All credit to respective owners!
Also the timeline will be... slightly more malleable in terms of secondary quests and the like. I know canonically there are some things that may seem... out of order, but please bear with it.
P.S. Special thanks to nataku2709 for idea discussing on Viri!
P.P.S. You want to talk about my stories? Feel free to PM me, I would love to hear your thoughts and ideas!
-Y.A.R.N.
Peter was silent as he stood on a nearby rooftop and stared the building that housed the disastrous result of a failed infiltration. Miles hovered uncertainly behind his mentor as he watched hands Spider-Man's clenching and unclenching.
"What now?" Miles inquired.
"We find Hammerhead and stop him. He's gonna go out of control if this keeps up, the cops can't handle him and the other maggia families can't beat him if he keeps using Sable tech, we have to stop him before it gets any worse."
His phone ringed and he answered, "Hey Yuri, you okay?"
"Fine," She said quietly, "I just need to catch my breath."
Peter motioned to Miles to follow him as they both swung into the city, "Let me take point. I find out what Hammerhead's planning and stop it. You need time to heal."
"That would be... Nice." Yuri sighed, "But don't leave me out of the loop. You find out anything tell me!"
"We're gonna stop him Yuri." Peter promised.
"No. Not stop. We're gonna nail him. We're gonna NAIL HIM TO THE WALL." Yuri near-growled.
She hung up.
"Is she gonna be okay?" Miles questioned, worried over the sheer venom in Yuri's tone as she spoke of Hammerhead.
"Hammerhead made it personal. We have to stop it before it gets out of control." Peter replied tiredly, "Let's head to the Bar with No Name, been hearing rumors that some of his men have been posted there, be as good a place as any to start the hunt."
Miles twisted around a fire escape and got close, a hint of confusion and worry in his tone, "We won't be able to get in just like that, there had got to be a few dozen criminals in there and don't think they'll just let us waltz in!"
Peter chuckled, "I know, last time I was there, the fight lasted most of labor day's weekend. But I know just the right guy for the job."
Miles was suitably impressed by the little Spider-Bot Peter dropped in the open window above the door. With the little spider on its way, they quickly retreated to the rooftop to make sure they weren't spotted by any wandering thugs. Peter quietly held a hand to his mask, controlling the little bot as it made its way through the bar. Miles carefully watched and made sure that he could learn all that he could from Peter. When Peter was finished with his spying, he stood up and looked at Miles.
"I think I got what I needed. I want you to head to these for locations, take photos of the plans and make sure you get them to MJ, she's doing a piece on Maggia fronts." Peter said as he shared the map to Miles' suit, "Lock the place down and then make sure you let the cops know when it's done. It might help slow Hammerhead down and give us time. When the four locations are locked down, call and we'll meet up to plan our next move."
"Okay." Miles said, excited at the prospect of heading out solo again, "Any tips?"
"Don't just rush in, stealth will probably be your best weapon right now, take out as many as you can quietly and only fight if you get noticed. Stay high when you're webbing them up. Don't hold back too much, bases can be problematic because they can corner you." Peter instructed, "Be careful Ricochet and I can drop what I am doing if you need assistance."
Miles nodded, "Right; what will you be doing?"
"Heading to the Auerbach Theatre, it's where the rest of the Dons are holed up. I'll pass on what you're up to to MJ, alright?"
"Okay. Thanks Spider-Man, but don't worry. I got this!" Miles said excitedly.
"Miles' taking point on the bases, he's doing the legwork and will pass on everything to you." Peter said as he swung through the streets while informing MJ on Miles' tasks.
"Do you think he is ready?" MJ inquired.
Peter would have stilled had he been standing, but only stopped web-slinging to land on the corner of a building.
He wasn't sure if it was wise to explain his reasoning about the whole situation to be honest. Miles was getting better at his 'stick-em powers' (as Peter had jokingly dubbed them) but was he ready to fight on his own? Miles had been rash and already brushed against death in his brief battle with the Demons, and was already seeing just how dangerous the job was with the introduction of the villain Spidercide (who had been suspiciously quiet as of late). Peter had been able to tough it out, but looking back there was a fair amount of luck and personal ingenuity after defeat or retreat that played into his fights and kept him alive. But he didn't have a set timetable for his life, going out as a superhero was always a risk, he might one day fall and Miles would have to assume the role of Spider-Man.
That was something he had relearned all too well in his brief scrabble (though beat-down would probably be a lot more accurate) with the Sinister Six on top of the Raft. Had Otto expressly forbid the Sinister Six from killing him, he might have very well died. Sure, Peter was stronger now, with help from his upgraded Iron Spider Armor MK2 and Viri's assistance, but that didn't really make the job any more predictable. This war Hammerhead had started with the Maggia and the Cops just emphasized the need for a Spider-Man no matter what happens.
