The Invincible Spider-Man
Chapter 71- To Slay A Spider
The laboratory seemed relatively old, with dust and cobwebs occupying almost all of the corners of the place. The walls were lined with shelves, each of them filled to the brim with robotic parts and other mechanical tools.
Alistair sat in the middle of a cluster of tools, as he worked on what looked like a 20- foot-tall robot.
"Come one…work, dammit!" exclaimed Alistair, as he flipped some switches and tightened a few bolts with a wrench. However, nothing seemed to happen to the robot.
"COME ON!" shouted Alistair, as he threw the wrench away. All of a sudden, the gun metal grey robot began to glow, as red lines that ran across it began to shine a blood red.
Alistair chuckled as he walked up to the back of the robot, where there was a ladder. He ascended the ladder, to the back of the robot's head, and pulled out a panel.
Inside the head of the robot was a small seat, and a number of levers and switches. Alistair slowly got in the seat, and flipped more switches. He pulled a lever, as the robot began to move forward. It was a little rusty, but eventually Alistair was able to make it smoothly walk out of the warehouse.
"Witnesses report that the Spider-Man has in fact returned, in all his red and blue glory, as he managed to fend off a large black and white creature many people are describing as "a mix between an orca whale and the Xenomorph. More on this later," said the reporter, on a small screen next to Smythe.
Smythe chuckled, as he pressed two other switches. The robot's feet began to morph into thrusters, as the robot began to take flight.
Peter sat on the roof of the Chrysler Building, reminiscing about the events of that day.
"What happened to you, Eddie? Was this all my fault? How did Venom even get to him?" asked Peter to himself. "And he knows who I am, literally everyone I know is in danger," thought Peter, as he tried to make sense of everything.
"Units available in Bristol, we have a man claiming to be a hypnotist disturbing the peace. Backup requested," said the police scanner.
"Backup for a hypnotist? Must be one hell of a Houdini. Did Houdini even hypnotize people?" Peter asked himself, as he began swinging towards the destination to investigate.
Spider-Man quickly arrived at the scene, only to see a man in a green skin tight suit and a purple cape, with a hypnosis symbol on his head. He was surrounded by cops, which looked like they were guarding him.
"Mysterio, is that you?" asked Spider-Man jokingly, landing behind him.
"Ah, just who we were waiting for!" said Mesmero, as the cops turned around and pointed their guns at Spider-Man.
"Wow, so you really think changing your name by a couple alphabets and removing the fishbowl, you're someone entirely new?" mocked Peter, as he dodged the cops' gunfire.
"I AM NOT MYSTERIO!" yelled Mesmero.
"Really, you could've fooled me," replied Peter, as he webbed away the cops' guns. Mesmero seemed angry.
"Time to trap you in MY web, Spider-Man," said Mesmero, as the hypnosis symbol on his forehead began to swirl. Peter began to feel lightheaded.
"Okay, who spiked my drink this time?" asked Peter, as he fell to his knees. His head began to throb.
"And the Spider-Man now bends to my will," said Mesmero. Peter shut his eyes, as he got back onto his feet. In one move, he uppercutted Mesmero, sending him up in the air and down onto his back.
"At least Mysterio was creative with his illusions, you just make them feel nauseous," said Spider-Man, as he webbed up Mesmero. The cops all came back to their senses.
"Here you go, officers. One order of wannabe supervillain up!" said Peter, handing them Mesmero.
"I am not a wannabe!" yelled back Mesmero.
"Tell Mysterio I said hi!" said Peter, as Mesmero was put into a police car. Peter walked away and webbed himself up to a building.
"Now to get back to my self-therapy session," said Peter, as he decided to swing back to Empire State University. All of a sudden, his Spider-Sense began going crazy. Instinctively, he pulled himself up with his web and dodged a flying blade.
Spider-Man landed on a roof, only to come face to face with a massive robot, it's eyes locked onto Spider-Man.
