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The cocktail was warm. He didn't like it. It's not meant to be chilled, they'd say. The rocks are what makes it better, they'd claim. Brings out the flavour is what they'd tell him with a drunken grin as they splash an obscene amount of ice in the unpleasantly warm, fruity alcoholic drink that he's sure they can't identify a single ingredient of. They never can, they just talk and talk to sound like they know, but they don't. He'd pissed in a punch bowl once and everyone drank it and called it a "strong, yet not unpleasant twist to a playful taste." The memory made his lips twitch.
Brings out the flavour his ass. They'd walk around, talking and swirling the drink until all the ice had disappeared and only then would they sip it and grimace at it's taste. A bunch of pansies. Didn't know how to party. Rich men, beautiful women on a rooftop at night and all they did was talk and talk while some bland classical played in the background.
He knew what they needed. They needed the life of a party. Someone to show them there was more to a party than talk and drink. That there was more to a good party than putting on a fancy suit and combing your hair and pretending you're waiting to meet the queen of England. But first…first…
He bobbed his head to the orchestra in his mind, a dull tune echoing from far away, as he tapped his feet and bent his knees and twirled and hopped and bopped his shoulders and stepped to the left and shuffled to the right and the iced water cubes became iced spirit cubes and the cocktails became cold as a cat's heart and did a spin and the purple blazer became a leather jacket and the trousers became jeans and the shoes remained shoes and Ludwig Van Beethoven's music joined Ludwig Van Beethoven in his grave and heads twisted as drums filled the air and feet began to tap and bodies began to move.
That's a catchy tune, they said. They should hear his father play. If this was catchy, his father was imprisoney. They moved their heads to the music and broke into light, dignified dances as they went to refill their glasses with cold punch and dropped in an obscene amount of iced spirit cubes that they thought were iced water cubes. It was getting good soon, very soon.
He moved around, danced around them, enthralling them. A black man in black dancing and laughing, standing out from the white men in black and the black men in black, his white teeth outshining their yellowing dentals and the happy curve of his lips fit his face more than the dignified straight lines that were the lips of theirs. He is handsome, the ladies said. He is a buffon, the men said. What made him so happy, the ladies and the men asked. Music, he told them.
And the drums beat afresh, determined to make the white men in black and the black men in black and the white ladies in gowns and the black ladies in gowns dance with the black man in black and as they swirled the cold cocktail until the iced spirit cubes melted in and they sipped and they sipped and they sipped until their cheeks were ruddy and their words were slurry and their visions were blurry and walking was a game and none couldn't say his own name. Then, they joined the black man in black as he hopped and twirled and kicked his legs and shuffled to the drums.
Time stretched like a rubber and jackets went off and they danced wildly, all following the lead of the black man in black who in spite of all now being like him, still stood out for his grin and his dance. Been doing this since the womb, he told the drunken woman who laughed without hearing a word he'd said.
One moment, he united black men and white men and black women and white women until there were black hands atop white shoulders and white hands atop black shoulders until they formed a big circle like their mother's cooking pot as they followed him, kicking along with the drums. A conga line, he called it.
And he led them all around the rooftop until they reached the pool at the edge where since he was feeling so generous, he would teach them to walk on water. Just a matter of confidence, he said to them. They laughed and cheered and whooped and kicked their feet and followed him until their feet touched the water and so confident they were, they refused to believe the water would not swallow them and the water did not.
They stood and danced on the water, ecstatic about their triumph over the water and circled on its surface that rippled and churned but failed to part and continued to circle even as the black man in black departed from the circle and crouched and stretched out an arm and with that outstretched arm, a finger stretched out and a spider crawled onto the outstretched finger on the outstretched arm.
What the spider said to him, no one will ever know for no mere man and spider can never talk to one another, but the black man in black was no mere man and so he could talk just as he could listen and when he listened, his bright grin dropped to a frown and he brought the spider close and stuffed it in the pocket of his leather jacket and the drums held no rhythm for him now because he walked to his own beat to the edge of the roof and he hopped off.
With him went the confidence and when the confidence was gone, the water remembered that it was not meant to let men tread on top of it and it's mouth opened wide and swallowed all the black men in black and the white men in white and the black women in gowns and the white women in gowns and it's prison could take no more and the water was freed and it fled the roof, taking it's meal with it.
