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| Issue #5 August 2004 |
"Behind the Lies" Written by Groble |
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He swung through the soaking air like an eel through water, his lithe arms a blur amidst the deflecting raindrops that continued to fall from the charcoal grey sky, the streets below were deserted, not a single soul braved the storm to see the sodden figure racing across the city, his red and blue costume dyed a deep dark crimson by the water that soaked through to his very skin and chilled the bones underneath causing his muscles to cramp and sting in the blasts of wind that blew in from the waterfront, but still he raced on desperately to aid his friend who lay at the mercy of two sadistic madmen.
In front of him through the shimmering curtain of rain he could see his objective. If Speed Demon was to be trusted this was where they were holding Felicia; 17 canal street. He prayed that it was true, after all how many people can lie their way through a broken limb. His mind was still racing from the earlier events as he landed noiselessly on the roof of the warehouse, he could still feel the bones cracking and the muscles tearing beneath his fingers as he had done before at the prison cell, sure it was extreme but his friend was in danger and that was what it took to get the information.
"I didn't have time to stroke his super ego." He told himself as he crawled towards the skylight, the rain streaming of his arched back and splashing down on to the rusted metal roof.
As he peered in at the scene below the sky ripped with lightning casting his eerie silhouette upon the bound figure and her tormentor 30 foot beneath him in the cold dark of the warehouse. Black Cat was unconscious, a brown sack had been pulled over her head and tied tightly in place with a rough coiled rope, but there was no mistaking who it was under that sack, the costume couldn't lie, and neither could her swimwear model curves that now strained at the ropes that crossed her chest and looped tightly round her hands binding her to small wooden chair. Getting her out of that wouldn't be the problem, the problem stood in front of her. It's name was Herman Shultz or as this particular nut case preferred to be known, Shocker. He had recently got a bit of a power upgrade and teamed up with another heavy hitter of the crime world The Rhino, and it was this pair of jokers who had kidnapped Felicia as she had attempted to prevent them from robbing the downtown central bank. Alone she was no match for them and as a result was in her current predicament with that fishnet wearing lunatic prancing around in front of her.
The lightning tore through the sky once more, closely followed by the deafening roar of thunder, using the tremendous noise as cover he creaked open the window and snuck inside, the only sign of his entrance being the tell tale drips of rain water falling from his sodden costume. He crawled along the roof and crept along a girder so that he was directly above the two figures below. A dull throb in the side of his head warned him that something was off but that could be due to who was stood below him. Shocker was still bragging about how successful the kidnapping had been while The Rhino was still nowhere to be seen right now that didn't matter, he could catch those fools again whenever he wanted, what he needed right now was to get Felicia to safety, and in order to do that he needed Shocker out of the room. The single light bulb hanging from the ceiling below him flickered giving Spider-man just the idea he needed. A quick shot of web-fluid later and the room was thrown into pitch darkness, the only light coming from the occasional flash of the storm outside.
"aww hell, damn storm keeps knocking out the electrics, but don't you worry gorgeous, ol' Shocker'll sort it out." He smiled a sickly sweet grin and roughly shook her head, which rolled limply onto her shoulder. He whistled to himself and pulled on a heavy raincoat before heading out into the stormy night, as the door closed a dark figure fell silently from the roof and landed directly behind the chair to which the Black Cat was tied.
"Hey Felicia can you hear me?" he asked in a soft whisper, as he remained crouched low on the floor behind the chair, scanning the corners of the room for any sign of the Shockers play-pal. The coast seemed clear and nothing obvious seemed to be amiss. He rounded the chair and began to untie the rope around her neck before gently lifting the sack off from around her head. He gasped in shock.
"Oh Felicia, look what they've done to you"
Her face was black an bloodied, her nose squashed and broken, blood oozed out of her mouth from in between chipped and broken teeth, her eyes were a deep dark mass of bruising and clumps of her hair were missing, her mask had also been torn off and lay in her lap. As he reached round to untie her arms she began to stir, her head rolled up and she painfully opened her bloodshot eyes.
"Peter?" she croaked coughing blood down her chest "Are you there?"
"I'm here Cat it's okay, just let me get these ropes and we're out of here."
Suddenly a searing wave of pain hit him, his entire head screamed out in warning, something big and fast was approaching from behind him, he spun around just in time to see the wall explode inwards driven on the unstoppable force of The Rhino who charged onwards, the rain bouncing off his toughened grey hide. Spider-man stepped backwards and brought his arms up in front of him, his middle fingers pushed down on the pressure sensitive trigger in the centre of his palm firing a stream of sticky web-fluid straight into the face of his oncoming attacker, blinding him as he continued to move forward at an impossible speed. Spider-man spun round again in order to push Cat out the way before leaping to safety, but as he attempted to throw the bound figure of the Black Cat out of The Rhino's way, his arms passed right through her, ripping a chasm of green smoke in the person who sat in front of him.
"What the h." the blinded Rhino charged on making deadly contact with Spider-man's undefended back, the ivory horn gouging a bloody tear down his side, the momentum of the charge hitting him like a freight train, and sending him flying into a nearby support girder. The Rhino continued to charge on, ploughing through the person believed to be the Black Cat causing them to explode into a shower of dense green smoke, he continued to power onwards until he collided with a pile of metal boxes which toppled down on top of him.
