Answers to reviewers questions or statements:

DarkJoey: I have something in mind for that story.

christian a lebron1: This chapter will have more Spider-man in it. I answer any review people post, it's just not all that I posted are asking questions or the lie, it's mainly praise, which is good, or people bitching.

Jebest4781: Dark Knights Metal will be in the sequel.

danny6758: Yeah we'll see a version of Spider-island later on in this story. Yeah Peter will have a large role in that story, possibly even larger than Batman's with where I'm going to take it.

JJChandler: I wouldn't be so sure about that, that helmet as it's been hinted is far from benevolent.

chimera629: Because Peter would be the guy to offer his place for everyone to stay while they're in New York rather than let them get a room at a hotel. Never said Hera losing her powers makes up for what she did, Apollo just didn't want to deal with her anymore and Peter and Diana couldn't just let her wander around doing whatever she wants.

spiderman1fan: Yeah, the sequel will have Dark Knights Metal in it and we'll see tid bits of it in this story too.

Adtr509: I wouldn't say he'll go on a god killing rampage but there will be a time where that Necro-Stinger is going to come in handy, like a lot.

CRUDEN: I have no problems with it, they're still keeping elements from the New 52 like how Diana is the daughter of Zeus and they're actually exploring the idea of Diana having a twin brother in her recent comics.

gunman: Yeah, Peter and this Black Spider will come to blows, like for real, later on in the story. He'll also have to contend with Black Spider's little elite Spider Slayer team. Nah they'll believe him, besides he has Diana to back his claims.

superspiderfan: There'll be something like that when I get to Dark Knights Metal. I may introduce both versions of Enchantress, be a little confusing so I'll have the Marvel version referred to as Amora.

Straw Hats PiratesFan2017: Yes there is a Crime Syndicate version of Spider-man that will appear during Forever Evil and no he won't be with Superwoman, he'll be with someone else. Peter will meet with Julia again after this arc. I'll be dropping hints as to who this 'Her' that's been mention so many times, but the main clue is that she's connected to the Web of Life. Hate to say it but this arc and the previous one is about as close as the two will get to being an actual couple for pretty much the rest of the story outside the occasional flashback, you can thank Mephisto and new 52 Superman for that.

90skid4life: No, Julia was referring to her daughter Rachel. If this does go down the harem route, Fire, Ice, Knockout and Jessica Cruz would not be in it. Terresa on the other hand is still up in the air at this point.

XGhostSniperx: I may end up making Peter a sort of immortal, mainly because the story may move in that direction and so many people want him to be. The conversation wasn't so much about Diana leaving Peter because he got old but more of her possibly becoming unhappy, Mephisto just twisted it around and made it seem like a relationship with Peter for her wouldn't end well. Had he not said anything, she would have stayed with Peter to the bitter end, hell she'd likely put a sword to a few Gods throats to grant him immortality in some form.

psp reader: A harem would make sense with how this story is going and it might end up becoming that.

Disclaimer: I don't own any Marvel or DC characters seen, mentioned or used.


"Dreadful…" Hera muttered as she took a bite of her pizza with obvious reluctance.

"UGH, what now!" Peter whined from the couch, for the past half hour he, Zola and Zatanna have been listening to Hera complain about everything there is to reasonably complain about.

"This food" Hera said as she stared at the half-eaten slice before her with a frown.

"Not good enough for ya?" Zatanna asked from her spot next to Peter.

"No, it's dredful" Hera said as she dropped the food on her plate.

"Good" Zola said from her spot next to the window, staring out at the vast city before her.

Hera's frown morphed into a scowl as she glanced at the mortal that's vexed her so these past few days "Why do you take so much joy from my misery?"

"Maybe because you tired to kill me a bunch of times" Zola responded dryly.

"And me!" Peter piped in from his spot on the sofa "And Diana, and Lennox, and you turned Diana's mom to clay"

"Also, Hera, aren't you known for making people's lives miserable?" Zatanna spoke up as she rested her head against Peter and listened to his steady heartbeat "If you can't take what you dish out, maybe you outa reconsider a few things about your character or get some thicker skin"

Hera turned her attention towards the sorceress with a scowl "She laid down with my husband. What else am I supposed to do?"

"Uh, how about a divorce?" Zatanna responded.

"Can gods even get divorces?" Peter asked with a raised brow.

Zatanna tapped her chin in thought before she shrugged "I'm sure they have their ways and if not, she could just up and kill him like any other crazed psycho bitch"

"What?" Hera gaped "My husband, the king of the gods? I'm his queen… why?"

"Because he cheated on you… again" Peter said with a frown.

