Spider-Man Tales
New Ground Chapter I
Recognition
Disclaimer: Spider-Man belongs to Marvel Comics ltd. I do not own the rights to Spider-Man or any characters to do with him. I only hold right to the story and universe.
The Daily Bugle
The Daily Bugle had been seriously understaffed for some time. Reporters had either quit or had been fired due to stress and incompetent work, all been caused by working under the impossible J. Jonah Jameson. To add to the frustration, Jameson was continuously being bombarded with numerous reports of the mysterious masked Spider-Man and he was so desperate to get a full exclusive on the mysterious wall crawler. He sat there behind his desk, rubbing his temples with frustration. He puffed away at his Cuban cigar as he tried to organise his creased up newspaper articles that were scattered all over his desk. he reports of all sorts such as crime, sports, finance, weather, critic reviews and the funny pages, but he had no front page material and especially no material on Spider-Man. as he tapped his cigar ashes into his overfilled ash tray, he failed to realise that his chief editor, Joe Robertson had entered his office.
He sat himself down quietly in front of Jameson and observed his stressful behaviour.
"You do know that you're not supposed to be stressing?" he said, surprising the old chief publisher.
"Well can't you blame me?" Jameson replied. "We're only down to ten people here and it's leaving the Bugle as a ghost town. On top of that, every other newspaper company has big news on this Spider-Man except us. Why do you think that is Robbie?"
"Because we need new photographers and reporters?" Robertson replied.
"Precisely." Jameson replied. "We need a new staff. All I have left is you, Betty Brant and Ned Leeds and he nearly died twice while he was out in Afghanistan the other year."
"Well out of the interviews we held yesterday, two students who just graduated from Empire State University proved useful to us." Robertson noted as he just remembered something that could save the Bugle.
"Oh yeah? Who?" Jameson quizzed as he didn't believe in kids having jobs at his building.
"Peter Parker and Gwen Stacy." Robertson announced as he read the results slip which he pulled out of his pocket. "Mr Parker applied for a staff photographer but we can put him on a freelance salary and Miss Stacy applied for a job as a staff reporter. By looking at her resume, she has the grades to be a reporter too."
"Robbie that is a swell idea." Jameson replied as his face lit up. "When can they start?"
"Why don't you make that call?" Robertson asked. "You're boss around here not me?"
"Ok they can start tomorrow." Jameson replied. "I'll see Parker and show him around while you show Miss Stacy to her new job and see that she gets started."
"Isn't that pushing them a bit JJ?"
"Yes, but the sooner, we can get them working, the sooner we can get the Bugle back up and running again."
As Robertson got up to leave, Ned Leeds burst his way into the room, holding his mobile phone. He tried to catch his breath before screaming out the news.
"There's a major weapons heist going down at the docks!" he screamed. "Apparently, they're being stolen by the Apocalypse gang!"
"You know what to do Leeds?" Jameson replied. "Get down there and get the story, oh and take any photographer with you!"
Ned darted out of the room and headed down the main corridor. Jameson hoped that Spider-Man would be there as well as the Apocalypse gang and one thing was for sure, it was his last chance at getting Spider-Man on the front page.
The Parker Home
It was a very quiet evening over in the Forest Hills area of the city. The moon had cast a shadow over the area, particularly the street where Peter Parker and Mary-Jane Watson lived.
Peter Parker was nervous, when he received the call from the Bugle. He was ecstatic when he heard that he got the job as a photographer and couldn't wait to begin his job. However it was getting late and he was getting ready to walk Mary-Jane home. The two of them had been working on a secret project that was for their eyes only. Aunt May had entered the house, startling the two of them.
"Quick MJ." He whispered. "Hide the costume quick!"
MJ hid a strange box under Peter's thick, wooden bed and pulled the covers over it. Aunt May entered the to catch the pair, at Peter's desk on the computer.
"Evening you two?" she said with a smile. "What are we looking up on Google this time?"
