CHAPTER NINETEEN: And Here My Troubles Began...
I was beaten, burned, and bloodied. My costume had been torn. I had nearly been shot by at least a dozen cops. Each time I inhaled, it felt like there was sulfur in my lungs. I was exhausted, the odds were stacked against me, and goddamnit I had homework to turn in the next day. But none of that mattered at the moment.
Because I was pissed.
I found myself swinging after the Green Goblin, who was hopping rooftops with ease, almost as if he were skipping rocks in a stream. Trailing behind me was a police helicopter. With my sixth sense (which I have officially dubbed as my Spider Sense and shall henceforth refer to it as such) flaring up, it was all I could do not to become distracted. If I overshot a webline or something, I could lose the Goblin...not to mention plummet several hundred feet to the ground and, y'know, die.
Eventually the Goblin landed in front of a large billboard with a Coca Cola emblem emblazoned on it. He glanced back at me, and then down to the street. There was a large group of people on the street, who were seemingly unaware of our presence high above them. The Goblin turned back to the billboard and swiped at one of the support beams with his clawed right hand. The beam was severed instantly. He ran to the other side of the billboard and slashed the other beam, leaving only the supports in the back holding it up. I landed beside him on the rooftop just as the billboard started to teeter.
"What the hell are you doing?" I asked.
"Seems to me you have to make a choice, hero," he said as beams in the back started to succumb to the pressure.
"You goddamned maniac!" I exclaimed, already rushing toward the billboard as I did so. Before I could stop it, the Goblin grabbed me by the shoulders and shocked me again. I dropped to my knees and watched as the Goblin stepped behind the billboard.
"Chase me or save the people on the street, Spider-Man!" the Goblin cackled as he destroyed the last of the supports.
With a loud snapping sound, the last of the beams broke off. Seconds later, the billboard started to tip over, falling over me and toward the ground, where the group of civilians were gathered. The Goblin laughed his evil laugh and ran to the opposite edge of the rooftop.
"Choose wisely!" he said. And with that, he continued his escape.
I wanted to kick myself for letting him pull this on me, but there was no time to think about that. I had to stop that billboard before it crushed the people on the street. I rushed to the edge of the building and took a swan dive off of it. I found myself rocketing toward the billboard, but it seemed to be moving too fast for me to catch up with it. For that matter, what the hell would I do once I caught up to it anyway?
I fired a webline at the billboard and pulled as hard as I could. Naturally, the billboard yanked me downward and all that did was make me fall faster. I needed to try another approach. I tried as hard as I could to plant my feet onto the side of the building and get into a sprint. Balancing myself as only I could, I ran down the building as fast as my legs would let me, eventually gaining on the billboard and, after a couple of seconds, actually running past it. I fired a web in a wide arc to the building across the street. Once it connected, I sprayed more webbing to the building I was running on, attaching the two webs and forming a large net. I sprayed more webbing to my left and right, attaching them to whatever fixtures looked sturdy enough to hold them and forming support webbing to reinforce the net I had built. Connecting each part of the net, I then allowed myself to fall from the building and soar toward the net. I landed feet first in it and bounced back into the air.
Flying upwards, I ended up soaring right past the billboard. I applied more webbing to its top (well, actually the bottom, but it had flipped upside-down during the fall) then fired two more strands of webbing to a large crane that was about fifteen feet away. After having connected all three strands of that web, I shot one more web at the building behind me. Finally, I applied one more web to the billboard, and then attached all of the weblines, the result being that the billboard would have webbing on its top and underside, ensuring it wouldn't snap either web fixture. I clung to the billboard and silently prayed that my plan would work. After a few more seconds of anxious waiting, I felt the billboard jerk, bounce up and down for a few seconds, and then stay in place. I still held on for dear life, as I was actually unsure of what to do next and was afraid to do...well, anything. A little voice in my head offered a little advice on the matter.
Open your eyes, fool!
Following my brain's orders, I did so. And what I saw shocked me beyond belief.
It worked. Both web fixtures were successful in stopping the billboard. It was suspended about twenty feet off of the ground, above an enthralled crowd of spectators that were only seconds away from being flattened. I did it. I saved the day.
