I have to make it right. That's what I promised myself. My webbing screams out of my body like a spray of desperation, my Sense can't spread out worth a damn but I can't let Zeke die.
Fear fills my mind, 'Gotta save him! Gotta make it right! Keep going, keep pushing, you're Spider-Man!' Weight slams into me from above, my webline snapping in seconds, concrete cracks under the slam, hot and heavy breath ghosts into my ear.
"Hello, Spider..." a voice purrs, "I can't wait to kill you..."
"Okay lady, if I wanted a creepy stalker, I woulda watched... the RING!" I snarl, my new Spider-Legs snapping out of my back with a blinding and searing pain.
She goes flying back, multiple scorpion legs tacking into the building surface. Tail whipping out and stabbing into it. It's wicked and black shelled. Her hair is long but tinted green.
I take to the air, webbing lashing out and landing on her in thick gobs. My head pulses like the heavy bass in a Korn song. A shockwave hits just inches from where I landed.
"Just my lucky day..." I huff, "Hey, Shockie! Didn't know you had a friend!" The Scorpion lady slams back into me.
"Owwww!" I yell, "BAD TOUCH!" I slam my head into hers and she still holds onto me, tail about to stab into me but I break out again. My body can't take much more of this. Every second I break away from her, Shocker brings me back into her arms. The pain's almost too much.
The Scorpion's breath ghosts on my mask, "That's it... that's it..." she breathes, "Just like that, Spider. Keep fighting me!" she jabs me right between the ribs.
"Ghhhahhhh!" I scream, my wrists hurt, and then bursting out of them come two long sharp needle-like blades. Stingers. While they aren't dripping my poison I just need to keep her busy.
I slam them into her neck and toss her off, folding up the top half of my mask, my fangs dripping venom. Heart going a mile a minute, the pulses of Shocker's gauntlets being louder and louder.
Scorpion grins, her tail scraping along the rooftop, we fought our way to the top. The two of us standing off. Her tail grinds on the surface and my legs spread out and point at her.
"Spider, we're two of a kind... I was stung, you were bitten, we're fated." she creeps forward and I tense. Just as I do; my head starts swimming. Almost like I got the biggest hit of a sedative. It feels... good. I stumble forwards trying to close the distance but falling.
Scorpion giggles as I try to focus, "Aww, are you tired already?" she closes in, catching me and holding me.
"Just let it take you, Spider. It's alright..." she purrs into my ear, "No more pain, no more heroism. You'll just be blissfully unaware..."
No... no... I don't want to go to sleep yet! She pets the back of my mask, my Spider-Sense can't even read anything, my body relaxes, everything goes black, and there's a soft brush of something on my mouth.
"Take this as a mercy, Spider." Scorpion croons, "If you survive, you'll be stronger."
That's when I hear the sound of thunder, and a loud screeching. Jolting me from my near-sleep. Scorpion's on the ground, writhing and changing. Gross crunching noises fill the air as vicious mandibles tear out of her mouth.
"Ghahhh..." Scorpion growls as legs flick out of her sides and her hands burst out pincers with a heavy crackling squelch. Her tail grows even longer and her forehead and cheeks suddenly get more eyes.
Another heavy BANG sounds out with Scorpion dodging; and I slide under her dodge. Every second is precious when in the distance I hear a scream, metal crunching, and a heavy pulse jolts my Sense back to full gear.
Taking to the air with some webbing there's only one thing on my mind. Shocker and Scorpion are working together and I don't know why all these costumed guys keep popping up. Despite the burning in every inch of me, the rising acid in my throat, and the fact that I got shanked in the side with a huge human-proportionate stinger I'm one-hundred percent.
My legs carry me along in concert with my webbing and my Spider-Sense. A rush of air whistles right by my body, a dark green tinted Scorpion Lady lands before trying to leap on me again. Felicia tries to keep her occupied, "I didn't want you to follow me!" My voice raw and pained. Sliding up my mask, my venom blasts out of my mouth with the liquid hissing and spitting into the ground.
"You need all the help you can get!" she snaps with a sniper rifle cradled in her arms. She checks the chamber and magazine before Scorpion's pincer stabs right through the wall causing the both of us to get the hell out of dodge.
