The Bite Of The Spider

Chapters

Another Night
Patrol
Enter The Bomber
Rush’s Day
Evolving Situation

Another Night

I leapt from rooftop to rooftop, not wanting to think about what I'd seen. Blood in the gutter. Another day, another death in these harsh city streets. Was I becoming too used to it? Clearly not if I was this affected by it. I felt bile surge up my throat and lifted my mask long enough to throw up.

I was shaking. I wiped my mouth clean and pulled my mask back down and went back to patrolling the city. A skull's contents spilling out onto the ground. I...I needed someone to talk to, I had to get my mind off what I saw.

My attempt at calming my mind failed when I saw a group of adults surrounding a Griffin child, no older than eight, in an alley, laughing and kicking. With a snarl I dropped down into the alley and landed on the leader’s head, smashing his skull into the ground before letting out a roar and throwing a punch at the mook next to me. It was over in seconds, drunks didn't put up a good fight.

“Kid, get off the streets, it's a bad night.” I said, before leaping from wall to wall back up to the rooftops. I heard him yell his thanks as I went.

I could see these streets as others couldn't, I could see the corruption, the racism, the bloodshed that was layered upon this city. The filth and grime covered the entirety of this city, the only area where it was slightly cleaner was the areas where the non-ponies lived, ironically the police said such areas where filled with crime.

And yet, despite how used to it I was my mind kept flashing back to earlier in the night. The batons, the blood...the body… I heaved again.

I...I needed someone to talk to. I changed directions, moving towards a safe haven of mine. A friend's really.

It took another ten minutes of jumping across the rooftops and saving another two Griffins and a Minotaur child from being beaten by ponies before I reached The Kitten In Darkness. One of the best speakeasies in the city, disguised as a gentleman’s club.

I leapt up to the balcony at the top of the building and opened the doors before walking into the dark room. I approached the bed before noticing it was unoccupied. "Well, well, look what the cat dragged in." A voice purred behind me.

"Cat." I acknowledged. "How're tricks?"

"The girls' or mine?" She let out an actual purr, slipping her hooves over my shoulders and started nuzzling my cheek.

"Knock it off, Felicia." The words slipped out again. They always seemed to do so around her. Her, my Uncle Ben, Aunt May, the names just seemed to appear from nowhere and I was left alone, unable to explain them.

She paused and let out a smooth chuckle, "Felicia, that was the name. I like that, tell me, Spider, when did you start making pet names for me?"

I walked out of her grasp and turned to face her, "Cat, this isn't a good time. Not now. Please."

Her gaze softened to something more innocent, "What's wrong, Spider? What's got you so worked up?"

I closed my eyes. Blood in the gutter. Bloodied batons. Police grinning sadistically. A Griffin skull with its pink contents spilling onto the ground. "The cops beat a kid to death." I opened my eyes and looked away. "The look in her eyes...I can't get it out of my head. I failed her, Cat!"

Cat pulled me into a deep hug and I broke into sobs, "Spider, shh...It's a shit world we live in, we both have our ways of making it better." She paused. "I'm not the kind to truly believe in your dream, but...a world where we all treat each other the same, where there isn't any crime...Well, it's a nice dream, one I'll look forward to."

“I don’t believe in that anymore, Cat. You know that.” I mumbled between sobs.

She gave a sly grin, “But there is still someone who believes in that dream. Don’t give up that hope you had all those years ago.”

I pulled off my mask and wiped the last of the tears out of my eyes. I...I’d needed that. I had been a while since I’d last cried. As long as I cried it meant that this city hadn’t completely ruined me, it meant I still had my humanity. “It’s a fool’s dream, Cat. It’s not worth fighting for, it’s a pipe dream.” I grumbled as she walked over to the wall. “I was a naïve child, thinking I could just put on a costume and change the world. I was a stupid fool. Why do you still remember that? It was years ago.”

She turned on the lights and I winced as my eyes adjusted to the light. “Because, you idiot, it’s a good thing to wish for. Yes, it might not come to pass, but it’s nice to think about.” Her blue eyes stared into mine as she stood on her hind legs. She kicked the wall and jazz music began to drift up from downstairs. She started swaying and placed her forelegs on me. “Dance with me.” She grinned.

With a small smile I began dancing slowly with her. “You know...I could make this easier on us both.” I said after a few moments.

“Not on your life.” She smirked, gently stroking my cheek. As we swayed together, I could feel her breath on my cheek. “You know, Spider, you’ve always made my days more...exciting.”

“And you’ve always added class to my day, Felicia.” I said quietly, bushing a strand of black hair out of her face. She was truly beautiful. Her green eyes sparkled with mischief and her soft pink coat was always covered with revealing, yet classy, outfits. “Cat.” I whispered, gently rubbing her cheek.

Her eyes lit up, “Oh, Spider…” She leaned towards me, our lips almost touching.

A loud scream rung out from across the street and I jerked away from Cat and slipped my mask back on before leaping onto the balcony and searching for the source of the scream. I quickly spotted a mare being cornered by two thuggish looking ponies in the alley across from The Kitten. “There’s always something.” Cat whispered.

I looked back towards her and saw her disappointed look. “Cat?” I asked, concerned for her.

She smiled, “Go, save her, break some bones for me, hm?”

I nodded, "Got it, Cat.” I leapt out over the street, free falling for a few seconds before grabbing a streetlamp and spinning around it, before using the momentum to spring through the air. I landed on the rooftop above the alley and jumped down onto a thug’s back, snapping the spine. As he screamed his buddy turned to me and got a look of fear in his eyes.

“S-Spider…” He gulped and dropped the knife he was wielding. “I...I surrender!”

I just glared at him before leaping towards him and introducing both my feet to his jaw, shattering his teeth. As he landed I brought a foot down on one of his legs and listened to him scream as his leg broke. I looked over to the mare and indicated to the alley’s exit with my head, “Get out of here.”

“Th-thank you, Spider!” She said, running off. With that done I leapt up onto the rooftops and looked back towards Felicia’s. The balcony doors were shut, she was busy working. I looked around before making my way on the rest of my patrol through the city.

I quickly found another thirty six cases of the police beating Griffins, ten of them being children, and two cases of them attacking a Minotaur. Then came the false accusations, the fifty two murdered Griffins, the Minotaur with the stab wound I rushed to a non-pony friendly hospital, the two burned down apartments, beating up the Griffins that had turned to crime as a means to put food on the table and pointing them towards the friendly food bank that I knew helped those in their position, talking things out with five Griffin teenagers who were vandalising property as an outlet because of the crap they had to put up with from the ponies, and having to deal with the aftermath of thirty seven rapes, all I could do was take the attackers details and then get the victims, male and female alike, to a hospital.

I made sure that when it came to that last crime I hunted down those responsible and broke every bone in their body. Repeatedly.

That was in a single night. A good night. That is the true face of the city, an ugly, corrupt monster hiding beneath a façade. I'd seen that true face all too well.

If those in charge of the nation have been corrupted by the very power we gave to them then it's our duty, our responsibility, as a nation of the free to remove them from that power. My Uncle Ben told me that. And I won't stop until I'm dead. That's what it'll come to in the end, my body laying in the gutter, rotting away. Just like all the innocent, true victims of this world. Speaking of victims, a scream rung out through the night as I was mid-leap. As I landed I spun on the spot and ran towards the source of the woman's scream.

It seemed that crime would always exist, no matter the number of punks I put in hospital. I'd never see that naïve dream come to pass, and that was fine. So long as I kept hospitalising punks and saving lives I was content. And despite the corruption that flows through this city there were people who were innocent and worthy of protection, like Cat and Aunt May. But to get rid of the corruption was a childish dream, but I'm perfectly content to protect people from the filth of this city. Perhaps that's the reason I was brought into this world. I might not be able to prevent more death, but the least I can do is avenge those killed. I'm no hero, I'm not Spider-Man, I'm too violent to be that, but I can protect my people, the non-ponies, from the racism that runs through this city. I am the Spider, a dark protector. That's my duty, and I'll break anyone who gets in my way.

Author's Note

Yeah, this was short, but the other chapters will be longer.

I've been toying with this story for about a year or so at this point and...just finally decided to get it out there. This will be a darker story, but there will be light moments and funny parts to it all.

As for the whole...rape...crime. Yeah, I'm not touching that part. Ever. I only put it in to show how bad the situation was. I really don't feel like I can do that subject right, so I'm not going to even thing about writing anything based on that for...at least a good few years. At least. Maybe never.

