Marvel: A Tale of Shadows

Peter Parker's day started earlier than most others on this particular morning. He got up around 4 am in order to get ready and prepared for the day. He was going to have a hectic morning even if it was the weekend and he was a high school student. MJ managed to figure out the Rhino's next target is a Roxxon Research Center. Considering the Rhino has been striking early in the morning, Peter figured he could get there a bit early.

He quickly put on his sweats, and special gloves and shoes. He also double checked his web shooters, making sure he was filled up on webs. After that he quickly dived out his bedroom window and started quickly swinging down the street as he made his way to the Roxxon Research Center.

Around thirty minutes later he was sitting on a nearby roof eating a breakfast burrito as he was looking over the research center. Just as he was finishing up his burrito he noticed some movement as a bulky rhino man burst through the front gate. He quickly tossed his unfinished burrito to the side and pulled down his mask.

As he jumped off the building he launched one of his webs and swung himself quicker as he webbed straight towards the bulldozing rhino. As he swung down he felt incredibly nervous, he didn't know what came over him when he suddenly shouted, "someone call animal control!"

He kicked Rhino directly which knocked him back out of the gate. "There's a Rhino on the loose!" Spider-Man yelled as he landed on a lamp post near where Rhino was lying on his back.

"Spider-Man!" The thick russian accent of the Rhino really made his voice menacing. "I will crush you! Puny spider!" He quickly stood up and charged towards spider-man who jumped over him and planted a foot on Rhino's back which threw off Rhino's balance making him stumble into the empty parking lot. As he stumbled, spider-man launched several webs which tied him to the ground.

"Oh come on, stick around, why don't you?" This time spider man launched several webs that covered Rhino. But he still tore off the webs and stood up, this time he grabbed one of the light poles out of the ground and launched them at spider-man who dodged the pole and rolled on the ground. But was caught off guard as Rhino ran into him, sending him flying into one Research Center's reception area.

As he stood up in a daze he saw Rhino stepping into the reception area, "what's wrong puny spider? Puny head hurts?"

Spider-Man slowly stood up with a grunt and mumbled to himself, "reminder: always dodge into the air. Because I will more than likely have air superiority." Then as he stood up and fixed his posture he ran quickly at Rhino, who in turn charged towards Spider-Man.

As they were about to meet, Spider-Man slid between Rhino's legs which threw him off balance. As he was sliding, Spider-Man launched a web and pulled on it which made Rhino smash headfirst into the ground then standing at a steel beam by the entrance he launched a web at Rhino and pulled him out of the Research Center and flying into entrance gate, where he started to climb back up when Spider-Man launched himself up and kicked him on the small of his back which caused him to collapse.

Unknown to Rhino, Spider-Man left a tracking chip encased in web on the small of Rhino's back. So as Rhino got up this time and started running away, Spider-Man followed. As he followed he followed him down the street until they arrived at a streetlight.

When Rhino arrived he quickly picked up an occupied car and tossed it at Spider-Man. As Spider-Man dodged he quickly doubled back as he webbed up the car between the two buildings to hold it up. He glanced back to see that Rhino had slipped away while he was saving the car. So he took his time to help the family of four climb out of their car and have their feet safely back on the ground.

"How can such a big guy disappear so quickly?"

After that he left and headed to a nearby roof to wait for the Rhino to roost. Roost? Is it roost? Well anyway. He quickly did some first aid. Repairing his ripped sweater and patching up his cuts and bruises.

"Owowowow… he really packs a punch." Spider-Man glanced at his device and confirmed that Rhino had really been staying in the same place for the last thirty minutes. "Now to tip off the police."

A few minutes later he got off the phone with a Detective Watanabe, who was the unlucky Detective that was fielding the anonymous calls this morning. Waiting at a nearby rooftop in case the arrest went wrong. He watched as several police cars, two swat vans, and another black SUV pulled up. The police cars barred off the street blocking any curious bystanders while the SWAT teams stormed into the building with some heavy looking equipment.

Meanwhile a balding white man stepped out of the SUV and stared at the building in a pair of black sunglasses while in a tie and suit. A second after the first one stepped out three others stepped out as well and walked towards the trunk.

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It was supposed to be just another day of babysitting the fledgling 'Avengers' as they did their stakeout. But unfortunately before he even got a chance to check on them he was rerouted to catch this "Rhino". Apparently an anonymous tip came in with his location.

So… Agent Coulson got some officers from the New York S.H.I.E.L.D. Branch Office. A newbie by the name of Luc Rezal, whose records indicate a higher than normal rate of accuracy and even able to display feets of ricocheting bullets. The second agent was a politician who clearly only knew how to climb the ladder, Jasper Sitwell, he has both below average for all things agents are tracked for. The only thing he showed an above average ability is in deception and psychological manipulation. The last member of their little group is Melinda May, or better known as 'The Calvary'. She is an expert in both hand-to-hand combat and close quarters weapons combat.

As he stood there waiting he got that sixth sense that he was being watched. Taking off his glasses to clean them he used the reflection in the lens to see behind him. Which is where he noticed the rumored 'Spider-Man' that has gone head-to-head with Rhino once already.

