The Invincible Spider-Man

Chapter 17: Gaunt

Peter left from school, only to bump into Gwen.

"Gwen, hey!" He said, chuckling.

"Peter, what's up? Hey, what happened to your eye?" She asked, as she touched a bruise under his eye. Peter winced. He couldn't tell her that he received that injury after his confrontation with Electro a few nights back.

"Oh, I just ran into a couple of muggers. I didn't have anything on me, so they let me go." Lied Peter.

"WHAT! Does Aunt May know?" Asked Gwen.

"No, no! She's stressed enough, Gwen. Please don't tell her." Pleaded Peter.

"Okay, but you be careful. I don't want anyone ruining your pretty face." Laughed Gwen.

Peter laughed too, but then he saw a man, in a black suit, gesturing towards him. It was Norman Osborn.

"Uh Gwen, I need to go now. I'll see you later?" Asked Peter.

"Yeah, see ya!" Said Gwen.

Peter walked towards Norman, who had a huge smile on his face as he shook Peter's hand. "Peter, it's always a delight seeing you!" He said.

"You too, Mr Osborn." Said Peter.

"Please, call me Norman! Also, I need your help."

"Oh sure, what's wrong."

"You take pictures of Spider-Man right? Does that mean that you talk to him too?" Asked Norman, his tone changing from friendly to serious.

Peter had never gotten recognition as being Spider-Man's photographer, so this was a huge surprise for him. Finally, someone had recognized him when he was outside the costume, and that someone just happened to be Norman Osborn. Ironic.

"Uh yeah, occasionally. Why, what's the problem?" Asked Peter, curious, but trying not to act too curious.

"Tell him I need to talk to him about something serious, tonight okay? Also, don't tell anyone else about this. I trust you Peter." Said Norman, as he put his hand on Peter's shoulder.

Peter nodded as Norman walked away. His Spider-Sense gave him an ever so slight tingle. Something was off about Norman, but he just couldn't tell what.

"I'll meet Norman tonight." Thought Peter, walking back home.

Spider-Man swung to Norman's penthouse, noticing the hole in the huge glass window. Norman seemed to be waiting for him, as he was already at his desk.

"Norman Osborn? Peter Parker said you wanted to see me?" Asked Spider-Man.

"Yes. I am afraid your life is in danger, by a former colleague of mine. Ever heard of Mendel Stromm?" Asked Norman.

"No, why?" Asked Spider-Man.

"He was with me during the New York Explosions, when Wilson Fisk blew up our lab. He seemingly died, but he managed to fuse himself with a bionic body, and now he's convinced that he can use your DNA to self-heal." Explained Norman.

"But that's crazy? God knows what side-effects that would cause!" Exclaimed Spider-Man.

"Exactly. He's been threatening me, saying he'll kill me if I don't bring him your blood, but I would never commit such deeds." Said Norman. Spider-Man raised an eyebrow.

"And where exactly can I find Dr Stromm?" Asked Spider-Man.

As if answering his question, Mendel Stromm flew through the window, staring maliciously at Spider-Man.

"Woah! Discount Iron Man here!" Joked Spider-Man. "I'm gonna assume you're Dr Stromm?"

"In the flesh! At least, what's left of it. Now get out of the way, I'm only here to see Norman." Ordered Mendel. His partly-scarred face looked like a thin crust pizza at this time.

"Ain't gonna happen, Two-Face!" Shouted Spider-Man, as he shot a web at Stromm's face, pulling him to the ground. But Mendel was prepared. He activated his jet boots and flew straight to Spider-Man, slamming him into the wall. "Call me Gaunt. Because my gaunt body will defeat you!" Said Mendel.

"Oh jeez!" Groaned Spider-Man, as he got up, but Mendel delivered one mechanical uppercut, literally sending Spider-Man up in the air. He then grabbed Spider-Man's left leg, and slammed him face-first to the ground.

"Oh, for god's sake!" Lamented Spider-Man, as he quickly rolled out of the way of another robotic punch, and spin-kicked Mendel away.

However, from the other room in the penthouse, Harry had woken up due to the commotion, and walked to his dad's office.

"Hey, Dad I- WHAT THE HELL?!" Shouted Harry. He had walked in to see Spider-Man riding on Mendel Stromm's back, who was flying around the room like a pinball.

"Son! Get out of here!" Shouted Norman, as he ran towards the door and pushed Harry out, before also leaving the office and closing the door. Leaving Spider-Man with Stromm.

