The next week and a half was weird for me and my life. I was now officially a part of the Baxter Foundation. I spent most of my time there these days coming home only late in the night. May and Ben didn't approve of it at first, but once they found out the work I was doing could have lives they begrudgingly understood.
In reality however I actually spent an hour or so with the FF before going off on patrol as Spider-man, Sue understood though, after all that was part of the deal. This way I got to be a hero and a scientist. Ha, and Peter always said this was hard.
I still remember the first day I came to the Baxter Building as Peter Parker and not Spider-man. I had to fight through the giant crowd gathered outside and into the lobby. And even then the guards wouldn't let me go up, so Johnny had to personally come down and cler me through.
I'm pretty sure my picture was going to be in the front page tomorrow though, 'Mysterious Boy enters Baxter Building?!' hopefully they didn't get a good enough shoot.
"So Peter, how did your aunt and uncle take it?" Johnny asked.
I shrugged, "as well as you can expect. I think they are still mad I lied to them but the fact I got a job here seems to make them happy."
"Good man, heck maybe one day you should come clean to them you know? Tell them who you really are?" Johnny lead me through the elevator doors into a large hallway.
"Yeah, not going to happen. They freak out if I'm late from a friend's place, can you imagine what they could do if they knew I was Spider-man?"
Johnny shrugged, "if you think so," he stopped before a door and pressed his hand on the palm scanner next to it, "welcome to your new home."
My eyes went wide, "woah," I blinked as I looked around the large nearly empty room. I had a large monitor and computer system up against one wall, a table and a few tools, but other than that it was completely empty, "this is so cool!"
Johnny grinned, "I thought you'd think that. Anyway make yourself at home, my lab is just three doors down and Sue's is right opposite to yours. Reed's further down the hall but, ah, maybe don't go there unless he gives you permission. Guy is freaky when it comes to personal space."
I nodded as I put my bag on the chair and took out my notes, "this is great Johnny, I have many things I want to test out...hey, do you think you can help me out?"
Johnny blinked, "me? What do you mean?"
"Well last night I came up with a theory on how your powers work, I want to test it out," I explained as I looked around my lab, god it feels weird saying that, and found a geiger counter. It was a complex one with a customizable setting, I would need to change its internal working though for it to detect the energy signatures I wanted it to.
"Wait what? You think you know how my powers work? That's crazy man! Even Reed can't figure that out!"
I shrugged, "it's only a theory man, chill out," I began working on the geiger counter, adding a thin filament of nickel to the counter. The people on my Earth had a theory, that Johnny's powers, and the rest of the FF for that matter, we're dimensional energies. And their accident allowed them to control that energy. And since it looked like I was dealing with the Ultimate FF, who gained powers from teleporting that looks to be the case now as well.
If I recall correctly Johnny's powers were once super charged by a place called the Negative Zone, it allowed his flames to grow so powerful he couldn't switch them off. But that was just a theory, and now I would need to test it off.
I pointed the meter at Johnny, "go flames."
"It's called Flame on," Johnny grumbled as he turned up the heat, covering himself in flames.
I looked at the geiger counter and watched as the reading grew, and I smiled, "perfecto!"
"So? What did you find out?" Johnny asked switching off his flames.
"I think you're powers are coming from another dimension, and your body right now is serving as some kind of portal, well not portal, more like a reverse sponge."
"Wait, how could you possibly know this? What did you do to the geiger counter?"
"I added a layer of nickel to it," I pointed at the nickel patch, "this detected the amount of heat you gave off. And the counter to detected your fire, which is radiating outwards, but not in harmful amount. So you're power bursts out, and irradiated, you're not absorbing anything out here in the air, so it must be coming from inside you, and when it reacts with our atmosphere it explodes, behaving like fire. You're not a fireball, you're basically leaking white phosphorus like radiation."
Johnny blinked, "woah, that's-that's amazing! Holy shit Peter that was so freaking cool! Here, this is Reed's email ID, send your theory to him I'm sure he would love to hear it!"
I nodded to Johnny and did just that. Honestly Peter's mind was amazing, I had the theory, but Peter's intelligence made it all happen.
After that I meet Reed, Ben and Sue for dinner. We talked a bit about the things I would work on and how I could help. Reed took a look at my findings and needless to say he was impressed, though I could detect a hint of distrust in his tone of voice which honestly confused the hell out of me.
As the week went by the legend of Spider-man only grew in time. Thanks to my timings at the Baxter building I was able to go out on patrol on nights. I must have stopped three muggings a day, on top of all the other things.
People talked about me like I was an urban legend, of the things Spider-man was rumoured to have done. They had correctly guessed that I was the one who took out the GST block party a week ago and that I had something to do with their arrest, but the rest of the rumors were all pretty weird.
Some thought I was a demon from hell out to punish the wicked, I'm pretty sure that one was a troll just making waves for fun. But others thought I was a mad man with a box, one theory suggested I was a member of the FF that didn't like publicity and got my powers the same way they did.
People even started to take pictures of me, hell I was the meme of the week! Even people in school were talking about me like I was a God. It honestly made my kind of shy to be around people knowing how much they loved Spider-man.
Honestly though I found the crimes that are committed on the streets to be minor and few inbetween. I needed a new criminal project, and soon. I had been following the GST trial closely and it looked like Matt pretty much had the whole thing in the bag. The evidence wasn't immeuble in court though, which was sad, but the drug bust in the warehouse was more than enough to have them all sent to jail.
I had kept up with my training with Colleen, who had now taught me all the kata's she knew for the sword. It was a blessing and a curse to have a brain like mine, I memorised the kata's in seconds, though I'll admit it does take me a while to actually apply them to combat.
Colleen moved me up on her class list, I was now in the third hour classes and had just began hand to hand training. I could tell she was still holding back, not willing to teach me everything a Hand ninja would know, but that's fine, sooner or later Colleen wouldn't able to help herself, she would teach me just to know that she could.
Call it warrior's pride or whatever you wish, but I knew her, she was after all my sensei.
Though one incident over the last week did stick out to me. I had a run in with Felicia, only we were both in costume.
I was swinging down Wall Street when I hear a window break open. I landed on the opposite building and watched as a figure dressed in black shimmed along the side of the building and landed on the roof of shorter building next to. I narrowed my eyes and smiled, she still wore a black tracksuit and a mask. It was honestly kind of cute.
I swung towards her and dropped down, "heya Kitty!"
The Black Cat turned around as I grabbed her around the waist and rolled around the roof. I ended up on top with her below between my arms. I grinned, "we really have to stop meeting up like this."
"Spider?" she blinked, "what are you doing here?"
"Oh you know how it is, I was in the neighborhood, though I should stop by," I looked at her belt and found a pouch stuffed full, "have you been stealing again?"
"What I do isn't any business of yours," she growled.
"Ah, yeah it is. Hero, theif, see how it works?" I asked.
"Sorry Spider, but I don't have time to flirt," she kneed my groin causing me untold pain. I knelt down in pain as she crawled away and ran to the roof's edge and jumped.
"Not this time!" I yelled as I shoot a web line at her and pulled her back into the roof. She grunted in pain and quickly got up, drawing a knife and slicing my webbing.
"Hey, this stuff is expensive you know!" I chuckled.
"I'm sure you can cover it," she smiled as I got on my feet and we circled each other. She lunged forward first with a swipe of her blade. I easily avoid it, caught her forearm and twisted it around to her back, turning her around and grabbing at her hips.
"You know Cat, you can do so much more fighting for the good guys," I whispered.
"What makes you think I'm not?"
