"You really didn't have to volunteer to do this, Connor." Leanne said the next day as Connor was getting ready.
"Hey, I'm with you guys as we cleanup the whole Starfall Island mess, right? Might as well make myself useful around here." Connor said. "Besides, it's like I said. People don't really know my face that well around New York compared to you guys. I'll be able to get in without any issues."
"Still, I've been meaning to ask about that. What about your teammates, have you told them what's been happening?" Ace asked.
"Ace does have a point, Connor. It would probably be better if the others were on the job too." Betty said. "Whatever or whoever gave you that message on Kronos Island, might refer to the rest of our team as well."
"Yeah, probably. I'll call 'em soon as we're done here." Connor said. "Still, glad you guys don't mind me doing this."
"I mean, what you said does make sense, not being well known in the city as much as us. But the Underground calls themselves a "young mafia". Are you even the right age to enter?" Kaibara asked.
"I'm 20. Pretty sure I qualify." Connor answered. "And don't worry. I won't be going alone. Since the girls aren't that well-known in the city, I'm betting either of them can come with me and Miles."
"Then allow me to volunteer for this covert mission." Maria raised her hand.
"I'd better join in too in case we get busted." Chris added.
"Well, if you're gonna do this, you need to change your outfit. They'll probably recognize you in your cowboy getup." Lei K said.
"Thankfully, we still have a few outfits in our closets. Maybe something from our little mission to rescue Bakugo can do the trick." David said.
"You still have that thing?" Himeno asked.
"Well, I'll never know if I am going to need a disguise again. So, I'll lend Connor one of mine." David said.
"You do have two disguises in that case. That little performer disguise you wore during the Hideout Raid, or that armor you wore to pose as one of Orochi's men." Tsumugi said.
"Well, thanks to Cheetah and Sachiko, Orochi is dead, so I don't have any need for the armor." David said.
"Not to be rude, but wouldn't the Onigashima disguise be a little out of place for infiltrating a Young Mafia?" Betty said.
"Don't worry Betty, I'm sure David's got lots more spare clothes for me." Connor said. "You don't mind if I look through your disguise clothes and slap something together, do ya bud?"
"Sure, go right ahead." David said.
A few minutes later….
Connor came out in a black suit over a vest and gray tie with leather pants and black dress shoes with a fedora hat.
"The name's Trav. Connor Trav." Connor said, doing his best James Bond impression in front of everyone.
"Oooh, looking snazzy!" David said.
"Indeed!" E. Constance said. "I much prefer this look over your outlaw one."
"Wow…harsh." Connor said.
"Well, at least you tried." Shirabe said.
"Okay…here's the play. You volunteers will approach Phin and Miles after they leave the coffee shop. You'll say you wanna join the underground and then infiltrate and find the Nuform. After you find it, get out and fast." Tails said.
"Got it." Connor nodded as he, Chris and Maria prepared to head out before…
"Ahem!" Betty said. "Aren't you forgetting something Connor?"
Connor then noticed he still had his mask on. "Oh, right, the mask… dead giveaway."
"They don't know your face, so having it off will sell your disguise." Betty said.
"Come to think of it, we've never seen you take your mask off, Connor." Glimmer noted. "Any reason why it's always on?"
"...Ever see that movie, The Lone Ranger?" Connor asked the group.
"Isn't that that outdated cowboy movie?" Kaminari said.
"I always thought it was because he looked like Erron Black." Al said.
"Nah, cosplaying as that guy isn't the reason. It's just…. I was told when I was still working for them, y'know, the Universal Government, that if my face was ever seen by the wrong crowd, it would be bad." Connor said.
"You're infiltrating an enemy base and will be surrounded by a bunch of rebellious young adults with super advanced technology. I'm sure this can be an exception." Betty noted.
Connor thought about it before sighing. "Alright… but you guys better not take pictures of me and spread 'em all over the web or something."
"Trust me, we do not need a relapse of what happened with Daki and Gyutaro." David said.
