Pyrrha woke up in a hospital bed, covered in bandages. Although, due to all the heads up displays, she knew she still had her helmet on. She looked around to see she was indeed in a hospital room with Peter in the bed beside her, also thoroughly bandaged up, but with his mask on, so their identities were safe. She remembered what happened and recalled the riot at Ryker's, followed by the breakout at the raft, leading up to a confrontation with not one, but SIX villains in total, including the once good doctor Otto Octavius. "Doctor... Why?" She questioned, starting to sit up, only to feel a pain in her side and quickly lay back down. She was REALLY wishing she had Jaune's aura reserves right about now. "What else could have happened while we were out? Six supervillains on the loose? Who knows how much damage they could've caused while we were here." She said.
As if to answer her questions, she suddenly became aware of the TV in the middle of the wall across from her, where Mary Jane was giving a news report. "This is Mary Jane Watson with a Daily Bugle special report on the bio-terror attack. At this hour, the number of infected civilians is approaching half a million. There is still no update from the NDC on the timetable for an antiserum, but they are working around the clock on a cure for this deadly disease. The city-wide quarantine is being heavily enforced by Sable International, who maintain tight security over all transit points. Throughout the city, Police and Sable agents continue to battle with Ryker's and Raft escapees. Meanwhile, Mayor Osborn has gone on record blaming Spider-Man and Arkos for the prison break and city-wide sickness and branding them both fugitives." Mary Jane explained, a glare visibly creeping across her face as she said this as still images of Sable soldiers at checkpoints they set up, fights between escapees and law enforcement, then finally Spider-Man and Arkos.
Pyrrha's heart sank. "Us... Fugitives? After all we've done to protect the city?! Surely, people can't believe that!" She said, horrified.
"It doesn't matter what they believe. Norman's the mayor, so no matter how bad his word is, it might as well be fact." Peter said, waking up beside her.
"He's right." Yuri said, having just entered the room. "So, no matter what the people think or say, Osborn's story is the only one that matters. And it's the one that Sable will listen to and the cops HAVE to listen, to. But no one knows you two are here." She said, pulling back a curtain that divides the two beds on either side of the room to reveal their costumes. "Pyrrha, the doctors still say you should rest for at least another day, but all your serious injuries and broken bones have healed well. Spider-Man, you should definitely stay and rest. You still have fourteen broken bones." She explained.
They then looked back at the TV, which provided some bright light to this dark story. "But he has yet to provide any evidence and many believe he is just deflecting blame, since an exclusive report from the Bugle revealed that this disease originated in a secret, unregulated Oscorp laboratory here in Manhattan. Mayor Osborn insists that Oscorp is working with the NDC on an antiserum, but has provided no evidence to this claim. And he has rapidly lost support by demonizing Spider-Man and Arkos. Ultimately, things are looking grim for all of us, but most certainly for Mayor Osborn." MJ said, before the report ended.
"You two stay and rest. Once you're back on your feet, we'll take our city back." Yuri said, heading out.
As soon as she was out and closed the doors, Peter started getting up. Pyrrha quickly got up, ignoring the pain and trying to stop him. "Stop! You heard her, you still have 14 broken bones!" She told him.
He continued to get up, though. "Right. Which means I have one hundred and ninety-two NON-broken ones." He explained.
"At least let me unlock your aura. It will help you heal faster. And it will give you an extra advantage in battle." She told him.
"No thanks. Trying to buff up my powers never ended well. And aura can buff up your body, too, right?" Peter asked, to which she nodded. "Then I can't afford that. I already have to hold back a lot so I don't kill anyone. If I can't immediately control my aura and wind up powering up a kick or something, I could take someone's head off. I can't let that happen. With great power comes great responsibility. And with greater power comes greater responsibility. And I don't think I can handle any more of that right now." He explained, heading over to his costume and starting to put it on.
Pyrrha huffed at his stubbornness, but then smiled. (He's so much like Jaune, trying to do it all despite knowing he's in over his head. Then I'll just have to be there to help him like I was for Jaune.) She told herself, steeling her resolve and getting into her armor.
Spider-Man and Arkos began to patrol the city. They decided to split up in order to handle more crises, heading in different directions along the East and West coasts of the city, dealing with the outer edges first, then dealing with the things in the middle. Pyrrha soon came across a Sable base, where she noticed a large number of civilians were being detained. And being treated VERY roughly. Before she acted, though, she decided to call Yuri. "Captain, why exactly are Sable harrassing civilians at their bases?" She asked.
