Peter launched himself up over a nearby building, a large Alchemax facility finally coming into view. It seemed Peter had beat Kate there, which brought more relief to him than he expected. If he was honest, he was a little nervous that, had she arrived first, Kate would've gone in on her own. The girl had been much more strategic than that in the past, but the thought couldn't help but cross his mind. She seemed smart, but Peter remembered what it was like when he wanted nothing more than to prove himself to Tony. There was nothing he wouldn't do, even if it meant going against the man's wishes.
Wait, was he turning into Tony?
No, no way.
Trying to get his mind off the matter, Peter tapped the side of his mask, setting the system within to scan for thermal energy, which would indicate the presence of the men him and Kate had fought before. The system fired to life, and soon he was scanning as much of the building as he could. However, there soon proved to be a problem: the suit wasn't picking up thermal signatures of any kind. Peter checked and rechecked, going over the same areas multiple times, only to yield the same results.
It was around that time that Kate finally arrived, coming in on the roof just behind Peter.
"Guess that whole web swinging thing really comes in handy," Kate said as she strode toward him, bow in hand.
"Yeah," Peter replied, standing up from his previously crouched position to meet her. "Listen, are you sure this is the place?"
"Absolutely," Kate replied, her tone confident. "The satellites I was tracking them with picked them up here."
"Huh," Peter muttered. "I was just now trying to pick up their thermal signatures, but I keep coming up with nothing."
"You checked the whole thing?" Kate asked.
"As much of it as I could," Peter replied. "Certain kinds of rooms could be built to prevent that if they are using it to test certain materials though, so that could explain it I guess."
"I don't think so," Kate said. "I've done my research on this company ever since I started tracking these guys; this site is specifically where they keep a huge satellite that can send signals to and control the smaller ones they have launched."
Peter turned to see the huge satellite dish pointing skyward. It had not escaped his attention before, but it hadn't been his primary focus as he was busy searching for their targets. Now, however, as he observed it in all its glory, it was almost breathtaking to behold.
"Woah," he said, "that's a big satellite."
"Exactly," Kate said. "Whatever they are doing, it seems obvious that it would have to do with this thing, though I'm not sure how."
Suddenly, Peter's spider-sense went off. He looked behind Kate to see the door that let out onto the roof start to open.
"I have a feeling we're about to get our chance to find out," he said. Kate spun around too, and soon they were face to face with the three individuals they'd run into before. Almost immediately, one of them broke off from the others, heading towards a control panel at the base of the satellite.
"I've got him," Kate said, immediately taking off after the one heading toward the satellite. "You take the other two!"
"Um, okay, sure!" Peter called back. He was more than willing to take the heavier load between the two; in fact, he had been planning on it. Something about Kate's dumping of said heavier load on him still rubbed him the wrong way for some reason. He was also nervous about her taking on even one of these guys by herself, even though strategically it was the right call given the hand they had been dealt.
As one of them lunged for him, Peter noticed the other one splitting off and going for Kate. Not even concerning himself with the other one, Peter lunged forward, managing to kick the other one in the side and away from Kate just before he got to her. He then shifted his stance so that he was in between the other two and his new ally. He squatted down, ready for whatever came next.
Wow, that was close.
Kate had glanced back just in time to see Spider-Man kick one of the other guys in the side just before he could get ahold of her. It might've been a little rash to take off like that without giving her new partner a proper heads-up but stopping the one who had broken away from the others seemed like the right call. Still, it was a reminder of something she was going to have to work on: communication.
Refocusing, Kate once more broke into a sprint, coming up a short distance behind the man just as he reached the access panel.
"Stop!" she shouted, quickly drawing an arrow, keeping it taught. "Turn around!"
The figure appeared to comply, slowly turning around. Once Kate could see his face, she was kind of surprised how calm the man seemed despite being held at arrowpoint. It was almost disturbing how little a reaction he had. His face didn't show any sign of being nervous or upset...or any kind of emotion for that matter.
"Walk away from the panel," Kate ordered. "This will be your only warning."
The man said nothing, his expression unchanged as he appeared almost frozen in place.
"Fine," Kate said, releasing her arrow. She intended to hit the man in the shoulder, which would be enough to drop him but nothing he wouldn't live through with medical attention. To her surprise, however, the man caught the arrow as if it were a baseball. He then discarded the arrow and came running after her. Relying on agility over strength, Kate ran to meet him, jumping and using his shoulder as a springboard with her hand, flipping over him. She then drew another arrow, spinning around and firing at the man again.
The man tried to catch it, but this time ended up ensnared in the tight grip of the same thick material that she had used on Spider-Man during their first encounter. The individual struggled against it, but could not break free, and at that moment, Kate was never more grateful for her anonymous benefactor than she was right now. She strode up closer to the individual, keeping a little distance just in case they still had more tricks up their sleeve.
"Now, you want to tell me what you guys have been up to?" she asked.
Unfortunately, Kate was not all that surprised when the man gave no verbal answer, and honestly, all this silence that these three had shown was starting to give her the creeps.
"Whatever," she said. "Just... wait here."
She then left him standing there, trapped in his bindings, to go help her partner.
"All right, that's enough," Peter said as the two came charging at him from opposite sides. He performed a hard spin kick against the one that reached him first, sending him tumbling to the ground. He then leaned back as the other one came near, putting the individual on his feet and launching him into the air. Peter completed his backwards somersault, leaping into the air. Once he reached the point where he was level with the man he had sent up ahead of him, he flipped forward, extending his right leg so that his heel slammed into his opponent's back, sending him crashing straight on top of the first guy he had knocked down.
