Midday Roxxon
“ARACHKID!” Spider-Man shouts as Taratnula grabs Peter, the pair disappearing into a dark tunnel.
He tumbles as he moves with the larger spider-themed villain, his fists slamming against the enhanced skin and suit of the man. Twisting to his feet, Tarantula fiddles with a dial on his wrist, the already dim lights in the tunnel fully dissolving into nothing. The darkness swallows them, the sound of Spider-Man and Minotaurs battle ringing out in the background.
Those noises don’t matter to Peter right now. No, the cries and screams from the battle happening behind him don’t matter. The tingling sensation that he’s about to get attacked? That matters. Ducking as he’s kicked in the side, Peter sucks in a breath, staggering backwards as he looks around for a sign of the red and black-clad form of the Tarantula.
“What’s wrong, little Arana?” Another punch, his arm numb from the pain from the strike, “Can’t sense me?”
“You ever consider that I’m letting you hit me to make this an even fight?”
“Then you’re a fool.”
“I get that a lot.”
Spinning as a kick knocks him off his feet, Peter manages to catch himself in a handstand. Twirling as he tries to kick the shadow of the figure that attacked him, he clicks his tongue when he connects with the air. Thinking as he considers his options, Peter looks around the room.
“So, where are you from, Mr. Tarantula?”
“Why do you care?”
Somewhere to his left.
“Well, if we’re going to be running into each other more often, I figured we may as well try and get to know each other.”
“Where are you from then?”
Right. This guy is fast.
“Queens.”
A footstep behind him.
“...Delvadia.”
Moving closer.
“I hear it’s lovely there. The beaches in particular.”
Pausing. No movement.
“They are. You’re very good at this.”
“At what?”
“At trying to distract me. To pinpoint me using my voice. Unfortunately, I’ve already learnt how to prevent that.”
And now the voices are everywhere. Great.
“Oh, c’mon! Don’t think so lowly of me!” Peter leaps, subconsciously reacting to the swish of wind through the air, “Besides, I don’t really know anything about you. I think Spider-Man mentioned a daughter?”
Gritted teeth.
“Leave my Anya out of this, Arana.”
“Don’t you find that a little confusing, you know, Anya, Arana.”
A punch swings just wide as Peter pulls back, reaching to land a punch himself but missing. This is working. Maybe it’s better for Peter to not focus? Is that what’s working? Almost like when he beat the Beetle…
“Alright, alright. I guess you really don’t want her to know about this, huh? Is that because she’s a fan of- WHOA!” Peter twists, spinning away from something as it crashes past him, an explosion ringing off in the background of the tunnel. “Hey! No explosives! We don’t want to bring this city down!”
“I’d steal the moon for my Anya. Don’t test my patience, brat!”
“Yikes. This guy might actually have a problem,” Peter mutters, ducking and weaving through the attacks the man is throwing at him.
“Stay. Still!”
“I think you’d take my face off if I did that. Speaking of,” Peter flips, landing against the ceiling as he talks into the darkness around him, “are you ex-special forces or something? Your martial arts prowess is insane!”
“You’re point?!”
“You could do more good than harm if you wanted to!”
“Good doesn’t pay! Not that I’d expect a child to understand that!”
“Oh, I understand plenty,” Peter retorts, a kick hitting him in the chest as he grabs the leg, seeing the shocked look on the Tarantula’s face as he smirks at him from beneath his mask. “I’m a broke boy, got no girls, and I’m chronically late. I can’t hold a job for the life of me!”
Spinning in a circle, Peter tries to replicate the movement of Spider-Man as he hefts the man, twirling him into their as he collides with the wall of the tunnel. The soft crunch and bounce of the man's body impacting against the solid concrete and brickwork makes the young man wince as he sees the Tarantula stagger ot his feet, the lights in the tunnel slowly flickering back on.
“You’ve not even learnt the basics, have you?” the man mutters, eyes glinting beneath his mask as his face cracks into a smile, “If this was Spider-Man, I would have been webbed in place, waiting for the police to come pick me up!”
“Wait, seriously?! I really have a lot to learn from him, then. Luckily for me, I’m not Spider-Man,” crouching down as he prepares to re-engage in the fight, “I’m the Expceptional Arachkid!”
Leaping forward, the pair begin their violent dance. Punches and kicks rain towards the younger of the pair as he twists and contorts, trying not to think about the motions but feel them.
“What’s wrong?! You can’t land a hit without the help of the dar- Urgh!”
