Peter could really count on the brisk New York air to brighten his mood. Well, it was probably the fact that he was swinging about 15 stories high in the air that was helping his mood. Detention with Flash had really stunk. And what Flash said put Peter in a funk for a while too. He could barely focus on his homework. Probably because what Flash said rang true and played in his head like a broken record. So Peter tried to finish his homework before deciding to just go out on patrol after dinner. Tried being the key word; he still hadn't finished his Spanish worksheet yet.
But he totally made the right decision.
It was only midnight and Peter had already stopped three muggings and two attempts of rape. Not to mention, he did stop one robbery. It was all pretty easy and Peter came out unscathed for the most part. One of the mugging victims did slap him pretty hard. Ungrateful.
And Peter is enjoying the quiet (despite his slightly stung cheek) as he sits on a roof. Man, he still can't get over his view of the city from up here, and he really hopes he never will. Sitting here is such a refresher from normal life. It's as if once he puts on that mask, he feels like a totally different person. He's more confident, fearless, strategic, and witty. Not that he isn't those things as normal Peter Parker, but they're so much more prominent as Spiderman. It's not like Spiderman gets beat up by bullies or gets verbally abused by them.
"NYPD, NY Fire and Rescue. Daily Bugle Building, 13th floor, automated alarm activation from secured safe. Smoke and electrical fire reported on same floor. 35 year old male unconscious from electric shock," Peter's police pager goes off, making him slightly jump. Wait. The Daily Bugle? Uh-oh. 35 year old male? That could be Triple J. His office is on the 13th floor. As much as Peter bemoans about his boss, he doesn't hate him that much to just leave him there in an electrical fire.
Without thinking too much more about it, Peter slings a web and web-swings across his favorite city to his second least favorite place: work.
Wait, what could've made an electrical fire? Peter's boss is a huge stickler about regulations, especially with all of their equipment since it's all so expensive. Damn, hopefully the Daily Bugle has good insurance or Peter's going to see it in his paycheck, which he really can't go without.
Landing on the side of the building across the street, Peter can clearly see flames coming out of the building's glass windows. And some actually look broken. What happened here? Didn't they just get inspected by an electrician not a few weeks ago? (Peter remembers all of his boss's moaning and groaning about it).
Well, no time like the present. So Peter slings a web to the Daily Bugle building and launches himself into the window on the thirteenth floor. Peter rolls out of the swing, right on to shards of glass. Oh come on! He thought someone opened the window, not that the window was broken. Groaning at his bad luck and the idea of having to take out glass later (and certainly not the little bites of pain from it), Peter forces himself up onto his feet.
"Hello! Is anyone in here!" Peter yells. Taking in a deep breath of clean air, Peter makes his way into the hallway and the light smoke.
"Mr. Jameson! Hello?! Is anyone here?" Peter yells down the hall. Quickly running past some of the end rooms, Peter peeks his head in, only to find no one in them. Well, that makes his job a little easier. Taking another deep breath that may have been 10 percent smoke, Peter runs to the other end of the hall before he hears it. Two people are talking. And it's not Triple J. Peter forces himself to slow down to a tip-toe to try and hear some of the conversation.
"Please. What do you want from us?" a girl frantically asks, letting only a bit of fear slide into her voice. Guess it was good that Peter slowed down.
"Oh, nothing you can give me, darling. I just want to have a nice little chat with your boss here," an electric voice sickly says back. Wait, boss? Is that Triple J? Is he still unconscious?
"You're the one who knocked him out with your freaky electric powers. It's your own fault," she says as Peter makes his way to the door of the room they're in. Peter takes a deep breath and slowly peeks his head in. He should've taken a deeper breath.
There's Triple J on the floor, being protected by one of the Daily Bugle's employees from a man who seems engulfed in crackling electricity. And what's worse is he's wearing a bright green outfit that seems to have been made more electric in color.
Peter has to physically restrain himself from gasping. What the heck is happening to New York these days?
