Chapter 27
[42]
As the bell rang, dismissing students from class, Ren packed his notebooks into his bag. The rest of the students had already left and as he was about to join them, Ms. Kawakami approached him.
“Amamiya, you’re wanted in the student council room.”
“What? Again? What’d I do?” Ren was flabbergasted.
“I don’t know. Please just go.” Kawakami responded while rubbing her temples.
Ren made his way up the stairs to the 3rd floor. He tried to recall anything he’d done as of late to be in trouble. Surely it couldn’t be what happened at the park cleanup, that was weeks ago if he was going to get busted for that it would’ve been much sooner.
When he entered the student council room, he was greeted by the sight of the student council president staring out the window. Makoto Niijima seemed...off. Her usual pristine look was oddly disheveled, her hair was matted in some places and her posture was much more tense,
“You wanted to see me Niijima-san?”
The older girl was caught off guard by his sudden appearance, but she quickly regained her composure. She took a deep breath before speaking.
“Close the door please.” She ordered in a near whisper.
Ren complied, his heart rate elevated from the tension in the air. When the door closed shut, Makoto placed both of her hands on the table, (a new one considering Ren broke the old one in half.)
She looked up at him, her red eyes were dead serious. “I know you’re Spider-Man.”
Ren’s heart raced even faster as his mind attempted to weave together an excuse. “W-What are you-”
“Don’t! Don’t even try lying to me! I’m not playing games here! I figured it out after what happened with Madarame!”
“Makoto I’m not-”
She slammed her hands down furiously. “SHUT. UP. AND. LISTEN.”
Ren gulped, afraid of the girl in front of him. He waited for the girl to continue. Makoto looked away from Ren and wiped her eyes. She’d been crying, that much was evident from her face.
After taking a moment, she continued, “I need to ask you something. Where were you last night at 10:30pm?”
Ren gave her a questioning look. “In my room, doing homework.”
Makoto stared the boy down, she seemed to believe his answer but she wasn’t happy with it.
“Really? Are you aware that there was an illegal arms deal in Shinjuku last night?”
“What!?” Ren’s alarm at that information betrayed his lie.
Makoto’s temper rose again. “7 officers died! And my father…” She paused and wiped her eyes again. “My father was put into a coma.”
Ren watched the president’s composure break once more. This time he approached her and placed a comforting hand on her shoulder.
“Okay. I admit it. I’m Spider-Man. Now please, tell me everything you know.”
Later that evening, Ren swung through the city, calling Naoto on his phone. He’d become adept enough at swinging to multitask while doing it. When the detective finally picked up the phone, Ren wasted no time getting to the point.
“What is it?” The voice of the older woman came through the other line.
“Why didn’t you tell me about the arms deal last night? I could’ve been there!”
“That was official police business, Ren. You’re not an officer of the law and we don’t officially work with you. Having you appear at the site of a secret investigation could end up exposing our entire operation.”
“People died, Naoto! Are you seriously telling me that our secret was worth their lives!?” Ren was outraged.
“They know what they signed up for. We all do.” Her tone was monotonous, almost robotic.
“Yeah well, when I accepted your partnership, I expected to be kept in the loop.” When no response came, Ren spoke once more. “Please Naoto. Tell me how I can help. There has to be something I can do!” Guilt over the lives lost racked Ren’s mind.
Ren heard a sigh come from the other end of the phone. Finally Naoto spoke, “There is something. A suspected hideout for the criminal underground, it’s going to take days to put together a warrant to search the place and by the time we do, they’ll most likely have relocated. I’m texting you the address, be careful.”
“Thank you.” But the detective had already hung up. He checked his phone and saw that the address was in Shibuya. It would take maybe 5 minutes by swinging to get there. So he took off at full speed, prepared to stop any further killing.
When he arrived at the place, he examined the building. A small one story building with a burnt out neon sign that read ‘Untouchable.’ The place looked abandoned which wasn’t surprising, Shibuya was a ghost town ever since the terrorist attack. Reconstruction efforts were taking place, but hadn’t begun in this area yet.
Ren stepped through the front door and heard the weak chime of the bell. The building was undamaged, but the inside of it was cleared out. He wasn’t even sure what kind of a shop this place was to begin with.
A thorough search throughout the shop yielded no results. Could the criminals have already cleared out? Ren rested an arm against a shelf in the back before punching it in anger.
“Goddammit! Am I really that useless?” Ren sat down on the shop floor, frustrated at the situation.
Suddenly, he felt a breeze on the back of his suit. “What the-?” He stood up and turned around. Behind the shelf he’d bent, the shop went further on.
Ren picked up the large metal shelf with ease to reveal a short staircase with a metal door leading to a basement. Next to the door was a keypad and a security camera. It seemed like Ren had found the hideout.
“Holy shit!” He laughed at his good fortune, moving down the stairs to the door.
The metal door was heavily reinforced to the point that Ren wouldn’t be able to break it down. So instead he turned to the keypad and decided to work his magic. He tore out the front of it to expose the wiring beneath and placed the palm of his hand on it.
“C’mooon venom blast.” He concentrated on his hand and attempted to make the blue electricity come out once more (He’d decided that the move needed a cooler name.) After a few moments of waiting, his hand came to life with electricity and short circuited the door, causing it to open.
“YES!” He yelled before realizing he was on a covert mission. “Shit, I mean yes!” He whispered to himself.
As he entered the secret basement, he saw that it starkly contrasted the shop above. High tech weapons and gadgets lined all of the walls, scrap metal and wiring littered the floor beneath him, and every table was filled with unfinished projects. As a science nerd, Ren was amazed, but as a vigilante he was horrified by the damage that could be done with these.
“Good, you’re here.” A voice came from the back of the workshop.
Ren turned in surprise, his spider sense didn’t alert him of any danger, but he raised his webshooters regardless. A figure stepped out of the back room, to Ren’s surprise, he recognized the man.
It was the same man he’d seen days prior in Akihabara. The man with the grey coat and gecko tattoo took a seat at a desk.
“We need to talk.”