A fist connects with Peter's chest, spitting out a small amount of blue viscous liquid into his mask as he hits the ceiling. Desperately clinging to the surface, he coughs, looking down at the cackling man.
“You see. I have powers too, spider brat. They may not be as powerful as yours, but they’re good, no?”
“I’ll admit, that hurt a lot more than I was expecting.”
Looking down, Peter assesses the damage, the stonework around him crumbling to the floor below him. It’s not that bad, is it? C’mon, Pete, think. What would Spider-Man do? Yeah. Let’s try that.
“Hey, you hungry?”
“What?”
Peter fires a webline behind the man, the man's eyes widening in realization as he moves away before a second line connects to his back. Pulling on the line, Peter zips towards the man, his fist flying forward as he strikes the man, spinning as he rolls off the floor.
“Here, have a knuckle sandwich!”
Popping up, he spins around, kicking the man back against the first webline, knocking the man on his back. Shooting a web, Peter clicks his tongue as Tarantula raises his hands, small jets of fire leaping onto the webbing as it burns away.
“I’m not that easy, kid!”
“Eh, I’d be disappointed if you were. C’mon, Arachkid. Think.”
“Heh, what? Motivational talking to yourself?!”
Rolling his eyes beneath the mask, Peter looks around the tunnel. Maybe that could work as a plan? Limited space. The only fault is those little fire things but… Well, Peter’s sure he can figure out a way to stop them from being a problem.
“So, whats with the flamethrower thingies? Doens’t really fit the whole tarantula or spider theme.”
“Tarantulas hunt other spiders. If I’m to hunt Spider-Man, I figured I’d need to have something to burn down his web of lies.”
“Oh! That… huh, I guess that does make some more sense… Why not some kind of mandibles?”
“Tried that. Spider-Man made it so I couldn’t cut through them with webs, but no matter how many times I’ve used it, fire has always been the solution.”
The pair exchange another barrage, fists and feet spinning and twisting in a free-for-all that locks them both in place. Peter fires a web, Tarantula weaving out of the way. Another web, and then another, until Taratnula is on the backfoot, his feet slipping and twisting through the slick sewer floor before he eventually collapses on his back.
“The fuck! Do you not need to reload your webs?!”
“All naturale, Tarantula.”
“So you don’t have to reload and I have to figure out your limits… tch!”
Grinning, Peter looks at the man, trying his best not to give his plan away. Just a little more and he should have it, but first, remove those gauntlets.
“What about you? You have to reload those little gauntlets of yours? Who am I kidding? You can’t be as exceptional as me!”
“Exceptionally annoying!”
“Hey, now you’re getting into the mood with it! Wanna take this fight to the web?”
“How would we even do that?!”
“Oh, easy! Say cheese!”
“Wha-?!”
Before the villain can respond, Peter drop-kicks the man, sending him sailing into the wall of webs that he’d been making behind him. The man twists; the small jets of fire that he tries to use to escape are yanked from his arms. Replacing them, additional webs tie themselves to his wrist before he’s kicked again, this time through the webs as they collapse around him, enveloping the man in a cocoon of webs.
“Shi-”
“I wouldn’t move if I was you. My webs carry a neurotoxin, if it touches your skin, you’ll be paralysed for at least an hour.”
Watching the man grit his teeth as he lays still, letting Peter heft him onto his back, Peter smiles to himself as he makes the journey back through the sewer tunnel. Ignoring the flickering of the lights and the sloshing of the water, Peter looks around the exit of the tunnel.
“Now… where is-”
The sound of crashing bricks and screeching cars in the distance. Groaning as he hears the noise, Tarantula huffs and shakes his head against Peter’s back, informing him of the direction that Spider-Man has taken Minotaur in. Honestly, why couldn’t he have kept this to the labyrinth of underground sewage tunnels? It would be easier to catch him as well, right?
“Hold on, I’m going to go full speed to catch up,” he says, ignoring the fact that the man on his back can’t actually do anything.
Charging towards the source of the noise, Peter leaps and bounds over the webbed-up bodies of Roxxon shock troopers. A large beam of sunlight ahead of him mixed with a pile of rocks blocking the sewage path. Using the rocks as a platform to jump up to the street level, Peter looks around for an NYPD cruiser, spotting one as he swings over, landing next to the vehicle and knocking on the window.
“Spider-Kid?” the man in the cruiser says, rolling down the window. Peter’s eyes widen as he recognises the man, clearing his throat as he sets Tarantula down.
