answers to reviewers questions or statements:
Adtr509: Your heading in the right direction in that there will be some chapters where things will be real trippy.
Nomad98: If I were you, I'd be more afraid of what such a mentally unhinged man that's now incapable of discerning what's real and what isn't is gonna do in a war that will not be fought 'cleanly'. Especially when Talia will be the one giving the orders.
Val: We shall.
Omni-Creator Kami of Anime: I never specified Bane's actual size, I just had it mentioned that sex with him is like being screwed by a gorilla and giving birth and that Talia didn't like it because of that. There are characters that will die, major comic ones, some of them will be heroes some of them villains'. Outside the likes of Marvel women assassins/spies/thieves and the like, just Marvel characters that are close to Spider-man's mythos, like say Wolverine and his children, can't really have one without the other, maybe Daredevil and of course a few Spidey villains.
DxD-Supreme: Considering that their about to wage a war against two radically different 'League of Shadows/Assassins' led by Talia's sister and a crazed fanatic, a lack of sexual release will be the least of their concerns.
RubixJr: Thought of that but than I realized that he ain't no Wolverine.
War Sage: I've never really given the Agents of SHIELD much thought to be honest, it never really caught my interest enough to watch it, so I doubt it.
Kai: Pretty much.
DarkDevilKnight: Either way, he's screwed.
WerewolfDJ: Probably not.
Yami-Guy: Peter's smarter than he lets on and is more observant than most people give him credit for.
caldasg1: Elektra will appear in this. Probably in the next week or so.
Reverse Archive: Which is ironic considering one of the women he'll be with uses toxins to kill people.
PowerNinja: That line may be used at some point in this story.
DeimosVulcan12: Peter's power levels are higher than your average Spider-man but not to the point he can trade punches with the likes of Black Adam or Superman. As for gaining additional powers, it's possible. Peter will cross paths with several members of the Justice League, Batman included. The harem will expand but for the time being it'll be made up of the likes of Talia, Psylocke, Cheshire, Widow (Black Widow if it wasn't obvious who she is), Silencer and Laura. I have no plans for Punisher t show up, Deadpool might and as for Venom, it's a strong possibility he might appear.
E NIG MA: Can't it be both? Sable and Peter haven't met yet but will soon.
Disclaimer: I don't own any Marvel or DC characters seen, mentioned or used.
People tended to think that taking cover in a house while there's multiple gun men outside shooting into it would be a smart move. That the added layer of defense in the form of the house's walls would protect someone from being hit by a bullet.
In some cases, that would be true... if said gun men were shooting at you and by proxy your house with a nine millimeter maybe, instead of what Peter was certain were Beretta ARX160's based on the sounds of the gun fire. When you've been shot at for the better part of four years by mercenaries from all around the world with exotic weapons, you started to get really good at identifying weapons based on the sound they made when firing.
'And if I'm right, their shooting 7.62 rounds, which will each through my very wooden, not re-enforced walls very, very fast' Peter thought as he kept his body over Talia as a sort of last line of defense.
Though a wooden wall and a hundred and ninety five pound man wasn't very good protection against rounds fired from a assault rifle.
"We need to move!" Peter shouted over the gunfire.
"No shit!" Talia shouted back as she mentally repeated she and Peter were under fire from several armed men stationed outside the front of the house.
She hoped Psylocke and the rest of her guard hadn't been killed, or her and Peter's current predicament was only going to get worse. Seeing that the gun men outside were still pouring rounds into the house, and the wall that separated her and Peter from them and the outside world was falling apart, she slapped Peter's arm and pointed towards the kitchen. Peter nodded and lifted himself off Talia enough for her to crawl towards the kitchen and slip inside before Peter followed suit. He let out a hiss as a stray round tore through the wall and grazed his shoulder before it ended it's journey in the wall that his kitchen and living room shared.
No sooner did Peter cross the threshold of his kitchen, the gun fire stopped and Peter let out a sigh of relief as his spider-sense finally calmed down.
"Oh now they stop firing" Peter said as he pulled himself up into a crouch and took cover on one side of the doorway that led into the living room while Talia took the other side.
"Do you want me to ask them to resume putting more holes in your home?" Talia said as she had a duffle bag at her feet and was quickly going through it's contents.
"I'd rather they not, I haven't finished paying off the mortgage" Peter quipped before he frowned at the bag in front of Talia "Where'd you get the bag?"
