It's amazing how much you can get done in a year and a half with enough commitment. Peter Parker quickly masted his powers after he was bit by a genetically altered spider and he quickly learned the responsibility that came with them after he neglected to save his own uncle. The city of New York has become a lot safer thanks to the efforts of Spider-Man.
Doctor Octopus
Spider-Man jumped and flipped, avoiding the mechanical tentacles as they tried to grab him. Spider-Man grabbed the fourth tentacle and used it to throw Doctor Octopus against an empty taxi cab. Spider-Man shot multiple layers of webbing to keep him stuck to the car. He even covered his goggles with webbing. Though Doc Ock's tentacles were still free. Without any clear vision, Doctor Octopus thrashed his tentacles around wildly, hoping to hit Spider-Man, but only hitting the concrete and other empty cars. The noise and shaking created the perfect cover for Spider-Man to jump onto the roof of the taxi cab unnoticed. He could have relaxed and watched the mad doctor writhe and shriek for his amusement, but he had property damage to think about. With a well-placed sucker punch, Spider-Man knocked him out and the tentacles dropped limply.
Rhino
"Can you do anything else besides charging at me? This is getting a little repetitive," Spider-Man taunted.
Rhino charged at him, blabbering some nonsense as he went.
Spider-Man jumped over Rhino, easily avoiding his predictable attack. However, Rhino kept going, evidentially not noticing. "Rhino, where you going?" Spider-Man asked; though it was hard for Rhino to hear over the sound of his own blathering. Spider-Man guessed that the idiot wouldn't want to stop until he crashed into something. However, Spider-Man had lead Rhino away from the populated buildings, so Rhino kept running until he fell off of the docks into the sea. Rhino's bulky armor, which he couldn't remove, forced him to sink like a rock.
Spider-Man was stunned by the sheer stupidity of it. "Did he just run into the ocean?" Spider-Man asked a nearby ship captain. "He just ran . . . into the ocean. RHINO!"
He tried to save him, but every method of getting Rhino's heavy body out of the water didn't work. And Rhino wasn't strong enough to jump his way out. In the end, Spider-Man shrugged, knowing it was Rhino's own fault.
Scorpion
Spider-Man ran up the side of a building, escaping Scorpion's venomous stinger. Spider-Man turned to face him and, when Scorpion tried to strike, he leapt from the wall. He spun a web and pulled, bringing himself back to the wall below Scorpion. He struck him a few times from behind before Scorpion turned around. But by then, Spider-Man was already gone. Spider-Man came swinging from the side and kicked him with both feet. Scorpion lost his grip on the wall and fell two stories before he could sink his claws back into the concrete. As soon as he came to a stop, Spider-Man was there to hit him with an uppercut that launched him off of the wall. This time, Scorpion had no way of stopping his own fall. Spider-Man shot a web that attached to Scorpion's tail. While Spider-Man stuck to the wall and hung on to the web, Scorpion swung into the wall, hitting his head on the way back. Scorpion just didn't have the same maneuverability on the wall that Spider-Man had. Spider-Man kept beating Scorpion down further and further until Scorpion landed on the ground. At that point, he was done.
Electro
Spider-Man made a rubber suit and beat the voltage out of him without getting electrocuted.
Shocker
Shot the ceiling, missing Spider-Man and was buried under rubble.
Vulture
Crash landed after Spider-Man ripped his wings off.
Kraven
Tricked into his own trapping pit.
Venom
Spider-Man locked him in the same room with Carnage.
Carnage
Spider-Man took advantage of his weakened state after his fight with Venom.
Kingpin, Tombstone, the Spot, Prowler, Mysterio, Sandman, Silver Sable, Mr. Negative; the list goes on and on. More than all the other villains, there is one that haunts him. Not as the one that got away, but as the one who took her down with him.
Peter placed a rose in front of the tombstone. He mournfully read the name engraved for at least the hundredth time. "Gwen Stacy." Peter remembered too well how hard it was to put that mask back on for the first few months after it happened. It felt like losing Gwen was just as much his punishment for action as losing his uncle was his punishment for inaction. It took a long time for him to get to a place where it only hurt once in a while. He wasn't completely over it; that was part of the reason why he was back in that graveyard again.
