Chapter 3-3
Midtown High
In theory, he shouldn't be in school; he suffered a traumatic experience and should've stayed home but he didn't. That's why I'm baffled that my best friend, Eddie Brock, is working out with me in the school weightlifting room.
"These things always happen to me," Eddie said as he began bench pressing with David acting as his spotter. "I'm always getting myself into some kind of altercation with the supervillains of this town. Green Goblin, Detective Octopus, and now the Scorpions."
"I definitely wouldn't consider the Scorpions to be supervillains," David said. "They're just low-level thugs."
"But I did meet the copy-spiders," Eddie protested. "After what they did, they're now considered supervillains."
Even better than what I had in mind.
David smiled for a split second. "People like to think that pure selfless heroes that don't kill exist in this world but no. The only type of superheroes that exist are antiheroes; the ones who won't hesitate to use unsavory means to save the day."
"Yep. Yep yep yep."
David helped Eddie lift the bench bar up so Eddie could sit up. Eddie reached down and grabbed his thermos and took a swig of water. Eddie looked down at his arms where muscles were starting to protrude.
"Pretty soon, you'll look like me," David laughed. "I'm all muscle up here." David flexes. "Felicia can attest to that."
Eddie took one more swig of water before he put his thermos down. He looked at David. "Speaking of which, what about that bank incident that happened the other day?"
"With that black-suited Spider-Man punching the lights out a civilian wearing Hobgoblin's costume?"
"Yeah, that. Was that the OG Spider-Man or was that another copy-spider?"
"I don't know. I saw footage of him online and unlike the original Spider-Man, who shot webs from his wrists, this black-suited Spider-Man shot black webs from the back of his hand."
"So it's a different Spider-Man. Jesus Christ, where are all these Spider-Men coming from all of a sudden? Spider-Man, Scarlet Spider, Silk, that one spider-guy wearing a cargo jacket, and now that one in the black suit. This is definitely one Christmas adventure that will go down in history."
Just like Hobgoblin and Scarlet Spider and their crew will go down in history: Losers.
"Like Rudolph?"
Eddie laughed. "Yep. Like Rudolph the rednosed reindeer."
David looked over at the clock. "We got a few minutes before bench-pressing class is over. Want to go get some candy from the vending machine?"
"Gatorade."
David gave Eddie a thumbs-up. "Gatorade."
As David and Eddie walked out of the room to the vending machine, David reached into the pocket of his basketball shorts to pull out the two cash bucks he had on him when he came face to face with Cindy and Miles standing before him.
Hello Cindy, Miles.
Eddie went on to buy a Gatorade while David stayed behind to chat with Cindy and Miles.
"Cindy, Miles, what is up with you guys? Every time I see you, you're always together. You guys dating or something?"
"Nah, we just bros," Miles said. "Nothing more."
"~Okay~," David said in a singsong voice. "~Whatever you say~." He looked at Cindy. "What are you guys doing here?"
"Cindy and I signed up for weightlifting class."
"Oh, ya did?"
A convenient excuse as to why you're so muscular or to spy on me. Maybe the former in Miles's case and the latter in Cindy's case.
"It's been a while since I've seen you two. How are things going for you?"
"Okay, I guess," Miles answered again. "I'm going through some rough things at home with my Dad and my uncle but everything's okay."
I would say I'm sorry for planning to kill your Dad... but he shot at me; he deserves to die.
"Well, I hope it's nothing too bad. Family is the most important thing in the world, especially around the holidays."
"Yeah, that's what my Mom says. But-"
David tilted his head. "But what?"
"My friend is going through a bit of a rough patch. He had a bad day the other day and it's made him sad."
Good, I hope it hurt a lot.
"Aw crap, I'm sorry. Is this Ganke?"
Miles shook his head. "Nah, not Ganke. This other friend of mine. He's been beating himself up over this personal issue of his lately and I'm trying to figure out what to do to make him feel better."
"Well, what happened?" David shook his head and held up his hands. "On second thought, it's none of my business. The only advice I can give you guys is that you be there for him. Whatever he's going through, it's apparently hard on him so it's best to be there for him. Hug him, comfort him, whatever. Maybe get him a Christmas gift or keep him busy."
"Keep busy?" Miles folded his arms over his chest. "What do you mean?"
"Like, it's what happened this one time with my cousin. She wasn't feeling so good after this rough patch she went through so my aunt told her to work at a homeless shelter and help out. Keeping busy and saving people actually helped her through this rough patch. Maybe that's what you can suggest to your friend: work at a homeless shelter or just help out in general."
