Spider-Man eyed the building across from them, his hand resting against the edge of the roof's edge as he and Mysterio surveyed the Alchemax facility in Harlem. Though his ally had explained most of the plan to him before they even left their hideout, seeing all the security just on the outside suddenly made him question how it would be possible to get into the place. It seemed like a fortress!
Really, his original idea of waiting until the device was en route the next day was sounding better all the time.
"Okay, so, what is this special thing you brought along that's going to 'keep security busy' again?" Spider-Man questioned. Mysterio turned to him; the man had long since put his crystal ball/fishbowl style helmet on, so it was once again difficult to gain a sense of what he was thinking, which still put Spider-Man on edge a little. The man did raise a finger though before reaching into something resembling a pouch on the side of his leg, just above his boot. He pulled out a small little round device, handing it to him.
Mysterio then pressed a button on his left gauntlet, and the device in Spider-Man's hand suddenly lit up.
"On my mark, give it a good throw," Mysterio instructed. Spider-Man did as he was requested, waiting patiently but eagerly as they continued surveying the security. His ally then began a countdown.
"Five, four, three...two...now!"
Pulling his arm back, Spider-Man then launched the tiny round device forward. It appeared as if it would clear the building at first, and it nearly did, before it seemed to begin circling back around. He looked down to see that his ally was making a rubbing motion on a section of his gauntlet, realizing that he was controlling its movements. Spider-Man watched as the circular device slowly made its way around the side of the building before, just as it turned the corner, a bright light suddenly emitted from it, causing him to have to shield his eyes.
When he was able to look back out, he saw that there appeared to be a large, winged creature of some kind that Spider-Man couldn't identify. It wasn't a dragon; really, it looked like something that almost came out of Mysterio's own imagination. The craziest thing was that it looked so real, even though he knew that there was no way that it could be...could it?
"How are you doing that?" he asked, genuinely amazed and a little terrified at what he was seeing.
"This device allows me to project anything I scan onto it, be it from a computer or of my own design," Mysterio explained. "All that to say, it's likely only a matter of time before they figure out it's a trick, which means our window is limited. Do you remember your end of the plan?"
Spider-Man thought back to their discussion before they'd left their base.
"I think so," he replied. "I go in through the ventilation shaft on the right over there, take two right turns and a left, which will take me to the room."
"Precisely," Mysterio said. "If our intel was correct, it should be just a small safe in the side wall that this thing is being kept in. With your strength, you should have no problem getting it."
"Copy that," Spider-Man said. "After that, I retrace my steps and get back out the way that I came; easy in and out."
"Let's hope so," Mysterio replied. "Alright Spider-Man, time to see if you still have it."
Taking the initiative, Spider-Man backed up, gathering himself while waiting for a clear moment where he wouldn't be leaping through the illusion. Once he had it, he sprinted forward before jumping off the building's edge, soaring through the air. Eventually, he landed on the front of the building, his fingers and feet smacking against the metal walls.
"What a rush!" he thought to himself.
Refocusing, he then crawled over to the right side of the building, finding the entrance point to the ventilation system. Taking an extra moment just to make sure that he wasn't being seen by anyone other than Mysterio, he then put his fingers against the piece blocking his way in, pulling just hard enough to pop it loose. Spider-Man then slid inside, pulling the blocker back into place and sealing it. He was lucky that the shaft was decently large, as he had just enough room to turn himself around without feeling too squished before he proceeded.
As he began making his way towards his objective, Spider-Man tapped the communication device in his right ear, just on the inside of his mask, the light hum sound of said device starting up briefly filling his ear.
"Mysterio, you there?" he asked in a hushed voice. "Can you hear me?"
"Affirmative," his ally responded.
"I'm inside, heading towards our target," he explained.
"You're doing good so far," Mysterio replied. "Just keep it up, be careful, and don't let anything distract you from the goal."
"Roger that," Spider-Man answered. "I'll report back once I've made it to the room."
As he crawled steadily through the shaft, making his way to where the device was kept, Spider-Man had to admit that, on some level, this was quite a thrilling experience. He felt like a spy who was on some secret mission that the fate of a whole country could be determined by. It was fun and exciting; yet, at the same time, he couldn't shake this bizarre feeling inside that this was all wrong. It wasn't the same feeling as the buzzing in his head or whatever that wouldn't stop going off around Mysterio for some reason. Rather, it's what he imagined a guilty conscience must feel like.
But this was really the right thing to do though, right? After all, if he and Mysterio didn't come away with this power source, it would be sold off to some terrorist organization or whatever, who would likely use it to commit heinous acts of unspeakable evil, things he didn't even want to think about. Preventing that should be an easy decision; if anything, Spider-Man felt that he should feel guilty for feeling guilty about breaking in and doing what needed to be done to stop this horrible scenario from happening.
As he neared what was likely his exit point, he shook his head hard, trying to get his concerns and thoughts off his mind. He probably was just feeling a little weird breaking into some place, especially such a huge place like this. It was technically against the law, after all, so any decent citizen should feel that way. It just made sense.
Finally, he arrived, coming over to the shaft entrance to the room where the source was kept. He peered inside, observing what appeared to be some kind of laboratory, likely where they'd been working to develop the device in the first place.
"Mysterio," he said. "I've made it to the room. I'm still up in the ventilation shaft."
"Alright, I'm going to turn off the security cameras," his ally explained. "Once I do, you'll have precisely one minute to get the device and get out."
"Okay, I'm ready," Spider-Man replied, bracing himself. This was the climax of the mission, after all.
"Five, four, three, two, one...their down!" Mysterio exclaimed. "Go quickly; reinforcements will likely be here any minute, so we don't have much time."
