Peter groaned loudly as he pulled the blanket over his head, the light felt like it was stabbing his eyes as it shone into his room. He stay huddled under his blanket, hoping that the hammer that was going ham in his brain would just stop.
As he laid in bed, he realized just how lucky he was to get home the night before. Not only was he drugged out of his mind, he only got about halfway home before the police realized that he had escaped. It was only out of pure luck that he was able to get home, even then, it felt like he had used up all the luck he was supposed to have for the rest of his life. He had half a mind to say that he was going through withdrawal symptoms since they had pumped him full of a hardcore drug that was enough to knock him on his ass.
He was going to hope that the hospital didn't get him addicted to whatever they used.
He groaned even louder when he heard the communicator he gave to captain Yuri and captain Cardenaz start beeping, cursing under his breath when he realized that both communicators were losing their little computer minds. He answered Yuri first.
"Spider-man!" he cringed from how loud she yelled and held the phone away from his ear," you got a big problem."
"I just got drugged out of my mind by Captain Mendez from the 3rd, "his voice was low and gruff, "what could be worse than that?"
"The rhino just escaped and they put another APB on you." Peter groaned loudly as he forced himself to roll out of bed.
"There's nothing new about the APB Yuri."
"…There's a shoot to kill order with the APB Spidey." Peter really wasn't fazed at this point.
"…Great, maybe they can get rid of this fucking headache I have if they shoot me enough times." The captain would have been lying if she didn't say it freak her out to hear the hero talk like that.
"…Spidey…"
"I'm on my way." His response was short and to the point. The other communicator had already turned off, he didn't bother calling back, she was probably going to tell him the same thing that Yuri just did. Already telling himself that this was going to be the last job. This was going to be the last time he ever put on that mask. If it was anyone but rhino, he would have wished the police department luck before moving on with his life.
He never thought the day was going to end like it did.
.
"Come and get me ugly!" Peter was nervous as he skirted around rhino in times square, using his habit of talking when nervous to make quips and to annoy rhino. He was trying to wrap everything as fast as he could. The police weren't there yet but they were definitely on their way.
"Stupid spider!" he jumped over Rhino like they were playing a game of leap frog, and as soon as he got a chance, he forced his fingers into the power box that was on Rhinos back and tore all the wires he could. With all of the wires ripped out, Rhinos suit was rendered powerless and just a giant hunk of metal that his normal human body couldn't support. He had just finished wrapping up the villain in web as a precaution.
"Don't move." Peter froze as he heard Captain Mendez voice behind him, before turning around slowly. The captain had a nasty smirk on his face as he and other officers faced the hero, all of them with their guns drawn
"Freeze or I will shoot Spider-man." Peter could be nasty when he wasn't in the mood.
"Didn't I already tell you that I only let pretty women see my face?" his voice had lost all of its light-hearted tone. His voice reminding them that the hero was very much an adult that had been dealing with the life of a hero for the past 10 years. "So, do me a favor and just fuck off for now." It had been a long time since Peter had pissed off someone to that degree.
And he was loving it.
"Listen Spider-man, "oh Peter could just barely see the vein in his forehead," two things are going to happen, either you'll come with us willingly, or I'll be the one stuffing you into the body bag." Peter was just about to let out a "bite me bitch" when eight officers and two captains broke from the crowd with their guns holstered. Peter felt his heart grow warm as he recognized them.
"Sorry Mendez," Yuri stood in front of Peter with her hand on her gun.
"But we're not going to let you take him," Cardenaz finished, taking up the same posture as Yuri, the both women being at the front of the opposition with the others behind them. Martinez, Hendrickson and Peterson were the closest to Peter, Carly, Isaac and Markus were in front of them. There were a few more officers from Yuri's precinct that he didn't recognize, but there were still there with them
"What are you doing?" it was a standoff between the 5th, 6th precinct against the 3rd.
"We take care of our own Mendez."
"What are you doing? We need Spider-man to help us take care of this city. "
"I'm just following orders. "
"How are you doing man?" Martinez whispered this to Peter as the three captains argued. And for the first time in a while, Peter actually smiled while wearing the mask.
"Great, now that you guys are here. Seriously, I think I could kiss you guys. "
"…Listen, we're homies, but we're not homoies."
