Chapter 2

Peter's spidey sense buzzed through his head as he ran from the coffee shop. As much as he wanted to stay with MJ, something big was going down nearby. He quickly ducked into a dark alley to slip into his costume and stash his backpack where nobody would see it. Then he took off, swinging on his webs.

The blaring of sirens grew behind him as he swung forward. Whatever was happening, the cops had already been alerted. He hoped maybe they could handle the majority of the situation. He wasn't exactly in the best shape currently.

He'd spent last night hauling people and pets out of a burning building, almost getting crushed by a collapsing roof. Then his boss at the hardware store where he stocked shelves made him sort like a thousand screws. The box they'd arrived in had been damaged, mixing all the sizes together. Mind-numbing work. Plus, he'd paid his rent yesterday, leaving him broke until Friday. Certainly not enough for decent food so those donuts MJ gave him were the most he'd eaten all day. Life weighed heavy on his shoulders right now. How he wished the other two Peter Parkers could have been with him now. He missed those guys, his brothers.

He turned a corner and saw the situation at hand. Darn, the cops weren't going to be able to handle this one. It looked like a bulldozer had smashed its way through the front of the First National Bank, but no such machinery was in sight. The bank's loud alarms mixed with the police sirens closing in on the location. The cacophony made Peter's ears hurt. The weight on his shoulders pressed down on him a little more.

Peter carefully swung through the broken front window, avoiding the jagged glass. He landed on the ceiling and crawled past the devastated teller station deeper into the bank. A loud banging noise sounded over the alarm.

A huge, muscled figure wearing a thick, gray bodysuit with two bony horns on his forehead smashed his impossibly large fists into the steel vault door. He'd managed to destroy the locking mechanisms. He chanted the same word over and over again as he switched to prying open the door. "Money, money, money..."

"Yo, there's easier ways to get your money out of the bank, big guy!" Peter shouted at him, letting some snark out.

The thick fingers paused even as the door creaked open. Slowly, his head rotated on his thick neck. Glassy, confused eyes looked at him. "Bug," he stated.

"Technically, spiders are arachnids," Peter pointed out. "And who are you supposed to be?"

His whole face scrunched up in annoyance. "Me Rhino!" he bellowed. Then he swung a fist at Peter.

Peter easily evaded him by back flipping onto the wall behind him. "Well, Rhino, unless any of that money is actually yours, you're not entitled to make a withdraw."

With a roar of anger and more speed than Peter would have imagined, Rhino charged him. Peter leapt out of the way a split second before the horn cracked through the wall.

"Temper, temper," Peter admonished him, covering up his shock over just how fast this guy could move.

Pulling his horn out of the wall, Rhino brought his fists back into play. Rhino swung continuously at Peter, who danced away from him.

Knowing he couldn't keep going like this all night, Peter quickly formulated a plan. He shifted his direction back towards the vault. With a twack, he used a web to pull the heavy vault door open wider. He leapt to the ceiling just above the vault.

"I squish bug!" Rhino yelled and launched himself forward.

Come on, a little farther. Peter readied himself for the next step.

About six feet from the vault, Rhino stopped suddenly. That scrunched up expression of annoyance covered his broad face again. As Rhino slowly turned behind him, Peter craned his neck to the side in order to see just what was happening to distract the big guy.

Crap.

A police office starred up at Rhino with wide, frightened eyes. The guy looked young, not much older than Peter. In his hands he held a top-of-the-line Taser gun. The device was powerful enough to topple a large man hopped up on drugs, but definitely wasn't powerful enough to even touch Rhino. Unfortunately, the cop realized that too late.

Rhino ripped the two barbs out of his back. He growled low in his throat, the sound mimicking an animal. Then he abruptly yanked on the wires, pulling the cop from his feet.

The cop sprawled on the floor, going for his gun. Yanking it from the holster, he shot three rounds at Rhino. None of them penetrated through the suit. They only served to further fuel Rhino's rage.

