Chapter 6: Troubled Mind Part One: No Laughing Matter
A/N: this combines Superior Spider-Man 6 and part of Superior Spider-Man 7
Daily Bugle offices
There was an air of disbelief around the Bugle, as they were in disbelief at the headline they were about to print. "I just can believe it." Ben Urich said. "He's a good guy. There's no way he'd do it on purpose."
"No ones disagreeing Ben." Robbie said. "But this is news, and this is what we need to print."
"I know." Ben said,
"Alright People, make sure we have all the facts right! This was in self-defense, not in cold blood. Understand?" Robbie said. When he got no answer, he nodded. "Alright." He said, and looked at the headline they were using: Spider-Man kills Massacre in self defense.
Goblin Underground
Goblin King grinned maniacally as he watched the news tell the story of how Spider-Man killed Massacre. "Oh yes, this worked out nicely. Tell me Spider, how will you deal with this? HA HA HA HA HA HA HA!"
City Hall
Jameson was holding a press conference in front of City Hall. "In light of the events of last night, the NYPD assures me that Spider-Man acted in self-defense." Jameson said.
"Mayor Jameson, will this hamper your cooperation with Spider-Man against crime?" Norah Winters asked.
"When the web head returns, it'll be business as usual! In fact, I'm adding a ten year sentence to any crime in which super powers are used!" Jameson said.
"But there are at least a dozen super crimes thwarted in this city everyday. Aren't you worried about the strain that will put on the Raft?" Norah asked.
"The Raft? You mean that halfway house for Supervillains in between crime sprees?" Jameson said. "That place is a threat to the very safety of this city that should have been shut down after the Breakout that formed the New Avengers! Which is why I'm proud to announce that I will be shutting down that pathetic excuse for a prison effective immediately!"
"Phil, did you get that?" Nora asked her cameraman, Phil Urich.
"Yeah, I got everything." Phil said as he wiped sweat from his brow. 'Crap. Between a good portion of my cash going to the tinkerer for equipment, and the other part going to Kingsley, and now this? When did this get so hard?' Phil thought. Unknown to anyone, Phil worked for the Kingpin as the current Hobgoblin. "Hey, something just cut our feed!" Phil said.
"What? Some sort of threat just got posted online. We are on code red people!" A secret service agent said, and a pink and white blur zoomed past JJJ.
"We have moment!" An agent yelled as they whipped out their guns.
"What in Sam Hill-?" Jonah said.
"Mr. Mayor get down!" An agent yelled.
"I lost it! Call out where-" another said.
"Over there!" Ol' Brushtop said, and the blur slowed down to show a woman wearing a white jumpsuit and a helmet, both with pink highlights: Screwball.
"Aaaand we're live. You're good to go partner!" Screwball said.
"There's two of them!" An agent said, and a man wearing a black and green jester costume appeared: the Daredevil villain known as Jester.
"He's got something!" An agent yelled as Jester reached in his bag.
"Mayor Jeremiah Jonah Jameson, you've been-" Jester said as he pulled out a pie and slammed it on Jameson's face. "-jested!"
"And to answer our online poll: whoops! Boxers!" Screwball said as she yanked down the mayor's pants. "We got it! Go! Go! Go!"
"Way ahead of you partner!" Jester said as he sprayed an agent with water, and he and Screwball made their get away.
"For more exclusive head-cam footage, go to !" Screwball said.
"Screwball and Jester: out!" Jester said, as he and Screwball vanished.
"Ha ha! You get any of that Phil?" Nora asked in between laughs.
"Not a thing!" Phil said, careful not to activate his Goblin Laugh and blow his cover.
"Aw who cares. It was worth it!" Nora said.
"Everyone shut up!" Jameson said, his rage visible through the pie on his face. "Mark my words: those clowns are going to pay!"
Peter Parker's apartment
'I've been responsible for deaths before.' Peter thought as he stared at his ceiling. 'Uncle Ben, Captain Stacy, Gwen, Sally Avril, all the people villains like Venom, Carnage, Scorpion, and Doc Ock have killed, Marla…but never like this. I've never killed anyone before, at least not like this. The only other time I've taken a life was about 7 years ago, back when I still had a black costume. Charlemagne, a former member of the KGB like Black Widow, was being hunted by her old bosses, and she called Wolverine, who was an old friend of hers, to come and put her out her misery, but she snuck up on me, and I…I…' Peter teared up as he recalled the sound her neck made as his hand struck her. 'I've tried my best to forget about it, but I just can't. I've tried to make amends for that, but now…' Peter still remembered everything vividly. The gun recoiling as the gunpowder ignited, the bang, the shell hitting the floor, and Massacre's look of shock as he fell to the ground.
"Peter?" A voice said from behind his bedroom door, and Peter groaned as he got up, groaning as the bullet wounds he got in the fight ached. He healed fast, but it would still be a day or two before the wound completely healed.
