Ledge relaxed in the Starbucks. He punched a number into his cell phone and leaned back, his coffee cooling on the table in front of him.
"Put me through to the fat man," Ledge said. "Of course it's Ledge." He sighed, and waited, trying to ignore the sharp thudding of pain behind his eyes.
"Yes?" Fisk said over the phone. Ledge absently reflected that the phone didn't do him justice at all.
"They got away, and almost blinded me in the process. She got the Darkstone from the attic before we showed up, and that jackass Parker tossed it in the bay. Parker has his powers back, too. They found Faber." He paused. "Isn't it about time?"
There was a long silence. "Use your discretion from here on out," Fisk said.
"Hot damn," Ledge said. "And I want a bonus."
"A bonus?" Fisk said, sounding amused. "But you failed, Ledge."
"Hey, I'm an assassin, not a babysitter. Don't send a killer to do a kid gloves job. I'll kill Peter, but it's a lot harder for me to work my magic if I have to worry about a little thing like him perishing under my tender ministrations. I'm worth the money, Fisk."
"Alright," Fisk said. "Standard amount, standard methods. It is time for him to die. Return to my office at once. You will need better gear."
"Thank you, sir," Ledge said. "I'm on the job." He let Fisk hang up first, then he snapped the phone shut. The man at the table next to him was looking at him oddly.
"What?" Ledge said. "You got something to say?"
The man stared down into his coffee, and Ledge grinned to himself.
Time to see what a freak can do against a work of art.
xXx
Fisk regarded the phone on its cradle. Ledge would fail, of that he was certain. Things had reached this point, and there's really only one way they could end. He stood and walked over to look out at the sinking afternoon sun.
"Come to me," he rumbled. "Let us settle this the only way we can."
xXx
Mary Jane managed to get through the front door with both arms full of groceries. She shifted to settle them on the table, and she took her keys out of her mouth. "Amy, I'm back, I got frozen pizza and chocolate ice cream. Bow before me and call me a goddess and I might share."
"Yer a goddess, I'm bowing and scraping," Amy mumbled. She turned the page in her romance novel.
"Close enough," Mary Jane shrugged. She made short work of putting the groceries, such as they were, away. Then she headed back to her room.
She closed the door and sat on the bed. She took out one earring. The other. Then she yelped, a sound between a gasp and a scream.
"Ssh!" Peter said quickly from where he was perched in the corner between the ceiling and the two walls. Mary Jane clutched her chest and blinked. Thudding footsteps in the hall; Amy opened the door.
"What!?" she said.
"I… I saw a spider," Mary Jane said quickly. "Biggest one you have ever seen. I think it went under the dresser."
"Raid's in the pantry," Amy said with a shrug. "Sweet dreams tonight. Hope you get a spider in your bed. Just try not to scream too loud, don't wake me up."
"Har har har," Mary Jane said. "Git, before I hit you with my Economics textbook."
Amy rolled her eyes at Mary Jane then retreated to the living room. Peter slowly pushed the door shut with his toe, still perched in the upper corner.
"I need to talk to you," Peter said, "and I need your help."
"Name it," she said. "Sorry about the noise," she gestured, "I'm not used to seeing men tucked into odd nooks and crannies of my room. Do you want to come down here?" she asked.
He shook his head wordlessly. "They're watching your place." He paused. Gathered his strength. "Fisk tried for me again, Mary Jane. And now I'm about to go to him. This whole time I've been like a fish, he's been the fisherman. Once he hooked me, he's been trying to reel me in. I've been fighting it, bucking, leaping, diving, doing whatever I can to stay away." He looked into her eyes. "I'm about to charge the boat and pull the fisherman into the water with me. I can't fight this incessant, painful pressure any more. The risk has just gotten to be too much. I have to end this."
He reached into his bag and pulled out a sheaf of letters. One by one he flicked them to the bed next to her. "Gwen, her dad, Aunt May, Harry, Doug, Strange, Kravinoff and I do know it'll be tough to deliver, but try; Logan, here's one for Stark. And this one," he said, holding up the last one, "is for you." He paused. "If something happens to me, please distribute these. As for yours," he said, "you can open it as soon as I leave. Whether I make it back or not."
