Ranma 1/2 used without permission
Spiderman used wihtout permission
C&C is, as always, welcome and appreciated


        Amazing Spiderman Issue 3: Field Trial

==================================

        Keiichi Akamoto, Morita Sakaya, and Gan Toshiba were
known as the biggest men on the Furinkan campus. Gan, whose
uniform was missing sleeves, was huge even by western standards.
The over two meter tall Gan was the muscle of the trio, and often
used his bulk to end any arguements.
        Morita was smaller than the other two, but had the fight
of about six. He was a scrapper from the word go, often tearing
apart opponents twice his size.
        Keiichi, however, was the worst of the bunch. His
athletic, muscular frame gave him a good balance of power and
agility. Keiichi was not only the leader of the trio, but easily
the most viscious. It was he who used fists the most to get his
way, and who seriously injured some of Furinkan's student body.
Of course, he got away with it every time. None of the students
would come forward to finger any of them, not that it would have
helped. The princpal was too whacked out to do anything remotely
useful, everyone was as afraid of Miss Hinako as they were of
Keiichi, and none of the other faculty would do anything about
it.

        There you are, Gosunkugi thought as he stared down at
them. He remained adhered to the side of the building they leaned
against, hands and feet easily clinging to the cinderblock
surface. Strangely enough, crouching upside-down on a vertical
surface wasn't disorienting at all. In fact, it felt perfectly
natural to him.
        The street below was fairly well lit, flourescent
streetlamps providing enough illumination to keep the shadows
more or less at bay. The street was nearly vacant, windows and
storefronts darkened as their occupants slept.
        Gosunkugi slowly crawled down the side of the building, a
plan forming on how to approach them. He definitely had the
element of surprise. Just drop down on them, and do what he's
wanted to for a long time.
        He stopped when Gan and Morita began making wolf-
whistles, interspersed with rather rude cat-calls. Keiichi turned
his head to the left, Gosunkugi following his gaze.
        What's she doing here? he thought as he made out the form
walking toward the small group. Sayuri Hisakawa, one of Akane's
friends he recalled, came to a halt just a few meters ahead of
the trio. She was clad in a sky-blue blouse and tight denim
jeans, her brown hair hanging down her back in a ponytail. What's
she doing out so late?
        "Sayuri-chan," Keiichi said, striding toward the lone
girl. "Why did you stand me up last night?"
        "Stand you up?" she replied hotly. "I never made a date
with you!"
        "Sure you did," Keiichi said, "I asked you out, and you
never showed."
        "I never said yes!"
        "You wanted to," Keiichi said, his voice growing cold.
Like a snake, his arm lashed out, grabbing Sayuri's right wrist.
        "Let me go!" she shouted. Keiichi merely tightened his
grip in response. Sayuri's face twisted in a grimace as she
struggled to get free.

        That's it! Gosunkugi thought as he saw the spectacle
unfold. His heart began to pound, anger filling his
consciousness. He had no idea Keiichi was also forcing himself on
one of Akane's friends, though in all honesty he wasn't
surprised.
        "HEY!" he shouted, startling the four below. Their heads
swivelled in every direction, trying to find the source of the
sound. "Up here!" Gosunkugi shouted, causing them to look in his
direction.
        "What the hell...?" Gan said, confused. Their faces took
on expressions of confusion at the sight of Gosunkugi clinging to
the wall.
        "She said no," Gosunkugi said in the most dangerous voice
he could manage, "Maybe you guys have a hearing problem?"
        "What's with this guy?" Morita said, pointing at
Gosunkugi. "I didn't know it was gay pride day! What's with the
suit?"
        Beneath the mask, Gosunkugi's face flushed as his anger
went up a notch. He had spent hours making the costume, dying the
leotard red and painting the black spider design on the blue
sleeveless sweater.
        "What's with that ape messing around with the girl?"
Gosunkugi snarled.
        "That's none of your business, freak," Keiichi said in a
voice like ice, "Now I suggest you crawl back into your corner
like a good little twerp before you get hurt."

