Part 11

Hitting Shocker felt good, but not as good as Peter had hoped it would. Although he was a thief, a thief with high-tech devices capable of causing massive amounts of damage, Peter was actually glad to run into a familiar face he would normally see on a weekly basis. But after seeing Mary Jane with that guy earlier, Peter didn't feel like seeing his family anymore. He wondered if his aunt had moved on and had given away all his belongings and room to Bobby or Johnny. Gwen may have filled his place with his aunt as she was the closest to her after him. The weight of those thoughts settled on his shoulders and felt as if his legs were shaking from the pressure. Maybe Carol was right. Maybe there really was no room in the world for two Spider-Men, and by extension no more room for Peter Parker.

Running a hand through his hair, he thought deeply of what to do next. He could swing to his house and go back to his family or he could sneak into his house to grab what clothing he could and leave without being seen by them and find a place in the world for himself. Then there was the last possibility, go back to shield. It seemed like an impossible choice at this moment.

Then his Spider-sense went off. It was so hard that his brain felt as if it were vibrating inside his skull.

Quickly donning his headgear and zipping the front of his hoodie up, he made his way over to the side of the building and looked down into the alley. There, four thugs were surrounding a young redhead and had pinned her to the wall. His hands became fists and his eyes burned with intensity as his body became hot with anger when he saw who their intended target was.

Not wasting any time, he climbed over the building's ledge and crawled into the secluded alleyway. A sliver of light reflected off a metallic weapon, which he snared with a single web line and pulled it from a punk girl's grasp. With all eyes on him he resumed the role of the hero once more. In a rough, gruff voice, he addressed them, "Get away from her you freaks!"

"Who the hell are you?" one of the men asked. "Some Spider-Man poser?"

More than anything, Peter wanted to tell them that he was the original, not knowing that was what Mary Jane was hoping for at that moment.

"Nice threads," another man said as Peter hopped the ground. "Hoodie, jeans, what the hell are you? Street Spider?"

"No man, I think he's more like Punk Spider or something," the third man said.

"What are you talking about," said the woman. "He's Crimson or Scarlett Spider."

The one still holding the money bag moved behind Mary Jane, putting her between him and the hooded newcomer. "I don't care what his name is, I vote for dead man. Get him."

The two remaining men rushed Peter. Each drew a weapon from under their coats, a chain and a crowbar. They didn't last long as Peter leapt onto their shoulders and shot them with strands of web. Less than a second from landing on them, he jumped into the air and spun his body around to wrap them up before pulling on both web lines, causing them to crash into each other headfirst. They lay on the ground knocked out and wrapped up in web as he landed in front of them.

Taking her turn now, the woman drew another knife and slashed at the one responsible for defeating her two cohorts. Peter easily dodged her attacks as X-23's voice rang in his head.

"You would hit a woman? How dare you!"

Remembering her words, Peter dodged one last attack then webbed her weaponless hand and pushed her to the side. He pulled back her web encased hand hard enough to cause her to knock herself out as it connected with her face. Three down, one to go.

The final man was shaking behind his hostage. The knife he held at her throat wobbled in his unsteady hand as he looked from his fallen comrades to the hooded man who had taken his gang out quite easily. "Listen. I, I swear I'll cut her. Just let me go and, and I won't do anything to her."

Normally, Peter would be playing negotiator with him to ensure Mary's safety but he didn't have to this time. It would be him begging for the thug to let her go. So this turn of events was all new to him.

Taking a step away from both hostage and assailant, Peter gave him enough room to leave but stayed close enough to stop anything that may happen. He was careful not to make any sudden movements else Mary Jane be injured. Training with the Ultimate's taught him to display calm when under fire. It was a lesson learned well for these kinds of situations.

With Peter holding his hands up, the thug took a step towards alley's entrance to leave while keeping Mary between them. "Okay, I'm letting go now. We're cool. We're cool," the thug said while backing up.

No sooner had the thug turned to run when Peter shot a web line out and snared him by the legs. Pulling him back, he looked forward to taking his anger out on him for threatening to harm Mary.

Picking him up, Peter brought him close and stared into the man's eyes. "Don't you ever touch her again or next time you won't wake up."

Instead of knocking him out then and there, Peter threw him against the wall and fired a large glob of webbing at him. The thug couldn't struggle or move anything besides his head and a few free fingers. However his eyes grew large and a yelp escaped his mouth as a trash can was hurled at him and knocked him out cold.

With the four thugs taken care of, Peter ejected the empty web cartridges and replaced them with new ones from his pockets. It was then when he turned and saw Mary Jane staring at him.

A long eternal like moment passed as they stared at each other. Shadows from the hoodie hid the top half of his face so it was no use in seeing his eyes and the red face covering hid the bottom half of his face. An intimidating sight, Mary was unafraid of the hooded man she felt in her heart was Peter.

