A red and blue blur jettisoned out of peter parker's apartment building , so fast that no one even noticed it.
Spider-Man was swinging and zipping down the street at full speed , faster than any car , heading right towards the scorching fires of flaming wrecks and the loud booms of the district turned warzone by the green goblin's pumpkin bombs.
The toughts in his head frantic and panicked ' No, no,no, no. Who is this now ? Norman couldn't possibly be back in the suit . The nanites in his system wouldn't allow that ."
His toughts were interrupted by the view of a pumpkin bomb heading straight for a group of civilians hiding behind an upturned taxi cab.
Spider-man quickly snatched the bomb mid air and sent it towards the cackling maniac who just used another bomb to have them explode at a safe distance.
" hello bugboy " the green goblin gretted spider-man as the hero stopped on a nearby rooftop " so nice of you to join me . "
"What's up , Gobby ? Did you start early on your summerween preparations; because it's awfully soon for you to dressup like a clown." Peter responds still trying to discern who coulď possibly be under the mask .
" oh cute ! The pot calling the kettle black! But this mask is a lot more fitting " the goblin answered , his mocking tone turning more normal and less distorted as he took off the latex face revealing none other than norman osborn himself . " don't you think so too , Peter ? "
An expression of utter shock was under our hero's mask as he was filled with absolute dread and terror.
" ... how ? You.. " he shakily let out as his opponent grinned maliciously .
" well, lets just say a little red bird chirped in my ear . I should have realized it sooner . After all, Gwen was so much fun that you being who you are could be the only reason I didn't have another go ."
The monster barely dodged a strand of webbing heading straight for his neck as he put his mask back on and charged the furious red and blue hero on his jet glider.
Spider-man easily dodged the attack with his superior reflexes and flexibility , not even talking about his spider-sense, as he waited for a follow up that never came as the goblin had inexplicably taken off , heading north .
Quickly and silently , spider-man chased after him.
' you are not hurting anyone I care about anymore, Norman ' he tought darkly following the fleeing villain.
He was a little upset so he didn't notice two things: the first was the fact that the goblin was just focused on fleeing and avoiding the hero , without attacking anyone.
The second one was that they were headed right towards Parker Industries .
If Mary jane watson had a
spider-sense , it would be vibrating consistently right now .
But what she had was her guts , and the call with peter dying like that smelled pretty bad to her .
So she did what she considered to be the better choice , bracing for the worst .
" Rise follow me, please " she said heading back in the cargo bay .
The girl got to her feet with a worried but determined look on her face .
Learning of the deal had quite shaken her initially but she had recovered quickly , yet another proof that she was indeed part of the family .
"What's going on ? " rise asked as they got to the back of the plane .
" I'm not sure , the call ended just before i could warn him and I have a bad feeling about this , so we better prepare , we are almost there " the older redhead answered stopping in front of the large metal crate .
They were indeed nearing the southern docks of manhattan island as they spoke .
Mary Jane took the suitcase resting on top of the crate first and handed it to her daughter .
" I know that this is sudden but please put this on, you have to protect your identity" MJ told her urgently
The girl was puzzled before opening the brief and started staring wide eyed , mouth hanging open at the contents .
Then she nodded and moved to another corner to change .
' alright, now for my party dress ' MJ thought activating the console on the side of the crate and starting up the sequence .
The crate opened revealing the iron spider suit and advanced machinery to help her put it on.
As the arms unclothed her efficiently , she didn't notice much of a difference while putting it on, that is until the mask was on.
The mask no longer resembled peter's but was now open on the back of the head , letting her crimson locks fall free, and around the chin and mouth area .
As soon as it was on, the suit activated and interfaced with MJ , the systems filling with energy and the nanites activating the spider legs on her back , in a ready position .
She put The web shotters peter had gifted her with on her wrists to make sure that if anything happened she had something aside of the suit on hand and she also recovered something else from her bag .
Mitsuru had been kind enough to give her two evokers when mj had explained the situation, she had only kindly asked for a direct meeting with tony and one with shield , both things she could ensure in her current position.
