Author's Note: All properties are the rights of their respective owners, Marvel, Respawn Entertainment, etc.
March Madness is well under way, and already we have been able to laugh at the University of Texas, Illinois, and THE Ohio State University.
For those of you who don't understand what that means, don't worry about it (too much). You can go read my attempt at another story and give me some feedback as I work on that. Thanks to those who have already given it a look and left feedback.
Seros109: When they went in after the Maggia, the NYPD did so under the (correct) belief that there were no superpowered foes inside, it was just the mob. As for using gas? The Russians tried that in a theater back in 2002 and killed like 200 people, including many hostages. There are cases where your points are correct, but this wasn't the one.
Kenrio: I have a policy that I don't think it's correct to delete reviews based on principal, but yours are really making me reconsider that. I know you aren't going to read this, but to anyone else who is, go read this guys reviews because they are so incredibly dumb that I couldn't help but laugh as they rolled in. It is one thing to not agree with how I wrote Black Cat for one reason or another, it's another to read a story where the description says that she is a major character and then proceed to bitch about her presence at all. Also, can somone explain to me how forgiving someone for an admitted mistake after they tried to correct it is simping? People have raised valid criticisms about this particular segment but this is one that I cannot begin to understand.
CHARQICharly: Yes, that Wolverine. Obviously, if you've made it this far you've seen him show up a bit more later on, what you saw there was just a teaser to set the X-Men up for later. I haven't decided if they'll show back up again. It probably won't be until the sequel to Power Without Question at the very earliest if they do however.
A fan: Glad you're still enjoying the story, I had a bit of fun coming up with the backstory and context with what little the game gave us. As for the IMC? Again, the problem is I don't know what to do with them even if I did bring them back. I should probably look into a suitable replacement within Marvel, but failing that? The Black Tusk is actually a good idea I hadn't considered, I may have to rewrite some aspects of them, I'll keep that in mind should I need a large military type enemy.
As for the title of this chapter, it's another from Metallica. A band I can't say I love, but they do make good music, and the album this comes off of, their fourth effort '...And Justice For All' is definitely one of the more interesting ones they did. I want to use the title cut at some point, but today it is 'The Shortest Straw' that gets the nod. Being about the Red Scare of the 1950s it still feels relevant today, the way people can turn on and begin to distrust each other, sometimes because of simple chance.
It is both fitting for this chapter as we push on through Turf Wars, but I also wanted to use it because it still feels of the times, not to get into politics or current events or anything, but those who fail to understand history are doomed to repeat it.
Power Without Question – Chapter 86: The Shortest Straw
The accusations fly, Discrimination, why?
Your inner self to die
Intruding, Doubt sunk itself in you
It's teeth and talons through, You're living catch-22
Deluding, A mass hysteria, A megalomania
Reveal dementia
Reveal, Secretly, Silently, Certainly
In vertigo you will be
Shortest straw
Challenge liberty, Downed by law
Live in infamy, Rub you raw
Witchhunt riding through
Shortest straw
This shortest straw has been pulled for you
The overcast sky that loomed overhead gave off an appropriately depressing atmosphere as Spider-Man crouched atop a streetlight, watching yet another body bag containing one of Yuri's SWAT team get wheeled out of the dilapidated Sanitarium and loaded into an ambulance. He had been too late to do anything, when he finally reached the basement where the cops were being held, he had burst into the room to find Yuri alone with the bodies of her team and a fair number of Hammerheads men, a distant look in her eyes. Watanabe hadn't said a word to the Webhead, merely accepting his help to get to her feet and heading for the exit, walking in an almost trance like state as more NYPD officers flooded the scene and secured the building. The Captain had long since returned to her office as the Webslinger stayed to scour the building for anything that could hint at Hammerhead's next move or, more important to Peter personally, any sign that the Marauder had been present at all.
On both fronts he had come up frustratingly empty handed, and so was left to ponder his next move as what thankfully turned out to be the final of the fallen SWAT officers was loaded and the doors shut. Not wanting to dwell on that any longer, Spider-Man reached out and fired a webline, swinging up to a neighboring rooftop as he called the Captain, and was thankful that she picked up after only a few rings. "Yuri, you doing ok?" he asked cautiously, not wanting to press her any farther than she had already been pushed by the morning's events.
"I'm doing fine," assured Watanabe, though her voice was still distinctly hollow and not convincing to the Webhead's ear, "Or…I will be…I think. I need a chance to catch my breath."
Spider-Man leapt at the opportunity to make sure she got that chance. "Let me run point," he suggested softly. "I'll track Hammerhead, figure out what he's planning. You need time to heal."
There was a brief silence before he heard Yuri let out a deep breath, "That would be… good," she agreed. "I need to call my men's families, let them know what happened." That hardened resolve that Peter had come to respect had begun to resurface and he had hope that the Captain would get through this. "But don't leave me out of the loop," added Yuri sternly, "You learn anything, or you hear from the Marauder, you let me know."
Her words carried the weight of an order, and Spider-Man knew better than to argue. "Promise," he replied instantly, "We'll stop this guy Yuri."
"No, not stop," spat back Yuri with a vitriol he hadn't ever heard from her before she snarled, "We're going to nail this fucker to the wall." As soon as the words were out of her mouth she hung up, leaving Spider-Man alone with those words still ringing in his ears.
"Hammerhead made it personal today," murmured the Webslinger, "Can't let him to continue to run wild." With that in mind, he pulled out his phone and opened his texts.
Before the SWAT infiltration, he asked MJ to text him any updates while he had been searching the Sanitarium, and now he hoped that his girlfriend had come through once again. "Please have something," he prayed quietly as he scrolled through his texts, "MJ, you're a godsend," breathed Peter as he read the message and pocketed the phone. "Hammerhead has men posted up at the Bar With No Name, which is…that way," he said with finality before setting off to the southeast, making a beeline for the establishment, not sparing any time for fancy tricks as he covered the half kilometer between him and his destination. It wasn't long until he was looking at the old El Train line that passed alongside the entrance to the infamous watering hole.
