章 19: Sins Past
As his eyes opened after waking up from one of the best sleep he's ever had in months, the brown-haired man groaned happily while he was careful not to awake the heavy weight on his chest.
That heavy being his beautiful wife with her signature red hair, Mary Jane Watson-Parker. After an amazing night for their wedding anniversary they just had plus the extra activity they participated for three hours straight, he could not blame his wife for being in the comforts of deep slumber. Peter was also grateful that he and Mary Jane are back together. It was on Christmas Eve that everything went back to normal albeit with some changes in their lifestyle.
After Spider-Man returned from his night patrol around Manhattan, Peter had taken off his costume when he opened the door and found his wife standing there in the hallway. He hardly got any word out before she held onto him tightly while whispers of 'I love you' repeated into his ears. That was also when Mary Jane told her husband about the burglars who attempted to harm her in an alley and she had to calm him down. Peter only calmed down when he heard that Patronus came to her aid and rescued his wife although he was a little peeved after being thrown across Manhattan like a football.
Using his spider-like reflexes and speed, Peter managed to slip out of his wife's embrace without waking her up as he walked to the kitchen to make breakfast for them both. As he made the preparations for an omelet, bacon, and a side of hash-browns, Peter recalled one of the conversations he and his wife, mainly about his superhero duties.
His other life as Spider-Man brought strain onto their marriage whether Mary Jane would be stood up on one of their dates or Peter returns home with injuries or his villains preying on either of them to make the arachnid-themed hero pay for his interference. Like any other married couple, they came to a compromise to help mend their love for each other: no heroing on date nights, birthdays, and anniversaries like the night before and weekends as well.
When he asked his wife about someone planting this idea in her head, Mary Jane responded with a 'Not telling you,' and for some reason, Peter's mind flashed about a certain hooded hero stationed in Boston.
"Patronus probably had something to do with it." Peter sighed as he pondered about the compromise. "But she's right. I take my responsibility too seriously but I feel I must honor my uncle's memory." He breathed deeply after saying those words. "I must try…for MJ." He said while his eyes gazed at his bedroom door. "I can't lose her again."
"Talking to yourself, Mr. Parker?"
"Actually yes." Peter answered to the voice as he looked at the laptop next to him. "Did you shut yourself off when the missus and I-"
"Knocked boots? Of course, Mr. Parker, you taught me to be better than that."
"And it was well worth it."
During the separation with his wife and between his heroing, Peter wanted to do something more to boost his game as Spider-Man. He built an AI based on an algorithm he wrote during his tenure at Empire University, but it never got any traction due to his superhero life and tragedies associated with that life. Now he did thanks to his new job at Horizons Lab where he was personally hired by Max Module after the latter read one of his thesis papers back in the university. He used his new job's resources to develop technology that both aid humankind and his hero life.
"And I thank you for giving me life, Mr. Parker, although not in the traditional sense, of course."
"Now, now, Karen." Peter retorted at his AI whose voice was obviously female. "Any updates in Manhattan or globally?"
"Crime rates in Manhattan had lowered to 3% in the last month alone since the Avengers' tangle with Kang."
"I can't believe I missed that." Peter took his Aunt May out to Pennsylvania for family vacation. "Though they handled it without me."
"And with Patronus I might add." Karen retorted amusingly as her counterblow incensed her creator even more. "Globally, S.H.I.E.L.D. director Fury attended a summit meeting in Brussels." Oh yeah, Peter enabled her to have top-tier hacking skills that can penetrate government agencies.
"I see. Anything else?"
"Your mask's lenses need to be updated for your HUD so I can aid you in your patrols and such."
"Thanks for the reminder."
"Also, the Adams House Grill called last night and confirmed your reservations for 8:00 PM tonight."
"Again, thanks for the reminder." In the early years of their marriage, Peter would either miss or be late to dinner dates but now he can. "And done." Peter finished breakfast and placed them on a plate with a small flower vase before he left for the room. "Karen, remind me to finish building the wrist computer too."
"Of course, Mr. Parker."
Peter stopped in front of his bedroom door and looked at his laptop. "And Karen?"
"Going to sleep now."
With that done, Peter opened the door and entered the room where Mary Jane just woke up and smiled at him as she slowly pushed aside the blanket to reveal her incredible figure and ample breasts. "Morning, Tigers~" The red-head teased her husband and his friend underneath his drawers.
"Morning." Peter greeted as he used his leg to close the door behind him.
It was a good morning indeed for the Parkers as their bedroom soon played a symphony of moans and curse words at each other for a change.
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Brooklyn
"Rhea, for the last time, I heard you. I'm not going to mess up the order."
-"That's what you said last time."-
"And I apologized for it…several times I should add!" Naruto countered before calming himself down. "I'll buy three of them this time. How about that?"
-"I approve."- replied Rhea all happy. –"See you when you get home."-
"Love you, bye." Naruto sealed away the skull before he discreetly jumped off the roof and landed in the alley with no witnesses. The ninja was in town to aid Boston and New York police with a prisoner extradition thus his wives wanted him to pick up some delicious cheesecakes from a bakery in Brooklyn. He was already in his civilian clothes at this time. "Hey there, May!" He greeted the employee after entering the baked goods store.
"Naruto, my dear!" May greeted the blonde adult as he approached the counter. "How are you?"
"Oh fine! You?"
"Blessed to be living considering my age."
Naruto waved off the sentence. "That just means you're one strong lady, May."
"Thank you!" May beamed as she accentuated the ninja's statement by flexing her right bicep. "This is thanks to raising my nephew."
Naruto shook his head amusingly. "I still can't believe you and your husband did that considering your ag-" He stopped when May glared at him. "I mean you and your husband are just such good people."
It was back in January when Naruto via Patronus met May Parker after the former stopped a robbery at Boston. The elderly Parker was in his town for a vacation with her nephew, but they got separated for a while after the baseball match in Fenway Ballpark where Naruto attended to as a civilian as well. He found her and talked with her until her nephew, Peter, arrived to pick her up. Naruto felt like a grandson talking to his grandmother so he wanted to know more about her.
May also felt that Naruto was a grandson and wanted to talk with him in the future. She informed him about her bakery in Queens and since then, they talked whenever Naruto was in town for her delicious cheesecake or some other business he had.
"How are your sisters?" May asked, referring to Naruto's wives. He had let slip about him living with multiple girls in a large house and Naruto could not tell her about being married to one let alone five as well having two children.
"They're fine though my niece and nephew are getting more riled up nowadays." That was the truth this time, well half-truth anyway. "I don't understand why though. They weren't this fuzzy when I left for work before." Naruto noted curiously. "May, do you know why?"
May shrugged her shoulders. "I raised Peter when he was five years old and the twins are…one year old?" Naruto nodded. "So, my area of expertise starts around the age of five." She chuckled with a grandmotherly expression as Naruto's sunken head. "I guess you could change your schedule so you can be home more often."
"You think I should?"
"It is just my opinion and advice."
"I'll…think about it." Naruto countered before his eyes beamed like a child as the bag-covered cheesecake boxes slid over the counter to him. "Yes! So, the total?" May told him and Naruto paid the due amount before he grabbed the bag's handle. "See you later, May. Tell your nephew and his wife I said 'Hi'."
"Will do! Stay safe, young man."
"Likewise."
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Midtown Manhattan
"Oh~" Mary Jane groaned as she was running—in heels—across the streets to make it in time for the bus, only for said vehicle leaving her behind. "Damn it. Peter's never going to let me hear the end of this." Of all the times to be late, this had to happen tonight! "Damn that photographer. I swear it felt like he was taking way more photos than usual."
The beauty model had a photoshoot that was for a movie she auditioned back in Los Angeles and luckily for her, the shooting was in Boston at the time Patronus saved her from those felons. The premiere will be one week tonight as is the reason for the dinner date with Peter. It was his way of congratulating her career after several bumps in the road. He was not the only one happy as Mary Jane was proud about her husband moving up in the world after being hired by Horizon Labs: his ideas and technology helps the world today such as the police and medical hospitals.
"Ah, taxi!" Mary Jane waved her arm up and down at the approaching yellow vehicle as it stopped in front of her. "Oh, thank goodness." She entered the vehicle and closed the door as the driver waited for her destination. "Adams House Grill."
"Gotcha." Mary Jane pulled out her make-up kit as she wanted to make herself even prettier for her husband. "Who's the lucky man?"
"Just someone special."
"He takes care of you?"
"Of course." Mary Jane felt a little odd talking with the cab driver, but she did not mind it.
"If you don't mind me saying, miss, you're very pretty."
"Uh, thank you."
The cab driver shook his head at her reaction. "Sorry for being direct but I tell as it is."
"That's a good trait." Mary Jane looked to the window where she missed the driver's hand gripped the wheel's tighter. "Not a lot people has that."
"Does that include you?"
Now it was getting weird and increasingly dangerous for the wife of Spider-Man as her instincts was telling her to get out.
"Um, you can drop me off here." Mary Jane told the driver as she waited for him to stop the cab, but he did not do so which caused her to be alarmed. "Seriously, stop the cab!" The cab skidded to a stop and she quickly opened the door before running to the nearby park where the restaurant was on the other side. "Freaks everywhere…"
"Now that's not nice about me…" She turned around and saw a man she had not seen in years. He was taller than her with light brown hair, a somewhat muscular frame, and green eyes as his attire consisted of a black sleeveless shirt over blue jeans. "Especially since we dated."