        "Who said I was gonna get hurt," Gosunkugi answered as he
sprung off the wall. He landed expertly on his hands, bending at
the elbows before springing forward with all the strength he
could muster.
        One foot caught Morita in the face while the other hit
Gan in his chest, but the result was the same; the two were sent
flying backward, coming to a rest after a two meter flight.
Gosunkugi landed in a crouch before rising to his full height as
the two hit the sidewalk.
        "How was that?" Gosunkugi asked, his anger mixing with a
sense of triumph. THIS was real power! He took two of them down
with one shot, nothing could stop him! "Now, I suggest you let
that girl go or you'll get the same!"
        "Gan," Keiichi said in that cold tone, "get him!" Gan,
who had by then gotten to his feet, cracked his oversized
knuckles and began to advance on Gosunkugi. His arms thrust
outward like twin pistons, intending to smash the smaller one's
head into paste.
        "Uh-uh, big guy," Gosunkugi said mockingly as he easily
ducked under the strikes. He wrapped his arms around Gan's wide
midsection in the best bear hug he could manage, and pushed up.
        He lifted the large man with little effort, holding Gan's
hefty frame over his head easily. He saw Morita charge him, fists
at the ready. Gosunkugi knew full well how the other man fought,
and had no intention of being caught with his hands full. Smiling
beneath his mask, Gosunkugi tossed Gan forward.
        He saw Morita's eyes widen as the larger man came
hurtling toward him. Unable to dodge, he simply raised his arms
in a futile attempt to ward off the impact. The two collided,
landing on the hard concrete in a tangled heap.

        "You two just don't know when to quit, do ya?" Gosunkugi
asked as Gan pulled himself off of Morita. The smaller man also
rose, though somewhat less steady. Gosunkugi decided to stop
playing around. He still had to deal with Keiichi, after all.
Before the two could fully regain their footing, Gosunkugi shot
two thick webs form the spinarettes on his forearms.
        The webs opened out like twin nets, slamming into Gan and
Morita. The two hit the concrete for the third time that night,
the sticky webbing preventing them from rising again.
        "Now it's your turn," Gosunkugi said as he advanced on
Keiichi, who had by then released his hold on Sayuri's wrist.
Sayuri had taken a few steps backward, her eyes glued on
Gosunkugi. Keiichi, however, just stood there glaring.
        "You want a piece of me?" Keiichi growled, his cold mask
slipping. "Then come on!" Keiichi lunged forward, his right fist
aimed straight at Gosunkugi's temple.
        The blow never landed. Quick as a lighting strike,
Gosunkugi's right hand lashed out, catching Keiichi's fist in
mid-swing. His left hand reached out less than a second later,
grabbing the other fist that was headed his way.
        Gosunkugi almost laughed as Keiichi futiley struggled to
free his hands from the vice-like grip. Confidence filled him as
he released Keiichi's fists, delivering a double-handed palm
strike to his chest not even a second later.

	That the intruder had so easily handled Gan and Morita
had not come to Keiichi Akamoto as all that much of a surprise -
people like that did exist in Nerima, after all.  That such a
person was _here_ tonight, on the other hand, was.  None of the
others seemed to give a rat's ass what he and his friends did.
The... webbing, for lack of a better word... binding his friends
to the sidewalk was something new, too.
	"You're not human," he hissed as he painfully rose to his
feet.  "You're some kinda freak, like on that show with...
whatsisface, Muddy?"
	"What I am, is fed up with your crap."  Keiichi's next
strike was just as easily blocked, then he felt a hand closing
around his neck and himself being carried to a wall.
"Retribution is at hand."
	Unnoticed for the moment, Sayuri took a couple of nervous
steps back. While she was glad that _somebody_ was finally
standing up to the loutish trio, the man's idea of 'retribution'
might not be something she could stomach seeing...
	She had just turned around when the stranger's voice
caught her immediate attention.
	"Are you okay?"
	"Y... yes,” she answered, turning around to face him. The
stranger was clinging to a wall, a squirming Keiichi -with his
forearms and lower legs cocooned in the same substance which kept
Morita and Gan immobile - tucked under one arm.
	"I'm sorry you had to go through this."
	Sayuri watched him clamber up the wall as easily as an
ordinary person might ascend a flight of stairs, quickly losing
sight of him in the darkness.

