RIP Stan Lee.
Thank you for the worlds you've crafted, heroes you've made, and joy you've spread.
Also, a bit of an author's note regarding the villain, I took inspiration from Kaine and have a few ideas for who this guys will be. Personally, the top contender for this position in my head has a deviation from his original reason for hating Spidey (as evidenced by the whole losing his family). I'd love if you could all send me some ideas or just drop a review.
P.S. all credit to respective owners and constructive criticism please (show me at least that much respect).
-Y.A.R.N.
Peter met with Miles about two weeks after Miles got shot. Miles was quiet as Peter paced in front of him.
"So..." Peter began, "How are you doing?"
He knew that the bruises and bullet wound should have healed up pretty well by now, but he wanted to make sure that Miles wasn't trying to hide any lingering damage.
"Better... I guess you were right..." Miles mumbled, "I lost my head and I just... I'm sorry."
Peter nodded, "Good to hear, but you realize why I pulled you out for a bit?"
Miles nodded mutely and Peter rested a hand on his shoulder, "Miles, I am not doing this to hurt you or make you feel like you can't do this. I know how it feels, especially when told by people you look up to when you can't do what they can when you really can."
Miles stayed silent, after the resentment and anger had faded, he realized exactly how close he had come to murder and he had almost freaked out on that. He took a few days to build his confidence up and redefine his limits.
"You have the ability to help people, but I told you before we started that I nearly killed myself a hundred times as I learned how to fight. But that wasn't it, I had to keep myself from killing people because if I killed, how does that make me better? Because they were bad people? That's not how it works."
"Justice and due process?" Miles guessed with a half-smile.
Peter smirked, "More or less."
"Ricochet," Peter called, "Keep up!"
They were swinging through the city and Peter was running on walls and darting through the air, throwing in helixes and flips to tease Miles a bit. He decided to keep Miles close for now and split halfway through the normal patrol after seeing if Miles was back in the groove.
Miles huffed as he used an upward swing and a web-zip to catch up and grunted, "Hey! Ive only just started patrols! I am not as used to web-slinging in style as you are, not to mention that you've got Viri lending you a hand!"
Peter chuckled, "Well you are doing better than me the first time around, I crashed into a lot of billboards and walls, gave myself a concussion more than once."
"Really?" Miles said, snickering at the thought of Spider-Man slamming into the window of an apartment, "I just wish I could get as good as you are."
"Patience, time, a few tweaks here and there, experience, and practice." Peter said, swinging close as they went through the city "My mark one web-shooters were pretty decent but have gotten a lot better, my suit used to have no tech but then I worked on it and Tony Stark gifted me a suit which I tweaked to match my systems, my webbing wasn't always as strong and versatile but I tinkered with the formula. I have been working at this for eight years, I even got stronger as my body matured. You'll get there, just keep at it."
Miles and Peter had separated a while back after busting up some drug deals and B&E's that were happening. Peter had deemed Miles ready to go out on his own but warned him to actually listen when Peter told him to do something rather than charge in without thinking. Miles had been pulling back on the strength ever since the whole Demon fiasco had happened, he never wanted to have Peter feel that disappointed in him (and that was leaving out how he had to be very careful not to show it at school or around his mom). So while it took a bit more time to take out the general scum of New York, he was feeling pretty confident.
He landed on a roof where a drug deal was taking place, "Sooo... I'm guessing those packages aren't girl scout cookies and I am also gonna guess those clothes aren't a new uniform?"
The thugs whirled to face him, "Shit, it's the junior spid - hurk!"
Miles and the surrounding thugs' eyes widened when five sharp claws ripped through the front of his chest, lifting him from the ground. The thug weakly reached for the claws and tried to pull himself off before going limp with a choked gurgle.
A sinister chuckle drifted from the figure who had been waiting on the roof with the drug deal, "You took you're time to show up... Ricochet? Was it? Not much of a name considering you really are just a second Spider-Man, but I suppose that isn't of consequence. I would have preferred your mentor, but I suppose you'll do just as well to send a message."
The figure straightened and Miles couldn't help but gasp at the white lenses and grin visible of what would have been the mask of a color-inverted Spider-Man outfit. He was dressed in what seemed to be a dark brown hoodie with a grey coat over his suit but as his body bulged unnaturally, the hoodie tore into strips and fell to the floor around him. The spider suit wasn't exactly the same, there were no webs over the suit, and the forearms and lower-legs seemed to be covered in plated armor that melded into his hands and feet, but the resemblance was uncanny. The man let out a grunt and his body bulged as muscles rippled and expanded across his body, revealing him to be taller and much more built than Peter. He straightened and regarded the people on the rooftop with wide white eyes.
"You scum are in my way." He said with the tone of someone commenting on the weather, "So die."
