Spider-Man stared at his ally, who had now seemingly turned into his opponent.
"What are you doing?" he questioned.
"Making sure that you don't cause any more problems," Mysterio answered, slowly starting to walk in Spider-Man's direction. "You know, I really thought that, without your memories, your mind would be like putty in my hands, easy to manipulate in any way I desired. I guess that do-gooder philosophy of yours really is just too ingrained in your nature."
That same anger coming back more fiercely, Spider-Man grabbed Mysterio, slamming him into the wall.
"YOU did this to me!?" he questioned.
"You got me!" Mysterio replied.
"Why?" Spider-Man asked.
"Call it an experiment," Mysterio said. "One which I still personally consider a success. It's a shame though, since you won't live to see the fruits of all my hard work...and yours too."
Suddenly, that bizarre sixth sense in Spider-Man's mind went crazier than it had yet. Somehow, the sensation seemed to be directing him to Mysterio himself, so he quickly ripped off the helmet, only to find no sign of the man who was usually beneath the costume. Instead, there was an audio transmitter...and a bomb rigged to blow, with less than ten seconds left on the timer.
Tossing the Mysterio-bot or whatever it was aside, Spider-Man leapt towards the other end of the room, grabbing the large table there.
"Goodbye Spider-Man," the real Mysterio said through the audio device. "I'm sorry that you won't get to see my greatest show of all."
BOOM!
The bomb attached to the bot detonated just as Spider-Man covered himself with the table, the impact sending him flying hard against the wall, slamming him into it and causing him to collapse in a heap on the ground. Immediately, the force of the impact settled into his being, producing a soreness and hurt all over. Plus, the explosion seemed to have messed with his hearing, as all he could hear was a seemingly distant high-pitched ringing sound. Still, he fought to get back to his feet, managing to lean on one knee first before staggering back up on his own two legs.
He needed to get out, not just from the room, but the building, and fast. He was no longer safe there, and it was clear now that he never had been. Glancing over at the section of the wall that he had slammed into, Spider-Man noticed that it was severely damaged and cracked, though it had not broken. Still, if he could summon enough of his strength, he figured that he should be able to finish the deal without issue.
Ducking his shoulder in, he slammed into it. The impact reverberated through his still sore and hurting person, but he refused to let that stop him. Spider-Man repeated the process, slamming into the cracked wall again, then one more time, causing a hole to finally form in the wall and him to stumble out in the process.
Quickly forcing himself to his feet, Spider-Man scrambled off, heading in the direction of where he was pretty sure he'd seen the nearest exit before. It would be way up near the top of the building, but given his leaping ability, he had no issue with having to springboard across building tops. However, he soon found himself coming to a halt, realizing that there was more at stake here than just his wellbeing. Given that he now knew that Mysterio had ulterior motives, there was no telling what he might actually have planned with that power source they stole from Alchemax … which the man still had.
Despite his fear of all the unknowns now at play, Spider-Man knew that he couldn't leave the building without that device. But where was it though? He'd handed it off to Mysterio before, but then stormed off before he could even see in the direction that the man had taken it. The way he figured it, Mysterio had clearly been playing things much closer to the chest than he believed, so it was likely either somewhere especially secure or still on his person, though he was likely secure right now as well.
Before he could take any further time to strategize, a voice suddenly came over the room.
"Still alive?" Mysterio questioned, though he wasn't one hundred percent sure where it was coming from. "Oh Spider-Man, just as resilient as ever. Let me guess, you're trying to think of where the device we stole is currently stashed away at? How very typical; like I said, even without your memories, you still risk your own hide, even when it is the dumbest decision you can make."
The lighting in the room suddenly grew very dim, with darkness soon encapsulating most of it, except for a few lights that almost seemed like show lights. The tingling sensation went off in his brain again, his mind immediately going on high alert.
"That's why you'll always be alone you know."
Spider-Man turned to see what appeared to be Mysterio walking towards him. After his last bit of trickery involving the robot, he felt he couldn't be sure though.
"Being a superhero really is a lonely life." Mysterio's voice was now coming from Spider-Man's left side, causing him to spin around and see two more people, machines, or whatever that looked like his ally turned enemy walking towards him.
"You're wrong," he retorted, trying to determine exactly which one of them was the most imminent threat.
"Are we?" the voice said, now ringing out in unison across all the machines. "Think about it; who could put up with being friends with a superhero? You'll always go save the day, which means they would always have to come in second place. No one would put up with that forever."
Suddenly, a couple of large creatures resembling dragons appeared over the Mysterio machines. They were different from what had been used before, but Spider-Man had to believe that these things were not real. Even so, the constant tingling in his brain made him unsure of what was the real threat and what wasn't.
Everything else in the room then charged at Spider-Man, ready for attack. He flipped out of the way of a couple of the Mysterio things, grabbing onto another one and tossing it against one coming behind him, causing them to short circuit. One of the dragon things came at him, causing him to flip out of the way without thinking … right into the grip of another one of the Mysterio robots. Two of the others then came and laid heavy hits on him, beating into his chest and even connecting with his face once.
Finally breaking free, Spider-Man severed the arms of the robot holding him down before tossing it into the others, only for still another one to push him down. He then felt a sharp, stinging pain in his arm.
"AAGH!" he let out. He looked to see that it was one of those annoying bat bots, and it was circling around again, now with two more of its little friends. Turning and running out of the way, Spider-Man was attacked by still more Mysterio robots, two of them coming at him now. He flipped over them, turning and seeing the bat things hot on his trail. Shooting a web onto one of them, he swung it around before flinging it hard into one of the others, trashing them.
