Spider-Man SI

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***

New York. Ambala's headquarters.

Another still early morning did not bode ill for the green Apple. At this sleepy hour, all the normal residents were still asleep. The others had only recently stopped their nightlife and were now preparing for sleep. Whole hordes of pigeons ruled the sky, and rare passers-by wandered the streets. The sleepy employees of the 24-hour establishments pecked their noses and couldn't wait until they were finally replaced. At such a bright minute, when the sun was still at the very beginning of its daily route, about five shells launched from two different directions from hand grenade launchers soared into the sky.

The explosion was a bit more powerful than planned. But it was even better! The top floor of the skyscraper, its roof, the helipad, and the helicopter itself all simply ceased to exist! The explosion damaged two more penultimate floors of the building. There was a fire going up.

- Looks like we overdid it. - said Dardevil a little nervously.

- We've achieved our goal and that's fine! - my voice also sounded a little tense.

When you feel such a huge building shuddering.... it's a bit nerve-wracking! What can you do? Neither Daredevil nor I are good at quality mines. Unfortunately, the top of the building we were stepping on was proudly alone. We were not given a sapper or anyone familiar with bomb-making. But he would have been a nuisance to us, yes. We did our best, scattering explosives wherever we could. But Shark and Doom-Doom decided to be safe and used rocket-propelled grenades. Looks like those soldier boys who got together while they were making the plan went a little overboard, too. It happens.

Now I could only guess what was happening on the ground floor. In short, in one word: Chaos! That's probably the best way to put it. Dum-Dum had plans with him, very detailed plans of Fisk's fortress, by the way. Slightly doubtful that even S.H.I.E.L.D. could get such maps in a few hours, I assumed that Fury had taken my warning about Chameleon and Fisk seriously. Those maps had been obtained beforehand among other information on the crime boss.

As I've already mentioned, Shark had quickly bonded, or should I say found a common language with Dugan. Their overall plan was simple, but it didn't need to be. Fisk, deliberately or not, had limited himself to a skyscraper. And from there, Ambal had only two possible means of escape in the event of an attack. Either by air in a helicopter or underground. The first option we just ruled out. But even if our enemy thought to parachute out of the window, two snipers on the neighbouring roofs would immediately stop it.

The second option of escape was taken by all the other members of our motley club. They also got the most dangerous task for me. It was necessary to divert the main forces of the enemy on themselves and give me and Murdock time to search for the kidnapped people. Unfortunately for me, Gwen, or Tira, didn't want to be a sniper. She said in an ultimatum that she needed real combat experience, and she refused to freeze her sides off on the rooftops this time. So I promised myself I'd get my sweetheart's brains back later. But I took a vow from Shark to keep an eye on her. And I talked to Snake about grabbing my bad blonde and teleporting away. I left Kurt completely in charge of Shark and Dugan, by the way. I warned them that the guy had no training, but he could teleport. They frowned for a long time, but finally agreed to take him with them and use him as an escape pod in case of urgent need. According to them, the plan had been worked out in detail, their positions were excellent, and they would be able to fulfil their task even with such ballast.

That's how on the one hand I took care of the guy, but I still felt the weight of responsibility for his head. And of course, I was worried about Tira. Man, you can go grey like that.

- Hey! Clown, where are we going? Hurry up and get your bearings, we're running out of time.

- Right away. - I nod in agreement with the good point.

Quickly pulling out something that looks like a pocket radar, I fire up the device. I highly doubt Felicia's been thoroughly searched. They probably took her purse, her phone, and that was the end of it. That's when the tracker in her phone malfunctioned. But who's to say I only provided the Cat with one bug? That's right. My second creation was small in size. In my day, I put up a whole fight with both Gwen and Felicia. I insisted that they had to carry the bug with them at all times. They each ended up having to put one extra hole in their ears. Unfortunately, due to its small size, this beacon can't work all the time, ten minutes at most. But that's enough time for me, plus the fact that it's in an inactive state most of the time makes it less conspicuous to anti-spyware gadgets.

- Found it! They're not far away! Let's hurry!

By the way, I'm the Clown. Why all of a sudden? Well, it's that simple. I'm no fool, and when I made the Holograph for Kurt, I immediately realised the beauty of it. It opened up a lot of different possibilities and options! You could change characters like a glove! Unfortunately, I have not yet had time to create a second full-fledged Holograph for myself. I didn't have enough spare parts. That's why I had to make do with a reduced functionality. I had the core - the belt - assembled. But everything else was missing. However, for the crude illusion of a clown, which made me twice as massive and slightly clumsy in appearance, the belt was enough. Why did I even bother with this illusion in the first place? Why was I playing with it? Surely it would have been easier for me to do without it. But! Confusing the enemy is a sacred thing! Right? Considering that we can't kill Ambal today, I think it's worth it.

I've decided to reuse the image of the Joker, who doesn't exist in this reality. The Joker had already done some damage to Osborne by destroying his men. But since then, he's never been seen again. That doesn't seem fair to me! Let Fisk rack his brains in a vain attempt to find out something about a man who doesn't exist!