"Hold on." He said, and opened the door to see MJ, who immediately embraced him.
"I'm so glad you're alright." She said. "W-when I saw the news, they said you shot him, and that you were hurt. C-Carlie wouldn't tell me anything, and…I was scared." Mary Jane said.
"I'm not alright…" Peter said. "I've killed a man, just…ended him. I can still see his face, the look he had as the life left his eyes. After all these years, he finally felt emotions. And I took that from him, just like that."
"Don't do it, Peter." Mary Jane said. "Don't blame yourself. Blame Massacre, for making you do that. Blame whoever made the enhancer, for putting you in that situation. But for the love of God, please don't blame yourself."
"I can't do that, Mary Jane." Peter said. "If I don't hold myself accountable for this, I'm no different than the Punisher or Octavius."
"Tiger, you're nothing like them. The fact that your this shaken up about it proves that!" Mary Jane said, and looked him in the eyes. "I know, and deep down the city knows that."
"But when you break it down, I'm not above the law. I killed a man, Mary Jane. I have to-" Peter started to say.
"It was self defense!" Mary Jane said. "It wasn't any different than when Justice killed his father! He would have killed you if you hadn't, and I…I…I don't know what I would have done if I lost you." And Peter saw it in her eyes: if he hadn't done it, he would have left her, Aunt May, Jay, Carlie, Max, Grady, Sajani, Carlie, Uatu, and everyone else to mourn for him. But that didn't make what he had done any easier.
"I'm sorry MJ. Maybe what I need is-" Peter said, when his phone began began emitting a donkey sound, the tone he had assigned the number of the phone he had given jolly Jonah. "Looks like his honor wants to get ahold of me. Wonder what he wants."
"You mean you haven't heard?" Mary Jane said. "Tiger, I've got just the thing for you."
Hours Later, City Hall
Spider-Man swung down to the ground, shocking the agents. "We've got another breach!" An agent called out.
"Everyone relax. Spider-Man is here by my invitation, and if anyone fires at him I'll make sure you never work in this state again!" Jameson said. "Glory, go fetch our guest a drink!"
"You don't need to do that, Ms. Grant." Spider-Man said. "I only came by to tell his honor here that I'm not doing what he wants me to."
"What? Why not?!" Jolly Jonah said.
"I'm taking a break. A lots happened to me lately, and I just feel like a break after everything that happened with Massacre." Spider-Man said.
"Please Spider-Man, I'm begging you!" Jonah said, making Spider-Man quirk an eye underneath the mask.
"You're actually…begging me?!" Spider-Man said in disbelief. "Well, I can at least hear you out."
"Thank you!" Jonah said. "I need you to capture Screwball and Jester for what they did to me!"
"Those two? They're harmless." Spider-Man said.
"Harmless? You call this harmless?!" Jonah said, and showed the wall crawler the events of earlier that day. When it was over, Spider-Man began laughing.
"Oh man, I really needed that!" Spider-Man said between laughs. "Thanks for cheering me up, yer honor."
"Of course you'd find this funny!" Jonah yelled. "All the times you webbed me to my seat, put itching powder on my clothes, and all the other pranks you played on me over the years!"
"Easy Jonah. Remember, keep your blood pressure down." Glory said.
"Right." Jonah said. "Look, Spider-Man, can you please catch them for me? After that, you can take all the time off that you want."
"Alright. I'll look for them tomorrow." Spidey said.
Apartment of Carlie Cooper
Carlie looked at everything she could find on Gene Web. Business deals, employee lists, and anything else she could find on them. "They popped up right after Octavius died, but before that, I can't find anything on them. Corporations like this don't just pop up overnight, no unless…of course! It's a shell company!" Carlie said. "But for what? SHIELD? No, I doubt they'd need one. Besides, I doubt they need to use something like that for funding." She decided to look up what she could about their CEO. 'Let's see, Gregory Mendell…grew up in a small town near the state line, Doctorate in genetic engineering, but no photos of him. According to his employees, they've never seen him, and they don't know anything about the spider creatures.' Carlie thought. 'I think it's time I took a little trip upstate.'
The Next Day
Screwball and Jester leapt across rooftops, laughing like maniacs. "So, how'd we make out partner?" Jester asked.
"That was our most popular episode yet! We've never gotten more hits!" Screwball said. "And each time someone logs onto the site, my little program gobbles up all their info. We'll be rich!"
"Alright!" Jester said. "But how can we top that? We need to pick someone who really has it coming to them."
"But who?" Screwball said, tapping her chin. "Captain America?"
"Nah, we'll look like we hate America." Jester said.
"Luke Cage?" Screwball said.
"No, then we'd look racist." Jester explained.
"The Punisher? God knows he needs to lighten up." Screwball suggested.
