Hey guys, back again with a new chapter to wet your whistles!

*stares at what was just typed*

God, never gonna be cheerful like that again. I wrote it and it made me uncomfortable.

Anyway, I am going to be referring to the mechanical legs that come from the Iron Spider Armor MK2 (if you pay attention to the smaller bits of my story then you know Peter tinkered with the Iron Spider Armor [like he did in the comics so that Tony couldn't catch him during the Civil War except instead of removing Tony's override - which he has already taken care of - he added some extra features]) as 'waldoes' as that's what they literally are; its a lot les complicated and wordy than 'mechanical spider arms'. Also 'Thugs' and 'Goons' are going to be different enemies in this fic. 'Thugs' are the heavy enemy variants, while 'Goons' are the standard enemy variants. Generally, I will try to stick to this reference but I just decided this so bear with some mistakes.

Another thing, people have inquired why I haven't been using Viri even though it is The 'Symbiotic' Spider-Man.

Well...

Peter hasn't had the express need to use Viri and therefore is doing fine with just the passive boosts from the symbiote and the Iron Spider MK2 suit helping him fight. He will definitely use Viri in full, just give it time - you all know how it is - patience is a virtue. As Flash said about the black suit in the comics, "Or it could die too. Then where will you be? You need this edge."

Plus, I do have some barebones idea of something resembling a plan.

Another concern, Peter's identity is a secret even from the Avengers despite the whole Iron Spider MK 2.

All credit to respective owners!

-Y.A.R.N.


Peter dove into the fray, dodging red sable bullets and grenades as he lashed out with his fists, legs, and waldoes in his own unique style. He was hoping that he would be able to stop this madness before it went too far, stop Hammerhead's increasing power and influence. If Hammerhead got his hands on the Maggia dons, he would kill them and gain control of practically all the remaining gangs practically uncontested. Armed with sable tech, the goons would be able to take over the city just as easily as Sable had, maybe even more so as Sable managed to at least keep some of those under her employment on the straight and narrow. The Maggia — especially under Hammerhead's leadership — would be given practically carte blanche to do whatever was 'needed' to gain control, and that would become a disaster.

The police wouldn't even have a prayer of taking on an sable-tech-enhanced mob with whatever weapons they had.

Peter decided — that during the current situation — that he really shouldn't worry too much about holding back as much he usually did and let all four of his mechanical arms erupt from his back as they all intercepted sable blasts. They stabbed into the earth and began to raise him up as he used a posed similar to Dr. Octavius in their last fight as he was raised into the air.

The dumbfounded and utterly horrified looks from the Maggia goons as Spider-Man suddenly grew what seemed to be spider legs from his back that seemed to be carrying him was hilarious. It reminded them of a certain villain who had nearly caused the city to collapse and be destroyed while releasing a deadly disease. While Peter wasn't exactly thrilled with the pose himself — as he was the one who was fighting said villain and dealing with finding the antiserum — he would be the first to admit that it was intimidating. And intimidation itself could be a very useful tool — much like his amazing sense of humor — it could throw his enemies off.

Peter launched himself into the middle of the group, waldoes stabbing into the ground around him and swiping through the air as he punched and kicked. His spider-sense blared as Viri enhanced it and he could feel the two grenades sailing through the air at him; he leapt and kicked out, punting them right back to their senders. Explosions rocked the area in front of the Auerbach Theatre as more tunneling machines burst out of the earth and deployed more maggia. Peter scowled under his mask and began to knock the various thugs out with sharp punches and kicks that sent them down skidding over the floor and knocking them out instantly, he needed to get inside and make sure the Dons were safe.

"I actually have to protect Mob bosses from other criminals." He muttered as he webbed a goon the floor in a sheet of webbing, "Talk about irony, right Viri?"

'I won't deny the idea is somewhat amusing.' Viri replied,'It is a necessary evil though, the mob boss Hammerhead cannot be allowed to kill the Dons.'

"Agreed!" Peter growled as lifted a machine-gun wielding goon into the air and slammed him into the earth, knocking him out.

His spider-sense blared in his head and he ducked away from a hail of gunfire from above; Peter clicked his tongue in annoyance as he saw snipers had climbed to the top of the theatre and were trying to shoot him. He leapt into the air and his eyes widened as he heard beeping from a nearby case as well as two separate and softer beeping noises from other parts of the roof.

"Explosives?" He grumbled, "Overkill much fellas?"

"They are mob members attempting a hostile takeover of the entire criminal underworld of New York. I do not believe anything would be overkill in their desperation." Viri commented.

