All characters appearing in Spider-Man are copyrighted to Marvel Entertainment and Stan Lee, and owned by the Walt Disney Corporation (Disney bought Marvel). No infringement of these copyrights is intended, and is not authorized by the copyright holder. All original characters are the property of TVfan.
Note: this story is continued from the end of "The Laws of Terror and Joy" and will run parallel to my Avengers story, "Initiative". If you wish to know the exact plot of that story, you will need to read my story in the Avengers section titled, "Initiative", although it should not be necessary to understand the events of this story.
Also Note: This is not OMD. It may be how OMD should have gone, but it isn't OMD.
Consequences
By TVfan
Chapter 2: Villains, Losers, and Jobs
New York City, Central Park
The demon Mephisto arrived quietly in New York City with little fandom and less notice. In fact, he didn't even arrive in his normal form. He arrived in the form of a fairly skinny man with red hair and rather angular features that would make him look fairly predatory for a human. His clothing was all black, but beyond making people think he was some sort of Goth, it attracted very little attention. At the moment, he didn't want attention. Dr. Strange hadn't detected his moving between dimensions and thus hadn't showed up to stop him, and Mephisto preferred it that way. Spider-Man was an easy target as far as he was concerned, but he did have friends that were more dangerous to him.
"And now let's see what's gone on since I was last here," Mephisto mused to himself and began walking.
Crossing to Earth was a potentially taxing mission for him. He lost some of his power in doing so, as his power was used to keep him on Earth, but so long as a deal could be struck, the power lost wasn't that great. He had one deal already in play, which gave him the window to Earth, which was what he really wanted. He wasn't about to waste it by rapidly trying to kill Spider-Man. It would fill the terms of the deal that he'd made and he'd be back in his own dimension, with little to show for his efforts. Doing things slowly would be much better.
"Excuse me, are you new in town?" a voice asked, making Mephisto stop.
He turned to see a young woman standing there. In her late teens to early twenties, the woman was in the typical age group Mephisto liked, young, and believed they were invincible, and stupid. But his present hunt wasn't like a typical 'journey' to Earth. As such, he put on his best act to make it seem like he was returning to New York from some other point on Earth.
"I've been to New York before," Mephisto spoke, "but I'm rather busy with things and haven't been here in a while. I'm looking to catch up on things."
"Lots of things always go on here," the woman commented, "mister…"
"Memphis," Mephisto spoke, "Michael Memphis."
"Mr. Memphis," the woman acknowledged, "Anyway, a lot of stuff happens here, and I'm sure you saw it on the news wherever you were."
"Actually… with the amount of work I've had…" Mephisto commented, "You could almost say I've been living under a rock."
The woman raised an eyebrow and then shrugged.
"Well, Cap defeated the Registration Act and they're going to announce TWO teams of Avengers soon," the woman informed him, "That is the big news… but then, this IS New York. It's where all the superheroes reside."
"Any particular favorite?" Mephisto inquired.
"Actually, yes…" the woman actually blushed, "Spider-Man. I know he gets a bad rap from the Bugle… but I've seen the guys he's fought. Not good guys and for him to keep going out and defending us… in spite of the stuff in print… what more could you ask for?"
"Not much, I'd wager," Mephisto mused, "but you actually seem a bit embarrassed. Like some school girl's crush…"
"Well, he is kinda cute," the woman replied, "in a dorky sort of way. A shame he's married. If he were single, I'd be all over him."
"I'm sure," Mephisto gave a short smile, "thank you for your update, but I must be going."
"Stay safe!" the woman answered, "there are all sorts of devils out for money!"
And with that, the woman, left Mephisto go. He only turned and smiled.
"So, the world knows you're Peter Parker now," Mephisto smiled to himself, "and she gives me a rather keen idea… I may not even need to take your soul… just make your life so miserable that you'll forsake your present happiness… your wife… your family… all for some sense of normalcy… like the good little idiot all you mortals are…"
Avengers Tower
Meanwhile, Mephisto's intended target was dealing with a very different problem, dirty diapers.
"Oh… oh man that stinks!" Peter declared scrunching up his nose, eliciting giggles from the changing table in front of him, he then turned down to look at the infant May looking up at him, "all you eat is milk. How can you make something so stinky?!"
May only gave him a squealing giggle eliciting similar giggles from Ben who was still in the crib that he and Mary Jane had set up in their bedroom for the twins.
"Oh don't go thinking for a second that I forgot about the one YOU made," Peter jokingly threatened, "that was just as bad!"
"Bad, Peter?" came Mary Jane's voice.
"Come on, MJ, don't you smell this?" Peter almost whined as he held up the dirty diaper, now wrapped up.
"They're babies, Peter," Mary Jane chuckled, "they eat, they sleep, and they poop. That's about it."
Peter looked down to his daughter, who he had just put in a clean diaper. He had been stroking her chin with one hand, and the infant had managed to find and grip his finger, though only weakly.
"Well," he then mused, "they're changed now… and are due to eat for a little while…"
"And Her, Aunt May, and Aunt Anna… while she's here… are perfectly capable of helping out," Mary Jane told him, "meanwhile, we should let them sleep. It's hard work being a baby. And we have other business to tend to."
Peter sighed and then nodded. He then followed Mary Jane out of their room and quietly shut the door. They then made their way into a different section of Avengers Tower that had been set aside for them. The two of them did have a fair amount of things they needed to think over or get some security on… most of those things were related to their careers as Spider-Man and Arachne. Thanks to the problems of the Registration Act while it was in force, MJ had had to reveal their secret identities in a rather public press conference. The defeat of the Registration didn't change that.
"So what nightmares do you we should tackle first?" Peter asked calmly, "I've handled my business with the school and the Bugle… largely. So, two down and a whole bunch to go."
Mary Jane gave a heavy sigh, "We'll probably be hearing from friends that feel betrayed or upset or excited as you said Flash was…"
"Or some villain that wants to make a name for himself thinking he can pull off what Osborn did," Peter sighed.
"That's the main thing we should focus on," Mary Jane said firmly, "Aunt May should be fairly safe here with Jarvis at Avengers Tower, but Aunt Anna will eventually be going back to Florida, and then there's Gayle and her family…"
"You think someone will go all the way to Pittsburgh to get at you and me?" Peter asked.
"Not me, directly, you," Mary Jane answered, "I'm still too new at this for your bad guys to really care about me personally, BUT I wouldn't put it past them to realize that we are married and that I have family. They may think that they can lure you into a trap by grabbing your in-laws. The fact that I would rush to save my family too probably won't cross their minds… at least not all of them…"
Elsewhere in Manhattan
There was an eerie silence in a fairly dark room with the exception of the mechanical hissing of four robotic tentacles.
