I know I said last time it was Ultimate Spider-Man Issues #47-50, I meant #53, sorry about that.

Act III (Part 3)

Riva was not happy, not happy at all. He stares at the TV, listening to Jameson rant, complain, whatever you want to call it, about the woman who called Damage Control, Janice Lincoln.

Jameson, as usual on the TV, is ranting about how much conspiracy is going on with Roxxon, her, and Stark Industries and how it could be possible Spider-Man is somewhat responsible.

Janice came by to where Riva was sitting and pleading, "It's not my fault… not my fault."

Riva turned to look at her and glared. He hissed "'Not your fault,' you say. You risked exposure to our entire operation!"

"The press will be dealing with this for weeks; it'll probably die down." She suggests.

"You know I used to be a meek man willing to serve anyone… that is what I was to Quentin Beck... what I represented. No more of that meek man today! We were top on our game… and now WE ARE LETTING A GUY IN RED AND BLUE SPANDEX AND A FAKE DEVIL EXPOSE IT!" He screamed at the top of his lungs and slammed the top of the table with his fists.

Janice flinched at the noise. Riva came up to her face and said, "Our boss will not be happy with this little incident you've caused for us."

"I can fix it, get lawyers involved against the Bugle…" Janice proposed.

Riva scoffed and scowled at her. He waved his arms around in anger and said, "It's not gonna do anything, Janice… we have to call the group again… discuss this matter with everyone, AND MAYBE REMOVE YOU FOREVER FROM OUR GROUP!"

Janice retorted, "DON'T SCREAM AT ME!"

"Jeez, enough fighting…" a familiar voice called out from behind.

Riva's eyes widened and got a little nervous. He turned to see Kraven approaching them.

"Kra-Kraven…" he said sounding almost out of breath or not being able to speak.

"You found us? How?" Riva asked as Janice stared at the hunter in bewilderment.

"You forget that I am a hunter and as soon as I arrive, I see you fight with your fellow comrade instead of being a leader…" Kraven said staring into Riva's soul, which he felt like Kraven was doing.

Janice was still staring in bewilderment at Kraven. Despite his appearance of wearing brown khaki pants, black boots, bare open chest with that lion's head vest, he was the most intimidating man she ever met. His whole appearance gave off terrible vibes to her. The look on his face said it all as he has the most ferocious eyes. It's as if he could kill at any moment with a swift movement and that's what terrified her deep down. Yet at the same time, there's something in his eyes that also said, 'I don't want to do this anymore.' That was another weird vibe she picked up from him and she didn't know why.

"Well, just so you know, Kraven, this place is our location, and I didn't or—"

"Spare me with your orders…. I came here to inform you of the problem," Kraven interrupted.

Riva rolled his eyes and pointed out, "I already know about Spider-Man and Daredevil."

"Not that… your boss… he gave me a message to tell all of you. But I do need everyone…" Kraven demanded.

Riva felt his trust misplaced by the boss, why would he tell Kraven important info before him? Riva conceded, "Very well, I'll set up the meeting."

After a few calls and set-up, Mysterio's crew sat in their usual diagonal fashion.

Riva starts, "Everyone, I know we usually don't have these meetings at this time. And to be fair, we are on a tight schedule, but this meeting is about a message from our boss."

"We haven't heard from him in a while? And what kind of message does he bring us now? We know Janice messed up the shipment of the Promethium X, which it isn't even Promethium, we're just transporting that black goo--" Doug said while getting interrupted by Janice.

"Hey! It would've gone smoothly hadn't it been for Spider-Man and Daredevil." She pointed out.

Riva cleared his throat and everyone looked at him.

"Regardless of how it would have gone down, and thanks to Janice the authorities are onto them, even though the Bugle is calling her out on her claims of being a victim of the two vigilantes. But they are not why this meeting is occurring," he turns towards the shadows and called out, "You can come out now."

Appeared before Mysterio's crew is Kraven the Hunter out of the shadows as he approaches them with loud heavy steps from his boots. He smelled of a lot of vodka and other alcohols.

Doug guffaws, "Haha! What's with the crappy costume?!"

Kraven glared at him as that shut Doug up real quick. Doug had to admit this Kraven guy was very intimidating despite wearing a ridiculous outfit.

The rest of the crew who haven't seen Kraven yet, found him to be very intimidating. They didn't want to say anything stupid in front of him at all and didn't dare to speak when he speaks.

"Ladies and gentlemen, this is Kraven the Hunter," Riva began. "The one I hired to kill Spider-Man."

"Thank you for the introduction," Kraven began. "I come to you... before all of you to let you know that your boss is making a change in his plans. All shipments are to be directed to a specific location he and his allies have found in order to be less discreet from Damage Control. Another thing is our Spider-Man problem... it appears he's gone to murdering cops or whatever, but your boss wants to use this to his advantage. All of us are going to that Planetarium party in a couple of days."