But being Spider-Man came with loss, loss that could either drive one to be better.
Doctor Conners was one such loss.
Otto Octavius was another.
Or losses that made it hard to even get out of bed.
Aunt May was one such loss.
Uncle Ben was another.
He had to push Miles a little bit, and see if Miles was truly ready to be the one to inherit to the mantle of Spider-Man if Peter fell.
Viri squirmed in him at the thought, "I will fight tooth and nail to never let that happen to you Peter. I swear that to you."
Peter smiled at Viri's vehement refusal to let Peter die.
"Yeah, I put in some stealth takedowns and strategies into his training and since the whole Demon/bullet incident he's been working hard on it. I will be playing back-up in case it gets to be too much for him."
MJ was silent for a moment.
"Alright, thanks Peter. I am on a deadline." MJ replied gratefully as she hung up.
Peter sighed in slight worry over everything going on when his police cut-in switch buzzed, "Transporting a Hammerhead witness to a secure location with police escort."
Peter hummed as he changed course and began to swing towards where the transport would be happening, "I'd better make sure the witness gets to his safe house in one piece..."
Miles crawled through the opening at the top of the building and landed on a steel beam that spanned the building. He watched carefully as several Hammerhead goons and thugs milled around the building. Peter was giving him this job and he was determined to do well; he had been told by Peter that infiltration was risky in buildings like this because the goons could come out in droves if the alarm was raised and running wasn't quite so easy. He silently ran across the beam, his spider-balance keeping him perfectly upright as he made his way to where a lone was checking a crate that was clearly carrying sable weapons. Making sure the man wasn't in anyone line of sight, Miles snagged him with a web-line, yanked him up before he could even let out a shout of surprise, and clocked him across the jaw before suspending him in a cocoon of webbing.
He launched himself across the area before slamming into a thug- into unconsciousness - and then following up by tossing and webbing him to the ceiling. It helped that Miles could camouflage himself as the men nearby walked by him without being any the wiser. He wasn't going to be cocky about this though, he had already knew what could happen if he didn't play it safe and was determined never to make that mistake again. Miles - using his speed, agility, and strength - worked his way through about three quarters of the thugs when finally one of them realized there was someone picking them off one-by-one and flipped the alarm lever. Miles let out a sigh as several goons armed with sable tech stormed in and began to scan the area. He was so sure he might have been able to get them all before the alarm was sounded but it seemed that plan was scuppered.
"No point in letting them see me first..." Miles muttered as he let himself fall off a rafter he had been perched on and landing on a thug with a loud thump.
All of the men immediately honed in on the noise and saw Ricochet straighten from atop the unmoving thug.
"Hi, my name's Ricochet. I'm applying for the 'official ass-kicker' job, I think my interview consisted of knocking you all into next week?" Miles playfully quipped.
Peter would be proud.
Judging by the immediate whine of sable rifles and batons powering up, it was gonna take a while for his 'interview' to finish. He cartwheeled back as a thug swiped with his baton and flipped through a hail of red bolts as the rifle-armed thugs tried to kill him. But Miles hadn't been planning and training with Peter for nothing, he punted a thug across the room before using one of the most efficient tech combos he had seen Peter use.
Screwball had been nothing short of an annoying and insane maniac who thrived off the popularity of her streams (and her own weird form of narcissism from her popularity). And while Miles and Peter both hated the idea that she was catering to the criminal's (and somewhat stranger civilians') fascination of seeing Spider-Man square off against wanted convicts, Miles did watch some of her streams if only to see how Peter fought and try to make his own fighting style better. A prime example was when she had hacked into Peter's old suit to disable some of his tech and restrict him to use tech she allowed; she had (to the glee-turned-to-immediate-despair of aforementioned convicts about to fight him) forced him to think of new ways to vary his tech into devastating tricks to take down his opponents. His suspension matrix was already a huge pain for most villains - forcing them to hover in the air helplessly while Peter punched and pummeled them - but adding in his tripmine webbing? That was a impressive way to subdue a decent amount of opponents in quick succession.
