The Invincible Spider-Man
Chapter 53: Full Circle
It had been two days since the death of Jonathan Ohnn, aka Spot, and Peter was standing at his funeral. He was standing on the right of his coffin, along with a blind Matt Murdock. On the other side were Jonathan's wife and child.
"John always wanted to…help people with his experiments. Of course, everything turned upside down that one day at the lab, which turned him into what we thought was a monster, and led him to be in jail for the next two years. But John, he…he proved himself to everyone, even though he had nothing to prove to me," said John's wife, Lisa. She sniffled and paused, taking out a white handkerchief and wiping her tears.
"John died the way he lived, or tried to live. A noble person, doing whatever he could to help others. Goodbye for a final time, dear husband. I promise to live for you, and make sure Richie has a bright future," she concluded, as she tightly clutched her son's hand.
After the funeral, Peter walked up to Lisa.
"I'm truly sorry about what happened to him," said Peter. "I was one of Dr Ohnn's students," he explained.
"Don't be sorry. The only person who should be sorry is Spider-Man. He was never there, no matter how much John tried to help," said Lisa. It was obvious that she was distraught, so Peter simply nodded and walked back towards Matt.
"Apparently traces of Salvinorin A were found on John. Which is-"
"A psychoactive alkaloid capable of giving severe hallucinations, especially when mixed with other chemicals, and improved technology. It was Mysterio, and then Osborn delivered the final blow," said Peter, through gritted teeth as he clenched his fists.
"Still can't believe he was The Altruist all this time. I still don't understand, what's his play? His endgame?" asked Matt.
"That's what scares me. The fact that he's still somehow ahead of us," said Peter. "One thing's for sure though. Otto would never work for Norman, which means that he doesn't know that Norman is the Altruist," said Peter.
"But wait, how was The Altruist active if Norman was in jail all the time? How'd he blackmail Black Cat?" asked Matt.
"Must've been Chameleon. Or, for all we know this is still some game, and Norman isn't the Altruist," lamented Peter.
"Everything fits perfectly, though. We need to find out where the Six are hiding. Maybe interrogating some of the caught members could yield some results. Who's the stupidest one who'd give away information the quickest?" asked Matt.
"Marko, definitely. But, he might not know much about the inner workings of their Dirty Half Dozen. Someone like Scorpion would be better," said Peter. "We'll regroup later and head to Ryker's to question them," he continued.
"Got it. Where are you headed?" asked Matt.
"I need to get my mind off of things," said Peter, leaving the graveyard.
Gwen was working on her homework, when all of a sudden she heard a knock on the window. Of course, it was Peter.
As soon as he got in, he immediately cupped her face in his hands and kissed her.
"Well I'm definitely not complaining, but what was that all about?" asked Gwen, chuckling.
"A break. I'm gonna do what you said, and take a break," said Peter. Gwen seemed startled.
"Wait what? Now?" asked Gwen, looking shocked.
"No, obviously not! But maybe after this whole situation blows over, maybe Peter Parker can have more of a life?" suggested Peter.
"Are you sure? I mean, we talked about this before, but you seem much more enthusiastic this time," said Gwen.
"Gwen, trust me. I need a break from all of this," said Peter. "Also, it turns out that Norman's The Altruist," he added.
"Wait, what?! Norman?" asked Gwen. Peter nodded.
"I have an idea though. Otto obviously doesn't know that fact. Maybe I can use that against him?" suggested Peter.
"Otto would be enraged, hopefully throwing him off balance. And I'm assuming you and Daredevil can handle Mysterio?"
"Definitely. He's gonna pay for what he did to Jonathan," said Peter. As he turned around, Gwen held his shoulder.
"Be careful, Peter," she said. "This is something completely different than what you've been up against before," she said.
"I will, I promise," he said, as he put on his mask and dove out of the window. That's when he got a call from an unknown number.
"If this is some scammer saying a Nigerian prince left me money…" said Peter, as he picked up the call.
"Spider-Man? I-It's me…Phineas Mason," said Phineas.
"Tinkerer? About time we had a talk," said Spider-Man.
"Yeah I have to explain myself. Please just give me a chance," said Mason.