"Stealing isn't usually what good guys do," I told her.
"That's what you think. You're definition of good and bad needs to be reworked Spider. I only steal from those who deserve it."
"Like a small time jewelry store?"
"A front for a mafia Uptown."
"And the office of the Wall street guy you broke into?"
"He's a broker, you really think he isn't dirty?"
"So what? You're a modern day Robin Hood?"
"No, I said I steal from the rich, I never said I gave to the poor," she broke out of my grip and kicked me back. She ran to the roof and turned around and blew me a kiss, "next time Spider," and them jumped down, landing on the roof of another building before jumping away into a alley and away for sight.
I sighed as I got back on my feet, she really was a handful. I pulled out the pendrive I picked from her satchel and grinned, the score was all tied up. I broke the pen drive and threw the pieces away, I doubt it will be of any use now.
And so after all that, I still find myself stuck once more in school, which I am quickly coming to find is the most boring part of my life. I was stuck in history class ignoring my teacher who was going on and on about how much world war 2 sucked.
I sighed as I skimmed through my text book, looking at all the pretty pictures and gruesome deaths. I stopped at a picture of Captain America and blinked, 'that's right, he's a war hero in this world isn't he?'
I turned to chapter of my book that dealt with Steve Rogers and looked at all the pictures and details. It looked a lot like in the movies, Peggy, that german scientist being killed, Bucky 'dying', all the good stuff.
But then I noticed something, in one of the photos, Steve was posing with his army buddies sitting on boxes with bombs on them, the words, 'Property of Hitler' spray painted on the side. But what I found most curious was the man standing next to Steve with the Canadian flag on his jacket.
He looked feral with mutton chops and a cigar between his teeth. I immediately had a feeling I knew this man but I couldn't be sure, I looked down to the names listing the soldiers in the pictures and landed my eyes on a name I didn't expect to see here;
'James Howlett'
James Howlett, the real name of Logan, also known as the Wolverine. Fuck, mutants were real in this world. They were fucking real...oh shit, oh fuck me in the ass! I am so fucked! What if a psychic read my mind?! Oh fuck! I need to add, 'blocking out mental assholes who don't respect a person's mental privacies' onto my list.
I wondered if Charles has established his school yet, were Scott and Jean his students? Is Magneto made a public outing? No, not at all. If they did mutants would be the talk of the town and Spider-man would have just been dismissed as a mutant. No, mutants were still hidden in this world, they weren't even urban legends just yet.
"Mr. Parker," I heard the teacher call out my name.
I sighed and looked up at her, "yes?"
"Are you paying attention?"
"...Ah, yes?"
"Really? Then tell me who lead Hitler's science and development branch?"
I blinked, wait, wasn't that Hydra? "The Red Skull ma'am, he also renamed the branch into Hydra."
"Very good Peter, but his name wasn't Red Skull, what was his real name?"
I blinked, "what do you mean his real name wasn't Red Skull?"
"What I mean is that it was just a moniker he went by, he does have a real name you know?"
"Yeah but that's the name he chose," I shrugged, "the name he chose wasn't the name his parents gave him. They probably expected him to be a nice little boy and be an angle to everyone he meets. But h wasn't, he was a jew hating nazi and because of that his actions deserve to be called by the name his choice. His name is and will always be the Red Skull."
"That's a….very unique answer Mr. Parker," the teacher sighed, "fine, let's just move on."
I nodded as she went back to her lesson. I looked around and saw people staring at me from the side. MJ gave me a smile, Harry and Flash looked bored and Liz was texting someone on her phone.
My eyes then landed on the newest addition to our class, the beautiful and glamorous Felicia Hardy, she was always aloof, never talked to anyone and the envy of all girls and desires of all boys. She was the biggest loner in the school, before me of course, and right now she was looking right at me.
I meet her gaze and didn't back done. We looked at me like I had just told her something profoundly interesting, her emerald eyes didn't blink and I didn't either. Was this a contest or something? Was she trying to gauge me? Did she know? No, no of course she didn't. And even if she did I knew who she was as well, mutually assured destruction.
Finally she blinked and turned away. I did as well as we both turned to the board, I didn't know what that was about, but I knew it wasn't over by a long shot.
At the end of the class I gathered my stuff and got ready to leave, but just then I heard Felicia call out, "hey Muscles, wait up."
I blinked, was she calling me? No, that was stupid, I ignored it and walked out when suddenly she grabbed my shoulder and turned me around. She hissed, "I told you to wait up."
I raised an eyebrow, "did you just call me Muscles?"
"Yeah, duh," she snorted.
"Are you serious?" I asked blinking, "because I don't know if you've heard, but I'm apparently skinny as fuck. If you want muscles, Flash is your guy."
"Ha! Finally something we can both agree on Parker!" Flash called as he slipped between me and Felicia grinning at her, "so, you want something babe?"
"Not from you meat head," Felicia snorted, "move, I was talking to Muscles over here"
"Wait, you're serious? Are you crazy? Parker's puny! He can't even lift a dumbbell!" Flash laughed, and a few other kids watching this little confrontation did as well. I just rolled my eyes, if only they knew.
"If you think that then you're blind," Felicia smiled sly as she walked past Flash and slipped into my comfort zone. I blinked in confusion as she suddenly pressed her hand up against my peck and pressed, "don't let the baggy clothes fool you, Muscles is packing something tight under these."
She was stalking me like a prey, her eyes daring me to say something, I knew the rest of the school still thought I was a wimpy kid, despite my personally shifting over the last month. Guess she thought I wouldn't stand up for myself, she was wrong.
"You know Felicia if you're going to cup a feel you should at least buy me dinner first," I smiled.
She raised her eyebrows in surprise before smirking, "well Muscles what would you like to eat?"
"You?"
Felicia smirked, "going a little fast there Muscles."
"Says the woman rubbing her fingers round my nipples."
"Am I? Oops," she stepped back, "I do need to talk to you though. Have a moment?"
"Lunch?"
"Starving."
"Lead the way," I motioned following behind her. I looked at Flash's jaw hang out and closed it. I smiled at hmi and followed Felicia to the lunch room.
"I don't like her," MJ narrowed her eyes as she saw Peter leave with that new girl.
"What a surprise," Liz said rolling her eyes, "I wonder why that is."
"It's not like that," MJ blushed and denied.
"Yeah, keep telling yourself that sweetie, maybe one day it'll be true," Liz turned to Flash, "what exactly were you thinking?"
"Babe? Nothing, I was just being friendly to the new girl is all-"
"-Save it Flash," Liz growled, "if I find you ever flirting with that bitch we are done understand?"
"But Liz-"
"-Understand?!"
Flash sighed, "yes."
"Come on, I want to see where they're going," MJ grabbed Liz's hand following them.
"Oh relax would you, Parker's finally getting some attention, let the geek enjoy it for a while," Liz replied rolling her eyes only to have MJ completely ignore her.
Felicia and I sat down opposite each other in the middle of the lunch hall. I could feel the people looking at us, usually I would sit in a corner to avoid detection, but Felecia had chosen this table. Was she making a statement? Maybe, but why? And for what reason?
I took out my lunch and ate. Felicia raised an eyebrow at the PB&J sandwich, "is that seriously all you brought to eat?"
I shrugged, "I eat more at work. A friend of mine and I end up eating out most of the time. It's easier and since the office pays for it I don't have to worry about lunch per say."
"Hm," she hummed, "where do you work?"
"Someplace special," I smiled.
"You aren't going to tell me?"
"Are you going to tell me you're life story?"
