Chapter 10

Hey everyone! Long time no see, I am so sorry about missing last months chapter, i'm just realing struggling with my head at the moment and inspiration so just yeah it sucks hahaha. Anywho, here's today's chapter and i'll try get another chapter out half way through the month to make up for missing last months. Anywho, as usual please review and hope for opinions on the characterization. Without further adu, let's get into the story.

Spectacular Webhead11: Shhhh, you know that and I know that, but some people don't know that ;) Thank you for the review!

Taiwoeretan1: Thank you, nearly added an always sunny one in todays chapter lol.

FictionWriter453: Thanks for the review! :) Hope you enjoy this chapter and yeah I agree with you, it's super unfair for Peter but that's what i'm going for so woohoo

Guest: Great to see a review, you rock! But i will, i already have the next 7 arcs planned out just gotta get in the mood for writing.

: This review. This review put such a smile on my face that I just have to say thank you. I hope you enjoy todays chapter as much as you did the last one.

"Spectacular" = Speech

'Spectacular' = Thoughts

"What is a 'Hero' though?" = Speach with a quote

*BANG* = Important Noise?

-Flashback- = Flashback setting

"I love you" = Written words

{4:00am} = Important Time/ Date

Disclaimer: Spider-man, Marvel and related IP belong to their respective owners. The author of this story owns jack-shit and holds no fantasy that they ever will.
_

"So class, that's why power struggles are very real in some familial mafia organizations as members of the same family compete over who should run as the head." Captain Stacy said to his criminology class who sat in varying states of awareness infront of him.

Raising his hand Harry asked probably the first good question he'd asked in a long time. "What if the members of the mafia don't agree with the new head though and stay loyal to the previous one?"

"Great question ! Whilst rare, this has on occassion been known to happen to crime families which have undergone serious shifts in leadership at a rapid pace, the usual result being infighting amongst the organization."

Pausing for breath, Captain Stacy took a sweeping view of the class who now seemed more awake than they had previously.

"This infighting stems over who they believe is the rightful successor to the family and if the group is not satisfied with the new leader they have on occassion been known to switch allegiences to someone who they feel will better uphold the family values until a new heir comes along, even if the person isn't a traditional member of the family.

*BRINGGGGGG*

"Now class that's it for today, don't forget your group project is due at the end of the week!" George Stacy called out to the fleeing students eager to head for lunch.

Amongst those students who were heading for the door was the one and only Peter Parker as he walked beside Harry who had a look of contemplation on his face as the two headed out the door.

Well, tried to atleast. As they got closer, Peter was shoved to the side as someone marched past him, pushing him out of the way when George Stacy had his back turned.

"Hey, what's the big ide-Hobbie?" Peter asked in confusion as he watched the retreating back of his group mate storm through the door and down the hall whilst Gwen and MJ looked on in confusion.

"Everything okay Tiger?" MJ asked once Peter and Harry got out the door, the quartet now heading for lunch together.

"I think so? It must've been a mistake, maybe he needed the bathroom or something." Peter rationalised as he walked down the hall behind MJ, ignorant to the look Gwen was sending him.

"I don't know about that Peter, he didn't even say sorry or anything, that's not like Hobbie." Gwen said in slight concern until Harry interrupted her with a scoff.

"Bah Peter's right, he probably just had a bad stomach ache and had to run, let's just enjoy lunch and forget about it." Harry said as he walked past Peter to be beside Gwen, wrapping an arm around her waist as he did so.

"Yeah..." Peter agreed hesitantly, as he shared a look with Gwen before the group continued on their way to the lunch room.

llllllllllllllllll

"So according to the email I got, I just need a few headshots and poses done, submit them by the 3rd of June and boom. The following week I should be in a fashion studio getting my photo's taken for the summer catalogue!" MJ excitedly rambled much to the joy of Gwen and Peter who had big smiles spread across their faces for their friends achievement.

"That's amazing MJ! You're gonna be the next Daphne Blake!" Gwen said enthusiastically, her hands clapped together as she bounced in her seat whilst Peter nodded in agreement.

"Ha, I wish! But first I need those headshot and poses done..." MJ said as her tone got dejected, a small frown spreading across her face.

"Everything okay?" Peter asked in confusion whilst Gwen looked on in concern.

