Chapter 3 - A Free Spider
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Cover Art By aldimaulana661 (Aldi) on Twitter.
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"So, that's Mondstadt, the City of Freedom," Raylan said to himself, perched atop a tall tree on the outskirts of the city. "Somehow I don't think that is… normal."
To be fair, he wasn't exactly certain what was normal in this world, but this seemed… off.
To put it mildly.
"The city of freedom… looks like a fortress prison."
Before Spider-Man lay a large fortress city, surrounded by walls from all sides, sat in the middle of a massive lake. The city looked as though it could house hundreds of thousands of people decently well, not what one would have expected from a city that looked as though it could have been pulled from the middle-ages from a magical fantasy world.
Well, considering he was in a world with gods and monsters that actually made sense but still.
Funnily enough, there was only one entrance to the city, read: prison, via a bridge of sorts that looked heavily guarded. Several smaller gates led to one bigger one, with guards stationed on towers either side of the bridge. That had to be a fire hazard or something.
At the far end of the city stood what Raylan figured was a cathedral, overlooking most of the city, it would have been a magnificent sight had it not been ruined, run-down, and overrun with symbiote biomass, tendrils of all shapes and sizes, pulsing and throbbing ever so slightly like a literal heart. A spire of symbiote mass broke through the roof of the building, reaching into the sky, branching out like a tree in all sorts of directions.
A familiar sight to the wall-crawler from his time battling symbiotes back in New York.
However, the biggest oddity of the whole spectacle was the massive floating island hovered just behind the furthest point beyond the city, connected to Mondstadt by three floating, black chains tying the island to the city. A green visualization of the wind itself swirled around the island, like a barrier separating the castle from the rest of the world.
The floating fortress was so much darker than the city itself, like a more gothic, evil vibe to it when compared to the rest of the city. Even if it wasn't a bright city, it was less stereotypical evil-looking than the castle. The thing looked so oppressive, floating above the city as though it was literally looking down upon it. But the biggest concern was the writhing mass of black and green symbiote tentacles and tendrils that held the castle in a strong grasp.
"Norman Carnage must have had these castles built as a sign of his rule, a reminder that he is here to stay." Spider-Man paused for a moment, "Definitely has a touch of Norman in it. Carnage would have merely wanted to reduce the city to dust if he had his way, but Norman was one to control and rule."
Which, given what he heard from Elanor, might just have been the case with how the nations remained standing and the gods lived as slaves to the symbiote hivemind.
In that massive fortress a supposed god resided.
In all likelihood, anyway.
Barbados, the Archon of Mondstadt, and the God of Freedom.
Infected with a symbiote spawned, controlled, and loyal to Carnage, forced to subjugate their own people and enforce Carnage's rule.
…
"...how do I get myself into these situations?" Raylan wondered to himself. "Where to even begin with this…" Looking at it from the outside, it would be rather simple to enter the city. Its walls, although high, spiked, and likely patrolled, weren't anything special. Hardly enough to even bother the wall-crawler in the slightest considering he scaled skyscrapers on the daily back in New York, the real question though was where to begin his investigation in the city.
Diving headfirst into the castle in the sky to fight a god he knew practically nothing about seemed like a bad idea… so he had to begin his mission elsewhere. Understand the situation the city was in, who his enemies were, and what they looked like, and figure out a way to isolate the god of freedom so he could take him down without harming innocents on mass or destroying the city as a result.
He would need a way to free the people.
Was that even possible, Spidey didn't know. But he had to try. The people of this world have already suffered enough under Carnage's rule, they didn't need the battle of a god to throw whatever little they had to the wayside.
Although he'd gotten an entire novel's worth of information about the general history of Carnage and his exploits in Teyvat from Elanor, he still knew very little about the individual nations themselves, and the city of Mondstadt as a whole. Who was in charge and how it was run, what was it like in the city, the people were slaves who needed to be freed but were there prisoners who needed rescuing as well? Where did Carnage's forces reside in this nation, how would everyone react to his presence?
Hell, general maps of the area, camps, prisoner camps, bases, weapons facilities, anything really. There was so much to look out for in a city controlled and enslaved by symbiotes.
He needed information before he could strike the heart of the issue.
Otherwise, a lot of people could get caught in the crossfire.
"I'm going to guess that these people have never heard of a computer before…" Spider-Man mumbled to himself, mourning the fact that everything would likely have to be written down on paper instead of stored on a handy-dandy server for him to hack. "...looks like I'm going old school for this one."