He put his glasses back on just as May walked up with his weapon, "any problems?"

Coulson shook his head, "nope. I did figure out where the tip came from." He cocked the electro shotgun he was handed that would fire a strong electronic pulse towards a target. The only unfortunate part was its cool down time. Which is why they had multiple, in case one of them missed.

Just as they finished getting ready there was a shake in the ground as well as a muffled roar. Then a moment later the metal shutter that was used for vehicles burst open as Rhino came charging out.

"Spread out! Take him down!" Coulson shouted as he approached Rhino while pointing his weapon. "Mr. Rhino! Please surrender yourself to the Strategic Homeland Intervention Enforcement Logistics Division!"

Rhino only glanced at him for a moment before he charged towards him. Coulson fired a shot which produced a short blue beam that landed on Rhino.

Who did not even slow for even a moment. Coulson quickly rolled out of the way of the Rhino while the other agents also landed their hits which did not slow the unstoppable Rhino, except Sitwell, he missed.

"Well… the tech guys failed. We need a new plan. That armor has something that negates EMP tech, May call it in." Coulson stated as he watched the Rhino charge down the street causing damage.

He then sighed as he glanced at their wrecked SUV. "Sitwell, call us a new ride and tell them to come pick up what remains of our old one." Both May and Sitwell immediately jumped into action calling the respective departments.

"It's your lucky day Agent Rezal, we will be tailing Rhino to see if we can get a chance to use these." Coulson started jogging after Rhino and Rezal followed.

"Sir? Why are we not running?" Rezal asked.

Coulson nodded forward, "that is why."

As Agent Rezal looked forward he caught sight of a figure using white ropes or rather… webbing? To swing down and hit Rhino, which knocked him off balance and caused him to tumble into the lobby of a nearby building. He then swung inside quickly.

"Who was that?"

Coulson smirked as he remembered the newspaper's moniker for the webslinger, "The Spectacular Spider-Man."

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As he followed Rhino down the street he looked for a chance to take him down and he got it when he saw a large empty lobby of a building. Then he swung ahead and did some fancy flips to gain momentum before he did one last spin bending a street pole in the process before he propelled himself into a double kick right onto the side of Rhino's charging head.

The kick disoriented and threw off Rhino, causing him to start trailing into the direction he was kicked towards until he tripped and stumbled into something hard. It was going to be a minute before he got up.

So Spider-Man acted quickly. He swung and landed next to the stunned reception lady, "quickly have them evacuate the building and have one of your people tell the police I will keep him contained in this building and to give me the all clear once the building is evacuated completely." He waited a moment before the receptionist quickly nodded and started making calls so Spider-Man turned away.

Spider-Man quickly lept onto one of the walls using his head as he quickly calculated tensile strength and theoretical amounts of webbing to contain him. He then moved to quickly webbing Rhino to several areas that were not designed to be structural but rather aesthetics. It would only hold him for a few additional minutes but it should be enough that the majority of the building evacuates.

Rhino started stirring awake as Spider-Man quickly put his finishing touches on his masterpiece and that slick looking agent from earlier walked in with another suit.

The slick looking one took one look at Rhino, "if you could take him down then why did you call in the tip?"

"Because… I can't. The tensile strength of my webs are weaker then his raw strength, so unless I turn him into a giant ball of web, which I do not have enough of, I can only slow him down." Spider-Man landed next to the agent, "What do you think of my work of art?" This time he raised his voice so Rhino who was slowly flexing his way out of the webbing could hear. "I call it the 'Rhino in a Web.' What do you think? Is the name a little too on the nose?"

The agent only shook his head as he stepped away, "you need to work on your quips. Also if you get a chance to tear off one of his armor panels do it." Spider-Man nodded as he swung towards a now falling Rhino. While the agent and his coworker stepped away.

Spider-Man had been watching the back entrance for a while and had noticed many people had been evacuated but not all of them had been. So for now he had to stall for time.

"Hey Rhino! How does it feel to be a fly?"

"Puny Spider's webs can't hold me! I will crush the puny Spider into dust!" Rhino prepared to charge again.

"Wait!" Spider-Man put his hands up, "if you could crush me into dust why don't you just make a fortune crushing coal and turning it into diamonds?"

Rhino stopped for a second and seemed confused.

"Artificial diamonds are all the rage right now and their value is skyrocketing and will probably only get higher as people that believe in global warming see mining as part of the issue so naturally normal mined goods like natural diamonds will be boycotted." Spider-Man started off speaking quickly but slowed half-way through because he saw his distraction was causing Rhino to slow down and distract him for a few moments.

But that grace period of one minute after he finished speaking was all he got as a moment later Rhino grunted before charging.

Spider-Man jumped to a non load bearing wall that he had webbed up earlier, "come on Rhino! We talked about this! Use your words!"

"I don't care. Money is only an extra benefit. I just like crushing and destroying things! Like you! Puny Spider!" Rhino screamed as he charged towards Spider-Man, who once again dodged at the last moment.

