' throat out. I never even bothered asking if that was the right thing to do or the best thing to do, it was all just a reaction." With that last word left hanging in the air, the Pilot took a deep breath before continuing. "I'm not insinuating that you would have done the same thing, or will ever do the same thing…" he began before trailing off. Parker just waited for him to finish as he soaked in what his friend had told him. "But that night I realized just how much Felicia meant to me. I wouldn't have gone that far off the rails…at least I hope so…for just anyone. But I did for her, and I don't think that's changed."
"You had fallen for her" observed Peter. The Black Cat had certainly swept him off of his feet before, usually flat onto his back while making her escape, but he understood what his friend saw in her. While her rebellious streak only drove him up the walls during their partnership, he wasn't surprised that Matthew, with his own renegade reputation, took it all in stride.
Cooper nodded in agreement, "I did" he drawled, though for the first time there was a tinge of sadness of regret in the two words.
"You haven't told her" stated Peter in shocked realization. The Texan didn't answer at first as Peter just gaped in amazement before the Marauder shook his head. "Dude, trust me, even Felicia would understand. It's easy to tell you guys are good together."
The armored and padded shoulders shrugged, "Maybe" conceded Cooper. "But I'm not stupid, I know how this ends. Sooner or later I'm going to be staring down the barrel of a gun…and a bullet with my name on it will be in the chamber" he admitted sadly. "I can't tie her down and then just up and die like that. You can't deny she deserves better."
"I don't think she would care man" answered the Webslinger honestly. "You've been doing this for a year and you're still breathing man, I don't think you'll be dying just yet" he encouraged, finding it odd to see the Marauder be reserved. The usually cocky drawl was absent, and the confident poise he had was similarly missing. "And judging by the fact that she's still with you, I'd wager that she feels the same way. I've never known her to do long term relationships."
"You know I was planning on trying to give you relationship advice, not the other way around" said Cooper with a wry grin. "I'm trying to say that if you care about Mary Jane the same way then you need to do something about it. I've told you before, but you can be a stubborn son of a bitch. And even if what she did tonight was stupid you aren't going to get her to change by doing this" argued the Marauder pointedly. "She's trying to impress you, impress herself. She sees you and me doing crazy shit and has to report on it all the damn time. She sees all these girls have a crush on Spider-Man and doesn't think she has that special place in your heart. Shit, seeing you with Felicia and now that I've been going steady with her is telling MJ she needs to be as good as that to get you to respect her and give her the time of day."
"You're full of it man. That's crazy!" shot back Peter, almost angry that his friend would suggest the reporter would think like that. "She should know after all we've been through that she doesn't have to do any of that!" but even though he said that, he thought about it and realized that the Texan may have had a point. Even more than that, Peter was cursing himself for not seeing the same perspective sooner. She was one of the few people who knew who Spider-Man was and was the Bugle's defacto reporter on the Marauder's actions; her days were surrounded by their unbelievable exploits. And with as competitive as she was it was no shock that she was measuring herself up to them and found herself falling short. "But she is anyway" he admitted with a sigh. "God I'm such an idiot, how am I going to fix this?"
"You're a smart guy, I'm sure you'll figure it out" answered Cooper confidently before slipping his helmet back on. "Though, word of advice, though what she did may have been stupid…it worked. She did manage to sneak into the middle of that Sable base" reminded the Pilot before giving the Spider themed hero a half salute and pushing himself off the ledge, leaving Peter once again alone with his thoughts.
Cooper's Logbook – Ordnance: Fragmentation Grenade
While you imagine that every single thing would be massively improved or overhauled in the future, this tried and true gadget hasn't changed since its modern invention in 1906. In the intervening time the device has become a staple of modern warfare with extensive use in the World Wars. The first was the British 'Mills Bomb' which entered service in 1915 and the basic premise hasn't changed since. Time fuse that sets off an explosive that blows apart the casing and turns it into shrapnel. That's what give the 'frag' its name and its killing power. The explosive isn't really enough to be really lethal, but it is enough to shove that jagged metal up past the speed of sound as it perforates who or whatever is within about a fifteen foot radius. What changes that have been made consist mostly of incremental improvements, better explosives, more reliable fuses, those kinds of things.
One part of the device that nobody has seemingly settled on is the shape of the casing. In the old days there was the 'Pineapple' type, the 'Lemon', the 'Baseball', the 'Stick' where a handle is attached to give more leverage for throwing, among others. The kind I use, which I just learned are labeled 'Mk. IX,' have oversized handles to make them easy to grab with the pin equally massive to enable gloved fingers to prime the explosive. Strangely, they also have a throwback idea in the oversized nubs all over the grenade for the same reason the old Mk. 2 Pineapple had its ridges; they make it very unlikely the thing will slip from your hand, at least until you intend for it to.
Despite all that, the purpose of the Frag hasn't changed. Useful for clearing out rooms and foxholes with the same set of motions soldiers the world over has gotten used to over the course of the last century: Pull the pin, toss, and duck.
Closing Notes: Jesus that was a long one, I didn't actually realize it was so long until I uploaded it to the site. I will be back next week with the follow up, and it should be shorter and a bit quieter. Hopefully the pacing has been bearable, and the more personal moments are enjoyable. The interaction between Cooper and Sable was fun to write and I like the way it turned out. Same thing for the one between Cooper and Peter, in the movies especially, Peter has a 'bro' in the form of Harry or Ned where the game lacks a character like this. I only noticed this on a recent playthrough, but there are two dudes in this game who aren't antagonists in some way. One is Jefferson Davis, who was alive for like 15 minutes, and the second is Miles Morales, who fills a mentee type role. That's not a knock against the game, but it is something I can take advantage of and I think makes Cooper work as part of the world.
Also, this story passed 200 followers, so I guess I'll have to keep going because people seem to care. Thank y'all so much for checking this story out and I'm glad you're getting some enjoyment out of it, let me pretend its my charmingly witty commentary in these notes that does it.
Next week, you'll never hear me complain, 'cause I've got Friends in Low Places.
Stay Frosty, Misfit Delta out.
