Chapter 6: Masked Maniac

Karen sobbed at the sight of blood, brains, and dead bodies that littered her apartment, again.

Daredevil and the Punisher stared each other down.

"What are you doing here, Frank?"

"Same reason you're here."

"So you know about Fisk," Matt said.

"Yup that fat shit is at it again, and I figured he would come after Karen," said Frank.

Matt looked to the side as he didn't know what to do.

"You know Red if you had any balls you wouldn't have put him in jail you would have killed that piece of shit!" Frank yelled at Matt.

"Shut the hell up Frank you don't get to change who I am, and neither does he!"

Frank picked up his handgun and pulled back the barrel, "Maybe it's time I have a crack at it!"

Matt tried to stop him but Karen yelled, "STOP! The only way we're going to beat him is together,"

"Yeah? Well, I don't do together Karen! I take this piece of shit down I do it my way, the right way!" yelled Frank.

Matt sighed and tried to reason with Frank, "Frank we can at least agree that we need to keep her safe?"

Frank side-eyed Matt and nodded slowly.

"Okay do you know of someplace safe she can stay?" Matt said.

Karen rolled her eyes, "Okay well I don't want to be kept safe I put Fisk away before I'll do it again,"

"Okay look Karen I get that and I want the same thing but he is tearing apart the city trying to find you, for now you need to go somewhere safe,"

Frank growled and said, "I know somewhere I can take her, but I swear to you once I know Karen is safe I will go kill that piece of shit because I know you won't... Murdock."

Matt's jaw dropped a little, Karen was surprised too, he thought it was useless to hide it any longer as from Castle's perspective it was obvious he was Daredevil, "So you know,"

"Of course I know Murdock what do you think I am a goddamn idiot? Come on Karen let's go,"

With that Karen got her things and followed Frank out the door. It was already day however the thought of Frank Castle killing his way to Fisk haunted Matt but for now he would have to put that at the back of his mind...

Meanwhile...

Peter and Gwen continued to walk up 5th avenue, Peter tried to drink his coffee to stay warm because as a native New Yorker, the cold was not a problem but this day was very windy and Peter was not properly dressed.

"So uhh how much farther? You still haven't told me where we're going," he said.

"Just a little bit longer the place is on 5th and 48th we're not far," Gwen said.

"I would have gotten there already if I just swung," said Peter under his breath.

Finally, they had reached the building, and to Peter's surprise, it wasn't as big and bold as he remembered Avengers Tower to be, it was for sure a more lowkey building but nevertheless tall. Still though at the top of this oddly shaped building was the Stark logo.

It was strange to Peter that he had not seen this building before.

Gwen snatched up Peter's hand and led him towards the front door of the building, "Welcome Stark Industries R " a sleek sign read at the front.

"You'll love this place it's like Candyland," Gwen said as they walked inside.

The two went through security and the guards tried to stop Peter as he had no ID badge but Gwen told them he was with her, so they let him through and fitted him with a visitor badge.

Peter was in awe at how big the lobby was and it continued to extend as there was an atrium above it. People in lab coats and suits walked around the lobby as well as Stark security guards.

"So what do you think?" asked Gwen.

Peter looked at everything and then at Gwen, "I think I'm in love,"

Gwen laughed but quickly excused herself as she went off to speak to a coworker.

Peter stood there by himself in the busy lobby. The elevator dinged and out walked Happy Hogan, the employees in the lobby frantically started to look for their badges.

Happy put away his phone and started going around to employees, "Badge... Badge... Come on guys badges please thank you,"

Gwen came back to Peter, "Okay ready?"

"Ms. Stacy, who is this?"

Gwen turned to Happy and said, "Oh he's a friend I'm showing him around!"

Peter wanted to talk but didn't really know what to say.

"So how much did it cost ya huh? To get that badge falsified?" said Happy.

"No no no no! I'm with Gwen I mean I'm not with her but she brought me here and I also knew Tony Stark!" Peter knew he messed up by saying this and of course Happy questioned him.

