Chapter Eight

"Rise and shine, Spider-Man."

Peter was fast asleep, snoring in front of his computer. This was a common occurrence for him. Between studying for finals and chipping away at the mystery tech situation, he rarely slept in his bed. The mysterious tech and Kingpin's dealings were going cold. Easy to do when you're forced to focus so much on schooling. Peter told himself that once finals were over and Christmas break began, he would devote his entire winter break to heating the case back up. Even with his focus on education, there was one more thing keeping his anxiety peaked.

Mary Jane's Christmas gift. Turning the tide in his favor was an almost insurmountable task. But if he were to ever get MJ to look at him more than just a tutor, he would need to hit this gift out of the park. Where to begin, though? Peter didn't have the kind of money that Harry did, but homemade macaroni art wouldn't exactly cut it. He still had a few days until the party, but Peter was sweating still.

"WAKE UP!"

Peter jolted awake, sitting up in his chair. He wasn't fully conscious yet. A physics study guide was stuck to his face. As Peter started to fully return to the waking world, he noticed his cell phone buzzing. A phone call from Harry.

Peter answered groggily, "Hello?"

"Hey, man. Are you asleep? It's like 9:30am. Anyway, would you want to hang out for a little bit? I need to run some errands and thought we could talk Christmas."

Peter was still trying to regain his senses. "Huh, Harry? Yeah, I can meet you."

"Sweet!" Harry exclaimed, "I'll meet you at Gina's in 30 minutes."

Peter was finally 100%. He stood up and started getting ready to meet Harry. The whole time, Peter had this strange feeling like someone or something else was with him.

"Did Harry call me twice?" Peter checked his phone but only had one call.

"Must have been a dream. Too much stress and late-night Hot Cheetos.

Peter entered the living room just as May returned from her morning run. It had been her routine for years, but Ben's death put a pause on it briefly. She had only been back at it about a week.

"Hey, good morning! I brought some bagels for a snack." May was doing a few cool-down stretches.

"Thanks, May. I'm about to meet Harry for a little bit. I'll be back later."

Peter reached for the door but stopped suddenly. He turned around and looked at May quizzically.

"May. I need some advice. I need a gift for Mary Jane, but I need to figure out what to get. I can't afford fancy jewelry and don't really have time to plan something big. And with finals beating me down, I just…I need some help."

Peter sat at the kitchen table and rubbed his hands on his face. May could tell how stressed Peter was.

"You got a lot on your plate. All this stress makes it hard to think clearly. Especially when you're trying to be sincere." May sat next to Peter and placed her hand on his shoulder.

"You have to think outside of the box. That's what Ben would do. He used to get people the strangest presents. But those presents meant something."

Peter chuckled at that thought. "Yeah, like that cow-shaped gravy dispenser, he bought our old neighbor."

May snorted while laughing. "I always thought that was so strange. But that neighbor loved that gravy boat. Turns out, she used to run a dairy farm with her family when she was younger. Her family lost the farm, and she always yearned for those days. Ben knew that and thought it would be a perfect gift for her. And he was right."

May was right. Peter needed to think like Uncle Ben. But what was MJ's dairy farm? Peter had a sudden realization. Theater! MJ had dedicated so much of her life to theater. Peter knew that was the route he needed to go.

Peter stood up and gave May a hug. "Thanks, May. You always know just what to say. Maybe I could get her something Theater-related. She's in that production of It's a Wonderful Life right now. If you have any suggestions, I'm all ears."

"Of course. I'll see what I can think up." May hugged Peter before he grabbed a bagel and walked out the door.

"So sentimental."

Peter stopped on the porch as he closed the door.

"Huh?" Peter looked around. What was that? Some kids were playing next door; maybe he just misheard them. Peter shook it off and went to meet Harry.

-Soon After, At Gina's-

Peter made his way down the street to Gina's. The Christmas spirit was in full effect. Shops and stores all around the neighborhood were decked out with holiday cheer. A block over from Gina's, stores competed for 'Most Festive.' Christmas trees, wreaths, fake presents, Santa; all of it aggressively displayed. The bevy of Christmas decorations kept MJ front and center in Peter's mind. Shopping with Harry would allow him to find something worthwhile. Peter crossed the street and saw Harry standing by the street lamp, singing with Gina's blaring Christmas music.

"6 geese-a-laying, fi-oh, hey, over here!" Harry stopped mid-sentence, mildly embarrassed, when he saw Peter.