Voices form the crew uttered into either concerns or an outrage. Kraven held his hand for them to be silenced.

"Perhaps, if you've let me finished, your boss explains this quite clearly. This is to attract Spider-Man's attention. He will come as we hold the people there hostage and then I will strike with our men and Spider-Man and I will have the fight for our lives." Kraven explains as he makes a small smirk that scared the entirety of the crew.

"Eh... what do you intend on doing to Spider-Man?" Guterman asked, feeling uneasy with Kraven.

"He is a worthy challenge is all I'm going to say... and trust me when you see the fight... it'll be glorious." Kraven said vaguely as the meeting adjourned.

A certain item peaked his interest. It was a syringe and he knew it was meant to do. He chuckled a bit because the crew was told and thought it was going something to control him... to keep Kraven down. They're going to have a bit of a surprise of what it actually does.

The next morning after Peter found out about the news of the imposter Spider-Man murdering those two cops. Of course, he would find out as he and MJ were dating. He needed to find this guy quickly and get him to the authorities.

He felt like he was going to explode with a lot of anger and needed someone to talk to about all of this. The nightmares he gets of Goblin and May's death, everything he's been through with Beck, Thanos and dying for five years, and Vulture dropping that building.

Peter grabbed his phone and texted MJ to come to his apartment and that she could stay for a bit, maybe he could cook her something.

A few minutes came by and MJ texted she would love to come by.

MJ visited him in his apartment and it was around 5:00 pm. Peter paced back and forth in his apartment.

"Why... why is it always me?!" He yelled.

"Every time I try to do good I get some kind of bad luck onto me... what did I even do to deserve this!" Peter ranted.

"And every time I save people... try to stop guys like Kraven... Mysterio... Goblin... the government and media go out of their way to blame me for stuff I didn't even do!" He ranted again.

"And this imposter idiot! Who does he think he is going around as me?!" Peter yelled, getting angrier.

MJ was definitely worried about him, "What are you gonna do?"

"I'm gonna find him and really kick his ass." He said proudly, almost sounding like he's going to get revenge.

MJ pursed her lips, "And then?"

"Maybe hang up the costume for awhile and be me," Peter said.

MJ was surprised by that, "You sure about that?"

"Honestly, I've been thinking about it for such a long time. I mean the last time I tried to go on break Mysterio ruined it. But maybe hanging up the costume for awhile won't be so bad, if it means spending time with you," Peter said noticing MJ blush and he went over to her and kissed her on the lips.

She stopped the kiss and asked, "How long will you stop?"

"Being Spider-Man? Enough for me to go back. I just... I just think it would be nice because I came close to getting hurt. Almost dying if it wasn't for Daredevil and the person he knew... another thing is despite me being excited to stop crime, I don't like it." Peter surmised.

"Don't like what?" MJ asked.

"The fighting. I get worried with my strength that I might kill someone... it's not a pleasant feeling... not a fun thing to do. Even when I was... beating up Goblin... I wanted him dead. Last time I felt like that was with the guy who killed my Uncle Ben. However, when Peter-2 stopped me... from killing Goblin... he showed me it's not what we do..." Peter added.

He continued, "I would rather walk down that park with you, normal dates, you know. Just me and you... that's what I really want."

MJ blushed again and Peter went in for a kiss, she accepted and kissed back.

She stopped again and said, "You wanna get out of here when we finish college, where would you go?"

Peter thought about it for a second, "Hm, I don't know... but when we get married, we'll probably find a nice place to live, raise kids... oh God imagine us having kids."

Man chuckled at that and kissed him on the lips again and then she teased him, "Go easy, bug boy..."

Peter blinked and chuckled, "What did you call me? I'll have you know spiders are arachnids, not bugs."

She teased back, "I know I just like messing with you."

She chuckled again and then they kissed again.

They stopped again and then started talking.

"Where are you gotta go for college?"

"Not MIT."

She pleaded, "Why not MIT?"

"Too many bad memories of rejection and it would remind me of... Tony." Peter said, eyes darting down in sadness.

"Hey, hey, hey, we'll get through this together," she said.

"You know despite you being my first girlfriend, you're a really great one." Peter said back.

"Can you stop making me blush?" MJ asked him not to as she kept blushing.

"No, no, no. I like you blushing. It makes you look cute." Peter commented.

She blushed again and laid down on the bed. Pete rapid down as well and stared into her eyes.

"You know I don't say this often... but you have nice eyes." Peter said.

She blushed even heavier now. "But seriously back on topic, where would you go?"

"First, I need to complete my GED and go from there. Maybe that new Empire State University, everyone's been raving about." Peter said.

"And then?"

