Volume III: The Rhino
Note: This will be the eighteenth chapter of Volume III, this will introduce Aleksei Sytsevich who is an international criminal called the Rhino, an enhanced criminal with super strength donned in a carbonadium-made Rhino suit for protection and a horn as his main weapon, he comes to America escaping from his homeland, he now commits a series of crimes causing destruction in New York as he proves to be a bigger challenge for Spider-Man, Ghost-Spider, and Kid Arachnid as they'll do everything in their power to stop him, Spider-Man will turn to Tony Stark for a solution to combat this behemoth. Meanwhile with the news of the current Mayor stepping down soon and retiring from serving the city filled with so much super problems, Jameson plans to step up and announce his candidacy for the office of Mayor of New York City.
It's February 28th, the time is 3:15 AM somewhere out in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean, a cargo ship is sailing in the middle of the midnight carrying a large load of containers containing export cargo, meanwhile inside the ship itself, the sailors are all inside the galley relaxing by eating, playing cards and watching movies on the screen. Meanwhile the first mate of the ship came down to check up on the crew all relaxing and chatting as he got an assignment for two of them, they see him coming down as they all stand up awaiting orders.
"At ease, sailors, we'll make port in New York within 8 eight hours, but before that I need a couple of men to go out and check to see if the containers are secure, Yusef, Dmitri, you're up!"
Two sailors all received their orders and took their jackets and a couple of flashlights, they've headed out of the galley and made their way around the freighter checking all the containers in the middle of the night making sure that they're all secure, they're even armed with guns in case of piracy out in open waters, they went searching container to container to see that everything is fine, they're almost finished with their inspection until they heard something coming from one of the containers nearby, it sounded like a pound.
"Did you hear that?"
"Yeah, I heard that. What do you think that is?"
"I don't know, but let's find out, have your gun ready to shoot."
The two sailors pulled out their guns as they're about to investigate the source of that disturbing noise, they think that someone or something is here on the ship that's not suppose to be here, they approach the container to hear the pound on the door, something is inside the container making a loud noise as the sailors have no idea who or what it could be, one of the sailors got in close to the container door, he leaned his head onto the door to listen for any sounds coming from inside, all of a sudden a pound was made against this door as the sailor stands further back scared of something inside.
"There's definitely something inside this container."
Both sailors heard that loud pound again, only this time it made a dent in the container door, something is attempting to break out of the container, both sailors have their guns aimed and ready to shoot at whatever is inside the container, something made another dent as it's almost breaking out, the sailors are preparing to fire, all of a sudden the container doors gotten loose and something is emerging from inside the container, something very big but no one can get a good look at this thing due to no lights, the sailors gotten frightened.
"Fire! Open fire now!"
Both sailors started shooting their guns at this thing, but the bullets are proven to be ineffective against it as it's bulletproof, this giant thing swings his arm and punched one of the sailors out cold, the other one attempts to run away from this thing, back in the galley everyone heard the gunshots as there's trouble on board, everyone got up and grab some guns from the locker to fight back against this threat, everyone is armed and made it outside to see one of their own running towards them.
"What's going on?!"
"Get away, it's too powerful!"
"What is?!"
Everyone then see something big moving through between the containers heading their way, it's still dark as nobody can get a clear view of this thing, all the sailors started firing together trying to stop it's advance, but their bullets are having no effect against it as it's still coming their way, everyone stopped firing as they've run out of bullets to fire, this thing is coming and nothing they have can stop it, all they can do is face the inevitable, everyone on board started to scream as this giant attacks them, the sailors onboard have no hope against it.
The time is 3:12 PM in New York City as there's a hostage situation happening at City Hall, a number of police cars are surrounding the whole building and sealing off the area, the police lead by Yuri Watanabe are having a hard time moving forward as some gunmen are using automatic weapons pinning them down, at the Mayor's office, the mayor himself along with the Deputy Mayor and the Chief of Staff are tied up and held hostage by White Rabbit who is the mastermind of this incident, her henchmen are all wearing masks of characters from the Wonderland tales, the press are outside of the yellow tape barricade are recording footages of the event happening right now.
"We're live at City Hall where a team of criminals have taken over the building and holds a number of hostages including the mayor and his staff, the mastermind of this incident has been identified as Lorina Dobson, also known as the White Rabbit who was responsible for a string of robberies in New York and Atlantic City last year, she is demanding 10 million dollars in cash in exchange for the Mayor and the hostage returned alive, the police are doing everything they can to make their way to City Hall, but so far have been unsuccessful as the henchmen are putting up a good fight in pinning them down!"
The henchmen on the rooftop are keeping the police at bay by shooting them hiding behind the cars, meanwhile on a rooftop overlooking city hall Spider-Man, Ghost-Spider, and Kid Arachnid are observing the situation and sees that the police are having a hard time making progress in saving the hostages due to White Rabbit's men holding them off with heavy firepower.
"Seems like the police are having some trouble." Kid Arachnid said.
"Agreed, we should go and provide some assistance." Spider-Man said to his team.
"Lead the way, Spidey." Ghost-Spider said.
Spider-Man place a camera on the ledge and webs it up before he jumps and swings ahead first, Ghost-Spider and Kid Arachnid follows in swing after him, meanwhile the henchmen on the rooftop are still shooting at the cops being pinned down behind the cars unable to advance towards the entrance, but then Spider-Man came in swinging and drop kick one of the shooters, the other two spotted Spider-Man on the rooftop and were about to shoot him, but they got distracted as Ghost-Spider webbed one of them up and trapped him in a web cocoon, all of a sudden the last one got zapped from behind by Kid Arachnid who was invisible, down below on the ground, Yuri along with SWAT units are surprised that the shooting stopped all of a sudden, Yuri looks up to see Spider-Man on the rooftop waving to her, Yuri smiled as Spidey came to their rescue and gave her an opportunity to move forward.
"Alright men, we're going in, officers with shields, you go up first, we're right behind you." Yuri Watanabe leads the operation.
SWAT officer holding up bulletproof shields are the first to move forward to the entrance as Yuri and the other SWAT officers are following and making their way, back up on the rooftop Spider-Man and his team webbed up the henchmen they've neutralized, now they can strategize on their role in the rescue of the hostages.
"Alright, we know that White Rabbit is holding the hostages in the Mayor's office, we need to do this smart and without putting them at risk, here's what we'll do, Ghost-Spider, you and me will head inside and take down the henchmen guarding the door." Spider-Man explains their role in the plan.
"And what about me?" Kid Arachnid said.
"You'll be our secret weapon, you be come invisible and crawl down to the window undetected, Ghost-Spider and me will prove a diversion to keep White Rabbit distracted, once she's distracted you get in closer and zap her, with any luck we'll be able to save everyone without any casualties." Spider-Man explained Kid Arachnid's role.
"Got it, I won't let you guys down." Kid Arachnid said.
"We know you won't, we trust you. Let's go, Ghost-Spider." Spider-Man said.
"Right behind you." Ghost-Spider said.
Spider-Man and Ghost-Spider enters through the rooftop access while Kid Arachnid turns himself invisible and starts climbing down the walls undetected, he made his way to the window where the Mayor's office is, he got a peek to see White Rabbit holding the mayor and his staff hostage, White Rabbit is armed with her umbrella that conceals her array of weapons such as knifes, bullets, and flamethrower, if she get's threaten, then the hostages will be killed, Kid Arachnid stays put and awaits his teammates to provide that diversion they promised, he starts to unlocked the window and opens it carefully without letting White Rabbit know it.
Meanwhile inside the building itself Spider-Man and Ghost-Spider made they way through the stairs carefully as to not be detected, they've finally made it to the top floor where the Mayor's office is located, they hid in the corner to see a couple of henchmen guarding the door, they came out and Spider-Man fired off his web shooter and webbed up the first one, then Ghost-Spider did the same with the second one, both henchmen have been webbed up and neutralized, White Rabbit is in the other room, she heard a commotion happening outside, she got the sense that something is wrong here, she grabs the Mayor to be used as a human shield. Spider-Man and Ghost-Spider approached the door and opens it, they spotted White Rabbit with an umbrella aimed at the Mayor.
