This story takes place some time after No Way Home. For those of you who have not seen it and wish to avoid spoilers, please do not read any further, as it will have plenty. This is just what I think would be a good continuation of MCU Spidey's story since it'll probably be a while before they come out with the next one. People who have not seen NWH, you have been warned. Reviews are appreciated but not necessary. Thanks for reading!
Disclaimer: I do not own anything related to Spider Man or anything affiliated with the franchise.
Peter sighed as he walked into his apartment, looking around and seeing how empty it was. Ever since he had moved in, he hadn't bothered to do anything to make it feel more like home. Even if he had tried, he doubted it would work very well for him. This quiet apartment would never be a true home.
His home had been with Aunt May, where he was free to be himself, where his friends were welcome to visit him anytime they had wanted. Aunt May was gone, and his friends no longer remembered who he was. Everything that had ever made him feel like he was home was gone now, even if he had chosen to keep himself away from his friends so that they could have better lives without him.
He missed them dearly. All of them, but especially MJ. It had killed him when he had gone to talk to her and Ned at the coffee shop and realized that their lives would be better off without him in it. As long as he was Spider Man, they would only ever suffer for knowing him. And after seeing how his other life had affected their futures, he knew that he couldn't thrust them back into his world. No matter how much he had wanted to.
Forcing himself not to dwell on this, he took off his jacket and set it on the nearby chair, placing his keys on the kitchen counter as he got himself something to drink. It had been a long day of work, but it was necessary for him to work to be able to afford this place. He was an adult now, and regardless of whether he liked it or not, no one remembered who he was. The school he went to wouldn't remember him, nor would the colleges that he had applied to, meaning that he would likely spend the rest of his life working a mediocre job.
His dreams, his plans for his future, everything… it had all vanished after Doctor Strange had cast the spell that would make everyone forget who he was. Now, all he had was Spider Man, and he had spent every scrap of free time helping his city as he could.
Though he often looked back on his last adventure poorly because of all he had lost, meeting the other versions of himself had taught him a lot about who he wanted to be. When he had been at his lowest moment, his rage driving him to kill the man who had killed May, the older Peter had taught him that giving into hatred would do him no good. Even when the Green Goblin had stabbed him, older Peter had been happy to see Osborn be cured.
The other Peter had taught him something as well. Despite having lost the love of his life and spending some time letting his anger out on the criminals he took down, the other Peter had warned him against doing the same thing. He had taught him that doing so only led to more darkness, and that no one would benefit from him giving into his dark emotions.
Despite the little time he had spent with them, he was glad that he had been able to meet these other versions of himself. They had shown him that their path rarely ended happily, and though things could get better, what made them stand apart from everyone else were the sacrifices they were willing to make. It had been because of them that he had decided to let his friends go, knowing that this sacrifice would be what they truly needed for a better life.
And so, after he had said his last goodbyes to May and had decided not to tell his friends who he was, he had thrown himself into his Spidey work, rarely sleeping, rarely eating. All he could think to do was earn his living and help others, and was all he had been doing ever since.
Taking a sip of his drink, he looked across the room and saw something familiar, setting his drink down and walking over to it. Picking it up, he smiled as he finally recognized what it was. It was a picture of him and MJ when they had first started dating. Just after they had come back from their Summer vacation trip and not long before school started. Right before everything had started falling apart.
He remembered that day like it was yesterday. Everything had been perfect. MJ and him were finally going out, he had just stopped a ploy to fool the world into thinking that they needed a fake superhero, and he had made it safely back home after a long and dangerous trip. Despite all that had happened over that time, he was glad that he had the memories of his friends from the trip. It would be something that he would cherish for the rest of his life.
The sound of static interrupted his thoughts, making his eyes widen as he turned to listen as chatter came from the comm channels. "All units be advised," a voice spoke over the comms as he set the picture back down and quickly moved over to it and held it to his ear. "Bank robbery on 1st and 11th. Hostages have been taken. Requesting immediate backup. Over."
Knowing what he needed to do, Peter quickly ran over to his things and grabbed his suit, throwing it on as quickly as he could. Even after all of this time putting it on, it never was as easy as he thought it would be at this point in his career. Though he supposed that it wasn't the fancy suit Mr. Stark… Tony had made for him, so it would take some time to get used to manually putting on his suit. Once he finally had it on, he refilled his web fluid and opened up his window, not hesitating to crawl out before closing it behind him and swinging to his destination.
Thanks to his years of practice, it wasn't very long before he arrived, seeing that the chatter had been correct. From what he could see, there appeared to be five bank robbers, all of them armed and pointing their guns at people on the ground.
