Chapter 16:
zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzThunk! Captain America's round shield flew through the air and impacted one of the infected citizens in the chest, as it was about to lung for Peter. He turned his gaze from the doppelganger to the first avenger.
"So this is the copycat you where warning us about?" Captain America asked as an infected citizen charged him, only to met the business end of his shield.
"Now do you believe me?" Peter shot back as he kicked another away.
"Copycat?" The doppelganger shouted as she blasted a third. "I am one hundred percent Carol Danvers!"
"You tried to force me to have sex with you!" Peter snapped as he ducked under a blow and delivered a might uppercut to the creature's jaw.
"Well the other you used to enjoy that!" the doppelganger replied as she blasted two more. "A lot, by the way. I guess a part of me kinda...forgot that you aren't him."
"Excuse me," Captain America cut in as he struck two of the infected. "But this conversation might be more suited to HQ." he said as a loud rumble was heard over their heads, causing all three bodies to look upwards. "Or the helicarrier," he finished as the behemoth of an airship rumbled overhead.
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"Coulson, coordinate your efforts with air support. Romenov, I want you down there to secure a safe zone for quarantine." The bald, African-American known to a select few as Nick Fury barked as he strafed the length of the deck before addressing the seven assembled heroes. "Whatever this is, it's caught us with our pants squarely around our ankles. Stark's been MIA for two hours. The fantastic four are dealing with some business in the negative zone and other heroes are scattered around the world in areas to remote to contact them."
"So," Cage grunted, "anybody got an idea what's going on here?"
"Unfortunately, no," Fury snapped in response. "It all went off like a light switch. Infected people started coming out of nowhere two hours ago and attacking everyone in sight."
"We noticed," Peter said wryly.
"...so I am placing the island of Manhattan under SHIELD control. That means no one goes in. No one goes out. And everybody takes orders from me, and that includes you seven as well."
"Even me?" Carol's doppelganger piped up, "sir?" Peter's heart skipped a beat, as there had been no word about the real Carol's whereabouts for at least an hour. And in a city fully of people going crazy, he thought, that's definitely not good.
"Even you," Fury replied sharply, "but as per protocol, you will be placed underneath strict supervision until further notice. Ronin, Shadow-spider," Fury said as he snapped his fingers. Two more figures stepped out from the hall. One was male, with a stocky build and a bow and arrow slung across his back and a half-mask covering his eyes. But it was the woman who drew his attention. She appeared to be in her mid-twenties. She wore a black-and-purple one-piece bodysuit. With his superior vision, he could make out faint red lines that crisscrossed over the material, much like his own webbing pattern. Her outfit had a mask to, but it was pulled down, allowing her brown hair to fall down her back. She had a slim but strong build that resembled a gymnast or dancer. Her facial features seemed slightly familiar, like those of an old friend from years back. Her eyes trailed along the meagre group of assembled heroes until they fell on him. Something lit behind them for the briefest of seconds before dying out.
"Luckily," Fury continued as the two newcomers took up places beside the doppelganger, "we have a special inter-dimensional task force set up for the task. They will follow your every move. You will not be out of there sight for more than a second."
"I've never heard of an inter-dimens..." Jessica began to say before being cut off.
"That's because it's above your grade," Fury said shortly as he crossed to a table in the centre of the room. "I want you to split into combat teams and cover the city. Wasp and Captain America, I want you two to cover the south section of Manhattan. Recover any civilians you find and bring them to the safe-zone. I'll have a fire team ready to assist you."
"On it, sir," Captain America said with a sharp salute, to which Fury nodded.
"Iron Fist and Cage, I want you to assist my agents in setting up the safe-zone," Fury continued as he pointed to the map. "Ronin, you and Shadow-spider take our visitor on a sweep of the northern half of the city," Fury continued as he moved his fingers across the map, and the two newcomers nodded.
"Got it," Shadow-spider replied with a nod. She cast one more glance in Peter's direction before turning and leaving with her partner and the doppelganger. For some reason, her glance caused a tingling sensation to occur in the back of his head.
"Spider-man, Spider-woman," Fury said, snapping Peter out of his train of thought. "Ms Marvel was last seen in this area," he said, pointing to an area in the centre of hell's kitchen. "See what you can find. Hopefully she's just been out of radio contact, and not infected by whatever is out there."
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"You believe that inter-dimensional bull?" Jessica asked as they travelled over rooftops. She glided while he ran. "I've seen a lot of weird things in my career. Gods. Aliens. Hell, a woman with this throne-thing pops up every once in awhile and.."
"Wait," he said as he leaped over a pipe, "Madame Web uses you to?"
"All the time," Jessica smirked as she skimmed over the rooftops. "But back to my question. Do you believe that bullcrap?"
"Kinda makes sense," he said, "there've been threats from other dimensions before. So why not have a response team?"
"Then why not include the Avengers in it?" Jessica shot back, "we deal with a good portion of the threats. So we should be equipped with that kind of...whoa." she finished as he turned a corner and saw that the Daily Bugle was on fire. He leaped into action, crashing through the nearest window, and Jessica followed suit.
"What's the plan?" she shouted, "I've never been much of a fire person myself."
"Main office is above us," he replied as he tuned out the flames and listened for cries for help. "That's where the majority of people will be, if they didn't escape. Staircase is down the hall to the left." He finished before pounding down the hall, following his own directions. He wrenched the door open and began sprinting up the stairs.
"This way up," Jessica said as she grabbed him by the shoulders and hoisted him into the air. Without stopping to put him down, Jessica crashed through the door, revealing a semi-familiar sight. For once, the Daily Bugle seemed to be completely empty, with the exception of Jameson's office, which was filled to the brink with five bodies.
"Let's go people," Peter said as he wrenched open the door.
