Queens, New York
The impostor sat in the Spider-Man costume, with his mask off. The costume's neckline was tight around his throat as he held the mask tightly in his grasp. The television across from him was turned off, and his gaze lay quietly upon his reflection. He was, in part, staring at himself, and, a the same time, staring beyond himself... staring into what he was. A hero? By the definition of some. A scoundrel? Others thought so. Vigilante? As far as the police were concerned.
Sirens flared. How utterly typical. He pulled on the mask and rose to his feet. The window opened easily and Spider-Man pulled himself into the city.
Thwip!
The webline snagged on a nearby brownstone and grew tight. Spider-MAn swung in a low arc over the streets, following the sound of the siren. Spider-Man landed against the wall and perched himself on the bricks, looking down the street. He smiled behind his mask as a chopper flew overhead, spotlight aimed at the ground.
Spider-Man threw himself off of the building side and fell through the air gracefully.
Another webline erupted from his wrist just before he slammed into the concrete. He followed the helicopter's spotlight until he found himself above a group of police. Spider-Man stalked silently in the shadows, along the side of the rooftop, clinging close to the wall as he moved along a ledge.
The officers clutched their firearms as they pointed them at an maintainence enterance to the sewer system. The metal doors covering the entrance way shook and rattled, as each officer clutched their guns. Some were sweating, others were shivering.
Spider-Man felt the familiar tingling in the back of his neck as the metal shook and roared.
"Here we go." Spider-Man muttered to himself as the doors smashed open.
The smartest of the cops dropped their guns to the ground and ran, ducking behind their squadcars like frightened children. Spider-Man, rapidly as he could, threw himself into action. Disregarding the safety of the officers, he began hurling cops into the street, out of the path of the rampaging Lizard.
"Evening, Doctor Connors." Spider-Man hissed through gritted teeth as he went to work,
"You're looking well."
With the cops thrown aside, Connors and Spider-Man at last had an opportunity to face each other, one-on-one.
"Y-y-y-you!" The Lizard managed to croak, thrashing his tale around and about, crushing bricks with ease.
"Yes, Simple Jack!" Spidey cried happily.
"M-m-m-me!"
Spider-Man's fist collided hard with the Lizard's snout and the creature took a few surprised steps backward.
"What?" The webbed wonder asked rhetorically.
Lizard roared, enraged, and pounced upon Spider-Man, sending the latter rolling backwards in a heap with the monster on top of him. Spider-Man planted his boots in the creature's chest and forced the monster off of him. Lizard's claw dragged along Spider-Man's shoulder, tearing costume and flesh alike. From behind the mask, the hero grimmaced as Lizard slammed through a storefront.
"Uncool!" He b****ed, examing his wounded shoulder,
"Do you know how much these Spider-Suits cost?!"
Spider-Man spun and fired webbing from his wrists, snatching Lizard's tale. His proportional strength of a spider was easily a match for the overgrown iguana, as Spider-Man began spinning around, heaving the Lizard from out of the rubble of the storefront.
The Lizard wasn't heavy, really, and Spider-Man let go after a few seconds, sending the beast careening into a lampost, which bent under the force of the Lizard's immense frame.
The webbed wonder leapt through the air and slammed into the street in front of the Lizard. Traffic had come to a halt, and drivers were piling out of their cars to get a good look at their hero, Spider-Man.
The Lizard squirmmed and thrashed about inside his steel confinement, and Spider-Man delivered a crushing right hook to the beast's face.
WHAM!
"Stop it." He commanded.
The Lizard roared, spitting in Spider-Man's face.
WHAM!
The animal continued to squirm.
WHAM! WHAM! WHAM!
Blood spewed against the pavement and, one by one, the faces of the thrilled parents and onlookers turned to those of horror.
WHAM! WHAM! WHAM! WHAM!
"You gonna give up now?" Spider-Man snarled.
The Lizard didn't move.
"That's what I thought."
A pool of midnight-colored blood formed around Spider-Man's feet as the Lizard twitched several times, and began to revert back to his Curt Connors state.
Trash and litter began to swirl about in the air as a massive wind current bore down upon Spider-Man. He looked up to see a massive S.H.I.E.L.D. Helicarrier floating overhead.
"What the hell did I tell you?"
The voice of Nick Fury rings loud and clear.
Right on time.
"I don't remember, Baldy." Spider-Man hisses, barging past Fury,
"Did you tell me before or after I saved that sorry sack's life?" A gloved finger pointed in the direction of the now-unconscious Connors.
Fury glanced at his wrist and tapped a few buttons.
"Voice print confirmed. Identity: Spider-Man."
Spider-Man stopped dead in his tracks and turned around slowly.
"What you think I'm some kind of impostor? Some kind of fake?" The decoy snarled, as indignantly as possible.
"I just want to be sure." Fury stated simply.
"Well, then be as sure as you can be!" The doppelganger said, firing a webline at the hip of a doctor examining Connors.
He lifted up the bottom half of his mask and bit down on the plastic cap of the syringe and burrowed it into his mangled shoulder, filling the vial with blood.
"There you go." He said, hurling it at Fury, who caught it with ease.
"Ungrateful dick."
Thwip!
And, like that, Spider-Man was gone, headed back home, hopefully having made enough of a scene to get
someone's attention.