Anyway, this story isn't about your friendly neighborhood Spider-Man. He's even more jaded than the comic Noir Spidey. But he isn't going to be all mopey about it. This isn't an angst story by any measure.

Patrol

I entered the alley and approached the body, my fedora pulled low and my hands shoved in my trench coat, due to the cold winter I had forsaken the leather vest. There wasn’t any snow yet, but with the chill in the air I wouldn’t be surprised if there was in the next few weeks.

I looked over the dead Griffin corpse. The body was a mess of blood and stab wounds, the eyes were gouged out and the wing had been plucked and severed. I looked at the wall and unsurprisingly there was a derogatory message scrawled on the wall with the victim’s blood. This time about being a half breed freak.

There was no doubt, it was done by the same serial killer that had been stalking the streets for the past month. I'd made both Aunt May and Cat promise not to leave their homes after dark without protection, I couldn't bare to have them come to harm.

I looked around for any clues, starting with the victim’s claws. Griffin claws can get a lot of fabric caught in them, it was usually annoying, but it might help me tonight. There were a few dark blue hairs scattered about her left claw, it was looking more and more like a pony did this. I opened up her right claw and pulled up the strip of bloody fabric she had. I pulled off a glove and felt the fabric. It was silk, no way that it belonged to her, I could count the number of Griffins able to afford silk on one hand, and the rest of her attire had a poor look to them. It might have been the killer’s, although she might have just stole it as well. Pulling my glove back on I stuffed fabric into my pocket as well as a few of the hairs. Right before I left I spotted a red stain next to the body, yet a small distance away from the rest of the blood. I bent down and dipped my fingers into it, it was thinner than blood. I sniffed it and frowned before lifting my mask so my lips were exposed and licked the liquid. It was wine. Strong too. I pulled my mask down, who could have access to wine? I pulled out a small vial and scooped some wine into it.

With that I took off to the rooftops before the cops showed up. As I ran across the rooftops I heard a yell to stop. I looked back and saw a some pegasi cops chasing me. I quickly shot some webs at them and grinned as their wings were hit by the gunk and they smashed, face first, into the rooftops. Up ahead there was a gap in the rooftops, where the street was and I dropped onto street level, right in front of a group of unicorn cops, to their shock. I leapt above them, kicking one in the face as I landed on top of a passing carriage.

The rest of the cops stared at me for a few seconds before chasing after me. I looked to the driver of the carriage and he grinned, “Nice to see you, Spider! Anywhere you want to go?”

“Around the corner.” I said, crouching down.

“STOP IN THE NAME OF THE LAW!” One of the police yelled as they raced after me. I shot a few webs their way, most of them missing, but two hit their targets and were stuck to the ground. As the carriage turned the corner I leapt off and into an alley. As the cops ran passed I watched silently from the alley for several moments before deciding it was safe to leave.

I almost immediately came face to face with a pony. He looked terrified. “IT’S THE SPID-!” He started to scream before I webbed his mouth shut and threw him at a wall inside the alley and webbed him to it before knocking him unconscious with a punch.

“Take a nap.” I spat, walking out of the alley, pulling my hat low. Everyone ignored me as I walked down the streets, either too scared or too unconcerned to say anything. It was strange, before I gave up my old ways I was always having stones thrown at me or being attacked by the ponies. After I stopped holding back as much they instantly backed off. I scoffed at the ponies glaring at me as I walked.

After spending a good hour walking the streets to make sure I’d lost the police I made my back to the rooftops. The police were combing the streets for me again. I leapt across the rooftops and tackled a pegasus cop in midair, slamming her onto the rooftop and knocking her out cold. I’d taken out ten out the police’s lookouts tonight alone. I paused at a rooftop and sighed, my mind was cluttered, I needed to get my thoughts straight.

I leapt across the street and perched on top of a gargoyle sticking out of a building and rested, thinking to myself while watching the streets for any signs of trouble.

I was used to the ponies hating me. They didn’t throw things at me anymore, but I could tell. The ponies hated me, all but the really good, but rare, ones. But to the Griffins, Minotaurs, Diamond Dogs and other non-pony outcasts? I guess I was a hero, or at least that's what they saw me as. I wasn't a pure, incorruptible person, but I was what they needed. Someone who would stand up for them when no one else would. So what if a few of the ponies I put down ended up drinking through a straw for the rest of their life? So what if they ended up with brain damage after my attacks? So what if a few of them ended up dead because of their injuries? It was a lot less then they’d do! They kill off the other species for good! I tried just knocking them out for five damn years! Nothing came of it! But the moment I let my anger speak through my fists things changed. Before the criminals of this city were scared of me, now they’re terrified, running scared at the mere sight of me. I don’t regret those that’ve died because of my attacks, in the end they deserved it.

All the racism, all the hatred. Living in this city takes a toll on you. On your soul. I don’t think I’ve met a single soul who wasn’t cynical. I had once looked into the reasons for all the hatred against non-ponies and after weeks of researching I found my answer

It all started after the fall of Griffonstone a hundred or so years ago. The Griffins of the time decided to abandon their home and take parts of Equestria by force. The eventual war it led to was quick yet brutal. The Griffins got their new home, but at the cost of having to work as servants and lower class citizens for twenty years. Celestia thought that it would teach them humility, but things quickly spiraled out of control. Ponies held a grudge and it all started with just insults, but before long the large cities had regular beatings going on. That was all it was, light beatings, all until a night where a pony teenager was found dead, killed by a Griffin in self defense. The Griffin was executed, right before the execution law was abolished, and the Griffins started the violence up in retaliation. After being beaten down again, the Griffins decided to keep to themselves, the ones that first attacked now being old and dying off, yet the ponies, seeking revenge kept attacking them. Over time the attacks stopped before raising up again after several years along with racism and the oppression of non-ponies in large cities. The small villages and towns didn’t get involved passed the first wave of violence. Years passed and the occasional murder of a non-pony became common, and it all just grew from there.

Now non-ponies find it hard to get proper jobs in cities, and they sure as hell can’t enter law enforcement. Sure, they could all move to towns and villages, but there are hardly any jobs available there, the cities are where there’s money to be made. Now the racism and hatred is just been passed down for so long the modern ponies don’t even know why they hate other species. The issue has been subtly raised a few times before being ignored, even after Celestia herself brought it up, the cities just got better at hiding the hate. In the end the hatred of other species has just become a part of our world, and it’s never going away.

Deciding I’d spent enough time sitting still I leapt off the gargoyle and landed on a rooftop before running across the tops of buildings, making my way towards Cat’s before I started heading home as my nightly patrol was coming to an end. I was about halfway to The Kitten when I heard a yell. I landed on top of a fire escape and scanned the streets before I saw a Griffin child be pushed by two cops. I watched as one of the cops shoved the kid into an alley. No. Not this time. I leapt into action, springing from my spot crouched on the top of the fire escape and letting myself freefall until I caught onto a lamp post and swung around, building up more momentum before flinging myself across the street and into the alley. I grabbed onto a loose brick and a windowsill, flipping myself around to observe what was really going on. Who knew, maybe it was a real crime for once, despite how unlikely the that was.

They were already yelling, "Leave me alone! I didn't do anything to you!" The kid shouted as he backed into a corner.

“Shut up, you little freak!” The cop yelled, raising his baton. Yeah, this was real honest police work.

I leapt off the wall. "Get the hell offa him!" I yelled, landing next to one of the cops and delivering a powerful uppercut to his jaw, knocking him into the trash.

"Get out of here, kid." I said as the other cop gave a roar and charged me.

"Th-thanks, Spider!" He stammered, running off as I jumped over the charging cop and delivered a swift kick to his face before breaking his leg.

I webbed the cops up and was about to make my way back up to the rooftops when my Spider-Sense flared up. I sprung into the air and grabbed a low hanging fire escape rung as a metal baseball bat swung through the air where I’d been standing a second before. I dropped down and hopped backwards. There were six stallions there, each one muscular and holding some kind of weapon. “You’re going down, Spider!” One of them yelled as he charged me, swinging a crowbar.

Not feeling in the mood, I just dodged him before smashing his face into the wall. “That’s it?” I snarled as his body crumpled to the ground. “Thugs like you idiots are a dime a dozen. Run away before you piss me off.”

“GET HIM!” The lead thug yelled before they all rushed me.

