Reverso's grip on my neck tightened and my spider sense cried out. But the intensity so clearly visible in his eyes, the hatred he looked at me with was more than enough to warn me of the danger I was in. With a roar, I slashed upwards, claws that I’d all but forgotten about cutting cleanly through the air before sinking through armour into toughened flesh. Reverso gasped and dropped me, pulling back. I fell, but before my feet touched stone I was firing webs, and a barrage of silk orbs assaulted him with enough force to knock him back.
He stumbled back further, but then stretched out his hand. The webs began to slow before a few shot back towards me. I dodged the now reversed barrage, as Reverso nursed the slash to his arm, his power growing. I could feel it with my spider sense, feel the presence of his ability even outside of its field. It was weaker than yesterday, but still deadly.
It expanded outwards with speed and I leapt back. But it was too late. I slowed, my movements confused, and Reverso pounced.
But before he could reach me, Rosita slammed into him from above, the heel of her foot crashing against his back. He slammed hard against the concrete of the roof, cracking it. Then she grabbed him and threw him hard, his body flying across the street, down towards the ground. He crashed into an alley way and skidded across the ground hard, staying down.
“Damn... is he out?” I asked.
“No. Something like that won’t keep him down”
As if on cue he began to pull himself off the floor.
“Shit. I thought he was supposed to be out of commission” I cursed, rubbing my neck. “What do we do?”
Rosita didn’t reply, glancing off in the direction we needed to go before looking back to the dazed Reverso.
“We have to go”
“And have him follow us!?” I said alarmed. “To the bomb!?”
“Well, what the fuck else can we do?!” she snarled back at me. ”He's almost impossible to keep down and we can’t ju-“
Our spider sense blared and we both dodged as a manhole cover whizzed over our heads. Then Reverso was on top of us again, his battle cry filled with a palpable anger. He grabbed Rosita and slammed her into me before using his momentum to throw us to the floor hard.
The already cracked concrete disintegrated and we crashed to the floor inside amid a rain of debris. Without a second’s hesitation, he shot down towards us again, but Rosita leapt up cracking his jaw with an uppercut that sent him flying. He crashed through a wall within the building and disappeared in the mixture of dust debris and smoke. I waited, watching it for a second, but nothing happened. He was down.
“Let’s go” Rosita said sternly. I looked into the dust, then at the destruction all around me spotting bloodstains within the rubble and debris. I cursed silently, then followed Rosita.
My mind twisted and turned as I swung away from the building, struggling to grapple with the decision I was making. I glanced below, spotting scared civilians as they looked up at us, confused. I forced myself to ignore the cries coming from the street and within the building we’d just left behind.
I was doing the right thing. Following Rosita was the right thing. She was a way better fighter and had more experience with this. Heck, she was a clone of the other me, if anything I was just following the advice of a better version of myself. With enough time, I probably would've made the same choice myself.
But that didn’t make leaving feel any less wrong.
Even if it made sense logically, it went against the very idea of a hero I had within my mind. Plus, I’d promised myself hadn’t I? That I wouldn’t let anyone die.
From the sound of it Reverso was here for me. To kill me. And he was hitting like he was trying to as well. I didn't know why but his punches were filled with a different kind of anger, a powerful hatred. And if he was that set on destroying me today, compared to yesterday, just imagining the destruction he could really cause was frightening. The lives that’d be lost….
Rosita could’ve deal with the robots and bomb alone. She basically had last time. And if she needed the help, it’d get there before the timer. Probably. I didn't know how fast the others were, but they could get here to Midtown ten minutes. I could stay here, fight Reverso, without affecting Gwen’s plan too much. Though it would mean fighting Reverso alone.
Shit, that was kind of scary. Really scary actually. But a promise was a promise.
I slowed as Rosita pulled away, and stopped against a building face. I looked back staring at the wrecked building, then at the damage caused in the street below.
“Spider?!” Rosita said, glancing back. “Hurry dammit! There isn’t much time!”
“I can’t just leave the people here!”
“What?”
“I’ve got this and you handle the bomb. Go”
“What the hell are you talking about?!”
“Just go dammit!” I shouted at her “I’ll catch up”. She hesitated for a second then nodded, and quickly swung away.
“What’s happening?” a breathless Gwen suddenly said over the comms.
“Reverso” I said back.
“What?!” a group of voices cried over the comms. I winced. Guess everyone was out and about now. That was good.
Before I could add more, Reverso emerged from the building, climbing from the rubble onto the roof. Part of his mask was gone, and blood trailed down his face from his nose. He looked around, glancing down into the street as he stood on the roof. He hadn’t seen me yet. Perfect. I fired webs toward him then yanked myself forwards, slamming him to the floor with a kick from behind.
