No Place to Hide

 Spider Adrian: (This Piece is based on an incredible artist; check out his Insta: @art_the_f_up for the Spiderman AU Series that gave birth to this story) Thank you Art for the inspiration, enjoy!

    Adrian swung from building to building, the Elifle tower glittering in the background like a Christmas tree. Adrian stumbles, landing on his knees on a hotel roof. Couples, children, and loners mingling through the Bois de Boulogne park, just a few feet below him. Ripping off his mask he succumbed to the tears streaming down his face. A strangled cry ripped through his throat, throwing his head back he closed his eyes letting fear tremble through his body. Sweat glistened his messy golden locks. Opening his eyes slowly he moves to stand, his body numb to the world outside his suit. The breeze blew right through him, almost convincing his fuzzy brain that he was just as hallowed out as he felt.

    Slowly Adrian pulls out the hidden backpack, ripping off his suit and changing into a loose pair of school clothes he scales the drainage pipe on the side of the building. A few feet above the ground he drops down behind a rusty dumpster in the alley. Shuffling the backpack on his shoulders he makes his way through the park pulling up his hoodie and avoiding the smiling laughing faces passing by him. 

    A certain light catches his attention, causing his breath to catch in his throat. Marinette’s figure crosses past the open bakery window. Ducking behind the nearest tree he watches her step outside helping a customer carry a full package of pastries to their car. Her smile seems to permanently reside on her face. The ends of his lips draw upwards when she stumbles over the sidewalk waving a sweat, “see you soon” as the car drives away leaving her standing in a red halo. Adrian watched Marinette make her way back to the front door of her family’s bakery. 

    Just as her fingers brush the door handle, Adrain’s hand flinches upward catching a speeding, wet tennis ball. Thanking his spidey senses under his breath he stands up and examines the shadows for the culprit who unknowingly nearly sent him into a world of pain and quite possibly a few days out of modeling. The bush beside him rustles, before a giant brown lab pounces on top of Adrian’s chest sending him flat on his back while attacking his face with hot drooling, kisses. 

    “Hahahaaa, ahh stop STOP hahaha stop it, that tickles!” 

    “Dolly! Dolly! Where did you go? Come back!” A woman’s sweet but frantic voice floats across the busy park. Adrian struggles to push the dog off scrambling to stand and wave down the owner. A petit elderly woman hobbles quickly peering around the park’s trees, rocks, and structures before locking eyes on Adrains glistening red face. 

    “Oh I’m so sorry deary, I hope Dolly didn’t hurt you!” The elderly reaches out dabbing a fresh pink and white cloth across his cheeks. 

    “Ha oh, no ma’am just took me by surprise, thank you,” Adrian said pulling back his hoodie and running his fingers through his hair picking out the few twigs and leaf’s stuck between his golden locks. 

    The elderly woman smiles kindly at Adrain before furrowing her brow, her eyes moving over every inch of his face. 

    “Have we met before? You seem quite familiar.” She muttered tapping a boney finger against her chin. 

    Chuckling awkwardly Adrain cursed his popular features, quickly he pulled back his hoodie before anxiously drawing the black corded drawstrings against his chest. He needed to escape quickly before more people recognized and posted something alerting the Gorilla to his location. 

    “Ha, well I really should be going, hope you have a wonderful night-” 

    “YOUR that teen model! Oh, my niece loves your commercials!” Spinning on his heels he shields his eyes noticing a few pedestrians peering over at the sudden commotion. Not good. He needed to flee the scene before flashing lights blinded him. 

    “Sorry, you have the wrong person,” Adrian said over his shoulder, but the woman remained persistent. 

    “Adam Agrest, no that doesn’t sound right… Alan, no that’s not it either.” Her voice was rising with each word, her fingers reached out to grasp at the folds of his hoodie. A shriek erupted from a few feet away from the duo. 

    “ADRIAN AGREST!” A girl with braided pigtails and around the same height as Rose jumped high into the air. Her feet took off in Adrian’s direction before he could process the sudden silence that fell over the park, like a thick blanket. 

