A.N. First post in the new year: 2014. Whoo! Enjoy the chapter, here's the GOBLIN.
Seven
Peter saw Gwen usher his aunt away in another police car with her and her brother. He knew his aunt would be safe with Gwen. She would make sure his aunt was safe so he could focus on making the city safer. Besides, it would get her far from the action. Peter wouldn't have to worry about either one of them being injured now. Peter turned back to see this person standing on this glider which looked awfully familiar to him. He swore he had seen that glider somewhere before but he couldn't place it and right now he had bigger things to worry about. Peter ducked out of the way of a bomb of some kind this guy threw at him. Peter turned his head to look where the bomb had flew into screen. People scattered , police were readying themselves for war, and they were calling for back-up. Something told him that it wasn't going to help. Peter felt a chilling down his spine so he ducked. The glider flew over his head keeping him from getting knocked out of the way.
Peter shot a web at the figure sticking it to his back and pulled on it trying to dislodge the figure from the glider. However, all it did was pull the figure and the glider back to him. The figure on the glider moved his foot slightly which caused something on the front of the glider to move as he came back towards him. It was several sharp blades on the front. Peter groaned almost shaking his head back and forth as he jumped ending up on the glider as well with the figure. The person moved back in surprise.
"Hi," Peter said. "Sorry, but no one is going to follow you."
"This city will be mine!" He said. "I promise you."
"Not as long as I'm around!" Peter said firmly. "You'll have to go through me in order to take this city! I promise you that."
"Very well," he said. "Your wish is my command."
Peter ducked out of the way of a punch but couldn't avoid a sharp blade he had hidden on his hand. It ran along his ribs cutting through his suit easily and digging into his flesh. Peter wanted to groan in pain but he held it in settling instead for kicking the man in the shin. Peter had knocked the knife from his hand, he moved his hand to jab the man in the throat. The quick hard jab to his wind pipe caught the man off guard making him stumble for a moment giving Peter the opportunity he needed. Peter took advantage by kicking the man's legs out from underneath him sending him tumbling off the glider on the hard pavement below in heap of limbs. Unfortunately the ground was only a few feet away so it did very little to injury him instead it served to bruise him and piss him off all in one. People had been scattering and ducking to avoid the glider crashing into them since the pilot had been distracted by a fight it hadn't been going in any sort of direction. The police had been hesitating to shoot at the man while he and Spider-Man were fighting on the glider. They didn't want to take the chance of hitting Spider-Man or a random person. Without the other man on the glider it was now moving slightly uncontrollably. No one was steering the thing anymore. Oh, sure Peter was trying but it wasn't working out very well. The glider tossed and turned. It felt like Peter was on a boat in the middle of a hurricane with the winds and ocean tossing him everywhere.
Peter moved into the foot holds hoping he might be able to gain some control over the wayward glider. He found the glider hard to control and he was happy he had his web-shooters because he preferred them any day. The he remembered where he had seen the glider before at the gala Gwen had taken him to. He remembered looking it over that day trying to figure out how it worked. Gwen had told him that only he probably would be able to pilot it. Well, apparently someone else must have superhuman reflexes as well, Peter thought. Now, who was this crazy person? And how did he get them? Peter was also wondering how in the world that guy had been able to pilot this thing at all, it had no control. Peter leaned, turned and tried to focus on making it listen but the glider seemed to have a mind of its own. Then suddenly the glider jerked underneath him pulling him back the way he had just come. Peter looked down trying to understand this infernal thing. He wanted to know what had made it change its mind about the direction he had been going. Peter soon realized, however, that it wasn't anything he had done to make it turn around. Peter say the figure was playing with something on his arm. It looked like a watch but it was too long to be a watch. It was more than halfway up the man's forearm. That was no watch. Peter realized that he probably shouldn't be on the glider when it got back to its rider. So, he shot a web towards the nearest building letting it catch him and pull him off of the insane glider. Peter had never been so happy to feel nothing but air around him as he soared away from the glider.
Peter landed on the ground after he let go of the line he had shot. He dropped down into a crouch leaning on one hand as he looked up at the man and his glider. The man jumped back onto the glider. He moved on it as though the machine were part of him. Peter's eyes flickered to the wrist band the man had on, maybe he was controlling it. It would explain why it didn't listen to him, Peter wasn't the rider it was looking for, this man was. He wondered how good his aim was with his web-shooters as he raised his wrist. Peter let out one quick shot at the man. The webbing landed with a thwack on the man's mask blocking his vision which made Peter want to jump and down in a victory celebration for a moment since it meant he was getting better with his web-shooters. But instead he forced himself to focus on spinning another web on a building to swing towards the man. Peter held out both of his feet to kick the man square in the chest but this time the man remained attached to the glider.
