Disclaimer: The following characters are owned by DC and Marvel comics, this is for solely for entertainment purposes.

Note: This is a continuation of Mr. Coluber story Strange New Earth, he was kind enough to hand the reins over to me. He just didn't have the time to finish the story. He has given me the details on how the rest of the story was supposed to have been finished. I'm taking what he gave me and retelling it in my own words. This story will begin with chapter 10 and were his story left off. If you want to read the original go to his profile. Most of this chapter is his rough draft, and the following chapters will be in my own words, so bare with me.

10

I Really Need a Nap


With growing impatience, Slade Wilson leaned against the Honda Civic that the rental had provided him with. He looked around, hoping to see the man walk around the corner any minute. A minute passed and no one he recognized turned around the corner.

Wilson scowled and looked up towards the eyes that were watching him, and the street he was in.

"He's late" Wilson said sourly, speaking into the audio receiver within the collar of his jacket. He shut down the connection before he could hear any smarmy, sarcastic remark from the person on the other side – the one whose eyes were on him that instant.

He pulled the Qpad from within his jacket and he looked at the images within. They showed his mark in great detail – the more and more visible Spider-Man. He had made himself noticed in Gotham after the Night of the Monsters – as the Gothamite press had dubbed it, as if it was something unusual in a city teeming with psychopaths, including a hero dressed as a bat – but he seemed to make his home in the Big Apple. Wilson didn't bother to wonder why – knowing superheroes, it was probably out of sentimentality. After all, who didn't want to come to New York?

Once again, the mercenary studied the video footage he had of the new hero. Fighting this hero – and drawing his blood – would be problematic. Whispers in the dark seemed to suggest that Spider-Man had a sixth sense. If these whispers were true, than drawing blood would be difficult – even despite the fact that all he needed was one drop of it. He looked at the corner again.

The man still hadn't appeared.

Suddenly, there was a beep within his collar. Wilson pressed the button.

The eyes that were watching him spoke. "You've got company"

Wilson didn't need to be told that – he had noticed the two men approaching him for some time now. Still he turned his wrist slightly, catching a reflection of the two figures on the surface of his Qpad. The two youths approaching were the typical rough-looking thugs one would expect. One of them, the one who was walking ahead, seemed to have a gun in his pants. It wasn't your regular Beretta either, judging by the grip – this was one of those odd things that you could only get from Intergang. Wilson smirked; despite the growing gentrification, New York still had its hoodlums. And the hoodlums still had some connections. It was such a pity that they didn't have enough connections to know that they were about to make a sorry mugging attempt on Deathstroke.

"Do you need my help?" the eyes above asked.

Deathstroke grumbled. That was all he needed, interference. "Stay put"

The two hoodlums walked with a quicker pace. The one with the gun in his pants walked faster than his companion, and whipped it out, revealing the weapon's alien origin. Their intention now was quite clear.

"Hey!" the man with the gun said.

Wilson turned, not even jolting, not even feigning surprise.

"How may I help you?" Deathstroke asked calmly as he looked the thug in the eye. He couldn't help but smile at these clowns and their single, alien gun.

The young man must have sensed that he was in trouble, as he was the one to skip like a surprised school girl. His body was shaking, and sweat was pouring from his skin. If the young man had a plan, it had gone straight out the window the moment Wilson had smiled.

The thug took a deep breath and curled his brow in order to appear mean – he pushed the gun in Deathstroke's direction with overenthusiastic forcefulness. His companion, who stood just a few feet behind him seemed a bit confused by the gunman's mannerisms.

"Give me you Qpad!" the gunman suddenly yelled out.

Deathstroke smiled as his hand went to the back of his belt. "I don't think so"

"I'm the one with the gun, fool!" the young thug hollered, continuing to thrust his gun forwards as if that was going to do anything. "I'm gonna disintegrate you!"

Deathstroke chuckled. "Yeah, I can see that. But you don't have a knife"

Before the young man could say anything, Deathstroke's left arm moved in a blur. Virtually unseen, the knife flew towards the gun's odd alien barrel, and as soon as it connected, the gun was on the ground with an audible clang. The gunman was left rubbing his hand and mewling. The other thug looked in astonishment at Deathstroke, seeming stuck between the decision to fight or flee.

