Spider Gwen: Bushido Chapter8:SEARCH AND RESCUE

Arriving quickly at the precinct, Spider Woman was already planning her next move while waiting at the parking lot exit to see who came out and identify Murphy. Her initial plan was to ambush him and beat Foswell’s location out of him, but eventually realized it was a really bad idea, as that might attract unwanted attention. The corrupt SWAT corporal will be able to play victim and paint an extra target on her back. It will be his word against her, and she is wanted for Peter’s death. The best option was to follow him and use the same listening device she used when she followed Vincent in order to hear if he says anything incriminatory, recording everything for later use as evidence to help her dad notify the Internal Affairs Agency to eliminate the corrupt cops that are on Vladislav’s payroll.

“There you are. Hello Jerry. Let’s see where you’re slithering to, you snake…” said Spider Woman after seeing Jerry exiting the employees parking lot in the same unmarked SUV used to take Foswell away. It looked like he wasn’t on a call, so she hoped he would lead her to the location where Fred was held.

Suddenly, the listening device picked up a signal from the car. Someone was calling Murphy and from what she could hear, it seemed like he was needed by his partners in crime. Also, more disturbingly, she could hear him mentioning someone named “Mr Akuji”, a name she heard while doing her research on The Hand. He was more like a ghost story, a scary one, as Akuji was rumored to be one The Hand's top enforcer and more disturbingly, a notorious interrogator and torturer. This made Spider Woman feel uneasy, knowing that if this guy was real, then Fred is in mortal danger. All she could do was follow the black unmarked police SUV and hope Murphy leads her to the hideout. He wasn’t suspecting a tail so far and it seemed like he was going straight to the destination, not using any tactics.

After a short but quick drive, the car slowed down and entered a building next to Madison Square Park. It was a tall glass skyscraper near the Flatiron Building and it looked like it was under renovation, with scaffolding on the outside of the building, especially at the top where the penthouse suites were located. Discreetly watching Murphy entering the building, she lost sight of him, but for now she didn’t need him anymore, as she could infiltrate the building and search it without detection.

Crawling through the building's ventilation system as discreetly as she could, she was able to see through the grills what was going on: the entire place was a front for The Hand, with what looked more like low level members. It seemed as Murder INC was “housing” them rent-free where they could conduct more “discreet” operations and stash some of their weapons. More disturbing to Spider Woman, she could also see traces of blood in what looked like interrogation rooms. That sent chills down her spine, as the amount and spread pattern implied whoever was sitting on those chairs didn’t get a quick death. She then picked up the pace and crawled upwards the main tube straight to the top of the building after seeing a few Hand members taking the elevator to the penthouse level.

Climbing up the main ventilation tube, she managed to quickly reach the top of the building and enter the apartment that was undergoing extensive renovations. Looking around through the grilles, she finally saw Foswell, but he wasn’t in the best shape: he was tied to a chair, his shirt was removed, leaving him only in his business pants, even his shoes and socks were removed. Attached to his chest was a heart rate monitor that showed a normal heart rate… for now.

“Hang on. I’m coming to save you.” whispered Spider Woman as she was ready to drop in the room, only to stop at the last moment after seeing he wasn’t alone. There were several more Hand guards in the room, some wielding their usual swords but others were wielding pistols, something unusual to see from ninjas. Just then, someone entered the room, carrying a briefcase and placed it on a table nearby. He looked Japanese, black hair and a small mustache, but unlike his Hand friends, he wasn’t wearing a ninja outfit, but a regular black business suit complete with black leather gloves.

“Hello, Mr Foswell. Or should I say, Spider Woman’s snitch?” said the man as he opened his briefcase. Much to Spider Woman’s shock, it contained a surgical scalpel, a claw hammer, a drill and some dentist pliers “My name is Mr Akuji. Perhaps you heard of me?”

“F*ck you! I’m no snitch!” quickly replied Foswell, looking Akuji right in the eye, but immediately felt a sharp pain at his side as one of the Hand enforcers quickly punched him in the ribs, causing Foswell to produce more insults between groans of pain and coughs. However, Akuji stopped his henchmen from providing another beating.

“That’s enough, I need him alive”. With that, Akuji grabbed another chair and sat in front of Foswell staring at the man for a moment. “This is not your first rodeo, considering the condition of your left leg. Since you already know what is going to happen next, why don’t you spare yourself a lot of pain and tell me where Spider Woman is, alongside her identity, and how many people are involved in all this? I can assure you that a lot of pain can be avoided.”

