Previously, on The Defenders of Remnant…
"The abandoned Merlot Industries tower, back in Glenn. He was working in secret right under our noses, and we gave him the perfect cover by moving the operation there!"
"Well, if you're so sure, then we know where he is," Cinder said. "We can make a move on the intended meeting date tomorrow."
"No, we need to go now!" Anthony snapped.
"Our enemy has the coordinates as well. They will likely go on the intended date to ensure this new collider of theirs is active. If we go at the same time, then their conflict will give us enough time to not only kill Mason, but destroy the collider in the process," Cinder pointed out.
"Ruby, thank goodness! I need your help, Peter's been attacked!" Penny exclaimed.
"Um… no he hasn't. We've been with him since last night.
"Then… who is unconscious in front of me?" Penny questioned. Ruby paused for a long moment, then responded
"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.
"Are you serious about trying to be free of Taskmaster and the rest?"
Tarantula slowly nodded. "I'm tired of being told who I am. I want to be real…"
Penny clutched her hands over chest and her eyes widened at the expression.
"Pilot, go ahead and take off," Matt ordered him.
"Can't, sir. I've been ordered by Professor Ozpin to wait for the rest of the passengers," The pilot said.
"What 'rest of the passengers'?" Matt questioned.
"He means us," Peter answered.
"I decided that if this is going to be my new home, I'm gonna put myself on the line to defend it," Peter simply replied.
"And this is our home too," Blake added. "We have a right to defend it."
"I still don't agree with this. If things go wrong-" Matt started to say.
"With all due respect, Daredevil?" Blake said, avoiding saying Matt's name lest the pilot hear, "It isn't your choice to make."
The Defenders of Remnant
Chapter 35: The Collider Part II
BT held a datapad in his hands, reading the text as it scrolled down his screen while Penny worked at one of the lab's workstations, piecing together gadgets from specs Peter had given her. He, Weiss and Blake had asked Penny to keep watch over BT while they left for Merlot Industries, and to help kill time Peter had given her gadget and suit upgrade ideas to work on, allowing Penny to tinker and make use of the lab.
BT wasn't really reading at this point, just staring through the screen as the text auto-scrolled. Penny stopped her work and noticed BT blanking out. She set her tools aside and approached the clone. "Are you alright?" She asked.
"Hm?" BT replied, coming out of his trance. "Oh, sorry. Guess I blacked out there for a second."
"Is something on your mind?" Penny asked.
"I'm just… I can't stay in this lab and that dorm forever. I know it hasn't been that long, but… I-I don't know what to do," BT said, sounding frustrated.
"Well… look at it like this," Penny said, taking a seat next to him, "At least you aren't alone!"
"That's a very positive way to look at it. But you're more cheery and all that than I am. I haven't known positivity for the short time I've been around."
"But you aren't alone! You have Weiss, Blake, Peter, Ruby and Yang when they return tomorrow, and-"
"You," BT finished for her.
Penny giggled and smiled. "Of course! I was the one to save you from that awful electric man after all!"
"You did… and I never got to thank you for that. So… thank you, Penny."
"Of course!" Penny beamed. "That's what friends are for!"
"F-Friends?" BT repeated.
"Well, yes! We are friends, aren't we?" Penny questioned.
BT was caught off guard by the query. He didn't understand what having a friend meant. Yes, the others had helped him, assured he would be kept safe, but he hadn't really bonded with them yet. Weiss had helped him settle, Peter had forgiven his actions, and Blake gave her stamp of approval, but they hadn't done what Penny was doing now, treating it as if they were meant to be friends. It confused BT, but it also made him feel comfortable more than anything else the others did for him so far.
"Y-Yeah… we're friends," BT said. Penny just widened her smile, which became infectious as a smile grew on BT's face as well. Penny's smile lingered for a moment longer before it faded, and a thought crossed her mind. "What is it?"
"Before, you said something that… made me wonder. You talked about wanting to 'be real'. What did you mean by that?" Penny asked.
"W-Well…" BT seemed to have to ponder what his answer would be, as if he hadn't fully figured it out himself.
"I-I'm sorry, was that not a good question to ask?"
"No no, it's fine. I just need to figure out how to word this… I don't feel like a real person, Penny. I'm maybe a month old in terms of time, with the genetic age of fifteen, and I have blood on my hands. I don't have parents, a home or a family. My only purpose in life was to act as a personal assassin. I don't feel like an actual person, I feel like a tool, one that doesn't have a purpose anymore…"
Penny frowned at how BT described himself, but felt certain parts of it rung true with her as well. She had her father, but she wasn't technically allowed friends, despite making some in Team RWBY anyway. With how she was, she could look the same as she was now for a human's entire lifetime while everyone around her would age to death. She was just a soul in a machine, not of flesh and blood.
"BT… I feel the same."
"What? How would you understand this?" BT questioned, somewhat harshly.
Penny had a choice now. She could lie, BT didn't know her tell. She could get away with it to make him feel better without letting out a very important secret. She wasn't supposed to let anyone know her secret anyway.
But she couldn't do it. Lying was wrong in the first place. Besides… for some reason, it felt as if she could, no should trust him with it. She didn't know where the feeling came from, but she felt she should trust that as well. She had the same feeling when she had told Ruby. Ruby was her friend too, and unlike her, BT had his own version of her dilemma. He understood in a way Ruby never would.
"Put your hand against my chest," She said.
"I-I'm sorry, what?" BT stammered.
"Just do it," Penny said. BT wasn't sure what she was getting at, but he hesitantly did as asked, feeling uncomfortable doing so. He didn't get it even then at first, but then it hit him.
