42Primordial
"An animal may be ferocious and cunning enough, but it takes a real man to tell a lie."
― H.G. Wells
The night sky above the Kingdom of Vale usually hosted a beautiful array of constellations that littered the sky alongside the shattered moon. However tonight the sky was blanketed with dark rainclouds with droplets falling down to the kingdom below. The drizzle upon the Kingdom was not some torrent of storm but a heavy fall of water, the usual noise of Vale was drowned out from the constant fall, while relaxing to some as they let the peaceful noise send them off into the land of dreams, others it proved to be an annoyance as they made their way home to try and escape the downpour.
"Damn rain! They said twenty percent chance of light showers, not a mini thunderstorm." a man grumbled as he rushed home, his shoes splashing against puddles. He passed under a blue neon sign as it lit up the puddles on the sidewalk below, while also illuminating the face of a figure perched on the ledge above the street, the blood red eyes fallowed the figure of the man as he came to a stop at the end of the sidewalk. The road had been closed for construction, "Oh come on!" the man shouted irately.
The red eyes forced themselves shut, No….I will not. he thought, his mouth opening, revealing the long, piercing, fangs that resided within his mouth. His eyes peeked open, the darkness of the world being illuminated through his sight. The man quickly ducked under a storefront awning for cover from the rain. The figure's feet moved on their own, stalking towards the crevice between buildings and falling down to the ground. I….I'm so hungry….I haven't eaten in days….not since the lab…. he thought as his feet touched the wet ground silently from the four story drop.
The figure stalked through he shadows as the man leaned against the storefront wall, the figure hid within the shadow of the building, watching as the man lean his head back, exposing his neck. His mouth opened, salivating at the sight of the prime flesh, the figure was over to the man's side in a instant, his fangs poised to- NO!
The man's eyes shot open as a gust of wind flowed past him, looking down either way of the sidewalk he saw only the barren streets of the kingdom. Looking down into the alleyway beside him he saw no movement within the shadows. Unaware that huddled behind the short staircase to the building, the figure's fangs sunk into the flesh of his own arm, crimson streaks oozed from the wound into the water, tainting it as tears brimmed within the red eyes of the stalker.
The man's footsteps picked up, growing distant as he made his way around the corner of the building, detouring towards his home. I'm so hungry…but what I want…..what he made me eat…..gods why!? I'm….I'm sorry… the figure wept to himself, the fall of rain drowning out his sobs.
This is horrible. Peter Parker thought to himself as he looked at the image on his scroll. I mean I've seen some serious crimes in my day but this? he asked himself internally as he stared at what was on his screen.
A Spider-Man costume cheaply made for children to wear on Halloween.
Use my name and likeness, make a boat load of costumes to ship all across Remnant, and I don't so much as see a single Lien?! he thought before he felt something pull at his shoelace. Looking down at the ground in front of his couch he saw Ruby and Yang's pet corgi, Zwei, nibbling on his shoelace. Looking up at him when he realized he had been caught. Peter gave him an smirk before bending down and scratching the canine behind the ears, "Where's the justice Zwei?" he asked.
"Zwei! Don't chew on his shoes!" the disapproving voice of Weiss Schnee reprimanded behind the pooch. The dog looked over at the heiress with a hurt look, the usual ice-like exterior of the girl quickly melted and cooed the small animal affectionately. Peter shook his head amusingly at her display of affection to the small canine. She noticed the look Peter was giving her and quickly regained her firm gaze, "Bad dog. No treats for you." she decisively,
Peter stood up from his seat, the dog nuzzling Weiss' calf and making the ice princess melt, Peter had known Weiss for about six months now, and yet he had never seen her be so affectionate towards anything like she was with Zwei. "Weiss! Where'd you go?" Ruby asked from the kitchen, the heiress looked over as Ruby poked her head through the doorway and her face turned a slight shade of green as Ruby held up a carving knife with orange viscus hanging from it, "We still need to carve your pumpkin!" she said excitedly.
Halloween was quickly approaching, the annual tradition of dressing up in costumes, going out at night, and either go trick or treating if you were young enough, or go to a party if your old enough. But given how I do two of those things every day? Makes Halloween feel like another Monday. he thought as he sat up from the couch.
Classes around the Kingdom where on pause with the breach and subsequent Grimm attack on the Kingdom a week ago. Along with the formation of and defeat of the Sinister Six, things in Vale were a little bit tense right now with all things considered. So Peter and his friends decided that taking some time to relax for a while would be nice, coincidentally Flash was having a Halloween party at his house the night of in a few days.
The girls were admittedly not huge fans of the idea considering how the last party over there turned out but Peter assured them that Flash and he were cool now. As proof, the jock had come over with about five or six pumpkins to help carve for the Party. However it appeared that Weiss found the process of cutting and gutting a pumpkin….less than enjoyable. "I can take over gutting for you if you want." Peter offered the heiress as her face turned a shade of green.
She gave him a grateful nod as he left her with Zwei and entered the dining room where RBY and Flash were busy carving. "Man I wish I could be that good." Flash said enviously, looking at Ruby's which had a face carved in a way that depicted the head of a Beowulf. The team leader sat down in front of her creation beaming while her sister looked at her proudly, Peter was a little flabbergasted by the display of artistic imagination. Flash saw his look and nodded enviously, "Right!?" he asked.
