Chapter 9

The leap out of the window didn't take him very far, as there was a fire escape right outside his window. Peter landed on both feet as his feet clanged with a thud onto the steel of the fire escape and behind him the officers brandished their guns, ordering him to "Freeze!" Peter, of course, did no such thing. Using his enhanced senses and speed, he allowed his eyes to flicker to the right, noticing the police officers in the alley. His eyes moved to the left and spotted a dumpster down below, with what appeared to be fresh trash inside. Lunging to his left, a police officer fired as the shot missed him just barely. No matter how many times Peter had experienced it, he never had gotten used to getting shot at.

There wasn't time to think about that, however, as Peter gripped the railing tightly, then pushed upwards to propel himself down towards the dumpster below. Thankfully, the doors of the dumpster had been left open as Peter tucked in his body, landing admidst the trash with a thud. Leftover food, beer bottles and other assorted items that had been disposed of were his cushion of safety. Peter didn't even have time to properly acknowledge the rancid smell of the dumpster as he went to roll to the side, grunting a bit as he went to flip himself out of the dumpster.

Landing on his feet outside of the dumpster, he was immediately faced with two police officers standing directly in front of him with their guns pointed directly at his head. Peter took a second to assess the situation, looking from the two officers in front of him and also at the police officers making their way down the fire escape. Peter knew he had to make his move immediately, as the officers recited the tired litany of ordering him to surrender and place his hands over his head.

Peter spun around with blinding speed as he shot his foot up into the police officer's stomach, immediately doubling him over. Just as quickly, he gripped the police officer's hand as he twisted the gun out of his hands, hearing it rather than watching it clatter to the ground below. Going to pivot off his foot now before the other police officer could react as his other foot went sailing into the other officer's face with a crack as he crumpled to the ground. Still holding onto the police officer's wrist with both hands now as he twisted his whole body to whip the officer into the group of police men arriving at the bottom of the ladder. Together, they collapsed to the ground in a heap of groans, curses and tangled limbs, effectively delaying them for at least a few seconds. The whole exchange had taken place in a matter of seconds.

"Sorry," Peter mumbled apologetically, before running forward to get himself out of the alley. His feet pounding along the cold pavement once again as snow sprayed up and the end of the alley was bathed in the familiar red and blue of flashing police lights. As always, police cars were accompanied by police officers and this was no exception. There at the end of the alley, stood one more officer, gun outstretched towards him as he gripped it tightly in both hands. The police officer stood at the end of the alley in an effort to block him. Tonight, however, Peter was not a man to be stopped. Peter leaned down on the run, managing to scoop up a trash can lid as he hurled in forward in one smooth motion, throwing it forward almost like a frisbee. The maneuver worked even better than expected, as Peter watched the trash can lid move forward with such force as it smacked into the police officer's chest. Immediately upon impact, Police Officer "Collins" as his nametag read, was knocked backwards to the ground and one more obstacle to Peter's freedom was removed.

"How about that, Captain America?" Peter thought wryly, shaking his head as he planted his feet and went to leap over the police car, landing on the other side. Ducking down, he used the police car for cover. Fortunately, the police officers were withholding their shots for fear of hitting the cars or their fellow officers nearby. Not even pausing to catch his breath, he was running across the street. Peter wasn't sure he was running to, but anywhere away from here. As compared to only a few minutes ago, the streets here were now empty. The gangs, the drug-pushers and prostitutes had all but disappeared out of fear for getting caught by the police officer brought about by Peter.

As Peter darted down the alley, he was dimly aware of how he had just taken down several of New York City's Finest. For that matter, he had taken them down in such a fashion that was contrary to his whole personality of Peter Parker. Hopefully, they would simply attribute it to adrenaline. Vaguely, he wondered how the police had found him. Of course, that answer became obvious very quickly as he recalled walking into the 7th Heaven Bar and how he must've stuck out like a sore thumb. There was no doubt that these people had any loyalties between criminals. It was only later on that Peter would learn about a reward put out by the Daily Bugle for his safe return and the cash reward was probably what led to his current crisis.

His next thought of course was directed at his current problem, which was for the second time in less than twenty four hours he was being pursued by the police who had the intent to arrest him. Shocked and surprised over the apparent death of his wife, he had managed to get caught the first time. This time, however, was completely different. Although he still found himself running for his freedom, he now also ran for Mary Jane. If he was trapped in prison, awaiting trial for a crime he never committed, whoever attacked his wife would never be found. Peter came to a fence and planting his feet in the ground, practically vaulted over the fence as he landed on the other side, hearing the officers shouts behind him as he grunted, continuing his escape.

A sudden intense flash of his Spider Sense commanded his attention as he burst out onto the open street as he heard the screeching tires of a police car coming towards him, the driver slamming on his brakes to avoid hitting him. Not even stopping for a second as his frame was illuminated in the headlights, the blaring of the police sirens cutting through the night air. He felt himself stumbling to the side as the bumper of the police car nudged him slightly in pain. Grunting a bit, he pushed himself forward into the relative darkness of the alley. Behind him, the police car doors slammed as they continued their pursuit on foot.

Despite the cold night air, he found himself sweating as he went to dart into the alley to his left. As he did so, his Spider Sense flared and then, so did his shoulder. Behind him, a police officer fired his gun at Peter and somehow managed to hit Peter in his shoulder. Giving a shout as he stumbled to the side, bringing his hands up to his shoulder and although he knew he'd been shot, was still surprised to see blood streaming out of his shoulder. Gripping his shoulder as he fell sideways into the wall for a second, gritting his teeth in pain as he pushed onwards down the alley. A blood red trail dropped behind him slightly with each step he took as he heard the police gaining on him now. Daring a glance behind him, he saw the two police officers from the car as he planted his feet, leaping up in the air to move forward as far as possible.

