Bab 18: 2/2
Cooper barked a laugh in reply. "Maybe the next one will have me in it, shame I won't see it though" said the Marauder with a grin. "I wonder who would play me…Tom Hardy? Jon Bernthal?" Parker guffawed at the suggestions, earning him a glare from the Pilot. "Not one peep out of you, you were Tobey Maguire and then Andrew Garfield."
Any sense of humor evaporated, much to Coopers satisfaction in his hungover state. "Thanks for ruining any confidence the fact I was in movies may have given me" deadpanned Parker.
"You're welcome" replied Cooper cheerfully.
"You know Cat, if anyone else was suggesting this, I would say something was wrong with them" said Cooper, the Pilot sitting in his own living room couch with his guitar going through For Those About to Rock, We Salute You on the instrument.
There was an amused giggle on the other end of the phone. "But that's why you like the idea" she said coyly, "So are you in cowboy?"
The Marauder shook his head, quote Bon Jovi once and she hadn't let him hear the end of it. "There must be something wrong with me because…yeah, I am" he replied. Part of him didn't believe he was actually going along with this crazy fucking idea. "Was that all you wanted to talk about?" he asked.
"Now that you mention it" said the thief in sultry tone, "I do believe I need to take you to the tailor tomorrow."
Cooper's head fell back and slammed it into the top of the sofa as he suppressed a groan at the prospect. Wearing an uncomfortable suit and mingling in high society was not his idea of a good time. The more he thought on the prospect, the more he felt the urge to do some damage. "Can't wait" he said in dry enough tones to make a desert envious. Before the conversation could continue, there was a tone from his phone sitting on the coffee table in front of him. "Looks like I'm popular today darlin'" he drawled as he looked at the number of the other caller. "I'll see you tomorrow Felecia" he said as he switched lines. "Parker, what's up man?" he said casually.
"Suiting up now, bout to head out for a patrol" explained the wallcrawler. "Was wondering if you wanted to help, from what I've gathered you've been rather lazy lately" he joked. "Hope you haven't decided to hang it up."
Cooper actually chuckled at the insinuation. "No, just haven't had any info on a good target. You got something?" he asked, already setting the SG aside. Phone in hand he was already heading into the armory to get his Vanguard Pilots kit on.
"Nah, most of the heavy hitters have been put away or are laying low after Cinderblock" explained Peter as Matt went through the now familiar process of getting his gear on as the Webslinger explained what he was scheming. "Just wanted to make sure the rest of the city was still standing, maybe stopping some muggings and robberies, the usual" said the webhead casually. "Anyway, I'll be lounging on the Chrysler building, meet me there when you can."
An hour later, a loaded for bear Marauder grappled his way up towards the meeting point. Cooper's ascent stopping when he saw an out of place light, it seemed Peter had been waiting awhile for him. "Sorry I'm late" said Cooper as he made his way over to the wallcrawler, who was relaxing on the back of a stone goblin, "traffic was hell" he deadpanned.
The Webslinger turned to the other vigilante, eye lenses meeting glowing visor. "No problem man, just catching up on what the 'Bugle' has to say about us" he said as he held up his phone before he resumed scrolling. "Looks like JJJ is having fun going at you" he said before clearing his throat. "Murdering Marauder Missing in Action?" he read in an attempt to impersonate the editor.
Cooper allowed himself a chuckle at the headline. "Good to know that I'm missed" said Cooper wryly, "even if it's not true, me and Cat have been busy."
The Pilot saw one of the lenses widen in curiosity and chuckled. "How are things going with you and Black Cat? You've been together for a week or two now" said the superhero. Cooper tried to pick apart the tone, a hint of jealousy? Sadness? All understandable considering his relationship woes.
"She is a challenge" he said honestly, getting a knowing nod in reply. "But I don't think I'd want it any other way, you know? Hell if I know what exactly our relationship is, I suppose it's almost like being the Marauder" he mused with a smile behind his helmet. "If you asked before all this, back home, I would never had said I wanted this. But now? That I have it? I'll fight to my dying breath before I give it up." Matt shook his head while Spider-Man just watched silently, "the world works in mysterious ways I suppose."
"I never asked for this either, but you already knew that" tried Peter before laughing it off weakly. "If what you told me about Typhon is true, something like that changes people, but you're still trying to do good. That's what matters" assured the Wallcrawler. "Though, if you don't mind me asking, why kill people? That's not why you do it?"
