Watch Your mouth

Hey there. It's me, the liar. Sorry about the hiatus. In my very weak defense, I had exams and then my brother got married. And then I procrastinated. And then I was on the run from the Peruvian government for punching a foreign diplomat while drunk in a bar. Sorry. But, we're back on track. Also extra sorry to GremlinWriter for saying "gimme a day to post a chapter" and then posting this 10 days later. I have no excuses. (￣▽￣*)ゞ

(2 Days later, Brooklyn) 

(Elijah's POV)

I swung through the air, flipping gracefully as I reached the peak of my swing, before starting my plummet back towards the earth. A few hours of fighting crime had gotten me warmed up in the cold winter wind. One thing Spider-woman didn't warn me about was how goddamn cold swinging 100 feet up in the air was during the winter. As I sent another webline out to break my descent, my HUD notified me of a call from "The Cyclops". I chuckled at the name I saved him as in my contacts before swinging to the top of a nearby building. I accepted the call and began speaking.

"Long time no see, old man. Your bones still creaking?" I started, chuckling.

"I don't want to hear anything snarky from the motherfucker with a new spider fetish"

"Hold on, that is not at all what's...oh, son of a bitch."

My face quickly dropped after realizing that the girl I was kinda-sorta crushing on was also almost definitely Spider-woman. The involuntarily-monocled super-spy had a point.

"Look, the spider thing isn't the point, why'd you call?" I continued, attempting to steer the conversation in a different direction.

"Wanted to ask if there were any updates to your contribution to the new team's roster. It's going to have 8 people, yourself included. Three of them have already been chosen by the Avengers. You need to find five yourself."

"I'm working on it. I've already found one, just need to find four more super-powered teens in all of New York. Easy, right?" I responded, trying to sound as confident as possible.

"Uh-huh. Just get it done asap. And try not to destroy any civilian infrastructure while you're at it, or I'll make sure the repair costs come out of your taxes"

"I'm supposed to be paying taxes?"

"What?"

"Nothing, bye!" I quickly ended the call and continued on my journey home.

I passed through downtown Queens, enjoying the hustle and bustle of the city. The smell of fresh hot dogs and dumpsters filling my nose, when, all of a sudden;

M̴̜̺̭͉͒̽̓͐͌̉̍̚̚̚͠O̸̥͉̠͋̂́̋̌͊̇̇̇V̵̨͙̻͎̳̩͓͉̼̩͇̾ͅȄ̵̪̣̱͔̗̿͆̿̿̌̌͆͘ 

my spider senses went off mid-swing, urging me to dodge upwards. I followed my instincts and shot a line to zip me upwards, barely avoiding a car that had been thrown at me. It missed me and and landed down the street, luckily not hitting any civilians.

"Who the fuck just tosses a car down the street?!" I yelled, landing on the ground

I turned my head to look towards the source, and saw The Rhino, stomping his feet and approaching me.

"Oh that's who. Hey there, Alexei. It's been a while. How'd you get out of Rikers? I doubt you can really sneak past security."

He simply grunted in response and threw a punch at me. I attempted to catch it with my newly increased strength, only to be sent flying into a wall.

I crawled out of the rubble, coughing as air re-entered my lungs.

"Okay, you've gotten stronger. What's with tha...huh?"

Upon taking a second look, I realized his suit had changed from a glorified spandex monstrosity to a full-on suit of armor, like Iron-man with a rhino kink. His eyes were glowing blue, and except for a few spots on his arms and his mouth, he was completely covered with metal plating.

"Woah, sick tech upgrade. I know you're definitely not smart enough to make that, so come on, spill the beans. Who's the designer, Louis Vuitton?"

 Rhino simply yelled in rage and rushed straight at me. I jumped over his charge, leading him to run into the half-destroyed wall behind me.

"Okay, still not really up for talking. Noted"

As he got up out of the rubble, I sent a web to his chest, zipping to it and landing a devastating straight punch to his chin, the sound of my metal knuckles hitting his metallic plating resounding through the street. Only problem is, he didn't budge. I watched him turn his head back towards me and grin.

"...Nice day we're having?"

He hit me with an uppercut that sent me flying into the air, before grabbing my leg and slamming me into the ground. The Hud of my suit began showing warnings due to the damage I was sustaining. Rhino leapt into the air, attempting to land on me and crush me. I rolled out of the way before leaping up and intercepting him with an uppercut of my own, managing to send him crashing into a nearby store.

"And right after Fury told me not to damage any infrastructure. Goddamn it."

Rhino got up from the rubble of the store, which was thankfully empty after all the nearby fighting. Not gonna lie, he looked pretty pissed off. Well, guess that just means the punch did some damage.

We charged each other again, fists connecting in the middle, sending shockwaves through the street. We exchanged punches in a full on brawl, in a sort of contest of endurance. As my suit's HUD began flashing red, I jumped backwards, creating some distance.

"Whoever made that suit made it pretty well, but there's no way he isn't feeling the damage too. There are some open spots on his arms, maybe I could use my fangs to..."

Before I could finish that thought, I was forced to duck under a light pole that had been thrown at me. Rhino, frustrated by our brawl ending, spoke up for the first time since the fight began.

"I will crush you, puny Spider! And after I crush you, I will find the other Spider and tear her limb from limb as she cries for mercy!"

And then, my world went black and white. 

