The Invincible Spider-Man
Chapter 80: On the Horizon
"Before you all leave, I do have a surprise for all of you," said Dr. Connors to his class, who were all anxious to leave.
"A dissection assignment?" asked one of the students, as Curt chuckled.
"Unfortunately no, It's your semester papers," said Curt, pulling out a bundle of papers from under his desk. All the students gasped, and some also started shaking in nervousness.
Peter noticed everyone around him quivering as Dr. Connors had just pulled out a gun. He wasn't too scared as he had managed to pull several all-nighters before the test.
"I must say, not many of you have done too well. I'm going to call out your names so you can come to collect them," said Connors, furthering everyone's anxiety.
"Patrick Bates, Charlie Reeves, and Eliza Harper," called out Curt, as the three students anxiously walked to get their papers, only to turn back and shamefully walk to their desks. Curt continued calling names, as he stopped at one.
"Peter Parker…has managed to score a full 250/250 in his paper. Congratulations!" said Curt with a wide smile, as a stunned Peter walked up to get his paper and back to his desk.
"How the hell did you get a perfect score on Connors' paper?" asked Carlie in awe, who was sitting next to him.
"I genuinely have no idea," replied Peter, sifting through the massive paper and seeing nothing but tick marks everywhere.
Once the class ended, Peter went to hand his paper back to Dr. Connors.
"I have to commend you on your work, Peter. You've done exceptionally well," said Connors. "I have your marks for your practical work too,"
"Oh, how much did I score there?" asked Peter.
"A full score yet again. I don't mean to make you overconfident, but in my years of teaching, not a single student has ever gotten a perfect score as you have," said Curt, gleaming with pride as Peter's eyes went wide.
"Woah, seriously?" asked Peter.
"Yes, as a matter of fact…" said Dr. Connors, as he reached for something in his briefcase. After a few seconds, he pulled out another bundle of papers.
"Could you see if you can solve these? They are test papers as well, but they won't count towards your final grade," said Curt.
"Oh, so why do I need to solve them?" asked Peter, chuckling as he lifted the heavy bundle with ease.
"I have a bit of an idea, but I need to see where you stand first. So just solve these whenever you can and send them to me?" asked Curt.
"Sure, no problem!" assured Peter, though a little confused as he walked out of the door and out into ESU's campus. Students were either studying or playing football in the garden. Peter walked up to a tree and sat under it, going through the paper.
"Interesting…" he told himself. The paper seemed to be a combined test of all his courses. Physics, Chemistry, Biology, and Math
"Of course, the geek is studying," said MJ, as she rolled her eyes and sat down next to Peter.
"Hello to you too, Ms. Watson," joked Peter, as he closed the paper.
"What's that?" she asked him, pointing to the bundle.
"Oh, it's something Dr. Connors gave me to finish, on account of me being his favorite student," chuckled Peter.
"The favorite student gets more homework, makes perfect sense to me," she replied, taking a bite of her sandwich, as she handed another to Peter.
"Oh, by the way, Harry wanted me to give you this," said MJ, handing Peter a card as she took another bite of the sandwich, almost devouring half of it. Peter read the card intently.
"Horizon Labs? That name sounds familiar, I think it's where Dr. Octavius worked for a while, he told me about it some years back," said Peter. "Oh wait, this is where I can apply for an internship!" he continued.
"That's pretty cool. Hopefully, this one won't be as bad as Oscorp, seeing as how it's a subsidiary company," replied MJ, finishing her sandwich. "You should probably check it out today, see if it interests you," she continued.
"Yeah, I think it will. It's run by Max Modell. He seems like a friendly guy," said Peter, as MJ snatched his sandwich from him.
"Hey!" exclaimed Peter in protest before chuckling.
"What, I'm hungry," replied MJ, holding back a laugh as she headed back inside.
"Feel like I should check this out today, if I do get a paid internship then I don't need to rely on Jonah too much, and the less slander done to my name, the better," thought Peter. Just then, he got a call from Yuri.
"Captain, what's up?" he asked.
"Something new. A body turned up at the docks, but it's unlike anything I've seen," replied Yuri, the shakiness in her voice present.
"And you want me to have a look at it? On a scale of 1 to 10 how gut-wrenching is it?" he asked.
"At least a 9. Jean mentioned how you were good at picking stuff up at the crime scene. Our forensic team is freaked out by it, think you could drop in and take a look?" asked Yuri.
"I mean, I'm no Batman, but I can check it out and see if I notice anything odd. I tend to have a sense for these things," said Peter.
"Okay. Just carry an extra mask in case you throw up," replied Yuri.
"Send me the address, I'm on my way," said Peter, as he walked out of campus and towards an alleyway.
Spider-Man landed on the roof of a building overlooking the docks, as he saw yellow tape marking off the scene. Yuri was standing at the entrance to the docks, anxiously tapping her foot.
"That's a lot of cops…what happened here?" thought Spider-Man, as he hopped off of the building and in front of Yuri.