As the black man in black watched the others fall with him, a smile turned his frown upside down.
They sure did know how to party.
…
Naruto stared at his reflection in the mirror and his own face, with two blue eyes and grayed whites stared back at him. It was his face, he knew, but somehow, seeing it had managed to still surprise him.
Of all the dreams he'd had, the last one was the most disorientating and most disturbing of them all. He'd been the man and seen the man at the same time and unfortunately, he'd seen from both perspectives as the man unknowingly, or maybe knowingly, caused people to plummet to their deaths from an infinity pool that gave way underneath their combined weight.
Jesus, I'm losing my mind, he thought to himself and splashed water on his face. As if it wasn't bad enough that spiders talked to him now, he couldn't even dream normal dreams anymore.
What's wrong?
He looked to the side to see a spider dangling off his mirror, the same spider that had told him to climb and showed him how to swing. "Nothing, I'm just thinking."
Of what?
He wondered whether to tell it. Would the concept of dreams even mean anything to a spider? But then again, he'd only started having them since one has bitten him so maybe they did. "I've been seeing…things in my sleep."
The spider tilted. Things?
"Things," he repeated. "It's like I'm looking at events happening from someone else's eyes. It's weird. I'm not just seeing, I can feel everything they feel and it's like I'm the one doing everything they did."
He unconsciously lowered his hand and stretched out a finger at the spider and just like the one in the dream had, it crawled up his finger to rest on the back of his hand. He watched as it made itself comfortable before feeling it focus back on him.
"You know," he began. "I think you need a name. "It's like you'll be sticking around longer than all the other spiders that showed up yesterday."
The spider seemed to look up at him. A name?
He nodded. "Yeah, a name. I can't just keep calling you spider now, can I?" He paused. "Well, I can but I don't want to."
What would it do?
His mind immediately filtered the question for the real meaning and he shrugged. "To identify you with. Besides, it helps you stand out from the others, like a lucky quarter you put in your breastpocket rather than your pants pocket with all the other coins."
The spider stayed silent for several seconds. I like having names.
"I'd like to have a name," he corrected it and smirked when it's embarrassment leaked over to his own mind. "Don't worry, stick around long enough and you'll be teaching your fellow crawlies linguistics."
He hummed as he tapped his chin with his toothbrush. "Now for the name…how about…Teach?"
Teach?
"I don't know, it feels right." Naruto twirled the brush in his hand. "You did teach me to make like a spider yesterday."
Teach, the spider said again. Naruto felt it contemplate the name before it sent him its approval. I like the name.
"Hey, I like it too." Naruto tossed the brush in the air and flicked his wrist, firing a short line of webbing that pushed and stuck the brush to the wall, far out of his reach. "Shit. I wasn't aiming that high."
Practice.
"You don't say," Naruto sighed. His hand-eye coordination had improved greatly but apparently, he was no sharpshooter. "Oh well."
He kicked off his footwear and clung to the bathroom wall. The tiles didn't make climbing any more difficult than concrete and in less than two seconds, he was near the ceiling. Teach had told him nothing would help him get used to his powers like constant practice but even after spending half the time before he slept crawling all around his walls and ceiling, he still hadn't gotten used to being able to stay on not only vertical surfaces, but upside down ones too.
Naruto took his hands off the wall and picked up the toothbrush, easily freeing it from it's silky confines. "Well that was easy. I wonder what time it is now."
"Naruto? You still in there? Are you talking to someone?" Tsunade's voice came from the other end of the door and the doorknob turned. In a fit of panic, Naruto fired a web at the top of the door, sealing it to it's frame. Tsunade tried to push it open, but to no avail. "What the hell? Open the door."
"Sorry, Granny. It's stuck," he lied as he quickly slid down to the floor. "Hold on, let me try something."
He pulled at the handle and the web split apart, letting the door swing open for him to see an irritated Tsunade standing at the other side. "I think the hinges have started giving away again."
"Shit. Again?" Tsunade's questions went forgotten in favour of groaning about the cost of repairing doors. "I told you to stop forcing it open and shut."
