HERO
With great power, there must also come great responsibility.
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Post by Peter Parker on Mar 29, 2014 18:47:40 GMT -5
“I thought I was done covering your nick of the woods Matt.” Peter thought as he spun freely into the air before shooting out another web line, swinging past the massive Asian style building that served as the Hand’s headquarters. All Peter could honestly think about as he swung out of the Kitchen was what his old friend was possibly doing at this moment that was so important that he had to cover for him. It wasn’t like Matt could simply go out to the cinema and catch the latest Hunger Games or something. Maybe he was on a date? Giving his track record with beautiful women, he honestly wouldn’t be surprised if that was the case. While he was no Tony Stark, Matt Murdock certainly had a knack for hooking up with some beautiful, if not downright crazy women.
Thoughts of crazy women aside, Spider-Man honestly didn’t mind swinging through Hell’s Kitchen to deal with whatever creep that decided to rear his ugly head. After the incident with the X-Men and the Phoenix Force, things had been surprisingly quiet in Manhattan. Not that he minded the quiet, but it seemed very out of nature for the city to be this quiet. With all the super powered figures that populated New York, a gigantic hero and villain brawl was bound to happen just about every two weeks. No Sinister Six to whomp around, no Hulks raging out of control, not even a Juggernaut or Blob to redirect into the Hudson.
Meaning: Life was pretty easy for New York’s Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man. With all that had just happened, he didn’t mind taking a brief vacation from the heavy duty superheroing.
With another quick swing, Peter’s thoughts wandered towards the future. Not the far future of course, but the near future. The future that would occur in the next 2 hours. After another quick pass around 5th Avenue, he’d probably just swing back to his Soho Apartment and get out of his suit, probably catch an episode of How I Met Your Mother before crashing. Call it an early night just before getting up the next day to head over to Horizon Labs in the morning. Talk about a piece of-
A surge of intense, pure pain rocketed through Peter’s head like a spike between the eyes. A “Galactus is milliseconds away from biting your freaking head off” Spider Sense wave slammed into him, causing him to drop his newly created web line. As he gripped his head in pain, his body plummeted towards the street below, everything blurring passed him as he spun rapidly. In the midsts of his pain, Spider-Man realized that he was mere moments away from becoming a red and blue stain on the streets. He quickly began to spin his body closer to a wall of some sort, reaching his hands out to grab onto something.
Luckily, one of New York’s millions of skyscrapers answered his call, as he quickly latched on to the glass surface, using his feet to keep him anchored as he tended to his head. As he tried to push the pain away, his head darted around for the source of the danger. What could it be? The Phoenix Force coming back for round 2? The Green Goblin enhanced with the powers of Captain Universe? Mephisto and Galactus fusing together?
And then he turned to the sky.
The previously dark, starlit skyline of New York City was putting on a dazzling display of what Peter would have called a “fancy light show”. Waves of colors flashed above him, each generating a low, charging sound of some sort. The lights rippled across the sky like a penny dropped into the middle of the ocean.
KRAKOOM!
A thunderous crack rocketed through the sky as the colors dispersed across the sky, moving down slowly throughout the city. The intense pain was gone, but Peter’s eyes were wide under his mask, his jaw practically hanging from its hinges.
“What the hell was that all about?"
After taking a half an hour to not only process what he just witnessed and pick his jaw back up from the floor, Peter frantically reached into his utility belt and yanked his Avengers ID badge out. Surely one of his teammates had to have witnessed the crazy light show that just occurred. And if whatever caused the said crazy light show had triggered his Spider Sense, especially a burst that large, then this was a perfect time to assemble the team. "Spider-Man to anyone! Come in! Cap? Tony? Logan? I'm not the only one who saw the early fourth of july display right?"
A low buzz emitted from the miniature speaker on the corner of the card. "Hello? Anyone home?" Peter said, hazel eyes focused in on the corner of the card. Again he was met with the low hum. His startled mind began to race slightly as he tried one more time. "I'll literally take a response from anyone now. Is Darkhawk still a member?"
Nothing...
Peter frowned as his head turned towards Stark Tower. Was it possible that whatever that thing he witnessed was, it knocked out the Avengers com system? There was only one way to find out. Seconds later, Spider-Man swung off towards the Avengers HQ.
_
"HELLO!!!! ANYONE HOME?" Peter yelled as he flopped down from the ceiling into the meeting room of Stark Towers, eyes gazing around for any signs of his teammates. He sighed when that awful silence returned his greeting. "C'mon guys, I'm tired of feeling like I'm in the Twilight Zone." He said, hoping that someone would eventually answer him.
