Riri had no idea how she hadn't gotten dizzy yet. This was by far the most intense flight she'd been on in her very short career thus far. It felt like she'd been doing nothing but flying circles around these fighting machines, trying to return fire in the process. Everything she'd done had been useless so far; whatever these things were made of wasn't easily penetrated.
"Amadeus," she said in a voice that was probably louder than necessary, "please tell me it's going better for you than it is for me right now?"
"Not really," he replied through her earpiece. "This place is a maze. I'm starting to think I should've just stayed outside and just tried smashing this thing instead."
"Yeah, and faced who-knows-what other defensive weapons this thing has," Riri countered. "Keep at it; I should be in soon!" That last part was probably a bit too optimistic, but she figured it was better to stay positive right now.
"No rush," Amadeus replied, "there's not really anyth...wait, I see something."
"What is it?" Riri said, spinning out of the way of a blast.
"I think I have company," Amadeus answered her.
"What do you mean?" Riri asked.
All she could hear was the sound of fire blasts in return.
"Amadeus!" she shouted. Riri quickly rotated around, blasting towards the larger machine. Amadeus could likely take care of himself, but they still knew so little about what they were facing. The one thing she did know was that, if anything happened to her best friend, she would never forgive herself as a result.
Suddenly, Riri was blasted in the back of her armor, knocking her out of the sky. She crashed into the ground with a hard thud, momentarily stunning her even despite the suit's protection. Trying to shake off the feeling, Riri forced herself back up to her feet.
"Well, that was dumb," she said quietly to herself. In her haste to get to Amadeus, she had naively opened herself up to attack, having disregarded the threat to her life that was still RIGHT THERE! Speaking of, she glanced up to see the two machines coming over, one of their lasers charging. She blasted off just soon enough to avoid getting hit a second time.
"Okay, think Ri, think," she said. "What have you not tried yet?" It felt as though she had no options left, as she'd had the system in her suit scanning for weak spots in the machines' armor with no success. However, it dawned on her that she had been trying to stay high, using the sky to her advantage in order to keep a better distance from them. What she needed now more than ever though was to go on the attack, and that just might mean going low.
Diving back down, Riri dodged multiple blasts as she closed in on one of the bots. Sure enough, her system's scans showed just enough of a soft spot. Shifting to just the right angle, Riri unleashed a blast with her suit's wrist lasers, cutting into the machine's underside. The bot began to malfunction, and Riri seized the opportunity to pull out one of its legs from underneath it, causing the machine to collapse to the ground in a heap.
Turning her attention to the second one as it approached, Riri blasted towards it, dodging from side to side the blasts coming her way. Weaving her way inside the legs this time, she then rocketed straight up, unleashing a flurry of missiles at the underside of this machine. They connected, allowing her to fly straight inside and burst clean through the top of the bot, destroying it.
While she couldn't help but smile for a moment at her work, Riri knew this was no time to celebrate. Amadeus still might need her help, so she rocketed her way towards the larger machine, eventually getting inside the hole that her friend must've made to get inside. Seeing that there were multiple paths she could take, Riri tried calling again.
"Amadeus, you there?" she questioned. She then heard more fire coming from her right, so she flew off in that direction. Finally, she caught up to him, bringing herself to a halt as she observed the scene before her.
Basically, a bunch of small, demolished bots and Amadeus just standing there in all his giant green glory, not appearing to have even broken a sweat.
"Now you show up?" Amadeus said as he turned to her.
"Are you serious right now?" Riri said exasperatedly, landing beside her friend. "You couldn't at least tell me that you had it handled?"
"I was busy," Amadeus said nonchalantly, like it was a perfectly acceptable answer.
"Yeah, no kidding," Riri replied, observing the wreckage from her friend's little scuffle. "Anyway, now that we're both in here, can we proceed?"
"Absolutely," Amadeus replied.
Sam blasted away, zooming through the air like crazy while trying not to get hit. Basically, it was just a matter of trying to get just the right shot in just the right spot. He hated that he'd more or less abandoned his partner in the mission for the time being, but if it kept him safe for now, so be it. Besides, from what little he knew of him so far, Sam was honestly not sure that he could contribute much in this situation.
