Post by Spider-Man Beyond on Oct 13, 2007 17:44:43 GMT -5
Arsenal #5
Rising Star
Rising Star
Written by Jim Crawbuck (Royharper)
Edited by Daniel Dyer (Spider-Man Beyond)
It’s pitch black. No signs of life. Teddy gets a shiver from the eeriness of the deafening silence. The only thing he can see is the door to Scotland Yard. He’s still half drunk from the bottle of whiskey he needs to get to sleep these days. He approaches the door.
I was a good guy. No. No more. I can’t go on with this anymore. I am a good guy.
The door is open. There’s no one inside. No music. No girls. No traffic. There’s a dim light in the distance. He walks to it.
I don’t remember the bar being this long.
He sees familiar faces. Two guys he always sees at the bar.
“Hi MB. Hi Bub. What’s going on here?” he asks the two regulars.
They just continue their conversation as if he’s not there.
“Get the Hell out of here,” squeals Bub gradually dropping in pitch. “This guy was a founder?”
“Yep. And it’s a shame that this is the reward for being a good guy,” MB tries to explain in his drunken stupor.
Ted peers over the bar to see what’s what. His eyes go wide when they meet with the image of Arsenal’s body lying in a pool of blood. He shudders.
MB and Bub appear to be speaking but the words are incoherent. The noise steadily grows louder.
Thoughts are racing through Teddy’s mind like bumper cars.
It looks like he’s been here for days. Stop it. Can’t think. Stop.
Then he hears a booming, deep voice through the emptiness. Then all goes silent again.
“Good, Teddy. You are here. I need to see you in my office,” requests Vinny.
It doesn’t sound like Vinny but he knows it’s him. Fear rattles down his spine like metal fork tines sliding on a porcelain plate. He looks towards where Vinny’s office would be. All he can make out through the darkness is a doorframe. He turns to run but is frozen by the reflection in the mirror behind the bar. The mirror reflects Arsenal standing and Teddy on floor in a pool of blood. He backs up in shock. As the mirror fades away into the blackness he bumps into somebody. He turns around slowly to meet Mosely’s eyes glaring down upon him. He seems wider, taller, and meaner than he’s ever seemed before. Mind you these were never attributes that Mosely has ever lacked. Like a blink Mosely reaches out and grabs Teddy by the lapels of his shirt. Just as Ted’s body jolts with the impact, his eyes open. He finds himself in his car, parked in the park by the Harper residence.
^