Chapter Four: The Attack
Castle Doom, Latveria
To the casual observer the city of Doomstadt was something that resembled a medieval village in the modern world, but then again most medieval villages don't have details of Doombots patrolling the streets. Overlooking the Latverian capital on the side of a mountain was Castle Doom. Within the fortress the escaped convicts Titania, Absorbing Man, Electro, Rhino, Shocker, and Kraven were being led by a hideously scarred servant to the throne room of Doctor Victor Von Doom. The servant knocked three times on the large door leading to Doom's throne. The doors slowly opened to reveal Doom sitting upon a throne made of stone.
"Gregor. Leave us," Doom commanded to his servant.
"Yes, Lord Doom," Gregor spoke meekly. The doors closed behind the servant as he scurried off, leaving the six supervillains in the presence of the Latverian monarch.
"Ok, Doom, ya got us here, now what do you want from us?" Crusher asked.
"The reason I have brought the lot of you into the fold is simple. Each of you has particular skill sets that will aid in a conquest that will shake the foundation of this world. As much as I hate to admit it, and I very much do, but this task I cannot accomplish alone."
"You haven't told us what we get out of this," Electro spat.
"Power, Mr. Dillon. Absolute power."
"We've heard many speeches like this before, Doom. Why should we believe you will succeed when so many others have failed?" Kraven asked.
"Because those who've tried before were of inferior minds and blinded by hubris," a voice echoed from behind the group. They turned to see Doctor Octopus before them, his tentacles suspending him in the air.
"Doctor Octavius speaks the truth. Currently in New York City, a meteorite is being held at Four Freedoms Plaza. It is being studied by a collection of S.H.I.E.L.D and Avengers scientific personnel," Doom said. "For the past month, Chameleon has been collecting data on my behalf as to see what this newfound material can do. And I assure you, my friends, this conquest will shake the foundation of the world. I shall explain the full details of my plan in time, but first I must be assured that you are in league us, if not, then you're more than welcome to go on your way
The collection of escaped villains looked at one another and they knew that Doom was never one to mince words as to the importance of a valuable asset which can attain them power. They nodded in agreement and Creel turned to Doom and smirked.
"We're in, Doc."
After the group left the throne room Doc Ock approached Doom. "Surely you of all people weren't going to leave them alive if they had said no?" Ock asked skeptically.
"Of course not. However, it is more psychologically beneficial on their part to give them the illusion of control, as well as amusing on mine."
Manhattan, New York
"Can't be late! Can't be late!" Peter mentally screamed to himself. The whole of yesterday and the following evening, Peter's head was wrapped around the notion that Jennifer Walters, the fracking She-Hulk (in his words), has feelings for him. Part of him was ecstatic. Another part insecure. Lastly, he felt scared. Scared of the idea of losing another loved one like his Uncle Ben and Gwen Stacy. These thoughts and feelings kept him from getting a decent night's sleep and now he was swinging through the city at full speed, so he didn't miss the wide range of tests being done at the lab.
"I knew the Parker Luck would come to bite me in the ass sooner than later. One jaw-dropping night with Jen, and now I'm late for work," Peter chastised himself. Four Freedoms Plaza soon came into view as Pete maneuvered between buildings. He managed to find an empty alley and change into his civies and high tail it to the lab on foot. For the most part everyone was so busy they didn't notice Peter slip over to his workstation undetected... well, almost nobody.
"Yo-yo-yo, Pete. What's the good word?" Peter turned around to see Johnny Storm leaning on his desk. Peter just smirked and said, "Oh you know just living the dream. Paying for overpriced coffee, countries having tensions with each other, and I haven't eaten since noon yesterday. So yeah, I'm doing just hunky-dory!"
Johnny held up his hands in mock defense, "Jeez, easy on the brakes Captain Sarcasm. Just wanted to check in on ya, making sure that my brother-in-law isn't running you ragged and all."
"I enjoy the work that Reed assigns me. I mean this stuff could change the world. Even on a greater scale. The stuff this meteorite is made of might be a more valuable material than Vibranium. I mean that stuff only absorbs kinetic energy and emit it. But the meteorite absorbs all kind of energy. Today we're exposing the rock to gamma emissions. Given how wild that stuff can be, the Doc thinks that more safety protocols are needed and-" Peter was interrupted by a fake yawn emanating from Johnnys mouth.