Suddenly, Sam noticed his partner running up to one of the bots, jumping up onto the leg of all things and climbing up as best as he could.
What was he doing?
"Get down from there!" Sam shouted, but the man paid him no attention, climbing to the top of the bot, seemingly unnoticed by it. Once he made it, he began shouting and waving his hands at the second machine, as if trying to get its attention. By some miracle, it worked, and the other bot soon turned its weapons towards Eli.
The strategy was starting to click in Sam's mind now.
Eli jumped just in time for the machine to let out a blast, allowing it to hit the first bot instead. Sam shot his arms forward as he rocketed in the direction of his partner, catching him just before he hit the ground.
"Okay, I'm not sure if you're insane or a genius for that," Sam said.
"I think there's a compliment in there somewhere," Eli replied, "so I guess I'll take it."
There was no time to relax though, as the other bot was headed towards them, its weapons charging. Sam looked towards the larger machine powering the dome, then back at the bot barreling toward them, and now it was his turn to have an idea.
"This way!" he shouted, and he began flying in the direction of the dome powering machine. Eli darted alongside him, managing to keep up surprisingly well.
"So, why are we running AWAY from this thing instead of trying to take it out?" Eli asked, his voice nearly a shout in between breaths.
"You'll see," Sam assured him.
They steadily got closer and closer to the larger machine, finally coming upon it. Sam turned to see the other bot was closing in.
"Come on," Sam mouthed quietly, "just a little bit more, just a little bit more..."
The machine was finally in position, and Sam suddenly bolted up into the sky before arching back until he was behind the machine, which was turning to face him. He could see its weapon charging, but he could beat it. Trying to draw just a little more energy from his helmet, Sam sped up as he closed in on his target. Gritting his teeth, he braced himself for the impact ahead.
Boom!
Sam flew straight into the head of the machine, slamming his fists into it and causing it to get off balance. It staggered backward, eventually coming down hard and slamming right into the larger machine, tearing a hole in its side. Once the dust cleared, Sam flew inside, with Eli climbing the wreckage of the bot up and into it as well, coming alongside him.
"Okay, I got to hand it to you," Eli said. "That was pretty cool. It might even be as crazy as what I did."
"Thanks," Sam said, letting out a huff of air through his nose. It had been a while since he'd received a friendly compliment, even a simple one like that, but it felt good.
Now was not the time to dwell on that though.
Peter kept walking, with Kate alongside him. They'd been traversing the machine's interior for what felt like an eternity, but somehow seemed like they were no closer to the core than when they started. The whole place felt like a giant maze, a labyrinth of walkways that went nowhere.
All the while, Peter had been waiting for his spider-sense to go off, but so far there was nothing. He was a little surprised honestly, having anticipated more security measures once inside; it was the main reason why neither him nor Kate had said a word since they first got inside. Then again, perhaps the only security measure necessary was simply how easy it was to get lost in the place.
It had proven the case so far at least.
"Are you starting to recognize stuff?" Kate asked, being the first to speak the thought out loud.
"A little," Peter conceded. "I'm not sure. It all seems to run together."
The two of them stopped, seemingly deciding in unison that this was getting them nowhere.
"I think we need a better plan," Kate spoke up. "I just have no idea what that is."
"Me neither," Peter conceded.
"Your senses aren't picking up anything I guess?" Kate asked. "No danger warning, no super hearing, nothing?"
"Nothing," Peter affirmed. "I've been trying to listen for the sound of something running or the humming of that energy it uses, but instead all I get is silence. I'm pretty sure I've heard our footsteps more than anything else."
Kate looked around, as if something on the wall or celling would provide the answer. At this point, Peter wouldn't doubt the possibility.
Suddenly, Peter's spider sense went crazy.
"Get down!" he yelled, grabbing Kate by the shoulders and lowering both of them just in time for a blast to come through where their heads had just been. Peter spun around to see that some smaller, human sized drone bots were headed their way. They looked almost like Star Wars battle droids, except less clunky and much more efficient in their design.
"Go, I'll cover you," Kate said arrow already loaded on the bow. Peter took her at her word, springing into action. Narrowly avoiding more fire, he leapt over top of the first bot, putting his hand on its head and driving it into the ground, destroying it. Moving with extreme efficiency, Peter jumped and spun in the air, avoiding the shots of two others at once before sliding in between them, firing a web at each of their heads as he did. Once he was behind, he sprung up and yanked down, slamming the two bots against the floor.
