A/N: Finally, our first fight! I mean, as Spider-man, not Sirius Moore, Toilet Terminator.
Issue Seven: The Afterparty
Sirius crawled as fast as he could before popping up from the rooftop vent. "Is everything alright? You didn't… run into anything with red eyes and a short temper?"
"I'm fine," Gwen answered, looking exactly as he'd left her, only shivering. "Just chilly. More importantly, I heard screams from where those cruisers are parked. Some sounded like a wild beast was running around. What was that?"
"Hopefully, just a wild beast," Sirius muttered. Sirius looked over the edge; now that he was outside, he could also hear some kind of primal roars from below. "Okay, Cliffnotes!" He turned toward Gwen. "Found Harry, Pete was here, but Uncle Ben followed him and dragged him away."
"Wait, what?"
Gwen blinked at all of that, but Sirius plowed on. "I'm gonna check that out, but could you-"
"Call Ben," Gwen nodded, finishing the sentence. "Yeah, I got it."
Sirius smiled under his mask, as he went toward the roof's edge. "That's why I like you, Gwen Stacy! On it!"
"Wait!" Gwen called out, getting the teen's attention. "I… be careful."
Sirius nodded. "No sweat! I got superpowers! What could hurt me?"
As if to make a point, Sirius fell backward off the building, startling Gwen. "That doesn't mean you can just jump off of buildings!"
"Okay, don't panic," Sirius said to himself as he plummeted to street level. "First test drive with the powers, and the zombie apocalypse hits New York. Which I hope is mostly me just being funny and not ironic."
Using a webline to slow his momentum down at the last moment, Sirius landed on the wall of a nearby building. Glancing around, he saw that what once was a blockade now looked like a riot. Windows of businesses were smashed, a police car had been flipped, and… was that lamppost ripped from concrete!? As he glanced around he saw that behind the turned-over car was a policewoman in a ripped and torn uniform. She was nursing her side with one arm, but she had a gun in the other hand and a clear fire in her eyes.
As the woman looked around, gun raised and ready to fire, both she and Sirius heard a guttural snarl from around the corner of the Baxter. Stumbling around the corner, in a slow shuffle, were three figures… all with red eyes like Johnny Storm not too long ago. As they sniffed the air, they slowly made their way toward the overturned car, and the woman behind it.
As the woman prepared to use her weapon, a line of web splattered against her chest. "What the-!?" Her cuss was cut off as she was yanked through the air before Sirius webbed her to the side of the building. "Holy-!"
"Language, ma'am," Sirius chided. "There are minors present." Said minors snarled at their elevated target, swinging uselessly at the air. "I'll handle this!"
"Wait, what are…?" Sirius didn't wait for her to finish as he landed, behind the three hopped-up party-goers, taking their attention away from the strung-up woman.
"Hey, guys! I like a party, but you might have taken things-" Sirius cut himself off as the group attacked with the same speed as Johnny had, having to duck and sidestep half a dozen swipes at his person. "Geez, take it easy! We've only just met! Could you at least attack one at a time-!"
Too late, Sirius felt his danger sense go off; he turned just as the third not-a-zombie's swing collided with his chest! The attack stung, but Sirius noted it didn't hurt nearly as much as he expected. Holding his sore chest, he said, "Okay… on one hand, hitting you back would be so rewarding, but!" Sirius smirked under the mask as he noticed a fire hydrant. "Maybe we could talk this over a drink?"
As the group charged at him for a second round, Sirius acted quickly; jumping over all three, he web-yanked the bolt facing the street, ripping it clean off. The resulting spray blasted two of the incensed teens ass over teakettle, taking them out of the fight.
"Rule one of partying, always stay hydrated," Sirius muttered. "That just leaves…" Sirius looked over to see the guy who got a hit on him roar, before turning in an attempt to run. "Oh, no you don't!"
Sirius fired a barrage of webbing at the fleeing teen… snaring him against a wall. "Yes! First try!" Ensuring the two sprayed before were back in their right minds, Sirius swung back over to the policewoman on the wall. "Sorry about that. Figured you needed to take it easy with-"
"I'm fine!" the woman snapped. "I didn't need your help!" She winced, clearly in pain. "Now, get me down!"
"Hey, stop that!" Sirius placed a hand on her shoulder, firmly putting an end to her movement. "I'm no doctor, but that wound looks pretty bad. I was just in the neighborhood, and thought I'd help out."
The woman seemed taken aback by Sirius' casual show of restraint, but sighed, the fight seemingly leaving her. "Okay, friendly neighborhood vigilante. Could you… please help me down?" After a bit of work, Sirius discovered something Peter missed: his webs take 15 hours to wear out, but he could remove them with ease. (Honestly, he had no clue that would work. Otherwise, he would have to rip the brickwork off the building to free the woman.) Bringing her back to ground level, she staggered for a second but managed to stand.
The surly woman looked at the kids sitting on the sidewalk, drenched and confused, while their trapped friend seemed to be slowly coming down from his high. "You managed to subdue them, with minimal damage." She glanced at the busted hydrant, cocooned in its entirety. "To the civilians, anyway," she added dryly.
