Whew this chapter just kept on growing! Probably because I was mentally planning parts of it out when I first started this story. I have a few others like that as well though only a few others of them are for book 5 so far.
Peter grumbled a bit as he got out of bed, the past few weeks had been interesting and Kitty told him that she had almost finished her research that would allow them to use the Room of Requirement in all new unique ways that if she was right would make some of the training exercises even more. All that she required now was some time to put her theories into practice and for that she had told Peter that after the game of today that he would be helping her out. Peter grimaced at the idea of that, he had to go to the Quidditch game and not only watch the backs of his friends, but make sure Umbridge didn't try anything because it would be a lot easier to plant something while all of the people down at the game instead of being around and about. Peter got dressed and got his belt on underneath his day clothes the belt's ability to hold web capsules had been altered slightly to now hold small potion capsules of various types along with a dozen web capsules in case his new ability of no longer needing his web shooters ever died out suddenly he would have a way to still use some webbing and stuff. He placed a coin into the compartment that used to hold his camera, this little number was a contribution from Hermione who had using some high level 7th year spell work had actually managed to create a type of signaling device. She couldn't make a communicator, but this was almost as good and it wouldn't be long before the girl was able to find a way to create a communication device at this rate. Peter flipped the gold coin in the air before he fixed it into the belt. The golden coin had a large D in the middle and the date and time underneath. Peter looked at the clock and decided he might as well head down for breakfast. They wouldn't be doing any kind of training this morning because of the game, so he had let the two Gryffindor's on the team could sleep in so that they could be rested for the game instead of training tiring them out before game time. He could just imagine the looks Angelina would have given him if he had done something like take them out anyways, and it wasn't a really pretty though so he would just have to do his best and not pull anything like that on the team an hour or so before the teams played against each other. Personally Peter couldn't believe the amount of rivalry that existed between the teams and their houses over something like a game, he could understand stealing the team mascot before the game, but to actually try and threaten the various players was not something that he could really understand at all, it was as if they were trying to make things worse for each other. Some of the Gryffs in their own way were as bad as the Slytherians, though their shots were mainly practical jokes that were often times a bit over the top. Peter found it ironic that as far as the twins were concerned this was their off week for the most part since they only let loose a few pranks though it did show why the twins were considered the Lords and Masters of pranking when you compared the level of the pranks that they did to what it was that the other Gryffindor's did. Their work was so much more creative this week as if they were actively trying to show the difference between their work and that of the others. Knowing the twins though, that could very well have been likely considering the pride the two took in their abilities as pranksters, knowing the two of them it wouldn't surprise Peter all that much that they were showing the amateurs that there really was no competition if they were to go head to head with them over things like that.
Peter slumped into his seat along side of Kitty who nodded to him, they needed to go over what they had learned from their various raids to Umbridge's office and room and decide how they wanted to deal with all of the information and what to tell Dumbledore and what they might actually want to hold back. The tension over the coming game was almost thick enough in the room though that a person could have cut it with a knife. The Slytherians and Gryffindors were glaring at each other and fingering their wands as if just waiting for an excuse to start a duel before the game. As one both teams entered the room from different sides. The green and silver clad Slytherians were proud and arrogant as they made their way in, while the Gryffindors were a mixture of nerves the twins and Harry appeared to be like a jittery race horses while others like Ron who was looking like he was getting ready to eat his last meal after being told that his execution would be in fifteen minutes. The various people in the room were dressed in support for either of the houses to win and Luna Lovegood had an impressive Lion head piece on that roared occasionally in defiance.
Peter opened his mouth to make a joke when his Spider sense began to flare up. His head jerked, and he looked first toward the Slytherian table, then toward the head table where a small circle of energy was forming. "Kitty." He ordered. The girl's eyes jerked up, and she saw the small orb of blue, yellow, white and green energy that was growing rapidly.
"Students clear the area!" Dumbledore ordered, as he rose, as the orb grew from a swirl of lights no bigger than a small tome to nearly the size of one of the house tables. "Filius what is it?" Dumbledore questioned as his eyes scanned the crowd of students to see if any of them were doing this.
The small diminutive professor waved his wand casting a blue light at the giant round disk of swirling color that was now before them all. "I have no idea Dumbledore, I have never seen anything quiet like it." The small man said as he cast a handful of other spells at the circle.
Everyone gasped as a figure stepped through, the man wore black boots and pants, a pale blue tunic like shirt, a yellow sash tied around his waist, and a fancy red cloak with golden trim that had a giant golden object used to fasten the cloak around his throat. The man himself carried an aura of power that few could master, the cloak billowed in some unseen breeze behind him as the man stepped through the pool.. He was a pale skinned man with aristocratic features and eyes that were harder than even Snape's. The man had dark hair that had a line of white on either side. "Peter." The man said coolly as his eyes focused on the figure that had ignored Dumbledore's order.
"Doc." Peter returned with a nod, knowing that the man before him was likely to throw him across the room with a flick of his wrist if he played games right now. He ignored the incredulous looks that he was receiving from various people as they realized that this person that radiated power was not here to see either Harry Potter or Dumbledore, but rather a new person among their numbers.
"You are needed, the city calls for you once again." The man told the youth before him not wasting time. "Come, there is little time." The man gestured toward the pool of light that he had just come through.
"Hold!" Dumbledore said as he moved swiftly to stand between the two. "What is your business here with my student?" Dumbledore raised his wand warningly.
"My business is none of your concern wand waver, now leave us we have business to attend to." The dark haired man ordered to the wizard.
"Who are you that you think that you can take a student from my school?"
"Who am I?" Strange asked raising an eyebrow at the old man in front of him.
"Yeah, they don't get into the real world all that much you'll have to excuse them for their lack of knowledge." Peter said as he leaned against the table while the two faced off while he and Kitty both began drinking as much coffee and high energy foods as they could get their hands on.
"I see, then I shall tell you old wand waver. I am Dr. Stephen Strange, Sorcerer Supreme and Master of the Mystic Arts and wielder of the Eye of Agmotto!"
Dumbledore paled slightly, he had read a bit about the Sorcerer Supreme and knew that the person with that title was supposed to be some sort of mystical guardian of the Earth and now he was face to face with such a being. "Be that as it may, I cannot allow you to come and take my students whenever you feel." Perhaps this man was merely trying to fool him and scare him into backing down. At least he now knew where the Eye of Agmotto was, and now no longer had to worry about questioning Mr. Parker about the Eye, he just had to find the Orb and then take both of the mystical relics, and then he could prove himself and Harry to the wizarding world about Voldemort's return.
"Peter the Six have risen once again." Strange said over his shoulder.
"What? Can't Matt deal with them?"
"No, he is otherwise occupied, and there is no way of getting any of the others it must be you."
"Then we better go." Kitty said as she hopped off the table.
"Right." Peter agreed.
"Parker, Pryde sit down!" Snape ordered. "For a change do not cause difficulties."
"Will you let us pass peacefully?" Strange asked Dumbledore.
"I think not, rather you will be heading to the Ministry for entering the school unlawfully." Dumbledore returned.
"I think not." Strange said in return and with a wave of his hand he sent Dumbledore flying across the room.
"Stupefy!" A handful of voices cried, and half dozen red stunners came flying at the man.
"The Shield of the Seraphim!" Strange said, as he raised both of his hands and created a yellow disc with either hand that reflected the stunners away.
"I see that you intend to be difficult." Strange said, and raised his hands again and cast another spell at the wizards. "Crimson Bands of Cyttorak!" Red beams erupted from the man's hands and wrapped themselves around McGonagall, Flitwick, Sprout and Madame Pompfrey.
Snape snarled angrily as he watched over half of their numbers fall to the man with some unknown spell. Fortunately this man was not the only spell crafter here on this day, but there were a few spells he would try before he used anything with power in it. A blood boiling curse flew from his wand and the man actually ducked it while Umbridge created a chain to wrap around the man who shielded himself almost casually from both attacks.
