FREEDOOOOOOOOOM! High school is finally OVERRRRR!
...Okay, now that I got that out of my system, enjoy this new, long-awaited chapter of your (not-so) regularly scheduled fanfiction.
Credit goes to Emiko Gale for her generous support for getting this chapter and this fanfic in general off the ground. And credit to Marvel Comics and Capcom for the creations I'm using in this non-profit effort on my part.
Let's get this thing started already!
-Narration P.O.V.-
At the site of the abandoned apartment complex on Judd Street where jeweler Reed Hawthorne was murdered, police scanned each floor of the building for evidence. Meanwhile, a prosecutor was standing on the roof of the building and expectantly looking to the skies. His arms and legs were thin and scrawny under his cheap, green business suit. He wore wide, thick-rimmed glasses over his smug face.
"Hee hee hee! Detective Atmey should be here any minute!" He bragged to himself. His head turned when he saw from his peripheral vision a small object in the distance coming his way. "Ah, that must be him now! Wait, there's something strange about him. He doesn't have wings, and he's wearing red and blue-Ack! It's Spider-Man, but how?"
Indeed, it was Spider-Man, swinging his way to the top of the apartment building. When he was close enough, Apollo shot a web at a metal pipe sticking out of the roof, and flung himself forward to Mr. Payne, who instantly dropped to his knees and fell flat on his face to get out of his way. Apollo whipped through the air and landed on his two feet on the roof, but not without staggering a little. "Hey, you." He looked over at Mr. Payne and pointed at him. "This is the place right? Where Reed Hawthorne was murdered that night?"
"Murdered by YOU." Payne scoffed at him as he picked himself off the ground. "Admit it, wall-crawler, you don't have a chance of getting away from the law this time, and I will show everyone that I, Winston Payne, am the best prosecutor in the West!" He raised his fist into the air in triumph and looked up.
Apollo shook his head and sighed. "Did you really have to go through the whole 'evil villain monologue' thing? That's so overdone!"
"What? Don't you believe me? That I will finally put you, a public menace to society, behind ba-"
'There you go again! Stop that! Can't you just keep your flaming ego to yourself for once?"
"Do you ever keep your mouth shut, web-head?" Mr. Payne spat at him. "You won't be this cocky once Detective Atmey shows you up! Hee hee!"
"Who, that Vulture guy?" Apollo crossed his arms.
"ZVARRI! You rang?" A voice crowed from above. Sure enough, it was Detective Luke "The Vulture" Atmey himself. He was dressed in a fine tuxedo with a fine red bow tie. His hair was black and short on the sides while the top was bright blonde, long and spiked to the side. Metal plating covered the left side of his face and a red, bird eye-shaped visor covered his left eye. He used the mechanical harness strapped to his body to hover slowly over the roof of the building in front of Mr. Payne and Apollo.
"I would rather answer for a pizza delivery than for a lunatic with impractical flying machines strapped to is back." Apollo yelled at the detective with in a snarky tone.
"Ha, simpleton! Do you not know that the great Da Vinci himself could not rival my unparalleled design?" He bragged as he slowly descended onto the roof of the apartment Apollo and Prosecutor Payne were standing on.
"It doesn't matter where you got those wings from. What matters is that I didn't do anything wrong here, and I'm going to prove it to you both!"
Suddenly, the bird detective bent down slightly and stared straight at Apollo with his piercing red, mechanical bird's eye. He examined him up and down and then spoke up. "Hmmmmmm...Zvarri! The truth has once again been elegantly revealed to me." He declared with pompous triumph as he grinned from ear to ear. "You are a young man of high school age! You found your silly costume that you are wearing from home. The symbol painted on your chest resembles that of an arachnic, namely, a...spider! Yes, I have now given a name to my new enemy: Spider-Man!"
"Um, yeah. That name's been in the game for a few days now. Get with the program!"
"Oh ho ho! You scoff at me now, but you have yet to see a mere ounce of my brilliance at work!"
Winston Payne grinned smugly at Apollo. "Hee hee hee, looks like you're going to be sorely outnumbered Spidey. What are you going to do now?"
THWIP!
Spider-Man shot a web at Payne's mouth, and Payne fell on his back from the impact, trying to pull the webs off his face. "I'm going to shut you up, for starters. One arrogant, big-mouth is enough to deal with around here."
Detective Atmey looked down at the pathetic prosecutor on the ground. "Don't you worry about the arachnid, Payne. Leave him to me, for this shan't take long." Prosecutor Payne just grumbled something under his breath. He looked back up at Apollo and outstretched his arm with his hand open. "Now then, Spider-Man! Hand over to me your final testimony before I carry you to the police!"