Peter spun up to face the next one behind him, only for an arrow to land right in its head, a surge of electricity flowing out of it and short circuiting the machine, making it drop lifelessly to the ground.
"Thanks," Peter said as he turned back towards his partner, noticing that she had taken out another couple of the killer robots as well.
"What are partners for?" Kate replied, the two of them meeting each other in the middle of the wreckage. "So, we walk wherever we want in this thing, and nothing happens, but we stop in this spot and suddenly we're attacked."
"I agree," Peter commented, "we must be close." The two of them looked around, eagerly trying to find anything that looked like an opening or at least something that appeared out of place.
"There!" Kate said, pointing up to a spot just to her right. Peter glanced over to see what looked like a shaft space, a little smaller than what an elevator would be in but still large enough for them to fit.
Peter's spider-sense went off again as more bots threatened to come their way. He and Kate ran to the edge of the shaft, where he put his arm around her side and fired a web that eventually connected a good distance up. He yanked the two of them upward just as the bots started firing, narrowly escaping. Peter scurried along the shaft wall, yanking the two of them upward with a web to increase their speed. Eventually, they came to a new level, which they got off at.
Running ahead to make sure and clear some distance from potential pursuers, Peter and Kate rounded a corner, checking back to make sure nothing was following them. However, when they turned back to face the room they were in, they discovered a large ball of blue energy in the middle of it. The energy was being pulled in all different directions, but never changing in size, like it was endless.
They had made it.
"I'm guessing that's the same stuff that our more friendly visitor uses?" Kate asked.
"Yep, it's what's powering the dome, and probably this whole thing too," Peter replied.
"Okay, so how do we, I don't know, stop it from powering everything?" Kate questioned.
That was a good question, but before Peter could formulate a proper answer, his spider sense went off again. He looked behind them to see that apparently, they actually did have some followers, as the machines were coming into the room.
"We've got company," Peter said as he eyed the new machines.
"Great, I've only got a limited supply left," Kate said.
"I'll hold them off," Peter offered. "See if you can find a spot to hit with one of your explosive rounds or something. If we can sever the connection between the core energy and the machine itself, it might be enough."
Kate nodded before taking off toward the core as Peter squatted into a stance, ready to move whenever necessary. Some of the machines began to try to make their way around him to get to Kate, but Peter wasn't about to have that. He leapt in front of them, dodging fire in the process, where he punched clean through one of the machines. He then grabbed it and, using it as both a shield and a battering ram, went charging at the other bots, smashing multiple of them to pieces.
He then heard an explosion, and Peter glanced over in Kate's direction. He could see some smoke on the roof of the room, but otherwise nothing. He was interrupted by another couple of machines coming towards him, this time forming their arm-like structures into blade-like weapons. They swung at him relentlessly, and Peter was almost caught off guard by their precision. Honestly, if it wasn't for his spider-sense warning him of each move before it happened, he probably would've been chopped to pieces in a matter of seconds.
A second explosion.
"The structure where the energy is going into is too solid!" Kate shouted back at Peter from her position. "My explosive arrows can't even put a dent in it!"
"Hang on!" Peter shouted before spin kicking one of the machine's heads clean off and sending it flying straight into the chest of the other one left, shutting both down. He then made one big leap to get over to Kate's position, landing next to her. From that spot, the core of energy looked enormous.
"You seem to be more of a science person," Kate said. "Any recommendations?"
Peter had Kate show him the area that she'd shot at, which was near a couple of the holes through which the energy was going, likely powering a specific area. Even from his having to look uphill, Peter could tell the metal (or whatever it was) was very thick, so a simple little explosion wasn't going to do it. What they needed was something that could give her arrows a little more juice; a little more punch to it.
Peter glanced back in the direction of the torn up robots, and an idea sprouted in his mind. He went over and brought the destroyed bodies over to them.
"These things may be destroyed, but they should still have some electricity or something still in their circuitry," Peter said as he began tying them together with webbing. "You hit them at just the right time..."
