//------------------------------//
// Issue #10: Vigilante Justice 
// Story: Spider-Man: Web of Magic 
// by MetalJrock 
//------------------------------//

"Bang."

The Punisher shot the bullet an inch away from Daredevil's face, missing the redclad vigilante like he anticipated. The ringing sound of the gun lingered within Daredevil's ears as he moved his head away from the bullet just in case. Matt charged towards Frank once the standoff ended and headbutted Castle, making him stumble a little backwards, done trying to reason with him.

Punisher punched Daredevil in the chest and slammed his fists directly into his cowl when his body lowered somewhat. Murdock growled and got to a knee. "Can't believe we're doin' this again, Red. You know I can't let him go."

"I'm not letting you take another life while I'm here." Daredevil declared, pushing himself upwards. But Castle used the end of his pistol to whip him on the back of his head. Matt gritted his teeth and he spun his legs, tripping Frank instead. Castle fell on his side, a small thud heard as his body met the ground.

Matt got up and glared down at Frank through his cowl, "I'm ending this before it escalates." he announced.

Frank could be seen smirking in the dimly lit rooftop, "Yeah right... You don't got the guts to end me." he taunted, "Face it, Red. You're still a coward." he said, standing now.

Their fists collided as they met for a punch halfway. Matt's elbow reared forward, jabbing Punisher in the jaw. Castle hissed and twisted Daredevil's arm a little to counter, raising his fist to his armpit and spun Matt's body around as a result. Daredevil had to tun himself around in order to move his elbow to Punisher's ribs. The Devil growled and reached for the strap on his side, grabbing two billy clubs and wrapping his fingers around them.

Daredevil used his weapons to smack Punisher in the back of the head, making his vision blurry for a moment. And a moment was all Matt needed. His panting was heard as he reversed Castle's move and shoved him down to the ground, stepping on his palm as to not allow him to raise his pistol. "Do you want to try again, Castle? I'm letting you off with a warning. I'm not letting you shed any blood here."

Frank Castle shook his head and spat some blood, "Like hell I'm lettin' you stop me. Gargan's shed more blood across the county than I'd like to admit. He deserves what's comin' to him." he boasted. Daredevil scowled and held up Frank by his jacket, staring directly into his cold, dead eyes. A face that couldn't care about criminals.

"That may be true. But like I said before... Killing him isn't going to do any good." Matt insisted.

Punisher sneered, "Listen to yourself, Red. That bullshit is what's keepin' me pissed off. You think that he deserves a second chance? Screw that, I'm doin' this world a favor. He won't hurt anyone else by the time I'm done with him."

Daredevil snarled and shoved Punisher aside, "And it's that mindset of yours that pisses me off. Redemption exists, Castle. But you don't allow that to happen." he denounced, smacking Castle woth his billy clubs after saying this.

Then, Castle held up his arm once again and kicked Murdock in the stomach. The armored vigilante wheezing, "Redemption." he scoffed, "He doesn't deserve crap. Scorpion's an assassin, Red. He's killed cops, men, women, and anyone who so much a looks at him the wrong way. I've been on his trail long enough to decide when he has to bite the bullet. The one I'll feed him." he declared. He punched Daredevil again and smacked him to the ground with his pistol again.

While Matt was stunned, Frank walked back to his sniper and held it, whispering something as he put his finger on the trigger, seeing Gargan outside, fighting another vigilante in red, "One batch... Two batch... Penny and dime..."

However, before Punisher could pull the trigger, something yanked on his collar and pulled him back. Opening his eyes, he saw Daredevil, blood dripping from his nose. "What the hell do you think yer doin'?!" snarled Castle.

"Keeping you from making a bad decision. The guy Gargan's fighting? He's a new hero, one that stood his ground with the Avengers. Be lucky you haven't caught his attention yet." Daredevil revealed, holsing his billy clubs up to his chest.

"Like I give a crap." Punisher hissed, tackling Daredevil. Matt elbowed Castle as the skullclad vigilante's fist collided with his cowl, the two of them feeling pain at the same time. The two shoved each other off and rolled to their stomachs.

Daredevil and Punisher got back up and glared at one another, not stopping until one of them goes down.





Spider-Man and Sunset looked at one another as they snuck through thr back of the shop, "Okay, this guy looks like he just has a chain and really good at it too. Nothing more. I'll distract him while you get everyone else out to safety." he saw Sunset nod in agreement to his plan and gave him a thumbs up.

Once they were ready, Peter kicked down the door, getting Gargan's attention, "Yo! I heard you were looking for me!" shouted the wall-crawler, noticing Mac turn around. "Release them if it's a fight you're looking for!" he demanded.

Gargan smirked, his yellow crooked teeth shown. "Ah, Spider-Man. I see you accepted my challenge. I knew you couldn't refuse saving these people." he chuckled darkly. "Fate brought me to this moment. To face you in combat for what you're capable of. You may call me... The Scorpion." he revealed.

Spider-Man crouched down, "For a shady gangster covered in tattoos, you certainly seem philosophical. But how's this for a rebuttal?" he wondered, jumping forward, his feet being driven outward, kicking Gargan through the window, shattering it to pieces as he fell onto the street a few feet away. Peter crouched on the windowsill, trying his best not to stand on any of the glass shards, seeing Mac get back to his feet while shaking his head.

"Heh. Tougher than I thought." Gargan admitted proudly, rolling his neck with cracks heard.

Meanwhile, Sunset ran through the door, adjusting her mask and seeing the frightened bystanders look at her in awe, "Who are you?" one of them asked.

"Call me..." Sunset paused, trying to think of an alter-ego on the fly to cover her identity. "...Equestria Girl. I came to get you all to safety while Spider-Man has the other guy distracted." she explained, kneeling down to the child, her hands glowing orange as she said this. 

