"Would you mind telling me where I can find Big Man and the Enforcers?"
The thug was in pain from suffering Arachne's beatings. But it might be because he was picked last, so he wasn't beaten enough, so when he heard that question, the first expression he made was defiance.
"Do you think I will just tell you whatever you want, huh, Spidey?" The thug asked disdainfully.
"Instead, let me give you some advice to both of you. Apologise and let us go. Then, when Big Man takes over the city, he might not kill you."
The thug started laughing loudly; the blood flowing from his busted lip gave him an eerie feeling.
Arachne, who was already pissed, became even angrier listening to the thug's laughter.
"Step aside," Arachne said and roughly pushed Spider-Man aside. Then she punched the thug in his gut. She controlled her strength enough so that the punch was strong enough to hurt a lot, but not enough to punch a hole in his torso.
Air left the thug's lungs as he started wheezing after the punch. He spat a mouthful of blood and looked at Arachne with fear in his eyes.
"Whoa, whoa, whoa, easy there," Spider-Man jumped in between when he saw Arachne about to kick the thug's head.
Arachne looked at Spider-Man silently. A bead of sweat appeared on his forehead when his spider-sense warned him again, but the warning passed as soon as it came. In the end, she backed off, and he took a breath of relief.
Currently, Spider-Man had bigger concerns, and he didn't want to waste his time fighting a fellow vigilante with questionable methods.
"Hey, buddy," Spider-Man said in a friendly voice, crouching down to look the thug in the eyes. "Let me give you a piece of advice, too. I don't know what she is pissed about, but if I were you, I wouldn't anger her anymore."
The thug gave Arachne another fearful look, holding the area where she punched him, his face contorted in fear and pain.
"And I don't want to fight a fellow crime-fighter for a criminal," Spider-Man said with a sorry voice.
The thug backed off, hearing that as he saw Arachne take a step towards him.
"But I feel bad leaving you to her like this," Spider-Man said in a guilty tone. "So, how about this? You tell us where Big Man is, and in return, I will protect you and hand you and your buddies over to the cops without any other injury."
The thug looked as if he were having an intense internal debate. He looked back and forth between Spider-Man and Arachne. Seeing him hesitating, Arachne took another step forward.
"No, don't," the thug screamed in terror. "I will tell you."
"See, that wasn't so hard," Spider-Man quipped cheerfully.
The thug told them, pointing them to Big Man and his crew.
Spider-Man tied the thug with the rest of the thugs. Then he finally called the cops.
"Shall we?" Spider-Man asked, and Arachne nodded in return.
Both fired their webs and then swung toward their next destination.
Half an hour later, they arrived at an abandoned warehouse. Though, unfortunately for them, Big Man had already got wind of them coming and had prepared a suitable welcome for them.
Spider-Man and Arachne dropped on the roof and entered the building through the window. From a hidden location, they saw tens of thugs waiting for them to show their faces.
On one side of the room stood four men. One was a massive man, easily over two meters tall, with a massive build. Another was thin but strong, around six feet tall, and wore a cowboy hat. The third was the shortest of the group, barely a few inches above five feet, with a thin, muscular build, in a violet suit.
Those three were the Enforcers: Ox, Montana, and Fancy Dan, respectively. They were the strongest subordinates of Big Man, the fourth person in the group. He was easily six feet tall, had a strong build, and wore a white mask with a grim expression to cover his face.
Spider-Man and Arachne knew that they couldn't hide much longer and would have to come out to fight. So they decided to take out a few first before fighting in the open.
They looked at each other, then back at the thugs below. They each took one side and fired webs at multiple thugs. Before the thugs could react, they incapacitated a few of them, and the fight had not even begun.
"It's Spider-Man and Arachne!"
"There they are!"
"Kill those wall-crawlers!"
The warehouse erupted into chaos.