"What exactly happened there?" Hibiki asked.
"...Something you guys are better off not knowing." Sectonia said.
"...We got all the pics that can be shared later." Mina whispered to them.
"Don't you freaking dare!" David and Mark said in unison.
"Well, here goes nothing…" Connor said as he unclipped his mask and took it off. A lot of people were expecting a rugged, outlaw-esque face like Erron Black's below his eyes…..
…instead, they were met with a cute, clean look that looked strikingly similar to Chris.
"What the? You're….handsome?!" Mineta said.
"Huh." Emo remarked, looking between Chris and Connor. "You two could pass as siblings."
"Excuse me?!" Chris exclaimed as she stared at Connor for a bit. "He and I look nothing alike!"
"Nobody laugh at me, please…" Connor said, embarrassed a little.
"Buddy, relax. We ain't gonna judge you." David said. "Well… Most of us won't."
"Most of us?" Tenko asked.
"I'm not gonna mention any names, but anyone who's thinking about it knows who they are." David said.
"Well, we'd better get going. Where are the Underground hiding out?" Connor said.
"Fisk Tower." Kendo noted. "After we helped Spider Man arrest Kingpin, it seems they decided to squat in his old HQ. You gotta be careful while you're in there. Fisk may have had a number of traps still set up."
"It won't matter once we're inside and friendly with the Underground." Connor said.
Connor, Maria and Chris soon headed to a building that was nearby Fisk tower, as they saw Miles in his Civilian clothes and Phin wearing her Tinkerer outfit come out of a door.
"Wait, I thought it was just you, who are they?" Phin asked.
"They're those friends I was telling you about." Miles said. "I guess they wanted to join up too."
"We're tired of being nobodies, and we want to be somebody. Figured joining your club was the best shot to do that." Connor came up with.
"Alright, that's good enough for me." Phin said. "C'mon, you'll all need to prove yourselves to the Underground. I'll show you how when we get to Fisk Tower."
"We heard they crashed there ever since Heights Alliance helped Spidey take Kingpin to prison. Guess it didn't sell fast enough." Connor said as they climbed up the building.
"How'd you get involved in all this? The Underground, the Tinkerer?" Miles asked.
"Tinkerer's a nod to my role. I built everything, the masks, the weapons…" Phin said. "The Underground tried to rob my granddad's shop while I was working on the programmable matter and saw it all. We made a deal."
"I know you're after Krieger, but what do they get out of it?" Miles asked.
"Notoriety. They want to be so well known, they can get away with anything." Phin said.
"And you're good with that?" Connor asked.
"I can't take on Roxxon alone. Especially now with their added muscle." Phin said as they came to a crane. "You all need to jump from that crane to the balcony. Show them you're fearless."
"They're watching?" Miles asked.
"From the windows. You have to do this." Phin said.
"Ooh…well I've jumped from high places before and avoided getting shot to death…shouldn't be a problem." Connor said to himself as he and the gang walked on the crane.
"You're lucky. I've gotta do this without showing anybody I'm Spider-Man." MIles whispered.
Coming to the end of the crane, Phin went first as she jumped and landed on the balcony without slipping on the edge.
"Well, didn't come this far to die from a fall in a perfectly good tux David lent me." Connor said to himself. "No regrets, no fear!" he called, jumping from the crane next as he nearly landed on the edge, but thankfully landed near perfectly, probably once again from a huge stroke of luck.
Maria and Chris went the same way as Connor, but with less mistakes.
Miles went last, and jumped using none of his abilities. He almost missed, but thankfully Phin caught him and pulled him up, bumping arms in camaraderie.
"So does this mean we're officially in the club now?" Miles asked.
"Sure, but watch your backs. These guys take a while to warm up to new people." Phin said as she let them all inside. "Here it is. Where the plan comes together." she said as she put her mask on.
"So your plan. How does Nuform fit in? Krieger said you stole a shipment." Miles said.
