Another year was beginning. The final year of high school! It was an exciting time! Also, stressful in a way that way being without school it would mean a lot of changes would be on the horizon. That would have to wait, right now a classic bank robbery was unfolding.
Spider-Man kicked a goon back and webbed another's gun, swiftly taking it with his web smacking a third assailant. All three robberies were down and out. Just a simple old crime, but these were becoming more frequent, which wasn't any good for New York. Nine banks were hit just this month, which was uncommon. Crime hadn't been escalating, but become a much larger occurrence. It was hard to know which scenario would be preferred.
The police started to come inside, and Spidey made his left. Or, as J Jonah Jameson called him, "The Wall-Crawler." More precisely, "The Wall-Crawling Menice!" Not the most flattering name, but the public option had not changed that much. 4 % more against him wasn't that bad.
Police had started to become used to all these vigilantes running around. It would seem with every passing week, another one showed up trying to help with mixed results. Not to mention the increase of munitions in the public eye. It was a common misconception the population was increasing. In reality, more people just started seeking out the ones who used to be hiding in plain sight.
If only that was all that changed.
Peter went to Gwen's house. It had been a little bit of time since they last saw one another. Say a month or two. School was coming back in only a week, so Peter thought it would be nice to catch up with friends in person instead of other text or phone calls. The summer had been even more time consuming for him, with the increase of crimes. Was for her dad as well, of course, being a police caption meant a substantial and prolonged amount of work ahead of you. Still, the man seemed to make time for his family, which was impressive of him. One might think he had superhuman abilities.
Peter knocked on Gwen's front door. His visit was a surprise. There was a slight fear of empressment of her not being home. She never left home much, so it was highly unlikely.
Speaking of her father, he answered the door.
"Hello Parker, long time no see." He said, welcoming.
"Hey, Mr. Stacy, sir," Peter said awkwardly. He tried to keep Stacy from figuring out he was Spider-Man as being a police officer typically means being smart. In most cases, not all. To achieve his goal, he acted even goofier. Or presenting what stereotype nard would be seen as. Spider-Man must undoubtedly do not share any of these aspects what so ever. Presumably.
"It's been a minute since you've been here." Mr. Stacy said, letting him inside.
"Well, um, you know, busy with my job and um science experiments. Online mainly, because we're too poor to afford anything fancy. Turns out working on the web can't get you to much money. Unless your lucky, and I'm not. At all."
"Right." He replied awkwardly and cleared his throat. "Gwen! You have a visitor!" He shouted up the stairs towards her room. "I'll leave you two be, have a nice day, Parker." He walked off, going into the basement.
Gwen came downstairs and greeted him.
"Surprised to see you, Peter," She said, slightly shocked.
"Wanted to see you in person for once. Before our final year began, figured it would be nice."
"You were correct in your assumption." She hugged him. "You're always welcome here, you're like family to me." She chirped.
"So, I remember you said a little while ago you had news to share that could only be said in person. Right?" Peter said.
"Yeah, I decided that I'm going to be working towards CSI once we graduate this year."
"Wow!" Peter exclaimed.
"Keep your voice down! I'm keeping it a surprise for now. Figured it would make dad happy if I'm not going to be a cop going into the field. Honestly, though tv, CSI seemed like an intense job, as much as regular cops. Goes to show, can't trust tv."
"If you say so," Peter said sarcastically. "I find it to be a great source of information!"
"Right." She replied. "What occupation have you thought of. I'm not sure I've got some ideas. Tangible ones."
"Sounds good, you want to share?"
"No, no, going to be a surprise. Just like you. Must admit, figured you'd be a scientist. I was kind of right. Just with more explosions."
"Yeah, right. Find it unlikely I'll be running into explosions, which would be impractical anyway, I'd die from a small one. Going near anywhere that has a risk of going boom is not on my to-do list."
"Neither on mine. That would silly and hurt and also smell funny. Ur, not that I would know, of course. Have you been talking to Harry at all?"
She sighed. "A little, here and there. Mainly silent replies every now and again with short sentences if I'm lucky. Feel like letting the feelings in was a mistake. Let physical attraction win over the allure of the mind. Good thing I'm not attracted to you, Peter."
"Thanks, Gwen, you always know how to boost my confidence!"
"No problem. Have you heard from Harry at all?"
"Same as you, though, to be fair. I was pretty busy the Summer job and all."
And fighting crime and searching for Wilson Fisk and fighting that weirdo Judas Traveller. What kind of name is that anyway? What a special guy. Peter thought to himself, partially wanting to share his secret with Gwen so she could understand more about what was going on.
