We all waited. I didn't even bother checking the footage to see if the traps went off. With my enhanced senses, I felt the vibrations from the building. I knew some of the men were downed by the grenades and tripwire that Shadowcat and Frenzy set up. I knew some of them were trapped in the stairwell that was blocked, due in no small part to Frictor having the idea to rig some explosives to cause a small cave in. I knew some of the men wasted ammo on a few groups of mannequins that were dressed up as us. Or rather, I figured that was what happened.
About twenty minutes passed until I heard footsteps from down the hall. Underneath my mask, I grimaced.
"They're here!" I stated, keeping my voice down since we all had our communicators in our ears.
"Everyone get into position!" Cyclops ordered. We each moved behind a sandbag barrier. We then sat still. "Frenzy, Spider-Man, wait for my signal."
"Got it," Frenzy replied as I nodded. I looked over at Frenzy, seeing her pull out two flashbangs.
"Edith, set my webbing to preset 30," I asked.
"Preset will be ready in thirty seconds," Edith replied.
"Thank you."
We waited. The footsteps were slow and deliberate. No doubt in my mind they were being cautious due to their fellow men getting felled by the traps we placed. A part of me wanted to see what was going on with troops in the other parts of Ravencroft, but I decided against it. After Edith let me know that my preset was ready, I looked towards Frenzy again and gave her a thumbs-up. She nodded at me before she turned her head towards the door. We all remained quiet as we waited. Slowly but surely, the footsteps came closer and closer until they came to a stop. I then heard the creaking of the door as it opened. I took in a breath quietly and held it. I saw a beam of light wave over us. I guess it was from a flashlight attachment. I heard another creak. I figured the door was pushed wide open. That's when I heard more footsteps.
"Now!" Cyclops screamed out.
Frenzy quickly stood up as I jumped into the air. I turned before I brought my arms out. I shot three bursts of webbing. During this, Frenzy pulled the pins on the two Flashbangs and tossed them forward. As she quickly ducked down and covered her ears, I landed on all fours and ducked behind the sandbag barrier, just avoiding the bullets that sailed over my head.
"Edith, activate Sensory Deprivation Mode!" I ordered.
"Activating now," Edith replied.
The shutters of my lenses narrowed until they were completely shut. I heard a buzz in my head as the sound cancelling field was deployed underneath my suit. For some seconds, I felt like I was floating in some void. The only thing I did ended up feeling was some vibrations, no doubt from the grenades and the flashbang webs detonating. Internally, I counted to five until I took in a breath.
"Okay, Edith, let's bring things back to normal, webbing included," I stated.
"Deactivating Sensory Deprivation Mode," she said in compliance. "Webbing is also back to normal."
Slowly, my lenses opened up and the field disappeared. I blinked a few times – while it was rather dark in the room, with my enhanced vision, it was like stepping out from inside of a building and into the noon sun. After my vision adjusted, I looked up to see Frictor standing, discharging his shotgun three times. I watched as the shells sail through the air and three of the gunmen before letting loose a shock.
"XREP shells?" I asked as I stood up.
"X-Men don't kill," Frictor replied.
I nodded before I stood up and faced the door. Six more men came through the door. Cyclops shot four bursts of optic blasts, downing four of the assailants in quick succession. I brought my arms out and shot out two strands of webbing. Once they hit two of the gunmen, grabbed the strands with my hands and yanked on them. The two gunmen sailed through the air towards me. As soon as they were close enough, I grabbed one of them in my left hand and let the other one fly past me. I looked over my shoulder and watched as the gunman landed. With my free hand, I shot a continuous strand of webbing towards the downed gunman before I turned my attention back to the one in my hand. Wordlessly, I tossed them into the ceiling before webbed them up against it. Unfortunately, for them, I forgot that I was in an old decrepit sanitarium and, by extension, didn't stop to think about the structural integrity of decades off ceiling tile. So, it shouldn't have been as surprising as it was to me when, seconds later, the gunmen fell face first into the ground after the ceiling tile caved from trying to hold up their weight.
I took in a breath through my teeth. "I didn't mean for that to happen," I said in earnest.
"I'm sure they're okay," Greenie assured. "Not that I care, but…" I looked over at her, in time to see her shrug. I was about to respond before I felt my Spider-Sense go off.
…Seriously, why didn't I think of calling my extra sense that before?
Anyway, after my Spider-Sense went off, I looked towards the door and six more gunmen rushed in. They quickly opened fire. Greenie and I quickly ducked behind a sandbag. The bullets went over my head, with one piercing through one of the sandbags on the top layer. From the corner of my eye, I saw Greenie hold her AA-12 up above the barrier and returned fire blindly for some seconds.
"I'm going in," Shadowcat called out. "Frenzy, you got me?"
"Of course!" Frenzy replied.
