Chapter 10

Okay, Peter, three dozen Hammer Drones are running amok in this Expo, as well as hacked armor of one Colonel Rhodes; what do you do?

Answer: civilian safety first, then square off with the Drones. Alright, alright, no biggie, I can totally do this.

On the scene, the lines of a dozen drones are already shooting at buildings and pillars. It threatened to crumble the people below. I came sweeping up two to three people out of the way from the rubbles and using my web to keep most of the intact building in place.

Phew, thank you, spider-web.

It was a touch-and-go for a second there because every moment counts. People were on the edge of dying for every bullet and missile being shot out.

But then the artillery stopped. The drones had switched their attention to Mr. Stark, who was maneuvering in the air. Their missiles aim at the armored man above.

"Hey!" It draws no attention from them. Deciding to be more theatrical, I flipped above them, webbing the lenses of a couple of drones before landing on top of one of them, ripping the head out while I'm at it. Hopefully, that decommissioned them. All the other robots began to switch their gazes to the source of disturbance; me. "What's a guy gotta do to get some attention around here?"

They point their literal hand-guns, and I don't need my spidey-senses to tell me I'm in deep shit.

Thinking fast, I stuck onto the robot's back as it endured the spray of bullets from the other side. Good thing the Drones are durable, but there's no way I could sit still in hiding. One side has to give.

However, they have multiple machine guns and I'm just one guy with spider-powers… how the hell am I gonna get out from this one?

I examined my surroundings and web shot at the globe from the middle of the fountain with the word STARK EXPO on them. It was already loose so it was easy detaching it before throwing it.

" I came in like a wrecking ball~" I sang tonelessly while hitting them like bowling pins. The machine guns ceased blasting.

I jumped into a flip from above, scanning the battle below. My left hand webbed one of the Drones that had fallen and my right shot the nearest manhole, throwing it up at another robots' chest before it could shoot me dead. The impact made it explode and pushed back the other drones surrounding it to the ground. Giving me perfect vantage points to web them up real good.

I watched them wriggled and failed to escape the webbing, which is good news for me. I guess Hammer Tech got nothing on my web— SPIDEY SENSE!

I spun out of the missile's way and ran from the guns firing from the other robots, ducking behind one of the building pillars and took a moment to readjust.

"Jeez, it's difficult being popular these days. The fans just keep wanting a piece of me."

The firing stopped, and I thought they had run out of bullets. Turns out they were recalibrating into their missiles. With me being outnumbered, there's no room for me to outmaneuver them, so I have to find a way to take out as many as I could at once.

Plan made, I waited for them to finish aiming. Everything became a familiar slow buzz that put everything in perspective. Carefully timing it right, I shot a web, pulled myself in a flash of speed, giving a sharp kick at the robot's head.

I landed behind to shoot another pair of web lines from the back and forcefully turned its aim to its friends like a puppet. The thrusters already engage, the missile's attacks hit true. The explosion managed to take two of them down and crippled one robot, so I take that as a small victory.

Then the six drones began circling me, leaving no opening for me to escape.

I gulped, "Spider-power, don't fail me now."

As the shooting began, it took all of my focus to skip, flip, and dodge all of the bullets. The ammunition was countless but their aims were straight and clunky. I barely dodged them by the skin of my teeth. One might have hit me, but that's not important right now. Oh man, my costume is so ruined right now. I just know it. This is so going to blow over my allowance. "Guys, guys, no need to fight. You're all pretty in my opinion!"

I wasn't just dodging just so you know. All the while, I had been aiming webs after webs at their most vulnerable parts—the joints, the eye lenses, the missiles shoulders, and legs. So by the time I leaped over them, none of the robots managed to move an arm out of place even as they kept shooting their guns at each other. They tried switching to missiles but they can't change their aim, thanks to my webs.

" Sheesh , I do want to be part of that circle grou— FRICK! Frickity-frack— argh—!" I held my hip that had unimaginable burning pain. I didn't want to but I looked down, bracing myself to the bloody mess I'm witnessing.

"Ah— this— this isn't so bad—" At least the bullet didn't lodge inside because I'm not wiggling my finger inside me. I pointed my shooter at the wound and expected that harsh impact as my web closed my wound as best as it could.

While I did the same on my back that my spider-sense alerted three more Drones coming for backup.

I groaned, "I guess that's it for recess then."

They started shooting without warning — which is rude — and I leaped from wall to lampost, from wall to billboards, dodging the barrage of bullets as much as I could. The bots were a bit too far for me to do the same trick as the other crowd. Damn, so they learned their lesson.

