(A/N: I do not own Spider-Man. That right belongs to Sony).
"THIS IS TRAVESTY! DEVASTATION! THE WORST THING THAT'S COME TO THIS COUNTRY SINCE THE WEB-HEAD FIRST SHOWED UP!"
Peter was not disappointed at the reaction from Jameson about the arrival of a new hero named Firestar.
"FIRESTAR?! SOME DUMB LITTLE GIRL WHO CAN SHOOT FIRE FROM HER HANDS?! FIRST THE SPIDER-PUNK, THEN THE CAT LADY AND THEN THIS! THEY'RE BUILDING AN ARMY TO TAKE CONTROL! I CAN SEE THE HEADLINES NOW! MUTANTS TO RULE OVER US!...I LOVE IT!" Jameson screamed throughout his office as he looked over the photos Peter brought over after school.
"...Why are you yelling? I'm the only one in here" Peter pointed out as he noted that he was the only one in Jameson's office at the time.
"Don't change the subject, kid. This is headline gold and I'm so glad the Globe's not going to get their hands on the juicy stuff before I do. Have Brant cut you your usual check. I'm going to run this new 'hero' into the ground along with the web-head and the cat" Jameson said, typing fast at his computer.
"...Right" Peter said, turning and walking out of Jameson's office. He probably should have mentioned to Liz that Jameson was not particularly fair as a journalist towards heroes…at least ones that weren't his son anyway, remembering John Jameson's short lived time as Colonel Jupiter.
After getting his check, he walked towards the elevator. It was time to get back to his internship at the ESU lab. He was actually looking forward to going back after taking his 'leave of absence' after Warren took over.
For the last few months, the ESU lab was full of silence, awkwardness and a general uncomfortable feeling for anyone residing inside (Except for one Miles Warren or even Debra Whitman who generally seemed unaware of anything going on around her other than her duties). That was not the case now.
The lab was now full of smiles, laughter and happiness now that the Connors' fun loving and inspiring towards the subject of science lightened up the lab once again. Debra herself had taken a leave of absence after the police investigation. It turned out to have taken an emotional toll on her so she needed time to recover before returning (If she was even going to).
Peter, Gwen and even Liz and Felicia were present inside the lab. Liz was present for the Connors' monitoring of her 'situation' and Felicia was there too as an 'observer' as she suddenly had gained a new love of science. It absolutely had nothing to do with her boyfriend being interested in it.
Curt Connors was looking at another recent blood sample from Liz through a microscope. He smiled and nodded as he examined the blood molecules. Soon he moved his head back and turned to Liz.
"Great news, Liz. From what I see, the molecular structure of your bodily mutations are very stable and seem to be under your control. So as long as you keep doing what you're doing, you should be fine" Curt said to the Latina girl who smiled as she sat on a lab desk.
The girl in question smiled. "Thanks, doctor. That's a relief"
"Maybe you could put your powers to good use as well. You never know when roasting marshmallows or weenies can be a hassle" Felicia teased.
"Ha ha" Liz said dryly to the person she was sharing her boyfriend with.
"Alright, alright, enough of that. Gwen, Peter, we have to get back to work. Liz, Ms…Hardy, is it? You're welcome to stay if you want but we have to ask you to keep quiet. We work on pretty volatile experiments" Curt said to the girlfriends of Peter Parker.
"No problem, doc. I always like to see the whiz kid in action" Felicia said as she sat on a nearby chair, watching Peter pour a vial of a chemical into a beaker. The guy in question just smiled and rolled his eyes.
"Can we just ask what interests you so much about Peter? It's kind of peculiar for a teaching assistant to take such an interest in one of their students" Martha asked with a raised eyebrow.
Almost everyone but Felicia (Including Gwen) suddenly grew uncomfortable, not entirely sure how to explain this to them.
"He's just a friend I've known for a while now. Me being a teaching assistant on the side is just a…happy coincidence" Felicia explained.
"...Uh-huh. Interesting…Well I hope you learn a thing or two during your time here. I need to look over a few things in the office" Martha said, her face remaining unchanged from her raised eyebrow as she went inside the office to presumably think something over.
"Hm…I get the sense that she may not like me" Felicia said.
"Oh, don't worry about that. She's a…bit of a social traditionalist, so to speak. She sort of questions things out of the ordinary" Curt said, waving off her concerns.
"You don't say?" Felicia asked, giving a smirk and winking towards Peter who just blushed and facially told her to shut up.
