Note: Again, here's a new lovely chapter for you lovely folks, hope you all enjoy your weekend.

[Peter Parker Quest]

CHAPTER 62

[Kingpin Arc]

Fantastic Evening

Morning comes sooner than you expect. Waking up, it isn't surprising that you feel fine. Its become the standard. Even when someone stabs you to the bone. Groaning, you look over at your arm as you try to remember what happened last night.

There was the Taskmaster, who turned out to be a new Goblin. He poisoned you, then there was a chase and then he stabbed you in the arm and fled. You made it to the Baxter Building... and then a few flashes of lucidity in a hazy. Johnny overhead, Sue and Reed talking... some hallucination of a girl?

But other than that? Nothing. Getting up, you find your clothes- the ones you webbed up last night on the way to Fisk's penthouse. Guess they asked you where they were last night. Exiting the room you're in, you find walk your towards the common room to see the Fantastic Four, even Ben Grimm, sitting around looking... distressed wouldn't be a wrong word for it.

"What's the matter?"

Johnny's head turns toward you as you see him give a sigh of relief, but even with your recovery, there still seems to be something. "What's the matter?"

Reed looks sullen as he picks up a remote and a TV starts. On screen is Wilson Fisk, brother of the man who died last night with a news text reading 'Fisk calls for action.' "Even though footage from the Vigilante proves his innocent, I still am bringing down a hard line not only on this new Hobgoblin, but all masked Vigilantes!"

The large bald man adjusts his white suit as he clears his throat. "With the passing of my brother, I have to call for a firm hard line not only on all costumed 'vigilantes' but the criminals that have emerged because of them. I would like to reference the still unconscious man who was mutated into some kind of monster, as well as the large monstrous Spider-man creature that has attacked our city several times! I feel that these are all connected and am calling for the Governor to take a hardline stand in this matter -"

He turns off the TV, his arm tossing the remote back onto the couch. "And it goes on. He's calling for a focused manhunt on you and your friends. Anyone who wears a mask. He's blaming you for causing an escalation in violent crimes, and that's only going to make things worse."

"Is there anything we can do?"

Trying to think about anything you can do, the word slip out of you mouth. As you hear Reed Richards snort, you see him looking amused.

"Yeah. You could get a bigger backer than Fisk to oppose him. And that's not without costs. If you have a backer, then you're gonna have to do what they want you to do. You'll be in their pocket. Going to the government is less likely to help. If you find the people who would help you and not just put you in a lab for dissection, then they'll want to know who you are. Who your allies are. You'll be under their watchful eye until you either outlive your usefulness or are at odds with them. There's nobody who gets to be powerful that's out to help others out of the goodness of their hearts."

Reed's voice grows bitter as he talks. As he finishes, you see him blink tears out of his eyes and clears his throat. "I.. I'll be in the lab."

Stretching his body, Reed Richards quickly retreats, leaving you with Ben Grimm and the Storm siblings. The new Hobgoblin- the name doesn't seem to fit as well with this one- is out there. And he's got your blood. Your fists clench as your mind goes back to what you learned happened with a blood sample. What might happen.

You look over at Sue and Johnny. "The new Hobgoblin's got my blood. More than that, he's probably got tissue as well, maybe marrow. There's only so many things you can do with that."

Your voice is rough as Sue looks up and her eyes widen at where you're going with this for a moment before she pauses. "No. That doesn't add up. What this new Goblin of ours is doing seems to be related to Curt Connor's work- people are turning into monsters."

She picks up a tablet as she starts to work, her mind gearing up. "Wait, what's this new masked and gruesome planning to do with Parker's blood. You yourself said it's changed Sue. Back to being closer to a normal human."

Sue remains quiet before she looks up at you. "I think he's trying to make weapons. Living monstrous weapons. But the serums, they're unstable- based on Connors' work on Lizards. He'd need a more stable base... I don't think he's trying to clone you. If he's got your blood and tissue, he knows what makes you different than a normal person..."

She stand up, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear. "I need to take a look at some things. I've got to go, Peter."

Before you can react Sue is almost running as Johnny and Ben both look lost. Clearing his throat, Johnny tries to give you a prize winning smile. "So, I'll let you know when she has something. Did you want to hang out some more? Your aunt might be worried."

"Yeah, we never get enough time to hang out. Why not?"

Johnny's face seems to light up- wait no he's doing the fire thing again. "Thanks man." No problem. Johnny leads you towards a large room- the size that seems like its the size of several city blocks. "Reed did weird things with space. Technical katana-smithing talk."

