Chapter 9: Major Upgrade
At lunch that day, Valeria was sitting with Peter and Harry. She didn't want to continue sitting alone in misery, and she thought that sitting with some friends would be a nice distraction.
"Valeria, you going to the football game tomorrow?" Peter asked.
"Not sure," Valeria dryly responded.
"Well, you should join Harry and I. It'll be fun," Peter offered.
A smile crept across Valeria's face.
"You know what? I'll go, and we'll hang. But I have a better idea."
The Midtown High football game was unsurprisingly packed, as it was the final football game of the school year before winter break. There were students everywhere in the bleachers, and most of them were all dressed in Midtown clothing.
Peter, Harry, and Valeria were making their way through the bleachers. Valeria was taking her new friends to a surprise place.
"Seriously? Where are you taking us?" Harry asked, still confused.
"Still a surprise," Valeria responded, moving through a crowd of people with Peter and Harry.
Eventually, Valeria found her fellow popular senior friends and signaled for Peter and Harry to sit with them.
"Everyone, this is Peter Parker and Harry Osborn," Valeria introduced. "Pete, Harry, these are my friends."
Some of the seniors were already aware of Harry, so they started making conversation with him. As for Peter, however, nobody really tried to make conversation with him.
At that moment, the football game began. As usual, the cheerleaders performed the Midtown victory theme to start off. Peter could easily spot Liz among them. When Liz spotted Peter, she winked at him, and Peter smiled in return.
"I'm gonna go get a hot dog," Valeria said. "Anyone wanna come with me?"
"I'll go," Peter volunteered.
Valeria smiled and they both left the bleachers.
"You got a crush on Liz or something?" Valeria chuckled as they walked to the concession stands.
"Nah, she's just a friend," Peter sighed as they made their way towards the line to the hot dog cart.
"You ever have a girlfriend before?"
"No. I haven't even liked a girl since the eighth grade."
Valeria's eyes widened. "Why not?"
"Why do you think? I'm just Peter Parker, school nerd and outcast. What's the point in trying if nobody's gonna go out with me?"
Valeria put a hand on Peter's shoulder. "Don't say that, Peter. Nothing good ever comes from putting yourself down."
"Hi, what would you like?"
Valeria turned to the cart and realized it was her turn.
"Hi, one hot dog, please."
"Alright, $3 dollars," the women behind the cart said.
Valeria handed the woman the money and got her hot dog.
"Back to what I was saying," Valeria continued as she started putting ketchup and mustard on her hot dog. "You shouldn't ever think so low about yourself, Pete. You're legit the smartest guy I know. Who gives a crap about what other people think?"
Once Valeria said all that, Peter really did start to take her words to heart. Although anyone would assume that Valeria was just the typical hot popular girl in the senior class, she had more going on in her life than anyone would expect. As a result of her father's incarceration, she had no family left anymore, as her mother was out of the state, and she didn't want anything to do with her father anymore. Deep down, she was lost.
"You're right, Valeria. Thanks for the advice," Peter thanked.
"No problem. I'm always here for you," Valeria promised.
"And I'm here for you, too, Valeria. Even though you feel like you're alone, I promise you're not. I'll be here if you need anything."
Valeria smiled as much as she could and gave Peter a hug. Laughing, Peter and Valeria went back to the bleachers.
Wilson Fisk was a very rich man. Thanks to his so-called successes in life, Fisk was able to earn enough money to build whatever he wanted, including a casino and warehouse, the latter of which he had just been summoned to by an employee, Phineas Mason. A man with gray hair and glasses, Mason had worked for Fisk for nearly 20 years.
Phineas Mason, a.k.a., the Tinkerer, was an expert at engineering. Fisk had asked him to design and lead construction in his casino and warehouse after learning about his work. Mason was known for creating advanced weapons, so Fisk figured Mason would be the perfect guy for this job, too.
Fisk walked inside his warehouse and saw Mason and a guy he didn't recognize. The man was tall and muscular, and he had short black hair.
"You want to tell me why I'm here and who the hell this guy is, Mason?"
"Mr. Fisk, this is MacDonald Gargan, a friend of mine. He prefers to be called Mac," Phineas told him.
"Hello, sir. Great honor to meet you," Mac greeted.
"Likewise. Why the hell are you here?" Wilson asked.
"Well, I was sort of told about your plan to break out Adrian Toomes and kill Spider-Man."
