//------------------------------// // Chapter 6: The Villainous Vulture Part 1: First Flight // Story: Equestria Girls/Spider-man Book 1: Amazing // by Equestrian Defender //------------------------------// It had been roughly three days since the bank robbery, and Spider-Man had managed to find and dismantle nine more of those black market alien weapons, all of which ran on Chitauri Energy Cores. While this was a good thing, as that mean they now had ten of the dangerous alien energy sources off the streets, it still didn't make Flash feel better knowing there were still another ninety to go. And then there were the weapons themselves. Flash sighed as he looked at his notebook, thankful for the study hall he had today as his final period. The notebook in question had a list of the weapons the Energy Cores had been combined with, along with a list of the specific components Twilight had found they were made from. The weapons themselves included the Gravity Gun, three Plasma Cutters, a force field generator (which had been a pain in the ass to figure out how to take down), and five laser guns. Several of the components had indeed come from previous Avengers battles, as Flash and Thorax were easily able to identify Ultron tech and some more Chitauri tech. But then Twilight had pointed out a few components that weren't from any of the Avenger's previous battles. Rather, it was tech that had been stolen from Oscorp. Thorax had managed to get a look at some notes his brother had left lying around their apartment for his next big story. As it turned out there had been several tech thefts from Oscorp over the past month, most of which Oscorp refused to disclose the information on the stolen items. Twilight had verified this, as a few of the things stolen were supposed to go to the Research Center the energy cores had been stolen from, but she sadly lacked the clearance to know what said items were. Flipping to another page, Flash jotted down a list. It read: 1. Alien Energy Cores -Found 10, need to find remaining 90. -Are they all being used for weapons? If so, why aren't there more on the streets right now? 2. Stolen Alien/Ultron Tech from past Avengers Fights -Being used with Energy Cores and Oscorp tech to make super-weapons. -How the hell are they getting this stuff? Possible insider at Damage Control? Need to get Tony's help on this one. 3. Stolen Oscorp Tech -Some were used in making illegal weapons along with Alien/Ultron parts. -Is all the Oscorp tech being used in illegal alien super-weapons? Or are there still some parts missing? Need to get Thorax on that. 4. Mysterious Inventor -Guy who makes weapons and more than likely gave Herman Schultz his shock-gauntlets. -Who the hell is this guy and why is he doing this? Is he the mastermind or is he doing it by himself? Closing the notebook as the bell rang, he heard a notification on his phone go off. It was a text from Thorax: Dude! Check this out! Clicking on a link, Flash found that it lead to a blog. A blog about Spider-Man, aptly named the Spidey-Blog. Curious about who made it, he saw that the bloggers in question were none other than Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy, and Rainbow Dash. Flash wasn't really surprised be this; ever since Spider-Man had saved them during the bank robbery, the girls had been talking about his alter ego nonstop to the point where one of the other students had joked that they may as well start a fan club for him (a concept that had made Flash initially smirk.) Apparently they settle for making a blog. Browsing through the blog he found that it mostly consisted of some pictures that passerby had sent to the girls, a few rumored sightings, a couple amateur videos of him web-swinging, all of which had several comments from people around the city. He instantly recognized a few from some students in the Middle School. Dinky Doo: Spider-Man is the best hero ever! He saved my mommy from a mugger and webbed the baddy to the wall! Scooter-Queen: Yeah, he stopped our bus when the brakes failed using his webs. That was so cool! Young Apples: We know, Scoots. We were there. Sweet Belles: Also Dinky, you do know you don't need to use your actual name on the site, right? Dinky Doo: Why wouldn't I? Scrolling down, he found a few by some of the students at CHS. Classical Octave: I don't quite understand why it is that that man J. Jonah Jameson hates him and does his best to slander him. He's willing to sacrifice his time and energy to save the good people of this city while Tony Stark and the Avengers are out saving the world. Anyone who's willing to do that is clearly a good person. Wub Master: I hear you. Personally I think Jameson just