Some on-the-ground detective work was required.
Finding a base with intel to steal would be the way to go, there had to be maps and documents to steal for any functional army or occupying force. If Spidey could get his hands on that, he would have places to strike to weaken the grip Carnage had on the city. Take out outposts or camps to aid the resistance.
Speaking of…
"I'll need to learn more about this resistance movement as well," Raylan pondered, "Or at least the Mondstadt resistance cell. They seem like the people to talk to if I want to take the fight to Carnage in this city." The wall-crawler nodded his head from side to side in consideration, they likely weren't the only force in the city but they sounded like they might be the biggest. "I suppose I could just cause a whole lot of trouble to Carnages' forces and let the resistance find me, kinda."
The enemy of my enemy and all that.
Whether they could find him was another question, the people of his own world couldn't track him so what were the chances the people of this one could?
…
Nevermind.
Although the tech seemed… different, read: old, this world had magic so who knows what they could do with that.
"I'll just play it by ear, and see what happens." Raylan conceded, "Maybe I'll get lucky and stumble across them mid raid or something… But first things first, let's get to work in the city. Find information, and if there are people in need on the way then I have work to do!"
Spider-Man jumped from his perch and swung from the tree with a quick zip of his web, tossing himself through the air, the web-slinger closed the distance between himself and the city with speed he had never been capable of back in New York.
"I'm really going to have to test these new powers of mine soon-ish," Raylan thought as he flipped through the air, for style points of course, "Enhanced Spidey and God powers both. It wouldn't do to kill someone accidentally with a power I didn't know I had."
Spidey soared through the sky, reaching the city's outskirts in mere moments. With a single swing of his web, the wall-crawler threw himself over the wall and into the city itself, bouncing off the top of a building roof as he launched himself to the top of a taller building rooftop.
Atop the building, Spider-Man was given a view of the entire cityscape outstretched before him. Buildings of all shapes and sizes, some had windmills built into them, even if they were run down looking, whilst others looked cramped between two sets of larger structures, but all of them reminded him of a medieval sort of city or town.
"This is one hundred percent straight out of a fantasy novel…" Spidey mumbled to himself. But of course, it wasn't perfect either. The vigilantes' eyes focused in on sporadic masses of symbiote goo in areas across the city. Some buildings were covered in the stuff, creating a blend of a relatively normal building and symbiotic biomass. "...and the vista is ruined by symbiote slime, as usual. I wonder if they're hives of some sort for the armies of symbiotes Carnage no doubt created."
It was possible, but they could easily be nerve clusters for the symbiote mass that spread across the city, so purging them one by one could very easily release the city from the symbiote's grasp.
They could be any number of things, when it came to dealing with symbiotes things weren't ever simple or easy.
"That's going to require some testing," Spidey thought, scrutinizing the biomass spread across the city, "I'll have to see if the symbiotes are still vulnerable to sound and fire, or if they're enhanced in some way."
The vigilante was willing to bet his life's savings, which admittedly wasn't a lot, that Carnage was enhanced by the power of the dark core in a similar way that he'd been enhanced by the light core. Increased physical prowess, additional powers, and whatever other nifty additions he'd yet to discover.
Did that include the removal of weaknesses? Did that mean all symbiotes were no longer weak to sound and fire or just Carnage? Food for thought. It would be unwise to battle against a god imbued with a symbiote only to discover the symbiote's main weakness was no longer there.
Raylan prepared to leap when his spider-sense kicked in unexpectedly, but not to warn him of incoming danger. His danger sense buzzed in his head, alerting him to a threat not too far from him.
"Seems like someone needs help!" Wasting no time the wall-crawler leapt into action, leaping from one roof to point launch himself further over several more.
In seconds Raylan closed in on the location he sensed danger from, landing atop the roof overlooking the street Spidey found himself witnessing what he thought was a mugging.
A woman and her child, a young boy, huddled together against the wall of a building with several people and feral symbiote animalistic minions surrounding them. The people, who Raylan quickly deduced were also bonded with symbiotes, were dressed in a kind of knight's attire. All of them carried melee weapons of some sort, most of them basic looking swords, whilst the symbiote minions hissed and growled like rapid beasts awaiting an attack order.
One man, bigger than the rest, stood over the woman before kicking her in the chest. The woman keeled over, coughing from the impact but otherwise didn't react at all.
"Stop!" The boy cried, tears running down his face, "Leave my mom alone!"
