The Amazing Spider-Man Returns

Chapter 1: Spidey's Back

Author's Note: This picks up right where The Amazing Spider-Man 2 left off; as in literally, right where it left off. So if you haven't seen that film, it might help your understanding of the story a little. Happy reading!

The manhole cover swung into the side of the Rhino's mechanical head, the force of the impact sending him veering off uncontrollably before slipping and falling onto its side. Spider-Man landed on the floor, the cover falling with a clank by his side, as the crowd watching from behind the police barrier cheered loudly.

"I'm back", Peter thought to himself, and what a return this was – to fight a man protected inside a rhino mech. Peter had been in no fit state to resume his duties as Spider-Man since Gwen's death. For months Peter had mourned, regularly returning to Gwen's gravestone. If today had been any other day, Peter would have stayed home, contemplating ways he could have saved Gwen, things he could have done differently that wouldn't have caused her neck to snap in his attempt to save her from her fall. But today wasn't any other day; the city faced a new threat, the kind that comes along every so often that is too big for the police to handle. Peter stared at his Spider-Man mask as he heard the report on the radio; a man in an armoured rhino suit, terrorising civilians. Peter remembered Gwen's graduation speech, the same one he had watched almost every day; "No matter how buried or lost you feel, you must promise me to hold on to hope". Inspired, Peter nervously slid into his costume for the first time since that awful night, pulling his mask over his face. He arrived at the scene just in time to stop the Rhino advancing towards a young boy dressed in his very own Spider-Man costume. Spider-Man had returned. He turned to look at the Rhino, slowly getting up off of the ground and snarling. Spidey prepared himself as the Rhino charged back towards him. The suit jumped off of the ground, swinging its mechanical fists back before smashing down. Alexei was surprised to see that he had only hit the ground beneath him, with no Spider-Man in sight.

"You're gonna have to be quicker than that, buddy," Alexei heard behind him, turning to see Spider-Man crouched on the ground. Putting on the mask reminded Peter of the distinction between Peter Parker and Spider-Man; no matter what Peter was going through, Spider-Man was a light-hearted, witty beacon of hope, and as hard as it was for Peter to feel positive, Spider-Man had to be.

The Rhino growled. "You should have stayed dead!" he shouted, swinging his fists in the air. "But no matter; I will make sure you don't come back this time!"

"We'll see about that," Spidey said under his breath, webbing up into the air and swinging towards the Rhino, barely dodging his fist. Rhino looked around, teeth bared in anger as he tried to locate Spider-Man, who fired webs at the mech as he spun around him. As soon as Rhino caught sight of Spidey, he stepped forward, grabbing the web he was swinging on. Peter braced himself as Rhino swung him around in the air by his web before tossing him down the street, landing just in front of a cop car. Peter groaned as he carefully turned onto his front. The crowd was dead quiet.

"Is he alright?" he heard an officer whisper, seemingly directed at the officer behind the car Peter had landed in front of.

"Are you okay?" the cop asked, peering over the hood of the car to validate his partner's request. Spidey responded by slowly pushing himself off the floor and onto his feet, to the crowd's pleasure. The Rhino laughed menacingly, his voice magnified by his mechanical suit.

"You have lost your touch!" he taunted through his thick Russian accent, "Not as amazing as you used to be, eh?"

Peter drew a deep breath as he stepped back into the fight. "I wouldn't get so cocky if I were you," Spidey replied, "Hey, did no one think to tell you the whole animal-themed super-villain idea was already done before?"

The Rhino snarled, smashing his fists in the air before charging horn-first into Spider-Man. Peter waited for the right moment before running and sliding under the Rhino, narrowly avoiding its metal feet smashing into the ground. Pete quickly turned around and fired webbing at the Rhino's hind legs, forcing it to stumble and fall onto the ground. The Rhino went to get up before it felt more webbing land on its front legs, leaving it trapped on the ground. Alexei panicked as he tried to pull the mech out of the webs. Suddenly, the suit shook as something landed on its back and Alexei felt repeated punches tearing into the back of the Rhino suit. Alexei yelled before pulling his arms back as hard as he could, prizing them from the webbing and sending Spider-Man flying off of him. While Rhino's hands were free, his feet were still somewhat stuck. Peter quickly took advantage of this by firing webs at the Rhino's hands and yanking his arms back, flinging the Rhino off of his feet and tumbling on the ground towards him. Before Alexei had time to react, Spidey pounced onto the suit's windscreen.

