The Invincible Spider-Man
Chapter 33: Cataclysm
The mercenaries all gathered up in the warehouse. There were about 500 of them.
"Where's the boss?" asked one of them.
"Busy taking down Tombstone."
"He's gonna get his ass kicked."
Just as he said that, Rose came through the door, wearing his white suit and purple mask. There was not a single bit of blood on him. He stood in front of the huge crowd.
"Good evening, gentlemen. You all know why you're here. You all are the best mercenaries shipped in from Russia, Africa, all around the world! Today, the mighty Tombstone has fallen! And thus, a new era shall rise for New York. We take this city, with maximum force!" shouted Rose, as the mercenaries cheered.
As he got off the stage, he signaled his right hand man.
"William, have you given them their allotments?" asked Rose.
"Yes. We have divided all 500 of them into separate groups. Group A will go to Manhattan, B will take care of Brooklyn, C will head to Queens, D will go to The Bronx, and E will head to Staten Island," informed William.
"Perfect. They know what they need to do there." said Rose, grinning.
Peter texted his friends to meet him at Central Park, and he was hoping that they would show up, as everyone had read it, but no one had responded to his text.
"I hope they aren't too pissed at me," thought Peter. "I really went too far that day." he said, as he swung up towards a building overlooking Central Park.
He quickly changed back to his clothes and rushed towards the entrance, only to see Hobie standing there.
"Hobie, hey! Where's everyone else?" asked Peter. Hobie sighed and shook his head.
"They said they weren't gonna come, Pete. I felt bad for you so I came," explained Hobie.
Peter sighed heavily. "I royally screwed up, didn't I?" asked Peter.
Hobie nodded. "Just give them some time. Although, for a start you should go apologize to Harry," suggested Hobie.
"Yeah, I'll do that. Thanks Hobie." said Peter, as he walked into an alleyway and grabbed his costume. He quickly put it on and swung off to Harry's penthouse.
Peter rang the door, and Harry's assistant, and now guardian, Bernard, opened the door.
"Hey Bernard. Is Harry here?" asked Peter.
"He's inside working on his homework," said Bernard, gesturing Peter to come in. Peter walked in and made his way to Harry's study, anxious of what to say.
"Hey Harry, sorry for punching you…no that's too straightforward. Hey Harry, we've been best friends for…no that's too long!" panicked Peter, as he approached the door.
"C'mon Pete! You've fought huge lizards and sorcerers! Why are you finding this so hard?" he asked himself, as he turned the doorknob.
"Bernard, could you get me a glass of wa- Oh." said Harry, as he saw Peter standing in the doorway. Peter took a deep breath. "Hey Harry," he said, as calm as he could, but at the same time sounding remorseful.
"Hey Peter, what's up? Here to give me a black eye next?" asked Harry, turning around in his chair, staring at Peter.
"Look Harry, I'm sorry for what happened. Genuinely, I never meant to hurt you guys," explained Peter. Harry didn't say a word.
"It's just…I was under a shit ton of pressure that day and I guess I let it get to me. I'm sorry for punching you, and abandoning all of you," apologized Peter, hoping Harry would accept his apology. "The thing is, after what happened to Uncle Ben, I couldn't bear the guilt of someone else getting injured because of my inaction, no matter the threat. I acted on impulse, and in retrospect it was really dangerous," said Peter. Harry sighed, as he put his pen down on his desk.
"Look Peter, I understand. We shouldn't have ganged up on you that way, but we're just looking out for you. All of us are genuinely worried about how you've been acting, always jumping into danger. You're not a superhero, you know?" explained Harry.
"Yeah," chuckled Peter. "So, do you forgive me?"
"We've fought over worse things, haven't we?" chuckled Harry. "Like that time when we fought over who's the better Avenger?"
"I still think Captain America is better than Iron Man!" laughed Peter, as they both laughed together.
"But seriously, Pete. No more jumping into the line of fire, kay?" said Harry.
"Sure." said Peter, fist-bumping Harry.
"Peter can't jump into action, but Spider-Man sure can." thought Peter, feeling a little guilty about his half-false promise to Harry.
"You think the others will forgive me?" asked Peter.
"Hopefully. I'll try and convince them," said Harry. Just then, Peter's phone started ringing. It was a call from Jean DeWolff.
"Harry I gotta go. See ya later!" said Peter, as he left his room, closing the door behind him.
"Captain, what's up?" asked Peter.
"You're never going to believe this. Lonnie Lincoln was found dead earlier today," informed Jean. Peter was taken aback, as he walked out the door of Harry's penthouse.