Why the Clown and not the Joker? Again. Batman's eternal rival is, to me, a very charismatic individual. In my top list of villains of all times and peoples, he took the honourable first place! How could I call a crude, hastily made joker knockoff the Joker?! That's how the Clown came to be, one of the Joker's sidekicks, another non-existent character. Too bad I have to run around with a gun, I can't shine a light on the web. You should have seen the faces of Shark and S.H.I.E.L.T. when I turned into a clown in front of their eyes! Dugan was looking at me, though, with a strange look. Apparently he was trying to figure out how much such technology cost, and how to get me to... hmmm... co-operate. I shouldn't be on their aircraft carrier anytime soon, or else....

All right, enough with the distractions! Dardevil's knocking out the third man he sees with his cane, and I'm up in the sky. It's not right! I sped up and took the safety off my gun. Turn the corner. Fire twice. Ready. Go! Whoa! That's something! Next to me, touching the edge of the illusion, but not touching my real body, some big guy's head whizzes forward! He crashes into the wall and leaves a hole in it, the big guy just shakes the stone crumbs off his hair and rushes at me again. I take a shot. I hit him in the forehead. Holy shit! The bullet bounced!

- Watch out! - shouts Daredevil, at this very moment surrounded by several bandits. - Sledgehammer has a steel plate on his forehead!

Yeah, yeah, I remember something like that. There was a character like that. Sledgehammer was a pretty good fighter, and tried to stay close to me so I wouldn't be able to shoot him in the stomach. Fuck you! I don't have time for games! I touch my palm to his huge forehead and activate my electric glove. Metal is an excellent conductor of current, 900,000 volts and half an hour of sound sleep for my opponent! I look back at my horned friend, but he's already done it himself, without any help.

- Ambal's men are weak! - I'm playing to the audience that's still conscious, and to the cameras in the building. - The Joker was hoping for more fun! That's why he sent me. But I guess I shouldn't have got my hopes up.

- It's only a six. - nods at Sledgehammer Murdock.

- Ha-ha-ha-ha! Come on, let's go see the others. Maybe there's someone interesting enough!

My partner and I continue our hurried journey. When we got down to the right floor, we ran into a pretty good ambush. It was getting a bit hot! And in parallel, Shark reports that some albino or whatever has come out to them, and that he's giving them a bit of a hard time. The bastard is holding a machine gun line at point-blank range, and even large calibre bullets, and that's without any visible means of protection like a bulletproof vest! When I started to get a little nervous, and having sorted out my ambush, torn between my task and the impulse to protect Gwen, Shark suddenly calmed me down. The serpent jumped on the albino's back, and they disappeared together. Kurt, however, returned a minute later, happy as a polished nickel! Well, good...

When the radar showed that Felicia was just around the corner, we ran into another ambush. We went into a large room with a bunch of desks and computers. Opposite us, a few machine-gunners were hiding behind a fallen metal safe. Behind their backs in the semi-darkness of the doorway stood a figure in a snow-white dinner jacket. The local boss! Shit! I wish he'd stayed out of it, it would have been less trouble.

- Well, well!' said Fisk good-naturedly. - Dardevil! Changing tactics? You're not hunting my sixes anymore? Do you think you have the strength to take me on? What kind of foolish attempt at an assault?

- Assault? - Red was surprised. - And you thought I was the one who set it up?

- Who else?

- No, no, no. I'm just a guide. I show decent people the local sights, so to speak.

Oh, man! Red's got great self-control! I wish I had that! I'm afraid if I felt the same hatred that my teacher feels for Fisk, I'd be in a berserker state of mind, smashing everything and everyone.

- Oh! Even superheroes need to eat on a budget. Yes? - Hmm... interesting conclusion.

- You can count it any way you want. - Murdoch didn't dissuade Ambal Murdoch.

- So you're the 'tourist'? Mister...' Fisk's inquiring gaze was fixed on me.

- Mister? A-ha-ha! You're a funny bald man. You've got me going. Call me Mr Clown.

- I'll bet you do. - Ambala said ironically. - And what exactly is it that interests you among my attractions?

- Me? The Joker said it might be interesting. So I thought I'd check it out, because I'm bored to death....

- Joker?

Without answering, I hopped on one foot, and the sound of bells chimed through the room. Dardevil, doing a sort of facepalm. What's my fault? I'm doing important things, by the way - I'm playing a mentally ill man! And that's not easy.

- Kill this clown. - Fisk ordered when he realised I wasn't going to stop.

But he took too long to give the order. The table I picked up flew at the enemy faster than he could pull the trigger. Daredevil and I scattered in different directions. The first gunman was taken out of action by Red, who hit him with half of his baton. I wounded the second one in the right arm and threw the gun away, as I had fired the whole stock. I didn't even have to do anything with the third and last one. His machine gun jammed at the wrong time.

- Useless rubbish! - Ambal gritted his teeth and literally stomped his own fighter into the ground! - You wanted to have fun, Clown! Well, come on, then!

The white jacket on the dark-skinned giant cracked, and Ambal grew about a third of his size! Awesome! So is he a mutant or what? A normal human can't grow that big! We could play with him, find out his powers and stuff, but we haven't got time! We can't afford a long assault. Of course, the police have been dealt with. Gordon had promised Dugan that no cops would be in the building for at least an hour, but who knows?