Peter thought for a while. "Fine. Wait, I'll meet you at Central Park, just so I know it's you," said Peter.
"Okay," said Mason, cutting the call.
Peter landed at Central Park, and saw Phineas sitting at a nearby bench. Spider-Man quickly jumped into a tree, analyzing his environment, and Phineas himself.
"He's sweating, and his legs shaking uncontrollably. He seems way too nervous about this," noticed Peter. Just then, his senses tingled, and all of a sudden, the whole tree he was in got knocked down.
Peter quickly jumped off as the tree fell, only to turn around and see Mysterio sitting where Tinkerer was.
"Ah, Quentin! Guessing you need my help to increase the national stock price for fishbowls?" asked Spider-Man, standing up.
"Last time, Spider-Man, I was barely an illusionist. This time however, prepare to be amazed," said Mysterio, as he started to seem to conjure up red magic.
"Uh Beck, did you start visiting Doctor Strange on the weekends?" asked Spider-Man, a little nervous.
Just then, red magic started to envelop Mysterio, as he disappeared. Just then, out of the red smoke, emerged a large, 70 foot dragon. Spider-Man stumbled back as the dragon started to hover.
"Ohhhhhhkay, what the Hell?" asked Peter, as he started to run back a little. The dragon began to huff.
"I swear to God, if you breathe fire…" said Peter. The dragon opened its mouth, and 5 missiles shot out from it, all of them aiming towards Spider-Man. Peter quickly started to swing away, weaving across buildings as the missiles followed him.
"A dragon spewing out missiles?! Did you never get out of your childhood, Quentin?" asked Spider-Man. The missiles followed suit, almost as if they would never stop going after Peter.
Spider-Man quickly swung over the dragon and took refuge behind it's back. The missiles hit the dragon, all exploding on contact. The dragon started to whir mechanically, as it took off for the city.
Spider-Man tumbled off of it, but he quickly shot a web which stuck to one of the dragon's scales, and started to hang from it. The dragon smashed through building as it flew through the city.
Spider-Man crawled up to the head of the dragon, only to realize that the inside was hollow. The dragon started to spew out more missiles.
"Hard light holograms, huh? Gotta say, you've upped your game!" said Spider-Man, as he crawled under the dragon's chin, and webbed up it's lower jaw, forcing it to open its mouth. He quickly jumped in its mouth, holding it open as the missiles flew towards Peter.
"Call for the chef if you like your meal!" said Peter, as he quickly jumped out. The missiles all flew inside the dragon, destroying the illusion.
Spider-Man landed on a rooftop, and Mysterio crashed down.
"You're gonna pay for what you've done, Beck," said Peter, walking over to him, and throwing him across the rooftop. However, Mysterio started to hover in the air, and summoned 50 other holograms of himself.
"We both know these aren't gonna hurt me," said Spider-Man. Just then, all the copied turned into clones of himself.
The Spider-Men all jumped on Peter, webbing him up and throwing him off the roof. Peter landed on a car and tumbled off of it. He broke apart the webbing, only to see all the Spider-Men crawl down the building like mindless creatures.
"Oh for god's sake," said Peter, as he shot multiple webs and pulled down most of the clones, which fell to the ground and exploded into dust. The rest of them all grabbed cars and started throwing them everywhere, hoping to hit Peter.
"I need to get them out of here," thought Spider-Man, as he started to swing away from Central Park and towards the Upper West Side. The Spider-Men followed, all swinging haphazardly behind him. A lot of them slammed into buildings and disintegrated, but the rest continued pursuing him.
Peter quickly landed in a construction site, and all the other Spider-Men landed behind him, shooting webs. Peter backflipped out of the way, and pulled a nearby crane, which was carrying a large amount of metal pallets.
The crane swung towards the construction site, slamming into some Spider-Men. However, there was some collateral damage, as chunks of debris started to fall off. Peter quickly webbed those up and pulled them back up. He then kicked them back into the clones, destroying some of them. Just then, he had an idea.
Peter shot a web at the crane and started to swing from it, however, he made sure to remain stationary. All the clones jumped at him, and all of them missed, falling down to the ground and exploding into dust.
