Author's Note: All properties are the rights of their respective owners, Marvel, Respawn Entertainment, etc.
It's April 21st 2020 and I can think of no current events to talk about. So I'm just going to put a shameless plug for my other story up here. I'm having fun with it and if you think I'm pretty decent at this writing thing then check it out, you might even enjoy it.
This story also passed 600 favorites the day this is going up, so thank you all for that.
A fan: I like the Wraith too, looking forward to writing her more. As for the Alex nod...I'm surprised anyone got that to be honest.
guest001: Yes, Benitez is the first of several nods to the first Division, as you've probably noticed.
ScreamingStuka: Yeah, the way the game doesn't really give her that 'moment' is really disappointing to me, so I tried to make this it. She has a little bit of an arc left to go before we get to Silver Linings and some more once we get there. Glad to hear you like the idea of a spin off too, because I'm pretty much set on it. Hopefully you enjoy this chapter.
The title this time comes from Blues Saraceno, and I will always assocaite with a history channel series, 'The Men who Built America' because this song played over the opening title sequence. It's an odd rock and roll track with a distinct rustic, almost country, vibe to it. The same guy has done a couple songs like this and I might feature them later on, but this one is up first.
Power Without Question – Chapter 88: Save My Soul
When I got to Memphis
To put my ol' baby down
Despair was all around me
Confusion is what I found
So I called me the sheriff
I said bring my wife the gun
But please don't let her hurt me now
That girl just havin' fun
He said:
I can't take you to heaven
I can't save your soul
I can't promise forever
Hey, yeah save my soul
One ear still pressed to the police band, hoping for some his keyword filter to turn up something that could be another lead, Spider-Man came to a stop on a rooftop after sorting out a few Maggia goons trying to intercept a witness being moved to a safehouse. After almost an hour of not hearing anything from Yuri or Matt, who he had tried calling again, the Webslinger hadn't given up hope, but it was beginning to fade.
So, when his phone rang, the Wallcrawler answered it instantly, barely noticing that the caller ID said it was Miles Morales. That didn't stop his sixth sense from humming lowly as soon as the younger spider powered person began speaking. "Hey Peter," greeted the teen nervously.
"Hey Miles," returned Spider-Man as he decided he might as well take a more prolonged stop here and fired a webline at the corner of the rooftop before rappelling down inverted, his feet sticking to the line. "You okay?" asked the Queen's Native. Peter's own unease came just as much from his still humming sixth sense as the unease in the Midtown High student's voice.
There was a momentary pause on the other end of the line. "Uhhhhhh…why do you ask?" returned Morales.
"Right, we haven't covered Spidey sense yet," recalled Peter, "Put that on the list for our next lesson."
"Oh yeah, no, I'm fine," assured Miles, causing Peter to calm down a bit. Just because his Spider Sense was telling him that something was wrong didn't mean the worst. For all Peter knew, Miles had just struck out with that girl he liked and was calling him for advice. "I'm just at General."
Or maybe not.
"You're at the hospital?" sputtered an exasperated Peter, "Why? What happened? Did someone come after you?" asked the Webhead, rapid fire.
"No! No, no, no, no, nothing like that. It's just uh…" began Miles as Peter took a deep calming breath, if Miles didn't seem too bothered by it then it probably wasn't that big a deal. Maybe he was volunteering there, or visiting a friend, or… "I uh, I kinda…jumped off a bridge," muttered Miles lowly.
"You WHAT!?" exclaimed Spider-Man.
"I jumped…off a bridge," repeated the teen, much more clearly, though the words still took time for Spidey to fully process. "In Queens."
Closing his eyes and looking 'up' at the streets below, Spider-Man suppressed the urge to reach through the phone line and smack his protégé before asking the most important question. "Are you okay? I'm coming to get you."
"No no no, I'm totally fine," assured Miles quickly, and he seemed much more sincere this time, backed up by the fact that Spidey's sixth sense actually calmed down somewhat. "Well…I broke a toe," corrected the teenager, "Did you know that there's nothing they can do for that?" he asked excitedly, displaying that youthful energy that made the 23 year old wonder when he lost it. "They just kinda…wish you luck."
As much as that brought a small smile to Peter's face, he still needed to chastise his apprentice for his stunt. "Miles, you can't be doing stuff like that."
"I know that now," returned the teen, causing Peter to roll his eyes.
"Smart ass," muttered Spidey under his breath before continuing, "I'm serious," said the Wallcrawler sternly. "You may have powers but you aren't indestructible. Trust me, your powers…I can't believe I'm about to say this, but…they're a responsibility. You have to treat them that way."
Thankfully, the teen seemed to take Peter's advice to heart. "Yeah, I'm sorry," he answered sincerely. "I'll do better."
"I know you will," said Peter confidently, a small smile forming behind his mask. "And I'll see you this weekend for another lesson, okay?"
That lifted the teens spirits, "Okay, thanks Peter!" he replied excitedly.
