A/N: Glad to see that I'm keeping true to character for Peter/Spider-Man. Enjoy!
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After an incredibly boring day of snapping photos of the mayor and other assorted political figures passing through New York, Peter retired to his apartment at 5:30, threw his costume in the washing machine, and promptly hit the sack.
Having a job and being a super-hero at the same time... it's pretty tiresome. I should do this more often. If only all those bad guys would let me...
His alarm awakened him at 8:30 that evening. It was hard for him to wake up at first, but eventually he got up, stumbled into the kitchen, and made himself a turkey sandwich. He consumed it quickly, then made himself a peanut butter sandwich to supplement it. He downed the makeshift supper with a huge glass of milk.
Boy, if I ate like this all the time, I wouldn't need to worry about the Visa...
He took his costume out of the washer, which by now had completed its cycle, and tossed it unceremoniously into the dryer, making sure to throw in an anti-static sheet. He then marched back out to the living room, slumped into his favorite chair, and palmed the remote, activating his TV and VCR. He'd set the VCR this morning to record CSPAN -- something one might normally avoid watching, but today in Congress there had been a session during which the aptly named "Mutant Situation" had been discussed, somewhat similar to what the councilmen had been discussing. This, however, was on a larger level, considering the restrictive Mutant Registration Act that was in debate. Senator Robert Kelly was still arguing vehemently that the Act be passed, claiming that all mutants posed a serious threat to society.
Of course, Peter wasn't in agreement at all. Sure, some mutants wrought havoc from time to time, but many of them were simply trying to make a living for themselves. Comparatively, only a very small fraction of Kelly's inflated figures ever intended harm. Some of Peter's closest friends were mutants, from the Black Cat to the world-renowned Professor Charles Xavier and his X-Men.
Well... his relationship with the X-Men was iffy for the moment; Peter doubted if he and Wolverine would ever develop a rapport.
Then again, Wolverine maintained a rapport only with a select few.
And then there was the case with the Fantastic Four, who had also suffered mutation from the high-energy cosmic rays. Strange how they had been so easily accepted into society, yet the X-Men were still considered wild cards.
Maybe it's just Wolverine.
Peter chuckled at the thought as he watched the proceedings take place. Boring for the most part, even Kelly's loudmouthing. Half the Senate seemed content to filibuster, in which case the Act might die upon the commencement of the next Congressional meet. He decided to switch it off.
As he hit the power button for the VCR, however, the TV remained active just long enough for Peter to glimpse a special report taking place. He left the TV on and beheld images of devastation; a picture of a building with one side blasted inward was splashed across the screen. The back of a car was sticking out of the second floor... upside-down. It was as if some great force had hurled the car into the wall.
"--suspected to be another mutant attack, taking place at the anti-mutant gathering on 26th Street and 63rd Avenue. Again, this is a breaking story, and the perpetrator is believed to still be in the area..."
Twenty seconds later, Peter was nowhere to be found, and the window, while closed, was unlocked.
***
The loud leader of the anti-mutant march, David Ferguson, was a charismatic sort, relying on his charm to get him out of any situation, and to gather a following numbering in the dozens, even hundreds. His voice was a paradox in itself... able to speak as loudly as he chose and still able to attract people, despite the noise pollution. He'd always been pleased with himself for this little ability... he'd attracted many a follower for this rally.
"Senator Kelly is right! We need to contain the mutants now! We don't want those freaks here! We have to get rid of them, and his plan is the best way! So get out your shovels and start digging those internment camps for him! Do it to get rid of that menace we call mutantkind!" he had shouted, a bullhorn amplifying his voice across a block in every direction.
The crowd had subsequently roared in approval of his rantings, many hefting anti-mutant signs and others bearing crude weapons. He wouldn't have been at all surprised if he'd had some gang members in with the crowd. So much the better. Humankind could finally unite for something.
But his charisma was doing him no good now. His following had long abandoned him. And why shouldn't it? Unless cars go flying into buildings every day.
Now he cowered in fear behind the podium as some unseen creature roared the deep bass of a lion on the prowl... or maybe the wrath of God Himself.
And then he found himself hanging three feet off the ground by his jacket.
He stared down at the offender.
If there was any way the DNA of a lion and a human could be crossed, this was the perfect specimen. Long, pale gold mane cascaded from his head, his sideburns stretched to his collar, his bared teeth looked as if they belonged in the mouth of a saber-toothed tiger, and his ripped, bulging brown clothes did little to hide the immense musculature beneath them.
The creature brought David down a little bit, pulled him almost into his face, let David smell his foul breath.
And he grinned.
"Scream... for me."
And David began to scream.
Sabretooth grinned. He liked the feel of vibrating vocal cords between his teeth.
He brought David's neck in for the kill.
And then he smelled it.
A split-second later, his ears confirmed what his nose was telling him.
"Hey, ugly!"
Sabretooth spun around and looked up to the top of the building behind him, sure of what he would find there.
He wasn't disappointed. The reds and blues of Spider-Man's costume stood out in the night; not good for stealth.
Spider-Man took to a line of web and swung down to meet Sabretooth on the ground.
Sabretooth's grin widened, and he tossed David Ferguson away like a rag doll.
Spider-Man landed and crouched, staring at Sabretooth. "So, where do you fit in on the food chain?"
Sabretooth almost responded with a snide remark of his own, but he abruptly realized that this would allow for an opportunity for anthropomorphization... and most animals never fought and killed their own kind without good reason. Besides, it didn't make sense to him. Why talk to your meal before eating it? That made it even less appetizing.