Landing on top of the tracks, the Webslinger carefully made his way to the edge before crawling down the side and eying the entrance as two men approached the door, one wearing old fashioned suspenders and the other having a simple tie. Striding up to the unique locking mechanism, they stood on the worn-down doormat as they were scanned by the sensor while one said, "The password's 'let me the hell in you idiot.'"
The second chuckled, "Good one," he complimented as the door swung open and the two men began to walk inside.
"I've been working on it," replied the first before the door slammed shut behind them as Spider-Man leapt from the underside of the train line to the wall above the door.
Turning around so the soles of his feet were pressed to the wall, Spider-Man bent his knees and leaned back as he looked down at the entrance, "The Bar With No Name, watering hole for New York's most dangerous criminals he mused wistfully as he reached into one of the pockets hidden in his suit. "Last time I went in there, the fight lasted most of Labor Day weekend."
Chuckling at that memory, before wincing at the number of bruises he remembered the number of bruises that came with it, Spidey pulled out a small, hemispherical robot with eight legs, colored a dull red and sporting a rather dashing contoured webbed pattern. "But now I have you my adorable little friend…" said the Webhead as he looked into the four 'eyes' that were the optical sensors above the 'mouth' that was an audio one. Setting the small bot on an open window, Spider-Man crawled out of sight and pulled out his phone, using an app he had made to guide the Spider-Bot forwards and send it down to the stairwell below. "Someone in here must know what Hammerhead's planning, just need to find out."
Guiding the durable little machine down the stairs, Spider-Man was able to read the sign that sat at the base of them, upon which the rules of the establishment had been scribbled in chalk. "No guns, no fighting, no powers," he read off, "That's expecting a lot from the folks who run through here."
Carefully controlling Spider-Bot so that the eight legged machine crawled up a pipe that overlooked the entry way as one of the men who just entered was at the counter, arguing with the man on the other side of the armored window. "Yeah, but I don't wanna give you my guns," argued the Hammerhead henchman.
The bouncer was clearly unamused, "I'm sorry to inform you that those are the rules, sir," replied the Bar With No Name employee, sounding like he wasn't paid enough to do this. "Your weapons stay with me."
"Okay, but I don't wanna." retorted the increasingly irritated thug.
"I understand your concern," allayed the bouncer as the Spider-Bot proceeded along the pipe until it came to a point where the machine could cross to the 2x4s that had been used ot secure the lights for the space and skittered across. "Unfortunately, I can't let you enter the bar with weaponry…" was the last thing the Spider-Bot's microphone picked up. The bot came to a ventilation fan blocking the way forward and its controller triggered a small EMP burst, even if the radius was less than a foot, it was enough to fry the fan and enable the bot to pass through.
"Sorry whatever Maggia guy has to fix this," murmured Spider-Man as he continued to steer the bot further into the bar until he was overlooking the main space. There were booths, tables, and a worn and weathered bar on the far side of the room, but at all of them there were shady looking characters, most of which were talking. "Lotta background noise…should run a filter to ID mentions of 'Maggia' and 'Hammerhead.'" Quickly pausing to input those keywords into the program he had already set up for this purpose, Spider-Man drove the bot out onto a similar set up of planks holding lighting over the booths and stopped over a pair of men dressed in Maggia regalia. "Gotta isolate their vocal waveforms…" muttered the Webhead as he fine-tuned the filter until he was able to clearly make out what the men were saying below, "Perfect."
"So glad we left the Maggia behind, Hammerhead is the future of this city." Watching the speaker take a sip of the pint sized glass of beer, Peter then looked at the man across from him, who was engrossed with the latest print issue of the Daily Bugle.
That second man looked over his paper, "You don't think it's kinda… messed up?" he asked. "What he's doin, to himself. Project Olympus. It ain't natural."
"What? And your tribal tattoo is natural?" retorted the man before chuckling and taking another sip of his beer.
"It's not the same…" replied the man morosely before flipping his newspaper back up.
Sensing he wasn't going to get much more out of those two, Spidey had the intrepid Spider-Bot press on. Outside, its builder mused over what he had just heard from the safety of the nook outside the establishment. "I don't like to make assumptions, but I'm pretty sure there aren't a lot of valedictorians in the room, here." With no place to go but further forwards, that's where Peter sent the bot until he was looking through the machine's eyes down into the grimy and not at all up to code kitchen and jumped down onto the countertop. Waiting for the cook to turn around to ask the second cook about his intermural baseball team, the mechanical arachnid skittered forwards and out the ready window to find himself behind the bar. The Spider-Bot used the bottles and taps on the counter behind the bar to stay out of sight from the bartender and patrons, though he did pass a handgun tucked neatly out of sight behind the tap. Looking out into the bar, he spotted a pair of Hammerheads men before jumping down to the beat up floor.
Scampering across open floor, the barstools and then tables kept the bot out of sight as it crossed the bar to the pair of goons it's operator had spotted earlier. Once Spider-Man guided the machine across the open space, he hid the Spider-Bot under a table and repeated the process he had earlier to pick up what they were saying. "That's crazy – all the Maggia Dons are holed up together?" said one in a very thick accent.
Only for the second to reply in an even thicker accent, "Morons think they're safer that way. Boss'll show them. Gonna hit 'em all at once. End the war, take over the Maggia."
"This assault on the Dons, where's it happenin'?" asked the first in his somewhat easier to understand, "You got a location?"
"Naw. New guy says he knows though," replied the second, though there was a hint of sarcasm in his thicker accent. "Hammerhead told him all personal-like, he says."
"The fuck? What's up with fucking new guys getting intel before us?" asked the first, clearly irritated and maybe not picking up on the sarcasm. "Gonna bust this kid's chops…" continued the Maggia goon before Peter watched his feet move past the second and tear off across the bar.