"Come on, don't you think it's a good idea?" a man wearing a fairly business like suit while his face was concealed by a white plastic like mask.
"To just rush Avengers Tower to attack Spider-Man?" responded the owner of the tentacles as he turned around to face the man addressing him, "I am Otto Octavius. I am a scientist. I've put together plans that nearly brought the wall-crawler to his knees! And they were brilliant. Do you think I'm going to do something so stupid as to rush into Avengers Tower to grab an old woman… an old woman I had some attraction for?"
"What?!" the other man, the Chameleon gasped, "you had the hots for May Parker? Come on Ock, she's got what twenty years on you!"
"My personal life is none of your concern," Octavius answered and returned to the work he was doing, which seemed to focus around some small device.
Chameleon shook it off and then sighed, "Come on, Ock. We'd get him right where we want him. We've always known him as Spider-Man. Now we can go after Peter Parker. Grab those he cares about and get him to make a mistake. We don't even need to hurt May Parker."
"And how do you factor for Mary Jane?" Octavius answered, "She's become Arachne, now, and before her pregnancy there were a several instances where she fought and won fights on her own. Or are you assuming that she's webbed to her husband's hip."
Chameleon only blinked.
"And then there are the Avengers," Octavius continued, "even if Spider-Man and Arachne aren't there, do you think you can defeat Captain America, Iron Man, Wolverine, and the rest of the hero community by yourself? Even with the Sinister Six gathered together, we could never defeat the Avengers!"
"But… but you hate Spider-Man!" Chameleon spoke, "this whole thing you're working on… the thing you hired me to steal the money to pay for… is to defeat Spider-Man."
"Yes," Octavius answered as he glanced back to the device, "but it is part of a plan that is somewhat more complex and smarter than attacking 'hero city.' Now…"
"So wouldn't you want to at least try it?" Chameleon asked, "Try to do something for all the times you've been beat up by a man half your age? Finally get even with him? Or have you finally gone coward?"
Chameleon was hit by the tentacle before he even knew what hit him. Octavius commanded the lower right tentacle to grab the master of disguise by the neck and slam him against a wall. And the tentacle did just that, and Chameleon grunted heavily when he hit the wall.
"I am not a coward," Octavius growled, "I am a man of intellect and a man who can even respect and admire an opponent. Peter Parker… Spider-Man… they are all one and in many ways the kind of person I'd wished to be… the kind of person I could have been."
"What?" Chameleon choked out.
"Unlike you, I didn't start of my career as a petty thug and spy," Octavius answered, "I started as a scientist… looking to do good for people… but they robbed me of my funding and the successes I could have had were denied me. My reasons for opposing Spider-Man are my own, and when that end game comes… it will demonstrate my brilliance and show the world what it could have had. I will not help in some insane decision to try and attack his family."
Octavius then let the Chameleon go.
"You have your payment," Octavius answered, "leave."
Chameleon left in a hurry, "You'll be sorry you missed out on the greatest thing ever."
Avengers Tower, Tony Stark's Office
Peter and Mary Jane arrived at the door to Tony Stark's office to hear Tony speaking with another man in there.
"I must say, Mr. Stark, this is quite a surprise having me here," the man answered, "I'm a research scientist. You're Iron Man, a business mogul, the director of S.H.I.E.L.D., and so not in my league."
"Mr. Modell, it's because you're a research scientist that I've asked you here," came Tony Stark's reply, "I've followed what come out of your research company. You and your workers have made a fairly large sum of money in tech for the police and other law enforcement agencies. Shoot, I've even found a handful of receipts from you in S.H.I.E.L.D.'s files. Much of the rest is in the patents on some of the inventions for… shall I say civilian use…"
"Modell?" Peter asked to MJ in surprise, their concerns out of his mind for the moment.
"Who?" Mary Jane asked.
"Only one of the coolest scientists ever," Peter told her.
Mary Jane was about to answer, when the door suddenly opened. She looked over to see Tony standing there with an almost amused smile and shaking his head.
"The announcing of Red and Blue teams isn't until tomorrow," Tony said with a chuckle, "and you can be in costume for that."
"Actually," Peter said slowly, "we had a couple of questions with things… you know that my bad guys have long had personal grudges against me…"
"And you're worried about your families?" Tony asked.
Peter and Mary Jane both nodded.
"Well… I suppose you're partially in luck, I hope," Tony commented, "Come on in."
Tony then headed back in and Peter and Mary Jane followed to find a slightly pudgy looking man with red hair and what looked like a 1800s version of the goatee. Tony turned to introduce them to the man.
"Peter, Mary Jane, Max Modell C.E.O. of Horizon Labs," Tony explained, "Mr. Modell, Peter and Mary Jane Watson-Parker. Spider-Man and Arachne."
The man stood up and came forward, "A pleasure to meet you both. I take it you are still working with S.H.I.E.L.D. and the Avengers?"
"The Avengers, yes, S.H.I.E.L.D., no," Tony answered, "My predecessor there kinda turned them off the idea of being agents…"
"The bad guys we fight generally don't come to S.H.I.E.L.D.'s attention either," Peter added.
Peter could barely turn his eyes away from Mr. Modell while Peter went around his desk. Mary Jane traded glances between her husband, the professional scientist, and Tony.
"They are however, a very good example of why I've called you here, Mr. Modell," Tony spoke, "as I'm sure you're aware, Peter here has gathered an impressive list of villains that hate him personally."
"I've read the Bugle, Mr. Stark," Modell answered, "overblown if you ask me, but I've also always had some concerns…"
"Peter is NOT the cause of the damage that has come about from his fights!" Mary Jane spoke up defensively, "he's done his best to try and help New York!"
Modell blinked in surprise and then sighed, "I mean no disrespect, Mrs. Parker. But Spider-Man has a carried a bad reputation in the press and on people's tongues. I think that the Bugle has overstated things, but doesn't mean that Jameson is entirely off his rocker. I would think that coming out from simply being behind a mask will actually be of great benefit for the both of you as heroes. It may give people the opportunity to see the real you."
"Anyway," Tony cut in before things got out of hand, "Peter has an impressive rogue's gallery and they are a major concern for superheroes that registered while the Registration Act was in effect."
"I'm not in the super soldier serum business, either," Modell added.
"I don't want to create superhumans," Tony sighed, "I was hoping you could come up with some way to create a sort of shield generator. Something small, but still powerful. Powerful enough to stop bullets completely and at least keep the wearer safe from a more superhuman attack… at least for a little while. I'll even share with you some of the engineering diagrams for what I use to shield my armor."