"Stay back, one wrong step and he dies!" White Rabbit threatens the Mayor's life.
Spider-Man and Ghost-Spider has no choice but to stay put and comply with White Rabbit's demands for the Mayor's sake, unknown to her the window behind her is slowly opening up by an invisible Kid Arachnid, meanwhile Captain Watanabe and her SWAT team finally arrived at the Mayor's to see that White Rabbit is threatening the man's life, they have no choice but to stand down as they can't risk the life of the Mayor.
"Not another step!" White Rabbit is feeling cornered.
"What's the next step, Silly Rabbit? All your men are down and you have no where to go, make this easier on yourself and give up!" Spider-Man said.
"It's not over yet, you have two choices, first choice, get me my money and a helicopter for me to take, or second choice, I could just kill him and end the day, choose!" White Rabbit said.
"I'll have to go with the third choice." Spider-Man said.
"Third choice? What's that?" White Rabbit is confused.
White Rabbit has no idea what Spider-Man meant by the third choice, but she was too late to figure it out as it was already executed, White Rabbit got zapped with electricity as she fell down unconscious and the Mayor has finally been freed along with the other hostages, Kid Arachnid de-cloaks himself and shows himself to everyone else, Spider-Man and Ghost-Spider both gave him the thumbs up for his role in the rescue, Yuri along with the SWAT officer approached the downed White Rabbit all paralyze from the shock as they're putting the cuffs on her, the Mayor and the staff are all safe.
(Later)
Outside of the City Hall, the NYPD are escorting White Rabbit along with her henchmen out of the building in handcuffs, they've been loaded up onto the police van, meanwhile the paramedics are checking out the people who were inside the building held as hostages to see if they're injured or not, the Mayor himself is finishing chatting with the press to assure the people that he along with his staff are okay thanks to the heroes and the NYPD, meanwhile Captain Watanabe is chatting with Spider-Man, Ghost-Spider, and Kid Arachnid on their success in the rescue.
"Thanks once again, Spidey, we couldn't done this without your help." Yuri Watanabe is grateful.
"Appreciate it, you're not so bad yourself, it never hurts to have the help of New York's finest." Spider-Man said.
The Mayor is done talking with the press as he walks back to talk with the heroes Spider-Man, Ghost-Spider, and Kid Arachnid who just saved his life along with the lives of his staff.
"On behalf of this city, I would like to personally thank you all for your courageous service in saving our lives."
"Just doing our jobs, your honor."
"I know, and I'm very grateful, but the truth is I don't know how much longer I can endure all this violence in our city."
"What are you saying, your honor?" Yuri Watanabe said.
"I'm going to turn in my resignation as Mayor, my deputy will take on the mantle till they vote on my next successor."
"Are you sure this is what you want?" Spider-Man said.
"Yes, I love serving this city, but I as want to live longer and be with my family, this is what's best for me, I'm done."
The heroes and Yuri are all surprised to hear that the Mayor wants to quit early and retire, given everything that's been happening in this city for the past two years, it's a reasonable choice, but everyone wonders who will be brave enough to take up the mantle in the next election and serve this city filled with danger and mayhem, on a building overlooking City Hall is a camera that has taken photos of the event, Spidey placed it earlier before the battle.
The time is 4:34 PM at the Daily Bugle where Jameson and Robbie are looking at photos of White Rabbit and her henchmen being escorted out by the NYPD and another of the Mayor giving thanks to the heroes who saved everyone's lives, Peter is awaiting to see if Jameson is interested in purchasing these photo and hoping to get a paycheck, Robbie seemed impressed in Parker's work while Jameson isn't impressed with Spider-Man and his friends showing off, he still sees them as menaces to the city, particularly Spider-Man who he still holds a grudge since last year when the hero was brainwashed by Mister Negative, but Jameson still isn't buying into that brainwashing thing.
"These are impressive work, don't you agree Jonah?" Robbie Robertson said.
"Sure, but to me, Spider-Man is still a menace. I'll give you 300 as always, Parker." Jameson writes a check and hands it to Peter.
Peter took the check. "Thanks, JJ."
"I still can't believe that the news about the mayor is true, he's really calling it quits on the city." Jameson said.
"Can you blame him, Jonah? Lately about 10 percent of this city's citizens are already moving away, given the all the chaos and number of deaths that's been happening in the last two years, some want to escape from all that, people don't want to stay, they want to leave." Robbie explained about the situation of the city.
"It's all Spider-Man's fault, he brought all this chaos the moment he showed himself to the world, not to mention the two world ending events that occurred since he became active." Jameson blames Spider-Man for everything.
"But Jonah, don't forget that if wasn't for Spider-Man and the heroes, the world would've ended both times in the last two years, we should be fortunate that we even have heroes to defend us." Robbie defends the heroes for their heroic actions.
"But not good enough obviously Robbie, people are scared and they don't want to stay, they want to leave. Someone needs to step up and put this city back into place, someone who isn't afraid to speak up and would fight for this city." Jameson said.
"Like who, Jonah? You?" Robbie Robertson said.
"Why not? If I have to speak up to the entire city, I will." Jameson said.
"Come on, JJ, not everyone takes what you write seriously." Peter said.
"So what? Are you saying I just stay silent and let this city die? Is that it?" Jameson said.
"Of course not, I know that you mean well and want what's best for this city, but you only run a newspaper tabloid, it's not like you can just run for mayor or something." Peter said.
Jameson was about to protest back at Peter, but then he stopped himself as soon as he heard a suggested coming out of Peter's mouth, he starts to think about that unexpected suggestion and likes the idea.
Jameson smiled and chuckled. "Parker, you're a genius!"
Peter is looking totally clueless. "I am?"
"That's it, that's exactly what I'll do, I'll run for mayor!" Jameson said.
"Uh... I wasn't being very serious, JJ." Peter is troubled by this news.
"Too late, I'm going to announce my candidacy for the office of Mayor of New York City, under my leadership I'm going to clean up this town and bring it back to it's former glory, Robbie, contact the press and set up a conferences, thank you for this excellent suggestion Parker" Jameson said.
Jameson decided to run for mayor of this city as he's beginning to make the preparations for his announcement to run for the office of Mayor of New York City, Peter is walking out of the office looking down after mistakingly suggested to Jameson to run for mayor, he knows what this could mean for him and his friends if that ever became a reality.
Peter sighed in disappointement. "Wonderful Parker, why can't you watch what comes out of your mouth?"
Betty came by walking towards Peter. "Hey Pete, did you just get paid?"
"Yeah." Peter holds up a check.
"Well, are you interested in another payday?" Betty said.
"Maybe, why? You got something?" Peter is interested.
"I heard from a reporter who's got a friend on the force, a cargo ship was found drifting off the coast of New York, the port authority tries to make contact, but its radio silence, it's been towed here." Betty said.
"I'll go check it out, thanks Betty." Peter said.
"Sure." Betty said.
Peter is leaving the Daily Bugle to investigate this incident on the cargo ship, he sensed that there's trouble and it may need Spider-Man
Later the time is around 5:31 PM at the docks where a number of ambulances and police cars are parked near the cargo ship that has been docked and looked like it has been in a battle, Spider-Man finally arrived at the scene to see a number of injured being carried out by the paramedics, the hero wonders what just happened here, he swings in closer to investigate, one of the sailors being carried out is still conscious and traumatized muttering something in English.
"Rh... Rhino... Rhino..."
The sailor kept on repeating the word "Rhino" over and over, Spider-Man has no idea what he's talking about, but something strange definitely happened onboard the ship itself as he walks over to Captain Watanabe speaking with the port authority who are still clueless as to what occurred on the ship.
"Captain, what do we got?" Spider-Man said.