"Oh great, another Skynet drone sent after me," lamented Peter, as he narrowed his eyes, facing down the robot. It lifted an arm, and fired a laser at Peter.
"Woah!" exclaimed Spider-Man, as he quickly dodged the attack. However, the robot's second arm backhanded Peter away.
Spider-Man tumbled near the edge of the roof, but regained his footing before he could fall.
"I hate to break it to you, but I'm not John Connor underneath this mask!" said Spider-Man.
"YOU THINK I CARE?!" shouted back a voice from the robot, in a booming voice. All of a sudden, the head of the robot began to retract, revealing Alistair Smythe sitting in a chair, piloting it.
"Smythe?" asked Peter, his face instantly moving from one of mockery to shock. "What are you doing?" asked Peter. Alistair stared at him scornfully, anger reflective in both of his eyes, as he aimed the robot's arm at him.
From the top of the robot's wrist unfolded a barrel, each containing a missile. Alistair aimed 3 of them at Spider-Man.
"WOAH!" exclaimed Spider-Man, as he backflipped out of one's way and corkscrewed above another. However, one of them managed to hit the ground where Peter landed.
The roof began to collapse, as Peter fell down with it. Smythe began to hover, free from all of the damage.
Spider-Man landed in the living room of someone's apartment. The person seemed to be eating ramen alone.
"Take the emergency exit!" exclaimed Spider-Man, as Smythe reached his hand in and grabbed Spider-Man. He pulled him back up and brought him close to his face.
"Smythe…we can talk this out!" reasoned Peter, but Alistair folded the robot's helmet back onto its head. "You don't have to do this!"
"It's too late for all of that. You're going to suffer for what you have done. Suffer the wrath of the Spider-Slayer!" shouted Alistair through the microphone, as he threw Peter off of the roof.
Spider-Man went flying as he crashed into a bus on the street. The Spider-Slayer jumped onto the ground, grabbed a car and threw it at the bus.
"No, wait!" exclaimed Peter, as he quickly jumped out of the bus and shot a multitude of webs towards the car, pulling it away from the bus as civilians began to evacuate.
"Smythe, if you want to fight we can do it elsewhere! Away from people!" said Peter.
"I don't care!" shouted back Alistair, as he aimed more missiles towards him. Peter dodged them, but they hit nearby buildings and stores.
"No!" he exclaimed, as he jumped into a store and pulled down the sprinklers put his webbing. However, one dilapidated building began to crumble down. Spider-Man quickly webbed a few civilians out of the rubble. However, while he was distracted, Spider-Slayer grabbed Peter's leg and lifted him up, slamming him back down onto the street.
Spider-Slayer pushed the barrel of the laser to Spider-Man's face. "You don't save people, you don't help them! You doom them!" he shouted in rage.
Spider-Man grabbed the barrel and quickly pushed it to the side of his head, missing the laser by inches. He kicked away the robot and got back onto his feet.
"Alistair, we can talk this out without hurting anyone!" said Spider-Man, dodging another backhand by mere millimeters.
"He's dead because of you!" exclaimed an enraged Alistair, as he grabbed Spider-Man's leg and threw him into a building. Peter was slammed straight into a brick wall, and Alistair kicked him through it.
Before Spider-Man could regain his senses, Alistair shot multiple missiles at Peter, all of which struck the ground right at his feet as Peter was sent flying through the building and to the other side, onto a car.
"Power Levels low…" said a voice from the Spider-Slayer.
"No no no! Damn it!" cursed Alistair, as the missiles wouldn't fire. Grunting, he began to hover and started to fly away.
Peter slowly got up from the car, his ribs aching, as he saw Alistair escape.
"Hey, it's rude to leave without saying goodbye!" yelled Peter, as he shot a web towards Alistair. However, the web barely reached the Spider-Slayer, and fell back to the ground.