I would have to save the Kool-Aid and cheese doodles for later. I had a Goblin to catch.
I jumped off of the billboard and started to swing in the direction I saw the Goblin running in. Gaining altitude, I saw that the police chopper was still following the Goblin. I started to wonder if they had just assumed I would save the people, or if they didn't give a damn either way. Whatever the reason, I pressed on and continued chasing him.
Apparently, the Goblin was tired of running. I caught him bouncing back and forth between buildings, rising higher and higher until he finally was at eye level with the chopper. He leapt from one building and flew toward the helicopter. The chopper started to careen to the side as the huge green creature grabbed onto its front. I rushed to catch up to them, but it was too late.
The Green Goblin let out an inhuman roar, and the next thing I knew, sparks were literally flying. The Goblin charged up electricity in his arms and then began to run it through the helicopter. The chopper started to spin in circles and fell toward the building the Goblin had just jumped off of. He released the chopper and fell to another building.
I only had a few seconds. I released the webline I had been swinging from and landed on the side of the helicopter. With a tug, I ripped the pilot's side door away and tossed it aside. The pilot looked like he had just seen a ghost. I yanked him out of the chopper and scurried to the other side of it with him tucked under my right arm. Ripping off the other door, I grabbed his passenger with my other arm, then jumped away from the helicopter. As the three of us began to freefall, I heard and felt the impact of the helicopter crashing into the building behind me, which was followed seconds later by a massive explosion. The heat and noise were intense, not to mention the flying glass from the shattered windows that was embedding itself into my back. I planted my feet on the roof of a nearby building and let the two cops go.
My body had taken entirely too much punishment during this whole ordeal. I dropped to my hands and knees and found myself shaking. After a few seconds, my teeth stopped rattling and I was finally able to open my eyes again. I slowly stood back up and saw both of the cops staring at me in shock.
"You...you saved our lives..." said one of the cops.
I wanted to reply with a smartass comment. Or maybe even punch him in the mouth. But I had to get into that building and make sure there wasn't anybody trapped inside.
"I don't have time for this shit..." I muttered as I walked to the edge of the building.
I fired two zip-lines, pulled back as hard as I could, and then let them slingshot me into the air. Once I was close enough to the burning building, I began to swing toward it, raising higher until I reached the point of impact. Flames were already bursting out of the building and spreading throughout the floors directly above and below where the helicopter crashed. I crawled along the building and hopped in through one of the few nearby windows that weren't engulfed with fire. Looking around, I saw several panicked people running past me and toward the fire exits. I hadn't realized until I entered that this was a high-rise apartment building. Given the time, I had hoped it was an office building as everyone would probably have gone home already, but no such luck. I jumped to the ceiling and scurried along, looking for anyone who may have been trapped.
Turning the corner, I saw a young woman trapped behind a wall of flame. She was holding something small in her arms that was wrapped in a blanket. She looked up at me and jumped. It was at that point that I realized what she was holding: a baby.
"Oh God! God, please help me! I don't want to die!" she cried as she crouched into the corner.
"I'm here to help you!" I said to her, and I dropped from the ceiling in front of her. "Trust me. You and your baby are going to be safe."
I extended a hand to the woman. She looked up at me and stared for a moment, looking unsure what to do. After a moment's hesitation, she took my hand.
"Thank...thank you..." she said sheepishly.
"Just hold your breath, and hold onto your baby tightly. I'm gonna try and carry you outta here."
Holding her as gently as I could, I scooped the woman up in my arms and proceeded to walk sideways along the wall. Once I was high enough, I jumped back over the wall of flame and proceeded to run down the hallway. I turned back around the corner and ran to the fire exit, then put the woman down.
"There you are. Move quickly downstairs," I said as I turned away from the exit. At that moment, I felt the woman grab my arm.
"Wait...I'm sorry for the way I reacted back there...thank you, Spider-Man. You're a true hero."