"There you are. The whole scene has everyone spooked, we haven't seen something like that in a long time," she said, as she and Spider-Man ducked under the yellow tape. There were stacks of red, green, and blue crates, however, forensic technicians seemed to clutter the back of the stack.
"Woah Woah, what's he doing here?" asked an officer, standing in front of Spider-Man.
"I called him here, he's experienced in this too, Detective Macendale," she said.
"Hey I know you, don't I? I ran into you at Tombstone's crime scene too," said Spider-Man, offering a handshake. Macendale grunted as he walked away.
"Well, he's friendly," commented Spider-Man, as he and Yuri walked to the back. "So where's the body we're supposed to- Oh," said Spider-Man, cutting himself off as soon as he saw the body.
It was a man wearing a polyester suit, who had been strung up onto the crates, his hands extended to either side and tied to rods that seemed to be protruding from the crate. Both his legs were tied together, but hanging freely in the air. His forehead seemed to have caved in, almost as if the front part of his skull was broken and pushed in, with his face being a crumpled mess of blood and bone.
"Holy hell," muttered Spider-Man, unable to move his eyes from the grisly sight before him.
"We think a hammer did that, but we have no idea who or what did this," said Yuri.
"He was just…strung up like that…" whispered Spider-Man, as he looked closer at the body. He inspected the man's arms.
"Buildup of lactic acid after death…the body is in a state of rigor mortis," thought Peter, trying extremely hard to remember the books he would read on forensic science during middle school.
"He was hung up for show…behind a stack of crates at a dock? But why here of all places?" asked Peter, as he began to inspect the suit too.
"We don't know, although this specific dock once belonged to the Manfredi crime family," replied Yuri. Peter quickly turned back around.
"That explains the suit he's wearing. Do you think this was an honor killing? Maybe he was part of the Manfredi mob and the mob decided to kill this guy who brought disgrace to their name, and then strung him up at their place of operations as a reminder?" suggested Spider-Man.
"That would be plausible…if the Manfredi crime family hadn't already dissolved after the death of Silvermane some years back," replied Yuri.
"Damn. Maybe a new crime family is back, or the Manfredis are making a comeback?" asked Spider-Man, as he stepped away from the body, but still unable to take his eyes off of it. He had seen a lot of things as Spider-Man, but something as brutal as this was a first for him.
"His skull was literally crushed in, but there are no other signs of trauma to the body," mentioned Peter.
"Which indicates he wasn't tortured, or anything of the sort. The killer went straight for his skull," said Yuri. "I don't know why but the way the body is positioned, it's familiar," she continued, staring at the gruesome sight.
Peter raised an eyebrow. "You mean this has happened before? You think we have a copycat killer, or has the original killer made a resurgence?" asked Spider-Man.
"It's nothing to do with serial killers. It's more of sending a message, though I don't know by who and why," continued Yuri. "I'll investigate it further," she said.
Just then, Peter got a call from Harry. "Give me a second," said Spider-Man, as he walked away from the scene and picked up Harry's call.
"Pete! Hey, MJ told me she gave you the gift," said Harry.
"Oh, I received it, all right. Thanks so much! I'm gonna go visit Horizon in a couple of hours," replied Spider-Man.
"Better hustle, because Mr. Modell leaves early, often around 4 pm," said Harry. Peter checked his watch and realized it was 3:45
"Shit! Thanks, I'll call you back," said Peter, as he pocketed his phone and rushed back to Yuri.
"Something's come up, I need to head out," said Spider-Man.
"No worries," replied Yuri, as Spider-Man swung away
Peter quickly combed his hair with his hands as he walked into the Horizon Labs building. It was a circular building with large glassy windows and a coating of white and blue paint. As he entered the building he was met with a blast of chilled air.
"Peter Parker, I presume?" asked a voice. Peter turned around and saw a brown-haired girl in a blue sweater, holding a notebook.
"Yep, that's me," replied Peter, fumbling his words a little. The girl extended a handshake.
"Corazon. Anya Corazon," she said. Peter shook her hand as they began to walk down a corridor. "I'm guessing you're here for the internship?" she asked.
"Yeah, the chemistry division. A friend of mine said I can meet Dr. Modell about it," said Peter.
"I intern in the robotics division. And I'm guessing your friend was Harry Lyman?" she asked.
"That's him," said Peter, as the two of them got into an elevator and went to the 10th floor, where Max's office was placed.
"Between you and me, Max did do some digging on you. I have to say he was thoroughly impressed," remarked Anya.
"Really? How so?" he asked.
"Well, he pulled up your high school transcripts, plus you were valedictorian. Needless to say, he's going to want to talk to you," she said, as they walked up to his office.
"Good luck, she said. I'll see you at the exit," she said.
"Don't you want to know if I get accepted or not?" asked Peter.
"I'll know once I meet you on the first day of work here," smirked Anya, winking at him. Peter lightly blushed as he walked into the office.
"Peter Parker! There you are!" said Max Modell, as he got up from his desk and went to shake Peter's hand. He was quite tall and his large red beard seemed to protrude from his face.
"I've heard a lot about you from Mr. Lyman," he said, as he gestured for Peter to take a seat at the desk. He moved aside a stack of papers to make some more space.
