SPIDER-MAN: ALL ALONE (CHAPTER 4)
Note: Thank you for waiting. If you don't mind, please remember to review this with all honesty.
YURI'S HOUSE…
Yuri stacked the case file documents she acquired and sat them on the desk for Gwen to see.
"All of them were tradespeople; engineers and so forth." Yuri noted as she opened one file up, "This person here used to help fix heaters; air conditioners and light bulbs but went bankrupt sometime after recent establishments of an Oscorp electrical services."
"Well, that can explain the incident at that Oscorp warehouse if it's all a grudge raid. What about bird man? What did they say about him?" Gwen asked as she stood near the curtained windows.
"No aliases dropped. They were tight-lipped but called him 'The Scrap Snatcher'. As if we're supposed to know him as a hero or villain of some sort." Yuri explained turning her chair, "By the way, I hear J Jonah's name for this guy being 'The Vulture' which honestly sounds better."
"Seriously, you listen to that guy on duty?" Gwen scoffed, "Why?"
"Work can get boring so I plug in some air pods for fun." Yuri replied, "By the way, police are on high alert for every Oscorp site now."
"Great… Do they have anything useful to deal with 'Vulture' guy too?" Gwen asked.
"We hope we can do work without you but Vulture is where you will have to be in order to physically confront him." Yuri said, "Next time you meet him, I hope you learn more about him."
"Oh, I'm sure I can question him." Gwen said.
"So how's the other web-head?" Yuri asked in curiosity about Spider-Man.
"Oh, he's still enjoying his life. Probably taking his money for vacation somewhere." Gwen replied.
"I thought you know the guy." Yuri said, "Why don't you ask him to help us? Can't let you do all the work."
"He made a solid vow." Gwen said, "Even if I tried, he'd try his hardest not to budge. Can't guarantee."
Yuri nodded at the response but was still weary for Gwen on where Spider-Man was and not knowing either of the two behind the mask.
"If I was in that suit, I'd let people know how much I'd be gunning for them." Yuri said in response to private identities.
"Oh, I get it. But I'm not doing that. It'd be too much trouble." Gwen said, "But how is precinct captain still a boring job for you?"
"It's complicated, actually. People always pay attention to me and they don't know how we work." Yuri stated, "If you ever want to keep the idea of opening up more then there's your cue."
BLACK MARKET HIDEOUT, MANHATTAN…
Adrian walked around the Hell's Kitchen venue to meet more of his peers. He entered a building door where the operations there were concealed to look like an automobile assembly shop.
As he hobbled in, the crowd all looked at him as he approached.
"Look who's back from prison yet again…" One man in a casual business suit said coming forward.
"Morning, Marty." Adrian said as he watched the man come to him and did the customary greeting of kissing both cheeks.
"I heard about the trouble a few nights ago and you want any back up?" Marty asked with his sunglasses on.
Marty Defalco was a rising crime lord at the block of Hell's Kitchen and had since been keen on buying off the property with Wilson Fisk out of the picture. He wore a trench coat and had long greasy hair like he was a lead singer of a music band.
His business in running automobiles and black-market weaponry simultaneously is giving profit from those seeking revenge against others. Adrian being a man down on his luck had struck a deal to have a lifeline for his activities whilst getting new technologies developed out of public sight.
"Hmph, sounds like you are indeed a capable man." Marty answered observing Adrian's silent treatment, "How 'bout your wings? Did you clip them? Want someone to trim their razors?"
"I made them, so no." Adrian said as he looked for a chair to sit on.
As Adrian sat, the people working were ordered back to business in mechanical assembly as Marty and his men stared down Adrian.
"Adrian, I get it. Life is- tough. But I believe you're still doing us a great favour." Marty chuckled.
For Adrian however, it was unpredictable as the friendly demeanour of the person he struck a deal with could snap at any moment. He sat with seriousness about his next answer.
"Next time, don't send any of your men with me." Adrian said, "I'll decide whether I want company or not."
"Hey, hey. Don't be like that. They want to learn." Marty apologised, "Besides, your people can't cover for themselves when you have a Spider-Man swinging around."
"Get your ears checked, it's a woman." Adrian said, "Besides, I need a couple of tools to take care of her."
"Ah, yeah. Thanks to your genius blueprints, we can make any of the tools you need." Marty said.
"I need something razor enough to cut through all her blasted webbings. A net of some sort to trap her on movement." Adrian described.
"Learning from experience, I like that." Marty said with a smile, "But of course, you need an extra amount of tokens to-."
