Peter turned a corner about ten minutes later and saw Gwen waiting for him, looking up and down the street. He ignored traffic and walked across the street, using his spider-sense to avoid the paths of cars. Gwen smiled when she saw him, just in time for a taxi to speed by and break off one of its side windows on his arm.
"You okay?" She asked him, wincing.
"Oh, I'm fine." Peter answered when he reached her. "But that taxi did run over my heel, so that stings a little."
"I'm sure you'll be fine." Gwen smiled.
"Yeah, probably." Peter smiled back, leaning in and kissing her.
"Sorry for the spontaneous call." Gwen said, when they eventually broke apart. "It's…well, it's kind of important."
"Then I'm all ears." Peter replied. "What's going on?"
Gwen opened her mouth, but then closed it again, shaking her head. "Do you want to grab some ice cream, or something?"
"Sure." Peter answered.
Minutes later, the two were walking down a concrete park trail, eating ice cream from small cups they had bought from a nearby street vendor. Peter could tell that Gwen was trying to avoid why she'd asked him to meet her, or was waiting to tell him.
"I met up with Harry today." Peter said, going along with it. "Your boss, Harry. For the first time in a long time."
"You know Harry Osborn?"
"Yeah, we used to be best friends. But then his dad sent him away to boarding school, and he was…gone. We haven't talked in eight years, and hanging out with him today…I kind of realized how much I missed him."
Gwen nodded silently, looking at the ground.
Peter noticed, but tried not to break the conversation. "What about you, what did you do today?"
"Nothing extraordinary." Gwen replied. "Oh, I went out to lunch again at this awesome restaurant with Korean meatballs. Have you been there?"
"I don't think so."
"It's mind-blowing. We have to go sometime."
"Oh yeah, that place on Sixth?" Peter asked.
"Yeah." Gwen answered, looking at the ground again.
"Gwen, what's going on?" Peter asked, stopping.
"Peter, I..." Gwen trailed off, shrugging.
Peter walked closer to her, wrapping his arms around her waist. "Come on, it can't be that bad." He leaned forward, putting their foreheads together. "Now what's wrong?" He whispered. "Tell me."
Gwen sighed. "I'm moving to England." She replied.
Peter moved his head back a few inches, looking down at her with a confused face. "What?" He asked quietly.
Gwen nodded. 'Yeah. I'm up for a scholarship to Oxford. In molecular medicine, and it's between me and this other kid, and there's this oral exam that we have to do, and he's a freshman in college, but he's fourteen, and it could be him, but it might be me, and I hope it's me, and then…I'll be moving to England." She finished, smiling more and more as she had started rambling.
"Wow." Peter couldn't think of anything else to say.
"Yeah." Gwen replied. "And I'm really, really excited."
"That's, uh…" Peter trailed off, at a total loss for words. "England." He said simply, before his spider-sense went off, and he let go of Gwen, turning to look back at the city.
"What is it?" Gwen asked, looking out at the city also.
"I don't know…but it's not good." Peter replied. "It's really not good."
"Go check it out."
"Are you sure?"
"Yeah, it's fine." Gwen replied, looking at him and then back out to the city. "We can talk after."
"Okay." Gwen heard a ruffling noise, and when she looked back at where Peter was standing, his coat and backpack were hanging on the tree, with his shoes sitting on the ground.
Spider-Man followed the sounds of explosions to Park Avenue, swinging overhead to see an enormous metal figure walking down away from the bank. The bank had a large, smoking hole in the wall, and he could guess where the giant grey thing had come from, and what it had been doing. The hulking, slightly humanoid suit left holes in the pavement with every step. Spider-Man could see turrets on the hands, with long magazine clips swinging down along its back, along with other parts that he assumed were missiles and other weapons. Also, there was a large point on what looked like the head, making it look almost like an enormous metal rhino. As people ran out of its path, it started firing missiles, sending cars flying away out of its path, or simply punching them out of the way.