Yuri sighed at this. "You've already left the hospital. Lovely. Well, the mayor told Silver Sable to do whatever it takes to find Li and Octavius, so she's just rounding up people indiscriminately, holding them captive in bases around the city. I've even heard rumors of enhanced interrogation tactics." Yuri explained.
Pyrrha growled at this, breaking the branch off a tree she was standing in. "You mean torture. I don't know why I expected anything less from Sable and her thugs. Well, I suppose I can't get in any more trouble than I already am with them. Do I have to worry about releasing anyone dangerous?" Pyrrha asked.
"The real criminals, they turn over to us. Anyone else hasn't done anything Sable can make a case over." Yuri explained.
"Even on my world, that violates several laws. I'm starting to wonder who the real vigilantes are." Pyrrha stated, before engaging. Before they separated, Peter had given her a few new upgrades for her weapon he's worked on in the little free time he had, adding a grappling hook attachment to her gun and designing web cartridges that could be fired like the bullets for her gun, with roughly the same level of power as one of Peter's own impact webs.
She grappled onto one of the light posts at the corner of the base and observed their patrols. One thug came over to the prisoners and began taunting them, only for Pyrrha to fire the grappling hook at his leg and reel him in, pinning him to the lamp post and maneuvering her rifle to float in front of and aim at him, firing a web cartridge to stick him to the wall. "Funny, you like holding people that did nothing wrong, but when it comes to be your turn, all you can do is complain." She snapped. She then strategically picked off several other Sable agents as they patrolled the area, using web cartridges to stick them to various objects, vehicles or standing platforms, even sticking one to the side of a portalet. Soon, it was down to a group of three INCREDIBLY oblivious agents that hadn't moved from their position in the center of the base.
Background Music: "Sons of Plunder" by Disturbed
She then flew in and dropped down on one of the agents and beat the next one down with several strikes from her sword and shield, ending with a shield barge that sent him back into several crates of weaponry. The next one tried to attack her, but she knocked him into the air with a backflip kick, threw her shield at his head and fired the grappling hook at him, yanking him back down to the ground to knock him out. This, however, was caught on security cameras, which alerted the base and sent another wave of sable thugs to come rushing at her. A group of Sable agents hung back and fired at her, but Pyrrha rushed forward, blocking the bullets with her shield and slicing the gun of the one up front completely in half, before slamming the butt of her sword into his gut, doubling him over and allowing Pyrrha to knee him in the head, staggering him back before a strike to the head from her shield put him down. She then took down the other three with a long sweep from her spear.
A group of Sable agents with guns stood in front of one of their jeeps, the turret on top of it aiming at her along with them, but Pyrrha used her semblance to rip the turret off from the rest of the car and slammed it into the groups, sending them flying. An agent with a baton tried to attack her, but she swung her sword and knocked it out of the thug's hand, masterfully sending it flying and hitting another agent in the head, knocking him out, before she hit the agent she disarmed in the head with her shield, before kicking him in the head. Several soldiers circled her with guns, but she threw her shield and controlled it to fly in a circle and knock them all down.
They then began to deploy jetpack soldiers at her. She used the grappling hook to hook one and bring him down to her, where she hit him with a backflip kick and knocked him out, before controlling one of the other ones to crash into a third jetpack trooper. Another group appeared, one throwing a grenade at her before they rushed in, planning to beat her down when she was stunned and defenseless, but Pyrrha was a master of Uno and played the reverse card, sending the grenade back with her gauntlets and stunning all of them, rushing in and delivering a kick to one to knock him out, before beating down the others in the group with her sword and shield, even throwing in a headbutt to the last one as he recovered from the grenades effects.
Yuri suddenly called her. "Pyrrha. I did a little research. It turns out, the people in the base you're at have been detained for protesting Sable's heavy-handed tactics." She explained.
Pyrrha glared at this. "Atrocious. Sable should never have been given this level of power. She can be sure I'll raise more than my fist in defiance to her and her agents." She told the captain.
"I'm glad you're wearing armor. That just means I can hit you harder than I can most common street thugs." She declared as she landed a few hits with her sword on another agent, then slammed another one between her shield and a wall. She fired the grappling hook at a thug and hooked him, yanking him in and swinging her rifle like a bat to knock him out as he was yanked in, before firing webbing cartridges as some more thugs, blasting them into and sticking them to a few more spots: one of their jeeps, the ground and the walls for their stairs.
