Spider-man: Into the Spider-verse
A Tangled Web we Weave.
"Lunch?" Liv Octavius smiled charmingly as she stood at May's door.
May sighed, "Liv..."
"You've got to eat you know," Lix reminded her. "I remember there's a good Chinese place up the road a bit."
May shook her head but smiled faintly. "I'll get my coat," she said.
"Welcome!" a young man smiled at the resturant, and they were taken to a table. They both ordered smaller meals and settled down to eat.
"Did I say I'm teaching now?" Liv opened the conversation.
"Really?" May looked surprised.
"At New Horizon's Academy," Liv admitted. "They're all exceptional students."
May was entertained as Liv regaled her with stories about the bright lights. "Anyone you're having problems with?" May asked curiously.
"There is one who's oddly skittish around me," Liv admitted, "Miles. He seems a good enough kid, though."
May wondered if it was the Miles she knew. There could certainly be more than one in the Academy.
They finished up lunch, then headed back to May's. "Thank you for going to lunch with me," Liz said as they stood by the door.
"I enjoyed it," May smiled.
Liv hesitated, then leaned forward and kissed May's cheek softly. "Good night," she said and with that she left.
0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0
Kraven the Hunter had, once, been a big star on TV. He had showed up in New York to 'Hunt' the original Spider-man, then got his ass kicked. He went to a rogue lab and got animal traits grafted to him, only to get arrested by SHIELD for illegal biological experimentation.
"So, when will I go after this new Spider-man?" Kraven demanded.
"When our boss decides it's time," Caterina said firmly.
Kraven scowled, but he couldn't really argue that. He started to say something, then stopped.
"Yes?" Caterina asked mildly.
"I am no longer wanted by SHIELD, yes?" Kraven asked.
"As long as you don't do anything illegal," Catarina said, "why?"
"I would like to pay my respects at Parker's grave," Kraven admitted.
"What." Caterina blinked.
"He was a honorable foe," Kraven shrugged slightly.
"Okay," Catarina said, "just don't draw attention to yourself."
"Of course." Kraven promised her. "As long as I don't use my powers, I look perfectly human," he added.
"Right," Caterina nodded. They had another operative here, in another room. She changed floors, then knocked on the door.
"Hey," Max Dillon nodded, the crook known as Electro.
"How is the new containment suit?" Caterina asked. Without such a suit, Electro could be trapped in a energy form.
"It's nice," Max gestured to the fake leather.
"Enjoying the room service?" Caterina checked.
"Ha. Yeah it's pretty fine," Max admitted.
"Keeping you happy here is a priority," Caterina said.
"I appreciate it," Max said. He asked, "When are we going after the new Spider-kid, though?"
"When it's time," Caterina reassured him.
"Well, I think I'll have a drink and catch some TV," Max decided.
"We'll call," Caterina waved.
Their third recruit was based out of an old Oscorp facility, a bit too far to go visit. They had, however, their specially encrypted phones.
"Davis," the woman's voice replied, "I'm busy."
Leila Davis was the Beetle, originally an armored agent for Latervia. After Dr Doom's death she went freelance, and was now working for them.
"We told you not to draw attention," Caterina scolded.
"Was testing repairs. Tangled with Spider-man," Leila reported tersely.
Cattarina sighed. "How bad was the damage?" she asked, wondering if they were going to have to pay for parts.
"Not bad. Just getting webbing out of joints," Leila finished.
"Just... keep quiet, please," Caterina said.
"Will try," Leila hung up on her.
Caterina looked at the phone with a certain degree of exasperation, then put it away...
0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0
"Whoo-hoo!" Spider-man yelled as he swung between buildings. Say what you will about being a super hero, web slinging was just fun.
He dropped down and webbed up an attempted robbery. "Thank you!" the man called.
"Welcome!" Spider-man waved.
An earpiece under his mask let him monitor police reports, as well as let May comment. Though she had been oddly quiet today.
'I should stop in later and check on her,' Miles thought.
He stopped a fleeing car, and once again was astonished at how strong the webbing was. The stuff stopped the car cold! He wondered why Peter had never patented the stuff...
"Ah ah, no guns," Spider-man disarmed the driver.
"Go pick on someone your own size," the driver cursed incoherent.
"Dude, you're taller than I am," Spider-man pointed out before letting the cops grab him.
Spider-man swung away, even as the cops tried to decide what to do about him. Unlike Peter, the cops and public hadn't fully accepted him. Well, hopefully it would happen eventually.
On every patrol Miles made it a point to swing by Peter's grave. It was a little morbid, he supposed, but at least once he had caught folks defacing the tombstone. Whatever happened to respecting the dead?
As Spider-man neared the cemetary, his spider-sense went off. Not strongly, but a clear warning. She dropped down nearby, seeing a large man standing by the grave.
'Ah, hell,' Spider-man thought, recognizing him. "You're Kraven the Hunter, right? I saw your TV show."
Kraven looked annoyed at seeing him, saying, "Yes, little Spider. What of it?"
Spider-man paused, seeing fresh flowers by the grave. "You're paying your respects?" he asked.
"Hmm," Kraven nodded. "He was a worthy foe. And I am sorry I never had the chance to hunt him for real," he added.
"oookay," Spider-man responded. As far as he knew Kraven wasn't wanted for anything, and was doing no harm. "All right, I'll leave you to it," he said.
"You're not going to fight me, boy?" Kraven asked, a bit surprised.
"Not today. Assuming you don't make me, anyway," Spider-man answered.
Kraven nodded slightly, then turned back to the grave.
'That was just weird,' Spider-man mused as he swung away,
0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0
Tombstone had been wearing the Prowler costume out on the street. Surprisingly it was very effective... wrist mounted weapons, finger claws, jet boost boots and so on. If a bit gaudy,
"So, Fisk hung us out to dry. Why should we help him?" a minion asked
Prowler gave him a look, "He could disappear our whole gang without a trace."
"Oh," another man murmured.
"Fisk has been using Spider-man to target dealers across the city," Prowler said. "It's our job to fill those positions, but not draw the cops or Spider-man."
"... how, though?" another guy asked.
"This," Prowler held up a smartphone, "we'll be using a encrypted app to get orders and then fill them."
"I hate technology," one guy sighed.
"I'm not hugely pleased with it myself," Prowler admitted, "but if it works, it can keep the law off our backs."
He waited to see if anyone else would protest.
"Let's get to work," Prowler ordered.
To be continued...
Notes: SLOWLY moving forward with Liv/May. Beetle in Ultimate Comics is actually not named, so I decided to use one of the regular Marvel versions, Leila Davis. I had mentioned Tombstone had the Prowler gear, but didn't follow up on it. Oops.