Chapter 23: The Phantom’s Shadow III

The Tinkerer, Maya Fisk, now completely covered in her chrome, full-body Programmable Matter armor, stood in front of her father's killer with her two enormous chrome fists. Her body shook, whether it be due to her insurmountable anger and hatred toward the so-called hero, or the blue Nuform energy that was visibly coursing through her armor. Perhaps it was both, but she knew she didn't have much time before her body and Nuform bracelet gave out.

She was still blinded by thoughts of revenge, despite now realizing her father wasn't the man she once thought he was.

No, he was a good man. This masked killer was lying to her. That's what she told herself.

Why would she trust this man, this boy, this child that spoke to her with his own selfish motives? He just wanted to get out of his deserved punishment scot-free. He wasn't really sorry. No, he didn't care about Fisk, he didn't care about anyone but himself.

She watched her father's killer, the Phantom Spider, standing firmly in his Ultimate Godspeed form with his fists clenched tightly. He stared blankly at Maya through his glowing white lenses. Despite Maya's violent thoughts, he didn't want to harm her.

He could feel his heart pounding against his chest as if it were attempting to break free from his chest due to his form increasing his heart rate drastically.

His brain pulsated, feeling as if it were about to burst out of his skull as his mind raced with a million thoughts and emotions per second. Regret, anguish, and self-hatred; were all still there for the boy. They never left.

His muscles felt as if they were engulfed in hell's flames and were about to tear from his bones if he were to take another step forward.

He didn't have much time left in this new form, it had only been a few minutes, but his body wouldn't be able to continue much longer. He gave the Tinkerer his final words with his ever-vibrating voice.

"Last chance. Give this up, Tinkerer." The murderer tried his best to plead his case to the girl. She didn't care. She wasn't hearing any of it. All that mattered to her was finally avenging her father, finally ending this cycle of pain, of hatred.

Though it wouldn't end.

It never would.

Not in the way she'd hoped. Killing her father's killer would do nothing but continue the cycle, but her furious gaze at the man who killed Fisk blinded her.

And so, ignoring his words, Maya Fisk, the Tinkerer, boosted forward using her Nuform-infused armor at a speed that was reminiscent of the so-called hero's, reeling her arm back in preparation to knock his head off with her oversized fist.

The assassin dodged; the dodge looked low effort but her speed did surprise him. 'This speed...' He thought to himself as his body continued to ache. His reflection, his shadow that has been haunting him for half a year, was even more like him than he thought.

It made sense, Godspeed was Nuform, though it was an organic version that he generated from his body. Due to her armor being infused with it, she could move just as fast as he would when he wasn't in his Ultimate state.

Maya grunted as her punch whiffed past his face, she put her all into it, and her body ached as the Nuform-infused Programmable Matter was already beginning to take a toll on her body. She knew she couldn't keep it up for long, despite training for this moment, so she quickly threw another punch, this time with her opposite fist.

"Rah!" She let out a warcry as her fist just barely whiffed past the murderous spider's face. His speed was incredible, it was as if he could see the attack before it came out, dodging away from where the attack would land upon seeing it come out.

"You can't win, Tinkerer. Please, stop this." Once again, the killer tried to beg her to stop, but his words meant nothing.

The nerve of him.

Begging her to stop as if he didn't ignore her father's screams all those months prior as he reduced the man's face into an unrecognizable mess.

It was pathetic.

His words did nothing but anger her further as she began pouring more Nuform energy into her Programmable Matter armor recklessly. "Shut-" She threw yet another punch, this one was faster, barely grazing past the boy's face. Her arm was in such pain as the punch whiffed past her father's killer, but she didn't care. "Up!" Once again, yet another punch was thrown with another scream, flying past her father's murderer by just a few inches.

As the Tinkerer's fist flew past the spider's face, she turned her palm to face him, revealing a repulsor that she had formed using her Programmable Matter, one similar to that of Tony Stark. In an instant, there was a bright flash, and a beam of energy shot from her hand at a speed that was even unreactable to the speedy spider himself.

The lenses on the killer's mask widened as the beam struck him in the face, causing him to fly backward and crash into a wall behind him. The Tinkerer stood in the same spot with her palm still facing the hole in the wall that the self-proclaimed hero's body had created as the repulsor began to dim.

That was the greatness of Programmable Matter, it could be used to create any weapon that the user imagined.