"Quiet insect!" The man yelled, "Hold your tongue before I cut it out!" The threat did its job of cowing the boy in that moment. The mother, having recovered slightly, reached out to hold her child in her embrace in an obvious attempt to shield him from harm.
A noble effect.
"What the hell…" Raylan muttered to himself, "This is so blatant, thugs abusing people in the middle of the streets in broad daylight and nothing is being done about it!" The masked vigilante's eyes looked around for a moment, wondering for a second where the guards or authorities might be.
But not even a moment later did he realize how stupid that thought was.
This world was, at least partially, ruled by Carnage.
Law and Order didn't exist here.
Not with Carnage in control.
Seeing many bystanders nearby, he wondered for a moment if any would attempt to intervene. Every single one of them tried to look away from the scene, burying themselves in their clothes, trying to make themselves look as small as possible like they were attempting to keep as far away from the violence as they could.
None even tried to sneak away to call for help…
…so maybe there was no help to get, did the resistance not help in this sort of way?
"So there are no policing authorities in the city," Raylan figured, "If nobody is even calling for help then they mustn't believe anyone will come to their aid..."
But then again, maybe he shouldn't be surprised. This is a nation ruled by Carnage, or one of his symbiote-controlled gods, of course crime would be rampant everywhere he went, there wasn't likely a guard force to keep peace and save lives to begin with. The city was likely ruled with an iron fist, with thugs and crooks loyal to Carnage acting as enforcers, to better keep control of the populace.
The resistance was likely too busy being… well, a resistance. They likely weren't policing a city ruled by their enemy, a resistance was more than likely planning raids, attacks, rescuing hostages, taking people from the city to safety outside its fortress walls, and generally being a thorn in the side of Carnage and his forces.
From what Elanor had explained, the people of the cities were basically slaves to the nation. Even if each nation was run differently. If these people openly resisted then they'd surely be killed… so better to keep their heads down and remain alive than risk your neck for a stranger.
He would have to find a way to free these people…
"This isn't New York anymore Ray," The hero said to himself, his fists clenching as he spoke, "Things will always be worse off if Carnage is involved, people won't get involved if it means they'll be killed." It was painful to think this was all the work of his greatest foes, ones he let slip away from him... "Well, thankfully, I have a 'see something, do something' policy! Risking my neck for strangers is a part of the job!" Raylan said to himself before leaping into action. The wall-crawler leapt into the air before firing a web down at the main man leading the group.
"If they want to pick on someone then they can pick on me!" In an instant, Spider-Man slammed the man into the ground with enough force to render him unconscious. The rest of the knights and symbiotes jumped, startled at his sudden appearance.
"I hope I am interrupting something important!" Spider-Man yelled as he stood in the center of the group.
The Knights quickly recovered from their shock, all of the knights drew their weapons with symbiotic mass surging on their bodies from a mass of the goo hanging on their chests, partially turning them into symbiotes similar to the little symbiote minions.
But at the same time different.
It was immediately obvious that these symbiotes weren't full ones like Venom or Carnage, these were a sub-species of the real thing which meant they were likely subpar in their abilities compared to the real thing. And while the fully transformed minions acted more animalistic, the knights were only partially transformed. It was a noticeable difference.
"Kill him, kill the bug-eyed freak!" One of them yelled, in a far darker and sinister voice than Spidey expected from the man. Although, that was likely due to the symbiote oozing in his body. "Cut him to pieces!"
The symbiote beasts charged first, one lunged for the vigilante from the side, claws ready to swipe at the hero, but Raylan was far too quick for these weaker symbiotes. Jumping over the creature, the Spider-hero slammed the beast into the ground with both his feet when it passed under him.
The creature hissed before falling still, unconscious like the big thug leading them. However, the second the beast stilled the symbiote biomass oozed off its form, dissolving off the person, revealing underneath a normal human being. One that wasn't dressed like the other criminals, but instead resembling a civilian in simple clothes, rags even in places.
"So I was right," Raylan realized, dodging another goon who swung at the vigilante with his sword. "This is like Venom's rampage back in New York, the symbiotes are controlling people… turning them into symbiote-imbued monsters against their will."
Without even looking, the spider-themed hero wheelhouse kicked the thug up into the air before following him up in the air with an uppercut and spin kick, sending the knightly thug flying into a nearby building.