"Peter, don't bother with her, if she's still with him after all he's done to her over the centuries, you telling her that she could do better won't even make it an inch into her ears before she shuts them off and recedes back into her fantasy world where she thinks she's loved by some asshole who will only ever take advantage of her" Zatanna said a little icily as for a brief moment memories of Nick and her flashed through her mind's eye.

Peter glanced down at the woman with a questioning look "You okay?"

"I'm peachy…" she responded as she stood up "I'm gonna take a nap. Wake me when Diana gets back or some jackass with a beef against Hera comes a knocking"

"Uh okay…?" Peter said, his confusion growing even more. He glanced at the only other occupants in the room with an unsure look on his face "Uh does anyone know what that was about?"

His question was met with equally confused expressions, causing Peter to groan as he fell back on the couch.

'Ugh why are women so complicated sometimes?!' he mentally whined.

'Because a small part of them likes watching men like you squirm…' the Void responded with a dark chuckle.

'So does that mean you're a woman too? Seem to reveal in my misery every chance you get' Peter responded with a slight scowl.

'No, but I could make myself a woman… hmm there's an idea… and I would look good as a blonde probably… or a red head or even a platinum blonde, hehehehehe' the Void sounded lowly before it seemed to recede back into Peter's mind for the time being.

'Something tells me that I won't be getting much sleep in the coming weeks' Peter thought with an annoyed expression on his face before he noticed Hera standing over him, looking down at him with an expectant look on her face.

"Uh, yes?" he said as he sat up.

"I want to go out" she said simply.

"Out where?" Peter asked.

"There, in the city. I want to go out" Hera said as she pointed towards the window.

"Yeah, no… no" Peter said with a shake of his head.

"Why?" Hera demanded angrily.

"Well because by now it's likely already gotten out what Apollo did to you and well…" Peter trailed off with a shrug.

"Well what?" the former goddess questioned with a frown.

"Well there's bound to be a lot of people, monsters and even other gods that may have a bone to pick with you with all the crap you've pulled over the years" Peter stated, "And as amusing as it would be to watch you get the stuffing kicked out of ya, I promised Diana I'd keep you safe"

"How valiant of you" Hera said in a snide tone.

"I try" Peter chuckled as he laid back down on his couch.

"I think we should" Zola said from her place by the window.

"Should what?" Peter asked with a quirked brow.

"Go out" Zola said as she nodded towards the city "Always wanted to visit the Big Apple and well it seems lie a waste to not have a look around. I mean Diana's probably going to cart us back to London after we find Hermes and my baby, might not get another chance any time soon"

Peter hummed at that "I don't know Zola, New York isn't what I would call the safest city in America, in fact it's often tied with Gotham as the most crime ridden place in the country"

"Yeah but we'll have you there to keep me and here royal bitchness safe" Zola said.

Hera's response to Zola's comment about her was a dark scowl as Peter thought over the two women's request.

"Plus, we could… bring Kaine along too" Zola offered at the end a little shyly.

At this Peter smirked "You seem to really like having Kaine around"

"He's a fun guy" Zola said with a smile "Bit intense, but a nice guy"

"Should have met him when we were teenagers, you wouldn't be so quick to say that about him if you did" Peter said with a snort as he sat up and rubbed the back of his neck "Alright, I'll give you and Hera here a tour of the city. Anywhere specific you wanna start?"

"Someplace with better food and drinks then what you have here" Hera said as she folded her arms and gave the pizza box on the table a look of disgust.

"Hmm… I think I know just the place" Peter said with a grin as he stood up and went to retrieve a few things and see if Zatanna was still awake.

"I'll call Kaine and tell him to meet us downstairs!" Zola said as she went to retrieve Peter's phone.

Hera stood where she was for a moment before she looked down at her dress before she came to a decision and began to make her after peter towards Zatanna's room. While she wasn't too fond of the raven-haired woman, perhaps she may prove useful in supplying her with some clothes to wear, after all, if Peter wants them to keep a low profile, making sure she isn't dressed like an obvious goddess might help a little.

"Our brother… he's in there?" Diana said in surprise as she and Lennox stood in a small park not far from Forest Hills. Before them were a set of doors that used to be part of some building's basement before it was demolished years ago. According to Lennox, it leads into an old subway tunnel that was abandoned a few decades ago.

"I tol' you he wasn't right" Lennox said with a snort as he pried the doors open and began to make his way down the trash ridden staircase.

Diana frowned at this "You let him live in-"

"I don' let him do anything" Lennox stated as he kicked a can further down the stairs "Why do you think I 'ave control over this?"