I jerk at top speed, closing in on the giant. I can tell from his confused look that he can't keep track of me. All right! Double to the body, low kick to the knee, another double to the body. Bounce away from the wide swing of a huge paw! Dardevil, from a distance, is firing his wand at Ambal, but so far without much success. He had just realised that there was little difference between the concrete wall and Fisk's muscles. The impact is almost identical. I didn't hold back! Okay. How about this? I go behind his back and hit him in the head with both hands, simultaneously activating the stun gun built into my gloves. The momentum of the blow throws me backwards, landing with my feet on the wall. The giant, unlike me, takes only a few steps forward, breaking the table and the equipment on it to absorb the force of my blow. I should have fallen down and passed out! From the double discharge, and at maximum power!

I push off the wall and knee him in the spine between the shoulder blades. Shit! Fucking underfucker! After a minute of fighting like this, when I wasn't even thinking about holding back, literally tearing my veins out to put this monster down, he was still standing, wobbly, but standing! About halfway through the fight, I could feel Dardevil concentrating his chi. When I noticed that he was ready to strike, I stepped back, watching with all my eyes as the teacher's fist slammed into the Ambal's stomach, and the power of his dark-skinned body made waves! Hell I'd seen something similar in some film. But it was against a sumo wrestler, and the sumo wrestler had the power to make waves! Ambal had no hint of fat, just bundles of muscle.

Slowly, the huge body collapsed to the floor. The teacher, however, was not in the best condition after the blow either. He was breathing heavily, and shaking like an aspen leaf. He must have performed his strongest attack. Only once had he shown it to me. It was extremely powerful, but it required a lot of time in a high-speed battle to prepare, and it was quite difficult to recover afterwards. According to him, he had never used it in a fight before, well, until now....

- I had no idea it would be this hard. - he said quietly as I gave him a shoulder to lean on.

- Yeah, he's strong! Have you changed your mind? Maybe we should give him a-- a--

- No! Fisk has always ignored the law, always put himself above it! It's like he's making a mockery of all norms. That's why I want his fate decided by a court of law.

I sense that my mentor's not telling the truth. Ambal has done something so personal to you that you hate him so much. But that's your business. If you don't want it, I'll stay out of it.

- All right. - I broke off two small capsules from my pouch and threw one into the unconscious giant's carcass.

- What's this? - Murdock asked, watching as his enemy's body was quickly covered in a grey, porous mass.

- It should hold him if he wakes up. - And after a short pause, he added. - Theoretically.

We're pretty much trashed here, and even the cameras that I noticed during the battle were accidentally broken. But who knows? Maybe some of the tracking devices survived. That's why I didn't want to go into detail. It was actually the result of experimenting with my father's glue, and the basis of my web. I don't know what I was trying to achieve, but I ended up with this. I probably should have tested the mixture at the beginning. To see if it could actually hold Fisk. But I forgot about it.

On second thought, I cracked the second capsule and sent it after the first.

Five minutes later, we found what looked like a prison cell block. A small cubbyhole, apparently for the guards. It was empty now, and to my great joy, I noticed on one of the six monitors that displayed images from the cameras, Felicia and the grey-haired gunman who had almost shot her on Behemoth. It appeared to be her father. Once I'd got the control panel sorted out, I switched off all the cameras and opened all the doors.

- Turn off the illusion or they won't recognise you. - Murdock advised, he was just starting to come round and was more or less on his feet. - I'll keep watch here.

Nodding gratefully, I switched off the illusion and followed my Cat.

- Kha-kha... zadu-shh-shh-shh-shh-shh-shh....

As soon as I entered the corridor leading directly to the cameras one obnoxious platinum blonde jumped on my neck. And immediately tried to cut me off from oxygen.

- You're taking too long! - in the whimsical tone of a ten-year-old girl chastised me and poked me in the shoulder with her fist.

- Well, sorry! I was in as much of a hurry as I could. - I smile under my mask, but immediately sigh heavily. - Miss Hardy I'm sorry we don't have much time, you and your father need to evacuate immediately....

- But...

- There's no time to argue! - I sternly rebuff the attempt. - There are many people involved in the rescue operation, including some of your father's friends....

- But that's impossible! I asked you to--

- Mr Hardy, may I call you that? Good! Apparently, asking isn't enough sometimes. But please, we really don't have much time!

- I can't just leave! Something has to be destroyed or the world could be on the brink of disaster!

- Let me guess. - I lowered my voice. - Destroy the super soldier formula?

- How do you know that? - Cat's eyes glittered suspiciously. - Even Fury doesn't know!

- That can be discussed later Mr Hardy, but right now you really should evacuate. I'll do it, I'll destroy the formula, don't you worry.

- Father! The spider will destroy whatever it needs to destroy. We'll only be in its way now, you're injured.

That's unexpected. I didn't think Felicia would be on my side. I thought she'd be stubborn and want to help me.

- Swear! - the man whispered softly.

- Sir, believe me, I don't want mobsters with Cap's abilities running the streets any more than you do.

- All right. How do we evacuate?

- We'll do it right now! Let's just get the last prisoner.

