A door clicked open as Maya led a bruised Jonah and an unharmed Hobie into her apartment just to see her father in a security guard uniform. "Oh, hey Mr. Winstead.", Jonah says as he plopped himself onto their couch.

"Nice to see you again Jonah. Hobie, it's been a while... man you're tall." the impressively tall broad man with short black hair says as he adjusted his holster. "It's rare to see you guys when I'm here."

"Great to see you too sir.", Hobie says with a yawn as he sat down at one of the chairs exhausted.

"Hobie just came back from taking care of his aunt, so we're gonna hang out for a little bit... is that cool with you dad?", Maya asked as the taller man that was her father tapped his toes against the floor before shrugging.

"Yeah, why not.", Winstead says before approaching the door. "Don't do anything that would make me want to shoot both of you in the skulls.", he says with a low voice, Jonah's eyes widened as he could immediately tell what he meant. "Anyways, I'll leave you to if, I'm already late.", he says before rushing out and closing the door behind him.

Maya went to her kitchen and quickly came back with what looked like a med kit, Jonah took off his jacket to reveal the still fresh wounds that stained his skin. "Yikes...", she says with surprise as she dabbed a small cotton ball with rubbing alcohol and slowly wiped it against his open cut

Jonah hissed at the stinging sensation as he looked at Hobie. "Alright, so, what's your story."

Hobie let out a laugh as he just looked at the ceiling. "Still curious huh?... guess that's fair. I owe that to you anyways... three years ago-"

~Flashback~

A younger Hobie looked through his pantry. It was empty. He then took a quick glance at his fridge. Barely anything to eat. "Damn... already?", Hobie sighed as he looked at his younger siblings play. He rubbed his stomach as it growled.

"Wassup?", an older young man with long braids, his brother Abraham, asked as he leaned against the counter. "Ah... we're already out huh? Shit, I'll have to stop by the store before I get back."

Hobie nodded as he walked out of the kitchen and went to his bedroom, scratching his neck as he closed his door. Quickly using his foot to pull out a strange... green and purple suit. Quickly taking out a flyer as well.

"500 dollar prize for a three minute match with Crusher Hogan", Hobie says as he shoved the suit into his backpack. "Here we go.", he sighs as he walked out of his room with his backpack.

Abraham looked over to Hobie with a scoff. "Where are you goin?"

"Gonna stop by Jonah's place.", Hobie gave a thumbs up as he exited the apartment. He tuned out the noises of domestic violence, children screaming at the top of their lungs, couples not being aware how thin the walls are, all of that unimportant stuff.

My family wasn't always... great at keeping money. Sometimes mom would steal the shit Abe, Jess or I kept hidden to fuel her... habits. Which is when I decided to go into a... different profession. Wrestling!

The fifteen year old Hobie now found himself outside of an alleyway next to a large building, he slipped off the bigger pieces of clothing being a flannel and his cargo shorts. Quickly adorning himself with the outfit he had.

The suit itself was a skintight body suit that was primarily a forest green coloration, with a lighter green chest emblem vaguely resembling an animal. He slipped on boots that matched the purple gloves he wore, albeit the finger tips were sharpened claws. With some adjustments, he fixed his purple cape and slipped on the matching mask with black markings around the eyes, which were completely white.

I made sure to hide any of my tech so they wouldn't kick my ass out, it worked... and I won.

After a short, 3 minute fight against a larger muscular man with a bald head, The Prowler stood over him proudly as the referee held his arm up, declaring him the winner,

It went great at first... at first. I signed on for more matches, made a fuck ton of money and helped my family in the process. For a while, we didn't need to worry about waiting for the Food Stamps or any paychecks.

"I'm a little short here.", The Prowler says looking at the measly excuse for a pay. "It's five hundred a match you said."

"Yeah, but last match you beat the guy in a minute.", the organizer of the wrestling says with a yawn as he stacked piles of dollars, hundreds and hundreds of them. More than enough.

"I need this money."

The organizer looked at him and just shrugged before going back to his business.

I got angry at him... I don't know why I did. Maybe I built up an ego because I won so much, thought I deserved that money... why should he get to keep it while my family have to deal with a fuckin pathetic mother who can't stop taking meth to save her fucking life...

Then I made a mistake.

The Prowler now stood over the beaten and bruised man with a duffle bag in hand, filled with the money. The organizer struggled to breathe as he was drowning in his own blood.

I was in a bad place. I knew what I was doing was wrong... but I didn't even care, even now I still don't care. My family needed this more than they did, so it was only fair... then I made my second mistake.

