~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~**~
Down the alleyway…
~*~*~*~**~*~**~*~*~
Grabbing the gun, Eddie looks at Cletus Kassidy before him, standing in front of the two other men, “We didn’t’ talk about this! You never said I had to have one!”
Cletus shakes his head, “You’re right I didn’t. So consider it as an insurance policy. Insurance that everyone else you see will stay healthy because they don’t wanna get shot, that is, unless someone is stupid.
“You said this was just to teach a rival gang a lesson.” Eddie says.
“It is…” Cletus says, “…we’re choking their cash flow. The Big Man don’t says Tombstone's gang is tryin' to take Hell’s Kitchen. And this Wrestler thing is a front. All the money paid out tonight is being used to mix in with some drug money, which we’re gonna take. Once this goes down, it’s gonna be carnage. City is gonna be hot and cops will be here. So you better have your alibi's down.”
“Yeah I do. I got friends inside that’ll cover. They have no idea what’s going on.” Eddie says.
“Good.” Cletus smiles, “So do your job and stay out our way." he says, pointing his finger in his face. Eddie watches Cletus eyes shift to someone behind opens his arms wide, “Where the heck were you? You’re late!”
Eddie turns around in shock to see his friend, A.D. standing at the entrace, “I had my piece inside.” He smirks, quickly coming down the steps and pulling out a gun to show Cletus.
Cletus smirks and shoves Eddie while pointing at A.D. “See this kid is smart. You gotta be more like him.”
“More open minded.” A.D. smirks, grinning at Eddie as he nudges him, “Eddie, I’m surprised, didn’t think you rolled like this.”
“Well you know…”
“He’s getting his criminal cherry broke.” Cletus smirks, tucking in his gun into the back of his pants as they all do. Eddie starts to feel sick as he stuffs the gun in the back of his pants but keeps a straight face as A.D., Cletus and his two other henchmen gather around.
“Alright idiots, you know what to do. Once they start bringing in the dough, we slowly, make our way to our positions.” Cletus explains, patting Eddie on his cheek, “An I’m countin on you.” He smirks, pointing at his face before patting him in the cheek and looking at everyone, “Okay guys, nice and cool.” He says, as they all follow behind him to the entrance. Eddie watching in surprise as the Bouncer nods at them sinisterly as A.D. hands him a roll of twenty-dollar bills as they enter.
~*~*~*~**~~*
Way up the alley, watching the Bouncer following behind them all, Gwen quickly runs out from behind the dumpster and to the main street. With fear in her chest and anxiety coursing through her veins, Gwen scrolls through the contacts on her cellphone, "Peter Parker please don’t decide out of all nice to NOT be home!" She says, running down the block.
Marvel - The Beginning: The Amazing Spider-Man
ARC II - HEROES
Part V - "The Evening…"
~*~**~*~**~
Meanwhile…Amateur Wrestler-mania
~*~*~*~*~**~
Inside the dark warehouse that’s filled with people, A.D. nods at Eddie who nervously runs his hands through his blond hair.
Making their way through the crowds, Eddie and A.D. get to the open floor of seats that surround a large canvas boxing ring. As lights and deafening music fill Eddie’s ears, he sees the people cheering so loud that covering his ears provides little comfort. Watching people jump up and down like lunatics as the Wrestlers battle each other in the ring, Eddie feels A.D. tap him and point to the wrestler in the middle of the ring leap off the ropes and crashes his elbow into the amateur wrestler, laying him out cold.
Eddie and A.D. cover their mouths in shock; "OOOOoo!!" goes the crowd, as if they all felt the victims’ pain
“HEY! HEY!”
Eddie and. A.D. look over and sees Flash, Sally, Liz, Hubie and Pookie by the front row with Pookie throwing a large soda into the ring and yelling at the top of his voice as Liz stands in the chair waving her hands.
Eddie and A.D. makes his way over to everyone as they push their way through the dimly lit crowd jostling in front of them as everyone continues chanting ‘CRUSHER! CRUSHER! CRUSHER!’, repeatedly.