"You… you don't have a heartbeat…" He said in bewilderment. "H-How…?"
"BT…" Penny gripped his hand and pulled it off of her. "I'm not a real girl…"
"Th-Then what are you?"
"I am an automaton, the first artificial person on Remnant capable of creating an aura. But I am just that: artificial. I don't have blood, or organs, or a heart. I'm not real… even though I wish I could be… You can live, breathe, eat, cry, sense things, feel things like I never can. You're more real than I could ever hope to be." Penny looked down from him in a defeated way, as if she just realized the weight of her own existence.
"Actually… I think the reverse of that is true," BT said.
"What?" Penny questioned, looking back up at BT.
"You came into the world with a creator who cared for you, you were raised as a daughter, as a human being. You were given freedom, and didn't have to fight just to survive. Most importantly, you are your own person. I have the face and blood of Peter Parker with the anger of Taskmaster, but there's no one like you in the world." BT gently holds Penny's hands in his own. "You're unique, Penny. You're special. You have an identity. You know how to feel joy. That makes you more human, more real than I ever will be."
"BT…" Penny solemnly uttered and shook her head, then she quickly threw her arms around BT and brought him into an embrace like a vice grip, much to his surprise. "Thank you…" He didn't know how to react at first, but then he just… did.
"You're welcome… we're friends, right…?" He returned the hug as best he could and closed his eyes, letting his guard down for the first time in his life.
As the bullhead came flying in over the abandoned ruins of Mountain Glenn, Weiss eyed the skyline until she spotted the tallest remaining building still standing, and still plastered across the head of the building was the name Merlot. "There it is!" The heiress called out.
"Pilot, set us down on the roof!" Matt ordered the ship's pilot, who did as asked and carefully brought the ship close to the roof, which was largely unscathed.
"You'll have to jump from here, sir!" The pilot called. "I can't risk the ship's weight compromising the building's stability!"
"Sounds like fun," Peter remarked before leaping out of the bullhead and landing gracefully on his feet onto the building's roof. Blake and Matt followed, then Luke, though his impact made the floor below them shake. It was disturbed for a few moments before it quietly settled. The heroes all let out a collective sigh of relief.
"We should tread lightly as we descend," Blake suggested.
"This building is decades old. It could fall apart on us at any time," Luke added.
"Which means we need to be very careful," Matt said. "We all saw the blueprints. We don't know if they're expecting us or not, so we should split into teams and enter at different points so we might catch them by surprise if they are. Peter and Blake, you two will traverse the exterior of the building and look for any traps or security measurements that might be laid out for us. Once that's done, get below street level and take the underground tunnels to the sublevels of the building. Last time, they had the collider underground, so it's worth a look to see if they fell into habit."
"Right," Blake nodded.
"You got it, Magoo," Peter replied with a thumbs up. Both then leapt off the top of the building. Blake launched Gambol shroud into the side of the building to anchor herself, then slowly unwrapped the ribbon from her wrist to slowly descend. Peter simply web-pulled himself onto the wall and began crawling down and around the side of the skyscraper.
"Luke, you and I will take the stairwell down from here and check the place floor by floor in case the lab they're using is above ground level," Matt said. Luke gave a nod in response. Matt then chimed his scroll to speak to Danny and Weiss, who remained on the bullhead. "You two will be dropped off at street level on the first floor. Your job will be to work the sublevels starting from the top, and meet Peter and Blake halfway."
"Wait, so we have to do the entire skyscraper and everyone else goes below?" Luke questioned. "How is that fair?" Matt turned and faced Luke with a blank expression, and Luke just sighed. "Fine, let's get walking."
The bullhead landed on the street, allowing Weiss and Danny to hop out from the cabin before it rose again and flew off into the night. Just as the roar of its engines could no longer be heard, Peter and Blake landed on the ground next to them.
"No security measures outside. Guess they didn't want to be too obvious," Blake remarked.
"Still, anything could happen. You guys be careful, and we'll meet you bottom-side," Peter said.
"Likewise," Weiss returned. Peter nodded and webbed a manhole cover and yanked it, tearing it free from its place, then both Peter and Blake hopped through the opening below the street.
"Look on the bright side: at least we don't have to go through a sewer," Danny said.
"Right," Weiss said before the two of them looked at the old, dusty, barred entrance to the industry building. "Would you mind getting the door, Mister Rand?" She asked with a smirk
"Of course, Miss Schnee," Danny replied with a smile of his own. He approached the broken main doors, reeled his fist back as the familiar yellow glow of the Iron Fist, then shot the first forward to blast open the doorway, obliterating what blocked their path. It caused the entire building to shake as what was left of it's foundations was disturbed.
"Now that's what I call an entrance," Weiss remarked.
"Are you two insane?!" Luke's voice exclaimed over their comms. "You're gonna bring the whole building on top of us!"
"Needless to say, exercise caution from now on," Matt added. "Daredevil out."
Weiss and Danny traded glances, at which Danny just shrugged before gesturing inwards. "Ladies first."
"Thank you," Weiss chuckled a bit before playfully curtseying. Weiss then headed inside, resting one hand on the pommel of Myrtenaster sheathed at her waist. Danny followed closely behind.
Matt and Luke descended another flight of stairs and poured over another floor, finding nothing, just like the previous floors above.
"Nothin," Luke sighed. "Why are we scanning the entire tower on our own?"
