(Attack of the Beetle)
Things were calm throughout the skyline of New York, almost completely void of any signs of trouble or tension. But of course, not everything is what it seems to be.
'He should be here any minute now.' a young man with short red hair stood on the balcony of his penthouse overlooking the view of the city, and the sound of mechanical whirring quickly turned his attention towards the source of it "So you're this guy that I've heard so much about. What is it they call you again?"
Standing before him was a metallic-looking figure covered entirely in a metal suit, with his armor, the face in particular having the appearance of a certain insect, being coated in silver and a shade of purple, with green-colored eyes "They call me the Beetle. You're the one that contacted me?"
"I am. Are you sure you weren't followed?"
"I am."
"Good. You know the only reason I found out about you was because my dad had a file on you in his computer. All I really care about is that he said you're good at what you do, and you're that much better at keeping secrets. Spider-Man is the one that killed my father. He was sick, a victim of the same stuff that I was. I know how that sort of thing can change you better than anyone else does. He needed help, and you know what Spider-Man did? He killed him with his own gear in cold blood. I want you to return the favor. Will you do it?"
"So long as I receive my payment when it's over."
"You will."
"Then consider it done within 24 hours." and so the Beetle activated the propulsion system within his armor, and he promptly took off into the night sky.
"That's exactly what I'm counting on." the young man was about to walk inside, only to stop when he heard his phone ringing and answered it "Hello? Oh hey Gwen. No I'm still on for that movie tonight, I just had to take care of some business. I'll be there in a few. Alright see you then, bye." and so he hung up and made his way back inside 'Going on a date with my girlfriend, my dad is about to be avenged, looks like everything is coming up for Harry Osborn. For once. Just wait dad, Spider-Man is going to pay for what he did to you. I'm making sure of it.'
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Meanwhile, in the Lair…
'Yes, listen to the silence…' Splinter sat in the dojo in a meditative position, almost completely at peace and filled with a sense of serenity and tranquility 'I can allow myself to be lost in the sound of the silence for days. Such a pleasant meditation, complete with sweet solitude…'
"Hey it's not my fault that fat tub of lard started spewing out crap like a freaking hose over stuff he doesn't know anything about!"
'...Which has now been entirely ruined. It was enjoyable while it lasted.' and so he made his way out of the dojo and looked over to see the Turtles making their way into the Lair, with Spider-Man following them "What happened?"
"To give you the short answer, a lot." Spider-Man breathed a sigh full of exhaustion "To give you the long answer, apparently the O'Neil girl sent out a tip that the Kraang were about to break into some lab, and once I got the message I met up with them and we waited for the Kraang to show up, you know typical stakeout style."
"This does explain your involvement."
"Yeah. Like I said, we were waiting for the Kraang to show up, these two started doing their thing with each other." he jerked a thumb at Raph and Mikey "Then some angry old guy shows up and starts spewing insults, you know in typical New Yorker fashion. The angry one got set off and that ended up forcing the others to hold him back. As is typical for someone who lives my life, this was when the Kraang chose to show up. So while they were holding back one of their own from going and charging at the old guy like a crazed bull, I went down and took down the Kraangdroids that were reading the lab, returned all of the stuff they were trying to steal, and then got out of there before they could accuse me of stealing the stuff instead, because I know they will and I'm more or less expecting it as the headline for tomorrow's newspaper. Plus I think the old guy was trying to get a video of the guys here, but I just smashed his phone before he could."
"...I see." Splinter gave Spider-Man a nod of gratitude, but then his expression became more stern as he turned to the Turtles "So not only did Raphael alert the Kraang, but you were witness and nearly caught on video. This type of carelessness is something we cannot afford."
"Hey come on sensei, you didn't see this guy!" Raphael was quick to defend himself "This dude was the angriest and nastiest guy you'd ever meet!"
"Except for you bro." Mikey shot him a grin, only to get smacked upside the head.
"You didn't hear any of the insults that this guy was throwing at us, I mean they were so loud and crude and… insulting!"
"Oh is that so?" Splinter's tone was laced with sarcasm and had a sharp edge to it "I did not realize that he said mean things. Of course, that left you no choice but to jeopardize your mission!" and that quickly shut Raphael up, at least for the moment.
"No really, you're that surprised he started spewing insults at you?" Spider-Man shot a dull look over at Raphael from beneath his "Dude this is New York, people that spew out insults are more common around here than pizza joints."
"The fact is that the four of you are ninjas, and you work best from within the shadows, in the depths of secrecy. This becomes difficult if others are aware of your existence, especially if such is brought to fruition because of a lack of control over one's own anger."
'Yeah, and the face that the so-called Spider-Menace is hanging around them probably draws more attention to them than people realize. Maybe I should try distancing myself from them, don't get near them if I don't have to. If it keeps them safe…'
"Keep in mind that anger is self-destructive."
"And here I thought it was always others destructive." Raphael grumbled, only to flinch under the fierce glare he was getting from Splinter.
"Raphael. Stand up. We will conduct an exercise to take control of this problem."