"Don't have the funds Tiger, I've been saving ever since the ball but my allowance Aunt Anna gives me just isn't enough." MJ said with a sigh.

"Why not just have our resident photographer take them?" Was Harry's barely interested suggestion as he poked his fork at the food on his tray disinterestedly, ignorant to look of surprise and hope that lit up MJ's face as she turned to face Peter.

"You wouldn't mind would you Tiger? I'd be really quick, barely take any time at all and I'd pay you!" Was MJ's rapid response whilst Peter raised his arms in surrender at her enthusiasm.

"Woah, chill MJ" Peter chuckled. "Of course I'll do it, if you're sure you're happy with me taking them?"

"No question Tiger, you're a professional yourself at this point and I still have those pictures you took of me at the ball, they were perfect!" Said MJ, heedless to the melancholy look which spread across Gwen's face at the reminder of the pictures she'd seen with Peter at the recent party.

"Well okay, but you aren't paying me! You've helped me enough times that this is certainly pro bono." Peter said resolutely which got him a massive hug from the usually collected redhead whilst Gwen looked on sadly and Harry continued playing with his food, deep in contemplation.

Unknown to the quartet however was the approach of Hobbie from a nearby table, Daily Buggle newspaper in hand as he surprised the group by slamming it on their table with the headline face up.

"Spider-man wrecks rec centre with new Scorpion-like foe"

"Yeah you're a real pro at getting pictures of villians Parker, think you could tell your favourite one Spider-man to cough up the funds to fix the rec centre?" Hobbie snarled as he glared at Peter whilst MJ untangled her arms from him, Gwen scowling and a small smile finding itself on Harry's face at the words.

"Hobbie, i'm sorry, I know he didn't mean to-"

"Can it Parker, without that rec centre tons of kids are left without anywhere to go, the gangs in Harlem are itching for a recruitment opportunity like this and it's all thanks to your 'buddy'." Hobbie said as he glared at Peter, before turning a weird look towards Harry who was smiling.

"Sorry for not believing you at first Harry, you were right about Spider-man." Hobbie said simply before turning away from the smug Harry and walking back to the lunch table he'd initially came from.

"Huh, finally people are seeing the truth eh?" Harry asked rhetorically with a swarmy grin on his face as he looked at the downtrodden Peter, whose back was being rubbed by MJ.

"It's not your fault Tiger." MJ consoled Peter who had his head downcast, staring at the table below him whilst Gwen looked on with a weird look in her eye, sadness being the most noticeable emotion.

"Then why does it feel like it" Peter stated simply with a downtrodden expression on his face as half the table looked at him in concern.

lllllllllllllll

"You know I heard that whoever joins her gets a guranteed grand a week!" One thug said as he tried to fit the crowbar in his hands between the door infront of him and its frame.

"Bah! There's no way she will pay that much for run of the mill crooks." Another thug said over her shoulder to the thug prying the door behind her.

"You don't know that! Just you watch, she'll see me at the meeting, realise how amazing I am and boom, we'll be living large after that!" The thug prying the door said, before cheering as he finally found the leverage to open the door.

"I got it Fiona!" The man said with a cheer as he turned around expecting his partner in crime to be as excited as he was only for him to be surprised when he saw no one watching his back.

"The fuck? Don't tell me she ran off for the bathroom without telling me, that bitch, leaving me unprotected!" The thug mumbled indignantly as his eyes swept over the small car park behind the building he'd just opened the door of.

"Now now, that's a bit rude don't you think? I think you and me should have a chat about manners and about this meeting you mentioned." Came a voice from above the thug.

Turning his head skyward the thug saw something which would no doubt ruin his night. "Oh fuc-" The man began, only to be interrupted by the uncomforting feeling of being webbed to the wall behind him beside the cracked open door.

"Ugh, Spider-man, don't you have anything better to do like go on dates or something?" The thug webbed to the wall groaned as he struggled in his webbed prison, as he watched the Spider slowly lowering himself to the ground upside down.

"Nah, I get my kicks from stopping thugs like you." Spider-man said as righted himself, standing before the thug infront of him. "So what's this about a meeting?"

"What's it to you?" The thug groaned out with a glare from his position webbed to the red brick wall.

"Oh you know, friendly neighbourhood Spider-man, kinda my job to know about any thug meetups" Spider-man said cheekily as he wagged a finger towards the thug, admonishing him as he struggled harder against the webbing.

