//------------------------------// // Ironheart // Story: Spider-Pip: Sinister Six // by ZombieBrony22 //------------------------------// “Do... you have... any... fours?” Diamond asked, searching through her cards. After a quick glance, I shook my head. “Go Fish.” I said to her. She picked a card up, and I figure that now was a good time to talk about Pip... “Look, don’t take what Pip said back there to heart, he’s... just going through a lot, with the Rainbooms out of prison, and his sister... well, she’s another story.” I said, not wanting to get it into the grizzly details about her recent... “outings”. “Yeah, I heard-- wasn’t she in a coma for a while?” She asked. “Yep... Sunset Shimmer put her in it with her powers... thank God those’re gone, now...” I told her, not wanting to recall the things Sunset subjected a lucky handful of us to... including me. Diamond hummed in agreement, but her usual cocky grin faded at my statement, her glance shifting to the floor... “You alright?” I asked her. She glanced at me for a moment, and the smile slightly returned. “Yeah... just thinking about an old friend of mine.” She said as her glance fell back from the ground on to me again... I’ve seen the look in her eyes before, and internally rolled my eyes at it. What? She’s into me. How the hell can you tell that from a look? Just trust me, V. She started forming a smug grin as she scooted into the the table, a foreign, rather cold force slipping into my pant-leg... V, what did I tell you about nuzzling me? That isn’t me... I fought the smile forming on my face as I started reshuffling the cards. “So, Flash... what inspired you to join S.W.O.R.D?” She asked, a faint smile on her face as she went through her phone... “Well, y’know-- after Venom saved my life and I learned about Pip being Spider-Man? I was pretty overwhelmed... things didn’t get any better when Fluttershy, Rainbow Dash, and Applejack almost killed me and crippled Celestia. When Sunset was beaten, when the Rainbooms were finally recognized for the monsters they really are... that was all I wanted. But I had a lot of sins to atone for, so... I looked into S.W.O.R.D after Pip and I met Bon-Bon at the stadium that day. Octavia came with me, but... that didn’t end well.” I recalled, happy to have someone else to talk to other than my alien BFF. Diamond glanced at me for a moment, and simply hummed, going back to her phone and her foot moving around my lower leg. “Now that you mention sins to atone for, I managed to look into your file—hope you don’t mind—and I found a criminal record... Mind telling me what you were doing at the Bar with No Name about two years ago?” Diamond asked, her foot starting to feel its way around my leg. I chuckled and set the cards down, knowing that neither of us were into them, anymore... “I was with Sunset back then, we went there to chat with people of our type of people... or at least what I thought was my type of crowd. “Hmm... I see. Y’know, I’m an honest girl—at least I try to be, and I’m also not an idiot...” She said, her foot stopping at my shin. And promptly pulled back out, and kicked it, causing me to recoil in pain as she rested her repulsor-arm on the table, her palm starting to glow. “Ow! What was that for?” I asked her, massaging my sore leg. “I also read that you were charged with involuntary manslaughter. Also that Sunset Shimmer had enough dirt on you to have you put away for 30 years minimum... What are you hiding, Flash Sentry?” She asked, crossing her arms. Venom was agitated, emerging and getting into Diamond’s face. “I don’t know who the hell you are, but in the time I’ve known Flash, he has been the best host any Klyntar could ask for! He isn’t perfect, but who is, really? He did things, things that ruined more than a few lives, but guess what? He’s owning up to it, all of it... and how dare you think otherwise?!“ Diamond only hummed, her face still, as Venom slithered back into me, disappearing into... wherever he goes once he’s inside me... God, there’s got to be a better way to phrase that. “The only reason you aren’t in cuffs right now is because I think that most of that dirt is bull, alongside the fact that Director Tempest respects you. Other than that, consider us partners, nothing else.” She said, setting her helmet back on her head and about to fly away as it started beeping to her. Wait... DIRECTOR Tempest... respects me? Don’t get any bright ideas, Flash... this one just blew up in your face. Hey, this was different! She was lowering my guard. Yeah, sure... like Aria? “Uh, oh... Silver, what’s the situation?” Diamond asked in the background, not that I was able to hear her, due to Venom’s hurtful comment. Oh, shit, sorry... I didn’t think that-- Watch your mouth, and no, it’s okay... and it wasn’t the same. Aria was... she wanted to go home, okay? She just didn’t tell me, or anyone else... And that makes it okay? I wasn’t able to respond as I tuned back into reality and saw Diamond, shaking her head and cursing out loud. “Got it, thanks.” She said as she removed her helmet face-plate with the push of a button on the side of her head. She turned to me, with Venom settling on the top of my head in curiosity. “Suit up, you two... we have inbound.” She smiled as she set her face plate back on. As Venom enveloped me, Diamond ran next to the wall, jumped on and off of it, and began to fly with her jet-packs... A year ago, you wouldn’t have gotten me to