Chapter 10
Note: There's a teensy bit of language here. Just a fair warning.
OoOoO
"Peter, wakey-wakey! You'll be late for school!"
May Parker had just placed her hand on the doorknob when she heard her nephew call frantically from the other side, "Wait, no! Aunt May, I'm up, I'm up! I'm just changing myself! I'll be down in a sec!"
Rolling her eyes playfully, the aged woman chuckled and responded, "Alright! Breakfast is ready for you, hon. Just don't stay in there too long. Remember, you have that reading quiz in APUSH today."
Peter let out a sigh of relief as he heard his aunt's footsteps fade away from the other side of the door. Oh, he was dressed alright―in his Spidey suit, that is. His mask was already off, but he was still putting on his normal clothing over his brightly colored red-and-blue outfit. The last thing he needed, of course, was for his Aunt to discover his identity.
As he went into his shirt, he recalled what he heard his aunt say and tried to decide which was worse: fighting Doctor Octopus, or taking one of Mr. Villamagna's reading quizzes?
Just yesterday, he had went to enjoy himself at Coney Island with his friends, including, very surprisingly, Liz Allan, the same snotty cheerleader who helped Flash torment him for the past…what? Entire high school career? Anyways, he had already encountered this new maniac who called himself Doctor Octopus at OsCorp the day before, but Peter had challenged him to a rematch when the Doc tried to steal some sort of long-lasting power source from TriCorp. Before he knew it, the battle had found its way to Coney Island where Spidey eventually defeated the tentacle-clad scientist.
Now that Doc Oc was imprisoned at Rikers, Peter sure hoped he wouldn't have to run into him again anytime soon.
Peter ran down the stairs and sat down to his breakfast of scrambled eggs in picante sauce. After his last swallow, he heard his aunt switch on the television in the living room, where the catchy theme for Channel 7 Eyewitness News played all over the house. He wasn't paying too much attention to the broadcast; he was too busy worrying over which questions Mr. Villamagna had put on the quiz. Instead of just using the state-issued history books, Mr. V had preferred to teach his students from a book called The People's History of the United States by Howard Zinn. Peter was very intrigued by the way Zinn interpreted American history―in fact, he really liked it―but it didn't make the quizzes any easier.
Peter's thoughts drifted to the girl he ran into on the street. She was Ashley Simkins. There was no doubt about it. The albino skin, the short bleach-blonde hair, the green eyes…she looked exactly like the missing girl from the news reports. She had to be her. The more her photo was flashed on the television, the more he was convinced.
But if she was indeed the helpless kidnapping victim that everybody was worrying about, why did she run away from him? He was just trying to help! That's what you're supposed to do with missing children, right? Maybe he should've came to her as Spider-Man instead…
After placing his dirty dishes into the sink, he passed by the television, where Sade Baderinwa was smiling to the camera in a way that would make Ron Burgundy grow green with envy. In the top right corner was a photograph of a green tree and flowers, and along the bottom of the screen were the words "SPRING IN OCTOBER?"
Sade narrated into the camera, "In other news, many New Yorkers are waking up today to an unusually green October morning! If you look at Central Park, it looks like all the flowers are blooming, and all the trees have spontaneously grown back all their leaves, and―"
Suddenly, Sade squinted in confusion, as if spotting something strange.
"Wait…what is that?" she asked, pointing out to some teleprompter behind the camera, and Peter picked up what she saw.
He blinked.
Right in the middle of Central Park seemed to be what looked like―they kid him not―some sort of large tower-like castle made entirely out of trees, vines, and flowers, complete with moss-covered parapets, a grass-covered balcony in the front, and writhing tangle of giant, thorny vines to guard it.
The camera showed footage of the bottom of the castle. Surrounding the tall, flowery palace was everybody employed in the New York Fire Department and Police Department trying to get into the castle, but the giant vines kept slashing at them. Some firefighters tried to fight off the vines with their hoses, but it was useless. The vines were toppling firetrucks and police cruisers, hurling them several hundred feet across the park. Firefighters, policemen, and innocent bystanders also couldn't escape from their terror, getting knocked over and tossed around like hot potatoes.
NYPD Captain George Stacey appeared on camera, rubbing his temples and speaking with a reporter. "It looks like this giant…plant castle just appeared overnight. Our detectives cannot determine exactly who put it here or why it's here, but one thing's for sure: this area of Central Park is not safe for anyone. I urge all park-goers to remain in the southern half of the park. Posts and officers will be set up to ensure nobody goes past the boundary and is kept safe."
Peter stared at the television.
This…this was a joke, right?
First goblins, then multi-armed doctors, and now a castle of all things! What's next?
He looked at his watch. It read 6:54 a.m.
He let out a yelp. The first bell always rang at 7:25, and Peter knew that if he stopped to investigate this fiasco, he would be late for school for the third time in a row. Mrs. Tannous sure didn't appreciate late arrivals. He'd have to sit this one out for now and get to Central Park after school.
Giving his caregiver a kiss on the cheek, he said, "Bye, Aunt May! Gotta catch the subway!"