Getting over to them, Flash excitedly stuffs popcorn in his mouth as he looks to Eddie and A.D.
“DUDE THIS IS SO AWESOME! YOU CAN FEEL THE SWEAT!” he exclaims, peering into the ring with excitement.
“DID YOU FIND GWEN?!” Sally asks somberly.
“Uh no.”
“WHAT?!”
“NO!” Eddie shouts to Gwen, who for a moment, sniffles and shrugs.
“WHATEVER! I DON’T MISS HER! SHE’LL MISS ME BEFORE I MISS HER!” she shouts.
Eddie, paying no mind to what she says, as the feeling of a gun stuffed in the back of his pants is more than unnerving, tries to relax and think of the $800 dollars he’ll be getting from the job and how it may end with no problems.
As the lights flicker and then focus the canvas ring, The greasy and muscled Wrestler in the middle of the ring, runs his hand on his sweaty bald head and smells his hand.
“I SMELL LIKE INVISIBILITY!!!” he hollers and then cups his hand around his ears as he leans into the crowd, “LET ME HEAR IT!”
“CRUSHER! CRUSHER CRUSHER!” the crowd chants.
“WEEeeellll…” says the announcer, decked in white pants, a red long jacket and fake red clown nose on his nose, enters the ring, “…CRUSHER seems pretty invisible, WOULDN’T YOU SO!!!” he yells as everyone shouts and cheers in response, “…ITS BEEN TWO DAYS! NO AMATEUR WRESTLER HAS BEEN ABLE TO CONTAIN THE CRUSHER, AN HE AIN'T DONE YEEEET!!!" he yells as the crowd erupts in a roar of cheers.
"SO WHOOOS NEXT?! WHO WILL TRY TO PIN DOWN THE CRUSHAAAAAAAH!" he yells, pointing with the microphone to the glittery blue curtain behind the crowd as all the lights cut off.
“WELL I’ll TELL YOU WHO HE IS! THE ONE! THE ONLY! SENSAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAATIONAL….HUMAN SPIDER!”
Suddenly, one big white spotlight illuminates a scrawny, tall man dressed in a yellow Kill Bill Jumpsuit with a yellow mask in front of a glittery blue curtain.
Raising his hand over his eyes from the blind lights, Peter Parker wearing a yellow mask, looks over his shoulder to a man in the shadows on his right, "DUDE HE GOT MY NAME WRONG!"
The announcer in the crowd looks at the man whispering to someone in the shadows and narrows his eyes, “I SAID THE SENSATIONAL HUMAN SPIDER!”
Peter, by the curtain, looks at the guy holding the rope to the curtain below him, “DUDE I SAID THE AMAZING SPIDER-MAN HE JUST KILLED MY COOL NAME!”
“OH PISS OFF!” the man yells as two muscled women suddenly grab Peter by both arms and drag him towards the stage!
~*~*~**~**~*~
In the crowd...
Flash points to ‘The Human Spider’ and laughs as he nudges Eddie, “CAN YOU BELIEF THIS!” he says as everyone erupts into laughter as the two brawny women, drag ‘The Human Spider’ to the stage and throw him in with ‘The Crusher!’
“HE IS GONNA GET RIPPED APART!” A.D. shouts as Eddie looks at him, to which A.D. winks sinisterly.
Eddie looks at Flash with a smirk and points at him, "Dude, check out the male Kill Bill!" he says, "I'm so glad Peter isn't here, cause if he saw this, he so would justify his use of buying one a Kill Bill outfit. He's a martial arts freak." he says.
Flash laughs hysterically as everyone in the crowd chants, “CRUSHER! CRUSHER!”
Eddie looks at Flash, "This guy is so dead."
~*~**~*~*~
In the ring....
~**~*~*~*~*
Landing on the mat hard, Peter looks at the women dressed in latex wrestling suits with black eyeliner, OH gawd!” he gags.