Ruby brushed her nose smugly, "Well I don't mean to be boastful or anything but I've mastered the fine art of pumpkin carving with years of hard-"
"She looked up videos on it at Beacon." Blake quietly interrupted, a small smile tugging at her lips as Peter sat down where Weiss was at the covered dining table. As Ruby gave her teammate a look of betrayal and her sister laughed, Peter looked over the pumpkin she was trying to carve.
Well….she cut the top off of it. he thought before pulling up the sleeve of his shirt and reaching inside, pulling out a number of seeds and sinew from the pumpkin. "How mad do you think Weiss would be if I showed this to her?" he asked jokingly, Ruby chuckled almost manically at the idea but Yang shook her head, telling him not to even risk it. Setting the guts of the pumpkin down on the newspaper covering the table to avoid a mess, he resumed cleaning out the pumpkin for Weiss until the inside was empty.
Gathering up the paper with the pumpkin inners, he carried it to the kitchen and dumped the it into the trash before washing his hands off in the sink of the kitchen. As the water and soap washed over his hands he could feel someone approaching him behind with his Spider Sense, looking over his shoulder he smirked as the redhead walked up to the counter beside him, turning around and leaning against the surface with a smirk, "It sounds like the kids are all having fun dear." she jokingly observed.
Peter snorted at her greeting, Mary Jane Watson, one of my best friends and the only person who knows basically everything about me and my crazy life. he thought, the redhead designer looking at him playfully. Her hair had grown out slightly over the last week, her crimson locks now reaching just below her chin, he recalled how she cut it to not look so much like her cousin but he didn't see much resemblance with how different shades their hair had. "How's it going in here, honey?" he replied with just as much playfulness to his voice as she had to her's.
MJ looked to the bowls of candy she was making for the party, "Pretty much done, Ruby keeps trying to sneak in and swipe some though." she said, glancing at the door and saw a rose pedal disappear out of sight. She turned her head back to Peter as he dried his hands off, "Speaking of the party, what are you wearing to it?" she asked as Yang entered the kitchen to dump her pile into the trash as well.
The two both glanced at her, now knowing to watch exactly what they said to one another, "Well I'm not gonna wear the same costume for last year." he said knowingly, wearing his Spider-Man costume to a Halloween Party wasn't risky or anything but it felt somewhat lazy. "Why? What about you?"
MJ smirked at him, "Well Tiger if you must know, I'm going to wear something eye catching." she vaguely described. Before winking at him, "I better not catch you trying to sneak a peek at my goods through the window." she warned jokingly at the double entendre. Peter and her grinned at one another before looking away, Peter shaking his head at her, "I modified this vampire costume I got at the store, Mark's going as Dracula." she said with a roll of her eyes while Yang left the room, leaving them alone.
Peter noticed the gesture, he looked at her imploringly, silently asking her if anything was up. She caught his gaze and sighed, "It's stupid. I mean it's nothing to get miffed about but Mark's been kind of….what's a good word for pushy? But when they're not super forceful about it?" she asked.
"Insistent?" Peter supplied, MJ snapping her fingers in agreement. Peter folded his hands over his chest, he never tried to be pushy or assertive with other people, he wasn't afraid to suggest something but if it wasn't something that others wanted he would understand and drop it. "Well as long as he's not trying to be forceful about it, is it really that bad?" he asked.
She shook her head, "Bad? No, but it can get on my nerves a little." she explained, Peter nodding in understanding. "I don't want to be annoyed with him, but he's not doing anything wrong either." she explained. Mary Jane always tried her best to be reasonable, and she was happy to say that it usually worked in her favor almost one hundred percent of the time. However when she tried it with Mark it was like bouncing something off a wall. It was a harsh comparison but he couldn't seem t understand her plight.
Glancing over at Peter, he unfolded his arms and reached his hand out to hers, clasping it over her's reassuringly. She smiled at his small show of encouragement, whenever she needed it Peter was always there to supply it to her. "Just talk to him, I think he'll understand eventually." he said wisely.
Mary Jane sighed, "Yeah….I know." she muttered, glancing down at Peter's hand as he held her's. They remained like that for a moment before the rustle of the candy bowl drew their attention to the counter where Ruby's hand was reaching over the side, fishing for treats. Mary Jane reaching into the sink and grabbed the wooden spoon, lifting her hand to her lips in a 'shh' gesture to Peter she approached the bowl and gently smacked the hand, making Ruby let out a yelp at being caught! "Leggo my Oreos!" she called out, Ruby whooshing away as Peter and Mary Jane both bellowed in laughter.
Walking back to the sink, MJ reached around Peter and tossed the utensil in while she locked eyes with him, Peter just smiled at her, "But you're not wearing your Spidey suit to the party?" she asked with a raised brow. It seemed like the obvious, and admittedly cheapest option for him to do.
Peter shook his head with a unsure look, "I mean is it really a costume if I wear it every day?" he asked.
MJ opened her mouth to retort, however she ended up nodding in contentment. "Huh….guess so. Well darn I was really hoping that I would get a good look at you in a skintight outfit." she said, feigning disappointment while Peter rolled his eyes. "I mean it might help you get a girlfriend." he also poised hopefully. Ever since Peter and Yang had split up, he hadn't shown much or any interest in another girl, he and Yang still got along great thankfully. But she saw how happy she made him, and while it may not work out between Yang and Peter, she still wanted her friend to be happy.