You stare blankly as Johnny heads to a booth and comes out in a blue-spandex-like suit and gives you a thumbs up. Its seems like he's trying to do something- is that a wink and glitter?

"Never do that again."

Setting down the fire extinguisher, you brush off the joke Johnny tried to make and erase it from memory. "So what's with the suit?"

Johnny tugs on it, his hand on fire and then no longer on fire in short order, the material unharmed. "Its something Reed came up with unstable-molecules or something. I'm sure its fine."

That statement does nothing to reassure you as Johnny claps his hands and tries to have a charming smile. "So... I'm working on this fire thing and I've gotten a cool idea down... mostly. I need to practice my targeting and you're really good at dodging, so could you pleasepleasepleasebemytrainingbuddy?"

…

"Sure, why not? It's be good to get some training."

Johnny pauses. "Wait. Seriously?"

You nod. "Yeah. I'm facing a crazy guy who throws bombs and can fly. Being unprepared for someone like that got me stabbed and now there's a madman with my blood and tissue."

It doesn't take you long to suit up and when you return, there's structures that are in the area to make it resemble part of a city- something Reed Richards created no doubt.

Readying your webshooters, you see Johnny's hands become engulfed by flames. "Ready?"

Johnny starts with a few fireballs while you're on ground level. Two are dodged but the third one glances you. A few seconds later, with your coat not on fire, you see Johnny sheepishly approach.

"Was I good, or was it that you're just not up to it? Your arm alright?"

Johnny approaches and lays a hand on your shoulder. "Man, you almost died last night, so if you want to call it a day I understand. You're only human."

Brushing yourself off, you shake your head. "Another go, Johnny. You'll never fly if you're too afraid of falling."

Putting distance between you and Johnny, you take a moment to focus and get yourself back into the game. When you're ready, you give him a thumbs up. As his hands light on fire, you ready yourself for the notification of your precognition. When its at its zenith, you move out of the way as the fireball flies past you.

You do it three more times and Johnny seems to be slowly getting more of a handle on his ability to project flames in the form of fireballs.

A mass of fire shoots towards you as you acrobatically move out of the way. Wave after Wave that's nowhere near hitting you. You extend a new web, one after another as you then try to dodge a few more fireballs and one last really large burst of flames.

Johnny's not as good at shooting at airborne targets, or maybe you're just better in the air. Either way, the experience of dodging flames is helping you some.

And then your precognition goes insane as Something large and on fire collides with you as you swing far up in the air. As it continues to move around, you rapidly try to reach the ground in the least painful way as you flail about.

With a roll, you hit the ground and soften the impact as you see a large mass of flames circle around like a rocket before crashing into the ground. As the flames extinguish themselves, Johnny stands groaning in pain.

Seeing you, his face perks up. "Dude! I CAN FLY!"

And then the joy's gone. "Man, you're on fire. No seriously. You're on fire!"

You did good and all but he did hit into you so you still need work. "No, seriously. You're on fire!"

Looking down, you see your jacket aflame.

Oh god, you're on fire.

It doesn't take long to put yourself out. Your durable Spider-man costume's pretty much scorched. Only the electronics and bulletproof parts are still intact. Seems like you're going to need to get a new costume in the future.

After that, it was generally agreed upon to call it a day. Johnny looked pretty excited as the two of you walked. "Man, I though- what if I could, and then I was like I'M GONNA FLY!' because you were all like 'you can't fly if you're afraid of falling. And I was all like 'you're right.' And you were!"

Yeah. You've lost Johnny.

You don your mask again as you head down to Silver Sable's cell. Its probably illegal on five different levels to be holding someone like this, but she is a deadly assassin whose sanity is in question.

The door opens up to reveal a 'glass room' the walls are actually some kind of plastic.. probably. Silver Sable is sitting on the cot in a pair of shorts and a sleeveless T-shirt. As you approach, she glances in your direction and pauses.

Her dull eyes gain a bit of their sharpness back, but she doesn't say anything as she turns to face you. She doesn't say anything, but its the most action or responsiveness you've seen from her to date in here.

Her eyes glance at you costume- scorched and almost ruined- as you turn on the communications to her cell. She doesn't say anything.

It takes a moment to decide what to ask her. Two questions haunt you. And eventually, there's but one thing you have to know first.

"Fisk is dead. Thoughts?"

There's a pause as she blinks as you see the cunning mind of hers kick back into action. She watches you, posture giving away nothing.

"...Which one?"

She watches like a hawk and you return the favor. "William."