He for a moment wondered if there was something strapping the man to the glider now just in case. But Peter couldn't really worry about that at the moment, there were a few more pressing matters at hand right now. Things like bombs that the man had decided to throw at random around the street. Peter had no idea if this man was aiming for something or if he just felt like unleashing several bombs like they were confetti. Peter pulled two cops out of the way of a bomb swing them behind another car as it exploded where they had been standing. Peter hoped they were safer there but he was distracted by a bomb blowing up a building. This one far too large to be one of the bombs the man was carelessly tossing around the street like a peanut vendor might during a baseball game. Peter was thankful the building looked empty, at least no one there was hurt. Peter turned at the sound of another explosion in time to see the man looming over him chuckling lowly. The man's foot moved over the glider again and something popped up out of the glider to the man's hand as he continued his low raspy chuckle. Peter rose up almost to his full height but he kept his knees bent just a little waiting to see what this crazy man would do now.
"I thought you'd be a better fight." The man said. He sounded almost disappointed. "I thought someone who has 'saved' this city twice now would be... more of a challenge. But I'm apparently very wrong."
"I'm still here." Peter said. "This city still doesn't belong to you. The fight isn't over yet."
"No, it isn't." The man agreed. "It's only begun."
Peter watched as the man began touched the center of the small ball he was holding. Now that he could see them, Peter swore the bombs looked like pumpkins. Something he had never seen before. A small fuse on the other end of the pumpkin ignited and the man hurled it across the way but Peter flicked his wrist catching the bomb in his webbing. Peter reeled it back to him noting that it really did look like a pumpkin and that he wasn't seeing things. He crushed it in his hand listening to the bomb diffuse with a small hissing noise.
"Brave," the man noted. "Possibly smart too or foolishly strong."
Peter didn't bother to comment as he webbed the bottom of the man's glider pulling himself up swinging over the back to kick him again. With the man momentarily stunned the glider began spinning out of control again until it crashed into a building breaking several glass windows as they both landed on the floor of some business building. Peter and the man tumbled over themselves and each other until they were both sprawled out on the floor a few feet from one another. People in the building scream before they took off running in search of the nearest exits. Peter didn't even want to ask why they were still here. Why hadn't the been evacuated? Didn't anyone in the building see what had been going on outside? It was World War III out there!
Both Peter and the man were dazed by the sudden collision with the solid glass windows. Peter rolled over standing up as quickly as he could to look over at the other man who was shaking his head causing glass to fly off everywhere. A man was running past the crazy man trying to kill everyone who he tripped for no reason whatsoever letting out a small chuckle as he did so. Peter webbed the man pulling him towards his body to get him away from the strange man. Peter righted the man so he was on his feet, then he told him to run, and get away as fast as his feet could carry him. Peter turned to face the other man down who had his arms folded across his chest. After a moment he moved grabbing a desk beside him which he threw at Peter as hard as he could. Peter punched the desk snapping it in half then he ducked as the chair that went with the desk came hurtling at him next. Peter spun on the floor webbed the chair and whipped it around towards the man who threw it letting it go as it slammed into him. It sent the man flying across the room into several desks destroying them as well. The desks were split in half as the man landed on them. People were still trying to escape the war zone as fast as they could. Peter hoped they could get clear before this man did something truly crazy. After a moment the man rose from the desks, kicking away the desks. The man clapped as though he were impressed by this display.
"I suppose that's better." The man said. "But you're still weak."
"I think you need a hobby." Peter said dryly. "Obviously, you have far too much time on your hands."
"Maybe you should spend your time working on your wit." The man said. "That was a little bland for my taste, bug."
"Maybe you should take up some kind of studying as a hobby." Peter mused ignoring the man. "Because it seems you still don't understand that a spider isn't a bug. Why does everyone assume spiders are bugs?"
"Because they squish the same way." The man supplied. "I'll show you."
The man pressed a button on his arm which lit up and so did the glider which slide over to him. He jumped onto the glider smoothly making Peter wondered if the glider was connected to the band. It would explain why the glider didn't seem so rough when he was riding it unlike while Peter had been trying to steer it. The man moved his feet on the glider but now it seemed like he was steering inside of trying to launch something destructive at Peter. Peter shot a web at the man but he slide easily out of the way. He tried again but the man sliced through the glider like it was even there with another blade on his arm.
The man bent over gliding over the floor to grab a woman who had been injured in the crash when they came tumbling through the window together destroying everything in sight. Peter followed the man as he sped out the broken windows holding the woman tightly in his hand as he went. The man on the glider mocked saluted him as he left. Peter ran after him but stopped as the man started to gain altitude. The man held the woman out into the open air.
"You know what I love about heroes?" The man asked shaking the woman. Peter glared at the man, not that he could see that. "They're so predictable."
And with that statement he dropped the woman. Peter's eyes widened as he webbed the ground in front of the broken window inside the building and back up. He pulled the web as tightly as it could go letting himself go hoping his timing was absolutely perfect as he went. His slingshot across the street was timed just right as he met the woman just as she was falling past the window on his way across the street. He heard people below shouting. He heard the police beginning to run around trying to figure out what to do next. Then he heard the police captain yelling cutting through all the noise and people making himself clear and heard. The police responded in kind to his order and began open fire on the man or at least it seemed like they were shooting at the man. Peter really couldn't tell from his point of view since he was busy worrying about crashing through yet another window today.
