I swung through the air, mustering as much speed as I could. Rain bucketed down as thunder reverberated through the air. I swung with a single-minded drive, focused on reaching my target. It wasn’t hard to know where Max was, it was the only place the lightning was striking. I put all thoughts of Liz and the state of my relationship, if I still had one, out of my mind. I needed to think of ways to stop Max. But I was drawing blanks. Beyond talking him down I had nothing. I mean he could literally turn into lightning.
Just remembering my attempts at talking to him and looking back at the footage it was obvious that he was in pain. I didn’t seem like he’d wanted to hurt anyone. I mean he was the first villain to check up on me mid fight. Still, even passive, he was a danger to people. He needed to be stopped.
I frowned. He’d mentioned something about having no health insurance. It might’ve been why I’d found him at the receptionist’s desk shouting obscenities. How had he even gotten injured in the first place? It might have something to do with this Oscorp lab he was attacking. Wait… what if his pain was linked to whatever happened to him? This didn’t change anything, and it was all just speculation anyway. My plan of attack was still to talk him down, by offering him help him. And if that didn’t work, well… give him incentive to stay near me, then fight fast and hard.
There was another flash of lightning followed by a deafening boom. I was a lot closer now. I could see it, the Oscorp lab. A figure, glowing with energy stood on the roof, hands raised as electricity crackled all around him with a low hum. I swung high, flipping through the air before landing on one of the adjacent buildings. I shielded my eyes from the light and looked closely. There were people trapped inside by the doors. The constant crackling of electricity enveloping the building made it impossible for people to get out. I looked back to Max, his face wrapped in concentration as the electricity crackled around him, twisting and turning about his body violently.
“Max!” I shouted. He didn’t acknowledge me, but the electricity around him started to flow faster.
“Max! Stop and just talk to me!” I shouted. No answer. “Come on Max, I thought you were a good guy. Frankly this is a little… shocking.”
He turned to look at me, glaring.
“Ok, I’ll admit that one was bad, but-“
“Shut the hell up!”
I dodged instinctively as an arc of electricity shot out towards me and obliterated the part of the wall I’d been on. Max fell to one knee and
“Hey! That wasn’t nice! You could’ve hurt me” I joked.
“Just go away!” he shouted, his voice taking on the echo quality again. Another arc of electricity crackled out towards me and I dodged. More followed, and I leapt around, narrowly avoiding the blasts. I needed to knock him down, then talk to him. It might hurt the negotiations, but they wouldn’t start otherwise. I carried on dodging the blasts before spotting a trash can as I swung through an alley. I webbed it, pulling it along with me. I swung it around, bringing it past me and launched it at Max as I emerged above the roof’s ledge. It passed through the wall of electricity effortlessly and slammed into Max, sending him flying across the roof as all the electricity dissipated in a flash of vibrant blue.
“Damn. That look like it hurt. You okay?” I said, landing on the roof. Max groaned and I webbed him to the floor, before quickly walking over to him. He wriggled about, no longer glowing blue. He turned to me, and glared.
I raised my hands up, stepping back.
“Sorry about that. Look, Max I’m not trying to hurt you. I can help you fix this, clear your name. You just have to stop whatever the hell this was. Then you can come with me so we can get you help” I said.
“Don’t lie to me! I heard it all when I was in the sky you know? I was one with the energy, but it wasn’t right. I couldn’t hear the song I could only hear all the stupid noise from everything else! I heard what they said about me on the radio! I heard what they said about you! You don’t give a shit about me! If you cared about clearing my name you would’ve done it already. You just sat back and lapped up all the fame from stopping me and now. That sandman guy was right, you only care about the cameras” he said.
“No Max I’m no-“
“Don’t call me that!” he roared, everything around us sparking. I leapt back, fists raised. The lights all around went out, throwing everything into darkness. I turned back to Max, his eyes growing a freakish blue.
“M- Stop. Stop whatever you’re doing. There’s still a chance to fix this, whatever’s messing with your head I-”
”Nothing’s messing with my damn head. With the music, the universe’s son everything’s just clearer now. Max was weak. He got taken advantage of by everyone, even his family. I’m more, better than Max ever was. And I’ll prove that first by having my revenge.”
“Just stop please”
“NO! Everybody and I mean everybody responsible needs to pay. And that includes you” he said. My spider sense roared, the sensation of approaching danger washing over me from all sides. I leapt backwards but the sensation only grew.
Love this novel? Read it on Royal Road to ensure the author gets credit.
“MAX! D-“
Everything went white and my body went rigid. Heat washed through me and I slammed into something, my body going limp. My ears rung loudly, the sound piercing right through my brain. My body steamed and I could feel the fears, making themselves known as they seared into my skin. I could barely see, but I was in the street. I’d slammed into a car. Something floated down in front of me. It was Max, his body covered in crackling blue electricity. He landed, walked over and crouched beside me, grinning. He placed a hand on me, the electricity that crackled through me sending through my shoulder.