Before the remaining thugs could close the distance, a hail of webbing shot out. Spider-Man, using the pipes and high rafters as anchors, pulled himself down from the roof opening, landing in a spray of sticky threads that entangled a dozen more men. After him, Arachne also jumped down and landed beside him.
A thug ran toward Arachne, a metal pipe in hand. He aimed for her hand, but her spider senses warned her, and she easily twisted her body to dodge the blow. She grabbed the thug's arm and broke his wrist. Before the thug could scream, he was kicked in the chest and sent flying.
Suddenly, every thug stopped in their position and looked at Arachne with wide eyes full of fear. As criminals, they were used to cruelty toward others and even took pleasure in it, but seeing someone being cruel to them shocked them intensely.
"What are you afraid of?" Big Man shouted. "They are just two, and you are so many. Can't all of you together defeat two critters?"
"Nice speech," Spider-Man quipped. "You should consider politics instead of crime."
"There isn't much difference between the two," Arachne also quipped.
"Wow, you are speaking?" Spider-Man dramatically turned to look at Arachne. "I thought you took a vow of silence."
Arachne sighed and shook her head in annoyance. "Let's just get this over with."
"Are you all watching a show?" Big Man roared, seeing no thug had moved. "Kill them now."
The thugs finally stopped hesitating and attacked the spider-themed vigilantes.
A thug attacked Spider-Man with a machete, but a web line stuck his hand to the thug's torso, then a single punch downed the thug.
Then Spider-Man fired his web, pulled a thug towards him, and defeated him with an uppercut.
Another thug, swinging a baseball bat, lunged at Spider-Man from the left. Spider-Man effortlessly ducked, the bat whistling over his head, and then used his momentum to sweep the thug's legs out from under him. The man hit the concrete with a loud thud.
Spider-Man mostly used his webs, but even when he hit someone, he made sure to control his strength so as not to cause lasting damage.
Meanwhile, Arachne was a blur of motion. She caught a flying chair thrown by a distant thug, instantly webbing it to the ceiling, and then lashed out with a web-line that yanked two advancing criminals into a bone-jarring collision. Her movements were precise and brutal, leaving a trail of whimpering, entangled men.
Another thug attacked Arachne with a knife, but she caught his hand mid-air and kicked his shin. He buckled and knelt, then a kick in the head, and he fainted.
While Spider-Man held back his strength and didn't hurt the criminals too much, Arachne had no such reservations. She was already infamous for not pulling her punches, but she was even crueler today. All the thugs she fought had at least one significant injury, and a few unlucky ones even ended up with a permanent one.
The initial wave of grunts was being quickly neutralized, but the Enforcers remained untouched, watching from the side.
"Enough of this," a deep, rumbling voice echoed across the warehouse. It was Ox, the massive man, taking a purposeful step forward. His sheer size dwarfed the already downed thugs. "You've had your fun, wall-crawlers. Now you deal with the real muscle."
With a roar that shook the rafters, Ox charged, aiming his enormous frame directly at Spider-Man. The air seemed to compress with the force of his approach.
Spider-Man jumped up and dodged the charge. Ox stopped himself and turned around. Spider-Man was back on the ground till then and punched Ox in the stomach. But the strength Spider-Man commonly used wasn't enough, and Ox barely felt a thing.
Ox barely stumbled, his massive frame absorbing the impact with a grunt that was more of annoyance than pain. He looked down at Spider-Man, a flicker of something like amusement crossing his face.
"A puny punch from a puny spider," Ox rumbled, his voice a deep, gravelly sound. He swung his enormous fist in a wide, slow arc that nevertheless carried terrifying force.
But for Spider-Man, the punch was easy to dodge, and he didn't even need his spider sense.
"You ever met a fella named Rhino?" Spider-Man said, dodging another punch. "I think you can become good friends."
Then Spider-Man jumped up and kicked Ox in the head. He used more strength than before, but it was still not enough to seriously injure him. Ox fell like a heap of potatoes.
On the other hand, the two remaining Enforcers, Montana and Fancy Dan, fought Arachne.