"Because the sublevels are more intricate, and actually more expansive. The sublevel labs have exits into the tunnel system that Torchwick and the White Fang were hiding out in. We can assume that's how the Tinkerer traveled between the hideout and the labs," Matt replied. "The building is simple, and I'm sure the two of us can breeze through this while Danny and the kids take those sublevels from two angles."
"So if we think they're in the lower levels, why waste time searching the building at all?" Luke questioned.
"We think the collider is in the lower levels, but we don't know what else Mason could've been doing here. You and I need to check the building top to bottom in case he has more up here," Matt explained.
"We couldn't have at least split it even? Three up here, three down there?"
"Do you want to keep talking about it or finish clearing the building so we can catch up with the others?"
"Yeah, yeah, yeah," Luke replied before moving on to the next room. Like the others, it was darkened, only lit by the shattered moon's shine pouring in through the windows. Luke still strolled the room, gazing over the dusty dirt covered tables and counters, left alone as if the people who used it just up and left one day. "Nothing in here either," He called out to Matt.
"The floor is clear. Let's move down to the next level," Matt called back. Luke turned around only to be stopped short as his whole body started to lock up on him, and he met eyes with Taskmaster right in front of him. Luke looked down to see him pressing a small handheld device against his stomach, which delivered currents of electricity into his body. He started to raise an arm up to strike Taskmaster, but he had to put in a lot of effort to even move his muscles.
"Normally, your body can withstand the electrical output of a taser. But this isn't police-grade. It's ten-thousand times stronger. Without Dillon, I had to make due. Besides, he'd ruin the surprise," Taskmaster said. Luke still struggled, and it felt as if it got harder to move anything, as if his whole body was locking up at once. "You're probably wondering why you can't move, or even speak. Because of your unbreakable skin, the electric currents are running circles around your body at a million miles an hour. Even when most of it is external, your muscles are still contracting to the point of mimicking rigor mortis, like a normal current would do to a normal person. It's still making its way into your body through other means besides through the skin, but it'll take longer for you to black out. I hope you enjoy the pain."
Taskmaster slapped a small circular device onto Luke's left bicep that began conducting a similar charge, and Taskmaster pulled away with the handheld device before simply pushing Luke backwards, letting him fall onto his back stiffly as the other electrical device kept him paralyzed. He then instantly turned on his heel and caught Daredevil's club flying through the air towards him. The Devil of Hell's Kitchen eyed him down intently, his other club still held in his right hand.
"Taskmaster," Matt said simply.
"Daredevil," Taskmaster replied just as simply.
"You're here to kill Fisk, aren't you?" Matt questioned.
"Perceptive. See, I thought by luring Castle to him back at the docks, that would more than mean the end of him. My contract was done. Now that I know the bastard is alive, I get to finish him myself. I'll cleave that fat head of his right off his shoulders and be done with it."
"And the collider?" Matt questioned.
"It'll share his fate," Taskmaster answered.
"You'd strand yourself on this world forever?"
"I'm not stranded, Daredevil; I'm home." Taskmaster then pressed a switch on his bracer and the building's PA system began to screech a painful cry at its highest possible volume. Matt immediately stumbled and attempted to cover his ears in absolute pain, his enhanced senses making the already piercing squeals worse than a thousand banshee cries.
Taskmaster took advantage of the opportunity and tensed his fingers to make his suit's claws protrude from his gloves' fingertips, then took a few swipes at the Man Without Fear. Matt was able to dodge the first two, but with the PA ruining his awareness and overloading his senses, he inevitably got tagged by the third, leaving him open for Taskmaster roundhouse kick Matt backwards, slamming him into a wall back in the hallway outside the room. With the construction as weak as it was, the wall cracked horribly upon impact. Taskmaster rushed forward before quickly dropping to his feet and sliding toward Matt, connecting the sole of his boot with Matt's jaw. As soon as Taskmaster slid past, he got to his knees and spun back around low and double-tapped the attack with a connecting heel.
Taskmaster flipped back onto his knees, facing the recovering Matt. He clasped both his hands together, raised them up high above his head, then slammed them downwards to deliver a double-blow to the Devil's neck, putting him flat against the floor.
Matt coughed and groaned harshly after the blow, and Taskmaster rose back up to his full height. "I am a threat to even Avengers like Captain America. I make professional killers like Black Widow look like children with toys. I've made organizations disappear overnight. You never stood a chance. Marc Spector found that out the hard way." Taskmaster drew his sword and raised it high, aiming to decapitate Matt in one downward swing, but Matt focused enough to throw his remaining club to the side. It ricocheted off the wall and connected right with Taskmaster's visor, cracking it and stunning the killer.
"Agh!" he cried out. The club returned to Matt's hand, who then somersaulted over and kicked Taskmaster's head into the wall, cracking the worn stone. While the criminal was still stunned, Matt aimed his in-hand club towards the other club that was left on the ground, and out the head shot a grappling hook that pulled the discarded tool towards him. Matt gripped both tightly and attached them both together by the ends, then pulled them apart again, except connecting the two together now was a thick line of metal wire that Matt promptly wrapped around Taskmaster's throat and pulled tightly, restraining him, just short of the pressure needed to choke him out.
"What did you mean about Spector?" Matt asked through gritted teeth, putting in almost all of his strength to keep Taskmaster restrained.
"What do you think?" Taskmaster answered through strained breaths. "I killed him! I guess Raven Branwen hasn't been in contact to give that bit of info, has she?"
"What?" Matt questioned in confusion. In an instant, Taskmaster's claws found a home as they dug in between Matt's ribs. Matt cried out in pain, but instead of letting go, actually tighten his hold on Taskmaster's neck, beginning to actually press down on his windpipe. Taskmaster tried to dig in further, but he was restrained too tightly. He couldn't push further. Matt just rode through the pain, hoping Taskmaster would black out before he couldn't anymore.
