Chapter 56: World on the Edge Part V

Chapter Fifty Six: A World on the Edge Part V:

It was a few seconds but it seemed like an eternity before Spider-Man or to be more accurate, Peter Parker, completely registered everything, bits and pieces of everything that happened over the past several months clicking in his brain. Truthfully, he should have figured it out but this was this last blatant thing just hitting him right in the face.

“My parents..accident…Aunt May and Uncle Ben told me it was an engine failure…of course…could have been lying…cover up,” said Spider-Man as he reread the heading of the report, to ensure that he had not been hallucinating. “My parents, who I had thought were scientists, were secret SHIELD agents and…they were the one’s who stopped the Doomsday Weapon in the first place.”

“You’re kidding right,” grumbling and Spider-Man just shook his head, arms crossed, indicating the fact that he was most certainly not kidding. “Could be a coincidence you know.”

“Awfully big coincidence, this was right around the time that they were in their so called accident,” said Spider-Man but he shook his head. “They said the engine failed, an accident.”

“I bet you the engine did fail,” supplied Wolverine gruffly. “Only it wasn’t an accident.”

“There’s more,” stated Peter shakily, trying to maintain his composure. “The Doomsday Weapon said to be commissioned by the Red Skull during the end of World War II, was recovered in a covert operation, by SHIELD agents Richard and Mary Parker. Said to be from enemy agents who were working with someone who claimed to be the Red Skull. Communication was broken off after confirmation that the Doomsday Weapon was disabled. Agents found three weeks after last communication, grisly remains, after their plane had engine failure. Investigation points to sabotage. Family will be informed that it was an accidental failure to maintain national security.”

At that moment, Peter just hurled the laptop angrily at the wall of the building.

“That lying….” Stated Peter, before he started breathing heavily in and out, and it took several moments to calm himself.

“Calm down Parker, before you give yourself a panic attack,” said Wolverine.

“Too late,” said Peter, as he spun around.

“Everything that I knew about them, a lie, didn’t know much after all, died before I really remembered them,” thought Peter as he struggled to keep himself from going out of his mind.

Peter just turned, and he looked out into the distance, deep in thought and all of the dealings in this entire mess seemed much worse.

“He did it,” said Peter in a forced calm voice, as he clenched his fists together. “And Fury covered it up.”

Peter shook his head. As disturbing as this was, he had to focus on the matter at hand, the fact that the world was in peril but it was hard to even block what he had just learned out of his mind. He wished he had never went into that SHIELD vehicle right now and learned what he did. He was better off not knowing.

“We’ve got a far bigger problem than Fury lying here,” said Woleverine as he broke the silence. “In case you didn’t notice, the Red Skull’s back and he’s going to start wiping out everything.”

“Doomsday Device, of course, but Fury said the Red Skull wouldn’t be able to power it for long unless he has….MORE POWER!” shouted Peter. “Electro, of course, of course, I should have seen it! The Red Skull’s going to use Electro to power his device. The longer I kept fighting him, the more powerful he seemed to get, it was because he was storing power like a battery. Everything was knocked out that he went nearby, because he absorbed the power! He’s going to have enough power to run that thing for a while by now.”

“So this is worse than we thought,” said Wolverine. “Great.”

“I just wish that I could have followed Electro, we've got to find him, but he’s got to be long gone by now,” said Peter, as he shook his head to clear the mental cobwebs. “He could have lead us right to the Red Skull.”

“Maybe he still can,” said Wolverine suddenly. “He might have been turned into that, but he still had a scent. I know it, I was up close and personal with it when he tried to electrocute me.”

“Yes, he has a scent, but its all over the city, we’d never know where to begin in time,” said Peter as he threw his hands into the air.

“Just lead me to where he ran off and the nose will do the rest of the job,” said Wolverine.

“There’s no need to use such barbaric methods to track him down, I believe I’ve pinpointed where the Red Skull might be,” said a voice and they turned around to see the figure who looked down upon them from his pedestal.

