New chapter!
Phew. This was hard. Fair warning, I've said this before but action sequences are not my strong point, so it might not be all that great.
Now a couple of things.
First, I have not abandoned my other story. It's just right now my creative flow is more focused on this one. But I have every intention of returning to the other story so please be patient. As you can see, I am doing these chapters at a steady enough pace.
Second, the other story that I have planned where Spider-Man went to hell for a thousand years is not something I'm doing right now. It's on the back burner. Sorry. As for some details, all I'll say is that it has a crossover with DC. Make with that what you will.
Third, I know my style of writing is weird. Mostly because I have yet to find it so I end up doing different methods. I'm trying to see which one suits me best. So bear with me, please. If you can offer advice, that'd be great.
Fourth, as far as breaks for Spider-Man go, I want to do them, but I do not want to do so much in this story that it feels overcrowded and/or overwhelming. If there's too much in it, that makes it boring to read after a while. I know there are plenty of long fanfics out there but not a lot are popular because of how dragged out they end up being.
Maybe it's because there are no breaks or maybe because there aren't enough. Hard to say.
So I was thinking of maybe doing a separate story that's a tie-in. Basically, it'll include all the downtime Spider-Man and Co. would have. Holidays, birthdays, vacations, etcetera. Or maybe just for certain specifics like holidays and birthdays.
Let me know if you guys think it'd be better to put it here or in a separate story.
And a quick question, do you guys read from your phones or computer screens? I ask because it does make a bit of a difference in how well I can make it so you can read these chapters.
Anyway, enjoy!
(New York, Avalanche Attack Site)
As he stands at the edge of the sealed-off area and looks at the devastated section of his beautiful city, a small part of Jameson wishes he can blame Spider-Man for it. He listens to the sound of the city and the muttering of the people who called this place home. Around him, police and other officials are doing their job to ensure safety and stability. He once believed that these people were enough to prevent this sort of catastrophe. But now he looks and sees that none of them could have stopped this as Spider-Man did.
He was here, doing what he always does, saving lives and stopping the ones who wished to cause harm. And looking at the collateral damage that had been done, the mayor wants to blame the hero for not doing more. But as it is, Jonah can't. Because the man not only stopped anyone from dying, which by the looks of it should have been impossible, but also because he knows Peter Parker to be a good man that only does the best he can.
He spent the entire night awake trying to make sense of the revaluation he's been after for so long. Peter Parker and Spider-Man are one and the same. It should have been so obvious from the very beginning. Everything pointed to it, and hell, there were a few instances where the evidence started to lead to that conclusion. But somehow it never came to be. The boy's identity always seemed to escape by the skin of his teeth. It aggravated him to no end.
But now he knows the truth. Now he knows who Spider-Man is. And he can't bring himself to shout it to the world like he had always seen himself doing. Talking to Robby certainly helped if only to quell the desire to oust the young man, for now at least, but it still did nothing to rid the betrayal Jameson feels. Petty as it may be, Jameson wanted to punish the man by exposing him because of the betrayal.
Peter had something that Jonah never gave easily and very few people had. The former editor's trust and respect. He believed he could have told that young man anything and he'd take it to his grave. He believed he knew one of the last honest men in a world full of sycophants and liars. The only man that could compare to Captain America and his own son, John.
But now he doesn't think that. Now he doesn't know what to think. Parker has been lying to him since he first met him. His former employee has been selling his own pictures and taking Jonah's money for years. All the while laughing behind the mayor's back.
'Except that's what I want to think,' Jonah thinks with a frown as he walks away from the destroyed area, 'Because it's much easier to believe he is still the menace I've always believed he was than to think I was wrong for so long.'
He is stubborn. He knows this. He has hated Spider-Man for personal reasons for a long time. To suddenly change that will take nothing short of a miracle.
"Citizens, fellow human beings, I implore WAKE UP!"
The sudden shout and a hot angry sensation coursing through his head, makes Jonah look to see the Red Skull standing on top of a police car with one arm sticking out at them and the other tapping the side of his head.
"You all look here and are reminded of the travesty that has struck your beloved city!" Skull shouts and his words resonate in all the people gathered around, "This destruction that could have led to so much death, it fills you with so much fear, you do not know what to do!"
He doesn't know why he's listening. He knows this man is a terrorist of the worst kind. And yet Jonah is enthralled by the man. His words are something that seem to be echoing in his head.
"You already know the cause of this unwarranted and needless destruction! The creatures that almost burned the world to the ground in an effort to restore their putrid species! IT WAS THE MUTANTS!"
