Boy Turned Spider Man

A Ripple That Might Not Be Stopped

Butcher's plan is to have Hughie agree to the terms of the hush payoff. Although, there's 2 new addendums that Hughie will add. He'll only accept the terms of A-Train shows up in person, and if I go to be a witness in case any foul play happens. Then Hughie will get up to use the bathroom, which will be when I slip a bug onto the office so we can hear everything they're saying and proceed from there.

"You're certain that this will work?" Hughie asked. I decided to mention a few things.

"It's a toss up, honestly. A lot can go wrong. Black Noir could spot the bug with his deductive rationale. Translucent's skin could accidentally get shocked when he's invisible and short the bug out. Homelander...well, just Homelander," I said with a casual shrug.

"If the legal teams follow through, then none of that shit will happen. It'll just be you two and A-Train in that room alone," Butcher replied. Hughie looked at me, gesturing to his face.

"You might want to uh...change?. Chances are, A-Train will remember your...well your masks. Maybe just...show your face?" He suggested.

"Nope. Not an option," I immediately denied.

"Really? Why's that?" Butcher asked, looking at me with a suspicious look. I had to think of a quick lie, reasonable enough to make him not want to look into it further for the time being.

"Considering that the clause specifies for Spider-Man. It wouldn't make sense that some normal guy shows up, right? I need to keep the getup," I rationalized. Butcher nodded and shrugged.

"Fair point, kid. Fair point," Butcher conceded. Then Hughie started getting nervous, realizing that this could do a lot of bad things to a few people.

"Do....do we have to do this? If this plan goes through, if it works. There are people who have nothing to do with this who will be hit by this. The backlash this generates....I...I don't want to burn some people to the ground," Hughie said, rationalizing the waves this could make. That made me think back to 12 Angry Men. The juror that brought in the knife, dominate the room. Make them think clearly, fully recognizing what was at stake.

"What's the fucking problem? Everyone in Vought is culpable. A whole system designed to cover their asses," Butcher brought up, rather callusly. Vought's behind these supers...I know that now.

"No...no...Hughie has a point. There may be a portion of the PR department designed for this sort of damage control. Not everyone though, the entire department isn't responsible. Let alone the entire company. There has to be a backup plan. We need a failsafe in case this plan falls through, one that won't destroy so many people's livelihoods all at once. We need to root out the cancer and cut it out, not kill the whole body," I said, defending Hughie's reluctance. Hughie seemed surprised that I agreed with him, considering my vitriolic reaction to A-Train earlier that day.

"What'll that backup be, hm?" Butcher asked us. It was then that I remembered something, something that might help us.

"Well Lamplighter is retiring. That means the Seven has an opening. They're going to be holding auditions, I could audition. I could be an insider, feeding information to you guys about inner operations. Weed out specific players that really make the Seven the way they are," I suggested. Looking over at Hughie, I could tell that he was having a good reaction to my plan. Butcher was looking at me, seemingly running through the logistics of my plan and weighing the options.

"That...might work. It'll get you on the good side of the supes. You might be shaky when it comes to A-Train, but progress is progress if you can sway the majority of them...Alright. We'll go with your plan first, but my plan is plan B. Got it?" Butcher instructed. I gave a nod and patted Hughie on the back as we walked out of the club.

"You really think you can just swoop in and win then over?" Hughie asked me. I looked over at him, an uncertainty permeating the space around us.

"I have. No fucking idea. If I do, then more power to me. If I don't, then we're potentially going to cause a ripple that we won't be able to control...and I don't want to cause that ripple. Not when I can spare the innocent," I said, getting a running start and leaping up and swinging away with my webbing. I had to consider my plan closely, because it means that I'd have to try and show my heroics.

I landed onto a building, pulling out my phone and going to the camera. Hesitantly...and I mean very hesitantly, flipping the feed to the front-facing camera. I saw my obscured face, the goggles staring back at me. I figured that I needed to try and make a fake name...an alias for Spider-Man to go under to introduce myself before I display myself...I got it...I hit record. The red circle appearing on the screen, indicating that I was recording.

"Hello Vought. My name is...Ben Rielly. Or if you asked A-Train, I've introduced myself as Spider-Man. Welcome to my audition for the Seven," I said to the camera. Getting a running start towards the edge of the building, leaping and tossing the phone up over my head. Doing a full double moonsault in view of the camera, before catching the camera with a web and pulling it to me while going into a swinging motion with my webbing. Constantly switching hands and keeping the phone camera at about arm's length to keep myself in easy visibility.

"So my powers are...well I can do almost everything a spider can. Enhanced proportional strength. Enhanced agility and reflexes. A sixth sense of limited precognition that keeps me safe from danger. Enhanced durability and healing. Enhanced senses, oh and of course," I said before landing on the side of a building and standing on it like it was nothing. Showing the traffic going by, looking like it was going up a wall despite the fact that I was the one on the wall.

"The ability to support my own weight in vertical and horizontal surfaces with ease," I said with bravado. I ran up the building and did a one handed handstand on the building edge. Setting the camera down on the roof to show me and cartwheeling backwards to a full body shot

"I know what some of you might be thinking. You never mentioned making webs. So how are you getting around the city so fast? Well that's one of my non-super abilities. Intellect and ingenuity," I said, posing towards the camera. Showing my apparatus that I had constructed.

"I built this machine with scrap metal. The compounds inside created with chemicals I bought at a hole in the wall pharmacy," I explained, before I heard a siren going off. Police sirens, it's a car chase. So now it's time to shine.

"Time to show you what I can do," I said, grabbing the phone and leaping off the building again. Swinging and following the police cars, showing the camera the cars I was following.

"Why do I want to be a hero? Well plain and simple, really. I just want to be helpful. A great man told me that great powers requires great responsibility to use that power effectively. So when I got my powers," I said, holding onto that statement as I swung forward in front of the car being chased. Stepping off to the side and dropping down, grabbing onto the front tire axis and stopping it dead in it's tracks. Still holding the camera in my other hand, as I pulled myself to my feet and lifting the car over my head with close to no ease.

"I realized that I had to power and I had to use it effectively. So I needed to be responsible with it. Thus, I became Spider-Man," I completed, crushing the axis of the car to render the car immobile before setting the car back down gently. I leapt up and started swinging back to another rooftop to finish up the video. Sitting down onto the roof and holding the camera.

"So....yeah that's about everything. I think. I do want to make a difference, and I think the Seven will help in that difference being made. So yeah...see you later," I said before stopping the recording. Then I went to the Seven Audition Submission, filled out the information and submitted the video. Sending it all off to whoever at Vought is looking through these submissions. It's a waiting game now, and hopefully I get chosen. Otherwise...I might not be able to control what happens with Butcher and his plan.