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HERO
The price of freedom is high, and it's a price I'm willing to pay.
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Post by Steven Rogers on Mar 29, 2014 20:17:37 GMT -5
Steve stepped out of the cab and around to the trunk to retrieve his shield. The cabbie had stepped out to open the trunk for him and he grabbed it, fixing it to his back. Cab fare plus tip, a "Thank you, sir," and a hand shake later, the driver sped off to pick up his next fare; that lucky person would get to hear how he had just dropped off Captain America at the Avengers Tower. Shuffling to the front of the building, Steve could finally let his face show some of the pain from his broken left arm. He’d been in agony since before he woke up in Brooklyn, but he couldn’t let anyone see that. He was ashamed to admit that he couldn’t let Captain America appear hurt because of a desire to keep everyone calm. He’d done it in the war to keep the soldiers fighting with him full of hope and vigor, and it was just what you did when you had people looking up to you. Even taking a cab was a blow, but it was either that or collapse on the Brooklyn Bridge.
Entering Avengers Tower, Steve thought he heard something on his communicator, but it sounded more like static than anything. It had probably been damaged in the fight with Thanos. He’d tried sending a message to any Avenger he could in an effort to find out what had happened, but he got nothing.
Stepping into the elevator, Steve’s hand pressed the button for the floor where all the medical equipment was. He obviously wasn’t a doctor, but until he could find someone smart enough to operate all of their equipment, his ability with field dressing and a super soldier accelerated healing would have to suffice.
Stepping out of the elevator, he grabbed the shield off his back with his right hand and set it down on the first counter he walked by before gingerly pulling off the top of his uniform. As careful as he tried to be, it still hurt like Hell trying to get that left arm out of the sleeve. For that he wished he could use these machines to get it patched up. “Well, I’m just glad the power’s on,” he said to no one as he went into a cabinet for the dressing and disinfectant. A short bit of looking even found him a splint for his arm.
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A splinted arm, some bandaged ribs, and a new uniform later Steve found himself on the main floor of Avengers Tower; the floor where he with the computers necessary to try and figure out what in God’s name had happened. Well actually, other than running standard scans and looking for other Avengers, he really didn’t have the technical know-how to figure everything out; that would need Bruce, Tony, Reed, or Hank. He placed his mask and shield on a nearby table and began checking for anything he could. First he began checking to see if there was anything unusual going on, and he found the computer could only check as far as the edges of New York. Staring at the screen he muttered, “That’s not normal” as another screen pinged. Turning his head to see the display to his left, he saw the computer had found another Avenger. It was Spider-Man! And just his luck, the computer picked it up right as the web-slinger was entering the Tower. Grateful at finding another hero so soon, Steve hit an intercom button that would sound throughout the building. “Spider-Man, this is Cap. I’m in the computer room, hurry in here.”
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HERO
With great power, there must also come great responsibility.
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Post by Peter Parker on Mar 30, 2014 5:47:10 GMT -5
Seconds turned to minutes and minutes seemed to stretch on for hours as Peter stood in the conference room. It was strange, usually someone was roaming around inside the elaborate headquarters of Earth's mightiest heroes. Even when the core team was away on a mission and state of the art defense systems, the Avengers never left their HQ unmanned. Spider-Man was half expecting to bump into The Vision or Black Widow in this room, heck he'd even take Logan at this moment. Anyone was better than no one.
He was starting to wonder if he should either search the rest of the building or head over to the Baxter Building to see if the FF were home when the intercom rang to life.
“Spider-Man, this is Cap. I’m in the computer room, hurry in here.”
Finally, someone was here! Peter thought as he quickly darted out of the room. And it was just his luck that it was Captain America himself. Being that he was one of the co-leaders of the Avengers, Cap had to have some inkling of what was going on here.
-
As the doors to the main computer lab swung open, Spider-Man was instantly taken aback by Cap's appearance. He looked as if he had just gone toe to toe with two Hulks and barely got out alive. He winced as he noticed the slint in his arm. Although he had fought at his side on countless times, he had to admit that it was still very difficult to see Captain America in this state. All of this was getting more strange, let alone scarier, by the minute.
"Whoa. You look like you got thrown into a wood chipper and it spat you out from the butt whooping you gave it." Spider-Man joked, looking up to gaze at the massive computer layouts. Various images danced across the screen, several showcasing a map of the entire city. What was odd about this was that everything else surrounding New York City, like the immediate surrounding area, was blanketed by grey.
"Cap what's going on? First my Spider Sense went absolutely nuts, then that funky light show happened, and then I couldn't reach anyone on my ID card." He finished, taking a deep breath before continuing. "Are we under attack?"