This brought Peter and Mary Jane's attention to focus, as this was what they'd come to ask about. Modell also looked intrigued.
"Couldn't you scale it down?" Modell asked.
"In theory, but doing so would also mean it's good for one use," Tony sighed, "practically useless if the bad guy can attack twice. And right now, I don't have the time to wrestle with the issue… but you and Horizon, Mr. Modell, have the brains, the computers, and the track record to prove you could do it. Peter, here, could help with some of the specifics."
"Could you?" Modell asked to Peter.
"Graduated from E.S.U. with a major in Science," Peter said weakly, "started on a master's program before Spider-Man stuff took up more time."
"Interesting," Modell mused, "I trust you haven't lost it?"
"Lost what? Science? Half of my victories have been because I've been able to think of something scientifically that I could use to stop the bad guy," Peter spoke, "Some things… I might have been able to patent, but I couldn't…"
"The whole secret identity thing, I'd suspect," Modell commented, "Well… let me get the schematics from Stark, and what say you come down to Horizon with me. I'll see if you still have some science knowledge that's worth it, and then you can get started on miniaturizing Stark's shield design without taking a cut in power."
Peter looked like he would be in heaven. Mr. Modell ultimately led him out with a slightly goofy grin on his face.
"Good luck, Tiger," Mary Jane called after him.
It might solve one of the other problems they had now, as Peter had lost both his teaching job and his freelance work with the Bugle because of 'Spider-Man' and the theaters had all sent replies that while they thought she was a good actress, they weren't insured against super villains. And with baby May and Ben to raise, they'd need some source of income.
"I take it that is what you and Peter came to talk about?" Tony asked, "Protecting your Aunts?"
"And other family, yes," Mary Jane nodded, "Do you intend to apply this to every hero's family?"
"S.H.I.E.L.D.'s order will be for family members of a superhero," Tony nodded, "How many Horizon sells to other customers is up to them."
Mary Jane only shrugged.
"Did you plan on patrolling today?" Tony then asked.
"Peter and I were going to go out and do that… and talk over some things, but that was before you sent Peter off to a new job… might still go out on my own though. Clear my head on how to tell the rest of my family why I kept being Arachne and Peter being Spider-Man secret."
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
A brown haired woman was carefully packing up a few sets of bags inside her home in a more residential area of Pittsburgh. She'd wanted to do this earlier, but her children had school that she didn't want them to miss, but now, they had some time off and she had her own questions to get answered. Questions for her little sister that would be best answered in person.
"Hey, mom, where are we going?" came a younger voice came from a nearby doorway.
The woman, Gayle Watson, looked up to see both her sons, Kevin and Tommy standing in the doorway, holding their own bags.
"We're going to New York, to visit family," Gayle answered calmly.
"Aunt Mary and Uncle Peter?" Tommy asked.
"Yes, dears," Gayle nodded, "we're going to see your Aunt and Uncle… and probably your cousins too."
"Cousins?" Kevin asked.
"Remember? Aunt Mary was pregnant when she was on TV," Gayle told them.
The eyes of both her sons lit up with excitement.
"Don't you think it's cool that she's a superhero, mom?" Kevin asked his mother, "fights bad guys and all that?"
"I suppose it could be," Gayle responded, and then thought to herself, "I'd thought she'd tell me though. Especially about Peter… she came to Pittsburgh once… looking confused, thinking about the mistakes that our father put us both through… my pregnancy and then being left alone… Was that Spider-Man related?"
"What would you do if you had superpowers, mom?" Tommy asked.
"And what powers would you have?" Kevin added.
Gayle chuckled and ruffled the hair of her two sons, "I'd have the power to be everywhere at once. That way I can keep track of you too and make sure you don't get into trouble, like you did with Ms. Gertrude's flowers."
"It was an accident!" Tommy said quickly, "I was only trying to catch the ball; I didn't mean to trample them."
Gayle chuckled and shook her head, "Come on. We'd best get going. I trust you've packed clothes and your school books?"
"Yes, mom."
New York City
The aviary Chameleon found himself in after meeting with Octavius was not one that he particularly liked. Some New Yorkers kept pigeons and supposedly trained them like people did with the carrier pigeons of the early twentieth century. This aviary, however, didn't contain pigeons. It contained ravens under the control of Ebenezer Laughton, the Scarecrow.
"So, did Octavius go along with the idea?" the Scarecrow asked as he came from a different portion of the aviary.
"No," Chameleon grumbled, "He apparently respects the wallcrawler too much to actually take him out… go after his family and lead him into a trap."
"Nuts," Scarecrow shrugged, "you know this will be tougher now, right?"
"Hey, I can get into the tower, easy," Chameleon answered, "Take the form of someone who is accepted and have the right voice-box in… and I can get in, off the old lady and get out."
"Yeah, I know the plan," Scarecrow answered, "that gets Spidey all angry and irrational. And he then comes into our trap… a trap where I can induce his fear! But we'll still need more than the two of us."
"Yes," Chameleon nodded, as he began to pace the aviary, ignoring the cawing of the ravens, "I'd thought that Ock would have joined us… but I was wrong. You have any ideas for anyone with a grudge against Spider-Man? Anyone who'd want to go along with this?"
"We'd need some guys with power and can react quickly," Scarecrow answered, "Guys that Spider-Man cannot easily fight."
"Who?!" Chameleon demanded, "Come on! The sooner we have a team; we can get at the man who's put us down for years!"
"Well, I've heard rumors about some guy with super strength, flight, intangibility, and some limited telepathic ability," Scarecrow commented, "seemingly sulking in the Bronx. I'll see if I can get him…"
Chameleon nodded, "and I'll see if I can make contact with some of the other guys that have tussled with Spider-Man before. We'll meet back here tonight."
Chameleon then pulled on a mask that would make him look like an average New York citizen and made his way out. Scarecrow followed a few moments later, removing the cloth mask to help disguise him from those that would recognize him as a criminal. The door to the aviary then shut and there was an eerie silence that followed. Not even the ravens in it cawed. After a few moments, one raven hopped from its perch and landed on the floor and returned to the form of Mephisto, though this time not disguised as 'Memphis.' The Chameleon's plan didn't impress the demon all that much. It was essentially a very simple sneak and kill mission in the hopes that the hero would then do something stupid. It wasn't necessarily a bad plan, but in Mephisto's years, the villains that succeeded with those sorts of plans could usually stand up to the hero in a straight one on one fight. Chameleon and Scarecrow lacked that ability.
