AUTHOR'S NOTE: Well, guys, this will most likely be the last chapter I post in the year 2022. I might have another chapter up by then, but just in case I don't, I wish everyone Happy Holidays and a Happy New Year! Here's hoping that 2023 will be kind to us all! Stay Marvelous, my friends!
While in few of many of the curious, as well as petrified, citizens that stayed behind, Peter stood in a more readied stance as he faced off against this new armored criminal. "So, if I had to guess, you must be…the 'Iron Ladybug?'"
The armored man grunted in aggravation as he pointed both of his hands and Peter. "The name is Beetle. Not that you'll live long enough to remember it!" At that moment, the crook known as the Beetle used the circuitry in his helmet to mentally charge his gauntlets with energy and fired two yellow laser beams out of his opened palms.
A blast that Peter easily avoided by leaning back sideways to the left. "You're not the first guy to give me that line, pal!" Upon standing up straight, Peter witnessed Beetle firing another blast and thus leaped to the right side to dodge it. He then ricocheted off a building and landed perched on top of a streetlamp and above the Beetle, who immediately turned to keep his eyes on the young hero. "But hey, at least you look cool! Not unlike the last guy I fought who dressed like a human pin cushion."
By now, Peter's sense of humor only increased Beetle's irritation, and he let the young man know by quickly firing another blast, aiming for the black spider symbol on Peter's chest to blow a hole through him.
As before, Peter utilized his speed and agility by jumping up high to avoid the blast, then back-flipped in mid-air as he looked down at Beetle and shot two web lines that made a direct hit on his steel-plated shoulders. And it was here that Peter made his move to fight back and try to end this fight quickly by zipping towards Beetle and throwing a left-legged side kick, with the hovering robber's faceplate being the target.
However, Beetle was just as quick to defend himself as he used to hands to grab Peter's ankle, spin him around, and throw him to the left and towards the window of a nearby building.
Desperate to save himself from crashing through the window and into the room inside, which had a group of scared people in the middle of a business meeting, Peter once again shot another web-line, this time aiming for Beetle's chest plate so he could try and zip towards him again.
Unfortunately for Peter, though, Beetle managed to catch the line with his left hand, all while using his other hand to reach behind his back and pull out a small disc-like device from out of a compartment between his back jetpack. In quick succession, Beetle yanked the line back and pulled Peter straight towards him, all while throwing the disc, which, upon reaching the surprised Peter halfway, had four cables with glowing yellow lights pop out.
It didn't take long for the cables to wrap around Peter's upper body, making it impossible to move his arms. And more importantly, unable to defend himself when the Beetle threw a left-legged round kick, nailing the young man in the temple and sending him down to street hard. From the massive headache he received from Beetle's steel foot to the taking such hard impact on the pavement, the dazed Peter was clearly in a world of hurt. "Yep, definitely better than the last guy," thought the disoriented Peter, then felt the pain increased by the intense tingling of his Spider-Sense, causing him to let out a pain-filled groan. Despite the agony, Peter still managed to roll to the left side to avoid getting his head blasted off by another one of the Beetle's laser blasts.
Once Peter was on his back, he brought his knees into his chest while, at the same time, rolling onto his shoulders. Moments later, he trusted his legs upward, allowing the momentum to carry his body into the air and back on his feet. Unfortunately for Peter, he soon found out that he was not out of the woods yet as his Spider-Sense returned and briefly winced as he jumped back to avoid another blast aimed for his head. Once Peter landed on his feet, he looked up to see Beetle shooting another blast and soon dashed to the right to dodge and ended up right next to the back doors of the tumbled armored car. Peter watched as Beetle hovered above him and thus decided to keep him focused on him so as not to harm any bystanders watching the fight by using his usual banter. "You know, one would think that a high tech like would, oh, I don't know, help you learn how to aim better!"
Oddly enough, Beetle wasn't annoyed by Peter's remark. In fact, he even smirked behind his faceplate. "Wasn't trying to hit you," Beetle replied, causing Peter to tilt his head in confusion. And instead of firing another blast, he only placed his index finger right above a button on his right gauntlet. "I was trying to get you right where I wanted you!" At that moment, Beetle pressed the button with sadistic glee.
Suddenly, Peter could hear a strange beeping, and as he turned to the left, he could see that it was the large circular that Beetle had planted earlier and, to the young hero's horror, saw on the screen a countdown of five seconds. All of which led the terrified Peter to a disturbing conclusion about the device's purpose. "Oh crap," thought the shocked Peter, then briefly looked over his shoulder to address the bystanders behind them. "EVERYBODY, GET CLEAR! THIS THING'S GONNA BLOW!"
