Spider-Man: Year One- A Spider-Man Fanfiction
Summary: Lonely sophomore Peter Parker was the most gifted student at Midtown High, until one day when a bite from a genetically modified spider turned him into something else. Now, he's just your friendly neighborhood Spider-Man. Follow his journey. Rated Teen.
Disclaimer: I do not own Spider-Man nor any property mentioned herein.
Chapter Twenty-Two
"Okay, so here's the situation Shocker. I have about ten minutes to take you down before the cops come in and arrest us both. So, how about you come quietly like a good little felon before we both experience some brutality from New York's Finest?"
Peter waited on on an answer but, as expected, he didn't receive one.
"Look, I've tried the silent act with you. I've tried the talking thing. I'm really thinking you just don't want to be my friend."
Again, Shocker didn't respond. Instead, he started pacing around the room in a clockwise manner, keeping his front and hands trained on Peter as he moved.
Peter spared a glance quickly at Mr. Osborn and the girl, giving Shocker the moment he needed to attack.
Peter sense the pulse coming and hit the ground, allowing the air blast to sail above his head and smash into the wall of the office, cracking the marble with its force.
"I don't know if my webs and my finesse will get it done in this fight and he seems to understand how I fight better than anyone I have faced before. However, I don't think Shocker is as strong as I am. Proportional strength of a spider and all that. If I can get him to the ground, I can keep him down and end this quick. Maybe if I surprise him by trying something I haven't needed to do in any fight before this? It's not a great plan, and I'm gonna get my teeth kicked in, but I don't have much of a choice."
Shooting up from the ground, Peter rushed at the villain, his speed adding to his strength making Peter very much the freight train as he bowled into Shocker, knocking the two of them to the ground with Peter on top. Not letting up for even a minute, Peter kept the villain pinned down and jarred him across the face with a series of nasty hooks from both hands. Feeling Shocker's resistance begin to dwindle, Peter smashed against his jaw one more time, stopping for a minute to see if his opponent was getting up. He wasn't.
Shocker was breathing slowly on the ground, but unless he had the pain tolerance of the gods he wasn't going to cause any more problems soon. It wasn't pretty and it wasn't how Peter preferred to handle his situations, but it got the job done and Peter hadn't any time to fool around.
Peter rolled his neck from side to side, feeling the tenseness in his muscles leave his body as he relaxed.
"Are you two alright? Come on, we need to get you out of here."
"Spider-Man, look out!" the girl called.
But she didn't need to. Peter's senses alerted him to the air blast just in time and he throw himself to the side to avoid it. The blast went past Peter and straight through Mr. Osborn's desk.
Peter didn't have time to even get up, as he rolled across the floor dodging three more blasts as they came his way.
Finally, he was able to back flip back onto his feet and face his opponent again.
Shocker was hunched over and breathing heavily, but he still had one arm extended from firing his blasts at Peter.
"What do I need to do to keep you down? Tell me, I'm running out of ideas here."
Surprisingly, Shocker chuckled. It was weak, but Peter still heard it. "I have to admit, I'm surprised Spider-Man. I've watched your fights and I've never seen you try to straight overpower your opponent. It caught me off guard."
Peter shrugged. "Well, when all you've got is a hammer."
"Very true. But don't think it will work on me again."
"Can't just make this easy one me and give up, huh? What's with villains and doing things the hard way?"
Without waiting for a response, Peter shot two quick webs at Shocker to divert the man's attention as he positioned himself in front of Mr. Osborn and the girl.
Shocker was weak and Peter knew he could take advantage of that fact. He just needed the villain to make one more mistake.
…
"Boss, something is happening you need to be aware of," Hammerhead exclaimed, rushing into his boss's office.
The man in question, Tombstone, was in the middle of his workout for the day and was more than a little irritated Hammerhead had interrupted. But Hammerhead knew his schedule. He would know better than to break his concentration without proper reason. This was something important.
Hammerhead wasn't the brightest person around. But he wasn't as stupid as people thought. He could measure risk versus reward.
Tombstone threw one more punch into his punching bag and straightened from his fighting posture. Grabbing a towel from a nearby chair, he slung it over his shoulder and made his way to his desk where Hammerhead was already typing away on Tombstone's computer.
This was another move that would have irritated Tombstone if it had been anyone beside Hammerhead. He knew the risks.
"Since the Mysterio deal fell through, we've had Osborn's office bugged and under video surveillance. Everyday, we get a live feed of Osborn's dealings."
"And Osborn is too arrogant to believe anyone would try something like this against him. It was one of my better ideas."
"Yes, boss. Well, I was doing my daily check of the feed and... well, I think it would be best if you just see for yourself."
Tombstone raised an eyebrow, but allowed the other man to turn his laptop so that Tombstone could view the screen. On it, he saw Spider-Man and another costumed figure, Schultz by the look of it, squaring off with Osborn and some young girl cowering in the corner.
"What do you make of this, boss?"
Honestly, Tombstone was surprised Fisk made a move like this. It seemed out of character for the patient crime boss to throw caution to the wind and hire a professional like Shultz. More so, it seemed out of character for him to make a move at all. Either he wised up and realized that Spider-Man was going to become a bigger threat than he anticipated, or he was planning something else. There was also the possibility that by realizing Spider-Man was a bigger threat would lead to something else. Tombstone didn't like any of those scenarios.
