An Evil...
Tires screeched loudly as the van came up to the 24-hour convenience store. The van was so close it nearly crashed through the windows. Everybody inside heard it.
Without even waiting for the momentum to stop, three men jumped out and stormed the building. They each had a ski mask and a handgun.
"Ahhh!"
At first, the customers ran to different corners of the store, but the gunmen yelled out instructions for them to group together in one spot, brandishing their guns. The customers grew quiet and obeyed. One woman fingered a can of pepper spray in her purse, but she knew it couldn't outmatch the range of a bullet.
Then a fourth person nonchalantly walked into the store. He came out of the same van, but he was clearly different from the others. His ski mask was bright red, with a jack-o-lantern smile painted on the front. He didn't have a gun, but he wore a backpack over a bulky, zip-up jacket.
He was short and thin. He couldn't have been more than a teenager.
He surveyed the scene. "Five customers plus the cashier. Better than I hoped, considering it's the middle of the night. Then again, this is the city that never sleeps... or is that Las Vegas?"
As he spoke the fifth person, the driver, carefully moved the van even closer to block the door.
The cashier was still behind the counter, with his hands in the air. "I don't want any trouble! The register's right there - just take it."
"Awww, the poor guy's done this before. How precious," the red-masked boy cooed. "But we're not here for money, man."
One of the gunmen grabbed the cashier and dragged him towards the patrons. Then all six hostages were huddled together, with the three gunmen aiming at them. The red-masked boy walked close and stared at the group.
"Ladies, put your purses on the floor please," he said. "And kick them over to me."
Slowly, quietly, they did as they were told. The red-masked boy kneeled down, grabbed a purse, and dumped the contents on the floor.
"I thought you said you weren't after money?" the cashier spoke up.
"I'm not," he replied. Dissatisfied, he grabbed another bag dumped the contents. Out dropped the pepper spray. "Bingo!" He took it and stood up. "I'll save this for later," he mumbled, stuffing the pepper spray into his pocket.
"W-Who are you?" one of the customers breathed out.
"Me?" the red-masked boy asked. "You could say I'm in charge here. These scary guys are taking orders from me."
"But you're just a kid?"
"The fact that I'm just a kid and I can STILL get these scary guys to take orders from me, should tell you how capable I am. Now let's get down to business... I want you to call Spider-Man for me."
"...Call Spider-Man?" The hostages looked at each other, confused.
"Yeah. Yell, 'Spider-Man! Save me!' at the top of your lungs. Again and again. I figure he has to show up eventually."
"I... I don't understand..." Another hostage spoke up timidly. "You... want us to call for help?"
"Look, guys. We don't want to deal with you. We want to deal with Spider-Man," the red-masked boy explained. "As hostages, your only job is to get his attention... AND to keep the cops off our backs 'till he gets here."
"If we're calling help anyway, let us call the police."
"Don't worry, man. With the racket you'll be making, someone outside will definitely call the police anyway. Now call Spider-Man."
"That's what this is about?!" A hostage who hadn't spoken before protested. "If you want him, find him yourselves! We don't want any part of this! Let us go!"
Arguing with his captor, even with guns pointed at him, wasn't because of bravery. It was his anxiety reaching the breaking point. When that happens people will sometimes lose their self-awareness and act on instinct, without even knowing if they're increasing or decreasing the danger.
The red-masked boy wasn't expecting it. His voice lost its playful tone. "It's very simple. These scary guys want to meet Spider-Man so they can become famous by killing him. And you are going to help them by calling him NOW."
"No! We won't do it, so let us go!"
The red-masked boy stared at him for a short while.
"Man, what an idiot," he said at last. "Refusing to do what we tell you will NOT make us let you go... FIRE!"
BANG!
The man fell to the ground, dead instantly.
"Aaahhhhh!" All the other hostages screamed. With that casualty, what was once a scary situation evolved into complete hysteria.
The red-masked boy yelled loud enough to be heard over the screams. "For the last time! If you don't want to get shot, CALL SPIDER-MAN!"
"H-Help..." a young woman whispered. Then louder, "Help us... Spider-Man!"
The others joined in. "Spider-Man, help us! Please save us!"
"Finally..." The red-masked boy said. "Now louder!"
"SAVE US! SPIDER-MAN! SPIDER-MAN! SPIDER-MAN!"
The gunmen silently kept their guns aimed at the shouting hostages. The red-masked boy started giggling as if he were watching a comedy.
Web-slinging is a lot like falling, but with more directions.
