System Shock

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

Three walls, one of wood, one of bricks and one of concrete, were utterly demolished by three consecutive powerful blasts!

A man with metallic gloves took off his protective mask and turned to face an audience of men in business suits watching from afar.

"This, esteemed members of the board, is the result of several months of hard work and technological processing! High powered SHOCKER gauntlets" Shun Oshiro explained to his audience. "These gloves project small yet powerful shockwave blasts that, as you saw, can destroy objects with ease! These will be perfect for demolition purposes as well as clearing pathways for vehicles to pass by!"

He closed his eyes and smirked, "With support from the Yashida Company, my hope is these will become the go-to tools for engineers in the world of construction and engineering."

The board members remained silent with blank looks. The one in the middle of the board table stood up.

"Yes, that is a very impressive display. Surely a fine piece of work… but we cannot accept this."

Clearly a response Shun wasn't expecting, considering his eyes bulged out and his smirk turned to a frown.

"May I ask why, sir?"

"It is because it is impractical." The man in the middle responded dispassionately at the outburst. "We spent a lot of money on it to just produce one pair of those gloves, it would take away jobs from construction workers and we already have much cheaper resources that accomplish the job without this expensive technology."

"So it is rejected then." Shun stated flatly.

"A fine idea-." interrupted the man in the middle. "But ultimately more flawed than it is worth. The project is indeed rejected."

Shun clenched his fist as he looked down at the floor. Oshiro had worked hard on this invention for months, countless hours devoted to getting the details right. But now that work was wasted, washed away in the sea of rejection by corporate business.

"However…" Shun looked up at the voice. "There could still be some use for it."

"Really?" From his earlier gloom, it gave away to joy. Shun was careful to keep a calm composure, though the knowledge work will not be for nothing made it hard to remain so. "What do you mean?"

"You will receive a call tomorrow." The man in the middle turned around, facing the window. "For now, you are dismissed."

Kenichiro Yashida might have an idea for the the gloves' use.

Miss Amari was more than a little annoyed at the moment.

The student in front of her was asleep on his desk right in the middle of her math lecture. Some students were snickering behind him, while others are busily focused on writing notes like the good students they are.

The boy's sleeping face was almost enough to stop her from interrupting.

Almost.

"Wake up Ikari!"

But not quite.

Shinji woke up startled. His hands grabbed on to the desk and-

RRRIIIIIP

A perfectly good desk was ruined.

"This is the third time, Ikari! Nevermind your sleep, you've broken three desks over the course of the month! I don't know what you do over the nights, but get your act together or else." Miss Amari reprimanded.

For his part, Shinji had the decency to look sheepish. "I'm sorry. I… got caught up in some things."

"Well you need to work on how you manage your time. Keep this up and you'll get into trouble." Miss Amari goes back to her seat.

As she did, Shinji looked at the board. He got his pencil and wrote down notes as he thought about the night a month ago.

Shinji stood there, looking over the two thugs.

He was shaking, some bruises evident on his face and he drew some blood from his mouth, but the thugs on the ground were in slightly worse shape than he was.

"MY NOSE!" At least Shinji didn't have a broken nose. Even he cringed as the thug slowly got up clutching his nose as the other one laid against the wall.

"L-leave her alone!" Shinji tried to sound authoritative, but it came out more like a hoarse and nervous tone instead.

The thugs, after getting up, quickly walked away. One thug, though, threw in his own two cents.

"We know what you look like! Next time we see you, we'll kick your ass hard!"

Shinji's eyes widened. Crap, he hadn't thought of that! 'What do I do?' He thought in a panic as he clutched his gut, which was in pain from the fight.

He felt a soft hand on his shoulder.

"Are you alright?" The woman- the one Shinji tried to save- grabbed a hold of both his shoulders. "I'll call the hospital-"

"No no, I'll be fine." Shinji groaned, looking over her. "At least you're… alright…"

The woman let out a small smile. "That's right… You saved me. Thank you so much!"