After that, there seemed to be an awkward silence between all of them in the room as they went about their duties. Felicia just observed Peter as Liz just played on her phone while Peter, Gwen and Dr. Connors just proceed as business as usual.
A while after, all of a sudden there was a knock at the entrance door to the lab.
Curt raised an eyebrow. This was kind of an odd thing to happen as he wasn't expecting any visitors today. However, he wasn't prone to turning people away so he decided to indulge this and see where it would go.
The blond scientist went towards the front door and opened it. The door opening revealed a blind man wearing dark glasses, a suit and holding a cane alongside a tall, Latino teen boy.
"Yes, hello, this is the ESU laboratory. I'm Dr. Curt Connors. Can I help you?" Curt asked, raising an eyebrow.
"Yes, hello, my name is Matt Murdock, attorney at law. I'm just here to speak to my client: Peter Parker. I was told he spent some afternoons here" The blind man said.
Peter looked up at hearing his name and smiled at the man. "Matt. Thank god you're here, I was wanting to speak to you"
Liz looked up from her phone as well and her eyes nearly popped out of her sockets at the sight. She gave a wide and open-mouthed smile.
"Markito!" Liz said, shooting up from her chair, throwing her phone aside and running up to hug one Mark Allan, her brother.
"Lizzie" He said lightly, giving her a soft hug.
Curt had to smile. "Well I see some people are very glad to see you. In that case, welcome. Come on in"
Liz had detached herself from Mark after several moments and walked with him inside the lab. Peter came up to Matt and tried to help him walk throughout the lab but the lawyer shooed him away, insisting he can make it.
Gwen, fascinated by the sight, decided to speak up. "So Mark, when did you get back?"
"Just a few hours ago, actually. Mr. Murdock came and got me. Told me he and your dad worked an agreement with the mayor to grant me probation instead of me spending years in prison. All I have to do is get my…condition under control" Mark said sheepishly, rubbing the back of his head.
Liz fidgeted. She had not told him or her parents about her own conditions and was not exactly keen about telling them either. She didn't even know how they would feel about her dating Spiderman, considering Mark had tried to actually kill him before.
"Well Mark, I'm Dr. Curt Connors. I believe I can help with that" Curt said, walking up to Mark. The boy in question smiled and shook hands with him.
"Yeah. Thanks, Doc. Spiderman actually recommended you to me but…under the circumstances I was in, I wasn't exactly prone to reason at the time" Mark said, scratching the back of his head embarrassingly.
"It happens to the best of us, Mark. Anyway, come on. Have a seat. We'll get you looked after and we'll see about getting that armor off of you" Curt said, gently placing his hands on Mark's shoulders and leading him towards the area where he was just observing Liz.
Speaking of whom, Liz was beaming with excitement as she practically bounced up and down with excitement. She quickly ran towards Peter and hugged him, surprising him to the point where she almost knocked him over.
"Thank you, thank you, thank you, Petey! This is without a doubt the best thing anyone could have done for me. You're the best boyfriend ever" Liz said, giving him a big kiss on the cheek. She quickly ran towards Mark to talk to him.
Peter then turned to Matt who just had a smirk on his face.
"So it's finally done, then?" Peter asked.
"It took some negotiations but yeah, me and Captain Stacy were able to put a deal forth with the Mayor. Mark will have to come around 4 times a week to the ESU lab for inspection and for Dr. Connor's help in removing the nanobots covering his body in armor. He also has a strict 8PM curfew and will be watched by city inspectors to make sure he doesn't go gambling again" Matt explained.
"Wow…that seems a little harsh" Peter said with a raised eyebrow.
"It's all we can get right now given the circumstances of his arrest. It took a lot of negotiation with Mayor Waters to get her to agree to this. We should just be grateful he'll get to sleep in pajamas in the comfort of his bedroom rather than in an orange jumpsuit at the Vault" Matt explained.
Peter nodded. "Yeah…fair enough. Anyway, can you get me records for Flint Marko's daughter. I…er…heard from Spiderman, because I take pictures of him and all and he told me about her. Marko says she's sick"
"Should be able to soon. I'll get to you on that. Anything else?" Matt asked.
"Yeah. Spiderman also told me that Marko apparently had 'connections' and that's how he was able to hear about the money being flown in by the government. Would you happen to know anything at all about that?" Peter asked with a raised eyebrow.
