The fourth week of September started on a Monday, which Peter had optimistically mapped out as a good day. It turned out to be the exact opposite. Because today, a supervillain dropped into the middle of the street without a single warning bell.
Peter knew he needed a countermeasure for the Rhino. Ever since Oscorp's experimental artificial metal-polymer skin was stolen, it was only a matter of time. But he had spent the last few days burning the candle at both ends tracking the Scorpion. He hadn't expected the Rhino to kick down the door this early.
The guy stood nearly ten feet tall. That wasn't genetics; the stolen polymer skin was grafted into a slate-gray metallic exoskeleton, turning him into a walking tank. Thick, overlapping armor plating covered his chest and shoulders, with heavy hydraulic pistons exposed along the joints. The gaps in the mechanical suit revealed the gray, hardened polymer bonded directly to his flesh, giving him an absurdly muscular silhouette. A massive, blunt metallic horn jutted from his headpiece.
He looked exactly like a final boss out of a video game, dialed up to reality.
"I fought a guy named Jackson Weele once," Peter yelled, swinging high over the street. "He built himself a giant, heavily armed hamster wheel. Let me guess, you're the Rhino?"
Peter fired a wide net of webbing directly over the Rhino's face, simultaneously triggering his web-shooters to dump a high-voltage electrical charge down the line.
The current cracked against the armor. Black smoke instantly plumed off the Rhino's chassis. He opened his mouth, exhaling a thick cloud of soot, but to Peter's absolute shock, the massive man didn't drop. He didn't even stumble. He just slowly turned his head, locked eyes with Peter, and charged like a freight train.
"Or did you get bitten by a radioactive rhinoceros?" Peter quipped, adrenaline spiking.
He back-flipped gracefully over the charging juggernaut, firing two thick cable-webs into the Rhino's back. He planted his feet against the side of a bus, pulling back with everything he had, forcing the Rhino to drag him like an anchor to keep him from bulldozing through an occupied intersection.
"Come on, man, give me something here!" Peter shouted over the grinding of asphalt. "Are you a living person? A robot? Are you playing a video game inside a giant metal suit?"
"As long as I keep collateral damage below a certain threshold, the Avengers won't deploy the Hulk," a heavy, Russian-accented voice rumbled from inside the armor. "Which means you have to waste your time dealing with me."
Peter blinked under the mask. The guy had already terrified hundreds of pedestrians, demolished three storefronts, and crushed over a dozen cars. He was literally built to fight Captain America. And yet, he was openly admitting he was just here to run out the clock?
"What are you stalling for?!"
The Rhino didn't answer. He just dug his metal fingers under the chassis of an empty sedan, ripped it off the pavement, and hurled it at Spider-Man. Peter launched himself straight up, intercepting the flying car with a web-net, using his momentum to swing it around and smash it directly down onto the Rhino's shoulders.
The car buckled into scrap metal. The Rhino barely flinched. But instead of throwing another punch, he just stopped.
"Breaking News."
The anchor's voice echoed from a massive digital billboard mounted on a nearby high-rise. Peter glanced up. Wilson Fisk, Chairman of Fisk Industries, filled the screen. He was wearing an immaculate white suit, his wrists locked in handcuffs. He looked perfectly calm.
"Wilson Fisk has formally surrendered to the NYPD," the reporter announced. "He has confessed to three federal felonies and is currently being processed."
The camera cut to a live press feed of Fisk.
"I am deeply grateful to my wife, Vanessa," Fisk said smoothly, his voice vibrating with practiced sincerity. "She has always been my moral compass. She... helped me confront the psychological traumas of my past. For her sake, I am voluntarily surrendering all illicit assets. I will pay triple the required restitution, and I will personally ensure the victims' families are fully compensated."
The Kingpin of Crime looked directly into the camera. "I know this cannot undo the pain I have caused. But I hope that my actions today will help this city—our home—become a better place."
