Caught in a Spyder's web
The sun shone brightly down on Central Town It was late in the morning and was getting close to noon. Many would be awake by this hour, but someone wasn't. A loud snoring could be heard coming from the apartment complex in mid-town, apartment # 44.
The apartment was one of the largest in the complex, sparing no luxuries. It was complete with a fully filled kitchen, a rec. room containing a large flat screen television and several game systems, a bathroom complete with shower and hot tub, and a large bedroom. The owner of the apartment, who was still sawing logs, and would have continued to, if his PET hadn't gone off.
"Ughhh…" was his response as his Personal Terminal continued to ring. He let it ring a few more times, before he finally reached over and grabbed it off his nightstand.
"Uhhh…Hello?"
"Hey buddy! You still sleeping? Today's a new day!"
"Can't I just sleep in for one day?"
"Why would you? There's bounty to be sought and I got a tip on a large payer." That woke him up.
"Give me the details. I'll be there in a few minutes."
"That's the Bounty hunter I know. Don't disappoint me, Spyder."
Spyder began to chuckle at this. He had been working as a bounty hunter for several years now, and never once had he let a bounty slip between his fingers and Jack, his informant, knew that. Getting out of bed, he placed his PET on his desk and set it to speakerphone as he started getting ready.
"So Jack, who's our target for today?" He asked as he grabbed a pair of jeans from his closet.
"He's a well known criminal, a guy by the name of Toshiro and his net navi, who both go around as "Kingpin". He's been alluding the Netpolice for months now and has been reported causing trouble in the area."
"Doesn't sound to tough to me." Was his answer as he pulled a red sleeveless shirt over his head. He reached over and grabbed his comb as he asked Jack for more info.
"What's the pay for this guy?"
"He has an estimated value of about 20 million zenny. With the usual fifty/fifty pay, that comes to 10 million for the both of us." That was Jack. He got Spyder the info and got fifty percent of the pay.
Once Spyder was done combing his hair, he grabbed his trademark jacket, a green jacket with purple cuffs and neck, out of his closet. A spider web design ran down the back of it. Slipping it on, he asked Jack for any more info.
"The only other thing I got was that he was seen around the mall area ten minutes ago. You may have to hurry."
"Great, now you tell me. Why is it you wait till I'm about to leave to tell me the important stuff?"
"More fun I geuss." Jack's laugh could be heard in the background as Spyder grabbed his PET and ended the call. Placing it in his pocket, he slipped on his running shoes and slipped on his orange tinted sunglasses as he walked out into the day.
Spyder had been living by himself for many years, getting by off the bounties of many of the cities well known criminals. Other then having a bounty hunters licence in his pocket, he looked like any other 15-year-old, with his green hair combed back neatly and his green eyes hidden behind his sunglasses. Looking at his watch, he broke into a run he saw he could make it to the mall area in a few minutes.
Meanwhile, a strange man was walking through the central mall. Even though it was a hot summer day, he wore a heavy fur coat. Several gold rings were crammed onto his pudgy fingers and a pair of pitch-black sunglasses covered up his eyes. He was far from being inconspicuous.
Every one starred at him as he walked into a diamond store. He started by hovering over the cases of diamonds, browsing. Several minutes later, an attendant at the shop walked up to the display case where he was browsing.
"Excuse me sir, may I help you?"
"Yes…yes you can…" Before anyone could react, he grabbed the attendant by the neck and pulled a loaded revolver from his pocket, placing it against his head.
"Nobody move or I'll blow his head right off!!!" Every gasped and dropped to the floor. Sweat began to drip down the attendant's head as the barrel of the gun was pressed harder against his skull.
"Now, do as I say and nobody gets hurt. You!" He points at the lady behind the counter. "Take all the diamonds in the store and place them in a bag."
Not wanting to get shot, she quickly unlocked the diamond case and started shovelling the diamonds into one of the shop's bags. Nobody noticed as she pushed the panic button under the counter.
"Hurry it up or someone'll be cleaning brain matter off of the walls!!" At this threat, she quickly grabbed the rest of the diamonds and slowly handed him the bag, which he grabbed greedily. He was about to walk out of the store, when he heard sirens on the other side.
"The cops! You wench!!" Quickly pulling the gun away from his hostage, he fired a shot at the cashier, hitting her in the shoulder and knocking her back. Quickly placing his gun back on his hostages skull, he placed his ear against the doors as he heard cop after cop file in.
"Toshiro Kingpin! We know you're in there! Come out with your hands up!" One of the cops called from the cluster.
"Fat chance! If I go down, I'm taking this whole shop full of people with me, so if you don't want all these people to get shot, you'll stay back!"
The cop winced at this. He had face Toshiro several times before, and knew that he wouldn't think twice about slaughtering ever-single person in that store. He signalled his troops to move back as he attempted to negotiate.
"Now, now Toshiro. We can work something out---"
"Like hell we can! I ain't making any deals! You listen to me, or I kill this whole store!" He fired off a warning shot, making several of the hostages' scream.
"Ok…what is it you want?"
Toshiro began to smile. " I want all you cops to move back and clear a path for me. I also need a cop car parked outside with the keys still in the ignition. Don't get me those and…" He fired another warning shot up in the air, creating a sizeable hole in the ceiling.
"Okay… we'll see what we can do." He was about to grab his walkie-talkie, when suddenly, an alarm went out through the entire mall.
"What did you do?!" Screamed Toshiro.