I paused for a moment, staring at the woman and searching for any signs of insincerity. There were none. She was truly grateful to me. It was...a different experience than what I was accustomed to. I would have liked to thank her, but I had to get moving. There had to be more people in the building that needed saving. I simply nodded at her, then ran back around the corner and began to search apartments.
I would spend the next ten minutes doing this. I would run into apartments, grabbing whoever I could find and running them to the emergency exits, and trying to do so before either the smoke or the flames completely engulfed the building. The sprinkler system had activated before I even entered the building, thankfully, and was helping to quell the smoke and fire somewhat. But this was still a massive fire, and I had to get to everyone that I could. I found men and women, children, elderly and disabled people, all of whom I was able to get to safety.
Rescuing the people on the floors above the point of impact proved to be much more difficult, as sending them to the emergency exits wasn't an option. I would have to gather them all together and lower them en masse to the ground in a makeshift web elevator (which, for the record, was a quickly thrown together piece of shit and I will never, ever try that again). I wasn't even sure how many people I had gotten out of there. Maybe twenty or thirty. After having lowered them all to the ground, I made one last trip to the top floor to make sure I had rescued everyone that I could.
Running through the halls, I looked into each apartment I passed, and as far as I could tell, they were all emptied. I tried to see if I could focus my Spider-Sense to pinpoint any more people in the building, but with the flames swarming around me, it was flaring in all directions and it was hard to focus on anything in particular. Add to that the fact that it was incredibly hard to breathe, let alone see anything, and the search was beginning to seem fruitless.
I kept running just in case. I was determined to search every inch of the floor. Finally I stopped running when I felt something peculiar. Something was drawing me to an apartment to the left. It had to be my Spider-Sense. I figured it was telling me that there was someone left inside. I ran to the apartment and turned the knob on the door, but it was locked.
"Is anyone in there?" I yelled.
Nobody answered me. It could have been that whoever was inside was unconscious...or worse.
"Stand back! I'm gonna kick down the door!" I yelled.
I took a step back and prepared to kick at the door. Unfortunately, I wouldn't get my chance. Something burst through the door, but it wasn't my foot. Something knocked the door down from the inside and rushed into me like a bull. Whatever it was hit me hard in the stomach, grabbed me, and forced me into, and then through, the wall behind me. I found myself freefalling back outside of the building. My already blurry vision began to focus, and I recognized instantly who it was.
Oh surprise, surprise...
"Heroic fool!" the Goblin spat at me. "This is the price you pay for trying to save these insignificant worms! Lungs full of smoke and a sound beating at the hands of your superior!"
The Goblin had me in a tight bearhug. I tried to raise my hands to hit him, but his grip was too strong. The street seemed to be coming up at us with the speed of an oncoming train. I looked around for something, anything, that could help. Looking past him, I saw that we were almost directly in front of the large ball of flame that had once been the police helicopter. I managed to spin two weblines and hit the building with them. We found ourselves swinging in an arc back toward the building we had just fallen from. The Goblin looked over his shoulder and back at the flames. I think I actually heard him gasp. It made me smile a little under my mask.
"You damned fool!" he yelled at me.
"Yeah," I said as we flew right into the fireball. "I get that a lot..."
What followed next was a world of hurt. Pain came from every direction. I couldn't see, couldn't breathe. All I knew was the intense heat and the deafening roar of the flames. Fire licked at my body from all angles. Smoke filled my mouth and nostrils. My eyes were blasted by a montage of intense light and blinding darkness. By all accounts, I should have been dead.
But I didn't care. Neither did he. We were too busy trying to kill each other.
In actuality, we had only been in the fireball for about two seconds. During the course of those two seconds, we were doing nothing but trading punches. We ended up rolling back out of the flames, through the hallway, and back out of another window on the other side of the building. The two of us were still on fire as we fell back outside. And that still didn't stop us from trading punches on the way down. We both hit each other with everything we had before finally grabbing one another by the throat as we continued to fall. Eventually we both crashed into the roof of a nearby building and found ourselves finally releasing our mutual stranglehold.