"Ghhkkhkhkhkhk..." the rapid clicking and clacking of mandibles sounds out of her mouth and there's more thunder from the rifle. Bullets tinking down onto the rooftop with the pieces torn to shreds. In moments I'm snapping into action and tearing Scorpion away from Felicia.
That's when Shocker reminds us she's here. A strong shockwave thunders and rips through the pavement below; sending the asphalt shooting up and cars flying into the air.
I leap into action, ignoring Scorpion on my heels and webbing up the cars to catch them. Web slats burning and Sense breaking into tons of shards. Felicia's doing her best to keep up and what I don't notice is her dodging Scorpion's moves.
But all I can focus on is the Shocker, "SHOCKER! You don't have to involve people in this!" I scream in for a round two that I never thought would come. My side sears and leaks with blood and pus.
Shocker looks at me with a sly smile under her mask, "Well then, come on!" she turns and jab-blasts a car right over the edge of the Brooklyn Bridge. Without a second to spare I dive for it. The people in there scream and cry, a little boy looking up at me in total abject terror sears dead into my memory. A webline reaches out through the veins on fire and the muscles expanding and contracting again and again.
Even through the throbbing I caught them. Busting out the back window and reaching for the mother and son, "Come on! Quick! I'll... I'll get you back up!" my tone wobbles like a teeter totter. The boy hesitates with his scared eyes making me realize what he has... He's like me. Without a second thought as his mom shimmies up the line, I take off my mask.
"Hey, what's your name?" I ask.
"I'm... I'm uhh... Jerome." he warbles and I keep my grip steady as best I can.
"Jerome, take this." I reach out with my mask in hand, "It'll make you strong, stronger than you know okay?" he nods and puts it on. Beginning his climb up the seats when the tell-tale snapping pings through my head.
"That's it... that's it..." I urge, "Come on, kiddo." the line's barely holding anymore. He's in my arms and my legs quickly web up an exit, his face still covered by my mask and even if I'm squinting my route's clear.
Jerome clings to me like I'm the only solid thing around and he'd be right. Even after I land he's grabbed on and not letting go. His mom walks up as Jerome helps me put my mask back on. I pass him to her, his legs wearing the same AFOs I do. I don't have time to roll up my pant legs and show him, but he knows. He watches me with a huge smile as I take to the air and I hear something.
"Mom, Spider-Man's like me!"
The Shocker and Scorpion got away again. My side's on fire. Every muscle in my body just wants to tear apart and shut down all at the same time. Felicia supports me with her shoulder and I lean against her.
"Zeke... we need to... find him." gasping and barely able to breathe without the stabbing and searing getting worse is a feat of what I don't know. My eyes blur her into a cloudy silver blob with two smaller blue blobs that're supposed to be her eyes. Every bit of me quits at the same time, "Jack?! Jack, hey!" she snaps. Mercy, sweet mercy, I fall asleep. The burning thrum going through my head and leaving me going off into dreams.
My entire body throbs like I got run over by a truck but I'm at least somewhere safe. A TV is on and tuned to the news. I lost. Fucking hell I lost. Where I ended up was pretty much in an apartment somewhere in someone's bed hooked up to medical machines.
The news catches my attention.
"Two days ago the vigilantes known as Spider-Man and the Black Cat were seen engaging with The Shocker, Hanna Schultz, and Maria Gargan otherwise known as the Scorpion." the anchor pulls me out of my sleep and all I hear is how I failed.
Something cold and wet sits on my forehead and there's a bucket of pus and blood. I'm lying on my side. Sleeping soundly near me is Felicia with her platinum blonde hair falling over her face. When my Sense pings back on there's this sensation of a stronger one in the distance. He's close? I try to raise my head but dizziness and the swimming of my frazzled brain lets me drop again.
That's when I notice the lady in scrubs at the door and Felicia pops up. The lady has short black hair and her dark eyes take in the fact that we're awake. She steps in and my girlfriend gets up.
"Claire, how is he?" she asks with a yawn stretching out before she spoke. Claire looks at the pus and blood bucket and winces.
"I don't know how your little spider friend made it." the nurse sighs, kneeling beside me and smiling down at me, "Hey. What's your name?"
"J-Jack..." I warble, "Where...?"
The last thing I remember is passing out in my girlfriend's arms. Claire undoes my bandages, seeing the ugly puncture that's certain to scar over. She looks into my eyes and smiles a little.