"Harry, run back to your room, and lock the doors. Do not open until I say so!" Said Norman, as he ran towards his bedroom. Harry reluctantly ran to his rom and shut the door.

Meanwhile, Spider-Man was having his head slammed into the desk by Stromm.

"Can we talk like rational people?" Argued Spider-Man, as he back-kicked Mendel away.

"Everytime I move, I feel like a bone of mine is snapping! I am stuck in this useless body! You have no idea how that feels! To be Gaunt!" Shouted Mendel, as he flew towards Spider-Man again, but Spider-Man dodged.

All of a sudden, Norman kicked the door and rushed into the room, holding three purple metal balls in his left hand. They looked like purple and white metallic tennis balls.

Norman threw one at Mendel. The ball exploded and sent Mendel flying away, careening at the edge of the window.

"What the hell is that?!" Asked Spider-Man, shocked.

"Oscorp prototype hand grenades. These should stop him." Said Norman, as he aimed the other two.

"No, wait! You'll kill him!" Protested Spider-Man.

"So? What's your point?" Countered Norman.

While Norman and Spider-Man bickered, Mendel got back up. Norman threw the grenades at a lightning fast speed, surprising both Mendel and Spider-Man. Before the grenades could hit Mendel however, Spider-Man webbed them up and threw them out of the window, as they exploded in the air.

Spider-Man walked towards Mendel, who's suit seemed to be malfunctioning.

"No no! Octavius said this would work…" Muttered Stromm.

Spider-Man stopped dead in his tracks. "Octavius? Otto Octavius" Asked Spider-Man.

Mendel didn't answer, and he flew away, leaving Spider-Man and Norman Osborn.

"What the hell was that? We could've stopped him right there!" Lamented Norman.

"I don't kill people, Norman. But rest assured, I will deal with this problem. I might have a lead." Said Spider-Man, as he swung away.

Once Spider-Man was out of his eyesight, Norman snickered. His laptop was destroyed, but he had already saved what he needed on a pen drive.

"Now that Mendel will be too busy with Spider-Man, I can work on the Globulin Green project myself." He thought.

Peter had reached to school early that day. He managed to avoid May, as she didn't want her questioning him about his injuries, as she was already stressed enough.

Gwen, however, was an entirely different story. She kept pestering Peter to tell her what happened, but Peter tried to try and ignore the questions barraged at him.

"Did you run into more muggers?"
"Did you fall down the stairs?"
"Did you join a cult?"

That last one startled Peter. "What? No!" He said.

"I know, I just wanted you to listen to me. Now look, if you don't want to tell me, I understand. But if you really need to talk to someone, I'm here for you." She reassured Peter.

"I know you are. And I will always be there for you." Smiled Peter, as he started to walk to Dr Octavius' office.

"Dr Octavius?" Asked Peter, to see if he was busy.

"Peter! Come on in." Gestured Otto.

"I needed to talk to you about something. A man known as Mendel Stromm. Do you know him, by any chance?" Asked Peter.

Otto sighed heavily. "It was a long time ago. Me, Norman Osborn and Mendel worked together at Oscorp, on prosthetics. We had great ideas, but I had thought of a revolutionary one. A neural interface. Sadly, I decided to leave Oscorp, but I left my research in Norman's hands. For a long time, him and Mendel tried to recreate my idea, to no avail." Explained Otto.

"Well, the police are looking for Mendel Stromm, and since Captain Stacy is Gwen's dad, I wanted to ask if you knew anything about his whereabouts. Has he contacted you?" Asked Peter.

"No. I haven't met him in the last eight years." Said Otto. Peter's Spider-Sense tingled. Otto was lying.

"Okay, thank you doc. And I'm sorry if I touched on any private matter." Said Peter.

"Oh no, it's okay, Peter! Feel free to ask me anything, anytime." Said Otto.

Peter left the office, with more questions than answers. He was determined to find out why would Mendel contact Otto, and moreover, why Otto would lie to him about it.

Thanks for reading this chapter! I have plans for Gaunt, and I plan to introduce one more villain in the next one or two chapters. Be sure to catch the next chapter, where we celebrate Peter's birthday! And as always, reviews are greatly appreciated!

P.S, I released this chapter early as I'm gonna be playing The Last Of Us 2 non-stop for the next few days. Hope I'll enjoy it as much as the first one.

Yours Truly,

Shadow Strike.