Warning: Violence in this chapter.

Chapter 1-5

Inside where things seem to be looking cozy in the building, four thugs armed to the teeth with revolvers and submachine guns take twelve people hostage, including Misa Dante. She sits in the corner beside a couch in front of a window on her knees, praying for a miracle, praying that Spider-Man will come to save her. She closes her eyes and silently whispers to herself but tries her best to not draw attention to herself.

The lead thug surveys the room as two thugs aim Uzis at the hostages while the last thug, the one handling the phones, steps forward to give an update to his boss.

"Sir, the police are outside with a SWAT team. They're delivering the money as we speak."

The lead thug smiles. "Perfect. Any sign of Spider-Man?"

"No. I also told the police to call us if they spot Spider-Man."

"Good. Set charges up on all these people."

"How many pounds of explosive?"

"Eight pounds." He pulls a C4 detonator from his pocket. "As soon as we get wind of something, we're going to blow these hostages to bits." He smiles. "Maybe we can make it rain blood if we're lucky."

The phone thug smiles before pulling several plastic explosives out of his bag. He straps the explosives to each of the twelve hostages, smiling the whole time. When he stops near Misa, he eyes her curiously before caressing her cheek. She flinches. "Don't pull away from me, bitch."

Misa freezes in place and feels tears roll down her cheek as the perverted man takes the time to carefully wrap the C4 around her body, specifically around her chest to make a makeshift bra out of it. He strokes her hair and sniffs it. "You're a pretty little thing. Yes, you are. If you're lucky, you can come with me and I promise to treat you nicely."

Misa spits in his face but the terror is still written as clear as day on her face.

"Wow." He wipes the spit off. "We're going to make an example out of you." He takes out his phone. "I'm going to call the police and tell them that if they don't get up here with our money by the hour... I'm going to fucking rape you."

Misa grits her teeth and looks away. He continues to grin at her.

Die, die.

The phone thug heads off to make another phone call and steps into a janitor's closet for privacy. He waits patiently for the police to pick up before the phone flies out of his hand. A web closes his mouth shut as he is hauled and dangled five feet off the floor upside down. He struggles before more webs bind his body, trapping him and making him look like a cocoon for a caterpillar.

Spidey leaps down from the ceiling. The phone thug's eyes widen and he screams, only for the webs to muffle and block out any sound he makes. "You... put your hands... on my mother," he whispers.

The phone thug's terror increases tenfold.

"And you threatened to rape her." Spidey nods. He reaches over and picks up the phone as he hears a voice come through. "Huh, the police." Spidey grabs a mop from the side and snaps it in half. He stabs the thug in the groin with the sharp part, making him scream at the top of his lungs but the webs still muffle them. He leaves the makeshift spear stuck in the man's groin as he turns and puts the phone to his ear.

"Hello, sir, are you happy with your long-term service?"

"Who is this?" the police officer demands.

"Your friendly neighborhood Spider-Man, at your service."

"Spider-Man, what are you doing in there?"

"Dealing with a hostage crisis. Don't worry, there are only three guys inside and I'll take care of them. Don't worry, I promise. Look, just, pretend that you're coming up with the money but whatever you do, do not come to the top floor until it is all clear. Oh and uh... get a bomb squad ready because they got some explosives. Anyway, thank you for your cooperation. See you in two."

He hangs up before yanking the spear out of the thug's groin and impaling him between the eyes. "That's for my mother."

He leaps into the ventilation system that he snuck in through from above and crawls down.

Three hostage takers, two armed with uzis, the other armed with a detonator, all with an IQ smaller than their foreheads. This is going to be easy. First, just gotta disarm the detonator guy with the the detonator, then get the two gunmen.

He stops near a vent and glues his fingers to the grate. He carefully pushes it off before pulling the grate inside the vent. He spots the detonator sticking out of the back of his pants directly above the detonator guy. He waits for him to turn before striking.

He shoots a web above him and lowers himself, hanging upside-down as he usually does before pickpocketing the trigger of the guy. The Uzi thugs had their backs turned so he was able to slip back into the vents with ease.

Misa looks over and silently gasps at seeing Spidey descend and ascend from a vent. A feeling of hope overwhelms her and she smiles.

"Hey, bitch," one of the Uzi thugs stomps toward Misa and points his gun at her. "What's got you so grinning? Huh, speak."

Misa's hands shake so she works on controlling her breathing. "I... I have a boyfriend. He's... he's rich. I... I can get him to get you more money."

Change of plans. Mom is actually trying to help. Okay, she's distracting one thug, perfect.

Spidey leaps down behind the detonator thug. The hostages notice but nobody says anything. They remain quiet but their eyes dart between the ground and Spidey. Spidey puts the detonator thug in a chokehold before he slowly crushes his windpipe. He covers the thug's mouth and listens with glee as the man's heartbeat slowly comes to a stop before dropping him. He silently walks up to the other Uzi thug and puts him in a chokehold. He covers his mouth before slapping his throat, crushing his windpipe like the previous thug.