More agents came out, now equipped with riot shields, one attempting to hit Pyrrha with his shield, but Pyrrha met him with her shield, the two in a stalemate, before she raised her sword and extended it into a spear, causing the butt of it to shoot forward and the the thug in the head, knocking him down, before Pyrrha spun and hit the shield of the next agent at an angle, breaking his guard and sending the shield to the side where it could no longer protect him, allowing her to land a kick, followed by several spear hits, finishing by thrusting the spear in between the gap in his legs and lifting up, the shaft catching him in the crotch and she lifted him into the air, over her head and bringing him down on the thug running up behind her, sending them both to the ground.
End Music
With all of Sable's grunts dealt with, Pyrrha moved to the cage they had people in, trapped as if they were animals. She glared for a minute, before using her Semblance on the door to the cage and ripping it off. "You're all free now. Go find someplace safe. And try to avoid anything to do with Sable International." She advised them, starting to leave herself.
"You're my hero, Arkos!" One of them called.
Pyrrha nodded at this and flew to the rooftop of the nearest building. "Yuri, I've taken down the sable base and freed their prisoners." She told the Captain.
"Officially, I can't condone that. Unofficially, thanks." Yuri said. "But we've got bigger problems right now. Rhino's assaulting the Upper West precinct and Electro's at the Upper East. We need help to turn the tide, but Spider-Man can't help. He's dealing with an emergency uptown. He wouldn't say what it was, only that it was a matter of life and death. I trust him, though. But that means you're our only hope." Yuri told her.
"I'll do everything I can to help your men, Captain." Pyrrha declared, flying into the city.
She soon arrived at the Upper East Precinct, but was shocked to see it completely electrified. She saw Electro firing electricity at several transformers around the building, one on the back of an eighteen-wheeler, two on rooftops being guarded by Demons and one more being flown around by a helicopter. He then fired a bolt of electricity down at the signal tower of the precinct, somehow connecting their electrical currents to the tower so they kept the tower electrified. He then flew into the distance and escaped. "Damn!" Pyrrha said, briefly shocked at how grave the situation was to make her curse, before focusing. "I'll worry about Electro later. The police can't hang on much longer." She told herself.
She then called up Yuri. "I'm here at the Upper East Precinct, Yuri. This situation is more complicated and unbelievable than I would've thought. I'll have to destroy a group of generators in order to free the officers inside." She explained.
"They'll still need your help with the demons once their free." Yuri told her.
"I promise you, Yuri. Your men will have my full support. I'm almost looking forward to fighting these demons." Pyrrha said, leaping into action. The demons were almost as bad as the Grimm. And while she couldn't eliminate them like the Grimm, but she wouldn't feel nearly as bad about hurting them as some other criminals she's faced in the past.
Background Music: "Hero" by Skillet
She first landed on the lower rooftop where the generator was, taking note of the demons on the roof with her. She put herself between a demon with a rocket launcher and the transformer, waiting for him to fire, at which point she dodged, the rocket instead hitting and destroying the generator, at which point she flung her shield at him to knock him out. She changed her sword to its rifle form and fired a few rounds at the demons with guns, knocking them out and sweeping the legs out from a demon with a shield, outmatching the last one with a sword and moving the the next rooftop, where three more demons were guarding another generator. Pyrrha quickly dealt with them with a wide swing of her spear and flinging her shield at the generator with a Fire dust crystal at it, the electricity reacting to the crystal and making it explode destroying the generator
The helicopter then passed with the generator attached, but Pyrrha simply used her gauntlets to rip the generator from the chains holding it, letting it fall to the ground and smash. She then dropped down to the eighteen-wheeler where the final generator was and used her semblance to throw a number of trash cans and sewer lids at the demons guarding the generator, quickly knocking them out, before sending all the projectiles at the generator, destroying it and finally causing the electricity around the precinct to dissipate. The cops soon burst out of the building, but were almost immediately besieged by the demons, who pulled up in some cars and used them as cover to have a gunfight with the cops.
"The demons have the advantage of being super powered. I don't think they need the extra cover." Pyrrha said, using her semblance to pull away the cars the demons arrived in, putting them in front of the police cars, giving the cops even more cover while leaving the demons exposed. This allowed them to dispatch the demons armed with guns, while Pyrrha used her gauntlets to fling the swords and shields of the demons wielding them into each other's head, knocking them to the ground, where she used her liquid metal gadgets to keep them pinned on the ground. She then alerted Yuri. "I think your men can handle themselves at the East Precinct now, Yuri. What's wrong with the West?" She asked.
"We REALLY need your help there, Pyrrha. We're trying to shelter civilians, but Rhino isn't making it easy." Yuri explained.
