The Extraordinary Spider-Man - Vol 1
Chapter 26: Fallen
Peter scoffed. "Understand why you're doing all this? I doubt you can say anything that'll change my mind over you killing people and terrorizing the city."
"Who says I'm trying to change your mind? The only thing I'm trying to do is have you finally understand. Have them all understand," Mac explained. "If they don't, then to hell with it. I tried, didn't I?"
"I find it really hard to believe anyone's gonna want to listen to-"
Mac punched Peter in the face. "Shut up."
Mac turned around, sighing. The injured Peter sat against the chimney and contemplated his next move.
"I was born in Montauk. My parents raised me there growing up. They were the best at it, always providing the best amount of love and care that anyone could have hoped for. May they rest in peace. Did your parents treat you well?"
"They're the best," Peter answered.
"Good for you. My parents were always supportive of what I wanted to do no matter what. Granted, I fell in with the wrong crowd back in middle school. Those wankers weren't interested in anything other than drugs and acting like being a gangster was the peak of your life. I did a lot of things I regret, but my parents helped me get my act straight by the time high school started. There's no doubt I was a pain in the ass, but despite that, they were patient. They were understanding. They were able to help me because they empathized," Mac narrated.
Mac walked around a little, looking out at the view.
"My high school experience was a decent one. I was part of the track team, had a decent circle of friends, and my GPA was pretty solid. Eventually, I attended and graduated from the John Jay College of Criminal Justice."
"What'd you do, become a private investigator?" Peter mocked.
"I actually did think about that, but nothing ended up coming out of the degree. Unfortunately, my cousin Ricky was mugged and killed one night, and the shooter was never caught. Ricky had served in the Marine Corps for a few years in Vietnam. Growing up, he always told me about how the experience hardened and strengthened him. Despite the bloodshed and torture those years brought on him, it opened his eyes to the kind of world we inhabit. Sure, we can always try our best at doing the right thing, but that's never gonna change how selfish we all are to the core. We're fighting for ourselves in the end. We can try to serve others, but in the end, aren't we just serving ourselves out of satisfaction?"
"I don't believe in that. We have to help others, especially if you can do things better than they can. It's our moral obligation. Our responsibility to do the right thing and find our place in this world," Peter passionately declared.
"You can say that all you want. You can try and be selfless, but there's always going to be at least one percentage of selfishness down in our rotten cores. There's nothing we can do to fight that," Mac pointed out.
"We can try."
Mac looked at Peter for a few seconds before turning back around. "To honor Ricky, I joined the Royal Marines and spent a few years in Afghanistan. Believe me when I say the experience was transformative. Shooting and surviving everyday, the explosions only became familiar sounds, and so did the constant blood curdling screams. Coming home, I realized that the war was only a grave reminder of how far we had all fallen as humans. It was near-impossible for me to get any sleep, and there were a lot of days where I'd just drink myself to unconsciousness. That all changed one night in 2005, when I was sitting in a bar one night, I saw her for the first time. Carmilla Black crying at a table all by herself. I approached her, and it turned out that her boyfriend of seven years had cheated on her. I bought her a drink, and I proceeded to pay that ex-boyfriend of hers a visit and beat his ass."
"Freakin' psychopath."
"Call me whatever you want. I'd be lying if I said Carmilla wasn't a bit frightened at first. However, once she saw what I was already willing to do to make her happy, she knew it. I would go the extra mile for her, and she's seen it every day since. She was also more than willing to do anything to help me with all the trauma. Whether it was staying up with me all night or dealing with my constant anxiety attacks, she was always there. There were ups and downs, but despite it all, I knew we were bonded for life. A month from now would've been our ten year anniversary," Mac reminisced.
Peter was silent, even looking down in sadness.
"I knew I'd get through to you in some way."
"Don't think for a second that-" Peter started.
"I'm well-aware you're not gonna agree with everything I did. But that doesn't mean you can't see me for who I was before all this. Before Norman Osborn."