"I really hope this new guy knows where the Dons are at," said Spider-Man as he directed the Spider-Bot after the goons, "C'mon new guy. You can do it." Following the pair of allegedly more experienced criminals past some pinball machines and the air hockey table, Spider-Man directed his robot under the pool table as the two men came to a stop and set to work tuning the microphone.
"…heard you know where the Dons is at…" began one of the men the Spider-Bot had followed before the 'new guy' cut him off.
"Keep ya' voice down!" implored New Guy fervently before tensing, "It's just, uh…" he began before faltering, "I don't know…" he admitted.
Outside, Spider-Man's shoulders slumped, "Aw, come on New Guy!"
"I knew it," replied the goon that had confronted the New Guy with a healthy dose of smug. "Friggin' new fish."
"Bu…but I do know who does know!" stuttered out the New Guy, trying to gain some form of redemption, "Vinny and Gino. Yeah, they're in the back, and they ain't telling nobody."
But the more experienced Maggia men were less than impressed by New Guy's bluster. "Like that's news. Vinny and Gino know everything. Stop runnin' yer fuckin mouth new guy." After he heard that warning, Spider-Man disabled his eavesdropping program and began looking for a way into the back.
"Vinny and Gino, huh?" murmured Spider-Man as he spied the door that led into the backrooms, "Now I just need to get someone to open it for me. Could try blowing a fuse…" mused the Webhead as he had the bot scamper across the open floor to a pinball machine by the door and, more importantly, the electrical outlet on the wall. Activating the machine's electro magnetic pulse, Peter got the desired effect as the lights over the area flickered before going out completely, drawing a few curses that were loud enough to be easily audible over the rest of the noise in the bar. From his position under a somewhat insulting Electro themed pinball machine, the Spider-Bot watched as a pair of dress shoes went up to the door and opened it.
The man was followed by the small mechanical arachnid, "Pardon me, comin' through," quipped Spider-Man as the machine slipped past and he could see an open door at the end of the hall, two men discussing something inside. As the bot got closer, Peter could make out what they were focused on, "a map of Hammerhead's businesses? Gotta get a better look at it…"
With that mission in mind, Spider-Man sent bot scampering into a vent on the ground level, behind the wall and out a hole closer to the two Maggia men, ascending some haphazardly placed boards that served as a ramp onto some boxes. "Between the distillery and the chopshop, Hammerhead's printin' money for years…" said one as Spider-Bot came to a stop behind a pallet that was leaned against the crate and served as something to keep the machine out of sight. Getting a good look at the map and the locations marked on it, Peter zoomed in on the pinned map and snapped a picture.
"There, when I'm done here, I'm calling MJ. She's going to want to know about those spots for her piece on crime fronts," said the Webslinger as he sent the photo to the reporter, with only a brief caption to explain what it was. With that done, he refocused on his original objective, "Ok – onward, need to find Vinny and Gino, figure out where the Maggia Dons are." Jumping down from the box he was on and progressing down the hallway, the door ahead flung open as a Maggia man left the bathroom. Pressing the bot to the wall, Peter waited for the thug to pass before having the bot crawl into the bathroom. Inside, he overheard two of Hammerhead's men discussing something as they washed their hands, actually surprising the Webslinger with their good hygiene.
"Hey, you heard about this Project Olympus business?" asked one.
"I heard," replied the other gruffly, "I don't like it."
"Could be interesting," countered the first.
The second wasn't impressed and snorted derisively, "Could be…it gets you DEAD."
With that, both men shut off the water in the sinks and dried their hands before heading out, leaving Peter to ponder what he had heard. "Project Olympus? Why does that keep coming up here…" wondered the Webhead as his bot skittered through the surprisingly clean stalls until coming across a hole in the wall. Climbing over the toppled bricks, the Spider-Bot wound up in a darkened space with various ventilation equipment and the Webslinger repeated the trick he had used when encountering the same obstacle earlier and soon moved past the sparking fan.
The bot skittered into the next room and laid electronic eyes on a pair of men hunched over a table. "Vinny and Gino, I presume. I need to look at that table…I'm going to have to distract them…that'll work," he mused as he spied the vintage AM radio and triggered the EM pulse next to it, causing the jazz music to turn to static.
"Damnit!" cursed one as he stomped towards the busted device and tried to fix it, giving Peter plenty of space to roam about and find a conveniently placed board to climb up on a table and get closer to an outlet that powered the overhead light.
"There an eclectic box in here?" asked the second as he looked around aimlessly.
The Spider-Bot put some distance between itself and the 'eclectic box' as the other Maggia man had about the same reaction as the Wallcralwer. "You mean an 'electric' box?" he asked.
"That's what I said."
"You said 'eclectic' jackass," corrected the apparent brains of the operation, "Like my aunt with those damn princess dogs. King Charles or something."
While the two men were discussing the finer points of show dogs, the Spider-Bot scampered across the countertop and onto the table to snap a quick photo of the documents and pictures splayed out. Thankful that he had installed a low light camera on the bot, Peter could make out what they were looking at and came to a quick conclusion, "The Dons are hiding in the Auerbach Theatre." Without a moment to waste, Peter turned the bot around and sent it through another ventilation duct well out of sight.
"I need to reach them before Hammerhead does." But as he rounded a corner in the vent he was faced with the main space of the bar, who had evidently fixed the light he had knocked out earlier and were back to drinking and conversing normally. Confronted with this, Spider-Man came to a quick conclusion, "It'll take too long to drive you back out," he murmured as the arachnid machine jumped down to the floor and took cover behind the jukebox in a corner, "Now hide here and I'll come back for you later…with several bottles of bleach."
It was safe to say that the entirety of the floor where the Daily Bugle operated was chaotic as Mary Jane exited Robbie's office, a draft of one of the pieces she was working on in hand that was covered in red ink to indicate corrections and alterations the Editor in Chief wanted made to the piece. With the seemingly endless number of new developments coming in, Mary Jane had been put in charge of the group of reporters tasked with covering the Maggia. A story which, until 36 hours ago, she had been the only assigned reporter, but now had three associates that she had to keep an eye on and make sure they didn't veer into each other's lane in addition to writing her own stories and helping Peter make sure the city didn't collapse on itself.