His spider-sense went off.

Without looking, he web-yanks the first Uzi thug's gun out of his hands as he is spotted and turns to him. The Uzi thug gasps in horror before grabbing Misa and putting her in a chokehold.

"Don't move. Stay back!" the thug warns. "I swear... I swear to fucking God, I'll snap her neck."

"No, you won't," Spidey hisses as he steps forward. "Contrary to popular belief, snapping one's neck is... not humanly possible. I, on the other hand, can snap a neck." He takes another step forward, his stomp echoing in the room. "Let her go and I promise to spare you. If you let her go, I'll let you live. I'll let you run away. Hell, I'll even web-swing you away if you want."

"No, stay back! I can't trust you! You'll kill me!"

Increase his terror level. The more you do, the more panicked and the more irrational he becomes.

"Think of it like this, buddy. If you kill that woman, you have no leverage against me. If you kill that woman right now, nothing is stopping me from making you suffer a horrific death. If you let her go and run away, I'll let the police deal with you but if you don't take your fucking hands off of her in the next five seconds..."

He throws Misa towards Spidey and makes a run for it. Spidey catches his mother before shooting a web at the thug's back. He yanks him back and catches him with one hand. Without breaking a sweat or hesitating, he flung the thug head-first against the window and listened to him scream as he plunged to his death.

"I guess he was in a rush to get somewhere." Spidey turns to his mother.

"Spider-Man," one of the civilians pants, "thank you so much."

Spidey carefully removes the plastic explosives from his mother before turning to the civilians. Without saying anything, he frees the civilians of their explosive bonds before telling them to run.

"Make a withdrawal... for the doors."

The civilians nod and they quickly head for the stairs, leaving Spidey alone but Misa stays as well.

"It's you..." Misa gasps. "You saved my life... again."

Spidey chuckles. "Hey, I remember you. I think saw you at the hospital one time. And then I saved your life at that charity event when the Green Goblin attacked last year, right?"

"Y-yeah, you did. Thank you. Thank you so much." She grabs his hands. "How can I ever repay you?"

"Ahh, please, everybody knows superheroes don't ask for payment. Just keep your head up and your family close."

As Spidey turns, Misa grabs his shoulder. "Wait. Why do you do it? Why do you kill people?"

Huh, I gotta say, it's been a while since someone asked me that question. Huh, now... what should I say? I could tell her the truth but if I do, I could give away my identity. So... I'll give a generic answer.

Spidey nods.

"Because some people deserve to die."

Misa carefully looks at him, studying him, even though he's wearing a mask. She caresses his hands. "Would your mother agree with you?"

"My mother?" He chuckles.

Funny.

"I think she would. I think she would agree that some people deserve to die."

"The person who killed my husband deserved to die."

And I made sure he did die.

"Once again, thank you. Thank you so much, Spider-Man. A lot of people see you as a monster. Sure, you kill people but you save lives, even when you don't have to."

Because it's good for PR.

"Well, I'd be an asshole if I sat back and let innocent people die. Go home, be with your family, then, ma'am. I, on the other hand, have a date with... justice."

Spidey leaps out of the window he tossed the thug out earlier and swings away. Misa looks out and follows him as he slowly shrinks with every passing second. She sighs heavily and smiles.

"Thank you... Davey."

Landing back on the roof with Cindy, Spidey turns to her and regards her pale, shocked face. "Well, did you enjoy my performance? I know you saw me through the window that I tossed that one red shirt out of."

She just stares at him.

"I know; I'm quite sexy in this skintight suit, aren't I?"

"What did you do? To that one thug who went behind the door?"

Now, here, I can lie and say I gave him a quick, painless death but... if the news gives a report on what happened to this guy and Cindy watches it, she'll doubt everything I say from now on. So, I'll just be upfront with her so she won't be so nagging in the future.

"I speared him... in the balls."

She blinks. "What?"

"The guy threatened to rape my mother. So... I put a spear right where his manhood was."

"Oh my god." She covers her mouth.

"Don't tell me you wouldn't have done the same... Cindy. What if some disgusting pedophile threatened to put his crummy old man fingers on your baby brother? You wouldn't like it, right?"

"You said you wouldn't torture anyone."

"Sorry but... I guess 'emotions' got in the way."

She can tell he's smiling behind the mask. "If you're going to lie, at least come up with a better one than that?"

"What can I say, something got in the way. You may find this hard to believe but I dislike it when my family members are threatened. I hate it when... someone takes away a possession of mine. O something that brings convenience to my life."

"Is that all you see your mother as? A possession? Something to make your life more convenient?"

