Here's the next chapter for my story. Sorry it took so long but I'm being extra careful with how I plan out my story. Anyway I hope you enjoy and for you're clarification this takes place in my own version of the marvel universe with influence from many different comics, cartoons, movies, and games. Anyway I hope you enjoy.
Awkward Encounters
There was a scene of unrest at a small convenient store located near queens as three figures were currently holding up the store owner. "Listen Mr. I don't want any trouble…," said the manger. He didn't get in another word as he was interrupted by a thug pointing a shotgun at him dressed in a heavy coat and pants wearing a hockey mask, "If you don't want problems, then you better get to stuffing the bag with cash," he threatened motioning to his shotgun. "Hey don't forget to fill the bag with some goodies, this stomach isn't gonna feed itself," added a heavy set man dressed in a demon monster mask wearing a grey track suit. He was holding a small pistol in his hands as he was looking towards the store clerk. "Do you really need more snacks O'Hirn, I think you got enough food in your stomach to feed a starving kid," commented another man wearing a green striped shirt under a leather jacket and khakis. He was wearing a pig mask and was currently toting an assault rifle. "Why don't you two girls quit the small talk and help me get away with the goods," the hockey guy ordered to the two others.
At that very moment the scene was interrupted by Peter Parker decked out in his homemade costume as he made himself known. "Couldn't you guys be spending your time doing other things like playing cards instead of you know committing crimes," he spoke out as he was currently clinging to the wall above the store entrance. "What the hell, am I high cause I think I'm seeing some little dude sticking to the wall," spoke the man referred to as O'hirn. "I can tell you mister that this spider hero is very real and he's here to bring you to justice," Peter added trying his best to sound intimidating. "What are you looking at shoot the freak," spoke the hockey thug to which the two others pointed their weapons at him and began to fire. Peter jumped to the side and shot a web in the direction of the pig man. After it attached to him, Peter pulled on the web which flung the man in his direction. Peter jumped over the man which allowed for him to impact with a small shelf of food. "See what food like that can do to you," Peter quipped only for his enhanced senses to warn him of the large man charging at him. Peter promptly jumped over O'hirn and attached a web to his back. He then swung him into the nearest shelf. "Man you seriously need to go on a diet. All that junk food is gonna give you health problems."
He was interrupted from his train of thought by the warning he got of the man about to shoot him. He quickly jumped onto a shelf in order to dodge the blast from his shotgun. He then proceeded to web the barrel of the thug's gun then pulled on it which caused it to fly out of the hands of Mr. Hockey mask. He then proceeded to web the eyeholes of the man's mask and web his feet to the ground. At that moment however he began to feel the weight give way from under him as O'hirn began to push the shelf over. He quickly flipped onto the counter of the store clerk to get a better look at his opponent. "Someone needs to watch where they're going. You might've turned me into a Humpty Dumpty spider. The next thing Peter did was shoot a web glob at the heavy man in order to blind him.
His senses warned him again only for him to turn and get hit face first by the butt of a rifle. "Uhh, cheap shot porky," Peter uttered after falling to the ground. Before porky as Peter called him could blast him with bullets, Peter blasted the barrel of his rifle with his webbing and kicked his legs out from under him. He was about to web the guy up when his spider sense had warned him about the bullet that he was about to get hit by. He did his best to contort his body in order to dodge the bullet. "Geez tubby you got a problem with me. You don't need to shoot me to get my attention," Peter said trying to his best to annoy the man. "Who you calling tubby pipsqueak," O'Hirn replied. "Who do you think genius. Seriously the school system is failing when it comes to educating dumb minds such as yourself," he replied to the ire of the man. He was about to shoot him again when Spidey attached a web line and pulled the gun towards him. He then began to dismantle the gun with his bare hands.
"What kind of freak are you," O'Hirn questioned in fear. "I'm your worst nightmare punk," Peter spoke doing his best to sound intimidating. He made his way over to the large man after webbing up porky and decided to get up close and personal. "I'm Spider-Man and if I catch you messing around in my neighborhood again we're gonna have trouble," he spoke to the man now quivering in fear. The moment barely lasted as the web head suddenly burst out laughing at the sight before him, "oh man I can't do it, it's too good." The large man only stared at the wall crawler for a brief moment before he had been webbed up to the shelf behind him, unable to move. "Oh man, you are such a chicken. You actually fell for that. You were scared of me that's just hilarious what is the big bad spider gonna blow your house down," Peter mocked only to gain the ire of the man he had previously webbed up. "I mean seriously, you looked liked you were about to pee yourself."
The moment continued for a bit as Peter began to calm down until he heard the sound of a gun being cocked behind him. He turned around slowly only to find that the store manager was pointing the barrel of a shotgun right at him. "Look sir I don't mean any harm," Peter added noticing the man unease at the airachnid themed hero. "Just leave my store freak. I don't need any monsters around here," the store owner threatened. "Listen Mr. I was just in the neighborhood and I thought I could help I didn't mean to scare you." "Just leave my store and don't come back." "Alright, I'm going I'm going, no need to snap." He added backing his way out the door. Once he made it outside he decided to swing out of view of the convenient store. "That could've gone better."