As Spidey sailed through the air he shot another web line onto a passing building. Gravity brought him down in a wide arc and momentum sent him back up an equal distance. Then he let go, sailed through the air again, and landed hands and feet onto the side of the next building.
"Maybe I should do this less often," Spidey muttered. "Could it actually get boring if I do it too often? Scary thought."
That's when he heard the police sirens. He stayed still to try and find where they were coming from. Coincidentally, they were actually coming towards him. Spidey watched them pass on the street below and speed away. There were a few of them, which meant they were headed for something serious.
"Even if I do get desensitized to web-slinging - heaven forbid - it beats walking," he said as he shot another web line. He pushed himself off the building and followed the flashing lights below.
Soon, Spidey heard the chanting. Peter or Gwen might assume it'd boost his ego, but Spidey didn't like the sound of it at all.
"...Spider-Man! ...Spider-Man!" Their voices were starting to get hoarse.
The red-masked boy casually looked at the shelves, as if he were oblivious to the crowd's screaming. "Should I get some bleach while I'm here? I could use bleach."
"THIS IS THE POLICE," came the voice through the megaphone. "WE HAVE THE BUILDING SURROUNDED. RELEASE THE HOSTAGES, AND WE CAN STILL SETTLE THIS PEACEFULLY."
"Man, more idiots," he grumbled. "I didn't start all this so I could settle it 'peacefully'."
Outside the store, the van's driver still sat immobile. Multiple police cars surrounded the van with more on the way, but none of the officers tried to capture him. The van was a wall between the police outside and the criminals inside, but it wasn't meant to keep the police out. The van stopped the hostages from escaping.
Spidey watched the situation from the roof of another building. Again, Peter and Gwen had the wrong idea about him and he wished they were there for him to explain. They thought Spidey never put thought into anything, and though that was common, it was not constant. He considered his options slowly. This was like a game where a less-than-high score made people die.
He could jump to the van, pull the driver out, and push the van out of the way (he might need to change the gears to neutral first, but if he told this story later, he would omit that part because he's definitely strong enough to move a mere van). But any way he imagined it, it would take longer than he wanted. Spidey doesn't like long.
He could sneak into the building. There must be an air vent or something on the roof. He'll come back to that idea later.
He could just crash through a window. It was a convenience store; the front windows took up almost the entire wall. The question was: would a sudden appearance like that make the bad guys shoot the hostages? If they're letting the hostages scream like that, they can't be that trigger-happy.
This might be his ego talking (yet another of Peter and Gwen's assumptions - the more he thought about it the more he hated their low opinion of him) but it felt like the bad guys wanted those people to call him. They wouldn't be the first criminals who tried to get a piece of the infamous Spider-Man. He decided to test that theory.
Spidey silently jumped down and landed deftly between the police and the van.
The hostages' chanting turned to cheers. The police re-aimed their guns and told him to freeze, but someone inside the store screamed, "No, no, no! Let him in! Let him in! Let him in!"
The driver moved the van out of the way. The glass door was no longer blocked. That confirmed Spidey's theory.
The voice from before said, "Spider-Man can come in 'cause we asked for him, but no one else. Remember everyone, this is a hostage situation." If that was a text, he would have put a :) at the end.
Spidey braced himself for a trap and calmly walked through the front door.
Oops. He forgot to consider the sneak-inside/silent-takedown approach. Oh well, too late now.
Spidey took in the scene. The first thing he noticed was the dead man on the floor. It didn't faze him too much. He'd seen bodies before, though this was the first in a while.
The five living hostages were silent, expressions mixed between fear and hope. Salvation was close, but not guaranteed.
The gunmen turned their heads towards Spidey, but kept their guns aimed at the others.
And the red-masked boy stood in front of the counter.
Spidey noticed something strange. His Spider Sense immediately reacted to the gunmen, of course, but there was also a subtler reaction from the red-masked boy. He didn't have a weapon, but there was a vague "danger" coming out of him, like an aura. That wasn't normal.
"FINALLY, we meet! I've been waiting for this." The red-masked boy introduced himself. "My name is Carnage. Nice to meet you."
"You'll take that back once I'm done with you."
Carnage ignored the remark. "I have a question," he suddenly sounded serious. "This has been bothering me for a while. 'The city that never sleeps'... Is that New York or Vegas?"
Spidey shrugged. "I dunno. But I spend half the day sleeping. Gives me the energy to take out trash like you guys."
Carnage nodded. "Big talk. I like that... Boys," he called, "ignore the hostages... and OPEN FIRE!"
Spidey didn't need to think about his options this time. Battles are fought on instinct.