"I'll finish all my courses and always talk to you. Maybe even visit Boston every once in awhile... ask you out on dates...propose to you... marry you... and we get away..." Peter said calmly as he stares into MJ's eyes.

They start to get closer again for another kiss. They stopped again and this time MJ stares into his eyes.

"Just don't do the magic crap again... I don't want to forget about you ever..." MJ said firmly.

"Yeah, ok. No more magic... I'll always be responsible... no matter how hard it is... no matter how much it hurts...I'll always be there for you, MJ." Peter said proudly.

MJ smiled at that and just said, "Thanks, Pete."

"Say there's been something I've been meaning to ask you? Something important?" Peter asked while caressing her face.

"What?" MJ asked back.

"How do you deal with grief? The trauma? All that?" Peter asked.

MJ was a bit taken back by that question and replied, "I don't even know how to answer that... is this because of May?"

Peter sighed. He asked that question because the grief of May never stopped and turned into horrible nightmares for him. Ever since Ben died the nightmares of his death never stopped. Ever since he was underneath that building that Toomes dropped on him, he'd have nightmares of that. Then the Blip, Stark's death became even bigger nightmares. Mysterio's illusions and the identity reveal gave more nightmares. And then there was Goblin and May and that night... her death... he'd be Spider-Man to protect her from all the harm of the world despite being so young. Now he had nothing at home to protect. He'd been all alone for who knows how many months, but he has somewhat gotten back everything, but in the end it doesn't feel all good...alright...being back with MJ and Ned. He doesn't know what to think or feel exactly... it just is...

"Earth to Peter?" MJ called out.

Peter blinked twice and looked into her gaze again. "Yeah?"

"You spaced out." MJ pointed out.

"Oh... for how long?" Peter asked while rubbing his eyes a bit.

"Enough for me to notice." MJ said.

"Ughh... ok, I should probably tell you why I asked you that question about grief." Peter suggested.

"No, dude, it's fine. I still wouldn't know how to answer it." MJ added.

"No, no, it's just..." he gulped and continued. "I just want you to listen for a bit about certain things."

MJ was a bit perplexed by what he was talking about. "What are you saying?"

Peter darted his eyes up and then back to hers and replied, "Things I've seen as Spider-Man. It's why I asked the question."

"Oh."

"I'm not sure though if you want to hear it?" Peter asked turning to lay in his back and look up the ceiling.

MJ copies him and replied, "I'm willing to listen."

"Whenever I'm Spider-Man, I see a lot of people in need. In need of help, something that the Avengers don't see from the Tower or Compound or wherever their new base is. So, when I do help people I see the change I could make as a friendly neighborhood Spider-Man. However..." he paused. "When I find out that guys like Liz's dad... when I fought the Vulture... I was so shocked that he was even her dad let alone the guy making those terrible weapons from wreckages of Avengers' battles. When I tried to confront him, he dropped a building on me..."

"He what?" MJ asked astonished of this revelation. What the heck kind of fight was Peter in where the Vulture drops a building on him?

"Yeah, a freaking building... I never even told Ned or Tony about it... not even May when she found out. I was so scared and helpless, but I was able to lift it off me. I never really tested my strength to its full potential since then. That's when my nightmares began..." Peter said.

"You've been having nightmares?" MJ asked that not knowing what to think. She was still stunned to hear Toomes dropped a building on him, that just made her hate the guy even more after finding out she was her old Decathlon's captain's dad selling weapons on the streets.

"Way after Ben's death... the next one was more of the Blip and Tony's death..." he shook his head. "I really should've stayed on that bus. The Battle for Earth was probably the most insane thing I've seen and fought next to the Multiverse situation. I've had so many nightmares of just blipping and seeing Tony's dead body. Of Thanos and keeping on fighting him. And then Mysterio happened and he..." he paused again. "He showed me a terrible illusion of Tony's grave and said 'if you were good enough, maybe Tony would still be alive.'" Peter said feeling more vulnerable than ever.

MJ, however, was getting angrier and angrier at Mysterio. Him saying that phrase to Peter was the last straw and she hoped he burned and rotted in Hell for good.

"The nightmares for that got crazy, but they calmed when I had that one week where everything felt normal and that was when you found out. But then when those multiverse visitors came and Goblin..." he starts to tear up.

"Hey, hey, you can talk about it." MJ soothes him.

Peter bit his lip, "I've been having nightmares of him... taunting me... hurting you and the rest of my friends... and even Midtown High... I think he really did it... he broke me... I'm not the same man... same kid you once knew... I was so alone because everyone forgot about me... and sometimes I think maybe I do deserve it because I'm not a hero... I just don't think I am."

That made MJ wonder why Peter always thought this. Why his hero complex had to be the main source of his thought process?

"Is that what you really feel? Think?" She just asked.

