SPIDER-MAN: THE OTHER SPIDER (CHAPTER 22)
Note: It's been quite a while since I wrote a chapter; so, forgive me if there are some inconsistencies that happen during the story.
9:35 am Astoria police station…
It's been a couple of days since Peter Parker had gone missing. May Parker had spent most of her shifts during work crying about the absence of her nephew. The news also spread to some people like Flash and Liz; who knew Peter close during the high school days. Even a big personality such as J. Jonah Jameson was feeling sorry.
For Gwen; she had a lot of baggage falling onto her. She never had the chance to fix her relationship with Peter. But now she understands why he was dismissive at times; Peter was Spider-Man. A hero whose name was soon to be urban legend if he does not return.
After she had gained similar powers like Peter; her life had been split apart even further. Ever since; she had stopped an assassination attempt on Ned Leeds; Wilson Fisk had used his power to spin this as an assassination attempt on him by her. This in turn was enough to make her lay low for now.
Over time, Gwen attempted to solve the mystery of Peter's disappearance as a normal self. She drew connections to stories of the different heroics Spider-Man had done in the past. Stories such as facing off against the Shocker to recent stories such as that of Electro.
After reading through all the news articles; she wanted to go back out there and face off against Tombstone. However, the risk may not be worth it at this time given that Gwen was not ready. Instead, she took the slow approach in handling things. Today, Gwen paid a visit to a local police station and found herself confronting lieutenant Yuri Watanabe in her office.
"Sorry mam…I don't have much to say. I can't help you." Yuri said sitting behind her desk with a blank expression.
"So, nothing suspicious happened around here?" Gwen asked.
"Why are you here asking these questions?" Yuri asked back.
Gwen then took her time to think of a good answer before responding.
"My ex-boyfriend was a photographer at the Bugle; are you sure a guy named Peter Parker didn't come by here?" Gwen asked.
"No. We didn't have any people from the news drop by." Yuri answered, "Are you journalist yourself?"
"This person was close to me, miss. What about the time when equipment from Oscorp was taken from here?" Gwen asked.
Yuri then looked at Gwen with a bit of a surprised look before questioning.
"Excuse me?" Yuri asked.
"Yeah, I heard that a bunch of guys from the FBI came here and took stuff that was in this place's possession." Gwen said.
"As far as I'm concerned; it's nothing suspicious. The FBI are a higher level than us." Yuri said, "Go home, alright? I can't help you."
"You know my dad used to be the police captain at Forest Hills." Gwen replied back.
Yuri moved her lip a little before deciding to give an answer to make Gwen leave.
"You know what? I'll look into your case just so I can have some time to think and go over this. And of course, I need you to leave." Yuri said hoping to appease Gwen.
"Okay, I'll take those words to heart then. I can tell you're impatient." Gwen said.
After exchanging phone numbers and other contact details, Gwen finally left the precinct.
As she left, the Astoria police captain watched her before heading into Yuri's office to question her.
"Are we okay here, lieutenant?" The captain asked walking in.
"It's fine, captain." Yuri said.
"We better hope so or we're in trouble." The captain retorted, "Just know there's new confidential policies we need to follow."
As the captain left, Yuri scoffed.
"Confidential policies?" Yuri wondered.
9:45 am Hobie Brown's apartment room…
Meanwhile on another side of New York, Peter woke up to smell of waffles and eggs as he lifted himself up on the couch. Touching his forehead, Peter felt the pain from his scuffle with Tombstone leave him slowly. He was fortunate to have been looked after by the person who had found him in the landfill zone.
"Peter, my man. You rest well?" A voice asked.
Peter saw the man who had saved him enter the living room. The man's name was Hobie Brown; Hobie being short for Hobart. He was an average 20-year oldish man of African American appearance who worked a part-time job cleaning the streets and a local shopping centre nearby. He and his partner, Mindy McPherson lived together in an apartment block that needed repair.
The place was continuously run down by an inadequate water system, lack of electricity as well as the paint on the walls starting to wear off. Yet for all their misfortune, the two were kind enough to let Peter hang around and they also stuck together as tight as possible.