Miles tilted his head back. "Huh, that actually makes sense."
"One thing my aunt always said was this: When you help one person, you help everyone."
Why does that sound so familiar?
"Who knows why."
Shut up, parasite.
"When you help someone, you help everyone," Miles repeated.
"There's a homeless shelter in Chinatown called F.E.A.S.T., you should tell your friend to go there."
"I will. Thanks, man." They high-fived. "You're a good person."
And you're a dead person.
"Well it's Christmas, I want to make sure I'm on Santa's nice list."
Unbeknownst to Miles, when they high-fived, a piece of the symbiote seeped into Miles's palm.
Good work, alien goo. If you can follow orders correctly, then that piece I left behind will jump and attach itself to Jefferson Davis. The other day, when I left that piece with Felicia, I gave it instructions to attach itself to Walter Hardy. Given that I can sense Walter Hardy's position and not Felicia's, it has successfully bonded to him. In order to keep Felicia from getting suspicious, I'm going to have to have another piece of the goo bond with her.
David and Miles laugh before patting each other's shoulders. Miles walks ahead, leaving David alone with Cindy, her expression dead serious as she stares David in the eyes.
Neither of our spider-senses are going off; we can talk with little restraint now.
David drops his smile. "What?"
"Was that you in the black suit?" she whispered.
David shook his head.
"Why should I believe you?"
"Believe what you want, I know that wasn't me."
"Scarlet and Kid Arachnid said they were ambushed by an alien-looking creature wearing black a few days ago. Kid Arachnid speculated that the black-suit Spider-Man might be related to it."
"Aren't you worried? Your pal, Scarlet, is in the spotlight as an infamous killer. Almost about to beat a defenseless criminal to death."
Eddie finished buying himself a Gatorade and turned to see David talking to Cindy. He approached them.
"Whatcha guys talking about?"
David answered, "Scarlet Spider."
"Oh yeah. I was there at the Daily Bugle when it was taken over; I was a hostage. I can't believe that Scarlet Spider was going to kill a defenseless criminal. I would be sad except that the criminal held me at gunpoint. He deserves to die. Perhaps Scarlet Spider is starting to adopt the OG Spider-Man's philosophy."
"I hope not," Cindy said, "we got enough murderers in this town already."
"Yeah," David snarked, "this town ain't big enough for two murderous antiheroes."
Eddie laughed before he thought of something. "Speaking of which, where is Spider-Man? I haven't seen him since that fire at that one mansion. Is he going off the grid or something?"
"Maybe Hobgoblin scared Spidey so much that he went into hiding." Cindy smiled. "Maybe he's more of a Chicken-Man than Spider-Man."
David laughed but not with humor. "I hope not because that would make Spider-Man a coward. I think it's safe to say after everything Spidey has done in killing people, he's not a coward."
"Actions speak louder than words, Davey. He hasn't shown up and he's letting the three copy-spiders pick up his slack. Not very brave of him to do that. Less he's got an ace up his sleeve."
Not yet... but I will.
"I hope so."
Eddie unscrewed the cap off his cap and took a swig. "Weightlifting class is almost over so I'm going to gather my things."
Eddie walked off, leaving David and Cindy to chat in private. David's spider-sense alerted him of the camera in the hallway but they were out of its view and thus, unable to pick up on what the two teens are doing or saying.
"By all accounts, I should kill Scarlet Spider because what he did would label him a violent criminal." He smiles sadistically at the girl. "Spider-Man kills violent criminals and supervillains, but he's not going to. You know why?"
"Why?"
"Because that black-suited Spider-Man framed me. The police shot at him and they assumed that the black-suited Spider-Man was the original Spider-Man. This black doppelganger is tarnishing my reputation and I can't let that slide. And based on what you said about Scarlet and Kid Arachnid - catchy title - this black creature is trying to frame me. What if you and I teamed up, Cindy? We worked together to bring down this doppelganger so the public would trust me again."
"I won't do anything to restore the reputation of a serial killer."
"Cindy, I'm not going to hurt you; I promise. I could've caused you severe pain for attacking me twice but I didn't."
"That doesn't mean shit to me. We are enemies."
"We can be friends too. Frenemies." He approaches her. She backed away slightly. David backs her into the wall and rests his hand beside her head.
"I thought you said you weren't going to hurt me."
