Author's Note: All properties are the rights of their respective owners, Marvel, Respawn Entertainment, etc.

Godzilla vs. Kong finally got a trailer, just two months before it comes out. Don't get me wrong, I've long had a soft spot for the King of the Monsters, so I am excited for this movie (even if I have never liked this design). Two things about the trailer give me pause though, the first is the appalling music choice, there really should be some sort of epic orchestral number or something and not...whatever they went with. More amusing though is how they give away a giant spoiler in the first 5 seconds of the trailer. Well done marketing team.

V-rcingetorix: That is, generally, the same conclusion I came to. I added a few more for a little bit, but they didn't stick around because I don't want to dilude everyone into being a Pilot knockoff, at the very least I want to have everyone keep their own flavor, even if the technology does have a realistic influence, which I think is the correct balance. You've probably seen this at this point, with the Apex Legends style kit that Sable used in Primo Victoria or the Proto-Titans being developed by AIM. But yes, I do try to set things up, though I probably could be a bit more subtle about it, except when I tried something like that with Crimson everyone forgot who he was.

Glad to hear you like the story. It's also good to hear that you think I got the characters, since they are always a prime concern and I do spend quite a bit of time trying to get them right and make their motivations believable, even when I'm doing things with them that didn't happen in game. As for not saving Aunt May, there are two ways to look at that. The first is a lore perspective, particularly the kinds of Titanfall medical stuff Cooper has, the stuff used to treat trauma like gunshot and shrapnel wounds aren't the same sorts of things for treating Devil's Breath, since that targets the immune system. The other consideration is a storytelling one, simply, Aunt May's tragic death was a defining moment for Peter and important for his character. Keeping May alive would have made the ending weaker in my opinion and, well, it is my story after all. I'll explain that by saying that what I liked most about the game was how it pulled no punches in it's storytelling, the story is gritty, violent, and brutal. It was moments like Mays death, the bombing at City Hall, and the fight on the RAFT that gave the story it's emotional gut punches that made it memorable and gave it weight. In my opinion, the lack of moments like these in the Miles Morales game is what made that story eye rollingly dumb, at least to me. For example, (spoilers for that game) the way Phin sacrificed herself at the end when Miles couldn't stop her, despite being a complete dipshit up until that point, removed the hard truth Miles would have to confront about his friend being evil and having to let her go, like Peter had to let go of Doc Ock after their fight. It was stuff like this that made me really dislike the story of Miles Morales.

Sorry for the tangent there, but I felt that your point deserved a thorough response. I'm not criticizing you, but I do disagree and just want to lay out my reasons why I do. But as for the music, I've still got a lot of good stuff left to use. Winged Hussars specifically I have something special in mind for. All I'll say is that when they do arrive, it won't be on horseback. Camouflage I want to use, and I had a concept for it but I trimmed it out. PM if you want to learn more about that, but if I come across a good moment for it then I will use it.

MarauderPrime12: Thanks for the kind words, hopefully you enjoy this one too.

This chapter title is from a small little band that many of you might not have heard of that hails from London by the name of Queen...

Who the hell am I kidding, you all know Queen. You all had better know Queen. They've had scores of hits, popularized the format of the music video. I already used another song of theirs, the more well 'Another One Bites the Dust' way back, so I won't go on about the band that much. What I will say about this song is that, despite not being as popular as 'We Will Rock You', 'We Are the Champions', or 'Bohemian Rhapsody', it does show up in a few odd places. I remember it appearing in the end of Hardcore Henry (as an aside, does anybody else remember this movie? I liked it), but I think it is most famous for winning the award for being the Greatest Driving Song of All Time from Top Gear way back in series six, beating out the likes of 'Born to be Wild' and 'Radar Love.'

Though they didn't have 'Detroit Rock City' on there for some reason.


Power Without Question – Chapter 82: Don't Stop Me Now

I'm a shooting star leaping through the sky
Like a tiger defying the laws of gravity
I'm a racing car passing by like Lady Godiva
I'm gonna go, go, go
There's no stopping me

I'm burnin' through the sky, yeah
200 degrees
That's why they call me Mister Fahrenheit
I'm travelling at the speed of light
I wanna make a supersonic man out of you

I'm having such a good time
I'm having a ball
Don't stop me now


"You sure you got this one darlin?" drawled Matt as he reached the end of the building he was running on and jumped, firing his grapple hook to pull himself skywards. After grabbing a quick bite and resupplying, the Marauder and Black Cat were back out in the city after Felicia's call with Hammerhead. Cooper wouldn't go so far as to say he wasn't nervous, but he was confident in Felicia's abilities and if she thought they could pull this off then he would too. But before that, there were two more drives they had to grab. "You know I like watching you work."

The one she was working on now was the Costa drive, they didn't know where Hammerhead's was, but they did have a couple leads on where to look. Unfortunately, Hammerhead, being as old fashioned as he was, didn't do much with computers, which meant Matt couldn't simply download the data and feed it to BT for the Titan to analyze, he needed a trained eye to look at it, and that meant Felicia. The Black Cat hummed contentedly before replying, "I bet you do cowboy. But you know me, I like a challenge," returned the thief, "if I can handle you by myself then I can handle this. You just stay out of trouble."

Cooper chuckled before sliding across a rooftop and firing his grapple to slingshot himself around. "I make no promises," deadpanned the Texan with a confident smirk behind his helmet, "but if Pete shows up then I'm coming to help. BT will let me know if he gets within half a kilometer of ya." Spider-Man was the one issue that truly gave Matt pause, he knew he could beat the Maggia, but his friend was a different matter, and Peter was as dogged as he was self-righteous when it came to his 'no killing' rule, and while Matt understood it, half measure would not suffice this time.

"Jealous?" purred Felicia teasingly, "don't be, you're much more fun to play with stud, but it's sexy to hear you be so possessive." Matt rolled his eyes as he punched his STIM and shot forwards, hopping between buildings to head towards another painting his girlfriend's father had stolen, able to picture the Cheshire Grin on her face. "If Spider does show I'll try to shake him and if I can't then we'll tell him what we discussed earlier. How's that sound?" she asked.

Matt knew that she was saying that for his benefit, to put him at ease, and not because she thought it was likely to happen, but he still appreciated it, nonetheless. "Sounds like a plan darlin," he replied, "have fun."