"It's mine" Talia said as she pulled out a Glock 18C with some kind of red dot sight on the top of the receiver and loaded a magazine into it.
"When did you bring that out?" Peter asked with confusion as he watched Talia turn towards the wall and hold up the pistol and stared through it's optic.
He assumed the odd looking optic was allowing Talia to see through the walls and spot the gun men, else the woman needed to get her eyes checked.
"When you ran out of the kitchen earlier when I tried to seduce you enough to take me on your table and before I took my pants off and decided to fuck you in the living room" Talia answered with a snort.
"Oh..." Peter said with a blink before he risked a brief glance towards the living room wall or what was left of it "So how many guys out there?"
"Ten..." Talia said with a frown "Four are staying in the front, looking towards the house with their weapons trained on the front while six men are making for the sides, three on each"
"Four up front and three on each side huh..." Peter said with a hum before he suddenly glanced at the patio and frowned as something caught his eye before he held his hand out towards Talia "Give me that real quick"
"What?" Talia said before Peter suddenly reached over and took the pistol from her hands.
Without even bothering to aim or even look, his gaze still on the patio, Peter pointed the pistol at the front of the house and fired off four shots. They both heard shouts from outside that sounded like 'Cover' before the shooting resumed from the front, this time focusing on where both Peter and Talia were hiding. Talia continued to look at Peter with confusion as he aimed the Glock at the patio slide door and waited.
"Peter what are you-" Talia began before Peter began to spray the patio and the sliding door that led out to it with bullets, tearing through wood and glass.
Peter stopped when the gun clicked empty and than turned to his side and glanced through the scope. It was... not what he was expecting. Instead of some weird blurry figures on the wall that Peter was supposed to assume were the men that Talia mentioned trying to make their way along the side of the house, he was greeted to what could only be described as some kind of 'window' that gave him a perfect view of the other side of his wall and to the world beyond it up to a few dozen meters. He saw three men, lying on the ground and slowly crawling towards the back of the house. He could make out their clothes which were fitted with some kind of armor weaved into it along with what appeared to be some kind of gas mask attached to their waists, and their weapons which looked to be compact machine guns of some sort with some kind of scopes on them.
"Huh... all that's missing is their levels and gamer tags" Peter said with a chuckle as he turned and did the same to the other side of the house and saw three more men armed and moving in a similar fashion as the three he just saw "Hah, knew it!"
"Peter, why did you shoot at the patio?" Talia demanded with annoyance as she drew a fresh magazine from her bag and handed it to Peter.
"See for yourself" Peter nodded towards the patio before he took the empty mag out and replaced it with the one Talia gave him and proceeded to fire at the four gun men at the front of the house.
The men responded with a series of curses that could be heard from even inside the house before they resumed firing on them, only this time it was in small controlled bursts instead of the barrage they first tried to hit the duo with.
Talia flinched as a bullet shot through the wood near her face and caused a few splinters to strike her in the cheek. She reached up to see if she was bleeding before she glanced at the patio and saw something that took her by surprise...
There was a pool of blood on the bullet laced deck outside and what looked to be some sort of distortion in the air near the ground.
"What-" Talia began before Peter suddenly grabbed Talia by the arm and pulled her towards the ground as the four gun men out front stopped their shooting seconds before bullets from both sides of the house began to tear into it thanks to the six gun men on either side of it.
"Four men in front with rifles, six moving to flank, and one already in the back, cloaked and another ten creating a perimeter a few dozen meters out to ensure no one can slip by? It's Darrk's go to strategy!" Peter said with a shake of his head "Talk about unoriginal..."
Talia frowned in confusion at this "How can you be certain?"
"Give it thirty seconds..." Peter said with a finger raised "We're about to have gas grenades thrown in here while the three men on each side of the house slip on their masks before coming in while the four men out front fall back and change out their guns for something bigger and more destructive in the event the six men breaching this place are killed or unable to enter"
"Have you worked with Darrk before to know all this?" Talia asked.
"A few times, yeah" Peter said with a nod "And I kinda expected him to be the guy that your father would send after me when he finally got tired of me living"
Talia frowned at this while Peter used her Glock's specialized phasing scope to observe the six men before he let out a small whistle.
Yikes... that had to hurt" Peter stated.
"What is it?" Talia asked.
