The Invincible Spider-Man
Chapter 38: Downfall
TEN MINUTES EARLIER
Rose was getting everything ready to hack Times Square, and broadcast Spider-Man's reveal to the world, when he heard someone talking in the other room. Curious, he peered in, and saw William taking pictures of his equipment, all while talking on his phone.
"He has planned a lot sir...i don't know when though...no sir don't worry, i'll find out," said William.
Rose stood there, appalled by what he was witnessing.
"Don't worry, Mr Fisk," said William, cutting the call. That name made Rose boil, as he took out his gun and walked up behind William. He struck the butt of his gun to the back of William's head, knocking him out.
"I trusted you," muttered Rose, before dragging his unconscious body away.
Spider-Man was tied to a chair, as the entire event was being broadcasted on Times Square. Peter's hands were cuffed to the back of the chair, as Rose continued his cliché monologue. Peter didn't want to show it, but he was terrified.
Gwen was watching the entire thing on the News, how almost every single billboard in Times Square was broadcasting what was happening. Peter seemed dazed (since he still hadn't recovered completely from the tranquilizer dart). She was trembling too, and that's when she had an idea. She quickly got up from the couch and rushed to her bedroom, to call up Otto.
"Come on, pick up! Ah shit!" she cursed as Otto didn't pick up. She quickly called up Harry Osborn.
She quickly called up Harry, who picked up almost instantly.
"Gwen, what's happening-"
"Spider-Man's in danger. I need you to do something!" said Gwen, speaking hurriedly.
"Hold on, what? Why are you worried about Spider-Man?"
"Harry, I'll explain everything later, but you're good with computers right?"
"A++ in my C++" replied Harry, smirking at himself at the legendary joke he just cracked.
"Okay, I need you to cut the power to Times Square!" replied Gwen.
Harry's smirk instantly switched to look of surprise and bewilderment. "I'm sorry…WHAT?!" asked Harry, puzzled.
"Spider-Man's identity is about to be revealed, just check the news! No wait, there's no time, just cause a blackout in Times Square!" said Gwen, speaking super fast.
"Calm down, you're not Quicksilver! So I need to cause a blackout…luckily I remember that Times Square's billboards all have separate circuits, but all of them connect to one generator…and I can access that generator digitally! Gwen, I'm gonna need at least 30 seconds...and I'll probably get 30 years in prison," said Harry, muttering the last part under his breath
Meanwhile, Rose had almost finished his monologue, and was ready to unmask Spider-Man.
"Citizens of New York City, for 3 years, Spider-Man has been an active vigilante, hiding behind a mask. Well, no longer…"
Just as Rose was about to pull of Spider-Man's mask, he stopped for a second.
"You know what? It would be hypocritical of me, saying that Spider-Man is hiding behind a mask, when I have been hiding too," said Rose, taking off his purple mask, revealing himself to the public.
"My name is Richard Fisk, son of The Kingpin, Wilson Fisk, who is currently rotting in jail. This is a message for you, "dad",i" said Richard, as he walked out of the camera view, and brought in William, his right hand man. William was on his knees, crying, as Richard pointed a gun to his head.
"You are so afraid of me, that you'd send a spy after me for the last 20 years? Pathetic, Wilson," scoffed Richard, laughing a little. Spider-Man finally regained some of his strength.
"Hey, hey! Second rate Kingpin, listen to me!" called out Spider-Man. Richard turned his head towards him and rolled his eyes. "Wait your turn, webhead. This is between me and The Kingpin for now," said Richard as he turned back to the camera.
"You don't need to shoot him!" pleaded Spider-Man, but Rose didn't listen.
"Let this be a bit of a premonition, father," said Richard, as he shot William straight through the back of his head, with a cold, emotionless gaze. Blood spattered onto the lens of the camera. Spider-Man closed his eyes tight.
Richard whistled, as he dropped the gun. "I'm coming for you, "Kingpin."" Said Richard as he walked back towards Spider-Man, ready to unmask him.
Just then, all of the billboards in Times Square went black. The neon lit place went dark.
"I just hacked into Times Square…" said Harry to himself, both elated and shocked.
"Gwen, we need to talk," said Harry.
Richard was perplexed.
"What the Hell just happened?" asked Rose.
"Sir, electricity to Times Square got cut!" said one of the mercenaries from the other room. Spider-Man smiled to himself.
"Thank you, Otto…" he thought to himself, as he fumbled around with his thumbs, which were still handcuffed.
"Saw this in a tv series once…this better work…" thought Spider-Man, as he dislocated his right thumb, and winced. He wiggled out his right hand from the right cuff, and broke off the handcuffs, freeing his left hand. His strength had mostly returned.
He got up, and fixed his thumb, which weirdly enough hurt more than the thumb dislocating in the first place. Gaining his bearings, he jumped up to the darkened ceiling, hiding in the darkness, as a thug walked into the room.
"Hey, where'd the kid go?" he asked, as Spider-Man webbed him up and pulled him up to the ceiling.