The photographer rolled his eyes in amusement, "Please we both know that you're the only one who wants to see anything." he accused jokingly, glancing over at MJ with his eyes widening in surprised as she looked away. A grin spread over his face and she shook her head in denial, "I'm flattered Ms. Watson."
She smirked cockily, "Please we both know that you've gawked at me plenty." she pointed out. Peter was about to argue when she followed up by poking him in the chest, "I remember when I came over to help you with your busted pipe and you were gawking at my wardrobe choice." she reminded.
"You wore daisy dukes and a bikini top, I was dating Yang but I'm still a man, of course I gawked!" he defended.
She raised her hand to the side of her head, mimicking a call on the scroll, "Peter, you're a prude." she reminded him of the time he looked through his window and saw her in nothing but a bath towel. Seeing the flush cross his face she capitalized on in, leaning forward to Peter, "You haven't been sneaking peeks have you?"
Peter's flustered expression disappeared and was replaced by sly one, "Only one here who has been sneaking peeks is you Ms. Watson." he replied, taking MJ off guard before they both smirked at one another.
"….ok fair enough." she admitted, knowing that she had unbashful taken a few peeks at Peter's physique. Stepping away she walked back over to the bowl of candies, "I'm gonna hide these at my house, away from little Miss grabby hands." she explained, Peter nodding in agreement before she reached in the bowl and tossed him a chocolate bar, "Thanks for listening." she added before leaving.
Peter nodded as she left, unwrapping the candy and taking a bite out of the chocolate bar. As he turned and stepped towards the dining room he jumped when he saw Yang standing in the doorway with a cheeky grin on her face…Peter decided he didn't like that look. "What?" he asked after swallowing the treat.
She tilted her head towards the door that MJ left as he took another bite, "Since when did you start putting the moves on MJ" she teased, causing Peter to choke on his treat.
Forcing the chocolate down his throat he gave Yang a bewildered look, "What?! I was not putting the moves on her! I was putting no moves whatsoever on her actually, if anything I hardly moved at all." he said, quickly joking for his own amusement. Yang raised a brow at him, things had been….awkward after their breakup, but they were both over it thankfully. And they still had one another as friends.
Yang shook her head at his denial, "I know flirting, and you two were flirting."
"MJ flirts with everyone…..in fact didn't she sort of flirt with you when you first see her?" he asked, recalling how MJ told him that Yang became a little flustered when she said how pretty she was. Apparently Yang was unaware that he knew that and her cheeks tinted pink, "Are you sure you know flirting and aren't actually bashful? Would explain a few things." he teased.
The brawler pouted at him and flicked one of the pumpkin seeds at him, he tilted his head to avoid it, "I'm just saying. And I'll be honest I thought you and here might have had something going on before we started dating." she admitted, tossing the waste from the gourd into the trash. She was always aware of how close Peter and Mary Jane had been, back when she and Peter were dating she once in a while probed the idea that there was something going on while he was on Patch and she at Vale.
However that idea was quickly dismissed when MJ introduced Mark as her boyfriend, not to mention Peter was a good guy, she wasn't sure he would ever even THINK of cheating on someone.
Peter still was unconvinced, of course he and MJ were close with both of them knowing each other's secrets and that led them to having a deep friendship. I mean yeah, we're friends but just like how Yang and Blake are…..or better yet Pyrrha and Jaune…wait, no. No! Like Nora and Re…actually no. he thought to himself. Seeing the thoughtful look on his face, Yang smirked to herself as she left the kitchen.
"Hey Weiss look! It's like a grape vine!" Ruby cheerfully said from the next room. A second later, Peter moved aside as the heiress rushed to the trash can with a green look on her face while her hand covered her mouth. Opening the lid she looked inside at all the pumpkin guts, her face turning from slightly light to dark green before bolting out the back door of his house.
Peter winced as he heard her heave outside in his back yard.
Yang's observation, for some reason that he couldn't figure out, had stuck with Peter all the way to his trip to the Bugle to drop off some Spider-Man pictures he had taken earlier that day. However he forced those thoughts aside as he rode the elevator to the office floor to drop off his pictures of Spider-Man for the paper. Odds are Jonah will have to take them since there hasn't been any crime action since I took down the Sinister Six. Peter thought to himself.
In the days fallowing the formation of the super villain team and their subsequent defeat, along with the breach of Grimm into the Kingdom, the criminal element in Vale had basically grinded to a halt. There was the occasional purse snatcher or car jacker but aside from those street crimes there was nothing, no White Fang activity, no new or old Supervillains, even the Green Goblin had seemingly vanished without a trace. The latter of which being a cause for concern for Peter with him being the only other Supervillain in the Kingdom.
I thought that maybe he was one of Kingpin's henchmen at first before he tried to blow old white whale away. If I had any sense I'd let those two go at it and just watch with a tub of popcorn from the sidelines. But then I'd also not have any responsibility and that's sort of my whole thing. he dryly remarked to himself as the elevator doors opened. So while the city was quiet, it did not put Peter at ease, in fact it almost a little concerning. Which is what also lent to his visit to the Bugle aside from a possible pay day. Maybe he could find something to do as Spider-Man while he was here, at least then he wouldn't be so restless.
