Chapter 22: Lights, Camera, Mysterio Part II

Chapter 22: Lights, Camera, Mysterio Part Two:

Meanwhile, Spider-Man was gaining height with each passing second, as the air was getting thinner the higher he went.

“Just a few more seconds before I pass out up here, no Spidey, got to get your head together, come on, you’ve fought tougher battles before, just got to time this exactly right, just one more twist and got it, now to just remove the release pin for my web shooters just enough,” thought Spider-Man desperately, as the chains were twisted just enough to give him room to maneuver. “Alright, just about got it, almost there, just one more turn and twist and it’s released…now, yes…it works.”

The shackles snapped open, allowing Spider-Man to remove his left arm from the shackles, before he moved forward. He looked down, removing his other arm, before he gazed downwards. He was right above a body of water and he paused, looking at all of his options. Using the release pin on his web shooters to unhook himself from the other pair of shackles, he watched. His weight not being evenly distributed had caused the saucer to rock and spin slightly out of orbit.

“A fatal flaw, if I can exploit this just enough and maybe crash it into the water,” said Spider-Man as he moved a bit, directing the saucer’s orbit downwards. “Got to be careful, make this free fall too much and then I’m done. Just a little bit at a time, at least enough where I can hook onto something with by webbing and jump down. A little more, and a little more, the hover lifts in this thing are beginning to fail, a good sign, but I don’t want them to fail too fast. A bit more and one, two and three and rock, rock it a bit harder, just a little bit harder and I’ve got it…no going down way too fast, I hope this works, I’ve never tried this before.

Spider-Man released the pins in his web shooters, causing a cocoon of webbing to wrap around both him and the saucer. Twisting, he tucked his head the best he can as the prop had landed right into the water. Quickly, he managed to rip the cocoon, before managing to summon enough strength to snap the chains.

“Long swim back, guess I better start now,” thought Spider-Man as he began to swim, muscles still sore, but most of his strength regained. He wondered how much time it would take him to get back to the city. “Mysterio and his little goon squad are long gone, not that I knew where they took me anyway. I was knocked out.”

Without another word, Spider-Man pulled himself out of the water, sopping wet. He would have to get back home, hopefully without being scene, for his spare outfit, wondering what Mysterio’s game was.

-

“Alright everyone, put your money and jewelry in the bag and surrender in the name of the Archanoids!” shouted one of the Archanoid, the leader of the gang by the looks of it, holding a weapon in his hand. The crowd began to laugh in amusement at the entire situation.

“Is this some kind of joke?” asked one of the men. “A publicity stunt of some sort perhaps…”

A blast had blew up the shelf to bits. The Archanoids moved forward, holding out the bags in one hand and the guns in another.

“This is serious, the next blast will eliminate the person who tries one wrong move,” said the Archnoid leader. “You will surrender to us or be annihilated.”

“The pearls if you please,” said one of the Archanoids, roughly grabbing a woman by the throat and ripping them off her neck, before placing them in the back. Several other men and women were being relieved of their money and jewelry.

“This city will soon cower beneath the collective will of the Archanoid empire!” shouted the leader in a boisterous voice, as they walked out with their ill gotten gains and saw the arriving police car. The police exited the car, pointing their weapons but the alien leader waved his hand, causing the Archanoids to appear to disappear particle by particle in the air.

“Did you see what I think we saw?” asked one of the officers, a rookie, completely losing his head. “Aliens, real life aliens, and they just disappeared and I can’t believe it.”

“I don’t believe it either but I know what I saw,” said Officer Jean DeWolff in a hushed voice, as she tried to wrap her head around the entire situation. Yet she knew what she saw, even if she could hardly believe her eyes. She had to file a report on the station but exactly how would someone describe this.

-

“Space Archanoids from Jupiter rob citizens blind?” bellowed Jameson in a disbelieving tone of voice.

“I’m just repeating what has been said Jonah, three separate incidents, all over town, each with eye witnesses seeing this Space Archanoids disappear right before their very eyes,” argued Robbie. “There has to be a logical explanation behind this.”

“Spider-Man, he was working with Beck on that movie and now they’ve created this hoax,” said Jameson, as if this was one of the facts of life. “Space spiders, I’ve finally got that web head where I’ve wanted him.”

