Advent of Midnight: Brotherhood of Night

Side Story #1: Unstoppable

Chapter #1: New Kid on The Block

Disclaimer: Spectacular Spider-Man is owned by Marvel Comics, Marvel Animation, and Disney, Darkstalkers and Devil May Cry are the property of Capcom. Other characters present are the property of their respective owners. This is merely for the purpose of entertainment for free, and no money is being made from this piece of fiction, nor is it meant to be official. It's only 'official' in terms of the fanfiction it's being spun off of.

Author's Note: Again, Rider Paladin is allowing me to write a short series in his own work, to enhance and build on his own work, as well as to exercise my creative muscle and hopefully get over this accursed writer's block.

20 Years Ago...

It had been just another day for the teenaged Michelle Badilino, daughter of an Italian NYPD detective and a Japanese woman who'd migrated to the states some 20 years previous. The family didn't have the most money, but they were happy. Michelle herself was attending high school in the day, and working in a deli at night, in order to help pay the bills. However, tonight was different. She could feel it in the air.

When she arrived at the family's suburban home, she found the door open, and could smell the scent of gunpowder, which hung heavily in the air. Fearful, she rushed inside, and found, to her horror, that her sisters and brothers, and mother, had all been shot repeatedly in the chest, and that her father, also dead from a shot to the head, was holding the gun in his hand. To her horror, she realized that something inconceivable had happened this night.

The girl fell to her knees, and began to sob, when suddenly a warm, bright light washed over her, and a figure with wings as white as ivory stood before her...

Now.

Detective Michelle Badilino had parked her sport cycle across the street from where Gwen Stacy was currently sitting with Peter Parker; the two weren't in class, because the Midtown Manhattan Magnet High School (commonly referred to as M3) was in a particularily sorry state thanks to a recent superhuman battle on the premises, her black helmet resting on the gas can lid, her short white hair brushing the sides of her face in the wind, the hair slightly spiked naturally. She wore a dark brown/black duster with her badge on one pocket, with black gloves with purple fingers, a purple blouse, black boots, black pants, a black open vest, a black tie, and a black choker from which a fair-sized medallion hung over some slightly exposed cleavage, her red eyes watching the passing students suspiciously. Her current assignment was different from what she was used to - rather than working the violent crimes unit, she was now to do bodyguard duty for Captain Stacy's daughter Gwen in light of the recent murders carried out by the Spider-Man-like individual who'd been making the force's days longer than the nights.

Badilino had met the girl shortly before the assignment, and learned a surprising secret from the eye contact, though what this secret was and what method she learned it by would be made clear soon enough...but not now. However, after a few moments, she felt a strange sensation in the pit of her stomach...not strange like usual, which was a burning sensation, where she felt as though her insides were on fire, and the pain would come, as it had for 20 years since that fateful night so long ago. This feeling, however, was more like the one she got from the especially nasty thugs her unit ran across...only multiplied by ten. After a few moments, she singled out the source of this feeling - a tall young man with a somewhat muscular form, wearing a black t-shirt, black jeans, black sneakers, and a black wrist watch, with black fight gloves sticking out of the back pockets. Clearly this young man was someone of interest...as she watched him, she could feel the tell-tale lick of flames wash over her, and with some considerable effort, she banished the blue-green fire, face paling considerably. 'Not now...not in public...'

The young man in question was one Stephen Black, a student who had been at M3 for two years now, but had only changed dramatically in the past six months. At first he'd just been a scrawny, nerd-looking type, but recently he'd become considerably more built, and taller, and certainly stronger. However, he usually spent most of his time in detention. Today, however, was one of the days where, surprisingly, he wasn't in any trouble yet. So he decided to do what passed for fun for him, and freak out the girls. As he walked down the street, he stopped when he arrived at the cafe/coffee shop frequented by the other students, and grinned as he regarded the people present.

Today's target - Liz Allan, the hispanic beauty who'd left Flash Thompson after his injury. Stephen admired her beauty, but as he did everyone else, he despised her as a person, deeming her too shallow and airheaded to be of any value. However, that wasn't going to stop him from being as disturbing as usual.

"Hey, Lizzie..." He said, in a smarmy fashion, grinning as he blocked her passage in the hall. The brunette smiled nervously, and backed up a bit.

"H-hey, Stephen...what's up?"