“I don’t know what the f*ck you are talking about, and even if I knew, what makes you think that I will tell anything? You rice wanker!”

“Your… nephew was quite loyal to you, a real tough nut to crack, but in the end, as with every nut that is put to enough pressure… he broke. He had a different story and told us everything he knew. However, it seems his body wasn’t as resilient as I thought it would… a shame really, i wasn’t able to use all the tools I had for him…” Upon hearing this, Foswell had a fit of rage, as he began yelling and screaming at Akuji, spitting at him, trying to break the restraints of the chair.

“YOU SON OF A BITCH! I AM GONNA F*CKING KILL YOU! ALL OF YOU BASTARDS! YOU ARE GOING-” Before he could scream any further, one of the enforcers punched him in his gut, making him cough, but still he was extremely angry and defiant.

“You see Mr Foswell, there are many means to an end when it comes to torture. Some decide to torture people in order to leave a message. Some rely on torture in order to pull out information from individuals. And there’s some that just do it for the pleasure of it” replied the torturer as he made a slight smile, radiating sadism and coldness from it “However…I am an employee first and foremost and my job is to know what you are hiding inside of that head of yours. Therefore, I can’t kill you, but that doesn’t mean that I can't make you feel as much pain as humanly possible before you finally break. Just as I did to your nephew.” The man stood up from his chair as he picked up his first tool of choice: the surgical scalpel. A tool usually used on an operating table with the means of saving a patient, but here, it will be used for the opposite. .

“Do your worst, you son of bitch! Ivanovic couldn’t break me!”

“Ohhhh… I don't doubt Mr Ivanovic’s ability to inflict pain, his skills as a soldier are quite admirable. But looking at the state of your leg, something tells me he doesn’t a hand for torture,or he just was feeling generous with you.” he kept explaining as he was walking around Foswell, carrying the scalpel , getting it close to his torso “Last chance before I begin… Where is the Spider Woman? Who are the people you are helping?”

“Shove that scalpel down your ass! I won’t sell her out!”

In a quick motion, Akuji gave him a quick slice on the side of his torso, causing him to scream in pain and the heart monitor to already show his heart rate going up. The Hand enforcer knew precisely where to cut in order to inflict maximum pain without killing him. In his mind, it was all the fun with no trade-offs.

“This is the same scalpel that cut Jeremy. Wielding this on skin is quite an art, you know?” said Akuji before continuing the torture session, giving him more slow slices all over his torso and abdomen, making him scream further. Eventually, drops of blood were dripping on the floor, some from Fred’s wounds, others from Akuji’s scalpel, as he was getting bored and switched to something more blunt: the claw hammer.

“Congratulations Mr Foswell. Time for the next level.” said Akuji before kneeling and slamming the hammer right on Foswell’s toes, the ones from his injured leg, making him tilt his head up and scream in excruciating pain as more got busted. “You see, the goal for torture is not just about to just break someone’s body apart at randon, in the case that the person… survives. You have to make sure that every injury, broken bone, ligament or scars, represents a crude reminder of this… enriching experience, in case that person doesn’t make it out alive… Well, this body can become a nice message and a work of art, like little Jeremy. He was a nice blank canvas…”

“YOU SICK F*CK, I’LL KILL YOU FOR THAT-” shouted Foswell after hearing this information regarding Jeremy’s death. In an instant, memories of him growing up all to the point of him hanging dead by that pipe in that dark alley flashed in front of him. Moments later, Akuji used the hammer again, this time slamming it in his left ankle, breaking his knee joint. At this point, Foswell’s fortitude started to break as tears ran down his cheeks due to the immense pain and also frustration of having the man who murdered his nephew so close and mocking his death in such a way.

“Your useless leg is even more useless now Mr Foswell. Before I continue to the next stage, do you have some sort of valuable information that you want to share with us?”

“Go… and f*ck yourself … will ya…?” replied Foswell. Despite being in all this pain, the anger that he felt was greater, still motivating him to be defiant no matter what.

“Ok, if that is what you want, I am more than happy to provide. I can do this all night.” It wasn’t long before Akuji slammed the hammer to his left knee right in the same place where Vlad broke his leg years ago, causing him further pain and another spike on the heart rate monitor. He made it clear: if Foswell wasn’t going to talk, he would then make sure that his pain would be as extreme as possible, before finally succumbing and passing away. Just above them, Spider Woman was having her own torture session, being forced to hear and see everything. His screams felt like knives piercing her brain and ears.

