Civil War: The Marvelous Spiderman

By

Justin Jossart

Prologue: A Doctor's Vengeance

On a rooftop in Manhattan, above the bustling streets of New York City, a battle raged. The rooftop looked like a warzone. Cracks and craters marred the cement, a cornerstone lay in pieces, and a sticky web-like substance crisscrossed the battlefield. The iconic Manhattan skyline, its tall skyscrapers reflecting the evening sun, played backdrop as two figures clashed.

Spider-Man, heroic crime fighter to some, vigilante menace to others, weaved in and out of adamantium tentacles, trying to find a path to the vulnerable mad scientist within. The sinuous metal appendages danced to and fro at the behest of their master, but their masked opponent dodged their questing attacks with relative ease. After all, this was a dance that Spider-Man had rehearsed a dozen times. He knew the steps like an olympic gymnast knew her routine. With the assistance of his trademarked Spider Sense and super-human agility, the wallcrawler knew that it was just a matter of time before he'd be able to put Doctor Otto Octavius down for the count… again. He and Octavius, more commonly known as "Doc Ock," had done battle many times and the result had always been the same. The webslinger had no reason to think that their current scuffle would end any differently.

"You know," Spider-Man said conversationally as he ducked beneath one whirling tentacle, then somersaulted over two more. "You'd think that you'd have learned by now." His Spider Sense warned him of an attack coming from behind, and he leapt to his right, dodging the pincers of yet another of the "good" doctor's tentacles. "I mean, really! How many times have we done this? At least ten?"

Octavius snarled, his brow furrowing in rage. The effect was somewhat lessened by his ridiculous bowl cut. "Thirteen times! You have bested me thirteen times, you insect! But today, victory will be mine, one way or another!" Spider-Man didn't need to be able to see through Ock's mirrored sunglasses to guess at the madness gleaming in the scientist's eyes.

"Arachnid. Spiders are arachnids, not insects." the webslinger retorted, leaping over a tentacle while tapping his middle and ring fingers to his palm. A line of webbing rocketed from the webshooters on his wrist with a mechanical thwip. Octavius tried to block the incoming webbing with one of his tentacles, but he was too slow. The web-fluid had found its mark: Octavius's face. More specifically, his glasses.

Blinded, the mad scientist roared in frustration, his metal appendages thrashing wildly. The red-and-blue-clad wallcrawler darted between them, seizing the opportunity to land a bone-jarring punch to the doctor's jaw. Doc Ock stumbled with blow, his tentacles collapsing on Spider-Man's location… but Spider-Man was already gone. The hero had flipped over Octavius's head, and had grabbed hold of two of the doctor's tentacles right where they met the belt-like harness around Octavius's waist.

Using his wall-clinging ability to enhance his grip, Spider-Man pulled with all of his considerable strength. His corded muscles flexed taut beneath his spandex suit, and the tentacles tore free from the harness with a terrible rending sound. The tentacles themselves may have been nigh indestructible, but the harness, and their connection to the harness was not. It was a design flaw that Spider-Man had used in the past to great success. Honestly, the webslinger was surprised that the doctor hadn't remedied that particular issue, but he wasn't about to look a gift horse in the mouth.

The doctor in question howled, falling to his knees. The pain had to be unbearable. However, Spider-Man wasn't the type to leave a job half done. Grasping Octavius's two remaining tentacles, he tore those free from the harness as well. Again, the doctor screamed, rage and pain filling his voice.

"Well, now that you're disarmed, you and I need to have a talk," Spider-Man said. He tossed the tentacles to the ground as he walked around the doctor. Webbing still covered the scientist's eyes, but the wallcrawler paid it no mind. "You and I keep doing this. When will you get it through that thick skull that you can't win?" He punctuated this statement by knocking on Octavius's head like a door. "Did you really think that I'd just let you assault the ESU dean? I know you think he's one of the ones responsible for what made you, well, you, but you need to learn to let go. Have you tried meditation? I've heard it works wonders."