"Yeah, well then why do you need me to say anything you prick?"

"Never hurts to hear it from the horses mouth." Spider-man replied, shrugging his shoulders. "Your friend wasn't much help either" Spider-man said, looking pointedly above the man.

Turning his head up as much as he could given his predicament, the thug spotted his compatriot stuck the wall in a similar state he was higher up.

"How the fuck did I miss that..."

"No idea sir, but times a ticking, the cops will be here any minute and I'm still not sure whether or not i'll be telling them if anyone is cooperating here."

Looking at Fiona, the thug below and her shared a look, both nodding their heads before the thug on the ground spoke up to get Spider-mans attention.

"Oi, it's tomorrow night at a warehouse in East Harlem, down by the docks!"

This got Spidey's attention as he walked over to the thug on the ground, resting an arm against the wall infront of him and leaning on it to talk to the thug.

"Really? So who's organising this litle shindig then?"

"Sable." The thug replied quickly. "There we've co-operated! You'll get the cops to go easy on us right?"

"They'll be told what happened sure" Spider-man said, pushing himself off the wall and clapping his hands right as the sounds of sirens began filling the trio's ears.

"Have a good night!" Spider-man said before shooting a web up and swinging away into the bustling city, leaving two struggling thugs webbed to the walls as the police got ever nearer.

lllllllll

"Here Petey, Hobbie gave me this earlier." Liz Allen said as she passed over a folder to the the confused brunnette who opened it slowly, remembering his and Hobbies interaction yesterday.

"What the?" Peter asked in confusion as he started down at the sheets and pictures within, before casting a confused glance at Liz who looked back at him in agreement.

"I know, it's like, super weird." Spoke Liz before she adopted a confused grin upon her face as she leant over the table towards Peter, her breasts gaining Peters attention as they moved. "But it gets weirder. That's apparently all Hobbie is doing for the project."

Now this threw Peter through a loop, they didn't need their sections done for another few days atleast, and Hobbie didn't seem like the type to leave his group high and dry.

"I know!...it's so odd, he just came up to me this morning, passed over the file with this really stern look on his face and said 'Here's my section. Everything should be there but i'm not doing anything else if it isn't.'" Liz said with a grumble as she took a sip of her coffee.

"I think I know why..." Peter said with a wince as Liz rose one perfectly sculpted eyebrow.

"That little arguement you had with him during lunch?"

That took Peter by surprise as he looked confusedly at Liz. "How'd you know about that?"

"Huh? O-oh you know I just heard your name in passing through the grapevine, that's all." Liz said as she hid her mouth behind her coffee cup.

Nodding at the explanation, Peter turned his grimace back towards the folder infront of him. "Well yes, that. Pretty sure he and Harry are furious with me at the moment..."

Now this was news to Liz, as it was her turn to look towards Peter in confusion. "Harry? I thought he understood that you needed the money?"

"Sadly not..." Was Peters whispered response as he put the folder down on the table before them and leaned back in his chair, his eyes boring holes into the ceiling.

llllll

The full moon shone eerily down over New York, it's white glow illuminating those who prefered to hide in the dark, many rats scurrying around in search of cover. This was true for the whole city, but at that moment, on that night, it was more true for the docks in East Harlem than anywhere else.

Sitting on a building overlooking the entrance of the docks, Spider-man sat in wait, his eyes peering at every thug which turned the corner and walked through the open gate. He'd been watching these thugs arrive for nearly two hours now, arriving either singularly or in groups of two and three as they went through the gate and deeper into the docks.

'Geez that's got to be atleast fifty goons by now...Those two weren't kidding when they said there was a meeting, Sable's really pulled out all the stops eh?' Spider-man thought to himself as the eyes of his costume squinted in the moons light.

Keeping his gaze at the entrance, Spider-man noticed that no one had entered in quite a while, the time somewhere around 8:50pm if Spider-man was to guess suggesting that whatever was going on, people didn't want to be late.

Standing up and stretching his back Spider-man gave a grunt of satisfaction at the crack his back gave as everything clicked into place. Preparing to swing down and get a closer look at the warehouse Spider-man had seen alot of thugs enter, he caught sight of one last thug booking it from the entrance towards that warehouse.

'Well if I ever needed confirmation on where to go, there it is' Spider-man thought with a laugh as he followed the thug from warehouse rooftops, zipping onto and landing softly on the metal roof.

