Boston, MA – Present-Day

"Death is a strange thing. Many of us see it as an end, and understandably so. Many of us see it as the beginning of the next life. Others of us see it as the final hurrah before a complete termination of existence."

The clergyman who had previously conducted the funeral service watched as a body was lowered slowly into the awaiting grave. "You know what though…look around. To me, I think this is a great opportunity to appreciate and remember what we have around us. Because who knows, it could be gone forever tomorrow." He then looked at the individual he was addressing, as the two of them stood several yards away from the burial activity.

Peter Parker was lost in thought, as he watched his Aunt May Parker in tears, sobbing, just ahead of him. They were at the funeral of her late husband, John Jameson Sr., whom she had just recently married. It was truly a bittersweet irony in that May had managed to cheat death on so many occasions through the years, yet today, it was the person who had given her life new meaning that was now gone.

As Peter mulled over the clergyman's words, he smiled. "Thank you, Father." He then moved closer to his aunt, looking around as he did so. He was amazed by everyone who had showed up and made the drive to Boston. Flash Thompson. Betty Brant. Robbie Robertson. Glory Grant. Ben Urich. Jessica Jones (and Luke Cage in tow). Liz Allan. Harry Osborn (Harry!?).

Peter did a double take at the sight of Harry and Liz standing a few feet away from each other but not speaking. He knew they were likely facing challenges with Normie, their young son they had together before their divorce many years before. But Harry and Liz were not on talking terms, that was a given. For Peter, the fact that he was seeing Harry at this funeral was concerning, since his once-best-friend had recently gone completely undercover after certain events in both of their lives, preferring to start his life over with his new son from a separate relationship. While some people could be fooled by the disguise—shaved head, beard—Peter knew his friend too well. Nevertheless, he figured he would let him and Liz take care of their business and hoped he wasn't reverting to old habits that had caused him problems in the past.

He looked next to his aunt as he squeezed her shoulder for support and she grabbed it with her hand supportively. J. Jonah Jameson, his former employer, former Mayor of New York, and current host at F.A.C.T. Channel, sat in a chair looking on in disbelief as the final preparations were made for his father, Jameson Sr to be lowered. His son John stood next to him, mirroring Peter. It had been a tough year for the family. First they had lost Marla, Jonah's wife and John's stepmother, to a senseless attack by Alistair Smythe and his Spider-Slayers. Now this.

Peter looked down, realizing he had a lot to be thankful for. While he had recently been taking to whining about how his life seemed to be going nowhere, he had to realize that being the CEO and Chairman of a powerful technology/science organization was a blessing. Peter sighed, and then looked at Jameson, whose luck appeared to be going the other way.

"Jonah," he stated softly.

Jameson didn't look up, making a guttural "humph."

"Jonah," Peter repeated. "I'm sorry for your loss…I know you and I haven't seen eye to eye in a long time, and you may never speak to me again, but trust me, I know how it feels to lose a father. If there's anything I can do…just let me know."

Jameson looked up momentarily, then his eyes narrowed, and he pointed a finger at Peter. "How dare you, you son of a bitch." He stood up, knocking over the chair. "You think you're high and mighty in that ivory tower of yours, and suddenly today it's your day to be like us normal folk again, well guess what Parker, you'll never be nothing more than a second rate photographer! You know as well as I do, karma is going to hit you in the face someday!" He walked right up to Peter until their noses were inches apart, and then he whispered, "You make me sick, kid."

John quickly grabbed his father, shook his head at Peter and mouthed "I'm sorry" and walked Jonah away. Peter nodded knowingly, then turned back to his aunt. "Aunt May," Peter started, before she shook her head and stood up, collecting herself. The rest of the crowd had pretty much dispersed, with some folks milling around still.

"Peter, I have to meet someone who can help me get through this…I need to talk to them privately." She looked at him and smiled, hugging her nephew. "I'm sure you are doing great things, making a lot of money, right?" She laughed briefly and Peter could tell it was forced.

"But Aunt May…you know I'm here for you," Peter protested.

Her eyes flashed angrily. "Are you?" She caught herself, then looked back at the grave and sighed. She began sniffling again. "John was there for me…"

"Don't worry Aunt May…you have plenty of people around you who care about you still and who will make time for you," a familiar voice uttered.

Peter whirled around in shock and looked behind him. Sure enough…

MJ.

"Hello, Peter," she said. "It's been a while." After the greeting, she grabbed Aunt May and left Peter gaping at her, as the two of them walked to a…limo!? With…"Stark Enterprises" emblazoned on the doors?

Wow.

As the doors closed and the limo veered away, Peter sat down in the chair, alone momentarily. He thought about this. It seemed that since Doctor Octopus had taken over his body, most people now seemed to despise him, whether as Spider-Man or as Peter Parker, and even when he explained to MJ what had happened, it wasn't enough for her to get over it. In addition, some of his old friends had taken it even worse, i.e. Felicia Hardy, the Black Cat, who had turned to a life of crime again and at one point had tried to kill him because of Doc Ock's horrifying treatment of her when he was in Peter's body. It seemed Aunt May had never forgiven him either. Peter now realized he needed to accept responsibility for this and admit his wrongs, even though they weren't his…but as he could tell from these reactions, it may have been too late. And now MJ was working for Stark?

Immediately, thoughts raced in his mind of MJ and Tony together…was she an employee? Was she dating him? What was this all about, and how come Tony hadn't said anything? Hell…MJ didn't even call him "Tiger" just now!

Get it out of your mind Peter…she's not yours anymore…you gotta move on.