Shinji smiled at the memory. He helped someone that time, and was appreciated.

However, he didn't forget what the thug said. If he went out and just attacked people, he could get attacked by random people in return.

Shinji looked over the bag, spotting a white shirt, cheap jeans, and a black mask with eye and nose holes.

The next day, he went to a store and bought these clothes so that if he had to do stuff like that again, he wouldn't have to worry about some criminal recognizing and trying to kill him. That would a damper on a lot of things, mainly having a quiet living. He had to wear these for some of his… nightly activities. The curfew around 10:00 PM gave him the unique opportunity to sneak around in the darkness to use his powers around the block. He kept to the shadows to avoid police or random citizens spotting him clearly

The last thing Shinji wanted was to be in the spotlight.

He briefly turned his head backwards to see Kotei snickering with his pals while pointing at him.

Well, more so than necessary.

"Oh, I forgot to mention class, that we will be having a new student attending our course. She got top marks in the math courses, so you best be taking cues from her." Miss Amari said. "Treat her with kindness while she's here."

It was then the door to the class slid open.

In came a young girl. A very pale girl, with glasses and black hair that reached slightly past her shoulders. She didn't have the traditional uniform, rather a white shirt with a yellow sleeveless cardigan and a green skirt. She also had a mole underneath her mouth.

She looked over the class nervously with her red eyes.

"Um… uh, hello! My name is Yamagishi Mayumi. I look forward to being with you!" She said while bowing.

She quietly sat down… right next to Shinji, who had be staring at her since her entrance into the class.

Mayumi looked around, awkwardly watching students to the front and back of her. When she turned to Shinji, she noticed his stare. This caused her to blush slightly. Then she noticed something.

"Your desk… what happened to it?"

"Huh?" Shinji stopped staring at Mayumi, looking down at the desk. "Umm… I broke it."

"… oh." She simply said, turning away from him to pay attention to Miss Amari.

Shinji sighed… then he realized something.

He had been staring at a girl.

'And she NOTICED, I was staring too long!' Shinji thought to himself while also trying to pay attention to the lesson. 'This is so embarrassing, why did I keep staring? She probably thinks I'm creepy now!'

Shinji's mood got better by the time lunch approached.

He was able to eat his food with a measure of peace. Ever since the fight on the rooftop, Kotei hadn't come to him once. It was kind of refreshing to be honest. He was no longer being harassed by Kotei or other people. Especially when he can just detect danger with his spider-sense, so he can just side step any trouble.

He finished the last of his rice when he spotted Mayumi. She was making her way around the cafeteria tables awkwardly, seemingly unsure of where she could sit down.

'Probably because she just got here.' Shinji thought.

Luckily for her, someone stood up and was coming over to help Mayumi.

Unluckily for her, it was Tsuyoshi Kotei, class representative and beater of students. He tapped a finger over her shoulder, causing her to turn around to meet him.

"Say, you're Yamagishi right?" Kotei opened with that.

"Um, y-yeah." Mayumi looked away from Kotei. The latter moved his hand to reach Mayumi's own.

"Well since you're new here how about I show you around?" Kotei said with a polite smile. while simultaneously gripping her hand.

"I think I'll…be… fine…" Mayumi trailed off. For her part she felt uncomfortable. She didn't like being gripped like that, Kotei just kept giving her bad vibes. She tried moving away, but was stopped.

"Don't be shy, I'm just here to help! As class representative, it's my duty to help any students after all." Either Kotei hadn't notice she was uncomfortable or didn't care. He just continued smiling.

Normally Shinji would have just ignored such an event… but he didn't need spider-sense to figure out this wasn't going to go well.

That and Mayumi looked seriously scared… that got to him.

"So what do you say?" Kotei asked again, firmer.

"Well-" Mayumi was about to give in-

"Oh, uhh, hello there." Shinji softly spoke. Mayumi and Kotei turning to him surprised,. "You're Yamagishi right? Uhh, Miss Amari said you got top marks in math right?"

Mayumi nodded, "Y-yeah, I do."

