Posted: 6/15/08 (Happy Father's Day).
Unknown Person.
A small moving van was parked in front of an electronics store late Tuesday evening. Two men wearing ski masks walked out the store and towards the van, each holding the end of a large box containing a wide screen TV.
"I'm still kind of nervous about this whole thing," one of the men said. "We both saw the news this morning. What if that Spider-man guy finds us?""
"Are you actually stupid enough to believe something like that?" the other man asked. "Spider-man was OBVIOUSLY made up by the police just to scare people into not breaking the law."
"You think?" They reached the back of their van and gently set the TV on the ground.
"Well, duh. There's no way Spider-man could be real." The second man opened the backdoor of their van. Both men gaped.
Spider-man was standing inside the moving van, leaning against the back wall with his arms crossed. "Oh, don't mind me. I'm not real, remember?"
Spidey had been sitting on a nearby rooftop when he heard the van move in front of the electronics store. He could have gone after the would-be thieves as soon as he saw their ski masks, but instead he decided to surprise them by lying in wait within their van. And the looks on their faces had DEFINITELY been worth it.
And so, Spidey restrained the two crooks in short order. He tied them up in the back of their own moving van (The two of them had brought rope for the heist. How convenient can you get?). Afterward, Spidey calmly walked to the nearest payphone and told the police where to pick up the would-be thieves. He hung up before they even had a chance to respond.
Spidey felt absolutely great. He could keep this up all night.
Peter felt absolutely awful. It was as if he was up all night.
He rolled over from underneath his covers, tired as hell. Wait, was it morning? He poked his head out from under his comforter and saw morning light coming in through his window. He vaguely recalled being woken up earlier by his alarm, but he must have turned it off.
Peter groggily reached out for his alarm clock. He brought the clock to his face and looked. He saw what time it was.
"…AAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHH!"
May and Ben were in the kitchen eating breakfast when they heard a scream coming from upstairs. They gave each other a surprised look. "Peter's still here??" May asked. "This late??"
"We both slept in," Ben said, "so I assumed he had left for school before we woke up. For him to be this late is—"
"Hello! Goodbye!" A gust of wind that looked a lot like Peter ran into the kitchen, grabbed some bread, and ran out. The front door slammed shut.
Peter shoved un-toasted bread into his mouth as he ran. He hated eating breakfast like this, but he would have hated it a lot more if he were any later than he already was. Thank goodness he had prepared his backpack the night before. He would have been proud of how quickly he got dressed, if he wasn't so desperate to reach first period before it ended.
It's important to note that Peter got dressed in such a hurry he didn't even notice the black shirt he was still wearing under his clothes.
A man named Michael Believe was alone in the teachers' lounge of Midtown High School, looking through his briefcase. He was stout but not short, and had thin black and gray hair. Once he was certain he had what he needed for the first class, he closed the briefcase and walked to the door. His cell phone vibrated in his pocket. Believe stopped walking and took out his phone. The screen said, "Unknown number." He put the phone to his ear. "Hello?"
A deep voice replied, "This is the Kingpin."
Believe dropped his briefcase. "How did you find me?"
"Find you? Don't flatter yourself," the undisguised voice said. "Did you think you have the resources to hide from me? But that aside, Mr. Believe, you know too much about me, so I cannot accept your 'resignation.' However, you can still be of use to me so I will give you a chance to undo your mistake."
"I'm not coming back," Believe said bluntly. "I had only one condition, that none of my work be used to murder people. I can't accept broken agreements. I will not come back to you, and…" Pause. "I'm not afraid of you."
The Kingpin was quiet for a few moments. "I will give you some time to think it over," he said at last. "Later today, I will give you one last chance to change your mind. If you still refuse…" The line went dead.
Believe looked at his phone for several seconds. Eventually, he put it in his pocket and lifted his briefcase. He had a class to teach.
Meanwhile, a man in a tan overcoat stood outside the school gate. His cell phone rang, and he answered it quickly. "Yes?"
"I told him I'd give him one last chance. That's your cue."
"Understood." The man hung up and walked through the gate.
Several hours later, on the top floor of the school, Michael Believe walked towards his office. The entire school day had gone by without noteworthy events. Except in his first class of the day, when that Parker kid didn't show up until class was halfway over.
Believe opened his office door and stepped inside. A man was standing next to the doorway. He wore a simple overcoat and a white mask, which covered his head and exposed only his eyes.
Believe wasn't the least bit surprised to see him. He calmly closed the door and walked past the man. He put his briefcase on his desk and turned back to face his visitor. "I recognize your mask," he said. "You're the Chameleon, the Kingpin's infiltration expert."
