I spent the evening with May and she was in a very happy mood. I thought she might have refused my offer of money and all she did was kiss my cheek several tis before we ate so popcorn and watched television. She fell asleep on the couch, like usual, and I carried her to bed and tucked her in.
I went back to my room and locked the door this ti and went over to where I had placed the prototype security device. It was a work of beauty. It was about eight inches tall, four inches wide, and three inches thick. The casing was a dull grey and it had six movent sensors mounted behind a curved black do.
It also had a specially constructed internal chanism that was similar and yet distinctly different than my web shooters. The basics were the sa, however. When movent was detected within the sensor's view range, the chanism would engage and a spray of modified web fluid would co out of one or more of the nozzles available and it would cover the target, catching it in place instantly.
I laughed when I checked the contents, because it was a bright neon yellow. A bit more investigation let
know it was actually food coloring, which was significantly cheaper than powdered paint was. The chemical composition was also different than my normal webbing and the changes made it flow differently, looked different when deployed, and it lasted a lot longer.
That was the first patent, the fluid. The second patent was the device's construction, which could include the programming if I wanted it to. The third patent that I would hold off on, was the dissolution formula. I could just add 'patent pending' when the things went into production.
I chuckled at that, because I was already planning to construct a manufacturing plant after starting up the business and getting so loans. I would have to rent space at first, because buying real estate in New York was insanely expensive for the worst properties. Once the money started rolling in, I would have to look into purchasing soplace permanent.
I plugged the thing in with a standard cell phone jack and used my laptop to go over the control program. I had to admit that drug-addled
was a fantastic coder. I easily followed along with the notes and tracked what the thing did. It was brilliant and had all of my ideas integrated. It had wireless capability, could be tracked with a cell phone from anywhere, and gave security alerts in real ti.
“Way to go, .” I whispered and pat myself on the back.
I reassembled the thing and tucked it back under my desk. I went to my bed and stopped when I saw the lumps under the blanket. Crap, I forgot about my costu. I thought and gathered it up and tucked it into the empty gym bag that the guns had been in. Unlike a cloth costu, the suit would not fit under normal clothing, especially the slim jacket with the reinforcents.
When I pushed down on it to close the bag, I felt a lot of resistance that shouldn't be there. I took the jacket back out and checked the arms. The forearm strips had the collapsible batons in them, one in each arm, which would provide so protection and gave
access to a striking weapon when necessary.
I checked the upper arms and caught my breath when I felt sothing like steel under the strip there. I looked at the edge of the thing and saw it was bonded shut, so I wasn't taking it out to see what it actually was. I turned the jacket around and checked the back. There were several overlapping tal pieces that weren't completely bonded into place, so they moved as the jacket moved.
I checked the shoulder pads and it had tal inside them as well. I looked at the pants next and the thighs and calves also had tal strips inside, so I was going to be as protected as possible while wearing the thing. I packed it away again and closed the bag, and stuffed it into the closet next to the first bag.
I decided to ignore the bundles of cash for now and would count it up later. I went to bed right then because I needed to get an actual night's sleep. I had work in the morning and I did not need a repeat of what happened on Saturday night, despite how it had sohow worked out for ... for the most part, anyway. SHIELD was probably out there and actively hunting
right now.
It was one of the reasons I was a bit reluctant to go out as Spider-Man so soon after making a public spectacle of myself. Normally, I wouldn't let that stop , because the whole point was to let the criminals know I was out there and could catch them.
I sighed and checked my untraceable cell phone and wasn't surprised to see that Mary hadn't texted
back after I sent her a picture of my 'accident'. I was tempted to text her again, then shrugged and looked over at my security device. My mind went to the portable radios with SHIELD frequencies that I had cannibalized.
Just for fun, I took one of the earpieces and connected it to the cell phone to check it. It softly vibrated in my ear and I stared at the text that had been automatically sent to all SHIELD agents.
'Ergency eting at 0800. Scheduled training sessions postponed until further notice. You can attend at your own convenience during non-standard hours at...'
I went through the location codes and didn't recognize anything, so I had to dig out the agent handbook and referenced the codes and the city map. I thought about the training schedule from the old laptop and ignored it, since it was suspended anyway.
I eventually decoded the locations and was surprised when one of them was relatively close to where the Bestman Salvage company was tearing apart the abandoned building. I smiled as I wrote down the coded number for it and then added a reminder to my untraceable cell phone. I would need to stop at a safe house and grab a normal uniform before I could crash the gathering without drawing suspicion.