Waving him goodbye, Aunt May called out the door, "Careful, Peter! With all these awful costumed people running around, I wouldn't want you getting tangled in any trouble…"
OoOoO
"WHATDYA MEAN YOU COULDN'T GET THERE!? I'M NOT PAYING YOU MINIMUM WAGE TO PULL SILLY EXCUSES OUT OF YOUR ASS, LEE! IF YOU DON'T GET YOURSELF A TAXI DOWN TO BROOKLYN IN FIFTEEN POINT FOUR FIVE SECONDS, YOU'RE FIRED!"
Peter let out an exasperated groan.
He wasn't even out of the elevator yet, and he could already hear his boss' racket.
When the doors slid open, he slunk into the noisy office of The Daily Bugle. Like a beehive after somebody swat it down, armies of reporters and editors ran from wall to wall and between desks with headline clippings and extra sheets of printer paper. Phones rang at every corner, and half of the people there had their fingers tap-dancing on their keyboards. There was not a person there who wasn't calling their interviewees or proofing each other's papers.
The office was a lot more crowded this time due to the lack of walking space, though. Part of the large newsroom had been closed off by yellow tape, still being repaired after the Rhino's barge-in a couple days before. Wires were still hanging from the ceiling, and there was still no wood paneling on the floor. Occasionally, some water would leak up from the pipes below, seeping into the carpet and making everybody's footsteps squish loudly.
"AND WHERE THE SAM HILL IS PARKER!? THAT LITTLE ANKLE-BITER SHOULDA GOTTEN HERE THIRTY-FIVE SECONDS AGO!"
Ranting from the other side of the room was J. Jonah Jameson, sporting his usual salt-and-pepper hair and a little moustache that the Third Reich would've gotten gaga over. He was shaking his fist angrily in the air with a page from The New York Times crumbled up in it. He must have been complaining for the hundredth time about how the Times always got tenfold the readers (and the money) of the Bugle. Peter could always try to explain again that the Times also gave tenfold the facts and the objectiveness than the Bugle ever had, but at this point, he just stopped caring.
"Right here, boss!" Peter called, pulling the photos he had taken last night at Coney Island from his shoulder bag.
Lucky for Peter, he had managed to change out of his suit and take good shots of the villain while he was resting in that lovely pile of rubble Spidey had left him in.
He held them out to Jameson and explained excitedly, "Check it out: I was at Coney Island last night, and I was able to get close-ups of Doctor Octopus! I couldn't get Spidey in action, but if you look at this one"―he pointed to one photo― "you can take a really good look at Doc's tentacles!"
Peter watched his boss take a swig of his black coffee before he took the pictures from Peter's hands and skimmed through them. He eyed each one, scrutinizing every pixel thoroughly.
"Ever heard of Photoshop, Parker?" he barked finally.
"Um…yeah?"
"Good," he grumbled. "You're gonna have to marry it if your photos keep coming out this crappy."
He tossed all the photos into his face except for the close-up of Doc Oc. Peter quickly bent down and picked them up off the floor.
He shoved Peter aside and yelled out to nobody in particular, "WHO BOUGHT THIS COFFEE!? IT TASTES LIKE THE LITTLE MERMAID PUKED IN IT!"
Dusting off his photos, Peter paced after Jameson, ducking past some of his coworkers. He argued, "But…but Mr. Jameson! I was the only one there to get pictures for the paper! You've got your only primary source right here!"
Turning back to his photographer, he towered over him with his surly, hairy hands square on his hips and looked him in the eye.
"Kid, the only decent pic you have here is this one of Squidy McFatso―"
"Doctor Octopus," Peter corrected.
"―but the rest of them are trash! Look at this one! It's a photo of a cop scratching his head while looking at one of Squidy's tentacle-thing-a-ma-bobs. Why did you take a picture of that!? Everybody already knows how dumb the city's police force is! Stacey's holding a freaking circus there over at the force! We don't need to state the obvious!"
His temper boiling like water in a closed pot, Peter glared at him and shouted back, "Hey, Captain Stacey's doing all he can! What do you have against him? Because I, for one, wouldn't be sure how to handle this many super-powered crooks if I was in his place!"
Okay, maybe that was just a little bit of a lie…
Jameson wasn't listening to him. He was storming over to the desk of his loyal secretary, Betty Brant, who had just gotten off the phone with a carpenter for the office. Just as she hung up, Jameson slammed his hands onto the tabletop and asked, "Brant, where's that running headline I asked for!?"
Smiling radiantly, the short-haired young woman handed Jameson the first draft.
"It's right here, Jonah. Oh, and I just got off the phone with the repairman. He'll be here tomorrow at nine o' clock in the morning."
There were many mysteries in the universe that Peter thought about, but one that he knew he was never going to figure out was how Betty ever managed to stay so cheery and patient while this close to her volcano of a boss.
Jameson snatched the paper straight from her hands and skimmed across the front article. His eyes instantly gleamed in pride. It almost looked like he was going to kiss it.
"I lllllllove it! Now here's a headline that'll turn heads!"
It definitely turned Peter's head.
He scowled as he read the headline:
~~~The Daily Bugle~~~
Thursday, October 30, 2014
FERRIS WHEEL OF FEAR: SPIDER-MENACE WREAKS HAVOC IN CONEY ISLAND!
