Rewinding time a little, Herman Schultz led his underlings, armed with the "Scarecrow" weapons he had made and wearing the signature black masks of bank robbers, preparing to rob a bank.
After all, the Chitauri ruins had already been cleared out, leaving nothing left to scavenge. Having learned how to make fast money, they could no longer stand the days of earning an honest living. Besides, they now possessed a different kind of tool—the "Scarecrow" launcher, capable of opening any vault.
They chose a time no one else would have chosen—early morning, before the bank opened. There were two reasons for choosing that time. First, it was unexpected; no one would think someone could rob a bank before it even opened. Second, Herman did not want to kill anyone, so he chose a time when there would be no employees inside.
Of course, there was a third reason: the "Scarecrow" was powerful enough to blast open the bank and vault doors, so they could force their way in even when the bank was closed.
"Just like I said, this is the most powerful lockpick." Wearing a black mask, Herman took the lead and blasted open the bank doors before charging inside with his men. "Brothers, find the vault door!"
"Isn't that easy?" One of the underlings switched to level two and fired wildly around the bank's interior. "Whatever won't move is the vault!"
The group shouted, "Good idea!" and got to work. They had no idea that, while they were wrecking the place, something had crawled in through the blasted-open entrance and clung to the ceiling, silently watching them.
"Ever since I came in, my Spider-Sense has been going off nonstop. What is that thing? It doesn't look like a Chitauri weapon. More like some weird piece of tech bought from somewhere?"
Spider-Man watched as one criminal aimed the weapon in his hand at a counter, and the counter was instantly blown to pieces.
"Sonic... no, shockwave weapons? I really wish shockwaves were colorful in real life. It would make dodging a lot easier."
Muttering to himself, Spider-Man fired a web and yanked away one of the "Scarecrow" launchers. "Hey, guys, don't you know banks open at nine? Go find an ATM at this hour!"
"It's him!" A Shocker Gang underling recognized Spider-Man. "That bug who beat up a bunch of people! Blast him!"
"I'm guessing those 'bunch of people' weren't exactly friendly neighbors!"
Spider-Man stuck a web to the floor at the speaker's feet and used its elasticity to launch himself forward. Before the other man could pull the trigger, he kicked him flying. At the same time, he fired a web that forced another man's "Scarecrow" launcher downward. The level-two shockwave immediately sent that man flying into the ceiling, then he fell back down and passed out cold.
"Ooh, sorry, I really didn't expect that. Looks like ATMs aren't great for your preferred withdrawal method either. Why is my Spider-Sense going off so hard?! Behind me!"
With a side flip and a rapid barrage of webs, Spider-Man's first clash with Herman began. Herman was far more proficient with the "Scarecrow" launcher than the others. Every web fired at him was shattered by invisible shockwaves, and only Spider-Man himself managed to evade them for the moment.
"Though I'd kind of love for you to tell me where you bought this thing, I'm guessing you'd rather explain it to the police, right?"
Spider-Man bounced repeatedly across the bank floor, using his Spider-Sense to evade the invisible shockwaves. He could not get close to his opponent, nor could he fire webs, so he had to think of another way.
"Bought?! I made this! It's my work!" Herman roared, tearing off his mask and venting a fury Spider-Man could not understand at all. He turned the shockwave up to the safety-limited maximum of level three, powerful enough to slice through a vault door, and pulled the trigger at Spider-Man.
"Hey, wait! Don't get mad! What did I even say that upset you?"
Hanging upside down from the ceiling, Spider-Man began sprinting at high speed. He glanced back at the ceiling that had been pierced through and realized things were bad. He webbed the bank counter, tore it free, and hurled it over.
Facing the incoming counter, Herman kept firing, but the shockwaves only broke the desk apart. As for Spider-Man, he had already vanished amid a blizzard of flying office papers.
Where was Spider-Man?
"I'm here!"
Spider-Man grabbed Herman's shoulder from behind and smashed a fist into his face, leaving him dazed and sending him crashing to the floor. The "Scarecrow" launcher fell beside him.
"Man, if you really designed this thing, you're basically an engineer. Why not get a proper job?"
Peter happily webbed the "Scarecrow" launcher over and began fiddling with it curiously. He set it to the lowest level and tested it on the remaining half of the counter. Its power was mediocre; it did not even blow apart the whole counter.
"Oh God, what power setting were you using... The outer walls are starting to collapse. The entire building's load-bearing structure has been damaged. If this keeps up, the whole place is going to come down."