“Oh, boy.” I muttered as my Spider-Sense went crazy. I dodged a flurry of weapons as the group swung at me wildly before delivering a punch to one of the thugs. I dodged a knife but in return a bat bashed me across the ribs. I growled and jumped up into the air and delivered a brutal kick to another thug before landing on someone’s head and kicking them into the remaining two punks. I dodged to the side as a blast of magic came my way. I grabbed the nearby dumpster and, sick of them, threw it at them.

I held my ribs and winced, nothing seemed broken. “Should probably get to Felicia’s quick though.” I muttered, hauling myself up to the rooftops, crawling up the wall rather than using parkour, as much as I didn’t trust it, I needed the speed right now.

It didn’t take long to get to The Kitten. I flipped onto Cat’s balcony and came face to face with Brutal Violence, a large, bulky earth pony, almost as tall as Princess Celestia, he gave off an aura of intimidation which his lack of a mane and constant five o'clock shadow didn’t help, and the small scar over his right eyebrow made him look even more thug like.

He held out his hoof and passed me a coffee. “Good to see you, sir, Lady Scratch is waiting for you in downstairs. No disguise needed tonight.” Brutal was also Cat’s second in command and was a complete gentleman.

I took the coffee and gave him a nod, “Bad night, Brute?” The fact that Cat wanted me to meet her downstairs meant that she was closed early for the night. She never did that unless something went down.

“It could have been worse.” He admitted with a sigh, “Lady Scratch will fill you in.”

I gave him another nod and lifted my mask above my lips and sipped the coffee as I headed down the stairs. Say what you want about Brutal, he makes a mean coffee. As I pushed the door open. The large room was empty, chairs and tables were around but the only person around was Cat. I headed towards the stage she was stood on, as I got closer I noticed she had blood on her hooves. As I approached Cat she finished wiping the last of the blood off her hooves. “Trouble?”

She shook her head, “Not really. One of the customers got a little heavy hooved with one of my girls. Had to take him out back and personally teach him a lesson. “You need something, Spider? It’s a little late for you to just drop in.” She smirked.

I passed her the vial of wine. “Can you find out where this came from?”

“What’s the deal, Spider? I thought you were more of a whiskey kind of guy.” She chuckled.

“It might be a lead on the killer.” I said as I finished my coffee.

Her eyes hardened, “I’ll get on it.” She said, walking off. “Spider…” She stopped and turned to me, “If you find this bastard...are you going to kill him?”

I hesitated for a minute before speaking. "I won’t lie. It’ll be hard to restrain myself.”

“Then don’t. After what he’s done...he deserves to die.” She spat.

“Cat?”

“That bastard killed an old friend.” She shook her head, “Look, it’s not important, I’ll get back to you when I find something out.”

Something was bugging her, but she’d tell me in time. I couldn’t force it out of her even if I wanted to. “Right. I’ll see you around, Cat.” I put the mug down on the stage before leaving. I had the feeling that we’d be seeing each other soon enough.

I landed in the alley and looked around. It was empty as usual. I hid behind a dumpster and pulled off my mask and hid it in my pocket before reaching under my coat and squeezing the black stone on the pendant around my neck. A slight glow came from my coat and my costume disappeared and I felt myself shrink. I dropped down onto all fours as my body changed in an instant. I groaned and rolled my shoulders and cracked my neck before practicing smiling a few times. I sighed before leaving the alley, almost bumping into a pony as I did.

“Watch it, beaky!” He snapped. Ah, Manehattan, ain’t it a wonderful place? He went on his way, muttering about how Griffins thought they owned the place.

I rolled my eyes and headed home, getting used to my Griffin form again after the long night. The whole thing was Uncle Ben’s idea. He knew that adopting an unknown species would cause trouble, get me targeted worse than other non-ponies, so he contacted some old friend and had them make the magic stone I had around my neck. With a simple squeeze and thought of what I wanted to be I could change forms between my own body and my Griffin one. Made it easier to get into places the Spider couldn’t get.

I looked both ways before crossing the street, still almost getting hit by some carriage drove by some lunatic. I headed to my home. It was a small, white, two story, detached house. The little porch was a little run down, but I had a few plants growing to brighten up the place. I headed in and called out, “Aunt May, I’m home!”

“Peter!” Aunt May called back, rounding the corner. Her dull yellow coat was starting to grey yet her blue eyes were just as bright as ever. “You’re late, young man!” She scolded. Even in her mid fifties I still wouldn't want to tangle with this earth pony.

“Sorry, had to take care of business.” I shrugged, “What can you do?”

She shook her head, “Just try to get home early tomorrow, dear. I don’t like you staying out too late, you hardly get enough sleep as it is. And what if the police catch you? I know you’re doing a good thing...but I don’t want to wake up and find the morning newspapers are claiming they’ve captured The Spider.”

I smiled warmly, “Alright, Aunt May, I promise.”

Author's Note

Just a few notes down here.

Cat isn't Black Cat nor another Displaced, just a pony born in Equestria.

The same goes for Aunt May and Uncle Ben. Not their actual names, but they're close enough to be nicknames. As for Aunt May knowing about her nephew being the Spider...I really didn't want to do the whole 'hiding the secret identity' from her.

Enter The Bomber

I kicked down the burning door and rushed inside the apartment, looking around the smoke filled room. “Anyone in here?!” I yelled.

“Spider!” A voice cried from another room.

I headed towards the voice, using my Spider-Sense to avoid chunks of the burning ceiling. I smashed through another door into a bedroom. Under a blanket there was a mare and two children.

“Take them! Don’t worry about me!” She shouted, coughing. “I’m dying anyway!”

“No! Mommy!” One of her children screamed.

“Not happening!” I growled, throwing her over my shoulder and picking up her children under my arms. As I turned back to the door the ceiling collapsed, blocking the doorway. Damn it. I eyed the window, “Hold on tight!” I shouted before running and leaping through the window.

Shards of glass rained down with us as we fell. The screaming of the children was not helping. I managed to land on a flagpole sticking out of the burning apartment complex. Unfortunately it almost immediately snapped and we fell. I shifted the mother so she was under her children and against my chest. We hit the ground hard, my back flaring up in pain. As I handed the family off to the paramedics I clutched my back. I was definitely feeling that in the morning.

“Spider!” I looked over to the lead firefighter. “There’s still a kid trapped on the top floor, the heat’s too intense for our flyers, can you make it?”

“I got it.” I muttered, wincing as my back started to protest.

He looked doubtful, “You sure? You took a pretty bad fall there, anypony else would have been hospitalised from that.”

“I said I got it!” I snapped. I jumped up to the nearest window and hauled myself inside. I found the stairway and leapt up, not staying in one point for more than half a second at most, even less if my Spider-Sense warned me my foothold was going to collapse.

When I got to the top floor I could hardly see, the smoke was to thick I could hardly see a foot in front of myself. “Anyone up here?!”

“In...in here!” A young voice called back from the apartment to my left. I kicked the door open and ran into the apartment and searched for the child. I spotted him in the corner of the room cowering underneath a chair.

I rushed over and pulled him to his hooves, his blue fur was covered in soot and ash. “Come on, kid, we’re getting out of here.” While he was hesitating I headed towards the door, which had swung shut. As I opened the door my Spider-Sense went off and a wave of fire hit me and sent me smashing into the wall of the other side of the room. As I rose to my feet I batted the flames off my costume and scanned the room for another exit as the flames began to engulf the room.

“Spider...are we going to be okay?” The kid whimpered. He couldn’t have been older than seven, too young to deal with this.

“Yeah, we’ll...we’ll be fine.” I looked around, there had to be an exit! We were too high to jump and I wouldn’t be able to scale the building with the kid. As I looked around I knocked my fist against the wall separating the apartments. The sound was hollow.

Thin apartment walls. Of course. I punched through the wall and crawled into the next room. It was more or less the same set up as the other apartment, but the flames hadn’t reached it yet. “Come on, kid!” I reached through the wall for him and pulled him through.

I approached the door and waited, my hand hovering above the doorknob. My Spider-Sense didn’t go off, so I quickly opened the door and pulled the kid out, only to find the entire place covered in fire. I pulled the kid onto my back.

“Whatever you do, don’t let go, kid.” I warned, before jumping into the stairwell. I dropped a floor at a time, grabbing onto the edge of the stairs or a hole in the wall.

We made it to the ground easily but the doors and windows were blocked by burning rubble. I dropped to my knees and pushed the kid’s face to the floor, away from most of the smoke. “Alright, kiddo, we’re stuck here. Is there a basement or something?”

