Disclaimer: I don't own Spider-Man or Marvel so no suing please.
Summary: Penelope 'Penny' Parker was just your average girl who went to High School, but a spider-bite changed all of that. Now gifted with amazing powers and suffering a personal loss Penny chose to fight crime as the Amazing Spider-Man-despite being a girl. But with bad guys coming out of the woodwork will she thrive or die?
Chapter 11: Power Surge
"Another day," Maxwell Dillon, an auburn haired man in his mid-twenties with blue eyes wearing a green uniform muttered as he was working on a few power cables while the sun was setting and some storm clouds were generating. "Man this is crap."
This was supposed to be his day off, but no, another lineman had to get sick which resulted in him being called in after some weird reports of the power lines being destroyed.
Something about a red beam, some ice and a nut job in a red helmet, Max didn't really pay attention to that as more of these nut jobs were popping up every day, instead he was focusing on his job, hoping he would get a pay raise out of this.
He had bills to pay as well as the stupid divorce fees that he had to pay after his ex-wife Norma Lynn ran off with another man which frankly pissed him off as it reminded him of how his deadbeat father abandoned his mother when he was a kid.
This wouldn't have happened either if his Mom didn't lie and say he was rejected from college due to a stupid fear of him ending up like his father so he lost his chance there and had to make due.
'Just focus Max, one day you'll be rich and you'll find a girl that won't leave you.' Max reminded himself with the sound of thunder rumbling ahead. 'Just be patient.'
He just needed to be patient-.
-Krackaboom-
Lightning struck the power line he was holding with Max seizing up unable to scream with his body locking up right before he was blasted off of the metal ladder he was on and sent flying right on top of the electric lines car with serious burns on his body, people screaming around him.
He could vaguely hear someone calling an ambulance but nobody noticed a spark on his fingertips as the now broken power actually move an inch towards him.
Late that night after a bit of rain, Spider-Man swung to the address that Daredevil gave her and landed on the rooftop where she saw a dark haired man in his thirties wearing a red suit with the chest area black, looking like he was meditating before opening his brown eyes as Spider-Man landed.
"So you're Spider-Man, Daredevil called me and told me about you." Shang-Chi said standing up.
"Uh what exactly has he told you?" Spider-Man asked as while the note said that Shang-Chi didn't know her true gender she was a bit iffy on that part.
"Just that you have promise," Shang-Chi said to her. "But you are also unprepared for this world relying only on luck and your abilities."
"Hey I'm doing just fine." Spider-Man said a bit insulted.
"I didn't say you weren't," Shang-Chi got in a stance. "Now try to hit me."
"What?" Spider-Man asked in surprise. "I'm not going to do that."
She still doesn't know the limits of her strength as she is capable of punching through concrete along with that metal helmet that the Beetle wore and she had no desire to send Shang-Chi to the hospital.
"I can't teach you if I don't know where to begin." Shang-Chi said with a smirk. "You won't be able to touch me."
Okay now Spider-Man was glaring at the shot against her skills.
So she launched herself at Shang-Chi firing two strands of webbing so imagine her surprise when Shang-Chi moved at the last second, moving to kick her feet out from underneath her so she jumped right as he palmed her stomach sending her on her back where she used the momentum to get to her feet, staying in her crouch.
Did that just happen?
"Daredevil also warned me about your danger sense you possess," Shang-Chi said with Spider-Man blinking at that. "A useful tool but you're far too reliant on it."
It went on like that for a good few minutes until Spider-Man had to stop feeling pretty damn sore because she was unable to land a single hit on the guy, although she did come pretty close but right now she was drinking some water that he gave her.
"Okay what's your power?" Spider-Man couldn't help but ask once she caught her breath.
"Just my Martial Arts." Shang-Chi answered with Spider-Man looking at him in disbelief. "I've been trained my whole life to fight, you do have potential you just lack the experience and technique along with you listening to your instincts. Given time however you'll be able to overcome those faults."
Spider-Man gave a nod after thinking about it before Shang-Chi gestured for her to get up and showed her a stance.
"Just copy what I'm doing and then practice it." Shang-Chi said with Spider-Man giving a nod.
"So when do you tell me 'Wax on, Wax off'?" Spider-Man questioned innocently a few minutes later with Shang-Chi giving her a deadpanned look that asked 'Really?'