"Feel better kiddo," said Spider-Man, making himself feel terribly old as he disconnected the line. Shaking his head, the Webslinger fell from the webline and flipped around, diving towards the street and firing a webline to pull himself out of the dive, "Hopefully I can actually give Miles the time he needs," murmured Peter as he hit the apex of his upswing and flipped off the line.
And while there still wasn't any chatter on the police channels beyond updates on the attacked precincts as he mindlessly swung through the streets until Mary Jane called him. "Peter," greeted the redhead, "I have more decrypted file deets."
"Hit me," responded the Wallcrawler.
"Okay, Hammerhead's weirdly obsessed with Watanabe," began the Associate Editor, causing Peter to raise a questioning eyebrow behind his mask. That…wasn't what he had expected to hear as MJ gave her own perspective. "I hate it when guys get all internet stalky," she commented with thinly veiled disgust in her tone before clearing her throat and getting serious once again, "Lot of transfer records here – she jumped from precinct to precinct back in her early days it seems before finally settling into the one in Chinatown."
Peter understood the implications almost instantly, "The Maggia wasn't just the start of her career, she madethem her entire career." He had always seen that Yuri was driven, but until now he had never realized exactly what drove her.
Sadly, that probably helped explained why she had been taking the day's events so hard. "You got it," agreed Mary Jane, "She's been responsible for shutting down nearly every shady Maggia joint in town for a decade. It's…pretty amazing to see," said MJ, clear admiration in her voice. She probably didn't know about the most recent developments regarding the Captain, and Peter didn't quite have the heart to tell her yet.
"That's Yuri alright," agreed Spider-Man, hoping that she wouldn't take this too far, and the uncertainty as to her current whereabouts and activities was a definite cause for concern.
MJ, as always, hit the nail on the head when it came to her assessment of the Captain. "She sounds like a bulldog. I knew I liked her." The two had only met a handful of times and none of them had been very long interactions.
"Yeah, you two are a lot alike, you don't know when to give up." He said this both as a compliment and a source of more than a few heart palpitations over the years.
"Well, that's not all I found," continued the redhead, this time distinctly less enthusiastic, "it seems the Captain – Yuri, has some baggage."
"Uh, well…" said Peter, treading carefully, "Who doesn't?"
"Yeah," agreed MJ before taking a breath, "There are some old police records here. Did you know she's a third generation cop?"
He actually didn't, for the years the two had worked together, it was hard to describe their relationship much past 'working' even if she was one of the handful of people to know who was behind the mask. "Huh, runs in the family."
"Kind of," agreed MJ tersely, "Yuri's father was kicked off the force. Convicted and imprisoned for accepting bribes," revealed the Bugle Editor before clarifying, "Maggia bribes."
That was something that caught Peter by surprise, "He was dirty?" exclaimed an honestly shocked Webhead.
"Dirty as they come," confirmed MJ, "Looks to me like Yuri's trying to make up for her dad's mistakes, and taking the Maggia down in the process."
"Heavy," agreed the Webhead, "No wonder she's going so hard on this."
"Yeah," agreed MJ before pausing in a way that had his sixth sense humming, and he knew that the cogs were turning for the redhead as she built up the courage to tell him something he probably wasn't going to like. "I know I'm supposed to be writing about the Hammerhead fronts, but…this is pretty compelling stuff, I'm going to go down this angle and see what I can dig up."
Peter took a deep breath, his spidey sense was right, he didn't like that all that much. It felt like a distinct invasion of privacy for a friend who had sacrificed a lot already. He was stopped from voicing his objections by remembering who was asking, Mary Jane would be respectful and treat Yuri's story with the reverence the lawwoman deserved, but he also knew better than to try and dissuade MJ once she had put her mind to something. "Okay, let me know if you need any help."
"Will do," agreed the redhead readily, "Watch yourself out there Pete, I'll call when I have an update." With that, the call ended, causing Peter to let out a deep breath as he flew through the streets at high speed as he digested the revelations MJ had dumped on him.
They also served to quash whatever hope he had left that Yuri would cool off and not do anything she might regret, this was deeply personal. Not only because of what had happened today, but because of how deeply ingrained and longstanding Yuri's vendetta for the Maggia seemed to be. Yuri clearly had a lot of pent up emotions when she left the police station, and Peter had a very bad feeling about how exactly those emotions would manifest, and a ping on his hud told him that his keyword filter had a hit on the police band. "I repeat, reports of shots fired at the Hammerhead establishment, The Bar With No Name. Available units redirect…."
Spider-Man heard enough and switched off the channel as he changed direction and started swinging towards the watering hole. "Someone hit the Bar, the patrons would know better than to start anything," reasoned the Webslinger. That left only two likely candidates, "It's either Yuri or Matt," he decided, "Need to hurry, get there before the police, and see what I can learn." With the city blocks flying by as he neared his destination, Peter swallowed his fears and forced himself to focus, there was no telling what would be waiting for him when he got to the bar.