"Wow that sounds really interesting, Pete. But don't let me keep you from all this... science-y stuff. Catch-ya later," Johnny said walking away. But not before he called at Pete over his shoulder, "Oh by the way. You and Jen look great on the front page, ha-ha!"
All color left Peter's face, fearing that Johnny knew about the date he and Jen went on. He didn't want any rumors flying around about him and Jen, considering there was so much to think about after what happened two nights ago. He looked over to where Johnny was leaning on his desk before and sure enough there was a picture of She-Hulk and Spider-Man on the front page of the Daily Bugle.
Peter let out a heavy sigh know confirming that Johnny was just being messing with him as usual. Once more Peter looked at the photo of Jen and himself and thought about texting her but relented out of fear of making things even more awkward. Burying his face in his hands, Peter grumbled to himself, "This day just keeps getting better and better."
Avengers Mansion-Manhattan, New York
Deep underneath the three-story mansion the sounds of battle could be heard within the combat simulation room, similar in part to the technology the X-Men utilized for their Danger Room. In the midst of the room, Jennifer was in engaged in battle with the simulated form of the giant robot known as Ultimo. The automaton's eyes lit up as it prepared to fire a massive concussive force blast. In the fraction of a second, Jennifer dodged a series of bombardments with ease. To the outside observer, they would say she was doing swimmingly. However, Jennifer's focus wasn't on the battle, but on the situation between herself and Peter.
"I should call him," Jennifer thought to herself. She jumped into the air and brought her fist down upon Ultimo's head. The robot crashed to ground with a mighty thud. "Simulation completed. Well executed, Ms. Walters" the disembodied voice of the A.I. known as J.A.R.V.I.S. spoke.
"Thanks J, that was a fun way to pass some time," Jen chuckled. Some of her best therapy sessions were spent in the training room. To Jen there was nothing more relaxing than pummeling the hard light forms of Loki, Kang, or the Mandarin in their freakin' faces. But today was different. She was constantly checking her phone hoping for a text, call, or a voicemail from Peter. "I should call him," Jen thought again as she was walking down the underground corridors. She brought up his contact page but hesitated to call. "And then what? What would you even say? 'Hey, Pete! How's your day going? Just wanted to know if you wanted to be a couple and go for another round of the horizontal tango. Bye-Bye!' Talk about desperation! You told him you would give him time to process things for crying out loud. Just respect the man's space."
Jen was too busy looking at her phone that she didn't she barely paid attention to the voice calling out from behind her.
"Earth to Jen!" called Captain Marvel. Jen finally looked behind her to see what the commotion was.
"Oh, hey Carol. What's up?"
"Just got back from handling a situation that involved Skrull space pirates heading to Earth. But right now, I'm more curious as to why you seem so distracted."
Jen just smiled nonchalantly, "Oh, you know I'm just... thinking about a legal case I'm working on."
"Good one, Jen," she thought to herself.
"What's the case about?" Carol asked.
"Come on, Carol. You know I can't talk about that kind of stuff. Client confidentiality, remember?" Jen said.
"Alright, alright. So, how's the web-head? I saw you two on the front-page of the Bugle this morning."
"Wait, what?! DAMN YOU JAMESON! Crap, crap, crap! Ok, don't freak out. Nobody knows Pete and I were going out Friday," Jen thought. At this point, Jen and Peter wanted their privacy intact, especially given the fact that they weren't even officially together.
"Oh, yeah. I felt like going out on Friday night, then Titania showed up and trashed this little club that I was at. Pete was in the neighborhood and lent a hand," Jen said convincingly.
"Gotcha. You and Pete seem to be teaming up more and more lately, outside of Avengers operations, now that I think about it," Carol mused.
"What are you implying?" Jen asked, mildly defensive.
"You tell me. Some would think that you had a thing for him, given your frequent interactions," Carol chuckled. "I bet his spider-sense isn't the only thing that gets tingly when you're around. Eh Jen? Ha-ha!"
Jen stared daggers at Carol. "I can assure you our relationship is nothing short of professional and platonic, " she said flatly.
