Author's Notes: TheImmortalWeapon and D - HUGE THANKS! Especially for that 100th review. ;) Now, this is the chapter before last. Can you believe it? And it's being spliced into two parts due to length. Enjoy!
Disclaimer: Ultimate Spider-Man is not mine. Nor are any of its characters. That's Marvel's job. Any Original Characters and art you note, however, are all me. No. I'm not making money. Don't rub it in.
Chapter 29 - Edge
(part 1)
Sam's head pounded unlike any time before. It felt worse than gaming for two days straight. Worse than being woken up by Gamora for training. Even worse than being chewed out by Fury or enduring Parker's mouth. Like small knives against the inside of his skull, the migraine pulsed, rendering him incapable of opening his eyes.
Not that he would want to, if he could. The surrounding sight of Collier's lab was more than depressing. Besides, if his eyes wandered too far, they would wind up where they always did: Thera's tear-stained face.
Ugh, that girl and her damn words. Sam wished he could push both from his mind. But the longer the days grew, the more he found he couldn't. Why? Because—regardless of how much he wanted to ignore the possibility or believe otherwise—he knew she was right. Her small voice rang over and over in his mind, to the point where his insides felt thick like lead.
"We could die here, Sam."
The thought hadn't risen before. Now that she said it, though, it's all he could think of. What if he did? What if his team never found him? And Collier took samples piece by piece until there was nothing left of his bones or flesh? Seventeen-year-olds shouldn't have to worry about such things. Sure, he wasn't your average seventeen-year-old, but still…this wasn't the way to die.
'Too many things,' the Hispanic thought with an inward sigh. 'There are too many things I want to do first. I haven't even…done anything worthy of Galaxy-recognition yet…All I've done recently is…'
"Maybe you don't want to believe it or maybe you're just too thick-headed to get it, but those were your fault."
Thera's voice brought a new frown to Sam's dry mouth. Damn. He had wanted to avoid thinking about that topic like the past several times. It never settled well in his gut. It stung and there was no way to avoid it, unless he inwardly denied it or outwardly told himself it wasn't true. Doing that always put him in hot water with the others around him, though.
Alright, so maybe he wasn't fond of being in the wrong. And maybe he did let himself get carried away from time to time. That didn't mean he was irresponsible. Or didn't recognize those hurt people as part of his few short-comings. It just meant…it hurt too much for acknowledgement.
"Let the guilt be on your conscience then…if you don't want to admit it. It's up to you."
Well…she had one thing right. If he died, it would be on his conscience that he had gotten others hurt. As a hero, he didn't mean to. But he did anyway. And…it's possible he could never say sorry. Somehow, he really wasn't fond of that idea…
"Can't believe—Hannigan? Hannigan!" Collier's shrill voice reached Sam's brain and gripped it tight. There was hardly a pause before her voice screeched again, "Ugh! That pompous little—I swear!"
The Hispanic couldn't fight a chuckle. "Problems…Doc?" he questioned mockingly.
Collier scoffed, though he couldn't pinpoint from where since her voice bounced off the walls. "Men are always problems," the woman remarked coldly. Then, her heels clicked closer. "I should've expected failure from him, like the others."
Sam simply chuckled with a small smirk. A sudden sting erupted across his cheek, leading to a cough and another scoff.
"You're in no position to patronize me, boy," Collier hissed. There was a change in her dark tone—one that killed Sam's grim amusement in an instant. "I only have so much time now…I'll move the priorities first. The others are expendable."
Just which of those categories did he fall into? Neither sounded pleasant.
"Don't worry," Collier added, not a bit brighter, "You and I won't be parting ways just yet; our work together isn't yet finished."
Oh, goodie. Sam meant to open his mouth for a reply, but his lungs had already given in. The woman stomped away before he drew in a lazy breath. Then, the sounds of a keyboard clacking reached his ears. The tight grips on his limbs loosened with startling speed and he had no means of protecting himself as he fell a few feet. The harsh floor met him quickly, a stinging pain erupting like fire from his fractured wrist. He hissed in anger, but a pressure on his bicep kept him from curling into a tight ball.
"Wh—what are you doing?" asked Sam, sluggish with surprise.
"You're prime stock," Collier replied while pulling the Hispanic to his weak feet. "You're coming with me personally."
And with a disturbingly strong tug, she forced Sam through the lab. He tried to fight back by dragging his feet and pulling at his arm. However, his weakened state only tripped him and earned Collier's wrath. She growled at him, squeezing his arm to the point where it felt she would break the bone.
"Will you…" Her voice trailed off with a curse.