Peter let wrapped his arms tightly around the woman as the momentum carried both of them easily across the street through the window. Peter tucked the woman's head underneath his chin covering her face carefully as they smashed into the other building. Peter rolled so he landed on the ground with the woman falling on top of him so he had all impact so the woman didn't end up getting hurt. Once they stopped skidding across the floor which caused his suit to rip all across his back. Peter checked the woman who was shaking in fear as she looked up at Peter. He carefully rolled her off of him making sure she wasn't any more broken than she had already been when she was dropped. She looked at him with wide eyes still shaking in completely and utter terror. Peter helped the woman to her feet looking around the room at all the people around them. Peter waved to a few of them.
"Get her some medical attention, she's hurt." Peter explained. "And get out of here now. It's not safe."
The people nodded in response taking the woman from Peter as he walked slowly over to the window looking up at the sky. Except now the gunshots had stopped and the police were looking rather frustrated. Peter sighed looking up wondering where that man had run off to. Without another thought he jumped from the window shooting a web at the building across the way so he could shoot another web at the building he had just come from pulling himself a little higher each time. Peter landed on the roof and almost crumpled to his knees. He could see a thin line of smoke from the glider fading off into the sky, he wanted to follow it but when he reached around to his back to figure out why he had almost fallen over he felt a piece of glass sticking out of his back. Peter pulled on the glass ripping it from his flesh. Almost immediately he felt a sense of relief but he could feel the wound in his back oozing blood. Peter shook his head frustrated wanting nothing more than to find whoever that was and beat the crap out of him but he was in no condition to go toe to toe with that guy again.
Peter needed to regroup and get his bearings. He needed to figure out who this was or at least why he had such a grudge against him. Usually with these guys its Peter who decides to pick the fight, not the other way around. This was new for him. Besides, there was something strange about this fight, it hadn't seem like a fight. It had seemed more like a test, almost like the opponent wasn't really trying just throwing different things out there to see how he would react. Something about that drove Peter even more crazy than it had been with Electro or the lizard. Maybe it was because this guy put innocent lives in danger just so he could see how Spider-Man would fight him or save them. People could have died because of this man's little test. How could anyone be so cold? How could anyone be so callous? How could anyone do that to innocent people? Of course, Peter couldn't answer those questions since he would never be able to bring himself to do that to anyone. He wouldn't be able to look at himself in the mirror again. He wouldn't be able to look Gwen in the eye again. Peter thought back to his uncle's murder knowing he would've killed him given the chance then since he was guilty which had justified it in Peter's mind not anymore. If he found his uncle's killer now, he would turn him over to the police.
Peter carefully jumped from one roof to the next one trying to ignore the searing pain in his lower left back when he landed. The moment he was on the other roof he felt his phone ringing or rather vibrating in the small slip he had built into his suit. He reached down into the pocket to pull out his cell phone. Once he had it he saw that he had two missed calls. One was from his aunt but the other was from Jameson from the Daily Bugle and he was calling right now. Peter hit the ignore button on his phone not wanting to deal with his pushy boss right at the moment. He took a look over the side of the building at the cameras he had set up to capture the moments happening during the ceremony while he was busy. He knew they were probably still taking some good shots of everything happening down there since he had set it up that way. He sighed shaking his head back and forth as he looked at his phone again this time he dialed Gwen's number. She picked up after one ring.
"Peter?" Gwen asked breathlessly, worriedly.
"I'm okay," Peter looked down at his wounds. "Relatively okay, I suppose. That guy is gone, whoever he is. I think we have a serious problem, a really big problem, Gwen."
"What else is new?" Gwen asked. "Did the sun come up? Sky blue? Just skip the big problem start-up and get to the point. Where are you anyway?"
"On a roof." Peter said quickly. "I think we found your blueprint thief first, although I still don't know who it is. But I can tell you, he is not all there. The man is insane!"
"How crazy?" Gwen asked warily.
"A crazy better explained in person." Peter answered. He was looking over the side of the building at the police who were still trying to make sense of everything that had just happened. "Where are you? I'll come to you."
"My mother's apartment. Everyone is here, come through the lobby for once like a normal person." Gwen insisted. "I'll meet you there."
"Alright, see you in a few." Peter hung up.
Peter could see detectives arriving on scene now. He doubted they would figure much of anything out just by looking over the scene. Peter was doubtful that they guy had left a card for them to call him and ask what his evil plans were. Although, considering how strange this whole thing had been maybe the crazy man had left some calling card for the police or maybe he left a calling card for him to find. Peter shook his head. He's have to figure it out later, right now he had to fill Gwen in on everything that was going on. Peter turned to pick up his clothes from the roof and felt a sharp pain on his side as he turned. He looked down at his side seeing a large gash on his ribs. It was still bleeding all over his suit. Peter covered the wound with his hand for a moment. Then he scooped up his clothing ignoring the pain shooting through him before jumping off the building shooting a web at the same time before he disappeared around the corner of a building. The police watched him swinging around the corner out of sight. Peter went to Gwen's old apartment building.