After all of this, we both ended up laying on the rooftop, panting heavily and unable to move. I tried to raise my hand or turn my head, but none of my body parts seemed to want to respond. I had been pushed to my limit. My body had become completely numb. Tiny embers were still burning on what was left of my suit. I was fairly certain there was some internal bleeding somewhere, not to mention the huge gash on my chest and the dozens of other cuts, scrapes, and bruises all over my body. To make matters worse, I wasn't sure whether or not the Goblin could move either.
Was this how it was all going to end? Would this be the end of Spider-Man? Did I put on that stupid costume just to end up dead on some rooftop, laying next to a creature that looked like Shrek on steroids, with some unnecessarily bright light shining in my eyes?
What the...? Bright light?
That's right. The next thing I knew, I found light looming over me, filling the night sky as it came closer and closer. The first reaction I had was that I was dying and that it must be Heaven that I was seeing. The second reaction, sadly enough, was shock at the prospect that I might have actually made it into Heaven. The third reaction, sadder still, is that I would finally get to meet Tupac...
Naturally, none of this actually came to pass.
Before I knew it, the light was gone. I lay there blinking in an attempt to get my eyes to focus again. After a few seconds, I was able to see again. Upon opening my eyes again, I realized that the light was coming from yet another helicopter...or at least, I thought it was a helicopter. It was floating in the air, that was for sure. But I didn't hear any propellers or anything. In fact, it wasn't making a sound. It was just...there. As I stared at the strange vehicle in the sky and wondered what was going on, my Spider-Sense started to buzz lightly. Next thing I knew, two guys stepped into view and stared down at me. One of them had on a trenchcoat, suit and tie, and black sunglasses. The other was a younger bald guy in a green and black bird suit, complete with wings under the arms.
...the hell?
"What a friggin' mess..." the guy in the trenchcoat said.
"Well, we need to get this cleaned up quickly. They'll be pissed if the media sees us up here," said the guy in the bird suit. "So do we just retrieve Osborn, or do they want us to get rid of Spider-Man while we're at it?"
"Spider-Man's the whole reason Osborn went on this little rampage. We take him out, there's one less distraction for us to worry about," replied the guy in the trenchcoat as he drew a gun from his coat.
"It's just as well. What the hell was he thinking going out in public in that ridiculous getup?"
"Says the man in the bird suit..."
"This suit is a work of art! Hydra wouldn't have hired me if they didn't think so!"
"Heh...whatever you say, Vulchy. Wanna go to the bar after this?" asked the guy in the coat as he cocked the gun and aimed at my head.
"Sounds like a plan. I could go for a drink or two," the guy in the bird suit said as he glanced back at the Green Goblin. "Osborn, you awake over there? Playtime's over, man. It's time to head back to base."
"Don't...don't interfere..." said the Goblin as he slowly stood back up and walked over toward us. "He's mine...and mine alone..."
"You're developing quite an unhealthy fixation with this kid, Osborn," said the man with the gun. "Hydra recruited you for a reason, or have you forgotten so soon? We can't trust you not to pull another stupid stunt like this as long as he's still alive."
"I don't answer to you. Any of you. Now stand aside," said the Goblin as he palmed my head like a basketball and lifted me into the air.
"Well, if you're gonna kill him, make it quick, willya? We'd like to get off this roof before we end up on the evening news," said the birdman.
"I suppose that can be arranged..." the Goblin said as he flashed a devilish grin. "Goodbye, Spider-Man. I must rescind my earlier comments. You actually did exceed my expectations..."
Well, this was it. I didn't have enough strength to fight back with. I don't even think I had the willpower. I didn't feel like fighting anymore. With barely enough strength to keep my eyes open, I watched as the Goblin's arm started to spark up. As strange as all of this was, I could have sworn I saw someone floating in the air behind him. In the distance, I could barely make out something red and gold with its arm extended toward us. I figured maybe I was just delusional from the severe beating I had just taken. Yeah, that's what it was. I was just imagining it.
Just like I was just imagining the blue laser beam that shot through the air and struck the Goblin in the back, sending him flying away and leaving me to fall back to the roof. I landed in a heap on the roof and rolled onto my back. Surely enough, what I saw was a red and gold guy, who was floating in the air toward me. He landed about a foot away from me and held his still-glowing right hand toward the Goblin. Upon further inspection, I noticed that the red and gold was actually some sort of armor.