doesn't trust him because he wears a mask. Chip Wizard: I wonder why he wears that mask though? I mean, the Avengers all have public identities. Zen Wood: Dude, Stark's got oodles and oodles of dollars, and a whole bunch of security for him and his fellow Avengers. Maybe Spider-Man just doesn't have that kinda support and wants to keep his family and friends safe. Chip Wizard: True. I didn't think of that. Sweetie Drops: Also keep in mind, Tony Stark lives for paparazzi and being in the spotlight. Maybe the person under the mask is just shy? Or maybe he wants to keep his personal and superhero life separate? Magic Harp: I don't care who he is under the mask. He saves people, he's a hero. End of story. All Jameson's editorials are good for is toilet paper nowadays. Sweetie Drops: -_- Really? Classical Octave: That is truly disgusting. Zen Wood: Gross! Wub Master: TMI. SERIOUS TMI! Chip Wizard: EW! Flash chuckled at that, when he heard someone yell "HEY FLASH!" Turning to see Rainbow Dash walking towards him he asked "What's up?" "I need a favor," she said. Seeing his phone she asked "You've seen the Spidey-Blog, I take it?" "Yeah. It's pretty cool." "Thank you. Anyway, we need some help with it. Is your camera digital?" "Yes." "And do you know how to download and email photos?" "It's not that hard to figure out. Just follow the onscreen-" Realization dawning on him, he finished "You want me to take pictures of Spider-Man and email them to you for you guys's blog." "Yeah. If you can." Flash sighed. "One, why me? Two, what makes you think I can get those pictures? And three, why exactly do you need me to take them when there's a million other people in New York City with smartphones?" "In order? One, you're pretty much the only guy I know who knows anything about photography. Two, I'm not asking you to go out and find Spider-Man, I'm just asking you to have your camera handy in case you happen to see him doing his thing. And three, we need QUALITY pictures for the blog, not a bunch of blurry smartphone pics or some noobs trying to get Spider-Man mid-swing while they take a selfie. Plus if we tried getting some from other people they'd probably ask for money and well, Fluttershy and I don't have jobs and we'd hate to push it all on Pinkie Pie." He couldn't really argue with that. "Alright, I'll see what I can do. But I'm not making any promises." "Like I said, if you happen to be in the same area Spider-Man's in and you have your camera, just take a few pics and send 'em my way. And please try not to get yourself killed." Oh, the irony of that statement. "I'll try my best." Twilight smiled, looking at the small device she just finished. The device in question looked like a small robot spider colored dull red, only it was about the size of an M&M and as thin as a dime. Fortunately thanks to the mounted magnifying glass she now had, she could see the small parts of the spider in much larger detail. Around where the eyes would be on a normal spider were a series of small, yet powerful, solar panels to power it. Not only did they charge from sunlight but they could also gain a charge from artificial light (though it took longer to charge than with sunlight, but nothing in life is perfect.) Carefully flipping it over she looked at the legs to see the small hooks that could attach to fabric, while on the underside she could also see the small magnet that would attach it to metal surfaces. But what was its purpose? Well, Twilight had run a few scans on the tracers that had come with Flash's Spider-Man suit he got from Tony Stark. While they worked, their range was limited and the batteries on them only lasted about five days tops. Not only that, but she also found out that the signal was relatively weak and could be easily blocked or jammed. Fortunately with the upgrades she made, those wouldn't be a problem anymore. Now she just needed to test one of them in the field. Hearing the elevator ding! she turned and saw Flash and Thorax walk into the base while looking at their smartphones. Rolling her eyes, Twilight asked "Let me guess; Spidey-Blog?" "How'd you know," Thorax asked. "Most of the students at Crystal Prep are talking about it." She smiled. "Gotta say, it's nice to see our favorite superhero getting some good recognition for once." "Now if only Jameson could pull that stick out of his a-" "Language, Thorax!" Flash chuckled. "Seriously Twilight, lighten up on the swearing thing." "No thanks." She then turned around and held out the tracer. "Ta-da!" Carefully taking it in his hand, Flash asked "So, what is it?" "One of my new and improved tracers. Long-lasting, can't be detected by our enemies but we can find them through all but the