"What kind of exercise?"
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About 5 minutes later, in the dojo…
"This typo of exercise." Splinter gestured to where Raphael stood in the center of the dojo, with the other Turtles all aiming arrows (with suction cups instead of actual arrowheads) at him, and with Spider-Man standing off to the side "I want you to evade the arrows."
"What, that's it?" Raph gave a smirk full of confidence "No problem."
"Hajime!"
"Nope, nope and nope." Raph managed to avoid every arrow being shot at him with surprising levels of gracefulness.
"Yame! Evade the arrows again, only…" Splinter paused, then looked over at Spider-Man, and then back at the others "Actually, this time Spider-Man will fire his webs at you in place of the others firing arrows. If he agrees to assist us in this endeavor that is."
"Yeah sure, why not?" Spider-Man gave shrug as he stepped forward "So I just fire a barrage of webs at him?"
"Correct, only as you do this, Leonardo, Donatello and Michelangelo will insult Raphael."
"...Can I insult him too?"
"That would assist in this endavor as well."
"Wait a second." Donnie spoke up somewhat hesitantly "So you're saying that you want is to insult him?"
"That is correct?"
"And he can't fight back or hurt us in any way?"
"That is also correct."
"...Yeah okay, I'm feeling pretty good about this one."
"Just be sure to not forget the principle behind ninniku seishin. Now then, hajime!"
"Oh I'm gonna enjoy this." Mikey went first with a ridiculously big grin "Hey Raph, you totally look like a bloated buffalo!"
"What?!" Raph dodged the web being shot at his back, but he was still more or less distracted by the insult "I do not you little-"
"And you're always whining!" Leo went next, his grin just as big "You keep going on about how no one understands you!"
"Well maybe you don't understand-" Raph ended up being distracted enough for one of the web shots to hit him in the back of his shell.
"And you don't keep your back straight when you're doing omote kote gyaku!" that one came from Donnie, earning him a few looks "What, no good?"
"It's the shell you idiot-" Raph got hit with another web to the back of the shell "Dammit!"
"And you smell horrible, even by the standard of guys living in a sewer!" Spider-Man fired another web shot, this time hitting him on the arm "No offense guys." he was met with a few shrugs and some muttering from the others.
"Do you ever shut that spider hole?!"
"Not particularly no, it's pretty much expected for me to give a certain amount of quippage and snark each time I show up in the costume." and then he fired another web, this one landing on the side of Raph's head "I know how guys like you are, you act all tough and stuff but inside you're just a scared little coward!"
"I am not!" Raph got another one, this time to the side of the head "Cut it out!"
"And then when someone calls you out on it and sees you like you really are, you get mad and start hitting them!"
"I said stop it!" Raph got it with another web, this one to the back of the head.
"What's the matter, you gonna cry?"
"I-" a web to the top of his head "-am not-" the side of the head "Gonna cry!" and then he got one directly in between his eyes, and that was when his patience finally ran out, just as he was sent crashing to the ground.
"Yeah not gonna lie, that actually felt pretty good." Spider-Man let out a chuckle, only for it to be cut short when he saw Raph glaring at him with unbridled fury 'Okay note to self, don't go too heavy on that or else bear the risk of turning into another version of Flash Thompson and his squad of idiots from the football team.'
"Oh yeah, this one feels good." Mikey let out a sigh filled to the brim with catharsis "I wish this moment could last forever."
"You know what, the hell with this!" Raph threw his sais to the ground in frustration "This whole thing is just stupid, it's pointless!"
"Aw man, it's over already?"
"Mikey shut your hole or I swear I'm gonna-"
"Yame!" this was when Splinter stepped forward and levelled his gaze on Raphael "Remember that ninniku seishin is the ability to endure insults and belittlement from others with both patience and humility. You will never be able to be a true ninja until you master it. Understood?"
"...Hai sensei."
'Evidently it has yet to take full effect within his mind. I still need to speak with you about another matter, but for the time being, I believe Spike needs to be tended to."
"Hai sensei." and so Raph promptly sulked his way out of the dojo, brooding and grumbling to himself all the while.
'And then there were three and the one in the costume.'
"Wow." Spider-Man let out a low whistle "To think I actually found somebody who has worse anger issues than Electro. And that's seriously saying something."
"The same principle behind the lesson applies to all of my sons. You would be wise to keep this in mind as well."
"I get slandered by the city's most prominent newspaper on a daily basis. I think I've pretty much got that one down." his tone was flat, and he let out a sigh "I'm gonna head out and scout for any more Kraang activity."
"Hold on a second, we'll come too." Leo was quick to step forward "If the Kraang are still up to something tonight, then we all have to be on standby."
"Yeah okay, the more of us there are to beat the ever loving crap out of the Kraang, the better chance we have of bringing them down fast." and so the four of them grabbed whatever gear they needed, and subsequently took off out of the dojo, and then out of the lair entirely.
'Be wary my sons and our ally, I fear that a great challenge lies just beyond the horizon for all of you.'