"I'm not, I just wanted to kabedon you." David laughed. "You and I want the same thing: to web-sling the city doing whatever we want. I want to kill people, you want to save people. Naturally, we should be enemies but we share a common enemy: the black-suited Spider-Man. He is tarnishing my reputation and he attacked your Scarlet Spider and Kid Arachnid. My plan is that you and I work together and then we can go back to being enemies. It could work. Unless… dear daddy Scarlet Spider and big brother Kid Arachnid won't let you go out with your bad boy boyfriend."
"We're all equal on our spider team and you're not my boyfriend. Fuck you. Also, Kid Arachnid is younger than me."
"I can only say I promise so many times. Rest assured, when this black-suited Spider-Man strikes again, it's going to hurt worse than the last time. This is why I say we should work together, so we can take out one enemy then it'll go back to fighting each other and the Terrible Hobgoblin Trio."
Cindy looked David in the eyes, weighing the options in her head. She bit her lower lip before sucking her teeth.
"Don't worry, our little alliance will be our dirty little secret." David held his hand out. "We were bitten by the same genetically engineered spider so it stands to reason that we should work together." Without even realizing it, David's eyes lingered on Cindy's breast for a split second. He leaned in and inhaled her scent. "You smell sooo good by the way. Like chocolate."
Cindy smacked him across the face. She grasped David's hand and shook it. "You smell good too, David."
David leaned in, his eyes suddenly taking on a sadistic glow. "If you ever slap me like that again, I'll punish you severely."
"I thought you said you weren't going to hurt me."
"There are other ways to punish you that don't involve pain. Remember that."
The bell rang, signaling for everyone to get to their next class.
David backed away from the wall and smiled smugly at Cindy. "Well, I hope you're happy; you distracted me now I have to change into my regular clothes and be late to class. If only I had superpowers to help me get things done fast."
Cindy put her hands in her pockets. "Sucks to be you, David."
Cindy walked away, leaving David behind.
I wonder what's going on in Cindy's head, wanting to take me down but not being able to attack me in my civilian identity because of the promise she kept.
Jail Cell
"You know, there's a thing called Miranda Rights," Abraham Copeland yelled across the empty hallway.
It had been a few days since he and his gang got arrested and instead of being sent to prison, they were sent to the closest holding cells for the time being while the police began rounding up the rest of the Scorpions gang. Copeland, being the leader of the group, was separated from his dozen comrades that helped him take over the Daily Bugle. Abe that it would be better this way, that way, his gang wouldn't try and beat him up for getting them all arrested.
Copeland could care less about his gang, only that he fulfilled his end of the deal. He did what the black-suited Spider-Man had ordered him to and now all his secrets were safe.
He turned back to the cot in his jail cell and he sat down for a while before he began pacing around the cell. There was a single window on the wall behind him but it was bared off and he could barely see anything outside, the pane being covered by the snow of course.
When he rested his head against the bars, his back was turned to the window. That's why he jumped in surprise and rotated on his heels to check the source of the sudden intrusion. Much to his shock and horror…
The Scarlet Spider had broken into his jail cell through the window, having torn off the bars and smashed the glass, and was now standing five feet away from Copeland.
"What are you doing here?" Copeland demanded.
"Came back to finish the job," Scarlet Spider said darkly.
The Scarlet Spider reached out and snapped Copeland's neck.
Homeless Shelter
It has been a few days since the incident at the Daily Bugle. Ben had been clawing at his hair and biting the skin of his lips ever since. He had been drinking more coffee than usual, and contrary to what is typically said, the coffee didn't make him hyperactive and jittery, only calm.
It was how he liked it but he refused to drink any coffee the night before. Today was the day he was going to help out at that homeless shelter in Chinatown and help out those in need.
Ben approached the small building and looked at the sign above the front door, which explained what the acronym for F.E.A.S.T. was.
"Food, Emergency, Aid Shelter and Training." Ben chuckled. "Did they just decide that 'feast' was going to be its name then figure out the acronym another time?"
He looked to his right and a woman wearing a red parka and blue beanies walked in. One quick glance at the woman's tattered boots was enough to let Ben know that she was homeless. Before she opened the door and walked in, she flashed a toothy smile at Ben, showing jagged yellow teeth.
Ben walked in after her.
The inside of the building looked like a small nursing home with a counter at the front and a large room the size of two basketball courts filled with bunk beds before him. He looked to his left and saw a table spread out with various foods and snacks. One snack that stood out to him was the scones.