He nodded quickly, “Y-yeah. Behind that shelf.” He pointed at an old bookcase that had escaped the flames. “But we’re not allowed down there!”

“It’s okay, kid.” I stood up and pulled him up. “Let’s go.” I shoved the bookcase away, and sure enough there was an old door there. I opened it and we hurried through. There were stairs going down and as we went I noticed that the building got more and more concrete as we went. There was another door at the bottom of the stairs and as we went through I pushed several large shelves against the door.

I nodded to myself at the handiwork. “Okay, kiddo, we’re going to wait here until the fires dies out. Then we’ll get you back to your folks.”

“What’s this thing, Spider?” He asked.

I turned around and froze. I don’t know how I didn’t notice it when I opened the door, but sat there in the middle of the room was a bomb. Several bundles of dynamite and two jars of something attached together by a series of wires connected to an alarm clock. I stared at the bomb, the clock slowly ticking down. I had about two minutes until it exploded.

“Kid...new plan. We run. Now.” I set off running for the other side of the room, picking up the kid as I went. I threw open a door and slammed it shut behind us. I looked around the new room frantically, there had to be a way out!

My eyes dropped to the floor, where there was a manhole. I frowned for a second, I thought those things weren’t allowed inside buildings? I shook my head and lifted the cover up before dropping the kid down it and climbing down the ladder enough to slam the manhole shut behind us and web it a dozen or so times before dropping into the sewers, grabbing the kid and running.

There was another ladder a few dozen feet away. We reached the ladder and climbed it. As I pushed the cover off the bomb went off. I shoved the kid out into the open, not wanting to risk if the bomb was going to affect the sewers. As soon as he was clear I leapt out into the cold winter air.

As the snow crunched beneath my boots I looked over to the kid, “You okay?” He nodded quickly. I sighed in relief. There was that, at least. I saw the remains of the building. A half sunken ruin. A lone mare was crying and screaming, trying to run into the remains.

The kid took off running towards her and I watched as they embraced. That there was something good I did. I looked away from them too soon and approached one of the tenants I’d saved. “Who’s the owner?” I asked from behind him.

He jumped and span around, “Spider! You scared me.” He pointed to a mare with a grey coat next to the firefighters. “That’s her, Wanton Punishment.” I headed towards her immediately, my anger and frustration building with every step I took.

I grabbed the building owner by the collar and slammed her against the carriage, “How did this happen?!”

“I-I...I don’t know! Honest!” She stammered as the firefighters slowly backed away. The firefighters and I had a deal: They wouldn’t bother me and I’d help them whenever I could. They wouldn’t dare break that deal with the lives I saved that they couldn’t.

“For some reason I don’t believe you. The truth.” I growled.

“I don’t know! Yeah, I was losing money on the place! But it was my uncle’s before it was mine! I’d never burn it down! Everyone knew I was losing profit on it! I bitched about it whenever I went out! There was a guy the other week who said he could make the problem go away, but he was probably just trying to get me in bed.”

“Who was he?”

“I don’t know!”

I raised her into the air “Think harder!”

“He-he was an earth pony! A brown coat! Black mane and tail! I couldn’t see his mark!”

“So just one of hundreds?! Try again!” I raised a fist.

“Wait! His left foreleg was all burned! I swear! That’s all I know!” She closed her eyes and winced.

I held her there a few more seconds before dropping her and walking off. I had the information I needed. She knew nothing else. I had to get off the streets before cops filled the place. I’d only been there fifteen minutes, but that was already far too long.

“So, that’s how you get your information, huh? And here I thought you were more smooth than that.” I turned and saw a black coated pony standing there with a lit cigarette in his mouth. He wore a cream trench coat, hiding his tail and mark, and black fedora with a red trim.

“Who the hell are you?” I spat.

He fished a badge out of his pocket, “Detective Lone Wolf. I’m investigating the bombs that have been found around the city. I’m glad to see nobody got killed.”

I raised an eyebrow, “Nobody?”

He smirked, “Yeah. What you expect me to say that nopony bullshit? I know there’s more than just ponies out there.”

“I just find it funny a scumbag cares. You cops are all the same.”

He puffed on his cigarette, “I’m not like those bastards. I want to help non-ponies. If that means I have to turn a blind eye as my coworkers put my old friends in hospital then so be it. Look, I’m not here to discuss my job, I’m here for your help.”

“Not interested.” I turned and walked off. After a minute I turned to the detective walking next to me. “I told you I’m not interested.”

“I’m just going to talk then. If you end up listening then that’s up to you.”

I sighed, “Fine.”

“Like I said, that bomb wasn’t the first that we’ve found.”

“Than why haven’t there been any other explosions, smart guy?” I growled.

“Because we found the others in time, thanks to the psycho behind it sending clues to us. We’ve kept it out of the papers for a reason.”

“It’d cause chaos, anarchy, mayhem.” I said.

“Right.” He nodded. “But at the site of the last bomb we found we also found a note saying it was up to us to find all the others he plants from now on.”

“And you know it’s a guy because…?”

“His note went off on several tangents, stuff about burning, seeing the world aflame, burning like they did, and ‘what’s a guy to do when the world’s this screwed up’. He referred himself as a male several times, and the science team told us the writing is of an earth pony. Just like your little buddy back there said.”

I walked into an alley and hopped onto a dumpster, “So what’d you want from me, Wolf?”

“We both want this guy caught. Both of us want to protect the innocent. All I want is for us to work together on this, we’ll do more by working together, you can’t deny that. We’ll pool our information and hopefully catch this bastard quicker then we would alone.”

He had a point. “I want something in return.”

“So long as it isn’t something too much I can guarantee it.”

“I want everything you have on the local serial killer.”

He gave a bitter laugh, “Which one?”

Typical Manehattan. “The one excessively mutilating Griffins.”

His eyes hardened, “Right. That one. Can you suggest a meetup? Ever heard of The Kitten In Darkness? Nice place to get a drink.”

“And here I was, thinking alcohol was illegal.”

“It’s a stupid law. You know the place?”

“Yeah, I’ve...been there before.”

“Good. It’s where we’ll meet up, just let the owner of the place, Cat Scratch, know that you know me, you’ll probably have to pass a message through her main man, Brutal Violence. Cat doesn’t meet anyone she doesn’t know and trust alone.”

“Got it. I’ll see you there tomorrow. If it’s a trap, you’ll regret it.” I growled before leaping up onto the rooftop and continuing my patrol.

Like I could trust a cop.

I made my way over to Cat’s. I needed the truth about Wolf, and Cat would know if he really came to The Kitten. I walked across the roof before pausing above Cat’s balcony as I heard the doors open and I heard Cat singing. “Spider, Spider, Spider...where do you go when I see you run, why do you go when I feel your heartbeat, why do you run when you feel so…” She paused. “Come on down, Spider, don’t you know it’s rude to eavesdrop?”

I dropped down onto the balcony railing in a crouch, “Sorry, Felicia. I had things on my mind. And I...just heard you singing.”

She stroked my cheek, “Spider...Come, let us dance.” She led me inside and swayed over to her jukebox before playing a slow song. She pulled me into a dance. As we swayed with each other she ran her hoof over my cheek, “You’re all burnt up. Were you jumping into burning buildings again, Spider?”

I pulled off my mask and threw it away. “They were cheap apartments, you know that non-ponies can only afford those places. I couldn’t let them die.”

She chuckled, “I love that you’re such a hero, Spider, but just try to look after yourself, for me. I don’t quite know what I’d do if you got killed.”

“Cat...I…” I whispered, leaning towards her and looking into her eyes.

“Shh, don’t speak, let’s just enjoy our time.” She hushed.

So we just spent our time, slowly dancing and getting closer to each other. Hours bled into one another and I actually started to feel that rare glimpse of happiness, something that I’d all but abandoned in this filth and torment filled city. We stared deeply into each other’s eyes. I...I felt…

“Spider…” She whispered. “I want…” We leaned close, I could feel her breath on my skin, I puckered my lips and...

We were suddenly interrupted by Brutal Violence bursting in. “Boss! Trouble downstairs!”

Cat sighed and backed off, “I swear...every damn time.” She turned to Brutal, “What’s happening?”

“Lucky’s here. He’s taken out the guys and is threatening to take the girls with him unless you talk to him.”

Luck Shots was the head of a small local mob. He had no respect for anyone, he even went so far as to sell his own sister to a corrupt politician so he had a grip over the police, he killed his own mother because she was going to tell the papers what he was doing. I found out by snooping around his mansion. In the past four years he’s fallen far because of me, he’s on his last legs and he’s already losing business to a bigger mob. He wouldn’t last much longer.