This Halloween, every parent wants to be sure that his child will be safe, happily playing at many of New York's funnest attractions while enjoying the candy that earned all night. That wasn't the case last Wednesday when New York's infamous vigilante swooped in and nearly killed hundreds of people.
At approximately 6:34 p.m. on October 29, a deranged and severely overweight scientist by the name of Dr. Ollie Octagon swung in on his freakish invention, a harness with four metallic tentacles coming out from the back, and robbed TriCorp Industries of a device known as the Megalopack, a battery that can hold its charge for years at a time, according to TriCorp premier Dr. Ted Twaki.
According to Twaki, Octagon was the one who had invented the Megalopack many years before while he was still employed at TriCorp, but he gotta death wish for the company.
"He just crashed in through the glass panes on the west side of the building and injured some of my colleagues!" he panicked. "But then Spider-Man showed up and" led the criminal through crowds of innocent pedestrians and motorists by letting him off on a wild goose chase through Brooklyn down south to the shore.
As one Coney Island employee explained, "When he came, we were sure we were gonna die!" Spider-Man had gotten hundreds of park rides and booths destroyed during the skirmish as if he had a death wish against the theme park. Five ambulances showed up to pick up many injured civilians who had tried to flee the scene.
"Oh, you have got to be kidding me!" Peter yelled.
First of all, the use of the English language here was disgraceful. The paper had slang words where formal words could've been used instead, and he was pretty sure that "funnest" wasn't a real word. If he had turned this in for his AP English class, Mrs. Tannous would've had a heart attack. In fact, he wouldn't be surprised if she used it as an example in class tomorrow.
Second of all, many of the sources were purposefully misquoted. Dr. Twaki's input was cut off at the last moment just to insert some slash on Spider-Man, and it was completely obvious that the Coney Island employee was talking about Doctor Octopus instead of him.
Not to mention that they completely butchered Doctor Octopus' real name. Really? Ollie Octagon? That sounded like something a five-year-old would come up with.
Peter had enough.
"This whole thing is a lie! Spider-Man was the one who saved all those people! It was Doctor Octopus who tried to kill them all!"
Wagging his large finger in Peter's face, his boss spat back, "But if it weren't for that masked freak, we wouldn't be having all these costumed wackos in the first place!"
Jameson started counting on his fingers: "Birdman, Lightning Boy, Barney the Dinosaur, Sonic the Cowboy, Sandy! Just look at what Henrietta Hippo did when he stormed into my office the other day! Not to mention that ugly Green Goblin guy who almost killed my dear Johnny boy the other night. Face it, kid, Spider-Man should burn the mask while he still can, before the whole city burns down instead…"
Peter opened his mouth to shout something back at him, but nothing came out.
As crappy as an attitude Jonah had, he actually had a point this time. Before he donned the mask, New York was not crawling with the costumed criminals that it had right now. Now, New York looked like a sci-fi movie at every turn, and the people in it were on the short end of the deal. It was as if Peter had pushed down one domino by becoming Spider-Man, and now the entire row was toppling over.
Peter looked down in shame. He never stopped blaming himself for his Uncle Ben's death. Was he now vicariously causing more harm to hundreds upon hundreds of innocent people just by being the web-slinger? He could never live with himself if he did…
He then heard Jameson say, "Hey! Who's doing that story on the oversized greenhouse in Central Park!? If that doesn't make big headlines, I don't know what will!"
Peter perked up.
That's right! The plant castle! According to what he had heard so far, not a single person was able to step within fifteen feet of it. It still had its giant vines growing around it, mercilessly attacking every living soul near it.
Who made that castle? Was he or she still there? How did that person make that castle overnight, and why was it attacking everybody?
Peter grinned to himself.
This looked like a job for Spider-Man!
"Hey, boss!" he called, jogging after Jameson between the desks, who was now raving on Foswell about the article on the upcoming midterm elections.
Jameson whipped around to look at the boy and blasted in his face, "What's the matter now, kid!? I'm not giving you a cent for those pictures!"
Holding his hands up in defense, Peter argued calmly, "I know, I know! But if I can't get money for the Doc Oc pictures, then maybe you could give me a couple bucks for the castle pictures?"
Jameson stared blankly at him, contemplating the offer. "How much money are we talkin' about?"
"Four hundred bucks."
"WHAT!?" the chief editor screamed, spraying small spittles into Peter's face. "WHAT DO YOU WANT FOUR HUNDRED DOLLARS FOR!? ARE YOU RUNNING FOR CONGRESS OR SOMETHIN'!? ABSOLUTELY NOT! NO WAY, NO HOW!"
Peter crossed his arms. "Four hundred. That's final."
"I SAID NO! BEAT IT!"
Peter glowered at him. "No money, no pictures."
For once in his life, Jameson was quiet.
Have you ever dropped several mentos into a bottle of coke and shook it around without taking the lid off? And then you left it there, and in the few seconds before it exploded, it swelled up and bubbled like a bloated, carbonated stick of dynamite?
That's exactly what J. Jonah Jameson looked like at that moment.
He narrowed his eyes before grumbling, "Fine! Four hundred dollars…but those better be some really good pictures, kid."
