Previously, on The Defenders of Remnant...
"You… you arent real…" Raven squeezed her eyes shut and shook her head.
Aren't I? Khonshu chuckled.
"Get out… of my head…"
Oh, I'm in more than your head, Raven, Khonshu said before Raven felt the weight of a hand on her shoulder. I am in your very soul.
"I will kill that man where he stands," Raven growled, the aura around her eyes growing.
You could, Khonshu replied, Or you could listen to Marc Spector's words.
When he criticized you for leaving your husband, your daughter, your brother, your old life behind, he was speaking from his own failures in life.
"What are you talking about?" Raven questioned.
Back on Earth, Spector also has a daughter and former spouse. And much like you, his choices in life led to him, albeit begrudgingly, cutting ties. Of course, also like you, that independence is only words, far from the reality he chooses to accept.
"You don't know me!" Raven exclaimed.
I know you better than you know yourself, Raven Branwen.
"Velvet, look out!" Coco cried out. Velvet started to reach for the box attached to her waist, but had a feeling she wouldn't get to it in time.
Just as the Grimm's claws were about to reach the faunus girl, another black figure collided with the Beowolf, sending them skidding across the ground. Hunched atop the Beowolf was Venom, snarling at the Grimm.
"C-Cardin…?" Velvet stammered.
"Like I said, I'm not the same. Trying to do better." Cardin looked at the rest of Velvet's team.
"There's one thing that makes you better than them," Yatsu said.
"And that is?"
"You're not a complete tool," Coco smirked.
"I feel bad for him. They made him, but torture and threaten him as soon as he wants to be an actual person," Blake shuddered.
"'Cause he's not a person, he's a lab experiment made from a petri dish," Frank said callously.
"That's a harsh way of thinking about it," Yang replied.
The Defenders of Remnant
Chapter 32: Haunted Pasts
Raven sat quietly in thought, alone in her tent. At least, alone physically. The spiritual presence of Khonshu constantly weighed on her shoulders, as if she was literally carrying him with her everywhere she went. "I thought I said I wanted you to leave me be," Raven snarled as she opened her eyes and glanced over her shoulder to see the figure of the egyptian lunar god crouched behind her.
"You did," Khonshu replied, "And I don't care what you want. I thought you already realized you don't have a choice on the matter. I am the all powerful god, you are but the measly speck in time called humanity."
"You claim to be all powerful, but you admitted the reconstruction of the moon was simply an illusion."
"It was. I'll be the first to admit that mine, and by association Marc's powers, are weaker in your world than what they should be. It is not my moon you love under, after all. But that doesn't mean I am without power. That being said, Marc would like to speak with you."
"Then he can come and do it himself. I won't bring him back to my village," Raven said sternly.
"You won't have to," Khonshu stated before he faded from her vision. At first, she was confused, then the entire world around her began to change. The interior of her tent faded into an endless white void. She shot up and gripped the hilt of her weapon tightly.
"Where am I? Khonshu!" Raven exclaimed.
"First time he took the wheel?" Marc's voice rang behind her. She sighed and turned to face the ex-mercenary. "Yeah, you'll never get used to it."
"What do you want, Marc Spector?"
"We need your help. We're looking for one of the White Fang that escaped the plaza attack," Marc answered.
"And you need my help with that, why?"
"You're the kind of woman who knows how to search for people who don't want to be found, in whatever shadowy place they're hiding. With everyone else so preoccupied, I need someone like that to help me out, have my six."
"So you ask the woman on Remnant who hates you the most?" Raven questioned with a scowl.
"I don't know who else to go to for this. I'm asking you Raven, help us bring this threat one step closer to an end."
"You know about Salem and her underlings. You know the threat is far from being over," Raven countered.