Only then did Sam force his eyes open. Pain like sharp blades immediately hit his senses from the intense lighting. Through the white haze and blurred shapes, he caught glimpse of another figure in the lab: a familiar blonde surrounded by crackling energy.
"Kevin," Collier said in a calm yet dangerous tone.
"My father told me you would most likely be here," Kevin responded. He halted mere strides away, glancing over the duo at Minerva and Thera behind them before facing forward again. "I have some things I would like to take up with you."
"Z!" Peter cried in a high voice. He briefly glanced at the mutant running below him then scowled behind his mask. "I thought I told you to stay back and evacuate that prison room with Tiger!"
"You did," Zeelan answered with an equal amount of volume. "And I told you that's hogwash. I'm following Ashlee's lead as well and you aren't stopping me!"
"Let her be, Pete," Power Man added, reducing his speed until he kept par beside Z. "If Collier's in the room and she's injected herself with mutant DNA like Smokescreen said, then it's best to have her along for the evacuation of Sam and the others."
"That's not saying Collier hasn't moved them already." Z barely spoke loud enough for Peter to hear. Which probably meant it wasn't for him to address.
"If she's done that, then we'll keep searching until we find them, alright?" Peter replied anyway. He somehow sounded assured, though the weight of Sam's helmet webbed between his shoulder blades felt particularly heavy. Zeelan gave a slow nod in turn and Power Man twisted his head upwards.
"Are we taking a left or right up front?" he asked.
Peter eyed the numbers stenciled near the ceiling, saying, "Left; that's where it dead ends into Collier's main lab."
So the trio hung a sharp left around the corridor bend. The dead end came sooner than expected and Peter flipped to his feet between Power Man and Z once several feet away. Just as his boots clicked against the floor, a loud bang vibrated the vault-style door ahead with such force that it dented outwards. Its power rang Peter's Spidey Sense like a gong. Yeah, whatever was behind that door meant bad news—like J. Jonah Jameson on a rampage bad.
The trio shared a look before Peter nodded at Power Man. The web-slinger crossed an arm over Zeelan's chest and quickly guided her backwards until they were a safe distance from Power Man's charge. Another bang against the door sounded when Power Man pushed forward, and again before his poised fist met its mark. In one swift, solid punch, the out-dented metal popped inwards like cracked soda can. The second and third punches were equally as devastating and with a final grunt the door swung sideways on one good hinge.
Inside, sparks flew. Literally. The trio had to pass a rain of them from several exposed power lines that were originally welded onto the ceiling. Zeelan formed a force-field over their heads for protection (though, it was redundant in Power Man's case) and it grew as they eased through a faint haze of gray mist.
Beyond the fall of flickering lights and some strong odor that made his eyes cross, a shrill battle cry erupted like a banshee. There was a responding growl, a crackle of white light that cut through the haze, and it all stimulated Peter's Spidey Sense. The red and blue hero jumped back just before a body flew their way from a dark part of the room. It skidded to stop by the group's feet, spit out blood without acknowledging anything behind him, and then teleported away—all in an instant.
"Kevin!" Zeelan called with a pained voice. One of her boots lifted forward, but Peter grasped her jacket sleeve, pulling her back.
"Don't," he said sternly.
Z glared at him. "Why?"
"We need to find the others first. Power Man can help Kevin."
"But—"
"It's alright, Z," Power Man said, "whoever he's fighting, we can take them."
"You'll fight with him?" Frank, simple—very much like Zeelan Weir.
It was a test, and Power Man forced a grim smile, saying, "Against Collier or one of her goons? I will."
Z still wanted to protest; that much was obvious. Yet after a moment of struggled thought, she closed her mouth and huffed as her black eyes studied the powerhouse critically.
The dark-skinned hero feigned a sigh. "I will neither hurt him nor let him get hurt, if I can help it. Promise."
Finally, Zeelan nodded, her gaze softening. Power Man gave her shoulder a comforting pat then quickly dashed through the half-lit room towards Kevin's display of electricity. The mutant's dark eyes watched him closely until Peter grabbed her by the waist. With a startled squawk, her body tensed, which made it hard from him to hold her close while he swung them out of range of the war zone.
"Relax," Peter sang when he placed her near a couple of suspended beds.
"I can run, you know," she countered with a weak glare.
The leader simply shrugged in response and used one bed as a shield. He then scanned the area with various kinds of visions in his mask. Night Vision? Useless. Ultraviolet? Way too purple. Infrared? Well, there were a lot of things radiating heat in the room—particularly the trio beyond its overturned machines and fallen power lines.
