Finally another chapter done! Took longer than I'd have like but whatever!
Is it bad that I only really get inspired when it presents the opportunity to slack a bit at my job?
Meh, questions for another time.
All credit to respective owners.
Reviews (polite constructive criticisms please) are loved!
-Y.A.R.N.
Peter mindlessly tinkered on one of his newest projects until his radio began to report of shots fired at the Bar with No Name and how they had no one in the general vicinity due to most of the police spread thin to confront the various Maggia crimes. Miles had gone home as it was getting late but promised he would be ready to help if Peter needed him later, and as tempted as Peter was to get his help, Miles had other responsibilities than being Kid Arachnid. Peter got up and quickly logged out of his systems before running out of Horizon Labs and donning his Iron Spider Suit in a nearby alleyway and web-swinging off into the city. He knew that any shootout at the Bar with No Name was going to be a long and bloody battle, that was supposed to be a sort of neutral ground for all the gangs in town and no gang member with any sense would've jeopardized that.
Peter snorted under his mask, "Some small honor among the lower crust of NYC..."
'I do believe that honor is one thing that they try to keep up...' Viri noted, 'Otherwise gang wars would be launched every other street. Hammerhead seeks to destroy the status quo and take complete control."
Within a few minutes he landed outside the door only to see it had been blasted off of its hinges and had fallen in. The two guards that were station outside were motionless in a pool of blood.
"This is...brutal." Peter muttered, a pit forming in his stomach at the thought of who could have done this.
He carefully walked in and gaped at the general carnage of the scene that was presented as he made his way into the bar area.
"Yuri... please tell me you didn't..." Peter trailed off in horror.
"If not her, who else would?" Viri said sadly, "You said it yourself, no gang members would dare attack in the neutral ground that was established here..."
It was a massacre.
Multiple goons and thugs were strewn around the bar in pools of blood or slumped against the broken remains of the tables, chairs, or bar. Some of the various maggia that had been killed were shot, others were quite literally beaten to death. Some of the bodies had been broken before being shot execution-style. Peter looked around when he heard the whirr of mechanical moving and saw his spider-bot quickly crawl out of the corner of the room towards him. Peter blinked in surprised and walked towards it while holding out a hand to retrieve his robot.
"Hey little guy." Peter said as he crouched down and the spider bot crawled onto his open palm, "Surprised to see that you're still in one piece and survived all this..."
The robot made a small whir.
He deactivated the bot and looked around, "I know that Yuri is furious but this..? This is unlike anything I have ever seen her do..."
'Her reaction is understandable.' Viri pointed out, 'You know what she has had to overcome to get to where she is, Hammerhead brought all of her shame and rage back to the surface and pour salt on the wound. She won't stop until he is dead.'
"Viri." Peter sighed, "That is EXACTLY what I don't want to happen."
He then heard a phone ring and saw it laying next to a dead goon slumped over the bar counter.
'The Show' was going to be happening this evening and frankly Peter had no clue exactly where it was and what that entailed.
Which wasn't good at all.
Sure he could guess that it involved the other Dons and probably killing them, but implying the whole show bit meant that it wasn't going to be a very private affair. The problem was that Peter couldn't afford to wait around for the show to start, he had to head it off and stop the madness. He had gotten the barest of leads to follow as he swung over to the hospital and calibrated his mask to hone in on any cell calls from the maggia that were wandering the building. After hearing about the group of maggia that were in waiting in the docks, Peter swung off to gather as much intel as he could.
Peter's grimace hadn't left his face as he swung away from the docks and towards the construction site where Hammerhead was. If anything, his fury only burned hotter as he thought of all the consequences of Hammerhead's actions and how they affected the city and the people he cared about. It was pure luck that Vinny's call managed to give him a trail to follow after he managed to hack into the Maggia's calls, and stopping the maggia at the docks before leaving an anonymous tip to the cops was all well and good.
But it wasn't enough.
This had to stop.
It was time to end this.