Grabbing out the sack of computer chips he earned from his scuffle with Spider-Woman, Adrian held the sack out as his proposal. Marty grabbed the sack and searched.
"Ah yes, that's quite enough." Marty said, "It shall be paid for."
"That is all I ask." Adrian said before trying to get up.
"Are you going to sell these yet too?" Marty asked as he briefly stopped Adrian from leaving.
"I ain't making the mistake Greg did years ago when he sold Bestman and Toomes for his own comfort." Adrian insisted, "I sell those chips; they have more of a chance to profit. Not us. We won't have the toys to get things back."
"Oh, trust me, Adrian. You can't continue to be a succubus on others when I got people to feed and please." Marty said, "What you say, you earn little by little and this place may be yours to run for good. A place for your work."
Adrian said nothing in return as Marty placed an icy hand on his shoulder. His back trembled and he was going to need all he can get for his life.
CONNORS LABORATORY…
Peter spent minutes trying to observe the prosthetic arm's electrical signalling current activity on screen as he continued to write on his own laptop for the literature review of his work. Whilst working hard, Curt had come back into the lab with lunch bento in hand.
"Peter, what are you still doing? Get some energy or your own arms will have less power than the arm you are working on." Curt said as he set down his food on the table.
"Just a minute; I need to write the results section." Peter said before Curt walked up and turned the screen off.
"Come on, you had hours since the morning." Curt said encouraging Peter.
Peter then agreed to sit at the table with his professor with him grabbing out a couple of sandwiches that he bought from a convivence store.
"Baloney and pickle? Could get something just a tinge more." Curt noted, "Does it have mustard?"
"Yes." Peter said looking at the package.
"Good." Curt said as he dove into his food.
As the two started eating, Peter decided that instead of silence; he wanted to converse with his supervisor.
"Doctor, I don't know what to say but if you don't mind. What's the actual story behind the arm?" Peter asked.
"Hmph. I will indulge you, young man." Curt answered, "You see I grew up in the Everglades. It's a very luscious place compared to here. Our family lived in the regional depths near some wetlands. In a way, we were kind of like Shrek."
The comparison caused Peter to smile.
"So, um… My dad would take my brother, sister and I down to those places where we can go rafting…" Curt explained, "We loved the green space there and seeing all sorts of animals there."
As Curt nostalgically reminisced, Peter took a bite out of his sandwich while waiting for Curt's next words.
"What's the first animal you think of when you think of Florida?" Curt asked.
"Uh, alligator?" Peter replied.
"Yep. I saw one that day that was almost as hefty as the saltwater crocodiles of Australia." Curt said, "This gator was just nesting on the shore and we took one good look at it."
Curt then looked at his fake arm as the story went on.
"I like the naïve child I was, wanted to see this guy up so close that I fell into the water." Curt said, "And then, the gator came."
"As you can imagine, being mauled by the gator was not fun." Curt continued, "If it weren't for my dad and his shotgun, then I'd be swimming more."
"I'm sorry to hear that." Peter said as he pictured the details of the incident.
"My arm got popped clean and I had both my siblings trying to stop the blood loss. We got back to our car in a hurry and it took quite some time to get to a medical centre. We also never went back to the wetlands." Curt said, "I spent days on a hospital bed until the doctors said I was okay… I was only six back then."
Peter breathed out as the details were revealed to him.
"It didn't stop me. I learned to adapt even if it meant ridicule. That's why I push forward in hardship and got so far to this place so I'm discovering things for myself and others." Curt said, "And believe me, I don't hold a grudge against that alligator. It was a nesting site after all."
Hearing Curt say he holds no grudge, Peter wondered whether he forgive the person from his past that took Uncle Ben away now. The sense of commonality between him and Curt had been established.
"I quite agree, Doc. I think we need to stay positive regardless of the hardships." Peter said, "I like that style of thinking."
JFK AIRPORT…
An American Airlines aeroplane was about to land with one lone passenger and his accompanying stewardesses and captain. One man had finally arrived back home to attend to a company of his.
His name was Norman Osborn, a well-mannered reddish-brown haired man with blue eyes and an appropriate business-like demeanour. As the plane landed, the stairway was drawn out with the plane parked next to it.
Soon, press cars arrived near the plane also as the news crew scurried out to see the man in person. This was a story in the long time coming with Norman stepping out to wave. His smile captured the cameras as he made his descent down the staircase.
After taking the final step down, Norman adjusted his tie and smiled.
"Good to be home." Norman said with a long grin.
TO BE CONTINUED…