The Spider-Man imposter lunged and began to kill all of the thugs in a flurry of slashes and organ-busting blows. Blood splattered the floor and thugs fell to the ground as they were murdered. Three of them yanked out handguns and opened fire but the figure leapt up and out of the way and descended on the thugs before they could fire again. The last thug had run for the door - hoping to escape and most definitely get out of the city if the terror on his face was any indication - before a web caught him and flung him off the side of the building to death on the streets below. Miles backed up, eyes wide in disbelief and horror at the murderer.
"Who the hell are you?" He whispered.
"My name?" The imposter said. "I would rather not tell you. I suppose you can call me the one who will kill the villains, and Spider-Man is just another villain for what he has done!"
Miles blinked, "That's kinda a mouthful." He joked weakly.
"Besides," He snarled, fury suddenly saturating his voice, "I plan to kill all the villains including Spider-Man for what they all did to me! You worthless coward, you all could have saved them, but you didn't!"
He threw his hand out but Miles was vaulting away - his spider-sense blaring in his skull way more sharply than ever before - as five long claws dug furrows into the roof. Miles flipped in the air and fired a webline to swing around the building as the imposter leapt after him with a feral roar. Miles twisted around the falling figure, hoping that him using webs would keep him up and out of reach. He fired a webline at the building and used it to swing and land on the side of the building. He was baffled by the rage of this wannabe Spider-Man, he had no idea what he possibly could have done to incur so much hatred, he'd only started his debut as Ricochet a few weeks ago!
Suddenly, his spider-sense buzzed but before he could react a splatter of webbing snagged his chest and pulled him down.
"Webbing?" He yelped as the figure pulled him off the wall and flung him into the streets below.
Miles twisted in the air and managed to snag a telephone pole, using his momentum to bleed off the excess force as he spun around it once and landed on the middle of the street. The hulking imposter stalker towards him, grinning maniacally as he flexed his hands.
"I am so glad the splicing worked. I'll admit, I was worried I'd die and leave my love's justice unfulfilled, but now I know I can take on a spider-man on even footing." He chuckled, "So all I need to do now is kill you and then take on your mentor. After that, I won't let my ego get in the way like that fool Otto Octavius and kill Osborn personally. I will watch the life leave his eyes and make sure he's dead. Then - for good measure - the Raft will find itself short a few super-criminals after I kill them. The best part of all of it? I look like Spider-Man, due to his recent costume changes, no one will question me!"
While the crazy spider-imposter ranted, Miles had quickly tapped the side of his mask, sending Peter a 'help' alert.
The man laughed maniacally but grunted as sharp spines erupted from his body before quickly withdrawing.
"I'll admit." He managed, stumbling as a shiver rippled through his body, "Keeping the mutagenic shift to my body in check is definitely more difficult than I imagined, but I suppose being a monster only helps me now. I don't need to learn how to fully control this power or any abilities, I don't plan on living after vengeance."
Miles leapt away as the imposter roared forward.
Peter swung into a thug and knocked him into a wall before neatly webbing him to the building.
"Worse luck next time!" He said brightly when his alarm began to blare in his ear, "Huh?"
He tapped the side of his mask to shut it off and realized that it was a distress signal that he had added to Miles' suit and MJ's phone.
His heart leapt into his throat.
"Call MJ Watson!" He hissed.
The suit began to chime as it dialed Mj's number into the hands-free phone Peter had used in his upgraded suit's tech (Tony Stark really did go for all the bell and whistles when it came to this Spider-Man suit). He made his way to the top of the tallest building while he waited impatiently for her to pick up.
"Peter?" Mj mumbled sleepily as she had just woken up, "What's going on?"
"Mj!" He exclaimed, "Are you okay?"
She blinked, a bit more awake, "Peter, I'm fine. What's going on?"
"Miles needs me, I need to go!"
Peter hung up.
Mile let out a shout of exertion as he heaved a car at the imposter, hoping it would slow him down or at least hurt him more than the few blows he had managed against him. Granted, getting close was hard as the guy kept sprouting spikes and his muscles seemed to bulge to increase strength as he attacked. He was stronger than Miles thought - which had been proven when Miles had been smashed through the wall of a building when he became careless and was caught by a fist mid-flip - but other than that and the claws, wasn't apparently used to fighting at all, let alone fight other super-powered people with his own superpowers. Miles was mentally thanking Peter over and over again for drilling his fighting style into him as he weaved through slashes and dodged gouts of webbing. He knew Peter was way more skilled (being Spider-Man for ten years was definitely a factor in that) and stronger - even without Viri as his body probably got stronger as he got older - than he was, but compared to this guy, Miles definitely held the skill advantage. The imposter was wildly slashing, kicking, and punching at Miles, there was none of the precision, style, or finesse that made Spider-Man such a formidable hero. The imposter probably never tried different tactics other than throw himself at the problem and try to kill it with his bare hands.