Peter's first concern was the fact that Yuri was spiraling, and it was safe to say it wasn't a good spiral. When she said she was going to teach a lesson in fear, Peter knew things were already bad, this was WAY worse. Yuri had effectively declared war on the Maggia with her attack on The Bar With No Name, their supply warehouses, and sent a clear message to the head the people who she had killed in the attack.
She was coming for Hammerhead and was going to kill him if Peter didn't reach him first.
If the show started broadcasting and Yuri was paying any attention — which she was going far past 'paying attention to' and steering heavily into 'unhealthily obsessed with' — she was going to blitz over to the location as soon as possible.
"Don't worry Peter." Viri said, "You can stop him, you can save Yuri before her anger and hatred for Hammerhead overtakes her."
Peter had been in that bad place revenge shoved you in, he wanted nothing more than to kill Uncle Ben's killer, he wanted to kill Otto, he had wanted to kill so many people who had caused unimaginable pain. He wanted to kill so many people when he was trying to keep the Sinister Six from killing untold numbers of people. He wanted to viciously slaughter and/or maim Vulture, Electro, Scorpion, Rhino, Martin Li, and Otto. He considered hanging up the shooters for good — a long moment of despair and doubt in himself — as he attended Aunt May's funeral and held himself back from crying. Revenge and vengeance were whirlpools that could drag even the best of people under and leave them forever changed.
And from Peter's experience, they usually didn't come out for the better.
Peter would do everything he could to stop that from happening to Yuri.
Peter tilted his head as his hands-free buzzed, "Hello?"
"Hey coach." Miles greeted over the line, "What's going on? My police cut in switch is going crazy about Hammerhead's forces being gathered at a construction site!"
Peter scowled, "Hammerhead's endgame, and it's one I intend to win."
There was a sound of shuffling and rustling as Miles began to gather up his suit and struggled to put it on, "I'll be there soon! Just wait up!"
Peter continued to swing and shook his head despite the fact Miles couldn't see him, "Can't stop yet, no time. Just join up when you get here."
Miles cursed as he apparently tripped over something while suiting up but agreed with a short, "Fine."
Peter landed in the construction site in time to see the Dons in a pit with bags over their heads and tied up, "The dons..."
"Look, who it is." A voice drawled from above, "The bug. Just in time for the broadcast."
Peter looked up to see Hammerhead at the top of the construction site and looking down on him with a smirk.
"Broadcast?" Peter wondered.
"Good evening New York!" Hammerhead called, "Welcome to tonight's entertainment, the changing of the guard!"
He made a spinning motion with his finger and one of the goons who was standing next to a cement truck shoved the handle on the machine down. Liquid cement began to pour out of the back of the truck and down a chute that poured the cement into the pit where the dons were standing. They began to panic as the cold cement began to fill up the pit and washed over their shoes.
"Remember when 'Honor' and 'Loyalty' weren't just words?" Hammerhead continued, "When the Maggia were feared and respected? Tonight? The good old days are coming back!"
The other Dons began to scream for help as the cement rose and lapped at their ankles.
"Wish I could join the festivities." Hammerhead mock-complained, "Sit tight. I'll be seeing you all real soon."
Peter didn't have the opportunity to spend time going after Hammerhead right now, the Dons were going to die if he didn't intervene. He fired a web-line and yanked a goon off the mixer's switch before pulling the switch up with another web-line and vaulting out of the way of gunfire. Peter leapt at the goons and began knocking them down with several devastating blows courtesy of his hand-to-hand martial arts. The various maggia men were quickly being taken down and were trying desperately to kill the hero as he evaded their gunfire and weapons pilfered from the leftover Sable tech. He moved from place to place, his form more chaotic and mobile than usual as he fought to keep the mixer clear while taking out gunman or other maggia that were spread out along the site.
"Have to keep the goons off the switch or the Dons are done for..." Peter muttered as he landed in front of a thug and slammed a fist into his gut with a heated fist and then spinning on his heel to kick him in the temple.