"Morris!" Mary Jane exclaimed in surprise. She dated him for some time until they broke up and before she realized her love for Peter. "W-What do you want?"
"I know why you broke up with me, Mary Jane." Morris said almost desperate. "I-I had no car, no cash, no class, a nobody."
Mary Jane shook her head in frustration. "You don't understand just like that time ago."
"But I do." Morris countered. "Everything's different now. I can give you everything you ever wanted and more instead of that husband of yours." He sneered at the mention of Peter.
Mary Jane glared at the obvious delusional man. "Don't you talk about my husband that way."
"There's something I have to show that'll change your mind about him."
"I don't have to do anything!" Mary Jane was about to leave but Morris grabbed her hand before she managed to pull it out of his grip. "And Peter is a better man than you'll ever be: he's helping people and reached to higher grounds in the honest way."
Morris sneered at her. "He's a geek!"
"He's a hero!" Mary Jane countered before she left him behind.
"Don't you turn your back on me!" Morris shouted as the water fountain behind him shot upwards to the sky as a geyser, drawing Mary Jane and the other patrons' attentions. "Not too bad, huh, Red?"
"Y-You're one of them?"
Morris chuckled smugly as he looked at her. "As long I'm close enough to it, I can control all the water around me. What do you think? Will you come back to me now?" He asked as if it was a sure thing.
"I think you're crazier than ever." Mary Jane stepped back in fear while she held her necklace and pressed the secret tracer hidden inside it. Morris sneered at her as he approached to take her by force until a red and blue gloved hand grabbed him on the way. "And we're not alone."
Spider-Man looked at his secret wife. "Are you all right, miss?"
"I'm fine now." Mary Jane answered with relief since she knew that Peter will always be there for her.
Morris sneered as he took his arm out of Spider-Man's grip and walked towards Mary Jane, but the hero stood in front of him to cut off his path. "Hold it there!" When that did not work, Peter grunted before he punched at Morris's chest or 'splashed' through it. "What the hell?"
"Oh~ Is the big shot hero Wall-crawler stuck?" Morris taunted before he placed his liquefied hand on the hero's chest. "Here, let me help you with that."
Mary Jane ducked as her husband was sent flying by a powerful water torrent into the bush. "I must be losing my mind, but did he just turn into liquid?" Peter asked aloud as the water rescinded from him and returned to Morris.
"Now do you see? I can transform." Morris spoke in an increasingly delusional tone. "I can do anything; I can give you anything you want, Red."
"I don't want anything from you!" Mary Jane answered before she ran away.
Morris growled as his body turned into water before he commanded the surrounding water to his will. Geysers burst out of the fountain and potholes before the massive amounts of water washed over the escaping Parker-Watson and someone else with a bag in his hand. "Help!" She cried out as she struggled to stay afloat.
"What the hell?!" The unfortunate passerby was hit by the pressure of water as well and deep enough for no one to see him.
Luckily, she was not in there for long as Spider-Man swung over and grabbed her out of the water before he landed near a police station. "Stay here." Peter told his wife before he returned to the park and landed on a nearby building's roof as Morris solidified his semi-normal form.
"This has nothing to do with you, Spider-Man, so but off!"
Spider-Man glared at him when he said those words. "This has everything to do with me." He whispered before saying aloud, "I can't; they'd take away my superhero license. Anyway dude," He fired web-lines at Morris and covered him from head to toe before heaving the crazed lunatic up and over the roof as the hero slammed him into the floor, breaking the web-case in the process. "No surfing allowed in the district!"
It did not do any good as Morris simply re-emerged himself with no damage. Spider-Man fired another dual web-lines that slipped past his enemy. "Pathetic. You don't really think you can match the power of Hydro-Man, do you?" His answer was the arachnid-themed hero dived at—straight through him, which disoriented Peter as a result.
"*cough* *cough* Did you just say Hydrant-Man?" Peter quipped although he really wanted to beat this guy to a pulp, but a wide man told him that a calm mind gets you far ahead. "The dogs must really love you."
Morris grunted in frustration. "It's Hydro-Man! And it's the last name you'll ever hear."
"Nope, my name is the last one you'll ever hear." Morris returned to normal form as he turned around and saw a fist incoming before his head splashed upon contact. "What the hell?!"
"What is he doing here?" Spider-Man wondered as Patronus leaped to him for some distance from the self-proclaimed Hydro-Man. "Why are you here?"
"Prison transfer initially." Patronus answered starkly. "But I have a beef with him." He pointed at the regenerated smug yet annoyed man.
Spider-Man retorted, "You just met him."
"It's a personal matter, Spidey." Patronus growled as he remembered the atrocity that happened to him and his family. "He got the cheesecakes wet!"
"Well, it looks like I have two bodies to destroy." Hydro-Man said under breath until he saw Naruto raised a fist next to his head. "What are you going to do? You can't hurt me~" He taunted the ninja who smirked underneath his hood.
"Eaken."
Spider-Man's eyes widened when a powerful stream of wind burst from Patronus's fist and covered Hydro-Man's body as he began to splatter and regenerate several times until it was futile. "Whoa! Aerokinesis?!" He shouted with surprise as Naruto looked at him confusingly.
"Aero-what?" Naruto asked for clarification before he and Spider-Man put that aside to find Hydro-Man except the later was not around. "Damn it, he's gone. I wanted to teach him a lesson."
"So do I." Peter answered beneath his mask.
"Oh yeah, what did he do to get on your bad side?"
The Web-Slinger answered with this. "Nothing that matters to you."
"Hey, easy there Spidey." Patronus said to calm the unusually upset veteran hero and emphasized this with raised defensive arms. "I'm not trying to hone in on your turf. I saw a victim being assaulted and came to help including you in that battle."
Spider-Man sighed deeply. "Sorry, it's been a while since I worked together with someone excluding that time with Morlun."
"Do you really think he's gone?" Patronus asked since, from what he's seen, Hydro-Man can regenerate from any blows and possible wind attacks. Spider-Man shook his head. "Is he after that woman?"
"…"
"I'll take that as a yes. So, physical attacks won't work but elemental attacks can."
"Somewhat but he'll just regenerate."
"Good point." Patronus pondered about what to do until he realized the time by his wrist computer's 'beeps'. "Shoot and the place is closed now."
Spider-Man looked at his fellow hero. "What are you talking about?"
"Don't worry about it. What we should worry about is the woman Hydro-Man's after. One of us should look after her."
"Agreed. So, I take it you'll be looking for him then."
"What?" Patronus asked before Spider-Man web-swing away to look after his secret wife. "Okay then. The girls are not going to like this, but I'm sure they'll understand, right guys?"
"No comment." Kurama answered while Ashura shook his head.
"Great." Patronus Hirashined back to the Homestead to face music that is the wrath of his sweet-deprived wives.
None of the heroes noticed the small black purse that was once held by Mary Jane or a liquefied arm picked it up to the sewers where it met its maker.
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(Meanwhile)
Parker Residence, Midtown Manhattan
"Patronus was here?"
Peter nodded after he took off his mask but not his costume as he hugged his wife tightly. "I'm so happy you're safe."
"Good thing you gave me this." Mary Jane broke the hug and flipped the necklace where a spider-shaped device fitted perfectly. "Your Spider-Tracer came in handy."
"Yeah, but who was that, MJ?" Peter asked before his wife turned away in shame. He gently grabbed her chin and guided her face towards him. "Whoever it is, I'll beat him."
Mary Jane sighed before she took a seat on the couch and patted the spot as Peter sat next to her. "His name is Morris Bench. I'm embarrassed to say but I dated him back in high school."
"I don't remember that guy in high school." Peter mentioned.
"It was before I moved to New York…before I met you and the others." Mary Jane said softly. "He seemed nice at first but he turned out to be a big mistake. I sure can pick them."
Peter offered his shoulder and May Jane took it as she placed her head on top while the hero's arms wrapped around her. "That's true but then again you and I wouldn't be together."
"You're different than him."
"Yeah, I'm solid and he's liquid." Peter joked though the mood was killed by his wife's 'are you serious' look. "Just want to soften the situation a little."
"Peter…"
"Sorry." Peter kissed her on the forehead. "He won't find you, MJ. I won't let him."
"I know but perhaps we should move somewhere else for the time being."
"Are you sure?" Mary Jane's serious face told him her answer. "Okay then. Luckily, I prepared for something like this." Peter informed her softly. "Anyway, it won't do us any good talking about this anymore. Let's go get some sleep."
With that in mind, the Parkers turned in for the night as they hoped to get some relief of tonight's actions and ruined date.
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(The Next Day)
Horizon Labs Headquarters, South Street Seaport
After a late morning, Peter walked into his own lab, Lab VII, which was huge and accommodated with technology and computers to aid in his ideas. When he first arrived at the laboratory, Peter was mesmerized by the sheer size and space as it was all his and no one's else. It was here that he created the noise reduction headphones and a specialized motorcycle helmet, but there are still more ideas he had in mind.
