Peter didn't have much sleep that night. Thoughts about the mysterious Kingpin and the Maggia Family kept him up worried, nervous about the future that might unfold. Peter fought crime, sure, but never on this scale. Here was a 16 year-old about to get in between a gang war. Eventually Peter did get some shut eye, hoping that Friday would be good to him.
'Waking before the alarm has to be the price to pay for my good ole' Spidey-Sense.' thought Peter as he turned off the alarm before it could go off. Peter stood up and stretched with a yawn before he headed towards the bathroom for his morning routine. 30 minutes later, Peter came downstairs to the delicious smell of eggs and bacon.
"Morning." Said Peter as he kissed his Aunt hello. Aunt May greeted him back with a smile and set down her nephew's plate before fixing her own. They spent a lovely breakfast together and much too quickly in Peter's mind, headed off to school. As he was leaving, his Aunt reminded him, "Remember dear, be here by 7! Don't want to be late for the welcome party. Trust me."
"I'll be sure to be here on time Aunt May. Love you." Said Peter as he boarded the bus to school.
The ride there was as chaotic as always. The Friday vibe never disappointed as everyone was excited for the weekend. Soon, they reached the gates of Midtown High ands as Peter descended from the steps off the bus he was greeted by a lovely face. Gwen Stacy stood in front of him wearing a cute skirt showing off her long legs and a black top. Peter gulped as he greeted her.
"Hey, Gwen. Good morning?"
Gwen smiled and laughed. "Did you add a question mark at the end? Good morning Petey, I was wondering if we could talk about the tutoring club."
'Did she just call me Petey?' "Um, sure. I just need to go to my locker real quick."
Gwen turned to stand next to him and they both began to walk together. 'Oh man, get your shit together Parker! Don't mess this up. Don't mess this up…'
Peter paused in realization and turned to ask Gwen, "Hey, is your dad a cop by any chance?" Gwen turned sharply to face Peter and with narrowed eyes asked, "Yeah, why?" She crossed her arms over her chest and stared down at Peter.
Spider-Man gulped in fear. "Well, I only heard recently, that um… your dad was a police officer, and that's cool you know? So I was just wondering…if that was true." Peter started to sweat as Gwen continued her ice-cold stare-down. Just as Peter was about to crack and ask what was wrong, Gwen burst out in laughter.
"You should see the look on your face, Pete. It's great!" Peter let out a sigh of relief as her laughter died down. He continued to stare at her face though, finding her blue-eyes beautiful. She…
"…look cute when you laugh."
Peter froze in shock as Gwen too froze.
"Did I just say that out loud?"
'Oh man, I did it now. She's gonna think I'm a creep or something. Way to fumble the bag Peter.' A blushing Gwen however, gave Peter a bright smile as she said, "Thanks Pete." She then proceeded to turn around and continued to walk towards his locker. Peter caught up after a second, still amazed that he got away with that.
"Sorry about that little prank. It's just that, usually when a boy asks me about my dad, he is trying to find out if he really is a cop to not ask me out. Too scared of the dad-cop to even try." Scoffed Gwen. Then she gave Peter a little smirk. "Glad to know you're not a boy."
Peter blushed even more (if that was possible) and rubbed the back of his head with one hand, embarrassed. "Well biologically, I am still… I'll shut up now." Gwen laughed again and Peter realized that he loved seeing that smile. They spent the rest of the small trip to his locker discussing the tutoring club, with Peter all but forgetting his future troubles.
"Peter, could you stay a while after class?"
Peter looked up from his paper and gave a nod to his teacher, Dr. Otto Octavius, before returning to his work. It wasn't rare that Doc Ock (as Peter liked to call him) asked him to stay after class. They usually discussed what came out in the Science Mag or what new invention Stark or Reed Richards came out with. Ten minutes later class was over and as students rushed out to enjoy their lunch, Peter waited patiently in his chair. As soon as the class was cleared, Parker headed to Doc Ock's desk.
"You wanted to see me Dr. Otto?" asked Peter. Otto finished typing something on his computer before turning to Peter with a smile. "Peter, I'm glad you decided to join the Tutoring Club with Miss Stacy. I'm sure the school will see a raise in the average GPA in no time."
Peter chuckled in embarrassment. "I don't know about that sir. There's only so much we can do."
"A-ha!" Octavius exclaimed as he clapped his hands together. "That's the problem isn't it? We are limited in what we can achieve in our current position. I know your mind Peter, it's one of the most brilliant out there, rivaling the likes of Stark and Reeds! Peter, I know that one day you will change the world for good."
Peter stared in awe at the man. No-one other than his family had ever given him so much praise. Sure he got called a hero as Spider-Man, but as Peter Parker?
