[CENTER][IMG]https://i.imgur.com/gDUE5Zd.png[/IMG][/CENTER] [b]"Ladies and gentlemen, we are broadcasting to you live as we approach what can only be described as a scene of absolute chaos at the infamous Raft prison..."[/b] Booking perhaps the least comfortable flight trip of all time since The Blob tried to book a two-seater on Delta Airlines, my Spider Sense hums at me as roaring winds and torrential rain pound me in the face whenever I try and look up ahead at the scene. Gotta thank my genetically altered DNA for allowing me to stick to the surface of this thing, because if I were anyone else, this weather would have sent me flying down into the Hudson about 30 miles ago. Catching my bearings as I wring out a half liter of water from the bottom half of my mask, the look of a firey wreck ahead snaps me to attention. [b][color=ed1c24]"Geez, Aleksei..."[/color][/b], I mutter, bewildered. [color=ed1c24][b]"You really outdid yourself this time in the 'mass destruction of everything' notch of the Rhino schtick."[/b][/color] Crawling upwards, horizontally, I reach the window of my carrier craft - otherwise known as the NYDN Channel 7 helicopter - and peer inside to make sure that the reporter and her crew are making sure to keep a safe distance. Because as stupid as it sounds, I want them to get close enough to let me off so that I can clean up this mess... while also not getting close enough to endanger themselves or anyone else who may need to be led off of the facility. [b]"Just under thirty minutes ago, Channel 7 sources were told by officials that the maximum security prison, specializing in housing dangerous supervillains, entered into a lockdown after a prisoner transfer went horribly awry. While the details aren't officially confirmed as to the perpetrator, rumors have circulated that it was an attack carried out by Aleksei Sytsevich, better known as The R---"[/b] In the middle of her broadcast, the woman stops cold and her eyes go wide, transfixed by something in my direction. At first, I start to freak out, thinking that something's being hurdled at the helicopter because that's usually what one of these guys do whenever they see me coming. Then I realize exactly what she's freaking out about, because she keeps pointing at me and screaming something unintelligible at her cameraman. Ah, the ole' Spidey charm. Always a winner with the ladies. [b][color=ed1c24]"Hey! Sorry, I needed a ride over, and there weren't any ferries accepting American Express!"[/color][/b], I shout, throwing up my hands. [b][color=ed1c24]"Thanks for accommodating! I'll be out of your hair, now! By the way, love the channel! I don't actually watch it, but I mean... what's good television these days, anyway?!"[/color][/b] With the entire crew now freaking out, each shouting something along the lines of "AAAAH GET HIM OFF, GET HIM OFF!", "SOMEBODY CALL THE POLICE, IT'S THE FREAK WITH THE WEBS!", and "OH MY GOD, IS THAT DEADPOOL?!", I finally get the hint and give them a neighborly salute. I'd give them cash for their troubles, but I sorta don't have any pockets. Or the... cash to withhold from them in the first place. [color=ed1c24][b]"Right. Scary guy in a mask attached to your window. Probably not paying attention to a word I'm saying..."[/b][/color] [I][B]THWIP![/B][/I] Firing a webline towards the billowing smoke pile ahead of me, I wait for it to snag something and pull, leading me into a less than graceful swing off of the side of the still-in-flight helicopter. With any luck, this'll net me some good press! In that I totally hijacked an aircraft for my own purposes and that it'll come back to bite me as a headline worded in that exact way. [color=ed1c24][b]"Whoah!"[/b][/color], I pronounce, landing on the side of a hard surface that isn't on fire. [color=ed1c24][b]"Talk about making it late to the scene of the party! You people skipped the party altogether and went straight to the horrible drunken aftermath!"[/b][/color] See, some people - and I'm not going to name names, [i]Johnny Storm[/i] - they tend to cite my humor as a bit lame at best and incredibly infantile at worst. And while that is definitely the case and I'm usually the first to admit it, what most don't realize is that it happens automatically. It kicks in as a reflex, almost like I got another power from the spider-bite, whenever I'm scared out of my mind. And looking at the scene ahead of me, where I can tell at least a couple of dead bodies are smushed under concrete debris and there's no discernable way to get inside of the prison itself? I'd say I'm pretty terrified. Leaping down and firing out another webline, I swing over and narrowly miss a wild ball of flame that licks at the bottom of my spandex soles. You'd think the rain would have taken care of this fire all by now, but that just goes to show how quickly and rapidly the entire situation went out of control. This all still fresh. Rhino's known for his berserker mode, but this? This reeks of deliberation. Planning, almost. Like someone smarter than ole' Hornytoad wanted him here and causing a ruckus. Could it be the mysterious benefactor that let Sandman loose on Times Square? [color=ed1c24][b]"Hello?!"