jazzybizzle: Thank you! :)
sport21: Yup, Mysterio is one of my favourite Spidey villains, so I just had to put him in here :) And thank you!
The World Is Alive: Thank you! I'm glad you're enjoying it :)
ilikehats2: You'll see how he escapes this chapter :)
Silentman87: Thanks!
ArianandXaia: It always seems to go back to Harry, doesn't it? And thank you! :)
latinoheat151: Yup, Shocker was in this earlier, but as Herman Schults. Expect more Shocker in the future, and as for Vulture, you'll just have to keep reading to find out ;)
randomness: Haha, it seems they're always getting interrupted, aren't they?
Guest: You'll just have to wait and see :)
bekkihaiti: That's exactly how I feel when I'm reading the comics, haha.
Luxraylover: Thank you for the reviews! I'm currently working on writing longer chapters, it's definitely something I need to improve on. Thanks for all your tips and advice, it really means a lot to me! Same with wishing me good luck on my exams. :)
Whispering wolf: Haha, that's exactly how I feel too.
Here's chapter 10, part 3 and the conclusion to Mysterious Encounters! Enjoy!
Spider-Man dodges a multitude of attacks from Venom, who attacks with an even greater amount of strength and power than the last time they fought.
"Hey Venom, been drinking your milk lately?" He raises his foot to kick him square in the gut, sending him flying towards a nearby tree. "Looks like you need some-"
Spider-Man's witty remark is cut off when he is grabbed by one of Doc Ock's tentacles, and smashed repeatedly into the ground.
"Okay, that hurt," he groans. "Widow!"
"Jameson, stay behind me!" She yells, firing her guns at a woman who is dressed similarly to her.
"Who's that? She doesn't look like one of mine." Spider-Man asks, dodging a kick from Kraven, while webbing one of Doc Ock's arms to the ground.
"She's not. She's one of my villains," Black Widow explains. "Her name is Yelena Belova, also known as the Black Widow."
"Wait, there are two Black Widows? Geez, this is confusing."
"You vile creature! Stay still!" Doc Ock huffs, trying to hit Spider-Man with his robotic arms.
"Dude, shh," Spider-Man says, putting his finger to his lips. "I'm in the middle of a conversation here-" Beetle shoots out missiles from his arms, which Spider-Man webs and sends right back towards him. "-and I'd appreciate it if you'd stop trying to kill me!"
"Yes," Black Widow answers. "There are two Black Widows. But I'm more of one than she'll ever be." She sends a roundhouse kick to the face of Yelena, who lands a few feet away from her, unmoving. "Jameson - what the - Jameson?!"
Black Widow turns around to see Jameson cowering behind a tree, from a multitude of Spider-Men. "Hm. Funny."
"Get away from me, you bug-brained buffoons!" He takes out pepper spray from his pocket, aiming it towards the Spider-Men. "I will use this!"
"You're kidding!" Spider-Man exclaims. "Here we are, trapped with our worst villains-" He dodges an electric shock from Electro, and which instead hits Scorpion. "-and you get me?! Are you serious?!"
"Jameson," Black Widow starts, extending a hand out to him. "Remember, it's not real." She punches a fake Spider-Man copy, sending him sprawled out on the ground.
"Hey! I'm sure you wouldn't appreciate it if I started punching fake-you like that," Spider-Man says, crossing his arms.
Spider-Man, Black Widow and Jameson slowly walk away from the villains in front of them, until the three stop, standing back to back.
"We're outnumbered," Spider-Man says, looking at the villains circling them. "There's no way we're going to get past all of these villains."
"Unless... we don't need to get past them!" Black Widow exclaims, figuring it out. "None of this is real. It's just one of Mysterio's illusions."
"Feels real to me." Spider-Man says, rubbing his arm where he was hit.
"It only feels real because we believe it is," she explains.
"You're right. If we ignore their attacks, the illusion will disappear. We need to let them hit us!" Spider-Man agrees.
"Are you crazy?!" Jameson yells. "There's no way I'm letting one of them hit me!"
"Then there's no way you're getting out of here alive, Jameson. You need to cooperate," Black Widow points out, putting her hand on Jameson's shoulder. "You'll be fine." She reassures him. "Plus, do you think we'd let any of them hurt you?"
"I know you wouldn't, but him..."He points an accusatory finger at Spider-Man.
Spider-Man simply rolls his eyes and crosses his arms. "Listen, flat top, I wouldn't let them hurt you. Morals and whatever. Let's just get this over with, shall we?"