I turned away from the Rhino and removed my cracked helmet. I webbed the lower half of my face to keep my identity hidden, bet left my mouth visible. My spider-sense had disappeared, and only one instinct remained.

R̵̪̗̱͉̗̥̦̫̖̠̤̅́ͅI̶̛̜͍̣̗͙̓̓P̴̯͙̙̺̜̹͐̿̓́̉̿̀̆͊͌̔ ̵̻̲̱̯̟̯̮̮̮̱̉̍͜H̶̜́͗̊̐̌̅́̉͝͠͝Ì̵̧͎̣̙̬̫͙̙̬̠̤̄̀̊̃̎̽ͅS̸̰͈͂̎̚ ̶̧̛̜͖̓̽̆̌͂F̵͎͎̼̆͌͗̇̑͆͘̚ͅͅU̷͚̮͒̓̔ͅC̵̼̪̽͐Ķ̶̛͖̘̖͚̽͌̐̒́̒͗͘̚̚͜Ḯ̴̤̟͚̦͑̓̈̅̒̑͛̓͑͘Ñ̸̛̲̉̃G̷̛̦͙͓͋̓͛̅͐̄ ̷̧̦̥͍̪̭̗̱͊̎̋͐́̅͜͝͝͝͠H̴̨̢̧̧̡̢̱̫͎̩̝̮̀̑̌́̋̈̕E̸̖̜͑́͂͆͘Ą̵̢͚͖̺͔̞̂̇̎̔̎̚͜͝ͅD̷̫̞̰̩̰̅̇̓̈̿͂̓͌̌̎͠ ̷͎̫̠̜̩͉̒̽̃̆̊̉̽̌͌̀Ò̷̢̱̲̙̙͊̈́̈́F̸͖̲̞̠̰̗̄̿̽͛̀͗̄F̶̛͙͉̮̜̞̖͓͖͙͚̬͉̂̆͑̋͛͑̚

I ran at him and dodged under his swing to get to the left side of his body, where I hit him with a liver shot with as much strength as I could possible exert. He went flying into a wall behind him, reeling from the punch. He got up from the rubble, but not before coughing up blood. 

He turned to charge at me, but winced from the damage to his abdomen, giving me enough time to throw an overhand straight at his mouth, the only part of his face not covered with metal.

The punch sent him flying down the street. Only this time, he didn't get back up. I walked over to him, seeing him grab his face, blood pouring out. I grabbed his arm, and ripped the lighter plating on his bicep off.

I clenched my jaw, and my fangs extended. I bit into his arm, feeling the venom leave my canines and enter his blood stream. He yelled in pain, but could only watch in horror as I wiped the blood off my mouth and glared down at him. Slowly, one by one, he lost the feelings in his limbs.

For the first time in his life, Alexei Sytsevich felt fear. 

The Rhino, who considered himself the Apex predator, unmatched in strength, afraid?! Impossible!

He thrashed violently, attempting to reawaken his limbs, but it was all for naught. His body had systematically shut down. In the end, all he was capable of doing was breathing.

I stood upon his chest, before dropping down to get closer to his face. I glared into his soul, and only spared him a few words.

"Next time, watch your fucking mouth"

I backed up, and Alexei breathed a sigh of relief that it was over. The Spiders always were too naive to finish a job.

B̷̨̩̫͔͊̔̃͐͐́̾́̀̽͝R̶̨̛̝͕͙̪̘̗̲̂́̿̇̇̌͑͋̇̓Ẻ̶̥̖̝͓̝͍͇̥͋́͝Ą̶͇͙̪̗͎̯̾́̄̈̽̅̋̎̌͝ͅK̸̢̨̗͎̻̝͖͎͔̰̀̈́̚ͅ ̴͖̺̪͇̏̇̈́̈́̌̕H̶͓̀I̴̝͎̟͇̝̞͖̽̊̄͂̋̾͆̄͑͜M̴̩̈́͂̋̓͆̆̂́̀ͅ

And then the onslaught began.

Punch after punch, strike after strike, I threw a flurry of blows directly to his face.

With every punch, parts of his armor chipped. With every strike, a tooth broke. With every shot, Alexei's breathing got shallower, and shallower, and shallower.

"Stop! Huntsman, get off him! STOP!"

I felt a pair of hands pull me off of the Rhino. I turned, ready to pounce, but immediately stopped myself. Spider-woman stood in front of me, glancing worriedly between me and the bloody mess that was Alexei.

"What the hell happened, Huntsman?"

"Long story. He said something he shouldn't have." I said, my voice coming out as a deep growl.

"What the fuck could he possibly say to make you go batshit crazy like that?

"Ask him. He'll probably survive long enough to at least tell you that."

I said, walking over to Alexei, putting my foot on his chest and applying pressure.

"Consider this your last warning, Rhino.

Never mistake my mercy for weakness"

I walked away, grabbing my helmet and swinging off.

(No-one's POV)

Spider-woman watched Huntsman leave, before sighing and turning back to the man on the ground.

"The hell could you have possibly said to set him off like that?"

After receiving no reply, she simply sighed again and began to walk away to call the police, but before she could, she heard his voice, weaker than she had ever heard it before.

"I said... I would kill you"

"...What?"

She turned back to ask more, but he had lost consciousness.

"He went insane because Rhino threatened me?"

~End of Chapter 18