The Invincible Spider-Man
Chapter 47: Shadows of The Past
The Sinister Six rushed into Manhattan via the Washington Bridge, flipping buses and cars in their way.
"Spider-Man's not here anymore! Let's go!" shouted Electro, crackling yellow electricity as he flew high in the air, and aimed electricity towards different buildings, siphoning all of their power, causing an entire city block to black out.
"HAHAHAHA!" shouted Electro, zooming across the city and towards the power plant.
Scorpion ran across the street on all fours, towards a police precinct. He slammed straight into it, his robotic tail smashing through the concrete. He grabbed two cops with his tail and defenestrated them out of the building. He sprayed the toxin as an aerosol from the tip of his tail, causing the cops to choke on it.
"Enjoy a little gift, call it compensation for throwing me in jail!" said Scorpion, as he jumped out of the precinct and started rampaging down the streets.
Mysterio started to hover using his jetpack and went towards a bank, arming his lasers as he burst through the door, aiming them at the clerk.
"Vault. Now!" he said, but the clerk tried to run.
Mysterio released the hallucinogen, which acted almost instantly on the clerk, who began to scream in terror.
"Open the vault. NOW!" said Mysterio, his voice starting to sound a growling beast. The clerk reluctantly nodded and walked towards the vault door with the keys. As soon as the vault was open, Mysterio slashed the guy with the solid laser, sending him flying sideways. He aimed a gun at the stacks of money, which managed to shrink the size between their atoms, making them much smaller.
"Good think I stole from Pym Tech a year back. Spot always said it was too dangerous," snarked Quentin, as he pocketed the small stacks and flew out of the bank.
Sandman and Vulture had teamed up, raining terror from the skies.
"So much better than when we were part of the Frightful Four! Octavius knows how to keep people organized, unlike Osborn!" cackled Vulture, as he rained metallic feathers from his wings, which acted like small knives, while Sandman absorbed the silicates from the cement on the roads, making himself as big as a 5 story building. He backhanded a building, causing it to topple down onto the street.
People were running helter-skelter, as cars were being flipped over their heads. Electro returned and started to aiming huge amounts of electricity towards the clouds, which induced lightning. The lightning struck the streets, causing gas explosions, and in some places the road started to melt. Mysterio flew past Electro spraying his hallucinogen onto the public, while Scorpion jumped in injected random people with the toxin.
"That's enough!" shouted Octavius, from the earpiece he had assigned to both of them. "We need to be coordinated, and not attack so randomly! Let's go!" he said, as the other five obeyed.
Peter woke up on a couch, realizing he was covered in stitches. He tried to move his arm, but realized he couldn't. He couldn't move any part of his body except for his neck. Turning his neck to the right, he noticed a coat hanger, with Black Cat's mask. He recognized where he was.
As he tried to move his hip, he felt something warm pouring from it. He noticed that he was bleeding profusely from his right side. The stitch was torn open. He tried to scream, but his voice was barely a squeak.
Felicia came running from the other room. "Don't move!" she said, as she grabbed a first aid kit and started to stitch it back up. Peter couldn't feel what was happening, but he still closed his eyes tightly, falling back into sleep.
"I really don't know what we're going to do about this. Should we contact Flash's parents?" asked Aunt May, to 11 year old Peter.
"That'll just make it worse, Aunt May. They'll call me a wuss if you do that," said Peter.
"Hey, no one calls my boy a wuss and gets away with it!" said another voice. Pete turned around and saw a man with a warm smile, and grey hair.
"Uncle Ben, you came!" said Peter, running up to him and hugging him. Ben chuckled.
"Slow down, squirt! Now, what was this kid's name? Dash? Blink?" asked Ben.
"Flash Thompson. His real name is Eugene," said Peter.
"Tell you what, Pete. Get the baseball, and wait in the backyard, ok?" asked Ben.
"Are we gonna play catch?" asked Peter.
"Something cooler," he said. Peter smiled widely and ran to the backyard, and Ben walked back to Aunt May.
"Gotta love bullies," sighed Ben, as he sipped his tea.
"I really think we should contact Eugene's parents," said May.
"Trust me, from experience, it'll just make it worse," said Ben.
"What do you suggest?" asked May. Just as Ben was about to respond, Peter called out for him.