"I stole one canister. I'm making some adjustments…don't worry about it. Take today to settle in." Phin said as they stopped near an Underground Gunner.
"Good, you're back. Gavin needs you." she said.
"Not now. We've got new recruits." Phin said as she led them all the way inside, as they saw some of the underground's weapons under production.
"Whoa.. you built all these?" Miles asked.
"Yeah. Long as the new weapons keep coming, the Underground stay loyal." Phin said.
"Is that a sword made of programmable matter?" Connor asked, noting the blades in production.
"New enemies, new solutions." Phin said.
"You mean Spider-Man and Heights Alliance, right?" Miles asked.
"This week's most unwelcome surprise." Phin said. "I gotta deal with something, you guys hang tight." she then headed off.
"Now's our chance. Let's see where she's keeping the Nuform." Miles said.
The group then split up to gather clues around the Undergrounds base. The room they were in was completely remodeled to their liking, even a picture of Kingpin was vandalized as beats played in the background. Connor first came to a table where there was piles of cash everywhere.
"That is a whole lotta money." Connor said to one female Undergrounder.
"Even more downstairs. Old man's basically funding us, whether he likes it or not." they said.
"Downstairs…" Connor said. "(That has to be where they're hiding the Nuform.)" he thought.
Connor and Miles continued to look around before Connor had his attention turned to an Undergrounder vibing out to an instrumental version of a song near some computers.
"Hey! Turn that down over there, your girlfriend's music is messing up our jams!" another thug called in the distance.
"Hey, screw you! Just because you don't like Uta's music doesn't mean you can stop me from listening to it!" the Undergrounder yelled back. "I can listen to this if I want. Freaking jackass…"
"Heh… so even someone from the Underground can like Uta's music?" Connor asked of the Undergrounder.
"You bet! She's just got this way of bringing people together, you know?" the Undergrounder in question said. " This is only just the instrumentals of her music. If you ask me, if you really wanna get a feel for her, you gotta hear her live and in person, with her vocals. Once we take down Roxxon, a few of us are hitching a ride to Elegia to catch her show to celebrate. That is if I can win the last batch of tickets…"
"Huh… you don't say." Connor said, secretly scanning the sweepstakes link the Undergrounder was using to his phone and entering for himself, the girls and his whole team. "(And this way I can get in on the action. No way I'm missing this.)"
The group soon reconvened together.
"I think we've all got the same idea where Phin's keeping the Nuform. It might be in one of the lower levels." Miles said.
"Break times over kids. Group 2, head downstairs for training!" an Undergrounder called as a group headed into the atrium.
"And I think we just found our way down." Connor said as they followed the group to the atrium. Connor then took the time to secretly update the group.
"We're inside, guys." Connor told anyone who was listening.
"You got a plan?" Kaibara asked.
"No, not really. And I basically left all my guns at the agency." Connor said.
"You three better suit up. I bet Miles has the same idea." Hope said.
"Hey." Chris spoke up, earning Connor's attention. She used her Zikan Phone to materialize an X-Baton Blaster to her hand. "I want that back when you're done."
"Thanks. I'll grab a few more toys from the atrium on our way." Connor said, grabbing the blaster.
The three of them headed to an isolated room in the tower where Connor put down a bag filled with his usual outfit.
"Okay. I think the walls are thick enough to block out you guys chanting so you can armor up." Connor said.
"Good." Maria nodded as she and Chris quickly performed their relic chant, changing into their Symphogears. "I'm glad I don't have to use a LiNKER drug to transform this time. The LiNKER stigmata is a godsend for saving time and resources."
"Gotta give credit to Einstein and Tesla, they know their stuff." Chris remarked.
Connor had also changed back into his usual gear away from the two as to not make things awkward, coming out while putting his mask back on.
"Alright, that's better." Connor said. "So uh…sorry if it was awkward or anything with my face being a male version of yours." he told Chris.
"How the heck did you look like me in a way?" Chris questioned.