“Please… stop… just…stop hurting him…” Spider Woman was closing her eyes and gritting her teeth, grabbing her head. Hearing his screams of pain was unbearable for her. At some point tears were dripping through her mask as she felt the symbiote slowly moving and reacting inside her body after hearing Akuji continuing the torture, with Fred’s heart rate reaching extremely high levels.

“Congratulations Mr Foswell! You had endured more pain than your pathetic excuse of a nephew!” said Akuji right before calmly putting the blood stained hammer aside and going for the next tool in his arsenal. Above them, Spider Woman kept having her own mental torment, as she was hearing more of his screams and the heart rate going crazy, almost reaching the level where usually people suffer heart attacks. Afterwards, as if she thought Akuji couldn’t be more sadistic, she saw the torturer calmly taking a battery operated drill and beginning to drill into Fred’s already busted leg, causing him excruciating pain for almost a minute. He knew where the best places were for purposely to generate as much pain as possible. The sound of the drill, mixed with agonizing screams and the heart rate monitor was too much for Spider Woman to endure, as she started to roll and curl in the ventilation system as the symbiote covered more and more of her body. She just wanted to move as far away as possible from the scene and find a way to get out. However, despite moving further from the grill, the screams echoed throughout the entire structure, making it impossible for her to get away from the noise.

Due to her panic, Spider Woman wasn’t looking where she was heading in the ventilation shaft, until she tripped and fell down through another duct crashing inside a storage room a few stories below from the torture chamber. The fall did hurt, but not as much as the pain she was feeling by hearing Foswell’s screams coming out from the ventilation system “J-just Stop! Stop it! Stop hurting him… P-please!” Suddenly, silence happened, followed by the dreaded sound of the heart beat sensor going flat, a clear sign his heart stopped due to the pain induced shock.

“F-foswell…his heart… he is dead?” She asked, as silence still remained, but not for long as she started to hear it, a sound that she heard before, a sound that she hated and feared… “Oh… No…” what started as a small tingle in her right arm soon became into a violent shake, growing stronger with each second as the symbiote inside her body started to manifest and take hold “No! No no no no no no no no!!!”  The webslinger started to trash everything inside the room in an attempt to suppress the symbiote from coming out, but it was useless, as she saw how her right hand started to swell up, crack up, and mutate. It was clear the symbiote had enough of the horror happening and decided to intervene…

Back to the torture chamber, Akuji was able to revive Foswell with a defibrillator. His leg was barely recognizable after he did his ‘work’. He now also had 2 burn marks on the chest due to the defibrillator that administered the shocks used to restart his heart.

“Call me when he wakes up again. Give him 60 minutes, there is no rush.” said Akuji after he injected a rather small dose of adrenaline to Foswell, returning his heart rate back to a somewhat normal level, before turning around and exiting the room along with some of the guards, leaving Foswell guarded by only two Hand soldiers.

“I’m going to take a leak. Can you keep an eye on him for a few minutes?” asked one of the guards.

“Sure, but bring me a snack on the way, something tells me that we will be here for a while” replied his partner while looking at Foswell, who was nearly unconscious. Alive, but barely responsive.

“Fine, but nothing expensive!” He said before going out of the room towards the vending machines, thinking to be done with the snacks before doing his business.“They aren’t paying me enough for this crap…” He cursed as he inserted some exchange and pushed some buttons, but luck wasn’t on his side, as some of the snacks he ordered got trapped when they were about to fall down to the hatch.

“Ohhh, you piece of sh*t!” He started to punch and kick the machine in order to force the candy to fall. However, his frustration towards the vending machine was cut short after hearing a weird noise, like a faint ghostly shriek.

“What the-?” The guard quickly took out his SMG after hearing that sound, then another one. This one was different. It was like someone was dragging something on the floor, something metallic, and whatever it was, the sound was coming from the end of the hall where he was, right beside a corner. It was getting closer, so he decided to pick up his radio and alert the guards of the floor where he was, only to find out that he left it in the torture chamber “F*ck!”

He decided to get closer in order to give a look, still pointing his gun at whatever he was looking at. Initially he thought maybe it was some of the guards drawing a piece of furniture, but one detail raised suspicions: there were no guards on this specific floor, normally there should be at least ten of them, mainly because some liked to slack off near the vending machine. The dragging sound got closer until it stopped. Something that could be described as a claw suddenly appeared, grabbing the edge of the wall at the end of the hallway, until it revealed itself. The guard was met with Spider Woman, but not in her usual normal form. She was fully engulfed in the symbiote, giving a blank stare at the shocked guard, not moving at all. Her right arm was fully engulfed in hard symbiotic mass, shaped all into the same blade she used to fight Carnage and Rita DeMara, it was large enough for its tip to lean against the floor.

