"Look man, I don't want any trouble, just take the money, alright?"
"Shut-up, and stay against the wall!"
The sound of a gun cocking echoed throughout the small convenience store, where a handful of people, including the cashier, were lined up against a wall at gunpoint. The robber continued to train his weapon on the innocent, as he jumped over the bar and onto the cashier's side of the check-out. He worked a lockpick into the grooves of the lock of the register, intently listening for a click of a lock. Within seconds, the safe-like mechanism opened, revealing the stacks of money neatly arranged in their trays. The free hand of the robber grabbed at any money he could reach, before stuffing it into a small bag that was resting on the counter next to him.
Just as he was about to grab the last of the money, a small ring of the front door interrupted the robber from his collecting. Raising his gun, the robber focused all of his attention on the figure approaching the front counter.
"Hey pal, you still open? I've been dying for some of those little cake-things!"
A startled yell came from the robber, his gun raising to point at the newcomer. "Stay away from me!" He shrieked, firing a shot towards the figure.
There was a flash of red and blue, before the figure continued to move closer, completely unfazed by the bullet. "That was kind of uncalled for, don'tcha think?" The figure raised his hands in a questioning manner, before stopping at the counter, facing the now-horrified robber. How had his shot missed? "Listen buddy, I hate do to this, but I'm gonna have to ask you to put the money back in the register."
"You stay the fuck away from me—"
A flash of white muffled the screams down to no more than incoherent noises. A thin layer of web-like material covered the criminal's mouth, preventing him from talking.
"Hey, hey, hey! Watch the language buddy! There's kids around!" Another quick flash and the white webbing stuck itself to the gun, retracting it from the robber's hand, and into the others. "I'll be taking that!"
Another muffled scream left the criminal's mouth as more webs were shot in his direction, several strands binding him to the wall behind him. When the robber was rendered completely immobile, the red and blue figure hopped over the counter, and placed the money back into the register, as he whistled a small tune. After every last dollar bill was returned to its proper location, the masked vigilante shut the register, and hopped over the counter back over towards the few hostages that were still huddled in the corner. Once he was close enough, the red and blue figure lowered himself, and kneeled down in front of them.
"Everybody alright?" He asked the several wide-eyed faces, a masked head tilting in question as he awaited a response.
"Spider-man!" Squeaked a small voice, to which the masked figure turned his head. "You saved us, spider-man!"
An unseen grin spread across the spider-man's face as he placed a gloved hand on the child to ruffle his hair. "Don't mention it kid!" Moving back, the masked hero rose to his feet, eyes glancing over the hostages one last time before his head moved towards the entrance. "You all should get somewhere—"
A deafening noise filled the store as dust and smoke poured in, blinding the masked figure immediately. "What the.." Turning around to face the source, he narrowed his eyes to try and see through any of the blinding mist. Something was off; the tips of his fingers were tingling – which never meant anything good. A faint noise sounded behind the wall of the explosion, almost like a grunt. Raising an eyebrow, the masked figure tilted his head. What was that noise? But before there was much time to react, a massive boulder came crashing down onto the red hero, pinning him to the ground with a crack. A pained yell left the figure's mouth as he was crushed, the massive rock that was laying on top of him now visible as the dust began to clear. With a small cough, Spider-man opened his eyes, groaning at the weight crushing him. "That was just…uncalled for.." He wheezed, sucking in a breath as he brought both of his hands up to shove the jagged rock off of his figure.
"Perhaps you just weren't fast enough in reacting." A low voice rumbled from a distance. An unseen eye-roll came from the masked figure as he shoved at the rock, teeth gritting in an attempt to suppress any cries. A dark figure slowly stepped into the store through the new hole in the wall, black, gloved fingers adjusting an equally dark mask around two sea-blue eyes. "You're late, spider-man." He snarled, a dark-gloved hand snatching at the front of the red figure's chest, hauling him up off the floor, out from under the rock, and into the air.
"When did you become the coordinator of our meetings?" The spider-like figure gasped, both hands prying at the much larger hand clutching his chest. The dark figure's eyes narrowed at the pathetic attempt of freedom, and instead tightened his grip.
"Ever since you became an obstacle in my plan." The dark figure growled, releasing his hold on the cloth. Spider-man fell to the ground with a thud, his limbs buckling underneath him as gravity worked against him. Slowly, he found his feet again, and groaned as he pressed weight to them, a red glove moving up to rub at the top of the mask. "Your plan has something to do with this small little store?" A slight wheeze revealed itself in the voice of the vigilante, and the ends of the dark figures lips curled into a smile at the sound of struggle.
"I meant you, Spider-man."
The sentence was enough to send chills down the red figures back, two masked eyes moving to lock with blue. "Well, then what're we waiting for?" He rasped, the sound of a wrist cracking as Spider-man began to back up, his hands motioning towards the darker figure. "Bring it on."
With a smirk, the dark figure nodded. A dark aura began to outline this evil-doer, the darkness growing with every passing second. Soon enough, it completely encompassed him, and without another second, he was gone, the aura dissipating into thin air.
Sighing, Spider-man turned his attention back to the hostages. Good, he thought. All of them were completely unharmed, eyes still wide as they stared back at the red figure.
"Don't you worry about me! Get yourselves somewhere safe." He waved a hand to them, as he grabbed for the front door handle, pushing it open. "See you all later!"
Slipping through the door, the figure ran both hands down his face, groaning. "I really should get some kind of raise for this." He let his hands move down, gesturing with them in a ridiculous manner. "Every night this idiot shows up!"
"What was that?"
Two blue eyes stared directly into the whites of the red mask, before a clawed hand wrapped itself around his throat. How vulnerable and weak this character was. It was almost insulting; the dark figure knew this had to be some sort of joke. Spider-man let out a strangled cry, both hands desperately clutching at the dark hand as it constricted his breathing. Harder, harder, harder…the spider like figure was beginning to see dots in his vision, as his lungs screamed for air.
"Having trouble, Spider-man?" hissed the dark creature, his taunting voice washing over the vigilante as his hearing became fuzzy. "Why don't you just relax?"
A small choking sound left the red figure as the claws tightened around his neck even further as they prepared to launch him. With a swift grunt, the dark figure threw the half-limp figure across the street, his body slamming into a dark brick building. The figure collapsed in a heap on the ground, his breath hitching as he tried to breathe in. "Dammit Nightwing.." He wheezed, as he placed a gloved hand gently against his chest. "I wasn't..bothering you.."
"Ah, but that's where you're wrong, little bug." Came the dark voice of Nightwing, who was looming directly over the crumpled heap on the ground.
"You're always bothering me."
/Just a small comment to throw! I've used Nightwing's name for this character, but since he is obviously a villain, he in no way relates to the comic Nightwing. I've only used the name, because it was fitting!