She wasn't behind enough to mean she couldn't swing by the break room real fast and grab a cup of coffee to keep her going. A minute later she entered her office with a steaming Styrofoam cup in one hand and the draft of her piece in the other and set both down before slumping down in her chair. It had been a taxing few days, and as much as Mary Jane herself showed that in her appearance, it was her workspace that was the most telling of what she had been up to. The small trash can in the corner was overflowing with Styrofoam cups and wrappers for protein bars, her wall was covered with notes, maps, and mugshots of key players, and the floor was littered with crumpled up papers from earlier drafts. A vibration in her pocket put a smile on her face as she pulled out her phone and saw a picture of her and her boyfriend greet her, letting her know who was calling as she answered and pressed the phone to her ear. "Hey MJ, it's Pete."
Even though he always opened every phone call like this, for some reason, in her fatigued, tired mind, Mary Jane found it incredibly amusing this time and couldn't help but chuckle at and tease her boyfriend a little bit. "Yeah, I have you number in my phone, Pete. You don't have to tell me it's you."
"Right. Obviously," he replied before pausing briefly, and MJ could almost see the blush that was probably on his face and couldn't help but quirk a corner of her mouth upwards at the mental image. "Listen, I know you're working on that piece about Maggia fronts – I found something that might help."
Immediately, the brunette had her attention as MJ shoveled some papers aside and pulled out her notes on that assignment. "Yeah?" she asked as she flipped through the notepad.
"I have the location of four of Hammerhead's 'businesses,' and I'm willing to bet real money that they're not legit," quipped Peter. MJ noticed the email alert blinking at her on her computer monitor and opened it up to be greeted with a message from the Wallcrawler.
"You have no money to bet, you spent the SHIELD paycheck on that thing for the lab, remember?" she joked lightly as she printed out the email, "I appreciate the sentiment though. I'll look into them right away!" she promised, already trying to figure out when she could swing the time to dig into the locations and maybe even take a look see for herself.
"Why don't you let me do the legwork?" offered Spider-Man as she heard a loud horn blare in the background, "I'll pass along what I find."
Mary Jane only needed to give it a moment of thought, they were partners, and that worked both ways. "That would be so helpful," she admitted truthfully. "I'm on a deadline and I gotta get back to work. Let's talk soon, stay safe Pete," she told him before hanging up and opening up the draft of the story she had been working on, setting the edited version in front of her, taking a sip of coffee, and setting to work.
With a special alert set to ping if any trouble occurred within three blocks of the Auerbach Theater, Spider-Man was confident he could take a quick look at one of Hammerhead's fronts that happened to be nearby. Crawling through an open window on the backside of the building, the Webslinger found himself in a large garage and chopshop with rows of neatly parked vehicles lining one side of the space. They ranged from iconic Yellow Taxis to sports cars and utility vans to box trucks, but none of those vehicles held the attention of Spider-Man nearly as long as the hulking white armored MRAPs in the middle of the room. "Sable vehicles, that's not good," murmured Peter before he flipped down to the floor and his eyes widened at what was on the ground next to him. The body of the Maggia enforcer was face down, blood pooling on the floor and oozing out of the half dozen bullet holes in his back. "This is much worse…"
That wasn't the end of it either, looking out across the floor, Spider-Man could see more bodies ahead, all of which were clustered around a parked and partially disassembled Sable vehicle. "What happened here?" wondered the Queens Native as he looked down at the bodies, all of which were seemingly cut down by gunfire.
"Who could have done this?" wondered the Webslinger as he looked around and tried to ignore that nagging voice at the back of the head that told Peter who knew exactly who was responsible for this.
Pushing that voice aside, Peter pushed one of the bodies off a crate and pried the lid off to reveal that it was full of old assault rifles that Hammerhead's crew had eschewed in favor of their stolen Sable energy weapons. Moving on, he found the back of the white armored vehicle had been partially loaded with cans of ammunition and shrink-wrapped stacks of hundred dollar bills. "Where'd Hammerhead get all this cash? And what is it for?" wondered the Webslinger before he moved on to the row of parked vehicles and looked through them until he came across an empty spot. Furrowing his brow, he crouched down to get a closer look and couldn't help but notice the tire tracks left in the missing spot, wide tire tracks.
With questions continuing to pile up and needing some answers, the Webslinger made his way towards the office space at the back of the garage and up the flight of stairs to a set of doors that had been blown open. Inside was one more dead body, shot between the eyes, but the fact that his sixth sense remained quiet was enough to convince Spider-Man that there was no danger to him as he continued to explore. There were more crates of old weapons and ammunition haphazardly arranged around the office, but then there were a few odd looking machines that the Webhead moved to investigate.
"These look like printers or fax machines or something…" mused Spidey as he walked around and found what was a trey and picked up the sheet of paper as his eyes and eye lenses both widened, "The money's all counterfeit…." The uncut sheets of cash looked and felt real, but he knew that they weren't as his mind went back to hearing those goons at the Bar With No Name discuss how Hammerhead was making money at the chop shop…but Peter would never have guessed that the Don was literally making money. Looking up, Spider-Man saw a wall of keys, presumably for the cars down below, each had a piece of tape on the wall above them to label what car they went to. "What car got taken…" wondered the Webslinger until he saw the one slot without a key that still had a label and raised an eyebrow, "What's a Plymouth Cuda?"
Shaking that question aside, the Wallcrawler moved at last to the desk and saw the papers and laptop on it. As he skimmed over the papers, it didn't take him long to realize what they were as he quickly called Mary Jane with the phone in his mask. Turning his attention to the laptop, the redhead answered. "Hey MJ, I'm at the chop shop in Harlem and…and someone already came through here, killed all of Hammerhead's men…."
"Oh, wow," breathed the Associate Editor, "Do you think it was…."