"The three men on the other side of that wall-" Peter nodded towards the east "-just had a nasty run in with one of your guards I think. Red hair, black body suit, more cleavage than I think is necessary to be on display"
"Widow" Talia muttered as she took a risk and reached across the doorway and snatched her pistol back from Peter before looking through the phasing scope.
She was greeted to the sight of two men already dead on the ground while Natalia kicked the last remaining gun men in the knee hard enough to pop it out of place. The man to his credit didn't utter so much as a gasp of pain before he was brought into a headlock and the Russian beauty gave it a violent turn, breaking his neck and letting the body slump to the floor. Seeing one of their flanks was secured, Talia turned her attention to the other side of the house and was greeted to a similar sight.
All three men were dead, one of them decapitated, with Psylocke standing over them with a bloodied Katana in her hands. Talia smirked at this before she finally turned to the last four men out front and was pleased to see that they too had been dealt with, Jade was just removing one of her poison coated Sais from a man's neck when the sound of gun fire in the distance caught her, and likely the rest of her guard's attention.
'Silencer's engaging the remaining intruders that set up a perimeter' Psylocke broadcasted to Talia, Jade and Natalia.
'Honor, status' Talia demanded as she tapped Peter on the shoulder and gestured for him to follow her towards the front of the house.
Silencer was true to her name sake silent for a moment before Talia felt her response in the recesses of her mind.
'Their Darrk's men, I recognized one of the men that I just killed as one of his lieutenants' the superpowered assassin answered as thee sound of gun fire in the woods began to slowly die down just as several screams briefly replaced them.
'Peter told me he recognized these men's tactics as being favored by Darrk' Talia answered as she and Peter stepped through what was left of Peter's front door and out into the 'front yard' as Psylocke and Natalia rounded the corners and converged on Talia's position.
'Oooh, smart and savage? I'm starting to see why you sought him out mistress' Jade's voice danced through the other four women's telepathic link with amusement.
"That one of your people" Peter nodded towards the tree line where he and the four women before him could hear panicked screaming and bursts of gun fire before both fell silent.
'The last of Darrk's men have been dealt with' Honor declared.
"It's Silencer" Talia revealed as she turned and stared at the damage done to the front of Peter's home before she gave him a sympatric expression "I'm sorry for the damages to your home. I'll pay for it"
"Bah I was looking to remodel anyway..." Peter said before the entire first floor portion of the front of Peter's house finally gave way and collapsed. Peter blinked at this before he turned back to Talia and gave her a sheepish grin "Though if you happen to know any good carpenters, I wouldn't mind you sending a few names my way when I look for a new place to set up my new house"
"Done" Talia said as she glanced at the tree line just in time to see Honor emerge, not a scratch or even a drop of blood on her snow white body suit or full head covering cowl.
Peter turned towards the new arrival and gave her a small wave "Hey Honor, nice to see you again... I think"
Silencer replied with a small mute bow before she turned her gaze towards Talia "Mistress, before I killed the last man, he sent out a message to who I assume was either Darrk or another of his men and reported their failure. More will be here soon"
"Agreed, we need to move, now" Talia as she turned and prepared to issue her instructions before Peter loudly cleared his throat, drawing all of the women's attention to him.
"Uh, I have a quick question if you all don't mind me asking" Peter said with a slightly confused look on his face.
"Yes?" Talia asked.
"How did Darrk's men get so close to my house anyway?" Peter asked with a furrowed brow as his eyes darted between Talia's four elite guards "With you guys roaming through the woods around it like a bunch of guard digs... no offense"
"That was... my fault" Psylocke stepped forward and kneeled before Talia "I had... distracted the rest mistress"
"What do you mean?" Talia demanded with a glare.
Psylocke flinched at the harsh tone Talia spoke to her before she answered "I connected our minds to yours while you made love... we felt what you felt, experienced what you experienced. We- I, let the sensations distract us from the arrival of Darrk's men mistress"
Talia's eyes widened at this and for the first time in years, Peter saw sheer unbridled rage fill the woman's eyes as she glared down at one of her most trusted servants. In all honesty, Peter was half expecting Talia to rip the woman's sword, which was strapped to her back with the handle leaning just over her right shoulder, and use it to slay the purple haired woman right than and there.
