All properties are the rights of their respective owners, Marvel, Respawn Entertainment, etc.

I recently saw the excellent Hunt for Red October and it is highly recommended. I enjoyed it so much I went out and got the book it was based on and read that too.

Also of note, for a long time I've bandied about different ideas for another story to do on the side. I'm grateful for all of those who made suggestions but I have started one. I've talked about how I didn't want to do another story with comic book characters, that I don't like fantasy settings and didn't want to do one, and that I wanted to keep things grounded, more so than this story. I can categorically say that the new story I've cooked up has failed to meet a single one of those criteria. If you're interested then the first chapter will be going up in about a week, around the 17th or so.

Seros109: Glad you finally caught up, hopefully you were kept entertained throughout. The goal with those outside characters like Bliss was to make him feel like he fit, and I can't take all the credit for that of course, but I do feel satisfied with how everything turned out. As for the Dark Knight quote, I'll see about fitting it in, but won't make any promises, I still need to quote Live Free or Die Hard. That being said, I'm not sure why you feel like Cooper is like Batman. I can tell you I wasn't going for that at all when writing this story, so I'm curious as to where that came from, PM me your explanation because I would love to hear it.

As for the IMC? They probably won't show back up, at least I don't have any plans for them to. I feel like if I need a big bad evil military force I can come up with somebody else that would be a bit more plausible, but never say never. As for an unplanned pregnancy? Very unlikely, Felicia is smart enough to be on top of all that stuff, she takes care of her birth control as meticulously as she would plan a heist. It's a good thing you didn't ask for longer chapters, I think some drag on too much as it is, pacing is a constant worry for me when writing. Thanks for the well wishes, take care of yourself.

Mangoose: Punisher was definitely an inspiration, I won't deny it, but I did try to differentiate Cooper from Castle after that first story arc. Cooper was more like one of those 80s or 90s action movies, at least that was the aim.

Now, the title for this chapter was one I flip flopped on for a while, and this is the third different title I've used for it over the course of its development. The song that won out is the third part of Iced Earth's legendary 'Gettysburg Trilogy' off of The Glorious Burden and is the song that immediately follows 'Hold at All Costs' that was the title of chapter 59. For those of you who don't know, the 'Gettysburg Trilogy' is three songs that each are about a day of the Battle of Gettysburg, and with this being the third song it covers the third and final day of the battle, particularly the infamous event known as 'Pickett's Charge.' A mile long charge by Confederate forces across open ground right into the center of Union lines, an entire infantry division was practically wiped out, with the farthest advance making it to the base of the hill where the Union forces were dug in. This spot, which has a marker placed there to this day, is known as the Confederate 'High Water Mark.' Their farthest advance into Union territory during the entire war.

I of course chose this song for a reason, and for those of you who don't know the story of the game, you'll probably understand why by the end of this chapter. This chapter is the first that follows the second DLC pack, 'Turf Wars.' I've had to make some changes to later events in this DLC, but not to the opening, because it is absolutely fantastic. So crank up the music, soak in the storytelling of that operatic heavy metal, and enjoy.

Power Without Question – Chapter 85: High Water Mark

What happens here this day

The fate of this nation

In the balance it will hang

Consumed with the pain

The courage of the blue

The valour of the grey

So very sad but true

Consumed with the pain

Yuri's usually tidy office was a mess, the files that had covered her desk earlier had been hastily closed and stacked on one side only to be replaced by the gear she had pulled from the armory that she anticipated needing for the operation planned later that morning. On the floor, a duffel bag containing the Pilot's kit that she had used against the IMC lay open, showing the form fitting grey battle gear inside, but Yuri had ultimately decided against it, she was a cop, not a Pilot. And so the Captain strapped a Kevlar vest with an 'NYPD' Velcro patch on over a turtleneck shirt and then pulled her leather jacket on over that. Once that was done, the Lawwoman slipped her arms through the loops on a harness before strapping the thing together around her which had ammo pouches, loops for a pair of flashbang grenades, and holster for her revolver. Her hair was packed under a wool beanie to keep it out of her face and a comm link was nestled in her ear. After ensuring that her backup knife was secured in her boot, she picked up her six gun. Yuriko then swung out the cylinder and began to load the weapon when there was a knock on her door, "Come in," she called out as the door was opened to reveal Commissioner Jean DeWolff, who strode in with a manilla envelope in hand.

"You sure about this Yuriko?" asked the blonde, and the only answer Yuri gave was to holster the Rhino before picking up a DDM4 V7S and inserting a magazine into the rifle, "Alright, point taken."

Nodding, the Captain put her arm through the sling and let the AR derivative rest across her chest before extending her hand expectantly.

"Not yet Yuri, I want to hear everything from you, from the top, before I give you this," said DeWolff in a way that brokered no argument.

"Alright Jean," conceded Yuri as she quickly used her foot to shove the duffel bag back under her desk. "Follow me," instructed the Captain as the two women left the Captain's office and made their way across the floor, through the various bullpens in the Chinatown precinct towards a conference room. Once inside, Watanabe closed the door behind them and turned to the wall that had the map that her investigative team had put together to give an overview of everything they had pieced together about the chain of events that led them to where they were now.

It was a vast plethora of information, and even still, it wasn't complete, but that hadn't affected the certainty Yuri had regarding what their next move should be. She could already see that the commissioner was trying to make sense of everything and cleared her throat as she stepped forwards to help make it clearer.