"Probably," answered Peter tersely, taking a breath, he continued, "But I found a paper trail tying Hammerhead to this place for your article." He pulled out his phone and began snapping pictures of the documents before plugging the cell into the laptop and starting to copy over files, "And there's something else…I'm seeing some encrypted files. They look important so I'm copying them and will send them your way."
There was a momentary pause as MJ looked over what he had sent before she responded, her tone brightening quickly with barely contained excitement, "Pete, this is incredible," she gushed, "Thank you. I'll see what I can get out of these files."
"Alright, I'll get back to Don-sitting while you're at it," quipped the Queens Native in response. When the line was disconnected, he retraced his steps and sent a message to the NYPD tipline before making his way back out onto the streets. Hopefully this wouldn't become yet another thing Yuri would have to deal with.
As he started to swing through the city towards his destination, it was time for his phone to ring, though the Webhead was somewhat surprised to see who it was as he accepted the call and was met by the blunt and no-nonsense tone of Captain Watanabe. "Spider-Man, how's the hunt?" she asked.
"Good," he answered honestly, "Got a lead on the Dons." Taking a breath and giving Yuri a moment to respond, Spider-Man only spoke again when it seemed she wasn't, and gently asked, "How're you?"
"Tired," replied the NYPD Captain, weariness prevalent in her voice, "Just finished calling my men's families. It was… hard," admitted Watanabe. "Good. But hard."
Peter could tell that the wounds were still fresh, and he didn't want to push his friend any farther. "I'll take care of this Yuri. Don't worry," he assured as he closed in on the Auerbach Theater and the call ended. "Ok, it's Don-Sitting time," quipped the Webhead as he spotted his destination and closed in on the famous building before flipping up and onto the rooftop of a building opposite the Auerbach.
Looking down at the Theater, it was clear to Spider-Man that there was something inside worth guarding, because there were more than a dozen men posted up outside. The variety of clothing betrayed that men from each family were on guard duty, with some wearing sport coats, while others had track suits, and a third group had leather jackets. "Alright, everything looks alright, place looks secure, Dons are safe…."
Only for the classic Parker luck to rear its ugly head as his sixth sense caused him to put his head on the swivel for anything out of the ordinary. Looking down below him, he saw three white armored vehicles looming large over the other cars, sleek angular shapes on top of six massive wheels crushed an unfortunate car and passed under Spider-Man's position before the first of the three armored vehicles bashed through the brick wall, much to the shock of the guards on the other side. Before the defenders could react, the turret atop the first vehicle thundered to life as the autocannon began pumping out rounds that blasted apart the entrance and cut down the defenders as the two subsequent vehicles bulled their way through the brick on either side of the first, the doors of the rear compartment dropping as groups of men in suspenders and ties emerged holding Sable energy rifles. Spider-Man sighed, "Were safe," he corrected, "Great."
Leaping from his perch, the Webslinger planted a foot on a streetlamp before springing off and firing a webline at one of the men intent on getting in the Theater and slammed into him, driving the goon to the ground as he found himself surrounded by more of Hammerhead's men. "Spider-Man!" shouted one as the others faltered. "We're getting' those Dons! One way or another!" shouted the goon as Spider-Man fired a webline at him and leapt at the Maggia gunman, throwing a punch that sent him staggering back. With superhuman athleticism, the Webslinger did a backflipping bicycle kick that sent the man's gun flying up before landing back on his feet and firing a webline to snatch the gun from the air and slam it down onto his head, knocking out the loudmouthed gunman.
But his sixth sense began to hammer at the back of his head, and he jumped as high as his superhuman strength would allow as he heard the rolling thunder of the autocannon on one of the APCs open fire again. Below the webslinger, the blacktop was decimated by the salvo of high explosive shells, sending chunks flying in every direction at life threatening speeds. Even as Spider-Man backflipped to move towards the commandeered APC when he felt his sixth sense buzz again and the Webhead fired a webline at a streetlamp and pulled himself to the side just as a stream of bright red energy bolts shot past, sizzling in Spider-Man's ear. The Webslinger went swinging around the lamppost and slingshotting himself back towards the theater and the white vehicle on the right side.
Coming around and going right at the Hammerhead vehicle, Spider-Man could see the mounted multi-barreled energy gun atop the turret trying to track him as it spun up, but he never gave it a chance to shoot. Firing weblines at the base, Peter pulled himself at the gun with both feet extended and used his superstrength to press on the mount until it bent and then the bolts that held the machinegun mount to the turret sheared and the entire gun went flying off across the parking lot.
Spider-Man stuck fast to the turret, feeling it lurch beneath his feet as the nose lifted. The APC accelerated with surprising speed, causing him to sway on his feet. "Woah! This doesn't look like a regular mechanical bull!" quipped the Wallcrawler as the vehicle shot forwards and the base of his skull warbled in warning. Eyes widening, Spider-Man realized the vehicle was charging straight for the wall of the Auerbach Theater. The hero crouched down and raised his hands to shield his face as the machine crashed through the shattered glass doors and brick of the wall above them.
Enduring the hit, the Webslinger grit his teeth and shook the fog from his aching head and gathered his wits as his sixth sense began to hum again as there were several pops before thick clouds of white smoke began to envelope the vehicle. The humming became a buzzing as Spider-Man took the hint and leapt clear, flipping before his feet landed on the tile of the lobby just as the smoke around the vehicle crackled and flickered with lightning that reminded him distinctly of Cooper's Electric Smoke. Spider-Man was poised and waiting for the Hammerhead vehicle to make it's next move as he heard the engine spool up. Instead of the gun turning towards him the APC reversed out of the Auerbach, leaving the Webslinger alone in the lobby.
But that didn't last for long as Spidey's sixth sense buzzed and he turned around and saw a monster of a man wielding the same kind of multi barreled energy gun that had been on the roof of the armored vehicles outside. "I'm gonna squish you like a bug!" roared the Maggia man as the barrels spun up. Spider-Man turned and leapt to the side, flipping around as he reached his hand out and stuck fast to the backside of a column just as the gun opened fire, filling the lobby with red energy pulses that scorched walls and chipped the column Spider-Man was clinging to.
