Chapter 20 Back Stage Battle
Let's shift the tale from Spider-Man for now, go back a few days before Spider-Man met Blake and Sun, and focus on a group of people that aren't involved in the hero's crazy web of life, not yet at least. These aren't your typical people, no, they are a small group that not even the Council knows about. This group has been in Vale protecting an important secret from not just the Council, but from their long time enemy too. It's not just Vale that's concealing dark secrets, but each kingdom is holding their own secret too, one such Kingdom decides to visit Vale, a specific part known as: Beacon academy.
That Kingdom was known as Atlas, a technologically advanced kingdom said to be far superior in military might and scientific knowledge above all else. Said kingdom was also known to flex their military might, so what better way to know they were visiting then a massive fleet right in front of Vale's most prestigious school for Huntsmen?
And who would be so paranoid as to bring so much fire power to a school to train heavily armed teens with amazing abilities? Why, a headmaster and a General of Atlas military, that's who! Yes, General Ironwood, Headmaster of Atlas's own Academy to train future Huntsmen and a longtime military officer would be the one to brazenly bring such fire power all in the name of 'safety'.
Of course, there is a reason as to why he would go to such lengths, the Vytal Festival is almost near, security is a must to keep unwanted guests out, dust is also very much needed recourse Vale needs from Atlas, all of this was factored, and all of this is true.
But, that was to keep public appearance, to show peace was still present, all the while two headmasters, two 'friends', are in a large clocktower office discussing more than just preparations for the festival.
And that is regarding the threat lingering just outside of Vale's walls and the so called 'heroes' that are inhabiting their respective kingdoms.
"And that's what Qrow told me when he encountered Spider-Man." Ozpin informed James Ironwood. "So far, he hasn't seen Spider-Man after that encounter, I assume he must be weighing the options for the invitation we gave him, yet Spider-Man has not shown an effort to track down Qrow to give his answer."
"I see," The general of Atlas military sipped the coffee mug that was given to him by Ozpin. After the first sip of the warm liquid, James pulled out a flask from his officer's coat, poured some into the mug, and proceeded to take a long drink from the mug. "I suppose I shouldn't doubt Qrow's tracking skills, but I still don't like that you would so hastily try to recruit some stranger, a stranger I might add we have no idea about except that he wears a silly costume and goes by the name of 'Spider-Man', to be part of our group.
"Oh?" Putting down his own cup of steaming coffee, the headmaster of Beacon picked up a tablet off his desk, turned it on, and handed it to the Headmaster of Atlas with a digital newspaper showing a picture of a flying metal man saving a village that was being held hostage by the White Fang. "Do you really think Spider-Man's the only one getting so much attention?"
"I keep forgetting that Atlas weekly is also trying to match the Daily Bugle with their own 'Hero/ Villain' to publicize." The man with a single white glove spoke then took another long drink from his half empty mug.
"Can you blame them?" Ozpin sounded amused, taking the tablet back, the speckled headmaster swiped away the images of Iron Man with pictures of Spider-Man. The headmaster of Beacon took a sip from his mug and spoke in his usual monotone voice. "First a man dressed as a bug starts to swing around Vale, stopping crime and helping people with their everyday problems. Now, we have a metal flying man saving villages with technology not even Atlas could ever produce. Though, I'm sure by now your tech division is trying there hardest to make their own I assume?"
Yes, Atlas may be the leading Kingdom in developing machines that can do amazing feats, but what Iron Man showed was leagues above what even the most well-known scientist can make. To know someone has made such a marvelous machine that Atlas didn't make or own not only made it a top commodity for anyone trying to own this rare suit, but it also made the science division take it a personal challenge to try and make their own suit that far exceeded Iron Man's. The problem was, they've made countless prototypes, but each one was never capable to move and react as fluid as Iron Man's armor leaving Atlas's top scientist stumped. Of course, the rest of the Atlas military had their own answer to having their own flight suit and that's by capturing Iron Man. Not just that, but it was in their best interest to make sure Atlas were the first to capture Iron Man before any other foreign groups decides to try their luck in apprehending the metal man before they did.
"This isn't a matter to be taken lightly, Ozpin." Ignoring his friend's question, The General went back to the topic at hand. "The Council is seeing Vale in a bad light since no one is able to catch or even uncover whose Spider-Man is under that mask. Almost half of the board are even considering putting more attention on the Faunus that have insect qualities."
"That would be problematic," The grey-haired Huntsman turned around to look outside. "And just when things were starting to have a bit of actual peace too. Spider-Man, be it human or Faunus under that mask, has made great strides to make this kingdom be safer, to threaten that with such strict rules would make it worse than better."
"That, I agree." General Ironwood was about to take another sip only for him to realize he drank it all. "But, it doesn't excuse the fact that Spider-Man is a vigilante and is also going against the law. We have rules that keep people from taking the law into their own hands and with Spider-Man doing the work Police and Huntsman are trained to do could start trouble. If this goes on any longer than regular people will start having ideas that they can do the same thing without consequences, not just civilians, but young, idealistic, not fully trained Huntsmen."
"It still confuses me that they put so much focus on a man wearing what appears to be a red and blue jumpsuit then someone smart enough to build their own weaponized flying suit of armor." Ozpin poked holes in the Council's logic. "After all, it would be wiser to apprehend the person capable of making a suit of mass destruction then wasting the Kingdom's tax lien on someone who just shoots webs and sticks to walls."
"They believe that capturing Spider-Man will make people stop having dreams of grandeur. Iron Man is clearly a prime example of how Spider-Man is making people believe they are above the law." The general explained.
"So, they plan to leave Iron Man on the back burner?"
"No," General Ironwood's voice became cold and calculated. "As the headmaster and general of Atlas, The Council has given me free reign to apprehend this 'Iron Man', arrest him for acts of vigilantism, and confiscate all technology from his possession that is deemed dangerous to Atlas and her people."
'Yes, I'm sure weapons dealers like Hammer would love to try and get in Atlas's good graces by helping them try to get their hands on a suit like that too.' Ozpin thought, still looking out the massive window as he tried to understand the madness that is the Council's thinking. 'And don't get me started on how you didn't mention the other three kingdoms and their safety, James.'
"Let's set aside these anomalies for now," The officer suggested, trying to make their argument into some form of reasoning between colleagues. "We are Headmasters in charge of a school, as such we should get back to making sure this Vytal festival goes off without a hitch."