"Here's the situation," began the Captain as DeWolff crossed her arms and listened intently. "the Black Cat and the Marauder are both missing, presumed dead." Pointing to pictures of the two in costume, Yuri might've had suspicions that the pair weren't actually dead, but for all intents and purposes, the pair weren't around, whatever the reason. "Their plan was to blackmail the Maggia crime families," explained the Captain as she indicated pictures of pair's handiwork where they had appeared the night before last, "To accomplish this, they stole data drives, what was on these drives is unknown. But they weren't the only ones doing this. Maggia Don Hammerhead attempted to acquire one of the drives before it was stolen by Black Cat from the MoCA," explained Yuri as she held up a piece of the broken painting that had contained the drive. "With his attempt at blackmail foiled, Hammerhead responded, aggressively."

"It seems that he was the one behind the thefts of Sable weaponry from their bases as well as Oscorp, and he used that weaponry on the Marauder and Black Cat." Tapping a photo showing the burnt out remains of the Thief's penthouse, "Black Cat, the Marauder, and the blackmail material were all lost in this attack."

"Wait a minute," interrupted DeWolff suddenly, causing Watanabe to stop as the Commissioner spoke, "What about the drives we recovered yesterday?"

"These?" asked Yuri as she held up one of the drives recovered at the Hammerhead property where one of his Lieutenants, Frank Nitti, had been found dead, "Fakes," dismissed the Captain with certainty. "If they are the real deal, then they've been wiped clean, and one was just used to house a tracking device. If the blackmail material wasn't destroyed, then it's in the wind."

DeWolff mulled this over for a moment before nodding, "I see".

Taking that as her cue to proceed, Watanabe resumed, "Now, Hammerhead is out for blood. With blackmail no longer an option, he's gone to the mattresses, seemingly hoping to eliminate the other Maggia Dons by force. He's only continued to appropriate heavy arms intended for Sable International and been bolder in his methods to get a hold of them."

"We've impounded as much Sable equipment as we can," interjected DeWolff, as well she should have considering the amount she had impounded personally, "But it might not be enough," she said sadly. Indeed, until they knew the entirety of what Hammerhead had stolen from Oscorp then they would never know if it had been enough.

Nodding in solemn agreement, Yuri said "The result is an all-out gang war, with New York caught in the middle. But, we might have gotten a lucky break, yesterday, we got a tip that Hammerhead might have set up shop in the old Harlem Sanitarium. I sent plainclothes officers to take a look and they found evidence of heavy Maggia activity." The pictures in her hands showed armed lookouts, Sable vehicles coming and going, and more.

"This morning, the situation changed slightly, when this picture was taken," said the Captain as she slid a phot across the table to DeWolff. Yuri remained silent as the blonde looked over what Watanabe knew was a phot of none other than Hammerhead himself getting out of a Sable MRAP and entering the decrepit structure. "The other families noticed that too, because in the last hour, they've all joined forces and are attacking the Sanitarium from all sides, pinning Hammerhead in. We can distract the Maggia, have a small team infiltrate the building, and take Hammerhead alive." Stepping away from the board, Yuri finished by saying, "We're only going to get one shot like this Jean."

The Commissioner mulled it over for merely a second before setting the envelope on the table and sliding it across to Yuri.

Picking it up, the Captain quickly tore it open and pulled out the signed warrants that granted permission for a search of the Harlem Sanitarium to be conducted as well as for the arrest of Joseph Martello, better known as Don Hammerhead.

"Yuri," said the blonde, "Make it count."

Watanabe gave her friend a curt nod and headed out of the conference room to inform the waiting SWAT team that they had a Don to capture.

Looking out from a rooftop at the Harlem Sanitarium, Watanabe watched the groups of Maggia men exchange fire in the courtyard of the Sanitarium. Red pulse lasers of the Sable guns wielded by Hammerhead's men rained down on those trying to advance towards the decaying building. The attackers gave as good as they got as they fired back with their own automatic weapons before a rocket launcher fired, sending an 84mm warhead across the courtyard and into a vehicle, causing it to erupt in a three story tall fireball. "Getting bad down there," said the man crouched next to her as Yuri looked up at the masked face of Spider-Man.

"Yeah," agreed the Lawwoman as she felt her phone buzz and pulled it out to see what it was. The text she had received was displayed across the screen and simply read 'DON'T DO IT' that caused Yuri to attempt viewing the sender, only to learn that the number was blocked.

Her lips formed a thin line as she processed the warning. Then, with a flash of angry fingers, she sent her response, 'Someone has to stop him,' and then pushed the exchange from her mind as she pocketed the smartphone and gave the Webslinger a nod, "Ready when you are."

"Copy that," acknowledged Spider-Man as he stood to his full height and turned to the assembled SWAT team behind them. Yuri similarly rose to her feet, her rifle slung across her chest as the ever-talkative Webhead spread his arms and addressed the men, "I'll get 'em looking the wrong way. You gentlemen ready?"

Collectively, the group responded by giving curt nods or readying their weapons as one, Lieutenant Drake, stepped up and held up an arm to show off his wristwatch, "Spidey," began drake as he tapped it, "Check it out."

"Nice," complimented Spider-Man as Yuri looked at the man's watch and noted it had a rendition of the hero's bug-eyed mask on the watch face.

"That's not regulation Lieutenant," observed Watanabe dryly, though with a glint of amusement in her eyes.

Drake replied in an apologetic tone, "Sorry Captain, birthday present from the kid. Not every day you run ops with the man, you know?"

Yuri understood, and cracked a small smile, "I'll let it slide…this time," she warned seriously, "Now get back on the ready line." Nodding, the SWAT officer took his place alongside the others as Spider-Man fired his signature gadgets, one at the Sanitarium and the other at a section of the building next to theirs before smushing the lines of synthetic silk together and repeating the process so that there were two lines that led to two windows on the target building.