"Those losers won't last long against Arachne or Spider-Man," Mephisto said to one of the ravens, stroking its head with one of his talon tipped fingers, "If their deception is solely based on a man whose ability is to act and disguise himself. Knowing a hero's name matters little when you don't know the hero's personality…"
The raven cawed back to Mephisto as he summoned a piece of meat and offered it to the bird. The raven eagerly ate what was offered to it.
"But those losers may well make things entertaining while I can make MY moves in the background," Mephisto then finished and vanished in a puff of smoke.
Horizon Labs
Peter was in awe as he got out of the car Maxwell Modell had brought him to his offices in. It was on the northern end of Manhattan, and Peter had found that much of the area had been cleaned up even better than what he had expected.
"Well, Peter, I'll grant you that what I have is not like Stark Tower/Avengers Tower, however you wish to call it," Modell commented, "but I've done a lot to help keep things clean. Several schools even come here to see basic tours and so forth."
Peter could only whistle as he followed the man in.
"The ground floor and the top level are where our nine to five employees work with basic software design and ideas," Modell explained, "which range from word processing to games to faster internet capacity for computers. The works. They form the bulk of our orders, but not the bulk of our profits."
Peter followed him into the main entryway of the building, which looked more like a giant break room rather than office building.
"People work like that?" Peter wondered.
"That's actually the atrium," Modell answered, "It's a break room, more or less. It can also be a showroom when we're unveiling new models."
Peter then turned to see Modell head toward the back of the room next to a rather impressive looking security door. He pressed his hand onto a touch screen.
"The real work is the labs, seven labs interdependent labs where Horizon's scientists think big and put things in order," Modell answered.
The two entered, and came into a more modernistic type of area. It reminded Peter of some of the various spacecraft he'd found himself on in some of his adventures.
"And if you're as good with science and technology that Mr. Stark says you are, you could work here," Modell continued, "I'd even make time for you to be Spider-Man and defend the city with the Avengers… just so long as you think big while you're here."
"Uh… you know, Mr. Modell, I'm good with science, yes, and fairly good with technology… at least the technology my bad guys have used against me," Peter admitted, "but Tony's armor and his repulsor tech are beyond that."
"Oh, believe me, I know," Modell said with a chuckle, "the technology that has gone into 'Iron Man' is beyond anything Horizon has come up with. It's one of the things that make Stark Industries the best tech company in the world… the difference though, is that 'Iron Man' and the tech that Stark makes only serve one or two purposes and not all of them can be sold to the common man. Nearly everything Horizon makes can be sold to the common man, and even the things that we sell to the government are not something that would only work at the Federal level or with S.H.I.E.L.D. but at local and state levels as well."
Modell lead him to another large door, with Peter hearing whispers of 'Spider-Man' and 'Spidey' as he went. No one said 'menace' but not everything sounded great. Looking above the door, Peter saw the number '6.'
"But, Tony did give me the relevant data that powers his tech," Modell said, "the real issue is in miniaturizing it. As sort of a quiz to see what you know…"
"Tony's shield is an energy projection for his armor and is powered by the arc reactor that is in his chest," Peter explained.
"And now he's ordered a miniaturized version of it," Modell answered.
"But the arc reactor CAN'T be miniaturized," Peter spoke, "it's already as small as it can get without taking a massive power loss. The only way to get around it would be to have a series of projectors connected to a central power generator or to put together some impact converter in with the projection system."
"An impact converter?" Modell asked.
"Something that would take the kinetic energy of a bullet or some other attacking force and translate it into electrical energy to power the shield," Peter explained, "Stark has done some similar things with regard to fortifying Avengers Tower and the ground of the old Avengers Mansion… some of that has been miniaturized quite a bit so that it could fit into some tight spaces… but… but…"
Peter turned over to Modell and then spoke, "You know, that MIGHT work. We'd still need a battery to turn it on, but the converter to turn kinetic energy into electrical energy to power the shield once it's on, but it could work."
"And what if the person's shield is never attacked?" Modell questioned.
"It the sensitivity is kept up, the slightest breeze or even air hitting it as a person walks would keep the shield powered," Peter answered, "and if it truly will function like the shields on Tony's armor… no one would ever notice and the person would still be able to maintain tactile contact with the world around them. The battery wouldn't need to be any bigger than some of those mini-batteries they're putting in some of the slimmer cellphones nowadays."
Modell smiled, "That's excellent brainstorming. This lab, lab six is presently available. It's yours if you want it."
Peter caught something in Modell's smile, "hey, you planned to hire me?"
"Tony also included copies of your transcripts from high school and college and even grad school," Modell answered, "I generally prefer paper, but I can read online stuff. Your grades were extremely good. Borderline genius, even. And according to your wife, you became Spider-Man at fifteen. That was about the same time as when your grades began to drop, and there it was mostly from late work or what was perceived to be rushed work. Your teachers were astonished by your reasoning, but had to dock points for work turned in late… or because you rushed it the night before and while your theories and ideas were brilliant… you hadn't double checked every variable and had the project you'd been theorizing on actually been tested, it would have blown up in your face because some of your numbers were rushed…"
"Spider-Man did take up a lot of my time," Peter rubbed the back of his head, nervously, "but I had a responsibility to the people I protected."
"I'm sure," Modell nodded, "and now is your chance to be both a scientist and Spider-Man. Think of it as a trust exercise. You succeed here, and you'll do more than shoot photographs of yourself. You'll be able to either develop new technology or new tools, and you'll actually profit off of them. And you can then show the world there's more to Spider-Man than wise cracks. What do you say?"
"Sign me up!" Peter smiled, and thought, "I've finally won one!"
Modell again smiled.
NYPD Station
"Come on, chief, we finally got the punk's name," a rookie police officer complained to the captain of his precinct, "we finally got Spider-Man's real name! He's Peter Parker! We finally have a name to arrest him with!"
"We have a name, nothing else, Gonzales," the captain answered.
"Captain, he murdered his own girlfriend in cold blood AFTER he murdered her father in cold blood," the man, by the name of Gonzales said, "Remember, Captain George Stacy!"
"I never served with Stacy, and while every story I've heard says he's a good cop, most of the news stories that have blamed Spider-Man for crimes have had to be retracted when the people that have been caught in his battles have ranted in court on how it's all Spider-Man's fault for getting them in jail…"
"See, no honor amongst criminals," Gonzales answered.
"If you bothered to see the trials, you'd see that the crooks were all ranting on how Spider-Man STOPPED them, not betrayed them," the captain answered, "I'm no great fan of Spider-Man… but I'm also a believer in law and order. You cannot just arrest a guy because you don't like them. If that were true, half of my wife's family would be in jail."
Gonzales only growled and left. He made it out of the precinct office to join his partner when a voice stopped him.