“You…” said the monster that now Spider Woman has become, her voice sounding deeper and twisted sending chills to the guard's spine as she recognized him as one of the guys present in the room with Akuji. Her reddish symbiotic eyes seeding with hate as she started to walk towards him, dragging the giant blade on the floor.

“The hell is that thing?!” shouted the guard before raising his gun and aiming it at Spider Woman. He didn’t have time to react though. In a split second, Spider Woman reduced the distance between her and her ‘Prey’ with inhuman speed, grabbing the man by his head. Her left hand was able to grab his whole head as she lifted him from the ground so he could meet her gaze. Her face was fully covered in a black tar substance, besides the symbiotic glowing red eyes. At this point, many thoughts crossed her mind at that moment, and all of them implied how to eviscerate this pathetic excuse of a human being. Was it the symbiote messing with her morals or is Spider Woman’s own hatred after witnessing what these people did to Foswell  and Jeremy? She didn’t know and at this point, she didn’t care.

Survival instincts kicked in for the guard though, as he raised his weapon and fired at the monster’s chest, dumping the entire clip of the SMG. The whole hall was lit up by the muzzle flash, until a ‘click’ was heard, sign the gun was empty and much to his horror, the bullets did nothing to her. The symbiote absorbed all the bullets with ease. Spider Woman as well, didn’t feel anything, besides the sensation of the symbiote expelling the bullets out of her mass, dropping them on the floor. The fact that this guy had the nerve to shoot her with the intent to kill her, even when he was at her mercy, angered her even more.

The symbiotic mask started to open where her mouth usually was, as a disgusting looking mouth was formed, with big razor sharp fangs and a long tongue. Letting an angry terrifying growl, she began to toss the guard against the large glass window of the building. Soon after pinning him down with her claws, her face got really close to his. At first she thought of impaling him with her blade, but that was too ‘nice’; he deserved a much worse fate. Afterwards, she proceeded to open her mouth very wide, making her intentions very clear: she was going to bite his head off and eat it.

But before she could do the unthinkable, something caught her eye, stopping at the last second. Getting his head out of her mouth and closing it for a moment, she stared at the emotional wreck that the guard was right now, pleading for his life as tears ran down from his eyes, then looked at her own reflection in the mirror, with the monster in the reflection staring back at her. This was not her, the real Spider Woman would never eat people. Growling in annoyance, she threw the guard so hard that he crashed against the vending machine, destroying it completely and leaving him in a pile of twisted metal, soda cans and snacks.

“Scum…better than you deserve” said Spider Woman in a low deep voice before hearing a commotion from the other floors above her. The gunshots clearly alerted everyone in the building by now, and by the sound of it, all security personnel were heading where she was, Letting out a hiss of satisfaction as she started to walk towards her destination.

After realizing she was three floors below from the torture chamber, Spider Woman began to make her way towards the upper floor, slicing the locked door leading to the stairwell with her blade arm. Just then, she was met with a few flashbang grenades and also the same smokescreen bombs that were laced with tear gas. It looked like The Hand recruits kept some “souvenirs” from Murder INC and knew those would be useful in taking her down. To some extent they worked, as the sound from the flashbangs caused her symbiote to flare up and shriek in pain before settling back on her body. No matter how powerful this monstrous form of hers was, intense high pitched sounds and fire were still its biggest weaknesses. The smoke laced with tear gas was a lesser issue though, as the mass covering her whole face acted like an improvised gas mask. However, she could still accidentally breathe it in if the symbiote retracted due to the flashbangs. Regardless, it would take more than that to slow her down, and she was more than willing to tear the whole building down if that meant saving Foswell.

Making her way up the stairwell, she already was beginning to encounter enemies willing to gun her down. They were all covering their faces to somewhat breathe through the smoke and also using laser sights to aim at their target. Deciding to go for a more direct approach, she used her large blade arm to deflect incoming gunfire and go through enemies like a battering ram, knocking them down. After reaching the top floor, she then sliced the concrete stairs, causing the entire stairwell to crash on the floor below, enemies included, immobilizing them. At this point, she was also struggling to contain herself from killing anyone. It wasn’t just the symbiote, but she was more than willing to throw her vow about not killing out the window at this point, but the urgency of rescuing Foswell was greater than the blood thirst she was feeling to kill anything that was standing in her way.