"I needed to teach Mr. Jameson here who is in charge, yes? And, I needed to open the safe to grab some of his money and more precious items. You see, your boss has some... news on items my friends and I need. I can't have him blabbing to everyone about what we're doing, now can I?" he smiles to the woman kneeling in front of her boss, spots of her skirt and shirt singed, and her hair falling out of its bun. "Speaking of which..." he sinisterly sneers before turning to Triple J's desk and sending pure electricity at it, causing the computer to ring with electricity, sparking and exploding with showers of sparks.
"Now, go. I don't want to hurt you or your boss, but I need to take care of all his stuff," the electric man tells her with (can that be?) sorrow in his voice.
"What are you going to do?" she asks, standing up to her full height to try and intimidate him. Good call.
"I can't tell you. But you might as well not come into work tomorrow," he says, reaching behind him to fry another monitor on Peter's boss's desk.
"Woa, woa, woa, you can't be getting all spark happy in here. Didn't your parents ever tell you that it's dangerous to play with electricity?" Peter shoots a web, grabbing the man's wrist and yanking it away from the computers. No need to cause more sparks and more fire.
"Spiderman," he seethes in his weirdly electric voice. "I was warned I might meet you."
"What can I say? I don't disappoint," Peter taunts back, checking over the situation. The woman (who Peter really wished he knew the name of) seems fine except for a few burn marks and singes, and Triple J is still out for the count. Just great. Peter's probably going to have to carry him out of the building.
"No. I suppose you don't," he says, just as Peter's spidey sense rings, compelling him to jump to the side, tackling the woman to the floor as electricity hits the TV screens behind where they were just standing.
"I'm gonna get you out of here, ok?" Peter tells her, trying his best to be comforting. Looking around the room, Peter grabs a chair with his webs and slings it at the man, hitting him straight in the chest. Hearing a groan, Peter congratulates himself just a bit.
Oh yea, he better check and see if his boss is ok.
"Mr. Jameson? Are you with me?" Peter asks as he reaches towards his neck to take the man's pulse. It's erratic, and hard to find, but it's there. With no response, Peter turns to the woman. "What's your name?"
"Uh-Jackie," she confusedly looks at him. Yea, what type of hero asks for someone's name in the middle of a crisis?
"Jackie, I'm gonna have to carry Mr. Jameson. You need to come with me. We're going to have to go down the stairs since this psycho can probably shock the elevator. And we cannot touch the railings. Clear?" Peter takes charge of the situation, about to stand up and lift his boss.
"THAT'S IT!" the electric man yells from underneath the very heavy sofa chair. With his electricity, the chair is blasted off of the man, going right into the wall and bookshelf of some very expensive nicknacks. "You are going down, Spiderman!" he furiously stands up, shooting electricity at their little huddle. Wasting no time from when his spidey senses went off, Peter slings a web at the little water cooler Triple J insisted on having in his office, and hurls it at the freaky spark man. (He could really use a name too).
"GAAAHHHHHH," the man yells in agony as the water shocks him, causing him to crumple on to the ground.
"New plan, Jackie. Drag Mr. Jameson as far as you can. I'll catch up with you," Peter says before sending more webbing at Socket (no, that's an awful name. Forget he even thought that), wrapping him up in the fluid before he becomes more coherent. Once Peter finished, he looks back to find the Jackie already left with Triple J, with only her abandoned high heels as evidence of her presence.
In that moment, Peter's sense erupts in pins and needles, making him turn around to find electricity about to strike him. Narrowly missing the hit, Peter jumps to the side and slings more web at Electric Light Orchestra (oh, come on, no ELO fans out there?) to pull him out of the room and in the opposite direction of the stairs. Instead, the electricity creeps up Peter's web and into his web shooter. Peter watches in terror as time nearly slows down and he looses a web shooter to sparks. Just great.
"Hey, no cool man. Do you know how much time it takes to make one of these?" Peter yells back, yanking his wrist free from the web.
"Leave me alone. I wasn't going to hurt anyone, Spiderman!"