"Easy, Jen. Just messing with you. I mean don't get me wrong, Pete is a great guy, and any woman would be lucky to have him. Hell, you know that time Peter was single a couple years back and that I was kind of interested in him. But you know, things didn't really pan out. Never even got into bed with the guy."
"Yeah, and let's keep it that way, Danvers. Oh God. Am I getting jealous?"
"It's alright, Carol. You don't need to go into detail about all of that. But you are right, Peter is a very special guy," Jen said, almost dreamily.
Four Freedoms Plaza-Manhattan, New York
A group of scientists surrounded the large containment unit holding the large meteorite preparing the next series of exposure tests. Peter walked into the lab and walked up to one of the monitoring stations began prepping the measurement apparatus. With all that was going on between Jen and himself, it was a relief to get back into nerd mode and focus his attention on making scientific history. While he was keeping himself busy, he failed to notice the feminine hand grasp his shoulder. Peter jumped out of the sudden sensation. It was a relief to him that if his spider-sense didn't pick it up there was no threat.
"How's everything Pete?" Sue Richards asked.
"Oh, hey Sue. Everything's looking great. All the instruments are calibrated perfectly. Can't wait for this the show to begin," Peter chuckled.
"You and me both, ha-ha. So, I saw Jen and you in the paper today. Did she have a chance to talk to you?" she asked.
Peter became anxious as soon as she brought up Jen. "T-talk? Talk about what?"
"Well, let's be honest Peter. You haven't really been, well... living life since you and MJ split. Jen was just really worried about you. We all are. We just want you to be happy. You know we all think of you as family. Jen especially. Maybe even more than that..." Sue patted his shoulder and walked about to another area of the lab.
Peter just stared after her quizzically. "Does Sue know that Jen... LIKES ME, like me?" He then looked down at the floor, processing the emotions he was feeling.
"Jen's cared for me for so long. She's been a good friend. A great partner. But then every time I get close to someone they get hurt or worse!" Peter shook his head trying to get back into the mindset of a scientist. He needed to focus. But then his focus was once again disrupted by the uneasy tingling sensation at the back of his head.
"Spider-sense! Danger!" Peter looked all over the room trying to scope out anything out of the ordinary. He looked over to see one S.H.I.E.L.D. agent exiting the laboratory. Once again, Peter's spider-sense went off, only stronger this time. Peter ran across the room, exiting the lab. But when Peter got to the adjacent hallway, the man was gone. Reed and Tony ran behind calling after him.
"Peter, What's wrong?" Tony asked. Peter looked around to make sure there was no one around who wasn't aware of his secret identity.
"We have a problem, fellas. My spider sense went off like crazy. I noticed this guard and my head felt like a buzzer was going off!"
Reed and Tony looked at each other with dread, for they knew that if something was to alert Peter of danger that it was more than a credible threat. Reed took out his portable smart device with haste. With a few keystrokes a high-pitched alarm went off, resonating throughout the entire building.
"I'm putting the building on immediate lockdown. We'll find him," Reed said.
"I'm calling in the Avengers for support. Their E.T.A. will be 10 minutes. They should have immediate access to the building to help," Tony said as he opened what looked like a red and silver metallic briefcase. Within a matter of moments, Tony was suited up in the Silver Centurion model of his Iron Man armors. Tony used the access codes Reed gave him and opened a retractable window that he flew out of to run an aerial sweep of the building.
Reed turned to Peter and said, "Perhaps you better call that colorful friend of yours Pete. We could use the assistance." Peter nodded solemnly and raced off. "Just when I thought my double life wouldn't overlap this happens."
Down at the ground level, the mysterious guard walked behind a marble pillar, but the person who emerged was the form of Dr. Richards. The doppelganger walked up to the front desk and addressed the clerk, Jimmy. "There was a malfunction with the security system in my lab, James," the imposter said.
"James? Jeez Doc, you haven't called me James in years. Work getting to ya or what?" Jimmy chuckled as he disabled the alarm.
"Uh, yes... Sorry Jimmy. Please tell everyone I stepped out to get some tea if anybody asks."
"Uh... Doc. You hate tea don't ya?" Jimmy awkwardly asked.
"Shit."
The elevator doors opened all of a sudden and a herd of security guard's, the Fantastic Four, Beast, and Ant-Man ran towards the duplicate Dr. Richards. The imposter reached over the desk and grabbed Jimmy and put a gun to his head.