Police officers had lined the perimeter, but wisely had not gone in so as to avoid casualties. This worked just fine for Peter. The police were not his enemy, but they usually were not very fond of his efforts to make their jobs easier. If he was going to do this, he'd rather not have them breathing down his back or trying to arrest him.
Taking a closer look at the situation, he determined that going in and fighting wouldn't be the best option for this situation. He had dealt with people like this before. One wrong move and the hostages would be dead before he could lift a finger to help. No, for this he was going to need to be a little more stealthy. Something that he still hadn't quite managed to master just yet.
But, knowing he had no other choice, he scanned around the building for an opening and found a nearby vent, being just about the right size for him to squeeze in. Being satisfied with this, he swung himself over to the other building and pried off the cover, gently setting it down before crawling inside. If he was going to pull this off, he couldn't risk anything alerting the hostage takers, and a loud, noisy vent cover dropping to the ground could be just what tipped them off.
Making his way through the vents, he did his best to find his way through the many paths the ventilation took him and became relieved as he heard people talking below him.
"Please, sir, if you'll just let her go-"
"Quiet!" the leader of the bank robbers shouted, making Peter wince as he knew that these guys meant business. Taking off the vent cover separating him from the room below him, he jumped down and gently landed on a chandelier as the leader continued. "As long as everyone stays still and doesn't say a word, no one will get hurt! So keep your yaps shut!"
The people in the bank trembled, knowing that their chances of survival were slim at this point. All except for one, who appeared to be crossing her arms over her chest in defiance. Peter couldn't make out who she was or what she looked like due to the angle he was at, but he respected her refusal to cower before their captors.
She appeared to be wise, however, as she did not say anything to aggravate them, either. Whoever this girl was, she was not dumb. Deciding to shake off these thoughts for the moment, Peter resumed his focus and jumped onto the ceiling, crawling carefully as he assayed his targets. Two appeared to be watching the door, likely watching for any movement from the police. The leader and one of his lackeys were on crowd control, and the final member of the bank robbers appeared to be attempting to get into the vault.
I'll have to pick them off one at a time, Peter mused to himself as he looked down at them. If they notice anything is wrong, then it's game over. Knowing there was no time to lose, he waited until the leader had left to go check on the vault hacker and made his way over to the other robber on crowd control. Once he was in position, he began lowering himself down on a single strand of web to reach his target, noticing as some of the hostages began to notice his arrival.
Putting up a finger against where his lips were, he continued his descent until his face became level with the back of the robber's head. Clearing his throat, he waited until the robber had turned around before he said. "Hi."
"What the-" the robber began, but was quickly cut off as Peter shot a web onto his mouth. His shouting being muffled by the webs, no one could hear him as Peter shot a web at his feet and lifted him into the air, slamming him into the ceiling as he stuck him to it with a well placed web.
"One down, four to go," Peter whispered to himself, hoping that no one would look up as he looked around at his remaining targets. The leader was still in the back, so that left him with the two bank robbers guarding the door. Seeing an office to the right of one of the robbers, an idea came to mind as he began crawling his way towards it.
Looking to make sure that they didn't see him, he jumped down from the ceiling and landed softly on the ground, making no noise as he watched his two targets. Fortunately for him, they did not see or hear him, making him sigh in relief as he tip-toed into the office. Once he was safely behind the door frame, he made a fake coughing sound, making the robber closest to him look in his direction.
"Franky! I thought you got all of the hostages out there!"
"I did!" The other robber responded without tearing his eyes from the cops staring him down outside. "There's no one else in here!"
"I heard something! Someone else is in there!"
Rolling his eyes, Franky scoffed and shook his head at his cohort. "If you're so scared Billy, go check it out! Someone's gotta make sure the cops don't get any funny ideas." Seeing that he wasn't going to be of much help, Billy made sure his gun was at the ready and slowly walked inside the office. The room was dark, so much so that he couldn't see much of anything.
Scowling a little, he kept walking in and muttered. "If someone's there, I swear to-" His words stopped as he heard the door quietly shut behind him. Turning around, he saw a pair of inhuman eyes staring back at him. Gulping a little, he stuttered. "F-Franky? That you?"
Franky, having been by himself for a few minutes, noticed that Billy had not returned and began to get worried. "Billy?" he called over to the office, seeing that the door was still open. He was met with no response. "Billy! What are you doing?"
Still nothing. Becoming frustrated, he made a motion that he was watching the cops before marching over to the office, knowing he didn't have much time. "Billy! What are you doing?" he called as he stopped at the edge of the door, not wanting to disappear from the cops sight if he didn't have to.