As he was dodging he webbed several of the pieces of the wall to Rhino which would help distract and slow him down, "You know Rhino, if I am puny and I manage to take you down what does that make you?" As he insulted Rhino, he quickly looked over Rhino's armor to find a good spot.

"Rhino is not Puny!" Rhino screamed as he charged at Spider-Man who once again dodged and webbed the Rhino to a wall which trapped him for long enough. Spider-Man glanced at where the evacuation was taking place and saw there were a lot less people. He then looked over Rhino and saw at the small of this back where his tracer was and he could see a loose plate.

"Gotchya." He mumbled as he started jumping around the room to throw Rhino off. "Oh come on! At least be a bit more creative!"

"Rarrgh!"

"Wow those were not even words!" Spider-Man saw out of the corner of his eye as the back door was firmly closed. "Well if you are not even going to use your mouth I might as well seal it up!"

He then fired several webs onto Rhino's face which worked a bit too well. As Rhino started flailing about randomly before he sent a piece of rumble accidently into Spider-Man's path which caused him to heavily crash into the floor. As he lied down he heard a crash as Rhino burst out of the building falling into several cop cars that were in the street.

He quickly pulled himself up, "ow." Then flung himself out of the building and into the street. Where he saw several police officers start firing at Rhino which only caused bullets to ricochet off the armor. After Spider-Man dodged around and repositioned himself to kick Rhino back inside he noticed the agents from earlier started having the officers cease fire since it was having a negative effect.

As he quickly landed on the edge of the building opposite the building they were just in he quickly calculated how much force he would need. Then he launched himself off the edge of the building and kicked Rhino in the face just as he removed the webbing from his face.

The kick sent Rhino stumbling back into the building he just left, Spider-Man sent a few webs to hold him for an extra few seconds then jumped over to the agent from earlier.

"Okay I found an armor piece I can tear off. What do you need?" Spider-Man asked.

The agent nodded as he held up his weapon, "just a clear shot," then added on, "don't worry, it is only a stun gun." Spider-Man nodded. "By the way the building has been completely evacuated!"

Spider-Man slipped into the building just as Rhino was getting up. Landing on the reception desk he thought of a taunt to get Rhino riled up. "Hey Rhino, I thought super people were supposed to be smart. But I guess it just goes to show that you aren't super! Heck you aren't even a real Rhino!"

"Arragh!" Rhino charges forward as Spider-Man quickly webs two spots on the slick floor and pulls which flings himself forward and across the ground then once again as he slides under Rhino he webs his face to the front of the reception desk.

As Rhino is struggling on the ground with the desk pierced by his horn and webbed to his head, Spider-Man quickly land's on his back.

Then as he starts pulling on the loose piece of metal that has his tracking device he goes in for another quip, "Hey Rhino, you know real Rhino's don't get their head stuck like this right!"

"Shut up spider!" He did not add 'puny' this time. As Spider-Man feels the armor give away and he flops off of Rhino's back just as Rhino stands up. He then webs away as Rhino slams his head into the spot that Spider-Man was in previously. Completely destroying the desk and leaving only small fragments still webbed to his head.

Spider-Man quickly pocketed the armor with the tracker before dodging Rhino's next charge. Then he glanced at the entrance to see two of those agents from earlier ready with their weapons. He then webbed himself to the ceiling and then attached two webs, one on each shoulder, to Rhino then pulled up which suspended Rhino in the air.

"It's now or ten minutes from now!" He shouted as he could feel the strain of such an increased weight.

But he soon sighed in relief as he saw several flashes of blue light and Rhino go limp. He then dropped him when he saw Rhino was out cold.

A few moments later as the agent walked up to the unconscious Rhino while Spider-Man dropped from the ceiling silently and landed next to Rhino's head.

"You know, when he is not talking, thinking, or smashing he actually has a pretty nice outfit." Spider-Man voiced.

"Yes, well, we will have to see about getting it off. Nice job kid." The agent held out his hand and Spider-Man stood up and shook it.

"Thanks… um I didn't catch your name?"

"Ha… I'm Agent Coulson of the Strategic Homeland Enforcement Information and Logistics Division." Agent Coulson spoke the last part with a bit of lethargy.

"Nice to meet you Agent Coulson. I guess I am…um… your friendly neighborhood Spider-Man." Spider-Man watched as Coulson raised an eyebrow before he turned back to Rhino.

"Well we will take care of this you head off now kid." Agent Coulson told him. As Spider-Man prepared to swing away he had one last thing to say, "Hey Spider-Man if you are planning on doing this full time I suggest you make yourself a more durable suit. As well as come up with a style, like the webs they are a nice gimmick."

"Thanks for the advice!" Spider-Man then launched himself out of the window and started swinging his way back home making sure to grab his bag that he left after the first fight on his way back home.

When he arrived home he silently snuck in through the window and collapsed on the bed only taking his mask off. His entire body was sore and in pain.

He doesn't know when he dozed off but he thinks he saw his door open for a split second. A second later he forced himself awake as he realized he actually got some rest and was actually sleeping under the covers with his sweatpants on. He looked over to see MJ sitting at the desk looking at him.

She smiled, "good job. Now do you think you can help me with something?"