That is true. He looked into it, and the world almost ended because of the mutants trying to bring back the godforsaken species. And for what? To do this?! To attack a defenseless section of the city and nearly kill hundreds if not thousands of people to merely establish dominance! How could he have been so blind? The real problem was not Spider-Man! Spider-Man didn't do this, the mutants did!
He knows there was a time when he thought Spider-Man was a filthy mutant, but Jonah should have known better. That man has done nothing but help the people of this city. All the mutants have ever done is cause pain and misery.
"They relished in the pain and suffering they have caused you, in their supposed superiority! But we know the truth! They are inferior! They are less than human! They call themselves 'homosuperior,' but they lie to you and to themselves! They are nothing but putrid stains on our world! They would rather see the world burn than to see their species extinct! And to establish their dominance, they will see our kind, humankind, DEAD!"
The benevolent Red Skull gestures to the left of himself, "To me my S-Men! Bring forth the architects who are responsible for this atrocious attack!"
Out from a puddle of water, a group of individuals that Jonah for a moment believes are mutants, but somehow knows they are not.
"People of New York!" The water woman in front of them with her hand in the air announces, "We give you these two members of the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants!"
Jonah sees two women, one in red and the other garbed in green, step from behind the water woman. And he instantly has a burning hatred for them.
"I am Wanda Maximoff, the Scarlet Witch and daughter to the terrorist Magneto," her dead tone makes him think she does not care at all for what they did, "This is my ally and my father's whore Rogue. We take responsibility for this act of patriotism. We did this for our people. For our people are the future and yours are only in the way."
Patriotism?! How dare they! This is no act of patriotism! This was nothing but a cowardly heinous-
There is so much hatred in Jonah right now he can't even form other thoughts but to harm these women and filth like them.
"You see! They freely admit to this! Do you intend to let them go unpunished?!"
Jonah does not. He picks up a rock from the decimated street and tosses it at the two monsters responsible for attacking his beautiful city. As do all the people around him.
"Monsters!"
"Filthy mutant scum!"
"Kill the whore then the daughter!"
He feels such elation when he sees the two grotesque women are being pelted by all sorts of objects courtesy of his fellow New Yorkers. He can see some of the objects draw blood and leave some bruises.
But it's still not enough for him. He needs to see them and their people suffer more.
"Yes! Rise up, my fellow humans! Rise up and show them you do not fear them! Take action before they can! Put them down before they do this to the entire city!"
His head tingles for a moment before he blinks at the sudden change of color he sees on the two women. He can still see the color they are wearing, but now he sees sort of a black hue surrounding their form.
"I give you the gift of sight!" Red Skull announces to them and suddenly Jameson understands, "I am allowing you to see who among you is unclean! To see the blackness of their very souls! Purify the city! Rid it of the cursed denizens!"
All around him, Jonah can see who is human and who isn't. And when he sees the ones that aren't, he only sees red. Burning red hot hatred flows through him as he picks up a piece of glass and makes his way toward the garbage that dares to live in his city.
A young woman named Natalie Turner breathes heavily as she leans on a brick wall to hide from the mob currently running rampant. All around her there are fires, screams, glass breaking, and all sorts of mayhem. The reason for it became apparent when she heard people shout 'Kill the muties!'
It happened so suddenly. People just began attacking other mutants like her. She didn't know what to do but run. She is not a fighter. She is a wife and a mother of three. And her mutant ability was all but useless in this dire situation.
Some time ago, she woke up and she was suddenly able to see through walls. At first, she and her husband, Michael, were frightened because her eyes were pitch black, but they eventually calmed down when they went to the hospital and were told what it was. She had been given mutant powers.
That's not to say they were still not worried. They knew what this meant for her. She was scared that her husband would find her repulsive because of her eyes. He always said he loved her green eyes. Her husband of ten years assured her that she could look like a giant crab and that still would not make him be repulsed by her. And even though her kids were scared at first, she assured them that nothing was wrong. They were even excited at the prospect of being mutants themselves.
But while she assured herself that her life with her family was secure, she knew everyday life was not. The world was not a kind place for mutants. She wore sunglasses to hide her black eyes because she knew she would be ridiculed and harassed for her condition.
She was on her way to a bus station to go to school for her kind in the hopes of learning more of her newfound ability. But the city went nuts and she ran before they could get to her.
"There you are!"
She whips her head around to see a pink genie floating a few yards from her. The genie lifts its hand up and fires a blast of energy at her. She manages to dodge out of the way but the creature pursues her.
"Help me!" Natalie shouts in the hopes that someone, anyone would come.
"I am helping you, gene pig!" The genie shouts back as he continues to fire blast after blast, "My ruby inferno allows me to send you to the phantom plane directly!"