	Gosunkugi allowed himself a smile, believing he handled
that quite well.  Neither Gan nor Morita would be moving for a
while and Sayuri was making her way to wherever-it-was she was
going.  One more thing had to be done to bring this field test,
as it were, to a close.
	After a few seconds' delay to decide on the best course -
and a couple of sharp squeezes to remind the still-squirming
Keiichi of what could happen if he didn't settle down - Gosunkugi
was off.
	A few minutes later, he was smiling again.  The screaming
had started shortly after he'd tired of the rooftops and taken to
swinging the rest of his zigzag way to his destination, all the
while using Keiichi as a human yo-yo, yanking him back in the
moment before he would have impacted with any of many hard or
pointed surfaces.  One close call with a billboard later, and
Keiichi was screaming again.

	It came as a surprise to the paired officers, so much so
that they nearly drove into a parked car.  Having come to a safe
spot, however, the two stepped out to examining the mess that had
splattered itself on the
windshield and hood of their car.
	"You hear something, Kensuke?"
	"Huh?"
	"I could've sworn I heard someone screaming..."
	Kensuke shook his head.  This neighborhood was a
commercial one, for all practical purposes deserted at the close
of a workday, much less late at night.  "Nuh-uh, Shinji... damn
what _is_ this stuff?"
	Both officers looked up - nothing was moving, not that it
was easy to make out much against the streetlights' glare - then
back at their cruiser.
	"Gross, that's what it is."  Kensuke popped the trunk.
"Get the washer started, willya?"

	"What the hell are you going to do to me?"  They had
finally stopped, not that Keiichi could see where they were - a
small batch of webbing had made for an effective blindfold.
	It was a fair enough question, Gosunkugi decided.  "I'm
just going to leave you here."
	Keiichi shook his head, screaming obscenities and threats
even as Gosunkugi proceeded to cocoon him.
	"Oh, one more thing. It's 'Mulder', not 'Muddy'."

====================================

        Hikaru Gosunkugi stood atop the clock tower of Furinkan
High, a sense of triumph surging through his veins. He had done
it! He, Hikaru Gosunkugi, had taken on the three worst thugs
Furinkan High had to offer and won! When the students came
trudging in the next morning, they would see Keiichi Akamoto
suspended helpless right above the main doors and would never
fear him again.
        Well, I think this was a rather successful test, he
thought as he stared out at the darkened Tokyo skyline. I've got
the costume, the power, what else do I need? It occurred to
Gosunkugi at that point that what he needed was a name.
        Let's see, what's in a name? I got these powers from a
spider, and I got a spider on this red suit... how about the
Scarlet Spider! Gosunkugi repeated the name in his head for a few
moments before discarding it.
        Nah... Too corny, he thought. Gosunkugi drew a blank for
a few moments, no other names coming to mind. Finally, one came
to him. I got it! How about the Spectacular Spiderman... no no
no...... The AMAZING Spiderman! That's it! Look out Tokyo, look
out Japan, hell; look out WORLD! Here comes the Amazing
Spiderman!

===============================

        The morning sun cast its bright glow on the gathered
crowd of blue-and-black clad students on the front yard of
Furinkan High School. Excited murmurs passed through the
assembled teenagers as they stared up above the doors to the
school.
        "Wow, is that Keiichi?"
        "Sure looks like it."
        "Wonder how he got up there?"
        "Who did it?"