"What the hell are you talking about?"
"As many people know, I signed up for Hammer Industries' Super Scorpion Experiment to make a difference. I figured one of the best ways of dealing with my PTSD would be to help out the military when I couldn't serve. I didn't realize why at the time, but things only started getting worse. It was as if everything was amped up by a thousand, and I kept losing control. One night in the subway, a few assholes were messing with me, and I made quite the scene. That was when you came into the picture. After I beat your ass, I learned the truth from Hammer. As many people don't know, that fucker Osborn paid one of Justin Hammer's scientists to mess with the experiment. I killed him myself, then I went to go take out Osborn. And you just got in the way," Mac explained.
"I'm not saying what Osborn did to you wasn't wrong, but you trying to murder him was just terrible. I stopped you, and I don't regret it. That doesn't mean I'm not sorry about what happened to you though," Peter admitted.
"I'm not asking you to be sorry. Now you see all the hell I went through for years, and this son of a bitch just went and ripped out all the promise and love in my life! That experiment was supposed to help people, and that selfish motherfucker decided to just exploit it and dismantle my life! I lost my wife, my livelihood, all of society despises me now! Do you understand what it's like to try and dig your life out from the dirt and rise it up, only for it to be fucked over because society is just selfish?! It's like I said earlier, we're all just out for ourselves in the end," Mac raged.
Peter sighed and looked to the side.
"I know you know I'm right. Up until now, everyone's been getting in my way in some sense. Even when I was with Tombstone, that didn't do anything in the end. All he cared about was getting Fisk."
"Wilson Fisk? What the hell are you talking about?"
"Oh, you along with the rest of New York didn't know. Biggest crime lord of the underworld. Might as well tell you now, though good luck trying to take him down."
"I'll take him down. Just like you," Peter said.
"Listen now. You've been a massive pain in the ass in my mission for justice. Up until last week, I wanted you dead," Scorpion growled.
"What changed?"
"You saved my wife. As my thank you, take this next offer. Knowing that sleazeball well, Osborn probably wiped any evidence of his involvement in the experiment. Son of a bitch just thinks he can walk away from this scot-free as always. Well, that's not happening. He took away the one I loved, so tonight, I'm gonna kill him and that precious wife and son of his," Mac revealed.
"I swear to God, if you-"
Mac smacked Peter across the face with his tail. "Wasn't finished. Tonight's the night I finally get my retribution. After months of longing for it, I'm gonna rip Osborn's spine off his body, but not before killing his little family right in front of him. After that, I'm taking myself off this Earth. My plan will be done by that point, and it's either that or I spend my life on the run from authority. Like I said before, you saved my wife. Because of that, I'm giving you a chance to get out of this alive. Just walk away when I do this. Don't interfere. If you do, then I'll be ready. I could care less who you are underneath that mask, but if you even try to get in my way again, I won't hesitate to kill you before you can even flinch."
"I won't fucking let you touch Osborn's family. I'll die before I let that happen," Peter proclaimed.
Mac scoffed. "Then be prepared for that. Until then, think about it."
Mac delivered a massive punch to Peter's face, knocking him out.
Harry was sitting in his bed, looking through Snapchat. However, he heard a massive thud downstairs.
"The hell?" Harry muttered.
Glass was heard smashing, and Emily was then heard screaming.
"Mom!" Harry yelled.
Harry got out of his bed and put his phone in his pocket. Harry ran downstairs, where a window was shattered. Panicking, Harry ran over to the kitchen and grabbed a knife.
"Who-who the hell is there?!" Harry shouted.
Harry walked out of the kitchen and shakingly aimed the knife everywhere. He kept turning around, and went back upstairs. He looked in his room, where his bed and chair were already turned over. He quickly got out of the room, only to hear a large bang. Harry quickly ran into the bathroom and locked the door. Hyperventilating, Harry covered his mouth to block out the sound. A few seconds passed, and no sound. As Harry finally let out a sigh, an armored green hand burst through the door and grabbed his face.