She does not like the sound of that. She does her best to continue to evade the evil genie's blast, but she, unfortunately, trips as the pink genie looms over her with a blast ready in hand.
"I am Dangerous Jinn," he announces to her with glee, "I have served the will of man for eons. My new master's will is clear. Your kind must be eradicated for the good of-SHNKK-Gah!"
He yells in agony when a sword pierces his chest. Natalie looks behind the evil genie and sees a woman she saw on tv not too long ago. A red-haired woman in a chainmail bikini.
"It is fortunate for you that my host is one that has qualms in taking a life, even one as foul as yours," Sonja tells the creature as the genie glances behind to look at her, "Unfortunately for you, she does not mind if you are in severe agony."
She pulls the blade out and proceeds to kick the thing away. It crashes through a convenience store window.
Natalie looks at Sonja, because that's what she remembers her saying her name was on the news, standing protectively in front of her as a mob of people close in on her.
Another figure lands beside Natalie and she looks to see a platinum blonde in a skin-tight leather outfit. This one grabs her by the arm and with ease helps her off the ground before shoving her, "Go! Get out of here!"
She does as she is told. All the while thinking that she's glad she's not a super. She does not want to wear the outfits.
Though if she told her husband, he would undoubtedly have a different opinion.
Sonja looks at the angry mob as they look at her with murderous eyes. She can feel their hatred for the woman she just saved. Calling that woman and those like her all sorts of derogatory terms. And because she saved her, they now shout such obscenities at her that she is finding it hard to not skewer them.
"It's not their fault, Sonja. Someone is making them this way. And trying to do the same to us."
Yes, she knows that. She feels a foreign presence in her mind trying to sway her. To take her sword and pierce the hearts of any and all mutants she comes across. Oddly enough she is able to resist it. She does not feel the inclination to follow such thoughts.
Her company however…
"What the hell is that?!" The Black Cat shouts in frustration as she rubs her head to alleviate the pain, "Argh! It's like someone is trying to set my brain on fire!"
That is an accurate way to describe what Sonja is feeling in her head but she is not feeling it to such a degree that Felicia seems to be.
"Are we immune to mind control?"
Perhaps. But that is not the priority right now. They need to help the denizens. Fortunately, Felicia seems to be in enough control to not want to attack. But Sonja still needs to know if she will be of help or a hindrance. That fiasco at the park showed she could be susceptible to whatever is happening.
So she asks the notorious thief, "Will you be able to take care of yourself?"
"Yeah I'll manage," Felicia nods while still rubbing her head. She then glares at the crowd, "If anything this will just motivate me more to punch the dick that's doing this."
Sonja smiles and nods in approval, "Then let's not waste time," she then twirls her sword a bit and has it pointed at the crowd, "Let's help as many as we can before we go and find the source of this madness."
Sonja charges at the crowd and tackles through them to get to the center of the group. She finds one person in a suit and tie being held and another ready to stab said person. She swipes her sword at the attackers hand and but it goes through. He still reacts in pain as she knows it feel like she cut it off.
She then stabs the man holding the well-dressed man in the face. He releases the suited man and grabs his face in immense pain.
"Go for the limbs! I don't like the idea of doing fatal attacks! Even if they aren't fatal!"
Sonja resists the urge to roll her eyes, "You can't hide your annoyance you know," and refocuses on the crowd that is around her. Her sword is poised to attack any who would dare attack her.
Fortunately, she is not so tense as to swing her sword around behind her when Black Cat lands behind her and checks to see if the man Sonja stabbed in the face is alright. Once she does indeed determine the man is alive, but just passed out from the pain, she looks at the warrior woman cautiously, "Okay so I guess you can stab someone in the face and they don't die unless you want them to."
Sonja nods in confirmation as she keeps her eyes on the few people around her who are still wary to attack, "Essentially. But they will still feel the pain of what it's like to be stabbed."
Cat touches her face and winces at the thought of feeling the stab through there, "Brutal," she says before she looks at the woman curiously, "And you're okay with that?"
"I do not have much of an issue with it," Sonja tells her and then her eye twitches slightly, "But she does."
Getting the subtle message, Hardy nods, "Yeah I'm gonna need some details later."
Sonja nods, conveying to her that Mary Jane has intentions of doing so, and then says, "For now, we do what we must. You evacuate any stragglers that need help while I shall hold back all the attackers."
Cat eyes the crowd in concern, "Lots of people," she says with worry in her voice, "Sure you can handle it?"
Sonja smirks but does not turn back to her, "Do not worry for my safety."
The moment she says that she sees one man grabbed in a black uniform step past the people, "You are one of us, yet you stand against us," he says before his face morphs and it becomes something akin to an insect, "For that, you now must perish with them to preserve our kind!"
