Chapter 34

I begin to walk towards my destination, but instead of taking them to the stairs which would lead up to the entrance and to their freedom, I rather walk to a wall. I can't take them out there because it is now a veritable warzone with AIM and what I presume to be Shield fighting with no holds barred, using high-tech and experimental weaponry like it is going out of fashion. To take them out there right now would be risking their lives, so as much as I hate it, they will have to stay inside this wretched place a little longer.

"Stay near the wall. Don't move away from it, and keep behind me." I order as we reach the wall of the room, and then hugging it, we begin to walk along it sticking to the most hidden place we can until I signal to stop right beside a door. Earlier, as I watched the AIM soldiers reacting to the attack, I saw them all coming into this room and then leaving it with weapons on them, so it stands to reason that this must be their armoury. And right now, this is the only place I can envision these people behind me will be safe for the time being until AIM is defeated.

With all of the prisoners waiting out of sight, I quickly turn and look through the little window into the room in which I can see it is fully stocked to the teeth with guns and all sorts of dangerous items meant to inflict pain, all either laid out on shelves or hung on the wall. Thankfully there are no guards or anything inside, so I go to push the door open, but my hands meet resistance, and the door does not budge an inch.

I look down at the door, which is when I spot a little keypad to the right of the entrance, restricting my access to this room without knowledge of the actual passcode. I stare at it for a moment before I realise I will not be able to decode this without some sort of specialised tool, and I don't have time to waste here since I should go and help take out AIM.

Deciding to go with a true and tested method, I gesture for the prisoners to move back, which they all do, and then with sufficient distance between us, I punch the keypad, destroying it in its entirety. Violence and damage are always the best alternatives when there isn't another option, it might not be a likeable thing, but it is an effective one. I reach my hand forward and try the door again, but to my immense frustration, it doesn't budge again, and so I will have to double down.

If violence and damage don't work, then there is only one thing you can do, use even more violence and damage. I rear back and kick my foot at the point of the door where the lock is usually paced, and with a bang, it is thrown wide open. I step into the room and look around for a second and make sure it is all clear before stepping back out and motioning for the prisoners to enter the room, which they all do one by one.

For some reason, this facility is a lot less secure and protected than I would expect an AIM facility to be. There is seriously something wrong here. The only possible reasons I can think of are that this facility was only recently set up, the security has been shut down for some reason (maybe Shield did it), the scientists were neglectful of their safety and focused more on their research, or they relied on the fact that this place was secret. Whatever it is, this is working in my favour.

"W-Why are we here? I thought... that we were being freed?" The same guy who was shouting earlier speaks, though this time he is more soft-spoken and not so loud. They were all blindfolded when they arrived at this dreaded place, and so they had no idea of the layout. And they didn't question where I was taking them, but now I had just led them into a room with no other exit. They are obviously confused.

"This facility is under attack. And there is only one way in and out. Which is where the battle is taking place. You will have to stay here until the yellow hazmat suits are gone and dealt with." I speak calmly, understanding that these people are scared and vulnerable. They don't need cold and inhuman interactions. They need to feel safe and assured that their freedom is already a done thing, so I explain the situation to them.

"So, we are just supposed to stay here and wait? Then what was the point of taking us out of the cage? You should have just left us in there!" The same man asks again, finding his voice, and it is slowly regaining its confidence. That is actually a good point there, but he forgot one fact.

"I will not let a single one of you remain inside that cage. You are not animals. You are human, and you deserve to be treated as such." At my words, they all go silent, and while the newer prisoners are quiet, having been cowed into it, I can tell my message resonates more with the others that have been here longer. I can see the lights in their eyes slowly righten up, even if it is just a smidgen, as they are reminded of their rights as living sentient beings.

"Stay here. One of you should keep watch at the door for the people coming to take you away from this." Saying so, I see some nods of understanding from a few of the people, and with that, I turn and make my way out of the room as an older gentleman rises from his seat and walks to the door. I don't need to look back to know that man is watching me walk away through the window in the door, knowing exactly what his job is.

I have every confidence that these people will all be free before the day is up. However, that does not mean that I can just leave them unattended and unprotected in an enemy base. This is why I took them to the armoury, where they are surrounded by all sorts of weaponry they can use if they find the need to. I may have told them to have someone keep watch for their rescuers, but that was only to reassure them and keep them calm when I meant something completely different.

The man watching the door understood precisely what I meant, which is why he is at the door. He is not waiting to catch sight of the people coming to free them. Instead, he is there to watch in case assholes dressed in yellow hazmat suits walk through that door. If they do, then they will use the weaponry to make a last stand, though I am sure it won't come to that. However, I will not risk or endanger their lives due to my own self-assuredness and confidence. That would be foolish.

Walking away and towards the exit, I find myself thinking that I have just wholly made a left turn from the kind of image I wanted to project of myself. I was supposed to be the cool, calm, stoic Batman that had a piercing gaze, but I just got all mushy and used way too many words there. Well, you know what? That is all Batman as well. He is the type of dude that sits on the swings and holds the hand of a girl about to die or sits down and talks with a struggling child. I am perfectly Batman.

