Being There For You (USM One-Shot Book)

Chapter 7: A Slip of the Tongue

Darkness.

The only light in the room is a blue glow and it's coming from one of the computer screens set against the wall. It makes the room feel colder than it is, sending light in some areas, but casting the rest in darker pockets of shadow. Maybe that was a good thing. There would be no warmth for the answers the man was looking for.

He sits at the desk, pulled up close to the keyboard, and is wearing an outfit that might've been considered bizarre in any other world. It's a full-body combat suit, grey, white and black in color, and equipped with enough weapons to give the US government a heart attack, both visible and invisible to the naked eye. Normally he had a white, hooded cloak on, as well as a skeletal mask to hide his face, but he was at his base which was so secure even SHIELD had yet to knock down his door, so he didn't bother with that precautionary measure.

His name was Taskmaster; assassin, mercenary, and a nearly unbeatable combat chameleon. Enemy of SHIELD and instructor of his own school for mercenaries. He was skilled in nearly all levels of combat, with any weapon imaginable, and accompanied with his photogenic memory and weapons savant nature, it made him one of the most notorious mercenaries in the entire world - only if you could afford his rates.

Right now though, he isn't on a job, nor is he looking for one. He has a different objective in mind.

After a rather humiliating defeat from Spider-Man and White Tiger at Midtown High, he wanted more than ever to put those "heroes" in their place. Taskmaster wasn't one for licking his wound and running off with his tail tucked between his legs, he patched himself up through information and planning. And despite how agitating Spider-Man was, Taskmaster was still rather intrigued with him - whether his interests were good or bad were yet to be determined.

Spider-Man's speed, his agility, strength, and reflexes - it was fascinating. There possibilities that one would have with powers like that. It was a shame Spider-Man rejected his offer to teach him, he would've made an excellent mercenary.

Alas, all of that potential was wasted on an idiotic boy who couldn't stop his mouth from running. Taskmaster didn't believe for a second that Spider-Man was, well, a man. At least not a full-grown one. He was nothing but a delinquent kid pretending he's a big boy, a teenager, probably no older than 16, maybe 17, despite what the hero-wannabe wanted the public to believe.

Taskmaster could tell in the way the boy carried himself. His attitude was a bit too juvenile to be adult, his habits too pubescent, and his knowledge of the school too familiar. Why would SHIELD equip a single New York school with so many "security systems" if it wasn't housing a gaggle of their agents anyway? It couldn't just be for precautionary reasons either, as SHIELD hadn't been inclined to include these systems in any other school in the city. Besides, Coulson was acting as the principal there, which was weird in itself (unless the agent developed a new hobby since the last time Taskmaster saw him - which he doubted), so there had to be a reason behind it.

Taskmaster believed that not only did Spider-Man attend Midtown High, but the rest of his little SHIELD team did as well. White Tiger also knew an astonishing amount about the school and its layout - not to mention she made the mistake of revealing that he cut her from the "City-Wide Athletic Achievement Contest", which was entirely made up, so it was really all the evidence he needed.

Now, it was just a matter of finding out who they are.

He told Octavius that Spider-Man wasn't at Midtown, but that was only so he didn't have anyone else poking around and trying to uncover the boys' identity before he could, and after watching the man throw a tantrum, he returned to his base to begin his search.

Before leaving Midtown he downloaded a file of all the students in the school, their classes, and their schedules, and looking through them once he already had them committed to memory. Of course, it would've been easier getting Spider-Man's entire file from the SHIELD database in Coulson's computer, but that was overloaded with so many clearance codes, security measures, and firewalls that Taskmaster would've needed a few days (at least) and all his software to decrypt it - and that was if he had the time and went unnoticed. Hacking SHIELD wasn't like hacking into a bank or a politician's email; the organization was so paranoid you'd have to pry their secrets from their cold dead fingers. Not that it mattered, Taskmaster was confident he could figure out the identities of a few kids.