The bystanders did not need to be warned twice and thus ran off from the area in pure panic. Some of the fleeing citizens made things difficult for Eddie, as they were ruining his shot, and he tried to maneuver the camera to keep Peter and Beetle in view but not having much success. "Hey, get out of the way!" Eddie said in frustration to the fear-filled people unknowingly running into his shot while trying to get away.
Back in the battle, Peter acted quickly by jumping up, and while his arms were still bound, he could move his hands and thus pointed them at the apparent bomb. He then three web balls at the ticking device, hoping they would be enough to contain the explosion.
Moments later, the explosion that everyone except Beetle finally occurred, but it wasn't as big as everyone thought. It instead exploded with enough force to blow the door off its hinges and fly right into and slam right into Peter's chest and face. Though on the positive side, the door managed to destroy the device that bound the young man and caused the cables to fall off his person, it still sent him flying back and stayed on top of him as he landed hard on the ground.
With his ears ringing, the groaning Peter pushed the door off him and to the left side. As he moved placed his chin to his collarbone to look straight ahead and see that the armored door was still standing, but now without a door and dollar bills falling to the street like snow. "Okay, bright side, webs contained the explosion," Peter said with some relief as he allowed his head to drop, which did trigger his headache, but it was nothing compared to the sheer pain in his back, causing him to wince. "Much like how my spine cushioned my fall." Despite the pain, Peter willed himself to sit back up slowly but was soon alerted by a noise that caused him great concern. This time, it was not the sound of Beetle firing another blast but that of an older man groaning, which made him instantly turn to see where it was coming from.
It turns out it came from a grey-haired balding man in his fifties, dressed in a brown business suit and wearing glasses over an eye patch over his right eye. Though he didn't appear to be injured, he was on the pavement from being inadvertently pushed down by frightened citizens fleeing the scene.
A sight that gave Peter more dread. "Great! As if I didn't have enough things to feel guilty about," Peter thought, as he didn't want the death of an innocent man to be the latest of many things weighing down on his already troubled conscience. As such, he slowly got up and checked on the old man, hoping he could get him to a hospital in time.
Meanwhile, Beetle hovered over the armored car, chuckling behind his faceplate. "Wish that little prick wasn't wearing a mask," Beetle thought as he safely landed on top of the vehicle. "Just so I could see the look on his face when he thought it was a bomb instead of a flash bomb to get the door open! Like, I'd be stupid enough to blow up my own score! One that'll afford me more tech, a yacht, and one night with two, oh screw it, THREE porn stars!" Once Beetle saw Peter back on his feet and about to approach the fallen man, he suddenly remembered his 'business before pleasure' rule, then held up both his right fist and took aim at the masked hero that tried to deprive him of the money he planned to steal. "But before I can have that kind of fun…!" A split second later, Beetle instantly fired a small missile from the top of his gauntlet, with the target being Peter, intending to make an example of him of why he should be considered a feared villain in town.
However, just like all the other blasts before, this triggered Peter's Spider-Sense again, prompting the young man to turn and see the blast coming his way. Acting fast, Peter pointed his hands at the door he had just tossed aside earlier, shot two web lines that instantly stuck to the center, and yanked it off the pavement and towards him. Upon catching it, Peter quickly held the door in front of both him and the one-eyed man as a makeshift shield, tensing up every muscle in his body as he blocked the missile. Though the explosion it made on impact was small but had a strong enough force to create cracks underneath Peter's feet.
"Okay, that helped and made things worse at the same time," thought the straining Peter, for taking such an impact didn't exactly help his aching head and back. Nonetheless stood firm and lowered the door and fought back by pointing his left hand out and shooting another web ball.
This counterattack proved more successful, as the ball ended up hitting and covering Beetle's entire faceplate, rendering him unable to see and vulnerable.
Peter knew that Beetle's armor would give him enough strength to tear the webbing off and thus had to attack quickly. But before that, he looked over his shoulder to address the one-eyed man still on the ground. "Sir, are you okay?"
For a while, the one-eyed man was unresponsive, as the sounds of explosions had briefly made him remember harrowing memories of his time on the battlefields of Afghanistan. Not as a soldier but rather as a field reporter for the Front Line newspaper, and it was through these battles that he lost his eye and remained emotionally scarred for life.
Peter grew more worried when he didn't hear the one-eyed man answer back and thus decided to address the one-eyed man again but loudly. "SIR!"
This time, the one-eyed man managed to snap out of his flashback when he heard Peter's loud voice and looked up at him. "Huh?"
"Are you okay!?"
The one-eyed man took a moment to feel around his chest and legs to see if any bones were broken, and to his relief, they were all intact. "Y-Yeah, yeah, I'm fine," he answered quickly, then managed to stand up on his own, all while giving Peter a small smile. "Well, I think it's safe to say that Jameson was wrong about you!"
Peter was briefly stunned by this positive feedback, but upon seeing the Beetle trying to pull the webbing through the corner of his eye, his focus returned to the criminal he blinded. "Thanks, but I'm afraid it's not safe to be here! Go!"
