Rising Fatality (Ultimate Spider-Man Fanfic)

3| Mentors

Omniscient POV

Taskmaster walked quickly through the halls.

He had a cool, level-headed ambiance, but inside he was a boiling pot. He was still feeling extremely irritated by the less-than-satisfactory performance of the new team. Particularly, Cheliceri's performance. Had that boys' training taught him nothing? To act so foolish and irresponsible, engaging in a meaningless fight with people who he was supposed to be working with.

Well, Cheliceri was probably regretting it right about now. Using him as a new training dummy for the advanced classes was only a small punishment. He had something else planned afterward too. Something worse.

Parker could fool himself into believing he was over the little "incident," but Taskmaster knew better. He could the fear in his very stance every time he walked by the locker room doors. He noticed it every single time Parker reacted to being touched.

It was a weakness. But it was a weakness Taskmaster could use.

But he'd have to wait until later.

Turning, he entered through a door that slid open as soon as he stopped in front of it. It was a large room used for debriefing agents before their missions. A large table was bolted in the center, where the rest of his colleagues were already taking up the seats waiting for him. They all wore equally frustrated expressions.

He took the chair at the head of the table. The silence was thick around the room, which was all the warning he needed to know that this meeting wasn't going to go well. He leaned forward on the table, looking over his comrades, "It seems the exercise did not go as planned," he said.

Like that, the silence broke.

"Of course it didn't!" Titus roared, instantly jumping to his feet. The cyborg arm/gun fused to his shoulder hummed as it charged up while lining up to Taskmaster's head. "This plan of yours was faulty from the start. We should've gone our separate ways and never seen each other again."

Taskmaster stared at him.

"Aye," Kraven agreed from his seat, where he was briskly sharpening a knife in hand. "What makes you think it would be a good idea to team them up? They would be..." he thought for a moment, "Formidable. But is it for the best?"

Baron Mordo stroked his beard, scowling heavily. "I am in agreement with the other two. I do not have time for this."

Taskmaster looked at all of them. His eyes landed on Scorpio, who was sitting quietly in the corner.

"And what about you?" he asked, drawing the Zodiac's attention. "What are you're thoughts?"

Scorpio looked between them all slow and leisurely, leaning back into his chair with his chin in his fingers. "I think we made progress today." He said, much to the disbelief of the other three.

"Hardly," Baron Mordo snapped. "You saw that mess. They were fighting each other."

"You Earthlings are blind!" Titus snapped, turning his gun to direct it at Scorpio, who looked completely unimpressed.

But Taskmaster was grinning. "He's right," he said. "There was progress today. Quite a leap, I'd say."

Kraven scowled, putting down his knife. "How so?"

Taskmaster took a small disk from the folds of his cloak and slid it across the table so it was near the center. As soon as it stopped, a bright light filtered past its surface, projecting a wide screen that flickered a few times before stabilizing. On it, a rerun of the exercise was playing through.

"Watch," Taskmaster said.

They watched silently as Cheliceri "misfired" his shots and, Zver as she rammed into her team none too graciously, blasts from Disciple that knocked the team off their feet, Dog as he busted through walls, and Novae as he shot beams.

After a minute Titus growled, "What are we looking for? Further incompetence?"

Taskmaster simply gestured to the screen. Through it, Novae shouted, "SUCK IT EARTHLINGS, THE TARGET'S MINE!"

Titus scowled and shook his head, rubbing a hand over his temples as if embarrassed.

The video paused as it turned to Chelicer, Dog, Zver, and Disciple. "Look at that," Taskmaster said, gesturing toward the look shared between the four before it continues to show them running after Novae. "That look they gave each other. That was a truce," he clarified. "Each of them wanted to get the target but were unwilling to work together to achieve their goal. But, throw in a factor that they can all agree on, and" he motioned to Chelicer using Dog as a spring-board to take down Novae, " they become united in a common goal. That's where we've been going wrong."

Baron Mordo leaned forward, looking more interested now. "How do you mean?"

"This whole time we've been putting together 5 different people used to working alone. They've never worked with others beforehand. We can't just put them together, make them train, and expect it to click. They're all too focused on their primary goal to think of it as a group."

"So...." Titus harrumphed, "What are you saying, Taskmaster. Just spit out."

"It means," he enunciated, "we have to give them a common enemy. Something that will get them to work together to achieve their goal, but only by relying on one another. This is the key to getting them to unite."

It was quiet in the room as they mulled that over.

Finally, Kraven grunted, "Very well," he muttered, "But are you sure the Spider will be up to the task?"

It was Taskmaster's turn to ask what he meant.

"This isn't like before," Kraven said, "Circumstances are different. Will the Spider be up to the task expected of him?"

The others stared at Taskmaster imploringly, who straightened in his seat. "Cheliceri will lead this group," He said, "it's already been decided."

"Aye," Scorpio said, "but will it turn out better? Or will it end up like last time?"

Taskmaster got to his feet. "He will lead this team," he repeated, firmly. "and we will lead them. I'll make sure of it. For now, make sure you're members are up to the missions ahead. I will have no weak links on this team."

With that, he got up, looked them once more, and left.

He needed to see to Cheliceri's punishment now.

Weakness would not be tolerated.

Ooooooh, I wonder what they're talking about? ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ (¬‿¬)