Free Web NovelChapter 12: Ch 12: The Daily Bugle Incident III
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(Just so y’all know, this is the bonus Chapter. Another Chapter which is a regular release will be published at 10pm IST)
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Matthew blinked. His tear-streaked face went slack with confusion. "What...?"
"And as for the kids? Well... they were never yours to begin with. So, hakuna matata, right?"
"Wha— no. No, that’s..." Matthew’s voice dropped to a whisper. His hands trembled. "You’re lying. You’re just trying to—"
"Come on, Matthew. I’ll show you the evidence. I’m not a monster who makes baseless accusations."
Luke swiped on his floating phone, pulling up the files he’d found during his research. After the first Quest, Terror Tools was more than just an Anti-Surveillance plug. The [Intermediate Hacking portal] had given him access to all sorts of interesting data. Bank records. Private messages. Medical files.
It’s a boon for his stalking tendency.
"Here we go." Luke turned the phone screen toward the trembling man.
"Screenshots from your wife’s chat with Derek. Sweet stuff, really. Lots of Nudes tho. And this one..." He swiped again. "A DNA test report she had done. Privately. To show Derek the proof of his love drops, the proof that the kids were actually his. Isn’t that romantic?"
Matthew stared at the screen.
It was like watching a soul leave a body.
The crushing weight of ultimate betrayal instantly overrode the sheer terror of being a hostage. The light literally vanished from his eyes as he slumped against the wall, staring blankly into the void.
The other hostages watched in horrified silence.
Luke turned his attention back to his floating, streaming phone.
He glanced at the live stats.
[Public Viewers: 97K]
[Patrons: 13]
The public, the people of this world, were commenting like spam bots.
[Ava: He’s mentally torturing the poor guy and even his wife, who’s not present but must be watching this, scared. He broke a family.]
[ Sir_Stronghold: dude suddenly wants to get blown up now lol]
[ BLACKchicken : Well, at least he’s saving that guy from that cheater.]
[ Kaiser_der_Nacht : "Hakuna matata" lol ]
[ Friden: I hate cheaters, his wife should just die. ]
[Emily: He’s a monster.]
[Alice: wdym? there must be other reasons, she must’ve cheated bcoz he didn’t hv any other choice. ]
[ Adorable_Filter: The truth can be so much worse than any explosion. And seeing Femnazis trying to find ways to defend a bi-tch is just always so amusing. Anyway you go king expose save more Mathews and expose more bi-tches! ]
So, were the thoughts of people, the humans of this city. Luke couldn’t read all the comments but it looked like the reactions were mixed.
Obviously he was doing a wrong thing but... Some people approved of his actions....?
Welp... anyway.
The Patrons or the outerverse viewers... they were the VIPs.
[Diego_Nascimento: He spoke beautifully, a true villain.]
[Yeageristo: He’s learning it! Our comments made him call out his nemesis! Tatakae! Tatakae!]
[The Fool Fan: I really love it when he breaks his victims using just words. Not just words, just plain and simple truth.]
[NTR fan: Drop the evidence in the chat, pretty pwease.]
Luke raised an eyebrow behind his mask. ’Hm,’
He casually shared the screenshots and DNA report in the T-Stream chat.
Just the Patron chat, not the public feed.
The response was immediate.
[5 TP received from NTR fan!]
[8 TP received from The Fool Fan.]
Luke blinked behind his mask.
’Huh. Didn’t actually expect anything for that, particularly.’
But their Terror Points were good.
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.
Outside the Daily Bugle building...
A swarm of police cruisers, fire trucks, and ambulances had sealed off the entire block.
Yellow tape fluttered in the afternoon breeze as officers in bulletproof vests readied themselves for anything. Helicopters chopped through the sky above.
"We’re reporting live from the ongoing terror attack at the new Daily Bugle office in Harlem," a blonde correspondent shouted into her microphone.
"The assailant, a man identified only by a clown mask, has seized the 12th floor. He is armed, extremely dangerous, and—most terrifyingly—he appears to have rigged the building with high-grade explosives."
She pointed a trembling hand toward the building.
"Two massive explosions have already rocked the structure. The NYPD Bomb Squad—the EOD technicians—are on-site, but they are at a standstill. The suspect has threatened to detonate a third device if any law enforcement enters the ’kill zone.’"
"There were eighteen people inside at the time of the first detonation—five on the ground floor managed to escape and are now safe with emergency services. The other thirteen have been claimed as hostages, and their lives hang in the balance. The city is holding its breath, waiting for a miracle."
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Inside the meeting room...
"Seven minutes left, Spider-Woman," he announced, his tone dropping the faux-pity and returning to that light, conversational breeze. "The clock is ticking."
He gestured lazily toward the broken shell of a man sitting against the wall.
"I just dropped a massive truth bomb on poor Matthew here," Luke chuckled, tapping a finger against the blinking, wire-covered cube on the table. "But if you’re late? Well, I might just have to detonate the literal one."
He leaned closer to the lens.
"Tick... tock... tick... to— "
He didn’t even get to the second ’tock’.
CRASH!
The meeting room door exploded inward, ripped clean off its hinges. A white streak shot through the air like lightning, swinging in on a thick web-line before landing gracefully in the far end of the large mahogany meeting table.
Spider-Woman crouched low for a second, then rose to her full height, white hood fluttering slightly.
White hood up. Teal slippers gripping the polished wood. Pink webbing accents glowing faintly in the dim light.
The spider-woman had arrived.
Even through the mask, her posture screamed confidence.
"Heya, clown man," she quipped, resting her hands on her hips. Her voice was light, energetic, and dripping with that trademark Spider-sarcasm.
"You know, if you wanted a conversation with a girl, you could’ve just asked for a date." freewebnσvel.cøm
"You would’ve rejected me though," "I might’ve rejected you though,"
They said in unison.
They both paused.
"Jinx." Luke chuckled a little.
"Well," he continued, spreading his hands in welcome. "Now that you’re finally here, my hero... why don’t we have our... chat?"
Gwen didn’t move from her perch on the table. Her body was ready to launch at a moment’s notice. But she didn’t.
Because between her and the masked man were thirteen innocent people and a blinking cube that looked like it could erase them all.
"Alright," she said, keeping her tone light despite the tension crackling in the air. "What do you want to talk about? The weather? The Mets’ playoff chances? Or is this one of those ’let me monologue about my tragic backstory’ situations? Because I gotta warn you, I get bored quickly."
"Nothing so cliché, I promise." He clasped his hands behind his back and began to pace slowly around his end of the table. The floating phone followed, keeping him perfectly framed.
"We won’t talk about me, I wanted to have a conversation more about you. As you see, you are amazing, you fascinate me, and I just want to get to know you more. At least more than what I already know about you."
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