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HERO
The price of freedom is high, and it's a price I'm willing to pay.
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Post by Steven Rogers on Mar 30, 2014 20:55:44 GMT -5
Steve was engrossed in the computer. He may not have had the technical knowledge to program it to search a bunch of different parameters to figure out the situation at hand, but he knew enough that he could set it to search for other Avengers and any emergency alerts that would be called in. He wasn’t so distracted that he didn’t hear the door open, and turned his head to see the Amazing Spider-Man, or Spectacular Spider-Man, or Stupendous; it got hard to keep up with those names after a while.
Spider-Man’s comment about Steve appearance was not unnoticed, but he let the Webbed Avenger finishing speaking. As it turned out, he could respond to it with the answer to Spider-Man’s question. “I can only guess, but my how I look and what’s going on might be related. We were losing our fight with Thanos. We didn’t make it in time to stop him from assembling the Infinity Gauntlet and the next thing I know I’m in New York and can’t get a hold of anyone else.” He moved his arm a bit. It hard already started feeling better from when he first woke up, but it was absolutely broken.
Steve moved away from the computer and towards his mask and shield on the counter. “Listen Spider-Man, we got bigger problems than you might realize. As far as I know we’re the only two heroes in New York. I can’t even get the computer to search outside the city much less try to reach any other heroes.” Steve drew closer to Spider-Man and placed his right hand on the Avenger’s shoulder. “I need your help. We can’t do this alone. We need to find our friends. I’m not much use with this arm right now,” he gestured to the splinted left arm. “So right now, I’m entrusted New York to you.”
Lamenting his arm and the fact that he was not up to snuff to search the city himself, he dropped his hand of Spider-Man’s shoulder and turned back towards the computers. “If we can find Bruce, Tony, or Dr. McCoy, maybe I could be more helpful. One of those machines in the medical ward can speed up healing and might fix this arm. I've seen it used on Hawkeye before." He began to move towards the computers again but stopped after one step. Looking to his right there was his mask and his shield. He picked it up and stared at it for a moment, lost in his own world. Him accepting his own weakness was something he had never been good at. It bothered him to no end. He couldn't really accept it, could he? Using his good arm, he affixed the mask to his face. No, no he wouldn't. "Spider-Man, scratch that. We're both needed for this."
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HERO
With great power, there must also come great responsibility.
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Post by Peter Parker on Mar 31, 2014 21:11:22 GMT -5
Captain Steven Rogers, the legendary super soldier of World War II. One of the bravest men that Peter Parker had ever had the pleasure of knowing. Peter would never admit it out loud, but seeing Captain America in this, dare he say "defeated" position was enough to make the usually jovial web slinger remarkably serious. Taking his usual crouching position against the wall, Spider-Man's eyes focused in on the Veteran's face, taking in every little bit of information he could.
“I can only guess, but my how I look and what’s going on might be related. We were losing our fight with Thanos. We didn’t make it in time to stop him from assembling the Infinity Gauntlet and the next thing I know I’m in New York and can’t get a hold of anyone else.”
The white lens of his mask widened as the soldier finished.
"Thanos? You mean crazy, obsessed with death, wanting to wipe out all of time of space Thanos?" He stammered, hoping that this was just a cruel joke of some sort.
The stern expression on Captain America's face confirmed all of his worst fears. Spider-Man cursed as he stood up, his thoughts as scrambled as one of Aunt May's breakfasts. Why didn't Cap think about calling him in to deal with someone as powerful as Thanos, someone who could easily give the entire Avengers roster a battle to end all battles? His Avengers ID card didn't even flash at all today and he was most certain that with something that potentially threatened all of mankind, he would have heard about it.
"No offense Cap, but why didn't you call me in to assist? I've faced Thanos a few times in the past too remember?"
The next statement about New York caused Spider-Man to raise a curious brow.
"What do you mean you just showed up in New Yo-"
“Listen Spider-Man, we got bigger problems than you might realize. As far as I know we’re the only two heroes in New York. I can’t even get the computer to search outside the city much less try to reach any other heroes.” He said as he clapped a strong hand on his shoulder. “I need your help. We can’t do this alone. We need to find our friends. I’m not much use with this arm right now. So right now, I’m entrusted New York to you.”
It was at that moment that Cap turned towards one of the several computers in the room. “If we can find Bruce, Tony, or Dr. McCoy, maybe I could be more helpful. One of those machines in the medical ward can speed up healing and might fix this arm. I've seen it used on Hawkeye before."
Spider-Man took a step back for a second. "What do you mean we're the only two heroes in New York? What are you talking abo-"
And that was when a horrifying thought formed in his head.
