Peter had the wind knocked out of him from that last attack, but he never lost his grip of Antonia. Her screaming and the ringing of his Spider-Sense were enough to refocus as the two were engaged in a 200 story drop towards the ground.
Thinking fast, the boy locked his legs around Toni's torso. "Hold tight!!" He called as she wrapped her arms around his neck. The sudden attack had knocked them too far from the Tower for Peter to latch a web on, so it was time to improvise.
"Net Webs!!!" Peter yelled, raising both arms at angles pointing his hands over his head. Wide spurts of webbing erupted from Peter's web shooters, connecting to each other and filling in the gaps of the net.
In seconds, the nets had essentially become a large sheet gripped in his hands. It caught the air and filled up like a parachute, slowing their descent as they floated towards the ground.
Spying a broken window, likely from one of the earlier attacks, Peter steered himself and Toni through the opening and landed in a somewhat awkward tumble. The duo struggled to collect themselves after their near death experience.
"Ok... Ok..." Toni gasped, trying to get her bearings. "I need a minute..."
Peter nodded tiredly in agreement, removing his mask and taking deep breaths. Looking down at his wrists, he could see a blinking red light underneath his gloves. The boy rolled back the fabric and with a quick flick of his wrist, ejected the empty cartridges from his shooters.
"You alright?" He asked, looking to his friend.
Antonia slowed into deep breathing, "Yeah... Let's just... never do that again..." Finally, she was able to clear her head, "Now, what the hell just happened up there!? Where'd that helmet guy come from?? And why did Shuri turn into some Avatar looking chick!?"
"Short answer; we got played," he replied. "That was a shape shifter, and she acted as bait to lure us up to the top. Who she is, I dunno. But helmet guy, he's serious bad news..."
"You know him?" Asked Toni in surprise.
"I know of him," Peter said grimly. "Recognized him from an old documentary I watched a few years ago, back when I was all about studying Quirks. The guy's a lot older now, but I'd know that costume anywhere."
"So... Who is he then?" Antonia prodded.
"His name's Erik Lehnsherr," Peter began. "He's the former leader of a group of self-styled revolutionaries back in the 60's and 70's. His Quirk is called Magnetokinesis; it lets him manipulate and generate electromagnetic fields, which gives him control over various metals. Hence his chosen name-"
"Magneto..." Toni's eyes widened with fear. "Oh God, that was him? But wait, I thought he was dead! Wasn't he killed after some epic last stand against the X-Men??"
"I guess it didn't take..." The boy replied grimly. "That crew of villains, they must be his followers... And now they have Wanda..."
Antonia's was struck by a realization, "Not just her. When I spoke to Riri, she mentioned Pietro'd gone missing. That can't be a coincidence."
"Pietro too!?" Peter jerked his head towards her, hands to the sides of his head. "Well this night just keeps getting better, doesn't it!?"
"Alright, calm down," Toni soothed. "Let's think about this for a sec. A guy like Magneto doesn't come out from decades of hiding lightly. For him to show up with all this manpower... If he wanted to make a statement, he could've just killed the heroes, or stolen all the dangerous tech, right? Why would he go to all this effort to kidnap two of your classmates?"
"All good questions," Peter remarked, installing his last 2 web cartridges. "I'll be sure to ask him in a minute."
"Hold on, you're going back up there??" Asked an incredulous Toni. "Don't get me wrong, I wanna stop him too! But aren't we in way over our heads now?? The guy's an Omega Level Threat!!"
"I'm not letting him take my friends," he said firmly. "And the plan we had to reboot the system is still a good one. Once Mr. Stark is freed, I'm sure he'll know what to do."
"But isn't he, y'know, covered in metal??" Antonia emphasized. "That's the worst possible matchup!"
"I'm not saying it's ideal, but-" Peter was cut off by a sudden loud noise. The sound of twisting metal and crashing filled the air. The metal platform near the top broke off of the building and began to float away.
Peter jammed on his mask and focused his lenses as best he could until he got a slightly blurred idea of what was going on. "He's leaving!" He said, trying to focus further. "And he's not alone... Blue chick and the twins are up there too!!"
"Ok, ok, don't panic," Toni grabbed the boy's shoulder. "This is good. If nobody's up there, I can finish the reboot without someone attacking. We can free the hostages and the heroes!"
"Yeah, but getting back up there won't be so simple," Peter groaned. "I've only got one cartridge of web left for each hand, I've gotta save what little I've got to chase after Magneto! And it'll take way too long to climb this building by hand with you on my back."
