Lowan watched the scene unfolding on the television screen. This wasn't local news, it was national. He couldn't believe what he was watching; Curtis was flying rampantly through Pigeon Forge, Tennessee destroying buildings trying to kill Brent. How had he gotten up there? And why were they there? And why wasn't it contained yet? The footage cut out after a shopping cart sprouted from a building's roof as the building collapsed, striking Curtis and sending him off the camera. Convenient time to cut off; not.

"The battery in the camcorder died before it could pick up where these unidentified people made off to, however one thing can be certain from this amateur footage; the super-human beings that were sighted in Georgia just yesterday seemed to have set up shop here in Tennessee to continue their fight over who knows what."

"This is ridiculous!" Lowan screamed at the screen.

"Indeed it is Doctor." Justin walked into Lowan's office. Lowan noted the smile on his face. "If you would have told me who this boy was this wouldn't be happening. Care to inform me now?"

"Get the hell out of my office, I'm dealing with it."

"Dealing with it? Lowan, do you know how many people died? That lunatic is out there chasing down 'Spider-Man' for some unknown reason and you think it's perfectly fine to leave him out there?"

"The boy isn't the problem Justin, it's Curtis. I'm pretty sure I wanted you out of my office. Taking over the project doesn't rank you higher than me."

"You will wish you had let me in on this," Justin said as he turned to leave. "It may not be soon, but one day you will wish you had let me do my job."

...

How had he screwed up this time? How? Curtis had the edge. The element of surprise was his, the distance was his. He had Brent running for his life didn't he? It wasn't hard really. Brent could seriously jump high, that wasn't expected. But minus that detail, what had happened? Curtis had a weakness somewhere, what was it? Was it that he wasn't able to endure the hits? He thought back to the shopping cart striking him in the torso and the pain that had been caused along with the panic, loss of balance and eventual retreat. Retreat couldn't be an option anymore.

Curtis slowly sat up. He'd fled into the mountains to get some cover and hopefully not be followed. The injuries he'd sustained were starting to hurt a bit, but he mentally got past it. Looking down at his bare torso caused him to sigh; he'd taken off his hoody and shirt to examine the damage prior to lying down on the cool fall ground. Two distinct bruises were already formed where Brent had kicking him in the chest as he'd flown over. Another one was starting to form on his stomach, the main place of contact when the cart hit him. He'd wanted to puke when it happened so bad but held it back. One thing he wanted to know though was why he'd gotten the breath knocked out of him twice in a row? That was ridiculous beyond belief. Shouldn't have allowed that to happen in the first place, much less the second time.

What was he going to do in the wake of his defeat? Was he defeated? Surely. The building may have fallen in, but Brent was apparently still very alive and well enough to throw a shopping cart at him, so assuming he'd died in the collapse was a fatal mistake. Brent was different, he'd changed. He was strong, fast, and extremely dangerous in a fight. Well, a fair fight, Curtis had proven Brent could be distracted and then taken advantage of. Could Curtis harvest this in a new assault and overcome Brent? Maybe in more closed quarters, but not so closed that Brent could take down Curtis easily. Hostages seemed to get Brent's attention. Where could this be executed? And how would Brent's attention be gotten?

Curtis stood as he put his shirt and hoody back on, shivering slightly from the cold air and deciding it was time to act. Couldn't let Brent rest too much, even if he needed the rest more than Brent probably did. He could feel the pain in his chest and stomach every time he moved, but the desire to finally kill Brent drove him to overcome it. Pigeon Forge was no longer an option, that place was definitely crawling with cops looking for him. He needed someplace untouched yet, but close, and a way to get Brent's attention so he'd actually go there. Gatlinburg was close by, right? Yes, yes that would work. Curtis lifted into the air, flew up to such a height that he could see over the mountains, and pinpointed Gatlinburg. "Here I come."

...

"Rogers, I am hoping you've seen the news."

"Sir, we are already getting packed and mobilized. Another team in Tennessee is already on site investigating, we will be there shortly."

"Good to hear, keep me posted." Rogers hung up the phone and looked at his men.

"Alright, listen up ladies, this time we know of the danger we're walking in to. This Curtis guy is highly dangerous. Lewis died this morning, if that's not enough motivation for you to want to take this target down I don't know what is, we all knew Lewis and he was a good man. Don't meet the same fate, if it's Curtis shoot first and ask questions later. I'm briefing you now because once we get into the helicopters it's game time. We're going in fast and hot and going into search mode. We are in danger once we enter a twenty mile radius of ground zero. Once we drop we're going. It will take some time to get there so get yourselves together mentally on the way. Now get in those choppers boys we have a fugitive to hunt."

...

Curtis let out a light sigh as he flew over Gatlinburg. Such a strange place; hardly any parking, crowded, and not even fun looking. Why would anyone want to go on vacation there? Where was the excitement? Curtis could not even imagine having fun in such a place. Shops everywhere? Seriously? You go to Gatlinburg to pay for a hotel so you can shop? What kind of vacation is that?

A building caught Curtis' eye. It was on the other side of the city he was on, but it was large. Blue. What was it? Curtis started zooming in to look. "Ripley's Aquarium," he mumbled as the red letters became legible. "Sounds like the only place worth going to in this dump of a city, might as well make an entrance. Being out in the open for too long will probably attract unwanted attention anyway." He bolted towards the building, not bothering to use the doors but to come through the ceiling instead. The radiation burn around the perfect circle formed when he entered glowed for a moment as he slowly lowered himself into the building.