His waldoes extended as he bashed and swept the various thugs and goons away from the mixer's lever while curling to intercept bullets and stun batons. He twisted out of the way of an energy whip and groaned as another digging tank thing erupted from the ground nearby. He wished Miles would hurry up, things would be infinitely easier if he were here to help; while a part of him just wanted to release his symbiotic suit and use that, he had a feeling that he should try to keep that ace hidden as long as possible. People had already guessed his 'Iron Spider' suit had more than a few new tricks, the symbiotic suit was a unknown — to his enemies — that boosted him beyond the tech he had applied to his Iron suit; if he pulled out his biggest guns all the time, people might figure out Viri's weaknesses and he didn't want that.
"Hey," Spider-Man inquired as he lifted a goon and flung him at another goon that was getting to close to the lever of the mixer, "you mind if I call those things digboys?"
"What did you call them?" One goon yelled.
"Digboys?" Spider-Man replied as he slid under a goon's legs and kicked him in the back.
"What the hell is wrong with you?" The goon shouted.
"I don't know man!" Spider-Man cried exasperatedly as he clocked another goon in the face while his leg smashed into another goon's chin, "You try to find a name for them!"
"How about your death?" The goon taunted.
"Figures..." Spider-Man huffed.
"Peter!" Viri warned, "The mixer!"
Peter internally cursed as his symbiotic spider-sense sharpened on the goons that had been keeping out of the fight; one of the goons had gotten too close and kicked the mixer's lever down, breaking off the handle for goon measure. The mixer sparked and jolted as the lever snapped off and cement to once again pour down the chute and into the pit where the dons were standing.
"No no no!" Peter shouted as he web-zipped over to the goon and punched him before he mentally growled, 'The mixer shorted out, it can't be shut off!'
Spider-Man aimed his wrists at the mixer and began to rapid-fire webbing at the back of the cement mixer. Viri decided to aid as much as it could and squirmed out of his wrists and fired off it's own symbiotic webbing to help.
"Come on extra-strength webbing... Please hold, please hold..." Peter muttered as he covered the back of the mixer in webbing to keep it from spewing more cement.
The webbing held strong and soon it dammed up the cement from flowing out of the mixer.
"Whew! Guess I can add cement-proof to my webbing's list of functions..." Peter muttered as Viri squirmed back under the iron spider suit.
'Thanks.' Peter mentally added.
'Of course.' Viri replied serenely.
As the police came to the scene, they ran over to where the Dons were standing.
"Can someone get us out of here?" One of the Don's demanded as he tried to wriggle out of the waist deep wet cement.
"Calm down." An officer replied, "We'll get you out of there."
Spider-Man landed on a nearby crane and watched with a satisfied smirk before looking up to the top of the nearby construction building, "The Dons will be safe with the police. Now for mister tall, dark, and flat-headed..."
Spider-Man quickly scaled the building and landed on a strut that stood atop the building. He saw Hammerhead — who happened to be decked out in white armor (presumably the result of Project Olympus) — walking over while slowly clapping.
"Nice work bug." He commented as he stopped clapping, "You spoiled my big night. But hey, we'll roll with it. Risks of live TV."
He gestured to his armor clad form, "You like? Project Olympus in action. Finished it up while you were playing with the Dons."
"So that's they are wearing in Paris this season." Spider-Man taunted as he leapt to another strut, "Hate to say it, but brushed gun-metal is not your color."
"I'm trying to revitalized the mob over here." Hammerhead grumbled, "That takes long-term leadership. Now? I'm long-term."
"Your parts warranty may be long term." Peter replied angrily, "But you? You're nuts."
Hammerhead scoffed at Spider-Man leaping to another beam, "Nah, I'm just a guy who knows a thing or two about PR. The city don't take the Maggia seriously no more, don't respect us. After they see me break you in half? All that's gonna change."
Hammerhead held out his hand and shot out a beam of orange energy at Spider-Man, who leaped sideways to avoid it and landed on the floor.
"Time to the bring back the glory days." Hammerhead said as he shifted into a ready stance.