Needless to say the next morning, Penny was sore, even her enhanced healing didn't take it away. But she would bear with it because despite how proud she was of what she has been able to do so far as Spider-Man, being taught Martial Arts would be a great help.
After all if Shang-Chi is able to avoid her hits and thrash her around despite her Spider-Sense that meant that there was someone else who could and wouldn't mind killing her.
Rubbing the back of her neck to ease some of the soreness, Penny saw the flowers she got the other day from Richard and smiled as they were in a vase in her room along with the note and she had to say she really was looking forward to this weekend.
"Penny hurry up or you're going to be late." May's voice called in, breaking Penny out of her thoughts.
"Alright Aunt May."
"Maybe this was a bad idea." Spider-Man muttered as she decided to take the web express to get to school and that was how she found herself in this situation.
Chasing down some kook in a green frog-like outfit calling himself Leap-Frog.
Now she has heard of this guy as the thief went up against both Daredevil and Iron Man but now he was stealing from a Pawn Shop that was on her way to the school.
No powers but that suit did give the guy enhanced strength and agility if the way he's been leaping tall buildings in a single bound has shown. Still he wasn't losing her.
"Dammit why do I always run into you costumed freaks?!" Leap-Frog asked seeing Spider-Man still on his tail. "I'm trying to make a living."
"Ever heard that crime doesn't pay?" Spider-Man asked swinging past him before firing a web line but the guy jumped over it. "Come on I don't have time for this."
"Then leave me alone bug boy!" Leap-Frog told her, jumping on the next building.
"Geez how has Double-D kept up with you?" Spider-Man couldn't help but ask as even though this guy is clearly weird from his name and the suit-then again who was she to judge-he did show a lot of skill in evasion.
Finally she saw an opening and manage to snag his left leg making Leap-Frog come to an abrupt halt before slamming face first into the glass window where Spider-Man webbed him up and lowered him to the street.
'Not as dangerous as the Beetle but still took a bit to catch.' Spider-Man said swinging off feeling pretty good about taking down another costumed villain. 'Now if I could just get to school I'll be good.'
Maybe she should just take the bus so she didn't have to deal with this?
…
"Made it," Penny called out in relief as she ran into the class right as the bell rang only to see students filing out while Mr. Warren was giving her a resigned look.
"You made it for the end of class," He corrected with Penny hanging her head in shame, ignoring some of the snickers that were going around. "So what happened this time?"
"My job." Penny muttered earning a bewildered look before she took her camera out and showed him the picture of Spider-Man tying Leap-Frog up, to prove her story.
"As commendable as it is that you stick with your job I need to remind you that you have a responsibility for school as well Miss Parker," Mr. Warren reminded Penny who nervously fidgeted at hearing 'responsibility'. "If you keep this up I'll have to give you detention."
"Sorry Mr. Warren, it won't happen again." Penny said to him with Warren giving a nod.
"See that it doesn't."
Penny sighed, exiting only for MJ to approach. "How bad?" She asked as she and Penny became fast friends over the last day or so.
"Got off with a warning," Penny said with a sigh. "I really need to manage my time better if I want to keep my job and my education."
Turning her camera off, Penny looked at MJ.
"So did you get in the Drama Club?"
MJ smiled widely. "Got in easily," She said with Penny chuckling. "I asked Gwen if she wanted to join but she declined."
"Yeah, Gwen is more focused on keeping her grades up." Penny said with a nod. "And I think Harry will be trying out for Football today."
"Harry is going to play football?" MJ asked not expecting that.
"That was my reaction too but he wanted to give it a shot." Penny said with a hum. 'Maybe I should watch to see how he does?'
Back at the Oscorp Penthouse, Norman sighed as he was still a little sore from being attacked by the Taskmaster, right now he was working on some formulas for a glider of some sort for the Military seeing it as a good way for soldiers to move around in a war zone.
It was an idea he ran by Octavius once but never got the chance to work on it after Fury approached him with cracking the Super Soldier Serum.
'Doctors said he should wake up in a few days.' Norman reminded himself hoping that Octavius wouldn't be too angry with being in a coma.
He did want plausible deniability in what happened to the Scorpion after all.
Speaking of which. "What took so long?" Norman asked frostily as Taskmaster was in the room with him.
"Had to make it look like I was leaving the country," Taskmaster answered before smirking. "Also had to run the cameras that SHIELD placed in here on a loop feed to avoid this part being seen."
