Chapter 36
[52]
Kaneshiro held a woman by the throat in each hand. In one, the elusive and mysterious Black Cat, in the other, the famous detective Naoto Shirogane. They struggled against his vice grip on them as they dangled in the air, barely able to breath.
“Y’know, it’s too bad you both are such a damn thorn in my side. I would’ve loved to have some beautiful playthings like you two around.”
Among the criminal forces, only Tombstone remained standing as the rest had either fled or been captured. Now stuck in a standoff, the remaining police officers all had their guns trained on the pale giant of a man. Bullets wouldn’t harm his impenetrable skin and it would be too risky to the hostages to attempt any other methods of bringing him down.
With time quickly running out for the two women, the officers were unsure of what action to take in this situation.
“Alright listen up! Here’s what’s gonna happen!” Kaneshiro yelled out to the other officers, “I’m gonna walk right outta here with these two. If anyone so much as coughs in my direction, I’ll break their necks like a twig! Got it?”
No response came from the police, only a tense silence as they each waited for someone to intervene.
“Alright then.” Kaneshiro smiled with his disgusting teeth.
Suddenly, the smile on his face was replaced by a look of confusion. His eyes became wide as he struggled to breath himself. Releasing Naoto from his grip, the detective gasping for air on the ground, Tombstone grabbed at his own throat. When he reached his neck, he hit an unseen object in the way.
Upon being touched, Ren’s invisibility faded revealing his arms wrapped around Kaneshiro’s thick neck in a chokehold.
“Hey there big guy, the sun’s gettin’ real low.” Ren quipped before his arm was grabbed and he was thrown onto the street below.
Tombstone tossed Black Cat aside, cracking his knuckles as he stalked toward Ren. “Looks like new Spider-Man’s got some new tricks. Won’t matter though, I’m gonna break you in half.”
Ren groaned as he lay in the him-shaped hole in the street. “*cough* Could you hold on a sec? I thought I felt my phone buzz. Nope wait, just my bones.”
Now that he had no hostages, the police opened fire on the large criminal. This only served to annoy him while he approached Ren. Upon grabbing him by the neck, the gunfire was halted once more.
As Ren was held by the throat, he decided to try his other new trick. He grabbed Tombstone by the forearm with both hands and unleashed his venom blast. The area of contact glowed blue as electricity arced around Ren’s hands.
“Huh, kinda tickled.” Tombstone chuckled at the feeble display.
Before he could break Ren’s neck, a gloved hand reached around Kaneshiro’s head and dragged 4 clawed fingers across his face.
“AHH! SONUVABITCH!” He cried releasing Ren and holding his hands to his face. He stumbled backwards in pain.
As Ren stood up coughing, he felt someone grab his arm. Looking over he saw Naoto assisting him up while Black Cat stood nearby, her claws bloody. Tombstone was hunched over in pain still clutching at his face.
“YOU FUCKING BITCH! I CAN’T SEE!” The large criminal cried as he thrashed around. When he looked up, Ren saw the bloody mess that was his eyes. Evidently not all of him was invincible.
Seeing their chance, the police fired tear gas canisters at the criminal, delivering the finishing blow. Kaneshiro screamed in pain as the gas entered his destroyed eyes, wildly punching air until the pain became too much and he fell to the ground unconscious.
“Ohthankgod.” Ren said to himself as he watched the man go down, the police moving in to arrest him.
“Hey, you should probably get out of here.” Naoto whispered to him.
When Ren looked over, he saw that the Black Cat had already disappeared. “Right.” He began hobbling away while everyone was distracted. He was unable to swing away as he’d used the last of his webs to get here.
As Ren stumbled away from the battlefield, he noticed two figures out of the corner of his eye. It was Munehisa and Kaoru, the father embracing his son, glad to finally have him back. Munehisa looked up and saw Ren, he gave him a warm smile and waved at the hero mouthing a ‘thank you.’ Ren waved back to the father and son before disappearing into an alley.
As he leaned against a dumpster, peeling the torn up costume off of him, it finally hit the hero just how tired he was. It’d been a long night for him, saving a kidnapped child, stopping a molten monster, and just now helping in defeating a superpowered crime boss.
“What a night.”