SPIDER-MAN: THE OTHER SPIDER (CHAPTER 25)
10:15 pm Parker residence...
Peter sat quietly at the dining table with May seated next to him. After his long bus trip to home, his phone was at 0% battery and he still smelled funny after all the trouble he went through.
"I'm telling you, I got jumped pretty bad taking pictures." Peter explained.
"I'm glad you're safe but it's a miracle you showed up at the door." May said back.
"Well, what else can I say? Wrong place; wrong time." Peter said again.
At first, May looked at Peter with a little hint of suspicision. However, Peter was worried about having to tell Aunt May the truth about who he was and kept making the same excuse.
"Alright, I'll tell you what... Go upstairs; clean up and go to bed. We'll see what happens from here. Maybe Jameson will get that headline out of you tomorrow." May finally said.
"Thanks, Aunt May." Peter said getting up from the chair and moved to the staircase.
As Peter started to walk up to his room, he looked back at May, who gave an approving smile. Upon entering his room, he closed the door behind making the room dark with the exception of the moonlight shining in front of the window.
Peter then sat down next to his bed tierd and quickly grabbed his phone charger to which he plugged into his phone. The phone's battery started to come back and Peter looked at all the missed messages he had which include people such as Gwen, Ned, John and May herself.
"Home at last." Peter said before his eyes started to shut.
5:35 am The Raft...
The Raft was left in a disastorous mess thanks to Miller's deception who had managed to cause enough chaos leaving the place to himself mostly. He had usurped the Raft from Wilson's authority leaving a stack of security guards dead on the ground and others fighting against multiple prisoners.
In the meantime, super-powered prisoners like Electro had been freed which made things easier for him as he claimed his prized experiment, Man-Spider. Looking at the weakened Man-Spider who imprisoned in the cage; Miller began studying his notes on how to make a reverse cure that will make him more human and intelligent.
"So what's next?" Electro asked as he entered the laboratory room with his orange prison suit no longer wearing the neckbrace device installed onto him by Wilson.
"Ah, Mr. Dillon. Finished mopping up the place?" Miller said still focusing on his notes.
"Yeah, we're basically stuck on this 'island' for now. I cut off the communications too. No one's gonna know what happened here for a while." Electro reported.
"Good." Miller snickered, "Good for me and you too."
"Are you actually my new boss now? Cause the last one had me stuck in a 'water' prison." Electro asked.
"No, I'm not your boss; you're a free man as you are so long as you don't cause trouble for me." Miller said turning his eye onto Man-Spider.
Electro stared at Man-Spider himself before spitting.
"Is that thing supposed to be Spidey? Looks really gross upfront." Electro mocked.
"Now, please don't insult my subject." Miller said turning his eye to Electro for a moment.
As the two conversed, another prescene came into the room. It was Hammerhead, the crime lord who Spider-Man had defeated months ago ever since his war against Chameleon. Hammerhead had a flustered and sour look on him as he walked in with his prison suit.
His large forehead had not been treated kindly by the wards with a scrap of silver-like vibranium somewhat exposed.
"Hey, little man." Hammerhead called out to Miller.
Miller looked at Hammerhead in the eye before he said a word.
"Can I help you?" Miller asked shuffling his notes around.
"Just want to lend out my genorosity for what you have started." Hammerhead said.
"You're the mob boss that Spider-Man had taken down ages ago, right?" Miller asked, "Do you want something from me?"
"Well, since Spider-Man is no more from what I hear, I'm open to some fresh talent. You interested in Maggia business?" Hammerhead asked.
"What can your little gang do that's helpful for my science?" Miller asked.
"Resources, of course. I've got contacts to help me get certain things I need." Hammerhead appealed.
"Oh really? Can you order me certain reagents I need to do my work?" Miller wondered before passing one of his notes to him.
Hammerhead looked at the paper before giving his word.
"Look, I don't know what this crap is but I can gurantee I've got boys on the outside who are willing to make a shop for these things." Hammerhead said before passing it back.
"If that's your word then make good use of it." Miller said.
"Of course, if I can get something in return. That will be nice." Hammerhead warned.
"I don't know what to say but perhaps retaking what was stolen from you?" Miller replied, "As in all your assets that have been taken by Fisk."
"Huh, that will do. I'll see how much of my stuff that fat ass has misused." Hammerhead said.
"May I interject?" Electro interrupted, "I like the sound of teamwork that's building here; but I'd like a lion share of revenge too if you don't mind against Fisk. After all, he wasted my opportunity to kill Spider-Man."
"Sounds petty, pal." Hammerhead said looking at Electro, "You sure you don't want a place in the Maggia?"
"I'm looking out for myself from here on. So no. After I zap Fisk; I think I'll fry that thing over there assuming it's Spider-Man." Electro said pointing to Man-Spider who was in a catatonic state.
"This isn't Spider-Man, Mr. Dillon. This is my project. However, I do believe there's one way to appease that rage of yours." Miller suggested.
"Oh yeah? What's that?" Electro wondered.
"I get the feeling that...There's another spider crawling around New York. Yes...It might be someone close to me." Miller said softly, "Someone who tastes... Fresh."
Hammerhead and Electro watched awkwardly as Miller licked his lips and chuckled to himself. The professor then went back to his work as soon as possible. From then on, a potential temporary alliance had been formed by the three and it was here that Miller had the 'friends' he needed.
6:35 am Parker residence...
Peter blinked his eyes rapidly after having his rest and looked at the time on his analog clock.
"Nice. Still got plenty of time to rest." Peter smiled as he threw the blanket onto himself.
As he continued to sleep; he heard the doorbell sound downstairs. Aunt May's footsteps were heard as she went to pick up the door. Peter at first heard chatter before he heard another set of footsteps nearby.