(If it's a battle of wits you want, bird brain, it's a battle you'll get.) Apollo thought to himself. "That night, I was chasing after the man who murdered Detective Gumshoe. I rode on top of a police car to make the trip a little faster. I saw the man, Reed Hawthorne, the victim, run into an apartment building. So I figured I would trap him by getting to the top floor first by climbing there."
Detective Atmey continued staring at Apollo with his robotic red eye inquisitively. "Climb there, you say? How, pray-tell, did you accomplish such a curious feat?"
Apollo held up one hand in front of Detective Atmey and pointed at his palm with the other. "My hands can easily stick to flat surfaces, allowing me to climb like a spider. See the reason for the naming?."
"Note to self," Detective Atmey muttered to himself, "Find a trace of the Spider's blood to have powers too." He started silently concocting plans in his head as he ogled Apollo.
(Note to self) Apollo thought to himself, (Guys who can't inner monologue to themselves are not to be trusted.)
Detective Atmey noticed that Apollo was staring uncomfortably at him, and pulled out of his train of thought. "My apologies! I must have trailed off to realms unseen. Continue!"
(...Not gonna ask.) "So anyway, I climbed this apartment building to the top floor, and I sneaked up on him when he ran up here. I beat the living crap out of him, and then he tried to shoot me. I threw the gun out of his hand and backed him into a corner. Then a bullet shot from right behind me, and I narrowly dodged it. Unfortunately, Mr. Hawthorne wasn't so lucky. He caught the bullet in his forehead and died right in front of me. After that ordeal, I hurried out of the building to get out of the cops' way."
"Hmmmmmm...so that is all that came to pass that sordid night?"
Apollo nodded. "Everything clear as crysta-"
"ZVARRI!" The detective quickly interrupted. "...The truth has once again been elegantly revealed to me. I shall point out the glaring flaw in your defense, and it lies right behind you!"
Apollo quickly looked behind him and then looked back at the detective confused. "There's nothing...So there's nothing wrong?" He laughed nervously.
"Nay! I mean, this bullet you speak of, you say it came from an unknown assailant? Yet, there were no other perpetrators spotted near the scene save for YOU, arachnid!"
Apollo shook his head. "But I know that I heard someone behind the door to the room! Someone could have opened the door, saw what was going on, and tried to shoot me or Mr. Hawthorne!"
"Bah! Conjecture, conjecture, conjecture! All you speak is conjecture! If you can give me hard proof of this occurrence, than I shall gladly open my mind to your proposal!" Atmey spat in Apollo's face.
"Well then, allow me!" Announced a certain scientific high school student with pink glasses. It was Ema Skye, who strode forward with an air of enthusiasm and a brown satchel of experimental chemicals at her side. "I'm Ema Skye, a rookie detective here to help with the investigation!"
"And I've come to help too, sir!" Shouted Maggey Byrde, who followed right behind Ema and saluted.
Apollo flinched and quickly turned to see Ema and Maggey arriving. (Ok, who invited my personal life?) He thought to himself. "Well..umm..Hello, good citizens! Have you really come here to help the investigation? It's a little dangerous 'round these parts, isn't it?"
"That's not going to stop us from serving the greater good, sir! We're here to prove your innocence in the eyes of justice!" Maggey said with absolute passion.
Apollo looked from Maggey back to Detective Atmey embarrassed. "Ummm, Mr. Vulture-guy? Could you..excuse me for a minute? I need to consult with the ahem 'rookie detective' privately." He glared at Ema and nudged his head towards the door leading to the level below the roof. She nodded, went into the door and down the stairs, then Apollo quickly followed her down.
"What were you thinking?! You can't be here! I swear that you were THIS close to blowing my cover."
"Well, I just thought you might need help because your reputation isn't exactly in a good spot, is it?" Ema sassed Apollo back.
"But you brought Aunt Maggey, with you?"
"She came with me! But you know what? She's a police officer. You should be thankful you have at least SOME of the L.A.P.D on your side!"
"And how is anyone going to believe just one officer?"
"That's why you need my help! I can get you the evidence you need!"
"But did you just see who they've got with them? They have a private eye...with vulture wings! Don't you think a guy like that is going to be some super-genius detective or something?"
"And I'm an intern at one of the biggest corporate, scientific empires in the country. So what? We can take him together."