"Gimme a sec," said Ben, as he walked to the backyard. Peter was eagerly clutching the baseball. Ben chuckled as he walked up to him.
"Do you know where we got this baseball from?" asked Ben, while Peter shook his head.
"Well, you were about 4 years old, and I had taken you to a baseball match. Well technically it was your aunt's idea. Anyway, we were sitting in the middle row, and this guy scores a straight home run! The ball is coming towards you and May," said Ben, taking the ball and making it come closer to Peter's face, imitating a whoosh sound.
"But then, I caught the ball just as it was about to hit you both! And guess who the baseball belonged to?" asked Ben.
"Ummm…I don't know!" said Peter.
"The legendary Benjamin Poindexter. Yeah, this is his baseball. So anytime someone says you're a loser or something, just show them this baseball. We even got it signed!" said Ben, pointing at Poindexter's signature on the bottom of the ball: A bullseye.
"Whoa," said Peter, as Ben ruffled his hair. "Can I show it to Harry?" asked Peter, as Ben nodded. His face glowing with happiness, he rushed back inside, while May was watching the whole thing from inside the house, smiling to herself.
Peter woke up again, with Felicia sitting beside him. "Don't move too much," she said, as Peter nodded slowly. "Can't…feel," he squeaked out.
"Scorpion's toxin was a nerve agent. Your body is trying to fight it actively. Don't worry, it'll wear off," she said.
"What happened?" he said, his head throbbing, as he struggled to breathe.
"Best guess? 16 broken bones, with a large number of cuts too. With your speed healing you'll probably be able to walk by the end of the day," said Felicia, as she brought him a glass of warm water. Peter brought it to his lips and drank the water, letting it cool down his esophagus.
The television was on, and the news was reporting the incident that occurred the night before.
"The group of villains, comprising of Electro, Scorpion, Mysterio, Vulture, Sandman and Doctor Octopus wreaked havoc near the Manhattan Bridge, killing 5 people and injuring many more. As of now their whereabouts are unknown," said Eddie, as the reporter.
Peter tried to sit up, but Felicia quickly stopped him. "You've lost way too much blood already," she said, as Peter lay back down.
"By the way, you've got 37 text messages and 12 missed calls from Gwen," said Felicia, as she switched the news channel. The news read out: "Spider-Man: Dead?"
Peter internally groaned, and Felicia stifled a chuckle.
"Altruist," mumbled Peter. "Your father," he said. Felicia got what she meant.
"I have his address and stuff, but I haven't gone to meet him yet," said Felicia.
Peter was feeling drowsy again, and all of a sudden he felt a sharp pain in his back, and he fell unconscious again.
"Alright Peter, here we go," said Ben, as he dropped 15 year old Peter Parker to his first day at school.
"Great. Torture, here I come!" said Peter, as he got out of the car. Slinging his bag on his left shoulder, he waved goodbye to Ben and walked towards the main gate. The fountain was in the middle of the front door of the school, there were students gathering around with each other, getting to know their textbooks, their classmates, etc.
Peter walked up to the fountain and took a seat near the chairs there, when another blond girl sat next to him, her head buried in a Chemistry textbook. Her eyebrow twitched, as if she was super frustrated with something.
"Need any help?" asked Peter, pointing a skinny finger to the paragraph she was analyzing.
"Yeah. I can't wrap my head around ionic equations," she said.
"Just write down each individual ion with the state symbol of their compounds on the left side of the equation, and if those same ions have the same state symbol on the right side, cancel out those ions. The ions that have a different state symbol on the right side are the ions you need," he explained, adjusting his round glasses.
"Hey that actually works, thanks!" she said. "I'm Gwen,"
"I'm-"
"Lil Parker!" said a loud voice, as a larger blond guy walked up to him.
Peter sighed, as he started to walk away, but his path was blocked by Flash's sidekick, Carl King.
"Alright, come on King Kong, don't you have an island to hide at?" muttered Peter, as he tried to get past him.
"Did Peter get himself a girlfriend? Awww, within a week she's gonna wanna leave you!" said Flash, as he took Peter's bag from him.
"She's not my- alright hey come on, gimme my bag back!" protested Peter, but Carl held him back.
Flash fished for something in Peter's bag, and found a baseball, covered in dirt and grime.
