Sorry this chapter took so long. My anxiety has spiked severely in recent days and this chapter itself was...it felt odd to write. Mostly cause Arcade, despite his goofy character and looks, is essentially the horror movie villains like Jigsaw or the Collector. So this entire chapter came across as T-rated horror torture and angst, especially since I took traps from well-known horror movies.
Which, again, fits into Arcade's most well known roles - particularly Avengers Arena where he made teenagers murder each other Battle Royale style - but does clash pretty heavily with the (relatively) lighter tone of V2. This'll be the last time I do something like this for a while. Hopefully the next chapters are far lighter.
On a power related note - final votes are 23 for webswinging/wallcrawling, 21 for Spider Trigger and 11 for gadgets. I got a sudden spike in votes for the first two in the last week. So it looks like Noir'll start getting the resident Spider powerset and won't be getting ethereal spider arms/more gadgets.
Next vote will be for MJ's possible love interest. Oh, and no tweeter segments here. I'll save that for the next chapter.
Peter woke up with a muted groan and flinched the bright light overhead almost blinded him. His right hand grabbed his throbbing head and he shut his eyes again as the throbbing slowly died down. It wasn't drugs; those wouldn't have worked on him. Judging by the sore spot on the left side of his head it was probably a big blow...
The man in the green suit grinned and smashed his fist down on his prone body.
Right, now he remembered. Sowande's little meeting was a trap. All those mercenaries, all that money and setup; just to lure the five of them into that mousehole. They'd barely managed to take down the mercs before all the doors and windows were cut off with reinforced metal and the entire place got gassed. He lasted longer than everyone else, though they did pretty well with their chi and gas masks, but eventually they sent that giant palooka in the green suit in and the rest was history.
He finally opened his eyes again and pulled himself up. The room he was in was long and narrow gray, lacking anything in the way of features on the walls and floor...except for the other end. That wall was covered in long, thin slits with circular saw blades - at least a dozen per column - sticking out. At the center of the saws was a hole with chains extending to the floor to where he was.
There were six chains. He looked around and found the others all waking up groggily with a couple already making to stand shakily. Peter gripped the chain in front of him and traced it to the end where it was attached to a collar around his neck, the circular metal beeping softly. Explosive if he had to guess. It wasn't his first time with a bomb collar.
"Well, we're in quite a pickle, aren't we?"
Matt grinned and offered him a hand. Peter stared at the offered limb witheringly and stood up on his own, "Where are we?" He saw Rand grabbing at his collar next to him and immediately grabbed his hands, "Don't. These collars are likely explosive. Fiddle with em and they go boom."
"Explosive?!" Rand gaped, his shock clear even through his half-mask. Another thing he noticed; their masks were still on. Hell, there were still alive. Any half-decent criminal or mercenary would've taken their masks, probably as a trophy, then shot em all in the head. Instead they were still here, still breathing with collars around their necks. That was a mistake.
The others were fully awake now. Spector looked around the room then down at the chains, "Hmph. Does anyone have their weaponry?" They all looked at their pockets and holsters and came up empty. Echo stared down at where her sheath should have been and slammed the side of her right fist against the wall, her glare clear even through her mask. She still didn't make a sound.
Rand looked sick, "Are you alright?" Peter asked.
"Y-Yeah. Head just feels groggy..." he mumbled.
"Probably the drugs. I'm finding it difficult to 'see' as well," Matt said, "Whoever brought us here wishes to toy with us, it seems. That's the only reason I can assume that we retained our masks."
A sudden screeching sound overhead made them all almost collapse to the floor. Peter gripped the wall to keep himself steady when he heard giggling overhead. He looked up and grimaced at the holographic figure standing above them. A red haired guy with an awful haircut in a shockingly white suit with red and green highlights holding a crystal tipped cane with both hands. He looked out of place in the utilitarian room they were in.
"Welcome, welcome! You all took a while to wake up!" Peter cringed. Guy's voice was like nails on a chalkboard, "Hope you had a pleasant nap?"
"Could've been worse." Lockley said, adjusting the collar idly, "I recognize you. Arcade, right?"
"Oooh, looks like we have a fan from the participants!" He giggled again.
"No, I've just heard about you from some of other, competent villains. You're their little running joke. The assassin who needs a mousetrap to do all the fighting for him." Just barely, the redhead's right brow twitched. Lockley smelled blood and raised up his mask up to his nose to expose his wide grin, "Now why don't you tell us how you plan to kill us so we can escape and put you where you belong? We were kinda busy dealing with someone actually important."
"Someone's confident! Good, you'll need that." The chains attached to their necks suddenly raised and snapped taut. Peter grabbed a hold of it automatically, "Well, I feel like you should know that, while my main target is Spider-Man, I don't mind adding you all as a group package. That man you were going after seemed very insistent on it, in fact. Even added a cool mil per head on top of Spider-Man's 30."
So this was because of the bounty. Peter looked down at the chain and gripped it tightly. He didn't have much affection for anyone in the group, especially Matt, but he still didn't like the idea of them being dragged into his problems. His problem, his consequences.
"But enough about the hows and whys. I need to explain the rules of the game!" He giggled (first thing he'd do when they got out was rip the bastard's tongue clean off) and bright lights suddenly shone overhead, "Now, while I was told to kill you all, I don't like the idea of just shooting you in the head. No class, no pizzazz! So, instead we're going to play a game."
"What's he talking about?" Rand muttered next to him, clearly still under the effects of something. Peter didn't reply.