"What if you get hurt somehow? I could never live with myself if you got hurt!"
Ema stared hard at Apollo and backed him against the corner. Even behind the mask, Ema's intimidation pierced right through him. "Look... 'Spider-Man', I'm here because I choose to be here for you...It was MY choice, whether you like it or not. Another thing, you may be Spider-Man with that mask, but inside, I know you're still Apollo Justice, cowardice and all." Ema poked a finger into Apollo's chest. "So, come on, we don't have time to waste." Ema grabbed Apollo's hand and he reluctantly followed him back up the stairs to the roof, where Prosecutor Payne and Detective Atmey were waiting.
"Alright, you two," Ema greeted the two sinister two as she opened the door back to the roof. "Now that me and Spider-Man here have settled our differences, how about we start this little investigation, shall we?"
"Hee hee hee hee! Seems like our arachnid friend has a weak spot for a woman's touch! I certainly do not fault him." Atmey chuckled. Apollo quietly grunted, slightly embarrassed. "Zvarri! Yes! Let us not waste anymore time, peasant!" The detective squawked proudly.
"Lead the way, rookie!" Payne ordered Ema and pointed to the door downstairs. Before Apollo could follow along with the rest, Ema stopped him outside the door.
"And Spider-Man, how about you stay right up here on the roof? I'll handle things from here with Ms. Byrde."
"But-"
"There, there, everything is going to be alright Mr. Spider-Man. Just...do whatever a spider does." Ema shrugged.
"Spinning webs sounds like a fun thing to do when you're bored, sir!" Maggey chimed in.
"Yeah...spinning webs. Right..." Apollo sighed. Just as he was about to show these two goons who's boss, someone had to butt right in.
"And speaking of webs." Ema whispered and looked down at Apollo's wrists. "You still haven't lent my web-shooters back to me, you know. I'm going to need them back for real after this investigation. So stay put!" Apollo nodded disappointedly. "Well, have fun Spidey!" Ema winked as she closed the door behind her.
Apollo's P.O.V
Just when I wanted to show those two creeps up, Ema had to come and ruin my fun. I thought this was supposed to be my responsibility? Besides, I don't want anyone else getting in danger after what happened to Uncle Gumshoe.
But, I guess there's no shaking her decision. She seems to care enough about me that she's going out of her way to help me, even though we've only gotten to know each other for, what, a few days? She must really not have a lot of friends around school. That, and she's completely obsessed with science.
THWIP! (Bam! Hit the coke bottle straight on!)
And I think she said something about her sister being a detective. She must really look up to her too. I even used to hear stories from Aunt Maggey about how this detective named Lana who she works with is really determined and willing to help, and that's she's a huge inspiration for her. Coincidence? I don't think so.
THWIP! THWIP!
Getting in a little bit of web-shooting practice while I'm bored. Maybe I can convince Ema that I can keep these if I can impress her with my mad skills. Probably not, but I guess it's worth a shot. Hmmmmm, I wonder if I can try to hang upside down like a real spider can do? I just need to find a hanging roof that I can shoot at so I have something to web to. The ledge right here should do fine.
THWIP!
Now that I have a web attached to ledge, I just have to drop down from here and-Please don't break, please don't break, please don't break!...Phew! Alright, so the web's a lot stronger than I thought. Ema, you are a surefire genius! Now to hang myself upside down and...perfect!...Gyaaah! Why did I even think to do this in the first place?! The drop down from here looks so scary! Ok, ok, just need to get the hang of this (Erm, no pun intended), and I should feel fine.
L.A. sure looks weird upside down. All these tall buildings are jutting right out of the sky. All the cars are driving along the ceiling to and fro. Hmmmm, this view isn't too bad, I guess. Although, I'd rather not feel like all my blood is rushing into my head.
Huh, who's that on top of that building way over there on the other side of the road? Looks like he has spiky hair...and a red suit...and red skin. Is that really Tigre the Hunter? That mob boss that Aunt Maggey's been telling me about...holding a sniper rifle...Pointed at ME?! Holy-
*BAM!*
WOAH! That was close! One second too late, and my brains would've been toast! But Tigre's not giving up, he's still aiming right at me!
*BAM!*
"Ha! Missed me again, kitty cat!" I taunt him from the building
*BAM!*
"Suck it, tomato breath!" Ha! Looks like I got him really mad, this time! He sheathes his sniper behind him and shakes his fist angrily at me. Must have run out of rounds. Now it looks like he's crouching or something. What's he doing this time? Woah! He just leaped into the air just like that! And he's about to land right in front of me!