“To what extent, Jonah, I’m telling you that there is no way to tie Spider-Man into this whatsoever,” said Robbie and Jameson just nodded in agreement.

“What we need to do is to dig up proof of the web heads guilt,” said Jameson with a gleeful expression on his face and Robbie just responded with a sigh. “LEEDS, BROCK! Get in there right now, I’ve got a new assignment for you.”

-

“I’m telling you Captain Stacy, they just disappeared,” said DeWolff and Captain Stacy sat there, looking quite thoughtful.

“I believe you, but given the fact that it is Mysterio we are dealing with, what we think we see and what actually is happening are two different things,” remarked Captain Stacy and suddenly, as if on cue, Spider-Man arrived, looking quite shaken but Captain Stacy looked at him without missing a beat. “Ah, Spider-Man perhaps you could shed some light on this.”

“Oh believe me, I might have a few ideas, given the fact that Mysterio’s little scheme to send me into orbit backfired and that was after he attempted to blast me with real weapons, instead of props,” said Spider-Man as he looked at Captain Stacy. “You don’t suppose that you might have an idea on where our master of illusion managed to get his deceptive little hands on such weapons.”

“A few leads but let me check the files and a couple of photos that managed to arrive based on the robberies from the Archanoids,” said Captain Stacy and Spider-Man looked up in confusion. “You mean, you haven’t heard.”

“No, I spent the last hour swimming back and walking home to get changed,” said Spider-Man but he had heard enough to realize it. “Not really actors but rather members of Mysterio’s gang!”

“I’ve come to a similar conclusion as well, Spider-Man, in fact the only two people not in Mysterio’s gang are you and Andrea Edwards,” said Captain Stacy. “I wonder what role she plays in the scheme.”

“Maybe to scare people away with her oh so charming attitude,” suggested Spider-Man but Captain Stacy had no comment, as he checked anything.

“As I thought, government weapons were stolen and it’s obvious who they were stolen by right now,” said Captain Stacy after a moment’s pause. “We haven’t been able to find out much about why they were stolen, except the government hinted they had destructive potential.”

“Always the best news,” muttered Spider-Man but he turned, seeing a man in an Archanoid costume walk towards the front desk. Quickly, Spider-Man slipped out of sight, if Mysterio still thought he was dead, that could very well give him the necessary element of surprise. The Archanoid stood, right in front of Captain Stacy, weapon at the ready.

“You know it is quite bold of Mysterio to send one of his henchmen in a police station,” said Captain Stacy.

“Quiet, human, we know not of this Mysterio you speak of,” said the Archanoid, without even losing his cool but neither did Captain Stacy. “Given you are the head of the police force in this area, we will give you our demands. By six o’ clock tonight, tribute is to be paid, one hundred million of your earth dollars. Once we have confirmation that your payment will be received, then we will give you further instructions but it must be done prior to six.”

“And if we refuse,” said Captain Stacy but the Archanoid just broke into a twisted grin.

“Then we activate a device planted underneath your city that will vaporize several blocks in a click of a button,” said the Archanoid leader, before he vanished with a puff of smoke. Captain Stacy reached forward, but he felt nothing.

“Hologram, Mysterio must know that we’re onto him, so he didn’t want any real henchmen that we could nab,” said Captain Stacy as he looked up, where Spider-Man dropped down. “The only question is now what.”

“Mysterio is boisterous but he’s not one to bluff, if he has something grave planned for the city, then he has something grave planned for the city, no two ways about it,” said Spider-Man after a moment of thought. “Perhaps if I go to set of the movie…”

“Been there, done that, cleared out everything, not even one clue,” said Captain Stacy and Spider-Man paused for a bit and then went towards the window.

“I don’t know why you even bother humoring Spider-Man, Captain,” said DeWolff.

“Because he’s necessary whether or not we want to admit it,” said Captain Stacy. “I’d love to live in a city where Spider-Man is not necessary and I think he would like to live in that city too but we are a long way from that point.”

-

“Your performance was masterful as always boss,” said a henchman with glee, as Beck had removed the Archnoid outfit. Naturally, only someone of his caliber could have pulled off such a grand deception.

