SPIDER-MAN: DARK WOUNDS
BURN:
Friday, 9:12 AM
"Welcome back, class. I hope your holiday break was enjoyable, but like Vegas, 'What happens during your holiday break STAYS during your holiday break.'" Mr. Trainer explained, pacing the classroom back and forth. "Now…" he sat at his desk, shuffling papers around "…did anyone do anything science based during their break?"
The room went silence. Flash snickered, quite loudly as if he was trying to draw attention. Mr. Trainer stared at him.
"What?" Flash gasped, eyes widening. Mr. Trainer shook his head and back at the rest of the room.
"Of course not." he sighed. "Science is my job. Why would any of you be allowed to do it on your own time?"
I was tempted to tell him about my conversation with MJ but decided it was for the better if I didn't. Especially if Gwen was in the room and I hadn't told her about it yet.
"For a quick fresh-up, and because, frankly, I have a lot on my mind; here is a worksheet to quick start your brains." He passed out the work to everybody and sat back down. Every once in a while he would call someone on his cell with no luck.
xXx
I finished the worksheet in ten minutes flat. The rest of the class was five or ten minutes behind. Mr. Trainer never looked up. He damn near forgot we exist. About half way through the period he received a call on his cell. His eyes lit up but his mouth stayed still. It was like a mix of fear and excitement. He left the classroom immediately and told us to stay seated until the bell rang. Everyone in class, including me, saw the loop hole in this and took the time to switch to the seats WE wanted and talk as much as we wanted. I sat next to Gwen, with Flash across the room; talking to his "buddies." Harry was no where to be found. I hadn't heard from him in a few days either and I was starting to get worried.
"Hey" I started. "Do you have any idea what's up with Mr. Trainer?"
"No. Why?" She had a confused look spread across her face, she obviously wasn't paying much attention.
"Oh, I dunno." I smiled, sarcastically, "Just the fact that he didn't give a shit about class the entire time."
"Oh, that. Well…yeah." She wasn't paying much attention. Something else was on her mind, but I couldn't quite figure it out. "Look, Pete…I shouldn't be telling you this." Her voice faded into a whisper. I leaned in close trying to hear what she was saying. "His daughter disappeared."
"Shit. Carolyn? What happened?" My mind was blown to smithereens. I had just seen her the day before. "Wait. How do you know?"
"Well, being the Police captains daughter, you hear more than you should. And no one really knows. She just up and left…poof!" She raised her arms into the air on the word 'poof'
"Oh my God…" My head was spinning. "Why-" My sentence was cut short by a wet wad of paper launching across the room towards my head. My spider-sense told me about the projectile and I moved swiftly to the left, letting the paper hit the chair behind me and seep to the floor. I snapped my head back and noticed Flash with a straw in his hand, laughing.
My emotions got the best of me. The mix of pain and misunderstanding from Carolyn's disappearance and the confusion and anger from Flash's sudden break in trust we had created at Kong's party sent me out of control. I stood up slowly, Gwen trying to hold me back.
"Ooooooh shit, Flash! Parker's walking over." Greg, one of Flash's clowns, pointed out.
I picked up speed as I walked towards Flash, each pace increasing my temper. I stopped right in front of him, my head titled slightly upwards to see Flash's face. The rest of the classroom was getting excited. A few kids began to chant "Fight!" and a circle of students formed around us.
"What the hell do you think you're doing, Flash?" I hissed. "What happened to our truce?"
"Truce? Truce?" He laughed. "That was no truce. I was giving up because I was drunk and sick and didn't feel like whipping your ass. You thought that was a truce?" He cackled like a maniac, most of the students in the class following.
I threw my fist straight into his mouth, his laugh cutting off and the class going silent. I let another one connect with his ribs and an elbow to the jaw. Flash fell to the floor, blood seeping from his mouth, and began to get up. I went over to him ready to beat on him a few more times before Greg threw a punch to the back of my head. I ducked low to avoid the punch and sent a mule kick to his chest. He launched backwards into the mob of students, out like a light. Kong grabbed my shoulder to stop me. By this point Flash had gained his bearing and was ready to kick the crap out of me.
"Both of you calm down!" Kong boomed.
"Kong, I like you." I sighed. "Let go of me before I wipe the floor with your ass, too."
