The Invincible Spider-Man
Chapter 59: Entrapment
It had been 18 hours, and Spencer was asleep at the laboratory, an empty test tube in his hand and an inhaler in the other. Meanwhile, across the room, Alistair was hard at work at a whiteboard, and a complicated setup on a desk at his right.
There was a small glass container, which contained a black, slime looking substance. Alistair sipped on his sixth cup of coffee as he took the test tube from his dad's hand, and another test tube from another desk. He then picked up the research paper written by Richard Parker and compared to the equations on his board.
Taking a deep breath, he stared at his father, who was coughing even in his sleep. Taking a deep breath, he poured the test tube down onto the black goo, which seemed to remain still, and was as big as a baby's palm.
5 minutes later, there seemed to be no change. The black slime just stayed in place, and Alistair sighed heavily. He closed his eyes and balled his left fist. He grabbed the empty test tube with his right hand and threw it at the wall. The crash seemed to wake up Spencer.
"Whoa!" said Spencer, as he jumped up, startled.
"It didn't work!" yelled Alistair. "Almost 20 hours with nothing but cups of coffee and hard work and for what?!"
"Richard and I's formula…did you use it?" asked Spencer.
"That's the first thing we did, remember? That part worked, and we have the base of the symbiote, but the enzyme we needed didn't work!" said Alistair, pointing at the slime, as he turned away in anger.
Just as Spencer looked at the slime, his eyes widened.
"Oh my God," he said. "Alistair…"
"What is it?" asked Alistair.
"Did you leave the symbiote stuck to the glass?" asked Spencer. Confused, Alistair turned around, and saw two tendrils stick out from the slime, stuck to the glass surface.
"Holy fuck…" whispered Alistair, as he walked closer to the glass. 3 more tendrils emerged from the slime, all of them sticking towards the glass, as if it was pulling itself to Alistair.
"It's…it's alive!" exclaimed Spencer.
"We…we did it…WE DID IT!" shouted Alistair, as he turned back to his father.
"That's a living creature now, with it's own metabolic processes. We created a bioengineered marvel…" said Alistair.
"This could save me…" said Spencer, moving towards it.
"We may need to run some tests first. See if it does do what we hope it does," said Alistair. The symbiote latched itself onto the glass.
"We need to tell the press. Oscorp may have found the cure to cancer…" replied Spencer.
Peter woke up from his slumber, only to realize that it was 4 am in the morning.
"I'm…early?" he asked himself. Normally he'd wake up around 8 am, just minutes before class began. Getting out of bed, he put on a coat and walked out onto campus, which seemed to be completely empty, other than the snow everywhere. The entire campus seemed deserted, other than the sounds of the street across him, where cars still seemed to be driving around.
"City that never sleeps," Peter whispered to himself. Thinking for a while, he pulled out a crumpled post-it note. The note that Felicia had left him. Peter blinked hard and dialed the number on his phone.
"Hey," said Peter.
"Hey," said Felicia. "You okay?" she asked.
"Not really. I started seeing a therapist, so that's good I guess," sighed Peter.
"That's great! Is it going good?" she inquired.
"I don't know, it's only been one session. Besides, I don't think I want to be…him, again," said Peter.
"You were one the news recently, though. Fighting some…wolf man hybrid," remarked Felicia. "Looks like you didn't give up completely?"
"Old habits die hard. Besides, I'm not going to be who I was before. Before I used to use these powers irresponsibly for the most part, focusing on joking and prioritizing my life over others," explained Peter, as he walked up towards the campus gate and jumped over it.
"You know that's not true. You were dedicated to being Sp-…you know?" replied Felicia, as Peter started walking down the street.
"Yeah and I lost so many people all because I wasn't serious enough. If I was someone like Daredevil, or the Punisher, maybe she would still be alive," replied Peter.
"What exactly are you insinuating?" asked Felicia, a little worried.