Ben laughed at the sight of seeing a giant thermos of coffee. He checked his watch. It was seven o'clock in the morning and some of the people sleeping in the bunk area were just barely getting out of bed. Ben knew exactly what to do to start the day.
He grabbed the thermos of coffee and went around and began pouring everyone's drinks.
The same woman he met outside had a mug before her and she held it out to him.
"First day," she asked. "Never seen you before."
"Yeah," Ben nodded.
"You weren't arrested and sentenced to a hundred hours of community service, were ya?"
Ben shook his head. "Nope. I… had sort of a bad day a few days ago."
"Oh, so we're you're rehab huh?" The woman reached over to the table beside her and grabbed a freshly baked gingerbread man. She dipped the gingerbread man in her mug, leaving only his head above the coffee. Then, she took out a bag of Hershey kisses and dropped three of them into the mug. She took out a candy cane she had in her pocket and stirred it around. After that, she picked up the mug before taking a sip.
"Delicious."
Ben scoffed. "I'm sure it is."
"You want some?"
Ben shook his head. "Nah, I like my coffee black."
"Your loss." She held her hand out. "I'm Zia by the way."
Ben shook her head. "Nice to meet you, Zia."
"If you're looking for work, they're a little short-staffed her. The guy who runs this place is away on business so he left it in the care of some redheaded gal. Talk to her and you can do something around here."
"Thanks, Zia."
Ben tipped his coffee thermos to her before he walked away. He remembered seeing a flight of stairs around the front entrance and decided to walk that way after making sure everyone got their early morning coffee. After he finished pouring the last batch, he turned on his heels and froze solid when he saw a familiar face. No, it wasn't the tall man with shoulder-length dark brown hair and stubble with bangs and eyepatch covering his right hand and half his face, it was the bald man standing beside him.
"Holy shit," Mac Gargan said as he approached Ben Reilly. "I did not expect to see you here."
Ben blinked before replying, "Same to you, Mr. Gargan."
Gargan nodded. "Based on you absentmindedly walking around, pouring out the coffee, you're here voluntarily?"
"I am." Ben tilted his head back. "Never in the few months I've known you did I know you were hanging around a homeless shelter. Are you a volunteer here or are you living here?"
"Ever since I lost my private eye job, I've been unable to pay rent. Plus, there are a few enemies I pissed off and I thought hanging around in a homeless shelter would keep my real residential place a secret."
"Oh, so you're pretending to be homeless while you actually are homeless. Yeah, that makes sense."
"Makes better sense than some guy who lost his aunt and uncle and parents just showing up here out of the blue."
"Well, it's Christmas, brings out the holly jolly side of me."
"If you had a holly jolly side, you'd be skipping around town, singing Christmas carols."
Ben shrugged. "How do you know I haven't? Why aren't you skipping around town, singing what a holly jolly time of year it is?"
"Maybe I have a fear of big crowds."
"We're surrounded by a big crowd."
"I hate being filmed."
"Then it's a good thing you're a private eye and not a Sherlock Holmes."
Gargan laughed before patting Ben's shoulder. "Seriously man, how is it going man? You're here about the Daily Bugle thing, right?"
Ben feels his blood run cold. "What?"
"Abraham Copeland, you hired me as your private eye to do some detective work, remember? The leader of the gang that took over the Daily Bugle was named Abraham Copeland; he was about to be slaughtered by the Scarlet Spider." Gargan's eyes went wide. "Oh my god, that is what this is about."
Ben felt his back stiffen and looked around the room, making sure no one else was listening in on their private conversation. "What do you mean?"
"You wanted justice for what Copeland did to your uncle and after hearing about Scarlet Spider nearly killing Copeland, you felt like he finally got justice. I heard what that Zia girl said about today being your first day. After seeing your uncle's killer get justice, you decided to step out of your shell and start volunteering to make yourself feel better? Am I wrong?"
Ben let out a soft sigh of relief. "Well, maybe I was a little premature in saying you're not a Sherlock Holmes."
Gargan spread his arms. "It's a talent of mine." He pointed to the thermos. "It's been a while since we chatted."
"Yeah," Ben agreed. "After my uncle died, you were the only person there to chitchat with me."
Gargan shrugged his shoulders. "Well, they are going to be playing A Christmas Story in the cinema room today at twelve o'clock. What say you and I catch up during a movie we all grew up watching during the holidays?"