"Maybe because I let you have some control over me" Diana said with a grim chuckle.

"Well, I'm your big brother, right? Pecking order thing I reckon" Lennox joked before his face sobered a little "Still, any power you think I 'ave over you ain't notin' to what 'uve got over Spidey. Bet you ask him to die for ye, he'd do it n' a heartbeat"

At that Diana's mood dropped a bit as the conversation she had in the Underworld came to mind "Yeah… he probably would…"

Lennox, unaware of Diana's shift in mood, came to a stop and let out a small sigh as he stared down the dark tunnel with narrowed eyes "Wait here. This won't take long I 'ope"

"Your meeting him alone?" Diana said with a quirked brow "Is that wise?"

"He ain't what I call comfortable with a lot a people in his space" Lennox said as he began to make his way down the dark tunnel.

Diana watched him go farther and farther down the tunnel before she picked up the approaching footsteps of another being behind her. She glanced over her shoulder with narrowed eyes. Her body tense and ready to move before shock filled her at the sight of her company.

"Hephaestus?" Diana said in shock at the sight of her older half brother all the way out here.

"Diana" he replied with a small nod "Here to see Milan I take it"

"…Yes" Diana said with a careful nod, not bothering to question how the Smith God knew outside of obviously following them "And you?"

"To make a few adjustments" he replied as he held his hands up "Let me see your arms for a moment"

"Why?" she asked with curiosity.

"For my amusement" the forge god replied dryly.

Diana gave him a brief look as she held up her arms and watched as Hephaestus's hands and fingers glided over her bracelets, small little lines of blue and white energy trialing behind them.

"I made these you know" he said as he ran his hands over the smooth metal with delicate hands.

Diana nodded at this "My mother told me…"

"And some things she didn't?" Hephaestus guessed with a brief glance thrown towards her.

"She…" Diana started only to trail off.

Hephaestus hummed at that "Always spoke- or didn't speak- from her heart. You should never forget that"

Diana nodded at that she looked down at her half-brother's hands "What are you doing?"

"Just tinkering. Things I make I'm never done with. I try to make them better…" Hephaestus said as he finished what ever it was he was doing "In case things get worse"

"What did you do?" Diana asked as she held her arm up to better examine the bracelet, trying to see if there were any differences then before.

"Tinkered" Hephaestus stated as he turned to leave and took several steps before he stopped for a second "At the end of the day, that's all gods do"

Diana watched her half brother walk away before he suddenly snapped his fingers "Oh and word of advice, don't slam your bracelets together inside closed spaces like this place"

"Why?" Diana questioned with a frown.

"The feedback will hurt like hell" Hephaestus grinned as he suddenly vanished in a flash of fire.

Diana quirked a brow at the comment as she looked back down at her bracelets for a moment before she noticed something out of the corner of her eye. She turned to see a bright light at the far end of the tunnel that Lennox went down a few minutes ago.

"Something tells me that's not his lighter…" Diana mumbled as she began to slowly maker her way towards the source of the light, summoning a short sword from her bracelets while she was at it.

As she neared the light she could pick up two other voices that didn't belong to Lennox. One sounded rather meek and tired while the other sounded strong… and angry.

"He want's you to leave… I don't want you to trip on your way out" the one with the angry voice spoke, a warning clear as day in his tone.

"Well ain't you kind…" Lennox replied sarcastically "Lovely place ya got here dear brother. A regular sanctum stanktorum"

"We don't get along…" the meek voice replied, Diana figured that he was Milan.

"Go figure" the angry voice said with a snort.

Diana's pace hastened as she heard the distinct sound of Lennox igniting his lighter "Yea… an' though you cut quite a dashing one, this bit between me an' Milan is family space man…so be polite to our sister on your way out"

'Thank you, Lennox, for announcing that there's someone else here aside from you' Diana thought with an eye roll as her grip on her blade's handle tightened 'So much for potentially catching this 'space man' by surprise'

"Our sister Lennox?" Milan's voice echoed with confusion "Siracca? Or-"

"One of the twentieth century brood you haven't met yet" Lennox replied "Six of us accounted for-"

"You found the last one?" Milan spoke up in shock?"

"WHAT?!"

Diana suddenly picked up someone moving at a fast pace, far beyond that of a human and every footstep they took felt like Clark's when he was rushing somewhere without flying. Her brisk walk broke into a run as she raced towards the light, her blade at the ready as she finally neared enough to make out Lennox being held by a large man, every bit as big as Superman, maybe a little broader in the shoulders. He was clad in some sort of red jacket with intricate black designs on the arms and shoulders, black pants and black boots with an odd silver helmet on his head with a red gem of sorts on the forehead with a small yellow sun like design around it, glowing white lenses. His mouth and chin were exposed to show he was almost snarling at Lennox as he held him by his coat.

