Chapter 84
[115]
“ALRIGHT!” Sho cheered as he watched the bridge collapse, stepping onto the bridge mere feet away from his opponents. “Now it’s starting to look like a real party!”
“Are you fucking crazy!?” Minato yelled at the villain. “You’ll kill us all!”
“You think I care!? I just want some goddamn excitement! I don’t give a shit whether or not I walk away!” Sho smiled, blood still spilling from his mouth.
Seeing that reasoning was pointless, Minato ran in with his claws at the ready, tackling Scorpion to the ground. As he attempted to slash Sho’s throat, his claw was stopped by a webline courtesy of Ren. Spotting an opening in Minato’s defense, Sho spat blood into his attacker’s face and launched him away with his tail.
Flipping through the air and landing on his feet, Minato came to a screeching halt using his claws. He turned to his nephew, clearly pissed off.
“What the hell!?”
“We won’t kill him. If you can’t respect that rule, you can forget about us working together.” Ren stated, unphased by his uncle’s anger.
“Don’t be an idiot! In a fight to the death, you hesitate, you die.”
“I don’t care. Nobody’s dying on my watch.”
Minato rolled his eyes and put his head in his hand. “Am I the only sane person here?”
Without waiting for his uncle’s support, Ren ran in to fight Scorpion, avoiding a blow from his tail and moving in for a kick to his face. However, after being kicked in the face one too many a time, Sho was ready. Catching the kick midair, he used Ren’s momentum against him and slammed him into the side of a nearby car.
As his nephew distracted Scorpion, Minato took advantage of the situation, running in to stab Sho's legs. The cuts were enough to bring him down to one knee, releasing Ren and turning his focus towards Minato instead. He swiped his tail at the man, only for him to dodge to and lodge his claws into Sho’s ribcage.
Sho would have died then and there if Prowler had gotten off his next attack. Luckily for him, the ground they were standing on fell apart beneath them, causing Minato to release his grip in order to reach safety. Grabbing Spider-Man along the way, he quickly hurried to escape the collapsing bridge.
“Hey, get up! We won’t make it if I have to drag your ass across this whole damn bridge.”
“I’m good. *huff* I’m good.” Ren said, getting onto his feet and running alongside his uncle. “Where’s Scorpion?”
“Right behind us. Don’t waste your breath worrying about him. Now run!” Minato ordered as the two of them sprinted across the bridge, trying desperately to outrun the collapse.
As they wove through cars, buses, and other vehicles Ren by his spider sense going off, he quickly dodged to the side just in time to see another glob of acid fly past his head, melting the taxi directly to his left. He spun around and spotted Scorpion less than 20 feet away, running on all fours like a wild animal.
“DON’T IGNORE ME YOU BASTARDS! WE AREN’T DONE YET!” He cried. Even with the ground a foot behind him falling into the water, he looked as though he couldn’t care less, only running because he was chasing after them.
“Is he serious!? Does he even realize what’s going on!?” Ren called to his uncle.
“Forget about him. We’ve still got a long way to go.” Minato replied, sliding over the hood of a car. They continued to run, the falling bridge and madman who caused it, gaining on them in the meantime.
As he ran, Ren spotted something out of the ordinary sitting in the middle of the road. A pet carrier, one that must’ve been left behind in the panic, and judging by the sounds of distress coming from within it, the pet was still inside. Without a second thought, he shot out a webline and pulled the carrier into his arms. The animal inside this thing, clearly didn’t appreciate that as it started to angrily hiss at him.
“Did you *huff* seriously just stop to save a cat?” Minato asked, panting as he ran up beside him.
“I told you. Nobody dies on my watch.” Ren replied as the cat tried reaching out of its crate to scratch him.
The end of the bridge was approaching quickly, and not a moment too soon as the two of them were quickly becoming exhausted. However, their worries weren’t over as they sood found the concrete beneath them cracking apart as well. Just before they could reach the edge, the bridge fell apart under their feet, causing the two of them to plummet towards the icy water below.
Thinking quickly, Ren shot a webline to safety, leaving him dangling above the water. Minato grabbed a hold of the line as well, saving them both from the perilous fall. It seemed as though Scorpion hadn’t been so lucky, disappearing from view with the rest of the bridge. With the cat crate in one hand, Ren and his uncle began to ascend the line up to safety.