It was the now unarmed gunman who made the first move. He bent down as quickly as he could to pick up the fallen gun.

He wasn't fast enough. In less than a second Deathstroke was upon him – in less time than that, the mercenary's foot had shot out to connect with the thug's celiac plexus. The gunman bent over and his head went down, which only made things worse. Deathstroke's other foot swung upwards with incredible force towards the thug's face, connecting with incredible violence and pain. The gunman was turning in the air like a small stick that had been thrown by a child. He landed on his face. Blood began to come out of his mouth and nose.

Still holding the Qpad in his right hand, Deathstroke stomped on the fallen hoodlum's back. The other thug was still too stunned to process what had just happened – and the speed with which it had happened – to react properly.

For some odd reason, the thug decided to pull out a switchblade. Deathstroke couldn't help but chuckle at that.

"How sweet. You have a knife too" Deathstroke said with derision.

Knife in hand, the thug predictably charged. Deathstroke was unimpressed, and didn't even bother to drop or toss aside his Qpad. He simply stepped aside and delivered a devastating knifehand strike to the young man's neck with his free hand.

The thug let out a shriek and fell down, dropping his knife as he fell. As soon as the knife was on the ground, Deathstroke kicked it away before the hoodlum could have any more bright ideas. He then kicked him once more in the head; the wannabee mugger's head dropped to the ground as he quickly lost consciousness. Deathstroke then turned his attention to the gunman, who had begun to stir once more.

The gunman had enough of his wits to try to make an escape as soon as he saw the mercenary glare at him. The fight however, had taken too much out of the gunman; he stumbled when he should have run, and soon enough, Deathstroke was grabbing his arm. The gunman first squirmed, and then screamed as the mercenary twisted his arm almost to the point of breaking it.

"You know, if kids like you weren't so stupid, this world would be a more peaceful place" Deathstroke said into the gunman's ear.

"I'm sorry" the young man squealed out.

"What?"

"I didn't mean to disrespect you man. I thought you were a fool. I'm sorry man. I'm so, so, sorry man. Please don't kill me. I have a family!" the thug squealed out. For some reason, Wilson was reminded of a mouse in an impossible maze.

Deathstroke tightened his grip on the young criminal "Yeah, I'm sure you do kid. So do I" he twisted the youth's arm even more. The thug let out an incredible yelp. The mercenary then eased his grip.

"Since we're both family men, I think we can settle this like civilized men" Deathstroke said, adding "If you, or your friends in this part of town bother me again, I'll make you scream before you die. Do you understand?"

Deathstroke stared at the gunman with his one good eye. The young punk shivered, and seemed to want to weep. The hoodlum then nodded.

"Good" Deathstroke snarled "Now grab your friend and get out of here before I rethink my decisions"

The gunman tumbled forwards as the mercenary released his grip. The hoodlum grabbed his partner, and the two beaten youths made a hasty retreat.

"You should have killed them" the eyes up above said.

"I don't need that kind of attention. Not now" Wilson said, still looking about him. "Can you see the rat?"

"No" the eyes above said. There was then a moment of silence "Wait! I see a figure in a hoody coming your way from the East"

Slade Wilson turned his head eastward, and there he saw a man wearing a hoody, his head carefully concealed, walking in his direction. The mercenary recognized the jawline.

"It's about time" Wilson muttered. Once the man had come close enough, Wilson spoke more audibly. "You took your damned time to get here Psimon"

The telepath lifted his eyes to look Deathstroke straight in his only one. There was pride and anger in his look, but Deathstroke could also see that Psimon had seen better days. He seemed even gaunter than he had remembered him. And his skin was oddly yellow and green. Wilson had heard the rumors about Psimon's encounter with the strange alien Desaad after the debacle at Bialya; he hadn't given much weight to them, until now.

"I came as fast as I could Terminator. As you can see, I'm not in tip top shape." Psimon let out a cough that seemed to reinforce the statement. "So let's get this over with. Right now I'm not at full strength, and you know this. So what is it that you want me to do? You know I'm not going to get into a fracas with Spider-Man, and I can't help you kill him, not in the way you want."

"We're not going to kill him, or at least, we don't have to in order to get the job done, but I need your help to lower his defenses." Wilson said

"You mean shut down his supposed sixth sense? I can't do that. Not now. I told you this" The telepath snapped.