"Didn't know that'd work," thought Peter, as he swung from the crane and back towards Mysterio.
Luckily, the streets were empty, and there was no one injured. Spider-Man swung back, only to see a giant Mysterio walking down the street, almost as large as Sandman.
"First Marko, now you? Beck, we all know these are illusions, you're not scaring anyone!" shouted Peter.
"Really? Well, does this feel like an illusion?!" shouted the giant Mysterio, as he released a swarm of bats after Peter. The bats grabbed Peter's shoulders and lifted him up. Some of them bit at his arms and legs.
Spider-Man struggled free and landed on the wall of a building. He made a large net out of his webbing and trapped some of the barts, which were struggling to get out.
"Mysterio! I'm bringing the party to you!" shouted Peter, grabbing the net by his left hand swinging over to Mysterio's face with the right, and throwing the net towards him. The bats exploded in a cloud of dust, barely affecting Mysterio. The giant Mysterio grabbed Spider-Man in his fist.
"I'm a Goliath, Spider-Man! You're gonna suffer the same fate as Spot now!" chuckled Mysterio, crushing Peter in his fist.
"Quentin…if you're Goliath…does that make me David?!" asked Peter, breaking free from his fist and jumping onto Mysterio's back. He was able to see that one again, it was completely hollow.
"This hologram has to be projected from somewhere. The projectors should be…" thought Peter. Just the, he noticed a figure standing from another building. It was Quentin Beck, in a motion capture suit.
Peter quickly put two and two together.
"I've been fighting with a hologram Mysterio this whole time!" he exclaimed, as he jumped off the hologram's back, and shot a web at its legs.
"I asked you a question, Beck! Am I David?" asked Peter again.
"What are you even talking about?!" asked a flustered Mysterio.
"Next time, better know what you're referencing!" said Peter, as he shot multiple strands of webbing around Mysterio's legs, and started swinging around them.
"Because, the story of David and Goliath teaches us…" grunted Peter, as he went around his legs multiple times, and landed back on the ground.
"That the bigger they are…" he continued, as he pulled down hard, causing the hologram to trip and fall onto a building, vanishing into dust.
"The harder they fall. Thank you 7th grade literature class," said Peter, as he swung over to Beck, who was in a motion capture suit. To not be seen, he stealthily landed behind him.
"Oh but for my next trick, Spider-Man! You will not be able to comprehend!" said Beck. He was speaking into a microphone, and the drones around him were amplifying his voice to make him seem larger.
"Spider-Man! Did you run away? Shouldn't have expected any more from you! Coward!" shouted Beck into his microphone.
"Says the guy who's miles away from the fight, dressed in a MOCAP suit!" said Spider-Man. Beck yelped as he turned around to see Spider-Man, who webbed up his feet and pulled him to the ground, repeatedly punching the fishbowl head he was wearing, shattering it completely.
Once it was destroyed, he still kept punching Beck.
"You're going to pay for what you did! John had a family! A wife! A son!" said Peter, not holding back, beating his face in mercilessly. However, Beck had stopped grunting, and Peter was still punching him.
Suddenly, Peter had the urge to stop. He quickly let go of Beck and took a look at his bloodied knuckles. He couldn't tell if it was Beck's blood or his. Quentin looked as if an anvil had been dropped on his face. His cheekbones had very clearly caved in, and his nose was crooked.
"Holy shit," said Peter, as he quickly grabbed Quentin and swung towards a nearby hospital.
"Hey! He needs help!" said Peter, as he brought Quentin to a doctor.
"Immediate help! Get an ER ready, stat!" said the doctor, to a nurse.
"Will he be fine?" asked Peter.
"He will, we need to assess the damage first," said the doctor, as he quickly rushed into the ER.
"Dislocated temporomandibular joint, 2 crushed nasal conchae, and 2 zygomatic bones broken off along the midway points," said the doctor, as Spider-Man buried his face in his palms.
"Will he live?" asked Spider-Man.
"He will, but the scarring will be bad," said the doctor, as Spider-Man nodded. Just then, Daredevil walked into the corridor, and handed Spider-Man the newspaper. It had been almost a whole day since Mysterio's attack.