Taskmaster started gagging on his own saliva getting stuck in his throat, and realized he needed to get out immediately. He reached on his belt for one of his Dust bombs, then primed it. Matt smelled the smoky aroma of fire Dust igniting, then quickly pulled off of Taskmaster and leapt away just before it exploded, obliterating the hallway and shaking the entire building.
Matt's ears were ringing harshly, but he was able to recover quickly enough. His side felt like it was on fire, but he pushed past the pain and listened intently for Taskmaster. Matt heard only one heartbeat nearby, what he assumed was Luke's. He took a chance to breathe before hobbling back over to the room where he left Luke. "Luke, are you alri-!" Matt was cut off when an orange blade came towards him, and he stopped it in an instant with his billy club. He was eye-to-eye with Taskmaster's cracked helmet visor. He looked past to see a gaping hole in the floor where Luke was laying before. The floor had given way when the Dust charge went off, meaning Luke had fallen at least a few floors down. Matt listened intently and knew exactly that Luke was four floors down now. He couldn't focus enough to tell if he was conscious.
"I don't know if you're stubborn or stupid. You could've kept going downstairs to the collider, and avoided this altogether," Taskmaster said. "But you heroes and your selfless natures. I can watch you all fight forever, understand every muscle movement in every combat move you make, but I will never get why you throw yourselves against brick walls. Save friends, spare lives, show weakness."
"Mercy is not a weakness," Matt replied.
"That's all mercy is, is a weakness," Taskmaster doubled down. "That is one weakness every single one of you share. It doesn't matter how long I analyze one of you heroes, I automatically know one crucial weak point I can exploit. All I have to do is push a kid in front of a bus, and that's all your attention taken up. But everyone has their limits, don't they? Even those who are so noble can only be pushed so far before they hit their breaking point. Ask Norman Osborne."
"Why are you so hellbent on breaking Spider-Man?" Matt questioned.
"Oh, don't get me wrong, you'll all die before this is done. But that arachnid has been one of the only ones to stump me so completely so consistently. But as I watched those days, as I saw that friendly neighborhood nuisance break down bit by bit, leaving only death and destruction in his wake, I knew how to beat him. Years of fighting and analysis, and all it took was a back row seat to the show of the century. All it'll take is one push, and history will repeat itself."
"What are you talking about?"
"Back at the docks, Parker nearly killed Fisk for me, but he bitched out of it at the last second. If I hadn't lured Castle there that night, you all might have actually arrested him. But now that Fisk is alive, Parker has a second chance," Taskmaster said. "Third strike, and he won't come back."
Matt's eyes widened. "You wanted him here…"
"I was counting on it. What better way to break him than put one more corpse on his hands? Let alone one he thought he could spare? Spider-Man will be no more. And when he loses that purpose, when he feels empty, only then will I end his miserable existence. My only roadblocks were you Defenders, and with Spector dead, Jessica Jones hospitalized and Castle on Ironwood's leash, that's three down, three to go." Taskmaster then punched Daredevil's claw wound, forcing a scream of pain from his lungs. Taskmaster then grabbed his own weapon, pulled the two halves of his billy clubs apart, and wrapped the wire around Matt's neck. Matt struggled, but then Taskmaster kneed the claw wound repeatedly, pushing more blood from the wound, before gripping Matt's torso firmly, lifting up, and suplexing him onto the edge of the hole of the floor. The impact was harsh, and Matt fell all the way down and landed right next to the unconscious Luke.
Taskmaster panted heavily and lay on the floor for a few long moments, his own wind knocked from his sails. He groaned in pain before forcing himself to his feet. "Shit…" He stumbled to his feet, picked up his discarded sword, and started his way for the stairwell.
Peter was crawling along the ceiling while Blake carefully tiptoed on the ground. They had yet to actually reach the sublevels, and were still navigating the sewer tunnels to find an entrance. "Y'know, I think this job really stinks sometimes," Peter remarked. When he heard no audible response, he looked down to see Blake glaring up at him. "Not the time or place?" he asked.
"No, it just wasn't very funny," Blake said, a small smirk now creeping up on her face.
"You wound me so, Blake Belladonna," Peter dramatically replied, his own smile forming behind the mask. "Any idea how much farther?"
"The blueprints Matt took from Professor Ozpin's database says we shouldn't be too far now. We're supposed to be almost right on top of it," Blake said. "But I don't see anything…"
"Unless we're actually on top of it," Peter suggested. "What if the tunnels don't meet the sublevels, but maybe weave in between them?"
"So we're doing loops around the labs?" Blake questioned.
"Maybe. Here, take a step back," Peter warned. Blake leapt back, and Peter faced downwards before launching himself down and striking the ground heavily. However, he did more damage than intended. The construction of even these tunnels was forlorn, withered. The blow shattered the entire lower quarter of the tunnel and Peter fell straight through with almost no recoil for his attack. "Crap!" He fell and fell fast, hitting another floor beneath them and landing on the pile of bricks formed by his destruction. "Ugh…"
"Peter!" Blake exclaimed before looking down.
"I'm… I'm alright…" Peter groaned before getting back to his feet. "Come on down." Blake hopped down and landed nimbly next to him as he got up. The two glanced at their surroundings: one of the sublevels under Merlot Industries, particularly one long dusty hallway. "And we're in…"
"So, what now?" Blake asked.
"We took a while to get here, so I don't think searching floor-by-floor will do us good right now. I wonder if their power generators still have juice."