"You won't have to. Hell, you won't even have to be near the guy in order to be useful. This will take an instant, and off you go to Santa Prisca, or whatever hole you crawled out of."

Psimon looked at the mercenary, and it was obvious that the weakened telepath was curious.

"Let's do this then" he said.


Peter stared blankly at the computer. He was mentally exhausted, constantly asking himself where to search next. At the moment, there was little new information regarding any form of technology that could help him cross into another universe – specifically his – or any new scientific theories or hypotheses, which could allow said technology to be produced. All he had was the old information that he had read over and over again and mulled over upon the point of exhaustion. There seemed to be little hope.

His thoughts went back to his aunt May. Peter had no idea what she was going through. He hoped that the Fantastic Four could at least do something for her. If more time passed though, Peter feared that if he returned, when he returned, he wouldn't find her alive.

What made things worse was that Peter was getting used to his new life. On this Earth, he was getting the accolades that he never thought he'd receive. There were no J. Jonah Jameson's here to brand him as a criminal. There was good ol' G.G.G, but he never seemed to focus much of his attention on Spider-Man, instead talking extensively about his youth program, meant to 'redeem the fallen adolescents that have been poorly mislead by superheroes', but as sickening as G.G.G. was, his attacks never hit the web-slinger personally. Even the New York Police Department seemed more willing to cooperate – they had even given him a special smartphone which he now had in his utility belt! To make matters more complicated, he found that gruff old Ted Grant was beginning to occupy the role his uncle Ben had filled in his life. Peter appreciated the old man's presence, not to mention his training.

Peter had no intention of bogging himself down in depression, so he decided to search any news regarding science. The scientific achievements of this Earth were quite interesting, he had to admit to himself. One of the more unusual reports he had read concerned the discoveries of a doctor William Magnus, who could make metal come alive and even assume a humanoid form. The press was calling them the Metal Men.

Of equal interest to Peter was the news about Dr. Stein and his new facility, the Hudson Nuclear Power Plant. Some of the scientific papers he had read with regards to inter-dimensional travel had been written by Dr. Stein, albeit they were written several years before, when Stein was a younger man apparently. The science major would definitely want to have a word with the man. And the power plant itself seemed like an interesting place to visit. According to every article that Peter had read, it was the world's first completely safe atomic testing center. And who knew? – Perhaps this new facility could be the first step towards him getting back to his universe.

There was more, however, with regards to the Hudson Nuclear Power Plant. People – apparently inspired by cartoons such as the Simpsons – not understanding the part which stated that the Hudson Nuclear Power Plant was the first completely safe atomic testing center – were not happy with its existence. There were times in which this universe seemed similar to his own, in which those who try to help get kicked around by the defenseless. A sigh escaped Peter's lips.

"The more things change, the more they stay the same." Peter stated dryly.

The people in question said that they belonged to the 'Coalition to Resist Atomic Power.' Peter had to admit, the acronym was very amusing. He just hoped that they didn't take things too far and do something that would spell disaster for everyone.

Peter rubbed his eyes. He was beginning to feel his brain shriveling into a raisin. With a sigh, the friendly neighborhood science major clicked somewhere else that could provide light entertainment. As chance would have it, Peter clicked on a video-sharing website, which showcased several videos of cats and dogs in their thumbnails. One was different though. The thumbnail proudly bragged that it was presenting the opening scene to the coolest James Bond movie ever, The Sundry Snakes of Yesteryear. Peter had never heard of that one – Movies must be made at different times here - Out of curiosity, he clicked, and the screen expanded. A young Sean Connery was sitting at a wide table playing a game of Baccarat. Opposite of him was a young Oliver Reed, who eyed the secret agent menacingly. The movie became suddenly interesting. Peter didn't recall seeing Oliver Reed in a Bond movie before. The two glowered at each other as they presented their cards. Bond seemed to have the upper hand and smiled at the villainous character played by Reed.

"It seems that the odds are in my favor, Mr. Blazergast" Bond said. Reed – or rather, Blazergast snarled at the man with the license to kill.

And then suddenly, the camera panned towards a set of cards that were suddenly thrown down on the table. Peter knew Jack squat about Baccarat, but he knew that by movie conventions, this meant that it was probably a better hand than what either Bond or Blazergast had.