"Ah crap. Need to work on the range. AH! At least after I heal all my cracked ribs," groaned Peter, as he stared at the damage around him. Spider-Man rushed up to a piece of rubble and lifted it off of a civilian. He then pulled out someone who was trapped in their car.
"We have this under control, Spider-Man!" said some people dressed in yellow. They had a label that read out "Damage Control."
""Damage Control?" What happened to EMTs?" asked Peter.
"We're a private organization dealing with such affairs. Fights that break out between superpowered individuals such as you and that robot," said the leader of the group.
"Guessing you were formed by S.H.I.E.L.D? Also, Alistair Smythe isn't superpowered, it's a robot," said Spider-Man.
"Same difference. Wait, Alistair Smythe?" asked the worker.
"Yeah. He's after me for whatever reason," said Spider-Man.
"Maybe…because of this," said the worker, as he pulled out his phone and searched up an article. He showed it to Spider-Man.
"Oh no…" said Spider-Man, as everything clicked.
"Spencer Smythe, dead at 73…oh shit…" said Peter. "He blames me for his dad's death,"
"Why does he blame you?" asked the worker.
"I think I know why…" said Peter, as he swung away. He tried to not think of anything as he made his way back to Empire State University. He reached his window and slowly opened it, gingerly stepping in.
"Venom has taken over Eddie, Spencer Smythe is dead and now his son is out for blood, my blood specifically…" groaned Peter, as he took off his mask and rubbed his forehead.
Just then, he heard a knock on his door, startling him.
"Peter, open the door!" said Mary Jane's voice.
"OH SHIT!" thought Peter, realizing he was still in his outfit. "MJ, it's 4 o clock in the morning," said Peter, changing his voice to make it sound like he had just woken up, as he began taking his suit off.
"I missed the part where that's my problem, tiger! Now come on!" she said, knocking again.
"Just a second, I'm just putting on my clothes!" replied Peter.
"You sleep naked?" asked MJ, confused.
"What, no! My clothes are dirty!" replied Peter, fumbling around as he quickly put a shirt and trackpants on, and opened the door.
"Wow, you look like you barely got a bit of sleep, you sure you were sleeping?" asked MJ.
"Well, I was working on homework, and then tried to sleep about 10 minutes ago, until a certain stubborn redhead began knocking violently on my door," said Peter sarcastically.
"Never try sarcasm, it's not a good look on you," replied MJ, rolling her eyes.
"Well it certainly helps with my job," said Peter, the reference going over MJ's head.
"Anyways, let's go," said MJ.
"Go where?" asked Peter, grabbing a jacket and following her.
"For my cheerleading tryouts," replied MJ.
"You have cheerleading tryouts? At 4 am? Wait, you're trying out for cheerleading?" asked Peter.
"Yep. The early bird gets the worm after all," replied MJ.
"And the early worm gets eaten by the early bird," replied Peter, as they walked down the corridors and the stairs. MJ lightly chuckled.
"Touché," she replied. The duo walked across the courtyard in the freezing weather towards the gymnasium.
"So, how'd it go with you and Carlie?" asked MJ.
"She took it relatively well," said Peter.
"I still don't know why you broke up with her, I mean you both had so much in common. Both nerds, both barely have friends, etc," joked MJ.
"Haha really funny. Harry's coming back soon, so take that! Honestly though, I kind of lost feelings for her and didn't want to lead her on," said Peter.
"Uh huh. And what about your emo phase?" asked MJ.
"My what?" asked Peter, a little confused.
"You know, when you were being an ass to everybody. People gave you a nickname, "Emo Parker,"" said MJ.
"Wow, I'm honored. And well, I don't really know why. Jane said I must have been acting out or something," lied Peter.
"I sure hope Emo Parker isn't coming back," said MJ, shivering a little.
"He's definitely not, never again," said Peter, as he took off his jacket and gave it to Mary Jane.