At first the reactions he got were reactions of confusion. No one knew what to make of him. Of course, if someone just burns through a ceiling with no explanation and is hovering there and watching silently no one would know how to react. Finally he heard a scream, that's right fear him. As the people started making steps towards exits and paths in the building Curtis decided he should act before he lost his opportunity.

With a quick swoop down he was able to isolate and snag a young girl, no older than eight years old. She instantly started screaming at the top of her lungs and Curtis made his ascent back up to almost the ceiling. "Shut up you little wench!" he yelled into her ear. "Shut up or I will drop you from up here. This is a good fifty feet, you will die." The girl whimpered and squirmed.

"Just wait until Spider-Man gets here punk!" Curtis looked down at a man standing below him. What was he talking about? Spider-Man? Did he mean Brent? How cute, Brent had a secret name. Curtis could create some hype from this. People could watch Brent die on the national news, brilliant.

"Too bad you won't be around to see him," Curtis said as he released one hand from the girl to aim it at the guy and release radiation down and to him. The radiation obliterated him on the spot, leaving just a dark spot on the ground. "Wow, I'm getting better at controlling this stuff. Good." Curtis looked around the building, seeing a woman running towards him while everyone else ran away.

"Stacy! Stacy!"

"Mommy!" The little girl's mother? Great, she would have some motivation for getting Curtis what he wanted. He lowered slightly towards her.

"You can have your daughter back once I get someone."

"Who?" What a stupid woman, didn't she watch the news? He didn't, which is why the Spider-Man gig was new to him.

"Spider-Man. Lady this is what I want you to do, go tell all the nice policemen I have your daughter and if she is to live Spider-man must come. Make sure the whole freaking world knows."

The woman took off running towards the exit. Curtis watched as she was the last one to leave, which was what he was waiting for. He started floating around, trying to figure out what to do exactly. He flew into a side door and entered what looked like a lab. A scalpel caught his eye, so he quickly pocketed it. The next thing to catch his attention was the large chart on the wall. Feeding chart? Schedule of feeding performed daily. How hungry were the sharks?

Luck. Curtis had struck gold. It was about shark feeding time. This could easily be made into a very good situation for him. He left the room, girl still in tow. Giving the place a good look over gave Curtis the confidence that he'd chosen the right place. No more defeats for him, he was going to win; just enough enclosure that it would be hard for Brent to hide, but at the same time Curtis could move around and hopefully dodge whatever Brent could throw his way. Of course Curtis desired to do better in this than he'd done in their previous encounter. The key was to wait for him to show up, then execute the attack. He went through his head what exactly would happen. "Well girly, I hope you can swim."

...

A familiar feeling began to trickle into Brent's head. Consciousness? Was consciousness seriously calling him? He rolled over in the bed, groaning. Teenagers were made to sleep, not stay awake! Brent almost verbally yelled but instead kept it in his head as he slowly sat up. Still light outside, what time was it? He looked over at the clock next to the bed; almost four in the afternoon. Great, he could get a shower and go to dinner. Dinner sounded good, at least in the near future. Five definitely wasn't too early for him to eat.

He picked up the remote as he laid his head back down to let himself wake up a bit more. The first channel to pop up was the local weather channel. Clear skies, light winds, high of forty. That sounded about right. Possible know late into the night? Great, what would happen if they got snowed in? Brent quickly changed the channel. He didn't want to be stuck in Pigeon Forge, not with Curtis around. All he could do was hope it didn't snow. The next channel was a local ads channel. What was the point of having televisions in hotel rooms? Brent couldn't wrap his head around the fact that most of what was on the televisions was local commercials trying to get the tourists out to them. It wasn't exactly something Brent found entertaining.

Next channel was news. Great, Brent will get to see if they caught Curtis yet.

"We are coming to you live from Gatlinburg where the fugitive known as Curtis is holding a young child hostage inside. We have reports from several witnesses that he has already killed one man inside and is now holding a little seven year old girl hostage inside. He told the mother to relay a message for him requesting the presence of Spider-Man. It seems the nasty brawl between Curtis and this Spider-Man that started in a high school in Cumming, Georgia and spread to neighboring Pigeon Forge earlier today has now shifted to the Ripley's Aquarium here in Gatlinburg. Authorities will not comment, but we have seen FBI agents in the area. The thought now comes to mind that this situation could be much more serious than once thought if the government has now become involved in helping disabling Curtis."

Brent turned the television off. He'd gone too far. Way too far. Curtis overstepped himself long ago, but he was just becoming more and more desperate to see Brent die. What could Brent do to stop it? Catch him this time? Because catching a radioactive person seemed nearly impossible, especially one that could shoot said radiation out of his body. Something had to be done though, and fast. A young girl's life was hanging in the balance and Brent was the one requested, so deliver he must.

Being wide awake now certainly helped the process of reaching under the bed and locating the newly purchased costume with ease. Brent held the costume up to his face. He was about to do it, he was about to go out there and show the world no one messes with him, not even a radioactive high school bully. Well maybe that was getting a bit out there, but still happening. With a groan Brent knew what he had to do.