Chapter 83
[113]
“Minato, you bastard.” Sho spat out as he raised his guard once more.
The man before him fought like a demon, even using his extra limb, he was still only barely holding the Prowler at bay. The way he moved was fluid, unpredictable yet calculating, and the longer they fought, the more hits kept getting through. How in the hell was he doing this with no powers?
“Give up Sho. You’re outmatched and surrounded, there’s no getting out of this.” Minato stated as he flexed his claws.
Despite the various cuts littering his body, Sho merely smirked in response. “What? You cut a deal with the cops or somethin’?”
As soon as he asked that, the pair were caught under a spotlight. The sound of a police helicopter above them rang out over the bridge.
“This is the Tokyo Police! Surrender yourselves now! Otherwise we are authorized to use lethal force!”
“Guess not.” Sho smiled as he looked back down to Minato. He then turned his gaze to his left and saw a stationary car, its owner having abandoned it in the initial attack. He opened the passenger door and with one swift strike of his tail, severed the door from the rest of the vehicle, the window shattering in the process.
“You have three seconds to surrender yourselves or we will open fire!”
Minato stood still, watching his opponent as he readied himself. He knew that any sudden moves on his part would result in both of them being riddled with heavy machine gun fire. And while Minato’s armor was durable, it also needed to be kept light, so it certainly couldn’t stand up to that.
Across from him, Scorpion, the car door still clutched in his hand, began to wind up before releasing it like an Olympic discus. The projectile went flying through the air before crashing into the side of the chopper and sending it falling from the sky.
Minato watched the helicopter begin to lose altitude, veering out of control and descending toward the crowd that had gathered behind the police barricade.
‘Dammit!’ He thought, gritting his teeth. ‘Those people are going to die!’ He looked back at Scorpion who seemed pleased with this outcome.
“What a throw!” He cheered sadistically. “I surprise myself sometimes!”
As the helicopter neared the crowd, both of the villains were surprised when it began to slow, stopping just before it reached the crowd. The helicopter hadn’t regained control, it’s propellers had slowed too much for it to even lift itself. Rather, when they looked under the vehicle, they saw him, Spider-Man, his feet planted against the bottom of the vehicle, with two weblines on either side of him, holding the large object in place, mere feet over the crowds’ heads.
‘Ohmygodohmygodthatwaswaytooclose!’ Ren thought as he struggled to balance the chopper with his feet. Meanwhile, the injured police inside the helicopter began pulling themselves out of the vehicle, dropping into the crowd just below them.
‘Nice work kid.’ Minato smiled beneath his mask before turning back to Sho.
Clearly angered by this, Scorpion lunged at Minato and the pair resumed their battle. However, while Sho wasn’t the brightest bulb, he certainly knew how to adapt. Rather than allowing Minato to get in close where he excelled, his foe utilized his bionic tail to keep him out of arms’ reach.
Minato had learned how to fight from a young age. He’d gotten into countless fistfights growing up and it was even because of this that he’d designed his metal claws. And after decades of fighting, he’d become one of the deadliest men on Earth, able to even keep up with metahuman opponents. It wasn’t superhuman reflexes or some kind of powerful drug that made him special. It was experience.
And Scorpion was nothing he hadn’t seen before.
As the bionic tail attempted to strike Minato from above, the experienced assassin found an opening in his foe’s defense. Moving in to strike, he sent a powerful kick directly into Sho’s exposed jaw and sent the foe stumbling back. Just as he was about to move in to slit the man’s throat, he saw the tail whipping back around to slice him. Now forced to back away, Minato leapt out of the stinger’s range in the nick of time...only to be shocked when a green liquid shot out from the tail, a small amount of it splashing Minato across the chest.
‘It burns!’ He thought as he watched the front of his suit be eaten away by a powerful acid. Luckily, it seemed to stop just as it reached his skin, though it left it red and irritated. If that Sho managed to get that directly onto his skin, Minato knew he’d be done for.
“Bet you thought you’d seen all my tricks, you bastard.” Sho taunted as he rubbed his jaw before spitting out a tooth. His nose and mouth were bleeding, and yet the man still smiled that sadistic grin of his. If anything, he seemed to enjoy the pain.
“Looks like you wasted your only shot. You won’t hit me with that again.” Minato said, resuming his fighting stance, flexing his claws once more.
“I don’t doubt it. You’re one slippery son of a bitch.” As he spoke, he began to pace around Minato, the assassin making sure to stay directly across from him. “I gotta ask, what changed in you? I mean, I understand trying to take revenge on me, but helping Spider-Man? Saving his life?” Sho shrugged. “What the hell man? You suddenly grow a conscience?”
“I don’t need to tell you shit.”
Sho laughed at that. “I guess that’s true.” He turned his gaze to the environment around him, his eyes lighting up as inspiration struck him. “I got an idea. How about we kick things up a notch?”
Before Minato could figure out what he meant by that, Sho turned around and unleashed a large spray of acid onto the bridge’s cables. The acid quickly dissolved the metal cables which snapped, causing a large vibration to shake the suspension bridge.
Back with Ren, he kicked the now empty helicopter away from the crowd, everyone now safe from it. Just as the helicopter landed on the bridge, he felt the vibration across the ground and turned to the crowd who looked equally shocked.