Passing over the elevated train line, Spider-Man saw an unexpected sight sitting in an alleyway, a rather out of place looking white and blue police cruiser with the letters 'NYPD' proudly emblazoned on it. Letting go of his line, Spider-Man hit the ground with a roll and came to his feet as he looked at the empty car. "Guess that narrows down who's here…" murmured the Webslinger before he fired a webline and flew around the lone building that separated the seemingly abandoned cop car from the bar with no name, only to have his eyes widened as he surveyed the scene. Two men lay dead and the door into the bar had been blown clean off its hinges and as Spider-Man crouched down to confirm that the wounds on their chests were indeed lethal, he could only manage a few words as he carefully proceeded inside. "This is…brutal." Peter had seen what Matthew had been like when he took no prisoners, but most of his work was fast and clean compared to this. This scene was more reminiscent of the handiwork of Frank Castle, which was an even more frightening thought then what he might find inside.
That didn't stop him from proceeding cautiously inside, casting a glance at the destroyed door before carefully heading down the steps. Somewhat ironically, the sign that read 'No Guns, No Powers, No Fighting' had been shot up and lay crooked in the corner. Rounding the corner, Spider-Man then saw the door into the bar itself had received the same treatment as the previous one, being blown off its hinges and marked from the explosives that had been placed on it. The door did not go quietly either, judging by the brute who had a clearly broken arm hanging at an inadvisable angle, his nose crooked, and lip bloodied by having caught the door before he was left slumped against a column, though the cause of death was likely the crisply burned hole in his head. The rest of the bar wasn't in much better shape, tables were overturned, half of the neon sign that read 'Cocktails' had been shot out. Bodies, tables, bottles, and other trash littered the entire space and those comparisons to the Punisher looked only more and more accurate. "Who did all this…Yuri?" wondered Spidey as he looked down at a body that had his throat ripped out by a beer bottle. "I've never seen Yuri lose control like this…" he said as he carefully weaved his way through the bodies and saw the discarded Sable energy rifle amidst all the dead.
In the corner of the room, a small splash of color stood out, "Hey, what's that?" wondered Spider-Man as he jogged over to it and recognized the shape, "Spider-Bot! Wow, can't believe you survived all this, little buddy." Collecting the bot, the Webslinger went on alert as he whipped around. There was a slight buzzing he at first thought was from his sixth sense, but soon realized was from somewhere off to his right. "Is that a phone?" wondered the Wallcrawler as he relaxed and walked down the length of the bar, past the man who was slumped dead over it and pushed a paper aside to reveal a buzzing cellphone. "Call from 'Vinny,'" murmured Spidey as he picked up the phone and accepted the call. "Uh…hello?" greeted Spider-Man in his best Italian accent.
"Gino! The hell you been?" asked 'Vinny' angrily, "we thought you were at the bar when it got lit up by that lady cop."
"Lady…cop?" asked Peter slowly, still doing his terrible impersonation of the accent he had heard more than enough by this point.
"Yeah," replied Vinny, "Wat…Watanabe or whatever. She wrecked the joint." Looking around, Peter couldn't help but agree with that assessment. "I'm meetin' the main crew to get ready for tonight."
"Ready for…" prompted Peter as he started moving towards the door. "What's happenin' tonight again?"
"Bro, you hit your head on somethin'? The Big Show!" replied Vinny, "Boss wants everyone sharp. Get your ass in gear and get up to the northwest side. Meet me at the shipping yard!" ordered the Maggia man angrily before hanging up.
Pocketing the phone and making a note to give it to MJ to see if she could glean anything further , Spider-Man retraced his steps and bugged out from the shot up bar. "Big Show…Hammerhead must have something planned with the Dons," he surmised quickly, "I need to find out what. Here's hoping that my answers are with the 'Main Crew.'" Looking back sadly at the ruined Bar, the Webhead shook his head to clear his mind and fired a webline to pull himself up to the rooftops and plugged in the location Vinny had described, thankful that there weren't that many shipping yards that could be where Hammerhead's men were meeting. Swinging off in that direction, Peter couldn't help but let his mind wander as he went through the well practiced motions, "When Yuri left the precinct, she said she was going to 'teach a lesson in fear.' But that isn't what scares me the most…it was that look on her face. I've seen that look on a lot of criminals, maybe on Cooper once or twice, but never a police officer." It seemed that Yuri had finally reached her limit, and now all Peter could hope to do was appeal to the Police Officer that had been one of his closest allies for years, and hope that she was still in there somewhere.
"Water? Or something stronger?" asked the Marauder in a calm drawl as Yuri turned her head to the Pilot, who stood next to the opened fridge in the small office above the warehouse that he had led her to. The space was sparsely furnished, but definitely set up for living, if not that lavishly, and most of the space was taken up by various racks for weapons, ammunition, and equipment. But to Watanabe it was clear that the Marauder had been crashing here, especially since Widowmaker was sitting in the warehouse below.
For her part, Yuri had collapsed on the couch and followed the Marauder's example when he removed his helmet, exposing his handsome face, even if the younger man did look worse for wear. There were bags under his eyes and he had gone without shaving for a few days, with a noticeable stubble forming on his usually clean shaven features. Watanabe was taken from her observations as his still alert blue eyes turned her way and she gave her own answer, "Water's fine," she answered before hissing in pain as she looked down at the bloody leg of her gear, "Though I'd take a cigarette if you have one."
