SPIDER-MAN: THE GREAT RESPONSIBILITY (CHAPTER 7)
3:45 pm Chameleon's hideout…
Coming back from Midtown High, Chameleon took off his teacher disguise satisfied with the discovery he had made. The satisfaction came to an end when he saw Abner Jenkins out of his suit and looking distressed with his flight pack on the coffee table.
"What's going on?" Chameleon asked. "I have some bad news regarding the vibranium…" Beetle replied. "Take that thing out of sight…" Chameleon demanded. The two then made their way down the staircase to the basement where Chameleon plans things out.
"The vibranium is damaged…" Beetle pointed out as he showed the dent made on his modified flight pack. Chameleon looked at the flight pack in surprise and in awe at what could possibly damage vibranium despite its properties. "Call everyone back, this is important…" Chameleon instructed.
Later, everyone on Chameleon's team was instructed back into the house to discuss the arising problem. "Those guys shut down my gauntlets!" Herman complained as he threw his busted vibranium gauntlets to the floor. "That's because you skills cannot comprehend the application of vibranium…" Cyclone said. "Shut up…" Herman said to his ally.
"Settle down, my friends. Everything has a weakness…" Chameleon assured. "Well, whaddya know our takeover item has a weakness now…" Kangaroo grumbled, "I'm really starting to regret being on this team." "You'll regret that decision…" Chameleon threatened as he took out his plasma knife.
"What's wrong? Struck a nerve?" Kangaroo replied in defiance. In anger, Chameleon grabbed Kangaroo by the throat. Before Chameleon proceeded any further, he was interrupted by a knock on the glass door. The crew looked up to see Edward in his insulated costume standing there holding one of the masked men causing them trouble.
Chameleon let Kangaroo go and walked over to let him in. "Well, if it isn't our late old mate, Edward Lavell, the Eel." Kangaroo said rubbing his throat. "I hate jokes like that…" Edward replied dragging his victim with him. "Edward, my friend. What is it you have?" Chameleon asked. "An answer to your problem…" Edward answered as he threw the man tied down.
"Is he still alive?" Chameleon asked as he slowly took off the demonic mask off the man to reveal an Asian man's face. "Dead? No. Unconscious? Yes." Edward answered in a straight manner. Chameleon slowly examined the man's face before asking, "What kind of men did Hammerhead send in?"
"They belong to a secret associate of his…" Edward answered again as he stood there. "Wake him up…" Chameleon instructed as Edward came forward to do an electro-cardio shock on him. Pressing his two hands against the man's heart, Edward revived the man with jolts of electricity. The man gasped before Chameleon grabbed him by the collar and threw him against the wall.
"Tell me, who are you?" Chameleon demanded. The man said nothing as he continued breathing heavily. Chameleon then motioned Herman to knock some sense into the man. Herman punched the man right across the face with a miniature gauntlet that belonged to Kangaroo.
The man groaned in pain before he actually started talking. "The master controls all…Those who oppose him will submit to his will." The man said. "Who is the master?" Chameleon questioned. The man looked up at Chameleon before reaching out with his hand and touching him on the shoulder.
Chameleon then felt a strange energy being transferred into him and the man's eyes glowed in an attempt to hypnotise him. In retaliation, Chameleon snapped out by slashing his plasma knife across the man's neck ending his life. Breathing heavily from the escape of the hypnosis, Chameleon stood there feeling a little spooked.
"Sir, are you alright?" Herman asked. Chameleon blinked twice before he said a word, "I am fine. Just a little disturbed, whatever this man is… It's a mystery that we have to unfold." Picking up the corpse of the dead man, Chameleon also made his authority known to his peers. "My friends, I'm afraid we can never meet together again at this house…" Chameleon informed.
"What's the problem?" Beetle questioned. "The decision is strategic. We need to keep our resources safer. The better we split things, the better chance we have more surprises. Now leave, all of you…" Chameleon insisted, "Carry on with work just as usual." The others looked at each other with Kangaroo being the most expressive by giving a subtle scowl.