Octavius started laughing. It started off as a low chuckle, slowly building into a full-blown maniacal, howling laugh. "You fool! Did you think… Did you honestly think that I didn't anticipate your involvement?"

Spider-Man cocked his head. This was new. Normally at this point of their back and forth, Octavius would be vowing vengeance, describing the horrors that he'd inflict upon Spider-Man upon their next inevitable encounter.

"You did!" The doctor was almost gleeful. "You honestly thought you were foiling my plans, instead of playing directly into them! I knew you'd try to stop me, and I knew that I couldn't best you in a physical confrontation!"

Spider-Man's joking manner disappeared. Grabbing a fistful of Doc Ock's coat, he pulled the mad scientist to eye level. "What did you do? What's your game?!"

"This is no game, arachnid," Octavius smirked. "This is vengeance. Not against the dean, not against you, but against the entire institution that dares call itself a university! How dare you underestimate me? I am Otto Octavius, one of the world's leading minds! I don't need brute force to accomplish my goals!"

"What. Did. You. Do?" Spider-Man's voice was low and dangerous, a tone he hadn't used with a criminal since the night that the Green Goblin had pushed his then-girlfriend Gwen Stacy off the George Washington Bridge. The night that Gwen Stacy had died.

The doctor laughed again. "You'll just have to wait and see, Spider-Man! Just like the rest of that pathetic 'University!' But don't worry… They should go off any moment now!"

Later, as he sat in his cold, empty apartment, Spider-Man wouldn't remember letting go of Octavius. He wouldn't remember the flabby doctor falling heavily to the ground, his laughter unceasing. He wouldn't remember dashing to the edge of the rooftops.

He would remember scrambling beneath an overhang and reaching for the bag that held the clothes and effects of Peter Parker, his alter-ego. He'd remember rummaging through it until his fingers brushed against a cellphone, flipping it open and frantically scrolling through his 'Contacts.' He'd remember her voice.

"Hello?" She answered. Her name was Mary-Jane Watson, the auburn-haired beauty that deigned to date Peter Parker.

"MJ! Where are you?!" He already knew the answer. She had told him over morning coffee that she had an acting workshop this evening at the Empire State University… Octavius's alma mater. Mary-Jane had joked about how no workshop could help her acting 'skills,' while Peter had encouraged her to go and have fun.

"This is a bad time, Tiger. The workshop is getting ready to start. I told you about it this morning, remember?"

"You have to get out of there, now! Get off campus as fast as you can!" Spider-Man leapt off the ground, firing a web-line that anchored to a nearby building. Mentally, he was going over in his head how far ESU was, and the quickest way to get there.

Mary-Jane sounded confused. "What? Pete, I don't understand."

"Just listen to me! You have to go! Drop everything! I'll be there soon."

With that he ended the call, allowing the phone to fall from his fingers, not bothering to waste a moment's concentration on such simple things as tucking the device into the pants of his costume. The phone fell forty feet before being obliterated by the pavement below. Few things in the city of New York can travel as quickly as a web-slinging Spider-Man moving at full speed. He chewed up city blocks at an amazing pace, the streets blurring beneath him. The Empire State University campus greeted the hero mere minutes after he had ended the call with the young Miss Watson.

The first explosion rocked the foundations of the city. It radiated from within the heart of the school, expanding in a fireball of burning death. Spider-Man could feel the heat from two blocks away. His ears still ringing from the deafening shockwave, the webslinger pushed forward, gritting his teeth. Nothing else mattered but getting to the theater that housed MJ's acting workshop. He sprinted across the campus lawn at a speed respectable for highway travel. Smaller explosions decimated the buildings around him, his Spider-Sense was screaming that he was in danger, but he didn't care. He had to reach her.

Racing around the corner of a dorm building, Spider-Man was stopped short. A massive crater, littered with rubble and fire, lay where the majority of Empire State University had once stood.

Later, he would learn that over ten thousand students had been killed in the initial blast. Each death would forever be a blow against the conscience of the wall-crawling hero known as Spider-Man.

The body that would forever haunt Peter Parker, however, bore fiery red hair and sightless emerald eyes.