Miami, Florida:
I looked down at the upcoming mansion right below us. Tony and his suits were floating right behind me; it was the middle of the night, though the lights of his suits' boosters made us clearly visible.
Meaning every single soldier inside the mansion came running out with guns pointed right at us.
"So...maybe we shouldn't have arrived in a flying car with sixteen flying suits behind us," I said as I stood up on the roof of my car, cracking my knuckles.
"Maybe, but subtlety is more of Natasha's thing anyway," Tony replied, "now, we have thirty hostiles with semi-automatics. How do you want to do this?"
"With maximum effort," I replied before leaping forward and activating my repulsors, blasting into the main courtyard where the men were all gathering.
"Here's web in your eye!" I took out several web grenades and threw them at the gathering men. The cartridges exploded, fixing them all together in one great lump. My spider sense kicked in; immediately I jumped, just in time to avoid a hail of bullets.
I landed behind the gunners and kicked their legs out before punching their lights out. Tony then swooped down and began destroying people left and right, blowing them away in moments. We were almost done with the courtyard when I was hit with a huge wave of danger from my spider sense.
"TONY!" I cried out, running to him, "we need to go!"
"What? Why?" Tony asked as I jumped into his arm, the man catching me automatically.
"Just fly up as fast as you can!" I cried out, and in a moment he complied, shooting into the air. As we reached a height of fifty feet, the ground below us rumbled loudly.
BOOM!
Tony and I were blasted upwards from the force of the explosion, the heat burning my feet and a portion of my lower back. I went flying through the air along with Tony. One of his armour suits came in and caught us both, carrying us far away from the mansion.
I shook my head slowly and looked down. The entire Miami mansion had been totalled, and the men there...they were all gone. I looked down; my shin and lower back armour had been burnt off. A layer of my skin had been scorched, but my healing factor was already working on it.
I turned to Tony, who slowly managed to fly by himself, shaking his head, "are you okay, Spider?"
"I'm fine," my ears started to ache — I think they got damaged from the explosion.
"How did you know?" Tony asked.
"I have a sixth sense that warns me of danger before it happens," I groaned, "and right then it gave me a big warning." I reached around and fired my webbing at my exposed back, covering it from the open air. It wasn't a proper fix, but it would do for now.
"I see," Tony looked at the fire, "why did they burn it all?"
"Maybe because they didn't need it anymore?" I suggested.
"They would kill their own men?" Tony growled, "monsters."
"We need to find where they are," I told him, "there's no way they killed everyone. The Mandarin is still alive and so is Aldrich. Sexy, JARVIS — does the net say anything about their whereabouts?"
"Sorry, Spider, I got nothing," Sexy replied.
"Same, sir, but there is new information about the Mandarin," JARVIS replied.
"Summarize for me, JARVIS," Tony ordered.
"A new video he broadcast, in which he killed an American citizen on live TV. He had the president call him to beg for his life, but killed the man anyway."
"Damn it," I hissed, "did he say what he was going to do next?"
"I'm sorry, sir, but no," JARVIS replied.
"So we have no idea what the Mandarin or Aldrich is going to do next," Tony hissed.
I blinked. Now was my chance. Let's see if I can reason through their plan freely. "Actually, I think we do," I told Tony. "The Mandarin has been building up to something, right? A master plan? A great end goal?"
"Yeah, and?" Tony replied, "we don't know what that is."
"Well, if he is as obsessed with the downfall of Western civilization as he claims to be, then we know who he's gunning for, don't we? The man he just called, who is probably panicking right now as a target — who, if they follow protocol, will move in a predictable manner and board Air Force One."
"Aldrich is targeting the president," Tony stated, "JARVIS, hack into Homeland and find Air Force One's present location. Now!"
"At once. Sending to the Spider's and your HUD."
I leaped out of the suit holding me and landed on the roof of my car, jumping into the driver's seat just as JARVIS sent a location to our screens. They were flying over Washington D.C., over three hours away.
"Let's go," I took off, Tony flying right beside me.
"JARVIS, call Rhodey," Tony said. The AI did its thing and Tony turned to me, "you know, Peter, you really are a pretty good detective."
"I do my best," I shrugged.
"I apologize, sir," JARVIS spoke, "I can't seem to get an answer from the colonel."
"AIM must have gone after him," I shot forward, "JARVIS, can you track his armour?"
"I'm sorry, sir, but no. Whoever redesigned the War Machine armour into the Iron Patriot armour removed all my influence over it. I can't locate the suit in any form."
"Iron Patriot — such a stupid name," I growled, remembering that it was actually the suit Norman Osborn had worn during his time as 'the good guy'.