"I'm saying that back then the scum of this city weren't afraid of me. They knew I wouldn't do jack shit do them. Just a few bruises and a broken bone here and there, and then prison. They were never afraid of me," replied Peter, scorn in his voice.
"You mean…you should've killed them? Paralyzed them? Made them wish they were never born?" asked Felicia.
"Maybe," said Peter.
"You don't mean that," said Felicia.
"Think about it! Had I not let that scumbag Norman live, she and Spot would still be alive! So many innocent people died because of him and those Sinister Shitheads!" exclaimed Peter. "And not only that, I never even found my uncle's killer! My original sin!"
"Peter calm down. I know a lot's happened, but trust me, that's a path you don't want to go down. Please," said Felicia. "It may seem worthwhile, but in the end it's just going to get your hands dirty," she explained.
"To plant a tree sometimes you need to get your hands dirty," replied Peter, in an emotionless voice.
"Peter, none of it was your fault. You not killing anyone is what separates you from others. It's what keeps you Peter Parker!" she protested.
"Or maybe being Peter Parker is what weakens me. I could spend the day being a vigilante, instead of attending classes, instead of going for a job. I could be more, do more! I could ensure that no criminal leaves my sight no matter what time!" replied Peter.
"Peter, don't talk like that, please. Just please don't go down this path," said Felicia.
"I don't know anymore, Felicia. I can't promise you anything," said Peter, sighing.
"I'm sorry, Peter. I truly am," said Felicia, but he cut the call. Peter pocketed his phone as he looked around where he was. The street was empty, and every store seemed closed. Yet the lights were glowing as bright as the Sun.
Peter took a deep breath as he looked up at the buildings, almost automatically he started seeing the angles, the speed at which a web would reach the building and his trajectory when the web would curve around the building. He imagined himself swinging freely, letting out a scream of joy, as he swan dived down and at the last second shot another web, forming a perfect parabolic arc and swinging high up.
Shaking his head, he walked back towards campus, and just then he got a notification from a news outlet on his phone.
"Wait…what?!" exclaimed Peter.
Reporters were all crammed up outside Oscorp, where Alistair was going to head a press conference. His security robots were both on either side of the podium, while photographers were taking pictures. In the middle of the podium was a veiled object on what looked like a trophy stand.
Peter and Eddie were amongst that crowd, shifting from left to right in the sea of people.
"No joke, as soon as I got that notification, I got a call from Jameson," sighed Eddie.
"Same here. Still can't believe Oscorp actually did it," replied Peter, as he snapped another photograph of Smythe's robots.
"Seriously. I mean, with the cure to cancer they can probably bury the hatchet with all the super criminals that came from there. I mean, who knows?" asked Eddie. Just then, Alistair and Spencer Smythe walked up the podium, and Peter quickly took a picture of the two.
"Ladies and gentlemen, Today marks a day, not just for Oscorp, but for all of mankind. Today, I would like to unveil…Project V3-N0M, or affectionately named, "Venom!"" said Alistair, as he pulled off the veil, revealing the black slime.
"This, ladies and gentlemen, is a bioengineered parasite. But fear not, it is most definitely not dangerous! Once it latches onto a host's cancer tumor, it will start to leech off the nutrients that cause the tumor to grow, therefore nourishing itself and killing the tumor! And this treatment, combined with chemotherapy will make sure that the cancer cells stay dead," explained Alistair, gesturing towards the symbiote.
As soon as Alistair finished, reporters started going crazy. Smythe quickly pointed to one of them.
"Mr Smythe, is the creature alive? And if so, would this be considered exploitation?" he asked.
"A living organism is defined as one with certain characteristics. The symbiote here shows signs of movement, but barely any growth, or sensitivity to any change in an environment. As of now we are certain it cannot reproduce. Therefore it cannot be duly classified as a living organism," explained Alistair.
Eddie raised his hand up high, and Smythe quickly noticed it.
"Have you started human trials right? And if so, what are the theorized side effects?" he asked.