The Prowler was on the floor gasping for air as his suit was torn in places, arms, legs, partially around his face. He struggled to get up as the Daredevil stomped him right back down with his sickle spinning through the air.

A clean shaven Kingpin stood over him, his white tuxedo stained with his own blood from a large cut that the Prowler inflicted on him. "I have to say, you did quite fantastic. Much better than anyone else that has tried..."

The Kingpin smirked as he gave the Daredevil a sign, to which he calmly stepped back and sheathed his sickles. "I'm never usually this generous, but you have throughly impressed me. So I'm going to give you a deal, Hobart Brown Junior."

Hobie looked up as the Kingpin tore off his mask to show off his bruised face and messy black hair. "You can work for me and provide for your family with the generous amount I'll be giving you per job. Or... you can die, you and your entire family can die."

I didn't know what to do... I was in over my head. I was scared about what would happened to them...

"I'll do it."

The Kingpin got me in contact with other groups, a friend of his known as Octavius lended me a private lab to create a new suit. After that... I did whatever I was asked, if there was money involved, I'd do it.

~Flashback~

Jonah and Maya looked at him with wide eyes, they looked at each other before looking back at Hobie. "That's fuckin crazy man, like seriously."

"Yeah, I know right?", Hobie says with a very odd smile and a nod. "But yeah, I did some crazy shot for like... a few years, got my family off the ground finally and now we're livin fine."

"So... you're fine with what you've been doin?", Jonah asked genuinely concerned as Hobie just shrugged.

"I don't like it but I'm not struggling to make ends meat.", Hobie says nonchalantly, Maya looked at Jonah who sat up and placed a hand on his knee.

"So, you're fine with doing whatever that is if it invokes money?"

"Yep."

Maya looked at Jonah before looking at Hobie then back at Jonah. "I don't think it's the time to start this debate."

Hobie sat up and popped his neck. "Dude, all I wanted is to make sure my family actually managed to get a good education so they don't end up like ma in their twenties."

"You could kill... like anyone, it doesn't even matter what their actual deal is just if there's a high enough pay being involved in it.", Jonah states casually as he flinched the moment Maya poked him with a needle, her face having a disgruntled expression as she began wrapping bandages around him.

Hobie looked at him incredulously. "You wanna judge me on this? Let's talk about the fact you be killin muthafuckas too, you're not allowed to talk shit."

"I know!- ow-", Jonah rubbed his side as he looked at Hobie. "I'm trying not to kill as often, I'm trying to change how I operate. What's your excuse?"

"I was doing it for my fucking family!"

Jonah jolted up violently, his fangs growing out as he snarled before they slid back in. "How many times are you gonna use your family as a fucking excuse? Hmm? What would they say if they found out what you were doing? You gon say the same shit?"

"You don't know the shit I had to do to get them in a comfortable position!", Hobie jolted up and shoved Jonah back only himself to be pushed back. "They're the ones who drive me to this! I want to make sure my siblings get good education and come home with a full meal on the fuckin table at the end of the day. They get the next FUCKING device, the latest shit of any variety and we still have shit!"

"You say that, but once you got into a comfortable position where you can be frugal with your expenses... why continue?", Jonah asked with a head tilt. "But the time you got the money to live comfortably for a bit you should've started selling your tech, people would pay a fortune for those boots of yours. But you didn't, did you?"

Hobie grits his teeth angrily as Jonah continued, Maya attempting to shut his mouth to which he simply held her hands in place. "I won't lie and say I'm perfect, but I also wouldn't be lying to myself if I had to kill someone and use my family as an excuse."

"SHUT THE FUCK UP!", Hobie cocked his fist back and punched Jonah square in the face, that was when he felt a stinging sensation in his own hand as Jonah just stood there.

"I can take way more than what you can give.", Jonah hissed aggressively, Hobie scoffed before storming out of the apartment, violently slamming Maya's door shut as they could hear him stomping away.

Jonah rolled his eyes as he felt fingers jab into his bruise, he grits his teeth as he suddenly plopped down onto the couch. "You're both a bunch of fucking morons, you know that?"

"Maaaan... I was just sayin."

Maya looked at him in disbelief. "I- you didn't have to- you know what? I can't even hope to relate to you guys right now, I wish I could but I ain't properly prepared for this.", she says before sitting down next to him with a frown. "Hobie has been your best friend since what? Elementary?"

Jonah looked away and cough. "Since pre."

"Even longer, got it.", Maya says as she gently stroked Jonah's messy brown hair. "Hobie using his family to justify him still being the Prowler is bad, but we can't even begin to understand what is going on in his head... I think you're aware of that."

