It has been a few days since the incident that went down with Globby, which is something that they were still worried about. The problem was that without any way of tracking a literal glob of chemicals, there was no way of finding him. Something that Peter was constantly working on, hoping that there was some way to stop him quickly. They were currently at the Lucy Cat just eating breakfast, and Peni even joined them as it was the weekend and May was left with an extra shift.
"Still looking for Globby?" GoGo asks as she saw Peter working on some tracking software.
"Gotta be prepared for when he shows up," Peter explains. "He declared he would be back."
"I give him a few months before he does," Teresa stated as she ate her breakfast. "It takes a while before getting used to that kind of body."
"It took us a few weeks to get used to our powers." Peni reminded them as she ate.
"And it was kinda rushed given the circumstances of it," Teresa admitted, remembering how and why they both got into the suits. "Even then, we still got our buts kicked by Callaghan."
"Has anyone seen Fred?" Honey Lemon asks them.
"Kinda wondering that, too." Hiro admired as he looked around.
"Guys, we can just call him," GoGo stated as she pulled out her phone. But just then, there was a call from the said Fred. "Or he can call us."
When she answered it, he was face-calling them and was a little too close to the camera. "Guys, emergency! Now! Now!"
They didn't even bother wasting any time as they all considered it a hero emergency and ended into action. Grabbing their gear from the garage, they raced to Fred's location, which appeared to be at his house. By the time they were completely suited up, they reached Fred's house to only find...nothing.
There wasn't anything going on and Fred was getting some treatment that required him in a robe, cucumber on his eyes, and Heathcliff was filing his toenails. SP even became confused and its face changed to one with a raised brow over his eyes.
"Uh..." Peter didn't know what to say.
"This does not appear to be an emergency," Baymax says to them.
"What he said." Teresa agrees as she crossed her arms.
"Fred, what's the emergency?" Hiro asked as he removed his helmet.
"This better be good," GoGo stated as she removed her suit.
"If you're looking for someone to cut your toenails, the answer is no." Wasabi proclaimed and shuttered at the thought. "Never again."
"That hangnail was majorly infected, okay?" Fred defended that statement as he raised his foot to show his point. "A man can't operate on himself."
"Fred, please get to the point of why we are here." Teresa pleaded with her friend.
"Because it's here. There is no escape. There is no hope!" Fred cried in terror.
"All right, drama king." GoGo was having enough of this. "Explanation, now."
"It's my...Bro-tillion." Fred explains in defeat as he dropped against his couch.
"Uh...what?" Peni asks in confusion.
"He's a reptilian?" Hiro tried to understand.
"Oh, something with his costume." Honey Lemon thought she was understanding him.
"No. Bro. Bro-bro-bro." Fred corrected them, facing his couch.
"Heathcliff, translation?" GoGo asked the butler.
"The time has come for Master Fredrick's bro-tillion, a grand gala held in his honor where he will be formally presented to the city's monied elite." Heathcliff helped them understand their friend.
"Fred, translation?" Teresa asks Fred for a more clear version.
"It's a stuffy party where I have to stuff myself inside a stuffy suit and talk to stuffy people, about stuffy things." Fred recapped as he started to walk around. "And that's not even the worst part. And then there's...Binky."
"Isn't that one of the ghosts in Pac-Man?" Peter questions.
"Beverly Samantha Mole, aka, Binky." Fred's mother explains from the doorway, surprising a lot of them at how she sneaked up on them. "The reigning queen of San Fransokyo's snob society. She's rude, she's arrogant. She's-"
"Quite insufferable." Heathcliff joined in as she started to measure Fred for his suit. "Not at all down to earth, like you, madam."
"Which is why everything must be perfect, right dear?"
"Right, mom." Fred sighed as his mom finished and walked away.
"Why does your mom care about what Binky thinks?" Teresa wonders.
"Maybe Inky and Clyde will side-eye her at book clubs." Peter couldn't help it but also earned a smack from GoGo. Peter did not react but quieted down on the jokes after that. "I deserved that."
"Well, there was that time I defaced priceless art." Fred listed the reasons why. "In my defense, the concept of priceless art was still new to me. Then there was the monkey incident. In my defense, the monkeys looked up to me as their leader. And I'm still not allowed at the yacht club. In my defense- well, I don't have a defense for that one."
"Oh, yeah I remember that one," Peter recalled that incident because he needed to save people like Spider-Man from drowning. "I smelled like an ocean for a week."