"We'll go through room to room testing your skills. For the sake of fairness I made sure each and every room is beatable." His spider-sense didn't ring. The white suited gremlin was telling the truth there, at least, "And considering you're all heroes it shouldn't be too hard for you. I do hope you last longer than my last contestants. You'd think celebrities and cosplayers would do better, but they didn't last past the second room!"
Peter looked to the saws again. He could take more hits than the average person, but those many cleaving through flesh would still kill him.
"And of course I don't want to be the only one having fun, so I'm broadcasting this to all of New York." Peter bared his teeth in a snarl. This was reminding him way too much of that pumpkin headed bastard, "So everyone, I hope you all put on your best performance! Wouldn't want to disappoint the audience now, would we? Especially you, Spider-Man. Your better half's watching."
"Go to Hell." Matt chuckled at the 'joke'.
"Now, first things first, your clue: we need a price for this event, so first blood wins. Go!"
Then the chains pulled them forward and the saws started spinning.
"Now, first things first, your clue: we need a price for this event, so first blood wins. Go!"
This was a nightmare. Gwen watched, unable to tear her eyes away, as all five of them were pulled towards the spinning blades. All of them tried to hold their ground or grab at the walls, but the chains kept pulling them closer and closer to the end. Peter shot a net of webbing to the ground behind him to slow the pull. It only took seconds for a laser to pop out of the wall and cut through it it.
"Ah, ah, ah! None of that!" Arcade's voice taunted, "Come on, there's no point in prolonging the inevitable. Just pay the price so we can get started on the main event!"
Iron Fist gripped his chain with both hands and tilted it upwards towards the saws. There was a brief spark of metal meeting metal before he was suddenly jerked forward and fell on his front, "Those chains are vibranium, FYI. You aren't going to be cutting through it," Arcade said, sing-song. Iron Fist scrambled to stand and her stomach dropped when she saw how much closer he was to the end.
Both her hands balled into shaky fists and it took everything she had not to punch the TV in a rage. None of them deserved this, not even Murdock, and that bastard was treating it all like it was some kind of fucking game. She wanted to reach across the screen, pull them all out and make the bastard who was doing this pay.
'Gwen, you need to calm down.' Webster said worriedly. Gwen ignored her and kept watching, still rooted to the spot. All around her people were scrambling or similarly frozen. Cindy was screaming into her phone (Gwen didn't know who was on the other end) while Norah took up position on the kitchen table and tried to trace where the signal was coming from. Mary Jane sat next to her and tried to help as best she could while her dad and Jess pored over a map as Norah listed off multiple locations.
Ben and May were on the couch behind her. May had fainted when the saws turned on and Ben was splitting his time between looking after her and paying attention to the 'game'. Lana paced around all over the living, her body occasionally arcing with energy and muttering to herself. Her mom held Helena close on the corner seat, the baby crying softly like she sensed their distress.
And then Peter stopped struggling and started walking towards the saws. Gwen wanted to scream, but her voice caught in her throat and she could only watch as he pulled the wrist of his jacket back to expose a pale arm, "Hoho, looks like one of you finally wised up!" He pressed his wrist to the edge of the closest blade and blood spattered across the screen. Her mom screamed and Helena started crying in full force.
But the blades stopped. Everyone else immediately followed Peter's lead and let their hands or wrists get cut up to make the blades stop. A silence settled over the room, broken only by Helena's crying and Lana's muttering, "Looks like our contestants won their first round! A price paid in blood is the most valuable of all, right?" The bastard's hologram shrugged, "I thought it was pretty obvious."
The walls with the saws suddenly pulled back and the five were dragged to the next room, "We'll be taking a bit of a break, ladies and gents, but get ready because the next round will be much more fun than the last!"
A timer for 5 minutes appeared on the screen. Gwen finally managed to tear her eyes away from the screen, walked to the closest wall and slammed both fists against it. The wall cracked and splintered and she pressed her face against the old wallpaper. Her breaths came out in ragged gasps, veins ran up the length of her neck up to her jaw and her bared teeth were sharp and monstrous.
She knew she should've gone with him. Peter told her he'd be alright and now he was trapped in some madman's insane game while thousands - millions - of people could only watch; herself included. She smashed her hands against the wall again and it finally crumbled. All this power, all the gifts Webster gave her, and she couldn't do anything to help.
She had to get out there. Maybe...Maybe she could swing around, find them somehow-
"...wen. Gwen!" Cindy suddenly grabbed her shoulders and spun her around. Gwen almost smacked her away, "We need you to stay here and keep calm-"
"How the hell can you say that?!" Gwen screamed. Most of everyone in the room stopped what they were doing to face them, "Peter's...Peter's being tortured by that bastard right now! And we're all just here, just...just..." The veins covered almost all of her face now. Cindy didn't take so much as a step back, "Why the hell are you so fucking calm, huh?! Do you even care-"
The sudden slap to her right cheek surprised her more than she wanted to admit. Gwen looked back to the older Spider and almost flinched at the murderous glare she was sporting, "Of course I care! Why do you think I came here?! Or why everyone else did?! All of us are scrambling because we want to save them! Wasp is going insane trying to find Moon Knight and Danny's friends are trying to look for him too!"
"I..."
"That's why we need you here. Norah's doing her best, but even then there are too many places. You, me, MJ and Lana are the fastest and we need to work together instead of running around blind. Once we get all the locations we can split it off between the four of us so we don't waste any time. Okay?" The brunette's glare left her no room to question. It was calming, in a way.
"Okay..." Gwen chewed on her lower lip so hard it was a miracle she didn't draw blood. The veins retracted and her features returned to normal, "I just...I hate this. Every second that we haven't found him - them - it feels like they..."