As Peter landed on a nearby building he began to take in the sight of his home. All was relatively calm throughout the streets of New York as he surveyed the city from atop his perch on the small rooftop. He was still recovering from the encounter he had at the store. While it wasn't exactly a new experience for him, he still struggled when it came to adjusting to this new lifestyle. He would often have trouble believing his life had ended up here after the month he had when he started his freshman year. He still often dealt with the many struggles of getting back to the life he had after a recent loss. He decided it best not to dwell on some of his more morbid thoughts and decided to make one more swing around the city before he would head home for the night, after all it was still a school night.
Peter was currently grabbing the things he needed from his locker when Gwen had appeared by his side much to his surprise. "Wow looks like someone decided to actually put in an appearance today," she chided. Peter gave her a mock glare in return before saying, "hey what can I say not much happened for me last night, just the usual boring encounters." "Most people wouldn't consider your nightly activities to be described as boring Pete," Gwen added, her voice thick with sarcasm. "What can I say I'm not most people."
Peter was still glad that he had someone to talk to when it came to his double life. Because Gwen had been one of his closest childhood friends he could often go to her when he felt the need to vent his problems. He had completely spilled the beans to her when he had lost someone close to him and felt he had no one to turn to. Gwen had helped him recover and often did her best to comfort him through that hard time. He felt really lucky that he had such a good friend.
The two were walking the halls of midtown in the early morning as they came upon a sign that seemed to grab Peter's attention. The sign read, "Join the School News Club and get a chance to start your career early." "Huh wonder what they could mean by that," Gwen added. "Don't know but it's probably worth checking out if it'll help get me a job," he responded. "You know Pete, you don't need to take on all these responsibilities so soon especially after what happened." "Gwen, I know you're worried about me but things are getting tight at home especially without my uncle around. I need to find a way to help out May with the rent." "I know Pete, I just don't want you to stretch yourself too thin," she added while placing her hand on his shoulder. "Promise me you won't try to deal with all this crap yourself okay." "Promise, Gwen." She responded with a smile and the two continued to walk throughout the halls.
Peter had been anxious about looking into the school news club but he was still optimistic about what new things could happen so he decided to check it out for himself after school. After saying goodbye to his friends he had made his way to the assigned room to check it out.
"Alright Pete, it can't be that bad. You've beaten up people twice your size, you can do this." He then began to slowly open the door and was greeted by the sight of students sitting down talking with a teacher. The teacher was an elderly man dressed in business clothes. "May I help you young man," came the man's booming voice. "Uh yeah I was hoping if you could maybe uhmm work on the news club." "Well my dear boy you came to the right place but what is it that you can bring to the journalist world." "Well I've been told that I'm pretty good with a camera so I guess I'm….," before he could continue he was quickly interrupted by the elderly man, "perfect, just find a seat and we'll help catch you up on the process."
Peter quickly made his way to the nearest seat and immediately sat down. The first thing he noticed when he got to his seat where the two people sitting near him. One of them was a chubby Asian boy and the other a African American girl. Before he could introduce himself however the teacher decided to continue speaking. "Alright girls and boys how many of you like to keep up to date on the latest info." His answer only came when a few students raised their hands. "Well then you better start cause that's gonna be your job from now on. I expect each and every one of you to fulfill these requirements in order for you to work with the school paper. For now you should focus on crafting your skills." With that the teacher left the students to their own devices.
Peter had then turned to one of the students that he had hoped could help him. He was the chubby Asian boy dressed in jeans and a polo. "Hey I was just wondering if maybe you could help me out," Peter stammered out, "I uh, I'm kinda new here and I was just wondering what's the deal. "Well for that my young padawan I must first learn your identity." "I'm P, Peter," he quickly stammered out. The boy gave him a silent nod before continuing. "Well youngling Peter here you basically just find a job and stick to it. I basically just provide tech support, what skills do you have." "I'm pretty good with cameras but I could always help with tech stuff too." "Well my young padawan that would require you to become a knight in the order of Leeds." Peter while his face showed confusion was internally cheering at having found someone that shared his common interests in the club. "Hey so I uh didn't get your name Mr. Jedi master." "You may call me master Ned Leeds. Master of the sophomore geeks and resident nerd of the news club." "You got room for another geek in the newsroom," Peter asked while silently berating himself for sounding too excited. "Of course fellow warrior and what pray tell house to you belong in the honorable geekdom." "I uh like science and computer stuff." Upon seeing Ned's disappointed face Peter quickly went to correct his perceived mistake. "Oh you mean what I'm into. Well I like video games, movies, I'm really into superhero stuff like comics I'm a level 25 in overwatch." "No dude, check it out," Ned said as he ushered Peter to look in the direction of a new visitor. It was a blonde teenager that Peter didn't recognize but he could easily guess what caused Ned to lose his attention as it was quickly becoming hard not to focus on certain aspect of the blond girl in front of them. Peter quickly snapped back his attention to Ned. "So uh, I'm guessing you like her that's um neat I guess," he spoke. "Yeah man. Hey you ever have a girlfriend." Ned asked turning his focus on Peter. At first Pete looked confused whether Ned had been speaking with him and looked around the room before saying, "wait….me? I mean no that just doesn't happen, I mean I like girls…I don't see them as like objects though I mean I think they're just people but I've never dated girls before not that dating people of the same gender is wrong or anything it's just," "So, you always talk this much or is this just a thing you do," Ned interrupted. "I'm not the best at words and stuff I just I, don't know stuff I guess." "Don't worry about it bro it's nothing." "Shouldn't we like look away now before it gets kinda creepy," Peter added slowly growing more uncomfortable with the situation. "Oh yeah I guess," Ned replied before they went back to their work.