"Stand down, Osborn," the guy in armor said. When he spoke, there was a sort of electronic sound to his voice, almost as if he were speaking through a microphone. "That goes for the rest of you, too. SHIELD has declared this area under its jurisdiction. You have exactly one-fifth of a second to get out of here before you're placed under arrest."
"What gives you the right to..." the guy in the trenchcoat started.
"Oops, time's up," said the guy in the armor.
"You know something, Iron Man? I'm sick of your bullshit! I've been wanting to take you down for a long time!" said the guy in the coat as he raised his gun.
"Now you know that's not going to work," the guy called Iron Man said with a chuckle.
"We'll see! All I need is one good shot to...AAH!"
The "AAH!" in question was the result of something long, like an arrow or something, knocking the guy's gun out of his hand. He grabbed his hand, and then looked up at whoever fired the arrow. As I was barely able to turn my head, I could just make out another guy standing behind Iron Man. He sported a blonde buzzcut, and was dressed in a black and purple leather bodysuit, which covered pretty much everything but his head and arms. He also had on some black forearm-length gloves and black sunglasses, as well as combat boots. In his right hand was a big...I mean, really, really big, crossbow.
"The next one goes in your face, asshole," he said to the guy in the trenchcoat.
Man, I gotta start learning these guys' names...
"Hawkeye!" exclaimed the birdman. "Haven't I seen enough of you for one lifetime? This is a simple mission, alright? It's got nothing to do with you! And we haven't committed any crime!"
"But your buddy there did," the Hawkeye guy said as he nodded toward Osborn. "And you were about to kill the kid in the spider costume just now. The big guy says we gotta take you in for that."
"Enough of this! I knew I shouldn't have accepted this gig! I'm outta here!" said the birdman as he flew...you read that right, flew away.
Suddenly I heard another, as yet unseen voice, demand the guy in the bird suit to, "Stay right where you are, Vulture!" And as I heard this, I watched as a discus-shaped object flew through the air and struck the Vulture right in his jaw. Seconds later, he fell back to the roof and crashed into it back-first. The disc-thing bounced off of his chin and went right back where it came. Seconds later, another player in this very strange game stepped forward. He was the guy that threw the disc or shield or whatever the hell it was. The first thing I noticed was the humongous white star that was plastered on the front of the shield, with red, white, and blue stripes encircling it. Then I noticed the outfit that the guy had on. He had a blue helmet/mask, with a blue tunic with red and white stripes at the bottom, as well as a white star on the chest. He also had a red belt, complete with grenades and a sidearm attached to it. Completing the outfit was a pair of blue pants and red combat boots.
I was officially lost...
"I believe you heard my colleagues a second ago. It's time to stand down, gentlemen," said America Man. I'm not sure that's actually his name. I'm just gonna call him that until I get some confirmation. "By orders of General Fury, you are to surrender immediately and come with us."
"Oh great, the gang's all here! Even the great Captain America has graced us with his presence! Aren't you afraid your whole covert operation will be blown? You're not even supposed to make yourselves known to the public! We all have the same goals here!" said the guy in the coat.
"Actually, we were just waiting for the licensing deal on our action figures to go through. Hence the costumes. We were gonna make an appearance on Good Morning America next Tuesday," said Iron Man. "The chestplate on my figure glows and everything."
"Heh...at least your toy is cool. They said the crossbow accessory was too violent for mine. They gave it a wimpy little bow and arrow and a damn Robin Hood mask," said Hawkeye.
"Sucks to be you," replied Iron Man.
Why don't I get an action figure?
"Getting back to the point," said an exasperated Captain America, "Osborn is guilty of multiple counts of murder, as well as attempted murder, several counts of assault and battery, kidnapping charges, two counts of arson, and a whole truckload of property damage charges. We suggest you come along quietly. We hope you kick up a fuss so we can beat you down."
"That goes double for me," said yet another voice I did not recognize. Next thing I knew, an older white guy in fatigues and an eye patch stepped into view. He was busy chomping on a huge cigar.