"How's that going to work with School? Well, um. I'm not 100% sure yet. I'll figure it out. Quitting is not an option, I can tell you that for sure. Aunt May told me a couple of weeks ago she thinking of getting a second job."
"Yeah, I know you told me already over text."
"Did I? Silly me brain fart. A rare occurrence."
"I can tell you are exhausted."
"Gwen, I'm fine. Don't worry about me at all. I'm a big boy. I just need to stop staying up so late um playing video games and studying for the new year. Got to keep the old nogon firing on all cylinders after all!"
"Promise you will take care of yourself more so once this year starts. I'm worried as your friend you could overwork yourself and do damage."
"Trust me, I'm stronger then you think. Thank you, Gwen, I truly am thankful to have you as my friend."
"Your welcome, same here, Peter."
"I'm thinking of checking on Harry, been about as long since I saw him in person too."
"That would be a great idea. I'm worried about him, tell me how he's doing later. Call me or text does not matter."
"Alight, do you want to hang out a little longer?"
"Sure." She replied. "Got some science equipment, have to love having a steady income. Sorry, that's insensitive of me to say."
"It's fine, I'd love to see all of it. Super stoked!"
They went upstairs. As they did, George Stacy continued to work away in the basement inside his office.
On one of his boards were pictures of Wilson Fisk. Another was pics of Spider-Man and suspects for his identity. One of which was Peter. No evidence tied this together, but it was still worth the exploration of linking the two together. Their voices were similar and body type. Though, that could be said for many people and what would be the odds of that anyway?
Later in the day, Peter went off to Harry's. He thought of calling before coming in and surprising him but figured it would fine.
Trying the intercom got no result, which was a little strange. Someone typically was there to answer the door. After a couple of minutes of waiting, someone finally answered.
"Hello?" Harry asked in an odd voice.
"Um, hello? It's Peter. Peter Parker?"
Harry paused and tried talking in a fake voice. "Nobody's home, go away."
"Come on! Stop messing around. I know what you sound like, what's the matter?"
"Go away, Pete, it's a rotten time for you to be here, n- no offence." His speech was slurred.
Peter knew what this meant and was quite a bit upset by this. His best friend was clearly hungover and now wouldn't let him come up. Concerned for his friend, he stealthy sneaked upstairs with help from spider-powers. Once out of sight, crawling up toward the penthouse was easy. Peaking inside was all that was going to be done. Questions would be asked of how on earth getting up there was possible after all.
Reaching the top, it was easy seeing inside. A couple of people were seemingly passed out, and a few others helped clean up the place. The young Osborn sat down, watching all the cleanup, rubbing his head, visually annoyed.
This is bad. Well, to state the obvious, Pete! He thought to himself. I'm not there for my friend, and this happens. Where's Mr. Osborn? Or Harry's Butler? I can't go inside. He'd have follow up questions I wouldn't have answers for. Sorry, buddy. Peter looked back at Harry and the party people again before going off, continuing on with his day. He did shoot some more texts at Harry without reply, however. Still was worth a try.
Peter got home finding Aunt May asleep on the couch, which was upsetting. Despite getting himself a job, she still went through getting one. Volunteering was something more preferred due to current finances that would be impossible, of course. Not enough people wanted to work for free in her option, which Peter could agree with. That was a whole other issue in itself. No superhero could change these problems.
Being the sweet young man he was, getting a blanket for his sleeping aunt was the action to take. May always did the same whenever Peter felt asleep around the house, which became more common lately. This made him feel guilty for putting so much stress on her. Still, what could be done?
To make up for this, he made dinner for them, something he picked up during the break. It wasn't the most expert cooking. It was more of Aunt May's specialty, but she was confident that Peter would able to pick up from skill. His parents were, and so was Uncle Ben. Was somewhat in the Parker genes.
Next door, MJ had a similar situation. Her aunt Anna was trying to make dinner but was extremely tired. She had a long day of volunteer work. Unlike the Parker household, they had more income. It was only known to Anna why this was the case. With this more money, she didn't need to get a job, nor did Mary Jane have the need to get one as Peter did.
Since her friend started working at the Daily Bugle, she thought perhaps that becoming a reporter or investigator could offer some assistance. Unfortunately, it was an utterly dull thing to do. It was a wonder in her mind how anyone could possibly want to make such a career.
Despite the bore, MJ wanted to understand how Foswell even knew their family. Peter told her a bunch of the stories he worked on. All impressive from what they both could understand. Multiple criminal actions exposed, including a dirty cop, two corporations that were exploiting people and a few people who were doing illegal activities that should be spoken of. Apart from her wanted to knew desperately, and another was afraid of what it could all mean. She knew her father was a bad man, and her mother was a question mark. Could this man behold the answers?