Felicia smirked, "no, I guess not. So Muscles, tell me, why exactly do people avoid you?"
I snorted, "please don't call me that, it's really silly. If you're going to give me a nickname make it cooler, like...Pete, or Petey. Muscles makes me sound so arrogant."
"Hm, no, I don't think so, I like the name."
I rolled my eyes, "I had a feeling you were going to say that."
"Now, are you going to answer my question or keep deflecting?"
I shrugged, "nothing to tell really. They don't like me, I'm kind of antisocial, plus I'm pretty smart so they tend to avoid me. A friend once told me it's because they are scared of me, but I don't really think that's true."
"Maybe, maybe not," Felicia took out her own lunch, a box of chicken salad, "but you know what I think?"
"That you should eat more than just a salad?"
"A girl has to keep her figure you know," she smiled.
"Something tells me you can do that even while eating burgers," I smiled back.
"Checking me out have you?"
"Just as much as you have been me," I reply back.
"You know I think I'm starting to understand why they were weary of you. You're very perceptive, and also dangerous."
I blinked, "how so?"
"You said it yourself, I'm been observing you. You don't behave like a teenager, you're ignored but you don't mind, in fact you like it sometimes. Kids don't' like being ostrichsized, we hate it, but you, you're used to it. And you're also smart. Smart enough to be in college right now, but for some reason you're here...hiding...a child genius would be put on a spot light, but a teenager who smart and still in school? No, you're hiding something Muscles, I'm going to find out what exactly that is."
I couldn't help the shock that came over me. I stared at this gorgeous girl before me and realised she was probably the closest person to finding out my secret identity. I knew I should be afraid, curious even, but I couldn't help myself, I was impressed.
"You know Felicia, I think I'm in love," I smiled.
"Sorry Muscles, you're not my type," she smiled back.
I shrugged, "I figured. So, why did you want to talk? Just to tell me you think I'm dangerous? Or is it actually something important?"
Felicia sighed, "no, there is actually a reason. Mr. Goldberg," our physics teacher, "told me I needed to improve my grades, I started pretty late so I need to catch up. He suggested I ask you for help."
"Which is when you started to creep on me," I concluded.
"Yup," she nodded as she ate a piece of boiled chicken, "though I have to admit I was actually not going to bother at all, I don't need to waste hours of my life listening to some know it all lecture me. I'm already suffering in school for that."
"So you have judged me worthy, I'm honoured," I chuckled.
"No, not really. I wasn't going to bother, until I heard what you said," I looked confused and she explained, "in history, you talked about how the names you pick best represents the people we really are. How the names we have are the hopes and burdens our parent has on us. It really struck a chord with me, so I figured, why not? You sound interesting enough after all."
I raised an eyebrow, I take back what I said, I don't think I'm in love, I know I'm in love. Damn, if only she was actually interested in Peter Parker.
"So you want me to tutor you?"
"Pretty much, yeah."
"Hm, well I don't really have much time," which was true, I had Colleen's classes, Baxter building stuff and being Spider-man to add into the mix. It would be difficult to include her into that but…I'm curious. She's made me curious and I want to learn more about this silver haired girl, "I can manage one hour after school. Sorry, but no more."
"Wow, so I'm only worth an hour of your time? You know half these boys would kill for a chance to spend time with me everyday."
"Yeah, well they aren't me, and I do have a life of my own you know."
"Like what?"
"A job."
"Oh, right, the mysterious job," she said sarcastically.
I blinked, "you think I'm lying?"
"Yes."
"Why would I lie about having a job?"
"Because you don't want people to know how lonely you really are?"
"Didn't you just say I didn't mind being alone?"
"Also said you wanted to blend in, give people no reason to suspect you."
I laughed, "okay, you got me there Felecia. But I am serious, I only have an hour to spend, sorry."
"It's fine, I don't think I can stand you for more than an hour away," she huffed munching on her vegetables.
"Well and the truth comes out at last," I snorted, "by the way you look like a cow if you keep munching on that leaf any longer."
She glared, if looks could kill I would be dead. She swallowed and sighed, "so Muscles, what else are you busy with that you can't spare time for friends?"
"Well let's see, my job mostly," I shrugged, "it's in Manhattan so it takes a long time for me to travel. I also go to…ah, well, self defence classes, so yeah, that."
"Self defense class," she raised an eyebrow, "who would be stupid enough to pick on little oh you?"
"Flash," I shrugged.
"Oh, right," she looked over my shoulder, "you mean the big blonde guy who's filling in the role of the average high school bully?"
I turned around and spotted Flash glaring me and MJ glaring at Felicia. The moment MJ noticed I was looking at her she turned away, while Flash just growled.
I snorted, "yeah that's him."
"Hm, looks like he has only two brain cells to spare."
"Maybe less," I shrugged.
"What type of martial arts are you learning?" she asked curiously.
"Kendo," I shrugged.
"You do know that's not actual self defence class right?" Felicia snorted, "it's just swinging a sword."
"Hey it's a lot more complicated than that, believe me." Plus I seem to recall I kicked your ass with it a couple of nights ago yeah?
"Okay, let's say you're in a fight and you don't have a sword. Wouldn't your skills be useless?"
"No, not at all, kendo isn't just wielding a sword, there are also other aspects to it. Plus I've just started learning hand to hand taijutsu so my classes aren't a complete waste of time," and considering just who my teacher was I wouldn't dismiss her style so quickly.
The silver haired girl shrugged, "you're wish, don't come crying to me if some punk with a knife shanks you."
"Hm, don't see see that happening," I finished my sandwich, "tell me Felecia, what type of martial arts to do you practise?"
She raised an eyebrow, "what makes you think I practise martial arts?"
"The fact that you sound like you know what you're talking about?" I raised an eyebrow.
She chuckled, "yeah, fine, no point denying it anyway. I practise judo and taekwondo," she shrugged.
"Well you certainly have the legs for taekwondo," I shrugged.
"Perv."
"Stalker."
"Weirdo."
"Same thing," I chuckled. We talked some more, she basically questioned me on everything, what I like, what I didn't, and I made sure to know just as much about her that she now knew about me.
Lunch was over too quickly for my liking. We said our goodbyes and went to our separate classes.
I was looking forward to the hour of tutoring I would spend with Felicia, I didn't bother paying attention during last period history. That is until my Spider sense went off and I ducked to the left to avoid a paper ball.
I turned around and saw MJ looking at me in surprise. But she quickly squashed her surprise and began writing something down in her book before showing it to me.
'What's with you and Hardy?'
I rolled my eyes, I quickly wrote back a reply.
'She wanted me to tutor her in physics after school.'
MJ looked surprised.
'Can I join? I need help as well.'
'I'll talk to Felicia and tell you, she did ask first.'
'Okay.'
I was strange seeing MJ jealous, or at least I think it's jealousy I'm sensing, but I would be lying if I didn't feel happy. After all this was the first time someone was feeling jealous because of me, kind of a proud moment.
After class ended I meet up with Felicia outside the school where she took me to a coffee shop a block away. She greeted the owner with a smile and made light conversation with him before we sat down near the back away from everyone else.
"Been here often?" I asked her.
"Just once or twice," she shrugged, "mom knows the owner, kind of a family friend. I figured we can get some studying done here."
"You do know the library is open till 5 right?"
"I told you Muscles, I don't' want to be in that place more than I need to. Now, do you want something?"
I thanked her for the offer but declined. We got to work, I found out while Felicia was smart in her own way, physics was not her friend. It took a long time for me to explain the basics to her, but I think she understood it in the end.
