When Joey got to the car he turned his back to it and faced the building, looking up to the window that he had seen Spider-man come and go several times. It was open. He counted the floors up to the window and noted the location in the middle of the building. Then he went inside.
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Peter was in a light sleep. It had been a rough night and his stiff and sore muscles kept waking him up when he moved. He was not prepared to hear a small knock on the door so early in the morning. Startled, he sat up and looked at the time; 5:45 AM. Who the heck could that be at this hour? Not even the landlord would come asking for rent at this ungodly time. Pete got out of bed and slipped on his robe before opening the door. He stood there with his mouth agape as the door creaked open. There in front of him looking small and frightened was Joey.
"Hi." Peter said.
Joey looked beyond Peter into the one room apartment searching for something or someone.
"Can I help you?" Pete asked.
Realizing that two people couldn't live in such a small place, the boy quickly came to the conclusion that this young man the one he saw with the moped the other morning must be Spider-man.
"I need your help."
"My help?" Peter asked, acting the part of someone who was not suppose to know who the boy was standing in front of him.
Joey looked around the hallway, "Can I come in?"
Peter stepped aside and let the kid enter. "Have a seat. Tell me what's wrong."
Joey sat on the only chair in the room as Pete parked himself on the edge of his bed.
The youngster had his hands clasped together in front of him on his lap. He was studying them intensely not knowing how to say it. Finally he just blurted it out.
"I know you're Spider-man," he said barely audible.
"Whoa, where did you get an idea like that?"
"You know where. You saw me sitting in the car across the street and came down. That wasn't the first time I slept there. I saw you come and go through that window lots of times" Joey said as he pointed to the open window. "And this place is way too small for two people." Which he emphasized by nodding to the undersized twin bed Pete was sitting on.
Peter paused trying to think of an excuse. "Well, I'm his photographer. He comes to visit me sometimes."
"C'mon, I might only be eight, but I'm not dumb," he said with gumption that Pete had not seen before. "It's either that or you two are queens."
Pete raised an eyebrow at that. What kids were learning these days, whether in the classroom or on the street never failed to amaze, no make that shock him. Realizing that he was painted into a corner, and he couldn't help the boy, obviously in need, Pete took a deep sigh and asked, "Have you told anyone?"
Joey's eyes widened and he answered indignantly, "Hell no! Your identity is like the most important secret ever. I would never tell nobody. I didn't even say that I saw you go through the window."
Pete saw the sincerity in the boy's eyes and realized that Joey considered this knowledge sacred and that there was no need to fear his identity leaking out of this boy.
"Ok, you got me. First…watch your language."
Joey blushed, "Um, sorry."
"Now, what do you need help with? Did Vinny come after you again? Did he threaten you?"
"No. But he's gonna get into big trouble Spider-man."
Before Joey could say anymore Peter raised his hand and spoke up, "When I don't have my mask on, it would be better if you call be Peter, ok?"
The boy nodded.
"OK, so what's going to happen to Vinny?"
Joey gave Pete the details of the conversation he overheard. Even though he was still afraid of Vinny, he loved him. After all he was family, his big brother, and he wanted to save him from harm.
"Don't worry Joey I'll take care of this."
The kid beamed with joy. "Thanks Spider, uh I mean Peter!"
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This was supposed to be an easy gig. Go into the warehouse, steal some incriminating documents for the owners before the police raid it and get paid big bucks. How hard could that be? Vinny thought. One of his cronies set up the deal and he wasn't interested in the details of who or why. Just as long as they got paid. And it wasn't as dangerous as robbing a bank or store or some other moneybags which was their original plan.
Their first idea was to go after a convenience store, but nowadays most of those clerks had their own guns, not to mention it only yielded a measly couple hundred dollars at most. The next two ideas, the bank or armored car would give them a much better return on their investment, however, it would take a lot more planning. But this idea was brilliant. The security at a chemical plant was almost non-existent and the results most rewarding.
"Hey, are you sure this Angelone fella will pay us what he promised?" Vinny asked.
"The Sansone brothers are well connected, if you know what I mean. If they like our work, there's more where that came from," answered Miney, as Carmine preferred to be called. "We can be walking on easy street with our heads held high, a gorgeous babe on each arm and respect if we get in good with these guys. There'd be no more of this penny shit. And if anyone bothers us again, the family would whack 'em. Man, if we do this right, we'll have it made."
"So when and where do we meet?" another gang member asked.
"A block from the plant is that old warehouse we used to play in as kids, remember? That's where will meet. I wanna make sure the guards are nice and tired so we'll do it at 3 tonight. Meet at the warehouse at 2:30. Bring your heaters."
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Joey sat in his familiar, comfortable car once again. This time he wasn't afraid of getting beat up by his brother. He didn't want to be anywhere near Vinny that may cause any kind of disruption to the plans that would ruin Spider-mans chance to save him. Working for the mob was not the way to go in life and Joey feared tremendously for his brother.
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A shadow lurked in the darkened corners of the rooftop across from Magnella's Industrial Complex where the burglary is supposed to occur.
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The four young men, out to prove their worth in a sleazy corner of society, snuck along the south wall of the tridioxylate plant in the Industrial Complex owned by Johnny Magnella. They had been given hand drawn plans of the first floor where the office with the safe was located. They did the rest of the planning. They chose the delivery dock for their plan of attack.
After cutting the heavy bolt that locked the entrance, they slide the garage door open effortlessly with little noise. One by one they stole into the warehouse section looking for the aisle that led to the office.
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The figure on the roof whispered into his radio, "They're inside now."
He received his orders in return, "Give them another minute, then blow the place. I want it to look like an industrial accident. The torch they used to cut the safe set off the explosion of chemical dust in the air."
