Spider-Man SI

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***

A week and a half later.

After a quick look at the text of the delivery note, I put my signatures in the right places.

- Here, take this. - I handed the document to the contractor.

- Yes, thank you. - He replied, having broken away from his observation. For a couple of seconds on his face you could see a struggle between the desire to ask a question and to get out of here. Curiosity won out. - Listen, where are the operators of these machines?

Looking where the contractor had been looking before, I saw a bunch of construction robots milling about, busy with their work. Most of them were on caterpillars, some were travelling on wheels, and rare specimens stunned the mind by walking on manipulator legs. Of the wildest design, and colouring they might have been mistaken for the creations of abstractionist artists. Stark's signature style was evident in every one of them.

- New models. Operator controls remotely. All you need are video cameras and high-speed internet. - I finally explained, without going into detail about the fact that the operator is not a human, but Stark's AI.

- With this kind of technology, my grandchildren are going to be out of a job,' he shook his head. - shook his head, and quickly bowed and hurried to his employees.

Three large concrete trucks, promptly spewed out of their vents mortar, and rolled away to the base, for a new batch. Yes, I need a lot of concrete. I almost started the construction of the century! Stark's fast robots, working like bees, dug several pits for all the necessary structures in record time. Today they'll be poured with concrete and construction can begin soon.

I have spent the last week and a half like a squirrel in a wheel. Although, to be honest, it doesn't bother me much anymore. I guess I'm getting the hang of it. And what I do can not be called boring, so I'm almost not tired mentally. I like everything. I like dealing with school-related issues, lecturing at uni, doing science in close quarters with people like Connors, Octavius and Stark. I love it all!

Today I just had a free morning and decided to visit the construction site of the future school. But... I guess it's karma or something... I wasn't allowed to enjoy the almost historic moment to the fullest. Gwen rang first.

- Weaver! - she's on a secure line, so we're communicating without mentioning real names.

- Hello, Silk. What's up?

After the girl changed her costume and even her call sign, things have warmed up a bit. But still, for some reason, she's still shunned me. Now the girl is mostly patrolling the city with her, um... potential stepmother. It's kind of funny from the outside. I've never heard of this Yuri Watanabe before, I mean in that past life. And I don't know if there really was such a heroine as Ghost in the comics or something. But it's a cool idea. She's a cop by day and a superhero by night! I don't know what Gwen wants to achieve by helping the police captain, but personally, I'm all for it. After all, with a request to help create a costume for the Ghost girl appealed to me.

I accepted the challenge and successfully solved it. The costume turned out well. I especially like the ribbons attached to her shoulders. It's not just ribbons, it's my continuation of Doc Ock's ideas. Specifically, a reworking of his tentacles. With the suit on, Yuri can easily control these ribbons with her mind. I think the technology is very promising. But not appreciated by its creator. The situation here is very similar to Stark's. As Tony does not understand the uniqueness of Jarvis, so Otto Octavius does not realise how revolutionary his tentacles are, fixated like a sheep on his reactor! And it's not even the tentacles themselves. It's the way he controls complex technological mechanisms with the power of thought that's unique!

Anyway, I was pleased to have created these Yuri tapes. They weren't as strong as Doc Ock's steel tentacles, but I wasn't crazy enough to give the first person I met such a powerful weapon. Let him run with the ribbons for now, and then, if he gains confidence, maybe I'll change them for chains that fit the image better, hehe!

By the way, besides the ribbons, I made a long whip tail for Felicia! Ugh, it looks great!

- What's the matter? - Gwen replied excitedly. - I'd like to know! There's... there's such a thing!

The girl's further speech was not distinguished by specificity, but was very expressive! It was not easy to extract something concrete from her words. And to be honest, I didn't understand much. Besides, it was natural that we should return to the city as soon as possible.

Oh, shit! A couple of hours away, and there's already a hell of a lot going on!

Surrounded by Stark's robots, it was stupid to hide, so I pulled on my mask and cancelled the current hologram. In reality, I was wearing my updated tights. Its design was very similar to the original Spider's suit, and technically it combined all the technology available to me.

