Wings of Death Part 2: Cry of The Vulture
It was warm. A slight breeze was coming in from the north. Ozone was lower than usual. There were a lot of people on the streets. Adrian smiled from behind the black reflective helmet.
The lanky assassin stood atop a tall building, dressed in the green and black body armor. The small digital clock displayed at a corner interior of the helmet read 4:49 PM. Good time to find some food.
Adrian wasn't thinking of what his employer would say about a little day light massacre, but Adrian didn't really think too much about things. Besides, he needed a little more practice.
Adrian Toomes spread his wings wide, the black 'feathers' ruffled with delight. He squatted down and leapt into the air. The small jets mounted on his back granted him propulsion through the air with a grinding shriek.
His eyes, augmented by the suits helmet, picked the perfect target. Some yuppie in, a gaudy blue business suit constantly, looking at, his watch. He'd splat real good.
Adrian pulled his arms to his side, straightened his legs and dive bombed at the man. He looked up at the last moment his attention grabbed by the hideous shrieking noise, and felt a painful stabbing sensation erupting in his shoulders.
He was lifted from the ground by a powerful force. He felt blood seep from his burning shoulders. He forced his eyes open. He stared at his reflection in a curved, obsidian helmet.
"See you got the balls to stare in the face of death!" His captor wailed in a voice that made his ears twinge in pain.
"W-who are, you?" The man moaned. The pain in his shoulders flared as his captor squeezed tighter, making more blood issue from his open wounds.
"I'm The Vulture baby! And I'm hungry!" The Vulture exclaimed his voice filled with ill intent.
The Vulture's clawed hands opened wide, releasing their hold on the yuppie with a sickening squelch. He hung in midair for just a second before gravity took hold of him with deadly results.
It took less than five seconds for him to fall over one hundred feet to the road below. His limbs flailed wildly, his lungs emptied of air from his screams. His life passed before his eyes. He should have, went with the soup last night. He hit the ground with a sickening splat, every bone in his six-foot nothing body broke.
Adrian Toomes stared down at his gruesome work with a hidden smile. The blue suit man was like a broken doll, lying at an awkward position. People gathered around the dead man, amazed by it in a morbid sense. A women looked up, a saw the avian figure fluttering above their heads.
"Ahhhhhhhhh!" She screamed. People looked up to see Adrian flapping his arms to keep himself steady. The crowd screamed and ran in fright drawing, for once, the correct conclusion.
Adrian laughed with evil glee. He swooped down at the fleeing crowd, bloody talons hungry for more death. "Run little people, for The Vulture is here!" The Vulture lashed out with his right arm, catching a black teen across the back, felling him in a spray of blood.
He laughed hysterically as more people were, slashed by him taking of limbs, or head. Those poor souls that lived were trampled beneath the fleeing mass of humans. The Vulture arced himself up into the air, the jets on his back giving him a boost of speed.
The Vulture screamed past rows of buildings, cutting the thick glass windows with his razor sharp talons. The windows exploded outwards, raining shards of glass down on the streets.
"Oh how much fun is this?" The Vulture exclaimed, cackling in his raspy voice. "Maybe I even get to meet a few heroes! What a boon to my rep would that be? Killing Iron Man, or the Fantastic Four? Ha! I would have people clamoring at my feet with millions of bucks, just to take out a few idiots!"
The Vulture was quite positive all, this ruckus he was making would draw out some big names. Little did he know Iron Man aka Tony Stark was…
"As you will see from these slides, my companies product far exceeds your current supplier, Tomoko Industries." Tony Stark said, rising from the big oak table in the boardroom of Superstar Lights And Sounds, located in Sydney Australia.
Tony was just about to clear one of the biggest sales of hydraulics and computer systems of the year! If this was, successful, Stark Inc.'s stock prices would, go orbital! With steady hands, Tony Stark, also know publicly as the Invincible Iron Man slid the small disk of photographs in an opening of a projector.
Tony pulled down a canvass screen. "Mr. Fin, if you would get the lights, I will proceed with the presentation."
Mr. Fin was a thin man in his mid forties. He was really nothing more than a yes man to Henry Grande, the man who ran the company. He flicked the light switch and sat back down.
"Good," Tony said with a smile. He hit the 'on' button on the side of the projector.
A collective gasp rippled through the boardroom members. Tony cocked his eyebrow. "What?"
Henry Grande's face had turned redder then a tomato. Veins bulged from his neck and head. "THAT'S WIFE! AND MY DAUGHTER! AND MY SECRETARY!"
Tony turned around and looked at the projected slide. "Whoops." Wrong, set of slides. A million different options ran through Tony Stark's guineas brain. He only heard one of them.