"I didn't even do anything."
"Whatever," Tsunade huffed. "Aren't you done? You've been in here for nearly half an hour now."
He'd been staring at himself that long? "Let me guess, the hot water not reaching you?"
"Maybe because you've had it running since you went in, you little shit." Tsunade scowled. "Look around you. The whole bathroom's steamed up. I've only been in here for a minute and I'm already sweating buckets."
Naruto frowned. "I don't feel warm."
"That's none of my problem. Turn it off. Some of us have places to be and we'd rather not get there shivering like a wet leaf."
"Yeah, yeah." Naruto turned off the tap with a sigh and Tsunade walked away, leaving him alone again. "Shit, Peter's going to kill me…wait, I'm not picking him up anymore."
Soon enough, he left the bathroom and Teach appeared on his shoulder again. "You know, you don't have to pull a disappearing act everytime someone other than me is around."
Don't want to be seen.
"You're a spider," he said. "I'm pretty sure the only insect more common than you is the housefly."
They kill us. Can't be seen.
"Oh." The spider's sadness put a damper on Naruto's mood as well. He lightly patted Teach with his index finger. "But you're still around. You're a real tough guy, aren't you?"
"Who are you talking to?" Tsunade asked from behind his door.
Naruto jumped. "Mind your business, granny. Don't you have a bath to take? "
"My godson going insane in my own home is my business. Do I need to sign you up for therapy? Is it because of what happened back at the expo?"
"Granny, I'm fine. Really." Naruto assured the woman. "Nothing's wrong."
"But you know you can tell me anything, right?"
"I know, but I'm fine." Naruto ran his hands through his hair. He liked Tsunade better when she wasn't being a worrywart. Teach's amusement bled over to him and he sent a halfhearted glare the spider's way. "It's your fault."
You talk loud.
"I don't know how to talk in my mind without zoning out." Naruto reduced his voice as he spoke. "I should probably learn that too. Don't want to go out and have people thinking I'm schizophrenic for talking to a disappearing spider."
He glanced at the clock. It was nearly seven. "Even when I'm not picking him, Peter always calls before now. You think you could tell your other spider buddies to check up on him?"
Buddies?
"Nevermind."
As if on cue, his phone rang out. Naruto picked it up and grinned at the caller's ID. "Speak of the devil." He picked up the call. "I was wondering when you'd call, Parker."
"Naruto?"
Naruto blinked. "MJ? What are you doing with Peter's phone?" Had she spent the night with the boy? That sly dog, him! He couldn't even blame him for not calling anymore.
"That's why I called, Naruto. It's Peter."
Mary Jane's usual silky smooth had roughened and she sniffed a lot, almost like she'd been crying. Wait, Peter? Naruto felt his stomach drop. "MJ, what happened? What happened to Peter?"
"They got in last night…Ben heard…he didn't see them well but Peter…he just wanted them to leave, Naruto! He didn't want to fight…"
"MJ calm down," Naruto dropped the phone to put his clothes on at breakneck speed. "Who got in? What fight?"
"They shot him! They shot Peter!"
Naruto froze. "What?"
…
"Two men broke into their home at about half past midnight," The middle aged policeman recounted while his partner casually ate a sandwich in the back. "Turns out the old man was the first to hear them scrounging around and he went to wake up the kid-"
"Peter," Mary Jane glared at him. "The kid's name is Peter." The man rolled his eyes.
"MJ, please." Naruto patted her on the shoulder. Her jaw worked a few times as she calmed herself before she sighed heavily and nodded.
The policeman continued, unperturbed. "The old man said he didn't see them properly but Peter did and he called out to them. They tried to assault them but Peter fought them both until one of them drew a live firearm and shot him twice. It was the aunt who called nine-one-one."
Naruto rubbed Mary Jane's shoulder comfortingly as she sniffled again. "And here we are."
"And here we are." The policeman nodded. "Gotta give the old man credit though. If he hadn't given the kid some rudimentary first aid, he might not have made it."
Naruto's frown deepened even further as he turned to look at Peter's sleeping form on the bed. The boy didn't look much different than how he'd been the previous day, but there was a stillness to him that he didn't like. The machine's beeping told that he was still alive but seeing him like this felt wrong.