Bond was surprised, as was Blazergast, whose snarl increased and face reddened.

"Who in the bloody hell are you?" Blazergast growled in a way that only Oliver Reed could growl. Bond also looked curiously to his right, his eyebrows moving in the typical Sean Connery manner which showed that Bond too wanted to know.

And then a girl, your typical blond British b*** speaking with a high pitched cockney voice intervened, saying, "Why don't you know? That's Simon Templar!"

Suddenly the camera panned to a young Roger Moore, who smiled with confidence as a halo appeared above his head and a cheerful tune rang out.

Peter's jaw nearly dropped on to the floor.

In his opinion that was the most awesome opening scene to a Bond movie – ever. He would have never be able to see that back home. There was that crossover movie featuring the Transformers and G.I. Joe, but it was absolutely atrocious – it was nothing but explosions, racist depiction of robots and a blond Baroness. Peter would rather not remember it. He didn't need more reasons to stay in this universe and leave Aunt May behind.

Numbly, he clicked the mouse and the window disappeared, revealing a wallpaper dominated by a lovely woman enveloped in green flame. She seemed to be smiling at him, but for the moment, Peter could not return the smile. He needed to get on his feet.

Peter turned off the computer and looked out the window. It was a seemingly quiet night for New York. He didn't have to leave, at least not this night, but he knew that sometimes the worst catastrophes happened at the most unexpected times.

He turned to look at the cellphone on his bed.

He walked towards the door of his room and into the corridor. He could hear the television on in the floor directly below. There was a boxing match on, and undoubtedly, Ted was watching it, maybe dreaming of the long lost days of his youth.

As he was about to yell, the doorbell rang. The teenager quickly went down the stairs. He descended just in time to see old Ted crane his neck upwards to call him.

"Oh!" the old pugilist said "You're already here"

"And I'll be gone as soon as I answer the door. I need to unwind" Peter replied as he reached for the door. For a moment, he wondered who it might be at that hour. Once the door was open, he no longer wondered.

Standing right there was a woman he hadn't seen since he left Gotham. She immediately lunged at Peter and gave him a hearty hug.

"Peter! How have you been doing?" Bette Kane asked enthusiastically. The teenaged science major couldn't help but smile. Even though she was a bit scatter-brained, he still missed her.

"Well, I'm King of the Hill and Top of the Heap" Peter replied "What about you? I haven't heard much lately"

Bette shrugged her shoulders. "That's because much hasn't happened. Business is blooming and I'm still rich and gorgeous. But you! You've taken over New York! I can't look at newspaper here without looking at a picture of you bouncing between buildings"

Peter was taken aback until he remembered that by now, Bette, despite her innate silliness, was aware of his secret identity.

Something moved behind her, and it was only then that Peter spotted Dick Grayson, age nineteen.

"Dick? You're here too?" Peter asked

"The whelming evidence says I am. Can we come in? It's getting crowded out here" the former boy wonder said.

"Of course you can come in" Ted Grant suddenly hollered out. "Peter, get out of the way and let them in!"

Peter stepped to the side and the two Gothamites walked in. Peter couldn't help but smile, as he remembered that in his universe, Gothamite was another term for New Yorker. He didn't have much time to think on further about it when Ted came rushing towards Dick, eager to shake his hand, while winking at Bette as if he were several decades younger, and didn't have a broken nose.

"Well darling, make yourself comfortable, I wouldn't want a pretty lady like you on her feet for too long" the old man said with a grin at Bette. "The name is Ted."

Bette smiled and shook the old man's hand. "I'm Bette"

"Ease up old man" Dick said, interrupting their exchange "She would just get you into trouble"

For that remark, Dick received a seemingly painful pinch that had him yelping out.

"Know your place boy blunder" Bette said with a mischievous smile.

Everyone laughed harmlessly for a while until old Wildcat broke the merriment up by asking the much-needed to ask question:

"So kid, what brings you here?" there was a serious tone in his voice. It was clear that he thought that Dick Grayson was here for business and not for pleasure.

Peter looked at the Dark Knight's former sidekick, expecting something grave.

"I'm just looking for a relative of mine" Dick said. It was clear that he was fibbing for Bette's sake. Both Wildcat and Peter could see that. And apparently so could Bette, which surprised Peter, and Dick, more than anyone else.