"Can you tell me how you resisted that poison?" she asks.
"Better. Gimme a cup." I answer and poise my fangs over the lip, pressing down and my sacs let out their venom. Foamy and meant to mix into my saliva. She's gloved so it won't hurt her.
"Oh, you have your own poison." she takes it into the other room and Felicia walks over and gently touches my cheek.
"Hey baby..." she purrs, "How're you?"
"I feel like shit." my tired tone makes her almost want to dote on me. She kneels and kisses me on the forehead.
"You did a good job." she runs her hand through my hair and I close my eyes again. She doesn't know I'm beating myself up over losing it all. All this amazing power and I *still* lost.
What's also got me thinking is the fact that she has skills with a sniper rifle. Almost like she's an expert deep down. I wonder...
"Where'd you get that sniper rifle?" my question hangs there and she smiles just a little bit.
"Well, my Dad has stashes all over the city. I decided to *borrow* it for a bit." she runs her hand through her hair, "Well, whatever's left of it anyway." her blue eyes fill with humor as she swings herself onto the bed.
"Uhh, I'm still hurt." I blurt out and she laughs a little.
"Want me to kiss it better, Spider?" her smile has a hint of excitement in it. Like she's about to send me on a tilt-a-whirl of an adventure. Just like the concert where she surprised me with the fact that she has a band.
But she just lays down near me and just has this serene smile on her face like nothing is wrong at all. I missed two days worth of classes, two days worth of patrols, and the fact that I got stabbed by a stinger absolutely screws with me.
"Felicia?" I ask, and she pops up.
"Hm? What is it?" It's almost weird how eager she is to have me be alone. She's gotten weirder since she saw MJ, I wonder if that's making her so clingy.
"I just have this sneaking suspicion that you've been clingy." Blurting out how I feel is like second nature at this point. She grins and kisses me on the chin.
"Clingy? Of course I am." her voice is glowing with some kind of pride. I don't have time to rest and I look over at my inside-out mask and ruined coat. Trying to get up and seeing the look in her eyes.
"Nope!" she winds her arms tightly around me with a gasp, "Nuh-uh. No sir. You're not getting out of this bed."
She didn't kiss me on the lips, dumbass! She saw me spray out some of my venom. While it would hurt like hell she'd still be alive. Just paralyzed long enough for me to get outta here and get back to stopping Scorpion and Shocker.
Saving Zeke was top priority. The old man never liked me ever since I knew him but I gotta save him. If I don't it'd be just like losing Dad all over again, a mistake that cost him his life. Just like how my indecision and recklessness cost Zeke any level of hiding. He probably knew the risks but at the same time...
I wait until she's asleep. My Felicia, the girl who whisked me off my feet and into the deep end, the one who saw me be a hero for the first time. I can't let her get hurt either.
Sure, she can take care of herself, but it's the idea that anything can happen that scares me. Facing Scorpion was like facing down a natural predator. She still got me but at the same time I can't take another death.
I kiss Felicia on the forehead, "Sleep well, Cat." I whisper and wiggle my way out of her arms, pulling on my turtleneck and ruined jacket with the mask waiting.
When I hit the air there's only one thought in my mind.
It ends tonight.
My Spider-Sense runs right into Zeke's. The pulse is strong so he's not dead. (Thank God.) But now he's somewhere in Hell's Kitchen which isn't even the right spot. That's the Daredevil's place and I doubt he'd appreciate the superhuman stuff bleeding into his. Then it fades out and I should've known it was a trap. It's back another way? Wha-
The weight slams into me and sends me crashing into the rooftop of a building. Scorpion grins down at me with her tail wound around my neck but my Spider-Strength grips it with my legs trying to turn her ribs to powder.
Her grinning mouth lets out a soft laugh, "Struggle all you want, Spider. You'll die all the same."
My hands are at the level of my eyes and my inner world is on fire. Body's back to being numb again but not from the poison. My fangs bite down hard on a segment and she tosses me with a yowl. My venom's got into her. With a sliding feeling coming out of my back the Spider-Legs I have slide out and my Sense expands to them with their splitting and raining their own spindly blows into Scorpion.
