The Invincible Spider-Man
Chapter 91: Crisis on Campus
"Yuri, let's just take a deep breath, and put the gun down," said Peter, slowly lowering his hands.
"Keep your hands up!" shouted Yuri, cocking the gun.
"Look, Li has messed with your head. You need to fight it, Yuri," said Spider-Man, trying to reason with her.
"I haven't even been in contact with him. Stop trying to talk your way out of this!" replied Yuri. Spider-Man realized what was going on, and he noticed she wasn't glowing black and white, nor did she have the Yin-Yang patch on her arm.
"Yuri…what did I do?" asked Spider-Man.
"You…Jason…he got shot because of you," replied Yuri, her voice breaking. Peter's eyes went wide, and his arms immediately dropped to the ground.
"KEEP YOUR HANDS UP!" shouted Yuri, tears forming in her eyes.
"Is he all right?" asked Peter, approaching forward a little. Yuri kept her gun trained, ready to pull the trigger.
"Yuri, if you really think that was me, then you would have pulled the trigger," said Spider-Man, holding in his breath. Yuri's hand began to shake, as she stared into Spider-Man's lenses. Hesitantly, she put the gun down, but not holstering it.
"He's stable, but he took a bad shot to his back," said Yuri. Spider-Man sighed as he put his hands on his head and sat down.
"Li had me in some sort of trance, like a zombie of his. The more I tried to fight back, the more aggressive I got, the worse his hold was on me," explained Spider-Man. "You know I'd never hurt Macendale," he continued.
"Yeah, well, many of the cops on the force don't think that way anymore. It's best if you don't swing by the precinct or the hospital where they've admitted Jason," said Yuri.
"Li and Hammerhead are making their move. They held me captive somewhere, but I don't know where exactly," said Spider-Man. "All I know is that Martin is readying an army, and using Hammerhead's men as his troops,"
"Well, where do we start then?" asked Yuri.
"At the beginning," replied Peter, turning back to face Horizon Labs.
Spider-Man and Yuri followed Max into the records room, which was filled with folders and a drawer with tape cassettes. Max knelt down and opened up a drawer of cassettes, pulling out a small one.
"This is the one," he said, walking up to a cassette player and inserting it in. A monitor flickered alive on the desk.
A young Martin Li was strapped to a gurney, as a black liquid began to flow through some tubes and into his veins. Max looked away, as Li let out a guttural scream. The whole scene seemed to go white, as the gurney flew through the one-way mirror.
In the tape, a young Max peered out from the broken window in horror. Martin had an evil grin on his face, his entire body glowing black and white. That's when his parents rushed into the room, and the recording ended there.
"What happened after?" asked Yuri.
"Nothing, he just collapsed, and his parents took him home. A few weeks later, his parents died in a car crash," explained Max.
"And he was the sole survivor," finished Peter.
"He must have sent you here to kill me, but you broke free of his control," said Max.
"I did. I know where else I can get some answers. Until then, Captain, keep Max in a secure location," said Spider-Man.
Yuri seemed to still be hesitant. "And where are you going?" she called out after him.
"F.E.A.S.T," replied Peter.
Peter, in his civilian clothes, walked up to the entrance of the F.E.A.S.T shelter, opening the doors to its large hall. The place seemed completely untouched, and one could never be able to tell that a murderous criminal ran the place.
Peter looked around all the homeless people, resting or playing chess, and couldn't help but wonder whether Li was really the monster he seemed to portray himself as.
"Whatever Li is, Mister Negative seems to be the main instigator. Maybe something in F.E.A.S.T will give me some sort of clue," thought Peter, walking up to Aunt May.
"Hey May," said Peter.
"There you are, Peter! I haven't seen you in so long!" she exclaimed, embracing him.
"I'm so sorry May, I've been really busy," chuckled Peter. "Is Mr. Li around?"
"He's gone on indefinite leave, though I can't imagine why. With everything happening in the city, F.E.A.S.T is needed now more than ever," replied May, looking around in sorrow.
"I know. Hopefully things go back to normal soon," said Peter. "Any way I can help?"
