ldypebsaby: This is more of a 'back at the ranch' kind of thing. It won't really get involved with the other one, but I might swap a few characters in between the stories every now and again.
Mattb3671: Yeah, Phantom, I liked that name for him, it just sort of... fit.
Mark C: Yes it does indeed take place during the same timeline as my other stories. However I'm not sure yet if I'm going to have anyone from the other fic show up in this one. Who would you like to see meet Spider-Man? And as for how they found out, I'll be explaining it after they tell Peter that they know, so you'll just have to wait a bit.
Spyder616: Always glad to give ya more.
Meepie: Thank you for reading! And thanks even more for reviewing!
Author's Note: Thank you all for reviewing, and please continue doing so, I love reading what people have to say about my work, even if it's a flame! Which by the way I haven't gotten one yet, can someone flame me? Tell me my work sucked and tell me why? Please?
Chapter 2: The Cyber Hub
"This has got to be the place." Peter said looking up to the door of the building that was made of heavily tinted glass.
"Look MJ he must be a genius, he can read a sign!" Gwen said with a laugh as she gestured towards the white sign that hung above the door with big black letters saying 'The Cyber Hub.'
"So are we going to go in?" MJ asked Peter after a brief silence. "Or are we just going to stand out here?"
"I think-." Peter started but he was cut off.
"Oh come on." Gwen said grabbing Peter by the arm and dragging him through the door.
The inside was nice; the front room was large with computers lining the wall and individual chairs at each, but dimly lit with a couch and a large screen TV. At the far end of the large room was a counter with various things behind it, and a few prices for food and such hanging around it on the walls. There was a side room as well, not as large as the front room, but still big, with multiple sets of couches and chairs around coffee tables, which was better lit than the other room. Music played softly in the background, but it wasn't classical music, it was rock, or reggae, or something like that, Peter couldn't even tell.
"Nice." Gwen said looking around.
"Can I help you?" A female voice asked as a young teenage girl about their age, maybe a little older, came in from the other room.
"We're uh... We're looking for Thomas Walkner?" Peter asked looking to the waitress/server/worker/whatever she was.
"He's upstairs. I'm Amanda, I work the place most of the time, have a seat I'll see if I can get him, but who should I say is looking for him?" She asked gesturing for them to sit in the side room at one of the sets of chairs and couches set around a coffee table.
"Peter Parker." Peter answered as Gwen and MJ sat down.
"And his favorite niece." Gwen added as Amanda nodded and went behind the counter of the front room. There were a few people scattered here and there, but no one was really paying attention to the new comers, which made Peter feel comfortable as he took a seat next to MJ.
"I thought you said he wasn't really your Uncle?" MJ asked looking to Gwen.
"He's not, but my dad always told me to be respectful and call him Uncle Thomas, or Uncle Tom, so he said that if I got to do that, then he got to refer to me as his favorite niece." Gwen answered with a shrug. "Those were the fun days." She said slightly reminiscing of the days when her parents were together, and everything was happy, or at least seemed happy to her.
"I see." MJ answered picking up a magazine that was on the coffee table. "This place is nice." She said looking around a bit.
"Yeah, and over there it looks like they have a few tables and stuff for actual book work." Peter said looking to the end of the side room where there were about four tables with chairs around them.
"Yes, some people like to do their homework here. You're lucky, this place is usually packed about an hour from now." Thomas said as he came into the area, still wearing a matrix like outfit and those dark sunglasses. "Mr. Parker. I'm glad you accepted my invitation." He said with a smile. "You too Gwen."
"Well I figured the least I could do is look further into what exactly it was I'm getting myself into." Peter answered with a shrug as he and Thomas shook hands.
"Would you like something to eat or drink? Perhaps some pizza, or soda?" Thomas asked as he looked to all three of them for the answer.
"No, that's okay. I didn't bring any money." Peter answered as he sat back.
Thomas laughed a bit. "It's on me." He explained. "Hey Mandy!" He called out. "Get a large pepperoni, a coke, and..." He pointed to Gwen.
"Pepsi." Gwen said with a nod as Thomas switched his point to MJ.
"Coke will be fine." MJ said as he switched his point to Peter.
"Uh... a uh... root beer?" Peter said nervously as if he was being put on the spot.
"Two cokes, a Pepsi, and a Root Beer!" Thomas shouted into the other room.
"Comin' up!" Amanda shouted from the other room.
"So Peter, what exactly can I do for you? Do you have questions? Or were you here to accept the offer?" Thomas asked politely as he adjusted his shades.
"Well I don't really have any more questions, but this whole thing kind of strikes me as odd. I mean I realize you're not going to like, rip me off or anything, Gwen knows you, she would've told me if you were like... bad or anything, but I still don't understand exactly why I was chosen." Peter answered a bit shyly.
Thomas nodded. "Peter let me ask you something. What is your GPA?"
"Four point zero." Peter answered.