Peter shot his fist up into the air in victory and cheered, "Yes!"
He made a mad dash to the elevator, yelling behind him, "Thanks, Jameson! You won't regret this! I swear!"
"Yeah, yeah, whatever…hey, WHERE'S MY COFFEE!?"
OoOoO
Thwip.
Several pedestrians looked up to spot the hero in the patriotically-colored suit swing several feet above them from building to building. He did somersaults in the air over droves of taxis and cars, throwing his webs at the right second to catch himself.
Thwip.
Over the streets of Manhattan he swung with both his camera and web shooters fully loaded with film and webbing. He didn't want to be caught unprepared mid-battle, and he was definitely looking forward to those four hundred dollars. Spidey knew that he still had a heavy load on his plate between Green Goblin and Ashley Simkins. Where on earth had that flying maniac disappeared to? More importantly, who was he?
At least Ashley Simkins didn't pretend to be somebody else. As he swung over the busy streets, he kept his eyes glued to the ground to see if he could spot the albino abductee. He was actually quite surprised that somebody else hadn't found her first. All of New York had been abuzz the past couple days about the girl, especially with good ol' Nancy Grace throwing her voice all over the airways, and he just like he felt that all of the Big Apple was in his hands, he felt personally accountable for Ashley to be brought home safe and sound.
Spider-Man was honestly worried for the poor girl. He had seen more than enough episodes of Law and Order: Special Victims Unit to know exactly what kind of disgusting and perverted things her kidnapper or kidnappers might be doing to her. Just the thought made him swing a little faster, as if she was getting closer with each shot of his webs.
Thwip, thwip.
But that one minute face-to-face moment with her the day before still boggled the heck out of him. Maybe that short-haired girl wasn't Ashley after all…but then Spidey shook his head.
No, he thought affirmatively. That was definitely her. I've seen her face a thousand times already all over the city. Same albino-white skin, same white-blonde hair, and same green eyes. No doubt about it…
If that was her, though, then why did she run away? Why did she tell him to scram? He was only trying to help her! Was she, like, traumatized or something? That's what happens to kidnapping victims sometimes, right? So maybe she...has trust issues now?
The southern edge of Central Park came into view, with its green trees peeking from in between the skyscrapers―yes, green trees, thriving and even blooming small, white buds despite the fact that Halloween was just around the corner. Spidey craned his head to get a better look at the park, and that was when he saw it:
Rivaling the skyline bordering the large park and overlooking the reservoir was the skinny, leaf-covered fortress complete with parapets composed of tall, moss-covered spruce trees with thick vines weaving between the trunks to create impenetrable walls with scary-looking thorns sticking out. Closer to the bottom were giant, ruby-red hibiscuses and white-and-purple lilies that beckoned every honeybee and butterfly within a three-mile radius, and large tangles of wisteria twisted up from the bottom, their bunches of light purple flowers flourishing.
Thwip, thwip, thwip.
It was a bit challenging for Spider-Man to swing from tree to tree on his webs. He considered to just start running instead or even swing around the buildings to the eastern side of the park to get closer, but he decided that he was already gaining enough headway.
The barrier of patrol cars and yellow crime tape that Captain Stacey had set up that morning whizzed under him, and all the cops and park visitors looked up to him. He could hear some of them cheering happily at the sight of him, whooping and chanting his name, excited to see the web-slinger conquer the castle and defeat whoever might have set it up.
Spidey gave them a little salute as he swung by. A bunch of those in the crowd had already whipped out their phones, snapping pictures of him and probably tweeting up a storm.
"Hang tight, you guys!" he called. "I got this!"
The castle approached, and Spider-Man noticed every detail more easily. There was tall set of stairs made from woody vines and moss coming up from one of the bridges and climbing up towards a small, raised balcony that led to a set of wood double doors with red trumpet flowers covering them. With the walls too thick to break though and no windows, it was obvious that the doors were his only way of getting inside.
"Alright then," he reasoned to himself. "Piece of cake. I don't even need to use the stairs―"
THWACK!
Spidey was sent flying into the sidewalk, skidding along the hard asphalt. Still seeing stars, he slowly stood up and tried to regain his balance, but his head was still spinning. Before he could figure out exactly what was going on, he was slammed again from behind.
Falling belly-up on the ground, Spider-Man saw what was attacking him.
Sprouting out from the base of the castle were several giant vines, each at least twenty feet in length, with giant leaves flailing madly around in the air, swatting anything that got in their way. Some of them had sharp thorns spiking out from them, big enough to make a basketball-sized hole in Spidey's chest.
He groaned, "So this is what the homeowner's association is always complaining about."
He stood up, rubbing the spot on his side that hit the sidewalk the hardest. He studied the vines and focused on the bottom.
That was when he remembered some advice that Aunt May had given him on weeding her garden.
He started running around the base of the castle, shooting as much webbing as possible towards where the vines and the ground met. Along the way, he ducked and jumped over each vine that came at him. He got tripped one time when he didn't jump high enough over one, but he immediately got back to his feet and kept sprinting.
Soon enough, the thornier vines started trying to slash at him, and Spidey yelped at every time they almost stabbed him. Each thorn was as long as his arm, and one snagged onto his suit, ripping a claw mark-shaped hole on the side and exposing a little of his white undershirt.