"I know..." Cindy released a soft breath and looked down the bloodstained knuckles of her right hand. Apparently one of her coworkers started placing bets on the 'game' and she'd punched him hard enough to break his nose, "I'm worried too, we all are, but panicking won't help us save them. We just...We just have to trust Peter and the rest to hold on till we can find them. Okay?"
"...Okay." Gwen nodded.
"Good. Now, I gotta go get some ice cause I think your face broke my hand." She shook her hand and trudged back to the dining room.
There was a buzz from the screen and Gwen's head snapped towards it again. The countdown ended. It was starting again.
They were dragged to an open stage. Peter and the rest stopped only when they were close to the edge and the the chains jerked down, forcing them all to kneel. His bloodstained wrist throbbed and dripped with blood. A price of blood...the guy was more off his rocker than he thought.
The stage was brightly lit while the the area around them was covered in shadow. It didn't keep him from seeing the figures above them standing behind the reinforced glass, "Men and women in suits and dresses..." Peter muttered. Only Rand and Matt, who took up his left and right respectively, heard him, "You can see them too, can't you?" he whispered to Matt.
"Yes, though 'seeing' isn't the right term."
"I can see a bit. I recognize some of them." One of the ones out back raised a red board of some kind. Bidding... "I've had meetings with some of them. To think they're doing something like this..."
"Don't tell me you're surprised. Everyone has a dark side." Matt chuckled, "Either way we should prepare ourselves. I assume we'll be hunted soon."
They were bidding on them. Deciding which of them got the 'honor' to hunt down another human being like an animal. Peter wanted to be surprised, but it wasn't the first time he'd been on this end. Depravity was a worldwide phenomenon, as he'd been shown time and again during his year-long trip.
As was begging when the tables were turned.
The bidding war lasted for two more minutes before the stage suddenly lowered to the ground and the lights dimmed, blanketing them all in total darkness, "Sorry for the wait!" Arcade's grating voice screeched all around them, "But we're going to have a little hunting game this time. A few of my select audience wanted to get involved, you see, and were even willing to bid to get that chance."
Echo made a handsignal and nudged her head before parts of the floor split open to spit out makeshift walls and shrubs, "Want to make arena as viable as possible, ya know?" Arcade chimed in, "Here's the rules: there aren't any. It's kill or be killed out there, folks! Oh, but I should probably tell ya the attacking team has nightvision and, you know, guns. Thought it'd be fair since they're not Superheroes like the rest of you are."
"Oh, and none of that non-lethal stuff! It's kill or be killed, folks! Price of admission!"
The door at the other end of the large, circular room opened and his spider-sense flared, "Take cover." It wasn't a yell, it was barely more than a whisper, but they all heard it just fine. Peter jumped to the rightmost wall and pressed himself against it just as a barrage of gunfire covered where they were all just standing, "Automatics..." He looked to the left and found only Echo next to him. The other three were elsewhere.
Echo crouched and gestured to the other wall, "Can you see?" She nodded. Must've been another one of the gifts the Hand gave her. Peter peeked his head out slightly and counted them all, "Count 15 of em. We need to thin them out before Moon Knight and Iron Fist can help us." Matt would be fine. The bastard was good in the dark and he could help Iron Fist and Moon Knight.
Two of the 'hunters' rounded the corner on both sides. Peter grabbed one with the rifle to the left while Echo took the one brandishing a shotgun on the right. Peter smashed her against the wall, webbed her face completely and yanked the gun from her grip as she struggled. He pulled the trigger when the muzzle was against her gut only to be met with an annoyingly loud click and a beep from, the collar.
"Ah, ah, ah! That isn't for you!" Arcade jeered, "Gotta keep it fair, you know?"
Peter clicked his tongue. He tossed the woman to the ground then stomped on her neck, causing it to snap with a dull crack. Echo broke both of her assailants arms, grabbed the knife from the holster then stabbed him multiple times in the chest. Apparently the blades were fair game, "Come on." Peter nudged his head. Echo's masked, bloodstained face turned towards Peter. Then she stabbed the 'hunter' in the throat one more time for good measure and let him crumple to the ground.
"Ooh, things are heating up!" Arcade cheered loudly.
5 more converging on their position. Peter picked up a knife and disappeared into smoke while Echo held her ground. Peter rushed towards the two to the right and stabbed one in the throat while he webbed the other to the ground, "It's Spider-Man! Turn on heat vision!" If he were more morbid he would've laughed at that. Magic didn't exactly follow the rules.
They turned on their heat vision and scanned the area. Peter rushed to the one a bit farther from the rest, grabbed him by the next and tossed him behind one of the walls. The man scrambled to pick up his gun and Peter hit him with a running kick that broke his goggles and made his teeth fly out.
Just two more left.
The two remaining hunters, a man and a woman, shot at where their buddy was. Peter was long gone by the time they lit the place up and left their body fulla daylight, 'No love lost, I guess.' Echo came up behind the two and stabbed the woman in the back of the neck. The man turned just in time for Echo to yank the gun from his grip and toss it far away.
Every strike was methodical. One to the neck, another to the gut and and a few more in what he could only assume were pressure points. The man was left a twitching, heaving mess on the floor who could only look up at Echo as she grabbed the embedded knife from his friend's neck then stabbed him in the side of his neck. His twitched continued for a few more seconds before he finally lay still.
"And our audience is going wild!" Peter grit his teeth. Again he was reminded that everyone could see this. Ben, May, Cindy, Mary, Lana, Gwen...he didn't feel guilty killing these bastards. Just a bunch of rich psychopaths who thought they could kill people because they paid for the 'right'. Like someone's life could be so easily priced like that.