"I-I don't know what to say Doc…"
Octavius gave Peter a smile. "Just keep doing what you're doing Peter. You're doing great."
Otto patted Peter on the shoulder before he turned around and put his hands against his desk. "I will admit that there is some… bad news. I'm afraid that I will be leaving Midtown High at the end of the school year. Instead, I will be starting my own company: Octavius Industries."
Peter's eyebrows rose in surprise. "How is that bad news? That's great Doc! Your company is going to be great, especially with you leading it."
"Yes, I suppose so. Peter, not to be too forward but I want to do this before other's see your potential. I want you to work for me as soon as you graduate in two years."
Now this was something Peter did not expect. These past few months, Peter had completely put aside the issue of his real identity. 'What should I do in the future? Not as Spider-Man, but as Peter Parker? I honestly don't know, but…'
"I would love to work for you Dr. Octavius. It would be my pleasure." Said Peter as he stretched out his hand. Otto smiled and accepted the handshake.
"No Peter, it would be mine."
The rest of the school day was uneventful. Peter was still confused as to why Flash and co. were still avoiding him (not that he minded), but chose not to look a gift horse in the mouth. As soon as the bell rung Peter was out of school, ready to begin his hunt for the Kingpin. Already planning and excuse for his Aunt, Peter was stopped just as he was about to cross the street.
"Hey Pete! Come here!"
Peter turned around to find Gwen Stacy waving at him, signaling him to come over. Peter looked around him to see if there was another 'Pete' around him, before he started heading over.
'Gwen Stacy is calling for me after school? I wonder what she wants? It's probably tutoring club stuff… Wait, she's with her friends and she's calling me over? Oh boy…'
Peter's hands were starting to sweat as he approached Gwen. He could that her friends were staring at him like hawks looking at prey. "Hey Gwen, what's up?"
"We're gonna go eat, wanna come with?" Beamed Gwen as she put her hands behind her back.
Peter stared wide-eyed, not believing what he heard. 'She invited me to eat? Like… like as in a date?' Peter shook his head as if to dispel his thoughts. 'A date? Please, she's just being friendly. I can tell that her friends don't really want me to come. Besides…'
Peter frowned as he said, "Sorry, I-uh, I promised my Aunt that I would help her around the today."
Gwen let out an "aww" in disappointment, then put a finger on her chin in thought. After thinking for a second, she let out a wide smile.
"How 'bout tomorrow? It's Saturday so there's no school. We can go out for breakfast!"
Peter gaped at her suggestion before gulping. Behind Gwen, one of her guy friends (Paul… Something?) also looked incredulous and jealous towards Peter.
"Umm… Y-yeah, I can do tomorrow."
Gwen clapped her hands together as if to seal the deal and pulled out her phone. "Great! Give me your number and I'll text you where to meet up tomorrow." Peter gave her his number, still not fully conscious. Gwen made sure she saved the number before turning around, heart beating fast. She hid her blush as best she could from her friends and turned around to give Peter a wave-goodbye. Peter waved back dumbly and watched as the group left for the restaurant, all of them chatting excitedly.
Looking at their backs Peter couldn't help but feel a bit down. He had never had friends like that, never been invited to eat out as a group of friends. He only had Harry, but his dad restricted his social activities in favor of tutoring and extra lessons.
'I wish I could go with them, but I can't. I have a responsibility I just can't ignore. This Kingpin… the sooner I catch him, the sooner things can go back to normal. Well, as normal as it can be for a kid bitten by a radioactive spider…'
Fisk sat in his office, mulling over recent dealings. He was frustrated as plans he had didn't go exactly how he wanted to. His frown deepened as he continued to think.
'How did the Maggia find out I was the one to take out Don Rigoletto? I made sure to make It look like the Fortunato's put out the hit. Was I betrayed?' Fisk thought as he clenched his fists, destroying the pen he was holding. Fisk let out a grunt before pressing a button on his desk that would call his secretary over. He waited for the door to open, and when it didn't, Fisk got even more annoyed.
'Incompetent wench. Time to look for a new secretary.'
Fisk pressed the button twice, but again received no answer. Fisk let out a snarl in anger, yelling out "Vanessa!" as he opened the door leading to his waiting room. Fisk was about to reprimand his assistant when he took stock of the room. Red drenched the walls and furniture as an open-mouthed Vanessa hung from the ceiling. Her stomach was cut open, yet the cause of death was a slit of the throat, from ear to ear. Fresh blood pooled under the hanging figure, creating a morbid contrast to the white marble tiles of the floor.