The striped helmet shook a negative. "No, I don't enjoy killing, it just feels…normal. Pulling the trigger isn't a choice as much as a reflex" admitted the Pilot shamefully. "I don't think I've ever gone out with the intent to kill; I don't look forward to it or dwell on it after the fact" he continued as he pulled out and unfolded his rifle. "I brought a bunch of the arc rounds, maybe I'll get to try them" he said with a shrug as he pointed to the blue tape on the bottom of the loaded magazine.
Spider-Man cocked his head at an angle as he mulled over those words, eyes trailing down to see several mags tucked in their pouches marked with blue, though a few had red tape instead. "So you don't regret killing? Ending someone's life without giving them the opportunity to change? Face trial for their actions?"
Cooper pursed his lips at the questions as he pondered his response. "What's done is done, nobody can change that" he began slowly. The Marauder then licked his lips, as if trying to taste those words as they left his mouth. "I don't regret it. Not because of some speech about how they deserved to die for being evil men or anything like that. It boils down to the fact that we were fighting, and it was him or me. Life and death situations have a way of simplifying things like that." Memories of Typhon filled his mind, that was how he made it out in piece, at least that's what it felt like. "I don't want to kill anyone, if I showed up to destroy a weapons cache and the people defending it just stepped aside and let me, that would be an ideal world" he supposed with a mirthful chuckle. "Shame I didn't end up in that one."
Peter nodded in agreement, and Matt could see the conflict behind the mask, but didn't press him on it. He had said his piece. "If you ever do, come get me" joked the webhead lamely. "In all seriousness, lay off it for tonight, we're doing this my way" said the wallcrawler in a tone that brokered no argument. Cooper agreed readily, nodding as his friend continued. "Alright then, enough depressed monologuing, let's have some fun."
With that, Spider-Man put his phone away and jumped from his spot, falling before firing off a webline and beginning to swing. The Marauder wasn't far behind, dropping from his hold and leaning into the dive to close the gap, firing the kit to slow his descent as he neared the height of the rooftops below before firing his grapple, pulling himself to the nearest one and beginning a wallrun.
The pair of vigilantes made their way through the city streets, their different movement styles meant they traded the lead before BT came over the helmet, "Pilot, Spider-Man is calling you" reported the Titan.
"Patch him in" ordered Cooper curtly before there was a slight bout of static. "Marauder here" said the Pilot, all business as he watched Spider-Man pull himself back in front of the duo before making a sudden right turn.
Cooper used his grapple to slingshot around the corner, firing his kit to help him reach the far building before wallrunning to catch up. "Marauder, got reports of a bank robbery a few blocks away, police are on the way" rattled off the webhead. BT was clearly monitoring the conversation, a 3D model of the bank appeared on his HUD and the police response was indicated in real time because of their link to the network.
Cooper saw Peter slow down and perch himself on the corner of a building overlooking the bank. The Marauder slid across the roof, coming to a crouch and stopping nearby as he scanned the scene. "Police aren't here yet, looks like they have a getaway car parked out front" observed the Pilot. "How do you want to handle this?"
"Police are still a few minutes out, more than enough time for these guys to try and make a quick getaway" noted the Wallcrawler. The eye lenses narrowed as he scanned the bank, the sound of police sirens could be heard in the distance, "I see movement at the front door, looks like our friends are coming out. Shall we introduce ourselves?"
The Marauder grinned behind his helmet, "You grab them by the nose, I'll kick 'em in the ass" said Cooper. Peter nodded and fired off a webline as Matt grappled to the bank, taking out his axe and wallhanging above the entrance, lying in wait.
Four men soon exited the bank, the two in front holding AK rifles and the rear two had TEC-9s and a duffel bag slung over their shoulder. They came to an abrupt halt as the lead two trained their rifles on the red and blue suited vigilante perched atop their getaway SUV. "What are this place's hours? I didn't know you could make a withdrawal this late" asked the Webslinger.
The robbers were not amused, "We aren't afraid of you freak" snarled the leader. Both rifle armed men opened fire, Spider-Man gracefully rolling back and taking cover behind the car. The Militia Pilot took that as his cue, pulling the axe out, he fell towards the tail end Charlie, the sound of gunfire masking his approach.
His jumpkit flared to life, bringing him to a hovering halt just behind the bag toting man. The light had been noticed and the robber turned around just in time to get a facefull of boot. With a scream, he flew backwards, the bag was ripped from his shoulder and money flew out as he skidded along the ground and the others turned to the Marauder. "You should be" growled the Pilot darkly as he snapped his R-201 up. "I'm going to make this easy. Put your guns down and let Spidey web you up or die where you stand" he threatened. To emphasize his point, he flicked the fire selector from safe to auto. "What's it gonna be?"