Still, he didn't like the idea that someone was hovering over his shoulder taking notes.
A sudden explosion at the rightmost part drew both their attention. Echo went first, grabbing the knife and charging towards the source like a woman possessed. Peter followed after her and found a gaggle of bodies, many of them missing quite a few parts, scattered around the area. Iron Fist and Moon Knight were panting with their hands on their knees and cricking their necks, respectively, while Matt wasn't too far away. The Devil of Hell's Kitchen had his knee to someone's back and forced them to the ground, the wire from his billy club wrapped around her neck.
He could see Matt's grin from here.
The 'hunter' struggled briefly before eventually her movements weakened and Matt snapped her neck, "Well, that was a decent workout." He stood and re-fixed the club, "One more would-be predator left. Who wants to do the honors?"
Said 'hunter' was a man who was decade older than Peter and covered in blood, most of it not his. His gun was gone and he banged against the door to the elevator, "Hey, lemme outta here!" he shouted, loud and desperate. Echo walked towards him, "Arcade, get me the fuck out of here! I give! I gi-"
His words died in his throat when she stabbed the knife to his back and pressed him hard against reinforced glass. He tried to open his mouth and blood dribbled out, turning his pleas into weak, pathetic dribbling. Echo stabbed him two more times before pulling the knife out and and letting him slide down to the floor, leaving a trail of blood on the glass in his wake.
The entire arena lit up. Peter narrowed his eyes at the sudden brightness and glared at Arcade's hologram as he gave them that gremlin like smile, "That was quick! Then again, I'm not surprised. This bunch did ignore my warnings that going after Superheroes would be harder than the usual celeb or gameshow host. Guess they got confident." He shrugged without a care, "Oh well, you win some you lose some."
"Need I remind you we're on a schedule?" Lockley sighed dramatically, "Remember: you're not important, so let's not pretend this whole thing isn't more than a distraction."
Arcade's mouth twitched again and the hologram sat down, "So impatient! Well, I can't be too mad. You are more fun than the last bunch." The last group people he murdered, he meant. The guy might've just been a gremlin to them but how many people did he put on these death mazes for the sake of his twisted fun? "Maybe this next bunch will be more of a challenge!"
The floor suddenly gave way beneath them. The fall was brief and all of them managed to keep their balance as they landed, "Getting tired of this..." Peter looked around the area quickly. Unlike the last arena this one was brightly colored with multiple patterns on the walls and grinning Arcade faces all around them. Aside from that there were multiple glass cells with flamethrowers, gun turrets everywhere and even a few spinning blades.
It looked like someone's deranged fever dream come true.
"Since the rich folks didn't give much of a challenge, why not a few more people your speed?"
Peter's spider-sense flared dully and he lowered himself into a crouching position as the green bastard from before (Bruiser, he called himself), the Nazi made of bees (still missing an 'arm' and a chunk of his 'face') and a few others came from the other end of the seizure-inducing chamber, "These guys were just as eager to get their hands on you! Guess you five made some enemies, hm?"
"This is crazy..." Rand muttered, already lowering himself into a combat stance.
"That's life." Matt chuckled, "Come on, let's have some fun."
Gwen left crossed out another building and swung her way over to the next. Even with Norah doing her best to narrow the signal and the help from Cindy's police friends and Wasp the location list still came up into the dozens. So, like Cindy had said they all split off into different parts of the city so they could avoid wasting time. Gwen and Cindy were the fastest, being used to webswinging and all, so they took the largest areas.
She'd been through easily half a dozen places with no luck. It would've been one thing if they could just kick the door down and check, but Wasp had them scan the place with a program she sent them to make sure that there weren't any elaborate torture dungeons in the basement.
"And the crowd goes wild!" Gwen grit her teeth and almost missed the next swing, one hand holding onto a webline while the other held her phone up to her face. Cindy had suggested they hold off on watching the 'games' to avoid being distracted, but Gwen couldn't stomach the idea of it. If something happened to Peter and the rest of them while she wasn't looking...she knew it wouldn't have made a difference whether she was watching or not.
And yet she kept watching, half out of worry and half on the hope that maybe she'd see a clue of some kind.
'Gwen, we're coming up on the building,' Webster said. Gwen didn't reply, 'Gwen...' She stopped at a nearby horizontal flagpole and winced when Peter got slammed against the wall by the guy in green. Peter's punches to his face were completely ignored and the son of a bitch kept laughing till Murderdock tossed a brick to the back of his knee and a sickening crack echoed.
The guy crumpled to the ground screaming. Peter webbed both his hands to the ground then webbed his mouth and nose to suffocate him. Gwen could only look on in morbid curiosity as his struggles weakened and he eventually went limp, "Looks like Bruiser's down and out!" Arcade cheered loudly. The sick fuck was making them kill. It made Gwen sick to her stomach.
'Gwen!' Webster's scream nearly made her drop the phone, 'I know you're worried, but we need to keep going!'
"R-Right..." She pocketed the phone and swung to the next building. Please God let Peter hold on till she got there.
Peter watched as the Nazi Bee man banged against the walls of the reinforced glass. It was a small incinerator room; part of Arcade's twisted sense of fairness. He wanted both sides to be able to win so he left ways for both sides to kill the other.
He didn't say anything and just continued to stare as the flames finally activated and engulfed the entirety of the small, see-through cube. Swarm was the most difficult to take down by far, mostly cause of those bees of his. Eventually they'd managed to lure him inside, though they (mostly he and Rand) took more than a few stings in the process. Even now the side of his face and neck throbbed and Rand's right arm had swollen .