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About 10 minutes later, out on the rooftops…
"Remember to keep an eye out for the Kraang, there really isn't anything stopping them from making another move on this lab, especially given the fact that their numbers are pretty much legion as far as we know." Spider-Man glanced over at where Donnie was watching over the warehouse from the edge of the rooftop 'And the fact that we still know next to nothing about these things leaves me with a lot of concerns.'
"So…" Mikey suddenly glanced up at Spider-Man from where he was lying on the ground, and he looked bored as all hell "What's life like outside of the mask?"
"What are you talking about?"
"You know, what it's like when you're not wearing the whole superhero get up. What's your real life like?"
"I… I don't really want to talk about that."
"Come on bro, what's the worst that could happen?"
'You mean aside from someone finding out my secret identity and one of the people I love getting strung up like a freaking pinata while I have to fight to the death to save them? I wear the mask for a reason, but if you want to know something about me, what I can tell you is that I'm going to turn 17 before the end of the Summer."
"Cool. So you got a girlfriend?"
"No, definitely not. I try to keep my personal life as far away from my whole superhero thing as I possibly can. Now to change the subject, what's going on with Kraang activity?"
"Nothing yet, but we know that whatever they want is here." Donnie told him "The Kraang did already try to break into that lab once tonight, so they might try and do it again. I know what I'm talking about too, I have some very reliable intel."
"Intel huh?" Mikey shot him a huge shit eating grin "You mean April told you, you're talking about your new girlfriend right?"
"I'll have you know that she's not my girlfriend Mikey, she just happens to be a girl who's a good friend, whose dad got taken away by the same aliens that tried to break into that lab to get their hands on god knows what, and since we stopped them before we can stop them again."
"Hey it's cool man, you don't have to be embarrassed. If you wanna be all lovey dovey and stuff about your girl, I say go for it." Spider-Man let out a chuckle at the look on Donnie's face, but then his expression turned solemn beneath his mask as he looked out up at the night sky 'Yeah right, like I've got any room to talk about that. Aside from Aunt May, I've barely even talked to another girl in weeks. Ever since I broke up with Liz and the whole Gwen fiasco, barely anyone has even bothered to look at me. The only real exception to that is MJ, and frankly, I think she and I are better off as friends. I'd be lying if I said I hadn't thought about just asking her out or some sort of thing like that, but the more I did think about it, the more I realized that it just wasn't going to work out between us. Aside from my whole fiasco with Liz and Gwen, she still isn't really over what had happened with Mark, or Molten Man as they're calling him. One thing we have in common is that we both want to stay away from the dating scene, and for good reason.'
What none of them had noticed was that a fair distance away, the Beetle was watching the group and analyizng movements, and he frowned beneath his armor 'Strange, I wasn't told that this Spider-Man had allies, ones that appear to be well trained for that matter. This may prove to be more problematic than I had first anticipated.'
"Okay, I think we're all clear on this end." Leo looked through the telescope and peered down at a warehouse on the street below "It doesn't look like the Kraang have made any more attempts at getting anything from this warehouse."
"But even if they don't try to get into his lab again, my sources tell me that there are at least four others within three blocks of this one." Donnie told him "There is a pretty likely chance they're going to try and make a move on those labs too."
"In that case it might be for the best if we split up to check them out. Mikey stay here and keep an eye on this lab, Donnie you go for the one three blocks East of this one, and I'll take the one to the South."
"And that leaves me with the one to the North." Spider-Man glanced out at the building lying in the distance "We check each of them out, and if we don't find any signs of trouble within an hour then we meet back here."
"Right, now spread out." and so the three of them scattered, leaving only one to watch over the current area.
'Right, I gotta watch it like a hawk.' Mikey looked back down at the lab and stared intently at it, at least until his stomach started growling 'Oh man, I could really go for some pizza right now. You know I wonder what kind of stuff I can put on it. Maybe stuff like anchovies or onions or garlic.' he failed to notice a small beetle-like robot flying up behind him, releasing a small cloud of gas as it did so 'Or maybe peanut butter or clams or hot fudge?' it was only then that he actually registered the scent of the cloud of gas 'Okay, I swear that one wasn't me. Maybe Spidey was onto something when he made that crack about living in sewers and-' and then the gas actually took over, and he subsequently fell to the ground and passed out.
'That's one down.' the Beetle looked down at the unconscious form of Mikey, then proceeded to scan the surrounding area 'That should leave two more of these Turtle creatures, and then I'll be able to focus on the actual target.'
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Now for the second one…
'Okay, according to April's intel, that should be the second lab that the Kraang have been lurking around.' Donnie looked over at the building across the street, and then his thoughts started to drift, or rather go into overdrive 'And just because I talk with April a lot and get most of our intel on the Kraang from her doesn't make her my girlfriend. She's nothing but a girl whose a friend, whose dad got kidnapped by a pack of robot aliens that might break into this lab. And even then she still is pretty cool, and smart, and funny and sweet and gorgeous…' his mental rantings to himself left him distracted enough to not notice the small beetle-like robot coming up behind him 'But that doesn't mean that she's my girlfriend… I mean I don't know unless I ask her to-' thankfully for him and just about everyone else, the beetle-robot promptly grabbed Donnie by the back of his leg and subsequently electrocuted him, leaving him out cold on the rooftop.
