NOTE: I must apologize for my lateness. Unfortunately, school and life got in the way. I hope you understand. Now on with the show…
Previously in Spider-Man: With Great Power…
Spider-Man has fought a battle on two fronts. Mephisto has sworn revenge upon the Parkers for rejecting his offer, attacking Spider-Man twice already in his quest for vengeance. At the same time, Norman Osborn has decided to eliminate Spider-Man as an obstacle to his still unspecified plans, sending former friends, old enemies, and adversaries anew to deal with the wall crawler.
As if these two weren't enough, a third new threat in the form of an enigmatic man in black has been collecting some of Spider-Man's old foes in a bid to exact payback from Spider-Man. Bringing in such dangerous foes as the Hobgoblin, the Rhino, and Electro; this new enemy won't stop until Peter Parker has paid for his sins.
And if this new foe has any say on the matter, Peter will be start paying now…
"Uh-uh. There's NO way I'm budging on this. No way, no how."
Peter Parker stood firm, arms crossed and face stern. He'd faced down the likes of the Juggernaut before and lived. He wasn't to yield.
Neither was his wife.
"No buts! WE are going to go to the theater and WE are going to go see what I want to see!", the fiery redhead interjected.
Peter was standing his ground… sort of. "Oh, come on! I'm compromising on going to see a play, right? Can I at least pick what I want to see?"
MJ shot back with "Oh, I KNOW what you're going to pick. No way. We're seeing A Midsummer Night's Dream and that is that."
Peter let out an annoyed moan that'd make Homer Simpson proud. "But I don't want to see that! It's stupid and cheesy!"
MJ's eyebrow lifted into an arch. "You said you loved it the last time you saw it."
Peter retorted, "You were IN IT! I could have seen Springtime for Hitler and still love it if you were in it!"
MJ wasn't going to back off, "Doesn't matter… we're still seeing it."
Peter could feel himself losing ground. "Can't we just see what I want to see?"
"WE ARE NOT GOING TO SEE SPAMALOT!!"
Peter went from a firm superhero to a pouting five-year-old in seconds flat. "Bu—bu—but… I want to see Spamalot…"
MJ let out an irritated sigh. "Peter… please. I'm several weeks pregnant and I really need this. Please just go with me to see this. I'd really appreciate it."
That was it. A man who lifted several tons of wreckage off him, bested villains far more powerful than himself, and saved the world time and again just once again found himself unable to resist the pleas of a certain pretty redhead bearing the seed of his loins. His head dropped in a signal of defeat
"Ok… fine… but I'm not going to enjoy it!"
"Oh, yes, you are!"
"Yes, dear…"
Meanwhile…
A black helicopter descended from the red dusk sky onto the roof of the Daily Bugle. Eight figures jumped out to the concrete surface below and made their way to the large door leading to the inside. Electro grabbed the door handle and sent a surge of electricity into the door, shorting out the computerized lock and leaving the entryway to their target wide open.
The group's mysterious employer then turned to give the group their instructions. "Hobgoblin, Vulture—you two circle the building and wait for my signal. Rhino, you stay up here and wait, too. The rest of you are to come with me."
As the team split up, the man in black led his team down the stairway to the offices of J. Jonah Jameson, Betty Brant, Joe Robertson and all the major players of the Daily Bugle paper.
As they made their way down, Electro had the need to inject. "So, what do we call this little group?"
"Do we have to call ourselves anything?" Chameleon responded.
"Well… usually when we have these groups of villains, we call ourselves something."
"So?"
"So, are we the Sinister Eight or something?"
"That's stupid. And why does all these groups feel the need to put "Sinister" in their name? It's not like we're being run by that albino Mengele the X-Men always deal with."
"Well, what about the Masters?"
"It's been taken."
"The Spider-Man Revenge Squad?"
"Too on the nose."
"The Legion of Doom?"
"You want to get sued?"
The man in black interjected himself into the middle of this absurd debate. "Mr. Dillion, if I knew you'd be such a blathering idiot, I would have pumped two into your head and taken Toomes alone. Now, shut up before I decide to cut my losses."
Reaching their destination, Delilah kicked open the door and tossed a flashbang into the midst which served to disorient the population inside.