In a purple blur, Fancy Dan appeared in front of Arachne, looking relaxed with his hands in his pants pockets.
Arachne punched him, and he easily dodged it by crouching down. For a second, she was stunned. For the first time in her short vigilante career, someone dodged her.
That moment was enough for Montana, who was ready with his lasso. He threw his lasso and bound her in it. He pulled the lasso, and the rope tightened around her, holding her arms against her torso.
"Do you think a simple rope can bind me?" Arachne scoffed and tried to flex her muscles casually, but she got another shock as she couldn't break the rope.
Montana smirked, seeing her unable to break out of his bindings. "That's a specially made nylon rope. Even Ox can't break it."
Fancy Dan, in the meantime, slipped behind her and held her waist from behind. "Nice abs you have, sweetie." Then he bent backwards in a German Suplex.
But just before Arachne's head was about to hit the floor, she put a hand on the ground and stopped herself from going down any further. The moment of surprise was over, and even if Fancy Dan tried with all his strength, he couldn't move her at all.
Arachne came back forward and stood straight. Montana tried to pull back his lasso to disbalance Arachne and help Fancy Dan, but she wouldn't budge, no matter how hard he pulled. She looked annoyed, and this time she flexed her muscles with greater force, and the rope snapped in an instant. Montana lost the tug-of-war and fell on his butt. "Impossible," he said, looking at her in horror.
Arachne took one hand behind her and clutched Fancy Dan, bringing him in front. She held him dangling above ground as he helplessly punched and kicked the air. Arachne hurled him towards a wall. Due to his martial arts mastery, he twisted his body midair and saved himself from serious injury after hitting the wall, but he was still severely injured.
Arachne walked towards Montana calmly, who looked at her, paralyzed in fear. She kicked him in the head, and he fainted.
When Big Man saw his hired thugs getting floored by the vigilantes, and even his strongest enforcers were getting their ass kicked, he decisively left through the back door.
Spider-Man noticed him leaving, and after defeating Ox, he saw Arachne handling the other two Enforcers just fine. He ran after Big Man to apprehend him.
By the time Arachne was done, most of her anger had quieted down, so seeing that the nosy spider wasn't there, she started looting the thugs. After that, she checked every nook and cranny for any hidden stash, but it seemed Big Man didn't conceal his ill-gained money in the same place where he met with the gang members he'd coerced into working for him.
After another quick look, she left, having secured the thugs and called the cops.
A few minutes later, after Arachne left, a group of thugs entered the warehouse. All of them wore gloves and masks.
"Be quick, we need to leave before the cops arrive," the one leading them ordered.
The others nodded and went to find what they had come for, but one of them stayed behind.
The leader saw who had stayed behind; his forehead creased.
"Any problem?" The leader asked in a low, authoritative voice.
"Of course, I have a problem," the thug answered. "That bitch thinks we are her lackeys, so she ordered us to do this thankless job."
"You'd better think before you speak," the leader growled in a low voice.
"Of course, I am thinking. Why are we following the orders of a disgusting mutant and a woman at that? How can we pure humans let that biological mistake rule us?"
"From the day she forcefully became our leader, she has been treating us as her servants. We are mere pawns for her to collect power."
The more he spoke, the more agitated he became.
"Not only that, those newcomers whom she took in, none of them respect us. Especially that new bitch who goes around pretending to be her secretary."
"Enough, not another word," the leader snapped. "We are given a job, we will do it."
"Oh, come on, don't change the subject. I know you also hate that new bitch and her brother for taking your position," the thug scoffed.
The leader looked uncomfortable, but he still said with gritted teeth, "I don't, now go back to work."
The thug didn't leave and instead doubled down.
"You know, I am right," the thug said with a light laugh. Then he said in a slow, enticing voice, "Why don't we take over the gang? We will just need to kill that mutant freak and that pair of siblings who are most loyal to her. Then you can rule the entire gang with more numbers and more territory than before."