"We shall speak of this later" Talia hissed at the woman before she closed her eyes and took a deep breath and turned towards Natalia "Have you called ahead to make sure my jet is ready?"
"It's ready to depart when we arrive mistress" Widow answered.
"Good" Talia nodded before she turned to Peter and gave him an apologetic look "I'm sorry to have dragged you into this, It was unfair and selfish of me"
"It was bound to happen sooner or later" Peter replied with a shrug as he glanced down at the dead would be assassins "Which reminds me, is Darrk with Nyssa or Cain?"
"I do not know... it's possible he's with Cain now. They worked with one another on a number of occasions when my father still ruled" Talia answered.
Peter nodded at this as he glanced back at his house before turning back to Talia "You mind waiting here for a minute?"
"Why?" Talia asked with confusion as Peter turned and headed back to the house "Where are you going?"
"To grab something before we leave. Can't stay here anymore obviously and I don't fell like protecting you by taking on a small army of assassins in just a t-shirt, pants and sneakers when I have something that'll somewhat even the playing field" Peter answered back before he bent his knees slightly and suddenly leaped up to the second story of his house and landed against the wall next to a window "be back in a jiffy!"
Talia shook her head in mild amusement as she watched Peter slide the window open before climbing inside and disappearing from her sight.
'Well done girls' Talia said through the still active telepathic link that Psylocke had set up 'You performed perfectly. I don't believe Peter suspects a thing...'
It was a possibility that he does and is simply playing along for now, and if he was, Talia was certain he didn't suspect her to be the reason why Cain's people now knew her location. If anything, he may suspect one of her own people, maybe even some of if not all of her personal guard present to be the ones that let slip her current whereabouts but until he knew for certain, he'd be keeping such thoughts to himself.
'Thank you mistress' the four women responded simultaneously while Psylocke herself stood back up and brushed some dirt off her knees.
Talia gave the purple haired beauty a look that almost looked to be regretful 'I apologize for speaking to you in such a tone, but Peter cannot suspect you were under orders to let Darrk's men get so close. He needs to believe that you suffered a lapse in judgement'
'It is fine mistress' Psylocke responded in a quiet 'voice' 'Though I'm not exactly comfortable with the possibility that he may try to confront me on such a thing... given his current mindset'
'The orgasms we all experienced because of Psylocke's little mind meld when you were with Mister Parker are worth it' Jade giggled through the link, causing Talia to frown as she turned towards the toxin favoring assassin.
Even though Jade's face was covered by her mask, Talia knew she was sporting a wide grin under it, causing her to feel even more annoyed and angry with the younger woman 'Careful how you speak Jade...'
'Apologies mistress, I meant no disrespect I just mea- hellooooo' Jade cooed as she saw Peter re-emerge from the house through the same window he went through.
Talia and the rest turned to see what caused Jade's sudden change.
Peter was now dressed from head to toe in a black suit that Talia recognized from his final days with the League of Shadows. It, like the body suit that Silencer and occasionally Talia wore when she was in the field, was made of a thin Kevlar like material designed to stop most knives and small caliber bullets. Though Peter's was further customized with the chest portion possessing a striking red spider symbol that matched the color of his masks lenses. When Peter leaped down from the house and landed a few meters away from Talia and her guard, she noticed that the tips of Peter's fingers were sporting claws and had a small backpack like attachment on his back.
"Okay, now I'm ready to take on a small army of assassins" Peter said as he stood up and approached Talia before coming to a stop and briefly spun in place "So, what do you think?"
"It's... stylish" Talia commented "Much more than when I last saw you in such garb"
"Perks of going free lance, you get to make up your own rules in regards to uniforms" Peter said as he reached behind himself and pulled his backpack off before opening it and retrieving two small devices that he than slid on to the undersides of his wrists.
"What are those?" Talia said with a nod towards the small devices Peter was now wearing while he pulled small capsules from the backpack and slid them into small slots on the unknown attachments.
"Web shooters" Peter answered with a small shrug "At least, my old ones. I used to have ones that were bigger and had more attachments on it but I lost them"
Talia hummed at this before she turned towards Psylocke and adopted a look of mild annoyance and bitter resentment "Do you sense anyone approaching or are you still 'distracted'?"