The three turn back to their enemies, trying to remain -Man faces an angry Rhino, who grins menacingly at him. "Time to play squash the spider." He charges towards Spider-Man at full speed, his horn ready to ram Spider-Man head on.
Okay, Peter gulps. I hope this works.
5 minutes earlier...
"Smythe, come in, it's Quentin."
Quentin stands in a secluded room deep in the warehouse, with his helmet in his hands. He stands at the left corner of the room, filled with various monitors used to observe the interior and exterior of the warehouse. He observes his captors on one of the monitors in front of him, grinning at their efforts to fight the illusion.
"Ah, Quentin. Are you here to apologize for earlier? I am your superior, and I will not tolerate you speaking to me-"
"Save it, Smythe." Quentin says, interrupting him. "I've got them. Jameson, Black Widow, and Spider-Man."
"...What?"
"They're trapped." Quentin grins. "I released a hallucinogenic gas into the room - and it placed them in a fear landscape. It contains all of their worst enemies - and the best part is, they believe it's real. Aren't illusions breathtaking? Just think what I could show the world... if only Jameson could see me now."
"Don't get ahead of yourself, Quentin. I require you to bring Spider-Man to me, or the deal's done."
"Oh, I know, Smythe," Quentin replies, putting his helmet back on his head. "How do you want the bug? Dead or alive?"
"Doesn't matter," Alistair says with a sly grin. "Just bring him to me."
"Not a problem, Smythe." Quentin grins, putting on his helmet and looking up at the monitor in front of him. "Not a problem at all."
The present.
Spider-Man braces for impact, Rhino charging at him. His spider-senses blares in his head, but he ignores it. Just stay calm... don't panic, he breathes.
He closes his eyes just before Rhino hits - and feels nothing. He opens his eyes and turns around to see that Rhino ran right through him, Black Widow, and Jameson. The same goes for the other villains, who throw punches at the three, but to no use.
"The illusion is broken." Black Widow says.
"Great," Spider-Man says. "Cause that-" he points to Rhino. "-could've gotten messy."
"What's happening to them?" Jameson asks, eyes fixated on the mass of villains in front of him.
With every step they take, the villains slowly begin to dissipate - leaving behind fragments of their bodies as they advance.
"The villains are disappearing," Black Widow explains. "This illusion won't work on us anymore."
Jameson turns to the masked teen with a scowl on his face. "Looks like they forgot-" His comment is interrupted when he finds he can no longer speak, due to the web covering his mouth.
"That's enough out of you. I'm sick and tired of you always accusing me of things I didn't do. I came here to save you, alright? I didn't have to come here, but I did, even though you hate me. I don't get why you can't see that." Spider-Man says, arm extended. Okay. It felt good to get all of that out, Peter thinks.
"Okay," he sighs. "I'm done ranting now."
He turns towards Natasha, expecting to be reprimanded about what he just did, but instead, she smiles at him.
"I've been waiting for somebody to do that," she admits, lowering her voice. "Thank you. Come on, let's go." She continues down the corridor, breaking into a slow run. "We need to hurry!"
"MMMPH!" Jameson yells, his voice muffled by the web on his mouth.
"Don't worry JJJ, that should dissolve in about an hour," Spider-Man says.
"MMMPH?!"
"Did you just say you wanted to hear the story of how I made my web shooters?" Spider-Man asks, putting his hand on his heart. "Aww, JJJ, nobody's ever asked me that before." He slings his arm around Jameson's shoulder, gaining a grunt from him. "Well, it all started when I got bitten by a radioactive spider..."
Jameson rolls his eyes, sighing under the web. This is going to be a long day.
"Any word on Spider-Man, Quentin?"
"No, Smythe. Spider-Man, Black Widow, and Jameson were able to overcome my fear landscape. Interesting, isn't it? I see why you would want such an interesting specimen like Spider-Man," Quentin answers into his communicator.
"Are you having trouble completing your task, Quentin?"
"No," he replies. "As an illusionist, I must be prepared in case of failure. I have many more tricks up my sleeve, Smythe. You will not be disappointed."
"Very well. We both know what would happen if you were to disappoint me, Quentin," Smythe says with a smirk. "I'm waiting."
"I've tried contacting the rest of the Avengers," Black Widow says, addressing Spider-Man. "But I haven't been able to reach them. Mysterio must be blocking the signals somehow."
"Same here," Spider-Man replies. "How about you, JJJ?" He turns back towards Jameson, who slowly trudges behind Spider-Man and Black Widow. Jameson answers with a roll of his eyes, due to the fact that the web is still on his mouth. "Looks like he had no luck either," Spider-Man continues.
"I think you're just giving him more reasons to hate you," Black Widow smirks.