As soon as dawn broke, the Parkers moved (swung) to upper West Side where their safe house was located via discreetly. After Mary Jane's kidnap before their separation, Peter took measures to ensure his family's safety in case his identity was ever revealed and they needed a place to hide out. Their alias as residents in the Upper West Side are Percy and Andromeda Johnson.
"Morning, Karen."
One of the computers activated after Peter said the name as the female AI presented itself. "Good morning, Mr. Parker. Is everything all right?"
"I wish it was, but I need your help." Peter said as he approached his main computer that housed his AI.
"What do you need?" Before her creator could say anything, the doors opened and drew their attention. "I believe you have a visitor, Mr. Parker."
"Who is it?" No one but employees of Horizon Labs are allowed into the building. Peter looked at the person before he was stunned to speak.
"Hey there, Mr. Parker!"
It was Patronus.
"P-Patronus?" Peter asked out of surprise. "What are you doing here?"
"I'm here for help actually." Naruto answered before he looked around the laboratory. "Nice digs though." His eyes noticed the computer behind Peter. "Nice computer too."
"Why thank you, Patronus. I take care of myself quite well." Karen made herself present, much to Patronus's surprise as he looked around the room.
"What was that?" Naruto asked as he searched for the person who spoke to him.
"Behind you." Patronus looked at the computer where he saw the computer lines squiggle rapidly and randomly. "Hello."
"What are you?"
"She's an Artificial Intelligence: an AI." Peter answered with pride at the awe Naruto displayed towards his creation. "I call her Karen."
Patronus furrowed his eyebrows. "Karen? I would have preferred something like Kara. Kara sounds nice."
A little annoyed at the ninja, Peter snapped his fingers to get the ninja's attention after he stared at it for too long like a child who saw a whale for the first time in his life. "You said you needed help. About what?"
"Right. Last night I was minding my business when there was this…guy who can turn into and manipulate water around him. Physical attacks don't work on him so I was wondering if you'd find a way to fight him." Patronus said. He already exposed his Ninjutsu via Futon, the Kage Bunshin, and the Rasengan to the world and that was way more than he intended to show. Now, he needs to find other ways to fight to lessen revealing his Ninjutsu.
"With science!"
"R-right." Patronus said with a sweat-drop on his head. "So, I called Max last night and he said to talk to you."
Peter raised a hand as it stopped-paused-stopped-paused as he stared at the hooded hero in disbelief. "I'm sorry, Max?"
"Your boss. You don't know your boss's name?"
"Of course, I do but…anyway, what's the villain?" Peter asked, feigning his lack of knowledge and playing the role of an ignorant civilian. "Or who?"
"He called himself Hydro-Man." Patronus informed the nephew of May Parker. "What do you know that can…beat water except flames? I don't want to set Manhattan on flames with my sword. Do you have some fancy technology or something in here?"
Peter nodded as he walked over to a table filled with sets of beakers and chemicals unknown to Naruto. "If this Hydro-Man's water composition is the same as regular H20 particles, then I'll be able to create a solution that neutralize him."
"You can do that?" Naruto asked out of amazement. "You can create something that'll stop Hydro-Man with those…liquids?" He pointed at the full beakers and jars.
Peter smiled at the Bostonian hero's childlike nature right now. "Let me show you."
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Midtown Manhattan
It was not every day where a delusional and super-powered ex-boyfriend comes after you to insert himself as part of your life. Mary Jane knew the inherent risks of dating let alone marrying a superhero, especially one as famous as New York's Spider-Man, but the love between them persevered through the years and gave her the strength to do so.
Yet of all things, she forgot her wedding ring back at their apartment so she thought she would get there really quick and return without any sign of Hydro-Man.
The wife of Spider-Man locked the door and exited the building with her ring on her finger where it belongs. "Now to get back home before something happens."
"Like me, Red?" Said female looked to the sidewalk and to her horror saw Morris standing there. "I was hoping to run into you sooner or later." Mary Jane bolted down the street as she hoped to get as far away from as possible, much to Hydro-Man's amusement. "Oh Red, so naïve." Hydro-Man said before he morphed himself into countless gallons of water and caught up with his 'beloved'.
Just then, Patronus Shunshined on one of the nearby rooftops just as Spider-Man flipped in mid-air before he landed on the rooftop across the street from him. "Spidey! Where you've been?! I was looking for you the past 30 minutes!"
"Do you have what we need?" Spider-Man asked as he was a little out of breath. He had to wait for Patronus to leave his lab and the perimeter before he changed into his costume, swung the long way to make it look like he arrived from a different direction.
"Yeah!"
Both heroes followed the raging river in the streets until it pulled the victim over the fence and into the harbor. "No!"
"Oh man." Patronus landed in front of the metal barriers while Spider-Man stuck to the side of the wall. "There's no way a crazy person like him would kill this woman just like this."
Spider-Man tightened his fists in anger before he calmed down. "Karen, you got a signal on her Spider-Tracer?" He whispered inside his mask.
"You say something?" Naruto asked but he was ignored in favor for the AI.
"Locking onto her signal, Spider-Man." The AI responded as Peter watched his HUD pulled up water pressure diagrams of the harbor and noticed some irregularities that pointed to one of the buildings across from their location. "She's there at the water pumping station."
Peter nodded before he pointed at their destination. "Over there, Patronus." Spider-Man informed the rookie hero before web-swinging over there.
"Hey, wait for me!" Patronus shouted before he used the several approaching boats in the harbor as stables to cross the harbor. "Just like riding a bike." He said under breath as the surprised people, tourists, and fishermen watched him perform acrobatic feats with skill.
Both men reached the station as they snuck inside the station where they crawled and squeezed through tight spaces until their target found their target and his target, the latter surprising Patronus as he recognized her. "The woman from Boston?"
Spider-Man looked at him before Hydro-Man revealed heaps of jewelry and money that laid next to his wife. There was a string of robberies as of late and all crime scenes had no evidence of B&E at all. It was this time that Jonah Jameson proclaimed that Spider-Man was the culprit behind the robberies and demanded justice for the people of New York. "So, it was this guy."
Patronus wanted to move in for an attack but Spider-Man gestured him to hold off as Hydro-Man began to explain his powers origin. Morris was expelled from high school and his parents had sent him to the Navy so he would learn responsibility. It was sometime into his enlistment that he was dragged into the depths of the ocean where something changed him and granted him his powers.
When he told Mary Jane that she will be his and his only, Spider-Man took action as he leapt off the wall and fired a web-line to swing-kick right through Hydro-Man while Patronus landed next to the red-head beauty. "Hello again."
"Patronus." Mary Jane said with relief as her husband and the Bostonian hero are here now.
Hydro-Man reformed and glared at the hooded hero. "Get away from her!" His arms changed before he fired torrents of water at him, but Patronus grabbed and placed Mary Jane on his back while he jumped away from the intended spot.
"Take this, creep!" Patronus threw a small ball at his enemy as it popped open by contact on Hydro-Man's body before he became some sort of a stone statue. "Whoa, that's…something. What the heck happened to him?"
Mary Jane looked at her secret husband as he landed near them while she got off the ninja's back. "That's what I like to know."
"Parker's handiwork I take it?" Spider-Man asked as a surprised Naruto nodded. "He helps me out from time to time. I recognized his signature." A sweatdrop slid on his head as Patronus looked all over the now-stoned Hydro-Man. "From the looks of it, Parker made a powerful coagulant into that grenade; one that would react with the H2O particles in his body and become a hardening agent."
Patronus stared blankly at him. "English please for normal people present?" Mary Jane looked at him amusingly.
"Basically, he turned to stone."
"Ah." Patronus's head raised slightly as a sign of his recent understanding. He then looked over the horde of plunder from Morris's robbery heist and the nearby pipes. "That's interesting."
"What?" asked the secret Parkers.
"A hunch." Patronus pushed back his sleeve and activated his wrist computer to call in support. "Skye, come in, Skye." All he got was static crackle. "Are we deep underground or enough? It didn't look like it from outside."
Spider-Man looked at the pipes as well and realized what Patronus's hunch is. "Karen, pull up the schematics of the city's water pipes." His lenses' HUD acquired the desired blueprints and saw that a majority of the water pipes ran the red blips that are the recently robbed stores of high value. "I see now. Morris must've been using the water pipes to travel throughout the city via sewer pipes, sinks, anything water can go to. Nice catch, Patronus."
"Thanks, but I wasn't sure, to be honest." Patronus admitted. "Just a hunch."
"It's good to have gut feeling especially in this type of business we do."
"Thanks Spidey…Um, that coagulant thingamjing…is it by chance flawed in some way?"
"Why?" Spider-Man asked before his head started to tingle badly, warning him of something close by. "Oh that's-" A torrent of water slammed the arachnid-themed hero into the pile of plunder while Patronus managed to dodge the one intended for him and stood next to Mary Jane as Morris managed to reform in front of him.
"Well, seeing that this happened and I need to pay a certain scientist for this unforeseen development, it's time for a…TACTICAL RETREAT!" Patronus lifted Mary Jane over his shoulders and jumped into a vertical pipe for escape.
"There's nowhere you can hide from me: I am everywhere!"
Patronus and Mary Jane managed to reach the streets before Hydro-Man reformed himself out of a pothole nearby as he summoned a river of water and directed it on the hooded hero. The disguised ninja leaped expertly onto several ascending boxes that led to the rooftop of an old smelting factory as both he and Mary Jane could feel the heat though the former was not bothered by it via his flame/heat-resistant robe.