"WHERE?!" he demanded as he shook Lennox.

"Who?" Lennox said in complete surprise at the man.

"The last of the line?!" the man in red growled as he hoisted Lennox up until his feet were dangling in the air "You and your stupid damn riddles!"

Lennox narrowed his eyes at the helmed covered man as he spoke "Milan… call off your dog"

The unknown man gritted his teeth in anger as Lennox blew a puff of smoke into his face before he was suddenly slammed into the wall, knocking the wind out of him.

"You have any idea what kind of danger your in!" the man shouted in rage "You know what I do to men like you?"

Suddenly a sword was under his throat as Diana appeared behind him with narrowed eyes "It better be nothing when a woman like me is backing him up"

The man turned over his shoulder in slight surprise at Diana's appearance before his half hidden scowl deepened if that were possible.

"I don't know who you are, but that man in your grip is my brother" Diana said as she pressed her sword against his throat a little more, almost breaking the skin "Let him go"

At this, the man smirked "Make me"

And faster than Diana anticipated, the man knocked her blade away before he buried his fist into her stomach, creating a small shockwave that shook the walls of the tunnel and knocked the wind out of Diana as she was sent into the wall behind her. Diana let out a pained groan as she clutched her core. It fell like she was punched by Superman when he wasn't holding back. She then looked up to see the unknown man approaching her while cracking his knuckles "You have no idea what your getting yourself into"

At this Diana spat out a small glob of blood and saliva as she stood up and cracked her neck "Neither do you"

And at that, she attacked.

"Welcome ladies, to the Oblivion bar!" Peter said as he gestured to the bar used by magical beings in and around New York "Or the new one since the last place got trashed in some kind of magical cat fight between Constantine and some Succubus he pissed off a few months ago"

Zola looked around that the various beings with wide eyes while Hera gave it a simple once over before she immediately set off towards the bar. Kaine snickered at the former queen of the god's destination before he glanced at Peter.

"I'll keep an eye on her" Kaine said as he followed after the wife of Zeus.

"Thanks, Kaine, I'm not sure I can keep her out of trouble and keep an eye on Zola at the same time" Peter said as he watched Zola approach a hooded figure with a floating ball of lava in front of him and began to ask if he was an actual wizard or something along those lines.

"Don't mention it, besides having a potential goddess owing me might come in handy one day" Kaine said with a shrug.

Peter watched him go with a flat expression "Do you ever do anything without expecting something in return?"

"Pfft, no" Kaine scoffed as he settled into a seat besides Hera and ordered a shot of whatever she was having.

Peter shook his head before he glanced at Zatanna who was giving him a dry look. Peter quirked a brow at this "What?"

"You really thought bringing Hera here was a good idea?" she asked with a frown before glancing around the room "She doesn't necessarily have the best of reputations in the magical community"

Peter stared at her for a second before he responded by pinching the ridge of his nose "And you just now decided to tell me this after I brought her here!?"

"I thought it was obvious" Zatanna replied with a shrug "Olympians aren't really well liked now a days, hell they haven't been liked since the Dark Ages"

"Why?" Peter asked with curiosity.

"Because Peter out of all of the gods in the world, the Olympians are the most careless, arrogant, destructive and rowdy of the bunch" Zatanna explained as they kept an eye on Zola who was now speaking to some sort of tree looking person "The only Pantheon that was ever remotely liked by mystics were the Asgardians and even then, it was tension filled at best because they saw mystics as weak"

"Asgardians?" Peter asked as he tried to remember what they were exactly "Isn't that where Thor is from or is that another group?"

"No that was him" Zatanna said.

Peter hummed at that before what Zatanna said clicked in his mind "Wait, you were talking about the Asgardians in past tense"

"Yeah, so I noticed" Zatanna responded with a nod.

"Why?" Peter asked with a curious frown.

"Because their dead" she stated rather bluntly.

"Wait what?" Peter said with his eyes widening "How?"

"Ragnarok, the twilight of the gods for Asgard finally came into being back in World War two" Zatanna revealed to a surprised Peter.

"Dang…" Peter said with a whistle "Did anyone survive?"

"Not to my knowledge but hey you never know…" Zatanna said before the two's attention was dragged towards the bar as Hera suddenly spat the drink she was given by Kaine out at a passing fire demon that yelped in surprise.