The people shout in agreement and rally around him. Sonja shouts "Go" to Felicia and the thief fires her grapple hook at the building behind them. She quickly grabs the man that was attacked and pulls him up with her.
While the thief does that, Sonja deflects the stinger of the humanoid insect that was directed to her stomach. She parries his thrust and punches him hard enough to send him crashing to the ground. She quickly steps back as the crowd begins to advance as well. She slices at a few people but makes sure not actually kill any of them.
Even when one man is holding a bicycle of all things over his head with intentions that are obviously not meant for it. When he swings it down at her, she cuts the bike in half. She then grabs the man by the shirt and chucks him to a small group knocking all to the floor.
"We don't need to fight these people!" Mary Jane loudly informs her, "Just get to the ones that need saving!
Sonja frowns but knows that her host is correct. These innocent men and women are as much victims as the ones they are attacking. She leaps up and lands on top of a car. She then proceeds to leap from car to car to see who else is in need of her aid. From the corner of her eye, the warrior woman can see the Black Cat leaping from rooftop to rooftop to keep pace with her. Waiting for the moment to come down and aid Sonja when she needs to.
She does not wait long, as Sonja sees a group of five grab a man out of his cab and proceed to beat him violently. Sonja quickly intervenes by leaping over them and slashing through all five of them. The people scream in agony and Sonja grabs the bruised and bloody victim between them. She looks up to confirm Hardy is over her and tosses the man up in the air. She watches as the beautiful thief swings down and snatches the man from the air.
They do this several more times. Sonja fights off a mad crowd attacking a mutant and proceeds to toss their bloody or unharmed victim to Felicia who then places them on the rooftops away from the madness going on in the streets. Both redheads note that they seem to be working well together, even though they have never done so beforehand. An oddity to be sure, but neither dwells on it much since Felicia has worked with others, particularly Peter, in tandem with hardly an issue.
After preventing eleven mutants from having their names put in the obituaries, Felicia shouts from the rooftop, "Hey!" Sonja looks up at her partner and sees her pointing, "There's something going down two blocks from here!"
Sonja looks at the direction the woman is pointing at, she sees flashing lights and hears the sounds of battle. She runs past fires and flipped cars until she arrives at the point. From the corner of the street, she sees other heroes fending off maddened civilians.
Wolverine is being attacked by a winged demon that seems to be throwing wind from its satchel. Captain America is overwhelmed by a group of SWAT members that aren't beating him but pushing him down to the ground with their riot shields and shouting things at him. Havok is battling a giant turtle man and holding up rather well as he blasts the thing into a store. And finally, Captain Marvel is taking on the genie that Sonja initially attacked.
"Seems that wretched creature recovered enough to run back here," Sonja mutters angrily as she watches the army pilot-turned-hero avoid a blast from the genie and fire her own attack at him.
"HELP!" A shout makes Sonja turn her attention to a woman being surrounded by a mob. She quickly charges with her sword poised to strike. She slices through the crowd's legs to make them all collapse before she reaches the woman. Once she does she grabs her by her stomach and tosses her into the air where Black Cat catches her.
"Is it weird how well in sync we seem to be?" Mary Jane questions her. Sonja does not comment, however. Instead, she turns her attention to the winged demon that had just launched Wolverine into a car. She leaps into the air and stabs the man in the back.
"Gah!" He screams in pain as they fall to the ground with her on his back. They land harshly on top of a taxi cab and she pulls out her sword. She steps off the vehicle and grabs her adversary by his horn. She swings and throws him into the opponent Captain Marvel is facing. The woman looks surprised before she turns her attention to Sonja. The warrior merely nods at her as Felicia lands down by her.
"Okay," Hardy starts a bit out of breath, "I got all those people up on the rooftops, but I don't know if they'll be safe for long."
Sonja, having observed the chaos going on, tells her, "Most of the madness is concentrated on the streets so they should be fine."
Black Cat nods while trying to catch her breath. She is not one to be easily tired out, she keeps pace with Spider-Man after all, but running across rooftops and swinging down to catch pedestrians Sonja tosses at her can tire a girl out.
Wolverine pulls himself out of the car he was in and walks to the two, "Ladies," Wolverine greets them as his cuts begin to heal, "Good to see you're both in one piece."
Sonja nods in greet while Cat asks, "Do you know what's going on?"
Wolverine shakes his head, "Was nearby with Summers, Rogers, and Danvers talking about what went down yesterday. Next thing we knew, people started going nuts. Killing any mutant they can get their hands on."
Cat nods, "Same as us. We were at the park and a mob wanted to kill a kid and his old man."
KRAKOOM!
