by Logan Jacobs
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Chapter 1
I knew this would be a tough battle, but it was nothing I couldn’t handle.
It was late afternoon, and we’d spent the better part of the day prepping for this fight. Grayville was home to some nasty villains, but all it took to defeat them was a bit of patience and a lot of planning. And, of course, planning was what I did best.
“How’s it looking?” I asked my team through my earpiece.
I sat parked in my van down one of Grayville’s less busy streets. We were a good distance from the bustling downtown, and although the buildings here were far less pristine than the ones in the upscale neighborhoods, it was a decent middle class area. The brick and cement walls still towered high into the sky, and that made it exactly the sort of location I’d wanted.
“This street leads to a dead end,” my mousy but talented assistant Norma responded from where she’d gone to scout further down the road. “Just like you wanted so we could set our trap.”
“Perfect,” I said. “Elizabeth, how is it on your end?”
“Still following the target,” my super-powered girlfriend replied through our comm system. “He seems suspicious, but I haven’t drawn much notice yet. Let me know when I should go in.”
“Will do,” I informed her, and then I turned off the engine and got out of my van.
It was a completely average looking car from the outside, even comparable to a soccer mom’s vehicle, but on the inside it was decked out with as much tech as I could cram into it. Most of it wouldn’t prove useful for tonight’s fight, but I always liked to be prepared for any eventuality. When it came to fighting supervillains, there was no such thing as being too prepared.
Still, our target tonight had been pretty easy to figure out.
Tarantulator had a mutation very similar to Arachne, though he lacked the spider-woman’s sex appeal or motives. Where she went after old businessmen and killed in private, Tarantulator went on rampages through the city as he swung around on his virtually indestructible webbing. He captured people right off of the streets, brought them back to his lair, and proceeded to drain the life out of their bodies to fuel his own powers. Nothing ever remained of his victims except for bits of dust and bones.
He’d also managed to use his web slinging to evade both the police and Grayville’s current resident hero: Shadow Knight. So far, Tarantulator was simply too fast and too strong to be captured.
But not for me. I knew exactly how we could trap him.
I popped open the rear door of my van to retrieve an enhanced, larger version of the silicone gun that I’d used to disable Arachne’s webs. It had worked moderately well against her, but my dick had worked better. It was difficult for me to recall the Arachne fight without feeling smug satisfaction that her last act in the world had been to give me a blowjob.
It had been a shame that I hadn’t gotten to see the full extent of my silicone gun’s power against her, but now I had another chance to try it out.
I heard light footsteps of someone running toward me, and I turned to see Norma approaching. She grinned as she saw me, and I couldn’t help but smile at her appearance.
Usually, Norma dressed herself in the frumpiest clothes she could find, but she was currently clad in a suit that I wanted to test for her. It was sleek, black armor with multiple holsters strapped around her to hold swords, guns, lasers, blasters, grenades, rifles, and anything else she had wanted to add to her arsenal.
I was pretty impressed with it, and I knew the sleek look of the suit had already boosted her confidence in herself
Which meant she was even closer to realizing just how powerful she really was.
Norma’s superhuman abilities forced her to be completely and utterly average at everything, so nothing could boost her abilities without balancing out to remain at an average level. Of course, that also meant that she was average at every single skill and talent, and that meant she was easily the most overall talented human being on the planet. But her upbringing had conditioned her to think poorly of herself, and that lack of confidence was the only thing that prevented her from being one of the most powerful supers on the planet.
“This street is exactly what we were looking for,” she announced when she reached me.
“Naturally,” I said. “That’s what I thought when I found it in the first place, but we should hurry up before Tarantulator realizes that Elizabeth is following him.”
“Creator, I will notify you when their courses change direction,” the sultry, silky voice of my android assistant Aileen drifted through the comms.
She was my greatest creation so far, and I was constantly making improvements to her to ensure her perfection. Soon, I would be able to make her indistinguishable from an actual human so she could join us on our missions, but for now, she had to remain back in my Grayville mansion to assist remotely. I knew that even though she was an android, she was eager and impatient to be even more useful to me. That was how I’d designed her to be: her top level priority was always to please me.
“Ready?” I asked Norma as I handed her a silicone gun.
“This feels a lot stronger than the one we used against Arachne,” my mousy assistant said as she admired the weight of the gun in her hands.
“Of course it is, I improved it,” I snickered. “But this fight won’t be nearly as fun as Arachne was.”
“Jeez…” Norma sighed. “I didn’t really enjoy being trapped in that cocoon, you know.”
“Would you have preferred to watch?” I laughed. “I didn’t realize voyeurism was one of your kinks.”
“I- I would rather give you your privacy!” Norma stammered as she blushed a vivid shade of red. “Um, anyway, we should…”
“Yeah, we should focus,” I agreed to give Norma time to calm herself down.
