The next day…
Peter was in gym class. Of course, he always had to pretend to be
a lot weaker than he really is.
"Come on Parker, move it!" Coach Mason yelled out.
He crossed the finish line.
"That's gotta be the slowest hundred meter dash I've ever seen.
Thompson, your turn. Come restore my faith in your generation." said the gym coach.
He ran it much faster.
They were outdoors.
The coach continued, "Alright, that's enough for one day." He blew his whistle, and everyone started going back in to change clothes before their next class.
Peter was on his way jogging back when he caught his first glimpse.
Up on a building, something reddish and purple flew by.
It looked worth checking out.
He snuck around to the other side of the place and got a better look.
It was a man, with some sort of jetpack.
He was shooting up all the windows on the 20th story of a nearby skyscraper.
The weapon wasn't a gun, looked more like an energy blaster than anything.
It was just petty vandalism, but still,
glass was falling from the sky and people were going to get hurt.
Something had to be done.
Although, there was a problem. Peter was in his gym clothes. He left his backpack and costume in his locker. After all, leave it in the locker room and it won't be long before
some kid opens up the wrong backpack and becomes spiderman.
The bell rang. Peter ran in, headed straight for his locker.
He got there, and started opening the lock.
27 left, 8 right, and 34 left again. It clicked, he threw on his backpack, slammed
the locker shut and went for the back door.
Yet unironically there was his gym coach.
"Parker, I need to talk to you." said Mason.
He quickly responded, "But I'm going to miss my next class!"
"I'll write you an excuse slip and you'll walk in five minutes late. Now come with me."
He thought:
"Alright, this won't take long, just talk to the guy and then get right out there."
They went through the locker room back into the coach's office, then sat down.
"Listen Peter, this might sound crazy but I used to be just like you." said the coach
Peter replied, "I don't quite know about that."
"No, I'm serious. When I was in high school I was all weak too.
So you know what I did?"
"Joined a gym?" Peter assumed this was the answer.
"No. I bought a jetpack and started blowing shit up."
His eyes flashed reddish purple and he instantly threw his elbow out
and slammed Peter in the face.
"Parker!" coach Mason yelled.
"Huh?" Peter woke up.
"What's the matter with you? All I said was I got beat up.
Point is, a kid like you could use a little working out.
It'll help you not get bullied."
"Riigght sir." Peter said with an uncertain face.
"Now get out of here, and take the excuse slip."
Peter left, monologuing.
"That was weird. That stuff Scorpion hit me with must have gave
me some sort of hallucination. "
He got outside and looked around, but the guy was gone.
"Great. He got away." He sighed.
"Next time I'm not waiting."
After going back to class, things were pretty quiet for the rest of the school day.
Though that was about to change.
While leaving Midtown, the vandalist guy in the sky was back.
"Show time." Peter thought.
Wasting no time at all, he dove into an alley and changed into Spiderman.
It was awfully sunny out, difficult for most people to see the fight that
was about to break out.
Spidey swung over a rooftop and spotted the vandalist again.
"Finally." He spoke with a distorted voice.
"And they just fixed that window too…" Spiderman replied.
He flew towards the webslinger quickly, but Spidey jumped out of the way.
"Grabby one, are ya?" he said.
"Nice, huh. Flextime disruptor. Lets me move faster than anyone." said the villain.
"Not if it's turned off." Peter webbed the wrist device up.
Then they shot a loud plasma blast out that destroyed the webbing. Immediately after,
he jumped at the airborne Spiderman to hold him. He could move like a bullet.
Looked like he was teleporting.
Just then, he fell unconscious and Peter felt a deadly aura surround him, kind of
like when he merged with the symbiote.
They were both still in midair.
It was trying to crush him. He struggled.
It struggled too. But eventually, it let go, and the guy woke up.
Peter breathed, then joked, "Aahh, the trash compactor was worse."
"Why can't I phase you!" He yelled.
"Spider strength, way more reliable than your technology."
Peter web striked the guy, and tried to rip off the gauntlet that powered the abilities, but
the guy moved out of the way. He bolted away in a rush.
The wall crawler tried to slingshot towards the fast-moving villain, but
he just couldn't keep up even at top web swinging speed.
After 15 seconds, the vandalist was nowhere to be found.
When Peter went back into the Connors' lab, he couldn't stop thinking about the
two villains he'd just let go.
Miles Warren was out, but he left instructions for Peter and Gwen to read.
Gwen came in a bit after him.
Some time after getting started, she approached Peter.
"Okay, you haven't said a word to me after 5 whole minutes.
What's wrong?"
"Nothing really, just…" He took a look around. They were the only 2
in the lab. "I fought some crook today, and they got away from me. Again."
"Twice in a row?" Gwen wanted confirmation.
"Yes. First Scorpion, now some jetpack guy who has a thing for
destroying windows. I feel like I'm losing it." said Peter.
"Losing what?"
"I don't know, my… chasing skills?"
"Well, how do they keep on getting away?"
"One is too fast, and the other just got a lucky punch on me."
"Too fast, huh?" She paused.
"I'll tell you what, I have an idea that might help you out with that." said Gwen.
"Really, what is it?" Peter wondered.
"It's a surprise. But for now just don't give up, okay.
You're Spider-Man, you've saved hundreds of people and
fought off every super wacko that's ever shown up in this town.
You can handle anything." Gwen exclaimed.
Peter laughed. "You know what… you're right. Thanks for cheering me up."
"That's what i'm here for!" she said excitedly.
Author's Note:
Okay first off, I'm sincerely sorry for the dead silent 2 and a half months since the last chapter.
I just kind of lost passion for writing for a while and am now getting back into it.
I can't promise any kind of consistency, because this might happen again, but just know from here on out that I definitely don't want to drop the story.
Anyway, both villains of the arc are now set up, and the illusions are setting in,
so things might become a little twisted from here on out. Stay tuned.