And these robots learned fast. Because once they realized I wasn't getting hit anytime soon, they changed tactics, ceasing the guns and redirecting their missile launchers on the running crowds.

"Oh, no, no, no, no, no!"

But nothing could stop the three drones firing, and everything came into slow-motion as I took in everything too much in a short amount of time.

The missiles they have, how many were shot, the trajectory made, the speed it took to land, the interval between missiles, the biggest casualty they could make.

There was no way I could intercept all the missiles at once, more so if they were shooting continuously, but these drones are shooting one missile at a time, so maybe… just maybe…

I had already leaped by the time the missiles were shot; my body parallelled them as I twisted midair like a ballerina (if I do say so myself). I shot continuous thick webbing, creating a large web-net that caught two of the missiles and exploded in place. "You guys have terrible aims, you should really work on it or you'll embarrass the name of the US military."

I kept twisting around, trying to do the same, but one missile managed to slip past me. So without thinking, I shot a web at the missile in an attempt to stop it.

My spidey-sense tells me this was a bad idea. I was quickly dragged by the force of the missiles.

Oh boy, oh boy, oh boy, I did not think things through. Think, Peter, THINK!

I landed on the nearest building, my leg clutching hard to keep me from being carried away. I pulled the missile around, my muscles straining from the force. "Aw, for me? You shouldn't have. No, seriously, you shouldn't. In fact, you could have it BACK!" I put all the strength my spider power was capable of providing me than I've ever done before, until the missile turned around and hit the drones.

I turned back to the cracking building and shot as much web as I could. Still, I knew it didn't cover much because I had to turn back again and shoot stray, big rubble and swung it to the third missile before it could hit anything. The fourth missile hasn't been launched yet. Hence, it was the perfect timing for me to leap sideways, webbed the missile launcher and forcefully twist it around so it would shoot one drone down.

Alright, two to go—spidey-sense! Danger coming from… above?

I looked up to see a stray missile from the aerial battle coming straight at me.

"Ah, fudgestick," I said, dodging out of the way barely in the nick of time. But letting it hit the building I was on as consequences.

I was about to go back to the wrecking building, but one of the Hammer Drones was closing on me with a raised fist.

Instead of dodging, I kept running head-on, inwardly praying, please let this work, please let this work, please let this work and slide between its legs, then webbing its feet together.

The moment it tried turning, it tripped as if having a pair of left legs. "Hey! There's no need to attack the floor. What did it ever do to you?" I webbed the robot and only was satisfied when it turned to a fine cocoon. "Now go kiss and makeup!"

There was a horrified shriek coming from behind, almost forgetting the collapsing building. The ceiling cracked and was about to drop tons of debris on a fallen woman. She closed her eyes in tears while screaming. When she felt nothing, she opened her eyes to me, holding it up on my back.

"Hurry up… urgh ... and go!" I grunted from exertion. Man, this back and forth thing is really tiring.

"My… my leg…" she said, and I spotted the ugly bruise on her ankles and had to keep my mouth in check because of freaking course, she broke her ankle. The universe couldn't make it easier for me, could it? And when you think it couldn't get worse, surprise-not-surprise, the drone was striding toward us.

"I'm so… hic… sorry...hic… because of me..." The lady cried below me. Some part of me wanted to cry with her. The other part sympathized with her plight. Instead of being scared for her life, she was sorry for me.

"Don't worry… Miss… don't you know…" Even though I had my mask on, I still tried putting up a grin, recalling one of those old school comics with their corny lines, "A hero always finds a way."

Oh wow, if it's not death by robot, I might just die from embarrassment.

Still shaking in tears, she continued, "You can leave me. We can't both die in this place. Other people need you."

I'm genuinely touched by her selfless words, but I wanted to cry for a whole different reason. That reason was getting way too close, way too fast for the people to get away without any casualties.

I began to panic even further because there's how to get away from this freakishly big pile of concrete without burying the people underneath and fend off the death robots at the same time— idea!

A stupid, impulsive idea. Yes. But still an idea.

"Miss, miss, do you think you can, err, hobble and hold on to me?" She was confused but proceeded to try. She was in obvious pain but finally threw herself at me. When I said I wanted to be popular with the ladies, this isn't how I imagined. "Alright, hold on tight."

I breathed in and breathed out a couple of times as I started bracing myself, straining my legs as it started to bend, before leaping off with a war cry. All the other rubbles above me broke away as I shot out from below. I inwardly thanked Spider-42 for being based on jumping spiders because that leg power was no joke. I'm honestly the most surprised.

My wound on my hip screaming pain all over my body, and I'm pretty sure my war cry turns into a pained cry.