The bastard's screaming was grotesque; a mix of human and the sounds of a bee's rattling death throes. Peter finally looked away and looked to the rest of them. Moon Knight looked the worst off with his white outfit stained with blood and his left wrist covered in deep bite marks courtesy of the oversized dog man mangling him. Matt was leaning slightly on his right leg - took a hit from that big Bruiser palooka - while the lower half of Echo's mask had been torn off, exposing the deep scratches that went from her right cheek to her chin.
All while they were being recorded. It was just like Jack again.
"Impressive! All villains dead and not a single fatality on your side! Color me impressed!" Peter clenched his fists. The blood stuck uncomfortably to his fingers, "The audience is enjoying it too! Just look at these posts on social media! You guys are darlings right now!"
"He's rather grating, isn't he?" Matt put a hand on his neck and cracked his neck, "Still, this change of events is rather refreshing. Been a while since we've had a good fight with anyone but the Hand's pawns, hasn't it?"
"You guys are way too calm about this," Rand said. Peter felt sorry for him. He was the chosen warrior of Kun Lung or something, but this brand of insanity was still new to him. He felt like he was dragging a kid to this...ignoring the fact that the guy was 28.
"Next game!" Arcade screeched. A door to the side of the arena opened, "Don't worry, there won't be any killing this time! I find that mixing things up keeps both the contestants and the audience on their toes."
They all looked at each other before slowly trudging to the next room. So far they hadn't found any way to escape, so for now the only choice they had was to play along. He didn't much fancy getting his head blown up.
As soon as they were inside the door behind them closed with a slam. Peter only looked back briefly before taking in their new surroundings. If the last room was seizure inducing this one was designed to give someone vertigo. The entire place was topsy turvy: tables on the ceiling, phones on the walls, lights and ceiling fans on the floor...if he wasn't so used to insane heights he might've felt sick.
The room suddenly shook. They all braced themselves and hung on to whatever they could as the room suddenly rushed upwards with enough force to make a few of them almost fall to the ground, "It's an elevator..." Meaning they were in a high building of some kind, "Daredevil, can you see anything?"
"Nothing that will help us, if that's what you mean."
The elevator stopped. Arcade appeared in front of them again, "Any of you ever play escape room? Scavenger hunts? No? Doesn't matter," he waved a hand, "This one's more focused on finesse. Look over there."
He pointed behind them. Peter looked and found a metal door on a raised platform with five keyholes dotted across its surface. "Five keyholes, five keys, five of you; no double dipping. Good thing none of you died yet, huh?" He laughed, "Look for the keys around the room then find a way out. Simple, right? Should be easy with all five of you here. Just...make sure to do it fast."
That God awful buzzing sound came back with his spider-sense coming right after, "Move!" They all managed to jump away just in time to avoid the collapsing floor. A decent sized chunk of paneling fell down and exposed the deep, dark hole below them with water at the bottom. At the height of the fall it would've been fatal to all of them. Seconds passed before the metal square finally hit the water with dull sound.
"Damn it..." Peter looked around the area and spotted at two of the keys. One was attached to a painting and another was hanging precariously of a horizontal coat rack, "Moon Knight, Iron Fist, you go for those two." He pointed them both out then turned to Moon Knight, "Your wrist is damaged, so you go for the lower one. Daredevil, Echo and I will look for the rest."
"I've spotted the others. I suggest you go for the highest one." Matt pointed straight up to the high ceiling where a key hung by a string, "You are the Spider amongst us, after all." He grinned. Peter almost punched him in the face.
Another buzzing noise and another large chunk of the floor fell, "Tick tock, tick tock!" Arcade giggled.
Peter grit his teeth and began climbing the wall, using whatever he could as handholds. The rest followed his lead with varying speeds, 'Focus, Parker.' He shook his head and continued climbing. Right then and there he sorely wished he could cling to walls like Gwen, Cindy and Mary. Would've made this entire thing a walk in the park. Hopefully the rest of them didn't fall. He didn't need them on his conscience.
He was halfway up to his key when Arcade chimed in again, "Looks like someone's already got theirs." He looked back down and saw Moon Knight sitting against the wall, bloody wrist pressed against his chest while his other hand held onto the silver key in a vice grip, "Will the rest of them make it? Place your bets now."
Peter climbed faster and paused when he reached the top. Key was at the center of the room and his arms weren't long enough to reach, "Ooh, looks like Spider-Man's in a conundrum. Whatever shall he do?" God, if this trap didn't kill him then that bastard's voice would, "Oh, and it looks like he's lagging behind! We already have another winner!"
Echo landed on the platform with some measure of grace with Matt close behind. Rand was still trying to find his way back, "Come on..." Taking a deep breath, he kicked against the wall and jumped for the key. He managed to grab it with one hand and ejected a net of webbing once he was close to the wall. He gripped the end of it tightly and let out soft breath.
"And he's got it! He might not be able to webswing, but he still has it! Good for you!" If he wasn't so busy he might've flipped the gremlin off. Instead he made sure to keep a tight grip on the key as he made his way to the platform. He didn't want to risk putting it on his pocket and having the damn thing fall into the abyss.
Peter made the final jumped and landed at the edge of the platform, "Nice job." Matt gave him a thumbs up. He ignored him and put the key into the fourth hole, "Now we just have to wait for Iron Fist."