Psylocke flinched at the tone in her mistress's voice before she answered in a dutiful tone "I sense four minds approaching fast. We need to leave now if we wish to avoid any unnecessary conflict"
"Twenty men killed and Darrk sends in only four?" Peter said with a frown under his mask "That doesn't sound good"
"It's possible he's been given modified assassins by Cain" Talia theorized with a bothered expression on her face as she turned and assessed Peter.
When Peter was still with the League he was one of it's finest fighters after his tutelage under Lady Shiva, and she could only assume that he expanded his skills when he was excommunicated by her father. But given his detreating mind, she had no idea just how capable Peter was anymore against men and women that may now rival him in ability or even surpass his own.
She'd rather not risk it until she knows for certain... and even than she may not.
"Well I'm sure the six of us can handle them" Peter said with a shrug as he glanced at Psylocke "Any idea what direction their coming from 'violet?"
Before Psylocke could answer, after she bristled at the nickname that Peter bestowed upon her, Talia stepped forward and gave Peter a hard stare that would've made even the Batman stop in his tracks "We're pulling back!"
Talia didn't need to see the reactions of her guard to know that she was going 'off script' in their eyes. The plan was to eradicate the last of Darrk's men and than retreat back to the airstrip that Talia had her jet stored and readied to depart but Cain, or Darrk, had unintentionally derailed that plan with this odd counter to the first assault team's demise. She knew that they knew Peter was with her, along with Psylocke and Honor, and the fact they sent only FOUR individuals in to respond was setting off alarms in Talia's head.
"Why? We have them outnumbered" Peter countered with obvious confusion in his tone as he gestured towards Psylocke "And with her we'll know where their at and maybe who they are before they ever see us"
"Peter think about it, why send only four men when we just wiped out twenty?" Talia said as she gestured tot he various corpses around Peter's property "These were meant to scout us out and see what we're capable of, nothing more"
"Fodder" Widow added with a nod while Talia tuned towards Silencer.
"Honor, ready the charges and blow them when we're far enough away" she ordered.
"Wait, charges-" Peter began while Honor bowed and Talia turned towards Psylocke.
"How much time do we have until their here?" she asked.
"Ten minutes at their current pace" Psylocke answered.
"Ten minutes is better than nothing" Talia said as she turned to leave "It'll be nightfall by the time we reach the airstrip and I want-"
"Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, hold on a second" Peter said as he placed a hand on Talia's shoulder and stopped her "What the heck do you mean charges? Did you have bombs set up around my place this whole time? Are you crazy?!"
"It's just a precaution my friend, nothing more" Talia answered as she turned back and gave Peter a cold stare "Their concussive and fragmentation, not incendiary, so you don't have to worry about them causing any sort of fire if that's what your worried about"
What she left out was that a fire would also draw too much attention, the approaching storm will be more than capable of washing away most of the signs of battle that have befallen this place and she doubts that Darrk will leave his men's bodies here to be discovered by any authorities that may be sent up here to investigate the sound of gun fire.
"Come, we need to move now" Talia said as she turned to leave with her four guards falling in behind.
Peter watched them go before he spared one last look at his house before sighing and following the five lethal women.
Logan was not gonna be happy when he finds out that Peter got the house he bought for him trashed and blown up.
...
David Cain frowned as he stared at a large screen that showed a live satellite feed of what was once the place of residence to one Peter B. Parker, located just a few dozen miles north of Fairbanks Alaska. It was one of the last places that Cain would ever think to look for Talia al Ghul, mainly because he had no idea that Peter was even living there until a agent within Talia's ranks had alerted him to the location of his late master's daughter when she contacted her people for a update on some operation she had underway.
"Do Darrk and his men have eyes on Talia and her people?" Cain asked after several moments of silence.
All around him were various terminals and monitors that displayed a multitude of information required to maintain a multi national organization of Assassins. Well over a dozen men and women worked and operated the computers and systems that kept his faction running smoothly and several steps ahead of his rival's own little 'factions'.
"Sir, Darrk just reported in, Bloodvessel, Breacher, Killbox and Massacre found no signs that the bitch and her people suffered any casualties during the initial assault on Parker's home" one of the operators reported from somewhere behind Cain "They've found a possible trail they left behind and are following it now"
"Talia al Ghul" Cain said after a few moments of considering the operator's report.
"S-Sir?" the operator that answered Cain's question stammered.