When he'd arrived at the hospital, it had been when the doctors were giving their verdict on his case. They claimed the bullet had lodged in his spine and while it was removable, doing so was a very risky procedure that could end up doing more harm than good even if it succeeded. They'd decided to let nature run its course, but his body was as likely to eject the bullet while it healed as it was to heal around it. They couldn't predict which way it'd go, but both outcomes shared one common thing: he'd probably never be able to walk again.
Ben had been forced to take May back home due to her spiking blood pressure, leaving his nephew alone with his girlfriend, his friend and two policemen.
"Were you able to get anything about them from him?" Naruto asked the policeman. "Height? Face? Maybe gang tattoos? Any of that?"
"Woah, slow down, detective." The second policeman brought a sheet of paper and showed it to him. "And yeah, he described them to a sketch artist earlier this morning before the doctors had to sedate him and we tried to ID them. No names, criminal records or security numbers but some surveillance footage showed them chasing some guy several blocks away before losing him and moving on."
Everything the man said went unheard by Naruto who stared at the picture disbelievingly. They were the same two guys who'd tried to rob him last night!
If the policeman noticed his reaction, he didn't show it. "We're putting the same posters up on every platform and place we can. You can have this one," he gave Naruto the sheet. "You see them or anyone who even looks like them, call us."
Call us. The words felt like a hammer coming down on Naruto's ears. Tsunade had offered to call the police too, but he'd refused. No use, he'd thought. They'd have gone home before anyone could even find them, he'd thought. But he'd been wrong. They hadn't gone home, they'd gone on to shoot his best friend in his home.
What would happened if he'd let the police get alerted to two men running around trying to rob people? Would they have been found? Would they have been arrested? Would they have been staring at the walls of a cell rather than scoping out a house containing two elderly people and a teenager? What would have happened if he'd been the one to do the calling? He could have described them, right? Maybe if he had, Peter wouldn't have had to it for him from a hospital bed with a bullet in his spine.
"You alright, kid?" The policeman asked, snapping Naruto out of his thoughts. He looked at them. Even MJ looked worried for him.
"Yeah, I'm fine. Just thinking," Naruto looked back at the sketches. Whoever did the drawing almost had them both to a tee.
"We get it, your friend's in a bad way." The first policeman nodded. "But don't worry, we'll find those two sons of bitches and when we do, we'll throw the book at 'em."
"Investigation's going to be a bitch though," the second policeman complained.
"Shut the hell up, John." The first glared at his partner. "Look, err.."
"Naruto," Naruto said.
"Right, Naruto. We'll be back, alright? We just came to give you guys a quick rundown of the things we were able to learn."
More like the things they were able to share, Naruto thought sourly.
"But you hold on to that drawing, alright?" The policeman patted the sheet. "Remember, you see them, call us."
With that, they both left, chatting with each other with a casualness that made Naruto suspect their attitude with him had been more out of professionalism than any real concern for Peter's well being. He listened to their conversation up until they got into the next elevator and went down, their voices fading to nothing as they descended.
"They don't inspire much confidence, those two," Mary Jane remarked halfheartedly.
Naruto let out a noncommittal grunt as he continued to stare at the drawings.
Mary Jane looked at him. "Naruto? Are you alright? You've been acting weird since you saw that drawing."
Naruto nodded absently. He wanted to confess to her that he was the guy they'd been chasing. He wanted to admit that he hadn't bothered alerting the police to them and that he was most likely the reason Peter was where he was now, but he couldn't. He was ashamed to admit it but he was afraid. He couldn't tell her.
So instead, he lied. "I'm fine,I just can't believe something like this would happen to Peter."
"Yeah." Mary Jane rubbed the unconscious boy's hand. "He doesn't deserve this. Why's life so unfair?"
Naruto looked away. In a fair world, choices, good or bad, would affect only the people who made them. He looked down at the drawings again. The two men, painfully familiar, seemed to mock him with their lifeless stares. His grip on the sheet tightened enough to tear it.
It wasn't enough that the police were searching for them, they wouldn't be enough. There was only so much they could do. Someone else had to help them. That someone was him. He'd look for them. He didn't know how, but he'd look for them and eventually, he'd find them and when he did, he'd…he didn't know, but he'd make things right. He'd get back at them for Peter.