"Damn it," Tony hissed, "fine, we'll just have to hope Rhodey can take care of himself."
"Do you have the president's number?" I asked Tony, "we can warn him about the threat to his life."
"Good thinking, Peter," Tony replied, "do it, JARVIS."
"Yes, sir."
The call rang. Tony used my car's audio system and put it on loudspeaker.
"Hello?" an older man's voice came through — one I recognised as the president's.
"Hey, Ellis, it's me, Tony!"
"Tony? Oh, why are you calling me?" he asked.
"Well, you see, I've been dealing with the Mandarin and he's kind of coming after you."
"Yes, I know — he threatened me on national TV not ten minutes ago."
"Yeah, well I'm betting he's coming after you in your own plane! He's been planning all of this, Ellis! You need to get out of there!"
"It's alright, Tony, I anticipated this threat," he sounded smug, "that's why I invited the Iron Patriot to be my bodyguard. In fact, he's arriving right now."
"What?!" Tony cried out, "no! No! That isn't Rhodey! Someone stole his armour! It's not—"
"—ARGH!" we heard the president cry out, cutting the call short.
"Shit!" Tony cried out, "they got him!"
"Sir!"
"What now, JARVIS?!" Tony cried out.
"The house in Malibu has just been attacked. Ms. Potts and Ms. Williams have been kidnapped. They destroyed the suits and the house, sir...I'm sorry, but Ms. Maya Hansen did not make it."
Tony and I were stunned. The only reason we kept flying was because everything was on autopilot.
"S-show me."
Tony was silent for the longest time. He was seething with rage; I could feel it radiating off him. I didn't know what he was seeing inside his armour, but the video feed made him more and more furious by the moment.
"Where are they?!" Tony roared, "where are Pepper and my daughter?!"
"Ms. Potts has activated her tracking beacon. It seems she's being taken somewhere up North along the Western coast."
"Where is the president being taken?" I asked.
"I'm tracking his phone currently, sir. It seems he's being taken somewhere to the Northeast."
"They're on opposite sides of the country," Tony hissed.
"Tony," I shot him a look, "I'll save the president. You go save Pepper and your daughter."
"You sure?" Tony asked, but I could see his mind was already made up to leave this to me.
"I'm sure. Go — save your daughter," I nodded.
Tony nodded back, "thanks, kid. JARVIS, stay with Peter and help him out with the remaining suits we have on hand."
"Understood, sir," JARVIS's voice came from my dashboard. Damn — he had uploaded himself in seconds. Now that was impressive.
Tony then broke off from our route and charged at his fastest speed, bolting towards Pepper's location.
"Hey, Tony," I called into his comms, "do me a favour, will you?"
"What's that?"
"Put a damn ring on that woman's finger already," I smirked as I cut the comms. I leaned back and sighed as Doc took over piloting.
I began to think. I was going to face an army of fire-breathing monsters with super strength and heat powers — oh, and let's not forget the guns. On my side I had around fifteen armour suits, myself and a flying car with no weapons. Yeah, I really needed to upgrade this thing.
Time to call for backup.
"Sexy, call Fury," I spoke.
The call went out. The phone rang twice before Fury picked up. "What?!" Fury asked.
"The president has been kidnapped," I stated.
"I know! And I'm working on it! So if you have something to say, say it quickly because I'm busy dealing with this damn mess!"
"I have his location on hand," I told him, "they're still transporting him. How soon can you assemble the Avengers?"
"Are you serious?" Fury asked.
"Deadly," I replied, "Tony and I were on the Mandarin's trail when he pulled this stunt. What exactly happened anyway?"
"Well for some reason the Iron Patriot armour just went crazy and kidnapped the president right off the Air Force One runway! There wasn't a damn thing they could do!"
"AIM must have done something to the suit," I replied, "anyway, that doesn't matter right now. Avengers, Fury — where are they?"
"Thor is off-world and I'm guessing you don't want the Hulk in on this mission, right?"
"Oh hell no," I shot back.
"Well then I have bad news for you. Cap, Hawkeye and Widow were deployed to Afghanistan following a lead on the Mandarin."
"What?! But the Mandarin's base of operations is right here in Miami!"
"Did you blow up that villa in Miami?" Fury asked.
"No, we didn't. But the place was set to blow the moment we arrived. I'm guessing it was a trap. Who issued that order? Who pushed Cap, Hawkeye and Widow halfway around the world?"
"...The Vice President of the United States."