“HEY!”
Peter eyes snap in attention to the Crusher before him. His greased arm that resembled carved granite, was nothing in comparison to his iron-like tanned chest. The Crusher, black hollow eyes narrowed as he smacks the top of his sweaty bald-head!
Gulping, Peter stands on his feet, feeling the same dull pain in the back of his head as when Flash tried to hit him from behind earlier that day. The pain more, and more start to make Peter grimace in pain as he stares into The Crusher’s wild eyes stare at Peter. Hearing the crowd chant as Crusher points at him with his sweaty sausage finger, Peter’s eyes open wide.
"YOU READY FOR THE PAIN BOY!" Crusher growls.
Peter gulps, "Dude, don't kill me!" he says, now seriously regretting the fact he came here.
Smirking at his plea, Crusher turns to the crowd and raises his chiseled arms over his head, "CAGE MAAAAAATCH!" he yells as everyone roars with excitement.
Peter looks at him with wide eyes, "OH NO! NO NO NO NO! ARE YOU CRAZY! I DIDN'T SIGN UP FOR A CAGE MATCH!"
Crusher turns around and clenches his teeth at the sight of Peter in his yellow tracksuit, "I've been in the business for more than 20 years! And I've went from high profile business to this, dealing with some punk no good stick of a man wearing a yellow tracksuit...'
"KILL BILL SUIT!" peter protest.
"...AND NOW I'M HERE! Gettin' paid A MEASLEY TEN BUCKS AN HOUR! Well let me tell you somethin', I got you for a whole 5 minutes...and for me...this is therapy!" he says, cracking his knuckles.
Peter gulps, "Oh crap!"
DINGGG! goes the bell.
"YEEEEAAAHHHHHHH!!!!" yells the wrestler, lunging at Peter like an animal. Instinctively, Peter leaps over the man and sticks to the descending metal cage as the wrestler crashes into the pole in the corner of the ring!
Everyone’s ‘awes’ of excitement rumble through the facility as Crusher turns over and looks at Peter sticking to the cage as its lowered.
"HOW’D YOU GET…WILL GET DOWN FROM THERE!"
Peter shakes his head, "I'd rather not! I like seeing your head be a poor imitation of a barren earth!"
"WHAT!" he yells.
"I think I can rename you from Shiny Head, or OOOOoo PIN HEAD! CLASSIC!" he says.
Peter suddenly sees Crusher grind his teeth as his eyes turn red with anger.
"Oh crap." Peter mumbles.
~*~*~**~*~*~*~*~*~
In the crowd....
~*~*~*~*~**~*~*~*~*
Flash and Eddie hold on to each other in excitement as does Hubie and Pookie all watch what unfolds before them, they turn around and sees the girls sweet-talking the security guard.
For a moment, Liz turns around and doesn't see A.D or Eddie, "Where's A.D.?" asks Liz.
Flash shrugs, "Who cares!" he says as the wrestler grabs ‘The Human Spider’ and slams him back down to the mat.
~*~**~*~*~*~*~**~*~*~
Upstairs….
Hearing the muffled noise of the crowd, in a dingy bathroom with flickering fluorescent lights overhead, Eddie, Cletus, A.D. and the two other men all pull out their guns as Cletus pulls down his ski-mask, “Let’s roll.” He smirks.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~**~*~*
Meanwhile…In the Ring
Feeling as if everything is spinning in his head, Peter sees Crusher’s sweaty head appear in front of the ceiling lights as he tilts his head at him, “Hey uh, You okay kid?”
“Uh wah?’
“TIME FOR ROUND TWO!” Crusher yells, reaching for Peter, but he quickly delivers a powerful kick to his torso, rocketing Crusher across the ring!
Bouncing onto his feet, Peter suddenly sees Crusher use the ropes to propel himself back to him and drive his knee right into his gut!!!