"Well, I'm pretty strong," Sirius shrugged. "Like one-man wrecking crew strong. Figured a hydrant's a lot easier to fix than a busted skull and a rattled brain, so…"
The woman nodded while applying pressure to her bleeding side. "Maybe, next time, just take off the bolts on the sides."
"Is that what those are for?" Sirius blinked behind his goggles before looking away and clearing his throat. "I-I mean, I knew that! I just… figured I needed to handle the situation quickly."
"Hm-hm."
Sirius scratched at his neck, self-conscious under the stern woman's gaze. "So… I'm Spider-man. Should I just call you 'Police-woman?'"
"Officer," she correctly firmly. "Officer Watanabe. 3rd Precinct-" Watanabe cut off in a sharp gasp, stumbling forward.
"Whoa, easy there, Officer," Sirius caught her, leaning her against a tilted police cruiser. "Looks like the Big Apple chewed you up and spat you out."
"Please, I grew up in Brooklyn," Watanabe hissed, sweat beading on her brow. "This… this is nothing."
Sirius thought to say something more but already heard sirens heading toward them. "Well, hang in there, Officer Watanabe. Sounds like Brooklyn sent help." Sirius made to swing away but paused. "Oh, one more thing. You were the guys that answered the call about a noise disturbance?"
"We… were," the injured woman nodded. "I was one of the first to open the door to… all of that. My… the other officers-" She broke off into another wince.
Sirius sympathized but shook it off. Peter, and now Uncle Ben, were both still missing. "What about everybody in the Baxter? Not just the Ragers?"
"Ragers?" Watanabe chuckled lightly at that before flinching in pain. "Not a bad name…" Taking a breath, the Officer answered. "Most of them stayed in the building, we… made sure of that. Didn't see anybody else. But… a few did get out. There are still two out there…"
"Where?"
"Ran in different directions," Watanabe pointed down one street. "That way to the subway station. The other was running uptown. That's the… Rager that scratched me. Stupid false nails… sharper than I thought."
"Yeah, a combo of Utopium and Max Rager can do that, apparently."
"Ah…" the woman blinked blearily (how was she still conscious?). "A-a combo of-"
"I'm sure you'll figure it out. I'll be around until then." Sirius used her confusion to leave before she could ask any follow-up questions. As he swung up, ambulances and police cars pulled up.
Back on a building away from the Baxter, Gwen and Sirius watched as emergency services escorted people out, a mixture of police and civilian. All of them were injured in some way, but most of them looked alive. One of the parade was Johnny Storm was brought out on a stretcher, his sister Susan walking next to it as she was clearly berating Johnny while squeezing his hand for dear life.
"Susan Storm was in there?" Gwen asked.
"Must have been hiding on a different floor," Sirius shrugged. "She wasn't anywhere I searched." Right after him, Harry was escorted by police, and taken into the back of a wagon with several other sober, and somber, teenagers. Gwen didn't need super sight like Sirius to see how dejected and defeated he looked.
"Well," Pulling down her medical mask disguise, Gwen looked like she swallowed a fresh lemon. "At least Harry's safe. But, we still have no clue where Pete is…"
"I thought you called them?" Sirius asked, taking his goggles down to look at Gwen eye to eye. "Uncle Ben didn't answer?"
"And I called both his and Pete's phone," Gwen twisted her hands, clearly getting nervous by this point. "I'm worried, Dog Star. Pete never misses a call, or he'll message me when he can't answer…"
"We'll find them, don't worry." Sirius wrapped a comforting arm around the worried girl's shoulders. "At least we know where he's not."
"Yeah. A party, with drugs, drinks, and draugrs," Gwen muttered, before noticing Sirius' odd look. "Undead wrights? Ancient zombified soldiers?"
"Is… that another movie reference?"
"It's a game – you know what? More important things for now." Gwen threw up her hands before walking to the other side of the roof. "Your selective pop culture knowledge aside, we still need to find Pete…"
"We still haven't checked Queens," Sirius pointed out. "Ben could have dragged him back home."
"Or they got chased by 'Ragers,'" the blonde grimaced. "Which… yeah, pretty bad."
"Not all bad," Sirius pointed out. "Their high doesn't go on forever, and a bath snaps them right out."
"Okay… okay, yes, right!" Gwen clapped her hands, before running them through her hair. "Which way were they heading?"
"One was heading uptown," Sirius replied. "Towards… Time Square?"
"Really hard to find someone like that in large crowds," Gwen muttered. "Also, that's a lot of people they can hurt before they calm down…"
"And the other one went toward the Yancy Street subway entrance."
"Great, a 'zombie,' in an underground tube. Might as well be a morgue then," Gwen muttered. "Well, you're driving, so pick somewhere, and let's go!"
Shaking off the strange feeling like his brain was screaming 'Danger! Danger! Danger!' Sirius put his eyewear back on. "They had to take the subway to get back to Queens. If they're heading home, they would have passed there."
