Chapter Text
Chapter 11: War of Heroes – Battles Lines
Spider-Man was almost back at WEB after his ‘meeting’ with Tony Stark when his spider-sense kicked in, needing to let go of his web line to avoid an air tackle from behind.
“What now?!” Spider-Man demanded as he noticed the brown and yellow blur crash land on a nearby roof. It only took a moment of observation to understand what the blur was, Wolverine of the X-Men.
Before the Ultimate Spider-Man could demand the reason for this sudden attack from someone he had no prior affiliation with, Wolverine gave him a feral grin before saying, “So, Magik was right about that sixth sense of yours. Too bad it is one of many things that does not belong to you, Octavius.”
“I do not know who this ‘Magik’ is, but if she is one of Parker’s allies, this only proves my point. I too much of a Spider-Man for him to beat that he gets others to fight this battle for him!” Spider-Man countered as venom power crackled in his hands before rushing the mutant for battle.
“Keep telling yourself that, bub!” Wolverine commented, a sadistic grin on his face as he took the first punch like it was nothing and nearly stabbed Spider-Man in the upper leg, but Spider-Man jumped back before the claws made contact.
Spider-Man quickly did the math and noted that the older hero was probably one of the most dangerous he had ever encountered.
In terms of speed and agility, combined with spider sense, Spider-Man should have the edge, but Wolrine just tanked a venom-infused punch and shook it off while nearly stabbing him in a location that would take away his main advantages.
‘What are my options…the savage is known for durability, melee skills, and…that is it!’ Spider-Man thought as he realized he did have an advantage that should change the fight in his favor, while Wolverine kept grinning like a madman.
“What’s wrong, Octavius? I thought you were supposed to be superior to everyone. Come on! Come and get me!” Wolverine taunted, thinking he was going after the former villain’s ego, but did not know Spider-Man’s genius mind had devised a plan of attack.
Without a word, Spider-Man activated the sonic emitters in his web shooters and caused the lethal mutant to howl in pain as Wolverine’s heightened sense of hearing was hit with the sonic attack.
“Not so cocky now, are you, mutant? Parker should have accepted his defeat instead of sending the likes of…” Spider-Man mocked, thinking he had crippled the most dangerous mutant alive until the older hero lunged at him despite the intense pain of the high frequency of the attack.
Spider-Man barely managed to flip out of the way as Wolverine dove claws first at him, escaping being skewered by the raging hero, said rage being what let him power through the pain and attack.
‘No, choice. Better activate the mechanical spider legs and…’ Spider-Man thought as he planned to counter-attack when a barrage of blaster fire rained down on Wolverine’s position.
“Miles, run! Gwen and I will cover you!” the voice of Anya called over Spider-Man’s comms while Spider-Bots entered the fray.
Not wanting to draw out a fight with a virtually unkillable murder machine in the form of a man, Spider-Man took his chance to get away, even if he hated letting go of the possible victory. There are too many opportunities for Wolverine to call him by his old name and make the two girls covering him remotely ask questions as to why.
“Coward! Run all you like; I’ll get you eventually!” Wolverine roared as he fell back for the time being. There was no point facing his target now that he had a chance to plan and had backup.
-
At Avengers Tower, Tony was trying his best not to start throwing everything Stark Industries had to destroy WEB after Steve talked him down. Mainly to avoid looking like a bully, as his friend had told him would happen if a big corporation went after a tech company that was of note but still seen as small.
‘We might not agree on much these days, but even I have to admit Steve is right that taking over WEB should only be done as a last resort. At the very least, I should wait until HYDRA is dealt…wait, what is this?’ Tony thought as he went through his computer, checking on the SPARK mainframe to distract himself, and noticed several odd alerts.
“JARVIS, why were none of these odd alerts brought to my attention?” Tony asked; he had set the AI to tell him if anything strange had happened with the SPARK-related systems since heroes used it.
“Checking, Sir…checking…check…odd. Every time I try to…try...try…” JARVIS replied oddly, as if something was making him forget, yet still recall Tony’s inquiry simultaneously.
“Don’t worry, buddy, I’ll take care of it manually, then I’ll run a diagnostic on you to figure out what is going on,” Tony instructed before getting to work.
-
Captain America was reading the paper at the coffee table when an angry voice yelled out, “RODGERS!”
Everyone looked up to see Tony storming into the penthouse’s living room, the Avengers leader holding up his SPARK, and the supersoldier enhanced vision easily read what was on the screen.
With a sigh, Captain America said, “Well, three years is not a bad run. Bruce will be holding that over your head for a long time though, Tony.”
Everyone but Hulk was confused at what that meant; the big green giant looked like he was holding in his laughter while Tony’s face went cherry red.