Teresa went wide-eyed and smacked herself in the face. "How have I never put that together?"
"Yeah, that's why I can't let my mom down again." Fred proclaimed. "You guys have to help me. I need to become a proper young gentle dude. And I need to do it by Saturday."
"Saturday?" Wasabi asks since it was currently Sunday. "Which Saturday? This Saturday?"
"Fred, we're gonna need longer than six days." Teresa was sorry to admit it.
"We need longer than a month," GoGo added.
"Okay. We can do this." Honey Lemon is the optimist she is. "You've already taken care of personal grooming, your mom's handling wardrobe, what's next?"
"Preparing for the moment I fear more than anything..." Fred stated as he added a dramatic pause t the idea. "The dance."
"That really wasn't worth the dramatic pause," GoGo stated.
"Yeah-huh," Fred stated as he quickly made it across the room.
"Don't worry, Fred, I got this." Hiro already had an idea that could help.
It literally took up most of their week, constant dance lessons from Baymax (courtesy of a new chip from Hiro). Seems Fred's father also couldn't make it to the fact that there was some trouble far away. Hiro also managed to help his aunt with some money problems by getting her as the caterer for the party.
When the day of the bro-tillion finally arrived, the group also volunteered to help out. It was mostly because they were worried Fred would do something to mess it all up at the last second. But also because they wanted to be there for their friend. The only one absent was Peni, and she was patrolling the city while May was under the assumption she was sleeping over at a friend's house.
Cass was just finishing up some of the catering and left the trays out for the group to take. Honey Lemon awe at the trays as she picked up a panda tray.
"Ooh, look. A panda. Look at his little face, isn't he cute?" Honey asks GoGo, who only blew a bubble and popped it. "I named him Parker." Then she pointed out another one on the tray. "And that kitten over there? That's Rodrigo. Isn't he adorable?"
"Honey, we've talked about this." Teresa sighed as she picked up another tray. "You can't get emotionally involved with the hors d'oeuvres."
The party seemed to be going pretty well, with a few minor exceptions here and there. Then when the main event started, Fred was brought to the main steps when Peter's spider senses went off. He felt a buzzing and started to look around in worry.
"Uh, oh." Peter tried to get someone's attention.
"What's wrong?" GoGo was the first to notice the look on his face. "I know that look."
Then before Peter even needed to explain it, the entire room started to shake and everyone was worried. Then when they started to panic, a gigantic drill of sorts came crashing out of the ground, sending pieces of furniture flying around the room.
Peter froze and looked at the drill, pondering something. "I feel like I've seen this somewhere before."
"What is that?" Hiro asks
Then the tip of the drill opened and a man came marching out of the machine. He is a robot with many mechanical parts on his upper body. He has a prosthetic right arm attached to a giant claw while he holds a steam gun in his left hand. He also carries a large steam boiler. His head is bald, his right eye is replaced by a metal eye that can switch between yellow and microscopic lenses.
"I don't know why, but I expected him to be shorter," Peter admitted as people were frozen in fear. But then he recalled the whole situation that lay before him with a man coming from the ground in a drill. "I swear, this is all so familiar."
"Greetings, San Fransokyo. I am Baron Von Steamer!" The man introduced himself, earning empty responses from the whole room. A lot of people were even eying others, seeing if they had any idea of who he was. Steamer seemed insulted by the no response. "I was a pretty well-known villain in my day. No? Steam?" He then gave a demonstration by shooting his gun and steam shot out of it. "Steamer? Does nobody remember? Well, I guess there's not room in your fancy pocket-vest telephones for history."
"This is a profile affair, sir, and you are not RSVP." Mrs. Fredrickson informed Steamer.
"I did not RSVP," Steamer confirmed. "And I didn't bring a guest, but I am taking one." Then he pointed towards Fred. "Fredrick Frederickson the Forth!"
Fred froze in shock before growing a smile. "Wait, what? Does this mean I don't have to dance?"
"Any chance you brought your Wings?" Peter asks Teresa.
"No, my jacket is at home in the wash," Teresa admitted, noticing the look on Peter's face as the crowd started to panic. "I've worn that jacket for a whole week. It needed a wash. When was the last time you washed your suit?"
Peter had to think of it and even had to count. "When did we deal with Yama and those robots?"
"My point!" Teresa cried as she kicked a chair and sent it flying at Steamer. "Protect Fred!"