But the one who was really feeling the heat was Hydro-Man himself as droplets of water or sweat had begun to drip from his arms and face excessively while he was in pursuit of them. "Give her back to me!"
"Come and get her/me, you watery bastard!" Both Mary Jane and Patronus shouted simultaneously as the former began to sweat as well.
Hydro-Man sneered at the taunts and name-calling as he chased after them although his pace slowed from running to walking and his breathing grew heavy with each step. Finally, he cornered them as they were…standing there at the edge and chatting like old friends? "What is this?!"
"Hey, you look out of breath, pal." Patronus said merrily.
A recovered Spider-Man perched himself on the ledge of the roof where he saw Hydro-Man in his liquid form. "Why don't we all just take a breather?" His HUD scanned his enemy's biological structure and received some interesting results. "I knew it."
"You again?" Morris panted as he struggled to keep his balance. "You and you-" He pointed at Patronus with the last word. "Can't beat me…"
Patronus chuckled loudly to get his attention. "Spidey and I don't have to, pal." The ninja pointed his thumb at Mary Jane. "She already has."
"What?" Hydro-Man responded like it was an affront to him.
It was Spider-Man who explained his enemy's downfall. "Don't you get it, Mitch? She's led you away from the water that feeds you. You're barely holding yourself together, pal. You're almost out of…you." He ended with a lack of a better word.
"I for one wanted to keep fighting you, but Red here told me about her plan and I went along with it." Patronus offered a high-five to Mary Jane who returned it. "Good thing I did or you would've been in a real world of pain, according to my book."
"Why, Mary Jane? Why did you do this?" Hydro-Man approached but Patronus and Spider-Man stood in his way to protect the actress. "I…love you."
Mary Jane shook her head, disagreeing with his proclaimed statement. "You don't kidnap people you love, Morri, and you don't force yourself on the people… especially if the person is already married to a great man." She stepped forward a little at the delusional robber who was holding his head. "Now, let us get you to the hospital."
That seemed to be the final straw as the hydrokinetic man screamed in anguish before he glared at Spider-Man and Patronus. "You two, I'll destroy you with my bare hands!" He lunged at them, but the heroes simply dodged to the side but not before Mary Jane took to the safety of her husband's back.
When the water did not reform in any way and steam could be seen due to the heat from the sun, the heroes and Mary Jane knew the Hydro-Man was gone… at least for now.
"Thank you again, Patronus." Mary Jane greeted as she stayed on Peter's back. "You definitely left your mark in the community."
"Which community is that?"
The Parkers couldn't tell if he was joking or serious due to the hood covering his entire face even with the sun out.
"Well, guess I should take my leave here." Patronus saluted the unknowingly married couple and turned around to Shunshine back to May's Brooklyn bakery where he noticed a very tiny glint in the far distance. It shined like a diamond would if it was lodged between rocks in a riverbed. Except his ninja senses told him otherwise of the danger ahead.
And he was not the only one.
"Mary Jane!" Spider-Man lunged for his wife and tackled her to the ground after his Spider-Sense practically drilled his head of the incoming danger. There was no mistake of the familiar 'ratatatata' hallmark of the machine gun nor metal touching metal? Both husband and wife looked up from their position on the ground and saw Patronus standing over them with his blue sword in very fast motion as small flashes could be seen around him. "Karen, is he-"
"Yes, Spider-Man. Patronus is deflecting the bullets away from you and MJ with sufficient accuracy and precision though there is a small flaw in his technique." Mary Jane yelped when a stray bullet ricochet near her left hand as she pulled it close to her body. "Hence that stray bullet that nearly took your wife's hand."
"Remind me to dial back her personality a little back home." Peter thought to himself.
Naruto on the other hand cursed himself after he heard Red's surprised cry. "I need to work more on my deflection skills." This was one of the two specific Soresu maneuvers that emphasized its defensive nature and made up its core tenets against both unarmed and armed opponents, which also included ranged weapons like guns. For the lack of a better name, this technique is called the Circle of Shelter.
The storm of bullets ceased when the sirens blared in the far distance and signaled their arrival to the scene of the crime, much to the trio's relief. Patronus exhaled lowly while the Parkers got up slowly after the danger was over before the only lady of trio spoke aloud. "Okay, who the hell shot at us?" Mary Jane asked out of shock as she tried to calm herself with Spider-Man's hands on her shoulders to aid her.
"Whoever it is, I don't think they were going to say 'hello.' At least not in the usual way." Patronus sheathed his blade on its scabbard. "So, Red, your husband happens to be the one and only Spider-Man, huh?"
Mary Jane and Peter stood shell-shocked at the ninja's back before the husband snapped himself out of it first. "What are you talking about, Patronus? She's not my wife." He lied casually after years of experience.
"You called her Mary Jane."
"We already knew her name."
"Hydro-Man said my name plenty of times. He practically thought he owned me." Mary Jane added her input as Patronus slightly perked his head in agreement, seemingly accepting the whole thing.
Except when he pulled out a necklace with a recognizable pendant out of his robe. "If that's true, then…" Naruto turned over the pendant and revealed the Spider-Tracer attached to the other side. "Then is there a spider-like tracking device underneath here?" He revealed his wrist computer which showed radio frequency. "I hit some interference back in the water station and found it to be you, Mary Jane." Good thing he learned a few things about radio frequencies even though they are still a pain in the ass to remember. Technology is really not his thing but he does his best.
Mary Jane sighed in defeat while Spider-Man's head lowered to show the emotion. "What do you want?"
"Pardon?" Patronus asked confusingly.
"What do you want?" Spider-Man repeated this time. To the Parkers' surprise, Patronus scoffed at them as he turned around as if their presence was suddenly intolerable.
Patronus shook his head and chuckled mirthfully. "What makes you think I want something from you? Because I merely discovered your connections to each other, you think I'll blackmail you? I understand the paranoia but come on! Not everybody in the world have ulterior motives against you." He tossed the necklace at Mary Jane who caught it with one hand.
"There are people out there who would love to see me in pain by going after my loved ones." Spider-Man countered hotly. "They're too important to me."
"Then be better at protecting them." Patronus informed the veteran hero. "Make the device even smaller or invisible as a matter of fact." He sighed before turning to face the couple. "Let's put that aside for now and focus on the other matter at hand: the shooter."
Spider-Man sighed in relief at the redirection. "Was the shooter targeting you?" He asked the ninja who shook his head.
"I don't think so 'cause there's no way the shooter could've known about me entering the city today or any days. Boston PD told me of the convoy's departure five minutes beforehand." Patronus explained. "I think the target was you, Spidey, or your wife altogether."
Mary Jane felt disheartened about this. "But for them attack us in broad daylight…that would mean-"
"They've been keeping an eye on us for a while." Spider-Man finished his wife's sentence. "MJ, we should assume they know our identities and everyone associated with us."
"Do any of you have other safe houses to stay low?" Patronus asked as the couple nodded. "Let's get there."
After Mary Jane situated herself on Peter's back, the trio of married adults made their escape underneath the blanket of Patronus's excessively heavy smoke courtesy of his extra-large concealment bomb. A few minutes later, the spot where the heroes and woman had their bout against Hydro-Man was approached by two disguised adults in matching black gear with guns on their persons.
One of them kicked the ledge in anger as parts of the debris fell to the ground from the power behind it.
"They won't escape us. I swear it!" The male of the duo declared loudly while his partner stayed silent. They made their escape as NYPD patrol cars arrived at the building so their vengeance will be complete and no one will stop them.
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(The Next Day)
Lab VII, Horizon Labs
South Street Seaport, Manhattan Island
A t-shirt wearing Mary Jane woke up from her needed slumber after their entire day of practically touring New York City and retreated to the one place that is the safest for them right now, which is her husband's lab. It's quiet, isolated, and very limited to access plus top-notch security systems, courtesy of the Horizon Labs' employees' various ideas of improvement and technology.
The benefits of having a lab of your own is you can do anything you want with it such as a bedroom for late work or apparently hiding from assassins.
Mary Jane staggered out of the bedroom and walked down the stairs as she was still in a daze. A yawn escaped her lips as she instinctively noticed her husband's presence when her feet touched the ground level of the lab. "Morning honey." The closed-eyed red head beauty drawled out.
"Voyeurism much?" Her pace froze as the now awakened Mary Jane stared at the audience that is her costumed husband, the cross-armed Patronus, and her husband next to him? "And I have to say this: wow!" Patronus admitted honestly while he blocked Spider-Man's punches with just his forearms.
Mary Jane's T-shirt had her left shoulder exposed and the strap of her bra was undone. The red-head's legs were long and healthy as her underwear was the main centerpiece of the attention as it had the tagline across in the middle: 'Spider-Man's Cherry.'
"Oh god, I'm so embarrassed!"
Patronus watched the embarrassed wife of Spider-Man run back to the sanctity that is the bedroom upstairs before he looked at Spider-Man and Peter Parker. As to why there is another Peter Parker, it was simple actually to the actual one: hologram projection. It was last night before they arrived at Horizon Labs, Spider-Man had his AI Karen to activate a hologram of himself so he can be in two places at once. It was for cases such as this that the struggling hero anticipated for so long and more.
