Spider-Man's Tangled Web #4

Severance Package

Tom Cochrane, a member of the Kingpin’s gang, gets a phone call in the middle of the night. This call brings his wife to tears and he tells her that he needs to get ready because a car is coming in about an hour. As he gets ready, Tom’s wife Shelly is upset that they are sending Ritchie to pick him up when it should be Brian. Tom tells his wife that the Kingpin has his reasons even if it is unfair. After putting on his Armani suit, Tom goes checks on his children to make sure they’re still asleep before going down to the kitchen for a cup of coffee. There his wife takes a knife from the rack and puts it down on the table, but he refuses to take it, making her upset again. He reminds her that this is the way it has to be, and dismisses her suggestion that they can go to the cops. That’s when Ritchie comes knocking at the door. As he says goodbye to his wife, he tells her to look after the children, saying that with his Swiss bank accounts and stock investments she will have 10 million dollars, more than enough to raise their two children without him. His final words to Shelly is that he always loved her and asks her to never forget it.

Tom goes with Ritchie with the car with no resistance as there is a man with a gun lurking in the bushes near the house. Along the way, Tom learns that Ritchie failed to fix things going on in Chinatown, but Mister Fisk is giving him a second chance because he is still young. Tom asks Ritchie how old he was when he first started working for the Kingpin. Ritchie says he was eighteen years old, which reminds Tom of when he was that age and he thought he was going to be immortal and live forever. Ritchie, unsurprisingly, has the same attitude. Tom doesn’t argue saying that Wilson Fisk will live forever as well. When they pull up at the Kingpin’s office tower, Ritchie says that he is supposed to show Tom up. Suddenly, Tom slams Ritchie’s head into the side of the car window and as he is dazed, shoots the young man in the head, telling him that there are no second chances in the Kingpin’s organization.

Putting his gun in the rear waistband of his pants, Tom goes to the elevator and buzzes the attendant to send him up to the Kingpin’s office. He is told that Fisk is waiting for him and he’s buzzed through. In the Kingpin’s office, Tom apologizes for being late, saying that he was getting ready for bed when the call came in. He then tells Fisk that he knows that he was called about a photo of Spider-Man that ended up in the newspaper. Tom admits that it is his fault as he did not take Spider-Man into account. Fisk admits that he is pleased that Tom was always someone who took responsibility for his mistakes and is well aware that he has Ritchie’s gun stashed in the back of his pants. Since there is no reason for pretense, Tom pulls the gun out and admits he killed Ritchie. Tom also knows what’s going down since he sent Ritchie instead of Brain and explains that he’s been trying to clean up his mess. Having saw the assassin the Kingpin sent to kill his family while he is in this meeting, Tom pleads with the Kingpin to spare his family since he decided to come to Fisk directly and face the music like a man. He asks Wilson to grant him this one thing because he never asked for anything during his entire career.

Considering the situation, Fisk tells Tom that the story is he snapped after getting fired, forcing Wilson to act in self-defense. Tom agrees to these terms and on the Kingpin’s command tries to shoot his boss. The Kingpin, however, is a lot faster than he looks and quickly evades the shots, and before choking Tom to death assures him that Shelly and his boys will be looked after. With Tom dead, the Kingpin calls his assassin and tells him to leave the Cochrane family alone as they are done.

Recurring Characters

Kingpin, Spider-Man