“Damn it. Okay, I’ll go talk to him. Spider can you…” She trailed off as she saw I had my mask on and was already on the balcony.

“I’ll come in through the roof. See what he wants, Cat. And...be safe, I don’t know what I’d do if I lost you either.”

I jumped up onto the roof and found an open window. I made my way inside and found myself on a gargoyle near the ceiling, on the ground there were about ten mob goons, plus Lucky himself. I had arrived just in time to see Cat storm up to him with a scowl, Brutal by her side every step of the way.

“What the hell do you want, Lucky?!” She spat.

“Cat.” He gave a sick grin. “Is that any way to talk to a valued customer?”

“No,” she admitted, “it’s not. So what the hell do you want, Lucky?!”

He just smirked, “Funny. You know, that’s what everypony likes about you, Cat. You’re feisty. That and then flanks. Boys’ll be queuing around the block when you work for me.” My fists tightened.

Cat scowled at him, “I’m not going to be your whore, Lucky!”

“Like hell you’re not! Do you know how much people will pay for you?! You’re going to get me back in the big leagues!”

Cat scoffed, “You always were a small thinker. That’s your big goal? Listening to orders from someone else?”

He bristled with anger, “What the hell do you know?!”

I leapt from my perch and landed in front of Lucky, “That your luck’s run out.”

He jumped back, “Spider?! We’ll see about that! Take him, boys!” Lucky yelled. There was an awkward silence where nobody moved before he turned around, glaring, “I said, take him!”

“Uh, no offense, boss, but I don’t want my face broken, it’s my kid’s birthday tomorrow and I don’t want her to be scared about how I look.” One of his thugs said.

“I...just don’t want to fight the Spider, he’s scary.”

“I don’t want to be in the hospital for the next year.”

“I mean, I saw him take out a group twice our size no problem.”

“I got a sick sister, I can’t afford hospital bills as well!”

“I’m just a coward!”

Similar responses were shouted out of the group. I smirked, this was amusing, seems like the more cowardly and smart didn’t want to risk fighting me. “Those of you who aren’t interested in fighting, leave.” I said.

All the thugs left, leaving Lucky all alone. “COWARDS! IT’S JUST ONE GUY!”

“One guy’s all it takes to put down a rabid dog like you.” I said before rushing forwards and snapping his hind leg with a kick.

As he let out a scream I grabbed one of his forelegs and punched them several times, breaking the bone in multiple places. I wrapped my hand around his jaw as he screamed again. “This has been a long time coming, Lucky.” I slowly started applying pressure to his jaw. “Four years, Lucky. Four long years and here you are at long last, doing your own dirty work.”

He started laughing, “You think they’re going to lock me up?! I have connections! I have-” I clamped his jaw shut.

“No, Lucky. You aren’t escaping this time. This time next week you’ll be dead, and I won’t have to do a thing.” I leaned in close and snarled, “You’re a failure! If you think that your bosses will keep you around when you don’t have any respect from your boys and can’t even pull off a simple robbery, then why keep you around?”

As soon as I let go of him and he fell to the floor he began sobbing, “No! No, no, no! You’re wrong I...I can’t!” He’d always been weak.

“Run away, Lucky. Run away and hope they don’t find you, or else you’ll be the next rotting carcass they find.”

He tried to stand up, only to fall back to the ground, “I can’t bucking walk!”

“I SAID RUN!” I roared punching him in the jaw and feeling it break before throwing him towards the door like the trash he was. He hobbled out as fast as he could.

“Now that was cathartic.” Cat laughed.

With a sigh I turned to her and got straight to business. “Did you find anything out about the wine?”

She pouted, “You’re no fun today.” She sighed, “The wine was expensive.” That meant that I could cross off any non-pony. But expensive wine, even in Cat’s thoughts, meant they would even be well off in Canterlot. That meant the killer was one of the elite of the city. Or from out of town.

“I thought you’d find me breaking Lucky’s jaw fun.”

“Oh, I did! You’re sexy when you’re angry, Spider.” She purred, running a hoof down my chest.

I felt myself blushing, “Ah, Cat, I…”

She stood up on her hind legs and leaned against me and lifted me mask to expose my lips. “Shh. Not today, Spider. Not now.” She began to lean in closer to me. “Do you know how long I’ve waited? Screw this. And screw you.” She hissed before forcing her lips against mine. I froze for a second, thousands of running through my head. What was I meant to do? Kiss her back? Push her away to protect her? Lie and tell her I didn’t like her?

I kissed her back with just as much passion she was giving to me. Screw the consequences, I deserved to be selfish this one time! I couldn’t hope to hold back my feelings forever. We’d been attracted to each other since we first met five years ago. This was my light in the city. My second spark against the all-consuming darkness of the city.

When we finally broke the kiss I quickly pulled down my mask to hide the redness in my cheeks. She was just smirking smugly, “Don’t lie, Spider, you wanted that just as much as I did, didn’t you?”

I gave a short nod. “Yeah.”

Her smile faded, “There’s more business, isn’t there?”

“A bit.” I admitted.

She sighed and dropped back to the floor. “That kiss will tide me over for now, but don’t keep a gal waiting too long. What do you want to know about?”

“Lone Wolf, what do you know about him?” I asked.

She blinked, “Loner? He’s a good person. I remember when he was younger, he fought tooth and claw to protect non-ponies. Look, keep it quiet, but he was raised by Griffins. Once he joined the cops he lied about that, he really does want to change things, but to get high enough to do that he needs to feign indifference to all the hate and racism going on in the police force.”

I raised an eyebrow, “You’re certainly defending him well. What, was he a lover or something?” I half joked.

She was silent for a few seconds, “A long time ago. Maybe we would have been, but our paths diverged before that ever happened.” She smirked, “Why? Are you jealous, Spider?”

I shook my head, “Can he be trusted?”

“Without a doubt. If he’s away from his coworkers that is.”

I nodded, “Thanks, Cat.” I turned to leave, “Me and Wolf are meeting here tomorrow. Can you make sure we have a private room?”

“Of course.” She smiled, “Goodnight, Spider.”

I hesitated for a second, “Goodnight, Cat. Stay safe.”

A week later Lucky’s body was found floating in a river, an arrow through his eye.

Rush’s Day

I held in a growl as I was barged out of the way again. “Watch it, meat breath!” Someone growled, shoving me. If I was any less nimble I would have fallen to the pavement. Typical Manehattan.

I quickly entered the newspaper company I worked for, The Daily Reader, and took the lift up. As I arrived at my floor I dodged out of the way of a Minotaur overburdened with a stack of papers. As he went he gave me a quick, “Sorry, Rush.”

I passed by the overflowing desks that were everywhere, heading for the back of the room, a single desk in front of a large glass wall with a glass door. I gave a smile to the boss’ secretary, Bouncy Hops, a unicorn mare with a brown coat, big, blue eyes and a short, black mane and tail.

“Hey, Rush, how’re things?” Bouncy asked, adjusting her glasses.

I shrugged, “Same as usual, Bouncy, waded through the shit to reach the trash.” I smirked, “And through the trash to reach the front door.”

“Well...if you ever need anything.” She gently rubbed her hoof against my claw. “I’ll be there for you. All of us here will.”

I smiled, “Thanks, Bouncy. The boss in a good mood?”

She raised an eyebrow, “Is he ever?”

I glanced behind her, through the large glass window and saw the boss, a dark gray unicorn with a brown flattop and toothbrush moustache, wearing a white shirt and tie sitting behind his desk, puffing on a cigar. “He busy?”

“Take a seat.” Bouncy said, getting up and entering Printed Press’ office.

I sat down on one of the chairs by the office and watched as Bouncy exchanged a few words with the boss before returning to her desk.

As I waited for Printed Press to see me I grabbed the latest newspaper and skimmed through it. A Griffin had been arrested after flying without a license. Mainly because his apartment was burning down, but no one cared, as usual. His name had been stripped, as in accordance with the corrupt laws of the city, and was now known as Circuit Board.

I shook my head in disgust and threw the paper down. What a shitshow. I could only hope the guy got lucky and had a rich family, otherwise he’d be screwed. I sighed and tried not to think about it too much. But it could have easily been me in that situation. If I had to hide my powers or expose them to save my own life, what would I do?

Those thoughts went forgotten when Printed Press’ door slammed open. “Rush! What are you doing just sitting there?!” He yelled, grumpily from his desk, his magic holding the door open, “You’re fired!”