"Honestly yes... it's what's been bottling up ever since I became Spider-Man... I'm not even sure I'm worthy of being back in the Avengers... they got the new Captain America and I'm sure he'll do fine... I just don't think I'm good enough—" MJ interjects him.

"Peter, just stop... I think you really need to talk to someone, but laying all of this onto me while it's good to let it all out... I don't know how to help you other than give you support and love. I think you need to talk to a therapist about all of this. It's pretty heavy. But I am glad you are sharing all of this... I think I got a clearer picture that your life is just—-"

Peter added, "Crazy?"

"I was going to say 'very unpredictable.'" MJ said back while a small smile to him.

Peter chuckled at that. From MJ's perspective his chuckle was very cute and one of things she adored about him.

"Hey, I got a question that might seem to be weird to ask." MJ says bluntly.

"Ok."

"Did you ever want to quit being Spider-Man?" MJ asked.

Peter furrowed his eyebrows and thought about it.

"There have times I've thought of it... because it's not a normal life...but I always remind myself, 'with great power comes great responsibility.'" Peter replies honestly.

He continued, "The life of Spider-Man is filled with a lot of pain and hope. Where I win, Spider-Man loses. Where I lose, Spider-Man wins... but I think that day when I made everyone forget who I was. Both Peter Parker and Spider-Man lost. We both lost people we love," his mind flashes to Aunt May dying in hands, "and were forgotten by the people who know and love him." Flashes of MJ giving their last kiss and Ned doing their final handshake before he leaves them on the Statue of Liberty island pop into his mind.

MJ sighed. She didn't know what to say that to be honest. Having a boyfriend that's a big time superhero that's constantly hated by the world simply because he was trying to do the right thing just irked her. Then again it's how life treats you. Life is rather shitty in a poetic sense, whatever that means. It likes to play jokes on you and give you something even better in return and yet at what cost was that return for you. People like Peter don't need to be burdened with a heavy toll. Why should guys like Quentin Beck get praise and joy for being the one that almost killed her and her friends back at London? When he tried to frame Peter for a murder he never did? Where was the justice in all of that?

"Why do you think people hate Spider-Man?" MJ asked, although she got an idea of an answer. She just wanted to know if Peter could answer that.

"Before or after I was framed for murder?" Peter asked back.

"Um... I guess both," MJ simply replied.

"Ok, before, some people thought I was like a rumor or just looking out to help the neighborhood. But they didn't trust me, thinking I'm just a guy in a costume and wearing a mask makes people unnerved as to why someone in a mask would risk saving someone. After the framing, people think I'm a menace, they'll either believe what Jameson tells them or think he's full of it." Both of them smirk and chuckle at that last part.

She lays her head on his shoulder and he lays his on her head.

"I love you," Peter said, smiling.

"I love you, too." MJ said back, looking at him. She wondered what goes on his mind, always wondering about his thoughts. MJ then thought of a funny question.

"Say now that he doesn't insult you or remember you. How does it feel to be not insulted by Flash Thompson?"

Peter's eyes widened in shock and said, "Oh my God... it's been so long since the party or my identity reveal, it feels weird that he doesn't remember me and treats me way differently."

MJ smirked widely and laughed. Peter laughed with her.

"Yeah, it still seems so weird seeing Flash act around you like that." MJ shook her head in amusement.

"Hey, by the way, for our next date. Do you wanna go to the Planetarium party that's coming up in a few days? I need to go there because Mr. Jameson needs me there anyway to take some shots." Peter asked.

"Hm... a Planetarium party... it sounds lame and awesome at the same time." MJ commented.

Peter shook his head and pleaded, "You wanna come or not?"

"Of course, I'll come with you, loser." MJ said smiling back.

"Also since she works there. Betty could bring Ned with her to this party," MJ suggested.

Peter nodded at that and then realized what MJ was here for.

"Ooh!" Peter cries out.

MJ raises her eyebrow and asks, "What?"

"I promised to cook for you," Peter replied while starting up a meal.

"Oooo... Chef Peter Parker..." She says in a French accent.

Peter chuckled at that as he prepares to cook for him and MJ chicken dumplings.

The fire alarm went out and everyone exits the building. Fire trucks could be heard outside coming to the apartment.

Peter and MJ come out of the building as directed by the firemen. They confirm no fire occurred and made sure everyone was safe.

This story will forever be known as the chicken dumpling disaster according to MJ, who was busy FaceTiming Ned about the whole thing and they were laughing their asses off while Peter was blushing and getting annoyed at his friends making fun of him for messing up to make chicken dumplings.

Also I know I said Kraven won't appear in Act III as much so if you want his appearance again this is the only part where we'll see him, but don't worry he'll come back ;)

And yes I know it's a little shorter compared to the other parts, but from here on out the plot shall take place.