Steamer shot the chair with steam and sent it flying back, causing Teresa to duck down to avoid the furniture. GoGo dropped the entrees but kept the tray and rolled on her skates, which she used to throw the tray at the man. But Steamer caught the tray and shot the ground, causing a steam cloud to form around him.
"This is something new," Peter commented as he used his web-shooters to pull a chair closer and into the fog.
Hiro also helped by trying to throw some cutlery into the smoke, but when it cleared up, there was no sign of Steamer. They were confused about how he pulled that off and looked to see another cloud of smoke making its way to Fred. But it didn't get far before Honey used a tarp to fan and disperse the fog.
Steamer shot at her, but Peter worked fast to shoot a web and yanked her backward behind a pedestal where they all just stayed. Steamer kept going and tried to shoot them through the pedestal.
"We need our gear," GoGo commented.
"Steam can cause third-degree burns and could be dangerous," Baymax informed Steamer.
"That's the idea of the weapon," Steamer stated as he then shot at the robot, sending him flying.
"That is hot." Baymax was able to tell.
Then Steamer started to fill the entire room up with steam, which caused the team to lose sight of their friends. Wasabi was with Fred as he then tried to drag his friend out of the room, but the doors were locked.
"Oh, come on!" Wasabi cried in terror.
Steamer then reached them, the others left in the smoke. He pulled out an old poster of someone called Boss Awesome, which looked a bit torn and worn down.
"Ah, you're the spitting image of your father," Steamer stated as he eyed the two. But to both of their surprise, he grabbed Wasabi and dragged him into the steam. "Tell Boss Awesome if he wants to see his precious baby boy again, he will surrender to me!"
"Not sure which direction your laugh is coming from, could you cackle again?" Fred asks.
"No!" Steamer cried as he escaped.
And by the time the smoke finally cleared, they were left watching as the drill retreated back into the ground and left the heroes and friends confused. They all ran over to the hole that the drill came from and they were all just lost with what happened. Not to mention some of them were even lost with what they were supposed to do now.
"Uh, what?" Peter asks in confusion.
"What just happened?" Teresa asks in confusion.
"Wasabi was just kidnapped by a villain," Honey Lemon said in worry.
"I think that villain thought that he was me," Fred commented.
"A very confuse villain." GoGo took notice.
"And I'm also confused. Who's Boss Awesome?" Hiro wonders.
Then Fred decided to show them the secret base room that he discovered in his house. The team was amazed when they saw that Fred's father appeared to be some sort of old-time superhero from before any of their times.
"Your dad...was a superhero?" Peter was shocked to ask.
"Named Boss Awesome?" Peni asks as she sat on top of the SP//DR suit.
"It was the 70s." Fred defended.
"And why haven't you mentioned this before?" Teresa asks their friend.
"Well, it is sort of a secret," Fred explains to them.
Honey Lemon picked up a pair of the Cloaks and looked it over. "Don't worry, Freddy, we can keep a secret."
Then the screen behind them then opened up and Stan Lee appeared and cleared his throat. "I'm glad somebody here can."
In the background, they noticed he was in some sort of battleground with a dozen other people. They seemed to be fighting off...what could only be described to as demons.
"Hi, Mr. Frederickson." Honey Lemon sheepishly greeted.
"Can you explain to me what all of you are doing in my secret lair?" Stan asks.
Fred jumped to try and explain. "Well, we were at my bro-tillion, then this guy Steamer showed up-"
"Baron Von Steamer?" Stan was shocked to hear, backhanding a creature that came at him.
"Yep, that's the one," GoGo confirmed.
"I can't believe he's still in the game," Stan admitted with a scoff. "He was old back in the day!"
"Uh, are we interrupting something?" Teresa asks, gesturing to the mayhem going on around him.
"Hmm?" Stan was confused as he looked behind him, seeing one of his teammates being picked up by a gigantic horned monster. "Oh, Trigon?" He scoffed. "He's nothing. The Warriors can handle him."
"Says you!" One of them in a blue Iron Man suit proclaimed as he shot at the demon.
Stan then spun to face him and scoffed back. "You fought the Batman Who Laughs! This should be nothing!" He then looked back to the screen with a smile. "So, where were we? Right, Steamer."
"He's back." Fred comforted. "For revenge!"
"Of course, he is." Stan didn't seem so surprised. "He was my arch-nemesis."
"He captured our friend. Any idea where he would take him?" Hiro wonders.
"Well, he had multiple hideouts, as I recall," Stan tells them when Alice came flying past and shot mystical blasts at Trigon. "But he did have a couple of favorites. Hit that button there."