Peter landed heavily on a streetlight, his grip denting the metal casing.
What?
Why would Kingpin turn himself in? Peter and Daredevil didn't have the evidence yet. They hadn't even brought formal suspicions to the district attorney.
The Raft. The realization hit Peter like a physical blow. The mystery prisoner transfer Daredevil warned him about. If Fisk's superhuman criminal empire was exposed, he wouldn't go to a standard New York penitentiary. He'd be remanded to the Raft—a UN-controlled black site in the middle of the ocean. No human guards to bribe. No political influence to leverage. If Kingpin went to the Raft, his empire died instantly.
By pleading guilty to standard white-collar federal felonies right now, he guaranteed his placement in a mainland US federal prison. A prison he already controlled.
Fisk's operations were already entering their next phase. The evidence Peter was desperately hunting for was probably already sitting in an incinerator.
Peter's head snapped down. The Rhino was still just standing there, arms relaxed at his sides.
"My contract is fulfilled," the Rhino stated, his heavy voice echoing through the street. "And the money has cleared."
"If Fisk was just going to walk into a police station, nobody was going to stop him!" Peter yelled, dropping down to the asphalt. "Why the hell did you need to tear up Times Square?!"
"I don't ask questions," Rhino said, shrugging his massive metal shoulders. "They told me that when Fisk's arrest hit the news, my job was done. My only objective was to keep you occupied, Spider-Man. You're a busybody. If I started breaking things, you'd show up before the Avengers did."
The Rhino shifted his weight. "They even knew your exact schedule. They told me you were free right now."
Free right now.
The blood drained from Peter's face.
Jarvis, Peter had ordered days ago. Monitor all my friends and family. Keep a live feed. If anyone gets close, warn me. That protocol included Cindy Moon. S.H.I.E.L.D. couldn't be trusted with her safety, not with how compromised they were.
Inside Peter's lenses, Jarvis immediately flagged a security feed. The visual popped up in the corner of his HUD: a man with a mechanical tail emerging from a storm drain directly across from the Moon residence.
"Aleksei!" Peter screamed, pointing a finger directly at the giant. The Rhino froze. "I know who you are! Listen to me—you don't actually want to hurt anyone here! Sit down, don't move, and wait for the Avengers to arrest you!"
Without waiting for an answer, Spider-Man fired a web-line and launched himself over the rooftops.
Down on the street, the Rhino blinked, let out a heavy sigh, and obediently sat down on the cracked pavement, resting his massive chin in his metallic hand to wait.
"Jarvis! Patch me through to Cindy home!" Peter shouted, swinging violently in a desperate arc toward Queens.
"Communication frequencies are being actively jammed, Peter" Jarvis replied.
"Then dial Spiderweb!"
The phone rang exactly once.
"I'm on my way home," Cindy's voice came through, sounding casual. "Track practice was canceled. What's up?"
"Cindy, listen to me," Peter said, his voice cracking with panic. "Mac Gargan, he's heavily armed and he's heading straight for your front door, you have to—"
The line went dead. She had hung up.
Peter pushed his swing harder, his muscles burning as he ripped through the air, dialing the secured frequency.
"Cap?! Tony?!" Peter yelled into the comms. "I need the Avengers!"
PS: For the comic nerds out there, there are basically four main iterations of the Rhino:
The Classic Comic Version: Pure polymer skin permanently bonded to his body.
The Mutant Version: An actual humanoid rhinoceros (seen in the Ultimate comics and Kraven movie).
The Mech Version: A guy piloting a giant robotic rhino suit (seen in The Amazing Spider-Man 2).
The Exoskeleton Version: A heavy, militarized mech-suit built around the user (seen in the PS4 Spider-Man game).
In this fic, we are dealing with a hybrid: the impenetrable polymer skin bonded to his body, combined with the heavy exoskeleton armor. He is an absolute tank. Good luck, Pete!