"Oh crap…" Peter paled as did Kaine as the flaming being turned towards Hera with a glare within its fiery mane.

Hera stared up at the being in slight fear before Peter was suddenly in-between her and it "Whoa, easy Ralph, it was an accident"

The now identified ralph narrowed his glowing eyes as he leaned down towards Peter with a growl "You call her spitting her drink at me a accident?"

"She's not used to hard liquor?" Peter said sheepishly "You know how it is, girl who's been raised up on wine decides to try something with more kick then she's used to and doesn't anticipate the kick and well, only way out is back up"

Ralph growled at Peter before he turned his gaze towards Hera with a snarl "Next time, I'll care your eyes out and fill them with the burning sperm of a hellhound…"

He then turned and stalked away, causing Peter to let out a sigh of relief before he turned towards Kaine with a slight scowl "Really, you had to give her something like tequila right off the bat?"

"Hey, I thought she could take it" Kaine defended his actions with his hands raised.

"Next time, your talking the fire demon down" Peter said before he turned towards Hera "Look, I know your used to doing whatever you want and getting away with it because you were married to a all powerful god and were a goddess yourself, but now, you need to realize that if you piss someone off, especially here, chances are their going to beat the ever loving hell, heaven or whatever your respective afterlife is, out of ya"

"It was an accident…" Hera huffed as she turned away with her arms folded.

"Try to make it the last, please" Peter sad as he glanced at the bartender "Start her off small"

"Aye…" the man said with a nod as he picked up another glass and filled it with a weaker drink while Kaine finished his before glancing around the room with a calculating face.

Peter saw this and frowned "What is it?"

"Just wondering if word's gotten out about Hera yet and if any of them here my recognize her is all" Kaine said as he leaned against the counter.

"Probably have now" Peter said as he followed suit and watched as Zola speaking to a group of mystics while Zatanna was not too far away, conversing with a bald-headed man that Peter's seen a few times here.

"Who's that?" Kaine nodded towards the person Zatanna was talking to "Friend of her's?"

"Yeah, some guy she met not too long ago" Peter said with a nod "I think he said his name was Wong"

"Hmm, he seems familiar, like I've seen him before" Kaine said as he took a sip of his refilled drink.

"Been here before?" Peter asked.

"Nah, but there is this place out in L.A. that I stumbled across that's a lot like this place. Catered for mystics and the supernatural" Kaine said as he glanced down at his drink for a moment before placing a finger inside the liquid and zapped it with a light venom blast, briefly igniting it before he downed the liquor.

"Really?" Peter said with a little bit of surprise in his voice and on his face "What's it called?"

"Lux" Kaine said as he signaled for another drink.

Peter hummed at that as he went back to keeping an eye on both Hera and Zola while mentally hoping that Diana wouldn't be back at the apartment before them. Something tells him she wouldn't approve of letting the two talk him into taking them to the Oblivion Bar.

The minute seemed to turn into hours as Peter watched as Kaine was roped into some sort of competition that a few mages and demons were holding while Zola eventually found her way back to the bar and sat next to Peter. Zatanna was still conversing with the bald man, Wong, and the two would occasionally make a few magic circles or summon some sort of book from… wherever it is that mages store those things.

"Hey uh, Peter?" Zola asked as the two watched Kaine arm wrestle with a mage that was using a combination of spells and his own supernatural strength to match Kaine's.

"Yeah?" Peter asked as he took a sip of his water.

"Do you mind if I asked you a question?" Zola said nervously.

Peter couldn't help but chuckle "You just did, two in fact if I count the first one. But sure, go ahead"

Zola nodded as she took a sip of her juice "I was just wondering, why did you change your suit?"

Peter glanced at her with a quirked brow "What do you mean?"

"I mean, it's just when I first saw you on the news years ago, you had this red and blue suit, white lenses and everything. Now your suit's black, red and white and you have those weird arm blades and stuff on it" Zola said as she pulled out her phone and showed Peter an image of the suit he used to wear and then the suit he now has on.

"Oh…" Peter said as he stared at his old image for a moment before he shrugged "Just felt like it was time for a change is all, you know?"

"Oh…" Zola said before she nodded and placed her phone away.

Peter glanced at the woman for a moment before he took another drink of his glass "So what brought this on?"

"Well it's just I kinda like your old suit better than the one you have on now is all" Zola said with a cough "And part of me hoped to see you in it at some point"

Peter chuckled at that "Why?"