Matt sat silent for a second. Peter couldn't get a good look behind those dark glasses but he had a good feeling his lawyer knew something. After a few moments, the man in question gave a deep sigh.
"I don't exactly know what you're going to do with this information…or maybe I do" He added in with a whisper.
"What was that?" Peter asked.
"Nothing. Forget it. Anyway, this is all off the record and if you tell anyone where you heard this from, I'll deny it. Got me?" Matt asked with a stern voice.
"Crystal clear" Peter said, nodding.
"...Alright…the city recently dropped an investigation against L. Thompson Lincoln…I assume you've heard of him?" Matt asked.
"...Yeah. Yeah I have. What about him?" Peter asked, darkly. He could see where this was going.
"The city had to clear any charges because of a lack of evidence of any concrete involvement of the gang war that occurred on Valentine's day this year. He insisted he was an 'innocent victim of circumstance' and such. So…again, not saying there's at a link…but it's a start if you catch my drift" Matt explained.
Peter got the message. It seemed the Big Man was back in action. This was not good. The only saving grace was that now that Norman was gone, Doc Ock went solo and Warren was in jail, he couldn't create any more villains for the time being. However, he still needed to be brought down. He just didn't know how.
"Alright…thanks, Matt. I think I got the message" Peter said, nodding.
"Good…now remember: You didn't hear it from me. Anyway, I better get going. I have other clients to speak to" Matt said, turning around and walking towards the door, waving his cane in front of him as he walked.
"You need help?" Peter asked.
"I can manage. Speak to you soon" Matt said as he walked out the doors. Peter had to admit, for a blind man, he certainly knew how to handle himself. Kind of impressive really.
The young brunette then turned to watch the scenery before him. Liz was enthusiastically speaking with Mark. Peter let out a smile. He didn't have the best relationship with Mark considering the fact that he had tried to kill him and he was a pretty protective brother when he and Liz were first together. However, he hadn't ever seen Liz this happy so it was a nice change of pace.
As the others were keeping themselves busy, Peter turned to see Gwen who had a sad smile. Peter wasn't good at reading girls but as Gwen's best friend, he could tell when she was feeling down. He walked towards her and gently placed a hand on her shoulder.
"Everything ok, Gwen?" Peter asked with a raised .
"Hm? Oh. Oh, yeah, Peter. I'm fine" Gwen said in a not so assuring manner.
"You're sure? Nothing is wrong? This is a chance to get whatever's on your mind out" Peter said, determined to find out what was wrong.
Gwen slowly turned her head and looked at Peter. She then looked to the ground before a split second before looking back up at Peter and giving a sigh.
"Well…if I'm being honest…I…kinda miss Eddie. I miss having him around. I know you two weren't exactly getting along before he…went off the deep end but…it still hurts he isn't around" Gwen said, her sad smile turning into a sad frown.
Peter gave a sympathetic look to Gwen. He had to admit, he missed Eddie too. Eddie was at one time his oldest friend, his practical brother who was there for him when his parents died and vice-versa. It hurt that he allowed the symbiote to turn an innocent, kind guy like Eddie into this alien monster.
"Well…hey, I think Ravencroft is allowing visitors so…why don't we schedule one for this weekend. We can find out what's been happening and if they've made any progress" Peter suggested.
Gwen turned and raised an eyebrow. "Are…are you sure, Peter? Ever since the whole Venom ordeal, it seems he really doesn't like you…and seems to think that you're Spiderman for some reason"
"Uh…yeah, yeah. Crazy…but hey, it's been about 8 or so months since they took him there so…they've had to have made some sort of progress. I say we visit him. Are you in?" Peter asked with a warm smile while the inside was desperate to change the subject from the whole 'Identity crisis' situation he had faced some time ago.
Gwen thought about it for a few moments before giving a nod. "Al-...alright. Yeah. Sure. Let's do it"
Peter smiled and nodded. "Cool. I'll get a visitation appointment set up"
Peter had to admit, he didn't really know about this. He hadn't seen Eddie since he had been taken to Ravencroft so he wasn't really counting on a friendly visit. However, he felt it was right to do this. He needed to clear the air between him and his oldest friend (Or former friend, he guessed). He also needed to pay a trip to one Mr. Lincoln to let him know that he wasn't going to take anymore of his bullcrap and that he would be watching him very closely.
Overall, it was looking to be a very eventful weekend for Mr. Parker.