The Marauer came back up with two bottles of water and tossed one to the Captain, "'Fraid not," he answered before grabbing a first aid kit off the top of the fridge and heading over towards the Lawwoman. "Why do you ask? I thought you quit."
Letting out a bark of laughter despite the burst of pain that flared up her side, Yuri opened the bottle and took a sip before answering, rather bluntly, "Do you think I give a fuck right now?" The Marauder merely shrugged noncommittally before taking a sip of his own water and cracking open the first aid kit. "You got any painkillers in there?" asked Yuri as Cooper nodded and extended his hand, which had a small pouch in it that Watanabe took and said "Thanks," before tearing it open with her teeth.
Yuri popped a pair of pills into her mouth and swallowed them with a bit of water as Matthew cleared his throat, with a few bits of the kit removed and in hand, he looked up at the Lawwoman, "Alright, I'm going to take a look at your leg." Giving her permission with a curt nod, Yuri watched the Pilot look at the gunshot wound, "Ah, good," said Cooper, sounding genuinely relieved before deadpanning, "The bullet just grazed you. That means I don't have to try to get you out of your pants."
Watanabe was unable to completely suppress a snort as the Pilot set to work, unwrapping one of his high-tech medical implements. Whether or not she wanted to admit it, Cooper had effectively broken the tension that had existed between them ever since he appeared after being presumed dead. Rubbing her face and taking a moment to breathe, Yuri eventually replied, "I'm sure you wouldn't mind if you had to, right?" in the same dry tones Matt had used.
Unperturbed by the remark, the Pilot simply applied the bandage to Yuri's leg through the tear in the pants with a bit more force than Watanabe thought was strictly needed as she grit her teeth at the odd chilling sensation that came from the bandage as it glowed slightly. "I did go after Felicia Hardy, so I suppose I do like a challenge," replied Cooper with a hint of a smile, "Now I gotta wrap up your leg to make sure that stays in place and sealed properly," explained the Marauder as he pulled out a roll of medical tape. "While I do that, feel free to ask your questions. It's probably fair to say some explanations are in order."
"You're goddamn right they are!" snapped Yuri suddenly, with such ferocity that she surprised even herself as the Pilot visibly flinched at her fury before Watanabe leaned back and let out a deep breath. "I'm sorry," said the lawwoman lowly, "That was out of line."
"No," replied Matthew with a sad shake of his head, "It wasn't. Not really."
Looking into the Pilot's blue eyes, Yuri could sense a distinct somberness and regret in them that she knew she shared and nodded in understanding. With that, the Texan set to work wrapping up her leg as she forced herself to decide which question to ask first. Finally, she decided to ask the one that she needed the most, the one that was the reason she had come with him in the first place. "Where's Hammerhead?"
"Right now? I don't know," admitted Cooper as Yuri's anger flared up again before the Pilot could continue, "But I do know where he'll be later tonight. Though that window won't open for a couple hours." That placated the woman as she willed herself to relax on the couch as Cooper finished wrapping the tape around her leg a few times and cut it before standing. Yuri bent her leg a few times to test it and found she wasn't even in pain anymore, which was a relief.
"Black Cat make it?" asked the Lawwoman calmly, already feeling that she knew the answer to that one.
Indeed, Cooper just smirked at the query, "She's still got all her lives," he replied coyly, but it was answer enough.
Yuri finished off the bottle of water while Pilot packed the first aid kit back up and turned to put it back where it belonged before she asked her third question. "Why?" Cooper looked up, eyebrow raised as if to prompt her to elaborate, "Why not let me know you weren't actually dead?"
Instead of answering immediately, Cooper frowned and avoided Yuri's gaze. "That's…a tough one to answer," replied the Marauder evasively.
Watanabe wasn't going to put up with that, leaning forward and putting her elbows on her knees, she narrowed her eyes at the SRS Major, "Answer. The damn. Question," she ordered with threatening exactness as she held Matthew's gaze until he nodded and let out a breath.
"I wish I could have," began Cooper as he grabbed a laptop off the counter and opened it, "But when I knocked over one of Hammerhead's fronts, I found a data drive and…this was on there," he said as he spun the computer around and approached the lawwoman, handing her the device before stepping back and leaning against the fridge and crossing his arms. "I haven't read it, well…not all of it at least," said the Pilot, causing Yuri to quirk an eyebrow at the seemingly odd admission before she looked down at what was on the screen.
Scrolling through the first few pages of the document, her eyes widened, "This is an NYPD personnel file. These are supposed to be sealed and on a secure server!" exclaimed Yuri, blood boiling before she scrolled down and saw just who the file was on. "It's…my file," she said, coming to a sobering realization. "But how did…" began to ask Yuri before trailing off.
"I think we both know the answer to that," replied Matthew quietly, but firmly.