"In that case, errrm," Shinji continued, "I was thinking of asking if you could help me with some math homework? Some of it can be, uh, really confusing. Sorry!"

Kotei looked incredibly annoyed, "I bet you could use some help, Ikari, but Yamagishi might need a tour around the school-"

"I wouldn't mind!" She blurted out suddenly. That little outburst surprised Kotei enough to let go of her hand as she walked over to Shinji. Blushing a little, she looked at him with thankful eyes.

"Well if you insist…" Kotei grumbled as he walked away, probably to join Shiraishi and his other guys at his own table.

This left Shinji and Mayumi alone together. He waved a hand at her so she could join him at the table. For some reason, she did.

"So, what did you need help with?" Mayumi asked.

It was then that Shinji realized that he was talking to Mayumi. Talking to a girl.

At that realization, Shinji quickly shook his head while wringing his hands, "NO! uhh, um, actually I- I didn't need help." He blushed as he tried to explain quickly, "I thought- well I mean- I saw Kotei was bothering you so- maybe… help?"

"… oh." Mayumi nervously looked down. "Well… thanks?," she scratched her nose, "Sorry, I'm not used to people."

Shinji smiled slightly. "M- me neither."

The two just sat down in silence the rest of the time.

Shinji took a turn down the corner to get to his house. Aside from breaking a desk again and that thing with Mayumi, today was relatively uneventful. That was how he liked it honestly. He didn't like attention to much. He took his key out and entered the front door.

"I'm home," he said, letting his back pack down next to the door as he walked to the kitchen.

Nobody was here.

Shinji frowned, then shook his head. 'He's not here.' He thought with sadness. 'Why? Why do I keep thinking-?'

He rubbed the table with his hand.

He and Yamashiro barely spoke, but with him gone, the house had become emptier. A presence was gone.

Because he was a coward.

He was cowardly, sneaky and weak.

Shinji forced himself away from the kitchen before those thoughts overtook him. He went into his room, having slammed the door shut to lie on the bed. He couldn't think about it- he didn't want to think about it. Thinking about it-

He felt something watery in his eyes.

He needed to go. He needed- he needed to do something. To stop thinking.

Shinji took the suit out of his bag.

After putting it on, he opened the window and jumped out of it.

It was getting dark soon, so he'd have work to do.

If there was one thing Shinji enjoyed about his new hobby, it was the freedom.

The freedom he felt as he jumped across rooftops. The freedom he felt as he used his webbing to zip across buildings. The freedom and catharsis he felt of just using his powers- of being himself- without worrying, without limits, when every other time of the day he had to keep it under control.

"This is amazing!" Shinji said to no one but himself.

He couldn't help it, this feeling was sensational! He even had a small little grin as he jumped this time. He took a look around his surroundings, below to the streets.

So far, it seemed like there was no one in trouble tonight. No muggers, ATM robbers, not even the odd carjacker. That one time he tripped up a carjacker was kinda weird. This worked fine for the boy, since it meant more time appreciating his nocturnal freedom.

Shinji was about to call it quits tonight-

CLANG!

Turns out he couldn't check out just yet.

Shinji's spider sense kicked in, so without hesitation he jumped right into the building. He noticed it was a bank. 'A robbery?' Shinji crawled up to the ceiling, to avoid being detected immediately by the robbers.

'Let me see.' Shinji thought, as he sneakily watched the thugs who broke in. Four masked men, three wearing brown jackets and black masks. The other one had a yellow mask, a thicker yellow jacket with a brown vest with pouches and cargo pants.

Odd get up, but otherwise just a normal heist.

THWIP!

Shinji webbed one thug's leg and dragged him to the ground.

"What the hell-?" THWIP! Another thug's face was webbed up.

The third thug got his gun and began shooting, but Shinji jumped up next to a table, propelling himself towards him and kicking his face in.

The second thug ripped off the webbing from his face, but not before Shinji punched him in the guts, then his face knocking him down to the floor.