'That's two down.' the Beetle looked down at Donnie's unconscious form, then scanned the area once again 'One more Turtle left to incapacitate, and then the target will be acquired.'
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Now for the third and final Turtle…
'No sign of the Kraang as of yet.' Leo glanced down at the building in front of him, only to frown suddenly as he turned around and drew both of his katanas off his back "I know you're there, now come out and show yourself."
"So you detected my presence." sure enough, the Beetle stepped out from behind a nearby water tower "As I thought, you're more skilled than I first estimated. At least you were actually bothering to pay attention to your surroundings, which clearly can't be said for the other two that I've already taken care of."
"Excuse me?" Leo's gaze hardened as he tightened the grip he held on his katanas "What have you done with my brothers?"
"Calm down, they aren't in any immediate danger. I only finish off the ones I've been contracted to kill."
"So in short, you're a mercenary. Who are you after then?"
"Someone you've been affiliated with, resulting in my need to dispose of you, to ensure that you don't get in my way."
'Someone I'm affiliated with? This guy… is he talking about Spider-Man? I think you'll find that I'm not going to go down so easily."
"We'll see about that." Beetle promptly summoned a blade on each of his wrists and charged towards Leo, and the two of them began clashing, his blades against Leo's katanas, though he quickly broke away from their clashing and moved in for a frontal assault.
Leo maneuvered around the Beetle's attack and landed a spin kick to the back, knocking him to the ground, and then he moved in for a follow up with his swords pointed forward.
Beetle was quick to dodge the attack, and then he grabbed the blade of one of Leo's katanas and promptly snapped it in half, which led to the two of them clashing once again, only to be sent hurtling backwards a short distance by a roundhouse kick to the chest, though he was undeterred and quickly went back on the offensive 'He's well trained and shows great discipline, evidently he was taught by a master. But at the same time…' he quickly whipped around and used both of his blades to stop Leonardo's only remaining katana, using the superior physical strength of his armor to push Leo further back towards the edge of the rooftop, but rather than move for another follow up attack with his wrist blades, he instead unleased one of his miniature beetle robots that produced a cloud of sleeping gas, causing Leonardo to black out before he could properly react, leaving him to fall to the ground with a loud thud 'That leaves the three unexpected ones dealt with, and now to move onto the main objective: Spider-Man.'
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Meanwhile, in the Lair…
"Who the hell do those guys think they are?" Raph was left venting out a small amount of his great as ever anger, to his pet turtle Spike as he chewed on a leaf "So what if I get angry and have a hell of a temper? I'm still the best fighter out of the four of us, hell if anything my temper is what makes me a better fighter. And I say they don't understand me because they don't! But you're not like the rest of them, you understand me don't you Spike? Chew on your leaf if you understand me better than the rest of them." he was met with Spike chewing on his leaf "Yeah, that's exactly what I thought."
"I understand you too my son."
"Son of a-" Raphael snapped to attention and saw Splinter enter the kitchen "Okay seriously, would it kill you to learn how to knock or something?"
"I am a ninja, I move with silence and within the shadows. Now then Raphael, allow me to tell you a story."
"Come on sensei, I'm not really in the mood for a story."
"Hm. Spike, chew on your leaf if you are in the mood for a story." he was met with Spike chewing on his leaf "Very well."
"...You did not just use Spike against me."
"I do what I must in order to pass on my teachings. Now then, when I was a young man, I fell in love with a woman."
"Oh hey, is it that late?" Raph started trying to sneak his way out of the kitchen "I think I really oughta go and-"
"Sit." that made him sit back on his chair and pout "Now then, her name was Tang Shen. I loved her with all of my heart and soul. The problem however, was that I was not the only one that vied for her affection. There was another man who wished for her to return his feelings, a man that went by the name of Oroku Saki."
"You mean the Shredder."
"Yes. Eventually the day came where he insulted me in front of her, he called me many things I make a point to never say around you or your brothers. I felt that I could not allow those insults to go unanswered. I allowed myself to lose my temper, and over time the rivalry between us festered into a mutual hatred, until that fateful night came when Shredder had sought to finish me… and it cost me the life of my beloved Tang Shen." a tense silence filled the air as Splinter turned away from him.
"But sensei, that… that wasn't your fault. Shredder was the one that insult you, of course you fought him back. You didn't have a choice!"
"That is where you are mistaken Raphael, because I did have a choice. I could have chosen to just ignore him, and I could have chosen to simply allow his words to wash over me, akin to a river over stone. But instead of doing that, I allowed him to anger me. I was the one that made his words into weapons. That is the choice I made. So what choice will you make my son?" and so he made his way out of the kitchen, leaving Raphael alone with only Spike and his thoughts.
