“So, after saying goodbye to New York City’s Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man… …we’re now welcoming a pitch-black messenger of the night?”
Even as he questioned Tombstone, Wilson Fisk kept his eyes fixed on the framed photograph resting on the coffee table.
The picture showed a gentle-looking woman…
…and a well-behaved little boy.
They were the two people Fisk treasured most in the entire world.
Yet…
He had personally pushed them away.
Now, his only goal was to bring them back to his side.
Everything else could wait.
Even if another superhero comparable to Spider-Man had appeared…
As long as that person didn’t interfere with his plan, Fisk was willing to pretend they didn’t exist.
Still…
He needed to determine whether this new vigilante would become an obstacle to reclaiming his family.
“Yes, Boss.”
Tombstone had already gathered every piece of information available.
“But from what we’ve seen… this guy is even more ruthless than Spider-Man. Anyone who’s come face-to-face with him has basically been crippled for life.”
Indeed…
No one had actually died at the vigilante’s hands.
But being left as a vegetable…
Or permanently disabled…
Wasn’t much better than death.
“Forget about him for now.”
Fisk picked up the photo frame and gently ran his fingers across its surface.
“What’s important to me right now isn’t a small factory… or a few disabled men.”
His expression was astonishingly gentle.
It was difficult to believe such a tender-looking man could utter words so cold and merciless.
Tombstone, however, was much the same.
He cared little about the lives or disabilities of those under him.
To him…
Only his career…
And himself…
Truly mattered.
Everything else was irrelevant.
“I understand, Boss.”
Tombstone nodded.
He already knew exactly how he should handle the situation.
Perhaps he couldn’t catch the mysterious vigilante.
But he could simply ignore the losses and damage the vigilante caused.
For Tombstone…
That was easy enough.
Seeing Fisk glance at him from the corner of his eye once more, Tombstone wisely bowed.
“I’ll take my leave.”
With those words, he departed the house— leaving behind the home filled with Fisk’s happiest memories of Vanessa and their son.
Fisk paid no further attention to Tombstone.
“Vanessa… Richard… I’ll bring both of you back.”
It was difficult to imagine that the man who ruled New York’s criminal underworld…
Could reveal such tenderness.
This was precisely the scene Wayne witnessed upon arriving at Fisk’s residence.
Wayne didn’t care how deeply Fisk loved his wife and son.
A criminal who had directly or indirectly destroyed countless other families…
Had no right to reclaim his own after losing them.
There was no such bargain.
Wayne tapped the controls on the gauntlet attached to his right forearm.
Instantly…
The world before him changed.
The house no longer appeared as an ordinary residence.
Every hidden reinforcement…
Every specially modified structure…
Became visible.
Although this home held enormous sentimental value for Fisk…
That didn’t mean he had removed all of his safeguards.
As expected…
Wayne quickly discovered a concealed elevator leading to the lowest level of the house.
He knew perfectly well…
It wasn’t hiding ordinary Fisk Corporation documents.
It almost certainly led to the heart of Fisk’s criminal empire.
That alone…
Was enough.
“Well hidden.”
Wayne cast one final glance at the still-grieving Fisk.
He had no intention of infiltrating tonight.
He needed a complete plan— one that would allow him to secure every piece of evidence tied to Fisk’s criminal organization.
Carefully committing the home’s layout to memory…
Wayne quietly withdrew.
Today’s objective had already been achieved.
He now possessed Fisk’s address…
And the blueprint of his residence.
That was more than enough.
After all…
Bats didn’t have to appear only at night.
Sometimes…
Daylight worked just as well.
With that thought, Wayne disappeared into the darkness.
Tomorrow…
Would be the real beginning.
As he passed an apartment building in Brooklyn…
Wayne suddenly stopped.
Sometimes…
The people you least expected to meet…
Appeared in the strangest ways.
The scene unfolding before him looked exactly like a crime scene.
The victim…
Was the very Spider-Man who had been endlessly chatting beside him earlier.
Dragging Spider-Man along the ground…
Was a young boy wearing a cheap Spider-Man costume.
Bang!
The sudden noise from the fire escape startled the boy.
His hands instinctively let go.
Poor Peter Benjamin Parker…
Dropped straight off the fire escape.
If he hadn’t been Spider-Man…
He would’ve earned himself a luxury suite in intensive care—
In other words…
The ICU.
“I didn’t kill him! He’s not dead! He just passed out!”
The boy hurriedly blurted out an explanation.
“I was only trying to take him home and check his injuries! I swear I wasn’t trying to do anything else!”
Perhaps he had a talent for talking quickly.
Because to Wayne…
The boy sounded less like he was explaining himself…
And more like he was rapping.
“Hm.”
Wayne said nothing more than a single, ambiguous sound.
Yet that alone left the boy completely bewildered.
“…Hm?”
He cautiously repeated the noise…
Wondering whether the masked figure—who looked very much like a superhero—might explain what it meant.
“I’m telling the truth! You have to believe me!”
The boy was genuinely frightened by Wayne’s expression.
He had been bitten by a spider.
Developed strange powers.
Witnessed Spider-Man battle the Green Goblin.
Even watched Spider-Man die.
But at the end of the day…
He was still just a kid.
Facing a mysterious superhero he couldn’t understand…
Was terrifying.
Especially one who looked so obviously difficult to talk to.
“Heh…”
The only thing he could do now…
Was smile innocently.
Try his hardest to appear harmless.
Just then—
“Oh… My back!”
Spider-Man’s groan shattered the awkward silence between them.
(End of Chapter)