"Just keep yourself safe, dear. I know the Parker gene in you always has you wanting to help, but at least till everything blows over, don't do anything too drastic, okay?" requested May.
"You got it," said Peter, a little guiltily. Just then, his Spider-Sense began to tingle, as a man in a black and white suit walked past him.
"Hey, who was that?" asked Peter to May, his eyes not leaving the man, who continued walking around the room.
"That's some of the help that Martin hired to help run the place. I guess I could use the help," said May.
"Right. I'll see you around May, love you," said Peter.
"Love you too, Peter. Stay safe!" called out May, getting back to her work.
"Something fishy about that guy," thought Peter, as he began to tail the man. The man walked towards the kitchen, only to move through it and go to the back of the shelter, to the area under construction.
"I wonder where you're off to?" thought Peter, looking around him to see if the coast was clear. He then jumped up to the ceiling and began to follow the man through the shadows of the construction site.
"Load it up!" shouted someone from further inside the site. Peter stealthily scurried forward and noticed the Inner Demons packing crates of weapons and yin-yang patches into a truck.
"Looks like I found where the Demons operate from…" thought Peter. "Shit, I left my suit on the roof. Oh well,"
Peter slowly webbed up a half-mask, covering the bottom of his face. He webbed up an eyemask and placed it on his face too, making sure most of it was covered.
He took out a Spider-Tracer and launched it to the top of the truck, before clearing his throat.
"So this is where the cool kids hang out?" called out Spider-Man, webbing up two Demons to the roof and landing on the ground.
"I'm guessing my invitation was lost in the mail!" he continued, kicking one in the face, before ducking under a punch and uppercutting another.
"Wasn't this club supposed to be a hippie club? So what's with all the guns?" asked Spider-Man, webbing up the rest of the crates, and disarming any Demons with guns.
"I mean, I get the mind-altering substances fit your whole schtick and whatnot, but last I checked, Manson was the only hippie who loved firepower!" continued Spider-Man, web-kicking a goon, launching off of him and towards another's face.
"To be fair, your boss is just a few nuts short of a Snickers bar, so he's close enough," said Spider-Man, bashing two thugs' heads together.
Soon enough, the entire place was empty.
"The truck may have left, but the tracer should tell me where it goes. In the meantime…" thought Spider-Man, calling Yuri.
"Yuri, I found where Li and Hammerhead were keeping their firearms and weapons. It's in a construction site right behind the F.E.A.S.T shelter in Chinatown. Get there as soon as possible, I took out the Demons there," said Spider-Man.
"There's a bigger problem. Reports of a "violent army" are moving into Greenwich. According to reports, they seem to be increasing in number," said Yuri.
"That has to be Li corrupting people. I have someone working on an antidote to it. I'll pick it up along the way," said Peter.
"There's no time, you need to get there now. There aren't enough cops in the NYPD at the moment," said Yuri.
"Shit. Okay, I'll handle it," said Peter, cutting the call and rushing out of the construction site, swinging up to the roof of the F.E.A.S.T shelter, and dialling a number on his phone.
"Hey MJ, I need a favour…"
"So you want me to go to Connors and ask him about some work that Spider-Man had asked for help with?" asked MJ, her head rattling in confusion.
"I know it's confusing, but Spider-Man really needs it. I'd go, but JJ has me working double time. Could you please go get it, fast? Spider-Man really needs it," continued Peter, trying to mask his heavy breathing with how hard he was panting.
"Okay, sure. Where do I give it to Spider-Man, though?" asked MJ.
"Outside ESU. He's got work to do in Greenwich. And MJ, stay inside after you give it to him, okay?"
"Sure, I guess…" thought MJ, cutting the call.
"Peter sounded stressed, just how involved is he in all of this?" she asked herself, rushing across campus and towards the Biology lab.
"I hope he's okay. Were those scars…were they because he's around Spider-Man so much? Jameson always pushes him so much, he throws himself in danger," she continued overthinking, and noticed Curt in the lab.
"Dr Connors?" asked MJ. Curt rose his head from a microscope, raising his eyebrow.
"Uh, Peter sent me. He told me to get something for a…friend of his," said MJ, subtly implying what she meant.