A large group of police cars were parking at an intersection in the weaponized suit's path, creating a barricade. The officers got out of their vehicles, crouching behind their doors and pointing their guns at the suit. When it didn't stop walking towards them, they started opening fire, their bullets bouncing harmlessly off of the suit's metal exterior.
The suit brought its giant arms up, turrets extending outward, and started firing at the police officers, punching dozens of holes into their cars. The officers ducked down, avoiding the gunfire, as their sirens popped and an engine exploded in one of the cars. The suit continued its steady approach, stopping its assault when the resistance stopped.
Spider-Man swung down, landing on top of a police car, and stood up slowly. When he appeared in view of the suit, it stopped walking, the upper area of its torso folding away, along with a layer of protective glass, revealing Aleksei Systevich's grinning face.
"SPIDER-MAN! I told you I would be back!" He yelled.
Spider-Man webbed up a megaphone from the ground and clicked it on. "You again?" Spider-Man said back, confused. "Didn't I arrest you already?"
"Police did not get me last time!" The Russian replied, before laughing. "When you ran away, some men took me before police caught up! They paid me to rob bank!" He yelled, before starting to laugh again.
"You know how this went down last time!" Spider-Man said. "So on behalf on the fine people of New York City, and real rhinos everywhere, I'm going to ask you to put your mechanized paws in the air!"
"Never!" Aleksei screamed, slamming a fist into the ground. He raised the arms of the suit, moving them like he was boxing. "You fight me now! And this time, I KILL YOU!"
"You want me to come down there so you can kill me?"
"YES!"
"I'll be right there." Spider-Man threw the megaphone in the air, a police officer catching it when it came down.
The glass and metal head closed back down around Aleksei's exposed head with a metallic slam, and he started running forward, jumping into the air and shifting from a biped mode to a quadruped mode, running forward like a real rhino, as missiles shot out of the suit's shoulders.
Spider-Man watched the missiles for a few seconds, memorizing their flight pattern before he jumped off of the police car, grabbing a sewer grate out of the ground and putting it in front of him. The first missile exploded against it, and he jumped up out of the flames, swinging the grate on a web and deflecting another missile. He fired a web out of his other hand, spinning the grate around and knocking away the final missile. As the two missiles spun out of control, exploding against the sidewalk on either side of the street, Spider-Man swung his arms around his head while the suit sped towards him.
Spider-Man smashed the grate against the sharp horn, knocking the suit's head area to the side, and flipped over it. The suit stopped running, its legs digging into the ground and throwing up large chunks of pavement that flew into the police cars. The suit spun around, metal shifting as it stood up on two feet, whirling around and firing its turrets at him. Using his spider-sense, Spider-Man managed to dodge many of the bullets, although a few grazed the edges of his limbs, tearing through his suit and skin, but none caused serious injury. He fired a web at one of the turrets when Aleksei briefly paused in his firing, pulling it forward, but groaned when he could only manage to slightly budge the huge suit. He dodged away as the suit resumed firing, ducking behind some abandoned cars.
Aleksei turned the suit around, ignoring the police officers firing on it again as he lifted one of their destroyed cars over its head. He threw it at the car that Spider-Man had ducked behind, knocking both of the vehicles back with a loud crunch and the sound of shattering glass.
Spider-Man somersaulted out from behind the vehicles as they slid back, seeing Aleksei grab another car and throw it where he was about to land. As soon as he hit the ground, he bounced backwards on his feet as the car flew towards him. He stuck a hand out, putting his thumb over his web-shooter as he fired it. The webs flew out sideways on either side of his thumb, attaching to another car and a building on either side of the road, hitting the ground and flipping back again. When the car hit the web, its momentum kept it flying forward, but the web held, and it bounced back, being held in the air.