The first thug grabbed a gun and shot at Shinji. His spider sense warned him in time, so the bullet only grazed his shoulder.

"GAH!" It unfortunately hit the man with the yellow jacket in the stomach. While nonfatal, his eyes bulged and he panicked. "SHOOT HIM, NOT ME YOU IDIOTS!"

Shinji webbed the first thug's gun, pulling it away before kicking him in the shins. No reason to get shot again if he could avoid it.

At that point the yellow jacket man was in an understandable state of fear over getting shot, yelling out, "NO! You won't get ME!"

Just as Shinji was lunging at him, the guy raised his fists to meet him-

BOOM!

Suddenly Shinji found himself crashing into a pillar, causing a large dent on it in the process. He clutched his head in pain, his vision getting blurry.

"Let's get out of here!" he heard, and for a few brief seconds he saw some shapes appearing and disappearing from his line of sight.

'Didn't… see that coming.' he thought as he got up from the pillar, hearing the alarm blaring while wiping off dust from his shirt. 'Just what was that?'

He took a moment to rub his eyes, restoring his line of vision before he took a walk outside.

'Whoever he was, he managed to mess up the place bad.' Shinji looked around shocked by the damage done by the yellow jacketed man. The large window in the front of the bank was broken by a table crashing outside, plant vases were smashed and papers were spread throughout the floor, some flying outside. He glanced at the bank, somewhat amazed by the results.

Before he had time to think about it further, he heard sirens.

A police car stopped right in front of Shinji. Two officers came out of the car, pointing their guns at him..

"Stand down! You are under arrest!" yelled out the first officer, "Put your hands up!"

It probably wasn't a smart move all things considered, but Shinji obeyed the officer's instructions and placed his hands up.

"i- I didn't do it!" Shinji said, hoping (perhaps unrealistically) that they'd believe him.

If only he was so lucky.

"Likely story, now get down on the ground!" Said the other officer, walking over with a pair of cuffs.

'Crap, what do I do?' Shinji considered his next move. He didn't rob the bank, didn't want to get arrested, there two cops going to arrest him, they don't believe him, and have cuffs and guns ready for him.

Clearly there was only one option.

THWIP!

"Hey wait!" The officers fired at Shinji, but he zipped away fast enough to avoid a bullet in the chest.

"AARGH!"

Unfortunately, not fast enough to avoid a bullet in the hip.

Clutching his hip, he pushed himself into the air pulling on his webline, launching another one to quickly swing away from the scene.

It was really hard swinging on the webs when he has a hole in his hip that he needs treatment for, but Shinji couldn't go to a hospital. Doctors might ask questions, and the police might find out who he is if they went there. He needs to go-

Shinji groggily got through the window of his house, falling straight to the floor. He took off his mask, revealing bulging, scared blue eyes. His heartbeat raced as he took deep breaths to try calming himself down.

When he removed his hand from the wound, the bullet that caused it fell off. He took a look at his hand.

it was covered in red. Blood.

'Yamashiro…' Shinji crawled through the floor, his vision getting blurrier… before falling asleep.

In an old traditional dojo, two men were fighting with wooden practice swords.

A simple practice fight, to hone skills and challenge opponents to better oneself.

"HAH!" the first man swung to the left to attack, but the strike was cancelled in a downward block.

In a quick, violent motion, his opponent struck him in his lower right bicep, the left arm and the face. The first man struggled to stay up, making a desperate right swing. The opponent met his swing with one of his own, disarming the bokken into the air and hitting the shoulder, knocking him down.

A simple practice fight, to beat your opponent into submission and prove your dominance.

Kenichiro Yashida grabbed a towel, wiping away sweat from his daily workout. His servants placed his beaten partner on a stretcher and carried him away. He had to keep his skill up. As the head of the Kuzuryu Crime Syndicate he needed to maintain not only a presence of authority but also strength of mind and body. No weakness.

Another servant came by, carrying a phone. "Sir, we just received a report on the planned robbery. It was ruined. Out of the five men sent, only Oshiro came back, with nothing. He's on the phone."