"Okay now the pleasant distraction is gone…" Another punch dodged courtesy of his reflexes. "You were saying, Karen?" Patronus asked the AI.
"After the courtesy of NYPD via secretly hacking, I analyzed the photos and downloaded copies of their online reports." Karen informed the trio including the life-like hologram of her creator's civilian alias as projections of the mentioned documents appeared for all to see including the weapon. "The weapon used at the scene was a modified M4 Carbine with a Soviet sniper scope."
"Custom job?" Spider-Man asked his AI.
"Yes, Spider-Man, but oddly enough I cannot find any online paperwork connected to this custom job, which suggest this was accomplished under the table."
"Meaning?" Patronus asked for a simpler explanation as 'Peter' answered him.
'It means the weapon is untraceable.'
"Ah. That's smart and devious…this suggests planning of a strategist."
"Agreed but 'who' is the question."
"Can you think of anything?"
"Have you just met me?"
"Good point." Patronus then looked at the hologram projection that is Peter. "Peter, can you analyze this?" He pulled out a small plastic bag that contained a bullet. "I may or may not have infiltrated the precinct, grabbed one of them with a replacement, before I came here. Figured we can find out where the shooter has been before their attempt."
'Gladly, just place it on the scanner over there,' "Peter" said as Patronus followed the instructions and allowed the machine to do its intended objective. 'It may take a while.'
Patronus looked at the civilian. "How long?"
'A couple hours.'
"I can go for a hot dog. Want anything?"
Spider-Man shook his head. "I'm good, thanks." He watched the hooded hero walk through one of the secret hatches that led to his lab and breathed in relief as he was finally gone. "Deactivate the hologram, Karen, please."
"Certainly, Spider-Man." The hologram of Peter spoke in Karen's voice before it disappeared and changed into a blonde-haired woman in a business suit. "I just finished the test on the bullet." The AI created an image of cemetery somewhere outside the city. "According to the readings, there are traces of marble dust on the bullet, which indicated your shooter's previous whereabouts. I pulled up the records and located no one of significance." Karen looked at her creator and saw that he had seen a ghost. "Spider-Man?"
"I have to go."
"And Patronus? Should I inform him?"
"No." Spider-Man fired a web-line to another hatch as he left for the cemetery, not noticing his worried wife who was outside of the room and overheard the whole conversation with the AI.
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New York's Cemetery
When he saw the cemetery on Karen's holographic map, Peter knew there was more to this than a simple assassination. He never thought to visit this place again on this kind of circumstances but only nostalgic or memorial anniversaries. He also never assumed that she would have anything to do with this.
"Hey Gwen." The costumed man said for the first time since his arrival. What laid before him was a headstone with the words engraved 'Gwen Stacy' on it: the grave of the first woman he loved before he and Mary Jane found each other years after her death. "I, uh, meant to come by and visit for some time, but things have been crazy—crazier the past few years, most recently the past months. I got married to one of your friends and I know you would've approve of her. My aunt opened a bakery in Brooklyn of all places, but I know how much you loved cheesecake and I'm sure you'd like May's recipe."
Above the starry sky was the incoming blanket as the roars of thunder came to signal the arrival of approaching rain.
"There is also a new superhero in the world and luckily for me, he's based in Boston." Spider-Man chuckled mirthfully. "He's a good guy, but he's also mysterious. I don't like mystery especially if one who fought with the Avengers and refused such membership. And his abilities are really something to say the least. He just has this presence about him that makes me uncomfortable even though he goes out of his way to help me. I know I'm being selfish for keeping him out of the loop but I still feel unease about him."
A small breeze harshly blew against his costume as if it was Gwen's way of chastising him for his way of thinking.
"You're probably right about that, but look what my being Spider-Man brought to my family…to you." He never forgot the moment when he realized Gwen was dead in his arms. The pain was agonizing and brought rage of him towards the one who'd been responsible. "Norman Osborn…I thought I made him pay that day, but somehow he came back and made my life hell. I persevered and didn't let him break me. Somehow, this has all the writings of that bastard and he solidified that title by involving you and my family."
Raindrops fell from the thunder clouds above as it was time for him to take his leave since no one else arrived or so he thought.
"We're not alone." Peter thought as years of experience warned him, not his Spider-Sense.
"Spider-Man, you have enemies around you."
"Enemies as in more?"
"Come to pay your sins, Spider-Man?" The voice, clearly male, spoke under contained anger as it became one with the cemetery. "Because if you did…you're too late. Way too late."
Spider-Man carefully looked around as his head tingled with pain to the point of a headache. "I don't recognize the voice but Spider-Sense is going crazy." He then asked Karen to find alternative routes for escape out of the cemetery and his HUD showed arrows that showed him the routes. "Who is it? Who's out there?"
"I'm wondering what's more insulting, that you don't know who this is…or that you do and you're too much of a coward to say so?"
Spider-Man's wariness grew as he felt the presences both in the east and west while his Spider-Sense's intensity grew more. "Hard to say…why don't you come on out where I can see you, and we can find out together."
"Suit yourself!"
He was fast…faster than Spider-Man expected as the assassin ambushed him from behind and tumbled down the hill away from Gwen's grave. Now it was a battle to see who will land the first punch once their rolling tumble ceased and it was not the hero.
"How does it feel, huh?" The angry assassin landed a heavy blow at the veteran hero's head. "How does it FEEL knowing you're alone and nobody's going to help you? Huh?" He landed another blow that almost disoriented the hero with its precision. "How does it FEEL knowing you're going to die alone?"
Having enough, an irritated Spider-Man grabbed another punch by the wrist and stopped it from his face. "Don't know and I don't feel like finding out!" He kicked the assassin off him then punched him squarely in the stomach before the hero grabbed his enemy's neck. "Let's find out who you-" Spider-Sense struck his head as it shook him south. "From behind?"
Another assassin leap-kicked from above and hit Spider-Man's chin as the force knocked him off of the first assassin. The first assassin recovered and drew a knife before he slashed at the hero who dodged the strikes side-to-side. Spider-Man cursed under breath as the assassins worked together to attack him from all sides but his reflexes and speed saved him from their strikes.
With a backflip, Spider-Man managed to catch a breather before he fired a webline from his web-shooters. "Splitter Web." He commanded his automated devices as they fired two web-lines that split into four lines, but the assassins rolled out of the way and charged at him. "Ricochet Web." He fired a single web-line this time and missed its targets as it—like the name implies—ricocheted against a tree and a headstone before it tagged the second assassin.
Another resource he used at Horizon Labs was the upgrade and improvement of his web-shooters as they now fire different web-lines responding to his voice commands or gestures, but this is the first time with them.
"And heave!"
The tagged assassin was harshly pulled to the side and hit the other enemy to the ground, but they quickly regrouped as the combatants stared down at each other.
"You won't escape, Spider-Man. We know where you live, your loved ones' job, everything!" The angry assassin declared. "We will not rest until vengeance is ours!"
"Then it's good that I'm still here." Both assassins tensed up and lashed out with a single leg and knife strike at the voice behind them but Patronus merely grabbed their limbs and tossed them aside. "Now I'm considered a friend of Spider-Man, so do help me understand why it is you're trying to kill him." The ninja felt hatred exuding from the assassin on his right whom he named 'Wrath' for short after their recovery in mid-air.
"Do not get involved in our business with Spider-Man." Naruto looked at the assassin who stood on his left. Unlike Wrath, the second assassin was female and calm though hints of her anger was present in her voice. For that reason, the ninja named her 'Reason' in this case.
Patronus flicked his wrists and emerged was his Hidden Blades, which put the assassins on edge. "I beg to differ."
"What are you doing here?!" Spider-Man demanded.
"Your wife overheard you and told me everything what Karen found." Patronus looked at the veteran hero. "You really should learn to trust people when they genuinely want to help you." He gestured his fingers at the assassins in the 'come on' way. "Come."
Wrath and Reason heeded his words as they had already charged at him before he finished his one-word sentence. Wrath was the leader in the assault and threw kicks combined with elbow strikes at all sides while Reason provided support with her knife slashes. Patronus on the other hand dodged all of their attacks with relative ease as they were nowhere even near his speed.
"Come on, you two. I'm pretty sure you can do better than that." Patronus taunted as he wanted to anger them. That is one of Soresu's principles against an enemy. It worked on one of them at least as Wrath charged like a bull and his moves were sloppy compared to before against Spider-Man. "Here we go."
Wrath gasped when Patronus slipped underneath his haymaker and counter-attacked with his right Hidden Blade, which left a nasty wound on his chest to his oblique muscles. That only made him mad and his attacks got wilder but unfocused as Patronus side-stepped each attack while he slashed his body with his Hidden Blades.
To the eyes of Reason and Spider-Man, Wrath looked like a rock that was trying to hurt the flowing river that is Patronus as the latter was moving so fast that his body left afterimages behind his every movements. "Impossible." Reason muttered under her breath before she blocked Spider-Man's punch though her forearm stung from the power behind it.
"You're just as fast as your associate." Spider-Man back-flipped away as Reason countered with swift strikes before he fired dual web-lines that ensnared the female assassin this time with an additional kick. "Taser Web." The web-lines had currents of electricity surged towards the female combatant, but she managed to cut the thick web with her secondary knife and leaped backwards to put some distance.
