Chapter 46
[65]
Wakaba Isshiki stood outside of the Shido Sciences corporate building, but she wasn’t alone. Standing just before her was a crowd of peaceful protestors trying to bring awareness to a recent oil spill Shido Sciences was involved in. However, if she had anything to say about it, the protest wouldn’t stay peaceful for long.
Stepping into the crowd from behind, Ms. Negative held out her hands, spreading her infection as she made her way through the crowd. As she passed by, the people she touched lashed out, attacking the others around them and erupting into chaos.
When she reached the front of the crowd, she turned around to admire her work. The civilians were attacking one another, using their signs as weapons along with whatever else they could find. The perfect distraction.
Soon enough, the guards outside of the building stepped in to break up the violence, only for Wakaba to infect them as well. She grabbed one of their security guards’ badges before sending them into the fray.
Wakaba scanned the badge and the front door unlocked, the light above it shining green. As she stepped into the lobby, she saw the panicked employees inside flinch at the sight of her. A satisfied smirk appeared on Wakaba’s face, this was going to be easier than she thought.
10 minutes later:
Ren and Mitsuru arrived at the scene unfolding in front of Shido Sciences in full costume. They watched what was happening from atop a nearby building. To describe what was happening as chaos was an understatement.
These people were at each other’s throats, fires were spreading around them, and the sound of breaking glass was near constant as some attacked nearby buildings.
Ren examined the riot before them and turned to Mitsuru. “I’ll handle the main group. You take care of the stragglers and try to put out the fires. Got it?”
Mitsuru smiled back at him. “Ooh, I like a man who takes charge.”
Ren rolled his eyes and leapt into action. Setting the dials on his webshooters to rapid fire, he tested out the new function. He unleashed a hail of web bullets into the crowd, each shot wrapping around their target, forming a set of restraints.
“Wow, this is actually really useful. I’ll have to thank Futaba again later.” Ren commented as he continued restraining rioters.
His thoughts were interrupted as his spider sense went off and he ducked out of the way of a gunshot. Turning to the source revealed a man in a security uniform holding a pistol at Ren.
“Oh come on! Whatever happened to ‘protect and serve?’ Wait, that's cops. Do security guards take an oath?” Ren quipped as he disarmed the guard before restraining him.
Ren looked over to Mitsuru who was knocking out the rioters attacking buildings. From the sound of sirens in the distance, he knew the cops were nearly here. He turned his attention back towards the crowd and set to work.
Meanwhile, Wakaba stood in the elevator as it dinged, indicating that she had reached the top floor. She stepped out onto the floor where a fleet of security guards were waiting for her, weapons drawn.
“Ma’am! Get on the ground and put your hands behind your head!” One of them ordered.
“Alright, alright.” Wakaba put her hands up in surrender before kneeling and placing them on the ground. Suddenly her hands began to glow with power, and a wave of black and white energy shot across the floor and knocked the guards down.
She strode over to the one guard who still appeared to be conscious, despite groaning in pain. Ms. Negative stomped on his leg, digging her heel in deep, the guard let out a pained cry.
“Where’s your boss?” She questioned.
“Not...Here...Another...Facility...Odaiba.” He managed to get out.
“DAMMIT!” Wakaba yelled.
Suddenly, a window from the other side of the hall burst open and two figures in black and red entered the room.
“Give it up lady...Wait a sec. Ms. Isshiki!?” The male figure said in surprise.
“You know her!?” The female figure asked her partner.
Wakaba was shocked, so shocked that for a moment, her original personality took over before being overtaken once more. Why the hell did Spider-Man know her name? If he knew who she was, then he could track her down and...“No no NO!” She fired another wave at the two figures. The female one leapt out of the way while Spider-Man, still reeling from shock, was sent flying out the window.
Ren flew out the window of the skyscraper and began falling to his demise. Realizing he had to act fast, he desperately shot a webline to the building’s side, sticking and coming to a halt.
Now that he had a moment to think, he realized how much trouble this could be. A villain was living in the same house as Sojiro and Futaba! And it was Futaba’s mother! How the hell was he going to explain this!? And how was he supposed to reveal it without exposing his secret life to Sojiro!?
Realizing that right now, Mitsuru was fighting Wakaba by herself, he knew he had to get back up there. He made a mad dash up the side of the building, clearing each floor in under a second. When he finally reached the broken window at the top floor, he swung in through the hole once more.
As he looked up at the scene in the hall, he saw Mitsuru being held by her throat by Wakaba. Mitsuru’s skin turned black and her long hair became white for a moment before returning to their normal appearance. For a moment, Ren thought that whatever Wakaba had tried to do had failed.
Wakaba released her from her grasp and calmly walked to the elevator.
“Cat! What are you doing? Stop her!”
Mitsuru only stood still before slowly turning towards Ren. She looked normal except for her blank expression and her eyes. Upon opening them, Ren saw that her sclera had turned black and her pupils were now glowing white dots.
“C-Cat?” Ren asked, afraid of what she might do.
Suddenly Mitsuru’s mouth curved up in a sadistic ‘Cheshire Cat-like’ grin and she flexed her fingertips, extending her claws. Mitsuru lunged forward at Ren and began swiping with the latter barely managing to dodge.
“Mitsuru! You’ve got to fight this!” Ren pleaded before being slashed across the chest. Those claws definitely weren’t just for show, Ren’s bleeding chest was a testament to that.
Mitsuru only let out a maniacal cackle as she swiped once more. Ren managed to catch the claw and flip her over onto the floor, webbing her hand for good measure.
This didn’t do much to stop her however, she just clawed herself free with her other hand and continued to lunge at Ren. Her speed and skill made her move like no opponent Ren had ever faced, it was shocking to Ren that Mitsuru had no actual powers. It was clear to him that he was completely outmatched in terms of fighting prowess, the only way he had a chance against her was to play to his strengths.
Power and range, that was how he had to play this. He switched one webshooter to rapid fire while keeping the other classic. A barrage of web bullets shot at Mitsuru who managed to claw them out of the air with shocking speed. To further add to her intimidation, she licked her lips menacingly at Ren.
It was at this point that Ren wanted to turn invisible, but his powers seemed to fail him, possibly because of how nervous he was in this situation. One wrong move and he could possibly kill his friend, or the much more likely case, be killed by her.
“Mitsuru please! Remember who you are! You’re not a villain anymore! You were Narukami’s partner! A hero! What would he think if he saw you now!?”
“Narukami’s dead.” Mitsuru finally spoke, her voice taunting the young hero. “You can ask him in a minute!” She swiped at him again, catching his leg with her claws.
“But his legacy lives on with us! You and me! Continuing the fight that he died fighting! What happened to putting away the guys responsible for that? What about Shido?” Ren tossed a potted plant at Mitsuru.
The thief rolled out of the way. “I’ll kill Shido after I kill you! Then I’m done with this ‘hero’ shit!” She reached for Ren’s face with her claws, but Ren ducked out of the way. Her claws dug into the metal elevator door.
Ren looked up from his position on the ground and saw an opportunity. “Sorry about this Cat.” Ren said as he placed his hand on the door and activated his venom blast. The blue electricity traveled up the door and into Mitsuru’s claws sending the high voltage shock into her body.
Mitsuru screamed out in pain before collapsing to the floor unconscious. Ren laid back on the floor, exhausted both physically and emotionally. What a day, he just wanted to get back to Leblanc and…
“Leblanc! Wakaba! Oh god! She got away!” Ren realized that this day wasn’t nearly over.
He had to make a call.