"Honestly, I'm not so sure Spidey, this cargo ship was found adrift at sea few hours ago, at first we suspected it was simple piracy given that we've found bullets and shell castings on the floor, but none of the sailors were shot fortunately, not to mention that there was significant damage all over the ship itself, the hull and cargo containers are all wrecked." Yuri Watanabe said.
"Any ideas what could've caused all this?" Spider-Man said.
"Your guess is as good as mine, but if I had to guess, we're dealing with a superhuman, we found what appears to be giant footprints onboard, it's very fortunate that nobody was killed." Yuri Watanabe said.
Spider-Man looked at the victims who were all assaulted by this mysterious villain, something definitely gave them one hell of a beating, something very strong.
"All these victims were on the ship?" Spider-Man said.
"Except for these two." Yuri pointed out to two victims. "They were dock workers, whatever was onboard that ship, it's on dry land now."
Spider-Man now has a new threat to deal with, a new supervillain that is now loose somewhere in the city, he can only hope to find it before it does much harm to the city and everyone in it.
The time is 7:45 PM at a pricy restaurant in Little Italy, Jameson is having steak dinner with his son Col. John Jameson who is in uniform spending some quality time together before John's big leave for tomorrow, Jameson has something to run by with his son and ask for his opinion, but Jameson is worried that his son is heading back into space since that incident where the black ooze once attacked John on the journey back home and almost killed him, John is chewing down on his piece of steak.
"Mmm, it'll be a while until I feast on good steak like this." John enjoys his meal.
"Can't believe that you're going back into space, even after that disaster that happened the last time you were up." Jameson said.
"That was unforeseen, none of us even expected to bring aboard a life form mistaken as space oil, I was just lucky to made it back home in one piece, but I can't let that one incident scar me for life, I have to get back to who I am, being an astronaut is my job, dad, can you understand that?" John said.
"I do, which is why I wanted to run something by you." Jameson is being understanding.
"What is it, dad?" John said.
"You know this city is going through some tough times in the last two years." Jameson said.
"Yeah, so did the rest of the world, that's nothing new." Jameson said.
"Well, New York is the most affected than the rest, so much chaos around and many people are leaving as a result, this city will die without proper leadership to set things back in motion... which is why I did to run for mayor." Jameson said.
John smiled and giggled until he saw his father isn't smiling or laughing. "Oh, you're serious?"
"Yes, with the mayor resigning, this city will need someone to keep it alive, it's needs a leader." Jameson said.
"But why does it have to be you, dad? I mean don't get me wrong, but you're not a politician." John said.
"Maybe that's the best reason why I should be elected, cause I'm not like those other politicians who cares about scoring political points, I want to really help this city I love so much." Jameson said.
"Are you sure you're not running for other reasons?" John said.
"Such as what?" Jameson said.
"Like to use the position as Mayor to exercise your vendetta against Spider-Man." John said.
"The thought hadn't crossed my mind, but now that you mentioned it, it's a start, but no, this city is dying, many people are leaving at a slow rate, if this keeps up, the economy will fall as well till there's nothing left to keep it alive, back then criminals like Fisk would've used that position to protect their criminal activities. This city was great before all the craziness happened, under my leadership this city can become great once more, that's why I want to become Mayor, to help the people of this city, not from the newspaper tabloid, but from City Hall." Jameson explained his reasons for running for Mayor.
John smiled as he's proud of his father. "Well dad, if this is what you really want, then I support you."
Jameson smiled as his son said those words. "Thank you, son. I hope that this next mission goes better than the last one."
"So do I, dad, so do I." John said.
Jameson and his son continue enjoying their steak dinner, Jameson is glad that he's got the support of his son and now he's more motivated into running for mayor more than ever.
Around 9:45 PM as Spider-Man is still swinging around in Lower East Side in search of this mysterious supervillain that was on the cargo ship and responsible for the assault onboard, but still no sign of anything unusual lately, this thing hasn't caused trouble yet, Spider-Man then swings on top of a rooftop as he wants to radio in his friends to see if there's any progress.
"Ghost-Spider, Kid Arachnid, anything on your end?" Spider-Man talking through the earpiece.
"Negative, no sign of trouble in Upper West Side." Ghost-Spider said.
"Nothing in Hell's Kitchen." Kid Arachnid said.
Spider-Man sighed. "I thought for sure that we'd find him. How about you, Ganke? Any news on the net?"
(Spider-Cave)
At the hidden headquarters, Ganke Lee is sitting in front of the supercomputer monitoring everything for any sign of trouble in the city hoping that this thing has surfaced by now, but even he's having no such luck at his end.
"Nothing, all quiet on the net. It's getting late, why don't we call it a night and we can continue the search tomorrow." Ganke Lee said.
(Lower East Side)
Spider-Man sighed. "Alright, let's call it a night and get some much needed rest."
"Sound's like a good idea." Ghost-Spider said.
"Okay, see ya all tomorrow." Kid Arachnid said.
"Good night Kid Arachnid." Spider-Man said.
Spider-Man then swings away from the rooftop heading on home for the night as he gave up on the search for this mysterious villain, Spider-Man is leaving the neighborhood as unknown to him, deep underground within the subway tunnels, the mysterious supervillain is taking shelter underneath the city avoiding any unnecessary attention, he's sleeping and resting for the night, this guy is dreaming in his sleep about his past where he became the man he is now.
(Flashback)
About a month ago in Russia in a top secret research facility, Ex-Russian mob enforcer Aleksei Sytsevich is being escorted by men in uniform, the criminal is all restrain in chains as he finally arrived at the lab where all the equipment is set up along with an experimental armor made out of carbonadium alloy, a group of scientist including a green skinned man with a enlarged forehead called the Leader who is the head researcher on this project to create a super soldier for the government, here are the military officials who wants to use Aleksei as a test subject in exchange for his freedom, everyone here is speaking in Russian.
"Aleksei Sytsevich, you are currently serving a life sentence, if you agree to be a test subject for this top secret project, then your prison terms will be expunged and you shall be released immediately, do you agree to these terms?"
"I do." Aleksei comply with the terms in Russian.
"Very well, proceed."
Aleksei Sytsevich steps into the chamber where all the machinery is set up in what appears to be gamma ray projectors, the exact kind of radiation that created the Hulk, the Leader is attempting to replicate the same process hoping to produce a super soldier with strength equal to that of the Hulk himself. The Leader is standing behind the lead lined window for safety along with the other military officials to witness the test. Leader is familiar with the gamma experiments since he worked with Bruce Banner on the project and he too was exposed to the radiation, only for him to gain super intelligence, he has now defected to Russia and agreed to help them create super soldier for their country.
"Gentleman, thank you all for funding my research, as promised, I shall provide you with your own super soldier for your military, we can begin."
Leader types in the keyboard to start up the test, the gamma ray projectors are powering up with Aleksei still inside the chamber awaiting for something to happen to him, all of a sudden, gamma rays are lighting up upon Aleksei as he's feeling a changing happening to his body, his entire body is starting to enlarge itself and he continues to grow bigger than the average human, but his strength and stamina levels are increasing as well, he's growing stronger upon the gamma exposure.
Eventually the gamma rays are powering down, everyone finally got to see the changes that has happened to Aleksei as he's become something more than human. Leader then initiate the next stage of the experiment, he used the mechanical arms in the chamber to donned on the suit Aleksei will be wearing for the rest of his life, an armored suit tailored to his exact size, the helmet includes horns for offensive capabilities, Aleksei got to see his reflection to see that he has changed from an ordinary human to something super strong, his new appearance resembles that of a rhinoceros, The Leader came into the chamber to see his experiment was a success.
"What? What have you done to me?" Aleksei is stunned and shocked to see what has become of him.
"Aleksei Sytsevich no longer exist, now there is only the Rhino." The Leader smiles as he's proud of success.
