[CARNAGE ARC]
CHAPTER 14
NILBOG HIGH
A week has passed since you spent the night a Felicia's house. It was an awkward night and you woke up with her wrapped around you, obviously it was all a scheme for her to siphon your body heat. Still, things were pretty awkward. But, you're both still talking- which is better than some relationships…
Gwen's still not talking with you and Harry seems a bit depressed, that is, the few days you've seen him…
Felicia's busy looking into the thefts as Oscorp while you spent the week being rather busy. To start with ,you've been making something in your free time- you call them Spider-tracers. You're not entirely sure how the science works, but you've synched the trackers up to your 'spider-sense' wavelength, allowing you to detect and track these when they're active within three hundred feet. You made three, but know how to make more.
You've also looked into things- assisting Felicia, the Black Cat, with her looks into the Oscorp Break-in. You aren't much help with your limited information gathering and detective skills, but you tried your best.
More importantly, you talked with Flash Thompson- you took him aside when you found him alone and confronted him about his players harassing Gwen- to your surprise, Flash was completely shocked by this- both your attitude and about Gwen being harassed. Seems like he's fine with picking on you, but girls are not to be messed with- he'll get to the bottom of this- any names or descriptions you give him will only help. So, that's what you did for several days, observing and telling Flash of the people who went to the phones- He's got an idea of what's going on. Seems like his respect for you for standing up for Gwen has given him a better opinion of you- he's asked for your help for tutoring, he'll even pay if he needs to.
You haven't gotten back to him on that front, but you HAVe managed to overcome both your irrational anger and shame to talk with Harry- you apologized and asked for forgiveness for your attitude lately. Harry seemed to relax at that- seems like he was worried there was something wrong that he'd done. There's some work to be done, but you should be able to patch up your friendship with Harry.
Mary Jane- well she's been around- she's gone with you to school, even on the mornings you jog- which was sad- seeing her exhausted and flushed as she staggered to school- you stopped doing it after the first time. Your spider sense still triggers around her, but you're learning to tune it out. Its obviously just a psychological reaction to your childhood. Well, probably.
Today, though, your Spider-sense has been going off like Mad ever since you woke up- it seems like there's something above you that's detecting as a threat circling you like a bird- but you can't see anything.
You take a larger backpack than normal and put your costume in it. Seems like there might be trouble on the horizon- best to be prepared for it.
You have school today, so it'd be best not to tip your hand. All that it seems to be doing is circling- not moving any closer. If you do something, it might act. You don't know if it's watching you or planning to hurt you, but the bet would be on the latter if you act weird.
You stuff the costume and backpack into your locker and head to class.
You keep a metaphorical eye out for trouble and, if you wouldn't know it, there it is. Through the open window, a small jack-o- lantern lands on your desk, it seems to be laughing.
And you'll be damned if your Spider-sense isn't going off. As does Gwen's as she turns and looks in horror at what's on your desk.
"Ahahahahahahahahahahahaha"
You grab it and, quickly, throw that thing out of the fucking window! It goes flying and it -detonates- with enough force that, had it been closer, might have damaged the school from here.
The class is in a panic as everyone is running out. But you? You came prepared. You run to your locker as the school evacuates and grab your bag- rushing to a bathroom and quickly changing in an empty stall- as nice as the costume is- something easier to change into might be better!
But, soon, you're Spider-man- and there's an asshole whose ass you have to kick.
Even with all of the panicking people- they don't look up, so you're able to use the ceiling to exit- unnoticed by the common person and escape to the roof via a window, where you use the one thing Black Cat gave you- a wireless phone with an earpiece that can be beneath your costume.
You call Felicia- "Hey, Cat, why is there some psychopath throwing pumpkin shaped bombs at me? They /really/ pack a punch."
There's silence as you hear her sounding confused. "I'm sorry- what?"
"Someone through a pumpkin shaped bomb at me, it was laughing, too. It explosion was bigger than something that size should've been."
"I /might/ know something, I'll need a minute! I'll call you back with info!"
She hangs up. "Story of my life…"
You head to the side of the building and pull out your phone from your pocket, you see the bastard and snap a picture, but the sound is enough to draw his attention, and you grab another one. She's dressed in what looks to be orange and dark-blue, with a hood over the head and wings on his back. He's got several satchels, probably with more pumpkin bombs, and two sheathes at his sides.