"Ok boss." The shadow knew that this building was very important to the Magnella crime family's drug operation. By having some worthless punks blow it up, the Sansone brothers could take over the business without a family war breaking out. He removed a small hand-held detonator from his pocket and waited the commanded minute.
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"Hey, Miney, I don't like this," Vinny said nervously. They had just gotten the safe open but it was empty. He also didn't like seeing an acetylene torch sitting right next to it. Why would that be in an office sitting next to a safe?
They exited the office and looked up and down the aisle. Miney, a little confused but not worried said, "Maybe there's another office with a safe and they gave us the plans to the wrong one."
"I dunno, I just don't like this. It's giving me the creeps. I'm splitting." Vin stated.
"That's the smartest thing I have heard you say yet, Vinny."
All eyes looked straight up to see Spider-man clinging to the wall of the immense warehouse. He was a good 30 feet up.
"That little prick snitched on us, didn't he?" Vinny growled referring to his kid brother.
In one of the rare instances where he felt it was better not to reveal the truth just yet, he replied, "You stunods! You set off the silent alarm."
Suddenly his spider-sense blared in his brain and he yelled at the teens, "GET OUT NOW!"
They just stood there, confused. They thought he was sending them into the hands of the police, not trying to save their lives.
Without time for anymore warnings, Spidey webbed the four thieves together, then he webbed himself towards the exit with a line still attached to the thugs. With a flick of his wrist, he snapped the four boys like a whip from the office opening to the dock opening and on through. As the boys were still airborne a massive explosion ripped through the warehouse.
The heat of the ensuing fireball singed the webbing off of the gang members and the final few feet of their flight had them going in four different directions.
Miney got up and ran blindly. The two others lay moaning on the ground and Vinny was sitting against a car, cradling his still ringing head. Minutes elapsed before he finally heard the distant wailing of the fire engines. He looked up to see the building fully engulfed in flames. Realization hit him as hard as the shock wave did, that Spider-man just saved their lives. With that thought he frantically looked around for the web-slinger. Last he knew, he was still in the warehouse at the time of the explosion. He stood up, worried, trying to find him, when he felt a hand on his shoulder. Spinning around, he came face to face with a fireman. "You ok?" the rescue worker asked.
"Uh, yeah, yeah. But Spider-man was in there when it blew."
"You saying Spider-man caused it?" a policeman, who was right behind the fireman, asked.
Shaking his head, "No, no, he saved us. I don't know why it blew. We was already tied up and being hauled outa there. I think we was set up."
"And why do you say that?" the cop asked.
Looking down and realizing he just confessed to a robbery, Vincent quietly stated, "I think I had better talk to a lawyer."
Vinny and two of his buddies were lead away handcuffed while the raging inferno was being battled. Vinny took one look back, searching for the man who saved their lives.
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"Vincent Tarentetto?"
Vinny looked up at the guard from inside his cell, "Yeah?"
"You're bail's been posted."
"By who?"
"You're dad. Now c'mon, I don't have all night."
As he was lead to the front desk he saw his step-father talking with the desk sergeant. His step-father looked up and stated flatly, "Go wait outside 'til I finish."
Vinny just hung his head as he left. It was dark when he got outside, he'd spent the entire day in jail waiting for bail to be set. Now as he hit the bottom step a red and blue figure materialized in front of him.
"You're alive!" Vinny exclaimed.
"Yeah, and so are you." Spider-man said.
"Yeah, I wanna, kinda thank you for that," the young man said, unable to look directly at the hero.
"Not me. Your younger brother. The kid you kept beating up. He's the one you need to thank."
"Joey?"
"Yeah. He came to me asking to help you. Seems he's a helluva lot smarter than his older brother. He knew you were getting involved with La Familia. The Mob. Even with all you did to him, he still loves you. Don't ask me to explain it either, because I can't see it." Spider-man admonished.
Still without looking up Vin said, "That squirt did that for me?"
"That kid loves you, why can't you see that? Why don't you give him a break, he didn't do anything to you. Nobody did anything to you. And don't give me that shit that both your real parents are dead. That's no excuse to become an asshole." In a fit of rage, he blurted out something about himself that he never did before, "I lost both of my parents too!" Vinny felt like he was just hit with a brick but Spider-man continued his diatribe, "Now your step-parents love you. Are you too blind to see that? Or is it you're too stupid to see it?"
"Ok, Spider-man I get it." But as Vinny looked up he saw that wall-crawler had already left. When he felt a hand on his shoulder he turned around and saw his step-father. Although he saw anger in his dad's eyes, he also saw sadness, and resolve.
"Vin, when we get home, you can do whatever you want. If you wanna move out, go ahead. I'm not going to try to stop you anymore. I know neither of us are you blood parents, but we still love you. By the way, the bail…I got the money by hocking your mom's wedding ring. It was something very special to me. It was one of the few things of hers I had left. But I knew she would want you to get out of jail. I just thought I'd let you know."
For the first time in years, Vin felt a sorrow deep in his soul. What had he'd been doing this past two years since his mom died. He knew the answer, and he didn't like it.
"Dad, can I stay? I promise to try harder. Spider-man and Joey, they taught me something today. Something special. I think I want to try to change."
The father put his arm around his step-son. "Let's go home."
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Peter looked out his window wondering how Joey was doing and if Vinny finally got his act together. He noticed with some melancholy that the old junked car was gone. The entire alley had been cleaned up. For so long he had wanted that eyesore gone, now that it was, he felt a little sad as a memory went with it.
Just then a young boy walked by the alley. He looked for the car, then turned and looked up. He gave the thumbs up sign to the man standing in the window. Then walked on.