Chapter 63
[87]
“In other news tonight, an attack in Akihabara by the masked villain Mysterio was thwarted by our very own, friendly neighborhood Spider-Man. The video of their battle was captured by our very own, Channel 4 News helicopter.”
The feed on the television cut to a shaky video camera from a bird’s eye view recording the large figure of Mysterio battling a quickly moving speck in the distance. While it was too far away to make out the figure, based on how it moved, it was undeniably the wallcrawler. Mysterio suddenly fired two green beams from his palms and slammed the speck into a wall.
“It appears that Mysterio has landed a strong blow against Spider-Man.” The reporter’s voice barely registered over the chopper’s blades. “Hopefully, our hero can rise again and-wait, what’s going on?” The reporter questioned as the camera turned back to the fight.
“What!?”
The large figure suddenly blinked in and out of existence, much to his dismay. Mysterio panicked for a moment before his form solidified once more.
“Drat! My…My magic is fading! Curse you Spider-Man! This city will know my wrath! When I return for my third act, this city, and these people, they will choke on their pride! The monument to your technological reliance shall crumble and your very way of life shall end!”
With that, Mysterio threw his hands up once more and green smoke quickly enveloped his body, creating an even larger cloud. Suddenly, thunder rang out and lightning lit up the sky. The screen was white for a moment, and when it returned to normal, nothing seemed out of the ordinary in the Tokyo skies. Not even a wisp of green smoke was left in sight.
The screen returned back to the news anchor. “We interviewed Tokyo citizens to get their perspectives on the situation.” The screen then cut to a series of random citizens being interviewed on the street.
“It was crazy! I was in my cubicle just doing some work, when all of the sudden that fishbowl guy is outside my window ranting about something I don’t know. Then these f***king fire things started flying at the window trying to attack me and my coworkers! He webbed them all up and tossed them away before they exploded! S**t was crazy, man!”
“I was out getting a new TV when all of the sudden, POW! Lightning strikes not 5 feet away from me! I got in my car and booked it out of there asap! If Spider-Man hadn’t beat that guy, we would’ve all died for sure!”
“We were investigating a suspected hideout of Mysterio. It was the scariest job of my career. These mannequin things ugh, I still shudder at the thought of them. I thought for sure I was going to die there, then suddenly Spider-Man was there, ushering us to safety and taking on the enemy himself. He saved my life that night, I’m sure of it.”
“Spider-Man!? He’s a menace! A menace I tell you! I wouldn’t be the least bit surprised if him and this ‘Mysterio’ character were working together! They’ll rob us blind! Hey! Where are you going!? I’m not done yet! He’s a menace! A menace!”
The news anchor turned to a chart to his right. “As you can see by public polls. General approval of the new Spider-Man has had a recent spike in the past few days. I think it’s safe to say, this new Spider-Man is filling the boots of his predecessor quite quickly.”
With that, Ren turned away from the television and resumed washing the dishes. It was a busy night in the Velvet Room, everybody present was chatting loudly, mostly regarding today’s earlier events.
“It’s a lot livelier than usual in here. What’s with the huge crowd tonight?” Ren asked, turning towards Theo who was washing dishes next to him.
“Margaret didn’t tell you? We have a very special performer tonight. The famous singer and actress, Yukari Takeba. She pulls in quite a crowd whenever she performs.”
Ren had never heard of her before, but she must be pretty good if she can fill up this place. As he finished putting away the clean dishes, he entered the kitchen and checked the window for any orders, surprised to find none.
“Huh,” Theo said as he examined the window as well. “That’s a surprise. I suppose the people here are too drawn into the show to order food.” He placed his hand under his chin and thought for a moment. “Well, I suppose if there’s nothing left to do in here, you may as well go out and enjoy the show. You’ve been such a help lately, think of it as a reward.”
“That’s...Thank you. Are you sure? I’m sure I could sweep or-”
“No no no, I insist. It will be quite a treat. So please, enjoy the show.” Theo said, practically pushing Ren out of the kitchen.
As he stepped out onto the main floor, Ren noticed the crowd quieting down. It looked like the show would be starting soon. Seeing that all of the tables and booths were packed, he instead leaned against a back wall.
The lights in the club dimmed everywhere except for the stage where a lone microphone stood. Out from behind the blue curtains, a woman emerged receiving a round of applause at the mere sight of her. Her looks were stunning, her medium length light brown hair framed her gorgeous face perfectly and her pink dress showed off her impressive figure nicely. The woman approached the microphone and began to sing as a soft, jazzy melody came on in the background.
“Where have you been?
Been searching all along.
Came facing twilight on and on.
Without a clue…”
Her voice was calming, complimenting the music nicely. The club was suddenly filled with a soothing atmosphere. So this was Yukari Takeba. She was very talented, and beautiful as well. No wonder she was famous.
“Ah, what a lovely song, isn’t it?” A voice came from beside Ren.
He quickly turned toward the source, seeing a familiar man with long brown hair standing next to him. It was the same reporter who’d helped him during Tombstone’s attempted takeover.
“Ak-Oh um, yes.” Ren caught himself.
While the two had met before, Ren was in costume at the time. Suddenly, Ren’s mind was racing. Why was Akechi here? Did he know Ren’s identity? What if he said something that gave himself away?
“Sooo, you’re a fan of Yukari’s?” Ren asked quietly.
“Not an avid one, but after tonight I may be. I’m actually a reporter, I’m here because there’s a lot of talk about the recent attacks going on here, and I thought I might pick up on something.”
“Huh, neat idea.” Ren said, hiding his relief.
“Oh, how rude of me not to introduce myself. Goro Akechi.” He offered his hand, his eyes still on the stage. “It’s nice to meet you Ren.”
Suddenly Ren’s heartbeat shot up once again. “H-How did you-” He said in a hushed tone.
“Your nametag.” Akechi pointed towards Ren’s chest where indeed, his employee nametag was pinned to his shirt.
“Oh...right.” Suddenly Ren’s phone started to vibrate in his pocket. Thank God he’d set it on silent or he’d be getting some nasty looks right now. “Sorry, I need to um.” He held up his buzzing smartphone.
“By all means.” Akechi gave him a dismissive wave. “We’ll still be here when you get back.”
“We?” Ren looked confused.
Akechi’s eyes widened for a moment. “Um, myself and the music, of course.” He gave a wide smile.
“Okaaay.” Ren hurriedly walked outside, standing in the cold night air. His breath slightly visible under the lights of the front door.
He held the phone up to his ear and accepted the call. “Hello?”
“We were duped.” Naoto’s voice came over the other end. “Mysterio played us for fools.”
“What are you talking about? What happened?”
“During his last attack, Mysterio’s damn flying monkeys broke into evidence lockup and torched the mannequins. We don’t have a damn thing.”
“For real!? No leads? Nothing?”
“Nothing. It’s...agh!” Naoto let out a cry of frustration. “We can’t...I...I don’t know what to do.”
Ren felt terrible for her, but at the same time he couldn’t help but wonder if Mysterio wasn’t the only thing causing her frustration. As he wondered what he could do to help, a thought struck him. How could he have been such a moron!? Maybe he’d hit his head harder than he’d thought.
He quickly looked around for any bystanders before he ran into the alleyway next to the club. Stuck to the side of the wall behind the dumpster was his backpack. After he detached it from the wall, he dug around in his bag, pulling out a large object with 4 propellers.
“Naoto I, um...We may have something.”