Chapter One: Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man

The night was silent. Its darkness covered the old city of Moscow, hiding it's cold beauty under the ugly shadows cast by the beaming moon. A stray dog could be heard in the distance shouting his sadness; for the night was understanding but mute, so his pain could remain forever hers.

A sudden noise roared loud in the night, cracking the silence that numbed the life out of its city. Lights were getting turned on in the area from where the noise came from. The disturbing sound came from the rooftops were someone was screaming in fear and apparently was running for his life.

The man had been running for a while, his breath getting out of control as his steps were getting sluggish. He jumped on another roof with ease but his foot got caught in a gas pipe, making him stumble, breaking his leg. The man left a scream of pain escape his lips as tears started to pour from his eyes, rolling on his lips, leaving a salty taste in his mouth.

Cold rain started to fall from the black clouds hovering over the city. A bolt of light ripped open the sky, drenching the city in a shower of light, bringing life back to it. The light cleared the shadows on the mans face, making his features visible. A pair of blue eyes were searching scared through the darkness, not knowing what things might lurk in it. His spiked hair was now clinging to his forehead with gel flowing on his face, oozing over his eyes making them sting.

He tried to get back on his feet, but his broken leg didn't allow it. His last resort was trying to crawl to the edge of roof. An overwhelming pain streamed through his body making his senses go numb as the man gradually started to pass out.

A sudden noise brought back all his senses with fear dominating pain, rushing adrenaline into his hearth. Footsteps were approaching slow from the dark as the man tried to get back on his feet supporting his weight on the edge of the roof. In desperation the man cried out at the shadows in front of him:

What are you?

For a couple of seconds that seemed to pass just like an eternity there was only silence. But then a harsh voice, filled with rage and sadness replied:

Your nightmare!

There was another silence that creped over the shadows but this one was longer, much more menacing. The only sounds that could be heard were those made by the rain as it was touching the cold ground.

He could hear his heart pounding louder and harder in his chest almost as if it wanted to burst out. The ground was slippery so when the man tried to stand up again he lost his balance and fell over the edge to his death. A mute scream came from his mouth as he was about to touch the ground below, his head was spinning with regret and tears ran down his cheek flying in the air.

And then he stopped.

He wasn't dead, the man was sure of that. His face was one meter from the pavement where his jacket had fallen, and was now spread open just like he would have been if something hadn't stopped his impending death.

He felt something sticky on his legs and reached with his fingers to touch the unknown substance. It was some kind of rope, but it felt as strong as a metal only that its density resembled more a spiders web than anything else. There were two of them, one was sticking to his back and one covered his legs, making his fall impossible.

Suddenly, the ropes started to move and carried the man to the top of the roof from which he had fallen. When he reached the top, he was hanging with his head upside down and he could see that the ropes were glued to the floor by a substance that looked similar to the web covering him.

The shadows started to move and a dark figure emerged from the darkness with the light of the moon in his back making his presence even more threatening. The man couldn't see well trough the rain and the night didn't help either, but the head of the creature that came from nothingness was clear even to his eyes, for the creatures face was inches from his own.

It wasn't really a face, for it was more of a mask. It was red with a black web on the surface and eyes as dark as the night, making it look like death itself came for the little mans soul. The harsh voice that was heard before spoke again, this time louder:

Where are you keeping her?

I don't know…I don't know what you are talking about! Mumbled the frightened man.

Spare me of your lies, you little shit! Tell me where she is or this time, I let you die.

I swear, I don't know!

DON'T LIE TO ME! Yelled the infuriated creature.

With a inhuman ease, the creature grabbed the man from his shirt and threw him to the wall, making a crack in it. Blood was gushing from the man forehead and his other leg had broken to, with his shattered bone ripping through the skin, making the red liquid flow in a pool of dirty water.

But the creature hadn't finished with the man yet. In a split of a second he appeared in front of the man and with disturbing brutality he placed his foot on the man's broken bone and started to press harder and harder until the man started to yell like he had gone insane. White foam appeared in the corners of his mouth while struggling to free his leg from the pain thus making it even painful.

The creature brought back his leg, releasing the other mans pain, but just for a second. Without a single word, he thrusted his foot with cruelty and broke his leg in two right in the spot where his bone had gone through the skin.

The man passed out from the pain. He didn't even have time to react when he felt the coldness cover him, and immediately his body went numb and his mind started to detach. He only had a few seconds to rest from the pain, because the creature brought him back with a few slaps.