As he approached Jonah's office he saw that the lovebirds known as Ned and Betty were chatting outside his office. Me and MJ huh? he thought as he was reminded of what Yang had said to him. For some reason her observation about them had stuck with him, maybe he and MJ flirted a little bit, he would concede to that, but he wasn't like how Ned and Betty were. "Wow who knew that the newspaper was the place to hook up?" he asked as he approached the two, Ned beaming at Peter while Betty smiled at him. "How's it going guys?" he asked as he and Ned bumped fists together in greeting.
"Hey Pete, what brings you here?" Betty greeted.
The teen shrugged his shoulders, "Same as usual, dropping off some pics. Jonah in?" he asked, looking at he closed office doors.
The faunus tilted her ears towards the door, "He's talking with Ben about a story. By the sounds of it they're almost done." she informed as her fiancé planted a little kiss on the back of her ear, making the secretary yelp in surprise before smacking Ned with the back of her hand. "Not in front of Peter!"
"Yeah noo, oh no, my innocence, noooo. I'm scarred for life, noooo." Peter drawled out melodramatically. Betty rolled her eyes but smiled nonetheless, the door to the office opened with reporter Ben Urich walking out, his expression showing disappointment from how his meeting was going. Fallowing him out was Robbie, Peter glanced at Ned and Betty before fallowing after the editor of the paper, "Hey Robbie." he greeted. The editor tuned to the photographer, "What's wrong with Ben?" he asked, glancing over to Urich as he took as the reporter sat down at his desk.
Robbie let out a blow of air through his nose, "Hey Peter. Ben came to us with a story but we're not going to run it….even though we should." he explained, making Peter raise an eye at him. Robbie explained, "Ben could tell you more but…..with the breach just a few weeks ago? People in the Kingdom are on the edge, and that doesn't tend to go well with all the Grimm. And we don't want to add to that by telling people news that won't do more than scare people." he explained before heading to his office, leaving Peter to think on his words.
There had been a noticeable spike with Grimm activity around the borders of Vale, Peter knew it because he overheard some of the people from the research section of the Bugle talking about numbers coming in from the KDA, the Kingdom Defense Agency. They monitored herds of Grimm outside the confines of the city of Vale along with other settlements along the coast. There had been a spike in activity since the Breach, suffice to say it was natural that such an event occurring was reason enough for alarm.
Thusly the news had been put on a filter, but that didn't mean Peter couldn't look into it. Approaching Ben Urich's desk he waved at the reporter, Ben gestured to the side of his desk for Peter to sit on, "Jonah and Robbie shot down some leads I was looking into. There's been a string of missing persons cases recently." he explained as he turned his screen on. On the hologram was a list of names and pictures, as well as dates when they were reported missing. Peter frowned at the sight as he read over the monitor, "Jonah and Robbie don't want to run it, and DeWolf is still busy with all the White Fang from the breach right now that they can't look into it."
Peter grimaced at the information, he knew that DeWolf was wrapped up in the fallout of the breach, the entire police department was, but looking at the people and seeing their faces? Jimmy Santini, Vincent Stegron, Richard Deacon, Michel Morbius, Edward Whelan….maybe the cops can't help right now. But Spider-Man sure as hell can. he thought. "Is there anything to connect them? Like where they all reported missing from the same place?" he asked.
Urich bit the inside of his cheek, "They're all Faunus, most of them locals with a few tourists visiting town. But other then that I don't know anything else, the Kennel might be the safest place right now." he reasoned. The Kennel, a section of Vale where most of the Faunus population lived in, Peter patrolled the neighborhood a couple times during the week and always found someone causing trouble, usually some human who had a problem with Faunus. These kidnappings stop now, that's a promise. he decided, sitting up from the desk, "Sorry I can't help you Ben, hopefully things will change." he said, patting Urich on the back as he returned to his work, opening up another window as Peter walked away to drop the pictures off to Jonah.
Within the downtown district of Vale, Mary Jane Watson exits the busy movie theater, her boyfriend Mark Allen accompanying her. The young man slurping the rest of his drink down until nothing but the ice remained, MJ cast a amused look at her boyfriend as they turned down the sidewalk towards the parking lot where Mark's car was parked. Catching his gaze he lifted his drink, "What? I'm getting my money's worth." he replied cheekily.
MJ nodded, "Uh huh, So what'd you think?" she asked, referring to the movie. The theatre had been playing a number of old movies with Halloween fast approaching, the couple decided to attend one of the screenings of a classic movie The Time Machine. Unsurprisingly it was Peter who recommended it, who had said it was one of his and his Uncle's favorite movies to watch when he was younger.
"I liked it, though the thing with the flower sort of bugs me. Like how would one person know that there's no other type of flower in the entire world? I mean that's a little presumptuous." he argued, MJ nodding in agreement with his nitpick. "Still though cool movie, you think that he'd just go backwards in time but he just keeps going forward." he added.
The redhead smirked, "Yeah, I think Peter said something like how that's the only type of time travel that's actually possible…..he had some long, scientific reason why but I can't remember it." she admitted, glancing over to her boyfriend in time to see him frown at the mention of her friend. "What?" she asked.
Mark opened his mouth, his first response was going to be to deny anything wrong at all, but the inquiring look in MJ's eyes showed that it wouldn't stick. "It's just….you and Peter just seem to always be together, I mean I get he's your neighbor and all but…." he trailed off. He wasn't accusing her of anything, he knew full well that would not make himself seem sympathetic, instead he decided to seem more frustrated. Looking over at MJ he saw the way her emerald eyes looked at him caringly, and he knew he phrased his words the right way. "I know Peter's a good guy, and I would never tell you to not see him or anything but it makes me feel….
