Perspective of a Lonely Hero

Origins Issue 07: A Hardcore Origin Story

Nico never understood why there were rafters in Aaron's apartment under the skylight, but now he was glad that there were.

In the time it took for the Prowler to open the window, Nico jumped up to the rafters and hid in the shadows as best as he could.

The last time he had met the Prowler, he felt like he was being chased by a jungle cat from Hell. Now he feels like he's hiding while the jungle cat is on the prowl.

Now, the name makes sense, Nico thought to himself as he watches the Prowler stalk through the apartment below him. He then moves out of the Prowler's vision when the supervillain pulls himself up to the rafters and looks at the walls, at the spots Nico was at previously.

Nico holds his breath as he clings to the wall behind the Prowler who raised his hand to his earpiece in his mask. "Hello, Mr. Fisk." he said. "I got footage of the tunnel security tapes right here. If the kid's out there, I'll find him."

Nico grimaced. It sounds like Kingpin had concluded that Batman was the same person that had been at the scene of Spider-Man's death. Great. He had hoped that him falling into the river had led the Prowler and Kingpin to believe he was dead.

The Prowler reached up to his face and took off his mask, revealing his face. "You know me, Sir." Aaron Davis said, his voice no longer distorted with the mask. "I don't ever quit."

When Aaron jumps down to the floor, Nico feels his whole world shatter. He almost begins to hyperventilate. Aaron's the Prowler? he thinks to himself in a frenzy. How-Why-When? He thinks back to what he said to Gwen the night before, when they brought Peter B. to this apartment.

"Him and his family are close friends of mine."

I've called him uncle, shared dinner with him and his family, and he's-he's the Prowler?! the Native American teen thinks as he watches Aaron move around his kitchen, still in his Prowler suit, placing his gauntlet on the counter. I got to get outta here!

Throwing caution into the wind, Nico backflips and goes feet first through the skylight behind him.

Aaron looks up to see the cape of the bat themed vigilante trailing out of his apartment skylight. He narrows his eyes before he picks up his gauntlet and pulls his mask back on. He then runs on the wall before jumping out the skylight.

The Prowler lands on the roof and sees the masked bat themed vigilante running away and jumping onto the neighboring rooftop. The masked supervillain runs after him.

Nico looked back to see the Prowler chasing after him again. He changes direction and then jumps off the roof and lands on top of a taxi. He looks back and sees the Prowler racing out of an alleyway on his motorcycle. Nico leans down to look at the cab driver.

"We got a supervillain on our six!" he shouted. "Floor it!"

The driver looked at her mirror, sees the Prowler and almost spits out her coffee before stepping on the gas pedal and the taxi drives through traffic, weaving in between cars and trucks and swerving to avoid hitting pedestrians crossing the street.

But the Prowler is still hot in pursuit of them. Nico's Spider-Sense goes off and he sees two taxis and a semitruck coming from two different directions on his right and left as the taxi he's on tries to drive through a red light.

Acting quick, Nico reached down, pulled the door off its hinges and pulled the driver out of her seat and then jumped high into the air just as the taxi got hit by three different vehicles. The masked Native American teen manages to jump over the colliding vehicles and he glances back to see the Prowler's bike skidding to a halt but it joins in on the collision.