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Spider-man staggered to his feet, leaning against the support girder while he hurried to catch his breath. His eyes swam around inside his head, filling the room with clouds of scarlet, his head still screamed of danger as his spidersense worked over time. He took in great gulps of breath and as the pain in his side began to subside his vision slowly returned to normal, but the clouds of red did not disappear and instead simply changed colour to a deep jade green. Spider-man coughed as the mist circled around him, but his coughing was soon drowned out by a sinister high-pitched cackle that could have only belonged to one man.
"Mysterio?"
It all made sense, the green smoke, the uneasy feeling, the fake Black Cat, it had been Mysterio all along.
"Show yourself you costumed freak!" ordered Spider-man as he threw punch after punch into the thick mist, but to no avail, every swing he took failed to connect and the gaps he punched in the emerald cloud were soon filled up with yet more of Mysterio's signature smoke.
"What took you so long Spider-man? We've been waiting here all night for you, The Rhino was getting very fidgety." Came Mysterio's high-pitched mocking from deep with in the shadowy mass of cloud.
"I'm not in the mood for your games Mysterio, get out here and face me like a man."
"Oh you're a fine one to talk Spider-man, crawling around like an insect and then lecturing me on being a man." His skull ached once more, warning him of incoming danger just in time for him to dart swiftly out of the path of a crate that burst through the thick curtain of mist behind him only to sail harmlessly by and crash on the floor three feet away.
"Is this it? Is this your big plan, you lure me here by kidnapping my friend so that you can throw stuff at me? Doesn't seem like you thought this one out too far to me Berkhart? Just tell me where she is and I might just let you off with a minor beating."
The empty warehouse shook once more with a crash of thunder and a flare of lightning that cut through mist, and for a second revealing what appeared to be a silhouette standing off to Spider-man's left.
"You still don't get it do you? We don't have your friend, we never did, yet you came here looking for her like the chump he knew you were?"
"He? What are you talking about you overgrown aquarium? Are you trying to tell me that this whole thing wasn't even your idea, that you coming back to the good old life of crime and teaming up with that pair of deadbeats wasn't even your idea?"
"Quiet insolent fool!" another crate parted the mist spinning erratically towards his head. Time seemed to slow down, and in one fluid movement, Spider-man took his chance. He leapt sideways, sailing through the air as the crate edged closer. He planted one hand firmly on the floor and turned his dive into a one handed cartwheel. His back arched as he rotated his body round 90 degrees on his wrist. The lightning flashed overhead once more revealing Mysterio silhouetted against the smoke, directly in front of Spider-man. Time remained painfully slow and the crate soared past as he converted the momentum of his dive into a handspring that sent him sailing through the smoke feet first into the chest of Mysterio, who staggered backwards out of the green mist closely followed by Spider-man who followed up his attack with a volley of punches to Mysterio's glass dome, which began to crack under the weight of the vicious assault. Spider-man drew his arm backwards in a graceful arc before erupting back with a blow that shattered the dome sending shards of frosted glass everywhere and made contact with the soft flesh underneath. The blow connected with a sickly thud that sent a shower of blood spraying through the air as Mysterio's head snapped painfully backwards and his body thumped to the floor. Spider-man leapt on to the downed villains chest and grabbed the rim of his suit.
"Who are you working for?" screamed Spider-man as he raised the man's head off the floor. But all he got in response was a sickly laugh.
"Tell me who he is!" demanded Spider-man as he brought the man's head back down to the floor with a sickly crack.
"It's the T..." a bolt of energy blasted past spider-man. His head spun round to see the soaked figure of The Shocker standing near the entrance to the warehouse.
"Missed me netty, you really are a lousy shot!" joked Spider-man as he turned to face the newly arrived foe.
"I wasn't aiming for you" came the reply as the net of crates hanging above burst open and rained down on the figure below crushing him. Underneath the pile of crates spider-mans world suddenly turned black, as he slumped unconscious on top of the figure beneath him "not such a lousy shot now am I?" was the last thing he heard before blacking out.
The warehouse lay silent, the two piles of boxes, which marked the locations of The Rhino, Mysterio and Spider-man, were the only reminders of what had just occurred and in between them stood Shocker grinning to himself. He had waited so long for the day when the Webslinger would be at his mercy, and this was it, and he wasn't planning on showing any mercy tonight. He raised his gauntlets once more and let loose another wave of energy that collided with a stack of barrels in the corner of the building, they erupted into flames spilling their now burning contents across the floor of the warehouse. He headed back towards the door, setting off numerous explosions and fires as he went. As he was about to leave he turned round once more.
"Goodbye Spider-man" he grimaced before targeting a nearby supporting girder causing it to collapse, bringing the roof down with it and cutting off any chance of escape for those that lay in the inferno inside. He paused to admire his handiwork before turning to sprint off into the stormy night.
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Well there you have it, issue 5 of the Amazing Spider-man. I bet you didn't see that coming. Will Spider-man be able to escape alive? What will happen to Mysterio and The Rhino? Can Shocker be brought to justice? Will Spider-man find out who is pulling the strings? Make sure you turn up next month, for more of the same only on Altered Visions ***