Climbing his way up to the warehouse's windows Spider-man made extra care to not make any noise on the metal sheet plating roof, one footstep at a time. Reaching the window quickly Spider-man took a gander inside and nearly dropped his jaw.

He knew there were alot of thugs in there but there must've been another entrance or two because the size of the gathered crowd was not fifty. Spider-man guessed it was something more along the lines of one hundread and fifty men and women clad in dark clothes and all with varying scowls on their face as they stared up a wooden stage that had been set up at the back of the warehouse.

Dear gosh it was like a political rally with how it was set up, Spider-man was just waiting for the politician herself to show up.

Ask and he shall receive, the lights throughout the warehouse shut off in unison except for the ones above the stage. The stage which was the new found host of Silver Sable as she walked out proudly with an air of confidence and bravado, Hammerhead being dragged on his knees by her before she stopped him in the middle.

Spider-man wasn't gonna mince words, Hammerhead looked bad. Both his eyes were swollen with black eyes, his nose was certainly broken and the rest of his body was covered in bruises and cuts. Clearly Sable took her frustrations out on the bulky criminal.

'Am I supposed to feel sorry for him?' Spider-man thought to himself outside as he gazed in through the window at the sorry state of Hammerhead. It was an interesting point, does he feel sorry for the guy who's responsible of putting many others into that state or worse?

"Karma." Was Spider-mans quietly whispered responses.

The chattering within the warehouse went dead silent as Sable stopped on stage, whether it was out of respect or fear cause of what she'd done to Hammerhead Spider-man didn't know.

"Now that I have your attention. As many of you know, from working with my family in the past, we are a fair group. A fair but strong group, a group which has helped others fulfill their dreams and supported them through thick and thin." Sable said her right hand raised in solidarity with the masses.

"In doing so you have helped us accomplish our dreams and shown us loyalty that we have tried our best to repay. So today, I have brought before you Hammerhead, the right hand man of Tombstone, the so called big-man who dared to usurp my father and this family, throwing the city into chaos in the process. The man who oppressed you and left you fighting for scraps in a city where barely anything can slow Spider-man down. Now he is the one at our feet!" Sable with a shout, her chest puffed out in pride as Spider-mans eyes got wider at the speech Sable was giving to the massive group of people

"Today I remind this city that the Silvermanes are the true head of crime here and what happens to those who dare to cross us. We are the alpha predator in this jungle and we will hunt to our hearts content, so those returning both old and new, join us and take your rightful pound of flesh from this city." Sable finished as large cheers erupted from about half the room, the other half deathly silent.

The cheers were loud but the silence was deafening. There was a noticeable shift in the supportive cheers when they realised a large part of the gathered crowd were as silent as the grave.

Spider-man was silent with them, atleast for all of two seconds before he had his phone out calling the police. What happened down there was not good and whatever caused the silence was probably gonna make things worse so yeah, time to panic.

"Hey what's wrong? This is the right thing guys" Said one thug in the crowd getting murmers of agreement from those who'd previously been cheering whilst the quiet ones simply glared at Sable, who was matching them with an even harsher one for the slight.

"She isn't a true Silvermane! The spirit of the Silvermanes is locked away with the previous head of the family, not this whinning baby who couldn't touch Tombstone until he was defanged!" One particularly brave thug shouted out from the front of the crowd.

*BANG*

And it was the last thing they would shout as Sable reholstered her gun from where it had been outstretched after shooting the woman who'd shouted at her.

"Any one else?" Sable asked to the quiet room and was met with silence, for a second or two at most before loud responses were thrown back at her en masse from the previously silent portion of the crowd.

"BOOOO!"

"BITCH!"

"IMPOSTER!"

Sables eyes just widened at the visceral response she was subjected to, whatever she'd been expecting, Spider-man could definitely see it wasn't this.

"YOU'RE NOTHING COMPARED TO KINGPIN!"

"YOUR FATHER WOULD BE ASHAMED!"

It seemed Sable had had enough as a she wiped her gun out once again and aimed it at the ceiling, probably preparing to shoot so as to silence the crowd but it turns out she didn't have to. Whilst the half that had been silent clearly hated her and would only work for her as a traitor, the other half were a believer in the Silvermanes and her included so they began shouting their own words.