"You know I will," she replied before cutting the line while Matt pulled himself up onto a rooftop and spotted a similar fake cylinder to the previous painting he had found on the far end.

Checking to ensure that there was a concentration of the radiation in that direction, Matt leveled his left arm and fired his grappling hook at it and felt the solid impact as the tactical dug in while the Marauder dug in his heels and let the motor in the gadget do the work for him. Sure enough, the cylinder gave out first, popping off its stand to let an art tube slip out from inside only for the biggest pigeon Cooper had ever seen to swope in and carry the thing off. "What the shit?" asked a bewildered Texan as he drew his Smart Pistol and took aim, the gun quickly locking on before he fired a single shot and blew the bird apart in an explosion of feathers. The Pilot was forced to sprint forwards, activating his STIM before jumping off the roof and reaching out with his left hand to snatch the falling art tube out of mid air and tuck it close to his body before he hit the nearby rooftop and rolled across it. Shaking off the impact, Cooper set the tube down and dialed his contact. "Detective, got another for you, just sent the location," rattled off the Marauder quickly.

Matthew had suspicions about Mackey but was content to play along for now, maybe the guy would slip up at some point. "Good work," complimented the older man, "someone should get you a badge."

"Please don't," returned the SRS Pilot, thoroughly unamused, "with the amount of people I'd shoot I'd be doing nothing but paperwork." Mackey chuckled slightly and, working off a longshot hunch, Cooper took a swing and asked him a question. "So, in your professional opinion, is the new cat similar to the old one?" he asked.

"Well, she's clearly modeling herself after Hardy. Her style, technique, hell, her grapple looks like an updated version of his old tech," he listed easily. That grapple was a slick bit of kit in Cooper's mind, far outpacing his own, which did simple point and pull stuff and a bit of slingshotting. Felicia's though, the range was much better and, since it was integrated into her gear, she could pull off some seriously crazy moves with it. Felicia had told him that she built off her father's creation when he asked, but nobody else seemed to know a thing about the original Cat's gadget. "She's elevated Hardy's work to a whole new level."

That last line caused Cooper to raise an eyebrow, "sounds like you got some respect for her," observed the Pilot.

"You do this long enough and you can't help noticing real talent," answered Mackey easily, but there was something else to his tone the Texan couldn't place. Pride? Or was it simply admiration? "You've already said you think highly of her too."

"The more of her I see the more I find to like about her," admitted Cooper, "and she's one of the few people I've met that can keep up with me, and most of the others who can are superpowered. It's hard not to respect that," said Cooper candidly before adding, "let me put it like this: if she ever decides to quit doing things quietly, I think she'd make one hell of a Pilot." He had offered her a jump kit a few times, but she had always turned it down. Matt understood why, not just because it wasn't good for sneaking around, but also because in the same way he was the best at what he did, Felicia was the best at what she did, and that was something the woman was even less likely to give up. "I got another question about the old Cat. You guys ever figured out why he tried to escape Riker's? He was in for nonviolent burglary; he should've had a shot at parole."

There was a less than pleased "hmph," on the other end of the line before Mackey gave a definitive answer. "Hardy got too big for his britches. The Maggia wanted him to work for them," explained the Detective. "He said no. That got him on their hit list."

Cooper couldn't help but reflexively clench a fist as he ran along the walls of the city, if he wasn't already gunning for the Maggia then hearing that alone would have. "That's a bad list to be on," pointed out Matt quietly.

"Especially if you have a family," agreed the Detective. "The Maggia will target anyone to make their point. And to tell you the truth, the more I look at the old cases, the more I think Hardy let himself get caught."

"Trying to escape the Maggia by going to prison?" asked Cooper dubiously, "this guy mustn't have been as smart as I thought. He had to have known they could get him in Riker's."

"He probably did," conceded the Detective readily, "but the best way to protect his daughter was to take himself off the board."

Cooper slid to a stop and shook his head, "the sins of the father," he said lowly, "ain't it a bitch?"

"Yeah," agreed Mackey solemnly, "it is."


The sound of his mask phone ringing took Peter's attention away from a view of the night sky few got to enjoy. "Hi, Peter? It's Miles," began the teen. "I was wondering…wait, is this a bad time?" he asked.

Ever since learning the teen had gotten spider like abilities from another Oscorp super spider, Peter had been keeping close tabs on him. He was a good kid, just going through the challenges of growing up with a single mother and trying to be his own person. Peter didn't want to lump more onto his plate and had shied away from talking about what he did as Spider-Man when Miles had asked. The teen, undeterred, asked Cooper for advice the Pilot had told him, "lesson 1: the lead flying back at you doesn't care if you think you're special."

Miles hadn't asked Cooper for lesson 2.

"No, it's fine. What's up?" asked Peter kindly, it was kind of late, but the Queens Native knew that spider people typically didn't get much sleep unless you had a really long day.

"Are you doing Spider-Man stuff right now?" asked the younger kid anxiously.

"Not much at the moment, what do you want to talk about?"

"Oh you know, I was just, uh…" began the teen nervously as Peter waited patiently, "I know you're super busy but I was just wondering if there might be some we could, you know, start training?" he asked.

"Training?" parroted Peter.

"Yeah, like the basic stuff. Maybe swinging from a skyscraper…or swinging from a low builidng," he corrected after giving the prospect a rethink, "or a tree."

Peter took a deep breath and tried to do his best stern voice like he used to get from Uncle Ben. "Miles, you're fifteen," he began, "you need to focus on school. Even for me, I don't make my living by being Spider-Man. That's way more important…"

"Yeah, but…" cut off Morales, "if I finish all my homework early and you've got some free time one day…" he said hopefully, "I mean, you started when you were fifteen, right?"

"And I nearly got myself killed at least a hundred different times," retorted Peter harshly. "Matt was right, anybody you fight isn't going to care that you're just a kid. They will be trying to kill you and I can't put you harm's way."

"Okay," replied Miles, "you're probably right. I need to focus on school right now. But I still want to stay active, so I tried out for the basketball team. That's okay right?" he asked quickly.