With school nearly being done for her as well, it wouldn't be fair to have this hanging around. It was clear asking Aunt Anna would be required to get some closure, assuming she knew something.
After dinner and a short nap from Anna, Mary Jane mentally prepared herself for the coming question. It was going to be opening a wound, a critical one. Taking about MJ's parents wasn't allowed in the household typically. After taking some deep breaths and shutting the brain down, the words came out.
"Who is Foswell?" Mary Jane blurted out finally to her aunt.
"Fredrick Foswell?" Anna said.
"Yes, I remember him being a part of our lives growing up. I'm just curious why? What was he doing?" She curiously asked.
"I'm sure you don't want to know. I mean, it was so long ago, and why are you asking now? Is it because of Parker?"
"I do want to know, Peter met Mr. Foswell at the Bugle, so now I'm wondering how we knew him. He's a reporter that exposed criminals, aunt Anna!"
"Perhaps we should sit down?"
MJ nodded and went to the living room to sit together on the couch.
"I knew we'd have to confront this someday. To my displeasure." Aunt Anna began saying gloomy-looking away.
"Please." Mary Jane said, reaching for her hands. "I want to know."
She sighed. "Fredrick Foswell was investigating a series of robberies, that was shortly after you were born. You don't remember very well, but you didn't always live with me, as you know. Your father and I always thought it would be best that we told you he left, just like your mother did. It was far more simplistic and less difficult for you to understand. He was arrested for committing a bunch of robberies."
"My father was a criminal?"
"Yes, I'm so sorry. That's all you need to know."
"No! There's so much more, please tell me!"
"I'm sorry young lady, I promised I'd only tell you the bare minimum. Your father made me promise, and Fredrick." She started to get slightly teary-eyed.
Mary Jane sighed, frustrated. "How could you be keeping secrets from me?" She asked, letting go of her hands.
"Please, I'm positive you've done the same." She responded dismissively.
"Could you tell me more? You can't just tell me so little. I have so many questions! All these years, I believed they both left. Now I know he's in jail. Co-"
"No!" Aunt Anna roared. Which was shocking to Mary Jane and even surprised herself, but continued. "I won't allow that, he might be my brother. However, I have a good reason for never visiting him! Which I'm not going to explain. I'm sorry, Mary." Aunt Anna got up and walked away.
Mary Jane knew there was no reason to keep persisting with trying to convince her aunt of sharing more about their family history.
Back at the Parker household, Peter and Aunt May eat their dinner. She was impressed by how much he had improved in the cooking department. With that, dinner was much more enjoyable then it was in the previous months.
"Peter, we should talk about this coming year a little more." She began saying. They had discussed some elements of this year, years past and the future already, of course. "I know you think it will work out with the Bugle, but what about skipping again or sneaking out during the dark?"
"Oh. I promised I'd never do that again, Aunt May, I feel so rotten for doing any of that in the first place. It was extremely wrong of me."
"I'd still love to know why you did it?"
"I'm fairly certain I told you-"
"You did tell me something, can't be sure if that was honesty."
"Of course, I was. What else could I have possibly been doing? You know I work at the Bugle, I've shown you pictures. Heck, I could maybe invite you if Jameson ever takes a day off. You know, he might actually. His son going on some amazing space trip in a couple of months or less. Bet he'd be out of the office for that!"
Aunt May held his hands. "Oh, Peter, you don't have to do that, I believe you."
"It's just, you say that and then you wonder aloud. A little hard to gauge what is being said here."
"My concern for you just, it never goes away. That's how it's meant to be."
"I'm aware, Aunt May, I just hate worrying you so much. Gee, I thought this job might lower some of that, and now it's seemingly raised it higher than ever. Took it so you would have to get one of your own."
"Which I'm so thankfully for Peter. You just need to keep your head in the books or on the screens. Get school done. That's your only job now. Being the adult, helping us get by, that's my duty."
"Sorry, can't help wanting to help."
"I know." She replied, tearing up. "Your a good person, and I couldn't be prouder. I just can't bear the feeling of you losing what makes you special," May said, putting her hand on his heart. "I'm so grateful."
"So am I," Peter replied, not helping but tearing up slightly as well. "Couldn't stand being in a world without May Parker in it."
They embraced.
After dinner, May watched tv while Peter did the dishes. His phone made a couple of noses while did, these meant someone was texting him. Unfortunately, wet and electronic were not a good pair.