"Actually we're turning it off Aunt May." Peter replied. I'm about to walk MJ home."
"Oh right." Aunt May replied. "Well be careful you two. It's getting dark earlier now. You can't be too careful with that Spider-Man creature flying around the place."
"I'm pretty sure that Spider-Man is a man not a creature." Peter replied as he gave his aunt a hug. "But don't you worry, we'll be just fine. Besides, I have to be fine. I got the job."
"You mean, the Bugle called?" Aunt May asked with surprise.
"That's right Mrs Parker." MJ answered. "Peter got the job. He's going to be a freelance photographer on Monday."
"I'll tell you more about it later Aunt May." Peter continued. "Times getting on."
Peter and Mary Jane walked towards the front door and stepped out into the street.
Forest Hills - In the street
Peter and Mary Jane had been friends for as long as they could remember. They were inseparable, even when they dated other people. At times, Peter regarded MJ as the sister that he never had. They always looked out for each other and they were always there for each other, but then things began to change and it tested their friendship to the limit.
Peter had become Spider-Man after his beloved Uncle Ben had been murdered by a thief. Peter knew his responsibilities well but had to remain faithful to Mary-Jane. He didn't want to hide anything from his best friend and decided to tell her everything. Instead of reacting badly to the news that Peter was Spider-Man, Mary Jane was excited and wanted to help out in anyway that she could. Peter was so relieved and promised MJ that he would never let anyone hurt her, but now another girl was in his life and she was now going to work with him. Gwen Stacy.
Peter and Gwen both studied science and media at E.S.U. They became close and eventually they dated for a few months, but Peter knew that he had two jobs to do. Fight crime as Spider-Man and look after Mary-Jane the best he could. She was family to him as well as Aunt May and he made sure that she had his love as much as his Aunt did. Now the question was simple. would he still be there for her now that he had a job to go to?
Peter walked MJ down the street towards her house. He was surprised at how his best friend was so proud of him more than his Aunt was. He couldn't help but feel threatened by the Bugle because of Gwen's appearance.
"Don't worry about it Peter." MJ assured him. "After all it's a freelance job so you'll hardly be at the Bugle anyway. Gwen will hardly see you?"
"I'm surprised that you and Gwen became friends anyway?" Peter replied with a smile. "I thought you were jealous of her?"
"I was." MJ replied cheekily. "I just wanted things to be easier for you because of the time."
"You mean Uncle Ben's death?" Peter smirked. "You're right. I'll hardly be there. You never know. I might even get you a job there?"
"Um…No" MJ joked. "I want to be an actress."
"Sure thing." Peter replied. "That's the thing I love about you. Self-drive. I mean, you know what you want to do. I didn't know what to do at first so I ended up taking a job in photography."
"Well you've certainly done it now. You're raking in the money. Just what you and Aunt May need." MJ replied as they arrived at her house. "And Peter, Don't worry. We'll never lose each other whatever happens."
Peter smiled with relief, gave MJ a kiss on the cheek and returned back to his house. He felt relieved to know that he could live his life as three different people. Peter the best friend, Peter the photographer and Spider-Man. what else could he be in the near future. One thing was for sure, it wouldn't be long before he'd find out.
The Parker House
As Peter returned home, he realised that Aunt May had gone to bed so he went into the living room and switched on the TV. A news broadcast appeared on the screen, which caught Peter's attention. He turned up the volume slightly so he could here the story.
"Police have sealed of the eastern docks completely, keeping the suspects surrounded until the FBI arrive." The news reader said. "The suspects have been reported to be the Apocalypse gang, a ruthless gang who roam the streets of the area. They are presumed armed and dangerous and police officials urge civilians to remain in their homes."
"And then there's Spider-Man." Peter muttered as he switched off the TV and headed upstairs.
The Eastern Docks
The Police had kept the Apocalypse gang cornered for near two and half hours and there was still no sign of back-up. police crews were about to take desperate measures, by going in fully armed. Outside the main entrance, Captain George Stacy waited for new instructions to move in. he waited patiently at his car as he waited from a radio call from his superior. None of them realised that Spider-Man was swinging right up above them.