"Yes," the man replied in a languid voice.
"Now that I've had time to think about it, you're going to give me one last chance to rejoin the organization. If I refuse, you'll kill me."
The Chameleon reached into his coat and pulled out a gun, which he pointed at Believe. "Yes. Do you really refuse?"
"Yes. Would you really kill me?" Believe asked with a smile.
"You are a liability. Further, since he took advantage of your information, you have a motive to betray him."
"And Kingpin wanted to kill me before I left the school, to reduce the risk of me contacting the police. I understand that, but will you be able to cover up the murder?"
"I won't really need to," the Chameleon replied. "I snuck into this building disguised as you, and I'll leave the same way. This gun has a silencer attached so nobody will hear the shot. Once you're dead I'll just leave the body here in your office. No one will even find your body until tomorrow, by which time I'll be safely in hiding."
Believe seemed to think for a moment. He turned around and opened his briefcase. "When I got the Kingpin's call this morning, my initial idea was to skip school and start running. But I remembered what the Kingpin told me. Now that I'm on a teacher's salary, I don't have the resources to hide from someone as influential as him. Even if I went to the police like Kingpin feared, I have no evidence. But then I realized; you, Chameleon, are living evidence."
Believe turned around again. A gun was now in his hand, pointed at the ground.
"I can shoot you long before you aim your gun at me," the Chameleon said.
"I have no intention of even trying to kill you. But if I'm shot, my finger could jerk in reflex and pull the trigger. And my gun doesn't have a silencer."
Chameleon slightly widened his eyes in realization.
Believe smiled. "I ended my class early, but the other classes are ending just now. All the teachers and students in that hallway will hear the shot. They'll open the door to investigate, and the first thing they'll see is you with a mask on your face and a gun in your hand. They'll call the police. It's doubtful you'll escape before they arrive. And once you're arrested, the authorities will eventually learn of your connection with Kingpin."
The masked man said nothing for several seconds. Eventually, he lowered his gun. "It seems I've been defeated," he said calmly. "You weren't recruited for nothing. I'm guessing you'll only put down that gun after you've confirmed I left the building."
"Wrong." The Chameleon flinched behind his mask. Believe continued. "If you leave now, the Kingpin will just resend you once I'm alone. The only way to defeat you and Kingpin is here in this school." Believe tightened his grip on the gun.
The Chameleon re-aimed his gun. "If you pull that trigger, you're dead." The Chameleon's voice showed an emotion for the first time in that day. Panic.
Believe kept smiling. "I'm already dead. I've been living on borrowed time ever since I quit. I'd much rather die in a way that leaves me vindicated. You see? I told Kingpin I wasn't afraid of him."
BANG! A bullet was shot in the office floor.
Bang. Michael Believe fell down, dead.
The Chameleon thought quickly. My best chance is to put on a disguise and sneak out before—
A woman slammed the door open. She took one look inside and screamed. "AAAHHHH!"
So much for that idea…
Peter was the only one still inside his classroom when he heard the gunshot. Flash Thompson 'accidentally' shoved all of Peter's notes off his desk, and Peter stayed behind to try and put his papers back in order. He had just finished zipping up his backpack when he heard a blast come from outside the class. He jerked and stood up on reflex. The noise reminded him of a small explosion. Guns, evidently, are only quiet on TV.
Seconds later, he heard a scream, followed by the sounds of running and more screaming. Leaving his backpack, Peter walked to the door and opened it. He took a step outside and saw a mob of students and teachers running toward the staircase.
He barely had time to process the information when a voice from behind him said, "You're in my way."
The Chameleon hit Peter's head with the handle of his gun. A second later, Peter fell to the ground, unconscious but alive. The Chameleon nonchalantly stepped over the teenager's body and ran towards the stairs.
Less than a minute later, Spidey bolted upright and clutched the back of his head. "Oww!! Man… I could use a monster-sized aspirin right about now." Spidey opened his eyes. He slowly looked around himself. "This isn't my bedroom," he muttered. He was in some kind of hallway, probably a school. There was nobody else in sight.
Spidey noticed an open door several feet behind him. He walked over and looked inside. A dead body was lying face up on the floor. Spidey shivered for a brief moment. He realized he had never seen a dead body before. Well, scratch that. He couldn't really trust his memory.
He heard screaming. Spidey ran over to the staircase and peeked down. On the lower floor, he saw a man in a tan trench coat wearing a white mask. There were several teenagers running away from him. Spidey noticed a gun in the mask-wearer's hand.
"Time to go to work," he whispered. Spidey backed away from the staircase and looked around himself. The coast was still clear. Then he realized the clothes he was wearing. Slightly worried, Spidey reached a hand under his shirt, and relaxed when he felt the familiar material. He concentrated, and within moments he was covered by his costume.