"And you've gotten an A in every single subject in high school, except for gym, all of your life." Thomas answered. "That means one of two things, either you're extremely bright and intelligent, or you're a cheater." Thomas said as he sat back in his chair a bit. "Now, we've looked into those two possibilities, and we've checked into your extracurricular activities. You're not a cheater. You're a good person. Have you ever heard the saying, 'bad things happen to good people?'" Thomas asked.
"Yeah..." Peter said a little solemnly.
"Well that is something that I and Mr. Kamesama completely disagree with. We both think that good things should happen to good people. People like you deserve to be rewarded for their hard work, and we're here to cut them some slack, give them a break, and that's what we're trying to do for you, if you'll accept the position. You Peter are a good person, you deserve good things, and I'm here to make sure that you get them."
Peter nodded as Thomas finished speaking and Amanda brought in their drinks. "Here ya go." She said as she handed the drinks to them.
"Now Peter, the thing about this job is that it's here for as long as you want it, and if you decide to wait to take it it's here until you graduate, but the longer you wait on it, the less money you'll have in your scholarship grant come graduation." Thomas explained. "The work is fairly easy, and the hours are flexible beyond compare, you can pick your pay check up here every week, or whenever we'll keep them for you until you come and collect them. You know the benefits, you know the fine print, and there's not much else I can say or do for you."
"I want the job." Peter said assuredly. "When can I start?"
"Right now if you want to, but I'd suggest waiting until after you eat." Thomas said with a smile. "Here." He said standing up. "Have this, consider it a bonus." Thomas said as he went into the other room for a sec, and brought back a box. He opened it up on the coffee table and pulled out a smooth black lap top computer. "State of the art. Use it whenever you want." He said as handed it to Peter. "Here's a card with the website name, you're screen name and password." He said handing Peter a business card. "Take care of it, if you forget it, just call me or stop by and I'll get it for you again."
"Thank you..." Peter started a little shocked at the gift of the computer. "But will this be taken out of my pay or something?" Peter asked looking at the computer.
"No, no, it's all paid for and bought, consider it a gift for someone whose family is taking such good care of my favorite niece." Thomas said with a smile. "Oh, which reminds me..." Thomas said running back into the other room. He came back a few seconds later with a gift-wrapped box in his hands. "Here you go Gwen, consider it a gift for missed birthdays and Christmases, just don't open it till ya get home. Okay?"
"Okay..." Gwen said with an unsure nod as she took the box and set it down. Curiosity was going to kill her now until she could open it.
Thomas smiled. "That pizza almost ready?" He called out to Amanda who was working in the other room.
"Give it a second to cook unless you want it raw!" Amanda answered back.
MJ smiled somewhat awkwardly as Thomas sat back down.
"Now Peter if it's alright with you I would like to meet with you privately, there is one matter we need to discuss, and I'd feel much better doing it where you can answer me honestly and not have to be worried about hiding anything from your friends." Thomas said as he looked back to the three of them. "If it is alright would you two go into the other room? Watch some TV, or check out our computer systems while Mr. Parker and I discuss something."
"Um... Okay." MJ said glancing to Peter, both of them confused and somewhat concerned. Peter nodded and Gwen and MJ went into the other room.
"Mr. Parker." Thomas began. "I'm going to get right to the point. I, and Mr. Kamesama, both think that you are a bright, and talented person, and should you prove yourself in this area, we are willing to help you advance your station, if you know what I mean."
"Not really..." Peter said a little confused.
"The harder you work and the better you do, and the more impressed we become, the more responsibility we're going to give you and the more rewards." Thomas explained.
"You're saying that there's a possibility for me to be promoted." Peter said summarizing what Thomas was trying to say.
"I'm saying that if you show us you're trustworthy, there's a possibility you might end up promoting me." Thomas said not making anything much clearer. "Mr. Kamesama is very impressed with you, as am I, and we're willing to give you the world, so to speak, if you can show us, that you can handle it."
"I'll do my best." Peter said with a nod.
"Good." Thomas said. "Now, I was wondering if you'd be willing to do me a favor."
"What is it?" Peter asked raising a brow, he obviously was unsure of where this was going.
"There's an employee of Kame industries that is unable to come in and collect his pay due to health reasons. I need you to take this envelope to him. Take this to the Robaldi Music Center over on 5th, ask for Hans." Thomas said reaching into his pocket and pulling out a yellow business envelope. "I'll not lie to you, it contains his last four pay checks, a sum of over three thousand dollars. Can I trust you?"
"Of course." Peter said taking the envelope carefully, and putting it in his backpack. "But I don't understand why you needed to send MJ and Gwen out of the room for all of this."
Thomas merely smiled. "You can come back in now." He called to Gwen and MJ. "I trust this will remain between us Mr. Parker?" He asked carefully as the two came back in and took their seats.
"Yeah..." Peter said, still a little bit confused about the whole thing. "But I don't-."
"Pizza's done." Amanda said interrupting Peter as she put a fresh large pizza down on the coffee table in front of them.