It was a thought that plagued Tombstone considerably. He had known for some time that Fisk was better educated, probably even smarter. Both men had grown up on the streets, sure, but Fisk had been groomed by Don Riggoletto. He may have been noticed for his sheer brutality, but Don Rigoletto had made sure that Fisk received the best education money could buy. He was taught the finer things in life.
Tombstone, on the other hand, never really fit in at school. Due to his albinism, he didn't have many friends. Due to his size, the other children were afraid of him. Sure, it was good for an education on extortion, but not much else. And while Fisk was receiving his education at the hands of one of the most old school crime bosses in the city, Tombstone was working as an enforcer. And though Tombstone had perfected the ruse of sophistication befitting L. Thompson Lincoln, businessman and philanthropist, he was still just a street thug made good.
The distinction could be seen in the way the two ran their empires. Tombstone had only one close associate, Hammerhead. He trusted no one else. The two were the only ones in the organization making any decisions. Fisk had lawyers and scientists who he let in on his public plans. But even if criminal enterprises were split into two categories. The underhanded maneuvering was covered by his personal lawyer, Wesley, while the tech and strategy was handled by Smythe. Both men had a considerable say in the operation, at least more than Tombstone had even given Hammerhead.
They were now the two most powerful bosses in the city. Both ruled through fear, but Fisk could plan. And that made Tombstone wary.
"I don't know what Fisk is planning. And that worries me," he said, turning to Hammerhead. "Just keep me posted on the situation and, surprisingly, hope that Spider-Man can pull off another victory."
"We want Spider-Man to win?"
"No," he stated. "But we don't want him to lose because of Fisk. Fisk taking him down can only lead to bad things for us."
Tombstone moved around to the chair currently unoccupied at his desk and took a seat, cracking his neck as he did so. He sighed briefly and folded his hands under his chin. "Right now, Hammerhead, I need to think. When I have a solution, I'll let you know what to do. Until then, keep on top of the situation and let me know of anything changes. You can go."
…
Shocker moved and Peter braced himself for another volley from the air blasts or possibly even the electric shocks on his gloves. But an attack never came. Instead, Shocker pushed a button on his glove and sprinted past the stunned hero and made his way for the door.
Peter followed quickly, and was able to get between the door and the villain, forcing Shocker to turn and move in the other direction heading for the window.
Peter cut him off at the pass. "Really, a retreat? I thought you were better than this, Shocker."
As expected the villain didn't respond, but again made his way toward the door.
Peter, tired at this point, shot out a webs and tied Shocker's legs together forcing the mercenary to stop in his tracks. Peter kept the webs up until he had the villain covered up to his chest. Remembering what happened last time and the strength Shocker had shown in breaking the webs, Peter continued until he was sure the villain couldn't budge, let alone manage enough momentum that he could break the webbing.
"Are we done here?You can't beat me Shocker."
"I don't need to beat you Spider-Man, you made one costly mistake."
"What?"
When I tried to run, I activated the remote mines I set at the base of this building. I'm confident I can get away in the minute I have before the entirety of the building explodes. Are you confident you can keep me in check and save their lives?"
The realization hit Peter like a ton of bricks. From the beginning he had assumed that Shocker had targeted Oscorp to get at Peter. He had assumed that Shocker wanted Spider-Man. It had never crossed his mind that Shocker was there for an entirely different reason. That's why the fight was going so well. Shocker didn't need to beat Peter, he just needed to keep him distracted long enough to blow the building. If he could defeat Peter, that was just a bonus.
But why? What did Shocker gain from taking down the Oscorp building? Was it a personal vendetta? Or was someone pulling the strings?
Without even looking back at Shocker, Peter made a mad dash for the girl and Mr. Osborn. Ignoring the indignant gasp from the man as he was scooped up, Peter shot a large web out of the window to an alley that Mr. Osborn's window overlooked and tossed both the girl and Mr. Osborn onto it. The web caught both, before Peter himself jumped out, launching another web and swing himself down to safety. Once he did so, he crawled the side of the building and brought the girl and Mr. Osborn down to the street as well. Just as he did so, an explosion rocked the base of the Oscorp building, throwing the closest police to the entrance off their feet.
Within a minute, all that remained of the Oscorp building was a pile of rubble.
Peter left the girl and Mr. Osborn to be looked over by the paramedics that came rushing toward the trio, instead approaching the same police captain from before.
"Do I even want to know what happened in there?" asked the captain. He looked down at Peter with a level stare and Peter took a step back. The man spoke with almost the same authority of Captain America.
"Shocker had the building set to explode before I got there. I was just able to get your daughter and Osborn out when Shocker set off the explosives."
Peter held up his hands together. "I'm ready to be taken in."
The captain waved him off. "You did what you promised to do. I won't be arresting you this time. As far as anyone will know, you weren't here."
Peter raised an eyebrow under his mask. "Why?"
"You saved my daughter."
Peter nodded in understanding. "Tell your officers to be careful. I lost sight of Shocker during the explosion, but something tells me he made it out."
"Will do. Thank you Spider-Man."
Peter nodded and shot a web, swinging off.
He had only managed to make it two or so buildings away when he realized that he was running out of webs and would have to change back into his civilian clothes and hoof it back to school. He landed on the roof of the building and, after making sure no one could see him, ripped his mask off.
"Spider-Man, I believe we need to talk."
End of Chapter Twenty-Two
A/N: Sorry for the long wait for this chapter and for its brevity. But, I''m back now and will be finishing up the story rather soon. As always, read and review.