"Why?"
"If I can access a records log, or maybe a list of extreme situation labs, we can narrow down our search." Peter pulled out his scroll and was about to dial up to Weiss and Danny when the very ground beneath their feet shook, and every light in sight flickered on and off in a sporadic frenzy that would render an epileptic comatose. The two covered their eyes from the harsh flashing until every light sparked out and shattered. In the farthest corners of the hall and periodically along, red emergency lights pulsed to life, giving the two reprieve from the assault on their vision.
"That power surge, does that mean-?" Blake began to question.
"They're firing the collider," Peter concluded.
"And is this a test, or are they going home?" Blake asked.
"Only one way to find out," Peter said just before his scroll went off. Peter answered it and Danny's voice came from the other end.
"I take it you guys felt that too?" The martial artist asked.
"Pretty much ground zero. The extreme situations lab must be at the lowest level. Makes sense, in terms of containing out of control projects," Peter deduced.
"Like a super collider that can blow holes in the fabric of reality!" Weiss screeched from the other end.
"Where are Matt and Luke?" Peter asked.
"Don't know, I haven't been able to reach them. But we don't have time to backtrack and get them. You two are further down, so haul it down to the extreme situations lab and we'll be there as soon as we can!" Danny ordered.
"Got it," Blake said before Peter hung up. "Let's go!"
"'No time to backtrack'?" Weiss repeated with a frown.
"Yeah, I know, but if the collider is on, then we have to get down there as fast as we can!" Danny defended himself.
"What if they're in trouble?!" Weiss replied.
"I wouldn't doubt it. We knew going into this we most likely weren't gonna be the only ones going for Kingpin. Taskmaster clearly has a bone to pick with him. But Matt is the best fighter of us bar me, and Luke has unbreakable skin. They can hold their own until that collider is ours. We have our job, they have theirs."
Weiss sighed in a frustrated way. "Fine. Let's go." Weiss then spurred forward. Danny shook his head before following suit.
They were sprinting down hall after hall relentlessly until Danny slid to a stop. Weiss stopped alongside him. "What is it?" She asked.
"Someone is here…" Danny muttered. In that moment, Neo strolled casually out of one of the rooms, parasol open and propped over her shoulder, the same confident smirk on her face as usual.
"Torchwick's henchwoman…" Weiss said. "Neo…"
"Taskmaster is definitely here then, and he brought help. He expected us to split up, then we'd be easier to take down," Danny concluded.
"What do we do? Fighting her will take too much time, time we don't have," Weiss said.
"I'll engage her while you get past her and keep going for the collider. Peter and Blake might need your help," Danny said.
"What?! I can't leave you behind here!" Weiss exclaimed.
"Don't worry. She's just a criminal, and I'm the Immortal Iron Fist, slayer of Shou-Lou and Protector of K'un L'unn."
"I have no clue what any of that meant."
"It means I can handle myself, now when you have your opening, go!" Danny charged up the Iron Fist and slammed it down, shaking the entire level of the building and blasting a shockwave towards Neo. She clearly wasn't expecting such a powerful attack, and as such moved to get as clear of it as she could. It was pointless, however, as the shockwave passed through her and forced her into the wall, stunning her momentarily.
Weiss took advantage of this and summoned a glyph behind her that promptly launched her forward. She zoomed past Neo, who was already recovering, landed on her feet, then continued down towards the collider. Neo looked after the heiress and scowled, but then turned back to see Danny leaping up and priming a downward kick. The attack connected, but Neo's form shattered like glass. Danny scowled and turned around to see Neo untouched, absently twirling her parasol in her fingers. She kept twirling it as she faced Danny with the same confident playful smirk.
Danny gave his own smirk before entering his own combat stance, staring Neo down.
Peter and Blake reached the entrance to the extreme situations lab, ready to enter when Blake stopped Peter. "Hold on."
"What is it?" Peter asked.
"Hasn't this seemed… too easy? I mean, nothing has gotten in our way this entire time. Nothing from Kingpin and Tinkerer at may be upstairs following us but… this place wasn't defended at all."
"So if they have anything, it'll be in here… or it's all been a trap," Peter deduced. "Let's be careful then. Cause even if there's not, Kingpin's no pushover himself."
"Alright," Blake nodded, pulling Gambol Shroud from its sheath and transforming it into its firearm mode. Peter nodded back and kicked the door open, blasting it off its hinges and crashing into the room. Peter leapt in, ready to defend himself, but there was nothing. The room was simply a dusty observation room, rows of desks, monitors and chairs left abandoned, just as most of the building. At the far end of the room was a massive viewing window looking into an even more massive testing room, where a collider almost identical to the one under Brooklyn was secured. Standing in front of that window, with his back to them, was the bald hulking figure of Wilson Fisk silhouetted against the light from the testing chamber.
"It's over, Willy! The collider is getting shut down!" Peter exclaimed. No response came from the Kingpin. Peter had expected a response of anger, violence, or even just mild annoyance. But there was nothing. Peter cleared his throat. "I said-!"
"I heard you, Mister Parker. Your usual threats and banter. Nothing I haven't heard before…" Fisk said lowly. Even the words didn't have his usual malice behind them. Peter traded glances with Blake and lowered his guard unsure of what was going on.
"Kingpin?" Blake said in a confused tone.
"You must be Miss Belladonna. We never had a chance to speak at the docks. I believe Mister Masters entertained you that night," Fisk said, still not turning around, his back to them still. "I apologize for any trouble he may have caused you. His actions here are a side effect of my own selfish endeavors. I set him upon a road he should not have been on, and thus unleashed his ill intent upon your world."