After the school news club, Peter decided to go out patrolling the streets. For a while he hadn't come upon anything that really excited him besides the few attempted muggings and robberies. He had gotten a thank you from one of the people he saved though which was honestly rare for him which raised his spirits.
He didn't have time to dwell on that fact however when an odd disturbance caught his attention. He had faintly heard the sounds of breaking glass in the distance. He had travel in the direction of the sound to find a large opening in the side of an office building. Peter being the naturally curious person he is decided to investigate in hopes of finding the source of what had caused such a hole to open up in the side of the building. After making his way into the office building, Peter began to look for a sign that would lead him to answers but he only noticed the complete mess this floor of the building was. Eventually he noticed the big hole leading to the stairwell so naturally Peter made his way towards it. While his dread had been increasing the closer he got Peter decided to press on. That's a long way down," he thought to himself when he got to the railing leading down the stairs. Unfortunately his thoughts were interrupted when his senses went into overdrive. In a matter of moments a figure had launched itself up from the bottom of the stairwell which ended up launching Peter back into the office room. After skidding to a halt Peter strained his head to get a good look at what had just sent him flying. It appeared to be a man in green and black armor with a bomber jacket and bird like mask that covered his eyes and mouth. That wasn't the strangest part however as the man had a harness like jetpack with giant metallic wings outstretched from it. The man also seemed to have razor sharp talon like boots attached to his boots as well. He was also holding a briefcase as well which Peter had assumed he had stolen.
"Wow, if I wasn't so terrified I'd be completely gushing over this man's awesome outfit. He definitely gets my vote for best cosplay of the year." Peter's thoughts however were interrupted once again when the man flew towards him at miraculous speeds. Peter didn't have time to react as he was sent flying out the window in a matter of seconds. On impulse, Peter shoots a web onto the building to catch himself from the fall but the web is immediately cut by the bird man. Before Peter can shoot another one the guy uses his metallic talons to grab Peter by the leg. After that he hoists Peter up by the leg and flies upwards with him at high speeds while Peter frantically tries to escape. Peter starts losing his ability to breath normally as he hoisted up into the air but everything immediately stops after Peter feels the grip on his leg loosen until he comes to the realization that he is now falling.
In a last ditch effort Peter attempts to latch on to the bird man but that idea is quickly thwarted when he attempted to fire his webbing as nothing came out. He fired again from each webshooter only to find no webbing escaped which only left him to plummet to the earth as the sight of the spooky figure grew further. As he fell he began to hyperventilate as he got closer to certain doom while he screams filled the night. Peter freak out intensified to the point where he nearly blacked out but at the last minute he was saved by the man who had previously dropped him when he grabbed onto Peter by his leg and dropped him on top of a nearby building.
As Peter began to regain control of his breathing he couldn't help but shout, "I'm alive, I can't believe it. I'm Alive!" His moment of joy quickly ended as he caught sight of the shadow behind him. "Well, well someone's still breathing. Guess they should be thankful." Peter turned around to find the man in his ominous bird like outfit looming over him. "I uh, umm thanks I guess," Peter said still recovering from nearly falling to his death. "That's a good boy, now you know what you could do for me to repay the gleaming act of heroism kid." Peter was almost to scared to comment so the man decided to continue his speech. "You can run along home kid and let the adults handle their business unless you want your life cut short." Peter still utterly shocked from the encounter was completely helpless as the man had simply flied away.
It took Peter a few moments but he began to run after the man, shouting, "now wait a minute you can't just leave I don't even know what you're doing." Only a small chuckle was heard from the man before he turned back to say, "look kiddo you best not get involved in my business or else you'll be in for a nightmare. Now run along before I get upset." Before Peter could respond the man blasted off leaving Peter behind. "Well that was embarrassing," Peter thought to himself.
Hope I didn't go to overboard on any descriptions. Anyway after seeing Spider-Man: Homecoming which I thought was amazing I decided to loosley base my interpretation of vulture and Ned Leeds of their preformances in the movie. While I did completely enjoy Michael Keatons preformance I do understand some of the complaints about Ned Ganke Leeds. Anyway I hope you enjoyed this chapter and come back for more. Until next time Web Heads.