“I was a firefighter before all this, you know. There was an accident and… my partner died in a big fire. Some metahuman caused it. I had nightmares, just watching his body burn, over and over and over. I couldn’t work, couldn’t sleep. So I retired. My cousin set me up with a job. Sure, I was just a cleaner, but it was something you know?” he shook his head and laughed bitterly. “I came here to get away from everything bad in my life, and this is what I get?! I didn’t… I didn’t do anything! I didn’t do anything wrong! I didn’t want to kill anyone it just… fuck! My life’s fucked!”
“I… I know people” I wheezed. “I can sort this out. You just… need to stop.”
“Stop? I haven’t even started” he said wiping his eyes. “Once I’ve visited my dearest cousin, I think I’ll bring Oscorp tower down. Might as well take this thing down at the root. Then…” he trailed off, looking away into the distance, then up to the sky. He glanced back at me once more.
“I’ll let you live Spider-Man. Just don’t try to stop me“ he said. His body pulsed a blinding blue and the enticing low hum that accompanied his presence amplified, the sound’s allure shaking me out of my trance. Before I could do anything, I was blown back as heat and light blinded me. When my eyes finally adjusted to the light, I could see a smoking crater a few feet from where I’d been. The ringing faded quickly and the first thing I could hear was screams and the sound of concrete cracking. I looked around in almost complete darkness, my eyes coming to a stop on the Oscorp lab. A large, jagged crack ran through the building, from top to bottom.
I forced myself to my feet and looked to the sky. I could hear the rumbling. I turned to the building, the cracking growing louder, then looked back at the sky. The building was crumbling, but Max was getting away. Fast. I needed to be fast. I leapt up and swung through the wreckage, webbing the crumbling mess of structure as I weaved through the steadily appearing gaps in the darkness. I followed the shouts and cries for help, grabbing people, then throwing them onto webs out the quickly collapsing building. I landed on what was left of the top floor and grabbed the last two civilians, before vaulting over debris and leaping out of the building. I landed as the higher floors crashed to the ground, expelling a wave of dust. I held the civilians closely as the dust engulfed us carrying shrapnel with it. The rain cleared the dust quickly and I let go of the civilians, jumping away from the building, and swinging away.
“Thank you, Spider-Man” one of the civilians shouted.
I followed the trail of light through the sky, listening closely to the low hum that made my hairs stand on end. I leapt from building to building, swinging over streets and past the unsuspecting as they stared up, enamoured by the focused crackle of electricity that shot through the sky.
I looked down, following the projected path of the lightning. Shit, it was heading towards Chelsea. They didn’t need any more destruction over there. But what could I do? It’s not like I could stop him if I he came down either. It’s not like I could knock him out the sky. Wait… no, that was a dumb idea. Would it even hit him? He’d said something about becoming energy, right? And even if he wasn’t, what if it missed, landed somewhere and someone got hurt? Well, someone would get hurt either way. Dammit, I had to try.
“MAX!” I roared desperately, my voice echoing into the sky. “MAX!!!”
The lightning continued to arc steadily through the clouds, nearing its destination. I looked around and spotted another trash can. I webbed it up to me and came to a stop. Do or die, I guess. I wrapped web around it and around my hand before swinging it around with as much force as I could. I watched closely as the electricity continued crackling along its path, judging where it would go. Then, with all the strength I had, I threw the trash can into the sky. I darted forwards, leaping and pulling myself along as fast as I could. This was probably a pipe dream. The trash can disappeared into the darkness above. I watched, still charging forwards as I waited. Suddenly, there was a crackle of lighting and a figure burst out of the clouds falling through the sky. Holy shit.
I continued running, praying I’d make it as I gained on him. Shit I was cutting it close. I fired out webs and with a final burst of strength, slingshot myself through the air. I slammed into Max from the side, feeling the electricity on his skin crackle against mine. We crashed to the ground skidding along rooftops before slamming against a ventilation tube. I recovered quickly, but Max remained on the floor. His body crackled with electricity, but it was a lot weaker, to the point it was barely noticeable. I dived, tackling him.
He roared, his body sparking uselessly. He elbowed me hard, but I took it, and cracked him back across the jaw. He stumbled in a spin but turned back to me blasted electricity. It was slower. Mistake. I leapt over the blast and landed behind him. He turned frantically but it was too late. I dropped to the floor with a practiced ease and swept his legs from beneath him. He crashed to the ground, and I webbed him there. He struggled uselessly for a few seconds before crying out in pain. I walked over to him preparing to knock him out, when light began to illuminate the roof.
His heart glowed hot blue, the veins across his body illuminated beneath his skin. My spider-sense buzzed, and I leapt back. A blinding wave of sparks shot past me, along with the low hum of electricity before disappearing into nothingness. I looked back to Max, but he was gone, only his clothes left behind. My eyes darted around, scanning for threats, but my mind told me it was safe. He was gone, just… gone. Maybe he’d turned into energy again, whatever that meant.
I stared out over the city, taking note of all the destruction our fight had left in its wake. The rain poured harder than ever, it’s steady patter and the sound of car alarms, ringing out around me. I slumped to one knee, breathing heavily. Parts of my suit were charred, and the flesh underneath was reddened.
“Dammit” I mumbled. He didn’t have a complete grasp of his powers, but he was getting stronger. A lot stronger. Now I really needed to figure out how to stop this guy.