'I knew they had cameras here.' Norman thought sourly as he expected for Fury to have them installed before Taskmaster handed him the container with the Scorpion in it.
"As agreed, now I want the other half of my payment." Taskmaster said in a threatening tone.
"Already done." Norman said pulling his phone out to type something in and Taskmaster smirked under his mask as his phone vibrated showing it went through. "I trust we're done here?"
"We are," Taskmaster went to leave but stopped. "A word of warning though, you're playing a dangerous game. Fury won't rest until he finds out where the Scorpion went so be prepared."
Norman gave a nod showing he understood.
-Beep. Beep. Beep.-
Max slowly opened his eyes feeling nothing but pain as he groaned unable to move for a few seconds before finding himself in the hospital severe burns on his body.
There were some get well cards from his coworkers but he slowly sat up only for a doctor to walk in. "It's best you don't move, you've been severely injured." The doctor warned him.
"W-What happened?" Max asked the question surprising the doctor.
"You were struck by lightning while working on a power cable last night," The doctor explained flooring Max as the memory flashed through his mind. "The fact that you're still alive, let alone awake and talking is a miracle."
"Doesn't feel like a miracle." Max muttered with the doctor smiling and placing a comforting hand on his shoulder.
However that turned out to be a mistake as an electrical discharge erupted from Max, blasting the doctor into the wall killing him, making Max cry out as his vitals were now going haywire in his panic.
'What just-?' A nurse ran in as Max put his hands up in what was supposed to be a placating manner only for a charge of electricity to erupt from his hand killing the woman. 'I didn't mean to do that.'
Looking at his hands as sparks began to flicker, Max quickly got out of the bed and grabbed the doctor's to run out the lights flickering with each step. He took.
Naturally due to his injuries some doctors tried to stop him but he quickly shouted. "Don't touch me." Not wanting anyone else to die from what he couldn't control.
They took that as a threat considering the electricity now surging around him before he ran out of the hospital.
"You know he's not doing half bad." Gwen remarked seeing Harry at the try-outs after a half hour of it going on. "Think he might make the team?"
"He will." Penny said with a smile at seeing Harry keeping up with the likes of Flash, Kong, Hobbie and Randy. "If anything this might make Flash leave him alone."
Gwen gave a nod before hesitating. "Do you think he'll stop being our friend like how Flash did?"
That question surprised Penny as she didn't even think about it before shaking her head. "Of course not, this is Harry we're talking about here." She said confidently.
After a second, Gwen gave a nod a bit ashamed at thinking that question. "Yeah you're right." Then she looked at Penny. "So Harry said you danced with someone at the Expo?"
Penny blinked before sighing. "Yeah, Richard was nice." She said a smile on her face. "He invited me to dinner this Saturday.
Now that surprised Gwen who looked at Penny with her expression showing shock. "You're going on a date?!"
"Why do you sound so surprised?" Penny asked a little insulted.
Was it really that surprising?
Gwen realized how it sounded and quickly shook her head a little red. "No it's not that it's just well… I always thought you and Harry might go on a date."
On hearing that, Penny fidgeted before shaking her head. "Harry and I are just friends like how you and him are like that," She said hoping she would drop that part. "Besides Harry seemed to have made a friend there as well."
Seeing Harry catch a football and actually high-five Kong, Penny started to share Gwen's concern about Harry not being their friend as well but quickly got rid of that thought before checking the time.
"Hey I'm going to head to work, I have a picture to sell to the Bugle." She said catching Gwen's attention.
"Stay safe on the way." Gwen told her with Penny laughing.
"Alright, see you tomorrow."
On making it to the Bugle, Penny was surprised to see the place in an uproar, Jonah was in his office looking like he was yelling at Robbie and Ulrich who were talking calmly to him.
"Hey what happened?" She asked Foswell who was passing by her.
"There was an incident at Manhattan General," Foswell told her. "A doctor and a nurse were killed by an escaped patient."
That surprised Penny who didn't expect that while the door opened. "I don't care if you have to break in there, I want the details on this escaped killer," Jonah told Ulrich before seeing Penny. "Parker!"
"Y-Yes Mr. Jameson?" Penny asked as she hasn't really spoken with him since she first came here.