Much to Coopers relief, one of the AK wielders looked like he was about to piss himself and threw down his rifle. "What are you doing?" asked the leader as the second bagman threw down his gun and dropped the bag. "You fucking cowards, I swear I'm going to…mmph" ranted the last resisting man as his rifle was ripped from his hands and his mouth covered with webbing through the hole in his ski mask.
"It's not nice to insult your friends, isn't that right Marauder?" asked Spider-Man as he looked at the pilot, who shrugged. "After this we're going to have to work on your banter" mumbled the webhead as he wrapped up the other three and stuck them to their getaway car with the driver webbed up inside.
Two police cruisers pulled up, skidding to a stop as the doors flew open. "MARAUDER! Hands up! You are under arrest!" shouted one of them as they pointed their guns at the Pilot.
"Woah, hang on, he's with…"
"Shut up Spider-Man, HANDS IN THE AIR!" yelled one of the cops as Cooper shook his head and pulled out an electric smoke grenade and yanked out the pin. As soon as the cylinder hit the ground, he activated his phase shift and sprinted off to the side to try and get out of the line of fire he was sure would would occur.
Sure enough, as soon as he popped back into the action, the sound of police unloading everything they had into the smoke meant he had gone unnoticed. He wouldn't be able to get away however, even with Spider-Man begging the police to stop trying to kill him. Sprinting across the street, he was spotted, just as he planned.
To observers, it looked like he had turned on a dime as very few could, coming to his feet and running at the police who fired at him while there was a faint shimmer and lick of blue flame along the building opposite the bank. Bullets found their mark on the Marauder but seemed to pass through uselessly before the hologram decoy dissipated into nothing.
Safely out of the way, Cooper looked down at the scene. Police were arriving quickly, and Spider-Man pulled himself up to the rooftop and stood beside the Marauder. "Were you really going to do it?" he asked suddenly, causing the x shaped visor to turn and look at him. "Kill them?"
Cooper didn't reply, but just held the Carbine up so Spider-Man could see the blue tape on the bottom of the magazine. After a moment of silence between the two vigilantes, the webhead spoke again. "And if you didn't have the arc rounds?" he asked, getting a noncommittal shrug in return. Matthew could hear the sigh building up inside his friend and felt a tinge of guilt. "This isn't Typhon, remember that…come on, scanner says there's a drug deal going down not far from here" said the Webhead before he turned and ran off.
The Marauder thought back to his time after assuming that moniker. Running through a burning building with shrapnel in his leg. The ambush at Lawton, cops dead in the street as they were assaulted from all sides, the severe injury he had sustained before his rescue before a rogue cop very nearly killed him, Hardy, and Watanabe. Ambushing the convoy with BT, practically invincible at the controls of his Titan, mowing down bad guys because they were trying to kidnap a friend. Then Cinderblock itself, a goddamn building being brought down on top of him before he slugged it out with Kraven. Only for all his effort to be for nothing, all of the buildings came down and Kingpin had the properties pile of dead bodies he wanted.
Spider-Man was right, this wasn't Typhon, but that didn't mean it was any better. "Right behind you" called Cooper over the comms before following the Wallcrawler.
It had been a productive night by Peter's standards, after the first robbery, the pair of vigilantes had stopped a drug deal, two muggings, a car theft, and two further robberies. He looked over to his partner during all of that, the armored man was motionless as the glowing visor stared straight ahead. The Marauders presence had a noted effect on the criminals the pair had encountered.
Many had immediately begun to beg for their lives if they caught a glimpse of the SRS Pilot. The lethal reputation of the Marauder preceded him, and only a handful tried their luck against the pair, with predictable results. Either webbed up or on the receiving end of arc empowered punches, they all regretted their hasty decisions.
The two vigilantes were on a rooftop looking down on a parking lot under an el train line, two groups were just getting out of their respective vehicles. His spider sense tingling, it wasn't hard for Peter to guess the lest than legal intentions behind this meeting. That, and this spot was such a common point for illegal activity it was a part of his regular patrol route.
The Webslinger turned back to his friend, "Last one for the night. Ready?" he asked, merely getting a nod in return. Cooper had been surprisingly quiet, brooding between encounters about something or other. Without another word, Parker pulled himself to a light post, causing the criminals to all turn and look up at him. "Hey guys, lovely night for some illegal activity, am I right?"
The eight thugs all turned to crane their necks up at him, with the one standing by the trunk of the car closing it with what Peter assumed were drugs inside. "You came to the wrong part of town Spider-Man! Its eight against one!" Called the man behind the car with the drugs, blissfully unaware of the vigilante who was descending behind him. All the men straightened as they heard the jump jet fire and the Marauders boots hit the pavement. The leader scowled as he looked at the new arrival, "This is your last chance to walk away, it's still four to one."