"Enough Severus, if Dr. Strange wishes a fight then a fight he shall have." Dumbledore said as stalked forward.
"Another time perhaps wand waver." Strange said and raised his hands a large flash of light blinded everyone.
"Time to go." Peter said as he blindly lunged toward the portal with Kitty right behind him. Strange waited until the two were through before he rushed through himself, leaving the wizards and witches blind, their sight would return in a few minutes, besides he had more important thing to do than to battle with wand users. Strange passed through the swirling portal, which seemed to snap shut the moment that he was completely within it.
Dumbledore rubbed his eyes as the last of the spots cleared from his vision so that he could now see. "Minerva, would you please summon the Aurors I do believe that they should be made aware of this strange event don't you agree Madame Umbridge?" The toadish woman could only nod in agreement still in shock over the fact that one person had managed to take out so many fully trained witches and wizards, this had not been a part of the agreement that she had with the Minister. The two people ignored their dislike of each other and began going about destroying the red bindings on their fellow teachers.
"Shall we continue with the days activities Headmaster?" Hooch asked from the table.
Dumbledore paused for a moment before nodding. "Yes, I think it may help in distracting them while we attempt to figure out what exactly it is that happened here so that we may figure how we can react to this. We will also need to work on finding a way to block a repeat of that mode of travel for the safety of the school." Dumbledore wondered who Peter Parker was that the Sorcerer Supreme, if that was who the man really was that he required the assistance of the young boy.
"Students, if you would all head outside to the Quidditch pitch so that we can begin the much anticipated game and while you are doing that we can work without worrying about having you all being underfoot which will be something that will make you happy and the staff jealous while the aurors and warders come and investigate precisely how our mystery guest managed to spirit away young Mr. Parker and Miss Pryde.
Strange stepped out of the portal and stood beside the newly clothed Spiderman and Shadowcat who were a little disoriented from the travel. "Welcome home my friends."
"Home?" Spiderman asked as he slipped his mask off and looked around in surprise as he realized that he was actually in a room that he thought that he recognized. "No offense and all Doc, but this looks like a lab in the Baxter building."
"That's because it is Spiderman. Through those doors is elevator once we reach the roof you can learn why you have been recalled from your time of learning and healing."
"Right." Spiderman said as he and Shadowcat pushed the button to summon the elevator.
"Any particular reason why you summoned Spidey here from the Baxter Building?" Shadowcat asked as they stepped inside.
"It is near the middle of the city, making it one of the best places to stage out from with what is going on."
"And what is going on Doc?" Spiderman asked the Sorcerer curiously. "You mentioned that the Six were back up in business."
"Wait and see. For now all you need to know is that the Six have risen once again."
"Again?" Spiderman asked in disbelief. Before he could say anything else the elevator doors opened onto the roof and Spiderman walked through the open doors a change happened as he did though, the slumped and slightly defeated air he had had moments ago seemed to melt away and instead Spiderman walked with a steady poise. Shadowcat and Dr. Strange followed after him. As they walked out, they all saw several figures turn to face them. On one side was a dark skinned man that was nearly seven feet tall of nearly indestructible muscle the man wore a bright yellow shirt and jeans and a heavy chain for a belt. Next to him stood a man with a green ninja gi, a tattoo of a black on his chest and a yellow mask. Leaning arrogantly along the edge was a white man with black hair hard eyes wearing fatigue pants and a black shirt with a giant white skull on it. A figure in a white body suit with a cloak and hood with a crescent moon on his chest was seating beside him cleaning a gun. A tall woman with black hair in a red outfit was twirling a blade in her hands. "Power Man, Iron Fist, Punisher, Moon Knight, Elektra." Spiderman greeted his fellow street heroes, they were the ones that for the most part had kept the streets of New York safe for some time now, though Elektra and Punisher worked on a more global scale than the rest of them did, though at time Elektra did her Assassin gig. The group nodded in greeting as they saw one of their own return to them. On the other side of the building were four figures that nearly everybody in the world knew. The rock hided and orange colored giant figure who grunted a greeting to Spiderman was better known to the world as the ever loving blue-eyed Thing. Dwarfed by the mountain of a person was the blonde and beautiful Invisible Woman. A little to the side was a man whose neck was stretched downward like a giraffe's looking at a readout was Mr. Fantastic who was currently using some odd type of device to take some kind of scan or other at something. And hovering above the group was a figure that was covered in flames who smiled grimly at Spiderman.
"Web head." Johnny Storm, AKA the Human Torch greeted one of his closest friends in the super hero business. "Looks like someone finally hit a growth spurt." The hero said as he saw his friend was now a little taller than him.
"Match Stick." Spiderman returned to the burning figure that was hovering above the rest of the Fantastic Four. Spiderman then turned to look at the other street heroes. "What's the situation and where's DD? All Strange told me is that we're dealing with the Six."
"The situation is this wall crawler." Frank Castle, A.K.A Punisher said. "There are hostages and bombs all over the city. These bombs happen to be on the megaton scale, and if one goes off it'll start a chain reaction. Daredevil is currently being held by Dr. Octopus at the top of the Daily Bugle where he is coordinating everything. We believe that if we can take Octopus down though then we can get to the others."
"Why do I have a feeling there's more to it than that or else you guys would have already dealt with them."
"Your right, we've all had our hands tied in this all the way from the cops to the Avengers, Spiderman." Power Man said glaring at the teen as if it was somehow his fault. "The Sinister Six made it very clear that if any heroes other than you came then they would go ahead and trigger the bombs."
"And Dare Devil being captured?"
"They wanted to make sure it was actually you, and not someone else that was in your costume Spider." A voice said, as a new figure landed on the roof. Everyone turned to look at the woman that was in front of them, a black body suit with a low neckline white gloves and boots with bits of white fur a head full of white hair and a mask that covered the top of her face, but let people see the full pouty lips that she had.
"Cat." Spiderman greeted the Black Cat, a former villain and now ally in crime fighting. "So they need to see me before they'll even start a fight?"
"Yeah its really got some of the Avengers ticked that they're helpless to help the city despite the fact that they're some of the best, and have to hold back and let a local deal with the problem." Power Man said with a smirk as he told the young hero about the feelings of the more publicized heroes having to sit this one out.
"Okay, who do we have?"
Reed Richards arm stretched out toward a set of controls and a holographic emitter hummed to life. "The Shocker, Green Goblin, Sandman, Hydro Man, Electro, and Dr Octopus are the only ones that we've seen so far, if there are more members to the group we have yet to see them so for now we're calling them the Sinister Six."
"Have they actually called themselves that or are we just guessing?" Spiderman questioned the scientist.
"Yeah, they called themselves that webs." Thing said as he clenched his fist in anger as he watched a building not to far away. Spiderman looked down and saw that on a building below them and several blocks away was one of the villains holding an unconscious Dare Devil spread eagle in a harness of some type. "Course a few hours ago we saw several other new figures join up with them the idea of taking out Dare Devil has gotten to be to much for them."
"Who?"
"So far we've seen Bullseye, Hyde, Tombstone and we've seen some of the Owl's people around as well so there's a chance that he'll be around as well Spiderman. They are on some of the other buildings waiting and watching for any heroes to make a move they have created a particularly impressive net to catch any heroes in."
"Thanks Iron Fist. It sounds like they have a large number of people then." Spiderman said as he looked at the images of the various criminals each with their own abilities that could easily take him out if he let them, it would take careful planning to get by all of these guys. "They also seem to be putting on a bit of a show for all of this don't you guys think?"
"Yeah they are."
"Well then, I guess we'll have to return the favor then." Spiderman said as he looked at a map that showed where each criminal was waiting for him to pop up. "Shadowcat."
"Yeah?"
"I need you to get in touch with the X-Men, we need Iceman for this to be perfect, we could probably do it without him but we need him to make it work at its best."
"Right, I'll call the Mansion and see if they know where he is." Shadowcat said as she headed for the communication station that they had set up nearby.
"So what now?"