"Something is going on in Vale! And if I had to hedge my bets, it would be Salem ultimately behind it. The dust robberies, the base at Mountain Glenn, the attack at the plaza. There's more going on than a joint business between Roman Torchwick and the White Fang. The red woman I met when I got here, Taskmaster, Torchwick, they're all involved in this somehow, and I will do what it takes to find out what and keep this city standing."
"And what does it matter to you? That isn't your city, and this isn't your world, so why do you care? Is your dedication to temporary promises so strong, or are you so daft as to believe you can actually stop Salem's advances?" Raven said. "Because here is some news for you, Marc, there is no stopping Salem. She is the absolute power in the world, a source of death and deception that will only end when Remnant itself does. She is far beyond our reach. The fruitless goal of hoping to stop her is one of the many reasons I ceased being a huntress."
"Is it also why you left your team? Husband? Daughter?" Marc asked.
"What is your obsession with my family?" Raven asked back.
"Because I made the same mistakes you did in that department. And unlike me, you still have a chance to redeem yourself in their eyes."
Raven scoffed. "Oh, please. My brother hasn't trusted me for years and my daughter has hated me all her life. I'm not even sure Taiyang would ever want to see me again. What would you know of my situation? Or are you just being sympathetic in an attempt to win my trust?" Raven smirked in a superior way, not believing Marc was trying to win her over in such a simple way. It would never work. Besides, she would never go back. Couldn't.
"I have a daughter," Marc simply said. It caught Raven off guard how suddenly he said it. "Her name is Deatrice. Her mother's name is Marlene. My brother's name was Randall."
"Your god told me of your family. He also told me you willingly cut ties," Raven said.
"Not unlike yourself?" Marc raised an eyebrow.
"What are you getting at, Marc?"
"You want to know how I know what you feel? Because of everything you still have left, everyone you still have the chance to see. I am cut off from my ex-wife and daughter because my life would only put them at risk. My lifestyle, my mental state, my stability, it would only harm them, and I've lost enough people. But because of that, my daughter doesn't know her father. Marlene doesn't even keep photos of me around for her to see."
"Marc-"
"I had to kill my own brother to save innocent lives, long after I thought he was already gone. I just had to be the one to ensure he really was dead after he'd become corrupted by an evil force. My own little brother…"
"Are you expecting pity from me?" Raven questioned in a harsh tone, though Marc's message was weighing on her. She understood what he was conveying.
"I'm expecting understanding. In no world can I go back to them, but you can," Marc replied.
"As much as I can admire your optimism, I can't. You're cut off because of your choices in life, as am I, but your choices didn't leave everyone you cared about to despise you!"
"You have no idea…" Marc trailed off.
"Look at it like this: your daughter has no knowledge of you, so she doesn't have this preconceived notion in her head of you, no judgment of your actions. With her, you can have a fresh start. Yang was already born before I left. Given her nature, I can only imagine how much she wishes I would never come back into her life…"
"And that's exactly my point, Raven. You still have the chance to change things. But Marlene will never see me as anything more than a monster, and I've proven her right on multiple occasions. If you really believe you want to protect your family, go back to your husband and daughter and try to make amends. Even if they don't accept you, you could at least say that you tried, and that's all I ask. I'm not saying you should leave your tribe, or that you stop being your usual solitary self, but one attempt is all you would need to know."
"Know what?" Raven asked.
"If the choices you made before were the right ones. And if you really think there is no way to stop Salem, that the world will inevitably end, then there is no future, and the past you're so afraid to look back at will be all you have."
To this, Raven said nothing. She hated to admit it, but Marc was making sense. In a way, it made her entire ideology for leaving feel moot. She tried to let go of the past in order to move on to… what? If Salem had her way, Remnant would be devoid of life. That included her, her tribe, and those she called family.
Summer was already gone, and deep down she felt responsible in some way. Summer Rose was like a sister to her once upon a time. If she had been there, could things have been different? Could Summer have still been alive?
