The Crew continues to get big
Things have been going somewhat well for Spider-man lately, his Crew had really come together as a team.
Lately they have worked together to take down a few villains, such as dealing with the likes of Vulture, Mole Man, Taskmaster, even assisting Iron Man briefly against Whiplash.
The group even helped stop a plan from the notorious crime boss, Kingpin.
Spider-man, also known as Peter Parker led the group, made sense since they were labled as the Spider Crew, mostly 'The Crew' but there has been spider crew references, Human Torch, also known as Johnny Storm, was his right hand man, Black Cat AKA Felicia Hardy was the most acrobatic, Venom AKA Eddie Brock was the muscle, Cloak & Dagger AKA Tyrone & Tandy were the mystic ones, Iceman AKA Bobby Drake always played things cool, & X-23 AKA Laura Kinney had the ruthless aggression.
Others such as Deadpool AKA Wade Wilson & Gambit AKA Remy Lebbau had assisted them from time to time, even dealing with older enemies of the group, such as Shocker, Electro, Avalanche, Pyro & Lady Deathstrike.
Due to X-23 being new to regular hero work, she often tagged with another hero, usually Spider-man, she also did some nighttime work with Black Cat & Venom, X-23 however seemed to prefer working with Spider-man, she seemed especially fond of him.
The citizens loved them though, this was good for the likes of Black Cat & Venom who benefited with the second chances, though there were still those who did not trust them fully due to their criminal past, and it didn't help when The Daily Bugle would rip on The Crew, not only doing their usual slandering of Spider-man, but also their slandering of Black Cat & Venom, the others caught in the crossfire.
But Peter enjoyed their presence with them both the hero work, and just generally hanging out with them outside the hero work.
However during all their success, one person had been keeping a close eye on them, the dreaded Spider-man villain, Norman Osborn, AKA The Green Goblin.
"You've come quite a ways Spider-man, you and your friends are proving to be one of the best teams since The Avengers, however that also means you're going to be quite the threat soon, and I'm afraid can't allow that", he grinned evilly, "The Spider-Crew is soon gonna come to an end, a permanent end"
He then proceeded to work on his plans, what they were would be a mystery for now.
Meanwhile patrolling through New York were Spider-man, Johnny Storm & X-23, they were on some of the rooftops on the buildings.
"So what are we looking for?" Johnny asked.
"Nothing in particular, just keeping an eye out for more crooks", Spider-man said.
X-23 looked around, "So many people"
"Yeah it's one of those busy days", Johnny said.
Spider-man scanned the area, "So far so good, let's check another part of the-" Spider-man's orders were cut off when he heard some screaming from the east, "Looks like trouble"
Coming from the East was one of Spider-man's enemies, The Beetle, he was flying through the city and firing attacks.
"The Beetle? What's he doing here!?" Johnny asked.
"Doesn't matter, let's take him down!" Spider-man said and swung at him, "Hey don't you have a band to go play with!"
Johnny chuckled a bit, "I get it"
Beetle aimed his weapons at Spider-man and shot at him but he simply dodged and kept Beetle's attention long enough for Johnny to take advantage of the distraction and blast him.
Beetle turned to Johnny and shot at him bit X-23 rushed in to slash at him, causing Beetle to knock her back, then knock Johnny back.
Spider-man webbed him and started pulling him down and pulled to the point where he was able to land a strong punch to The Beetle, knocking him back, X-23 then jumped to a street light and slashed his armor a bit, damaging some of his weapons, Spider-man then swung in to do a double kick.
Beetle regained his composure and shot at them both but Johnny then blasted Beetle with his fireballs, knocking him back some more, Beetle recovered and tackled Johnny to the ground.
Spider-man ran in for a punch but The Beetle countered and punched him away, X-23 ran in for a kick to the face and Spider-man webbed him and flung him to a wall.
Beetle stumbled off the wall and was dazed, a triple punch from Spider-man, X-23 & Human Torch finally took him down.
"That takes care of him", Spider-man said.
"Great teamwork, and that's only 3 of us", Johnny said.
"Yeah, imagine what we can do with all of us really working together", Spider-man said.
"Speaking of which, let's do one more lap around the city, then just gather the group and hang out for a bit, go to that pub", X-23 said.