“It’s Arachkid, Captain Stacy. I’ve captured the Tarantula, one of the villains responsible for the damage at Midtown and the sewers.”
Watching the police captain look over the webbed man as he steps out of the police cruiser, Peter waits for the response. Gwen has mentioned that he’s not the biggest fan of Spider-Man. Heck, not many of the cops are fans of Spider-Man from what he knows. Peter just hopes it can be different with him.
“And what's the situation in the sewer like?”
“Uh, well, aside from the whole hole thing? Not too bad. No loose webs or anything. Oh, and don’t touch those webs without gloves… they’ve got neurotoxin on them.”
“Great, you two have toxic webbing now.”
“No… just me. We think it’s a different version of Spider-Man’s bio-electricity. It kind of just coats my webs when I shoot them… Oh, my webs are organic too.”
Pausing, the police officer frowns, a sympathetic look appearing on his face as he shakes his head.
“So, you can’t even control it… I guess that makes you a mutant instead of… whatever Spider-Man is. If you also look like a Spider-”
“It’s a very complicated situation, and as far as I’m aware I…” Man, Peter is going to feel bad about saying this, but it’ll get him some bonus points from some people and that kind of matters right now. “I am a mutant… Although my powers only recently developed.”
“Alright. Well, I think mutants are great, so keep up the good work!”
Nodding, Peter quickly walks away from the man towards the hole in the middle of the road, and he begins to pull the debris out of the sewage. He works quickly, trying to shake off the excess moisture into the tunnel below before stacking them on the street.
“Peter, what are you doing?”
“Being responsible and accountable for the damage caused.”
“Well, maybe hurry up? Miles needs help.”
“I’ll be as quick as I can.”
Quickly weaving an arched cradle for the pieces of rubble to connect to, he begins the process of organizing and replacing the broken rubble, filling in the gaps with his webs. The road slowly comes back to life, now stuck together with a mixture of web, brick, concrete and tarmac in a temporary placeholder.
“Alright, people! This is only a temporary solution, it’ll last for four hours! Someone call the city board and get them to get some quick-acting concrete to fill in the gaps! Peace!” Peter yells to the crowd, zipping himself into the air as he looks for signs of where the fight between Spider-Man and the Minotaur could be.
His question is quickly answered by the swarming mass of destruction that seems to run through the street. Looking at it from his new perspective, Peter is starting to understand the frustration that Mr. Jameson has with Spider-Man. I mean, sure, it’s not completely warranted, but the damage and inconvenience caused by the damage…
“Be better…” he murmurs to himself as he swings through the city, following the trail of destruction.
It doesn’t take too long for the screams of civilians and flying rubble crashing against the floor to alert him. Firing webs as he catches some of the rubble heading towards the glass of the buildings surrounding him. He lands on the side of the library and looks down at the fight between the two superpowered individuals, dancing as they swap punches.
He watches Spider-Man getting grabbed out of the air and slammed against the floor. The man is quickly pummeled by the hammer and fists of the Mintaur as he is thrown around like a rag doll. Peter thinks about how the scene reminds him of the videos of Hulk thrashing some of the Avengers villains across the floor. Like Loki when he tried to take over New York, back when Peter was… what? Six?
Realising that he probably shouldn’t just perch here watching the battle, Peter zips across the street, slamming his fist into the side of the Minotaur's armoured shell as it roars and staggers back. Helping Spider-Man to his feet, Peter prepares himself to fight the mechanical bull.
“You good? Managed to take care of the Tarantula alright?”
“Yeah, it took me a bit. Had to find someone to leave him with, but I handled it.”
“So much for the Tarantula being the world's best hunter,” the Minotaur rumbles, shaking as he cracks his knuckles, “But I can deal with two puny insects myself.”
“Really? That’s what he called himself?”
“Also, we aren’t insects. We’re arachnids given human form!”
“What’s the difference?! You’ll still be crushed and burnt under my foot!” the giant bull-man says, slamming his foot against the concrete to make a point.
“Look, I get you’re trying to be scary and all, but you’re kinda…”
“Lackluster?”
“Yeah, that.”
“Would you two stop talking and fight me?!”
“Why?”
“We could resolve this peacefully, you know, web hammocks, therapy techniques, the whole shabang!”
“Oh, oh, oh! I could even put on some soothing jazz. Maybe some blues? I know a guy that could hook us up with that!”