"Ah, of course!" exclaimed Curt, reaching into a locked drawer inside the lab, and pulling out the patch that Peter had given him.
"Tell him I managed to come up with an antidote. The molecules are simply a stereoisomer of the original and-"
"Uh, I'll tell him it's an antidote," chuckled MJ. Connors pulled out a few vials of a black-grey fluid.
"This is it. If anyone "corrupted" comes into contact with this, it should form a racemic mixture in one's system and eliminate all traces of the original drug," explained Connors.
"Thank you, I'll get these to Peter," said MJ, running out of the lab.
Just then, the gates of ESU were rammed down, and a man with a flat forehead stood in front of a massive army of people.
FIVE MINUTES AGO
"Come on, I can't be too late!" exclaimed Spider-Man, swinging as fast as he could towards Greenwich. That's when he spotted the massive horde of people rushing through the streets, smashing cars and bus stops.
"I'm so sorry about this!" exclaimed Spider-Man, swinging through the crowd and kicking people off of the bus stops, making sure not to kick too hard. He swung back up and webbed up some of them to the walls.
"They're like rabid zombies. Need to find who is leading them," said Spider-Man.
Peter swung to the front of the crowd, only to see his greatest fear come true.
Hammerhead was leading the massive crowd down the streets, his eyes a pure black as he barrelled towards ESU.
"Here we go again," exclaimed Spider-Man, swinging ahead of the crowd, before shooting a web back and swinging towards them, kicking Hammerhead straight in the chest.
Hammerhead staggered back, but Peter found himself getting attacked by hundreds of civilians.
"I don't want to hurt you guys!" protested Peter, pushing some away, only for Hammerhead to charge into him, his head smashing against Peter's chest.
Spider-Man went rolling down the street, and the mob found themselves at the gates of Empire State University.
Peter got back up and climbed up a tree, only to see Hammerhead knock down the gates, staring at Mary Jane Watson.
He grunted as he rushed towards her, and adrenaline seemed to take over Peter's body at the same time.
"MJ!" shouted Spider-Man, jumping from the tree and swing kicking Hammerhead straight across the face. The force sent Hammerhead flying towards the ground, and Spider-Man landed on his back.
"Are you hurt?" asked MJ. Spider-Man got to his feet, the adrenaline wearing off.
"I'll be fine. Did Doctor Connors-"
"Right here," said MJ, handing him the vials. Spider-Man nodded as he took them, before standing back up and facing the mob.
"Wait, is Peter okay?" asked MJ.
"He's okay, I told him to lay off for a while today," said Spider-Man. "Run into your dorm and lock the door,"
MJ nodded as she rushed inside. Spider-Man opened up his web-shooters and filled them with the liquid in the vial, letting the webbing inside mix with the fluid.
"Bring it," said Spider-Man, rushing towards the mob and jumping high over them, shooting webs over them.
Almost instantly, the people's eyes began to go back to normal, as Spider-Man continued to shoot webbing over all of them, and pushing off any that tried to fight him.
Before he could continue, however, something large grabbed him from the back and pulled him into the ESU campus again.
"Oh right, you," groaned Peter, facing Hammerhead. He brought his two fists down, but Peter managed to roll away at just the right time. He kicked Hammerhead's side before springing back up.
Hammerhead charged at him, but Peter backflipped away, shooting webbing in his face.
His black eyes disappeared, and a dazed Hammerhead seemed to return.
"He's disoriented, now's my chance!" thought Spider-Man. He shot two webs at Hammerhead's knees and pulled him, kicking him in the face and chest. He then punched him across his face, making sure to avoid his forehead.
Every punch shredded the fabric around Peter's knuckles, until Hammerhead managed to grab his fists. He spat out blood and smiled at Spider-Man.
"I'm back," he grinned, headbutting Spider-Man, then throwing him through the wall and into ESU.
"Need to keep the fight away from here," thought Spider-Man, slingshotting himself toward Hammerhead and kicking his knees. Hammerhead buckled to the ground, but managed to headbutt Spider-Man away.
Hammerhead reached into the broken wall and pulled out a chunk of concrete. Before Spider-Man could get up, he smashed it on the back of his head.