4:45 pm Parker residence…
"Oscorp is one of the leading corporations creating pathways for a more accessible future. Using people from all kinds of backgrounds, we're helping to create and innovate discoveries for the world to see. The Nexus prototype suit is one of the latest creations the company is proud to announce as a future product. Our material scientists worked efficiently to find the essential materials needed in order to craft a suit that can be customised by choice to work in different environments.
This product will be tested in fields of economic activities such as agriculture or mining. It will also be used as part of Oscorp's mission to improve the environment. We look forward to updating the public more on this suit's development."
Peter finished watching the video on his phone as his research into finding out how defeating his enemies can be done. As he scrolled down the Oscorp mobile site, he thought about Chameleon's words on not interfering with his business. Peter struggled on whether caring about the people close to him or the general public was more important. It was a duty that had to be fulfilled on both sides and the difficulty to face the enemy at either side gave him too much to pause.
"And what about the other things, Spider-Man?" Peter asked himself, "What about just being Peter Parker?" Peter buried his head on the pillow of his bed before turning his head to the photo of him, Uncle Ben and Aunt May. "I really need the sage advice now…" Peter said referring to how much he learnt from his uncle.
Peter felt worn out and decided he wanted a few minutes where he would just sleep and drift away in hopes his problems would ease off. His eyes drooped as he fell into slumber before waking up some time later to what appears to be midnight. "Wait, what the?" Peter said looking up around his room to comprehend how late it was.
Everything in his room was there as normal but Peter wondered why so much time has passed as he missed dinner and so. That was until, he heard a muffled voice that seemed to be crying for help. Peter wondered why his senses were not ticked off as he tip-toed down the staircase and followed the sound to the dining room.
In the visible dark, Peter followed the sound and found Aunt May tied to a chair gagged looking terrified by whoever did this. "Aunt May?!" Peter gasped before a force behind him grabbed him. A nightmarish grey Shocker with red glowing eyes forced him onto a chair in front of Aunt May.
"I've won, Peter…" A familiar voice started talking. Suddenly a decapitated head of Hammerhead was thrown onto the table shocking Peter. Chameleon slowly strolled out of the shadows behind Aunt May's chair and smiled. "You're the only one I have to deal with left…" Chameleon said, "And I want to cherish every moment…"
Chameleon slowly drew out a Stanley knife and placed it against Aunt May's neck. "How did you…" Peter tried to say. "I calculated my plans and I warned you, Peter. Your own need to stick your nose in other people's businesses have helped me a lot." Chameleon explained. "I haven't even…" Peter tried to say again.
"Shhh…." Chameleon said placing a finger on Peter's lip, "I'm going to ask a couple of other guests to sit down on this table." Chameleon snapped his fingers with a nightmarish looking Beetle leading Ned and Phillip to the next pair of chairs. Both of whom look beaten pretty bad and both being forced to sit down with gags in their mouth.
"People close to you and people working with you. The ways in which you can get hurt are the most intriguing part of all of this…." Chameleon said, "I wonder what else…" "Stop!" Peter cried out before the Shocker behind him knocked the back of his head with a knuckle punch.
"Hammerhead may be my goal but you were the worst nuisance I had to deal with…" Chameleon said, "Last person…" To Peter's horror, it was Gwen. Kangaroo who looked more horrific than ever dragged her and sat her down with her eyes staring into Peter's as if it was trying to say, "Why didn't you tell me?"
"In a moment of silence, I'd give you the chance to reflect on your life." Chameleon said, "May you find peace from your suffering." In an instinct, Peter charged up and angrily ran across the table to tackle Chameleon on the ground. However the table collapsed sending him down a dark whirlpool of despair.
In the whirlpool, Peter relieved the moment he was taken down by the collective unit of Chameleon's henchmen starting with Cyclone, Beetle, Eel, Kangaroo and finally Shocker. Together the beatdown seemed to smother Peter until the photonegative effects around him started to die down and bring Peter back to the real world.
It was only a dream but a nightmare like nothing he imagined. The nightmare felt like a culmination of his worst fears as of now which made Peter think it was a possible future. "Peter, dinner's ready!" Aunt May's voice cried out as Peter saw that the time was nearly 5:00 pm.
During dinner time, Aunt May had made two plates of Pad Thai for the two of them to eat with Aunt May savouring the taste of her cooking. "Peter, don't play around with your food…" Aunt May said as she noticed her nephew not looking too enthusiastic.