He ducked down into the alley on the side of the building so he could chance into his normal clothes. Peter pulled a shirt over his head hiding his Spider-Man suit from the world. He looked down at where his wound was as the blood from both of them soaked through his shirt so he could see it. Peter pulled on his pants and his normal shoes before he grabbed his sweatshirt pulling it over his shirt. He zipped it all the way up to the tip thanking whoever he could that this morning he had decided to grab a black sweatshirt to wear, because even if the blood soaked through to the sweatshirt no one would be able to see it. Peter stuffed the gloves from his suit and his mask into his pockets tucking them out of sight. He took a look down either side of the alley seeing no one there so he went around the corner where he first saw the doorman sitting there at his little stand just before he saw Gwen poke her head out of the the door to look around. Peter sighed in relief when he saw his girlfriend standing there. The doorman turned when he heard the door open, he smiled at Gwen when he saw her, but Peter could see she was otherwise distracted. He took a deep breath walking over to the two of them with the nicest smile he could muster. Peter ignored the pain shooting through his torso. He didn't know what was worse at the moment, the searing pain or being nice to the doorman.
"Miss Stacy," he could hear the doorman say. "Are you waiting for someone?"
"She's waiting for me." Peter said.
"Peter," Gwen smiled. The doorman scowled. Peter smirked. "Thought you got lost on me, Bugboy."
"Sorry," Peter grinned. "You know I can never be anywhere in a timely manner."
Gwen moved right into Peter's arms despite the glare Peter was getting from the doorman who seemed less than thrilled to see Peter at all. Peter just smiled happily over Gwen's shoulder at the doorman. He did like ruffling that guy's feathers whenever he possibly could. Gwen let her cheek rest on Peter's shoulder as she sighed softly and rolled her eyes knowing he was tormenting her doorman again. Peter wrapped both arms around her tightly, seeking comfort in her embrace. Gwen dug her hand into his shirt twisting it in her hand yanking him forward into the building with her past the glaring doorman who looked very annoyed with Peter at the moment. Peter just chuckled despite the small glare Gwen tossed him over her shoulder. Once they were in the lobby Gwen stopped moving turning to face her boyfriend in the center of the lobby.
"What happened?" Gwen asked. "Did you stop him?"
"Not exactly," Peter shook his head. "I don't think he wanted to be stopped or to even really fight me. I think it was some kind of test he wanted to put me through."
"What do you mean?" Gwen asked confused. "What kind of test?"
"It's like he wanted to see how I would react. How would I fair in a fight against him and what would I do when he did certain things?" Peter explained. "It's like he was checking me out as an opponent. He was crazy, he tried killing people and blowing up New York... he was going to hurt innocent people just to... study me."
"Did anyone get hurt?" Gwen asked. "Are you hurt?"
"I'm not sure about anyone else. There were probably a few injuries, one I know of, at least, but I don't think there were any deaths or something like that." Peter shook his head. "I'm a little hurt. But it's nothing major and I've definitely been hurt worse."
"I don't think that should be selling point, Bugboy." Gwen was shaking her head. "Where are you hurt? Show me."
"Can't," Peter whispered with a small shake of his head. "I can't. That might reveal a little too much to everyone in the lobby about my side-job as a certain masked resident of New York."
"Oh," Gwen realized they were still standing in the middle of the lobby. "Right, uh, let's go upstairs."
Gwen took his hand pulling him with her to the elevator of the building. Once they were inside she turned placing her hands on his torso accidentally touching his wound causing Peter to wince in pain. He grit his teeth trying not to say anything or to make any kind of noise about the pain he was in. Gwen frowned at him moving her hand out of the way. Peter swallowed thickly as Gwen brushed his hands out of the way as she went to the zipper on his sweatshirt to tug it down. He tried to stop her from opening his sweatshirt but it didn't work, she was far too determined to see what happened to her boyfriend. Gwen pulled the zipper down to see his blood soaked shirt. She gently touched the wet material making sure to keep her back to the camera in the elevator so it couldn't see his shirt. Her touch was so light Peter could barely feel her the tips of her fingers graze his stomach.
"Is it deep?" Gwen asked softly.
"Deep enough," Peter answered thickly. "I'll be fine. It's not bleeding as heavily now, it should stop altogether soon enough."
"You need a bandage of some kind until then, Bugboy." Gwen said. "I'll figure something out. Are you hurt anywhere else?"
Peter didn't answer as he pulled the zipper up on his sweatshirt which was enough to answer Gwen's question. He covered his blood soaked shirt back up as Gwen wrapped an arm around him carefully pulling him closer to her. Peter wrapped an arm around her thankful she didn't hit either of his wounds. Peter knew he was beginning to feel rather woozy from all the blood loss. Peter wished he could make it so she wouldn't have to worry about him so much but he knew as long as he choose to be Spider-Man she would always worry. He placed a kiss on the top of her head smiling softly at her with a small quirk of his head to give her a silly grin hoping it would help with some of the tension. The tension in the elevator began to melt away with that smile because he was here and he was whole or whole enough for her to put him back together. He was safe, at least for the moment. They knew they were whole together. They were unbeatable together. Right?
