Chapter 4

After about an hour, I had to leave as there was a librarian banging on the door since quite a few people had complained that someone in the disabled toilets was taking too long. So I didn't quite get to even out the dye in my hair correctly and get the right colour. Still, I was happy with what I had as I no longer had brown hair, which meant that the first change was complete, no matter the difference in colour.

All that mattered was that my hair was now different. So, putting my gloves and mask back on and stowing the glasses in my suit before disposing of the rest of the blonde hair dye box, I go over to the door and unlock it before quickly booting over to and out of the window before anyone could come in. After that, I began to run and leap across buildings while being discrete as possible with my next destination already in mind.

I have already completed my first objective to the best of my ability at this time without sufficient resources on hand, so I know it's time to move on and achieve my second objective, which is to gather resources and money so that I can live well for a while and have some time to figure out what I am going to do without worrying about money and try to sort out some identification and proof of identity.

For this, I was going to have to get a little on the wrong side of the law. While Peter Parker would have had a problem with that, Ben Reilly sees the necessity and is willing to make the sacrifice for the greater good, and so I continue to transverse through the city until I begin to reach the edge of New York.

I am planning on robbing some bad guys for a bit of wealth to tide me over until I can get the proper identification and get a job and maybe even restart my education and get a great job. Still, for all that to happen, I need to get some money and to get some money, I need to find some bad guys. When you want to see bad guys, there is only one place you can be sure to find them.

So I stare down at the docks and nearby warehouses, knowing that somewhere in this area is a lot of ill-gotten cash that would certainly feel better in my safe and capable hands. Still, I have no doubt that it will not come without a fight, so I am prepared to bust a few heads and maul a few bad guys to the necessary funds.

I am sure that it won't hurt to have one last outing as Spider-Man and bust a few heads for the good ol' NYPD that loved me so much that they sent me loads of bullets every day. I am sure that it isn't going to hit the news headlines, so Peter should be unaware of this as well. If the crooks claim that Spider-Man robbed them of their money, then obviously, no one will believe it.

If they do investigate, then I know Peter will be in the clear as he isn't the type, and I know that his innocence will be proven. Still, maybe it is good he gets some hardship since I am the one who has to run away and leave the only family I have, no matter how diminished my feelings are now. Still, even so, I only have any emotion for them right at this moment and no one else, so I am obviously butt hurt at my forced eviction from New York.

Now I just need to search through the entire docks and the warehouses until I inevitably find the place where goons gather and money resides, which shouldn't take too long. after all, crime spreads like rats infesting a restaurant, and goons pop out of the woodwork like louses so a few criminals won't be hard to find in the crime-ridden New York. I probably didn't even need to come to the docks to see it, as there would have probably been a few criminal establishments surrounding the library.

Of course, I wanted the least public place. The docks and the warehouses at the port are the most isolated place you can get since no one really goes there except the workers. They are primarily paid by the crooks to keep their mouths shut, so I can be sure of my visit here not reaching Peter. I leap down off of the roof I am on and down into the hive of villainy. I am probably gonna find too much money in this place.

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"DIE, YOU GODDAMN BUG!!"

I lean out of the way of a big burly dude lunging at me with a metal pipe in hand, and he goes flying by me and straight into a wall, and he ends up hitting his own head with the pipe and knocking himself out. I look down at him for a second before lucking out at the rest of the warehouse and all of the bodies lying down unconscious, as well as all of the bullet holes all over the place, and I sigh.

"Spiders are arachnids, not bugs. How many times does it have to be said before it gets through their thick skulls?" So I say to myself as I look around the ruined warehouse. All of this trouble, and I didn't even achieve what I wanted.

TV shows have lied to me. When they show these kinds of places on TV, there are always guns, drugs and money stacked up all over the place, but here there are only guns and drugs with no aforementioned money to be seen. They are supposed to have stacks of cash in here, and they are supposed to have made a money fort out of it, but I see no such thing. Hence, my disappointment is immeasurable, and my day is ruined (the one thing I particularly enjoy from my new memories is all the funny memes, though I will probably be the only one who understands them in this world).

With no money to be found in this place and with this being the third warehouse I've raided, I am going to guess that these criminals are more competent than they look. But, unfortunately, they don't keep all of their product and wealth in a singular place which means I no longer have a reason to be here. I can leave this to the cops, but before I go, though. I spot an AK-47 just lying on top of a desk, and I get the uncontrollable urge to try shooting it, never having used a gun before.

While Peter had never properly held a gun, and he abhors the use of it, I am not him, and right now, I am curious about how it would feel. Hence, I go to pick it up as Peter would never do this, which is fine because I am not Peter. So I pick it up and go to fire it before I stop and think about what I am doing for a moment and then go over to one of the laid-out idiots on the ground and take their phone from their pockets before dialling a number on it.

"Hello, 911. I need help. There is some type of fight going on at the East Docks. So I-" I pull the trigger and fire the AK-47 towards the pallets of drugs in the warehouse, ripping through them and having fun while doing so. "-OH MY GOD, THEY ARE FIRING BULLETS, PLEASE SEND HELP NOW!!"

They go to ask something, but I cut off the call before firing a few more rounds into the drug pallets and having fun doing so. Firing a gun and just doing mindless destruction is quite fun, and I can understand why some bad guys out there do it. Still, when you start harming people, it has gone too far. So I stop firing and throw the AK-47 to a random corner of the warehouse before jumping up and out of the window on top of the warehouse. Then, facing towards the ocean, I launch the mobile phone as far as I can and watch it skip a few times along the water before it finally sinks.

That guy will definitely be sad when he discovers he's lost all his progress on Candy Crush. I know because I looked through his phone, and he had progressed quite far. Also, he didn't even have a password on his phone for some reason. Still, he deserves it because he chose to be a bad guy. So, with that done and having vented some of my frustration by firing the gun, I move and resume transversing through the city, confused about what to do now since my plan fell through. I guess I will just run around a bit until I find something or come up with the next stage of my project, but I am very likely to find something, what with it being nighttime now.

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After having stopped several crimes by being quick and efficient so nobody would see me, I am now eating a hotdog while sitting on a rooftop in Manhattan. I got it by quickly stealing it from the vendor and leaving some money that I had misappropriated from some thugs' pockets. I stopped a few crimes, but nothing too big, and I still haven't found anything or come up with anything to do now that y last plan fell through.

I guess, for now, I should just finish off my hot dog and then find somewhere to sleep for the night before trying to figure out what I am going to do. I stare out into the night of New York City and hear the caterwauling and noises that ring out into the night and find it hard to believe that I am actually going to miss this place. Yet, as I look out at the city, my eyes manage to capture movement on top of the New York roofs.

Spotting a certain someone leaping across rooftops, I quickly stuff the rest of my hotdog into my mouth before getting up and running after them. I guess I finally found something fun to do that will keep my mind off of thinking about my future. Of course, this might find its way back to Peter, but I honestly don't care at the moment. I want to have some fun.