"I have to go." He announced.
"Already?" Mary Jane's disapproval went unsaid, but Naruto caught it anyway.
"I'm going to ask around in Peter's block," Naruto said. "Someone's bound to have seen them going around."
"Oh," Mary Jane whispered. "You don't have to do that, the cops-"
"I'm not sitting on my ass till they come back with news, MJ." He tried not to sound too harsh as he spoke. "There's a whole lot of things they've got to sort out before they get to do field work. By the time they do any real investigating, those guys might be long gone."
"You're not going to go tamper with the crime scene, are you?" Mary Jane asked, her tone accusatory.
"No," Naruto shook his head. "I'll just ask around, see if I can pick up a trail to follow."
Mary Jane looked unsure, but nodded. "Alright, but be careful, alright? I don't want you getting hurt either. It's bad enough that Peter's here."
"I'm doing this for him, MJ." Naruto looked at his friend again. "But I'll be careful. I promise."
"Okay." She sighed. "You're a good friend, you know?"
Naruto didn't know. And he didn't feel like a good friend. At the moment, he was feeling like the worst friend about to go do something stupid to make up for their massive mistake.
He masked his inner turmoil with a smile and left. He had a pair of criminals to find.
…
The chilly wind bit Naruto's ears as he peeked out from behind the cover of the wall at the four men surrounding an expensive looking car in front of what looked like a club's parking lot. They'd formed a protective wall around one who crouched and fiddled with the door's lock.
Carjackers.
Asking around hadn't turned any results. Save for a few people who did see them walking towards the Parker residence, if anyone saw where they went after, they refused to say. But Naruto didn't give up. If anything, the fruitlessness pushed him to try harder and it wasn't until sundown that he realized he'd missed an entire school day and it didn't bother him as much as he thought it would. His main focus was the two criminals.
Teach had told him it'd ask the other spiders around but it promised nothing; in spite of being arachnids, not all of them were on speaking or good terms with themselves. He'd yet to hear from the spider since then, but he trusted it'd get back to him should it hear anything.
However, the spider had suggested he try again by nightfall, where all the seedy elements in the city came out to play. He wasn't sure why but he'd been quick to agree and after going home to beat Tsunade's unspoken curfew, he'd switched clothes and snuck out of the house, crawling out of his window before swinging away when he'd decided he was far enough.
It wasn't until he began the search in earnest that he realized things were hardly as easy as they looked in comics and movies because for one, he had no idea what he was looking for and for over an hour, he alternated between swinging across tall buildings and jogging on the ground as he searched for something…criminal.
It was two hours after he began his search that he struck gold in the form of four car thieves.
Naruto wanted to rush them, to beat them black and blue and when they couldn't get up anymore, he'd ask what he wanted to ask, but he held himself back. As much as he hated to admit it, he wasn't much in the way of skill. Save for the mandatory martial arts and self defense classes he'd taken, he didn't have much to his resume aside from being able to strike fast and hard and against four men, that wouldn't matter.
He thought of the now rumpled sheet of paper, safe in his backpack and reminded himself of why he'd even gone out in the first place. He'd come too far to back down now. Whatever happened, happened but Peter needed him. Peter needed justice.
He exhaled sharply and popped out from the wall. "Didn't anyone tell you guys it's bad to take cars that aren't yours?"
His voice jolted the men out of whatever focused state they were and they briefly looked around before one saw him standing a dozen feet away from them.
"Shit, it's just one guy." one of them have him a once over and snorted amusedly. "Ayo, peep his fit, bruh. This clown must think he in the field or something."
Naruto's mood soured further as the others joined their partner to roast him. It wasn't like he'd dressed up looking to attend a fashion show but he liked to think his outfit was far from funny looking. He'd picked most of the things he wore from Uncle Dan's old gear.
In an attempt to hide his identity, he'd put on a balaclava with a pair of goggles over the eye holes and on his hands were a pair of combat gloves with holes cut at the wrists to keep from obstructing his webs. Atop that, he'd worn Dan's old Yanks cap that shadowed his already covered hidden features, worn a black hoodie large enough to hide his real stature over dark coloured elastic jeans and slung his backpack along with him. The only things on his form that weren't black were the faded orange coloured Timberlands he only wore to parties and now, to carry out acts of vigilantism.