Shock crossed MJ's face, she was aware that she and Peter hung out a lot but was it really that more than she did with Mark? She didn't count the minutes of course, but upon looking back on it she could see why Mark would, "Is that why you've been jumping through hoops lately to be with me?" she asked, her voice laced with concern. She knew firsthand how it was like to have someone whom you care about make you feel less important.
And Mark knew that as well.
But that thought did not cross her mind, her thoughts were surely on Mark, who gave her a small smirk of playful nature, "Yeah…..that obvious?"
"The matching costumes kind of gave it away." she replied back lightheartedly as her arm locked around his. "Look I got to head to F.E.A.S.T. tonight for my first aid training thing, but I'm free tomorrow…..and Aunt Anna is going to be out late working so…." she trailed off hintingly.
Mark's spirits rose at the proposition, "Peter isn't going to be there will he?" he joked.
It earned him a elbow to the side, "He might be, I was thinking of just you and me binge watching tv shows but I could invite him over too if you like." she replied, knowing that Mark's mind wasn't on the living room but within her bedroom with the blinds closed shut. "But seriously, me and Peter…..we're close….yeah." she admitted, thinking of all that the two of them have shared. Some of them being things that she might never tell Mark or another living soul for the rest of her life. "But you? You get me, maybe even more than Peter does…you respect me….you care about me, and…..you're not afraid to admit when your wrong." she listed off before smirking. "Which wins you points in my book."
She knew that Mark wasn't the only one who had those traits, Harry, Peter, May, Aunt Anna, Pyrrha, even admittedly Flash had those as well but what made Mark different to her was something else….something that she admitted was selfish. Mark put her first, and with how she was raised in a home where she tried putting other before her and it always ended up getting her hurt? Where when she tried to help her mother and sister, she was seen in the wrong for wanting something better then what they had. To her family, it was always family first and to hell with what they each wanted, she wanted her own life…and Mark understood that, he encouraged that as long as he was with her.
But Mark knew that…he knew that too well, and because he did he knew how to twist his words the right way.
Mark smiled at MJ, knowing just what to say. "That's a book I like being in." he said happily, making MJ smile before they continued towards his car.
A pair of white eye lenses watched the streets below as he swung overhead, it was now dusk over the Kingdom of Vale, the setting sun bathing the city with a golden hue while Spider-Man threw a webline out and swung over the Kennel district. Flipping off his web through the air, he grabbed onto the underside of a vertical banner and stuck to the underside of the pole. Looing down at the streets, or above from his perspective, he watched as Faunus walked the sidewalk on their daily lives. Most of the people abducted where reported missing at night, so stands to reason that whoever is taking them would be out on the prowl at this time. the vigilante rationalized.
He had been searching the neighborhood for the past hour, asking around for any information that might help him. So far all he had gotten from some of the citizens were rumors about the missing people, a handful of descriptions of vehicles that were suspicious, and a nice lady who offered him a apple as thanks for helping her move a heavy object on her roof…in Peter's defense he needed a snack.
A sharp pain rang in his chest making the hero wince as he grabbed his flaring up side, Peter had suffered a few cracked ribs from his battle with the Sinister Six's battle a few weeks ago. Normally his whatever wounds he sustained would be healed after a day or two of rest, however the injury was rather serious, and while he was healing more quickly than the average human he reasoned that a few more days would have him back in top shape. For now the occasional flare up was just something he dealt with, Ugh, smart thing to do would to be rest up, I mean I did just put away all of my remaining bad guys, would anyone blame me for taking a little more time? he thought.
"Hey outta the way you mutt!" Peter's head snapped across the street as a faunus with dog ears was knocked down by a human. The white lenses of his mask narrowed as the human shoved the faunus over the ground with his foot. "We don't want your kind here. Get it?" he threatened as the Faunus backed across the ground to the wall of the building behind him.
The faunus raised his hands defensively, "Please! No! I'm sorry! I didn't mean-" he started as the man swung his foot back, just as he was about to swing his foot a webline connected to the bottom of his raised foot and pulled him back, his face planting on the pavement and breaking his nose.
"GAH! What the-" the assailant muffled out as he looked back, his eyes widening as Spider-Man descended down, the hero loomed over him, leaning down silently as his eyes narrowed in on the human. "D-d-Don't hurt me!" he pleaded, raising his hands up defensively as the faunus whom he attacked did seconds ago. The vigilante's hands were clenched into fists, however after a brief second of consideration his hands relaxed.
"Don't worry. I don't believe in kicking people when they're down." the vigilante said harshly as he stood up over the man. He held out his hand, "Your wallet. Now." he demanded. The man stumbled as he patted his pockets for the requested item, taking out his wallet the hero snatched it from his hand as he raised a hand to the ide of his mask, activating the scroll, "Call DeWolf." he said, his scroll rang and went straight to her messages, "Captain DeWolf this is Spidey, know your busy but I'm reporting an assault at 3rd and North Street, the perp is a-" he opened the wallet, "Tobias Reeds. He'll be here waiting." he said, tossing the wallet back to Tobias who looked up at him ridiculously.
"I'm not gonna-" he began in protest before he was webbed to the sidewalk as Spider-Man approached the faunus and kneeled down beside him.