"Take some time to think. And when you've figured yourself out, come find me in Vale, and we'll find Sabretooth together," Marc said. Momentarily, Marc's figure faded away, and the white void changed back to her tent, as if no time had passed at all. She looked at the tea in front of her, still steaming, and was suddenly not in the mood for it.
Blake opened the door to let Tarantula walk by. He hesitantly and slowly entered the team's dorm, taking slow panning gazes around. The others said nothing at all, letting him take in the surroundings at his own pace. It was like a child entering a new place for the first time, seeing a different setting that they're not at all used to. From the precarious situations of the "bunk" beds to something as simple as the nearly full bookshelves, as if he'd never been in a room like it before.
Before long, though, Tarantula composed himself and turned back to Weiss, Blake and Peter. "And you're sure I can stay here?"
"We wouldn't have brought you if we weren't," Blake said.
"Make yourself comfortable," Weiss said with a smile. Tarantula took another few glances around the room before sitting himself down in the chair at the desk.
"I'm sure it'll take some getting used to," Peter added, "But it's probably better that you had with Taskmaster."
"Definitely. Everything was… darker. Used. Thrown together. I guess it's the best one could do when trying to stay out of sight, but… it was nothing like this," Tarantula marveled. "Though I'm sure it's nothing compared to the rooms in Atlas, right Weiss?"
"Atlas is cushy and all, but sometimes the more humble options are more… me," Weiss replied.
"More you…" Tarantula echoed.
"What is it?" Blake asked.
"I still don't know who I really am. I mean, I know genetically, I'm basically Spider-" He cuts himself off and lets out an exasperated sigh. "That I'm basically Peter, but I'm not him. I'm not sure if I even count as human, as a person. I feel like I'm supposed to be more than just Black Tarantula." He almost said the name with a hateful venom. It hadn't been long, but he seemed to be desperately trying to abandon his given identity and purpose.
In his mind, though, it wasn't as simple. It wasn't just "he wanted to move on". Ever since Prowler's death and when he unmasked Peter, the clone's mentality had been broken. Before, his brain was hardwired to hate Spider-Man and be obedient to Taskmaster and the forgotten woman to a fault. But the final night with Prowler, his words, along with his masters' actions and words following, those wires began to snap one by one, and were still in the process of doing so. He ran away with no clear goal or destination in mind, just simply away. His conversations with Weiss, Blake, Penny and Peter were undoing more of his genetic programming by the hour.
This begged the question, when would he be truly free? How long would it take? And if he does somehow end up free at the end of all this, what will he do? He has no identity besides the one he wants to leave behind, no purpose, no family, and no home. He was simply brought into existence in a way that gave him nothing to look on the horizon for.
"Don't worry. You don't have to go back to them. You're safe here, with us," Weiss assured him.
"As safe as can be, anyway," Blake added.
"You want to move on. We want to help you," Peter said. "And I think the first step to changing things up would be a new name."
"Yeah… Black Tarantula has blood on that name now. Ghosts haunting it, haunting me. I can't use it anymore. Any suggestions…?" Tarantula asked.
"If you're gonna have a new name, we shouldn't be the ones to pick it for you. It should come from you," Blake said. "What do you have in mind?"
"I haven't given it much thought yet…" Tarantula glanced away nervously
"Don't worry, we'll work on it. Until then, how about we just call you BT?" Peter suggested.
"BT?" Weiss repeated.
"Well, straight up Black Tarantula doesn't sit well with him, and until we come up with a new name, we've gotta call him something. Plus, it just rolls off the tongue better," Peter said.
"That's fine with me," Tarantula, or now BT, replied.
"Then BT it is. And we will help you figure out a real name," Weiss said, crossing her arms.
"I still don't understand why you three would do all this for me…"
"Because it's the right thing to do. You needed help, even if you were supposed to be our enemy" Blake told him. Peter glanced over at her with a small smile, one she returned with a tiny but noticeable smirk in his direction, but also rolled her eyes.
