"Dammit, I'm fine."

It was an early afternoon at St. Mercy's Hospital in Midtown, as nurses and doctors walked through the pristine hallways, as the smells of disinfectant waft through the air, stinging the noses of any who are exposed to it. In one of the many occupied rooms, a man with grey hair laid in a bed, with both of his legs wrapped in casts, and elevated by plastic bands connected to the top of his bunk.

Captain George Stacy, a bit frustrated by the situation, was trying to convince the nurse that was in the room that he was comfortable.

"Sir, I was just trying to-"

"I know what you're trying to do," George said, with as much patience as he could muster. "And I appreciate it. But my pillow is fine, ok?"

"If you say so, sir," the nurse stated. "Would you like some rest now?"

Before Captain Stacy could answer, two young teenagers came into the room, making the older man smile. One was his beautiful daughter, Gwen, and the other was her admirable best friend, Peter Parker. "In a minute. I want to talk to my daughter."

"Very well, sir," the nurse stated, dutifully. "Please buzz if you need anything."

"Will do," she said, as the nurse walked away. Peter watched the woman leave, before turning back to the police captain, as he rubbed the back of his head in awkwardness. He wasn't quite sure what to say in this type of situation. The last time he was in a hospital was when he broke his arm in third grade.

Wow, has it really been that long?

"Hi sweetie," Stacy said, tiredly, with a small smile on his face.

Gwen was frowning deeply, as her eyes showed the sadness she felt inside. "How are you doing, Dad?"

George leaned back on his pillow. "I'm ok. I don't know why people give the hospital flack for their food. I think it's actually pretty good. And how are you doing, Peter?"

Peter jumped out of his day dreaming. "Oh, I'm ok, Mister Stacy. I heard what happened and I had to come over."

George gave him a toothy smile. "You are a fine young man, isn't he Gwen?"

Gwen sighed. "Dad, are you going to be ok? The doctors aren't telling us anything."

George nodded. "I should be fine. I might need surgery, but from what I'm hearing is that I'll be fine."

Gwen smiled. "Oh thank god. I'm glad Spider-Man wasn't able to-"

"Now honey, leave Spidey out of this," George told her.

Gwen scrunched her face up, confused. "Dad, he attacked you. He-"

"That was NOT Spider-Man," George emphatically stated, as Peter's eyes brightened up, celebrating in his head.

"Dad, everyone who was there said it was Spider-Man," Gwen argued. "The Bugle got pictures."

"Not my pictures," Peter grumbled to himself.

"What?" Gwen asked.

"What?" Peter repeated.

"I've met Spider-Man," George explained. "I've talked to him. He's a man who will go to great lengths to prevent things like this from happening." George's eyes turned to Peter. "He's not a man who would go around robbing banks. He's a hero. Whoever this guy is, he's not the real deal."

"Dad-"

"Gwen, I don't want to argue about this," The police captain stated, lovingly but firm. "How about you and Peter go home? I need some rest."

"Sure, dad," Gwen said, as she turned around and stormed off. "Come on, Pete."

Peter watched her leave the room, before following. "Nice to see you again, Mister Stacy!" He called over his shoulder. "Get well soon!"

"I will, Pete!" He fondly called back. He then furrowed his brow, as he looked out the window, lost in thought. "I will..."

Peter trotted over to Gwen in the hallway, as she was visibly fuming. "Uh, what's wrong?" He asked. The look he got immediately told him that that was the wrong thing to say.

"He gets attacked by Spider-Man, and even though the cops put out an APB on him, and are hunting him down, Dad still goes and defends him. I don't get it."

"Well, if your dad's met him before, maybe he could tell-"

"The man's a criminal," Gwen said, flatly. "If Dad's right, and it is an imposter, then why hasn't the real one stopped him?"

"I'm sure he's just busy," Peter said, feeling hurt by every bad comment Gwen makes about his alter ego. "I mean, he took out Vulture at the dance."

"Pfft," Gwen scoffed. "He probably didn't want anyone coming into his territory."

"Gwen!" Peter exclaimed. "You're being really unreasonable here. You weren't there! You didn't see..."

He trailed off, as he noticed Gwen looking at her feet, upset.

