Disclaimer: I think starting to get pretty serious 'round here. Since I'm lacking in clever one-liners, I'll just get the next chapter going right here and now.
No Spider-Man ownership to be claimed.
Chapter XXVI
Riker's Island was in the midst of a massive riot, the cause of which that was yet to be determined. What was known thus far was that nearly every inmate was loose and outnumbering the prison guards two to one. The security rallied against the unruly denizens, many of whom which were under the employ of Kingpin, Silvermane and Mr. Negative at one time or another. Despite the collective skill and training of the guards, it counted for next to nothing again sheer numbers. That was an advantage the inmates had. It could've been much worse for the guards; the Vault, the super max wing for the various super villains, was thankfully still active. For however long remained to be seen.
Reinforcements arrived to the island from Manhattan on policed boats, with Jean DeWolff stepping off of one of them. The Riker's Island warden arrived to greet DeWolff with three guards while DeWolff's officers secured the parameter.
"Warden, what's the situation?" DeWolff asked.
"About 45 minutes ago, one the main generators shut down and opened nearly every cell in the facility. Every inmate we've got, murderers, rapists, the worst… they're all on the loose and attacking my people." the warden explained frantically.
"What about the Vault; the super criminals?"
"The Vault's on a separate grid and it's holding for now, but we can't be sure how long that'll last."
"How long until the generator is back up?" DeWolff asked.
"You don't understand; the generator is inside the prison. And I can't risk sending a repair crew with all the inmate running loose." the warden sated grimly.
"I'll take that bet." A voice stated and a moment later, Spider-Man dropped from the news helicopter.
The Riker's security with the warden instinctively drew their guns, but DeWolff waved them off. "Easy, guys. He's with us," she said before turning to the hero. "The situation's bad here, Spider-Man. We can't get someone inside the prison to get the generator restarted, not with all these inmates running around."
"I can get inside and get your battery working." Spider-Man said.
"Your sure? It's pretty complicated stuff." the warden stated.
"I'm good like that, trust me. Maybe I just have to press a red button; it's always the red button." Spider-Man quipped before he leapt over the prison wall.
"He's crazy!" the warden said.
DeWolff smirked and replied, "He's Spider-Man; he's supposed to be crazy. Okay, until Spider-Man can get that generator back up and running, our priority is containment. Warden, have your men use whatever means necessary to keep the inmates from escaping."
Containment was the plan at the moment and it would've sounded easy on paper, but the inmates, many of whom were in Riker's for life, wouldn't be so easily contained. They had taken down, knocked out or killed several guards already and taken their fallen weapons; guns, nightsticks, riot shields and the like. The Riker's Island guards made the added effort to fight back against the unruly criminals with their own riot shields, along with the added use of stun batons, cans of pepper spray and tear gas. They were able to subdue several inmates at a time, but the inmates still had a numbers advantage.
The inmates were putting that advantage to good use, swarming like locusts over the guards until Capt. DeWolff and her reinforcements from the mainland arrived. It almost immediately became an even playing field; the Riker's guards and the NYPD were fighting back and subduing more inmates. It was still going to be a long time before they got the situation under control. They still advanced on the rowdy criminals and beat back any that got too close. Still, several guards were taken down along with inmates.
Several of the inmates pulled two guards to the ground and surrounded them. They inmates brandish weapons stolen off the bodies of other fallen guards with the all too clear intent of killing the two in their sights. The two guards were back-to-back, ready to fight what was already a lost cause. Then without warning, Spider-Man dropped down in the space between the guards and the inmates. Spider-Man shot a barrage of impact webbing to subdue a few of the inmates, and then he two lines to either side of him. The lines snagged the faces of two more inmates. He hopped up and pulled the crooks into each other face first and knocked them out.
The two guards took the opportunity to get away and rejoin their allies, with Spider-Man quipping, "You're welcome!"
"Look at this," the voice was from one of the inmates, who, with several of his fellow rioters, surrounded Spider-Man. "Look who decided to show up for his funeral."
"Really, guys? You're aware that you've set yourselves up for a lose/lose situation, right?" Spider-Man asked with a shrug.