Aleksei Sytsevich is now the Rhino, but he didn't like what he had become as he got very angry and picked up the Leader in anger, everyone behind the safety glass sees that the test subject has now gotten out of control, he tossed the Leader against the wall and knocked him out cold, meanwhile more soldiers came into the room to contain the situation by firing their guns at Rhino, but thanks to his armored suit, he is protected and the bullets are ineffective against Carbonadium alloy, he swings his arms around striking back at his enemies, the whole facility is now on alert, Rhino then took the opportunity to charged himself towards the steel door locking him inside the chamber, the momentum along with his new super strength is enough to knock the steel door down hard.
He kept on running down the hallway tackling anyone who dares to stop him from escaping, no one is able to stop him, he charged himself through the wall and jumped out of the facility, he smashed down onto the ground as many soldiers spotted the Rhino outside and started shooting at him. Rhino then makes his escaped by charging through the crowd and tackling them out of the way, he spotted the gate closed up tight and he charges himself with so much force until he tackled the gate down hard, he finally made it outside the perimeter and kept on running away towards his freedom.
(Present)
Aleksei wakes up upon having that dreams where he became the Rhino, he had to escape from Russia away from the very people who created him, he came to America for a fresh start and using his new gifts, he can do anything he wants and no one can stand against him, he gets up and picked up an old newspaper about the heroes Spider-Man, Ghost-Spider, and Kid Arachnid saving the city, he realized that there are a few who can prove to be a problem for him.
"So, this city has freaks with superpowers like me. This city isn't big enough for the four of us, I plan to stay here for good and nobody is going to stop me, not even these pests, I will stomp them like bugs they are, this city shall belong to the Rhino." Rhino said in english with a Russian accent.
Rhino plans to stay here in New York as his new home, he sees Spider-Man, Ghost-Spider, and Kid Arachnid as a threat to his stay here, he plans to get rid of them for good.
The next day it's now 2:45 PM at Midtown Science High School as the bell rang and school is ending for the day, Peter is walking out of class along with Gwen and Mary Jane discussing what kind of threat the city is facing now that there's a new supervillain in town they need to stop before innocent people get hurt, Betty was on the phone with Robbie, then she is rushing out of class catching up to Peter walking with the girls outside of school grounds.
"Pete, wait up!" Betty running towards Peter.
"Hey Betty, what's going on?" Peter said.
"Robbie called, he said he needs us at the Daily Bugle, Jameson is calling all his employees to make his big announcement to the city." Betty said.
"What kind of announcement?" Gwen said.
Peter sighed in disappointment. "Apparently Jameson is planning to run for mayor."
"Whoa, really?" Gwen said.
"Where did he get this crazy idea to run for mayor?" Mary Jane said.
"Ah, that would be from me." Peter reluctantly admits his role.
Mary Jane and Gwen gave Peter the look that he came up with the terrible idea for Jameson to run for Mayor.
"We should get going, Pete, Jameson is about to make his announcement very soon." Betty said.
"Okay, let's go Betty." Peter turns to Gwen and Mary Jane. "See you both late."
Peter and Betty left Gwen and Mary Jane behind as they're heading to the Daily Bugle together.
It's 3:45 PM at the Daily Bugle where Jameson is in his office with a lot of bookshelves and furniture are set up as a background along with flags of America and New York, Jameson himself is dressed up in a suit with an American flag pin, the crew are set up cameras, meanwhile Betty and Peter got off the elevator to see that the whole floor is pretty busy and packed with a lot of employees together in one place, they moved on through the crowd and joined up with Robbie only to see Jameson in a suit standing in his newly designed office, Jameson is about to enter into a world of politics.
"Whoa!" Peter is surprised by all this theatrics.
"What's going on here?" Betty asking Robbie.
"Jonah had all this set up since this morning, he's about to announce to the city his candidacy for the office of mayor, he spent so much of his own money to make this happen." Robbie said.
"Really? I kinda expected a hidden mobster lurking in the shadow pulling the strings." Peter making a joke.
Betty smiled and giggled at Peter's joke until one of the crewmen tells everyone to shush as they're about to go live on TV, Jameson is sitting in his chair with his new background in the office as he's about to speak to the city about his running for Mayor, the cameraman is counting down to three with his fingers, the lights on the camera is on and they're live, Peter along with Betty and Robbie all watch Jameson speak to the whole city.
"My fellow New Yorkers, as I'm sure you're well aware, our honorable mayor has resigned very recently from office of Mayor of this great city, this news is quite unexpected for us all, but this is not the end for us all, in true, this is the new beginning for the city as I plan to keep it alive for the people to live and prosper, which is why as of this moment, I'm announcing my candidacy for the office of Mayor of New York City, and I ask you all to come to the rally around 6:30 PM sharp where I plan to speak about my intentions for this city and how I intent to fix it, this city was great before, together we can make it great again, thank you." Jameson gave his speech on live TV.
"And... cut!"
Jameson steps away from his desk after done giving his speech on live TV, he just announced to the city that he's running for the office of Mayor, the crew are all packing up all the equipment in the office, Jameson walks up and joins his employees who were watching, Peter is surprised to see Jameson is still going through with it along with posters and buttons titled "Jameson For Mayor."
"So what did you all think?" Jameson asking his employees.
"I am shocked." Betty said.
"So you're really going through with it?" Peter said.
"Why not? Not everyone is going to run, and this city needs someone who isn't afraid to take on the responsibility and is willing to help the people, I wanted to be the voice for this city, but now it's not enough, I need to step up and really do something about it, not as editor-in-chief, but as the mayor of this fine city. I'm still running for mayor and nothing is going to make me change my mind." Jameson is still determined.
Even though Peter is still against the idea of Jameson running for Mayor as he's worried that he might one day use his position against him and his friends if it ever came to that, he actually admires how brave Jameson is in stepping up to take such a responsibility for this city. Meanwhile one of the landlines is ringing as Robbie quickly picks it up.
"Robertson here." Robbie Robertson is listening to the call until his facial expression has change for the worst. "What? Where?"
Peter can't help but worried what's got Robbie looking like this as he hangs up the phone after hearing such bad news.
"What is it?" Peter is curious.
"There's a situation happening downtown, police are barricading the bank trying to stop something." Robbie said.
"Something?" Peter said.
"Something big." Robbie is still clueless.
Peter looked stunned. "I have to go."
Peter is in a rush to leave everyone behind and makes his way towards the elevator, he begins to suspect that this could be the same supervillain who was on the cargo ship yesterday, he finally surfaced and is wrecking havoc. He enters the elevator and closes the door, he pulls out his phone and makes a call to his friends.
Peter holds the phone to his ear as its ringing. "Hey, it's me, Peter, I need your help."
Later in Downtown at the bank, the police are barricading the place as some vehicles are already wrecked along with the entrance as something very big bursted its way inside, the police are keeping their distance as some officers are too injured in their attempts to stop this threat but were unsuccessful, paramedics are tending to the injured. Meanwhile Spider-Man finally arrived at the scene in time along with his teammates Ghost-Spider and Kid Arachnid to see that there's trouble down below on the ground, Spider-Man spotted Yuri Watanabe down below taking cover behind the squad car, he and his friends swings down close to assess the situation.
"Spider-Man, glad you're all here, we got a huge problem." Yuri Watanabe said.
"What's the situation, Captain?" Spider-Man said.
"We've responded to a silent alarm, many civilians were already evacuated before the first officers at the scene responded, they attempted to stop something inside, but instead ended up getting themselves thrashed by someone very strong. I can't risk sending more of my men to fight something way out of our league." Yuri Watanabe said.
"Not to worry, we'll handle this, wait here." Spider-Man said.
Spider-Man, Ghost-Spider, and Kid Arachnid all left Captain Watanabe's side and swings in close towards the entrance, they've went inside the bank to see that there's hardly any civilians inside and everything is wrecked. They spotted what appears to be the vault door laying on the ground, looks like something very strong ripped it away from the vault and tossed it aside.
"Whoa! What do you supposed did all this?" Kid Arachnid said.
Ghost-Spider looks ahead. "Looks like we're about to find out."