"As long as I exist, he's gonna hate me. I might as well make it fun, right flat top?" He says, addressing Jameson, who grunts in reply. "See? He agrees."
The three walk until they reach the end of the corridor, where a tall, black door stands in front of them. Black Widow draws her gun, inching closely to the door, and lowering her voice.
"Be prepared for any attacks in there." She kicks the door down with her foot, sending it to the ground with a loud CRASH!
"You could've just opened the door," Spider-Man starts. "There was a doorknob right-"
"Shh!"
"Just saying," he says, lowering his voice to a whisper, walking into the room. "I don't see any bad guys, but this is definitely weird."
The three look around the room, where they find themselves in a hall of mirrors. Mirrors surround every square inch of the room, above them, below them, and around them. The mirrors differ in shape, going from tall and wavy to short and straight.
"Okay, I already don't like this." Spider-Man shudders, remembering his first encounter with Doc Ock.
"I see a door up ahead," Black Widow says, pointing to the door on the far end of the room. "Let's go."
The three continue down the hall when Spider-Man's spider-sense goes off. That's weird, Peter thinks. My spider-sense is going off but I don't see any danger... He ignores his spider-sense, and continues walking towards the door, when he feels somebody grab his shoulder.
"Okay, Jameson, could you-" He spins around to see not Jameson standing behind him, but himself. "Oh. Hello."
The Spider-Man punches him square in the face, sending him crashing into Black Widow.
"This again?! As if it wasn't annoying the first time!" He exclaims, rubbing his face.
"I don't think this is the same thing as before," Black Widow states, standing. "Look."
Spider-Man and Jameson look behind them to see different versions of themselves, stepping out of the mirrors around them. The figures are distorted, due to the different sizes and shapes of the mirrors. Abnormally tall Spider-Men crawl out of the mirrors at the top of the room, while fake Black Widow's and Jameson's creep out of the mirrors surrounding the three.
"You're right. It's worse," Spider-Man groans. "What do we do now?"
"This doesn't look like the same illusion as before," Black Widow says, raising her guns. "We're going to have to come up with a different way to get out of this."
"So our plan is we have no plan?"
"No, our plan is simple. Don't die." She leaps up above Spider-Man, sending a roundhouse kick to a fake Black Widow.
That's encouraging, Peter sighs. "Jameson, just stay behind me, and I'll-"He turns around, looking up to see an abnormally large J. Jonah Jameson. "You're not Jameson."
The fake Jameson grins menacingly at Spider-Man, cracking his knuckles.
"What are you gonna do? Yell at me some more? Hit me with a newspaper?" Spider-Man taunts. "Come on, we both know you can't hurt me."
Jameson kicks him square in the stomach, sending him to the ground. "Okay, maybe you can," he wheezes. He gets up off the floor, dusting himself off. "But I can do this."
He punches the fake Jameson in the face, sending him flying across the room. Okay, I have always wanted to do that! Peter thinks, giddy.
The fake Jameson crashes into a mirror behind him, breaking it. A second Jameson tries to creep out of the same mirror, but is stopped by the large crack in it.
That's weird... Peter thinks. The other Jameson was stopped from leaving the mirror when it cracked. Maybe that's the solution to all of this!
"Widow! Stop fighting them! We need to smash the mirrors!" He yells, addressing Black Widow.
"What do you mean?"
"They can't come in if we destroy their only way of entry," he explains, punching a hole in one of the mirrors.
"Good idea," she says, using her guns to shoot up the mirrors. "If only you could've thought like that when you were designing your suit."
"Hey!" Spider-Man exclaims, offended. "What is it with you guys and insulting my suit?"
After a few minutes, Spider-Man and Black Widow finish smashing the final mirror, cutting off any other copies from entering the room.
"Okay," Spider-Man huffs, sitting. "That was exhausting."
"No time to rest, Spider-Man," Black Widow says, starting for the door. "We have to go now."
"Come on! Could we just sit down for one minute?"
"Well... fine," she sighs, sitting.
"Yay!" He exclaims. "Make yourself comfortable, Jameson."
Jameson rolls his eyes and walks towards the door, as far away from Spider-Man as he can get.
"It appears they've bested my second illusion," Mysterio says, amazed. "No matter. This final illusion will show them my true power."
He turns towards the door in front of him, expecting Spider-Man, Black Widow, and Jameson to enter at any minute.
"You'll show them," he whispers. "You'll show all of them."
"Mysterio's in here, I'm sure of it," Black Widow says, ear pressed to the door. "I can hear his footsteps." She turns towards Spider-Man. "Our goal is to capture Mysterio with little to no property damage, or injuries. Understood?"