“AWWHaaaaww!!!” Peter groans as Crusher smiles with glee stomps his foot, drives his face right into Crusher’s knee and toss him to the side like a rag doll while he throwing his arms up in the air at the roaring crowd, “ARE YOU NOT ENTERTAINED? ARE YOU NOT ENTERTAINED!”
“HE has the nerve to quote gladiator.” Peter coughs as the wrestler turns back to him as the crowd chants in a thunderous roar, "CRUSHAH! CRUSHAH! CRUSHAH!"
“I’m gonna pull off your legs and BEAT YOU WITH THEM…that is after I pull off that mask of yours!” he says, jumping onto Peter’s back and pins his head to the mat face first as he starts slipping his hand under the back of Peter's mask.
“STOP IT YOU JERK!" yells Peter, squirming under him as Crusher loses his grip, " STAY STILL KID!" he barks, forcing his weight even more on Peter.
"NOT A CHANCE MEATHEAD!" snaps Peter.
"WHAT DID YOU CALL ME!" yells Crusher as he feels Peter jerk forward again.
"I...SAID..." but before he can finish his insult, Peter feels a sensation in his head of impending danger.
Everything turns red as the sensation in the back of Peter’s head impels him to move instinctively, stretching his neck to the side far enough that he sees Crusher's fist slam into the mat where his head lay only seconds before!
"WHAT!" yells Crusher, astonished that Peter moved so fast as he bumps him up, slides underneath and bends his legs behind Crusher's back and placing both feet onto Crushers throat, choking him and pulling him back as the entire audiences eyes to open wide at the sight of Peter's flexibility.
In a split second, Peter firms his lip and forces his feet down and rockets Crusher off his back and across the mat!
Everyone in the audience stands up in awe leaps high into the air as Crusher hits the ropes and ricochets back like bullet under him Peter who quickly shoots a webline to Crusher's baldhead and drops back to the mat while swinging Crusher around in a complete circle inside the ring before slamming him face-first into the iron bars of the cage!
“OOOOOOOOOooooo…” groans the Crowd, as they watch ‘The Human Spider’, stand in the middle of the ring, watching Crusher stagger to his feet, pull his face off the bars, yank off the webbing from his face and turn to Peter.
"YOU THINK THAT HURT!" he yells as a big bar-shaped black and blue form across his face.
Peter nods, "I was hoping it WOULD!" he says.
Crusher firms his face and takes a step towards him, but Peter watches his eyes roll into the back of his head as he passes out on the mat, right in front of him.
With an odd hush over the crowd, Peter looks out to the audience as the announcer leaps into the ring and stands over Crusher, astonished at the sight of the black and blue bruise across his face and then looks at ‘The Human Spider’.
Grabbing Peter’s sleeve and raising his arm over there heads, he shouts in a loud voice, "THE WINNAH OF TONIGHTS MATCH! THEEEEE OUTSTANDING HUUUUMAAAAAN SPIDAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!!!!" he yells as the crowd erupts into a thunderous cheer with deafening applause.
“ITS SPIDER-MAN!”
“WHATEVER KID!” the announcer retorts.
Nodding his head as confetti rains on him, Peter smiles under his mask, "I COULD TOTALLY GET USED TO THIS!!!" he shouts, raising his other hand with two fingers up.
~*~*~*~*~**~*~*~*~*~
Upstairs.
Looking over his shoulder, Eddie watches A.D. pistol-whip one of the men tied up in his seat across the face. Hit so hard he sent spinning in the swivel chair, A.D. sees the man is unconscious. Hastily skipping out the door where the two other masked men keep watch.
Eddie feels himself about the panic and quickly hastens out the office behind A.D. Cletus closing the office door behind them, nods at A.D. who nervously looks around the deserted hallway. Cletus pulls up his mask as they all look around cautiously before taking off their masks.
"Okay, phase two.” Cletus says to A.D. who nods.
Suddenly Eddie watches Cletus turn to one of the men who was keeping watch and strike him in the back of the head with his gun! Eddie jolts back as Cletus throws the unsuspecting accomplice down to the floor, hitting him over the head repeatedly with the butt of the gun!
