This was it.
The day was finally here.
The day Peter was afraid of for the past few days.
The day of his mother's trial.
Peter made it to the courthouse and was right alongside MJ as they made it with Miles and Anya in toll. They made it to the courthouse steps before they were immediately surrounded by press and reporters.
Peter tried to block them out, but his senses have made everything times ten, making it hell just walking through them. MJ grabbed his hand for support and encouragement as they kept on going through the hall and made it to see Oliver, Diggle, and Thea.
"Peter." Oliver called over as he made it over to his siblings. "Hey."
"Hey. Is..." Peter had no idea what to call Walter really.
"He's held up at the company due to the trial, getting ready for which way this trial goes." Oliver was sorry to say. "Promised to make it if he could."
Peter nodded and saw it's time to get ready for what way this trial is going to go. But looking back, he sees the friends and family he has on his side for throughout the whole thing.
Making it to the courtroom, they were met with their mother being walked in by guard and handcuffed. It hurt to see her like this, and they know their chances are slim if they have any at all.
But they keep their faith as Moria was uncuffed and looked back at her kids and Peter's friends. They offered a smile that she returned before the trial started to go underway.
"I have been complicit in an undertaking with one horrible purpose. To destroy the Glades and everyone in it." The video of Moria stated as the prosecutor paused the video.
"And it worked. The Glades were destroyed. Homes and lives were lost." As Adam went on, Peter was forced to remember that tragic day he almost lost his best friends as MJ gave him a comforting hand. "True, she had second thoughts, remorse which compelled her to deliver this statement but on behalf of the 503 lives that were extinguished that day I say, Moria Queen, your remorse comes too late."
"For the last four years, under the threat of my life and the lives of my family..." their defendant stopped the video after that statement.
"Why wouldn't those threats silence her?" Jean questioned the prosecution.
"Why wouldn't Moria Queen be terrified? Malcom Merlyn killed her first husband. Abducted her second. Why wouldn't she fear for her life? For the lives of her children?" She asked as she pointed to the three kids who were watching and listening. "What would you do if it were your children in the crosshairs of a mad man's rage?"
As that was going on, something a bit more...mysterious happening down at the docks.
Everything was going on as normal, just unloading some containers from one of the ships. But that's also when things took a quick and dramatic turn.
"Hey, Stan, call ESU, tell them we need to be told when the computers for the new computer compartment arrives." One of the people tell Stan Lee.
But before he could respond, a container immediately exploded, releasing a bunch of green smoke.
"Behold!" Someone cried from within the smoke. The smoke then began to clear and reveal some sort of man wearing an all-green suit with a red cape, and golden gauntlet hands along with a giant...fishbowl helmet. "I am Mysterio! Here to save the world from the evils of technology corrupting the human spirit!"
The three people watched with no idea what to do or say about what they're seeing.
"Are we being punked?" Stan asks, no real idea what to think or say. "I hate when that happens."
"Silence, fool!" The Mysterio man demanded. "These hands possess the powers of the Archanards." Saying a quick spell, he was able to drop them all to their knees. "Ha! Such weak wills, your dependency on technology has ravished your spirits. But I can save you all. Behold!"
And with that, Mysterio created a bunch of green smoke around the containers that made them all disappear when the smoke cleared.
Peter and his friends made it out of the courthouse with bitter looks on their faces, none of them thinking that this isn't going to end well for them.
"So...what do you want to do to put this out of your head?" Miles asked, trying to get their minds off it until they're called back in.
"You okay, Peter?" MJ asked, knowing that he was asked to take the stand for his mother.
"Yeah." Peter assured her. "My mom's a victim of an attack, and I know she's innocent."
Anya then got an alert on her phone, and she saw something was going on downtown. "Uh...Miles, I think I need to borrow you for a moment."
"Sure." Miles guessed and patted Peter's shoulder. "Good luck."
"Thanks." Peter said with a smile, knowing this could do some bad if he messes this up.
Peter was now on the stand, trying to keep calm as right now the only thing that could be keeping his mon from the death penalty could be him answering a question wrong.
"When was the first time you heard about the undertaking?" Jean asked Peter, who was trying to stop himself from shaking.
"The same night everyone else did." Peter guessed. "The previous day I went on a trip and had gotten sick. By the time I got better, I was awoken to the press conference...afterwards, I went to help my friends get out of the Glades." He looked out to MJ who smiled at the memory, her being the first person Spider-Man saved, even before he was Spider-Man. "But I wasn't able to save them both."