"Yeah," replied Peter as he lifted his legs and his butt up, resting on his shoulders before pirouetting up and tucking his knees in to come down on his feet, "just be careful. Keep it believable," he cautioned urgently, "don't do anything too flashy."

"Like what?"

"Well, no dunking obviously," answered Peter.

"Oh…" replied the teen as the Webslinger hung his head and shook it, this was why he really shouldn't let him do hero work. "Of course…"

"Miles…" chided the veteran Webhead sternly.

"It was just once! And the dude was talking trash!" returned the Teen as the Wallcrawler suppressed a groan, "it was so perfect I wish you'd have been there."

"Miles…" repeated Peter, full of exasperation.

"I won't do it again, I promise" allayed the teen quickly. "…As long as you agree to start training me."

Now, Peter couldn't suppress the sigh that had been building up in his system and let it out before gritting his teeth and saying, "Let me think about it."

He swore that he heard Miles hyperventilating on the other end of the line. "Okay, cool, cool. Alright it's homework time, gotta go," said Miles quickly before hanging up.

The Webslinger couldn't help but shake his head, "what am I gonna do with that kid?" he asked himself. Before he could ponder that question too much further, his phone rang again, and he answered his girlfriend quickly. "Hey MJ, what's up?"

"First thing's first – head to this address. It's the last known address of the Costa family safe house. A source told me Hammerhead's people are talking like their data drive is going to get stolen next." Immediately, he had the location displayed on the HUD in his mask and dove off the rooftop, tucking his legs in to do a few rolls before firing off a web and beginning to swing through the city streets. "I think I found out what's on those drives," added Mary Jane, "the rumor is that years ago the families agreed to a joint accounting database in order to keep the peace."

"Putting all their assets in one place," surmised Peter.

"And require all five data drives to access it," finished the Associate Editor. "That's not all. I thought about what you told me, about Matt wanting payback. So, I was looking back at Cooper's first appearances, and I think he's doing the same thing now that he was back then. Hit and run attacks on the Maggia's own turf to try and cripple them as an organization. He did it then by trying to break up the Kingpin's weapons shipments…"

"While this time he's trying to cripple the Maggia financially by stealing those drives," finished the Webslinger. "And he's got Felicia helping him do it too," he added, even though he didn't quite have her motivations nailed down. "That's incredible work MJ, I don't deserve you," he said honestly.

"I know," replied the redhead in an alluring sing song voice that put a smile on Peter's face before MJ resumed speaking, this time more seriously. "Listen, Peter," she began before breathing out through her teeth, "I know you don't like how they're doing this but…do you think we should help them?" she asked.

Peter took a deep breath, "it didn't sound like they wanted my help," he answered tennatviely, "and I don't want to go along with some revenge plot if that's what they're doing." Firing off another line and turning left before resuming a normal swing pattern. "If we don't stop them it's going to get more people killed because of the gang war this could cause. It's already flaring up since the families are getting desperate," he reminded before sighing, "I'll try to get some answers. But I need to stop them from getting that drive and hopefully get them to cool off."

"Okay Tiger," said MJ carefully, though Peter felt bad being that blunt about it. "Just…try not to push them away, okay?" she asked.

"I'll try," he promised before hanging up and moving with renewed pace towards his destination.


With the Costa family drive clutched firmly in her hand, the Black Cat planted her gloved hands on the ground outside the window she had used to get into the otherwise nondescript apartment that the Costa family used, hiding in plain sight. As she kicked her legs up and over and came down in a crouch, an unexpected voice caused her head to snap up to the source, "Felicia!" snapped Spider-Man, sounding none too pleased at her as he crouched down in his strange way atop an air conditioning unit, "we need to talk."

His presence was a surprise but not entirely unexpected. She had gotten a ping to warn her that the Webslinger was close, though she hadn't expected him to be waiting for her like this. Despite that, Felicia remained calm, Matt would be heading her way and, as her hand crept down to a gadget on her belt, it wasn't like she was completely defenseless. Flashing him a small smirk, Felicia held out a hand with the drive visible in it, noting how the white eye lenses narrowed and focused on it despite her filling out her skintight suit rather well. "Aww…" she said sadly, "I do miss our little chats…" she admitted as she thumbed the pin of the EMP grenade off and slipped it from its pouch, "but I've gotta run."

With a draw fast enough to make Matt proud, she whipped her hand out and sidearmed the EMP at the Webhead before turning and sprinting off. The contact fuse of the EMP detonated the device as soon as it hit Spider, shorting out his suit's systems and, more importantly, his webshooters. Since she had just removed one of his greatest advantages, Felicia felt good about her chances as she leapt off the rooftop, twisting herself around to dig the claws on her left hand and foot into the building she had just dropped from to slow herself down while slipping the drive into a pouch on her leg before planting her second foot and pushing off. With feline grace, the Black Cat planted a heeled shoe on the electronic display board the construction crew had erected and pushed off as she heard a shocked, "ahhhh!" Craning her neck over her shoulder, she smirked at the sight of Spider flailing as he fell before her shoes met the concrete and, unlike him, she hit the ground running. Vaulting over the first construction barrier and into the yard, Felicia then blitzed over the second one and past the two men carrying it before looking to see that she still had a tail. "Come on, I want to talk!" yelled out the Websligner as she jumped up on a pallet of supplies and then the van it was next to before hitting bouncing off the wall and veering hard left, using her gymnastics and parkour skills to use a stack of pallets to go into a wallrun and then bounce off a dump truck. "We're on the same side!"

"Then back off!" she shouted back as the Black Cat darted across the street just as the light turned green, "we can handle this without you! We have so far!" she shouted back as she heard the screech of brakes and honking horns as she maintained her dead out sprint, weaving through the crowds.

"I'm saying you don't have to!" insisted Spider doggedly as he kept up, but Felicia wasn't focused on banter. Now off her plan, she was thinking on her feet, and her best bet was the nearby subway station, using the trains to open the gap if his webshooters hadn't rebooted by then, and if they did, he would be at a disadvantage in the tight confines of the tunnel. Unfortunately, her grapple had also been disabled by her own EMP, so she was stuck in a foot race with a superhuman as she slid under a tractor trailer that was stuck in traffic while he leapt over it. "Why won't you trust me? We worked together before!" he shouted as she jumped up and rolled over a hedge.

