Felix decided to avoid her, etching back down and crawling to the section of the building where she couldn't see him. 'Scary view,' he thought as he glanced down. He was…what? A thousand feet in the air? New York itself looked like an ant.
Regardless, Emma Frost appeared to be the victim here, kidnapped and sectioned off by Crossbones. A neutral party that may or may not be kind to him.
Floor 86 was a circular observatory with an inner and outer portion. All Felix needed to do was circle around and climb up to the opposing area, putting a whole structure between himself and Emma Frost. No need to reveal himself just yet.
As his feet stepped onto the platform of the 86th floor, a tingle went down his spine. He didn't ignore it but it wasn't like he knew where it was coming from. 'My Spider-Sense, from my understanding, senses all kinds of danger, even danger that isn't my own. Like those druggies in the alleyway. They were no threat to me yet the Spider-Sense picked up on it.'
It was why it took him a while to discover it existed in the first place. Were they just chills? A manifestation of his heightened senses, akin to the whiskers of a cat detecting minor air vibrations? He knew the answer now but before it was unclear. No, it was still unclear. The full-scope of his Spider-Sense was unknown to him because it wasn't something that could be calculated with numbers.
He looked up at the antenna-like structure. This was where floors 87 through 102 were. It looked smaller from the outside. Herbie didn't have deeper information on the situation. Time to climb
Due to the absurd elevation, the wind lashed at him, his suit protecting him. The material was very aerodynamic, hence why his swinging and climbing were done with such finesse. Everything, from his powers to his suit, worked to his favour.
As he climbed, a single thought ran through him, 'Two of the best businessmen were taken to floor 86. Why? Where is Norman Osborn? Princess Ororo? King T'Challa?'
He climbed and climbed and climbed. Stealth mode activated, the glowing neon green parts of his suit faded away and he blended into the darkness of the night. The 102nd floor was an indoor observatory, circular in shape with a perimeter of thick glass encasing. His fingers desperately clung to the surface of the aluminum and stainless steel as he raised his head just high enough to peer inside the observatory.
His heart nearly leapt from his chest. 'What the hell…?'
It wasn't Crossbones that was inside—it was someone else. A photo negative humanoid with ashy black skin, white hair, and glowing eyes. He wore a clean, classic suit and he was choking the life out of Bobbi. He was yelling at her, screaming at her, but she wouldn't speak. No, she was speaking, but the glass encasing prevented him from hearing.
King T'Challa and Princess Ororo were also brought to their knees, their secret guards killed and laying on the ground in front of them. The Inner Demons had two guns on them each. One false move and they were dead.
"Herbie—"
The visual interface suddenly glitched. "Warning: powerful electrical current ahead!"
"Okay, but what the hell is he saying—" Felix was forced to cut himself off as blood dripped from Bobbi's lips. "Shit, I don't have the time!"
It wasn't just his team leader. Kavita Rao and Czarina were also being threatened by thugs of the Inner Demon gang. Everyone that wasn't a VIP celebrity was forced to the backend of the room, close to the elevator where over a dozen Inner Demon gang members were. He wanted to ask why the Inner Demons were here. He wanted to ask who the superpowered person was. He wanted to know how they gained access to such a VIP location.
His thoughts were a mess—and that was when he sat it.
The future.
A future where the photo negative man grabbed King T'Challa by the head and turned him into one of his own. A corrupted king that would stand up, turn, and kill Princess Ororo with his bare hands.
The future sight ended and Felix gasped.
'What…?'
The political repercussions of a bunch of New York thugs taking over a well-guarded skyscraper and killing two monarchs of two separate nations would linger for decades if it came to fruition. Snarling, the main villain threw Bobbi to the wayside and began walking towards King T'Challa.
He saw the future again. He was going to kill the princess next to him. The King of Wakanda was going to be corrupted.
There was no time to think. He climbed onto the window and punched through it. Five inches of thick glass helpless in face of his super strength. Immediately, all eyes snapped towards the intruder.
Smash! Crunch!
His second fist went through the glass. With his whole arm through, he tore the glass apart like parting vines in a jungle and slipped through, as though watching a monster appear from the night sky. The human-sized hole behind him caused whips of air to enter the room.
Fear was omnipresent, regardless of royalty and allegiance.