toughest jamming frequencies, and given its small size I'd say its barely noticeable depending on where you put it. And thanks to our network we'll be able to trace them anywhere in the city. Hopefully." "Hopefully," Thorax asked. "Well, they haven't been field tested yet. As it is I just finished syncing them to our network, so I haven't had the chance." At that moment Flash's phone rang and he said "Hold that thought." Answering it he asked "Hello? Oh, hey Tony. Didn't figure you'd answer so soon." "He called Mr. Stark," Twilight asked, surprised. "We think there might be an inside guy at Damage Control," Thorax explained. "Flash figured Tony might wanna know." "Okay, give me one sec," Flash said, pushing the speaker button on his phone. "Say hi guys." "Hey Tony." "Hey Thorax. Those computers working okay?" "Like a dream, Tony. Like a dream." "Uh, hello Mr. Stark," Twilight said, a bit nervous. After all, not every day you get to talk to a genius billionaire playboy philanthropist who moonlights as a superhero. There was a laugh at the other end before Tony replied "Please, call me Tony. Mr. Stark makes me feel old." "Back on topic," Flash said "what did you find?" "Did an inventory check. Cases of Ultron tech and alien tech have gone missing in the past month." "About the same time the Oscorp tech thefts started happening," Twilight asked. "Bingo. I've emailed you guys a list of the stuff that's missing. I'm also running a search on the guard shifts and rotations to see if there is an inside guy. Nothing yet, but I do have something for you guys. I looked at the schematics of the guns you found and they are very similar to the work done by this man." A picture appeared on the phone, showing a man in his fifties with graying hair, thick glasses and blue eyes. Underneath the picture was the name . Taking the phone and scrolling down the file Thorax read "Phineas Mason. Child prodigy who graduated high school at age 12, graduated college with multiple Masters Degrees in several Engineering fields by age 18, recruited into S.H.I.E.L.D.'s engineering corp by age 20 where he stayed for 30 years and helped design most of the Helicarriers, Quinjets, and various vehicles and weapons. Went completely off the grid following the fall of S.H.I.E.L.D." Thorax then looked underneath and with a raised eye brow read "Highly suspected of having ties to HYDRA. Classy guy." "We checked through everything about every S.H.I.E.L.D. agent following the fall. Phineas had a few suspicious emails to several people who we found either had ties to HYDRA or were HYDRA. We cross checked those with his bank account and found substantial sums of money had been deposited around the same time." "So what was he doing?" "Apparently Phineas was giving HYRDRA blueprints for some of the tech he was working on. New and improved stealth tech, holo-masks, armor and weapons, et cetera. Once HYDRA got outed he obviously figured being on the run was better than being stuck in prison 25-to-life for aiding terrorists, so he fled." "Well if we find him we'll be sure to let you know," Flash said. "Scumbag like that deserves to rot in a prison cell." "I eagerly await that call. Let me know if you find anything else out." "Can do." Hanging up the phone he said "Well, we got a lead." Thorax nodded. "I doubt Phineas would just be out and about grocery shopping. But if he does decide to step out and get some fresh air, I've got a facial recognition program going through the towers and the CCTV cameras. He shows his ugly mug we'll find him." Sitting down at her computer, Twilight said "Something's been bothering me, though. If they have alien and Ultron tech, why are they stealing from Oscorp?" Thorax turned and said "My older brother did say that one of his contacts in Oscorp said somebody sent some warning letters, saying that somebody was coming back to 'take back what was their's.' I'm willing to bet ten bucks that Mason's working with that guy." Twilight nodded at that. "Okay. But we still don't know who that person is and what they were working on before they got booted off." "And sadly since Oscorp is a multinational company with hundreds if not thousands of offices worldwide and a never ending stream of employees getting hired or fired, trying to find one guy in all of that would be like trying to find a needle in a haystack. And sadly, we don't have a magnet." "We would if we knew what it was they were stealing," Flash replied. "Which sadly we don't. And I tried hacking into their mainframe but these guys tripled their firewalls after the Research Center incident. The only way we'd be able to find out what they're stealing is if our wall-crawling friend was there when they