"We can try and keep them busy, or we can wait for the popsicle to show up Johnny."
"If the rest of you can see a way to disable the crooks once their attention is on us. Punisher, Moon Knight you two are our best weapons experts after Richards and probably have the best chance of disabling the bombs.
"Also keep us away from all of the lowlifes as well right wall crawler." Moon Knight said looking at the other hero carefully.
Spiderman shrugged at this. "I'd rather not have to worry about arguing about it, and thought that this way it would save the rest of us the trouble of doing it."
"Yo! Someone call for a real hero?" A cocky voice asked, everyone turned and smiled as they saw that Iceman had created and ice ramp up to them.
"Popsicle, great to see you." Spiderman said, as he grabbed the icy figure in a brotherly hug.
"Is it time to rock?" Johnny asked as he dropped to the ground next to the other two.
"Oh yeah." Bobby Drake said as he flexed his muscles cracking his ice armor. "And its up to us to save the day once again." The three of them grinned in anticipation.
"Great, the three stooges are at it again." The Thing said covering his eyes tiredly.
"Leave them alone Ben." Susan Richards told her friend.
"Yeah, cause if you don't I'll phase the ledge your leaning on and let you go for a trip." Shadowcat said with an evil gleam in her eyes nodding to the street that was a long distance beneath them. "That's the first time I've heard him sound even remotely happy in a long time, so if you don't mind staying off their case for a little bit."
"All right, all right." Thing said holding his hands up in surrender to the two. "I'll let them have their happy moment."
"Good." The two said, before turning back to watching the three friends joke around.
Bobby and Johnny grinned as they activated their powers and jumped off of the roof, this was going to be fun. The duo reached the perimeter that supers were currently allowed in getting close to one of the buildings.
"That's far enough Torchie." The Green Goblin said as his glider shot up into the air between the heroes and target area to let the two elementals know that they were being watched.
"Thanks for the memo big guy." Johnny said as he began to create a ring of fire in the air.
"And what do you think your doing?" The figure in green and purple questioned them, as he considered all the possible things that a ring of fire might be used for.
"Why getting you what you wanted of course, now if you'll just hang on one minute you'll find out just what we mean." Iceman said he then created a large megaphone made of ice that magnified his voice as he yelled into it. Fearful people whom had been waiting for the city's heroes to make a move against the Sinister sSix and their bomb threat all paused and turned to look at the two young heroes. "Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, heroes and villains, babes and beer gut people! It is with extreme pleasure that I present to you back by popular demand though I don't know why at the height of five feet ten inches and weighing at 167 pounds, wearing the dorky red and blue with black lines on it. The one, the only, the Amazing Spiderman!"
Spiderman jumped through the ring of fire that Johnny had made coming through feet first and spinning. "How ya doing Gobby?" Spiderman asked, as his feet connected with the Green Goblin's face knocking the Green Goblin off balance, as he then flipped off the criminals face and shot webbing in the middle of his flip, one burst covering the Goblin's face while the other webbed the weapons satchel closed.
"Oh yeah!" Johnny cheered, as they watched the Green Goblin loose control and go down.
"You guys and the others handle getting the others, but leave the six to me." Spiderman said. "We can't take the chance that they'll think we cheated if things don't go exactly as we want it to."
The two shook their heads. "We're going as crowd control webhead, you can deal with your bad guys and we'll deal with their friends to make sure that they don't try and interfere."
"Fine if you guys insist."
"We do."
"Then lets go have some fun." Spiderman said as he dove for the building. The other two heroes grinned, and jumped after their friend.
Dr. Otto Octavius better known to the world as Dr. Octopus watched one of the multiple screen that had views on all of the various members of the Sinister Six and their allies. The man grinned broadly as the Green Goblin came crashing down. "So you have finally returned have you my wall crawling pest."
"What are you rambling about now Octopus?" Jameson asked from where he was tied to a chair alongside the other core workers while Dr. Octopus lounged in his office watching everything happening on the multiple screens that Mysterio and Green Goblin had brought in.
"Why its very simple really Jameson. I would have thought even you could have figured out what it was that I was talking about actually." Octavius said as if he was talking to a ignorant child.
"Well then why don't you explain it to me then Octopus." Jameson growled as he bit down on his cigar
The webslinger has fallen for our bait and is even now heading for us. How he intends to get past all of the other various people that are currently watching should be interesting." Octavious turned to watch another screen and grinned. "Ah I see, he has a number of his other friends dealing with them while he and his two joking partners are heading this way. I can't help but wonder what Spiderman will think when he gets here and sees some of the articles that you have on your wall though Jameson." The man in a green body suit said as he gestured with his hand at the various newspaper articles that were hanging on one wall. 'SPIDERMAN MENACE GONE?' 'GLORYHOUND ARACHNID M.I.A?' 'TRUE HEROES OF NEW YORK.' 'SPIDERMAN GUIDING THE UNDERWORLD?' 'A CITY WITHOUT A WALLCRAWLER.' SPIDERWATCH DISBANDED.' The list of articles just continued .and some were insulting while others were hinting at what Spiderman may or may not have done or where he could be. "Yes, I can hardly wait to hear what Spiderman has to say to you when this comes up." Octopus said with a sneer.
"Just you wait till I get out of this!" Jameson said glaring. "I'll see to it that you rot behind bars."
"Please Jameson how are you going to do that?" Dr. Octopus taunted the man with a malicious smile. "Think about it for a moment you fool. Without Spiderman to save you from your various mistakes your in a large amount of trouble. Just imagine all of the troubles you'll get from people like Brock or Gargan no longer able to help you out from your various problems that you created." Jameson swallowed at that, the idea of either of those two deciding to take their revenge out on him was enough to cause even him to pause. Or maybe Smythe will pop back up and decide to exact revenge over something to do with his pathetic Spider Slayers once again."
You can't scare me like that." Jameson blustered at the criminal.
"On the contrary Jameson, I can and will if I so choose to and there is nothing at all that you can do about it." Dr. Octopus said as he turned away from the man to watch what Spiderman and his old comrades in arms would do now that they had been allowed into the perimeter. He would have to make sure that Hydroman and Sandman dealt with the mutant and meta-human if they became a problem in their plans, otherwise he would let them accompany the hero.
Spiderman landed in front of the green Goblin gracefully, while said criminal was busy tearing the webbing off of his face and bag. "Long time no see Gobby. I guess I've been just the most horrible person around huh? I never write, I never call, and I even forget to send you my new address. Can you believe that I actually did all of that? I sure can't, particular after all of the times that I've griped at all of you about not extending me the same courtesy."
"Well Spiderman now you know what its like to be busy." The Green Goblin growled as he leaped back up onto his glider and tossed some razor bats at the hero as he lifted off.
"Yeah, yeah everybody's a critic these days." Spiderman quipped as he leaped over the weapons and shot a web line that connected to the glider and the two took off.
"Um think we should help him?" Iceman asked, as the two young teens watched the two enemies take their fight up into the skies.
"Your kidding right? The guy is having the time of his life, besides I think we just got some company of our own." The Human Torch said, as he nodded to the door where a bunch of thugs were coming out carrying a variety of weapons.
"Okay lets see who can take out the most shall we?"
"Lets." The two then charged at the group of toughs ducking and weaving as they went.
Spiderman grunted as he was rammed in the side by the glider. "How's it feel Parker, to know that after all this time that your going to die?"
"Well I've been dead before didn't suit me all that much, and of course hell threw you out Osborn." Spiderman said as he grabbed onto the glider and pushed himself up and did a quick handstand delivering a quick kick to the Goblin before releasing his hold and shot another web line and pulled himself toward a building that was under construction.
Norman Osborn gasped a bit, Parker had hit him in the gut quiet a lot harder than he had thought that he was capable of hitting him it would appear that Parker was playing for keeps at the moment, either that or the young man's new hight meant an increase in muscle as well. Shaking himself the Green Goblin flew after Parker, he was going to put an end to the pest right here and now. The Goblin tossed a handful of pumpkin bombs and growled in annoyance as Parker casually danced out of the way of the various blasts despite the fact that he was still on a web line.