Wilson Fisk apologizing? Now Peter knew something was wrong. "Willy, what's up with you? This is… kinda creeping me out."
"My reality has been checked, Mister Parker. And now I question the point of it all. Come, stand with me for a moment. Please…" Peter and Blake traded glances and cautiously approached the crime lord. Once they got close enough, his appearance shocked them a bit.
Over his left eye was a medical eyepatch, covering the entry wound from where he'd been shot. The two also saw the heavily scarred exit wound on the back of his head. He also had heavy bags under his eyes, implying little to no sleep. But even in just his eyes, he seemed almost dead inside, as if any joy or hope was drained from his being. "Hello, Peter…" Fisk said hoarsely.
"What's going on, Kingpin?" Peter asked.
"See for yourself." Fisk handed Peter a tablet he had in hand, and Peter read the information displayed. Every test that Peter had taken note of before, in addition to what seemed like somehow dozens more? Each one was marked as a failure.
"I don't get it, you can't recreate the tear in reality you made before?" Peter asked.
"Now. The collider works perfectly. The goal of the tests wasn't to return to Earth, but to bring my Vanessa back to me. Each was less fruitful than the last," Fisk said.
"How so?" Blake asked curiously.
"You might have noticed the power surges that led you to us. Those were merely our biggest tests, where we pushed the limits of the machine. In just the past few months, we've done over a hundred. All yielded failure to bring even a variant of Vanessa to me."
"That's… that's not right. I mean, the multiverse is theoretically infinite. In even those hundred tests, at least half of them should've yielded something," Peter said.
"Exactly, Peter, it is infinite out there. I could do this for the rest of my natural life and never find success. And the fact I have done all this and only found worlds where she remains dead tells me that I would not be a savior if I did find her. More often than not, I am the cause for my beloved's death. And so I began to wonder if the existence I live is truly worth it all. After all, what is a King without his Queen?"
"Alone," Blake answered. Fisk didn't expect her to actually answer, and looked down at her. "Just a man in a glorified seat."
"Indeed, Miss Belladonna… every king needs a purpose behind his rule, and now I don't have it."
"Then what was the purpose before Vanessa?" Blake asked.
Fisk paused, then took a long-deep breath. "When I was a boy… my father was running for mayor. He was an ambitious man, looking to change the city in his own way. Whether for better or worse, the world would never know, but I would only assume the latter, considering his treatment of my mother and I at home. One night he pushed me beyond the brink, struck my mother down with his own hands. So I caved in his skull with a hammer to protect her. In life he tried to teach me the importance of strength, of power, of money, and so I amassed all three. By the time of my adult life, they were in abundance. I vowed to fix my city by any means necessary.
"But by the intervention of so-called 'heroes' like yourself, Mister Parker, the city I swore to save rejected me, marked me as a threat. I was seen as a poison when I could have been the cure. So for years I fought for my vision, only to be bested time and again. My purpose in life seemed to only be defeated. But then I met Vanessa, and… things changed. I had another reason to fight and win. I was reinvigorated. Surely if not for myself, I would cure the city for her sake. But as they say, good things don't last forever.
"Without Vanessa, my drive, my motive was lost. And then I had the idea to return her to me by taking a version of her from another world."
"That's when you hired on Tinkerer, Taskmaster and everyone else," Peter said.
"Indeed. And I applaud Mister Mason's loyalty and dedication," Fisk said, looking down into the testing chamber, where the Tinkerer was, well, tinkering with the collider. "But I've grown tired of this fruitless search. As much as I yearn to hold my Vanessa again, I fear I will not do so in life. I am not a religious man, but in this instance, I do hope there is something beyond our meager existences, so that I can feel her warmth again."
"Everything you've done since crossing our worlds," Blake deduced, "It was all for the woman you love."
"Love is a prison, Miss Belladonna, the kind most difficult to escape. As I'm sure Mister Parker can attest. I do hope that should you find yourself there someday, you don't become trapped as I have."
Blake uncomfortably turned away at the statement, prompting a glance from Fisk. "I see. It seems none of us are free in that regard."
Peter looked at Blake in curiosity, but Blake didn't meet his eyes.
"If it is worth any consolation, Peter… I apologize for everything I said regarding Mary Jane Watson that night. It is clear to me, especially now, that you did everything you could in your attempt to protect her life, just as I tried to do for Vanessa. You broke your one code in life just to avenge her. And now given what I've realized, I've dishonored Vanessa's memory by even hoping to replace her."
"How sweet," A familiar voice snarled behind them. The three of them snapped back towards the entrance, where Taskmaster stood with his blade in hand. "Though if you want to reacquaint yourself with your dead wife so badly, I can send you on your way."
"Mister Masters… last we met, you left me for dead."
"Yeah. Looks like I can't trust people to finish the job," Taskmaster said while eyeing up Peter.
"If you wanted him dead so badly, you should've done it yourself," Blake glared, aiming Gambol Shroud at Taskmaster, ready to fire at a moment's notice.
"Y'know, it's adorable at this point that you think you can actually beat me, considering I just left Daredevil and Luke Cage on four floors worth of rubble, and that I gave a bookstore a red paint job with Marc Spector's blood."
"Mooney's dead?" Peter said in surprise.
"Thankfully. If he were here, this might've actually been a challenge," Taskmaster remarked. "Though I must say, I'm most disappointed in you, Fisk. I was expecting your usual rage and arrogance to push the kid too far again, and make him finish you for good. But you just softened. I guess I really do have to do it myself. Although, who doesn't like a good cushion for a victory?"