"Then it is an even fight" growled the Marauder through his voice filter as he raised his fists, lightning crackling from them.
The thugs hesitated, looking between each other before the leader pulled out a knife and charged at the Marauder. Without hesitation, the Militia Pilot fired his grapple into his chest and pulled the thug towards him, ripping him off his feet. An arc charged punch sent him down as the Webhead fired a webline and pulled himself to a group of thugs. Spider-Man slammed feet first into the unlucky criminal, pushing off as he disconnected the webline and back flipping as he landed between the remaining three. "Did you forget about me?" he quipped as he began punching the closest hooded criminal. "How? I'm much for fun than he is!" he complained as the Wallcrawler webbed a nearby garbage can and whipped it around before bringing it down on the head of the farthest foe.
He took a moment to make sure that the Marauder was handling himself, though he needn't have worried. One criminal had just gotten his head slammed into the car while a third lay moaning off to the side. Returning to the matter at hand, his spider sense sounded inside his head and he instinctively leapt skyward, flipping backwards and firing a burst of webbing onto his attacker's face before landing behind the assailant. "So someone didn't forget!" he shouted happily as he fired more bursts of webbing before the criminal staggered into an SUV and was webbed to the big Cadillac.
He then turned to see his friend pushing the leader down against the trunk of the car, holding him by his collar. "Open this up" ordered the Marauder with a snarl, "what is it worth to you? Is it worth your life?"
The thug laughed, his face bloody from the blows he had taken during the fight. "I'm dead anyway, you'll at least do it quick" he said before he spit out some blood over the car. "After that, they'll come for you, the people I work for don't like loose ends."
"Same shit, different day" muttered the Marauder before grabbing the man's hair and bashed him against the trunk of the car, knocking him out as he slumped off onto the ground. "You wanna do the honors?" he asked, the visor looking at Parker.
Peter rolled his shoulders and cracked his knuckles, "Don't mind if I do, idle threats never bothered me anyway" he said flippantly before firing a pair of weblines at the closed trunk lid and yanked.
"Holy Shit" breathed the Marauder as Peter turned around and saw a sight that caused his eyes to widen, the lenses doing the same as a pair of equally wide eyes stared back at them. The girl looked to barely be a day over sixteen, tape over her mouth, tape binding her wrists and legs. Torn and bloody clothes covered her, and the look on her face was one of pure terror.
The two men were knocked from their daze by the red and blue flashing of police car lights as a cruiser pulled up. Peter looked at the Marauder but found him planted to where he stood as the driver of the car got out. "Spider-Man" called a familiar voice, "what's going on?"
"Yuri?" replied Peter dumbly as the oriental NYPD Captain approached, "Yuri…you know, just out doing patrol, busting crooks, doing whatever a Spider-Man can" he said, even though he saw that she wasn't exactly listening.
The veteran worked her jaw, "uh huh, and uh, what about him?" she asked as she looked over at the Marauder, who had noticed them, but said nothing. "What's he doing?" she asked as the Pilot reached down into the trunk and pulled the girl out. "Oh my god, was this a kidnapping?" asked Yuri.
Peter shook his head, "I don't think so, I think…I think they were selling her" he revealed quietly as the Marauder carried the girl bridal style towards them, Yuri opening the passenger door and letting him put her down inside the squad car.
"I'll take care of those restraints" he offered, the girl nodded, and Cooper pulled out his knife and carefully sliced the tape holding her arms and legs together, the girl rubbed her bruised skin gingerly, but said nothing. "It's alright, you're safe now" assured the Pilot before closing the door.
Yuri frowned, saddened at the sight, but the woman's resolve was visible in her eyes. "I'll get her back to the station; get her all the help she needs" said Watanabe as she looked at the two vigilantes.
"Take care of her Captain" said Cooper quietly, yet still firm. "I'll be in touch. Until then, take care, both of you" he said simply before turning away and running off, pack firing as he scaled a nearby building and vanished.
Peter was about to do the same when he felt a hand clamp down on his shoulder. "What's that about, the two of you working together?" she asked. "Though I guess that explains why our morgues are having a slower night" she mused tiredly.
The Webslinger allowed himself a small chuckle at one of the few jokes he had ever heard come from the hard nosed cop in spite of himself. "Yeah, I'm helping him adjust. He's a good guy, just needs a little guidance" said the webhead honestly. "The Marauder wants to help; he's just trying to find his place is all."
