Houston, Texas, 12:20pm
Gunfire erupted at the sound of the voice causing the room to suddenly become illuminated by the muzzle flashes.
"Stop shooting you idiots" Carlos shouted, due to the gunfire he was unable to use his enhanced senses to track the new comer.
The Scarlet Spider watched the confused and frightened men fumble around in the dark. Thanks to his night vision he could see them all perfectly. After the events of spider-island Kaine had left New York behind him in favor of a new city and a new start. When he'd arrived in Houston he'd found himself a little short on money and had taken to robbing the local gangs of their ill-gotten gains. Although he had no official name the gangs had dubbed him the Scarlet Spider which pissed him off no-end due to his past with the original Scarlet Spider.
Using his speed and agility he began picking off the men one by one. Kaine was a lot more brutal than the man he had been cloned from, Peter Parker aka the amazing Spider-man and he liked it that way. Being a clone wasn't exactly the nicest thing to think about. That saying about every human being different and unique didn't really apply and that was pretty sickening. So he distanced himself from Parker in every way he could and it really came through in his fighting style. He grabbed another guard and quickly put his hand over the man's mouth before snapping the man's wrist causing him to drop the gun.
"I'm free" Natasha whispered to Taskmaster as she finished picking the lock on her chain.
"I'm free as well" Laura said. She'd come round as soon as the lights had gone out and cut through her chains with her claws. The rest of team freed themselves from their restraints just as the lights came back on. The Scarlet Spider was standing in the centre of the room. All the guards lay sprawled across the floor some of their limbs hanging at sickening angles and he was clutching the gang leader by his neck.
"Tarantula do something" the gang leader gurgled as he tried to free himself from Kaine's vice-like grip. Carlos instinctively moved forward.
"Take one more step and I snap his neck" Kaine snarled turning his red lenses to the Black Tarantula stopping him mid-stride.
The Black Tarantula glared at Kaine through his white white eyepieces. He knew if the gang leader died he wouldn't get paid the full amount and he didn't much like that idea.
"Listen" Black Widow said from behind him. "That man is on S.H.I.E.L.D's wanted list. Give him to us. We'll take it from here" Natasha finished staring at Kaine.
"You guys are S.H.I.E.L.D?" the Scarlet Spider asked suspiciously.
"Yes now let him go" Natasha replied looking nervously at the way Kaines hand tightened round the gang leaders throat.
Suddenly the Carlos lunged forward. He'd seen the momentary hesitation and seized the opportunity to move in on Kaine. Unfortunately he wasn't quite fast enough and true to his word the Scarlet Spider twisted his wrist violently, snapping the man's neck as the Black Tarantula landed on him.
"Damn it!" Carlos cursed punching the Scarlet Spider in the face.
"Damn that hurt" Kaine thought. He didn't know who this guy was but he was strong. Quickly bringing both legs forward he kicked the Black Tarantula off him.
"You're both coming with us!" Natasha said as Black Tarantula got back to his feet.
"Well as I'm not getting paid" Carlos began, turning to look at the dead body of the leader "I guess I've got some time to kill!"
"If you think I'm going with you than you've got another think coming" Kaine growled turning from the Black Tarantula to Natasha.
"Well that's not good" Black Widow thought as she looked at both the spiders, instantly regretting her choice of words. Suddenly Carlos charged her but was quickly engage by Taskmaster who stepped in front of her shield raised. The Tarantula's fist collided with the energy shield sending Taskmaster flying backwards.
Kaine took this opportunity to slip away from the fight. This had nothing to do with him he'd come here simply to take care of the gang leader and steal the money. Whatever was going on here wasn't his problem. Kaine turned briefly and saw the Black Tarantula was overpowering the team. They dodged quite a lot of Carlos's attacks but when it came to actually landing their own it didn't look like the Tarantula was even feeling them. The Scarlet Spider hesitated. He knew Natasha, not directly of course but indirectly through Peter's memories. She wasn't really a bad person, not to mention if she died it would bring S.H.I.E.L.D to Houston faster than metal to a magnet which would make life there even more difficult.
X-23 appeared behind Carlos as he pinned Psylocke to the wall and backhanded Taskmaster, who again only just hand time to raise his shield to parry the blow before being thrown off his feet. Laura didn't hesitate and drove her claws into the Black Tarantula's flanks. Carlos grunted as he felt the blades cut into his lungs but he didn't release Psylocke. The Black Tarantula spun lashing out with his free hand towards the mutants head. Laura closed her eyes bracing herself for the blow but it never landed. Opening them again she was surprised to find the Scarlet Spider in front of her blocking the blow firmly with his forearm. Just then Psylocke broke out of the Tarantula's hold and spun the mercenary's wrist behind his back forcing him into a wristlock. Taskmaster seeing the opening quickly struck a nerve cluster in the mercenary's neck, causing the Black Tarantula to snarl and buckle. Kaine pushed down hard as the Tarantula hunched over pining him to the floor. The mercenary snarled again as he struggled. Laura noticing he was about to get a foot-hold quickly retracted her claws from his flanks before driving them into his leg tendons, rendering movement useless.
The Black Tarantula was now completely pinned to the ground. Psylocke and Kaine holding both his arms and X-23 with her claws buried in his ankles. A flash of silver went past Carlos's face as Taskmaster placed the tip of his sword against his face.
"One wrong move and I take your head as a bookend" Masters informed him "I doubt even you could heal from that!"
"You're all dead" the Tarantula replied simply as he went limp. He knew he couldn't get out of this. Natasha pushed Taskmaster aside and crouched down so she could look the Black Tarantula in the eyes.