"Yeah, I'd like that."
The tall man with dark brown long hair and eyepatch standing beside Garagan looked away from their direction. They licked their lips.
MacDonald 'Mac' Gargan is the Scorpion and he and Ben Reilly know each other. Interesting.
With Miles
Miles had waited outside the diner for about a few minutes before his uncle finally arrived as scheduled. Miles was on his phone, checking his Facebook updates when Aaron surprised him.
"I swear, all you kids got your noses buried in a phone."
Miles looked up and smiled at his uncle. "Hey Uncle Aaron." Miles slaps his phone shut. "I'm so glad you made it on time. Man, I can't wait to try this new milkshake they're serving here."
"You paying for it?"
"Yeah, my treat."
"You don't have to do that." Miles took out his wallet and pulled out a few bucks. "I got a part-time job and I got paid a little cash."
"Well good for you but what did I tell you about waving your cash around."
Miles had his head hanging down. "Right, sorry. It's just the first time I've got a paid check."
"I got money too." He held his hands up. "Don't worry, I didn't steal it or anything. I worked hard with my partner and we earned this money." He pointed to the diner. "How about I pay for the milkshakes? And speaking of which, why would you want a milkshake when it's snowing outside?"
Miles smiled awkwardly. "Yeah, you're right. I guess I got a little ahead of myself."
"We'll have hot chocolates."
"With marshmallows?"
Aaron nodded. "With marshmallows." He tugged on his jacket. "Now let's get out of this now; the sudden mention of hot chocolates is making me cold standing out here."
"Right."
Aaron and Miles walk into the dinner and took a booth in the corner. In the booth ahead of them sat a man reading a newspaper while drinking a chocolate shake while wearing a beanie and a scarf concealing his chin and jaw. A waitress came by to take their orders and they both ordered two large hot chocolates.
In the end, Aaron ended up paying.
"I told you I could pay," Miles said.
Aaron shook his head. "Nah, man, save your money; you don't want to end up like me."
"But you're changing," Miles protested. "You're staying out of trouble."
"I spent all of your money getting into bad deals. All your life's savings, all my brother's life savings, all for selfish reasons. You don't owe me, I owe you." Aaron kept his mouth shut as the waitress came back with the mugs of hot chocolate.
Miles laughed upon seeing that both hot chocolates came with marshmallows and whipped cream. The beverage was hot to the touch so they decided to let it cool down but they didn't wait too long.
"I'm sorry that because of me, you can't go to Brooklyn Academy or whatever it's called."
"It's okay," Miles waved off. "I wasn't exactly private school material."
"Yes you are, Miles. Don't ever sell yourself short. You have potential, you are smart, and you are very crafty. You deserve to go to a school that's worthy of you. I swear to you, Miles, every dollar and cent I earn, it's going right into your brother's savings and your savings."
"Uncle Aaron, you don't have to do that. I swear, I forgive you."
Aaron nodded slowly before he picked up his mug. "I know you forgive me but I can't forgive myself. I've done some bad stuff, made friends and enemies with the wrong person and this is my one shot of redemption."
"You're being too hard on yourself." Miles looked down at the table as he thought of something. "In fact, you kinda remind me of this one friend I have."
Aaron looked up. "Really?"
"Yeah. He uh… he got himself into trouble a few days ago. He did something he was ashamed of and he's been beating himself up lately about it. While what he did is wrong, I can tell that he's suffering. He didn't go through with it all the way but he is beating himself up like a soldier. I keep telling him that he's being too hard on himself but he won't listen. I try to do whatever I can to cheer him up but he won't listen."
"Huh. Sounds like me and him could be friends."
Miles smiled awkwardly at his uncle. "Yeah, probably." He grabbed his mug but had yet to take a sip.
"But anyway, Uncle Aaron, today at school, there was this one kid I knew named David He told me that there was a way to start a path to recovering."
The waitress came up to the man reading the newspaper. "'Ello love, anything else I can get you?"
"Heiße Schokolade," the man answered. "Hot chocolate," he said in a heavy German accent.
The waitress took his order before walking off.
Miles continued, "He told me that he had someone working at a homeless shelter in Chinatown and that over time, his friend's grief began to lessen. I mean, he at least started to feel whole. He told me that 'when you help one person, you help everyone'. I don't want you to beat yourself up in guilt, Uncle Aaron. My advice, focus on bettering yourself by helping others before helping yourself."