"Oh, Cindy, I'm this by choice, I'm this way because I was born this way; it's in my nature." He looks at her arms. "And... Cindy, for what it's worth, the same applies to you. After all, you were the first person I saved. And since you're the only one who shares my powers... and secret... you're something I'm willing to protect."

Mostly because having her out of my control would be a hassle.

Cindy's face softens.

Okay, she's lowering her guard. Good, I want to be on her good side because if I give her any reason to suspect I have an ulterior motive, then who knows what she'll do. Appeal to her and appease her.

He reaches out and caresses her shoulder. "I won't hurt you, Cindy."

"You say that a lot."

"And I'm going to continue to say it."

After being locked up in a bunker for five years by some kind of human trafficker, I understand she craves affection. Which is a win-win for me because I like touching hot girls. But, between touching them and fucking them, I'll choose fucking them over any day of the week.

He was about to lean towards her to kiss her through his mask when she shot a web from her fingertips at his mask.

"We can't," she says, "no, we can't. You and Felicia are still dating from what I hear."

"Right. But... to be fair, she says that we're not boyfriend and girlfriend yet but..."

Choose your next words carefully or it could spiral out of control.

"But hey, you come first. I mean, you're the one who needs the emotional support when you need it and Felicia and I... we're just casual. We haven't even fucked yet."

Well, as David and Felicia.

"Ha, funny. Receiving emotional support from a psychopath."

"I know, right, Cin, it's so ironic."

Without saying any more, he grabs her by the waist and swings them back.

Now, back to my original plan: grocery shopping. Then again, I should check on Mom first so... I'll check on her, then get to grocery shopping; she'll understand. She may be suspicious but she'll understand.

Misa looks at the FBI agent before her. "I'm telling you, Spider-Man saved my life."

Otto Octavius looks at her. "I'm sure that's what you believe and I'm inclined to believe you."

"Really, because it sounds like you don't believe me. You sound like that one Daily Bugle guy calling Spider-Man a menace."

"My favorite newspaper editor and the only one speaking the truth."

"Is that so?"

Octavius gestures to the thug that landed on an empty car that caved in from the impact. 'Would someone who isn't a menace throw a man out a window?"

"Are you saying Spider-Man is worst than a person who was friends with someone who threatened to rape me? Who threatened to blow me up? Who threatened to kill me just for fun?"

"Doesn't Spider-Man kill people for fun?"

"Even so, he still saves people, even when he doesn't have to."

"You're a delusional old woman and you need therapy."

"I'm 40."

"And you sure look it." He dismissed her so he could get back to the crime scene. He looks around to make sure no one is looking before he slips something into the pocket of the dead thug. He walks away before a forensic team heads over and removes something. It looked like a phone.

Octavius heads over to the forensic expert, takes the phone, and unlocks it. His eyes widen. "Holy shit." He turns to the officer in charge. "Captain Hardy, you're not going to believe this: this man is an undercover cop. Look."

He gives Walter Hardy the phone and he carefully reads the contents. Secret codes, confidential police information, a PI number, connections to narcs, this phone contained everything to indicate that this man was an undercover cop.

"Holy shit," Walter growls. "Spider-Man killed a cop, an undercover cop."

Misa marches over after overhearing the conversation. "No, there's no way he was an undercover cop, no it's not possible. He was the last person Spider-Man killed so if he was an undercover cop, he would've identified himself. Instead, he kept holding me hostage and he threatened to kill me."

"Part of the job," Octavius scoffs. "Here, we have definitive proof that Spider-Man is more than a problem and here you are, trying to defend this murderer." He turns to an officer. "Get this old lady out of my sight." He turns to Walter. "You see, this is why the FBI needs to have all the resources at hand to bring in Spider-Man. I'm telling you, my plan is going to work."

Walter looks at him cautiously. "I'll talk to the chief and see if we can convince the mayor to give the FBI a blank check to whatever they need in bringing Spider-man down."

Octavius smiles. "I knew you'd eventually come around."

Several officers escort Misa away as a familiar voice calls to her from the barricade.

"Mom!" David shouts. "Over here."

Misa looks at him, smirking slightly. "Davey!" She gets through the barricade and hugs her son. "Are you okay?"

"Obviously. Are you?"

"I'm fine."

"I saw on my phone there was a hostage crisis."

"It's okay, Spider-Man saved me. And for that, I'm grateful. And then... these people, I don't know what's wrong with them but they're saying Spider-Man killed an undercover cop."

He furrows his brows. "What?"

"Yeah, apparently, one of the thugs he tossed out the window was an undercover cop, and now... they're talking about getting the FBI involved or something."

I killed an undercover cop? Eh, probably not the first time. Even so, it's their fault for not identifying themselves. Not only that but that guy inside... he wasn't not an undercover cop; I can tell the difference between fake sadism and true sadism like parents telling twins apart and there was nothing fake about his sadism, his evil. He was a pure, unadulterated, bastard of a human being and he enjoyed every second of what he did.

Just like me.