Just then Wrath was slammed through a tree before he landed next to Reason with multiple lacerations as his black suit was littered with patches of torn fabric while his weapons was nonexistent. As she reached for her downed companion, Reason felt a presence behind her and turned on her knee to block a narrow golden blade from reaching her face except it stabbed into her arm instead.
Patronus withdrew his blade and flipped over the assassins as he landed next to Spider-Man who was clearly ready for the third round. Or what would have been the third-round if Reason had not carried her wounded companion and leapt behind an incoming truck that was turned into their escape vehicle.
"What was that about?" Spider-Man asked the ninja who stayed silent as he stared at the now gone truck. "How did you find me?"
"I didn't really leave the building area." Patronus finally answered as he looked at the veteran hero. "I kept my distance from Horizon Labs and followed you here plus your wife did tell me about your findings."
"How?" Spider-Man saw Patronus reveal his wrist computer. "You hacked Parker's AI?" He asked almost offended by the notion.
"No, Red told Karen to hack into my wrist computer. Speaking of which, Max is not going to like the fact that Karen hacked into his software." The ninja walked to the headstone where Spider-Man stood before the brief fight. "This Gwen Stacy…she had something to do with this?" He received only reluctant silence from the veteran. "Spidey, I get you are uneasy around me. I can tell from your body language, but right now, you and I got to really work together if you want those assassins stopped."
Peter looked at the comparatively rookie hero and understood why the Boston police department accept him unlike the New York police do him. He wants to help but only if the party lets him to do so and informs him fully of the situation at hand so he would know what to do to assist.
"…"
"See you then, Spidey." Patronus walked away from the gravesite as he was going to Hirashin back home and rejoice in the comforts of his family.
His pace froze under the archangel statue when Spider-Man spoke after a while. "She was someone special to me and my wife. You could say that she was my first and that bastard took her from me."
"Who?"
"The Green Goblin."
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(Half-Hour Later)
May's Bakery, Brooklyn
"Oh dear." The elderly Parker matriarch mused upon seeing the increased rain drops. "That young lady said there'd be no rain tonight, but the stations prefer quantity than quality." She was referring to Channel Five's attractive assets in the torso area. "Back in my day, they would choose women of good standing and brains."
*Ding-Ding* *Ding-Ding*
"Sorry, but we're closed now." May said to the eager customer with her back facing them. When she didn't hear the bell ring to indicate their leave, the elderly Parker slowly reached for the small panic button underneath the shelve. It was installed by her nephew in case robbers intended to hit her store. "I said we're-"
A lone hand covered her hand and cut off her sentence. "We know, but we don't care. All that matters is the death of your nephew and wife."
"Brother, don't."
"Can't I just kill her?"
"And ruin the plan? Forget it. And if we know our father, he's probably on his way here right now." Reason said, much to May's surprise. She saw the look on the Parker woman's face. "He didn't tell you. Well I shouldn't be surprised since he killed our mother that night."
"Plus, he won't know unless we want him to." Wrath mentioned as he pulled out a small black box from his pocket. "In case you haven't realized, auntie, this is a jammer."
May stared at the masked people before a bag covered her head. "Peter, save me!"
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Horizon Labs, Southside Seaport
"How in the hell is this guy NOT in jail?!"
"That's what we think all the time." Spider-Man answered lowly as Mary Jane stayed in his embrace. "He's devious and extremely smart. He even created false evidence to exonerate him from his past crimes and declared him sane as such."
Patronus clenched his fists as he stared at the mugshot of the Green Goblin via Karen's holographic projector. It had a narrow chin and head with green skin and long ears much like a goblin from the 'Goblin Slayer' manga he glimpsed at a café store that one time. "And he already knows your identities and such."
"Yes."
"And any move you make against him, whether as Spider-Man or your civilian identity, he'll anticipate it."
"Yes."
"And yet you're still standing with your sanity intact?" He was given a brief but concise history of Spider-Man's battles against the Green Goblin and his actions.
"Uh, yeah." Spider-Man did not know how to answer in another way.
"You're really strong, Spidey." Patronus looked at the couple whom seemed surprise and confused. "You and your wife…any lesser people would have been broken from you guys went through."
Mary Jane felt pride at being complimented by a hero, especially by Patronus who was seen as an enigma by the superpower community. And he was right. If she was weak in any way or let the trauma affect her, she would have left Peter for good years ago, but her love for him and his her made them stronger together.
"Thanks, Patronus." Mary Jane said to the hooded ninja while her husband nodded in agreement.
"Sure."
*Beep-Beep* *Beep-Beep* *Beep-Beep*
The main reason they were back inside the lab was to analyze the blood in Patronus's Hidden Blades so they can identify the assailants and figure out their next move against them. Peter had also placed a third sample of DNA into the machine as part of his hunch. This time it would be on their terms and not the assassins.
"The results are back." Karen informed and placed the results next to images as they popped up in hologram screens. "I will leave you three alone."
"Dear God." Mary Jane looked away while Spider-Man stared at three images with a horrified expression.
Patronus looked at the images and saw a very pretty girl with sun-like hair, blue eyes, and a smile that held a certain charm. Her image was titled 'Gwen Stacy' alongside with the two assassins' DNA results as an embolden word 'MATCH' etched underneath the holograms. "So, she was the mother?"
"But Gwen never had intercourse with anyone as far as I know so…" Spider-Man stopped when his wife escaped his embrace and paced nearby. "MJ?"
"Red, you know about this?"
"I don't know how fast they grew, but I know they're not your children, Spider-Man." Mary Jane turned around before she answered with a solemn face. "She made me swear not to tell anyone, especially you. She was so ashamed that she wanted to forget about it."
Spider-Man's breathing started to grow heavy as his mind played back to the months before Gwen's death. She had left suddenly during their relationship and lived in Paris for a time, a year, before returning to New York to continue their relationship. Since then, she was jumpy and nervous around… "No, not him."
"She even told me who the father is."
"No."
His mind imagined Gwen walking to a bedroom in a mansion that he had never visited for a very long time. He clenched his head as he did not want to go there but his brilliant mind was on the fast track. He could see Gwen undressing in front of the man whom she had an affair with. He could see her gasping in pleasure and ecstasy while rough hands held her hips in place. He fell to his knees as the shadow that covered the man was lighted up by the fireplace.
It was Norman Osborn with a smug and pleasurable face before it was replaced by the Green Goblin mask.
"NO!" Spider-Man screamed as he reached his breaking point and flipped over a table cluttered with technology. He then broke another table followed by a few sections of the wall that was now riddled with fist-sized punches.
Before the lab could be destroyed, the enraged arachnid-themed hero was held in a full nelson by one hooded ninja.
"Spidey, you have to calm down!" Patronus shouted to the flailing hero who didn't heed his words or refused to do so. "He must've really loved her to be driven this mad." He put more pressure into the nelson while Mary Jane scooted in front of her angry husband. "Red, you shou-"
"He's my husband!" That shut the ninja up since he recognized the 'Stay out of this' tone of the wife. "Spider-Man, Spider-Man, Spider-Man…" Her words reached him as the veteran began to calm down while she soothed his anger with her hands on his masked head. "I know, I know, but I'm here for you. I'm not going anywhere."
Patronus released the hero when he heard crying and stepped back as the couple held each other in their embrace. "Patronus…" He heard the AI from his wrist computer and stepped to a distance away. "There's something else, but I'm not sure if Spider-Man is capable of this."
"Shoot, Karen."
"A few minutes ago, I was alerted to a silent alarm on a specific frequency known to Mr. Parker."
"And? Where's this place?"
"Aunt May's Bakery in Queens."
Time stood still as Naruto registered the information he was just given. "Is May alright?"
"You should see this."
Naruto watched the AI pull up the security video and saw the assassins carrying May's body out of the shop, but not before Wrath put a sign that was clearly for Spider-Man: 'Meet us at the place where she died'. He clenched his fist as his chakra began to flare up in response to his emotions but the ninja quickly reeled it in to avoid crushing the laboratory.
"What is it?" The ninja turned around to see a concerned Mary Jane while Spider-Man sat afar to cool down his anger before he told her what Karen just told him. "You have to save her." The secret Mrs. Parker insisted in concern.
"Question is…" Naruto nudged his head at Spider-Man. "Should I bring him along or not?"
Mary Jane knew what her husband would do but the beautiful redhead also shared the same trait as the hero and left to tell him the news. Patronus meanwhile watched Spider-Man punch the wall again before both men left Horizon Labs through one of the secret hatches.
Now, it is time for payback for the Parker family.
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George Washington Bridge
Reason stood at the place where her mother fell to her death by the man whom she was told to be her father. As she watched the sun's light about to set despite the raining clouds, Reason's mind also wondered back to the time she and her brother ambushed Spider-Man. There was no question that he was mighty and strong as her uncle told them, but she was also confused by his morality towards her mother.
She didn't tell her brother since she arrived first, but Reason saw Spider-Man dig Gwen's grave and retrieved a sample from her corpse. Anger filled her at the time for his desecration of her mother's burial site, but she waited when he filled the grave and stared at it with a solemn expression given his body language at the time. So, one question had been bugging ever since: what is he up to?
The recognizable 'thwip-thwip' signaled her enemy's arrival as she turned around to see Spider-Man in a low crouch position after his landing. "Where's your friend?" She asked while her hostage, May, whimpered since the latter was close to the ledge.