Suddenly, bright yellow light filled the window view behind them. Peter and Blake quickly leapt out of the way, only narrowly missing being struck by a storm of electricity. Fisk, however, took the brunt of it, but didn't back down. When the storm was gone, he still stood tall, despite steam rolling off his body and a few fresh burns scarring his skin. Flying in the window now was Electro, a sinister smirk on his face.
"Remember me?!" He exclaimed.
"I recall crushing your skull with a single hand," Fisk snarled.
"At first, I was angry. But actually, I almost feel like thanking you. Somehow, I'm now pure energy. Nothing for you to crush anymore!"
"A pity. But if you want to thank me, you can do it by turning Mister Masters to ash," Fisk offered.
"You won't get off so easily," Electro snarled before priming to let loose another lightning storm. Peter and Blake both leap through the windows down into the testing chamber before the attack, as did Taskmaster. Fisk, though, he didn't move a muscle. Electro blasted electricity at him again, wanting to see the Kingpin suffer slowly. He didn't notice until too late Kingpin was toughing it through and was slowly making his way closer to Electro. Before Electro moved away, Fisk grabbed him by his ankle, then slammed him down onto the floor. He tossed him away into the testing room before dropping down alongside Peter and Blake.
"What in the hell do you all think you're doing?!" The Tinkerer exclaimed, taking cover out of the way. "You'll damage the collider!"
"Well then, Tinky, be ready to fix it!" Peter replied.
"Oh please," Taskmaster said. "I'm going to kill all of you and destroy the collider myself."
"I don't think so, Mister Masters," Fisk said with a scowl. He then looked down at Peter and Blake. "If you two can handle Electro, Taskmaster and I are going to have a… workplace discussion."
"Sounds fine to me," Peter said.
"Speak for yourself," Blake deadpanned. Electro got back to his feet and snarled like a rabid animal.
"Fine! I'll flash fry you kids and then burn Fisk myself!" He exclaimed before lighting up again and floating upwards.
"Move!" Peter yelled. He and Blake moved yet again just out of the way of an electrical blast.
Fisk stomped towards Taskmaster, who drew his sword and slashed at Fisk, but the blade stopped dead on impact, to Taskmaster's confusion. Before he could do anything further, Fisk gripped both of Taskmaster's arms in just one hand and lifted him up without effort. Taskmaster squirmed, but Fisk's grip didn't budge.
"It doesn't matter who you analyze and who you defeat. You never have and never will stand a chance against me," Fisk said. His grip began to tighten. The armor on Taskmaster's arms folded quickly, and it took his bones even less time to shatter, their cracking sounding in even the loud room. Taskmaster let out a howl of pain. "You think yourself so strong, so powerful…" Fisk then began slamming Taskmaster flat onto the floor over and over, obliterating the floor upon impact again and again. Only after Taskmaster dazed and nearly broken did he stop and raise him back up to eye level. "... but you are just a scared little man in a mask."
Taskmaster groaned before kicking upwards and connecting his foot with Fisk's one good eye, stunning the mob boss long enough for him to slip out and grip his sword again and go for a killing drive with the blade. Again, though, it stopped dead against Fisk's torso. "What?!" Fisk glared down at Taskmaster then shattered his blade with a single downward swing, leaving the weapon in pieces. He used his other hand to hit with the back of his fist against Taskmaster's head, sending him flying back and breaking off part of his helmet.
"You consider yourself a master of prediction, but are so painfully predictable yourself. It's embarrassing to watch."
"P-Predictable…?" Taskmaster repeated, trying to push himself back up.
"Yes," Fisk said, approaching the floored Taskmaster and raising both fists above his head, "Predictable." Both fists came down with the power of cannons, blasting all the air from Taskmaster's lungs and shattering bones. Taskmaster began to hack up in his mask, the metallic taste of his own blood overwhelming most of his senses.
Electro attacked and missed repeatedly at Peter and Blake, although only ever narrowly. It had been months since Peter fought Electro, but since then he seemed to be more powerful. However he ended up as pure energy, it removed any limits his human body had. "Max, I'm loving the new look! It's very flashy, and really makes the color come out in your eyes!" Peter quipped while avoiding all of the electricity shot his way.
"How about an up-close demonstration?" Electro smirked before attacking him again and again, still missing. While Electro was distracted with Peter, Blake snuck up close from behind, launched herself upward with one of her shadow clones, and used Gambol Shroud to cut right through one of the tubes on the side of his containment suit, letting out a stream of energy that burst out from the suit. "Agh!" Electro stopped chasing Peter and held his side as if in pain, madly trying to cover up the breach in his suit.
"It seems even Electro is realizing the reality of his situation," Fisk smirked. "Your time is done, Taskmaster."
"So… is … yours!" Taskmaster threw up his last Dust bomb, which exploded and blasted Fisk away from him, putting up a smokescreen and giving Taskmaster enough time to get to his feet, albeit wobbly. His gauntlets were crushed and his sword was destroyed. He searched desperately for another tool to use. He needed to kill Kingpin. To survive. He thought he had something when Fisk's massive hand gripped his skull and raised him up again.
"Before, I gave Electro a quick death. You will not have that mercy," Fisk snarled before gripping Taskmaster's body with both hands, then in an instant bringing his back smashing against his knee. A symphony of vaporized bones sounded behind Taskmaster's pained cries, then Fisk let him drop onto the floor.
Taskmaster tried to crawl, but almost none of his body responded. His lungs were strained, and his entire body felt limp. "I… I can't move…"
"And don't think you ever will again. Your days as an assassin are over. Give Miss Fall my regards."