"Thanks, tiger," said MJ, as they walked up to the gymnasium. Mary Jane ran up to the girls who had assembled in the gymnasium, whereas Peter sat down at the stands.
"I need to reach out to Alistair, maybe I can convince him to give up this whole crusade for revenge against me? Will he even listen? And I need to find Eddie too, dammit," thought Peter, running a hand through his hair.
Peter watched as Mary Jane graciously did a cartwheel and finished it off with a backflip, landing in a cheery pose. He chuckled to himself.
"What if MJ was there that day, and she got bit by that spider?" he thought. "God, why'd that spider have to bite me?" asked Peter to himself. That's when MJ walked up to the stands.
"How'd I do?" she asked.
"You were great! You're definitely getting selected," said Peter.
"I'm guessing you didn't see where I completely fumbled my second flip?" asked MJ. Peter mentally slapped his forehead, realizing he spaced out.
"Yeah, sorry about that. I'm just thinking, you know," said Peter.
"About? You can talk to me, Peter," said MJ, taking a seat next to him.
Peter hesitated for a second. "I…I'm…" he started. "I'm- stressed," he finished, while MJ raised an eyebrow.
"There's just so much happening right now, I don't know if I can handle it," said Peter. MJ put her hand on his shoulder.
"Peter Parker, I've known you for like 3 years now, if there's one thing you can do, is always move forward no matter what comes your way, overcoming every obstacle," said Mary Jane.
"I honestly don't know if I can this time. What if the obstacles are too big for me climb over?" asked Peter.
"Then you run straight through them. Nothing can stop someone who has the drive and the power to do so," replied MJ.
"Yeah, you're right. Thanks MJ," said Peter, smiling as MJ lightly blushed.
LATER THAT DAY
"That's enough! Freeze!" shouted the cops, as they aimed their guns.
"AHAHAHAHA! This is gonna get soooooo many clicks!" said the girl, dressed in a pink-white spandex suit, as she rode her motorbike over cars stuck in traffic.
"Screwball? You again?" asked Spider-Man, as he swung in.
"Spidey! Say cheese to the camera, the chat's blowing up right now!" said Screwball, as she ducked under the left side of a truck and came out through the right.
"Life was so much easier when I didn't have to deal with you!" said Spider-Man, as he webbed up the tires of the bike, causing Screwball to crash.
"Hey! I had just finished modifications on that bike!" said Screwball, aiming her phone towards Spider-Man. "OMG, I JUST HIT 15 MILLION SUBSCRIBERS!" squealed Screwball, as Spider-Man webbed away her phone.
"Well, that bike wasn't the only modification I made!" said Screwball, as she pressed a button on her boots. Her boots began to light up, and she began running up a building.
"Hey, you can't steal my likeness like that!" yelled Spider-Man, running up the wall behind her.
"Sue me!" mocked Screwball, as she reached the top of the building.
"You know, I do know a really good lawyer," replied Spider-Man, as he webbed up Screwball's legs, causing her to trip on the roof. Before she could do anything else, Spider-Man webbed her down.
"I thought you'd appreciate my work, Spidey! After all, you love the web, don't you?" joked Screwball.
"Leave the jokes to me, please?" asked Spider-Man, webbing up her mouth as he carried her back to the ground.
"We had it under control, Spider-Man," said the detective on the scene.
"Sure, sure, detective Macendale," said Peter.
"I'm serious, we didn't need any vigilante help, you just escalated the situation," replied Macendale. Before Peter could respond, his phone began to ring. It was a call from Aunt May.
"Excuse me for leaving this very stimulating and necessary conversation, but I need to take this call," said Peter, as he walked away and picked up the phone.
"Hey May, what's up?" asked Peter.
"Peter, a friend of yours is here to see you!" said May, enthusiastically.
Peter's face lit up under his mask. "Harry's back?" he asked.
"Hello Peter," said Eddie, through the phone, and all the blood drained from Peter's face.
"Eddie? EDDIE?!" asked Peter frantically, but the call was cut.