Spider senses are tingling, gotta think fast! Looks like he's going to pounce on me straight-on. This gives me an open opportunity to web him right in the face, and that should give me enough time to dodge out of the way!
THWIP!
"Raaarrrggh!" Got him! His eyesight's obstructed enough that he can't see me dodge his landing. He lands on both of his feet (strangely fitting for a cat-themed criminal), and claws at the webbing.
"Can't see a thing with this crap in my face!"
I stand behind him and give him a light tap on the shoulder. "Over here, tabby!" Tigre takes a swipe at me from behind with his right arm. Phew! That was a close one! And another, and another, and another! "Man, you're pretty clumsy for a tiger. Don't you guys have, like, really good senses?"
"You won't be sayin' that when I got my hands on you, bug!"
"Actually, spider's aren't really insects, they're really ara-"
*PUNCH!*
Agh! Slugged me right in the face! He leaves me open for long enough that he rips the webbing off his face, pounces on me, and pins me down on my back. Then he takes my left web shooter, takes it off my wrist, and throws it aside. Hey, that's not fair! "Not scurryin' outta this one, are ya, bug boy?" He growls as he brandishes a hunting knife to my neck. I try to use my right web shooter, but then he just smashes it with one hand! Ema's going to kill for this, I know it. "Not this time!...Y'know, I can get a lotta money from just killin' you. Sending ya off to the coppers ain't my style, and I'm not gonna risk myself gettin' caught either. So how 'bout we just end things here?" Someone PLEASE help me, I don't want to die like this!
"I think not, villain!" Who was that? Hey! It's Detective Atmey, and he's standing there along with Prosecutor Payne and Ema, who are both watching in shock. Hey, I don't blame them, I'd be scared senseless too if I were them. "So help me, I shall arrest both of you foul felons!" Atmey points a gun at Tigre. Tigre responds by putting back his knife and taking out a gun of his own.
"No way, 'dis is my prey! Caught 'em myself! Take anotha' step closer, and you gonna get lead yo' head!"
Detective Atmey laughs off Tigre's threats like they're nothing! Oh boy, what's he planning now? "Very well, you leave me no choice, tiger. You shall witness the unbridled wrath of, the Vulture!" He spreads his arms out and out pop those two giant, mechanical wings attached to his harness. Eeeek! He's charging at both of us now! Tigre opens fire on the Vulture, but then he shields himself with his wings.
"CAAAAWWW! To the police station you both shall go!" He squawks as he sweeps us off the ground and carries Tigre into the air, who is also still holding onto me too! How the heck is this guy so strong he can carry both of us!? I feel like I'm dangling by a thread from this high, and with the force of this wind against me it's like I got shot out of a cannon. So I'm basically having the worst case of wanting to puke.
"Let go'a me, ya bird-brain!" Tigre tries to struggle out of Vulture's grip but can't. "How are ya even this strong anyway?"
"Scientific miracles through the power of expert engineering in my harness, which is attached to an exoskeleton underneath my clothing that enables me super-strength!"
"Yeah, whateva', now will ya' just let us go already?"
"The only place where I shall let you two go is behind bars!"
Great, I go from one mess to another. Things aren't exactly working out with the whole superhero thing, are they? I have to find a way out of Tigre's grip and get back to Ema and Mr. Payne. Gotta think fast, gotta think fast-Let's see, Tigre's already threw away one web shooter and damaged the other one. So no pulling the web-face technique here. His grip on me is too strong for me to try to fight him off. So I can't struggle away from him...Wait! He's only grasping on to my hoodie! Maybe if I-no, no, no, that's just stupid. Why would I try to slip out of my hoodie just to get away from him? Oh, who am I kidding, it's practically the only way I'm getting out of this alive, so I guess it's worth a shot. Just cross my fingers and hope for the best! So I try to slip my way out of the hoodie as quick as I can before Tigre can react.
"Hey! Where you think you goin', bug boy?" Tigre growls at me trying to hold me tighter by my hoodie.
"Away from you two bozos!" I make a snide remark as I finally slip through the bottom of my red Spider-Man sweater. Phew! That was a close call! Now I just have to swing from a nearby building and-Oh wait! I don't have web shooters! The only thing I can do now is try to find a surface to crash land on and hope to God I don't break my legs!
Aaaaaand cliffhanger!
You thought you were going to see what was going to happen next? Going to have to find out on the next exciting chapter of Amazing Forehead!
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Thanks! Excelsior!