He cried out as I attacked him again but rolled over, dodging the blow. His power took a hold, and my balance went, forcing me to catch myself on the floor. He darted towards me fast and knocked me off my feet with a powerful jab that cracked loudly against my nose.
Stars lanced through my vision as I flew back, before flipping to land against the brick of the wall behind me. The stars faded quickly, but the pain remained as I blinked, my eyes struggling to adjust to the sudden brightness the blow had caused.
But as they did, my spider sense buzzed, warning of incoming danger. My eyes instantly fixed on a figure that shot towards. Reverso was coming in hot. I heard a shout of panic from the window beneath me and my eyes widened. There were people in the building. Shit!
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I leapt upwards and forward to meet him mid-air. His eyes widened in surprise, but he continued forward, curving upwards to meet me. We slammed into each other, hard and I took the brunt of the blow, my ribs crunching as I went flying backwards.
We crashed against the roof of the building and I skipped across the surface before falling off the side. I flailed, stilled dazed by the blow, then smashed against a brick wall, banged my head against a rusted fire-escape and unceremoniously smacked against the ground. A gasp escaped my lips, followed by an agonised shout as I grabbed my side, my mind threatening to fall into unconsciousness. To escape the pain I pushed myself off the floor, but only to slumped back to the ground as it tore my strength from me.
In the distance another boom echoed, followed by more screams. Panicked voices shouted over the earpiece, but I couldn’t hear them over the ringing in my ears. I lay still for a second, still just as breathless as when I'd landed.
Shit. My side hurt. Like, really hurt.
I didn’t want to go back up there and fight him like this. I couldn't. This had been a really dumb idea. I had no fucking clue what I was doing and one more good hit and the guy would take my fucking head off. Shit. Shit. I couldn’t do this.
But I couldn’t just run away.
“Dammit” I mumbled. “Shit”
Seeds of doubt began to creep back into my mind, and the questioning of my self which hadn’t been present since my talk with Emi began to return. I felt my body tense up, resisting the urge to stand and fight as the fear became all too real again.
Now wasn’t the time for this. Now was the worst time for this.
“Spider-Man!” Reverso shouted. “Where the hell did you go?! Get back here now so I can fucking kill you! If you don’t I’ll kill everyone nearby!”
Dammit. Even now I still wanted to run away. To hide in some corner far away from here and wait for this to all to just disappear. But it wouldn't. If I ran now I'd just be disappointing myself. But even knowing that didn't get rid of the fear. I pressed a hand to the floor, scraping my fingers against gravel in frustration.
"Then do it afraid you idiot" I rasped to myself. "Just... get up"
There were people out there that needed help. I didn't have to beat Reverso. I didn't have to win. I just had to hold on, whilst keeping damage to a minimum. Just for a little while. Then back up would show.
I clenched my fists tightly, and looked back up to the sky, my eyes finally focusing.
With a shaky hands and a new determination I pulled myself up, spitting blood onto the ground. I brushed myself off, and stumbled for a moment, but straightened out. I pulled my mask on properly, then swung back into the street, my entire body trembling.
“I’m here you idiot!” I shouted. “You need glasses or something?!”
Reverso turned to me, his face fixed with rage, and leapt upwards with an impossible speed. I dodged, but an outstretched hand still managed to grab my leg, dragging me along through the air. He twisted mid-air, turning to face me, but I slammed him with an elbow as we slowed and he let go, dropping me mid-air.
I fired a web and recovered, only for my movements to suddenly reverse. Shit. His power left me stranded on the wall, unsure of what move to make, if it might be the wrong one. I waited for my spider-sense to warn me, shoulders tense, my body expecting pain anyway.
A boom echoed from the ground below, and suddenly the reversal faded. I frowned, looking to the street from my perch, as Reverso picked himself up of the divot in the asphalt he’d created. He hadn't attacked. Why? It clicked instantly as I saw him stumble and grab the side of his head. He was overstretching himself. Trying to do two things at once with his power when he clearly couldn’t. He was weaker today. Holy shit. I might actually be able to do this.
Suddenly he placed his hands on a car, and it blasted towards me as he skidded backwards. I dodged, catching the car with a web between the wall face and the ground, when suddenly another flew at me, my spider sense blaring. I went to catch it to, but spasmed suddenly as my side seized up. Shit. It slammed into me and we flipped together before I grabbed the roof tightly, holding away from me before we slammed into a wall.