"Yoink!" Tony dashed from the room, rushing down the halls of the office building before skidding to a stop. He snapped his fingers in annoyance. "Anti-Yoink!" Tony rushed back up to the boardroom, burst through the double doors.
He hit the off switch and pulled out the small roller of pictures. "He he, forgot it!"
"GET OUT OF MY OFFICE!"
"Once more, Yoink!"
And the Fantastic Four was…
"Ben! Behind you!" The Human Torch shouted too his orange, stony skinned friend.
Ben J. Grimm spun around on a massive booted foot and smashed a steel pipe across a zombie's skull, splattering its brains across the wall.
"Thanks Johnny! I owe you one. Which I'll repay right now! Rah!" Ben flung the heavy pipe two inches from Johnny Storm's flame covered head, and impaled a walking corpse through its head.
Reed Richards aka Mister Fantastic was knocking zombies away from him and Susan Storm aka The Invisible Women and his girlfriend with his hands, which he had flattened, and rolled up into a pair of giant hammers.
"Why do you keep building Inter-Dimensional Portals Reed? They always lead to bad things!" Johnny chastised Mr. Fantastic as he pummeled a reanimated corpse with fireballs.
"I don't know, alright! I just don't know!"
Now, back to the main story.
As Adrian in his guise of The Vulture reveled in the mayhem he was creating, Everyone's favorite web head was trying his best to make up with Gwen after running out on her last night.
Peter stood in the well air conditioned, if not freezing Hallmark Gift Card store. He stood bunched in with about five hundred other men in the-I am sorry honey, I am a worthless piece of crap and you are perfect section.
Peter Parker tried to talk to Gwen during school today and got the Artic Shoulder, Gwen's own copyrighted maneuver, which was guaranteed to make you feel horrible about yourself. So Peter found himself here, trying to find a card and some candy to make it up to Gwen.
Peter's had hovered over a row of cards. Peter shrugged and picked a card at random, pulling it from its slot. The cover simple, a mother of pearl color lined with glitter. It said in big loopy words MY DEAREST.
Peter opened it up and read the inside. PLEASE FORGIVE ME FOR RUNNING OUT OF THE DAIRY QUEEN LAST NIGHT, FOR I HAD TO STOP A RUNAWAY CAR THAT WAS BEING CHASED BY THE POLICE.
"Wow, these things are getting oddly specific." Peter mussed, placing the card back in what was most likely it slot. Peter picked a card that was much simpler and sounded less like the ramblings of a crazy person.
The teenage superhero left the section and grabbed a box of sorted chocolate from the counter. He sat the two items down together on the check out counter. The cashier, a pretty blonde named Deborah was just about to scan the items, when Peter's spider-sense came to life.
He turned his head to the glass doors. Peter's sharp eyes saw a, women in red fly through the doors, shattering the glass doors. She bounced across the floor and rolled to a stop at his feet. Her neck was cruelly slashed. Pieces of glass stuck in her flesh from the broken doors.
Everyone in the store scrabbled for the emergency exit, screaming their collective heads off at the sight of the dead body. Peter turned to the cashier who was paralyzed with fear and said, "Hold these for will you?"
Peter ran out the emergency exit as well. Perfect, it led out into an ally. Best of all, there was not a soul in sight. Peter took off his black long sleeve shirt, revealing the spider emblazoned across his webbed chest.
He tossed his shirt on top of a dumpster lid, which was surprisingly clean. His, shirt was quickly joined by his pants and shoes. Peter slid on the red and black gloves. Another modification he had made. He had cut the off at elbows and put a slight amount of elastic on the insides of the gloves so they would cling better to his arms. Finally, the teen hero slid the mask over his head. He coiled his legs, and jumped into the air. Spider-Man let fly a strand of silvery webbing and swung away.
The Vulture swooped down once more and thrust out with his right hand, sinking his three titanium talons deep into the back of one poor soul. He pulled his claws out of his back with a squelching noise. The man dropped to the ground, blood ushering from his wounds.
"This is great!" Adrian Toomes roared, holding his blood soaked hands high in the air. "I've never felt this strong! I can't be stopped!"
"I beg to differ!"
Arian whirled around and felt the sudden impact of two feet in his stomach. He flew (involuntarily) into the hood of a Camaro. The plastic/metal compound crunched and broke. The windshield broke in a spider-web pattern.
Adrian rolled off the car, holding his aching stomach with bloody claws. "Who the hell hit me?" He demanded. His eyes came down on the scrawny teen in red and black.
"So big bird, you like killing people? Come on then, let's see if you kill me!" Spider-Man challenged.