"This isn't me! Something's wrong with the system!" Before either of them could continue, steel doors slid down over the shop entrance, sealing it shut. Toshiro began to bang against the door, like a caged animal.
"What is going on? Who sealed the door?" asked the cop.
"That…would be me." Came a voice from behind him. All the cops turned to see Spyder walking in the front door of the mall. One of the cops raised their weapon to him.
"Stop! This are is off limits to…" before he could finish, the lead cop grabbed the gun in the hand.
"Let him go. He's a hunter."
The rest of the cops were reluctant to let him pass, but they weren't about to disobey a direct order from a superior, so they all let their weapons drop as Spyder walked by.
"Hello, captain Johnson."
"Hey Spyder. I was expecting you to get here with a bounty on this guy's head."
"You know me. Anyway, hand me your megaphone. I've got a plan."
Captain Johnson had seen Spyder work many times. He had actually helped them apprehend most of the dangerous criminals, just for their bounty. Since Jonhson was the one who gave him his pay, they both knew each other pretty well.
He trusted Spyder, so he handed him his megaphone and stepped back. Spyder slowly stepped towards the shop, where Toshiro was still banging against the steel door. Turning the volume up on the megaphone, he proceeded to talk to the crazed criminal.
"Hey, Toshiro!" Toshiro stopped banging at the sound of his name.
"Who is it?!"
"That's none of your concern. I have a proposal for you. I've got a car outside filled with gas and several bags of cash."
Toshiro's ears peeked up at the mention of money. "Go on."
"My navi is jacked into the shops computer. If you can defeat him, every single one of these cops will leave and you'll be on your way to a clean get away. Think you can do that?"
"Ha! Like I can lose! Kingpin, Jack in!" Pulling his silver PET out of his pocket, he launched his navi into the system. In a flash of white light, a large navi appeared. Like it's operator, he had a huge coat of armour and had rings on every one of his fingers. In each hand, he held a customised revolver.
"Alright! Where's this weak navi I'm gonna destroy?!"
"You mean me?" came a voice from above him. Looking up, all he saw was darkness and a pair of red eyes.
"You scared? Come on down and show yourself!"
A laugh could be heard coming from the darkness. "It's your funeral." Before Kingpin could react, something green fell from the ceiling and he gasped at what he saw.
It looked like some kind of mutated spider virus. Its body was covered in silver armour and six green armoured limbs were running from it. Spikes were acting as its feet. It's head looked like a helmet, with a pair of fangs on the top. 8 purple eyes stared up at him from the top of the head.
"Wh-wh-what is that?!?"
As the question left his mouth, the giant spider began to advance him. Kingpin held up his revolvers, but it was hard to lock on because his arm wouldn't stop shaking. Unable to get a decent shot, he began to fire at random, missing completely as the spider started getting closer and closer.
"Get away! Russian roulette!" His revolver barrel began to spin, sliding a bullet in and out of the barrel. This was his ultimate attack, with enough force to delete any navi. As the spider veered up to attack, he pulled the trigger.
The gun clicked as he fired off an empty barrel.
In seconds of his misfire, the spider was upon him. Knocking the revolver from his hand, it pinned him down to the ground with its six legs. Drool began to drip from its fangs onto his scared face. Before he could react, webbing began to spread from the spiders' mouth, and in moments, he was completely immobilised by a thick cocoon of spider web.
"Kingpin! Kingpin! Answer me!" Toshiro had been cut off from his navi, his PET screen covered in static. He was starting to panic, as he heard the large metal doors slide open.
Throwing his hostage, he began to fire blindly, hoping to hit something. After several seconds, he stopped shooting as he ran out of ammo. Opening his eyes, he saw no one standing infront of the door. Leaning out a little, he suddenly noticed a noise. A small, ticking noise.
Looking down, he saw a small green capsule below him. Before he could even move out of the way, it exploded, sending a thick net flying towards him and in seconds, he was like his navi: entangle in a thick web.
The police quickly moved in, helping the hostages and the cashier out of the shop. Her bleeding had stopped but she was still unconscious. As every one cheer to be alive, Spyder walked up to his "catch", his PET already held against his ear.
"Hey Jack. Got me another one. I'll send you your half once I get it."
"Awesome! You never let me down do you?"
"Of course not. Well, got to get my pay, call ya later, Bye." With that, he hung up, and looked at the green spider on his screen, still holding Kingpin in his thick cocoon.
"Flawless as ever eh, Arachnaman?"
Standing on its hind legs, he started to transform. The spikes at the end of its "arms" began to slide in, hands sliding back out. The arms on its shoulders reached back, lying down on his back. Green armour began to slide over the arms, covering them completely. A dark visor slid form his helmet, sliding over his rows of eyes. A small patch of silver armour slid away on his chest, revealing his symbol: a huge spider web.
"Ya…sometimes I wish it was an actual challenge."
Maybe someday we'll get lucky, but for now, let's just collect our pay."
"Alright…" In a flash of blue light, he disappeared with Kingpin in tow, replaced by the words "LOGOUT". In seconds, he was back in his PET and Kingpin was sent over to the station, his bounty sent over in return . Spyder was just about to leave , when the captain walked up to him.
"Thanks for the help."
"It was nothing. I was only here for the bounty."
"Nether the less, if you ever get tired of bounty hunting, your welcome to join the force. We need people like you."
"Thanks for the offer, but I have a date with a bed and my pillow." Yawning slightly, he let the cops take care of Toshiro, quickly called a taxi and was on his way back to his apartment, 10 million zenny richer.