Aaron laughed. "But… isn't that what I'm already doing?"
"No, don't just help me, help everyone."
Aaron smiled warmly as he lifted up his mug of hot chocolate. "Since when did you become so philosophical?"
"My mama's been watching a lot of soap operas and I may or may not have eavesdropped."
Both uncle and nephew laughed before they clinked their mugs and sipped from their hot chocolate.
The hot chocolate had never tasted so good before.
Huh, Aaron Davis is the Prowler. What's going on here?
The waitress came back with his order. He took a sip of the hot chocolate.
Mac Gargan and Ben Reilly know each other and Aaron Davis and Miles Morales are related. This is WAY too contrived to be a coincidence.
With Hobgoblin
Roderick Kingsley hadn't been active as the Hobgoblin in a few days. Ever since he flew away with his companions from the bank, he has had a flair of paranoia rising within him. He and his companions managed to successfully rob a bank and pull out a hefty amount of cash but it was the inaction on Spider-Man's half that made him nervous.
While he was in his subway hideout, he checked his Hobgoblin costume. The one question he kept asking himself aloud was 'what was that'?"
When he asked himself this with Gargan and Aaron present, they questioned him.
"Spider-Man shot a web at my back but I can't find the web. I think he may have put a tracker on us." Just to be on the safe side, Hobgoblin incinerated his suit. He did the same for Gargan and Aaron but he assured them that he had backup costumes and that while they lay low from Spider-Man's possible tracker, they use this time to spend money on Christmas gifts.
Gargan and Aaron walked off to do their own thing while Roderick went to his workplace.
Kingsley's Fashion may have had multiple buildings, there was one building located in Manghaatn where headquarters was located.
Roderick took an elevator to the top floor. He was dressed in a suit and tie and ready for the rest of the day. After getting his work done for the day, he clocked out early and went home to his condo.
"Ah shit," Roderick bit his lips. "I want to never work again." Kingsley's role in the company was to come up with designs for fashion models and other various outfits. Sometimes, they're just everyday items but more often than not, their outfits are for special occasions, like weddings, baby showers, etc.
Roderick lived alone and with only two bedrooms and two bathrooms, one set used for his personal self and the other for guests. If he was going to invite that beautiful Misa-Misa stripper to his apartment for overtime, he'd hope she'd share his bed and not the guest bed.
Thinking of Misa-Misa made him drive in the direction opposite his condo and to the Cat Club. The sun had gone down, the city lit up with Christmas lights, and the strip club was officially open for business. Roderick had his wallet out and showed the man standing guard in the front his ID. He was let in, a woman took his briefcase and other belongings, and he went into the strip joint, finding a seat close to the stage so he can watch Misa-Misa perform.
Roderick shivered and tugged on his suit. Because it was December, it went without saying that it was snowing cold outside so the A/C had been adjusted so this place was as hot as a sauna. While it wasn't sauna hot temperature-wise, it was still hot enough for Roderick to consider removing his suit.
All his thoughts left him when Misa-Misa came out on stage. He smiled at the brunette woman who was in her forties, dancing alongside a pole, swinging and thrusting her legs out and swaying her hips in a way that turned Roderick on immensely. He licked behind his teeth and he waves the one hundred dollar bill at Misa.
Misa moved over to the center of the stage where she got down on her knees and elbows and crawled towards him like a dog. She reached out and took the money from her before stuffing it in her tight leather black bra.
"My favorite customer," Misa said seductively, purring like a cat. "So generous."
"I'm rich," Roderick replied, "you'll never go poor. I'll pay more if you grind down on me."
Misa pulled back. "Sorry, love, dancer only." She sat up, running her gloved hands up and down her body, her left hand going up to caress her left breast when she suddenly froze as she looked at somebody behind Roderick.
Roderick turned around and saw a tall figure approach him. Well, not approach him necessarily but walk up to him and stand next to him, paying full attention to Misa-Misa.
Roderick took note of the man standing beside him, the heavy build in his body evident in how his arms looked in that lifevest jacket he wore. Roderick's eyes narrowed when he saw that this person had a beard stretching from ear to ear that made him look forty.
Roderick's eyes darted between Misa-Misa and the bearded man and he wondered if the two had prior relationships based on her reaction. He didn't rule out the possibility that he might be her husband, which made him jealous because he wanted Misa-Misa all to himself.
When Roderick wasn't looking, the bearded man looked down at Roderick, his brown eyes going wide as he licked his lips and studied Roderick.