Antonia considered this, before a idea came, "There might another way up, and I think you're gonna like it."
Peter looked at her, "What do you mean?"
The girl snuck to the stairwell, ensuring there were no security drones or villains around, "Can you get us back down a couple of floors?"
"Assuming the other villains are still distracted, sure," he pondered. "Why?"
Antonia grinned, "Because there's something in there that'll get us to the top in no time!!"
"Something's wrong," said Riri, her eyes narrowing.
"What is it?" Asked Ava, fending off another Multiple Man.
"The system should've been fully rebooted by now," Riri went on. "Either something's wrong down here..."
"Or something happened on the top floor," Ava finished, taking in the very real possibility that all of their effort was for nothing.
"I'm not getting anything from the Beads," Riri held up the bracelet in question. "So in all likelihood, Azari's group was attacked."
"So what do we- oof! Do now?" Ava queried, dodging another attack from yet another Multiple Man.
"We'll have to free the heroes manually," said Riri, picking up her duffel bag and putting the strap over her shoulder.
"How do you plan to do that?" Asked Roberto, now entering the room and using his chain to lasso the Multiple Man. "Azari's Quirk might've been able to short out the power, but he's not here."
He gave a tug on his chain, restraining the villain from getting any further. "Don't forget, we've got these payasos to deal with," Roberto went on. "They don't stop coming and I'm not sure how much longer we can keep this up."
"Not to mention all of the hostages being held up there as well," put in Ava.
Riri looked at the two thoughtfully. "My Quirk might not be good for fighting," she began. "But it should be able to disrupt the energy fields used to trap them. I just need to get close enough to match the power output and cancel out it out with my own."
"That's a possibility," Ava nodded. "But the problem is how will you protect yourself around those villains? They keep materializing and we're all running on empty."
Riri finally came to a decision. She exhaled sharply and stood up, "Can you two keep me covered up to the lab? I've got something up there, and if it works, it'll solve both of our problems. But I'll need time to set it up and install these last components." Riri held up her bag, "Just one minute, it's all I'll need."
"At this point- yahh!! I'll try anything," Ava replied, delivering a kick to the Multiple Man as he disappeared in a puff of smoke.
"Let's move then," Roberto nodded, as the trio set off up the stairs. More and more Multiple Men were storming down towards the lower levels. The two hero students managed to hold their own, but one could tell they were getting tired.
"Here!" Riri exclaimed, getting to the laboratory door. "Remember, stall them for one minute, and not a second less!" Getting affirming nods from the duo, she slipped inside as more of the villain's clones made their way down the hallway.
Within Shuri's lab, Riri hurried over to her own small setup. Reaching a cylindrical containment, she placed her hand on a scanner, it unlocked with a loud beep and a hiss.
Before the girl stood her prototype armor, nearly completed but untested as a fully operational unit. Riri took a deep breath as she took out bits of tech from the duffel bag. "Ok girl," she said to the armor. "It's now or never..."
Outside the laboratory, Ava and Roberto continued to battle the seemingly unending wave of Multiple Men. Both were giving it everything they had, but it was clear they were vastly outnumbered. In spite of Ava's martial arts prowess and Roberto's boxing style, the two were falling further back towards the doors they were trying to block off.
"Ava, jump!!" Roberto called, as she leapt as high as she could. The boy whipped out a chain from his back and shot it out towards the villain's legs. It took down several, but even more rushed forward to take their place, trampling over the chain used to defeat their doubles.
"Alright, that's enough!!" One of the Multiple Men called out, as three more wielding assault rifles emerged and pointing them at the unprotected teens. They looked around, still in fighting stances and willing to fight, but at this point their goose was well and truly cooked.
But then, the doors to the lab opened up, revealing a darkened room. Everyone looked over, expecting something to happen. However, nobody came out. "Check it out!" Ordered one of the clones, and several others went in to investigate.
It was pitch black, very difficult to see. And without working power, the lights were inoperable. The clones spread out, searching high and low for whoever was inside, and yet there wasn't a person in sight, save themselves and some sort of armor standing on display.
Suddenly, pair of bright blue eyes lit up and the armor charged towards the clones. With surprising speed for something this bulky, the armor plowed into two of the clones, destroying them on impact into puffs of smoke.
With a yell of shock, the gun wielding clone unloaded a clip at the armor, but the bullets didn't leave so much as a dent on the metal. The armor cocked its head to the side, as if to say, "Really?" It raised a hand, with the palm beginning to glow, and that was the last thing the clone saw before it dissipated.