[/b][/color], I shout as loudly as possible. [b][color=ed1c24]"Is anyone still here?! Local superhero seeks survivors of crazy amounts of destruction! First come, first save!"[/color][/b] That's when it hits me again. My Spider-Sense isn't just going off because of the severity of the weather anymore. Something's coming right for me, and I'm standing around like a doofus. [b][COLOR=DarkGray]"YOU AGAIN?!"[/COLOR][/b] Resisting the urge to shriek with a certain amount of girlishness, I backflip out of the way as the man of the hour himself comes bursting through the fire like a freaking freight train and a wrecking ball had an ugly, out-of-control kid with ADHD. Rhino slams his horn into a piece of debris as he slams to a stop, sending concrete flying my way. I leap over it and dodge what I can, firing a webline directly at tall, dark and brutish. He catches it with his massive forearm and pulls, sending me flying over him. I manage to catch myself on a pole jutting out of the structure of the cracked base. [color=ed1c24][b]"Yeah! Me again, you big doof!"[/b][/color], I counter. [color=ed1c24][b]"What, did you think you'd get Daredevil this time? Because let me tell you from personal experience, pal, that unless you're a ninja or a gorgeous lady assassin, he's not showing up!"[/b][/color] [b][COLOR=DarkGray]"ALWAYS YOU!"[/COLOR][/b], he angrily barks back. [b][COLOR=DarkGray]"EVERY TIME I AM IN MIDST OF CARRYING OUT PLAN, IT ALWAYS SPIDER WHO IS TRYING TO STOP IT! WHY DO YOU VEX ME THIS WAY?!"[/COLOR][/b] [color=ed1c24][b]"First of all, what do you mean 'trying'?"[/b][/color] Leaping down, I parlay a handstand into a somersaulted kick and leap, striking the big lug directly in the nose. [IMG]https://i.imgur.com/WwCW8Pm.png[/IMG] [color=ed1c24][b]"As far as records go, I'm pretty well in the 'succeeding' column when it comes to putting your ginormous butt in check!"[/b][/color] Swiping at me like a fly, Rhino just barely manages to knock me one in the face as I'm in mid-dodge, knocking me back from whence I came. I fire out another webline to stop myself just before landing in one of the massive fires that this lunatic has started. Sorry, Rhino, but Shish-kabob Spider-Man isn't gonna be on the menu this evening. And I certainly wouldn't give a card-carrying member of 'Wide Load's Anonymous' like you the satisfaction of serving it. [b][COLOR=DarkGray]"PERHAPS TRUE, BUT YOU ARE TOO LATE THIS TIME!"[/COLOR][/b] Running his mile-long boot along the ground, signifying his intent to ram me into the skies, Rhino stampedes ahead and forces me to leap off of my back and swing for higher ground. There still isn't any sign of civillians or prison guards that survived the attack, unless the real pandemonium is inside. And good God, if that's the case, I need to wrap this up quickly. There's no telling how many of my old stomping-face buddies are running riot in there if the security's been breached. Someone's probably sticking actual fish into Mysterio's actual fishbowl helmet! [b][COLOR=DarkGray]"I HAVE FREED EVERYONE! EVERYONE WITH GRUDGE AGAINST YOU!"[/COLOR][/b], Rhino taunts, turning rubble into further, smaller rubble. [b][COLOR=DarkGray]"AND WITH LIST MILE LONG, YOU WILL NOT GET CHANCE TO LEAVE ALIVE!"[/COLOR][/b] My eyes widen as Rhino confirms my worst possible fears. Everyone with a grudge against me that was being held in there?! I don't exactly keep a headcount, but I'm willing to wage that he's talking about like half of my Rogue's Gallery! If... that's a thing that you even call having a bunch of maniacs with superhuman powers and terrible fashion sense out for your blood anymore. But the point remains! Unless he's bluffing, this is really bad! Way beyond putting fish in Mysterio's fishbowl bad! [color=ed1c24][b]"Okay, time out. I'm cutting the back-and-forth thing I usually save for these occasions and cutting straight to the point with this one."[/b][/color] Webbing up my fists with a layer of fluid so dense that it immediately hardens, I flip forward and strike at Rhino's face with all of the strength I can possibly muster. The thing he's never gotten about his weird animal-hide costume exo-suit thing is that for all of it's armored bits and it's protective surfaces, somehow not covering his face in a decade is usually how I've been able to defeat him. And so when I punch, he staggers. [color=ed1c24][b]"WHY! WOULD! YOU! POSSIBLY! DO! THAT!?"[/b][/color], I angrily shout with every blow. [b][color=ed1c24]"ARE YOU OUT OF YOUR MIND?! THERE ARE PSYCHOPATHS IN THERE! KILLERS, ALEKSEI! HORRIBLE PEOPLE THAT EVEN [i]YOU[/i] WOULD NOT WANT ON THE STREET!"