'Dude!' Peter thought, eyes focused on Kevin's crazy display of dark reds and faint oranges and whites. 'How many microns is he outputting? That looks way more than twenty, even forty…'
"What are you looking at?" Z asked from the side.
Peter waved a hand at her. 'Is that…Collier?'
It made sense. That didn't mean it was certain though. Her colorful form looked bulkier than the recent photos he had seen, like The Thing in a skirt. Only minus the skirt. Still, when she twisted towards Kevin, her figure shrank to the right size and shape. One of her arms expanded like a giant club, growing in body temperature until it swiped the mutant away and returned to its normal form again.
'Is this what Smokescreen meant when she said Collier wanted to take mutants' power for her own? She…can change her body with them?'
Yeah, that sounded dangerous on so many levels.
"Peter!"
With a silent groan, Peter returned his vision mode to normal then faced Zeelan's pointed stare. "What?"
Her stare darkened. "Why are you snapping? I'm the one left in the dark here. Why are you spacing li—"
"Peter?" a hoarse voice croaked. Both Peter and Zeelan glanced around, waiting for a second time to see where it came from. "P…P…" The exhausted voice couldn't finish, but Peter heard enough.
Stomach in knots, he twisted behind the suspended bed beside him, where two beds had been ripped from their track. They laid across one another like interlaced fingers and Peter pulled one up, tossing it harshly towards the side before he kicked the other away. More loud clangs must've sounded, yet they were muffled in wake of disbelief.
Sam's battered body sat, slumped, against the wall. He was half-way conscious and breathing heavily, but he was there. And he was alive. Peter found himself jumping to his friend's side without thought. His arm immediately slipped behind Sam's back and straightened the Hispanic as he searched for any major injuries.
"Pe…ter," Sam said through labored breaths. His normally rich, haughty tone sounded dead, defeated and pleading. It sunk the little hope that had started to bud in Peter's tight chest.
"Geez, Bucket-Head," Peter replied as light as he could. "What did you get yourself into?"
Sam croaked strangely in reply, and the leader tried laughing. He couldn't. The Hispanic writhed as if his whole body were cramping while Peter's vision found Sam's wrist. It was swollen, purple, and contorted painfully. He also spotted several gashes on his tensed limbs and spots where it looked like parts of his skin had been taken. All of this roused nausea and anger from the dense pit in Peter's stomach.
"Th—this…wasn't all K…was it?" Zeelan whispered.
Her Midwestern voice was broken by dread, but Peter ignored her, pulling Sam further up. "Sam? Can you hear me?"
"I'm…sorry," Sam managed.
"Sorry?"
The Hispanic chuckled deliriously and when he glanced up with glistening, half-lidded eyes, Peter felt far from being recognized. "S—sorry. I don't want to die. I don't…want them to think I don't care. I…Thera…I'm sorry."
"Alright, I think you've had enough fun for today, buddy," Peter said near a broken tone of his own.
Sam's gaze fell, except it gained weight in Peter's heart when tears slowly slid from the Hispanic's distant eyes. He leaned into the leader's chest as if a brother could fight off any bad thoughts and surrendered to his labored breaths. It kept Peter grounded for a moment before he stood.
"Zeelan, get him out of here," the spider hero addressed, stony. Z's head jerked up in an instant; so, before her slack jaw had a chance to protest, he continued, "You're here to help evacuate. Help evacuate. I'll look for the others. If I find them, I'll place them outside. SHIELD's already on their way, which means we'll have agents swarming this place soon."
"I don't want Fury to save them," Zeelan hissed. Like most things the mutant said, the words must've passed her lips without a filter because she cringed slightly. Probably thanks to how petty she sounded in hindsight.
"If you want to save them yourself then you better hurry," added Peter stepping backwards. His nimble fingers tugged the helmet off his back then threw that at Z, who caught it with clumsy hands. "We don't know what Collier's really capable of," he continued. "If she decides to blow this place…"
A small sigh drifted across the haze. "It's a bad risk; I get it. Just promise to tell me if they aren't here. Okay?"
The hero's nod was curt and his heart steeled itself against the pained gloss over Zeelan's wide eyes. Nope. He wouldn't think negatively about this. They were going to win. Good guys win. So, flashing an unseen smile, Peter sent a lazy wave, spun around, and then shot a stream of Web Fluid towards the room's backside.
A few swings placed him near a row of circular…thingies. They were thick, metallic and resembled gateways with four short arms inside meant for, well, he didn't know. Until he walked down the line. Three arches in, he spotted two thin figures—a redhead and a dark brunette. Both were suspended within their own circle by the arms like Leonardo's Vitruvian Man, their heads hung limp with unconsciousness.
