The Invincible Spider-Man
Chapter 96: Trick or Treat- Part 2
MJ sat at the edge of her bed, a first aid kit in her hand. He was lucky that she had decided to move out of campus and get her own apartment, otherwise Peter would have to explain a lot to her roommate.
Like clockwork, a bloody hand reached at the window. MJ immediately rushed to it and opened the window, helping Peter inside. He took off his mask as his black hair exploded all over the place. There was a cut across his cheek and to the right of his forehead, not to mention a bleeding nose and lip.
"What were you up against?" she asked, helping Peter sit down. Grunting, Peter sat down on the bed, and MJ dabbed the gauze with antiseptic, cleaning the wounds on his face.
"Ow! Some maniac on a broomstick- OW!" squealed Peter. MJ grimaced as she applied some cotton to the wounds, but the blood seemed to have already dried.
"I think it's Norman," said Peter. MJ froze.
"He's in Ravencroft? Right?" she asked.
"It's not the first time he's been in two places at once. 3 years back, he hired the Chameleon to impersonate him in prison while he went and caused chaos. That was just a few days before he…went after Gwen," explained Peter.
Mary Jane shuddered at that thought.
"Anyway, I'm heading to Ravencroft to make sure he's actually in prison," said Peter, trying to stand up. However, MJ pulled him back down.
"Relax, tiger. Tonight or tomorrow, he's still going to be there," reassured MJ. Peter webbed up his mask and put it on his face.
"If Norman Osborn is involved in this, then I can't take any risks, regardless of how big or small. I'm sorry MJ, cover for me in case if I miss Dr Warren's class, please?" requested Peter, swinging out of the window and into the dead of night.
MJ sighed and hung her head down.
"Yep."
A storm raged on, lightning illuminating the sky and the sign that seemed to be hanging by just one nail on the large gate, reading: "Ravencroft Asylum." Spider-Man swung up to the door, only to be met by the guards aiming their rifles to his head.
"Easy there, boys. I'm just here to talk to an old friend of mine," said Peter. One guard lowered his gun down, swiping a key card towards an electronic lock.
"We'll accompany you inside," said one of the guards, while two others joined him. Spider-Man shrugged and entered the asylum, the cold air and metallic walls making it seem more like a prison.
He walked up to the reception, and one of the guards flashed a badge.
"Is he allowed to enter?" asked the receptionist, looking at the guards, who both shrugged.
"I need to speak to Norman Osborn," said Spider-Man. The receptionist glared at him, but Peter returned an unflinching stare back. She flipped through some papers, before speaking into a microphone.
"We have a visitor for inmate 14121. High priority. Make sure any interaction stays behind the glass," she said, before looking back at Spider-Man and the guards, gesturing for them to enter.
Peter entered the long corridor of the asylum, which seemed to then branch out into multiple junctions. The smell of antiseptic and cold air stung his nose even through his mask as he was led down the third junction from the right.
"This isn't creepy at all. Though it is a good idea, keeping my crazy enemies at Ryker's and keeping the crazier ones in Ravencroft. Hope that lessens the number of breakouts," thought Spider-Man, entering a cage elevator.
The elevator descended down multiple floors, the brilliant white, clean marble being replaced with grimy, rusted steel. Peter felt as if he was descending further and further down into Hell itself, until the elevator finally came to a stop.
The guards escorted Peter to the visitor's section, and to a metal door.
"Good luck," said one of them. Spider-Man nodded, and walked into the room.
There was a small chair in front of a large pane of bulletproof glass. On the other side of the glass was a man in an orange jumpsuit, handcuffed with a sly smile carved on his face.
"And here I thought you had forgotten about me," said Norman, his hands on the table. Spider-Man wordlessly walked up to him and sat on the chair, not breaking his stare.
"How long's it been, hm? You'd think you wouldn't forget the man who threw your love off of a bridge," taunted Norman. Peter silently took a deep breath, placing both his hands on the desk.
"I need to know about the Jack O' Lantern," said Peter, cutting to the chase. Norman laughed out loud.
"The copycat on the news? What makes you think I know anything about him?" asked Norman.
"Oh, just your usual. Witchy cackle, pyromania, a glider, though it was broom shaped, and the classic pumpkin bombs," explained Peter. Norman's brow furrowed, and he lay back in his chair.