We stared at each other for a few seconds before he let go of my shoulder and turned towards Flash. "You're so screwed, dude." I smiled at the back-up.
Flash charged me, head on and knocked my shoulder with an out of control jab. I rammed his chest with my shoulder, trying to create space. Before he could move again I threw five quick punches to his face to finish him off. Flash let out a quiet, gurgling noise as he slid to the floor. Blood spewing from his nose and mouth. I shook my fist gently trying to remove the pain from my knuckles. Greg was gaining consciousness behind me which was a good thing. I was afraid I had killed him with that kick.
Gwen came up behind me. "Peter? What…What the hell?" She was amazed at what had just gone down. To be honest, I was too.
Some of the kids in the crowd began to cheer. A few others went over to check on Flash.
"Is he OK?" I stammered, trying to look innocent. In reality, I didn't give a shit.
"I think so…" a young girl named Mary answered very quietly.
The bell rang as I was running my hand through my hair. I just wanted to get the hell out of there. Flash was sure to wake up soon and I wasn't seeing him being OK with what just happened.
xXx
Friday, 7:47 PM
I sat atop the 'MetLife' building, my back leaned against the air conditioning unit. My cell phone was pressed up against my masked face, each ring echoing through my head. A group of pigeons sailed past my view and the honk of a horn sounded in the distance.
After about three rings, Gwen picked up.
"Hello?"
"Hey, Gwen. It's Pete." A blast of cold wind sent shivers down my spine making the sentence sound a little supernatural.
"Hey. What's up?" she was laughing slightly, most likely at the awkward introduction I gave.
"Uh, listen. There's this new girl in my apartment building. Here name is Mary Jane. She just moved here from Maryland. She invited me to a party and-"
"And you want my permission to go. I never pictured you as a party-kinda-guy, Peter." Gwen interrupted.
"No! Well, sorta. She invited me and said I could bring whoever I like." There was a quick pause between us for a second. "I'm not going without you…" I added gently.
"Well, if you put it THAT way…" she laughed. "Sure. Could be fun."
An explosion rippled through the air far behind me.
"Holy crap!" I gasped as I leapt up to my feet, turning around.
"What? What's wrong?" she sputtered, alertly.
"Uh…I…just realized I have a crap-load of Calculus homework to do…I gotta go. See ya!" My brain was moving at a million miles an hour.
"Yeah, uh, ok. See-" I hung up the phone abruptly and ran toward the site of the explosion. Something I would definitely have to explain tomorrow.
I launched myself across the chasm in-between the 'MetLife' and the building next to it. To keep my momentum I tumbled into a roll as I hit the roof of the building and continued moving. I dove off the edge of the building and swung across the street on a thin web-line. As I neared the smoke I realized it was coming from the 'Bank of New York.' Simple enough. Probably just some crooks with explosives.
xXx
I perched atop the bank looking for some sign of the intruders. The cops probably weren't far behind, but if they had explosives, I was going to have to take them on myself. I slowly climbed my way down the side wall and peered around the corner. The hole in the wall was huge. Big enough for a tank. Suddenly, I heard the rev of an engine and a grey mini-van with darkened windows sped out of the hole in the wall and down the road. I latched a thread of webbing onto it and was yanked from the wall. I managed to work my way up my webbing and onto the van. If it wasn't for my spider-powers I would have been thrown off the van long ago. The driver was going at least seventy-five, dodging every car, swerving around every corner. It was moving too fast to take out the wheels or axles. I would have to wait for the van to stop.
The van took a sharp turn towards the docks and headed straight for one of the warehouses. I didn't think he was crazy enough to drive right through it and so I stayed on the roof of the van. He showed no signs of slowing as we neared the door to the warehouse.
We were only fifty feet away and closing in fast.
Forty.
Thirty.
Twenty.
Ten.
I leapt from the van and through the front window of the warehouse. The glass was new and breaking through it was more than difficult. The pain of the glass distracted me and I crash-landed into a large group of empty wooden boxes.
"Agh…crap." I sneered as I slowly pulled myself to me feet. I looked to my right, towards the door of the warehouse and noticed half the van had driven through. The door opened and the driver slid himself out of the seat unharmed.
"Nice fall." he snorted.