In addition to passing by close enough that the Webhead could hear the bright red laser pulses sizzle in his ear, the salvo smashed the concession stand, causing popcorn to spill out of the machine onto the floor and bottles of drink to shatter. After a few ear shattering seconds, the gunfire finally subsided with the lobby much worse off, especially the poor concession stand. "That's one way to get out of paying for overpriced snacks!" quipped the Wallcrawler as he made his move, firing a line of webbing at the ceiling and springing off the column. Swinging through the air, Spider-Man extended both feet and planted both of his boots right on the big man's barrel chest, sending him staggering back and slamming into the wall behind as Spider-Man backflipped off before throwing one last knockout punch on his way down that left the big man slumped against the wall as he dropped to the floor. "Don't worry about missing the show, I hear this one's better on demand anyhow."
The sound of gunfire deeper in the theater caused Spidey to ignore the armored vehicles outside the Auerbach and push further inside, through the lobby and found himself in a truly massive space. A ceiling that spanned up to the third floor, staircases on the walls to lead to the upper deck and boxes for the theater itself on the far side of the opposite wall. Ornate banners, fine art, and expensive chandeliers decorated the Atrium. More gruesomely, bodies of men that had been defending the theater were slumped over by the kicked open doors. But before Spider-Man could head for them, his sixth sense rumbled warningly in his head as the Webslinger jumped and flipped, firing a pair of webs towards the flash of movement he saw in the corner of his eye.
Only the webs did no good as they struck the blue shield of the jetpack equipped Maggia enforcer. Before Spider-Man could follow up, the Maggia goon swooped past, skimming just above the ground before Peter's sixth sense buzzed again. The Webhead flipped acrobatically, careful to avoid the trail of crackling red energy that was left in the wake of the first Maggia goon as a second tore past from the opposite direction. The two men now bracketed Spider-Man, but then a third dropped down grinning evilly behind his shield
"Real quick, I just have to ask…" began Spider-Man as he spun around and clenched his fists in anticipation, "Does Hammerhead do casual Fridays?" As soon as the words left his mouth, he felt his Spidey sense buzz, only he didn't see the two guy in front of him moving, leaving only one source of the warning. Bending his knees, the Webslinger then rocketed up as the jet pack equipped man flew past harmlessly beneath, but Spider-Man wasn't going to pass up on this opportunity. Firing a pair of weblines down, the strings of synthetic silk stuck to the man's shoulders as Spider-Man pulled himself to the Maggia man and planted both feet on his back before yanking his right arm up and twisting his feet, managing to steer the man to the right as he struggled against the weblines. "Aren't those suits constricting?" asked Spider-Man as one of the other Maggia enforcers was forced to dart out of the way of his comrade before the errant enforcer was redirected towards the wall and slammed into it. Spider-Man cut the lines and backflipped away, raising his hands and firing an impact web that stuck the man to the wall as the hero twisted acrobatically and stuck the landing, facing away from the wall as he addressed the remaining pair. "Seriously, you should try spandex!"
Those last two men didn't seem keen on the Webhead's suggestion as they scowled at him before one lowered his shoulder and charged at the masked hero with malicious intent etched on his features. Spider-Man agilely ducked and spun away before firing a webline at the second, catching him off guard as the Websilnger sprung up and pulled himself to the jet pack equipped goon, throwing a punch into the shield that caused the man to lurch back and fall to the ground. Not feeling anything from his sixth sense, Spider-Man pressed his advantage, throwing a second punch and then a kick on the shield to see if he could brute force his way past the defense, but to no effect. The sudden movement of a door caused him to look past the Maggia enforcer and see inside the theater itself as some men with sacks over their heads were shepherded towards an exit across the auditorium. It didn't take a genius to figure out what that was all about. "The Dons…" realized Spider-Man as a whip armed man emerged before the doors closed behind him, and now the Webslinger was racing against the clock.
A hum at the base of his skull caused the hero to look back at the Maggia man he had been whaling on in time to see him swing his shield right into Spider-Man, knocking the wind from the Webhead as he took a steadying step back and refocused on the shield equipped man with the jetpack lifted back up off the ground. That hum became a buzz as Spider-Man reacted instinctively, not needing to look at the man to know what was coming to roll away. Indeed, the Maggia enforcer charged past, jet pack flaming angrily as it carried the man away, but Spidey wasn't about to let that happen.
Turning around, Spider-Man took a knee and fired a pair of weblines that latched onto the man's legs and went taut as the Sable jetpack struggled for the briefest second against superhuman strength and spider stickiness. The Webslinger grit his teeth as his arms strained for a second before physics took over. With his legs not able to keep up with the rest of his body as it was carried along by the jetpack, the man pivoted and fell forwards. Propelled by his jetpack, he slammed face first into the theater floor, though the hero was more focused on the warbling of his sixth sense. Another man emerged from the door and had his whip poised to strike the hero, but when it came forward, the hero jumped up, twisting around as the crackling whip snapped past. While flipping through the air, the Wallcrawler yanked the jetpack equipped man over the top and slammed him down on the enforcer with the whips, sending both tumbling across the floor.
Extending his arms to fire impact webs to web them both up, Spider-Man only got a pair of harmless clicks in return. But as he realized just how low on webbing he was, Spidey was abruptly interrupted by the warbling of his sixth sense that caused him to turn and try and jump away, but even he couldn't quite get clear as the last of the Maggia men barreled into his chest and drove the Webslinger back and into the wall. Letting out a grunt as his head slammed back into, and cracked, the wood, Spider-Man pushed through the haze as the Maggia goon used his jetpack to pin the Webslinger in place. Trying to throw a punch and kick only resulted in getting the shield to flicker for a moment as the wood now began to creak and give under the constant pressure.