Now that he thought of it, he'd never wear them outside again. It'd be embarrassing if he got away with vigilantism only to get identified because of his shoes.
Only one of the men wasn't laughing. He fidgeted nervously as he said, "yo, what if he's one of them hero types, man? I'm not trying to get my shit kicked in tonight."
"You kidding? He look like anyone you know?" One of the others pointed at Naruto.
"No but-"
"Then don't be a bitch." The man sneered. "And you," he pointed at Naruto. "I'on know if you 'boutta hit a lick dressed in that or sumn' but ain't nothing for you here, boy. Best get up outta sight 'less you tryna get packed up."
"Not until you idiots let go of that car." Naruto glared at them. "And you've put me in a pretty bad mood so how about you surrender now and maybe you'll get to sleep on something more comfortable than wet gravel tonight."
"Damn, this guy's dumb," the one who'd made fun of Naruto first chuckled and with a flick of his wrist produced a switchblade. "You're in for it now, you shiesty ass dork."
Naruto smirked and his left arm shot out, firing a large line of webbing that covered the crook's hand and knife together. With a harsh yank, he pulled the man towards himself and stopped him dead in his tracks with a punch to the face. A loud crunch filled the air and Naruto felt the man's nose give way to his gloved fist. The crook crumpled to the floor and lay unmoving.
"Oh fuck…" the one who hadn't laughed paled. "Oh fuck. Jesus fucking Christ."
Another took a step back. "He can shoot his own fucking nut!"
Naruto's initial exhilaration from winning the first confrontation died. "What? That was obviously a web."
"It don't matter if you're some sort of spider. I been squashing them since a jit!" The one who'd reprimanded the lock picker yelled and two out of the remaining three rushed at him.
Teach would hate this guy, Naruto thought as he ducked under a wide swing and even in his bent position, jumped out of the way of a stab that would have punctured his side. Before he could retaliate, he sidestepped a thrust for his neck and pushed the offending limb away with his hindarm. The sound of shuffling feet alerted him to someone behind him and he pushed the man in front of him away in time to twist his body and take his second arm back to catch a foldable knife, gripping the edge tightly.
Thank God for gloves. Naruto yanked it out of the man's grip and after shutting it close, struck the first man in the chin with the metal top before tossing it at his eye. The man screamed as the fast travelling object collided with the fragile orb and his eyelids and his hand went to nurse the injured organ, giving Naruto an opening to land a left hook on his liver.
Before Naruto could finish him with a right haymaker, he felt the other man grab his arms, trying to force them up for a nelson hold and ducked before doubling over, throwing the crook over his body. However, he was surprised when rather than hit the ground like he'd expected, the man had let go early and instead got flung into the air and land on his back. "You know, I'm all for teamwork but have you ever heard of waiting your turn?"
"Fuck you!" The second man retorted through grit teeth and glared at the only one who hadn't attacked."What the fuck are you waiting for, Jay Bands?! Pop this fool!"
"Rude," Naruto grouched and shot a line of webbing at the crook's hands, feet and mouth, sticking them firmly to the floor and shutting him up. He glanced at the bent over form of his second attacker who now sported a black eye that had swollen shut. The man leaned on the wall as he pressed his side, clearly in severe pain. He didn't seem like he'd be doing much else but Naruto webbed his hand and foot to the wall just to be sure.
"And then there was one." A click made Naruto turn around sharply. A chill ran down his spine at the sight of the last man pointing a gun at him with a shaky hand. "Hey, hey. You don't have to do this, you know?"
"Stay back," The man warned. "I'll shoot you, I swear to God I'll shoot you."
"I get it, you're scared," Naruto tried to pacify the man as he slowly neared him. "But you don't have to do it, okay? Just drop the gun and I won't even touch you. I promis-"
He felt the pain long before he heard the bang. He staggered as he clutched his bleeding chest and looked up at the man who'd shot him. Even with the smoking gun in his hand, he looked terrified but his finger twitched again and this time, Naruto saw the flash before he saw nothing at all.