"It's been a year," Peter said, his voice weak. "Most people get to move on sooner than that when they lose a girlfriend. Usually, they just breakup and then they have the luxury of knowing that she wasn't the one. That's how I imagine it anyway. I never actually dated anyone before or after you, so I've never had a breakup. After you were gone, I just kept worrying that the same thing would happen if I dated someone else. But then I thought . . . maybe you would have lived if you knew everything. Maybe I should have told you my secret. I've been thinking lately that I should get back out there, try to do it right this time. There's just one more problem; every girl I meet . . . I don't love them the way I loved you; except for one. There's just one who . . ." Peter couldn't say it out loud for fear of being disrespectful to Gwen. The truth was, that one girl was not Gwen's equal, but her superior. There was one who made his heart race even faster, held his attention even tighter, made him tremble even harder. "But she's dating someone else," Peter said with a shrug, not knowing how inaccurate and outdated that sentence was.
MJ was woken prematurely by the sound of her parents shouting at each other. "What could they possibly be fighting about this early?" she wondered as she groaned. She could hear them clearly, but she was so sleepy, the words didn't make sense to her. Opening her eyes for just long enough to see her alarm clock, she saw that she was awake an hour ahead of schedule. "That's fine. Six hours of sleep works as well as seven, right?" MJ thought sarcastically. She knew she wouldn't get back to sleep any time soon with that racket that past so easily through the walls. "Might as well play some music," she decided.
She grabbed her phone from the desk next to her bed and found Harry's picture as the background. "What's that still doing there?" MJ thought in disgust. "We'll have to fix that." MJ deleted the picture of Harry and searched through her potential replacements she had on her phone. A particularly eventful picture grabbed her eye; one taken from footage of Spider-Man swinging with his arm around MJ herself. Mary Jane cracked a weak smile on the side of her lips as she gazed at Spider-Man and remembered that day fondly. It really was nice to have someone who cared enough to fight off a supervillain for her. MJ looked at the bruise on her arm, wishing Spider-Man could have been there when her father got too drunk. MJ chose the picture as the new background for her phone and searched for that music. She chose aggressive metalstep to cover the noise of her parents' argument. She placed the earbuds in her ears and relaxed as well as she could while the music played.
She laid there for thirty minutes before the noise died down. She hadn't been scheduled to be awake for another twenty-five minutes still. She wondered if she should use that extra time to do her makeup with more artistry than usual. "It is the last day of school before summer break. Might as well go all out. On the other hand, it's not like I still want to impress Harry anymore," she thought. "And I'm not lucky enough to stumble upon some modeling agent or anything." MJ kept laying there for a little longer. "What about Peter?" MJ sighed through her nose and got out of bed.
MJ slammed the door on her way out of the principal's office. She hadn't even done anything that day; the principle just wanted to talk about her actions over the course of the past year. "It's none of his business," MJ thought, though she felt guilty deep down. "I got good grades and consistent attendance. He can't tell me what I can and can't do outside of school. Maybe he's right, though. NO! It's my life and I can poison myself if I want to. 'Poison myself'?! What am I talking about?!" MJ felt a slight cold sweat, unsure if she should be upset with the principle or herself. She was definitely upset with someone. MJ stared at the floor as she walked with melancholy and a dead countenance. She figured her whole day was ruined. She didn't think anything could put her in a good mood after that.
"Hey, MJ!" a voice called out, happy to see her.
Anything except for him.
MJ lifted her previously lowered head, a warm smile forming. By the time she snapped her head around to face him, she was the picture of optimism and brightness. "Hey, Pete."
Peter was captivated by her makeup. He especially loved her eye makeup; it was blue near the center and faded to purple on the far sides. Also, her eye makeup was glittery all over. Not that MJ needed all that to captivate Peter.
Peter wanted so badly to tell her she was beautiful, but that didn't feel like an option. "Glad we're almost out of here. Got any big plans for the summer?"