Once out of the fallen building, a big concrete slab on my back, I swung it from off right onto the Drone.

The bot, not perturbed, had its arm shone to blast through the concrete.

Webs hit the shoulder joints and kept it still.

The ruble fell and crushed it to smithereens.

I landed beside, having a moment to catch my breath with my hand on my knees. The lady that's been screaming next to my ear finally subside to my ear's relief.

"That's… that's what you get… for messing with the 'Man' in Spider-Man."

I looked around, a buff guy screaming like a girl passed me by and forcibly pulled him back with my web. "Hey, you're a nice, strong-looking dude. Think you can carry her to safety?" I passed him to carry the lady in a bridal carry. "Thanks, you're her hero, now RUN! " The order snapped him straight and he proceeded to do just that.

"Okay, okay, saved the civilians, destroy some robots, this is going better than I expected—"

A harsh punch hit me from the side that sent me skidding across the ground, the wind knocked out of me. I remember I did a lot of coughing, heaving, and groaning, or a mixture of all three. Ever since the Spider-Bite, there were very limited things that can actually pain me, not to mention hurt me.

But the last Hammer Drone's hit was bad enough than any type of beating I had, and I've been hit by a car before. It took a lot of effort to just lift my face up, only to be faced with a shining blaster about to blow my head off.

"Ya know, when they said pain is trending, this isn't what I expect."

Briefly wondering I was going to die with a bad joke as my last words. I heard the tell-tale sound of launchers and what might have been a speeding plane. But it was a lot more distinctive and familiar than that, and I got back the hope I lost even before the last Drone was turned to smithereens with a single blast from Iron-Man.

"Nice work, kid."

There was a moment when I wanted to burst out laughing from pure relief but what came out was another coughing fit instead. I kept trying to gain enough breathing to say something, anything to freaking Iron-Man because if that wasn't the most badass save, I don't know what is.

"Not a kid," I groaned out as I tried to keep slurring my words, "You just wish you're half your age, old ma— ohmigod ! You're Iron-Man! I just got saved by Iron-Man. I'm a huge fan of yours the revolutionary way you code your AI. Ohmefreakingosh, this is the best day of my life." A stray tower fell over and crushed half the roof of the building across. "I take back that last part."

"I saved your life, and you just mocked and complimented me in the same breath?"

"...yes?"

I hate myself sometimes.

The face on his helmet opened up to show a smirk on his face, "I like you. Listen, I've got flying robots plus my best friend coming after me. You think you've got enough juice to keep the rest of the people safe while I brilliantly kick ass?"

There was a large part of me, particularly the bruising, aching chest part that wants me to stop, rest and raise the white flag and say, "I'm done."

But the wicked never sleeps, so shan't the hero.

"Yeah, yeah," there was no hiding the tired sigh that escaped, but I managed to get up even as my muscles protested, "Yeah, I can keep going, Mr. Stark."

"None of that, if you're not calling me Iron-Man, call me Tony."

There was a long silent moment where in my mind excitedly screamed, " He wants me to call him, Tony!" With any less control, I would have giggled uncontrollably in front of my hero.

The sound of rockets clued us in on the rest of the Drones coming in close, and the mask was back on, "Keep up the good work, Spider-boy," he said before blasting off.

"Yes, Mr…Iron…Stark...Sir!"

As much as I wanted to shout to the world that Mr. Stark knows me, there were robots to be crushed and people to be saved.

I came across another drone, minding its violent business of traumatizing civilians.

"This would have been much easier if I can just punch out the… power source… why am I such an idiot?!" If these drones were really a knock-off from the Iron-Man suit, then the power source is most likely…

"There!" I crouched just within its range and swung an arm right toward the shining light in the middle of its torso. But just when I was an inch away from ripping the Source off its suit, my Spider-Sense blared warningly, making me pause.

I duck before being back-handed away, caught the arm, and using a move I've seen enough in movies to judo flipped it. Instead of getting flipped, the arm I had a hold on was swiftly wrenched out of its socket. The Drone wasn't going down without a fight as it looked ready to launch the last batch of its missiles, so I had to quickly rip it off its shoulder, push it back to the ground and webbing the Drone in place.

I was about to go off to the next batch when a niggling reminder from the fight got me curious. Following my gut, I crouched near its chest plate and ripped it off. Looking over the circuitry inside, I realized this wasn't just an Arc Reactor Knock-off. It is the Arc Reactor. I knew because I've studied the bigger version that powered Stark's company. Maybe with a different style, sure, but there's no doubt it's not some cheap imitation.