stole something." An alert went off on one of the computers, and Flash said "Speak of the devil." Thorax brought up the alert. "Looks like an Oscorp convoy just got intercepted by some thugs. And wouldn't you know it, there's at least five alien-tech weapons being used." Twilight moved to her computer and checked over the CCTV footage. "I see two laser rifles, two plasma cutters, and a gravity gun." Pulling on his suit Flash said "At least there's no force fields this time." He then picked up five of the tracers and slid them into one of the pockets on the suit's belt. "So, these tracers should work, right?" "All the tests I ran said they should. Why?" Flash smiled under his mask. "Because I might have an idea on how to find Phineas, the guy he's working with, and hopefully the rest of the energy cores." "And it involves my tracers?" Seeing him nod she added "Just try to be careful. They're prototypes." Chuckling as he slipped on his mask Flash asked "When have I ever not been careful?" Thorax laughed sarcastically. "Do you want the list in chronological, alphabetical, or by degree of severity? Either way it's a long list." "Smartass." From his vantage point, Spider-Man surveyed the scene before him. The convoy was a semi-truck with two Humvees that each carried a team of Oscorp Security Personnel. Sadly, the two Humvees had been disabled by the Gravity Gun while the truck had been run off the road and into a building about a block down, the driver having been dragged out and knocked out by the thugs. When they opened up the container they found that their cargo was being further protected by a titanium safe. Now the two guys with the Plasma Cutters were cutting through it, while the Gravity and Laser Gun guys were keeping watch. "So, what exactly is the plan again," Thorax asked. "Well, first I make sure they don't get what they're after. Once I make sure that most of the guys don't get away, I interrogate the last guy and see if he knows anything. I doubt he does, but that's not why I'm doing it. I'll tell him to tell the guys he's working with that I'm coming for them, and given that he's probably going to be scared out of his mind he'll go right to them. But what he won't know is that while I was interrogating him-" "You planted one of the Spider-Tracers on him, thus letting him lead you right to him," Twilight surmised. "That is pretty clever." "Bingo. Also, like the name. I'm gonna use that." "So, why haven't you gone in yet," Thorax asked. "Because this might be our only chance to get a clue on what it is they're stealing from Oscorp. Speaking of which." He tapped the side of his mask, activating the Advanced Recon Mode. The Plasma Cutter guys had just cut off the door and walked in to get what they were after. About five minutes later they came out holding what looked like a metal circle with four small legs and several wires and cables attached. "Twilight, what is that," Spider-Man asked. "I'm not sure. I've never seen anything like it. Then again I'm just an intern, and if they're really busting out a titanium safe to protect this thing it must be a very 'hush,hush' project" "So much for that. Oh well, time to put my plan into action," he said as he fired a Web Line and zipped off his perch. Careful as to not alert any of the thugs, Spider-Man quickly yanked up the Gravity Gun guy and slammed his fist into the man's face and sending him to dreamland and then cocooning him. He then nailed the two laser gunners and yanked them up, their guns clattering to the ground as he yanked them up and cocooning them both. Sadly the clattering guns got the attention of the Plasma Cutter guys, who immediately activated their weapons, which certainly didn't look like the Lightsabers from Star Wars. I think George Lucas is gonna sue somebody. Keeping his distance he Web-Yanked the Plasma Cutters out of their hands before nailing one guy to a wall with an Impact Web. He then grabbed the last guy's wrists and slammed him against the side of the truck, using his enhanced strength to hold him there. "I'm feeling generous today, so I'll tell you what? You tell me what I wanna know, and I don't break your wrists." Clearly scared, the guy said "I'll tell you anything! Just please don't hurt me!" "Okay then. Where do you guys get these fancy new toys?" "I-I don't know! I swear! Some guy just hired us to nail this convoy and take what was in the safe! Gave us these things to help do the job!" "Who was the guy?" "H-he didn't give his name. He just gave us half the payment, said we'd get the other half if we pulled the job off." "Typical. Describe the guy." "Tall and lanky. Thin fingers. Had a beaky nose. Balding. Gray eyes. Wore a green jacket