Peter barely managed to dive out of the way of a red beam of energy that seared through the walls and pillars around him. Hammerhead was already leaping at the acrobatic spider-themed hero as he swung his head down. Peter twisted towards the crime boss — ducking close to avoid a steel skull smash — and responded with a devastating uppercut to the chin. Hammerhead grunted and staggered back as Spider-Man leapt back and fired off a blast of impact webbing at the Maggia boss. Hammerhead snarled as the webbing splattered against him and anchored his limbs to his sides and held him immobile. Spider-Man fired two web-lines on either side of Hammerhead and slingshotted towards him feet first, slamming into the Don and sending Hammerhead into a pillar that crumbled under the force of the body launched at it. As Hammerhead tumbled into a crouch, he shouted and tore his arms free of the shredded webbing he was encased in.
"You damn bug!" Hammerhead roared as he swung his arm while firing a stream of energy.
Peter twisted over the attack and landed on his haunches; when he looked up, a gauntleted fist crashed against his face and sent him flying into a support beam. Peter landed on his hands and knees as blinked the haze out of his vision. Viri bubbled from his skin and mouth and he felt it kickstart his healing to work on the bruise now coloring his cheek and split lip with incredible speed. Spider-Man leapt out of the way as Hammerhead rushed at him and tried to punch him through the beam he had been crouching in front of. Spider-Man landed and almost immediately leapt out of the way of a rocket-boosted charge at his back; as Hammerhead skidded to a stop, Spider-Man heard the tell-tale whine of his arm lasers powering up again.
Peter shot a web-line to swing around the enraged mob boss, using his agility and flexibility to flip and twists over the bursts of energy, "That Project Olympus stuff isn't anything to scoff at... Even through my Iron Spider Armor it managed to pack a punch..."
"I imagine it'd be best if we keep our distance," Viri offered, "Even for all the damage the laser-weaponry can inflict, he's much more comfortable with close-range combat."
"Probably won't do too much good." Spider-Man grumbled, "He'll just rocket into CQC if we keep putting distance between us."
Peter fired a web-line that snagged a blue iron barrel and swung it into Hammerhead as he landed. The Maggia boss staggered and cursed at the barrel crashed against his skull before he shook his head and glared at the web-slinger. Hammerhead once again fired blasts at Peter as the hero ducked and weaved through the streams of red lasers sizzling through the area. He snagged a bag of cement with a web and leapt as he swung the bag in a 360 rotation to launch the bag at Hammerhead. The bag hit him in a cloud of dust and the criminal recoiled and scowled while trying to clear his vision.
Spider-Man wasn't intending to let him have the time to clear the air.
His fist cracked against Hammerhead's jaw and was followed by a heel to Hammerhead's temple as Spider-Man used a cartwheel to attack the blinded Mob boss while moving past him. As much as Peter wanted to attack the torso — thanks to the fact that Hammerhead had a goddamn steel plate inserted into his skull and punching it was pretty ineffective most of the time — Peter wasn't sure he would be able to crack the armor pieces that now covered most of the softer areas with thick armored plates. It might hurt, but the armor would definitely soften the force behind the attack significantly. If Peter decided to go all out and hit Hammerhead with ten tons of force in every blow he probably would smash the armor, but that could kill Hammerhead since Spider-Man didn't exactly have any specs on the armor or its level of durability; Peter was painfully aware of being able to kill someone with a blow like that, he could probably crush Hammerhead's ribcage if he really wanted to. Even so, Peter wasn't inclined to make it fun for Hammerhead or go that easy on him, Hammerhead had crossed one the few people Peter really cared for and he was going to pay. He rolled out of the way of a haphazard blast of red energy and flung out a spider-bro that immediately began to pelt Hammerhead with bolts of electric webs. Hammerhead growled as he raised his gauntleted arms to block the electrical bolts from hitting his head.
The Sable armor sparked and the lights flashed erratically as the electricity coursed through the armor. Peter was about to lunge in for a punch before his spider-sense blared and he threw himself out of the way of a hail of red bullets.
"There he is!" A voice cried, "Get him!"
Peter groans in annoyance as goons began to pour out of the door that led onto the rooftop; Peter didn't need this while tangoing with Hammerhead even normally, let alone a Hammerhead using out-of-country armor enhancements. Before they could rush Peter, a familiar black and red clad figure landed right in front of the maggia and slammed his hands into the floor with a shout as a pulse of yellow electricity erupted from his body into a blinding display and the maggia forces cried out in pain and fell back. Miles Morales or Kid Arachnid straightened and dusted his hands turned to face Spider-Man with a hidden grin.
