Ben sighed, "Oh, Peter, I really appreciate that you are trying to help us to find a job, but a job at 16, it won't be easy as you think, and I'm worried that if you take a job, you wouldn't be able to find time to be with those lovely ladies or us old people, and before you know it, it goes fast, and you wouldn't appreciate your years of high school to learn about yourself, especially when it comes to self-confidence and self-control about your body and hormones.".
Peter looked away as Ben sighed, "Listen, Peter... I know some things have been going on as of late since you've had your spurt and all, you're changing. These are the years when a boy changes into the man he's gonna become the rest of his life and I know that you're smart enough and that your aunt and I have taught you enough to know better... I just want you to know that with great power comes great responsibility.".
Jasmine purred, nuzzling Peter's arm, and Peter glanced at her eyes, seeing that she agrees with Ben, and Peter exhaled, "And that involves all aspects of life, huh?".
Ben nodded, "That's right. Even the intimacy aspect too. But I know you. You will see that you'll become a great man like I and your aunt know that you'll be. Just remember that with great power comes great responsibility, okay?".
Peter nodded, "Okay..I gotta go now. Can't be late.", ruffling Jasmine's fur gently with a kiss to her head, and smiled at Ben, and he called as Peter got out of the car, "I'll pick you up at 10, no later than that, clear?".
"Got it, Uncle Ben!", Peter waved, and Ben nodded, seeing his nephew head into the direction of the mini-mall, and he chuckled, "Ah, to be young again, eh, Princess?".
Jasmine mewed, purring as Ben pet her back, and he drove on after watching traffic behind him, heading to another part of the city to the post office where his family's po box is.
Peter exhaled in relief as he stepped out of the shadows, seeing Ben's car turn at the road up ahead, and was glad that he's wearing the suit underneath his clothes, having saved time when he was called down to dinner at home.
He then sprinted to the place that held the underground fighting matches and saw the girls waiting for him. "There you are...", Gwen sighed in relief. "I was worried I was going to have to go out and look for you there...", she said as Peter chuckled.
"Sorry, got a bit held up with things for a minute there... I'm not late, am I?", Peter asked. "No, plenty of time to get set up with things.", Jean told him. "You better sign those papers though if you want to get that money.".
"Right... better take a look over it too just to be sure with things...", Peter added. "Yeah, I'm sure these guys have some sort of loopholes that they'd love to exploit on anyone lucky enough to win.", Gwen crossed her arms.
Jean nodded, "Right, let's get to the elevator, and once we get close to the elevator spot, put that mask on. Gwen, keep a seat for me. I'll go with Peter as I'm his representative, and I can record the paperwork in my mind in case if the guy pulls something on Peter, and the guy wouldn't be able to stop him if I communicated telepathically with Peter about the loopholes in the paperwork later on after our Spiderman wins the match.".
The others nod in agreement, and went on to head into the place, with Peter putting on the mask as they headed deeper, with Jean giving the password to the bouncer guarding the underground matches' secret elevators. The other elevators are for the public to head to the stands which Gwen took, winking at Peter, "Knock him dead, Bronx Spider.".
Peter nodded with a slightly deeper voice, "Will do, G.", and after Gwen headed down and off to the stands surrounding the match, Jean and Peter got into the staff elevator, heading down to the hallway that led to the office of the guy Jean spoke with from yesterday.
"Nervous?", Jean asked as they walked. "A bit...", Peter admitted. "I mean, I know seven grand isn't that much these days when you think about it, but still, how much it could help my family for now... and just the fact that if I make a mistake, that's it...", he sighed.
Jean squeezed his shoulder, "Hey, you might be a rookie at this, but you're smarter and quicker than this Bonesaw guy. Just remember to control your strength just right to knock him out, but not kill him, and make it count. Best to do it within maybe 40 seconds in, and then after Bonesaw is down for the next 20 seconds, you will win the match.", with a confident smile.
Peter chuckled, "You're right, Jean.", before taking a deep breath as they made it to the office, and Jean knocked sharply on it, with the guy calling out, "Come in!".
The guy foolishly thought that Peter is scrawnier than he is, due to his clothes hiding his body, and patiently waited for Peter to sign, with Jean checking over the paperwork, and after seeing that it's good, with the loophole of hitting and winning under a minute in the paperwork found, and so, Peter signed.
The guy processed everything, and nods, "You're slotted in after the next two guys against Bonesaw, Bronx Spider. See you soon.", and the duo left the office, and used the staff elevator to head back up to the elevator spot, and after informing the bouncer of his boss giving permission for Bronx Spider to fight, the bouncer let the duo head to the public elevators and headed down.
"At least I'll know a weakness if I watch him.", Peter replied, and Jean nodded, "True. Still, don't be too cocky, my friend.", guessing that the elevators have some cameras, not high security or something like that, but better to be safe to say a bit of lie than the truth or something.