“Holy shit.” Ren breathed out as he reached the top, lying on the concrete. “That was way too close.”
The area next to where the Rainbow Bridge had been minutes earlier was clear of any civilians, presumably having been evacuated for their safety. This left the two costumed men and cat alone to talk safely. Now that they were on solid ground, Ren felt it would be okay to release the creature, finding it to be a tuxedo cat with bright blue eyes and a yellow collar that read ‘Maurice’ on it.
“Would’ve been less close if you had let me do what needed to be done.” Minato scoffed, removing his claws before crossing his arms disapprovingly.
“Hey!” Ren stood up angrily, removing his mask. “I know you think your way is better Uncle Minato, but Spider-Man doesn’t kill people. I accepted that rule when I first put on the suit.”
“Yeah?” Minato replied, pulling off his own mask. “Look where that got your predecessor. I won’t let you throw your life away over some dumb ideology!”
“You’re lecturing me about throwing my life away? The man who spent the past 3 years in a maximum security prison?”
“Ren,” Minato sighed holding the bridge of his nose. “My life is complicated. I only do what I do because I have to. I wouldn’t expect a child to understand.”
“A child? I’m seventeen Uncle Minato! Oh wait, you missed my past 3 birthdays because you were in prison for murder! I’ve done a lot of growing up in the time you’ve been gone. I got arrested, I went to juvie, my parents won’t even speak to me anymore! I went through hell! And now I have so much goddamn responsibility that I can’t even begin to fix all the shit that’s wrong in my life!”
“Then stop.” Minato stated simply. “Stop being Spider-Man. Stop risking your life for people you don’t even know. Stop torturing yourself serving the needs of others and focus on you, what you want.”
“Is that what you did when you started making a living by killing others?” Ren asked, unable to look his uncle in the eyes.
“Ren…” Minato took a seat against a street divider. “I started doing this because of the needs of others. When your dad and I were kids, our mom and dad died in a car crash, and only I was left to look after my little brother. I had to do everything I could to protect him and provide for us both, even joining a gang. That’s when I started killing for a living. And all of that sent me spiraling down the path that led here.”
“Uncle Minato…” Ren was shocked. His dad had never told him any of this. Looking back, it must’ve been for this reason that his parents tried to keep Minato away from him for so long. “That still doesn’t excuse the killing. You could’ve stopped when you got out, you could’ve changed but you didn’t. You tried to kill Scorpion, hell, you tried to kill me!”
“Only because I had to. And had I known it was you under the mask at the time, I would’ve stopped immediately.”
“Oh that makes me feel so much better. That I’m the one exception to your rule. Why do this anyway? You got out of prison. Why not just pursue a normal job?”
“It isn’t that simple. The people who hired me, they’re powerful. There isn’t an inch of this city that they don’t control. If I’d tried to escape, I wouldn’t have made it out of Tokyo. We’re lucky they haven’t figured out who you are yet.”
“How do we know they haven’t already?”
“Because your head is still attached to your shoulders and not on Kingpin’s mantle.”
“Wait, you work for Kingpin!?”
“Not willingly. I’m not surprised you’ve heard of him though. Practically every criminal in the city is under his thumb, but I suspect there’s someone even higher up, pulling the strings from behind the scenes. I wouldn’t have gotten out of Ryker’s as easily as I did if there wasn’t.”
“...”
“...”
“So what do we do now? You’re a criminal and I catch criminals. You don’t want to go back, but I can’t let you go free. Are we going to have to fight?”
“Maybe tomorrow. For now, I’m tired. Why don’t we just sit for a while?” He replied, turning his gaze towards the sky.
Suddenly, the exhaustion in Ren’s body really began to set in and the pain from all of his earlier actions began to set in. “Alright. I guess we can do that.” He replied, taking a seat next to his uncle. Surprisingly enough, Maurice the cat even decided to curl up in Ren’s lap, apparently forgetting it’s earlier malice towards him.
The three of them sat for what felt like ages, peacefully staring at the night sky. The moment would’ve gone on for longer, if it weren’t for Maurice suddenly beginning to hiss again.
“What is it boy? Something wrong?” Ren asked.