They then see someone coming out of the vault carrying bags of money, someone very big dressed in what appears to be a rhinoceros suit, Rhino finally gazed upon the heroes of New York City he's heard so much about.
Rhino chuckles with a Russian accent. "So you must be the infamous bugs I've heard so much about, at last we finally meet."
"So who are you supposed to be? Rocksteady? Where's your partner Bebop?" Spider-Man making jokes.
"The names Rhino, funny guy, and it's the last name you're all going to be hearing." Rhino introduced himself to them.
"Rhino, huh? You wouldn't happened to be responsible for that mess on the cargo ship, would you?" Spider-Man said.
"Guilty, those fools made the mistake of messing with me, the very same mistake you're all about to make, so step aside." Rhino said.
"Can't do that, big guy." Spider-Man said.
"Big mistake bug, then I'll have to go through." Rhino said.
Rhino then charges in at full force making stomping footsteps making the whole ground shake, the heroes sees Rhino charging in at them as they've all jumped away and split up, Rhino missed as he made it outside where the NYPD are all aiming their weapons at the supervillain.
"Open fire!" Yuri Watanabe yells out.
All the cops opened fire upon Rhino but their bullets are ineffective against his strong armor, Rhino picked up the wrecked car and tossed it towards one of the squad cars as the cops all scattered away as the cars blew up upon contact, Rhino then spotted the woman who commanded the police as he charges in towards her behind the squad car, Yuri is shocked to see Rhino is about to tackle her hard, but Spider-Man came in and swoop her off the ground and saved her in time, he swings her towards safety. Meanwhile Ghost-Spider came in swinging and executed a drop kick upon Rhino's head knocking him off balance.
Ghost-Spider landed in a three point stance. "Kid Arachnid, you're up!"
Kid Arachnid runs in and strikes back at Rhino using his fists charged with venom blast, Rhino is getting punched in the face hard multiple times as he's feeling nothing but rage for the young spider. Kid Arachnid tossed in another punch but Rhino caught the fist easily, Kid Arachnid just zapped Rhino with so much voltage as he can making the Rhino scream in pain, but Rhino works through the pain and strike back with a strong punch, Kid Arachnid got knocked off the ground and crashed himself against the wall out cold, Spider-Man and Ghost-Spider sees their teammate is down.
"Kid Arachnid!" Ghost-Spider screams in worry.
Rhino is about to charge his horn at a downed Kid Arachnid to execute the kill, Spider-Man swings on ahead as he jumped onto the top of his head and webbed up his eyes, Rhino is now blind as Spider-Man uses all his strength to change Rhino's trajectory away from Kid Arachnid and made him tackle his horn against the wall, Ghost-Spider swings in closer to help her friend who is still unconscious from the injuries. Rhino pulls his horn away from the wall and turns around to see Spider-Man picking up the taxi cab.
"Did someone call for a cab?! Take it!" Spider-Man holding the cab above his head.
Spider-Man tossed the cab towards Rhino but the supervillain uses his arm to swing the cab away with all his strength, Spider-Man is stunned to see how strong this Rhino is as he tossed away the cab like a ball of paper.
"Whoa! This guy is just as strong as the Hulk!" Spider-Man said.
Rhino is walking towards Spider-Man with his fists up ready to smash the wall-crawler down, Spidey quickly webs underneath Rhino's legs and slide through beneath, he ended up behind him as he jumped on top of Rhino's head about to strike back hard, but Rhino quickly reacts and grabbed Spider-Man's neck and tossed him towards one of the cruisers hard, Ghost-Spider took Kid Arachnid to safety only to find Spider-Man is in trouble, he's attempting to get back up slowly as Rhino gained the upper hand.
"All too easy, bug! Now time to squash you!" Rhino raised his right foot above Spider-Man.
Rhino is about to stomp on Spider-Man hard to kill him, but Ghost-Spider came in swinging in for a drop kick to Rhino's head, knocking him off his feet and falling back to the ground, Spider-Man sees Ghost-Spider just save his life, Ghost-Spider is still on top of Rhino striking back with her fists on his face, she eventually stopped punching as she felt her knuckles in pain as she felt like she's punching a steel door. Rhino quickly reacts and strikes back with a strong punch knocking Ghost-Spider off of him, Ghost-Spider felt down hard on the ground as Spider-Man sees her all injured along with Kid Arachnid, both his teammates are down and Rhino is getting back up on his feet.
Spider-Man quickly fired off some webbing onto Rhino's eyes to blind him temporarily, he then sweeps in picking up Kid Arachnid and putting him onto his back, afterwards he picked up Ghost-Spider in his arms to see her all unconscious, that single punch from the Rhino was strong enough to render her unconscious, Rhino is removing the webs as Spider-Man needs to make a tactical retreat to save his friends, he swings away from the scene trying to get as far away from Rhino as possible.
Rhino smiled and chuckles. "That's right, run Little Spiders."
Everyone who is still in the area witnessed Spider-Man escaping from the scene with Ghost-Spider and Kid Arachnid as Rhino is too powerful for the three of them to take on together, one of them was recording the event on his smartphone. Meanwhile Spider-Man is still swinging through the city with his friends all unconscious.
"Hang in there, guys." Spider-Man swinging with his friends in tow.
The time is 5:03 PM at the Daily Bugle where the whole staff is working overtime on the mayoral campaign, meanwhile Jameson along with Robbie and Betty are watching the news of the Rhino robbing the bank and the footage taken by smartphone of Rhino fighting off against Spider-Man, Ghost-Spider, and Kid Arachnid all by himself, he's proven to be too powerful for the heroes along with the NYPD to handle together, he managed to defeated them all and sent the heroes running, Robbie and Betty are concerned on the rally as it's too risky to host it with the Rhino still on the loose.
"As you can see, this Rhino character has managed rob the bank and make off with millions in newly minted bills, not to mention he bested both the NYPD and the three heroes as neither of them are successful in apprehended this raging behemoth. The NYPD are forced to retreat as soon as they see the heroes swinging away from the scene, this Rhino is still on the loose and no one has the power to bring him to justice. Residents are urged to stay indoors until further notice as the streets are not currently safe with the Rhino roaming around."
Robbie used the remote to turn off the TV and sighs to his boss. "Listen Jonah, I know that you're not going to want to hear this, but given the circumstances it maybe best to cancel the mayoral rally for the day."
"What? Are you crazy? Just because there's a freak in a suit on a rampage, I'm suppose to run scared, no thanks." Jameson said.
"You saw what happened on TV, this guy managed to take on the NYPD and three heroes all by himself and no one has the power to go up against this guy, it's best to cancel the rally and prevent risking innocent lives until this guy is taken down." Robbie said.
"Robbie, listen to me, people are already scared because of these freaks, many have already abandoned New York cause no one is brave enough to stand up for this city and it's people, if I back down now, this city is done for, I have to do this, I can't live my life in fear like everyone else. The rally is still on, if anyone is going to risk their own lives for this city, it might as well be me." Jameson said.
Betty and Robbie could see that Jameson isn't afraid to go out there to fight for this city, Jameson is either brave or stupid, perhaps both, but he's still going through with his campaign.
Jameson looks around and noticed someone is missing. "Where's Parker?"
"Don't know, haven't heard back from him since he left." Robbie said.
"I hope that nothing bad has happened to him." Betty is worried.
"So do I, Betty." Robbie is also worried.
"Call him, tell him that I need all my employees at the rally later." Jameson said.
Jameson and Robbie are now busy focusing on the mayoral rally happening later, Betty pulls out here phone and makes a call to Peter.
(Spider-Cave)
At the same at the Spider-Cave, Miles and Gwen each are resting in cots after their battle with Rhino left them both unconscious and injured with bruises on their faces, Peter along with Mary Jane and Ganke are checking up on their friends to see that they're resting comfortably, Gwen is starting to wake up to find that she's at the Spider-Cave, she attempts to get back up but Peter came to her side to comfort her, Gwen is still feeling the injuries she got from Rhino.