"Oh, you again!" Spider-Man remembered his previous encounter with Alexei, "I thought I taught you your lesson last time? What made you think dressing up like a Rhino would make any difference?"

Alexei scowled and went to move the mech, not before Spidey smashed his hand through the windscreen, shattering it and pulling Alexei out before tossing him onto the ground beside the suit. The crowd cheered as Alexei was quickly surrounded by police officers, one restraining him while another fitted him with handcuffs, the rest holding him at gunpoint in case he tried anything funny. Spidey watched as Alexei snarled at him.

"You should have given up," Alexei scowled, "You have no idea what's coming... what is in store for you!" The Russian's voice faded as he was shoved into a police car.

"What's in store for me?" Peter thought, Alexei's last sentence echoing in his mind. Ominous, but likely the same dramatic tripe his type spewed. He watched the crowd cheering, overjoyed to see that their hero had made a comeback. After so many months of belittling himself for his failures, Peter had forgotten what it was like to receive praise for being Spider-Man. It was a nice distraction until he acknowledged it and all those feelings came flooding back. Sure, you saved the day today, but you didn't then. Not for her.

Spidey's work here was done. Giving the crowd a quick wave, Peter leaped off the Rhino mech and fired a web at the building, swinging right over the heads of the people below.

Upon returning home, Peter tore his mask off his head, looking at himself in the Spidey costume. Somehow, it made him feel almost ill. He never wanted to wear the suit again; he promised himself he wouldn't. Maybe it was a good idea not to make a habit out of doing this.

Speaking of habits, Peter kicked himself when he realised he forgot to bring his camera along, something he always did in his last few months as Spider-Man. Lately, Jonah had been pestering him over e-mail, asking him to get his "old pal Spidey" out of retirement. Little did Jonah know these snide remarks were a little awkward to read for Peter but it's not like he could explain why to him. Peter pulled his arms out of the suit before climbing out of it, throwing it into the bottom of his wardrobe along with the mask before dressing back into a pair of jeans and a light blue t-shirt. He collapsed back on his bed as he heard the front door swing open; Aunt May was home.

"Hello!" she called up the stairs as she shut the door behind her. "Sorry I'm late, there was some trouble in the city; hey, you won't believe this: Spider-Man is back!"

Peter let himself smile. "Really?" he called back down.

"Some guy in a robot suit was causing trouble and he came in to stop him!" May shouted back up, putting her groceries away. "I suppose he picked a good time to come back!"

"Yep!" Pete replied half heartedly, realising this is now what people would think, what people would expect, that Spider-Man had returned and that he was going to be around all the time to help people like he used to. This was not something he had anticipated. The Bugle had already slammed Spidey enough for his disappearance, citing it as the cause of rising crime rates; funny, when Spidey was around, the Bugle slammed him for being a menace. If Spidey made an appearance and then dropped again, would he receive more criticism? Would he be knocked for only showing up to take on larger foes while ignoring the everyman he used to stand up for?

Peter groaned quietly as he ran his hands down his face, rubbing his eyes. He wasn't sure if he was ready to commit to being Spider-Man again. All these ifs and buts running through his head made him feel anxious. He tried to reason with himself; as much as he didn't want to go back to being Spider-Man, maybe he should. Maybe it was the right thing to do.

"That's what's at stake here. Not choice. Responsibility."

Ben's words echoed through his head first, one of the last things he ever heard him say before he was gunned down. They reminded him that it wasn't a matter of whether or not you wanted to do something; if you can do it, then it's your responsibility to do so.

"We have to be greater than what we suffer."

Gwen's voice from her graduation speech, Peter had watched so many times that he could recite it by heart. Peter had acknowledged that Gwen would not want him to grieve and mourn for the rest of his life, it's just that doing or feeling anything different was quite difficult. Maybe now was the time to make a change. Against his own interests, Peter decided to go back out that night, to make his return as the Amazing Spider-Man, even if just for a short while. As he secretly promised this to himself, his phone dinged; an e-mail from J. Jonah Jameson.

"Parker!" the message began, "Your old pal the wallcrawler's back – and not one picture to show for it!"