Fisk let out a small breath. If he was surprised, he didn't let it show. Instead, he calmly took out his phone and called 9-1-1. After reporting the crime, Fisk put away his phone and began talking.
"Such a shame. She was one of my favorites, knew how to handle 'it' well. But her best part… she was oh-so tight. You've done me a favor, actually. It won't be so bad replacing her, she was starting to develop feelings."
Kingpin laughed before talking into the air again. "I guess you didn't like my gift? And here I thought you would be grateful. After all, I saved your brother from a life behind bars or from becoming a petty criminal for the rest of his life. Rest assured that he is in a better place… don't you agree, Hobbie?"
A figure jumped from behind one of the couches to his left, lunging towards Kingpin. Fisk reacted by lifting his arms to shield his face as deep scratches tore his skin on his arms. The figure leapt back as Fisk grunted in pain before swiping in front of him, hoping to knock his assailant out. Fisk let down his bloodied arms to stare at the suited figure of the Prowler who stood in a readied stance.
The Prowler, otherwise knows as Hobbie Brown, panted heavily in rage as he stared down the Kingpin.
'Fuck, I needed to get him there while I had the drop on him. Now It's going to be either tougher to kill him…' thought Hobbie as he waited for the right opportunity to strike.
Kingpin laughed as he mocked the Prowler. "You missed your chance Brown. You had me defenseless, and you couldn't kill me. I guess you didn't want to avenge your brother that much? Well let me show you… the resolve to KILL!"
As he said that, Kingpin bull rushed his opponent. Prowler cursed before rolling to the side, using his suit to launch steel darts in the process. Kingpin once again raised his arms in defense as the darts penetrated his skin. Fisk grunted and pulled out the darts, dropping them to the floor. As he did that, Prowler had come in close to punch Kingpin, but Kingpin blocked it in time. Prowler went for another punch directed towards Fisk's liver. The punch connected but Fisk looked unfazed. Hobbie again leapt back to avoid being hit by Kingpin.
'Looks like physical attacks like that won't work. I'll have to get in close and use my speed, just gotta make sure I don't get cornered.' Hobbie and Fisk analyzed their situation in this small reprieve.
"It's such a shame Brown. You could've been so much more"
Hobbie grit his teeth in anger as he snarled back, "Why did you do it Fisk? Why'd you kill him?" Kingpin smirked in return, enjoying the hurt that came from Hobbie's voice.
"To teach you a lesson in pain. I'm the one in power here, I just had to make you realized that. Unfortunately, my lesson went right over your head and now… you're dead!"
Kingpin grabbed the large couch and threw it towards Prowler. Hobbie reacted just in time by jumping over the spinning furniture and used it as leverage to launch himself forward. Kingpin swung his fist trying to hit him, but Prowler dodged to the side. Kingpin got more and more annoyed as Prowler dodged his attacks. Eventually, Fisk's attacks slow down in fatigue.
Prowler saw this opportunity to take the initiative. He closed in, leaning his head down to avoid a punch and clawed at Fisk's chest. Blood sprayed as the claws ripped skin and Kingpin let out an angry roar. Kingpin slammed down with his hands hoping to pummel Prowler, but Hobbie rolled to the side and used that opening to leave a gash on Kingpin's back. Fisk cried out in pain as he dropped to one knee.
'This is it!' Thought Hobbie as he went in for the kill. He aimed his deadly claws towards Fisk's nape and just as Prowler thought he would get his revenge, Kingpin spun quickly.
'Too fast!' Thought Hobbie as he tried to dodge. However it was too late and Kingpin caught him by the throat. Hobbie tried to scream in pain as Kingpin squeezed his throat, choking him. The Prowler tried to pry himself free by using his claws to penetrate Fisk's hand, which worked. Fisk cursed as Hobbie tried to move away.
"Not this time!" Snarled Kingpin. He reached out in time to grab the end's of Prowler's cape and pulled. Hobbie struggled but this time Kingpin wasn't letting him have any chances. He brought down his powerful leg to crush his hands.
"Aghhh!"
Hobbie screamed as his hands were broken. The Kingpin began to laugh as he picked up Prowler by the head and dragged him over to the window overlooking the city. Hobbie, half unconscious, tried to escape but it was no use. The Kingpin had him in his grasp and he wasn't letting go. Well, not nicely anyway.
"It's too bad Brown. You were a useful asset, you just wasn't smart enough. You wanted to see your brother? Here, I'll take you to him."
With that Kingpin threw Prowler out the window, the broken glass and figure falling down one of the tallest buildings in New York. Fisk stared down as the figure shrunk from view, then scoffed and turned around. He calmly walked towards his untouched office and sat down on his chair. He paused for a second to catch a breather and pulled out a phone from his drawer. He dialed a number and after one short click, the phone was answered.
