A green skinned figure towered over a crumpled red and blue form on a rooftop, cackling evilly.
If you've seen this before, stop us now.
Okay, but in all seriousness, last issue, we left off with the Jackal threatening to switch bodies with Spider-Man, and he is one of the few people who also knows he is Peter Parker.
What happens next?
FIND OUT NOW!
"Pretty women and mountains of money, here I come!" exclaimed the Jackal, smiling. As his hand moved towards a button, he paused to look at his downed opponent, Spider-Man. He opened his mouth to say something else but was rudely interrupted…
…by a swift kick to the head, knocking him nearly off the rooftop he was standing on. A weakened Spider-Man looked up, confused, to see the tall form of…Venom?!
No…this had to be Flash Thompson. His old high school classmate and one-time best friend.
But yeah, still Venom, Peter thought glumly. This was not what he had been hoping for.
As the Jackal roared angrily, he attempted to pounce back at Venom (or more accurately, Agent Venom), who effortlessly produced a sleek-looking black rifle and somehow positioned it swiftly into the Jackal's mouth. The Jackal muffled a scream, and Agent Venom immediately placed his finger on the trigger. As he tried to move, suddenly a few symbiotic tentacles emerged from Venom's form and wrapped themselves around the Jackal, pinning him down. Another tentacle then emerged and pulled off the mask the Jackal was wearing, revealing the face of Miles Warren.
Agent Venom roared heartily, and then he turned to Spider-Man, holding the Jackal in place with his arms and tentacles.
Peter was silent and didn't move. This was his first real interaction with Flash in this form. Quite frankly, he didn't know what to do.
As he lowered the gun, Agent Venom…or Flash…used his free hands to pick up the device that the Jackal had dropped in his state of anguish and observed it. He quickly tried opening it up, playing with it for a few seconds. He pushed the button and Peter braced himself….
…only for nothing to happen.
Agent Venom tossed the remote to Spider-Man and shrugged. "Guess there's nothing there, boss," he commented.
Spider-Man sheepishly observed the remote that was in his hand. Sure enough, no batteries, no true electrical wiring inside…just a rectangular box with buttons. He had let the Jackal beat him and scare him like this?
Agent Venom then produced his own brand of webbing and neatly tied up the Jackal, who was now clearly visible as a sullen looking Miles Warren. "We'll leave you here for the authorities, good sir," Venom commented. He then turned back to a humiliated Spider-Man.
This was downright embarrassing. One night without his high-tech costume and upgrades and he had been easily dispatched by the Jackal, and worse, his old best friend who a few years ago had lost his limbs, had just outshone him.
"Look kid," Agent Venom stated. "I don't know what you are trying to pull here, but my suggestion in the future is leave the super-heroing to guys like me, and you just go on and not dress up in Spider-Man costumes, whoever you are."
Spider-Man held his hands up. "Stop," he weakly intoned. Spider-Man then stood up and yanked the wire out of his head. "Ow," he muttered as he did so. Then he sighed and dusted himself off, looking at his savior. "Listen, Agent Venom, I, uh—"
This time Agent Venom held up his two hands. "No need to mention it, little buddy. You be good now." Agent Venom then put his gun back in the symbiotic holster, turned around to leave, and whisked himself away. Spider-Man shook his head. Not done yet.
He quickly followed his friend and caught up eventually, and as Agent Venom noticed Spider-Man swinging beside him, he did a double take and had to stop at another rooftop, where Spider-Man joined him. Got his attention now, thought Spider-Man.
The two men/crimefighters stood upright now, facing each other, tense. The games and bravado were over. Spider-Man broke the silence after a few minutes. "Look, and I'm not just saying this to break the awkward silence but…you and I know each other. Better than you think."
Agent Venom cocked his head, seeming unsure. Then Spider-Man breathed deeply, and pointed to an emergency door. Agent Venom got his signal and the two ducked in, slamming the door behind themselves. As they stood at the top of the stairwell, Spider-Man removed his mask and Agent Venom froze.
"Hello, Flash," Peter said, looking intently at his friend.
A long silence ensued again, and then Flash's face suddenly popped out of the symbiote, staring at Peter in shock.
Peter tried smiling at his friend. "So…any reaction?"
For a moment, Flash continued to gape, and then, he definitely reacted.
By swinging a massive blow to Peter's face.
Peter went flying into the door, completely unprepared (and duh, it was Venom after all so no spider-sense!) He popped up surprised, wiping blood from his mouth. "What the hell, man?"
Now Flash was furious. "That's the question I should be asking you, idiot!"
"Dude…I was trying to be open and be a good friend, and share this with you!" Peter pleaded.
"Oh yeah…you did a real good job of that," Flash retorted, stepping closer to Peter. "Don't even tell me…those years in high school, when I was the biggest Spider-Man fan…you actually mocked me with this Puny Parker fake-ass stunt?"