"As of now, we are yet to start human trials. We will start them on smaller mammals, like mice, and then move on to humans. That would take about a few months, but it will hopefully be ready by next July. As for hypothesized side effects, we have none so far," replied Alistair. Just then, Spencer started coughing into a handkerchief.
Spencer pulled back the handkerchief, and saw stains of blood.
"My apologies, everyone. But I think we may need to cut this conference short. Thank you for coming!" said Alistair, as he rushed towards his father, who had walked back inside the building.
"Dad, are you okay?" asked Alistair.
"It seems to be worsening. At first I would just cough phlegm, but now if I'm coughing up blood-"
"There's a risk of pulmonary embolism. What do we do?" asked Alistair, worriedly.
"We need to start human trials quickly. We can't afford to wait any longer," said Spencer coarsely.
"What?! That's way too risky, we can't do something like that," said Smythe. "It could potentially harm a person,"
"What if that person could heal quick. Quicker than a normal human?" asked Spencer.
"I'm…not quite sure what you're talking about," inquired Alistair.
"What if we test the symbiote…on Spider-Man?" asked Spencer.
"Dad, I think the lung cancer may have gotten to your brain," said Alistair, concerned.
"No, see! Spider-Man can certainly heal faster than any normal human, God knows how. Which means that we can test the symbiote on him, as a makeshift human trial. Besides, if it also bonds to his DNA, the symbiote would be accustomed to a human," explained Spencer.
"It makes sense, but it's incredibly risky. How are we even going to get it on him? Even then, what if something happens to the symbiote?" asked Alistair.
"That's the risky part. But, I might have an idea about how we can lure him here. Back in R&D, I saw this one scientist with a lot of high tech gear, mostly relating to vibro-shock gauntlets," said Spencer.
"Are you talking about Clayton Cole's lab? He's been working on tech we recovered from The Shocker, but why him?" asked Alistair.
"As a lure. He doesn't need to actually hurt people, but just act as a villain. Enough to have Spider-Man come here to Oscorp," explained Spencer, as both him and Alistair walked up to the elevator and started moving up to the Research and Development floor.
As soon as they walked in, they saw a blond haired scientist tinkering with what looked like a gauntlet.
"Mr Smythe…s," said the scientist, as he shook both their hands.
"Clayton, we have a bit of a request for you," said Alistair.
"Sure, shoot," said Clayton.
"We need you to act as a criminal to get Spider-Man to Oscorp tonight," said Spencer.
Clayton understandably looked confused.
"Wait, what?! Why?" he asked.
"Unfortunately that information is reserved for us and the Oscorp Board of Directors. Don't worry, it's nothing illegal or dangerous," said Spencer.
"Okay but why should I pretend like a criminal? You could just call him here yourself?" suggested Clayton. That's when Alistair pulled Spencer aside.
"He's got a point. Spider-Man and I are on good terms. I could call him here," said Alistair.
"And have him suspect anything? Even if we make it look like an accident, it's way too suspicious of us. Trust me, it won't raise as many suspicions as him chasing a villain here and accidentally coming into contact with it," explained Spencer.
"Okay, but how are we going to convince Clayton to do it?" asked Alistair. Spencer walked back up to Clayton.
"Mr Cole, if you do agree to do this, your salary will be doubled. Along with a better lab to work in, of course," said Spencer. Clayton started to grin.
"Well, as long as it's nothing illegal, I guess it's time to brush up on my acting skills," replied Clayton.
"So, looks like you're early for once," said MJ, chuckling as Peter took a seat across her at the booth.
"Yeah, I was unusually free today," replied Peter. A waitress came up to their table.
"May I take your order?" she asked.
"Yes, I will have a venti double caramel Frappuccino, with extra whipped cream," said MJ. The waitress turned towards Peter.
"He'll have the same order," said MJ, before Peter could even say a word. The waitress chuckled and walked away.
"So, why'd you ask me here today?" asked Peter.
"Because literally everything we've talked about the past months is about…you know…" she said. Peter just lightly nodded.