"Yes, the large fleet you brought screams 'security'." The Headmaster of Beacon said, the civilized conversation between colleagues were immediately shot down and was back to being two grown men bickering about who's opinion is better.
"And I suppose putting faith in students who don't know the word: responsibility is any better?" Ironwood retorted. "Do you honesty believe, your children can win a war?"
Not replying to what his friend asked, Ozpin simply turned back to his friend him the truth. "I hope they never have too."
The night within the Kingdom of Vale is what you expect in a large populated area. Even at night, people still produce obnoxious noises through either shouting or using their vehicles to let everyone else near to know there angry. Of course, this is perfect for more shadier groups who want to be discreet by using such distractions to blend in to the city. That is the case with this current building, it was your typical run of the mil nameless structure like any other.
"You see anything?" A man wearing a bowler hat with an aqua stripe asked his friend who's also wearing the same thing as him with the only difference being a cobalt color.
"No," He said, looking through the scope of his sniper rifle. "Like the last three hours I see nothing out of the ordinary."
"Man, why don't I use the freaking sniper rifle!"
"Oh, boo whoo! I get a regular sniper rifle and you have your cool sword! I swear, Tuck, we were just supposed to steal dust at that shop, not steal the owner's sword!"
"It's not my fault!" The man named: Tuck defended himself. "And I didn't see you help! You suck at shooting with a pistol, you suck at using automatic rifles, what makes you think you'll do better with as a sniper?"
"Shut up and go to your post." He used the end of his rifle's barrel to point at his friend's spot. "We're here to guard this place for Roman to sell his shtick to gain their trust, so go to your post and stand guard so no one would sneak in."
"Whatever." The aqua colored goon shrugged his shoulders and went back to his job. "Can you at least pass me your flashlight? It's so dark that I can barely see ten steps ahead of myself."
"I thought you fully charged your scroll before we got up here?"
"I did, but I got bored and started to swipe right on some hot chicks on my app."
"Gross, just walk and I'll shine my light."
"Kind of wish Roman would have just added more lights to this place." Tuck said offhandedly as he started to walk.
"We're getting paid to stand guard, not think about how cheap he is." Using the flashlight attached to his rifle, the sniper shined it to his friend to help him see in the dark. "Here, now stop comp- Tuck?"
One second his friend was talking to him, the next he was no longer in sight. It shouldn't be possible for him to vanish, making the gunmen go high alert that someone was able to put the drop on them. Not taking the chance of fighting whoever took his friend by himself, the lone guard was about to signal the rest of the crew about the mysterious intruder when he suddenly felt the ground below him disappear.
"Wha-" Before he could speak, his mouth was sealed shut with a small glob of webbing. "MMMPH!"
No longer able to scream for help, his body continued to thrash around in hopes to get free from whatever snatched him away. His sudden levitation was soon stopped, when he felt a hand grab his collar and was now face to face with a pitch-black form with large glowing eyes.
"Night, night." Was all he before the only thing he saw was the man's fist getting closer to him before his entire vision saw darkness.
As he punched the man out cold, Spider-Man quickly got to work by wrapping the criminal in a cocoon web and hung him upside down under the billboard that was attached to the roof. Right next to the knocked out thug was also his friend with the sword followed by several more unconscious bodies he picked off after hopping from roof top to roof top.
With the help of nighttime blanketing Vale and how the components of his suit were made solely for blending into the darkness, Spider-Man easily weaved through the guards and was taking them down while also keeping an eye on the two Huntsmen walking to their destination.
So far, Spider-Man was able to take down the guards stationed on the roof without tripping any alarms, but he knew that once they enter inside the White Fang Rally Spider-Man will only have a short amount of time to investigate what Roman has to offer them. Call it a hunch, or precognitive spider sense, but he felt that this plan was going down south no matter how carful they try to be, which makes it even more imperative that Spider-Man should sneak inside and find out what Roman's plan is with this rally.
"Roman must be really confident if he stopped hiding." He said to himself as his eye followed Blake and Sun reach the entrance of the rally. "And whatever he has that's making him this confident definitely needs to be stopped."
Leaning over the edge of the roof, the wall crawler spotted the two getting in line with other young teens having unique animal qualities to them.
'2…6…10 are in line, including Blake and Sun. I shouldn't be surprised that some Faunus would still try to join the White Fang, but it still leaves a pit in my stomach to know they would resort to this.'
Seeing them throw away their life made Spider-Man remember Mr. Pesto's nephew's death after he joined the Fang. The image of Denny's peaceful face after he sacrificed his life caused Spider-Man's anger to flair out of control.
(CRUSH!)
Out of grief or anger, Spider-Man broke a piece of cement from the roof making the Faunus who were in line to look up from the noise.
'I have to duck, but there already looking this way! I have to stay still and not make any sudden movements, their hearing is far better than humans, so even if I take a step back I'm sure the guards from the inside will start taking notice that their friends from up top aren't responding.'
Crouching low enough so his lenses weren't seen, his back being the only visible thing due to the roof's ledge not tall enough to hide his entire body, Spider-Man held his breath as he felt his spider sense tingle for only a moment before it subsided. Taking a minute of staying still, the web head took a chance, and looked over the ledge to see if they all started to suspect anything weird.
Since most of them weren't trained Huntsmen or disciplined like the White Fang, the line of young Faunus just stood in line and talked amongst each other like it was normal to be in a dark alleyway.
"What was that noise?"
"You think it was the cops?"
"Maybe it was Spider-Man, then again what are the chances of that happening?"
Pressing his body as close to the ledge to make him as small as possible, Spider-Man's was hoping to stay out of sight when his eyes saw a small ray of light right across from him.
'The flash light from the rifle! The guy dropped it when I snagged him with my web!'
Not wasting any movement, he raised his hand and shot a web line to the rifle, tugged on it with a bit of force, the weapon flew into his hand, and the flashlight attached to the sniper rifle was quickly turned off.
'Did they notice? I made sure not to make too much noise! Come on, I just had this costume made and I'm the one who botched this stealth op!?'
Still remaining silent, the hero listened to what they had to say in regard to the noise he caused when he broke a piece of the ledge, but so far he hasn't heard anything in regards to anything else.