"Consider this a test to be hired rather than a freelancer," Jameson said with Penny swallowing a bit nervously. "I want you to go with Ulrich and case the scene of the crime, if you can get a picture for the front page then good."
He then noticed the envelope in her hand.
"What's that?"
"Oh uh I saw Spider-Man take down Leap-Frog on my way to school so I took a picture." Penny tried only for Jameson to shake his head.
"That wall crawler is yesterday's news I want a picture about this mess."
"Got it Mr. Jameson." Penny said with a sigh as she followed Ulrich who quickly left.
"Bad day?" Ulrich asked seeing her face as they were in the elevator.
"Nah, just a bit bummed that I wouldn't be able to sell this picture."
Ulrich looked at her once more his mind wondering just how was she the only person to get a picture of Spider-Man. It has happened a few times already for it to not be a coincidence. Did she know him in a way like how he knew Daredevil?
His reporter senses were really working overtime here but he dispelled that to focus. "Well I bet you're excited about your first actual assignment," Ulrich said with a smile. "We'll take my car."
Penny gave a nod, finding that a bit slow but she can't exactly web swing around him.
It didn't take too long to reach the Hospital where Ulrich was interviewing some of the doctors that saw the escape, Penny was just taking the pictures, being sure to avoid the police.
Truth be told she didn't know what picture to take and knew it wouldn't have the same flair as when she's Spider-Man due to how it won't be from an upper angle, but considering the chance for the job was on the line she was prepared to take a picture of everything.
"Penny?" Penny turned to see Captain Stacy walking towards her with a confused look. "What are you doing here?"
"Oh I'm a freelance photographer for the Bugle, but Jameson decided to give me my first assignment for this." Penny explained with a smile.
"So you're with Ulrich." Stacy muttered as he already spoke to the man who questioned him. "Alright just be sure to stay out of everyone's way alright?"
"Got it Cap." Penny promised with a smile as Stacy left her to continue taking pictures.
Eventually she found the room where the incident happened and looked in there. The room was currently empty besides the tarp over the two bodies but she had no desire to go in there because it was a crime scene and she didn't want to contaminate it.
From where she was standing however she saw scorch marks in the bed before seeing scorched footprints that left the room, of course they seemed to have stopped before they got too far.
The smell in there nearly made her throw up as she had to back out of there.
'What could've done this?' Penny thought taking another picture before seeing Ulrich walking towards her.
"Got what you need?" Penny asked curiously.
Ulrich sighed. "Got a name, the suspect is someone named Max Dillon, a lineman from the local electric company," He explained with Penny listening with rapt attention. "Apparently he was struck by lightning last night while working on a power cable."
"And he ran out of here after killing two people?" Penny asked in disbelief remembering what she read about electrocution.
"The lightning turned him into a walking bug zapper," Ulrich said dryly with Penny now looking alarmed. "Don't know how true that one is."
If that was what happened then this got a lot more dangerous.
"Did you get a good picture?"
"A few, but I don't think any of them will make the front page news that Jameson wants." Penny said with a sigh.
Ulrich hummed in thought. "Don't let it get to you, there isn't really anything we can get here." He told her. "We should head back."
Max looked around as he moved in New York, keeping on the move knowing the police would be looking for him as he did kill two people. Currently he had a hat sunglasses and a hoodie on and was wearing rubber gloves, trying to find a way to control his power.
It was stupid and impulsive to run because he had no idea on what happened, but he was scared of going to prison, especially like this.
'Wait, if I can control this then nothing can touch me.' Max thought after a bit. 'I would be controlling electricity.'
Just thinking about all of the ATM's he could take money out of with this ability and the people that wouldn't be able to stop him made him grin with greed showing on his face.
He was already wanted, what was a bit of theft compared to that?
That night, Penny was in her lab dressed in her sleeveless shirt and sweatpants, working on a small project with her utility belt that she has been using to store her web cartridges, with parts that she foraged out of a Junkyard that was near Queens.
"Alright just tighten it up a bit more." Penny muttered before pressing a button and a light shone out of it showing her masked face. "And the Spider-Signal is done."
… Okay yeah it was pretty immature with no added benefits but it was something she wanted to do for fun. Besides if Batman can have a Bat-Signal then she can have a Spider-Signal.
Penny winced as the light shined on her face nearly blinding her before it shorted out.
"And it needs to be repaired." Penny muttered rubbing her eyes before thinking of how this would be useful.
