(Heroes of New York)
With Years of experience with his powers as Spider-Man, Peter embraces his role as a mentor to Miles in between protecting New York and balancing his social life with MJ. However, his greatest battle is about to begin. With the emergence of the serial killer "Wraith" and the sudden bounty upon Spider-Man's head, Peter must confront enemies far more powerful than he is whilst protecting the people he loves.
He must be Greater…
"Alright… lets do this one last time. My name is Peter Parker, I was bitten by a radioactive spider and for 9 years, I thought I was the one and only, Spider-Man. I'm sure you know the rest. I saved the city, fell in love, then I saved the city again, and again, and again. Look, I'm a comic book, a cereal, I did a Christmas album, and a so-so popsicle and they even gave me a theme song. I mean it could be worse. Like I mean after everything, I still love being Spider-Man, I mean who wouldn't? So, no matter how many hits I take… I always find a way to come back because the only thing standing between this City and oblivion… is me- correction, was me. Because this story isn't about just me… not anymore…"
In a warehouse on the docks, a meeting between the remaining Hammerhead thugs, the Dons and Kingpins' crew was in progress. They were gathered in the centre of the room, seated at a table whilst flanked with bodyguards. They felt that they were being cautious, but it was swiftly revealed that this was no ordinary meeting.
"- The hell did you say!" The Hammerhead Thug exclaimed, standing from his seat. "You didn't set this up? Then whose party is this?".
"I thought it was you West side losers." The Don's lieutenant replied, earning a few chuckles from his crew before looking over to the Kingpin gang. "You two already rolled over for Hammerhead and I figured you were gonna ask us in."
"Rolled over!?" Kingpin's lieutenant repeated in an annoyed tone, swiftly grabbing his gun from its holster and aiming it at the Don's members. "Hammerhead whacked 10 of my crew in a week! A week! And only cause we refused his offers to join up. Some of my best people, down the gutter!"
"So, you set up this meet?" the first hammerhead thug asked, as the Kingpin Lieutenant sat back down, laying his gun across the table.
"No, I thought it was the Don's as well."
"It wasn't ours!"
"To Hell with this! I'm outta here. If any of you idiots wanna…" the Hammerhead thug said angrily, leaving his seat just before a voice spoke up from the rafters above them. A dark and robotic like voice, terrifying the thugs below.
"I would sit down if I were you." The mysterious figure warned, revealing the barrel of an AK-47 from the shadows. "This is my meeting."
"Spider-man?!" "We didn't do nothing!" The thugs all called at once, making the figure chuckle darkly.
"Well we all know that's a lie." The figure said before revealing themselves. The figure was in a dark skin-tight Purple outfit, covered with gold streaks and accompanied by a full holster of weaponry, clearly sable gear with an added paintjob. They looked like the equivalent to the Punisher and even with the Dark voice, they were clearly a woman.
"Who the hell are you?!" "SMOKE HER!" the thugs exclaimed as they immediately grabbed their guns but failed to notice the EMP in the centre of the table. It went off and disabled every gun in the warehouse, considering that they were all property of Sable international, they were easy to exploit. The woman then shot the sable guns out of the thugs' hands.
"I said, "SIT DOWN!"" the woman exclaimed.
"You wanna die, you freak?! Y'know who we work for!?" a Kingpin thug yelled as the woman descended from the rafters. "There are easier ways to get yourself killed!"
"Yeah, like yelling at the one who's holding the AK-47." The woman countered, leaning against a steel beam as well as holstering the AK. She had their attention.
"Listen to me, you drug peddling and murdering scumbags. I will be running the operations from now on and because You lot are the most prosperous of each gang in New York, I'm offering you idiots a deal. You go about your business as usual but kick up all info regarding your previous bosses. Weapons, cargo, meetups and so on. In return, you'll have total protection from both the Police… and Spider-Man." She finished, clutching the attention of the mobsters, apart from one.
"Ok, crazy lady, this is all very generous… but why the hell should we listen to you?!" a thug question before the roof shattered. Multiple corpses wrapped in chains and police tape with their faces covered by bags were now hanging above and in front of them. Multiple thugs were vomiting whilst others simply turned away.