Students ran toward the next flight of stairs. A young man was about to place his hand on the banister, when a bullet shot into the wood within inches of the man's fingers. Everybody froze and looked at their assailant. "I need to leave in a hurry," the Chameleon said while pointing his gun. "Don't try to slow me down."
The group cautiously moved away from the staircase, giving the masked man plenty of room. "Thank you," he said emotionlessly.
"It's good that you said thank you, but couldn't you have thought of a nicer way to ask?"
The Chameleon turned around and looked for the origin of the voice. He saw a man in a red and black costume squatting upside-down from the ceiling. "What the…?"
"Hey, is that Spider-man?" one of the students asked. "From the news?"
"Quiet," another student hissed, for fear of upsetting the man with the gun.
The Chameleon looked away from the speakers and back to the one sticking to the ceiling. "I see… Spider-man."
"I couldn't help but notice," Spidey started, "there's a dead body upstairs and a gun in your hand. So… did you see the guy who did it?"
"You did," he said wearily. He pointed the gun at Spidey. "That's bad for business."
Bang.
Spidey easily dodged the bullet while staying on the ceiling. "You know, you're the second nut who's shot at me this week. But the first one was prettier."
Chameleon considered saying how he could get prettier if he needed, but decided against it. Wisecracks were never his expertise.
Bang.
Spidey avoided the next shot as well. Then he looked at the group and said, "There's a shootout happening less than ten feet away from you. Shouldn't you be running for your lives, or something?"
After a moment's hesitation, the students quietly moved behind the Chameleon and down the stairs. The police will be here soon, Chameleon thought, I don't have time for this. He moved towards Spider-man and continued shooting at the ceiling.
Spider-man jumped down, ducked to avoid another bullet, and kicked the gun out of the Chameleon's hand. It slid across the floor, away from the stairs. Chameleon didn't let it distract him. He threw a series of attacks at Spider-man, alternating between punches and kicks.
Spidey had to actually work to avoid them all. This guy wasn't some amateur like the muggers Spider-man fought on the street. This guy was a pro. Despite that, Spidey was still fast enough to dodge all the blows. He waited for an opportunity, and rammed his knee into the Chameleon's stomach.
The Chameleon was pushed back a few feet. He breathed heavy as his arm held his stomach. Spider-man crouched slightly, waiting for his opponent's next move. The two sized each other up.
"You're fast," Chameleon admitted.
"I know. But feel free to remind me as often as you like."
The Chameleon turned his head slightly to look over his shoulder. The last of the students were walking down the stairs. They made sure to move slowly, because they were afraid of catching the Chameleon's attention.
Wasted effort.
The Chameleon ran back and grabbed the last person, a redheaded girl, by the elbow. He pulled her into an empty classroom. Spidey jumped in after them. Chameleon shoved the girl in front of him just in time for Spider-man to kick him upside the head. The Chameleon fell to the ground a few feet away.
Spidey turned his attention away from the white mask to look at the redhead. "You okay?" he asked.
CRASH! In the moment Spider-man turned away, the Chameleon picked up a chair and struck it against Spider-man's back. After a moment of gentle swaying, Spidey collapsed like a rag doll. He was conscious, but totally dazed.
Chameleon dropped the broken chair and roughly grabbed one of Spider-man's arms. The redhead ran towards them. "Get off of him!" she yelled.
Without even looking at her, the Chameleon kicked her away. He took some kind of four-piece handcuff out of his coat and quickly shackled Spider-man's wrists and ankles behind his back. Spider-man looked over his shoulder and glared up at the Chameleon.
The Chameleon didn't return the glare. He calmly walked out of the room, found his gun, and placed it into his coat. Then he walked down the stairs onto the next floor.
He looked around himself. All of the students and teachers had evacuated by now. Now that there was no one to see him, he safely took a rubber mask out of his pocket. Escaping would be no problem now…
Meanwhile, Spidey lay flat on his stomach as he struggled against his restraints. He didn't know what they were made of, but even the suit's strength wasn't enough to break them. "This is embarrassing," he said. "The bad guy's getting away, and I'm hog-tied in front of the person I tried to rescue. My coolness factor is plummeting."
The girl—Mary Jane—walked over to Spidey. "Maybe I can pick the lock," she offered. She kneeled down and took a Swiss army knife out of her pocket. The knife itself was removed to make the school happy, but all Mary Jane needed at the moment was the toothpick. She inserted the pick into the keyhole and got to work.
"Can you really unlock it?" Spidey asked, surprised but hopeful.