The lead inmate stepped up and replied, "In case you didn't notice, there's six of us and only one of you, bug."
"That's so unfair. Tell you what; you guys get about ten more of your friends and we'll call it even."
One of the inmates got ahead of the pack and sprinted toward Spider-Man with a stolen nightstick and took a wide swing. Spider-Man bent his upper body back to avoid the incoming swing and bent further to avoid the next. Then he crouched completely on the third swipe before kicking the stick out of the inmate's hands, right before kicking the thug's chin from below. The inmate staggered for a split second before Spider-Man sprung forth, snagged his orange prison garb and threw him into his friends. The group fell back on top of each other. Spider-Man was still standing upright as if nothing happened.
"That's it? C'mon, guys. At least try to make it look like you're trying to attack me."
The inmates, angered by the web slinger's arrogance, the inmates regrouped and charged Spider-Man all at once. With stun batons and riot shields, they took the fight to Spider-Man with all the recklessness they had before they'd been arrested long ago. Two of them closed in Spider-Man from each side, each with a weapon in hand. Spider-Man anticipated this coming attack and leapt up above them. The attackers stopped before they hit each other, but Spider-Man shot a pair of web line down to their feet. He landed in front of them and pulled hard on the lines, yanking the two hapless inmates off their feet and onto the ground.
Another inmate came charging with a riot shield with the intent of ramming right into Spider-Man. But Spider-Man was crafty and understood that the while the shield would protect the user, it still had a weakness in the visual slot for the eyes. So, Spider-Man expertly fired a ball of webbing that sailed through the slot, which then embedded into the eyes of the inmate. The inmate dropped the shield and left himself open, and Spider-Man used a line to catapult himself feet first into the inmate.
They fell to the ground with Spider-Man standing on the prisoner's chest when two more inmates charged from either side. Spider-Man threw a punch to either side and kicked the inmate he was using as a stool in the face to knock him out. Spider-Man was soon faced with the one remaining inmate that instigated the attack… and motioned him to bring it on. The inmate did, armed with the same nightstick that was wielded by the first inmate to attack. He took a series of wild swings at Spider-Man, who ducked and dodged and weave in between each swing with ease.
"Hey, I remember you," Spider-Man said before ducking a swing. "You held up that convenient store…" Another swing came and missed. "… down on Lexington."
The inmate was getting tired from his rabid failed swings. "Hold still, will ya'!"
"If I recall correctly…" Spider-Man said before two more swings of the nightstick. "…I was running a cold that day."
Spider-Man ducked another errant swing before he hopped up and over the inmate. He spun around in midair, landed on the inmate's shoulders and then snagged the nightstick with line. Pulling the line, the nightstick smacked into the inmate's jaw and staggered him. Spider-Man punched the hapless fool in the head once, twice, three times before flipping backward. The momentum carried the inmate up and over and an arc before Spider-Man dropped him to the ground face first and knocked him out. For good measure, Spider-Man webbed him to the ground.
Crouching down, he added, "You had me dead to rights and I still kicked your ass."
Spider-Man's spider sense went off and when he spun around, he was faced with upwards of fifteen more inmates. Even Spider-Man knew he was outnumbered and he also knew he needed to stop messing around with these guys. Suddenly, a beam of light showed down on the inmates followed by a strong draft. Spider-Man quickly determined that the draft was from a jet engine, but he wasn't expecting to see a Quinjet hovering overhead. A cable shot from the underbelly of the jet and a lone figure slid down.
The figure was male and, as Spider-Man was able to make, wore a black and purple, sleeveless bodysuit. A bow was latched to his back, which he quickly drew and he fired a single arrow at the gathered inmate. The arrow seemed to open mid-flight and extend into a net, capturing the inmates all in one shot. He spun around, displaying stylish shades and a wry smile.
"Sup, Spidey?"
"Clint Barton?! What're you doing here?"
Clint Barton, better known as Hawkeye of the Avengers, fired another arrow in front of a group of inmates. It detonated in a shower of sparks that knocked them back. "I was in the neighborhood, having another long, boring discussion with Fury over… uh, something totally forgettable."
