Flowers for Rhino
Feb. 18th, 2017 04:42 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
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Here's another 'Tangled Web' story and one of my favorites from the series.
Warning for a few references to suicide.
The story begins with #5 of the series. It opens with Stella Pavlov, the daughter of a gangster, kidnapped by his rivals. Her father sends the Rhino to rescue her. She asks who he is.


Rhino attempts to go after Spider-Man, but he is outsmarted by the webslinger and humiliated in front of the media. After Rhino escapes from prison, he meets up with the scientist who grafted on his hide.


We see the day in the life of the Rhino and it's miserable. He lives in the basement so he won't fall through the floors and he has pulleys to pull himself out of bed. Stella's fiance, Romeo, comes to him with a job offer. Rhino turns it down but takes it when he finds out it's looking after Stella.


Depressed at how meaningless his life has become, he considers suicide. Then he has an idea.

The doctor starts it up. Rhino bites down hard.
Part 2...
The doctor is attempting to test Rhino's intelligence to see how he can maneuver himself out of a maze. The doctor tells him to use his head, to which Rhino responds by barreling through the maze with his horn.

As he becomes smarter, Stella starts to warm up to the Rhino. Jealous, Romeo leaves an anonymous tip for Spider-Man about his whereabouts and leads Rhino into a trap. During his encounter with the webslinger, however, Rhino manages to outsmart and defeat him. Eventually, Stella chooses the Rhino over Romeo.


The doctor's monkey, it turns out, has committed suicide. The doctor believes that the chimp became too intelligent for his own good and lost interest in everything. Rhino is not concerned; "I can't see the problem. I mean... how can one be too intelligent?"


Once again, the Rhino considers ending his life when he thinks back on his operation.

Romeo and Stella have married, with Romeo taking over Stella's father's organization. The Rhino crashes into one of his meetings. Something catches his attention, however. A book written by "William Shake-something". It reminds him of something that he can't recall. Then he throws it aside and remembers who he is.

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Date: 2017-02-19 12:09 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2017-02-19 01:57 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2017-02-19 02:27 am (UTC)(b) Did he try to remove his hide, or at least create a working theory for it's safe removal?
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Date: 2017-02-19 11:33 am (UTC)---
"Rhino? That dolt? What, does he need help working out what the X sign on a calculator means? BWAHAHAHA! Hang up and continue massaging my throbbing, veiny scalp."
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Date: 2017-02-19 03:51 am (UTC)Also, Rhino's supposed to be Russian or something, right? How come he always talks and acts like someone born and bred here?
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Date: 2017-02-19 06:52 am (UTC)Maybe Rhino wasn't always that dumb.....
Date: 2017-02-19 03:18 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2017-02-19 06:29 am (UTC)Charlie/Flowers for Algernon
Date: 2017-02-19 09:00 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2017-02-19 10:39 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2017-02-19 05:05 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2017-02-20 01:53 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2017-02-19 11:34 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2017-02-19 11:37 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2017-02-20 01:04 am (UTC)Though still not my favorite Rhino bit. That would be from the Mr. and Mrs. Spider-Man stuff, where he and Peter and family are both at the ER at the same time, and the two just commiserate (without knowing who the other is).