I did find out something interesting though, when the barista lady came over with Felicia's order, her eyes were glued to woman's rear. Was Felicia Hardy in this world gay? No, not the way she was groping me earlier...hm, bi-sexual huh? She just gets hotter and hotter.
Soon the hour came to an end and I was actually ad to see her pack her things. As we left the coffee shop I decided to ask her about MJ.
"I told a friend of my mine I was going to tutor me today and she asked if she could join. Do you mind?"
"That depends, who is the friend?"
"Mary Jane."
"Ah, her, she likes you."
I shrugged, "maybe."
"You know?" Felicia looked surprised.
"Yup, what? Did you think you were the only observant person in the world?"
"No...so, what do you plan on doing?"
I shrugged, "I don't know. What makes you think I should do anything at all?"
"She likes you."
"And she hasn't told me or even asked me out. Before school started we were close, like really close. But then she became popular and I was pushed away. She's okay though, can't complain."
Felicia shrugged, "fine, you do whatever you want Muscles, I couldn't care less. But I need to pass my physics paper, so if you start spending my tutoring time making out with the redhead I swear I'll kick her ass."
I shrugged, "fine with me."
And with that we parted. I went to training with Colleen and then to the Baxter building for an hour or so before swinging into night as Spider-man. I arrived at home around 9 and pretended to go to bed.
When I was sure May and Ben wouldn't try and disturb me I snuck out in costume and continued my parole.
It was a long night filled with crime and terror. For now I was basically on damage control, stopping crimes from happening, but I knew the root of the problem still existed and until I could figure who I should hit next it would remain.
For the next week or so this was my schedule. I had school and then tutoring with Felicia and MJ. The redhead didn't like the platinum blonde much, but she didn't make the tutoring session any more difficult than it already was. In the end I actually managed to raise up the grades of both girls.
My time with the FF was always interesting. Most of the time I assisted Reed or Sue in one of their projects, I would give my advice or helped them out on their calculations. I was basically a temp with the added bonus of pay and time to do my own thing.
My first invention was something I'm actually quite proud off to be honest. Ben Grimm was actually the one who inspired me. He was trying to read the latest sports illustrated issue but kept dropping the tiny magazine due to his huge hands. He even got so frustrated he tore it by accident.
I honestly felt bad for the guy, there was so much about him that would make anyone feel suicidal, but he kept on going and for that I'm proud to call him my friend. But maybe there was something I could do to help.
So I got to work and invented the SA, or Scan and Adapt. It wasn't a groundbreaking feat of scien or anything like that. It was actually a very basic idea.
I made an elastic frame lined with intense image projectors that could serve to create a sheet of light that could work like a screen. It was a sort of pseudo-hologram, able to exist only within the frame itself, but it was exactly what I needed.
I then put two cameras on the back of the frame and worked on a very basic programing for the system. And when it was done I presented it to Ben.
It was Thursday night and the FF had gathered around their dining table for dinner. You will never believe what they were having. If you guessed pizza, you were right.
"We should really start cooking our own food," Sue said munching on a slice.
"Great idea sis, only one problem, none of us know how to cook," Johnny shrugged.
"Hm, maybe we should hire a maid?" Reed suggested, "so we have enough funds for that Sue?"
"No, we are barely making it as it is," Sue sighed, "if we don't' get a product we can market we might need to slim things down."
"Are you planning on firing the kid?" Ben asked as he used a wrench to pick up a slice before eating it.
"I hope not, but it just might come to that," Sue sighed.
"Where is Peter anyway?" Johnny asked, "I haven't seen him all day."
"He's working on a personal project," Reed explained, "he didn't tell me what though. I hope he isn't doing something stupid in there."
"Hey guys! Glad you're all here!" I ylled out charging into the den with a grin on my face.
"Hey Peter, care for a slice?" Johnny asked.
"Pizza? Again? You guys should really hire a chief or something, eating this much carbs might not be healthy," I warned, I loved pizza as much as the next guy, but there is something called too much of a good thing.
"Agreed, anyway where were you? Reed told you us were working on something?" Sue asked.
"Yeah I did!" I grinned as I held up a black frame the size of my palm, "ta-da!"
Johnny raised an eyebrow, "so ah, what does it do?"
"I'll show you," I quickly went to the living room and grabbed a TIMES magazine. I put the magazine on the table and held up the frame, "I call this the Scan and Adapt," I stretched the frame out to the three times it's size and placed it over the magazine and gave a command, "scan."
The frame turned alive as a blue screen appeared in the frame. Slowly an image of TIME magazine cover spread in the frame. I held the frame up and smiled, "ta-da!"
Reed raised an amused eyebrow, "and...the point is?"
I rolled my eyes, "the frame can expand to the size of a black board or shrink to the size of my palm. It scans documents and stores it away in your phone or whatever memory space you wish for. It can also quick scan, you just have to show a page for a fraction of a second for the SA to store its image away, here see."
I had Sue hold the frame up as I flipped the pages in the magazine one by one. In a minute I was done scanning the 100 or so pages in the magazine.
"Save scanned pages as TIMES issue October 2011," I spoke, a tick mark appeared on the screen. The images all complied themselves into a digital magazine which appeared in my library in the device.
"So...you basically created an advanced version of the Kindle?" Johnny asked unimpressed.
I grumbled, "no, I created a device that can compile and adapt books in seconds. And we can also use it as a smart board. It's like comparing you to a birthday candle Johnny."
"Okay okay, no need to get so defensive," Johnny held up his hands in surrender.
"It also has another purpose," my voice turned soft as I handed the extra large SA to Ben, "you don't have to worry about tearing any more book now Ben. It's very hard to break, and if you do it's not a problem, you can just adapt all the stored data into a new one."
Their faces were ones of shock when they realised what I was implying.
"Y-you did this for me kid?" Ben asked.
I nodded, "yeah, figured you're like was hard enough as it is. I realised I could help make it better. I know it's not much but-"
"-Oh shut it kid," Ben got down and wrapped my in a hug, careful not to break my bones, "thanks kid. Really, I owe you."
"Peter, that's amazing," Reed said in awe, "we didn't even...I didn't even realise what Ben's going through."
I shrugged, "you have your problems to worry about. You might not seem different like Ben does, but you all have your issues too right?"
"Alright, when did the fifteen year old become the most mature person in the group?" Sue asked with a chuckle.
"Maybe he always was," Reed got out of his chair and wrapped me up in a hug as well, "you're a good kid Peter."
"Thanks Strech," I smiled adapting Ben's nickname for the genius.
"You know this is really amazing," Ben said swiping the screen to turn the pages in the digital magazine.
"We could probably patent it and sell the rights of production to Amazon or someone," Sue speculated, "we would have some issues though, with the likelihood of piracy so high. Maybe we should add a security system that prevents someone to exchange scanned data. It won't stop it completely, but it should be enough to stop any large complaints."
"Think we can make some money out of this?" Johnny asked.
"Oh most definitely," Susan grinned, "congrats Peter, you just saved your job."
"Wait what?!" I cried out, "what do you mean?!"
"They were planning on firing you," Ben chuckled.
"Giant rock man says what now?!"
"We weren't planning on firing you, just thinking about it," Sue defended. My jaw was open in shock, "relax, I said you just saved yourself didn't I?"
I sighed, that was a long day. Sue took the SA to a couple of patent lawyers and managed to get the ball rolling on making some profit off of it. I was excited to finally have a patent to my name and some cash for the co-owning rights. Looks like it was my lucky day.