Spider-Man fired webbing at another lowly inmate and asked, "Where are the rest of the Avengers?"
"They're all the way down in Latveria, having another rivetingly encounter with Dr. Doom." Hawkeye stated and knocked back another inmate.
"You alone, or did you bring company?" Spider-Man asked. As soon as he did, a lucky inmate got too close for comfort.
Almost immediately, that same goon was shocked, or stung, into submission by a silvery disk. A redheaded woman descended from the Quinjet garbed in an all black suit. She dropped in between another group of inmates that tried to attack. She easily outmaneuvered them and beat them back with a series of martial arts blows. Then she tossed another of the strange disks onto another pair of inmates, stinging them and bringing them down in moments. Spider-Man recognized the woman to be Natasha Romanoff, the Black Widow.
Black Widow looked at Spider-Man and Hawkeye and asked, "Are you two finished joking around?"
Spider-Man leered at Hawkeye and said, "Oh that's perfect. You had to bring the spider that eats other spiders."
Hawkeye fired another arrow before he replied, "Would you rather I'd brought along the Hulk?"
"I'd rather you'd brought Ms. Marvel." Spider-Man quipped.
Black Widow fought off another inmate, apparently breaking his arm in the process. "Spider-Man, you need to get inside the prison and reactivate the generator. Hawkeye and I will help the police to keep the inmates contained."
"You heard the lady, Spidey. Get going; we got this." Hawkeye exclaimed.
With a nod, Spider-Man fired a web line and swung above the courtyard. The inmates were still rioting all around, but the police and Riker's security, along with Black Widow and Hawkeye, were holding their own better than Spider-Man expected. It wasn't all that bad to have some backup for a change. Spider-Man found his way to the rooftops of the prison and hunted for a way to get inside. He found an air vent, pulled the covering free and leapt inside. All he had to do now was find the generator room and get the generator back up and running. Peace of cake, he thought.
After a long but quick crawl through the vents, Spider-Man made it inside the prison, specifically into the detention area where the worst of the worst were normally kept. The worst of the worst didn't exactly include the super villains that were kept in the Vault; just the random murderers and thieves and psychos. Spider-Man dropped into the control center for the detention area and studied the still functioning computer. The generator wasn't too far from his position. That was the good news. The bad news was that the generator room was at the other end of the Vault.
"Of course the generator's there," Spider-Man stated on the generators location. "I'll have to make a note to thank the architects."
Wasting no time, Spider-Man started the swing toward the entrance to the Vault, the specially designed section of Riker's for the super villains Spider-Man had battled over his career. Along the way, Spider-Man made of the eerily calm surroundings of the prison's interior, surmising that most of the inmates were in the courtyard. Spider-Man inwardly hoped that Hawkeye and Black Widow were doing okay without him. But they were members of the Avengers; they'd battled the like of Dr. Doom and Loki. They could easily handle a pack of rowdy criminals.
Eventually finding his way to the entrance area of the Vault, and thinking Jameson was going to have field day, Spider-Man noted that nothing appeared to be amiss. He was still cautious; after all, these special cells housed some of his deadliest enemies. Wary of his surroundings, Spider-Man took to clinging to the ceiling. As he crawled passed every cell, he noted their occupants.
One cell housed MacDonald Gargan, AKA Scorpion, who leered at Spider-Man with disdain. He obviously wasn't a threat without his tail. The cell across from Gargan's housed a large mound of sand that seemed to move on its own, indicating the presence of Flint Marko, the Sandman. The next cell was home to Max Dillon, AKA Electro. He was restrained in some sort of apparatus that nullifier his electricity. That alone confirmed that Electro wasn't responsible for the power failure on the rest of the island.
Spider-Man continued on toward the generator, passing by the cells of Lonnie Lincoln, Mark Rexton, Quentin Beck and Phineas Mason: Tombstone, Molten Man, Mysterio and Tinkerer. Then Spider-Man stopped and dropped down. He peered into a particular cell that housed a particular foe; Otto Octavius, AKA Doctor Octopus. He didn't look much like an octopus without his metal arms. A pang of anger for the man responsible for the death of George Stacy welled up in Spider-Man, though he managed to compose himself. It was at that moment that Octavius looked up and saw Spider-Man standing there, looking right back at him.