Alexei snarled inside the suit, shifting into quadruped mode and slowly walking towards the car, firing the final shoulder missile. Spider-Man flipped up over the hanging car, jumping into the air and firing a web to the missile and swinging it around to face the giant suit. Just as Aleksei realized what Spider-Man was doing and tried to stop, the missile hit the side of the suit's chest, exploding. The suit's main body was covered in flames briefly, and Spider-Man shot a web and swung up above it, coming down and landing on top of the still moving but now definitely damaged suit. He fired webs to both of the swinging magazine clips, pulling them and disconnecting them from the arms of the suit.
Aleksei slid the suit to another stop, and Spider-Man jumped off. When the suit turned and raised both of its arms to fire, no bullets flew toward him. Spider-Man smiled under his mask and fired a web to one of the outstretched arms. Aleksei pulled the arm back, and Spider-Man was thrown towards the suit, sticking to the damaged area. He quickly started punching with all of his strength against the damaged hull, breaking further and further into it. When Aleksei caught on, he brought one of the arms toward Spider-Man, but he was already out of the way, and the robotic arm punched a hole right through the armoured exterior.
Spider-Man noticed that the suit was moving a bit more slowly now, and he could hear whirs and clicks now that he hadn't before. But he knew that he needed to damage it further before he could end this. He spun around, firing a web at an abandoned car and at the suit's arm simultaneously, connecting them together in his hands and jumping towards the suit. Alexei swung the webbed arm at Spider-Man, but he had already dodged it. Aleksei's swing pulled the web forward, and the car flew through the air towards him. It smashed into the damaged area of the suit, making a huge metallic cracking noise.
Spider-Man could tell that the damage was spreading, and now he knew exactly how to stop Aleksei. When the car dropped away from the suit, he fired two webs to the suit's chest, and started running around it, firing webs rapidly and holding onto them all in his hand. When he got from one end of the damaged area to the other, the suit moving too slowly to keep up with him, he planted his feet firmly on the ground and pulled as hard as he could. The metal of the suit made a creaky squeal as it strained against Spider-Man's strength, but an uneven crack ran along both sides of the suit from the heavily damaged area, and when they met, the upper half of the suit was torn off. The torso, arms and head of the robotic suit crashed to the ground with a resounding crash, leaving a giant crack in the pavement around it. Aleksei's arms were stretched in the air from being wrenched out of the arm sockets, and they fell limply, while he roared in anger.
Spider-Man started firing webs and running around what was left of the robotic suit again, attaching the web ends to the pavement in about a dozen places.
"I AM RHINO!" Aleksei screamed defiantly. "YOU WILL NOT BEAT ME!"
Spider-Man jumped forward, sticking to the metallic legs that were now stuck to the ground, his head level with Aleksei's.
"Hello, Mr. Rhino." He replied. "I'm the zookeeper."
Alexei threw a punch, but Spider-Man blocked it easily, punching the Russian in the nose. Alexei went limp, his torso hanging over the robotic legs.
"There's your tranquilizer." Spider-Man finished, flipping back off of Aleksei and landing on the ground.
A crowd of people started coming back into the area when it was clear the battle was over, and they slowly started clapping. As more and more people arrived, including the police officers, cheering started, as well as a chant of "SPIDEY! SPIDEY! SPIDEY!" repeated again and again. Spider-Man bowed dramatically, and walked over to the police approaching him.
"Thanks for the help, Spidey." One of the officers said. "I don't think we could have taken that guy alone."
"It's what I'm here for." Spider-Man replied, his spider-sense going off. He turned his head to see a taxi roll up to the destroyed street, Gwen stepping out with his backpack and jacket on one hand, and his shoes in the other.
"I'll let you guys sort out the rest of it." Spider-Man said, slightly turning his head at Gwen to point at a nearby alley. "No offence, but try to make sure he gets behind bars this time."
"None taken." The officer said back, as the other officers moved in to surround Alexei's still body. "Thanks again."