"What the hell's going on!?" Yelled the head clone, pointing his rifle at the students.
"Screw it! Ventilate 'em!!" Another called out, and they began to open fire. Ava and Roberto covered themselves, as if their arms would actually protect them from the incoming stream of bullets.
Something, however, did protect them. A blue bubble of pure energy had encircled the two and prevented the bullets from hitting them. They slowly looked up, eyes widening at the sight before them within the bubble.
The armor was sleek, slightly taller than the teens, and decked out in crimson and gold. The only off color bits were the blue lights emanating from the hands, eyes, and the hexagon in the center of the chest. The armor was braced against the barrier, seemingly supporting it with the energy coming from the palms.
Finally, the clones stopped shooting and gaped at the figure. "What the- Iron Man!?" Exclaimed one of them. "There's no way!!" Said another shocked clone, fingers to his head. "He's still being held in stasis!! I checked!!!"
"Oh I'm not Iron Man," said the armor, a familiar yet synthesized voice came from the helmet. "But, you've still got every reason to panic." Her palms began to glow, along with the chest piece, "'Cause now it's my turn."
The shield vanished, and the armor thrust its hands forward. In a bright flash, a burst of energy surged forth as one by one, the clones disappeared in puffs of smoke.
"That's the problem with hallway fights," said the armor, lowering its hands. "Not a lot of room to maneuver when they're crammed full of idiots." It turned to face the students, the gold, heart shaped visor of the helmet rising up to reveal-
"Riri!!" Exclaimed Ava, beaming with relief. "Is that what you've been working on all this time??" Roberto looked the armor up and down, impressed with the setup.
"What do ya think?" She grinned, spinning around once to show off her suit. "I call this little baby, 'Iron Heart,' Mk. II! I figure if I ever wanna transfer to the Hero Course like Mr. Stark did, I've gotta be able to hold my own in a fight!! Aaaaaat least for 20 minutes..."
"Que?" Asked Roberto, blinking once.
"I'm still working on properly distributing and holding the power my Quirk, Energy Ball, gives off," Riri explained. "Right now, I can power everything in this suit for about 20 minutes. But after using the shield bubble and that last big attack, I'm sure it's less now..."
"Then we'd better end this quickly," Ava replied firmly. "Let's get to the heroes and free them before you lose power!"
"Right!" Riri grinned determinedly.
"We've got incoming," Roberto pointed down the hall, as a new wave of Multiple Men rushed towards them.
"Jeez!!!" Riri gazed out at them, "How many of these guys can he make!?"
"Every Quirk has a weakness," Ava said. "They already disappear with enough concussive force, I wonder if the original feels any backlash from the blows?"
"Maybe that's it!" Riri exclaimed, turning towards the girl. "If we take out the original, the guy creating all these clones, the others'll vanish too! I've seen it in all the movies, and he's clearly not fighting with his buddies. So he must be someplace close but secure where he can keep making more!!"
"It would make things easier," Roberto concurred. "Where would he feel safest on the lower levels?"
"I'd think it would be with his more powerful allies..." Ava said, eyes narrowing before going wide again. "He's in the ballroom with the hostages!!"
"Well, the plan was to go there anyway," Riri shrugged. "We've just gotta figure out which one is real and take him down!"
"Don't forget his backup," added Roberto. "A few of them went after us, but he'll have at least one or two more with him."
"I'll leave that part up to you," Riri regarded the boy. "My job's to free Iron Man! But how are we gonna figure out which of the henchman is the real deal?"
"You can leave that to me," Ava said, touching the green amulet worn around her neck. "This is a support item passed down my family. It allows me to enhance the sensory aspects of my Quirk. If I focus specifically on my eyes, I can see infrared areas of the electromagnetic spectrum. Every human being gives off a unique wavelength. These clones haven't given off any-"
"But the real one will," Roberto finished, understanding the logic. "Alright, I get how we're doing this. But how do we get through them?" He indicated the charging clones.
"I got this, just try to keep up!!" Riri lowered her visor and powered up her thrusters. She began to hover in the air and positioned herself toward the advancing horde, "GANGWAY!!!!"
Without further warning, she flew straight down the hall into the enemy clones. Upon impact with the armored suit, each clone disappeared in a puff of smoke.
Roberto and Ava ran closely behind, the latter focusing her senses, knowing she'd have only a split second to read the room.
Within the grand ballroom, the Multiple Men continued to circle their surroundings, ensure none of the heroes or hostages were going to try anything funny. One of them, however, had his fingers to his temple, a look of confusion on his face.