"Got it," Spider-Man replied. Popping open the entrance to the room, he dropped down, landing softly on his feet and fingers. Rising to a standing position, he surveyed the room, searching for the safe that the power source was supposed to be in. Finally, he found it on the far side wall from his position, so he hurried over to it. Mysterio was right; it was pretty small compared to what he would've expected it to be like in a large technological facility. Then again, the device itself was supposedly pretty small too, so not much space was needed.
Grabbing onto the handle in the center, Spider-Man gave a good hard pull. Sure enough, the safe popped out, so he opened the door all the way. Inside was the device, so he carefully reached inside, grabbing onto it and removing it from its pedestal within the safe. He took it in his hands, observing it for a moment. For something so powerful, it seemed to have a rather simple, unsophisticated design. He could even clearly see where it could essentially "plug into" a large device to power itself up.
"Right, don't get distracted," Spider-Man said to himself, his ally's words coming back to mind. Closing the door to the safe, he rushed back over to the shaft, leaping back onto the ceiling and crawling back through the entrance, pulling it back up and sealing it so that no one would know how those who stole the device had gotten in.
"Mysterio, I have it," he said.
"Good," his ally replied. "Great work. Some cops just showed up, so we might not have a lot of time left before they figure out what's going on. Plus, we've caused enough commotion that the other Spider-Man could be here at any moment."
"Roger that, I'm on my way out," Spider-Man affirmed, picking up his pace. He certainly didn't want the police, security or whoever to get onto them, but he especially didn't want to have to deal with his attacker again. He'd barely gotten out of their last encounter alive due to Mysterio, and even though he'd had some training since that time, he still wasn't sure he was ready to put them to the test that way just yet.
He was making his last turn in the shaft when Spider-Man just happened to notice a guy in the room below him who at least appeared to be dressed as a security guard. How he wasn't out and about amidst all the chaos that Mysterio was causing was beyond him, until he realized why: the guy was asleep, leaning back on a chair that was against some railing.
Shaking his head at the fact that the guy was missing out on all the action because he was taking a snooze on the job, Spider-Man opted to continue. However, as he moved past that spot, his exit now in view, that bizarre buzzing sensation went off in his brain again, the feeling quick but sharp. Maybe a couple seconds later, he heard what sounded like some metal breaking, which was immediately followed by cries for help. Turning around, he scurried back to where he'd just been peaking in. The once asleep security guard was now hanging along the railing, which had fell and was now dangling the man over what was at least a twenty- or thirty-foot drop to the floor below. The man's wide eyes exuded terror as he called out for help repeatedly.
"Spider-Man, are you there?" Mysterio called out over the communication device. "Are you almost out?"
Though he knew that he had a mission to complete, Spider-Man also knew that he couldn't just let this guy fall to his death either.
"Give me a second," he replied. "Need to take care of something really quick."
Ignoring Mysterio's questioning, Spider-Man pushed open the ventilation entrance, quickly dropping down to the railway below.
"Spider-Man!" the guy called out. "Help!"
Ignoring whatever implications that this kind of person recognizing him might mean, Spider-Man rushed over to where the railing was broken.
"Hold on," he said as he eased his way over to the section of the platform where the busted railing was. He knew he needed to be careful, should he accidentally cause further damage and cause the guy to plunge to his death by mistake. Coming over to the edge, he reached down as far as he could, offering his hand.
"Grab my hand!" he instructed. The man slowly tried to reach up, but as he did, the railing creaked, causing him to grab back onto it. Spider-Man tried to adjust, moving himself a little closer so that he could lower more of himself down. The guard then tried to reach up again, but this time, the rail came clean off, sending the man plunging downward with it.
"NO!" Spider-Man yelled before suddenly, seemingly out of instinct, he folded in his middle two fingers of his right hand back against the center of it, causing a line of some kind to shoot from his wrist area. The line caught the man by his shoulder, and he instantly grabbed onto it as the railing descended past him, crashing onto the floor below. Spider-Man glanced towards the origin of what looked like a long web that he was now holding the man by, discovering that it originated from the small little device on his wrist.
"Woah," he muttered.
Refocusing, he then pulled the man back up, eventually helping him back onto the railing. Once he made sure he was okay, Spider-Man looked back at the devices on his wrists, examining them with a newfound fascination. With everything that had been going on, the question of what those little things were seemed nearly obsolete compared to the many others he'd had at the time, but now, a whole new set of questions pervaded his mind regarding the devices and just what it was that had come out of them.
"Thanks Spidey," the guard said.
"Oh, uh, no problem," he replied, standing back to his feet.
"Spider-Man, Spider-Man!" Mysterio called out through their communicators. "Get out of there!"
"Oh, uh, yeah!" he replied. "Coming!"
"Hey, what's that?" the guard then spoke up. Spider-Man followed his line of sight, realizing that he was referring to the experimental power source, which he'd laid on the railway as he'd helped the man up. Looking back up at the guard, his expression made it clear that he was putting two and two together.
"No no, it's not what you think!" Spider-Man said, his hands instinctively going out as he tried to plead his case even as his mind raced to try and find a diplomatic way out of his current predicament. The man wasn't having it though, pulling out both a gun and a small device of some kind that he pressed the center of with his other hand.
"Reinforcements are on their way," the guy said, his tone indicating that he was a little nervous, "so you might as well hand it over."
"Look, uh, about that..." Spider-Man said, slowly realizing that there might not be an easy way out of this.
Suddenly, a figure dropped into the room, landing on the railway in front of Spider-Man and behind the guard, quickly rising to his feet and, despite the mask, seemingly locked eyes with the former.
The other Spider-Man.
Hope you're enjoying it!
Continuing to pray for you all; stay safe and healthy!
"Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is—His good, pleasing and perfect will." Romans 12:2