"So tell me Gobby how do I stop the bombs from going off?" Spiderman said as he squatted on a girder.
"Quiet simple really there's a disarming code but it requires six keys to deactivate."
"And let me guess, each of you guys have one of the keys on you, making it so that I have to take you out so that I can stop your little plan from working. Does that about cover it?"
"Right as always Spiderman. So, shall we fight."
"Well its not like your leaving me a whole lot of choice." Spiderman said, as he lunged forward faster than the Green Goblin had been expecting and managed to slam both of his fists into the villain, knocking him from his glider.
The two grappled with each other and the Green Goblin began to wonder how it was that his nemesis was staying around and still hitting as hard as he was. "You've changed boy." The Goblin said as threw a handful of bombs at the boy. "You seem stronger and faster somehow."
"Nah, that's just me eating my wheaties." Spiderman said as he created a web trampoline sending the bombs flying back at the villain who leaped to the side as they exploded.
Growling the Green Goblin raised his hand and sent a beam of electrical power through his glove at the web wall and burned though it. The Green Goblin growled even louder though when he saw that Spiderman had disappeared into the shadows while the net had blocked his view. "Come now Spiderman, aren't you just a little bit old to be playing hide and seek?" He questioned as he pulled out a pumpkin bomb and a handful of razor bats and began walking across the beam cautiously.
"If you say so." Spiderman's voice said, as he threw a pail of red hot bolts at him.
The Goblin ducked the shots, and threw his own weapons. The Goblin grinned, as he saw that some of his razor bats had caught Spiderman that time. A small explosion behind him caused him to turn to see that parts of his glider were now damaged. "I'm going to kill you for that Spiderman."
"What just for that?" Spiderman joked as he landed on a beam a couple of stories above the Green Goblin. "What about all of the other gliders that I've destroyed over the years, or what about some of your fancy gizmos that I've taken out? What was so special about that one glider that you feel the need to kill me over it?"
The Goblin tossed more of his pumpkin bombs trying to catch him by surprise and was completely focused on bring the hero down and was therefore a bit surprised when one of the beams that he had thrown his pumpkin bombs at broke free and slammed into him pinning him. Spiderman took advantadge of the situation and webbed the beam to the one that had the Green Goblin pinned. "Alright Goblin where is the key?" Spiderman demanded panting slightly from all of the dodging he had been forced to do. "Or do I start beating on you until you talk?"
"In my belt." Osborn spat out. Spiderman nodded and moved his hands carefully into the belt until he found the key.
"Thanks Gobby, I'm sure that someone will be along after this is all over to take you to the Raft. Until then though why don't you just wait it out up here. I mean, with all of the weight on your mind and body right now I'm sure you'll thank me someday for that." Spiderman said with a sarcastic air before he leaped off the ledge.
Spiderman landed on a nearby building and held his ribs for a moment as he assessed the damage that he gotten. Should be alright for a few more fights. Spiderman mumbled to himself as he saw that Iceman and the Human Torch were heading towards him. "What kept the two of you?" He questioned them as if he had been waiting on them.
"Sorry, but we ran into some wannabe Yancy Street toughs." Human Torch said.
"Well come on we have other people to go and save, and bad guys that need humiliating." Spiderman told the pair before he jumped off the building, with the other two following after him as they resumed their trip towards the Bugle.
Octopus growled at this as he watched the trio come closer. "Gentlemen, the Green Goblin has fallen, it is time for the next act. If you would please take your positions." This new Spiderman seemed to be slightly stronger he would enjoy defeating him.
Spiderman grunted as he sped through the air he really needed to get this done he was only glad that the time difference between New York and Scotland was only around five or six hours giving him enough time that he wasn't completely exhausted. He was about to shoot another web line when a familiar beam of energy blasted the air right in front of him. Spiderman did a couple of back flips up the wall and turned to see a familiar figure in a yellow and red costume. Shocker. Spiderman greeted as he saw the criminal. "Still posing as a walking quilt I see."
"Says the guy dressed in long underwear." Shocker returned to the hero.
"Fair enough." Spiderman said, ignoring the snorts of amusement from his friends who were now sitting nearby and watching the two as they prepared themselves for a fight. Spiderman dropped to the ground before Shocker could fire another bolt at him. "So tell me, how you want to do this? Do I humiliate you, or do you just hand over that key?"
"You want it wall crawler, then your going to have to come and get it." Shocker said gesturing for the hero to come up close to him.
"Yeah right like I'm going to forget what those toys of yours do. Spiderman said as he shot a web line out catching shocker by the ankle and began spinning the man around. He released after a moment and watched as the man slammed into a building leaving cracks in it, but he still managed to pull himself out of the hole. "You know, there's something about this whole thing that I just don't get. If that bomb of yours does go off you guys will die to and you won't have won anything. Now I can understand most of them for doing this since most of you guys are crazy enough to think the results are worth it. Then there's you though, your less on the insanely crazy side and more on the coldly calculating side."
"Is there a point to this?" Shocker asked as he charged a gauntlet and made a swiping motion. Spiderman flipped over the wave of energy and winced as he saw the cracks in the wall behind him. "Or are you just trying to bore me to death?"
"Nah you know me, I have a strictly no kill policy even when it comes to moronic people like you Quilt Man. What I mean is, why blow up New York and still be in New York?"
"Simple really wall crawler, we made a friend that agreed to teleport all of the crooks out of New York if they were agreeing to help out with this little job."
"Which means that everyone has some sort of transporter signal on them that will yank you all away a moment or two before the bombs reach critical then." Spiderman said as he shot another web line, but cursed as he saw that the man had activated his suits force field, there was now no way that he could physically touch the guy since he didn't really want to deal with the bone jarring pain that came with touching the guy and all of his web attacks were now useless as well.
"Something wrong web head?" Shocker asked with a smirk as he shot another beam of sound energy at Spiderman, who was clipped in the legs and sent flying across the street into a dumpster.
"All right that hurt." Spiderman muttered before he back flipped up behind the dumpster and pushed it as hard as he could.
Shocker dove to the side of the street as the dumpster flew past. "Are you trying to make me more mad at you than I actually am?" He snarled as he fired a double blast at the person that had stopped him so many times.
"Why is it that everyone thinks that its personal when ever I throw something at them?" Spiderman questioned quipped. "I mean sure I'm not your number one fan, but its not like that would have really killed you all it would have done was run you over. And do I act like its personal when you guys try and shoot me or threaten to do stuff like eat my various internal organs?"
"Maybe I should run you over." Shocker said as he began charging his gauntlets up for one of there more powerful blasts.
"Now Shocker, I know you may find this shocking but I really can't let you do that." Spiderman said as picked up an old pipe and lunged at Shocker. "My super hero health insurance didn't get paid the last couple of months, so I have no medical coverage right now." He was nearly there when the villain released the energy slamming Spiderman back the way that he had come. Spiderman slowly got back up painfully, he already had some bruises from Goblin and now the ones that were forming on top of them from Shocker and he was only on bad guy number two. Flipping back up Spiderman threw a piece of broken street at Shocker who casually shot it out of the air. "Not bad shooting cowboy, but how long do you think you can keep that up though?" Spiderman questioned, and then began fling all sorts of street chunks at the yellow clothed man.
Shocker's arms were jerking all over the place as he tried to stop the small concrete missiles that were coming in at faster and faster rates one of them finally got past his defenses and struck one of his gauntlets. The criminal rolled to the side to examine the damage done, and while he checked it Spiderman leaped into the air and came down with both feet connecting with his head dazing the criminal.
"How are you still walking?" The dazed Shocker said as he looked at the wall crawler who was casually standing there in front of him. "My force field should have broken you legs when you kicked me."