Gwen unlocked the front door to her former home and let herself and Peter inside. Peter walked into the apartment to see a somewhat normal scene in front of him when Gwen's youngest brothers went running by both of them holding Nerf guns shooting at one another as they went. Peter caught Gwen as she jumped out of the way of her warring brothers. He laughed as he saw them go by gaining the attention of the others in the room. His aunt, Gwen's mother, and Howard with his girlfriend were all sitting in the living room watching the news. Peter frowned not remembering seeing Howard's girlfriend prior to this moment. At the sound of Peter's laughter they all turned their heads to see who it was. His aunt almost jumped off of the couch as she came over to him with a relieved smile spread over her face.
"Peter," she sighed with relief. "There you are."
Aunt May wrapped him up in a warm motherly hug. It furthered his belief that she knew the truth about what he was up to whenever he disappeared randomly. Over his aunt's shoulder he could see Gwen was mouthing something at him about his aunt knowing. Peter just gave a short nod in response.
"So," she began. "Did you get any good shots?"
"A few," Peter shrugged. "I already took care of them. Sent them to the Bugle so I'm sure Jameson is rampaging through them calling at least half of them crap. Then he'll pick his favorite and put it into the front page for tomorrow.
"He calls them crap?" Helen asked. "That's not good from a boss."
"That's Jameson." Peter and Gwen answered.
They turned to look at each other out of the corner of their eyes. They really had to stop doing that. It was probably safe to say they were spending too much time together. Peter shook his head returning his attention to the others. Gwen just chuckled gently touching Peter's arm. Peter pursed his lips for a moment before he looked over at his aunt and Gwen's mother who looked amused by the couple's exchange.
"Jameson isn't exactly the type to give compliments. Ever." Peter explained. "So, he just calls everything and anything crap even if he likes it. As long as he buys my photos and gives me the credit I really don't mind all that much. If he really thought they were crap he probably wouldn't publish them."
"Well, that's good. I suppose." Helen said sounding somewhat unsure. "So, are you hungry Peter? We have plenty of food. I could whip something up for you, if you want me to, or even if you're just hungry. I'd be glad to."
"Uh, no thanks. I'm good for the moment." Peter answered.
"Actually, I have to talk to you." Gwen shot Peter a meaningful look. "We'll be back in a minute, mom."
Before Peter could say anything she grabbed him by the front of his sweatshirt so she could drag him away. She walked down the hallway into what used to be her bedroom. Peter frowned at his girlfriend as she yanked him into the room locking the door behind him. Without a word she began pulling on his sweatshirt until he pulled it off himself along with his shirt. Then Peter pulled on the back of his suit to pull off the half of his Spider-Man suit. Gwen went into the closet of the bedroom to pull out a medical kit from where she had stashed it taped above the door to the closet. Once she walked out she grinned at Peter.
"I stashed some stuff here, just in case. I thought we might need it." Gwen grinned at her boyfriend. "Turns out I was right."
"You usually are." Peter grinned. "It's one of the many reasons I love you."
Gwen smiled at her boyfriend waving him towards her. He left a pile of clothes on the floor next to the door as he went over to sit with his girlfriend in front of the window. For the first time she could see his wound on his stomach and ribs as well as the one on his back. The one on his back, however, was far deeper than the slice on the ribs. It was oozing blood much faster as well. Peter was keeping himself from putting any pressure on that side of his back so he was sitting rather awkwardly against the wall.
"That looks worse than you think, Bugboy." Gwen frowned. "What happened?"
"When I fell through one of the two glass windows a piece ended up embedded in my back." Peter explained. "I pulled it out."
"Only one piece," Gwen's tone suggested worry. "There's another there keeping it open, keeping you from healing properly."
Gwen handed him something to put on the wound on his ribs to keep it from bleeding too heavily while she pulled a pair of medical pliers from her medical kit. She immediately set to work on trying to pull another shard from his back. It was smaller than the first one he had pulled out but buried a lot deeper than the first. The first shard of glass he had been able to feel sticking out of his back, he had been able to grab it, and pull it out himself. He hadn't even felt this shard in his back. No wonder why his head was beginning to spin slightly. Too much blood loss. The wound on his stomach wasn't bleeding anymore, it clotted over but the one in his back must still be open, and still bleeding heavily. He could feel Gwen gently place her hand around his wound before he felt the cool metal from the pliers gently prodded his wounded back. He winced in pain grabbing the first thing his hand could find a purchase on. It just happened to be her skirt.
"This might hurt," Gwen said uneasily. "I'm sorry."