If Yashida was angry, he made no show of it. "Thank you for the report. I'll deal with Oshiro myself. Go."

The servant left while Yashida brought the phone to his ear.

"Mr. Yashida! Oh my God, you won't believe what hap-"

"You didn't get the money."

Yashida felt the wince from the other line as he walked outside of the dojo into his office, where a flower pot and water were sitting on his table.

"I'm so sorry! I followed what you said okay? Me and your guys- we broke into the bank and I was about to use the SHOCKER gloves to break the vault. But someone, some guy in a mask, he shot some weird stuff an- and, he just came in and took everyone down!"

Yashida could tell Shun was on the verge of a nervous breakdown. "Take a breath, Oshiro. Calm yourself. What happened?"

"One of your men- he- he shot at the masked man, but hit me instead! I panicked and shocked the masked guy with the gloves and ran away as fast as I could! I'm so sorry Mr. Yashida, I tried!"

"You were disrupted." Yashida calmly responded. "Unfortunate, but not a big set back."

He turned and grabbed the water vase. "There will be another robbery tomorrow. You will get a second chance there."

Shun yelled out in graciousness, "Thank you so much, Mr. Yashida! I swear to you, my project won't be useless- I won't be useless! I will remain useful to you!"

Yashida hung up on Oshiro. He poured water from the vase onto his flower.

"I certainly hope you will remain so." he murmured to himself.

Mayumi Yamagishi liked the library.

People can be overwhelming, especially in a big city like Kokoro. That's why she preferred being in a place like this. It was quiet and relaxing, a piece of personal heaven.

No one she has to talk to.

Walking through the aisle, she was wondering if the school library had the book she was looking for. She scrolls down with her finger and- yes, Gliding Through a Dream! Mayumi always found that book interesting, so she grabbed it off the shelf and placed it along with four other books she was carrying. She was planning on reading one or two and take the others back home to finish.

She turned and proceeded walk out of the aisle-

CRASH!

"Whoah!"

"Sorry!"

Mayumi readjusted her glasses, which allowed her to see she bumped into was that weird boy from yesterday. Ikari was it?

"I-I'm sorry!" the boy quickly said, "I wasn't looking where I was going!"

Mayumi waved it off, "No, I'm sorry, I should have-"

"Shhhhh!"

The librarian was not having any talking in her library.

The two blushed after being shushed into silence. Looking at each other, much like in the lunchroom, the two of them entered an awkward silence.

"Let… let's just sit down okay?" Mayumi asked in a whispery tone.

He nodded. After arranging her books, the two strolled over to a table. Mayumi noticed while they were walking that Ikari seemed to be wobbling, his hand clutching his hip. She didn't ask about it. 'Probably sprained it somehow.'

They sat down together on the table, each opening their books to read. Mayumi too notice that Ikari had a Math textbook.

"Homework?" She decided finally to ask.

"Well, errr, I fell asleep in Miss Amari's classroom, so I missed out on some things. I need to catch up," Ikari responded, showing a section he was reading.

He took his own glance at Mayumi's book. "So… you like reading?"

Mayumi actually seemed to beam a little at that, "Y-yeah. I do. The book I'm reading… it's called Gliding Through a Dream. It's a memoir written by a famous inventor named Jean Rocque Raltique. Did you know he invented a fully functional airplane a few years before the Wright Brothers did?"

Ikari looked surprised, "Wait really?"

"Yeah! He invented many things way before others did, in fact it was his blueprints and ideas that formed the basis for a lot of technology refined over the years. To think, he managed to make all of this back in 1890's! His inventions often malfunctioned when he first made them. He thought of giving up once or twice when they didn't turn out his way."

At that Ikari gained a more downcast expression. His shoulders drooped a bit, and he seemed more hesitant.

"If his inventions didn't always work… then why did he keep going? Why didn't he give up?"