She smiles. It is a bitter thing. "The Kingpin is dead, then." Leaning back, there's a smile on her face, like she's found something interesting.

"...Long live the Kingpin."

You frown as the words are processed. William Fisk was the Kingpin, but he's dead now, and her words echo a phrase that's well used. 'The King is dead, long live the king.'

"So, the Kingpin had someone that would be the new Kingpin upon his death?"

Silver Sable watches you before shrugging. "I have a policy not to kill my client while I'm still on the payroll unless they betray me. Bad for business. I wasn't the only one offered, though."

In an instant you realize the plan. William Fisk was the Kingpin, and hired Silver Sable to do jobs for him. Someone else offered Silver Sable- and others- money to kill Fisk, likely by his successor. If someone was close enough to the Kingpin for Sable to know they were Fisk's successor, it had to be someone he trusted.

The Goblin killed Fisk, but why did he do it. He had nothing to gain, right? But if he was hired to kill Fisk, especially in a way that would give him cover and a position of strength that would also press on Spider-man. And who would gain from his brother's death and was close enough for Silver Sable to assume motive.

He'd be set to inherit all of William Fisk's property and as the one to kill him was perfectly positioned to take over the Kingpin position smoothly. By using this new Goblin, he's able to put a hardline stance against Spider-man and any allies he had, who were looking into him. And if the Kingpin was dead, Spider-man wouldn't look for him but rather the Goblin he'd hired.

And there's only one person who you can think of.

Wilson Fisk.

Silver Sable sits quietly, an amused smile playing on her lips.

"The New Kingpin hired someone to kill the old one. He wears a metal mask that looks like a Goblin. Went around calling himself the 'Taskmaster.' Know anything?"

Silver Sable smiles like the cat that caught the canary. "Just that he's a newcomer to the field. Really green. He'll have to shape up if he wants to survive."

You snort. "The Green Goblin, huh? I'll be sure to keep that one."

Your costume's battered and worn and you have things to be doing. Find Wilson Fisk and Felicia's sure to be somewhere nearby, it seems. You're done here.

As you leave the room, you notice Silver Sable looking around at her cell with an unobservant person would call idle curiosity. You're not such a person. Texting a note that the Silver sable might be up to something to Johnny, you change into your normal clothes and find the parts of the costume you can salvage, the cloth offering very little resistance as you disassemble it to its components and pack them into your back, leaving the smell of charred fabric behind in the Baxter Building.

It's a little after noon.

You decide, a few blocks from the Baxter Building to call up Flash. The phone rings a few times before an aggravated voice answers it. "What?"

"Hey, It's Peter, Flash. You alright?"

You hear a groan before you hear a much more subdued Flash respond, "...Yeah, I'll be fine Peter. Sorry for blowing up at you. I'm just watching the news- Man, how can they blame Spidey and the Vigilantes for this?! It... It ain't right."

You let out a noise of agreement. "Yeah, that's true. So, I heard you got kicked off the Football team. What happened?"

Flash grunts more aggressively. "Osborn happened. He's been flaunting his money and the guys supported his claim I attacked him. I'm not in any trouble, but I'm off the team and Osborn's apparently got my spot. Doesn't matter anyway, I know what I want to do with my life."

"...Alright? Are you free? I'd like to talk with you. In person if possible."

Flash is silent for a while. "Flash?"

"Tomorrow. I'm free tomorrow afternoon. Around three. Just text me where to meet you. I've got to go, I've got plans for tonight."

"...Don't do anything I wouldn't."

The hangup's pretty abrupt as you try to decide what to do with your afternoon.

You call home to confirm that you're at work and that you're sorry if you worried anyone. To your surprise, Aunt May laughed like she'd heard a great joke. "Your father was the same when he had an idea. He'd be up before the crack of dawn and working. Just make sure you keep going to school and come home sometime, Peter."

Hanging up, you head into Stark Industries and put your back into the locker before heading to yours and Spyrals's lab. You're considering plans to improve your costume. Improving the webshooters andguantlets. Improving the material its made of. Improving the quality of webshooters. Many thoughts pass through your head.

So, everything comes to a complete halt when you walk inside and see Dr, Spyral sitting at the table along with Pepper Potts and Tony Stark. Leaning back in his chair, Tony Stark gives you a long, considering look.

"Peter Parker, we need to talk."

To Be Continued...

EQUIPMENT:

SPIDER-MAN OUTFIT: SCORCHED-usable, but not recommended

Solodark: Hope you enjoyed!