Yuri nodded, "Yeah, he's got someone on the inside," and they must have been damn high up if they were able to get their hands on this, well above her paygrade. "Which explains how they knew we were coming at the Sanitarium, and where to hit our convoys." Her expression hardened as that revelation sunk in, of all people, Yuri was keenly aware of the possibility of there being dirty cops, but not once had she stopped to consider the possibility. She kept scrolling, not reading what she knew was on the pages, but she was surprised to see this one was unredacted, though that only served to confirm her suspicion that whoever Hammerhead had on the inside was very high up, or at least had access to high level security clearances. But after she finished scrolling through her file, Yuri closed it and saw a folder with more in it besides what she had just read. "What's this?" she asked, but that only caused the frown to return to Matt's face.
Clicking one of the files, Yuri audibly gasped at the sight of pictures of her, showing her as she went about her daily routine, showing where her apartment and office were. It was clear that someone had been spying on her, and judging by some of the pictures showing snow on the ground, this had been going on for at least the last month, and she had never even noticed. Unable to stomach anymore, Yuri slammed the laptop shut and tossed it onto the sofa next to her, feeling distinctly violated as she asked the Marauder, "Who else did they spy on?"
"Nobody else," answered Cooper quietly, "just you."
It took a moment, but the implications became obvious. Her association with both Spider-Man and the Marauder was somewhat known, and so she could have inadvertently given away that Cooper was alive, or even one of their secret identities. The Maggia might have hoped to learn that by watching her, and the fact that she could have inadvertently endangered the vigilantes didn't sit well with Watanabe.
With a snarl manifesting itself on her features, Yuri shot to her feet and turned to the exit, only for Cooper to suddenly be in front of her, blocking her way and putting a hand on her shoulder. The Wraith narrowed her eyes at the Pilot, "You can let go of me," she began lowly, "or I can…"
"Can what?" shot back Cooper, holding his ground. "No, seriously. What? What the fuck are you going to do now? Fly off the handle again and get yourself killed?" growled Matthew hotly, hand gripping Yuri's shoulder more tightly. "Take a deep breath and think. You don't know where you're going, what you're up against, or how to deal with it!"
"Oh, and you do?" sneered Watanabe in reply, not being cowed by the Marauder. "Bullshit! You and Black Cat are the ones who got us into this mess in the first place! Why the hell should I give a damn about what you have to say when I was the one that had to call twelve families and tell them their love one wasn't coming home?"
"I told you not to go in!" bit back the Pilot, "And when you did anyways, I came to try and help! I left where I had set up to nail Hammerhead as soon as he made a break for it to come for you. I let Hammerhead get away to come and help!" He closed his eyes and took a calming breath. "I…I know I've fucked up a lot in the last 72 hours just to try and nail this sonofabitch but I'm begging you, just…hear me out…please."
Yuri could hear the sincerity in his voice, but it still took her a second of internal debate before she finally nodded, and Cooper let out a sigh of relief. "Thank you, Yuri," he began sincerely before inhaling, straightening, and finally letting go of her. "We didn't realize exactly what Hammerhead was going to do until everyone else did, pretty much. As it turns out though, stealing the drive from the Maria was also the first part of his plan and us getting it first cut him off at the knees. Hammerhead was hoping to use the drive as leverage over Fortuna to force him to bring the other families into line. Since that fell through, Hammerhead's had to divide his attention between the families opposing him and the police, otherwise he'd be focusing his efforts solely on the NYPD."
Watanabe's expression was blank for a moment, before tightening in realization, today had shown that the NYPD wouldn't last long if Hammerhead gave them everything he had. "What about all the Sable tech?" she asked, "How does it factor in?"
"Not entirely sure," admitted Cooper, "Negotiating tactic maybe. Intimidate or entice the rest of the families to bring them in line. Worst part is that it seems to be working; the lower level muscle of a lot of the other families are falling in with Hammerhead, especially with their leadership gone. What I do know for sure is that Hammerhead's got a lot of the stuff. I have an OsCorp memo that says that the NYPD impounded 15, maybe 20% of all the inventory that's gone missing."
Yuri couldn't help but shake her head at that, "Jesus Christ," she muttered. "Hammerhead didn't actually need the stuff we were moving, he only came at us to send a message," That same realization sent another flare of anger through her. Her fists clenched as she looked at the Pilot and watched him work his jaw and nod solemnly. "Now what?" she asked, "That was your plan before, but now what are you going to do?"
"In a couple hours I'm going to go finish this," replied Matthew with a cool certainty, "I've been going through Hammerhead's fronts and have a few solid leads that all point to Hammerhead being at a certain place at a certain time. After that…well…" said Cooper with a shrug.
"Well, what?" prompted Yuri impatiently.
"Well, that's when things get a bit tricky," answered the Marauder as his eyes flashed back to look at Yuri and his brow furrowed as he mulled something over. "What about you?"
Watanabe raise an eyebrow of her own, "Me?" she asked before she opened her mouth and then closed it again. She looked down at the gear she was wearing and carefully pulled her shield from her belt before looking down at the badge sadly as she ran her thumb along its familiar shape, "I probably won't be able to do this anymore…" admitted Watanabe as much to herself as to Cooper.
