Part Four:

"Battle In Central Park"

Vulture had supremacy over the situation and he knew it. He had drained Johnny Storm of his power and there was nothing that Spiderman could do—other than remain at a safe distance from his fireballs.

Aflame, Vulture turned up the heat, and Spiderman's costume clung to his body as if it were painted on, sweat drenching his skin. It was difficult for Spiderman to think much less act from the heat and his vision was blurred from the sweat that bled into his eyes.

"You'll be the first to fall to my awesome power, Spiderman, and there's nothing you can do to stop me," Vulture proclaimed. "I have become the flame; the Phoenix rising from the ashes. . .I have become a god!"

"And I thought I was the one that made the jokes?" Spiderman fired back, finding it a little difficult to breath through his mask. It was so hot he started to feel tired.

He started to see things in the heat, an outline of something, moving, but his vision was so blurry, and his mind so warped that he couldn't identify what it was, if anything other than a trick of the mind. Quickly that outline burst into flames and Spiderman knew it only be one thing.

"What?" Vulture said with shock and surprise.

"Go gett'em, Johnny!" Spiderman cheered on.

Johnny Storm grabbed Vulture by the legs as Vulture hovered above the ground. Johnny had he regained his strength fast. Spiderman ventured that even though Toomes had drained Johnny of his powers, his DNA was endowed with such cosmic properties that he quickly re-generated his ability.

Vulture looked down. "But how? I drained you!"

"I'm the Human Torch, buddy!" Johnny said. "I exist as the flame, I am the flame. The moment you flamed-on, the fire began to regenerate my cells at an exponential rate. Apart from Jean Grey, I am the Phoenix. Not you!"

That should've occurred to me right away, Spiderman thought. When Johnny's cells were changed in space, his physiology also changed, so his body is able to generate and control fire, and absorb it. So it would only stand to reason that that fire would work as a recuperative escalate to regenerate his body, too.

"You can't defeat me, boy," Vulture said, rising higher above the ground, hauling Johnny up with him. Johnny had not flamed-on, but the more he stayed in contact with Toomes, he could absorb his full power back. The fire did not harm Johnny in the slightest even with bare hands. "I can control these powers now. I can do more with them then you can even conceive!"

"Not in this lifetime, birdbrain," Johnny said smirking. Then he said, "Flame on!" and burst into flame, and quickly flew up to Vulture's eye level. He quickly wrapped an arm around Vulture's neck, putting him in a choke hold—stopping the flow of oxygen to his brain. Spiderman knew if he could render Vulture unconscious, it would extinguish his flame. And eventually, the power would be drained away from him completely. Toomes would not be able to use the power of the Human Torch any longer.

Vulture struggled to free himself choking out the words: "Stop it! You're…killing me!"

"I'm gonna put out your flame for good, Vulture," Johnny said. "You'll never use my powers for evil again."

"Nooo!"

Spider-Man listened to Johnny's words and also took that as a means to kill Vulture. "Johnny, don't kill him!" he shouted. "He has to pay for his crimes. If you kill him, justice won't be served."

"True," Johnny agreed. Then said to Vulture: "Your kind of scum isn't worth blood on my hands. I wasn't going to kill you, just put your flame out. However, sometimes I don't know my own strength." He released him, then hovered back a few meters.

Vulture sucked in air and then turned around to face Johnny. "Hero-worship is overrated," Vulture said, rubbing his throat. He dropped gently to the ground and turned off the flame. "You're a fool! You could have beaten me by killing me! You're weak!"

"Well, that's the difference between you and me," Johnny said back. "I know what it means to be burdened with the responsibility of protecting people from scum like you. I use my power to help people, revenge is a distraction from that pursuit even though I have felt the need. It's people like you who reinforce the belief that I was given this power for a reason."

Vulture smirked sinisterly. "Such heroic babble. You received your power from a cosmic freak of nature, nothing more. But my technology will be your downfall. I'll suck you dry!" Vulture flew back up towards Johnny speedily with his arms out-stretched and his talons opened wide. He was no longer aflame, but he was just as dangerous. "I won't be denied this opportunity to rule this city!"

Suddenly and without warning, Vulture was hit sideways by a large ball of water. Vulture plummeted and hit the ground hard.