“Naturally, considering it was I who performed it but we are getting ahead of ourselves gentlemen, we’ll see if Captain Stacy decides to play along or will he go against the script?” questioned Beck. “Naturally, the holographic equipment is in place, if we make them believe the city is vaporizing around them, then it will cause mass panic and people will flee in terror. In the confusion, we will clean out the city of everything of value and divide the spoils between us.”

“Boss we might have a problem,” said one of the members of the gang in a tentative voice, as he looked over. “The camera feed from the flying saucer we put Spider-Man on just came back and it cut off but not before we found out that the web head managed to free himself just in time.”

Fury washed over Beck’s face, but he maintained a cool façade.

“No matter, it will require a last minute rewrite of the script but it can be pulled off,” said Beck in a calm voice, as he pulled out a trunk, revealing a very familiar outfit. “Our actress should be awakening, give her the instructions as planned and with any luck, Spider-Man with proceed to the location where we can spring one final trap for him.”

“Will do, boss,” said the thug as he walked out to do as he was told but he did not relish the opportunity of having to deal with Andrea Edwards.

-

“Some corrosion and a fine dust, looks to be the residue from a hallucinogen gas,” thought Spider-Man as he had moved around, getting a closer look. “Nowhere near as strong as what Mysterio has used before. Then again, all he needs to do is make a crowd of people believe his little gang had disappeared. Long enough for them to get into a van off to an alley way or a side street and then make their escape that way. No one would think differently, clever but you’ve overplayed your hand Beck.”

“HELP, SOMEONE HELP ME!” shouted a very familiar voice which caused Spider-Man in surprise, as he saw Andrea in the distance but he stopped short.

“Oh, no, I’m not falling for a trap this time,” said Spider-Man under his breath, but the woman was trembling in absolute fear, as the Arachnoids were approaching her, holding the very real weapons.

“HELP ME, GET ME OUT OF HERE!” shouted Andrea as she trembled in fear. Spider-Man sighed, if this was a trick, he was not going to like this. Quickly, he swung into the distance and stopped at the feet of the Archanoids, who threw their weapons down in surprise. Andrea turned. “Listen here you web slinging idiot, you better stop stealing my scene!”

“Oh of course,” thought Spider-Man.

“Listen, I really thought you were in danger this time,” said Spider-Man in protest.

“Well, that’s because of my great natural acting skills,” responded Andrea but her lip was curled in a sneer. “Still, let’s make one thing clear, I’m the star of this film, not you, in fact, your scene has been filmed, so you can clear out and never come back.”

Loud booming laughter echoed as a cloud of green smoke appeared. The very familiar form of Mysterio, in all his fishbowl wearing glory appeared right in front of the them.

“Spider-Man, once again, you will have to match wits with the amazing mystic powers of Mysterio!” bellowed Mysterio in a voice that echoed for several miles around as he stood right beside Spider-Man. Spider-Man stood, ready for anything but needless to say, Andrea was not too happy.

“Listen here you fishbowl wearing creep, I don’t know who you think you’re are but this is my scene and you’re stealing it!” shrieked Andrea in a tone that nearly carried as much as Mysterio’s voice, which caused Spider-Man to step back from her. Mysterio just responded by a loud booming round of laughter.

“Mysterio doesn’t steal the show,” declared Mysterio before he continued in a loud declaration. “MYSTERIO IS THE SHOW!”

Spider-Man decided to make his move when Mysterio was grand standing but he flew right towards Mysterio, landing right on the ground with a thud. Mysterio laughed madly.

“Spider-Man, you should know better to think you can defeat Mysterio!” echoed Mysterio as three more of him appeared. Spider-Man ran around, punching at the holograms one by one, but this was about as successful as could be expected.

“The real one of you has to be around here somewhere and once I get my hands on you, I’m going to punt that stupid fishbowl off your head!” shouted Spider-Man as he aimed a kick right towards Mysterio but it was another hologram. Another kick and another hologram, as Mysterio’s laughter echoed. “You’re not here, anywhere are you. It’s a hologram trick, well stop hiding behind your illusions Beck and face me.”

A Mysterio copy from behind Spider-Man attempted to club him down across the back of the head but the spider sense went off and Spider-Man spun around, grabbing Mysterio, but the chest plate opened up and four metal shackles shot out, strapping Spider Man’s ankles and wrists, as the loud laughter of a dozen Mysterio holographic duplicates echoed from all around.