I kick her backward with the full force of my spidery limbs and human ones going back into a crouch. My venom slows her down. Fear thrums through her and she tries to run away. Not this time! Strings of webbing spread between my fingertips and I lash them around her using it as a kind of net.
"Keeeeee!" she screams, her mandibles snapping out and I drag her closer. All I can think of is if that tail stabbed into Mom or Felicia or even Eddie and MJ. I can't let Scorpion go.
"Where's Zeke?" I snarl, "Talk or I'll start with your tail."
She shivers and all sense of bravado is gone. She's snapping at the air almost terrified but it could all be an act. I soften just a little.
"Look, you attacked me first. If you can tell me where the old man is, and maybe who put you up to this, I won't rip your tail off." I try to stay casual despite the fact that this gal tried to kill me with her venom.
Her dark eyes glare into mine with my Sense blazing to life like a gas fire. A pincer screams by where I was. Her tail whips around and I grab it with the stinger still leaking her venom out until I give it a tug with all my might. The carapace shatters and the scream she lets out is one that sets my blood to ice and my heart stops for just a few seconds. she scrambles back with the stump wildly wiggling as if it's still there.
Her eyes fill with fear and her pincers snap with her mandibles tearing through her cheeks. There'll be nothing left of her if she doesn't start talking. Stalking towards her with my Spider-Legs sliding out of my back.
"Leave me alone! Noooo!" her brutalized voice screams, and I pause.
"Tell me where the old man is." I growl not even realizing that this is probably what whoever is doing this wants. Despite the oncoming hell that was my Cooldown I still wanted to find him.
Some part of me still wants to save him despite how little he actually helped me. How little he actually seemed to like me. I close in on Scorpion and kneel with a stinger trained at her throat.
"Tell me Scorpion." Snarling that out like I'm really going to kill her. Deep down I feel something egging me on to do it. It's an almost natural instinct. Like how a spider catches and eats prey in its web.
That's when she cries, "I didn't want this..." she sobs, "It made me... it changed me!" her voice breaks and the mandibles retract with the pincers and legs. But the tail still wiggles jerkily.
"Kill me..." she sniffles, "Just do it. It's only a matter of time before I come after you again." My stinger retracts and I set my arm down.
This was wrong. Even if she attacked me and tried to kill me that wasn't all her. I mean the fact that I even went full on autopilot with the tail tearing and dodging before that has to be natural instinct from the Spider that bit me.
"No. There's gotta be a way to help you." I reach out and she looks up at me in shock. Almost like she's never had anyone reach out like this before even after this. She dries her eyes.
"The docks... over that way. There's a warehouse. He's there."
"Thank you. Sorry for the tail." I offer her a weak smile but she doesn't return it. Who could blame her? She still stays solemn.
"Beware the Hunter, Spider-Man." Filled with desperate conviction, "The Shocker isn't the only one left." Thinking about it, it makes a ton of sense. Most villains have a big boss leading them.
"Got it, one more mook before the big boss." Getting into a leap I end up swinging off towards the docks unsure of what I'd find there. Of course there doesn't look like anyone's here considering it's the dead of night.
The warehouse itself is a little run down but considering the Fisk guys were once here back when Daredevil used to patrol this section of the city one can't be too careful.
My Sense pings something familiar. It's Zeke's Sense alright. Pinging again and again like a distress signal. I hop onto the roof of the warehouse and look down into the room. It's almost pitch black except for a ring of light banishing the darkness. Sitting with his leg stumps hanging limp from his back and shoulders with his head down is a passed-out Zeke. Slipping through the skylight I stick to the shadows. He raises his head and looks behind him right at me.
"Kid?" he hisses.
"You're not dying on me yet." I cut him free with my stingers and he lets a smile out that he was probably holding in. He rubs his wrists and just as we're about to get the hell out of dodge...
BWAAM! A shockwave rips out of nowhere and bursts the light and my Spider-Sense to nothing but sparks. My sense pings out and The Shocker is mapped off the constantly echoing walls...
I'm one-hundred, no, two-hundred percent going to die.
Fuck.
The cameras flicker and the man sitting in a cushy chair adjusts them. The other few screens were night vision. He leans forward and grins wearing a silver suit and almost eagerly watching as he sees the Shocker and the two Spiders facing off.
"Удачной охоты, Паук."