He jumped into the air, dodging bullets (the windows weren't so fortunate), arching his torso sideways so he wouldn't hit the ceiling, with each wrist he shot out a ball of his newly designed "compact webbing," they hit two of the guns and burst like water balloons, the sticky mesh splattered all over the guys' hands and pistols, safety triggers were gummed up and the guns were useless.
Just as gravity started to pull Spidey down, he reused an arm to shoot a web-line at the middle gunman, the line stuck to his weapon, Spidey yanked it out of his grip, the gun flew out the shattered front window. Spidey landed on the ground, jumped towards the unarmed bandit, his fist connected with the other's face, the man went flying, Spidey landed again, reached out each arm to the other criminals, grabbed their webbed-up weapons, used his strength to tear them loose from their hands, twisted his body around to toss the guns out the window, fell forward and landed on his outstretched hands, kicked his legs back and pushed the two ex-gunmen into the first. Then Spidey got back on his feet.
The whole thing took about five or six seconds.
The five hostages ran out of the store. After that, the police were finally able to act. Some ran to the van to subdue the driver, and the rest ran into the building.
"Everyone freeze!" To Spidey's smug satisfaction, the cops ran past him and didn't aim their guns at him this time... though they did say "everyone."
The ex-gunmen raised their hands. Carnage didn't.
"Hey! What is this?" one of the men - the one who shot the dead hostage - yelled at Carnage. "You said we wouldn't get caught! You said you had the perfect way to beat Spider-Man!"
"Man, I never said that," he said with a smirk in his voice. "I said I had the perfect way to beat everyone... And I mean EVERYONE."
In one fluid movement - it took less than a second - Carnage opened his jacket with one hand and pressed the other hand on the bomb wrapped around his waist.
"Ta-da!"
By the time everyone realized what they were looking at, the digital timer read 3:58... 3:57...
"I don't like putting my own life on the line," Carnage said, "but anything beats losing... right?"
The criminals and police were both frozen with fear. One officer lowered his gun and took a step forward. "Listen pal, don't do anything-"
"STAY BACK! This bomb is already armed. If I don't turn the timer off, it WILL blow up in four minutes. Is that enough time for your bomb squad to get here? I don't think so! Alternatively: I could push this big red button and blow us up right now!"
Spidey hesitated. Should he say anything? Would they believe him?
"Don't try any tricks," Carnage continued. "My finger is ON the trigger button. If you grab me, or even if you shoot me, there's no telling if it'll flinch or not." He giggled, as if he said something funny.
"So here's the deal: I'm going to escape, you're not going to stop me, and once I'm sure no one's following me, I'll turn the bomb off. Sound like a plan?" Without waiting for a response, Carnage started walking backwards. He kicked the back door open and left the building.
"I'm going after him," Spidey said. He jumped away before the police could stop him.
Carnage ran through the dark alleyways. His backpack didn't seem to slow him down at all. Neither did the beeping bomb around his waist.
But Spidey jumped down and landed several feet in front of him, blocking his escape. That made him stop. "Oooh, so you decided to chase me after all? I didn't turn the bomb off yet. But you can still beat me up if you want... so long as you don't mind being right next to ground zero!"
Spidey said nothing. He stood straight and crossed his arms.
"Heh heh... Just kidding." Carnage pressed the red trigger button. The timer changed to 0:00.
And nothing else happened.
"Yeah. The bomb's fake." He took the belt off and dangled it in the air. "But it looks real, doesn't it? My friend made it for me." Then he dropped it on the ground. "I knew it wouldn't fool you, man. That fancy super-costume warns you about danger."
Spidey flinched. He knows about my Spider Sense - and the bio-suit. That's not good.
He changed the subject. "You abandoned the rest of your gang back there. They're gonna be pretty ticked at your next reunion."
"They're not MY gang. They're just some clowns I hired for this one job."
"And what exactly was the point of this 'one job'?"
"Man, what a stupid question. I obviously wanted to meet you. I just wanted to introduce myself. After all, if I'm gonna become a Supervillain, I need to meet the resident Superhero."
"Why would you want to become a Supervillain?"
"Oh please, that's another stupid question. I just want it. That's all. I thought it would be fun."
"...A man died back there," Spidey said after a moment. "Was that fun? Did that really make you happy?"
Carnage stopped to think about this, and the answer surprised him. "No, it didn't... It was too easy."
"Did you want him to suffer?!"
"That would have helped," he replied nonchalant.
Spidey was silent.