"What's wrong?" Pyro looked over at the villain.
"The double I was in contact with went quiet," Multiple Man replied. "I think those brats made it to the top floor!"
Within his armor, Tony Stark smirked triumphantly, Heh, I dunno why I was so worried. They had it covered!
"Doesn't matter," said Pyro. "If they knew how to deactivate the system, the heroes would be loose already. We're fine, stick to the-"
Suddenly, the wall burst apart as Iron Heart crashed in like the Kool Aid Man, before getting into a fighting stance.
"What the hell!?!?" Pyro exclaimed, looking down at the imprisoned Iron Man and then at the newly arrived armor. "How are there two of them!?"
"See!? I told you there was trouble!!" One of the Multiple Men scolded.
"Will you shut up!?" The villain glared, lighting up fire in his hands. Through the cloud of dust behind Iron Heart, a flaming chain whipped through and wrapped around Pyro.
"Hey wha-!?" But that was all he had time to say before he was yanked out of the room and into the atrium across the hall.
"Don't move!!!" Called a Multiple Man, as the others began yelling and threatening hostages with their guns. Iron Heart appeared to visibly stand down, her glowing palms lowered and dimmed.
Hidden behind on the armor's back, Ava took a deep breath and focused her Quirk, the green amulet starting to glow. Opening her eyes, Ava could now see waves of ultraviolet light and energy all around her, emanating off the different people in the room. Most of the gunman had no waves, except for one...
"Riri!" Ava said, coming out of her trance, "12 degrees left, crouched by the stage."
"Thanks!!" She replied with her synthesized voice. Turning towards the direction Ava gave, Riri's targeting computer within her helmet locked onto the hidden villain. To the side, a menu scrolled down to 'stun' and selected it.
A small port atop her shoulder opened, and a tiny missile shot out, zooming at top speed and hitting Multiple Man in the head. He was knocked out before his body hit the ground.
As if on cue, the doubles immediately vanished in puffs of white smoke, dropping their weapons and leaving no further trace of their presence.
"I-Is it over?" Asked one of the hostages.
"Not quite," Ava replied, hopping off the armor and hurrying over towards the downed villain. "But for the moment, you're safe." She took the set of Quirk Dampening Cuffs Riri had in her armor and attached them around Multiple Man's wrists.
"Wait, what about your friend?" Added a captured hero, "He's dealing with that fire user on his own!"
"I wouldn't worry about him," Ava said lightly.
Back in the atrium, Roberto shot out chains towards Pyro, who was doing everything he could just to dodge. Finally, he decided to go in for an attack. Catching the boy off guard by slipping under the next chain strike, Pyro moved in and activated his Quirk.
The villain blasted a huge stream of fire in Roberto's face. "Yeah!!" He roared cockily, "How do ya like that!?"
Suddenly, a skeletal hand reached out and grabbed Pyro's arm. The sudden action shocked him and he stopped shooting his fire. The remaining fire had engulfed Roberto's head, and as it dispersed, a flaming skull leaned forward, much to the villain's horror.
"Cute," he said dryly in a raspy, otherworldly voice. "But all that did was piss me off."
"He's got it covered," Ava finished.
Meanwhile, Riri made her way over to the trapped Iron Man, who regarded the figure standing before him. "Either they hit me so hard I'm seeing things, or you're the hotshot from the Support Course who got my old armor working," he quipped.
"U-Um, hi," Riri said nervously, her visor rising up. "Riri Williams, a-at your service, sir."
"Tony," the hero replied. "So, I'm guessing you wouldn't be here unless you have a plan to free us?"
"Well, we had a plan, good one too," said Riri. "But it kinda went sideways, so we're doing things a bit down and dirty."
"What do you need?" Asked Tony, eager to be freed.
"For now, just hold still," the Support student replied, her gold visor coming back down. "I can only keep this suit running a little bit longer, so we've got one shot at this. When I give you a mark, use your repulsers to blast the containment." With that, she raised her hands and created her signature energy ball around the Iron Man suit.
"Ok, got you," she said, gritting her teeth in preparation. "First I've gotta match the output those things are putting out..."
Within her armor, Riri strained to maintain the growing ball of power, sweat running down her head as she gradually increased the amount of energy her Quirk was emitting until it was the same as Iron Man's restraints.
"Now...to...increase the output..." She began to move her hands away from each other. Gradually, the ball of blue energy began to expand and stretch out the tight bindings keeping the hero in place. "GO!!!"