I watched as Shadowcat phased into the ground as Frenzy stood up. With a slow walk, Frenzy moved forward. She walked slowly as the bullets bounced off her. As she slowly stalked towards them, I poked my head up above the sandbag barrier. All six gunmen put their attention on Frenzy, spraying her with bullets that bounced off of her with no effect. During this, two of the gunmen were pulled into the ground and out of sight. Somehow, I knew they were pulled down and sent crashing onto the floor below is. Frenzy continued to stalk forward. By the time she reached them, two more gunmen were pulled completely into the ground. Frenzy grabbed one of them by the collar with her right hand before she tossed them to the side as if they weighed little more than a tennis ball. I cringed when I heard the sound of the impact. She then struck the remaining gunman with a backhand that knocked them out almost instantly. As they fell to the ground, Frenzy retreated back to her previous spot.
"Why do you even wear body armor?" Greenie asked. "Aren't you as bulletproof as Luke Cage?"
"I am," Frenzy confirmed. "But I never know when it'll be the day there's a bullet my skin can't stop."
Greenie nodded. "Good point." Footsteps were heard again. This time, Greenie stood up and let loose a hail of gunfire at the door. I was thankful the bullets were nonlethal because the gunman that walked through the door was lit up something nasty, as Frictor would say. "I'm telling you now, whatever that asshole Hammer is paying you, it's nowhere near worth it!" As she said this, she removed the drum from her rifle before she loaded a fresh one in.
Wave after wave of gunmen came in, but we were able to dispatch them with ease. Eventually, I heard the sound of footsteps retreating. Slowly, Frictor stood up and tilted his head.
"You think they gave up?" he asked as he looked around at the others.
"Somehow, I doubt that," Cyclops deadpanned. The rest of us slowly stood up.
"If you want, I can poke my head out," Frenzy offered as she readied her rifle.
Cyclops looked at her for a few moments. He then nodded. "Go ahead and do that."
I watched as she stepped forward slowly out of the opening. As she continued to walk, Greenie moved next to me.
"I'm surprised Scorpion hasn't shown up yet," she pointed out.
Under my mask, I raised my eyebrows briefly. "Maybe Hammer's just trying to wear us down before sending Scorpion in," I replied. "There's no way Hammer will waste an opportunity to have Scorpion painted in a glorious…" I trailed off as my senses went off. My senses were on eleven… or perhaps even twelve, because even my vision seemed slightly off-color. I quickly looked around, trying to find whatever is wrong.
"Hey, Spidey, you okay?" Greenie asked.
During this, Frenzy walked back towards us.
"The hallway is clear," she announced. She then looked at me. "Hey, what's up?"
"My Spider-Sense is going off," I stated. "Something's up. Edith… can you pull up the camera array?"
"Pulling up array n…" Edith began before she trailed off. "That's odd. I've been disconnected from the Wi-Fi network. I'm going to try and reconnect." She paused again. "I see the issue. The Wi-Fi network is no longer able to be detected. I believe the hotspot may have been compromised. I'm going to see if I can connect to the cameras directly, but it'll likely take time."
"Of course!" I said as I threw my hands up. I looked at the others. "The hotspot is down. I'm unable to connect to the cameras at the moment. We're kind of blind here!"
"I'm sorry," Edith apologized. I could hear the regret in her voice.
Internally, I kicked myself. I didn't mean for Edith to feel bad. "It's not your fault, Edith. I should have accounted for that. Just do your best, okay?"
"Okay."
"I'm glad you're assuring Edith and all," Shadowcat said sincerely. "But what has your Spider-Sense going – ?"
She didn't get a chance to finish that statement as the ground rumbled below us.
"Yo, what was that?!" Frictor demanded.
The ground rumbled again. I looked down to see the cracks in the floor. And then I saw the orange light bleed through the cracks. My eyes went wide. Think quickly, I brought my arms out and shot out for four different strands, each one for Frictor, Cyclops, Shadowcat, and Frenzy.
"I'm sorry!" I called out before I flung them towards the back of the office. I was about to grab Greenie before the floor exploded beneath us. We were both launched up into the air. Quickly, I turned and shot webbing towards the ceiling. While the strands hit, the ceiling tiles gave out almost instantly from my weight. I fell into the newly formed hole right after Greenie, who was yelling out. Much to both my surprise and chagrin, there were holes leading all the way down to the bottom floor. "Hold on, Greenie!" I quickly brought my arms out and shot another to strands of webbing. They went past Green and hit the edges of the hole on the second floor roof. I quickly pulled, propelling myself faster through the air. Within seconds, I caught up to Greenie. I wrapped my arms around her. With barely a thought, I deployed the pincers. They shot out and pierced the bottom floor's tile, stopping our fall. I took a moment to resume my breathing, letting loose a breath I didn't know I was holding. "Hey… you okay?"
"Yeah, I am," Greenie huffed out. "Thanks."
I nodded as I lowered myself to my feet. Unfortunately, my senses went off. I looked towards the doors, seeing them kicked in. Even more gunmen started to pour in. I looked over my shoulder, seeing the front desk behind. "Hold on, Greenie!" That was all the warning I gave before turned around, bent my knees, and jumped forward. During this, I heard gunfire and felt a couple of bullets hit my armor. I flipped in the air once before I landed on my feet behind the desk. I set Greenie down as I ducked down, avoiding the bullets that sailed over our heads. I stared at the metal paneling. "Wow, you guys fortified this, too?"