Once the young man's hands were dyed, checking the phone was next up on the to-do list. Mary Jane had messaged, wanting to have a chat. Peter told Aunt May that he would go visit MJ as she was a little upset about something. Which was a correct guess on his part.
Once heading off, she immediately began to vent.
"You're never going to believe this. It turns out my dad didn't runoff. He's a criminal locked up in prison for who knows how much longer. My aunt wouldn't tell. I just can't get over the fact she'd lie! We're family, I'm almost a grown woman who can handle difficult realities. No, she had to treat me like a child. I can't be sure of anything now. That Fredrick Foswell has the answers to all my questions, no doubt in my mind what so ever!. Maybe you could set up a meeting? Then Aunt Anna could call him up and tell the guy to keep his mouth shut. Perhaps then he could have files on his computer? If-"
Peter finally spoke up. "Let me stop you right there, I'm not going to risk my job for all this paranoia. Heck, I could get into serious trouble! That's not a heroic thing to do."
MJ sighed, calming down, disappointed. "Your right. I'm overreacting. All this, it's just a lot to take in, and my mind won't stop wondering what else could be hidden from me now. It's like my whole life just exploded. Sucks you can relate "
"Why? I know how your feeling."
"I mean it from the view it is crazy how both our lives are not what they appear from the surface. Never asked before, wouldn't it be nice for normal boring lives? Be like everyone else, not have these extra dimensions. More for you than me."
Peter paused and shrugged his broad shoulders slowly. "You'd think, any sane person wouldn't want this curse. Spider-Man. Truth is, despite how much I'd want it somedays, Spidey and I are the same. Maybe somehow that connects to your dad being a criminal and you two-? You know, never mind, I suck at relating Spider-Man problems to yours. My point I think I was trying to make was, um, for better or worse. That man, your father, is apart of you and your mom wherever she ended up. They're not here, and that's a good thing. Only useless parents would leave someone as great as Mary Jane Watson! I believe I made myself an excellent case!" Peter said triumphantly.
"Sure, you did." She laughed at him.
"Hey, hey, hey. I tried my best with what I was given. What can I say? I'm not the best with words. Occasionally." He said with his voice pitch getting a little wonky.
"Oh, only occasionally?" She retorted back.
"You're hurting my feelings again." Peter's phone started vibrating. "Oh, crap."
MJ looked puzzled and asked. "What? Can your Spidey senses detect phone vibrations and messages?"
"Nope, I just got a bad feeling about it." He said, going to look. "Yep, alert. Some kind of massive disturbance, about 10 mins away if I hurry. Gotta love this app informing whenever something goes wrong in NYC. Sorry, I wish we could keep talking. I can tell it's bugging you."
"It's fine, Peter, go kick some butt for me. Stopping a bunch of lunatics is far more important than I am." She said, attempting her best to sound cheerful.
Peter went away to suit up, before turning back around, briefly remembering to say. "Oh, Aunt May. You're going to have to come up with an issue!" He spitted out and hurried off again.
"Right." She said under her beath.
Spider-Man reached the area finding a massive fire in a warehouse and first responders trying to deal with multiple issues. These included the fire, of course, a few trouble makers. They seemingly surrendered and sweeping the surrounding space, searching for something. Or someone?
The hero kept up high, wanting to understand the situation before jumping in. A bunch of Swat officers were preparing to breach one of the surrounding buildings.
Spidey opted for sneaking in before anything crazy happened. They could've been walking into an ambush, and it won't hurt to get an idea of what was happening, if anything. For all, he knew, it could've been a waste of time. Better to be safe than sorry.
Peeking inside, a bunch of goons were waiting at the door, guns raised with a large whitish woman who looked not human proceeded to smack a man. Peter couldn't tell who they were.
So, he moved to web, the guards preparing to shoot at the cops. Before he could, someone spotted him beginning to shot.
Dodging shots were painless. Of course, in defence, he shot webs in the criminal's face. However, the next bursts were not detected beforehand, leading to a couple shots grazing his body.
What?! Peter thought, confused deeply. As he did, it immediately felt like his head was in extreme pain.
"Spider-Man. You shouldn't have come." A voice said.
After the voice spoke, the Swat breached, blowing a massive hole into the room. "On the ground now! Don't make any movements other than dropping the weapons!" They shouted.
The goons responded by taking Spidey hostage, using him as a human shield back towards their leader and the tall woman.
"We will kill this fool!" The woman shouted back.