"I could take responsibility for the Bar With No Name, clear your name and try and get you your job back. Or I can see about setting up a new identity for you, put you in the NYPD system and have you transfer to a different city," offered Cooper as grabbed a three ring binder and flipped through it. "I'm partial to San Antonio myself," he said with a genuine small, albeit a small one, "But we could have you go anywhere you wanted."
"Thanks, but…that's not what I meant," replied the Lawwoman sadly, "I meant be a cop. When I joined the force, I thought I would be the one who upheld the law. Stop the kind of people that got my father killed but…how much of that was I actually doing?" Her eyes closed as she thought back on her years in the NYPD. "How many cases did I have to let go because we wouldn't get evidence that would hold up in court? How many cases did I have enough evidence only for a crooked judge to let the perp walk free anyways?" She slammed a balled fist down on the armrest, "And now look at the price. There are a lot of dead people because of all that," she said with a sad shake of her head. "I'm not going to let it happen anymore…whatever it takes."
Looking up at Cooper, Yuri noticed him watching her intently, "You sure?" he asked.
"Damn right I'm sure," snapped back the Lawwoman, "And don't you dare judge me after all the shit you've pulled."
"I wasn't," assured Matt as he held up his hands in mock surrender, "I'm just giving you a choice. And I sure as shit ain't gonna knock you for making the same one I did." Letting out a breath, the Marauder flicked the papers in his hand before he continued, "I just wanted to know that you're sure about this before I tell you the rest."
Watanabe's curiosity got the best of her, and she took the bait, "The rest? The rest of what?"
"The rest of the plan, it doesn't end with just taking care of Hammerhead. Or rather…it kind of does," revealed Cooper, causing Yuri to raise an eyebrow. "I'm getting out of Dodge," revealed Matthew quietly.
Watanabe flinched, "You're…what?" she asked, not really believing what ears had heard.
"Pulling up stakes, clearing out, leaving town," deadpanned the Pilot as there was a small smirk on his face at Yuri's bewilderment. "God it's…strange to say that out loud. But, yeah, I'm leaving New York when this is all done because…what's left? There's nothing that needs the Marauder, needs me. And doing this? Well, it means that I'm not exactly on the best terms with Spider-Man," admitted the Texan somberly, genuinely saddened by what he had just said.
"So you were going to just…vanish? Gone forever?" probed Watanabe.
"Not forever," admitted Cooper, "But the original plan was just to take out the leadership of the families, pass along information about the rest to you and let you and yours mop up. The Maggia still has a long reach so we were going to lay low for a while to avoid any reprisals. Six months, something like that." Matt let out a deep, tired sigh as he pinched the bridge of his nose. "Apparently Felicia already has a place lined up."
Yuri let that sink in and felt a tinge of sadness that the Pilot was skipping town before asking, "Where you two going?"
"The French Riviera," answered Cooper, eliciting a surprised snort from Watanabe and a roll of the eyes back from Matthew as he frowned. "It was Felicia's suggestion," he defended weakly as Yuri gave him a sideways glance, "What can I say, she's very persuasive."
"She must have been," conceded the Lawwoman, "Because I can't exactly picture you there."
That drew a bark of laughter from the SRS Major. "Tell me about it. New York is stupid because the people are rude, talk funny, hate guns, and has an insanely high tax rate and now I'm going somewhere where people are even more rude, talk even funnier, hate guns more, and have even higher taxes!" drawled the Texan with clear contempt, "That's pretty much hell."
Cocking her head, Yuri looked at Cooper and said, "So how exactly did she get you to agree to it?"
A small, guilty smirk appeared on the Pilot's lips, "And I quote: 'It's like hell, but with topless beaches.'" The two shared a small chuckle at that before Cooper cleared his throat, "Anyways, the point is, this is my last ride, and I'm going to see it through to the end. I ain't going to try and convince you to stay out of it so I want you to come along. Make sure we get this guy. Watch my back."
"You'd… trust me to do that? After I lost my team? After what I did at the Bar?" asked Yuri disbelievingly, not expecting this show of support.
"Yes," affirmed the Marauder in his calm drawl, "Even if you want to do things…differently, I still trust your judgement Yuri."
Letting the words sink in, the Lawwoman finally nodded, "Thanks Cooper, I…I needed to hear that," she admitted, since it had begun to feel like she couldn't trust her own judgement anymore. Inhaling deeply, Watanabe stood up a little straighter, squared her shoulders, and felt a bit more like herself before promising, "I won't let you down."
The Marauder smiled, "I know," replied the Pilot confidently. "Now let's go get ready to send Hammerhead straight to hell."
Yuri couldn't help but feel a corner of her mouth creep upwards, "Where would that be? Considering that Southern France is hell, only with topless beaches?"
Without missing a beat, Cooper responded with his best deadpan, "Northern France."