I took out the earpiece and turned it off, tucked it and my cell phone away, and closed my eyes. I went to sleep with secret missions and hidden agendas flowing though my mind.
*
Adrian wasn't surprised when he pulled up to Ben's building and a bright eyed and chipper young man was there. “You're looking better.”
“Yes, sir.” Ben said and climbed in and put his backpack on the floor between his legs. “I should be able to wear the hard hat without pain, too.”
Adrian chuckled and pulled away from the curb. “You're not hopped up on pain pills again are you?”
Ben shivered. “Ugh, no sir. I'm never making that mistake again.”
“Doris said hello back, by the way.” Adrian said with a sideways glance at him and saw him wince.
“My tired brain may have let
do and say a few things I shouldn't have done, sir.” Ben said.
Adrian laughed, because he couldn't help it. He knew teasing the kid would be funny. “She was pretty happy that you were feeling better, so it's all okay by .”
Ben let out a relieved sigh. “I'm glad. Thank you, sir.”
“You've apparently regressed from calling
by my first na, bypassed my last na, and went right back to sir.” Adrian said, teasingly.
Ben gave him a significant look, then he laughed. “Okay, I deserved that one.”
Adrian nodded and reached over to smack the back of his hand on the kid's shoulder. “Adrian's fine, Ben. You might even shock the guys if you call
that when you co back with the coffee and donuts.”
Ben grinned and nodded. “I'll even ask the barista for extra foam on your latte.”
Adrian laughed as they pulled into the parking lot of the salvage business. “I'd rather another crispy cre donut. Those things are damn good.”
“I'll make a note of it... Adrian.” Ben said and the pair shared a laugh before they climbed out of the truck and went inside to gear up and had Frank check them over for safety. No one wanted a violation logged by the inspectors this close to Christmas break.
*
I told the guys to go all out when we were getting close to the end of the work day and I would be back tonight to clear it up. Let
tell you, they took my words as gospel and piled concrete and debris like it was going out of style. Adrian damn near laughed his ass off when we left and there was head high stacks of debris waiting for
to return to clear it out.
“You can't say you didn't ask for it! Ha ha ha!” Adrian said and he locked up and we climbed into his truck. He drove
ho and dropped
off at a Chinese place to buy supper.
I waited for almost twenty minutes for the order and then ran as fast as I could to grab a bus and rode it until I reached my street. I ran from there and into my building, only to see May as she stood in front of the elevator and she carried several fast food bags.
I chuckled as I walked over to her. “Fancy eting you here.”
May turned and saw , saw what I carried, and laughed. “Moo Sho Pork and beef egg rolls?”
“Of course. It's your favorite.” I said and she grinned at . “Can you guess what you're taking for lunch tomorrow?”
May laughed as the elevator doors opened. “Lasagne!”
I laughed, too. We stepped into the elevator and rode it up to our floor. She opened the apartnt door and we checked the orders, picked through what to eat right away and what to save, then divided it up and enjoyed a nice al. I kissed her cheek goodbye and left the apartnt to go back to work.
I normally wouldn't go in at night after a full work day; but, I needed the excuse to pop by the safe house for a uniform and to check out the after-hours training facility. Plus, it was convenient as hell and I wasn't going to waste the opportunity it represented. Free anonymous training for agents? Sign
up!
I worked my ass off to get the debris cleared quickly and then I went to one of the rent by the hour motels to shower and change. The clerk gave
an odd look as he handed
the key.
“The prostitute's running late.” I said and he nodded in understanding.
I went to the room and checked everything inside and found two hidden caras and four microphones in the main room and one cara in the bathroom. I disabled that one and quickly showered and dressed in my normal clothes, packed my backpack, and left the room after twenty minutes. I handed in the key as I cursed under my breath about my date not showing up, even though I had the room.
The clerk looked sympathetic and didn't offer
a refund, even though I hadn't stayed for the full hour. I didn't expect him to, either. That was not how you stayed in business in a strained economy. I left there and rode the bus to near the closest safe house and I wasn't surprised that it was completely dark.
I approached carefully and my spider-sense didn't go off, so I went around the back and checked the window. I saw the sensor and it didn't matter, because I had taken Clint's advice about carrying a small toolkit with . I took out a sharp carpet knife and scraped around the window edge and popped the casing off.
I used my wall sticking power to pull the window pane out and climbed into the house. Surprisingly, there were no caras or motion sensors inside. I pulled the window back into place and put barely a touch of webbing on one of the corners to hold it in place.
With my point of egress secured, I searched the safe house and discovered that it seed to have already been pilfered and the microwave was missing. I now knew why there were no caras and motion sensors inside the safe house. I had already taken them all.