Their questioning became more and more louder to the point that even Blake had to raise her voice to get their attention.
"Can you all quiet down!" She said to them, her voice laced with ice that all the Faunus in line quickly closed their mouths. "We're here to join the White Fang! Not gossip about some random noise! Besides, it's obvious there's going to be more guards on the roof, right?"
Looking at the two White Fang members to answer her question, they both looked at each other for a moment before the one on the left nodded his head to confirm her deduction.
"There, it's settled." With everyone now focused on entering, Blake was handed a face mask and was motioned by the two Fang members that she can go inside.
'Thanks for the save, Blake. But, I wonder why the two guarding the entrance didn't call the guys on the roof about the noise? I know one of them is friends with Blake, but what about the guy next to him? My only guess is that Roman has two separate comm links and he doesn't fully trust the White Fang. So, if this Rally went south he can at least radio his gang to escape and let all the blame rest on the group now known as terrorists.'
His thoughts had to be put aside however, when he saw Sun finally enter the building leaving him the only one outside. This made Spider-Man to continue with the task at hand and infiltrate through a different means of entry. Getting back up on his feet, he took a couple of steps back from his spot, crouched down, and like a spring he jumped a few feet in the air and landed on the roof across from him. Now usually, a jump from one roof top to the other would cause a noise loud enough to be heard from bellow, but thanks to his uncanny ability to be perfectly balanced he was able to land feet first on the roof's ledge without causing a single sound.
"I don't want to waste webbing when I can just jump across." He said to not around him. "If I keep using so much webbing then I might as well make a huge sign telling them I'm here. It's better to use my other abilities until I get into a situation when I have to use them."
Scanning his surroundings, Spider-Man saw his own entrance being a large air vent with the only obstacle being a large spinning fan. Not wanting to be shredded in his new suit, he shot a small glob of webbing to stop the fan from rotating, giving him an opportunity to squeeze between the blades.
"Alieoop!" Jumping through the fan blades like a dog going through a hoop, Spider-Man safely made it through the other side with little to no effort as the small webbing finally gave out and the fan began to spin rapidly as if nothing happened. "Nailed it. Now then, where should I start looking?"
Crawling through the large vent, Spider-Man peeked through every grate he passed showing the White Fang either guarding weapons, crates with what he assumed to be dust, and a large open space where he saw a rather large group of young Faunus.
"Blake," Spider-Man stopped moving when he saw his friend standing in place as she scanned the room she was occupied in. "I also see Sun walking towards her too."
'A lot of Faunus are here,' Spider-Man thought to himself. 'Still, the room there in is still large enough to hold more, but the group below me is barley filling up half of it.'
It was like comparing it to a small party renting out a ballroom from a hotel, the size was decent, but it wasn't as filled as Spider-Man expected. Though the amount of Faunus willing to join was small, it still doesn't take the account that over a dozen armed guards stood at the ready in case things turned south. Each one holding military grade weapons with some holding swords and axes, if the White Fang were trying to invite more of their kind to the cause it only worked half way since the Fang members made the would-be-recruits nervous at how threatening the White Fang looked.
'They'll all at the center, with the Fang blocking every direction, including the only exit. This looks more like a hostage situation like at the bank, only instead of it being hostages it's a recruitment drive. Man, the longer I'm here the more I feel like this was a bad plan after all.'
Deciding that he stayed long enough, the hero continued to crawl though the ventilation system where he finally reached to the end of the ventilation shaft. More specifically, the end of crawling though horizontally.
"Looks like it goes all the way down, probably leading to a basement." Crawling downward with the help of his adhesive ability. The web head descended to what at first, he thought was the basement, but instead of a simple basement it was an armory holding even more weapons. "Ok, either I took the wrong turn, or this is the basement."
'Guess this is my stop.'
Reaching his objective, Spider-Man crawled near one of the grates, placed his hands on it, applied a small amount of force, and with his ability to cling to any surface held on to the grate as it was pushed out of its place. Sliding through the opening, Spider-Man placed the grate to the side, got up to his feet, picked up the grate, and placed it back to cover his tracks.
"Ok, now, I can get a better- Ok, that's a lot of guns!" Spider-Man said before he quickly covered his mouth with his hands.
Looking through the vent obscured his vision, so Spider-Man didn't take account for what the real size of the basement was. It was the same length and width of the outside building, had no separate rooms like upstairs, but it did have stairs leading to a single office at the center.
"Man," Spider-Man walked near one of the weapons rack to see them all in clean condition. "Looks like they just opened it from their crates. I expected to see a few boxes of fire arms, but this looks like they can supply and entire company of troops."
Taking a step back, Spider-Man saw that not only did Roman stocked piled high-grade military weapons, he also stockpiled a decent amount of dust too. Each dust was organized by the element and the size of the container, but when Spider-Man took a better look at who were the previous owners of the stolen dust some of the names ranged from Hammer from Atlas to Mr. Osborn's company too.
'Dang it! Guess I was an idiot to think that Roman would just steal dust from Vale alone. I'm betting the Fang also stole dust from other kingdoms and shipped them here to help Roman with the rally.'
"In a lighter note, at least small-time dust shops aren't in the stock pile as much as the more richer companies." Deciding to take a vile from the fire dust pile, the blonde spider inspected the quality of the dust and noticed the brand name. "Schnee... that's Ruby's partner last name if I remembered correctly. I wonder what her thoughts would be if she knew her family is also losing this much dust."
Not wanting to be considered a thief, Spider-Man placed it back its original place, lifted his vest, and pulled out his camera that was latched securely on his belt. After his suit was ruined, he tried his best to salvage most of it and add it to his new suit since Spider-Man thought it was a waste to just toss it all away. Thankfully, some of the pieces from his previous suit was still usable, one such piece was his belt with added small pouches that housed his own modified webbing.
"Ok," Focusing his lens to make sure he got a good picture, Spider-Man took a view steps back to make sure he got everything in the shot. "Time to eat your heart out, J.J!"
Taking pictures of all the dust, Spider-Man took a few seconds to make sure they were all in good quality before he shifted the camera to take photos of the stolen weapons.
"This it some good pictures of the weapons, but J.J won't take this into account unless I have pictures of the thieves."
Putting his camera down, Spider-Man was about to explore more of the large area when he heard some machine whining from the center office.