"Maybe genetics? Or perhaps there's a Symphogear world in the Color-Verse?" Maria guessed.
"We'll discuss that later." Connor said. "Let's find that Nuform."
The three of them headed out to the atrium as they found Miles had already dispatched all the Underground thugs inside with stealth tactics.
"Perfect timing, guys. I saw Phin heading down stairs to the basement. Think that's where they're keeping the Nuform." Miles said. "No sign of Phin though."
"Must've gone somewhere… Fisk probably has secret passages all over his castle." Connor said before looking to a specific statue. "I wonder…"
Miles, having the same thought, webbed up the sword sheath on the large samurai statue and gave it a spin, causing it to move and reveal a set of stairs towards an elevator platform.
"Whoa– secret stairs!" Miles said.
"And they were hidden under a Samurai statue, what're the odds?" Connor said.
"Just like the ones on TV." Chris added.
"Anyway, let's see what's over there." Maria said as they approached the elevator platform.
Before they left, Connor picked up a few things from the downed undergrounders. A Programmable matter Assault Rifle and Sniper rifle, and some of the backpacks they were using, which likey power and hold programmable matter for use.
They then took the elevator down for a bit before they were close behind three Undergrounders. MIles slung up to the ceiling, while Connor, Chris and Maria quietly and stealthily followed them from behind.
"You hear all that noise in the atrium? Must be a hell of a training exercise today." one of the males said.
"I know you don't want to talk to her about it, but three people got sick after the bridge. Three!" another said. "We know how dangerous Nuform is–"
"You knew this would be dangerous. It's the deal we made." the female said.
"But if we're getting sick too…" the male to her left said.
"You can't hack it, you can get out. The Underground doesn't have time for weaklings." the female said.
"So Nuform's making the Underground sick too…" Connor whispered as they followed the trio not too far or too close behind.
They soon came to a vault area filled with more of the Kingpin's money the Underground was "borrowing" from him. Phin was there, as Miles headed up high and the trio hid behind the vault door.
"You moved the Nuform? Safely?" Phin asked.
"Yeah, to the lab up town." the male Undergrounder with the hood said.
"Dammit, they moved the Nuform." Connor said.
"We're not sure if the canister's safe. It was hot, buzzing, like it's unstable." the female said.
"It's the new Spider-Man. His powers messed with the structure. Tell everyone not to touch it." Phin said as miles analyzed the map from afar.
"They're hideouts. Nuform's gotta be in one of them." Miles told the others quietly. "I'm gonna go in for a better look, see if I can relay the info to the others." he then activated his camouflage, getting closer as he hung from the ceiling.
"We don't know enough about this stuff! What it is, where it came from–" the hooded Undergrounder said.
"My brother created Nuform. Chief chemist. And Roxxon killed him." Phin said as Miles analyzed the map, nearly blowing his cover as he stuck to one of the papers, but he kept his cover. "I won't stop until Roxxon's gone. Are you with me?"
"You know we are." the other male Undergrounder said as Phin masked up.
"I need power. Generators, car batteries, whatever you can find. Bring them to the theater." Phin said as the four of them left through another door as the group reconvined, Connor noticing that throughout the whole conversation Phin and the three thugs had, Maria had a case of deja vu.
"Thinking back to some stuff?" Connor asked.
"Yeah, and not in a good way." Maria replied. "The Frontier Incident a few years ago back in my world."
"Hey, you've already moved on from that, remember?" Chris said.
"Yeah, you're right. Sorry about that." Maria replied before they moved on. "(Phin reminded me so much of how I was before after Serena died protecting me.)" she thought.
The four of them were about to study the map some more when Miles's spider sense went off, a female Undergrounder with a different mask look coming behind them and saw them all.
"Spi–Hei-Sympho-!" she stuttered before leaping into the air, drawing and manifesting a programmable matter sword like the ones they saw upstairs. The group barely dodged out of the way as she smashed the table to splinters with it. She then swung it again as it suddenly extended like a whip and grabbed Miles and flung him across the room, knocking him into Connor as they both recovered.