"Thank you Ms. Suchil." Thomas said as he stood up. "Enjoy the pizza, but if you'll excuse me, I have to take this call." He said as he pulled out and held up a small cell phone. He flipped it open as he went into the other room. "Phantom." He answered while the others were out of hearing range. "Yeah, gave the package to Spyder, we'll see if he tells his girlfriend about it, or Gwen." Thomas said into the phone and paused briefly as the person on the other end talked. "No, Gwen doesn't know a thing. I'm sure." He said and then paused again. "Yes of course." He paused. "Alright, well tell Robaldi his package will be there shortly." He paused yet again. "Yes, I have a meeting with the others tonight, and you're supposed to be there too. We'll all talk about it then."
Meanwhile Gwen and MJ and Peter were enjoying their pizza, Gwen and MJ more than Peter. Something about this whole thing seemed off. His Spider sense wasn't going off, but it didn't take a detective to figure out that there was more to the conversation he had just had with Thomas then he was getting. He needed to figure out what was going to happen, but he just had to wait and find out. First things first, he would deliver this package, but it was tempting to open it up and see if there was really three grand in there. Maybe he should tell MJ or Gwen about it...
"So what did you two talk about?" Gwen asked as she looked over to Peter.
I trust this will remain between us Mr. Parker? Thomas' words resounded through his head as he went to answer. "Uh... Nothing really. He wanted to know about my computer programming background, stuff like that." Peter lied, and he didn't know quite why.
"Well I think I like this place." MJ said taking a sip of her drink. "The TV in there has digital cable."
"And all the computers are really fast cable modem stuff, really awesome place. It's changed a lot since I've been here, and yet it hasn't... I guess that doesn't make much sense." Gwen mused as she ate some of her pizza. "You guys ready to high tail it outa here? Or are we sticking around for a bit?"
Almost as soon as she had finished her sentence the sound of sirens wailing sped past them on the street outside. Peter looked to MJ who just nodded. "Go." She said. "We'll make an excuse to Thomas, and then we'll leave too." She said as he got up. "See ya at home?"
"Yeah." He said grabbing his backpack. Which conveniently hid his Spider-Man costume inside of it. "I'll see you when I get home, tell Aunt May I had to stop at the Bugle." He said looking to Gwen.
She nodded. "You got it." She said giving him the thumbs up as he went out the door and made a left into the alley.
It wasn't long until he was up on the roof of the building next to the Hub and had changed into his Spider-Man suit, and was swinging through the air, following the police sirens. He was going to leave his back pack where he had changed, but decided not to, with the envelope Thomas had given him and everything.
The police weren't slowing down, in fact it was a high speed chase through the streets of New York, he was swinging and swinging as hard as he could, but both the police and car had a good lead on him.
Then below him something passed him, a motorcyclist, a female motorcyclist that must've been going at least two hundred miles an hour with sirens and lights flashing from it. She wore all black, and even had a piece of cloth over the bottom of her face, but no helmet, her long black hair was in a pony tail that flew straight behind her, and from her clothes came this odd glint like she was wearing some sort of armor.
It wasn't long until that motorcyclist had caught up with the get a way car and was riding next to it. It was headed out of the city, but there was a police blockade on the only street that it could exit from, and it looked like both the motorcycle and the car were going to ram it. But instead the motorcycle sped in front of the car, and stopped on it's side turn, and the woman's left fist came down and smashed the front end of the car as it sped towards her, flipping the car up and over the police blockade, and having it land on it's roof just beyond the blockade.
Peter didn't believe what was going on before his eyes, he couldn't have even made it there in time, and here there were all these new people showing him up. What was this? Every time something started going right for Peter Parker something started going wrong for Spider-Man, and if something was going wrong for Spider-Man it wasn't long until something was going wrong for Peter Parker. He dropped to the scene and landed on a light post a little ways away. The motorcyclist was nowhere to be seen, but he could only imagine the press that this would get. More vigilantes seemed to be popping up all over the place.
It wasn't long until Peter was back swinging around the city, seeing if he could help out somewhere, if he didn't end up being beaten there first. Then again maybe this wasn't such a bad thing. He'd always wanted to take MJ out on a real date, a really, real date. Not just movies at his house, or a study date, but take her to the movies, or to dinner, or something like that. Maybe with all these other vigilante's running around, he'd get that chance, maybe this was God's way of cutting him some slack... maybe.
END
Coming Soon... Chapter 3: Tests and Introductions
Author's Note: I hope you liked this chapter! Please Review and tell me if you did! Or if you didn't, please review and tell me why not! Your reviews really help to tell me if I'm doing a good job, and what directions I should go with the story, it's really great to know that there are people out there who read my work. I'd hug ya'll if I could, but I guess just thankin' ya will have to do. So thanks to those that have reviewed, and thanks to those that will. And if you haven't, or don't plan to review, then you stink, at least give me a flame. Remember, Reviews are always welcome, even when they're a flame!