Peter felt his world go dark, as his face hit the ground again. He felt blood pooling around the back of his mask, while Hammerhead lifted his face up and smashed it back into the ground.
"I own this town now, Spider-Man. Not you, not Li, not anyone is taking that from me!" shouted Hammerhead. Just then, he felt a glass bottle smash against the back of his head.
Hammerhead turned around to see Mary Jane holding a broken burette in her hand, along with a volumetric flask in the other.
"Spider-Man, the lab!" exclaimed MJ. Hammerhead sneered as he approached her, the ground shaking with every step he took.
Spider-Man managed to get to his feet, and made a beeline for the lab, praying that MJ would be all right.
"Just like how I defeated Hydro-Man, a little bit of chemistry…"
MJ rushed across the campus, only for Hammerhead to grab her by the legs. He grabbed her by the throat and slammed her against the wall.
"You know…you remind me of a woman I used to know…" started Hammerhead.
"You remind me of a guy too…funny thing is…you're just as much an asshole as he was!" grunted MJ, taking out a shard of glass and stabbing it into Hammerhead's eye.
"AAARGHH!" shouted Hammerhead, both his hands grabbing his eye. MJ scrambled away from him and rushed inside the lab, where Spider-Man had gathered a bunch of beakers.
"Are you okay?" asked Spider-Man.
"I'm okay. Do you have a plan?" she asked.
"Kind of," replied Spider-Man, rushing out of the lab.
Hammerhead staggered around in pain, before setting his sight on Spider-Man.
"After I'm done with you, I'm gonna make sure that bitch can't walk!" roared Hammerhead.
"You might wanna worry about yourself first!" shouted Spider-Man, shooting webbing at Hammerhead's face. He then jumped on top of him and began to cover his head in webbing, particularly his forehead.
"Now, did you know that my webbing contains water in it too?" asked Spider-Man, jumping off of Hammerhead.
"Chem 101, Hammy. What happens when Sodium and Potassium mix with water?" asked Spider-Man, reaching into the beaker and pulling out pellets of the metals, then jumping back onto Hammerhead and pushing them inside the webbing around his forehead.
Almost instantly there were about ten mini-explosions on his forehead, as Hammerhead yelled in pain, ripping away the webbing. He managed to pull away some, but the metals continued reacting with the water explosively.
He was panting as he fell to his knees, gasping for relief.
"And this is what you get for threatening her," muttered Spider-Man, rushing up to him and punching him straight in the face, shattering the plate in his forehead.
Hammerhead fell to the ground, unconscious, as Peter pushed his knuckles back in place.
"Is he-" started MJ.
"Knocked out. The police will be here shortly. Give them the rest of the vials," said Spider-Man, webbing up Hammerhead entirely.
"What's next now?" asked Mary Jane, still shaken up about everything. Spider-Man pulled out a small device from one of the notches in his belt. The device tracked Spider-Tracers.
"I'm going after Mister Negative."
That's all for now folks! Stay tuned for the finale of Season 6 next time!
Extremely sorry about the delay everyone! I got super busy with work, and so this had to take a backseat. Rest assured, we're back at it lmao. I'm just gonna quickly recap stuff over the past month. I started watching The Last of Us, and it's absolutely amazing. The new DCU seems to be going in the right direction so I'm super excited about that, and I've recently taken up cooking lmao. I hope it goes well!
About my journey into reading every single Amazing Spider-Man issue, I'm currently on #450. Just got done with the horrid Clone Saga and the equally worse Byrne run, so I'm hoping things get better lol.
Fate-Be Changed- Yeah I had to wrap it up quick lmao. And nope, he didn't do much more under his control.
Marvel Nerd: Yep, I remember that from Slott's run lol.
Geek4Life: Twas the bullet
Teller-Story: Nope, but he is critically injured. And lmao it won't be a recurring thing.
I am the Voice: Indeed, though the corrupting touch, when done straight from Mister Negative, turns one more into a slave of Mister Negative rather than feeding off of aggression. Emotional turmoil is how Li takes control though.
SpideyXBC: Indeed!
Yours Truly,
Shadow Strike.