'Mary III in all her glory.

Deciding to check out the construction site, I wasn't just having fun, I was also testing out Stark's reactor and Deadpool's teleporter. I used them to get out of town and to the lot I'd bought. I got there quickly, and it's worth noting that the distance is not small! The reactor is wearing out, but what can you do? You can always carry a couple of spare ones, they don't weigh that much!

I activate the teleporter and move two kilometres and four hundred metres away from the city. A second to activate, and again two comma four keme overcome. After the first dozen jumps, the phone rings again. Hmm, who do we have?

- Nick? Hi. - I'm surprised to say hello.

- Spider! Where are you now?! - Fury asks in a strained voice.

- Out of town. - I answer succinctly.

- What a time!

- Is it really that bad out there?

- So you already know?

- A little bit. I'll be there soon, and I could use an update, if that's possible.

- Okay, I'll put you on hold. By the way, I've sent some of my agents down there, all right?

- That's your job. - I chuckle. - I'm not gonna feel indebted to you.

- Switching. - Nick chuckled.

***

Somewhere in the New Mexico desert.

A medium-sized man in a business suit with a slightly long nose looked thoughtfully at his interlocutor. He looked very lost, even pathetic. It seemed that the inner core of this pumped-up handsome man with luxurious white hair had recently been pulled out of him.

- Who are you? - The man in the suit asked.

- Just a man. - The blond man replied gravely, bowing his head.

- One way or another, we'll find out. - grinned the man with the prominent nose. - We're good at this.

The veiled threat didn't have much effect. So the man decided to leave the blond alone for a while. To simmer in his own juices, so to speak. He had no way of knowing it was doomed to fail from the start.

- I thought he'd never leave. - There was a new voice, the owner of which had not been in the room a second ago.

The blond man's head snapped up in shock. Standing in front of him was his brother. A tall brunet, dressed in twenty-first century clothes that were unusual for him.

- Loki? What are you doing here?

- I had to see you, my brother Thor. - The brunet smiled sadly.

- Did something happen? In Asgard? - The blue-eyed blond man perked up.

- Nothing to worry about.

- Then why are you here? - Thor wondered.

- Can't I visit my brother in exile? - Loki smiled slyly.

The blond remained silent, but it was clear from his even more surprised face that he was puzzled by his relative's behaviour.

- Anyway, I do have some news for you. - Loki continued in the meantime. - Our father, Odin the Almighty, has fallen into a slumber. By right of inheritance, I have ascended the throne.

- Father...' whispered Thor.

- Unfortunately, my brother, despite my great desire to return you to Asgard, I cannot. Nor am I able to give you back your power. For I do not possess even a fraction of that power which my father commands with ease. But I promise I will find a way! Still, your punishment is too harsh!

- It's not worth it, Loki. - Thor shook his head. - I thank you, but... I have accepted my exile. His decision was fair.

The black-haired man did not insist too much, and soon left his brother, reasoning that he was royally busy.

Soon his earthly acquaintance Dr Eric Selvig appeared for Thor. Unbeknownst to him, he had told the blond agents who had detained him, but they released the muscular fellow quickly and easily enough. They returned to a small town in the desert where the scientists had settled, hoping to record a rare atmospheric phenomenon.

Thor was depressed and mentally shattered. Jane Foster, a young Earth scientist, tried to cheer him up somehow, and the Asgardian was truly grateful to her for that.

Soon the exiled comrade was found by his companions and brothers-in-arms Sif, Volstagg, Fandral and Ogun. They told Thor that his brother, in their opinion, was playing some dark and cunning game. He simply couldn't believe it, though he also couldn't imagine that his comrades could lie. The appearance of his old friends against expectation brought more confusion and doubt into his new life.

The next morning they were having lunch together in a café when some programme on the television interrupted and an excited news anchor announced that New York was under attack. They were stunned to see it live from the city.

***

New York.

I put the worn-out reactor in a special box and dumped it on the outskirts of the city. I put in a new one and took my time, teleporting sparingly to where my help was needed most.