"Let's do this!" barked the Captain as the first man stepped up and attached a handle with a sheave pulley on it to the white rope. Taking a running start, the man jumped from the edge, riding the synthetic silk like a zipline towards the target building. The rest of the men did the same and Yuri pulled her own gadget from her gear, getting in line as Spider-Man leapt off the roof and into the action.

Falling from the rooftop, Spider-Man directed his descent towards a group of attacking Maggia gunmen and picked one at the center as he extended his feet and grit his teeth before slamming into the gunmen. Before the body hit the cement, the Webslinger had fired a pair of weblines at two shocked gunmen in hoodies ahead of Spider-Man before the hero twisted around and yanked the two men together. The impact of their heads knocking out both men as the third member of that group stared at the spider on Peter's back.

The pause was long enough for the hero to point both hands back over his shoulders to grab the last of the three men and yank hard. Digging his feet in, Spider-Man flung the Maggia gunman over his head and sent him flying into some of his pals while the Wallcrawler tossed a web bomb to the other group. A split second later, the gadget went off, keeping the three men pinned to the ground. "It's the Bug!" shouted one of Hammerhead's men as the fire died down for a moment.

Out of the corner of his eye, Spider-Man could see the last of the police SWAT team make their infiltration and replied, "Any of you guys read that chapter in The Art of War about misdirection?" he asked, "No? Good!" he said as he fired a webline at a car door and ripped it off the vehicle before throwing it at the gathered group of Maggia gunmen. "A maggia civil war. Hammerhead's men versus all the other families. And I'm caught in the middle – of course," he muttered as he charged into the fray. Dodging a stream of laser fire before he closed in with one of the attacking goons and decked him with a single superpowered punch as his buddies yelled something in such a thick accent that the Wallcrawler couldn't make it out. "What was that?" he asked as he fired a webline at a pallet and swung it over his head, "You gotta speak up!" he quipped before hurling the pallet at the man, the impact causing the wood to crack as the man fell over limply.

"Shoot Spider-Man!" shouted one of Hammerhead's gunmen firing from up above as Spider-Man acrobatically flipped clear, only for his ears to register a long burst of automatic gunfire behind him. Eyes widening as he wondered why his sixth sense hadn't warned him of the danger, Spider-Man turned to look up and see the gunman who had been shooting at him fall from his rooftop vantage, killed by the gunshots. Before the Wallcrawler could process everything, his sixth sense rang in warning as he jumped out of the way of a burst of laser fire.

A burst of light caught his attention as Spider-Man watched the ball of red energy streak overhead and slam into the spot where the attacking gunmen had fired a second before, causing the man's charred body to be sent flying. The shocking image caused the Webhead to shake his head and refocused on what he had to do. "Just need to keep these guys focused on me while Yuri and her team sneak in and grab Hammerhead…" he said as he caught his breath before he jumped onto the side of the one of the smaller structures in the courtyard and ran up the side of the brick building before flipping over the edge and planting both feet in the chest of the Hammerhead man wielding the rocket launcher on top, sending him flying out over the edge as Spider-Man sidearmed a tripwire mine onto him and caught sight of the gadget activate as the man fell, pulling him to the side of the building he had just been knocked from.

Whipping around, Spider-Man saw a group of men in tracksuits and hoodies from the other Maggia families rush in wielding rifles, rocket launchers, and ballistic shields. "Every Don should have a name like 'Hammerhead,'" began Spider-Man before leaping from the rooftop towards the group, causing all of the dozen men to stop dead in their tracks as the watched the Webslinger fly through the air to them. As they tried to raise their weapons, Spider-Man twisted acrobatically above them and fired his webshooters, firing bursts of webbing at the men. Emptying the cartridges of both webshooters as fast as he could fire them and leaving the attacking enforcers struggling against their white restraints, Spider-Man landed on the ground. "Let me think. How about 'Moose'? That's a majestic animal!" suggested the webslinger as he set to work tipping the men over so they would stick to the ground. "Maybe 'Stingray'? Stick with the aquatic theme? Look, I'm spitballing here," rambled the Wallcralwer as he threw the last of the attacking Maggia men to the ground.

With none of the enforcers able to answer him, Spider-Man scanned for any signs of more goons before deciding to listen in on the police frequency for how Yuri was doing. "Contact right! Contact right!" shouted the Captain before the staccato of automatic gunfire came over the line followed by two thunderous gunshots from Yuri's Magnum Revolver. "Confirm target elimination?" asked Watanabe.

"Confirmed, tango down!" replied one of the officers in her team.

"Let's move! Let's move!" shouted the Lawwoman before Peter tuned out of the frequency just as fresh cartridges chambered into his wrist mounted gadgets, and not a moment too soon.

"Yeah, she's okay," he observed before he was instantly brought back to his immediate surroundings by a crashing sound behind him. Whipping around, Spider-Man saw the pair of box trucks that had barreled through one of the gates before screeching to a halt. The doors all flew open as more men from the various other families jumped out, including a brute wielding a six barreled minigun. "Hey, I can do this all day guys!" called out the webslinger gamely as he bent his knees and prepared to deal with this next wave, "Though I'd prefer not to."