"Vincent Gonzales," the voice spoke.
He turned to see Memphis standing there holding a small bag.
"Yes?" Vin Gonzales asked.
"My name is Memphis, and I've heard that you aren't that much of a fan of the wallcrawler," Memphis spoke.
"You could hear me out here?" Vin gasped in surprise.
"Huh?" Memphis replied, "No, I was talking with your partner before he drove down to the coffee shop for coffee. He says you talk about him incessantly."
"The guy is a criminal," Vin answered, "shoot, I'd wager half of the superheroes are secretly criminals. Why else would they have destructive battles? A trained police officer knows how to handle the situation and apprehends crooks with a minute fraction of the cost of these superhero battles."
"Typical idiot," Memphis thought to himself, "most of the world's super villains were out of the police's league. An average cop against a superhuman criminal wouldn't last long. The reason for the damage came from the combination of power, not because the superhero wanted to do damage or was too stupid to avoid it. But then… I could feel his hatred and he could be useful."
Vin managed to recover a little when he saw Memphis smile, "Then we agree on some things. I have a present for you."
Memphis tossed the bag he was holding to Vin.
"What is this?" Vin asked.
"Some old spider-tracers that Spider-Man has long since forgotten," Memphis answered, "been collecting them for years. Now, if you want to get rid of him, just place on a murder victim and report it as a 'Spider-Man murder.' It'll create the controversy and the reasoning you need to at least detain him. Once he's detained, even if the DA can't hold the charge, you'll still see civilian cases wanting monetary restitution aimed at Spider-Man. Once they bankrupt him, he'll be in prison anyway."
Vin only smiled back, "Thanks mister."
Vin then turned to wait for his partner and failed to notice Memphis fading from view.
Avengers Tower
While Peter found himself getting a big break with regards to life outside the webs, crooked cops were given the opportunity to make Spider-Man/Peter Parker's life miserable, and losers from his rogue's gallery had their own plans, Mary Jane was preparing for her first appearance as Arachne since her pregnancy became obvious. The Avengers teams hadn't been announced yet, but that didn't mean that Spider-Man and Arachne wouldn't be out and about until then. And so, she was in costume with the exception of her mask and headed to the roof of Avengers Tower.
Normally, she'd probably use a window, since that was how Peter generally went out on his patrols, but with Peter visiting Horizon Labs, she wouldn't be with Spider-Man today. In addition, one of the other Red Team members wanted to see what she 'had.'
"Well, hello, Mrs. Spider-Man," came a calm and somewhat friendly voice.
Mary Jane pulled up her mask and turned to see Janet Van Dyne, known as Wasp when in her black and gold costume.
"Arachne when I'm like this," Arachne answered, "Tony said you wanted to come with me on patrol?"
"Yes," Wasp nodded, "I want to see how good you are… though I thought Peter would be with you."
"Peter is busy catching a much needed break," Arachne answered and fired off a webline.
Wasp shrank down to her 'insect size' and flew after Arachne as the red haired heroine swung through the city.
"A break?" Wasp asked.
"Financially speaking," Arachne answered, "I will NOT be modeling again, ever… I had a bad experience with a stalker somewhat recently that I don't want to relive… and since I've revealed that I'm Arachne, most of the chances I had as an actress have dried up…"
"And yet you're still going all out to be a hero?" Wasp asked.
"To help my husband and to keep people safe, yes," Arachne answered.
"And your infants, if I may ask?" Wasp asked.
"Peter and I got some help with regard to looking after them," Arachne replied as they rounded a corner, "besides if Susan Storm Richards can do it, I can do it."
Wasp was silent for a moment and all Arachne could hear was her patrol partner's wings buzzing as they went along.
"I'll wish you the best of luck then," Wasp said after a moment, "I'm not real big on superheroes having a family thing… but I'll also admit that family type life has never been an easy thing for me."
"I do remember seeing some news reports over trouble between you and…" Arachne said slowly.
"Hank," Wasp answered, "Hank Pym… and yeah, I'll admit things have been rough there… but for me, the fun is in the adventure. Taking on bad guys, that sort of thing."
"Didn't you actually design clothes too?" Arachne wondered.
"Yes, but for the most part I've enjoyed being Wasp a lot," Wasp replied, "and hopefully, if you learn anything from being an Avenger, you learn to enjoy the adventure. You can be responsible without getting directly involved… and if you're doing it to hold off worrying about you husband… then you're going to make a mistake that could get you badly hurt."
Arachne was about to answer when her spider-sense went off full force. She immediately let go of the webline she was swinging on and did a series of summersaults before landing on the side of a raised water tower above an older apartment building in an older neighborhood that she and Wasp had made it to so far. As she flipped through the air, Arachne watched as what looked like a bolt of lightning slice through her webline. The bolt missed Wasp easily, but it was soon clear that Wasp hadn't been the target as a man in largely green and gold costume appeared.
"Or you could get badly hurt, regardless of whether or not you enjoy it," the man, Electro, gave a confident smirk.
Elsewhere
"WAAAHOOOOOOO!" Spider-Man let out a cry as he began his own patrol, intending for it to be his return trip to Avengers Tower.
There was still some reading that he would have to do to be fully prepared to begin at Horizon, but it was still a big break and one that he didn't expect he would get. Having his name out there had so far given him bad breaks. He lost his job with the school, and while his relations with Flash were still good, and maybe even better than before, he couldn't go back there. He lost his job with the Bugle and while he figured he'd smoothed things over with Jonah, 'Jolly JJ' wouldn't go back on his word. Normally, this wouldn't have been a problem, as MJ's modeling or work as actress in the past had more than made up for Peter's lack of luck in the job market, but her having to come out as Arachne had killed that as well, as far as Peter knew. As such, they would need some help financially speaking. Especially with two infants to take care of.
Horizon seemed to be that opportunity. True it had come on a recommendation from Tony, but it was still an opportunity, and a good one. Max Modell had almost seemed curious about him and was willing to bend his work schedule to fit around his life as Spider-Man. That was something he had never encountered before, though in the past he also had to keep his identity secret. As he landed on a flagpole and looked out over New York he felt a lot more confident about the financial place his family would be in.
"Maybe I should have come out a long time ago," Spider-Man quipped to himself and fired out another webline and continued on his way, "because I've never had any luck like this before."
He went a little ways before he heard cries for help coming up from below him. He landed on the side of a building to look down and saw blond woman with her hair in a ponytail and normally had the sort of 'cute' look that many could consider very attractive in an odd way. She was being assaulted by some random mugger who had knocked off her glasses and was threatening her with a knife.
"Debra!" Spider-Man called out in reflex, making both the attacked woman and the mugger look up.