"Simple really Shocker." Sopiderman said as if he was a teacher. "I can cling to walls remember? All I did was hang onto some street when I jumped up and nailed you with the street instead of my feet. Spiderman then squeezed the other gauntlet causing sparks to flare up as the last bits of power died out and then gave the man a knockout punch. "And that's all that she wrote." Spiderman said as he knelt down to the crumpled form that was now unprotected and found the key. Its been fun Shocker we'll have to do this again sometime. Spiderman said as he jumped back into the air and caught a light pole he swung on it a couple of times before he launched himself even higher into the air.
Octopus shook his head in satisfaction. Yes the fools were tiring Spiderman out nicely, and while it was true that Spiderman had yet to show any new abilities it was always better to be safe than sorry on things like this.
Spiderman was nearly to the Daily Bugle and then he could deal with disabling that bomb. Torch contact the Baxter building and find out if Punisher has left yet.
"Right." The Human Torch said as he touched the communicator. "Reed, Sue has the Punisher left yet?"
"Yes he's already gone." Susan said to her brother dryly. "Did you really expect him to hang around when he had a mission?"
"Alright well call him up and warn him that the bombs have six keys that are required to arm and disarm them. Spidey has managed to get his hands on the first two, we'll tell you when we manage to get our hands on the other ones though."
"Understood, just be careful Johnny. Knowing the Six each key is different."
"Hey its us, there's no one that can stand against the three of us when we're together." Johnny said flashing his sister a charming grin. "We're almost as good as the team when we're working together."
"You three are some of the most impulsive ones as well." Susan pointed out to her brother with a small laugh before she cut the signal.
"Whatever." The Human Torch said as he joined the other two young men.
"So, who do we have next?"
"Doc Ock will probably be last so that he can get the most out of his gloating time." Spiderman told the two as he thought about who he had left to fight. His friends nodded in understanding, they knew what it was like to sit and listen to someone talk about their master plan while they were apparently helpless. "That means its either Sandman, Hydro Man or Electro that are waiting for us next." Spiderman nodded, the fact was that while any of them could probably fight the people that he was talking about the psychos wanted him, which meant that he had to come in here and hope that things turned out all right. As it was most of the other heroes were stuck and waiting to make their move until after he managed to get the Six cleaned out since their was no grantee that they wouldn't set their bombs off of they started taking out all of the various smaller criminals in the surrounding areas.
"Well lets go shall we?" Ice Man asked his companions impatiently. "I do have other things that I have planned to do today you know."
"Ah keep your icicles on frosty, we're coming." The Human Torch shot at the mutant.
"Whatever you say hot head." Ice Man returned with a mischievous grin.
Before either of the two could make any more jokes based on each other's abilities a surge of electricity sprang forth and struck both of the heroes knocking them back against a wall. "I don't know how you three ever get anything done with all of the arguing that you boys do." Electro said as he looked at the figure that was left of the heroic trio. Spiderman stood there defiantly and glared at the man with electrical powers who had ambushed his friends. The man was dressed in a green jumpsuit with a half face mask and a number of yellow bands all around his outfit in the shape of lightning bolts. The man had visible arcs of electrical power "Long time no see Web slinger." Electro greeted with a sneer as he created a ball of electrical power and tossed it back and forth from hand to hand as if it was a baseball. I was starting to think that you were going to let us let loose with those bombs. "Not that I would have lost any sleep over it, but it would have been kind of surprising if you had stayed out of it."
"So is there a reason you guys made me come out of my training? Are you telling me that you guys actually missed me, or is it just more of the same old petty revenge stuff that you guys are all so in love with? I swear you guys have some of the biggest egos I've ever seen. Granted they're not as big as Doom's but still plenty big."
"Would you shut up and die wall crawler!" Electro yelled, as he took the ball of energy and threw it at the hero.
Spiderman expertly jumped into the air and did the splits in the air allowing the ball of energy to sail underneath his legs. "Some people just can't seem to take a joke." Spiderman complained, as he grabbed a brick and tossed it toward Electro who didn't even move as a blast of electrical power jumped from his force field and met with the brick shattering it.
"Yeah, well when I'm done with you it'll be a real blast!" Electro said as he began to throw just pure energy at the hero who was doing a number of gymnastics that no other person would be able to duplicate. "In fact, I'll be feeling really energized after I've taken care of you web head."
"Hey come on you ugly over grown energizer bunny reject! The bad jokes are our department not yours." Ice Man said as he shot a blast of ice at the criminal.
"Yeah leave the jokes and witty banter to the professionals." Torch said as he fired a stream of flames at Electro.
"Then why do you do it?" Spiderman asked as he added some small web pellets that struck at their target.
"Har, har." Torch said, as he increased the heat, while Ice Man increased the cold. Spiderman stopped shooting since none of his shots really mattered, since they were either frozen or burned before they got to their target. "How much of this do you think that he can take anyways?"
An electrical shockwave knocked them all back into a nearby building. "I can take a lot more than you can Torch." Electro gloated as he brushed the burn marks off of his costume.
"You know Electro, sometimes I am truly amazed and thankful at your level of stupidity." Spiderman said from where he had been blasted.
"Really? Then maybe you should be the first to die!" Electro said, as he fired a burst of energy which struck Spiderman and disappeared. "What, but how?"
"Your still not the brightest bulb in the box are you Electro? Its simple really, you knocked us into a guy store that seems to have everything from spare tires." Spiderman said as he gestured to the stack of tires behind him.
"To rubber gloves." Ice Man said as he pulled the gloves on. "Hey guys how does that scene in that Roger Rabbit movie go again? Oh yeah 'These are not kid gloves Mr. Valiant.' Think I got a chance at the movies?"
"No way, you'll need to do a lot more practicing before they'll let you do something like that. I can give you some of the much needed pointers that you need if you want though." The Human Torch offered.
"This isn't over yet heroes." Electro said using their friendly bickering as a chance to put himself away from the protection that the rubber gave the three.
"Torchie stay with him, we'll follow after we get some of this stuff." Spiderman ordered.
The Human Torch nodded. "FLAME ON!" He cried out, and flew after the fleeing villain. The two began their twisting and turning chase one on leaving a trail of white and blue while the other left a trail of red and orange.
"Give it up boy! There's no way that you could ever catch me." Electro shouted over his shoulder.
"Say Electro I got to ask you a question, have you ever had a hot foot?" The Torch asked as he began firing fireballs at the figure aiming for the feet that were pointed at him.
"You honestly think that your little fireballs are going to stop me you fool?" Electro questioned as he changed course and soon the two were engaged in a miniature dog fight where they were both throwing their multi colored weapons of choice around in the air lighting the sky up with a small rainbow of color. Their flight patterns included loop de loops, cork screws, power dives and strafing runs, where the weapons were thrown like over sized snow balls orr water balloons. Electro disappeared from view, and while the Torch was looking he was struck from behind by an extremely powerful burst of electricity that sent the Human Torch plummeting to the ground.
"I am the greatest." The man said with a evil grin as he peered down at his helpless foe.
"Yo, tire-o-gram for Electro!" Spiderman said as he used a giant tire tired onto the end of a piece of webbing to swing around like a medieval weapon.
While Electro stumbled from the blow a rubber encased Ice Man rushed in on an ice slide and lunged at Electro and managed to send a hearty left jab that finally knocked Electro out. "Oh yeah, who's the best?" Ice Man cheered, as he stood over the fallen form of Electro.
"Yeah that's great, now lets get the key and move on, we still have at least three more bad guys to deal with before the city can officially be counted as saved from the latest menace that threatened their peaceful lives where they were free to abuse us poor and misunderstood heroes that they can claim are really a part of the problem."
Bobby nodded in silent agreement as he fished around in Electro's costume until he found the key that they needed to disarm Electro's part of the bombs. "Here you go web head, one bomb key just like you ordered."
"Geeze and its just my size to." Spiderman mocked as he stuck the key with the rest.
"All right lets go, we still have people to see and humiliate." The Human Torch said, as his body lighted back up and he took off leading his friends toward the Daily Bugle.