Spider-Man clinged onto the building opposite the dock entrance and used his spider-sense to locate the gang members. He found them instantly and leaped over onto the warehouse roofs.
"Look at the Mohawk on that guy?" he thought. "I could spot him a mile away?"
He leaped on, using the shadows as cover until he found a perch point that was in the shadows and was situated above the gang members. Spider-Man quietly observed the shipment.
"Looks like they're dealing with AK 47's and they look like modified tec-9 machine pistols." He thought. "Looks like I better bring this little mothers meeting to a close."
He shot a thick strand of webbing and pulled a gang member off the ground. His scream's alerted the other members.
"It's Spider-Man!" a member shouted. "Blast him!"
"Blast me?" Spider-Man mocked, realising that he had been spotted. "How are you going to do that? You're too dumb to even handle a gun?"
The gang members all took a gun each and fired them at the wall-crawler. Using his reflexes, Spider-Man dodged and jumped the strong fire blasts. As he did his aerobatics he continued to mock, while firing web balls from his small web shooters.
"Real big effort guys. Seriously, you all know how to fire a gun. So why cant you all use a knife and fork properly?"
"Shut up or I'll shut you up for good!" the gang leader threatened.
"What from down there?" Spider-Man joked. "How do you plan on shutting me up?"
"With this!" the gang leader replied as he trained his gun on Spider-Man.
Spider-Man dodged his gun fire and prepared to dive down for his attack punch.
"No that's firing a gun not shutting me up." he continued to joke as he punched the leader in the jaw with full force.
"Seriously, you guys don't know anything?"
Another gang member came up from behind and tried ramming a cro-bar at the wall-crawler, but instead, he missed and smashed up a near by electric generator, electrocuting himself in the process.
"Oh very well done." Spider-Man clapped sarcastically. "Knock out the power why don't you?"
Suddenly, his spider-sense caused his head to burn. Another member was creeping up on him from behind.
"Don't try it sunshine!" he said as webbed up the silent assailant.
A few minuets later and Spider-Man webbed up the four Apocalypse members. The emergency generators clicked on, lighting up the place. He then heard the main gates open, which meant that the police had began to move in.
"Better make myself scarce!" he thought as leaped back onto the rooftops. He darted into the shadows before shooting a web line at the building infront of him. Before the police could take to the rooftops, Spider-Man had gone.
Captain Stacy was about to depart back to the station when a officer approached him with a note. He handed the note to Stacy who read it aloud.
"From you're friendly neighbourhood Spider-Man." he said. "Him again!"
"Who the hell is this guy captain?" the officer asked. "We found the apocalypse gang members tied together with this web stuff again!"
"Nobody knows who this guy actually is." Stacy replied. "But all I know is this. He keeps appearing every time something big like this is happening and I'm getting very interested in all the evidence that he leaves behind."
"Are you going to appeal for a unit to deal with him sir?" the officer asked.
"No lieutenant." Stacy replied. "I know fully well that he's the one on our side. I'm going to start an unofficial project on Spider-Man. I'm going to collect witness accounts, photos and evidence and I'm going to get to the bottom of this mystery."
The two officers got into their unmarked squad car and began to drive back towards the police station that they were based at. As Stacy was driving, the officer continued to ask him about his project.
"What is the aim of all this captain?"
"It's pretty simple to be honest with you." Stacy replied. "I just plan to get to know him, become allies if not friends with him and see if he's human or not. I want to know what his true intentions are."
The Daily Bugle
Monday had arrived and Peter had made his way to the Finance district where the Daily Bugle was situated. It had been a long journey, but Peter didn't care for he was too nervous to actually think about timing his journey. Instead of planning to take the subway with the other heavy commuters, he decided to take the faster option and swing there as Spider-Man. he knew that he could take to the rooftops much faster thus cutting the travelling time by twenty minuets. In fact, he was ten minuets earlier than he had originally anticipated. As he made his way through the main entrance, he was stopped by a familiar voice, a voice that he hoped not to hear.