"Spider-Man: Off The Deep End?" read the headline. Spider-Man sighed.
"What exactly happened?" asked Matt.
"I…I don't know. I got blinded by this…this anger. I didn't see Mysterio, all I could see was the man who murdered John," said Peter with remorse in his voice. "I couldn't get myself to stop. I knew what I was doing was wrong but…I just couldn't,"
Daredevil sighed. "When I first started out, I was 19. And this was years back. My best friend, Foggy, was being bullied at university. One time, they jumped him and beat him senseless," said Matt.
"Holy shit. Then?"
"I was angry, really really angry. I knew I couldn't take these guys head on, without giving away that I could still technically see even though I was blind. So I studied their routine, what they did at each second of the day. And when they were alone, I struck. I would wear this black mask and black spandex and go after them," explained Daredevil. Peter shuddered a little.
"I left the first two guys with a couple missing teeth, but the last one…the last one had hurt Foggy the most. I broke both the bones in his left forearm, dislocated his right shoulder, and put the fear of God in him," said Matt, his voice quivering. "At the time, all I could see was red. I was angry, and I couldn't stop hurting him. Eventually I did, but he was never okay. All 3 of them claimed that…the Devil had come for them," chuckled Matt, before taking a breath.
"They called me the Devil of Empire State University," said Matt.
"Wait you also went to ESU?" asked Peter.
"Yeah. Studied law with Foggy, then started our own law firm," said Matt.
"Wow. Weird how almost everyone goes to ESU," chuckled Peter.
"Yeah. Sorry I wasn't there to help you, by the way. I had to catch up with some friends," said Matt.
"Foggy?" asked Peter.
"Foggy and Karen. I'd die for them," said Matt. Peter nodded.
"So where exactly did you and Elektra go?" asked Peter.
"Nepal, back to the Chaste. Met a guy called Shang-Chi on the way," said Matt.
"Shang-Chi? The martial artist who disappeared?" asked Peter, startled.
"Yeah. You seem to know a lot about him," remarked Matt.
"Yeah. My uncle and I used to watch his television show," replied Peter.
"Right. Anyways we trained with him for a while, then after that we started to track down any Hand officials around the world. Turns out there's a lot more," said Daredevil. "Then when I returned I found out a friend of mine, Iron Fist went missing. So I took some help from Deadpool to find him,*"
(*Season 1 of the Totally Awesome Invincible Deadpool!)
"Sounds like an eventful 4 years," said Peter.
"Sure has been," replied Matt. Just then, Peter got a phone call from Jean.
"We might have a lead on Octavius. You have no idea who just walked into the precinct. I'll bring him to the roof," she said.
Spider-Man and Daredevil landed on the roof, and saw Jean standing with none other than Herman Schultz in handcuffs.
"Herman! Good to see you're back!" said Spider-Man. Herman simply grunted.
"Haven't missed both of you one bit," spat out Herman.
"Why are you here?" asked Daredevil.
"I have information on Octo-Man and his cronies," said Herman.
"His cronies have been dealt with. Tell us where's Otto," said Peter. Herman shook his head.
"Not until I get something in return," said Herman.
"Sorry Herman, but hair salons are closed for the time being. Though I doubt anyone could fix that forest growing on your head," remarked Peter.
"I want the Manhattan People's Bank of Manhattan. At least the liquid cash stored there," said Herman.
"That's a no-no," replied Peter.
"Well, then I guess you're not going to get your information, are you?" asked Herman.
Daredevil smirked, as he jabbed a baton into Herman's chest, grabbed him by his hair and pulled him to the roof. Jean tried to stop him, but Peter stopped her. "Trust me, he's not gonna do anything too drastic,"
Matt held him high above the edge of the rooftop, grabbing him by the collar as he chuckled devilishly.
"Wanna tell me now?" asked Matt.
"There's…there's no way you'll actually…hurt me!" stuttered Herman. Daredevil pulled him closer.
"There's a reason why they call me The Devil," he said, in an unfazed tone, which seemed to terrify Herman.
"N-Nope! That ain't your style, I know you!"