"And it gives us just what we need," Kate finished for him.
After a moment, he finished tying them together, and Peter looked to Kate, arrow loaded onto her bow, waiting to be drawn.
"Ready?" he asked.
"Yep," she replied.
Peter then grabbed the bots with a thin, short line of webbing he attached. Doing a couple of 360-degree rotations, he released them in a hard toss, and Kate raised her bow, pulling it back and letting the arrow fly. Sure enough, it connected, resulting in a large explosion. When the dust cleared, Peter could see that two of the connections to the core had been completely severed as chunks of the roof had caved in.
"Did we do it?" Kate asked,
Before he could answer, Peter's spider sense rang out once again, and he instinctively pushed Kate out of the way of a blast headed her way. As a result, he took a portion of it straight into his left shoulder, causing him to cry out in pain.
"Spider-Man!" Kate yelled, rushing to his side.
Peter growled through the burning pain, clutching near but not directly over the area with his right hand. He looked up to see that they had more company, similar to the drones they'd faced twice already.
"I'll be fine," Peter said through gritted teeth. He forced himself to stand up as he braced for another fight. The bots came at them, and once again, the two fought their way through them as best they could. Really, Peter was glad for the quick distraction, because it gave him something to focus on other than the pain in his shoulder, which kept trying to remind him that it was there anyway.
Peter and Kate had nearly taken them all out when the latter spoke up.
"I'm out," she said, referring to her empty quiver. Right at that moment, one of the remaining bots hit her in the back of the head from behind, and she dropped to the ground, unconscious.
"No!" Peter shouted, leaping towards the bot behind Kate before it could finish the job. Sinking his hands into its chest, he ripped it in half. However, still more machines came (clearly the defense systems hadn't lost power), and Peter knew he had to make a choice: stay and risk Kate getting hurt further while he tried to fend them off again or get her out of there.
Easy choice.
Scooping her up, Peter bolted out of the room, winding his way through the machine at great speed before finally finding the way they'd come in. Descending out of the machine and back into the sewers, Peter continued running, wanting to put as much distance between his ally and him from their opponents as possible. Eventually, he'd gotten far enough where he decided to risk climbing out into the open city again, removing a manhole cover and making his way out, trying to be gentle with Kate's unconscious body all the while.
Peter turned and was grateful to see that they had at least succeeded in one of their main goals: the dome was down, and already air force fighter jets were making their way onto the scene. With any luck, the threat would soon be over, at least in New York. However, when he turned back, Peter saw that members of the press were headed their way. Knowing Kate wanted as little exposure as possible, Peter fired a web and launched them into the air, hoping the journalists below hadn't gotten close enough with the camera to broadcast who was in his arms.
Eventually, he made his way to a nearby rooftop, setting Kate down. He put his fingers to her neck, thankful to pick up a pulse. He'd suspected she was just unconscious, but after all they'd been through, it was better safe than sorry.
His shoulder then started to flare up again, the burning feeling returning in full force. He needed to get both of them taken care of, and he needed to find somewhere that all the heroes could rendezvous once the mission was complete. The government may have cleared out most of the tech and belongings in the Avengers base upstate, but there was a decent chance that some medical supplies were still there. Plus, there were a few ways he could think to get in, even if conventional ways were closed off.
Activating the communication device in his ear, Peter decided to leave a message with them. It was a unique feature that Ned had always said should've been a part of spy style gadgets all along in case of such a situation as this, so he'd made sure to put it in, and Peter was never happier that he did.
"Hey guys," he said, criticizing himself for sounding so casual, "hope luck is on your all's side out there. Our mission is complete, but Kate and I are both hurt, so we're heading to Avengers headquarters upstate. I'll send you the coordinates so we can all meet up there once this is over and debrief and stuff. If you guys get this the middle of a fight...good luck."
It wasn't his best, but hey, it was also his first.
Scooping Kate up again, Peter fired a web, beginning the swing towards the compound, hoping that his teammates were having some success too.
Hope you all are still enjoying it!
Continuing to pray for you all; stay safe and healthy!
"For this reason, since the day we heard about you, we have not stopped praying for you. We continually ask God to fill you with the knowledge of his will through all the wisdom and understanding that the Spirit gives," Colossians 1:9