(Cue: Receive you the Hyper Active- Yakuza: Like a Dragon)
"Aw, c'mon, that's not fair… Phin copied Maria's weapon design!" Connor noted how the Underground Swordfighter worked.
"Alright… I'll play along." Maria complied, preparing her own whip-sword as more Underground thugs came into the scene.
"We'll show you what we can do!" one of the males said as they charged in to attack.
At that moment, Connor instinctively grabbed his loaned X-baton blaster and the Underground assault rifle. While this was happening, something was quietly stirring inside him as his pulse rhythmically quickened. In slow motion, the Underground backpack suddenly turned from purple to red as the assault rifle in his hand reconfigured into a Programmable Matter version of one of his pistols as he aimed them both at another swordfighter who was jumping on him, aiming both at them as time began moving again.
"Wha-?!" he didn't have time to say anymore before he was shot in dual succession with non-lethal energy blasts from both guns, stunning him in midair as Miles took advantage and jumped on the thug, charged with Venom, and tackled him to the floor, destroying his sword in the process.
"(Those movements…!)" Chris thought in surprise.
"Whoa! What did you two do?!" Hagakure asked over the comms.
"Man, I don't even know what I did, but it worked!" Miles said, awed by his own new move.
"Me neither…did it happen again?" Connor said. "Either way, we got a fight on our hands, so I'll just work with this for now!"
"Cool. I'ma keep shocking guys." Miles said as he engaged the Underground grunts.
Connor, keeping the thoughts of what just happened in the back of his mind for now, used his loafer and reconfigured weapon and shot the Underground gunners from afar, dodging anybody who tried to get close.
As for Chris, she evaded the gunfire from the grunts with aerial spin jumps before retaliating with homing lasers from her twin revolvers.
HORNET PISTOLS
Meanwhile, the female underground swordfighter clashed blades with Maria, her short blade against the underground's larger one.
"Like the new gear? Anything you can do, the Tinkerer can do better!" the Swordighter said as she prepared to lash her blade at Maria. "And mine's bigger than yours!" she said as she launched it out at her.
"It's not the weapon that makes you strong." Maria said, evading the attack and summoned another whip-sword from her hand and swung forward, pushing the swordfighter back. "It's how you learn to use it that counts!" She then swung both whip-swords as they attacked the swordfighter at multiple angles without leaving any openings to react.
EMPRESS†REBELLION
Connor and Chris shot down a few more grunts non-lethally, before Connor caught a punch from a thug before whacking him in the gut with the but of his Progammable matter revolver and then switched his loaded X-Baton to melee mode to knock him out. With them and Miles working together, it wasn't long before all the thugs were knocked out.
(end Song)
"Well, I can finally check "fight in a mob vault" off my bucket list." Miles said.
"Seriously?" Chris deadpanned. "What's the next one on that list of yours?"
"Huh. Never really thought about it." Miles said. "Anyway, we got what we came for. The map of Underground hideouts."
"Time to head back to the others. We're done here." Maria said.
"Yeah. Better update the others." Connor said. "David, we found out where Tinkerer's hiding the Nuform. There were a bunch of hideouts on the map before it got trashed, but Tinkerer mentioned a theater. If that's the case… the best place to look for that canister is Gem Theatre."
"Gem Theatre… Got it." David said. "The place seems like it's tricked with some Electric Generators to prevent access. We have our work cut out for us."
"Not necessarily. If we can take out the generators, we should be able to get inside. It might be best if we split up." Leopardmon said.
"Yes, you're right. Splitting up will cover more ground." David said. "Get back to HQ for now, and we'll go over the assignments."
"On our way." Connor said as they made their way out. "Can't believe it happened again…what's goin' on with me?" he wondered, knowing that what happened on Onigashima, and again in the Old West, happened again. Similarities to Chris, the mysterious happenings… The mission was advanced forward, but Connor was left with more questions than answers.