"GAHHHHH!"
Norman was arriving home at that moment, and quickly got out of his car.
"What the hell? Harry? Emily?" Norman called as he ran inside the mansion.
Norman saw the shattered glass, and looked around. Unbeknownst to him, Scorpion was crawling above the ceiling behind him. As Norman turned around, the last thing he saw before losing consciousness was Scorpion lunging at him with his claws extended.
Peter woke up, still bruised. He quickly pulled his phone out and called Gwen, jumping off the building and swinging away.
"Gwen!" Peter exclaimed.
"Peter! What the hell is-"
"It's Harry! Scorpion's going after Harry's family!"
"Oh shit!" Gwen yelled. "Has he gotten to them yet?"
"He knocked me out and I don't know how long I've been unconscious for. There any way we could find him?!"
"Find My iPhone!"
"You can track his phone?" Peter asked.
"No, but I can try and hack into the app to connect to his Apple ID. Hopefully, I can calibrate the location from there," Gwen explained.
"Genius. Thanks!" Peter thanked.
"Alright, I'm hacking it. I should be able to scan for his location now."
"God, this is all my fault-"
"Stop right there, Peter! You did your best. There's no way you could've predicted what was gonna happen to Harry's family."
"Maybe I should've," Peter sighed.
"You put too much pressure on yourself, you know that?" Gwen said.
"I'm not gonna let Harry and his family die! Not like Uncle Ben!" Peter declared. "Scorpion's mine!"
"I know you're gonna stop him, Peter."
"I have to. No, I will."
"Got it! Harry's located somewhere between 47th Avenue and the corner of Bakersfield. According to Google Earth, it looks like there's some warehouse there. That's probably your best bet."
"Gotcha. Thanks a lot, Gwen," Peter thanked.
"Be careful, Peter. Good luck."
Peter hung up the phone and swung to the location.
A couple minutes later, Peter made it, swinging over to the warehouse. However, his Spider-Sense started warning him to a shockwave coming his way. He was blasted to the ground by the blast, and looked up to see Shocker walking over.
"Look who it is! You're back!" Shocker exclaimed, thrilled.
Peter got up. "I'm warning you, Shocker. I don't have time for this shit right now."
"Make time!" Shocker demanded as he shot an air blast.
Peter jumped over the blast and swung over, dodging more incoming blasts. Shocker threw an electric punch, only for Peter to jump over it. Peter then punched Shocker across the face and sweeped his legs, knocking him down. Peter then excessively webbed Shocker to the ground.
"Stay down," Peter warned.
Peter went over to the warehouse and kicked the door down. Norman, Emily, and Harry were held upside down by ropes, with Scorpion cutting Norman's shoulder with his tail. Norman already had two other wounds on his leg and arm.
"AHHHH!" Norman yelled as the wounds sunk in.
"Dad!" Harry cried.
"No, Norman!" Emily screamed.
"Scorpion!" Peter yelled.
Scorpion turned around to see Peter.
"Spider-Man. I'll admit it. Deep down, I knew you weren't gonna listen," Scorpion admitted.
"You're gonna let them go right now," Peter affirmed.
"You're stupider than I thought if you really think that's gonna happen."
"It will. Even if it means I have to beat your fucking ass!"
Peter lunged at Scorpion, knocking him down. Peter punched Scorpion in the face twice, only for Scorpion to kick him off. Scorpion rushed at Peter and punched him across the face, though Peter shot a web at Scorpion's face and kicked it. Scorpion threw a few more punches, and Peter managed to dodge and deflect some of them, only for one of the punches to hit him in the jaw. Scorpion then kicked Peter in the chin, knocking him against a pillar, cracking it. Scorpion lunged at Peter with a kick, though the latter dodged it, causing Scorpion to smash the pillar. Peter grabbed a part of the broken pillar and smashed it over Scorpion's back, though the villain's tail smacked Peter aside. Before Peter could get back up, Scorpion jumped over and kicked him in the face, knocking him back down.