"That's Cyclops for you," Greenie replied.
"Greenie, Spider-Man, are you guys okay?" Cyclops asked through the comms.
"Speak of the devil," I commented. "Yeah, we're okay, just under heavy gunfire. What about you guys?"
"Yeah, we're good," Frenzy spoke up. "But Spider-Man… you do remember that one of us is bulletproof and the other can phase, right?"
"Sorry, habit! I'm still not used to working with other heroes with superpowers on a regular basis!"
"Clearly!"
"Hate to interrupt, but this desk can only take so many bullets!" Greenie pointed out.
"Frictor and Shadowcat are on their way down now," Cyclops stated. "Frenzy and I should be at your location right about… now."
I heard a heavy thud, followed by the sounds of yells. After that, the room was overtaken by red light for a good three seconds. After that, the red glow was gone, replaced by… sunlight? Slowly, Greenie and I stood up. There was a massive hole where the doors and a good part of the wall used to be. Standing a few feet in front of us was Cyclops and Frenzy.
"…Well, that wasn't fun for me," Frenzy complained.
"We're not here for fun," Cyclops halfheartedly chastised.
"…Whatever."
Greenie and I walked around the desk and joined Frenzy and Cyclops. We looked out of the hole to see many gunmen laid out on the lawn, having been taken out. A few moments later, Frictor and Shadowcat phased from the floor and joined us.
"Let me guess," Frictor said. "Cyclops flexed hard."
"Very hard," Frenzy grumbled.
"Look, whenever I can, I try to end things quickly," Cyclops droned.
At that, Frenzy scoffed. "That better only apply to the battlefield, or else this relationship won't last long." Shadowcat snickered and Frictor's shoulders were quivering as Cyclops turned his head towards Frenzy. Frenzy looked back at him and smirked.
"A'ight, funny as this is, anyone else thinking this is too easy?" Frictor asked as he looked around.
"That's because it is," Cyclops replied in a grim tone.
That was when my Spider Sense went off again. I started to look around until I felt the vibrations underneath my feet. I closed my eyes, took in a deep breath, and slowly let it loose in a sigh.
"He's here," I muttered out. Everyone looked at me. I slowly turned around. I heard the faintest sound of earth being burrowed through. Some feet in front of me, the ground opened. From the hole emerged Scorpion. The large superhuman bared his teeth. Even with his eyes covered, I can tell he was glaring at us.
"I haven't seen you in a minute, Scorpion," Frictor remarked. "I see you got your armor repaired. I'm glad about that. I was hoping I didn't damage it too much when I ran you off."
"I should have crushed your larynx the night I left you broken," Scorpion snarled back. "But no matter – I no longer have orders to bring you in alive. Consider this your last chance to surrender. If you don't, I can't be held liable for what ends up happening to you all."
"We'll make this short and sweet for you, then," Cyclops replied. "We will neither surrender nor offer you the chance to back away. We're taking you down today. Partially it's because we don't like you. But mostly, it's to send a message for any other people like Hammer who think they can hide behind The Accords with no consequences for their actions."
At that, Scorpion sighed in annoyance. "Oh well." He waved his tail back and forth behind him as he dropped down to all fours. "I'd say this will hurt me more than it'll hurt you. But you've tested my patience long enough." He grinned wickedly. "I'm actually looking forward to ending your lives right here and now. And when I'm done here, Hammer and I will go after everyone who has directly supported – friends, family, you name it!"
During this, I felt the air go cold. My heartrate went up. As I closed my eyes, all I could think of those close to me and those close to them – every American Idiot and X-Men along with their respective families, Pepper Potts, Happy, Morgan… even the likes of Claire and Dr. Drumm. Also, I couldn't forget about Lockheed and Puff… who I haven't seen for a while, as I thought about. But, the point is, Scorpion didn't just press a certain button of mines – he basically kept it down with duct tape and placed a weight on top of it for good measure.
"Just so we're clear, no holding back right?" I asked as I looked at Cyclops.
"Not even a little bit," Cyclops confirmed.
I nodded. "Good."
From my peripheral, I saw Shadowcat remove her sais from her holsters and palm them. Frictor took time to reload his shotgun before he cocked it once. Frenzy unshouldered her rifle and tossed it to the side before she cracked her knuckles. Greenie raised her left fist. Said fist glowed green as a vapor of the same color rose from it. Cyclops cracked his neck as his visor glowed red. For my part, I uttered five words.
"Edith, activate Instant Kill Mode," I ordered.
"Are you sure?" Edith asked. I could hear the worry in her tone. I was actually given pause.
"…I am."
"…Activating Instant Kill Mode now."
I felt a change my suit. I heard the lenses dilate – only thing the others would see on my eyes were red glowing slits. My pincers extended out even more as I dropped down to a crouching three point stance.
"No matter what suit you have on, you're still a mere Spider," Scorpion taunted. "So, tell me, what's a Spider to a Scorpion?"
"I've battled vultures, lizards, goblins, and octopuses, not to mentions alien invaders from space," I retorted. "A Spider to a Scorpion? Please. You are nothing to us."
"We shall see."
Those were his last words before he charged forward.