    Sprinting through the treelines, Adrian’s feet took over taking him to the nearest, darkest alleyway. Adrian switched to autopilot, jumping over any obstacles that stood in between his path. Zigzagging behind the many shops around the park he stole a glance over his shoulder certain he had lost the crazed crowd that seemed to be on top of his heels until he took a few quick turns leading him to circle back. He huffed a sigh of relief turning into another alleyway. Just before his feet could slow down a metal door swung out. Gritting his teeth knowing his spidey reflexes couldn’t help him out of this situation, his shoulder collides into the door. Vibrations shake from his head to his toes while he jumps back on his heels trying not to fall flat on his tailbone. A silent yet sharp yelp resounds from the other side of the door. The shadow moves forward away from the warm, bathing light of the shop’s interior. Adrian holds his shoulder wondering if he might have dislocated his left arm. The shadow reaches out and delicate fingers curl at the door’s frame. Ducking his head down and averting his eyes he steps over to continue his escape home.

    “I’m so sorry I should have been watching where I was going, I’m terribly sorry.” Adrian stammers stepping into the warm light, giving a courtesy bow before sprinting off again. 

    “Adrian?” A voice sweet like honey stops him dead in his tracks, his heart pounds against his rib cage as his cheeks heat up to a very rosy red. Grinning he turns and faces his crush, Marinette, standing in the doorway with flour smudges against her forehead and dragging a large black plastic trash bag. 

    “Hey Mari, fancy running into you,” Adrian says instantly knowing he would regret the choice of words later at 3 am. 

    “What are you doing running behind our shop so late at night?” Marinette said tilting her head to the side her brows knitting together scrunching up her nose in a heart-melting moment. Oh shit. Adrian’s heart raced away from him while he tried to spit out a coherent sentence, his tongue deciding to quit functioning halfway through. Luckily, hurried footsteps and shouting commands drew the pair’s attention to one of the cross alleyways. 

    “Down here! This way, he can’t be far!” 

    His brain switching back to autopilot, Adrian darted toward Marinette pulling her close letting the door swing shut just as footsteps rounded the corner. Leaning his ear against the door he listened to the stamped pass by.  Once the last footsteps faded, his muscles relaxed, his shoulders slumped and he closed his eyes momentarily processing everything. A curt cough cut his calming demeanor in half. Slowly, oh so painfully slowly, Adrian looked down, locking onto deep blue eyes staring doe-eyed up at him. 

    “Ah sorry Mari, I didn’t mean to, there was this whole crowd chasing me and well you know my dad, and if he ever found out I snuck out.” Marinette giggled her cheeks matching the same rosy shade as his. 

    “No need to explain, you can bunker down here till your crazed fans get tired and give up,” Marinette said, rolling her eyes waving her hand playfully in the air.

    Adrian chuckled, “you know if we weren’t such good friends, you would definitely be in the front of that crowd hunting me down.” 

    Marinette laughed tilting her head upward toward him, “Ha and you wouldn’t get a chance to escape me, in fact, I would outrun you.” Marinette playfully jabbed her pointer finger in his chest. Adrian couldn’t help the chastise grin from stretching across his features, at her playful open attitude with him. 

    “Now now Mari, that was one unfortunate incident my shoelaces were undone. I totally would have won if it wasn’t for my laces.” 

    “Sure, sure blame your shoelaces, you do know Alya gave me a copy of the race, and I could have sworn your new ladybug shoelaces were perfectly intact.” 

    Adrian opened his mouth to fire back when her father Mr. Dupain-Chain rounded the corner whistling a catchy tune. Eyes widening at the pair’s presence in front of the back door. His tune died down while he slowly whisked tomorrow’s batch of pastries. 

    “Well hello, my boy, I didn’t know you were coming over so late. But I suppose y’all have some homework to finish up. Marinette you can leave the trash by the door, I’ll take it out. You two run along, oh have you eaten dinner yet Adrian? We have some leftover Ossobuco Alla Milanese, that Marinette made for dinner.” 