Unfortunately, despite the apparent warning from the tingling in his brain, it still wasn't enough to give him time to react to more machines coming his way, picking him up and throwing him against a nearby wall, his head making hard contact with it before he slumped to the ground.
"The sad thing is that you couldn't make it on even one of the many superhero teams!" Mysterio taunted, his voice seemingly coming from everywhere once again as his machine and mirage minions threatened to crowd around Spider-Man. "Not the Fantastic Four, the Avengers don't seem to want you, not even the X-Men! There may be others out there like you, several in fact, but they've all left you to fend for yourself!"
"Shut up," Spider-Man muttered, shaking his head as he tried to force himself to a stand.
"And now, after everyone saw you help me, a known criminal, everyone in the city hates you!" Mysterio continued to taunt. "Do you hear me, Spider-Man; you have NO ONE!"
Clenching his fist, Spider-Man prepared to act. He'd had enough of this, and besides, Mysterio was likely just trying to stall him and keep him distracted from his goal before finishing him off. He couldn't let that happen; this was one mission that he had to see through to the end. He proceeded to stop a blow from the first machine that attacked him, picking it up by its legs and then using it like a battering ram, slamming it against anything and everything else around him.
After a minute, Spider-Man could see just enough of an opening to make it to a nearby hallway, so he made his move, hurdling the last of his attackers before breaking into a run. He needed to change the flow of the whole thing; he'd been in a wide-open space, which had enabled too many machines and robots to attack him at once. Moving to a more cramped area could help shift the odds in his favor when it came to putting some distance between them. That is, of course, assuming that he didn't end up boxing himself in at a dead end.
He also knew that he needed to remember that the main goal, other than just survival, was finding the power source and escaping the building. To that end, he glanced at each door and window that he passed, hoping against hope that one of them would prove the lucky room with the prize inside. As he did, Spider-Man seemingly managed to stay one step ahead of his pursuers, though he knew that he couldn't count on that being the case forever.
Sure enough, this was proven right, as that sixth sense in his mind rang out especially strongly just in time for him to pull up, halting his momentum and narrowly avoiding a flamethrower that was emitting a massive burst of fire out of the wall, trapping him again. Turning to face his opposition, Spider-Man found that there were still a few Mysterio bots left, along with some of the flying bat things and a few other creatures that he couldn't be certain were real or just an illusion. The sixth sense going on in his brain was seemingly stuck in permanent tingle mode, making it difficult for him to judge what was real and what wasn't. He tried to focus, but every one of Mysterio's creations suddenly rushed him at once.
Thinking on his feet, Spider-Man raced towards them before hurtling over them and along the side of the wall, narrowly avoiding a couple of the bats as he did. Scurrying along in a bizarre side sprint, he rounded the corner, successfully making his way around his attackers. It wasn't long before they began pursuing them again, however, as he rounded another corner along the same path as the one he'd been on before, but across the hall. As he did, he turned and happened to catch a glimpse of his target at last: the power source he and Mysterio had stolen.
Unfortunately, it was in a room secured by what appeared to be several lasers all throughout the space, including the floor. On the outside of the room to the left of the door appeared to be a special panel that looked as though it could potentially be the controls to the security measures, but it required special access to get in, which meant that he would likely be out of luck getting in on his own. His pursuers then rounded the corner, which meant that he was running out of time.
In a move of desperation, Spider-Man tried something: shooting a web out of his right wrist, he stuck it to one of the bat bots, yanking it to himself. As soon as it was in his hands, he took and smashed it against the panel, causing both the bot and the panel to short circuit. Just as he'd hoped, the lasers went down, so Spider-Man burst through the door and into the room just as his attackers came on the scene. Quickly grabbing the device, he then leapt in the direction of the room's heavily tinted window, smashing through it and plummeting to the street three stories below.
Rolling into a somersault, Spider-Man then burst to his feet, breaking off into a sprint and fleeing from what had once been the only safe place he had known.
After racing across streets and skyscrapers long enough without anyone seemingly following him, Spider-Man finally found someplace to settle in for the night. Granted, a small crook near the top of a skyscraper just big enough for him to curl up in wasn't exactly ideal, but it would work as a sufficient hiding place for him and the device for the night. It had also started to rain now, so it would have to suffice as a shelter for the time being as well.
As he sat there all curled up like he was trying to hide himself from the world, Spider-Man did his best to settle in for the night. He had no idea what time it was, but it had been dark since he and Mysterio had first ventured to Alchemax, and that was likely at least a couple hours ago, if not more. He was exhausted, so in theory, he felt that sleep should come easy to him, but between the cuts and likely bruises on his body and the thoughts swirling in his mind, it was proving to not be that simple.
Spider-Man's brain especially kept coming back to everything Mysterio said through all his machines/intercoms about how alone he was and how there was no one in his life. He wanted so badly to believe that was all a lie, just like how everything else the man had told him proved to be. He kept telling himself that, logically, he no longer had any reason to believe a word that came from his former ally's mouth. Yet, as he sat there, lying against the cold metal and hiding from the dreary rain outside, it was hard not to feel exactly that: alone.
Perhaps tomorrow would be better; perhaps he could gain a clue as to his real identity, and he could find proof that he did in fact have people that in his life, the life of the man beneath the mask, that actually had been looking for him. Perhaps even seeing the sun rise in the morning would bring even the simple hope that came with a new day.
But right now, in this moment, all Spider-Man could do was shut his eyes and desperately hope for sleep to find its way to him.
Well, that happened. Hope you're all still enjoying this story!
Continuing to pray for you all; stay safe and healthy!
"Do not set foot on the path of the wicked or walk in the way of evildoers... For they cannot rest until they do evil; they are robbed of sleep till they make someone stumble." Proverbs 4:14, 16