Before the leader could say anything, the thug continued, "I know a thug in a gang that owns seven streets. I can ask for his help."
The leader grabbed the thug's collar, but was interrupted by another subordinate.
"We found them."
The leader looked back at the thug in front of him and released his collar. He hissed, "This is not over."
Then he went inside and helped his subordinates bring out their targets.
Soon, the gangsters dragged the three members of the Enforcers and shoved them roughly into their cars. Then they quickly entered the cars as well and left.
…
"Wake them up."
In a room, the three members of the Enforcers were tied to chairs in nothing but their underwear.
In front of them sat Frances, looking intently at them. Around her stood the members of her gang, with Lucia, her unofficial secretary, standing beside her.
"Yes, boss."
The gang members walked to the unconscious trio with buckets filled with ice water and dumped the entire bucket on each of their heads.
The trio woke with a gasp and shivered.
"W-who are you? Wh-what do you want?" Montana, the leader of the trio, asked, shivering like a wet dog.
"Hello, gentlemen. I hope you like our welcome," Frances said with a smile. "Please forgive us if you find something not to your liking."
"Do you know who we work for?" Montana said in a threatening tone. But with his teeth chattering, it didn't look that threatening. His two buddies only continued glaring at her.
"Of course, I know," Frances said, leaning back as she put one of her legs over the other. "In fact, I know more about your boss than you."
The Enforcers looked confused hearing that. Frances smiled and nodded towards one of her subordinates.
The gangster nodded back, brought out a laptop, and played a news segment. The video showed how Spider-Man and Arachne helped catch the famous criminal Big Man.
Not only that, they even revealed Big Man's real identity. It was something no one would've guessed. He was Frederick Foswell, a journalist at the Daily Bugle—the same Foswell whom Jameson ordered to write an article claiming that Spider-Man was Big Man.
No one initially believed it was Foswell because he was much shorter and had a thin frame. But he wore specially made clothes and shoes to alter his build, and a voice amplifier to make him sound different.
"As you have seen, gentlemen," Frances said, maintaining her smile. "You can forget about your previous boss ever coming to help you."
Montana took a deep breath. He knew his group was in danger, so he calmed himself and listened to what Frances had to say. "What do you want?"
Frances's smile widened hearing that.
"Nothing much, just tell us where your boss hid his money?"
Montana had an "as expected" expression. "We don't know. Big Man is very secretive. He never shared where he kept his money."
Frances made a sorry expression and shook her head. "Montana, let's not make this hard for either of us. Just tell us the location."
"I told you, I don't know," Montana shouted.
Frances sighed loudly. Then she turned to one of her subordinates, "Daniel?"
Daniel nodded respectfully and walked to Fancy Dan with a knife.
"Hey, hey, wait. Why are you coming here?" Fancy Dan said fearfully. He tried to back off, but he was tied so tightly to the chair that he couldn't move an inch. "No, don't come, no, aaah."
Daniel returned to his place after cutting one of Fancy Dan's fingers.
Fancy Dan screamed in pain, and both Montana and Ox looked at Frances with fear.
"I swear, I don't know," Montana pleaded. "I am telling you the truth. Big Man never shared with us where he kept his money."
This time, Frances didn't even need to tell; Daniel moved on his own. He passed Fancy Dan, who was looking at him with a pale face, and arrived near Ox.
Ox tried to struggle, but he was tied much more tightly than his two buddies. Daniel arrived, cut off one finger, and returned to his place, leaving a screaming Ox behind.
"Please, don't do this. Believe me," Montana pleaded more desperately.
His breathing quickened as he saw Daniel pass both Fancy Dan and Ox, coming towards him.
"No, no, no," Montana pleaded. "You have to understand. Why would Big Man even share with us where his money is? We were just his subordinates."
"Daniel." Daniel was about to chop off Montana's right hand's index finger, but stopped when he heard Frances's order. Then he returned to his position.