Spider-Man then dropped straight down toward them and fired a single webline toward the mugger. It caught the mugger's knife and soon wrapped around it. The mugger then gasped as his weapon was yanked away, but couldn't do much as Spider-Man came down, flipped in mid-air to land feet first, and landed a strong kick on the mugger which sent him flying. The crook was soon caught in a tall web that stretched between the side of a building and a nearby light pole. With the crook held fast, Spider-Man turned to the woman, Debra Whitman.
"Debra…" Spider-Man said slowly.
"I was right…" Debra answered, "I was right! You were Spider-Man!"
"Debra… I…" Spider-Man tried to reply.
"You drove me nuts!" Debra declared accusingly.
"Debra, I'm sorry," Spider-Man managed, "I never actually intended to go through with that 'shock therapy…" I really didn't."
"And you couldn't just tell me the truth and do so convincingly?" Debra demanded, "I thought it was hallucinations… but I was right! You are Spider-Man!"
"I never meant to hurt you," Spider-Man sighed, "and at the time, it was to try and protect my identity and thus those I cared about. Villains that have figured out I was Spider-Man have come after me and mostly after those I was close to. I was afraid something might happen to you."
"I was worried about you! How did all that help me?" Debra threw out her arms as if to say, "you're stupid", "and why did you let your identity get revealed now? And why did your wife have to do it?"
"Worry hurts a lot less than being dropped off a bridge, which is what Norman Osborn did to the woman I'd been seeing before you," Spider-Man said, " I…"
"And you didn't think a head's up was inappropriate?" Debra cut him off, "If he knew you were Spider-Man and killed your previous girlfriend… do you not think that he will forget who you are when you get a new girlfriend?"
"I'm sorry, Debra," Spider-Man said weakly, "I really am… and I'll admit that maybe I wasn't quite thinking clearly. But, please know that I never meant to harm you or anyone else."
"Did Mary Jane know? Before she became Arachne, did she know?" Debra asked.
"Yes," Spider-Man nodded, "she saw me heading out of my Aunts when I just started out as Spider-Man and kept the secret. For a while I didn't even know that she had found out."
Debra looked down for a moment.
"And we had our ups and downs for years, and she did worry," Spider-Man told her, "but she's had a lot of strength, even before she became Arachne. She's far stronger than anyone would give her credit for."
"I trust you handled your relationship with her better than you did with me?" Debra questioned.
"I did," Spider-Man managed, "and again, I'm sorry if ANYTHING I've done has hurt you. I never had any intention of doing that."
Debra sighed heavily and breathed in deeply, "I know… You were better to me than other men in my life. It's just that your wife's announcement came as a surprise."
Spider-Man rubbed the back of his head, blushing with embarrassment underneath his mask.
"Yeah… that mostly came about thanks to Maria Hill's enforcement of the Registration Act and MJ's pregnancy," Spider-Man told her, "if there was a more tactful way that it could have been done, we would have taken it."
"And you're not still worried about bad guys going after your friends and family?" Debra asked.
"Oh, I am, but I've actually gotten a good job that will give me a shot to make sure that you and anyone who is either related to or involved with a superhero will never have to worry about being hurt," Spider-Man assured her, placing one hand on her shoulder, "hopefully to balance everything out."
"And hopefully you do well," Debra then said slowly.
"So…" Spider-Man said, sounding embarrassed, "what brings you back to New York? You left after that whole mess with your psychologist and moved upstate…"
Debra's look went from one that looked friendly to one plagued by frustration.
"My mother isn't doing very well," Debra said slowly, "the doctors say they can treat her, but it isn't cheap. I've got a decent job… but it's not enough to pay the bills for her treatment and to keep the house we're staying in. Then I saw an ad in the Bugle… apparently someone there wants to write a biography on you and your time as Spider-Man. The ad called for anyone that knew you personally while you were Spider-Man to come in and tell their story. They're promising to pay for the story, and so, needing the money… I came in."
"I wonder what Jonah's game is this time," Spider-Man wondered to himself.
"I'd just left my hotel and was going there to tell my story to them," Debra spoke.
"Nothing bad… I hope?" Spidey asked.
"Only the truth," Debra answered, "that you're kind and caring and will do anything to try and help… not always successful, but always with good intentions."
"Do you need a lift?" Spider-Man asked, "I can swing you there in a jiffy."
"No, I'd best wait here," Debra answered, "the police will want a statement on what happened. Good luck, Peter."
"Thank you, Debra," Spider-Man replied, "feel free to stop by and you can meet the twins."
"Twins…"
"The babies MJ was pregnant with when she made the announcement," Spider-Man told her, and was soon off web-slinging again.
Not that far away, Memphis frowned heavily. He may have gotten some things started, but they wouldn't last long, and he was counting on Spider-Man having nothing but bad luck in order for his overall plan to work.
On the Other Side of Manhattan
"You know, I was hoping to run into the web-head himself," Electro mused confidently, "but, you know getting his wife might be even better! I mean… I fry you and he'll go nuts!"
Electro fired another blast of electricity, which Arachne dodged. The blast hit the water tower that Arachne had landed on and seemed to fizzle for a few moments. The tank was thankfully made of metal, so that there was no long term damage. As she flipped through the air, Arachne even saw the electricity going into the lightning rod that was on the water tower.
"So, you're whole plan was to fly around and hope to run into my husband or me?" Arachne asked.
As Arachne landed, she also fired a series of web-balls at Electro. One caught his side and held his hand to it and another caught him in the face. The rest either missed or were burned by the electrical charge running around Electro's body. The web-balls did very little, as Electro only increased the flow of power and literally burned the webbing away.
"Pretty much," Electro said with a smile, "and since you're so new at this, I'd say it's a halfway decent plan. We don't all have to be the 'master planner' to get something right!"
"To bad you've failed, BIG time," came another voice that Electro didn't anticipate.
He turned to see Wasp dive down on him and firing wasp stings as she did so. The first few wasp stings did in fact sting and knocked Electro back a bit, but as they hit him, Electro got some sense as to what they were. After that, Wasp's attack had no effect on Electro. Wasp's eyes widened as the green and gold dressed villain smirked again and sent a wave of electricity at her.
"So, you have friends, Mrs. Parker," Electro snickered, "to bad her attack is a form of electricity!"
Wasp barely managed to avoid the wave of electricity by diving down as it crackled over her head. She soon flew back to Arachne as she did so.
"How did he… my stings should have been able to stun him," Wasp commented.