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Meanwhile, on the surface…
'Well, typical stakeout is about as interesting as watching paint dry.' Spider-Man looked down at the lab sitting across the street from the rooftop he was on, and he let out a sigh 'Well it could be worse, at least I've got some backup watching over the other labs. Maybe having a few helping hands isn't that bad in this gig. Still though, the Kraang are one thing, but I don't know how these guys are going to fair against any of the many many guys that want to kill me.' it was then that a certain sensation started going off in his head 'Case and point, any second now. Is it going to be the Kraang again?' he took a quick down at the lab, then around the streets below 'No, there's no sign of them or anyone else down there. As far as my actual enemies go, I know Mysterio is still out there since the one that got locked up in the Vault, and the Symbiote is probably still lurking around somewhere in the sewer system, something I'm gonna have to look into later. Or maybe it's some new guy that I haven't fought before but wants me dead.' he received his answer in the form of an army of tiny beetle bots swarming him from above, leaving him to try and fend them off, to little success.
"So you're the Spider-Man." this was when the Beetle emerged from within the swarm and looked at the downed form of Spider-Man as he aimed one of his wrist blasters "Call me the Beetle, the last name you hear before your demise."
'Huh, an armored assassin preparing to blow my head off. There's something you don't see every day. Almost every day, but not every day. So is there any chance you'd be willing to not blow my head off out of respect for a fellow insect?"
"Spiders aren't insects, they're arachnids."
'Oh just freaking perfect, the one time someone actually gets that right. Well in that case, I guess there's only one thing left to do." Spider-Man promptly leapt up and dealt the Beetle a sharp kick to the chest, sending him skidding backwards, and then he was forced to go on the evasive as he began dodging a barrage of lasers from one of his blasters "So where did you get that cool suit you've got there? And by cool I mean cumbersome and riveting?" he received his answer in the form of the Beetle breaking out his other blaster, forcing him to evade the barrage of lasers coming from two different sources now "Okay okay take it easy dude, you don't have to take this that hard you know. I mean I'm sure anyone will tell you, but I'm kind of a snob when it comes to the fine art of designing costumes for the whole superpower game."
The Beetle gave his response in the form of breaking out a missile from the rocket launcher in the shoulder of his armor, forcing Spider-Man to dodge it right before it exploded "Okay okay fine, I give up on that one. It's a nice suit, nothing compared to Iron Man but still." so he leapt into the air and dealt the Beetle a smash attack to the head, sending both of them hurtling down to the rooftop, and then he fired two lines from his web-shooters "Here's my apology, and you're gonna have to take it from me whether you like it or not!" and so he pulled on the AC unit he was latching onto and sent it hurtling into the back of the Beetle's head, sending him hurtling off the rooftop and crashing to the ground in a nearby alley, and he moved in to continue the battle 'Okay, so some kind of assassin in purely high tech armor. As far as the guys that want to kill me go, that's actually a new one. Well I mean there is Silvermane during that whole gang war with Tombstone and Doc Ock, but…' his thoughts were cut short by an explosion sending him hurtling across the street, but he was quick to rebound and managed to dodge the incoming barrage of rockets, leaving them to blow up a nearby abandoned building "Hey come on dude, cleanliness is next to… Oh who the hell am I kidding, this is New York. Cleanliness isn't exactly in this city's vocab, the same going for proper etiquette. Okay now where the hell are those Turtles? Don't tell me this guy took them down too. Either way I didn't just sit around waiting for someone to come save me with any of the other guys that want me dead, I'm not going to start with this one.' and so he returned to dodging the incoming barrages of lasers from the wrist blasters "You know for a guy that doesn't talk too much, you sure like to make a lot of noise!" and so he fired two clean shots of webbing that bound the Beetle's wrist blasters, only to be met with two missiles from the Beetle's shoulder rocket launchers, which subsequently sent him flying through the air.
'Above average levels of strength and agility, and clearly significant intellect.' the Beetle frowned in thought underneath his armor as he unleashed a surge of energy from the gauntlets on his arms, burning off the webbing 'Given the skills that he's shown so far, it's unlikely that he's going to be taken down that easily.' then he felt something hit him in the back 'And just like that my initial suspicions have been confirmed.'
"Hey come on dude." as it turns out, Spider-Man had managed to rebound and get behind the Beetle, hitting him with a stream of webs square in the back "It's the middle of the night, aren't people supposed to be considerate of others and- Oh right, this is New York. Wait, I think I already made this joke."
"You did. Repetition in a fight can sign one's death warrant." on that note, Beetle activated the propulsion system in his suit and began flying around the area, the webs still connected to the back of his armor.
"...Aw crapbaskets." and so Spider-Man was promptly dragged through the air with him, though he was quick to let go of the webs and latch onto a nearby building to stop himself "And here I thought you were one of the smarter ones among the many guys who've tried to kill me, but you should know that spiders can't fly! They can dodge however." and so he began running along the side of said building and dodging the barrage of incoming lasers, only to look forward and catch sight of the Beetle suddenly coming right at him 'Oh I get it, he went for the old counter clockwise maneuver. Well one thing is for sure, this is going to hurt.'