Though he had the ability to absorb Nuform energy, this attack reacted with the boy's nearly over-exerted body, giving him the feeling as if he were about to explode. Lying in the rubble, he returned back into his normal self, no longer having his Ultimate form's blue glow. 'I can't keep this up. I'm going to kill myself if I try to maintain that form any longer.' He told himself as he rose from the dust and debris, this time without his glow.

'I can beat him.' The Tinkerer was confident that she was doing damage to the killer herself, noticing that he was now in a lesser state. However, this was truly the mark of the killer having enough of holding back. He knew that he couldn't just keep dodging forever, especially not now with his reduced speed, so he attacked.

In a flash, Fisk's killer stepped in front of the girl, startling her due to the speed still being impressive in his standard form, before sending a powerful Godspeed-infused punch to the side of her armored body. The resounding sound of his fist slamming into her armor echoed through the room, it was so powerful.

Despite the intensity of the punch, the Tinkerer held her footing, only sliding back a few inches in response to the attack. It hurt, the pain was so intense. She wanted to tumble, curl into a ball, and weep due to the excruciating pain but she endured it all.

The spider's lenses squinted as he watched the girl give no reaction to his strike. Only hesitating for a brief moment, the assassin stepped to the side before delivering a powerful punch to her liver, once again causing the sound of metal clashing with his fist to echo throughout the room.

Yet again, the pain nearly overwhelmed her. Though the thoughts of her father kept her going.

Blindly, she swung her fist behind her in an attempt to hit the murderous arachnid, but her arm connected with nothing as he flash-stepped away to a safe distance. The murderer was breathing heavily as the overuse of new form was still affecting him. Breathlessly, he spoke to the girl.

"You're not hitting me again. Give up or I'll have to bust through that armor."

Hearing the fiend say this did nothing more than make the Tinkerer scoff in amusement. "You're saying this because you're fatigued, if you could break my armor, you'd have done it!" As she shouted this proclamation, Maya dashed forward, sending a punch with her giant fist once again toward the killer.

Again, he dodged to the side and punched her in the torso, though most of the damage was prevented due to her armor once more. Realizing doing the same thing over and over wasn't going to work, the Tinkerer transformed the fist in her right hand into a chrome, Programmable Matter greatsword, one of such length that it was larger than her entire body.

The spider's lenses squinted upon seeing the massive weapon form in front of him before the Tinkerer swung the mighty weapon with great speed, aiming straight for his neck. The boy dodged backward, allowing the blade to narrowly pass his face, along with the sound of the blade cutting the air.

Despite the blade's size, the Tinkerer moved it as if it were weightless, continuing to swing her blade at her father's killer at an incredible speed. As if the weapon were a mere extension of herself, the orphaned gang leader danced with the massive blade, sending a barrage of lethal slashes that nearly cut the arachnid assassin.

Fisk's killer knew that striking her armor wasn't going to work. If he were to not hold back and use his full strength, he knew could damage it but he could also kill the girl and this was not an option for him. He knew that he needed to remove the armor somehow. As he dodged and weaved the deadly attacks from her greatsword, he noticed something; her Nuform bracelet, glowing brightly on her dominant wrist.

He wasn't certain, but destroying the bracelet would likely disarm her, allowing him to apprehend her without having to resort to delivering her the same fate as her father.

Growing frustrated, the Tinkerer released a wild, wide swing with her sword, leaving her open for a counterattack for just a brief, fraction of a second. This small moment was all that the killer needed to end this battle for good.

Seeing his chance, the Phantom Spider ducked beneath the blade, narrowly avoiding a horizontal strike from the Tinkerer's greatsword before grabbing her wrist and using all of his strength to crush the bracelet.

The sound of the glass bracelet shattering was soon followed by the sound of an explosion, one that sent the Tinkerer flying backward as her chrome, full-body armor began to inform from around her.

Without the protection of her armor, Maya's head struck a nearby wall, rendering her unconscious in an instant.

.

.

.

When she opened her eyes, she found herself atop Fisk tower, webbed with her arms behind her back. She tried to move, but she was restrained to a pipe on the roof and couldn't break loose due to the strength of the webbing.

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In front of her, the Phantom Spider was seen crouched down at the edge of the tower, looking down at the spot where Fisk's lifeless corpse once lay, reminiscing his past actions. Hearing Maya groan, the boy turned around. As the two made eye contact, she could see the lenses on his face relax. "You're awake." He said as he slowly walked over to the girl and crouched down in front of her.