"We all miss her, and we all wish things could be different. But Peter, it's easy to see that you blame yourself. I know you've probably heard it a hundred times-"
"More than you can imagine-"
"But you can't keep blaming yourself," finished MJ, interrupting Peter's interruption.
"MJ, I've heard all of this before. And the thing is no, I don't want to move on," said Peter.
"What do you mean?" asked MJ.
"I mean that I don't want to move on from her. I can't just let go of her like she was something disposable," replied Peter.
"I know, Peter. But you're not letting her go completely. A part of her will always be with you," replied MJ.
"But she isn't here. Not anymore," said Peter assertively.
"If she were here, she'd want you to continue living,"
"Believe me, it's taken a lot for me to keep on living,"
"But that's exactly the issue. You're not living! You've chained yourself up, and you're telling people that you're free,"
"What do you expect me to do, Mary Jane? I can't just forget her one day and just walk around like nothing's happened!"
"I'm not asking you to forget her. I'm asking you to move forward. I know it feels like you're on a treadmill. It feels like you're moving forward, you're putting the effort and everything, but in reality you're in place. Peter, nothing can better unless you can move forward," explained MJ.
"MJ, you have no idea how hard it is to let go of something like this," said Peter, on the brink of tears. "It's something I can't do no matter what great power I have,"
MJ's eyes were already watering. "Sometimes, Peter, letting things go takes far greater power than holding on to a space that has nothing left for you. Don't think I haven't noticed you walking to the cemetery almost every day," she said, as her hand reached for his on the table.
Peter hung his head as he lightly nodded, squeezing her hand.
Just then, he got a call from someone. It was Jean DeWolff.
"Sorry, Jameson just called. I gotta go," lied Peter, as he said goodbye to MJ and walked out of the café. MJ watched him leave and sighed, as a tear fell from her left eye.
Jean was waiting at the precinct, when Peter showed up behind her.
"Was waiting for you to show up," she said.
"What's the issue?" asked Peter, and Jean handed him a photograph.
"Serial killer on the loose," said Jean. The man in the photograph was wearing a green ski mask and a purple turtleneck. Peter immediately recognized him as the man who was attacking that woman at the cemetery a few days back.
"A bit of a twist though. He kills other criminals. Drug dealers, prostitutes, you name it. Witnesses say he screams about how he's "God's tool to cleanse the world,"" explained Jean.
"Does he have a name?" asked Peter.
"Yeah. The Sin-Eater. That's what he leaves scratched out at the crime scenes anyways. We've tried to identify his motives, maybe like a vigilante with a spiritual mission?" suggested Jean.
"Maybe. I'll look into it," said Peter. As soon as Peter turned around to leave, Jean stopped him.
"Spider-Man, wait," she said.
"I told you I'm not him," replied Peter.
"I don't know what's happened to you. You disappear for 8 months, and then show up calling yourself someone else, and in a new outfit. Whatever's happened, just take care, okay?" asked Jean. Peter nodded as he swung away.
Just as he did that, the police scanner went off.
"All units, we have a rogue at Oscorp Tower. Seems to be wearing gear from Herman Schultz," said the cop.
"A Shocker copycat? Here we go again," said Peter, as he swung towards Oscorp Tower.
Peter landed in front of the tower, where the security robots seemed to be attacking someone wearing a black and white suit of armor, with concentric circles on its chest. The robots seemed to be doing an uncharacteristically bad job at stopping the guy.
"Spider-Man! At last, we finally clash!" shouted Clayton.
"I'm not- ah screw it," said Peter, as he shot two webs towards Clayton, but he aimed sound vibrations towards the webbing. The sound waves were powerful enough to rip the webbing into pieces.
"Looks like you've met your nemesis! Call me Clash!" yelled out Clayton. Peter jumped towards him, but Clash dodged and hit Peter with a blast, sending him flying back.
"Oh god, was that too hard?" asked Clash, to Spencer in his comms.
