Chapter 53: Ch 52: The Lemurian Star Hijack XII
Gwen came barreling down from the sky, dark smoke trailing from her body.
The impact of the explosion had her completely out cold for a couple of seconds, but as she neared the ship, even though she was passed out, her spider-senses buzzed and forced her awake.
She felt too weak right now... her whole body ached like she was run over by a dozen trains. But she still forced herself to shoot webs desperately at the last second, trying to slow her descent, but the momentum was still too much.
She hit the steel deck like a meteor, cratering straight through it and continuing down through two more floors before finally coming to a bone-jarring stop. Thankfully, she wasn’t too high in the sky like last time on the bridge, or the impact would have killed her.
"Ahgg! Haaa~ HAaaa," She panted, still lying flat on the floor.
The HUD inside her mask flickered with urgent red alerts: multiple fractures across her ribs, left arm, and right leg. Internal bleeding, moderate. Spinal trauma, non-critical but painful.
It was bad, but thanks to her enhanced superhuman durability and adrenaline, it was a level of pain she could actually bear.
But the HUD also displayed a thermal analysis of Veritas’s last explosion.
That massive blast hadn’t been one of his concentrated, laser-like AP-Shots that usually capped around 14,500 degrees Fahrenheit. No, that explosion had been a wide, unconcentrated sky-burst.
But the raw, instantaneous heat generated from that blast had varying temperatures, and the max temperature had crossed the suit’s threshold.
The advanced S.H.I.E.L.D. polymer had managed to protect her body, and while it was rated to handle five times his previous max heat, the pristine white sections of her suit were now heavily charred and blackened. It even had a few small melted spots, exposing small patches of her scorched skin.
’Damn,’ she thought, her mind racing even as her body screamed. ’How the hell does he keep coming back stronger every single time?’
Exhaling a sharp, pained breath, she gritted her teeth and pushed herself off the cratered steel floor with trembling hands.
"Ow... my back!" she winced, instinctively reaching back to rub her lower spine.
The suit had mostly protected her body from the searing heat of his explosions... but concussive force... That was a different story. Heat and kinetic energy were two very different problems, and the second one had just used her as a human battering ram through several tons of steel.
As she stood up, she noticed her battered suit, ’That better be a one time move...’ She thought, biting her lip.
But then her eyes looked around the dark room... and her heart sank.
She had crashed into the hostage room. The same gallery where Veritas had played his twisted game with Luna. The chairs were empty now - the STRIKE team had evacuated everyone.
The charred forms of Rumlow and Rollins were gone too... she’d personally swung them to the medics before re-engaging.
But 3 bodies still lay scattered across the floor. Two of Veritas’s henchmen mercenaries. And one hostage... Lucas West.
All of these men were bad, yes, but seeing their dead bodies left a bitter taste in her mouth.
One was killed by Luna Graham due to Veritas’s manipulation, and the other 2 were the terrorists and heinous mercenaries who had hijacked the ship along with Veritas. These two were sniped by SHIELD’s commandos.
The grim reality of the situation settled heavily in her mind. Her lips trembled slightly beneath her mask.
Taking a deep, steadying breath, she forcefully calmed her roaring emotions. She couldn’t afford to get distracted now.
Just a second later, a figure plummeted from the sky, dropping perfectly through the jagged hole in the ceiling she had just cratered through. Veritas fired a brief, controlled explosion from his palms to kill his downward momentum and landed gracefully right in front of her.
As the smoke cleared, he strolled forward, casually patting down his pristine black suit as if he’d just stepped off an elevator.
"I have to say, that suit is really impressive, Spider-Woman," he said, and he actually sounded genuine.
"My earlier attack would have easily melted your old spandex. Even if you somehow managed to come out of it alive, you’d probably be left awkwardly trying to cover your bare, scorched self with just your hands while swinging away. But look at you now... a few small tears on the suit, and very few exposed burn marks on your skin..."
He paused, stroking his chin thoughtfully. "I’m not entirely sure about the bruises and other injuries under the unburnt parts of your suit, though. I can’t exactly look under those clothes to check, after all..."