"Technically, you are not wrong," Frances said with a thoughtful expression. "But then it would mean it was a loss to bring you here."
"Please let us leave, we definitely pay you back for saving us from the cops," Montana said, seeing a ray of hope.
"You want to pay me?" Frances tilted her head. All three men nodded together. "Then why wait? Pay me today."
"B-but we don't have much with us right now," Montana said hesitatingly.
"Oh, forget 'much', you don't have anything," Frances laughed. "Someone already looted you before we came to get you."
Montana and his buddies' eyes widened hearing that. But they didn't have time to dwell on it; they had more pressing matters to attend to.
"Please let us go, we will repay as soon as possible," Fancy Dan spoke, his face still contorted in pain.
"As I said, why wait?" France said. Then continued with an evil smile, "Don't you have hidden stashes too. I am sure you have earned some good dough from your jobs. Tell us where they are, and then you are free to go."
The three Enforcers were stunned. It finally clicked in Montana's brain. They were kidnapped not for Big Man's stash, but theirs.
"Never," Ox spoke with gritted teeth.
Frances didn't bother responding; instead, she looked around the room. Her subordinates understood what was about to happen, so they moved and arrived behind Frances. Now, only the three tied-up members of Enforcers stayed in front.
Frances looked back at them and took a deep breath.
"TELL ME WHERE YOU HAVE HIDDEN YOUR MONEY."
Frances said, her voice infused with Fear.
The three gangsters were already injured and in pain from their previous beatings by the spider vigilantes. Then they woke up in an unknown location with ice water in nothing but their underwear. Then they were scared by injuring two of their members. Finally, Frances played her trump card, leaving them completely afraid of her.
Frances had to reduce the shout's intensity so they could still converse, but to make sure it wasn't insufficient, they had to scare them earlier.
"No, don't kill me."
"I will say, I will say, please let me go."
"I am sorry for being rude. Please, I don't want to die."
Frances looked at her subordinates. The three who poured ice water on the Enforcers brought more buckets. Then they dumped entire buckets on them.
That was to wake them from their delirium.
"I will say, please don't kill me," Montana immediately said after his ice water bath.
"I promise. As long as you tell me where you kept your money, I will not kill you," Frances said with a solemn face.
Montana and his two buddies looked relieved when they heard that and told her where their stashes were.
Frances called someone and told that person the three locations. Then she left the room. A few of her subordinates stayed behind to watch over the Enforcers; the rest left as well.
Two hours later, everyone was back in the room.
Frances once again sat in her chair, looking at the three men, each pale with cold.
Frances got a call and picked it up. After answering it, she closed it and told her subordinate to bring someone in.
The thug went and brought a woman wearing a black body suit, a black domino mask, and platinum blonde hair.
"Total 200 grands. According to the deal, 30% is mine," the woman in a black body suit said.
Frances nodded and gave her 30%. Before leaving, the woman looked at Montana and said with a playful smile, "Use better traps next time." Then she left.
Lucia and the rest of the gang looked confused about who that woman was.
"Boss, who was she? Is she a member of our gang?" Lucia asked.
"No," Frances said. "She is Black Cat. A professional thief I hired to bring in the money in case there were any traps. It is better to let the professionals do their job."
Lucia nodded in understanding, looking even more in awe of her boss.
Montana finally spoke, his voice was already weak with the constant cold, "You got the money. Please let us go."
Frances looked at him coldly, then said dismissively, "Finish the job."
"No, you promised you would not kill us," Montana said to Daniel, walking towards him with a knife. Like him, Mike moved toward Ox.
"Idiot," Lucia said disdainfully. "The boss only promised that she will not kill you. She never said we can't do it in her stead." Then she also pulled a knife and walked towards Fancy Dan.
Daniel looked worried at his sister. The only reason he became a criminal was to protect his sister. Even if they both joined the gang, he hoped his sister would never have to dirty her hands.
"It's ok, brother," Lucia said with a smile. "I am aware of what I am doing. I have made this choice. Please support me."