A little webbing later, and the two were stuck to the roof, as well as each other.
"Not bad," Kate said as Peter landed back on the building.
"Thanks," he replied, glancing over at the one she had subdued. "I see you have had some success as well."
"Yeah, finally," she said. "Maybe now we can finally get some answers out of this bunch."
"I wouldn't be so sure," Peter replied.
"What do you mean?" she asked.
"There's just something about the way these people have operated every time we've seen them," he answered. "They're methodical... almost too much so."
"What are you saying?" Kate questioned. "That these guys aren't human or something?"
Peter was about to respond that he wasn't sure, but suddenly the two he had pinned turned and looked at him, and the other one that Kate had bound from the waste up walked over to them too.
"Very good, human," all three of them said at once.
"Umm, excuse me?" Peter said, his brain suddenly feeling like a million alarms were going off in it at once.
"We had hoped to remain hidden from you until time for our full arrival, but we see now that is no longer possible," the three said.
All at once, the men suddenly began to change appearance, their features becoming distorted but their size never changing. Human-looking skin was soon replaced by a grey metal, and in a matter of moments, Peter and Kate had three humanoid-looking machines in front of them.
"Okay, just because I like the Terminator films doesn't mean I want them to happen in real life," Peter said, fighting the shock of what he had just witnessed. "You're still going down."
"On the contrary, human," they all said, their voices scarily in sync with one another, "now that we no longer remain hidden, you are now at the mercy of all of our functions."
They then molded parts of themselves into weapons, tearing through their respective restraints like they were nothing. The three then all lined up facing Peter and Kate. Two of them molded their arms into blades, while the other one blasted over to the satellite before Peter and Kate could even react as they dealt with the other two. Kate tried to take off for the other one, but their combatants were keeping them boxed in.
"This like anything you've seen before?" Kate asked.
"No, not really," Peter answered, ducking under a swing of a blade, "and that's saying something since I fought a giant purple double chinned alien with six magical stones."
"One of us needs to get over there to stop that other one," Kate said.
"I have an idea," Peter said. He fired a web at one of the machine's feet, but the robot reacted too quick, cutting it off.
"They're reacting too quick for me to use my taser webs," Peter said.
"Here, let me try something," Kate said, drawing an arrow as she dodged a swing of a blade. She fired the arrow at the machine in front of her, but it was knocked away, the explosive device inside the arrow detonating harmlessly away from them.
"Okay, this isn't good," Kate said.
"Yeah, no kidding," Peter said. He finally saw an opening, throwing a punch that landed squarely on the "face" of the machine, appearing to at least temporarily stun it. Taking advantage of the opportunity, Peter wrapped it in webbing before pressing the spider symbol at the center of his costume, sending electricity surging through the machine, short circuiting it.
What good feelings he had from his small victory were cut short when he heard a brief yell of pain come from behind him. He spun around to see that Kate had been cut across part of her stomach by the machine she had been fighting, tumbling backwards as a result.
"KATE!" Peter yelled. In a fit of rage, he lunged at the machine, catching it off guard and knocking it to the ground. With the surging adrenaline in his veins giving him new life, Peter tore the machine apart with his bare hands, trashing it piece by piece as it futilely attempted to resist until it was no longer operational.
Unfortunately, by the time he had finished, the third machine that had gone over to the access panel was gone.
Peter then went over to Kate, squatting near her as she squinted in pain.
"The third one..." she said in between breaths.
"It got away," Peter said. "Look, I need to get you to the hospital."
"No!" Kate exclaimed, grabbing his arm. "You can't."
"We don't know how serious this wound is," Peter said. "You could bleed out without proper treatment."
"I can't have my mom find out," Kate fired back, still groaning through the pain. "I'm not ready for her or anybody else to find out. Please, there has to be somewhere else."
Peter sighed, moving over to take another look at the wound. It didn't appear to be quite as deep as he initially thought, but it was still bad. He really wanted to take her to the hospital, but at the same time, he could identify with her wishes to keep her identity a secret, both from family and the public. Still, her life could be on the line, and that had to come first.
He could try getting her to his and Happy's apartment, but Peter wasn't sure they had enough time. He then happened to glance out into the city, where he realized he could see ESU.
No, he shouldn't involve her, should he?
Peter glanced down at Kate again, who was still in pain, and chastised himself internally for being so selfish. He then had the system in his mask call M.J. Luckily, she picked up on the first ring.
"Hey, what's up?" she said simply.
"Get the medical supplies ready for a gash wound," Peter said, lightly webbing up the area where Kate had been cut in the hopes of at least slowing down the bleeding.
"What happened?" M.J. said, and Peter could already here her scrambling to get what she needed. "Are you okay?"
"I'm fine, but Kate's hurt," Peter said, carefully scooping Kate up, holding onto her tightly. "We're headed your way now. Will be there in a couple minutes."
"Okay," M.J. said. "I'll be ready."
Once he had Kate secure, he fired a web, stepping off the building. Kate groaned through the pain from the moment they did so, only serving to make Peter's nerves worse. The web should hold, and M.J. had dealt with so many of his injuries in the last couple of years she could probably step into a hospital and know how to handle herself, so she should be able to handle this too.
None of those things eased Peter's concern right now, as yet another ally could be slipping away from him.
"Hang in there, Kate," he said. "Hang in there."
Hope you're still enjoying!
Continuing to pray for you all; stay safe and healthy!
"For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life as a ransom for many." Mark 10:45