“Ah man, this one’s a robot,” grumbled Spider-Man as he squirmed and struggled, trying to pull himself free, but found this attempt to be quite futile. “I HATE ROBOTS!”

“Such a shame, but this robot is the kind that self destructs within the next fifteen minutes,” said Mysterio as he twisted a dial on his belt, recalling all the holograms and standing right beside Spider-Man, who struggled. “Don’t try to get out, Spider-Man, I’ve reinforced those shackles to deal with your spider strength.

Spider-Man struggled as the Mysterio robot turned, before it took him on a ride, leading the Archanoids into the city.

“Just think, how many crimes will my double commit and how helpless you’ll be to stop it,” taunted Mysterio as Spider-Man once again attempted to pry himself free, but the Mysterio robot continued to move forward. Andrea turned, hands on her hips.

“What about me?” demanded Andrea. “This was supposed to be my big break!”

“Wonder Studios dissolves your contract, you are no longer needed, we wish you the best in your future endeavors,” said Mysterio as a green gas sprayed Andrea. She dropped to the ground, knocked unconscious before Mysterio spun, his cape flicking in the wind as he vanished in a puff of smoke, laughing madly, as the Archanoids continued onto the move.

“Got to get free somehow, this thing’s going to blow me up and anyone who gets caught in the crossfire,” thought Spider-Man in a desperate tone but those shackles were stronger, as the Mysterio robot moved into the city.”Great a bank, and I’m going to be an unwitting accomplice. What does that do to my web slinging reputation?”

The Archanoids turned, as the Mysterio robot turned to them, the glass helmet blinking, before a pre-recorded announcement began to play.

“Surrender all your funds to the Archanoids and their overlord, the masterful Mysterio and his new partner, the Spectacular Spider-Man!” yelled the robot as the bank manager looked horrified, as the Archanoids pointed their guns. “Or be vaporized by my intergalactic minions.”

“Mysterio forgot one crucial item, my web shooters are still intact, it’s a good thing I refilled them before I went to investigate the crime scenes,” thought Spider-Man as he pressed his feet inside the robot, attempting to steer it a fraction of an inch, to grab one of those blasters from an Archanoid, knowing that he might have mere seconds before he was blown to bits. “Once again, like so many other things today, timing, have to try, no matter what it might cost.”

Spider-Man turned the robot, as the bank manager emptied out a bank vault, but a silent alarm was triggered. With another movement, Spider-Man activated his web shooter and with careful precision, he shot a line of webbing, wrapping around the weapon and pulling it out of the hands. Quickly, he managed to turn the weapon and blast a hand and a foot free, before the others realized what had happened.

“SPIDER-MAN’S LOOSE GET HIM!” shouted an Archanoid but Spider-Man busted him right in the chops with a kick from his free leg. He raised his arm and wrapped up several of the goons, holding them in place. Spider-Man twisted the robot, enough so his other bounds were freed by the blasts of the weapons, before he leapt forward and knocked them out. One of the Archanoids pointed a weapon right at the back of his head, but with a great amount of agility, he back flipped over him before landing on his feet. Webbing wrapped around the legs of the goon and with a tug, Spider-Man caused him to land on the ground.

“Really, all that fire power and you still can’t beat me,” said Spider-Man lazily as he leapt over two of the goons, before he disarmed them with one swift motion and then webbed them together. “Why don’t you two gentlemen get to know each other a bit better?”

Spider-Man paused, as the Mysterio bot was humming and then smoking.

“Great, I forgot, this thing was set to self destruction, guess I got a few minutes left before it does, but I’ve got to find the explosive device and hope that Mysterio didn’t leave any other nasty surprises for me to deal with,” thought Spider-Man as he went to work, trying to shut out the baffled bank manager right behind him. He worked it open, before he found a black box, with a countdown timer on it. “Right there, found it, why the villains are always so stupid to put a timer on these things I never know, but it helps make my job easier I guess, a minute and twenty left to go, I don’t even know if I could disable it in that time, in fact, I doubt I could, oh well, I guess I have to try something or this entire city block is toast.”

Spider-Man turned to the bank manager.