Peter gave the food a little taste before he answered, "It's actually quite nice… The blend of sweet and sour." "Well, please show it by eating it. I made careful notes on how to replicate the dish." May requested, "Is something else troubling you?"
Peter did not say a word before he answered, "Aunt May… Have you ever felt like you are in danger as of late?" May looked at Peter suspiciously before she could answer, "No, not really. For some reason, the F.E.A.S.T. centre feels like a safe haven right now. Amidst all the chaos that is happening elsewhere, I couldn't have felt much more safer."
Peter looked back at May before saying a thing, "I hope it stays that way…" May placed her fork and knife down and asked Peter, "Has Ben been on your mind lately?" "Uh no…. I mean, Aunt May… You're really taking care of the house and me like crazy. I just want to make sure you're okay from now on…" Peter said.
"Well…" May said chewing a prawn, "I understand. We have a lot of bad people walking around the streets but I'm sure that Spider-Man, whoever he is can put all of them away with the power that he has." May then finished her food, "You do the washing this time and take out the trash…"
Peter sat there thinking before he checked his phone and found that Ned had sent forward a text saying, 'Upgrades at my house. Free of charge. ?'
6:05 pm Leeds residence…
Peter swung by Ned's house that evening to find out what was going on. He quickly took off his homemade Spider-Man suit and packed it in his backpack. Knocking on the door, Peter was greeted by a 9 year old little girl at the door.
"You're my brother's best friend right?" The little girl asked. "Yeah, I'm your brother's best friend. Peter Parker." Peter answered. "Hey Mandy, I have the door…" Ned called out as he walked over while his sister ran back. "Oh hey Peter…" Ned said, "What's up?"
"Yeah, heard you have some things for me…" Peter said holding up his phone with the message on it. "Oh yes… Right this way.." Ned laughed before leading Peter to the backyard basement. "Since you left your suit at my house, I helped fix it up a little and I uh… Added some modifications. Which I'm sure you'll appreciate…" Ned explained.
"I will, just don't mess up the suit. Me and Phil spent so many days to get it right…" Peter warned. Ned then lifted up the couch cousin and pulled the suit. The suit was laid on the ping pong table where Peter noticed that the tears have been fixed.
"Wow, it's a little dusty but otherwise, it actually looks good…" Peter commented, "Ned, how did you…" "Well, my mum taught me how to do a little bit of sewing so…" Ned explained, "Why don't you put it on?" Peter then slipped into the suit and wondered what was changed.
"So what's new?" Peter asked. "Well you see… Your eye lens aren't just zoom ins now. I've put in some extra details like…" Ned then turned off the basement lights as Peter now saw everything in night vision. "Wow…" Peter said. "You switch the vision to flashlight mode if you don't like seeing things in green by closing your eye lenses for ten seconds…" Ned further explained.
Peter tried it out and could now see things illuminated through normal light. "Must have taken quite a while to work it out…" Peter said. "Actually I just dismantled an old flashlight and put it in there…" Ned said. "Is that it?" Peter asked.
"Of course not…" Ned said, "Check out the belt I added…" Peter then lifted his suit waistband a little and noticed a sturdy belt had been added underneath with some pockets on it. "I thought you can store more webs with it." Ned explained, "How do you make them?"
"Well, I actually produce it naturally… " Peter explained as he rolled up his left sleeve and took off his web shooter which allowed strings of webbing to be let loose on the floor. He quickly put the web shooter back on and pulled back his sleeve. "OK, I guess I hope having a digital camera stored in the buckle was worth it." Ned said. Peter then opened the buckle and found a small digital camera in it. "I put it there so Spider-Man can take pictures and in case the cops come, you can say, "I didn't do it, look!"
"Fine, you know what? I'll keep it." Peter said. After the rundown of the suit modifications, Ned asked Peter about Phillip. "He's off duty for now. The thing is… The Chameleon. He's close." Peter said. "How close?" Ned asked. "About the inch of my soul, he knows who I am…" Peter said. "What?" Ned whispered.
"I know… I have to play it cool right now." Peter said, "If I don't, he'll go after people like you…" Ned felt the blood in him drain after hearing those words. "Ned, I swear I like the suit and all but I don't know what to do exactly…" Peter confessed.