"I've been looking to apply for an internship, maybe in the chemistry department?" asked Peter. "I know it's a tall order since it's relatively late, but there were…complications last year," he continued.
"You mean The Night of the Goblin? That was a hard time for all of us, so I understand," said Max, looking at his desk while Peter lightly sighed. He looked around and saw a framed picture of Max and another man, with long black hair.
"Anyways, you'll be happy to know that you don't have to wait too long since I already went through your records," said Max.
"Yeah, Anya told me about that," replied Peter.
Max raised an eyebrow. "I see you've met Miss Corazon? She's in the robotics division, but she also interns at the chemistry division too," replied Max.
"Wait, really? She didn't mention that," replied Peter, a bit surprised.
"Probably to surprise you when you come on Monday," chuckled Max, while a look of surprise crossed Peter's face.
"You mean I've got the internship?" asked Peter.
"Of course! We can discuss your timings later, for now, it's best if you get an orientation session on Monday. Welcome to the team, Peter," said Max, extending a handshake as Peter enthusiastically reciprocated.
Hammerhead was sitting at his desk, as he called up a number.
"This is Hammerhead," he said in a thick Italian accent. "We may need your services again. Yes, it's about him," he continued, picking up a pen and writing the address.
"I'll be there in 20. Yes, unarmed," said Hammerhead, cutting the call as he stared at the address. That's when he heard a knock on the door, as someone walked in.
"Boss, they've found the body," said the man who walked in. Hammerhead clapped his hands.
"Excellent! But it only matters if the police get the message. Let's hope one of them can actually use their heads," chuckled Hammerhead, as he tapped his rectangular skull. He stood up from his desk and walked up to a hanger, pulling the coat off and putting it on.
"Is Luigi ready?" he asked.
"Yes, at the car," replied the man, trembling a little bit.
"Good," replied Hammerhead, as he walked out of the room and into a corridor, as he began to walk down the stairs to a black car waiting outside. The chauffeur bowed slightly as he got into the driver's seat.
"Joe's Pizza," said Hammerhead, as the driver began to accelerate. Hammerhead stared at the city streets through the black tinted windows, as they whizzed by him. He clenched his fist before releasing it, as the driver pulled up to the restaurant.
Hammerhead walked into the restaurant, adjusting his coat as he walked to the very back, to a small table, where three people seemed to be crowded around. One of them was large and wearing a small grey tuxedo that barely fit him, one of them had a whip and wore sunglasses, and the final one had two handguns and a mustache.
"Ox, Montana, Fancy Dan. Long time no see!" exclaimed Hammerhead, as he sat down at the table. Ox scoffed as he drank a glass of whiskey.
"After all these years…you need us again?" asked Fancy Dan, raising an eyebrow through his tinted sunglasses.
"Yes, and it's the same mission," replied Hammerhead.
"It's been five years since, been waiting for a rematch," replied Montana, cracking his neck and knuckles.
"Don't get ahead of yourself, slick. He wasn't easy then and he ain't gonna be easy now…" said Fancy Dan, staring at Hammerhead with a skeptic scowl etched on his face.
Hammerhead chuckled. "Just because he seems to have more tech now, doesn't mean you won't have any…" he said, as he pulled out photos and placed them on a table. The trio stared at them in awe.
"State of the art armor, developed by my people itself, resources taken from various different places making it virtually untraceable," said Hammerhead.
Ox nodded with his eyes wide, while Montana gave Fancy Dan a crooked smile. A grin crept onto Fancy Dan's face as he looked back at Hammerhead.
"So then, Enforcers. Do we have a deal?" asked Hammerhead.
"Ten million, for Spider-Man's head," replied Fancy Dan, taking out a knife and slamming it down onto one of the pictures that Hammerhead had put on the table: A picture of Spider-Man.
Hey everyone! I hope you all are excited about what this season is building up to with Hammerhead, and I can assure you there are a lot more surprises coming along the way! Sorry for the massive delay again my schedule is super inconsistent, but I excelled in 11th grade! I'm at a camp right now for the next 10 days, which means I have a lot more time at night to work on chapters as well as binge movies! It's also gonna be my 6 month anniversary with my girlfriend in a few days (and yes she reads this too, you know who you are!)
vfc15650: Thank you so much, it really means a lot! I really hope you enjoy the story further too man! I've got a lot planned!
Fate-Be Changed: Hmmm maybe?
Marvel Nerd: Indeed!
SpideyXBC: She is definitely going to show up again! But maybe not in the way you think ;)
Geek4Life: Yepp, plus it showcases Peter's connection to the wider Marvel Universe now! Which can come as a problem too…
Teller-Story: Yeah, it definitely harnesses negative feelings…
I am the Voice: Yep, a consequence of Peter's status essentially going from crimefighter to superhero
Guest: Maybe bald Spider-Man is closer than you think, but again not in the way you believe he'll show up maybe ;)
redbirds12: Thank you! Hammerhead is definitely going to be a more serious threat when compared to what Peter regularly faces!
Yours Truly,
Shadow Strike.