As she strapped on one on her right thigh , Rise got back near her , she had also dressed up although she was having some problems.
She was wearing the spider-man suit of ben reilly , the red, black and blue fitting well her smaller, younger frame .
Although she had undone her twin tails, her voluminous hair was still very much in the way of the mask , she couldn't put it on .
"here " she took the mask and created an opening on the back of the head using the miniature laser in her glove.
" thanks , MJ " she said putting on the mask, covering her face entirely but letting the hair out.
The spider-girl and the iron spider looked on each other as an awkward silence filled the air , as Rise also strapped on her evoker.
" This isn't the first time I'm wearing thights , and again, I know it's a little sudden but this is an emergency " mj told the girl with a sheepish smile on her face .
" Yeah , I ... " but Rise stopped herself turning sharply towards the cockpit and as soon as she did both her and MJ noticed a pretty terrifying sight heading right for them.
MJ recognized the figure immediately as it rose from the new york skyline , because it had haunted some of her nightmares at a time.
It was Venom
Only he looked a little different
He had wings .
" oh, Crap"
Peter finally realized where the green goblin had led him only once he was standing on the rooftop of his very own building, he had temporarily lost sight of his foe and he finally realized another thing wrong.
Because the building was empty , on a workday , and at least someone should be here .
" where is everybody ?" He wondered .
Unbeknownst to him , all his employees had received an administrative email that told 'em to stay home for the day , a "spiders" infestation was being taken care of .
The goblins laugh and spider-sense had spider-man turn his head seeing the villain rising on the side
" Well, well looks like you've climbed all the way up the water spou-"
He was interrupted by a straight right hook , shutting him up leaving him dazed .
The hero had sprung at max speed from his position , he was on top of Osborn, wailing on the man as the glider woobled in the air .
"YOU ARE NOT HURTING ANYONE I CARE ABOUT NORMAN!!!!" Peter shouted at the top of his lungs " Not MJ ! " he punched " not aunt may ! " punch" not my friends !"punch.
The final hit did the trick , both figures toppling off the glider falling in the middle of the helipad on the roof .
Peter took the latex mask off the goblin's face , the bloodied , dazed visage of norman osborn greeted him, reflecting in his glass like eye pieces .
The man spit out a teeth and started snickering .
" Wow , Peter " he said mockingly, giving him a bloody grin " So violent ! Shouldn't fatherhood have softened you , just a little bit . This kinda makes me glad I took your daughter away from you ! Some father you would have made , uh"
" the hell are you talking about ? " peter angrily retorted his apparent ranting .
" oh right . " he chuckled, wincing in pain " you don't even remember . And I'm the monstruos parent here ."
Peter's mind was racing trying to make sense of this .
' what is he talking about ? We agreed To not have ki ...'
A sharp pain filled peter parker's brain and memories cascaded in his head .
Memories... of the marriage with the woman he loves more than life itself .
The good moments , the sad ones , the moments where they both weren't sure if it was even worth the pain and fear and stress. And all the moments after, where they just got back to each other no matter what .
And of the daughter they lost.
" what ... ? This...?" His frazzled voice filled the empty rooftop.
That is until some footsteps caught his attention and had him get up from the beaten psycho and turn towards the source of the sound .
It was Uncle Ben .
" oh, kiddo " he said sadly " I'm so sorry "
Peter's breath started hitching, his mind drawing a complete blank.
And it was getting worse .
Because in the blink of an eye , where uncle ben stood with a sad but understanding expression and his kind eyes , the stern but still sad figure of captain george stacy appeared .
"But it's a matter of duty " he said sorrowfully.
And at this point peter's mind wasn't smoothily running as usual , because if it did he would have noticed the hammering of his spider-sense .
Captain Stacy got closer and stopped in front of him and yet again Peter blinked .
And there she was .
Her blonde hair , perfectly framing her face , her black head band peeking out.
Her ice blue eyes gleaming with concern , her clothes the same as the last time he saw her alive .
" Gwen " he breathed out
It wasn't the young girl from another universe that carried his same burden.
It was his Gwen.
She spoke in the voice that sometimes he still heard in his dreams ... and nightmares.