Peter's waldeos caught a thug's charge and stopped it cold before they promptly pitched him into the wall hard enough to knock him out. The remaining maggia grunts abruptly realized they may have been a bit out of their weight class — as if their frequent and previous beatdowns when Spider-Man was still a new hero on the block hadn't made that explicitly clear — and began to hesitate. Peter took advantage of their hesitation and began to dash around the roof, knocking out the goons and webbing the cases before pitching them into the air to detonate harmlessly.

"And yes folks," Spider-Man narrated in a grandiose voice as the last of the bombs exploded in the air, "It's a TRIPLE PLAY! The crowd goes wild!"

Viri — much to Peter's amusement — added on, if in a bit of a deadpan voice, 'Spidey. Spidey. Spidey. Woot.'

"Well now that that has been taken care of," Peter huffed as his waldoes once again folded back into his suit, "Time to check on the Dons, they should be safe now."

Peter web-zipped to a vent opening on a wall and immediately crawled through the airways, hoping to see the Dons relatively unharmed.

"Guys," Peter began, pushing open a vent that led to the inside of the theatre, "We really need to rethink your security set..."

He trailed off as he realized there was a massive hole in the ground and a chandelier that had been knocked loose crashed into the gaping hole right as he saw the scene.

"...up." He finished lamely, "Right. Because of the digging tank things. Obviously."


Miles watched in satisfaction as the second bases of the Maggia was swarmed by the police and several of the web-covered thugs were being loaded into a swat truck for incarceration. He had already sent MJ the documents and she had thanked him after she figured out that the information was encrypted and she would need more info and time to break it. She had mentioned telling Peter about what she had found so far, and he seemed pleased. Miles checked for the other locations of the Bases and decided to check in on Peter while he swung over. His call rang for a few moments before Peter picked up.

"Ricochet? Is something wrong?" He asked, voice worried, "Are you in trouble?"

"No, Im fine." Miles assured him hurriedly, "I was wondering if you needed anything. I think I've been making pretty decent progress while cleaning out the Hammerhead fronts and just was wondering if you need me to assist on anything."

Peter was quiet and Miles began to feel worried.

"Coach?" Miles prodded.

"The situation's gotten way worse." Peter replied grimly.

Miles heart began to pound in his chest, "What?! What do you mean?"

"Hammerhead got his hands on the Dons." Peter growled, "Sable had these ground-tunneling-tank-things and while several of them led an attack on the outside. One got inside while I was taking out the forces outside and got rid of some bombs that the rest of the maggia planted. It was just a setup to keep me occupied. I fell for it, hook, line, and sinker; I lost the Dons and now Hammerhead got all of them in his hands."

Miles landed on a chimney, "What can I do to help? Do you need me to play back-up and stick close-by?"

"For now?" Peter replied, "Keep on the bases, you take those down, it might put some strain on Hammerhead's sable tech acquisitions if you can keep the bases from distributing to the maggia. Don't be reckless, but hurry, I want you to play back up just in case. If things get much worse..."

Miles leapt off the antenna and began to sling through the streets with more urgency than before, "Right, don't worry. I'll finish them up fast and make sure Mary Jane will tell you what she has when she's got everything! Then we can put a stop to this together."

"Thanks." Peter sighed, "I appreciate this Ricochet."

"No problem coach." Miles replied as he upped his speed and landed on the roof of third base and cracked his knuckles, "I am doing what I can to help keep the people safe."

"If I get some time when Yuri doesn't need me," Peter said, "I'll meet up on the last base. We'll take it together and clear it out fast. Then you can help me take on Hammerhead more personally. Sound good?"

'Seriously?" Miles almost cheered, "Awesome! Don't worry if you can't make it though, I've already cleared two of them out and the third is about to get taken care of. I can handle it if other stuff is going on."

Peter chuckle was a bit forced, "Right, well. I need to call Yuri, okay? Ill talk to you later, alright Miles?"

"Sounds good Peter!" Miles replied.


The inside of this base was definitely more fancy than most of the other fronts that Hammerhead had been using. Drink bar and performance stage aside, it was given some of the more uncommon and expensive creature comforts. Miles grimaced at the lack of multiple upper beams he was used to traversing when it came to silently taking out goons. He supposed it made sense, this place was designed with style in mind, probably for the upper crust of the criminal underworld. It had to look good, and while upper beams didn't matter in warehouses, they probably wouldn't add much to a party joint. Well, he could always just use the ceiling and walls themselves provided he stayed high up enough and out of the way.

Miles shrugged, he was a hero, and he had to make do with whatever he got.

Some of the thugs were lounging around the drink bar, talking while enjoying a glass of whatever alcoholic beverage they chose. But they were too tightly packed and near each other for Miles if he tried to be sneaky; if one vanished, it would only alert everyone that something was wrong. With a sigh, Miles leapt up to crawl upside down on the ceiling over to a lone thug loitering by the entrance. He fired a web that covered the goons face and chest before he yanked the goon up to the ceiling and punched him out cold. After locking him to the side of the building with webbing, Miles prowled around the edges of the building, webbing up a few more thugs when he was sure no one would see them.

