Chapter 25: Saving the People Trapped Inside the Burning Apartment Building
I took a slow breath, making sure the area around me was clear. No approaching footsteps, no doors creaking open, no sudden glint from a camera lens. Identity was everything.
One blurry photo was enough to ruin Dante Arashi’s life forever. The world forgives heroes, but it does not always forgive the person behind the mask.
With a light push from the ledge, I launched myself into the air.
A webline shot from my wrist and latched onto the side of a building across the street. My body followed in a smooth arc as the wind slammed against me, tugging at my suit.
Late-morning Manhattan stretched beneath my feet. Cars crawled along the streets like tiny toys, their horns distant and muted. From above, the city felt smaller—manageable.
Each swing carried me closer. My muscles moved in rhythm with gravity and momentum. Adrenaline sharpened my focus, clearing away distraction and doubt. In moments like this, the world narrowed to three things: the sky, the mission, and the next landing point.
Within seconds, I reached the rooftop of a building facing the fire. Heat brushed against my skin even from this distance.
Flames burst from the middle-floor windows, twisting outward like hungry tongues. Thick black smoke rose heavily into the sky, staining the bright blue with a spreading shadow.
The smell hit next—burning wood, melting plastic, scorched fabric. Bitter and suffocating. Reflections of orange light flickered across nearby windows, turning the entire block into a scene of raw disaster.
I checked the system display at the corner of my vision.
Five people still trapped.
Five lives hanging in the balance.
No more waiting.
I ran forward and leapt off the rooftop. My body dropped fast toward the street before I fired another webline to slow the descent. The line tightened, absorbing the fall, and I landed lightly just outside the police barrier.
Several officers and firefighters turned at once. Surprise flashed across their faces, followed quickly by cautious hope. They didn’t know if I was help—or trouble.
Behind them, civilians crowded together. Many held up their phones, recording. In this age, heroism and viral footage were separated by a single misstep.
“Who is that?”
“A superhero?”
“Is he new?”
“Look at the suit—it’s white!”
“Is he crazy? That building’s going to collapse!”
Their voices reached me clearly through the suit’s enhanced audio. Every comment added weight. Expectations always did.
But the fire didn’t care about opinions.
A faint scream echoed from somewhere inside the building.
That was all I needed.
I lowered my stance slightly, letting my breathing steady. The world seemed to slow—the shifting flames, the rolling smoke, the tense faces of the emergency crews. Being a hero wasn’t about dramatic entrances or applause.
It was about acting before the window closed.
Time to move.
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“Hey! You! Who are you? What are you doing here?!” a police officer shouted as my boots touched the heated asphalt.
I had just crossed the yellow caution tape stretched around the burning apartment building, the barrier fluttering weakly in the hot wind.
Behind me, the crowd pressed together in fear. Some people cried silently, shoulders shaking. Others screamed the names of loved ones trapped inside. A few simply stared at the inferno, their expressions blank, unable to process what they were witnessing.
Black smoke poured upward, thick and relentless, clawing at the midday sky. The stench of burning material scraped at my throat. Heat radiated outward in waves, distorting the air and blurring the edges of the building.
Fire truck sirens wailed nonstop, their cries overlapping in a chaotic rhythm. Firefighters moved quickly, dragging hoses into position. Water sprayed upward but barely seemed to slow the flames licking out of the shattered windows.
The officer stepped closer, clearly demanding answers.
I didn’t give him one.
Another scream tore through the noise—sharper this time, filled with raw panic.
Five lives were still inside.
That was the only explanation that mattered.
I shifted my weight forward, eyes fixed on the burning structure, calculating entry points through smoke and flame. The heat pressed harder against my suit, a warning of what waited beyond those walls.
Too late was not an option.
And I was already moving.
The firefighters were still fighting relentlessly to bring the flames under control as they lashed out from the upper floor. High-pressure streams of water shot upward, slamming into walls and shattered windows, but the fire refused to yield. It raged behind the broken glass, writhing and flaring as though it had a will of its own.
The police officer who had shouted earlier looked me up and down. The white suit clinging to my body was unmistakably strange in this world. There were no masked heroes swinging between skyscrapers here.
No one recognized a spider symbol.
It was only natural for him to be suspicious. His jaw tightened, and his hand drifted instinctively toward the baton at his waist, as if I might be another danger in the midst of the disaster.
“I’m asking you! Who are you?” he demanded again, striding closer. His leather shoes struck the asphalt with firm, echoing steps.
Before I could respond, another scream tore through the chaos.
“Help! Please! My child is still inside!” a man cried hoarsely, his voice cracking under the strain of panic.
“Save my wife! I’m begging you! If you won’t, then move! Let me go in!” Another man tried to break through the police line. His face was soaked with sweat and tears, his reddened eyes filled with raw desperation.
“Please! Anyone! Save my baby!” a woman screamed, her voice splintering as if it might collapse at any moment. Her body nearly gave way, kept upright only by someone holding her from the side.
Those cries stopped me for a fraction of a second. My chest tightened—not because of the smoke, but because of something heavy pressing from within.
At first, I had come here to complete a mission from the Spiderman System. Five victims trapped. Complete the mission. Obtain the reward. Simple. Quantifiable. Detached.
But hearing their screams and seeing faces twisted by fear made something inside me churn uneasily. Disgust flickered through me. I hated the truth that part of my motivation had been the reward, as if human lives were nothing more than items on a checklist.
Damn it. Forget the reward.
I have to save them—seriously.
Without answering the officer, I raised my hand and fired a web toward the second-floor balcony. The white strand shot forward with precision, catching the sunlight for a brief instant before fastening tightly to an iron railing blackened by soot.
With a sharp pull, my body lifted from the ground. A wave of scorching air brushed against my mask as I shot upward, closing in on the building’s outer wall that radiated intense heat. When I landed on the balcony, broken glass crunched under my boots.
“Hey! That’s dangerous!” the officer shouted from below, his voice nearly drowned out by the roar of flames and the pounding rush of water.
The building had three floors. The heaviest fire was clearly on the top level, flames stretching out of the windows like the tongues of a giant beast. Logically, those on the lower floors had likely managed to escape when the fire first spread.
If anyone remained trapped, they had to be on the second or third floor—caught between thick smoke and rising heat.
I inhaled deeply, though the air tasted hot and bitter. Even through the mask, the smoke seeped in, dry and suffocating. Still, my resolve hardened.
Five people.
No matter what happens, I will bring them out alive.
Without wasting another second, I moved toward the second floor.
My feet settled on the balcony, its surface radiating heat as though it had been baking under a merciless sun, though the true source was the inferno raging above. The iron railing burned against my gloved hands, as if it held smoldering embers within its core.
Thick smoke slipped through the seams of my mask, making every breath heavy. Each inhale felt like drawing ash into my lungs.
Without hesitation, I drove my foot into the glass door before me. It shattered into countless fragments, the sharp crack slicing through the air—only to be swallowed instantly by the thunder of fire and the distant wail of sirens.
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