with white fuzz around the neck." The sensors in the suit and mask were telling him the man wasn't lying, so Spider-Man let him go before grabbing his shoulder, discretely placing the Spider-Tracer. "I want you to go back to this man. I want you to tell him that I'm coming for him. Got it?" Seeing the man nod vigorously, he released him. "Good. Now get lost before I change my mind." Seeing the man run off Spider-Man then walked over to the device from earlier and picked it up, his lenses scanning it automatically. "All this trouble for this thing? What's so special about-?" Thorax's slightly panicked voice cut off his train of thought. "Dude! You got an alien energy core incoming!" Dropping the device he asked "Where?" "It's airborne," Twilight replied. "Coming in from the West, moving fast." Web-Zipping up to the top of a nearby building, he looked in the direction she indicated. And- "You've got to be kidding me." Flying towards him at high speeds was a man in a mechanized bird suit, with large wings fitted with anti-gravity generators and metal blades for feathers. A glowing green visor and breathing mask hid his face from view, while also making him look menacing in the process. And Spider-Man doubted that those metal wing blades were just for show. Once he got closer he yelled "Who are you supposed to be?" "Call me VULTURE!" As Vulture flew at him Spider-Man ran and front flipped over him, before spinning around and nailing both of the wings with a web-line each. "I take it you're the one who made those drones that tried to get Shocker. Not bad though the wings could use a little work. They come off way to easily." But to his shock despite the strength he put into it, he couldn't pull the wings off. "I noticed that weakness on my drone," Vulture said. "so I fixed that little problem." "Oh. I'm both annoyed and impressed." Before he could say anything else, Vulture used his wings to slice the Web Lines, rather easily to Spider-Man's surprise. "Dude, what the hell are your wings made of?" "Wouldn't you like to know," he retorted, before charging at him and swinging his wings around, no doubt trying to slice him in half. Fortunately Spider-Man was nothing if not agile, and was easily able to dodge the large metal wings of death, dancing around them before firing two Web Shots onto Vulture's visor and blinding him. He then jumped onto Vulture's back, grabbing hold of the harness that held his wings while his lenses scanned it to try and find a weak spot. But before he could Vulture shot up into the sky, knocking him off balance and forcing him to use his powers to hold on. "HEY! This is a No-Fly Zone!" "Shut up!" Figuring he wasn't going to be able to stay on too much longer, Spider-Man quickly pulled out another Spider-Tracer and slipped it on the inside of the harness. Not even a second later Vulture dived down and started barrel rolling, and despite his adhesive powers Spider-Man was thrown off of the harness and found himself free-falling... ...and it was only now he realized just how high Vulture had flown up, and that he had flown them directly over the Hudson River. "HOLY SHIT!" He was too far away from either of the bridges and there were no buildings around, and from the height he was at if he hit the water he may as well have been hitting concrete. But as Fate would have it he wasn't completely screwed, as an alert showed up on his one of his lenses that read [Emergency Parachute Activated.] To his surprise the large emblem on the suit's back popped open and released a parachute, which opened and immediately slowed his descent. Grabbing onto the harness he angled himself towards the bridge, hoping to unclip and Web-Zip up there before Vulture came back to finish the job. Unfortunately, luck was not on his side this time. As it turns out Vulture's flight harness was a lot faster than Spider-Man's slow moving parachute. And he had powerful hydraulic talons on the boots of his suit, which he used to grab the parachute and drag him away from the bridge and right towards an abandoned warehouse on the river's edge. Once he was close enough Spider-Man disconnected the parachute, before shooting out a Web-Line and zipping onto the roof. As he breathed out a sigh of relief he heard Thorax asked "Dude, you okay?" "I'm fighting the love child of an Iron Man armor and those drones from the Research Center. I'm just peachy." His Spider-Sense went off at that moment, and he quickly jumped back as one of Vulture's feather blades stabbed into the roof where he'd just been standing. Looking up he saw Vulture hovering there, before swiping with his right wing and sending three more blades towards him. "Seriously?!" As he dodged the