The Extraordinary Spider-Man - Vol 1

Chapter 23: Reconciliations

"T-talk? You-you just showed up and-" Peter stuttered.

Gwen walked into Peter's room. "Yes, we need to talk. And I think you know why."

Peter sighed as he sat on the chair in front of his desk, while Gwen sat on the bed.

"There's a lot, I assume," Peter said.

"A lot to talk about? Well, yeah. You haven't talked to Harry and I for weeks. And when I try to reach out after all the shit that happens with my dad, you just continue to ignore me. I knew I wasn't gonna get through to you through the phone, so that's why I came. Peter, you seriously have to tell me what the hell's going on!" Gwen exclaimed.

"I-I-" Peter stuttered. "Everything's been so fucking overwhelming! And I mean everything!"

"Peter-"

"Uncle Ben. You and Charlie. Your dad and the cops getting on my ass. I'm so sick of all of it!" Peter vented. "I do my best here, and it's like nothing's even mattering! If anything, everything's just getting worse, and I really do not want to be here for it!"

"Peter, slow down! Just start from the beginning."

Peter put his hands on his face. "I-I fucking killed him, okay? You can go ahead and tell me all day that I didn't, but sometimes, I still feel like I could've stopped it. I should've."

"Peter, I understand the guilt. I really do. And you have no idea how sorry I am that you feel that way, but at the end of the day, you can't blame yourself for it. I have to stress this again, but you couldn't have known what was gonna happen."

"Lilly said something similar."

"Who?"

"My therapist. She said something about us making mistakes that we can't always predict," Peter pointed out.

"Exactly. I know you feel responsible, but you always have to remember that in the end, you couldn't have seen what happened coming. And just know nobody blames you for it," Gwen assured.

"Well, yeah, but I just feel like deep down, I'm never gonna be able to escape the mindset that I did it. Like, I don't think you realize how much the thought fucking horrifies me that I'll never escape this."

"I can imagine. And I know it's much easier said than done, but you can't keep worrying about it. Better yet, you can't let it haunt you more than it needs to. Has going out as Spider-Man been helping?"

Peter shrugged. "Honestly, I don't know. Sometimes, I wonder if it's just making it worse."

"Well, I don't think that's true."

"It's not like you can read my freakin' mind. You probably didn't sense how much it annoyed me to see you with Charlie."

Gwen looked taken aback. "Whoa, whoa, hold up a second. How was I supposed to-"

"You made him such a big deal all the goddamn time! Hey guys, here's Charlie! He's like the best guy ever! Oh, did I mention he's really into chemistry? Hey, I'm gonna act like he's the most important dude in the whole world? I'm just gonna take him to the Sadie Hawkins Dance because nothing else is important!" Peter ranted.

"Come on, Peter. That's not fair."

"Isn't it, though?"

"No! Peter, Charlie's just a friend! Granted, he's been acting a bit creepy recently, but he's nothing more than a friend! I don't understand why you'd have any sort of problem with him!"

"I have a problem with him 'cause it's like nothing else matters when he's around! I don't matter to you, maybe Harry doesn't either-"

"Peter, that is not true in the slightest. You and Harry are my best friends!" Gwen defended. "Just because I get a new friend in my life doesn't make you guys any less close. You know I love you, Pete."

Peter scoffed. "I never could've guessed."

"You want me to say it again?! I love you, Peter."

Peter felt his heart go up a little. "I-I love you too."

"I know. But this whole jealousy of Charlie? It really doesn't need to be a thing, Peter."

"Well, maybe I feel that way 'cause… because…"

"Because why?" Gwen asked.

"It-it's really only because of what I just told you. That's really it," Peter lied.

"Okay. Just know there's nothing big happening with him and I."

"Cool."

"Whether or not you're gonna continue giving me that attitude, we seriously have to address what's been going on with you and the cops," Gwen affirmed. "You owe me that."

Peter waved a hand dismissively. "What else is there to address? You know the whole story."

"Do I though?"

"I mean, kinda."

"I've told you this before, Peter. I know my dad's a hardass, and I'm sorry about that. But the best advice I can keep giving you is to just keep doing what you're doing. Keep saving people, and keep taking out the bad guys. I promise he's gonna come around."

"Yeah, I've been doing that, but nothing's changed. And especially after what happened with those cops, nothing's gonna change for a while."

"You were drugged, weren't you?" Gwen asked.

