InsaneJournal

WHO: Spider-Man 2099. Narrative.
WHAT: Stress relief and crime fighting all in one!
WHEN: Starts at about 11:30pm, ends at about 1am-ish.
WHERE: Random dark alley.
RATING: PG? Maybe PG-13 for violence.
STATUS: Complete.

Miguel had felt like a douchebag after the whole Dawn thing. Sure, technically he was doing the right thing by backing off, but he should’ve asked for her age up front. He was used to being able to look people up in one of several Alchemax databases, and he’d let the lack of those databases throw him off. It was an amateurish, moronic move, but hopefully he’d made it right. Sure, she’d be pissed at him, and probably never really speak to him again. But she’d get over the rest of it. Such was the nature of being a teenager.

That didn’t make him feel any better, though. He had an idea of what would, though. And as it happened, it matched well with what he’d already planned to do tonight. Slipping out of the apartment quietly, so as not to disturb Gwen, he’d ducked into the nearest alley and pulled off his clothes to reveal the costume underneath. From his pocket, he retrieved his mask, and with just a little application of webbing, secured it to his face. It was his standard anti-unmasking procedure. Yeah, it hurt a little coming off, but no worse than a ban-aid and with none of the discernable marks or traces of other adhesive. Organic webbing was a godsend for keeping the mask on. Then he made a tiny little web satchel, practically invisible against the Lyte-Byte webbing-like airfoil on his back, and placed his PDA in there. You never knew when you’d need it for something.

Once that was done, he scaled the building, making sure to avoid any windows, and deposited his clothes into his room through his window. Then he closed it from the outside, securing it with just a little webbing, which would easily be shredded by his talons when he needed to get back in. Now free to head out, he climbed to the roof and, with the slightest of grins behind his mask, leapt off. He fired a webline to the nearest tall building, gripped it securely with both hands, and kicked out with both feet, wishing the wind washing over him could buffet away the lingering feeling of stupidity.

Over the next several hours, he’d found that this city was nowhere near as crimeridden as New York. He attributed that to a lack of huge megacorporations, since most of the crime in his world could be blamed on them in some form or another. On the one hand, it was a good thing that there wasn’t as much crime here. That meant less people being victimized or hurt. On the other hand, it meant a lot of frustration for a superhero that wanted to blow off some steam.

And then he heard a scream. YES! …Uh, I mean. NO! I mean. …Crap. It was coming from maybe seventy feet away, and if he focused, he could easily see what was going on. A mugging? With knives. How…quaint. …And, wait, that’s a guy? Dude. Way to scream like a girl. Didn’t mean he could walk away…but he could note this one down as the most hilarious rescue ever. Picking up speed, he made it to the roof to the south of the alley in a matter of minutes. The guy had backed into the alley, with the thugs cutting off his exit. Use your brain, man. Don’t ever let your exit get blocked. He was being maybe a little overly critical, but he was in a mood. Which was unfortunate for those thugs, too.

Normally, he’d have just made some quick webshots to render their weapons useless, then gone down there and handled the three of them with his fists. But he was in a mood. Which apparently made him more creative. He crawled over the lip of the roof and down just slightly, leaving him completely in the shadow created by the slightly taller building to the north. Then he pointed his hand and fired a single webline, easily nailing one of the muggers right in the back. Before the mugger had a chance to do more than flinch, Miguel gripped the line and yanked it back hard, hauling the startled mugger right to him. It was a simple matter to knock him out in the shadows.

The other two muggers, and even the victim, looked around frantically. “Hey,” one of the muggers shouted. “What the hell’s goin’ on? Who’s out there?!” By the time he’d gotten the full sentence out, Miguel had leapt to the roof of the building to the north. The mugger was looking in the wrong place, and Miguel utilized that opportunity. Hauling the unconscious mugger up over his head, he hurled him down at the one that had shouted, with enough force to drive the other man’s head into the nearby dumpster, knocking him out as well.

That left one remaining mugger, who was now more than a little freaked. He was moving deeper into the alley, with the victim pressed back up against the wall. Securing a webline between the two buildings, Miguel crawled out onto it and, using another webline, lowered himself down upside down, waiting with his head right behind the remaining mugger. He kept quiet for a moment, as the victim’s eyes widened. The mugger got the message a second later and spun, bringing his knife around. Miguel was ready for it, and grabbed the man’s wrist in an iron grip that stopped it cold. “BOO!” Yanking on the webline with all his might, the two of them were sent straight up into the air, and another webline secured them to the shadows of the edge of the building. Once again easily knocking the man out, he dropped the unconscious thug back down into the alley.

Jumping down a second later, he glanced at the victim, apparently too shocked to move. He waited a second, expecting him to run, and got nothing. Snickering, he stepped to the side and swept his arm out towards the exit. “Go!” Apparently breaking whatever spell the shock had over him, the man bolted out of the alley, not even stopping to thank him. “Talk about grateful,” he sighed, shaking his head. “Now, what to do with these “fine gentlemen”…” Then he got an idea. It took him a few minutes to weave a giant spiderweb between the buildings to the north and south of the alley, but he did it. Then he chucked the three unconscious muggers into it, and webbed their arms and legs to it at the wrists and ankles. Then, with a little grin, he weaved a message into the top. A calling card. He once again took to the rooftops, this time with a much larger grin under his mask. Making sure he was well away from the scene of the beat down, he paused on a rooftop, pulled the PDA out of the little web-satchel he’d made, and put in an anonymous tip to the cops.

When they found the three hapless muggers stuck in his web, they would find his message on top. Along came a spider… Hopefully, it would get people talking. Or maybe that guy he’d saved would talk about being saved by a man that was like a spider. Whatever, Miguel wasn’t picky. He missed people wondering about Spider-Man, and felt it was time to make his presence known.