"Peter? Peter Parker?"
Peter took a deep breath turned round to see the young and beautiful Gwen Stacy approach him from the kiosk stand behind him. It had been a while since he had saw her last and was amazed at her appearance. Gwen had dressed up smart like the average reporter would. She wore a matching grey jacket and skirt with a white t-shirt and black heels. Peter however dressed casual as he knew that his job wasn't as big.
"Wow Gwen." He said nervously. "Look at you? You look amazing?"
"Why thank you." Gwen replied. "You look pretty healthy yourself. I wondered if you I was going to bump into you here?"
"Well….ta-da!" Peter joked. "Anyway how have you been?"
"I've been good thanks. I've been seen early by Mr Robertson so I'm about to go on my first assignment."
"So that means that the big guy himself wants to see me?" Peter asked as he gulped heavily.
"I'm afraid so." Gwen replied. "Never mind Pete. Keep you're chin up and you'll do fine."
"Thanks." Peter smiled as he knew that he had to ask the question before she did. "Maybe you want to grab a coffee sometime?"
"Sure. I'd like that." Gwen replied. Oh look at the time I've got to dash. Catch you later and good luck?"
Peter waved goodbye to Gwen and continued into the elevator.
As he arrived at the editing offices, He was greeted at the elevator door by Joe Robertson.
"You must be Peter Parker?" he asked as the two shook hands. "Mr Jameson's office is just down there. Good luck kid?"
"Thanks…um?" Peter spluttered, dropping his words.
"It's Mr Robertson, but you can call me Robbie."
"ok then thanks...um…Robbie."
Jameson's angry, gruff voice echoed down the hall way, sending chills down Peter's spine.
"So you must be Parker?" he said as he marched down the hallway. "Come with me kid, I have a job for you?"
Jameson led Peter into his office and threw a newspaper onto his desk. he then sat down and lit a fresh cigar.
"I need someone who can take exclusive pictures of Spider-Man." he explained. "The Bugle can't afford to be scooped by it's rival newspaper businesses if you know what I mean?"
"I understand sir." Peter replied as calm as he would ever get.
"Do you?." Jameson quizzed. "Do you understand that I'm asking you to take photos of Spider-Man on a freelance salary? Do you understand that I need you to deliver them at a precise deadline? Do you understand that these photos have to be front- page material?"
"Umm… yes." Peter replied. "Yes I do understand Mr Jameson."
"Good then. You're hired. Congratulations kid you've got the job. Now I want you to take pictures of this web head in a leotard straight away and don't come back here until you do?"
"I wont let you down Mr Jameson." Peter replied excitedly, as he darted out of the office towards the main entrance.
The Parker Home
Peter sat on his bead and looked at his Spider-Man costume, which he had sprawled out across the floor. He couldn't believe that he was going to take pictures of the one easiest person ever. Himself. He pulled out his camera that the Bugle gave him and started to snap pictures of his costume. He wanted to see what the quality of the pictures would be like when they were developed.
Suddenly, there was a knock at the door, which made peter whisk his costume under the bed. Aunt May entered the room, carrying his dinner and placed the tray down beside him.
"You looked tired, so I brought you're dinner up to you." She said kindly.
"Thanks." Peter replied as let out a yawn. "God it was hectic down there today. Jameson wanted me to go out and take pictures of Spider-Man for his morning edition. He's nuts if you ask me."
"Sounds like he's desperate to get his company up and running?" Aunt May replied. "Oh by the way, Mary-Jane called. She just wanted to congratulate you again."
"Bless her." Peter chuckled. "I've never known her to be such a sport where Gwen is concerned?"
"Just goes to show you that she truly cares about you." Aunt May replied as she left Peter in his room.