"Wait!" Robbie said as he bolted to his feet, "those things...the ones that started the fire..."
"Are all over the city," Jessica said sharply. "The island of Manhattan has been placed under SHIELD control. All non-zombies are to be evacuated to the safe-zone near Stark Tower."
"And why should we trust you?" a voice said from the back of the group. Peter leaned to the left,, and confirmed that the speaker was J. Jonah Jameson. "For all we know, this could all be..."
"Can the conspiracy theories, Jameson," Jessica snapped briskly, "or I'll leave you here to be a snack." Not surprisingly, Jameson quieted down immediately. "Now I can't carry all of you," Jessica continued, "Only two at a time. So Spidey's gonna stay here while I make the first trip. Wounded first."
"Now hang on..." Jameson began, before being cut off by a sinister growl coming from the vents.
"Any objections?" Peter asked, "Cause I can carry two of you away as well and come back and pray that the last person is in one piece, Jameson."
"I'll be back asap," Jessica said as she took two people under her arms and crashed through the window, leaving him alone with Jameson, Robbie and a complete stranger. The silence was somewhat eerie to him, luckily it was broken rather quickly.
"Excuse me Spider-man," Robbie said quietly, "the...the photographer who takes your pictures, Peter Parker..."
"If Parker where a real photographer," Jameson grunted from where he was sitting, "he'd have gotten me those pictures of.."
"Not now, Jonah," Robbie hissed. "Can you tell me if he got to the safe-zone? I just wanna make sure..."
"Scrawny guy, glasses and brown hair, right?" he cut in with a smirk underneath his mask. "Yeah, I think I saw him in there before I left. Smart kid."
"Jobless kid if he doesn't have more of these," Jameson snapped as he waved a file, which Peter simply snatched out of his hand. He opened it up, slightly curious. What he found shocked him so much he nearly missed the buzz in the back of his head, which warned him about an incoming strike from an incoming infected.
"Hello Spider," the horribly twisted voice of Black Cat smiled as she landed on top of him. "Did you miss me love?"
"Get to the roof!" Peter shouted as he kicked the infected Felicia off of him. Two more creatures came at him from the side, but he knocked them away and retreated with the group. He stopped only to web the office shut, so that the infected couldn't escape. He bounded up the stairs, taking the rear of the group. Eventually he reached the open doors and burst out into the sunlight. He looked down at his arm, as he felt something crawling on it.
"Venom," he spat, recognizing the texture of the symbiote. A thousand thoughts ran through his head as he tried to figure out a new way to stop the symbiote invasion, combined with the images he had seen in the file. Massive sonic blast? No, it has to be at the right frequency, which would dissipate over distance. Unless we could launch it from multiple sources and... His spider-sense went off, and he rolled to the side, out of Infected Felicia's way. Six more infected rushed him and his three wards from all sides. "The three of you, get against the wall!" he shouted as he downed two infected with webbing and dodged another blow from Felicia.
What's the matter hun?" she taunted in an evil voice. "Super-slut not giving it to you at home?" she continued as she rushed him once more. He rolled to the side and delivered a controlled kick to one of the symbiotes as it tried to grab him. "come, join us..."
"Yeah," Peter smirked as he circled Felicia, "I don't think that's gonna happen. I'm not into the whole 'mindless zombie' thing."
"We can make you free," Felicia growled as she came to a halt. "Make you strong. Strong enough to save everybody. No one else you love has to die."
"What are you...?" he began.
"It told me everything I wanted to know," she purred, "Venom rewards his most loyal followers."
"So it is Venom's fault we're in this mess?" Peter replied as he steadied himself for the inevitable blow. It came from the side, two symbiotes nearly tackled him, but he managed to flip over their heads and web them to the ground before Felicia pinned him. An elongated tongue slipped out of her jaw and traced along the side of his face.
"You taste good Spider," she purred with a sultry tone.
"I'm not in the mood," Peter shot back as he kicked her off once more and searched for anything metal. He knew that was the best way to create a sound wave to get rid of the symbiotes in the area. Unfortunately, there was nothing, and his search allowed Felicia to grab him by the throat and lift him into the air. But Fortunately, help was close at hand. He watched Carol body-check Felicia, who dropped Peter and re-focused her attack.
"Whoo-Hoo!" the complete stranger shouted, "Cat-fight! Rip her clothes..." Peter used his webbing to shut his mouth as Felicia's symbiote started to vibrate and ripple.
"Ms M!" Peter shouted, "Back off now!"
"Hell no!" Carol shouted, "she just tried to..."
"It's about to try and take over your body now!" he shouted as the symbiote detached itself from Felicia. Carol flew up and away before it could get a serious hold of her. Felicia impacted the ground, got up and snarled viciously before charging the three helpless people by the wall. Peter shot a web-line out that caught her in the back of the head and he pulled hard. "I need sound!" he shouted.
"What?" Carol replied.
"To get rid of the symbiote!" he shouted as Felicia continued to struggle. "High-frequency sound-waves, fire or electricity!"
"...cover your ears!" Carol shouted from where she hovered, "this might hurt!" she finished as she brought her hands together. A mighty CRACK! filled the air, and Peter felt a shock-wave wash over him, nearly sending him to his knees. In a flash, the symbiote disintegrated off of Felicia's body, leaving the trimmed fur catsuit intact. Although his hearing was somewhat impaired from the blast of sound, he heard Carol fly over to be at his side.
"Where the hell did you go?" he whispered, "I was worried."
"I got caught up downtown," she said softly as she placed a hand on his shoulder. At that second, Jessica dropped to their side. Her red-and-yellow uniform was ripped and her hair was matted.
"Guys," she panted, "the helicarrier was overrun."
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A/N: One more chapter to go! Did you catch the OC character? If not, read some of my other fics and stay tuned.