"You were told what?!" Wilson shouted.
"I told him because I think he could be a worthy opponent for Spider-Man," Phineas confessed.
"Does he have any kind of special abilities?"
"Well, did you hear about the recent scorpion serum testing?"
Wilson looked at Mac, knowing that he was involved in that. "You're the son of a bitch that volunteered to test it?"
"Yes, sir," Mac nodded.
"Good for you. Very gutsy for someone to do that," Fisk commended.
"Thank you, sir."
"Mr. Fisk, I just finished building this suit for him," Phineas said, motioning to the suit on the table.
The suit was a heavily-armored dark green battlesuit made of steel, and a 7ft. mechanical tail was attached to it.
"I think you both will really like this. I specifically built this suit so Mac can be a worthy opponent of Spider-Man. Mac, because of the serum, you have similar qualities that Spider-Man has, am I correct?"
Mac nodded. "I've noticed that I'm much more stronger, faster, agile."
"Great," Phineas responded. "Well, with this suit, not only will your new skills come in handy, but you will be able to climb walls like Spider-Man, something Kraven couldn't do."
Mac's eyebrows raised, amazed at what this suit could do. He couldn't wait to wear it and defeat Spider-Man. Although the bounty was still on Spider-Man's head, nobody else had attempted to kill the hero after the Kraven incident. With the Scorpion armor, however, Mac actually stood a chance.
"The best part of the suit is the tail. It whips up to 90 miles per hour, which will greatly benefit you in combat. I also added a spike to the tip of it to greater harm your enemies," Phineas added.
Mac's excited smile grew wider. "This is amazing, Phineas."
"If I may interject," Wilson interrupted. "Defeating Spider-Man is your first mission. Breaking out Adrian Toomes is your second. And remember one thing: don't show that arachnid any mercy. Do you understand that?"
"Yes, sir," Mac responded.
Peter and Harry were walking through the hallway, and it was a busy week for mostly everyone. Finals week was always the stressful time of the school year, but not for Peter, as his genius intellect usually guaranteed perfect final scores.
For Harry, it was a different story. Although he lacked Peter's brain, he was still a really smart guy, but it wasn't usually enough for him to stop worrying about how he'd do.
"Oh my God, dude, Chem is gonna kick my ass," Harry worried.
"Don't worry, man. It'll be fine," Peter assured him.
Harry scoffed. "Easy for you to say. Listen, I gotta ask. Are you gonna take Flash's threat seriously?
"I don't really know. As much as I hate the guy, I don't want to ruin Liz's relationship."
"But, dude, Liz deserves much better. I'm pretty sure you agreed."
"Yeah, but-"
Peter's Spider-Sense started tingling at that moment. It told him that something was coming towards his head. That something was a football. His sense was telling him to move his head. Peter could've easily dodged the football or grabbed it, but to evade suspicion, he begrudgingly took the hit.
"Looks like your head really is a football magnet," Flash joked, coming up and slapping Peter on the back of the head.
Harry glared at Flash. "Get the hell out of here, Flash."
"Make me, Richie Rich. Puny Parker and I have some unfinished business to settle."
"I don't think so," Peter dismissed as he tried to walk away.
Flash grabbed the back of Peter's collar and pulled him aside. Some of the students stopped walking to see what was going on. More importantly, they wanted to see if Peter would once again kick Flash's ass.
"You know, I could've kicked your ass by now if I wanted to," Peter spitefully pointed out.
Although he knew Peter was right, Flash tried to sound as threatening as he could. "Shut up, bookworm. If I ever see you talking to my girl again, then you're gonna regret you were ever born."
Peter just laughed at Flash's threat. It wasn't like the jock could hurt him.
"Let him go, Flash!"
Peter and Flash turned to see Liz, and the glare on her face genuinely frightened the two of them for a moment.
"Babe, it's alright here!" Flash started. "Look, let's just-"
Liz grabbed Flash's arm and dragged him outside. Peter, Harry, and the other students looked outside to try and see what was going on. Although they couldn't hear what the couple was saying, it was clear to everyone that the two were arguing.
"She's probably gonna dump him," Peter predicted.
"Maybe," Harry agreed.
"I don't know about that," a student disagreed.
"They've been going out for a year now, and they're too happy together," another student said.
Everyone witnessed Liz yelling at Flash. After that, Liz walked off, and Flash started throwing a fit of rage outside.
"They did," Peter and Harry said at the same time.