Peter landed in an alleyway near his house in Queens and rapidly changed into his normal clothes, as he ran down the street towards Aunt May's house.
"MAY! MAY!" shouted Peter, as he quickly rushed into the front door and inside the house, frantically searching for her.
"Peter, what's wrong?" asked May, as she was sitting at the dining table.
"Hey Peter!" said Eddie, from the kitchen. He seemed to be…cooking?
"Eddie decided to cook some lunch while we wait," said May, as Peter cautiously took a seat at the dining table.
"I just stopped by because I had nowhere else to go," said Eddie somberly, as he placed a few sandwiches on the table. He gestured for Peter to have some.
"I'm fine, thanks," said Peter, an unflinching stare towards him. Eddie shrugged and took a seat next to May, much to Peter's discomfort.
"So how do you know Peter?" asked May.
"Oh, we both work at The Bugle. Or, worked at least. I got fired," said Eddie.
"Oh, what happened?" asked May. Before Peter could say anything, Eddie interrupted him.
"I got backstabbed. Framed by someone who I thought was my friend," said Eddie, staring at Peter for a second before looking away.
"I'm so sorry about that, who was it?" asked May, looking at both Eddie and Peter.
"No one of consequence," replied Peter.
"Yet," finished Eddie. "Anyways, I've got nowhere to go, and Peter once said that I can visit here anytime. I just wanted to thank him for…everything he has done," said Eddie. "Honestly, I feel like I've discovered a new purpose, and it's all thanks to him," he continued.
"That's really nice of you, Peter! Ben and I raised you the right way," smiled May towards Peter, who still looked at Eddie with gritted teeth.
"Honestly, Ms. Parker, I'm really grateful for your son. He's the only friend I've ever had who hasn't been…venomous," said Eddie with a slight smirk.
Peter stood up from his chair, glaring at Eddie, before putting on a straight face for May.
"Eddie, why don't we go outside for a walk? We can catch up there," suggested Peter.
"That's a wonderful idea! The block is definitely beautiful," said May.
"Sure, I don't mind," said Eddie, as he and Peter began to walk towards the door. Eddie walked out first, followed by Peter who tightly closed the door behind him. Eddie walked down the porch, while Peter grabbed his arm.
"Stay the fuck away from her," said Peter, fuming. Eddie simply chuckled.
"Your aunt really is special, you know. She still thinks her nephew is just a student at ESU," replied Eddie, a smile on his face.
"Brock, I'm warning you," said Peter, slowly. Eddie's eyes turned pale white, as the black symbiote crawled over his neck.
"Too late, Parker. We know what you care about the most, and it's pathetic," said Eddie, his voice booming as Peter readied his web shooters. Eddie began to laugh.
"Go ahead, try and fight me right now. You know you can't defeat me now, and also risk your beloved aunt finding out," replied Eddie. Peter clenched his jaw, and put his hands back down. Eddie laughed even louder.
"Watch your back, Peter. You never know when you'll get stabbed," said Eddie, walking away from him.
Alistair walked into his workshop, having fixed the battery problem with the Spider-Slayer. He picked up a framed photograph of him and his dad, a tear falling from his eyes.
"That was a good effort to try and kill the Spider," said a voice from the corner of the workshop. Alistair pulled out a gun and aimed it at the corner, and out walked Eddie Brock.
"You're that reporter, who slandered Spider-Man," said Alistair.
"Oh but we both know, it certainly wasn't slander. We both know Spider-Man's true colours," replied Eddie.
"What do you want?" asked Alistair, bluntly.
"You want to kill Spider-Man, and well so do we," said Eddie. Alistair scoffed.
"You want to kill him? A washed up reporter?" asked Alistair. Eddie sighed as the symbiote began to crawl over his body, as he grew to a monstrous size.
"Oh my God…Venom?" asked Alistair.