Peter thought about what his Aunt had said as he picked up his tray from his bedside table. He began to think that there was something that MJ was hiding from him. Something that she didn't want him to know. However, he didn't want that to be on his mind for the rest of the night. Right now he had a job to do. Spider-Man was about to make the front page.
Oscorp Industries.
Norman Osborn was one of the richest men throughout the entire city. He had truly become the most successful man to create and experiment with neo-genic technology and create weapons and machines, using it's elements. He had created the most hi-tech labs and work areas where he could have his devoted scientists, work on his projects and igneous creations. To add to his fame and fortune, Norman had set up his own company "Oscorp" and began to work on projects that he could sell to organisations around the world. It started with a simple glider project which could break the sound barrier within a matter of seconds. Now it was big projects for US army. The Army had paid Osborn to create self-efficient gliders and armoured suits that the troops could wear in combat. It took several years of planning and three years of recruiting the right people for the job, but Osborn took the request and began constructing a proto-type combat glider. However, things began to change after the construction of the proto-type armoured suit. Osborn had learnt of a serum that could enhance the bodies strength and agility. He believed that it could make the human body strong, powerful and completely invincible. The problem was that he didn't have the fully certified equipment to handle biology experiments, plus it wasn't in his field of expertise, But Norman wasn't having any of it and was determined to get the serum.
A few days had passed and determination had turned into obsession for Norman. He became needy and desperate until he was clarified unfit for work which led to the army withdrawing the contract. Oscorp was on the brink of financial collapse.
Three years had passed and Norman returned to Oscorp with a clean bill of health and a renewed contract with the Army, only he was hiding something which remained hidden within the laboratory walls.
The officer in charge of the order had summoned a meeting in the conference hall, one that Norman wasn't looking forward too one bit. Norman and the military contractors were sat around the table and began there business.
"Norman, you do know why we have summoned this meeting today?" the general began.
"Why do I have a feeling that I'm about to get some bad, unnecessary changes?" Norman replied, unimpressed.
"Because there are going to be changes." The General replied. "We know what you have been doing Osborn. we know that you are planning to do more with the exo-suit that we paid you make. You see, we're not as stupid as you think we are."
"I don't know what you mean?" Norman replied calmly as he pointed his fingers in an upright position.
"We know that you have been harbouring a top-secret cell inducing serum, capable of accelerating the human body muscles. That's right Osborn, you're friend down at the Science university told us everything. Very smart if you ask me."
"You have no proof that I have the serum here."
"We don't need the proof Norman. We want the same idea that you have for the serum. You're a smart man. mixing the serum in with the fluid tubes in the suit is a good idea and we can both profit from it greatly. The question is can you do it?"
"Well gentlemen. Maybe I can or maybe I can't. you see this is a brand new page in the Oscorp history book. You see I have experience as to what this idea might prove to us. Something could go terribly wrong."
"Well just run through the idea with us?" The General asked.
"Ok then. my idea was to inject the serum in to the body fluid circulation tubes that connect the body to the suit, thus circulating the serum around, giving the body unlimited muscle strength. Imagine the army with these suits and the finished gliders. They would be unstoppable. The only problem is that I'm not sure of the fact that the experiment will work." Norman explained.
"Well it better work for your sake." The General said with a deeper tone to his voice.
"What's that supposed to mean?"
"Oscorp has gone over the contract limit. You're now officially pitching in to our budget which is affectively draining our resources. You will have to carry out the experiment tonight and have good results on the table by tomorrow morning or you'll be out of a job."
"And what if the experiment goes wrong?"
"Then you'll definitely be out of a job."
The general and his fellow colleagues got up and left the room, leaving Norman on his own and in a mess. He couldn't to screw up again and definitely wasn't going to either.
Across The City
Peter aka Spider-Man had swung across the city skyline for over an hour now as he looked crimes in which he could take photos of himself for the Bugle. As he finally reached the Brooklyn area, his Spider-Sense began to alert him towards to an alley way below him.