I lifted up my own silicone gun to test the weight, and I had to admit that I had even impressed myself. These new weapons were much larger than the handgun I’d given Norma last time, when we had intended to coat Arachne’s hands with it to prevent her from shooting any webs out. Instead of trying to aim at such a small target, I expanded the range and power behind the weapons so that we could coat entire walls with the stuff.
That was why this location was perfect. The buildings were tall enough that Tarantulator would still try to swing up on them, but they weren’t skyscrapers, so we could easily coat the sides of each building down this street up to the dead end at the back, where we could trap Tarantulator like the bug he was. With the silicone coating the walls, he shouldn’t be able to escape at all.
He was still a powerful fighter, though. We needed to be prepared for that, but that was where my super-strong girlfriend Elizabeth, known to the rest of the world as the superheroine Dynamo, came in handy.
“I think he’s starting to catch on to me,” Elizabeth told us.
“Alright, engage him,” I instructed since I knew we had to act before we lost our chance. “We’ve nearly finished setting up here, and I’ll let you know when to draw him over.”
“Understood,” Elizabeth replied.
I knew she’d be fine to fight him on her own for a little while, but I didn’t want to waste time. I’d already applied a coating of the silicone to all of our suits, so at the very least the web-slinging supervillain wouldn’t be able to capture
Elizabeth with his webs. He also wouldn’t be able to touch me and Norma when we drew him down this street.
“Aileen, location?” I asked my AI while Norma and I began to spray the walls down with silicone gel.
“Several blocks away,” she replied. “Dynamo has engaged Tarantulator in a fight. He appears to be quite powerful.”
“Let’s finish this up quick, then,” I said.
“You got it,” Norma said and then continued to use the silicone gun with her completely average level of ability to coat the walls.
I knew that my assistant’s super power frustrated her at times, but ever since we’d started fighting supervillains, she’d started to really embrace it. She could operate absolutely any device I put into her hands with an immediate level of average competency, and that on its own had proved more useful than any other tool at my disposal so far.
As for myself, I might not have any powers of my own, but my intelligence and cunning was more than enough to go up against the supervillains of Grayville. In fact, my most recent upgrade to my suit was a jetpack that would help put me on par with the agility of the web slinging murderer. After the fight with Morpho during the supervillain breakout, I realized it would be incredibly useful if I had more ways to maneuver myself around. A birds-eye view could be absolutely essential to making snap decisions during a fight.
Plus, I’d always wanted to fly.
For now, it allowed me to leap and hover for a few seconds before landing, and at the moment, that proved very useful to quickly coat the walls in the silicone gel. I covered absolutely every nook and cranny with the gel, since I didn’t want to leave even a small opening available for him to use. It would take some time and tinkering before I was able to replicate super-flight fully, but that was inevitable.
“When do I get one of those new jetpacks?” Norma asked once we’d sprayed the last wall together, and I wondered if she had an average mind-reading ability as well.
“Norma, you’re far too important to this operation to act as a guinea pig for my newest inventions,” I laughed.
“If you say so,” she sighed. “Alright, so we’re ready now, aren’t we?”
“Yup.” I took a final look at the walls and our suits, but they were all sufficiently coated for us to trap the spider. “Aileen, status?”
“They are closer, but still a few blocks away,” my AI responded.
“How is Dynamo doing?” I asked to get an idea of the supervillain’s power levels.
“Fair,” Aileen answered. “Dynamo is not hurt, but she can’t hurt him because he keeps swinging out of the way. I believe he currently appears to be taunting her about the fact that she cannot hit him.”
“Great, that’ll make it even more satisfying when we lure him here,” I scoffed.
As delightful as it had been to blow up the overflow prison and kill all the supervillains inside of it, it had felt impersonal. I much preferred to kill the criminals I captured on the spot so they were conscious of the justice they were about to receive, and it was a relief that we no longer had to pretend to play by the Shadow Knight’s rules.
It might have also had the unfortunate side effect that the Shadow Knight had now entirely turned against us, but I wasn’t afraid of him. In fact, I was gleefully waiting for the day he’d try to stop us.
But for now, we had a supervillain to kill.
“Alright, Elizabeth, lead him toward us,” I instructed my super-powered girlfriend.
“About time!” she huffed. “These webs are obnoxious to fight!”
“Good thing we won’t have to,” I replied with a grin. “Get ready, Norma!”
“Incoming in ten seconds,” Aileen started to countdown.
Norma and I darted off to the side behind my van so we wouldn’t be immediately visible when they arrived. I wanted to get a really good look at Tarantulator’s face when his webs failed to save him.
As soon as Aileen’s countdown reached “one,” Elizabeth and Tarantulator burst into view.
Elizabeth was first as she launched herself into the air to leap over the side of the building. She landed next to the van with enough force to crack the asphalt, and then she noticed Norma and me. Although my gorgeous girlfriend didn’t look injured, sweat dripped down the side of her face and into the dip of her perfect cleavage.
Before she could say anything to us, her head shot up to watch as the Tarantulator launched himself up and over the side of the building after her.