"And get killed doing it?" Jester said. "I don't know about you, but I like my brains in my head, not on the pavement."
"The Hulk?"
"Do you WANT to get smashed?"
"Deadpool?"
"That guy'll just try and steal the spotlight." Jester said, when they saw Spider-Man swinging towards them. They looked at each other, and grinned maniacally. "Madder they are strategy?"
"Definitely."
Spider-Man swung towards where his Spider-Bots told him Screwball and Jester were, when his spider sense went off, causing him to dodge to avoid Screwball's kick. "Did you really think a surprise attack would work on me?" Spider-Man asked.
"Seemed to work for Smythe." Screwball said. The strategy they were using had then constantly taunting their target with their failures, making them angry and less efficient in a fight. "He managed to kill the First Lady while you stood by."
"I didn't just-" Spider-Man started to say, when a boiled egg from Jester nailed him right where the sun don't sign. "Ow." Spider-Man squeaked, his voice an octave higher.
"Really Jester? A nutshot?" Screwball asked her partner.
"We're on the internet, partner. Nothing's too insane!" Jester said, and loaded a few paint balloons into his sling shot.
"That was uncalled for!" Spider-Man said, leaping over to them and hitting Screwball in the chest.
"You hit me in the boob you dick!" She said, and Spider-Man backed away, blushing underneath his mask.
"Sorry. I promise, I didn't mean to-" he was cut off when a paintballoon nailed him in the face.
"Nice!" Screwball said. "I can't believe he actually fell for that!"
"Get back, Screwball. If we're not careful, he'll not only knock our socks off, but our jaws too like he do to Scorpion!" Jester said as Spider-Man yanked the paint off his face, taking his lenses with them.
"Or we may end up like poor Massacre!" Screwball said, grinning as she watched the amount of hits on the website increase.
Every man had his breaking point, and Peter Parker was no different. In the past few weeks, he'd had his spider sense over loaded, been put in the body of his worst enemy, hurt one of the people he cared for, and had been forced to kill a man. So when these two clowns began insulting him with his failures, and his recent killing of Massacre, he did what any person would do in his situation: snap.
"You think it's so funny?" Spider-Man growled, and Screwball threw a punch that Spider-Man caught, squeezing it hard enough she heard the bones break, causing her to cry out in pain. "You think killing someone is a joke?!" Jester tried throwing a pie at him, only for Spider-Man to catch it and throw it on the ground. "I don't think you clowns realize what that means. The man felt something for the first time in years, he had a chance to get better, and I took that away from him!" Spider-Man's vision filled with red, and he kept wildly punching. "You think this is funny?! Who's laughing now?! Huh?"
Brooklyn
Luke Cage was playing with his baby daughter Dani as Jessica folded the laundry in the other room. "C'mon sweetie, say daddy." Luke said, and Dani made giggling noises. "Worth a shot."
"Luke! Get in here!" Jessica said. Luke got up and picked up Dani, walking to the room where his wife was. She had an expression of pure shock and horror etched on her face. "T-the TV…" she said, and Luke's jaw dropped as he read the words on the screen.
"Sweet Christmas…" he gasped.
Hell's Kitchen
Matt Murdock, better known as Daredevil, sat in his law firm with his hands clenched tightly, unwilling to believe the words on the radio. 'Not him…out of all the people, why'd it have to be him?' Matt thought.
Thunderbolt's Headquarters
Deadpool, Elektra, Punisher, Red Hulk, Leader, and Venom watched the news on the TV screen. "Man, this writer sure is a dick. Making Spider-Man kill someone, and now making him beat up those two clowns. What a dou-" Deadpool started to say, when a fist from Venom knocked him against the wall, hard enough it made his neck spin almost all the way around.
"Not another word of your crazy talk, Wilson." He growled. "Spider-Man is a hero. A better person than all of us put together! There's no way he would do this without a good reason!"
Apartment of May Jameson
May watched the scene unfold, her hand clasped over her mouth and tears streaming down her face. "Peter…what have you done?" She said, horrified at the site.
MJ's
Mary Jane watched what happened with a dropped jaw. "Tiger…please tell me you had a good reason."
New York
"Who's laughing now?!" Spider-Man yelled as he raised his fist.
"Enough!" A voice yelled behind him, and Spider-Man turned behind him to see Captain America, Black Widow, Thor, Wolverine, and Spider-Woman. "Friend Spider-Man, please step away from these two. They have done nothing to incur your wrath like this." Thor said.
"Thor, what are you talking about?" Spider-Man said.
"Son, take a good luck at them." Cap said. Spider-Man did as he was told, then stepped back in disgust at what he had done.