"An elevator in the office? Guess I shouldn't be surprised that there's a different way to get here." Not wasting any time, the web head went back to the air vent he went through, took the grate out, leaped inside, and placed back to its original spot. "This is a good opportunity to take some shot of them with all these stolen goods."
Hearing the elevator doors opening, Spider-Man counted several of Roman's men walking out of the office with crates varying from dust to ammunitions.
"Ok, you know where to put these." One of the goons who was the only one not holding anything said to the rest of his posse. "Make sure, to put them at their specific spot, you know how Roman like's it when everything is organized."
Following orders, each goon walked in different paths and placed the items in a different location. Not losing an opportunity like this, Spider-Man crawled higher in to the vent to get a birds-eye-view on the layout. Crawling high enough, he saw the vent branch out leading him to be above the arms room with several other vents going to different directions.
'I can take them down one by one, but the lights are bright enough for them to spot me.' Scanning to find any possible ways to kill the lights, his eyes traveled to where they first entered. 'I'm betting that the controls are over there, I can even take the guy shouting orders too, while I'm at it.'
"Hurry up and place the valuables!" He screamed, to show he was serious he pulled out his ax and started to slam it on the rails. "We have a truck load more coming our way, we can't mess around with this stuff! Roman's already mad that most of this stuff was stopped by some flying robot, so we have to me extra carful not to lose track of how much we have here."
Getting to position where he was right above his first target, Spider-Man pulled the ceiling grate out of its frame, attached a web line on the edge of the vent, slowly descended until he was right above the unsuspected goon, and grabbed him before he can utter a single word. Using one arm to securely grab him, Spider-Man pulled on his web line to raise him and the first guard high in the air, placed him on the ceiling, punched him at the center of his face, and before he could fall the spider hero shot a web net to attach him to the ceiling.
"Ok, big mouth is taken down." Looking down the make sure the other thugs didn't notice one of their guys are gone, Spider-Man lowered himself to the office floor to turn off the lights. Finding the power box next to a fancy looking desk with box of cigars and alcohol, Spider-Man walked around the desk and opened the power box to see all the switches that are 'ON'. "Time to take down the rest of the goon squad."
(BUUURRRRMM!)
Flipping all them 'OFF' the entire armory that was filled with light was soon plunged into darkness causing the rest of Roman's thugs to start panicking.
"Hey! What happened to the lights!?"
"Did he turn off the power?"
"Quick, turn on your flash lights! We can walk back and turn on the power."
"Oi, quit screwing around and turn on the lights! We ain't Faunus, so we can't see in the dark!"
'That's the plan, idiot.' Now, no longer worried about being seen in full luminescent light, Spider-Man jumped off the office railing and landed on the same level where the rest of the armed thugs were scrambling separately to reach for the light switch. 'Each one, going separate ways, but reaching for the only light source where I'm waiting to ambush them. I feel like this is good opportunity to say a witty one liner about spiders but taking care of them before they can get help takes more precedence.'
Crouching low behind a stack of unknown crates, Spider-Man waited until one of them was close by to perform a sneak attack.
"I'm close to the office, all of you just stay put." Just as he said his advice, as soon as he walked past the crates Spider-Man was hiding from did the web head strike.
(TWIP! TWIP!)
Shooting a web line to the gunman's back, Spider-Man pulled the string to make the guard face him, and just before he had time to register that Spider-Man was here did the Bowler hat thug received another web line directed to his face.
"MPFH!"
Dropping his gun, the nameless crook tried to remove the adhesive webbing, but was stopped when Spider-Man used both of his hands to pull the web line down to the floor, causing the man to follow suit and slam his head on the solid cement floor knocking him out instantly. Not finished with the unconscious guard, Spider-Man placed two web nets to leave him in place on the floor.
"Hey, where did his light go?" Spider-Man heard on of the other guards say to the rest of his gang.
"I don't know, one of you go check on him and we'll watch your back."
"O-Ok, I guess I'll go next."
'Time to find a better hiding spot.' Not pressing his luck on taking out another guard with the same trick, Spider-Man lifted both of his hands in the air, shot two web lines to the ceiling, pulled, and was instantly air born.
"Hey, you still there?" Looking below, the wall crawler saw the second guard taking tentative steps to where he last saw his friend. "Huh? Wha-!"
(TWIP!)
Right when he found his friend webbed to the floor, his entire body was soon engulfed in a net of webbing, was pulled up in the air, and was staring directly into Spider-Man's reflective lenses before the hero delivered a straight punch to the thug's face. Not wanting to lower him to the floor for all to see, the web head cocooned him and attached the supporting string to the ceiling frames.
"Where did he go!?"
"Look above, I think I saw him get snagged from the ceiling!"
Pointing all their lights above, they saw their friend strung up on the ceiling. Just when they were moving their lights to see if more of their friends were up there, one of them caught movement in the corner of his eye making the man scream.
"Shut up! Why are you screaming?"
"I saw something jump down!"
"Did you get a good look at it! Was it Spider-Man?"
"I couldn't tell!"
"How can you not tell? He wears that stupid jumpsuit!"
"He must be here somewhere! The rest of you guys walk towards me! We'll walk to the office and get help!"
Listening to the only one was wasn't visibly afraid, the remaining guards formed a circle with each one facing a different direction.
"Looks like they're finally catching on that I'm here, but they don't know where I am thanks to my stealth suit blending in with the darkness." Still on the ceiling, the hero followed the small group walk towards the office with only a few times slowing down to move their weapons to scan the area. "Got to give them props to aim their guns in each direction, unfortunate they didn't take the account that I would do this."
Timing it just right, just when the four-man group stopped to scan the large room, Spider-Man jumped off the ceiling and landed right in the middle of their small circle.
While in a crouch due to him landing from the ceiling, the spider hero performed a leg sweep making all four of the remaining guards to lose their balance. With their momentum off balanced, Spider-Man ejected a web line to one of the guards and like a wrecking ball slammed him to the other three goons.
Swinging them around a couple of times, the hero decided to shoot another web line to encase them in a net ball, lifted them above his head, and slammed them down to the floor. Letting go of the line, the arachnid hero walked to the heap of bodies to check if they were seriously injured from his attack.
"I still hear breathing." Spider-Man moved his ear closer to hear if they might be breath irregularly. "I don't hear anything wrong. That throw I did to them still might have hurt, but I'll make sure to call 911 when I complete my mission."