Approaching his destination, Spider-Man began scanning the area ahead of him for signs of anything amiss even if his Spidey Sense remained silent. With there being no imminent danger, Peter couldn't help but ramble a bit, the words Vinny had said on the phone still ringing in his head. "Hammerhead has a 'show' planned for tonight. And I doubt it's on Broadway, or off-Broadway, or experimental black box off of Ludlow Broadway. Since Hammerhead kidnapped the other Dons, he's been pretty quiet. My guess is this 'show' has something to do with them. I just need to find out what it is and get to Hammerhead before Yuri or Matt." With that goal in mind, Spider-Man swung and launched himself off a lamppost, flipping elegantly through the air until he landed on the side of a shipping container.
Before he could gain his bearings, the Webslinger heard voices and began to climb up the container crawling onto the roof. Peeking over the edge into the alleyway between two rows of stacked containers to see two men dressed in Maggia standard formal wear. "You send those lights to the construction site?" asked Vinny in his distinctive, thick accent.
"Sure did, log's in the office if you wanna check," answered the other.
"Nah, but if they don't show then you'll have to explain it," replied Vinny, "And the boss sure do love his drama. And let me know if you see Gino, yeah? Told him to meet me here…" finished the Maggia goon as the two moved out of earshot and Spider-Man retreated back out of sight.
"Okay, just need to find the office and see where they sent those lights…" murmured the Webhead as he came to a crouch and brought his webshooters up to fire a pair of weblines at a crane before pulling himself up to a higher vantage. Feeling the cool and somewhat damp metal through his gloves, Spider-Man turned himself around and squinted, eye lenses similarly narrowing as they engaged their magnification function to help Peter scan the yard. "That must be it," said the Webslinger as he spied the sole brick structure in the entire yard, even more obviously something of import because of the two men standing conspicuous guard outside.
Thankful that nobody had a natural tendency to look upwards, Spider-Man jumped off his perch and flipped forwards before firing weblines at the roof and webzipping to it. Landing, Spider-Man went to the backside of the building and, upon seeing no guards there, crawled down the wall to find an air vent on the side of the structure and immediately pushed it open before crawling inside. "Okay, now if I were shipping logs, where would I be?" wondered the Wallcrawler as he crept through the filthy ventilation ducts.
Spider-Man arrived at a grate and looked down to see what passed for an office, with one man hunched over a laptop with a coffee. Silently, Spider-Man pushed open the grate and extended a hand, firing a line of synthetic silk that plucked the man from his chair before yanking him up into the duct and slammed into the ceiling before being webbed in place. As the Maggia man fought fruitlessly against the bindings, he looked at the Webhead and a sneer appeared on his face, "You fu…mmmph!"
"No talking during the infiltration," quietly quipped Spider-Man after webbing the man's mouth shut and then gracefully dropping down into the room below. Looking at the open laptop the man had been working on, Spider-Man felt a sense of relief as he saw an excel spreadsheet showing the comings and goings of the yard and quickly scrolled through it. "Looks like they sent lights, concrete, and generators to the same construction site earlier today," murmured the Webslinger as he scrolled through the document to match the color code to an actual location, "Hudson Yards!" he exclaimed excitedly, "That's it – Hammerhead's planning something for the Dons tonight at Hudson Yards." Looking down at the desk was a sticky note that read 'Show starts at 9pm. Don't be late!' in truly atrocious handwriting. "And that's the when," mused the Webhead as he took pictures of the information, "Now to make sure these guys can't show up for the assist."
Instead of heading up to the vents again, Spider-Man headed for the front door and put a hand on it, feeling his sixth sense remain silent as he pushed it open. Seeing the two men not paying attention prompted the Webslinger to level his webshooter at the farthest one. Spider-Man fired an impact web that knocked the man off his feet and slammed him into the SUV behind him. The second one whipped around only for a webline to fly right at his face and stick fast as more webs stuck his feet to the concrete as Spider-Man yanked the webline forward, causing the man to fall flat on his face before he was webbed to the blacktop.
A hum at the base of his skull was the only warning the Arachnid themed hero got before he heard someone shout, "It's the Spider!" and the hum became a violent buzzing. That was drowned out by the shriek of fully automatic fire from a Sable assault rifle that had the Webhead leaping to the side to dodge. Cartwheeling onto his hands, the Webslinger bent his elbows and launched himself into the stacks of shipping containers, only to have the buzzing return as he reflexively leapt back just as a crackling red Sable energy whip snapped past and slammed into the ground. Superhuman muscles coiled as the Wallcrawler turned to look at the sharply dressed, whip wielding, Maggia man, before launching himself forward. Before the enforcer could swing his second whip, the Webhead lowered his shoulder and planted it into the Maggia goon's stomach before throwing an arm up and launching the man into the air. Spider-Man leapt up in pursuit, backflipping and wrapping his legs around the man's torso as he 'raised' his arms and fired a pair of weblines at the ground below, before twisting his body to throw the man to the asphalt. Pulling the lines and extending his legs, Spider-Man planted both feet on the man's back to make sure he stayed down.
"The Spider's here!" shouted someone again as the Webslinger jumped and ran vertically up a container as the Maggia men converged on his position, "Get him!" Enhanced hearing could hear the none too subtle sound of several pairs of dress shoe clad feet approaching at high speed, giving him more than ample time to pull a web bomb from where it was usually nestled. "Where the hell did he go?" wondered the man in the middle of the group.