“ARGH! Enough talking!” the Minotaur yells, a gout of flames erupting from the mechanical head, Peter and Miles swinging out of the way of the flames. Quickly circling the man, the pair trade turns, punching and kicking, leaping over each other as they begin a barrage of attacks that leaves the bull-man stunned and staggering as he swings wildly with his hammer. Slamming it against the corner of a building and smacking a car aside. The vehicle spins, smacking against Spider-Man as Arachkid vaults over the vehicle, running up and sliding under a hammer swing. Popping up behind the man, spinning as his hammer comes crashing down. Peter flips over the strike, firing two lines of web at the back of the bull-man, pulling himself down to slam against his back.
Flipping into the sky, Peter clicks his tongue as he lands and steps back, webbing the spots the hammer is about to hit to prevent any additional damage to the buildings. Twisting and launching himself into the air, he looks around. Firing web lines around the street to prevent rubble from crashing into buildings or the park.
“Whatcha doin’, Arachkid?!”
“Trying to prevent more damage to the city! Keep fighting. I’ll keep protecting the civilians and launch surprise attacks!”
“They’re not surprise attacks if I know you’re going to do them!” The Minotaur bellows, throwing a car into the sky towards the young boy. Landing on the car, Peter spins with the vehicle, trying to calculate the best way to place the vehicle on the ground without damaging it.
Swinging as he grunts with the effort, Peter rolls the wheels of the car against the tarmac. Turning back to the fight, he grits his teeth, spinning a web above the street as he bounces between his webs, catching any loose rubble and objects the Minotaur throws about in his attempts to beat Spider-Man into the ground. The arachnid-themed hero dodges, leaping and twisting as he kicks and punches, avoiding the attacks of the larger man.
Breathing in and holding his breath, Arachkid runs along a web, eyes narrowing as he spots an opening, zipping forward and smashing his feet into the hand holding the hammer.
“You ain’t MC Hammer! Or Thor, for that matter!”
He flips and returns to his webs above the street, he avoids the sweeping strike of the Minotaur. Trying to gain his balance, the boy spins his arm as he hears the annoyed grunts of the bull. Seeing the black and red blur of Spider-Man slamming a fist into the Minotaur, Peter grins, expecting the fight to begin slowing down.
But his expectations are sent under, the Minotaur standing tall, despite the hit, and grabbing Spider-Man, slamming his fist into the man and sending him flying through the air. Holding out his hand, the hammer in the street rattles and flies back into the man's hand as he charges. Slamming the hammer down towards the sputtering hero, a small pool of blood leaking out from the man's costume, Peter barely manages to stop the attack, webs wrapping around the hammer as he’s yanked in a vicious tug of war with the bull-man.
Grinning, the bull releases the weapon, its mouth whirring as flames lick at the metallic interior of the mouth. A torrent of flames erupts from the mouth, Peter helplessly falling back as he tries to figure out a way to avoid the attack before he’s yanked to the side by webs. Looking over to the coughing Spider-Man, the webs fall away from the man's hands as he nods. Peter charges towards the Minotaur, uppercutting the creature.
“Hey, ugly! Aeëtes called! He wants his bull back!”
“Shut up, spider! I am the descendent of the proud king Aeëtes!”
“Oh, wait, really?! That’s so awesome! I thought you’d be related to King Minos since you’re a minotaur and everything!” Peter responds, flipping and turning away from the attacks of the larger man.
“Do you ever shut up?!”
“No! I’m no Jason, and I don’t have a Medea, but I’m still going to wrap you up and tame you!”
Leaping forward, he twists and spins, avoiding the gouts of flames being shot from the bull's mouth. His feet hit the floor in a rhythmic dance as he kicks and spins, firing a barrage of web lines to connect the webs to the ones on the buildings and streetlights. Pushing the bull-man into the lines as he trips and stumbles, Peter sticks to the armour, trying to pry it off the man's body.
“Switch!”
Miles slams his blood-soaked fist into the armour of the minotaur, pulling it apart with a creaking pop. Metal shards fly onto the floor, Peter works on pulling and twisting the webs around them, ensnaring the man in place, his body stiffening as the webs make contact with his skin. The sound of the police cruisers fills the air as Peter and Miles look at the captured man.
“Well, it’s been fun, Dario, but we’ve got places to be. See ya!” Miles says, shooting finger guns at Peter before leaping into the sky. Looking around at the webs covering the area, Peter hums to himself. Next time, Peter’s going to find a way to dissolve the webbing. To help with clean up.
Leaping into the sky after Spider-Man, Peter swings away, wondering what Mr. Jameson is going to write about them.