Peter opened his mouth to say something but Gwen just ripped the shard from his back. She could feel his hand pulling on his skirt and when she looked over at him he was biting down on his other hand to keep from shouting out in pain. She looked at the jagged piece of glass in her hand. She didn't even want to begin to imagine how much it must suck to have something like that stuck in your back. Gwen gently looked down at the wound, one side of it was clotted over with dried blood but the other side was now oozing again with fresh blood from where she had pulled the shard from. She picked up another towel carefully placing it over his wound to stagger the flow of blood. After a moment she carefully began cleaning the wound out. She wanted to be absolutely sure there weren't any other pieces of glass trapped beneath his rapidly healing skin. It would make for a much longer healing process and a rather uncomfortable one at that. She found a few smaller pieces of glass but nothing major. Once she was sure there was nothing left she carefully began dressing the wound properly while Peter just sat there trying not to make a sound. Gwen could feel his hand clenching and unclench on her leg.
"Well, you're lucky it didn't sever anything major back here." Gwen said softly. "It looks like it missed any major organs and arteries. So, at least we won't have to worry about you bleeding internally or hemorrhaging. That's a good thing. I don't think I could take care of that with my medical kit. I don't have enough training. However, at the rate you're going maybe I should change majors or take a class."
"Couldn't hurt," Peter teased.
Gwen then moved on to patching up the wound on his stomach making sure Peter kept still while she covered his wound over. Gwen carefully dressed it with the bandage so it wouldn't bleed over his shirt anymore as well as keeping it clean while it healed. Peter started chuckling softly. She could feel a soft rumble of his chest through her fingers as she carefully dressed the wound for him. Gwen looked up at her boyfriend curiously under her bangs with one eyebrow raised.
"What's so funny, Bugboy?" Gwen asked.
"You wouldn't happen to have any spare clothes in there for me would you?" He asked teasingly. "Because then I wouldn't have to walk around in the bloody one for all to see anymore. It would be rather helpful if you happened to have some spare clothes for me."
"Uh, no. Sorry, I'm pretty sure if I left any clothing here my mother would've taken it and washed it to give it back to me by now."
"So close," Peter teased.
"Just wear your sweatshirt over the shirt." Gwen suggested. "No one will notice if you don't take off your sweatshirt."
"Thank you," Peter whispered to his girlfriend. "For patching me up. I really appreciate it, Gwen."
"Don't worry about it, Bugboy." Gwen smiled.
Once Gwen finished patching Peter up he replaced his shirt and then followed it with his sweatshirt. Peter attached his suit above the window outside by the fire escape so he could come back later and get it. Then he followed Gwen out to the living room where the others were sitting. Phillip and Simon were still running around trying to kill one another with their Nerf weapons but now instead guns they had giant foam swords they were swinging at one another. Their mother was yelling them not to hurt one another or not to break anything in the house. They looked extremely frustrated by these rules but it didn't slow them down in the slightest as they continued whacking each other while running around the whole apartment. Peter chuckled at them. The whole world could be blowing up outside but it didn't matter to them, they were having a great time here at home. They were kids and they didn't have a care in the world. Somewhere inside he missed those days where he was little and nothing mattered but finding something to occupy him, something, someway to have some fun.
Gwen saw the wistful look on Peter's face so she wrapped her arms around him tightly in response. Peter smiled at his girlfriend before they joined everyone else on the couch. They watched the news with everyone else. The news crews didn't have any information about whoever the strange crazy figure on the glider had been but they did have a lot of video footage of the fight giving everyone in the apartment the chance to see what had happened after they left. Peter couldn't help but try and figure out how this person worked, he had this terrible feeling he was going to see this man again. This person was very unhinged, he would do anything, and he had something against Spider-Man. What, Peter really didn't know but he did know this person wanted something. He was insane. And he needed to be stopped. Peter's jaw clenched in determination. He would stop this man, he promised himself and everyone else in the city he would protect them.
"The people have come up with a name for this guy." Howard said. He elbowed Peter gently.
"What are they calling him?" Peter asked when he heard a newscaster say something about the crazy man.
"The Green Goblin." Howard answered. "Not the world's most frightening name but it's something, I suppose."
Peter just shrugged in response, at least the crazy man had a name to be called by now. He caught Gwen's eye as she turned to give him a sidelong look. Peter sighed leaning back against the couch with Gwen. She curled her legs underneath her leaning against him as he sat back against the couch. She laid her her head on his shoulder wrapped her arms around his torso careful to avoid the wound on his ribs just in case. Peter wrapped one arm around her shoulders curling it around her arm. Then he placed his other hand on the arm she had across his stomach rubbing her arm gently as he did.
Peter knew, somehow, he would see this Green Goblin again.
Later in the following week after that dreaded weekend meeting this crazy Green Goblin Peter was busying patrolling the city. He wasn't too far from his aunt's house where he was patrolling at the moment. It also wasn't too far away from where he had lost his uncle. He hated being in this area, he hated this neighborhood but it had a huge crime rate which he wanted to try and put a damper on it, he wanted the criminals of this neighborhood to think twice before they tried to hurt someone or commit a crime. So, here he was late at night trying to catch as many criminals in this neighborhood as possible. Peter sat down on the very edge of a building looking down at an alley below him. People moved through it constantly. Even women who were all alone which he couldn't believe anyone would let a women walk these streets alone, he couldn't believe a woman would want to walk these streets alone. Scratch that, he couldn't believe anyone would want to walk in these streets alone, male or female. Peter sighed softly thinking most people weren't like him, they didn't think like he did.