Herman had still been somewhat groggy from the punch, but hearing that immediately snapped him awake.
"What? Structural damage? That's impossible. I didn't set the power that high... The 'Scarecrow' launcher shouldn't be that destructive!"
Only then did Peter Parker realize where the problem lay.
"What did you say this thing was called? 'Scarecrow'?! Now this is getting really scary."
Another Shocker Gang member who had just been beaten badly took the chance to get back up. He grabbed a "Scarecrow" gun, turned it up to the maximum level three, and fired at Spider-Man. Thanks to his Spider-Sense, Peter dodged immediately, but the concentrated shockwave carved a clear crack into the bank wall. It did not merely pierce one wall—it went straight through the entire building. Sunlight streamed in from outside.
"Damn it! I need to stop them!"
Realizing the entire building would collapse if this continued, Peter made his decision at once. He circled around while dodging and fired webs. Guided by his Spider-Sense, the focused shockwaves nearly grazed his body, while his web successfully yanked the other man's hand away from the trigger.
Then Peter snatched the weapon away, raised the "Scarecrow" launcher, and snapped it in half with one hard twist. That meant he no longer had to worry about its user firing it again.
Only then did Herman realize that the "Scarecrow" launcher was even more troublesome and powerful than he had imagined. High-powered shockwaves lost far less force after destroying solid objects than he had expected, leaving them immensely powerful even after smashing through things.
"Stop fighting!" Seeing another companion raise a weapon, Herman urgently shouted, "If this keeps up, the whole building might collapse!"
But the accomplice who had staggered back to his feet seemed too dazed to hear Herman's warning. He turned the dial to the highest setting—not level three, but somehow level five, because the safety mechanism had broken.
Herman froze in shock, then immediately shouted, "Frank, throw that thing away! The recoil will kill you!"
The underling named Frank glanced at the "Scarecrow" in confusion, then pulled the trigger.
The instant he did, he lost all sense of direction and nearly flew into the air. The only reason he only nearly did was that Spider-Man kicked him away at the critical moment. But the trigger had already been pulled, and it malfunctioned and locked in place, striking the charging Spider-Man head-on.
A massive force slammed into the ground, and the exploding shockwave instantly knocked out the entire Shocker Gang, Herman included. Spider-Man, clutching the "Scarecrow" launcher, was hurled into the sky by the enormous recoil. The tremendous impact sent him and the launcher straight through the bank ceiling, then through more than a dozen floors, before embedding them in the ceiling of one of the upper levels.
"Ah, my back, my back..."
Peter pulled himself out of the ceiling and rubbed his back. It hurt badly, but he was all right. Fortunately, his physical abilities exceeded those of ordinary people. Against an impact like that, he only ended up bruised all over, and with his decent healing ability, the bruises would probably fade within a few hours.
"By the way, are MCU-style 'Scarecrow' weapons all this... realistic? Kind of disappointing."
Spider-Man pried himself free from the ceiling, jumped down through the hole he had made, and landed back in the first-floor bank with a superhero landing. Every member of the Shocker Gang was still unconscious on the collapsed bank floor. Spider-Man looked at the nearly shattered floor, tied up all the criminals as usual, sealed their weapons in webbing, and swung out through the entrance.
Then, with considerable creativity, Spider-Man wove several lines of words into the web, describing the building's severe condition, and set up blockades and evacuation signs at the intersection.
Web Fluid could only last two hours. If the NYPD and Damage Control could not find a way to stabilize the building within two hours, things would get troublesome.
But even if they could stabilize it, the building's damaged load-bearing structure made it undeniably unsafe.
"Hey, Uncle Ben, Gwen!"
Ever since Spider-Man had started weaving that giant web, they had not entered the subway station. They had only stayed near the entrance, making them easy for Peter to find.
"I found a route we can take on the way over. It doesn't look jammed yet."
Peter hurried over with his backpack, called to the two of them, then patted Uncle Ben's car. "Luckily, Uncle Ben, your car is fine."
"Who's that guy?"
Gwen, who had been in London for two months, pointed at the webs hanging over the street. She had no idea New York had gotten some web-slinging freak. Peter hesitated with an "Uh" before explaining, "There's this guy calling himself Spider-Man who's been fighting crime lately. You know, superpowered people and all that."
"Oh, then his taste is pretty awful."
Gwen said it as she opened the car door. Peter asked half-jokingly, "You mean his suit?"
"No, I mean his shoes. They're exactly the same as yours."
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