"You ok man?" he asked with concern, the dog faunus nodding as the hero offered him a hand. The man took it and was gently helped up onto his feet, "Police should be by to pick him up, if you stick around and tell them what happened then you should be all good." he assured, the human yelling something against the webbing covering his mouth. Spider-Man looked over his shoulder and glared at him, Tobias smartly shut up.
"Ok….I mean the police don't always come by here but since it's you I think they will." he said, looking between the hero and his attacker, "I thought you were gonna mug him for a second there."
"What? No…though in hindsight I can see how asking for someone's wallet can be misconstrued." The teen admitted, making the Faunus crack a smile. "Listen could you help me? I'm trying to learn more about these missing person cases that have been happening around here lately and I'm looking for anything that might point me in the right direction." he explained, hoping to at least gleam some information.
"Are you kidding? Of course!" the man said, why wouldn't he help someone who had just saved him from getting beaten up? The man's dog ears flattened against his head as he considered the hero's inquiry, "I've heard of some people going missing, it used to happen a lot around here, and we even got to police to look into it but it died down for a few months. But a week ago this kid? Jimmy Santini? He went missing when he coming home from a friend's house, they got posters up all along two blocks west of here." he informed, Spider-Man nodding in understanding.
"Everyone's been keeping an eye out for the kid, they think he might have run away. He's a bat faunus with fangs, you go to a public school with that and…..well I'm glad I got dog ears." he explained, making his ears move to emphasize the point as Peter frowned underneath his mask, the stigma that Faunus faced today was still prevalent despite how far their rights had come for the species. "Wish I could help you more Spidey." he said regrettably.
The vigilante waved him off, "You've helped enough, thanks man." he said gratefully, sending a strand up and swinging away as a police car turned the corner down the street. Swinging alongside a wall the teen flung off the webline and pivoted off an brick wall out over a street, landing on a rooftop he broke out into a run, jumping into the air and twilling his body through a small gap in an a air conditioner unit for fun before he reached the edge and launched himself up into the air with a powerful leap.
The dark sky above him, Spider-Man was lit from the lights of the streets from below as he swung on his webline. It's dark now, so if I' lucky I should come across the kidnappers at least some time soon. he thought as he circled around a building and cast out another strand to swing from, his eyes sweeping the streets below for any commotion while keeping above the lights. Staying within the darkness of the night so that his usual bright and colorful costume was harder to see from the street and thus easier to fallow people from. There weren't as many people out at the hour now with night upon the Kingdom, What I want to know is why are all these people being kidnapped? I really hope I'm not looking at a psychopathic version of Kraven here. he thought.
The thought of someone, or even worse a group of people, kidnapping Faunus and possibly just….killing them….it sent a shiver of fear through Peter. It was jumping to conclusions of course, there was no evidence to suggest it, but it still made him question why take people in the first place? I mean the point of kidnapping a adult is to ransom them off for Lien right? But according to Urich, no one has tried contacting the families, and if this was just to kill them then there would be at least some sort of evidence but there's nothing. So what the hell is happening to these people? he asked himself internally.
Landing atop a spire of a rooftop he looked down at the streets below, Whatever is going on, I'm putting a stop to it. he thought with conviction as he saw that the street below him was empty except for a single faunus walking down the street. Walking down the street in the middle of the night? In a area where there have been known kidnappings? This poor guy might as well have a sign on his back. Spider-Man thought as he leapt off his perch and over the side of the building. Clinging to the wall, he crawled underneath the ledge of the rooftop so that he was still shrouded in darkness whilst tailing the Faunus.
The faunus, a middle aged man with rabbit ears on his head, walked down the street below unaware that he was being fallowed by Spider-Man. As he walked past an alleyway, a set of light beams shot out through the darkness of the alley, slowly emerging from the darkness was a cargo truck the turned down the street after the Faunus. Spider-Man eyed the truck curiously as he hopped across the gap in the buildings, still sticking to the wall as the faunus stopped at the intersection. Pausing for a moment to look both ways, the truck halted on the street and the back doors opened.
What came out from the container wasn't a group of men like Peter was expecting, instead a single figure rolled out onto the ground before standing up on two legs. A android, crimson in color with an elongated humanoid frame stood up almost as tall as the truck was from the roof to the tires on the ground. Sliding around the side of the truck with a surprising amount of grace, a taser rod extended from it's hand as it crept up upon the Faunus.
As it reeled it's hand back with the prod ready to strike like a rapier, a webline hot the elbow of the machine and pulled it back off balance onto the ground, "Ok I thought that this was going to turn into one of those true crime stories but nope! Robots abducting people!" Spider-Man called out, making Faunus turn around with startlement. Spider-Man landed in a crouch as the android's head, which consisted of an angular camera, focused on him. The vigilante looked up at the faunus and tilted his head up, "That's your cue to run man." he said, the faunus bolting away across the street at top speed as the android stood up.
It ha a good three feet on Spider-Man, but he wasn't deterred in the slightest, "Seriously why is a robot kidnaping people? Wait? Can you talk? Because if not, I'm not wasting my material on someone who doesn't apricate it." he asked as the robot lunged at him with the electrical prod. The teen easily sidestepped it and countered with a punch to the android's chest cavity, crumbling the metal from the impact and making it fly back into the lamppost on the corner of the sidewalk. Man I love fighting robots, let's me cut loose a little bit since they aren't alive. he thought happily as he leapt onto the side of the light, swinging around it and kicking the Android's head off. Better not damage it too badly, I want to make sure that DeWolf has enough to tell who made this thing. he thought.