Landing hard and wincing in pain, he staggered sideways into a door, using his dwindling strength to slam the door open as the officers came up behind him. Only barely was he able to slam the door, locking it as he slumped back against the door, clutching his shoulder as he looked around. Peter found himself inside what looked like a warehouse as he struggled to think what to do next. Thinking in this case was more difficult with the officers, pounding on the door and shouting on the radio for reinforcements. The bleeding didn't help either.

Stumbling forwards, Peter somehow managed to somehow stay on his feet as he ripped off a piece of his shirt, wrapping it around his shoulder. The shred of shirt quickly was stained red, with the blood flowing freely now as he leaned against a set of barrels, holding onto them for support. The screeching of tires outside commanded his attention, the place being surrounded as the bandage started to take effect. Gritting his teeth, he saw that the door was surprisingly holding up against the officer's constant pounding as his eyes flickered around.

His eyes widened in surprise as he found himself in a drug laboratory. Abandoned at the moment, the warehouse appeared to be dedicated to the production of methamphetamine or meth, a wildly addictive and powerful central nervous system stimulant. Peter looked around, remembering a story that was written by a bugle reporter last year on its rising influence in New York City. Peter looked around, surprised that there wasn't more security around, but couldn't complain and could only assume that they'd left upon the news of police in this section of the city.

In those next few moments, Peter struggled to remember everything about this popular drug. All Peter could really remember was how popular it was, because of how it was relatively cheap to manufacture. This was due to the fact that it could be made from ordinary items available at your retail outfits, such as cold and allergy medicines or even household items. There was something else that Peter knew was important about it, but it escaped him at the moment.

Once again, the police demanded his surrender. Gripping the door, he gazed around at counter after counter filled with materials for creating this illegal drug. A small puddle of blood started to form at the bottom of the door, almost slipping in it as he pushed away from the door. Getting a healthy distance from the door was one of his first priorities and among his second priority was keeping away from the windows. The reinforcements continued to arrive as the place was now completely surrounded, a fact that the police officers didn't fail to remind him of every few seconds through megaphones.

Blinking in pain, he held onto his shoulder as he thought of an escape plan. Peter knew he wouldn't be much use to MJ captured, but he wouldn't be of much help to her dead in a police shoot-out either. For a moment, Peter considered surrendering to the police and then in the next few seconds, all his options were removed. The police gave him once more chance to surrender, as Peter leaned against a table. The smell of chemicals filled the air as he weighed his options. Apparently, he took too long as the police officers suddenly kicked the door open, with three of them bursting in and their guns pointed directly at Peter. Even in his pained state, he went to flip backwards away from the police officers as one of them opened fire on him.

Landing on his feet behind one of the tables, the bullets ripped through tanks of chemicals as the one fact that had eluded Peter earlier suddenly came back with a flash. Knowing chemicals like he did, Peter couldn't believe he had forgotten the dangerous nature of methamphetamine labs, which were that most of the elements involved in its creation were both toxic and combustible. This was illustrated within the next few seconds as an explosion occurred, one of the tanks exploding as the officers backed away out of the door, giving frantic shouts that Peter couldn't make out. Peter himself was knocked back against the opposite wall, slumping down against it as he moaned out. His shoulder burned in agony, his head spinning as a fire begin to rage inside of the room as smoke rose through the air, blurring his vision as he coughed.

Unable to see the police officers, he vaguely wondered what they were doing and as he realized he couldn't see them, he realized they couldn't see him either. The explosion had broken the windows as smoke filtered out through the window, obscuring the moonlight as he extended a hand out, activating his web shooter as he allowed himself to be yanked up out of the room as the explosions continued. Thankfully, the police were too focused on the fire as they radioed for the fire department to notice a solitary figure shooting upwards towards a nearby roof.

Crashing atop the roof in a heap, he leaned against it as his body was covered in soot as he was definitely dizzy, blinking as he pushed himself up against the wall. The explosions rocked the house as he could only watch the house burn to the ground, watching carefully for any sign that an officer was trapped inside although he wasn't sure that in his current state that he could rescue anybody. He would certainly try, but taking a moment to rest atop the nearby roof, he was finally satisfied that nobody was trapped inside and the fire department arrived to put out the fire. Groaning in pain, gripping his shoulder as he tied the makeshift bandage even tighter, he crawled away from the side of the roof. Sliding his Spiderman mask on, he went swinging in shadows away from the fire. Residents emerged from their houses, watching the fire with morbid interest as the news agencies arrived to capture the tragic end to a police chase.

Peter knew he couldn't push himself much longer with him bleeding like he was and the makeshift bandage was only prolonging the inevitable as he was almost to the point of exhausting. The continued blood loss left him dizzy and weak, but somehow he forced himself to keep swinging until he reached another neighborhood, one which was decidedly more upscale. Somehow, he still managed to keep moving, since Peter knew the moment he stopped again, he would probably collapse.

Lowering himself to the ground gently, he removed his Spiderman mask and immediately webbed his Spiderman outfit against a wall, making sure that it would stay hidden even during the day, which was rapidly approaching. At the moment, however, it was still dark out and this suburban neighborhood was illuminated only slightly by a few street lights. Stumbling up to the door, he gritted his teeth together as he knocked on the door, hoping that its occupant was home. His shoulder underwent a spasm of agony, knocking on the door once again as he willed himself to stay conscious for a few moments more. Just as he thought he was about to pass out though, the door opened and Peter collapsed to the floor with a thud.