"Electro is a living electrical generator," Arachne answered, "He has the raw electrical power that he could power large sections of Manhattan for days without tiring. Any attack that involves electricity be it natural, magical, or biological in nature will have little effect on him. The only way that it would work would be if you hit him with enough to make him overload… which I don't think even Peter's done… but I could be wrong."
"And my stings are a form of bio-electricity," Wasp gasped, "How come he isn't on any S.H.I.E.L.D. or Avengers list of major villains?"
"HEY! Quit ignoring me!" Electro roared and dove down, his electrical field at full power.
As he did so, he threw a punch down, generating a large localized explosion. Arachne managed to leap away to avoid the worst of it, but couldn't escape the electrical explosion that Electro generated entirely and felt some of the charge run through her body. It wasn't much, and felt more like having her whole body over a major fire. Close enough to feel the heat, but not close enough to be directly burned.
"That's because 'sparky-mc-sparkle pants' here unlike the guys you've fought with the Avengers thinks rather small," Arachne called to Wasp, "his powers are up there and make him as dangerous as some of the bigger name villains, but his mind is 'there is bank, must rob.' I think Peter has even told me that he got his brains at the local dime store."
That did not make Electro feel any better. He did admit that he wasn't a 'take over the world' kind of guy, but neither did he feel that one needed to be a strategic genius to be big.
"I'll show you both!" Electro vowed and fired off two blasts of electricity at once.
Arachne, still in midair from the earlier attack was hit in the back and sent flying. The blast hurt, and her landing on another rooftop across the street left much to be desired, but thankfully, her spider-strength kept her from being killed outright. Though, she thought she could smell her hair burning.
"Okay," Arachne thought to herself, "Maybe I'm a little out of practice… but pregnancy does that right? Just focus… he may be dumb, but if he cuts loose, he could electrocute anyone easily."
Arachne got back to her feet just as Electro flew up to the rooftop. He had again built up a charge in his fists and was preparing to fire again. Relying on her spider-sense, Arachne sidestepped the first shot, and wrapped one fist in her own webbing, just as Peter had told her about his own fights with Electro. She then managed to spin and land a strong punch on Electro's shoulder with the webbed up fist. The webbing acted as an insulator and protected her, but its padding also took away the worst of the blow she intended to land. It knocked Electro down, but not much more. Though she also noticed some disruption in his electrical field, which was probably a result of the blow.
"He must have been focusing a lot into the attack," Arachne thought, "and the blow disrupted that…"
The disruption bought enough time for Wasp to return and hit Electro with more wasp stings. With his field lowered, Electro was forced back a few steps by the stings but was not seriously hurt. In fact the padded punch that Arachne had landed on him hurt more than Wasp's wasp stings.
"You're getting on my nerves, Avenger," Electro growled, "You got NOTHING on me and my beef isn't with you!"
"I could grow big enough that your electrical field would feel like static electricity," Wasp answered, "perfectly harmless."
"And crush two city blocks beneath your feet?" Electro shot back, "I doubt you'd be THAT smart."
Electro then turned to the other rooftop that they had just left. He looked specifically to the metal water tank that Arachne had originally been on. Seeing that, he figured out a way to remove Wasp from the fight entirely.
"And besides… with the powers I have, I don't need to be a genius!" Electro smirked again.
He then reached out and touched the massive water tank with his electricity. Within seconds, he'd pumped enough electricity into it that the lightning rod was overpowered, and he'd successfully ionized the metal. Once that occurred, he easily ripped the top of the tank off and brought it above Wasp. The veteran Avenger looked up at this in surprise.
"You can control magnetism?" Wasp gasped, seeing a large piece of metal hovering over her.
"Not magnetism, electricity," Electro smirked, "metals are great conductors of electricity. It's why we use things like copper for electrical wiring and why parents tell their kids not to run with an aluminum bat in a lightning storm. The metal attracts electricity. I merely pumped enough into the water tank so that the metal ionized… and I could control it by its electrical field."
Wasp's surprise was too great and Electro brought the top of the tank down on top of her, forming a sort of prison. Electro even made sure that there was no way Wasp could crawl under it. Once that was done, he turned to Arachne.
"And that just leaves you and me, doesn't it, Mrs. Parker?" Electro smirked again.
Electro began to advance again, but Arachne also noticed that part of his electrical charge was going to the prison he'd created to hold Wasp in. She also noticed that the charge around his fists also looked slightly weaker. Now, Arachne knew she'd never be the scientist that her husband was, but despite her figure, she was no dunce. She had learned a lot of the basics and learned a lot about her husband's foes from what Peter had told her. Electro was a living being who could generate surplus electrical power on levels not even electric eels could reach, but his power reserves were not infinite. He was still a living person and could get tired. Keeping Wasp's prison ionized and blasting away at Arachne would weaken him, and ultimately his charge would hit 'empty' and it would take a while for him recharge.
"Yep, you and me," Arachne nodded, "beauty and the dunce."
Electro practically snarled and sent an electric blast flying. Arachne leaped over it and fired off a pair of web-lines, catching Electro by his wrists. Then before he could burn through the webbing, Arachne slung him to the opposite end of the roof. Electro bounced hard off of the guard rail that was there to make sure no one jumped off the roof and landed face down.
"You'll pay for that!" Electro growled, "I swear, you'll pay! I will not get beaten by some skank!"
That line only got him hit in the face by more web-balls. While he turned to deal with the webbing, Arachne lunged forward and landed a quick punch to his gut, sending Electro over the edge of the building. Arachne silently shuddered as the blow did give her a strong shock, but followed Electro over the edge.
"I am no one's skank," Arachne growled at him, while swinging towards the next building while Electro burned through the webbing and began to fly after her.
As Arachne had hoped, his efforts to keep Wasp's prison ionized and expending energy was beginning to tire him out. All she had to do was keep from taking a real serious hit and let Electro wear himself out. Electro, meanwhile, kept his focus on his pursuit and didn't notice his own electrical field growing weaker. He sent another blast at Arachne, which she managed to twist her body on the web-line to avoid, but in doing so allowed the blast to again cut the web-line she was on.
"You're still nothing to me," Electro taunted, "The web-head would have figured out some way to attack me more by now. All you're doing is running!"
Arachne had landed on the side of the next building and then bent backwards and fired out more web-balls at him. One caught Electro in the face, two caught his shoulders and pulled his arms down, and the last hit him in the chest and held the other two web-balls together.
"Yep… I'm 'running…'" Arachne quipped, "A sale on webbing. All crooks get any and all surplus webbing! For free even!"