She could use it to blind someone in a fight, like how Shang-Chi was able to throw her around so if she blinded someone as skilled as him then she would have an advantage.
So she got to work on trying to get the Spider Signal working again, an open notebook nearby showing different web formulas as she was curious in what type of webbing she could make.
Currently she had the original along with one where she added rubber to work against electricity, it was started after hearing about this Max just in case she ran into him but she hasn't been able to crack the formula to make it work as just adding rubber made it goopy instead of insulated webbing.
Then there were the plans for a little device that she liked to call Spider-Tracers as she researched her Spider-Sense a bit more with controlled experiments and found out it had its own Radio Frequency which meant if she could make a Tracer that matches its Frequency she could track whatever the Tracer is on with just her Spider-Sense.
All of this was enough to nearly make her geek out, especially because she was not only improving her Engineering skills but also making her very own Superhero Gadgets.
She also wanted to work on her costume sometime in the future because right now it was just spandex, not good for crime fighting but it was all she had.
"Maybe I can ask Matt where he got his suit made or how he made it," Penny mused as the man most likely had it armored up because he didn't have the same abilities that she did. "It can't be anything too heavy or it'll slow me down."
"Penny?" Penny jumped and cursed at hearing May's voice upstairs. "It's time to eat."
"Uh I'll be up in a minute Aunt May." Penny called up, looking at her stuff before covering it, like how she did the spider that one time, although the Spider was long decayed at this point. The tubes with her blood were currently in the fridge that she uses to store her chemicals that's closed with a padded lock.
Soon enough she was eating some casserole while May looked at her. "So how are you and Mary-Jane getting along?"
"Pretty well, in fact I introduced her to Harry and Gwen, they clicked immediately." Penny said with a smile that May copied.
"That's good, she doesn't have many friends." May said that sentence concerning Penny a bit.
"Why's that? She's pretty friendly."
May paused for a moment before changing the subject. "Speaking of Harry and Gwen how are they doing? I haven't seen Gwen in so long and Harry looked fine when he picked you up for the Expo."
Giving May a suspicious look, no doubt wondering what she wasn't saying Penny decided not to question it. "Gwen's doing well, she and I are tied for top of the class and Harry is trying out for football so he'll be busy this year." Penny answered poking her food.
She then looked at May.
"What about you Aunt May?" Penny asked wondering what was up with all of these questions. "Are you doing alright?"
"I'm doing much better." May lied, Penny seeing right through it.
Physically she was fine but mentally she would still be in pain for awhile.
Still, not wanting to bring that up during dinner, Penny smiled. "You want to watch a movie after dinner?" She asked wanting to make time for her Aunt before she goes out on patrol.
She hasn't been able to that much since starting this double-life and she didn't want to make a rift between her and her Aunt.
The smile that May had showed that it was the right question to ask.
Swinging across the city, Spider-Man sighed as she let go of the web and let herself soar into the air, kicking her feet out to have more air time, doing a flip before landing on a sign that was placed on the building.
Here she was looking for more on this Max Dillon guy who may or may not have electric powers.
Truth be told she wasn't sure what to think because the guy could turn out not to be bad. Ulrich said that it was theorized that the lightning might've given him powers-which was weird to think about because normally when someone gets struck by lightning they die.
Then again most people get bit by a spider the size of the one that bit her they would die and yet she has spider powers.
Still she couldn't control her powers when they first manifested so it may be the same for him? The only difference besides the source of said power was that his lack of control ended a life.
Looking down, Spider-Man paused at seeing someone in a strange get-up heading for an ATM.
It was a man in some sort of green shirt that had two lightning bolts meeting a yellow belt that separated the shirt from the black pants, yellow boots and black gloves. He had some sort of yellow-starfish like mask covering his face only the legs were shaped like lightning bolts.
It looked as cheap as her costume as well, just spandex or cloth, a lot of people were pointing and taking pictures.
However electricity sparked from his fingers as he aimed it at the ATM, making some nearby people scream some of them calling the police.
Now realizing she had a view on Max, Penny quickly set off the camera and swung in there, landing on a street light as money came out of the ATM's. "Hey Sparkplug, I don't think that belongs to you." She said announcing her arrival with Max spinning around.
"Spider-Man?!" Max asked in shock. 'Of course the one ATM out of hundreds that I choose and I get the local vigilante.'