"A lot can change in four years…" said Matt, as he let go of Herman, and then quickly grabbed him by the leg.
"Fine! He's working out of some old Oscorp lab, which was previously run by some Stromm guy!" wailed Herman.
"How do we know you're not lying?!" growled Daredevil.
"Gargan! He came to me, said he didn't trust Octavius!" yelled out Herman, terrified. Matt quickly threw him back on the rooftop.
"I'll go confirm this with Gargan, he's in interrogation," said Jean, as she left with Herman.
"So, we know where Octavius is. Should we go after him right now?" asked Matt.
"Yeah. Only issue is, Stromm ran two labs. We need to split up if we're gonna catch him faster. One's near Manhattan Bridge, the other's the Bronx," said Peter.
"I'll check out Manhattan Bridge, you go to the Bronx," said Matt, as Peter nodded. Spider-Man swung away, not knowing he was being watched.
Peter reached the abandoned lab in the Bronx, which was still destroyed since when Fisk bombed it four years back. The same lab where Norman got exposed to the Globulin Green, turning into the Green Goblin.
"Yeesh, this place hasn't changed a bit," remarked Peter, walking past the charred rubble, reminiscing one of his darkest nights. He walked past the crumbling doorframe and into the main lab.
He noticed how the table seemed new, and the walls were lined with gear.
"This is definitely Otto's staging ground. There's blueprints of Ryker's here, gear for the Sinister Six, everything," said Peter, as he looked through the place.
"Strange. I thought the armours were fueled by Nanotech Energy, but the blueprints say otherwise. So what's Norman doing with that energy?" thought Peter, examining the whole room. That's when he got a call from Matt.
"I found the place," they both said together.
"Wait, what?!" asked Peter, confused.
"There's a lot of Sinister Six gear here, along with blueprints and stuff," said Matt.
"Same here. That can't be right," said Peter, and that's when he saw something glint in the corner. It was a light up pumpkin.
"Oh for God's sake," sighed Peter, as he ran for the exit, only for the pumpkin to explode violently, sending Peter flying through the concrete walls and out of the building.
He heard a cackle, and sure enough the Green Goblin came swooping down with his glider, and grabbed Peter by the throat. He flew at breakneck speed and slammed him into the wall of a building.
"Liked my trap?" snarled Goblin.
"Funny how I'm gonna kick your ass the same place you were born Gobby!" said Peter, as he kicked Goblin and jumped higher on the wall, then shot two webs and kicked Goblin off of his glider.
Goblin stumbled down to the ground but quickly regained his footing. Spider-Man jumped down and spin kicked Goblin, who stumbled back again but pressed a button on his gauntlet.
His glider swooped down and slammed into Spider-Man's back. As Spider-Man flew forwards, Goblin punched him back.
"You should take better care of the people you love, Parker!" cackled Goblin, as he started flying away.
"Norman-NO!" shouted Peter, as he swung after Green Goblin, who was heading towards Chinatown. Towards F.E.A.S.T.
Green Goblin swooped down nearby the building, but Spider-Man swing kicked him and landed on the glider.
"Stay away from my family!" he yelled, as they both tackled each other on the glider. Spider-Man webbed Norman's face and jumped onto his back, shooting two webs on the edges of the glider.
He started to steer the glider upwards, away from F.E.A.S.T, however Norman headbutted Peter, before attaching a sticky bomb to his chest and kicking him off of the glider.
Spider-Man quickly pulled off the bomb as he fell to the ground. The bomb exploded in the sky, as Spider-Man fell down onto a car. Goblin again swooped down and slammed into Spider-Man sending him flying over 70 meters away. Spider-Man tumbled down the street and before he could even get up, Norman grabbed him and flew up, before slamming him back to the ground.
Goblin took out blades and threw them towards Peter, who dodged most of them. Spider-Man grabbed an empty car and threw it at Goblin, however Norman simply turned his glider vertical and sliced through the car.
"Let's see how well you can keep her safe from me this time!" shouted Goblin, as he took out 6 sticky pumpkin bombs and threw them towards Peter. They all exploded around him, partially destroying his mask.