"Alright, well, BT, Weiss seems to be comfortable with you, so she'll make you feel right at home. Blake and I need to go talk to some friends about Merlot Industries, see if we can't put our heads together and come up with something before the new collider goes off at the end of the week," Peter said. "Get comfortable, and take it easy."
BT gives a weak nod in response. "Alright…"
Peter nods and gestures for Blake to follow as both of them exited the dorm. "I thought you gave the information to Professor Murdock and the others before you met us here," Blake recalled.
"Was going to, but Danny and ol' Magoo weren't in his office, and I don't feel like tracking him down. I don't wanna bother Luke if he's with Jessica, and Mooney's fallen off the map since the attack," Peter replied.
"Can't you just text it to them?" Blake suggested.
"I know this information is important to get to everyone, but we still have a couple days."
"Yeah, and that's a couple days Kingpin has to work on this new collider. Shouldn't we be working to stop them sooner?"
"Look, Blake, I'm not thinking they're on the same page as me right now," Peter said.
"What are you talking about?' Blake asked.
Peter sighed. "The day of the nightclub incident, Jessica came to the lab, getting onto me for wanting to stay here when this all blows over. Something tells me they're not all too happy about it. If I bring it to them, something tells me no matter what, it'll be brought up and I'm just not looking forward to that."
"You need to talk it out with them then. If you leave this tension between the lot of you all the way up to when they go home, I don't think they'll be leaving as friends."
"It's not gonna get that extreme-" Peter started to say.
"Peter, when I left Menagerie to join the White Fang, I barely said a word to my parents before disappearing and traveling to the mainland with Adam. That didn't exactly leave us on good terms. If you really want to stay on Remnant when they go back to New York, I think it's best you don't do that on a bad note."
"You don't talk about your parents. Not even to the team," Peter said.
"Exactly, because it's not anything nice to talk about. Do me a favor, Pete, and don't make the same mistake. You may never see them again after this, so how do you want them to remember you?" Blake questioned.
"Fair enough," Peter sighed. "Fine. I'll… I'll go check his office again. While I'm telling Matt about the Fisk stuff, maybe you can find Sun or Cardin, see if you can't pull up anything on where the White Fang could be holed up now. With Torchwick aboard Ironwood's carrier and BT's memories fried, we need to dig up our own leads."
"Got it," Blake nodded. Peter nodded back and started off in another direction for Matt's office, but Blake stopped him. "Hey Pete?" Peter turned back around to face her, stopping his stride. "Just remember, as much as you're responsible for us, we're responsible for you too." Peter smiled and briefly nodded before continuing forward again. Blake smiled a little before heading her own way.
Cardin eyed Yatsuhashi across from him. The two circled a small clearing in the Emerald Forest, postures ready for when the battle started. Cardin held his mace in both of his hands, while Yatsu's large orange blade was resting on his shoulder. "You sure about this?" Cardin asked.
"Why? Starting to regret it?" Yatsu cockily questioned.
"Don't get so full of yourself," Cardin smirked back.
"We'll see how well that alien of yours holds up against real strength."
Want me to help kick his ass? Venom asked Cardin.
Just wait till I tell you, not sooner, Cardin replied. "Yeah, I'll show you real strength, muscle man."
Yatsu scoffed in response.
"Alright, boys," Coco announced like a referee, "You two ready?"
"I'm ready when you are," Cardin said to Yatsu. Yatsu smirked and nodded to his team leader.
"Alright then, 3…!" Coco started to count down and the two boys gripped their weapons tightly, ready to launch off. "2…!"
"Yatsuhashi! Kick his ass for me!" Fox called from the side.
"This is just a training session, Fox. No need to be so vulgar…" Velvet followed.
"We may have forgiven him for his treatment of us faunus, but that doesn't mean I have to like him now, Velvet," Fox replied, which caused Velvet to frown. She quickly looked over to Cardin, who caught her gaze, distracting him slightly.