Darting to a cop car that had set up a perimeter around a car bombing and sliding over the hood before smoothly resuming her run, the Black Cat shot towards a crowd milling at the entrance of a farmer's market. "Answered your own question, didn't you?" she called back before leaping over the barrier like an Olympic hurdler.

From the yells behind her, it sounded like Spider had bulled through the crowd and yelled out after her, "why not come to me with this?" he asked as she sliced through the market, legs pumping like pistons, no fancy gymnastics or parkour, just raw speed as she seized the opening.

Taking a split second, she looked back to see Spider was hopping off the top of the tents that had been set up over the produce stands and shot back. "Because it's not your problem, it's ours. We'll handle it!"

"Maybe I don't think it's a problem!" shouted Spider as she sprinted across another street as the headlights of approaching cars got closer and closer and ignored the honks and shouting of angry New Yorkers that followed her to the alley that led to the subway entrance she needed. Taking one last look over her shoulder, she caught a glimpse of the Webslinger leaping at her and reacted, turning as he was coming at her and sidestepping out of the way before grabbing his arms as he sailed past and pulling him down over her shoulder, flipping him so he slammed down onto his back on the concrete as she pulled a Flashbang out and pulled the pin before unceremoniously dropping it on his chest before she took off again, planting the heel of her shoe in his stomach as her first step before she leapt over the railing and dropped down the entrance to the subway.

The Black Cat didn't do stairs however, jumping up and wallrunning down the wall in a way that would turn Cooper on, she skipped all the stairs as she hit the midway point of the T junction and hit the concrete. Taking only two steps, she did the same thing, descending the lower half of the stairs and jumping off, shoulder checking the poor bastard in her way and flipping over the turnstile before knifing through the people on the platform and leaping up onto the back of the last car and grabbing hold. Hearing the airbrakes hiss off and feeling the train lurch forwards, she was able to give Spider a little wave as he emerged onto the edge of the platform just in time to see the train take off as she pressed her earpiece and called a number. "Cowboy, you ready to ride to the pretty girl's rescue?"


Peter felt his heart drop as he watched the train carrying Felicia accelerate away before his HUD came back to life as he felt the webshooters cycle to load a fresh cartridge automatically. "Shooters finally rebooted," he said happily as he raised an arm and pressed the button on his palm, "it's thwiping time!" he quipped before swinging through the tunnels after the train, quickly picking up speed and closing the gap, even able to reach up and call Felicia. "I can help you take down the Maggia!" he said as soon as the line clicked, trying to get some rapport going as he forced himself to take rapid short swings to avoid touching the electrically charged rail.

"How?" yelled back Felicia from her position at the back of the train. "No killing? No breaking the law? Your way won't get it done!" she replied angrily as Peter grit and bore it and redoubled his efforts, firing a pair of lines to pull himself to a cross bar at the top of the tunnel and swinging from it like a monkey bar before firing another webline to pull him into an open area and ebbed to the left before the sight of an oncoming train forced him to veer hard back to the right and back into line with Felicia's train. But there was a hint of daylight ahead as he pushed himself harder ignoring the aches in his arms as another train came roaring at him in the narrow confines of the tunnel. With that about to take his swinging room away he pulled himself to it, planting his feet on the metal exterior of the train as he ran against it, putting everything he had into not losing ground to the other speeding train Felicia was on.

As her train emerged from the tunnels, Peter watched her pull herself up onto the top of her train and stand tall, before turning and drawing her grapple gun and firing the hook and yanking herself up to the rooftops as he fired a webline and went up after her. Streaking through the night up past the rooftops, Peter strained to pick out the black clad thief against the darkness that shrouded the rooftop. When he did, he saw her drop from it, down under the line of the roof as Spider-Man flipped around and fired another line, zipping to the roof and handspringing off to keep up with Felicia as she fired her grapple again and shot off. Determined to not let her get away, Spider-Man swung after the Black Cat, pulling himself forward with each web he fired, staying level in an effort to close the gap as she whipped around a building and Spider-Man zipped to the AC unit on the roof, planting his foot and jumping off and going back to swinging as he emerged over the top to see Felicia swing into an alley and surged forwards in pursuit.

When he dropped into it, the Webslinger called out, "Stop running!" as he found himself losing ground to the more agile Black Cat in the tight confines as she athletically parkoured between the windows various cables between the buildings that she swung from like monkey bars while Peter was forced to concede that he wasn't going be able to catch her and pulled himself up, launching himself skywards and he flipped at the top and zipped forwards, trying to beat her to the end of the alley. Twisting as he flew from the end of the building to get his head around, Peter was able to catch a glimpse of Felicia swinging out of the alley on her grapple, pulling herself back up to rooftop level as Peter was forced to reverse his momentum again, losing all the ground he had just gained. Firing a line at the underside of a metro bridge, this time he went low as the Black Cat flashed up top and swung just two feet from the street below before pulling himself up with all his superstrength could muster to shoot up like a rocket as he saw Felicia flash past and land on the roof as he shot over the top and flipped again, firing a webline to dart after her.

"Back off!" snapped Felicia as she sprinted across the rooftop while Sipder-Man went above and closed the gap, using his webs as the Black Cat readied her grapple gun and fired at the construction crane erected in the street ahead of her. "Last warning!" she called out before she reached the edge and ran straight off, allowing the line from her hook to keep her from falling as Peter fired his webs at the same crane. Trying to cut her off, Peter went high again, planting his hands on the top of the crane arm and throwing himself forward and flinging himself back the right way up as he caught sight of Felicia coming up and reached out to try and grab her as she shot past. He felt his fingers gain purchase on something and grabbed hard as he disconnected the webline that came from his other arm.

But as soon as he had a grip, he felt his sixth sense blare in warning a split second before something slammed into his back, ripping him away from Felicia and taking whatever part of gear he had gotten ahold of with him. The Wallcrawler slammed down hard into the roof, knocking the wind out of him as his vision began to fog after his head smashed into the cement and he went rolling across the building until he came to a stop, able to feel the scrapes on his back from the way he had tumbled and skidded after tacking the vicious impact. Looking down at his hand and the small pouch it held, Peter opened it and pulled out the small black data drive that Felicia had stolen before he heard a stern filtered voice say, "I want that back."