"Come on, when have I ever caused property damage?"
She narrows her eyes at him. "Is that supposed to be a joke?"
"Uh, yeah, well... never mind. I understand," Spider-Man says, lowering his head.
"Let's go!" She kicks down the door once again, revealing an empty room, with Mysterio in the center of it.
"And here I thought you said no property damage," Spider-Man says, earning a glare from Black Widow.
"So nice of you to join me.," Mysterio announces. "I was beginning to think you weren't going to make it."
"Nah, I wanted to make sure to get a picture of you before I leave," Spider-Man says. "People wouldn't believe me if I just told them how ridiculous you look."
"Funny, Spider-Man. Soon, you will come to appreciate the full expertise I exhibit with my illusions. With the flick of a hand-" He waves his hand in the air, changing the room into desert wasteland. "-I can create any landscape I imagine." He flicks his hand once more, changing the room's appearance back into what it once was.
"Enough with the theatrics, fishbowl head," Spider-Man starts. "National Geographic is having a special feature on spiders tonight. Wouldn't miss it for the world. Or for, y'know, a guy with a fishbowl on his head."
Spider-Man extends his arm, aiming his web shooter at Mysterio's helmet. He shoots, only to have Mysterio disappear from where he was standing and appear at the other side of the room. "Okay, that's really cool," Spider-Man admits.
Black Widow tries shooting her guns at Mysterio, but he does the same thing again, only this time appearing behind the two.
"How will you fight me-" He appears at the far left side of the room. "-if I'm everywhere at once?" He reappears on the top of the ceiling, standing upside down.
"Hey! That's my thing!" Spider-Man calls out, shaking his fist in the air.
"Mmmph!" Jameson mumbles, pointing to his mouth.
"JJJ, I get it. 'Angry Spider-Man hate, blah blah blah,'" Spider-Man says, imitating Jameson's voice. "But I don't think that's going to be helpful here.
"MMMPH!"
"Spider-Man, could you remove the webbing from Jameson's mouth? I think he's trying to tell us something."
"Do I have to?"
She folds her arms, giving him a stern look.
"Okay, okay, you can stop giving me the evil eyes now." He rips the webbing off of Jameson's mouth, wiping it on his suit. "There. Now you can go back to being angry, or whatever it is you do all day."
"YOU WALL CRAWLING MENACE!" Jameson yells at the top of his lungs.
"Dude, be grateful that didn't rip off your moustache. That would've been bad."
Black Widow rolls her eyes at Spider-Man's comment. "Ignore him, please. Jameson, it looked like you were trying to tell us something. What was it?"
"You can't attack him like that!" Jameson exclaims. "That-" he points to Mysterio's helmet. "-controls his magic powers or whatever it is he's using. I would've told you that earlier, but I COULDN'T!" He yells, turning towards Spider-Man.
"Don't worry, JJJ, you'll have time to cry about this later. For now, I have a fishbowl to deal with."
Spider-Man crawls on the side of the room, reaching the ceiling where Mysterio stands. "You're not the only one who can stick to walls." He charges towards Mysterio, who simply moves out of the way.
"Not even you can withstand the true power of Mysterio! Soon, the entire world will marvel at my power!"
"Dude, seriously? This entire time, who haven't thrown a single punch, and I know why." Spider-Man runs towards Mysterio, jumping high, and kicking off his helmet. Quentin's disguise immediately disappears, leaving him in only his green suit and purple cape. "You're just some guy looking for attention. Plus, your head is an aquarium. Sorry, I just had to mention that one more time," he snickers.
Spider-Man holds the helmet in his hands, looking back and forth from the helmet to Quentin. "Great! Now I can donate this to the local pet shop! That's my last fishbowl joke for the day. Promise," he extends his pinky finger. "I'll even pinky swear it."
"No... NO!" Quentin yells, falling from the ceiling.
"Don't worry, Quentin." Spider-Man jumps down from the ceiling, catching Quentin in his arms and using a web to lower them both to the ground safely. "I wouldn't let you splat."
"Well done, Spider-Man," Black Widow says, pulling handcuffs out of her holster. "Quentin Beck, you're under arrest for kidnapping a public authority figure."
As she handcuffs his hands together, she pulls the communicator out of his ear. "Thank you. I'll be needing that," she says with a smile.
"A word of advice for when you eventually get out of jail in a hundred years, invest in some super glue, it would help your helmet stay on," Spider-Man says, laughing.
Quentin glares menacingly at Spider-Man as he is escorted out of the room. "You just wait, Spider-Man... you'll get what's coming to you."