Great, now I'm the hostage. What a great hero I am. Peter was nearly unable to move with the pain being sent into his brain. It was an odd horrific feeling. He tried his hardest to move and fight back with no avail.
The strong-looking woman got ahead of all the criminals as a shield or something. The leader person approached Spidey, going to eye level.
"A part of me wanted you to come, another did not. Being conflicted has become somewhat of a big deal for me." The masked person said.
"W-Who ar- are you?" Spider-Man struggled to ask his head, pounding more with the mysterious person staring at him.
"Call me, The Crime Master. I'm positive if your head was not getting close to internal bleeding, you'd be able to get a smartass remark." They said condescendingly. "I admit it's a silly name. Still, I enjoy it. Oh, I should back away before your brain bleeds, and you die. Sorry young man. Don't want to kill you, despite my friends here disagreement."
"Agreed!" The woman shouted back.
The swat team was getting up inpatient. "Surender now! You are not getting out of here alive if you don't give up!" The seeming principal officer shouted.
"Incorrect," Crime-Master stated coldly. Smoke bombs activated throughout the warehouse. Spider-Man was brought with them to a truck with a prisoner the lady was beating on. It was Hammerhead.
Swat begin firing, but the woman took the brunt of the bullets. Hitting her skin, crushed them all like small pointless pelts.
The scary lady stayed behind, beginning to fight with the police as the truck zoomed away. Spidey tried with all his might to move and knocked out one of his captives with a strong right hook. Crime-Master personally clocked the young man in the head. From the hit, it was clear to Peter, whoever they were, super strength was not an ability they had.
The truck closed, and The Crime Master began to speak once again.
"I wondered what my powers would do to you. Thought perhaps might not affect you. Over the moon that it's working, have you within my grasp. An exciting moment. It would be if I'd know what I could do with you. Damn child, you see Spider-Man. I want to improve in New York. Your habit of protecting it is noble, and I don't wish for a battle to form between us, protectors. So, stay out of my way and let my deal with old Hammerhead. Not like you have a choice in the matter. Just remember that next time we meet. Could you please?" Crime-Master proceeded to open the back of the vehicle and toss out Spidey.
"Boss!?" One of the goons cried, pulling off their generic criminal mask. "Why would you do that? We had Spider-Man!"
Crime-Master scoffed. "We're not killing the young man. Focus on what matters, Norton, we got Hammerhead. First step complete. Not to mention if we allow Spider-Man to continue, our goals will only become easier to complete." Crime-Master replied confidently.
"You better be right," Norton responded.
After falling out of the truck, Peter woke up with a headache and body aches. It was hard to tell how long had passed. The truck was gone. This gave somewhat of an idea, it was still dark, and nobody was around. Likely was 2 to 10 mins. Hopefully.
Spidey shook off his pain and headed back to the warehouse. The first responders were still cleaning up and arresting a bunch of criminals. Scary Lady, however, seemed to escape. All the swat members were being treated for injuries. Whoever those people were, they meant serious business. At least nobody was dead.
It appeared that Spidey was not needed. So he went on his way and began to think about this Crime Master.
(Sorry for how late this ended up becoming. Had to deal with a bunch of "fun" irl stuff)
It feels nice to finally start a new arc that I feel more competent in crafting and going though. This is part one of two. I felt like there might be an excellent place to stop to take in everything, more will be introduced in part 2, so it could get annoying if out of nowhere, I dropped an 8000+ word chapter lol. Admittedly, this might hurt the opening. I'm likely overreacting, not sure if anyone is even reading this part.
Anyways, I thought it would be fun to pick from lesser-known Spidey foes, and that's how I found Crime Master. The story will have an exciting connection to the first arc and bring a mystery to the table, which I tried to do in the first arc, with Fisk being his wife's puppet and being lesser.
Feel it was a crap excursion. You might disagree, which I hope you do. This will not have the same issues. I know the direction I'm heading in and all the plot points. Trying to have a different spin on Willy came later into the writing process then it said have. I just realized midway through that Fisk was a villain used a lot. The reveal was meant to bring a different perspective to all his actions. Along with showing he wasn't a mastermind gang lord, this wife was the baddie, and he was trying to keep her legacy alive. Think I failed was selling that. Hopefully, this time I'll be happier with the final product. This is just fanfic, so you, the reader, likely do not care or know what I'm talking about lol.
My goal is to create the most enjoyable story I can with my growing knowledge and improving writing. I'm hoping that you, most of all, everyone or close to everyone enjoying the story unfolding, still have a long way to go before it's great to me personally. I'm pretty hard on myself lol.
Best wishes to you all, and look out for part 2 soon!