"Hey, I found it! That baseball Parker would talk about as a kid!" said Flash, holding up the ball.
"Alright, enough!" said Peter, as he punched Flash's chest, but them recoiled his own arm back in pain. Flash simply laughed out loud, as did other students. Gwen simply rolled her eyes and walked away.
"Look at that, even she had enough of you! Hey, wasn't this baseball signed by that guy who became some kind of murderer?" teased Flash. "Parker's been carrying around a murderer's baseball!" he yelled out, pushing Peter down.
"Well, we wouldn't want to honour killers now, would we?" asked Flash, as he got ready to throw the ball.
"Flash, don't!" protested Peter, but Flash threw the ball far out of campus and across the street. The ball bounced off the street and fell in the park, in the pond.
"Lands right in the pond! With the scum where you belong, Parker!" said Flash, as Peter held back tears.
"Okay folks! Enough with the nerd jokes!" said another voice, and Peter noticed Harry Osborn walk up. Carl King let Peter go, who stumbled towards Harry.
"Look at that! You need some rich snob's son to keep you safe, Petey!" said Flash, as he and Carl walked away.
"You good?" asked Harry, as Peter nodded, adjusting his glasses. The other students all went back to their work.
After school ended for the day, Peter walked towards the pond, where the ball was stuck with the weeds. He pulled it out, and saw the fading signature, remembering Ben's words.
Angrily, he walked towards a bench, and buried the ball underneath a pile of loose mud, and walked away huffing.
Peter got up again, this time able to feel most of his body. He was still struggling to breathe though. He sat up at a 30 degree angle, and took a sip of water. His wounds seemed to be healing relatively quick, but everything still hurt like Hell. He looked at the clock and saw that it was 6 pm. It had been an entire day.
"Peter?" asked a voice coming from the door. Peter looked up and saw Gwen's horrified expression. He was just as confused as her. She dropped her bag and ran straight towards him. Peter still had difficulty speaking.
"What happened?" she asked, holding back tears, as Felicia walked in.
"I called her here. Seemed like you both needed each other," she said, as she readied an injection.
"W-What's that?" asked Gwen, skeptical.
"It'll help to ease his nervous system. He's lucky, any more of that toxin and he'd be left in a permanent vegetative state," said Felicia. Peter winced a little and held Gwen's arm tightly, as Felicia injected the medicine.
"How do you know so much?" asked Gwen.
"At the orphanage, one of my friends was studying medicine. I may or may not have read some of her textbooks," explained Felicia.
Some minutes passed by, and Peter was finally able to speak, but he was gasping a lot for air.
"G-Gwen?" he asked, breathlessly.
"Yeah, yeah I'm here," she said.
"Felicia…can we get…some privacy?" asked Peter. Felicia nodded and walked out of the apartment.
"Gwen, I-"
"You need to stop. Please," said Gwen. Peter was perplexed.
"W-what do you mean?" asked Peter.
"Look at you! You're literally half-dead, unable to breathe!" she said.
"I've been worse…" he groaned.
"No, you haven't! Peter come on," she said.
"Gwen, we've had this conversation before. I can't just stop," he replied.
"Why? Peter the city isn't your responsibility. Being a student, getting a degree, being safe! That's your responsibility," countered Gwen. "Almost every day and night you come back on the verge of death, and this is your closest yet,"
"When Otto almost killed me, you said I had to keep going,"
"That was way different. I thought Otto had some humanity left in him. Peter I… I don't want you to end up like my dad," she said.
Peter sighed again. "Gwen, I'm sorry about this. But I am not George. If I have these powers that can be used to help people, then I have a moral obligation to do so. Uncle Ben taught me that much," said Peter.
Gwen closed her eyes, letting a tear fall. "Do you think…that Uncle Ben would want you coming home in such a state? Would he want you to risk your life every damn night being a masked hero? Would he want you to die?" she asked.
"Maybe not. But the world has changed since then. It changed a long time back. Uncle Ben may not have predicted me becoming Spider-Man, but I am not going to let him down like that. Whether you like it or not," he countered.
"He never would've wanted you to do all of this!" she continued. "If he was here, he would say the same thing I'm saying right now,"
"Yeah? Well he's not here," replied Peter.
Gwen took a step back. "You're addicted to this, aren't you?" she asked. "Addicted to doing all of this, being Spider-Man, constantly risking your life for all of this. You can't imagine a life other than this," said Gwen.