Yuri nodded, seemingly lost in thought as she stared off at where the Pilot had gone. "He saved my life" she said suddenly. "More than once actually" she continued with a small smile. "You two are more alike than most would think. Neither of you give up and nothing scares either of you" she said, "Christ, if either of you ever want a job, let me know, I'll find a spot for you."
"Thanks, but no thanks Captain, the badge would clash with my colors" quipped the Webslinger, only to get a glare from the woman, though it was betrayed by the slight upturn of the corner of her mouth. He knew she couldn't stay mad at him for long. "As for him, I think he prefers to do his own thing" mumbled Peter, hoping this was actually true.
It was Yuri's turn to laugh lightly, "I can see that" she responded, "till next time Spider-Man" she said before getting back in her car and pulling away. Seeing the cruiser round the corner, the Vigilante concluded that his work was done. With a distinct 'thwip' he was off to get some sleep before he had to go to work in a few hours.
Cooper's Logbook – Arc Rounds
After the destruction of the major IMC base on the planet Demeter, the Militia found that production of automated infantry, mainly the Spectre class, had been ramped up to keep combat effectiveness up. Instead of developing new weapons to deal with this threat, the Militia instead developed new ammunition for their existing small arms. Instead of a chunk of lead coated in copper and tipped with steel or tungsten the Arc round has a totally different construction.
The shell of the bullet is plastic and made to crumple on impact without penetrating but instead flattening to ensure maximum contact area with the target. Within the plastic is an arc cell, like one of the many on an arc grenade. The plastic has bits of a special conductor mixed in to make sure that energy goes where it needs to. At the very back is a ceramic plate to withstand the heat and pressure of the round firing and provide structure to the projectile. On impact, the arc core's discharge actually shatters the ceramic so it too doesn't penetrate, mainly because testing showed that if it did it would crush the core before it fully discharged.
Even if they aren't lethal, unless you eat a dozen of them in quick succession resulting in fried nerves and cardiac arrest, the impact still hurts like hell, never mind the sensation of the arc discharge. I don't care how tough you are, three hits from these things will put you on your ass for at least 20 minutes.
The program was rushed to meet the new requirement and had a lot of money thrown at it to get it to the field as quickly as possible. Millions of rounds were produced in all calibers before anyone decided to test them against standard ammunition and they were found to have negligible benefits in their intended role. Few soldiers were eager to have to manage two types of ammo in a combat situation and many were concerned that if they carried too many arc rounds, they wouldn't have enough standard rounds to deal with human threats. And while standard ammo could kill Spectres well enough, arc rounds couldn't kill human targets at all, and so the project ground to a halt.
At least that means nobody back there will notice that I'm taking a bunch of that stockpile.
Closing Notes: So something that also radically changes this arc is that Cooper rarely operates alone for the majority of it. We've seen him work alongside Felecia and Peter, and someone else will show up later on. The patrol was inspired heavily by both the free roaming in the game mixed in the 'Bowling Night' from The Incredibles. A lot more of this happens once we get to the main game, and I enjoy writing Spider-Man's quips alongside the drier one liners of the Marauder. Also had a lot of fun coming up with ways for the pairs to synergize in combat, sorta like the old Arkham games where Batman and Catwoman worked together. Expect to see more of that as they get more accustomed to working alongside each other.
If one program in particular influenced the Logbook entry it would be of the M7 Medium tank. In World War II the US Army poured a lot of money, resources, and manpower into this project. It was designed, had prototypes built, and those prototypes were tested. The vehicle passed trials and orders were placed for several thousand tanks as a factory was built and tooled up, workers were hired and began training to produce the tanks.
It was at this point the Army realized that the M7 offered no advantage over the existing M4 Tank, and all it would serve to do was require new parts, new training for servicemen, and increase the logistical issues that were already facing the army. So as a result the whole program was canceled, the factory closed, and the workers laid off, total production was 7 tanks. Gotta love that effective use of taxpayer dollars.
Also, the last bit of the chapter is the kind of darker thing I was talking about. If Cooper is going to try and turn over a new leaf and operate 'cleaner' then it should be interesting to face down something that will make him want to revert back to his old ways and he has to decide what kind of man he will be. Truly, there is no right answer here and that is purposefully why it's being explored. Other's will weigh in obviously, Peter, Felecia, Yuri, and that someone else who will be teased next chapter.
As always, feel free to leave some feedback, review, whatever. If your happy with just reading then that's just fine too. Next chapter will come out next Wednesday, I liked how this worked so I'll probably stick to it.
Through the ages of time I've been known for my hate. But I'm a dealer of simple choices, for me it's never too late. I am the Shepard of Fire.
Stay frosty, Misfit Delta out.
Status Power Mingguan
-- Peringkat
Power 
-- Power
stone