On one of the monitors, I spotted another Fisk prisoner, or rather prisoner. And guess what? This girl was blonde! Platinum blonde, Deadpool by the foot! At first I thought I was seeing double! Blonde here and blonde there! B-r-r-r-r.

Switching back on my illusion, I met two pairs of interested eyes, but both they and I remained silent. Approaching the very last cell on the right, I pulled the door towards me.

- Hello beautiful stranger! Would you like to go free? - They gave me a haughty, appraising look, so that I was even a little embarrassed. - Well, unless you're here of your own free will, of course! Then I won't bother you any more with my presence. - and I reached to close the door. She's a strange prisoner, isn't she?

- Who are you? - They called out to me in a cold voice. Oh, shit! I should have closed the door sooner! It's too late now.

- The only thing that matters is whether you want to leave this place. - I answer carefully. - If you do, follow me.

Turning round, I took a quick step towards the exit of the block. Halfway out, I heard soft footsteps behind me.

Now we have to hurry! I contacted Shark, told him I'd found the prisoners, requested a chopper. Found out that they're doing more or less all right. The guys were having a quiet firefight with skyscraper security. They beat back some slimy reinforcements that came in from out of town. No heavy casualties on the guys. One lightly wounded fighter who was shot through the arm. But Snake got him to safety right away.

In five minutes Dugan's chopper hovered in front of our floor, I broke the window and quickly moved all the prisoners aboard. The last one to go was Dardevil.

- What are you doing? I can help! - He resisted.

- Like hell you can! You can barely stand on your feet! - With the web securely wrapped around the red one so he wouldn't do anything stupid, I jumped back through the window.

A couple of minutes later, I was contacted by Shark. Their group had successfully retreated as well. One more fighter was wounded, but it seems to be nothing serious. That's what Shark was told by the fighter himself. He was pulled out from under the bullets and moved by the Serpent, having fallen unconscious on the other side. Looks like Kurt overdid it. It's pretty hard for him to teleport someone else besides himself. But good for the kid! He did his best!

Well, everyone else is safe now. I'm the only one left. And soon the police will be here.

It's a good thing Cat had some information to share while we were waiting for the chopper. Now I have a rough idea of where to go. Down three floors for starters. Mr Hardy has some important information. As he understood it, Fisk's chief bright mind was temporarily unable to fulfil his duties. So Cat was forced to write down a formula on several sheets of paper. The formula was very, very complicated, which is probably understandable, because there was no danger of someone accidentally memorising it, or it was minimal. Hardy himself, by the way, had a perfect memory, so for him to keep all these years of such information in his head was a trifling matter. I think it's foolish of Fisk to trust the formula to paper. If I were him, I'd digitise it, make copies of it, and not worry about one or two of them being destroyed. Perhaps the giant was afraid that by doing so, the formula would slip through his fingers sooner or later? No matter. It's better for me, I only have to burn a few papers. Which are locked in the safe.

- Help...' someone said in a low voice. - It hurts... help... help...

Walking towards the voice, I soon came upon an injured man. He was sitting, leaning against the wall and pressing his hand to the wound on his stomach. The man was not dressed in the standard uniform worn by the Ambala security detail. He was wearing urban camouflage, the same kind of camouflage that Shark's men wore, or rather Dugan's. Could it be one of his guys? But...

- Hey! How did you get here?! - I took a couple of steps towards the wounded fighter.

Did Doom-Doom not see fit to report to me about the loss in his ranks? No way.... My gut suddenly howled, and I leapt upwards straight at the ceiling on automatic! The sound of gunfire hit my ears, and again I didn't think much about what I was doing, but on the reflexes that Shark had instilled in me, I moved out of the path of the bullets. The wounded fighter was already on his feet, firing at me with a pistol I hadn't noticed before. It all happened so fast that I barely managed to stop myself from using the web. I took a capsule out of my pouch, broke it and threw it at the fighter. He reacted well, though the capsule was hard to see because of its small size, but when he saw me throwing something at him, the man moved to the side. It was a pity that I didn't hit him, but my manoeuvre distracted the strange fighter for a second, and he spent a couple of seconds looking at the place where the capsule had fallen, where an ugly grey something was quickly growing. That was enough time for me to get next to the man. I grab the hand with the gun, twisting it. I catch the weapon with the other. Not hard, but I hit him in the head with the handle, somewhere in the temple area. Now all that's left is to push the floating man's back into the grey mass. All right! I think I'm glued! I glued his hands to the surface too. Maybe he's got something else in his pockets.

Now all I had to do was watch the interesting picture. The outlines of the fighter began to float slowly, reluctantly. The skin on the exposed parts of his body began to gradually turn grey. The mask that covered his face also turned grey, and... disappeared in a word. Interesting! I've seen this metamorphosis before, first from a distance, now up close. I think I've found the Chameleon. Apparently, when he loses consciousness, his body reverts to its original state. But he's not a mutant. Right? I crouched down beside him and did a quick search of the spy's body. But I found nothing like my belt, nothing like high-tech equipment. And the grey inexpressive face, to the touch was very natural, warm, elastic..... Not a mask in a word. Interesting how.... So a mutant? With the same or similar abilities as Mystique. And when he goes to sleep? What happens then? Does the cloak fall off, or not?