"And by the looks of it, they're using innocent civilians as their low-ranking symbiote grunts." Spider-Man grunted, "Or resistance members they captured. Gotta be more careful with the grunts then." The spider hero looked to the knights, "The knights seem less feral and more in control, so they might be on Carnage's side of their own free will whilst being empowered by a symbiote."
As unlikely as it was for the resistance members to be captured, Raylan wouldn't put it past his foe to use people for their own benefit, Carnage wasn't one to capture someone that he could just as easily kill. This had Norman written all over it, a weirdly cruel way to keep control of a nation whilst putting to use the dissidents of the nation.
With a god at the helm, they could use prisoners as foot soldiers to enforce their rule. Have the officers be loyal criminals, thugs, and like-minded individuals to lead in your stead. The perfect force, the powerful god, the loyal officers, and disposable foot soldiers.
Raylan dodged another sword and slipped under and between his foe's legs, before kicking him in the back with both feet. The symbiote-imbued thug went flying into the air to bounce off the edge of a rooftop, shattering part of the wood and metal roof, before falling to the ground in a heap.
"Ooh," Raylan winced as he flipped over another thug, "That was a bit too hard. Gotta pull my punches a bit more for these guys." The webslinger fired two webs onto the hands of the thug, forcing the symbiote-imbued human down as his hands were webbed to the ground. Landing behind the knight thug, Raylan fired two web lines at his ankles and pulled, literally pulling his legs out from under him. Leaving an opening for him to be webbed to the ground.
Raylan glanced back at the thug he'd kicked through the air to see they were slowly, painfully so, getting back up. Seeing the opportunity, the wall-crawler fired a blast of webbing that slammed into the person's side, pinning them to the wall in such a manner that they couldn't move but still left them conscious.
"Gotta leave some of them conscious," Raylan thought, ducking under another feral symbiote as it lunged at him, "They might have things worth knowing."
If he got the chance to interrogate them of course, there was a very high probability that reinforcements would come before the hero could get anything out of them.
"But I also have to get the symbiotes off them…" There was a good chance that removing the symbiote would render the host unconscious, especially if he used brute force to separate them. That was the case back in New York when he'd fought Venom, so it's possibly the same here.
Another two foes charged him, one knight and one feral symbiote.
"Perfect time to test that theory!" Raylan said as he flipped around the feral beast, before firing a web shot to its face. The web briefly covered its face, causing it to twitch in confusion as it attempted to pry the substance off its face.
The symbiote knight swung his blade, but Raylan parried the attack. With a blast of Venom, the sword was thrown from the knight's grasp, throwing the knight off balance.
"Wha-?" The knight gasped in surprise, with a sinister tone.
With an opening, Spidery took his chance. Raylan grabbed the knight, one hand on the shoulder whilst one gripped the symbiote mass that clung the person's chest.
Spider-Man, with his superior strength, pulled on the symbiote mass from its host. Venom surging through Raylan's arm to shock the knight, and the symbiote, helped to tear it from his chest.
As soon as the symbiote mass was torn away from its host, the ooze almost immediately began to dissolve and wither. So fast in fact, that it almost completely disappeared before it even hit the ground.
The host, on the other hand, coughed violently for a second, backing up on wobbly feet, before turning his head to look at the spider-themed hero.
"...how?" He hissed, sheer hatred in his eyes before being replaced with shock as Raylan kneed the thug in the face with enough force to render him unconscious.
"Experience!" Spidey answered, despite the guy being out cold. A quick flick of the wrist covered the thug in webbing to keep him trapped.
His sense flared as Spidey instinctively dodge under a feral symbiote, missing its claws before springing back to his feet. The feral beast landed, turning swiftly with excellent agility.
"Easy now, my feral friend!" Spidey said as he watched the feral symbiote be joined by a second of its kind. "My feral friends." He corrected. "Let's not do anything too hasty!"
As expected, the two feral symbiotes charged him in response.
Raylan swiftly fired a web shot toward the second charging feral, stunning it whilst its face was covered in webbing, before charging at the other.
As the first reached him, Raylan merely uppercut the beast with enough force to throw it into the air twelve feet. With a zip of his web, he pulled the creature back down to the ground, slamming it into the rock.
As gently as he could with his enhanced strength…
The force of which was enough to render the host inside unconscious, which in turn caused the symbiote ooze to dissolve and die.
"One down…" Spidey thought as his sense flared, jumping up he flipped over the second feral creature as it swiped at him. "One to go."