"Well you look…" Zola tried to find the right way to say it before she continued "Well you just looked more approachable back then. Nicer I guess. Now you look like you'd sooner drop me then talk is all"

Peter hummed at that as an old conversation between him and Miguel came up not long after his current suit was made…

Several years prior, the newly purchased office of Alchemax…

Peter, standing in the newly furbished office of Alchemax's CEO, clad in only his iconic red and blue suit sans the mask, and stared at what is to be his new suit with a skeptical frown on his face. Several moments of silence passed before he glanced towards Miguel, this company's new and first CEO of three months as of today "So, this is supposed to be my new suit?"

Miguel nodded a little nervously "Yeah, why isn't it what you wanted?"

Peter glanced back at the suit with a slow shake of his head "No it is, it's just I wasn't expecting it to look so different from my current suit is all. Like if I didn't know any better, I'd say this was someone else's outfit"

Miguel hummed at this as he ran a finger over the edge of one of the arm blades "True it's a bit different, well a lot different from your current suit in terms of appearance but I figured that the slightly more menacing look would help you know? Offset the bad guys and all that and make them easier to beat"

"And your best idea was to make this look like something Batman would wear?" Peter asked with a snort.

"Well it works for him and he's just a guy in a mask" Miguel said as he tapped on the Kevlar re-enforced chest piece of the new Spider suit "But you? You're a superhuman, so combine the intimidating suit's appearance, along with your powers and at night, you'll look like a demon from hell to these guys!"

Peter thought over what Miguel said, and he wasn't wrong in that the image of him dressed in this suit, tearing through criminals in the dead of night, with only brief flashes of light illuminating his form did strike a rather intense sight. Plus, the arm blades were kinda cool in his opinion, nothing screams you mean business then arm blades.

'Besides… it's not like it'll change me that much like a certain other dark colored suit did' Peter thought as memoires of Venom came to mind. Even years later he still shivered at the feeling of being under the alien symbiote's influence.

Finally, after a few minutes Peter nodded "Okay, I'll take her out for a spin this weekend and see how she holds up. Hmm come to think of it, there's this barbeque going down at the park this Saturday and this may come in handy with what I'll be up against"

"Sweet!" Miguel said as he clapped his hands together "I have a few other ideas that we can-"

"But answer me this Miguel" Peter said as he approached the new suit and leaned in towards the skull like face on the chest piece "Why did you make the symbol a skull of a spider of some sort rather than an actual spider?"

Miguel was about to answer before he paused and thought it over with a confused frown "Huh… I uh never really thought about it before. I just put it on there really"

Peter nodded at that as he glanced back at the image with his eyes narrowing slightly.

'Just how the hell did Miguel make a near completely perfect replica of your face?' Peter thought with some worry.

It was then the Void spoke in the darkest parts of Peter's mind and caused him to nearly shiver at the dark amusement that flowed through its words.

'Please don't tell me that after all of these wonderful and amazing years together, you're still underestimating my influence on others when I'm 'locked' away in here… hehehehehe…'

Peter laughed a little as he settled in his seat "Well I guess that's to be expected when a being of utter destruction and death has a hand in it'd design"

Zola frowned at that "What do you mean by that?"

"Nothing to worry about" Peter said with a wave of his hand as he glanced around the bar and noticed the television was on… and it was tuned into a news segment about something from Oscorp…

Peter's mood darkened a bit as he saw the smiling face of Norman on the screen and standing next to him was some sort of hyper advance suit of armor that his company was creating to aid the U.S. Government and its allies against potential Meta human level events. Osborn called it the 'Iron Patriot' and it utilized the new 'Arc Reactor' that his company had developed. Norman explained what the suit was capable of, or what he was willing to divulge, to a few reporters before he glanced at the screen and gave it that insufferable smirk that Peter's seen on that man's face more times than he liked at some of the darkest moments in his life.

Peter's hand slowly contorted into a fist while the glass he was holding in his other hand began to have cracks form along its surface as his grip tightened while he stared at the man's face before the news segment went to a commercial brake, causing Peter to let out a breath he didn't realize he was holding. Zola seemed to sense Peter's mood shift and followed his gaze towards the screen and saw that a commercial for Starr Enterprises was on. After a few moments she nudged Peter when she saw how tightly round up he seemed.

"You okay?"

Peter nodded slowly as he stood up and paced his empty cracked glass on the counter "Yeah, just need a few minutes to myself is all. Can I count on you to keep out of trouble?"

"Me, yes" Zola nodded before she nodded towards Hera who was busy downing another mixed drink that she was making the bartender make for her "Her on the other hand… I'm not taking a punch for"

"Heh…" Peter sounded as he slowly made his way away from the crowd to a sparser section of the large room before turning down a hallway and leaned against the wall for a moment.