"Tombstone's dead? What!" asked Peter, completely perplexed. "How?"
"Come to Tricorp." said Jean, as Peter hurried there.
Spider-Man swung to Tricorp, where a group of investigators were analyzing the scene. Jean DeWolff was talking to the lead investigator.
"Back off, Spider-Man! You're not needed here," said one investigator. Spider-Man sighed, putting his hands up in mock defeat. "I'm guessing Jameson got to you?" he chuckled. Jean walked up to Spider-Man.
"He was found dead by one of his assistants, Phineas Mason," informed Jean.
"Mason?" Thought Peter. "That's the guy who was showing Tombstone the Scorpion armor that day!"
"Any chance I can talk to Mr Mason?" asked Spider-Man, Jean pointed to the right side of the room, where a detective was taking a witness statement. "Detective Macendale, let Spider-Man handle this," called Jean.
"But, Captain-" protested Macendale.
"That's an order." Finished Jean, as the detective walked away, giving Spider-Man a not-so-friendly look.
"So, Mason. What can you tell me about our good pal Lonnie Lincoln? Or should I say, Tombstone?" asked Spider-Man, sitting down next to him. Mason shuddered.
"You're not going to hurt me, are you?" asked Mason.
"Oh no, that's entirely up to you!" said Spider-Man, jokingly as he sat cross legged on the chair. Mason didn't know whether to be afraid or feel safe.
"I just designed the tech…nothing else!" protested Mason.
"I know that. Do you know who could've done this?" Asked Spider-Man. Mason shivered a little.
"He said that something was going down at the docks…maybe this is related? And that rose, that was on his chest, I think that's a calling card for someone," explained Mason.
"Calling card for who, though?" asked Spider-Man.
"I don't know, but if he could take down Tombstone, then he is dangerous," said Mason.
"Okay, so you said something about the docks, right?" asked Spider-Man.
"Yeah, apparently something went down last night. I don't know what, though." said Mason. As soon as Spider-Man got his information, Jean walked up to him.
"We've got some new information. Apparently, there were traces of Paranomix-5 on the rose that was on Tombstone's chest," Said Jean.
"Why does that sound so familiar? In other news, something happened at the docks last night, apparently. And Lincoln seemed worried about it," informed Peter. "I'll go check it out," suggested Peter.
"I'll join you after I'm done with this fiasco." said Jean, as Spider-Man swung away towards the Harlem docks.
Two doctors stood beside the operating table, where Otto was lying down on his stomach, unconscious.
"Looks like his harness…thingamajig has fused to his body," said a bewildered doctor.
"Not just that. X-Rays showed that it has fused to his spinal cord, leading up to his basal ganglia," said the other.
"This is going to be tricky, especially with these robotic tentacles lying on the floor. Hey, what are the odds that a guy called "Octavius" gets eight arms," chuckled the doctor on the right, while the other one rolled her eyes.
"Scalpel. I think we should make an incision here…and here…" she said, marking two point on Otto's back, while the second doctor contemplated how to get rid of the harness.
"Should we like…chainsaw it?" asked the doctor. "I mean, the tentacles first, and then find a way to get the harness off. Where's the rest of the team anyways?" he asked.
"They're coming. Man, I can't help but feel bad for the guy. Chances are he'll never walk again…" said the female doctor.
"Yeah. Wait, what's that?" asked the doctor, pointing to the inhibitor chip on Otto's neck.
"Looks like a power relay, oraybe that's what causes the harness to fuse!" suggested the second doctor.
The doctor put his index and thumb finger on the inhibitor chip and pulled it off. There was a small spark, but nothing after that.
"Well, that's a relief," he chuckled.
"Yeah. This operation just got a whole lot easier-"
Before she could even finish her statement, one of the arms started glowing a little yellow, and it shot up in the air, nearly hitting her. Then another arm shot up, and the last two rooted themselves to the ground, as Otto opened his eyes.
He felt a huge pain in his back, as he used the mechanical arms to hoist himself up. He saw the male doctor stumble to his feet, with a chainsaw in his hand.
Within a fraction of a second, Otto instinctively used one mechanical arm and slashed at the doctor, sending him flying through the room. The female doctor screamed as she tried to run, but another arm outstretched and pierced itself onto her ankle. It pulled her towards Otto, who didn't seem to be in control.
"Who did this to me?" he asked weakly. The doctor was too frightened to respond.