Taking another deep breath to suppress the lingering pain in her spine, Gwen fell right back into her usual, quippy rhythm.
"That’s right, Clowney," she taunted, dusting a piece of rubble off her shoulder to hide her exhaustion. "If you wanna do some damage you have turn up the heat even more..." she taunted, panting.
Her words and figure looked so heroic...
Veritas stopped his slow approach mid-step. He stood perfectly still. Then, slowly, he shook his head, as if genuinely disappointed by what he’d just heard.
Then the painted, manic smile on his Jester mask seemed to completely vanish, replaced by something dark and incredibly serious.
Gwen’s Spider-Sense went absolutely haywire. Every nerve in her body screamed DANGER.
"Still laughing in the face of danger..." Veritas spoke, his voice dropping cold and terrifyingly calm. "You are brave, Spider-Woman..."
Suddenly, from the palm of Veritas’s right hand, a fiery, hyper-concentrated, and continuous beam of raw explosive energy erupted.
This one didn’t seem like those laser burst shots or an explosive blast... It was a solid, three-foot-long blade of roaring, concentrated heat. It was basically the absolute peak modification of his AP-Shot.
The continuous, thin red laser crackled and hummed in his hand, looking exactly like a Sith Lord’s lightsaber.
Star Wars franchise existed in Marvel.
"And you shall die braver than most..."
Gwen got the reference, people of Marvel got the reference, and if Captain Rogers wasn’t fighting and chasing after Batroc and heard his words, he’d have gotten the reference too.
And Gwen’s eyes widened, imagining the sheer heat from whatever that saber move was called, and she cautiously took a couple of steps back, raising her hands defensively.
"Okay... calm down, Vader..."
Veritas took another slow step forward. The crimson beam in his hand dragged along the steel floor as he walked, carving a molten red groove through solid metal like a hot knife through butter.
"Spider-Woman, despite all your impressive feats today," Veritas began, his voice surprisingly calm, almost philosophical, "as a Hero... you have deeply disappointed me."
He gestured with his free hand toward the scattered, silent bodies in the room.
"Look around you. See these dead men?" he said, his tone dropping.
"Even including that monster Lucas West... all of them were killed by people from S.H.I.E.L.D. The very same organization you have so readily joined. And for what? A suit? I thought you despised killing. I thought your whole brand was believing in second chances, in redemption for everyone. A true hero among heroes."
He took another step, the orange light of his blade reflecting off the jagged edges of his mask.
"Do my friends Marcel and Carlos not deserve a chance? Your people killed them in cold blood, and you’re still playing the role of their star-spangled helper."
He stopped, tilting his head.
"If you had killed them yourself... in a fury of vengeance, or because you had no other choice... I would have respected that. I genuinely would have. Vengeance is human. Desperation is heroic. But my friends were killed out of efficiency. Because it was the most efficient option on a spreadsheet. The worst part about all this is that you support them anyway. You don’t regret any of this, do you?"
He stepped closer, the intense heat of the plasma blade visibly warping the air between them.
"Your morals are clouded and weak. You’re simply a hypocrite, Spider-Woman."
As Veritas’s words dug daggers in her heart while he slowly closed the distance, she just stood there amidst the dust and the bodies, perfectly still, letting his heavy, accusatory words wash over her.
Then, she slowly lifted her head. The large white lenses of her mask locked dead onto his dark, hollow eyeholes.
"You are right, Veritas," Gwen said.
Her voice was incredibly low. It completely lacked the bouncy, quippy energy she always carried into a fight. It was entirely devoid of the emotions she usually wore in her mask.
For the first time in all of their encounters, Gwen had referred to him by his name.
And for some reason, hearing that quiet, emotionless admission sent a sudden, cold chill straight down Luke’s spine - even though he was the one standing there holding a blade of pure heat that could slice her in half with a single graze.
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Thanks for reading!
Just wanted to tell ya, this arc ends in 3 more chaps. Stretched it really long huh...
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Right now 3 advanced Chapters. I really wanna give 10 chaps ahead but damn I’m a slow writer!
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