There was soon a knock on his room door prompting Peter to groan.
"Come in." Peter said sleepily.
As the door opened, Peter jumped as he saw Gwen come in dressed in a white shirt and purple skirt.
"Oh, hi Gwen. I'm so glad to see you; you..." Peter stammered holding onto his blanket.
Before he finished; Gwen came forward and hugged Peter tightly.
"Whoa there..." Peter gasped for his breath as he hugged back.
Gwen then let go after she realised Peter was only sleeping his boxer shorts causing her to feel a little flustered.
"You're okay, are you?" Gwen asked as she stepped back.
"Uh, yeah. I'm... Okay." Peter said smiling back.
"I'm so glad you made it back alive." Gwen said, "I knew you would."
"I mean... Yeah. I sure did. It wasn't easy though." Peter said making sure to keep his secret as Spider-Man in check.
"Oh yeah, it wouldn't be easy if you didn't have what you have." Gwen spoke starting to lean into a sarcastic tone.
"Uh, what do you mean? Are you complimenting my..." Peter said becoming a little nervous.
"You've been lying to me." Gwen said seriously, "Ever since, we started dating and you kept running."
Peter felt his jaw drop as Gwen looked at him. He thought to himself if Gwen had figured out his secret.
"I know guys can have their secrets; whether it's ugly or cool ones." Gwen continued, "I understand if some guys like you are just nervous or shy when it comes to the dating game."
Peter felt like sweating; he was confused at what was happening and it was strange thinking that Gwen's personality might have changed a little.
"Gwen, I don't know how to respond. I-" Peter said before he was startled when Gwen made a web shooting position with her hands similar to his which caught him by surprise.
As the web shot out; Peter watched as the web landed near the top of his bed. What was strange is that his spider-sense failed to pick up on it. Peter touched the web and found how sticky and similar it was to his own webs. He then turned his neck to face Gwen.
"So, Spider-Man. Feeling any better?" Gwen asked.
Peter's world then shattered as he heard Gwen utter those words to him. Is it good or bad that Gwen had the ability to shoot webs?
"Is this a fever dream?" Peter wondered nervously.
Just as anything further could happen; Aunt May interrupted with Ned behind her.
"Peter, looks like another one of your friends has arrived." May said.
6:40 am Times Square, Manhattan...
Elsewhere, Frederick was not having the best moment of his career as he conversed with John on the phone while sitting on a bench in front of all the busy pedestrians.
"I'm telling you, Mr. Jameson. I'm pretty busy. The news it keeps ratcheting up and I don't have the time to fit in that kind of story." Frederick said.
"Foswell, for the love of god. Take a break from your regular work and do this story as I tell you to!" John yelled into his ear.
"Argh! Okay, okay. I'll get to it." Frederick said before hanging up, "Christ on a bicycle."
As Frederick hanged up and sighed; John had become a bit of a nerve lately and Wilson had not been happy with him either. His career was having its worst with all the mistakes he made. Still sitting; he thought that he was becoming more of a means to end for Wilson.
Looking up, he then saw the Times Square electronic advertisments and billboards start to act funny with all the static electricity. Pedestrians and tourists all began to stop to see what was happening. Suddenly, Electro appeared on screen sitting on a chair.
His scarred face coupled with his orange prison suit rippled on screens before his distorted voice began to speak out.
"Hello, people. Have you ever seen me before?" Electro started, "I'm here to share to you all; the plans I have against the scum of a human being called Wilson Fisk..."
Frederick watched the screens with interest as he took out his phone to record the message.
"I'm here to expose the filth of the place that is the Raft!" Electro ranted, "And the man who ruined my life; I'm coming fast and I'm hitting hard for what you did. You are gonna PAY for your corruption!"
"Oh and a final note. Maybe I'll screw your wife whose also going to be dead too just for insult. Haha! You're screwed. You're dead..." Electro said before his message finished.
The billboards all went silent after that as Frederick also finished recording from his phone. After that, Frederick decided to call Wilson as a means to warn him.
6:45 am Parker residence...
Peter and Ned went into Aunt May's bathroom to privately talk about the new dilema Peter was in. This time; Peter got semi-dressed in shorts and expressed his agitation after he was given permission to talk privately by Gwen.
"What the hell were you thinking?" Peter asked sharply.
"I messed up bad, I'm sorry. It's just... I didn't anticipate this at all." Ned said, "But it's fine, right? You can trust her."
"Yeah, I know that. But her knowing my secret is one thing that leads to another. It's like now she will get involved in all the crazy dangerous stuff I do." Peter said freaking out and putting his hands over his head.
"Talk slow, Shia LaBeouf. We can handle her if she goes bad, right?" Ned asked.
"Ned, I'm going to tell you this. My powers...They've been nulified as of late for some reason." Peter confessed.
"What?" Ned asked in disbelief.
"All of a sudden; I can't swing a web properly. I can't climb walls that well. And I found out that my Spidey-sense doesn't work either." Peter said.
"Shit. That's..." Ned said, "What about the costume?"
"Tombstone ruined that suit pretty bad; I threw it away but it's not that big of a deal if you can't fix it properly. Plus I did it to make things less suspicious when I got back." Peter explained, "I kept the technological parts like my webshooters though; but that's it."
"Wow, okay. Um...Smart thinking? Maybe we can salvage some things? Like how about showing her that you absolutely have none of the powers she has now." Ned suggested.
"And I don't have the costume. Alright, maybe this could work." Peter thought.
"Fingers crossed. Hey Peter, don't worry. I'm your friend, I wouldn't recklessly give away your secret. She kind of caught me in a bad place one time. I'll explain later." Ned said.
"Alright, let's see how much she can bend her back." Peter said back.
TO BE CONTINUED…