Fisk peaked back towards his lobby, towards the still hanging figure of Vanessa, and said one word.
"Begin."
What the Kingpin of Crime didn't know was that the Prowler survived. As he was falling from the high-rise his cape, which was made by a network of pneumatic filaments which expanded with air, turned rigid and allowed him to glide for a short while. Hobbie tried to spot a safe place to land as his descent slowed, but he passed out before he could. By miracle, Hobbie landed on a full dumpster, saving him from certain death.
It wouldn't be until sometime that Hobbie would wake up, but his thirst for revenge would drive him stronger than ever.
"Nice! We scored big time. With this money, we can finally move out of here, find a new place to live."
"But where are we gonna go? The Maggia is everywhere and if they find out we ditched they're gonna kill us!"
The two thieves panted as they hid in an alley. They had just robbed an ATM machine and had ran over two miles to finally rest easy. Just as they thought they were safe, out favorite spider-themed hero spotted them.
"You know, I hear Jersey is just the perfect place for people like you. No offense."
The criminals jumped in fright as they scattered backwards. They looked up to find Spider-Man standing horizontally on the wall above them.
"You-You're that Spider guy, aren't you?"
Peter rubbed his hand behind his head. "Aww, you know about little ol' me? I'm flattered!" And with that, Spider-Man jumped from the wall in a front flip. He landed on the ground in front of the pair as they tried to run away, only to realize that their backs were to the wall. Peter didn't give them a chance to escape as he webbed the first guy to the wall. The second thief ran up to Peter to hit him, but he was knocked down when Peter jumped up and delivered an axe kick. Peter winced as the thug hit the ground face first.
"Whoa, sorry there man. I still can't control my strength as well as I'd like."
"M-m-murderer! You killed my brother!"
Peter patted the gut webbed to the wall. "Relax tough guy, he's just unconscious, which is good for him because I have some questions for you." The criminal gulped as sweat began to form despite the cool night air. The man seemed to have a stuttering problem as he asked, "W-well, what do y-you want to k-know?"
Peter sighed and sat down next to the guy. He lifted his mask up to his nose as he aimed his hand above him and sent a web line. He pulled after making contact and the thug watched in amazement as a pizza box came falling from the sky. Peter caught the closed box rubbed his hands together in glee.
"Hehe, it's time to meet you fate, pizza. Mmm, oh yeah, that hits the spot."
Peter grabbed another slice from his pizza and paused just as he was about to take a bite. He turned to the thief and they both shared a look. Peter shrugged before standing up and offered the slice to the thief. The thief nodded and Pete ripped out the webbing on the man's hands to allow him to move, and then gave him the slice. The thug happily ate it as Spider-Man sat back down to enjoy the rest of the slices.
A few minutes passed in pure bliss like that. On his last slice, Peter burped and blushed in embarrassment.
"My bad, I was really hungry you know? I was about to eat when I heard you down there. You know this is my 24th crime I've stopped these past 3 hours? It's like, the criminal hive is buzzing for some reason." Peter turned to the thief who was staring nervously back at Peter. "And you're gonna tell me why."
"Look Spidey, all I know is that this Kingpin killed the head of the Rigoletto's, Don Rigoletto. He tried to make it look like Fortunato's people did it and we did. Well, until this weird guy in a motorcycle helmet gave the Silvermanes surveillance footage of Kingpin killing Don Rigoletto and seeting the whole place on fire!"
'A motorcycle helmet? That has to be Overdrive! So Kingpin caused the great fire and Overdrive exposed him? But I thought he was working for the Maggia? If he knew this would happen, why wouldn't he stop it?'
The thug paused as he saw that Spider-Man was in deep thought. He waited in silence, nervously looking over to his brother every once in a while. Finally, Peter asked another round of questions.
"Do you know who Kingpin is?"
The thief shook his head vigorously. "N-no one knows who he is. Well, at least non of us low-level members."
Peter decided to trust the thief and asked his last question. "Where can I find Overdrive? Uh, the motorcycle guy?"
"(His name's Overdrive?)I-I think he goes to The Bar With No Name a lot. He might be there r-right now."
Peter rose an eyebrow. 'What kinda name is that?'
"Where's this… Bar With No Name" Said Peter using quotation marks with his fingers sarcastically.
"Well, The Bar changes location every now and then. Sometimes it's an actual bar, sometimes it's a homeless camp under a bridge. The only thing that always stays the same is The Rule. You see, The Bar With No Name prohibits any type of fighting between anyone, no matter what. All types of criminals got there as a sanctuary, and if you break the rule they break you!"