        Sayuri stared up at the still-struggling and cocooned
form of Keiichi Akamoto, oddly relieved that he wasn't dead. Most
likely humiliated, but not dead.
        She found herself wondering who the garishly-dressed man
was who had layed out Gan and Morita and stuck Keiichi to the
front of the school. He was small, and his voice sounded rather
funny, like he was trying to sound menacing and not quite
succeeding. He was strangely familiar, though, she was certain
she had seen him before.
        "Hey, Sayuri," came Akane's voice from her left. Sayuri
started slightly at the sound, being so lost in her own thoughts.
        "Oh, hi, Akane," she replied.
        "I wonder who did that?" Akane asked, pointing up at
Keiichi.
        "So do I," Sayuri said distantly.
        "Sayuri," Akane said with a concerned look on her face,
"are you okay?"
        "Yeah. Yeah, just thinking, that's all."
        "This isn't like you, Sayuri-chan," Akane said. "What's
going on?"
        "I saw who did that to Keiichi," Sayuri whispered.
        "You did?" Akane asked in amazement.
        "REALLY!?" choroused the rest of the crowd. Sayuri gulped
audibly as the mob whirled on her, shouting a myriad of questions
all at once. The noise assaulted her ears mercilessly, causing
her head to pound.
        "ENOUGH!" she shouted, the crowd gradually growing quiet.
"I don't know who he was. He was wearing some red suit, with a
blue shirt and a black spider drawn on it. He layed out Gan and
Morita then grabbed Keiichi and climbed straight up the side of a
building."
        "Get outta here!"
        "No way!" The crowd began to babble unintelligibly,
shouting disbelieving remarks of various kinds as members of the
faculty came out of the school in an attempt to usher students
into the building. At the sight of Miss Hinako approaching, the
crowd immediately dispersed in the hopes of avoiding her bizarre,
yet effective, punishment for being late.

        Gosunkugi walked through the doors to Furinkan, munching
on his eighth pop-tart of the day. When he awoke that morning,
after his most successful trial, he felt nearly starved. Finding
his parents gone yet again, Gosunkugi had helped himself to his
usual breakfast of blueberry pop-tarts. Eating those two in
record time, he toasted two more, then two more after that.
Grabbing another two pop-tarts, he dashed out the door. He had
never been that hungry before. Then again, before last night, he
had never been that active either.
        Seeing Keiichi Akamoto dangling above the doors was yet
another good boost to his rapidly developing ego. He could just
imagine what the crowd was thinking when they saw it. It was now
official, Keiichi Akamoto lost any and all power he held over the
student body.
        Now, for the next step, Gosunkugi thought, to win the
heart of Akane Tendo! Admittedly, that would be no easy task,
what with Ranma around. He briefly wondered once again about
going public with his new-found abilities. It would be a sure-
fire ticket to getting the respect he'd always wanted, but was he
really ready to reveal his secret? After a few moments’ debate,
he decided against it. He simply wasn't ready.
        First off, Gosunkugi thought, I need money, and fast. How
can I get it? As he walked past the large cork bulletin board,
his eyes fell on a small sheet of white paper with a little
camera printed on the top. Photography club meeting tomorrow?
	At that moment, Hikaru Gosunkugi had his first real
epiphany.
        Of course! he mentally exclaimed, nearly kicking himself
for not thinking of it sooner. I can get started right after
school! I'll still have plenty of light! The end of the school
day couldn't come fast enough.

====================================

        "YAHOO!" Gosunkugi shouted as he swung through the
concrete canyons of Tokyo at a height of roughly ten stories. The
wind rushed past him as he hurtled through space, adding to the
exhilarating freedom that came with what he now called web-
slinging. Gosunkugi had to admit, this was the greatest feeling
he'd ever had.
        Releasing the strand of web he held in his right hand, he
tucked himself into a ball and sailed unsupported through the
air. He rolled twice before straightening out and firing another
web. The web connected with the side of one of the many
impressive skyscrapers in the city, his momentum carrying him
around on the webline.
        Gosunkugi turned himself around in mid-flight, firing
another web in a sideways arc to a building across the large gap
between buildings on each side of the street. He remained frozen
in space for a brief second, a sensation of weightlessness
seizing him before he began swinging toward the building to which
his web was anchored. The building came up at breakneck speed,
growing exponentially as Gosunkugi approached it. He released the
web, flying free once again before landing on the side of the
structure. His hands and feet clung to the surface, muscle and
bone easily absorbing the shock of the impact.
        He scampered up the side of the building to a batch of
web beneath a small ledge. Reaching to the web, Gosunkugi pulled
out a small camera. The Nikon camera had been expensive, but well
worth the cost. It may not have been quite as good as one made by
Cannon, but was enough for his purposes.