"It's your call, General Fury," said Captain America. "Take them in by force, or take them in by extreme force?"
"You know the rules, Fury! Both SHIELD and Hydra declared that one organization can't interfere with the operations of another! Not since the Incident!" said the guy in the coat.
"Don't preach to me about the Incident, shit-for-brains! I was there! And, last I checked, having your pal take churchgoers hostage, on top of all that other crap he's done tonight, does not qualify as a legitimate Hydra operation!" bellowed the man called Fury.
"Fury, I've had just about enough of you..."
"And I've had enough of pop music and pay toilets, but they still exist, goddamnit," said Fury. "Why are you in disguise, anyway? We all know it's you, Chameleon."
"Always the know-it-all, aren't you, Fury? Well, I'm sure you knew about this, too," said the guy called Chameleon as he drew a rolled up piece of paper from his coat. He tossed it to Fury, who removed the rubber band upon catching it and read the paper.
"What's it say, General?" asked Captain America.
Fury scanned the paper for a few seconds before grimacing and ripping it to shreds.
"Damn it to hell..." he cursed.
"Don't worry, Nick old boy. We have copies of it," said Chameleon with a smirk.
"We can't touch 'em," said Fury. "If we do, they'll expose our part in the Incident."
"So what exactly do we do?" asked Hawkeye.
"We go home is what we do," replied Fury.
"And what about Osborn? He has to be held accountable for all that he's done tonight!" said Iron Man.
"Think again," said Vulture as he finally stood back up. "Osborn's one of our operatives. He comes with us."
The Green Goblin stepped back into view and looked down at me. I still couldn't move, much less focus on him. He then looked back up at Fury.
"How long have you had this grudge against me, Fury? It's really quite unhealthy, you know," said the Goblin.
"Fuck you, Osborn!" Fury snapped. "You best get out of here before I forget this little truce of ours and put an adamantium bullet in your skull!"
"Come on, big guy," the Chameleon said to Osborn. "I think you caused enough trouble for one night."
I was in shock. They were actually going to let him go. I had no idea what this "Incident" was, or what truce was going on between who, but I did know that he was my mother's killer, and that he was climbing into that strange helicopter with the men called Chameleon and Vulture. I held a hand out toward him as the only gesture I could make in an attempt to stop him. He glanced back at me and grinned once more before getting onto the helicopter. In a matter of seconds, they were gone. My hand dropped, and I officially lost the last ounce of my strength.
"Kid, can you move?" asked Fury, though I could barely hear him.
"He don't look so good..." noted Hawkeye. Smart guy, that one.
"He may be in shock. Hold on," said Captain America. He touched a small red button on the side of his helmet. "Jan, it's not looking very good out here. We need one of those med patches you cooked up."
"I was hoping it wouldn't get this nasty..." said Fury. "Just try and stay awake, kid. Help's on the way."
That was easier said than done, but given the circumstances, I didn't have much of a choice. I struggled to keep my eyes open, but it was getting increasingly difficult to do so. I could have sworn I heard a little buzzing sound, and I started to wonder if that was to be expected when someone is dying. And then, just to make things even stranger than they already were, a little yellow light appeared in the air and started flying toward Captain America. The light started to expand a little as the seconds passed by.
"Tink...Tinkerbell...?" I asked in a delusional haze.
The light expanded into the size and shape of a human, and after a brief flash, it actually was a human. A woman, to be exact. She had short brown hair and a black bodysuit not unlike Hawkeye's.
"No, not Tinkerbell. It's Wasp, thank you very much," she said with something of an attitude. "The glowing is just an unintended side effect of the growing process. Given a few more months' time, I'm sure I can rectify it if only..."
"Scientist lady," Fury interjected. "The kid's dying here."
"Right, sorry," said the Wasp as she knelt at my side. She produced a small white patch. "Spider-Man, this is going to sting at first, but it will help your metabolism stabilize and eventually provide the necessary..."
"You're doing it again," said Fury.
"...it'll help you heal quickly. Here goes."