Meanwhile, back in the torture chamber, Akuji returned after getting wind the symbiote unleashed Spider Woman was laying havoc behind her while slowly but surely advancing towards his location. Despite the imminent threat and seeing what she was capable of in her unleashed form, Akuji wasn’t willing to leave the building. This was the perfect chance to take two birds with one stone, all he had to do was stall her until the strike team arrived.

“Are we moving out sir?” asked one of the guards while loosening one of Foswell's wrists as the evacuation order was given to everyone else inside. He was getting ready to move Foswell to another location, as he was still a vital source of information.

“No, we stay, we aren’t going to reach that far if that thing is after him…” replied Akuji, as he stopped the guard from fully releasing the unconscious crook.  “You two, get out. I’ll rivet the door from the inside and continue my work on our guest.”  He then dropped two boxes containing a couple of prototype weapons, something looking like a shotgun that was capable of firing tremendous kinetic blasts, having nearly the same function as the gauntlets made by SHIELD that the ninjas used, but these were meant for longer ranges. “The Strike team will arrive in 20 minutes, we must stop her until they arrive. Now move! Stop this gaijin!”

Without needing further motivation, the guards grabbed the weapons alongside many flashbangs, arming themselves up as they went outside. Akuji grabbed the rivet gun and started to reinforce the door the best he could. He knew that Spider Woman came to retrieve Foswell. If anything else is to fail, he could use him as a hostage in order to buy more time.

Unknown to the lead Hand Enforcer, the badly injured crook regained some consciousness. Seeing that one of his hands was free and Akuji busy, he proceeded to grab the spare large adrenaline syringe that was near the table next to him…

On the other side of the door, the two guards armed their sonic shotguns and cranked them for maximum power. The weapons were part of SHIELD’s countermeasure plan in order to kill symbiote enhanced individuals, like Cletus, Peter, or in this case specifically, Spider Woman. Despite SHIELD's weapons division having time only for making the gauntlets, the Hand were capable to look at the stolen blueprints of the untested sonic shotguns and make their own version.

“Come here, gaijin. Let’s see how you like some of our sounds…” said one of the guards, aiming the sonic shotgun at the door leading towards the stairwell. Both of them were nervous, as they could hear their fellow criminals screaming while getting dealt with by Spider Woman. She was advancing at a steady pace, now using a series of tentacles that emerged from her back to grab any opponent and throw them all over the place like an angry octopus. Giving the metal door a good kick to split it open, she was greeted by the two armed guards, both shooting two sonic blasts at her.

“Die already, pest!” shouted one of the guards as he fired two more shots, seeing Spider Woman was beginning to shriek in pain. The symbiote flared up in the area the sonic blast hit her, a clear sign it was hurting like hell for the parasite and also its host.

Grabbing her head and shrieking in pain, Spider Woman felt like parts of her body lit up. At some point, parts of her costume and body were beginning to show up, almost to the point of the symbiote willing to give up on its host, giving her a sensation like she was being torn apart from the inside. Her enemies saw this and kept on shooting her, hoping she would fall dead shortly. Eventually, acting like a “do or die” move, the symbiote sprouted multiple tentacles from her back and began to move chaotically, grabbing anything that wasn’t fastened down and threw at the shooters. After a few seconds, a piece of a new door frame hit one of the shooters, knocking him down. The tentacle then quickly grabbed the sonic shotgun and swung it at the other one, knocking him down as well. Then, suddenly, a rapid pace of black webbing kept them down, ending the fight and also the pain for Spider Woman, who was now missing bits of symbiote on various parts of her body, leaving her costume visible, along with her blade arm that was missing large bits, exposing some of her fingers.

“P-PAIN…too much pain…” she grunted as she started to limp her way towards the door where Foswell was. The symbiote started to fill up the gaps on her body as time went on. Whatever those weapons were, they seriously inflicted a lot of damage to her body.

“Akuji…you’re next! I… I will kill you… We will kill you!” she roared in anger as she got closer to the door. At this point, even her mind was agreeing with the symbiote to the idea of mauling the Hand enforcer to death, especially after what he did to Frederick and Jeremy. Approaching the door after reshaping her badly damaged blade into a second set of claws, she heard something was happening inside. It sounded like someone being stabbed. More concerning, the heart rate monitor was still running and was again making the same sound when Foswell’s heart flatlined “No. No. No! NO!!!”

Not wasting one moment, she sunk her claws into the steel door and began pulling it with all her strength. The heavy duty rivets began breaking one by one and the frame was already starting to bend and crack the concrete around it before finally giving up the ghost. Making a loud sound, the door finally got ripped open. Throwing it aside, Spider Woman entered the room with the clear intent of mauling Akuji to death, only to stop at the door opening and see a horror show.