Peter chuckled, "Yes, ma'am.", and soon, they got to the public stands with two different hallways, and the attendant for the boxer hallway replied, "Yeah?".
"Bronx Spider for the third slot.", Peter replied, and the attendant nodded, holding a walkie-talkie, "Ah, good. Keep going straight, and you will have a view of the matches, and when I get you, you're coming into the catwalk, got it?".
"Understood.", Peter nodded, taking off his clothes, folding them and handing them to Jean, with the attendant widening his eyes, "Damn. Huh, looks like you might last a good minute or two. Say bye to your friend.".
Jean nodded at Peter with a smile, "Make it count, Bronx Spider, and perhaps I'll make tonight count for you.", and Peter was glad that the mask hid his blush, and replied, "Sounds good to me, Red.", before heading down the boxer hallway, with Jean chuckling as she headed to the stands to look for Gwen and sit next to her.
After a few minutes of stretching and warming up for the fight, Peter could overhear the loud noises of the crowd as things were getting ready to go down.
"Bone Saw! Bone Saw! Bone Saw! Bone Saw! Bone Saw! Bone Saw! Bone Saw! Bone Saw! Bone Saw! Bone Saw! Bone Saw! Bone Saw!", Peter could hear the crowd chanting loudly. This guy certainly was bringing out quite the crowd for sure.
"Who's the man? Ladies and gentlemen, give it up for Bone Saw McGraw. For $7599, is there no one here man enough to knock him out? Much less stay in the ring for three minutes with this titan of testosterone?", the MC announcer shouted.
The crowd roared as Bonesaw grunted, yelling, and the MC announcer laughed before clearing his throat, "Now after our wonderful, incredible titan has defeated the last two, and quite pitiful at that, we have a final entry to fight Bonesaw. Do you want him to fight Bonesaw?!", and the crowd roared, wanting to see a fight again.
The attendant whistled to Peter, and he nodded, sprinting to the curtains of the catwalk, and the MC announcer kept calling out, "He's reported to be smart and strong, and don't let his costume fool ya! And so, coming from New York City, the Big Apple, I give you the Bronx Spider!", and the curtains came up.
Peter took a deep breath as he could feel all eyes on him. 'Okay, just a quick minute to knock him out... easy enough... Come on, Parker, you've got this...' He thought as he tried to look around for where Jean and Gwen were watching him from but with how crazy the crowds were, it was hard to tell.
Jean felt his thoughts, and nudged him to look at one spot, and he breathed in relief as he saw his girls...'My girls? No, focus! You're fighting a guy. A big, strong yet tall guy...Sheesh, he's definitely on steroids!', as he walked to the ring as the crowd were watching him.
'Don't freak out when the cage comes down. Knock him out. Make it count.', Peter repeated the mantra of making it count in his head as he slipped into the ring through the red thick strings.
"Everyone, the Bronx Spider!", the MC announcer shouted, and the crowds roared, waiting for the match to commence. "And you know Bonesaw, ladies and gentlemen!", and the crowds roared even louder.
Peter managed to hold his winces at the loud noises and felt badly for Gwen for a moment before taking a deep breath again, and the MC announcer called out, "We all know the challenge. Three minutes to knock either one out, and the winner gets the cash prize!".
The crowd cheered, and the MC announcer stepped out, "But the men themselves cannot go beyond the ring for it's a cage match!", as the cage came down to enclose the ring.
The moment the cage locked on the ring, Peter exhaled deeply, keeping a timer in his head, looking at Bonesaw who growled lowly, obviously fired up, and the MC announcer called out, "On your mark, get set, fight!".
"BONESAW IS READY!", Bonesaw shouted. "Bonesaw needs to stop referring to himself in the third person!", Peter quickly countered with his wit, just to get into the guy's head which looked like it worked as he charged ahead towards him, clearly ready to rip his head right off.
'Maybe I shouldn't have gotten him too mad there.' Peter thought as he dived down to avoid the tackle Bonesaw tried to pull on him.
He then flipped into the cage bars, taunting, "You call that a tackle, man?!", and Bonesaw roared, spinning around to punch into him, and Peter flipped over Bonesaw as he punched the cage bars, and shouted in pain, snarling, looking around before hearing Peter reply, "You forget that spiders can lay low!", and Bonesaw looked down, but too late, for Peter laid a uppercut hard into Bonesaw's jaw, throwing Bonesaw backwards into the cage, groaning before crashing into the ring ground, with a thud.
Peter exhaled heavily, and watched for any movement, and saw that Bonesaw is still breathing as one of the attendants went to count, "10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, he's out!".
Peter took a huge sigh of relief and was just praying that he had done it just in time. The whole crowd was silent as even the organizers were fairly stunned by what Peter had just pulled off.