"shut up and accept my thanks…so what's going to happen now?" Peter eyed the three captains, who were still arguing against each other's ideals. By now, Peter was starting to get a little nervous, not only could rhino get back up at any second (supervillains tend to surprise him like that) but the street was starting to fill up with curious bystanders, many of them having their cellphones out, recording what was going down between their hero and the police departments.
"Well, "Hendrickson started off slowly," we are either gonna get fired,"
"well that's not ideal."
"-or someone is going to give. We're hoping it's gonna be Mendez."
"…and what if it's not?" he didn't like how they fell silent.
"…we'll get there when we get there"
"Stand down Captains, or I won't hesitate to slap on every fine and charge I can think of. "he practically growled out his threat.
"You need to stand down Mendez." Peter watched the exchange, noticing the way some of Mendez own officers were starting to hesitate at the standoff.
"We need Spider-man, I'm sure you remember the casualty rates before Spider-man came along." Yuri let that hang in the air. Almost everyone knew the casualty rate of the police department before Spider-man came along. It was ridiculously high, to the point where a lot of rookies wouldn't make it to their second year due to death, injury or simply frayed nerves. And once Spider-man started doing his part, it decreased dramatically. It was a huge improvement.
"Say whatever you like about Spider-man, we all know that some of our officers would be dead without him." It was quiet, and tense. The only thing you could hear would be the muttering of the bystanders.
"Sorry Captain," a young rookie who hailed from the 3rd came out of the crowd, his gun put away in its holster, "But Spider-man already saved my life after Dr. Octopus threw me off a building." He joined their small resistance and faced his captain with a determined look.
"If the 5th and 6th can work with Spider-man, then we should too. "Peter had to admit.
The kid had a lot of balls.
"…Turn in your gun and badge next chance you get."
"Kid," Peter whispered to the newest addition, who looked over at the hero with a surprised look, "what's your name? I need to know the name of a madman like you." The officer smiled.
"Jeramiah White, but call me jerm. And you're the one who's the madman, you're the one going against the guys like this." Jerm pointed at the downed rhino in emphasis, making Peter chuckle.
"Ok that's a good point, but still, you're crazy."
"Thanks."
"listen Mendez, "Yuri's voice was low and steady," Just ignore Spider-man, just like you ignore how corrupted your men are."
Wow, ok, ouch
"And the two of us will ignore how you and Captain Davis get that "extra money" at the end of each month. "
"I think I just realized why they don't like Yuri and Captain Cardenaz so much." Yeah, Peter wouldn't like them either if they were against him. But until then, he seriously needs to get them something.
And just like that, Peter watched in amazement as Captain Mendez, reluctantly ordered his men to stand down before shooting the women a very nasty glare. He only stayed long enough to take Jerimiah's badge and gun, before leaving.
"…so, what just happened?" Peter blinked in surprise, he definitely didn't think that it was going to end like this. He thought it was going to end with him having at least one extra hole and at least one more scar.
"That was us putting our jobs on the line for you," Yuri crossed her arms with a raised eyebrow.
"You're lucky that Mendez and Davis are corrupt as all hell."
"…you say that like it's a good thing…" Hendrickson nudged Peter with his shoulder before whispering to him.
"It's a good thing when we're blackmailing them to leave you alone."
Oh…
"wait," Peter felt his hopes lift up, "does this mean people won't try to kill me?"
"Yep."
"Obviously."
"The 3rd and the 7th were the only precincts who went after you, the rest of us left you alone, it just so happened that those precincts are also one of the biggest around. "
For the first time in months, Peter let the tension melt out of his body, the threat against him was no longer a thing.
"Oh, thank god…"
"Yeah go ahead and take a break for a while Spidey, "Captain Cardenaz spoke up, "With the way you were treated, it would be best if you took some time off. "Peter let his shoulders slump further as he nodded his head.
"…ok, I can do that." He was going to leave out the fact that he was planning to make this his last job before permanently hanging up the mask.
"So now that we can hang out again, "Martinez threw his arm around Peters shoulder," what do you think? Some mangoades with me and the old man,"" Rude."" Same place as usual?"
He smiled.
"That would be nice."