“Magneto,” growled Wolverine, as he popped his claws out and looked ready for a battle, but Magneto looked on with not fear, but amusement.

“Put those away,” said Magneto in a bored voice. “Surely, you’ve realized that they have no effect on the Master of Magnetism.”

“What do you mean you know where the Red Skull might be?” asked Spider-Man.

“That device disrupts the magnetic field of the Earth to create that distortion, black hole, whatever you wish to call it, I’m the master of Magnetism, it doesn’t take a genius to put two and two together,” stated Magneto.

“Why would you help track down the Red Skull?” challenged Wolverine. “Didn’t think you were too into saving all of humanity?”

“Humanity and mutantkind will both be in peril of the Red Skull continues to use his weapon,” said Magneto. “I have my own reasons further than that, none of which are your business, but know this, I do not want the Red Skull to succeed any more than you do, Wolverine.”

Wolverine just growled and he looked at Spider-Man for a response.

“If he’s able to find the Red Skull, I don’t see the harm in helping him help,” said Spider-Man slowly.

“Did you hit your head when you were fighting Electro?” grumbled Wolverine but Spider-Man just ignored his question.

“We’re going to have to coexist, until the Red Skull and his Doomsday Device are both put out of commission,” said Spider-Man.

“I have no problems coexisting like a civilized individual,” said Magneto coolly as he looked at Wolverine, almost challenging him to the same and the mutant just growled.

“One wrong step and I’ll….” Stated Wolverine but Magneto just calmly flicked his wrist, magnetizing Wolverine to the side of a dumpster. The mutant struggled.

“You’re not in much of a position to do anything,” said Magneto.

“Knock it off both of you!” shouted Spider-Man as he lost his patience. “What are you, two?”

Spider-Man just looked forward. Time was running out. They didn’t have that have any time to iron out these differences and there was not much room for error.

“We need to leave now, Magneto lead the way,” said Spider-Man shortly and Magneto let Wolverine go, dropping him to the ground, his limbs jerked in every direction slightly, as the mutant managed to scramble to his feet.

“He better not be leading us into a trap,” grumbled Wolverine but Spider-Man just turned away.

“He’s not, trust me, I trust him, on this thing at least,” said Spider-Man with conviction.

“Fine, your funeral, bub,” said Wolverine gruffly.

XXXXX-XXXXX

“Mr. President, the situation is dire, but this is a mission that only SHIELD could pull off,” said Fury through gritted teeth, as he tried to communicate with the president of why he should not make a decision to get involved. “The Military would not be able to handle this, who knows what that trigger happy nutcase will do if he felt too threatened. You might be serving out the rest of your term in a black hole. We're going to disable this device....I'll keep you briefed, but this mission might take some time to accomplish...time we don't have...just hang tight and do what you have to on your end to prevent people from panicking.”

Fury took the phone, and he turned to the SHIELD agents, who stood ready.

“Time we don't have, Rogers, I thought you'd do the right thing, but this country's changed too much,” muttered Fury. “Right now, I don't think Captain America is going to be able to pull our asses out of the fire.”

He turned to his men who awaited orders and Fury had to make a snap decision of what to do now.

“All or nothing, one strike against the Skull and a quick one, if we mess up now, we might as well be kissing our freedom goodbye,” said Fury, as he clenched his fists. “Go, now!”

The SHIELD agents began to move in as quickly as they could manage, busting down the gates of where they had tracked the signal of the transmission. It was very likely that they were walking into a trap, but they didn't have any choice. It was now or never. They carefully disabled the two sensor alarms that they found, but a green sort of dust rose from the ground. The men and women of SHIELD put their gas masks on, at least most of them did, some of them were too slow and were poisoned immediately, lungs bursting into flames as they dropped to the ground.

There was no time to mourn the deaths. Fury waved his hand, they had to press on. Otherwise, they would fall. Fury wasted little time, but they met a quartet of the bruising monsters. Fury just winced briefly, recognizing the very obvious handiwork of one Nathaniel Essex, better known as Mr. Sinister.