"Who in the world are you…?" Now that he was fully facing him, Herbie was able to identify the villain in charge.
"His appearance matches the rumoured description of Mister Negative, leader of the Inner Demons." The interface did glitch slightly as he stared at him. Whatever his powers were, they were corruptive in nature.
Felix didn't speak. There was no need. The neon green colours of his suit slowly lit up.
"Answer me. Who are you?" Mister Negative asked. All the guns in the room shifted toward him.
Herbie counted twenty Inner Demons and twenty machine guns. Put simply, all of them were equipped with F2000 assault rifles and wore elaborate Chinese masks as well as black and white suits. They were uniformal. They obeyed their leader.
His first public fight. His first real fight.
One Felix Faeth versus twenty armed men and one superpowered villain.
His Spider-Sense was going crazy. This was the most danger he had ever been in. Weird enough, he was calm. His heart was steady and his nerves were as rigid as steel.
From his view, to the left side of the room were the non-VIPs, including Kavita Rao and Czarina. Twelve men were stationed there, though their attention was slowly being taken away. His presence invited conflict. An opportunity. In the middle of the room was Mister Negative and to the right side were King T'Challa and Princess Ororo.
Less than five feet ahead of him was Bobbi Morse. On the floor, holding her throat, she stared up at him wide-eyed.
So many people to protect. So many thugs to defeat. The odds were against him.
Thwip!
Then that meant he had to pick them off as fast as he could. First, the four that were threatening the royalty of Africa. His webs connected to their heads and, with a pull no human should have, he smashed them into each other and knocked them out.
That was four down. Sixteen to go.
"Get him—"
Thwip!
He connected another line of webbings and reeled himself towards it, landing a foot on one of the thugs and propelling himself to the glass wall behind the non-VIPs. "Web Barrier Mode activated," Herbie said.
In one swift motion, he created a protective layer of webbing from ceiling to floor, shielding the innocent people from any potential harm and blocking them off from the Inner Demon thugs. Due to his absurd speed, no one was able to react. The curtain of webbing was up in two seconds. Some bullets went off but all of them were blocked by the formulating wall, which also served to hide him.
Below, the well-dressed men and women gasped and stared up at him. Muttering, panting, and most of all, desperate. Felix didn't offer an explanation. He remained attached to the wall, feet flat on the glass surface as his brain devised a plan.
'T'Challa and Ororo are my next targets. Once they're safe, I can beat them up. The wall of webbing was a double-edged sword though. I can't get out. Luckily…' He glanced up at the white ceiling. 'There's a vent.'
His entire thought process lasted for half a second. He was quick and relentless and broke into the vent. Like a spider, he crawled through the vents at breakneck speed and burst through a vent directly above Mister Negative. The black-skinned super villain was ready for him, a long katana made of the flaming corruptive energy lashing at Felix as he attempted to dive down on him.
He missed, of course, his Spider-Sense warned him and a line of webbing to the ceiling stopped his dive mid-way. Felix did a cursory glance towards his environment and zoned in on the two monarchs. The two Inner Demons that were assigned to them were about to wake up. Felix wasted no time as he lurched himself towards the king and princess, scooping them up and taking them to the glass wall. The observatory was a 360 degree glass enclosure, after all. There was nowhere else to go, really.
"Wait—"
T'Challa was cut off as Felix stepped back and created another wall. It was smaller, almost like a cocoon, intensely for two people rather than a small crowd. His Spider-Sense tingled and without looking he leapt to the side. He back-flipped twice and built up enough momentum to fling himself onto the ceiling. Bullets followed him every step of the way. He went back inside the open ventilation shaft.
The Inner Demons sprayed bullets everywhere, trying to shoot him. Unfortunately, the walls were too thick to be penetrated and he remained safe. Even so, through the open vent, he was able to hear bits of their conversation.
"How the hell is he so fast…?"
"Never mind that!" Mister Negative told his men. "We outnumber him. He comes out—kill him!"
So that was his greatest advantage: speed. Felix was like a blur to these men. Whether there were twenty of them didn't matter. His equilibrium combined with his agility, flexibility, and Spider-Sense gave him auto-response reflexes.
Panting, catching his breath, he smiled underneath his mask. That relishing feel had returned. This was fun. He crawled till he arrived at another vent. The one was directly above Bobbi Morse, who had her head down. Forgotten.
