They stepped into the safehouse, Uncle slightly behind him. Uncle checked all the windows and drew the blinds, before taking off his helmet. He let out a breath and cursed, throwing his helmet to the ground.

“Come help me with this Demetrius” he said, slumping into a chair. Demetrius made his way over to him, checking the control pad on his back.

“It’s ruined. We’re gonna have to replace it” Demetrius said.

“I knew it” Uncle said, sighing.

“At least you got the package”

“Only part of package. There’s still four more places to hit, and with that damn Spider-Man around it’s going to be impossible” Uncle responded.

“We can work together” Demetrius said hopeful. His uncle shot him a look.

“Take off your suit and go home Demetrius. You’ve got classes in the morning”

“I don’t have classes on Fridays”

“Yeah yeah, just take the day off. I need some quiet so I can figure out how we’re going to do this”

Demetrius went to say something but stopped himself. There was no point. He disengaged his helmet and set it down on the table. He spared a glance at Uncle then around the dust filled safehouse, taking in all the gadgets and newspaper clippings of unidentified robberies lining the walls. There were pictures of Banks, the mayor’s office, Oscorp tower, Sky Reach and more.

“I lost my damn bike and we’re gonna be on the news” Uncle said tutting.

“You’re gonna be on the news” Demetrius said, failing to hide a smile. Uncle flashed him a grin.

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.

“Got jokes have you?” he said, “Just wait till you have to fight Spider-Man one on one”

“I did”

“For two seconds” he said. Demetrius rolled his eyes.

“Roll your eyes all you want, but he’s no joke. Even with the suit he’s faster than you, stronger than you, can take more damage than you, and you’ll hit him maybe one time out of every ten tries if you’re lucky”

“I hit him” Demetrius responded confidently. Uncle raised an eyebrow, but quickly hid how impressed he was, his permanent frown returning.

“Yeah well, just remember one good hit and he’ll knock you out” Uncle said.

“He hit you, didn’t he? Why aren’t you slumped on the sidewalk?” Demetrius shot back.

“Because it’s all a game to him. This is your first time meeting him and seeing two of us caught him off guard so you didn’t hear any jokes, b-“

“Jokes?”

“I’ve told you this before D. Everyone in the business knows he makes jokes. And he doesn’t hit as hard as he can unless there’s innocent people involved. He nearly broke my back today just cause I was getting shot at in a public area. Crazy bastard” Uncle said.

“Why’s he like that?” Demetrius asked.

“Don’t ask me. I’m not some wannabe do-gooder” he shrugged. Demetrius went to say something about Uncle being a policeman but didn’t bother. Instead, he glanced down at his hands, staring at the blood on his mechanical claws.

“You said all that shit about how amazing he is, but you know what? I think I can take him” he said. Uncle turned back to look at me incredulous.

“You breeze through a couple of jobs and think your hot shit, don’t you? Herman is miles better than you, and he ran the first time they met. Spider-Man had barely been around back then and Herman cancelled the whole job because of him”

“Yeah, well Herman’s in jail” Demetrius joked. Uncle didn’t laugh this time, his face serious. “S-sorry” Demetrius said. There was a pause.

“Good. Don’t say shit like that again” Uncle said standing up. He started disengaging parts of his suit and setting them down on the table. Demetrius turned away, an awkward silence filling the air. He glanced at the wall, a picture of Herman, and Uncle in their old police uniforms.

“You remember what this is all for, don’t you?” Uncle said, his tone aggressive.

“Yeah”

“I doubt that, consi-”

“Once we finish this job we get paid. Once we get paid we’ll have enough money to by the Vanquisher from the new guy, what was his name?”

“KingPin”

“We’ll buy the Vanquisher from KingPin, and then we can break into the Hortz-Bruig and free Herman”

“Why?”

“Because even if he’s not blood, he’s family. And you never leave family behind”

Uncle’s demeanour relaxed a smile stretching out his face.

“So you do remember, eh? Good, good. Now come on; take off your costume and go get some rest”