Post by Drake on Jan 21, 2014 22:16:41 GMT -5
Spider-Man #12: Spider War Part 2
All’s Fair In Spider War
By Drake
All’s Fair In Spider War
By Drake
Miles took a deep breath, trying to comprehend what he’d just heard. Scorpion’s forces were attacking his school—Midtown High?? Why the hell were they attacking a school of all places? I mean, there were kids there! Kids!! But maybe that was the point. Scorpion wanted to hit New York at its heart: the children. Miles wasn’t one to talk about age, of course. He was only a freshman at the school. That didn’t matter now, though, because he had only one thing he could be, needed to be—Spider-Man.
“Be safe,” Peter whispered over the comms.
“I don’t think ‘safe’ is in the job description,” Spider-Man quipped back.
“Fair enough,” Peter chuckled half-heartedly.
Spider-Man continued on, swinging as quickly as he could to Midtown. There was one thing he needed to tell Peter though, before he got started.
“Peter, I need space,” Spider-Man said suddenly.
“What?”
“Just…manage the sitch at HQ, ‘kay? Leave me to, well, be Spider-Man,” Spidey explained.
Peter audibly sighed over the comms, but he knew when he wasn’t wanted, “I got it. Just tell me when you’re done and I’ll find you another… ‘sitch.’”
“Yessiree,” Spider-Man promised. He knew Peter wouldn’t stop watching through the feed on the mask. He knew Peter wouldn’t stop worrying. That didn’t matter now. What mattered was he needed space to breathe, because he may well not be able to breathe at all soon.
It didn’t take much longer for Spider-Man to arrive at Midtown High. When he did, what he found scared him.
“Zoinks,” Spidey quietly joked, “Now that is an army.”
Fifty or so men and women stood outside Midtown High in a stand off with the students—who included Ganke and Tommy—teachers, and Principal Bendis.
“Listen, bend over—or whatever the hell your name is—this school is Scorpion territory now. You all gotta respect that and stand down. And by ‘stand down’ I mean give us all your lunch money! Hahahaha!” A fairly tall man—no, Miles could tell from the voice he was actually quite young—said. This guy was clearly in charge. Only some sort of leader would wear such a flamboyant green and purple…jester suit? Was that what it was? Didn’t matter now. Spider-Man had to act.
The webbed wonder leaped down between Principal Bendis and the gang leader, interrupting his oh-so-bald principle as he did so.
“Yo, is the circus in town? I musta lost my invite,” Spider-Man quipped, landing nimbly on the ground.
“Ah, Spidey-man, shoulda expected you,” the leader said, crossing his arms. No one attacked yet. That was a start. Maybe Spider-Man could end this without violence.
“Seems you’re pretty well acquainted with me. So, tell me, who’re you?” Spidey asked.
“The boss calls me Jester,” the leader explained, a wicked grin on his face. Spider-Man could swear he’d seen that smile before…
“This here’s Screwball,” Jester pointed to his left, where an equally flamboyantly dressed pink skater chick glared aggressively at Spider-Man, “My right hand bitch.”
“Swear to God, Razor,” Screwball warned, “You call me your bitch or Screwball one more time…”
Razor? Oh my God, Spider-Man did know this freak! It was the guy who’d tried to mug him the day he got his powers.
“Sorry, sorry,” Jester laughed, “Force of habit.”
“I’m surprised you even know what that means,” Spidey retorted instinctively. Just looking at Jester pissed him off. This guy had held Ganke and him at knife point and tried to take his wallet, the same one his uncle had given him all those damn years ago before he…! Well, he didn’t die. Just disappeared. Right?
“The hell’s that mean?” Jester asked, his yellowing smile turned upside down. Gang bangers began to approach Spidey.
“It means I’m sick of listening to you suckers talk,” Spider-Man didn’t need his spider sense to tell him that the thugs were about to attack. Of course it did help him tell where from. Three or so guys with knives charged him from Jester’s right, just behind Screwball. Spidey leaped over them, kicked one, and then used his head as a ledge to spin around to kick the others. They went down without another word. Spider-Man was mad. He wasn’t holding back now. Ganke, Tommy, Katie Bishop…hell, even Principal Bendis, no one messed with them.
Midtown High wasn’t Scorpion territory. It was Spider-Man territory.
The fallen ‘bangers were the triggers that started the fight. Immediately everyone surged forward, except for Jester and Screwball, who just stood back watching. They would come after Spider-Man dealt with these goons.
“Heads up!” Spider-Man quipped as he punched a thug into the air, “Literally!” He tried to leap over another, but found himself pulled down by a couple of the criminals.
“Get him!”
“Kill Spider-Man!”
This was it. Holy shit. Not Kraven, not Mysterio, not even goddamn Kang could kill him! But a bunch of normal human thugs…they would end him…
“GET AWAY FROM HIM!”
Spider-Man suddenly saw the dark forms above him wade away. He could see the sun again.
“Leave him alone!”
Spider-Man couldn’t believe what he was seeing…students, teachers, Principle Bendis, everyone was engaging the thugs. They attacked with their fists, fighting against high-powered rifles and knives. It was crazy brave, emphasis on crazy. Only after Spider-Man saw a kid, some sophomore he hadn’t talked to once, shot down by a gang banger with a shotgun, did he react.
“NOOOO!!!” Spider-Man saw red again, the same way he had on his first outing as Spider-Man. The same way he had when he’d encountered the criminal mugging that family the other day. This time, however, the red was all encompassing. He did not fight it.
Spider-Man was a blur of motion and violence, taking down thug after thug. He could vaguely hear Peter speaking through the comms.
“Miles…oh my God…how are you…?”