"I assume that this is not a social visit." Octavius said.
"I didn't think you got visits 'round here, Doc." Spider-Man replied. There was a tinge of hostility in his words.
If Octavius was even slightly nervous, he didn't show it. "If you're here expecting a fight, you're going to quite disappointed, Spider-Man."
"As much as I'd like to go a couple rounds with you, Otto, I've got more important business to handle. But if you're half as intelligent as you claim to be, you'll stay right there in that cell where you belong; with all the other crazies." Spider-Man threatened.
Octavius huffed and smirked and said, "As if I had any intention to escape. No, I'll continue to atone for my actions that day. George Stacy; he died protecting an innocent while we fought like madmen. I give that man has all the respect in the world. Too bad I can't say the same for you."
Spider-Man narrowed his eyes at Octavius coldly "Whatever." he muttered.
"Before you head off to save the day, I should inform you that this is no ordinary power failure. You see, in return for a reduced sentence, I agreed to assist in the maintenance and repair of the generator. The machine itself is foolproof, but it can still be compromised… by an outside source."
"Who caused it? It wasn't Electro and I sure as hell know it couldn't have been Kingpin."
"Who do you think?" Octavius asked.
Before Spider-Man could reply, he felt a moist feeling at his feet and looked down a puddle of water rapidly forming around him. Looking ahead of him, Spider-Man noticed a cell fill with water and nothing inside; not even a shark. It was no ordinary body of liquid, and there was a crack in the Plexiglas. Within moments of his spider sense going off, the Plexiglas shattered to pieces and the body of water burst through. It unnaturally turned and head right for Spider-Man, who quickly fired a web in the opposite direction and headed back the way he came. As fast as Spider-Man was, the water, that seemingly living body of liquid was faster. It reached and slammed into Spider-Man, carrying back out into the detention area.
Spider-Man was literally thrown across the length of the detention area, slamming into the wall with the force of a wrecking ball. The water receded and began to take on a humanoid shape, while Spider-Man tried to recover as much and as fast as possible. He looked up and saw the man that was source of the inside tidal wave that slammed into him; Morris Bench, AKA Hydro-Man.
"Looks like you crawled up the wrong waterspout, Spider-Man."
"Ugh, that pun is so twenty years ago… Water Boy." Spider-Man retorted, right before he was hit with a jet of water and slammed into the same wall.
Hydro-Man approached Spider-Man and claimed, "Trust me; I've got more where that came from."
Hydro-Man readied another jet of water with both of his arms and cut loose, but Spider-Man was able to avoid the assault. Spider-Man leapt ahead of the water jet with every once of muscle he put into every spring. Hydro-Man was relentless, shooting random jets at the web slinger with reckless abandon. Spider-Man was able to get ahead enough to fire a line and get swinging. He continued to dodge jets of water coming at him like missiles. The water jets missed and slammed into the wall and ceiling, making it seem like it was raining inside the prison. Spider-Man clung to a wall but he lost his grip due the slickness caused by Hydro-Man's attacks.
Spider-Man managed to land on his feet when Hydro-Man shot out another jet of water. The jet missed its mark when Spider-Man jumped it and then jumped over another. He continued his defensive maneuvering, all the while getting closer to Hydro-Man without the villain realizing it. They were face to face, and Spider-Man began punching Hydro-Man in the face as hard as he could. But with each punch, all Spider-Man was really striking was water. Hydro-Man's reformed and he smiled before using his torso to shoot Spider-Man across the detention area.
Reforming his frame, Hydro-Man boasted, "Are you really going to tell me that you hadn't figured it out yet? I'm a living body of water, Spider-Man. You can't beat me."
"Nope, but I can do this," Spider-Man fired two lines of webbing that wrapped around Hydro-Man and brought him down to the floor. "Now if you'll excuse me, Water Boy, I've got a generator to fix."