- Hey! Sick Boy, wake up! - I patted the spy lightly on the cheeks.

He came round quite quickly. He made a couple of attempts to get up, but my invention wouldn't let him. What should I call it, by the way? Then he stared at me with an indifferent look.

- What do you want? - He asked in a monotonous voice, devoid of nuance.

- And you did not have Fantomas in your family? - No reaction, looks at me with his grey eyes, and only blinks periodically. - You're boring! Hey, how did you get into S.H.I.E.L.D.? No, don't answer that if you don't want to. I'm just a little curious. But not too curious, so you don't have to bother answering!

Sweet space phoenix! He should be in horror films with that look on his face! After thinking for a while, I got to my feet. I'm not gonna kill him. Maybe you should. He could cause a lot of trouble in the future. But if I start killing all the villains left and right, I'll turn into a monster very soon. I don't want to. If he gets in my way or my loved ones' way one more time, then let him have no judgement. But not now, and not here.

I took a quick look at my new gun. Walther P99QA is a pretty good gun. And I borrowed a couple of spare magazines from Chameleon, I'm sure they'll come in handy. As I made a move to get around Chameleon and continue on my way, he swam away again.

- Ah-ha-ha! That's awesome! Consider me impressed, Chameleon. You're definitely one hell of a talented actor! Sharon Carter? Ha ha ha!

I don't know why, but when the man turned into Agent Carter, I actually laughed out loud and felt a strange sense of relief. Must be my nerves. Well, that's okay. I still have a little unfinished work to do here. So this is no time to relax!

The doors to Fisk's office were ajar, so I didn't risk breaking in. As I stopped near them, I strained my hearing and was rewarded with a snippet of conversation:

- ...the docks got the boss! We can't stand up to them! - whimpered a pitiful female voice.

- Shut up, Mary! The guards report that the attackers have retreated! So there's nothing to worry about!

- N-but what are we going to do if any of them are left?

- Ha-ha-ha-ha! - I laughed, trying to play the role of a psycho, and entered the office. - I'm also wondering what you'll do?

There were two men standing by the huge round door leading to Ambal's safe. Their style of dress was very similar to that of bikers or rockers. A bald man with a moustache and beard was wearing leather trousers and a T-shirt with what appeared to be a band on it. One of them had a guitar, which clearly hinted at that. The bald man was wearing a long leather coat with a high collar. But the most remarkable detail of the man was a scar on his forehead in the form of a target. One could assume that it had been burned with the appropriate branding.

The girl was dressed in a short leather jacket, with the same material, short shorts, a wide belt, high boots, and torn stockings in a large plaid. Her bright red dyed hair was gathered in a high bun at the back of her head. Her face was adorned with brightly coloured, cheap whore make-up. Beneath the open jacket, there was nothing but thick leather straps criss-crossed together, sort of cinching her breasts. But it wasn't even the bare breasts or the brightly coloured make-up that caught her eye in the first place. Unlike the bald man, Mary seemed out of place in this place, and even in this um... body. She was scared! Staring at me with big round eyes, even at this distance I could see her shivering. It was so startling that I barely managed to dodge the knife the bald man threw at me. If it wasn't for my spider sense, I'd have an extra hole in my body for sure!

- Fucking pacifist! Make room for someone else!

At the man's incomprehensible words, the girl cried, pulling her head into her shoulders. One-Eyed One! What's going on here? Why do I always run into some nutcase?! The man didn't wait for a reaction from his friend, but swore quietly and threw all kinds of throwing things at me! There were all sorts of things! Knives of all kinds, stars like the notorious ninjas, medical scalpels, razor blades, long needles like grandmother's spokes, and many other things! I should note that the bald man was throwing with great agility, and most importantly, with precision! I barely managed to escape, and not always! I got some very painful cuts to my memory! Remembering the gun in my hand, I fired several times, but missed! I'm not Gwen, and I'm nowhere near her level of proficiency with firearms! Seeing that he was being shot at, the bald man, as if like me recently, only remembered that in addition to knives he also had a gun behind his belt. Realising that it would be much harder to dodge the bullets, I decided that I had played bouncer enough!

I haven't seen any cameras in the office yet. Of course, it doesn't mean that there aren't any, but we can get rid of the hidden ones for a while. With a swift movement of my hand, I detonated several smoke bombs. The office was immediately covered in a puff of thick smoke. Oof! Now we have to finish them off! Judging by the hoarse coughing, my opponent, if I'm not mistaken, he can be called Swordsman, never changed his location from the last time I saw him. I shoot out a web at random, and pull it towards me. There is a faint falsetto shriek and a thud of impact. The fog thins slightly, I pull my prey closer to me, and knock him unconscious with a hard blow to the head. Shit! At this rate, that's gonna be my signature move!

Judging by the whimpering, Mary is still in the corner at the start of the fight. Oh, good. The ventilation in the room was working well, and the fog had thinned considerably, but not completely. Finding one chair that had miraculously survived my hopping around the room, I threw it out the window. It'll air out faster that way! Right! Now a new problem! How do I open the door to the safe? I don't have any explosives left, which is a shame!