Peter had in fact secretly began wondering if he needed to see a psychologist. While he had always credited himself as being strong and able to withstand a lot in life, the experience with Octavius felt as a sort of mental rape to him. The man had practically taken over Peter's life and abused his body and mind, and at times Peter couldn't deal with the guilt of profiting and benefiting from the changes he had made, but on the other hand the alternative was to go back to the life he had before the change, which wasn't bad, but at this point given all the people he had infuriated, would basically amount to being a struggling photographer again.

Yet that would be the responsible thing to do, the voice in his head urged. Peter tried to counter it and found he couldn't. What exactly could he do, though? He was responsible for thousands of employees and in a way was bringing good to the world and to others…to walk away from all that…well…he would see.

As Peter tried to forget all of this, he heard a booming voice. "There's Puny Parker…let's get him!" He felt two strong hands lift him out of his chair, and he was tossed off the ground to face Flash Thompson.

"Uh, hi Flash," Peter smiled. This was interesting. Peter had learned recently that Flash, his old high school nemesis, had inherited the Venom symbiote, but had harnessed it for good and now worked for the US government with it as "Agent Venom." But ironically, Flash still didn't know Peter was Spider-Man.

"Hey Parker," he smiled, tussling his hair. "Listen, I'm sorry for your loss…"

Peter shrugged. "John wasn't really my relative…"

Flash looked at Peter incredulously. "Come on, he was your Aunt May's husband. Practically your stepdad if you ask me. But all right…anyway, reason I stopped by was I was wondering if you'd be interested in meeting Betty and I for coffee later today."

Peter looked confused. "I thought you guys stopped talking after, ah, your little incident with her brother…"

Flash smiled broadly. "What was that I used to say…oh yeah…she couldn't resist the trademark Thompson charm for too long!" He laughed at his own joke, and Peter pretended to laugh to humor him. Here at least, was one friend who hadn't given up on him. On a whim, Peter decided to go for it. Life was too short, as the clergyman had pointed out.

"I'm in Flash. Let's do this!" Peter smiled. Flash was surprised for a moment, but then nodded excitedly. "Cool. So we'll see you at the Bean near the Fleet Center, later tonight, say 7?"

Peter scratched his head. "They have a Bean over here, in Boston?" It surprised Peter what a nation wide chain his hometown coffee shop had turned into over the years. Then he shrugged, and flashed a thumbs up. "I'll be there with bells on, buddy."

An hour later, Spider-Man whisked around Boston, having donned his old costume for just one night, patrolling the skies for any activity. While Peter had created a façade with the Parker Industries setup to have Spider-Man as his "bodyguard" and had come up with a new costume, a new process, even several sidekicks in Prowler and Mockingbird, he didn't feel this charade was necessary in Boston, where his presence was less of a regular sight. More notably, the charade was beginning to tire Peter to an extent.

Sometimes he wondered of the necessity of the secret identity in the 21st century. Was it really worth it anymore? Sure, at the time he had started out, it was important, but given the technology of the day, with social media exploding, and given Peter's current state in his personal life where most people seemed to want nothing to do with him…he felt it was something worth thinking—

Immediately, a ringing began in Spider-Man's head as his patented spider-sense went off, and Spider-Man dodged a dart, the contents of which were unknown but he quickly guessed could have been fatal. Spider-Man webbed his way to a full u-turn and faced his adversary, standing on a nearby rooftop.

The Jackal! Miles Warren? In Boston?

It was slightly preposterous but not out of the ordinary for some of Spider-Man's "personal" villains to show up in cities where he traveled, but in this case, the Jackal was one of the few that knew his identity. Still, he had thought the Jackal was under lock and key, so this could only mean a jail break had occurred. He sighed as the villain began announcing his intentions. This man had been one of Peter's high school teachers eons ago, before his obsession with Peter's girlfriend Gwen Stacy had destroyed his life and turned him to evil.

"Parker, my boy!" he yelled from the rooftop. "I'm so proud of what you're doing these days…all these inventions…this work, this technology…I want to work for you! Give me a job!" He grinned with a large and ugly set of teeth.

"Why Jackie, I'd love to," Spider-Man said, as he moved towards his adversary. "But there's only one job opening right now, and I think you're not going to find a better opportunity than that." He landed a blow to the Jackal's face as he reached the rooftop. "My personal punching bag."

The Jackal immediately jumped back to his feet and roared, pouncing on Spider-Man. "Yes, continue the wisecracks," he said, and before Spider-Man could counter, the Jackal suddenly he produced another dart and jammed it into Spider-Man's head, and Spider-Man immediately crumpled to the ground.

The Jackal stood tall, as Peter cursed himself. He felt himself fading away, as the Jackal produced a wire and attached it into the end of the dart, then jammed the opposite end of the wire into his head. As blood began slowly oozing from his head, he smiled at the downed superhero.

"You see my boy," he began. "I know you too well, and I know that the man that was cavorting around the good old red and blues for the last several months was not my star pupil…hell, I don't even know if this is really you…but I watched your battle with Octavius quite closely, and I knew he was able to pull something off…this little mind swap tactic."

"How do you know about that…" managed a weakening Spider-Man.

The Jackal produced a nano-bot and smiled. "I found one of these little things." The nanobots had been pivotal to Doctor Octopus' scheme of taking over Peter's body, but Peter was surprised the Jackal had been able to find one. Then he crushed it with his hand and leered. "But I can do it better, and with this light poison dart and mind swap combination, this time your body will be mine."

As he produced a suspicious looking metal stick with a few buttons on it, he smiled at Spider-Man. "Your powers, your empire, your money, the women that lust for you…" he grinned at the last part. "This will all be mine. You really were my favorite student, my boy. But now, I will simply flip the switch on this device here, and soon I'll be yours, and you'll be mine."

The Jackal held up the stick, and eyed the buttons, ready to perform the switch. "See you on the other side!"

Spider-Man braced for the worst, and closed his eyes.

TO BE CONTINUED!