Monday. Hard to tell whether or not I like it. On one hand, school is boring and spending so much time there is terrible. On the other hand, spending the whole weekend doing spider work and delivering pizzas was admittedly tiring. It's all tiring really.

Swinging to school helped relieve the stress. Bounding from rooftop to rooftop was the closest thing to therapy I could afford. Of course, there was always the chance I would have to stop some crime on the way. Not as therapeutic. Despite what a couple news outlets were saying, I don't exactly enjoy doing it. There was something prideful about it, but that isn't why I do it. I do it because I have to. I have to.

Before I could think on that any further, I got a weird feeling. My spider sense was ringing again. That was normal, what wasn't normal was the fact it was ten times more aggressive than usual. It felt like a bull was running around in my head. Struggling to focus, I swung onto the side of a nearby building, frustrated that I was gonna run late again. I didn't know at the time, but running late would be the least of my worries.

I scanned the skyline. Which was stupid, all the crime I dealt with was street level. But something was telling me I wasn't being paranoid. Just as I was about to give up and go to school, I heard sirens. Then, an explosion. Smoke rose from a street a few blocks away. Must be a pretty nasty car crash, I thought. Maybe an oil truck or something?

As I swung closer and closer, my head kept ringing louder and louder. Usually this went away when I figured out what was causing it. A car crash was the only thing that made sense. What else would cause such a commotion in the middle of the street? Only when I was face to face with the problem did I realize that the sirens came before the explosion.

Sitting on a traffic light, I saw him at the end of the street. I almost mistook him for a machine at first, but there was a human underneath all that. His shadow covered the whole width of the street, he was massive. He was covered in some sort of thick hide, with armored plates scattered across vital areas. The only part that looked vaguely human was his face, which was covered in scars. Not that his face mattered, because right above it was something much more concerning. Rhinos around the world would cower in fear at the size of that horn. It felt like I had to peel my jaw off the floor like a cartoon character, but I pulled myself together.

Just in time to see him palm a car and lift it like it weighed nothing. I know I can pick up cars too, but that's just absurd. He tossed it across the street like a basketball, but I had just enough time to make a landing pad with my webs between street lamps. Spinning around the poles like, well, like a spider, I formed enough webbing to catch the car and keep it elevated for the near future.

"Get out of my way, spider." His thick russian accent rang out through the street. Crouched on top of the car, I watched him approach.

"Big, strong, evil, Russian? Kinda cliche don't you think?" Usually criminals hated my jokes, but like everything else about him, this guy's nerves seemed bigger and more irritable.

"Rhino has no time for your frenchman jokes." Again with the third person? It just makes our whole interaction feel so impersonal. Though, I doubt he cared about the narrative value of our conversation.

"Well I just find jokes to really bring the atmosphere- woah!" Sadly, I had to cut my joke short to make way for an attack. Rhino charged forward, but I was faster. As I landed on the side of a building, I saw him literally explode through the car I webbed up. After the smoke cleared, I saw him turn to me. Unscathed. Angry.

Okay so maybe this fight required more attention than other things I've dealt with. Jumping off the wall, I spun through the air like a dancer, shooting webs between him and the ground. When I landed, his arms were pulled to either side and horn pointed to the pavement. Sirens pierced the air and soon, cops were positioning themselves around the street.

"Stay back! I don't know how long that will hold him." My back was turned to warn them, like an idiot. I knew he was coming, but he was too fast and too close. How did he get out so fast? It didn't matter. What mattered was I just got hit with the force of a semi truck going down a freeway. He launched me straight upwards with his horn. Thankfully, I moved so that it was the side of his horn so no piercing. Still hurt like nothing I've ever felt before.

Some amount of my healing factor kicked in as I spun around to face him. Still falling, I webbed his hands together, hoping to get a clean kick to his face on the way down. Before I even made it down, he broke the webs. Just by opening his fingers the webs broke around his fists like silk.

"Got you now, insect." His words hit me like thick iron. Before I could move into a more defensive position, he reached for my leg. I had only one thought before it happened. One, stupid, painfully obvious thought.

This is gonna hurt.