A blast of lightning and thunder just a block away from them makes them shield themselves from the debris and light. They can't see over the crowd, none of whom are deterred by the sudden light show, but one of them knows the cause.
"Guess Goldilocks found the source," Logan tells them as she lets out his claws, "But chances are if it's doing this to the entire city, then it might be more than he can handle on his own."
Sonja nods as she poises her sword to charge, "Then let us go and assist him."
Black Cat groans in displeasure from beside Sonja, "Well that's just great. Here I am smack dab on the frontlines when all I want to do is get as far away from here as possible."
"I cannot do this without you Felicia," Sonja tells the woman, surprising her, while keeping her gaze fixated on the coming mob "I am still relatively new to this 'hero' work. Even with her knowledge," Sonja shifts her eyes to the thief, "We need your help."
Sonja sees a contemplative frown on her host's love rival's face and can surmise what she is thinking. Most likely if Sonja actually means what she is saying or if Hardy is able to help due to her suffering whatever is plaguing the city.
After a few moments, Black Cat huffs, "Fine," she says before she stands by Sonja, claws at the ready, "But don't expect me to be gentle with these people. I'm barely restraining myself because of this thing going on."
Sonja nods in acknowledgment but still has some concern on whether the woman will be an asset or a hindrance. "Just keep an eye on her," Mary Jane tells her as Sonja bats away a wild punch from a civilian, "If she looks like she's having too much trouble then get her out of here."
Sonja agrees. The three of them rush at the crowd and begin to weave through to where Thor attacked.
Felicia does not know what she is doing here. She knew when she agreed to meet up with MJ that the day would most likely be draining, but she expected it to be emotionally draining not physically.
As she rushes through the mob side by side with MJ, or Sonja, or whatever, and looks at the angry mob that is around them, she can't help but feel like she should have just stayed in bed today. She had plenty on her mind to keep her occupied for a good while. Sorting through her retained memories of her relationship with Peter Parker, figuring out her feelings for the guy, and then deciding what to do with his confession.
But then Mary Jane called her and asked if she was willing to talk with her. Felicia would have said no, she should have said no, but after remembering how close she got with the redhead but forgot due to the mindwipe, she at least wants to regain that much. It's not like they were best friends, at least they didn't define it that way, but they were close. They trusted each other enough to share some deep dark secrets that Peter doesn't know. On Felicia's part at least. She is not entirely sure on MJ's part though. But that's mostly because of her still sorting through her memories.
A crowbar blocked by a sword gets her out of her head and back to the insanity happening around her. She kicks the assailant in the stomach before she leaps and lands on top of him to knock him out. She ducks under a wild punch from some woman that is then sliced, but not really, by Sonja.
They arrive at the center of Asgardian's attack and see Red Skull with some people, a water woman and a bug guy, dressed similarly to him. Noticing this, Felicia can't help but comment, "Lackeys always do dress like the boss."
Spider-Man was right about that.
Felicia looks behind the nazi terrorist and sees the Scarlet Witch and Rogue picking themselves off the ground from the Asgardian's attack. Rogue seems to be muttering something to Wanda but Hardy does not hear it.
"Ah good," Skull says as he dusts himself off nonchalantly, "It is nice to see assistance has arrived."
Sonja scoffs and glares at the Hydra leader, "We are not here to assist you, madman."
He doesn't seem all that perturbed by Sonja's declaration. It's hard for her to tell since he doesn't have any, but Felicia thinks the man merely raises an eyebrow at her before he places a hand on his head and gestures to the two of them, "Come now my dears," his words sound like honey, but Felicia feels nothing but disgust, "Beauties such as yourselves have a proper place in my new regime," the anger is starting to grow but it's not directed to mutants anymore, "Fight for me, and I promise you a station worthy for one's such as the two of you."
From the way she feels his eyes roaming them, Black Cat feels the urge to claw the man's eyes out. And if the way Sonja is tightening her hold on her sword is any indication, then she is likely feeling the same way.
But Wolverine beats them to the punch when he goes to attack the man. But the bug guy from before steps between him and Skull and slices the X-Man's eyes.
"GRAH!" Wolverine shouts in pain as he covers his eyes.
"My Cassandra Toxin is quite unique," the bug man announces to them, "It allows those that I inject to see the horror they create."
Hardy can hear the feral mutant start to mutter in denial about what he is likely seeing as he covers his eyes with his hand and drops to his knees. The insect man looks at her and Sonja and they tense up. He waits for them to make a move while behind him Skull looks to be deeply concentrating.
"I can see the two of you are human," Skull says to them as he eyes them, "Yes~. Practically everything a human should aspire too. Beauty, grace, and finesse," he looks likes he's enjoying himself more than he should, "Ah~, such fine specimen the two of you are."