"Name?"

"Peter... Peter Parker."

Happy stood there staring at Peter for a few seconds, a memory maybe? Some recognition as to who Peter was? Peter most certainly would have been glad to have someone else he knows and eagerly awaited his answer.

"Never heard of you," said Happy.

"Look Happy I promise you I just want to show him around he's not a threat to anyone, plus he might be useful around here," said Gwen pleading to Happy.

At this moment, Peter's Spidey Sense alerted him of danger, and started instinctively walking away from Happy and Gwen, the two didn't notice this as they were too busy arguing.

Suddenly, a loud explosion from the other side of the street from the Stark Building could be heard that cracked some windows in the building. Gwen looked around for Peter but he was nowhere to be found.

The explosion came from a bank. Men in suits wearing terrifying masks ran out with duffel bags filled with cash and stuffed them inside an SUV. A few of them stood guard armed with ARs.

Spider-Man webbed all of their guns and landed in before them, "Must be Halloween since we're all wearing masks!" he said.

The masked men furiously took out daggers and Katanas but these weapons looked like they were charged with some white and black energy. They said something in Mandarin to which Spider-Man said, "Sorry the suit doesn't have Google Translate," he said as he swung kicked one of the men stunning him, and knocked him out after a roundhouse kick to the jaw. One of the other men spun his nunchucks around, and Spider-Man stood in ready position, Spider-Man then grabbed the other one by his shirt and punched him three times before webbing a trash can towards the back of his head also knocking him out. He then used that same trash can and spun it around a few times and launched it at the third masked man.

Just when Spider-Man thought he was finished the SUV was taking off down the road at max speed. The masked men thought they had escaped Spider-Man but he quickly caught up and landed on the side of the SUV, "I'm kinda hungry you guys what are we getting?"

The truck continued to move along and a masked man pointed his gun out the window toward Spider-Man but he quickly grabbed the gun and pulled him out of the car, "Some web spaghetti?" said Spidey as he webbed the man to a building. He jumped to the other side where there was another man looking for Spider-Man, gun ready, but Spidey punched him in the head, also pulling him out of the car, "Or some knuckle sandwich?" Spider-Man then webbed the car and kicked through the driver's side door through the car to the other side knocking the last two men out.

The men were down but the car was still in motion, so Spidey shot two webs to nearby buildings on either side of the street and planted his feet on the grille of the car to slow it down, bringing it to a halt.

Spectators on the street cheered for Spidey which he saw as a good sign as public opinion of him was clearly changing.

Before swinging off he picked up one of the frightening masks off the ground. Observing its white and black markings he knew that this wasn't an ordinary group of thugs.

"There's definitely more to these guys than meets the eyes, but I think I know who might know about them," Spidey said to himself...

Elsewhere in the city...

"Folks, Spider-Man may have stopped these masked maniacs, but remember he IS a masked maniac himself! Under what authority does Spider-Man operate? He has no badge, HE IS A MENACE! A WEB-HEADED MAURADER! Good citizens of New York, this has been The Daily Bugle Podcast, J Jonah Jameson, signing off, 'till next time."

A bell rang signifying that the recording has ended, and J Jonah Jameson leaned back in his chair, hand covering his face.

Betty Brandt approached him with some water.

"Did I ask for that Ms. Brandt? Hmm?"

"Sorry sir just doing my best here, is everything okay?" she said.

"People cheer Spider-Man on the street but they need to understand that he is a menace! People need to see a new kind of hero! One who doesn't hide his face and I, J Jonah Jameson will be the one to sponsor him. Luckily I know just the man. Ms. Brandt, call Rikers, I need to pay someone a visit!"

"Right away Mr. Jameson!" Betty said rushing off.

"Ms. Brandt! I wasn't finished!"

"I'm sorry what else can I do?"

"Call my contact at Alchemax, tell him it's time!"

Betty nodded and walked off to make the calls...

"I'll end Spider-Man if it's the last thing I do," Said Jameson angrily

To be continued...