Peter and Harry had spent little time alone together. Mostly just during study sessions, but their friendship was growing brighter. They had bonded over their shared love of cookies and Tolkien. Peter learned that, although Harry had quite the popularity due to his last name, he was actually quite introverted. Sure, he played sports, but Harry was a book nerd. He preferred getting lost in the pages of his favorite book rather than staying out late and partying.

"Hey, Harry." Peter was finishing his bagel.

"Thanks for meeting up with me. I need to look for some gifts to buy and figured you were in the same boat. You know, with the party right around the corner. Maybe you could find something for your aunt as well."

Harry was right. If Peter was going to be out, he could take advantage of the window shopping.

Their first stop was a jewelry store, Bigman and Brothers. A big sign over the counter showcased their Christmas deal. The 5 Golden Rings special. Buy five pieces of jewelry, and get a sixth piece for free. Peter raised an eyebrow at that deal.

Peter asked Harry, "Who would want to wear that many rings at once?"

Harry scratched his head, "I dunno, tacky gangsters maybe?"

They both shrugged and kept looking around. Nothing piqued their interest, so they went to the next store. Tony's Thrifting was a high-end thrift shop that got lots of traffic. They typically carried expensive clothes and furniture, discounted due to being second or third-hand. Peter had been there once before with Gwen during her hardcore thrifting phase.

Peter looked around, browsing the fancy wares. He found a massive grandfather clock nearly a foot taller than him. Peter rubbed his chin, thinking of the possibilities.

"Maybe I could hide my suits in there." Peter pondered for a moment but quickly left that thought.

"Yeah, right, like May wouldn't be curious about a massive clock in my room. What would I even say? 'Oh yeah, May, it has the aesthetic I'm going for.'"

Peter shook his head and turned around to find Harry wearing a massive fur coat, a large hat with a black veil, and carrying a candelabra.

"Check it out; I'm the Phantom of the Opera!" Harry laughed heartily.

Peter wasn't expecting that and nearly fell backward over an ottoman from laughing. Harry looked nothing like the Phantom, but points for trying.

"Hey! What are you kids doing?!" the shop owner appeared around the corner, investigating the commotion the boys caused.

"Put that stuff down and get out of here! You boys better not have broken anything!"

Peter and Harry looked at each other briefly, then booked it out the front door. Both were laughing as they ran down the block. The two of them stopped two blocks away to catch their breath.

"That was too close," Harry said, standing up straight and taking deep breaths.

"Yeah, I don't think he liked your Phantom impression." Peter looked up with his hands on his knees.

Both boys started laughing again. They decided to take a short break and grab something to drink. They were right around the corner from a pizza place that served traditional fountain drinks. Once they got their drinks, they sat at the patio to rest.

"I got to ask you something." Harry was rubbing his hands.

"What's up?" Peter replied.

"How well do you know MJ?" Harry looked at Peter sincerely.

Peter felt his heart rate spike. "I mean, I've been her neighbor for years. I've tutored her, and we've been hanging out as a group lately."

Harry scratched his head. "Gotcha. I've asked her out a couple of times, but she's been brushing me off. I know she's busy, but I thought we connected."

Peter was dying a little bit inside.

"Do you have any advice? I need another guy's perspective." Harry looked at Peter earnestly.

Peter was indeed in a pickle. He had feelings for MJ, but he had never acted on them. Now he's sitting in front of someone who actually had acted on those feelings. What was he to do? He had to decide between getting this imaginary chance in the future or being a good friend and helping Harry, who is taking his chance now.

"It's like you said. MJ's really busy right now. But I can tell she likes you. She was never really one to outright open up to people. But I can tell she's gotten comfortable around you. Give her time. Ask her again after the Christmas party."

Harry's eyes lit up. Those were just the words he needed to hear. Peter swallowed all of his pride for Harry. Besides, Peter didn't have time to date right now. He was already committed to someone else. Spider-Man.

"Thanks, man. You're a good friend." Harry put his hand on Peter's shoulder.

"Come on, I got one more shop I want to hit." Harry stood up to leave.

Peter followed. They made their way down the street, traffic bristling beside them.

"Ugh, you're actually making me sick with your sensitivity."

Peter stopped on the sidewalk. He whipped his head around and looked at the passing traffic. Everything was moving, and no one else was around them.

"What's up?" Harry stopped, questioning Peter's sudden pause.

"Ehh, nothing. I thought I heard something." Peter scratched the back of his head as he continued to look around. He tried his best to feign the concern on his face.