As his foe soared past him, Spider-Man fired a line of web onto the creature's back, forcibly pulling it back off its feet.
Raylan caught the beast with his hand and flipped it over him, slamming it into the ground before reaching into the symbiote ooze and ribbing the host out from inside it.
The action of being forcibly removed from the symbiote rendered its innocent host unconscious in his arms, as it did all the others, but with the symbiote disposed of. Spider-Man gently laid the unconscious victim on the ground before standing back to attention.
Spider-Man momentarily paused as he stood, sensing no incoming danger the spider-themed vigilante observed his surroundings. Sprawled out across the area were all his foes, all but two of them unconscious. The knights had been webbed up in some way to keep them trapped, whilst the others remained free but still unconscious.
As he had expected, the people inside the feral symbiote creatures were all dressed like prisoners and civilians. Whereas the knights, some of which still had symbiotes attached to them, were all dressed similarly. Armed and armored.
"Well, let's see if these joyous fellows will be willing to share any information," Spidey said as he eyed the two struggling knights. One pinned to the ground, the other pinned to a wall. Both still had their symbiote… infections? As did the leader Raylan had taken out at the start of the fight.
"Before I leave, I better remove that symbiote ooze from each of them. I can't leave them with a way to harm more civilians." Raylan thought as he quickly approached the thug pinned to the ground.
"So, my th-ugly friend," Spidey said as he bent down to the symbiote-imbed knight trapped under his webbing, "Would you be willing to let me know where your headquarters are?" The hero shrugged slightly, "I mean, of course, the giant floating fortress covered in symbiotic slime is your real base of operations, but I kinda want to know where you knights mainly hang around in the city. Think you could help with that?"
Although he figured some of the civilians knew where their headquarters within the city were, Spidey doubted they knew which building was the main one. Likely, there were multiple buildings throughout the city that belonged to these criminals. But there had to be a main one. There would likely be a border or small fortified wall dividing the two to keep civilians from trying anything.
Somewhere the people who run the day-to-day activities of the city stayed. Like a warden's house or office! Somewhere he could… acquire… information.
"You'll regret this…" He croaked, ignoring the vigilante's words, "Involving yourself with our business is a quick way to draw our wrath! You will die for what you've done to us!" The knight hissed, still struggling under the webbing. To no avail.
"Yeah, yeah," Raylan replied, rolling his hand as if gesturing for him to hurry up, "Can we skip the death threats, please? I'd rather know more about where your fellow knight-looking thugs are. I'm sure we'd both love a chance to speak to one another. Think you can help point me in the right direction?"
"I'd sooner rip my own throat out before giving you anything!" He roared in defiance. "Betrayal of our Lord is worthy of a gruesome death, no matter the reason!"
Raylan merely rolled his eyes under his mask. "This is going nowhere fast, I'll try the other one quickly and see if he has anything to share. I can't stick around here. Maybe I'll switch tactics from questioning them to convincing them."
Once again, Raylan grabbed hold of the symbiote mass attached to the thugs chest. Venom sparked off the vigilante's hand as he pulled, forcibly removing the symbiote. Despite attempting to struggle, the knight could do nothing underneath a mass of webbing as he lost consciousness.
Symbiotic mass dissolved instantly with an added blast of bio-electricity.
With that one out of the way, Spider-Man jumped over to the knight webbed to the wall, landing on the surface of the wall and sticking to it.
"Hey there!" He began, annoyingly cheerful as always, as the struggling criminal glared at him from within the webbing, "I want to know where your headquarters are, so I'll be honest with you. As soon as I'm done here, I'll head there! So you can gather all your criminal friends and come greet me at your base. How does that sound?"
"...you are a fool if you think you'd get away with this," The knight said through gritted teeth, symbiotic pointed teeth as well, "But if you wish to get yourself killed…" The anger on his face morphed into a cruel grin, "-then by all means, head east of here. Near the city wall resides a complex, you'll find more of us there." He grinned creepily, "Lots more of us."
"Now that wasn't so hard, was it?" Spider-Man said as he pointed to the knight he'd spoken to previously, "Your friend should take a note outta your book when it comes to talking to his enemies, you're way better at this."
The cruel grin never left the symbiotic knight, "Hehahe." He laughed, which was disturbing to hear with the symbiote twist on it, "Be sure to take your time there… it'll give our superiors plenty of time to kill you when you get in."
"...okay? I'll keep that threat in mind." Spider-Man replied, curious as to what he might actually find now. If it was more of the knights and ferals, he could handle it, but if it was something more?