"And afterwards, after your mother was arrested you visited her frequently." Jean commented, looking to the jury. "Is that correct?"
"Well, after a few days." Peter admitted. "I was getting harassed a lot everywhere I went. Everyone somehow thinking I was involved."
Jean then gestured to Peter and looked to the jury. "A child who had nothing to do with this, someone who lost loved ones in the process himself, but yet you don't blame your mother." She then turned to face Peter. "Why?"
"Because I blame the monster responsible. Malcom Merlyn." Peter stated, looking over to his mother whilst nodding. "I blame him because he threatened my life...making my mother do everything he wished her to do!" He started to become angry, and his voice raised, and he couldn't control when he looked down and saw black oozing around his fist. "My best friend died because of a machine my mother built under threat by Malcom Merlyn. He's the one responsible!"
Peter then broke down on the stand, tears flooding his eyes at the memories when Jean saw that was enough. "I think that's enough questions." She then looked to Adam who was struggling to stand. "Your witness."
Adam then started to get up but immediately fell over, causing the whole place to jump into panic whilst Peter looked down at his own hand, the black vanishing and he had no idea what to think.
He didn't mean to become that angry, but he didn't mean to become that aggressive.
On the bridge, there's a traffic backup when a green portal opened and Mysterio came through right in front of an armored truck.
"Behold, another prevails of the poison of progress that banishes the old arts from this world." Mysterio tells the people on the bridge.
Saying another spell, he smacked a few capsules of something on the ground that released smoke. When the smoke cleared, a dragon was revealed as it came and chased away the guards of the truck and just as soon as it came it vanished.
"Wow." Miles called for his attention as Mysterio turned to face him as he shot a web and was hanging upside down on a web. "Nice trick, Fishbowl head guy. And I bet the whole magician act goes over big with the tourists."
"You dare call Mysterio a magician?" Mysterio said in shock.
"No, I called you Fishbowl head guy." Miles reminded him. "Weren't you paying attention?" He then dropped down and landed on the hood of one of the cars and got ready for a fight.
"Fool!" Mysterio cried out. "Mysterio is no illusionist playing parlor tricks! Mysterio is the master of the Archanards!" He then shot two blasts of green smoke into the air, not convincing Miles.
"Seems to me you're the master of running your mouth." Miles mocked.
"We shall see who's the last one standing, arachnid." Mysterio claimed as he raised his hands again and spitted out what sounded like gibberish.
But the next thing Miles knew was that he couldn't move and dropped to his knees, followed by a sword being created in Mysterio's hands. He went in for the kill when suddenly a web knocked the sword out of her hands, making him look to see as Peter swung in, punching Mysterio back and into a car.
"Hey, you okay, man?" Peter asked as he kneeled down to feel Miles' pulse.
"He is fine, Spider-Man." Mysterio promised as he got back up. "For now." He then started to use his magic, but then Peter dropped to his knee, and immediately followed by Peter getting consumed by the darkness again. His suit turned back into its venomous form, and he raised up from the ground. "Your will is strong. Should you turn your mind to the spiritual, you might one day make a formidable foe. But not today." He then created a cloud that struck Peter with a bolt of lightning and sent him flying.
Peter groaned as he hit the side of the armored vehicle and dropped down.
Mysterio then turned to the truck himself and the lightning began to grow around him. "You have one chance to abandon your cargo."
"I'm thinking of staying inside." He stated when the car started to lift off the ground and rise above the bridge.
Peter immediately got up and watched the vehicle fly. "How is that possible?"
"We'll make a believer out of you yet, Spider-Man." Mysterio stated as he then vanished, causing the truck to fall down.
"No!" Peter cried as he leaped and dived into the river.
Miles then finally was able to get up and saw Peter dive down. "What just happened?"
Peter was able to rescue the driver, but not so much the vehicle. But that didn't matter as much to him as did the human life that was inside. Now the million-dollar question, who the heck was that guy?
Back at the courthouse, things were a little estranged after what happened to Adam, and Peter's testimony seemed to have swung in two different directions. His little rage outbreak caused a few to be skeptical about it, feeling he's too emotional to be a liable source.
"So, was it that bad?" Moria wondered.
"Well, it's a split." Jean guessed was the best word for it. "We were counting on him to be able to..."
"Humanize me?" Moria wondered.