"Oh, well, we're almost to Tecchy Joe's." Harry shuffled backward, still making eye contact with Peter.

Tecchy Joe's was a local tech store that became famous because of their viral videos on social media. Ever since they broke a million views on their videos, the store had been flooded with customers. The crowd was incredibly thick around Christmas. Apart from their internet fame, the store actually carried good quality electronics.

Peter walked around the store, looking at everything Joe had to offer. Harry was a row over, but he was watching Peter. Unbeknownst to Peter, this was Harry's plan all along. Get Peter to Joe's so he can scope out the perfect gift for their Christmas Party. After all, Harry had drawn Peter's name.

Peter lingered over one specific device. It was an advanced spectrum analyzer that detected individual frequencies. Peter had been wanting it for quite some time. He had an idea to adapt and convert the signal identifier to a signal disruptor. But with the price tag listed, it would remain a dream. At that moment, Tecchy Joe himself walked over.

"Ayyy, P-Man! Long time no sees!" Joe announced boisterously.

Joe Donato was the owner and proprietor of Tecchy Joe's. Peter had been a frequent customer of his. He used to come with Ben when he was younger, but as his interests grew, he started going by himself.

"P, I'm sorry about ya uncle. He was a good man. Always loved having him in the shop. What ya got ya eye on?" Joe affectionately put his arm around Peter.

"Thanks, Joe. I'm still looking at this analyzer. It's super neat, but I think it's still a bit out of my price range." Peter shrugged his shoulders.

"Ah yeah, things like this don't come cheap. I only carry the best, but sometimes it bites me in the cannoli if you know what I means. Haha," Joe elbowed Peter in the ribs as he let out a big laugh.

Peter bent slightly, holding his ribs. Harry was standing next to them, grinning, rubbing his chin. Almost as if an idea had just popped into his head. Joe made a bit more small talk before Harry took him to another aisle to ask about something he had seen earlier.

As Peter stood looking at the spectrum analyzer, a voice echoed through his head.

"Enough waiting. It's time to begin our game."

Peter stood frozen. "Okay, now I definitely think I'm going crazy."

"You're not crazy, Spider-Man. And I apologize for not making my presence fully known earlier. But my morbid curiosity got the better of me."

"Uhh…who is this?" Peter was starting to panic. He couldn't see anyone around who could be talking to him, and his Spider-Sense wasn't ringing. Something fishy was going on.

"My name is The Beetle. And I am your end, Spider-Man."

-Across Town, The Beetle's Lab-

The Beetle stood in his lab monitoring the audio signals he received from the transmitter his beetle drone planted on Spider-Man days earlier. Next to him was his work table. Strewn across it were various tools and pieces of armor. Between listening to Spider-Man talk about Christmas presents and chatting with others, he tinkered with tech, putting the finishing touches on his design. Once finished, Beetle decided it was time to put step five of his plan into action.

"My end? You're going to have to be more specific than that."

Beetle grinned with contempt. His big-brained scheme was unfolding before him. It was bringing him more delight than he expected.

"I am the one who will exterminate you, Spider-Man, unless you do exactly as I say."

"Okay, what do you have in mind, Mr. Beetle?"

"I know you're out shopping with your friend. In your civilian identity, no doubt." Beetle began toying with Spider-Man.

"You're going to leave immediately. Don't say anything to your friend, and head directly for the Sixth Street subway station."

"And if I don't?"

Beetle's smile grew wider. "Then our little game goes up a difficulty level. Perhaps I'll bring in another player. Like your friend, what was his name? I believe it was, Harry."

Silence on the other end. Beetle knew he struck a chord with that one.

"What's the matter, Spider, Beetle got your tongue?" Beetle flung his head back with a dastardly cackle.

"Now, do exactly as I say."

Beetle reiterated his initial commands to Spider-Man.

Due to the technical limitations of his communicator drone, Beetle couldn't track Spider-Man. But that wasn't necessarily important. His goal wasn't to go to the Spider; his goal was to lure the Spider to him. He had rigged a nearby empty loft with explosives. Once he got Spider-Man in the room, he would trigger the explosion. Beetle had everything figured out. As long as he could keep Spider-Man convinced that his loved ones were in danger, Beetle's plan would succeed.

"Okay, Beetle. I'm at the Sixth St. Station. What now?"

"Now you will head five blocks East, then four blocks South. Stop once you reach the intersection. And don't dawdle. I know it takes exactly 18 minutes and 42 seconds to reach that intersection by foot." Beetle sipped a glass of scotch as he assembled what looked like armor.