"I'll have to be careful of what I do next, if that threat has any real meaning then I'll need to approach this differently." Spider-Man thought as he swiftly tore the symbiotic mass from the knight's chest, rendering him unconscious as well. "I can't allow others to get caught in the crossfire if things go poorly, maybe I should sneak in first to scope the place and see what I'm up against."
Leaving the knight pinned to the wall, Spidey turned toward the last knight who had a symbiote attached to them. The one he knocked out when he'd joined the fray, the one leading the thugs in the beginning.
As Raylan reached down, grabbing the symbiote, the knight spoke.
"...who are you?" The grizzled knight asked, slurred, likely still recovering from being forcefully knocked out earlier.
"Me?" Raylan gestured to himself with his free hand, "I'm just your friendly neighborhood Spider-Man!"
"Spider-Man…" The knight hissed through shallow breaths, "I'll be sure to tell our Lord about you…"
With his piece said, Raylan ripped the symbiote out of his body with an added shock of Venom for good measure. The knight, like all the others, fell unconscious as the symbiote mass dissolved.
Standing up, Raylan observed the scene.
"The knights are dealt with," Raylan thought, "All their symbiote imbuements have been removed, so that just leaves…" His eyes tracked toward the innocent people freed from the feral forms.
And the innocent mother and child, who were huddled together on the ground nearby, staring at him with a mixture of emotions.
It quickly became apparent to the spider-themed vigilante that they weren't the only ones staring at him.
Everyone was.
Nothing really new then, so Raylan quickly got to work.
He approached the woman and child, and as he did he noticed they flinched, the mother holding the child tighter protectively despite his best efforts to look at the man who saved them.
"Are you both okay?" Raylan asked, getting down on one knee, "Are you injured in any way?"
For a moment, the mother said nothing, she examined him, watched him closely.
But eventually, she responded.
"A few scrapes and bruises, maybe a fractured bone in my leg." The woman said softly, "Nothing that won't heal in time…" She added.
"A fractured leg can be difficult to deal with. Is there anywhere you can go to get your injuries looked after?" Without waiting for an answer the hero turned to the crowd watching them, "Can anyone take the wounded-" Spidey gestured to the mother, child, and the people he'd freed from the feral symbiote slime. "-somewhere safe?"
No one responded.
They all just continued to stare with a wide mixed range of expressions.
Hell, some of them turned away trying to avoid his gaze as it swept over them.
Raylan felt his fist tighten in worry.
"Please!" He said, "These people need help, they need to get somewhere safe."
Silence.
For a moment, Raylan felt as though there was nobody else willing to help.
"I know somewhere." Another woman stated, stepping out from the crowd toward the unconscious individuals. The woman looked similar enough to the others with her type of clothes but she also wore a cloak, which partially covered her face. "I know people that are willing to take them into their care." She stated.
She was flanked by two others, another woman and a man, both moving to help pick up the unconscious victims Spidey freed from the symbiotes. And once someone was brave enough to come to their aid, many others followed.
Much of the crowd moved to assist their fellow civilians, several people at once moved to carry the unconscious victims away to safety.
It was heartwarming to see people coming together in such a manner. All it took was one brave soul to step up for the rest to follow.
"Thank you," Raylan thanked her, turning back to the woman and child he'd saved, "These two should be checked for other injuries as well." He explained.
"We'll have them looked after," The woman said as she joined Spidey in helping the woman and child up to their feet. "We have a safe place to keep them, people who can help."
Spider-Man nodded in understanding, "Good, they deserve to rest after all this."
Multiple came together to help the mother and son, gently guiding them away from the scene.
"Not many would stick their neck out for others, especially not in the way you just did." The woman next to him said, quite loudly, causing the hero to turn to her. "...just who are you, stranger?"
The web-slinger could feel the eyes of the crowd upon him, the mother, son, and the people helping them all stopped to listen as well.
Spidey smiled, despite himself, "Spider-Man!" He replied. "Your friendly neighborhood vigilante!"
The crowd broke into confused murmurs and whispers. Perhaps gossiping about him, wondering if anyone had heard of him before.
"Can't say I've heard of you before," The woman said, keeping her tone even, "But I'll be sure to remember it."
"I'm sure you'll hear people cursing it in no time!" Raylan cheekily replied, "But I have to go, got a lot of spider business to deal with!"