Eyes shooting wide open at hearing that as he flipped up to his feet and saw the source, the Marauder stood still, blue visor glaring intently at the webhead with a hand held out expectantly. "What for Matt?" asked Peter as he tried to focus through the haze of the clearing concussion, "why do you want this?" he said as he held up the drive. "Do you know what it is?"

"A means to an end," answered the Marauder as he began to move his feet, keeping his distance as he began to circle the Webhead, "a lucrative means, but it's the end that will really make a difference. An end to the Maggia, the last organized crime in the city, and all you need to do is give me that drive, turn around, and walk away," said Matt before his voice lowered, "I won't ask again Pete."

But the Wallcrawler shook his head, refusing to walk away from those he cared about as he moved his own feet, matching Matt's movements as the two men began to circle each other, the Webslinger securing the drive as he kept his hands low, but he was visibly tense. "We don't have to do it this way Coop," he pleaded, "I'll help you with the Maggia, but we can't kill them all!" he shouted more angrily than he meant to. Taking a deep breath to try and get himself under control, Peter almost begged as he said, "there's got to be another way."

"I wish there was," replied the Marauder before Peter felt his sixth sense buzz and he saw Cooper activate his STIM, coming towards the Webhead with superhuman speed and a distinct blue contrail as Peter flipped away, managing to dodge the Marauder, but not his grapple as the hook wrapped around his leg and yanked Spider-Man back down, bashing him into the rooftop as Peter rolled onto his back. It wasn't a moment too soon either as he saw the Marauder bearing down on him and pulled his knees to his chest to get his feet up, as soon as Cooper got close, Peter threw both legs out and slammed his feet into the Pilot's armored vest, throwing him back as Spider-Man came down on his feet and fired a webline at the Pilot and pulling himself towards Matthew. Spinning, the Marauder took the Webslinger's first punch in the chest, staggering back against a metal AC unit on the roof as Peter wound up a follow up and threw his punch just as the Marauder activated his phase shift, the enhanced punch hitting nothing but open air before slamming into and denting the metal.

Whipping around, Peter's spider sense went off just as Cooper reemerged, licks of fire visible as his jump kit propelled him up and an armored kneepad connected with Peter's chin, snapping his head back and sending the wallcrawler into the cold steel. Before Spider-Man could shake off the blow, the Marauder's arc knuckles cracked angrily as a fist rammed into the Webhead's gut, sending jolts through his body as his muscles contracted as Peter grit his teeth and pushed through. Bracing his hands against the AC unit, Peter used his superhuman strength to pick his legs up and plant his feet against the Marauder's torso, shoving the Pilot back just enough for him to kick his legs up higher and wrap them around the Texan's arm before twisting his whole body to wrench the Marauder back and off his feet as the two tumbled to the ground.

Cooper, not done yet wrapped his other arm around the Webslinger and picked him up before firing his jump kit and taking both into the air before leaning forwards and driving Peter into the ground as the Webhead snarled in pain as he relinquished Cooper's arm and the Pilot scrambled to his feet while Peter planted one foot and pushed himself, sweeping Matt's legs out from under him as the Pilot fell back and quickly recovered, using his jump kit to get back from Spider-Man and hit the ground in a roll and right back onto his feet as the Webslinger flipped back up to his as well and squared up to the Marauder. "That's enough boys," called a feminine voice as Peter saw the Black Cat crouching atop the metal AC unit, looking down at both men with a stern expression, "you've had your fun, now calm down."

"He started it," mumbled Peter under his breath as Felicia flipped down between them, "I just wanted to talk. See what you guys were planning."

Felicia tsked as she shook her head, "stubborn little spider," she chided, "if you want to talk, give me that drive," purred the Black Cat as she smiled and held her hand out.

Reluctantly, Peter reached into his pocket and produced the device, but stopped short of handing it to the Thief, "I will," he began, "if you both explain what's going on."

Peter watched at both of them exchanged glances before Matt spoke first, "I sill owe the Maggia for their part in helping Rawlins with the Market, but they're slippery bastards and I haven't had a good chance," he admitted.

Felicia then took over, "until I stole their financial records and found evidence of their rumored joint accounting database, and from a few things I left behind, I learned where most of the drives were hidden," explained the Black Cat.

Peter could have smacked himself, "that's why you left the cats behind," he said in realization.

The thief smirked but didn't elaborate on that before she continued. "Losing those drives isn't something the Maggia can afford, and not just because of the finance…"

"It's because of something more valuable than money, at least to them. You know what that is Pete?" asked Cooper. The Webslinger thought about it before shaking his head, "blackmail," answered the Marauder. "We're betting that they keep their blackmail on the same database, and if we can find evidence of that…"

"Then you can hand it over to the police and they'll be able to make arrests of all the Maggia dons on conspiracy charges for that blackmail," finished Peter as he looked from Felicia to Matt, "that was the plan, right?" he asked hopefully.

"Not…exactly," admitted Cooper, "I was just going to save the police the trouble and nail all the dons myself but…" he said before letting out a breath, "end of the day, as long as they're gone…dead or alive, it makes no difference to me."

"But for this to work," interjected Felicia as she extended and opened her hand once again. After hesitating for a second, Peter slowly placed the drive in it, "thanks Spider," she said. "But we still need Hammerhead's drive," explained the heiress as she pocketed the drive Peter had just given her, "we don't know it's location, but we do know where to look. One of Hammerhead's business is a storage company, I'll send you the address, check there and let us know what you find. We'll be investigating a restaurant he owns," she explained. "Between us we should be able to find something, once we have the drive, we can deal with the dons…"

"Together," finished Peter, looking at his two friends, "we're going to do this together," he repeated, genuinely optimistic.

Felicia smiled, "now that sounds like fun," she purred before drawing her grapple gun and flying off into the night.

Matt was about to do the same when Peter placed a hand on his shoulder and held his friend still, "Matt…why didn't you come to me with this?" he asked quietly.

"Because…I didn't want to be talked out of killing them," he replied lowly, "I still think we should man. Leaving them alive is just too big a risk," continued the Texan. "I know how you are, but it's just simple math. Trade a few lives for a few hundred," he argued.