"No, now lure him to floor number 31. It's the window with the red mark," said Spencer. Clash looked up and saw a red marker on the window on Floor 31. All of a sudden, Peter lunged at Clash and threw him towards a pillar.
"AAAAHHH!" yelled Clash, as he stood up again. He aimed his gauntlets towards Peter again. But Peter grabbed both his gauntlets and pulled his arms away.
"This is gonna hurt," said Peter, through gritted teeth.
"No!" yelled Clash, as he let out another blast at Peter's face. As soon as Peter was disoriented, Clash kicked him away and then aimed his gauntlets towards the ground. He charged up another blast and propelled himself upward.
He quickly grabbed the ledge at Floor 31, which was the laboratory where Project V3-N0M was kept, and where Alistair was waiting. Alistair quickly let the Symbiote loose in the lab and ran out of there. Just as Clash was about to leave, a web shot at his feet and he fell to the ground.
"There you are!" said Peter, as he pulled Clash towards him and held him by the collar.
"Hey, no! I'm-I'm sorry!" yelled out Clash.
"Too late," said Peter in a menacing voice, as he punched Clash in the face twice. Just as he was about to punch him a third time to knock him out, Peter felt something latch onto his foot.
"What the-" asked Peter. Clash kicked him away and ran out of the laboratory. Before Peter could even do anything, the black goo had crawled up his leg.
"What the Hell?!" he yelled out, as he started swinging out of the window and away from Oscorp, as the slime crawled up higher towards his hip.
"Get off of me!" he exclaimed, as he landed on another roof, tumbling onto it.
Before he could even get up, the symbiote had crawled up to his chest and his arms, stiffening them and keeping him stuck to the ground.
"No, stop!" grunted Peter, but the symbiote creeped higher and higher covering him from head to toe.
Before Peter could do anything, the symbiote covered Peter completely, leaving him staring at nothing but darkness as he closed his eyes.
"There ya go! Now scammer outta here," said the cashier.
"This isn't all the money in the ad. There was supposed to be 2000 bucks, this is just 1000," observed Peter.
"Look kid. They're called advertisements for a reason. They aren't the actual thing. Now be happy with your money and scram," said the cashier, as he smoked his cigarette.
"That's just unfair! I'm gonna tell the cops," said Peter.
"Yeah, and get arrested yourself for taking part in an underground wrestling ring. Dumbass," the cashier chuckled.
"You can't do this! I earned that money," replied Peter, getting angrier. The cashier removed the cigarette from his mouth and blew the smoke in Peter's face.
"Come find me when it's my issue," laughed the cashier. Peter clenched his jaw and left the room, heading towards the elevator.
Just then, he heard a scream from that room, as a man started to run out of there with a bag of cash towards the elevator, which was now open. Peter walked in and let the thug run inside the elevator. Before the elevator door could close, Peter smirked as he saw the cashier staring at him in desperation.
The elevator doors closed, leaving Peter with the thug.
"Thanks man. You need some?" asked the criminal, as he pointed at the bag of cash.
"A thousand bucks. That bastard cheated me out of it," said Peter.
"Sure man, thanks again," said the man, as he handed Peter a wad of cash from the bag, and it was exactly a 1000 bucks.
"It's the least I owe you. Hell, I hope I can repay you again," said the criminal.
"See you around," said Peter, as the elevator doors quickly opened, and the criminal rushed out of the elevator and out of the building. Peter walked out of the elevator, and saw the cashier run down the stairs.
"The Hell did you let him go? I was saving up for my mortgage man!" lamented the man. "That was my money!"
"Come find me when it's my issue," replied Peter, as he waved the wad of cash in front of the cashier's face. "You know it speaks volumes when a criminal has more honor than a normal citizen," he continued, as he walked out of the building with the money, leaving the cashier in despair.
A few minutes later, Peter walked down the street, and noticed a crowd forming nearby.
"Wonder what that's about? Oh well, I don't have time for that," thought Peter, as he chuckled to himself thinking about the money he just made, and how he was going to impress Liz at school the next day.
