Quoted By:
For a second, you thought about leaving him down here to face the wrath of these fine, financially liberated folks. But, there was a distinct possibility that they might just beat this man half to death if they got their hands on him. Sure, this guy gave hotdog vendors a bad name, but he didn’t deserve to be savaged by an angry mob.
You held a hand out to forestall their charge, but it didn’t seem to be working. <span class="mu-r">“Alright, time out!”</span>
Instead of giving out another command, you simply wrapped an arm around the man’s waist and shot a webline at a nearby building, flinging both you and the scam artist into the air. You could hear angry shouts from down below, all of them directed at some imaginary figure you’d constructed in the heat of the moment.
Like, “Ricochet”, or the “City Slinger”.
You almost chuckled to yourself before you remembered why it was that you were in the air. Glancing over at the man, you could tell that even without the use of his mouth, he was wordlessly screaming in terror, his eyes wide and watering even more from the wind whipping away at them.
Without delay, you dropped him onto the closest rooftop you could find, well out of anyone’s reach if they’d wanted to punish him for his misdeeds. He fell to his knees immediately, and you gave him a moment to collect himself before starting again.
<span class="mu-r">“Look, man. Just breathe. I’m not gonna drop you. I only brought you up here to stop them from ripping you apart without hurting anyone.”</span> you explained.
He glanced up at you cautiously, wondering whether it was okay to get up.
<span class="mu-r">“But you’d better have a damn good reason for ripping these people off.”</span> you said, a sliver of malice creeping into your voice again.
The vendor shot up to his feet in an instant, dusting off his pants and taking a few tentative steps back.
<span class="mu-g">“I did, sir! I did.”</span> he said, nodding quickly.
You gestured for him to sit down on the building’s ledge, and he gave you a fearful look in reply. You rolled your eyes at him and pointed at it more insistently this time. Slowly, he moved over to the building’s ledge and swung his legs over it. He seemed to be gripping the stone as if his life depended on it. Well…you guessed that it sort of did.
In an effort to give him a sense of security, you firmly attached a webline to his back that was secured to a metal vent. He jumped upon feeling the web impact his back, but he visibly calmed down when he realized what you had done.
With that crisis dealt with, you walked over to sit down beside him. <span class="mu-r">“Now, start from the beginning. Why’re you doing this?”</span>
The vendor turned away from you, glancing down at the people below. His mouth moved wordlessly for a few seconds as he struggled to work moisture into it. You just barely managed to suppress a sigh as you checked the corner of your vision to see whether Julia was still on hold.
(Cont.)