"You're serious? Of course I was! Despite what your dad thinks of me, I'd never go out of my way to hurt him or the other cops!" Peter answered.

"Peter, I know! And I'm sorry that happened to you. I know the arrest warrant is a massive pain in the ass right now, but we'll figure it out."

"I hope to God you're right. I really don't need the NYPD on my ass right now."

"Especially after that insane fight with that Rhino. How are you feeling?"

Peter pointed at the bruises on his face. "Well, it's not exactly pleasant. I think a few ribs may have been cracked."

"My God, Peter."

"Luckily, my healing factor's already helping, but it still stings."

"Pete, have you ever thought about taking even a small break from all this? I know you're doing good, but-"

"No," Peter answered. "Have I been tempted? Yes, but I can't just sit at home in good conscience thinking that something could be happening out there. It's my responsibility."

"I understand. But don't forget what your therapist told you. Sometimes we make mistakes that we can't always predict. I'm willing to bet my life savings that she also said something about you learning from those mistakes and doing better."

"She did."

Gwen smiled. "Shocker."

"I've had enough of those in my life," Peter chuckled.

"True."

"Listen, I'm really sorry about ignoring you and Harry for the past few weeks. Like extremely sorry," Peter apologized.

"You're all good, Peter," Gwen said. "I'm just glad we're talking again. Really."

"Maybe I just felt like I didn't deserve you and Harry."

"Peter, that's not true in the slightest. Always remember, Harry and I will be there for you no matter what."

"And I'll always be there for you guys."

Gwen held out her arms for a hug, and Peter went in, only to pull back out of pain for his ribs.

"Sorry," Gwen apologized.

"No, you're all good. Are you hungry, by the way?"

"A bit, why?"

"You want to stay for dinner with May and I?" Peter asked.

"Sure, thanks!"

Harry waited by Peter's locker as he looked through his phone.

"Harry!"

Harry turned to see Peter walking over. Peter's injuries were covered by a massive amount of concealer.

"Got your text. It was the first time in centuries you talked to me, so I knew something was up," Harry chuckled.

"Hey, man. I wanted to tell you this in person. I'm really sorry about ignoring you and Gwen the past few weeks. There was a lot going on in my life, specifically stuff regarding Uncle Ben and my whole jealousy over Charlie. It was really wrong of me to shut you guys out, so I'm sorry," Peter apologized.

"Hey, bro. You're all good. Just know that next time, you can just come talk to me and Gwen. I'm sorry you were feeling terrible though."

"Thanks. The last few weeks were just so rough. Hopefully, things'll get better."

Harry pat Peter's shoulder. "I know it's been hard since your uncle, but you've grown a lot since then. I know he's proud."

"Thanks a lot, man."

"And as for Charlie-"

"Oh, no worries. I talked that over with Gwen. She assured me there's nothing going on between them."

Harry's eyes widened. "Wait, you told her how you felt?"

"Oh, God no! I told her about my jealousy, and she reassured me. If anything, she said he was getting kind of creepy."

"Dude, based on what you're telling me, she probably figured it out."

"Hell no she hasn't. Though she did tell me she loved me. I said the same back."

Harry groaned. "Peter, she definitely meant that as a friend. Also, you verbatim told her that you were jealous of her and Charlie. She's a smart girl, there's no way she hasn't put it together by now!"

Peter slapped his eyes. "Shit!"

"Yeah. Just pray she hasn't figured out, man."

"Dude, if she knows, and she didn't make a move on me yesterday-"

"Don't overthink it. You're gonna drive yourself crazy."

"I'm such a genius. I just go and-" Peter started.

"Don't overthink it! Do that again and I'll disembowel you," Harry threatened.

Tombstone was sitting at his desk, working on paperwork. His phone started ringing, and he saw that it was an unknown number. Confused, he picked up.

"Hello?" Tombstone said.

"Hi, is this Lonnie L. Lincoln?"

"Yes, who is this?"

"My name is Carmilla Black. And I want to know why you bailed out my ex- husband MacDonald Gargan," Carmilla demanded through the phone.

Tombstone's eyes widened in shock. "Ma'am, if I may ask, who informed you of this?"

"It was an anonymous caller."

"You didn't think to ask who it was?"

"Don't try and change the subject. Give me answers now or I'm calling the cops. I don't care about how famous you are. Explain to me now. Why did you bail out Mac? And why didn't I ever hear about it?" Carmilla questioned.