That preference didn't stop Spidey from wading into the oncoming men until he felt a warbling at the base of his skull. The whine of the Minigun's electric motor reached his ears as the six barrels of the weapon spun up. With superhuman agility, Spider-Man bounded to his left and kicked his legs up to flip over as he snapped off a pair of webs at the same time the brute triggered the weapon, sending a stream of red hot 7.62mm tore through the air, taking chunks out of the cars and brickwork behind where the webslinger had been a moment before. After a fraction of a second and after 40 rounds had been expended, the bursts of webbing Spider-Man had fired hit the brute's face, causing the man to reflexively flinch and jerk his weapon up while not letting off the trigger, firing hundreds of rounds into the sanitarium, shredding planks and shattering windows with equal ease. "How'd he do that?" exclaimed one of the Maggia gunmen as Spider-Man used the temporary reprieve to fire a webline at one gunmen on the far side of the Maggia group and yanked himself to him, twisting as he flew through the air to deliver a spin kick that sent the gunman crumpling to the ground.

Planting his other foot on the man's falling chest, the Wallcrawler leapt off the good and backflipped through the air before falling towards another gunman and landing with a leg on each of the man's shoulders. Wrapping a leg around the man's throat, Spider-Man leaned back, reaching 'up' to plant his hands on the ground before pulling his legs to his stomach, throwing the man to the pavement as Spidey got his feet back under him in a crouch and looked up at the brute that had managed to rip the webbing to his face and wheeled his six barreled gun around. Instantly, Spider-Man shot forwards like an Olympic sprinter off the starting blocks to close the gap with superhuman speed, dashing right past the other Maggia enforcers to get right in the big man's grill as he tried to point his weapon at the Webhead, only for a pair of spandex covered hands to grab hold of the still warm barrels.

"A gift, for me?" asked Spider-Man with forced cheerfulness as he ripped the 140 pound weapon assembly from the brute's hands and swung it like a baseball bat, clocking the man upside the head with his own gun and sending him flying back, "You shouldn't have!" quipped the mask wearing hero before spinning and hurling the gun at a group of four Maggia men, bowling over the pair in the middle.

"Ah, a split!" whined the Webhead before firing a webline from his left webshooter at the man on his right and a line from his right webshooter to the man on his left. With a grunt, Spider-Man yanked his crossed arms back and pulled the lines taut, tearing the men form their feet and sending them slamming into each other before both fell to the pavement and were summarily webbed in place. "I'll take a spare," quipped Spidey to console himself.

A buzz at the space of his skull had Spider-Man turning towards the door of the Sanitarium as it burst open to reveal one of Hammerhead's well dressed enforcers, though this one was sporting some less that stylish additions. "You're going to be like a bug on a windshield!" yelled the man with a white harness and Sable International jetpack strapped to his back and some bulky white gauntlet on his left forearm.

"Enough with the bug puns already!" shouted back Spidey as he fired a webline at the enforcer, only for the purpose of the white gauntlet to become clear as it flared to life in a flash of blue light that took the form of a translucent riot shield and blocked the webline. "Huh?" said a genuinely shocked Spider-Man as his eye lenses widened before getting another unexpected surprise as the man made use of the jetpack, taking a step forward before lifting himself into the air, all of about two feet, and leaning forwards as the pack carried him through the air, shield held up in front to make himself a human battering ram aimed squarely at the Wallcrawler.

Reacting, Spider-Man leapt and flipped away as the jet pack equipped man streaked past, leaving a trail of sparking red energy along the ground in his wake before dropping back to the ground as the two men turned to face each other, only now it was the Webslinger's turn to go on the attack. Jumping forwards, Spider-Man cocked his fist and threw a punch as the Maggia man raised his shield as the hero's fist connected with the luminescent shield. A flash of pain flared through Spidey's hand as his punch had no effect on the shield, instead only managing to cause Hammerhead's man to stagger a few steps back before he swung his shield in reply, bashing the Webslinger across the face and sending him back, causing him to shake his head to rid himself of the fog that clouded his mind before Spider-Man saw the Sable jetpack activate again. Seeing murder in the man's eye, Spider-Man held his ground as his foe came up off the ground and lowered his shoulder to blitz straight towards him.

Acrobatically, Spider-Man twisted, pulled his knees to his chest, and began to cartwheel as the shielded jet pack enforcer began to pass over him before kicking his legs out. Both of his feet slammed into the shield, kicking the enforcer up higher as he tumbled end over end while Spider-Man launched himself with his hands, flying up after the Maggia goon as he fired at the ground with one webshooter as the other got a line on the man's back and twisted, whipping his arm around to sling the Maggia enforcer into the ground and sending him rolling across the blacktop in a limp heap.

The area then fell eerily silent, even his sixth sense was quiet as Spider-Man moved cautiously towards the door of the sanitarium, "That was…about as hard as I expected." Not so brazen as to bash through the front door, Spider-Man fired some weblines to pull himself up to a section of the building that had been blasted open by an RPG hit and flipped inside. Deciding that he'd rather avoid more trouble if he could, the Webslinger leapt up onto the ceiling and pushed open a grate that led to the large air vents above the ceiling and climbed inside. Crawling through them like his namesake, Spider-Man called Captain Watanabe to give her an update, "hey Yuri, we're all good outside. How's your team?" he asked only to get a wave of static in return. Cutting the line, Peter hoped everything was alright, "hm, bad reception. She must be in the basement or something. Gotta catch up to her."

Pushing deeper into the rotting building, Spider-Man reached another vent and dropped down, back into a dusty and foul-smelling hallway with warped and uneven floorboards that was crammed with various piece of junk, from moldy bunk beds, mattresses, chairs, and various pieces of shelves and cabinetry that had been used in the sanitarium when it had been in use. "Oh good, nice and creepy," said the Webslinger as he took in the space before taking uneasy steps forward and jumped up onto the top bunkbed, "Definitely not haunted." Beyond that, a collapsed wall to his left seemed to offer the best route further into the building. With the barest hint of hesitation, Spider-Man went through it, though, as he often did when he was nervous, he began to run his mouth, "I know Yuri can handle herself, but something isn't right here. I've got to catch up to her."