His spider sense went off again and this time, Spider-Man knew what was coming… from behind. Spider-Man bounded up to avoid the sudden random charge of the Rhino. Rhino ran across the area and crashed into the wall across the way, literally bringing the wall down. Spider-Man was perched on the above where Rhino entered and noticed Hydro-Man starting to seep out of his web trap, and he quickly webbed the holes shut to keep the watery villain contained. Rhino recovered fast, brushing off the brick fragments like they were nothing, and he didn't look happy.
"You're a long way from your cobweb, bug." Rhino spouted.
"Yeah, but I brought an extra supply for those especially cold nights." Spider-Man quipped.
Rhino wasn't going to hear it and charged forward. Spider-Man dropped to the floor and fired a web into Rhino's eyes to blind. Then, Spider-Man hopped over Rhino and shot another line to the brute's feet. With a mighty pull, Spider-Man yanked the Rhino and sent him hitting the floor face first. At that very moment, the web trap burst and Hydro-Man was loose. A waterspout formed and raced for Spider-Man, who attempted to swing clear of the spout but was caught by it. Spider-Man was spun around before the waterspout receded, but then Spider-Man was caught in Rhino's hands. Rhino slammed Spider-Man into the floor and kicked him across the length of it. Spider-Man came to a stop in a puddle that formed into watery tendrils. The tendrils lifted Spider-Man up and tossed him back and forth across the detention area and right back to Rhino. Spider-Man recovered faster than either villain anticipated and swung around Rhino horn, holding on for dear life. Hydro-Man shot a water jet but blasted Rhino when Spider-Man moved. Spider-Man landed but took another jet into his chest. The jet planted him into the wall and held him there for a minute and a half before the water receded.
Spider-Man dropped to the floor seemingly beaten while Hydro-Man and Rhino stood over him. "They don't make spiders like they used to, huh?" Hydro-Man mockingly said.
Rhino added, "They still squash."
During the exchange, Spider-Man was barely moving.
Having long decided to return to Peter's apartment, Gwen was more than even a little worried and scared for Peter, knowing he was putting his life on the life at Riker's Island. Yet, at the same time, Gwen was also very proud of him for doing it. It reminded her of the kind of work her father did, and how she always worried that he wouldn't come home. Obviously, Capt. Stacy never did come home, but Gwen had hope that Peter would. He was as much a part of Gwen's life as she was a part of Peter's. So she watched the news feed the live images of the Riker's Island riot. She held her hands together as if in prayer; a prayer to God that Peter would come home.
"Come back to me, Peter. Please." she whispered.
As she watched news, Gwen was far from aware of the other presence in the apartment. Hidden from view, the Green Goblin watched and studied with same evil intent he'd always displayed. Nothing was stopping him from jumping out of the shadows, grabbing that treacherous harlot that hurt Harry (in his mind) and choking the life out of her. It wouldn't be quick and painless, but very slow and painful. But the Green Goblin's ego halted him. He wanted to wait and savor the moment, and when the moment arrived and the girl least expected it…
…and then, the Green Goblin would strike.
To Be Continued…
Author's note: That didn't take long. Writer's Block may be on a holiday. I decided to make this into a two-part event to avoid some form of burn out.
I understand that a lot of reviews had been clamoring for a cameo from other heroes and I'd initially planned for only Hawkeye to appear, but I added Black Widow along with him. I chose them because they were most grounded out of the bunch.
Speaking of cameos, there were a handful of cameos from some of Spider-Man's classic foes, including Doctor Octopus, who appeared to show a small measure of remorse for Capt. Stacy's death as well as knowledge that nothing is as it seems. Spider-Man can get pretty serious, too.
Finally, my plan was to put Spider-Man up against both Hydro-Man and Rhino, especially since the former was barely used, if at all, in all the times he's appeared in any form of TV. He's a poor man's Sandman but let's give the guy a break at least. And, Rhino is… well, he's Rhino. 'Nuff said.
Leave a review, pretty please with visions of Ms. Marvel dancing in my head. I know; I've got issues.