"Fury, something's very wrong here," I hissed, "the Vice President is in on all of this. Look, ready as many agents as you can." I looked at the screen — the dot was still moving. "I don't think they're going to stop any time soon. The moment they do, I'll send you the location. Be ready to move at a moment's notice. Got that?"
"Right, stay in touch," Fury replied before adding slowly, "also, kid...it's good to have you back."
I grinned, "don't say that just yet, Fury. This time I'm not retiring until I make every single hair on your body turn white from stress."
"Heh, you can damn well try," Fury snorted as he cut the call.
I sighed. Okay, no Avengers...what about the Fantastic Four? "Sexy, call Sue."
"Hello?" Sue picked up, sounding sleepy, "Peter? Is that you? What are you doing calling so late? It's three in the morning."
"The president of the United States has been kidnapped," I told her, "are you Four in or out?"
"The president?"
"Yes. He's been kidnapped by an army of genetically engineered super mutants with my healing abilities and Johnny's flame powers. They're basically walking nuclear bombs."
"...Give us an hour."
"Don't worry, I'm still following them. I won't have a proper location for you until later."
"I see...ah, just one thing. We don't have a ride."
"Don't worry, I'll have SHIELD send you one," I took out my SA and typed out a text to Fury telling him to send someone to pick up the FF, "also, Sue, remind me to build you guys a flying car — it really saves on time."
"Yawn, whatever," she replied, hanging up. God, I hoped she didn't go back to sleep.
Okay, so far I had four people on my side, but that wouldn't be enough. In the movie Tony had nearly forty suits of armour on his side and he still almost lost. I needed more support — meaning...damn, I really hoped Jean and the Professor wouldn't be too angry at me.
"Call Professor X," I spoke.
The phone rang only once before he picked up, "Peter? What is it? Did something happen?"
"The president of the United States has been kidnapped by man-made mutants with healing abilities equal to Logan's, military training and the ability to breathe and control fire. The Avengers are halfway around the world so I have to face these guys mostly on my own, with some help from SHIELD and the Fantastic Four. Think you guys could lend a hand? It would be a great way to show mutant support."
"Give us a location — we'll be there as soon as we can."
"Be ready. I'll send it to you in an hour's time. Spider out."
Two hours later:
President Ellis was tied up in the middle of an abandoned Roxxon oil rig, hanging from the metal cranes by chains while a metallic Christmas tree glowed below him. He struggled, but he could barely move — he was locked inside a disabled Iron Patriot suit.
I stood once again on my car's roof, floating a good hundred feet away from the rig, watching the president through my helmet's telescopic vision.
"Are you all ready?" I spoke into my comms.
"Alpha team standing by," the leader of the hundred SHIELD agents Fury had sent replied.
"Fantastic team standing by," Reed replied.
"Such a stupid name," Johnny snorted.
"Shush, Johnny!" Sue hissed.
"X-team incoming and ready for action," Logan's gruff voice came through the radio.
"Alright, you all know the objectives. Sound them off," I called out.
"Alpha team will be on the ground taking care of all Extremis targets," the SHIELD agent replied without hesitation.
"Fantastic team will assist and take down any surprises," Reed replied.
"X-team will assist with extracting Aldrich and the Mandarin," Logan grunted.
"And the suits and I will take care of the president," I sighed. Just then I saw the Mandarin — or rather Trevor — walk onto a platform with the president behind him and a camera crew before him. "Alright, they're going to make their move. Get ready to move the moment they begin."
They didn't answer; they knew what to do. "Sexy, show me what they're saying," I replied as a TV monitor was displayed on my HUD.
"My children, it's time for another lesson," the Mandarin began to speak, going into the history of the oil rig, but I didn't care — it was time to move.
"Let's go, JARVIS!" I leaped off my car's hood.
"Yes, sir," JARVIS brought a suit right under me as I landed on its back and rode it like a surfboard into the oil rig.
"Alpha team, Fantastic team — make some noise, people!" I cried out.
"Right!" Johnny cried out. I looked up and sure enough saw Johnny leap out of the invisible SHIELD chopper flying directly over the oil rig. The Human Torch exploded into flames as he came flying down, throwing fireballs at the Mandarin's camera crew.
"Sorry folks! This news programme is cancelled!"
"Move, move, move!" the Alpha team leader called out as he and his team of agents jumped out of the helicopter with jetpacks and guns, gliding down to fire on the AIM goons on the dock.
"It's clobberin' time!" the Thing replied as he came crashing into the rig from a great height, shattering the ground before charging into a pile of Extremis soldiers and ploughing through them like a bowling ball.
Soon the ground was chaos as the teams began to fight. Reed rounded people up; Sue blasted them away with invisible shields. I flew past all of them on the suit I rode, reaching the president in seconds.
