C203 Spider-Man (Patreon)
Content
With the barriers acting as a deterrent against the gunmen’s firearms, Peter made quick work of the three hostile groups.
Although they committed a crazy, almost terroristic act, Peter captured as many as he could alive, sending them to the towers detention center for later questioning.
He knew this incident wasn’t just a random gang war, as no gangs would be this stupid without reason, especially in New York City, so evidence was certainly needed.
With that in mind, Peter also portal’d the cars, guns, and any other belongings that were lying around back to the tower.
The police, who arrived only a few moments after Peter finished cleaning up, could do nothing as they found a barrier blocking their way inside.
Although they could see through the blockade, all they found upon their arrival was bloodstained grass, bullet casings, and tire marks.
Once the area was cleared, Peter snapped his fingers, which dropped both barriers at the same time.
When the barriers disappeared, Peter waved at the police as they breached inside with assault rifles drawn.
“Yo!” He says as the police ignore him for the time being and clear the area.
“Spider-Man, it’s good to see you again.” A man in a formal police uniform comes waltzing over, speaking to Peter in a very respectful manner.
“Chief, how have you been?” Peter says as he claps the man on the shoulder. “Have you finished your list of the possible candidates that we talked about a while ago?”
“Yes...” The two spoke as police grunts move into the fairgrounds and assessed the situation.
The dead were cordoned off while everyone that was conscious was instantly detained for questioning, as that was the procedure in situations like this.
“So, what happened?” The Chief asks after a short conversation.
“Three gangs surrounded the park and started a war with a fair full of people in the crossfire.” Peter says with a heavy dose of skepticism.
“You think there’s something more to it?” He asks curiously.
“You don’t?” Peter asks as he walks off before anymore questions could be asked, waving over his shoulder. “Don’t worry, this whole thing has caught my interest, so I’ll deal with it.”
———————————————
The next morning, the sound of a heartbeat monitor filled a high-tech hospital room.
As the sun beamed through the floor-to-ceiling windows, Peter walked into the room with his spider suit protecting his identity.
Walking over to the hospital bed, Peter looks down at Frank Castle, who has been peacefully sleeping since the incident in Central Park yesterday.
“...” Since he was tired of waiting for him to wake up on his own, Peter reached out and tapped his finger on Frank's forehead.
*Zap*
From the top of Peter's clothed finger, a pulse of weak eldritch energy pulsed into Frank's skin and disappeared.
“!” Frank's eyes shoot open as he swiftly sits up with a loud gasp.
“Good morning, sleepy head.” Peter welcomes him back to the world of the living with a little wave.
“Huh?!” Frank grunts as he takes in his surrounding. “How am I... Maria? Lisa? Frank?”
Before Peter's presence could completely register in his hazy mind, Frank jumped out of bed and tripped on the bedsheets, falling to the floor with a loud smack.
“Where are they!?” Frank yells as he climbs up off of the floor and staggers to the door.
“Calm down, buddy.” Peter says as he steps in front of the Punisher's path.
“Move...” Frank orders in a cold and quiet tone.
“No, you need to calm down and take a minute to get yourself together.” Peter shakes his head and stands unmoving.
“!” Without waiting for another second to pass, Frank launched forward with a scowl ever present on his face.
As Frank pulled his arm back to swing his fist forward, aiming at his opponent's unguarded face, Peter sighed as he raised his hand and caught the incoming blow with ease.
“Ugh...” Frank grunts as he feels Peter's vice-like grip holding his fist in place.
“Please calm down.” Peter continues to try to reason with him.
Without uttering a single word in response, Frank tried to yank his fist free, though no amount of strength would help against the crazy amount of raw power that Spider-Man wielded.
“Aaaahhhhh!” Frank starts to turn red as he thrashes around.
“You should really-” Just as Peter was repeating his calming words once again, the door swung open and the sound of small pitter-pattering feet came running inside.
“Daddy!” A little girl with messy brown hair rushed passed Peter and dived into Frank's stomach.
“Ugh...” Frank grunts and falls to the floor as Peter released his hand.
“Daddy! I met Spider-Man!” Lisa, Frank's daughter, sat on his stomach as she excitedly smiled down at him.
