The night was cold and the powerful gusts of wind unforgiving. The last place you'd want to be on a night like this, is a dim, dark alleyway in New York City. However, as the rain poured down around him as he perched on the ledge, our hero, Spiderman, seemed quite at home. He listened in on the low level thugs around him, who were all waiting for someone, or something. As they waited, they started discussing 'The New Boss', intrigued, Spiderman tried to get closer to them, so he could hear better. Now crouching around the corner from them, Spidey could hear, but he was blind. As one of the criminals was about to give away a key peice of information; the whereabouts of their 'new boss', his intel suddenly fell silent, and the previous noise of quite mumouring was replaced by gunshots and thudding noises. Alarms ringing in the Web Slinger's head, he quickly sprang onto the scene, only to see all the thugs on the floor, dead, and a shadow fleeing in the distance. Spiderman, with haste, scaled the wall infront of him, only to realise that the assailant had gone away.
Spidey unmasked, revealing a sweaty Peter Parker. Looking confused, and annoyed about his information being cut off, he saw a flash, coming from behind him. He knew that flash didn't come from his camera, he hadn't put one up. He put his mask back on as quickly as possible and grabbed the mysterious camera. He scanned over the camera, for an indication of whom it might belong to, but the only thing he discovered was that the camera was bluetooth activated, meaning the photographs taken on it could very well of already been sent to someone. His heart racing, for fear of his secret identity being revealed, he quickly flicked through the photographs saved on the device. There was only one picture of him, where you could only see his back and legs, relieved, Peter carried on looking. Once he saw the second photograph, Peter realised he wasn't the target of this candid photo shoot, it was... another vigilante? This man wore a stylish gray bomber jacket, which covered his hands, along with a costume, not to disimilar to Peter's, only Gray, with a white, diagonal cross branded on the chest. He was equiped with two handguns, and carried a utility belt with several fancy gadgets on them. There were photos of him leaping over rooftops, punching criminals and shooting them dead. As he flicked through them some more Peter realised only two things: one, whoever this was, was out to make a name for himself, and two? He is armed and dangerous.
The next day, Peter Parker arrived at the office of J Jonah Jameson at the Daily Bugle, and saw something shocking, which sent a shock down Parker's spine: Spiderman was not on the front page. He was replaced by the same gray and white branded vigilante Peter saw the previous night. Not wanting to seem to suspisicous, Peter asked, in his most monotone, unintereasted voice who sent in the snaps of the new superhero. Jameson laughed, reminding Peter it was HIM who sent in the photo's, and said he liked Peter's name for him: The Risktaker. Jameson said it was nice to see a hero getting some REAL results with the criminals of New York, and encouraged Peter to get more candids of this new vigilante. Peter, confused, gave his best attempt to play along, claiming to remember sending the photo's in now. He did, however, seem a bit more pleased with the $500 paycheck he was then handed. As Peter left, he muttered to himself quitely, pondering whom this fellow vigalante will be, friend, or foe?
Determined to meet with this new crimefighter, Spiderman hides near a group of unsuspecting goons, hoping Risktaker would show his face. But after the goons start to harrass a girl passing through the dark alleyway, Spiderman feels the need to intervene, and quickly rounds up the villians in a web, and attempts to comfort the young woman. As she leaves, Spiderman hears two gunshots, to see the three criminals he had in his web, had been mortally wounded by gunshots. He spun around, coming face to face with a pistol. In front of him, was, of course, The Risktaker. Risktaker said Spiderman's methods were outdated and useless, that the justice system once worked, but now, it's a mockery, and these rapists, muggers and murderers would be back on the street mere months after imprisonment. Spiderman countered, claiming he was just as bad if he kills the criminals. But Risktaker simply replies 'eye for an eye, spiderman.'
Realising he wasn't going to get through to him, Spiderman leapt into combat, successfully webbing up Risktaker's firearms. He then tried to attack Risktaker with his fists, but the new 'hero' went toe-to-toe with him, beating him to almost every strike. Spiderman attempted to get the upperhand with an aerial attack, but Risktaker's parkour technique's were just as effective as Spiderman's web for scaling walls. Stunned at his adversary's moves, but refusing to give up, Spiderman tried to leap at him from a 60 foot drop, but his foe's moves were too much and he gave Spidey a crashing roundhouse to the head, sending him falling to the floor from the almighty drop.
Peter awoke several days later, in his civilian clothing, in a hospital bed. The Doctor seemed pleased he was awake, and after a short conversation, revealing it appeared as if Peter was in a car crash. Peter's question on how he was found was answered by the Doctor going into a speech about how 'New York's shining beacon of hope' The Risktaker had saved him from the wreckage, and brought him in, and even left him a note. The note read: 'Parker, I'm the hero this city needs: one that actually brings this villians to justice. Stay at home where you belong, or you will be placing yourself at risk. Your uniform has been burnt, and as far as I, and New York are concerned, Spiderman is dead, keep it that way. - Risktaker'
Peter was stunned, he didn't know what to make of this information, all he knew, was he needed to take this guy down, and bring him to justice, but he knew he had a hard mission ahead.