"Peter?" she asked, taking a small step closer. "Is that you?"

There was nothing more he wanted then to reveal the truth to her. He wanted to tell her who he was, that he was very much alive. But seeing her with that guy earlier, seeing that she had moved on and was happy made the decision for him.

He turned and walked away.

"Peter!" Mary Jane called. "Stop, please. I just want to know if it's you under there." She had a strong grip on his sleeve, which made him stop. At first he didn't want to see her face but slowly looked at her when she said, please again.

"Peter, please. Just tell me if it's you under there." Before he could answer or not, a siren blaring cop car pulled up to the alley.

Two police officers quickly got out of the vehicle and made their way between the buildings. What they saw made them freeze where they stood. All four thugs were suspended in the alley. Three of them were webbed from head to toe upside down with the remaining one incased in webbing on a wall, making them resemble a sort of macabre food locker. There were only ones they saw.

High above the streets of New York, the hooded Peter Parker carried Mary Jane as he swung them away from the alley. He still hadn't showed her his face but despite that, she trusted him enough to go with him when he extended a hand after webbing the thugs up more. She tried to get a better look at his face but couldn't with the hood keeping a shadow over his features.

After putting several dozen blocks behind them and the webbed thugs, Peter perched himself against the wall of a tall skyscraper with Mary Jane sitting on his knees. Neither said a word as she tried to see his eyes. Peter made the first move and took his hood off. When he tugged at his face covering, Mary placed a hand over his to stop him.

"Wait. I want to do this."

Slipping her fingers between his face and covering, she slowly and gently slid it down. A large smile, substantially larger than the one she had earlier at the photo shoot, formed on her face when she saw what lay beneath his facial covering.

"I knew it. I knew it was you."

"Mary, I…"

He didn't get the words out for she landed a deep kiss on him. The two lost themselves in the moment as they ignored everything around him and focused only on each other.

"How, how did you… you died in my arms… I…"

"Hold on." Peter wrapped an arm around her waist and leapt off the building to the city below. They stopped at an apartment building in the middle of renovation and entered through a window into a room with no light and only a dresser and bed.

"Peter, why are we…"

"Mary Jane," he interrupted. "I, I just needed some place to talk with you privately."

"Are you a clone?"

"What?"

"Are… you… a… clone?" she asked again. "Or are you, you? The original?"

"MJ, I'm the genuine article."

"Where have you been?"

"Shield," he said with a sigh. "They kept me at the Triskilian for several months until I healed up. I've been a member of the Ultimates ever since."

"Why didn't you call?"

"Carol Danvers wouldn't let me."

"You should have called. I cried every night after you died. A part of me died the night you did."

"Mary…"

"No, Peter, you should have come back to us. This is something you should have done. The moment you knew you weren't dead you…you,"

Mary Jane's eyes flowed freely, making her mascara run as Peter stood across from her at a total loss for words. She was both hurt and angry with him but he couldn't blame her. She didn't know everything.

"You should have ran from them when you got the chance, Peter. You should have…"

"They were keeping me prisoner, MJ!" He didn't mean to be that forceful with her but couldn't help it. He needed her to understand why he didn't get back to her. "I could either work for them or live behind bars until I die of old age in which I would have never gotten out. I wanted to get back to you sooner but I couldn't. Besides, it looks like it didn't make a difference anyways."

"What do you mean?"

"I saw you. You were with that guy back in Times Square. You ran up to him and held him and, and… you forgot about me."

"Peter… I"

"I thought about getting back to you every day and night. But after seeing you with him… I knew that you had moved on. I just wanted to jump down there and show you I was alive and take you somewhere. But in the end, I can see that I should never have told you who I was. I never should have brought you into all this. Face it Mary, you're better off without me. I ruined your life. You don't deserve any of this crap for having me in your life."

Mary Jane stepped closer to him. Her bottom lip quivered and she shook slightly from the sting of his words. "How can you say that? How can you think that I, I…" She paused a moment as her whole body shook. "I hate you."

"Mary…" Her words took him by surprise.

"I hate you."

He reached out and pulled her close to him.

"I hate you! I hate you!" Her hands pounded his chest as hard as they could while she cried out those words but despite what she said to him he continued to hold her in his arms with his eyes closed tightly.

"I know," he said.

"I hate you! I hate you! I… I…" She began to bawl in his arms, and buried her face in his chest. "I love you."

She held him tight as he did the same to her while she continued to cry without abandon. He picked her head up to look in her eyes and the two kissed again.

"I know. I love you too," he quietly told her.

Outside, the world went on about its business. Inside the mid-renovated apartment two individuals, after being separated, united.

To be concluded