I groaned at my drug-addled stupidity to rob a SHIELD safe house, then shrugged. There wasn't really anything I could do about it, and it wasn't like I could return the things I had appropriated for my own use. I did wonder where I had gotten all the cell phones, though.
I went to one of the closets and opened it to see normal n's clothing inside. It was generic and would make you look like any normal man in a suit. I grabbed one and carefully changed out of my normal clothing to dress like a common spy agent that was trying to fit in. It even had the sunglasses and the earpiece, which made
laugh.
I put the earpiece on and tucked the sunglasses into the breast pocket before I closed it up and went back to the window I had entered. I paused there, because I was sure I was missing sothing. I closed my eyes and thought about where I was and what a safe house would usually have for the occupants.
Money! I thought with a smile. I quickly backtracked through the house and searched all of the obvious places that soone would stash money for an ergency use and found a large bundle wrapped in the refrigerator freezer. I stashed it into my backpack and went back to the window I had entered through.
A drop of cleaning solution dissolved the webbing and I hopped out through the hole and put the window pane in the right position, then used the casing to snap the window back into place. I wasn't sure if that was going to hold for long, though. I took out the small web shooter with the bonding solution in it and put so on the back of the casing and pushed it into place.
My spider-sense didn't go off, so it was safe to leave it like that. I left the safe house and walked calmly towards the eting place where the after-hours training was supposed to take place. As I approached the small building, several other people seed to be hanging around. Two ca out as another entered. They were dressed differently and that didn't matter, because they all wore earpieces.
My spider-sense tingled a tiny little bit as I approached the building and I was sure it was because I was carrying a backpack. The guy near the entrance was giving
a pointed look without actually looking at , so I acted like I was supposed to be there and walked right over to him, which seed to surprise him. I had a plan, though.
“I'm sorry to bother you. Can you hold this for ? I think I left my cell phone sowhere and I need to check.”
The guy made his face go blank and accepted my backpack as he stared at .
I made a show of searching my new suit for it and shook my head. “Dammit. Can you call it for ?”
The guy took out his own. “What's the number?”
I told him the number for the second untraceable cell phone and he dialed it. As I had planned, my backpack rang. He gave
a look and then opened it and looked through it. He pulled the cell phone out and handed it to , then he handed
the backpack. My spider-sense tingle disappeared, too.
“Hey, thanks!” I said and put the cell phone in the suit's inside breast pocket, which just so happened to highlight the sunglasses in the front pocket.
“Anyti.” The guy said with a relaxed voice and smiled at .
I put the backpack over my shoulder and entered the building. I was actually a little proud of myself for allowing the man to do his job of searching people, while also not letting anyone else know that was what he was doing. My self pat down had given him a full visual that I had nothing on
and I had given him my backpack with all of my stuff in it.
The phone call had also given him permission to open the backpack and search through it to get it, which also let him see the contents. There wasn't anything in there, except for my clothes, the construction safety gear, and the couple of cell phones. The money I had stashed in a side pocket, so he wasn't going to find it, even if he knew to look for it. Plus, it was just money and not sothing that compromised the building's current security.
I passed by a couple of guys talking about the intense training that they normally didn't get during the day classes, and hearing that made
happy about choosing this as a good avenue to pursue. I desperately needed fighting training and what better way was there than to abuse a spy agency's own system and get free training anonymously?
I followed the directions on the walls to go to the locker room and chose a locker. It had a key in it and I opened the door and inside was a neatly folded karate gi with a piece of rope for a belt. I chuckled at that, because they wouldn't give out actual belts until you learned a few things. I quickly stripped off the suit and folded it and exchanged it for the gi.
It was a little freeing to only have boxers on underneath the loose robe-like garnt and I left the locker and followed the directions on the wall towards the learning and sparing area. I felt my spider-sense tingle as I entered through the small door and stopped walking as a gi-clad body flew past where I would have been.
“Nice reflexes.” A woman's voice complinted as the guy she had thrown landed with a grunt and didn't get up.
“You an , right?” I asked and turned to look at her and realized that my spider-sense hadn't been only warning
of the guy flying by. It hadn't lessened after the danger had passed, because the danger hadn't passed at all, not even a little bit. I saw one of the worst people I could have encountered in all of SHIELD and straightened my back and took a deep breath.
“Yeah, kid.” Natasha Romanoff said as her eyes road all over
and back to my face.
This was not going to be fun. I thought and then fought to not smile. Unless I make it that way.
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