The Invincible Spider-Man

Chapter 18: Happy Birthday, Peter!

Spider-Man was exhausted after another evening of crime fighting, and still no sign of Mendel Stromm, or Gaunt, as he was calling himself. Norman's penthouse was under surveillance just in case Gaunt attacked again, and Harry had been placed under the protection of two muscly bodyguards 24/7.

Peter quickly landed in an alleyway, changed into his regular clothes and took the bus to The Daily Bugle. He had to submit photos of Spider-Man to the ever jolly J. Jonah Jameson. The bus was packed to the brim, and Peter had to scooch next to a sweaty man reading the newspaper.

Peter managed to read the headlines of the newspaper he was reading. "Third robbery committed by magician in a purple and green costume." Read the article's title. What surprised Peter more, however, was the name of the person who wrote the article: Ned Leeds.

"I'm heading to The Bugle, might as well ask Ned about these robberies while I'm at it." Thought Peter.

Peter entered the Bugle and submitted the photos to Jameson, who as usual, gave him a lousy pay. Peter walked out of JJ's office, and spotted Ned chatting with Betty.

"Hey Ned, Betty!" Greeted Peter.

"Hey Peter! How's it going?" Asked Ned.

"I'm great. Oh, by the way, I wanted to ask you something about the article you wrote. The one with the Magician Robberies?" Asked Peter.

"Ah! That one. Pretty elusive bank robber. People say he uses magic to trick them while robbing them. He wears some weird helmet on his head too. Truth be told, I have no idea who that guy is." Explained Ned.

"Oh okay. Well, I gotta go. See ya!" Said Peter.

"Bye Pete!" Smiled Betty.

Peter walked back home. It was about 8 at night, so he was quite late. But as soon as he was about to open the door, his Spider-Sense tingled. However, it was too late, as Peter was attacked…by a confetti cannon.

"HAPPY BIRTHDAY PETER!" Shouted everyone inside, as Gwen ran and hugged him tight.

"Oh wow! You guys actually did this?" Asked Peter, amazed.

"It was May and Gwen's idea. Sorry Harry couldn't make it, his bodyguards didn't let him." Informed Liz.

"Hey tiger, happy birthday!" Wished Mary Jane, as she put a party hat on his head.

"Hey Parker! Happy 16th birthday!" Wished Flash. Peter was surprised that Flash was here in the first place. Peter was then greeted by Liz's boyfriend, Hobie. And weirdly enough, Norman Osborn was there too.

"Peter! Happy birthday, son. Somehow I managed to convince my protection to let me come here." Chuckled Norman.

"Oh, thank you Mr Osborn! It really means a lot." Smiled Peter, but for some reason, his Spider-Sense ever so slightly tingled.

Norman himself, felt something was off with Peter. He couldn't tell what, he just knew something was wrong. He noticed a nearly imperceptible scar on Peter's forehead. "Say, what happened to you there?" Asked Norman, squinting his eyes.

"Oh, that! I fell down the stairs a few years ago. Guess that scar still hasn't left me." Joked Peter. He couldn't tell Norman that he got it while fighting The Frightful Four a while back.

Peter noticed George Stacy there too. He quickly walked up to him.

"Captain Stacy! Great to see you here." Said Peter.

"Peter! Happy birthday. I just wanted to thank you in person for everything that you've done for the city." Smiled George.

"Yeah, but there's a new problem. The man who attacked Norman, Mendel Stromm? I can't find him anywhere." Lamented Peter.

"Peter, stop stressing on your birthday! Tell you what, we'll discuss all of this tomorrow, okay?" Said George.

"Deal." Said Peter.

As everyone went to cut the cake, Norman felt something in his stomach. His stomach started to hurt badly, and he felt blood rushing to his forehead. He felt like vomiting, but at the same time, he felt dizzy.

Without saying goodbye, he quickly grabbed his coat and rushed back to his car.

After everyone had left, it was only Peter and Gwen at home. May had decided to go to bed early, and George had asked Gwen to come home by 11 pm.

Peter and Gwen were on the roof of their house, which overlooked the neighbourhood and the sprawling skyline of Manhattan. From where they were standing, the huge buildings felt like monoliths, compared to their tiny house.

"So, I hope you enjoyed your birthday surprise." Said Gwen.

"Thanks for that. I really needed a break." Said Peter, as Gwen moved closer to him.

"Well, that's not the only surprise I had planned for you…" Said Gwen, as she went to kiss him.

Peter smiled as they pulled apart. "You're the best, Gwen." He said, hugging her.

"You too." Chuckled Gwen.

Both of them looked at the skyline, which made them feel like tiny ants.

"So, what are you gonna do after high school?" Asked Gwen.

"I'm planning on going to Empire State University. Then again, there's still two years before university." Said Peter.

"Well, wherever you go, I'll follow." Smiled Gwen.

"Likewise." Replied Peter.

Norman rushed inside Oscorp Tower, to his laboratory. The pain in his stomach hadn't receded, and he knew what was going on. He quickly took out an injection and stabbed his left hand, taking a sample of his blood. He put the blood under the digital microscope, and the data collected was uploaded to the computer.

Norman checked his blood test on the computer. "Low amount of GR-30…The Globulin Green!" Groaned Norman.