"Any time." Spider-Man shot a web up, swinging over one of the buildings next to the alley he had indicated, when he was out of view, he swung back around and waited behind a dumpster, and Gwen appeared a few seconds later. Nobody noticed him changing as police, firefighters, ambulances and news reporters all drove around the area, and they managed to sneak away.
When the sounds of the sirens eventually got quiet, Peter shook his head. "So…England?"
Gwen sighed, nodding. "Yeah."
Peter and Gwen walked back to her apartment building, having been discussing the England situation the entire time. They stood outside of the front door, neither of them really knowing what to say.
"So…" Peter trailed off.
"Yeah." Gwen said, looking down. "Peter, I know this isn't good-"
"This is good." Peter cut her off, knowing what she was going to say. "Okay? This is great. You've been chosen for this out of so many people, and you deserve it."
"Yeah, I know, but-"
"But nothing, Gwen." Peter said firmly. "This is an opportunity that I won't let you miss because of me."
Gwen smiled at him. "I know. It's just…I don't want to leave. I mean, I want to go, but…"
"I don't want you to leave either." Peter smiled back, taking her hands in his. "But this is more important than us. This is for you."
Gwen leaned up and kissed him. "Thank you. But I know you'll still think this is a problem." She replied quietly.
"It is a problem." Peter grinned. "If you're in England, who's going to keep me in line?"
"Aunt May."
"Aunt May's been doing it for too long, she doesn't scare me anymore."
"And I do?"
"Of course you do."
"Good." Gwen leaned up and kissed him again, and they hugged tightly, before Gwen walked through the front door of the building, disappearing around a corner a few seconds later.
Peter jogged away from the building, ducking into an alley. When he changed into his Spider-Man suit, he crawled up the side of one of the building's walls, swinging back to his house freely through the air.
Gwen was right. He was going to think this was a problem.
Peter got home, opening his closet and pulling the suit over his head with a wince and a hiss of pain, the wounds in his arms not quite healed yet. He looked down at his dad's briefcase, still lying on top of everything. He shook his head, throwing the suit on top of it. He plopped down onto his bed and pulled out his phone, scrolling through his pictures to look at all of the ones of him and Gwen together. He smiled as he scrolled though, tossing the phone down and rubbing his eyes.
He didn't want her to go. He didn't want her to leave and eventually fade out of his life, just like his-
Peter cut off that thought before he could finish it, grabbing some headphones and turning up his music, trying to drown out any more unpleasant thoughts that might spring up. He rolled over, seeing his dad's briefcase through the closet door. Peter squeezed his eyes shut tightly, standing up and walking to his closet. He ripped his headphones out and threw his phone on his desk and grabbed the briefcase, overturning it and letting its contents fall out for what felt like the thousandth time.
But right now, he didn't care, he just wanted to anything to keep his mind off Gwen.
He looked at the files, the notes, and the other pieces of miscellaneous junk that was inside. He picked up a calculator, examining both sides, before dropping it and picking up the note written on a piece of loose paper, the Oscorp logo printed across the top.
"Roosevelt 2 pm"
He threw that onto his desk next to his laptop, opening Google and searching "What is Roosevelt?" He tried variations when that didn't give him any answers, images and websites with information about Franklin Roosevelt, and any involvement he had had with New York, information about the Roosevelt Hotel, even looking at images of Roosevelt island cable cars for clues.
He spun his chair around after about forty-five minutes of searching, grabbing the picture of him and his parents off of his desk. He grabbed a roll of tape from one of his desk drawers, taping the picture in the centre of the wall over his desk.
He started printing off every article he could find that gave him information about his father's work at Oscorp, along with anything he could find on his mother. Every time he printed off a new sheet, he taped it up on the wall, with lines of red tape extending far along both sides. He grabbed some old newspaper articles as well, leaving nothing that he could off.
All of the pictures and articles were connected around large pieces of paper that Peter had marked with things like "Oscorp" and "Roosevelt". Eventually, he had to push his desk out of the way to spread things further down.