"Don't worry, I got it," I replied as I released my stingers and cut into the chains holding him up.
"Spider-man?" the president asked in disbelief, "aren't you based in New York?"
I snorted, "what can I say? I make an exception when it's the president of the United States." I cut the other chain and immediately grabbed him before he could fall. I then drew a cable from my helmet to his suit and plugged it into a port, "Sexy, hack into his suit and give the controls back to JARVIS."
"On it, boss," Sexy replied.
"There!" I looked over and saw several Extremis soldiers jumping from crane to crane like children on monkey bars. They were coming straight for us.
"Look out!" the president cried out.
I was about to attack when I felt a strong breeze cross my face.
Kaboom!
Thunder came, and then lightning. I looked up and saw it had begun to rain. I smirked, "don't worry — they've got this."
"Who?"
"X-men! Go!" I heard Scott cry out as the Blackbird appeared overhead, its loading bay doors open, the X-men leaping out ready to fight.
I saw Jean fly down with Rogue in tow. Kitty leaped down, phasing through any objects that would hurt her, slowing herself on descent. Kurt and Evans teleported while Storm, Logan and Scott came down on one of Storm's stronger wind currents.
"Take them out, team!" Scott yelled as they did just that, surrounding the president and me, creating a perimeter against the Extremis soldiers.
Scott released his optical beams, firing at several Extremis soldiers and sending them flying back. Logan got up close and personal while Kitty phased through objects, dragging the fiery soldiers with her, leaving them stuck halfway inside solid structures. Evans sent out his bone spikes, impaling enemies from a distance, and any that got too close got slashed across the face.
Jean caught one with her mind and brought the soldier to Rogue, who touched him with her bare skin. The girl roared in pain before controlling the powers she had gained, proving the transfer a success as she breathed a sea of fire onto a metal wire, causing the crate it was holding to come crashing down, crushing a couple of Extremis soldiers fighting the SHIELD agents below.
Kurt immediately bamfed next to me, smiling, "hello, sir — can I help you?" The kid wore a face mask covering the bottom half of his face; in fact they all did, hiding their identity. I guess they didn't want the president of all people to know what they looked like.
"W-what are you people?" the man asked.
"They're mutants, sir," I replied, "and they are here to help. Do you understand?" I stressed the last part a little too firmly.
"Sir," JARVIS called out, "I have regained access to the suit."
"Good — pop him out," I replied. Immediately the president was ejected from the suit. I grabbed him and helped him steady himself before turning him to Kurt. "Can you teleport him back to the mansion?"
"No, that's too far," Kurt shook his head.
"What about that?" I pointed to the SHIELD helicopter.
Kurt nodded, "no problem!" He offered the president his hand. The man looked wary before nodding and accepting. They vanished in a bamph.
I hit my comms, "the president is secured aboard the SHIELD helicopter. You guys can trash the place — go nuts."
And they did. The moment I gave them the green light, they let loose. Ben began throwing crates full of oil around and Johnny lit them up, setting Extremis soldiers ablaze. And while the damage wasn't permanent, it did give Sue the chance to blast them all into the surrounding waters, cooling them off.
Reed and Logan made a surprising team: Reed would launch people through the air and Logan would slice them up quickly. Storm kept the rain coming, dousing the flames of the Extremis fighters, while Jean and Rogue did their best to beat the rest of them, with Scott, Kitty and I providing backup.
As I took down my seventh Extremis soldier I looked over and noticed the Mandarin and another man — blonde, in a white suit, Aldrich I assumed — running away. They were getting into a chopper, ready to fly off, or so I thought.
Aldrich seemed adamant on killing the president and was flying his chopper directly into the path of the SHIELD chopper.
I needed to do something — quickly. I turned to Jean, "Birdie!" I cried, getting her attention. I pointed at the two choppers about to collide, "can you stop them?!"
"I'll try!" Jean replied as she stepped forward, focusing all her attention on the two choppers. An Extremis soldier tried to use her distraction to kill her, but I shot a web blast at his face, blinding him before I leaped over and kicked him hard, sending him flying off and down two hundred feet.
But as he fell I couldn't bring myself to let him die. So I shot a web line and caught him by the leg. I'm not a killer — not a needless one.
I turned to Jean and, to my relief, she had done it. She was sweating and her face was bright red from the effort, but she had done it. Aldrich's helicopter was frozen in mid-air, a good twenty feet away from the SHIELD one.
"Cyclops!" I called out, getting Scott's attention. I pointed at Aldrich's helicopter, "blow it out of the sky!"