"1…!" Coco kept counting. Cardin met Velvet's eyes, and gave a reassuring smile with a mouthed "you got this". He smiled a bit and regained his focus. Yatsu, seeing the silent interaction, scowled and brought his sword off his shoulder, getting more serious.
"Go!" Coco exclaimed. The two launched forward and clashed their massive weapons together almost instantly, creating a loud Clang! as they met. Yatsu's force and mass pushed Cardin backwards, giving him the opening to follow up with a three-sixty slash that sent Cardin flying off his feet.
He flew past a pair of two adjacent trees, one on each side of him, and symbiote tendrils shot from the openings in his armor and attached to the trunks of both trees. The momentum of his body pulled on the tendrils until he slowed, then launched back forward. The tendrils let go as he shot back forward and swung at Yatsu once the distance was closed again. Yatsu braced with his legs and blocked the attack with the flat side of his weapon, but the force still pushed him backwards, carving into the earth and kicking up dirt and grass with the soles of his feet. By the time Yatsu came to a stop, Cardin was already back on his feet.
"Not a bad rebound, I'll give you that," Yatsu complimented.
"How's that 'real strength' doing?" Cardin mocked.
"The fight's only just started. Don't get ahead of yourself." Yatsu then charged Cardin and the two continued the battle. Coco looked at them in interest.
"I think Cardin and Yatsuhashi are about even, if you ask me," She said.
"Oh please, Yatsu can deal with Cardin," Fox replied.
"This isn't an actual fight, you two. They're just training. They're not going to seriously hurt each other… right?" Velvet asked.
"Cardin might not be taking this seriously, but Yatsuhashi is. Like I said, as a team we may have forgiven him, but Yatsuhashi still hates Cardin for his treatment of you. This is his chance to put him in his place."
"Wait, what?" Coco paused and looked at her blind teammate.
"Being exposed and embarrassed by Peter Parker was big, sure, but this is personal for Yatsuhashi," Fox explained.
"But Cardin has changed!" Velvet exclaimed. "He saved my life during the Grimm attack!"
"Doesn't change what he's done," Fox furrowed his brow.
"Fox, this is stepping out of line!" Coco snapped on her teammate.
"You want to be the one to step between them now?" Fox questioned. Coco glanced back at Cardin and Yatsu fighting and scowled before looking back at Fox.
"We are going to have a talk about this when we get back to the dorm," Coco said through gritted teeth.
Cardin's mace connected with Yatsu's jaw, sending him stumbling back, but Yatsu caught the mace with his bare free hand on the follow-up swing, followed by elbowing Cardin's stomach and shooting his lowered head upwards to bash into Cardin's jaw, stunning him long enough to rip the mace from Cardin's grip.
Yatsu readied both weapons before spinning around and connecting both with Cardin's torso, bending in his armor and sending him upwards off the ground. Yatsu primed both weapons again and struck the ground just as Cardin started falling back down, creating a shockwave that blasted Cardin back into the brush, breaking through three different trees before slamming into a larger one and falling to the ground front-first.
Yatsu panted heavily and tossed Cardin's weapon aside and drove his own into the ground, leaning on it to catch his breath. "That… is real strength…" Yatsu breathed heavily, more winded than he thought he would be.
"Poor Cardin…" Velvet muttered.
"This… is over," Yatsu said.
"Not quite…" The gurgly voice of Venom replied. An elongated symbiote arm shot from the trees and gripped onto Yatsu's neck, lifting him up off the ground. He was then pulled into the brush, where the rest of the team lost sight of him. For a few moments, there was nothing, then an impact of a hit echoed in the forest and Yatsu flew out of the treeline, crashing into the dirt and hitting his own sword, still stuck in the ground. Following him, stomping into the clearing, was the massive form of Venom. Surprisingly, his right fist had morphed into the form of a spiked mace.
"Tell us, Yatsuhashi, what was that about true strength again?" Venom snarled.