"Don't any of you make a move, or the doorman gets it!"
"Who are you? Why are you here?" Reed asked. The imposter flashed a sinister smile, "Well since you're all onto me anyways I suppose the subterfuge is unnecessary at this point." The form before the crowd of heroes morphed into the Chameleon.
"Now that we have that out of the way, I'll just take my leave if you value this man's life." But before he could notice, the gun was immediately yanked out of his hand and thrown across the room. Chameleon stumbled to his feet and looked upwards to see Spider-Man hanging from the ceiling. The doorman stomped on Chameleon's foot.
"AARGH!" Chameleon screamed in pain. His grip on Jimmy loosened allowing him to make his escape.
"Hey there, Chameleon. It's been a while. You know for someone who makes a living out of pretending to live other people's lives, it makes sad sense that you don't have one of your own," Spidey chuckled.
"Grrrr! Damn Wall-Crawler!" Chameleon seethed. He then let out a deep breath, "It matters not that you and your fellow heroes have discovered me. For you see, I brought some friends with me as well. Some of whom you might be acquittanced with." Chameleon brought and finger up to his ear and activated the earpiece he was wearing. "Take them," he commanded. The front of the building burst open. The side wall burst open, debris flying in every direction. As the dust settled, the group of heroes saw before Absorbing Man, Titania, Rhino and Electro.
"Only on Monday's does this kind of thing happen," Spidey muttered.
Avengers Mansion-Manhattan, New York
"And you should've seen Pete's face! I told him that shot gunning two Ice-Slurpee Supremes was a bad idea, but did he listen? Nooooo! Told him that he was asking for a brain freeze!" Jennifer laughed out loud as she and Captain Marvel rode the elevator. to the mansion's ground floor. All Carol could do laugh along with Jen about stories of her and Pete's adventures and misadventures.
"Geez, from as much as she talks about him you would think she took him to bed or something," Carol mused to herself.
They were walking past the entertainment room where Captain America, Wasp, Hawkeye, Vision, Falcon, and Scarlet Witch were gathered.
"However that story is the premise as to how Pete and I found the best burger in Staten Island," Jen continued.
"Hey, keep it down. Something going on uptown," Hawkeye silenced the duo. Jen and Carol entered the room to see on screen that Four Freedom's Plaza was under attack.
"Oh my God! We got to help the Four!" Jen screamed in her head, but then another dreadful thought popped in her head.
"Wait... Oh no. NO! PETER!"
"Avengers Assemble!" Cap commanded.
Four Freedoms Plaza-Manhattan, New York
The battle was fierce to say the least. The Fantastic Four, Iron Man, Ant-Man, Spider-Man, and Beast leapt into the fray against the four villains. Grand feats of fighting prowess and explosive displays of superhuman abilities were thrown every which way. Soon the fight took to the street in front of the building. Hoards of people fled the scene in fear and confusion as to what was going on. Spider-Man jumped to a nearby wall and looked onto the huge tussle below.
"Ok, I count four creeps when I swear there were five," Peter spoke to himself.
"Looking for me web-head!" Peter lifted his head upright to see Electro flying full speed towards him. Peter jumped off of the wall and swung through the air dodging arcs of electricity being shot at him.
"Hey, Maxie-Pad! How's it goin!"
"Do you ever shut up?!" Electro yelled.
"Nah, all the kids at home would think less of me if I did."
Peter landed on a nearby roof and shot a barrage of insulated webbing at Electro. Spidey knew the material would last long, but it would distract Electro long enough for what he had in mind.
"You think you're suped up silly string will stop me?! I'M ELECTRO, DAMMIT!" He let out a roar and unleashed an immense surge of energy, disintegrating the webbing. Electro flew down onto the roof with substantial force leaving a small crater on the roof. Luckily Peter was nowhere near the impact zone. The electrifying adversary looked around to see where the Spider went, but to no avail.
"Hey, Sparkles!" Electro looked behind him to see Spider-Man jury-rig a web-based snare around a water tower. He then tugged on the snare causing the tower to tumble over and spill it contents. Electro got swept up in the current of water, which short-circuited him, and threw him five stories below to the ground. Spider-Man made quick work of webbing the unconscious villain up.