Peter scurried across the ceiling away from the vault, desperate to get Rhino's attention away from the cop and back on himself. "Hey, numbskull! Thought you were gonna squish me!"

Rhino ignored him, snorting at the cop. The man had finally pulled himself to his feet and made a run towards the door. Rhino put his head down, lined up and launched himself horns first at the cop.

"No, no, no, no!" Peter swung on a web through the air. He collided with the cop, shoving the man out of the way of the razor-sharp horns right before they hit him. Peter continued on the arc of his swing, also avoiding those deadly horns.

Or so he thought. He forgot just how fast Rhino could move. Unable to change his trajectory, Rhino slammed into him. Peter gasped as the horns impaled right into his abdomen. They buried far inside him. For a moment, everything went still as Peter processed just how screwed he truly was.

Then Rhino lifted his head up with Peter still attached. It sent rippling waves of pain through Peter's body. Peter screamed as he struggled to dislodge himself. With a flick of his head, Rhino sent Peter sailing through the air.

Peter smashed into the wall and fell to the floor. As he sat up, his hand immediately flew to his stomach. His glove came away soaked with blood. Was that intestines poking out from the hole that didn't belong there? He almost gagged on the bile rising in his throat when his spidey sense buzzed in his head again.

He looked up in time to see Rhino approaching at a menacing gait. A shit-eating grin graced his face. "First I poke the bug. Then I squish the bug!" Rhino raised his fist over Peter and slammed it into Peter's face.

Stars swam in Peter's vision. He felt his lip split and his eye burn. In a move of pure instinct, Peter let one of his webs fly at Rhino. It hit him in the face, blinding him.

Rhino went mad. He clawed at his face, unable to dislodge sticky substance. Seething, he blindly smashed the floor around Peter, literally trying to squish him.

Peter scooted out of the way, wrapping one arm around his middle to keep his guts inside. He shot more web at Rhino. It caught his one arm, sealing it to his chest. Another web constricted around the other arm. Then the legs, more and more webs until Rhino couldn't move them.

In a bellow of rage, Rhino crashed to the floor.

Peter didn't let up. He used up almost his entire supply of webbing to bond Rhino to the floor. When he finished, a huge cocoon surrounded Rhino with only a hole at his face to allow air in. It resembled a caught bug in a web packaged by the spider to feast on later.

Still gripping his middle, Peter managed to climb to his feet. His burning eye had swollen shut but he managed to stumble out the door. He saw line of cop cars in front of him, their headlights on to illuminate the night.

"Spider-Man! Thank you!" The young cop you'd tried to taser Rhino ran over to him. "I was so stupid to think that would work. You really saved my hide."

Another cop, older and one he recognized from previous engagements, stepped over to him as well. "We saw what happened. We've got an ambulance coming for you. Why don't you sit down over here?" Peter saw the man's eyes dart down to his still-bleeding belly. This cop knew exactly how badly he'd been wounded.

Peter shook his head. "Thanks, but I'll be okay. What about Rhino?"

"We called SHIELD. They'll be here soon."

Peter nodded. Then with his last bit of web, he swung out of there. He landed in a dark alley a block away, trying to figure out what to do. This wound seemed much worse than his usual process of stitching, first aid and resting fixed. He wasn't sure he could even make it back to his place or the hospital. Besides, he didn't have any insurance. Maybe he should just let himself die right in this alley. It's not like anybody would miss him. Maybe MJ might wonder what happened her weird customer?

He randomly looked across the street and realized he sat mere feet from the Sanctum Santorum. Hope rose inside him. Dr. Strange wouldn't remember Peter Parker, but maybe he'd be willing to help Spider-Man.

Dragging himself across the street, he frowned at how soaked his pants were with blood. How much had he lost? With the last of his strength, he pulled himself up the stone stairs. The effort blackened his vision by the time he reached the top and he collapsed into the front door. He knocked.

Before losing consciousness, he wondered if it was enough of a knock for anyone to hear.