Flash's face turned red once he realized the other students had witnessed the entire thing. His face went further red once he eyed Peter.
"This is the part where we run," Harry told Peter in a calm manner.
Peter and Harry ran off before Flash could catch up to them. Wisely, the other students did the same thing as well.
Ever since Liz had broken up with Flash, she didn't really feel any remorse or sadness. If she was gonna be honest with herself, she never really felt anything truly real with Flash to begin with. He was an immature bully, and he didn't deserve to date another girl until he changed for the better.
Although she didn't really feel anything romantic for Peter, he was undeniably a fun guy to be around. She definitely enjoyed being around Peter more than she did around Flash. Peter was a better listener, as he seemed to understand Liz more than Flash ever did.
Just to hang out, Liz had texted Peter, inviting him for coffee. Peter quickly responded, accepting her offer.
Excited, Peter ran out of school to prepare for his date with Liz.
"Hey, freak!" Flash shouted as he ran over to Peter. "You cost me my girl!"
Flash tried to tackle Peter, only for Peter to push him away, knocking him to the ground. Peter didn't even care, as he was too excited for his coffee date. Plus, Flash had done worse things to him in the past.
Peter's phone went off, and he picked up.
"Hey, Aunt May...Actually, I'll be home at around 8 or so...Why? Got a date...Look, I'll tell you all about it when I get home. I gotta get ready," Peter quickly explained to Aunt May.
Eventually, Peter made it into the city, running as fast as he could. Much to his dismay, police sirens were heard. Peter looked to the direction of the sounds and saw two police cars pursuing a getaway truck.
"Damn it!" Peter exclaimed.
Peter ran into an alley, and less than a minute later, Spider-Man swung towards the truck. Excited civilians started recording the incident.
Spider-Man landed on the truck and dodged bullets that shot through the roof. He then climbed onto the front of the truck.
"You guys are really screwing up my plans," Spider-Man annoyingly said as he ripped the steering wheel off the truck.
The truck swerved and fell onto its side, and Spider-Man quickly jumped back onto the ground. Two injured armed men crawled out of the truck, only to collapse, unconscious. Another armed man came out and started shooting at Spider-Man with a machine gun. Spider-Man jumped out of the way to dodge the bullets until the police cars caught up. Four cops came out of the cruisers and aimed their guns at the man.
"Freeze! NYPD!" one of the cops shouted.
The man started shooting at the cops, who took cover behind the cars. Spider-Man quickly snuck up behind the man and threw him across the street. Before the cops could threaten Spider-Man as usual, two more armed men came out of the truck.
"Jesus, how many of there are you?!" Spider-Man shouted in frustration and disbelief.
One of the armed men opened fire on the cops while the other one started shooting at Spider-Man, who easily dodged all the bullets. The cops started shooting back, and a firefight ensued.
"AHHH!"
A cop was hit in the shoulder by a bullet, and he fell to the ground.
"Oh, no!" Spider-Man panicked as he jumped onto the first armed man, knocking him down.
Spider-Man then shot a web at the second armed man's gun and pulled upwards, causing the gun to hit the man in the chin. The man stumbled back, and Spider-Man jumped over and punched him in the face, knocking him unconscious.
"Are you okay?" Spider-Man quickly asked as he ran over to the wounded cop.
Instead of answering, the cop continued groaning in pain as he clutched his bloody shoulder. Spider-Man moved the cop's hand and covered the wound with a web.
"I'm gonna get you to the hospital," Spider-Man assured him as he grabbed the cop and swung away.
At the coffee shop, Liz kept checking her phone for missed texts or calls from Peter but didn't receive any. Angry, Liz felt that she was stood up and Peter wasn't gonna show, so she grabbed her bag and stood up until she saw Peter run in.
"Liz! Liz, I'm so sorry I'm late. If you'll just let me explain-"
"Forget it, Peter. I get it. You don't like me. Which is a real shame considering I was really starting to like you," Liz said, hurt.
"But I do like you, Liz. I do," Peter assured her.
"If you did, you would have been here on time. You made me feel like an idiot sitting here for over an hour waiting for you to show."
"Liz, I'm sorry. It wasn't my intention."
"Whatever, Peter," Liz replied angrily before walking out.
"Liz…"
Thanks for reading! Hope you enjoyed the chapter. Reviews are greatly appreciated. Next chapter: A sad Christmas for Peter and his loved ones.