"He didn't seem like the type that does." Pyrrha said, flying to the scene. She arrived just in time to catch the tail end of the cops shooting at and trying to hold back Rhino as he charged down the street, knocking away their cars like nothing, leaving their barricades in ruin before running down the streets and disappearing around a corner. She could likely have gone after him, but the police and civilians came first. Luckily, these criminals weren't given demon super powers and didn't have Sable's high-tech armor, so she could send them to the ground and keep them their after one hit from just about anything, from her sword, shield, spear and rifle, to random metal items around the area appropriated into projectiles, to simply hitting them with a strong enough punch, kick or occasional headbutt. The most she struggled with was one or two thugs with power whips, but she allowed them to wrap the whips around her spear, then twist it and pull to draw them in and knock them out with a kick to the head.
"I would've thought after being sent to prison, you'd have learned to lay low and try to avoid the cops." She declared.
"Thanks for the help, Arkos, but there's still some more thugs with sniper rifles on the roof!" One of them advised her.
"I'm on it!" She declared, flying up to the rooftops. She quickly dispatched the thugs on each roof she went to, simply waiting behind her shield for them to empty the clips of their guns, before attacking and finishing them off in one hit. Some thugs also had rocket launchers, but she used her gauntlets to redirect the missiles into the air, where they harmlessly exploded.
However, no sooner than she took down the last thug, did she feel a wave of pain through her body as she was trapped in the energy bolas Sable and her men use. Sable agents on jetpacks them flew above her. "Priority target located. Preparing to pacify." One of them declared as they all began to shoot at her. Fortunately, her armor was taking the damage, but that didn't make it any less painful as the bullets rattled her inside her armor and the bolas continued to shock her.
However, with enough focus, Pyrrha broke free and glared at the agents. "You are supposed to be working with the police and helping them with these criminals, yet you only show up once Spider-Man or myself appear and focus on attacking us instead of the criminals attacking your allies?! Are you truly that broken inside that your greed lets you abandon comrades for a quick dollar?!" She demanded, using her semblance and ripping the jetpacks off all of them, pinning them to walls and then sticking them in place with the liquid metal.
End Music
Pyrrha sighed in exhaustion and slumped up against the exhaust fan of a building. "Yuri... Your men are all safe, no thanks to Sable and her thugs. For his sake, I hope the mayor at least believes they were worth his money." She said.
"Yeah, they're real pieces of work. I'm sorry I can't get them off yours and Spider-Man's back, but still, I'm grateful for everything you've both done, but you especially tonight. You've given us a fighting chance now." Yuri said, hanging up.
Pyrrha then flew to a secluded rooftop in Harlem, nearly collapsing when she got there, leaning against the roof access hatch. "This is insane... We can't keep doing this... The longer those villains are out, the longer and harder we're going to have to fight to keep everyone safe. I can only imagine what Peter's doing right now." She questioned as she dared to take a short rest to recover her strength.
Meanwhile, at the Veteran's center, Peter had quickly arrived and fought off the thugs attacking the Veteran center. He was furious that not only would they attack a homeless shelter and a place for veteran's, but also a place where his Aunt May helped people that desperately needed it, so he allowed himself to use extra force. Still nothing lethal, but each thug, even the brutes, falling to the ground and staying their after one strong hit. Peter looked around. "That's all of them for now, but they might've called friends. And besides, this place has all the supplies they could need. No way they'll just abandon it." He said, web zipping to the roof and changing, before hurrying into the building.
"Peter!" May and Mary Jane both called as he arrived, hugging him.
"Glad you're here. We need all the help we can get." Miles said.
"Spider-Man bought us some time, but more could come any second. We've gotta hurry." Peter said. Almost immediately after he said that, more pounding on the doors, glass breaking as bricks were thrown through them and threats from inmates could be heard. "Let's go, hurry!" Peter told them, all of them doubling their efforts to get everyone out safely. With Peter's extra help, the cleared the building much faster. But no sooner than they done that, the exits collapsed and the inmates began throwing Molotov cocktails into the building.
"Fine! If we ain't getting it! No one's getting it!" The inmates declared as they continued to pelt the building with explosives and flame-spreading projectiles.
"We've gotta get out of here!" May cried out.
"But how!?" Miles asked.
"The fire escapes, quick!" Mary Jane told them.
The four quickly made their way to the upper levels, trying to get to the windows where fire escapes could grant them freedom from the inferno, but everyone one seemed to have the floor in front of it engulfed in flames. However, eventually they made it to one of the topmost floors and discovered a window they could finally escape through. MJ reached it first, but as soon as she did, the floor weakened and broke beneath it, creating a gap between them.
"Miles, you've gotta jump!" Peter told him.
"I can't it's too far." He said.