"Easy Gwen, you're still hurt." Peter said.
"I was dreaming that I was in a fight against a Rhino." Gwen said.
"It was no dream, he put you in this bed." Peter said.
Gwen is still feeling injured. "Did you stop him?"
"No, I couldn't, seeing you and Miles down on the ground, I had to make a choice, I chose to leave in order to save you both, the Rhino is still on the loose." Peter said.
"How do you plan to stop him?" Gwen said.
"I don't know, but I'll figure it out, for now, get some rest, both of you." Peter said.
Gwen listened to Peter's advice and rest her head back on the pillow, she sees Miles is still sleeping on the other cot next to her, meanwhile Peter's phone is ringing as he pulls it from his pocket to see that Betty is calling him.
Peter answered the call and hold the phone to his ear. "Hey Betty."
"Peter, thank god you'd called back, I was getting worried that you might've crossed paths with the Rhino and gotten yourself hurt." Betty said.
"I'm alright, Betty, I was just lucky." Peter said.
"Well, I wanted you to know that Jameson is still going through with the rally happening later and he wants everyone there." Betty informs Peter.
"Wait, he's still going through with it even with this whole Rhino disaster?" Peter is stunned.
"I know, even I'm surprised too, but you know our boss, once he set his mind on something, nothing will stop him. He wants all the employees there at the rally later today." Betty informs Peter.
"I see, thanks for letting me know Betty, take care." Peter said.
"You too, Pete." Betty now hangs up the phone.
"What is it, Tiger?" Mary Jane said.
"The rally is still on, I have to go back out there." Peter said.
"Wait, you can't be serious!" Ganke Lee said.
"I am, Rhino is still out there and I have to stop him." Peter said.
"Tiger, you three faced off against this guy and he managed to beat Gwen and Miles singlehandedly, you're no match for him all by yourself, he could kill you!" Mary Jane protested.
"MJ, I don't have a choice, I have to do something before more innocent people get hurt or worse." Peter said.
"We're not saying you should stand down, Peter, but if you're going to stop Rhino, you'll need the help of someone very strong to face him." Ganke Lee suggested.
Peter sighed. "You're right, I'll go to Avengers Tower and see if Hulk or Thor are available to help. Wish me luck." Peter puts his mask back on and becomes Spider-Man.
"Good luck, Tiger." Mary Jane said to Spider-Man leaving the Spider-Cave.
Around the same time at a Diner in Manhattan, a lot of customers are running away in fear as the Rhino is already inside the building, the NYPD are barricading the place keeping everyone in the surrounding area at a safe distance, Yuri Watanabe is there leading the operation, one of the officers is looking through the binoculars to get a read on the Rhino's activities inside, he couldn't believe what's happening inside the diner as Yuri wants to know what's going on.
"What's the situation inside, officer?" Yuri Watanabe said.
"Ah... it looks like Rhino is... having lunch."
Inside the diner itself one of the waiters came by with a tray full of hamburgers, fries, and a giant cup of soda and place them in front of Rhino who looks very happy to have a decent meal as he worked up an appetite after his battle with the spider heroes, he quickly eats them all one by one without any stomachaches from too much eating, the waiter is amazing how fast Rhino is eating as he looked very hungry after an intense battle. He eventually finished his meal and took a gigantic sip of soda from the cup until it's empty.
"Mmm, that hits the spot." Rhino then burps very loudly in front of the waiter. "Excuse me."
Rhino is feeling all filled up after that meal, he then looks to the TV still playing the news and sees J Jonah Jameson speaking to the city.
"I know that you're all feeling scared because there's a giant freak in a suit causing chaos to our fine city, but I still ask you all to come to the rally where I shall talk about my vision for this city and how to bring it back to it's former glory, we can't allow ourselves to be intimidated by menaces and bullies, no sir, together we shall make our stand for this city." Jameson speaking on TV.
"Hey, where is this rally happening." Rhino asking the waiter.
"Uh, the Daily Bugle."
Rhino is standing up on his feet. "Thanks for the meal, how much do I owe you?"
"Uh... it's on the house."
"Thanks." Rhino said before leaving the diner.
Around 5:58 PM at Avengers Tower, Spider-Man is swinging until he attached himself to the windows and started to climb on up to the top, he finally arrived at the top and he climbs onto the balcony, he sees that there is no quinjet here on the landing pad, he opens the balcony door and enters the building to find that there's nobody home, not even Thor or Hulk who he's desperate to ask for help, everyone is already left on missions of their own, meanwhile a light scanned upon him and the A.I. F.R.I.D.A.Y. immediately recognized him as an Avenger with full clearance.
"Scanning... identified, Peter Parker, Spider-Man, Level 10, access granted." F.R.I.D.A.Y. said.
"F.R.I.D.A.Y., where is everyone?" Spider-Man said.
"The Avengers are currently off on missions, I can patch you in to Tony Stark who is overseas." F.R.I.D.A.Y. said.
"Do it." Spider-Man said.
F.R.I.D.A.Y. is now reaching out to Tony Stark who is on a mission, a holographic image of Iron Man appears before Spider-Man.
"Hey kid, what's going on?" Iron Man said.
"Tony, is Thor or Hulk there with you?" Spider-Man said.
"Just Hulk, Thor is lightyears away in space with Captain Marvel." Iron Man said.
Spider-Man sighed. "I was hoping to ask them for their help with a problem I'm dealing with here."
"What kind of problem?" Iron Man said.
"There's this new supervillain causing rampage throughout the city, he's already taken down Ghost-Spider and Kid Arachnid, I needed Hulk or Thor to help me fight the Rhino." Spider-Man said.
"I'm sorry that Hulk or Thor are unavailable at this moment to help, but I might have a solution to your problem." Iron Man said.
"What kind of solution?" Spider-Man said.
"Head for the R&D floor down below, there you'll find a weapon you can borrow." Iron Man has a solution.
Spider-Man took the elevator and headed down to the R&D floor of Avengers Tower, he eventually arrived there to find a lab where Bruce Banner and Tony Stark would often use to develop new technology for the team, Spider-Man walks around to find new technology.
"Okay Tony, what exactly am I looking for?" Spider-Man said.
"A suit of armor me and Banner worked on together in case the Hulk ever went rogue, this was built to combat him or at least someone as strong as him, you'll find it in the storage unit up ahead." Iron Man said.
Spider-Man walks up to the storage unit to find the very thing he needs to use against Rhino, he opens it and looks up to gaze upon something very big and powerful.
"Whoa!" Spider-Man is amazed.
The time is 6:30 PM at the mayoral rally happening outside of the Daily Bugle where many people along with Bugle staff are gathered around to show support for Jameson by holding up signs saying "Jameson For Mayor", a number of press are there to record the event and police officers are there as protection in case trouble occurs, coming up to the stage is Jameson himself in a suit smiling and waving to the crowd all cheering and yelling "Jameson!" over and over again, he is accompanied by bodyguards he hired for personal protection given he's a mayoral candidate. Meanwhile far from the Daily Bugle, the Rhino is looking from a distance to see everyone here in the same spot, including the man who called him a freak. Back at stage, Jameson arrived to talk about his vision for this city.
"Thank you all coming out today, although I'm pretty sure you all didn't come to hear me trying to convince you all to subscribe to my newspaper tabloid." Jameson smiles and said a joke, he made the crowd laughed. "But seriously, I wanted to speak to you all my vision for New York and how we can bring it back to it's former glory, so let's get started..."
Meanwhile far from the rally, the police have set up a perimeter to keep the rally safe, at one of the checkpoints, an officers is on lookout for anything suspicious, he then heard footsteps and turns around, but he was too late as a gigantic hand grabbed his head, Rhino then tossed the officer upon a car, knocking him out unconscious, Rhino then proceeded ahead towards the rally to make his move. Back at the rally, Jameson is still giving his speech on his reason to run for mayor.