Shaking my head to rid myself of such stupid thoughts, I leap up directly onto the passageway above and right in front of the double doors. Double doors that are no longer open, and this time I was not able to stick a Batarang in the middle of them, but it seems like these guys here are too focused on experimentation and not on security. I reach down and press the button next to the door, and with a little clicking sound, I hear the door open.

As I slowly push open the door, I can't help but think the particular AIM agents in this facility are pretty idiotic and arrogant. They rely solely on their secrecy for protection and not having doors locked from the inside because they don't think anybody would be able to get in. Shaking my head, I open the door just enough that I can pop my head outside and take a look at some of the going on, and it is not pretty in the least.

It can be best described as a gun side with both sides duking out and firing at each other from a distance, the AIM soldiers hunkering down here at the loading bay behind crates and pillars, while further down the way are what I presume to be-. Yep, going by the dark blue, nearly black body suits they have on, along with their contrastingly white boots and gloves along with the belt and harness around their upper chest to hold their equipment, those are Shield agents.

But the one stark difference in this fight between the two is their firepower. The Shield agents are all hiding behind the big X-Ray device and their own vehicles that they drove down here and are firing standard tactical weaponry. However, the AIM agents clearly have the upper hand here since they, along with using the same weapons as Shield, are also utilising high-tech and possibly experimental weaponry. I can see a few beams being shots at the Shield agents and forcing them to stay in cover, and it is clear why when the beam slams into a car and seriously dents the chassis of the vehicle.

With the way things are going, those prisoners stuck in the armoury are going to have to use those weapons to defend themselves when the AIM bastards come back to their lab victorious. Clearly, it is up to me to get involved and stop such a grave reality from coming to pass, and I am going to use my fists to prevent it.

Seeing that most of the AIM assholes are focused on firing down the passageway at the Shield agents, none of them are looking behind them, and so their flank is unprotected. With all the bullets being fired, it is pretty noisy, so no one takes any notice when I sneak forward on the roof of the room directly on top of one of the AIM agents.

Knowing I won't be able to stay hidden or sneaky for long, I decide to take out as many of them as I can undetected before it becomes an all-out slugfest. I drop down directly on top of the AIM agent and grab hold of the back of his skull and smash him to the ground as I come down, landing gently on the floor.

Satisfied that he is out for the count, I go to jump back onto the ceiling- I quickly jump backwards, avoiding the hail of gunfire that just came at me, my spider sense working correctly. I guess I am not as stealthy as I thought I was since some of the AIM agents just noticed me, and they have already informed their fellow agents about my presence.

I don't stop moving after hopping back and quickly transition into a series of backflips as the trail of gunfire follows after me, and on one of my flips, I pull out a Batarang and fling it directly at the guy shooting at me. My aim is accurate, and it embeds itself in the hand of the goon, making him cry out and drop his weapon and giving me some much-needed relief.

Note to self, try to pull back on all the flips and acrobatics. No doubt what I just performed are some of Spider-Man's telegraphed moves and could reveal my existence. But sometimes, if you have to flip, then you flip, I should still try to limit myself.

I don't have time to relax, however, as his other buddies are still aiming at me, and so I quickly dip into my utility belt and pull out a smoke bomb which I immediately throw at the ground. A cloud of smoke envelopes me entirely, and using that cover, I leapt back up and flipped to attach myself to the ceiling feet first.

I immediately run forward and out of the smoke. Then, using the element of surprise, since they did not expect me to be on the ceiling, I jumped off the roof railing a right hook into the closest agent. Then, leaping up, I land a heavy kick on the goon that is still cradling his hand that has my Batarang in it, and using his face as a platform, I jump to land a powerful knee into another AIM minion's face.

All three of them drop to the ground, and they will not be getting back up.

I quickly spot a few more agents turning to fire their guns, and unfortunately, they are aiming from three different angles, covering all my escapes. Fighting my urge to launch a web at two of the goons to take their guns since I don't use web shooters anymore, I jump up into the air, going to land on the ceiling and going to push off to launch at another target.

SPIDER SENSE!!!

"AGH!" I let out as a powerful beam strikes me right in my gut, unable to dodge since I am in the air, and it blasts me away. The pain of that blast was so immense that I would have surely cried out even longer, but the attack stifled my voice and knocked all of the air from my lungs.

"GAH," I grunt as my back slams into the wall, my body now embedded in the concrete next to the doors I just exited around thirty seconds ago. Feeling like I was just hit by a train, I take a moment to breathe, surprised my lungs didn't just force their way out through my mouth.

Reaching out a hand, I grasp the wall and pull myself out, ignoring the pain which will surely leave a big purple bruise tomorrow.

I really do have to stop with all the theatrics. This suit just isn't made for it. It isn't spandex.

Note to self, be better.