Peter listened silently as the Pilot continued, "and truthfully, we're running against the clock. Hammerhead has been posturing to make his move for months and if we don't get him soon…he's going to go to war against the other families."

"We can find another way Matt," assured Peter, even though the Webslinger was still digesting everything that he had just been told, "there always is."

"And what if that hesitation costs innocent people their lives?" Cooper asked. "How's it go? 'In any moment of decision, the best thing you can do is the right thing, he next best thing is the wrong thing, and the worst thing you can do is nothing.' Peter, if this plan of yours doesn't work and the Police aren't fast enough," said the Marauder as he shook his head, "and it comes down to me killing the Maggia or the Maggia kill innocent people, then I'm going to do the wrong thing, cause it's better than nothing." With that, the Marauder shook Peter's hand from his shoulder and turned away before coming to an abrupt halt. "But whatever happens," he began as he turned back to look at Peter, "I hope that you're still willing to be friends afterwards."

Peter let out a breath and nodded, "yeah," he assured, "definitely." With that, the Pilot returned the nod and let out a breath before firing his grapple and swinging into the night.


Twenty minutes later, and Peter was still trying to come to terms with what his friend had told him, while also nursing the bruises he received at the Pilot's hands. Was doing the wrong thing really better than doing nothing? But each time he thought that over, the Webslinger was starting to come to the terrible conclusion that his friend might have a point. Would killing Doctor Octavius have been preferable to doing nothing while hundreds, if not thousands more people died? Peter was finding it increasingly hard to say no, and he hated himself a little bit for that.

Thankfully, there were other things to think about. True to her word, Felicia had sent him and Mary Jane the name and location of a shipping company with ties to Hammerhead to investigate, and MJ was currently doing some digging at her office and would call him when she had something. She made it sound like she wanted to go out and have a look herself, and Peter was willing to let her, but he wanted to go with her so they could deal with whatever was there together. A grumble from his stomach reminded him of the other thing he was waiting on, and as his phone rang in his ear, he knew he wouldn't be waiting on something much longer. All that was left was to find out what. "Alright Spidey," greeted a man with a thick New Yorker accent befitting his profession, "your pie's ready," informed the owner and head chef at Eddie's Pizza.

"Thanks, you're a lifesaver," replied Peter honestly as he veered towards the designated pick up spot where the man delivered the pizzas Spider-Man ordered from him. Truthfully, Peter couldn't have picked a better place to save from robbers a few years back than the small family owned joint, they made great food and were happy to feed him for free whenever he asked.

"Nah, that's your job," replied the pizza maker modestly, "but, if ya like it, can you give us a shout out on the social medias?" he asked. "Really helps the business."

As his stomach rumbled again following hours on the move, Peter smiled and agreed readily, "sure thing. Take care Eddie." Hanging up, the Webslinger made his way through the streets with his mouth already watering at the prospect of a fresh pizza. As he went, his mind went back to Matthew, hoping that his friend would be reasonable, if there was a way to stop the Families from going to war that didn't involving killing them then they would find it.

Letting go of his webline and jogging to a stop on the designated rooftop, Peter smiled at the sight of the white box sitting on a chair outside the door that led inside. Greedily picking the box up, the Webslinger retreated back to the edge of the rooftop and sat with his legs dangling off the edge with the box on his lap, able to feel the heat of its contents against his skin through the cardboard and his suit. Opening it to reveal the steaming contents inside, Peter took a deep breath and inhaled the smell of the double pepperoni pizza that made his mouth water even more. Unable to stifle a self-satisfied chuckle, the Webhead confessed, "I love you," to the food as he tapped his fingers together before pulling up his mask to sit on the bridge of his nose. "But now, I must destroy you."


"Hello?" greeted Peter, his mouth clearly full of something as Mary Jane walked along the sidewalk, enjoying the cool night air as she kept her eyes peeled for the address she was looking for.

While she had been up for 18 straight hours at this point, enough coffee and adrenaline kept her alert and awake. "Hey, I followed up on that address Felicia sent us, I'm there now," she revealed as she kept walking casually while eyeing the men standing outside her intended destination.

Peter's response was to quickly swallow whatever it was he had been chewing on, "gimme a few minutes, I'll be there as soon as I can," he promised before hanging up.

Pocketing her phone, the redhead whispered, "in the meantime, I'll just take a quick look around." Checking for traffic, the Bugle Editor crossed the street, keeping the storefront in the corner of her eye. The guys that he been outside having a smoke had gone back inside the gate to a lot outside beside the storefront for the storage company, locking it behind them. "I just need to see if they have anything here," she reminded herself lowly as she looked for a way in and spotted a pallet covering a hole in the chain link fence. Smiling, she checked to see that nobody was watching before ducking down behind the boxes outside and wrapping her hands around the pallet. With some effort, the redhead managed to slide the pallet aside and crept past before reaching into her coat and wrapping her hand around the textured grip of the P2016 and carefully drew the suppressed 10mm handgun, silently thankful that she had taken up the habit of carrying the thing with her as she ducked behind another crate.

Inside her own mind, Mary Jane was hoping to find out some answers for herself, Peter had been morose after his latest run in with Matt and Felicia and MJ understood why. The situation wasn't looking good and it looked like Matt had his mind made up, raising certain thorny ethical questions again. Pushing all that aside at the sound of approaching footsteps, MJ held her breath and waited until they came to a stop and poking her head out from the box and saw a Maggia man knelt down and tying his shoe, "looks like he needs a nap," she whispered as she leveled the gun and settled the laser sight on the top of his head before pulling the trigger. The handgun coughed as the arc round found its mark, knocking the guy out as he crumpled to the floor. Moving forwards slowly, MJ spotted something that caught her eye, "what's that?" she wondered as she pulled out her phone, "sheets of counterfeit bills?"

Taking a picture of the suspicious sheets and placing her phone back in her pocket, the redhead remarked, "looks like Hammerhead's got a new hobby." Seeing two more men working at lifting another box, MJ fished out one of the lures Peter had given her and pressed the button on it before tossing the thing into the far corner and watching as the two men went to investigate the noise. Taking advantage of the distraction, the redhead slipped past them and deeper into the lot. As she did, MJ couldn't push the thoughts about what was going on from her mind about what Matt had told Peter. It may have been wrong, but they may not have much of a choice when all came down to it, and the redhead wasn't so sure how to feel about that.