Fury gave the signal and tranquiler darts were shot, but they had no effect whatsoever. The monsters moved forward, and grabbed several of the SHIELD agents. They struggled, trying to fight their way, but the loud cracking sounds indicated that there were bones being broken and Fury turned to lead spot the entrance, as he felt a splatter of a warm liquid on his back and a loud crunch in his years.

“Fall back if you can, I've found a way inside!” shouted Fury, as he held a gun in one hand and blasted one of the monsters in the face, causing blood to splatter in every direction. The monster turned but Fury jammed the gun right in the gut and fired another shot, to drop the creature. With ease, Fury slipped inside the laboratory and stepped inside, before he slid through a hallway and made his way up a flight of stairs. Two human guards stood at a door, but Fury quickly knocked them out, with deliberating, but non lethal attacks. Two loud thumps and they were not about to get up any time soon.

Fury stood, he had one good shot, he had to find the Red Skull quickly, the entire fate of the United States of America, along with the rest of the world, was resting on his shoulders. He kicked down the door and stood, gun at the ready, but he heard someone from behind. He spun around and shot, but he saw nothing.

At that moment, the mutant known as Sabertooth jumped down and grabbed Fury. Fury struggled, managing to nail Sabertooth in the jaw with his elbow. Fury grabbed his gun and fired a shot at the mutant, but a concussive blast knocked Fury to the ground from behind and Sabertooth quickly got a good grip, as Mr. Sinister stepped into the picture to face Fury, with the twisted grin on his face.

“Did you really think it would be that easy, Commander?” asked Sinister.

“You filthy monster, how could you work for someone like the Red Skull?” managed Fury, as blood trickled from his mouth. “Just when I thought you couldn't get any lower, Essex.”

“I've gotten something out of it, trust me, my work will continue, too bad, you won't live long enough to see the next stage of the mutant race,” said Sinister calmly, as he kept a careful eye on Fury. It was best to watch the man. “Maybe the Skull will allow me your remains to dissect, you're in pretty good shape for a man your age, Fury. Wouldn't that be nice?”

Fury just spat blood at Sinister, but Sinister just raised an arm and another concussive blast dazed Fury. The mutant scientist grinned as Fury groaned, unable to stand up without Sabertooth bracing him with a solid grip.

“Take him to the cells, where he can have a front row seat, as Washington gets sucked into nothingness,” said Sinister with a twisted smile. “You weren't any more successful than Spider-Man or the X-Men.”

“Still hope,” managed Fury.

“I don't think so,” said Sinister, as Sabertooth grabbed the unconscious form of Fury, dragging him down the hallway, towards the holding area, where he could watch.

XXXXX-XXXXX

“Someone's been here already,” muttered Wolverine, as he looked ready to attack the first thing that moved. “Fury and SHIELD and....a lot of those scents are fading.”

“Well, they should have know what they were getting themselves into,” said Magneto indifferently. “Typical humans, don't think through their actions.”

“I think Fury got inside or someone did at least,” added Wolverine as he managed to pick up a faint trace of the scent that he recognized as the SHIELD leader.

“So that means there's a way inside,” muttered Spider-Man, as he looked ready for the attack.

“A trap most likely,” said Magneto coolly.

“Well, we have no choice,” argued Wolverine.

“We part here, I have my own plan, if you choose to go inside this way, than that's your foolish blunder, to your tomb,” said Magneto, arms crossed. “I will search for an alternate way in.”

“Find your alternate way, we're taking the direct approach,” said Wolverine as he looked at Spider-Man.

“Fine, whatever, we'll take the direct approach,” said Spider-Man, standing ready and Magneto shifted a few pieces of metal today, before he moved over right to the other side and Wolverine stepped in, before he sniffed around and pointed it out. Spider-Man followed him.

Suddenly his spider sense flung into overdrive.

“Look out!” shouted Spider-Man, as one of the monsters leapt at him, but Spider-Man avoided the attack and shot two lines of webbing, but the monster snapped them and grabbed Spider-Man. Wolverine prepared to plunge his claws into the back of the creature but another monster jumped from behind and grabbed Wolverine, and slammed him against a tree, in an attempt to pin him down.