He never preached to people about "justice," "righteousness," or "altruism." Spidey wasn't even sure he believed in those. He, too, was a superhero just because it was fun. So he could understand the criminals he fought, and even Carnage, a little. But even though Spidey cared about himself most, he still cared about other people. Carnage's sadism crossed a line...
...He pissed Spidey off!
"Is that why you didn't use a real bomb?" He asked. "It would have been 'too easy'?"
"Actually, man, I just have no idea where to get a real bomb. The truth is, I'm just an Amateur Supervillain right now. I don't have any powers or fancy gadgets. Wait, that's not true. I have do have ONE fancy gadget."
Carnage reached back and pulled up the back of his mask, careful not to let the front rise up. A small device was stuck to the back of his head, over his hair. It almost looked like a pedometer. Carnage gently took it off and replaced his mask.
Spidey stared, confused. "Is that thing important or something?"
"It's my prize possession. This - HEY!"
Spidey shot a string of web and snatched the device right out of Carnage's hand. Once Spidey had it, he pulled the web off and examined it carefully. "What is it? A pedometer for the brain?"
"...Yes, actually," Carnage answered. "It measures my brainwaves. It's recording my brain activity as part of a very important experiment." He held out his hand, and his voice stopped being playful for the second time that night. "Now... give it back."
"Superhero rule number seventeen: If it's important to the bad guy, even if you have no idea what it is, don't let him have it." He picked that number randomly, but Spidey had the sudden urge to think up sixteen other rules.
"Don't screw with me, man! I did not say 'please' or 'if you feel like it'!" Carnage was enraged. He dropped his backpack onto the ground and knelt down to open it. Then he pulled out a portable CD player. It was off, but the volume control was at the highest setting. "Didn't I say I knew about your danger sense?! That's because I know EVERYTHING about you! About your powers! And about your weaknesses!"
"Clearly, you've been misinformed. I don't have any-"
Carnage pressed "PLAY." But it didn't play music. It was an electronic tone - It almost sounded like a tuning fork, but it was much higher and much louder.
Spidey's knees hit the ground before he realized he was falling. He crouched over, shuddering. He couldn't speak. Or scream. The noise didn't just hurt his ears - His whole body was in pain. Finally, he collapsed on the pavement, clutching Carnage's gadget to his chest and panting for breath.
Carnage stood up, leaving the CD player on the ground. "See? Even a cheap recording like this hurts you. And your danger sense couldn't warn you, either."
He walked over to Spidey's shuddering form and tried to grab the device from him, but even in pain, Spidey wouldn't let it go.
"Drop it," Carnage ordered.
Spidey was just conscious enough to shake his head.
"Piece of..." Carnage walked back to his backpack and took out the only other item: a lead pipe. It was barely a foot long, but very solid. He walked back to Spidey and struck.
"I! Said! Drop it!"
On the third swing, Spidey lost his grip, and the so-called "brain pedometer" fell onto the concrete. Carnage instantly grabbed it.
"Do you have any idea how expensive this was?! Well... I didn't pay for it, but still." He put it back onto his head, beneath the ski mask.
Spidey rolled onto his back, but Carnage put his foot down on the hero's chest. "No, don't get up. Save your strength. The tape's not on repeat, you know. You'll be able to move again once it stops. I'll be long gone by then, of course."
Spidey moaned. He couldn't do anything else.
"What? Surprised I knew about your weakness to ultra-sonic sounds? Meeting you was MY idea. Did you think I wouldn't have a way to protect myself?" He lifted the front of his mask, just enough to expose his mouth, then he leaned down low to Spidey's face.
"You never stood a chance against me, MAN!" Then he blew a loud, wet raspberry.
Carnage stood up and walked away. "Step one of my Grand Master Plan is now complete! See you again in step two, Spider-Man..."
Spidey stayed on the ground, shaking, head pounding, and waited for the tape to stop.
For the first time, Spidey realized that he was an extremely sore loser. He would not let this be the end of it.
Author's Notes: (1/8/2013) Epic failure to update is epic.
Special Shout-Out to "twenty-two-spectacles" and "LandofMidnightRain" for reviewing. And to answer spectacles' question (in case anyone else was curious): Peter and Spidey can't really talk to each other since only one of them is "awake" at a time. They communicate by writing in a shared diary. Peter's letters are very detailed and grammatical descriptions of his day, along with a LONG list of rules Spidey isn't allowed to break. While Spidey's letters are like, "some stuff happened," or sometimes, "whatever stacy told you don't believe her! it wasn't my fault!"
Disclaimer: I do not own the Spider-Man franchise. I admit, this chapter was largely inspired by episode 42 of "Kamen Rider OOO," which I also do not own.