Spiderman looked over and saw Reed Richards transformed into a flexible catapult, his waist curved back from the rest of his body, and Sue Richards using her mental powers to levitate water, so her husband could fire it at Vulture.

Vulture felt his head and then looked at the members of the Fantastic Four by the lake. Now he saw The Thing emerging from behind a thicket. "I'll destroy you all for this insolence! Flame on!" He tried to ignite his fire, but couldn't. "No! It's gone! How dare you rob me of my glorious power!"

Spiderman went over to Vulture and picked him up by the front his costume, cloth in fist. Vulture looked worried.

"You robbed yourself, Toomes," Spiderman said. "You should have known fire begets fire, and Johnny Storm is the Human Torch. And much like the human spirit, an eternal flame like that is never extinguished for long!"

Johnny landed and went over to them. "That's right, dirt bag," he said to Vulture. "And if you ever try this again, I'll fry you to ashes."

"Fools!" Vulture shouted. "You may have foiled my plan, but I'm not defeated yet!"

He grabbed Spiderman and Johnny Storm with each hand and suddenly began to drain them of their strength, but only enough to give him the upper-hand. Spiderman released Vulture in a bout with weakness and Vulture took to the air, his wings flapping now dry. "I'll be back, Spiderman, and next time things will be different. And as for you, boy…" he said to Johnny Storm. "I'm not finished with you! Not by a long shot. I'll be back to finish what I started now that I know it can be done without fail."

Vulture was suddenly engulfed in a heavy wrapping of webbing, his wings pressed around him like a cocoon. The bird man dropped like a stone, screaming in fear. He landed with a thud and let out a groan, then lay immobile. Vulture wasn't dead because Spiderman could see his chest rising, breathing. But that was a hard fall. What happened? He looked around. It wasn't his webbing.

It was then that Venom came out of the shadows, walked to him, and stood over Toomes. Spiderman looked at Venom, but didn't say anything. Venom nodded to Spiderman, then said, "Justice will be served, Spiderman. Do not interfere." He draped Vulture over his right shoulder, shot out a web and took to the air. Spiderman tried to see where Venom had gone, but the sun blinded him.

Reed Richards, Sue Richards and Ben Grimm, joined Spider-Man and Johnny Storm.

"Great timing, guys," Spiderman said. "Thanks for the save!"

Johnny cast his eyes down. "Yeah, thanks for the save, Reed, Sue, Ben." Then he sighed. "I gotta apologize for before, Reed. I'm sorry for being such a jerk."

"I came across as a little callous myself," Reed replied. "I'm not your keeper, but I am your friend and we are also family. And we heard what you said about being responsible for your own actions. If you can admit that, then that's all the apology needed. With great power comes great responsibility. A wise man once told me that."

Spiderman cleared his throat.

"Thanks Reed," Johnny said. "And thanks, Pete. I owe you one for coming after me. What made you?"

"I had a feeling that a friend needed someone to talk to about some issues bothering him, so, of course, knowing how wise I am, I came to help. Then I saw you and Venom fighting each other."

"Speak about touting one's own horn," Grimm expressed.

"Well, Grimm, sometimes a little touting is best for the everyone."

"Just don't give ol' tall, orange, and gruesome, salami, or you'll be smelling the tooting for hours," Johnny joked.

"Stuff it, matchstick!" Grimm retorted back.

"We're all a family," Sue added. "And I love you, Johnny. We all have to be mindful of our powers. Yours is more hazardous than most. When you were first learning about them, you set the couch on fire. But you learned about them like we all did in the weeks and months after that fateful day, and we're still learning against greater enemies like Galactics and Brainaic. I'm glad you're okay." Sue then turned to Spider-Man. "Thank you, Spiderman."

Peter lifted the bottom of his mask only, and smiled. They were in public. "As we superheroes say: All in a days work," he said. "I'm just glad we could stop Vulture. He'll probably try again, but in the meantime, I wouldn't want to be Toomes right now. I once wore that symboite, and to tell the truth, nightmares are made of Venom."

"Where do you suppose Venom took Vulture anyway?" Johnny asked.

"I don't know," Spider-Man replied, looking up into the sky. "But I'm sure Toomes is regretting his choice in turning against Venom right now…I'm sure he's wishing he was anywhere else."

To be continued...