"Wait, you didn't say the Infinite Gauntlet did you?" He started, trying so hard to keep calm as his eyes locked onto the steely gaze of Captain America. "Cause if you said Infinite Gauntlet, we are so screwed." He said before taking a deep breath, regaining his composure ever so slightly. "Let's go to the Medical ward and get you patched up. What happened during this fight? I need to know everything Wings. Who was with you?" He asked, praying to God that this was all just some twisted joke.
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HERO
The price of freedom is high, and it's a price I'm willing to pay.
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Post by Steven Rogers on Apr 3, 2014 21:54:29 GMT -5
Steve had been so focused on expressing his concerns for the matter at hand that at first he didn’t hear what Spider-Man said. But then when the web-slinger asked him if Thanos had the Infinity Gauntlet, a puzzled look formed on the super soldier’s face. Spider-Man didn’t seem to know what he was talking about, but that was impossible. “Spider-Man, are you okay? You should know exactly what happened, you were there.” Perhaps Spider-Man had received a concussion in their fight with Thanos. At least he’d had some sense knocked into him, changing out of that slightly menacing looking suit for a more classic and approachable look. “Maybe while we fix me up we can check you for a concussion.”
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Head injury or no, how could anyone forget that fight with Thanos? He was already a galactic level threat on his own, but when Steve stepped through that gateway and saw they were too late to prevent him from getting the gauntlet the sight they were witness to would cause a streak of fear to run through any living being. But they were all Avengers, dammit, so as quickly as heroes were piling through the portal, he was shouting, “AVENGERS ASSEMBLE!” and leading the charge into a fight they could not possibly win. As always, Thor was the one to strike first, flying up and slamming his hammer directly into the Mad Titan’s face. Time seemed to freeze for a moment as Thanos stepped back to stabilize himself; Steve could tell from some distance away that he was smiling. From that point on the fight just became a shambled chaotic mess.
Captain America couldn’t have been further out of his league against an enemy like this, but even Hulk and Thor were being thrown off like inconvenient children. Shield throws from the super soldier bounced off without so much as a depression in his body and the one time Steve even got close enough to try hitting him, Thanos cast the shield aside before grabbing Captain America’s left arm and crushing it in his grip. A repulser blast to the face from Iron Man had cause Cap to get free, and allowed him to retrieve his shield, but as he turn back to the fight Iron Man went flying past him and crash into a rocky outcropping. Every type of Avenger had thrown their hat into this fight; but science, magic, and natural ability were all useless as Thanos removed every hero that opposed him as forcefully as possible. He was unsure if Thanos had become bored or frustrated, but the fight eventually stopped being worth his time as he activated the Infinity Gauntlet. He had not been able to so much as blink before his world became white and he found himself back in New York, so far with only he and Spider-Man making it out alive.
Mentally, Steve began begging that the other Avengers were alive and would soon show up.
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HERO
With great power, there must also come great responsibility.
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Post by Peter Parker on Apr 4, 2014 14:34:05 GMT -5
The moment Peter finished his question, Captain America turned to give him a look like he had four extra arms sticking out. As they entered the infirmary, The Star Spangled Avenger began to question whether or not Spider-Man himself was ok. How could he forget that he himself was present during the battle with Thanos.
And now it was Spider-Man's turn to give a "Are you mental?" look. As Captain America commented about checking him for a potential concussion, Peter fell back a few paces, nearly knocking over several intricate instruments in the process. Spider-Man was certain that he would have remember something as massive as a fight with the Mad Titan. After all, Thanos was one of the most terrifyingly powerful beings that Spider-Man had ever encountered.
"What are you talking about Wings? I was in Hell's Kitchen an hour ago dealing with some vandalism. I never got a single call from any of our al-"
He stopped as he turned to face Captain America. His Spider Sense wasn't going off, so he couldn't have been in danger of some sort. Even so, there had been times in which his spider-sense was fooled.
"What happened to you in the aftermath of the Superhuman Civil War?" Peter asked, lowering into a defensive crouch. He had to make sure that this was the real Cap. His next move was up to the other man in the room to decide.
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HERO
The price of freedom is high, and it's a price I'm willing to pay.
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Post by Steven Rogers on Apr 8, 2014 0:00:49 GMT -5
Steve turned his head to Spider-Man and raised an eyebrow, slightly baffled. “Why are you asking, Spider-Man?” he asked before letting out a sigh. Maybe he really did have a concussion and was confused. Better to just humor him for now until we can find someone with a doctorate to examine him. “Well, there was an assassination attempt on me that looked successful but it turned out to be one big plot by the Red Skull to steal my body.”