It seemed like any other night whenever he did his usual patrol right up until he heard shouting coming from a street behind him. Peter pushed himself up onto his feet racing to the other side of the building to see what was going on. For a moment he almost couldn't move when he saw the criminal they were shouting at to stop. He had just grabbed some woman's purse and was trying to escape. He couldn't move because the criminal fit the description of the one who had murdered his uncle. For a moment he saw that night when he let his uncle's murderer race off to kill his uncle not 20 seconds later. Peter took a deep breath before he jumped off of the side of the building to the other building across the way sticking to the side of it. He let himself slip down just slightly enough to get closer to the ground before he jumped down. Peter stepped out into the street watching as the criminal crashed into a family who had been walked down the street together. A small child jumped out of the way as the man pulled a gun from inside his coat. The family screamed in horror, not that anyone blamed them. Peter on the other hand sprung into action.
Peter flicked his wrist quickly letting the webbing his the man's hand with so much force he flew back three feet into the building. The man hit the wall and stuck there by his hand covered in webbing. The family whopped their heads around to look in the direction the webbing had come from. Peter swung across the street to the man pinned to the wall. He felt rage welling up inside him as he thought that this could be the man who took his uncle from him over a year ago. He clenched his jaw pushing those feelings to the side. Personal revenge didn't matter anymore. He pushed the man's sleeve out of the way to check the man's wrist for a star tattoo. He could feel anger, rage, and vengeance pool in his chest but he couldn't understand why, he thought he had put that to the side. Once the sleeve was out of the way he found nothing but a blank wrist. Peter sighed softly letting those feelings ebb away slowly, thankfully. He webbed the petty criminal's other hand to the wall before he turned to the family behind him who were watching him carefully. In fact, everyone on the street was watching him carefully. He cleared his throat as he turned to face them all. Peter took a deep breath calming himself before he spoke.
"Uh, you may want to call 911 now." Peter suggested. "Have a good night."
Peter swung back onto the roof where he had been perched before everything on the street had completely broken loose. He touched the backpack he had forgotten he had on when he went down there. Peter pulled his hand away when he noticed something black was stuck to his fingers. Peter made a face at the sticky goo shaking his hand trying to get the black goo of his hand but it refused to budge. Inside him though he felt his anger rising the harder it was to remove the stupid goo from his hand. He felt all of his anger towards his uncle's murderer building inside him until he wanted to scream. Until he wanted to rip that man limb from limb until there was nothing left of him but a pile of limbs. He wanted that man to feel all the pain he and his aunt went through when they lost his uncle. He felt how angry he had been when he first lost his uncle come out of nowhere and hit him like a ton of bricks.
He shook his head trying to clear away the mess of thoughts as he continued trying and failing to remove the sticky substance from his hand. It was beginning to drive him nuts. Peter's eyes widened as the black goo started moving. That was not something he had been expecting. He thought something had just gotten stuck to his backpack from the roof or something and had just gotten stuck to his hand. Peter dropped his backpack on the ground as he tried to pull the goo off of his hand with his other hand as it began crawling up his arm. But the stupid goo wouldn't budge from his arm, he couldn't seem to free himself from this stick, sticky goo. No matter how hard he pulled it wouldn't come off which was beginning to worry him. Then Peter remembered that Gwen had shown him some sort of black goo at Oscorp. The door had been left open and this goo hadn't seemed very fond of that glass case they were keeping it in. He wondered if some of it had gotten free. Peter pulled on the goo again hoping to get rid of it.
The goo continued crawling all over him until it covered him completely right over his Spider-Man suit. Peter kept trying to pull the goo off of him but once he finally managed to rip part of it off his whole mask came with it. Peter frowned at the mask his mouth slacked slightly as he tried to comprehend what it was that he was seeing right now. Peter shook his head stuffing the mask into his backpack before he pulled on his regular clothes over his Spider-Man suit. He needed to talk to Gwen, and he needed to talk to her right now. Peter jumped off of the rook using his web-shooters to get to his girlfriend's apartment as fast as he could manage to swing there. Normally, Peer would knock on her window or even go through the lobby but right now he couldn't wait to do it the normal way. Instead he decided he just wanted to see Gwen so he let himself into her apartment. He could see the light spilling into the bedroom from the living room. Peter poked his head out of the bed room holding his backpack tightly in his arms as he walked out into the small hallway leading to her living room.
"Gwen," Peter whispered softly trying not to startle her. "Sorry."
He added the last part when she anyway at the sound of someone's voice whether or not she knew it better than anyone else's. She looked over at him seeming rather shocked to see him. Peter had said he wasn't sure he would be able to make it over to see her at all that night because he wanted to make progress in that part of the city. Her face of shock though soon gave way to one of concern. She must have seen his own expression.