“I swear that wasn’t me.” He said, lowering himself to the ground.
“Look!” Someone cried out while pointing.
In the distance, he was able to spot the figures of Prowler and Scorpion duking it out while several of the bridge’s suspension cables swung wildly. Seeing the destruction they were causing, Ren knew he had to act now.
He turned to the nearest police officer who looked at the scene in shock. “Evacuate the bridge, get everyone out of here as fast as you can.”
The officer, a young man looking completely out of his depth, hesitantly turned to the crowd and lifted his megaphone with shaking arms. As he hesitated to speak, the megaphone was snatched from his hands by a woman who stood in front of the crowd. The woman, without hesitating, held up the megaphone and made the announcement.
“Everyone! Evacuate the bridge! If you stay here any longer, you could be in serious danger! Mind those around you, but please get to safety as quickly as you can!” The woman announced before handing the megaphone back to the shaking officer.
With the announcement made and the crowd quickly retreating to safety, the woman turned to face Ren and he couldn’t help but feel he recognized her from somewhere...Finally, it hit him who this woman was. Yukari Takeba, the singer from the club he worked at. He had only seen her in person the one time, but her face wasn’t one you’d easily forget.
“I’ll make sure things are handled here. You go do your thing.” The celebrity smiled at him.
“You’ve got it.” Ren said before swinging into action.
[114]
Meanwhile, things had taken a turn for the worst in Minato’s fight. Scorpion was now swinging from the suspension cables, causing further damage to the bridge as he moved. Minato chased after him, using his boots’ climbing abilities to keep up.
“Still keeping up?” Sho called, shooting a spray of acid back at his pursuer.
Minato dodged the acid, leaping to close the distance between him and Sho, only to be swatted away by the tail. Before he could fall, he dug his claws into a cable, slowing his descent to a halt. Seizing an opportunity to attack, Scorpion attempted to skewer the Prowler while he was stationary. Only to have his tail stuck to the same cable by webbing.
“I leave for 5 minutes and come back to this mess. Can’t you boys play nice?” Ren quipped as he landed next to his uncle.
“Secure the cables! I’ve got this handled!” Minato ordered.
“Yeah cuz you were doing so great before.” Ren replied sarcastically. “You know I just saved your life, right?”
“I would’ve dodged it.”
“Sure.” Ren replied, rolling his eyes under his mask. “We’ll stop him here, then secure the cables.”
“Uh, excuse me!” Sho intruded. “We’re in the middle of a fight you ass! Unstick me so I can kick both of your asses!”
“Real tempting offer, here’s my counter.” Ren said before shooting a webline at the villain’s mouth, trying to shut him up.
It didn’t go as planned however, Scorpion intercepted the web with his arm and used it to pull him in. Ren was too slow to react and was punched directly in the face, sending him falling onto the street below.
“REN!” Minato cried as he leapt down after his nephew.
For a moment, Ren was in a daze after the punch, he didn’t even realize he was falling until he was halfway to the ground. He wasn’t able to fire a webline off in time, so all he could do was brace himself for impact. He slammed against the roof of a car, caving it in and shattering the windshield, luckily it was empty. With the wind knocked out of him and undoubtedly suffering from a few cracked ribs, he took a moment before standing up.
Before he knew it, he was being helped off of the crushed vehicle by a blurry figure. When Ren’s vision corrected itself, he was able to make the figure out as Prowler, his uncle.
“Wait a minute…” Ren said as he stood up, looking at the figure. “Did-Did you call me-”
“Ren.” Prowler interrupted. “I know it’s you under that mask. I know who you are because I’m-”
“Uncle Minato, yeah. I know your secret too.” He said, before his uncle could ask how, he decided to explain. “A friend in the police helped me.”
“I’m...sorry that you had to find out about this part of my life. I should’ve told you, I’m not a good person Ren.” He placed his hand on his nephew’s shoulder. “I kill people for money...And I was hired to kill you.”
Ren shrugged the hand away, stepping back from his uncle. “And what do you plan to do now?”
“Stopping Scorpion. Hopefully with your help.”
“And after that?” Ren asked, raising an eyebrow.
“...”
“...”
“I’m not going back to prison Ren.”
“Wha-”
“You don’t know what it’s like in there. Constantly alone in a concrete cube, watching as your life ticks away. I won’t go back.” Minato said, his voice dead serious.
Ren didn’t know what he expected. Maybe that his uncle would turn over a new leaf and serve out his sentence, the right way. But it’s like he said, he wasn’t a good guy. He’d killed before and would likely kill again, so long as he got paid.
“We’ll table this discussion for later.” Ren said, turning his attention back to Scorpion, who’d just freed himself. “For right now let’s just stop this maniac before he causes any more damage.”
“On that, we agree.” Minato said, flexing his claws.
It was then that a loud creaking noise rang across the bridge. The sound of steel buckling under enormous strain as it slowly began to break apart. One too many support cables had been cut and from the sounds of it, the strain the others were under would soon cause them to snap as well.
Suddenly, the creaking noise came to a stop and no one moved. For a moment, the bridge was utterly and completely silent. And then…
It began to fall.