- Hey! - I'm talking to the girl who's crying. - You wouldn't happen to know how to open this door, would you? - What if I do?

- I do...' the red-haired girl surprised me. Actually, I was hoping that my question would distract her a little so that Mary would stop crying. I can't stand it when someone of the weaker sex cries!

- How? - I'm genuinely surprised.

- B-boss...he...he...he said if it didn't work, to stop you. That those papers had to be destroyed. That's why he told me how to open the safe.

- Why destroy it?

- I-I-I-I don't know-I don't know.

- All right, then open it! - I commanded you. - I don't think I need to tell you what happens if you don't listen? You seem like a smart girl. Aren't you, Mary?

- Y-yes.

She got up slowly and walked trembling to the door. She dialled a combination of numbers on the panel, turned the wheel a few times from side to side. Finally, there was a quiet click, and the door gave way slightly in our direction. I wanted to open the door further, but something was gnawing at me. The spider's gut was squeaking slightly, as if it wasn't entirely sure if there was anything to be wary of.

- Open up and bring me the papers! - I finally solved the problem. Who knows, there might be a trap or something.....

Mary nodded and pulled at the heavy door, but it was not strong enough, so she gave up as soon as there was the smallest possible gap to squeeze through.

- There they are! - After a couple of minutes, the girl climbed back out, holding a transparent folder in her hand.

- Great, now give it to me! - My gut still hadn't calmed down, so I didn't move, just held out my hand. Let her come to me.

- Ha-ha-ha!!! - laughed the girl, and lowered her head. Her posture changed, Mary seemed to grow by half a head, I realised that she just stopped slouching, having levelled her back, but the effect was striking! Opposite me stood a completely different girl! Self-confident, powerful, strong! - It was stupid of you to let me in there!

- Mary? - I was so stunned, I even asked if she was standing in front of me. I seem to have forgotten that I'm the one who's supposed to be acting crazy.

- Not just Mary! I'm Typhoid Mary! - The folder in her hands went up in flames in an instant, the clear plastic flowing, and the paper sheets were merrily burning in a matter of moments. - Oh, you turd! - Mary cursed, the hot plastic apparently scorching the skin on her hands.

I think I'm beginning to understand! Perhaps this strange girl has a split personality. One of them, a peaceful person who wouldn't hurt a fly, and the other a bossy mutant who can control fire. That's a wonderful split personality! Or was she just pretending all this time? But then how to understand Swordsman's words - 'give way to someone else'? Hmm...

Before I could speculate, my gut went hysterical and I made a strategic manoeuvre. My new credo is 'In any unclear situation, jump on the ceiling!' This usually confuses the enemy and you have a few moments to assess the situation. Performing a somersault, I watched as more and more blades and knives thrown by Swordsman gradually rose from the floor! Oh my! She doesn't only control fire! Pyrokinesis and telekinesis all in one! Holy shit!

A minute later, I had a couple more nasty cuts, but I learnt a little about Mary's strength. She couldn't lift anything heavy, even some of the knives that looked more massive than their counterparts stayed on the floor or in the walls. Blades and shurikens were all she wanted. Probably for the same reasons she couldn't affect me directly. That's weird, though! If I were her, I'd learn to break other people's fingers first! What's cheap and surly! Hehehe!

I don't know why, but she doesn't use pyrokinesis anymore. Maybe she's weak at it or something. But she didn't even try to set me on fire. Again, I don't get it. She set the folder on fire, in my opinion, easily and effortlessly!

I decided not to try anything else. I had one more untried card up my sleeve, but I decided not to show it. I used the tried and tested method, threw a smoke bomb under Mary's feet, got close and knocked the girl out. Police sirens were already heard outside, so we had to hurry. Actually, when the girl burned the formula, I could spit on her and get the hell out of here. But I wanted to visit the safe. Inside was a fairly large room with a lot of shelving. There was some cash in here, I saw a couple of paintings, probably crazy expensive but stolen, I even noticed neat rows of gold bars. But on second thoughts I ignored it all. I opened my rucksack and started stuffing it with some documents. I don't know if there will be anything valuable among them, but it's not that important. When I was one step away from the door, I came across another safe. Yep, a safe in a safe! Hehehe! Its door was half-open, a couple of sheets lying on the floor beside it. Maybe that's where Fisk originally hid the formula. It doesn't matter! There's got to be something valuable in there! I ran out of the vault and jumped out the window without stopping.

It's a pity, of course, that you can't use the web. It would have been easier and faster to throw possible pursuers and observers off the trail. But we'll make do with jumping on rooftops, I guess....

***

New York.

Sitting on the ceiling was a regular occurrence. I'd noticed a long time ago that I wasn't uncomfortable hanging upside down. On the contrary. Sometimes I notice myself unconsciously climbing higher in the process of thinking. Once I even fell asleep like this...

And now I was comfortably perched above the heads of the others. The only thing is that it was a bit chilly, what can you do, they don't heat the ceilings of abandoned factories nowadays. Oh, the times! Oh mores! What my position certainly won over the others was a good view. The whole place was in plain sight. Shark and Duggan's men were talking quietly amongst themselves. Initially they'd kept to themselves, but the common combat operation must have forced them to rub shoulders with each other at a rapid pace. However, they might have been taking the example of their commanders, who were also quietly, but clearly hotly discussing something. Why were they all being quiet? Well, the chain of command, I guess.