'God, I am going to need a shower in Purel after this,' Felicia shivers in disgust. The way he is eyeing them hungrily is seriously starting to get on her nerves. The man obviously has plans for them.
And whatever it is they aren't having it.
"Whatever sick little fantasies you got going in your head can stay there creep!" Black Car shouts at him as they charge at him with Sonja leading. She blocks an attack by the insect, while Hardy dodges a powerful blast of water from the water lady. Her bad luck powers activate and an electrical wire snaps off a pole and hits the water woman square in the chest.
ZZZTT!"AAAHH!" The woman screams in pain as thousands of volts of electricity course through her. Sonja punches the insect man hard enough to make him land against her and they both receive the voltage.
She then proceeds to charge at the Nazi her fighter but stops when Thor lands in front of her. Felicia believes the founding Avenger member is going to assist them, but those thoughts leave her when he raises his hammer and swings at Sonja. The warrior barely manages to block the blow but she is still launched off her feet and into Black Cats exposed torso.
Felicia feels a rib or two crack as she and her companion are launched a good distance away. They hit the ground and roll for a bit. When they stop Felicia is holding her sides while she sees Sonja manage to quickly get up and hold her sword in a defensive manner.
Which is a good thing as Thor does not look like to be finished with them yet.
Felicia gulps at the imposing God of Thunder that just knocked back her friend, "Can you take him?"
"I'm not sure," Sonja answers her as she eyes the deity warily, "I had never done battle with him, but I know enough to know that he is not one to fall easily."
Cat can't argue with her there. Thor is an A-rank hero for a good reason. And if the god of thunder is under the control of a lunatic like Red Skull, then Felicia can safely assume he will not be holding back. Which means if Sonja can't take him head-on, then they are so screwed.
Before she can mull over that some more, Thor reels his hammer back like he's about to toss it. Panic sets in and Black Cat wants to run but finds herself frozen in fear. Because even if she does get out of the way and Sonja falls, she'll still be vulnerable. Even more so without the redhead!
So when the blonde god tosses the hammer at them, she clenches her eyes shut and waits for the impact.
But the impact never comes.
"Now Thor, what have we said about you swinging your hammer around so carelessly."
A voice that brings so much relief to Felicia, that she is afraid to open her eyes and find that she is dead and in heaven. But she does open her eyes and finds that she is not.
In front of her and Sonja, their savior Spider-Man is holding the magic hammer by the handle. Black Cat is stunned by this. While she is not well versed on her Thor lore, she knows enough to know that holding the hammer is not an easy or simple feat. You have to be worthy or something.
Thor is clearly surprised by this as he does not react in time when Spider-Man spins around and reels his arm back and throws the magical weapon back at its owner. It strikes the Norse god in the chest and launches into the sky with a thunderous boom that shatters whatever windows in the vicinity.
He just wielded Thor's hammer, Mjolnir. He caught the damn thing and tossed it back to the Norse god. And while Peter hopes he didn't kill the guy, he is a little too giddy at the prospect of being worthy enough to wield the enchanted weapon.
'Cross that off the bucket list,' he muses before he turns around when he hears Black Cat and Sonja release a breath of relief. Most likely happy to see the mind-controlled Avenger being taken out of the fight. Seeing that his fellow Avenger is out of the fight for now, Spider-Man turns around to them and crouches to help Sonja and Felicia up, "You two okay?"
Sonja stands and nods at him, "Thanks to your timely arrival," she says but is holding her arm that has her sword.
Spider-Man winces and rubs the back of his head, "Sorry it took me so long. I was nearby with Hope when I saw what was going down," he looks at them and Felicia can feel his eyes shift between her and red, "So…?"
Whole cradling her ribcage, Hardy rolls her eyes at the unasked, but obvious to her, question, "Spent the morning with red here," she informs him before giving him a scowl, "By the way, thanks for the heads up on her being able to turn into Xena."
"In my defense, it never came up," he tells her while rubbing the back of his head bashfully but she still does not let up her scowl. He ignores that and looks at them in concern, "Can you two keep going?"
Black Cat scoffs stubbornly, "Please, you think a blow from him is gonna keep two badasses like us down."
He knows she and likely Sonja are just acting tough for his sake, as is often the case with the women in his life that care about him, but fortunately, he can help them now. He steps up to his ex and asks, "What's wrong?"
Black Cat winces a bit as she tries to shrug dismissively, "Just a busted rib cage. No big deal."
He furrows his brows before he takes off the web shooter on his left hand and he reaches out for her but stops and asks her, "Do you trust me?"
She looks at him strangely for a moment before she nods, "Yeah?"