Everywhere she looked on the floor she saw blood, either splattered or smeared, most of them having partial palm or footprints. It looked like someone threw red paint buckets all over the floor. At this point, her mind was bombarded with questions, fearing it might be Foswell’s blood. Much to her relief… and shock, she saw Foswell at the center of the mess.

He somehow managed to overpower Akuji and now was constantly stabbing the now dead corpse with what looked like a bowie knife while grunting and gritting his teeth, tears flowing down his eyes in a blind rage, painfully cursing and spitting at the torturer’s face with what remaining strength he had left as he still was viciously stabbing the corpse. Scattered around them were the contents of Akuji’s briefcase, the disconnected heart rate monitor and much to Spider Woman’s concern, two large syringes that were filled with adrenaline and now they were empty, making her think he might have injected himself with a dangerously large amount. This made the crook feel no pain, be extremely focused and keep being fixated on stabbing Akuji, not stopping even after what looked like over 300 stab wounds. At some point, his hand slipped off the bowie knife’s handle several times due to it being covered in blood and he grabbed it by the blade, keeping stabbing him like he was on autopilot, not even caring or feeling the blade cutting his hands almost to the bone, not even paying attention to the monstrous abomination that just got inside the room.

“Foswell!…FRED! STOP!” shouted Spider Woman, calling his name, but he wasn’t bugging at all, still relentlessly stabbing Akuji’s corpse to the point where it was nearly unrecognizable due to how many stab wounds it had, something that was painful to watch for her. Along that, seeing the crook covered from head to toe in both his and Akuji’s blood wasn’t helping either. The murderous rage that once she felt before was disappearing, now been replaced by fear and concern for the poor man infront of her. Even the symbiote was beginning to feel hesitant after seeing this horror show and that thing was already pretty ruthless.

“Please… Just stop-” Spider Woman got closer to him, but Foswell reacted by turning around and quickly stabbing her thigh, thinking that she was another of Akuji’s guards, only to see the towering monster in front of him. Her presence was more than enough to scare Foswell up to the point that he snapped out of his rage induced frenzy, making him stumble backwards until his back hit the wall. Looking at her with his eyes wide open, he began to breathe erratically as his body started to shake violently. The effect of the adrenaline shots started to wear off fast and symptoms of the overdose were starting to show up.

At this point, Spider Woman looked at the knife that was stuck deep inside her leg and then at Foswell cowering himself against the wall. In any other circumstances, she would have had a very aggressive reaction, but after witnessing what happened, even the symbiote had enough, it wasn’t pumping her mind with rage anymore. She proceeded to pull the knife out of her leg and toss it away, before the parasite decided to retract inside her body without the need to be forced inside by Spider Woman. It was clear even the symbiote had limits and seeing something like this made the thing to call it quits.

“It’s ok… l-let’s just get out of here” said Spider Woman while slowly approaching Foswell, unknown if he was still on edge, but he calmed himself down a bit after seeing her without the symbiote on her. She then helped him stand up carefully, as his body wasn’t in good shape at all, especially after everything that happened to him “Foswell… I am really sorry-” Before she could finish, the career crook grabbed her by surprise. For a moment she thought that he was going to attack her since he could be still in that adrenaline induced rage, but then she heard Foswell starting to sob, then weep and eventually breaking down in tears as the dam finally broke. All his pain and sorrow started to pour out of him. At this point, all Spider Woman could do was to hug him back and hold him in close as a way for him to let go of all that pain. Neither of them said anything, only the cries of Foswell were heard as he was now mourning the death of Jeremy. She was also about to break down in tears as well, but she held up to that for now. She couldn’t afford to mourn, at least not yet, they were inside the building still and they needed to get out as soon as possible.

“Come on, it’s over. Time to get you the help you need.” said Spider Woman as Foswell weakly nodded, then carried him through the entire building that was now desolate of all personnel at this point, exiting via the back door and reaching a back alley. The sun was already down and the street lights just got switched on. The alleyway was deserted, apart from a few motorbikes and some dumpsters. Hearing footsteps behind, the webslinger had to flee the area and take Foswell to a hospital, but she was also extremely exhausted due to the extended effort.

“Here! This way!” shouted a voice on the end of the alleyway towards the street. Taking a closer look, Spider Woman saw Jean DeWolff waving at her. Moments later, Castle also exited his black Land Rover Discovery and began helping the heroine carry the wounded crook and place him in the back of his car.