"Hey, watch the suit!" he yelled. "This thing costs money, and that's one thing that doesn't grow on trees! You should know that!"
He finally threaded his last web, creating possibly the longest, thickest rope of webbing that Spidey had ever made. The bases of all the vines were now covered in sticky threads, not a single speck of green showing.
Spidey tightened his grip on the rope.
"Like Aunt May always says: the only way to kill a weed is to go for the root."
With all his strength, he pulled.
As soon as he tugged the rope, the vines shook and were quickly uprooted from the ground, sending large chunks of soil and grass through the air. Up from the grass came a mess of thick roots, and the vines came crashing down to the field. Two of them swerved into the bridge that the stairs were coming up from, and they crumbled the stone railings along the sides. The main part of the bridge remained intact, though.
Spider-Man winced.
He could see Old Sour Puss' headlines now: SPIDER-MENACE DESTROYS PUBLIC PROPERTY YET AGAIN!
No time for that, though. He had a castle to invade.
Spidey shot his webbing high above him to the railing on the vine-stairs and jumped up, letting the string sling him above the wooden, leafy railing and landing flat on his feet on the top stair.
Standing before him now were two tall double doors made completely out of mahogany wood and decorated with swirly vines dotted with red trumpet flowers. Spidey had to gently shoo some hungry butterflies away as he edged towards the opening.
"Trust me on this one," he told them. "I wouldn't trust this garden if I were you…"
Not seeing any knobs, he went ahead and placed his hand on the door.
To his surprise, it opened.
He stole one last look behind him as if he was expecting more vines to trip him up, but he found himself alone as he entered the edifice. He kept pushing the door open, and he stepped inside the castle.
He called out, "Um…helloooooo? Anybody home?"
He looked up.
"Whoa."
Way above him was a high ceiling with bunches of purple wisteria flowers hanging down, more concentrated towards the center to surround a giant chandelier made from a large, red rose in the middle. Smaller streaks of sunlight were sifted through the vast canopy of thick foliage above him, shedding light on the undergrowth around him.
Plenty of orange climbing roses, yellow honeysuckles, and white clematises scoured the walls, covering almost completely the green moss and brown bark beneath and giving the impression that the walls were actually painted. Along the sides of the wall where the jessamine vines ended was a myriad of lilies, daffodils, blue bells, and coneflowers of every color in existence.
As Spidey walked across the large, circular floor, he peered down to see that the moss-covered floor was layered with purple phlox and pink thyme. Spider-Man stared down at the green-covered floor as he stepped further and further away from the door.
"O-kaaaaaaaay," he said, shifting his eyes uneasily under his mask. "This is officially the weirdest day I've ever had…and that's saying something."
That was when his spider sense tingled.
Suddenly, he heard an ear-splitting bam behind him.
He whirled around to see that the doors had slammed shut, and a mess of thick vines quickly tangled themselves over the large opening, blocking his only way out. To make matters worse, the vines suddenly sprang out even more long, sharp thorns.
"Oh, I knew I should've brought my hedge clippers tonight!" he groaned.
"Don't bother! The police had already tried that!"
He looked up to where the voice was coming from.
Towering above him was probably the tallest and widest sunflower that he had ever seen. Its gargantuan yellow petals looked down on him, and the humungous, green stem made the plant appear more like a tree than your average summer-blooming annual.
At that moment, the sunflower's trunk twisted and bent the huge flower towards the mossy floor. The hero stepped back a step or two to keep trying to assess exactly what he was getting himself into as the owner of the voice that called to him was revealed.
Standing on top of the flower was a young girl barely as tall as he was, and probably barely as old, too. Her hair was platinum-blonde and cropped really short, its ends never going past her chin, and giving him a deathly glare was a pair of sharp green eyes.
The girl gave him a smirk. "Welcome to my castle, Spider-Man. I've been waiting for you."
This girl appeared very, very normal…if you set aside her leaf-green colored skin and her short dress made entirely out of leaves and flowers. Not to mention the two giant, white clover flowers that were growing out of her hair on each side of her face.
"WHOA!" he yelled. "Are you a Bellossom?"
The girl gave him a confused look. "A what now?"
"Oh, don't tell me that you've never played Pokémon before! I swear, if you were just a foot or two shorter and had a giant hula skirt, you could go off as your average grass-type!"
When Spider-Man looked more closely at the girl's face, his mouth dropped in shock behind his mask. He recognized her.
It was Ashley Simkins.
For once in his entire life, Spidey was at a loss of words. All this time, everybody has been searching every alleyway and rounding every corner to find this one girl, and here she was, standing right here in Central Park and…and with plant powers of all things!
"Wait…" he said. "You're…you're Ashley Simkins! You're that girl from the AMBER Alert!"
He held up his hands and continued, "Don't worry! I'm here to help! I'll get you to your folks again! Everything's gonna be―"
Before he could finish, something plowed into him from his right side and sent him tumbling around like a sock in a washing machine. The room spun around wildly as Spider-Man tried to keep his senses about him, so he instinctively tried to bring his arms up to shoot a web.