Having trapped Billy in a web against the wall, Peter made sure Billy couldn't respond before calling back in an imitation of his captive. "I stumbled and fell! I can't see nothing!"
Wincing a little at how bad his impression sounded to him, he became relieved as he heard an exasperated sigh come from the other robber. "Always the same thing with you, Billy. Hold on, I'll come help your sorry ass."
Walking into the room, he fumbled around for a light switch and after a few moments of searching found what he was looking for, his eyes widening as they landed on the sight of his fellow robber webbed to the wall with Peter right next to him.
"Hi!" Peter greeted him cheerily as he shot a web onto Franky's mouth, preventing him from being able to warn the remaining robbers of what was happening. "Allow me to introduce myself. I'm Billy. Oh wait…" he said as if being hit with sudden realization. "I think we've already met. Was it at Bank Robbers Anonymous?" Before he could do anything, Peter moved faster than lightning and threw Franky to the wall, webbing him up just as he hit the solid structure and preventing him from doing anything else.
With that taken care of, Peter let out a sigh of relief and whispered to himself. "Three bad guys down, two to go." Making sure to turn the light off before he left, he closed the door behind him and jumped back up to the ceiling, seeing that the other bank robber he had taken care of had finally stopped trying to escape his confines.
"Sorry, buddy," Peter whispered to him as he passed him to get a better vantage point. "You'd have better luck trying to fix your personality than getting out of that." Once he was right where he wanted to be, he took a look at the situation before him. The hacker appeared to be totally focused on his task, and the leader appeared to be watching him. If he could get the leader away, he could take down the vault hacker before he managed to crack it.
"Alright. First the vault guy and then the leader," Peter decided to himself, looking around the room and finding another vent that led to the backroom. Seeing his way in, he quickly crawled over to it and got himself inside, seeing that the two still seemed to be distracted. Clearly, neither of them knew that their fellow bank robbers had been dealt with.
Deciding to use this to his advantage, he crawled over to the front of the room. Had there been any other rooms than the vault in this space, he would lure him into one of them, but there wasn't. He would have to lead him back out into the main part of the building. This was risky, he knew, as the hostages were still out there, but he didn't have much choice. Though he was certain he could take on them both, he didn't want to do anything to cause the hostages to get hurt, so he knew that this was the best option for the situation.
Making sure that they weren't looking, he flipped himself over the door hinge and crawled down, putting a hand next to his mouth as he once again did his impression. "Boss! We got trouble!"
Growling as he heard this, the leader grabbed his gun off of the desk and walked out of the room, not noticing as Peter slipped back in over his head and went to take care of the vault hacker. Looking around the room, the leader became surprised as he saw no one. Not one of his guys was out here.
"What the-" he began in disbelief, looking around the room before hearing the sound of muffled shouting coming from above him. Looking up, his eyes widened as he saw his crowd control guy stuck to the ceiling with webs keeping him in place. Narrowing his eyes as Peter webbed his vault hacker to the ceiling, he growled. "Spider Man."
Knowing that he likely didn't have much time, he walked over to the nearest hostage and forced her up, putting the gun to her head. "Hey! Let me go!" the girl yelled as she struggled to get out of his grip, doing her best not to show the fear she felt that was making her heart pound.
"Quiet girl!" the leader snarled, keeping the gun to her head as he swiveled around, looking for the one he knew was there. "Listen here, Spider Man! I'm only going to say this once! Leave me alone, and the little miss here won't get a bullet in her brain!"
"Let me go!" the girl snarled, this time with more conviction as she attempted to kick him in the shins, but was only met with the response of the gun being pressed further into her skull. Peter, having heard the voice before and finding it familiar, listened to it again and couldn't help but think it sounded familiar. Very familiar.
Then it hit him. Unable to hold back a gasp of surprise, he whispered to himself. "MJ." Knowing there was no time to lose, he launched himself back out into the main lobby and stopped several feet before the man who had taken her captive.
"Stay away, Spider Man!" the man warned as he began moving to the back. "One step closer and she's dead!"
"Come on, we can work this out!" Peter attempted to parlay with him as he put his hands in the air. "You want to get away, I want you behind bars. We basically want the same thing! Just let the girl go and we'll get right on that."
"I'm serious! Stay away!" he yelled, pressing the gun even more into her head as she tried not to wince from the pain. Seeing that he wasn't going to be able to stop him without her getting hurt, he reluctantly allowed the man to move to the back of the building, watching him until he took the emergency exit and disappeared out of sight.
With the hostages now being safe, they all began to thank him, all but one who had a worried look on her face. "Spider Man, please! Go after him! He has my daughter!" she nearly begged.