He gently grabs her arm to move it out of the way, which makes her wince in pain, before he goes for her zipper.
She raises an eyebrow at him, "Little too public for that, don't you think Spider?"
He doesn't say anything as he pulls back her suit enough for him to get a better look at her ribs and sees the bruises starting to form. He raises his hand and gently fires off some of his organic webbing.
"Seriously Spider, I'm all for this kind of thing," she tells him with a tracing tone, but he can hear her nervousness at being exposed, "But don't you think that this sort of thing should be reserved for the bedroom."
He smiles at her shyness, "C'mon Cat, we both know we could put on a great show." He turns around and looks at Sonja before he gently grabs her hand and sprays some organic webbing on her sword arm.
Sonja raises an eyebrow at him and asks, "What are you doing? I doubt this will aid much in the battle to come."
He finishes spraying her arm and before he does the same to the other, "It's a patch job."
Again, Sonja looks at him curiously before they hear Black Cat speak up, "Hey," they look at her as she prods the area he sprayed his webbing on, "It doesn't hurt anymore."
All three of them then look at Sonja's web-covered arms and see the silk thread lines have light flow through them. Sonja tentatively touches the webbing and can feel the pain in her arms begin to fade.
Spider-Man smiles at this, "It's a new trick I just picked up last night."
He was traveling back the way he came after his talk with Jean. As he was he found it weird how the webs in the cave seemed to be flowing with energy. His curiosity got the best of him and he touched the web. As he did, a spider crawled on his hand. He would have freaked out but the fact it didn't bite him made him worry less. He decided to try and apply what Jean was teaching him at that moment. After about an hour or so, he started to fell some weird tingling in his head. Like his spider-sense was going off but not warning him of danger. If anything, it was something similar to what his spider tracers do. Sending him signals only he can get. The spider communicating with him. Not so much with words, but it showed what it knows and was putting that knowledge into Spider-Man's head.
And it showed him his natural webbing can be used to heal people. One of the many new things he can do.
The webbing quickly dissolves and Sonja notes how her arms no longer hurt. She flexes to test it out before she looks at him inquisitively, "Where did you learn that?"
BOOM!
An explosion makes the three of them look over to see Rogue being propelled at them. Spider-Man opens his arms to catch the southern girl. He skids back a few feet before he looks up to see who attacked her.
None other than Captain Marvel.
"Carol," he calls out to her as he holds the southern mutant in his arms, "I know you and Rogue here have a bit of history but don't you think it can be settled some other time."
She floats over to them, "This is not about that," she tells him as she glares menacingly at Rogue, "She and her filthy kind cause so much harm to our world. We need to put them down like the dogs they are before they do it to us."
She readies to blast the mutant in his arms before she is hit by a car that is covered by a familiar scarlet energy. It and her are hurled into a gas station and it blows up massively. He looks to see Hope standing by Wanda, who is covered in cuts and bruises from being pelted by the angry mob, and has her hands coated in the hex powers of the Scarlet Witch.
She stares at the explosion in shock before she looks over at him, "I swear, I was not aiming to do that."
He gives her a reprimanding look before he hears Rogue say, "Excuse meh," he looks at her in his arms and she does not look happy, "You plan on putting meh down?"
He sets her down feet first as Wanda and Hope walk over to them. He can see Rogue is pretty mad and assumes it's likely because of what's happening, so he'll just let her stew.
Hope looks at the city that is practically on fire and says, "Well the craziness seems to be dying down."
Wanda nods, "Yes, but unless we stop him," she gestures to the Red Skull standing proud and shouting some more stuff, "It will only get worse again."
Spider-Man nods in agreement, "Then our priority is obvious. We go for Mr. Smiley and his crew.
Havok, being nearby after saving another mutant from being killed, walks to the assembled group with Logan, who had just recovered from the insect man's toxin, and informs his future leader, "I don't think it'd be a good idea to get too close to him. Whatever whammy he put Thor and Cap under seemed to be more effective the closer they got to him."
"I know," Spider-Man says as he keeps his sights fixated on the Nazi terrorist, "I can feel what he's trying to do to me. But it's not working on me."
Black Cat groans as she grabs her head, "Seriously? It feels like my brain is boiling."
He looks back at her curiously, "And you're not going rabid?"
"Barely. I'm as surprised as you are that I have such self-control."
He opens his mouth to retort but closes it when Sonja clears her throat and he looks at her for her to gesture back to what's going on in front of him. And he sees some familiar faces that do not look happy to see him. Captain America with a swarm of SWAT standing behind him, Captain Marvel in the air with some civilians rallying under her, and the people who look like they're minions of Red Skull seem to be gathering around the megalomaniac.