“Thanks. How did you find us?” asked Spider Woman, breathing heavily from exhaustion. She was barely able to stay on her feet due to the immense strain that depleted all her energy.

“Same as you found this place: We followed Jerry. Now come on, time to get out-” replied Jean, but was unable to finish, as several more Hand ninjas came out, busting the door, spotting them at the end of the alleyway.

“AFTER THEM!” shouted one of the attackers, pointing at Castle’s car. Immediately, he and his friends rushed towards the row of parked motorbikes, ready to give chase.

“F*ck! Frank, get us out of here!” shouted Jean after seeing they were not out of the woods yet.

“No. YOU drive! I shoot!” replied Castle after putting Fred in the back seat and throwing a first aid kit in Spider Woman’s hands in order for her to tend Foswell’s wounds and give him a fighting chance of survival. He then got in the passenger seat and pulled Jean in the driver’s seat. Spider Woman immediately entered the back as well in order to tend the crook’s wounds, moments before DeWolff slammed the gas pedal, as she began to race through the busy streets of Gramercy, apparently leaving the ninjas behind.

“I think we lost them…” said Jean, looking in the rear view mirror. It was quiet, too quiet, considering they just fled from a “hornets nest”.

“I don’t think so…” replied Castle, cocking his gun, before something caught his attention. After passing one intersection, the two unmarked Ford Explorer units that contained the corrupt SWAT officers drifted their way into the chase, sirens and lights on “Alright, here we go!”

“Time to die, Frank. Nothing personal. Actually, it is. We never liked you, you un-corruptible little #^@%. Light em up, boys!” said Corporal Jerry Murphy via the car’s loudspeaker, flooring it as his friends began firing their SMG’s from the windows. Fortunately for Spider Woman and everyone inside, Castle’s Land Rover had some degree of armor, so the bullets were stopped by the reinforced glass. This was however a temporary solution, as the shielding will eventually succumb to the damage inflicted.

“Jean, let them get next to us.” said Frank, much to everyone’s confusion. He was asking DeWolff to slow down a bit and let two cars filled with corrupt cops that were shooting at them catch up. After a bit of hesitation, Jean let off the pedal a bit, as the cars were beginning to surround them from both sides “...hold ‘em…. Hold ‘em…” said Castle, feeling nervous, a drop of sweat running down his forehead as the cops were blasting all they had on his car’s windows in an attempt to kill them. But his plan began to unfold, as they approached an intersection, with cars coming from both left and right “...NOW!”

Immediately, Jean rammed one of the SWAT SUV’s, sending it crashing into a car that was entering the intersection, disabling it. She then rammed the other car, causing Murphy to struggle holding the wheel, ending up getting t-boned by a bus, flipping his SUV. Two threats were neutralized, but now the next wave was coming in the form of Hand ninjas on motorbikes, wielding swords and guns.

“Alright, punks. Let’s dance…” said Castle, opening the passenger door and leaning out of the car as much as he could. He then began to fire at the bikes, managing to make one of them lose control and fall off.

“The hell? Castle, what are you doing??!” shouted Spider Woman, shocked over seeing how Frank was handling things. She knew him as relentless, but now he took it to a new level. At the same time, she was trying to keep Foswell alive and provide medical aid as much as she could, it was like she was a nurse in war conditions.

“Whatever needs to be done. Now shut up and let me do my job if you want to keep breathing.” replied Castle, after shooting at another pair of ninjas that were firing at him. He hit the gunner, causing him to fall off the bike, leaving his partner alone to try and stop the car. Firing as well, the rider was focused on landing some shots, annoying Castle.

“Frank, I can’t shake them off!” shouted Jean, becoming a bit desperate after seeing three bikes in her mirror. Despite Castle shooting one of them, there were still more attackers on their tail.

“Jean, hard brake NOW!” shouted the cop after seeing an opening. After Jean brought the Discovery to a screeching stop, two of the bikes raced right past them, but the third ninja was unable to react properly. Braking hard as well, he accidentally performed a stoppie and crashed head first through the back window of the SUV. To Spider Woman’s increasing shock, the ninja’s struggle came to a stop after Castle simply shot him in the head, killing him and throwing his body back through the shattered window “DRIVE!!!”

Flooring it again, Jean realized she was now in a game of chicken with the other two pairs of ninjas on bikes, seeing them coming back at her from the front. She tried to swerve and avoid incoming gunfire, but one stray bullet through the driver’s side window shattered it and managed to hit her in the shoulder. Quickly grabbing the wound and feeling intense pain, she began to lose control of the car, sideswiping some parked cars left and right before Castle grabbed the wheel.