Since the day he was saved, the smell of trash has yet to roll off of him but that was due to the apartment having a rather broken shower. While he was still in the presence of strangers; he was grateful to be with good people.
"Got your food ready." Mindy said coming with her curled hair and green shirt holding a plate of waffles with poached eggs.
"Thank you." Peter said taking the plate and playing around with the food for a little.
"You're looking a lot better every day." Mindy commented noting that the cuts and bruises on Peter healed fast.
"Are you some kind of mutant?" Hobie asked.
"Mutant? To be honest, I don't know." Peter replied, "Maybe not…Since I wasn't born with it."
Hobie and Mindy looked at each other with funny expressions before Peter asked them a question.
"How's my suit?" Peter asked looking at the two.
"Don't worry, it's still there. Trying my best to fix it." Hobie replied.
Peter put down the food and marched to the bedroom so he check on his suit's status under Hobie's watch. Opening up the draw, Peter had found something to complain.
"Oh my god…Please. Maybe you should stop messing with this." Peter said looking at the strings of red hanging off his suit.
"It's nearly done, I promise." Hobie insisted.
"Actually, I'll fix the rest." Peter replied.
"So what's your plan next?" Hobie wondered.
"I gotta get back out there soon." Peter said.
"You mean go back to fighting that Tombstone guy? Are you kidding?" Hobie asked.
"Not that. I gotta go home and tell people, I'm okay." Peter replied.
"You're welcome to leave anytime." Mindy said.
"I know…I'll be out of your place soon." Peter said, "I gotta adjust this first."
Taking the suit with him, Peter then walked out of the bedroom.
"Man, can you believe how many days we're housing the Spider-Man?" Hobie said to Mindy.
"Hobie baby... You know he has to leave soon." Mindy replied.
"Yeah, but man I want to try on that suit." Hobie said in awe.
"It's probably not even your size." Mindy said shaking her head.
"Hey! Uh… Hobie, do you think the shower can be up and running this time?" Peter asked from afar.
J. Jonah Jameson's office, Daily Bugle 4th floor…
The Daily Bugle carried on as usual with John running his mouth constantly to keep things in motion. Ever since the botched assassination attempt on Ned Leeds; Frederick had been acting as if he was busier on his reporting which had surprised John as of late.
"John?" Robbie said knocking on the office door.
"Come in, Robbie." John said in a soft voice.
Robbie walked in holding a documented folder in hand and looked at John who had both his hands covering his head.
"The paper regarding mayor Randall's life post-election has its first draft completed. As usual, we need the approval." Robbie informed.
"Just leave the file on my desk." John muttered taking one peek at the folder Robbie had in his hand.
Robbie did as he was told before he checked on the state of John.
"Are you still reeling, Jonah?" Robbie wondered.
"Every bloody day, Rob. And it's not just because of Parker's crying aunt. Apparently, there's some bullshit restriction rumour going about regarding Fisk wanting to control the news operations about what can be published." John said.
"Geeh…First time I heard that." Robbie said, "How bad?"
"It's only a rumour. Worse thing is that the Daily Bugle might be bought out." John said.
"Hold up, this place?" Robbie asked.
"That's right, Robbie. Think about how your job is affected. And mine. We have nothing exciting to publish. Spider-Man's gone, I'm glad. But man…That was our high point. We have no more fun stories." John said thinking that a part of him does miss the web head.
"Foswell is chasing the story on Fisk's mystery killer and he's been too busy. He's making too many excuses as of late. And I don't know what to do with Leeds next either." John said.
"Maybe we need to let Foswell go." Robbie suggested.
"He's one of the top reporters for us. I'm not letting him off the lease just yet." John replied.
"There just happens to be too much of Fisk going on with him as of late, I feel." Robbie said.
"Well, it's his favourite subject to write about." John said finally stretching his arms.
"Yeah…" Robbie said before something clicked in his mind.
"Say, Jonah. You might if I run a bit of an errand for a story?" Robbie requested.
"Say again?" John asked.
"I was hoping to get out there and a little bit of investigation on the Spider-Man disappearance case." Robbie said.
"What's there to uncover?" John asked again.
"I feel like it's time for me to visit Lonnie." Robbie said.