blades he noticed a few of the ones he fired returning back to the wings, more than likely due to some built in magnets. An idea forming in his head, he snagged one of the blades with a Web Line, before spinning and sending it back to him much faster and point first. Before Vulture could react the blade slammed into the anti-gravity unit on his right wing, stabbing right through it and disabling it. The results were immediate as Vulture now found himself having to struggle to stay up with only one of them active. Growling, he pulled something off of his belt and yelled "Next time you won't get so lucky, bug!" Before Spider-Man could react Vulture chucked the object, which turned out to be a silver and white sphere, which exploded in a brilliant flash of light and blinded him. Once his vision cleared Vulture was nowhere to be found. Cursing he asked "Guys?" "He's gone," Twilight replied. "Somehow he's managed to hide the Energy Core's signature." "Even the Spider-Tracer I planted on him?" "Even that. Whatever kind of cloaking device he's using is preventing me from finding it. Remind me to fix that for the next batch. Also, more bad news; before he vanished he grabbed the device from the truck." "That just figures. Well he can't have gotten far with one of his wings disabled. Thorax, check everything from CCTV to smartphone cams. I'll swing around and see what I can..." At that moment, Spider-Man noticed something on the roof where Vulture had been hovering. Picking it up he realized it was a component from Vulture's flight harness, a cylinder with several wires attached. But that wasn't what drew his attention. What drew his attention were the Oscorp Logo on the side of it. And the words Project: Icarus. About half an hour later, Flash had swung back to base after not finding any trace of Vulture or the device. He was now looking at one of the computers with his mask off. The computer in question was following the Spider-Tracer he had put on the one thug. "Your Spider-Tracer's working like a charm, Twi." Beaming, Twilight replied "Thank you. Maybe next I'll work on the lenses in your mask so we don't have to worry about anymore flash-bangs." "That would be appreciated. Those things hurt." "In the meantime, Project: Icarus," Thorax said while looking at the cylinder. "Bit on the nose, don't you think?" "Do you have any idea what that is, Twilight?" Twilight thought about it for a second, before replying "I do remember hearing some scientists from Aviation Tech talking about it in the break room, but it was a few months ago and they didn't really give any specifics." "Would there be anything on the computers at the Center," Thorax asked. "Yes. But I thought you said that Oscorp's firewalls got overhauled?" "Only for Oscorp HQ. But thanks to the program I put in through your phone, I've technically got direct access to the center's computers. And before you say anything, they'll never know you or your phone were involved. I got a program set up that bounces any tracer program to several dummy servers across the planet. They'll never find us." "Good boy," Flash said. "Get started on that while I go follow Jack." "Jack," they both asked confused. "The guy we're tracing. He looks like a Jack." Neither of them could argue with that. "Let's not be at it all night though," Twilight said. "My curfew's at ten o'clock sharp." "Mine is too," Flash said as he grabbed his mask. "Don't worry, it's only six-thirty. We've got time. I'm just gonna follow Jack and see if he leads us back to Mason or Vulture." "Kinda miffed that the guy named himself. But it's fitting see as how his suit's built from the leftovers of the Avenger's previous battles. And whatever Project Icarus is." Looking at his computer Thorax added "Speaking of which I'm running a search through the center's computers for it. Should have something within the hour." Pulling the mask on Flash replied "Keep me posted." Mason whistled as he pulled the damaged anti-gravity generator out of the wing. "Jeez, he did a number on you." Adrien growled as he picked up a new anti-gravity generator and handed it to Mason, along with a welding torch. "I underestimated him and he got lucky. But, we still managed to get the device Bishop wanted, so we still get the other half of the payment." Nodding, Mason finished welding the anti-grav generator into the wing. "Still, Spider-Man is getting to be a pain in our asses." "Which is why I think it's time we move to the final phase of our plan." Mason's eyes widened at that. "You're serious?" "Yep. Tonight, we move on Oscorp HQ." With a vengeful gleam in his eyes he finished "It's time Osborn pays for stealing what was rightfully mine." To Be Continued...