PREVIOUSLY: Spidey went to investigate an explosion at the First Bank of New York, only to find his old nemesis, The Scorpion! Now trapped in his tail, Spider-Man is head-over-heels in trouble.
HEROES: The Fan Fiction Magazine presents
The Spectacular Spider-Man
Episode 3 – “False Start”
As a superhero I find myself in odd situations all the time. Locked in a death chamber by the Green Goblin. Tied to a giant turnip by the White Rabbit (loooong story). Held upside down by a mechanical scorpion tail.
That last one just so happens to be my latest happening happenstance.
“Having trouble breathing, wall-crawler?” the Scorpion asked, a little sarcastically I might add.
I would have answered but having the life squeezed out of you tends to leave you a little speechless. For as much as a simplistic moron as Mac Gargan is he has the muscle to compensate. You know that cliché people give high football players? Big and dumb? That provides all the in depth analysis of Gargan that you’ll ever need. Unfortunately the big and slow stereotype doesn’t fit his ugly, green hide. He’s fast enough to catch me off guard and that’s really saying something.
His tail was wrapped around me pretty tight and I only had a few seconds to try and free myself before my spine did its best impersonation of an Osborne’s mental state (that’s a pun for something snapping…leave me alone, I’m winded).
The Scorpion had been created in direct opposition to me. That meant all of his strengths were supposedly above my average and that my normal tactics were useless against him. In fact, his exoskeleton was so slick that my webbing often slid off before adhering. Since his tail was part of his exoskeleton then it was also devoid of most friction and I was able to wiggle my one arm free.
As soon as I popped my arm out from between his coils I saw a look of surprise and anger splashed across the Scorpion’s ugly puss. The extra room let me pull in a quick breath before he instinctively tightened again, but it was all I needed. Now that a little oxygen had gotten to my brain I could coordinate my free arm enough to aim my webshooter at his eyes. With a quick thwip! of mine and a little screaming on his part, Gargan’s face was covered in sticky stuff and I fell out from between the folds of his tail.
I managed to get my feet under me before I hit the pavement and fell into a crouch. “Say g’night, Gracie!” Who says my one-liners aren’t made of solid gold?
I sprung back up off the ground and planted a firm uppercut to Gargan’s chin, which sent him flipping back over himself and face down onto the sidewalk. The excess webbing still attached to the top of his head held his face to the ground, keeping him from getting back up. I make that stuff strong, yo.
“Mmph mmph rumph!”
“Sorry?” I replied, cocking a hand to the ear beneath my mask. “I didn’t quit catch that. You what? You want your mommy? Oh, my!”
The Scorpion pressed his arms down against the ground and pushed up with all his strength, ripping his face free of the webbing that had now adhered to the sidewalk. Ouch. That must have hurt like the dickens. He looked really mad…like, madder than usual. Oops.
“I’ll gut you!” he roared. I think he meant it, too.
I barely dodged his claws as they came at me, spinning around and bringing my forearm down across the back of his neck in a perfectly executed martial arts thingy that I had watched Iron Fist do once. It’s nice to have friends who can teach you important things like that.
Even though Gargan’s bulky frame had passed by me his tail was still swinging. I grabbed onto it as it tried to lay me out. It was like wrestling a live anaconda, only instead of two fangs there was one giant prong. He tossed me left and right, finally breaking my grip and sending me flying at a nearby Volkswagon.
While I was flying through the air I chanced a quick look back at Gargan and saw a big smile on his face. Maybe I shouldn’t have made that crack about his mom.
TO BE CONTINUED