Chapter 3: Shocked
"Peter, dinner's ready!"
"Coming, Aunt May!" Peter shouted from his room.
With his eyes glued to his laptop screen, Peter had spent the past week researching Wilson Fisk and his criminal organization, but a majority of the info he had gotten was unhelpful. He needed something good.
Norman had been in his lab for days trying to alter the serum so it would be perfect and ready for human testing. In all honesty, this was the most important thing Norman would ever create. It would change the world and give people new abilities that was once thought impossible.
Much to his dismay, Norman sensed somebody approaching.
"NORMAN!"
Norman turned around and was unsurprised to see his wife, Emily.
"If it isn't my loving and supportive wife. What do you want, Emily?"
"Norman, you've spent every single night in here since you came back. Can't you just spend some time with Harry and I?" Emily angrily said.
"As far as I'm concerned, you're not worth spending time with. My work is important not just to me, but it will be to the world, too."
"So your family isn't important?"
"I didn't say that, goddamn it!"
Emily glared harder than she ever had in her life. "Well, you might as well have. I don't even know who you are anymore. You're never around."
"This is coming from the woman who didn't visit her own-"
"You are a failure as a husband, Norman. As a father, as a scientist, and as a human being."
Instead of lashing out in pure rage as expected, Norman calmly responded.
"I want a divorce."
The situation at Queens Community Bank was pure chaos. The doors were blasted open, part of the building was buried in rubble, and Herman Schultz couldn't have been a happier man. Feeling confident in his black-and-yellow bodysuit, Shocker threw as many bags of cash into his van as possible.
"Best payday ever!" Shocker yelled in thrill as he threw his fourteenth bag in.
"Freeze! Get down on your knees!"
Shocker turned around to see a barricade of police. With six cruisers and two trucks, several cops aimed their guns at the villain.
"Drop your weapons!"
"Surrender!"
"Okay, I surrender," Shocker mocked.
Shocker slowly started to get down to his knees but quickly got up and shot the cops with his gauntlets. The impact threw the cops several feet back and even knocked the vehicles out as well.
"Amateurs," Shocker scoffed as he put his last bag of cash in.
Getting inside the van, Shocker slammed the gas pedal as hard as he could. The escape itself was thrilling, but it was nowhere as exciting as the robbery itself. He felt unstoppable.
However, thumps were heard on the top of the van.
"I'm afraid I'm gonna have to give you a ticket!" Spider-Man shouted.
"Damn it!" Shocker muttered as he twisted the wheel as hard as he could, trying to shake the young hero off.
The effort was in vain as Spider-Man's hand plunged through the van and grabbed the steering wheel. Irritated, Shocker shot the hand with his gauntlet, knocking Spider-Man off the van and breaking the window. Falling on the ground, Spider-Man shot a web at the van to hold on. Jumping back on top of the van, Spider-Man shot a web through the hole at the top, pulling Shocker out.
"You idiot!" Shocker growled as he held on.
Spider-Man grabbed Shocker and threw him out. He then shot a web at a store to serve as Shocker's cushion. Acting fast, Spider-Man jumped right in front of the van and caught it, stopping and smashing it.
While all of that was happening, Shocker had freed himself from the webs and started to escape on foot.
"Oh, no, you don't!" Spider-Man declared as he swung in front of Shocker and shot a web at his gauntlet.
Annoyed more than ever, Shocker activated the gauntlet, breaking the web and knocking Spider-Man back.
Desperate, Shocker blasted himself off the ground, using the air blast as a propellant. Shocker grabbed onto a fire escape and started climbing up the top of the apartment complex. Trying to recover from his attack, Spider-Man shot a web to the top of the complex and swung up. There, he met Shocker.
"Time for you to die," Shocker said.
"Seriously? Is that the best you got, Shocker? You think no one's threatened to kill me? Why don't you come up with better lines next time."
"There won't be a next time, bug."
Shocker shot a blast at Spider-Man, who jumped over it. Shocker shot another one, which Spider-Man also dodged by ducking. Spider-Man jumped at Shocker, who managed to blast the former. The impact sent Spider-Man off the building. Swinging himself back onto the roof, Spider-Man dodged more blasts and shot a web at Shocker's chest. Spider-Man pulled Shocker towards him and kicked him, the impact knocking off one of the gauntlets.
"You're really starting to get on my nerves," Spider-Man admitted as he stomped on the gauntlet, crushing it.
