It happened to Tony Stark again. Perhaps a full circle action. It was what had begun his iron man journey in the first place.
He was in captivity again.
Except this time it wasn't power hungry jihadists but rather rogue Wakandans. But within that they weren't panther loyalists either. That was safe to say. And they didn't need his knowledge or his weapons. This was a different kind of abduction.
Peter and allies didn't need to look any further for Tony Stark for proof of life or death. The Wakandans went on the air.
"We are of the great yet forgotten sobek tribe" they said. "We serve the great Killmonger in all things. He liberated Africa; the sacred land; when everyone else, including the black panther, chosen of Bast; failed. It will never happen again..."
They then showed Tony. He was only lightly injured. They also showed Teresa and the Stark security people as well. At least they're okay he thought. His relief at seeing Teresa well enough made him feel better enough to focus again.
He'd stayed hidden since going rogue again. Using his suit's cloaking shield he evaded shield for now. Rhodey called him on a private channel. "Peter. Fury is ticked man. He wants you back now." "I'm not going back until we've saved them Rhodey." "I figured as much. They're ordering me to surrender too. But I'm not in the military anymore." Peter smiled. "You me and cap all have problems with authority it seems like anymore." "Yeah. Must be the new superhero trend. In any event we'll be dealing with shield now inasmuch as the baddies out there..." "Yeah..."
Rhodey was right in more than one way Peter realized. He'd now be going uphill against multiple entities; friendly and not. But Peter couldn't let that stop him. He wouldn't.
I may not be Spider-Man like I used to be but I'll always be Spider-Man in my heart. Teresa was right. The world still needs Spider-Man. Somehow.
Peter worked with Friday on determining Tony's location. There was nothing to say they'd keep them all together. I wouldn't if I were them.
Friday "boss; big problem. Power is failing throughout the city..." "cause?" "Unknown." Rhodey "Peter; you seeing this too?" "Yeah. It has to be the sobek baddies again." Pause "Friday; put up an electromagnetic spectral overlay atop the city utility grid in my hud." "Yes boss." Peter looked over the refreshed real time data. "Pete, what is it?"
"It's an emp. There's also a secondary kinetic discharge occurring from the primary emp field..." "it's them." "Yeah. Thankfully Stark tech is sufficiently shielded. And we have redundant backups in our suits." "Shield's still active too." "For now. But also for now we have the best chance of getting to Tony and my sister and saving them."
"We gonna hit them?" "Yeah. If we can pin them down. I'm betting they're in separate locations." "Agreed. Pete: we should bring Sam and Luke into this too. We'll need the help."
"Yeah..." Peter worked on creating a dedicated comms pathway to the other heroes. Soon enough they had Falcon and power man on comms as well. "Bottom line is that we need to keep shield and fury in the dark on this" said Peter. This was personal for him so long as his sister was involved.
If shield gets in the way... don't let it come to that Pete... but Peter knew the truth. If he had to kill to save his sister he would. Screw the agreement. I will always do what is right.
It could have supernatural ramifications too but he had to go with what was evident. His sister Tony and others needed them. Simple as that.
The heroes worked out a discreet meeting location and rendezvoused there. They'd all scrambled their comms enough to keep shield and the government from locating them. Meanwhile Friday ran her location scans; refined due to Peter's manually inputted search algorithms.
"I've located your sister boss." That was damned near music to his ears. "Condition?" "Her bios are strong boss." Rhodey "Tony and the others?" Friday "located them now. They are indeed in separate locations as you theorized."
Falcon "we'll definitely need to split the team then. Hit them separately." Rhodey "but also simultaneously. We'll lose surprise if we don't do it that way." Peter "you guys save Tony and the others."
He prepared to fly off. Rhodey put a hand on his arm. "Pete. Wait. We need to finalize." "We have Rhodey. You guys have the best chance of saving the others. Me Teresa. It's academic now." They shared a look and Rhodey gave a small nod and pulled his hand away. "Okay Pete. Okay. Good luck." "You too."
Peter engaged his repulsors and cloaking shield and flew off for Teresa's location.
Xxx
Teresa was being held captive seaside. Peter landed and maintained his stealth shield. "Friday; tactical overlay." "On it boss." Peter saw the enemy positions in his hud. The ones he could see anyway. They had stealth tech too. Peter figured once he went hot with things time would then work against him. He sighed. He'd have to hit them hard and fast. With his spider sense he could do that with time to spare. Just being regular again would prove more challenging tactically speaking. He'd have to rely on tech and human instinct alone to save the day. He'd gotten so used to spider power dependency that it had long since become reflexive; like muscle memory. Friday was among the best ai tech in the world. In other circumstances Peter would have had the definite advantage with Stark tech alone. But Wakanda still had the overall edge. And assaulting them alone may not prove to be enough.
But he was gonna try.
He had to.
He moved out with his formed plan in play. The sentries were out and attired in Friday confirmed sobek wardrobe. They also carried modern and traditional Wakandan weaponry.
Now in spider mode Peter would return to the signature manner of fighting he knew better than any other.
He neared the first sentry while remaining concealed. Crouched Peter put a suit web line onto the guard's back and yanked him towards him hard. Peter gave him a suit driven clothesline from hell as he flew toward him. Even through the suit Peter felt the guard's neck snap. His hud confirmed the sentry's death.
Only then did Peter sense his growing rage. He was tired of this shit. I now understand how punisher feels... It was time to even the odds. Spider-Man would live on... he resumed his rescue of the only family he had left.