“Spider, front passenger seat!” said Castle in a demanding tone after the heroine pulled Jean in the back seat next to Foswell and patched her wound with some webbing. He took over the driving and floored it, exceeding 80 mph and firing two shots between gear changes. However, at one point, he swerved too late and got clipped at the rear wheel by oncoming traffic, causing the Land Rover to spin a full 180 degrees and come to a stop. Unfazed by this setback, Frank simply floored it and began going in reverse at full speed in order to keep moving. If the car stopped for too long, they would be dead meat.

“Alright, I had enough of this. Spider, take the wheel! Keep her steady!” said Frank, as he lowered his window and reached out as much as he could while still holding his foot on the pedal. With Spider Woman desperately holding the steering wheel in order to keep the car steady, he fired another clip from his pistol at the bikers, managing to kill two more ninjas, leaving only one remaining motorcycle in pursuit. He then took back control of the vehicle and with a J-turn, spun the car back and floored it again “We got a chance, hospital is one mile away-!”

“Frank, watch to the right!” shouted Spider Woman, showing the last bike right to the passenger window, with the back rider ready to fire. Immediately, Castle rammed the bike, causing the gunner to fall and go through the windshield of a parked car. The rider on the other hand, fell off and landed with his head through the shattered window. Castle grabbed him by the helmet with one hand while steering with the other, dragging the guy with his car.

“Not really where you wanna be right now, buddy.” said Castle, pulling him by the helmet while keeping the car at high speed.

“F*ck you, gaijin!”

“F*ck me?!” Taking offense to the ninja’s insult, Frank pulled the wheel just as the car was about to go through a small tunnel, wedging his “stowaway” between the car and the tunnel wall. Eventually, the ninja flew out of the window and Spider Woman could see his dead twisted body on the ground after being completely mangled “F*ck you.” said Castle, throwing the helmet out of the car, relieved the last pursuer was gone.

“Frank, we need to hurry. Foswell doesn't look too good.” said Jean as she was still in the back, looking at the crook. She might have taken a bullet in the shoulder, but she was fine. Foswell on the other hand was already pretty pale and barely responding.

“Hospital’s just around the corner. We made it.” said the relentless cop, smashing through the gate, arriving at the entrance, his Land Rover completely shot but still working. Ordering a few first responders on coffee break to provide aid, he was also relieved as help arrived and loaded Frederick on a stretcher, sending him in the building for emergency medical assistance. Jean on the other hand, was able to walk her way to an available doctor to have her wound examined and after a quick look, it turned out the bullet went through and wasn’t life threatening. All she needed was some stitches and pain meds.

Half an hour later, things settled down: Foswell was sent into surgery and doctors managed to save his life, while Jean’s was already stitched and patched up. Spider Woman was having tea in the reception area, trying to calm her nerves after all the ordeal. At some point, she thought discreetly about leaving the hospital, but that idea was immediately discarded after Castle arrived in front of her, helping DeWolff walk off the anesthesia.

“You know I cannot let you walk away. That is not how I roll. But on the other hand I would be an ungrateful asshole if I would arrest you right now, after you saved a life.” said Frank, looking back at the doors leading to the surgery rooms “So, from how I see things, you earned yourself 24 hours. Make peace with whatever demons you have. Because once those 24 hours have passed, we will arrest you.”

All Spider Woman could do was to nod in approval, as the cop exited the hospital along with Jean, leaving the heroine alone in the reception area. For a moment, she was amazed, as she didn’t expect this sort of leniency from someone like Castle. However, getting back to the point, she realized the Ivanovic lead was now stone cold after he “cut ties” with her in such a way, so the Hand investigation was now dead in the water. But, just as her hopes were shattered, a familiar voice startled her, making her turn around. Turning around, she saw She Hulk approaching her, visibly concerned.

“Damn girl. Glad you are still alive. Word on the street is you made that dangerous Serbian’s shit list. And the only way off is in a body bag.”

“Well, that’s one way of saying it. But now the Hand investigation is dead.”

“Not really. Come with me.” replied She Hulk, walking her through the doors, heading towards the salons.

To be continued...

8'th chapter of the new story arc, created by me and https://www.deviantart.com/snarkymofo

A rescue mission to save Foswell turned into a grueseome show for Spider Woman

previous chapter https://www.patreon.com/posts/spider-gwen-85714509 

Apologies for the delay. Had some issued that cannot discuss.