“...Okay.” I said, standing up and waiting.

“Forget it! You’re rehired! And you better have good photos today!”

I walked up to him and I handed Press the photos of the Spider. “Trash, terrible, more trash, junk.” He criticised as he flipped through them. He paused, “But they’re useable. I’ll give you one hundred for the lot.”

It was a lot better than anyone else in the city was willing to pay, but still on the cheap side. “Alright.” He passed me a bag of bits. As I counted them out I asked, “Any extra work today?”

“We need pictures of traffic accidents, kid! Just get back here before five or you’re fired!” He paused, “Oh, yeah, there’s a small bonus if you get any crashed emergency vehicles.” He puffed on his cigar.

“Got it.” I pocketed my one hundred bits into the bag I had under my right wing. I didn’t have a flying licence, so I made other uses for my wings.

As I turned to leave he called out, “And speak to Urich, he’s been wanting to talk to you about something.” He hesitated, “And, Rush, don’t get yourself killed. You’re the only one able to get decent pictures of that masked menace!”

“That mean you’ll give me more for them?” I smirked.

“Don’t push it! What are you waiting for?! Get going!” He yelled, slamming the door as I left.

I watched the glass wobble a bit before turning to Bouncy, “How hadn’t he broken that yet?”

She just giggled, “He knows exactly how much force is needed to shatter that glass.”

I nodded, “Right. Any idea where Urich is?”

“He turned one of the unused back rooms into an office. He’s probably back there.” She offered me a smile, “And...he looked on edge when I saw him, try to not sneak up on him.”

“Got it. See you around, Bouncy.” I said as went in search of Urich’s office.

————

I found the makeshift office easily enough, there were only a handful of unused rooms around, mostly due to old newspapers filling them, Printed Press liked to keep his life’s work. All he really had in his office was a desk and a cork board with a few names pinned to it, he must have been looking into something.

Urich was stood by the wall, staring out the room’s only window. His brown feathers were half grey and his blond coat was following close behind.

I knocked on the door, “What’s up, Urich?”

He turned and gave me a smile, his brown eyes relaxing as he saw me, “Rush, you’re here. Good. Good.” He hesitated. “Look, I need help. I can’t go to Press about this, he’ll chew me out, but...I need your help. Anyone’s help.”

I made sure to help out my fellow non-ponies as often as I could, but more than being a Griffin, Urich was the one who got me this job, I owed him one. “Calm down. Tell me what’s wrong.”

“I…” He took a deep breath. “It’s my brother, he screwed up. He borrowed money from the Reds, now they want back triple what they agreed.” The Reds were a gang who mostly consisted of loan sharks who were known for completely destroying the lives of anyone who didn’t pay back on time, even going so far as to sell their families to the black market. They also sold drugs and did thug work.

“Okay. And you want my help to...what? Help with the cash?” I eyed him skeptically.

“Nah. No, I want your help to capture everything on camera.” He grinned, “We’re going to set them up for a long fall. Make it look like they’re trying to make a move on another gang’s turf. No one messes with my little brother.”

I stared at him. “You got a hell of a pair, Urich.” I smirked, “Alright, I’m in. You just let me know where and when.”

He nodded, “Yeah, I’ll keep you in the loop, Rush. Now go, you’d best not give Press an excuse to yell.”

——-

I wandered the city, heading to the most pedestrian heavy areas, which had the most chance for carriage crashes. On the way I dropped off most of my pay at Aunt May’s. She needed the money more than I did, she still had bills to pay, me, I’d just paid my rent.

I wandered the city for a few hours, taking the occasional picture, both of any accidents and just of well framed shots of the city, you never knew when a travel company might need new photos of the place.

I eventually found an ambulance crashed into a fire hydrant. As I snapped a few shots I noticed something in the corner of the frame. I turned and looked in through a jewellery shop window where I saw a unicorn trying to rob the place, holding the store owner at knifepoint.

I took some photos of him, making special care to get his mark in the shot, which the idiot had left uncovered. I waited until he made his escape through the back of the shop before I entered and approached the owner.

“What now?” He grumbled. “First I get robbed and now...you here to beat me up?”

I pulled out my press pass that proved I was a member of the press, “Determined Rush, Daily Reader. I saw what happened and got pictures. Including his mark. Was just wondering if you wanted them.”

His eyes widened, “And you didn’t alert any of the police out...Never mind. Dumb question.” He sighed, “Yeah. How soon can you get them?”

“End of the day. I’ll have a member of the Reader bring them for you. Unless you want this in the paper, in which case I can get you in contact with Printed Press.”

He shook his head, “No, I…” He paused. “You know what? Buck that guy, I ain’t covering for him no more. Can you get someone down here? I...I have to clean up.”

I nodded, glad he didn’t decide to blame me for the theft, “No problem.”

——

Two hours later and I’d dropped by the Reader and given Printed Press his photos and told him of the robbery. I got another fifty bits for a mediocre job and kept ten for myself, the rest going into my suit repair fund.

I decided to grab an early tea. I used the last of my bits to buy a sandwich and sighed. “Well, that’s it, Rush, you’re completely broke. Great job.” I muttered sourly as I bit into my sandwich. Hopefully I could make the sandwich last most of the day if I ate only a little bit at a time.

A bird suddenly swooped down and stole my sandwich. I just sat there. “...Aaaaaand it’s gone.” Thanks for nothing, Spider-Sense. Sometimes it seemed like it was only good for actual danger, in all my years with these powers it hadn’t grown in capabilities or expanded its potential once.

I gave an annoyed sigh and headed back home to my apartment, at least there I could relax for a few hours before going on patrol.

I ignored all the insults I got and just kept my head down, not wanting anyone to think I needed to be taken down a peg. I had to run through several alleyways to avoid a group of drunk ponies who thought I needed the crap beaten out of me. By the time I got home I just wanted to get a nap. But of course, nothing was that easy.

As I approached my apartment door I held back a groan. My landlord, High Payment was stood outside. “How can I help you, Mr Payment?” I asked, forcing a smile on my face.

He grinned and I got a bad feeling in my stomach, “You owe rent, freak.”

I frowned, “I paid you yesterday.” I wasn’t due to pay for another week!

He just grinned greedily, “New policy. You freaks pay the full rent every day. Normal ponies don’t have to pay as much as you abominations.”

I clenched my fist. I’d be easy to smash him through a wall, maybe knock out his teeth and break a few bones. Hell, maybe I’d throw him out the window and watch him fall, the world wouldn’t miss scum like him, they might even thank me.

Instead I relaxed my fist, “Whatever. Now are you going to keep standing there? Or are you going to let me get the money?”

He scowled at me, “Just bring me my money by sundown, freak! Unless you want to be homeless in winter!”

I entered my shitty apartment and slammed the door shut. “Fucking bastard!” I yelled, punching a hole through the wall to the bathroom. I glared at the room, unidentifiable stains covered the floorboards, that cheap bastard refused to even buy a carpet or rug, no matter how many people asked, rusty nails sticking up all over, the walls bare and covered in scratches and graffiti, and I refused to even use the bathroom with what was growing in the pipes. I’d turned on the taps once and black gunk started pouring out, and to top it off black mold constantly grew on the ceiling, which I had to clean up myself every week.

Well, to hell with it all! I didn’t need this shit! I quickly packed my stuff into a duffle bag and stormed out of the apartment and out into the street. Damn that bastard! A week’s pay each day?! Even if I kept all the money I got at the Reader and even if Printed Press gave me a bonus every day there’s no way I’d be able to afford that! And he knew it. Something nasty was afoot, whether it was just him being greedy or something bigger I didn’t know.

I stormed down the street, desperately wishing some idiot would try and fight me. No such luck, in fact everyone around me gave me a wide berth. I was so tempted to suit up and go show Payment exactly what I thought of him!

I passed an alley and heard muttering coming from inside. I slipped in, hoping for some thugs to beat up, instead I found two Griffin teenagers graffiting a wall.

“Man, screw those losers!” One of the teens snapped. “Like they can just control us?! Screw ‘em!”

“Yeah, let’s send them a message! Our art is the catalyst to showing them we ain’t just punks!” The other cheered.

“Hey!” I called out. They were Fritz and Kurt, two angry teens wanting some form of justice against the world, be that attacking the racists or making ‘art’ in the streets. I’d caught them with their pants down more than a few times, both metaphorically and literally. In return they were a little scared of me after I shouted them out of one of my favourite alleyways.