"Over here." Patronus appeared behind the surprised Reason before he scooped the clothed May on his shoulder and reappeared next to Spider-Man. "And here." He took the cloth off of May's head and saw her scared expression briefly before it shifted to one of relief. "Don't worry, May. We'll get you out of here."
May and Peter looked slightly confused. "How do you know my name?" She asked before Patronus scooped her up in his arms.
"Patronus, get her out of here!" Peter shouted before the sound of a jet rang out in the area, forcing the trio to look around for the source. He cringed by the intensity of pain in his head, indicating the nature of the danger ahead. "Spider-Sense is crazy! Where is it? Where is he?"
"SPIDER-MAN!"
The opposing team looked back to see a figure flying towards the arachnid-themed hero on a jet-like hover machine as Spider-Man rolled out of the way while Patronus leaped backwards to dodge the rushing charge. When they found their bearings, both heroes and May were stunned to see the costumed Wrath.
He was no longer dressed in the black bodysuit and mask, but it was different to Patronus yet familiar to Spider-Man and May. They should since both Parkers had seen it a lot of times in their lives. Wrath was wearing a gray bodysuit with light purple cloth around his shoulders, matching boots and gloves while a satchel hung over his shoulder, but it was the mask that caught their attention. It was the Green Goblin mask.
Or more specifically the—"PREPARE FOR YOUR DEATH AT THE HANDS OF THE GRAY GOBLIN!"
"Gray Goblin?!" Spider-Man shouted in anger before the top was covered in smoke thanks to Naruto's bomb.
"Not this time!" The Gray Goblin threw a hand-sized gray pumpkin bomb at the smoke-filled area, which was an air bomb as the smoke was cleared, but his and his sister's enemies remained except someone was not there. "Where is she?!"
"She's safe." Patronus answered coolly while Spider-Man stared at the costumed assassins. Naruto created a clone and had sent him to take May to safety underneath the smoke cloud. "This is your only chance, you two: surrender."
Gray Goblin scoffed at his request. "After all we did to get him here…" He pointed at the 'killer' of his mother. "We won't stop until he's dead."
"Then listen to what I have to say about all of this." Spider-Man spoke for the first time since his arrival. "No tricks, jus the truth here. Now let me get things straight and you tell me if I'm wrong. You think I'm your father. You think I abandoned Gwen, killed her, and left alone overseas to fend for yourselves, given some letters and finally had a name to go with your pain. Now you came to destroy my life the way you think I destroyed yours. That about cover it?"
Gray Goblin cut in from here atop his glider. "That about covers it except we know you're our father, not 'think.' My sister and I are stronger and faster than normal people and -"
"And aging faster as well, right?" Spider-Man asked as the silence from both the Stacy twins confirmed it. "And that's not all. Both of you are dying due to your blood. From the results, you two aged two or three years for every real year in real time, perhaps even faster. Your age has accelerated like progeria, but it's your enhanced strength that kept you safe from being destroyed."
Goblin gave a small stiff nod. "Which is the only thing we have to thank you for."
"There's just one problem though: I'm not your father." Spider-Man informed them with no hesitance. "Your father was a…a man named Norman Osborn and-"
"You lie!" Gray Goblin shouted in defiance as he took off his mask, revealing his face for the first time. He had his mother's blonde but short and green eyes like his real father. "He gave us a home, looked after us, educated us, trained us! Then he told us about you and your betrayal and why your death is necessary!"
That was when Patronus finally cut in. "Necessary?" The twins looked at him as he could feel their glares. "That lunatic caused hell upon Spider-Man, your mother, everyone associated with their lives!" He pointed at the male twin. "But you already know who Norman Osborn really is since after all you're wearing the same costume via different color. In fact, I think you knew about your lineage for a while now, but kept your sister in the dark about it so you two can continue that coward of a father's vengeance against Spider-Man."
"Gabriel?" The sister looked at her brother who didn't share a glance with her. "Tell him he's wrong."
"…"
"Gabriel…" She said, feeling hurt for his keeping secrets from her. "After everything we've been through, you kept this from me?"
"Sarah."
"Is that why you told me to leave early and meet you here on the bridge? To wear that suit and proudly proclaim your lineage to the Green Goblin?" Sarah exclaimed angrily.
"And another thing you should know about Norman Osborn: he was exposed to a formula that gave him tremendous speed and strength, but it also destroyed his mind." Spider-Man explained further. "After his death, I thought he was dead, but I didn't stop to think of him having possible healing abilities. If his DNA was encoded with the formula at the time of your conception, it explains about your accelerated aging."
Patronus said, "Which means…"
"If they don't do something, Gabrieal and Sarah will die of old age in a matter of years." Spider-Man informed Patronus. "I can help them." He looked at the twins while Naruto gave him an incredulous look. "I can help you. Just trust me-"
"That's the problem here: I don't trust you and I'll never trust you."
Patronus crossed his arms. "Well, it's a good thing that one of you does."
"What do you mean?" Gabriel demanded as Patronus gestured his head towards the only female present. "Sarah?"
"…"
"Sarah." Gray Goblin repeated in an almost demanding tone as his sister removed her mask. Patronus and Spider-Man were stunned as Sarah was the spitting image of her mother with the same facial features and long blonde hair including the black band. "What is he talking?"
Patronus raised his arm and tapped the wrist computer after pulling back his right sleeve. "This, genius. As expected of an AI, she detected a rather unusual…" He paused as he tried to find the words, but looked at Spider-Man after failing to do so. "Can you explain it? I don't understand what Karen just did."
"*sigh* Karen detected a hidden worm in the Horizon Labs' network and it was focused on Lab VII." Sarah stiffened a little as she realized what he was talking about. "Just before she deleted the worm from the system, Karen recovered the data log your sister found. It was the blood results I performed on both your DNA and your mother."
Gabriel looked at his sister with a mortified expression. "Sarah, he-"
"Ever since we watched him at the graveyard, I've had this nagging feeling so I used a bug to burrow into his secured network." Sarah spoke as Gabriel began to seethe in anger. "I wondered about it, but after everything that happened just now… we've been lied to for years by a madman…our real father, the Green Goblin, killed our mother and twisted us to be Spider-Man's assassins."
"Like Spidey, we can help you." Patronus muttered lowly after the last word. Honestly, he was reluctant about Spider-Man's plan to talk to them and persuade the twins to surrender peacefully, but he always was the one to give second chances. "Last chance, you two."
"NO, I'LL KILL YOU BOTH!" The offspring of Osborn shouted as he shot towards them in his glider. "I won't let you take my sister from me!"
"Gabriel, stop it!" Sarah shouted, but her words didn't reach him as the Gray Goblin circled around the area and threw plenty of pumpkin bombs at the heroes. "No!"
The bombs didn't reach them after Patronus expertly threw his shuriken which split into several and caused explosions in mid-air. Gray Goblin sneered at Spider-Man, but his rage was focused on the hooded hero as the latter was the one who screwed it all up. Spider-Man was supposed to be dead by now…by their own hands, but he came along and threw away their plans to cause their target pain. Now this Patronus took his sister away from him as well.
"Die you!" Gray Goblin fired his pistol at the ninja.
Naruto dodged the bullet by shifting his torso sideways, but he heard something or someone gasp in pain. He looked back and his eyes widened in shock. "Oh-"
"NO!" Spider-Man shouted in defiance as he saw it too. Sarah was shot in the abdomen and bleeding fast as she stumbled backwards to the ledge.
"Gabe…I've…I've…been…been…" Sarah fell over the ledge. "Shot."
"No, not this time!" Spider-Man dived over the ledge in an attempt to save Sarah.
Gray Goblin smirked at the opportunity to kill Spider-Man and was about to fly towards him when he felt a presence behind him as an immense intent flooded over him. He turned around and saw Patronus with red eyes within his hood before his vision turned to black as a glowing gloved-fist approached his face.
Meanwhile, Spider-Man reached the unconscious Sarah and grabbed her waistline before he fired a webline at the support beams as he changed directions toward the city. "Hang in there, Sarah. I'll get you, okay? Just stay alive."
"Go, Spider-Man." A calm Patronus encouraged the faraway hero while an unconscious Gray Goblin laid next to his feet and his glider broken after a crash-landing.
TTIIPMxTTIIPMxTTIIPM
(Four Days Later)
Midtown Hospital
He stood over the bedside as he watched the chest rise and descend in rhythm with the heart machines. He could hear the mutters of the hospital staff outside the private room while NYPD guards remained outside due to his crimes against May Parker for kidnapping, but it didn't matter to him. They didn't matter as they are weak compared to him and his family. The Osborn family that is.
Norman shifted his gaze at his son's head where he was utterly speechless yet disappointed at what has become of him. He was doing activities concerning his archrival when he got the call about Gabriel in the hospital and since then, he visited his son hoping that he would wake up and inherit his legacy.
But his hopes were dashed when the doctor in charge informed that Gabriel had massive damage around his brain and his face was unrecognizable that they covered it up with bandages. He was in a coma and not even his Osborn blood can fix it so easily or at all.