"That's me don't wear it out," Spider-Man said moving to hang upside down as she lowered herself on a web like a spider, using her hands and feet to hold onto it. "You're Max Dillon aren't you?"
Max froze up, not sure what to expect at hearing that. "What do you want?"
"Look I heard about what happened at the Hospital." Spider-Man said hoping they could talk this out as her spider-sense was giving subtle signs here. "I can tell you from personal experience that waking up with powers can be a bit terrifying but you're wasting them like this."
"What gives you the right to tell me how to use what's mine?!" Max asked dangerously, sparks showing on his head indicating he was getting angry.
"Nothing Sparky, but haven't you ever heard with Great Power comes Great Responsibility?" Spider-Man asked and that was when her spider-sense went full blast and she quickly let go of the webbing right as Max shot at her, the lightning bolt barely missing. "Alright Electro you asked for it, time to unplug you."
With that she shot two web lines behind Max and slingshot herself in for a light kick to knock him out, her spider-sense however warned her at the last second what a bad idea that was.
As soon as her feet made contact, electricity surged through her body as Spider-Man seized up in pain before being blasted back right into someone's parked car with enough force to severely dent the side with the windows shattering while smoke emanated from her costume.
"... Ow."
"You're alive?" Max asked in surprise.
'Barely.' Spider-Man thought dizzily because even if she was more durable than the average person that still hurt like hell and that was when she noticed that her feet were torn showing burns on them. 'Oh great, I really do need a better costume.'
Spider-Sense going off again, Spider-Man flipped over the vandalized car as an electric bolt hit it while she landed on the building, ignoring the pain in her feet, side flipping another blast of lightning.
So she shot a strand of webbing at Max catching him in the chest but the electricity surged back and shocked her once again, this time sending her into the ground where she laid still unable to move.
'This is nuts.' Spider-Man thought in fear.
Even if she was able to move, she couldn't even touch this guy without getting hurt.
Max looked at his hands before laughing. "What do you know, I just beat Spider-Man." He said with a smile as the wall crawler has made quite the impression on New York.
Hearing sirens, Max decided to bolt as he ran off while Spider-Man forced herself to move, her limbs protesting as she pushed herself up, tears all around her costume with it looking pretty burnt right as a cop car pulled up with Captain Stacy and Detective Lee getting out, seeing the state of the Vigilante.
"Dispatch this is Stacy, we need an ambulance here," Stacy said before walking up to the wall crawler, a hand on his sidearm, Detective Lee going on crowd patrol. "So you're Spider-Man."
Spider-Man knew it was bad to say anything in case the man recognized her voice despite it being muffled but the electricity might've did something to her brain. "Spider-Man where?" She slurred out before shaking her head. "Uh man Sparkplug can really dish it out."
"I see so this was Dillon," Stacy muttered seeing that no one besides Spider-Man was hurt and from the voice he could tell it was a kid and while that made him worry about this guy a bit he still had a job to do. "You're under arrest for obstruction of justice."
Still he couldn't help but think that the voice was familiar.
Spider-Man tensed at that, Captain Stacy pulling out a pair of handcuffs before she quickly moved ignoring the pain. "Sorry Captain but those aren't really my style." She said quickly jumping to the roof before they could react.
She did manage to snag her camera but groaned as it was smoking showing one of the stray shots that Max fired managed to fry the camera.
Great now she had to replace this upon fixing her suit-maybe she should make a few back ups in case something like this happened.
Looking at her injuries, Spider-Man thought about heading to the Night Nurse but shook her head.
She can't afford to use her services and she needed to get another camera so she could still make money. Besides with her healing it should all be gone in about three days give or take.
Penny was really starting to regret not going to the Night Nurse the next morning as her whole body was sore and taking a shower, while necessary to get rid of the burning smell was incredibly painful.
Right now she was wrapping her feet up with medical tape that had some disinfectant on it to avoid getting an infection, her costume was currently draped over her desk chair as she spent almost all night fixing it up leaving her pretty tired. She began to place some medical tape on her chest as it turned out she had some burns there making her even more grateful she didn't go to the Night Nurse because it would've been good-bye that part of her identity.
'Still I need to find a way to beat Sparky,' Penny thought wincing as she almost made the tape too tight. 'I can't touch him and my webbing is useless, I have no idea how to make Insulate Webbing. How can I win?'