Knowing that this web-slinging masked man had a point, the one-eyed man wasted no time and ran off, not just to avoid the danger but so Peter could focus on dealing with Beetle without worrying about his safety.
As for Peter, he placed the door underneath his right arm, then ran forward and jumped up into the air, where he used his left hand to shoot a web-line that stuck to the top of the armored car and zipped towards the still struggling Beetle. Once he was close enough to the would-be robber, Peter curled his knees into his chest and placed the door in front of him with the bottom of his feet touching the steel. "YOU ARE GROUNDED!" Peter called out, and just as Beetle finally ripped the webbing off, he thrusts his feet forward and drives the steel door right into the criminal's faceplate and chest. This attack resulted in both men flying off the top of the armored car and Peter driving both the door and Beetle down into the street, which caused the pavement underneath them to crack.
Upon landing, Peter jumped off the door and performed a front flip in mid-air, and by the time he landed on his feet, Beetle tossed the door to the right side, all while groaning in discomfort. As he rolled onto his chest, the fallen criminal revealed that his jetpack was severely damaged, namely that the four 'wings' were mangled and one hanging by a wire. Something that Peter took as a good sign, as he knew that the disoriented Beetle could fly off and get away. "In more ways than one," Peter remarked upon looking at the virtually mangled jet pack and continued his verbal jabs once the Beetle looked up at him. "And while I'm sure that that suit protected you from further harm, it must've sucked getting a door slammed into your face. Trust me, I would know!"
For Beetle, Peter's insults were terrible enough, but he saw through a digital screen behind his eye lenses that his jetpack was so damaged. Which now meant he had no means of escape, and the heist he had planned so well was now bust. As a result, the Beetle was consumed with pure rage and stared daggers at Peter when he stood up and pointed both hands at him, ready to fire more blasts. "Ohhh, it'll be nothing compared to the smoking carcass I'm gonna turn you into, you little son of a-!" Suddenly, Beetle felt a massive shock as if struck by lightning, which caused his body to stiffen up. What followed later was the would-be robber beginning to feel dizzy and lightheaded until finally, he lost consciousness and fell face-first onto the street like a steel statue being taken down.
Naturally, this left Peter completely stunned by Beetle passing out, as he had a feeling that would be longer, given how advanced the crook's suit was. "Okay, that was easy," thought the baffled Peter, and was overcome with the feeling that maybe it was a little too easy. However, he immediately shook this feeling off; given the luck he's been having lately, he dared not jynx himself. "Spidey, remember, gift horse in the mouth!" Peter thought to himself, then turned his attention to Beetle and tapped his web shooters to shoot webs in the spray setting.
Meanwhile, many of the pedestrians that escaped from the action by running into the nearby stores all came out once the battle was over, and once they saw all the money from the armored car, they all ran to it so they could pick up what bills they could.
All of this caused even more problems for Eddie, who not only had to deal with people bumping into him again and ruining the shot he had of Peter. "Hey, watch you! You're ruining my shot!"
Moments later, sirens were heard, and it didn't take long for the police cruisers to appear. All of the officers stepped out and began to try and get the citizens away from the money and get the situation under control, while at the same time, they noticed and were baffled by the Beetle being covered in webs and bound to the pavement, unable to move.
As this went on, Peter swung nearby an alley and stuck to the wall on the building to the left, where he climbed up and retrieved his video camera, which he suspended underneath a streetlight mounted near the top of the building on the left via webbing. With the camera in hand, Peter climbed over to the roof, then bent down, unzipped his carefully hidden backpack, and placed the camera along with his laptop and clothes. "Okay, it was a little difficult, not to mention painful, but Spider-Man's grand opus is officially recorded!" After zipping his backpack up, Peter stood up and looked down at the police trying to calm down the crowd; he placed his pack on his back and stepped onto the ledge. "Now I just need to find a quieter place to do the editing, then head over to the Bugle, turn in the video…and most likely have Jonah scream in my face for what I have to say to him. And hopefully, he won't make my ears ring when he's done." Now with all the footage he needed, Peter hopped up, shot a web line out of his right hand, and began swinging to look for a more secluded space so he could start his work on his video.
However, little did Peter or anyone else in the area know that there was another person besides the still-struggling Eddie making videos, namely of Peter swinging away. It was that of the one-eyed man who stood behind a corner and recorded the airborne Peter via his phone, a gift he had received from his niece just a week ago. And he was glad that he did so, too, as he now had documented proof of another costumed hero that this city, this world, truly needed. One in which gave the name to many other heroes such as The Avengers, The Fantastic Four, or any other costumed men and women who displayed wondrous abilities when they first showed up in the city and used their abilities to help others. "Looks like we have another Marvel!"