Saving the World, Saving Hearts
Chapter 23 of my crossover story, enjoy.
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Boris Yeltsin: Thanks and yes :)
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Now onto the story.
Disclaimer: I don't own Spider-Man, Stranger Things or their characters.
Rampage and Revelation
Swinging desperately in an attempt to get to where Rhino was rampaging around before he hurt anyone Spider-Boy just hoped it wasn't already too late.
"Hey guys, do you think...you think Venom is behind this too?" Black Panther asked over the radio.
"Anyone's guess really." White Tiger replied. "Nevertheless, it's possible."
Spider-Boy finally spoke up. "Even if he is, we still have to stop him. Now c'mon, we better hurry, he's in a public place."
"True, let's step on it everyone." Black Panther agreed.
They did so, drawing closer, as they did so, Blue Beetle spoke up.
"We're ready, but...do you think this'll take all of us?"
"Probably not." Spider-Boy admitted. "Let me, Black Panther and White Tiger face this, but stay on standby, just in case."
They agreed and so the trio of heroes, moving in from different angles, reached Rhino's location. They arrived just in time as they could see people were still running, luckily nobody had been hit yet, Rhino it seemed was more interested in causing property destruction.
Swinging down close, Spider-Boy shot an impact web to hit Rhino in the back of his head. "Hi Aleksei, long time no see."
Rhino growled and turned in his direction. "Little Bug, I should've guessed."
Spider-Boy saw Black Panther and White Tiger were busy already working to get the civilians out of harms way and saw what he needed to do.
He just had to make sure that Rhino's attention was kept on him and not everyone else.
"You know, if you wanted to get our attention, you could've just called." Spider-Boy remarked.
"As if you could do anything for me." Rhino snarled. "This is all I need, the destruction is therapeutic."
Spider-Boy sighed. "Well, that's nice and all but you really need some non-destructive hobbies, all this isn't going to help those poor people you nearly hurt."
Rhino snorted and suddenly charged at him but Spider-Boy dodged out of the way and shook his head.
"Now Rhino, I just told you-"
Rhino laughed. "Those people don't care about we, why should I care about them and I have my own hobbies, thank you."
"Such as?"
Rhino laughed and charged again, once again Spider-Boy dodged.
"Fly Fishing on the Volga!" He cried out.
Spider-Boy replied calmly. "Ah, sounds nice."
"The ultimate control over life and death."
"Less nice." Spider-Boy groaned.
Luckily for him, at that point, before Rhino could pause again, he was struck by a team attack from White Tiger and Black Panther, which Spider-Boy quickly joined in on, making him fall back.
"Everyone's safe?"
"Yeah." Black Panther cried out.
White Tiger grimaced. "We better deal with this quickly, the others are taking care of civilians now, but our priority is stopping Rhino."
Spider-Boy nodded, understanding exactly what she meant.
They quickly readied themselves as Rhino recovered and snarled.
"More miserable creatures." He snapped. "I will crush you all!"
He charged towards them as they quickly dodged and Spider-Boy quickly used his webs to try and temporarily subdue Rhino to buy them some time.
"How do we stop him, this isn't exactly the best place for a fight?" He asked.
White Tiger replied. "We can figure it out, all we need to do is wear him down, once we do that we can subdue him. We just need to do so in a way that'll allow the police to take him in."
"Right." Black Panther agreed. "But...what's he doing this for, did you find out?"
Spider-Boy shook his head. "Not sure, he wouldn't say, he just seems to be revelling in the destruction...so who knows, that's just what Rhino is like."
"I can hear you mocking me!" Rhino roared, having spun around to charge them again.
"Alright, now!" White Tiger yelled.
They dodged again while Spider-Boy quickly worked his magic with his webs. They continued to attack Rhino here and there while dodging his attacks, all while Spider-Boy began working his webs. But then something happened, something terrible and unfortunate. Spider-Boy heard a scream and saw that Rhino had thrown a large piece of debris towards one civilian who had not managed to escape. His heart was in his throat, it was Jessica.
"NO!" He screamed.
He simply reacted, which was why he didn't realize, until it was too late, that his mask got caught and got pulled off, leaving him exposed before her.
"Jake?"
He froze, eyes wide and swallow. "Jess, I…
"Look out!" She called.
He reacted, catching his mask and her and escaping out of the way, as Rhino smashed the once caught debris.
Landing just out of sight Jake pulled his mask back on and looked at her sadly.
"I'm sorry, I…"
"What, what is this, you're...you're Spider-Boy?" Jess gasped.
He nodded. "Sorry, I...we need to talk, after this…"
She bit her lip but nodded and simply watched as her hurried to rejoin the battle. Luckily Black Panther and White Tiger had not been idle and they could take him down at last, he just needed to finish his work with his webs.
"Now!" He cried.
They reacted and before Rhino realised it, he was trapped, he had been surrounded just enough that the web closed right around him and, thanks to the constant fighting, he was now too tired, too weakened to fight more.
"NO!" He screamed.
"The police will be here soon, let's get outta here." Black Panther said happily.
Spider-Boy sighed. "Sorry but...something's happened, I need to...I need to take care of something, we'll talk later."
They looked at him strangely, but accepted this and left while he went to join Jess and was ready to confess the truth with her. It was a long talk, explaining things to her, but the one thing that Jess wanted to talk about was why he had backed down, she made it quite clear that she was in love with him. He had shakily admitted that he felt the same, but that they couldn't be together, now she understood the reason why.
He sighed and explained. "And now you know why we can't be together... Spider-Boy will always have enemies... I can't let you take that risk... I will... always be Spider-Boy... I love you... I love you so much... but if you truly love someone, you have to let them go... So that's what I'm going to do... I'm sorry... But... as much as I love you... you and I can never be... I'm sure you'll find someone who loves you as much as I do, if not even more... someone who can keep you safe and happy... but I'm sorry, I'm not that person... I can't keep you safe... I hope one day you can forgive me... I love you... but you and I can never be"
She gasped at this but before she could say anything he had pulled his mask back on and quickly escaped, swinging away from her.
End of chapter, hope you enjoyed it, read and review please.