Chapter 5: Shadows on the Water
The next night, the city was quiet near the harbor.
The harbor stretched wide and dark, the water black under the pale glow of the moon. Cargo ships creaked against the docks. Fog rolled low over the water, wrapping the stacked containers and cranes in a ghostly haze. Somewhere in the distance, a buoy clanged.
And high above it all, Spider-Man crouched on the edge of a concrete pillar.
His fingers gripped the surface, knees bent, body coiled forward. Peter's lenses narrowed, scanning the ground below. He'd spent the entire day studying blueprints of the harbor. Tonight, it was time to put them to use.
[Low-Life POV]
"Hey, you ever wonder why we're here?" Alex asked, staring out at the ocean.
"It's one of life's greatest mysteries… why are we here?" Ethan said, looking up, as if contemplating the universe.
"What? No!" Alex snapped. "I mean, why are we standing in a harbor, in the middle of the night, waiting for a shipment of drugs?"
"Would you two idiots shut up?" James barked. "The reason you're here is because you've got no skills other than just pointing a gun."
Ethan got mad. "What did you—wait. Where's Alex?"
He turned toward where Alex had been standing, then back to James—only to realize James was gone too.
[Spider-Man POV]
Peter had already taken out the first two thugs. As the last one spun around frantically, Spider-Man lowered himself upside down on a line of web, hanging just above his head.
"james? Where did you—?" Ethan muttered, looking around nervously.
"Boo," Spider-Man whispered, his voice cutting through the silence.
"AAAH!" Ethan screamed, spinning around—just in time to get a face full of webbing before being yanked off his feet and slammed to the floor.
The sound echoed across the empty docks, and then all was quiet again.
kshhh "num nuts respond,What was that noise?" a voice demanded through the walkie-talkie strapped to his belt.
Spider-Man tilted his head, crouching beside the unconscious thug. Slowly, he plucked the radio free, holding it up to his mask.
Another burst of static. "You num nuts better respond if i get over there just to find you guy messing around again im going to beat your asses with besty over hear."
" sorry sir ethan was being a idiot talking about the why were here and all that bullshit then james kicked him into the ocean then they started fighting" peter talk through the walkie talkie making his voice sound pained
"Haha that does sound like james time to stop goofing around the shipment will be coming in."
Spider-Man clipped the walkie-talkie back to the thug's belt, webbing him to the ground so he wouldn't go anywhere. His lenses narrowed as he turned his gaze toward the looming storage building across the docks.
That's where the real players were.
He fired a web and swung silently across, landing in the rafters near a grimy skylight. From there, he crouched low, peering down through the cracked glass.
Inside, the "boss" stood with half a dozen men, all armed. Stacks of crates lined the floor, forklifts idled in the corners, and floodlights bathed the scene in a cold glow.
Spider-Man pressed himself flat against the steel beam, listening.
"…shipment's coming in tonight," the boss said, his voice gravelly. "Pier Seventeen is ours. The Maggia wants every crate moved before sunrise. No slip-ups, no screw-ups. Got it?"
The thugs muttered their agreement.
Spider-Man's fingers flexed against the metal. Maggia? That's big.
He leaned forward, trying to catch more details—when suddenly, the air below vibrated.
A sharp ripple of sound tore through the warehouse, followed by a deafening BOOM. The skylight rattled violently, and Peter lost his footing, tumbling forward before catching himself with a quick webline.
Below, the thugs scattered, clutching their ears. The boss smirked, arms folded, as another figure stepped out from the shadows.
A man in padded yellow-and-brown armor, gauntlets glowing with unstable energy.
"Relax, boys," he said, his voice muffled by the mask covering his lower face. "That was just a little test run." He flexed his hands, and the air shuddered again with a low rumble.
Peter's lenses widened. Shocker.
The villain turned slowly, almost like he could sense the eyes on him. He raised one gauntlet, aiming directly at the rafters.
"Y'know," Shocker growled, "if there's one thing I hate more than cops sticking their noses where they don't belong… it's bugs."
The gauntlet fired—
A concussive blast of pure force smashed through the rafters, sending Spider-Man flying backward with a grunt.
The air thrummed with tension as Shocker raised his gauntlet again.
"Grab him!" he barked.
The thugs rushed in, circling Spider-Man as he crouched low on the warehouse floor.
Peter's lenses narrowed. "Oh, we're doing this the hard way? Fine."
In one swift motion, he sprang upward.
Thwip! Thwip! Two lines of web shot out, snagging the first two goons by their jackets. With a sharp yank, he dragged them screaming into the rafters and plastered them to the ceiling.
Before the third could react, Spider-Man twisted midair and drove both feet into his chest with a clean flip-kick. The man sailed across the room and crumpled against a crate.
Peter landed in a crouch, dusting off his gloves. "By the way, spiders aren't bugs," he quipped. "They're arachnids. Science lesson—free of charge."
Shocker tilted his head, unimpressed. His voice came out like gravel.
"I don't give a damn."
The gauntlet roared to life. BOOM! A shockwave blasted out, rattling the entire warehouse. A support beam groaned under the force, snapping free from the ceiling.
The massive steel bar came crashing down.
Spider-Man's instincts kicked in—Thwip! His webline snagged the beam mid-fall. With a grunt, he swung it sideways and hurled it straight toward the cluster of thugs and Shocker himself.
The villain braced. KRA-KOOM! His vibro-gauntlets flared, the blast splitting the beam in half and sending molten shards skittering across the concrete floor.
When the dust settled, Spider-Man stood on one side of the ruined warehouse, Shocker on the other.
They just stared at each other getting ready to make there next moved