But they wouldn't budge. He looked down. Wrapped tightly around him was another giant vine covered with large leaves. He could've sworn that it was thicker than his waist, and now, it was lifting him above the ground and pinning his arms to his sides. He grunted as he tried to wiggle himself out, but the creeper was far too strong.
"That's not my name!" the girl yelled back to him fiercely. "I'm not missing! I haven't been kidnapped! Everything they've told you has been a downright lie!"
With her anger, the vines coiled tighter around the web-slinger.
Spider-Man winced and croaked, "Ow! Ow, okay! Okay! What do you mean!? Your mom has been crying on the news about you!"
"That's not my mom!" the girl countered heatedly. "I have no mom! That woman was probably paid to cry for me!"
At that remark, she moved her right hand to her left, making the vine slam Spider-Man against the leaf-layered walls. Dragged to the floor, the side of his face uprooted some moss and grass before he was lifted up into the air again, this time upside-down. "Whoa, whoa, what are you doing!? Who are you then?"
Bringing him closer to her, she grinned darkly.
"I'm Clover, the one and only. Forget everything they've told you about me and prepare to have your last fight!"
The vine suddenly untwisted slightly and hurled Spider-Man up to the ceiling. He shouted and flailed his arms for three seconds before coming to and quickly shooting a web towards the wall, swinging his way to safety.
Hanging off the side, he called, "Look, chick, what d'you want from me? I'm not against you making this awesome castle―it really is cool, by the way―but you can't just go around thwacking people with your vines like that!"
A tangle of vines sprouted from where he was sticking to the wall, but he quickly swung out of the way to the other side.
He called, "Hey, here's an idea: how about you pay people to go in here? We can set a fair price, like a dollar or something for a visit. Trust me, you'll be buried in more green than you already are!"
Right after saying that, he thought, Great, now I sound like old Sourpuss.
Clover only responded with another set of vines trying to trap him where he was. With every swing he made across the large room, another set of vines tried to block him. Spider-Man resorted to dodging every one and waiting for the girl to get tired. If this was the worst she had for him, he could manage.
Until, of course, a giant yellow cloud swirled straight into him.
Spidey didn't remember the last time he had coughed so much, and he was sent tumbling for the ground. After also letting out a few dozen sneezes, he caught giant, bright yellow patches on his suit. Upon a closer look, he saw that he was covered in some sort of yellow dust. He recognized this anywhere.
Ragweed pollen. The one thing that always left him puffy-eyed and stuffy-nosed every spring. Spidey was hoping that his new powers would've healed his allergy by now just like it had done to his eyes, making his glasses obsolete.
But, nope! He couldn't be more wrong…
Before he could sling another web, another vine grabbed him, and this time, it had thorns on it. Luckily, they weren't too big, but they were still as long as his index finger. Spider-Man felt them prick against his suit, hoping they wouldn't dig far into his skin.
His right arm was pinned to his side again, but his left arm was poking out from between the coils at an uncomfortably awkward angle. Trying to push it further out, he learned that he could only move his lower arm and only twist his wrist forwards. Spider-Man grinned under his mask. Good, maybe this was something he could work with.
Brought closer to Clover again, her face became only a finger's length away from his. She crooned, "I would much rather see you choked in your own webbing, but you could be of use for me."
Struggling in the tight grip, the hero retorted, "If adding me to your mulch mix is what you mean by 'use,' then I think I can manage without."
"Oh? But I have something that you don't, Spider-Man!"
"What, a conscience?"
She frowned. "No, just some valuable information that I know you've been wanting to know as of recently."
"And that would be?"
Her eyes gave off a mischievous glimmer. "I know who the Green Goblin is."
Spidey's eyes grew wide.
Now he was listening.
"Come again?" he answered.
"You heard me," she replied, crossing her arms. "I know you're still looking for him, but your brain is so full of webbing that you can't sniff him when he's right under your nose."
When she said that, she flicked him between the eyes, making him wince slightly with annoyance.
Adding a distinct edge to his voice to show that he wasn't going to take any bull from her, he stated, "You're bluffing."
She smiled and shook her head from side to side, letting her hair flowers swing. "Nope! I know exactly who he is."
"And you're telling me this because?"
She put her hands behind her back and crooned sweetly, "Because the only way I'll ever tell you is if you'll give me a little something in return."
The hero stared her down. "Fine. What's the catch?"
With a smile way too innocent-looking to be true, she explained, "Oh, nothing in particular! Just your allegiance and some help to get nice people I know out of prison."
She rested her hand in her chin to imitate a pensive look before correcting, "Actually, check that. I don't want your allegiance. I want your obedience. You and I both want the Green Goblin's heart on a stake, web-head. If you do as I say from here on out without question, I will help you hunt him down and take him out. Then, you, me, and my friend can rule the city together."
She received nothing but a long, silent stare from the hero in return to her offer. The hero then deadpanned, "That's funny. Another green-skinned psycho just like you gave me the same deal the other day."
Placing her hands playfully on her hips, she then tightened the vine more and said, "So that means you're already taken?"
"Nope. I'll tell you the same thing I told him: over my dead body."
A boisterous laugh erupted from Clover's lips. "How clever! You just guessed the second option!"