"Oh god…" the two villains were beaten to a bloody pulp. Jester was missing a few teeth, and Screwball's arm was twisted at an unnatural angle. "What have I done?!" Spider-Man yelled. The Avengers behind him exchanged a few sympathetic looks. This was a man whose compassion for even his worst enemies made him one of the greatest heroes ever. To see him like this…it was demoralizing.
"Look, Pete, we already called the paramedics." Wolverine said. "They'll he here any minute. Why don't you come with us? Y'know just…talk."
"Alright." Spider-Man said, his voice dripping in self disgust.
Avengers Tower
Peter sat with his mask off and his head in his hands. "Dear god…what have I done?" He said, and everyone looked at him sympathetically. "I've done what Otto asked…I've done my best to try and be a better Spider-Man…so why do I keep failing?"
"Look, Peter, no one thinks you've failed." Spider-Woman said. "You did what anyone else would have done with Massacre. You have nothing to be ashamed of."
"I killed someone Jessica!" Peter yelled. "It might be easier for you, or Logan, or Natasha, but I'm not you guys!"
"You're right. You're better than us." Wolverine said. "I know people like Punisher, Deadpool, and Sabertooth who enjoy the killing. They get some sort of thrill from it, but the fact that it's shaken you up this much shows how much better than them you are."
"Aye. Brother Loki once told me of a time when you aided him in rescuing his daughter from possession by an evil force." Thor said. "When I first arrived here in Midgard, I believed you were every bit a demon as Jameson said. But then I began to work alongside you, and learn truly how valiant you are."
"I don't know." Peter said. "Maybe I should just give up being Spider-Man. I've let so many people down since I've put on this mask. I've created monsters like Venom and Carnage. What kind of hero does something like that?" For a moment, Cap considered telling him that the current Venom was Peter's old friend Flash Thompson, a member of the previous incarnation of the Secret Avengers and the current Thunderbolts, but decided against it. It wasn't his secret to tell.
"You give up, you're letting down even more people." Captain America said. "When I first got out of the ice, I was in a whole new world, with heroes I knew nothing about. I grew up in an uncertain world, and I learned that not everything you read in the papers was true. So, when I read about a 'menace worse than Dr. Doom', I did some digging around. At first, all I could find was countless Daily Bugle articles saying you're a menace. But then, I started talking to the people you saved. Each and everyone said you were a hero, regardless of the propaganda printed by the Bugle. And then I saw you save the son of the man who constantly slandered you. That moment, right then and there, determined what I knew you were: a hero. There are people who depend on you. You've become a symbol of hope for them. If you give up, you're letting down not only them, but everyone you didn't save, who are depending on you to stay strong and keep going, no matter the pain." Cap let that sink in for a moment.
"Can I have a word with Spider-Man? Alone." Black Widow said. The others nodded, before leaving.
"Tasha, I know I'm irresistible, but try to remember that I have a girlfriend now." Peter said. Even when he was emotionally distraught, one could always count on him to have a smart ass pun ready.
"Spider-Man, when I first met you, I thought you were annoying, immature, irrational, irritating, a child who could take nothing serious, and an all around pain in the ass."
"Geez Natasha, way to make a guy feel better." Peter said.
"But then I became Nancy Rushman*, and saw the kind of person you are. Someone who was willing to help a woman who'd been rude to him in the past, and roped him into an insane mission to save the president…it's no wonder Nancy fell in love with you." Widow said. "And then we worked with Silver Sable to defeat Octavius, and when your back was forced against the wall, you never stopped fighting for what you believe in. Even after Octavius's actions resulted in the death of Rhino and Silver Sable, you saved him. But now, after Massacre and what happened with Screwball and Jester, people won't look at you the same." She said. "You have red on your ledger now, just like all of us. They may cheer for you, they may ridicule you, or they may fear you, but if I know one thing for certain, it's that you won't let that stop you." She placed a hand on his shoulder. "But take as long as you need. Take a break from the Spider, spend some time with your family, and focus on what makes the man."
"Thanks, Natasha." Peter said, and he put his damaged mask on as he stood up. "I really needed that. Tell the others I said goodbye." Spider-Man said as he walked towards the window and pressed a button, causing it to open. "You know, for someone based off a poisonous spider, you're a big softie."
"Just go before I put a Widow's Bite through your head." Black Widow said. Spider-Man chuckled, before leaping out and swinging towards home.
*Back when Carter was president, Spider-Man and Black Widow shared an adventure together in Marvel Team-Up 82-85, where torture at the hands of Viper caused Black Widow's mind to revert to Nancy Rushman, an identity she used when she defected from the KGB. Widow lost her memories, and was saved from muggers by Spider-Man, who helped Widow try to regain her memories in order to save Carter from an assassination attempt by Viper, and in the process Nancy fell in love with Spider-Man, but Widow didn'tand she made that clear to Spider-Man.
Next Time: Troubled Mind Part 2: Withdrawl