Jonah just slouched on the couch and just let his muscles finally relax. "I don't blame him... but maybe I was just angry because of all those times we fought. The time he chased me through a tunnel, the time he broke into someone's house and ruined someone's life, or even recently when he hunted the Black Cat."

Maya rubbed her brow before letting out an extremely long sigh, before grabbing Jonah's hair and tugging it in her direction. "I can't really say since I ain't a professional, but I think you need some time to at least process this."

Jonah nods before standing up, popping his neck as he began to walk to the window across to exit. That's when Maya just grabbed his hand and pulled him into a hug. "Dont do anything insane, okay? You tend to be a little... much.", she says with a smile as she separates from him.

The ruby eyed young man smiled back before sliding the window out and launching himself through it legs first. Maya quickly closed the window as she sighed. "Spandex would be real useful right about now."

After adjusting his web shooters, Bullet Spider leapt into the air and landed on a nearby water tower. Quickly taking out his vibrating burner phone and flipped it open. "Yesss-"

["ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME?!"]

Bullet Spider flinched as he held the phone away from his sensitive ears. "What did I do now?"

["Well I've been trying to reach you for the past three hours to ask you why the fuck there were reports of you and the Prowler fighting some guy dressed as Satan!"]

"Funny story-"

["I seriously don't wanna fucking hear it.", Yuri says with an exhausted sigh. ["The Tinkerer has escaped, and now he's robbing a bank on East thirty-first."]

"WHAT?!", Bullet Spider exclaimed. "I thought that fucker was behind bars."

["He was, but one of the guards just walked up to his cell and released him, then gave him his gear back."]

"Figures.", the spider shook his head as he leapt forward and swung away in a web towards East. "Did you get anything out of the guard, anything Kingpin related?"

["No, whoever released him didn't want loose ends. On the security footage, before he had blown his brains out his eyes looked like they were glowing?"]

"That's... mildly disturbing.", Bullet Spider shudders as he sprinted across a building and used s sign to throw himself into the air. Shooting a web at another building and swung off. "I'll see what I can get out of Mikey when I get to the bank."

Bullet Spider got no response besides her hanging up, with a shrug he zipped through the air. A hotdog vendor held up a hotdog, to which he grabbed it while passing by. "Hobie officially becoming the Prowler after Kingpin threatened his very life is understandable, using his family as an excuse is not. But still... was it right to have snapped like that?"

Jonah thought to himself as he zipped by Times Square, landing on one of the buildings that overlooked the bank. "Am I really better than him though? He started out with the actual intent... what did I do? Saving a kid from a fire is okay but that doesn't excuse the fact I brutalized a couple of thugs in my early weeks. I started out wanting to kill whatever crime boss's neck I could get my fingers around... well minus Kingpin. Doubt I can reach his big ass neck... anyways, time to vent my feelings out with violence like normal people do."

Within the bank itself, The Shocker had two duffle bags packed to the brine with money, his metal boots clanking against the ground as Bullet Spider hung on the ceiling by a web. "Hey Mikey, it's been a bit!"

The Shocker let out an exhausted sigh the moment he saw him. "Great, it's you again."

"Now I ain't the best with legal things but I'm pretty sure that's a parole violation.", Bullet Spider says as he quickly used an impact web to knock Micheal back, dropping he duffle bags and leaving him open for a drop kick, sending them into the vault. The Shocker growled before unleashing a shockwave that sent Bullet Spider into the ceiling.

Quickly using his webs, he pulled the vault door shut and landed in front of Shocker. "If you play nice, I'll promise to go easy on you.", Bullet Spider says as he dodged a jab from Shocker. "No?", he tilts his head before dodging another jab. "Fine by me!", Bullet Spider exclaimed as he punched Shocker with enough force to send him into the wall.

The Shocker responded in kind blasted Bullet Spider with a powerful shockwave blast from his gauntlets. While soaring in the air, he caught himself with a web to the ceiling. "You wanna fight?!", the Tinkerer exclaimed angrily as he charged his shock gauntlets. "LETS FIGHT!"

Bullet Spider swung off his web, dodging a shockwave blast that collided with the ceiling, causing chunks of it to fall down. "Wow, you're a lot angrier than I remember.", he says as he lands on a wall and rips out one of the poles and throws it at the Shocker with incredible force.

The Shocker growled as he surrounded himself with a barrier, causing the pole to bounce of and stab into the ceiling. Quickly taking it down he fired at Bullet Spider once again, who quickly ran along the side of the wall before shooting a web and pulling himself up onto the massive chandelier. "So, mind telling me who helped you out?"

"Can't say, but a job is a job.", Shocker states before as he shoot at Bullet Spider once again, who dodged and used his webbing to grab a piece of debris and throw it at him. He quickly held his arms out and blasted the object apart only to be met with a drop kick that sent him skidding back by the spider.

