A Helping Hand
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Chapter One: I'm here to help.
Peter Parker sighed as he overlooked the city, it was a beautiful sight to behold. However, Peter couldn't really enjoy it as he had a lot on his plate. To put it simply, he was depressed. His head filled with thoughts of reasons why he was depressed. The mind switch with Otto Octavius, where the doctor took over his body and ruined the image of Spider-Man. The damage the man had done caused nearly every hero to no longer trust him, or just outright hate him.
Otto even did damage to his life as Peter Parker, most of his friends won't talk to him. Though he was thankful that Aunt May, Kaine, and Teresa hadn't cut ties with him. Worse for wear, Peter could no longer be a scientist due, once again, to Otto's actions. The man acted so arrogant and cruel that he made people think that Peter was mentally unstable and was thus blacklisted from joining the scientific community of any kind.
Finally, Peter's mind drifted to the other reasons he was depressed, his love life. Or lack thereof. No matter how many times he tried to maintain a relationship, hoping to find the right one, they always ended in failure. Even the relationships he had with other superheroines.
Gwen Stacy was tragically killed by his greatest enemy, then it was revealed that cheated on him with said enemy and had his kids. Only for that to be revealed as lie and that there was no affair and was solely made up just to fuck with him. Yeah, that was a whole rollercoaster of emotions.
Felicia Hardy, an off again, on again girlfriend who was only interested in the spider not the man. Peter doubted if she actually loved him, since he would catch her in the arms of other men. He grimaced as he recalls Felicia kissing Daredevil in front of him just to get him jealous.
Carlie Cooper, a forensic scientist that he got along well with. Though she did have an annoying habit of bit controlling. She broke things off when she found out he was Spider-Man. She took him not telling her as the ultimate betrayal and straight up did not want anything to do with him.
Mary Jane Watson, a model and Actress that Peter had the most romantic experience with. She was almost the exact opposite of Felicia, whereas MJ loves the man more than the spider. However, like Felicia, MJ had the very, very bad habit of cheating on him, every chance she got. The list of men she cheated on him with was too many and too hurtful to count. The fact they were married to begin with was a miracle in itself.
And then there were the many other exes that he didn't even feel like going into. Just simply reminiscing about those memories hurt him.
Suddenly, an explosion went off in the distance. Peter sighed as he got up and swung towards it. No rest for good old Spidey.
Upon reaching his destination, Spider-Man spots Shocker exiting a bank with bags of cash in hand. The webhead then webs the bags out of his hands. He then lands in front of Shocker who glared at the web-slinger angrily.
"Well, well if it isn't my old pal Shocker. You do know that this is a parole violation right Herman?" Spider-Man said.
"Err. I had enough of you!" Shocker fired a blast at the Web-head but he dodged it.
Spider-Man fired a glob of webbing that hit Shocker in the eyes, blinding him. The supervillain tried to get it off him but to no avail. Peter used the opportunity to rush him and strike him in the face. He then flip kicked him, sending him flying into a car.
"You know this will all be over soon if you just give up." Spider-Man said.
Shocker growled as he got up and fired another blast at the wall crawler. Though, Peter dodged it again and web-zipped towards Shocker. Kicking him in the chest. Shocker staggered a bit and countered with a punch, however Spider-Man moved out of the way. Peter's elbow then connected with Herman's chin. A left hook then struck the villain's face, causing him to stagger more.
Peter was about to strike again but his Spider-Sense went off. He saw Herman overloading his gauntlets and quickly leapt out of the way. A good thing he did as Shocker let out a wave of concussive energy, destroying everything around him.
Shocker glared at the web-slinger angrily and started to fire his gauntlets wildly, not caring where the blasts landed. One of the stray blasts struck a building's main support pillar, causing it to collapse. A group of children just so happened to be there as it started to collapse. They all panicked but didn't move as the building started to come down onto them.
Peter saw and immediately dashed to where they were, catching the debris at the last second. Peter let out strained grunts as he attempted to hold the building up.
"Go. Go get out of here!" The children did as Spider-Man said and got out of the area.
Peter let out a sigh of relief but was suddenly hit with a blast of concussive air. He yelled out in pain as Shocker approached him. He was then hit with another blast. The second blast almost made him let go of the debris on top of him but he held strong.
"Well, well, look what we have here. A bug waiting to get crushed." Shocker mocked.
"How many times do I have to say it, spiders are arachnids!" Spider-Man corrected only to get hit by yet another blast. "Ah!"
"Oh, shut up." Shocker said. His gauntlets soon started to overcharge. He raised his arms to aim at Spider-Man. The gauntlets soon we're ready to fire. "Now I can get rid of you once and for all!"
Peter braced himself for the attack when suddenly…
TWIP TWIP
Shocker's gauntlets were suddenly webbed up. He looked down at his arms in confusion. How the hell did that happen? He thinks to himself.