Suddenly Peter's Spidey-sense started to go off like crazy which Peter thought meant danger was nearby. "Hey dude, why are you looking around all of a sudden?" Ned asked. "I don't know, something's wrong…" Peter replied.
The Spidey-sense was acting stranger than usual as if it was trying to direct Peter elsewhere. "I gotta go, Ned." Peter said before he rushed out of the door leaving behind his backpack with his new suit on. As Peter swung away, Ned was left with the backpack to which he opened up and found the old homemade suit inside.
6:35 pm local bar around Forest Hills…
Peter found a building in what looked to be a bar only that it was not fancy looking anymore. The only thing that he heard was fancy were the sounds of cheering and laughter. "Why did my Spidey-sense stop as soon as I got here?" Peter asked himself.
"Peter, are you okay?" Ned asked in the earpiece communicator on Peter's ear. "Ned? Yeah, I'm okay… I totally forgot that I had the earpiece thingy on me." Peter said. "Well cool… You know I actually found your old suit in your backpack and honestly I think this thing looks really cool." Ned commented.
"Ned…" Peter warned. "Don't worry, I'm just wearing the mask. It's really cool wearing this to be honest…" Ned added. "Ned, don't break it all right. Just because it's not my default suit anymore does not mean I don't need it. It's a backup one now." Peter replied. "Hey, you can trust me. I just want to feel what it's like…" Ned said, "So what are you doing now?"
"Well I'm staring at bar right now… It must be important." Peter replied. "What's the place called?" Ned asked. "I don't see a name for it." Peter answered. "Oh, are you at the Bar with No Name?" Ned asked. "What?" Peter asked back. "It's a pretty infamous place. It's a bad guy hideout like where regular non super-powered people like to go to." Ned answered, "So, how come you're all the way at Manhattan?"
"What are you talking about, Ned? I'm still in Queens." Peter said. "You said you were at the Bar with No Name. I'm pretty sure that place is at Manhattan…" Ned said. "Oh my god, Ned. You got it all mixed in your head. You know what? I'm going in…" Peter said turning off his earpiece.
Inside the bar, Kangaroo alongside Eel and some other men were killing time by drinking and listening to country music. Eel was in his suit while Kangaroo had his vibranium-laced boots on him while wearing his red suit but with no mask on.
"I'm gonna give this day a big toast." Kangaroo said as he chugged a bottle of old whiskey down his throat. The men cheered him on with Eel standing there with his arms crossed. As Kangaroo finished drinking he let go of his bottle as it shattered to pieces.
"One of these days, I get to open up a place like this once I kick Chameleon on his nose-less face and take a bunch of his money…" Kangaroo said. "Don't forget why we are here…" Eel reminded. "Oh shut it, Lavell. Take off that mask and drink along. We're all mates here." Kangaroo laughed.
"If the police hear us, this place will be a bust. We gotta secure stockpiles of vibranium at certain places and wait for a word from the boss." Eel said again. "Well no use crying over spilt whiskey…" Kangaroo carelessly said.
After a few moments of music and lights, the electricity in the place shut down leaving everyone in a dark place. "Hey, what happened?" One of the men cried out. "Lavell, help with me this." Kangaroo ordered as he and Eel made their way to the downstairs basement.
As the rest of the men waited in silence in the dark, they were suddenly taken out by Peter in the dark. The power was restored with Kangaroo and Eel discovering Peter waiting there for them. "I gotta hand it to the ventilation systems. Without them, you just don't get in the way you do…" Peter said.
"Oh bugger off and stay down…" Kangaroo said as he prepared to launch a vibro-shock air blast at Peter. As the shot fired and missed, the blast knocked down a wall with a window. "Come on Frank, you know you're just copying from another person…" Peter said.
"Herman is a dumbass. He doesn't know what he wants in life…" Kangaroo answered as he prepared to fire another blast. "How about you try close combat for a change?" Peter asked as he dodged the other blast. "Alright then…" Kangaroo said as he charged forward after smashing his gauntlets together.