Fred did just that and a map of San Fransokyo showed up next to them, showing a few red dots. They guessed that those were the favorites that Stan was just talking about.
"The lights indicate the locations of Steamer's old lairs," Stan confirmed.
Fred then started to go over them as he knew most of the locations already. "Can't be that one. It's a Noodle Burger now. Yep, and that's a Noodle Burger. Also a Noodle Burger. Noodle Burger. Noodle- oh, wait. No, no, that's a Yaki Taco."
"So the only two places that aren't Noodle Burgers, are the abandoned subway station and the old ironworks." Hiro pointed to the only two locations left.
"Wow, the most generic locations for a villain lair." Peter had to admit he was a little disappointed. "But then again, he's from the 70s. They might not have been clichés yet."
"Okay, and they're on opposite sides of the city," GoGo says. "Great."
"Guess we're gonna have to split up." Teresa shrugged.
"Classic!" Stan said when Trigon came charging at him. "Gotta go!"
The teams split up with Hiro, Teresa, and Peter taking up the abandoned subway station, and the others making it for the ironworks. They were making their way down the tunnel, wondering if they were starting to get lost with nothing in sight. There was no sign of either Steamer or Wasabi, and they figured they would have heard his screams or whimpers at this point.
"You guys see anything?" Peter asks, wondering if he's missing something.
"I don't see anything," Teresa replied as she kept flying.
Then Steamer's voice came through the tunnels, and they quickly stopped, thinking they were somewhere nearby. "Salutations, nosy interlopers. You have made the grievous error of transgressing on the lair of Baron Von Steamer."
Peter's senses quickly went off, alerting him something was about to happen. Two traps off of the walls came and tried to crush them, but Peter was hum stronger and managed to raise his hands to stop them from being crushed.
"Whoa!" Teresa and Hiro quickly moved so Peter could use all his strength to shove the devices.
"Thanks for that." Hiro was thankful for his help.
"Booby traps," Teresa commented as she got up and looked around.
"Old-timey booby-traps, but yep," Peter confirmed as he scanned the area for anymore. But his sensors couldn't pick up anything up. "I can't pick any of them up, but I would suspect there's bound to be more."
Hiro then got an alert on his sensors and saw something. "Wait, I'm picking up a heat signature."
"Could be a furnace." Teresa shrugged. "This guy loves old timely stuff."
"Do furnaces typically move?" Baymax wonders.
"Not particularly." Peter shrugged.
"it is moving towards us. Rapidly." Baymax warns the group.
Then they saw a steam engine train coming right for them. Starting to panic, they got ready to move when dozens of doors and contraptions came down to keep them in the tunnel.
"Uh, it's gonna take longer than the ten seconds we have before we're pancaked." Peter was sorry to tell them.
"Well, we gotta think of something!" Teresa started to panic and looked around to find a way out.
Hiro was able to think faster with something neither of them would have thought of. "Baymax, lift the tracks!"
Baymax did just that and Teresa quickly grabbed Peter and wrapped the wings around them both. Hiro was shielded by Baymax when the train came and uppercut into the tunnel's ceiling. The debris wasn't able to harm them thanks to Baymax and Teresa shielding their others. When the smoke cleared and debris stopped falling, they were able to separate and look around.
"Salutations, nosy interlopers." Steamer's voice came through the smoke. A little confused, they started to walk and noticed it was nothing but an old recorder. "Salutations, nos-"
"We gotta get to the ironworks factory quick," Peter said in worry. "The others are in danger."
At the ironworks factory, Peni was scanning the area with SP's help. The building looked like it hadn't been used in the past...hundred years. There was a lot of rubble and loose wires coming from everywhere that looked like it was all falling apart.
"I'm not seeing anything on any secret entrances." Peni was sorry to say.
"Wait, I found something!" Honey said as she picked up one of the pastries. "It's Rodrigo. He made it."
"Wasabi must be leaving us a trail." GoGo was starting to guess.
Fred opened the mask to take the pastry and look it over. Then he sent it flying into his mouth and ate it, surprising Hoeny as she wasn't aware of what he was going to do. Seeing her look of horror, Fred wondered what his mistake was.
"Sorry, were you going to eat that?" Fred wonders.
Honey whimpered in sorrow. "Rodrigo."
Peni then used the scanners where the pastry was to see if she could pick up the trail. Luckily Wasabi is known for his struggles and left shuffles in the dirt that she found an easy trail to follow.
"Looks like they went this way," Peni commented and started to follow.