'Now, I should head back to the office and turn back on the lights, I may be able to see in the dark, but my camera sure doesn't.'
Not wasting any more time, Spider-Man launched a web string to the office railing and reeled himself to the office to turn the lights back on. Walking inside to turn the power back on he was about to go back to get more evidence with the stolen good, when he heard voices coming from the first thug he took down.
"Can you hear me? Hello?!" A disembodied voice said through the knocked-out goon.
"Hello there, what do we have here?" Reaching in the breast pocket of the crook's suit, the black suited spider pulled out a small walkie-talkie. "So, you guys did have a means to communicate to upstairs, or was it just you and not the rest of your friends?"
Spider-Man was about to answer his own questions, when the voice coming through the small device started back up again.
"I swear if you don't answer in 5 min- Hey, where is the big guy?" He sounded confused. "You saw him use the elevator going down? You hear that?! We got some muscle going down to help you guys, so sit tight and wait until he arrives."
After the person from the other end finished talking the walkie-talkie became silent leaving Spider-Man to deal with the new information he was given. Spider-Man shouldn't be surprised that they would send backup, but what he didn't expect to have backup be just one single person. Walking carelessly back inside the office, he stopped just in front of the elevator scratching the back of his head in bewilderment at how they sounded so sure that one guy would make a difference.
(BING!)
'That must be the added security. My spider sense is acting up, but I'm sure I can take care of one single guy as easy as counting to 1,2-'
Spider-Man couldn't finish his inner monologue when a large, meaty hand emerged from the elevator doors and grasped his throat.
"GURK!." Automatically reaching the large hand that was choking him, Spider-Man was just about to pry the limb off him, before his entire body was lifted with the same arm that was currently strangling him.
"So, you are this 'Spider-Man' I have heard so much about." Said the bulking giant wearing the signature White Fang mask. The mask was the only indicator that he was part of the Fang, since the outfit this new opponent was wearing consisted of mostly plated armor with only a few joints showing pitch black fabric. "So far, I'm not impressed."
'I think this is the part where I know I messed up.'
"Ugh!" Spider-Man tried to loosen the first to give him some air. "So, you're this 'big guy' I heard just a few moments ago." He imitated the voice of the armored bruiser. "So far, I'm terrified."
Letting out a snort as his reply, the giant threw the hero out of the office with enough force that the wall crawler bent the outside railing outboard that it almost got out of its hinges. Now, no longer in a vice grip, the spider teen's body automatically corrected his balance and landed safely on all fours.
'Ok, should really stop pushing my luck. Otherwise, situations like this will keep happening.'
No longer acting carelessly after witnessing such display of pure strength, he got back up on his two feet and placed his fists in front of him to get ready for a full-blown fight.
"I was told to be here in case trouble showed up." The armored Fang member said as his heavy footsteps shook the floor. "They also told me that if you showed up I should restrain you."
"And I'm guessing that if I put up a struggle with said restraining, you would do…?" Spider-Man asked.
Smirking, the fully armored guard jumped off the platform and as he landed on the basement floor several small cracks formed underneath his feet.
"I would do my best to only break you partially." Spider-Man's opponent said to him as he started to crack both of his armor-plated fists. "Legs first, then I work my way up."
"Yeah, yeah." Spider-Man nodded. "No."
Pointing his right web shoot at the power box next to the entrance, Spider-Man ejected a small glob of webbing on to the electric box. Said webbing started to emit sparks, short circuiting the system and powering down all the lights within the large basement.
Distracted from the sudden shortage, the White Fang member looked back to face Spider-Man, but all he saw in front of him was nothing.
"Idiot! I'm a Faunus, I can see in the dark just like you! If you think just because you're wearing a suit that helps you blend in, you have another thing coming." Now, on the attack the heavily armored charger started to search where his prey is hiding. Little did he know, while the brute was busy trying to find what's in front of him, he didn't register what was below him.
(SQUISH!)
"Huh?" Unable to move his right foot, the armored Fang member tried to lift his leg and was immediately pulled back to the floor. "What is this?"
(TWIP! TWIP!)
Lowering his defenses, he gave Spider-Man the opportunity to drop down from the ceiling and shoot two organic web lines to the back of Fang member's armor.
"Hey! What are you doing?" Trying to reach for the web strings, but couldn't due to his massive frame, all he was able to do was flail his arms around as Spider-Man yanked his back plating off to show his bare back to the enemy. "You're not getting away now that you're this close!"
Turning around quick enough to have even Spider-Man be surprised for a guy this big to move that quickly, the metal plated Faunus raised his arms to his sides and attempted to squeeze the life out of the hero.
"I should be the one saying that!" In a display of perfect reflexes and reaction speed, Spider-Man shot another pair of web lines to the front plate of the armor, jumped high to avoid the charge, pulled on the web lines, and ripped off the front portion of the giant's armor plating.
"If you think that's gonna stop me your wro-BZZZZZZ!" Just when he was about to finish speaking, two web globs landed on his back, shocking him to the point where Spider-Man started his next part of his attack.
Shooting a web line to the back of his foe, the hero pulled to make his target face him, dashed forward to close the gap between them, and started to unleash a barrage of punches. His assault had to end when his spider sense flared up making him jump back in the nick of time as the sparks from his electric dust webbing died out, giving the large Faunus an attempt to try and land a hit on the web head.
'Got to hide!'
Making sure he won't follow him, Spider-Man blinded the Faunus guard with an organic web shot and hid behind a nearby stack of crates. Checking to make sure he wasn't seen he looked between the crates to see the less armor-plated Faunus rip the webbing off his mask and began to throw anything that was in his way.
"I ain't falling for the same trick." Looking at the floor, the large man stared at a tall stack of crates, took to a charging position, and ran head first to the piles of boxes shattering both wood and metal that was within the containments. "I'll make sure to even look above in case you have the idea of getting the drop on me!"
No longer able to use the same tactic, the human hybrid contemplated what his next plan of attack will be.
'Well, I guess I shouldn't expect him to be all brawn and no brain. Glad I brought the extra strong web fluid just in case I need something heavy to stay in one place. Who knew I would use it this soon and on someone as heavy as an armored truck!'