"Oh boy," Spider-Man says in worry as he and his fellow heroes tense up.
"Citizens!" Red Skull shouts over the crowd and his voice seems to echo around, "Do you see how these people stand with the enemy?! They would rather fight with these abominations than with their own kind!
Spider-Man frowns in concern as he sees the crowd and both Captain shout in agreement with him. The last thing he knows either one, Captain America especially, would ever do is agree with anything that comes out of Red Skull's mouth.
"How the heck is Schmidt doing this?" Spider-Man openly asks anyone that can provide an explanation, "It doesn't look like he's got a device on him or anything."
"It's not a device," Wanda tells them as she and Rogue glare hatefully at the monster of a man, "He dug up Charles Xavier's grave and somehow bonded his mind with Charles."
That sends a horrific realization through almost everyone present's person. The implication that the lunatic is using a mind like Xavier's to do something so terrible, scares a few. Spider-Man in particular. Because he knows that the power that is in the mind of Charles Xavier combined with the ambitions of the Red Skull means nothing good for the world.
The only one who isn't scared but instead is absolutely livid is Wolverine. The fact that the man is causing so much death and destruction makes him angry. Add on the fact that Schmidt was most likely behind Avalanche's attack the day prior and experimented on the poor man in such a way to make him do that, makes the old mutant furious.
But now, not only did he dig up the grave of his good friend and then mutilate his body to harvest his mind to use against his own people…
Snikt
Logan snarls as he poops out his claws and gets down low, "I'm gonna tear that piece of trash limb from limb if it's the last thing I do!"
Nobody says a thing. All of them just keep their eye on the approaching crowd. The two mind-controlled heroes that are leading them glare hatefully at the group. Overhead some clouds gather and thunder booms. Thor flies back but stops just above Red Skull. Seeming to act as a guardian for the Nazi.
Rogue sweats a bit by her position with Spider-Man, "Any of y'all got any bright ideas?"
Spider-Man quickly puts together a plan, "Havok, can you handle Cap and the SWAT guys?"
Havok thinks about it for a second but nods, "Might be a bit touch and go but I can hold them off."
"Rogue you take Carol."
Rogue growls but floats in the air, "Don't like you telling me what to do, but Ah got no problem fightin' her."
"Hold her back," he warns her to not go too far before he turns to the other mutant woman, "Hope, crowd control."
Hope nods and simply states, "Understood."
"Wanda, Thor is yours."
Wanda eyes the Norse god warily but accepts the orders, "I'll hold him off."
Black Cat, seeing as how she and Sonja are the only ones who he hasn't assigned anything yet, asks him, "What about me and Red?"
"I'm going for the big kahuna," he tells her and he crouched low, "You two are my backup. Deal with his lackeys like the water sprite, the evil genie, the wind girl, and Not-So-Honest John. By the way, with him, I don't mind if you claw his face. I'll handle Skull and the rest."
Captain America suddenly throws his shield at the arachnid-themed hero. He catches the thing easily by the rim.
He set it on his arm, "I am about to live the American dream," he says with a sniffle before he thrusts the iconic shield into the air, "Avengers Assemble!"
Done!
So they're not killing MJ like I believe they had originally planned. Instead, they're killing Kamala Khan. The reason I say originally is because of everything I heard that they did to MJ's character in the comics and what they did in general during the run basically pointed to it but they decided to backtrack because of the backlash they have been getting.
Despite what was said to Zeb Wells, I don't think many fans are angry over the decision to kill Kamala because it is just too random to be significant. She is a well-loved character, I like her at least, but honestly, it felt out of nowhere. There was no real build-up to it. So I don't think Wells has to avoid any conventions. Another reason why I believed MJ was the originally intended character to die. Cause if they killed her after the crap they have been pulling, well you better believe the death threats they get will be more than what was received during Dan Slott's "Superior Spider-Man" run.
Not approving but also not showing sympathy because they clearly know what the consequences are for their stupidity.
And I'm not dismissing Kamala's death. Like I said I like her and a lot of her comics, (show could use some work though). My problem is that her death was shocking because it was random. A major character to be sure, but not really a "fifty-year" shock factor. Just more of a desperate shock factor. Like a "Hey! Read this run or it won't make sense why she's dead!"
I also heard about something in issue 25, there was this little shit at the end that just felt slapped on and desperate, where Peter went to a wedding with Felicia. No real thing to it. Another example of how desperate they are. For fuck sake, they are trying to coattail on the X-Men's current success. Hellfire, Dark Web, and future shit they plan to do.
The run is crap and somehow getting worse.
Anyway, R&R. It helps the process.
Peace!✌️