Great. He would save these two, but...he had no idea what the rest of Zeelan's group looked like, save Kai. Guess he would have to ask if they were a part of it. Flipping to the redhead's circular restraints, Peter glanced over the shackles for any weaknesses or unlock buttons. But of course, that would be too easy.
'Just peachy. Well, what better time for a SHIELD gadget than now?'
Peter reached into a slim pocket sewn on the inside of gloves. Then stiffened. His Spidey Sense sent a shiver down his spine like ice down the back, but when he jumped sideways, he found himself caught anyway.
"Men are always so meddlesome!" an unfamiliar voice shouted in the distance. It sounded like it could belong to a very attractive woman. Only, the undertones of disgust and crushing grip around Peter's narrow torso somehow diminished the appeal.
The hero squawked as the grip moved him one way before harshly tossing him the other. Air whipped past him at a speed he had never endured before. Breathless, his back met a warm, hard force. Power Man's chest. And possibly Kevin's face. The trio landed as a mess, with Peter draped across his comrades' laps. Kevin, scoffing, gave the red and blue hero a hard knee near the groin to push him off. Power Man responded far kinder and helped Peter up, bracing for a counterattack.
"So, what's the four-one-one?" asked Peter as he sent Kevin a passive glare.
"Collier's displayed three abilities so far," Power Man answered.
Peter's eyes darted towards the powerhouse's way then narrowed at a line of red across his cheek. "Dude, are you bleeding?"
"It's a small cut."
"Yeah, but you're bleeding. Like your back."
"…Yeah." The word felt heavy, weighing the tense air down further.
"This is an off day for you, my friend."
Power Man twitched. "She's used powers from a gorilla, rhino, and—"
"Lionfish," Kevin finished in utter disdain. "Thera…"
"I know I'm marvelous, but you boys simply must stop staring." The initial attraction in the fruity voice grew weaker with every word that was dished out. In its place a sense of sick sweetness rooted, like her play of innocence could physically reach into one's gut and curdle it.
She strolled across the room casually, dressed in nothing more than expandable undergarments that hadn't ripped apart when her form enlarged earlier. Her tall, pale body looked well-toned beneath the contrasting shadows from the flickering lights, which indicated an athletic background. It stood with an air of superiority on a pile of debris, and when she grinned behind her mess of blonde hair, it felt menacing—as if she had a dark secret to share. Peter could even swear her teeth were pointed like a demon.
"Doctor Jessica Collier, I assume," said Peter lightly. Don't let the tone fool you; her name left a bitter aftertaste on his tongue.
"Spider-Man," she addressed in a voice that oozed loathsome rage. "I've seen you hang around Stark on TV…I wonder if his lack of charm has rubbed off on you."
"Lady, I'm the one that gives him charm," Peter shot back. She didn't seem to like that one bit.
Her pretty face contorted into a sneer as she jumped from the debris with the stealth of a Jaguar. "I should be annoyed that it's come to this, however…I'm actually quite excited to test my newer abilities."
"Aren't we all?" Frowning, Peter stepped closer to Power Man, eyeing Collier for any further movement. "Z got Sam out," he said in a lowered tone. "There are two girls in the back, but I couldn't undo their shackles."
"Want me to get them out?" Power Man whispered.
Peter's head shook. "Kevin—"
"I don't take orders from dogs," the blonde spat without glancing at the SHIELD agents. Peter tried real hard to fight back an urge to slug the mutant, especially when he added, "I'll deal with Collier first. That bitch won't make it out of here, if I can help it…"
The blood abruptly drained from Peter face, and he grimaced at the chill left behind. "You came here to keep a promise, right? Do it."
Did Kevin listen? No. Naturally.
Peter was left rolling his eyes as the blonde darted forward with a resonating roar. Not an ounce of fierce shock from the mutant's over-charged body caused Collier to flinch. Instead, she stood in wait, allowing Kevin's hands to wrap themselves around her defined forearms. She screamed while she dropped to one knee, yet it sounded overdramatic. And filled with amusement. In Kevin's slight reeling, the blonde slid her hands inside Kevin's hold, lifted them, and then pushed outwards until their roles were reversed.
"Dude, did she just…?" Peter's words trailed off into a gawk.
The dancing lights that shrouded Kevin's body jumped until they surrounded Collier in a vortex of white and blue. She giggled like a school girl when Kevin writhed from the reverse shock then grinned wildly as Peter's foot slid back.