Not to Felix.
Thwip!
He pulled her up to his vent in a single pull. The Inner Demons noticed but it was too late. Her legs dangled and she crawled inside as soon as the first bullet was shot. Bang! Bang! He felt bullets hit the underside of the ceiling and quickly covered up the vent with his webbing.
"T-thank you," Bobbi said, panting. He had never seen the woman so dishevelled, not that he could blame her. He remembered what happened at Oscorp Tower. He remembered how helpless he felt.
The vents were tiny, so he had Bobbi on the opposing side. She stared at him, breathing heavily, her blue eyes going from terrified to curious. "Who are you exactly?"
Felix didn't respond. Not because he didn't want to, but because he hadn't given a name. 'Arachnid-Kid? Nah, lame. Spider-Ling is also lame. How about—'
"Where are you!?"
That was Mister Negative. Whoops. Since everybody was safe, he thought he could relax. Probably a bad idea. 'Maybe I'm too relaxed about this.' He peered over at the vent and reminded himself of the guns. 'Those are guns, dude. Come on, get that adrenaline flowing.'
"Are you going to fight him?" Bobbi asked cautiously. He looked up at her and she blinked, slightly afraid. "Not that I think you'll lose. Ah, he has powers. He can corrupt things. I think he's manipulating highly destructive electric negative energy."
That was an Oscorp scientist for you. He would have nodded if not for the fact that the vents were too cramped for it. Instead, he began retreating and used his flexibility to turn himself over. The ceiling was peppered with ventilation shafts. That was his second major advantage.
Peering through the gaps in the vent, he saw the Inner Demons attempt to break the webs, to no avail. Whether it was the cocoon protecting King T'Challa and Princess Ororo or the massive barrier around the normal people, their efforts were in vain. The tensile strength of those particular webbings were off the charts. Not even a C-4 could melt them.
'Mister Negative seems to be a problem though. Bobbi said he can manipulate negative electrical energy. My suit can operate without Herbie but it'll be a hassle. I should take him down with webbings if I can. Everyone else though?' Felix grinned behind his mask. 'Let's beat 'em.'
He dropped down out of a vent directly next to where five Inner Demon members were trying to break the royal cocoon. They didn't hear him till the second punch was thrown. Felix had already knocked out two people and dodged a point-blank range assault rifle, throwing himself back. While in the air, he accurately shot out three balls of webbings that jammed the assault rifles and caused them to combust.
He swiftly turned and faced over fifteen rifles ready and aimed. His arms went into a cross. There was no dodging this.
Out of the hundred bullets aimed at them, he was able to twist himself and avoid ninety. Out of the ten that landed, none penetrated his suit. All the fear that could potentially come out of gun injury dissipated and Felix rolled into the middle of the crowd of thugs without losing a bit of momentum. Bam! Bam! Bam! A handstand into a kick, which he then used to propel himself for a punch. He was bounced between thugs like a frog, receiving less than a graze from their desperately aimed bullets.
Bam! Bam! Wham!
Their numbers whittled down into the single-digits. His Spider-Sense tingled, informing him of a threat from behind. He jerked his head to the side and narrowly avoided the bullet. He back flipped onto the thug, feet smashing into the mask, and bounced himself onto the ceiling. He slipped back into the vents, disappearing from sight.
Six remained, including Mister Negative who Felix had avoided. 'Best to save the strongest for last,' Felix thought. 'It's like fighting a boss monster who has allies. Defeat them first, then the boss itself will become much easier.'
Tension was high. Rather than remain together, Mister Negative ordered, "Shoot at every damn vent. Don't hold back, just keep shooting!"
Well, shit. There were only six vents in the first place. Right as one of the thugs stood underneath the vent and aimed, Felix sprung out and smashed his feet into the thug. Five remained.
Thwip! Thwip! Thwip!
Three guns were disabled and shortly imploded, burning the arms of the thugs and rendering them out of commission. Felix leaped forward and dove forward, bullets whizzing by him, and slammed a fist into the mask of the thug, shattering it. One thug remained. Thwip! Not anymore, as he reeled him in with a line of webbing and knocked the masked thug out with his fist.
Mister Negative was the last man standing—or so Felix thought. The man had broken through the cocoon of webbing that held the two African monarchs and was holding Princess Ororo hostage. King T'Challa was unconscious on the floor, blood running down his temple.