"Hey have any of you seen Jay?" One of the maggia said, "He said he join us in a minute."

Miles let out a sigh — no doubt if they looked for Jay and didn't find him, they'd probably know something was up — and quickly darted to the ceiling before dropping down. If Miles was being honest, it was something of a minor miracle that most of the criminals who patrolled the buildings neglected to actually look up when it came to base defense. Spider-Man — and now him by proxy — always had a habit of webbing his victims to the ceiling or on the walls high up; maybe they just didn't expect to be found. He landed on the drinking bar's counter and webbed the bartender and flinging him into the maggia who had spoken.

"Sorry," Miles quipped as he somersaulted over the counter to deliver a venom-enhanced palm thrust into a thug's chest, "He said it was a shame he'd leave you guys hanging!"

The thug crashed into one of the table which crumbled beneath him and several goons cursed as they rushed Miles. Miles ducked under a punch and cartwheeled back, his foot catching the goon in the chin and gaining some distance. He webbed two chairs and spun, using the chairs like a wrecking ball to smash into the some of the goons. More goons armed with sable weaponry kicked the doors open and poured into the room. Miles spun and lashed out with a fist, knocking down one goon before whirling and slamming an axe-kick into another. Weaving through a hail of bullets, Miles caught an incoming fist and swung the goon into one of his baton-wielding-fellows before launching himself into the air and landing on a higher floor.

Miles grumbled, "I need to keep moving or they'll surround me... Maybe I should try a new web combo..."

He threw a web grenade at an oncoming group of goons armed with sable guns, jetpacks, and shields.

"Grenade!" One screamed as he made to throw himself away.

The web-grenade erupted into an explosion of webbing that covered the goons, who immediately began to try to struggle out of the webs. Miles aimed at them and unleashed a concussive blast, knocking them away and trapping them against the wall.

Miles sighed in relief, jetpack goons were always so annoying to deal with so it was a good thing that he managed to get a few of them before the fight really got going.

Miles spider-sense blared and he rolled away as a crackling red whip of energy slashed at the place he had just been standing. Miles scowled as he remembered the incident with the hex-chain when he had rushed the demons with no concrete plan in mind other than 'attack'. He twisted up and over another whip-slash before he fired a gout of webbing. The goon slashed the webbing into shreds but wasn't fast enough to intercept Miles flipping over him while grabbing him by the shoulders before launching him into the wall. A thug ran over and lashed out with a heavy haymaker right at Miles' face.

"Too slow!" Miles taunted as he jumped over the goon while fastening his arms to his body with a blast of webbing.

He landed behind him and sent him skidding with a double kick just as he heard the sound of a mini-gun whine into motion. He didn't stop to look around and let his spider sense guide him as he sprinted to the side as the bullets ripped through the ground beneath and behind him. When he heard the hiss of the gun overheating and the thug's pained grunt, he twisted and fired a web-line into the thugs chest and yanked himself forward. He concentrated his venom into his fist and lashed out a venom-enhanced uppercut directly into the thug's jaw.

The thug crashed onto his back groaning in pain and Miles twisted through a barrage of bullets fried from goon's handgun. With a quick application of impact webbing, Miles blasted the goon and fastened him to the wall.

He surveyed his handiwork as he brushed his hands, "Well, that take cares of that."

He walked over to doors that seemed to lead to the back when they burst open and Miles was almost smashed in the face with an energy shield. He leapt away from the shield bash at the last second and landed as the goon brandished his shield.

Miles smirked, "Only one left? Piece of cake."


Peter didnt want to call Yuri, but she had to know that he had failed to keep the Dons safe. She had that much of a right after he had promised that he would take care of the whole Don issue.

"He got away with the Dons." Peter mumbled into his hands-free phone.

"What? Are you serious?" Yuri demanded.

"The sable tech he's been stealing," Peter explained, "She had more in her arsenal than I thought."

"You told me you would take care of this! Yuri accused angrily, "You told me not to worry!"

"I know, I know!" Peter yelped hastily, "I messed up, I'm sorry!"

"No more time off." Yuri muttered, "No more breaks. I'm on this now! I'll call you when I have a plan."

She hung up.

Peter landed on the edge of a building, "Great job, Pete. Outstanding."

"You will stop them Peter," Viri assured, "They won't get away with what they have done."

'I hope you're right Viri. Peter replied as he launched himself off the edge of the building into the streets, 'Because I really don't want to imagine what'll happen if you're wrong.'