"Are you Spider-Man's sidekick?" the child asked.

Sunset frowned, "I'm not a sidekick... I'll stay by your sides and make sure that guy doesn't get an idea to come back. Luckily, he seems to be focused on him anyhow." she assured, patting the kid on the shoulder. She stood up and guided everyone outside, following the small crowd through the back once the dining area cleared for good.

Turning his head, Peter sighed in relief to himself, seeing the now empty pizza shop. 'Thank God. Now I can focus on tall, buff and ugly over here.' he decided, clenching his fists. "Now it's between you and me, Scorpion!"

Gargan snickered, "It was never about them, Spider-Man. They were merely bait." he reared his chain-wielding arm back and lashed it forward, prompting Spider-Man to jump to the side, dodging the metal object with ease. The hook of the chain dug into the street, leaving a small crack with how Mac threw it down before pulling it back.

"Why me? I've never even met you!" Spider-Man shouted, performing a handstand then flipping, intending to dropkick Scorpion. But Gargan grabbed his leg while he was in midair still and slammed him onto the ground.

"You think yourself a hero. News spread that you challenged the Big Man, and his rival wonders what you could to his empire as well if left alone. The Kingpin sends his regards by the way." Mac revealed, watching Peter roll onto his back painfully. "I was paid to kill you. Nothing personal though." he lied.

Peter scowled under his mask, "Nothing personal? You're trying to kill me and hold an entire restaurant hostage! That automatically makes it personal for me!" he shouted while getting back up. His body spun as he drove his legs onto Scorpion's chest. Spider-Man landed on a knee as he watched Scorpion stagger backwards. "Jeez. Is your chest chiseled from marble or something?" he quipped, rubbing his now slightly sore legs after perfoming the attack.

Lashing his chain out, Scorpion drove his arm downward, watching the weapon whip forward. Spidey's Spider-Sense tingled and he somersaulted away from it. "Gotta do better than that, Scorpion!" yelled Peter. He extended his arms outward and shot some webbing, entrapping Mac's arms, "How's that for a chain? Much better and less violent to use, I feel." he boasted.

Unfortunately for Spidey, Gargan broke out of the sticky substance with both of his arms raised and the hook of his chain prying the gossamer off with ease, "...So much for that." groaned Spider-Man, "What the heck are you made out of? Were you bitten by a radioactive scorpion? Cause strength like that is almost unnatural." he commented, jumping into the air and hitting Gargan's face with his foot. The webslinger propped a hand over his shoulder and flipped off his body.

"No." Gargan smirked, "I was trained to be the best assassin. To best the likes of heroes like you. And lucky me, the Kingpin gave me a bounty for your head." he bragged, holding his chain right uncerneath the pointed hook. Peter's Spider-Sense tingled and he saw Scorpion charge forward. With his foot extended, Gargan kicked Spider-Man back before he could react and held him by the throat, punching him directly in the face. "just like that."

Spider-Man spat, "...So...?" he heard Gargan growl and he wrapped the chain around his neck, yanking on it, causing Peter to choke, "Ack! I-I see what you mean!" he gagged, kicking Gargan's knee, making him stumble somewhat.

In the heat of the moment, Peter heard a gunshot coming from above him and a flash of light. No bullet came, which confused him. With his focus on his battle, Spidey jerked his head back, his head colliding with Scorpion's jaw, causing him to yell in pain as he released the metal weapon from choking the wallcrawler. Spider-Man coughed, "Much better... I can breathe... Thank God..." he wheezed, holding his aching neck

Scorpion frowned, "As if that will do you any good." he hissed. Gargan could hear the blare of sirens. Peter chuckled, realizing he could wrap things up and leave him for the police. Peter looked to Gargan and got into a defensive stance.

Spider-Man reared his arm back and punched Scorpion clean in the jaw, following up with a kick to his chest before using a webline to trip him and make him fall facefirst onto the street, his eyes clenched shut. Spider-Man held the chain he used to keep him from attacking and held him back up, "How's this for a little payback?" he asked, shooting a webline onto his body, "Get over here!"

Scorpion was pulled backwards and pinned to a wall, a metal clang heard as Peter dropped his trademark chain. With his enemy's body pinned to the wall, Spidey webbed his arms together and watched as Gargan spat, "What the hell do you think you're doing?" he asked, noticing Peter webbing up his legs as well.

"Keeping you still, cause I know you'll just break out of that." Peter replied, picking up the chain again to wrap his body with it. He used the hook of the weapon to tie it together and webbing his mouth to keep him quiet, seeing and red and blue lights shine in the distance. "Aw, I wished I had a paper and pen... Ah well..." he sighed.

Then, as he was ready to meet up with his friends and Sunset, he heard another noise coming from the rooftop. This time, he spotted two figures clashing. "Ugh! Looks like I gotta figure this out too." he exhaled, "Now don't wait up for me, Scorpy!" he teased, climbing up the wall to see what the commotion was. Then the police arrived, unaware of what was happening right above them.





Sunset Shimmer leaned on the wall of an alleyway, having made sure everyone got away from Spider-Man's battle and that the police arrived on the scene to apprehend Scorpion. She intended to call the girls on Peter's whereabouts. However, once she held her phone out, she overheard some clanging going on above her. Concerned, she readjusted her mask and asked.

"What the heck was that...?" she whispered, wondering what was happening.

She worried that someone else arrived with the crook and was intending to start another scene. Sunset felt that this was something she had to take care of if she knew about it. So, she texted her friends that something popped up and looked up, seeing that the fire escape was her only way to the source of the sound.

And so, with slight trepidation she climbed the ladder, secretly hoping that her instincts were wrong.