say that sentence, but here we were. Diamond flew through a large open window and we weren’t so far behind, Venom shooting out a tendril and whipping us over to it, beginning to climb the wall outside. “Where’re Pip and Adagio?” We asked Diamond. “Bon-Bon borrowed them for a moment, something about Adagio’s armor... or lack of it.” She answered as we climbed to the roof and felt the violent quaking as a snake-like mechanical arm drove its pincers into the roof and pull Twilight Sparkle upwards... “Hello, plebeians... nice antique.” She taunted, the arms lowering Twilight to her legs, with the hint of a wobble in her stature. Our eyes squinted while Diamond clearly didn’t like her armor being called an antique. “Oh, let me show you what an antique looks like!” She said as she flew towards Twilight. She only smiled and used her two top arms to hold Diamond back, much to her shock. “Wha--?” Twilight quickly slammed Diamond to the ground and used her two bottom arms to walk forwards, resting her left bottom arm on top of Diamond, causing a groan of agony from her. “Ah, the parasite. It’s honestly nice to see you again, Flash... but I was hoping you’d be on my side.” She said, her bottom arms extending to rise her up. I felt Venom’s face pull apart and expose my face to the warmth and also feel the hints of dust from the building... “Like I’d ever join a mad doctor and a goblin...” I said to her, that insult clearly getting under her skin. She responded by rising her arm stepping on Diamond and slamming it back down, embedding poor Diamond into the ground. “The day that I willingly set foot anywhere near that freak is the day that I die, Flash!” She said as she launched her front-arms at us. Venom covered my face again and we leapt out the way, dodging the arms that were now imprinted to the ground. “Stand still, Flash! I just want to demolish you!” She cackled as she went for another strike. Venom shot a tendril out at Twilight’s mechanical arm and yanked it to the ground, allowing Diamond to open fire at it with energy blasts from her hands. Oh, shit! We gotta get our hands on some of those... Diamond clearly saw us marveling at her blasts and chuckled. “Like it? It’s all from the arc reactor—think of it as a limitless battery--” Twilight swatted Diamond away and glanced at her damaged arm, with the claws inoperable and sparks shooting out of it. “Enough talk! Where is Electro?! Tell us, and maybe we’ll spare Venom from intense experimentations!” Twilight screamed, her eyes starting to twitch. “Wait... us?“ The unasked question was answered with the sound of jets in the distance and a very distinct cackle... We turned around and got treated with an orange, rapidilly beeping ball... Get back, it’s a bomb! Venom, instead of getting back, quickly unbonded from me and dove over the bomb, blocking us from the explosion that followed, accompanied with a horrifying screech. “Miss me, Flashie?! I missed you!” Sunset faintly cackled as Venom quickly bonded back with me. Sunset swooped down in a mechanical glider and we rolled out of the way. “Oh, no! We aren’t doing this dance again!” We said as Sunset stopped swooping and hovered near us, allowing us to see her purple-colored armor with green-colored arms and legs, with her skin tone improved, now a deeper shade of pale, and her hair strands covered by a purple ski-cap. Her black-and-red eyes were covered by yellow-tinted tactical goggles. “Nice get-up. A bit too armory, but all-in-all...” We said, letting out a laugh. “Now!” I faintly heard Pip’s not-too-shabby American accent. From above us, a green beam shot down, damaging Sunset’s glider. “No!” She screamed out as the glider started to falter, dropping us. Pip then swung in and shot webs into the thrusters, stopping their rotors and causing the glider to descend into the forest around the base. “We’ll meet again, Spider-Man!” She screamed, smoke emitting from her glider as she threw one of those bombs against the building, blowing a hole inside of it... As Venom and I plummeted, he started forming the parachute again, but Adagio swooped in and caught us, now donned with all-black armor and her cloak now traded in for a cape/hood mix, and her bandana replaced for an eye-mask. “Need a lift?” She asked, her voice slightly modulated. Venom slowly unwrapped from me, going back through the small in my back. “Yeah... thanks.” I said, breathing in a sigh of relief. “Good... ‘cause we’re not done just yet.” She said as we landed next to Pip, who was standing in front of Twilight, now lowered to the ground entirely... “What happened to you, Twi’? When did things turn into this?” He asked her. Twilight took a moment to... limp towards us, Pip’s for-some-reason expressive lenses widening in shock. “After I ran out from Oscorp... I had to find funding for my experiments. The things that I had to resort myself to... it was all a blur for me, but then Kingpin found me. By then, the only concern I had was building up my inventions. So, in an agreement, I did some dirty work for him, and in return, he provided me the appropriate funding. After the incident at CHS, I cut off ties with him... he did his part, and it was time to move on to the next phase...” Diamond was clearly getting bored of Twilight’s words, and decided to make it known. “You talk too much.” She said as a piece of her shoulder-armor emerged, and a loud whirring started to emit, causing us to wince in pain... A small