And according to this circuitry, the creator had the fun idea to make it a bomb too. An Arc Reactor Bomb… What kind of sicko decided that was a good idea?! My mind raced of the littering Drones around Stark Expo and the crowd of people still evacuating. Whoever schemed this must think it's a really great idea.

"Why do evil geniuses gotta be good at what they do?" I ripped off the head plate as well and used the wiring there to connect with my phone. Hacking into the program so at least it can't be used remotely.

But then I saw the codes and holy moly! What's with the wicked programming here! You need Stark-level madness to hack it. I may be good, but I'm not that good.

Not without help.

I spotted a stranger on the phone and snatched it with my web, "I'm sorry, I'll give it back. Lives are at stake!"

I got back to the Drone, and while my right hand is busy combating the firewall, on the left I called the only other person I trust who's skilled enough to help me with hacking.

"Hello?"

"Gwen!"

"Peter, why are you– you know what, never mind, you better remember to get back for me because I swear—"

"Gwen, I know I owe you some explanations, but right now I need your help in hacking the Hammer Drones and keep it from exploding remotely."

"You want me to what?" She shrieked.

"Gwen, please, I can't do this without you, and you're Midtown's best and brightest. You're way better at me with the programming stuff."

"Okay, okay, Peter, you know you don't need to butter me to help you, right?" Already from the video call, I could see her pulling up her tablet.

"It's not buttering up when it's a fact."

"Aaaaw, you're sweet." She sunk in a breath and tried alleviating her nerves. "Alright, I'm ready."

"Great, now connect to my phone and we'll start."

Her fingers flew in a flurry of movement. And I began helping her from my side as well. Working together, it felt like having more hope than ever before. Even as I was faced with a monumental task. Never had I been faced with a puzzle this difficult, and I do recreational math for fun.

Yes, I am a nerd—no need to remind me.

There was a sound of planes flying above that got me looking up. Lines of Drones, all flying to one destination, and it took me a second to realize they were aiming for Mr. Stark. I had to quell the urge to run off and help him, half wanting to impress and be acknowledged by him.

But I quickly shook that off, focusing back on the matter at hand, "How are we doing, babe?"

"Already broke past the firewall, but overriding the self-destruct program will be…" She went silent as she kept constant taps on her tablet. Even while I helped as much as I could, the growing despair in her face didn't bode well.

"Peter, Pete, I don't think I can…"

"Yes, you can, Gwen, people's lives are at stake."

"Not helping the pressure over here."

" Then maybe I could help."

Both of us jumped at the additional voice coming from our connection. There was a notification of a second caller intercepting our phones.

"Who are you?!" Gwen demanded.

"An ally," she said (I think it was a she, no way to tell without a picture), I noticed you had hacked the Hammer Drone system and thought you might need some help."

"There's a bomb rigged to the Arc Reactor of the Drone. Most likely on the whole squad. If this was rigged to detonate remotely…"

"...then Vanko will succeed blowing up the whole Expo," she put the pieces together. Though I don't know who the heck Vanko is. "How far have you gotten?"

"We've broken into the server and are about to start decrypting the self-destruct program but at this rate, we may not be able to override its command in time."

"I only know basic hacking but I may be of help."

"No offense, but this needs a higher skill programming than basic– What the heck?! Lady, what you're doing is not 'basic'!" I cried as I saw an additional window that showed the fast typing of her tearing down codes like a bulldozer.

Just when things were looking up, the Arc Reactor began flashing red. Which was code for; O-oh

"Peter, you've gotta get out of there; it's going to blow."

"We're almost done."

"Peter!" Her voice was strained, and the flurry of taps on the tablet went up quicker. And it occurred to me that she's becoming just as desperate to save me.

But still, I stayed. "Not yet," I told her.

It was five seconds before detonation, and every second felt long and grueling. All I knew were the codes on the screen of my phone and nonstop clicks of my fingers as I had it going faster and faster. And I was desperately trying to finish the codes, the Arc flashed for the last time…

...and nothing.

When the seconds ticked and no bomb, no flash came from the Drone and the tension snapped. "We did it?"

"Oh, thank God, we did it. We did it!" Gwen gasped, and her eyes red from the tears she's been holding back. She rested her back on the wall and looked up with her hand on her face, looking like the utmost relief.

"WE DID IT!" I cried out and wanted to cry, laugh, and lift my girlfriend high up in the air for the awesome job she did.

"Good job, both of you," said the mysterious voice before the call was dropped.

The screams of guests were long gone in this area. There were no sounds of missiles fired or zooming rockets. Just the background music of the Iron-Man themed song still playing on the speaker and the statics from broken wiring.

"Peter…"

"Gwen?"

"Can we go home?"

"Yeah… yeah, we can."