Spider-Man : The Story of a Hero

At that order, neither of them answered with words. Only their weapons spoke. In the same movement, Hammerhead and Tombstone drew their pistols before immediately opening fire with deadly precision.

And yet, the man in black dodged every projectile with disconcerting ease. At first, he limited himself to moving only as much as necessary, avoiding the bullets with simple shifts of his body, without the slightest unnecessary gesture.

But when the two shooters synchronized their shots in order to catch him in a crossfire, he was forced to perform several acrobatic movements in succession.

He leaped slightly, tucked his body in midair for a tiny fraction of a second, landed lightly on the floor, rolled, pushed off with his hands, and propelled himself in a single motion toward the ceiling, where he clung with impressive ease.

Taking advantage of the brief moment during which his opponents raised their weapons to aim at him on the ceiling, Spider-Man fired a web toward Wilson Fisk.

The latter, seeing the projectile flying straight toward him, did not flinch. His face showed neither fear nor concern. But before the web could even reach him, Tombstone stepped in, grabbed it firmly with one hand, and pulled violently on it.

Spider-Man was immediately ripped from the ceiling and hurled toward the floor. Despite the force of the movement, he managed to land without the slightest difficulty, still in complete silence, which made each of his movements even more disturbing.

Without wasting a second, the young hero fought back in turn, trying to immobilize his opponents with his webs. But Tombstone and Hammerhead now knew this fighting style perfectly.

They managed to hold their own against him without too much difficulty, constantly protecting Wilson Fisk while keeping him at a distance with their gunfire. They reloaded their weapons with remarkable fluidity, naturally alternating their cover so as never to give Spider-Man the slightest opening.

Meanwhile, Silver Sable simply watched the scene. At first, she had prepared herself to join the fight, but the vigilante seemed to have forgotten about her. She almost felt a certain relief because of it.

— ”I’ve already done my job and been paid. It’s not my problem anymore... it’s theirs.”

As she slowly made her way toward the office exit, Spider-Man, who had just performed a massive backflip, suddenly fired a web with remarkable precision.

It wrapped itself around the mercenary’s right leg. She did not even have time to understand what was happening before Spider-Man yanked on it brutally. Her body was immediately hurled backward with force.

— ”Shit!”

She flew across the room before crashing heavily beside the other criminals.

— ”You... stay here.”

Seeing that his two lieutenants were having far more difficulty than expected against Spider-Man, Wilson Fisk suddenly raised his voice.

— ”Sable! Help Tombstone and Hammerhead kill that thing, and I’ll give you a bonus on top of what I’ve already paid you! Do we have a deal?”

Silver Sable hesitated for a brief moment, but as she watched her opponent, she immediately understood that she did not really have a choice. Spider-Man would never let her leave the premises as long as he was not dead... or incapacitated. Resigned, she let out a long sigh. She, who had simply hoped to leave, was now forced to return to the arena.

— ”Damn it!”

There were now three of them facing the human spider. Hammerhead and Tombstone having finally emptied their magazines, they abandoned their firearms to engage in close combat.

Tombstone drew the knife he kept on him, while Hammerhead charged straight at Spider-Man, using his steel skull as a true weapon. Behind them, Silver Sable continued firing with both of her pistols.

Her accuracy was such that she managed to target only Spider-Man, without ever risking hitting her two allies, despite the fact that they were constantly in her line of fire.

The fight now resembled a true display of skill. While Spider-Man dodged every one of their attacks with incredible ease, the three criminals multiplied their combined offensives in the hope of catching him off guard.

And yet, despite the quality of their coordination, none of them managed to touch him. On several occasions, the vigilante even used Hammerhead as an improvised shield, placing his skull in the path of Silver Sable’s shots. The bullets then embedded themselves in the criminal’s skin, without it seeming to truly affect him.

— ”Shit! Without my skull... I’d already be dead several times over!”

The thought had barely crossed his mind when Tombstone immediately returned to the attack. The two fighters exchanged another series of blows at impressive speed, but Spider-Man always seemed to be one step ahead.

He dodged one of Tombstone’s attacks with a simple, almost imperceptible movement of his head before violently sweeping his legs out from under him. The colossus was thrown backward and, before he could even regain his balance, Peter followed up with a kick so violent that Tombstone spat a little blood as he crashed to the floor.

Taking advantage of that brief opening, Silver Sable immediately went on the offensive. In close combat, she was by far the most skilled fighter in the entire group.

By observing her posture and each of her movements, Peter understood almost instantly what she was about to do. He remembered perfectly the feint that had allowed her to surprise him during their previous confrontation.

But this time, it was not the same.

It was a double feint.