"Well, I didn't think he had it in him," chuckled Norman. Peter leaned forward.
"What do you know?" asked Peter. Norman stared back at him, a smirk on his face.
"Well, it's just a hunch, but seeing as how he's come to visit me so many times, maybe he decided he carry on my legacy. I don't know how he manufactured my tech, though," said Norman, cryptically.
"I'm not playing games, Norman. Who?" pressured Peter.
"Your best friend. My son," replied Norman. Peter froze for a second, then shook his head.
"You're trying to get in my head," reasoned Peter. Norman chuckled.
"I'm guessing he didn't tell you? About how he would visit me, like I was his personal therapist? Talk about just how much resentment he held for you? Because Mary Jane had eyes only for you? Because you were my favorite son?" asked Norman.
Everything seemed to click for Peter. The proficiency with the tech, the hatred that Jack O' Lantern had in his eyes for Spider-Man.
"Does he know?" thought Peter, standing up from the chair.
"We're not done," said Peter, walking to the door.
"Oh, I assure you son, we're not." Replied Norman.
Peter frantically swung to the side of a building, dialling up Mary Jane.
"MJ? MJ?!" exclaimed Peter, as the phone continued to ring. "If what Norman said is true, things have gone from bad to catastrophic," he thought, tapping his foot on the wall till Mary Jane finally picked up.
"MJ? Are you okay?" asked Peter.
"Yeah? I'm waiting for you to get back," replied MJ, half asleep.
"Has Harry contacted you? When did you last see him?" asked Peter.
"Slow down, tiger. No, he hasn't messaged me in a while. Last time he did was to tell me that his meeting with you went well. Is something wrong, is he in trouble?" she asked.
"Did you know he was seeing Norman? In Ravencroft?" asked Peter. MJ stayed silent for a bit.
"I…Yeah, I did. But I didn't think he was going so many times," replied MJ.
"MJ, why didn't you tell me about this? You know how Norman is, he could've gotten into Harry's head, manipulated him like he used to when we were kids," replied Peter.
"Wait, you don't think Harry is Jack O' Lantern, do you?" asked MJ.
"That's what I'm going to find out. I'm on my way to Harry's penthouse," replied Peter, swinging as fast as he could to Harry's house.
Harry was living at Norman's place, a plush penthouse on the 52nd floor, just a few blocks away from Oscorp and overlooking Central Park. Norman's bedroom directly faced Oscorp, something Peter always found pretentious, even by Norman's standards.
Peter crawled in through the air vent outside Norman's office, silently landing on his two feet. He walked into the massive living room and up to Harry's room.
"Last time I was here, Harry caught MJ and I…together. Now it makes sense why he was so pissed that day," thought Spider-Man. As he approached Harry's bedroom door, his Spider-Sense tingled.
He jumped up to the ceiling, just as Harry walked out the door. He was holding an empty pill bottle in his hands. Sweat seemed to drip down his forehead and he was breathing heavily. He walked up to the couch, curled up on it and fell asleep.
"Oh God, Harry…" thought Peter. He started to approach him, about to place a hand on his shoulder.
"Not right now. I can't let him see me like this," thought Spider-Man, backing away. He carefully propped up Harry's head on a pillow, and webbed up a blanket from his bedroom, placing it over him.
"MJ and I need to talk to him about this," he told himself, walking to Harry's bedroom. He began to search every nook and cranny of the place, but to no avail.
"No evidence here that Harry is Jack O' Lantern. And how could he be? Oh man," said Peter, swallowing hard as he left Harry's bedroom and saw him lying on the couch.
"Some friend you are, Pete. Your friend is suffering and you're here thinking he's a supervillain. Great work," he scolded himself, swinging into Norman's office and crawling out of the vent.
He zipped to a building and began to phone up MJ. Before she could pick up, however, his Spider-Sense began going wild.
He backflipped up in the air, dodging a throwing knife shaped like a small bat. As soon as he turned around, the Jack O' Lantern's broom slammed into his face.
Spider-Man flew across the roof, but landed on his feet as he faced Jack O' Lantern.
"I don't blame you for thinking it was the Osborn kid! He has as much of a reason to hate you as much as I do," cackled Jack O' Lantern, zooming towards Spider-Man, who dodged with a sideflip.