“You can put that money back, no one’s in the position to steal it,” said Spider-Man but he did not wait, rather swinging to the side of the building, before he held the explosive device in his hands, setting up a webbing slingshot in between two poles.

“Please work,” thought Spider-Man desperately as he pulled back, before he launched himself right towards the river. Once he got close enough, he threw the explosive device from the Mysterio robot and then averted his position, back into the city. He landed far away, as there was a small explosion. “Just made it now got to find Mysterio, the real Mysterio and figure out what his little plan is for the city. What little illusion he’s got planned if the tribute he wants isn’t paid.”

-

Spider-Man swung over the city, eyes peeled for anything out of the ordinary. The hour at hand was quickly approaching and he hoped to wrap this up in time for dinner. It had been a long and trying day. He dropped down, returning to the scene of the first crime. It seemed like a longshot but it was a better shot than he had right now and he was rapidly running out of options.

A loud bang and echoed the arrival of Mysterio, who stood right face to face with Spider-Man, standing right in the street, which had been barricaded on both sides with two trucks and no traffic was around it.

“It has come to this Spider-Man, the end game!” shouted Mysterio as he turned right towards the web slinger, but Spider-Man shot a line of webbing forward but it passed right through Mysterio.

“No, more games, Mysterio, unless you think that you’re not good enough to defeat me straight up!” shouted Spider-Man.

“How dare you insult the greatness that is Mysterio!” bellowed the villain as he stood raising his hands. A loud bang echoed and Mysterio stood right face to face with Spider-Man. A blast of blinding light appeared and several razor sharp flaming daggers appearing. Spider-Man closed his eyes but saw that they were nothing other than a really vivid illusion. The daggers passed around him, before they faded off in the distance. Spider-Man propelled himself forward and aimed a kick but Mysterio flicked his wrist and Spider-Man felt dizzy, rather off balance as he fell to the ground as Mysterio stepped forward and punched him right to the face. His gloves were loaded with something that made his punches quite powerful and this was no illusion. Yet the effect that made Spider-Man dizzy and put him off balance had to be one.

“Focus web head, focus, you can beat this guy, you have…” thought Spider-Man but the wind was knocked out of him with a punch, before Mysterio clapped his hands. The sound caused was enough to knock Spider-Man backwards to the ground. He shot a line of webbing out but Mysterio blocked it, with a hook concealed beneath his wrist.

Mysterio lifted his hand up and Spider-Man felt himself lift off the ground. He squinted, there was some kind of extremely thin wire. It was barely visible but his enhanced eyesight allowed him to see it. He struggled, managing to pull the wire and drop down to the ground, but a puff of smoke appeared, as about twelve duplicates of Mysterio appeared. Spider-Man just stopped and stepped back.

“I’m done, Mysterio, you obviously can’t beat me without the trickery,” said Spider-Man, but he had closed his eyes, expecting Mysterio to cause a more direction attack. Sure enough, he was not disappointed as his spider sense went off, alerting him of the attack. He threw himself forward, trusting his spider sense only and not paying heed to any of his other senses. Mysterio was knocked off balance with a kick. Quickly, Spider-Man held onto him, ripping off his holographic belt before he stomped on it. The gloves were removed and Mysterio was thrown right to the ground. Immediately, the two vans vanished and Mysterio raised a gas pellet to throw it to the ground, but Spider-Man was ready this time.

He leapt up and knocked Mysterio down before he threw the pellet from his hand and knocked him down to the ground. After another couple of movements, Mysterio was wrapped up, another device put up his sleeve was removed and destroyed.

“The reviews are in and your production has been cancelled because of poor reception, Mysterio!” declared Spider-Man as the fishbowl was pulled off and thrown down, destroying even more holographic equipment.

“How dare you?” demanded Beck before his eyes widened, breathing heavily, and he continued in a crazed voice. “HOW DARE YOU? HOW DID YOU DEFEAT ME THIS TIME? I HAD IT PLANNED TO THE LETTER!”

“Simple, Beck, you added too much to your little scheme and I managed to trip you up,” said Spider-Man as he made sure Beck was completely secured and had no further tricks up his diabolical sleeve. When he was satisified, he stepped back, the trucks having been holograms as he waited until the police cars had arrived. With another shrug, Spider-Man swung off, ready to head on home. This was a long and trying day but it ended on a high note with Mysterio back behind bars where he belonged.