'Oh, you have got to be shitting me—'
"Who the hell are you!?" Mister Negative snarled. "You must be working for Norman Osborn! He must have sent you in his place!"
'Osborn? He's not here?'
That fleeting thought didn't matter in the current crisis. Right now, there was a woman in trouble—a princess, to make things worse. Ororo grunted, struggling against Mister Negative's formidable grip, but her efforts were futile. Whatever Mister Negative was, it transcended the confines of humanity, and his arm remained locked around the princess.
"Release me!" Ororo shouted.
"Silence." Mister Negative's very being started to crackle in black lightning. Like Felix, his fist broke through the glass encasing. It was like he was supercharging himself.
'Damn it, I'm not sure if my webbing can disable him…' Felix remained eerily still. His only option was to observe. Mister Negative kicked the glass encasing three times, creating a human-sized hole. 'Shit, shit, shit…! What do I do?'
"Not gonna talk? So you admit? You work with Norman Osborn!?"
Silence.
'Think, think, think! How do I save her—'
"Why…" Mister Negative muttered. "Why do all of you insist on protecting that piece of scum!? Why!?"
Black lightning erupted from every fiber of his being, and Ororo closed her eyes, trembling, prepared for the worst. Mister Negative roared, a primal sound echoing through the room, and with a surge of terrifying force, he tossed her through the gap in the glass enclosure.
Time seemed to slow as Ororo disappeared from his view, and in that critical moment, Felix leapt into action.
"Haaaa!" Mister Negative, still seething with dark energy, attempted to strike him with his katana, but Felix's agility proved unmatched, slipping underneath the blade, agile as a shadow. With unwavering determination, Felix dove through the gap in the glass, chasing after the falling woman. The city's lights blurred as they plummeted, the ground below growing closer with each passing second.
Swiftly, he shot out strands of webbing and reeled her towards him. With a firm pull, she arrived securely in his arms. Ororo hugged him desperately, arms around his neck, her hair whipping from the wind. She didn't scream, wanting to maintain a sense of dignity, but her eyes were squeezed shut.
The Empire State Building was too high up. It would take a few seconds of free falling before there was an available building to latch onto.
But he needed to time it juuust right. Otherwise, they were both dead.
'There!' The Herald Towers. Felix activated his web shooters towards the nearby building and with a controlled swing, Felix carried himself and Ororo away. Their momentum was too high, however, and he needed to swing another time and circle the tower in order to slow him down for a safe descent.
Ororo's arms were practically glued to him. There was no need to worry though. He had a hand on her waist. She wasn't going to leave his grip anytime soon.
The city's lights flickered below as they landed gracefully on the rooftop of the Herald Towers. Ororo didn't immediately let go of him. The two of them stood there, the princess panting and catching her breath.
"Thank you…!" At long last, Ororo opened her eyes and looked at him. Her eyes were a shade of blue like none other he had seen, flickering with a thunder-like attribute. "That was…" She swallowed and inhaled deeply, turning her gaze to the floor. Her heels had come off during free fall, so she stood on the rooftop barefoot.
Interestingly, she still hadn't released him, her arms laced around him, practically hanging off him.
Felix didn't say anything until he heard police sirens. The entrance to the Empire State Building was flooded with police cars and tanks. 'They called in the whole cavalry, I see.' His eyes shifted up towards the observatory, the very top of the building. 'But shit…! That guy managed to separate me from everyone else! And apparently, he has no issues ripping through my webbing!'
A thousand feet up, his suit interface suddenly activated and zoomed in. It was…Mister Negative? It was blurry but there was only man that wore a suit and crackled with black-white energy. He had jumped out of the observatory, the clouds above him stirring, and—
Cricccck! KA-DUUUM!
Mister Negative disappeared alongside a flash of black thunder—thunder that came from the clouds themselves. 'What…? How…?'
He was gone, just like that. Not a trace of him remained. Mister Negative…just what the hell were his powers?
Ororo followed his gaze, not flinching from the sound of lightning. "Is something wrong?"
Felix didn't respond, even as the African princess' gaze burned at his temple. Mister Negative had escaped. While Felix was sure he hadn't taken his men with him, that didn't change the facts. Today wasn't a loss but it certainly wasn't a victory either.