"I think so." Actually, she and Gwen used to practice in secret on Gwen's dad's handcuffs. Not that Mary Jane had any reason to tell Spider-man that.
She worked on the lock in silence for a few minutes. But Mary Jane knew she didn't work well in silence, so she said, "I'm sorry. This happened to you because that guy used me as bait."
"Don't blame yourself. It's white mask's fault, and I blame him enough for the both of us." Spidey thought for a second. "What was that guy doing here anyway? Do you know?"
"No idea. I just came out of class when I heard a gunshot. Then I saw a mob of students running from him." Mary Jane unlocked the first cuff with surprising ease. She shouldn't have a problem with the rest. "What are you doing here?"
Spidey paused. "I'm… not sure."
"Oh." Mary Jane assumed he was just keeping it secret, so she decided to change the subject. "You know, I never expected to meet Spider-man like this. You're practically famous. Everyone is talking about you and wants to know who you really are."
Spidey paused again. "… Is that so?"
"Don't worry. I'm not going to bother asking you. I understand that you must have a good reason for keeping it secret. Although I have to admit, I am curious."
"Heh. That makes both of us."
Mary Jane stopped moving the pick.
If Spidey weren't tied up, he would have kicked himself. He looked over his shoulder. "Tell me I did not just say that out loud."
Mary Jane thought for a minute. "When you said, you weren't sure how you got here…"
Spidey sighed. "Can you keep a secret?" he asked seriously.
"Yes," she said, as she remembered a few of the secrets she was already keeping.
Spidey sighed again. He had no idea why he was saying this. Then again, he felt the need to tell someone. "I have absolutely no idea who I am," he said with a completely somber voice.
Mary Jane started picking the current lock again. "None?"
"None. I can't remember anything at all from before three days ago. And I'm only awake for a few hours a night. My earliest memory is getting this suit. The night before last, I decided to go into the city. There were people breaking the law, so I stopped them. Same thing happened last night. But today, I woke up in a school hallway with no idea of what's going on. I saw a guy with a gun scaring people, and here we are."
"You were wearing that suit when you found yourself here?"
"I was wearing it under my clothes when I 'woke up'." Spidey paused again before continuing. "On my first night out, I took off my mask and looked at my reflection, and I didn't recognize my own face. That scared me pretty bad for a while." He fell silent after that.
"I… had no idea." Mary Jane unlocked the last cuff. Without saying anything, Spidey moved to a squatting position and rubbed his wrists. Mary Jane thought for a moment. "Maybe… no. Nevermind."
"What?"
"I shouldn't say it."
Spidey stared at her. "I just finished saying something really personal…"
Mary Jane looked slightly worried, afraid she insulted him. "Well… I was going to say, maybe you could show your face to me. And it's NOT just because I'm curious," she added before he could respond. "I just thought if I knew what you looked like, I could help you find out who you were."
Spidey thought for a minute. "Look, red—"
"My name's Mary Jane," she calmly interrupted.
Spidey thought for another second. "Can I call you MJ?" She nodded. "Okay, MJ, I have nothing against you. You seem very trustworthy in all of the two minutes I've known you. But the thing is, if I can help it, I don't want people to know more about me than I do. Does that make sense?"
"Yes," she replied. "And I promise not to tell anyone about this. And I hope you're able to figure it all out someday."
"Thank you, MJ. And thanks for getting me out of those handcuffs." Spidey went through the door and jumped onto the ceiling. Mary Jane followed him out the room. "Is there another staircase besides this?" Spidey asked.
"Yeah, it's on the east side of the building."
"Take that instead. He's probably long gone, but I'm doing a quick search for that white mask again."
"Good luck," Mary Jane called as they parted ways.
A limousine drove through the streets of New York City. In the backseat, a large bald man was speaking with a man in a white mask and trench coat.
"I see," the larger man said. He spoke with the same deep voice that Believe heard on the phone that morning. "So he accepted his death and tried to use it against me. In a strange way, I almost feel proud of him."
The Chameleon looked out the window. "He should have just returned. Killing others would have been a small price to pay."
"At least he died satisfied."
"I'd rather live satisfied."
"Heh. Despite your affinity for masks, you seem to enjoy saying precisely what's on your mind. Moving on, was it really Spider-man who tried to stop you?"
"He never actually said so, but he matched the descriptions."
The Kingpin thought for a few moments. "It's possible that he simply followed the police towards the school and went ahead of them. But it's much more likely that Spider-man is either a teacher or a student in Midtown High School."
"Should I investigate the school, Kingpin?"
"No. The police will be very active for a while. Wait until their case runs out of steam, then we shall search for Spider-man."