Taking that as his cue, Iron Man raised his arm and shot a blast of power at the device. It exploded on impact, negating the field trapping the hero. At this, Riri negated her Quirk and dropped to her knees in exhaustion, the armor completely shutting down.
"Excellent work!!!" He exclaimed, landing back on the ground and hurrying over to the collapsed armor, the visor retracting so his face was visible. "Are you ok? Talk to me, kid!"
Riri's visor went up, along with one of her thumbs. "Ay-Okay, Mr. Stark," she said, a tired smile on her face.
"You guys seriously impressed me tonight," Iron Man nodded to the teens. "Don't think I'll ever forget it. But first thing's first: we've gotta finish that hard reset. Where're your classmates?"
"Some of us went to the top floor," Ava replied. "We were in the middle of the reboot when something cut it off on their end."
"Then my first job is to head there," the hero said determinedly. "At least your efforts took down some of the firewalls, so most of my functions are back online. Friday, I need a full report-" He suddenly froze, as if something cut him off, "Oh no..."
"What is it??" Asked a concerned Riri.
"I was able to hack the security cameras, and I found out who's running the show," Tony replied. "And it's him, then I need to get after him before he disappears again." He turned to the students, Roberto now rejoining them with singed formal wear, "Can I leave it up to you to free the remaining hostages?"
Riri stood back up, clenching her fists. "You can count on us!" She said, "Iron Heart's not down yet!"
"'Iron Heart', eh?" Tony raised an eyebrow and gave a slight smile, "It suits ya. Now if you'll excuse me, I'm back on the clock!"
Lowering his visor, Iron Man zoomed out of the room. "Friday? You still there?"
"Here and ready, boss," the Irish A.I responded. "What do you need?"
"We've got a 'Code M'," he said. "How soon can you send the-?"
"It's already deployed and will be at your location in two minutes," Friday said. "I was updated in your current situation once I was able to re-access the Avengers Tower network. I've also set the Jupiter Chain into motion, but it will need time to charge."
"Ok good," Tony nodded. "Contact S.H.I.E.L.D and have them surround the perimeter of the compound. Then see if you can hack the security drones to free the hostages. With any luck, we can keep a lid on this thing and take him down fast before he gets away."
"Particularly before he absconds with two of your students, yes?" Queried Friday.
"Well obviously," Tony's eyes narrowed. "Rescuing them is the top priority. Speaking of which, where's Parker? Did he go with the top floor group?"
"He did," Friday replied. "And he is not injured. But-"
Her words are unheard, however, as the sound of a motorcycle speeding by filled the air. Tony looked around in confusion, "Hey, did you hear something?"
"WHOOOOOOHOHOHOHOOOOOO" Peter exclaimed as the motorcycle surged up the tower at high speed, the motor roaring like an uncaged beast. "This is amazing!!!! Eat your heart out, Doctor Who!!!"
"Peter, I'm glad you're living out your nerdy fanboy fantasies," Toni yelled, clutching his back for dear life. "But can you please focus!?"
"Are you kidding!? How often does a chance like this come up??" Peter called back, pointing ahead with one hand. "Besides, we're almost there!"
Indeed, they were a few floors away from the top, and there was nary a villain in sight. Slowing down just before the open window, the bike's wheel stuck to the surface even during a 90 degree transition onto the 200th floor.
Peter brought the bike to a stop and Antonia jumped off, rushing toward the control panel, scanning through the screens and other equipment. "Phew," she breathed a sigh of relief. "Looks like the damage isn't as severe as I thought. Gimme a couple minutes, and I'll have the system reboot in full swing."
"Alright, you do that," Peter nodded. "I'll go after Magneto on the Spider-Cycle."
"We're not calling it the Spider-Cycle," Toni deadpanned.
"Well I am!!" Peter whooped as he sped out the open window, pressing a button that shot out cables from front to back. He was essentially riding a tightrope from the tower onto another building, and the boy was having the time of his life.
Antonia just shook her head, unable to help but smile at his childlike joy as she got to work completing the reboot.
Barber's Chair
• Riri finally gets her chance to show her potential as a hero. While her tech still has a few bugs to work out, she clearly has the drive and heart (no pun intended) to do what's right and when push comes to shove, is capable of being more than just tech support.
• Bit of a deep dive from the comics with the Spider-Cycle. But I figured it'd be a fun little Easter Egg, plus it ties into the earlier setup when Peter talked about his Uncle's old bike, not to mention how in the mainstream universe, Peter actually had a motorcycle for a while.