"All right then, Arkham Knight, tell me what did I ever do to you? Did your bully dress up as me and take your lunch money?" asked Peter. He webbed up Jack O' Lantern's face and kicked him in the chest.
"Or I refused to help you in a test and you ended up failing by a mark?" suggested Spider-Man, ducking under a right hook and delivering an uppercut, knocking Jack O' Lantern off of his glider.
"Ohhh, I get it! You're pissed off because kids dress up as me for Halloween and they carve your face up instead!" quipped Peter, flipping over Jack O' Lantern and webbing his back, pulling him off of his glider.
Jack O' Lantern landed on his feet and spin kicked Peter away, before unravelling fiery chains from both his arms.
"Ah great, so who'd you steal that idea from? Ghost Rider or Kratos?" asked Spider-Man, dodging one chain but getting wrapped up by another.
"AAAAAARGHHH!" shouted Spider-Man, feeling the chain burning through the fabric of his suit. He managed to shoot a web at Jack O' Lantern's face, who let go of the chain. Peter broke out of it and rushed at him, kicking him in the chest and webbing up his feet.
Jack O' Lantern grabbed Spider-Man's arm and punched him in the chest, before calling his broom shaped glider. He grabbed Peter by the throat and zoomed off of the roof, crashing him down to the ground.
Before Spider-Man could get up, Jack O' Lantern threw him into a bus. Peter hit it, but managed to flip over it and catch it before it hit the ground. He punched the emergency exit window so that the people could escape.
"YOU'RE GONNA PAY FOR WHAT YOU DID TO ME!" roared Jack O' Lantern in rage, kicking a car towards Spider-Man. Peter grabbed it in mid-air, throwing it back at him, Jack O' Lantern used one chain and cleanly sliced through it.
Jack O' Lantern revealed mini flamethrowers on his wrists as he aimed them at Spider-Man. Peter ripped out a car door and used it as a shield, before spinning and throwing it at Jack O' Lantern, who stumbled back.
Spider-Man webbed up the flamethrowers, before doing a corkscrew and landing in front of Jack O' Lantern, backflip-kicking him away.
"At least tell me what I did to you so that we can connect more on an emotional level? You know I have such good rivalries with my other enemies because we understand each other!" joked Spider-Man.
Jack O' Lantern roared even louder as he summoned his glider and jumped onto it, swooping towards Spider-Man. Peter rolled out of the way, and switched to electric webs. He aimed them to the back of the glider, causing it to short circuit.
Jack O' Lantern landed on the ground, and Peter lifted him up and threw him towards a wall, before punching him in the face, shattering the pumpkin mask. Peter's eyes went wide as he stared at the man behind the mask.
"Officer Macendale?" he asked, shocked. Macendale headbutted him and slammed him to the wall, extending a blade from his wrist armour. Spider-Man quickly grabbed the blade before it could stab him in the chest. He broke off the blade from the armour, kicking Jason away.
"Officer, who did this to you?" asked Peter, trying to calm him down. A look of hatred was etched onto Jason's face as he charged at Spider-Man. Peter flipped over him and webbed his back, pulling him to the ground.
"You took everything from me. My legs, my job, MY LIFE!" shouted Jason, springing up and grabbing Peter by the throat, grasping at his mask.
"WHO ARE YOU?! WHAT MAKES YOU DECIDE WHO GETS HURT AND WHO DOESN'T?!" shouted Jason, ripping off a piece of his mask. Spider-Man kicked him and broke free.
"What happened to you wasn't my fault, Jason. And I'm done paying for that," replied Peter, balling his fists up. He rushed towards Jason, but ducked under him and webbed his legs up, causing him to trip.
"I got shot because of you! Because you attacked me!" exclaimed Jason. "HOW AM I THE VILLAIN HERE?!"
"Take one look at the damage you've caused around you. I've explained myself to you countless times, that wasn't me who got you shot. But all of this? All of this is you," said Spider-Man, gesturing to the damage around him.
People had taken out their phones, filming the whole ordeal, including Jason's face.
"It's over," started Peter. Jason lunged at him, but Spider-Man rolled out of the way, and webbed up the broken glider nearby. As soon as Jason turned around, Peter caught him unawares and slammed it across his face.