One hand fumbled around and found the last he had web bomb in his suit pocket before activating the gadget, "Hold onto this for me, would ya?" asked the Webhead before reaching up over the shield and tossing the bomb down onto the man's chest. Spider-Man could see his eyes widen before the counter ticked down and the bomb detonated. Now restrained by webbing, the man lost control and veered away, letting the Webhead free as the hero fired a webline at the ceiling and pushed off the wall to plant a swing kick in the man's back. That blow caused the spinning and flailing enforcer to sail across the room and stick fast to the opposite wall, even if he still struggled against his bindings.
"Time to get after the Dons." Busting down the doors into the auditorium, Spider-Man rushed in and ran forwards, through the shot-up space and past the wrecked and overturned furniture that filled the center of the room. The open door on the far side of the room gave him the path forwards and led Spider-Man behind the scenes and into the guts of the theater, through the narrower, more dimly lit, and grimier corridors until he sprinted up to a corner and was about to round it when his sixth sense rang loudly in a way he couldn't ignore. Immediately hitting the brakes, Spider-Man edged around the corner to see one of Hammerhead's brutes armed with a minigun waiting for him before he reflexively flipped back around the corner as the barrels spooled up and cut loose. A torrent of red laser bolts filled the narrow hallway, illuminating the space before splashing against the wall at the end and leaving black scorch marks on the exposed brick. "I don't have time for this," muttered the Webhead as he reached for a gadget to toss at the goon only to find his pockets empty as his heart sank. Between the Sanitarium in the morning and now dealing with the goons earlier, he was out of toys and forced to wait out the onslaught.
Unfortunately, the brute filling the hallway ahead of him seemed to know that he was playing for time and was keeping the trigger held down, sending a near continuous torrent of laser pulses streaking past that kept Spidey's sixth sense buzzing at the base of his skull. The multibarreled energy gun gave off an ear-splitting shriek that filled and echoed in the narrow corridor before that report, and the buzzing in the Webslinger's head, began to fade ever so slightly. Tensing in preparation, Spider-Man rocked on the balls of his feet as the sound of the laser weapon firing was replaced by a shrill alarm and loud hiss alongside the softer whirling of the guns electric motor. Knowing that the brute had cooked his weapon, Spider-Man went on the attack, rounding the corner to face his foe who reacted by attempting to use the ruined weapon as a bludgeon as the Webhead jumped and raised his hands. The Wallcrawler stuck to the ceiling as the red hot barrels of the gun swung underneath before retaliating with a kick that caught the brute while he was off balance and sent him stumbling back, dropping his gun as Spider-Man pushed off the ceiling. Planting his feet on the man's face, the Wallcrawler pressed the buttons on both webshooters for a pair of lines, but only one answered and fired a think line of synthetic silk at the ground that Spidey pulled to drive the man to the ground. Giving the enforcer's head a slam that caused the brute to instantly go limp, the arachnid flipped off and resumed his charge despite being very nearly out of webs.
Rushing through the hall, the spandex clad superhero came to the end of the hall and threw the door open only to find himself back in the lobby he'd first entered. Sprinting through the ruined space towards the wrecked entrance and leapt out into the parking lot as he saw the rear of one of the armored vehicles that had attacked surge towards the hole it had made in the brick wall around the parking lot and pass through. "No, no, no, no!" exclaimed the Webslinger as he took off in pursuit, sprinting forwards to get after it as it passed through the gap and went out onto the street. Jumping up onto the brick wall, Spider-Man launched off and raised his webshooter to fire a line only to get a sick sounding hiss in reply. Eyes widening, he tried his other webshooter only to get the same thing as the spent cartridges had been ejected and there were no more fresh ones to load.
The ground raced up at him and the spider themed hero instinctively rolled as he hit it, coming up to his feet and sprinting forward. Pushing himself to the limits of his superhuman abilities to try and run down the escaping vehicles, Spider-Man began to close the gap quickly, thinking for a few seconds that he still had a chance to salvage the situation.
His sixth sense started to hum as the trailing vehicle began to turn it's turret around and opened fire, sending shells at him as he was forced to duck and weave. Spider-Man was stumbling as he tried to keep up the Maggia vehicles when he heard a series of rapid 'pops' come from the armored tank. Half a dozen canisters arced lazily through the air in his direction, and despite his danger sense ringing loudly, the Webhead pressed on, refusing to let them get away as the cannisters went off, filling the air ahead of him with thick white smoke that he charged straight into just as the first bolts of lighting arced through the obscurement. Instnatly, the electricity snapped at the Wallcrawler, seizing up his muscules as the hero tripped and fell forwards, tumbling across the concrete, thankfully carried out of the smoke by his momentum, but his limbs refused to respond as he turned to see the Maggia vehicles had vanished from sight.
"Crap," moaned Spider-Man with a grimace as he let out a breath and ran a hand over his mask while thinking of his best course of action. He needed to get more webbing and restock his gadgets, but couldn't simply webswing to his place, the lab, or MJ's to grab them. Spying a sign for a subway station, and with the firefight having caused all the civilians, including cabbies, to disperse, the Webslinger made his way to the station to catch the train while muttering to himself, "Well…that could've gone better." The sound of a police siren that signaled the approach of New York's finest responding to the shootout was a blunt reminder of something Spider-Man needed to do, but immediately dreaded.
He had to call Yuri.
The Police Captain was in her office, finishing up the distinctly unpleasant task of filling out reports related to the action at the Harlem Sanitarium, Watanabe was filled with a sense of closure as she was able to shut the file and let out a breath of relief. It felt like a weight had been lifted from her shoulders that allowed her to stand up and pick up the file that was next to her revolver and the empty pack of tissues from her desk as she made for the door. Yuri knew she looked like a bit of a mess, but was still holding it together after the tumultuous morning. She had been told to take it easy, not just by Spider-Man but also by DeWolff, and since there weren't any more concrete leads on Hammerhead's whereabouts and not much to do except keep the Sable equipment being stored at the station protected.