Peter shot a direct web at Kangaroo's face which resulted in him falling over. "I don't think that's your speciality either…" Peter said as he tried to face Eel who was standing there. "I learnt boxing when I was a kid…" Kangaroo said attempting to save face as he tried removing the webbing.
"Also where's your mask?" Peter said as he kept his attention on Eel. Kangaroo got up and charged at Peter who missed and went straight for Eel. Eel quickly zapped his ally and made him drop to the ground. "Pretty silly he wanted to remove the mask right? Just so he could talk more." Eel said to Peter.
"Yeah and what was your name again?" Peter asked. "Maybe you can just call me, 'The Eel'. It's the only name I would share with you." Eel answered. "OK, then I am Spider-Man. Nice to know I have someone who sort of looks like me…" Peter replied.
Eel responded by sending jolts of electricity in Peter's direction to which Peter moved away from. "Stay there for your own good!" Eel demanded. "Honestly, what is your suit? Can you explain it?" Peter asked.
"I got it from a friend of mine when he retired. He said I'm worthy enough." Eel said as he continued shooting electricity from his hands. "Is that friend who I think it is?" Peter asked as he struggled to understand how to take out Eel.
Eel then stopped responding as he continued sending out jolts of electricity. With no other choice, Peter attempted to shoot out an electrical web at Eel to see if the effects of the suit can be negated. However, this turned out to be a bad choice as it gave Eel an opening to knock out Peter.
Peter was hit hard which left him on the floor in an instant. His assailant walked over to him as he tried to stand up. "Toasted like fried spider. Man, I miss going back to Cambodia." Eel said as he tried to pick up Peter by the head. Without warning, Peter got back up on his feet with his suit changing to a photonegative black and white colour.
Eel was startled and backed away as Peter began walking towards him. "What's wrong? You're afraid of spiders?" Peter asked in a distorted voice. As Eel backed away, Kangaroo got back up with a few words, "Lavell, you son of a bitch. Don't you dare walk away…"
In an instance, Eel shot out electricity from both his hands hitting both Kangaroo and Peter. Kangaroo once again found himself on the floor while Peter only flinched a little. Peter shot out a couple of webs at Eel who broke them with the electricity around his suit.
Kangaroo used the last of his strength with his boots to launch himself at Peter knocking him down. Peter quickly recovered and grabbed his boots. The vibranium was starting to dissociate with Kangaroo screaming in pain as felt like his legs were getting ripped apart.
Eel escaped out of the broken wall while Peter continued to attack Kangaroo. Kangaroo tried to punch Peter with his gauntlets only for Peter to absorb the blasts with his hand and shatter the gauntlets to pieces leaving the talkative criminal defenceless.
Without any form of control, Peter mercilessly started beating on his victim as he punched him repeatedly on the face. Before the final blows can be delivered, a warning shot fired in the air with Peter's attention turning to the cops who have entered the bar and surrounded him.
"Drop him, Spider-Man!" Captain Stacy yelled walking forward in front of his cops. Peter looked at the beaten Kangaroo and looked back at the police. "I won't have a choice if you continue with this…" Captain Stacy warned as he drew out his gun.
With the ounce of morality left inside of him, Peter dropped Kangaroo to the floor and quickly left the building through the ventilation system he had entered through. "Captain, you let him go!" An officer said. Captain Stacy said nothing as he looked at the ventilation system and thought that something strange was going on with Spider-Man.
"Secure Frank Oliver…" Captain Stacy ordered, "He's not escaping this time. Not in this condition." The police then dragged the beaten and crippled Kangaroo with them as Captain Stacy took a moment of silence to reflect on the first time he met Spider-Man when he caught Kangaroo to how it is now.
He had noticed how the neighbourhood has changed since the arrival of the demonic masked men and now that Spider-Man seems to have been possessed by them, it feels like that perhaps Hammerhead or someone else has contacted something and that the gang war between Hammerhead and Chameleon is starting to feel secondary.
8:35 pm Chameleon's hideout…
Chameleon sat inside his basement and worked on creating a disguise based on the man Edward Lavell had captured today. As he finished stitching the face, he then lifted up the black and white demon mask the man wore and examined it. Transfixed by its gaze, Chameleon's eyes felt hypnotised by the power that stemmed from it.
TO BE CONTINUED…