    Adrian didn’t have a chance to respond back a timer rings and Mr. Dupain-chain rushes away into the kitchen. Marinette ushers Adrian to go upstairs saying she would be right behind him, opening the door she heaves the trash up. Adrian offers to help, insisting he’s to blame for crashing into the door. Marinette waves him off, pushing him away from the door. 

    “We don’t want those crazed fans storming the bakery when we just closed,” Marinette says giggling letting the door swing shut in his face. Adrian chuckles tossing his head up before reluctantly making his way up the stairs to their little apartment.

Villain Protagonist (Jack the Ripper story)

Remaining patient, Jack squats behind trash, roaches, and rat feces. Craning his head, he hears an unfortunate soul walk down the alley- his ally. High-heeled shoes reverberate off the buildings looming over the stranger. Cheap perfume encloses around Jack’s shadowed body. Extracting his handkerchief and holding his breath, he watches her shadow shrinking against the opposite wall. Once her calf comes into view, Jack lunges out from the shadows covering her muffled screams with a handkerchief dipped in ether. The women’s body goes limp in Jack's arms in a matter of seconds, glancing around the corner he quickly carries her body back home. 

Roaming the world at night like a masked vampire, Jack dashes under London’s streetlights- under a bright full moon. Approaching the front door, he tosses the girl’s body over his left shoulder. Fiddling with the keys in the lock, while hastily glancing around for any wandering eyes. Flinging the door on its creaking hinges he steps through the doorway, silently praying the rusty hinges didn’t alert any police officials. Upon entering, his foot catches on something sending the girl’s body flying across his little apartment with a sickening thud. Throwing his hands out at the last minute he braces the fall, nose hovering above the broken dingy slates- marking up the floor.   

Slowly getting up he brushes off the dirt and dust from his tattered work pants. Glancing over at the booby trap that sent him tumbling down, eyes wide, he leans forward snatching the newspaper off the wooden floor. Any trace of a smile fading. While the recognition of his studies is delightful, he notices the black-inked words sting. “Jack the Ripper has struck again!” Rolling his eyes, he closes the door behind him walking forward still reading the newspaper. “Another dead body! Who is the murderous Jack the Ripper?” The words float off the pages, swirling viciously around him, like sharks eyeing their prey. Sighing he drops the paper on the dining room table, covered in sketches of the body or medicine prescriptions. Pills lay spilled out on the floor or crushed on the table, faded letters from loved ones and old friends sit on the floor unopened with dirty footprints trampled upon them. 

“They just don’t understand what I’m trying to do for the good of humankind. They want us to die young, killing us with poisons! I will show them, all these studies will show them. I WILL be known—" He collapses on the floor in a coughing fit that lasts a little longer than the last one. Pulling out his stained handkerchief, he covers his mouth catching the dots of blood spilling out. Retrieving his breath, he lies on the ground by the prostitute’s body. Gazing at the women’s body; strength and determination propel him to keep fighting. Pushing up from the musty ground, he lifts and carries her warm body into the back room. Rinsing his hands and throwing on surgical clothes, he takes a deep breath. Raising his head, closing his eyes, and whispering into the silent damp air, “Let this body hold the answers, to a remedy we desperately need. Please let me save the human race from these treacherous diseases.” 

Jack begins to cut into the body scanning over to his journals, notes, and books every few moments inspecting each new body part from the original studies of the last patients before this one. After hours he collapses to the ground, letting tears streak down his face as his hands tremble in rage, fear, doubt, and guilt. Covering his sweety beat red face with bloody palms, he pulls a journal off the table, scanning the pages in vain for an answer. Time was running out, the police were looking for him and the last time they almost caught him. Eventually, luck will run out and they will find him. Time was not on his side, his heart drummed at the thought of their fists hammering against his front door. What if they find him before he finds an antidote? Would they listen and believe his research was purely for humanity?