Despite having the second lowest key Rand was still hanging on the table and trying to maneuver close to the platform. It was clear he wasn't use to climbing, "Come on..." Rand panted and Peter didn't like the way his hands shook, "What's wrong with him?"
"The drugs..." Spector muttered, "Sowande must have told Arcade to keep him drugged. Without it the power of the Iron Fist can't be contained. The fighting would have only weakened him."
"Shit." He turned back to Rand, "Iron Fist, hurry! We don't have much more time!"
Rand nodded and managed a couple more shimmies before, with a loud cheer from Arcade, he fell. Rand landed right side first on one of the two remaining platforms, "Iron Fist!" He stopped at the edge of the platform and looked at the distance. Jump was doable, but there was no way he'd get them both up considering how much higher the platform they were standing on was, "Get up! "
Rand shook his head with a soft groan and stood up shakily. He looked like he was seconds from passing out, "This isn't ideal," Matt muttered next to him. The buzzing sound came again and the platform behind Rand fell, "I'd suggest-"
He was cut off when Echo suddenly rushed past them and jumped to the platform. She barely managed to land on the edge, "Echo!" She grabbed the key from Rand's hand and tossed it towards them. Matt caught it with one hand and inserted it to the remaining keyhole, "Damn it, you both need to get out of there now!"
"I don't see how they could." Matt said. Peter ignored him.
Echo dragged Rand to the edge and looked at the space between the platforms. She made another gesture before she suddenly picked up Rand with both hands and threw him. Peter leaned as far as he could over the edge of the platform ejected a line of webbing that barely managed to catch the blonde's wrist. Peter was stuck leaning over the edge while Rand hung limply by his wrist.
The buzzing came back.
"Echo, jump!" She looked around briefly before looking back to him and shaking her head, "Damn it, now isn't the time to argue! Jump-"
The platform fell. Peter couldn't do anything but watch as Echo fell to the water below and crashed through it out of sight. She didn't come back up, "...Damn it." He pulled up Rand with Matt's help and sat on the platform with his back against the wall and his eyes closed. His heart pounded against his ears and he smashed the back of his fist on the surface of the metal door.
Of course that bastard chose just then to chime in.
"Oooh, our first fatality! And a dramatic one too! A sacrifice for her teammate!" Peter's hands shook and he pulled himself up, "And it looks like Spider-Man's taking it hard. Mayhaps they were more than friends? If so shame on you, Spider-Man! I didn't take you for the cheating type."
Peter didn't say a word and just walked through the door with the rest following behind him. Rand hadn't said a word, but it was clear by the way his mouth hung agape and he kept looking back that he knew what happened. Spector focused on looking around for weaknesses while Matt...
Matt just smiled and hummed like he was having the time of his life.
Eventually they came to five doors at the end of the hallway, "This is where the teamwork segment ends, gents. One door for each of you, each leading to a specialized trial. Didn't know which of you would make it to this point so I decided to play it safe and make one for each of you. You'll see your pictures on the wall. Just make sure that you pick your door cause anyone who tries to swap out gets an explosive surprise! Get it?"
Peter went to the door with a 'cutesy' drawing of his mask and put his hand on the knob, "...None of you better die." He didn't give them a chance to respond before he opened it and walked the length of the brightly lit hall. The multi-colored lights overhead flickered on and off and his collar started beeping the closer he got to the edge. Not explosive, or if it was his spider-sense didn't think it was important to warn him.
When he emerged from the hall he was met with a winding path that lacked anything in the way of walls. Beneath the winding path was a pit full of spikes like on one of those violent horror movies Cin forced him to watch. His eyes traced across the length of the path and he froze when he saw what - who - was on the end.
A little girl, couldn't have looked older than 5, if that, with both her hands and legs bound by cuffs. Her mouth was covered tightly with a gag and she did her best cry through it, tears streaming down her cheeks. Around her was a collar that looked identical to his only far smaller in size.
"Quite a scene, isn't it?" Arcade's hologram popped up in front of him with a taunting grin, "Decided to go for something classic since you guys seemed bored with fighting and puzzles. The hero saves the innocent civilian - in this case our darling volunteer Maddie. An old employee was put into my debt and he decided that the little peach would be just the perfect thing to pay it back. Poor thing has no idea what's happening."
"...Just tell me the rules."
"Oh, such a hero response!" He clapped his hands eagerly, "It's pretty simple: you go through the obstacle course, dodging the usual assortment of lasers and buzzsaws and the like, and make it to the finish line in under 60 seconds. That would be the finish line." He pointed to the white line painted in front of the girl, "You win the race and I let her go. Simple as that. Are we agreed?"
"Don't have a choice." He looked at the winding path and took note of the slight bumps and almost imperceptible holes. He couldn't afford to get caught here, "Let's start."
"Ready, set, go!"
Large, holographic numbers covered the entirety of the area around him and a song about needing a hero started blaring. Peter ran ahead and it didn't take long before the obstacles started, "Oops, watch out!" Peter jumped between the lasers and flipped on his hand to avoid the saw that suddenly jutted out of the ground, "That was a close one!" Peter jumped over the next saw and then his spider-sense suddenly blared.
An overwhelming electric shock surged through him and he barely managed to avoid fully running into the horizontal saw. The blades sliced through his right side and he fell on one knee. Arcade's hologram appeared in front of him, "Oh, did I forget to mention the shocks? Yeah, you'll get periodic shocks here and there to keep things interesting. Oh, and you have 40 seconds."
"Get up..."
He forced himself to stand and continued running. Blood dripped down his side and he forced himself to ignore the pain, "He's getting closer. Will the hero make it in time to save the damsel in distress?"