"You're in a lot of trouble Carlos" she informed him.
"Bite me" he snapped back.
"Assaulting a senior S.H.I.E.L.D agent, aiding and abetting a drugs and human trafficking ring? I could put you away for a very long time" Black Widow finished. Carlos didn't reply, instead he painted a mental picture of himself beating this woman to a pulp. "or I can drop all the charges against you and you come work for me."
Natasha didn't know who was more shocked the Black Tarantula or the rest of her team.
"You gotta be kidding me" Taskmaster said turning to Natasha.
"If you agree everything you've done past and present will be erased. We will no longer hunt you and you will be paid for your participation" Black Widow continued ignoring Taskmaster. Carlos looked at her curiously. He hadn't expected this. "but if you step out of line even once I swear to god I'll have you locked in a S.H.I.E.L.D cell so deep and so dark you'll think you're in hell" Black Widow finished looking the Black Tarantula in his white lenses to show she was serious.
Carlos weighed up his options. On one hand he could refuse to be a S.H.I.E.L.D pawn and go to prison for god knows how long or on the other he could accept and be absolved of everything he'd ever done not to mention get paid in the process. It wasn't really a hard decision.
"Fine. I'm in" he muttered. Natasha looked at him in surprise, she hadn't actually expected him to accept.
"Let him go" Black Widow said looking at the team holding him down. They all hesitated not really wanting to let this monster that had taken nearly all of them to subdue loose again. "Let him go" Natasha said again but more sternly this time. The team released him and backed away quickly.
"If we all die now I just want you to know that I wasn't paid enough for this job!" Taskmaster said sarcastically as he watched the Black Tarantula get to his feet his tendons already healed.
"Please I'm a man of my word unlike you" the Tarantula replied brushing himself down. Taskmaster rolled his eyes but relaxed as he realized Carlos wasn't going to attack.
"and you" Natasha continued turning to the Scarlet Spider who was just about to leave. "The way you move. It's almost exactly like Spider-man. Not to mention you dress like him" she said looking at Kaine's crimson suit with the black spider emblazoned on the chest.
"I can confirm that" the Black Tarantula agreed. Having fought Spider-man in the past multiple times he had a good knowledge of how the web-swinger moved and this guy was almost his mirror image.
"Sorry I don't do interviews" Kaine replied coldly before turning to leave.
"Wait you forgot this" Natasha said picking up the briefcase of money and holding out her arm she extended it towards the Scarlet Spider. Kaine hesitated for a moment before reaching out. "Look I don't know who you are and frankly I don't care" Black Widow began as Kaine took the briefcase from her. "You don't seem like a bad guy even if your methods are a bit" she paused turning to a man with two broken legs "unorthodox. So you can either stay here and rip off gangs or you can come with me and actually make a difference. Your choice."
Kaine watched as the team turned to leave. "You're not a team player remember take the money and go" Kaine thought as he turned to leave. "You're a solo act just like Parker." This thought stopped him dead. Why not take her up on the offer? She didn't seemed to mind that he was unrestrained and he'd get paid for doing what he'd most likely be doing anyway.
"Hey wait" he shouted after the disappearing team.
S.H.I.E.L.D Hellicarrier a few hours later
"This is your team then?" Fury asked as he looked through the documents in front of him with all the information of Natasha's current recruits on them.
"Yes sir" Black Widow confirmed.
"Some of these people are practically unknown. This Scarlet Spider for example. Do we have any idea who he is?"
"No" Natasha admitted "but his powers are akin to Spider-man and considering how useful Spider-man has been to us in the past a person with his skillset could come in handy. With regards to most of these people being unknown I thought that was the whole point of this team?"
"Very true" Fury replied smiling slightly as he followed Black Widow out of his office towards the debriefing room.
"So what's your story?" Taskmaster asked looking at Kaine from across the table. "I've seen Spider-man fight. Heck I've got his moves up here" he continued tapping his forehead. "and you my friend move exactly like him."
The Scarlet Spider observed the man in the skull mask through the red lenses of his mask. "I don't really see how that concerns you" he replied bitterly.
"Wow just trying to get to know my team. No need to get touchy" Masters muttered leaning back in his seat. Just then Natasha and Fury entered the room.
"Myself and Fury have been talking and during missions we will be in 3 different specializations. Psylocke and Black Tarantula you will be our assault force, Scarlet Spider and X-23 you'll be our infiltration and Taskmaster you and me will handle logistics" Black Widow informed them.
She'd based her choices off what she knew. Black Tarantula was by far the strongest member on their team and she needed to put that brute force to good use, Psylocke with her telepathy, fighting ability and telekinetic blades complemented this well. Scarlet Spider and Laura were both the fastest and most agile members and as much as she hated to admit it Taskmaster was probably the smartest person on the team perhaps even smarter and more tactically minded than her. The guy had broken into Stark tower completely undetected and had also broken into S.H.E.I.L.D making them look like amateurs. For these reasons Natasha wanted to keep Taskmaster close so she could keep an eye on him. The team looked round the table acknowledging their partner.
Then Fury stepped forward and placed both his hands on the table before looking round it at the team.
"You will move without boundaries. You will act above the law. You will use any and every means necessary to destroy the threats that are hidden from the world. Should you be captured we will deny your existence. Should you succeed you will do so without reward or recognition. Because you do not exist! Ladies and gentlemen. Welcome to Black ops." Colonel Fury finished watching as his words sank in.
"Well this is going to be a laugh" Taskmaster said smiling beneath his mask.
Note: Sorry this chapter is so late. I've been busy recently and haven't had much time to get any writing done.