"It's like 2 am, be a little quieter," joked Spider-Man, as he crawled out of the dark room.
He seemed to be in another warehouse, which was very dimly lit. There were tall shelves everywhere, and Peter counted 10 men with guns, 3 of which were snipers on separate balconies
"Great. Time to channel my inner Batman…" he thought, as he stealthily took out all 3 snipers. Then, he jumped on one of the shelves, and webbed up another one of the goons. He grabbed the goon's gun and threw it to a corner of the room.
"Did you hear that?" asked one of the goons. "Hey Ronnie, go check it out," continued the guy.
"Me? Why can't you do it?" asked Ronnie.
"Just shut up and do your job. And relax, the Spider-Kid is tied up in that room," replied the goon, as Spider-Man smirked lightly. As Ronnie went to check the corner, Spider-Man swung in and webbed the guy to the wall.
"Hey, Frankie's been gone for a while," noticed one of them.
"He said he went to check on Spider-Man. He anyways has no friends, probably thought he could strike a friendship with Spider-Boy," laughed another goon, as everyone else chuckled.
"Okay, I'll check on Frankie," said one goon, as he walked up to the second floor, to the room where Spider-Man was being held hostage. Peter webbed up the guy's feet and pulled him to the ground, as the guy feel unconscious.
"Time for some fear tactics…" thought Spider-Man, as he shot a web at the railing of the second floor balcony, and stuck the web to the unconscious guy's legs. There were two goons right under the balcony, and Peter hung the guy's body from the railing, as the body dangled right in front of the two men.
"AAAAH! WHAT THE HELL!" shouted one of them. Spider-Man zipped to another corner, and let out a loud cackle.
"What was that! Hey, is that Tommy?" asked the goon, looking at the body. He then aimed the gun at the ceiling, where the cackling came from, but Spider-Man had disappeared.
"Is he dead?" asked one of them, as another lightly poked the guy with the muzzle of the gun. The body had started to snore.
"Tommy's alive, snoring like a dog. But look, webs…" said the guy.
"It ain't the Spider. It's a ghost!" wailed one of the goons.
"Zip it, Alejandro! There ain't no ghost here!" countered another. Spider-Man chuckled as he stuck to a wall, and pulled down two shelves, causing boxes to crash to the ground, making a whole lot of noise.
"AAAH! Heard that? It's gotta be a ghost! Or it's that Daredevil dude!" said Alejandro, trembling all over. "What if it's that Moon Knight guy?!" continued Alejandro.
"Dude, stop or I'll stick my gun down your throat!" said the third goon, getting annoyed. Peter couldn't help it as he stifled his laughter. He cleared his throat and growled.
"This is the ghost of Rotch! My first name is Mike!" growled Spider-Man.
"Oh shit! It's the ghost of Mike Rotch!" cried out Alejandro, as he dropped his gun and took out his crucifix, while the other two goons just stared at him, dumbfounded.
"Spider-Man, come out now! Joe, you take the left, I'll take right. Let Alejandro continue with that crucifix of his," said the third goon, as he walked up to the second floor, where Spider-Man knocked him out. Spider-Man then proceeded to take out the second goon too.
"Now only Alejandro remains…" said Spider-Man, as he jumped behind him.
"Hey-O!" greeted Spider-Man, as Alejandro jumped in terror, aiming his gun towards Spider-Man, who webbed it away.
"Aaah! Don't kill me! Please!" pleaded Alejandro. Spider-Man almost felt bad for him.
"Relax, I'm not gonna kill you…on one condition at least," said Spider-Man.
"Of course…anything!" replied Alejandro.
"I want you to go to the New York Police Department and turn yourself in. Tell them Spider-Man has told you to talk to Captain Jean DeWolff. I want you to tell her everything about Rose's plans. Go now," said Spider-Man, as Alejandro scampered out of there.
"These are the best men Rose could find? Sheesh. Jameson's supporters would've made better goons," said Spider-Man, as he shook his head and walked back up to the room where he was kept captive, and looked at William's body. He knelt down, and closed William's lifeless eyes.
"Dammit Fisk. You manage to make my life difficult even when in prison," he lamented, and that's when he noticed Rose's mask on the ground. He carefully picked it up.
"Bet I could get some evidence from this…" said Spider-Man, as he tore off a piece of his suit, and held the mask in that. He noticed some light brown residue on it. Spider-Man took a little sample of the residue and put it in the fabric he tore, and pocketed it.
"I bet if I analyze this, I could find out where Rose is hiding out. This is obviously not his base of operations," said Spider-Man, as he swung out of a window, and into the fresh, nighttime air, and that's when he realized he had 12 missed calls from Gwen.
"Gwen, hey!" said Spider-Man.
"Peter, are you okay? Are you hurt?" asked Gwen, frantically.
"Yeah, I'm fine. Luckily, Dr Octavius was able to stop the broadcast on Times Square. I owe him a lot," said Spider-Man.