"Hey coach." Kid Arachnid greeted, "This wouldn't happen to be a private rooftop brawl would it?"
"Not at all," Spider-Man chuckled, "be my guest!"
Miles wanted to pull his own weight against Hammerhead — and prove that even super-powered villains aren't out of his ability to deal with — but he knew that this was personal and he should let Peter handle this while doing his best to beat down any of the many Maggia reinforcements that tried to lend their boss a hand. It also doesn't help that that was probably the first time he used a venom-burst in actual combat, and while the effectiveness couldn't be questioned, Miles can only do it a few times — roughly three or four times in peak condition if he doesn't take care to gauge how much he needs for a pulse — before he collapses and is effectively useless for the rest of any fight. Even so, he's more than capable of handling some of the goons that make up the bulk of reinforcements and throwing himself into the fray. As he's fighting, his spider-sense flared and he instinctively leaps away as a box nearby explodes to reveal a sable turret.
"Oh joy." Miles grumbled as he ducked away from the red bolts of energy.
He didn't give the turret another opportunity to fire and shot two web-lines at it before tearing it free of the floor and shouting, "Incoming!"
Peter's spider-sense warned him of Miles' plan and he leapt, flipping back as the broken sable turret sailed at Hammerhead beneath him. Hammerhead shouted in pain as the sparking turret collided with him. Peter didn't dither and lunged at the mob boss, striking the areas that the armor hadn't fully covered like the thighs, upper sides of the torso, and the upper arms. Furious, Hammerhead roared in pain and swung at the spider-themed hero, trying to keep him at bay. Peter fired an electric web at Hammerhead's face and he convulsed as the electricity shocked him and was amplified by the metal plate in his skull. He collapsed to his knees and panted as he finally couldn't force himself to get to his feet any longer.
Peter and Miles walked towards him while several cops finally managed to reach the top of the building and surrounded the downed and chuckling Maggia Boss.
"Freeze! Your under arrest!" A cop shouted.
"So yeah, turning yourself into a crime against nature, maybe wasn't such a good idea after all." Peter remarked as he watched.
Hammerhead chuckled as he panted, "Heh, pal, you weren't listening when I said 'long term'. Old-school Maggia's got patience. Knows how to wait till just the right moment to—"
There was a sound of a bullet striking metal and Hammerhead let out a surprised shout as sparks flew from behind him.
Everyone turned to see Yuri, holding a sable rifle and beginning to walk towards Hammerhead.
"Yuri?" Spider-Man questioned.
Her face was cold as ice and set in stone except for the blazing fury and dark satisfaction that filled her eyes. She palmed two white disks and tossed them at Miles and Peter, they exploded to release two red capture cords that held Spider-Man and Kid Arachnid in place.
"No! Yuri!" Spider-Man grunted, "Don't do this!"
Miles struggled to rip free of the electrical cords binding him, "Captain Watanabe! Please!"
"Captain, don't!" An officer interjected.
Yuri simply fired another shot into Hammerhead's body as he grunted and tried to scramble away from the enraged cop.
"This is bad..." One cop muttered unsure of what to do.
They couldn't interfere while Yuri was like this, she went too far, she might lash out at the surrounding officers if they tried to stop her. She fired more shots into the downed Maggia boss and he crawled and when he turned to see her, she kicked him int the stomach and held him against the railing.
"Last time we met," She snarled, "You said something about fear. How do you feel now?"
Hammerhead sneered at the captain, "Just. Dandy."
Spider-Man tore himself free and rolled, firing a web-line at the Sable rifle in Yuri's hand, hoping it would be enough. It connected to the weapon and Spider-Man pulled hard on the line, wrenching the rifle up just as Yuri fired a shot into Hammerhead's face with a ringing sound that echoed across the construction site.
Dead silence reigned on the rooftop as the cops and heroes stared in horror at Yuri's remorseless expression and Hammerhead's corpse.