I lay still as she placed the patch on the exposed part of my chest, right in the center of the gash that had been made by the sword earlier. Surely enough, it did sting...pretty damn badly I might add...but at least I felt something. My heart seemed to be skipping a lot faster for a few seconds, but it went back to normal before long and I was finally able to breathe without the extreme amount of pain that came with it. That's not to say that it didn't still hurt, it just didn't hurt as much as before.
"It's done," said the Wasp as she stood up and turned toward Fury.
"Good," said Fury. "Kid, you'll be all better in about a day. Two days, tops."
Just then, Captain America stepped forward and extended a hand.
"Can you stand, son?" he asked me. I took his hand, and he helped me to my feet.
"I feel like shit..." I said to nobody in particular.
"You look like it, if that makes you feel any better," said Hawkeye.
"Nobody ever said the patch was perfect," said Fury. "We only use it for serious emergencies. Situations where your body may not heal on its own. It's designed to heal you until you're well enough for your body to take over. It ain't a friggin' Fountain of Youth. If it was, I'd still have this eye." He pointed at his eye patch as he said this.
"I'm not saying I'm not grateful," I replied, "I'm just saying that, y'know, I feel like I just got my ass kicked by a big, green goblin."
"You did a great job containing the situation, in any case," said Iron Man. "Good job, kid."
"Yeah," I said, staring at the burning building across the street. "I really knocked this one out the park."
"You got out all the civilians that were in immediate danger," said Fury. "And we got a bunch of guys in there right now evacuating what's left of the building. There were a few casualties from the initial crash and explosion, but there would have been a hell of a lot more if not for you. It may not feel like it, but you did good. You gotta look at the big picture..."
"If we were looking at the big picture, that murderer wouldn't be getting away right now!" I replied.
"Hey, we feel for ya, kid, but..." Hawkeye started to say.
"First of all, my name isn't 'kid'! And secondly, you have no idea what that monster did!" I exclaimed.
"He killed your mother," replied Fury.
I found myself staring at Fury in stunned silence. He took a step toward me.
"We know about your mom. And we know about you, Jordan."
"How...how did you know?"
"A guy starts running around the city in a costume, bustin' heads left and right. I make it my business to know all about it."
"So, what, I'm under arrest?"
"We were on the fence on that one for awhile. After all, you have killed a man or two..." said Fury. "But hell, I have too. And given the circumstances, I for one couldn't really blame you. If the U.S. Government was aware of what I'm aware of, then yes, you would be sent to prison. But we know you're trying to do the right thing."
"And who exactly are you? Why is any of this a concern to you?"
"Can't say too much, Spider-Man. Let's just put it this way: There's a lot of shit that goes on in the world that you and pretty much every civilian on the planet are not aware of. It's our job to neutralize those situations, and to make sure that normal people never do find out about them."
"So you're FBI?"
"Not quite. We handle the cases that are too big even for them. The problem there is that there are some problems that aren't quite big enough to make so much as a blip on their radar. At the same time, these problems might be too big for the cops to handle. This is why, for the time being at least, we appreciate guys like you."
"Yeah, great...so you know about me, and you know about Osborn...I'm still lost on why you can't take him down."
"He's not just some mad scientist working out of an abandoned building anymore. Now he's a mad scientist working out of a shadow organization within our government. He got picked up by Hydra just before we could get to him. They gave him a real lab, funding, even test subjects. He's got everything he'd ever need or want."
"So because of some truce you called with these Hydra guys, he just gets to do whatever he wants?"
"In the simplest of terms, yes. But it goes a lot deeper than that."
"None of that matters! He killed my mom!"
"Yeah, we heard you the first fifty-six times. And believe me kid, if I could take him in for it, I would. But I can't. Best thing we can do is clean up his mess and hope Hydra keeps him under wraps."
I stared at the burning building in the distance and sighed. There was nothing I could do to bring Osborn to justice. This man that murdered my mother was still out there, and what was worse, he was collecting a big, fat, government-funded paycheck. Probably to create more freaks like me.
"So, what does this whole...I dunno what you call it...super team of yours have to do with this?" I asked.
