Spider-Luz

Ch. 6: Revenge

The next day, Luz walked down into the café, where Eda was sitting at a table with her arms crossed.

"So, my dear niece, let's have a chat about last night." Eda said.

"I don't regret anything." Luz said.

"And that's the problem." Eda said, "Kid, don't go down this path. Revenge won't do anything."

"It will make me feel better."

"And it will get people killed." Eda said, "Kid, you're reckless, you can't run in headfirst and expect everything to go fine."

"How could you possibly know that?" Luz said, looking away from Eda.

Eda took off her jacket, revealing a tank top... and a lot of scars.

"I know better than anyone." Eda said, "I've been shot, I've been stabbed, I've tried to do the whole revenge thing before, it never leads to anything but pain and suffering... it's the reason your grandfather lost his eye."

That got Luz's attention. She turned and looked at Eda, who quickly wiped a tear away.

"Kid... I'm going to tell you a story... something from when you were young... you may not even remember it." Eda said, "When you were young, your dad was a firefighter, he was dealing with a fire deadlier than anything he's ever seen."

Luz looked down, she had a good feeling what this was about. She doesn't remember much about her dad, but she will never forget the Gravesfield Apartment Fire... so many people died. Seventeen people, 6 men, 4 women, and 6 children... and her dad.

"I remember that day... one of my earliest memories." Luz said, "Mom said it was the worst accident she's ever seen."

"That's the thing... it wasn't an accident. We told you that so you wouldn't know the truth... it was Arson." Eda said, "And that's where our story begins. I found the person that started the fire. I beat the bastard til the sun came up, all for Camila... ended up getting a little too cocky and the guy blind sided me. When I woke up, I was tied to a chair. Your grandfather came to look for me and the guy stabbed him in the eye. Lilith came, dad was taken to the hospital, that guy and I were taken into custody. Revenge doesn't do anything but create problems for others... it's not worth it."

Luz looked down, closing her eyes.

'So there's no way I can get justice for my mom? No... no, I refuse to believe that.' Luz thought.

Luz walked away from Eda, heading back upstairs. Eda looked down herself, of course she didn't tell Luz the entire story. She was after him, but it wasn't as cut and dry as that.

A man stumbled backwards and held a gun out in fear.

"I... I'm warning you! I will shoot!"

"Jackson Ryder, how many people died because of you!?" A deep voice said in the shadows.

"It doesn't matter!" Jackson said, firing the gun and lighting up the area for a second.

"Yes, it does!" The voice said, seemingly behind him now, "You took the lives of innocent people! I want to know why!"

He turned around and fired another bullet into the dark.

"Why does it matter to you!?" Jackson screamed.

He was grabbed by the shoulder and thrown backwards into the wall. He looked up as a small lantern turned on, lighting up the surrounding area, but keeping the rest of the room dark. It revealed a person in a black suit, with a black cape and purple metal mask/helmet, small bits of green on the sides and legs, and armored gloves with metal claws on the fingertips.

"Because you hurt my family in that fire!" Prowler said before grabbing him.

She held him up and then held up her arm, with dark purple blades coming out of the forearm part of her glove.

"I'm going to make you pay for what you did!" Prowler said.

Jackson kicked Prowler, causing her to let him go. He pulled out a knife and swung at Prowler, but Prowler managed to dodge it and counter into a forearm strike. Jackson managed to dodge the forearm, but not blades on the arm. He stumbled back and held the cut on the side of his face. Prowler threw several punches at his ribs, breaking several of them. Prowler grabbed him and kneed him in the ribs, before delivering a headbutt to him. He was knocked to the ground, where he discretely picked up a brick. Prowler grabbed him, but he turned around and threw the brick at Prowler's neck. Prowler stopped and held her neck as she began to struggle breathing from the brick, thankfully the suit provided a bit of protection so she wouldn't have any severe damage to her neck, but it gave Jackson the chance to grab a metal pipe and bash it onto the back of Prowler's neck, this time knocking her out.

And from there it was pretty much what Eda told Luz. Eda would never forget that day... mostly because getting hit in the throat by a brick and then getting hit in the back on the neck by a rusty metal pipe isn't something you'll forget. She also had a broken neck the next few weeks afterwards. The only thing that made Eda happy was the fact that he was rotting in prison.