"Do you think I have hay stuck between my ears?" Bette said. "I know that you're here on Batman duty, so why not admit it?"

Dick looked at Peter and Ted, raising his eyebrows as he did so. He then faced Ted.

"I said it, didn't I? She'll get you into trouble" Dick said, afterwards receiving another painful pinch.

"Well" Ted began "Might as well spill it"

"I'm looking for Deathstroke" Dick said matter-of-factly.

Peter was only vaguely aware of Deathstroke through what the other members of the League and the team had told him – a dangerous mercenary with quick moves, a big sword and only one eye. Helena was eager to fight him. Peter wondered if she would give Dick a black eye for not telling her that the man was here. He wondered if she would give him a black eye for not telling her he was in his city all this time without his knowledge.

"He's here? In my city?" Peter asked "I'm embarrassed. Does anyone else know about this?"

"Batman" Dick answered without hesitation.

"Well that's a surprise" Peter tersely said.

"Everyone keeps saying that" Dick answered. He turned to look at old Ted. "Bette here is interested in knowing the basics of self-defense and I told her that a world-class heavyweight and street fighter could teach her a thing or two."

Ted smiled at the former sidekick of the Dark Knight Detective, but Peter could clearly see that he eyed the young man with suspicion. He couldn't blame him; it was too late in the night to bring people to learn how to fight.

The only reason Nightwing would do such a thing was to keep Bette occupied.

Ted seemed to understand this quickly. He took Bette by the hand.

"I'd be glad to show you the ropes on the fine arts of self-defense. Come on in to the gym" Bette seemed to gladly go along with the old man.

"You know" Peter said "I was about to take a nice stroll in my long johns before you showed up."

"You'll still have that shot. I was hoping to have some help in finding Deathstroke." Dick said.

Peter wasn't surprised by the request, but he did have one question.

"What about the other members of the team?" he asked

"They're all tied up with their own affairs. Come on and hurry before Bette wizens up"

Peter immediately climbed up the stairs. It took no time for Spider-Man to come out the concealed exit into the dark, cool night. Nightwing joined him just a few seconds later, and together they began to hop from one building to the next.

As the duo glided through the New York night sky, Spider-Man felt a buzzing; this time, it wasn't in his head – it was in his utility belt. The webslinger tossed out another web, let it snag a building, and pulled out the unique smartphone from his belt as his swinging formed a high arch.

Nightwing had a hard time keeping up with the webhead, but he did manage to hold his own, and he was still as observant as ever. He saw the arachnid themed hero look at the smartphone, and was naturally curious.

"Not that I want to pry into your business Spidey, but do you really think it's a good idea to talk to your girlfriends while on patrol?"

Spider-Man turned his head slightly in Nightwing's direction.

"Raquel Welch is still a very fine looking lady! She needs pampering." Spider-Man exclaimed. Nightwing shot him a glance. Spider-Man made another swing and he landed on top of a tall building. Nightwing was soon there. This time, with a bit more seriousness, the webhead added, "This smartphone also picks up special police reports. It was given to me by the NYPD. If there's something weird going about, they make sure that the message is passed to this baby. Raquel doesn't mind"

Spider-Man pressed the button on the smartphone. The outpouring of sound was almost immediate.

"Please help me! My name is Daisy Williams, and I'm an assistant to Dr. Martin Stein here at the Hudson Nuclear Power Plant. There are armed men here. I don't know how many of them there are… maybe five, but I think there's more. They have Dr. Stein tied up. I'm in a closet" The woman spoke in a hushed but urgent and scared voice, suddenly, the woman screamed and the duo could hear the voices of several angry men. The transmission was then cut off.

Spider-Man and Nightwing looked at each other.

"Armed thugs in a Nuclear Power Plant are never good. Raquel will have to wait" Spider-Man then paused to look at Nightwing "You think that you'll be alright on your own?" he asked

"I'd be overwhelmed by this city" Nightwing jokingly said "I'm going with you, and who knows, Deathstroke might actually be involved in some way"

"Does he have to be?" Spider-Man asked

Nightwing was silent for about a moment. "I wouldn't be surprised"

In very little time, the duo found themselves approaching the Hudson Nuclear Power Plant. Of course, Nightwing had to be carried on Spider-Man's shoulder in order for both of them to arrive quickly enough. Luckily, the web-slinger was stronger than twenty men, and could easily handle the load of a bird-brained former sidekick detective. Since the former boy wonder was not bothered by keeping up with Spider-Man, his eyes were free to notice the gap within the fence that surrounded the power plant.

