Part Six
The FDNY had arrived on the scene of a burning apartment building. "What have we got?" Asked the chief staring at the open windows with flame spewing out from them.
One of the firefighters wiped his brow of sweat and answered, "We've got a little less than a dozen people trapped inside. The first and second floors have been cleared out; we've got people on the third. The problem is on the fourth floor, it looks ready to collapse at any minute."
"What about our ladders? We can't get in through a window?" Asked the chief walked towards the entrance carefully.
The firefighter shook their head disgusted with the situation, "No, the flames are too dangerous. Those people are going to burn."
"Jesus Christ." The chief exclaimed, "Are the paramedics on their way."
"Yeah."
The chief tilted his hat and clicked his tongue, "Tell them we're going to lose some people."
The firefighter lowered his head, angry at their helplessness and then stared at the building. "What's that?"
"Where?"
He pointed towards the sky, "That!"
Spider-Man zipped through the sky on a web-line and landed against the side of the burning building.
"Is that who I think it is?" The chief asked.
"Looks like it." The firefighter asked.
The chief grimaced and rocked his head back, "But I thought Batman was in Gotham."
"Should I call the cops?" Asked the firefighter.
"No." The chief replied. Spider-Man attached another web-line to the building and used it to swing inside the inferno. "He's the only chance those people got."
Peter crashed through the window and found himself a hallway lined with six doors leading into apartments. From all around he could hear screams from the trapped.
Smoke was pouring in from the stairwell down the hall and his spider-sense warned him of the nearby presence of fire. There was a fire raging through the hallway keeping the apartments and their occupants away from their only salvation, the stairwell leading down. "Time to get to work."
He ran down the hall to the nearest door and kicked it down without haste. Once inside he could see that the fire had burnt through the floor and was now spreading throughout the apartment.
"Hello?" Peter yelled out, "Is anyone here?"
"In here!" A voice called from one of the rooms.
Peter walked towards the doorway from where the voice had called and kicked out down the door. Inside he found an old man hiding feebly by the bed. "Are you okay?"
The old man looked around, confused, "Where's my wife?"
"Your wife?" Peter inquired.
"Yes, she went out for a moment, to get the mail, and she hasn't come back." He replied.
Peter nodded, "I'll see if I find her, now come on." He led the old man past the flames and towards the window that he had entered through. "Wait here." He clenched his fist and created a dense layer of webbing that led down from the window and went down to the street into the waiting hands of the firefighters. "Go."
"What about my wife." The old man anxiously required.
"If she's inside the building, I'll find her." Peter helped the man through the window, "Just slide down and they'll take care of you."
Once the old man had traversed the hastily made web-slide, Peter was back in the hallway.
"Now we try door number two." Peter smashed down the door and gazed inside. "Hello?"
From the living room emerged a mother and her three children, "Thank God, are you from the fire department?"
Peter shrugged, "Not exactly. Go out the door and take a left. You'll see an open window with a lot of webbing outside of it leading down, ride it and you'll be safe."
The mother left without delay, leaving Peter to continue his mission. "So far so good." He remarked.
Peter checked the third apartment, "Anyone here?" After an inspection he found it was empty and he quickly moved on the forth. He smashed the door open and found the flames to be so intense he initially backed off. "Anybody need help?"
Suddenly, he could hear the screams of a baby, alone, in the bathroom.
"Oh no." Peter leapt pass the doorway and landed on the wall of the apartment. He began to crawl through the hallway and slowly make his way to the bathroom. The smoke from the flames irritated Peter's lungs forcing him to cough. "Stay focused." He urged himself.
Peter finally made it to the bathroom door a mere six or seven feet from the burning flames. He opened the door and fell back down onto the floor.
Upon entering the bathroom, Peter found a little girl, no older than four, screaming for her mother while in a bubble bath. "Hi." He said warmly and immediately picked the screaming girl out of the bathtub. "Where's your mommy?"
"She was going to give me candy from the kitchen." She barely said over her screams. "I want my mommy!"
"Okay." Peter noted and grabbed a towel hanging off a rack nearby and wrapped it around her. "Close your eyes, honey, I'm going to get you out of here."
"What about my mommy?"
"I'll be back for her." Peter promised. He shielded the girl in his arms and crawled up along the wall. He once again began to make his trek back out of the apartment moments before the flames entered the bathroom.
Once back out he managed to get the child out of the apartment and personally took her down the web-slide and handed over to a firefighter on the street below.
It was seconds before he was back in the building, looking for the poor girl's mother. He was crawling along the ceiling of the apartment that he found her in; the flames were too high to move along the wall. The girl had said her mother was in the kitchen. After a few close calls with the inferno he finally made his way into the kitchen. He saw a woman lying on the ground while the edges of the flames were nipping at her.
"The smoke must have put her down." He fired a web-line and caught the woman by her back. Peter slowly pulled her above the flames and grabbed her with one hand. He made his way back to the window and did the same with her as he did with her daughter.
Peter was back into the building after making sure she was safe for at least the moment. Crossing the flames in the hallway, he discovered that the fifth apartment was empty and so Peter went on to the final and sixth home.
Once inside he immediately found two elderly women. "Everyone fine?" He asked.
"We're okay but my husband, I can't get to him, he was down the hall." One of the women stated.
Peter raised his left eye, "First apartment by the window?"
"Yes."
He smiled, "I got him out. Now come on!" Peter led both women out of the apartment and into the hallway only to see the hallway collapse up ahead. Rubble came down and cut off his only way out.
"What are we going to do?" One of the two women asked, terrified.
"You've got a window?" Peter asked.
The old woman nodded, "Of course I do, but there are no firemen on that side to get us out."
Peter smirked and raised his hand, "Hey, lady, Spider-Man here." They all crowded around one window that faced an alley. "Get on and remember this is a one-time deal so enjoy it." The pair tightly gripped his backside. "Here we go!"
He jumped out of the window and immediately fired a web-line that enabled him to swing down around the building. After a little maneuvering of the line, Peter was soaring over the firefighters assembled outside. He came to a slow stop and let them all off. "Here you go ladies."
"What a ride." One said happily.
Peter could hear police sirens approaching, "Well, that looks like my key to exit." He fired another web-line and went back up into the skyline.
"What a nice young man." The wife of one of the rescued men remarked.
The other one smiled, "I think he's divine."
The reporter looked at the burning building behind him. "If you're just joining us, a daring rescue on the part of the FDNY has just taken place saving over seven people from certain death, and there are a few reports of minor involvement from Spider-Man." The reporter smiled, "There will be certainly several investigations but it does in fact look like arson, further reports as the situation develops. This has been Jack Stew for CNN."
Peter took a deep breath and exhaled loudly. He was smiling and staring down at the scene below from a rooftop. Already reports trying to downplay Spider-Man's involvement were surfacing, but Peter didn't care. He had saved those people and that was more important than media recognition.
"Today was a good day." He remarked when the dreadful tingling sensation began to scratch away at him ceaselessly. "Ouch!" Peter remarked upon feeling a burning pain pound at his neck. He reached for the source and pulled out a dart, "Aw crap." He fell on the roof lifelessly but not dead.
Kraven appeared over him, "Hello, Spider-Man. I knew the fire would attract you and that once it was over you would be off-guard."
"Wha-what are you going to do?" Peter said struggling against the loss of control that was spreading throughout his body.
The hunter held a knife in his hands that he gripped tightly, "Our feud ends tonight, Spider-Man. One way or another, the debt you owe me will be settled in blood."
Peter closed his eyes and faded into darkness.