Sure enough, the Beetle dealt Spider-Man a full force fist to the face, sending him crashing into another nearby alley, and he aimed his laser blaster "Now this ends." and he was about to fire a blast at him, when…
"Well it could be worse, at least this one isn't as ugly as the last guy."
The Beetle looked to the side just in time to see a red and green blur pounce towards him and land a solid kick to the side of his head, sending him crashing to the ground.
"Though he probably isn't as good at taking a hit."
"Not that I'm gonna complain about that." Spider-Man lifted up the bottom half of his mask and spat out some blood to the side "I never thought I'd be happy to see you Raph."
Sure enough, Raphael stood between Spider-Man and the Beetle, gripping his sais tightly as he prepared for the fight ahead "Yeah well, you're not on my list of favorite people yet webs, but let's focus on beating the crap out of this guy first." and so he charged at the Beetle and prepared to launch a follow up attack.
'I wasn't aware there was a fourth among these turtle creatures. No matter, I can deal with him as simply as the others.' the Beetle stopped Raphael's attack, then activated the propulsion system in his armor, and flew towards a nearby warehouse where he crashed straight through the wall, and in the process he took Raphael with him.
"Well… that happened?" Spider-Man looked over to see Leonardo and the other Turtles show up on the scene "So yeah, I think Raph is done getting yelled at, him showing up saved me from a face full of laser so I'm not complaining, and they're over there now." and that was all that needed to be said before they took off.
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Meanwhile, inside the warehouse…
"Okay, so he hits harder than Kraang guys…" Raphael let out a groan as he pulled himself to his feet "But you're still going down." and so he charged forward with his sais barred.
"You're as irritating as the spider, and much more impulsive." the Beetle promptly fired a barrage of lasers from his blaster, hitting Raphael dead on and sending him hurtling backwards 'Now to go back to dealing with the actual target, and he should be coming in-'
"Booyakasha!" this was when the others burst in, with Mikey leading the charge as he prepared to bring down his nunchucks.
A simple slash of a wrist-blade was enough for the Beetle to send Mikey crashing to the ground, and then snap Donatello's bo staff in half and throw him to the ground as well, leaving him to stare down Leonardo for a moment "I can tell from your fighting styles and methods of attack that you and your companions are little more than mere novices with little real combat experience."
"Yeah well, you're the one who's about to get a faceplant!" Raphael suddenly pounced towards the Beetle from behind and sent him crashing into a nearby wall 'Remember what sensei said, I have to let his words wash over me, like a river over stone. How about you try your luck taking us four against one?"
"How about making that five instead?" this was when Spider-Man dropped down onto the scene and readied himself.
"It might not be too much of a fight, but I think I really need to hit something."
"For once you and I actually agree on something. Now let's take this guy down."
"We'll see about that." the Beetle gave a smirk from underneath his helmet and subsequently revealed all of the rocket launchers, lasers and other weapons he had within his armor, which left the five of them stunned at the sight.
"...Yeah you know what, I'm thinking that five might not be enough. RUN!" and so the five of them started going on the evasive, though Spider-Man was the first one to get hit by one of the rockets and sent crashing through a nearby wall.
"We got him!" Donnie and Mikey promptly charged through the incoming barrage of lasers as the former landed a smash attack to the Beetle's head, and the latter used his nunchucks to latch onto the Beetle's legs and yank him to the ground.
"Oh yeah, I totally need this." Raph promptly went next and fended off a few punches as he landed a smash attack to the Beetle's head, only to end up getting backhanded away and sent crashing into Leonardo, sending both of them hurtling into a nearby wall.
'Dammit he's kicking our butts, we need to come up with some kind of plan!' Spider-Man looked around the scene as his mind began racing, then his eyes landed on a pair of Mikey's nunchucks, and then the lightbulb went off in his head 'Huh, looks like he's gonna earn that Booyakasha for real this time around. Hey you guys, I think it's about time for the five of us to initiate a little bit of something I like to call Operation Double Layer."
"...Whatever it is you're planning, that name sucks."
"It's a work in progress and it's been a long day, cut me some slack. Mikey, go ahead and get the nunchucks ready to wrap this Tin Man reject."
"Way ahead of ya webs, Booyakasha!" Mikey gripped his nunchucks and prepared to let them fly towards the Beetle, only for him to be forced onto the evasive by a barrage of lasers, and then a missile being fired "Aw shell, just when it was gonna get fun."
"Like you got any room to complain!" Raphael on the other hand, he had the missile chasing him to deal with as he rushed around the warehouse in an attempt to lose it, to no avail "I think it's some of that heat seeking crap, and yeah I know I'm hot, but not that kind of hot!"
"Okay dude, are you serious right now?" Spider-Man shot him a raised eyebrow from beneath his mask as he dodged a barrage of lasers "And just throwing this out there, I'm pretty sure any kind of "hot" you give off just comes from you being angry, because that's pretty much your thing and it's totally trademarked."