Recognizing her to be MJ's mom, he cleared his throat and put on his superhero voice. "Don't worry, ma'am. I'll get her." Not waiting for her to respond, he rushed out the front doors and avoided the glare of the many press cameras that snapped a shot of him, breaking into a run before he launched into the air and began swinging away.
Bringing himself to the top of a nearby building, he looked around while muttering to himself. "Come on, come on…" Before very long, he found what he was looking for. A stolen police vehicle that was speeding through the streets at dangerously reckless speeds. "Gotcha."
With a renewed determination, he quickly swung his way through the city and followed the destructive path his target was taking, his fear at an all time high as he did his best to catch up to them. Fortunately for him, his web swinging proved to be fast enough to catch up with them, and it wasn't long before he had the car in his sights.
"So, what exactly is your plan here?" MJ asked disinterestedly with a raised eyebrow, being very scared on the inside but refusing to show it on the outside.
"I… I don't know!" the man admitted as he took a sharp turn. "I'll figure it out on the way! Now keep your mouth shut!"
Rolling her eyes at him, she looked in the rearview mirror and had to hold herself back from gasping as she saw Spider Man swinging behind them. Deciding not to say anything, she simply began humming and waited to see how things would shake out.
"Almost… there!" Peter gasped as he did his best to keep up with the maniac driving in the already overcrowded city streets. It was a miracle he hadn't crashed yet. Luckily for him, he finally managed to get close enough to connect a web to the car, launching himself at it as he readied himself for what came next.
Looking up as he heard a thunk! coming from the roof of the car, the man looked out his window to see Peter waving at him. "Hi! Would you like to buy some car insurance?" Peter yelled over the sound of the sirens blaring behind them.
"I thought I told you to stay away!" the man yelled, reaching to grab his gun, but becoming surprised as MJ reached for it and wrestled with him for control. Due to this distraction, the man could not focus on the road and did not notice as they ran a red light, a nearby car crashing into them as they all were thrown to the side of the road.
"Whoa!" Peter yelled as he struggled to hold on, knowing that he would need to stop them before they collided with something. Seeing that they were about to crash into a building, he forced his feet to plant into the ground and slowed it down, just barely managing to save the building from receiving a car-sized hole.
Once the dust had settled, he looked down and saw that the man had been knocked out in the crash, but MJ appeared to be awake. If a little banged up. Knocking on the window, he watched as MJ rolled it down and said. "Uh… Thanks. I guess."
Feeling his love for her overwhelm him for a moment, he forced himself to focus and cleared his throat as he put on his superhero voice. "No problem, citizen. I'm glad you're okay." Opening the door for her, he helped her to get out of the small space between the car and the wall and walked around the car, leaving them standing with her former captor unconscious behind them. "So," he felt himself trying to think of something to say. "Are you alright?"
"Yeah, I'm fine," she assured him as she looked at the car, a small laugh escaping her lips as she saw how much damage had been done to it. "Weirdly, this isn't the weirdest thing that's happened to me."
"Good, good," Peter continued in his fake superhero voice. He hoped that it was convincing, but if it wasn't, MJ didn't appear to be saying anything. Looking at her, he decided that he had likely spent too much time talking to her as it was and continued. "Well, should we get you back to your mother?"
Being surprised as she heard this, she wondered how she knew that she had been with her mother at the bank, but realized that her mom must have told him. If there was one thing she knew about her mom, it was that she was a worrier. "Sure. But…" she began as she looked back at the man who was still passed out at the wheel. "What about this guy?"
Looking at the man in question, Peter smiled under the mask. "Don't worry. I've got that covered."
Just as the police finally showed up to the crime scene, Peter grabbed MJ and launched into the air, making her scream as they soared into the air. Though the cops weren't particularly happy about this, they decided that he had really helped them out this time and decided not to go after him. Looking back at the car that had been stolen, they became surprised to find the remaining bank robber tied up with webs sitting in the car, a notecard on his lap that read. This guy got a little tied up in the crash, but other than that he should be fine. Tell him Spidey said hello! And that he might need a new car insurance provider!- SM.
Peter tried not to let his nerves get the best of him as MJ clung onto him for dear life. She had never liked doing this when she knew who he was, and it was clear that she still didn't. Still, he certainly wasn't going to complain about having her be this close. He may never be able to be this close to her again.
Deciding not to dwell on this thought, he yelled over the rushing wind around them. "Are you doing okay, Miss?"
"Yeah! Totally fine!" MJ yelled back, doing her best not to vomit as she watched the world move around chaotically in her eyes. "Could you maybe slow it down a bit?"