"That's where they went in" Nightwing said, pointing at the opening. Spider-Man swung down to the ground and let go of Nightwing.

Batman's former ward approached the opening in the gate and looked at it.

"They used wire cutters" he tersely said.

"No melting? That's a shame. Fighting regular guys makes me fall asleep" Spider-Man said.

Nightwing looked around with suspicion. He looked up at the nearest security camera. He tapped the glove of his left hand and suddenly, a holographic display emerged. He looked at the readings and smirked.

"The security cameras are down" he said.

"Are you saying that they're completely turned off and not being used by the thugs?" Spider-Man said

Nightwing smiled. "Yes"

"Alright then, the plan is clear: I go in and mop up the place, save the day, get the girl, while you catch a cold" the arachnid then added, "At times I really do amaze myself"

Nightwing gave Spider-Man a sideways glance. "That's actually a good idea. There could be someone out here. They did disable the security cameras, so they can't use them as a warning system. Logically, they'd have someone out here patrolling. It makes more sense that you, with your ESP and strength should face all of the guns pointing at you and the delicate moves needed to free hostages"

"I'm glad that you see it my way" Spider-Man said, running into the building.

"Make sure that your smartphone is on the silent setting. I might have to call you."

The slight ping of one of the armed thugs brought Spider-Man back to the task at hand.

"What?" the thug said. By the way he spoke, Spider-Man was certain that this particular thug was the leader "Bring him here."

Spider-Man stayed put as another thug walked up to the leader. Before the thug could ask a question, the ringleader turned to him and answered the unspoken question.

"That was Scott. He and Mills caught some guy snooping around" the leader then walked up to Dr. Stein and removed his gag. "Are you expecting anyone else here Dr. Stein?"

"It was only supposed to be me here. This power plant is capable of operating itself with only one man here" Dr. Stein's face grimaced for a second, and for a second, Spider-Man felt the slight buzzing of his spider-sense going on a different tangent. "Daisy wasn't even supposed to be here. Let her go, and I'll help you in any way I can. The police won't even know that the forward thinking, social warrior, and leader of C.R.A.P Edward Earhart is nothing but a thug"

The thuggish leader, which the arachnid now recognized as the same Earhart in the news reports, punched Dr. Stein in the face hard enough to draw blood. With equal brutality, he put the gag back into the scientist's mouth.

Earhart looked at Dr. Stein with calm anger, his face only reddening slightly.

"No one's going to know alright, and I don't need your help for that!"

Spider-Man didn't like the tone of Earhart's voice; he had heard enough and was about to pounce when the door suddenly opened. Three men entered. One of them was clearly a prisoner, and shoved forward so roughly as to fall flat on his face. The web-slinger couldn't help but notice the look of surprise of Dr. Stein's battered face. The way in which the scientist curved his eyebrows didn't seem to show any bonds of friendship between the two men.

This assumption was soon confirmed when the captured man got back on his feet.

"Listen, whatever beef you have against Stein shouldn't fall on my head. I'm actually an ally of yours"

Earhart looked at the man with disbelief and some curiosity. Dr. Stein shifted around to useless effect.

"Who are you?" Earhart asked.

"Dr. Danton Black" the man said. He pointed accusingly at Dr. Martin Stein "When I was this man's assistant, he stole my designs and patented them as his own!"

Somehow, Dr. Stein managed to free himself from his gag and exclaim, "That's a damned lie you dirty crook!"

For his outburst, Dr. Stein received a rifle butt to the face. At this point, the wall-crawler had had enough. He stretched out his arms and took careful aim. He released his webs into fine filaments which snagged every gun in sight. With one yank, he disarmed everyone within the room. The thugs were completely caught off guard and were staring at their empty arms with stupid expressions on their faces. Before they could even look up, Spider-Man leapt down from the ceiling, delivering a diving punch to Edward Earhart, and kicking the thug nearest to him.

"It's Spider-Man!" one of the C.R.A.P. thugs exclaimed.