Not that Watanabe had any illusions about there not being anything happening as she left her office to go file the paperwork, but she was off the clock and had been using that time away from the case to reflect on things. Not only did she have all her history with Hammerhead, not only had he possibly killed the Marauder, but now Hammerhead had murdered cops, her cops, her friends, right in front of her and reveled in it. Just the thought of the man's face had Yuri grinding her teeth as she slammed the file folder down with a bit more force that strictly necessary.
Turning around, Yuri noticed that everyone in the office suddenly looked away from the Captain as Watanabe was taken aback and realized what she must have looked like as she had stalked her way across the precinct. Letting out a breath, the Captain pulled a piece of nicotine gum out of her pocket and stuck it in her mouth, chewing to calm her nerves as she forced herself to relax before she turned back and began the trek back to her office. Yuri was still frowning even as she returned and collapsed into her chair, foot resting on the duffel bag sitting under her desk. For a brief moment, her mind flashed to the possibility of donning the high tech Wraith gear and going out there to take care of things herself. But the thought perished as quickly as it had formed; she was a Captain, she had to take care of the precinct and the people inside and couldn't indulge revenge fantasies. If she did, she could get more people killed and Watanabe vowed that she wouldn't let that happen again. She wasn't going to let Hammerhead get to her and would keep a cool head.
The sudden ringing of her phone caused Yuri to snap from her internal musings as she saw it was Spider-Man and immediately snapped up the phone and answered, keen to get an update on the situation. "Yuri…" greeted Spider-Man, though he didn't sound his usual, upbeat self, "He got away…with the Dons."
Watanabe could feel her heart drop into her stomach as the words registered in her mind. "What?" she exclaimed as she stood up, now fully alert as she grabbed her gun from her desk and shoved it in her shoulder holster, "Are you serious?"
"That Sable tech he's been stealing? She had more in her arsenal than I thought," revealed the Webhead grimly. "Hammerheads guys had the full arsenal, automatic laser guns, jetpacks, those hard light riot shields, and they arrived in these tanks with autocannons on top and…I couldn't stop them."
The Captain's reply was a kneejerk reaction, "You told me you would take care of this. You told me not to worry," she snapped angrily as a storm brewed in her mind. Yuri was trying to make sense of things, even if the NYPD had impounded as much Sable International hardware as they could, the clearly hadn't gotten enough, and they weren't any closer to figuring out exactly what Hammerhead either. Thinking about it, Yuri realized that the NYPD didn't even know what they had since the containers hadn't been opened. There was no way to know what other surprises might be in store, and Spider-Man didn't lie, Hammerhead already had a lot, and it was enough to keep the Wallcrawler from stopping the Maggia, which was very worrying. Never mind the reports of tanks that she needed to look into.
"I did, yes," replied Spider-Man sorrowfully, "And I screwed up. I'm sorry."
Yuri had no doubt that he was truly sorry, but that didn't fix the problem. "No more breaks, no more time off," she replied with calm certainty as she pulled her jacket back on, "I'm on this now. I'll call you when I have a plan," she told him before unceremoniously hanging up on him. Pocketing her phone, the Captain rubbed her face and forced herself to think, Hammerhead now had the one thing they knew he wanted…or did he? He wanted the Dons for whatever power play he was planning, beyond that the only other things he wanted were the drives Black Cat had stolen, which were destroyed or missing, and Sable equipment…like the equipment that was impounded in precincts across the city.
If Hammerhead did have Sable tanks, then there would be little the NYPD could do to stop them from assaulting their precincts, but they couldn't just hand over all the equipment to Hammerhead by putting it all in some unguarded warehouse. Chewing her gum as she thought of solutions only to shoot them down just as fast, Yuri soon had an idea of what they could do to buy them some time and she pulled out her phone to call Jean and run it past her.
But as Yuri waited for the Commissioner to pick up, she couldn't help but be a little more tempted by the duffel bag under her desk.
Mary Jane Watson Research Notes
Corruption at Oscorp – MAKO Mechanized Infantry Combat Vehicle Program
After the Devil's Breath crisis, Oscorp was forced to undergo a significant reorganization, and Norman Osborn, once again the company's chief executive, focused the efforts of the company on supplying Sable International with new technologies and equipment. The exact terms of the contract signed when Sable International arrived in New York is unknown, but it seems that Osborn bet big on the PMC needing Oscorp for R&D, and it's a bet he seems to have won.
One of my sources within Oscorp came to me with details regarding one of the few projects that had ambitions besides meeting a Sable requirement. Since Oscorp is the only private company to have ready access to samples of IMC technology, Osborn directed it to be used to design a new Armored Fighting Vehicle. The result is a high speed, six wheeled Infantry Fighting Vehicle with the capacity to carry between six and eight men and armed with an autocannon, described as analogous to a Russian BTR-90 or American Stryker. Advanced armor composition gives resistance to 20mm cannon fire from the frontal arc, and all-around protection from 14.5mm heavy machine gun fire, superior to those previously named benchmarks. Mobility is also said to be better, especially in terms of cross-country mobility. While much of the development process has been in developing the hull, chassis, and power plant, the completed prototypes had a variety of armaments, usually a combination of some type of autocannon with supplementary anti-tank missile or machine gun.
The aim of the program was to get the MAKO into service with Sable International and then gain a military contract, though I have to express a certain level of dubiousness at Oscorp's assumption that there are many governments that would be eager to do business with them after what happened with Devil's Breath.
Closing Notes: Really interested in feedback here, particularly among those who played, or at least know, the game. Because then you will know that I made more than a few changes to the Auerbach Theater segment, completely getting rid of the 'Digboy' things, because I think they're stupid, and replacing them with something a bit more reasonable. That of course caused the structure of the mission to change, having their be fighting inside the Theater itself and the small chase sequence at the end, whereas the game didn't have any of that. There are a few other things that will get similarly changes in coming chapters.
If you have thoughts on those things, or anything else, then feel free to review, otherwise, thanks for reading.
Next chapter should be up in about two weeks and will see someone don their Greenface.
Stay Frosty, Misfit Delta out.