The thing is that five minutes ago, Fury herself had arrived at the factory. And now she was having a sullen conversation with Felicia's father. The latter wasn't going to take a step away from her daddy. And it was obvious from the look on her face that a little more and Fury might get a rant from the blonde. It would be interesting to hear their conversation. But I won't. There's plenty to do as it is, and if anything, I can question Cat later.

Deciding so, I slipped down to the first floor. With one nod, I thanked him and hinted that he was free to go.

- Knock, knock! May I come in?

There were no doors in the abandoned factory, so I knocked on the doorjamb with my knuckles and duplicated the knock with my voice. Just in case. There was no answer, and I took it as a sign to go in. Again the door was missing, so I could hardly disturb anyone's peace. Some time ago, at Fisk's headquarters, I had no time to admire the beauty of another of Ambal's prisoners, which I had not seen before. So I did not deny myself the pleasure now. Especially the rescued one was also gazing at me, and if so, then I can have it too!

A beautiful face, except for slightly harsh features, but it gave the blonde only her own charm. A fine figure, long legs, a slender, lovely neck. Eyes of a blue hue. The girl before me could not be called fragile, she looked athletic and trim. Even the fatigue that was evident in the slightly hunched back, even the slight layer of dirt on her neck, which obviously served as a hint of a rather long confinement, did not overshadow the fact that the girl came from the upper class. I saw a lot of familiarity in her from Felicia. And would Fisk keep a girl from the streets in his citadel?

- So, would the marvellous creature let me know her name? - I decided to interrupt the viewing. There was no point in looking at her longer than necessary, as there was already someone with white hair colour hanging around...

- Let me go. - After a long five seconds she finally answered.

- Olya-la! Mademoiselle, let me go! I'm not holding you! You're free to go wherever you like.

- Is that why I was ordered to sit here? - she asked sarcastically, and looked round her 'apartment' with an expressive glance. Obeying the invitation, I too looked round the room. It was not much different from the rest of the empty factory. Bare walls, furniture broken by unknown marauders, broken window frames, and in the centre of it all on an upturned wooden box sat the person I had rescued. - And they also put a guard there so he could hand me a cup of hot chocolate if I needed it?

Actually, I asked the fighter to take the girl here so she wouldn't see Fury as soon as I knew the head of S.H.I.E.L.D. was on his way. Perhaps an unnecessary precaution on my part. But it never hurts.

- I'm sorry, mademoiselle, chocolate is in short supply these days. If you will accept a modest soldier's dry ration...

My sensitive ears picked up a loud rumbling. The girl sulked for a minute, but then she couldn't stand it and shrank more than before. It was a little embarrassing. Too bad I didn't have anything tasty with me, I didn't think to stock up. Although...

Returning to the main room for a moment, I found one of the fighters, who was enthusiastically munching on a candy bar. After a few words with him, I learnt that he was eating sweets for stress, it was his habit. So I asked him for a couple for my guest.

- Here you go, mademoiselle. - I handed my booty to the blonde.

She continued to sit in her seat. The wrapper rustled, and I went to the window to avoid embarrassing the girl. It was already quite light. Morning reigned supreme on the streets of the city of millions. I could have been in a romantic mood, but the surroundings of Hell's Kitchen were not conducive to that. Somewhere out there right now, Dardevil was transforming into a blind lawyer and rushing to work. Slightly angry with me, Daredevil didn't even say goodbye. According to Gwen-Tyra, he took off in an unknown direction as soon as the chopper landed.

There was a barely audible rustle behind me, a slight pain in my temples that echoed with spider-sense. A delicate maiden's hand paused only for a moment, passing through the illusion hiding me. But that moment lasted only a second, and then my guest overpowered the astonishment, a sharp shard of glass pressed tightly against my neck.

- How interesting... - a quiet whisper from my right side. - An illusion? Or are you a mutant and this is your ability?

- The former, mademoiselle. - I say it quite calmly. Why should I worry when my neck is perfectly protected from stabbing, anyway.

- Why do you call me that? - unlike me, her tone was a little nervous. Empathy shows she's more nervous than I am.

- I think you have French roots. Am I wrong? - I say with genuine curiosity.

- Hmmm... - every girl must have a mystery. Am I supposed to understand her reaction? - I'm curious about you, too. Isn't it normal for a rescued girl to want to know the name of her rescuer? The real name. - The glass in her hand has a slight pressure.

- I'm afraid that information is too dangerous. It could cost you something important. Your life, for instance.

I give in to the cold weapon at my neck. The girl from the surprise, first removes my hand with the glass, and then bounces to a safe distance. To her credit, she gathered herself very quickly and after a couple of moments was ready to repel my onslaught. But I didn't attack her. Instead, I sat down on the window sill, throwing a couple of shards off it. My phone appeared in my hands, a couple of swipes on the touch screen and the browser was open.