Unfortunately, the Chameleon escaped just before the police arrived. To be safe, officers were still searching inside the school, but with no luck.
Most of the students gathered outside the building. Some were giving testimony to the police, and most were talking among themselves. Gwen and Mary Jane were talking by themselves when Gwen heard a man's voice calling her name. Gwen turned around and saw the police captain walking to her. "Dad?"
Captain Stacy placed his hands on his daughter's shoulders. "There you are," he said with relief in his voice. "I was worried ever since I got the call from your school. Are you alright?"
"Yeah, I'm fine. I was already leaving when everything started. But…"
"But?"
"I'm really worried about Peter. His last class was on the floor where it happened, and I haven't seen him yet."
"Is Peter a friend of yours?" her father asked.
"Yeah."
"They're more than friends," Mary Jane added. "They're going on a date Friday."
Captain Stacy raised his eyebrows. "Really?"
Gwen glared at Mary Jane. "Can't you keep a secret?"
If you only knew.
Someone caught Mary Jane's eye. "Hey, there he is," she said. She pointed to Peter, who was wandering in the crowd and rubbing the back of his head.
Gwen walked over to him. "Are you okay? I looked, but I couldn't find you."
"Uh…" Peter woke up on the top floor a few minutes ago. He walked outside and heard about the gunman and Spider-man from another student. If I tell her the gunman knocked me unconscious, she would just worry. "I'm fine. I just, kind of got lost in the crowd." After he said it, Peter felt guilty for lying to Gwen. But nothing else happened to him, so he shouldn't try to upset her, right?
A man with light blond hair and a dark jacket walked over to them. "I'm glad you're both safe," he said.
Peter looked at him. "Thank you. But, have we met?"
Mary Jane popped up next to the older man. "This is the Captain of the Police Department," she said with a smile.
"Oh, I see."
"He's also Gwen's father."
"Oh… I see."
"I told him about your date this Friday."
"Oh… I… see…"
Later that evening, the black haired messenger who spoke with Quarter and Backyard was alone in his home. He was speaking on his phone. "Did you see the news report from this afternoon?"
A digitally altered voice answered. "Yes. It fits with what Backyard and Quarter said. They claim a boy from that school stole the bio-suit. And now Spider-man—whose powers can be explained by the suit—is seen in the same school as the thief. There's no doubt. The thief and my suit are in that school. Which means I can greatly reduce my list of suspects."
"There's something I don't understand," the messenger said. "Why didn't you just ask Backyard and Quarter for a description of the thief?"
"There are a few reasons for that. My first reason is: they're useless."
"They are?"
"Those two are scientific geniuses. After all, they were able to make a working prototype in secret and on their first attempt. But beyond that, in terms of basic competence, they're useless. I don't give them enough credit to have gotten a good look at the thief."
"I see. But it might still be worth it to ask them."
"That brings me to reason number two. Knowing them, they'd put a price on the information. I'm not paying for info which might be wrong. Besides, I'd rather catch the thief without their help, with my own skills."
"I understand," the messenger said. "There's something else I want to mention. After seeing the news report, I did a little digging on the victim, Michael Believe. And it seems that he used to work for the Kingpin… the real Kingpin."
The voice on the phone was silent for a moment. "And you're worried that if I investigate the school while the real Kingpin is involved with it, he might find out I stole his name."
"You've been walking on thin ice ever since you approached Backyard and Quarter with that name," the messenger warned. "If you're not careful, the real Kingpin could come after us both."
The fake Kingpin just laughed. "You worry too much. He won't find out unless we really screw up. Besides, even if worse comes to worse, I know who the Kingpin really is and where to find him, so I'd win."
Author's notes:
I didn't want Spidey's suit to be literally spider-themed in the beginning, because that's not what Backyard and Quarter were trying to make. They were just making a symbiote suit. They had no reason to give it a spider motif (wall crawling is useful, but not necessarily bug-themed, IMO). That is part of the reason why the suit doesn't make webs. I really wanted to include webbing, but I felt that a man-made symbiote was already stretching the limits of believable science. I didn't want to stretch it further by including unlimited webbing. However, I intend to give the suit webbing at a later point in the story.
On a different note, the last names of my three original characters—Believe, Quarter, and Backyard—are the first names of the first three victims in my favorite novel, "Death Note: The Los Angeles BB Murder Cases." Good book. I strongly recommend it for Death Note fans.
One more thing, I want to thank all the people who reviewed my story. Especially Chaora 01, who has been reviewing my other story since the day I posted it. You always flatter me so much. (Blush)
DISCLAIMER: I do not own "Spider-Man" or anything connected with it (or anything else that influences this story).