Going up a ramp to pass on some stacked boxes at the edge of the room and sticking to the shadows, the Associate Editor kept out of sight, reaching the end and seeing another Maggia man hunched over a table, rifling through some papers. Making sure nobody else was around, MJ raised the P2016 and put the red dot of the laser on his back before firing, the arc round stunning him and knocking him out for the time being. Carefully stepping down and slipping into cover, Mary Jane crept forwards, sticking her head out and seeing a few men standing next to a laptop, deep in discussion. "I'd better get a picture to help build a case," she murmured as she quickly pulled out her phone and snapped a photo of them. Making a mental note to send that picture to Cooper and some friends on the force the watched intently as a phone went off in a trailer behind the men.

"All day with this damn phone!" shouted who looked like the boss, since he was wearing a sport coat as opposed to everyone else without. Turning and walking up the steps before he pointed angrily at the man he was just talking too, "get back to work! No more slacking off!" barked the coated man.

The boss disappeared in the trailer while the other Maggia man sulked off while MJ's eyes were drawn to an opportunity, "an unguarded laptop…" she observed. Grabbing a flash drive of her own as she looked around before darting out and plugging the drive in, "golden opportunity." Going through the files and copying everything she could, MJ tried to get an idea of what she was dealing with, "shipping manifests…could be what we need." The files quickly copied over, "come on…come on," she urged as the download finished and she yanked the drive out.

And it wasn't a moment too soon, "all right, I'll tell the boys," said the man in the trailer as MJ scurried away, clutching her weapon in case she had to use it as the man burst back out. "That was the boss!" he called out as he made his way down the steps, "he wants me to go take care of a little problem he's got, load up some of that Semtex we got!" ordered the boss as he stormed off. "And as of now, we're on high alert. You see anyone, you shoot 'em, got it?" he ordered before storming towards the exit.

"Time to go," mused Mary Jane as she carefully left her hiding spot behind the trailer and crept forwards, thankful that the men seemed to be more occupied with whatever that Maggia lieutenant was talking about. Weaving through the boxes, she watched the three men that were left carrying stuff out to a box truck waiting outside and kept her distance, slowly working her way back towards the open gate. After the Maggia men loaded the crates and closed the back of the truck, a black sedan pulled up, causing all of the men to greet the new arrivals. Seeing her path to escape on the outside of the truck, MJ went for it, staying low until she was around the corner where she stood up and let out a deep breath as she walked off, holstering her pistol and walking off in her best attempt to be casual. "Close as I ever want to cut it…" she said to herself when something tapped on the shoulder, "Gah! Son of a bitch!" she screamed as she flinched and went for her gun only to look up and see her boyfriend hanging upside down from the wall, staring at her.

"Sorry, sorry, sorry…" apologized the Webslinger quickly.

"What are you doing here…and why do you smell like Pizza?" she asked as she scrunched her nose at the smell.

"Because...I just ate pizza…" answered Peter like it should have been obvious, because, in hindsight, it should have been.

Shaking her head and looking up at the Webslinger, MJ worked her jaw and replied, "well, while you were enjoying lunch," she began half teasingly, "I found Hammerhead's shipping manifests that tell us everything that was brought through that place," she stated smugly.

The eye lenses blinked once, "I ate as fast as I could!" he exclaimed defensively.

"I need to go through what I found," she said, "I'll let you know if I find anything. But from the looks of things we don't have that much time, so I'll get to it." With that, the redhead walked off, heading back to her office.


"So cowboy," asked Felicia as Matt turned to look at her as she stretched out on the roof next to the Pilot, who was seated with his back against the wall, "you think he bought it?" a few stories below them was the penthouse, and from the cameras they had set up inside, they knew that the place was currently being wired by a half dozen Maggia guys.

Cooper finished screwing the suppressor onto an R-97 and looked at the woman in her skintight suit, taking a moment to appreciate how well she filled it out and smirking at her before answering. "Yeah, I'm thinking so," drawled Cooper as he turned his head to look at Felicia, his helmet sitting on the ground next to him. "Pete always was a bit of a sucker," mused Matt.

"You have no idea," replied Felicia with a grin as Matt nodded solemnly while loading a magazine into the submachine gun. Sensing he wasn't in the best mood, she pushed herself up on all fours and crawled over to him, her body's movements accentuated by her skintight suit as she straddled him and looked him in the eye, "what's wrong stud?" she asked as she leaned him and gave him a small kiss as she trailed a finger down his chestplate, "you're not having second thoughts, are you?"

The Pilot shook his head, "nah, that's not it darlin," he drawled as he ran his hand through her silver hair and put it behind her ear, "just cause I think something's the right play doesn't mean I like that it is," he said grimly. Truthfully, even now he was torn, he wanted to kill Hammerhead for what he did to Mathilda, and the rest of the dons for the threat they posed to the city now that they were getting confident. But was it worth it? He couldn't know for sure, and there was only one way to find out.

Felicia distracted him from that by putting a gloved hand on either side of his face and made him look into her intense green eyes, "I understand," she said slowly, "you're like Spider in that way Matthew, you always want to be the good guy and do the right thing. The difference? He refuses to bend the rules, while you accept that sometimes you have to in order to come out on top," she said as she ran her hand through his hair tenderly. "It's what makes you…you. And, at the end of it, I trust you to make the right call."

Their lips met for a small kiss that put the Pilot at ease as it broke and he gave her a nod and she grabbed his helmet and slid it over his head and pulled on her own mask and hood, "now let's see if they're all done down there," she said as she looked at the feed from the cameras on her phone and gave a nod, "they're cleaning up now, let's get in there and clean them up."

"Ladies first," drawled Cooper as he pulled the bolt back on his SMG to chamber the first armor piercing 4.6mm round.

"Such a gentleman," purred Felicia as she strutted towards the edge and set up a rappel before stepping over the side and walking down the side of the building. Cooper vaulted over while drawing his axe, hanging from the building alongside the Black Cat and staring down at the patio below. "I got this one," she said lowly as she slowly let out her line and descended while drawing her garrote. Silently, she pushed off from the wall and slipped the fiber wire around his throat before momentum pulled her back and dragged the man she had pounced on with her as she squeezed the life out of him as he thrashed wildly in a vain attempt to get free. When he finally stilled, Felicia released her line and flipped down to the floor, "coast is clear."