        Thirty minutes of web-slinging, and all of it caught on
film, Gosunkugi thought as he placed the camera inside a small
belt he wore beneath his costume.
        His muscles tingled merrily with the exertion of swinging
through the city at such a height. If he kept it up, Gosunkugi
was certain he'd finally get an actual figure instead of going
about looking like a pale twig. And that would be a definite help
when asking Akane out.
        If I hurry, I can develop these and have them ready for
the morning edition.

=================================

        Who is this guy? Nabiki Tendo sat at the head of the
small wood table, newspaper in her hands. Quiet murmurs
circulated throughout the room from the other five members of the
photography club. None of them could believe the photos that
adorned the front page of the Tokyo Times. Even more
unbelievable, however, was the name of the one who took them.
        How did you do it, Hikaru? Nabiki asked herself as she
gazed at the big photo of the one the paper called "Spiderman"
swinging through the air on what looked like a thick webline. The
photos were genuine, she was certain. She knew the buildings in
the background, having been through that area of Tokyo several
times. But the big question, aside from who Spiderman actually
was, was how Gosunkugi actually got the shots.
        Hikaru Gosunkugi was at least as good with a camera as
she, though Nabiki would never admit it to anyone even under pain
of torture. From the pictures, she was sure they weren't taken
through a window. Was Gosunkugi crazy enough to actually crawl
out on a ledge to get these pictures?
	At least he's found something other than Akane to take
pictures of, she thought with a trace of disgust.

=====================================

        "Not bad," Gosunkugi said to himself as he perched atop
the roof of the small building. "Come Saturday, I'll ask Akane
out. The money from those pictures should be enough for a decent
date. I hope, anyway." Gosunkugi had to admit, he had no
practical dating experience. Come to think of it, he had no
dating experience of any kind.
        "It's so peaceful out here," he said to nobody in
particular. "So quiet." Just then, the strange tingling sensation
he had felt when Keiichi and his cronies were chasing him
returned. He felt there was danger nearby, but oddly enough, not
directed at him.
        What the? he thought as he looked to his right. Whatever
it was, it was coming from there. May as well check this out.
Leaping into space, he fired a web into the darkness and swung
into the night.

        Akemi had never been so terrified in her life. She had
come to Tokyo a day earlier to visit a friend who lived nearby.
It wasn't a trip she made often, coming over from Shinjuku to
Nerima took a while and she couldn't always afford train fare nor
get sufficient time off from the bar.
        Regardless, she had always been comfortable on the
streets at night. Not once had she been accosted by any hoodlums
on her way back home from the bar where she worked. Approached,
hit on, and such, yes, but never assaulted.
        However, as they say, there's a first time for
everything. This big ape who had snatched her into the alley was
proof of that. She had given up her purse, money, credit card,
and the works in the hopes that he would just leave. However, the
leer on his face told her that the worst was about to begin.
Opening her mouth to shout for help, a massive impact rocked her
head sideways. The strike left her face stinging and the coppery
taste of blood in her mouth.
        "Hey!" came a voice from out of nowhere. Both Akemi and
her attacker looked about to find its source, seeing only shadows
and empty air. "Didn't your mother ever tell you that's not how
you treat a lady?" Finally, the two looked up.