Cap considered Spider-Man’s comment before the questioning about him being in Hell’s Kitchen before ending up here. Now it was Steve’s turn to be confused. How could he have been in the city if the event happened while they were on the moon? He didn't hesitate to say this to Spider-Man. “This isn't right. How could you have been in New York and seen the event? You were definitely one of the Avengers fighting against Thanos. I remember you using your webs to catch my shield when the Thanos threw it at me. You were definitely there.”
Things really just couldn't add up. They fought Thanos and then Steve wakes up in Brooklyn. He gets to the Tower to find he can’t contact anyone. No scans will read outside the city. Then Spider-Man shows up with no memory of the fight with Thanos. “This is shaping up to be worse than I thought. Thanos has access to the power of each of the Infinity Gems, so maybe he’s caught one of us with the Mind Gem. As soon as we get me patched up, we need to figure out those computers and get them working on scanning every possible thing that might tell us what is happening.”
He looked around the infirmary before turning his head back to Spider-Man. “So, which one of these things is going to repair my body the quickest?”
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HERO
With great power, there must also come great responsibility.
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Post by Peter Parker on Apr 9, 2014 20:15:12 GMT -5
"Just answer the question Cap." Spider-Man replied, his fingers ready to squeeze into his palm if the Star Spangled Avenger answered other wise. To his relief, Captain America recited an accurate summary of the events surrounding his "death" and his eventual return. The man standing before him had to be the real Steve Rogers, his Spider Sense would have alerted him otherwise. Even still, there was so much confusion surrounding the anomaly that took place earlier. First, his Spider Sense went haywire the moment the strange Aurora Borealis like event occurred. Now, Captain America was saying something about himself fighting alongside the other Avengers against Thanos. THere were so many questions that needed some serious answers, and Peter was determined to get to the bottom of it.
"Sorry about that," Spider-Man said as he relaxed his muscles and slid out of his stance. "I had to make sure you weren't a Skrull or something."
Once the tension had cleared, it was Captain America's turn to speak.
“This isn't right. How could you have been in New York and seen the event? You were definitely one of the Avengers fighting against Thanos. I remember you using your webs to catch my shield when the Thanos threw it at me. You were definitely there.”
"Did you watch too many Twilight Zone episodes Cap? I was swinging away from Hell's Kitchen when my Spider Sense hit me like the Hulk with a Tony Stark level hangover. I barely had time to stick to a building with all that pain. I look up and the next thing I know the Fourth of July came early." Peter said, a hand crossing over his heart. "I swear to you Cap, I don't know what you are talking about, but I swear I would have remembered something like Thanos attacking us."
As they approached the medical screens, Cap spoke again.
“This is shaping up to be worse than I thought. Thanos has access to the power of each of the Infinity Gems, so maybe he’s caught one of us with the Mind Gem. As soon as we get me patched up, we need to figure out those computers and get them working on scanning every possible thing that might tell us what is happening."
Spider-Man couldn't help but to nod at Cap's words. At least they had some sort of a plan going forward.
"Sit down right here." Peter said, gesturing to one of the nearby medical tables. He quickly moved to slip what looked like a mechanical brace over Cap's battered arm before turning towards the computer. It took Peter a matter of minutes to figure out how to activate the healing device and set it to work on Cap's arm. Even though he was on a team with arguably the greatest scientific minds on the planet, Peter Parker was no slouch when it came to technology. It was a skill that most of his teammates seemed to forget.
"How does that feel?" Spider-Man asked.
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HERO
The price of freedom is high, and it's a price I'm willing to pay.
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Post by Steven Rogers on Apr 11, 2014 21:17:59 GMT -5
For Steve, things just kept getting more confusing by the minute. As he followed Spider-Man’s instructions he mulled over the options present. There were possibly infinite reasons for what was going on. As Spider-Man slipped some metal contraption on Steve’s broken arm, he decided it was obvious that Thanos was doing SOMETHING with the Infinity Gauntlet. But given what each of the gems represented individually, what exactly he was going was beyond the super soldier. Were they all being controlled by the powers of the mind gem? Perhaps getting thrown into a fake New York by the reality gem? Trapped in New York by the space gem? Honestly, with the imagination with Thanos and the limitless power of the Gauntlet Steve wasn't sure they COULD figure out his plans.
Spider-Man’s question brought him back to the world of the living. “Pardon? Oh, I feel okay.” Honestly now that he thought about it, it was actually a pretty uncomfortable feeling, having your bone be forced into resetting and repaired unnaturally. But this was something that needed to be done. Steve was going to need to be at one hundred percent for what lied ahead, that much was for certain.