"... this city has endure tough times within the past two years alone, criminals with superpowers on the rise, not to mention this city has been ground zero for two near world ending events, many have already left and given up on staying here, but for those of us who are brave enough to stay here, we can brave enough to keep this great city alive but this is our home, I have lived here my entire life, I will stay and fight to my last breath for this city I love so much, I won't let myself be intimidated by bullies who threaten our home, no matter what comes our way, I give you all my solemn vow that I will fight to give the people and our children here in this great city a future to live for!" Jameson gave his very impressive speech.
Everyone gave Jameson applause for his courageous speech in his dedication to fight for this city, but then everyone stopped clapping and stopped smiling as they heard loud stomps heading their way, everyone turns and looked to see that Rhino has crashed the rally, everyone felt intimidated by his presence, Jameson is stunned to see a supervillain has dared to come to the rally, Jameson's bodyguards came up in front and started shooting their guns at Rhino walking through the crowd, the NYPD who are there are also shooting Rhino, but their bullets are ineffective against his armor as the bullets are falling down to the ground mangled up.
Rhino chuckles. "That tickles."
The NYPD and bodyguards all stopped shooting their guns as they possess no means to stop Rhino, meanwhile Jameson steps forward passed his bodyguards about to confront this supervillain who is stirring up trouble to this fine city, Rhino is finally face to face with the man who dared to call him a freak on live TV. Jameson is powerless against someone who is capable of defeating three superheroes alone, but that won't stop him from standing up for the people of this city.
"So you're the infamous Rhino who is causing so much trouble, what do you want?" Jameson said.
"I want this city all to myself, but I can't have someone wanting to rule this city, so this is the deal, you stand down now and forget this foolish idea becoming mayor, cause as of right now this city and all it's people belongs to me now! You hear that?! Submit to Rhino now!" Rhino said.
Jameson looks around to see the people are all frightened until he finally speaks up. "In a pig's eye!"
Rhino sees Jameson isn't scared and dares to speak up against him, apparently the people of this rally are all showing support for Jameson as they're finally overcoming their fear and showing real courage as they brave enough to speak against Rhino, even insulting him, the supervillain is very surprised to see that even though they're all weak against his might power, they're willing to stand up against him, Jameson is feeling proud that everyone here is showing some backbone.
"You hear that?! We won't bow down to your demands or allow ourselves to be your slaves!" Jameson said.
"If you all won't submit, then I'll have no problem killing anyone who dares to oppose me, starting with you, little man." Rhino said.
Rhino steps up crunching his fists as he's about to make his first kill on Jameson, the man himself still stands his ground not showing fear as he's about to die at the hands of Rhino and everyone around got worried for Jameson, the supervillain raise his fists up as he's about to slam them down to crush Jameson, all of a sudden he got blasted back hard by a powerful repulsor blast, Jameson and the people all looked up to see where that attack came from as they gazed upon something flying down towards them, something very big.
"Hey! Pick on someone your own size!" Spider-Man's voice from high up.
Rhino is getting back up on his feet to see who attack him, it's Spider-Man making a landing on the ground piloting what appears to be a large and bulkier version of the Iron Man Armor called the Hulkbuster, a high tech armor designed to combat the Hulk in case he ever went rogue, but could be used to fight someone of equal size and strength, Spider-Man's experience in Stark Tech made it easier for him to pilot this machinery. Spider-Man looks around to see there's too many people here that are about to be caught in the crossfire between him and Rhino, he needs them to leave the area first before fighting Rhino.
"Everyone, get to safety now!" Spider-Man tells the crowd.
The whole crowd listened to Spider-Man's advice and started to clear the area towards safety, Jameson is being escorted back into the Daily Bugle building by his bodyguards as things are about to get messy here outside, Spider-Man in the Hulkbuster is about to take on Rhino in hopes to tip the scales back into his favor, he looks to see the area is now clear of all people and it's safe for him to fight Rhino without endangering everyone.
Rhino looks the Hulkbuster armor. "Shiny."
"Okay Rocksteady, now it's just you and me." Spider-Man in the Hulkbuster.
"Do you really you stand a chance against me in that locomotive?!" Rhino said unimpressed.
"Let's find out!" Spider-Man crunching the Hulkbuster's fist.
Rhino made his move as he came in charging at the Hulkbuster at full speed, Spider-Man used the repulsors to boost himself up in the air as the Rhino passed below him, Spidey turns around and fires off a repulsor blast at Rhino, he got staggered by that hit but still standing, Rhino picked up a police car and tossed it hard at the Hulkbuster, Spidey caught it but got surprised by Rhino jumping off the ground and tackled him in mid air. Both giants came crashing down onto the ground, Hulkbuster throws the first punch and knocked Rhino off him. Rhino is getting back up as Hulkbuster charged itself using it's boosters to tackle Rhino hard as he crashed himself against a news van.
Hulkbuster is up in the air about to slam down upon Rhino, but the supervillain counters by jumping up and thrust his horn through the Hulkbuster's chassis, Spider-Man still inside the armor got to see the horn that pierced through the armor almost reaching his heart, he was lucky the armor provided him with some protection, Rhino got a hold of Hulkbuster and slammed him down towards the ground hard. Hulkbuster is attempting to get back up but Rhino got both his feet onto the Hulkbuster's arms, pinning Spider-Man down, Rhino now has the advantage over Spider-Man as he plans to kill the hero, but someone tossed a fire extinguisher behind Rhino's head, the villain turns to see a brunette teenage girl here, Spider-Man looked to see Betty Brant is still in the area, Rhino got off the Hulkbuster to confront the teen who dared to attack him.
Rhino chuckles. "You got guts, kid, I'll give you that. Is that the best you can do?"
Betty is feeling scared the Rhino is threatening her, she quickly picked up a steel pipe on the ground and swings it hard at the Rhino's body, but it did nothing to him, Betty then swings again until Rhino caught the pipe and takes off her hands, he then bend the steel pipe with his strong hands to prove his superior strength and how easily he can bend steel. Spider-Man sees his friend Betty is in real danger by Rhino.
"It that all? Come on, hit me, harder!" Rhino dares Betty to hit him.
The Hulkbuster got back up and strikes back with a strong uppercut to Rhino's face and sent him flying up in the air towards the Daily Bugle itself.
Rhino still flying up in the air. "I'll get you for that, you motherfu..."
(Daily Bugle)
Inside the building itself, the elevator arrived at the floor as Jameson came out with his bodyguards and Robbie Robertson as this floor is the only safe opinion while Spider-Man is fighting off Rhino down below.
"Okay, we're here Jonah, you should be safe." Robbie said.
All of a sudden, Rhino came crashing through the building after being punched hard by Spider-Man in the Hulkbuster Armor yelling "Damn you, Bug Boy!", he's still kept on crashing through floor to floor and causing some serious damage to the building itself, Jameson doesn't feel safe as Rhino just wrecked his building.
"You were saying?" Jameson said.
(Outside)
Rhino came crashing out of the Daily Bugle as the Hulkbuster is flying up in the air towards him, he managed to catch up to the Rhino and got a hold of him.
"Okay, let's take this elsewhere!" Spider-Man said.
Spider-Man then flies himself and Rhino far away from the city to avoid causing further damage, but Rhino managed to use all his strength to divert the Hulkbuster's flight trajectory back down to the Daily Bugle building.
"No, not way!" Spider-Man is heading down toward the Daily Bugle. "Oh, not again!"
(Daily Bugle)
Jameson and Robbie looked around the floor to see all the damage Rhino has caused to the building, it'll take weeks to fix it.
"Unbelievable, look at this!" Jameson is very disappointed.
"Hopefully it can't get any worse, Jonah." Robbie said.
All of a sudden both Rhino and Hulkbuster came crashing through the Daily Bugle together causing even more damage to the place and headed down floor to floor.
"Please don't say anymore, Robbie." Jameson said.