"Hey we've already been over this, me being a temper is a good thing. It's one of the things that makes me the best fighter we've got!"
"You being the best fighter out of the four of you is pretty debatable, and as far as your anger being a good thing, I think it more depends on the day than anything else."
"Shut your hole!"
"How about instead we shut the Beetle's hole?"
"Sounds about good to me!" Donnie pounced at the Beetle and used what was left of his bo staff to smack him across the face, which distracted him long enough to allow Donnie to land a spin kick that sent him hurtling through the air.
"Booyaka-" Mikey tried to catch the Beetle using his nunchucks, only for the Beetle to fly over him and for them to be knocked out of his grasp "Aw come on, really dudes?"
"This is getting tiresome." the Beetle picked himself up from within the rubble and subsequently fired a laser from the forehead of his armor, resulting in a sizable explosion that created a large cloud of smoke.
"Huh, I didn't know he could do that." Mikey shared a look with the others, only to be forced to go onto the evasive "Crap!"
"Bad Beetle, that's a bad Beetle!" Spider-Man leapt back into the fray and hit the Beetle in the face with a shot of his webs "Hey come on He With the Nonsense Catchphrase, what happened to the whole thing with Operation Double Layer?"
"I'm trying to get the shot in dude, but you guys keep tripping me up!" and so Mikey prepared to fire his nunchucks, only to be met with Raph running into him while avoiding the missile, which left him to get knocked to the ground while Raph himself took one of Mikey's nunchucks "Oh for crying out loud!" and then to add insult to injury, he was hit with another laser blast to the face, sending him crashing into a nearby wall, which left Donnie and Leo to charge at the Beetle themselves.
"Hey webs, grab onto this one!" Raph looked over at Spider-Man and promptly threw Mikey's nunchucks at him.
"I got it Raph, hey Mikey get a load of this one!" Spider-Man latched onto Mikey's nunchucks with a stream of his webs and promptly hurled them back towards him.
"Finally, I've been waiting to say it the whole time!" Mikey dodged the incoming barrage of lasers being fired at him as he gripped onto his other set of nunchucks "I'm probably gonna need to give it a minute though."
"Not too long though! Hey insect reject, this thing is yours right!" Raphael suddenly charged right at the Beetle, before he suddenly maneuvered out of the way at the last second, leaving the missile to crash right into the Beetle himself "Now!"
"Right!" Donnie and Leo both charged the Beetle themselves, with the former smacking him using what was left of his bo staff, and the latter slashing at the pack on the back of his armor before following up with a spin kick.
"Now I'm finally getting the chance to say it! Booyakasha!" Mikey promptly swooped down towards the Beetle from above and bound him using both sets of his nunchucks "Go for your thing Spidey!"
"That's the plan!" Spider-Man suddenly swooped in and added onto the binding from Mikey's sets of nunchucks with a thick layer of his webbing, which left the Beetle bound in webs, chains and stuck to a wall when it was all said and done "And that's another one courtesy of your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man, with his four trusty-"
"Don't even think about saying sidekicks."
"I was gonna say my partners."
"Oh."
"And you, our trusty angry pet guarddog."
"You cocky son of a-" Raph gritted his teeth and took a breath 'As much as I want to beat the crap out of this idiot, I gotta remember what Master Splinter said. Let the annoying stuff wash over me, like a river over stone.'
"Still though that's a mission accomplished, so I say good work team. High fives or threes or any of that all around, pizza and then-" Spider-Man cut himself short when he looked over and saw that the Beetle had started shaking violently "Just throwing this one out there guys, this definitely isn't going to end well."
Sure enough, it was at this moment that the Beetle suddenly unleashed a powerful burst of energy that sent the five of them hurtling back, as well as crashing to the ground in simultaneous heaps. It was then that he turned his attention to Spider-Man and aimed a blaster at him "You and the rest of your companions have proven to be much more irritating than I was expecting."
"You sure about that? I like to think I'm more charming than irritating." Spider-Man let out a chuckle, only to be met with a kick to the face that sent him crashing back to the ground, but he still wasn't deterred "So what exactly is your deal? You never said why you were after me. What did I stick you in jail and you're out for revenge, or is there some new big crime boss in the city that wants my head on a pike? Because the list of people that want me dead is ridiculously long as it is."
"I'm aware of that. I was hired to kill you in the name of vengeance."
"Vengenace?" and then the realization hit him, and he was horrified 'Harry… don't tell me you'd be willing to go THAT far…'
"It's only common courtesy to tell you that before I finish the job, but now…" the Beetle aimed one of his missile launchers at him, only to suddenly find both of his arms bound "What the-?!"
"How's this for irritating?!" as it turns out, Raph was using one pair of nunchucks to bind the Beetle by the arms, with Mikey doing the other, and then Raph yanked the Beetle towards him and landed a swift yet brutal smash attack to the head, sending him crashing to the ground and finally knocking him out "And to make the point to that fat old guy with the combover, we're not a bunch of Kung Fu frogs, we're ninja turtles. You know that probably would've had more of an impact if the fat slob was actually here to see it."