He quickly staggered to a locked closet, and ripped it open. There were three syringes of Globulin Green. Norman took all three, and injected himself with them.

"AAAAAAGGHHHHHHHHH!" He groaned, as he pulled out the syringes, and managed to crush them with his bare hands. The pain got worse, as his eyes started to glow a dark green, and his forehead started to bulge out. But then, all of a sudden, the pain subsided, and Norman's forehead went back to its normal shape and size. His eye colour returned back to brown.

"I need more Globulin Green. I need it!" Growled Norman, as he collapsed on the ground, breathless from all of the pain.

Once Gwen left, Peter debated whether wearing the mask and going out as Spider-Man, or spending the last hour of his birthday by binge-watching the Tony Stark documentary he had been watching for the past couple of days.

All of a sudden, the police scanner went off. "Robbery reported by two perpetrators. Manhattan Central Bank." Said the scanner.

"Well, crime waits for no Spider-Man!" Said Peter, putting on his suit.

Spider-Man swung to the scene, only to see a man standing on the second floor of the bank, wearing a green armoured suit, with a purple cape, and some weird fishbowl helmet on his head. Around him, some green smoke was billowing.

"Hey, fishbowl head! Who exactly are you?" Shouted Spider-Man.

"Ah, Spider-Man! How nice of you to join us! I am Mysterio!" Declared the crazy man.

"Mysterio? Yikes, that's the best you could come up with?" Said Spider-Man, as he swung over to the balcony.

But, just as he was about to land on the balcony, a black portal appeared in front of him, and Spider-Man fell through. The portal spat him out back to the ground floor, with the hostages.

"What the hell was that?" Asked Spider-Man, thoroughly confused.

From the corner of the bank, a man walked up to Spider-Man. He was wearing a plain white suit, with black spots all over him.

"Spider-Man! Meet Spot, my...associate." Introduced Mysterio.

"Great fashion choice, solid 8/10." Joked Spider-Man, as he went and punched Spot directly on the huge black spot on his chest.

However, Spider-Man's right fist went through the black hole, and came out from Spot's forehead, punching Spider-Man square in the jaw.

"What the heck?" Asked a dazed Spider-Man. Spot opened up another portal and jumped through it. He suddenly appeared behind Spider-Man, as he grabbed him and slammed him to the ground.

Mysterio came hovering down from the balcony. He was literally flying.

Before Spider-Man could get up, Mysterio shot some green laser out of his hands, blasting Spider-Man away.

"Did you get the money?" Asked Mysterio.

"I did. Let's get out of here now." Replied Spot.

"Not yet, I wanna have some fun with the webhead here." Chuckled Mysterio.

As Spider-Man got back up and lunged at the duo, Mysterio took out one of his smoke grenades, and exploded it straight in front of him. Mysterio and Spot disappeared, and Spider-Man started coughing as he inhaled the smoke.

Spider-Man's surroundings went black. There was nothing around him.

"Hello? Where the hell am I?" He asked, thoroughly confused. All of a sudden, he saw a grave right in front of him. As soon as Peter read the inscription on the grave. A chill ran up his spine.

"Ben Parker." Read the name. Peter frantically moved back as he stumbled to the ground. He started to hear Ben's voice in his head. "How could you, Peter? Why would you let that criminal escape? After everything I taught you for so long, you still failed me…" His voice lingered in Peter's head, as Peter shook his head in disbelief.

All of a sudden, another grave rose up: May Parker. And then another one: Gwen Stacy.

Soon enough, the graveyard was full of people that Spider-Man knew: Flash Thompson, Otto Octavius, and many more. All of their voices overlapped in Peter's head, as they kept telling him what a failure he was.

"You let my husband die."
"What was I thinking dating you?"
"You'll always be Puny Parker."

Peter grabbed his mask and took it off. "STOOOOOOOOOP!" He screamed at the absolute top of his lungs.

All of a sudden, the place disappeared, and Peter found himself near a dumpster in a dark and damp alleyway. He realized that it was 4 am in the morning.

"What the hell was that?" Whispered Peter, completely disoriented. "He must have drugged me…or something…" Thought Peter, as he put on his mask and managed to stagger back home.

Norman headed back to his penthouse. Security had been called off, so Norman staggered back to his bedroom.

As he lay in bed, he heard a voice. A cackling voice. "You were never anything before me, Osborn!" Said the voice. It sounded like a steel fork scraping hard across a plate.

"Who…who are you?" Asked Norman, sweating profusely.

"Why don't you head to Oscorp, and find out?" Suggested the voice.

Hey everyone! So in this chapter, I decided to introduce Mysterio and Spot, I believe both of them can be a very interesting duo. Also, I bet you can guess who the voice that's taunting Norman. Thank you for reading this chapter, and reviews are greatly appreciated!

Also, I will be taking a break from writing to deal with some personal stuff. So expect chapter 19 hopefully after a couple of weeks.

P.S: The Last Of Us II kinda let me down, without going into spoilers. Still, it's got good gameplay and graphics, but the story is nowhere near as good as the first one, especially with some questionable choices some developers made. Just needed to get this off my chest. Thanks!

Yours Truly,

Shadow Strike.