"Hey," Peter started, gently. "I-I didn't mean to yell, I was just-"

"I'm sorry I stood you up," she said, suddenly.

"What? No, don't worry about-"

"I really wanted to. Believe me, I really-"

"Easy," Peter comforted, as he put a reassuring hand on her shoulder. "It's ok. I understand."

"That's another reason I'm pissed at Spider-Man. He almost ruined my whole life."

"What!? How did he-?"

"He hurt my dad, and he made it so you would get mad at me. I just-"

"Gwen, Spider-Man didn't do this," Peter tried telling her. "I know for a fact that he didn't."

"How?" She asked, tears welling up in her eyes. "How do you know?"

"Because-" Peter paused, a million thoughts going through his head. "Because I do, ok?"

Gwen shook her head. "I know you don't want to see it, Pete," she said. "But he's a monster. And I'll be lucky if my dad will ever walk again, because of him."

Gwen walked away from Peter, who stared with sullen eyes at the pain he's had to witness. He suddenly felt himself boiling with anger, as only one thing was going through his mind.

Payback.

But first, there was one place he had to go. The easiest way to find him.

Spider-Man swung through the city, the sun still in the sky, as Peter rushed as fast as he could to his destination. He was just sick of this. Yesterday had been a really tough day on him, with him having to fight Toomes, and then finding out about Gwen's dad. But today, today was much worse.

Because he found out that Gwen hated him. Hated Spider-Man. And he wasn't sure if he could have a future with her if she hated him.

He considered telling her. He really did. But would she believe him? And even if she did, would she accept him, or push him away?

There was really only one thing he could do to improve the situation. To finally get this imposter. Prove that he's innocent. To try and fix his messed up life, even if it's just a bit. But he needed some help.

He finally arrived at Avenger's Tower, as he landed on the balcony. He power walked inside, as he pulled off his mask, a frown on his face. "Tony?" He called. After a few seconds of nothing, he got a little more frustrated. "Tony!?"

"Wha-?" The billionaire responded, as he jumped off from the couch he was sleeping on, coming into Peter's view as a glass bottle shattered onto the floor. Tony lazily rubbed his eyes, before focusing on the teenager in front of him. "Oh, hey kid. How are you doing?" He asked. "How was the dance?"

Peter looked at the disheveled man for a few seconds, noticing that he was in the same clothes as yesterday, before getting to business. "I need to find the faker. Now."

Tony raised an eyebrow, as he slowly got off the couch. He looked at Peter, who had an air of seriousness that Tony has never seen from the young man before. "What happened?" He asked, concerned.

"He's gone too far. The police are after me, and the only way to clear this up is to stop him."

Tony still didn't get it. "The police are always after you. This is personal, isn't it?"

Peter scoffed, bitterly. "He's using my identity to commit crimes. Wouldn't you take it personally?"

Tony looked at the teenager, and got a terrible feeling. He knows that look on Peter's face. The stone resolve in the kid's eyes. The anger the kid must be feeling, as his muscles tensed up. The desire for revenge. But not just any kind of revenge.

"Who did he hurt?" Tony asked, dead serious, all playfulness he may of had with the kid gone.

Peter froze for a second, as he stared at him. Peter's face was still hard, but he eventually looked down, as he closed his eyes. "He hurt Gwen's dad."

Tony was taken aback by the answer, not expecting it at all. "What?"

"She never showed up to the dance, because her dad, who's a police captain, got attacked by the fake me," he explained, solemnly. "He might never walk again." Peter looked back up at Tony, who gave the brunette a sympathetic look.

"What do you want to do?" Tony asked him, gently.

"I want to find him, and stop him," Peter told him.

"What does 'stop him' mean?" Tony questioned. "Because if it means what I think it means-"

"No. Not that," Peter reassured. "Never that. I want to find him, stop him, unmask him, and have him arrested. That's what I want, and that's what I need."

Tony chewed on the inside of his cheek in consideration, as he eventually nodded. "Ok, I'll help you out," he decided, pursing his lips together. "I think we both need this. Let's go to the lab. We should be able to track his movements there."