Sunday came too soon for me. I woke up late, I had been out all night fighting crime after all. I went down for breakfast and saw Ben sitting in front of the TV watching the NEWS. I was about to ignore him and leave but then I saw it;
Stark Expo to be opened to public on Friday!
Today was the 30th of October, November would be starting soon and with it the events of Iron Man 2. I knew what was going to happen. And I knew I had to take full advantage of it. I had a plan for Justin Hammer, I need to make sure it happens.
Monday was the 31st, also known as Halloween. But to me it was just a normal day. I walked down for breakfast but was surprised to see Ben and May dressed up. May wore giant Minnie Mouse ears Peter had bought for her on their day in Disney world and Ben had a fake giant beard and a fake set of glasses with a giant nose on.
I blinked looking at them, "so...I'm guessing we're in the holiday spirit?"
"Peter? Why haven't you dressed up?!" May smiled, "it's Halloween young man!"
"Aunt May aren't I getting a little old for dressing up?" I asked as I sat down for breakfast.
"One is never too young to act their age my son," Ben said in a mystical voice.
I raised an eyebrow, "Gandalf?"
"No, just a smart ass," Ben grinned.
"But seriously Peter you loved dressing up for Halloween!" May exclaimed.
I nodded, "yeah, but...I mean...I don't even have a costume."
"Like that has ever stopped you from dressing up," Ben laughed, "I'm sure you can throw something together Peter, just use your imagination."
I shrugged, sure, I could do that….or….
I walked into school and head turned. I walked with a swagger in my step grinning under my mask as I saw people gasping in surprise. I wore a costume alright, my costume.
"Spider-man?!" Flash, dressed up in his own homemade Spiderman costume, gasped as I walked past him.
"Not quite," I chuckled as I pulled the mask off realing my smiling face to a very disappointed Flash, "like it? I made it myself."
"You don't deserve to wear that costume," Flash growled.
"Like I care what you think," I rolled my eyes walking past him.
"Spider-man is a hero Parker! He's brave and amazing, something you aren't and never will be!"
I raised an eyebrow, "damn Flash, since when did you start liking Spider-man?"
"Since ever," he growled as slowly people started to surround us, "he saved a friend of mine from getting mugged. There was a gang in my neighborhood that hurt people, he stopped them. He's a freaking hero Parker, you aren't."
I raised an eyebrow, Flash lived in the bad part of town? I never would have guessed. I shrugged, "you know Flash, for someone who admires a hero who doesn't like bullying, you sure do a great job in being one. Tell me, do you think Spider-man would like to have someone like you be his buddy?"
Flash paused as he started blush, "s-shut up Parker! You don't know shit!"
"Maybe, but atleast I'm honest with myself," I walked away leaving an embarrassed Flash behind.
School today was a little more interesting seeing people dressed up. I passed by a chemistry teacher dressed up as a water molecule, it was funny and creative. There was a guy who dressed up as a banana and another guy who dressed up as a monkey. They took one look at each other and smiled before the monkey started to chase the banana through school.
First period was history, one I shared with everyone else. I walked in and saw Liz was dressed as an angel with a little pair of wings and a fake halo on her head. MJ seemed to have planned out her costume with Liz as she wore a devil costume with a fake tail and red horns while Harry was dressed as a 80's bike gang member.
They all noticed me and blinked.
Harry looked me over, "woah, that's one cool costume, who is it?"
"Parker," Flash growled from the side. Guess he was still pissed at me calling him out.
I took off my mask and wave, "hey everyone. Nice costume Liz, I see it's opposite day as well."
"Shut it wimp," Liz shot back.
"You look good Peter," MJ spoke softly, blushing, why is she blushing? Oh well.
"Thanks MJ, you're one hot devil," I winked as I sat down in my seat. MJ blush was so red it matched her hair, but she quickly squashed it down, listening to her friend's bitch about me.
Felicia soon entered the room, took one look at me and stopped in her tracks. She blinked once, twice and then walked in sitting down next to me.
"No costume?" I asked.
"I'm too old to place dress up and pretend to be someone else," she replied back.
"I didn't expect the girl who went on and on about choosing to be a different person in life complain about wearing a costume."
She smirked, "Muscles, Felicia Hardy is my costume," she looked me over, "nice one. Did you make it yourself?"
"Yup. Like it? I tried to match the original as best I could."
"And you couldn't do anyone else but Spider-man?"
"Why don't like him?"
"He has… a special space in my heart," Felicia shrugged.
"You really should have dressed up Felicia," Harry said from behind, "you know, you would be perfect as the Black Cat!"
That grabbed both our attention. Felicia looked surprised, so I asked for her, "Black Cat? Who's that?"
"She's like this big time thief man!" Harry explained, "she like steals from the rich and stuff!"
"Yeah, and she like wears this sexy little outfit showing off her goods so that the people chasing her get's distracted!" Flash said with a pervy grin that Liz noticed and smacked him up the head for it.
"Yeah, and what's more she like had silver hair! You would be perfect for it Felicia!" Harry grinned at her.
"Sound's stupid," Felicia grumbled putting an end to the conversation. She then looked me over once more, "why don't you take off your jacket? It's warm enough right?"
I blinked, she was right, I was starting to feel a little warm, the school did have internal heating after all. I shrugged as I unzipped my jacket and pulled it off folding it over my arm rest.
Slowly, silence. I blinked looking around and realised everyone had stopped chatting and was now looking at me. I blinked and looked down, was there something on my shirt?
"That's why I call you Muscles," Felicia spoke out loud gaining everyone's attention. I looked at her, she was smirking as she stripped me with her eyes. Yup, she's definitely not gay.
I blinked, oh shit. I was wearing a muscle shirt underneath the jacket, like I usually do. So right now my spider powers enhanced body is being displayed to everyone in the class. My muscles had grown a little in size, but they were shredded and tight from constant use while I'm out fighting.
"You really shouldn't wear bulky clothes Muscles," Felicia said, her perverse smile still there, "it's a crime against humanity to keep that body hidden."
"Damn, I'll say," Zack, the few gay guys in school, whistled.
I blushed, I couldn't help but feel embarrassed. I glared at Felicia but the girl just laughed it off. She didn't even look sorry, bitch.
For the rest of the day I was constantly stared at by people. Mostly girls, though a few guys did look as well. I noticed MJ didn't really seem phased by this, she did after all see my topless before, but Liz looked like I had just broken her world.
Needless to say I couldn't wait for class to be over that day.
Felicia, MJ and I went into our regular coffee shop for out after school studies. We sat down and began to work, I was once again wearing my jacket and Felicia sighed heavily until I asked her what the matter was.
"Well, it's just so sad. My only piece of eye candy is gone," Felicia sighed, "that jacket deserves to be burnt."
I growled, "I hate you."
"No you don't."
"She's right though Peter, you really should wear less bulky clothes," MJ shrugged, "you have a great body, you should show it off."
"Hm, Red's right. Although I am curious, why weren't you shocked when the frog turned into a handsome price?"
MJ stammered, "n-no reason."
I chuckled, "that's because she already got a free show before."
"Hey! That was over a month ago!" MJ protested.
"Oh? Does that mean you want to take another peep Peepers?" I asked laughing hard.
Instead of looking embarrassed MJ gave a very saucy smile, "I wouldn't say no to that Tiger."
"Tiger?" Felicia whistled, "nice nick name, you know what, I like that, Tiger" she purred the 'R' seductively.
I raised an eyebrow, "you want a peek too?"
She shrugged, "I wouldn't mind."
"Well I'm not that kind of man young ladies," I huffed, "if you want some of this you best wine and dine me or no deal!"