"Yea right. Is that why Triple J was unconscious when I got here? And why Jackie had burn marks all over her?" With a growl in response and being clearly distracted, Peter runs up and kicks him into the hallway to go to the bathrooms. Perfect. Douse him in water. And they're not too far away.
Peter makes the tactical decision to not run away (because that's clearly not what he's doing, no sir), but to simply run to the bathroom in hopes that Sparky will follow him.
"Hey! Sparky! Are you too chicken? I'm over here!" Peter yells, successfully getting the madman to run after him into the men's bathroom. At the sink, Peter yanks off the handle for water, setting water to spray everywhere. He learned that from his first morning with new powers. Let's just say that Aunt May and their landlord weren't too happy over it.
Peter sends webbing over all the faucets and handles, using his finger to spray the webbing, and yanks towards himself to pull off all the metal. Peter ducks as water and sink pieces fly everywhere. Hallelujah, it's raining mercy. Diving under the sink, Peter watches as Sparky gets doused in more water, and hit by a few sink handles.
"AHHHHHH!" Peter watches as his adversary falls to the ground in more pain, right into a soaked floor. Seeing his chance, Peter sends webbing to one of the toilets, ripping out some of the plumbing to spray even more water.
"Aww, does kitty not like water?" Peter jokes at him, seeing the man try and get up from the floor without any blue electricity cracking around him. "Well, you got a bath anyway," Peter uses his lone remaining web shooter to bind the man up. "Have fun waiting for the cops and firemen," Peter yells as he runs out of the bathroom to the stairs. He has to help Jackie. She can't have gotten too far with having to drag Jameson down the stairs. Peter runs into the door, shoving it open with his body weight, too focused on helping Jackie than his soaked outfit, causing him to slip down the first flight of stairs. Ow ow ow. No fun.
"Is that really the kind of reward I get for helping out?" Peter asks out loud to himself.
"Spiderman! Is that you!" Peter whips his head up as he hears Jackie yell up from three floors below.
"Yes! I'm coming!" Peter shouts, using his super-stick powers to run down the stairs safely and not slip.
"Thank God you're ok," she says once he meets up with her. Getting enveloped in a wet hug, Peter can't stop himself from smiling. Some people appreciate his help. It feels pretty good.
"Sparky got a bath, and I bound him up in webbing, but I don't know if he's going to stay like that very long. Besides, I can see the smoke getting thicker," Peter tells her.
"Let's get going then," she says, all seriousness back on her face as she lets go of her boss's arms. Peter very carefully picks his boss up in a fireman's carry, not feeling any strain under the weight whatsoever, but wanting to be careful not to injure his worst critic. It's about five floors later of running that Peter can barely see through the smoke, and starts to have a difficult time breathing. Just great.
And it's when Jackie starts coughing that Peter feels his spidey sense go off. Fearfully looking up the stairs, Peter sees Sparky (ok, that name is really starting to wear off), descending the stairs towards them.
"Jackie, we've gotta..." Peter tries to tell Jackie to run, but sees that she's sitting on one of the stairs, coughing and trying her best not to look so dazed. "Oh crap."
Alright, Jackie can't climb anymore stairs. And he still needs to get Jameson down too. And they can't go up and they can't go to another stair case since these floors are probably filled with fire. And if they stay here any longer, they'll either suffocate, pass out from lack of oxygen, or get fried by Sparkles. Taking a deep breath that's now about 70 percent smoke, Peter picks up Jackie in his free arm (thank the Lord that she's only about 5'4"), and balances the weight of two bodies on his person before climbing down the stairs. Peter holds on to them with all his might, still trying his hardest to not leave a bruise, using his abilities to stick to things, including them right now.
"I will catch you, Spiderman!" Peter hears Sparkles (is that really any better?) yell from a mere two flights above them. Alright, Peter, think! You're four floors up, the stair case is filled with smoke, you can hardly see, and a shocking maniac is pursuing you. Think of something!