And with that, Arachne leaped under Electro and fired additional web-lines at him. This time, she caught his legs and pulled them together and then cocooned his lower body in webbing. With that, she again gave a firm yank, pulling Electro down and sending him face first into the brick of the side of the building that Arachne was now on. The blow left him angry, and Arachne watched as an explosion of electricity erupted from where Electro was and the crook was soon flying back up toward her, but his field was much weaker and the impact with the wall had left him staggered.
"I'm really starting to hate you," Electro declared.
"Hate is such a strong word," Arachne told him, "You really need to let those things go."
"I'll show you letting things go!" Electro vowed and began firing blast after blast after Arachne.
Warned by her spider-sense managed avoid taking any serious hits, though she could feel the electricity in the air as Electro continued to expend his power trying to hit her. Her hair felt frizzy and like it was going to stand on end. But, Arachne was getting the result she wanted. Electro was losing power and his electrical field was growing weaker. It wouldn't be long before he'd need to change tactics. As Arachne swung over to the building diagonally across the street, she soon noticed that Electro was reaching the point where he would notice his own exhaustion.
"What… you getting tired?" Arachne taunted down, "Need a break?"
"Not until…" Electro panted, "after… I… off you!"
He then flew at her at high speed, his field as fully charged as he could make it. It grew weaker as he flew and right as he was about to tackle Arachne, the red-haired heroine ducked under the attack fired a web-line that caught him in the waist. His electric field began to burn through it, but not fast enough and Arachne was able to use the web-line as an emergency brake and sent him crashing to the rooftop, face first. He rolled over ready to try again only to see Wasp descending on him and growing larger and larger as she did so.
Arachne only gave a slight cringe as Wasp landed on the rooftop and landed a strong downward punch on Electro, which finally knocked him out. Wasp had remained small enough that her weight wouldn't crush the building, but was sufficiently large enough that she could withstand the shock from Electro's weakening field.
"You know… I have a new respect for your husband, Arachne," Wasp commented, "most of us in the old Avengers have generally looked at a lot of your husband's villains as being second stringers and would easily be taken down by any Avenger… but this… this was far beyond what any of our files have ever said about your husband's foes."
"What I said before is true," Arachne sighed, "many of Peter's foes are powerful and possibly up there with some of the biggest foes you guys have faced… but they're interested in their own immediate gains. Not taking over the world or becoming more powerful."
"And I'd say you did rather well in dealing with him," Wasp commented while shrinking down to her normal size, "I would like to have some sparring matches with you, if it's not too much trouble to see more… but I'll say you did rather well today. You're husband's trained you fairly well."
Avengers Tower
Spider-Man returned to Avengers Tower in a fairly good mood as the day began to move into the late afternoon. He'd caught a big break and things were going good, at least as far as he knew. That left him in a rather good mood as he returned to the tower. As he came back into the area of the tower where he and his family lived, he found Aunt May and Aunt Anna conversing with each other.
"I'm telling you, May, I'm not entirely sure how all of this is to work out," Anna Watson spoke, "I mean… a robot nanny?"
"It did fairly well with the two of them," Aunt May shrugged, "they were fed and asleep again before we could even get the bottle from the refrigerator."
"I'm not saying it's inefficient, May… it's just that it's impersonal," Aunt Anna replied, "It's a robot. It can't feel. It can't love. The twins won't learn any emotion from it."
"That's why Her is only active when MJ and I aren't here and you're otherwise busy," Peter interjected as he removed his mask and approached.
"Just so long as the two of you spend time with your children, I have no problem," Aunt Anna replied with some surprise in her voice, "I'm just saying that a lot of this is not only new but futuristic for me. I'm still from a time where even if the parents had nannies for their children, the nannies were people."
"I understand," Peter nodded, "and MJ and I will be doing our best to be with our kids."
"And that's good, dear," Aunt May said with a smile, "how did your meeting with this Mr. Modell go? Mary Jane told us when she returned that you had an appointment with him today?"
"Very well," Peter said with a smile, "he's willing to take a chance and hire me and will have me working on developing shielding type devices that will probably sold those that are family members of superheroes or simply have the money to afford their own shield generator."
"Good for you, Peter," Aunt May smiled, "As much as I respect you for being as responsible as you are, you are deserving of some good luck and the right to use your smarts for your job."
"Thanks, Aunt May," Peter said to her, "Is MJ here?"
"I think I saw her and Mrs. Van Dyne headed toward the gym that Mr. Stark has here," Aunt Anna answered.
"Probably setting aside some time to spar and practice," Peter thought, "Wasp has been an Avenger since the beginning… and MJ is new and Stark only has her on Red Team to make sure that his team, which is to be training new heroes, isn't a bunch of veterans with a pet project."
Peter then began walking in that direction, "Okay… I'm going to go see what's up. I'll let you get back your conversation. And Aunt May, don't be too hard on Jarvis. I've tried to joke with him for years and he's always remained fairly formal with me."
"Oh, knock it off you," Aunt May gave an embarrassed sounding laugh.
Avengers Tower, Avengers Apartment Levels, Lobby
Peter quietly made his way through the living spaces for Avengers Tower and found Mary Jane on her way back from the main sort of lobby area in Avengers Tower. She had her mask down and looked fairly pleased with herself.
"Hey MJ, how'd your day go?" Peter asked her as they met and shared a brief hug.
"Fairly well," Mary Jane answered, "Got some practice in… had a small tussle with Electro, but Wasp gave me some help in dealing with him."
"How'd that go?" Peter asked seriously, "Electro's a bit of a dunce, but still dangerous."
"Fairly well," Mary Jane shrugged, "Relatively minor property damage in the area where we were, but I managed to wear Electro out and he's now on his way to the Raft."
"That's good," Peter smiled.
"So, how'd it go with Mr. Modell?" Mary Jane asked him.
Peter gave a confident smile, "I did get the job… and it's a good one. And Mr. Modell has agreed to work around our 'spider-schedule' so long as I can keep some big ideas coming in. I got some things to read, but once I get through the manual, I'll be working on coming up with a small and portable shield generator. It should protect people from attack…"
"Which would fulfill Tony's idea to sell to the family members of superheroes, right?" Mary Jane asked.
"Yep," Peter nodded, "Aunt May will be safe. Your Aunt Anna will be safe."
Mary Jane when she heard the protests of a normal security guard from the elevator and then heard another voice she didn't expect to hear.
"I trust you'll be making some of these shields for other members of your family?" came her older sister's voice.
"Gayle?!" Mary Jane gasped as she turned to see Gayle Watson and her sons, Tommy and Kevin.
Mary Jane looked over to see a firm but yet still loving look on her older sister's face while Gayle looked over to see the surprise on both Peter and Mary Jane's faces. Tommy and Kevin actually looked somewhat excited at seeing their aunt and uncle in costume.
To Be Continued…