"If you insist. After witnessing everything regarding the Scorpion, I felt bad. I did some research on Mac, and I knew he was just a good soul who wanted to help out the military. He probably felt like it was the least he could now that he wasn't in service anymore. I felt like society was being unfair to him, so I took him in. I know some of the cops quite well, so I had them keep it on the down-low to avoid any negative attention getting out. I did my best to rehabilitate him, specifically through volunteer opportunities and training exercises. However, that wasn't working, so he eventually broke out and stole the Scorpion armor. That was when he poisoned Spider-Man, and since then, he's been on the loose," Tombstone lied.

"So you tried to help, but instead, you just ended up fucking it all up," Carmilla angrilly expressed.

"I did my best. I'm sorry if it wasn't enough, but I had nothing but the best of intentions. I saw a lot of the good still left in Mac, and I still believe there is some. I pray for you that he's found so he can truly get the proper help he deserves."

"I don't give a shit what happens to him anymore."

"Are you sure about that?"

"Absolutely. A while back, Justin Hammer gave me a lot of money to compensate me for what happened, and since then, I've been trying to move on with my life. God, maybe he knows something too!" Carmilla exclaimed.

"I guarantee you he doesn't. Unfortunately, all you can do is just continue to move on and hope for the best for Mac," Tombstone advised. "Hell, it's the best you can do now."

"I-I guess you're right. Sorry if I got a bit too aggressive, but I still feel like I had a right to know all of this."

"You're fine. I'm just glad you got closure."

"Kind of."

"How'd you get my number though?" Tombstone asked.

"When you're desperate like me, the deepest parts of the internet are your best friend," Carmilla explained.

"Okay. Well, good luck with everything, Carmilla."

"Thank you."

Tombstone hung up and sat back as he contemplated the situation.

Peter walked through the Daily Bugle, meeting Betty and Ned at the latter's desk. A bag of sandwiches was on it.

"Hey, guys!" Peter greeted.

"S'up, Pete? Here's your tuna salad sandwich as you recommended," Ned greeted back as he handed Peter a sandwich.

"Thanks! How much do I owe you?" Peter asked.

"Oh, don't worry about it," Ned insisted.

Peter took a bite of his sandwich. "You sure?"

"Don't sweat it, Pete," Betty assured. "Especially after what's about to happen, a free sandwich would be great for you."

Peter looked confused. "What do you-"

"That Spider and Rhino rampaging in my city! Absolutely and horrifically unacceptable!" Jameson yelled as he walked to his office.

Robbie followed Jameson, but stopped quickly in front of Peter, Betty, and Ned.

"I should probably fill you guys in quickly. Thank God Peter wasn't there at that massive fight, but some civilians somehow managed to get pictures of that battle between Spider-Man and the Rhino. You can only imagine the headline Jameson's gonna use," Robbie explained.

Peter scoffed. "Of course. You called it, Betty."

Betty nodded. "Yep. Sorry, bud."

"I also have a BLT if you want it," Ned offered.

"I'll probably take you up on that," Peter answered. "God, this sucks."

In the NYPD station, DeWolff walked over to George Stacy's desk with a cup of coffee.

"Here you go, captain," DeWolff said as she handed the coffee to George.

"Thank you, Jean. And remember, call me George," the captain responded.

DeWolff nodded. "Right."

"Gotta say. It's been one hell of a week. That Rhino situation put all our other supervillain incidents to shame."

"True."

"And what happened with Spider-Man wasn't exactly pleasant either. Son of a bitch really felt the nerve to attack our boys in blue like that. He's gotta remember who's the authority around here," George declared.

"Captain, with all due respect, Norman Osborn came out and said that Spider-Man was drugged," DeWolff pointed out. "It's not like he would just intentionally attack us like that."

"Oh, give me a break, Jean. You were there, and you remember how ferocious he was being. The bruises on my chest haven't fully healed yet, and I doubt your back and legs are doing alright."

"I mean, it hurts, but it's been getting better. And why would Norman lie?"

"Look, my kid's really close friends with Osborn's kid. But truth be told, Norman always seemed pretty sleazy to me. I had Thanksgiving dinner with his family and even then, he kind of gave a weird vibe," George admitted.

"And it's fine if you think that, but that doesn't change the fact that Spider-Man's really tried to do good. And I'm not afraid to admit that. Look what he did with the Rhino situation," DeWolff defended.