They froze. “Uh...Mr Rush...we...we weren’t trashing your stuff, man! We’re just…” Fritz stammered.

“Wanting to show them all that you’re not worthless. That you’re not going to let them walk all over you.” At their shocked looks I smirked, “I was a teenager too, once. I tossed them my apartment key. “Catch.” As he caught it I started to walk away. “The fuckhole upped the price to a whole week’s rent once a day for those like us. Why don’t you show him a little appreciation?”

“R-really?! You actually want us to do this?!” Kurt giggled.

“I want him to pay. I’ll report the key stolen in two or three hours. Gives you plenty of time.” I left the alley, “See you around, boys.” Before taking even two steps I heard them begin to start making out. I shook my head, “Teenagers.”

I wandered around the city before, true to my word, reporting the key missing after about two hours. After that I had only one place to stay.

———-

It was late at night when I knocked on the door of Aunt May’s home, my home. Even when I lived in that shitty apartment I still thought of Aunt May’s as my home. It was one of the few places I could relax, and she never judged me.

She cracked open the door with a yawn, “Who is...Rush? What are you doing here at this hour?”

I gave a sheepish smile, “Uh...I kinda abandoned my apartment. Can I stay the night?”

She opened the door all the way and pulled me into a hug, “You stay as long as you need, you hear me?” She looked me right in the eyes, “But why did you leave your apartment?”

I told her over a glass of milk. That may have been a mistake. “I am going to rip out his eyes!” She yelled.

“Then you’ll be in trouble! It’s not worth it! I’m…” I was about to say I wasn’t worth it, but thought better of it, “I’m okay.” I then muttered, “Besides, he didn’t get the last laugh.”

She narrowed her eyes, “Peter Benjamin Parker, what did you do?”

I winced, I never should have told her that name. I was in trouble. “I...sort of...gave the apartment key to...Fritz and Kurt…”

“So, you let those two boys in to trash the place?” She sighed, “I suppose I should be thankful you didn’t decide to throw that landlord out the window.”

I coughed. “I...uh...considered it.”

She gave me a flat look, “Do you have any good news?”

“Uh...me and Cat are...maybe together?” I muttered quietly.

Her eyes lit up, “What does ‘maybe’ mean, Peter?”

I gulped, “We...kissed. And, uh, danced?”

She sighed, “Years of this and that’s all…We’ll discuss this tomorrow. Go to bed, Peter.”

We went up the stairs and I hesitated by my room, “Goodnight, Aunt May.”

She smiled, “Goodnight, Peter.”

I went into my room and just flopped onto my bed, staring up at the ceiling. “What am I going to do now?”

Author's Note

Okay. First of all? Like with Cat, none of the characters you find familiar and actually Displaced or other humans. They’re just there due to Peter (real name absolutely not even necessary) being a Displaced.

Also, these types of chapters, where it’s just Determined Rush, no Spider at all. Should I do full chapters of it, or mix it in with normal chapters?

Evolving Situation

I sat on Cat’s balcony, watching her play with one of her cats. “Still in the mask, Spider?” She smirked.

“Is he actually going to turn up tonight?” I asked, ignoring the urge to tear off my mask and start kissing her.

She sighed, “Look, don’t be too hard on Lone, he can’t always get away from his bosses. But yeah, he’ll be here tonight, and soon at that.”

“Listen…” I said softly, “Cat. My aunt knows about...us.”

“Us? Whatever do you mean, Spider?” She smirked, swaying over to me. “I’m still not sure you want there to be an…” She slowly ran a hoof down my cheek, “Us.”

I bit my cheek, “Cat, I do. I just...I’ve never done this before, okay?”

She grinned, sliding down onto her bed and looking back up at me seductively, “Why don’t you...prove it?” Her dress, only just preserving her decency.

My mouth moved up and down, but no words came out. My mouth was suddenly very dry. I coughed, “Cat...I...maybe you should choose your times better?”

She laughed, “Oh, cheer up, Spider! So what if your aunt knows? She’s not telling you to stop seeing me, is she? You’re a grown adult, do what you like!”

“Actually...she’s invited you to tea one day this week.” I admitted.

Cat blinked for a second, “Are you serious?” She then burst out laughing.

The door then opened and Lone Wolf entered, cigarette in mouth. He raised an eyebrow, “I miss something funny?”

“You took your time.” I spat, as Cat got up and put on some music.

“Yeah, yeah. Excuse me for having a job. Needed to put in some extra hours to get more evidence on that killer you’re after, for some reason my boss didn’t want me looking into the case. Probably because ponies aren’t being killed.” He puffed on his cigarette.

I sighed, “Fine. Cat?”

She took over, “Spider found some wine near one of the bodies. It was expensive, not the sort of thing the victim could have afforded. Also, she had a piece of silk covered in her blood, possibly something she tore off her attacker and some dark blue hair, I had some friends do some research and they found that they were pony hairs.”

I frowned, “I never gave you the silk or hair.”

“I stole and replaced them after I was done.” She smiled innocently.

Wolf laughed, “You still haven’t changed. But that doesn’t really help us. We have a possible pony killer, but the killer could have just planted those hairs there, I’ll keep an eye out when I look through the records back at the station. But the wine and silk are more concrete, the killer has money, but we can’t tell their gender or anything to close in on them.”

I gave a sigh, “What do you know, Wolf?”

He finished his cigarette and flicked it passed me, “Less than you at this point. I was hoping you had more. All we can do at this point is hope the killer messes up or picks the wrong target.”

“Damn it.” I looked up, “What about this bomber?”

“Guy’s obsessed with fire and explosions. In his clues he kept going on about ‘cleansing fire’ and about how someone ‘can’t get away with this’. He clearly wants revenge for something, no idea what. You managed to get the most identifying marks, brown earth pony with a black mane and tail and a burnt up left foreleg.”

“Might not be him.” Cat said, pouring a glass of whiskey for the three of us. “He might have gotten some poor fool to do his scouting for him.”

“It’s all we’ve got to work with.” Wolf sighed. “Although one of the bombs we found was a fake, it was filled with Griffin feathers. That mean anything to either of you?”

A bomb full of feathers? “Just sounds like a madman to me.” I muttered, taking the glass Cat offered me. I lifted my mask above my lips and took a drink.

“Yeah, Lone, just sounds like he’s off his rocker.” Cat said, sipping her drink.

I downed the rest of the glass and pulled my mask down, spider powers made it hard to get drunk, and turned to the streets. “Look, we’ll meet back here every week to try and figure all this out.” I said before leaping across the street to the rooftops.

Honestly I didn’t see the point to any of that. But maybe Wolf would make more sense out of the clues than I could. I hopped over an alley and landed on the edge of a roof and waited, watching over the city. Oh, bright, sparkling, dirty Manehattan, what crimes are you holding tonight? How many innocents have been swallowed up by your darkness tonight?

“Come on, give me a sign. Am I even useful to this cesspool?” I thought out loud. I heard a scream from nearby alley. I chuckled before rushing in the right direction, “I’ll take that as a ‘maybe’.”

Landed in an alley to see a mare in a skimpy dress and lots of makeup back into a wall to get away from three drunk thugs. “Alright, punks, who wants the first broken bone?” I growled.

They stumbled over each other to get at me, “Kill the freak!” One of them yelled, swinging at me.

I simply broke his leg and pushed him passed me, “Aw, don’t be like that.” I mocked darkly, “After all, you’ve only got so much blood I can spill.”

The other two paused and looked at each other as I slammed my fist into the back of the first’s skull, knocking him out. “Maybe...we should go.” One of them muttered.

I stepped forwards and slammed their skulls together. I scoffed, “Drunken idiots.”

I approached the dolled up mare. “This is your fault!” She spat.

“Excuse me?” I growled. Who did this bitch think she was?

“You! Freak! You run around in that idiotic costume and think you’re better than us ponies! You put ponies in the hospital and you sometimes kill them! You’re a bigger freak than they were!”

“Fuck off, you dumb bimbo.” I spat.

Her eyebrows raised into her hairline, “Excuse me?!”

I webbed her to the wall and walked away, “You’re welcome, you filthy animal.”

——

I walked through the streets for a few hours, stopping the occasional crime, but it seemed like a pretty slow night, maybe the winter air was keeping the crooks in.

I heard as a kid’s scream echoed through the night.

Or maybe it was just bringing out the worst.