"PETER!" Julia screamed as she was pinned to the ground by the newly resurrected Kraven, his knife, already stained with the blood of both Kaine and Miles, trying to find it's way in her neck as the two struggled to overpower the other. Peter let out a dark growl as he tried to stand up but was knocked back to the ground by Kraven's wife, Sasah, who happen to be jacked up on more Venom then even Bane ever was.

"Ah, ah, ah…" she cooed in a dark voice before she grabbed the back of Peter's head and forced him to look to the side to see a new arrival.

Peter and Julia's eyes both widened in horror at what they saw…

Norman, clad in his infamous Goblin armor… with Rachel, beaten and bloodied in his hands and one of Osborn's razor bat's serrated blade at her throat.

"R-Rachel…" Peter whispered in shock at seeing her here.

Norman smirked darkly as he pressed the blade to Rachel's throat, breaking the skin and causing her to start whimpering in fear and pain as blood tickled down her throat.

"Uh-oh, Spidey, she's a blonde…" Norman said as he trailed the blade over her throat in dark glee as he watched Peter and Julia struggle to free themselves "We both know what happens to blondes when their around you, don't we?"

"Norman I swear to every fuckin god I've met if you don't let her-" Peter started only to be interrupted as Sasha slammed his head into the ground, causing it to crack under the force.

Rachel began to openly cry as she watched Sasha continued to bash Peter's head against the ground repeatedly as Julia redoubled her efforts to break free before suddenly Kraven slammed his elbow into her face, and jammed his knife into her shoulder, causing her to cry out in pain all the while Norman watched on in silence before he began to chuckle at what remained of the Spider-clan.

"Hehehehe… Parker, when have you ever followed through in your threats against me?" Norman said as his chuckle began to deteriorate into the infamous Goblin laugh as he began to press the blade deeper into Rachel's neck, causing her to whimper in pain "Now let's see if we can recreate a bit of history, hmmm, HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!"

"RACHEL!"

Several moments passed as he stared at the ground before he heard movement to his right. His spider-sense didn't go off and considering it was almost that time when the regulars start to pour in, he didn't pay them any mind and assumed they would move on soon enough. It was when they came to a complete stop and stood there for several moments that Peter's interest was piqued. He looked up to see a man, dressed in a green cloak of some sorts with the hood pulled over, obscuring his face in shadow to the point that even Peter's eyes couldn't see through it. In his hand was a staff of some sort that ended in an odd crescent shape.

Peter stared at the man for a few moments before he looked around for a brief second before resettling his gaze on the unknown individual "Uh, hello?"

The man didn't respond right away, instead he seemed to study Peter for a moment before he rested his staff against his shoulder "You're a long way from home…"

"So I'm told" Peter said with a sheepish grin before it died down as the unknown man continued to stare at Peter "Can I help you with something?"

His question was met with silence as the two held each other's gaze before the hooded man came to a decision with a small nod and took several steps back. Peter's brow furrowed at this.

"Is there a problem?"

"No, but we will meet again… Peter Parker" the man said as he began to fade away.

Peter's eyes widened a bit at this as he pushed off the wall and took several steps towards the man only to come to a stop as he watched the man vanished completely. He looked around the hall for a second with a confused look on his face before he rubbed the back of his head "What the hell…?"

"Something wrong Pete?" Zatanna's voice spoke up behind him.

Peter looked over his shoulder to see the mistress of magic looking at him with a bit of concern. Peter was silent for a moment as he turned back to where the hooded man was standing just moments ago before he mentally shrugged.

'I'm sure this wasn't the last I'll see of him… with my luck, I guarantee it' Peter thought as turned towards her and gave her a small grin "No, not really. Just saw some rather unpleasant news earlier and needed a few moments to clear my head is all. Plus watching Kaine beating half the people here in arm wrestling was starting to get old"

Zatanna smirked a little at that before it fell as she took a step closer and cupped the side of Peter's face "While it's gonna hurt your poor brother that you don't like watching him succeed at beating a bunch of low ended mages at something so trivial, you wanna tell me what's really bothering you?"

Peter stared down at her face for a moment before he slowly reached up and removed her hand but didn't let it go "It's nothing, just some bad memories that cropped up when I wasn't expecting them is all"

"It seems to be a lot more than that" Zatanna said as she leaned against the wall with Peter.

Peter was quite as the sounds of the various patrons of the Oblivion Bar mingled with each other and the loud boasting of Kaine echoed through the hall. After a few minutes of solemn silence, Peter let out a tired sigh as he used his other hand to rub the back of his neck.

"Zee, how much do you know about Norman Osborn?"

