Chapter 8 - We've Got a Problem

Peter's patrol, thus far, was quiet, other than random muggings and whatnot. Just as he was settling down on a roof to wait for anything else major, his spider-sense went off, as he rolled backwards out of his sitting position to face...Taskmaster. [Fuck! Tonight? Seriously?] Just as he got into combat position, his spider-sense went off again, as he rolled to the side to avoid a stab from Scorpion. From his roll, he flipped over blades that came from Vultures wings and came down onto Vulture's head, using his legs to throw him into Scorpion.

Taking stock of his situation, Peter cursed again. Taskmaster was their sponsor! The first to move was Scorpion, lashing out with his stinger. Peter swayed to the side and webbed the stinger, wrenching it down and into the roof. Using the anchored tail as a sort of pole, Peter swung around it to gain momentum before nailing him with a dropkick, reversing his momentum as he landed to kick Vulter behind the ear. Spider-sense flaring, He ducked under Taskmaster's sword only to get shieldbashed in the back of the head. Nanotech saved him from the blackout, but he was still a bit dazed. Grunting in anger, Peter's mechanical arms came out again, before Peter spun, his arms shooting an almost constant stream of web balls and nets. Taskmaster just used his shield for the web balls, but didn't notice the net. Vuture's wings were now all gunked up by webbing, and he couldn't fly anymore. Scorpion was cozy on the floor of the roof, webbed up tight and cursing. Two of Peter's arms shot out to absolutely shred Vulture's wings, as his other two arms dueled Taskmaster. Vulture dealt with, Peter turned his attention back to Taskmaster. That was a mistake, as Taskmaster pressed a buŧŧon on his wrist, a beep resounding from the gear on Vulture and Scorpion. With a deep, sinking feeling in his gut, Peter watched as Taskmaster ran off, a distant Iron Man after him and probably coordinating the Avengers.

Peter had a different problem though, that of Vulture and Scorpion wearing small packs of explosives in the smaller and less noticeable areas of their armor. Dragging them next to each other, Peter frantically started disarming the bombs. He only got Vulture out of the clear before he noticed that there wasn't enough time. So, taking the explosives off Scorpion's body and webbing them all together, Peter chucked them as far into the sky as he possibly could, one of his arms sniping it with a taser web, engaging the explosive while it was high in the sky.

Calming his breathing a bit, Peter swung off in the direction of Tony and Taskmaster, hitting speeds he never had before, thanks to his extra arms. He did eventually find Tony, and everyone else, but no Taskmaster. Only a message from Taskmaster. He basically said that every villain they had ever had to face alone was now outfitted with improved gear, and they were far more powerful than they were the last they'd seen them. Peter mentally disagreed, but he chalked that up to his own upgrades.

After a two-finger salute as a sign that he'd heard, he swung off back to his office.

~~~~~~

The next day was designated to Natasha, which he was swiftly reminded of when he woke up to his phone ringing. Caller ID was all he needed. He picked up his phone and answered. "Hello?" He responded groggily.

Natasha's voice crackled to life on the other end. "Hey! When do you want to meet up at Avengers tower?" Her voice had a thinly veiled itch of excitement. It was adorable how hard she was trying to hide it.

He glanced at his clock. "Uh, yeah maybe at about 10ish? 6am isn't an ideal time to go out." He responded, his eyelids still heavy with sleep.

She seemed to have overlooked that, and a tiny "oh" came from the other side, followed by a rushed hangup. Peter chuckled slightly, but got up anyway.

[Since Taskmaster is bringing all my supervillains out of retirement and all new and improved, I need to upgrade a bit more. Not only that, but I need to find a way to keep the criminals I put away, put away. Let's see here...] He spent the next 2 or 3 hours designing new reinforcements for walls, and any devices that could nullify powers. He scratched his head. For now, he was running low on ideas, partly because of how tired he was. He drank some coffee and made himself breakfast before he checked up on happenings in the company. He spotted some shady shit happening in the financial reports, not to mention some less than savory projects still being developed. He sent word down through the company via an email that he would be shutting down a few select projects, but he would not be firing those who did work on them. He also straight-up fired anyone who was practicing shady deals to get funding and such.

With this stuff out of the way, he went and got dressed to go meet Nat. He left the building, hitching a ride on the subway to Avengers Tower. Most of the other Avengers had their own homes and such, but Nat tended to stay at the tower just to make sure everything was still operating right. He walked in and flashed a smile at the camera in front. He could've sworn he heard light jogging from the inside. Why not just open the doors remotely?

This question was answered when Nat reached out and dragged him inside, planting a solid kiss on him before taking him around to see some shit he'd missed.

AN// Sorry it took so long to release, and also sorry it's so short. IRL stuff really wanted to fuċk me today, and it did, so I had to wait until I could finish the chapter. FYI, the title refers to the problem of Taskmaster's sponsoring stuff.