The three heroes landed on the roof, and looked up at the figure in dark red that was tied down spread eagle and hanging in the air. "Hang on there D.D, and we'll get you down from there." Spiderman hollered out to his friend as he began to head toward the man. He performed a large leap that took him high up into the air.
"Uhh. Spiderman?" Dare Devil asked tiredly from where he was hanging. What are you doing here your supposed to be.
"Yeah on personal leave I know." Spiderman broke in before his friend could let something slip while he was hurt. "But when the Sinister Six try and blow up New York unless I come and fight them, you can imagine how it is. You should have seen the looks on some of the people's faces when Shadowcat and I left though. Not everyone was really willing for us to just up and leave like that. It's a real good thing that Dr. Strange was willing to come and play travel agent for us or else it probably would have taken someone like Thor to pull us out."
"I'll be checking into that later on." Dare Devil said with a growl. "I'm sure that Thor or Strange will help me get there if I need to come and help you with things."
Whatever now you rest here a moment while we try and get to Ock and the others. Torch said as he patted the vigilante on the shoulder.
"You won't have to look all that far my dear hot headed friend." A voice said, as the door to the roof opened, and Dr. Octopus came out of the room. On either side of the man sand and water quickly spun around in small tornado like frenzies until Hydro-Man and Sandman were both standing with their arms crossed over their chests as they finished forming themselves. The two hired muscle looked the same as ever. Sandman was still as square jawed as ever and wearing his cargo pants and green striped shirt, while Hydro-Man was wearing his black shirt and jeans.
"Doc its been a while." Spiderman greeted the man in green, with pair of black sunglasses covering his eyes, with three of his metal tentacles writhing around on the ground and air in anticipation of the fight that was to come while the other remained hidden in the stairway. Spiderman couldn't help but be wary Dr. Octopus was one of his most formidable enemies ever. The man was the worlds leading expert on Nuclear Radiation, and a gifted inventor with next to no mercy when it came to things, and that was without counting the abilities that his arms gave him when he was using them to either maim or kill someone.
"Spiderman." Octopus said with a cruel, and slightly insane grin. "I always knew that you hadn't been destroyed yet. I knew that one that had stood up to the mighty Dr. Octopus would not be able to just die in the shadows like many believed had happened to you. At the most I figured you were having another period of self doubt and were attempting to figure your place in the grand schemes of the world once again in your never ending quest to find a sort of balance in your life."
"Yeah well sorry, but there's no prize for you on guessing correctly on that." Spiderman shot off at the former scientist, as he balanced on the balls of his feet in anticipation of the fight that was to come. I've got to ask you though what was the point of setting all of this up for anyways Ock? The bombs the keys to stop at the Daily Bugle and I'm betting that you have that Flat-Top, old Jolly Jameson himself on the arm that you have hidden in the stair well.
"Correct Spiderman." Dr. Octopus said grudgingly, as he pulled out the last of his arms, which was coiled around Jameson a couple of times.
"Well at least you had the since to gag him with duct tape." Spiderman said with relief. "I swear that the guy can be a real earful when he wants to be, unfortunately he's an earful almost all of the time now that I think about it."
"Quiet true Spiderman. Personally I was amazed that the man was still alive without you being around to protect the fool from the consequences of his actions." Jameson glared at the two of them as they insulted him and began trying to make some sort of noise through the duct tape, but was unable to be heard. "Do stop struggling Jameson, I have more important things to worry about than whether or not you are going to sit down and behave like an intelligent being would when placed in a similar position." Octopus growled out in warning to the sharp-tongued publisher as he wiggled and squirmed helplessly in the grasp of the metal tentacle that was coiled around him. Octopus then turned his attention back toward Spiderman. "You are correct of course Spiderman, in that all of this was made as a target for you to return. You are one of a handful of beings that I have never been able to completely destroy, making you something of a personal problem. Since the very beginning of my career as a man of true power you have been there to thwart me time and again, no matter what. Sure there were the occasional times when I seemed to be ahead of you because of various reasons, but then you would somehow make a comeback through some type of unknown luck that would allow you to humiliate me time and again. I know that none shall take me seriously unless I prove myself the superior to you. So shall the Master Planner and Doctor Octopus finally be rid of you once in for all in personal combat."
"Again?" Spiderman asked the man in mock surprise. "You mean to tell me you arranged all of this just so that you and I could have another one of our little slugfests that usually take up around a quarter of the city?" He questioned the man.
"Dude you so need to get yourself a new hobby." Iceman criticized from where he was watching the two enemies face off with each other.
"No kidding man." The Human Torch nodded in agreement with his friend. "I mean seriously Doc, Spiderman is gone and out of the way, and instead of using that to your advantage you go and pick a fight with the one guy you know for sure will somehow manage to whip your butt. Do you really fear success that much?"
"Not that we're complaining mind you, its been great getting the chance to team up and catch up with Spidey here."
"Yeah and if you had asked I could have forwarded any mail you had to him so that the two of you could have stayed in contact and continued your oh so witty conversations."
"Of course, if you had done that then you would have had to say please."
"And Thank You." Human Torch added.
"To get it where you wanted it to go." Iceman finished for them.
Then of course there's the fact that after this he's going to be just about unbearable."
"Yeah, and his ego is going to sky rocket after all of this, and its all because you went through all this trouble to target him."
"Do you really think-"
"That he needs any more of an ego-"
"Than he already has?"
"Hey I resent that!"
"Its sad."
"But true."
"Says the guys that have to work on teams to do anything of real worth." Spiderman shot at them.
"Bah, after today it will not matter." Octopus said angrily. "Sandman, Hydro-Man deal with the annoyances little friends while I deal with the bug personally."
"I'll say it again doc. Spiders are not bugs they are arachnids. Surely you know this after all of the time that I've spent telling you this." Spiderman said tiredly, as he repeated the usual part of any fight he had. "You're the boss." Sandman said shrugging as his arms changed into a giant hammer and a giant mace made out of sand. Come on Torchie its just you and me now none of your precious little family to save you from me this time. This time I'm going to snuff you out permanently!"
"Yeah right I'll believe that like never." The Human Torch said cockily with a smirk, as he rose into the air. "Shall we take this fight to the ground where we have more room to go after all this is Spidey's and Ock's dancing square."
Sounds like a plan in fact I'll even let ya go down first! Sandman said as he raised his arm and shot a stream of sand at the Human Torch knocking him out of the air and into a free fall.
"Guess that means its you and me huh X-Man?" Hydro Man said as he cracked his knuckles.
"You better believe it water boy." Iceman returned, and before he could react he was hit with a geyser of water that tossed him off of the roof.
"Why is it that the hero idgits is always so easy to sucker blast off of buildings?"
"No idea Sandman, but I believe that right now it is time to deal with someone else."
"Good." The other two criminals said as they reared their fists back each fist turning into either sand or water and fired. Spiderman shot a web line at a radio transmitter and hauled himself up, barely avoiding the blast that would have either knocked him off the roof or slammed him into the tower.
"Hey Marko were not done yet!" The Human Torch said as he came flying up Iceman was hanging onto his unlit arms.
"Well there's my ride." Spiderman shouted as he did a hand spring and caught onto Iceman's legs. "Take us down Torch!"
"Got it."
The three power dived downward moving away from the criminals. They landed and Iceman iced himself up. "What now web head we wait for them to come after us?"
"Exactly ". Spiderman said pointing to either side of the street that showed the two hired muscle landing and reforming themselves. The trio looked up in the air to see Octopus preparing to head down to them. "Like you said earlier Torch that's our dancing square and I do believe that they're playing our song. Think you guys can handle things down here?"
"Of course we can, you make it sound like they're actually going to stop us."
"Yeah these guys are going to be begging us for mercy when we get done with them."
"Better hurry up and beat Ock though, or we'll be forced to help you with how long it takes us."
"To wipe the street with these two."
"Have fun then." Spiderman said as jumped onto a light pole and the shot a web line towards the roof, where Octopus was now waiting for him as he saw that Spiderman was on his way back up to fight with him.