Daniel closed his eyes. He opened his eyes and nodded with a heavy heart. Lucia smiled seeing that.
Then, three knives were placed on the necks of the three members of the Enforcers. Their begging and shouting all ceased to exist after a single slash.
Just when everyone decided to leave, one person's voice stopped them.
"Boss, why didn't you ask us to bring Big Man here instead?" a thug standing beside Mike said. His eyes, filled with greed, were trained on the bag of cash in Frances's hands. "It would be much better to get the money stashed by Big Man."
"Shut up, Paul," Mike snapped. "How dare you speak to the boss like that?"
Paul was about to retort, but noticed that Frances was looking at him with an emotionless gaze, and many of his fellow gang members were looking at him with unkind eyes—especially Daniel and Lucia, who were looking at him with murderous intentions.
"I didn't mean to disrespect you, boss," Paul immediately backed off. "I just meant it would be much better for the gang if we could have even more funding."
"You," Mike was about to give Paul a piece of his mind, but was interrupted by Lucia.
"Allow me, Mike," Lucia said with a smile as she took a step towards Paul.
"Paul, are you perhaps an idiot?" Lucia asked with an innocent smile.
Paul's anger flared. "You b—" He immediately stopped himself when he noticed Daniel's hawk-like gaze on him.
"What do you mean, Lucia?" Paul asked with gritted teeth.
Lucia smiled like a teacher explaining something to an idiotic student.
"Do you think it is so easy to catch Big Man and bring him here with the law enforcement of the entire city and a couple of vigilantes after him because of all the trouble he made recently?"
"Even if we could somehow pull it off, we would be immediately on the radar of all those forces."
"Can you fight against the entire law enforcement and multiple superpowered individuals all by yourself?"
"Or do you think our gang is strong enough to fight the entire city?"
Lucia turned to Frances immediately and said, "I didn't mean that as disrespect to you, boss."
Frances waved her hand, showing she didn't care, and nodded to agree with her observations.
Lucia looked relieved and turned back to Paul.
"Instead of fighting the entire city for a wealth we might not even enjoy for a few hours, it would be much better to get Big Man's subordinates who were not as well-known as Big Man himself."
"If they could tell us Big Man's stash, it would be ideal. But even if they didn't know, we could still have gotten their own stash locations."
"Profit with least resistance."
Lucia turned to look at Frances, who gave her an appreciative nod for her observation skills. Lucia was thrilled to see that, but controlled her expression.
On the other hand, Mike internally cursed Paul all the while Lucia explained to Paul. He saw the disappointment on Frances's face when she looked at him. It was fleeting, but he noticed.
Mike was ecstatic when Frances ordered him to bring in the three enforcers. He felt she valued him enough to entrust him with such a big task. He wanted to strangle Paul when he badmouthed Frances and encouraged him to rebel, but controlled himself.
Now, Paul once again opened his mouth and shat all over his hard work. All that he did went up in smoke, and Lucia once again got Frances's appreciation.
Mike was seriously considering permanently removing Paul from the equation; otherwise, he would lose whatever trust Frances had left in him. But he didn't want to do it yet. In the end, Paul was still one of his old friends, the one who was part of his gang before Frances took it over.
Mike wanted Paul to understand their position somehow and not bring his prejudices into their work. He just hoped those prejudices wouldn't fester further.
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Stay back and tighten your seatbelts. Starting the next chapter, a new adventure will start in Kevin's life.
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Character Illustrations (La Corona Roja Cartel):
Leader: Reina "La Madrina" Cortez
Hound: Isabella "La Fiera" Torres
Hound: Javier "Cicatriz" Morales
Hound: Valeria "La Sombra" Álvarez
Hound: Ramón "El Toro" Castillo
Hound: Mateo "El Halcón" Reyes
They are shown as they were introduced in chapter 21.
More illustrations on Discord: discord . gg / 9hP3n3hq