"Those are the bodies of the previous "Unlucky" Lieutenants. That took me 3 hours. You wanna see what I can get in a whole evening?" She challenged but received no objections. "Good but make no mistake. I'm not asking you to work for me… I'm telling you."
With that said, smoke filled the room as the stranger fired the rifle, sending the thugs to the floor to dodge the speeding bullets. When the smoke cleared, the figure was gone… like a ghost or better yet… a wraith.
Prowling the halls of Empire State University was none other than Quentin Beck, The Master of Illusions, the Menacing Mysterio. Surrounded by a purple mist, he approaches a bronze staff with a dark blue gem, surrounded by ancient antiques.
"Ahh, the Staff of Horus." Mysterio said with awe, guiding his hand over the glass before breaking the lock which held it down. He then carefully picked it up with a menacing laugh. "Selling you on the black market is going to make me a mint…"
"Good you could use a mint!" a voice mocked behind him, causing Mysterio to drop and shatter the glass container. It was your Friendly Neighbourhood Spider-man, rocking his classic Red and Blue whilst hanging upside down. "I can smell your breath from here and phew that is just wrong."
"SPIDER-MAN?!"
"Wait, how would you eat a mint through that fish bowl?" Spider-man asked with a hidden grin. Mysterio then threw a small pellet with exploded into more purple mist, just before a colossal Cobra rose from the floor. It was twice his size and immitted a low hiss.
"Nice. Don't get me wrong, your illusions are cool and all but if you ask me, they could use a little more… Kick!" Spider-man said, releasing himself from his upside-down position before swinging into the giant cobra, delivering a powerful kick which went straight through and hit Mysterio. He was now on the floor, scrambling for the staff.
"Nah uh, souvenirs are available in the giftshop!" Spider-man chuckled, shooting a web which clutched the staff before Mysterio could grab it, before pulling it into his own hands. Mysterio slammed his fit against the ground.
"Stop it! Cease your incessive prattling!" Mysterio exclaimed, firing a green laser from his palm in which Spider-man leapt to his right, landing on a stone railing.
"But incessive is the best kind of prattling! I mean c'mon Beck, have you not got anymore tricks? I mean I know you're a one man show but you've never pulled a rabbit out of the hat or anything. I mean where's the A material." Spider-man quipped, dodging the individual blasts as well as making a giant web to be used as a slingshot.
"Shut up!" Mysterio screamed, turning away to locate the staff before hearing a whistle.
"Hey bubblehead, here comes the fastball special!" Spiderman yelled, using the slingshot to propel himself across the hall but he felt his Spider sense go off. He turned whilst in the air just before a colossal fist slammed him into the wall. He groaned before realising what it was. Flint Marco, the Sandman retracted his giant fist as it shifted into a hammer.
"Got any clever quips for me Web-head?" Sandman challenged with a sinister grin.
"Marco? You're a walking litterbox, making fun of you would be too easy." Spider-man laughed, dodging the approaching hammer. He shot himself to the other side of the room and quickly examined his surroundings. He noticed the Power box behind Mysterio and with one electric web, it would overload and cause a fire, then activating the sprinkler system. That would take Sandman out of the picture, leaving just Mysterio. But his thoughts were speedily interrupted as he jumped over a display to avoid the approaching laser.
"Hey Marco. Marco. Marco!" Spider-man pestered.
"WHAT!?"
"You didn't say polo!" Spider-man explained before shooting the power box with an electric web. The box exploded and set ablaze, causing the alarm to echo throughout the University. "So Sandy, what beach did you come from again? Long Island? The Hamptons? Or maybe some Kids Sandbox?"
Sandman let out a roar of anger as he charged at Spider-man but his attempt to crush him failed as the Universities sprinkler system set off just in time.
"Nonononono, not again, I'm melting!" Sandman cried, watching as his hand slowly mended into mud. It wasn't long before his entire body hit the floor and melted into a giant muddy puddle.
"Nooo, I'm melting!" Spider-man mimicked, attempting to keep a straight face under his mask. He scoured the room for Mysterio, who was aiming the staff directly at him. Mysterio released a long, dark laugh.