As he swung down to street level, he decided to place his camera in a good position to take the shots. Infront of him was a gang of thieves that were loading some stolen merchandise onto the back of a small truck. Spider-Man set the timer on his camera and darted towards the thieves.
"Hey playmates." He said as he began to punch them down one at a time. "Smile."
The camera flashed wildly as Spider-Man was tossing the thieves around like rag-dolls.
"Wow look at you?" he mocked as a biggest member loomed over him, holding a cro-bar. "You're that big that you could be easily mistaken for Godzilla?"
"This will shut ya' up." the thieve replied as he hammered the cro-bar into the street.
"Nice try." Spider-Man joked as he dodged the attacks. "Why didn't you try out for batsman? You would've been a hit and they all dumbasses play baseball."
Then, as soon as he landed on the street, Spider-Man threw his hardest punch at the thief, sending him crashing to the ground with one big thud.
"That punch nearly broke my fist." He said as he webbed up the group for the cops. "Better see what my camera caught of while I was in that little session."
As he went to retrieve his camera, his Spider-sense buzzed wildly. Another group of thieves ran out of the shadows, wielding bats, knives and cro-bars.
"Ok and round two begins." He said.
He leaped up into the air and dived over the group before firing web projectiles at the group. He then landed in the middle of the group and threw his fists and feet wildly at them performing all different melees and attacks.
"Come on guy's keep up?" he said as sent the attackers crashing to the ground. "Man, you guys suck at this. Even a granny would beat you all with her handbag."
As he webbed up the next lot of attackers he finally grabbed his camera and returned to the Bugle as fast as he can. As he swung back across the city skyline, he clung onto the side of the Brooklyn Bridge and began to count the pictures that he had taken throughout the night.
"Well what do you know?" he said as he reached the end of the roll. "I took at least two hundred and fifty photos of all the crimes that I investigated tonight. Now all I've got to do is find the perfect one for the paper."
The Night had begun to fade away as the morning sun appeared over the horizon. He fired a webline and swung towards dark silhouette the city infront of him.
The Daily Bugle
"These pictures are Dynamite!" Jameson screamed with joy as he looked at the pictures that Peter presented to him. "I don't know how you got these pictures but these are front page stuff."
"I agree." Robertson added. "How did you get these Peter?"
"It was simple really?" Peter replied. "I just tailed Spider-Man all night and these were I got."
"Kid you did good." Jameson replied. "Take your check and get out. Robbie, take this to the presses. We've got a paper to sell!"
Peter walked out into the main office with his pay check. As he approached one of desks, he saw Gwen sitting at her desk.
"Well Peter by sound of Jameson's voice, you hit the jackpot." She said with a smile. "Congratulations."
"Thanks." Peter replied. "How did your story go?"
"Fine thanks." Gwen replied. "But we'll talk about that later. Right now, I could really go for that coffee right now."
"Lets go then Miss Stacy." Peter replied as he took Gwen by the arm.
The Parker House (The Next Day)
Peter woke up to the smell of beacon and eggs cooking from downstairs. It was Wednesday morning and it was a day that he needed to catch up on some sleep. He dragged himself down the stairs and went outside the collect the paper. As he looked at the front-page, he was delighted to see his picture as Spider-Man on the front-page however the headline was a different story.
It read; "WHO Is Spider-Man. A Hero or A Menace?"
"What!" Peter shouted out load. "He isn't a menace. He's a hero! Why that old, crafty son of a…"
"Peter watch your language!" Aunt May said as she peered through the front door. "Now come inside, your breakfast is ready."
Peter brought the newspaper inside and walked into the kitchen.
"why would he do that?" he thought to himself. "Why would he think that Spider-Man is a menace. He practically, well I practically stopped over thirty gang related crimes last night. The people thanked me!"
As he began to eat his breakfast, he continued to think about the developments in his life.
"Well I may have a steady job now, but what will become of Spider-Man? one things for sure. He's now recognised by the city. Will the city respect me or go against me? I'll just have to wait and find out I suppose."
END