Another shock. Peter stumbled and burned his left arm and almost fell over the edge. He shot a net of webbing behind him and used it to pull himself back, '19 seconds...' He was close. Again forcing himself to ignore the pain, he forced one leg over the other and kept dodging the projectiles as best he could.
"Fire!" Two nozzles spewing flames jutted out of the floor. Peter jumped through it and left the burning jacket behind, "Bold maneuver! But is it enough?"
The final seconds counted down. He'd almost made it to the end when the collar surged with electricity again and his body finally collapsed. He saw the white line and reached a hand out desperately to teach it.
The timer hit zero and the ungodly blaring came again. Peter shut his eyes briefly and when he opened up again his heart sank when he saw that his fingers was a scant inch from the painted line, "No..." He forced himself up. Had to get her out, had to...
"Ooh, and Spider-Man faces his first loss!" The bastard sounded like Christmas came early. He had the biggest grin on his face and he clapped his hands excitedly, "And you know what that means!"
"Don't-"
The girl didn't even get a chance to let out a final cry before her collar beeped loudly and her head...disappeared. Blood covered Peter and her body crumpled to the ground, a pool of crimson seeping down towards him. Peter only managed two more steps before he fell on his knees, head facing down. Arcade was taunting him and showed him videos of the other three struggling against their own games, but he didn't pay it any mind.
He failed. The girl was dead because of it.
His bloody reflection stared back at him. He saw his mask, torn and tattered and covered in blood, but something else on top of: the mask of Anansi. He heard the Spider-God's voice in his ear. Urging him to hunt. To kill.
"Hellooo, earth to Spider-Man!" Arcade's hologram appeared in front of him, "Up, up, up! We still have more games to play!" He clapped his hands mockingly, "Come on, we need to give the audience a show! You'll like this next one: we'll be face to face!"
"...I'm going to kill you." The declaration was nothing more than a soft whisper.
"Are you forgetting who's holding all the cards here?" He sighed like he was dealing with a rowdy child, "Cause you know this isn't- wait."
His collar stopped beeping. Arcade's hologram disappeared and a screen focused on the front entrance. Gwen kicked down the door to the building, her eyes sharp and her fingers sharpened into claws, "Well, well, well. Looks like girlfriend's come for the res-" She ignored the taunting and kicked down another reinforced door before she grabbed the closest guards and smashed them against the walls.
There was no finesse, no jokes. She tore through everything in her way. The screen turned off and the hologram came back, "Well, looks like Spider-Woman's not so fond of playing by the rules. Sorry, but we'll have to cut this game short. You understand, don't you?"
He pressed the diamond on the tip of his cane. Seconds of silence passed and then his smile faded, "What the?" He tapped it again and again. Still nothing, "Why isn't your head popping like a cherry?!"
Again he cycled through the screens till pausing at one video in particular: Echo in some kind of control room destroying as much machinery as she could, "What the- how are you still alive?! I literally saw you go splat and your heart rate was zero!" She paid him him no mind and smashed another machine, "Rrrgh, cheaters and intruders! This game is official over!"
He was going to escape. Peter grabbed the collar as he stood and pulled till it split apart with a dull crack. The screens showed more and more video feeds: Lana, Mary and Cindy busting in through different entrances, the rest of his team escaping their games...he paid it no mind. His gaze was focused solely ahead to the elevator. He said they would meet face to face.
The doors opened and four men in body armor carrying rifles stomped out. Peter disappeared into smoke and charged towards them, "Open fi-" He grabbed the goon's head and twisted it 180 degrees. The worthless sack dropped to the ground and he focused on the next one, tackling him against the wall and punching him in the throat hard enough to break his neck.
To the other two it must've looked surreal, like a ghost coming to reap bloody vengeance. Peter grabbed the knife from the second goon's sheath and ducked the barrage of gunfire before stabbing the third rent-a-clown multiple times in a frenzy. Blood splattered all around them and the last one barely managed to take a step back before Peter drove the knife up his jaw.
Peter grabbed the rifle with one hand and held the knife with the other. He pressed the button and the elevator rushed to the top. He kept staring ahead passively even as another hologram appeared in front of him, "You're still coming up? I already packed up and the guests are leaving! You know the phrase know when to fold em?" Peter didn't say anything, "You know the silent treatment isn't cool or anything. It's just-"
Spider-sense.
Peter disappeared and pressed himself against the rightmost wall. A barrage of gunfire came at where he stood and Peter winced as a ricochet grazed his still-injured leg, "He's still there, morons! Keep firi-" He charged out and stabbed one in the threat and shot three others through the head. The remaining two raised their guns and Peter flipped sideways to avoid the gunfire. He threw the knife through the right one's visor then tackled the other one to the ground and kept smashing his head down till he stopped moving.
He picked up the knife and gun again and kept running down the hall. Arcade continued to taunt him, but with every step he took he heard the bastard's voice get less and less calm.
Peter kicked down the double doors and almost paused when he saw what was on the other end of it. Men and women in six figure clothes frozen in shock and fear, tables filled with exotic feasts...and the screens showing everything that happened. A fancy party for the decadent and depraved. They were fighting for their lives and these bastards paid for the privilege to watch death from behind the safety of a screen.
And at the center of it all was him. Arcade, in his immaculate white suit without a hair out of place. His smile wasn't as confident as he might've hoped, "So, funny story. Apparently one of your friends grounded my chopper and-"
Peter shot him through the gut. Everyone around him immediately started screaming and trying to run past him to the one exit. Peter webbed the entire doorway shut behind him and anyone dumb enough to try and grab the dark silk was suddenly paralyzed. No one was leaving.