Mayumi noticed the change in mood. Having an odd feeling, she continued, "Well in his book, he said that failure was just part of the process of learning. With each failure he worked on figuring out the bugs and got better and better, especially once he had other people to share ideas and work with. That's his reasoning anyway."

Something changed in Ikari when he heard that. For a second, his eyes gained a sense of determination Mayumi had not seen before, and his hands were brought together. Whatever she said, it must have helped.

"He seems like a great person. You really like this stuff?"

Mayumi nodded, "I do! I like reading books… I actually kind of prefer reading them. People can be kind of scary," She looked down, "Sorry, it sounds weird doesn't it?"

"Oh no, I know what you mean. I kind of prefer to listen to music on my S-DAT player instead of interacting with people." Shinji responded smiling.

"I guess we have that in common." Mayumi smiled back.

Like in the lunchroom the two went into silence. This time, however, it didn't feel so awkward.

An armored truck was driving down the lane.

Security decided not to take any chances. After the near break in, the bank made the decision to just transport the money to a more secure vault in another part of town. They did not inform the police or hire guards to save on costs. The bank did not think it was going to be a problem.

BOOM!

They were wrong.

The Kuzuryu figured out the trajectory of the vehicle, and thus a plan was sprung. The street was picked perfectly. Thanks to the curfew, no one would be outside to witness the crime while any police wouldn't be close enough to prevent this robbery. All it took was a well placed shock blast to turn the vehicle over to it's side and all of it's contents were there for the taking.

Oshiro was truly blessed to have this night.

"Alright, you know the orders, let's get the money and get outta here." said the head goon as he and the four thugs along with Oshiro headed over to the truck. The driver was knocked out by the shock blast, so no one was going to call for help. The thug opened up the back of the truck with a crowbar, allowing the group to take out their bags and stockpile them with stolen cash.

'With this, I can make up for my failure. I will remain useful!' Shun thought excitedly as he filled his own bag. 'As long as I can be of use, nothing will stand in my way!'

THWIP!

Something does.

A thug only had seconds to notice a web stuck to his chest before a shadow kicked him to the ground!

After crashing into the thug, Shinji jumped from him and landed on the truck.

"It's that guy! Get him!" Shun shouted angrily, aiming his gloves for a shock blast.

However, Shinji jumped out of the way his blast. He shot webs at two other thugs, attaching them to their guns so he could pull them away, knocking the thugs off balance.

When he landed on the floor, one thug was about to hit Shinji with the crowbar, but the boy's spider sense alerted him to the danger, allowing Shinji to dodge his swings and when the time is right- POW! A single punch sent him slightly flying, knocking that guy out.

The two thugs who's guns he took away brought out knives to take him out, but again Shinji jumped upwards as the goons missed, kicking the two in their faces which pushed him behind a car.

Which was good, since the head thug took out his gun and started shooting at the car. Shinji crouched to avoid the shots, moving quickly to the side. Looking to make sure if he could, Shinji sprang a web at his leg, pulling him towards him.

Now on the floor, the thug took a few seconds to point at Shinji, but those few seconds were enough for Shinji to lunge at him and punch his lights out.

While this happened, Shun fired up his gauntlets again.

"YOU'RE GONNA DIE!" Oshiro shouted angrily, performing another shock blast!

Shinji moved out of the way, which caused the car to soar and crash towards a window.

This caused a large alarm to sound off, since it was a store the car crashed in.

'No nonononono NO!' Oshiro couldn't fail here! He repeatedly shot at Shinji, but he kept moving and dodging which caused more damage around the neighborhood. He attracted attention, some civilians coming out to investigate against their better judgement.

"I can't lose! I won't be USELESS!" Oshiro was about to fire up another shot-

THWIP!

But he got some sticky stuff on his gloves.

"AAAAAAUUUGGGGHHHHH!"

A massive shock surrounded his entire body, his screams died out as he layed on the ground. Shinji placed fingers on his neck to check for a pulse. He found it, which meant Shun was merely knocked down to the gloves malfunctioning.

With that, Shinji webbed him to the ground.

Before he could leave though, he noticed there were people around him.