MOVE!
Beneath the goggles, Naruto's eyes were wide as he jerked his whole body sideways faster than he'd ever moved in his entire life. A split second later, a deafening noise like a cross between a pop and a bang filled his ears and he heard the thwack of something slamming into something else.
"No way…" the carjacker gaped. The gun smoked just like he'd seen it. He'd tried to shoot him.
Even through the mask, Naruto's face was twisted with rage and he rushed at the criminal with a speed that left the man frozen in shock. Before he could regain himself and let off a second shot, Naruto lowered himself and like a spring, his arm shot out to strike the man in the side of his chest. He felt a bone break open. Maybe it was two. Another shot rang out, the loud noise ringing out at the same time as a pained scream and as the gun fell, he cocked his arm back and struck again, this time hitting the man in the cheek hard enough to force against the car door's glass window that cracked from the impact.
Naruto spent the next minute landing blow after blow on the man who futilely tried to protect himself. He'd never be able to explain why, but the thought of having come so close to death made him more furious at his would-be killer than frightened for his life. He wailed on the crook, punching and kicking at him until he stopped feeling bones giving way and the man stopped trying to put up any defence.
And just as quickly the rage fueled gaze came down on him, it wore off and Naruto found himself staring at a bloody pulp that had once been a face. The man's ragged breathing showed he was still alive, but he'd probably expire soon if he didn't get help. He didn't have to look at his gloves to know what they looked like.
What had he done?
You got angry, little spider. A voice, deep, gentle and natural said in his head. Angry gets shit done.
"Mmph! Mmph!"
Naruto looked back to see the two other men he'd incapacitated. What they'd seen had taken the fight out of them and they'd gone stark white. They weren't cautious of him anymore, they were terrified. He wanted to calm them. To tell them he wouldn't hurt them like he'd hurt their friend. That something had come over him and he hadn't been himself at the time.
But instead, he reached for his bag and tried to ignore the blood staining the white fabric within as he gingerly fished out the drawing he'd been given and walked towards the men who futilely tried to get away from him.
He reached the one on the ground and tore the webbing off his mouth before shoving the drawing in his face. "Have you seen these two guys?"
"Jesus Christ, you killed Bands!" The man wailed. "You fucking killed him!"
"Shut up. He's alive," Naruto cut him off. "And if you don't want to wind up like him, I suggest you and your buddy start talking."
"What do you think, that we know everybody in the streets?!" The man spat. "I've never seen these two in my life!"
"You sure?" Naruto raised his fist. "I hear a few good knocks on the head does wonders for jogging the memory…or giving brain damage. Do you feel like finding out which it does?"
"I swear, man. I ain't seen them before, " the man shook his head rapidly. "Ay, K Dot? What about you?"
"N-No sir, never," the man stuck to the wall replied.
Naruto sighed. It was his fault for expecting random people to know anything. "You know anyone who might? Maybe someone who gives you guys guns? Bar owner? Anyone?"
Before they could respond, a siren rang out and blue-red lights seeped into the alleyway. Naruto looked to the entrance of the cut as the nose of a police car came into his view and looked back down at the downed criminal. He'd have to wrap it up fast.
…
The policeman had been expecting a lot of things when he got a radio call about shots having been fired outside a nightclub a few blocks away from his patrol route. At most, he expected to see a dying man or a cooling corpse and call for an ambulance before going along his way.
What he hadn't been expecting to see was three men glued back to back and gagged with what looked like giant webs and another one seated on the ground with his back resting on the body of a car with his face looking like it'd been mashed with a jackhammer.
"Jesus Christ," he whispered and took out his radio. It came to life with a crackle. "I got four men down. One unconscious, two awake and the last undetermined. Get an ambulance too, last guy's in a really bad way."
"What the hell happened to you guys?" He got closer to them and saw one staring upwards at the sky, his eyes conveying his fear. "Guy's traumatized," he said pityingly.
He'd never know how wrong he was. The man hadn't been traumatized, he'd been afraid. And had the policeman bothered to follow the criminal's line of sight and look up as well, he'd have seen a dark figure clinging to the wall high above him with his hands and feet.
Just as a spider would.
I'm tired.