His words only drew confusion from the woman, clearly not understanding what spider business meant, but didn't reply.
But someone else did.
"Thank you Spider-Man!" A young, boyish voice called out.
Turning to the source, he saw the little boy he'd saved waving at him with his entire, little, arm.
"Thanks for saving my mom!" He said, his words causing the mother to tremble slightly. Perhaps from the genuine gratitude, the boy was giving over her safety.
Spidey couldn't help but smile beneath his mask, he gave a little wave back.
"It's what I'm here for kiddo!" He replied, "Take care of your mother, alright?"
"I will!" The young boy replied as he and his mother were helped along, disappearing into the crowds. As were the last of the other victims he'd rescued.
The smile under the hero's mask was damn near impossible to hide, even with his mask. Turning back to the woman, Spider-Man spoke.
"Take care of yourself, ma'am." He said before, to the amazement of those still watching, he fired a web line to a nearby building. Pulling himself into the air before firing off another line to begin web swinging.
As the Spider hero left the scene, leaving the civilians just as they finished taking the wounded prisoners away before more guards could appear, many of the bystanders looked on in awe as they watched the vigilante go.
Several people observed the hero with intense interest. Many of them snuck away from the scene with the intention of spreading the name Spider-Man to people of interest within the city… and outside it.
One cloaked figure in particular watched with intrigue as Raylan swung over several rooftops in the distance before disappearing from view.
"Spider-Man…" The person muttered under their breath, as if testing the name, "The commander will want to know about this." The cloaked figure took off from the scene.
A new figure had entered the fray, another joining the fight for Mondstadt's soul.
Only time would tell if this Spider-Man was a Hero or Menace.
/_\
"That's terrible, to have your brother taken like that… and now you're searching for any clues as to where your brother might be?" Paimon asked her newly made friend.
"And for anyone willing to help, yes," Lumine confirmed, nodding to her fairy friend. Her expression changed, turning more sorrowful, "But this world… It's dangerous. I… I don't know where to even begin my search…"
"Lumine…" Paimon said softly, upset at seeing her newest friend saddened. A moment passed before Paimon couldn't take the sad atmosphere anymore.
"Don't worry Lumine! Paimon will be your travel guide to Teyvat! She'll help you look for your brother." The little glutinous fairy happily declared. The blonde traveler stared at her new friend in surprise.
"Are you sure Paimon? I doubt it will be a safe journey, are you sure you want to join me on my search?" Lumine asked.
"Of course! You're Paimon's newest friend! You saved Paimon from drowning, so I'll help you look for your brother!"
Lumine placed a hand over her heart, having been quite touched by the fairy's words.
"Thank you, Paimon," Lumine replied, genuinely grateful for the help.
"Hehe!" Paimon giggled, "No problem! Now, come on! If we're to find anyone willing to help you find your brother we better get close to one of the big cities!" The fairy explained, "There are resistance forces in all the nations, usually in the wilderness near the main cities, and if anyone in this world will be willing to help you find your missing brother it will be the people fighting to help people just like you!"
Lumine just nodded in understanding.
Even though it was slim, there was still a chance the resistance would be able to help her. If she had to, she would travel all of Teyvat to find someone that could help her.
"Come on Lumine! Let's get moving!" Paimon said, pointing in a direction, "Mondstadt is this way! The faster we get there the faster we can look for the resistance!" With that, the little fairy began floating in the direction of the city.
The traveler lagged behind for a moment.
"I promise, I will find you brother, no matter what the cost." Lumine silently vowed to herself, before taking off after her fairy friend.
The two, unbeknownst to anyone in the world, had a long journey ahead. One that would change the course of this world forever.
And one that would bring them together with a certain Web-Slinging Vigilante.
/_\
"This looks like a criminal headquarters alright…" Spidey thought, perched atop a nearby rooftop. "Lots of guards, reinforced walls, gates, and big spikes. Buildings that look far better put together and maintained than the civilian's homes to boot."
The main structure in the center of the complex was quite large, surrounded by smaller buildings, and by the looks of it each of the buildings were connected in one way or the other. Either by small tunnels on ground level or bridges on the upper floors. The only ones that weren't connected were small structures off to the side that didn't look important.
Likely sleeping quarters or something, but he'd investigate that later as well.
And of course, to finish it all off, there were symbiotic tendrils sticking out of every single building there. Forming a sort of cluster broken through the roof of the main structure. It almost resembled a heart.
And for all Raylan knew, it might damn well be one.