Peter listened in interest as he tried to imagine what a bar like that would look like. 'Well, only one way to find out'.
"So, where is it today?"
The thug shrugged. "I haven't been there in a while. Last time I checked, it was on 13th and 3rd Street."
Peter nodded slowly. "13th and 3rd… I know where that is. Thanks buddy, I'll make sure to treat you nicely if I have to catch you again. Oh, almost forgot."
The thief let out crocodile tears as he was webbed to the wall again with his brother in tow. Before leaving, Peter left a nice note stuck to the webs for the police to find. It read: "Courtesy of your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man (Don't forget the hyphen!)."
Spider-Man swung from building to building, heading to where (hopefully!) the Bar With No Name was located. As he swung, Peter yawned and and let out another burp.
'Man, I really shouldn't have eaten all those slices. Hmm… can't help but feel like I'm forgetting something very important… Oh well. If I can't remember it, it probably wasn't that important, right?'
Oh boy…
Twenty minutes later, Spider-Man arrived at what looked like a suspiciously guarded building. Peter stuck above their lines of sight and tried to spot an entrance. However, no matter how hard he looked, he couldn't find a vent or something to sneak into.
'Guess I'll have to wait. Man, I could really use some headphones right now.'
An hour passed by as Peter observed from the roof of a nearby building. In that time he had spotted all kinds of people. There were ordinary people (or as ordinary as criminals looked like), people that looked like goons (uniform and all!), and just straight up weird looking people in costumes (not like I'm one to judge!), but still no Overdrive.
'Huh, guess he already left and I'm just unlucky. I'll come back tomorrow, see if I can catch him coming out this time. Maybe I can… hold up, that's him!' Thought Peter as jumped from his make-shift hammock made out of webs. His target, Overdrive was leaving the building with his hands on his pockets and whistling a tune, which was muffled since he was still wearing that tinted helmet. 'Who wears sunglasses in the night? Sure, they're not sunglasses, but still… what a douche.'
Overdrive walked merrily across the street where a regular car was sitting there. Spidey watched as Overdrive looked left and right before Overdrive touched the car. 'Oh yeah, here we go.' Thought Peter as he jumped into action.
Overdrive finished transforming the car and was just about to get in it when his hand was webbed to the car. Overdrive jumped in fright as Spidey landed right in front of him on the roof of the car.
"Hey Overdrive, It's me! Nice car, it's a lot different than the one you used before… Wait, is this even your car? That's just sad…" Peter tutted as he shook his head.
"Spider-Man! What a surprise. Not!" And with that, Overdrive used his powers to morph the car into a motorcycle. Peter fell down in surprise as what he was standing on disappeared. Overdrive laughed as he hopped into the motorcycle, hand now webbed to one of the handles. Peter managed to land oh his feet just as Overdrive was about to speed off.
"No you don't, not this time!" exclaimed Spider-Man as he lunged to catch Overdrive. However, Peter wasn't fast enough and only managed to touch Overdrives shoulder as the man in a supped-up vehicle sped off. Peter heard as Overdrive laughed mockingly over the distance.
"Yeah yeah, laugh all you want, but I got you."
When he touched Overdrive's shoulder, he had stuck to him one of his new Spidey-Trackers. Peter chuckled, he didn't even have to chase the guy!
'Well, if they work that is. Yeah, let's hope they work.'
Peter jumped on top of a building and after looking at the night sky, decided that it was time to go home. It took him 15 minutes (one more heroic action to close the night off) to reach his house and by that time, Peter was dead on his feet. He had never worked so much in his life, and it seemed that tonight might not be a special case anymore in terms of criminal activity.
Peter sneaked into the side of the house until he reached his bedroom window. He peaked inside to make sure Aunt May wasn't there before he slowly pulled open the window to not make any noise. As soon as he could fit through the window, Peter climbed into his room and changed into his pajamas.
'The tracker has limited battery so I can only activate it and deactivate it. I'm going to have to get more money to make it better, which means I might have to get a job. Ugh, I'll think about this in the morning, I'm too tired' thought Peter as he yawned. He made sure to hide his costume and when everything was ready, he laid down on his bed.
'Hmm, I feel like I forgot something? Oh well…' And with that, Peter went to sleep with dreams of Gwen Stacy and food.
Unbeknown to him, a major event just happened. Across the window from his room, on his neighbor's house a girl stared slack-jawed. The usually empty room had a new occupant, something Peter really should have remembered.
Mary Jane Watson stared as Spider-Man sneaked into her neighbor's room… her new neighbor Peter Parker's room…
Oh boy.