He looks up and the face is even uglier- it looks like a Goblin, surprise on his face. "Spider-man?"
He shakes his head, waving you off. "Go away and I'll spare you, this /once/. Do not waste my generosity. I have no need to fight you."
He seems to be heading into the school- his intent isn't because he found you out. He's after… Peter Parker!
"Hey, What did the educational system ever do to you, huh?"
You Jump to the ground and extend a wrist, webshooters hitting his satchels, webbing them shut.
"Listen, I know the education system sucks, but bombing the schools doesn't help. Why don't we have a trip downtown and discuss this with the school board?"
The goblin turns to you, chuckling. "That's pretty good. Aha-haha-HAHAHA-"
Your Spider sense goes off as his laughing increases, to painful levels. /"HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!"/
His laugh- it /hurts!/ You collapse to your knees, clutching your head as you see him simply RIP off your webbing like it was a bad piece of tape!
You stagger to your feet, and web his damn mouth shut. It isn't a good shot and he'll probably just rip it off, but …
"It wasn't /that/ funny!"
The freak reject of a D&D convention rips off the webbing, sneering at you. "Well, no, but its funny. I'm going to kill my target, then you. I'm going to be the talk of the town, you know!"
"Okay, see, now THAT's funny. Only people who are going to be talking about you are the local style columnists, and I do not think they will be kind. Don't you know? Tattered cloaks are so last year."
You let lose a barrage of webs to his face, as fast as he can tear them away, you're putting them back- and closing ground!
You get into his melee range and begin an onslaught of quick blows- to his gut, mainly. Lower torso, lower torso, lower torso! You fist hits him again and again! But, it hits into a hard material that's soaking in the blows!
In the midst of your barrage, you slip a spider tracer onto his cloak while his face is webbed. Then continue your assault with three more hits! You know he feels it some as he roars in rage and pulls out two shortswords from their sheathes, that ignite with fire!
You learned that fire was bad a long time ago and quickly get out of range of his knives as he rips the webbing off, breathing deeply. You hear a ring in your ear and answer the call.
"What's the word?"
"Spider, he's got some sort of explosive Oscorp war working on, along with two prototype thermal weapons. They can heat to deadly levels, don't let him get them out- they're incredibly dangerous!"
"Yeah, tell me about it."
You keep an eye on the goblin- he puts the swords away as you hear thrusts ignite. "Next time, Spider-man. Next time."
He starts laughing that awful laugh again!
You collapse to the ground, writhing in agony from the physical pain inflicted by his demented laughing. His flight pack is activating and he rockets off- you can sort of notice the way he's going, but he's out of range by the time you can shakily stand to your feet.
You see Flash Thompson nervously approaching you.
"Hey, you're Spider-man, right? You okay?"
You stagger to your feet, feeling the worst you've ever felt since that spider bite. But, got to look strong. You shake your head. "I'm fine, just have to stop telling funny jokes around that guy."
You look at Flash. "Hey, kid. Is everyone alright? Nobody was hurt?"
"I-I don't know."
You stagger over and put a hand on his shoulder. "Then find out- if anyone needs medical attention, get them some- I've got to go chase that madman down. I'm counting on you-"
You trail off as he snaps to attention. "Flash, Flash Thompson, sir!"
You nod. "Well, I'm trusting you with this Flash. Please don't let me down!"
You websling over the building and onto the roof, you can hear him calling out "I won't!" in the distance. You, on the other hand have to reestablish an identity- you head back to the bathroom and change into your normal attire- hiding your costume on the roof where people can't see it- you'll have to get it later.
You lost today- badly. The taste of defeat- its stuck in your mouth. You stagger out of the school as Flash Thompson spots you. Parker, where the hell have you been! You don't look well, man."
You nod. "I hid out- I was scared, Flash. I'll be fine, I just- need to rest."
He nods and helps you over to a bench. Harry's by your side in moments, but Gwen's watching you, nervous- there's a look in her eyes that says she knows something about what's going on.
You have to get to the bottom of this- you're not sure how much longer you'll last with this Hobgoblin coming for you.
Someone's put a hit out on you, hiring the person who stole all of this equipment from Oscorp- to get you. But only after you were close to cracking who was stalking Gwen- There's a murderer at Midtown High- and he's lurking right beneath your nose.
End
To Be continued
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Publisher Notes: Well there you have it Peter's 1st defeat.