Suddenly, Ren felt his spider sense go off, warning of danger directly behind him. He leapt to the side, (inadvertently tossing the cat) but wasn’t fast enough as he felt Scorpion’s stinger pierce his side. Had he moved a moment later, Ren was sure it would’ve gone directly through his chest.
“Ah!” He cried as he fell to the ground, clutching at the new hole in his side.
“Sho!” Minato said angrily, turning towards their attacker.
Sure enough, there stood Sho Minazuki. Bloody, soaking wet, clutching one of his arms, and his suit looking much worse for wear. Somehow, he must’ve survived the fall, swam through freezing water in full armor, and carried himself up the cliffside. It seemed as though it was genuinely impossible for this man to die.
As Minato leapt at the man, unarmed yet undeterred, only to be swatted to the side by the large tail.
“Huh, so that’s what you looked like under the mask.” Sho said, smiling at Ren as his tail readied itself to strike, sparks coming out of it from exposed wiring. “I gotta say, I wasn’t expecting a kid. But you’ll hardly be the first one I’ve killed.”
Ren, injured and drained from earlier, was helpless to stop the man as he lay on the ground, defenseless. He closed his eyes, preparing himself for the end.
Only to be surprised when he felt something wet drip onto his face. Opening his eyes, he found a pair of dark blue eyes looking back at him. It was his uncle’s eyes, and the wetness was from the blood dripping from the man’s mouth. Turning his head downwards, Ren was shocked to see Scorpion’s stinger sticking directly out of Minato’s chest, coated in his blood. His uncle had shielded him from the blow with his own body.
“...No. NonononoNO!” Ren shouted as the man was quickly tossed aside by Scorpion.
“Dammit! The slippery bastard got right past me!” Sho said, trying to shake Minato free of his tail. Finally succeeding, he turned back to face Ren, only to be hit directly in the face with an electrically charged fist. He fell onto his back, only to be pinned by Ren as he continued to beat on him.
“BASTARD!” Ren said, tears in his eyes as he wailed on the downed man with consecutive venom punches. “YOU BASTARD! YOU GODDAMN BASTARD!” His exhaustion and wounds forgotten, all that mattered to him was hitting this man.
During his barrage, Scorpion’s tail attempted to stab Ren in the back, but sensing it coming, the boy caught it before tearing it clean off of the suit and tossing it aside. He continued to pummel Sho’s face until it was a swelled up bloody mess with teeth scattered on the ground around it.
He was still alive however, the heaving of his chest confirmed that. Though he was undoubtedly unconscious and in desperate need of medical attention. Ren didn’t care about that at the moment though. Instead, he turned his attention to his uncle’s dying body a few feet away.
“Uncle Minato! Uncle Minato! C’mon, please tell me you’re alive!”
“Hey *cough* *cough* kiddo. Glad to see you’re alright.” Minato said, a smile gracing his bloody lips.
“I’m fine Uncle Minato. I’m fine because of you.” Ren said with tears pouring out of his eyes. “C’mon, we need to get you to a hospital.” He tried lifting the man, only to feel resistance.
“No,” He replied with a ragged breath. “I think I’ll just stay here and watch the night sky a bit more.”
“Uncle Minato you’re bleeding! We need to get you out of here! Please!” Ren pleaded with him, while his voice began to break. “I don’t care if you go to jail anymore, just please come with me!”
“Hey Ren…Do you remember that conversation we had when you were eight? It’s okay if you don’t, you were pretty young…” His eyes became glossy as he spoke.
Ren sniffled and wiped the tears from his eyes. “Yeah, on the stairs right? What about it?”
“I just wanted to say that I’m proud of you. You found something to fight for *wheeze* and you’re doing it for the right reasons too. I only tried to stop you because I was scared for you. But honestly *cough* I was still thinking of you as a kid when really *wheeze* you’ve grown into a fine young man. One your parents should be proud of.”
“Thanks Uncle Minato.” Ren replied, holding the man’s hand as he lay dying.
“But you should remember, it’s okay to be selfish sometimes, you’re human too. You’ve already found something to fight for, *wheeze* but maybe you should take the time to live in the world that you’re trying to protect. That’s something *wheeze* I could never do.”
“I will.” Ren said, crying as he held the man’s hand.
As Minato began to shut his eyes, he muttered out his last few words.
“It really is a beautiful night. I can’t wait to see what the morning brings.”