Pushing up off the ground and cleaning up in the large rusty basin, Jack splashes water against his face, gulping down the surge of defeat- before going out into his bedroom. Under the blankets barely moving is his sick daughter. Stepping lightly on the creaky boards he checks on her temperature. Pulling his hand back abruptly at the sudden heat radiating from his 8-year-old daughters’ clammy forehead. 

“Elizabeth? Elizabeth can you hear me?” She makes no sound, quickly he throws the blankets off her and rushes to the bathroom. Soaking a dingy cloth in water, he rubs it across her chest and neck. 

“I will find a cure for us, I promise, no one will ever have to die like this again. I will save you, but you have to be strong for me. Can you do that? Please stay with me, please I can’t live without you!” Sobbing he clutches her closer to his chest, after a few minutes her temperature lowers, he places her back in bed. Walking into the kitchen he grabs a pewter filling it to the rim with water before scavenging for a stall loaf of bread. Returning to the bedside he tries to get her to drink and nibble some of the bread. To no avail, he sets the food next to her bedside. “I will be back soon.” 

Exiting the room, he makes his way back into the back room. Wrapping up the women’s body he takes her to a large barrel. Heaving the bloodied body into the wooden barrel he shuts it before opening the front door and checking for onlookers. No one was up and around. The sun was just about to come up, painting the sky in a light-dark tone. He knew he didn’t have much time left, he rolled the barrel out and around a corner before checking a few alleyways. Stopping in front of a familiar building he had previously been watching for days, he rolled the barrel inside. Pulling out the wrapped body he began laying her down and positioning her. He spread parts of her insides around her body. Wrapping her intestines around her neck like the feathered boas. “There a woman must always look presentable even in death.” 

Picking up the barrel he quickly and swiftly makes his way to the desolate canal. Smashing and tumbling, the barrel lands loudly against the water's edge, bobbing in the water causing his heart to sink deeper into his twisted gut. Scanning the area, flickers of paranoia rise behind every flickering lamp post, horse-drawn carriage, or drunken bellow. No one, yet goosebumps prickled atop his filthy skin. Watching the wooden parts of the bloodied barrel sink in the dark waters below him. He sighed feeling the weight of his actions leaving his body. Closing his eyes and tilting his head back he enjoys the morning rays touching his pale boney skin. Breathing in the air around him, his ears continue to burn scanning every noise of the city coming to life once again. His city. Glancing back down at the murky depths a thought pestered its way to the front of his brain, what if the illness was being spread by water. Could someone be poisoning everyone through the water? 

“Hey what are you doing so close to the water?” Jack freezes noticing the familiar authoritative note in the sudden stranger. Slowly turning he faces the policeman, trying to steady his breathing he gives a weak smile before tugging out his bloodied handkerchief. 

“I-I am just enjoying the sunrise.” Jack dabs at the sweat accumulating atop his brow before stuffing the handkerchief back in his pants pocket. The policeman furrows his brows before slowly turning back around and walking away. Calling out over his shoulder, “watch out there’s a manic loose cutting up woman, who knows when he might change his target. It’d be best to hide out till we catch the psycho.” 

Jack’s blood boiled at the comment but biting his tongue, he remained calm. Soon they will be thanking him for finding a cure for everyone, soon they would praise his hard work and dedication to save their flickering lives. Besides he didn’t disrespect the women, he dressed them up for death. Glancing back at the rising sun he made his way back home to tend to his daughter before picking out the next patient. Opening his front door he wondered for the millionth time that night- if time would ever be on anyone's side. Would a day come where no one perished by the hands of a disease? 

A bell tolled off in the distance marking another day for the survivors to continue "living" to continue mourning those that were left to walk alongside the reaper. 

Tears threatened to spill over his bottom lashes making his way to the little shared bedroom in the back. A small frail body awaited him buried under the covers, the covers rose slower than before. When would it be his daughter's last time looking at the sunrise? 

When would it be his last?