"Sounds good to me, first", Spider-man webbed Beetle to keep him constrained, "There we go, let's go gang"
After a brief combing of the city, everyone gathered together out of costume in a pub.
"So, why was Beetle attacking the city?" Bobby asked.
"Who knows, usually when he does something it's because he was put up to it", Peter said.
"Think someone hired him to take someone else out?" Johnny asked.
"Maybe, he was attacking randomly, like if he was trying to draw someone out", Peter said.
"You think he's after us?" Johnny asked.
"Who would send him after us?" Felicia asked.
"Take a guess, lot's of villains want us out the way, for all we know Dr. Doom or Stryker want a little payback", Peter said.
"What about Magneto?" Bobby asked.
"Magneto wouldn't hire some guy, he'd have one of his Brotherhood Mutants do it, it was probably one of the other Big Time Villains", Peter said.
"Speaking of The Brotherhood, hey Johnny, what's the status on you and Scarlet Witch?" Tandy asked.
"Going good, granted I still have to deal with Quicksilver, I'm making it work", Johnny said.
"How did you even get Scarlet Witch?" Brock asked.
"Shortly after we defeated The Brotherhood, I went to her, told her I was serious about asking her out, so she gave me a shot, mainly cause it would get her out of the hold faster", Johnny said.
"Sounds like she's just using you", Tyrone said.
"That would explain why she was so eager to really score with you", Bobby said.
"Hey, come on have, a little faith in my skills, I am the greatest looking person in the world", Johnny said.
"Wow, only in the world? How generous of you", Bobby said with great sarcasm.
"You're right, greatest looking guy in the Universe", Johnny said.
"And that's the Johnny Storm we know and love", Peter said.
The group chuckled a bit, even Brock and Tyrone.
"Well regardless of who sent The Beetle, or if he was just being a jerk, nothing is gonna take down this Crew", Peter said.
"That's right, we're the best thing since The Avengers, hell one day we're gonna surpass The Avengers", Johnny said.
"Easy there Torch, we still have ways to go", Tyrone said.
"We can do it, we've got more spunk and are more fired up than The Avengers", Felicia said.
They all raised their glass, Peter then turned to Laura, "Hey you ok Laura? You haven't spoken much"
Laura nodded, "I guess I still feel a little out of place here"
"You'll get used to it, it's hard to adjust but we'll be there to help", Tyrone said.
"We're all still young Laura, gotta enjoy that', Bobby said.
"One day you, me and Felicia should go to a salon and get our nails done", Tandy said.
Laura raised her eyebrow, "What for?"
Tandy sighed, "Nevermind"
Felicia grinned, "We gotta teach you some girl stuff, though I am glad you're in this group, aside from Tandy, I was surrounded by male hormones"
"Can't handle being around such manly men...and Peter?" Johnny joked, much to Peter's annoyance.
"Hey, be nice, Peter's just a gentleman, that's all, girls like that in a guy, look at Tyrone, he's not macho like you and Johnny, neither is Eddie", Tandy said.
"At least I'm not puny", Brock said.
Peter groaned again, "Come on, I'm your leader, can't I get a little bit of respect?"
"Sure thing Captain Web Head", Bobby joked, earning a sarcastic smile from Peter.
"Oh you're gonna get yours Drake", Peter said.
Johnny checked his watch, "Holy shit we've been here a while, place is gonna close soon", Johnny said.
"I should head back, the Mansion's pretty far from here", Bobby said.
"Cloak and I can help you if you want", Dagger said.
"I'm fine using my ice powers", Bobby said.
"We should all get home", Peter then turned to Felicia, "And seriously, go straight home, no burglaries"
"Hey, I only relapsed once...or twice...or occasionally", Felicia said.
"Seriously, you're a hero now, set a good example", Peter said.
"Ugh, fine, you're lucky you're so cute though Peter", she then kissed his cheek, "See you around handsome"
Peter blushed, "Whatever Felicia"
After everyone said their good-byes and left, Peter was on his way out when Laura approached him.
"Hey Peter...any chance I can talk to you back at your place?" she asked.
Peter nodded, "Sure, I'd love to have you over, come on", Peter said.
They both went to Peter's Apartment.
Meanwhile Osborn is still checking over his plans, "I was hoping The Beetle would put up more of a fight, oh well, I still have others at my disposal", he let out an evil laugh as he made plans.
Nice for the heroes to have friend moments once in a while.