The claws popped out, right into the wrists of the creature. Several puncture marks were evident as Wolverine jumped up in an attempt to take out the creature but it rolled out of the way quickly and continued to battle Wolverine, ducking and weaving around Wolverine's attacks with quick ease.

“These things are a lot quicker then they look,” grunted Wolverine, as the creature grabbed his head, before he whipped the head backwards, and Wolverine dropped to his knees, before the creature pummeled Wolverine viciously. Spider-Man managed to turn and propel his opponent right into the one that was trying to remove Wolverine's head from his body.

The two creatures smacked together and Spider-Man stepped forward, as Wolverine pulled himself up, before he cracked his neck back into place, with a sickening pop and winced slightly, as he took a step forward.

Two more of the creatures pounced forward. Spider-Man just managed to dodge the attack and he kicked the creature back, before he began to fight with him. A punch is aimed right into the chest of the creature, but the creature just deflected them. Wolverine raised his claws and slashed them violently into the chest of the creature. The creature turned, but its skin healed over itself in a matter of seconds.

“Great, this thing has a healing factor too,” said Spider-Man as he slapped his hand, before one of the monsters hauled up a huge cinderblock and threw it right at Spider-Man who jumped out of the way with grace and ease, before he continued onto the attack.

“Guess, I'm just going to have to dig deeper,” growled Wolverine as he launched himself up and he plunged them violently into the chest again, digging the claws into the insides of the monster. Droplets of blood splattered, as the creature suffered crude surgery, done by Wolverine, as he began to slice him up badly.

Spider-Man engaged his opponent in battle and he aimed a punch, but it bounced right across the chest of his adversary. Another couple of punches but the creature swung backwards, but Spider-Man ducked and sprung into the air, before he slammed both fists right on the back of the head of his adversary. The creature's knees buckled, as Wolverine was thrown to the ground, his spine cracked from the impact and he rolled over. He cringed as he felt himself heal, as he saw an enemy leap at him from the air from above.

XXXXX-XXXXX

Fury found himself on a bench in a makeshift holding cell, as the Red Skull walked up at him, looking at Fury with disdian.

“We meet again, Nick Fury,” said Red Skull casually. “But its for one last time. The world leaders have about twenty minutes to comply with my demands. The world should be given to me.”

“They're never surrender to you,” said Fury. The truth was that world leaders could not even agree what to order for lunch, much less a course of action when an international crisis presented itself.

“At their peril,” said the Red Skull, as he held a gun and Fury knew that there was a chance that the next action Red Skull would take would be a bullet going right at Fury's head. “The capital of this country, the symbol of all the lies that this country offers, will disappear. More cities will disappear.”

“You're going to rip the entire world apart!” yelled Fury.

“If I must,” said the Red Skull coldly. “Who is to stop me? Captain America? That star spangled simpleton is obviously afraid of me. Not that he could beat me. The history books were wrong. He managed to trap me long enough to flee with his life. He deluded the rest of the world and himself.”

Fury refused to respond to this taunting.

“The embodiment of America is nothing but a fraud, much like the freedom and the ideals presented by this country as a whole,” taunted the Red Skull. “He's not going to to save the day and once that's been proven, this entire country will collapse. No one will have the will to stand up to me.”

“You'd be surprise with what the people of this country will stand up to,” said Fury.

“The fools in this country cannot stand up to its own government, they won't be able to stand up to me,” said the Red Skull as he held his gun, but lowered it, sparing Fury, he would be forced to watch the nation's capital destroyed. “Twenty minutes, Fury, no more. Washington will be annihilated.”

The Red Skull stepped away, leaving a monstrous guard in his place as he watched Fury, grunting mindlessly. Fury was not going to be able to move regardless. The security around the cell was rather tight.

XXXXX-XXXXX

Wolverine propelled himself on the back of one of his monstrous foes, as he continued to plunge his claws right into the neck of the creature and cracked pieces of vertebrae dropped to the ground.