The suspension matrix sprang to life and lifted several of the thugs of the ground - while they yelled in alarm - and into the air. While they flailed helplessly, Miles tagged four of them them with the tripmine webbing and grinned as they immediately slammed into the earth as the web pulled them to the ground with a loud thud. He didn't waste the remaining time of the suspension matrix's waning strength and launched himself into the air, lashing out with kicks and punches that sent the remaining thugs flying. The remaining thugs who had managed to either get clear or simply were lucky immediately looked much less confident at the sudden loss of their forces but would rather go to jail rather than run and be found to be a coward by Hammerhead (he wasn't about to leave any 'loose-ends' per se become a liability and squeal). They hefted their weapons and charged at the hero. Using
Miles ducked a baton before lashing out with a high-kick that sent the goon down skidding and twisted out of the way of a rocket-shield. His spider-sense buzzed and leapt into the air as a hail of bullets tore into the ground and followed him up the wall. Miles glared at the minigun-using thug doing his best to shred Miles into bits. Suddenly his gun hissed as the cool down kicked in and he let go of the handle with a pained wince. Miles didn't dither or hesitate and launched himself at the thugs with both feet extended; he smashed the thug into the ground hard enough to give him a decent concussion, but nothing life-threatening. He suddenly was sent flying as a goon with a shield successfully rocketed into him and knocked him away.
Miles flipped neatly in air and landed on a railing glaring at the smirking goon, wincing at the painful electricity cascading across his skin and messing with his suit's tech. He hopped down from the railing and instead of leaping at the goon, flung out another of Peter's inventions.
A Spider-Bro.
The goons laughed at the small unassuming robot.
The robot hovered for a second before launching a barrage of electric bolts at the surrounding thugs. The goons screamed and immediately began convulsing as the electricity was comparable to a high-charge taser and left them twitching. Miles casually covered the criminals in sheets of webbing and brushed his hands as though he had just finished a job well done.
Which was pretty much the truth.
Now for those files.
Peter watched as the cops began to move the witness to a different secure location as apparently there was a leak in the police force and they had let the maggia know when and where the witness was being moved.
Peter could easily believe it, Hammerhead knew way too much and was able to react to all of the cop's movements far too accurately for him not to have a insider. The problem was that he couldn't tell Yuri because she was still off and even if he did, he had no idea who it was. The police force couldn't afford to lose any manpower with this war happening right now. The NYPD were grasping at any recruitment drives they could hold and it made sense for a few mobsters to join while the police were so desperate. They were still reeling from the Devil's Breath - the inordinate number of cops killed by escaped convicts and those who fell to the sickness before Spider-Man was able to beat Otto - this long after events had spiraled out of control.
Peter scowled and swung through the streets as he made his way to the Auerbach Theatre, he just didn't have the time to speculate and wait around. If the maggia dons were held up in the Auerbach Theatre, Peter needed to be there in order to make sure Hammerhead didn't get to them. The way Vinny and Gino had been talking, it seemed that Hammerhead had a way to get around the location and get at the dons inside. As long as he could keep Hammerhead from getting the dons, the pressure on the cops would be lessened. Besides, he had told Yuri he would take care of it; he didn't want to let her down so soon after the incident at the Sanitarium.
His phone buzzed and Yuri began to talk, "Spider-Man, how's the hunt?"
"Good." Peter responded, "I've got a lead on the Dons. How are you?"
She let out an near inaudible sigh, "Tired. I just finished calling my men's families. It was... hard. Good. But hard."
Peter nodded to himself, "I'll take care of this Yuri. Don't worry."
The call ended.
Spider-Man landed on a lamppost nearby and observed the several maggia goons milling around the front of the entrance to the Auerbach Theatre.
"Well..." he mused, "It seems like the Dons are safe..."
Just then the ground rumbled as thought there was a small earthquake happening; a white machine that almost looked like a subway train compartment erupted from the ground. One of the maggia goons held out a hand - motioning for his friends to stay back - and approached the machine, drawing a hand gun and lifting it. Then the machine sides immediately lifted open and sable-tech wielding goons were inside, guns blazing the moment the doors to the transport opened. Several of the Don's goons immediately were cut down while the rest dived for cover and began to desperately returned fire.
Spider-Man watched in dismay as a war-zone unfolded in front of him, "Were safe..."
Deep in The Raft, Otto Octavius burned with hate and rage. He had been betrayed, left to rot in his worthless body that was slowly losing the ability to even move his fingers. Everyday, another fraction of control over his body was lost, another way for him to craft and carry out his revenge would be hindered. Peter - he who had given him a life; a job that was for the good of everyone - had ruined his plans and halted his revenge, Norman had roadblocked his achievements and accused him of being worthless! Now? Now he had nothing but a deteriorating health and what may equate to a coma except he would be awake and utterly helpless. Was this how he was to die? A broken shell and husk of a brilliant man, trapped and abandoned by his allies and friends?
No.
He wouldn't - he couldn't - accept that.
"I need a body..." He muttered, "I need a working and strong body..."