"You fool! You'll regret your decision to challenge The Vulture!" The Vulture exclaimed, spreading his arms wide.
"The Vulture? Couldn't you come up with something a little better? Like, The Giant Idiot In A Bird Suit Man!" Spider-Man mocked.
"This coming from someone who dresses up as a spider?" Vulture countered.
"Touché. But I really can't stand here all day and swap witty insults and jokes. I have homicidal lunatic to beat up!" Peter charged head long at the black and green Birdman wanna-be.
The Vulture lashed out with his claws. Spider-Man, in a prime example of acrobatics, somersaulted over Adrian, landing gracefully behind the assassin. Spider-Man punched him in the back, or at least tried to.
The Vulture had spun around, knocking away the webbed fist with a swift motion. With years of honed skill, The Vulture punched Spider-Man in the solar plexus, forcing all of the air in his lungs out in one second.
The web-covered hero stumbled back, pain throbbing in his torso. He tried to take a breath but only succeeded in making an unusual mix of rasping and coughing. His spider-sense went off as Vulture hit him with a snap kick to the chin. Spider-Man could have dodge this blow, but the pain he felt made his head spin.
Peter was lifted from his feet from the force of the strike. He smacked back down on the pavement. Pain shot up his spine. As his airflow returned too normal, Spider-Man opened his eyes. The prickling at the back of his neck became so painful as The Vulture came closer to him.
Adrian raised his clawed foot over the fallen heroes chest. He brought his foot down with bone crushing force. Spider-Man rolled to the left at the last second, making The Vulture's foot smash into the pavement.
Spider-Man sprung to his feet, ready to counter attack. "Okay! I'm ready now Chickenman! Do your worst!"
"Arr, that's Vulture!" The Vulture lunged at Spider-Man, who sidestepped his attack. The Vulture flipped over, his feet facing the opposite side of the street. Spinning over once more, he up righted himself.
He shot into the air at breakneck speed. At one hundred feet, he stopped and focused on Peter below. Vulture brought his arms horizontally across his chest, one on top of the other.
"Die!" Vulture commanded as five razor thin blades extended from both of the wings. He threw out his arms, making the deadly weapons loose from their trappings. With the whine of splitting air, ten feather knives soared down at Spider-Man.
The web-head jumped over the deadly projectiles. High up into the air he rose before firing a web line at the Vulture who was just ten feet above him. The Vulture dodged the sticky web, which Spider-Man used to yank himself to the side of the building. Firmly attached to the wall, Spider-Man plotted his next attack.
"Great! Now you stick to walls!?" Vulture complained, hovering in front of the hero.
"Well, it kinda comes with the territory of being called Spider-Man!"
"Oh come on! Spider-Man? Really?"
"Hey, once more, The Vulture!"
"I'll kill you!" Vulture raged, striking out with his deadly claws.
Spider-Man shifted to the side, while The Vulture's claw buried itself in the wall. Then, with a surge of strength, The Vulture ripped his arm out of the wall, showering the streets below with small bits of concrete.
"I'll smear you across Broadway you little son of a bitch!" The Vulture swore.
"Oh, wow, that's so scary I'm shaking in my tights!" With a mighty shove off, Spider-Man rushed out at The Vulture. With a lightning quick movement, Spider-Man punched The Vulture in his jet-black helmet, cracking the left side of the one-way mirror. He followed up with a second punch to The Vulture's gut.
Adrian struggled to regain his balance from the painful strikes. Spider-Man had grabbed the side of the building again, holding on with one hand. The Vulture steadied himself.
"I underestimated you Spider-Man! I'll make a tactical retreat for now!" The Vulture turned around and flew off in fear.
"Oh no your not!" Spider-Man said, catching The Vulture's leg with a web line. He was jostled around in the air, trying his hardest to keep hold of the web.
"Let go you little pest!" The Vulture screamed. He shook his leg, trying to get the web loose from his armored leg. Adrian Toomes ducked down an ally, forcing the web-slinger to smack against rough brick walls.
Spider-Man grunted, as his skin was, cut by the brick, leaving ugly gashes over his back and arms. Unable to hold on any longer, Spider-Man let the web line slip from his hands. He bounced around the hard walls, sending pain surging through his body.
CRASH!
Peter fell into an open dumpster, filled with rotting food, empty bottles, and what smelled suspiciously of soiled diapers.
Spider-Man moaned as his head throbbed. "Note to self: pain SUCKS! Aaawww…."
Well, there you go! I stayed up till 1:26 Pm Central Time to get this done. For you people! Please review. I'm going to sleep now.