"Ok, one down, four to go," Peter said.
"Don't think so Web-freak!" Peter got slammed from behind sending him flying into a nearby wall. As rose his head from the ground to look with blurred vision at what appeared to be Titania.
"Titania? I thought you were hauled up the river?"
"No thanks to you and the Emerald Bimbo. Without her around you got nothing against me," she grinned wickedly. Peter fists tightened a bit at hearing her call Jennifer that. Titania charged at Peter, but his reflexes were vastly superior to hers. He jumped over her, performing a double somersault, and landing on a nearby wall. He shot two lines of webbing towards Titania. The madwoman, thinking the webbing was going to hit her, raised her arms to block the incoming attack. When she noticed nothing happened, she lowered her arms and laughed.
"You missed!" She snarled. What she didn't notice was that webbing anchored to the ground behind her. Spider-Man pulled on the threads and two huge chunks of pavement rose from the ground slamming into her back. Titania fell to the ground with a large thud, but she attempted to rise to her feet. Quick as a flash, Spider-Man leapt from the wall to the ground in front of her and punched Titania square in the jaw sending her flying into a nearby car.
Peter let out a heavy sigh from the battle, but his victory was short lived when he was shot in the back by an immense infrared beam of energy. He tumbled to the ground and let out a painful hiss. He looked over to see Chameleon holding some modified energy pistol, the barrel still smoking from the blast it had delivered.
"You and your friends have been a thorn in my side for far too long, Arachnid. Now you will die and soon they will die with you!" Chameleon fired a second blast, but instead of hitting Peter, it was intercepted by the She-Hulk, leaving the only damage to her was a minor scuff mark on her trademark white and purple leotard.
She-Hulk glared at the Chameleon, "Didn't anyone teach you to never kick a man when he's down." The Gammazon lifted her hands and gave a mighty clap which sent out a powerful shockwave sending Chameleon back twenty yards.
The shapeshifting mercenary stumbled to his feet and saw that not only She-Hulk arrived on the scene, but so did other Avengers.
"This is going too far," Chameleon said. He activated his earpiece, "We need an extraction, now!"
High above the city, the air-transport's camouflage disengaged and zoomed through the air to the villain's location. The Absorbing bulldozed his way through the heroes and came to Titania's side. He picked her unconscious body up, fled to the jet. At the rear hatch of the craft stood Doc Ock and Kraven observing the scene, Octavius taking particular notice of Spider-Man.
"Parker. You will pay for your interference," Octavius thought. The villains rushed past Kraven and Ock to board the jet. In the blink of an eye, the jet was gone leaving the desolated street.
Almost immediately, the S.H.I.E.L.D Helicarrier appeared in the sky and numerous agents and soldiers warded off the area. A black escalade drove up to the scene of the battle and out from it emerged General Fury.
"Seal off the area and get those damn news crews out of the vicinity!" he yelled to his men. Captain America and Iron Man approached Fury, who did not look pleased with the two heroes. "Can either of you explain to me why there was a battle between super-powered beings in the middle of Manhattan and S.H.I.E.L.D is the last ones to be notified of this?" Fury asked.
"The Avengers and the members of the Fantastic Four operate as deputized law-enforcement teams that act independently from any other law-enforcement agencies in accordance with terms set by the DOJ and the Office of the President," Captain America stated flatly.
"Besides there are other things to point out, S.H.I.E.L.D was to be lending a hand in the security around the meteorite. How is it that clandestine super-agency like S.H.I.E.L.D overlook someone with the capabilities of the Chameleon? Also, a number of those criminals were supposed to be locked up in S.H.I.E.L.D detention facilities, so how did they get out?" Iron Man asked accusingly.
Fury glared at Stark with his one good eye, "Above your paygrade, Stark."
Whilst Fury, Rogers, and Stark were having their civilized argument, Peter was talking with Reed and Dr. Hank Mccoy, aka Beast.
"According to H.E.R.B.I.E, there was a data breach in our computer network. Luckily, it isn't as extensive as we originally feared. But the data that was pulled is enough to get the ball rolling for any number of applications, nefarious or otherwise," Reed said.
"This is most disconcerting," Hank said. "How on earth can we prevent an infiltration like this again?"