As Maya uselessly tried to break free from her restraints once more, she looked down at her body, noticing that her armor was completely removed.

"That Programmable Matter stuff is gone. The police are down there and sadly I had to turn it all in to Yuri, the police chief." The boy told her.

"What happened?" Maya asked, barely being able to speak through her raging headache.

"The armor exploded. Sorry, when I crushed your bracelet, it sort of caused a reaction. The police responded to the explosion and showed up pretty quickly, but I told them you got away."

Maya frowned, seemingly offended by the so-called hero speaking to her so calmly and admitting to lying on her behalf. "Why?"

"Because I want to give you one last chance, Maya." Hearing her name come from his mouth surprised her momentarily, though the boy continued to speak. "Tell me that you're done with all of this Underground stuff. Tell me that you're done chasing me and I'll let you go, Maya."

There was a silence. The only thing that was heard was the police helicopters searching for her in the distance.

Without looking up, Maya Fisk spoke with malice in her defeated voice. "I don't want anything from you. I'd rather die. I'll jump off this building before I forgive you." Though she tried to hold them back to save face, tears began to fall from her face as she realized the weight of the situation.

She had lost.

She didn't stand a chance against him, she knew that now. Everything she had built up for the last half a year was for nothing. She wondered if she had won, would she feel satisfied, though she remembered his words from before their battle.

She knew that she was in the wrong, they both were. There was no hero in their story, only two bitter children who had everything stripped away from them. Despite only one of them achieving their goal of gaining revenge, both ended this story discontented.

"I understand, Maya. I wouldn't forgive me either if I were you. I haven't forgiven your father and I probably never will. I'm not asking for you to forgive me, that would be selfish. You're a brilliant girl, Maya. You invented a form of matter that can adapt to the mind and body of the person holding it. I hope one day you use that brilliant mind for something far greater than revenge. You can stop the thing that happened to us from happening to anyone else."

Saying this only reinforced the idea that the two teens were mere reflections of the other; two geniuses who lost everything, using their brilliance to enact vengeance on those who wronged them. It was, however, ironic that her father's killer was telling her these words. Once again, she thought he was pathetic and a hypocrite.

"You really expect me to become a goody two shoes after all this? It's too late for that." said Fisk's daughter, still looking at the ground in front of her.

The masked boy shook his head. "It's not. You can put your mistakes behind you and continue on a new path. We both can..." As the spider said this, he realized that this was something he wasn't able to do himself, but something he needed to do as well.

Maya said nothing in response to his advice, she just continued to stare at the ground with a tearful frown.

Realizing his words weren't doing much, or at least, that's how it seemed, the boy began unbinding the girl from her restraints. "Well, I'll take you down to Yuri." With nothing else to say, the once vengeful phantom finished untying the girl and brought her to the authorities beneath Fisk tower.

Eren Parker watched as Maya Fisk was escorted away in the back of a police squad car, unable to even bear looking at him as she pulled off. As her car disappeared in the distance, the boy stood in the same spot, unmoving for a few minutes.

After a while, he slingshotted himself in the air and began swinging through the city. As he swung, he monologued to himself internally.

'I told Maya that what she needed to do was put the past and her mistakes behind her.

Saying this, I realized that I myself needed to do the same.

I need to move past this period of my life and begin anew.

I've been thinking about this for some time and I think the Phantom Spider should die tonight, along with his mistakes and his past.

I named myself the Phantom Spider because I wanted to seem otherworldly to those who I saw as not as gifted as I was.

I gave myself this symbol, this insignia because I wanted people to fear me.

I wanted to be the bully this time.

I abused my power back then, but now I've changed.

I don't want to be feared anymore.

I don't want to create another Tinkerer because of my actions.

This whole time after Electro, I tried to convince myself that I was a hero, but as Maya told me, it was a facade.

If I want to truly be a hero, I need to alter what I stand for.

A hero's symbol shouldn't bring fear.

Or anxiety.

Or dread.

No, a hero themself should be the symbol.

One of peace.

A symbol of hope.

A symbol that people should look up to, not fear or despise.

I was the Phantom Spider.

But that isn't who I am anymore.

I am no shadow.

I am no ghost.

I am no specter or spirit.

I am no phantom.

I am nothing more than a mortal man, a mortal just like everyone else that I want to protect.

I am Spider-Man.'

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