Instantly, tears began to well up in Frank's eyes as he reached up and held his daughter's head in the palm of his hands.
“Y-You’re-” Franks stutters as two other footsteps come walking into the room.
“Dad, you’re finally awake!” Frank Jr. comes running over and joined his father on the floor.
“You’re all okay...” Frank mutters as he wraps his arms around his two children and looks up to find his wife, Maria, standing next to Peter.
“We have Spider-Man to thank for that.” Maria says as she looks at Peter.
“...” Franks looks toward Peter with a dumb expression on his face, unsure as to how to thank him.
“I’ll leave you guys alone for the time being.” Peter says as he walks to the door and turns back for just a moment. “I’ll be back in a few hours to speak with you.”
As the door closed, leaving the family of four behind, Maria let out a sigh as she rushed to join her family in a pile on the floor.
The sounds of crying and laughter filled the room as the Castle family reunited after what could have been a horrible tragedy.
...
Hours later, Peter returned to Frank's hospital room with Pepper and Tony following closely behind him.
*knock knock*
After waiting for a reply, they entered the room and found the whole family piled up on the bed, snuggling together happily.
“Hello again.” Peter says as the family gets surprised by the presence of Tony Stark, another famous superhero.
“You’re Iron Man!” Frank Jr. and Lisa exclaim as they point at Tony, who looked behind him in mock confusion.
“Who? Where?” Tony asks like a whacky uncle.
“Ahem...” Pepper clears her throat as she steps in front of Tony. “Would you two like to see Tony’s Iron Man armor?”
“Yeah!” “Yes!” The two children shoot up out of the bed in excitement.
“Wait!” Frank and his wife call out disapprovingly, unwilling to part with their children after such a horrific experience.
As the children froze in their excitement, Peter stepped forward.
“I need to speak to you two privately.” Peter says as he places a hand on Tony’s shoulder. “Tony will take care of...”
Stopping mid-sentence with a shake of his head, Peter removed his hand from Tony’s shoulder and motioned to Pepper.
“Pepper will look after the kids.” Peter says as Tony frowns in his direction. “Trust me, you don’t want them here for this.”
“Hey! I can take care of a couple of brats, easily.” Tony says as Pepper smacks him across the backside of the head. “What was that for?!”
Ignoring Tony, who was both confused and unhappy, Pepper turned to the parents in the room.
“We can wait in the hallway if that would be more acceptable?” Pepper offers.
“Fine...”
...
When the kids were ushered out alongside Tony and Pepper, Peter closed the door and sat beside the bed, where Frank and Maria were sitting expectantly.
“What’s this about?” Franks asks gruffly.
“I’ll get straight to the point.” Peter says as he looks Frank in the eyes. “Who would want you dead?”
“Huh? What?” Maria asks in confusion.
“I’m a marine. A lot of people want me dead, though they aren’t from this country.” Franks answers with a questioning look. “What are you getting at?”
“Is this about the shooting yesterday?” His wife asks in confusion. “Didn’t the news say that it was a poorly placed gang shooting?”
“A gang shooting between three different groups, who all drove to the same location in masks and blacked-out cars? Not only that, but they purposefully surrounded the fair, where your family just so happened to be?” Peter voices his suspicions.
“There were hundreds of people in that park...” Frank says unbelievably. “The target, if there was a target, could’ve been anyone.”
“True, but only you and your family took more than 3 gunshot wounds,” Peter says as he sat back and crossed one leg over the other. “Each member of your family was shot at least 8 times, while you, Frank, were shot more than 15 times. It was almost as if they were aiming at you, don’t you think?”
“...” The room goes silent as the two parents digest this newfound information.
“Frank...” Maria asks as she turns to her husband. “Is he right? Did someone try to kill us? Kill our children?”
Hearing his wife’s questioning words, Frank remembered the smug face of the man that was responsible for the deaths of his comrades in their last mission.
Instantly, Frank recalled jumping on the man and pounding his face in, doling out blame for the deaths of his friends with every punch, rupturing the stuck up pr*cks eye in the process.
“I-I...” Franks stuttered as a look of realization appeared on his face.
A/N: 1607 words. Another chapter coming soon.