The shock blasts apparently woke up the neighborhood, so people were outside to see what happened.

"Ummm… someone call the police?" a nervous Shinji let out. Nobody moved, just staring. "… okay then."

Panicking, the boy launched a web line and and swung away.

He never could deal with attention.

"Breaking news! Last night an armed robbery of an armored car was stopped by a mysterious stranger in a mask!"

The news went out earlier this morning, with students going over and watching the TV in the lunchroom to see it. One of the civilians had managed to capture footage of the fight on a camera, which was being displayed on the news. At that moment it was showing the masked man dodging the shock blasts.

Shinji for his part was eating his food quietly trying not attract any attention to himself.

"Huh, how strange."

Today he wasn't alone in the table, having been joined by Mayumi Yamagishi. She too was paying attention to the TV.

"What do you mean?" Shinji asked.

"That masked guy. the way he moves…." She answered, "What was that stuff he was throwing at the criminals? It's kind of creepy"

"… oh." At that, Shinji chuckled nervously, "Yeah I guess so."

"You two are being foolish." Kotei looked on excitedly, "Creepy? Far from it, it's amazing! To think, we have a real superhero running around! The way he took down those guys was spectacular and sensational!"

He grinned, "Imagine if I had power like that. I would be so cool!"

Shinji shuddered at that.

"When you put it that way, I guess it is kind of exciting." Mayumi took a spoon of rice and eats it. "Never thought a real life superhero would show up for sure. Kind of like Ultraman."

"Super… hero…?" Shinji trailed off. He turned to face the TV to see someone being interviewed.

"I don't know who that person was, but he stopped those maniacs from causing more damage to our homes, so if he's watching, I want say thanks for saving us."

At that Shinji let out a small smile. He looked at his hand, then closed it into a fist tightly.

"Yeah!"

"No, this cannot keep happening."

Kenichiro Yashida for his part was not happy.

Not only was the robbery a disaster, but this time his men got caught along with Oshiro. He'll have to post bail for all of them under an anonymous account.

All because of that man. That masked man.

"The Kuzuryu can't have any interlopers ruining it's operations." Yashida said, as he poured some water on his flower. "We have to get rid of him."

He looked outside his window to see a nice view of Kokoro, it's tall buildings and it's people like ants. The Yashida Company had built this city from the ground up, providing it with everything. He had grown this little garden, it's plants and flowers with his own two hands.

He softly rubbed the flower in his pot, admiring the thorns it had near the bottom.

His empire had been building up since Second Impact.

He won't allow anyone… let alone this masked man to ruin his garden. His kingdom.

His destiny.

"AAAAAAAHHHHHH!"

A construction worker screamed while falling.

This one had finished up his work for the day. He placed his things into his box to allow someone else so take over his shift, but he made a tiny misstep, which caused him to slip up.

The result was a free fall down the site as everyone was panicking about his fall.

He screamed and cried out in desperation, when he felt something over his stomach.

An arm.

He looked up to see a masked individual focused ahead.

"I've got you, stay calm." He might have heard. It was difficult to tell in the moment with the winds breezing on his face and the sheer unbelievability of the moment dawning on his mind.

He felt a breeze as he was being taken from the site, seeing that the sidewalk coming closer and closer. Landing on the ground, the arm left him as the worker let out large, deep breaths in a panicky fashion.

The worker took a look at his savior.

A rather small one he was. He had a red jacket with no sleeves, instead showing white sleeves which was also the color of his pants. He had some black gloves and a white mask, with some odd yellow lensed goggles on top of it. In the center of the jacket was a little squiggly symbol of a spider.

"You okay?" the masked man said.

"Yeah… thanks…" The worker drawled out in response. "Who are you?"

The masked marvel waved his head from side to side. "Ummm… man. Spider-Man." He said (somewhat) confidently. Then he turned around, launching a web up. "Make sure not to fall off the beams!"

The man- Spider-Man- swung away on his web, as several people gathered to watch him go.

And with that, a flame of hope was born.