"Shall we?"
"Lets. Besides, Spidey is not the only one of us that can beat a bad guy on his own right?"
"Right."
The two heroes turned to face the ones that the already said that they would fight. "Well like Ben always says its clobbering time. FLAME ON!"
The two heroes went at their opponents. Sandman and Hydroman laughed as the fire and ice were absorbed into their bodies. The elemental attacks while dangerous to them lacked the amount of power that was required to. Laughing the two of them formed themselves into the elements and began launching small attacks at the duo. Iceman grunted as he formed an ice shield that Hydro man with his water was doing his best to melt away. Nothing that Iceman did really seemed to even phase the guy as he merely absorbed the attacks and returned the liquefied ice right back at him.
The Human Torch wasn't faring much better, as his attacks were not hurting Sandman enough to do anything like harden him into glass or something. In fact the young man was spending more of his time dodging right now than he was in actually fighting the guy. He thought in annoyance, as he dodged another three swipes with various sand crafted weapons before he had a chance to launch a pair of fireballs toward Sandman before he was forced to veer away again as a giant sand mallet barely missed him.
How did Spidey manage to beat guys like this with his powers? The two thought as they continued their attacks.
The other vigilantes had followed after the three slipping in and out of buildings and shadows so that now that the fight was going on they were just a couple of blocks away from the Bugle and ready to go in. "Do they have all of the Six occupied?"
"Yes."
"All right then move in." Shadowcat ordered to the various vigilantes from her hiding place. "You guys we either need to take down or keep the extra non powered guys busy while those three are dealing with the last half of the Six. Power Man you need to find Tombstone and keep him busy. Elecktra you need to get to the roof and assist Dare Devil as soon as possible ,but be careful Dr. Octopus is still up there with at least one hostage. Iron Fist, Black Cat, Punisher, Moon Knight and I will handle the people on the inside of the Bugle. Watch out for any new players everybody I can't believe that we've seen everybody yet."
"And how do you plan on getting through the front doors?" Black Cat asked the mutant with a smirk.
"Power Man, Punisher, Moon Knight go. You're the first wave." Captain America's voice came over a radio. "You need to draw the attention and block the doorway of anyone trying to get through. Shadowcat and Black Cat phase through a wall and began making sure that every one is safe and looking for that bomb. The Avengers and the rest of the Fantastic Four are going to standby for the moment to many heroes may cause the Six to notice us all."
"You got some potential kid." Punisher told Shadowcat who nodded as he pulled out a pair of guns. "Don't worry about your backs though. Power Man, Iron Fist, and I will keep them busy." He promised as he headed for the front door.
"Come on lets go." Black Cat said as she shot out her grappling hook and then grabbed onto the mutant and swung the two of them up a few stories so that they could slip in. The two aimed their feet at the wall and phased right through it into an empty office. "Come on we need to make sure the place is clear." Black Cat said as she began heading for the door and carefully opened it. She looked down the hallway and held back a groan. Standing with his back turned to them was Hammerhead head of the Mafia. "What's he doing here? He and Octopus hate each other."
"Money makes you do weird things." Shadowcat said to her. "Maybe the payoff was to much for him to ignore."
"Probably. Black Cat conceded to Spider's new partner something that made her a bit jealous. She had long since gotten over her romantic feelings for the hero, but she still cared deeply for him and hated the idea that she was being replaced by this mutant girl as an ally. "Come on we need to deal with these goons." Shadowcat nodded as they sprang into action.
Spiderman meanwhile had returned to the roof and was now face to face with Octopus. "Impressive Spiderman, its not often that one sees you use underlings. Usually something must draw the three of you together before you will work together and that has happened so rarely."
"What can I say, I'm just full of surprises today. Spiderman said as he watched Octopus warily waiting for him to make the first move.
"Shall we finish it then insect?" Octopus said as he tossed Jameson to the side where he crashed painfully into the door.
"I know your not a complete idiot doc, so why is that part so hard for you? It doesn't even require a degree in entomology or Arachnology to even understand what it is that I'm trying to say. I am a spider, a member of the Arachnid family not an insect or bug. You don't here me calling you a squid do you?" Spiderman questioned the man before him.
Snarling Octopus swung his arms and the fight was on. Like a deadly dance the two moved in patterns that they had learned long ago while fighting each other. They were two masters of their method of fighting waiting for the perfect opening. Spiderman flipping and swinging back and forth across the roof never staying still for more than an instant, while Dr. Octopus stood there imperiously guiding his arms in combat as he tried to destroy his foe making holes in the roof as he tried to connect. Spiderman would shoot a strand of webbing that would hold two of the arms together or blind Dr. Octopus and the man would respond by swing his limbs even faster until he had freed himself of the webbing. The two dodged back and forth Spiderman had now taken to the air occasionally bouncing off a metal arm as he bounced and swung around. Octopus was now using two arms to fight and his other two arms to travel with as he followed after Spiderman.
"So tell me Ock why did you miss me so much?" Spiderman asked as he ricochet off a pole and curled himself into a ball only to be swatted aside by one of the tentacles. "Surely my death doesn't really mean all that much to you."
In that you are wrong web slinger. Octopus said as he crossed his arms and stared at the hero. You are an annoyance that I must deal with. Octopus said as one of his connected under Spiderman's chin and sent him flying into the ground. Octopus moved till he now towered over Spiderman. It is now the end for you hero.
"If you say so." Spiderman said as he fingered something at his side and suddenly a staff shot out of the air and connected with Dr. Octopus's face sending him flying back. "Me I prefer to count all of my points before I declare victory." Spiderman said as he shrunk his wand back down. And leaped at Octopus again and this time managed to web all four of the arms up. Not satisfied with that Spiderman grabbed the bunch of 'arms' and began swing Octopus around several times before the man finally fell unconscious. "And that's what I cal a web sling butt kicking." Spiderman said before he fell tiredly against the wall for a moment to catch his breath and heal. Despite all of the enhancements that he had been given by the Guardians it had still been a close fight. After he had caught his breath he bent down and retrieved the key.
Iceman looked up tiredly at Hydro Man. The guy was still going strong despite the fact that they had both been going at it for the same amount of time and using vast amounts of power against each other. He looked up and saw the Human Torch Fire a stream of fire at Sandman but he just created a shield to protect himself his moment of inattention allowed Hydro-Man to hit him with a blast of water that sent him flying into his friend. The two groaned as they climbed back to their feet.
"So want to switch partners?"
"Why not." The two changed targets The Human torched gritted his teeth in frustration as the fireballs made a lot of smoke on the watery form but left him otherwise alright. The Human Torch took a chance and rushed at the giant tidal wave like villain firing a stream of flame at him as he went to counter the jet of water that was being fired from at him.
Iceman was currently trying to freeze Sandman in place and was having about the same amount of luck as he been having against Hydro Man since the man kept melting his attacks away. Iceman looked around and grinned as he saw a nearby constrouction site and lured him over there. Iceman power up an extremely powerful Ice blast that would likely have slowed Sandman down had it connected but the beam went right by him.
"Nice shot snowman, maybe you should learn how to shoot." Sandman taunted.
"Oh I already know how to do that Sandy." Iceman said as he created an ice spear and sent it hurling into the frozen cement truck behind Sandman which burst open and coverd Sandman with its cargo.
"No!" Sandman said as he realized that he was now covered in cement if the Torch got near him now he would frozen.
The Human Torch grinned as he continued to circle around Hydro Man creating a super heated cyclone that was sapping the strength of his opponent. He looked up and grinned as he saw a partially cement covered Sandman trying to run away in one of his turns. "Switch." Iceman shouted, and the two changed partners again and the Human Torch grinned as he watched his flame thrower now harden the cement in Sandman. He did a loop de loop and grinned as he saw that Iceman having learned from his fight was now in a battle of wills where each of the two were absorbing moisture from the air. Iceman's armor became thicker and thicker though as slowly but surely he was winning. The Human Torch grinned as he plucked the bomb key off of Sandman. He turned in time to see Tombstone get thrown out of the Daily Bugle followed by a number of other various underworld figures. Spiderman swung down just as Iceman beat Hydro Man who was barely a puddle of water the heroes watched quietly as Hydroman leaked down into the storm drain knowing that it would be a while before any of them saw him again.