Looking at his hands, his night vision helped him see that the gloves that he wore has large scuff marks and tears showing his skin slightly red. 'I took his chest piece of and punched over a dozen times, yet his skin felt just as sturdy as the armor he's wearing.'
He was interrupted from his inner thoughts when he had to move from his hiding spot to another heap of crate. If he didn't, then he would have been on the receiving end of a metal headbutt.
"Where are you!" The man screamed. "You can't hide forever!"
Looking over from where he was hiding, the blonde hero could see that the masked Faunus has already destroyed most of every cargo here, leaving just only a few places left to hide behind.
'I need to get that helmet off him,' Spider-Man followed his enemy's movements as he continued to knock over crates and barrels. Just when he thought to try the same move twice, his desperation soon ended when he saw the large brute try to knock over a large construct covered in a tarp that had the White Fang logo on the center.
When he tried to use his head what followed was a loud 'GONG!' making the Faunus stumble from the head trauma he inflicted on himself. 'And I just found a good way to take him down for good, too.'
"Grr!" He shook his head to shake off the pain. "I'm getting sick and tired of you hiding!"
"Now's a good time, I guess." Taking a deep breath, the wall crawler hopped on top of where he was hiding and shouted. "Don't need to hide when I'm dealing with someone who's dumb like you!"
"There you are!" Not giving the web head time for a quip, he charged straight forward with carless abandon. "I'm gonna flatten you!"
'Wait for it…' Spider-Man stayed in place as his adversary got closer and closer. 'NOW!'
"Hup!" Jumping just at the right moment when the large Faunus rammed the stack of wooden crates over, Spider-Man landed on top of his back and obscured the White Fang guard's vision by covering the eye slits of the mask. "Now you see me, now you don't!"
'Got to steer him back in the right direction.' Using his head as a steering wheel, Spider-Man angled the raging charger back to where he first saw him bang his head at the large object and started to heckle him to start running forward. "I got to ask, you're wearing all this armor, but punching you I felt like your skin is just as durable, does that make you like a shark? Oh, or maybe a hippo Faunus?"
"Are you serious?" He sounded offended. "I ain't no hippo! I'm a Rihn-"
"Peek-a-boo!" Using his ability to stick to any surface, the spider themed hero pulled the heavy plated helmet off the muscular Faunus, jumped off his back, and watched as the now armorless Faunus hit the heavy object once more without protective head gear.
(GONG!)
"-oh…" Resonating an even louder noise from colliding with whatever was being covered in tarp, the thick-skinned Faunus stumbled on his feet as he tried to get the room to stop spinning.
"Oh, indeed." Not wanting to take any more chances, the all black hero shot two web lines on both shoulders of the debilitated crook, pulled back, and like a sling shot Spider-Man was propelled feet first and made a direct hit at the center of the giant's face.
Not able to take damage at such high speeds, the massively framed Faunus attempted to grab whatever was nearby to help him stay on his feet. His hand reaching for the tarp to hold on too, but the lightweight fabric couldn't hold his massive weight making the thin veil fall alongside him, giving the hero a good look at what was underneath the large blanket.
"Ok, glad I got him out of the way. Now, I can go back to taking pictures of stolen wepo...ons…uhhhhh…"
What he expected from underneath the fabric was a large pile of metal, maybe some heavy caliber fire arms. He did not expect to find a very tall, and very scary looking killer robot hiding underneath the covers. The stolen fire arms, dust, and other military grade material he can understand being stolen, but he can't wrap his head around on how Roman was able to grab something like this!
"How the... who in the right mind would be able to make this? And why!?" Circling around the machine, his questions was answered when he saw 'made in Atlas' engraved behind the left leg of the murder robot. "Forget what I just said. Man, to think Atlas would be able to make this without the other kingdoms knowing yet. Hold on, if Atlas hasn't published that they have a weapon like this, then that should mean it should be heavily guarded within Atlas."
Facing the front of the robot he squinted his eyes to see any other wording etched into the machine. Stopping right underneath the chest was the name 'Paladin' letting the hero know what name Atlas gave their new toy.
"A thing like this shouldn't be easy to steal, Roman may be a criminal mastermind, but he can't have connections so strong that he can get something like this easily. Too many variables leading to them getting this thing, but one stands out and it holds more evidence then the other answers I have in mind."
Going back several nights ago, Qrow's explanation about the sudden increase of crime came in to his mind, one part involving this 'Queen'. Shaking his head at how the situation he's in is getting harder and harder to comprehend, the blonde spider sighed in resignation at his terrible luck.
"Great, this whole conspiracy thing is starting to hurt my head. Roman still needs to be sent to jail, but I don't know how dangerous this Queen really is. She must have deep pockets and deep connections if she can get this to help Roman sway the Faunus join the White Fang."
Deciding it was better to get a better look, Spider-Man climbed to the top of the robot to see anything else he can find useful. "Well, I always dreamed of seeing a giant fighting robot when I was a kid, but how do I get this stupid thing to open? Hmm?"
Seeing some latch on the top of the walking tank, his curiosity was piqued making him pull it to see if anything happened. Hearing something moving he turned his head to see the cockpit door open wide for the pilot to enter.
"So, tempting," He muttered as he slowly reached for the pilot seat. "But, I can't just drop everything I'm doing just to pretend that I'm piloting a robot... A super cool, giant robot!"
'Besides! I got to know everything about this machine, not entering it will go against that logic!'
Having thought of that reason, Spider-Man didn't waste any more time as he entered the cockpit and marveled at how advanced the controls for the Paladin was. From the controls under his feet controlling the legs, buttons ranging from different shapes and sizes, and the main controls for moving the arms made Jaune's inner child scream with nostalgia.
"Oh," He grasped the controls that operates the main weapons. "If only my kid self was here now, he would say being a superhero was cool, but a superhero piloting a giant robot is EVEN COOLR! Man, I can already see what it's like if I had my own giant robot. I'm even more positive if Ruby was here she would feel the same way like me."
His day dreaming had to be cut short however, when he decided to squeeze the handles making the pilot hatch close shut leaving Spider-Man trapped inside.
"Ok, fun times over. Need to get out now!" He attempted to replicate what he did that made the hatch close, but he only made it worse when the paladin started to activate. "Everything's fine! Everything's going to be ok! I can do this!"
Spider-Man's shouting kept going for a good moment, that as he kept fiddling with the controls, he didn't notice that the Paladin was on top of a moving platform. Said platform began to rise to the top to where it was going to be shown to the the Faunus wanting to join the Fang.