"Slow down there, Robbie! You're not sending yourself to meet that maniac." John raised his voice in response, "Besides, Foswell said he has it covered."
"If he ever gets back, tell him that I'm lending a hand." Robbie said, "I think I can add something special for the Bugle."
"No, no. I'm not risking you out there. I know the story between you two." John said referring to Robbie and Tombstone.
"That's not going to stop me." Robbie assured, "All my years, maybe what the Bugle needs is a little bit of nostalgia. Maybe it needs to take those risks again to make those big stories."
6:45 pm Somewhere around Queens…
That evening; a young girl and her mother were walking home after playing around near the local playground. The sun had gone pretty quick leaving only the streetlights to illuminate the path. The night was also perfect for the worst people to target whoever they want.
"Hey there, lady. You mind if we talk for a while?" A man with greasy blonde hair asked in the most lecherous tone.
"I don't know who you are. But no." The mother said shielding her daughter as they tried to walk past.
"Oh, hold on there. If no talk, then something we can try something physical?" The man said while two other men approached behind smiling maliciously.
The mother then backed a little as the three men approached; suddenly a yell was heard from behind. Wearing white hoodie over her head and a black veil covering her mouth, Gwen jump kicked one of the men on the back before engaging the other two in a fight.
The mother and her daughter watched as Gwen engaged in some hand to hand combat with the assailants. The daughter's eyes had to be shielded as Gwen kicked and punched her foes managing to score some broken bones. After the fight was over, Gwen kicked the blonde-haired man unconscious before turning her attention to the mother and daughter.
"It's okay, I'm just making sure you're safe …" Gwen's voice said.
"Thank you so much…" The mother said as she hurried along the way.
"Make sure to call 911 as well!" Gwen reminded.
Turning her attention to the unconscious men on the ground, Gwen was a little astonished that she managed to take of them. Although one of them did manage to swipe her with a knife on her hoodie.
"Uh… Holy shit?" Gwen thought, "Nice that I can put up a fight."
As she stared at the unconscious men, Gwen wondered if was worth it for her to actually pick up on being a vigilante finding that she can put up a fight.
"Hmm… Maybe I should be the new 'Spider-Man' on the block." Gwen said.
9:35 pm Fisk penthouse…
In the past few days, Wilson had been able to move up the political ladder as he scored a major win as mayor of Queens. With this win, Wilson had more power to have people back him as well as gain control of the resources in hand.
Vanessa, his loving wife was proud of him and had been supportive of his persistence to uphold his promise of making Queens and the rest of New York better. Tonight, was a private night in which they can share a private dinner prepared by Wilson's own personal chefs.
"You seem really happy, Wilson." Vanessa said as she sat on the other side of the table.
"These days have seen the best of what I've accomplished so far." Wilson said with a smile.
"And I love seeing you this way." Vanessa responded making Wilson feel bashfully awkward.
"What I'm about to do is going to change many things. The people will be happier." Wilson said feeling carried away from the thoughts.
"Oh looks like the champagne is running low." Vanessa noted looking at the bottle.
"Check the liquor room." Wilson said.
Vanessa then got up to fetch another bottle; however, after a few seconds the lights had shut off.
"What is going on?" Wilson said looking around in the dark.
Soon after that, Vanessa's scream was heard which prompted Wilson to stand up. Using the torch light on his phone, he attempted to investigate the source of the power out. Perhaps Electro was interrupting the night.
As Wilson walked around, the phone in his hand got smacked out by force.
"I hate to do this, Mr. Fisk." A raspy voice spoke.
Turning around to face the mysterious figure, Wilson turned around to see a shadowy silhouette of a beast-like figure stand in the corner. The figure then switched on a flashlight illuminating and revealing its face.
There was green fur covering the entire face. The beast had exaggerated cat-like eyes and a wide toothy smile to complement its creep factor. Long pointed ears were also present. Holding the flashlight in one hand; Wilson saw Vanessa gagged by the beast's other hand. Its claw threatened to carve Vanessa whose eyes were filled with fear.
"I remember the time you threw me out of the house; but now you need to hear me OUT!" The beast snarled.
TO BE CONTINUED…