He stepped back, laying on his bed and looking at his wall, examining his hours of work. He had posters and pictures he had taken hanging all around his room, but now his far wall, along with half of his door, was entirely covered with newspaper clippings, web articles, pictures, sticky notes, and more, all connected with various colours of tape pointed in all directions.
He rolled over onto his stomach, closing his eyes and eventually drifting off to sleep. He had almost forgotten about Gwen. Almost.
Harry Osborn was sitting at his desk in his penthouse Oscorp office. The spacious area held other chairs, couches, a bar, and an enormous window behind the desk that gave an incredible view of New York. Harry was turning his small cube in his hand, half-listening to the news that was playing off of a large TV in the corner of the office.
"We are here on Park Avenue, at the scene of the battle between Spider-Man and an enormous robotic suit that had just robbed the nearby bank." The reporter was saying, the text under her reading "Robotic Rhino Rampage", surrounded by a crowd of people, the upper half of the robotic rhino suit visible in the background. "At this time, the police have stated that the man inside the suit was known Russian mobster, Aleksei Systevich, but it is unknown at this time where the suit came from."
Harry ignored it for the most part while the reporter continued with a bit more information, details of the battle from eyewitnesses, and police statements, before signing off.
The screen switched back to the anchor, who continued. "Online polls show a sudden uptick in public sentiment in favour of Spider-Man. Tonight, it would seem New York City owes him a debt of gratitude."
Harry sighed, switching off the TV and pulling his chair out, ready to head back home. He had been there only briefly before Menken and a few others had taken him on a brief tour of the major Oscorp facilities, but he cut it short and said he would investigate things more specifically when he had the time. After all, when you just acquire a company as large as Oscorp, there are some things to do before you settle in. He had spent the rest of the day sitting in his office, looking over various files, and when he was finished with them, Felicia took them away, leaving him alone to stare at the cube more, still wondering what it could be. He'd carefully tried different ways of opening it, looking for a USB drive of something, but it had yielded no results.
He shook his head, standing up and throwing the cube onto the glass desk. But instead of just clattering on it and sitting still, a glowing blue ring appeared on the desk around the cube, with a noise that sounded like a computer activating. Harry looked down at it in confusion, slowly sliding back into his seat with a bewildered expression. He slid the cube down slightly, and a list of files popped up. When he touched the desk and slid the list to the side, five more lists appeared. He scanned the list names, seeing things like "venom storage", "Ravencroft", "plutonium lab", "eel lab report", "nano drug system", "poisonous plantae", "Dr. Connors file", along with various documents from other Oscorp sites, experiments and weapons. All of that was just on the surface, as each list had arrows at the bottoms that indicated that they could be scrolled down.
Harry put his finger "Sub-Station 6", dragging it over and expanding it with his fingers. He selected one file, and it expanded into a diagram of a suit of technological armour, standing on top of an "enhanced mobility unit" as the label read. A small video in the corner of the window showed an animation of the armour shifting its weight side to side and moving the unit through the air, like nothing Harry had ever seen.
"Next-generation military body armour." A computerized voice said. "Features include: enhanced mobility unit, battlefield injury repair, direct nervous system interface-"
Harry cut it off, shrinking the box and pulling up another one, labelled "Rhino". He expanded the box to show the suit of armour that the news had shown some shots of, but in one piece.
"Robotic suit designed for heavy combat." The computerized voice said. "Designed to withstand incoming attacks, fully outfitted, modeled after rhinoceroses for their strength and power-"
Harry cut off the voice again, leaning back and rubbing his eyes "Nobody can know about this." He thought, before leaning back over the desk, scanning through files for anything that might catch his eye.
He knew that his night wasn't over, and that he wouldn't be returning home.
So there's chapter 3 everyone! I know we never got to see that fight with the Rhino, but that's just my take on what could have gone down, and hopefully you can visualize it as well as I could. See you next time!