"There's a lot of people out shopping for Christmas; it might take me longer."

Beetle smirked, "Then you better be quick. How about I ease your tension with my story."

"If you have to, I guess."

Beetle pulled a chest piece over his head, strapping it to the shoulder pauldrons he already attached to his gauntlets.

"I grew up knowing I was smarter than everyone else. All of my peers were inferior. By the age of ten, I was lapping students six years my senior. As you can imagine, it was quite stifling."

Beetle sat in his chair, shoving his feet into his metal boots. He latched the shin plate tight with a buckle.

"By the age of fourteen, I had grown weary of school. Assignments were trivial. No one could touch my intellect. That's when I began, you could say, acting out."

Beetle chuckled as he sipped on his glass.

"Sabotaging school networks, changing people's grades for money, hacking the library computers with ransomware. I was a general menace. I can admit that. Granted, it was merely juvenile offenses. I still needed to graduate to proper crimes. Crimes with gravitas."

"Alas, my run as a young hellion was brought to an end after being caught hacking the football field's jumbotron."

Beetle leaned back in his chair, ruminating on his past.

"Once I was in front of the judge, he pitied me. A smart kid like me needed the proper resources to grow. He could tell I was above school. But he couldn't let me off the hook so easily. My punishment was community service. A prosecutor told me now was my chance to learn from my mistakes."

Beetle finished his drink and slammed the glass on the table.

"And learn from my mistakes I did. I knew then what it meant to get caught. I vowed to myself that I would never be caught again. And I have stayed true to those words ever since."

Beetle stood from his chair and slid his hands into the mechanical gloves of his suit.

"My community service was assigned to the insectarium at our local zoo. That's where I fell in love with beetles. Or Coleoptera for the uninitiated. The superior insect species."

"Beetles are millions of years old and survived some of the harshest events our planet has ever experienced. Their body is naturally hardened, like body armor, to protect them from predators. Some beetles can change colors to suit their environment, and others have strength the equivalent of nearly 150 times their body mass."

Beetle reached for the last piece of tech he had been working on. A helmet that vaguely shared the resemblance of a kabuto beetle. He held it in front of him, admiring his work.

"And probably my favorite fact about beetles. Their diets sometimes consist of spiders."

Beetle cackled loudly again. As he settled down, he realized he hadn't heard a peep out of Spider-Man in quite a while. He gathered his composure and smirked.

"Look at me, monologuing like some Bond villain. How rude of me to completely dominate the conversation. You have about ninety seconds left. Have you reached your destination?"

Silence. Beetle's face began to sour.

"Now, now, Spider, don't dilly dally. I hold your fate in my hands."

More silence. Beetle started getting agitated.

"Don't trifle with me, Spider. Announce yourself!"

Deafening silence. Beetle's agitation boiled over into outright rage.

"Do you want your friends to die, Spider?! Harry, MJ, May?! I know everything about you, Spider! Now answer me before I kill everyone you hold dear!"

"Okay, okay, I'm here. Just…just don't hurt my friends, okay? I made it all the way. Sixth St, five blocks East, four blocks South. What now?"

Beetle took a deep breath and composed himself. He had lost his composure there for a moment. But his plan was nearly complete. Step six was upon him.

"You should be in front of a boarded-up building. I left a window panel askew for an entrance. Enter the building and climb the stairs to the second floor. On that floor is a single room. Enter that room."

Beetle could hear shuffling noises and the sound of steps. Spider-Man was approaching his final destination.

Beetle approached the window of his lab, holding his Beetle helmet. He slowly lifted the helm and placed it on his head. It automatically attached to the chest piece of his suit. The systems of his suit initialized. The Beetle was fully realized. Wearing the suit was only fitting as he squashed the Spider.

"Okay, Beetle. I'm here. What now?"

Beetle's wings unfurled; his pressurized suit hissed as he hovered above the floor. He gazed at the building Spider-Man was ushered to.

"Now, you die. Goodbye, Spider-Man."

Beetle lifted his gauntlet and pressed a button. The interface glowed as the signal went out. It took only a moment for the signal to reach the building. Half a second later, the building erupted with a furious explosion. The windows of Beetle's lab flexed and vibrated from the force of the blast. As the debris settled and the smoke rose, Beetle laughed with elation.

Beetle floated back to the floor of his lab. Suddenly, the back window shattered. A figure flipped inside and landed on the ceiling.

Spider-Man steadied himself and shot two webs at Beetle.

"Tag, you're it!"

End Chapter Eight