I crashed against the brick, car miraculously in tact as I held it, before Reverso burst through it, kicking me hard into the brick. It cracked underneath me but didn’t give. I ignored the pain and grabbed Reverso, pulling him quickly into a chokehold.
He cried out, clawing at my skin as he tried to reverse my movements, but a simple action was easy to do backwards and I held him in the hold. His face started to grow red as he struggled more, elbowing me hard in the stomach.
But I simply held him, hope overpowering the pain. I’d found a weakness. His reversing power on larger objects required touch. Whilst stationary, unable to touch anything but me, he was just strong. I just had to tough it out.
But that was easier said than done. He headbutted me suddenly and whilst I didn’t let go, my grip loosened. His hands slapped against the wall behind me and with a roar, he cried out. Instantly my spider-sense warned of incoming danger behind me.
“No!” I roared, headbutting him hard back. It knocked him away from the wall, but it was too late. The building behind rumbled as a crack began to form across the surface. I released Reverso suddenly and with a powerful hit to the back of the head, sent him crashing to the ground. I turned as the upper floor of the building began to crumble, tilting toward the ground and rushed up the side, webbing things together.
It was fine. I’d done this before. I’d done this on a larger scale before.
But I was in a lot more pain than I had been yesterday. It slowed me as I tried to stabilise everything, and this time there wasn’t any Cindy to help. As the floor finally passed the tipping point, screams of people in the mess of rubble echoed out, and I raced towards them, my mind blank.
I swung, arcing around debris as I neared the falling voices, spotting a the couple. I webbed them both to me quickly, narrowly avoiding a large chunk of brick before swinging to safety in the mostly empty street below. I set them down, then stumbled crashing to the ground as it shook.
They rushed away in a panic, and I glanced back to see the destruction. Some of the rubble had been caught by my makeshift web, but the rest had crushed the cars in the street below. Fortunately, only part of the top floors had collapsed. Reverso hadn’t done nearly as much damage as last time, and everyone had already left for the most part.
"Thank God" I mumbled.
Suddenly my spider sense blared, and I dodged a punch from Reverso as he leapt at me from behind a car. He missed but I stumbled falling back to the floor. I scrambled back, kicking out in fear, but he crashed to the ground too. He’d lost more of his mask now, and I could almost see his entire face as he lay on his hands and knees. Blood poured from of his nose, mouth, eyes and ears.
“Holy shit” I muttered.
“You fuck!” he shouted, spinning as he threw a piece of rubble at me. “You fucked my fucking power!”
I dodged the rubble and stood just in time for him to tackle me again. We crashed to the floor and traded blows as we rolled on the ground. The fight had devolved into a messy brawl of unsteady punches and elbows, the concrete doing more damage to our bodies than each other's fists.
“Shit!” Rosita suddenly cried over the comms. “There’s too many robots! I need backup fast!”
I cursed as I stray elbow caught me on the eye. I needed this to end, fast. We were both losing in this fight and there were bigger problems. I kicked Reverso away and forced myself to sit up.
“Wait!” I shouted, raising my hands in surrender. “Stop for a sec!”
He ignored me, a demonic roar escaping his lips. Another fist cracked against my face and I crashed back to the ground. Then Reverso stood and I felt his power start to flow into the space around us. Shit. He grabbed me and threw me upwards, then jumped to meet me.
His power took a hold again, but it was weaker now, barely enough to slow my movements. I feinted, dodging his attack, and returned a hook that sent him flying.
As we fell, I fired out a web, yanking him back to me. I caught Reverso mid-air, then stopped us against a building face again, returning him to the chokehold. He struggled violently, headbutting me repeatedly, before biting at my hand.
“Ow! Just stop you idiot! You don’t understand what you’re doing! This is pointless!” I shouted as I held him.
“I’m… gonna… kill you!” he managed to squeeze out through breaths, as he reached desperately for the wall. I kept him away from it and dodged another headbutt before returning one of my own. He gurgled uselessly as I held him, the veins in his neck bulging.
I was weaker today, but he had been too. Gwen was right; whatever had happened had messed with his power; he'd even said it to my face. He’d gotten tired quickly, and using it had taken it's toll on him. I held him tightly in the chokehold, as he struggled weakly now, blood still seeping from his mouth.
“...fuck… you” he mumbled, before finally falling unconscious. With a sigh of relief I swung down to the ground and dropped him. As I stepped away, I stumbled falling to my hands and knees. My breaths were heavy as I struggled to focus on anything but the pain, my body beaten raw. But I wiped the blood from my mouth and forced myself to stand, before webbing Reverso to the ground. I stared at him, then back at all the destruction around us.
“Well... uh... fuck you too” I mumbled, before swinging away.