She was a science geek so she can figure this out.
Closing her eyes, Penny thought about what negated electricity.
Water. Wood. Rubber.
Maybe if she can get Sparky soaked she could short him out? Wood can hurt him because it doesn't take in any electricity and maybe she can rip the tires off of a car and hit him with it?
Looking at the time, Penny groaned and got ready for school wishing she could take the day off.
Max sighed as he was in a cafe that didn't have too many people in and attempted to drink some coffee only to grimace as sparks came from his mouth. He actually shocked himself.
"Fuck I can't even drink coffee now?!" Max asked angry at that as he was tired. "I can't even sleep dammit!"
He was so freaking tired.
Looking at the TV, Max frowned as he saw someone actually did a recording of his run-in with the wall crawler but he smirked at how he kicked his butt.
At least that was one good thing with him getting his abilities.
Still if he could just get rid of his exhaustion he would be golden-.
Max paused and looked at the electric socket that was near him. "I wonder."
Slowly placing his hand near it, making sure that no one was watching him, Max saw sparks come out of the socket, flowing through him and he felt a lot better.
'So I have to recharge every now and then?' Max thought his mind now sharp again.
Doing it some more, the lights went out showing he might've sucked out all of the power in this place.
'Oops.'
As people were panicking, Max just left his coffee on the table and walked out thinking about his next move.
He still wanted to get rich but he had to be smart about this. That meant he had to kill that wall crawler because no doubt he would interfere again. Still what was it that vigilante called him?
'Alright Electro you asked for it, time to unplug you.'
Electro.
He actually liked that name.
'Now to draw out that wall crawler.'
By the time that Penny finished her last period she was starting to feel a little better, although her feet did itch as she wore pants and a sweater to hide her injuries, thankful that she didn't have any on her face. And on the way to school she managed to buy a cheap camera from a Pawn Shop.
"Hey Penny where are your glasses?" Penny heard Gwen asked making her pause as she realized she did indeed forget them.
"Oh contacts," Penny lied with a smile. "I figured they would work better."
Despite the smile however, Gwen noticed how tired Penny looked. "Hey are you alright?" She asked in worry.
Surprise showed on Penny's face before she hid it. "I'm fine don't worry about it." She said smiling.
Now Gwen was even more worried as her Dad did the same thing whenever she talked to him, the man always hid his problems with a smile, but with Penny it seemed more forced.
But before she could ask, MJ managed to catch up to the two. "Hey do you have anything planned?" She asked surprising them.
"Uh no why?" Gwen asked thrown through a loop while Penny was happy for the distraction.
"Well do you girls want to head to the mall?" MJ offered as she was still getting used to the area.
Penny didn't get the chance to answer when her phone rang. "Uh excuse me." She said pulling it out to see that it was the Bugle.
"Hello?"
"Parker, there's a situation in Brooklyn," Jameson began confusing her. "That Dillon guy is out there calling the wall crawler out, as you're the only one that can get pictures of that web head I need you out there!"
Blinking in surprise, Penny gave a nod before remembering that Jameson couldn't see her. "On it sir."
Hanging up, she turned to see Gwen and MJ waiting for her answer and winced.
"Sorry, work just called." Penny apologized as she did want to hang out with them. "Rain check?"
"Hey don't worry about it." MJ said with a smile while Gwen hesitated because Penny has been doing this a lot lately but she gave a nod.
So Penny ran off, going around the corner passing by Harry who was with Randy. "Hey Penny you want to-?" Harry began but Penny ran by him.
"Sorry work called."
"... Oh." Harry muttered as he was hoping to get some more tutoring done so he could keep his grades up.
Randy chuckled and patted his shoulder. "Better luck next time." He said to him.
Swinging into Brooklyn, Spider-Man landed on a building and took her web shooters off only to place rubber gloves on and put them back on over them seeing Max firing electricity at the nearby people making them panic.
On her way out of the school she thought about this and discretely borrowed them from the janitor's closet.
Placing her new camera on the wall, Spider-Man webbed it there and swung down, landing on a car as she shot a web line hitting a trash can, the sound of her web shooters catching Max's attention.
"I thought that would draw you out." Max said with a snide look.
"Did you well congrats, how about I give you a prize?" Spider-Man mocked tugging on the web-line the action in itself making Max's eyes widen as he turned only for the trash can to collide with him sending him skidding across the ground. "Hope you don't mind me taking out the trash Sparkbutt."