"YOU KNOW THE WAY!"

"YOU ARE OUR QUEEN!"

"SPIT ON THEM MY BROTHA'S"

Well it looks like it wasn't a total lose, she wouldn't have control over what she'd been expecting but atleast a decent number supported her. Yet why had a group that largely hated her show up? It was this question that had Sables mind racing alongside Spider-mans as they both tried to figure out a reasoning.

Sadly they were both a bit too slow to the realisation of the simple answer. To attack her. Both Spider-man and Sables eyes went wide when nearly every member of the silent group took out a weapon of some sorts, all of them charging either straight for the stage or for a supporter of Sable.

Whilst the supporters of sable were caught largely unprepared, Sable herself barely batted an eye at the first person who ran up on her with a knife, a swift kick to the temple sending the thug flying off the stage. Whilst the situation might surprise her, combat was a different story.

Realising the situation was rapidly spiralling out of control Spider-man smashed the glass, barely drawing any attention with the miniture riot happening in the warehouse below and swung in towards Sable, who was surrounded by ten thugs.

Granted she was holding her own out there just fine as the group of ten tried their best to catch her off guard with pipes, bats, knives and even chains but nothing seemed to be working.

Stuck to the ceiling Spider-man realised his dilema, does he go to arrest Sable who was a known criminal who had the support of half these thugs or does he focus on making sure everyone stays safe from the weapons till the police get here?

'Gosh dangit!' Spider-man thought as he quickly webbed up a thug holding a baseball bat, jumping down into the fray to try keep anything bad from happening.

Immediately his spider-sense went haywire as thugs realised just who had joined the brawl, some backed off or dropped their weapons but others from both crowds just seemed to grow short sighted as they barrelled towards Spider-man.

Spider-man was jumping, kicking, ducking, punching and dodging like crazy for about five minutes before he heard it, the police sirens echoing out into the turbulent night. Relief filled his form as he realised the night was nearly over.

Zipping back up to the ceiling Spider-man got a birds eye view on the situation. Sable was gone, long gone alongside Hammerhead probably if Spider-man was to bet and the rest of the thugs? They were either laying battered, webbed or were booking it towards the nearest exit.

This wasn't going to be of much help though as Spider-man webbed shut the front door right as a large group made to run out effectively blocking the main way out which sent the crowd into a panic as they bolted towards the nearest exit they could see. Spider-man of course tried to web up as much as he could but by the time it was done it looked like over a hundread of the thugs had managed to escape through the back and various windows.

As the police rolled to a stop outside Spider-man couldn't help but ask himself the big questions. Which side did the escaped thugs favour, where were they and most importantly, where was Sable?.

llllllllll

"So class, I just wanted to say congratulations on finishing your assignment, everyone got it in before the deadline so as a reward there will be no homework for the weekend." Captain Stacy said which was met with cheers from those awake in the classroom.

*BRRRIINNNNNNGGGGG*

Students rushed out of their seat as the temptation of the ever approaching weekend envigorated them, Peter included as he made to pack away his things whilst Gwen, MJ and Harry waited for him at the door.

Atleast they tried to, the sight of Captain Stacy waving them off was enough to send them away in confusion, none more so than Gwen something Harry quickly picked up on as he walked.

"He probably just plagiarised or something" Harry's retreating voice could be heard in Peters ears as he looked uncertainly at Captain Stacy, the soft sounds of his friends footsteps fading away.

"Peter, I hope you don't mind me taking a minute of your time?" Captain Stacy asked gently to which Peter could only shake his head at as he tried to think of what might warrant this engagement.

"I saw the Buggle yesterday Peter, I don't know how you got photos of inside that warehouse but you need to be more careful. Spider-man isn't invincible and he can't always keep you safe."

"Ah yeah that, sorry Captain Stacy, it was just a heat of the moment thing you know, I saw this big group and decided to tag along to see what happened." Peter said sheepishly as he rubbed the back of his head.

Silence was his only response before Captain Stacy sighed and crossed his arms. "I'm sure that's how it happened Peter."

"Yeah so I gotta go, bye!" Peter said with a fake smile plastered on his face as he ran out of the door towards the cafeteria. Captain Stacy just left shaking his head in the empty classroom.

That's the end of the first arc, now we are moving into what I have coined as the daredevil arc. I hope you are all excited, cause I know i am.