"Oookay. That wasn't creepy at all." He turns towards Jameson, who mumbles angrily to himself. "So, JJJ, you have a fun day?"
"You listen to me, you menace. After your little stunt today, I am going to make your life even worse. You wait." Jameson storms out of the room, leaving Spider-Man alone.
Two threats in one day, Peter sighs. Greeeat.
"Widow! Spider-Man!" Captain America exclaims, running towards the two. "Are you guys alright? I'm sorry we couldn't get it, something was blocking us from communicating you."
"Calm down Cap, they're fine," Hawkeye says, standing beside Black Widow. "She can take care of herself. Trust me. Plus the fact that they got him-" He points to Quentin, who is restrained by his handcuffs. "-is reason enough to believe they finished the job."
"Well," Spider-Man says, placing Quentin's helmet in Captain America's hands. "I should get going now."
"Why is that?"
"If I don't get home soon, my Aunt May is gonna kill me."
"Funny how one of our Avengers still has a curfew," Hawkeye smirks.
Spider-Man rolls his eyes, ignoring Hawkeye's comment, and shoots a web at the nearest tree. "Oh, before I leave, don't forget to put the fish in there!" He exclaims, pointing to the helmet in Captain America's hands. "Oh man. I just broke my promise!" He swings towards the tree, propelling himself higher into the sky.
"What's he talking about?" Captain America asks, confused.
Black Widow smirks at the figure swinging away from them. "You had to be there."
Peter returns home to see not only one, but two people waiting for him on the couch.
"Hey Aunt May, and... Ava?"
"Peter, we've been waiting all night for you!" Aunt May exclaims, walking towards him. "Is that a bruise on your face?" She asks, cupping his face with her hands.
Great. How do I lie my way out of this one? "Uh... yeah! I, uh, I..." He stammers, trying to think of a believable lie. "I fell down the stairs at school."
"Again?" Aunt May asks, crossing her arms.
"Yup. Again." He says, lowering his head.
"Be more careful next time. That's the fourth time this week, Peter. Maybe Ava could teach you to be a bit more careful," Aunt May smirks, walking away from the two. "You kids have fun. If you need anything, I'll be in the basement." She walks towards the white basement door in front of her, and walks down the stairs, shutting the door.
"'Fell down the stairs', huh?" Ava says, imitating Peter's voice.
"For the record, I sound nothing like that," he starts, sitting on the couch beside her. "And yes, I know, I need to come up with better excuses."
"Maybe you should borrow some makeup so I can use it to cover up your bruises," she smiles.
"No thank you," he says, laughing. "Wait. That isn't some kind of boyfriend-girlfriend bonding thing, is it?"
"What? No!" She exclaims. "You really don't know anything about relationships, do you?"
"Considering this is my first one, no, not really."
"Well, maybe I could help with that," she smiles, looking directly into his eyes.
The two lean in close to each other when they are interrupted by a car honking outside.
"Oh! It's probably a S.H.I.E.L.D. agent. Fury said I would need to be back by 9." She explains.
"Is this gonna be a thing now? Are we gonna be interrupted every time we try to kiss?" Peter groans, throwing his hands up in the air.
"Maybe," she smirks. "But not this time." She cups his face with her hands, planting a firm kiss on his soft lips. Peter's eyes widen at her sudden advance, and he kisses back, before she pulls away.
"I have to go now, Bugboy," she grins.
"Uh, yeah, right, uh- I," he stammers, flustered. "Okay."
They both walking to the door, where Petersees her off.
"So, I'll see you tomorrow?" Ava asks, standing on the front porch.
"Yeah, of course!" He waves, watching her get into the car. He walks back upstairs, watching the car leave the driveway from his room window.
Okay, Peter sighs, lying on his bed with a smile. That was awesome.
Alistair Smythe stands in the basement of Oscorp, looking at a bookshelf in front of him. He pushes it slightly, revealing another room behind it. Stacked on the walls are rows and rows of vials, differing in colour, from black to green. He stares at the black vials in front of him. "Failure after failure... so disappointing." He takes one in his hands, leaving the room. He walks upstairs to where Harry Osborn sits, playing a video game.
"Oh, hey Mr. Smythe," Harry says, not looking away from his game.
"Hello, Harry." He walks up the stairs to his office, stopping to look at Harry. He smirks, placing the black vial inside of his pocket, where an orange vial rests as well.Not this time... Alistair thinks. Not this time.
Hope you enjoyed the chapter! Please leave me a review telling me what you thought :)
Happy Valentine's Day everybody!
-ThatOneGirl32