With the flick of her wrist, the vine slugged the hero repeatedly against the walls and floor with great speed, smashing the web-slinger's face and body. The thorns then grew longer, raking at Spidey's sides with each slam.
"Unh…" he grunted. "That's really gonna leave a mark…"
He shook his head to shake the dizziness out of him. He had to find some way to end this before Flower Power ended him first.
Not wasting another second, though, he held his left arm up as high as he could and put as much force into his web-shooter as he could. A thick web sprang from his arm and landed right in the middle of Clover's face, blinding her momentarily.
Clover gave out a cry in surprise, grabbing her face and scratching at the web, but Spider-Man tugged on the web.
The young girl was sent hurtling from the top of her sunflower onto the floor, smacking herself face-first into the grass. This made the vines around Spider-Man loosen slightly, enough to let him wiggle himself free. He started heading towards her at full speed.
Before he could make his next attack on her, though, she yanked the web off her face and held her arms up at him. Coming up from the ground sprung up a bunch of round bushes that quickly dried up into tumbleweeds with sharp thorns, and Spider-Man didn't have a chance to stop himself before the barrage of tumbleweeds were sent flying straight to him.
The sheer force of the weeds sent the hero rollin', rollin', rollin' across the floor, riding up his rawhide. Clover then summoned a patch of cacti to sprout up and catch Spidey in his tracks.
His body scrambled in the midst of the prickly cacti, Spidey grumbled, "So this is what they meant by not angering Mother Nature…"
His arm shaking and layered with prickles and scratches, he sent another string of webbing up towards the ceiling. From there, he lifted himself out of the cacti patch and flung himself up to the ceiling.
He pondered over a concrete plan.
If I keep this up, I'm going to end up being compost! If I could just get a little bit closer, I'll have enough time to cover Flower Power in a bunch of webbing.
"Hey, Clover!"
Clover growled in frustration and glared at him up on the ceiling as he shouted down to her, "Don't you think it's a little late for the whole 'April showers bring May flowers' thing? Or are you just a late bloomer?"
"Stay still so I can rip you limb from limb!" she yelled angrily.
Spider-Man quickly swung towards the giant chandelier-rose, barely avoiding a shroud of vines that tried to entrap him again. He hung onto the thick vine that hung the large flower, planting his feet firmly on the rose.
"Or maybe you just couldn't wait until after February to make some flowers? Don't worry! After winter, all the trees will be relieved!"
Silence.
He chuckled lightly, "Get it? Relieved?"
Another tangle of thick tendrils tried to grab at Spider-Man, covered with more long thorns. When the hero leapt off towards the wall, however, the vines turned out to be so strong that they actually snapped the stem holding up the chandelier-rose.
The ear-splitting riiiiiip gave way for the massive rose to tumble down from the ceiling. When it crashed to the floor, it sent clumps of grass, wood, and moss flying everywhere. Flower Power screamed and was knocked off her feet, skidding across the floor and banging herself against the wall.
Spidey seized this opportunity and hurdled down from the wall, landing safely on his feet. He shot two web-strings at the gigantic flower, and gathering all his strength, he twirled the rose around the room. The giant rose smacked onto Clover's side just as she was coming to, scraping her along the wall and sending her sailing again before she fell face-first into the floor.
Bruised and battered, Clover grunted in pain and tried to bring herself up again, but she felt something pressing on her back.
She turned her head and saw the Spider-Man was standing right next to her, his left foot pinning her to the floor.
"Alright, Clover," he stated gravely. "You said you've been waiting for me, and here I am. What do you want? Why do you know about the Green Goblin?"
Spidey saw the look of fear in her eyes and started feeling bad for defeating her so harshly...but then a sly smile slinked along her lips. She sniggered, "Sorry, web-head, but you lost your chance to that information ages ago. Besides, after what you did to the Doc, I'm not going to let you see the light of day again."
Spider-Man listened to her. "The Doc?"
Her smile broadened.
He then said, "You don't mean…"
"Oh, I mean."
This only made Spider-Man shove his leg harder on her. "So I take it that you and Doctor Octopus are connected?"
Just then, the tingles started getting to him. Spidey looked around him, wondering what had set it off.
He soon found out. Yet another thick vine sprang up from under him and constricted around his right leg, locking it firmly in place. The hero cried out and tried to pry his leg free, but it was futile.
He shouted, "What is it with you and vines!? There are almost three hundred thousand species of plants in this world, yet you keep bringing these things up!"
Now that he was shifting his strength to his other leg, Clover quickly turned over and got to her feet. Smirking grimly, she jeered, "I wouldn't wrap my mind around it too much, Spider-Man. It looks like you've got other things to worry about."
She rested one hand on her hip and pointed her thumb to where he had swung her dismembered rose chandelier. Craning her head to where she was gesturing, he saw that the force of the impact had created a crack in the walls, some large trees still barely standing with the large gash on their side. The spruce trees started swaying to the side, quickly speeding up as gravity started claiming the upper halves of the trees. The vines interweaving the trees began to tear apart.