"So all I need to do to make you put out is to take you out for dinner?" Felicia raised an eyebrow.
"Ah….I plead the fifth?"
MJ smirked, "alright, you're on."
I blinked, "say what now?"
"A date, let's go on a date, right now," she closed her books and packed them, "I'm not in the mood to study. So, what do you say? Lunch and then a movie?"
I didn't even have time to respond when Felicia spoke up, "so what, you're just going to leave me behind and go off on your own?"
"Do you plan on coming with?" MJ asked.
"You know what, yeah, I'm coming with you," Felicia smiled, "you're not getting rid of me that easily."
"I-I," I gaped like a fish, "do I get a say in this?!"
"No," Felicia smirked, "now pack up Tiger. I'm hungry for some Italian."
"Oh I know a place down the road, best pasta I have ever had," MJ said as she grabbed my bag and Felicia dragged me outside the coffee shop.
"Hm, sounds good, lead the way."
I blinked as I was dragged along. I'm either the luckiest guy in the world or the unluckiest.
We walked to the restaurant and got a table for three by the street window. I blinked looking at the menu, it wasn't expensive, but it would end up putting a dent in my wallet. I hadn't gotten my first month's salary from the FF yet, so I had to keep everything limited, but I suppose a date with two beautiful women counted as a reasonable expense.
We quickly placed our orders, I sighed as I leaned back on my chair, "so, why did you want to go out for lunch?"
"I just felt like it," MJ shrugged, "besides, you said you wouldn't give me a look unless I took you out on a date, so here we are."
"You know you act differently when you're not with your entourage Red," Felicia commented.
MJ shrugged, "what do you mean?"
"You're not a stuck up bitch."
"W-well, I suppose," MJ didn't really know what to say.
"She's actually always like this," I told the platinum blonde, "it's only with those idiots does she act different."
"Peter that's rude," MJ huffed.
"What? They are idiots," I shrugged, "Liz is a drama queen, Flash is a hypocrite and Harry...well, you already know how he reacts when people don't do what he asks."
MJ sighed sadly, "yeah, you're right about Harry, but Liz and Flash are better than they seem Peter, trust me."
I shrugged, "we'll see."
"My my, all this teenage drama, I'm so happy I get to be a part of this," Felicia said rolling her eyes.
"Why don't you tell us a little bit about yourself Felicia?" I asked, "I mean, I don't actually know anything about you."
She raised a single eyebrow, "like what?"
"Do you like milk chocolate or dark chocolate?"
"Milk."
"Pepsi or Coke?"
"Coke."
"Scooby or Shaggy?"
"...who?"
"You know? From Scooby-doo? The kids show?"
"Oh, sorry no, I don't do kids shows."
"So what did you do when you were a kid?" MJ asked.
"Stuff."
"Like?" the red head seemed curious.
"Well...gymnastics for one."
"You're a gymnast?" MJ asked surprised.
"She does have the legs for it," I snorted. MJ glared at me while Felicia just smiled.
"Why Tiger, I never knew you were so bold," Felicia smirked, "didn't I tell you to stop perving on me?"
"I will when you stop stripping me with your eyes," I shrugged.
"You both are incorrigible," MJ sighed.
"Oh, is the little red head feeling left out?" Felicia chuckled, "don't worry, I'm sure we'll have more than enough time for you later."
"I hate you," MJ growled.
"No you don't," Felicia sang like a melody as she quietly checked out MJ's ass. MJ didn't notice it, but I did, Felicia definitely liked girls.
The date was weirdest one I have ever been on and the first one Peter Parker has ever been on. Well I suppose it wasn't really a date, more like an excuse to hang out. Felicia kept teasing MJ and I while we did our best to get her back, unfortunately the cat was too quick to catch off gaurd.
We finished lunch, I payed for half the meal while Felicia and MJ covered the rest. We then decided to go watch a movie, but one look at my watch and I realised I was late.
"Have somewhere you have to be Tiger?" Felicia asked as we walked down the road.
"Yeah, my self defense class is going to start soon," I replied with a shrug.
"You're taking self defense classes?" MJ asked in surprise.
"Yup," I nodded.
"Well well well, looks like the best friend next door doesn't know everything after all," Felicia smirked as MJ blushed.
"S-sorry," MJ apologized.
"Don't be, you were busy, I understand, it's fine," I shrugged.
MJ looked released but Felicia just chuckled, "oh no, 'it's fine', you're really in trouble now."
"What do you mean?" MJ asked.
"When a guy says it's fine or don't worry about it, it actually means he's going to fucking lose his patients and wants you to shut up or get lost. It's basically their version of...well I suppose women says 'it's fine' as well with the same meaning behind it."
I blinked, "huh, I never thought of it that way."
"Wait it's true?!" MJ shirked, "so all those times you said 'it's fine' or 'don't worry about it', you were actually pissed?!"
"Well...not all the time," I shrugged, "sometimes I really just didn't care."
"Oh my God," MJ bleached, "I've been a horrible friend."
"Hey don't worry about it, it's fine-I mean...you can always do better later," I shrugged.
"You mean that?"
"I don't see why not," I shrugged, "anyway Felicia, tell me, why exactly are you so determined to make-"
A police siren cut me off. I turned as saw a large 16 wheeler truck off in the distance take a turn into the 278 Highway with four police cruisers going after it in full speed. I felt something off, it was like there was going to be dangerous...I needed to help.
I turned to the two beautiful girls I was with and sighed. I understand why Peter sometimes wished he could stop being a fucking hero all the time.
"Sorry ladies, but I need to cut this date short," I said, "I really do need to go to my classes, I'll see you both tomorrow?"
"Wait, you're seriously just going to leave?" Felicia asked surprised.
"Yeah, my sensei is kind of a hard ass when it comes to discipline, don't want to piss her off," I lied.
"Well, okay I suppose," MJ didn't really feel like objecting.
"You do realise you're standing up two beautiful women right?" Felicia raised an eyebrow.
"Yeah, and trust me, I feel horrible," I sighed walking away, "I'll make it up to you both, I promise!"
"Bite me Parker!"
"Sure! Anything you want!" I smiled back before running off. I ran a block away, after making sure they weren't in sight I ran into an alley way and took out my mask. One great thing about Halloween? I was already in costume.
I put on my mask and web shooters, sticking my school backpack onto the wall with webbing. I jumped up and landed on the side of the building, crawling to the top. I jumped off the side and swung away towards the highway.
I quickly spotted the truck on the highway, it was going towards a tunnel. I swung towards the other side and waited for it to arrive. The moment it did I jumped on and clung to the sides with vigor, holding on for dear life as the truck's horn deafened my hearing.
'What is in this thing?!' I asked myself as I crawled slowly to the side, doing my best to not slip off. I could hear the police sirens in the back, and suddenly there was a loud horn, I snapped my head forward and saw the truck ram into a car throwing off to the side.
My eyes widened in horror, the man in the car was definitely dead, I swear I saw blood. I need to stop this guy, now!
I crawled to the driver's seat and looked inside seeing the driver holding his side as it bleed out into his hands.
I knocked on the door, the man turned and a threw a punch, shattering the glass and clocking him cross the jaw.
His hands feel of the wheel and I grabbed it, holding it steady with one hand as I pushed the driver off the seat with my other. I crawled in through the broken window and put my foot on the brake, slowly bringing the truck to a halt on the middle of the Highway.
I put the handbrake, took out the keys and snapped them in half to make sure they could never be used again. I turned to the unconscious driver and sighed, throwing him over my shoulder I jumped out of the trunk and walked out.