Electro growled in anger. "Stay still!" He kept going after Blake, eventually hitting her dead on with a blast. Immediately after, however, Peter leapt onto his back and tore the other containment tube free from the suit, letting loose even more energy.
"Sorry, was that important?" Peter said. Electro scowled and let out a pulse of energy that blasted Peter away. Larger currents of electricity leaked from the damage to his suit, and he tried his best to keep himself together, but he was furious now. He roared out and blasted both Blake and Peter with continuous electrical currents while they were both stunned.
"I'll fry both of you! Your insides will boil, and you'll be roasted from the inside out! But I won't stop until you're charred black!" Electro exclaimed. He was so focused on Blake and Peter that he didn't realize that, with his back now to the shattered viewing windows, Weiss leapt from the viewing room and drove Myrtenaster into the back of his containment suit. "Agh! No!" Weiss carved the blade down the back, opening the widest breach in his suit yet. Weiss leapt off of Electro just before another burst of energy blasted from his back. Weiss landed gracefully next to Blake before helping her to her feet.
"You alright?" Weiss asked.
"Peachy," Blake groaned as steam wafted from her body.
"No! No!" Electro cried out. He couldn't contain his energy with the damage to his suit. Blast after blast of electricity shot from the openings in his suit. "I-I can't hold it!"
"Max, no!" Peter called out.
"Aaaaaagh!" Electro screamed before he burst into a massive electrical blast, hitting everyone at once and tearing right through the collider. The machine itself then exploded, creating a chain reaction that began to tear not just the room, but the building around them apart.
"The collider!" Weiss exclaimed.
"Forget the collider, just run!" Blake replied as she leapt up to her feet.
Fisk started to get up and he saw the back exit to the chamber swing open. Neo was hauling the limp Taskmaster and an unconscious Tinkerer to the best of her ability, and in the doorway, hidden in shadow, were a set of familiar eyes of flame. "Cinder…" He growled.
"No witnesses," Cinder smirked before a bow formed in her hands with an arrow of flame sparked into life already primed on the drawstring. Fisk stood up and let out a roar as he began to charge, but Cinder let the arrow fire, and it found its home directly in FIsk's heart, piercing the body that Taskamster's sword could not. Fisk slowly came to a stop and fell to his knees. It felt like his blood was boiling, killing the rest of his body as it flowed through. "After all, I can't have you throwing names around, can we Wilson?" Fisk's body then started to pull apart, turning to hot ash.
"Vanessa… I'm coming…" He muttered to himself.
Peter got to his feet as the very earth beneath him rumbled. It was then he looked over and saw as Fisk burned away, dead for good this time. Once the hulking figure was gone, he saw the two golden burning eyes he remembered from his first night on Remnant in a shadowed doorway. He swore he saw a smirk just before the door slammed, and was promptly blocked by a mound of falling rubble.
"Peter! We have to go!" He heard Weiss call over the roar of destruction around them. Peter mentally kicked himself for allowing Fisk to die for good. He could've saved him this time. But he didn't have enough time to ponder it forever, so he leapt up into the viewing room with Blake and Weiss, only to see the door out had also been blocked by rubble.
"How do we get out?" Blake asked. PEter tried to think at first, then his Spider-Sense hit him.
"Move!" He exclaimed. The three of them moved out of the way just before the rubble was blasted away, and Danny stood in the opening with a de-charging Iron Fist.
"You gonna stand there all day or should we get the hell out of here?" He smirked.
"Running and living sounds good!" Peter said. The other three leapt through the opening and began to sprint, and Danny joined them.
"What happened?" Danny questioned. "I was fighting Neo, then she suddenly just vanished!"
"She escaped with Taskmaster and the Red Woman!" Peter answered.
"And Fisk?"
"Dead," Blake simply answered. "Electro too."
"Yeah… I couldn't save him again. He was different, Danny, I could've saved him!" Peter exclaimed
"I can understand your feelings, but I think that's something we can discuss back in Vale when we don't have a building coming down on top of us!" Danny replied. " Matt and Luke are already back on the airship waiting for us!"
"Then we better make this fast!" Weiss added.
The group made their way back to the ground floor fairly quickly and exited the front door of the building where the bullhead was waiting, with Matt and Luke waving them in. They all hopped in and the ship took off just before the road under it caved in. The large group of heroes and huntresses looked down as the ship quickly ascended to see the Merlot Industries building collapse on itself, and the entire ground around it cave in and fill the sinkhole with the earth itself.
"That's it then… we have no way home?" Luke asked.
"The red woman took the Tinkerer. If she's anything like Taskmaster, we're probably never gonna see him again," Peter said solemnly.
"So it's in the ballpark," Matt said. "But we'll find a way home."
"Just have faith," Danny agreed. "For now, at least we thwarted Taskmaster."
"Did we?" Luke questioned. "They wanted Fisk dead and the collider destroyed. Both happened. So did we really stop them?"
No one had a response immediately, then Weiss spoke up. "Yes, their objectives were complete, but they lost a powerful ally, and it seemed like Taskmaster was incapacitated. If anything, this is more of a draw than an absolute failure."
"We'll, that sounds better than failure, doesn't it Luke?" Matt said. Luke grunted in response, clearly not convinced yet.
Peter was uncharacteristically silent now, sitting down in one of the cabin seats by himself away from the others. Blake saw him sitting there, but felt exhausted herself. She let out a tired sigh and let him take time for himself. She herself was wondering if all they did tonight was a victory, or just the latest in a string of losses.