"Peter," she said concerned. She placed her laptop beside her. "What's wrong?"
"Remember that goo you showed me?" Peter asked.
"Yeah" Gwen answered cautiously. She wasn't sure where this was headed. "What about it?"
"I think I accidentally brought some of it home with me." Peter said carefully.
Peter dropped his backpack on the floor in front of him to pull off his t-shirt and drop it onto the floor along with his sweatshirt. Underneath it he revealed his Spider-Man suit looking as it always did except now it was completely black with gray webbing all over where the red part of his suit used to be. And now his spider emblem on the front was a startling white. Gwen furrowed her eyebrows together as she stood up walking over to her boyfriend. She placed one hand gently on the suit.
"Why did you change your suit to black?" Gwen asked confused.
"I didn't," Peter sighed. He swallow thickly trying to ignore how good her hand felt on his chest. "At least, not voluntarily. This is that strange black goo you showed me. It was stuck to my backpack and when I picked it up it go stuck on my hand. Then it started moving up all along my arm and then across my entire body. Then somehow it bonded to my Spider-Man suit. Look, there's no evidence to show there's something on my normal suit, it looks just like it always had, made from fabric, just it's black now. But it felt weird when it started crawling on me, Gwen. It felt... I don't know how to explain it."
"Good or bad weird?" Gwen asked.
"I don't know," Peter shook his head. "I don't know."
"Maybe you should take it off." Gwen suggested. "We still haven't been able to figure out what it does at Oscorp yet. It could be dangerous, Peter. There must be a reason that it went after your suit or even you. You should take it off and get it far away from you or something. Lock it up and I'll see if I can figure out a way to destroy it or separate it from your suit."
"I'd love to." Peter said. "But if I could pull it off it wouldn't be as stuck to me as it is now."
Gwen raised her eyebrows at him in wonder. She seemed to be mouthing something to herself as she moved her head back and forth trying to figure out what she really wanted to say. Gwen gently placed her hands on his chest gently touching the suit before sh spun him around to find the zipper he had on the back of his suit. She carefully prodded the fabric looking for the metal. Once she found what she was looking for she pulled the zipper down. Then she pulled the suit of his chest to find bare flesh.
"It seem that the black goo comes off now that its in your suit." Gwen said, grinning. "I think the whole thing should come off, Bugboy."
"Why do you make everything seem so simple?" Peter said teasingly. "It's like whenever something went missing my aunt always seemed to find it whenever she went looking for it. It was never right. Or when you have something making a noise in your house or car it never makes the same noise when someone qualified to fix it is listening."
"Sorry," Gwen grinned. Peter turned back around to face her.
Suddenly he felt an a different kind of overwhelming urge instead of wanting to rip off his uncle's murderer's head he wanted his girlfriend instead. This time, however, he let himself take it. He wrapped his arms around her dragging her body against his own tightly. Gwen was caught off guard when he suddenly hauled her against him just so he could kiss her senselessly. She soon responded happily to her boyfriend wrapping her arms around him as well. Peter pulled Gwen off the ground helping her wrap her legs around his waist before he pressed her against the nearest wall. He pulled back only for a moment to grin at her before he returned his attention to kissing her.
Honestly, Peter wasn't sure what had gotten into him. One moment they were having a normal, or at least normal for them conversation and then suddenly he couldn't or didn't want to stop himself from kissing his girlfriend. Suddenly, it was like he had to have her or he just might go insane. Briefly while his brain was still functioning off in some small, dank, corner of his mind it wondered if it was the strange goo affecting him. Despite that thought Peter couldn't bring himself to care. Instead he was far too focused on his girlfriend who was currently wrapped around him. A strange weird goo taking over his suit didn't seem as important at the moment as his girlfriend did. He ripped his lips away from hers long enough to drag them down to kiss her neck instead. He could feel her hands buried in his hair as she tried to put oxygen into her lungs.
"We really should get that suit off." Gwen said once she could form a sentence. "I think it might be affecting you."
"Yeah," Peter agreed. "We should."
Gwen nodded setting to work on pushing the rest of his suit and clothing off of her boyfriend. It was made difficult with Peter constantly kissing her as well as trying to pull off her clothes as well, but she muddled through it. After all she wanted to help Peter out.
A.N. This was written prior to the trailer coming out. Most of this story will have been written before the trailer was even out I just hadn't posted it. I like to write ahead. What I hadn't done was read through, correct mistakes, and make sure I'm following my plot through.
So REVIEW! Please. I want to know what you're thinking! Tell me how you feel about the GOBLIN? SCARY? NOT SCARY? Am I getting him right? What do you all think? You're being awfully quiet. ;)
Thanks for reading! Swing safely! ;)
AND A HAPPY HOLIDAYS! MERRY CHRISTMAS! (My celebrated holiday.) AND HAPPY NEW YEAR! This will be the year of the SPIDER-MAN. So let's make if a good one.
