Chapter 134: The Last Disruptor
Natasha followed the thick power cable out of the empty control room, moving quietly through the dark lower corridor until she reached the heavy doors of the laundry's boiler room.
The boiler room was stifling. Mason stood on a work platform above the central machine, a rough frame of steel struts and powered joints strapped over his clothes. The thick cable fed into the machine beneath him while two armed guards watched the doors.
Natasha raised her Plumber sidearm, then lowered it slightly.
Beneath the main console, several heavy power cells were glowing dangerously bright, already overheating from the strain of the continuous sonic pulses. If she shot the machine blindly, a stray energy blast could detonate the unstable cells and drop the entire laundry building into the basement.
She waited in the shadows. The harsh hum of the disruptor peaked, held for four seconds, and abruptly cut out.
Natasha entered during the six-second gap.
She crossed the floor and dropped the first guard with a sharp strike to the back of the knee and a heavy blow to the jaw.
The second guard spun, raising a specialized rifle, and fired a concentrated sonic round.
Natasha brought up her left arm. The orange mandala of the Eldritch Guard flared into existence, taking the brunt of the kinetic and acoustic impact. The shield shattered instantly like brittle glass, and the dimensional bracer on her wrist began flashing a red warning light.
She rolled behind a rusted boiler tank as the disruptor fired its next cycle.
"The main controller is in the boiler room," Natasha said into the comms, raising her voice over the noise. "But the power cells are critical. I need time to shut it down safely."
Upstairs, Gwen pushed hard against the heavy steel shutter separating the corridor. It didn't budge. The metal was heavily reinforced, far too thick to tear open quickly while the disruptor continued shredding her spider-sense with false threats.
Matt stood on the other side of the shutter. He couldn't guide her through the acoustics; the overlapping sonic echoes were still overwhelming his radar, leaving him reliant entirely on physical contact with the walls.
"Next gap in three," Natasha's voice cut through the earpiece. "Two. One."
The piercing hum vanished.
Gwen moved immediately. She abandoned the shutter itself and looked up, spotting the heavy locking motor bolted to the ceiling structure above the corridor. She fired two thick web lines, latching onto a steel support bracket nearby, and yanked it down with all her enhanced strength.
The heavy bracket tore free from the concrete and smashed directly into the locking motor. Sparks showered the corridor as the gears grinded and failed. The steel shutter groaned, lifting just high enough to leave a gap near the floor.
Matt dropped to the ground and crawled beneath it just as the disruptor roared back to life.
Gwen didn't waste time celebrating. She pointed down the hall.
"Stop the trucks," she told him.
Matt nodded and broke into a sprint toward the loading bay. Gwen turned and took the stairwell toward the basement.
On the loading dock, Mason's voice blared over the intercom. "Move the equipment! Get the trucks out of here!"
The driver of the first transport slammed the vehicle into gear. The heavy truck began pulling away from the dock while the second crew scrambled to throw the last metal cases into the back of their vehicle.
Matt dropped from the loading-bay rafters onto the first truck's hood. He smashed through the windshield, reached inside and jerked the steering wheel toward the loading-dock barrier. He jumped clear as the truck veered sideways and ground to a stop.
The second driver swerved around it and accelerated toward the alley.
Ethan raised one hand from the rooftop across the street. A portal opened in the truck's path, with its exit appearing at ground level inside the empty half of the loading yard, facing back toward the dock.
The transport shot through. The startled driver slammed on the brakes, sending the truck skidding into a row of bundled laundry carts before it stopped.
Ethan closed the portal. Matt pulled the first driver from the cab and moved to secure the second crew.
Natasha studied the controller from behind the boiler. The generator fed the glowing power cells beneath the platform, while an exposed relay carried power into the pulse controller. An emergency overload lever sat beside Mason's hand.
She switched the Plumber sidearm to its anti-machine setting and fired into the exposed relay.
Blue energy flashed across the connection. The sonic pressure stuttered, and Mason lunged for the overload lever.
Natasha raised her left hand. Widow Thread wrapped around his wrist before his fingers reached it.
She pulled his arm away from the controls. Pain burned through her forearm as the Thread strained against the powered harness, but it held for three seconds.
That was enough.
Natasha fired again. The second pulse struck the controller, sending sparks across the platform before the entire machine died.
The sonic pressure vanished.
Widow Thread collapsed from her hand. The Guard had already shattered, and the damaged bracer on her wrist shut down as its runes faded into dull metal.
The moment the machine died, Gwen's spider-sense cleared.
Gwen dropped into the boiler room as Mason tore a steam valve from the wall with his powered harness and hurled it at her. She twisted aside and webbed both knee joints of the frame.
The servos locked. Mason staggered, ripped a portable emitter from his belt and fired.
The acoustic mesh absorbed the worst of the blast, but the impact still drove Gwen back and sent a sharp ache through her ribs.
Mason tried to fire again.
Gwen kicked the emitter from his hand, crushed it beneath her heel and yanked the webbed harness out from under him. Mason hit the concrete and scrambled toward the maintenance door.
Natasha stepped into the doorway with the Plumber sidearm aimed at his chest.
Gwen webbed Mason's wrists and ankles to the floor before he could reach another device.
Matt returned after securing the trucks and the remaining guards. They removed the power cells from the portable disruptors, copied Mason's files on Gwen's patrol movements and photographed the payment ledgers routed through shell companies.
None of the records named Fisk.
Ethan sealed the dangerous components inside a containment case while Matt called the police. Mason and his crew would be found webbed inside the building with illegal weapons, damaged machinery and enough financial records to keep the immediate charges from disappearing.
Matt shut the final ledger. "None of this reaches Fisk."
Ethan entered only after Natasha confirmed that the controller was dead and the power cells were stable. He swept the boiler room with the Plumber analyzer, then closed the case.
"No dimensional signal escaped. Everything here remained local."
Back at the Sanctum, Natasha placed her dead bracer on the workshop table while Gwen set the crushed sonic emitter beside it.
Gwen flexed her sore fingers, then looked at Ethan. "Meet me on the roof. Privately."
Natasha picked up her remaining bracer and moved to the diagnostic bench.
A few minutes later, Ethan stepped onto the Sanctum roof.
Gwen stood near the parapet in her patched Spider-Woman suit, her mask resting beside her as she looked over the city.
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