"Oh! Yeah! Sorry!" he apologized sheepishly, slowing himself down enough to make her not be so dizzy as they swung through the city. Fortunately for her, it wasn't long before they reached their destination, making her relieved as they touched the ground.
"How do you do that? Don't you get dizzy all of the time?" MJ asked as she held onto her head, hoping that this feeling would go away soon.
Chuckling a little as he heard this, he simply shrugged and replied. "You get used to it after a while. First time I tried this, I almost threw up, though," he reluctantly admitted, making her laugh as she finally regained her bearings.
"Well, just so you know, I'm never doing that again," she warned him, making him laugh as he put a hand in the air.
"You won't have to. Spider-Man's honor," he told her, making her smile a little back at him. Before either of them could say anything else, the sound of a familiar voice pierced through the silence that had befallen them.
"Sweetie! You're okay!" Turning to see her mother running up to them, MJ braced herself for a hug as he mother tackled her.
"I'm okay, Mom," MJ awkwardly patted her on the back as she returned the hug. "Really."
Pulling away from the hug, her mother smiled in adoration at her before remembering the man who had saved her. Turning to him, she gave him a grateful smile. "Thank you so much, Spider Man. I don't know what I would have done if I had lost her."
Clearing his throat, he nodded and responded. "No problem, Ma'am. I'm glad that she's safe." Though he would have liked to talk to them more, he knew that he had spent too much time around her as it was. If she was going to have a better life without him, he needed to stay away from her. Even if all he wanted was to talk to her as much as he could. "Well, I, uh… I've got other things to do, so I should get going."
"Of course," MJ's mother gave him a reassuring smile. "Thank you again for saving us." Watching as he began walking away, she became surprised as she heard the sound of her daughter speak up.
"Uh, yeah… Thanks Spider-Man," she told him, stopping him in his tracks as he had begun walking away. Turning around to her, he nodded and waved before jumping into the air, zooming away on a web until he was out of sight.
"Well, this has been an eventful day, hasn't it?" her mother chuckled, giving her a kiss on the head as she began walking to their car. "Come on. Let's go home."
Deciding not to say anything in reply, MJ looked at where Peter had gone before shrugging it off and climbing into the car. Fortunately for them, her mother had already spoken with the police and had given them everything that she knew. Now, they were free to go home and try to unwind for the rest of the day.
"So," her mother began with excitement as she pulled off of the side of the street and back onto the roads, glancing at her daughter with an amused look. "What was it like swinging with Spider-Man?"
"Mom!" MJ groaned, making her mother laugh as she shrugged, keeping her eyes on the road as she then said.
"What? I'm just curious, that's all." Thinking back to her brief time in the air, MJ's eyes widened and her head began to hurt as she closed her eyes and a hand to her forehead. "MJ? Are you alright?"
MJ didn't respond, her mind racing as a new memory popped up in her head. It was her swinging with Spider-Man in the air, but this time it was… different. He was wearing something clearly different from what he had been wearing today and, after letting her mind absorb the whole memory, a somewhat familiar voice came to mind.
You okay? Spider-Man asked as he set her down. Had she met Spider-Man before? She felt like she would remember if she had met him before.
Yeah. Yeah, I'm okay, her own voice played in her head as she looked at the man who had been carrying her. Let's just never, never doing that again. I'm never doing that again.
Her vision finally ending, she snapped back to reality as the sound of her mother's concerned voice pierced through her thoughts. "Honey, are you alright?"
Blinking rapidly as she looked around, she shakily replied. "Y-yeah. I'm fine." She could tell by the look on her mother's face that she wasn't convinced, but her mother just shrugged it off and refocused on the road.
"Okay, if you say so, Sweetie. You're probably just having some last minute jitters from all that's happened today. I'm sure you'll be fine."
Absent-mindedly nodding, MJ couldn't help but bite her lip as she thought over what she had seen in her head. Before today, she had never met Spider-Man before, let alone swung with him. So what was this vision? And why did it seem so familiar? It was almost like a moment of Deja-Vu.
And there had been something oddly familiar about Spider-Man, too, despite her never having met him before. This didn't make any sense, though, as she was sure she had never met him before. She couldn't deny that there had been a sense of familiarity when he had saved her, and she had felt happier than usual being around him. Originally, she had thought this to be her thankfulness to have gotten out of the bank robbery alive, but now she wasn't so sure.
Watching the town go by as her mother drove them back home, she couldn't help but wonder… Who was Spider-Man? And more importantly, was the vision in her mind a figment of her imagination… or a memory she didn't know she had?