"Not much, not much...give any thought to my offer?"

"W-what offer was that again?"

"You know...you, me, the back of the school..."

The girl went a deep shade of red, and the young man grinned. He'd clearly embarassed her. Now to see who would intervene...and who would it be but the former BMOC himself, Flash Thompson.

"Hey, jerk! Back off!" the former jock in question grabbed the other boy by the shoulder, and attempted to spin him around, only to find that it was like trying to move a wall.

"Thank you, Flash, for being a tough guy," Stephen smirked, and turned around on his own, pulling his right arm back, his hand a fist, and with a dark chuckle, he let Flash have it, punching the other young man in the nose and breaking it. As Flash fell down, dazed, grasping his nose, his crutches hit the floor with a thump and he felt a severe pain go up his leg.

"Gah!"

"FLASH!" Liz's eyes went wide, but this sudden explosion of violence from the dark-clad Stephen kept her from moving to her ex's aid. Suddenly, a crowd began to form, and soon enough, Peter Parker had pushed through the crowd, eyes going wide as he regarded the scene - Flash laying back as though dead, and the blood dripping from Stephen's knuckles.

"Stephen! Leave them alone!" The boy glared at the bully, who merely shrugged, laughing cruelly as he regarded Flash laying back.

"You know, Parker, I bet in the old days, you would've loved to see Thompson knocked on his ass..." The bully ignored the veiled threat, and turned again, the crowd hurriedly getting out of his way, fearful that his impressive strength would be turned on them...except for Peter. Peter was about to get in the other boy's way when a hand placed itself on his shoulder. He turned around, and, surprised, came face to face with Gwen.

"Peter, don't..." the blonde warned, a worried tone to her voice. Stephen regarded Peter for a moment, then, with a chuckle and a sigh, he turned around, and faced the former victim.

"Parker. If you want me to stop picking on Lizzie, and Flashie, and their little buddies, meet me at M3 in an hour. Bring your girlfriend if you want...you're gonna need someone to scrape you off the floor...and if anyone else shows up, they're next on my list of people to beat down."

The other students took this seriously, and quickly dispersed, save for Rand and Kenny, who helped Flash back up, and over to a chair.

'Great...psycho boy wants a fight...' Peter thought ruefully. 'Well, I can take him, no problem.'

And indeed, an hour later, at the damaged M3 school, Peter Parker arrived and found Stephen sitting on the school steps, a bored expression on his face and his fighting gloves on. When the dark-clad young man saw the other boy arrive, he grinned, rather evilly, an expression which would seem more at home on the face of one of his many super villain foes. Suddenly, the young man felt a familar presence behind him, and turned, seeing Lilith standing behind him, wearing a broad grin as she watched the brunet young man. "Lilith? What are you doing here?"

"Well, let's see...you're going to be fighting a bully...who's no match for you. Come on, I had to be here for this, Petey." the Succubus giggled. However, her presence had an unsettling effect on the bully in question, who reached down to a piece of broken wall on the ground. At first it seemed like nothing, but then Peter's spider-sense went off...and he dove on top of Lilith, knocking her to the ground as the stone soared through the air that was now occupying the space where the lavender haired demon's head had been. "Woo! While I appreciate this forwardness, I don't think this is a good time, as hard as it is to believe."

"Parker! You're not just some nerd, are you? ARE YOU?!" Stephen roared with impressive volume, and reached out, his fingers digging into the outer wall of the school, and ripped out a massive chunk of masonry, hefting it over his head with ease, before hurling it at the two, separating Peter from Lilith. The young man tensed for the attack, as Stephen began to charge forward...only for Stephen to power on past him and collide into Lilith, knocking the wind out of her and smashing her into the side of a car. "Well, whatever. I found you, skank. Now I'm gonna kill you, just like the boss wants." With that, Stephen began throwing punches, Lilith's head rapidly moving from side to side, the blows narrowly missing her head and crumpling the car's frame until finally one fist sunk into through the metal, getting stuck for a moment. Lilith used this as an opportunity to smirk coquettishly and kick Stephen between the legs...only for her to let out a yelp as a result, finding the young man's nether regions rather like a piece of solid stone...in the sense that it was like kicking solid stone. Painful, obviously. She did, however, manage to slink away as he tried to free his hand, a furious expression on his face. Her wings emerged from her back, and she flew up into the air, only to find that Stephen was now hefting the car over his head, and hurled it at her, before jumping up into the air as well.