With a huff, Peter opens the door to the fourth floor and walks into what he thinks has to be the hottest room in the building. Flames are licking the ceiling and walls all around him. Damn. And the smoke detectors have not stopped ringing, making his enhanced ears hurt. Looking around the cubicle room, Peter spots the closest and least flame filled window before making his way over to it. Setting Jackie down, and then Mr. Jameson, Peter fumbles with the window for a few seconds before simply punching the glass out. Picking up Mr. Jameson first, Peter sprays webbing around him and then ends it in a long cord, frantically moving as fast as he can. Lifting his boss up again, Peter steps out the window and lowers Mr. Jameson down the building with his webbing.
"Spiderman!" a few cops yell from below, astounded as to what the superhero is doing. Well, he can't very well leave Jackie here either. A few cops and firemen get the memo and wait with outstretched arms to catch Triple J at the bottom. Gritting his teeth just a bit, Peter manages to lower his boss down safely into the cops and firemen's arms.
"We got him!" Peter hops back inside with the confirmation. Seeing Jackie now fully unconscious, Peter gently picks her up over his shoulder.
"Not so fast there, bug," Peter stops in his attempt at climbing back out the window. Turning just enough, Peter sees a very angry Sparkles waiting for him, electricity cracking at his finger tips, ready to strike.
"What happened to not wanting to hurt people? Do you really want to hurt me?" Peter asks, hoping to get him to back down.
"People have never cared for me, Spiderman. Why should I really care for them? Have you ever felt so squashed by everyone around you? Huh! I am doing what I must to survive," Sparkles declares while Peter coughs from the smoke that's surrounding him from trying to escape out the window. "You can never understand what I have to do. They are making me as Electro do this, Spiderman. I have no choice!" he shouts, losing his control as electricity shoots through the fried computers and their wires towards Peter and Jackie.
Making a last minute decision, Peter jumps out the window, cradling Jackie as he tries to surround himself as much as he can around her before taking the brunt of the fall into the parked car below.
"Owwwww..." Peter groans from his position on his back, watching as electricity creeps out of the window and down the wires of the building to street lamps.
"Spiderman!" a voice shouts from his right. "Are you alright, son?" a frantic paramedic asks.
"Help her first," Peter tells him. "There was too much smoke," Peter coughs out, trying to get them to understand what happened. When the paramedics have lifted Jackie off of Peter, he groans and sits himself up, getting his bearings. What is it with him and jumping out of burning buildings from the fourth floor? Can't he just get a break?
"Spiderman, are you okay? You keep falling from buildings," the paramedic comes back and Peter recognizes him as the one who tried to help him last time.
"I'm in tip-top shape, sir. There was less smoke this time. Just more electricity," Peter tells him as he moves to slide off the car.
"You really shouldn't be moving around, Spiderman. We need to check you out for any spinal injuries," the paramedic says, grabbing Peter's arm. Peter looks back at the man, seeing that it's only the one paramedic who is interested in him, and that all the bystanders, cameramen, firemen, and cops are more interested in the building and Jackie. As it should be.
"I'll be fine," Peter says, easily pulling his arm out of the man's grasp and wincing only a little bit at the movement. Thank goodness for his mask, or else the paramedic wouldn't've believed him. "Thanks for the concern though, no one else tends to really care about their friendly neighborhood Spiderman," Peter tells him, tipping an imaginary hat before slinging a web to another building with his sole web-shooter.
"Maybe they will now..." the paramedic says, looking back at the police and fire lights and the commotion all around them. Spiderman had single handedly helped save J. Jonah Jameson and the woman protecting him from what looked like an electric man before he disappeared. People are bound to start to care.
Sorry for the long wait, guys. My apologies. And thank you for your kind reviews. I'm not entirely sure how happy I am about this chapter, but I really wanted to get my grand plan rolling, and Electro is a part of it (even though his powers and personality are very difficult to write). I'll leave you with the hint that next chapter has a certain... sandy individual. And don't give up on me yet, I know the next chapter will be much better, I've been planning it for a while. Please review, I love love love reading all of your comments! Until next time!
Love,
Dopamine Lover