The police cars were stopped behind the car, the officers spotted me and quickly drew their weapons, "stop! Don't move or we will shoot!"
"Relax, I'm one of the good guys," I called out, "this guy's the driver, he's bleeding, will probably need medical attention and fast."
The officers blinked in surprise as they noticed the man I was carrying. A man with blonde hair and a greying jacket stepped forward, "everyone lower your guns, there's no reason to get an itchy trigger finger."
The policemen looked conflicted but slowly did so. I sighed, "thanks. I'm assuming you're in charge?"
The blonde man nodded, "yes, I'm captain Stacy and you're Spider-man yes?"
I paused, Stacy? As in Gwen Stacy's dad? Honestly I'm no longer surprised. But if he's here then where is...later, I'll deal with that later.
"Spider-man?" Stacy asked once more, raising an eyebrow at my silence.
"R-right, sorry, you remind me of someone I used to know," I told him, "this guy need help, fast."
"The ambulance will take too long, Rogers, St. Matthews is right around the corner, drop him off and get back her," Stacy ordered one of his men.
I gave the injured driver to an officer who struggled to lift the large man's weight, but eventually managed to put him in the back of his cruiser before speeding off.
"What happened here?" I asked turning to the captain, "where did they steal this thing?"
"I don't have to tell you that," Stacy shot back, "I appreciate what you're trying to do kid, but this is police business, you have no place in it."
"Right…." I blinked, I looked at them, they didn't look happy. I sighed, "fine, if you ever need me, shine a Spider in the sky or something."
I moved to leave when suddenly the truck started to shake. I stopped and every cop there drew their weapon. The truck's trailer began to shake from side to side and suddenly;
DUN!
I saw a giant hole imprinted onto the trailer's door from the inside.
DUN!
I gasped, something was coming, and fast. I spun my webs, creating several concrete hard lines from the light posts on either sides of of the highway. I really hoped that can be use some time.
"Everybody get down!" I yelled as suddenly;
DUN!
The doors were thrown off their hinges and flew over our head. My eyes widened in horror as a giant walking tank jumped down from the trailer, cracking the road. It was huge and grey, layered with tank armour, twin machine guns attached to it's side, a missile launcher on it's back and a horn the size of a man on it's semi-humanoid body.
I realised who this was, 'The Rhino,' one of Peter's most popular foes. It looked the version seen in Amazing Spider-man and on it' side I saw 'HammerTech' spray painted in bold white letters.
"Fuck me," I gasped seeing the size of it.
I heard it's mechanics whir into life as it turned towards me. The cockpit of the machine opened up revealing a butch looking man with a flat face, grinning like a madman. "I am the Rhino! Don't get in my way!"
He got on all fours, the machine calibrating itself. He then kicked off, charging forward. I saw Stacy freeze in shock as Rhino charged right at him.
"Look out!" I yelled webbing Stacy and pulling him out of the way just in time as the Rhino tore through the police cruisers. I turned to Stacy, on his back, "are you okay?"
"Y-yes, thank you," he muttered.
"No problem," I looked around, no one else seemed injured. I saw the Rhino jump lanes, landing on the other side of the highway with a crash so loud I was afraid the highway was going to break down. It looks like he was trying to escape, damn him.
I ran forward and jumped up onto a lamp post, I threw two web line and snagged them around the Rhino's torso, suddenly I went flying forward as the Rhino jumped off the highway and into the streets below.
'I need to stop him!' I pulled myself forward on the web line as he charged into the busy traffic filled street. People yelled in fear as they jumped out of their cars and ran as the Rhino tossed them aside with his horn.
"Hey grey boy!" I yelled, but he didn't respond, couldn't he hear me? I landed on his back and crawled towards the cockpit knocking on the glass, "hello? Anyone there?"
"Get off!" Rhino roared.
"Sorry, can't do that," I covered the glass with webbing in hopes of blinding him.
"Foolish boy, I can still see!" He laughed, shaking his head, luckily I held on tight.
'He must have cameras,' I realised, looking around for a camera and spotted three. One below the horn and two on his shoulders'. I quickly fried off three globs of webbing and covered them up.
"What did you do?!" Rhio roared
"Just a little something I whipped up," I adjusted my webbing to its hardest setting and crawled to it's under belly, launching them at his legs, pinning the armour to the road. It tried to move, but the surprising resistance and the forward movement caused him to trip and fall down.
I jumped away, quickly covering his arms and wrists with webbing and just to be safe I also covered his gun nozzle and missiles as well. Time to finish this. I grabbed a sewer lid with my webbing and pulled it forward. I held it over my head and brought it down hard like a guillotine over the glass.
"Stop it!" he roared, "you're destroying everything!"
"Not everything, just the suit," I growled as I brought it down again and again. The sewer lid was slowly bent inwards, but I could see cracks growing on the glass, it was tough, but soon it shattered.
"AH!" the man cried out, I think he got some glass in his eyes. I reached in and felt for a manual override, for a system like this there would have to be one in case the pilot got stuck inside. Finding a lever I pulled it on the back of the armour hissed opening up to reveal the leather coat wearing criminal inside.
I grabbed him and pulled him out. I was right, the shattered glass had cut his cheek. I looked him over and growled, "who the hell payed you?"
"I-I don't know what you mean!"
"You're not smart enough to steal tech like this, let alone use it. Who. Payed. YOU?!"
"I-I don't know! I swear!" the man cried out.
"You see this?" I pointed at the sewer cover now bent in half and the shattered Rhino armour, "that glass is supposed to handle a missile fire. I broke it and a bent sewer cower in half while doing so. What do you think I can do to you if I tried?"
"I don't know! Please don't hurt me! I didn't' do anything!"
"You didn't do anything?!" I roared turning him around, "look at what you did! Look at the people you hurt!"
A block of the city roads were destroyed. Car flipped over, people hurt, I wanted to help, but this man came first.
"I-I'm sorry! I didn't mean-"
"I'm giving you one chance, tell me everything, or I will make sure that every person here who you hurt will get a pound of your flesh to hang on their wall. And if I run out I'll use your bones."
"H-his name was Gentle, that's all I know! He told me his client wanted to hire me and my guys to steal a few things! He gave me everything! Cash, the truck, everything! He's the guy you want!"
I narrowed my eyes, "who hired him?"
"He didn't say! He just told me the guy was powerful and smart! He got us things we have never even seen before! Tech so advanced it was like we were dealing with alien shit!"
I narrowed my eyes, "where is it now?"
"In out hideout! I swear that's all I know! Please don't hurt me!"
I growled, "give me a location," he blabbered it out. I grabbed him by the collar and threw him into the air. I waited until the last moment to catch him with my webbing and strick him up like a fly caught in a spider's web.
I quickly got of the Rhino armour and ran to the injured people.
"It hurts!" a man pinned under a car cried out as people tried to lift it off him.
"Here let me," I walked up to them and grabbed the car and lifted with my legs, "pull him out! Quick!"
"Grab him!" Someone said as the people pulled the pinned man out.
I dropped the car with a huff, the man said his thanks, but I didn't respond, already on my way to another crisis.
A car had been flipped over and set on fire. It looked like it was about to explode and people couldn't get near it to save the unconscious people trapped inside. I quickly threw my webs onto the flame suffocating it. I then grabbed the car doors and ripped it off it's hinges, grabbing the mother and son and pulling them to safety.
It was longer to clean up the mess Rhino made than to actually stop him. It was so much easier to break than fix, people were hurt, the fight lasted for only a minute or so but so many people were hurt.