Peter nodded, as he followed Stark to the lab, appreciating the avenger more than he probably realized. Tony Stark may be a mess of a person at times, but if there's one thing Peter knew about him, it was that he was always reliable.

"I don't know about this."

Hammerhead and Tombstone sat alone in the bar, the business closed for the day due to business.

"What's wrong?" Tombstone asked his partner.

"This doesn't feel right," Hammerhead said, hunched over in his chair. "The girl, why do we trust her?"

"Like, personally?" The white skinned gangster asked. "We got nothin'. I thought you understood that."

"No, not personally," Hammerhead clarified. "I mean professionally. Why do we trust her ta get the job done?"

"Her pops."

"Whaddabout him?"

"He was the Cat."

Hammerhead looked at him with unbelieving eyes. "Her old man was the Cat?" He asked, skeptical. "The greatest thief in the history of the city. That guy?"

"Yep," Tombstone confirmed. "And he taught his daughter everything he knew."

"Yes, he did."

The two gangsters looked up, to see a girl with platinum-blonde hair, a black domino mask, and a skin tight, black, leather suit, hanging from the ceiling, upside down. She dropped down, landing on her feet.

"So boys," The Black Cat greeted with a velvet voice. "Who do you want to rob?"

"This is car 3-12, car 3-12, reporting on a robbery at the Manhattan Pins Bowling Alley. We are chasing down the suspect, Spider-Man, I repeat, suspect is Spider-Man. Requesting immediate backup."

The imposter Spider-Man was running alongside the side of a wall, bag of money in hand, jumping from building to building as a fleet of police cars chased him down from the road, sirens blaring as they sped after the criminal.

The imposter nimbly flipped through the air, doing his best to keep away from the cops. He landed on a parked Pontiac on the street, before leaping off of it. While he was in midair however, a foot connected to his jaw, knocking him back down to the street, hitting with a hard thud.

The dazed imposter looked up, to see the one thing he was hoping to avoid.

The real Spider-Man, perched on top of a light post, staring dead at him. "We need to have a talk."

The Imposter quickly got back to his feet, and stared up at the real one, silent. White lenses met white lenses, as the police cars came to a halt when they arrived at the scene. The police officers got out, completely confused.

One of them took out the dispatch speaker from his car, as he looked wide eyed at the scene in front of him. "Uh, dispatch? We have a situation. We have two Spider-Men here, please give us feedback on what to do."

"I'm real tired of you," Spider-Man told the fake. "I really am. You know how much people hated me before you came along? I really didn't need you to make things worse. But you started stealing priceless artifacts, and robbing stores, and worst of all, you sent a really cool guy to the hospital. And that really grinds my gears."

The imposter tried to jump away, but Peter shot out a web, catching the fake by the feet, before jumping off the post, and slamming the imposter to the road.

"You aren't getting away again!" Peter yelled, as he sprung towards the Imposter, who was getting back up. The two grabbed each other, as they started wrestling along the ground, The Imposter struggling with Spidey's strength. The Imposter knocked Peter off with a solid punch, before hopping back to his feet, in a crouching position.

The Imposter than charged for Peter, throwing a punch. Peter merely ducked the attack, before connecting with a hard punch to the gut, stunning the faker. "I'm sick of this!" Peter exclaimed, wanting to see who this guy really was.

The Imposter stumbled slightly, as Peter flipped towards him. "I'm not falling for that gas trick again," he stated, as he grabbed the fake's mask, before spring boarding off of him, taking the fabric with him.

The fake erupted into a large cloud of smoke and gas, making it impossible to see who exactly was under there.

"YOU DARE!?" A voice emanated from the smoke, as Peter watched, confused by what was happening. "IT WAS FOOLISH OF ME TO TRY AND IMITATE YOU. I SEE THAT NOW!"

"Gee, ya think?" Spidey quipped.

"BUT NOW! NOW YOU SHALL SEE MY TRUE FORM!" The voice boomed, as a figure started to rise out of the fog, floating on nothing.

It was a man, wearing a light green bodysuit, a purple cape, hung up by gold medallions, and a large, bowl-like helmet, which made it impossible to see his true face.

"YOU WILL SEE THE TRUE FORM OF-MYSTERIO!"