On the approach to the desired point, I saw how a huge five-metre tall, half-naked and blue-skinned giant drove a spider-like robot, familiar to me by its design, into the asphalt. Before he died, he managed to somehow separate his left arm from his opponent. Disturbingly, no blood oozed from it. The stump glistened in the sun like glass. Damn, that's really ice! Surprisingly, my brain didn't stall for long. If I'm not mistaken, then this blue weirdo with a huge club is none other than a representative of the people of ice giants - Jotuns.

Which means only one thing: Loki!

That fucking divine arsehole had his long, lanky hands in the mess that is my city! According to what I've been told by a member of the Shield's operations staff, there are about a hundred of these giants roaming New York City right now. A fucking hundred jotuns tearing up an unprepared city!

Argh!

Appearing right in front of the giant, I shot webbing out of both hands, tearing the giant's red eyes shut. He let go of the club in his whole hand and brought it up to his muzzle. I shot the back of his palm and pulled it towards me, pushing it away slightly. The giant growled something menacingly and pulled back with force. That's what I wanted. Letting the elastic web drag my body away, with the help of my opponent I gained a decent speed, and with the heels of both feet crashed into the jotun's forehead. Not a combo, but it knocked the bastard's brains out. Tied the giant body to the pavement with a couple of dozen strings. It'll be good for experiments later.

- Centre, this is Spider, requesting next target! - I speak into the microphone, get a short reply, and run on.

That's the way most of the city's supers work now. All operative information by one channel or another is delivered to the Shield's emergency headquarters, Fury's employees process it and using the established connection with the supers coordinate their actions. No solo game, not to it now.

Of course, in the beginning, when the portal opened in the centre of the city and enemy giants poured out of it, the situation was much worse than it is now. It was the ordinary cops who took the first blow. Their service weapons did little damage to the giants, but still the uniformed men did their duty, no matter what. Soon the first supers came to their aid. The ones that were in town.

Silk, Cat, Ghost - two girls and one woman, as far as I knew, had been acting as a team from the beginning. They were coincidentally in costume at the time, in joint training.

Dardevil and Deadpool - also acting as a team. I had little to no worries about them. Matt had almost recovered by this point, and paired with the albeit slightly chatty but reliable Wade, he could do some decent things!

X-23, Kayden and the rest of the girls were also forced to face one of the giants. Not on their own initiative. Aunt May called me and briefly described the situation they were in. The girls couldn't stay cooped up all day long and had begged to go for a walk on that fateful day. They were having lunch in a café when her roof was blown off by a powerful blow of a baton. Laura, for once, had shrugged off her incomprehensible lethargy and cut the jotun's throat before Shark's boys had pointed their guns at him. They have now found a more or less secure shelter and have taken refuge there. Laura, on the other hand, continues to circle around them and mercilessly slaughter any giants that pass by. The guards, having gutted the boots of their SUVs and armed with large calibre guns back her up from a distance.

I was most worried about Petra. I also managed to talk to her on the phone. The girl was at school and had never seen the giants before. She assured me that she would stay put and not do anything stupid, but knowing her..... So I had to call Kurt and ask him to visit his little sister at school.

I would have called Shark, but he was out of town.

Uncle Ben was at home. According to the Centre, the Giants hadn't made it to Queens yet, and they weren't going that way, so I wasn't nervous about it.

Iron Man arrived in New York City a little late. Stark had been tipped off by Fury, and in addition to him, a trio of elite Shield agents - Captain America, Black Widow, and Falcon Eye - had arrived in the city. There were helicopters with the rank and file agents on the approach.

In total we had nine, counting X-23, connected by a common superhero link. I am the tenth - arrived last, but was determined to do my part in the fight for his hometown at all costs.

Here come the new targets!

Two Jotuns, one taller than the other by a head, the other missing front teeth, the first missing a big toe on his right foot. Hell knows, maybe he smashed it on that black, bald-headed bastard over there. The guy I didn't know ran straight at the giant's swinging fist with a lot of guts.