Suddenly the truck's engine revved to life and it tore away from the scene straight through the intersection. Webbing the machine to the post, Spider-Man leapt after the truck, casting a strand out above to swing on after the vehicle. Alright then, just got to fallow the truck back to where it came from and I get my answers. Easy as-
"AAAAAIEEEEEEEEEEEEE!" A woman shrieked out, making Peter's head snap in the direction the scream came from. He looked back to the truck, one that was his only real lead to whoever was responsible for kidnapping innocent people. For the briefest of moments he considers ignoring the cry of help, this truck and the victims of Kidnaping take precedence.
He doesn't even give it a second thought, digging into his belt he pulled out a spider tracer and tossed it onto the roof of the truck before casting a web out, his momentum carrying him left from the angle of the line towards the source of the cry for help. Find the truck later, save the innocent person now. he thought, sticking a line to a lamp post and swinging up over the side of a building from the abrupt change in trajectory. Landing on the opposite edge of the building he looked down below to see a man with long hair encroaching upon a terrified woman against a chain link fence in an alleyway.
He wore a long trench coat that covered most of his body, Peter saw his pale hands reaching for her with a tremor in them, shooting off the ledge be shot out a webline and swing his feet into the side of the man and knocking him down the alleyway, Spider-Man flipping off and landing between him and the terrified woman. Looking over his shoulder at the woman he saw that she was in a state of shock, shaking in place against the fence the woman looked at him fearfully, "He-he's a monster!"
"Well it's nice that I'm not being called that for a change." the teen commented before turning his head back to the assailant. His lenses widened as the man stood up, But in this case….yeah. Monster seems adequate. he thought as the attacker stood up, the moonlight from above showing off his nightmarish features.
His skin was white as ashes, his black hair was an unruly mess with a few strands falling over his crimson eyes, the lack of iris in the orbs making his expression more disturbing, not being able to tell if he was looking at Spider-Man or his victim. His trench coat covered what appeared to be a black pullover with matching pants, the collar of the shirt pulled up showing the red inside the clothing which matched his eyes as they focused on Spider-Man. "I tried….the hunger….I….I can't-can't-" his speech shuttered into nothing but pants of breath before launching at Peter with speed surpassing his own.
The teen felt the attacker's hand around his throat, he was slammed into the brick wall of the alley. Spider-Man grasped at the hand, prying the fingers off his throat as his foot shot into the assailant, "Hungry? Buddy there's a convince store around the corner, I got four fifty on me we can split a bag of gummy worms." the teen jokingly offered as the man was pushed off him. Spider-Man pounced at the man, punching in the face with blow after blow, each hit being enough to knock out a normal man which the hero quickly realized wasn't the case here. The man swiped his hand out but the teen blocked it with one arm and using the other to crack him across the jaw before flipping back, kicking the man in the chin as he leapt back, and shooting webbing. Sticking the man to the wall, Spider-Man turned to the frightened woman, "Are you ok?" he asked.
Before she could respond, the snapping of webbing made him turn to the side as the man slashed his hand out, his sharp, black nails tearing through the mouth part of his mask before blitzing the teen into the opposite wall, slamming his face into the brick before throwing him across the alley into the opposing wall, the surface splintering from where the hero impacted. Looking up, Peter was too late to react as the man pouced once again, his head reared back, his fangs almost glinting in the light before thely lunged forth and sunk into the side of Peter's neck!
AGGH! He bit me! The maniac fricking bit me! the teen thought as the sharp pain traveled across his body. Anger coursed through him, he had been in plenty of battles before but he had never been bitten by any of his enemies, his hand tried to clench into a fist, intent on beating the man until he was either incapable of wounding him in such a way again or he was unconscious, but his amazing strength was sapped from him as the man drew back, pushing off the teen against the wall as crimson blood pooled out the wounds in his neck as he fell to the ground.
"GAHHH! You blood it-it burns!" the man cried out in pain, his mouth and throat feeling as though he had tried to swallow fire itself in liquid form. Spider-Man gripped the side of his neck tightly, trying to stop the blood from continuing to pour out of him.
His lenses squinted as Peter's teeth clenched shut, the bite itself felt like a form being jammed in his throat, but the blood loss was the real concern, Did he nick something!? Peter thought in alarm, applying as much pressure as he could with his hands to the side of his neck as the assailant looked over to the fence. Peter's eyes widened, "See that's what you get for taking a bite out of someone who tries a" he croaked out weakly in pain in an attempt to try and take his attention away from the innocent woman. However the man, the creature, his focus was squarely on the woman, Peter felt panic crawl up his spine.
Spider-Man reached his hand out from his neck, shooting a webline at the man's back in an attempt to stop him. The creature lurched forward and lunged, the trenchcoat pulling off his back, "AAAAAAAAAAAIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!" the woman screamed, her voice echoing for blocks as Spider-Man was only able to watch as the creature bit into her neck.
"NO!" the vigilante screamed in horror as blood drained from her neck, the alley filled with the sounds of the creature swallowing the woman's essence. Her hand reached up to at least try and push the man off her, but the limb soon became limp, her skin slowly becoming pale as her life's essence was drained from her, crimson streaks sliding across the skin of her neck and dripping down to the pavement much to Spider-Man's horror. Her body became limp in his arms, the creature lowering to the ground as he feasted upon her.