"My spider sense keeps telling me something dangerous is happening, but I already know I'm in trouble! I don't know how to turn this stupid thing off!" He screamed desperately as he fiddled with more buttons. "Ok, I really shouldn't start pressing so many buttons! Aha! This looks important!"
Looking at the display screen in front of him he saw the options icon at the bottom left corner. "Please, make this a touch screen!"
Pressing his index finger on the options icon a different screen popped up giving him different options, but when he saw the universal sign of the power button he wasted no time to press it making the paladin finally shut down. Leaning back in the chair from relief, Spider-Man took slow deep breath to calm himself before steeling his nerves again.
"Ok, now that the nightmare is over, I can get back to- why do I hear screaming?" Staying quiet and putting his ear close to the metal wall, he could hear faint sounds of screaming. "Maybe my spider sense was telling me about a different danger, after all."
Not wanting to press any more buttons he just pressed both his hands to the hatch leading outside of the robot, used some of his super strength, and forced his way out of the cockpit and back outside.
"AAAAHH!" Just when he opened the hatch wide open, a very familiar voice scream followed by the sound of someone falling. "OOF!"
Spider-Man turned his head to where he heard the scream and was about to ask if the stranger was ok, but the stealth suited spider instantly froze after he realized where he was.
What was in front of him, was the White Fang and Faunus civilians running around in a panic after experiencing an out of control robot wrecking havoc inside the warehouse that was holding the Rally.
"Ohhh." He tucked his head between his shoulders like a turtle hiding in its shell. "I guess this is what I should expect if I ever decided to learn how to drive, huh?"
Moving his eyes to see all the damage he caused, Spider-Man felt a wave of joy seeing that his actions only caused some small damages but saw no signs of any lives lost from the disaster. Wiping away the pretend sweat trickling down his mask to show that he dodged a bullet, the wall crawler was about to go back to leave the paladin when he felt the room starting to go deathly silent.
He froze, looking back at what was around him, the spider vigilante saw both regular Faunus and the White Fang stopped their panicking to look right at him. The faces he could see were only the visible faces of the Faunus who wanted to join the Fang. Each individual had a wide range of emotions from seeing the Spider hero, from awe at how they were able to see Spider-Man this close to dread knowing the fact that since there here the hero will likely web them up and send them to the police.
Of course, for the Fang there only response was to draw their weapons and made a wide circle around the black suited spider.
"Ugh!" Roman Torchwick groaned as he picked himself off the destroyed cement floor, dusted himself off, and pointed his new cane at the webbed nuisance that's been making a fool out of him for months. "Spider-Man!"
"Um," Spider-man turned his head to the left and then to the right as the armed White Fang terrorists pointed their weapons right at him. "Oh man!" He used the palm of his hand to smack his forehead. "I thought I was playing a robot simulator, but here I am, in an actual robot! Heh, heh, can you guys believe that! Ha, ha, heh…. Can you?"
The only reply he got from the large crowd of heavily armed terrorists were the sound of guns cocked and aimed squarely on him.
"Yeah, I kind of knew that would be you guy's answer."
Another chapter made and a whole lot more questions that need to be answered! Was this chapter too short, maybe not too descriptive on some parts? Maybe a good bit of both? This story is getting a good motion and I hope you guys like how this chapter will lead up to the fallout of what happens afterwards! New suit, a new guy that he fought, and a very surprising way to ruin his own plan is by accidentally piloting the paladin, are usually how I think of both Jaune's/Spider-Man's luck usually goes by. But, I'm sure you guys are going to be thrilled of what happens after this chapter, but before that happens I'm sure you guys have some questions that you need answered from the previous one, so here I go.
So, the stealth suit was bright up to me when I played Spider-Man: Shattered dimensions and watched Ultimate Spider-Man. It looked great and I thought it would help Jaune be more stealth that not only looks cool, but also complements his spider powers. I know his powers would be enough to make him sneak around and he doesn't need the suit, but it still gives him other uses like intimidation, make him a lot harder to hit since he's not wear bright color, and the most important thing he needs above all else is that it makes him look more intimidating. Also, I planned to have him get a different suit, but he will go back to his original suit in later chapters. Like Spider-Man from earth-616, Jaune will have his own collection of suits, the stealth suit is just his first of many spider costumes I will give him, but right now it's just Scarlet spider suit and the Noir/Stealth suit.
I also got comments about the venom suit too. Unfortunately, it won't be introduced in quite some time. Either it will be used around the chapters that revolve around RWBY Vol. 4, so it will take some time to add the symbiote. I want to make this story have a consistent time line and if I add so many elements of Spider-Man's like it would sound forced.
Another thing I get are some negative feedbacks about some plot holes being present and how I don't treat certain characters correctly. I know I'm an amateur writer, so I will make mistakes along the way. I read each of your comments and it helps me make changes to my story to make it better for all of you to read. So, I apologize for both my 2nd rate writing and if I offend any of you on how I make character in the show to be something different. I need your guy's reviews to make it better, just please when you do tell me what's wrong don't just insult it and leave it at that, actually give me some of your ideas to make it better and not just tell me it's bad.
The paladin in the show was also kind of tweaked a bit also. It was covered in tarp and shown in the same room as everyone else, but I wanted it to be used as a tool to help Spider-Man fight Alex and I thought to myself it would be kind of like a Jaune/Spider-Man thing to do if he somehow messed things up.
Now, for those who know who Alex is, good for you guys and I'm very glad you know who he is, but for those who don't let me tell you. Alex is the man who will become The Rhino later in the story, so I'll be adding more Spider-Man villains soon making Jaune's bad guy roster a little bigger.
Speaking about villains, let's talk about heroes. Specifically, Iron Man, who will finally be in the main story line! The Omake was there to not only add some backstory to Iron Man, but to also tie him in to how Roman got the Paladins in the first place.
For the next chapter, the long-awaited fight at the highway will commence! I hope you guys will like how I'll write how Spider-Man will fight the machine, but above all how you guys will react when team RWBY will be added to the fray. I know one commenter wrote a small paragraph on what he thinks the fight at the highway will be and I got to say I really liked how he portrayed it when Jaune/Spider-Man gets angry.