The lavender-haired girl avoided both attacks with ease. Meanwhile, Peter had changed into his costume, and now the amazing Spider-Man was getting in on the action now. The young man propelled himself on a webline, and slammed his feet into Stephen's chest, also finding that the young man was as tough as stone. However, the force of the impact was enough to send him falling down to earth with an explosive thud, tearing a mighty crater into the courtyard of the school.

"Well, well, well...didn't think you were Spider-Man, Parker. Just makes this more fun for me." The young man crowed, standing up, seemingly unhurt for the mighty impact, though he was beginning to sweat, his hair sticking to his forehead a bit. "I just hope I don't need to use all my power. The boss wouldn't like me to be revealed so soon, especially in this city."

"So, you're working for the Big Man, I take it?" The wallcrawler quipped, beginning to fire web balls at the black clad young man, who let them bounce off his chest with ease, yawning theatrically, before charging again, the ground shaking as though there was an earthquake, Stephen now directing himself at Spider-Man. The teen hero leapt over his schoolmate's head, and snared him with a jet of webbing, locking his arms and legs in place...for all of ten seconds. Soon the webbing was shredded and tossed aside, Stephen looking annoyed now.

"Big Man? Sorry, never heard of him. I work for a guy that's a lot more powerful...and unstoppable, too."

As Lilith heard this exchange, it occurred to her exactly where she'd seen this kind of power before, an amused look on her face for a few moments, though, for the merest second, there was a hint of fear in her eyes.

Badilino had followed Parker to the school, and was amazed at what she was seeing - namely, the displays of superhuman abilities, and the appearance of Spider-Man himself at the scene. Surely this was her opportunity to learn more about the current case that was plaguing the precinct. All she had to do was get close. However, the dark feeling that she was getting from the young man before was intensifying...as was the feeling of her body on fire. Finally, before anything else could happened, she gunned the engine of her bike, and, taking a page out of a previous fight that had taken place at M3, aimed her bike at the young man...

The bike exploded when it hit Stephen, due in part to Michelle shooting the gas-tank with her police-issue sidearm, hitting the ground with a thud and rolling until she came to a stop near the ruined fountain.

"Uhm....thanks?" Spider-Man regarded her suspiciously, just before the remains of the bike were sent flying at them. The wallcrawler pushed her aside, and jumped away himself, the two of them narrowly avoiding immolation by burning, twisted metal. "Yikes! That was too hot!"

"You whore!" the young man screamed as he emerged from the fire, signs of damage finally visible on him - his face was cut and bleeding, and parts of his skin were burnt from the fire of the tank...though not from the explosion itself. "You brought this on yourself!" And with that, the young man began to glow red, before his body began to swell and enlarge, his clothing stretching and expanding with his body, a dome-shaped black helmet forming around his head, until soon he was standing at eight feet in height, with a muscle-bound figure that would put the Rhino to shame. "Now you're dealing with the Juggernaut, b____!"

"What the hell...?" Badilino was in awe for a moment, before she let out a piercing scream, her body engulfed in blue-green flames, the skin and muscle burning away, spikes bursting out of the shoulders and outer arms of her jacket, studded knuckles forming on her gloves. Soon the fire had burned all the meat away from her body, leaving behind a blue-green skull (which was all that was visible at the moment) with sabertooth-like fangs, and spikes emerging from the middle and crown like some kind of demonic mohawk. "GRAAAAA!"

"Well, well, well...looks like I'm not the only one hiding something around here...this may just be more fun than I thought it was gonna be...hehehe..." the large figure cracked his knuckles, an evil smirk on his face..or rather, what was visible of his face through his helmet's mouth and eye holes.

"Hooo, boy..." was all Spider-Man could say.

End Notes: And here ends the first chapter of this very short story. In case anyone's wondering, Michelle Badilino is a female version of the original version of the Ghost Rider supporting character vengeance, albeit her demonic form being styled after the new one, Kowalski. And Stephen Black is my version of the young boy who, in past X-Men books, was found torturing animals (or so I read) by the previous Juggernaut, Cain Marko, who at the time was depowered, and later become the Juggernaut himself, for a short lived period of time.