“Spider-Man, you don’t suppose we could set the computers to look for the energy the gems gave off, do you? I remember when Thanos got his hands on them Tony and Reed did something with the computers were able to find him like that.” He may not have always understand what the geniuses were talking about when they started getting their brains going, but Steve took every opportunity to pay attention and listen. You never know when the information might come in handy, even if he didn't know how to use it. “I’m not a computer guy, but judging by how quickly you figured out this machine here, I have faith you can get some program or another running to at least try to do that.” As the repairing of his arm progressed, the throbbing pain started to subside.
Steve felt he was pretty darn lucky to have Spider-Man here. There were many heroes Steve could count on in a crisis, but above all the wall crawler was easily one of THE MOST dependable people he’d ever met. “I hope you won’t take this the wrong way, but I’m glad you’re here. Of all the Avengers out there, I count you as one that I know will give every drop of blood in his body to make sure everyone gets out of this mess safely.”
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HERO
With great power, there must also come great responsibility.
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Post by Peter Parker on Apr 13, 2014 23:10:08 GMT -5
"There, that should do it." Spider-Man said with one final keyboard stroke. With that final recalibration, the machine should have done its job and reset and repaired Cap's broken bone. As he assisted the Living Legend in removing the device, he couldn't help but to admire the tenacity of Steven Rogers. The entire healing process seemed like it would have hurt like hell, especially for someone that didn't possess any sort of healing factor. On the other hand, Captain America wasn't like the average man. Even if he was in severe pain, you would never be able to tell by looking at him. The man constantly exuberated a quiet confidence that left you standing with your jaw to the floor, as if the President of the United States himself had walked into the room, picked you out of a crowd, and smiled at you.
“Spider-Man, you don’t suppose we could set the computers to look for the energy the gems gave off, do you? I remember when Thanos got his hands on them Tony and Reed did something with the computers were able to find him like that.” Cap said, gesturing to the large monitors in front of him. “I’m not a computer guy, but judging by how quickly you figured out this machine here, I have faith you can get some program or another running to at least try to do that.”
Spider-Man was thankful that his mask covered his entire face, as his cheeks had turned a pinkish hue the second Cap complimented his science skills. It wasn't everyday that Peter Parker was acknowledged for his scientific prowess in the superhero community. To hear this from Captain America of all people was truly astonishing.
"You got it." Peter said, quickly hoping over to the gigantic computers and started to plug away at the controls. While Peter knew his way around a computer, the Stark Enterprise sanctioned supercomputers that were wired across this building weren't anything like the ACER he had back at his apartment. Only a few select individuals on the Avengers knew how to fully operate these things. Nonetheless, Peter would continue to have it until they found what they were looking for.
“I hope you won’t take this the wrong way, but I’m glad you’re here. Of all the Avengers out there, I count you as one that I know will give every drop of blood in his body to make sure everyone gets out of this mess safely.”
The random noises of keys clicking down stopped as Peter turned to face the Super Soldier. He couldn't help but to smile ever so slightly at that comment. It felt incredible to know that the fearless leader of the Avengers appreciated his help.
"T-thanks Cap, I don't know what to-"
An electronic chime cut off Spider-Man's sentence as the right program booted up. "There we go!" Peter said as a large three-dimensional map of the entire city was laid out before them. The typing resumed as Peter's eyes focused in at the screen. "Just gotta recalibrate the energy readings, narrow it down to Infinity Gem energy. Aaannnd....What the hell?!"
The energy readings rose off the scale as what appeared to be some sort of dome surrounded the entire city. Everything from Manhattan Island, Liberty Island and even Staten Island was enclosed around the city.
"What the heck is that?!" Spider-Man asked, pivoting towards Cap.
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HERO
The price of freedom is high, and it's a price I'm willing to pay.
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Post by Steven Rogers on Apr 14, 2014 20:36:30 GMT -5
Released from the machine, Steve began rotating, stretching, and flexing his arm. It felt great. He was lucky the first person he ran into had some computer know-how because having a half capacity Captain America would make things awfully hard to deal with if he had need of both hands.
One thing Steve realized as he watched Spider-Man work on the computer; no one really ever gave the wall crawler much credit for what was obviously a genius brain behind that mask. Steve was pretty sure that was by design. The villains he faced probably never counted his intelligence when they planned against him so really, Spider-Man always went into a fight with a clear advantage. Steve couldn't help but appreciate his commitment to the bit.
