The best way to enter the church was from the side. The goal? Make an assault. It was crazy in some ways Peter thought but he understood Tasha's logic on the matter. The church was best assaulted from here. Plus this was goblin they were talking about. They would not be dealing with a rational actor.

And beyond the obvious sense it was clear why Mephisto had chosen goblin to be an agent. The Halloween themed goblin was a perfect manifestation of everything Mephisto stood for or wanted to advocate in the fear sense.

And goblin had always been Spidey's most terrifying and unhinged of enemies. He was just plain crazy. And a genius to boot.

God only knew what hell had spat back up into the world.

"Are we sure about this?" He said on their comms, suit enabled. Tasha "We have to try. Plus it could yield intel. Full scale engagement in an urban setting like this would only increase collateral potential. If baddies get away it's okay. We'll be tracking them. And it's the top guys we need. Lest Mephisto wouldn't be using them in the first place." "Okay."

It seemed to make sense. But only time would tell.

"Sensors confirm many weapons inside boss..." Marvel said. Just great.

Peter was positioned on one side of the church wall. Tasha another. He would go in first. He'd punch his way in to be sure. He would draw their fire. The suit could handle most of it. Even goblin. At least in theory. He had been dead until recently. Then Tasha would flank the combatants from the other side.

Why can't I just be a geeky teacher at the mansion? But then the X-men were too; but they were also fighters when in the field. He was now in the field. His turn.

"Go." Tasha's single word there was it. Peter sucked in a breath and punched the wall. It shattered inward as the armored super blow did the job to open a hole for them.

Peter was in and going at them. Purifiers fired with heavy guns but Peter was iron man in his own way now. The rounds bounced off him like nothing. He brought up his hands and fired off controlled repulsor blasts at the targets. They were definitely strong enough to kill. And kill they did as Peter saw their vitals drop off his HUD viewer as they fell.

The wall blew moments later on the church's other side and Tasha entered/assaulted with a compact auto in her hands. She shot down purifiers from the backs as they focused on Peter. The intensity of the purifier gunfire helped mask Tasha's explosive entry. Like using a thunderstorm to mask sniper shots.

Where's goblin? Peter kept bashing away. He didn't care so much now about the strength of his blows. Only if they did the job. As Tasha had said before: he only needed to care about that if they needed a target alive. And so far no target needed to go in alive yet. Thus as a shield agent there was no need to pull punches anymore like during superhero days.

The violence picked up. Tasha fired off a few gauntlet grenades and took out several clusters of purifiers; thus reducing their capability to cause harm on the scale they truly intended. Another vital objective here completed. Peter continued his attack with a repulsor/bash combo. They were doing good so far. Still no goblin. Still no detection. It was if nothing was there.

But it also occurred to Peter that goblin could just be hiding in new ways. Perhaps added abilities by Mephisto... which could mean that his Spider sense wouldn't detect the danger...

"Tasha." "Yeah." "My Spidey sense might not pick up goblin." "Copy that. Stay sharp." "Yeah."

The fight continued. A baddie grenade struck the armor and exploded. It shook Peter up a bit but he was still very much in this fight. Tasha too. Still no goblin...

Then it happened. Peter heard the psychotic laughter on the air. "Boss! Above you!" Peter's sense went off but the glider missile hit him head on. It blew. Purifiers were blown to bits then and there. Peter crashed hard through the wall and into the alley next to it. He was stunned.

The fight continued. Goblin's laughter continued. "Oh Spider-Man. We forgot how much fun this was. And thanks to the lord Mephistopheles we'll be doing this for eternity. Ha ha ha!"

More explosions. "You can't stand the loss of innocents can you Spider-Man? That's why you chose to become an agent. A slave by another name if you ask me..." Peter struggled to rise but he was still too stunned. "Why did you give up your free will for governments Spider-Man? Why? Even Rogers was smart enough to grow his beard and walk away. Ha ha ha!"

"Tasha." Nothing. "Tasha do you copy?" Nothing. Gotta get up... he forced himself up. He had no idea what her status was. She was no damsel to say the least; but these weren't typical forces they were dealing with here.

He was back up on his feet and headed back into the church. There he found goblin throwing grenades on the purifiers. He cackled as he did it. He found Tasha. She'd taken cover and was still in the fight. He moved for her.

"Peter!" Goblin killed another group of purifiers before coming down hard for Peter. "Boss!" Peter fired off his hand repulsors at goblin but the baddie saw it coming and dodged them. He then fired a missile at Tasha's location...

"Tasha!" She was already moving and dove right as the missile struck. The blast lifted her from the ground and knocked her hard into a church wall, crashing through it in the process.

Goblin cackled and blasted a hole in the church's roof. Peter didn't escape the heavy falling debris in time and it hammered him to the ground.

Goblin cackled and flew out into the night. Peter lost consciousness.