"Shocker! Take it down, now!" Scorpion yelled.
Outside, Shocker had managed to free himself of the webbing.
"You got it, boss!" Shocker yelled as he started shooting the warehouse with a constant shockwave.
Scorpion quickly grabbed Norman and jumped out of the warehouse. As the warehouse started coming down, Peter quickly got up, avoiding several falling parts of the structure. However, Harry and Emily were still trapped.
"No!" Peter screamed as he shot as many webs as he could at Harry and Emily.
Shortly after, Shocker finished bringing down the entire warehouse to debris and dust. He turned to Scorpion, who had Norman wrapped in his tail.
"You fucker! That was my wife and son!" Norman roared. "You're gonna pay for this! You better kill me or I'll-"
Scorpion punched Norman in the face, knocking him out.
"Anyway, you're really giving me your life savings 'cause of all this?" Shocker asked.
"After tonight, I'll be dead. It's all yours now," Scorpion promised.
"Sweet, thanks!"
Scorpion ran off with Norman. Sirens were then heard, prompting Shocker to propel and escape.
Disclaimer: Spider-Man and any other Marvel characters are created and owned by Stan Lee and Marvel Comics. I do not have any ownership over them.
The penultimate chapter is here! It feels so crazy that the first volume of this story ends next week! Seems like yesterday I started writing this, not half a year ago. Time truly does fly by fast. Hell, I'm already into my first week in my junior year of college. It's honestly been dope. Living on my own for the first time is exciting, I've been hanging out with my roommate and other friend. UIUC's been handling this COVID situation pretty well with its testing resources and containment procedures, so I can only hope that we don't get sent home early. I also ended up reconciling with a former friend that I worked on Along Came a Spider-Man with, which is really nice. Also, being a massive DC fan, I'm super excited for the announced stuff, especially the Snyder Cut and The Batman.
Chapter 27 and the Vol 1 finale, If This Be My Destiny, will be out next Friday on 9/4. Expect an explosive, emotional, and hopefully satisfying conclusion to this volume! Be prepared for quite possibly the longest chapter in the story so far! Again, thank you all so much for sticking with this story as long as you have, it truly means the world to me. If you review this chapter, make sure to ask whatever questions you have, because the finale will be the last time until Vol 2 where I can address your reviews. And if you can, please leave pros and cons for the volume as a whole!
I'll stress this one last time, but at one point, my chapter 4 was accidentally replaced by my chapter 5. If you haven't, I severely implore you to read chapter 4 if you haven't already. Especially since the conclusion is coming. Again, I hope you're all continuing to stay safe and healthy. As always, favs, follows, and reviews are always appreciated!
ShadowStrike234 - Thank you! It really does mean a lot that you really like the volume! And yeah it feels crazy to me too. Can't believe I started this almost six months ago. And I'm really looking forward to that full volume review! And no prob! I'm still happy that my previous story really inspired you, and lemme say, you've done great work!
Rollerparty - Yeah the story was always meant to give Mac an extremely important arc, especially since he's the main villain of this volume. I hope you're satisfied with how his arc ends this volume!
BruceDianaWayne - Thank you! And yep, I definitely do consider Peter and Gwen's friendship to be one of the core components of the story's heart.
highlander348 - Lol, girl power! I've always loved the idea of Gwen helping out Peter in her adventures! I won't spoil anything, but I think you should be excited for the near future…
Fate-Be Changed - I definitely took inspiration from the 2002 movie scene here! Also a bit from that scene in Homecoming
Marvel Nerd - Well, it's certainly going to be an interesting outcome for Peter and Mac in the next chapter lol.
Teller-Story - Thanks! And yeah, Shocker was always gonna come back, but it ended up being a bit earlier than expected.
Guest - Who knows…
-redbird12