Reed stroked his chin, but in an instant his eyes lit up. "I think I may have a solution. What if we were to move the meteorite?"
"But where in the world could we hide it? You think they won't try something like this again?" Peter asked.
"They won't find it if it's not in this world," Reed smiled. "We're going to hide it in the Negative Zone. Tony, Hank Pym, and I designed a research waystation in the Negative Zone that has all the facilities we require to continue our work."
"Whoa. So, I'll be commuting to another dimension to work? Cool," Peter tried to mask his excitement. It was then Peter looked past Reed to see Jen kneeling down hugging the two young Richard's children, Franklin and Valeria, with the Thing standing over them.
Both children were at ease in the Jade Giantess's arms. "Shhh. It's ok you two. Auntie Jen won't let anything bad happen to the two of you," Jen cooed.
"Promise?" Franklin asked, tears still running in his eyes.
"Promise. And even if I can't, ol' Uncle Benji here will. Won't ya Blue Eyes?" Jen chuckled.
"Always kiddos. Even Galactus ain't gonna harm a hair on your heads with me around," Ben said lovingly with his thick Brooklyn accent.
Peter felt that warm fuzzy feeling he always got when he looked at Jen. Seeing her comforting Franklin and Valeria he couldn't help but think that she would make a great mother one day. Immediately a mental picture appeared in his head with Jen and Pete racing after little their own little ones playfully.
Jen felt eyes were on her and she glanced over to the side to see Peter. Her cheeks darkened to a deeper shade of green.
Peter turned to Reed and Hank, "Hey would you excuse, fellas?" Peter asked.
"Absolutely, Peter," Reed said. He watched as Peter and Jen walked towards each other. "I wonder what those two have to talk about," Reed said.
Beast patted Reed's shoulder, "Ah, Reed. You may have a mastery in the sciences, but if you cannot see what most see between the likes of them, I fear for your socialization skills."
Peter looked up at Jen, a smile forming underneath his mask. Jen looked down at Peter with an equally warm smile.
"Hi," they said simultaneously. Peter rubbed the back of his head while Jen ran a hand through her voluminous green hair.
"God, she's beautiful. And smart. And hilarious. And waaaay more mature than you are, Parker. Just tell her you feel the same way! Do you want to be alone for the rest of your life? She feels the same way towards you as you towards her!" Peter scolded himself. Yet the pain of all those he loss kept him from acting on what he wanted. "There's one person who can help me sort this all out. I'm so damn tired of being afraid to live my life and share it with someone!"
"Can he not be boyishly charming for one damn minute! Getting all hot, bothered, and swooning like a teenager discovering love is not what I need right now... Yeah, no. That's exactly what I need right now. It would be so easy, too. Sling him over my shoulder, leap to somewhere secluded. Tease and flirt with him mercilessly until we're doing the nasty, cuddling, and maybe get some pizza afterwards," Jen smirked at her inner monologue. But she knew better. "No. I need to let him come to me. I meant what I said to him. He's had a rough life in pretty much every aspect. It's a miracle he's as good and accomplished a man as he is with all that gone on."
Peter spoke up, "About that talk we had last time... I haven't forgotten what you said. There's just one small thing I gotta do. Ummm... meet me at my place at seven?"
Jen blinked twice, the hue to her cheeks getting only darker and she smiled," Uh yeah, sure! I'll be there!"
"Okay!" Peter beamed.
In the blink of an eye Peter jumped into the air and swung through the air on a web. Jen looking in the direction he swung had a huge grin on her face, "PLEASE GOD, LET THIS BE A DATE!"
Forest Hills, New York
Peter was walking down the sidewalk looking at his watch. "Five hours til seven. Hopefully she'll have the wisdom I need to finally move forward." He approached a small suburban two-story house. A warm, comforting feeling swelled in his chest. There truly was no place like home. He approached the door and knocked his classic three raps and a tap knock. The door opened and a middle-aged woman with greying hair answered and smiled cheerfully at her young nephew.
"Hey, Aunt May," Peter beamed.
"Peter! Oh, it's so good to see you. Now come inside, and let's talk. From how you sounded on the phone it sounds like you needed to talk about something important."
"It is Aunt May... I think I'm falling for someone... and I'm scared."