"Right," Scott fired off a laser beam, but it was off centre, hitting the chopper blades instead.
"I can't hold it!" Jean cried out as it began falling out of the sky, dropping down towards the oil rig where several SHIELD agents were — along with the FF.
"I got this!" I yelled as I jumped into the path of the chopper.
SKIT!
The four mechanical arms in my backpack popped out. I hadn't used these in a long time; let's hope I wasn't rusty. I began shooting out webs, six at a time — four from my back and two from my shooters. I formed a structure just in time for the helicopter to come crashing into it.
The webbing strained for a moment before it held. I continually created more and more lines, connecting them to form a stable, giant web strong enough to hold the entire chopper. I sighed in relief and jumped inside, looking for Aldrich and the Mandarin.
The Mandarin was in the front seat, groaning in pain, "I'm never drinking again." I rolled my eyes. Where was Aldrich? Where was — spider senses. I ducked and leaped out of the helicopter just as a flaming fist tore through the chopper's outer casing.
I landed on my web and watched as Killian stepped out, his suit slowly burning off as his body radiated heat and magma. He gave a cruel smile, "I'm going to enjoy killing you."
"No you're not," I shot off webs at him, trying to contain him, but he burnt them off.
"Weak," he leaped off the chopper and stepped onto the web, slowly burning through it with each carefully placed step.
"No!" I spun my hands clockwise, forming a glowing red and gold circle before shooting out a whip of energy, wrapping it tightly around Killian.
"I told you, these don't work on me!" he cried out, turning up the heat. But no matter what he did, the Whips of Vastha didn't burn. He looked surprised, "what are these?"
I grinned, "magic." I flicked my wrist and threw him into the air. He flew straight over before landing in the ocean where a few more of his Extremis soldiers joined him, courtesy of the Fantastic Four.
And the moment Aldrich was defeated, the rest fell like dominoes as well. SHIELD had gene-suppressive cuffs on hand, courtesy of Reed Richards himself. We brought the president down from the SHIELD chopper and began loading it with criminals. Among the first to go were Killian and the 'Mandarin'.
"Well, this was fun," Sue chuckled as we all gathered at the heart of the oil rig while the agents did their job.
"Hey there, Red — nice to see you again," Johnny winked, grinning at Jean.
Jean raised an eyebrow, "should you really be sending googly eyes at me, Johnny? Don't you have a girlfriend?"
"Well, yes, I do. But I'm sure she'll understand," Johnny gave a nervous chuckle.
"Johnny, here's a little bit of info," I patted his shoulder, "Red over there and Liz are best friends."
"He's dating Liz?!" Jean shrieked, "what?! And she didn't tell me?!"
I blinked, "you didn't know?"
"No! Ugh, that girl!" Jean growled before turning to Johnny and glaring, "you break her heart, I break you."
Johnny gulped, "yes, ma'am."
Bamph!
Kurt suddenly appeared next to us with the president in tow, "ta-da!"
"Amazing — can you teleport anywhere?" the president asked, a greedy gleam in his eyes.
"Yes! All I have to do is know where I want to go!" Kurt supplied happily, not realising the implications of his words.
"Mr. President," I called out, getting his attention, "surely you aren't thinking of performing uncalled-for experiments on an American citizen, are you?"
"W-what? No, of course not!" the man scoffed.
"Glad to hear it," I nodded, "sir, these are the X-men," I motioned over to the mutants who had gathered together, most of them looking shy under the president's gaze, "they're mutants being trained to control their abilities so that one day they can work alongside humanity into a new age."
"I see," the man nodded, "thank you. You all did a fine job rescuing me today...perhaps one day you could serve your country in other ways."
"We'll think about it, sir," Scott replied.
"I don't know about you, but I feel like this calls for a celebration!" Evans cried out, "we should totally take a picture!"
"Here, let me," I took out my phone as we all gathered around with the president in the centre, smiling good-naturedly. Ever the politician, he knew when to smile, especially if there was a camera around.
The FF stood on the president's left while the X-men stood on his right, with me standing at the edge, holding out the camera at a tilting angle and somehow getting everyone into the frame.
Jean was by my side. She smiled as she planted a kiss on my helmet. "Say 'Extremis sucks'!" I cheered.
"Extremis sucks!" they all cried out.
I quickly posted the pic on all my social media accounts with the caption: Spidey back at it again with the newest super team! #Xmen #FF! USA!
And Twitter blew up.
Oh my god he really is back!
Shit! Why is it that every super heroine is freaking hot?!
Who are these X-men? Why are they hiding their faces?