Grow Some Fangs

"I've been Spider-Man for only a week, but I feel more alive than ever before. All my life people have looked down on me, because I couldn't afford nice clothes. They said I'd never amount to much cause I was bad at math. Well look at me now!"

Scott bounced over rooftops, swung on wires and jumped on pipes as he parkoured through the streets of Brooklyn miles above the cars on the street. Jamie followed beside him, but now he was The Shocker, clad in a bright yellow padding with streaks of maroon red on the head, arms and chest. Like Scott, Jamie covered his face in a mask. On his hands were two silver gauntlets that looked like they could serve as brass knuckles as well.

"So what's the metal around your hands for?"

"They help me use my powers."

"You have powers too?"

"Yeah, I'm a mutant."

Scott was familiar with mutants, he had even met a few in high school. They were gifted (or cursed) with extraordinary powers that were unique to the person who was mutated. In the fifties mutants were subjugated against but these days they are revered as special. Mutants tend to become great people, and are encouraged to excel. The news says even the next president might be a mutant.

"Oh? What's your power?"

"I can create powerful shockwaves, but it's hard to control. That's why Phineas made me these, so I can focus all that energy into, like, a single punch or a blast."

"Phineas is the best."

"Tell me about it. Let's stop here."

The two masked criminals stopped on a roof next to a burger joint and sat down.

"We should get something to eat." Jamie said as his stomach growled.

"Yeah but we can't walk in there with our outfits on."

"We should've brought a way to conceal our costumes, like baggy clothes or something."

"Yeah I could wear a jacket over this and it might fool someone."

Just then Scott noticed as a man walked out of the burger place with a plastic bag full of delicious goods just begging to be stolen.

"Hey Shocker."

"Yeah?"

"Watch this."

Scott aimed his wrist and fired a web at the bag, he miraculously hit and pulled hard on the web. The bag flew out of the customer's hand and launched all the way up to the roof where Scott caught it.

"Stay hungry." Scott shouted to the foodless customer.

The two hid a few buildings away from the burger joint and enjoyed their fast food. It tasted absolutely delicious. Just then Scott felt a buzzing coming from his backpack, he reached into it and grabbed his phone. Darren was calling him, but now wasn't the time. Scott silenced his phone and let it go to voicemail.

"That reminds me." Jamie spoke up.

"Mhmm?"

"The names gotta go."

"What?"

"Spider-Man."

"What's wrong with it?"

"We're criminals, not Avengers. Think about it we have Vulture, Sandman, The Shocker, hell I even call Phineas The Tinkerer." Jamie remarked. "Spider-Man isn't going to bring fear to our enemies dude. I just don't want you to be the next Leap-Frog."

"Oh." Scott was a little disappointed, he really liked the name and thought it meant something to him. He could understand where Jamie was coming from though, all of his life nobody has taken Scott seriously. He had a suit and a mask that could scare a man - now he needed a name that would too.

"I have some suggestions." Jamie offered.

"No need. I've got it."

"Well?"

"Black Tarantula."

----

Vincent stood in his mirror posing naked, he had spent years building a physique he could be proud of. His phone was on the desk next to him, Vincent was on a call with his dad and had the phone set to speaker mode.

"So what have you been up to while we've been gone?" His father asked.

"Not much." Vincent answered in an uninterested tone, at this point he stopped posing and started putting his green and yellow leotard on. "Just the usual, yanno?"

"You know you could have come with us, son."

"I'm good where I'm at." Vincent sat down on his father's desk chair and strapped on the large metal braces to his legs.

"Okay… Well, we will be back home on Friday."

"Okay."

"I love you Vince."

"Love you too. I gotta go."

"Okay have a nice-"

Vincent cut the phone call off and put his green frog mask on.

"You should be nicer to your parents." a voice spoke from the shadows.

Vincent spun around in a panic. "Who's there?"

From a dark corner of the room Black Tarantula lunged at Leap-Frog, grabbed his neck and slammed him into the wall, knocking over the family portrait. Leap-Frog yelped as his back made a crack in the wood behind him.

"What the f**k!" Leap-Frog yelled.

"I wouldn't talk if I were you." Tarantula threatened.

"F**k off."