"Nope," she thought. But she told him, "I'll keep busy. How about you? Think you'll take a break from pictures of Spider-Man and find a few other superheroes? How do you get so many good pictures of Spider-Man, anyway? Does he pose for you and get a share of the profits?"
"Oh, please," Peter said, waving off the idea. "If I was Spider-Man, I wouldn't pose for anyone who used to sell pictures to the Daily Bugle."
"I'm glad you don't work there anymore. Spider-Man doesn't deserve all that stuff they say about him." MJ said in her best J. Jonah Jameson impression, "Spider-Man saves twenty babies and risks his life, fighting a hundred terrorists. But does that make him a hero or a menace?"
"Not even an exaggeration," Peter said, amused. Peter joined in with his own impression of J. J. "The twenty 'mothers' and twenty 'fathers' claim that Spider-Man rescued their babies, but how do we know they're really the parents of these poor, innocent babies?"
"Maybe the 'terrorists' just thought that bombs were an expected gift from foreign visitors," MJ joked.
Peter clapped as he burst into laughter. Talking as they went, they made their way to Peter's locker where he dug out a few books. "To make things better, my new buyer pays more."
"That's great." MJ wanted to change the subject quickly. She was afraid they would start talking about her waitress job. "You think you'll go to that documentary movie about the Hulk?"
"You know I've got a soft spot for superheroes." A thought occurred to Peter which irritated him to the point of making his head ich and his lips purse. "Are you and Harry going to go see it?" he asked, trying to hide his pain.
MJ closed her eyes and shook her head, realizing she forgot to tell him. After that, she displayed faint happiness that could have been genuine or fake. "Oh. We broke up," she said with a shrug.
Peter's books clattered on the floor as he stared at her, speechless. MJ quietly chuckled, fully aware of the effect those words had on him. "Uh. . . . What happened?" Peter asked, trying not to sound overjoyed.
"Harry was never the same after we found out about his dad. I mean, I get that it was hard for him, but that excuse only goes so far. He's constantly angry, he doesn't allow backtalk, he jumps to crazy conclusions. I tried to be supportive, but . . ."
"You didn't need to put up with all that. You stuck it out with him a lot longer than anyone could have expected."
"Thanks, Pete. I think it helped having someone to compare him to. I mean, you lost Gwen and you didn't let it turn you into a jerk," MJ said gently.
"Well," Peter squeaked dubiously.
"Well . . . you didn't stay a jerk.
"That sounds more accurate," Peter said honestly.
"When I broke up with Harry, I made sure to do it in public because I wasn't sure what he was going to do."
"What did he do?"
MJ avoided eye contact. "He said a few things I'd rather not repeat."
"Where is he?" Peter said, furious. "He had the perfect girlfriend, treated her like dirt and got angry when she didn't want to deal with him anymore?"
MJ stared at him dreamily. "'Perfect girlfriend?'" MJ repeated smugly, her head tilted to the side.
Peter panicked, realizing he just said a mouth full. "Well, what I meant was-"
"Oh, no, no, no, no, no," MJ said, putting a finger on his lips to silence him. "You are not backing out of that one."
"Okay, okay. He was lucky to date you," Peter said. "And he didn't realize just how lucky he was." Peter cleared his throat and said, "You know, uh . . ." Peter leaned against the wall for a split second before deciding that idea was too cheesy. Instead, he crossed his arms awkwardly. "You know, hypothetically, I would realize how lucky I am- would be, if my- if I had a perfect girlfriend; THE perfect girlfriend, I mean." Smoooth.
"Wow. Has it been that long since you flirted with anyone?" MJ teased playfully.
Peter hesitated. "Maybe."
Peter saw that trying to conceal his feelings didn't work and warming up to his intentions slowly was pointless. He decided that the only thing for it was to be open and honest. Peter told her seriously, "MJ, I would have asked you out a long time ago if there weren't so many road blocks like Harry and the guilt I had about Gwen. Is it too late?"
"No," MJ said, shaking her head. "No, it's not too late."
"Then . . . do you want to go out some time? Maybe we could see that Hulk documentary?"
"Yeah," she said happily.
"Really?" Peter asked, worried because this sounded too good to be true.