Within his mask, Spider-Man smiled. "So you've heard of me huh? I was worried that you'd think that I was Batman, or even Green Arrow's magnificent beard" he punched one charging thug in the gut, while he slapped another across the room. "I'm flattered"

Three of the thugs tried to make a quick escape; Spider-Man snagged them with his webbing, practically gluing them to the wall. The remaining scoundrels decided that together they might have a chance; Spider-Man immediately put the kibosh on that with a series of quick punches and kicks. In little time at all, all of the malefactors were webbed up. Danton Black was standing against the wall of the atomic pile, cowering before the spectacle.

"Man I really should have had some coffee before I did this" Spider-Man said yawning. "This hero business really does make you sleepy sometimes. So Mr. Black what brings you to this Nuclear Power plant this fine night?"

Danton Black cowardly stepped back further into the atomic pile, not noticing that his hand had brushed up against the controls

"I was just here to collect some of my work, that's all I swear" Danton Black waved his hands in front of Spider-Man defensively.

"Really, because it looked like you accusing Dr. Stein here of stealing" Spider-Man starred with his hands on his hips and pointing towards Dr. Stein who was still tied in the chair marveling at the sight of Spider-Man.

"Now maybe he did, and maybe he didn't, I don't know the whole story. That doesn't mean you go and try to get chummy with the thugs." Spider-Man seriously stated.

Dr. Stein then shifted in his chair and scooted it forward towards Spider-Man and Black. "I didn't steal anything from him Spider-Man" Dr. Stein then shifted in his chair towards Black.

"I admit you did design mechanism that holds the dampener rods in place, but you were brought onto the project as a consultant" Dr. Stein proclaimed.

Black slammed his fist on the controls angrily yelling, "Weather I did or didn't is out of the question, you still showed a complete lack of respect for me" Black pointed back at Dr. Stein in contempt. "I was supposed to be the lead on this project, but the board wouldn't give it to me!"

"The board thought my previous work wasn't good enough" Black held his hands in the air in a sarcastic manner looking crazier every second. "But everyone was sooooo impressed with your F.I.R.E.S.T.O.R.M matrix, they apparently wanted a top physicist on this reactor." Black said in quotations.

Spider-Man all the while just listened to the whole conversation unfold before him. He really did hate when one of the thugs tried to explain themselves for their actions. Though he was worried Nightwing might be getting bored having to wait outside the building for so long. He might come in, wondering if I was in danger, or what was taking so long. Either way he wasn't – "Spider-sense!"

Spider-Man immediately took a defensive stance, gaining the attention of everyone present. His spider-sense was good at alerting him to danger, but it had a knack of not telling him where or what kind of said danger was.

"What's going on?" Black asked panicking, the atomic pile made a large low whirl and the reactor the entire room went into a faded red flashing.

"It's the reactor it's overloading, the atomic emitter has been turned all the way up, and the dampener rods have not been put into place!" Dr. Stein uttered in a panic yet frightened tone.

"I hate it when that happens" Spider-Man stated, he always tried to lighten the mood in stressful situations. "Ok doc, you're the resident expert on nuclear reactors, so how do we stop it?"

Spider-Man made his way towards the controls awaiting instructions from the doc who was still tied to the chair. Black made his way towards the exit and ran for his life, feeling that getting credit wasn't worth dying over.

"Spider-Man, I need to see the controls in order to assess the situation" Spider-Man grabbed the ropes holding Dr. Stein to the chair and ripped them off as if they were made of thread. Dr. Stein quickly made his way towards the controls as Spider-Man stood right behind him waiting for instructions. Sure Peter was and an expert in Physics, but Nuclear Physics was a whole other subject. He knew more than your average science major, but he figured he rather have the guy who built it figure out how to stop a meltdown.

"No, No, NO! The nuclear pile is already in full flux, even with the dampener rods it wouldn't be enough to stop the meltdown." Dr. Stein said in an anger yet scarred manner.

"Yea, I'm definitely going to need that nap after this is over" Today was just not Peters day.


End Note: Well that's it for now, I know it seems like filler, but this chapter was meant for people who have read the whole story to settle back in. I'm about a quarter of the way done on chapter 11. I'm not going to give a specific date for when it will be finished because I have other personal things like work, school, and my family to take care of. I can say that it will be finished and published by the end of this month. Also feel free to leave reviews and if you have questions message me.