The villains ran inside and began to cause havoc, breaking everything they could and knocking out all in attendance. The air felt hot and dry as lightning bolts shot every which way. The sound of panic was sharp and deafening. Unconscious bodies fell in every direction.
Eyeballing Jameson, the mystery man could see Old Flattop dash behind his desk with his phone. A small smile spread across the mysterious figure's face. All was going according to plan…
Moments later…
Mary Jane stood furious when arms crossed and brow stern. "You are NOT going out there tonight!"
Peter stood, half clad in his Spider-Man uniform as the TV blared the crisis at the Bugle, once again invoking the spirit of the mighty toddler. "Bu—Bu—But… people! Danger! I'm Spider-Man! Must protect!"
"For the love of God, Peter…" MJ said in exasperation "…can't you let the Avengers or the Fantastic Four or whoever take care of that? Let somebody whose actually licensed for this take care of it for once."
"MJ, the Bugle is MY beat! My friends are in there! I can't let them down!"
"Oh, yes, because the company whose been trashing your name and calling you a menace since you had pimples… oh, yes, just the paragon of fellowship right there!"
"You know what I mean! This is important here!"
MJ held her face in frustration. "Dang it, Peter, you PROMISED me this. You promised me. All this stuff is just going to drive me to drink. Can't you just ONCE let the authorities handle this?"
Peter gave the look more dreaded than the sad puppy look. It was the "Power and Responsibility" look. You just can't beat the "Power and Responsibility" look.
MJ let out a sigh. "Fine… you could meet me at the theater. Just go save the Bugle."
Peter let out a big, goofy grin before pulling on the rest of his outfit and leaping to the window to jump out the window.
MJ interjected before he departed, "But if you're a second late, I'll march to that Bugle myself, waste the entire lot of them and DRAG you to see Grease every night for the next month."
"Baby…" Spider-Man as his mask came down, "… that's why you're my woman."
Back at the Daily Bugle…
The man in black stood patiently at the center of the office. A little perspiration was starting to shake loose. His heart beat a little faster than usual. He was getting restless. His prey should have been here by now.
Relief came in the form of a gargling voice of a decrepit old man over the walkie-talkie.
"Spider-Man is coming your way! I repeat, Spider-Man is coming your way!" Vulture squealed into the radio.
The man in black responded, "Get to your position with Kingsley. Initiate the next step in two minutes exactly." The game was afoot.
Not ten seconds later, a ball of red and blue crashed through the window. Spider-Man took a quick survey of his surroundings when his Spider-Sense blared like crazy. He ducked in time to see two silver tentacles swing past his head. The hero instinctively fell close to the ground to give a leg sweep that sent Lady Octopus crashing to the floor.
"Hey, not that I mind you guys trying to drag me away from 50's slang and greasy hair, but if you guys could manage to do it when my wife ISN'T being a volcano of partum mayhem, that'd just be super-de-duper."
His Spider-Sense then shot off again as he twisted into a human cigarette to avoid the electric blast flying just past his body. With his feet connecting to the wall, the web-slinger shot a line of web to the downed mad scientist before him and mule kicked her into the green and yellow buffoon twenty paces away. The two villains managed to slam backwards to the cubicle behind Dillion.
Peter then laid eyes on the man in black, the man behind everything. His eyes bulged behind the expansive white material in front of them. He felt his pulse quicken and his blood feel like high voltage.
"Gabriel? Is that you?"
The man smiled slightly like a cat soon ready to devour the mouse. He was Gabriel Stacy, the son of Gwen Stacy and the brother of his sister, Sarah. Some time before, he initiated an attack on both Peter Parker and Spider-Man, men he had no idea were the same until one fateful day in a cemetery. From then on, Gabriel's life had been a whirlwind of turmoil. Learning his father was, in fact, the lying sociopath who was the real party deserving of the twins' rage for their mother's death, Gabriel donned the mantle of the Goblin. After being defeated and separated from his beloved sister, Gabriel was a stew of amnesic and paranoid frenzies. That day is the past, however. Gabriel now stood before Spider-Man, purpose renewed and destiny acknowledged.