Peter couldn't help but idly toss the web bomb into the air, "Hey guys, up here!" he called jovially. Tossing the gadget into the midst of the bunch and waited for the fuse to tick down as the web bomb went off with a pneumatic pop-hiss and covered the five men in sticky synthetic silk, eliciting a barrage of angry curses. The Webhead leapt down and rolled to his feet before jumping up and delivering a spin kick to the back of one Maggia man, sending him into his companion next to them and causing both to end up stuck fast to the side of the container the Webslinger had just vacated.
"I'ma crush you like a bug!" snarled the biggest of the bunch as he broke free of the webs and threw a wild punch at the Webhead that the hero easily dodged before counterpunching, a right hook landing in the man's gut that was instantly followed up a left jab that caused the big brute to audibly "Ooph" from the blow. Spider-Man jumped up and delivered a spinning kick that ended up with his foot planted in the side of the Maggia man's head that sent him staggering back, but not out.
Spider-Man didn't have a chance to finish the job as the other two men broke free of their binds, one bringing a rifle up while the other brandished a huge Sable Shock Baton. Instantly, the Wallcrawler leveled a hand at the rifleman and snapped off a webline that found purchase on the weapon before Spider-Man yanked it from the man's grip,slinging it into the back of the head of the one with the Shock Baton, causing him to stumble as Spider-Man fired his other webshooter at the now disarmed man and pulled himself to him. Planting one foot on the man's chest and then the other on his head, using that as a launching pad to throw himself up and off, backflipping through the air to get away from the thug and firing a pair of weblines at the man that hit at the same time Spider-Man's feet hit the ground. Digging in, the Webhead pulled hard, ripping the man from his feet and sending him into the ground.
Turning back as his Spider-Sense hummed, the Webhead ducked the big brute again and dashed under him to the man with a shock baton, and as the sparking red weapon was drawn back, Spider-Man struck first. A lightning fast right cross caused the man's head to snap over and not see the Wallcrawlers left fist come right for his gut, knocking the air from his lungs as the Maggia man doubled over before Spider-Man leaned back and bicycle kicked the enforcer, planting a foot on the man's chin that sent him flailing through the air before he landed on his back with a 'thud.'
But before the Wallcralwer could catch his breath, his sixth sensed let him know he wasn't done yet, even if it hadn't, the snarling shout of, "I'm going to squash you like a bug under my shoe!" Spider-Man even had time to roll his eyes before reflexively jumping up and flipping back over the top of the giant, firing a burst of webbing into his face as he did so.
Sticking the landing, Spider-Man heard a hiss from his webshooters as the cartridges cycled, giving him a second while the last Maggia man ripped the webs from his face. "Enough of the bug puns already! Spiders aren't even bugs, they're arachnids!" corrected the Webhead as his foe roared angrily and turned towards him, webbing still obstructing his vision as he threw his wildest punch yet. Almost casually, the superhuman merely stepped back and watched the big fist fly inches from his face as Spider-Man fired a webline up into his face and pulled him down as he crouched. His legs coiling before he sprung up and forwards, Spider-Man started swinging his fist in a massive uppercut before Spider-Man jumped up and planted his feet on the man's chest and firing weblines at the ground, slamming the brute into the concrete before jumping and flipping off.
"Now all that's left is the 'Big Show,'" mused Spider-Man as he took in a few deep breaths in the now silent shipping yards. "And why do I get the feeling it isn't going to have a happy ending?"
Cooper's Logbook - Pistol: Chiappa Rhino 50DS
Yuri's Revolver, this Italian six gun is a 'love it or hate it' looking firearm, at least in the looks department. To those that shoot them? They are great guns, good triggers, good ergonomics, and fairly accurate, put over the top by the unique way it operates. Unlike almost every conventional revolver, when you pull the trigger, the bullet at the bottom of the cylinder is fired as opposed to the one at the top. This makes it different to handle than any other revolver, which fire from the top chamber in the cylinder.
This doesn't mean there isn't any recoil, but it does mean that there isn't any muzzle rise because all the recoil goes straight back instead of rotating around your hand. When shooting .357 Magnum from a fairly lightweight, mostly aluminum, handgun, that sort of thing helps. The downside is a bit of extra technical complexity, not nearly on the level of the Unica Six semi auto revolver that preceded the Rhino, but the hammer is internal, with the external construction being a lever linked to the actual hammer inside the gun.
I was surprised that Yuri took to this gun so much, but as good a shot as she is, she puts the power of the .357 magnum round to use. Considering that every other cop in the city uses a Wonder Nine of some sort, Yuri packing that Space Force looking Wheelgun just makes her stand out even more than she already does.
Closing Notes: Little slower chapter overall, just setting up for next time, which will be the big finale to Turf Wars. I had some fun with Yuri's character and the banter going on here, but overall not a lot happen. It was too much to just lump in with other chapters, so I split these bits off and made them their own chapter.
Next time should be a lot more exciting as there is a Reckoning.
Stay Frosty, Misfit Delta out.