[/color][/b] Rhino catches my fist in his, and smiles, despite his nose and mouth being bloodied by trauma. I start to feel the bones in my hand buckle under the immense pressure, and am suddenly unable to fight back. I try to go for a kick, and he blocks that by grabbing my ankle and giving it a similar treatment. He could shatter both parts of my body in an instant. He knows he could, and yet he doesn't. He wants me to know that. [b][COLOR=DarkGray]"When paycheck is big enough, Spider-Man? I can become quite comfortable with whomever is on street."[/COLOR][/b] My Spider-Sense flares up again, and I try to rip myself from Rhino's grasp, but something hard grabs me at the back of my neck and locks, choking the life out of me with an immense strength. [color=fff200][b]"And when he is referring to current company, you annoying arachnid..."[/b][/color] Whatever has me by the neck pulls me from Rhino and throws me into a nearby wall with so much force that my mind can't even comprehend making a stupid joke to describe the pain I'm about to feel. That's when I finally see what was keeping me interlocked, as it reels itself back to it's host. A giant metal tentacle. One of four, attached to one of the very last men I'd ever want to see walking free from a place like this. Otto Octavius. Known to most as Doc Ock, and one of the worst nutcases I've ever put away. [b][color=fff200]"I believe Mr. Sytsevich is quite comfortable. We've been well acquainted before."[/color][/b] Gasping for air, I pull myself out of the Spider-Man shaped hole in the wall just long enough for my vision to stop blurring on me. I think I have a concussion, and I think my concussion has a concussion aswell. It's an Avengers: Concussion War going on in my brain right now, because my motor functions are barely working as is. [color=ed1c24]"Oh, great. The sociopathic cavalry has arrived..."[/color], I wheeze. [color=ed1c24][b]"Did you get a new onesie, Otto? It's so hard to keep track of these standard prison garb."[/b][/color] [color=fff200][b]"Yes. You may have your fun, little Spider. You may make your jokes."[/b][/color], Otto taunts back, lifting himself with his four-legged instruments of destruction. [color=fff200][b]"But they will prove quite ineffective at helping you to deny the obvious. Today, you are not to be the victor. No matter whatever last minute attempts you make to try and contain the threat within, this is far beyond you. If you attempt to enter The Raft, you will die."[/b][/color] Lashing one of his tentacles out at me, it wraps around my torso and tightens like the world's most sci-fi version of a boa constrictor. I struggle to get free and start laying a beatdown on these two that they could never even imagine, but it's hopeless. Ock's got me on the ropes, and Rhino's backed in his corner. Reaching up, I attempt to fire another webline - maybe to escape, maybe to prove him wrong and swing my way into the prison to see what I can still do - but Ock catches my wrist with another tentacle and squeezes. [color=ed1c24][b]"ARGH!"[/b][/color] Not only does he snap my wrist, but the web-shooter that was covering it is shattered. [color=fff200][b]"And as much as I would rather enjoy watching you feebly try and contain the mess that only you, yourself, can be blamed for creating in the first place,"[/b][/color], Ock mocks, pulling me directly to him. [color=fff200][b]"I have much bigger plans in store for you. So for once, Spider-Man, I offer you a temporary truce."[/b][/color] I stare back, dumbstruck. [color=ed1c24][b]"A-A truce?"[/b][/color] [b][color=fff200]"Indeed."[/color][/b], he says, with a sadistic grin. [b][color=fff200]"This fight is to cease immediately, as we continue on with our business within the prison. And you, little Spider, are to be allowed to live in exchange for this act of undeserved generosity."[/color][/b] Angrily, I bawl up my unbroken fist and get ready to punch him directly in those stupid glasses he's always wearing. [color=ed1c24][b]"Ock, if you think for a second that I'm even gonna [i]consider[/i] such a ridiculous offer, you're nuttier than a squirrel with..."[/b][/color] Another tentacle clamps my mouth shut, cutting off any protest. [color=fff200][b]"No, no. The time for you to talk is over. Let this truce commence."[/b][/color] Suddenly, all four arms converge onto me at once, and lock me into an unbreakable position. My ribs start to crack and I'm beginning to feel lightheaded. Vision's starting to black out. All that I can hear is Otto's manic laughter as Aleksei joins him, along with a few other voices that emerge unseen. By the time I regain consciousness, I'm watching myself about to hit the ocean. They didn't even attempt to fight me, or even kidnap me or whatever these guys usually do. They just tossed me aside like a piece of garbage. A mild inconvenience. Like I was nothing. Which is exactly what I feel like as I hit the water. A great big nothing.