- You know, mademoiselle, the digital age is amazing. All it takes is one little piece of plastic and you can learn so much. Don't you agree with me, Silver? Quite an unusual name, by the way, but it suits you very well. And it matches your father's name! How is the honourable philanthropist Silvio Manfredi? He's probably reliving your kidnapping, isn't he?

Silver's gone all soft. A shard of glass fell to the floor, and the girl covered her eyes, sighing heavily.

- If you know who I am, then why are we having this conversation? I'm sure your father will pay the right amount of money if you just ask him.

- Well, I'm really curious if you have refined Parisian blood in your veins! - I proclaimed a little pathologically, and accusingly shook the phone. - I couldn't find such information on any of the websites.

- My grandmother,' Silver said after a long silence, 'on my mother's side, came from western France. Angoumois, to be exact.

- Oh, thank you for satisfying my curiosity! I've long dreamed of travelling to Europe, you know. Oh, come on! Frankness for frankness. - with these words, I switched off my holograph. My real image was scrutinised, but there was no violent reaction. Of course not. I'm not Johnny Depp!

- Only a moment ago you warned me about the dangers of such information. So why the show?

- I stand by what I said. So always remember that. I took the illusion off because I'm not interested in your father's money. - When I heard a doubtful hum, I continued. - Don't think you'll be able to shift your debt onto someone else's shoulders.

- What do you mean?

Actually, I'm blatantly lying. I'll get the debt out of Greyhair. Or rather, I'll try to make it look like he'd be happy to help me if I did. But that doesn't change the point. The old gangster will pay me back for saving his daughter! But Silver herself, don't get too comfortable. She must think she owes me a favour, or her father will pay me off. But I'm thinking. The girl is already looking at me nervously, waiting for an answer. She's going to think something wrong. So get those devious plans out of my super-hero head!

- I do! I was saving your body, not your father's! So I'll collect on your debt if I have to!

- Are you stupid or what? - The blonde asked with a strange intonation in her voice, and moved away from me.

- ... - I just shrugged my shoulders, why is it her? - Do you need a lift home?

I'm not going to recount the process of getting the prodigal daughter home. I was quick. I handed Silver over to my dad, had a few words with him and headed back. Back to the factory grounds, yeah.

***

New York. The office of philanthropist Silvio Manfredi.

Silvio sat in total darkness. The man frowned. Failures had been haunting him as of late. Some more, some less. And while there was no point in blaming anyone but himself for the failed capture of the leader of S.H.I.E.L.D., the shadow of his old foe was evident in everything else. The massive carcass of his eternal adversary! A vile and worthless, steroid-pumped individual! That bloody white-jacket lover!

The grey-haired man could take a lot. His advanced age allowed him to react more cold-bloodedly to the attempts of rivals to complicate the life of an honest bandit. His mind could not hurriedly plan retaliatory moves, which often turned out to be much more painful for his enemies. The downside, however, was that lately his criminal genius had been planning retaliatory moves more often than not. The time when he acted first, not giving any Ambal and their like even a chance for career advancement was a thing of the past!

But even his calculating mind could be thrown off balance. All it took was to kidnap his daughter. And Silvio, forgetting about caution an hour ago, planned to start a real war against the bastard Fisk! It would be his last war, but he didn't think of that at the time....

Well. The daughter is here. Sitting in the chair opposite and frowning her eyebrows just like her father. Now Manfredi realised more clearly than ever that he had long ago lost all power over the city. After all, it turned out that only one or two people could free his daughter! And there was no need for any clever combinations or suicidal war of criminal groups. Although it was difficult to call the unexpected saviour of his daughter an ordinary man. And why a street hero, or as it is now customary to say superhero, did a favour to the crime boss of New York, also had to think. Either he is an idealistic hero for whom saving a life is more important than the identity of the individual saved. Or Silvio was wrong about Wallbreaker in the first place. And he's not that stupid. If you look at it from that perspective... Yes, the emphasis on his working with law enforcement becomes clear. Reputation. Now there was no doubt that Spider would come back to collect.

But this could be omitted for now, much more important at the moment is the issue of his daughter's safety. We need to increase security, ideally hiring a few extra men. Looks like the time of homo sapiens is coming to an end. We need to adapt faster to the new realities. But age, damn age! It's a handicap. I guess Silver has had enough of the family business. Let the younger generation learn to work.

- Father. - her tired gaze took on something so familiar. The grey-haired man has often seen that look in the mirror. She seemed ready... I'm leaving.

- What?' he grumbled in surprise.

- I'm tired of all this. - The girl shook her head. - Your business has always smelled bad. How many times have they tried to kidnap me before? Five? Six? I'm just tired of living a normal life. Without the guards and your lies. I'm not a girl anymore and I know exactly what we're living on. That's why I'm leaving.

My daughter's words were a big surprise. She had never scandalised, never protested her discontent with the situation. He always thought she was the perfect daughter. Sometimes he even thought he didn't deserve her. But she wasn't always like that... not always. How could he forget?

Meanwhile, without waiting for any reaction from her father, the daughter stood up and slowly strode out of the study.

- Silver. - he stopped her at the door. - Did you know? You knew all along...

- That you ordered... that it was you... mum? Yes, I knew.

- But why then?

- I've always been daddy's little girl.... Goodbye.