Even from my distant viewpoint on the ground, I could tell that Tarantulator was a buff, powerful-looking man clad in a skin-tight black suit patterned with webs. The design reminded me of Arachne’s tights, only not even remotely sexy. His muscled arms and legs were covered with silver plating, and one of his hands was encased in a large gauntlet that was probably what he used to enhance his web-slinging abilities with.
If Arachne had been a dainty, elegant black widow, then the Tarantulator was true to his name as a giant, hairy tarantula. It was a shame those two never hooked up, really. They could have made spider babies, but then again, Tarantulator wasn’t rich, so it was doubtful that Arachne would have wanted anything to do with him.
The bulky villain swung his arm forward and shot out a tendril of white webbing toward one of the silicone-coated walls. Tarantulator didn’t even seem to consider the possibility at all that his webs wouldn’t stick, so despite the fact that the webbing slid harmlessly down the wall, he still followed it up by instinct and pulled on it.
Ahhh. I wish I could have seen his facial expression under his mask.
“Ahhhh!” The spider-themed supervillain slammed down to the ground and slid across the now-cracked and splintered road.
He immediately scuttled back up to his feet and backed away before Elizabeth could close in on him and stomp his skull. Instead, her foot smashed into the already cracked asphalt, and the road cracked even further.
“The fuck?” the spider-themed supervillain spat as he dodged another punch from Elizabeth. “What happened to the walls?”
“Let me show you,” I said as I stepped out from behind the van.
I fired a clean shot from my silicone gun straight at his gauntlet, but Tarantulator moved out of the way at the last second, so the goo only splattered a little on his suit.
“What is this shit?” he growled as he stumbled backward.
Despite the fact that he was now under attack by Elizabeth plus two silicone guns, Tarantulator’s reflexes were superhuman to the point that he was able to dodge all three of our attacks.
I didn’t care. After all, there wasn’t anywhere for him to escape to.
Without his webs, Tarantulator was clearly out of his element. Still, he was quick and strong, and he was using a combination of martial art technique and gymnastics to keep away from the first sequence of Dynamo’s rapid fire attacks.
I had other tools I could use, though.
“Norma,” I cleared my throat. “Let’s see what that suit does for you. Go kick his ass.”
“Yes, Boss.” Norma tossed the silicone gun to the side and grabbed the two katana blades sheathed against her back. Then she charged forward with effortless grace, leapt into the air, and brought her blades down against Tarantulator’s neck. He held his arms up to block her swords with his armor-plating, but Elizabeth closed in behind him and leveled a punch directly at the center of his spine.
Tarantulator bellowed in pain and contorted his body in a way that shouldn’t have been possible. His arms and back cracked and twisted as he appeared to morph into more of a spider-shaped, four-legged form, and as soon as he did, he was able to slip away from the two girls and move across the ground on all fours at twice his normal speed.
Norma pulled her blades back at the last second to avoid a collision with Elizabeth.
“Sorry!” Norma wailed.
“Not your fault,” Elizabeth growled. “Did anybody know he could do that?”
“He’s rarely seen without his webs, so no,” I replied.
>
I was a little annoyed with our lack of information on such a powerful villain. It didn’t matter since we’d successfully picked an area where he wouldn’t be able to escape, even if he could move faster than us, but it was still irritating. At least I had already accounted for the fact that he would be able to move at ridiculous speeds-- I just hadn’t known exactly how he’d move.
“So gross,” Norma sighed. “I don’t know about you, but I think it’s about time we squash this bug!”
“Getting into it, are you?” I snickered.
“I thought I’d try some catch phrases,” Norma said as she blushed.
“Cute, but we’ll workshop it,” I laughed.
“We need to hurry, or we’ll lose him!” Elizabeth said as she ran ahead.
“We can’t lose him,” I said as I followed her thanks to the boosted legs of my suit. “We made sure the dead end up ahead has nowhere he can escape to. Everything is blocked off with the silicone gel, even vents.”
Spiders were known for their ability to escape into small spaces, so I’d prepared for every possibility. The people who lived in these buildings probably wouldn’t like all the chemicals on their walls and vents, but they’d forgive us once we got rid of the supervillain that had been terrorizing this area for the past several months.
I let Norma and Elizabeth run ahead of me so I could try out my newest addition to my suit: my jetpack. I turned on the thrusters and immediately shot into the air, and I used the upgraded blasters on my palms in an attempt to stabilize it. It was a direct shot upward and a steady float back down to the ground, but it wasn’t what I’d intended to do.
In front of me, I could see Elizabeth and Norma square off with the Tarantulator where they’d backed him into a brick-walled corner, and I knew that now that he was cornered, the real fight was about to begin.
The supervillain’s reflexes were still too quick and too powerful for either of them to land a decent hit on him, and I winced as Elizabeth flung a deadly punch forward only to slam her fist into the brick of the wall rather than Tarantulator’s head.
They needed my help.