" but this duty has taken so much from you hasn't it . And what did it leave you with . "
And then it was Mary Jane standing in front of him.
Her scarlet hair , her emerald eyes.
She put an hand over his heart, rubbing gently.
" So much pain, so much regret and suffering." She paused , lowering her head on his shoulder " so much guilt"
And then a deep, terrifying voice came out of her .
" So easy to manipulate "
An excruciating , burning pain went right trough peter parker's chest .
"MJ" had it's arm in it now , there wasn't any blood , it looked like it was fishing for something in a pool of water .
He could feel it , moving inside of him , violating him but not phisically , looking for something.
The Figure shifted again , looking very much like Tony Stark now, in the suit he favored around the Registration Act debacle , it's arm still inside of the red and blue hero, weakened and unable to free himself.
"Tony" mocked him " So fixated on responsibility and yet so prone to being duped into the wrong decision. To not even talk about how as soon as that decision has consequence, you just run away "
And now Ezekiel Simms was chiding him.
"that is quite unbecoming of a totem of the spider-god"
And then it smirked , grasping something inside of Peter who felt something shift in him.
" quite careless for being the center of the Web of Reality "
He ripped what he had found out of him without much effort and took a couple of steps away as peter was kneeling on the ground gasping for the air that slowly started refilling his lungs .
He felt completely exausthed.
Finally Ezekiel's form bled away leaving behind...
"Mephisto" Peter croaked out.
The red demon lord was standing in front of the kneeling spider-man , clad in his long cape and holding up something in his right hand, smirking triumphantly.
It looked like a white, blank mask, featureless outside of some thin line representing eyes and mouth.
It also had a number written on top of it .
The number was 0.
" tell me, have you ever wondered... why ? " Mephisto asked, his yellow pupilless eyes showing an hint of amusement " Why amongst all of the peter parkers of the multiverse , you are the one sitting at the center of the web ."
He let the mask fall to the ground, where it now stood , face side up towards the sky .
" it's because you are a Fool, Parker .
In more ways than one ."
Something started coming out of the
Mask , a black goo that reminded Peter of the symbiote , if it wasn't for the rougher instead of shiny looking texture .
The goo grew in a large puddle , into which the mask sank after a while .
And then the puddle took shape becoming more solid and defined turning into a figure clad in a black costume .
It was peter's textile black costume , the white spider emblem reflecting some of the morning light .
The figure was also maskless , and for the unnumerable time Peter Parker found himself looking to his own face .
But this felt different than a clone or an Illusion.
Because the figure's eyes color wasn't Peter's own , no . They were a glowing yellow instead .
Mephisto's voice rang out in the air.
" Octavius ? Begin the process . Osborn? " peter felt his spider-sense warning him of something behind him, but felt way too weak to react and dodge the hit to the head that knocked him on the ground .
As he was losing consciousness , he heard one final thing .
"He is all yours ".
New york in the morning.
Quite the sight . And quite the noise.
between traffic and street vendors and the sound of life , one would be lucky to hear their own thoughts.
But on this particular morning , where the green goblin was sighted heading somewhere at full speed with a red and blue figure hanging from a cable attached to the villain's glider ; where a red and gold clad woman in spandex narrowly escaped , flying out of an advanced plane crashing in the river with a black ink like substance clogging its engines , holding a smaller figure in spandex , followed by a black winged mostrosity; where the Parker industries building lit up with a weird light.
On this particular morning , everybody, no matter where they were or the amount of noise around them , heard a single collective chime coming from every single webware phone on the island of manhattan, at the same time.
And every person that looked or was looking in the screen would be presented with a black, featureless frame.
Until these command lines in red text appeared:
BOOTING............ACTIVATING DEMON SUMMONING PROGRAM.
A.N. : well , here we are .Mephisto's plan is officially in motion and the players are set . This chapter got me really inspired once I reached a certain point and I hope it shows .Let me know how i did in the descriptions of the events and how did you like the changed iron spider suit , i just prefer the mask to be that way.Any feedback is appreciated as usual.See ya next time.RR.