Miles was never more grateful that this guy hadn't gotten any help and wasn't fighting smart.
The car smashed into the imposter, who let out a roar of pain as he was laid out flat with a car on top of him. With a flex of his body, he flipped the car off of him and picked it up with a clawed hand.
"Neat trick kid." He sneered, "Mind if I try it?"
Miles groaned, 'I just had to jinx it...'
He flung the car at Miles, who leapt into the air and actually used the car as a springboard before snagging it with his webbing and - with a shout of exertion - brought the car down on the imposters head. Miles winced at the pangs that ached from the effort, spider-strength or not, it wasn't fun or easy throwing around 3,000 pound objects that fast mid-fight while trying to dodge attacks and throw in hits (and that wasn't even mentioning the bruise on his side). The imposter let out a pained roar as the car crumpled under the strain and drove him into the asphalt of the road. Miles was thankful that the people had evacuated and the police had ended up keeping their distance and not firing at them; he really didn't want to divide his focus between the villain, dodging gunfire from cops, and protecting people at the same time.
The problem was the restricted area that he was fighting in, when he tried to take to the walls or the rooftops, the imposter started moving towards the civilians to force him to intervene, and Miles couldn't let him actually reach the people since he had already showed he had no qualms against killing. The imposter got back to his feet and Miles was guiltily pleased as blood was streaming down the right side of the imposter's face. However, Miles didn't let up and lunged forward, interlocking his fingers and delivering a double-handed uppercut to the villain's jaw. As he staggered back, Miles' hand crackled with yellow arc of electricity and he slammed both palms into the imposter's chest, knocking him onto his back as his body twitched an spasmed.
"You little bastard!" the imposter screamed as his body rippled in response to his anger.
With surprising speed, the imposter straightened upright and delivered an muscle-enhanced uppercut to Miles' jaw, launching him into the air and tearing off the lower half of his mask. The imposter slammed his arms and feet into the ground and tensed for a split second before he let loose like a coiled spring and shot after Miles. He bodily tackled Miles into a building and roared as grabbed Miles by the head and pounded his head into the wall one more time before he flung Miles out of the mortar and into the street below. Miles hit the ground and leapt away, wincing as he felt the bruises forming on his back and blood welling from his mouth and trickling down his lip.
'Dammit.' Miles groaned in his head as he weaved away from several balls of webbing, 'I've got to take him down before he loses it completely! I can't hold him back much longer if he keeps going like this!'
Miles hands crackled with electricity and he was just about to lunge at the imposter when a red, black, and gold blur rushed by him and slammed into the imposter and sent him tumbling away.
Peter had arrived and judging by the narrowed eyes?
He was not happy at what he just found.
"What the hell?" Peter stared at the figure he just knocked down.
"Pe- Spider-Man!" Miles called, moving forward to stand at his left, "This guys is apparently trying to pose as you and kill in your name!"
"Like a cult?" Peter quipped.
"More like he hates you for some reason. Claims what happened to him is your fault, did you give him powers or something?" Miles replied, rubbing his bruised ribs.
"No." Peter replied before he caught the motion and turned to face the imposter, anger beginning to radiate off him.
The figure staggered to his feet and growled angrily, "Unfortunately I am not ready to take on the both of you, but in due time."
The imposter's muscles bulged and with a shout he drove his hands into the ground, sending a plume of dust and rocks covering his side of the street. Miles and Peter both shot a blast of impact webbing at where he stood before the dust blinded them. When the dust cleared, there was a hole leading to the subway system that was covered in webbing.
The imposter was gone.
The man who had been murdering criminals masquerading as Spider-Man limped into a alcove as he slumped against a wall and let out a pained sigh.
"Not quite ready for either of them I suppose..." He grumbled, wiping the stream of blood that was leaking from his skull, "But this is far from over, I swear that. The war against Osborn and The Sinister Six may be over, but the battles still rage, I will make sure of that."
His hands-free earpiece buzzed.
"Really, Warren?" A man said, chuckling at the pain in his fellow scientist's voice, "Did you honestly believe that you were ready? Spider-Man has had the benefit of years and his protege has probably been trained, having power doesn't mean you are capable of wielding it proficiently."
"I could have taken Ricochet if I hadn't played around."
"What was it you said about not letting your ego get in the way?"
"Don't patronize me, Zabo!"
"Very well, I will stop." Calvin Zabo sighed amusedly, "I am the one who was willing to help you fund and test this little vendetta, and besides..."
Zabo looked over at the liquid he had concocted.
"Mr. Hyde is terribly impatient to have some fun once you've had your turn."