That's when he noticed a hand stick out from the crowd, and saw a body lying on the ground.
"Wait a minute…" thought Peter, as he rushed closer.
Peter opened his eyes and sharply gasped, only to find himself in an alleyway, under the moonlight, lying face first on a puddle. When he looked at his own reflection, he saw himself wearing a black Spider-Man mask.
"What the Hell?" he asked himself, as he quickly stood up. He looked at his arms, and saw them covered by a black, smooth fabric. There was a mirror nearby, and Peter quickly walked up to it, only to be shocked.
Peter stared at his reflection, who was now wearing all black. On his chest was a much more elongated white spider logo. Its legs seemed to stretch across his chest and to his back, where they joined and made an even bigger white spider symbol.
"Whoa…" thought Peter. He moved his arms and felt so much more free. He felt zero cloth restricting his movements. Peter walked towards a wall and placed one arm on it. His fingers seemed to stick to it much more.
Taking a deep breath, Peter jumped, and leaped as high as the building. He leaped across the building, and started falling towards the street. In mere milliseconds, Peter shot out a web from his wrist, and swung right above the street. He let go of the web and flew even higher.
He could feel the wind fly past him so much more, as he gracefully did a series of flips and corkscrews, shooting another web and swinging right past a group of tourists.
"WOOOOHOOOO!" he yelled out, as he swung up twice as high as he could before, web zipping towards another building and sticking the landing right on its ledge.
"Wow…" he said to himself, staring at his new suit. Just then, he heard someone screaming from nearby, about 3 blocks away.
Peter quickly swung towards the alleyway and landed on the ground, behind a group of assailants who seemed to be attacking a high school kid.
"Hey, who the Hell is that?!" asked one of the people, staring at the man in black, who walked closer, letting the moonlight illuminate him.
"S-Spider-Man?" asked the second thug.
"Someone better," replied Peter, as he shot another black web directly from his wrist. The web attached itself straight to a thug's chest. Peter lightly pulled as the man flew towards him. Peter flipped over him and kicked the second one in the face, before using that same kick to launch off of the second one and punch the third thug.
"Whoa-Hoa!" he exclaimed, as the fourth thug rushed at him with a crowbar. As the thug tried to hit him, Peter grabbed the crowbar and kicked the man away into a wall, knocking him unconscious. Peter then bent the metal crowbar into a U-formation and threw it towards the fifth guy, rendering him unconscious.
"This is amazing…" thought Peter, as one of the thugs began to groan.
"Shut up and wait for the cops," said Peter, webbing up the thug. "And organic webbing…wow…" he said out loud.
"Who-Who are you?" asked the kid. Peter looked at him, his black suit and the white spider logo glowing under the moonlight.
"I'm Spider-Man." Said Peter.
And there we go! The Black Suit is officially here, and here to stay for mostly the next 5-6 episodes! I also hope you liked my sorta reinvention of Peter's origin, where he interacts with Ben's killer more. I also hope you liked the debut of Clash!
In other news, I've been invited to a party! It's basically for people who are going into Junior Year next month. Here's hoping it goes well!
JPrime: Yes, but is he truly the Spider-Man he was before?
Xion: Thank you!
Fate-Be Changed: I might have him show up in The Invincible Fantastic Four, but I'm not sure about that. Who knows, maybe he'll show up again around Season 6
Geek4Life: I don't think I'll have Peter shave his head this season lol. Maybe some other time (or in a potential Spider-Verse, maybe?)
SpideyXBC: I don't think there's much space for Scorpion this season. But it's a good idea, so maybe sometime in the future.
Teller-Story: That would be a pretty good idea, but I don't have plans for Werewolf By Night for now. Maybe sometime in he far future (although it would be cool to explore his lycanthropy!)
I am the Voice: Exactly, that's going to Peter's arc this season, moving forward no matter what happens. It's what heroes do, after all!
Guest: Precisely! I couldn't have said it better myself!
Yours Truly,
Shadow Strike.