"Yeah. How about you pick-" MJ stopped herself just in time having remembered that Peter didn't have a car and he barely knew how to drive. "How about I pick you up at four-thirty and we go out to dinner first?"
"That sounds great," Peter said breathlessly, his heart racing. "Okay, so I'll see you tonight. It is tonight, right?"
"Yeah. Tonight. See ya, Tiger."
Peter started walking off, head in the clouds. "Pete," MJ called out, stopping him.
"Yeah?"
"Your books are still on the floor," MJ said, amused.
"Oh. Right. I'll get those," Peter said, too happy to be embarrassed.
Peter and Mary Jane were both in a good mood for the rest of their time spent at school, knowing that in a matter of hours, they would finally get a respite from the agony that is high school and a date.
There was just one problem.
"IT'S LOSE!" cried a man in a lab coat as the alarm blared and red lights flashed. "EVERYBODY OUT!" As scientists left, armed security guards past them in the halls. They weren't police officers, of course. They had been hired and heavily armed by Oscorp because they knew an event like this might happen.
One of the guards grabbed the arm of a scientist, forcing him to stop. "Where is it?" the guard demanded.
"I don't know where it is! None of us do! It could be anywhere! Let me go!" The scientist tried to pry himself free hopelessly. The guard was not satisfied with the answer.
Suddenly, a set of three claws came bursting out of the wall and dug into the guard's torso like meat hooks. The guard screamed in agony, finally letting the horrified scientist go. Next, a set of long, jaws exploded through the wall and clamped down on the guard's head and its buckteeth scraped off portions of his face.
The scientists on the wrong end of the hall turned around and ran the other way, mortified to know they had been running toward that thing.
The other guards opened fire even with their fellow man in the way. Either they didn't care about his safety or they saw they he was beyond help at that point. Whatever that thing was pulled back through the hole in the wall, taking the guard's remains with it.
The other guards hesitantly approached the hole in the wall, trembling as they went. The ceiling caved in above one of them and it fell onto him, biting and clawing on its way down. They shot at it, but couldn't tell if they were missing or not. The creature looked around at its prey, the red lights reflecting too well off its big, soulless eyes. It scurried across the floor, tripping two of them with a single swing of its tail. It then dove at another of them and tore into him while the others struggled to get up in time.
When they were on there feet again, the monster knocked one of them over while picking up the other. The guard on the floor helplessly watched as the other guard's neck was bitten. The monster writhed its head about, its teeth tearing through the neck like a saw. When the neck was cut through completely, the monster swallowed his head, not even taking the time to chew it first.
The guard on the floor shot his machinegun, consistently hitting it with every shot, but the monster's rotund body absorbed each bullet without complaint. From there, he could clearly see the monster's mangy fur and limbs that were shaped only a little like that of a human.
When the guard ran out of bullets, he didn't bother trying to get up. He reached for his side arm, but it was too late. Vermin fell onto him with its jaws wide open.
Author's Note: It's important to remember this; I have found that trying to find this story through the search bar is near impossible. There's just something about the title that's messing with the search. It will be easier for you to set the search bar to writers and type in my penname. (It will work with or without the periods.)
In case it wasn't clear, this doesn't take place in the MCU, but it will take some inspiration from the MCU here and there.
I went over a few different ideas about what kind of story to tell with Spider-Man. I decided to do a story that feels like a Spider-Man story without being a retelling or retread of already told stories. Think of Never Break as the opposite of a bad remake. A bad remake usually feels like a completely different franchise telling the exact same story. Never Break is supposed to feel like the same franchise telling new stories. We have the basic set up of Spider-Man fighting crime while dating MJ and within that set up, any number of new things can happen.
I have a YouTube Channel now. I review fictional couples, talking about how well they're written, how good their chemistry is and the story of how they get together. You'll be able to find me by typing into the search bar –
Couple Reviews by MVPKnight
I would provide a link, but that's actually against the terms of service here.
My channel title is the same as my penname here. You might be able to find me with that. But you should be able to find me if you type either of those titles into the search engine.
Thank you for reading. Please follow and review.