I did what I could, used my webbing to stop people from bleeding out, swung the really hurt ones to the nearest hospital, so on and so forth.
I noticed several Ambulances had arrived, but I didn't' stop. There were still people to save. It took nearly an hour for everything to be handles properly. I helped where I could and soon I realised people were staring at me. They were snapping pictures, whispering. I even saw a few news stations pointing their cameras at me.
"Spidey! Can we have a word?!" a news reporter asked.
"Sorry, no time," I told her, swinging away quickly. I quickly grabbed my school bag and swung my way towards Manhattan, their hideout was there. I found it quickly, found it hidden away in one corner, but it was easy to spot if you knew what to look for.
I snuck in through the window and crawled in. It looked like a gang of raccoons lived here, covered with trash and pornos. I moved past all that though and looked inside, finding a room that was cleaner than the rest.
It had a board with details of the heist put up. The truck to be used, what was to be stolen, the time and location of when to best make the heist. Everything. Sadly though didn't tell me why they suit was being stolen or for who.
I took out a mini SA out of my pocket and enlarged it to scan the entire board in one go. Never know when these things might be useful. I then looked around and found a table filled with the most advanced weaponry I have ever seen.
Night vision goggles, stun guns and sub-machine guns. Magnetic shoes, laser cutters, there was even a decoder box, something used to open high end safes. I figured the thieves had moe tools on hand and these were just the ones they didn't use.
I grabbed the night vision goggles and the decoder box, I can use the former when I'm going out in the dark and the latter could provide me with a clue.
Sneaking out the way I came in I swung towards the Baxter building and quickly went into my lab. I put the goggles aside and began to experiment on the decoder box, trying to figure out it's programing and what made it tick.
Just then Reed walked up in, he was surprised I was in costume but didn't comment on it. He looked at my table and blinked, "is that a decoder?"
I whistled, "you figured that out with one look?"
"Yes, what are you doing with it?" Reed asked.
"Did you see the NEWS?"
"You mean you taking on that armoured thief? Yes, I saw it. Sue was worried sick to be honest, Johnny however didn't seem to care, said you knew what you were doing. It looks impressive, I would love to get a good look at that thing. It's hydraulics are amazing, to allow something that heavy to jump so high? They're probably suing some sort of superposition liquid to…." I stared at him blankly, he blushed and rubbed his neck, "sorry for nerding out there."
"Relax, I'm a nerd too in case you didn't notice," I smiled back, "but yeah, the operator told me he was hired by someone. I found his hide out and took this," I tapped the decoder, "apparently his employer gave it to them to use. I'm trying to see if I can find a clue about it's production, something like this, bound to be expensive and noticeable."
Reed hummed as he looked it over. I had taken it apart, he quickly put it back together and connected it to my desktop computer. He quickly accessed the root system and sorted out through tens of gigabytes, finally arriving at the factory production details.
We skimmed through the basic details when Reed spotted it, "there," he pointed on the screen stopping the flow of data.
My eyes went wide, "holy shit." Staring at m in green letters were words I hoped I wouldn't see.
Oscorp Industries
"Fucking hell," I hissed, "not him."
"Oscorp huh, I didn't peg Norman Osborn for corporate espionage," Reed humned.
"What do you mean?"
"That suit they stole? It was Hammer's response to Stark's Ironman suit. Needless to say it wasn't anything great, but nobody knew that. Now since it's been exposed and stopped by some kid that shoots webs, the value for it to be a weapon of war just went down the drains. Hammer's stock is falling as we speak. If Osborn did do this then...well, I suppose it's because he wanted to shame Hammer."
I blinked, "that makes sense, but without proof I can't do anything," I hummed, "but why? What does he gain? Are Oscorp and Hammer Industries completing over some kind of military contract?"
"I don't know," Reed shrugged, "if they are they it's not public knowledge. But ever since Tony Stark became Iron Man there has been a race in arms, people want the suit, heck the congressional meeting in Washington scheduled for a few days from now addresses directly that. Companies want the latest toys and if they think someone is going to get it first you can be sure as hell they'll do anything to stop them."
I groaned, it made sense. Only question is, if Hammer was making the Rhino armour, what was Oscorp making? Flashes of a green suit and a glider flashed in my head, I really, really hope this doesn't mean Norman's going to go green any time soon.
I worked in the lab a little while longer before going home for the night. The next day at school Spider-man was once again the talk of the school.
I sat down in my history class and noticed a few kids looking over Flash's shoulder at a video showing me fighting the Rhino. Flash cheered as I broke the cockpit open pulling the man out.
"That's how it's done! You see that! That's a hero right there! He took him out in under a minute!" Flash cheered.
"Yeah, he's pretty cool," Harry admitted with a grin.
"He like broke into that guy's cage and threw him out! Did you see the way he like pinned that thing to the ground?!" Flash sound ecstatic, I smiled, nice to know I have such a loyal fan. I took my seat and Flash quickly spotted me.
"Hey Parker! You see this? This is what a real hero looks like!" Flash called out.
I rolled my eyes, "yeah Flash, I know."
"Do you think he can take on Iron Man?" Harry asked, "he probably could right?"
"I don't think so," Kong shrugged.
"Are you stupid! Of course he can!" Flash yelled out, "he's the coolest guy ever!"
"No, he can't, he won't a second against Stark," Felicia spoke out, I looked at her and gave her a smile, one she returned with a grin.
"You're crazy Felicia, of course he can!" Flash yelled out, "Iron Man's cool and all, but take that off and what is he?"
"Genius, billionaire, playboy, philanthropist," I spoke the iconic Avenger line without thinking. It just felt so natural.
"Shut up Parker," Flash growled, "he's a goddamn hero. Look at this! Tell me this doesn't make him a hero!" Flash shoved the video into my face, "he took that guy down in seconds!"
I shrugged, "impressive, but that doesn't make him a hero Flash."
"What?!"
"Peter you literally dressed up like him yesterday," Harry looked confused, "and now you're saying he isn't a hero?"
"I never said he wasn't a hero, I just said stopping that thing doesn't make him one," I grabbed the phone and played the video past me fighting Rhino, to when I began helping the injured people, "he fought that thing for what? A minute? That's great and all, but look at this, really look."
The class watched the video of me helping people out, lighting the car and then moving on to pull people out of a burning car.
"You see this? He did this for over an hour. He saved so many lives. This is why he's a hero, not the bing flashy stunts, any glory loving idiot can do that. But this? This is Spider-man and this is why he's a hero."
I tossed flash his phone and turned away. The others quickly went back into their own corners while Flash just stared at his phone in deep thought.
"That's pretty mature of you Tiger," Felicia purred.
I rolled my eyes, "I think I prefer Muscles."
"No, Tiger is a much better nickname. I really need to thank Red for it," she turned around to spot MJ gossiping with Liz, "when she stops acting like we don't exist."
I shrugged, "visa vi, that is life. Sorry about yesterday, I didn't mean to cut our date short."
"It wasn't really a date, you do know that right?" Felicia smile.
"Maybe one day it can be a real one then," I smiled as we got settled for class.
The week was a slow one, I mostly spent my time dealing with homework and bad guys on the street. A couple of times I help swing injured people to the hospital if the ambulance couldn't get there on time. I took extra care with people like that, often times not even swinging on my webs.
And on Friday I sat down with Ben and May and watched the Stark Expo Live. The camera faced the stage and I saw the roof open up and Tony land in the center in full gear. He smiled, gave his speech, made his jokes.
And just like that, Iron Man 2 had begun.
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