“Is this why you protected even Morales earlier? All of the little pests are your secret army?! The only reason they have any good rep is because you have been feeding them information all these years while arguing they are capable heroes publically?!” Tony demanded as the Avengers slowly started to realize what the issue could be, making Captain Marvel grumble, ‘Why didn’t I think of that?’ under her breath, but several did overhear it.
“I only gave Ms. Marvel and her team intel, the Spider Team I kept away from since I don’t agree with Morales’ choice any more than you do,” Captain America countered calmly, which only infuriated Tony more.
“Yeah, like I believe that, traitor! Avengers, besides Cap, we are heading to Salem, Massachusetts, to get back any tech and information the children shouldn’t have. Yes, Hulk, you are coming since Bruce hacked JARVIS. I’m assuming you still have no issue with smashing things if shit hits the fan?” Tony demanded with obvious sarcasm, but Hulk simply smirked.
“Well, if it’s the Champions you are going after, it probably means I get to see if mini-me has improved over the last three years,” Hulk said as he followed the team to the Avenjet, though briefly gave Captain America glance, which got a nod in return from the hero of the second world war.
Neither wanted to see the Champions get hurt, so the fact Tony was bringing one of the pro young heroes members along at least gave the young groups some help. Along with maybe some minor support from Captain Marvel and Thor, even the former was very selective and the latter was neutral.
‘Why would they be in Salem of all places thou…oh, no!’ Captain America thought until he realized a possible connection. He did not know where the Abbey was located but could not rule out the possibility. He needed to act fast, ideally without dragging Doctor Strange into the mess, but who could help both the Champions and the Midnight Suns besides the Sorcerer Supreme?
As the supersoldier watched the Avenjet leave from the massive balcony, he racked his brains for options until a light breeze was felt and a soft touch down was heard behind him.
“What seems to be troubling you, Steve? And why is it I saw the Avenjet depart, yet you are here?” a female voice asked from behind Captain America, one he knew well and made him think miracles do happen.
-
Otto finally returned to the safety of WEB and entered the hidden control room for the Spider-Bots, only to find Gwen and Anya watching the feeds closely.
“Has something happened while I was returning?” Otto asked before Anya quickly pulled up the footage of the Avenjet leaving, then showing Captain America still at the tower, alone until Storm of the X-Men landed next to him.
“So, it wasn’t Parker who sent that savage after me. It was the Avengers!” Otto hissed in anger while both Gwen and Anya nodded in agreement.
“It would make sense. Stark ‘needs’ Parker and his new friends but hates us. Sending heroes not linked to the Avengers after you once you made it clear we would not roll over for him would be a way to keep his hands clean and go after us,” Anya said as she showed the path they could track the Avenjet up until it left New York.
“But since it is clear the bulk of the Avengers are gone, maybe we should visit the tower? Stark made it clear the first time he would come after WEB. Maybe a primitive strike is in order!” Gwen added, which made Otto smirk in agreement.
“Move the Spider-Bots into position while see if I can get some support ideas into play. If we do this, we will need any advantage we can get!”
-
Ms. Marvel sat in a pink bathrobe, having tea with Sara in the living room. They were using the beaten form of Cho as a table, while the young Hulk groaned in pain.
“No moving. You’ll knock the teapot and sandwiches off,” Sara commented while Ms. Marvel smirked at her team’s state.
“For such an intelligent guy, you can’t even recall my costume is dry clean only. You’re lucky Spidey said he could make me a replacement,” Ms. Marvel added while the green man looked at her as if wondering why she did not just get a spare from the Mobile Bunker.
Before the defeated hero could voice his opinion, Agatha entered the room with a bundle of black and gold cloth in her arms.
“Sorry it took so long, my dear, but Peter wanted to be sure this would give you enough room to change your shape and size. His costume only needed a fraction of the reagents because his man-spider form is a set state, while your powers are a wider range,” Agatha said, handing the new costume to the young woman.
Ms. Marvel took the gift and rushed off to change moments before a tired-looking Peter entered the room.
“Are you alright, Peter?” Sara asked, a bit concerned since the young man was not as tired from making his Midnight spider suit.
“Just need to catch my breath and some food, Caretaker. Agatha might take the bulk of the magic strain off me, but I still need to channel my energy when smithing stuff,” Peter said as he sat down, putting his feet on Cho’s head, before taking some of the tiny sandwiches.
Cho growled in annoyance but held his tongue, recalling the thrashing the other hero gave him as Man-Spider.
The two heads of the Suns shook their heads at Peter’s antics but then tense and said simultaneously, “We have company.”
-
The Avengers felt a strange wave pass over them as they approached the Abbey, many assuming some ward or barrier, but that did not matter. It just meant the action was about to begin if either the Champions or the Midnight Suns did not comply.