Leaping up onto a partially collapsed shelf and cringing as he felt the wood flex under his weight, Spider-Man clambered up into a musty smelling attic space, "And where's Matt? If Hammerhead's here, then why hasn't he shown yet?" wondered the Wallcralwer as questions queued up behind questions in his mind now that he didn't have the prospect of legions of Maggia goons trying to kill him as a distraction. But dropping out of the attic next to a bathtub, he forced those thoughts from his mind and tried to replace them with other hopes. "Please don't let there be any bathroom ghosts," he pleaded to whomever might still be looking out for a guy from Queens, "I can't deal with that today."

Passing by the tiled walls and floors that had the occasional drain and showerhead, the Webhead soon found himself facing another hallway filled with debris that was in worse shape than the building. Carefully beginning to traverse the degrading obstacles, Spider-Man couldn't help but shake that nagging feeling about this place. "Probably not every Sanitarium is haunted by the ghosts of the people who were mistreated there," he mused before coming out the other end of the junk and turning to see a once ornate stairwell turned to splinters by the equally ornate chandelier that had fallen through it, "But this one most definitely is."

Carefully negotiating the wrecked stairs while looking for a way forward, Spidey settled on his best option being a hastily planked over hole in the wall. Grabbing hold of what looked like the central one and giving it a solid push, the Webhead's super strength caused it to break quickly and the other planks of plywood quickly gave way. Clambering through, Spider-Man tried his comm again, "hey Yuri? Do you read?" he asked, this time not even getting static in reply before he gave up and clicked his comm off, "Well, it was worth a try. Maybe Matt will finally answer," hoped the Wallcrawler as he pulled up the Texan's contact info and dialed.

"Howdy there, you've reached the voicemail of Matthew Cooper," greeted a recording of the Pilot's distinct southern drawl, "chances are I'm busy at the moment. Leave a message and I'll get back to ya' when I ain't." Peter cut the line, not bothering to leave a beyond the three … or was it four … that he had already left since he saw the explosion at the penthouse. Shaking his head and refocusing on the task at hand, Spider-Man paused at the edge of a hole in the floor, a slight hum at the base of his skull causing him to pause and take things slowly.

Getting down low on all fours, the Wallcrawler lived up to that nickname, slowly crawling through the hole so he wound up on the ceiling before looking 'up' to survey the room beneath him, and the first thing that caught his attention was the Maggia enforcer walking across the room. Silently moving along the ceiling, Spider-Man waited for him to stop before dropping down behind him and planting a foot in the back of his knee, causing the man to stumble before the Webhead threw a right cross that put him on the ground before a burst of webbing ensured he stayed there. Confident that the man was out and a silent sixth sense confirming the man had been alone, Spider-Man got a closer look at the room. While it was similarly filled with junk, there were a few tables with chairs somewhat neatly arranged around them, and they even went so far as to have working desk lamps on them.

"Hm. This looks like Hammerhead's base of operations…" murmured the Webslinger before he paused at a pair of bodies, each with a tight grouping of bullet holes in their torso's and handguns still clutched in death grips by both of them and sighed sadly at the loss of life. "But no Hammerhead, and no Yuri…." noted Spider-Man morosely before turning his attention to the table and examining the document that was on it. It was a map of Manhattan, various parts of it circled in red with stacks of poker chips of various sizes and colors sitting atop each. At the three corners of the map were larger stacks of chips along with sets of seven cards at each corner as realization dawned on the Webhead, "They were…betting over districts. Over who gets to control what once the rest of the Maggia are out." Shaking his head, Spider-Man stepped away from the table, "Good luck with that, New Yorkers love being told what to do."

Moving across the room, a huge sheet of plywood that had been laid against the wall caught the Webhead's attention, or, more precisely, what was on it. Examining what he realized were paper shooting targets depicting human torsos, Spider-Man noted that these had been modified somewhat, the heads replaced by pictures of men he recognized. "The other Maggia dons. Very subtle," quipped Spidey as he noted each picture was held in place by a knife that had been driven through each man's head. Moving on slowly, his leisurely pace was interrupted by the sound of echoing gunshots deeper in the building. "Yuri!" he exclaimed, startled, as he turned to the direction of the shots and looked for way past the one seemingly solid wall still left in the building, "That didn't sound good, gotta get to her, fast." Looking up, he noted the grate for an air vent and jumped up, planting one foot on a piano before launching himself up to the top of the wall and hastily tearing the vent grate off completely, letting it fall to the floor before climbing inside.

Crawling along the vent, Spider-Man could hear softly playing old timey jazz music combing up ahead of him that was soon overtaken by voices that Spider-Man strained his superhuman hearing to eavesdrop on. "Where'd they come from?" asked one as the Wallcrawler peered down through the vent, looking for the source but seeing only some shelves and crates.

"Who cares?" replied a second.

"Whaddaya' mean 'who cares?' We got cops everywhere, and the Spider's here too!" retorted the first as the Spider in question continued to move through the vents above them, totally unnoticed.

Despite that fact, the second remained confident. "We'll take 'em out. We'll take them all out." Rolling his eyes at the man's rather unrealistic levels of confidence, Spider-Man then heard him ask a rather odd question. "You know what's in the room?"