Leap-Frog pulled back and delivered a swift kick to the chest that was amplified by the power of the braces. Tarantula flew back and slid over the desk knocking all of the office supplies over. He landed on his ass, but his spine and the back of his head hit the door as Tarantula fell. Leap-Frog got up and walked over to the still dazed Tarantula.

"We don't have to fight…" Tarantula muttered, still stunned by the force of Leap-Frog's kick.

"You say that now? Now that you're cowering on the ground? Nah, this is the part where I kick the shit out of you." Vincent said as he proceeded to kick Tarantula through the wooden door and into the warehouse. Tarantula crawled on the floor desperate to escape, he could taste iron on his tongue from the damage he'd taken. About twenty feet from Black Tarantula and Leap-Frog was The Shocker who was making quick work of Leap-Frog's men.

Leap-Frog pressed his boot on Tarantula's chest to hold him in place and proceeded to punch him once and then again. At the third punch Tarantula grabbed Leap-Frog's fist and twisted it, causing him to yell in pain. Tarantula took the opportunity to shove Leap-Frog off of him using his other hand. Tarantula stood to his feet and readied himself for another round of fighting.

"Wait!" Leap-Frog raised his hands, "You're right, we don't have to fight."

"The particle ray… Someone stole it. You have any idea who the thief was?" Tarantula muttered groggily.

"No, but we can work together to find out. You can tell me what you know and I can show you my taekwondo training."

"Wait what?"

Tarantula's spider sense went off before the kick slammed into his side, but he was too inexperienced to take a beating like this, he couldn't dodge the metal boot from hitting him. The force of the kick knocked Tarantula over the balcony rail, at the last second he managed to grip onto a metal bar - but now he was hanging by one arm thirty feet above concrete. Shocker noticed what was happening and aimed his wrist gauntlet to fire a vibro-shock blast at Leap-Frog, but he hesitated because Tarantula was close enough to get hit as well.

"Shocker is with you? You're my replacement?" Leap-Frog laughed, "You're not built for this life kid."

The muscles in Tarantula's arm were burning the longer he held onto the rail, and Leap-Frog's insult pissed him off. He aimed and fired a web into Leap-Frog's face, which caused the green gangster to reel back as he couldn't see out of his mask. Tarantula took the opportunity and swung himself back onto the balcony. Leap-Frog acted quickly, taking the frog mask off so he could see.

"You f**ker!" Leap-Frog yelled.

Any pain Scott was feeling under the mask was numbed by anger, his senses tingled and he moved out of the way right before Leap-Frog would've kicked him in the chest. With his foot in the air, Tarantula took the opportunity to grab him by the ankle, spin him around and launch him back into his dad's office. Leap-Frog crashed into the big wooden desk and slumped down in pain. Tarantula entered the office and pulled him up by the collar of his costume so they were looking eye to eye.

"This is your last chance, you talk or you die." Tarantula warned.

"Fine." Leap-Frog groaned. "I know who the thief is."

"Who?"

"A woman by the name of Belle Sinclair. I met her… we had been going on dates."

"And you showed her a particle ray???"

"Well I didn't know she'd take it! I just wanted to impress her! Look, she's the only person who knows about it. Even my guys don't know what exactly I'm selling to Tombstone."

"Tombstone?" Shocker said from behind, having caught up to the two. "You're playing with fire Vince."

Scott had never heard of the name "Tombstone" before, but the way Jamie spoke about him said all he needed to know. Vincent was dealing with a dangerous man.

"I sent some thugs to go to her place and get my particle ray back. I was just trying to stop you. If you want to deal with Tombstone, be my guest."

"You know where she lives?" Scott asked.

"Uh, yeah I have my ways."

"Ew."

"Tarantula." Shocker called from behind. "If Tombstone thinks Vincent wasted his time, he's gonna waste him."

"So?"

"We can't get information from him if he's dead dude."

"Fair, get him somewhere else. I'll find this Belle."

"What makes you think I'll tell you the address?" Vincent jeered.

"I don't need you to. I spent a whole day scoping out your place, which gave me enough time to put trackers on your cars. I'll find out where you sent your guys."