They were led into a tunnel structure that brought them to a doorway, where they then heard Wasabi's screams. "I'm not Fred!"
"Found him," Fred said jokingly.
They sneakily opened the door and found Steamer's headquarters which consisted of a giant open room, and a floor of lava. Then Honey was the first to enter the room as she jumped in and hid behind a rock formation coming out of the ground. GoGo quickly followed her and Fred leaped inside, then followed by Peni who sneaked in as quietly as she could. The lava was starting to rise and Steamer started to lower Wasabi into the pit.
"Okay, time to act," GoGo said and looked at Peni. "Think you can get him?"
"On it!" Peni quickly leaped into the air where she landed on top of the cage holding Wasabi.
"Peni?" Wasabi was a little shocked to see her there.
"Hang on," Peni warned him.
SP then cut the rope and held onto him, causing Wasabi to scream in terror and fear. When Peni then swung them both and leaped into the air, ripping the cage open, he continued to scream until they got on solid ground. And even then, he ended up grabbing the arm of SP and wouldn't seem to let it go.
"You can let go now, you're safe," Peni assured him.
"Not ready yet." Wasabi cried as he held onto the arm of the mech.
Steamer cried as he pulled a lever and a form of transport. "Millenials!"
And with that, he made a quick escape to try and get away from the heroes. But as Wasabi finally released the SP's arm, they started to think that everything was starting to cool down. Feeling that Steamer has just run away in fear of them.
"Did he just leave?" Fred was a little surprised.
"I think we should be doing the same," Honey said as they regrouped.
"Couldn't agree more!" Wasabi whimpered, not feeling safe without his gear.
But then they heard the alarms blaring and were wondering what was coming. The ceiling then opened a small hole that then was filled with Steamer's maniacal laughter.
"What is that?" GoGo wonders.
That was followed by the mechanism that Steamer was inside coming down and lowering to reveal a giant mechanical spider.
"Hey, guys? I lied." Fred quickly got their attention. "My fear of spiders is debilitating."
"Where is Boss Awesome?" Dreamer asks in anger. "You're not bosses or awesome!"
Then Steamer raised one of his giant hammer legs and went to smash the group. Quickly working on their toes, they moved and scattered across the room to avoid getting crushed by the machine. Honey quickly shot the ground and she then created a bubble around her to protect herself. Fred jumped backward to try and escape the hammers and Wasabi screamed and ran.
GoGo ran up to it and threw her disks to try and break it, but it seemed to be stronger than it looked. "I don't get what this has to do with steam!"
"Well, you can't see it from out there, but it is steam-powered!" Steamer explained as he tried to smash her.
Peni however had different plans as she leaped and spun one of her mechanical spider's legs fast enough to rip the arm off before it could hit GoGo. That seemed to surprise Steamer when he realized she was inside a mechanical spider.
"We'll take your word for it." Peni mocked.
"What?!" Steamer was shocked to see her.
"The name is SP//DR," Peni exclaimed as the spider then shot out a fire blast, which didn't seem to damage her suit. "Let's end this!"
SP then sped around and made its way underneath, only for the legs to try and crush her underneath. But her suit was more durable, giving her the chance to grab and pull the leg off of the Steamer mechanism and then grabbed another in the process. Ripping them both off seemed to imbalance the suit of armor and cause it to crash.
"And that's how it's done," Peni said with a smile.
Steamer came crawling out of the device as the group regrouped when the others came flying through the ceiling. They watched and noticed the entire room was in shambles (which it was like when they arrived anyhow) and there was a giant mechanical spider in the corner of the room.
"Uh...did we miss much?" Peter asks them in confusion.
"You may have won this round, SP//DR, for I shall return and have my revenge!" Steamer promised as he created another tunnel around himself. "Villinay defies gravity!"
And with that, he escaped up the tunnel and left Peter, Teresa, and Hiro completely lost and confused. "Uh..."
"Wait, does this mean I have a personal nemesis now?" Peni asks in surprise.
She was too happy about that for their liking.
Back in the forest, the black ooze only continued to make its way through the forest. It was starving and was in need of substance in order to survive on this planet. It wasn't able to survive off of just one host at a time, it needed a stable resource of food or it would keep withering away.
As it was making its own way to the river to try and get some food, there was also the other creature making its way through. The hunter was starting to make traps all throughout the forest for the foreseeable hunt to soon take place to hunt Spider-Man down.
"Soon, Spider-Man, we shall hunt for who is the superior one."