Bang!

Ooh, that flew away beautifully! The bloke flew away, of course, not the giant. Still, with the size difference, it's a natural result. And I didn't have time to react and catch the bald guy! I slammed into the giant's back with anger, and he swayed, but he held on. I climbed up his cool back, quickly found myself on the jotun's neck, a mental command, and the compact mechanism on my back came to life - four long spider's legs burst out. A sharp claw made of the strongest metal alloy I could get easily pierced the back of the ice giant's head. Apparently they're not entirely made of ice, or something, but their general anatomy is similar to that of a human, in particular there are vulnerable points which, if hit, result in guaranteed death. The brain is obviously one of those points.

The second giant, meanwhile, noticed me and tried to flick a small insect off his fellow's neck. Slowly. I easily jumped onto the arm, and ran to the neck of another victim. Yeah, this is not the time or place for humane fights. These bastards are ruining my city, so let them wash themselves... hmm, they don't seem to have any blood, embarrassing though. I ploughed a claw deep into the side of its neck. The monster roared, but it didn't think to die instantly. I dodge his arm, and in flight I manage to pierce his skull with one of my mechanical paws. Now he's dead. Apparently Aunt May didn't go into detail, but I suspect Laura had to play around to kill her jotun too, her claws are quite short.

As I was about to cling to the edge of the nearest building with my web, I noticed a bald Afro-American man emerge from under the rubble. He's in one piece, but his T-shirt is slightly torn and dusty. That's funny. Who do we have that fits the description? Luke Cage? I don't know, and I don't have time to ask. I take the earpiece clip out of my pocket and toss it to the man.

- To coordinate the defence,' I explain briefly. - Unless you're a hardened solo superhero, you can put it in your ear and follow the instructions.

- I'm not sure I'm doing the right thing by getting involved in all this super... stuff,' he smiled wryly.

- First time out? I understand, but this is no time for reflection! - I'm trying to cheer him up. - If you've started, then continue to kill the blue freaks! If you can't cope, either retreat or put on your earpiece and request weapons, armour or the location of the nearest team. It's easier to work in pairs, - having no more time to talk, I say goodbye briefly. - See you later.

My next opponent was a bit shorter than his compatriots, but he was quite agile with two ice axes. I tested the electricity damage on him. Shockers at full power disoriented him for a couple of seconds, but they didn't do any critical damage. Well, fuck him. The stan is worth a lot, too. In any case, the Mary III's combat test was a success. The mechanical spider limbs performed best. The four sabres sliced through the skulls of the Jotuns in an unpretentious but effective manner. And who said spiders don't have claws?

Sometime after I'd slaughtered a dozen hostiles, I got a call from the Centre.

- ... a small team of X-men landed in the centre of the city, - said a girl's voice in my ear.

- Which ones?

- Subjects Thunderstorm, Cyclops and Wolverine. Appeared out of nowhere in the sky. The Wolverine is travelling towards X-23.

- Shit!

- Excuse me, Spider?

- Copy that, over and out,' I mutter tiredly.

I land on the roof of the nearest building. I raise my right hand, and a small holographic map of the city appears above the red lens of my metal wristband. The hologram, as well as artificial limbs listened to mental commands, and that's why I quickly scaled the map and found the place where Aunt May and the girls were hiding. I didn't bother to plot the route. One glance was enough to refresh my memory. Sometimes I think I'd make a great taxi driver, heh.

Teleporting. And a couple more times.

I managed to intercept him. Teleport's a thing!

Logan looked pretty canonical. He was a short, formidable big guy, even dressed in a very tight-fitting dark suit with yellow inserts.

I unequivocally stood right in his way.

- If the envoys of the bald telepath didn't come here to help in times of need, but to 'follow the trail,' then you and I may have some disagreements.

- What are you babbling about, smart-ass?

- I'm going a little further forward. - Either help with the ice giants or get the fuck out of my town!

- Your town? Why so cocky, boy? - Long metal claws extended from between the fisted fingers of his hands.