"I'm right here, Miles. I'll catch you if you can't make it! I promise!" Mary Jane told him. Miles looked at each of them for a second, receiving a nod of confirmation, before nodding in agreement himself, before leaping towards the redheaded reporter. He actually made the jump, but the floor broke beneath him. MJ grabbed his hand and tried to hold him, but he was starting to slip from her grasp. "No, no, no!" She cried out, before remembering all her lessons training with aura from Pyrrha and how she could use it to boost herself physically. She then applied it to her arms, glowing a familiar peach, although thankfully with the light of the fire, no one noticed as she pulled Miles up.
"Thanks. But the floor can't handle that again. Even for May if she could make it." He told her.
Peter was looking around frantically for any other way. At that moment, he decided that his secret wasn't worth the lives of anyone in the room. He was about to web over with May, but before he could, the floor broke beneath him and he had to hold his arms out to the side to avoid falling. "Peter!" May cried out, reaching down and struggling to pull her nephew up. MJ looked around frantically for a way to reach them, before noticing a wooden beam she quickly moved over to and, once again powering her arms with aura, pushed it over with relative ease. Back with May, while she hadn't trained her aura like MJ had, the desire to save her nephew woke something up inside her and her arms began to glow a brilliant white. She then helped pull Peter up enough he could get his legs up and onto the floor again, where the two hurried across the beam MJ pushed down, getting across just before the floor behind them collapsed and taking the beam with it. They then quickly exited through the fire escapes.
Everyone was checked by the EMT's after fire and rescue arrived. They were cleared, then Peter went to the roof of a nearby building where Arkos was waiting. He soon reached the roof where Pyrrha stood with her helmet off, quickly hugging him. "I'm sorry! I should've been there to help!" She sobbed.
"It's not your fault. You were busy helping Yuri. You did everything just right." Peter told her, before stepping back. "Especially if you brought a spare suit." He said.
"Right. Sorry, I was in a hurry, so I just grabbed the first one I saw." Pyrrha said, handing him a mostly white suit with black lenses, a very big, but thin black spider over the torso and a black line along the arms and legs as well. His Future Foundation suit.
"Well, at least you picked one of the more stylish ones." He said, quickly putting it on after he she turned around.
Soon enough he had it on and shortly after, MJ came through, sighting Pyrrha and running up to hug her. "Thank you, Pyrrha. You saved our lives tonight. Even if you weren't there." She said.
"It was all you, MJ. You took what I taught you and used it to save four lives tonight. I'm proud of you." Pyrrha told her.
Miles suddenly came through with a box full of waters, Pyrrha quickly putting her helmet back on. "Hey. I didn't know what kind of water you guys wanted, so I got one of each." Miles declared, before noticing Pyrrha and was shocked, dropping the waters and walking over. "I-it's you... Arkos..." He said in awe, shaking her hand.
"Oh, yes! Mr. Morales! Spider-Man and Miss Watson has told me a lot about you, but I guess this is the first time we've met, isn't it. Nice to meet you." Pyrrha said.
Miles then quickly realized the situation and looked around. "Am I interrupting something?" He asked.
"No. We were just about to discuss strategy." Spider-Man explained.
"Strategy?" Miles asked.
"Yeah. The city's in danger. And it needs our help." MJ told him.
"All of our help." Pyrrha added.
"Okay. Well, call the play, coach." Miles said.
"Divide and Conquer." Peter explained, looking to MJ. "Ms. Watson, we need an antiserum for Devil's Breath. Oscorp's developing something, but there's no way they can keep it safe from Octavius and Li. We need to find the cure and protect it." He told her.
"I'll chase down some leads." MJ agreed.
"Miles, you need to be our eyes and ears at F.E.A.S.T. Anything goes wrong, call me. We need to keep that place and the people there safe." Spider-Man told him.
"Alright, got it." Miles agreed.
"And our job would be?" Pyrrha asked him.
"A gang of costumed nut-jobs is taking the city apart, piece by piece. We're gonna return the favor." Spider-Man declared.
"I'll do my best to help you however I can." Arkos declared. "And for once, I won't be sorry for beating up the bad guys." She added.
"But wait, how do I get a hold of either of you, though?" Miles asked.
"Ms. Watson has both our numbers. Good luck team." Spider-Man said, before jumping off the roof and swinging off as Pyrrha followed him.
"So, are you Spider-Man's girlfriend? And I think I saw Arkos had red hair before she put her helmet on. Is she your little sister or something?" Miles asked. "Either one would be super cool." He said.
MJ rolled her eyes, but smiled at this. "Come on, Sherlock. Show me this water smorgasbord." She instructed.