Peter rolled his eyes before reading on.

"Time you stopped slacking off, this is what I hired you for after all. Front page tomorrow: Spidey's Back! And I want your pictures to go along with it!"

"I guess that's that," Peter said to himself with a sigh. At least he'd be getting paid a little more.

Spider-Man sat perched atop a building, looking down onto the street below, police scanner in his hand ready to pick up on any police transmissions. It felt strange to be back, so strange that Peter almost resented it, but it was too late to turn back now that he'd already made an effort to go out. The scanner soon picked up on a transmission.

"We've got a hostage situation," the voice of a woman reported, "A crazy ex-boyfriend has his girlfriend at gunpoint in her apartment."

Spidey got to his feet. He prepped himself for a moment, taking a deep breath before leaping off the edge, swinging down the street, following to the address provided by the transponder. Spider-Man stuck to the wall opposite the building, hiding in the shadows. Through the apartment window, he saw a man, shaggy hair with a patchy beard, holding his girlfriend, a scared, panicked redhead, a gun held to her head. Self doubt filled Peter; once again, an innocent woman's life was in his hands. If he messed this up, it would be the final straw. While the weight of the situation was crushing, it also inspired Peter. It cemented the need to get this right.

Before entering the crime scene, Peter stuck his camera to the wall, setting it to record. He swung across the street, landing on the front-facing wall of the apartment building. Spidey looked down at the cop cars lining the street below, a negotiator trying to reason with the crazed man. Spidey crawled around to the other side of the building; a window leading into the kitchen. He smashed the glass and entered.

In the living room, the man with the gun jumped, his head darting to the kitchen door.

"What was that?" he grunted, throttling his girlfriend to get a response. "Who was that, huh?"

"I don't know," she whimpered, "Honestly, I don't know."

The man slowly loosened his grip of the girl, putting both hands on his pistol and raising it in front of him, stepping carefully towards the kitchen door. The silence was frightening, the only sounds being the floorboards creaking beneath the gunman's feet as he inched closer and closer to the room. The man pressed against the wall to the side of the door, taking a few deep breaths before swinging around, gun raised, only to find no one there. The glass from the kitchen window lay scattered along the floor in shards. The man looked around the room, oblivious to Spider-Man, clinging to the ceiling, staring down at the gunman, careful not to make a sound. As the man stepped further into the kitchen, Spidey dropped to the floor, landing on his feet and crouching, firing his webs at the gunman's feet and pulling him so that he landed on his front, hitting the floor with a thud. The gun fired in panic, smashing through a cupboard. The man turned his head, panic in his eyes before rage contorted his face.

"You!" he growled, raising the pistol and opening fire. Spidey leaped out of the way and the girl shrieked as the bullet flew through the doorway and hit the wall above her head, prompting her to hit the floor. Spidey was quick to fire a web at the wrist of the hand holding the gun, gluing it to the floor. The man flung his free arm around and attempted to tear the webbing off before Spidey pounced onto his chest.

"What do you think you're doin', huh?" Spidey asked, restraining his anger. How could anyone do something like this to someone they loved? The man swung his fist back in an attempt to slap Spidey across the face, but thanks to his senses, Peter was able to block it before it landed. In a violent outburst, Peter punched the man in the chest. The man started coughing and spluttering as the police kicked in the door. Spider-Man turned around to see cops filling the apartment. He quickly leapt out through the window, firing a web and swinging around to grab his camera before leaping off the wall and down through the city streets.

Resting on a rooftop, Peter pulled his mask off and took some slow, deep breaths. Jonah was right, crime really was getting out of hand. If he hadn't showed up, who knows how the negotiation could have gone. Flicking through his camera, he saw that he had collected some good footage from that night. When he got back home, he'd load the video on his laptop and pick out a few frames for Jameson to use on the front page.

Author's Note: Hope you enjoyed, leave a review with your thoughts! This fic should hopefully lead, more or less, into The Amazing Spider-Man's appearance in No Way Home. This means that I've got to be pretty strict on what I can or can't include so that it doesn't contradict with what TASM says he has been through. This means no Venom unfortunately, even though it would be really cool to see how the symbiote would influence Peter in this time. Still, I have a few ideas for what Peter could go through and I especially look forward to exploring the whole "I stopped pulling my punches" line.