The sun set over New York, engulfing the sky in a golden orange afterglow. Lovely sights such as this were the only moments of bliss Peter was able to enjoy in these hectic times. The troubled boy rested at the very top of the Rockefeller Center, away from all the joyous shoppers and tourists below. Then the chilling breeze reminded him of the coming winter. With it would come the long nights. Nights for escape.
Already in his suit, mask held on his lap, the fading warmth of the sun reflected off his tired eyes. The first day of school was not only dreadfully long, but did not improve one bit since the morning. He was out the doors before the final bell even rang. The serene hue then reflected off his glossy lenses for now a young hero stood tall and eager for patrol.
"Karen, you there?"
All systems zoomed into place before his very gaze, including the audio levels of an old friend.
"Hello, Peter. It's been a while. How have you been?" Asked the gentle voice.
"Ugh, where do I even begin?"
He back flipped off the edge, free falling straight towards the ice rink between the two roof garden buildings. Spinning out two lines of webbing to the sides of each, he effortlessly used his body weight to slingshot himself farther into the distance. This all came as second nature now. The youngster had been swinging through this urban jungle for a solid three years, building technique and confidence the more he ventured out from Queens.
"That is awful, Peter." After having received the rundown of unfortunate events that transpired in the past few months. "The last visual I recall from my data bank was you clinging onto the alien ship before the atmospheric pressure disconnected us. Is there anything I can do for you now that you've reinstalled me?"
He zipped passed heavy traffic on 8th Avenue. "Not unless you can erase that video like it never happened."
"That, I'm afraid, is out of my power. But perhaps I can pull the video from the web, preventing it from circulating any further."
"Really?"
"Yes. All I need is access to the original source."
"Like, where it was first uploaded?"
"Correct. From there, I can work my way to deleting all proceeding downloads, copies, and reposts that branched out. A domino effect. Similar to how large film companies strike down trailer leaks. That's almost as if it never happened."
"You're the best, Karen." Hope returned in his cheery voice. "To the Bugle it is!" A flock of pigeons fluttered away as he point-launched off the corner of a church tower. "Uh… where is the Bugle actually?"
"They livestream their podcast from a moderate office space at this location." A holo-map formed on the bottom left corner of his HUD. "Start heading to Verdi Square."
"Okay, copy that."
The departed sun had officially welcomed forth nightfall. Iridescent city lights now filled the Web Slinger's panoramic view.
"I know it's way too late, but if this'll finally get the video to stop replaying all across Time Square every morning, that'd be great."
"Well, the good news is 'Spider-Man' has fallen off of the top trending searches as of five days ago."
"That's… something. So what took the number one spot?"
"Hashtag Masked Menace."
"Ugh, that flippin' Jonah."
"Peter!" Karen shouted with alarm.
"What!? I didn't even curs-"
"No, look." A blinking red marker appeared elsewhere on the holo-map. "An assault in progress." She alerted.
"Oh... Oh!" The boy changed course, running along the glass of a financial building. "With any luck, the boys in blue will get there just in time to see me stopping the crime."
"Yes. Start proactively changing the public's perception of you. Acts of goodwill to prove you're not the murderer media is depicting you as."
"I'm saying."
In the outskirts of Hell's Kitchen, a terrified Maggia Enforcer fled to the shadows of a trashy alleyway, only to meet a dead end. His bloodied hands slid across the brick, graffitied surface in a desperate attempt to escape. Cursing frantically, he then screamed at the sudden splashing thud behind him. Back against the wall, the criminal cowered in horror at the figure looming over him.
Standing ominously in the darkness of night, the silent hunter shot forth a hand. Upon a sharp gasp, the criminal's throat was now ensnared in the forceful grip of leather and steel drenched in the blood of its victims.
A calm yet intimidatingly stern voice spoke. "You know what I'm about to ask."
The terrified thug trembled. "Y-you can't send me back. Was let out f-for overcrowding. Whole bunch of us were. I'll just be right back on the streets in time f-for the Late Show."
Horns emerged from the shadows, revealing the Devil of this crime-ridden city. "Then I'll make sure you have a nice, long stay at Metro General instead."
What followed was the snap of bone and a shriek of agony that echoed across entire city blocks.
"The Maggia are spreading into boroughs that were never theirs. Why?" The vigilante kept his same chillingly reserved tone.
"We was all snapped back." He held onto his freshly broken arm. "Need to spread our legs."
His tooth then dribbled onto the cracked pavement after a solid strike.
"This isn't about territory. You don't stay for long. It's coordinated. You're after something."
"Beat me all you want, it's n-"
Several more teeth were savagely lost.
"You're running out of teeth. Thankfully, you still have plenty of bones, and I've got all night."