He bounded for Spider-Man.
Spider-Man ducked under Sabretooth's outstretched arms intended for a bear hug, and swung his leg out. Sabretooth went tumbling.
"If you're that hungry, you might as well eat dirt," Spider-Man responded. "You start eating people and you might find you have some stiff competition in San Francisco."
Sabretooth roared and leapt high, meaning to pounce on his prey.
Spider-Man pushed off to the side and then fired both web-shooters at his opponent. The sticky substance caught Sabretooth's clothes, and Spider-Man tried to yank Sabretooth in for closer combat.
Sabretooth flashed his razor-sharp claws and sliced through the webbing.
Spider-Man leapt high, copying Sabretooth's move, and came down with one foot extended for a paralyzing drop kick. Sabretooth caught the foot and looked about ready to twist it straight off Spider-Man's leg. However, the decoratively garbed hero wasn't content to let that happen. He landed on his other foot, only to launch off it again and spin around. His toes made sharp contact with Sabretooth's face, and the beastly mutant roared and released Spider-Man's foot.
Spider-Man dropped to the ground, but he didn't stay idle. He performed a sidewise breakdance and kiicked at Sabretooth's feet, intent on sweeping them out from under the mutant, but Sabretooth saw it coming and jumped away. He jumped up again and sprawled himself out in the air for a vicious body slam.
Spider-Man just barely rolled away in time, and he quickly kickflipped to his feet.
Sabretooth roared and started slashing at Spider-Man with his massive, razor-sharp claws, and Spider-Man performed one handspring after another, just barely staying out of the bestial antagonist's range.
Sabretooth tackled the wall crawler and pinned his arms to the ground. Spider-Man quickly lashed a leg upwards, almost at an impossible angle, and his heel cracked against Sabretooth's knee. The lion-like mutant roared and stumbled away, while Spider-Man got to his feet and jumped into a defensive pose.
Sabretooth seemed to shrug off his injury and growled, slowly circling to the left. Spider-Man likewise circled, careful to keep at least three yards' distance from his enemy.
"Eating them will only prove to them that they were right all along about you," Spider-Man said. "Is that what you want?"
Sabretooth roared again and leapt at Spider-Man. Spider-Man somersaulted out of the way and maintained the distance between them. The mutant's roar changed to a frenzied pitch as he chased Spider-Man across a large circle on the pavement. As he leapt toward the masked hero, he swung a hand out and slammed it into Spider-Man's chest.
"Oof!" the hero grunted, flailing in the air for a split instant. Recovering quickly, he fired a webline perpendicular to his current trajectory to correct for the backlash, and swung out of the way of any more harm.
The frustration was evident on Sabretooth's face as he searched for a way to pin his quarry down.
"Ever played cat-and-spider?" Spider-Man asked, firing another line of web at a nearby building and pushing off. "Same as cat-and-mouse."
Sabretooth didn't comment as he leapt after Spider-Man, leaving behind a very indignant David Ferguson to ponder what had just happened.
***
Spider-Man wondered to himself what the hell he was doing, running away. That would give Sabretooth the advantage, a prospect that disturbed him.
He landed hard on the roof of an apartment building, rolled, came up, and started moving at a dead run. He began formulating a plan very quickly as he heard his predator hit the roof behind him.
The two figures leapt from building to building effortlessly, neither one slowing, both timing their movements precisely for maximum distance.
Spider-Man discreetly pulled a web capsule from his belt and gripped it firmly between thumb and forefinger.
He made the next leap...
And fell between the buildings.
As he fell, he crushed the web capsule, releasing the incredibly pressurized, incredibly sticky substances stored within it. The webbing expanded across all sides, creating an almost instant spider web spanning the two buildings at an altitude of nearly fifty feet.
Spider-Man then shot a web line to the left wall, swinging on it until he hit the wall. The miniature adhesive hooks in his extremities proved themselves useful once again as he clung to the wall.
Sabretooth leapt into the trap an instant later.
Spider-Man grinned underneath his mask as he watched Sabretooth futilely try to free himself from the trap. "You know, I just hate it when people try to get the drop on me."
Sabretooth roared in response.
Spider-Man scaled the rest of the building, making sure to go around the web trap, and climbed back onto the roof. From there, he covered Sabretooth with a wide spray of webbing, securing the trap. He hit Sabretooth's hands and arms with extra, rendering them immobile and powerless to rip the web.
"I think there're some boys in blue who'd like to talk to you," Spider-Man commented. "Think I'll go give them a call."
He was gone a moment later.
***
Sabretooth knew that Spider-Man would make good on his promise, unless the short one got here real soon...
As if on cue, Shorty's scent crossed Sabretooth's nose. As always, the odor was fetid... a scent like that was known to attract flies, and had done so on previous occasion.
Shorty leapt up to the top of the building, almost exactly where Spider-Man had been standing moments before. He grinned down at Sabretooth. "Well, now. This is quite a bind, isn't it?"
Sabretooth roared.
Shorty sighed. "All right, all right, no social talk." He pulled out a knife and jumped down from the building. He let the knife slice through the webbing, just enough for Sabretooth to get one of his hands free. Sabretooth did the rest, grunting and roaring in frustration as he did so.
"Let's get going before those geeks see us," Shorty hissed, leading the way with his powerful leaping.
Sabretooth followed a split instant afterward.
When the police arrived, they found no one. Only a gigantic, torn spider web.
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