The fashion designer looked at the bearded man and winced when he saw him stare down at him. "What? I'm a customer, not a dancer. And I don't swing that way."
The bearded man smiled.
Hello Hobgoblin, it's me, Spider-Man. You just can't recognize me because I had my black alien goo make me a facial beard… and because I never took my mask off around you.
The bearded man turned away after stuffing his hands in his pockets, exiting the club.
I've seen the Hobgoblin with his mask off and man, is he UGLY. But there is one thing lingering in the back of my mind: why does he look so familiar?
An hour later, Roderick got up and paid Misa-Misa the last of his hundred-dollar bills before walking back home to his condo.
Roderick grabbed a beer from the fridge and turned on the television. He switched to the news, eager to see if there was any development on the copy-spiders or that black-suited Spider-Man he saw.
The news kept talking about the copy-spiders assaulting defenseless criminals at the Daily Bugle and a spider-man in a black suit assaulting a civilian dressed as Hobgoblin.
"What is going on in this town? Why are there so many supers popping up out of nowhere? Are we turning into a live-action version of My Hero Academia or something?"
He took a swing of his beer before he went over to his speaker system and hooked up the Bluetooth on his phone. He scrolled through his Spotify playlist and played heavy metal rock music.
He bopped his head to the beat of the music before he turned the dial and upped the volume.
'Everybody's going to the party to have a real good time. Dancing in the desert, blowing up the sunshine. Everybody's going to the party to have a real good time. Dancing in the desert, blowing up the sunshine.'
Roderick took another swing of his drink, gulping down half the bottle in one go before he started singing.
"Where. The fuck. Are you? Where. The fuck. Are you? Why do the-"
The alien symbiote seeped into the membrane of Roderick's skin and couldn't take it anymore. It scattered to crawl out of his body and leaped off the back of Roderick's neck.
Roderick would've missed it had it not been for his enhanced senses. Even with the speaker on full blast, Roderick could hear the tiniest of footsteps and raindrops that happened in his immediate vicinity. He quickly turned off the music and turned around. He didn't see anything until he looked down and his eyes went wide.
A black and gooey substance moving around like a spider was crawling away from him and thrashing what looked like to be tendrils out in the air. The thing was the size of a tarantula but it still looked big to Roderick.
Roderick ran to the kitchen, grabbed a shot glass, and trapped the crawling symbiote piece inside. He watched the symbiote piece dance around, trying to get away.
"Fascinating," Roderick marveled at the specimen. He smiled and looked back at the television, which was still playing footage of the black-suit Spider-Man. It was a good thing his TV had a rewind feature on live TV, otherwise, he wouldn't have been able to rewind to the part where black-suited Spider-Man shot his black webs at him.
"I remember," Roderick began and softly grasped the back of his neck, "something like a rock hitting me but I couldn't find anything. Black-suited Spider-Man shot black webs at me but I found none and now I find this little parasite crawling on my floor."
When he said his analysis out loud to himself, it made him stop talking and think back to everything he's experienced. He mutes his speaker before looking down at the trapped parasite.
"Hello little guy; are you some kinda bio-organic tracker?" He narrowed his eyes. "Then again… I've never seen a little sucker like you. What are you, bastard?"
Roderick carefully picks up the shot glass and the parasite tries to scoot away. "Oh no ya don't." He hammers his hand down on the parasite and squashes it like a bug. He looks at the palm of his hand and gasps in horror upon seeing the parasite seep through his skin. He smacks his hand against the wall in a desperate attempt to get it out of his skin.
In the ensuing attempt, when jerking his elbow back, he accidentally hits the volume-up button. Roderick's Bluetooth had a dial to control the volume and two buttons that served the same function. He always preferred using the dial because it could adjust the volume accordingly to however he wants and he didn't have to be picky.
He nearly jumped out of his pants when the loud volume ambushed him and nearly gave him a heart attack. More importantly, he saw the parasite leap out of his skin once more and this time, he trapped the parasite in the shot glass once more before turning down the volume.
When the rush of adrenaline from the parasite's attempted body invasion was over, he finally darted looks between the shot glass and the speaker. As the clues flood in on him, he smiles triumphantly before looking down at the parasite.
"Ahh, so that's what it is. You hate loud music or something? Thanks for that little detail." He crouched down and tapped his finger on the top of the shot glass, making the parasite inside thrash inside.