"What!?" the hero exclaimed. "But…it's just a flower! How could it―"
Clover crooned, "Between the huge momentum you put in your swing and the tiny amount of time it took for you to swing it, you put a lot of force behind that impact, web-head. Too bad you've just ended up causing your own death."
Spider-Man glanced in fear between her and the cracking trees that would topple down any instant. The floor below him started to shake, and colossal pieces of vine tumbled down, crumbling the floor.
The castle was collapsing.
A giant, yellow tulip sprouted up from the ground right next to Spider-Man, with petals taller than he was, and Clover calmly strolled up to it.
"Hasta la vista, Spider-Man," she sneered, stepping in between the petals. "Your corpse will make for a nice fertilizer."
He watched her get wrapped around by the tulip, her dark smile vanishing behind the layers of petals like a curtain. The flower then lowered her into the ground, never to be seen again.
Great. She got away.
Spider-Man kept pulling at his leg, but the vine refused to budge. He thought about shooting his webs up towards the ceiling, but the ceiling was halfway destroyed already and disintegrating by the second.
Well, at least there aren't any thorns on this one, he thought.
He studied the plant restraining him and glanced towards the base. Now that the floor was falling apart at a fast rate, maybe the vine might have a better chance of being uprooted. Spider-Man shot a web at the base of the vine, confirming that it was wrapped tightly around the plant by jerking it lightly.
Grasping both of his hands on the string, he counted, "Alright, on three…one…two…three!"
He brought his arms up and pulled with all his might, making the web so taut that he was afraid it would snap. His biceps starting to burn, Spidey only yanked at the webbing more, his desire to survive overcoming all pain and fatigue.
More vine pieces and tree branches crashed from above, landing in the flowerbeds alongside the walls and sending clouds of leaves and rainbow-colored petals fluttering about. Spider-Man kept pulling and pulling and pulling until…
Riiiiiiip!
The vine was then uprooted, and Spidey toppled and rolled across the ground, crashing into a large tree branch. The hero saw the stars and rubbed his head while shaking the last bits of vine off his leg. He steadied himself on the quaking floor and hurriedly searched for a way out.
He remembered using this exact move on Shocker not too long ago, and he definitely didn't forget how well it had worked. If he wasn't out of here in the next couple minutes, he would be buried in a compost pile for the rest of his life.
Patches of sun came and went as more branches and vines snapped off. Spider-Man caught a good-sized gap between some foliage high above him and didn't waste any time slinging a web up towards it.
Hunching his legs, he started sprinting to give himself a good head start. He still had to dodge the occasional plant debris and was almost side-swiped several times, but with a quick tug of his webbing, he sprung himself high off the floor just as it gave way, crashing down into dust and clouding the air with dirt.
He was thwacked in the face by a barrage of more tree limbs of all sizes, but he landed on a thick branch and peered below him. Staring back up at him was the Kennedy Onassis Reservoir, serving as the world's largest mirror and giving off a rippled reflection of the falling edifice.
Spider-Man felt his center of gravity suddenly shift. The spruce tree he was on was going timber far quicker than he thought. He glanced over his shoulder and faced the large lake again.
"It's now or never…" he decided.
He lunged forward, falling down head-first from a hundred feet towards the water.
"CANNONBAAAAAAAAAAAAALL!"
His reflection in the water approached under him with great speed. Just as he started his dive, the last trees holding up the castle fell down, snapping the final vines and crashing into the ground below. Where the castle once stood was now a heap of bark, leaves, and petals.
Spider-Man plunged head-first into the reservoir, the frigid temperature slamming right into him and chilling the blood in his veins instantly. He bobbed above the surface of the water shivering erratically. It had become more than clear to him why October wasn't the best time of the year to go swimming.
"C-C-C-Cold!" he chittered. "Cold! Cold! G-G-God, that's cold!"
Luckily, he wasn't too far from the shore. After all, he certainly wasn't going to complain about the soft landing. He had already been scratched, constricted, slammed, and even pollen-blasted. He could go without a few broken bones.
As he paddled through the icy water, he thought about the ordeal he had just managed to get out of. Who was this Clover girl, and where had she come from? Was the kidnapping story really just a lie? If so, from whom, and why? Then again, Spidey felt like he shouldn't believe the girl who just tried to murder him by the virtue of her word.
But she had provided a nice offer: the true identity of the Green Goblin. Spider-Man was still trying to search the entire city for the masked maniac, and he had a nagging sense of who he might be. Spider-Man grunted. He just has his biggest break in the case of the Green Goblin, and he just passed it by! Should he have taken Clover's offer?
No, absolutely not. It was not worth the oath for obedience and city-wide domination. Spidey would rather be skinned and burned alive than ally with any wrongdoer. Besides, how could this girl, of all people, have any idea of who Gobby was? There was no way she could've actually had any real information to provide him. With this now in mind, Spider-Man could smell her fluke from a mile away.
And then there was the comment about Doctor Octopus. Boy, that came out of nowhere…
Spidey crawled onto the rocky, grass-covered shore and plopped onto his back, soaking in the heat of the sun.
"Ugh, what a day…" he groaned, utterly exhausted. "At least I'll get to see how Flash looks in a cheerleader's outfit tomorrow…"
OoOoO
NEXT UPDATE: Friday, May 8, 2015