Steve was about to comment on Spider-Man’s figuring out the scanners but was quickly cut off by the web-slinger’s reaction. Looking at the monitor, he could see why. Whatever readings he was picking up were showing a dome enveloping all of New York City. It was hard to make sense of the image without a working scientific knowledge, but one thing could be easily surmised about it; “Whatever that is, I’m pretty sure THAT will explain what exactly we’re dealing with.”
Now the main question was what exactly WAS that? It was showing up on the energy readings, as Spider-Man said, so Steve assumed it wasn't an actual physical dome covering the island. “So Spider-Man; is there a way to set this computer to scan exactly what we’re dealing with here? It’s obviously something done by the Infinity Gauntlet, but what is it doing?” Steve had a lot of questions about the dome that probably couldn't be answered without more analyzing or test running or whatever it was that Spider-Man needed to do to figure out what this thing really was. At the very least, they now had the first bit of intel that would hopefully find them and everyone on the island a way home. Now they knew the exact range and scope of what was affected by Thanos. The next questions: How and Why.
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HERO
With great power, there must also come great responsibility.
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Post by Peter Parker on Apr 15, 2014 15:46:01 GMT -5
When Peter was five years old, his Uncle Ben had taken him on fishing trip to the Oneonta area of Upstate New York. One day, the two of them got in a little row boat and took it out to the middle of a lake, rods in hand, ready to reel in some dinner. Being that it was the first time he had ever been in a boat, the younger Parker was absolutely terrified. It had taken Ben a good five minutes just to convince him to step in the old green boat. The mere idea of being away from solid ground frightened Peter and he made sure his uncle knew that he wanted to go back. Ben only smiled however, rubbed his nephew's shoulder and told him to "Take a deep breath, close your eyes,count to ten slowly, and exhale." It was Ben's way of calming his nerves, to tell him that everything was going to be alright. So Peter did just that. And like that, his fears were washed away into nothingness. That particular calming tactic, one of the many lessons that Benjamin Parker taught to him, stuck with him to this day.
Right now, Peter Benjamin Parker had his eyes squeezed tight, frantically counting to ten, and exhaling as fast as possible.
When he opened his eyes, all he saw was the same digital image of the Big Apple and its boroughs with a foreboding, Stephen King-like dome covering it. The energy readings were flying off the scale as he banged away on the keyboard maniacally, trying to make sense of what was displayed in front of him. What the heck did Thanos do?
"Hang on Cap, let me try to narrow down the search to see what we're dealing with." He said, never missing a beat from the keyboard. If he could just limit the energy detector so they could see the exact stone that Thanos had used, maybe they could unravel this even more.
"There." He said with a final click. a sub window enlarged itself to reveal an image of the Infinite Gems. Two of the gems glew, symbolizing which ones were in use while the others were faded out.
"Are those the Time and Space gems?" Spider-Man said, turning to Cap. "Did it just create some sort of dome around us? Could they even do that?" Then again who was he to question the power of the Infinity Gauntlet. With it, Thanos was practically a God.
Peter's eyes focused in on the ends of the dome. "It looks like they stop just after the boroughs end, cutting everything off from the main land. But, I didn't see anything that looked like a dome outside." He said, crossing his arms and leaning back on the console. "Cap, what do you think this means fo-"
A loud noise sounded from behind him, causing Peter to flip back away from the computer, landing just a few inches besides Cap. One of the other monitors turned on to show a news broadcast of some sort. Peter must have accidently hit a button on the keyboard to activate it. His embarrassment made itself apparent under his mask as he turned to say something to Captain America.
"BAMF! BAMF! WHISKEY!" A high pitch cry emerged from the speaker, causing Spider-Man to turn his attention back to the screen.
And that was when thing got even more confusing.
On that screen was what looked like a blue demon of some sort, dressed in a red and black attire, a blue tail whipping around as nearby civilians freaked out. Surrounding the demon, were even smaller blue demons that looked just like him, appearing on and off the scream in a puff of purple smoke.
Spider-Man didn't need to see the smoke to know who that was, but he still couldn't believe his eyes.
"Is that...Nightcrawler?" Peter asked. It certainly looked like the blue skinned, teleporting member of the X-Men, albite he looked much younger then the Nightcrawler he had known. But that wasn't what was confusing him. "Isn't he supposed to be dead?"
Of course, Peter should have known by now that no one stayed dead these days, especially with all the times that Jean Grey, Norman Osborn, heck even Captain America had risen from beyond the grave. Peter had some close calls with death himself over the years, but managed to come out on top and very much alive. But that was besides the point. This Nightcrawler was very different then the one that Peter knew for a fact was dead.
"DId the Gauntlet cause all this?"
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HERO
The price of freedom is high, and it's a price I'm willing to pay.
