Miles Morales: New Spider Chapter 24.

---

I was in stealth mode, right on Cap's tail.

Captain America was leading me straight to the cache of Hydra weapons being kept on the Helicarrier.

The only sounds were the footsteps made by Cap. I crawled above him, following him through his secret route.

We reached a door labeled "Secure Storage 10-C." As he strained to push it open, the door slowly and reluctantly slid to the side with an irritating scraping sound.

The storage room was devoid of any human presence other than ours. The very steps he took echoed throughout the room as I followed him deeper inside.

"Boss, shield files acquired and downloaded. Operation Parasite accomplished," April reported.

"Good job, April. Keep primary focus on the Alpha unit nanobots outside the Helicarrier," I instructed.

"OK, Boss. On it."

Jarvis had already hacked into the SHIELD database, granting me access to a multitude of important files.

"Bingo," I thought as Cap discovered boxes filled with Hydra armor and weapons.

He looked both disbelieving and angry, furious that the things he had fought so hard to eradicate were now in the one place they should never be.

With shaking hands, he grabbed a Hydra weapon and hastily made his way towards the door.

I decided to take advantage of the opportunity.

If I weren't Spider-Man, I would have been the duffel bag hero. Opening a compartment on my utility belt, I retrieved a highly compressed duffel bag I had specially made using an altered web formula.

In its compressed form, the bag looked like a sugar cube. Upon exposure to the external environment, it decompressed into an airtight, waterproof black duffel bag.

I loaded all the contents of a single box into the bag. I couldn't afford to be greedy—being greedy meant being needy, and that never worked out well.

"Time to leave."

Going into camo mode, I slung the duffel bag over my shoulder and made my exit.

I was now outside on the exterior of the SHIELD Helicarrier. I had no intention of stopping Hawkeye from blowing up the rotor; in fact, I wanted him to do it. It would provide cover for what I was about to do.

"Boss, the foreign Quinjet is here," April announced as I saw the incoming Quinjet where Hawkeye should be.

"Alright, April. Is the takeover ready?"

"All set, Boss."

I headed towards the Quinjet I had originally arrived in. Before boarding, I had distributed specially made bots inside the jet that allowed April to access and hack it, granting her full control.

The doors slid open. I quickly threw the duffel bag inside before making my way back.

"April, start up the systems and wait for my signal."

I waited for Hawkeye to blow up the rotor and scramble the SHIELD systems so he could disable another rotor.

During the scramble of the SHIELD systems, April piloting the jet in stealth mode would erase all records of the stolen Quinjet, while the timed explosives I had planted would blow up.

SHIELD would think the Quinjet either fell into the ocean or was destroyed during Loki's escape, while the stolen Quinjet would actually be in my possession.

Entering the room where the Avengers were busy arguing, I carefully approached Bruce Banner and, placing my fingers on his neck, delivered a venom strike.

"What was that?" he asked moments before the bioelectricity kicked in, dropping him out cold on the floor. Since he was still in his human form, it worked effectively.

I carried his body to a safe place where the blast wouldn't harm him while everyone’s attention turned to me.

"What did you do?" Cap's tone was filled with anger.

"I just put him to sleep before the big guy came out, which would put everyone on the Helicarrier in danger," I explained.

BrrZzZz, my Spidey sense rang. "April, now!"

"Done, Boss."

"Everyone, you need to—" BOOM!

The blast sent me off my feet, flinging me through the glass as I landed on my back, rolling onto my hands and feet. I noticed Natasha next to me.

I dusted pieces of glass off my armor. My superhuman durability, combined with Luke Cage's skin, meant the blast had only shaken me up. I shrugged it off and got back on my feet.

Pipes burst, spraying gas everywhere.

"Nat, you alright?"

"I'm OK, but my feet are trapped under the rubble." She tried to free herself but was unsuccessful.

"Let me give you a hand." I lifted the rubble off her, and she got back on her feet.

"Thanks," she said.

"It's Barton. He took out our systems and is headed for the detention level. Does anybody copy?" Fury requested over the channels in a hurried tone.

"This is Agent Romanoff. I copy," Natasha replied, dusting herself off and checking her gear.

"And you, Arc?"

"I'll lend a hand in clearing this mess while taking out any stray hostiles I encounter," I answered.

"April, how are we with the plan?"

"It's progressing smoothly, Boss."

"Great."

The lower levels of the Helicarrier were littered with broken pipes and railings. Steam polluted various levels, lowering visibility, with occasional groans escaping the lips of trapped agents as I pulled rubble and debris off them while making my way to the containment unit.

I saw Coulson leaning against the wall, slowly bleeding to death.

"Agent Coulson! This is bad."

"It's alright, Kid. I did my job." Blood trickled down his lips, but he still smiled.

'Damn,' I thought. He was bleeding out, losing so much blood because Loki's stab had hit major organs.

I loosened his tie, tore the clothes covering his stab wound, and webbed his pierced skin shut. He was still in critical condition, and I had only prolonged his life by minutes.

"Fury's here, Coulson. Stay with me." As if on cue, Fury burst through the doors and knelt beside Coulson. I made my exit, leaving them to have a private moment.

What I had really come for was the Destroyer gun, but seeing Coulson like this changed my mind. Sometimes, you had to show respect, even at a cost. I wasn’t a monster. I knew Coulson would come back to life later, but I still had my principles. Working without any principles made me no different from an animal.

Standing before us, Fury gave a speech about the Avengers and how Coulson had sacrificed himself while still believing in them.

He spoke about the Tesseract being just a side project, with the main focus on the Avengers and how they would change the world, being Earth's first line of defense. "Spies and lies"—he wasn’t saying the whole truth.

The atmosphere in the room was gloomy. Stark looked very distressed and walked out, followed by Cap a few minutes later.

I was seated next to Banner, who had woken up earlier. Although he was unhappy with what I had done, he still thanked me for helping him keep the big guy in check.

Cap returned to the room, all suited up with his shield in hand.

I stood alongside Banner.

"Are we doing this, Cap?"

"Yes, the world needs the Avengers."

"You coming, Banner?" I asked as we started walking.

He sighed.

"Well, I’d like not to, but when do I ever get what I want?"

The beam from the top of the tower lit up the sky like a giant beacon, but instead of hope, it brought disaster.

The Chitauri came through the portal in droves. The streets of Manhattan were riddled with bodies, wanton destruction apparent as debris and burning vehicles littered the roads.

The screams and cries of people filled the already polluted air.

We had crash-landed and were now on foot, running towards Stark Tower.

Our advance was cut short by the massive beast of destruction, the Leviathan, which roared through the portal, announcing its presence with a thunderous roar.

"April, I hope you’re ready."

"In position, Boss."

April’s location was displayed on my HUD. I needed to load Chitauri tech into the Quinjet, so I required it to be at an easily accessible hidden location.