"That's us," said Venom. "Spider-Man refused to share us with you, he could have saved your father,"
"What does it matter to you?" asked Alistair.
"We can get back at him for all he has done to us! He let your father die, and ruined our life!" said Venom.
"And how do we propose we do that?" asked Alistair, intrigued. Venom chuckled.
"We know who he is…" hissed Venom, as Alistair's eyes went wide.
"Who is he? Who?" asked Alistair.
"That's for us to know. But we know what Spider-Man truly cares about: His loved ones," said Venom. "We can stretch him thin," continued Venom.
"How so?" asked Alistair.
"You go after Spider-Man, we go after his alter ego, and everyone he cares about. And in the end we can make him wish he never wronged us," said Venom, as he turned back to Eddie.
"So, what do you say?" asked Eddie.
Smythe looked at the Spider-Slayer, then back at Eddie. A revenge-driven smile showed up on his face, as he shook Eddie's hand.
And there you go! Venom and the Spider-Slayer are teaming up to destroy Spider-Man's life! Keep reading to see how it goes from here!
MERRY CHRISTMAS AND A HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE! I originally wanted to get this chapter out by Christmas, but I got super sidetracked. A lot has been happening in my everyday life. For starters, I'm in a relationship once again with a girl I genuinely care for from the very bottom of my heart, and so I have been prioritizing that a lot more. Honestly, I never felt this way about my ex while I was in a relationship with her, so that further proves that I definitely rushed in asking out my ex, and hence lost feelings for her. But I really cannot emphasize how much I care about my current girlfriend lol, so I'm hoping it goes well! I'm also standing for 2 positions for student council, so I had to prepare 2 speeches for that, which I gave yesterday. Results will be out in a few days, so I'll let you guys know about it in the next chapter! I saw No Way Home like 5 times in theaters, holy Hell was it a masterpiece. Obviously I don't wanna give any spoilers, but you can bet I cried at least 7 times during the movie, and lost my mind in certain scenes. It was definitely an experience I will cherish forever, and never forget! It's tied with Into The Spider-Verse and Spider-Man 2 as my favorite Spider-Man movies! My grades have also been really really high, and I intend to keep them that way! Overall, my life has certainly gotten much much much better, and I gotta give a shoutout to redbirds12 for a lot of the advice that he gave me! He's got a new Spider-Man story coming out sometime too, so look out for that! Looking forward to 2022!
redbirds12: Thanks man! And yeah, I'll try to make Smythe a little more interesting in terms of villainy, rather than just making him Obadiah Stane lmao.
Marvel Nerd: Well, Peter did find out towards the end of the chapter, and plus he was pre-occupied after returning from a multiversal adventure, but yeah I probably shouldn't have overlooked that.
Fate-Be Changed: You'll certainly see so in the next chapter!
Geek4Life: Hmmm maybe, though I'll probably add that detail for a certain storyline in season 6 (wink, wink!)
SpideyXBC: Indeed!
Teller-Story: Definitely, I want Venom to be like this nightmare in Peter's life. I don't mind Venom's current interpretation in media, but I always preferred him as this demon out for Peter's blood.
I am the Voice: I'm not gonna do that in this season at least, as I want Venom to be more of a personal threat to Peter. Maybe in a future season I'll do a symbiote invasion storyline!
Guest: It definitely would!
cadamban.k: I responded to you in PM'S, but eh I might as well do it here too- Thank you so much for the criticism! I am definitely gonna rectify these in future chapters. About the point of him still being in highschool, Peter is 17 in season 3 (which is the chapter you reviewed), and in season he does begin attending ESU. I wanted to show a more gradual evolution for the character, but after season 5 it's definitely gonna escalate. Also about the preparation point, in season 4 he does acquire new technology, and he has invented things like spider tracers.
However, thank you for the constructive criticism, and i'm definitely going to make the changes in future chapters. Thank you! Happy New Year as well!
Yours Truly,
Shadow Strike.