Zatanna's brow rose a bit in surprise as she mentally ran over what she knew of the CEO of one of the largest and most powerful companies in the world.

"Aside from the fact he's just about if not richer than Bruce Wayne, Lex Luthor and half of the third world nations out there because of that new Arc reactor crap he has now, not much outside what Nick told me when he talked with him a while back. Why?"

"Well you see Norman-…" Peter began until Zatanna's words clicked in his mind and he turned towards her with a surprised face "Wait, did you say that Nick talked with Norman?"

Zatanna nodded slowly "Yeah, it was before we met Constantine and Nick's obsession with the Books of Magic was manageable. We were following the trail of that coffin thing that we thought had one of if not all off the Books of Magic in it and after we found out that only someone connected to the Web of Life could open it, he showed up… just out of the blue one day. It was kinda creepy actually, because it was my apartment he showed up in, so I guess he was following me for a while"

"Did he ever say what they talked about?" Peter asked with a growing suspicion and anger in his mind.

Zatanna seemed confused and puzzled as to why Peter seemed very interesting in what Nick and Norman discovered before something that Nick said a while back clicked in her mind "No, Nick never really gave me an in-depth rundown about what they talked about. Said I shouldn't worry too much about it but after their conversation, he became really interested in wanting to meet with you and well… you know what happened after that"

Peter's eyes narrowed at this 'So it was Osborn that put Nick on my trail… and told him about my connection to the Web of Life…'

It was still too early to tell given that past assumptions he's made in the past have blown up in his face when it's come to Norman Osborn of all people, but for a while now, Peter was beginning to think that aside from him, Kaine, Julia and Doctor Fate, a few other beings from the previous reality may have made it into this new one somehow… and it was beginning to sound and look like one of them was possibly Norman. After all, Osborn had no real reason to be following Zatanna around… unless…

Before Peter could think any more on that, a loud crash followed by shouts was heard through the hall and caught both Peter and Zatanna's attention.

"What the hell?" Zatanna said as she and Peter raced back into the main part of the bar to see the old man that Peter saw earlier was now holding up Kaine by the throat with one hand while he had Zola pinned to the bar counter with his other. Hera looked torn between wanting to help and wanting to get away from the scene while several of the bar's patrons were already on their feet and ready to attack if necessary.

"Manners seem to be in short supply these days hmm?" the older man said to Kaine as he tightened his grip on his neck.

Kaine let out a choked sound as he tried to pry the man's hand off his neck and was about to unload his Venom blasts into his face before suddenly he was released, and he nearly collapsed to the ground as air rushed back into his lungs. Peter unsheathed his regular Stinger and held it up to the man's neck in warning.

"Mind telling me why you just tried to choke my brother out?"

The unknown bald man glanced down at the stinger for a moment before his gaze flickered up to Peter's eyes and he smirked as he suddenly seized Peter's wrist and forced his hand down. Peter winced at the feeling of the bones in his wrist early breaking as he held the man's gaze while Zatanna aimed a glowing hand at the man, her voice dark as she spoke.

"Let. Him. Go!" she threatened as her eyes began to glow with magical energy.

The man smirked a bot at this as his grip tightened on Peter "Make me-"

"ARES!" Hera suddenly spoke up with a slight growl in her voice.

The man then turned towards the former goddess with a quirked brow as she glared at him "Let them go… now"

Ares stared at her for a moment before he nodded and released both Peter and Zola with a sigh "I wasn't serious, just having a little fun is all… mother"

Zola backed away from Ares and crouched down to check on Kaine who was busy rubbing his sore throat while glaring at Ares with narrowed eyes. Peter mean while checked his wrist and frowned at the dark bruise now visible before he glanced up at the man "Ares huh…?"

"Yes" the man replied with a simple nod as he picked up what was Kaine's drink and gave it a taste "Mmm, good choice my boy… very good choice"

"Ares, why are you here?" Hera demanded with a glare.

The God of War glanced at Hera for a moment before he snorted "Isn't it obvious mother, I'm here to help!"

It was then that Peter heard the chuckling of the Void as he and Kaine gaped at the deity's answer.

"Hehehehe, now that's what I call a plot twist!"


And done.

Next chapter, Ares the God of War… ally?

Also, I'm pushing the fight between Peter and the Firstbron back to another arc because after doing a bit more looking I realized that the arrival of the Firstborn takes place a little whiles after the events going on now. Almost didn't realize it given how shitty the New 52 is with their timeline. So, this arc will have relatively little fighting, but to make up for it, the next arc will deal with the formation of the Justice League Dark, so upside I guess.