Something came into his view that drove Spider-Man further over the edge. Jester stood over Ganke, holding a knife to his throat.
“You’re that Asian kid from way back!” Jester exclaimed, giggling horribly.
Spider-Man leaped towards Jester, ignoring the few dozen unconscious bodies around him. Before Spidey could reach him, Jester swung around and held Ganke by the throat, knife sliding down his neck.
“Uh uh, Spidey,” Jester’s harsh tone conflicted with his bright, cheery expression, “Attack me, this kid goes down. Hard.”
Spider sense!
Spider-Man didn’t know whether to react or…too late! He was hit over the head with a crowbar. As he fell to the ground, Spider-Man saw the rock-hard concrete more than stars. He tried to turn over, only to find himself dragged up by none other than Screwball, who held a bright pink crowbar in her hand. Something about the crowbar broke Spidey.
“You really look ridiculous,” Spider-Man laughed, “The pink, I mean…”
“Boss has a thing for exaggeration,” Screwball tried to explain.
“I think you hit him too hard, Screw, er, Max. Boss wanted to see Spidey alive,” Jester cackled, letting Ganke drop to the ground. Ganke held his throat, coughing. After he was done, he looked up at Jester with utter contempt, before staring at Spider-Man. Tears formed in his eyes.
“Miles…” he whispered hoarsely.
“You say something, fat ass?” Jester turned to Ganke.
Something clicked in Spider-Man. Pushing past the splitting headache, Spidey kicked Screwball away from him with all the force he could manage.
“Leave Ganke alone!” Spider-Man roared.
“Seriously? That’s his name…Ganke…?” Jester didn’t even react to Spider-Man’s aggressive nature.
“Shut the hell up!” Spider-Man yelled, struggling to walk towards Jester.
“Oh, does lil Spidey-pants have a booboo?” Jester teased, noticing Spider-Man’s struggle.
Spider sense! Spidey flipped backwards over Screwball, who barreled under him on skates. How was she conscious? He’d kicked her with all he had. Realization dawned on him.
“Banshee…?” Spider-Man wondered aloud.
“Ain’t it the best?” Jester lunged towards Spider-Man at superhuman speeds, stabbing forward with his knife. On his way back to the ground, Spider-Man grabbed hold of Jester’s arm and used it to swing himself around onto the villain’s back, legs wrapped around his neck. Spider-Man then twisted around, flipping Jester into the ground.
“It’s overrated,” Spider-Man quipped, standing away from the now-unconscious Jester.
And there was the spider sense. Of course.
“You piece of—“ Screwball was interrupted mid-tackle by Spider-Man who leaped over her and proceeded to wrap her in webbing.
“Do you kiss your mother with that mouth?” Spider-Man joked, landing gracefully on the ground.
“My mother’s dead you piece of—“ Spider-Man covered her mouth with a burst of webbing.
“Awkwaaard…” Spider-Man muttered.
The teen hero jogged over to Ganke, and then helped him to stand up.
“You alright?” Spider asked.
“Yeah, but Miles…” Ganke was interrupted by Spider-Man.
“No, wait…Ganke, I need you to go into the city and find my parents. Make sure there safe. Tell them I’m fine and…”
“But what about Tommy?” Ganke asked.
“He’ll have to wait,” Spider-Man replied, “Please go.”
“I’ve got it,” Ganke agreed. Spider-Man began to jog away but Ganke stopped him, “Miles…”
Spidey shook his head, “Sorry, gotta go, y’know, save lives. Maybe later,” Spider-Man hop-kicked a thug into the ground while Ganke just stared on, struggling to decide what to do. Should he tell him? Now wasn’t really the best time, but if…if Miles died…Ganke shrugged the thought away. Now wasn’t the time.
Not yet.
…
It didn’t take much longer for Spider-Man and the mini-army of students and teachers to take down the thugs. There were only a handful of student casualties, but each one did come with a serious price. Three students were dead. One teacher too. There were five or so stab victims who needed hospitalization immediately. Spider-Man didn’t know what to do.
“Yo, Princi—er, sir,” Spider-Man called out to a barely scathed Principal Bendis. The older man turned to the hero.
“Call an ambulance,” Spider-Man ordered. Bendis actually laughed.
“Give me more credit than that, Spider-Man. It’s already been done. The cops are on their way too,” Bendis said.
“I…nice. Sorry. I’ll get outta your hair then,” Spider-Man rubbed the back of his head embarrassedly. Maybe he did need to give the guy a little more credit. He did a great job. Screw his criticizers. Spider-Man began to walk away.
“Wait, Spider-Man,” Bendis began.
“Yeah?” Spider-Man turned back around, one lens raised above the other with curiosity.
Bendis smiled before continuing, “You…you’re a hero. Don’t let the police stop you. I know there’s a lot being said about you, but I want you to know, I don’t believe any of it.”
Spider-Man grinned under the mask, “You have no idea how much that means.”
And with that final word, he swung off back into the fire and the flames. Back into the war…the Spider War.
“Miles, I’ve got a ‘sitch,’” Peter spoke up.
“You really don’t have to call it a ‘sitch,’ y’know,” Spider-Man laughed.
“Right…” Peter continued, “We’ve got a problem. This time it’s the Kingpin. I’m sending the info on him to your suit now.”
“Oh my God,” Spider-Man muttered as he skimmed through the material on his lenses. “The guy’s a monster…where…where is he attacking?”
Peter took a deep breath. Something was bothering him…whatever it was, it couldn’t be good.
“That’s the worst part. Kingpin’s forces are raiding the Daily Bugle.”
TO BE CONTINUED NEXT ISSUE IN SPIDER-MAN #13