"Coming down," replied Cooper as he dropped down, his jump kit hissing to slow his descent before hits boots kissed the ground and he raised his SMG. Felicia was crouched down by the open glass door and pointed at a Maggia man with his back turned, "he's mine," whispered the Marauder as he activated his cloak and slipped inside with the Black Cat right on his heels.

But while the Pilot went left, the Thief went right, silently heading for a third of Hammerhead's henchman who called out, "what's taking Lugo so long?" he asked loudly, "go check on him!" said the man, pointing angrily at the man that Matt was moving towards. The other Maggia man promptly shot his compatriot the finger from across the living room, causing the first to shake his head. "Fine, I'll do it myself," he declared with a huff as he turned towards the open door. He didn't make it far however, as Felica was waiting for him behind the sofa and delivered a brutal kick to his knee that sent him down as she grabbed a pillow from the couch and slamming it down on his face to smother him out. Before the other could cry out, Matt put a burst of fire in his head and slid over to cradle his body as it came down, setting it on the floor lightly as blood trailed from the three new holes in his skull.

Matt was back on his feet, quickly sweeping his gun across the room to look for the three remaining Maggia men and came up empty before he heard a voice call out, "hey! What the fuck's going on out there?" from the bedroom. Felicia and Matt quickly darted out of sight; Felicia lay prone behind the table in the center of the room while Cooper was crouched down behind the bar in the kitchen. Two more men came out of the bedroom and their eyes quickly widened at the sight of their two dead friends before both had third eyes drilled by armor piercing 4.6 and 5.7mm bullets from Matt and Felicia respectively.

Emerging from their cover, Matt heard his girlfriend over the comm say, "last one is in my study," as he instantly turned that way and moved with quiet, deliberate strides while Felicia watched his back. Moving down the hall that led to the study, Matt came to an abrupt halt by the door that was still slightly cracked open and held out a hand, signaling to wait as he listened to the bastard.

"Not a problem boss, it's all wired up," reported the man, "the whole place will go up like the fourth of July as soon as you say the word." Matt slowly drew his pulse blade from its sheath and dropped it into the carpet, watching as it lit up the man through the wall. Matt could see he was sitting in Felicia's chair behind her desk and facing away from the door, so he slowly inched it further open. "Yeah, yeah, I got the detonator right here, button gets pressed and the penthouse goes boom. Though it's kinda a shame, this is a nice place," he commented off handedly. Cooper could see the man holding a remote in the hand that wasn't pressing the phone to his face and guessed it was the detonator. "Yeah, we're about to clear out, the boys are just tidying the place up. She'll never even know we were here." With that, he ended the call and put his phone down as the Marauder and Black Cat lined up their guns.

The man spun around in the chair and his mouth hung open at the sight of the pair, "you sure about that?" asked Cooper dryly before both opened up, his chest exploding as nearly a dozen rounds turned his torso into swiss cheese while he spasmed violently in the chair before slipping out and falling to the floor. "Shame we had to make such a mess," muttered Cooper as he slung his R-97 back over his shoulder and leapt over the desk and crouched down to grab the remote detonator, "it's gonna kill the resale value," deadpanned the Texan.

Tossing the detonator to Felicia, Matt walked around the desk and saw her still shaking her head even as the corner of her mouth quirk up at the joke before she wistfully said, "we always were good at making a mess of this place."


Cooper's Logbook – Equipment: Suppressors

Sound suppressors do not totally silence a gun, despite often being incorrectly referred to as 'silencers.' That doesn't mean they aren't useful however, shootouts aren't exactly known for being quiet, and so it's easy to miss a suppressed weapon being fired in the heat of the moment. Most importantly, a suppressed weapon won't stop someone from realizing they're being shot at, but with the deadening of the report and near removal of muzzle flash, it will make it damn near impossible to determine exactly where the gunfire is coming from. Supersonic rounds will still make a small sonic boom when they break the sound barrier, but if subsonic ammunition is used then this auditory aspect will be eliminated to, and then the loudest thing you'll hear will be the action of the gun cycling or, in the case of some weapons, the hammer striking the primer.

This is accomplished through a series of expansion chambers, sometimes filled with absorbing material to soak up the energy of a bullet being fired. Suppressors are either screwed onto the end of a muzzle or sometimes integrated into a weapon. Such integrally suppressed weapons may often have other tricks to help with quieting the gun, such as the holes in the barrel of the MP5SD to reduce the pressure pushing a bullet up to speed, thus ensuring even usually supersonic rounds will remain subsonic.

Aside from the tactical implications, using a suppressor with subsonic ammo pretty much removes the need for hearing protection, meaning it offers advantages for training, use in confined spaces, or when you're using your weapon with people who aren't prepared for or acclimated to gunfire. There are disadvantages, any round that relies on muzzle velocity for its punch, such as those fired by most rifles, isn't well suited to suppressed use.

I can confirm that a suppressor will not turn any gun into a silent killing machine.


Closing Notes: For those of you who are familiar with the events of the game, you know that the drama between Spider-Man and Black Cat is due to Black Cat saying that she has a son that could be Peters. Obviously, that plot line is not in this story, instead replaced by the strained and fraying relationship between the leading characters. I did this because I saw a video Whitelight did on this DLC where he argued that the story lacked punch because the major implications were all for naught by the end of it all and so I decided to have a go at rectifying that issue. Hopefully this substitute is suitably intriguing thus far and will stay that way throughout the rest of the coming arcs. Now I will admit as to not being that original with the reasons for the stain, the kill vs. no kill argument isn't new, far from it, but I think with what some of the later DLCs do it's probably the one I can best sell, but I'm curious as to what you all think.

The argument Cooper uses about "better the wrong thing than nothing" is a Teddy Roosevelt quote that is fantastically distilled down to two words that adorn the insignia of the US Army 80th Tank Battalion: Do Something.

Also, with life starting to become a bigger pain in the ass than usual, the coming chapters will come at a slower pace. Right now the target is every other week, but we'll see how that goes. I can say that the next chapter will be all about a Joker and the Thief.

Stay Frosty, Misfit Delta out.