Peter walked forward and fired another bullet through Arcade's left hand as he tried to raise it, "Ah, ah! Damn, that hurts!" He curled in on himself weakly, "Okay, okay! I see that you might just be a tad put off-" One through his left knee, "Ah, fuck! Fuck! The games aren't for everyone, I get it! So let's deal!"
The next one went between his legs.
Everyone around them watched as Arcade pathetically crawled his way to the wall and tried to pull himself up. He only managed to get up halfway before he fell back down, back pressed against the marble, "Y-You know we're still recording..." His voice was weak, desperate. Trying to find a way out, "Everyone's watching, so..." He raised both hands up weakly, "I give up. Take me in-"
The last one went through his right eye.
There was a moment of silence before all hell broke loose again. The sadistic cowards tried to escape again, and again they had no luck. He looked up at the screen right above him and was met with his own image - bloody, wounded and barely conscious - standing in front of the sack of shit's perforated corpse. Everyone saw it.
He turned the gun on the crowd. They all screamed, some of them even getting on their knees to beg for their pathetic lives. Many of them held onto each other protectively. They were all there. They partied it up like nothing was wrong and just watched as they fought for their lives.
Just watched as that little girl died scared and confused while they treated it all like a game.
He almost squeezed the trigger. Just let the bullets cut through them; it was what they deserved. Instead his spider-sense blared by just the smallest amount before he saw grenades roll into the largest cluster of people.
Peter raised his arm and covered his face as the explosions rang out. The smell and taste of iron permeated the air and when he looked back he found nothing left but mangled bodies and a few still clinging to life. He was almost tempted to kill them, out of mercy if nothing else, but ultimately just let the rifle fall. Whatever they got they deserved, and if they survived it wouldn't have been pleasant.
Now, who threw those grenades?
A nearby screen blurred with static briefly before an all too familiar face popped up on the screen, "Bullseye..."
"Hey, kid! That was some party, huh?" Judging by the way he was holding his hand out he must've been using a phone to project himself, "You haven't lost your touch, huh? Still as vicious as I remember."
"...What are you doing here?"
"Who, me? Oh I just wanted to check in, see how ya were doing. We left off on kinda awkward note last time." He looked around the mangled corpses and whistled in appreciation, "Sorry for stealing all the fun. Since Arcade boy there failed the bossman wanted to make sure that none of these guys talked about him. Kill all witnesses, you know how it is. We were totally on the same page this time, though!"
"That's not the only reason you came here."
"No, but it was the most fun." He leaned back and brandished a knife in his right hand. The Hellfire knife, "Remembered this thing and thought I'd help myself. Don't worry, I didn't take anything else. Scout's honor."
"...Get down here. Let's finish this."
"As in right now? Yeah...no. Right now a stiff breeze'd knock ya over. And where's the fun in that? I wanna work for it! What's the point if you're not having fun, right?" He grinned, "Don't ya worry, kid, I'll see you eventually! Gotta prepare where we'll have our date first...and take care of my replacement." Matt. Bullseye must've been the one who nearly killed him over a week ago.
The screen shut down. Peter was left alone in the bloodstained room, the only being the occasional gurgles and mumbled pleas from those still clinging to life, He cut through the web covering the entrance and walked back to the elevator. Bodies littered the halls, but he paid them no mind. He didn't feel guilty, not after what they did.
Even if Gwen saw.
The elevator's descent was painfully slow. The doors opened and he was only slightly surprised to find Gwen at the other end. Her mask's features softened when she saw him and she reached out a hesitant hand. She stopped before actually touching him, "Peter." Her voice was so soft, so full of pity. Peter just shook his head. He couldn't talk, not now...
He practically collapsed in her arms and drifted away into a dream-filled sleep.
Yeah, like I said this chapter wasn't my best work. The next chapter will be far lighter and focus more on Gwen as she tries to fix Peter's bounty issue and deals with more pregnancy symptoms.
The original 'Noir goes apeshit' moment was also meant to be somewhat different. Since Spider Trigger looked like it was going to win he was supposed to have used the ethereal spider arms to kill the guards. Wallcrawling as wall would've had him rip someone's face off. On the advice of a reader I decided to add the the winning vote more slowly so it feels earned rather than being another power-up.
Gwen was also supposed to get more POV but I wanted to focus more on the Arcade segment. She'll get focus next chapter...along with the public reacting to the Murderworld games and Noir's killing spree at the end. Off. Also Gwen being super overprotective for a while given what just happened.
Anyway, that's it. Hope you stomached through this chapter and look forward to the next.
Questions:
1. Should I do more bonding segments between the five protagonists or should I leave them to their own supporting cast? Some people seemed to like the sleepover truth or dare segment from before.
2. I originally planned for different members of the Defenders to fight different Fingers ie Echo got focus on fighting Murakami, Moon Knight against Sowande etc etc. Should I scrap this and just have Noir be the lead to fighting all the Hand bosses with the rest being support/non-POV because he's the main character?
Review Answers:
Jetiq - In the case of Bullseye/Matt/Jack being attracted to Noir, it was to play into the the gag that Noir was/is a psychopath magnet; as much as he tries not to be. With Shadowcat and Original Noir, though, it did change their dynamic and character development heavily; particularly when Laura got involved.
Noisy-Cricket - It was close, but ultimately webs/walls won.
Brave2000 - The thing is Matt being human and vulnerable now doesn't change the fact that he's a dick as well. They're not mutually exclusive.
Eragen - Not really. People post theories and dumb crap all the time.