“WHAT THE…”
“SSSHHHH!!!” hushes Cletus, standing up from the man.
Eddie looks at the bloodied pulp of a man twitching on the floor. Eddie feels his stomach turn before looking up at Cletus pointing to A.D. and the other man, “Move’em in.” he orders. Quickly A.D. grabs his legs as the other man grabs the man’s hands and carry him into the bathroom.
Cletus tucks his gun in his back pocket and throws Eddie the bag of money, “Now you, get outside and get us a cab, act like a tourist or somethin’. We need someone to take the fall.” He says, pulling out another pistol.
Eddie looks at him in shock as A.D, with a gun in hand, opens the bathroom door and whistles to Cletus, who nods in response.
“What are you going to do Cletus?” Eddie asks, grabbing Cletus by the sleeve.
Cletus smirks at him, “You really wanna know, or do you wanna get that cab?” asks.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
OUTSIDE...8th Avenue and West 31st, New York Post Office Building.
As Taxis race down the empty street, Uncle Ben pulls up in his yellow Chevy Nova to the curb of the Public as his lights immediately illuminate Gwen Stacy standing on the street corner with her cellphone in her hand.
Shutting off the car, Uncle Ben steps out the car and sees Gwen run up to him, “Oh goodness I’m so glad you got my message, you're my hero.” She sighs.
Pulling out a wood bat from the car, Uncle Ben looks at Gwen’s worried face with eyes full of determination, “It’s not a problem, just tell me, what’s going on?”
~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Upstairs
Looking at the bag full of money, sweat pours down Eddie’s face as he hears Cletus, A.D. and the other man with them beating up their own guy.
Clenching his jaw, the elevator door opens, empty. Letting out a huff, Eddie hears a shot go off in the bathroom and looks behind him, seeing the light in the obscured window, shut off.
Throwing his hand into the bag, Eddie pulls out three large stacks of money and stuffs into his jeans, throws the sack to the side and quickly jumps into the elevator, pushing the door closed.
Coming out the bathroom, Cletus Kassidy, A.D., and the other man race out the bathroom but stop at the sight of a bag of money on the floor with bills scattered about.
“HE TOOK OFF!” Cletus shouts angrily, punching the wall.
A.D. runs to the elevator, pressing the ‘call button’ but looks over to Cletus, “He chickened out! He’s gonna rat us out.”
Suddenly, Cletus, A.D. and the other man with them, notice all the lights on the floor flicker as if someone was playing with the switch. Then, the echo of hard-soled footsteps along the hallway grabs Cletus attention. Wasting no time, Cletus pulls out his pistol and aims it down the hallway, waiting to see the pitiful fool who had bad timing.
Then, Cletus eyes open wide in pure shock and horror.
Emerging from the rear stairwell, a group of Chinese men in black suits, white shirts, and black ties arrives, each holding sheathed swords and guns in their hands. Standing on both sides of the stairwell, the men look at Cletus but remain still as the last man emerges from the stairs.
His skin glowing as if comprised of a 'dark light'. His suit glowing with a pulsating glow. His menacing white eyes narrow at the sight of the robbers down the hallway. Tugging his suit, Mister Negative buttons his suit and clears his throat, "Good Evening." he states as a lightbulb in the light pops.
“Muh-muh..Mister Negative…” Cletus gulps, taking a step back "...I-I didn't know...."
“...that I owned this arena." Mister Negative snarls, "You should've done your homework. Tombstone's pulled stakes here. Hell's Kitchen is mine” Mister Negative snickers before raising up two fingers and gesturing to them, "Along with your lives." he says as the men around them unsheathe their swords.
“RUN!” A.D. shouts, shooting at them as Cletus and the other man bolt into the secondary stairwell next to them.
Lifting his arm up, Mister Negative turns away from the hallway and looks over his shoulder at his men, “He won't be running on foot, find his driver and kill him, then behead them in the street.”
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