*Crush*
Norman flexed his hand after clenching the IV pole slightly in half. Before the twins' final encounter, he was informed by Gabriel of the Boston hero's interference in Spider-Man's assassination. No one interrupts their game and that someone, this Patronus, will pay the consequences for his interference.
As for his daughter, Sarah, he cannot find her and all his attempts of contact had been moot. She had gone underground and if she ignored his signals, that meant only one thing. "She's weak, just like her mother. No matter since I still have one child to carry my legacy." Norman walked to the window and stared out at the cloud-covered night sky as the rainstorm continued its streak of downpour on his city. "Spider-Man and now Patronus… it seems I have to work harder."
He turned around before closing the blinds to the windows. Across the street underneath the cover of darkness was nothing except when a lightning bolt struck the sky, it flashed enough to reveal a soaked Patronus as he was staring at the room window where the Osborns were inside.
Now he knows who Norman Osborn looks like as well as gauge his capabilities. His malevolence was off the charts for someone like him, but Naruto expected nothing less. He stayed in New York to see if Norman would visit and wanted to have a 'private discussion' with him, but Kurama stopped him from making a mistake that could end badly for him and Spider-Man.
Having enough of staring at the bastard who brought hell on Spider-Man and his wife as well as May, Patronus stayed in the shadows as he ran across the rooftops to one particular place that he had to stop by since his wives would not let him return home without what he came for.
TTIIPMxTTIIPMxTTIIPM
Aunt May's Bakery, Queens
"This. Is. Delicious."
"Yes, May, it is delicious."
The elderly Parker smiled at her nephew and grandniece-in-law as they continued to share the big cheesecake she made for them. After their experience that they've had with the Stacy twins last week, Peter and Mary Jane took time off from their work to spend time with each other along with May. That also included time-off from Spider-Man as well and much to his surprise, New York was fine without the hero during the week.
And speaking of the week, Peter searched for Sarah after taking her to the hospital. When they got there, Sarah was taken into emergency surgery, but complications arose during said procedure. Her blood loss couldn't be stopped due to her enhanced blood rejecting the normal blood bank the hospital had in their possession. A gamble was made on Spider-Man's part as he offered to transfuse his blood to help Sarah since both of theirs was the same type and enhanced as well. Peter knew Sarah's blood type because he had asked Gwen about hers before her death while they were dating and he remembered that she talked about having kids of their own.
Low and behold, it worked and Sarah recovered from the surgery. But it wasn't peaceful for long as when Peter in his civilian attire went to visit her that same day, Sarah was gone with no trace at all. He would be lying if he wished that Sarah wouldn't come back, but he'll wait for her and welcome her with open arms to his family even though she tried to kill him.
*Knock-Knock*
"Sorry, we're closed!" May shouted at the door since she wanted alone time with her family.
"But May, it's an emergency!"
Both Parkers perked up while Mary Jane was confused as May walked around the counter and headed for the door. "Am I missing something here?"
"Remember that guy I told you about in Boston? The one who found my aunt near Fenway Park."
"Oh him? What is he doing here?" Peter pointed at the delicious meal they've been eating. "Duh, of course." Mary Jane ridiculed herself with a bonk on the head. "What's his name?"
"You know what? I don't know actually." Peter realized after a moment. "Never caught it, I guess."
The voices of May and Naruto was heard from afar as the former invited the younger man inside to meet with Peter and his wife for the first time, even though it wasn't to their knowledge. "Sure, May!"
"And I have to use the little girl's room." Mary Jane said to her husband as she rose from her seat.
Peter sent her a sly look. "Want some company?" Mary Jane kissed him on the cheek as she walked to the bathroom to the side just as Naruto made himself known and greeted with a wave.
"Hey there, Peter." Naruto greeted as he offered a hand. Peter took it and shook before they disengage as Naruto took a seat on the other seat. "Where's your wife?"
"Bathroom."
"I see." Naruto received a fork along with a plate of cheesecake from the patron. "Thanks, May."
May nodded with her grandmotherly smile at him. "You're welcome."
"Naruto…" Peter called, stopping the blonde from putting the delicious meal in his mouth. "What are you doing here if I may ask?"
Naruto pointed at the somewhat big cheesecake that he and Mary Jane had been eating. "What else? I made a promise to my sisters that I bring them a bunch of May's cheesecakes the next time I visit New York."
"Just for that?"
"Just for that."
"…"
"…"
"Do you want drinks?" May asked to break the sudden awkward silence in the room.
"Sure, Aunt May." Peter responded politely while Naruto shook his head.
The ninja then noticed the uneasy expression on the male Parker and asked the obvious question. "What's wrong with you, Peter?"
"Nothing." Parker answered curtly before May slapped his hand for his rudeness. "Just something rough happened to me recently."
"Oh? Like what?"
"An old girlfriend issue with her kids."
"Oh. Are they yours?" Naruto asked, which Peter shook his head. "But you want to look out for them, perhaps even adopt them?"
"Yeah…If I'm honest about it, but one of them hates him and Child Services lost the other."
"And by 'lost,' you mean she ran away."
"Yeah."
"And you want to find her?"
"She's street-smart and knows how to hide." Peter admitted in half-truth. "What should I do?"
"Well, if you can't adopt them or the girl, just keep an open mind and leave your door open for her. Give her help if you can." Naruto answered honestly. "Does she have a name?"
Peter's mouth opened to answer his question when Mary Jane entered the room after her break in the bathroom. "Hello there, Naruto. I'm Mary Jane Watson-Parker, pleasure to meet you." She walked to the blonde in the store and offered a hand.
Meanwhile the stunned ninja stared at the beauty in front of him as his mind played through several scenarios. "Uh…"
"Keep staring at her and you'll meet my fist." Peter warned half-jokingly and half-serious at the staring blonde as the latter shook his wife's hand.
Naruto chuckled nervously as his mind had just finished over the past months including recent events. His talk as Patronus with Mary Jane back in Boston about her superhero husband, her familiarity with May when she was captured, and Spider-Man's technical knowhow regarding his web-shooters back in the graveyard. "Holy crap, Peter's Spider-Man!"
"Naruto, are you okay?" The concerned May asked after she placed another bag of cheesecake boxes on the counter as the blonde had already regained his composure.
The Jinchuriki gave a small nod as he smiled at the couple. "Well Peter, you certainly have one heck of a wife here." He said as Mary Jane giggled while Peter wrapped his arm around her waist. "And I can see you two are very much in love."
"We are." Mary Jane kissed her husband's lips to affirm Naruto's statement. "And I'm sure a handsome man like you will find someone to love as well."
"Trust me, I already did." Naruto then felt his thigh vibrate. "Excuse me one second." He pulled out his flip phone, his personal device as a civilian, and answered the call. "Yes…Yeah, I just got it and…What…No-no-no-no-no! It's already starting?! O-Okay, I'm on my way there now!" Naruto ended the call and looked at the Parkers who were concerned at his reaction. "Dancing with the Stars finale is on. I'm not going to miss that."
"Oh, is that on?" May looked the clock on the wall. "Dear me, we're going to miss it as well."
Naruto left the appropriate amount of money as he grabbed the bag containing delicious goods. "I got to go now! We'll talk later sometime. Bye, Parkers!" He ran out of the store after his farewells.
"…"
"I like him." Mary Jane told her family members. "Someone normal for once in our lives."
"And yet why was there something familiar with him?" Peter thought before he shrugged his shoulders in favor for the smidge of cheesecake on his wife's cheek as he licked it off. Luckily for them, May had her back turned at the time of the display of affection. "But it's people like him and Patronus that makes it worth being Spider-Man and Peter Parker." He kissed Mary Jane again as May turned around and chuckled at her nephew and niece-in-law's love.
Meanwhile outside of the bakery stood the discreet Naruto in his Patronus outfit as he watched the Spider Family comfortable with each other. He may be one of the strongest beings on Earth with his determination and love for his family drives him to be so, Naruto sees Peter and his family as the toughest people he'd ever met so far.
And if they ever need help with Osborn, he'll be there for them as the villain is on his watch list now.
"Now to get back home." Naruto mused before he ran across the rooftops for the train ride back to Boston as a change of pace. Usually, he would just Hirashine back home but after a day like he had with the Parkers, now Naruto wants to relax and enjoy the scenery atop a train back to the forested area of Boston.
As the ninja enjoyed doing acrobatic tricks between jumps and leaps with the last one landing him atop the departing train, Naruto sat down in seiza and basked in the wind pressing against him. While he was relaxing atop the train car, the people inside the comforts of the metal box enjoyed pastries and drinks offered by stewards.
A male steward had noticed one of the passengers upon boarding and since then he couldn't take his eyes off her. He was never one to back down from picking women and he's not about to start now. Clearing his throat, the steward walked to the seat and spotted his target as his eyes began to undress her. He dreamed of taking her to his home in Boston and grabbing the beautiful blonde hair with his hand-.
"Are you going to give me the water or keep staring at me?"
The steward blinked as the passengers stared at him after the blonde's proclamation and he grew flustered from their disapproving gazes before turning around with his tail between his legs. As for the woman, she looked down at the book that covered the real object of her attention.
A photo of Patronus wielding his Hidden Blades under the rainy night at the cemetery.
With a quiet sigh, Sarah looked outside past her reflection in the window while her target was enjoying the rainy sights from the above the car with the bag of treats underneath his robe's protection.
週次パワーステータス
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