"I look like I gotta death wish?" retorted the first, and probably more experienced of the pair, "We guard the room. We ain't allowed in the room." From his vantage, the Spider themed hero peered down into the room in saw one man in a sport coat standing over a table with some documents on it, shelves separating this man from the two who were speaking on the other side. The room he was in was divided into two sections by a wall that didn't quite reach the ceiling, and it seemed that the guarded room was beyond that wall.

Without hesitation, the Webhead pushed the vent open and fired a webline at the smartly dressed thug, plucking him up from the floor and quickly yanking him up and flinging him into the ceiling before firing a burst of impact webbing from his second webshooter to pin him there. "Get snuggly up there," quipped the Webslinger as the man struggled against the synthetic silk, but to no avail. Dropping through the open vent and landing atop the shelves and staring down at the two men who had been speaking earlier. Reaching to his belt, Spider-Man withdrew a pair of tripwire mines and simultaneously sidearmmed both of them onto the two men below, the sticky devices activating as soon as they latched on, lines of webbing shooting out to grab the shelves and pull the Maggia men to them. Certain that those two were taken care of, Spider-Man leapt across to the half wall bisecting the room. The space below him had four men in it, and Spider-Man singled out the nearest one before firing a webline at him and zipping down from his vantage point, planting both feet in the man's back to send him into a wall before the webslinger backflipped off and spun around to face the other three.

"It's the Spider!" shouted one as a second with a rifle cradled in his arms tried to bring it up, but not before Spider-Man fired a webline at it, ripped the weapon from his hands, and then swung the web to slam the gun into one of the other two. Seizing the opening, the Webhead leapt towards his disarmed foe and threw a punch that drove the man back into the wall, but before Spider-Man could follow that up, a buzzing at the base of his head had him sidestep just as a second Maggia enforcer dove through the air where the Webhead had been in an attempt to tackle the hero, but only winding up diving headfirst into the wall and smashing through the sheetrock.

The dazed man that had just been disarmed looked down at his comrade's situation before looking at Spider-Man just in time to see the two weblines streak out and stick to his shoulders before the Wallcrawler pulled himself forwards, jumping up as he yanked the lines down before driving his knee up into the face of the Maggia man, causing him to crumple to the ground atop the other. The third, who had been hit by the rifle a moment ago, now dove for that same weapon that had just been thrown at him and got his hands around the grip just as he heard the distinct pneumatic sound of Spider-Man's webshooters and found the weapon, and his hands, encased in sticky white webbing and stick fast to the floor. "Damn bug!" he roared as he yanked angrily at the gun, but the webbing refused to give before Spider-Man jumped up, front rolled, and came down on the man's back to deliver the knockout blow.

"That's all of them," said Spider-Man as he made sure to give the guy who had ran into a wall a few bursts of webbing to make sure he stayed there. "Now what did Hammerhead leave a room full of goons to watch?" he wondered aloud before moving carefully moving over to the one set of solid looking metal doors still in the rotting building. Giving the handle a try, he was almost surprised to find the lock still worked too. With his curiosity further piqued, the Webslinger fired a line of synthetic silk at the door and put it to the test by pulling on it with super strength. Letting out a grunt of effort, he was soon rewarded by the sound of shearing metal as the deadbolt gave way and both doors swung open to reveal another set of similar looking doors whose usefulness was somewhat undermined by the four-foot square hole in the wall above them. With acrobatic grace, Spider-Man fired a pair of weblines at either side of the hole and pulled himself up, twisting his body as he passed through the gap and came down in a three-point crouch on the other side.

His sixth sense quiet, he took a moment to see what was so important, thought he wasn't that surprised to find the answer, "Sable Tech…" he muttered as he noticed the distinctly colored and marked crates, along with lockers holding rifles, drones, and other equipment. "But…what's all this other stuff?" he wondered as he looked at one crate that read 'ACME Construction' on the side before shaking his head and moving on to more pressing questions, "And how'd Hammerhead get his fins on all this?"

That quandary still hanging in the air, Spider-Man rounded the corner only to be confronted with more unusual items. "That's a lot of live video gear…" noted the Webhead as he saw a couple of PCs, cameras, microphones, and some lighting equipment all neatly arranged on and around a table, "Pretty sure Screwball would downvote this immediately," he quipped. But moving on to the next table, a set of blueprints caught his eye, depicting some sort of cylindrical tank mounted on a base at an angle, and with a human approximation next to them for scale. "That's new…" he observed as he tried to decipher what was drawn, "Feels too…professional for a Hammerhead production." Looking up through a window into the next room, the Webhead let out a sigh of relief, "CCTV's," he said as he approached the window and began looking for a way inside. "Yuri's got to be on one of them. I have to get in there." Looking for a route, Spider-Man's gaze settled on the vents above and leapt up into them, passing into the security room before affixing a webline to the ceiling and rappelling down while still inverted, much like a spider might. Even while upside down, the wallcrawler could make out what had happened. "It looks like they repurposed the old security system…" he murmured as he worked the controls, cycling through the feeds in an effort to find the Captain. "Come on Yuri…" he encouraged before finally arriving at one that showed the Lawwoman, but also caused his heart to drop, "No…."

"Thing is…I'm a gentleman. You'dah knocked? You couldah come right in…" mused the imposing figure of Hammerhead as Yuri Watanabe's mind raced, able to feel her heart pound against her ribcage in a way she couldn't recall ever experiencing before. But she forced herself to remain still, down on her knees and hands resting on her thighs as she sat on the heels of her boots because of the Maggia thug standing over her with her own .357 Magnum aimed squarely at her head. The Maggia Don shook his head as he raised his hands dismissively while looming over the dead bodies of most of the SWAT team that had made it down to the basement. Only two others besides the Captain were still alive and they were in much the same position as Yuri, stripped of their weapons and down on their knees as they watched Hammerhead kill their friends in front of them.