"I say take what you can get, because in my line of work, personal satisfaction isn't something you can come by too often." Spider-Man gave a shrug as he webbed the Beetle to the ground for good measure, then glanced over at the Turtles "But in all seriousness, thanks for having my back in that fight. If I was on my own, that probably could've turned out pretty nasty."
"Hey don't worry about it, partners need to stick together after all." Leo gave him a smile and a nod, but his expression quickly hardened when the sound of sirens rang through the air "Sounds like the police are coming, which means we're gonna have to get out of here."
"You guys go ahead and head back to your home, I'll handle it from here."
"Got it, see you the next timesomething comes up." and so Leo and the other Turtles gave bows or waves to Spider-Man, and then disappeared into the shadows of the wreckage, leaving Spider-Man alone with nothing but the Beetle for company.
'Cops showing up any minute now, praying that it's gonna turn out to be the one that actually likes me. I hope.'
It was at this moment that George Stacy entered what was left of the warehouse, with his officers DeWolff and Carter backing him up, and his demeanor relaxed only slightly when he took in what was going on "Looks like you've already taken care of things here."
"Let me guess, someone got the call about the masked menace terrorizing some new Iron Man thing or something?"
"More like someone reported in you fighting an armored assailant."
"Same thing."
"Depending on context. What can you tell me?"
"He called himself the Beetle, said that he was hired to take me out. As for who did it… I have no idea. There are a lot of people that want me dead."
"Fair enough. We'll take him in and get the truth from him soon enough. One other thing about the witness that called in… They also claimed to see four other figures fighting against this assailant alongside you. Any comment?"
'Four others? Do they mean the Turtles?' Spider-Man glanced over in the direction in which the Turtles had left as his body tensed up considerably, and then he turned back to George "As far as that one goes… I have no comment."
"Fair enough."
"Well anyway I've gotta go, a spider's got a lot of stuff to do." and so he started walking away, only to be stopped by George calling out to him.
"Do you remember what I said to you back then?"
"About how nature abhors a vacuum like the one I created in the criminal universe by exposing the Big Man?"
"Not that one, before that. I try to teach my students in my weekly criminology sessions that it could never hurt to have someone watch your back."
"Duly noted, but in all fairness, it's not like there are a ton of people out there that want to watch my back, or actually could watch my back in a fight."
"True, but there are other ways for people to watch your back. Even the smallest of things can have a pretty big impact."George then walked towards Spider-Man and leaned closer to him, his voice low "I doubt you'd object to having someone check on May for you while you're out doing what you have to do." and then he promptly walked away.
Spider-Man didn't bother saying anything out loud, he just walked out of the warehouse and started web-slinging away into the night 'All things considered, maybe Captain Stacy does have a fair point. That guy was after me, assuming Harry actually was the one who sent him, but the Turtles didn't even hesitate to jump in and help me, and without them being there it could've turned into something really nasty. I've been doing this whole Spider-Man gig by myself for the better part of a year, and I've screwed up time and again becuase I'm doing it alone. Maybe having someone help me out wouldn't be so bad after all, I mean as long as I can keep them out of danger or they can defend themselves.' he was about to fire another web, only to stop in his tracks and land on a rooftop as a certain realization suddenly dawned on him 'Wait, did he say I wouldn't mind if someone checked on… Aunt May?! Oh my god, he knows!'
A/N:
Well if Spider-Man is helping the Turtles with some of their villains, I figured it was only right to have the Turtles help Spider-Man defeat at least one of his enemies, even if it was one of the lower-tier bad guys. In this case, it's the Beetle. While this is pretty much a rewrite of TMNT 2012 with Spider-Man characters included, keep in mind that it is also a continuation of a Spider-Man series, and I should treat it as such. Part of this is introducing villains we never got to see in the original series, along with my approach to continuing story arcs that never got proper conclusions, especially ones that were only introduced in the final few episodes.
For those of you who remember, in the final episode of Spectacular, Harry vowed to get revenge on Spider-Man for his father's death, or at least indirectly said it, but we never got to see that pan out. As one could imagine, this arc is one that isn't going to be resolved in just one chapter or episode. It's going to take awhile for it to fully pan out, and this is just the first step.
Mentioning this for the sake of clarity, a sizable part of this chapter did come from the third episode Turtle Temper, but with a large part of it cut out, which means that there is no Spider Bytez. It's not that I didn't like the episode, but that was meant to explore what sort of changes would take place in the TMNT series with Spider-Man included, or at least this version of him. There will be other changes, some of them good and some of them bad.
Oh and just throwing this out there, for those of you that actually did watch both seasons of Spectacular Spider-Man, I think it's pretty clear George Stacy totally knew that Peter was Spider-Man. Ask any other fan of the show and I guarantee you they will say the exact same thing. All I really did here was confirm it with that last little conversation between him and Spider-Man.