I hope you guys liked this chapter and will follow, fav, and leave a comment on this chapter. Don't forget to also check out my Beta-Reader's stories too! Without his help, I'm sure I wouldn't be able to make great chapters every time!
Like always, I hope you guys will enjoy this chapters Omake!
OMAKE: Nice Walk In The Park
Spider-Man.
The masked hero everyone within the Kingdom of Vale can say that he's either a hero or a villain. A man who wears a mask, but not to terrorize Remnant like a certain group that turned its back on their ideals. He wears the mask to hide his identity as he fights the wrongs in the city, to make sure those who have a grudge against him won't use his personal life to destroy him.
A hero that some say is a Faunus due to his animalistic traits, while the other half would say a Huntsman who decided to take his own code to follow then the law of the Council, there's even smaller groups that say he could be something more. Either way, the amount of theories and news revolving the hero is so abundant that it gets hard to separate truth from fiction.
No one has ever really gotten enough time to know why he dresses up as a hero or why he does them, but one thing that everyone should know is that under his costume, he's just a person like any other.
"MMM!" Jaune Arc, stretched out his arms and took a deep breath through his nostrils before expelling it all out through his mouth. "Man, I do love a day off."
And like any anyone who deal's with either work, school, or even by the off chance trying to fight crime as a superhero, then days off like these are something very rare and very few. Yes, having a schedule filled with schoolwork, doing three separate jobs on a different day, and be Spider-Man 24/7 can be very taxing to our young blonde spider. That's why one day in every two weeks, Jaune picks a day to not go to work and enjoy some quality time to himself. Of course, he knows that if trouble does arrive he'll always jump into his hero persona and help peoples who are in trouble, but to just have time for yourself despite it being short, is still worth it in Jaune's eyes.
That's why, our hero chose the park to enjoy his time of not doing anything but enjoy the sights and take pictures with his trusty camera.
"Now," Putting his down and on the camera that was slung around his neck, Jaune looked around the public park to see if there was anything worth taking a picture of. "Time to do what I promised myself and just enjoy a nice walk in the park! No stuffing my head full of knowledge, no busting my rump ay work, just me going for a normal walk in the pa-"
'Wait a minute.' Feeling a slight tingle in the back of his skull, Jaune turned his head to if danger was anywhere close by. 'Ok, I just took literally three steps before my spider sense was set off, what am I going to fight in a park? White Fang? Roman's goons? Or maybe…'
"A kid climbing a tree?"
Just as Jaune said out loud, his eyes spotted a little girl with red hair climbing a tree to retrieve what appears to be a balloon that's stuck between two branches.
"Please don't fall! Please don't fall! Please don't fall! Please don't fall!" Rushing over to the little girl who was half way up the tree, jaune made it just in time before she got any higher and spoke to get her attention. "Excuse me! Little girl, where are your parents?"
'Oh man, I hope no one else see what I'm doing and plan on calling the police. I already have a hard-enough time being labeled as a criminal when I'm Spider-Man, but I don't want it to happen to me being labeled as some pedophile while I'm me!'
"Huh?" Turning her head to the stranger talking to her, the young child tilted her head before going back to getting her balloon down.
'Of course, she wouldn't talk to some stranger.' Taking his eyes of the kid, Jaune saw her prize still stuck in the tree. 'I know I shouldn't do this, but I'm sure this kid's parents won't believe her.'
(TWIP!)
Shooting a web line to the balloon, Jaune pulled the silk lined balloon out of the tree and into his hands so the girl didn't have to climb all the way up the tree to get it. Her prize no longer in the branches, she turned her head in surprise after what she the blonde teen did just a moment ago.
"Got your balloon!" He taunted her in hopes for her to come down. 'Great, now I look like I really am trying to abduct this girl by baiting her with this thing.'
"Now, if you can please safely climb down from the tree I can give yo- no Stop!"
Jumping off the tree, the young redhead was caught in Jaune's arm while his other still held on to the balloon she was after in the first place.
"Yay!" She squealed in delight. "Again! Again!"
"No, no," Putting her back on the ground, he handed the balloon back to her. "This is yours."
Looking at the balloon and then back to Jaune, it only took a minute of choosing before she immediately hugged his leg and gave him a wide grin!
"So cool!" She said with wonder in her eyes. "Do it again! Do it Again!"
Not surprised that she would react to such a display, Jaune gently removed her from his leg, handed her the balloon and gave her a smile like he usually does when he's with his siblings.
"I think finding your parents is more important." Holding her free hand, Jaune scanned the park to see if he might spot her parents. "You think you can scream their names? Maybe you have a scroll to call them?"
"It's ok!" She reassured Jaune. "My mom is on her way right now!"
"Really?" He said in surprise. "How do you know?"
"Because I told her."
"When?"
"Just now." She said like it was the simplest answer to give, but it only made him even more confused at how she just called for her mom when she didn't even shout or moved to find said parents.
"Because, my mom read my- Oh hi mom!" Letting go of Jaune's hand, the child ran and hugged the legs of her mother. "I got my balloon out of the tree thanks to him.
"Oh?" Looking over to who was with her daughter, the mother stared at the nervous teen before she gave him a serene smile. "Then let me thank the hero who saved my daughter, Katherine. It seemed she took quite the shine to you."
Extending her arms out for Jaune to shake, the mother with red hair made her introduction.
"My names Jean, pleas to meet you, Hero."
'Hero? Kind of feels weird being called that since I'm not in my costume, but it feels nice either way.'
"You don't have to thank me, I'm just glad I found her before it was too late." Seeing that he was no longer needed, Jaune waved his hands and started to walk away. "You two take care, especially you, Kathrine!"
"Bye! Bye!" The small child now known as Katherine shouted in delight as she saw her hero walk away. "He was cool, mom! I was climbing the tree, then I saw him shoot a web, and then he caught me with one arm!"
Listening to her daughter's small tale, the mother just patted her child's head, picked her up, and spoke in her usual motherly tone.
"That's quite a tale! How about you tell that to your dad, I'm sure he's going to love to hear about how you met a superhero!"
"Yeah!" Now, even more exited to tell her dad, Katherine wrapped her arms around Jean's neck as both mother and daughter walked back to their picnic sight. "Will we meet him again, mom?"
"Don't worry, Shine, I'm sure we'll meet him again. Either as Jaune or as Spider-Man."