"But you had to go and sneak around," said the Don casually as he strode over and snatched one of the SWAT men by the throat, lifting him into the air as the cop tried to wrestle himself free, "That's the problem with you new cops…" snarled Hammerhead before his lips curled into a shark like grin and he turned to face the struggling SWAT operator. Rearing his head back, the Don slammed it forwards, headbutting the cop with a sickening sound that was a combination of the 'ping' of the metal plate in Hammerhead's forehead and the crunch of bone as the cop's skull was caved in. The man fell limp and dead in the Don's grasp as Hammerhead turned back to Yuri, blood of the man he had just killed dripping down his face while he still wore that same sick expression, "No respect."

Hurling the dead body into the pile along with the rest, Hammerhead turned towards Yuri and strode towards the Captain, looming large over the kneeling woman. Flexing her leg, Yuri could still feel the pressure of her backup knife in her boot that had gone unnoticed and looked up with a look of defiance at the Don, resigned to her fate, the Captain was going to make damn sure that if she died today, then she was going to take this motherfucker with her. "Coward!" shouted Lieutenant Drake, the sole surviving member of the SWAT team as Hammerhead stopped short and looked over his shoulder to cast an annoyed glance at the officer before letting out a short breath.

Wiping some of the blood from his scarred face, Hammerhead leaned forwards and gave Yuri a light slap to the cheek, smearing the blood on her face as yet another insult as Watanabe was forced to grit her teeth and bare it. "Course, used to be, we earned your respect," monologued Hammerhead as he turned away, Yuri taking the moment to dart her eyes around the room and see where the other guards were before refocusing on the Don. "You hit us," he said, gesturing to himself as the sharklike grin returned, "We hit back. Made you know your place," he said before turnings towards Drake and leaning down to look the SWAT officer in the eye. "Gave you the fear," snarled the Don before grabbing Drake by his throat. Only instead of lifting him off the ground, Hammerhead simply dragged the man across the floor as Drake struggled, kicking his legs frantically before the Don lifted Drake off the ground. Holding the Lieutenant aloft, Hammerhead turned back towards Yuri.

"But now…" began the Maggia Don, only to be interrupted by Drake spitting on his face in one last act of defiance. Hammerhead's lips drew back in a snarl, "Now yah think a stiff breeze'll blow us over!" he roared as he threw Drake across the room, the cops body slamming into the wall and falling to the floor, a pained groan signaling that Drake was still alive, though the fact he didn't get back up didn't bode well.

Rolling his shoulders, Hammerhead turned towards one of his men and gestured with his hand, prompting the goon to toss his boss the Sable energy rifle he held. Catching the weapon, Hammerhead managed to get a grip on it with his massive hand while Drake came too, lifting himself up off the floor with one arm and looking up just in time to see the muzzle of the gun Hammerhead was now pointing at him. "Time to bring the fear back…" announced Hammerhead as the other guards, with the exception of the one holding Yuri at gunpoint, moving alongside their Don and, most critically, with their backs to Yuri.

Adrenaline began seeping into her veins as she chanced a glance up at the man standing over her and noticed that he too was looking at the display across the room and not at her. The Captain moved instantly, striking with all the speed and fury she could muster as her right hand went to the blade in her boot while swinging her left. Her left knocked the gun back before Yuri spun and drove the knife deep into the man's thigh as she scrambled to her feet. Leaving the blade in his leg, the woman wrapped both hands around her gun and forced it up, causing the man to scream in pain as his arm was twisted into a painful position only for Yuri to ram her knee up into his gut, knocking the wind out of him as she finally wrenched the gun from his hand.

Her outburst hadn't gone unnoticed, the three Maggia men turning just in time to watch Yuri throw her foot up and kick the man in the face before striking the back of his head with her elbow while Drake made a play for the gun he was staring down. Yuri spun around and saw Drake make a weak grab for the rifle's muzzle, only for Hammerhead to rip it away and kick Drake in the stomach while the other two goons turned to face the rearmed police Captain. The first tried to raise his rifle, but was too slow on the draw as Yuri got the Rhino on target first and squeezed off a hollow point round that went in between his eyes before blowing out the back of his skull and painting the wall behind him with his brains.

In the corner of her eye, Yuri saw a flicker of movement as the guard who had given his gun to the Don tried to rush her. Throwing her left arm up to block the punch he threw, Yuri leveled the gun and pulled the trigger, the big revolver putting a round in his chest before she tilted the muzzle up and put a round through the bottom of his chin, causing his brain matter to erupt from the top of his skull before Yuri threw the body aside and turn to face Hammerhead. The grinning Don was crouched behind Drake, holding one of the cop's arms at full extension and a boot pressed to the back of Drake's leg to keep the cop on his knees, the Sable energy rifle pressed to the back of his head. "Drop the gun!" ordered Yuri, teeth barred as she pointed her own weapon at Hammerhead, the muzzle wavering ever so slightly, "Hands behind your head!"

Hammerhead's lips curled menacingly, "How 'bout no?" he replied, jerking the gun forwards for emphasis.

"Captain…" whispered Drake hoarsely, desperation in his eyes, "I'm sorry…"

Yuri grit her teeth, she had wanted to just kill Hammerhead, but she wasn't going to just let Drake die, "Do it, NOW!" she demanded.