Otto grunted as he threw her through the glass, sending her flying through the corridor, out of the operating theater. Otto got off the operating table, as two of his arms slammed through the wall, overlooking the rest of the city. He used his arms to cling to the side of the hospital, as he started scaling the roof, using his mechanical arms to move up.
Once he got to the top of the building, he looked around in confusion.
"What…just happened?" he asked himself, as he looked at the arms, the pain in his back subsiding. He knew clearly where he wanted to go next.
Spider-Man swung to the Harlem Docks, where there was only one large cargo ship there.
"This place seems abandoned. What could've been happening here?" thought Spider-Man, as he landed on the ship. It was a standard cargo ship, with nothing out of the ordinary. However, his Spider-Sense ever so slightly tingled.
He made his way to the edge of the deck, and started crawling along the wall, looking inside the portholes, for anything suspicious. That's when he noticed something on the third floor of the ship, through the portholes. All the metal crates were wide open, with their locks broken.
"Shit." aid Spider-Man, as he broke open the porthole and swung in, inspecting the place. He walked up to examine the locks, but just as he was going there, he noticed something else.
"What is this? Sleeping bags, food? Were they transporting this, or…" thought Spider-Man, as he inspected the other crates. There were about 50 of them on this floor of the ship, and 50 more below, and so on.
There were sleeping bags, bottles of water, food, etc. in almost every crate.
Human trafficking was the first thought that crossed Peter's mind. "But why would the locks be forcefully broken from the outside?"
"Find anything yet?" asked Jean, which startled Peter.
"When did you get here?" asked Peter
"Just now, and judging by the scene I'd say this is a case of-"
"Human trafficking." finished Peter.
"Exactly. Though we should inspect more," said Jean, moving to the back of the room, to the other crates.
Spider-Man noticed a white, powdery substance on the locks, which seemed to have corroded them.
"Powdered Sulfuric Acid. Whoever did this, sure knew what they were doing," he said.
"Spider-Man!" shouted Jean, as Peter quickly ran up to her. "What happened?"
Behind the crates, was a dead body, of who seemed to be the Captain of the ship.
"Oh my God," said Spider-Man, as Jean started to inspect the wound.
"Judging by the bullet lodged in him, the killer used a handgun. But I'm not sure, which one," said Jean.
"I'm starting to feel this wasn't a human trafficking scandal. You think they were shipping people for other reasons?" asked Peter.
"It's too early to confirm anything. I'll have forensics do a sweep," suggested Jean.
"Got it." said Spider-Man, as he swung away.
As Spider-Man continued swinging, his police scanner went off.
"All units, we have an attack at New York General Hospital, requesting backup." said the policeman.
"New York General? Oh God, Otto was admitted there!" shouted Peter, as he swung towards the hospital, which was nearby.
Only one wing of the hospital had been destroyed, and everyone from there had been evacuated. Spider-Man swung down towards the paramedics.
"Which floor was it on?" asked Spider-Man.
"Eighth floor. West Wing." said the paramedic, as Peter zipped up to the eighth floor.
The dark corridor had been completely evacuated, with white lights flickering on the ceiling. It was like a scene straight out of a horror movie, as Spider-Man rushed to the operating theater. As soon as he reached there, his worst fears had been confirmed.
"Oh God…"
He saw the bodies of the two doctors, and Otto Octavius was missing.
I'm so so sorry about the delay in updates, I've been super busy and I've barely had time for myself. Don't worry about the story, although chapters may become a little infrequent for a while. I'll try updating as much as I can. I am definitely not giving up on this story anytime soon!
Also, side note: Be sure to check out my latest story- Batman: A Trail of Shadows. If you love detective/mystery stories you would like it. (Ok enough with the self promotion haha)
And also special thanks to Rollerparty, who has given me a ton of advice to improve my writing, be sure to check out his work too!
redbird12: Trust me, the reveal is going to be quite shocking. (Unless of course you Googled the answer already, haha. If so, don't spoil anything lol)
s82161: Thanks! Although I would love for this to be more of a graphic novel or a comic book.
Guest 1: Unfortunately, I wasn't planning on making Scorpion too big of a villain. But he certainly will return, and sooner than you think…
Guest 2: I actually did not know that. I don't know much about Spot, other than he was part of the Spider-Man Revenge Squad.
Rollerparty: Thank you so much for your in-depth critique! Don't worry, I am DEFINITELY NOT going the resurrection route anytime soon, lol. And I have been taking your advice on the commas and sentences. I hope I did it right, haha. And don't worry, I have planned a lot for Dr Otto Octavius!
Yours Truly,
Shadow Strike.