"Okay, that's enough! Both of you!" Coco exclaimed. "The fight is over! Yatsu, we need to have a talk. As a team."
While Coco chewed out Yatsuhashi, Velvet went over to Cardin. "Are you alright?"
"We're fine," Cardin replied as the symbiote receded. "He heals me when he takes over. It's hard to do any lasting damage when we're Venom."
"I'm sorry about Yatsu. He still has hard feelings from… well…"
"I can't blame him. I was horrible to you. I'm surprised you could forgive me," Cardin replied.
"It's clear you're trying to be better. I hope Yatsu and Fox see that one day," Velvet said.
"Yeah, me too," Cardin sighed. "Clearly, we still have some work to do. I guess I'll be on my way."
"Where are you going?" Velvet asked.
"To decompress a little, give the voice in my head some chocolate so he'll keep quiet, then we're gonna take it easy until we go out tonight. Maybe some hero work will calm me down. Not that much has been going on recently…"
"What do you mean?" Velvet questioned.
"Aside from some small-time stuff, the city's been quiet since the Grimm attack. Rightfully so, I guess, but it's also kind of… unnerving. Like a calm before the storm type of thing," Cardin answered.
"Well, the tournament is about to start, and with Huntsman from all four kingdoms in the city, not to mention the Atlas military's presence, I wouldn't put it past criminals to stay in hiding," Velvet said.
"That hasn't stopped the White Fang. There was always at least something before, but it's just dead quiet now. I don't like it."
"If it's that quiet, you should take it easy. Enjoy the peace while you can."
"Yeah, maybe…" Cardin agreed.
The two heard Coco's voice raise even higher as she was getting onto her male teammates. "I should go… I'm sorry again, Cardin."
"Don't worry about it. See you, Velvet," Cardin waved.
"Bye Cardin!" Velvet waved back before rushing to rejoin her teammates. Cardin turned and left the clearing, heading back towards the city.
Frank exited his cabin and started on his way to Ironwood's command deck when a young voice stopped his stride. "Specialist Castle!" Frank sighed and turned around to face Penny. The hall was empty besides them.
"Penny. You should be at your dorm about now," Frank said.
"And I believe you were supposed to be escorting me to it," Penny replied, crossing her arms.
"You made it clear you didn't want me around for a day or two, so I figured I'd give you some space. Besides, I had other work to do too."
"Well, if that is the case, then we can discuss your actions last night."
"I stand by my statement. That thing was a cloned assassin that needs to be put down," Frank replied coldly.
"If that were true, Atlesian soldiers would have already stormed Peter's laboratory. Instead, not only is Black Tarantula untouched, but you haven't even told the general, have you?" Penny questioned.
Frank growled in response. "No…"
"Specialist Castle, your ideologies and callous nature would lead others to believe you are a heartless machine of the military, but if that were true, you wouldn't care what happened to me as you do. If you had reported Black Tarantula, I would have come under punishment for protecting him. When we met, the general mentioned you volunteered for this post. Why?" Penny asked.
"Doesn't matter," Frank replied, turning around continuing towards the bridge.
"If it doesn't matter, then perhaps you wouldn't mind me asking the general to remove you from the position?" Penny suggested.
Frank stopped and scowled. He slowly glanced over his shoulder to see Penny. "You remind me of my daughter." Then, without another word or glance, he kept walking forward until he was out of Penny's eyesight.
Marc sat alone in his penthouse, sipping on liquor, when a bright red portal opened in the room. He glanced over and quickly grabbed a moon dart from his belt when Raven stepped through, one hand on the hilt of her weapon and the other on her hip. The portal closed behind her and Marc let go of his throwable tool. "You came."
"Don't feel proud of yourself yet, Spector. What do you need?" Raven asked.
"Like I said before, we need to find the remaining enhanced faunus, named Sabretooth. He was the only one to escape during the train attack," Marc answered.
"So… where do we start?"