Now with the keys the three then ran in and headed fro the stairs to find the giant bomb in the printing press. The three each took a key and looked at the giant bomb and saw something that they weren't expecting Black Cat and Shadow Cat sitting on a pile of goons. Trussed up on top were two figures that none of them had been expecting Hammerhead and Bullseye were glaring daggers at the two women whom had obviously defeated them. "What took you boys so long Spider?" Black Cat asked as she got to her feet. "Surely beating the six didn't take that long."
"Not really but we did have to help subdue a couple of runners." Iceman said with a grin.
Yeah would have thought that three walls could have been done so well.
"Three walls?" Shadowcat questioned looking at the three curiously.
"Um yeah, we each made a wall to keep all of the people in a nice little boxed in area." The Human Torch said. "Basically they could run into a wall of fire-"
"Or a wall of ice-"
"Or get stuck in my webbing."
"I see, well come on boys, the keys for the bombs all have to be turned at the same time and since none of you can turn five keys at once like octopus you need us." Black Cat told the group.
"Right here. Spiderman said, as he tossed a key to each of the girls. "Power Man you still up there?"
"Yeah man, I'm watching the pansies to make sure they don't try nothing."
"Right. Could you send someone down to deactivate the bomb with us."
"I'm on my way Spiderman." A voice answered.
"Good." The group waited as they saw Captain America walk down the stairs. The Sentinel of Liberty nodded at all of the young heroes in the room.
"Cap!" Spiderman said as he performed a giant flip over to the Legend. "Great to see you."
"Its good to see you to Spiderman." The man in Red, White and Blue said shaking hands with the young hero. "The city hasn't quiet been the same without you here to watch over it."
"Um, Thanks." Spiderman said scratching the back of his head in slight embarrassment.
"We can catch up later right now we have a bomb to disable. According to Reed if we can disarm this one we can deactivate all of the bombs, and since the deadline is nearly here we need to hurry."
"Yes sir." Spiderman said as he handed the man one of the keys. "Each of the Keys has a symbol that matches one of the symbols above the key hole." Spiderman supplied. "We just have to match them up.
"Good work. All right everybody lets find the key holes." The six heroes quickly got to work and found the required holes and inserted them disarming the bomb.
"We'll have Richards look this over next just in case." Cap told the others. "For now though we have something for all of you before Spiderman and Shadowcat have to return to whatever it is that they are doing right now."
The group nodded and followed out after Cap, as they reached the top though they were immediately under verbal attack. "Spiderman! What did you think you would gain from all of this?" Jameson yelled at the figure that was standing alongside his friends. I know that you had something to do with all of those criminals coming out. "Was this an attempt to show the world that we actually might need you? If it was then I see right through you web slinger and the people will find out the truth about the fraud of the attack that happened today." Jameson told the wall crawler. Despite the fact that you've been gone your still nothing more than a menace to society and a menace is what you'll always be no matter what you say or do.
"Would you shut up already?" The Human Torch asked the Publisher harshly. "The guy just risked his life for this entire city and all you can do is bang him for it?" The Human Torch asked as he began poking Jameson in the chest. "He didn't even have to come and help us out here, but because he's a good person he risked a lot to get here. And instead of thanking him for risking his life for going up against the Sinister Six you try and tear into him. Ney York isn't even his city anymore these days yet your trying to make it seem like this is all o his fault."
"Torch that's enough!" Captain America barked out causing the hero to stop his tirade against the newsman. Captain America glared at Jameson for a moment. "I'm disappointed in you Jameson." Cap said coolly. "I remember a time when a hero was actually honored for saving lives instead of condemned for doing the right thing. It makes me wonder what else it is that you could be wrong about." He turned away from the man leading the heroes out and Spiderman wisely kept his mouth shut for a change.
The man smiled as he went about his business the day was good and the newest threat to the city had been stopped. He turned when he felt someone behind him and jerked back in surprise as he saw the figure that was hovering over him. "Excuse me sir, but you and your stands services are required." The figure said emotionlessly. "We are prepared to pay you for your time." The Vision informed the man as his canary yellow cape billowed in the breeze.
The man shook his head in disbelief at the request. "Well then, lets get going." The man said.
"If you will please hold on then sir." The figure said. Nodding the man grabbed onto his stand and was lifted off of the ground and flown all the way to the top of the Baxter Building. The man shook his head in disbelief as he saw that some of his regulars were now gathered around him as he landed.
"Hey Joe can I have my regular?" A familiar slightly muffled voice asked him.
The man grinned in recognition before he quickly began the job that they had brought him up here for, he was preparing hotdogs for the heroes of the city. He smiled as he handed a hot dog with relish and mustard over to Spiderman. He then began working as hard and fast as possible in a way it was even worse than a lunch break in front of the courthouse as he prepared various hotdogs and chili dogs as the heroes all sat around for one of New York's greatest delicacies. The man grinned as Iron Man handed a credit card over to him to swipe. "Lets see, add that in with the saving of the city discount." The man said.
"Saving the city discount?"
"Yeah." Joe said with a grin as he turned to the Invisible Woman. "Something new I started if, a team or person saves the city from something or other on that day they get a 10 percent discount. The way I see it you all helped out in saving the city this time though and this is a victory party for Spiderman right?"
"Yes I see, well thank you." The blonde said as she walked away.
The man smiled as he looked around the roof heroes were all over the place for this little lunch. He watched as he saw that Spiderman was being treated by Strange and Pym for any injuries that he may have aquired in the fight with various members of the Sinister Six.
Spiderman sighed it was almost time to go back to Hogwarts he wondered what kind of reaction they would get when they got home he would need to come up with a good story but first he had something more important to deal with. He turned as he saw Dare Devil join him with Black Cat and Shadow Cat. "Dare Devil." He greeted. "Your looking better."
"Thanks". Dare Devil said. "Come on, Strange said you had one hour and then he's sending you back."
Spiderman nodded, his friends knew what it was that he wanted to do and they were giving him the chance to do that. The four of them boarded a fantasticar that Reed loaned them and made their way to the cemetery. The heroes all got out and the three other heroes gave Spiderman a few minutes alone with his former loved ones.
Spiderman sighed as he crouched down in front of the graves. "Hey Aunt May, hey M.J." He greeted the two headstones sadly hugging a trench coat close to him as he pulled his mask off. "Its great to be back here where I can talk to you again." He told the headstones. "I hope that someday that I can come by more, but a lots happened since then." He said sadly. "my life has changed a lot since that day. I've started making part of a new life, but I don't think Europe will ever be home. I don't really think the wizard world will be home actually." He admitted to the headstones. "It's a nice place and I will finish the education part, but I will probably never be completely at ease there. I miss the both of you more than anything and I still think of you often." Spiderman placed his hands on the stones and closed his eyes picturing the two women for a moment before the image faded away. He sighed and then laid a bushel of flowers down in front of each of the graves and got up to walk away back to the fantasticar. Peter Parker sighed as he looked at the headstone of Ben Parker. "I still miss you a lot uncle Ben, more than I can say. I'm not sure what to do without you here to guide me anymore but it would be nice if you were around to tell me what to do. Am I doing the right thing or should I have backed off with Dumbledore? Its all just so confusing Uncle Ben, and there doesn't seem to be an easy answer anymore I look forward to the day that I can come back here and not worry about that sort of thing anymore." peter respectfully back away and turned back to his waiting friends on his way back he placed a rose in front of each of the Stacey graves and DeWolfes.
"Lets go." Spiderman said, as he climbed back into the car and weakly pulled his mask back on over his face. The others nodded and gave silent support to their friend before they cruised back toward the Baxter Building where Strange was waiting for them.