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Post by Steven Rogers on Apr 15, 2014 23:58:08 GMT -5
To be honest, Steve really didn't know which gem was which offhand. They were different colored but he couldn't remember one from the other. “To be honest Spider-Man, I really couldn't tell you one from the other. It’s not like I've seen them every day.” The silver lining of this dark cloud was that at least they now had an accurate perimeter to operate within.
He didn't have much time to think too hard about a next step as the newscast came blaring on. Turning his attention to the screen he saw the blue devil and recognized him immediately. “Yes, Spider-Man. That is definitely Nightcrawler.” While Steve himself never really had any interaction with the mutant, he was Logan’s best friend and whenever Logan put his feet down on the high road, it was at least in some part due to the friendship of the tailed teleporter on TV right now.
“I… I thought so,” was Steve’s response to Spider-Man. He remembered for sure Nightcrawler sacrificing himself to save another mutant. Of course, he himself was no one to judge. He’d been thought dead not once but twice, so it was entirely possible that someone else had the same fate. Then again, if this Spider-Man was from a different point in time, then maybe that’s what was happening with Nightcrawler as well. Steve decided to share that bit. “He may still be dead in our timelines, but don’t forget you and I aren't part of the same timeline either. He could be before his death. Heck, with the power of the Gauntlet he may not even be the Nightcrawler from our universe.”
Then a thought crossed Steve’s mind. If this Nightcrawler WAS from a different point in time, it presented a problem that people from after his death would reveal it to him. “Spider-Man, we need to go talk to him. Tell him what’s going on and hopefully enlist his help. And listen,” his voiced dropped, letting the wall crawler know how serious he was. “If that turns out to be him from an earlier point in time, do NOT tell him about his future. That’s already going to be hard enough on him as it is, it’s not our place to add that on the man’s soul.”
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HERO
With great power, there must also come great responsibility.
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Post by Peter Parker on Apr 24, 2014 21:59:04 GMT -5
“He may still be dead in our timelines, but don’t forget you and I aren't part of the same timeline either. He could be before his death. Heck, with the power of the Gauntlet he may not even be the Nightcrawler from our universe.” Captain America said, as Spider-Man's eyes refused to leave the large monitor, watching the news footage loop itself for a good minute. Despite all the crazy things he had seen in his life as a superhero, he was still having a difficult time processing all of it. The immediate thought that went into his head upon seeing the blue skinned mutant was that it could have been a clone. He knew that the X-Men had a few opponents that dabbled in cloning. But what Cap had just told him made a lot more sense. If that was true, then that means the Gauntlet must have disrupted the Space and Time continuum somehow.
"So, you think that the Gauntlet shattered the Space and Time Continuum somehow and brought, whoever that is here?" He asked. That would make sense if it were true, and given the current situation, any shred of the truth would be comforting, or would it?
“Spider-Man, we need to go talk to him. Tell him what’s going on and hopefully enlist his help. And listen: If that turns out to be him from an earlier point in time, do NOT tell him about his future. That’s already going to be hard enough on him as it is, it’s not our place to add that on the man’s soul.”
Before Spider-Man could respond, the blue individual that the two Avengers were currently calling "Nightcrawler" broke the brief moment of silence.
"Vhat do you mean trapped?"
The moment he finished that question, a terrible thought shot through Spider-Man's head like a bullet. Frantically, Peter typed away on the computer to bring up the city layout again, showing the gigantic, Infinity Gem powered, dome surrounding the City and the outer boroughs. Various different concepts and information slowly began to connect themselves in Peter's mind. Thanos. The Gauntlet. Captain America. The Dome. Nightcrawler. The Spider Sense wave. They were all pieces of some gigantic puzzle, crying out for someone to solve it. As the keysmashing increased, Spider-Man scrutinized every little visual detail about the dome until he felt like his brain was going to explode. With one final keystroke, Spider-Man brought up a file on the Infinity Gems and their properties, taking in every bit of information that he could.
And that was when it dawned on him.
The dome was a barrier. A cosmic cage of sorts.
Thanos had used the powers of the time and space gems and some how, trapped them all inside New York City.
"Oh my God...Cap...Thanos...we...we're trapped..." Spider-Man sputtered, a million mental bombs going off in his troubled mind. How were they going to get out? Was there even a way to get out? How would they survive? How could they call for help? Was everyone going to be all right? What about his family and friends? What about...
"Aunt May!" Peter said suddenly, looking for the nearest exit. "Cap, I have to go! I need to check on my Aunt!" He said. He couldn't even begin to image what his poor aunt was going through right now with all the chaos that was brewing all around them.
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