"And we might find something there," Gwen nodded as she put her own disguise back on. "Fine, let's go."
"Can you try calling on the way? Maybe I'll hear the ringing on the way."
"Call? With which hand?" Gwen gave him a skeptical look. "I'd need both to cling onto your back!"
"I'll carry you."
Gwen sputtered at that blanket comment, having to pull down her mask again to breathe better. "W-what!"
"You're not heavy, you know," Sirius shrugged. "Plus, I can hold you with one arm. I only need one to swing."
"I-" Gwen looked nervous for a moment, before shaking it off. "Fine. We need to find them quickly."
"We will," Sirius said calmly, trying to ignore his Danger Sense acting like a lie detector. After fighting the Ragers, Sirius was a little worried he'd be running into a hopped-up Ben and Peter. Thankfully, he was 90% sure they'd have to ingest the drugs, and possibly the drinks. So, nothing to worry about… right?
'Danger! Danger! Danger!' his brain responded.
Gwen wrapped in one arm protectively, Sirius swung down Yancy Street and strained to hear Peter's (or Ben's) ringtone. All he heard was the noise of the city: loud conversations, car horns, and dogs barking.
But nothing came of it, so when they arrived at the subway, they landed on a building… to look down and see an expected (or, at this point of the night, should have been expected) sight. All over the stairwell, yellow police tape crossed it off, and police were keeping people out of the area. "That's not good…" Gwen said quietly, but more to herself.
"Great," Sirius muttered. "All eyes are specifically on that one spot. Little hard to sneak in…" He looked over to Gwen. "Any ideas?"
"They're not gonna just let some nosy masked guy poke around an active crime scene," Gwen adjusted her glasses as she called upon years of living with a police captain. "And unless you want to go in and bust their heads-"
"I'd like to avoid a manhunt on my ass for as long as possible, thanks."
"Then that leaves blending into the crowd and getting closer."
"Wasn't the point of these masks to hide us?"
"Well, what's your plan?" Gwen snapped. "Climb down the building, walk up, and ask if the crime scene is active or not, in your full costume no less, and expect they'll just answer you? Is that all or did I miss something?"
"Uhhh…" Sirius looked away, hoping he didn't look like he was confirming her prediction. "I was… gonna make a web rope so you could climb down this time?"
Gwen deadpanned at Sirius, somehow making him feel even stupider. "Or… I can take the fire escape." She pointed over her shoulder to the now more obvious stairs/ladder combo connected to the building. "Sheesh, Spider-man. I'm not made of glass, you know."
"Okay, point made," Sirius conceded. "However, we can't go down there and expose that we've been here. Your dad's a cop, and those are cops!"
"That's why it's so brilliant!" Gwen said with a growing smile. "I know a few officers in the force, and whoever I don't know, I know enough about police officers to infer and make them think they know who I am! You don't even have to go down there or risk your face."
"Gwen-"
"Plus…" the girl shuffled from one foot to the other, looking down at her phone even as it kept ringing to no available. Shutting it closed, she sighed and looked back up at Sirius with watery eyes. "Pete's my friend too. Let me help, Sirius."
Sirius sighed, crossed his arms, and looked away. "Geez, I shouldn't be in charge of this decision…" He looked back at Gwen and… after carefully making sure no one else was around, Sirius took down the goggles and removed his mask. He kept the hood up, however, because he wasn't that big a moron. "You're your own person, Gwen. But, we got drugged-up fruitcakes running around and eating police. It's not safe…"
Gwen's expression looked crossed between hurt and shock. "I-"
"Not done yet," the teen emphasized, placing a finger over her lips. "Because it's not safe… I'd better go down there with you." That got a surprised hum from the silenced girl, as well as slightly reddened ears again. "We started this search together, we're gonna finish it together." Removing his finger, he stepped back. "So, we goo-OW!"
The minute Sirius opened his mouth, Gwen punched him in the stomach. Hard. "Please. Like it hurt, Superman."
"It was," Sirius huffed, "pretty surprising…" His surprise was replaced with confusion as Gwen lunged forward and hugged him. "And… so is this."
Stepping back, Gwen smiled brilliantly up at him… which brought that same feeling he had back when they first swung off his building. "Eyes forward, Spider-man. Save that charm for the cops below."
"Uh," Sirius blinked, both the events of the last minute and the bubbling feeling in his chest disrupting his thoughts.
"Right, you're hopeless again," Gwen sighed. "Take off your shirt."
"What! Why!?" Sirius cursed internally as his voice rose an octave.
"Turn your jacket inside out. Duh." Gwen said. "In case the police decided to mention a guy in a red and black hoodie beat up three coked-up college kids.
"Oh. Yeah," Sirius muttered, following her orders. "G-glad you're so smart…"
"I have to be," Gwen sighed theatrically, a smirk evident on her face as she faced away from her friend. "Otherwise, you're liable to get shot by half of New York's Finest the minute you open your mouth."