Yelling in rage, Shocker turned up the dial on his second gauntlet. Spider-Man ran over, only to get punched in the face by the gauntlet. Despite Spider-Man's super strength and endurance, it hurt badly. Shocker then punched Spider-Man in the ribs, knocking him down. Spider-Man yelled in agony as the electric shock worsened the pain. Shocker got down and started repeatedly punching Spider-Man, who eventually grabbed Shocker's gauntlet and crushed it. It wasn't just the gauntlet that was smashed, as Shocker yelled in pain over his broken hand.
"Hurts, doesn't it?" Spider-Man mocked as he grabbed Shocker.
Before he could throw another hit, Spider-Man couldn't stop thinking about what the civilians said about him that one day. He had gone too far with the bank robbers, but they were criminals, and therefore, they deserved it. Just like this Shocker guy. Right?
Sighing, Spider-Man dropped Shocker and tied him up in a bunch of webs. He wasn't gonna lose his temper again.
Lying in his prison cell, Herman couldn't have felt more discouraged in his life. His career as the Shocker was supposed to turn everything around. He was supposed to make a name for himself. He was supposed to be Spider-Man's greatest enemy. Now, he was just another baddie that Spider-Man had defeated.
"Damn you, Spider-Man!" Herman roared as he grabbed the bars of his cell. "I swear, once I get out of here, I'll rip all the flesh off your bones!"
It was a big day. A huge crowd of civilians and reporters were standing in front of Oscorp Tower. Norman was holding a press conference addressing the failed experiment, and it wasn't going to be good. The board members were standing side-by-side with Norman, displeased looks on their faces.
Norman wasn't pleased by the situation at all. "It was a very terrible incident, but I'm here today to assure you, Oscorp Industries will no longer fail like this again. We'll be-"
"Mr. Osborn, what specific factors caused it to go wrong?"
Ignoring the reporter's question, Norman continued. "We'll be doing everything in our power to improve our technology and provide for our civilians-"
"Was it a lack of focus?"
"How badly is this affecting Oscorp?"
"What's gonna happen next for the company?"
Fed up, Norman shouted, "As I said, we are doing everything in our power to improve! This press conference is over!"
The reporters and board members were all taken aback by Norman's sudden anger.
Not knowing how else to respond, Norman just walked away. As he took every step, he started to contemplate more of what was happening to him. It wasn't just his strength, agility, and intelligence. Was his anger increasing as well?
In the NYPD station, the officers were all having a typical day until a new cop walked in and shouted, "Ladies and gentlemen! Put down what you're doing! Eyes over here!"
The officers all faced the new cop. Combed blonde hair, blue eyes, in his late 40s, this man gave off a cool vibe.
"My name is George Stacy, and starting today, I'm your new captain. It's well-known that your former captain has retired, so I'll be taking his duty to keep these streets safe."
George walked further into the precinct. "New York City used to be a relatively safe place. But look what's happened. Almost a year ago, the masked vigilante known as Spider-Man arrived, and since then, the city has been faced with constant destruction. After he arrived, you got freaks like that hunter, the Scorpion, that damn flying Vulture, and more recently, this criminal that people have started calling the Shocker. Every time Spider-Man has ever faced one of these villains, it's always the same result. Collateral damage. There's always something terrible that happens, specifically when his fight with Scorpion led to the death of a teenage girl that used to go to school with my daughter. Spider-Man's fight with Shocker could've gotten more people killed, and I won't stand to tolerate that anymore."
"So, what do we do?" one cop asked.
"I'm going to talk to a judge and issue an arrest warrant for Spider-Man."
"No way, man."
Peter and Harry were walking through the hallway. The students at school were talking about their Homecoming plans, specifically their dates, proposals, suits, dresses, shoes, etc.
For the past week, Harry wouldn't stop nagging Peter to ask Gwen to Homecoming.
"Dude, I swear to God, if you don't even try, I'm gonna kick the crap out of you," Harry threatened.
"Have you seen Gwen? She's out of my league," Peter pointed out.
"Uh, not really. You're both kind of nerds."
"Gee, thanks."
"What I mean is, you guys seriously have a lot in common. It's worth a shot," Harry assured.
"Who are you gonna ask?" Peter asked, trying to change the subject.
"Not to make this seem awkward for you or anything, but I was kind of thinking of asking Liz," Harry reluctantly admitted.
Peter laughed. "Seriously?"
"Yeah, I don't know how, but she's starting to get my attention. Possibly because you had the balls to reject her."
"Screw you, dude."
The two friends laughed.
"So, are you gonna do it? Please, man. It's for your own good," Harry begged.
Peter sighed. "Fine."
Thanks for reading! We hope you enjoyed the chapter. Reviews are greatly appreciated. Next chapter: Norman's rage increases drastically, and Harry's life changes forever.
We apologize for the wait, but more chapters will be posted soon.