"Her name is Talia al Ghul, not bitch, or whore or whatever derogative term you and the rest of my men feel fit to impose upon her" Cain said as he turned to glare at the man he had corrected with a frown "While she may be our enemy, we shall not forget the respect that she is due as the daughter of Ra's al Ghul, am I understood?"
The operator seemed to pale at the glare he was receiving before he hastily nodded.
"Good" Cain said with a curt no before he turned his attention back to the satellite feed "Is there anyway we can track the Lady al Ghul's movements with this thing?"
"No sir" another operator answered "Not without taking complete an total control of it, which in turn will draw even more attention that we've already have. We'll have to cut it loose in the next several minutes"
Cain sighed as he ran a hand over his scarred face "Very well. Give me a large scale view of the entire area and map out any possible routes that Lady al Ghul may take to reach her jet. Also plot out other possible routes she may use in the event that her jet isn't the destination she has in mind. We must consider that Mister Parker may have an escape plan of sorts that she may decide to utilize instead"
His demand was met with a series of 'Yes sir's before they begun to implement his orders.
Cain had to hold back a satisfied smirk at this, at the professionalism his people displayed rather than the frenetic devotion Ra's al Ghul and to a lesser extent, his daughters had their people exhibit.
Soon a series of red highlighted trails were displayed as the various operators mapped out possible routes that Talia and her people may try to take to reach the distant airstrip, that he had monitored and guarded. Most of the routes showed Talia cutting straight through the wilderness, a rather bold move considering the live feed that Cain was looking at showed a rather violent storm was about to hit the area.
'If it was anyone else I'd question their sanity, but not you dear Talia' Cain thought as he stared at the screen with a grin 'Not after you traveled hundreds of miles as just a child, through deserts, mountains and jungles to reach your father after you escaped that Pit'
Not for the first and undoubtedly for the last time has Cain been impressed with Talia al Ghul's sheer resilience. It was a pity that her father kept Cain from truly pushing Talia to her limits and unlocking her full potential like he was able to for his own daughter Cassandra before she betrayed him...
Perhaps Cain wouldn't have been so quick to betray Talia following the demise of her father.
...
When Peter was still a part of the League of Shadows, he was very rarely ever sent on a mission with Talia or even worked with her in the field.
Partly because their respective abilities, Peter's being in assassination and general devastation where's Talia's laid in infiltration, tended to have them deployed on vastly different assignments that suited them. Though Peter had long suspected that it was just Ra's al Ghul's subtle way of telling Peter that he did not want him around Talia unless absolutely necessary. Though the few that he did happen to work alongside her and see her in action, Peter quickly came to a very accurate conclusion...
She was rather vocal when it came to passing down her commands to her subordinates rather than relying on that weird 'read my mind and somehow know what I want' thing that Peter's seen a lot of people use in the past. Which is why Peter was confused by how silent Talia's been ever since they fled from his home. Aside from a few hand signals every once in a while when they changed course or had to up their pace, things had been as silent as the grave.
"Uh Talia?" Peter said after the better part of four hours of tense, silent travel through the Alaskan bush.
"What is it?" Talia answered in a curt tone from the head of the small 'formation' their little group had made with Talia at the front, Peter at the back and Widow, Silencer, Cheshire and Psylocke making up the center.
"What's the plan when we get to wherever it is we're going?" Peter asked as he leaped over a long fallen tree of some sort while the girls ahead of him simple either stepped around it or went under through the small space it had between it and the ground.
"To leave and regroup with the rest of my people at a secure location" Talia answered as she signaled for the party to come to a stop on a small hill that overlooked a stream below and a small clearing.
The sky above was covered in dark clouds and was briefly illuminated by flashes of lightning followed by cracks of thunder. They've managed to keep ahead of the rain but Talia's noticed that it was catching up to them.
"Where's that?" Peter asked as he pulled his mask off.
"Gotham city" Talia answered.
"Gotham...?" Peter said as eh stared at Talia with an incredulous expression "The same city where it's resident vigilante kicked the crap out of you and your father?"
"The Dark Knight will work as a sort of shield from any further attempts on my life from Nyssa or Cain's assassins, distracting the Batman and his allies from my own operations... for a limited time at least" Talia revealed as she folded her arms across her chest "Most of which include forging alliances and strengthen the few I already have there. And I'm told that recruits for Cain's faction are funneled through there by one of the city's resident crimes bosses. It's the perfect place to set up my operations until a more suitable base can be established and initiate a first strike against Cain's people"
"So your going after Cain first?" Peter said with a quirked brow.