        "Who the hell're you supposed to be?" The oafish man
asked. Gosunkugi stared down at him from his crouch atop the thin
metal rail of a fire escape. He was almost as big as Gan, and
looked just as intimidating. The red-haired woman was almost
dwarfed by him.
        "Who, me?" Gosunkugi asked innocently, "just your
friendly neighborhood Spiderman."
        "You're that spider guy?" he asked in disbelief. "You
don't look so tough!"
        "Well," Gosunkugi said as he thrust out his left hand. A
thick stream of webbing shot out of the spinarette, expanding
into a small net at the end as it rocketed toward the huge man.
The web encircled his midsection, pinning his arms to his sides.
Grabbing the web with both hands, he easily jerked the mugger off
his feet and into the air. "Big things come in small packages,"
he finished as he wrapped more of the webbing around the rail.
The mugger hung there helpless, struggling in vain to get free.
        Making sure his captive was secure; he easily leapt the
four meters to the pavement. Once on the ground, he picked up the
small black purse the mugger had dropped when Gosunkugi had
webbed him.
        "I think this belongs to you," Gosunkugi said as he
handed the bag to the woman. She was only a little taller than
he, a short black skirt and white cotton jacket in disarray.
        "Th-thanks," she said weakly, staring wide-eyed at him.
        "Are you okay?"
        "Y-yes."
        The sound of running footsteps drew Gosunkugi's attention
to the mouth of the alley. A thin beam of light hit the wall, and
began to move in his direction.
        "What's going on in here?" came a deep male voice.
Recognizing it as that of a police constable his father knew,
Gosunkugi decided to take his leave.

        "What the?" Officer Kensuke muttered as he took in the
sight. "Shinji, you gotta see this!"
        "What?" Shinji asked as he ran to join his partner.
"Holy..." The two officers entered the alley, Kensuke going to
the woman and Shinji examining the dangling man.
        "Are you okay?" Kensuke asked the woman, who as staring
upward at nothing at all.
        "Yeah, I'm fine," she replied distantly.
        "Would you tell us what happened here?"
        "He was going to..." she said, pointing at the mugger,
"and then that Spiderman came and stopped him."
        "Spiderman?" Shinji asked, "You mean that guy in this
morning's paper?"
        "Come on, miss," Kensuke said, "let's go back to the
station. We'll get this straightened out."
        "Damn," Shinji said in disbelief, "How're we gonna get
him down?"
        "Don't worry about it," Kensuke said with a chuckle.
"Personally, I think he's just fine right where he is for now.
He's even gift-wrapped!"

======================================

        "Who is the Spiderman?" Leung sat at his desk, examining
the photos of the garishly-dressed man swinging through downtown
Tokyo. Leung had an odd feeling, looking at the pictures, that
this mysterious stranger would turn out to be big trouble.
        Leung sat in his office high atop one of the many
skyscrapers in the city, the brightly lit room a stark contrast
to the blackness outside. Spiderman, whoever he was, was a wild
card. In Leung's rise to power in the fiercely competitve Triad,
he had learned the value of control. In every operation the Triad
placed him in charge of, in every scheme and power play he had
ever orchestrated, control had always been his key to success.
Control over every detail, no matter how miniscule and
insignificant was how he got his monicker, Kingpin.
        Spiderman, however, was an element he had no control over
and Leung didn't like that one bit. Who was he? Was Spiderman
part of a rival Triad group? Was he part of the Yakuza, meaning
to rid Japan of any and all Triad operations? Maybe he was part
of the Korean or Russian mafias?
        Leung pushed all those thoughts out of his head. For now,
he had no clue as to Spiderman's origins or intent. The first
logical step, then, was to find out as much about Spiderman as he
possibly could. He looked at the name of the photographer, one
Hikaru Gosunkugi. Could there be something there? Could this
Gosunkugi actually hold the key? Leung dismissed the notion after
a few moment's thought. He had researched the name, and come up
with a high school student in a ward called Nerima. The kid had
probably just been in the right place at the right time. Such
things did happen, after all, though not to Leung if he could at
all help it.
        He would find out who Spiderman really was. If possible,
he would make him part of his organization. Anyone who could
swing through the air at that height could be useful, after all.

==================================

        Well, that's Issue 3! Sorry this took so long, Real Life
and other projects got in the way. I'd like to thank all my pre-
readers/creative consultants for their help with this fic.

        Thanks!

Jed