“Just stay down,” growled Wolverine, as Spider-Man and his enemy battled. The creature threw punches but Spider-Man just dodged them time and time again, as he grew more frantic.

“We don't have time for this!” shouted Spider-Man, as he he somersaulted right over his creature. The creature turned around and Spider-Man cracked his enemy in the face, before he shot three lines of webbing at him, which the creature grabbed instinctively.

Spider-Man pulled himself up and grabbed the creature by the hair and flipped over, landing right on his feet and he flipped the creature right into a fence. A line of webbing wrapped around a switch and it electrified the fence, frying the creature, but the fence completely shorted out.

“He must be diverting most of the power to that black hole for his little demonstration,” muttered Spider-Man to himself, as Wolverine sliced his claws right through the creature, finally slicing it to bits.

“Yeah, nice to know that, but the problem is, these guys aren't going to need much power,” grunted Wolverine, as another creature grabbed him from behind. “Just how many of these things does the Red Skull have.”

“No, no, no, we don't have time for anymore, its running out!” shouted Spider-Man as two more moved forward. He dodged the attacks and swung a punch but it is blocked, as Wolverine stabbed his adversary in the arms. The creature gave an inhumane moan as he was elbowed in the jaw by Spider-Man.

“Go!” shouted Wolverine as he jumped forward, managing to take out the two creatures that Spider-Man was fighting, with controlled fury as he began to hack away at them with reckless abandon.

“Right, don't have to ask me twice!” said Spider-Man anxiously, as he rolled underneath, as the sound of battles raged behind him. Spider-Man held his breath, but another one stepped in his way and charged Spider-Man but he rolled out of the way to avoid the crazed, monstrous attacks. “Okay, got to deal with you too I guess!”

The creature dove right towards Spider-Man. The only advantage Spider-Man had was that the creature had limited intelligence. Of course, it was offset by the fact that it was brutish and nearly impossible to put down. Spider-Man dodged the attacks and aimed a kick, but the creature caught his leg and gave Spider-Man a swing. The web slinger was thrown to the ground and out of desperation, he picked up a rock, and propelled it at the creature, but it punched right through it and gave a grunt. Spider-Man managed to get himself up, by shining some light reflected off of his belt buckle at the creature.

The creature staggered back and Spider-Man punched right at it with all the strength it could muster, but another one grabbed Spider-Man from behind and began to squeeze the life out of him. Spider-Man felt the air escaping his lungs, as the other creature picked up a large chunk of gravel, ripping it from the ground and raised it above its head, with the attempt to cave his foe's skull right him.

“Not, done yet,” gasped Spider-Man as he pulled an arm free and shot a large glop of webbing right into the creature's eyes. It staggered, but the second creature had Spider-Man within his grasp once again and hands wrapped around his throat, as Spider-Man's knees began to buckle underneath him, as he tried to power out, but the grip was tightened.

“Can't, I've failed them,you've bungled it again, Parker,” thought Spider-Man in a daze as he struggled to breath, the air fading from his body. “No, got to focus, the entire world's on the line...”

Spider-Man found himself unable to think as the creature continued to attempt to choke him out as the other creature ripped the webbing from around his eyes and was quite furious. He grabbed Spider-Man but suddenly dropped to his knees, as a blunt force just cracked him right across the back of the head. The eyes rolled into the back of the creature's head.

Spider-Man rolled over, coughing, and trying to clear the cobwebs, as he heard the sounds of battle occur above him. Whoever, had saved him, had to have been getting thrashed but then he saw the creature slam onto the ground with a sickening crash, completely unmoving, as if it had been beaten by something far stronger than him.

“To your feet, young man, your country, the world's, counting on you,” said a booming, voice, that Spider-Man knew rather well. He could hardly believe his eyes and perhaps he might have been hit in the head one too many times today. Perhaps the temporary lack of oxygen was getting to him. But he came to the realization that what he was seeing was very true.

Captain America had returned.

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