A mixture of rage and sickness passed over Peter, death was nothing new to him, his uncle, his parents, Lamont, they had all died but never had he seen someone die before him. Right in front of his eyes, not even able to do anything to prevent it. The creature lifted his head away from her, looking over his shoulder at the teen his mouth and jaw were covered in her blood. The sight of the crimson awoke something in Peter, it coursed through him and whatever pain he was in was forgotten, his fingers against his neck dug into his skin, the ground within his other hand dug into the concrete, breaking the surface as the man stood up.
What flowed through Peter was pure, violent, and and infectious, what coursed through him was rage. The man leapt into the air, retreating away from Peter as he finally pushed himself up off the ground, looking over at the woman he scramble across the ground to her side. Spider-Man's eyes widened as he looked down at her, her neck was coated in blood from where he bit her, and the look of fear within her eyes was permanently captured on her face, her vacant eyes staring up t the sky as Peter cradled his head in shame. "I…I'm sorry." he apologized.
At the port of Vale, in the water was a small freight ship, it was docked at the farthest port of the docks where the border of Vale was not even a mile away. Approaching the ship from land was a cargo truck which had been interrupted in it's operation earlier in the evening by none other than Spider-Man. The truck pulled to a stop before the driver door of the cab opened, climbing out of the cab, Mark Allen turned around as a figure approached him, a panicked look on the high schooler's face. "What happened?"
Mark looked at his employer, the man wore a pure white suit, covering his face was a purple ski mask which hid his features, with a set of black glasses which hid his eyes. Off a few feet behind him was a man in a similar colored suit and matching glasses. Mark glanced at him for a moment before looking back to his boss, "Spider-Man showed up and destroyed the bot as it was about to grab someone." he explained.
The man's features were blocked by his disguise, but Mark nevetheles stiffened as the man took a step towards Mark, "Were you fallowed?" he asked, his voice on the borderline of aggressive.
The high schooler shook his head, "No! He took off for some reason." he said, making the man seemingly relax. Mark let out a breath of relief, "What do we do now?" he asked.
The employer turned his head to Mark, "For now, we can't do anything about Spider-Man, however in the meantime, or associate just informed me there was a breakout at his lab. Two of the subjects escaped on the last ship to here. We need to find them and recapture them." he said making Mark's eyes widen. However he raised a hand, "Relax, in their states, no one would ever believe whatever they say, that is if they can be understood at all. So no worries, your occupation is safe." he assured as he turned towards his car, Mark fallowing behind him. "You've done a good job Allen, And I recognize that. Which is why after you capture these two, I'm willing to expunge your debt." he said, making Mark's eyes widen in joy at the prospect.
"You-your serious?" he asked, wanting to make sure he heard him correctly, it was dream come true, a clean slate, a he could move on from this dirty work and actually get a real job, one that he didn't need to hide for Mary Jane. Telling her as much that he worked at the docks was a risk, thankfully he hadn't brought her minimalistic knowledge of the operation to his boss for obvious reasons.
The blonde man opened the rear door of the car for his boss, "Of course. I reward hard work Mark. But this is only as soon as you bring me the test subjects. Disperse the truck into the city, they were planted with subdermal trackers so if it auto drives it should ping you their location. After that? Send in the drones." he said, looking over to the truck to see a half dozen combat android climb into the back of the van. Mark nodded as the boss entered his vehicle.
Shutting the door, the blonde man stepped in front of Mark and reached into his jacket, retrieving a small yellow envelope before presenting it to Mark, "The Rose appreciates your cooperation." he said, Mark taking the envelope as the man walked around the car to the driver's seat.
The car hummed to life before driving away, leaving Mark to open the envelope and pull out a substantial amount of Lien as well as a scroll, opening the device he quickly saw it was burner, with the only application being a controller and a tracker. As well as two files on the screen.
Michel Morbius.
Edward Whelan a.k.a. Vermin.
AN: Ok this took MUCH Longer than I thought it would for a few reasons, number one, school has started for me and my classes, both in person and online, have been my top priority. Secondly I got a job…..cleaning….at a flea market…for nine hours a day…on the weekend…..hey I said it was a job, didn't say it was a good one. Or a fun one. But it pays the bills around here so I can't really complain…though I really want to.
Aside from that, Absolute Carnage has begun and holy shit this is the coolest thing I have read in years. I love Spider-Man and Nick Spencer's Run so far has been astounding (latest arc was a little meh IMO but I love what he's setting up to come), but after he leaves the title hopefully some twenty odd years from now, Donny Cates will take over and make an equally if not more awesome run.
Or better yet just give him another Spidey book to work on.
Speaking of comics, RWBY's first digital comic came out this week for less than a dollar and the response has been nothing but positive for it! I really suggest going to an app and buying it only to support RT (It's a dollar guys come on) and hopefully get a rwby comic series.
Now onto the story, as you can probably tell already this is a MUCH different story than the usual volume to volume and what Grimm Eclipse was. My biggest inspiration for this is actually a idea I had when I first played the game, no spoilers of course but I have the entire story planned in advance so it's a solid entry hopefully.
And honestly I wanted to get this out now because I figure with school and work on my plate I might as well give you guys something for now while I have some free time. Also no review replies since I think I already responded to most of them in PM.
Until next time true believers!