(Outside)
Both Spider-Man and Rhino came crashing out of the Daily Bugle as Spider-Man is doing everything he can to maintain control of the situation, he sees a construction site up ahead, it would be the ideal place to battle Rhino without causing more damage to the city nor endangering anyone nearby, luckily there's nobody there working, both the Hulkbuster and Rhino crashed down at the construction site and are evenly locked in combat, Spider-Man throws the first punch upon Rhino's face, the villain still remains standing on his two feet as he strikes back with a punch of his own, knocking the Hulkbuster back hard.
Rhino then picks up a steel beam to be used as a melee weapon, Spider-Man is still inside controlling the Hulkbuster all shaken up to see the Rhino coming in for a swing, he braces for impact as the beam hits him pretty hard and sent him crashing upon a wrecking ball crane. Rhino is walking towards him as Spider-Man picks up the wrecking ball and swings it hard upon Rhino, injuring the behemoth, Spider-Man sees that despite that hit, Rhino is still standing strong and can take whatever is thrown his way.
"This isn't working, I need another way to neutralize him, but how?" Spider-Man said in his thoughts.
Spider-Man is looking around his surroundings to find anything he can use to stop Rhino, he found a large hole that was recently dug and a cement truck parked nearby, he got an idea what to do, meanwhile Rhino is coming in for a charge with his horn to impale the hero, but the hero used the boosters to slide out of the way to avoid the horn attack, he moved himself in front of the hole as Rhino is turning around to see the Hulkbuster has stopped moving.
"Yo, Toro! You want me? Come and get me!" Spider-Man mocks Rhino.
"I'm a Rhino, not a bull, get it right!" Rhino felt insulted.
"Then why don't you make me?!" Spider-Man taunts Rhino.
Rhino then positioned himself for a charge against Spider-Man, the hero still stands his ground waiting for Rhino to take the bait, Rhino charges himself at high speed thrusting his horn about to kill Spider-Man, he still waited for Rhino to get close enough to the hole to fall in, Rhino is almost reaching the Hulkbuster as Spider-Man quickly boost up in the air with the Rhino passing below him, before the villain realized it, it was already too late, he couldn't stop himself and fell into the trap Spider-Man has planned for him. While Rhino is still trapped in the hole having trouble getting out, the Hulkbuster quickly picked up the cement truck and poured it deep upon the hole and fill it up with wet cement around Rhino.
"AH! What are you doing?!" Rhino is being covered in cement.
The truck has finally been emptied off all the liquid cement it was carrying and filled up the hole, Rhino still has his head above the liquid cement as Spider-Man uses the Hulkbuster's flamethrower to heat up the liquid and turning it into solid stone, Rhino is finally entrapped in solid cement unable to get himself out, Rhino looks up to see the Hulkbuster ready for a strike and he is powerless to fight back.
"Nighty night, Rhino." Spider-Man said.
Spider-Man slams the Hulkbuster's fist hard upon Rhino's head and effectively knocking him out cold, the supervillain has finally been neutralized and defeated, his reign of terror is finally over.
(Later)
The NYPD along with S.H.I.E.L.D. are at the construction site where agents are pulling in Rhino still incased in concrete onto the quinjet about to be transported to the Raft where he can't hurt anyone else ever again, a few press are there recording everything here and assures the public that Rhino is finally in custody. Meanwhile back at the Daily Bugle, J Jonah Jameson is speaking to the press and the people about recent events everyone at the rally had to face, but they've all remained strong despite all the troubles they had to endure because of Rhino. Spider-Man is overlooking from the rooftop to see Jameson speaking to the people of New York.
"As you can see for yourself all the chaos this city had to face all the time, but we all remained strong standing up to those who dared to threaten our home, we all came out victorious, this city will still face challenging times but we will all face them together, if you all vote for me as mayor, I promise you that I will keep on fighting for this city we all love so much, together we can bring back New York! I am J Jonah Jameson and I am running for the office of Mayor of New York City!" Jameson speaking to the press.
The press and crowd all cheered and clapped their hands togethers for Jameson who is still going through with his mayoral campaign, he walked up and shakes hands with anyone who supports him, Spider-Man is somehow impressed that Jameson is able to unite the people for a common cause to save their city, things might look good in the future for the people, but he still has some worries about that as Jameson still has mistrust in the heroes, but he'll have to let Jameson do his part in keeping the city alive as mayor, this city needs a leader who can lead it into the future. At least Spider-Man did his part in stopping the Rhino and bringing him to justice, the city is safe again for now.
Later at the Spider-Cave, the Hulkbuster Armor is parked inside all damaged during the fight with the Rhino, Miles and Gwen gazed upon the armor that made the defeat of Rhino possible, including the hole in the chassis Rhino inflicted with his horn, they're amazed that Spider-Man was luck to survive against such a strike, meanwhile Peter came by along with Mary Jane and Ganke with boxes of pizza and cans of soda in their hands to celebrate their victory.
"Pizza!" Peter holding up boxes of pizza.
"Always a good way to celebrate victory." Miles said.
Peter, Mary Jane, and Ganke all placed the pizzas and sodas on the table as everyone is gathering around to get their slices and drinks to celebrate, Gwen looks back at the Hulkbuster Armor that Spider-Man used recently against Rhino.
"So how was it? Wearing that thing?" Gwen is curious.
"Not exactly a Buick, but it works like a locomotive, though I'll have to explain to Tony about the beating it took." Peter said.
"It did it's purpose, it helped you take down Rhino and protected you, Tony will understand." Mary Jane said.
"And what about Jameson? Is he still going through with his campaign?" Ganke Lee said.
"Unfortunately, but I was more surprised by how Flattop was able to unified the city during it's dark time, the people all showed backbone standing up to Rhino together, I hate to say it, but he might be the ideal man who can become the kind of mayor this city truly deserves." Peter said.
"Who are you and what did you did to Spider-Man?" Miles made a joke.
"Are you actually showing support to the very man who called you a menace?" Gwen is also teasing Peter.
Peter smiled and giggle. "I know, that's messed up, right?"
Everyone all smiled and giggle at that remark, eventually they all raised their cans up in the air together to celebrate their success.
"Here's to Spider-Man." Miles said.
"TO SPIDER-MAN!"
"Here's to the Hulkbuster, thanks to it, Rhino is finally in custody and on his way to the Raft where he can't hurt anyone every again, hopefully we won't have to worry about Rhino every again." Peter said.
Meanwhile out in the Atlantic Ocean, a S.H.I.E.L.D. quinjet is flying over the sea transporting Rhino still trapped in concrete to the Raft to be locked up safely, a group of S.H.I.E.L.D. agents are keeping watch over the captured behemoth, Rhino is currently powerless to do anything but await the fate has in store for him, imprisonment, he escaped captivity in Russia only to be captured in America by heroes. One of the agent walked up to the cockpit to speak with the pilot.
"How long until we arrive at the Raft?"
"Only two hours."
"Good."
This agent pulls out his gun with a silencer and shot the pilot dead, the other agents all got surprised that one of their own was just executed, this rogue agent turns his gun onto the others and shot them all dead before they got the chance to fight back, after he's done killing off the agents, he set the quinjet on autopilot and changed it's destination back to New York. Rhino is confused as to what's going on here, this agent is walking up in front of him and pulls off his face mask, it was the supervillain Chameleon who is responsible for this massacre.
"Aleksei Sytsevich." Chameleon said.
"Who are you and what do you want?" Rhino said.
"I am merely a messenger, I came on behalf on my employer, Doctor Octopus, he has an offer to make you, one I'm sure you'll love." Chameleon said.
Rhino smiled as he has no idea what this offer is, but if it means getting his freedom and his chance at revenge on the hero responsible for his downfall, he'll take it without hesitation, Doctor Octopus has great plans for Rhino in his grand plan for world domination, the heroes are so mistaken if they think that Rhino is no longer a problem, they're in for a shock as he'll return soon.
Note: Please write comments or reviews about this chapter and tell what you like about it, thank you and please enjoy reading the story.