"You look like you've seen a ghost, Mr. Parker…"
Spider-Man shot back, "Gabriel… what you doing? Stop this madness! This is insanity!"
Gabriel brushed the plea aside. "Oh, what? I'm going to hurt a lot of people? These innocent lives could be critically injured? Don't give me your projected, sanctimonious babble. YOU'RE the man here whose put them in danger! You talk of responsibility, but you NEVER accept it yourself. You put on your mask and punch dangerous people in the face and then act indignant when those people end up hurting those around you. But, look at you. You don't care. You never cared. Not even when your precious aunt dies because of you. If anyone here is insane, it's you."
Spider-Man was so shocked, he neglected to notice his Spider-Sense screaming at him over the Chameleon charging behind him with a cattle prod. The voltage was excruciating and sharp. Peter's scream ripped through the air like a wounded lion's. The bolts seemed to dance in Spider-Man's nervous system forever.
Chameleon lifted the prod only to have come crashing down upon the wall-crawler's head. And again. And again. And again. The beating felt like a lifetime. The Chameleon's audible glee shot out like a little kid at Christmas. It wasn't long before Spider-Man was on the ground in unbearable agony.
Delilah came running, sword drawn and intent murderous. Leaping to a desk nearby, the assassin came jumping into a pounce, ready to gut Spider-Man like a downed kill.
"NO!" Gabriel's voice was authoritative and stern. It was clear death was not yet set for Spider-Man. Gun drawn, Gabriel fired three shots that hit Delilah in center mass. She flew back, eyes rolling up and body going steadily limp.
The woman hit the ground hard with a horrible thud. Blood poured out of the three holes in her body. Her breath was labored and her vitality was clearly in jeopardy.
The Chameleon shot a look of bewilderment and shock. Gabriel shot back with a cold and stone-hard look. "He isn't to be killed. Not yet."
The pale faced disguise artist complied. He had no intention of angering his new boss.
Suddenly, however, red and blue flashed yet again as Spider-Man leaped to the ceiling and dove towards Gabriel. His feet connected to the villain's chest as both came down with a crash.
Groggy and disoriented, Gabriel managed to yell into his still-live radio, "Toomes! Kingsley! NOW!"
Spider-Man turned to see a mass of black orbs outside speeding quickly towards the office. Glass shattered as the orb came racing through the air before stopping to explode in a blob of green smoke and emerald fire.
The oxygen became scarce in the room as the jade smog filled the floor. Spider-Man turned away from his fallen opponent to gag and cough.
Gabriel rose to his feet as he yelled into the radio, "Rhino, drop now!"
Seconds later, Peter Parker could hear the building rattle and see the foundations shake as the grey mass of muscle came crashing down on top of him. The force easily pushed him down as he continued onto the floor below. He slammed down with an impact that left the floor cracked and tarnished. He could feel his ribs slide and crack as he could hear the helicopter blades whizzing outside. The villains got away.
Still, he wondered, why go through all this trouble to not kill him. It didn't make sense.
Nevertheless, it wasn't the time to debate this. He had to change clothes, go to Broadway in ten minutes , and manage to not let his wife figure out he just suffered cracked ribs.
"Ah…" he said to himself "…the life of an illegal superhero."
"You're really cutting it close here, Pete." MJ said with a scowl.
"Hey, I made it, right?" Peter said with his clothes still shuffled and odd placed.
His wife gave him a good glare before saying, "I suppose."
Peter knew he was still on the razor's edge. "Um… we'll go get dinner at a nice restaurant later?"
Her face remained unchanged.
"Uh… we'll rent a nice chick flick to watch tomorrow?"
Her glare was like stone.
"I'll… uh… take you shoe-shopping?"
MJ finally let out that sly giggle that only came out of her and evil, little seven-year old girls that got everything. "Okay."
Finally, they departed inside for a night of show tunes and 50's kitsch.
On the ledge across the street stood the remaining villains, watching the hero like a hawk on a mouse. The plan worked. The gas nullified his Spider-Sense, allowing them to track him without alerting him. Now, all they had to do was sit and wait before the real fun began…
To be continued…
NEXT ISSUE: Gabriel Stacy and his gang once again go after Spider-Man as the truth behind his conception is revealed…