I didn't want to aggravate the situation and quarrel with Wolverine, but it was a bad time for him to be prying into my ward. Since Laura had accepted my patronage, and had hinted quite eloquently that she didn't want to meet her biological original, it was my duty to stop their possible meeting. It's a good thing I originally asked the Centre to report any new supers that decided to come to the Big Apple. I just wanted to know about new recruits and lucked out on a delicate matter.

- I won't tell you twice.

Logan spits angrily and throws himself into the fray.

When I designed the Mary III, I added metal wristbands not only to hide the small computers with holographic screens underneath, but also as a method of countering swordsmen and the like. Like Wonder Woman's bracelets, yeah. Not as strong, of course, but the alloy that underlies the wristbands is what Stark uses as armour for his suits. I didn't want to find out if armour or adamantium claws were cooler. My spidey sense was betting on adamantium.

Logan not only had the healing factor and animal instincts. But he also had enhanced strength that allowed him to carry an entire skeleton of heavy metal without a problem. Plus improved agility, reaction, and, of course, punching power. But in all of that, he was inferior to me. Even years of experience in countless fights and battles couldn't help him against my instincts.

I was faster and simply didn't get caught in the swing of his claws. I even managed to crack him in the head a few times. It's okay if he got knocked back, but I almost broke my fingers!

All right, well, Bruce Bener fuck him up! We'll follow the pattern. I'll wrap him in a cocoon of spider webs, and I'll twist his arms and press his knuckles to his chest. Or alternatively, I'll spread them apart and secure them with strings so he can't move them. Unfortunately, my brilliant plan was not to be.

Logan suddenly jumped away from me and froze for a few seconds.

- Damn it! I just want to talk to her!

Meanwhile, Cee's joyful, feminine voice sounded in my head:

- I intercepted the signal! It's cool, isn't it?

- What's up?

- Wolverine was contacted on an open frequency and told not to fight too much.

- Let me guess, it was Jean Grey?

- How did you know? - She asked confused.

- He wouldn't have listened to anyone else, I thought.

How does Cee interact with the computers built into my suit? It's pretty simple. The same technology that Otto Octavius uses to control his tentacles, Yuri Watanabe handles the ribbons of his hero suit, and Peter Parker controls mechanical spider limbs. Yes, yes with the power of thought. Funny enough, a German genius has created the perfect tool to interact with the outside world for the artificial intelligence trapped inside my head. In fact, Cee can now do everything I do when I'm wearing my new suit.

- But she won't talk to you,' I turn to Logan.

- Who are you to tell me something like that?

- Laura is in my custody until she decides otherwise.

- So her name is Laura? - Wolverine retracted his claws and made an effort to calm down. - You... can you at least tell me who she is?

- You don't know? - I'm careful to clarify.

- I only remember the last couple of years of my life. And she's not in my memories. I saw her on the telly half an hour ago. Those claws... and when we flew into town I could smell her right away. Almost like mine! You know what I mean?

He spoke in short sentences. Long, beautiful speeches weren't really his thing.

- Х-23? There's this...

- I heard,' she interrupted me. - Tell her I'm his clone.

Wolverine amusedly wiggled his nose and stared somewhere above my left shoulder. I turned around quickly, but I couldn't see Laura lurking around here.

- A clone? - The mutant wondered aloud, which obviously was able to catch the quiet voice of the girl that sounded in my headphones.

- I know a little more than he does. We'll meet in a week, if he still wants us to,' she said and disconnected.

Wolverine looked a little dazed, but his stupor didn't last long. He picked himself up very quickly and even seemed to perk up.

- Whatever you say, baby,' he said quietly, and took a cigar and a lighter out of his suit pockets and lit it.

I took out another clip-on earpiece and handed it to the mutant.

- For coordination. I'm sorry, but I don't have enough copies for your friends.

There's two of them, and I only have one clip left. It's a good thing I carry a spare. And just the other day I was thinking of throwing them away!

- We have our own team,' he said, glaring at me hostilely.

- Suit yourself,' I shrugged, launching my web at the corner of the building.

It's going to be a long day.