"Her? Oh God no. NO!" shouted Spider-Man, as he continued chasing after Goblin.
Gwen was busy studying in her room, when she heard a thump. She chuckled thinking it was Peter, and giggled wondering why he was visiting so late at night. Instead, as she walked towards the window, she was greeted with the Green Goblin.
"Hello, my dear! Been a long time, hasn't it?!" cackled Goblin, as he reached for her leg. Gwen shrieked as she ran to her wall. Goblin entered, his claws extended.
Just then, Spider-Man jumped into the window and kicked Norman away. "RUN!" he shouted desperately, as Gwen ran out of her bedroom and towards the living room.
Norman grabbed Peter and slammed him onto the ceiling, before throwing him out of the bedroom. It was pitch black, and Gwen had locked her mother and brother in their rooms to protect them.
She stumbled into the kitchen and hid inside a cabinet.
She could hear Norman skulking around, flipping the furniture to find her. A velociraptor in the night.
"We can play hide and seek, but we all know eventually you'll have to come out!" said Norman, inching closer and closer towards Gwen. Gwen held her breath, and closed her eyes. Just then, she heard a grunt, and heard Spider-Man's webs.
"Get the Hell away from her!" he shouted, as he tacked Goblin to the ground, punching him repeatedly. Norman took out a grappling hook and took out a grappling hook, stabbing it straight through Peter's shoulder, and kicked him off.
He then took the grapnel gun and aimed it for the cabinet, pulling it off as he rushed to grab Gwen. Spider-Man jumped onto him again, but Norman grabbed both his arms and crushed the web shooters. He then grabbed and lifted her up with his left hand, all while Norman lifted Peter with his right and slammed him onto the table.
Norman then proceeded to repeatedly punch Spider-Man in the face, till Gwen couldn't tell whether the red colour was from his mask or his blood.
"NO, PETER! STOP, PLEASE! PLEASE!" she pleaded, but Norman continued bringing his fist down on him, till Peter even stopped breathing heavily.
"This is what happens to your boyfriend when he tries to be a hero. He gets his face pummeled in" shouted Norman, as he grabbed Spider-Man by the throat, lifted him up and slammed him back down onto the table, breaking it.
"PLEASE DON'T!" she pleaded, but Norman punched her in the face and knocked her out.
"I could kill her right now, Spider-Man. Right here. But, why rip the band-aid out so quick. No I'm going to make this slow for both of you, it's what you deserve for leaving me to rot in that prison!" said Norman, as he stepped onto Peter's face and threw him out of the window, letting him fall down to the concrete.
He then took Gwen and flew out of the building.
Well, that was brutal! And we are nearing the end of this season, with the next episode being the finale! Then Season 5 will start soon! Stay tuned! Also I don't know why I should mention this, but I wrote this chapter listening to the theme of the Amazing Spider-Man video game. Listen to that while reading this I guess lol.
In other news, the trailer for Shang-Chi looks amazing, and I can't wait to see more. Also can't wait for the finale of Falcon and The Winter Soldier, since it is fantastic so far! Also been catching up on a ton of movies, since I really love film too!
Also, my board exams got canceled! So after a 3 month vacation, I'm gonna be in 11th grade, damn! But I had to say goodbye to some classmates, but hey you gotta Move Forward. In June it's Back to Basics, and I'm hoping I won't be as antisocial as I was back in 2018. As for subjects, I've chosen Higher Level Biology, Higher Level Chemistry and Higher Level Psychology, along with Standard Level Spanish, Standard Level English and Standard Level Mathematics, and AP Statistics, AP Physics, and AP Calculus. Should be fun!
Marvel Nerd: Yeah, sorry about that. But hey, this might not be the last time you see him (wink wink)
redbirds12: Thanks! And yeah I wanted It to be a huge reveal. And as for the fighting style, I always love when heroes find a more creative way of taking down the villains, instead of just pummeling them lol. Thanks!
Spider-Sonic 123: For now, it's gonna be around Season 6 (I'll leave the whole timeline on my profile soon, so you can check it out!)
Geek4Life: Maybe not anytime soon lmao.
Yours Truly,
Shadow Strike.