"There it is…" sneered Hammerhead as he shuffled to keep Drake between himself and Yuri and looked the Captain in the eye, "There's the fear," he taunted as he jerked his hostage.

"Do it Cap!" implored Drake before Hammerhead yanked the man's arm and causing him to shift and block Yuri's shot, "Do it now!" he shouted as Watanabe's finger curled tighter around the Revolver's trigger.

Letting out an almost feral snarl, Yuri felt the weight of the trigger against her finger as she fought to keep her hands steady and lined up Hammerhead's snarling visage in the gun's sights when everything changed in an instant. The wall behind the Don exploded in a flash of blinding light as Yuri squeezed her eyes shut and felt the shockwave knock the air from her lungs and leave her ears ringing. Hammerhead fared even worse, splinters peppering his back as he staggered forwards, bowling over Drake as he reflexively pulled the trigger on his weapon. The fore end of it glanced off the Lieutenant's shoulder and directing the muzzle towards the ceiling. Hammerhead ended up sending the bolts into the singular lightbulb in the room, shattering it and plunging the space into total darkness.

The ringing in her ears receding, Yuri could hear a burst of suppressed gunfire from behind Hammerhead as the Don fired a stream of red energy bolts at the source of the explosion while he snarled in pain. Trying to steady her sights on where she thought the Don was, the sound of a door bursting open and the bright light it let in caused Yuri to spin towards it and see two men silhouetted by the light in the room behind them as they charged in, rifles up. The glare made it impossible to tell what side they were on before the door shut, sending the room back into darkness until one opened fire. The roar of automatic rifle pounded her ears like a drum, but the flicker of muzzle flash revealed the man to be one of Hammerhead's and Yuri yanked the trigger, the thunder of her Magnum a powerful reply with a dose of finality as one of the muzzle flashes ceased. Ignoring the spray of bullets flying past her head, Yuri snapped her revolver towards the second gunman and fired, watching him spin and fall to the ground as is weapon continued to fire, sending a stream of lead into the wall and ceiling. Turning once again to face Hammerhead, the Captain saw the Don's blue suit jacket as the flicker of the rifle's muzzle flash faded, and fired her sixth shot.

Bucking in her hands, the Rhino sent it's .357 caliber hollow point round towards the Don, muzzle flash lighting up the room for a fraction of a second. Allowing Yuri to see Hammerhead make a break for a door and pull it open a moment later, lighting himself up as a perfect target. Watanabe pulled the trigger again, only to get a barely audible 'click' in return before Hammerhead rushed through, slamming it shut behind him. Looking around in the total blackness frantically for any sign of Hammerhead, Drake, or anything at all, she saw a glow near the source of the original explosion as she blinked her eyes and watched it move as it took the form of a softly glowing blue 'x' before it too vanished completely.

Her heart was still beating rapidly as the Captain began to hyperventilate, forcing a shaky hand from her gun to rifle through her gear and pull out a carryover from when she smoked, thumbing the lid off the lighter before flicking it on, the small flame offering a hint of illumination. Carefully stepping forwards to investigate that blue light, she felt her foot hit something as she looked down and felt her stomach turn over at the sight of Drake's bullet ridden corpse, Spider-Man watch still on his wrist as blood pooled on the floor around it. Falling to her knees, Yuri looked around to find that she was in the midst of the fallen bodies of her men, all of which seemed to be staring at her with lifeless, yet accusing eyes as reality set in.

Hammerhead had gotten away.

They had all died for nothing.

Mary Jane Watson Research Notes

'Comeback of the Maggia' – Sable International Equipment

The most recent development in the ongoing Maggia activity has been the use of Sable International arms and equipment by Hammerhead's family. The details for how exactly this has come about are fuzzy, but what I have found so far has begun to paint a clear picture.

It began when Sable hastily withdrew at the end of last year following the resignation of Mayor Osborn. Public opinion had fully turned on the private security firm by that point, and the incoming Mayor made it clear just how unwelcome the soldiers for hire would be. Faced with a tight deadline, Sable International had to prioritize and went with the stuff that they deemed would be most damaging to the company. Their computer systems, sensors, and specialized equipment was what the company took with them when they left. According to my sources, the PMC had been forced to leave literal tons of equipment behind, ranging from small arms to armored vehicles. There had been ongoing negotiations to leave behind a small unit of Sable International troopers to guard the remaining equipment while a third party company shipped the stuff out, but the new Mayor had to play hardball and refused to let the PMC handle their own gear.

What ended up happening was that the Mayor's office passed down guard duty to the NYPD, who didn't have he manpower to fulfill the request, and contracted transport to a company that shares a few board members with other companies owned by Hammerhead.

Sablinova didn't notice probably because all of the equipment was 'replaceable' and my sources at Oscorp show that the company is producing those replacements so that the gear left behind was lost in the shuffle.

Well…that was until yesterday when we 'found' it the hard way.

Closing Notes: One thing I will have to do a few times during the course of these DLC chapters is dramatically shorten some of these fights. I've head it said of that opening fight in the parking lot that you can measure its length by the weathering of a stone, and I don't have time for that. What I do have time for is the fight scene in the basement, which was fantastic. Yuri plays a big part in this DLC and so expect to see more of her as we progress.

Remember to leave a review if you have something to say, and to look out for that other story I'll be posting soon. Best place to look will probably be my profile, since god knows none of you are going to be able to guess where it is otherwise.

But in about two weeks I'll post the next installment of this story in which someone draws The Shortest Straw.

Stay frosty, Misfit Delta out.