"Frankly, yes." Jean confirmed. "But that outbreak didn't exactly help."
"There were too many bad memories for him, I suppose." Moria guessed, seeing as her son lost his best friend, almost lost another at the same time.
"Well, either way, we need to go another angle." Jean said.
"No." Moria stopped her, knowing exactly where she's going to say. "I won't testify."
"I know you did, but now you have to." Jean said to her.
"She's right, mom." Oliver told her, earning a worried look.
Peter and Miles got back to his home and landed on the roof to get over the fight they just went through. Fight being a too kind of a word due to the fact they didn't even get a punch in on the guy.
"What...the hell...was that?" Miles asked Peter, trying to catch his breath.
"I have...no idea." Peter sighed as he tried to catch his breath. "But something tells me that we won't be seeing the last of him."
"What tells you that?" Miles wondered. "Your spider-senses?"
"More of a spider-gut feeling." Peter said.
"Spider-guts?" Miles asked in disgust. "Glad I didn't get that power."
"No, it's...forget it." Peter sighed, not wanting to get into it.
"How did you fight against his power?" Miles wondered.
Peter looked down at his suit, expecting his black goo to just come back out. "I don't know. Maybe it's experience. Could be that I've had these powers longer." He then groaned as he got up and stretched his back and held his hand out to Miles. "Come on, let's head inside."
Miles took his hand and groaned at the pain he's feeling in his knees. "Ow. God. Scorpion, Mr. Negative, Vulture, and now a magician with a fishbowl head." He then dropped off the ceiling with Peter and landed on a branch where he hid a few backpacks with clothes to change into. "What's next? A White Rabbit based villain?"
Peter looked up, confused by his question, no idea how to respond. "What?"
"You know, like some Alice in Wonderland type thing." Miles explained.
"Don't jinx us." Peter warned him as the two placed the clothes over the suits and dropped down to the front doors. "Ugh, this has been a bad day."
Peter opened the door and winced at the pain on his shoulder from the dive into the river. "Ugh, never do that again."
"Peter." Walter sighed in relief to see him and walked over. "I heard what happened at the courthouse, I was worried."
"Sorry, I forgot my phone here." Peter apologized, noticing Oliver was also here.
"Your friends came by earlier. MJ and Anya." Oliver said and gestured upstairs. "Said they knew where they were going."
"They've been here enough that I believe that." Peter said and noticed their looks. "What's been happening?"
"The Count's escaped from Iron Heights during the Quake. He's on the loose." Walter explained. "I'd prefer it if you didn't go out as much until the police have him arrested. I don't want you to get attacked by one of these drugged people."
"Yeah, sure." Peter supposed, seeing as he didn't need to go out unless it's for school, court, and he did need to take down Mysterio. "We can find some things to do around here." He did his best to hide his pain he's currently in and walked up the stairs, causing a wince getting Oliver's attention.
"You okay, Peter?" Oliver wondered, worried for Peter.
"Yeah, I'm fine. Just some cramps." Peter said, waving it off, but also revealed another bruise on his arm that he received on his way down.
"Oh my god." Oliver said as he walked over and pulled the sleeve back to show the bruises are still healing. "What happened?"
"Nothing. Just banged my hand against some wall." Peter tried to brush it off, but it seemed Oliver wasn't having it.
"Peter, Walter tells me you've been getting injured a lot often." Oliver stated, earning a scoff from Peter. "What's happening?"
"Now he's interested." Peter chuckled and looked to Miles. "Been home for maybe a full year, counting after coming back from the island and now he cares about my well-being." He then looked back to Oliver. "Where was this worry for my wellbeing when you decided to just drop everything and head to Europe?"
That shocked both Miles, Oliver, and even Walter overheard it. None of them have ever heard Peter all this way to his family before. Especially not Oliver.
"Where were you when Martin Li, someone who I thought was a good person, tried to destroy the city with a poison?" Peter asked. "No, you don't get to come back into my life and question my decisions! You never took the chance to know me. The new me." He then gestured to himself and to his friends who came over to see what the yelling was about. "My family left me. Thea left me because I was talking to Mom." He then walked in front of Oliver the best he could with the small height difference between them. "You don't get to question my life choices."
He then marched up the stairwell, heading towards his room whilst his friends slowly followed. Oliver was surprised at what his brother said but couldn't deny that he actually was telling the truth. They never had the chance to really talk over the past year he's been home.