"Definitely the place I want to be right now, I should be able to find something useful here." Raylan thought as he observed the guards, more numerous and heavily armed then the ones he'd fought earlier. "But I need to approach this carefully, it would be stupid to ignore someone's threat."
Especially when said threats may involve symbiotes.
…or a god.
"I need to make this quick," Spidey thought, scanning for his infiltration route, "Get in, get the goods, get out, and see what kind of people I'm up against." The Web paused as thought.
"Man, Felicia's way of thinking has gotten to me." Spidey sighed, "It sounds like I'm planning a heist."
It was, in a way. But that was beside the point.
"Alright, focus Ray," Raylan muttered to himself, despite smiling at the thought of Felicia. "You've got Spidey work to do, let's not waste time." With that, the Web head sprung into action, web-slinging his way onto the side of a building to begin his infiltration.
Little did he know how much he'd learn within.
C3: End.
Word Count: 6,688
Sorry for the lack of updates, life got busy over the last few months. Had to go and buy a new car, which was only made difficult by the dealer involved. Nothing I can do about that, so sorry.
Another one down though! A Spider in Mondstadt, but it's not the city of freedom we're used to. Obviously, I've increased the sizes of places on the map. Game limitations don't exist here. So expect everything to be scaled up to some degree to make more sense.
Let us see what our Spider friend finds in the city, and perhaps how he might run into a certain blonde twin and their fairy friend at some point in this arc!
At some point I'm gonna get sick of using the word symbiote, I swear…
Also played Spider-Man 2, and got the Platinum Trophy in it too! Great fun! I recommend it, even if I still like Spider-Man PS4's story the most. The DLCs look like they might be something great as well! Here's hoping!
I'll edit this chapter later, add some details and extensions here and there to clean it up. But other than that, we're looking good for the start of the arc.
New Cover Art, please check out the artist! Highly recommend their work! A good few of my stories use their art for good reason!
Review Response(s):
Helioskrill2088: Thank you, hope you enjoyed this one too!
Harisnorw: You, my friend, are continuously everywhere.
Shelu: I can appreciate a comic fan such as yourself, I'm mostly a Nightwing fan (Nightwing and Spider-Man, my favorite heroes from DC and Marvel) but I love comics following all the Robins. And no, Raylan doesn't have Miles' natural camo ability. He does have cloaking tech, but that can be damaged and broken. It also drains Raylan's Venom powers to use it, so while Invis he can't generate a Venom blast. But no, that wasn't an original power he had.
TheMexicanAttacker: The Playable characters are going to be different, some far more than others, but you'll have to wait and see how much things have changed. The Traveler (and Paimon) will still be of importance in this story. They're kind of going to be Spider-Man's partner for the duration of the story, in their own weird way. Lumine is also our Traveler, so there is that.
Christianvirtudazo07: I won't spoil anything, but we'll have to wait and see whichever members of Spider-Man's rogues gallery shows up to aid or hinder Carnage, or which Allies might appear, Anansi included. I will say I won't be using every character, but other characters will show up so it's not just Spider-Man in Teyvat but it'll be limited to characters Raylan actually knows from his world.
OC Spider-Man Info:
Name: Raylan
Nationality: Irish/American.
Age: Early/Mid Twenties.
Superhero Career: Began when he was 14.
Career: Freelance Programmer, amongst other things.
Ambition: Inventor/Scientist.
Spider-Man Original Powers:
Organic Webbing
Super Strength, Speed, Durability, Endurance, and Healing.
Superior/Enhanced Spider-Sense (Stronger than your average spider-sense, with additional effects which will be explored later)
Bio-Electrical Venom Powers (Miles' Original Powers, based on the comics)
Venomous Bite/Talons (Literally Venomous)
Water Walking/Crawling/Running (Via Webbing)
Light-Core Additional Powers:
Celestial Light/Purification Powers
Minor Spacial Powers
God-like Strength, Speed, Durability, Endurance, Healing
Enhanced Bio-Electricity (Venom) Powers
Spider-Man Tech:
Web-Wingsuit
Cloaking Tech
Spider-Arms (Based more on the comics and MCU)
Web Tech (Insomniac Web Gadgets basically, some of the Suit Abilities too)
Other unique gadgets which will be shown later.
More additions will be made as the story progresses and Spidey evolves and grows.
And done, hope you all enjoyed it and I'll see you in the next chapter! Till then, all the best.
AlcatrazDGold - Peace!