"I... um... It appears that Bonesaw has been knocked out... so I guess we have our champion, the Bronx Spider!", the MC announcer called out.
The crowd went wild, cheering and whistling as Peter locked his eyes with Jean and Gwen, smiling at him proudly, and Peter chuckled, lifting his arms in the air, and the crowd clapped, cheering even louder.
After it was over and settled down, with Peter leaving after the cage was brought up into the ceiling, nodding at Jean and Gwen, using the other staff elevator to head up and over to the other staff elevator, nodding at the bouncer who congratulated him, and headed down to the hallway/office of the guy.
He felt Jean's energy touching his mind, ready to help him, while waiting for the crowd to filter out of the stands, and Peter knocked on the door, and after the guy called him in, he laughed, "I couldn't believe my eyes when I watched you on the monitor!", holding a remote at a tv monitor, showing a freeze frame of Peter uppercutting the punch on Bonesaw.
Peter exhaled, crossing his arms, "Bonesaw's a heavyweight while I'm not. Speed advantage.", and the guy chuckled, "Indeed! Well, you clearly laid him out cold, Bronx Spider. Short of a minute, 50 seconds, to be exact, after it was announced that he was out.".
"Eh, I just got lucky with that hit...", Peter claimed. "I honestly didn't think that one would get him.", with a thoughtful hum.
"Well, it did...", the man chuckled. "You might want to keep that mask on through for sure... when he wakes up and finds out what happens... oh boy... you might be smarter just to take your winnings and get out of town.".
Peter nodded, "Yeah. So, cash or check?", and the guy nodded, "Ah, yes. So, since the banks wouldn't be too suspicious, the prize is split up in cash, and a couple of checks. You're a lucky guy, Bronx Spider. 7,599 grand. That's 1,599 in cash, 3,000 on one check, and the rest on the other check. Good for ya?", giving him a mini backpack, and the two paychecks.
"And the checks are legal?", Peter asked firmly, and the guy nodded, "Oh, yeah, printed with my name on it, along with a legal place I own for this, just write your legal name on those checks, and you will be fine with the banks, and as for the cash, they're real too, no doubt about it.".
Peter felt Jean's energy checking on the man's mind, and heard a mental message, 'He's surprised for once, not wanting you to mess him up, so he's being polite, and a bit scared, to stay legal with you. All he's saying is true.'.
"Alright then.", Peter said as he started to write his name down. "Hope this isn't too much of a financial hit on you. I know you probably didn't expect anyone to win this prize.".
The guy replied, "Ah, like your friend says, there are miracles in New York City, and for once, I think I have to agree with her. And don't worry, those underground matches are popular. The crazy fans pay a couple of dollars to get in, and since the stands fill up to 200 people, it isn't too bad.".
Peter said, "That's fair.", finishing in putting his name down, "Okay, the checks are filled out.", as the guy replied, "No need to show me there, I can see it from here. And besides, you sound like a good guy, you better get out. And besides, I wouldn't want any of the cops to get this place in trouble since it's both legal and yet illegal.".
Realizing that the guy doesn't want to rat Peter out to Bonesaw or anything, Peter nodded, "Well, thanks, man, and since you have been pretty solid with me, here's a tip.", taking a bundle out of the mini backpack, full of 20s, totaling up to $100, sliding it across the desk.
The guy widened his eyes, and chuckled, "Whoever taught you to be smart, they're lucky to have you. Good luck, Bronx Spider, and good night.".
"You too.", Peter nodded, lugging the mini backpack up after zipping it up, and took the checks into his tight pockets of his suit. He headed out, seeing the bouncer heading down the hallway, past him, and felt a minor tingling sensation in his head before blinking and frowning as it vanished long after that.
He shrugged and went to head into the staff elevator, heading up to the elevator spot, seeing the girls waiting for him, and Peter nodded, "All good.", as he gave the mini backpack to Gwen, taking his clothes back from Jean, and covered his suit as he dressed up, taking off his mask, putting it into his jacket pocket.
Gwen chuckled, "Feels like a good bundle to me.", humming as she weighed the mini backpack in her arms, and Jean smiled, "You were brilliant, tiger.".
Peter smiled, "Thanks, Jean.", before an alarm sounded out in the underground area, through the elevator spot, and Jean looked, listening for any mind panicking, and blinked, "The guy you got the reward from, he got robbed.".
"Not too surprising considering the crowds we had... Jean obviously was hearing quite a number of the thoughts from some of the guys around us.", Gwen said.
"Well, is there anything we want to do? Or do we just let them handle things on their own and get out of here?", Peter asked.
Jean replied, "It's almost 10, and we can't be late for your pickup, tiger.", and Peter nodded, "Yeah, wouldn't want to get grounded for missing Uncle Ben's pickup time.", unknowing what will happen in a few minutes.