Knowing that he would probably expect to see exactly the same attack again, Silver Sable had anticipated his reaction. She pretended to repeat her old technique before suddenly changing trajectory at the last instant, drawing a knife to aim directly at his legs.

And yet, his Spider-Sense activated just in time, and Peter dodged the attack by only a few centimeters. Despite all the anger inside him, he could not help but be genuinely impressed by the mercenary’s level of skill.

With her first assault having failed, Silver Sable straightened up with remarkable speed and immediately tried to slit his throat. Once again, her attack was stopped dead.

Spider-Man had just intercepted her arm with almost unreal calm, as though he knew each of her movements before they even happened.

The young woman let out a groan of frustration and immediately tried to break free, but Peter did not give her the time. He grabbed her left arm and twisted it with enough force to tear a cry of pain from her.

Silver Sable fell to one knee, but in one final effort, she drew a second knife with her right hand and attempted another attack. Once again, the result was exactly the same: Spider-Man stopped her movement without the slightest difficulty.

The next instant, he hurled her violently against a wall. The impact was so brutal that, after a few seconds, she felt a trickle of blood run from the corner of her lips.

Despite the relentless attacks of the three criminals, whether from close range or from a distance, Spider-Man had still not suffered the slightest injury. Seated behind his desk, Wilson Fisk watched the entire scene with a mixture of disbelief and irritation that was becoming increasingly difficult to hide.

— ”There are several of you against one kid... and you can’t even beat him? Pathetic.”

While Tombstone, Hammerhead, and Silver Sable struggled to catch their breath, the largest man in the room finally rose from his chair.

He was gigantic. His build seemed almost unreal, as though no human being could naturally possess such muscle mass.

His weight, his enormous shoulders, his massive arms, and the thickness of his skin made him look capable of withstanding the impact of a car traveling at forty kilometers per hour without even flinching.

Now standing, Wilson Fisk slowly advanced toward Spider-Man. Faced with the Kingpin, Peter appeared almost twice as small.

— ”You may have always won until now... but it’s time you understood that there are people stronger than you.”

Peter calmly observed his opponent. Faced with a man of such stature, he truly felt tiny. Yet it inspired absolutely no fear in him.

Quite the opposite.

— ”You’re absolutely right. It’s time to make you understand that there are people stronger than you.”

His gaze slowly swept across the room, stopping in turn on each of the criminals still present.

— ”Stronger than all of you combined.”

Finally, his eyes settled on Wilson Fisk once again. Despite the mask concealing his face, the Kingpin immediately understood one thing:

This kid was openly mocking him.

— ”And guess what? That person is standing right in front of you.”

— ”We’ll see about that...”

The enormous mountain of muscle immediately went on the offensive. He unleashed a series of attacks with raw violence, each one far more powerful than those of his men.

His attacks were less technical, almost crude, but their strength was enough to pulverize any opponent. Peter knew perfectly well that a single one of those impacts would not kill him, given how far his durability exceeded that of a normal human being. Even so, he would much rather avoid taking one head-on.

But that simple thought was enough to distract him for a fraction of a second. And Fisk immediately took advantage of it.

His enormous hands suddenly closed around Spider-Man, completely trapping his body before gradually tightening their grip. The pressure increased with every passing second, slowly crushing the young hero between his gigantic fingers.

— ”I’m going to break you!”

As the grip tightened, Peter slightly clenched his teeth. Then, without the slightest warning, something violently struck Wilson Fisk’s chin. The impact was powerful enough to make him stagger and force him to immediately release his grip.

For a few moments, the Kingpin remained frozen, unable to understand what had just happened. How could Spider-Man have struck him when all of his movements were restrained?

That was when he felt something running down his chin: Blood.

— ”How did you—”

His sentence abruptly stopped when he saw something incomprehensible. Before his eyes, Spider-Man’s body seemed to deform... or rather, it was his suit.

The strange black substance covering him suddenly began to ripple before several tentacles burst out and extended all around the young hero. Faced with such a sight, the criminals were left completely speechless.

— ”What is that thing?!”

Realizing that he may have made an error in judgment, Wilson Fisk instinctively took a few steps back. For the first time since the beginning of their confrontation, genuine concern could be seen on his face.

— ”I may have underestimated him a little…”

Hammerhead immediately turned his head toward his boss.

— ”What do we do, boss?”

— ”What do you think?”

For a few moments, time almost seemed to stop. Their eyes met in a heavy silence where no words were necessary. Each of them had perfectly understood what remained to be done if they wanted to survive and put an end to this.

They all slowly took position around Spider-Man once again, ready to pounce on him like a pack of predators facing a creature even more dangerous than themselves.

After several long seconds of tension, Wilson Fisk finally broke the silence by shouting his order:

— ”WE KILL HIM!”

TO BE CONTINUED.