When he opened his eyes he was standing again upside down over the edge of the roof. He looked at his leg and saw that it was standing in a gruesome angle. That sight made his stomach cringe and if he hadn't been standing in that position he would have definitely barfed. What surprised him most was the fact that he couldn't sense any pain anymore. It was possible that his amazement was very clear because the creature said:

Don't worry, the pain will come back in a few minutes. I gave you a small painkiller to have you up and ready for a little chat.

I already told you, I know nothing.

And I have to remind you that you have another leg that I can break in half and I can assure you, I ain't gonna waste another painkiller on you. So tell me, where are you holding her.

I don't know…I swear.

Your word doesn't mean shit to me, you fucking little pig.

The creature grabbed the man's head in his palm and started to squeeze with such force that blood started to pour from his nose. The creature stopped and with his other hand he landed a powerful punch that made four of his teeth fly to the ground below. His nose was broken, almost ripped in half, with one nostril torn in half.

Tell me where are you holding her, or I will kill you.

I don't…

Another punch that ruptured other two teeth and made his eye swallowed in a grotesque way.

Where is she?

I…

His fist caught his ear with such force that blood sprouted from it all over his mask. A lazy move with the back of his hand and the blood had been whipped.

Let's try this again. Where is the girl?

Ble bhlocks…

I didn't get that, where?

Te dhocks! The man barely managed to mumble the words, before passing out from all the blood that had gone to his head.

Was it that hard?

The creature removed the web and put him on his shoulder. The next thing that the man will see is going to be the bed sheets from the hospital and a pair of cuffs to tie him to his bed.

The creature was standing on the roof of the hospital when the rain finally stopped. The skies cleared a little and the moon was now casting her fluorescent light over the city. Now the creature was clearly visible.

Without all the shadows that covered him, he still looked dangerous. He had a red suit, with black web intertwining all over it, just like the mask; the sides under his arms and over the ribs were the same black. His pants were dark, with the red boots made from a metal alloy that was light as a feather and as strong as adamantium. His knees and elbows were protected by the same kind of alloy, only it was silver and not red. He had a black spider on his back which in fact was a backpack in which he stored painkillers, tracking devices and his favorites, cigarettes. On his chest he wore a black spider from which his eight arms stretched from the center of his chest to the back. His red gloves were enhanced with a pair of gauntlets on which three circles kept rotating, each bigger than the other one. Those gauntlets created a magnetic field that helped his synthetic web, which has been combined with a light metal for resistance, to reach further distances and helped it hit the toughest targets with ease.

This was the first time he was wearing these suit, which for all purposes was just a prototype. His suit has changed many times in the last twenty years, but this one had something to it, a certain edge that can't be described.

He reached his right ear with his index finger and pressed something. Then he said:

I got their position. Yes, I am at the hospital. No, I haven't beaten him up that bad. Maybe a couple of teeth give or take five. I know this isn't a joke, but he kept lying and…I know…I know it's not going to bring them back, but it makes me feel good about myself. The suit? Yeah, it's fucking awesome. I haven't felt this free since I wore the symbiote, and that was twenty years ago. The magnets work perfectly and the web feels like it's indestructible, but what I like the most it's the targeting system. It's like I don't even have to work anymore, it's doing my job for me. Ok, I'll be back in about an hour. Spider-man, out.

He touched his ear again and broke off the conversation.

Spider-man looked at the sky and sighed with sadness. He took his mask off revealing a thirty-seven year old man, with a scruffy beard and piercing hazel eyes. His buzz cut made him look even older, but the two scars on his face really made the difference. He had one over his left eye and the other that was stretching from his right ear to his collar bone. Grief and sorrow covered his aging face, a relic of the always smiling and optimistically Peter Parker, the Spider-man that always had a pun for everything, the Spider-man that never backed-down, the Spider-man that hadn't lost everything yet.

Peter walked to the edge and sat down with his feet dangling in nothingness. It was a weird feeling, knowing that if you fell down you wouldn't die because you could swing away in a second. It was weird feeling indeed.

He opened his backpack and took from it a pack of cigarettes, removing one and putting it back. One of the things he put Harry install in this new suit was a lighter that was attached to his little finger. He pressed a button on his wrist and a little fire came from his finger, and with it he lighted his cigarette. He pressed his wrist again and the little fire died. Peter took a deep breath from the smoke and exhaled a grey smoke that took the form of four circles.

Finishing his cigar he stood up and threw away the stump. He put his mask back on, and jumped from the edge.