Part Three
The Vulture raised Job off the ground, "This is going to be my greatest revenge! You were the deciding vote that had me removed from my work! Well, now I decide what your future has in store for you." He brought Ted's face close to his own, "Now your daughter can see the price for crossing me by your example." He flung Job through a concession stand laughing at the sight of his enemy rolling across the ground helplessly.
"Hello, little girl." Adrian said menacingly towards Job's daughter, "You're daddy is in big trouble and so are you."
The tingling sensation resounding through Peter's head finally dragged his attention from Gwen. He rose suddenly at the sound of a young girl screaming from the lobby. Peter exited the store, "What's going on?"
A shopper hiding behind a bench wincing at the sounds of crashing in the distance turned to him, "Some wacko just beat up this guy and he grabbed the little girl! I can't believe it, he took her!"
At that very moment, the wacko they referred to was soared past their heads laughing cruelly while the little girl screamed for help in his arms.
"Go help her!" Gwen exclaimed terrified for the poor young girl. "Don't you have your costume?"
Peter stared at her for a moment hesitantly and weakly sighed, "You've got the wrong idea about me."
"There's a little girl in trouble and you're telling me there's nothing you can do about it?" Gwen asked angrily, "Damn it, Peter, this isn't the time to follow the superhero code or whatever crap is holding you back."
He gulped and felt butterflies swimming around in his stomach. He was prepared to deny her again, to stay silent when the girl's cries of help cut into his very being, "Gwen, I'm sorry. I'm not Spider-Man. But, that doesn't mean we're going to let him get away with this. Come on." Peter made a bolt down one of the hallways.
"What are you going to do?" Gwen inquired.
"We're going to try and get help." Peter stammered, "You go this way and I'll check that wing. Don't come back until you've found someone."
Adrian spotted the girl's father standing over the wreckage of a concession stand. "How delightful, you're daddy is here!" He grimaced and lowered a dark-green visor over his face. "Hey, Ted catch!"
Job stared at the Vulture feebly when the latter dropped the young girl. The father dove forward and managed to catch his daughter with a cry of relief.
"Doesn't that warm your heart?" Adrian pulled a pistol from the holster strapped to his waist. "This will send a message to the rest of those corporate goons to never stand in the way of advancement again. Their narrow minds should comprehend this well enough. Goodbye."
"No, please." Ted pleaded clutching his daughter tightly.
"Please? Please? I said those words, didn't I?" Adrian scoffed at the plea, "Nobody showed me any mercy did they? I won't be any more lenient then you were." He aimed the gun for Job, "Stand still, I wouldn't want to hit the girl."
"You look like you couldn't hit the side of a barn, grandpa!" A web-line snatched the gun from his hands. "What is this?" Adrian turned around to see Spider-Man clinging to the side of the second-floor railing. "You, what the hell are you bothering me for? This has nothing to do with you."
"Sorry, gramps, but whenever one of you lunatics goes outside and starts shooting up the place it becomes my business." Peter leapt off the railing and slugged the Vulture across his face cracking the sturdy visor.
Adrian grunted from the blow and spun around the air, "Blasted, I didn't want anything to do with you." He smirked behind the visor, "Very well, if you want a fight the Vulture is more than happy to give you one."
"Why do you guys always introduce yourselves in the third person?" Peter fired a web-line and swung into the Vulture with his shoulder, "It must be fun the first few times but doesn't it get annoying." Adrian hovered away trying get his sense back, while Peter hung from the ceiling from a strand of webbing. "I mean do you walk into a McDonalds and say 'The Vulture demands a happy meal'!"
Peter joked well enough but wanted to get down to business as soon as possible. Gwen would be gone for five or ten minute's tops before she realized she had gone in the wrong direction. By that time this needed to be over.
"Silence you meddling fool!" Adrian exclaimed, "I'll exterminate you, you insect."
"Ouch, nice one, Vulch." He replied letting go of his line and firing off another dodging a swipe from the Adrian's wings. "Would it be safe to assume you're a reject from Scooby Doo."
Adrian roared and dove in straight for Peter, "How dare you speak to me like that! I'll teach you some respect."
Peter barely moved out of the way as Vulture came zipping by. Unable to stop, Adrian slammed into the wall. He flew away clumsily shaking his aching skull. "Be careful, Vulch, wouldn't want you losing your dentures on me." Once in a while, I'll make a mistake, I can admit that. Instead of yapping I should have finished him off with one blow. I hope history doesn't record this little incident
The Vulture managed to land a blow on Peter's chin. Although he barely felt the hit it was enough of a surprise that he lost his grip and crashed down onto a jewelry stand. The crowd chuckled.
Peter immediately flipped back up to his feet. He closed his fist, "Now I'm a little pissed." He was about to advance when he heard Gwen's voice calling out from him from elsewhere in the mall. "Typical. At least the girl and her father are long gone." He fired a web-line and soared out of the skylight, running from the battle.
The Vulture laughed, "Ha, I've defeated Spider-Man! With one blow he's retreated!" He stared at the crowd, "Let nobody doubt the awesome might of the Vulture!" He flew out of the skylight. "Job may have escaped my wrath but there will always be another day."
Gwen Stacy looked out the skylight and at the stunned crowd as a murmur swept through. "What happened?"
Flash and Phil broke through the crowd and approached her. Phil had a big smile on his face, stained with Tacos he was still stuffing down his throat. "That was better than a movie."
"Spider-Man showed up and he and Vulture fought." Flash replied, "But Spider-Man ran away and Vulture left as soon as he did." He sighed, "I can't understand why Spider-Man would run like that; he was doing fine."
"Are you kidding?" Phil asked in between a Taco, "Vulture was pounding him. Pow-pow-pow!" Phil stated mimicking his version of the fight.
Gwen frowned, "Wait, Spider-Man was here? Where's Peter." She asked doggedly.
"He's right behind you." Flash replied.
Gwen turned around to find her boyfriend standing there sheepishly, "Where were you?"
"I couldn't find any security." Peter replied, "How about you?"
"Neither could I." Gwen stared at him suspiciously, "Did you see Spider-Man?"
Peter shrugged, "Not really, but then again I don't suppose you did."
"No." Gwen admitted. "It was you, right?"
Peter smiled, "If I had lost that badly, believe me, I'd be running home crying all along the way." Be kind history.
Flash intervened, "Listen, I think I'm going to call it a day."
"Yeah, I'm kind of exhausted." Peter replied. This was insane; he had tackled Venom and the Vulture in the same day, all he needed was the Green Goblin to show up and his personal hell would be complete. "I'll see you."
"See you at school tomorrow, and I figured we could go out to that dinner you skipped out on last night after school." Gwen said, "Unless of course, you're busy." She added slyly.
"Oh yeah, I-I'll see you." Peter responded. He began to break away from the group while Gwen stood with Flash and Phil who stared at the skylight along with the crowd as if waiting for Spider-Man to show up again. Meanwhile, Peter could feel her eyes on him as he left the mall, eager to escape before the police showed up. Six more days!