Peter slapped his head. "Jeez, Flash…come on, that was years ago. Are you going to blame me for that?"
Flash ignored him, continuing down his train of thought. "What the hell was it, man? Was it because of my thing with Liz? Was it something with Mary Jane? Gwen? What, man? Athletics? Come on, tell me why you never told me and instead now make me feel like the world's biggest dumbass since-"
Peter winced at the mention of Mary Jane and Gwen, and cut him off. "Okay…enough."
Surprisingly, Flash stopped and glowered at him. "All right. You get ten seconds before I call up Jameson and tell him."
Peter rolled his eyes.
"I'm serious," Flash insisted.
Peter shook his head. "All right…well…for years, I had, and still do, have this belief that if I share this terrible secret with anyone…it exposes that person to the very same danger that I have to deal with, except they can't fight back. And quite frankly, the only reason I decided to share it with you is not just because you can protect yourself pretty well now…but also because…" he trailed off. He looked down for a moment, collecting himself. Then he looked back.
"Flash…you are all I have left of what was the most innocent time of my life…hell, of all of our lives…and to know that you not only have experienced what it's like to do…this…" he pointed back at himself, "…and on top of it, wear that suit…" he pointed to the Venom costume, "…I mean…I wore that thing, dude. No one but you…and maybe a few other deranged idiots…know what that means."
Peter looked at Flash with an intent expression. "Quite frankly, Flash…I didn't choose to get my Spider-Powers. It would be a long story for me to tell you how I got them and how that changed my life. But the story I can tell you is why I just showed you I'm Spider-Man. I did it because I really, really need to talk to someone about what I do…what I've done…and what the hell I'm becoming…and I think you're the only one who could possibly understand."
This time, Flash remained quiet and didn't retort back. Then he responded after a few minutes. "You know," he said quietly. "I'm thinking about this. Still trying to process it. And I remembered, we're still supposed to meet you for coffee…Betty and I both. Let's talk."
Peter pointed at Flash. "Does she know?"
Flash nodded. "About me? Yeah."
"And?" Peter asked.
"Let's just say it didn't go well…but like I told you earlier…we're working on it. You know, Parker," he said. "I could use your help with this…with her."
Peter smiled. "Anything for the only friend I have left."
Flash returned the grin and extended his hand, which Peter grabbed in a handshake. Church bells began ringing off in the distance, and Flash grimaced. "Ah, church bells…hate 'em. You probably know exactly why…but anyway, that means it's 6 PM. I'm gonna change and see you in an hour, Puny." Flash's face disappeared under the Agent Venom costume and then he whisked himself away, breaking down the door to the stairwell they had been standing in.
Peter shook his head ruefully, smiling as he put his mask back on.
The dreamboat and the bookworm, bros for life.
TO BE CONTINUED!
Just a small scene to tide everyone over. And now, it's time to respond to our reviews, Marvel-style! Thanks for writing in to us, true believers!
First comment is from Neosfotty, who writes: "The ending annoyed me slightly as Spider-Man's spider sense should have warned him and allowed him to dodge that attack from jackal and also really? Another mind-swap? Hopefully this isn't the premise you were talking about in the summary."
Neosfotty, as you can see here, clearly, the Jackal was way out of his league, and is slowly descending into a special type of delusional insanity. Peter's only mistake was that a) he had gotten too dependent on his Parker Industries tech and b) the Jackal has been able to outwit spider-sense before (see Amazing Spider-Man #129 (if only they let comics run for that long these days before the damn reboots!)
Next comment is from keyblade master cole, who writes: "Wow I really feel bad for peter epically everyone hating him even his aunt damn."
KMC (can we call you that?) – let's be real, if someone in your body did all the things Doc Ock did in Peter's, I think people would be pretty uncomfortable hanging around you again…even those you love. It would just be weird…plus, I kind of felt Peter needed to suffer the consequences a little bit…deal with the fallout, which quite frankly, we haven't seen him do…so it's all coming home now.
Last comments are from Celgress: "I wonder who exactly the dastardly "soul" is (along with the identity of its comrade) who struck the deal with Mephisto?" and "Interesting choice of a villain for this part in Jackal."
Celgress, thanks for the feedback. Regarding the "dastardly soul," we will find out soon enough who this is and just how far it is willing to go to get what it wants. As for the Jackal, after reading this chapter you probably think I am done with him for the purposes of this fanfiction…nope, think again! He will be back sooner than you expect…and plays a pivotal role in Peter's story.
Well, that's it for now…but the good news, expect us to pick right up in 1-2 days…we are going to keep it rolling along! PLEASE LEAVE MORE FEEDBACK! Haven't written in years, and I forgot how much fun this could be. I thank everyone for their time. Even if you want to tell me it's terrible, just share your thoughts. Thanks.