"I'm not saying he wasn't a help, but-"

"He literally saved some of our officers from being crushed to death!"

"Listen, Jean. I know you've always been one of the more optimistic officers regarding Spider-Man, but that doesn't change how reckless he can be. The collateral damage from those fights with Scorpion and Shocker? That odd incident with those assassins back in February? Hell, I heard he literally disrespected some of our cops one night. Something about him doing 90% of our job for us?"

"I'm not saying that he hasn't made mistakes, but haven't we all? Especially us cops!" DeWolff passionately argued.

"Of course we've made mistakes. I know we're not perfect, but in the end, we stand for law and order. What does this Spider guy stand for other than anarchy?" George replied.

DeWolff briefly looked behind her to see Yuri walking by. "Oh, Lieutenant Yuri! Get in here, please!"

Yuri complied. "What's up?"

"Spider-Man. What are your thoughts on him?" DeWolff asked.

"I mean, I liked him. But not gonna lie, that whole assault on the cops really did not help. I mean, look at my black eye," Yuri answered, pointing at her eye. "If I recall correctly, he broke a few bones of three of our officers."

"My God, he was drugged!" DeWolff insisted.

"Don't know if I believe that or not. Until I get proof, don't expect me to be the biggest fan of him. That doesn't mean I hate him either," Yuri said as she walked out of the office.

Sighing, DeWolff left and went back to her desk.

"So, he never showed up," Fisk said as he and Norman faced Aleksei in the secret Russian mafia laboratory base.

"No! I drew the Spider out like you said, and Scorpion never showed up. He probably knew it was a trap," Aleksei explained.

"He definitely did. It's just a further sign that we need to throw Tombstone out of the equation," Norman declared. "He's only gonna make things more complicated. If anything, he's probably making that Scorpion less of an idiot."

"Well, I already made things complicated for Mr. Lincoln when I contacted Carmilla. Knowing him well, he probably tried to explain the whole thing to her and bullshit his way out of the ordeal. There's something that Mr. Sytsevich here can achieve that'll not only take Scorpion out, but also seriously complicate things for Tombstone."

"And what's that?" Norman asked.

"Aleksei-" Fisk started.

"It's the Rhino," Aleksei corrected.

"If you insist. Rhino, you'll lure out Scorpion and most likely Spider-Man. This time, you're gonna kidnap the Scorpion's wife. I'll have my men send her address, and once you have her, make sure all hellfire rains loose."

Disclaimer: Spider-Man and any other Marvel characters are created and owned by Stan Lee and Marvel Comics. I do not have any ownership over them.

I realized that a little while ago, I accidentally replaced my chapter 4 by chapter 5? If you noticed something odd, I strongly implore you to go check that out and read. Anyway, back with the newest entry. Hopefully at some point, I can start bringing the chapters to you guys on Sundays like I used to. Hope your week went well! I also got all those damn Riddler trophies in Batman: Arkham Asylum, and I've been seeking to solve all the riddles in Arkham City, though 440 is just ridiculous.

Summer's legit almost over for me before I head off to my junior year in college, and it's crazy. It's always amazed me how fast time goes by with life, and this summer was no exception. It was definitely filled with a lot of memories and fun, and I hope next summer replicates that. I've been saying goodbye to a few of my friends as they head off to leave, and it's only a see you later in the end. I'm still seeing some other friends soon, and I'm leaving shortly after. Man, let's just hope for a vaccine soon.

A few more chapters until the finale of Vol 1, and as always, favs, follows, and reviews are always appreciated! Also, I gotta say, I'm really flattered at the amount of PeterXGwen shippers!

Rollerparty - Lol you're all good! Thank you! I really did my best with him! And i really appreciate how much you love my depiction of Jameson! I did end up giving more of him here!

Luis - Haha you'll see what happens with them!

Fate-Be Changed - Lol Scorpion still hates Spidey here. How their conflict will turn out by the end of this volume hopefully won't disappoint!

Marvel Nerd - For now, I'd definitely say this is his main suit!

Geek4Life - Haha both questions were answered here!

SpideyXBC - For sure! You'll have to keep reading to see when and how…

Teller-Story - Not sure I'll end up giving him a tattoo, but it's a cool idea for sure!

Guest - Lol you saw how that turned out!

Chamba5567 - You'll see what happens!

Valt - I definitely have plans for Peter and Gwen, but you'll see how that turns out!

-redbird12