Jason landed on the ground. Spider-Man picked him up and webbed him to a lamppost, as police cars swarmed the place. Jason grumbled and spat at Spider-Man.
"You ruined my life. Had to ruin my reputation too, huh?" he asked.
"You ruined your life yourself. Now, I have questions," commanded Spider-Man.
"What makes you think I'd answer them?" asked Jason. Spider-Man thought for a second.
"He thinks of me as a threat. Maybe I could play it up a bit…"
"You lost your legs because of me. Are you sure you don't want to lose anything else? How about I take an arm too if you don't tell me what I want to know," threatened Spider-Man. Jason stared at him, but Peter didn't even flinch.
"He wore a cat mask, long nose and ears. Called himself "Jackal"," answered Jason, defeatedly. Spider-Man raised an eyebrow, and suddenly it all clicked.
"Was he wearing a business suit?" he asked. Jason begrudgingly nodded.
"This is the same man that the kids saw, who kidnapped Vinnie and turned him into Stegron. Now he turned Jason into the Jack O' Lantern," thought Spider-Man.
"How'd he get all of this tech?" asked Spider-Man.
"I'm not telling you anything more. God knows what this guy could do. From what I could tell he's got resources for anything," replied Jason, looking away from Spider-Man and behind him, where a blond woman rushed up to the two of them.
"Phil, get it rolling! This is Norah Winters from the Daily Bugle, coming to live from the aftermath between the man calling himself Jack O' Lantern and the infamous Spider-Man," she started.
"Infamous? Really?" asked Spider-Man, as Jason laughed. Norah had her hair up in a bun and she wore a pink jacket over her shirt. Her eyes were a piercing blue, behind rectangular glasses.
"Jack O' Lantern has just been unmasked as the accusatory police detective Jason Macendale. What are your thoughts on this, Spider-Man? Do you think this absolves you of your crimes?" she asked, shoving the mic in Peter's face.
"I think that you should tell JJ to get some rest. The stress really makes him look twice as old as he actually is," chuckled Spider-Man, swinging away from the scene. He landed on a roof and ran through everything in his head.
"I bet this Jackal fellow recreated Osborn's goblin formula himself. As for Stegron, he may have taken it straight from Connors' playbook with merging reptilian and human DNA. It's as if he's trying to recreate my old foes. But why?" thought Spider-Man.
Just then, he received an email notification. As soon as he read it, his eyes went wide and he slapped his forehead.
"Mr Parker, this is an official email from the Scholar Program of ESU. You missed the exam which was held last evening at Chip Auditorium. Please report to Dr Warren as soon as possible," he read out to himself.
"Great job, Peter. Great job."
Jackal sat in his chair, moving a dial on a machine. Next to him was a small, cylindrical container. It was completely transparent, but something seemed to be inside it, moving around. The smoke-like gas inside the tube obscured what it was.
Jackal pressed two buttons and turned the dial the other way. A loud screech filled the room, and the tube began to rattle violently. There were clamps holding it in place, making sure it didn't fall off the desk.
He chuckled to himself, as he stopped turning the dial, unclamping the tube from the desk. He took it and placed it inside a fridge designed to hold chemicals.
"Stay right there," he told it, as he closed the fridge and walked away.
Inside the tube was a black goo that was skulking around the tube, creeping its way up and down the glass wall. There was a S.H.I.E.L.D logo on it, with a label stuck below it.
"Venom."
Wonder what Jackal is up to with the symbiote? Stay tuned to find out!
Well, I've officially moved into university. So far things are going really well, I've adjusted pretty well and I've already got a good group of friends I hang out with! I've got a good routine going with classes, gym and hanging out with friends too so things are on the upswing for now. Spider-Man 2 looks absolutely incredible but I'll get to play it in December lmao. Other than that, things have been pretty decent and I also can't wait to read Hickman's new Ultimate Spider-Man run. I gave up on Wells' Amazing Spider-Man run, I can't be arsed to read my favorite character get screwed into the ground over and over again by an incompetent writer and editor. Sorry if this is relatively short, I'm just kind of winded today lol.
Marvel Nerd: They never truly can…
Fate-Be Changed: You got it!
I am the Voice: It's why she's perfect for him!
SpideyXBC: Mostly no lol
Teller-Story: Thanks!
Guest: Well, I guess we'll see…
Yours Truly,
Shadow Strike.