He spat out a grotesque amount of blood, further staining his grey slacks, "It ain't…" and panted painfully, "it ain't nothing compared to what the Big Man will do to me if I snitch to you."
"Who's this Big Man?"
"Wouldn't you like to know."
The crime-fighter simply adjusted his newly reinforced gauntlets with a devilish grin that could light up the night.
"Approaching," Karen informed.
Peter swung high into the air for a clear satellite view of the scene. His high tech lenses zoomed in, focusing on the assailant. To the naive, young boy, all he witnessed was a dark figure mercilessly beating on a man in a dress shirt and black tie. A white collar citizen yanked on his way back from work for all he knew.
"Got em in my sights!"
The Spider dived into the crime in progress, landing silently onto the ledge of a rooftop that outlined the alley in order to maintain a safe distance.
"Who the hell is this guy?" He whispered to himself as he crawled down the side.
The aggressor looked to be fully armored. This was no average street mugger. Parker was cautious before jumping in, for he could very well be enhanced. The youngster chose to rely on his artificially intelligent companion for analysis.
"Scanning…" The violent figure was highlighted. "Target is equipped with custom body armor and twin batons." Each article was broken down into detailed segments as identified: Near indestructible helmet of a carbon based nano-tube alloy; thick Polymer composite guards on the knees and shoulders; a thin, flexible kevlar-protium mesh that protected the rest of the body, interwoven behind specially hardened leather; boots and gauntlets were reinforced in an advanced carbon fiber coat with steel tipped knuckles; his equally strengthened weapons were attachable, possessing hidden blades connected to a steel fiber composite cable, capable of extending great lengths. He had seen similar designs on Romanoff and Barton. Though not as robust as this. All top of the line S.H.I.E.L.D. quality.
"Body signature showing no signs of augmented strength or other enhanced capabilities."
"Awesome. Then looks like I'm all clear to kick some-"
Suddenly, the man stopped his assault and stood silent. The pause was eerie. Then… after a slight tilt of his head, he flung out both his weapons, bursting the only sources of light in this alleyway.
"Whoah, whoah! Karen, I need a visual." Peter was completely blind in the dark, though not for long.
"Switching to infrared."
The setting reconfigured, but the man had vanished.
"What the- where'd he go?" The boy hopped onto the nearby fire escape. Hands on the railing, he looked all over the ground and walls to no avail. Then his sixth sense kicked in.
"Oh god," His eyes widened as they darted up. Right above him was the missing figure, so dangerously close and flaring red with flowing heat that the signature was too much for him to process. Before he could even tell Karen to change the setting, the burning silhouette used the railing for momentum to flip-kick the boy square in the chest. "Agh!"
The teenager bounced off the iron bars of the window, plummeting onto the paved alley below. "Someone doesn't skip leg day." He picked himself up with a groan.
The man was already on the ground behind him, without ever having made a sound.
"Could you like maybe?" Peter requested.
His visuals switched over to a softer filter.
"Done." She declared.
Parker turned around, "Thanks," noticing that the enemy already had his batons readied in hand. "And what happened to not being enhanced?"
"Nothing abnormal came up in the readings. He is simply fit to an impressive physical degree."
"Like Captain America? That kick sure felt like Leipzig."
"Debatable."
"Well still, he's quick on those feet. That or he teleports."
There stood the boy, face to face with the Devil before him.
"Hey! You teleport or what!?"
No response was given.
"Okayyy. Strong, silent type. Well… Sir, I'm gonna have to ask you to drop the chop sticks!"
The mysterious man continued to stand in place, feet away, in intense silence. Almost as if he too was observing, collecting his own readings.
Over at the dead end, the bloodied victim attempted to crawl away while the two were distracted with one another. But nothing went unnoticed when it came to the Devil of Hell's Kitchen. He fastballed one of his billy clubs at the escaping enforcer. At the sound of a scream, it bounced off the dumpster directly in front of him, purposefully missing his jaw by a hair. A warning not to try that again.
"No, no." Peter reacted, shooting out a thin line of webbing at the attacker. "Leave the poor bystander alone. It's me time right now."
He effortlessly blocked the incoming shot with his other club and spun over to catch his returning weapon. Immediately upon retrieval, he threw it at the slim nuisance.
"Strike one!" The Arachnid dropped his line to perform a webster side flip, evading the incoming projectile.
But this Devil had learned plenty in his many years of fighting crime in this city, even from his very enemies. He simply smirked as his club ricocheted off the corner of the wall, bashing the back of the young acrobat's skull mid-flip.
"Concussion detected."
"Gee, you don't say." The boy groaned off after face planting.
"Sarcasm will not help you in this fight, Peter Parker." She continued with a mother's tone.
"You're right…" He slapped his hands against the asphalt.