Beside the doorway was a coat hanger with a brown bomber jacket, Scott took it and put it over his black spider costume. He started to leave the warehouse, while trying his best to hide the pain he was feeling again ever since his anger died down. Jamie put a hand on his shoulder to stop him.

"This isn't the initiation, call me if you need backup."

"I will."

——

"You're not built for this!"

Those words stuck with Scott even after the fight was won and he'd left the warehouse to find Belle. Maybe it's because they were true. When he first was bitten by that spider and given superpowers Scott thought he would be unstoppable, but everything is telling him that he's far from special. Even a guy like Frog-Man made him look weak. He was in the big leagues now, Adrian, Jamie and the lot were capable criminals that could do incredible things. And what was Scott? A glorified pickpocket.

That didn't mean Scott was going to give up though, he wanted this life more than anything. This was his chance to actually mean something. He knew he needed to stop pulling his punches, he won't get anywhere if he's afraid of getting his hands dirty.

Scott contacted Phineas using radio comms. Back at his shop Phineas was tracking the cars on his desktop, he gave Scott the address where Vincent's men went to get the particle ray. Scott hurried to the spot before it was too late.

——

Belle lived on the top floor of a run down apartment at the edge of town, it was the kind of old brick building that reminded Scott of his own place. He crawled up the building and peaked in through a window, only to see a brunette girl fist fighting with two men twice her size. She was quick on her feet and knew how to fight, but against two older and stronger opponents she didn't have much of a chance. She took a punch to the gut that sent her to knees, so he opened the window and fired a web at the goon. It hit the man with enough force to knock him back and stick him to the drywall. The second goon charged at Tarantula and swung with a wide left hook. Tarantula dodged the obvious attack and delivered a jab to the guy's chin. The punch hit hard, Scott heard a crack sound as the man's legs wobbled before he fell unconscious. Then he heard the click of a gun.

Belle grabbed a pistol from her nightstand drawer and was aiming it at Tarantula's head, but her eyes gave away that she was panicked and afraid.

"Why do you keep following me?" She yelled.

"I'm not after you." Scott put his hands up. "I'm just trying to get the device Vincent stole from my friends. I'm not trying to hurt you."

"Bullshit!"

"Look, you're obviously broke. I'd know, I live in an apartment just like this." He spoke in a quiet, calm voice. "But I'm trying to change that. I've got a group now, and we can all be rich. You stole that particle ray from Vincent like a pro, before I could! You could join us."

Belle stood there without saying a word, and her hands shook as she held the gun up to him. She let out a defeated sigh and put the gun down. "It's in the closet under the luggage. Just take it."

Scott walked over to the closet and moved the luggage, covered in blankets was the device depicted in Phineas' blueprints. "Mission accomplished."

Scott put the device into a duffel bag and walked towards the window. "You don't have to walk away empty handed, you can come with me and we can settle this in a way where everyone gets some cash."

"Not everything is about money."

Scott didn't know how to respond to that, but he knew he couldn't get through to her. Before leaving, he took both men out of her apartment and stuck them to a dumpster.

"This is nine one one, what is your emergency?" A voice spoke over Scott's phone.

"I found two men tied up next to a dumpster by Academy Road. They seem to be in a… a web?" Scott spoke in a different voice.

"We'll send someone to take a look."

Scott hung up the phone and got out of there before the sirens blared.

——

Rooftops were quickly becoming a comfort place for Scott, it was a pain in the ass to climb all the way up there but once you did the view from above was enchanting. The last few days had bled together into one blur of excitement, pain, confusion and intrigue. To make things worse, the few hours of sleep Scott had gotten in the last 48 hours was starting to wear him down. It took him a couple seconds to process that the flip phone in his pocket was ringing. He checked the name; DARREN.

"Shit…" It had been days since Scott was home, and he wasn't picking up for the last few hours. Darren was probably pissed, but he knew he had to answer the call.

"Hello?"

"Dude where the f**k have you been? Thank god I thought you got yourself killed or arrested."

"I'm sorry. I've just been busy."

"It's fine you just gotta let me know man. When are you coming back?"

"Soon. I just…. I just need to do something."

"You don't sound so good. Are you hungover?"

"No. Actually yes."

"Well, I called you earlier to ask if you heard the news."

"What news?"

"I'm surprised you didn't hear about it already, Captain America died today."