"I'll show you trash," Max snarled pushing himself back up. "And don't call me that."
"Look Max you don't have to-." Spider-Man began only to do a flip as an arc of lightning nearly hit her.
"Max Dillon is dead, call me by my new name," Max said with a smirk. "Call me Electro!"
With that he fired a blast of lightning at Spider-Man who tensed fighting the urge to dodge as she simply held her hands up, praying it would work.
As the lightning hit the rubber gloves, Spider-Man winced as it still hurt but it wasn't as bad as last time and she enjoyed the gobsmacked expression Max or rather Electro was showing and that was when she tagged him with a strand of webbing.
"Sorry Sparky but I came prepared this time," She said pulling on the web line, making Electro fly towards her as she delivered an uppercut sending him into the wall with enough force to crack the wall and yet he still got up. "Okay that should've knocked you out."
This guy seemed more durable than Ox.
Eyes widening when Electro fired more arcs of electricity, Spider-Man jumped and flipped her way around them, ducking and weaving as she landed on a manhole cover before using her webbing to pull herself up with the cover attached to her feet and threw it like a discus. "Catch."
Instead of catching or letting it hit him, Electro held his hands out and covered it with electricity making it stop much to the man's shock. "Huh?"
'Magnetism?' Spider-Man swallowed nervously. 'Great it would've been too easy otherwise.'
Electro seemed to have the same idea and fired it back with Spider-Man quickly tilting to the side as it barely missed her head, impaling the wall before she shot more webbing, catching his foot and pulling making him fall on his back.
"Walk much?" Spider-Man mocked looking for a way to end this because the rubber gloves were getting burnt and she knew they wouldn't last forever.
So she shot a web line taking to the air, doing a twirl to dodge another blast. "Miss me Sparky." She taunted swinging around him before coming in to grab him with the rubber glove, letting him go as she swung, making him slam into a light pole, clothes-lining him to where he landed on his stomach.
"You're starting to piss me off!" Electro told her firing a huge blast and this time Spider-Man couldn't dodge as she was sent flying into an electronics store, slamming into a TV.
"Oh great just the place I want to be." Spider-Man muttered to herself doing a flip as Electro tried to fry her, having to move as she was all around metal with Electro entering the store and that was before she noticed the sprinklers.
Looking around, Spider-Man saw the Fire Alarm and shot a web line hitting it.
"How about we take five for a drink alright?" She joked pulling as the alarm went off, Electro's eyes widening as he looked up while Spider-Man took advantage of that to jump out of the store when the sprinklers went off the water soaking Electro as he screamed in agony from the feedback. "And that's why we don't have electronics in a bathtub."
Seeing him in major pain, Spider-Man shot a web line and pulled him out, he went to fry her only to see that his powers were short-circuit. "No." Electro muttered looking up as Spider-Man socked him in the jaw, knocking him out.
"Lights out Max." Spider-Man said in a serious tone before hearing the sirens so she took off, making sure that Electro wouldn't be going anywhere by himself.
Making it home, Spider-Man pulled her mask off with a groan with a burnt smell on her. "Great I have new injuries to take care of." She muttered with a sigh. "And I'm supposed to meet Shang-Chi for lessons."
Maybe Shang-Chi would understand if she took the night off after what she went through?
Not even bothering to take her costume off as she locked the door, Penny just used the new camera she had to download the pictures and EMail them to Betty before she collapsed in her bed.
To Be Continued…
Phew alright now we had yet another Spider-Man villain in the form of Electro, hoped you enjoyed the easter eggs in this chapter if you caught them as well as the cameo of Leap-Frog a very underrated villain who hasn't been seen in a long time and is the father of the hero known as Frog Man-I'm not making this up I swear.
Anyways back to Electro I used the original origin for him with some tweaks if you catch them. And the original costume right now he can only control electricity with some slight magnetism and his powers will evolve over time.
Penny is still getting used to the whole idea of being Spider-Man with having to split the time between her hero life and personal life along with work and school. It's all starting to get to her a bit. Also she is in the midst of making new gadgets for her hero career so hope you enjoyed that little tidbit.
Now let's get the review out of the way.
DannyPhantom619: Yeah that's the hardest part because there are so many choices that it's hard to decide who to let be the main love interest but it will be a guy I can promise that.