Once again, the weapon had returned home to its rightful owner after springing off of several other surfaces in the vicinity.
"He's full of surprises. Can't take any more chances." The try-hard hero kicked himself back up to a fighting stance. Owe, too fast. The sudden whip only increased his pulsing headache. Parker winced, but toughened through to focus on the objective at hand.
"Hey, horny! Neat trick. My turn." He leapt back to pitch a formed ball. "Web grenaaade!"
Already moving in, the attacker batted it away. The bouncy orb made contact with the loading deck gate beside him, exploding into a gooey mess. Some of which caught onto his helmet and shoulder guard.
"Not gonna let him get too close." The jumpy Spider strategized, landing on the surface of the tagged wall.
"Smart." Karen agreed with his tactic.
Leaping off, the boy rained down a bombardment of more webbing. All of which the target somehow managed to steer clear of.
"Wow, he can really move. Cool ninja like reflexes, dude!"
He decided to use his slingshot maneuver once more tonight. This time directly into the nearly untouchable assailant.
"Yes! He doesn't have enough time to turn around and evade you." She encouraged.
Little did they know, their opponent did not need to turn to sense incoming danger. He merely kickflipped off the same wall, right over the Web Slinger.
Parker crashed his feet straight into the brick, crumbling the outer layer.
"Agh, don't tell me he's got a special tingle too."
Upon a quick recovery, he whipped around only to meet a pair of beaming red eyes through his specialized night vision. Trailing streams of neon fire followed them as the horned figure dashed into frame.
The startled young one was reunited with the trashing of modified batons. His enemy was skilled in close-quarters combat, Peter was not. Even with his superhuman agility, most of the attacks made harsh impact as he was shoved to the damaged wall. His enemy had him on the ropes. He had to regain some distance before it was too late.
"Ah-owe, okay! Definitely not." He managed to grab hold of an elbow strike, "You have any idea how much those hurt?" and launched him far out across the alleyway with a great exertion of strength.
Finally being thrown off his game, the skilled aggressor collided against the dumpster, leaving a major dent in the heavily gauged steel. That one slip up was all it took to bring this encounter to a close.
"Least he's not invulnerable."
Peter lunged himself onto the fire escape above his fallen foe, gluing two lines of webbing onto his boots in order to pull him into the air.
"How about we wrap this up?" He chuckled at his own terrible pun. "Can't believe it took me this long to finally use that one."
In no time the captured criminal was encased in a thick cocoon, left dangling from the very fire escape with only his strained head poking out.
Sirens from the far distance now approached.
The victorious hero swung over to help the bruised and bloodied man to his feet.
"Thanks a million, Spider-Man."
"Yeah, no worries. I got you."
"Don't care what the Bugle says about you. You're a lifesaver." The victim began coughing more blood.
"Easy. Try not to talk too much. The paramedics will be here soon."
The sirens got ever closer, both from ambulances and police alike.
"Uh, yeah… thank the almighty. Hey, you know what? You should really book it, before they get here."
"What? But I want to make sure you-"
The seemingly well meaning citizen leaned off from the young hero. "I'll be alright. But you? I don't know how they'll react to you. Best you don't risk it."
"Um…"
"He has a point." Karen added. "You are reported as highly dangerous amongst all police channels. Perhaps just leave your usual calling card."
"I guess you're right." He disappointingly agreed.
"Hey," The grateful man patted the superhero's back, "I'll make sure to put in a good word for yuh. Let them know what really happened."
"Thanks, man." He saluted the gentleman farewell. "Just relax until they arrive. They'll take care of you."
"Yeah, yeah. Of course. Sure thing."
The gullible Spider returned to his successful catch.
"And for you, my scary, demon buddy…"
For the first time throughout their entire showdown, the masked man finally spoke, and spoke in a low, severely aggravated tone. "You've just made the stupidest mistake of your life, kid."
"What do you know!" The naive boy exclaimed. "He speaks!"
He then pinned his note reading, "Courtesy of Your Totally Friendly Neighborhood (Not a Murderer) Spider-Man," directly onto one of his horns.
"Just hang tight, Devil-Man. New York's finest will deal with you." The annoying boy playfully pinched the vigilante's cheek before swinging away into the night sky.
Shortly after, the first responders arrived to no sign of the Spider… nor any assaulted victim. The flashing lights of their sirens and headers illuminated the trashy alleyway once again. All that remained in the scene of the supposed crime was the Devil of Hell's Kitchen dangling in a rage.
As the police officers approached him, hands on their pistols, he grimly uttered one thing to himself. A name of which he had overheard from a female voice that communicated with the Wall Crawler. Normally, no one else would have been able to detect the personalized A.I., but the Devil, here, heard all.
"Peter Parker…"