"Is that code for something? I'm pretty sure that's code for something.", the masked vigilante states as he heard the gauntlets vibrate, seeing his fingers touch the ground he immediately leapt up and dodged a shockwave. "Or was it something I did?", he says as he landed on the other side of Shocker.

"What you did-?! YOU PUT MY GUYS IN THE FUCKING HOSPITAL!", Shocker exclaimed, to which Bullet Spider just shrugged at it.

The Shocker let out an annoyed scream as he shot another blast of shockwaves at the Spider, who was quickly swinging away from the blasts that followed him. With a quick flick of his wrist, he shot a web at his eyes.

Shocker grunted as he attempted to rip the webbing from his face only to be met with an uppercut. There was far more force in that punch, so much that it went through his shock absorptive suit and cracked his jaw bone.

"It's funny that you believe I genuinely remember them.", Bullet Spider taunted maliciously as the Shocker grits his teeth. He unleashes another blast of shockwaves at Bullet Spider, but despite the distance he still managed to dodge, flipping into the air and grabbing his suit, bring him up and throwing him into a wall.

The Shocker grits his teeth as he could feel the immense pressure almost break his spine, his body slumped over and collided with the ground with a heavy thud. "Talk about incompetent.", Bullet Spider mocks as he landed in front of him with his arms crossed.

"SHUT THE FUCK UP!", The Shocker screamed out in anger before unleashing a powerful shockwave blast that Bullet Spider dodged once again, his advanced hearing and accelerated perception quickly alerting him of the falling debris. While in mid air he turned his body, grabbing a piece of debris and throwing it hard at the Shocker as he got up to blast it away.

The Shocker wasn't nearly fast enough to react however, the thick chunk of wall broke the gauntlet itself with blue electricity crackling around. "What the- you motherfucker!"

"Awh, you mad that I broke your toy?", Bullet Spider teased with a wide grin underneath his mask.

"You really are stupid aren't you?!", turning a dial on the side of his only functional gauntlet, he began firing at Bullet Spider as he flipped in the air with a mischievous laugh.

"Man I really got you worked up huh?", Bullet Spider says as he threw another piece of debris at the Shocker, the rock exploded into dust upon getting into contact with the shockwave blast. However, Shocker couldn't even see, let alone react, to a flying knee to his face, shattering his visor.

Using Shocker as leverage, Bullet Spider popped his foot onto his shoulder before flipping into a kick that sent the Shocker onto the ground face first. "Because I'm nice, I'll let you keep that working Shock gauntlet."

"What?", Micheal asks genuinely confused as he looked up to see Bullet Spider slicing through the giant chandelier with his sharp talons. The sheer weight combined with Bullet Spider forcing it down with his strength caused him to flip onto his back and erect a barrier of shockwaves as it came crashing onto him.

Bullet Spider patted himself on the back before climbing into the hole he made himself prior to the fight.

It was just then he realized something.

"Wait... fuck I was supposed to ask him about the dude with glowing eyes.", Bullet Spider groaned as he flinched from an incoming call, he flipped open his burner phone before letting it a cough. "Hey Yuri."

["Did you get anything out of Shocker?"]

Bullet Spider laughed nervously as he lifted up his mask around his mouth. "Oh uh... he didn't say anything."

["Well that's concerning. We'll have to look out for more of those guys with white eyes."]

"If the guy didn't blow his brains out, I would've thrown Willy under the bus first.", Bullet Spider chuckles.

["Considering the shit we have on him, I wouldn't blame you. Now before I let you go... how bad is it?"]

"Uhhhhh... don't worry about it."

["Shouldn't have asked.", Yuri sighs before hanging up on him.

Bullet Spider shrugged as he snapped his phone shut and shoved it into his pocket. As he swung, he narrowly missed the capsule ejecting out of his web shooter. "Shiiiit, I gotta restock on web fluid before I plummet to my death again.", he thinks to himself as he tucked himself and flew right through a small gap between a truck and its cargo.

"Hobie being the Prowler really does change a lot of things, or... maybe it doesn't?", Bullet Spider internally ponders as he zipped through the bustling night streets. "Maybe venting my frustration on Mikey gave some clarity or something. Hobie's my best friend, but is it just okay to be all buddy buddy with him after all the shit he told us?"

Landing ontop of the Empire State Building, he let out a long and drawn out sigh. "I should go apologize to him in the morning, I doubt he wants to see me right about now."

It was at this moment, Jonah Parks came to the conclusion;

"This shit fucking sucks."

/End/