missile shot out and started heading for Twilight, but she simply aimed her top-right arm and grabbed it, holding it until the flames out the back sputtered out, and dropped it. “Diamond Tiara... you were quite the effort to study. A suit of armor composed of nickel/titanium, and the press calls you Ironheart?” She let out a chuckle. I turned to Diamond, confused over the name, but she simply shook her head. “Yeah, I didn’t choose the name... I didn’t choose any, actually.” She said as her voice still carried the shock from Twilight simply disabling her missle. She then held up another claw, blasting an electromagnetic pulse that affected all three of us, with Venom starting to screech shoot out tendrils and have Diamond’s armor deactivate. “Dah, son-of-a--” Diamond cursed as she turned to me and saw our effects... “Wow-- I never thought that Venom would react better than Carnage did.” She said... Carnage? Oh, no... Oh, no? What does oh, no mean? “I see that Venom didn’t inform you about his little accident back at the Battle of the Bands. I’ll let him explain it to you--” Pip then went for the offensive, shooting out webs towards her and trying to pull her down, but Twilight used her arm to gently pull him up and grab his arm, with Pip trying to beat her arm away. “Oh, Pip... you always were straight-to-the-point.” She said as her grip tightened and she slammed him into the ground and flung him back next to us. “Pip!” Adagio cried as she flew over to him, using her force fields to block Twilight’s arms. “Hey, Web-Head!” Rainbow Dash’s scratchy voice cried out. We all turned as she flew up towards the roof, holding Sunset as they both landed. “Hey, RD! How was the Raft?” Pip asked her, letting out a pained cough. For a split second, she hesitated, her smug smile fading, but it quickly returned.   “Eh, it was on-and-off. The food sucked, so did the bedding... but, hey, you get what you get.” She said as sparks resonated from her body, her eyes glowing yellow. The two of them were ready to fight, and the rest of us prepared to do the same, but Twilight set her mechanical arm on Sunset’s shoulder. “That’s enough... let’s go.” She said as she turned towards Rainbow. She smiled and walked in between the two, holding one hand into the air and charging her up, a loud boom ringing out as they all vanished... Behind us, the roof-door slammed open as Bon-Bon ran out, seeing the black mark left from their teleportation... “Where are they?!” She asked, her pistol trained. We all turned to Pip, who Adagio was resting her hand on. “Shhh, I know... this spell should help heal you...” She said to him. I quickly walked over and signalled Adagio to move her hand away, and I replaced it with mine. “Okay, Pip, this’ll feel a little weird.” I said as Venom left me and went into him. He let out a strange noise as his veins started turning black and his bruises and cuts started fading away as Venom emerged onto them, healing him. “Oh, God, this feels so weird!” He said, possibly not hearing what I said to him, earlier. As Venom did his work, I turned to Bon-Bon, who was surprised at Venom’s healing ability. “Huh... didn’t know he could do that.” She said, marveling as Pip started getting used to the feeling. “Yeah... it just takes some getting-used-to.” I said to her. Venom emerged from Pip’s chest, giving me a thumbs-up, letting me that his work was done. Pip just looked up in absolute discomfort. “Okay, Flash, you can take him, now.” He said in a rushed voice as he looked away. I set my hand next to him, and he lunged at me, slithering into my arm and disappearing. Pip, a tad freaked-out, rose to his feet, feeling around for any sign of Twilight’s beating. “Don’t worry, Pip—he didn’t miss anything.” I laughed. He chuckled back, and I went over to Diamond, who was looking around in her helmet, possibly searching the city for potential hideouts. “I think I got a lock—an abandoned Kingpin safehouse, just south of the old magic show. We could go in and bust them by the end of the day.” Diamond said as her face-plate shot back and revealed her confident smile. “No.” A voice from behind us said... I heard that voice once—during my initiation, she personally lectured us on the expectations of S.W.O.R.D... Director Tempest. She was wearing her traditional black trench coat, sported by her eye-patch barely covering the scar that went up to her eyebrow and down to her cheekbone, making her fearful aura known. Diamond, Bon-Bon, and I quickly stood up straight, much to the confusion of Pip and Adagio. “At ease... a frontal assault is just what they’d want us to do. I already have a group of scientists looking through the schematics of that neural link from Oscorp. We wait, take our time, and train so what happened today doesn’t happen again.” She said, taking a moment to glance towards Bon-Bon. I turned to her and saw a hint of red emerging on her pale-yellow skin. “As for you, Pip, we were hoping you could help us search the neural link for a weakness, seeing as you helped design it.” She said to him. Pip, just getting to his feet, took a breath and nodded. “Alright, but Twilight took out as many bugs and glitches as she could, and there’s no telling if she worked on it while she was on-the-run.” Pip said, still cringing from Venom. Are you sure he’s gonna be okay? I mean, I was unconscious when you healed my gunshot... He should be fine, but he might be a little strange for the next few hours...