"Finally, the power of Horus in my grasp… Destroy him!" Mysterio exclaimed, thrusting the staff forward. Nothing happened… He did it again. And again. "Wait…How does this…wait…"
Suddenly, Spider-man's phone started to vibrate.
"Hey Beck, I'm gonna take this whilst you figure out your wand." Spider-man said in an amused tone. He looked to his phone and saw that it was MJ calling. He answered.
"Hi honey, how was your day?" MJ greeted.
"Busy, just rounding up Houdini and the walking mud fest. How's Symkaria?"
"Well, its less of a warzone since I first arrived. Sable's gaining more followers every day. And… you won't believe whose here with me." MJ said mysteriously. Peter thought to himself, narrowing down who it could be. But he noticed Mysterio attempting to escape.
"Hold on just a sec." Peter said, tossing a web bomb towards Mysterio before sticking him to the wall. All he heard was a muffled yell, but he knew it worked.
"Sorry bout that. So, who's there with you?" Peter asked before MJ sent him a link. He opened the link and watched the report.
"Eddie Brock here reporting today from a refugee camp in Symkaria. Today we have a special guest on the show, an old friend and fellow reporter, Mary Jane Watson. All yours MJ."
"Thanks Eddie, Homelessness is only increasing into the thousands because of the Civil War that Plagues Symkaria and massive demonstrations have taken over the streets in an attempt to halt the fighting. In addition to this, Princess Silver Sablinova has been attending to the refugee camps personally as well as fighting to stop this war."
"We know that either side will do anything to win this war, but we'll be damned to let the wrong side win. I'm Eddie Brock and this is The Brock Report with MJ Watson."
"Damn, I haven't seen Eddie since leaving the Bugle to go work with Octavius. How is he?" Peter asked, leaping up to the window he had entered, just before the police arrived. He then started to swing through the city.
"He's good, been asking about you all week." MJ laughed. "But you can see him tomorrow and we can all go Micks!"
"Sounds great, I can't believe it's been 3 months." Spider-man sighed, perching on top of a traffic light. "I can't wait."
"Neither can I. I love you."
"Love you too."
After that, they both hung up. Spider-man continued to casually swing through the city before his phone went off again. This time it was Miles.
"Hey Miles, you're up late. What's up?" Pete asked.
"Hey Peter. Can you meet me… or are you doing Spider-man stuff?" Miles asked in a fascinated tone. Peter looked at the time and sighed.
"Yeah sure kiddo, where are you?"
"Empire state building…"
"Empire state?! What are you… Alright I'll ask later, I'm on the way?" Peter sighed, before heading for the skyscraper.
Moments later, Peter perched on top of the metal barrier on top of the Empire state building. He looked to his left and saw Miles, overlooking the City. He was silent before turning to him.
"Miles, what are you doing up here?! Your mom would kill me if she knew you were out at this time!" Peter stressed but Miles didn't respond. "Miles?"
"…Its been my Dream to become Spider-man but now that I'm here… I don't think I can do it." Miles said sadly, making Peter's eyes widen. He approached the teen. "How am I supposed to save the city? The world?"
"Well theres your problem. You can't think about saving the World Miles, you have to think about saving one person. Like May said, "You help someone, you help everyone". Look Miles, this hero thing … it gets really, complicated man. You'll lose things and y'know what, if I could go back and give my life for those who lost theirs… I would" Peter said, looking towards the city.
"It's a lot of responsibility, I understand that but but to be honest, don't do it like me. Do it like you." Peter said as Miles stood, slowly walking towards the edge
"When do I know that I'm ready? When do I know …? I'm Spider-man?"
"You won't. It's a leap of faith. That's all it is Miles. A leap of faith…"
Miles looked down to the glowing streets. He breathed slowly before turning around, pulling down a black mask with red webbing sprayed on. He leaned backwards… and jumped. He flailed through the air before straightening up and firing a web line which stuck to a nearby building. He started to swing fluently as Peter suddenly appeared beside him. The two Heroes move with purpose through New York, sliding between taxis, across windows and through fire escapes before arriving at Brooklyn Bridge. Miles swings up on top of the Bridge and catches his breath, lifting his mask. Peter lands in front of the teen and lifts his own mask, revealing a smile.
"WOW, THAT WAS EMOTIONAL!"