"We're going after Cain" Talia corrected as she gave Peter a pointed look "I doubt he'll leave you alone seeing as I approached you for help"
"Technically I haven't said I will" Peter reminded the brunette beauty.
"than what do you call this?" Talia gestured around them with a raised brow.
"Unwilling assistance combined with a late night hike" Peter replied.
Talia snorted at this before she turned towards Psylocke "Are Darrk's people still behind us?"
Psylocke narrowed her eyes in concentration as she reached out for the presence of any minds that weren't theirs or human for several moments before nodding "Yes, their close to several miles away"
Talia frowned at this "That's closer than I would prefer..."
"Any idea of who they are?" Peter asked.
"I personally recognize two of the minds" Psylocke answered as she turned towards Peter "Bloodvessel and Massacre"
"Massacre?" Peter said with a whistle "Haven't heard that a name in a long time..."
"You know him?" Widow questioned.
Peter nodded at the red head's question "Yeah, I was on the mission where he took a chunk of shrapnel to the head... must've caused a splitting headache"
"There's that witty sense of humor I've missed so much" Talia said in a dry tone.
"I think it's the real reason why your father kicked me out. Couldn't stand the fact that I was funnier than him" Peter chuckled.
Talia hummed at this before she turned towards her guard.
"Given the proximity of Darrk's men, we'll split up from here" Talia said before she turned and pointed towards Peter "Your with me"
"Gasp, I'm completely taken by surprise" Peter said in a tone of mock surprise though inwardly he was a bit relieved that he wasn't going to be left alone with one of Talia's guards.
They seemed alright, they must be for Talia to seemingly trust them as much as she does, but... well he's willing to admit he's a bit shy around unknown hyper lethal individuals he's never really met before. Add to the fact that one of them is the reason their in this predicament in the first place and well... he'd rather be around a familiar face.
Talia than turned towards Psylocke and Widow "You two will head north for several miles. Leave a trail faint enough to follow but one that you can easily hide"
The purple and scarlet red headed women nodded before they silently departed into the thick brush while Talia than turned towards Honor and Cheshire "And you two will secure a means of transportation and use it to go on ahead and make sure my jet is secured for departure. I don't wish to reach it after traveling all night only to find that Darrk's men had reached it already and either destroyed it or killed the pilots"
"It shall be done my lady" Honor bowed while Jade simply nodded and quickly slipped into the darkness of the forest with Honor right behind her.
Peter watched them and the other two women leave before he turned his attention to Talia "And what are we going to do?"
"You and I are going to continue on foot to the airstrip" Talia revealed.
"Uh why?" Peter asked with a frown as he pointed in the direction Jade and Honor went "Why not have those two give us a ride when they find one?"
"Peter do I seem like I'm dressed or equipped to keep traveling over twelve miles through the woods during a storm?" Talia said as she gestured to her body, more specifically the lack of protective clothing and shoes.
"Well... no not really" Peter said as he glanced down at Talia's feet and saw they were covered in small scrapes, some of which were starting to bleed.
And he knew that they'll get worse if Talia did intent\d to travel through another twelve miles of this brush. He offered to cover her feet in webbing earlier but Talia refused, stating she quote on quote, 'had enough of his white sticky substance on her body for the day'.
Talia nodded at Peter's answer "And they know this and are likely assuming I'll be trying to find a alternate means of travel by now"
"You do strike me as the kind of woman that would rather be driven than walk" Peter said with a grin under his mask that he saw Talia mirrored.
"The greatest weapon we assassins wield is deception Peter... and I've long since made sure that I've mastered it" Talia said as she stepped past Peter and began to slowly make her way down the hill and towards the stream below "Come, before Darrk's men catch up to us"
Peter watched her go for a moment before he made to follow when he felt a tingle at the base of his skull and froze. He looked back over his shoulder to see if perhaps one of Darrk's men had seemingly caught up to him and Talia but saw and heard nothing.
'But that doesn't mean they aren't there... their just not impulsive enough to break their cover and attack me yet' Peter thought with a frown as he gave the tree line another once over before he turned and rushed down after Talia.
It seems that Psylocke had missed a presence when she was scanning for minds... or perhaps she hadn't.
...
And done.
Next chapter, A less than pleasant stroll through the woods...