I ran towards the scream, leaping over ponies and carriages as I went. I soon arrived at an alley where five thugs were closing in on a Diamond Dog who was about five who was cowering behind a Griffin about the age of twelve.

“Run! I...I got this!” The Griffin yelled, leaping at one of the thugs, giving the Dog a chance to escape the alley.

The thug the Griffin had leapt at laughed as he shoved the kid to the ground, “Oh, look at the freak, boys! You think you’re a hero?!”

As he pulled back his front leg I leapt over them and landed in front of the kid and grabbed the thug’s hoof before it hit him. “You like picking on those weaker than you?” I growled, pulling his leg down and snapping it. “So do I.” I grabbed his head and slamming it into a wall and scraped it down, leaving a bloody streak.

My Spider-Sense went off and I grabbed his body and tossed in behind me, knocking several thugs down. I quickly leapt into the air and landed on one of their backs, breaking a spine as I began throwing them against a well and webbing them there, making sure to knock each of them out with a punch that knocked at least a few teeth loose. The last thug decided to run for it, so I picked up a bin and threw it at his head and he crumpled to the floor.

I was about to walk off when I noticed the kid was still on the floor. I hesitated for a second before walking over and offering him my hand, “You okay, kid?”

He got an awestruck look on his face as I pulled him up, “I...yeah. Y-you’re the Spider! This...this is incredible!”

“Heh, glad to meet a fan.” Kids like this made my hope for the world return for a few minutes. “That was brave of you. Sacrificing yourself for a friend.”

“I...Actually I don’t really know him at all. I just saw them threatening him and...I couldn’t just watch, you know?”

“Even better! You knew you didn’t have a chance and you still charged in there, for a stranger! You have guts. But you should focus more on running, if I wasn’t in the area you’d be a bloody mess.” I started walking away.

“Yeah, well I can’t just let these bullies do whatever they want! And you won’t always be around to save everyone! People need to stand up!” He yelled.

I stopped and turned back to him, “And what if someone told you no? What if these punks had weapons? What then?”

“It wouldn’t change a thing.” He growled, fire in his eyes.

I smirked, “Alright, but if you’re going to fight people bigger than you, you’re going to need to be faster, and have a few dirty tricks up your sleeve. Right?” I walked away.

I got about three steps before he called out, “But it’s easy for you! You’re so strong and you have your webs! I’m...I’m just a Griffin, a worthless freak.”

I turned around and raised my fists, “Put them up.”

“You...really?” He gasped.

“Yeah. Come on.” He came up to me and raised his claws, standing on his hind legs. “Okay, that’s impressive, kid. Where’d you learn to do that?”

He blushed, “I...I grew up in a circus. I was taught all sorts of gymnastics and acrobatics.”

I laughed, “That’ll help you surprise folks! Now, deep breath, don’t let your adrenaline control you, don’t let that anger tell you what to do. Breathe. Keep calm. Keep those hips square to me. Use your feet, let them move first. Now, wait for an opening, look for that counterattack.” I opened a hand by my ribs, his head height.

I slowly threw a punch and he moved and threw a punch at my hand. “That?”

I nodded, “Good. Now full speed.” I threw a punch about the speed a groggy thug would do. He slipped to the side and I ignored my Spider-Sense, letting him strike me in the ribs. “Oof! Hell of a punch you got there.” I said honestly.

“You okay?” He asked.

I chuckled, “Kid, I’ve taken a baseball bat to the ribs before. Now, you standing like that is a good surprise, but those wear off pretty quick. What’s the first thing you do when someone threatens you?”

He hesitated, “I...I step away.”

I sighed, “No. that’s what’s been ingrained into your mind. Look, kid.”

“It’s Walker.” He muttered.

“Walker.” I corrected. “Look, you are a predator. Close your eyes.” He followed my instructions. “Now, remember what you are! A Griffin hunts! A Griffin is not a prey animal! You need to awaken those old instincts buried deep!” As I watched him start to get it I repeated myself, “What’s the first thing you do when someone threatens you?” Without missing a beat, he lowered to the ground and looked ready to pounce. “Good job, Walker.”

He opened his eyes and got up. “That felt...weird.”

“Practice that. Add in your claws and beak, you need to learn how to fight dirty.” I sighed and jumped towards the nearest rooftop, “Look after yourself, kid.”

I watched as he walked off. I occasionally gave kids like him tips on fighting, he wasn’t the first, nor would he be the last.

——

The next morning I was sat on the couch in Aunt May’s front room, in my Griffin form, reading the day’s newspaper and trying not to punch something. Circuit Board, the Griffin who had flew from his burning building, had been found guilty and had his wings severed. He’d been sentenced to prison for the next twenty years. It didn’t help his case that he’d refused to acknowledge his new name.

I threw the paper down and sighed, “The city’s getting worse. What the hell am I supposed to do? No matter what I do...nothing changes.”

“That’s a load of hogwash and you know it!” Aunt May snapped, sitting down across from me. “It may not seem like it, but you’ve saved lives, Peter! You’ve saved countless people, you can’t just throw that away!”

I sighed, “Yeah, I know. I ain’t giving up, it just feels pointless sometimes.” I stood up, “I just need to get my head on straight.” I left and went up to my room.

I lay on my bed for a few hours, staring up at the ceiling. Would I ever give up being the Spider? No. But sometimes the things I saw...there wasn’t enough therapy in the world for seeing that stuff. Seeing your uncle’s body so badly beaten that it takes you can only identify him by his clothes, to see the stubs where his wings once were, to see the bloody corpse of the man who raised you as his own. And to see his killer walk. To see his killer out on the streets doing the same thing to others! Sometimes there are no words to describe the evil people do when they’re convinced they’re doing the right thing, in whatever twisted way their mind whispers to them.

One of these days I’d snap and start killing every criminal I come across, and would that be so bad? But it would. Not every criminal deserves punishment. Cat was a criminal for selling booze, Griffins who defended themselves were criminals, hell, Uncle Ben was a criminal for hiding my species and for marrying a pony, the only reason the marriage stuck was because Uncle Ben and Aunt May had gotten married in another country.

I took a deep breath and shoved those thoughts away, I had bigger problems, like convincing Aunt May that Cat coming to tea was a bad idea. Cat was a good person, but she didn’t have much of a filter.

Those thoughts were pushed aside when Aunt May shouted up, “Rush? Come to the living room, we have company!”

As I left the room I began preparing for cops or another threat. Once I arrived in the living room I looked over the scene. Aunt May was sat down, sipping her tea. And stood facing me were two figures.

One was a Griffin, black feathers, greying at the tips, and a scar going through his left eye, the eye itself was completely white, his other a sharp yellow, and his fur was a brown slowly fading into grey. A sword hung at his left side and his chest was littered with small scars.

The other was a unicorn pony, a stallion. He had a dark blue coat with bright red eyes, his mark was that of two crossed swords, he was also littered in small scars. He had several daggers on his body and there was a sword and shield next to him.

“Aunt May?” I asked carefully, ready to attack if I needed to.

The Griffin boomed with laughter, “Calm yourself, cub! We’re not here to cause trouble!”

“We’ve had enough of that to last a lifetime.” The pony said with a wry grin, his Prench accent was sharp. “Not like that’ll stop us from getting in even more, right?”

“Oui.” The Griffin laughed. “But we’re just here to talk, boy.”

I glared at him, “And what talk involves you being armed to the teeth?”

He boomed with laughter as the unicorn sighed. “I told you, the weapons were a bad idea.” He shook his head and turned to me, the Griffin still laughing, “We’re adventures, we’ve just come back to Equestria after a decade away. I am Amour Mortel, the loud fool is Maximilian.”

“Hey, I’m not being loud!” Maximilian complained.

Amour raised an eyebrow, “And yet you don’t defend yourself from the ‘fool’ part?”

Maximilian laughed, “We both know there’s no point in arguing against that!”

Aunt May lowered her cup, “Mr Amour, Mr Maximilian.”

The loud Griffin laughed, “Call me Max! Everyone does!”

She didn’t even acknowledge his interruption, “You asked for the household, now, what’s this important question?”

“No, this can’t be it.” He looked confused. “I…” He shook his head, “Okay, so maybe he isn’t here either.”

“What do you want?” I hissed.

He sighed, “I’m here to ask about Berinhard.” It felt like a punch to the gut. Why did they want to know about Uncle Ben?

I exchanged painful looks with Aunt May. It...it was still hard on the both of us to remember Uncle Ben, even after so many years.

Max looked between us, “What’s with that look? Where’s my brother?”