"Peter, I had tried calling Otto, but he didn't pick up. It was Harry who caused the blackout," informed Gwen. Peter was surprised.
"Hold on, Harry caused a blackout?!" asked Peter. "I mean I knew he was good with tech but, this is like a whole new level! I gotta go talk to Otto then. Where was he during all of this?" continued Peter.
"I don't know Peter. Be careful. I love you," said Gwen.
"You too," said Peter, as he hung up. He continued swinging towards Otto's makeshift lab, a little angry and at the same time a little worried.
As soon as he got there, he noticed that the place was in near ruins.
"Doc? What the hell happened here?" asked Peter, to himself. Walls looked like they had been smashed, with holes in the ground too. Peter was extremely worried.
"Doctor Octavius? Are you here?" he called out again, but there was no response. That's when he noticed something.
"Scrapes…on the ground near the wall? What?" thought Peter, as he went to investigate. All of a sudden, he heard the clanking of metal. He turned around and saw Doctor Octavius entering.
"Parker! Thank God you're fine!" said Otto, as he walked towards him, his tentacles retracting.
"Doctor Octavius, where've you been?" asked Peter, a little perplexed.
"I'm so sorry that I wasn't able to help! I was stopping another mugging, and then there was a speeding car, and…well you get the idea, I was really busy," explained Otto.
"My identity almost got exposed today, and a man died," said Peter, although he knew he couldn't blame Otto.
"I know, I'm sorry Peter. I promise next time the great Spider-Man is in trouble, I'll drop whatever I'm doing, be it a bank robbery or a bomb, and I'll come to save you! Okay?" lashed out Otto, rather unexpectedly. Peter took a step back.
"Doctor, are you okay?" asked Peter, genuinely concerned. Otto didn't say a word, instead he extended a tentacle and slammed it into a wall. The tentacles were glowing a little red.
"Dr Octavius, did you put the inhibitor chip back on the neural interface?" asked Peter. Otto, sighed then shook his head.
"What?! Doctor Octavius, we had discussed this! You know the side effects of not having the inhibitor chip. Overload could cause adverse stimulation to the basal ganglia, the frontal lobe. It might already be happening, hence your anger!" explained Peter.
"No Peter. Trust me, we do not need the Inhibitor Chip. All it did was slow me down, prevent me from reaching my true potential! The chip held me back, Peter," explained Otto.
"Otto, it may already be affecting you. Your mood is shifting, this may cause a shift in your personality too! Please doctor," pleaded Peter, as he walked up to the desk, and started planning out a design for a new inhibitor chip.
"Peter, please don't…" said Otto. "Stop trying to hold me back…"
"No doc, you don't understand, I'm not trying to hold you back-"
Before Peter could even finish his sentence, Otto extended a tentacle and smacked the pen straight out of Peter's hands.
"Dammit Parker, listen to me! This is not working!" he yelled.
"I'm not following doc, what's not working?" asked Peter, a little scared.
"All of this! Me trying to be like you, a "superhero." What do I owe this city? All it did was take everything from me!" scowled Otto. Peter was about to his open his mouth to say something, but Otto stopped him. There was a long minute of an awkward silence.
"Sorry, Peter. You should go," said Otto, in a softer tone. Peter nodded as he put on his mask and swung out of the window, not wanting to enrage Otto any further.
As soon as Peter was gone, Otto extended all four of his tentacles, as he walked towards the wall with the scrapes on the bottom. Using all four arms, he wedged them into a small gap, and the wall opened up, like a makeshift door.
It revealed a small room, with a large wall. Otto flicked a switch, and two light shined on the wall, which had different newspaper clippings and articles, along with pictures of Spider-Man, in his fights with various enemies. There were also handmade notes stuck to the wall, made by Otto himself. There were drawings and diagrams of Peter's suit, his strengths and weaknesses, his web shooters, his mask, and basically every small detail on his suit and powers.
Otto smiled to himself. No one would ever hold him back again
And…Doctor Octopus rises! I'd say that there's only two or three chapters for Season 3: Armed and Dangerous. Gotta say, this is probably one of the biggest stories/seasons I've ever written, and Season 3 was definitely my favorite. Also, a quick tease for Season 4, there's gonna be a special episode with a certain superhero. I can't tell you who, but the name rhymes with "LeadDrool". So yeah, stay tuned for that!
Rollerparty: To be honest, yeah I did rush the chapter to end the hiatus quick, and wow I didn't notice that Spidey-Sense plothole (won't make the mistake again, haha). And I'll surely take your advice!
redbirds12: Thanks! I'll make sure Doc Ock gets enough time in the oven. Also good luck with your reboot of The Extraordinary Spider-Man! (And I just noticed that you made your name plural…does that mean you're working with someone else on the reboot? Or, seeing as how you and humanspiderstobey wrote Along Came a Spider-Man together, could the name change be foreshadowing for ACaSM returning? I don't know I'm just spitballing here haha.)
Yours Truly,
Shadow Strike.