-

“And in other news this evening, the megalomaniac master of illusion known as Mysterio was put back on behind bars,” said a voice on the news program that was on the background during dinner in the Parker household. “And still to come, details of the latest involving a scandal that may force a long time United States Senator to resign…”

“I tell you anymore, the news, it’s just bad,” said Aunt May as she looked at Peter with a smile.

“Hey, at least Mysterio’s off the street,” said Peter as he had finished up what he was eating.

“Yes, I believe we can thank small favors like that but the crime rates are through the roof these days,” said Aunt May.

“Yes, I know what you mean Aunt May, and this is a day where Spider-Man is needed more than ever, but fighting super villains and that, I just can’t help but wonder if I’m the cause of this more than the solution,” thought Peter, before he shrugged. He wished his aunt would not have to worry about things like this but that just meant he would just have to keep up fighting.

-

“Gwen, I can’t believe you got the rough cut of what Mysterio filmed,” said Peter with grand amusement, as he sat on the floor against the couch at Gwen’s house, with his girlfriend leaning right against him

“He left it around for evidence and the station has a copy and Dad decided to borrow one to investigate further, or so he says,” said Gwen with an amused flicker appearing on her face. “Seriously, I can’t see why anyone would even see this movie. Wonder Studios actually was counting on it to bomb, the owner wanted to use it as a tax write off actually.”

“Well, it would have been a spectacular failure,” said Peter with an expression that flickered between amused and mortified on his face as he watched the movie. “Seriously, when I’m the best actor in a movie, then there’s something really wrong.”

“So you won’t be putting Attack of the Space Archanoids from Jupiter on your resume?” asked Gwen as she turned slightly towards Peter.

“I’d sooner put down the time where I got punked out by Toad in battle, at least that’s less horrifying,” said Peter as the two laughed, before Gwen cringed at an all too familiar shrieking voice on screen.

“And that lead actress, I mean, if her voice goes any higher, I think that the only thing that would be able to hear it is hunting dogs,” answered Gwen as she grabbed Peter’s hand and watched, with something between amusement and disgust at the performance of the lead actress.

“You should try appearing in the movie with her,” remarked Peter dryly as he had absent mindedly stroked his girlfriend’s hair as they continued to watch the acting exploits of one Andrea Edwards, a name that hopefully would not be heard of again all too soon. “And here comes my big scene.”

“The best part of the movie,” said Gwen. “Which really says something about the rest of the movie.”

“Normally I would be offended, but I can’t argue with you,” said Peter seriously as he watched the camera. “Right here is the point where you can pinpoint Beck’s blood pressure going up right about here.”

Peter and Gwen continued to watch the unedited cut of Beck’s movie, in great amusement as they had enjoyed the time spent with each other.

-

Spencer Smythe was a humble inventor, in the field of robotic technology but he had recently fell into some economic hard times. Still right this day, he would get a visit from someone that would change his life.

“Hello Professor Smythe, good to meet you, my name is Miles Warren, perhaps you’ve heard of me,” said Warren as he walked into the lab.

“Yes, I’ve heard of your research, as sketchy as it may be,” said Smythe as he looked at Warren. “Listen here, Professor Warren, I don’t know what scheme you have but I’m not interested in a partnership.”

“My boss, Dr. Nathaniel Essex might have something to say about that, he’s offering fifty million dollars in cash to complete one simple task for him,” said Warren and naturally Smythe was intrigued, before Warren threw down blueprints. “My boss wants you to construct this, for lack of a better term, Spider Slayer, as a genetic curiosity of his needs to be reclaimed.”

“It should not be difficult, really, with the funding, obtaining the parts should be rather easy,” replied Smythe as he looked over the blueprints. “If you don’t mind me for asking, what is this genetic curiosity your employer wants to obtain?”

“Not, what, but rather who, my boss wishes to capture Spider-Man,” said Warren calmly and for a second Smythe looked at him before he shrugged. “Do we have a deal?”

“If the money is right, then we certainly have a deal,” responded Smythe without a second thought. He had no ill will towards Spider-Man but he had to make a living somehow. He would create this Spider Slayer as instructed.


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