"Oh Peter," Mary Jane said, looking at the pile of letters. She touched her hand to her mouth.
Peter was silent for a long moment, his elbows on his knees, his feet flat to the wall, his fingers steepled, his shoulders tucked against the ceiling. "Harry said nothing touches me," he said. "Aunt May said the same sort of thing about my father. I'm pretty sure my grandfather was that way too. My clan," he said, looking Mary Jane in the eye, "we live fast and die young. Tonight is as good a night as any to uphold the tradition. It's a Friday night, Friday the thirteenth, and nobody in this whole town has a party to go to like I do."
His whole body was quivering as his pent up energy began to unwind. He felt the burst of raw life return to him, the spider senses and strengths that had returned to him thrummed through his frame. He was alive. He was life itself. Terror, excitement, rage, vengeance, hope, and desire coursed through him. The mesh made, the letters written, the sun gone down, the last goodbyes. Nothing left in the way of what he meant to do.
"I have lightning for blood," he whispered, his eyes grown very deep as he gazed at Mary Jane.
"Didn't take you very long to get your powers back," she said a little breathlessly. His senses took in every nuance of her rapid breathing.
"No," he agreed. "No it didn't." He felt his life returned at full force. He felt his restraints fall away; tonight there would be no running, no hiding, no clever evasions. Tonight he carried the battle to Fisk. He felt his death close and real, like the shadow behind him in the corner.
His wounds ached, but the pain was simply a part of him, fueling his deep rage that hovered barely in check. It was time, time to go. He felt overwhelmed by the drives that consumed him as he clung to the wall, away from Mary Jane, much much too far away from her.
He dropped, standing face to face with her. His breathing was fast, his whole body was tense with energy. "Don't let me," he breathed. She was so soft, so excited. He felt the air between them almost shimmer with the intensity.
"I can't stop you," she whispered, her eyes lost in his.
He gave her a deep, passionate kiss. Then he closed his eyes and focused, and took a single step back, at tremendous cost. He opened his eyes, and she saw Peter Parker again.
"I am better than my impulses," he said, more to himself than to her. He looked into her eyes. "Don't give up, whatever happens. Don't forget that you have something to live for." There was a fierce struggle behind his eyes, then he gave her a skewed grin and slipped out the door.
Mary Jane fell over backwards onto the bed, overwhelmed. "Wow," she managed.
Amy did not see Peter Parker leave.
xXx
"Excuse me, sir," Fisk's assistant said, "but your employees are getting antsy."
"Send them away, all of them," Fisk rumbled softly. "Tell them after tonight the spider ghost will no longer be a concern. Tell them that and send them away."
"What about security, sir?" his assistant wavered.
"Tell them to stand down," Fisk growled, making the furniture vibrate. "Their assistance will not be needed." He looked down at his vast, solid hands, and he smiled a little to himself. His assistant scurried off.
"I should be out looking for him," Ledge said with a shake of his head. "He's wounded. Stupid, predictable, and wounded. He'll heal up for a few days before he tries anything else. I figure I'll go burn his house down. That should draw him out. If it doesn't, hey," Ledge shrugged. "I'll feel better anyway. I'm headed down to get some gear from the armory."
"It doesn't matter, not really," Fisk mused. "If you want to collect your fee, you had best be here. He's coming. He's on his way, right now," Fisk said, his deep voice filling the air. He stood, immobile, staring out the window.
"Yeah?" Ledge said. "How do you know?"
Fisk almost smiled. "Do you really believe I got to the top by relying on reports, or projections? No. Instinct, Ledge. Instinct brings knowledge without the need to explain where it's from."
"Yeah," Ledge said, reflecting. "Yeah, okay, I know about that. I'll collect my fee here."
It was quiet for a long moment.
"You want some coffee?" Ledge asked.