"What you just got was a sneak preview of the team that I actually wasn't planning to debut until next week," said Fury. "We still can't decide on a name. Which did we settle on, guys? The Avengers or the Ultimates?"
"I like the Avengers, personally," said Captain America.
"Me too," agreed the Wasp.
"The Ultimates sounded good to me," said Iron Man.
"I thought we could go with The Hawkeye Experience," said Hawkeye.
"Come to think of it, I wonder if we ever confirmed that Thor would be joining the team..." Fury said as he rubbed his chin.
"Nevermind, sorry I asked," I said as I walked away.
"Hold on, kid," said Fury. "I'm not just telling you this for my health. You think I'd talk to just anyone about this? There was something I was considering asking you once I had gotten enough of an idea of your skills and motivations. Seems now's as good a time as any."
I paused and glanced back at him over my shoulder.
"What's that?"
"Well, you're eighteen, right?" asked Fury.
"Yeah..."
"Which means you're legally an adult. Which means you're old enough to work for the government."
"Yeah, so...?"
"What're you, dense? I'm asking if you want to join my team, numbskull."
I turned back to Fury and took a step toward him.
"You want me to join your team?" I asked.
"That's right."
"So you want me to join a group of brightly-dressed superpeople who can smile for the camera and sell action figures, who can have strange late-night meetings with monsters and bird people on rooftops, but who don't actually arrest criminals because odds are they have some weird truce going on with those same criminals' bosses. Geeletmethinkaboutitno."
With that, I took a step toward the edge of the building.
"Suit yourself, kid. We'll be in touch," said Fury.
I glanced back at Fury and his group one more time. As I watched them, I noticed a strange aura surrounding all of them. A brief flash of light later, and they were all gone. Like something out of Star Trek. I had officially had enough of the weirdness for one day. Turning back toward the edge of the rooftop, I fired a webline to a nearby building and began the long swing home.
Under normal circumstances, I may have gone to Tiffany's first. Given the events of the evening, she was probably worried sick about me. Even still, I was way too tired for that, and I had to get home anyway. It was getting late, and despite the severe physical, mental, and emotional beating I had just taken, I needed to be at school the next day. I would see Tiffany the next day at school and assure her that I was alive and something resembling well.
Webswinging hurt like hell, by the way. Every muscle was on fire. My vision was still a bit blurry, there was a ringing in my ears, and even firing the weblines began to hurt after a few minutes. That patch, whatever it was, had certainly saved my life, but it didn't necessarily make the pain go away. I had hoped that a good night's sleep would solve that problem. Of course, that still didn't solve the problem of getting my costume repaired. Tiffany would kill me for getting it torn again. Well, "torn" is an understatement. "Fucked up" would be a more accurate description. There were holes in the gloves, the left sleeve had been completely torn off, the pants were torn in various places, and there wasn't a spider symbol to speak of on either side of the costume. Not to mention the burn marks all over the thing.
At least the mask is still intact, I thought to myself as I maneuvered ever so gingerly through the air. After all, I did still have a secret identity to maintain. Or at least what was left of it. Whoever this Fury guy was, he knew my secret. Knew too much, to be honest. It seemed like he was on my side, but that offered me little comfort, especially given everything that had gone on that night. At least I wouldn't have to worry about him blabbing to the newspapers about who Spider-Man really is. The last thing I needed after this long and agonizing night was for my secret to get out.
After seemingly forever, I finally made it home. Moving with the last few ounces of my strength, I slid open the window that I had left cracked and slipped inside. I didn't know whether I wanted to shower first, or just crash on the bed and wake up in about seven years. It dawned upon me that I should probably go to the bathroom. Maybe get a little snack. Definitely call Tiffany. Angel too. I had a lot to figure out, but at least none of these problems were life-shattering. For the moment, I didn't have anything too important to worry about.
I took off my mask and stood still, barely conscious, illuminated only by the moonlight that seeped through my window. As I let out a sigh of both relief and exhaustion, I heard a voice from the other side of the room.
"Rob?" It was my dad.
My mask dropped to the floor.
"Oh, shit..." was the only response my brain would register.
END OF CHAPTER NINETEEN