The driver wasn't the definition of average looking. He was wearing hiking boots and brown cargo pants. His shirt was replaced with a layer of tattoos all along his arms and body. His forearms were encased in metal with a handle bar jetting out, each one placed directly underneath the palm of his hand. Two yellow, thin tubes followed from his arm braces to his back. His head was bald and his eyes were hidden beneath a pair of black sunglasses.
"What the hell are you supposed to be?" I laughed. "You look like something found in a happy meal!" I fell on the floor laughing, clutching my stomach.
I heard the charge of electricity, sparks began to shoot across the room. "You should be on freakin' Comedy Central'!" he barked as he threw out his arms, blue waves of energy heading towards my direction.
"Ah, crap." I sighed. The blast hit me, sending me flying through the air and into the wall. "OK, so you're a little dangerous for a happy meal." I quipped as I got back to my feet.
"Good to hear." He threw out his arms again letting his shock waves dart across the warehouse.
I leapt over the attack and connected two web-lines to his chest. Using them as zip-lines, I lunged forward planting my feet on his chest. I back-flipped away sending his body into the ground with all my might.
"Didn't your mother tell you not to play with…ew!" As he was getting up I noticed the tubes from his gauntlets connected right into his back. "Dude! That's freaking gross!"
"You don't mock the Shocker." he laughed.
"What? 'The Shocker'?" He sent another attack my way, I leapt to the side, landing on another crate. "You need a new agent. That name just…doesn't fit."
He used one arm to attack me on the crates. He used the other arm to hit me in the air as I was dodging the first shock wave. I was rocketed onto the catwalks above. I noticed that his attacks were singeing my costume. I used my webbing to swing across the warehouse towards him. His next attack hit the webbing I was holding onto and I came tumbling down back to Earth. I webbed both his arms together quickly to avoid getting hit while I was down. As he was burning the webbing off with this "weapons", I sent a quick roundhouse kick to his temple knocking him into the far wall. He suddenly went into a fit of shaking and I began to wonder if it was an act.
"There's no need to cry." I joked as I carefully walked over to him. He slowly got back up.
"No…no! Not…crap! Need more….need…more." he muttered to himself, limping back towards the van.
"Whoa! You're not going anywhere, 'Shocker'!" I webbed his feet together as he neared the van. His face smacked into the van and it the floor. I walked over slowly assuming he had been knocked out.
"No…no more. You won't win!" he screamed as he let out a barrage of pulsating waves. I was too shocked to move and was hit by five of them. I rolled along the ground and felt a familiar, warm feeling envelope my arm. I sat up and noticed I was on fire. I smacked it a few times but realized I was only spreading it.
I looked over at Shocker quickly and noticed he was still getting up. I connected web-line to his chest and dove out the window behind me, into the water. The fire died fast, but not before eating up most of my costume. Shocker fell into the water after me. I was hoping he would use his gauntlets and fry himself after I escaped, but he was too smart. He grabbed me by the neck and let out two quick punches into my nose. I retaliated with a kick to his stomach and a right hook to his ribs. Shockers grip loosened and I used my strength to grab his right arm-brace and crush it.
Shocker screamed in both pain and anger. The metal shards dug into his skin and he was one weapon short.
"You asswipe!" he yelled as he grabbed me by the neck and tried drowning me. He caught me out of breath and I found myself a victim of my own trap. I kicked and punched his body hoping to get him to let go but breaking his weapon, and possibly his right arm, only made him angrier. On a whim, I reached around his back and ripped out one of the tubes. Liquid gushed from the wound, but it wasn't just blood. It was a green and red mixture which gushed out uncontrollably and then suddenly stopped.
Shocker fainted, face first in the water. I flipped him up on his back so that he wouldn't drown and examined his wound. The tube was connected directly into his nervous system which was wired up to his head.
Shocker wasn't natural. Shocker was made.
xXx
After pulling myself up from the water, along with Shocker's limp body, I inspected the van. My left arm was burnt and numb from the fire and my throat hurt from being strangled. Using my right arm, I ripped open the back of the van and noticed it was empty.
Shocker was a distraction. The real thief's had gotten away long before.
"Piece of shit!" I muttered as I kicked Shocker's body and called the police.
I looked down at my costume as the phone rang. The sweatshirt and under-armor on my left side was completely gone, and the left leg of my cargo pants was almost burnt right through.
Guess this was a good reason to improve my costume. I was starting to look like a rent-a-hero.