"Whatever it is, Gwen, I'm not gonna stop," he said.
"Why? Why do you think you deserve this?!" she yelled out.
"Because it was always my fault! Uncle Ben's death was my fault! Your father's death was my fault! Otto's downfall was my fault! All of it is all on me! Max becoming Electro, Curt's family being destroyed! I took that from them!" shouted Peter, as loud as he could without having to scream in pain. "So excuse me if I think I deserve all of this, which I do," said Peter affirmatively.
"You don't deserve this. Please," said Gwen, her voice going down to a whisper.
"I'm not going to stop. Not until I get The Altruist and put the Sinister Six behind bars," replied Peter.
"What if I tell May? About this," said Gwen. "Peter she deserves to know,"
"Gwen please, you'll cause her more pain than me. There's a reason I haven't told her any of this. I wouldn't want her to stress like that, no more than you are right now," said Peter.
Gwen nodded. "Okay. Good luck Peter," she said, as she left the apartment. Peter sighed and covered his face with his hands.
Struggling, he managed to get up and stand up off of the couch. Felicia walked back in, shocked.
"Careful," she said, as she steadied Peter up.
"I'm fine," said Peter.
"Don't even think about swinging. You have 23 stitches, if even one tears then you may lose too much blood," she said. Peter acknowledged it, as Felicia handed him a hoodie. She gave him some money to take a bus too. He slowly put on the hoodie and made his way to the door.
"Thanks Felicia," he said.
"Don't mention it. But listen, I think she has a point, you're only 17,"
"I'm turning 18 in a few days," protested Peter.
"Just…try taking it easy," she said. Peter agreed as he walked out of the door and towards the elevator.
It was almost 7, as Peter stepped into the bus which was going to Greenwich, where ESU was situated. The conductor looked at Peter, as if wondering what the Hell happened to him.
"Drugs," muttered the driver as he shook his head.
Peter limped to the back of the bus and took the seat towards the right side, leaning his head on the window. He started to think about everything.
"What if Gwen was right? Would Ben want me to be doing all of this? If he was alive and I had these powers, what would I do? Do I deserve this, or am I inflicting this on myself?" thought Peter.
"Am I addicted to this? This thrill? And I use Uncle Ben as an excuse for this? No, no way,"
The bus finally stopped at ESU's gates at around 7:30. Peter limped through the gates and walked back up to his dorm, only to run into Carlie.
"Peter, is that you? We were wondering where you were, wait- what happened?" she asked, seeing his bloody hoodie, and his bruised face.
"Got mugged, no big deal," he said, continuing ahead.
"No Pete wait! We have to find the guy who did this to you!" she said.
"Carlie, please. Not now," said Peter.
"Okay. Sure," she said, as she walked away. Peter continued past his dormitory and to his room, where he fell into a deep slumber.
24 HOURS EARLIER
A man sat in his hideout, waiting for a phone call. He waited in silence, almost able to hear his own heartbeat. Just then, his phone rang.
"There will be an explosion at Ryker's Island. I need you to be there. You know what to do," said the caller
"Yes, Mr-"
"Altruist. Call me The Altruist," said the man on the other side of the call.
The unknown man got up, readied a gun, and walked out of the door, after picking up a white mask.
And there you have it! This chapter was definitely much more introspective as I thought this would be a good opportunity to delve further into what makes Peter Spider-Man, along with Uncle Ben appearing! And I took a lot of inspiration from a certain episode of Daredevil (which is one of the best things on Netflix). I decided to update this quick since I probably won't be doing so next week (worst case scenario, the whole of March).
Marvel Nerd: I definitely took inspiration from that!
SpideyXBC: Not a bad idea, but I guess Fisk already knew that Peter is going after The Altruist, but who knows, maybe Fisk does have ulterior motives…
Guest (1): He actually showed up back in Season 1, and I'm pretty sure in the first episode of Season 4 too. But I'm glad you're excited!
Guest (2): Hahahahaha, that's not a bad idea!
Geek4Life: You called it! Nice one!
redbirds12: Glad you're excited! I'm gonna make sure they play off of each other's strengths!
Fate-Be Changed: Maybe, you never know…
Yours Truly,
Shadow Strike.