"Hey, ugly!" Herman turned around only to find himself getting kicked in the face. He was knocked to the ground with great force, and when he looked up to see who hit him was surprised. Peter was shocked as well. In front of the two was someone that neither had seen before.
It was another Spider-person!
His suit was red with a giant black spider symbol on his chest and back. The upper legs wrapped around his arms, leading to two web shooters. The fingers on the gloves were also black. He had a hood where the inside was colored black. The mask was, again black, with white lenses. His suit also had a pair of web wings.
If Peter was being honest, this guy's suit looked like a combination of Ben's and Kaine's costume.
"Why don't you pick on someone your own size." The new Spider-Person said as he cracked his knuckles.
"Another Spider-Man?!" Shocker exclaimed in shock.
"The name's Scarlet Spider buddy. So do me a favor and give up now or else you're gonna get hurt. Bad." The now named Scarlet Spider said.
Shocker scoffed. "Oh yeah? Then bring it on, bug!" Shocker ripped the webbing off his gauntlets and fired a blast at Scarlet Spider.
Scarlet Spider dodged the attack and webbed his gauntlets. This caused Shocker to growl in anger again and went to tear the webbing off. However, he saw that the webbing began to harden, almost like it became like cement. Shocker tried to take it off but realized that the webs did indeed become cement. He was completely surprised by the sudden development, this was something completely new. Before he could question it, Scarlet Spider suddenly appeared in front of him.
'What the? How the hell did he get in front of me so fast?!' Shocker thought to himself.
A mighty right uppercut soon connected with his chin caused him to stagger. A left hook then connected with his stomach, knocking the wind out of him. Before he had a chance to recover, a series of punches hit him. The barrage attack connected to his face, stomach, and chest. The punches were fast and hard. Shocker tried to retaliate but this new Scarlet Spider didn't give him the chance.
Scarlet Spider ceased his barrage of punches, only for him to deliver a roundhouse kick to the villain.
Shocker was sent flying into the ground. He grunted out in pain as he tried to get up but was quickly webbed to the ground.
"Stick around." Scarlet Spider quipped.
Peter meanwhile, was in shock and awe by what he just witnessed. This new guy, this Scarlet Spider, just kicked Shocker's ass like nothing! Not only that but it seemed that he had some tricks up his sleeve. Kinda like him. Peter then saw the Scarlet Spider turn to him and quickly ran towards him. Once he got closer, he immediately scanned the area before him like he was trying to figure out what to do. He then turned back to Peter.
"Need a hand?" He asked.
"No, not really but a little help is appreciated." Spider-Man joked. Causing Scarlet Spider to let out an amused chuckle.
Scarlet Spider then went to grab a piece of the broken pillar. He stood it up, making it connect with the ground and ceiling. He used his webbing to hold it in place. He repeated this process three more times until it was safe for Peter to let go.
Peter let out strained grunts as he massaged his sore arms. He and Scarlet Spider quickly went into the open, as not to risk the chance of the building falling on them.
Once they were in the clear Peter asked Scarlet Spider a question. "Thanks for the help, kid. But who are you?"
"Like I said, I'm the Scarlet Spider." Scarlet Spider replied.
"I get that but my question was, Who. Are. You?" Peter repeated, emphasizing his question as he did.
Scarlet Spider said nothing as he went quiet, his body tensed slightly.
"Cause last time I checked, there's only one Scarlet Spider right now, and he's all the way down in Texas." Peter added in.
Scarlet Spider said nothing but his ears suddenly picked up a noise. He turned to see cop cars approaching them. He then turned back to Peter, "Let's talk somewhere private, Peter."
Peter was surprised but then narrowed his eyes at Scarlet Spider. He knew his name.
"Alright." Spider-Man replied.
A little while later the two spiders were on a rooftop. Peter looked at Scarlet Spider with his arms folded, waiting for an answer.
"Alright, what do you want to know?" Scarlet Spider asked.
"Let's start off by how you know my name." Peter said.
"Karn told me." Peter raised an eyebrow at the response. The master weaver told him who he was? He soon realized that this Scarlet Spider was probably from another universe.
"So you're from another universe." Peter said.
"Yup." Scarlet Spider said before he took off his mask. He was young, probably late teens. He had blonde hair and blue eyes. "Name's Jaune Arc. Nice to meet you." Jaune extended his hand out.
Peter took it and shook his hand. "Likewise." They soon ended the hand shake.
"So I take it that, because Karn sent you here, there's a multiversal threat that needs to be taken care of." Peter said.
"Nope." Said Jaune, popping the 'P'.
Peter, once again, raised an eyebrow. "Then what are you here for?"
Jaune looked Peter dead in the eye as he put his hands on his hips. "I, Jaune Arc, have been sent here by Karn," Jaune began before taking a deep breath, "to help you get your life back together!" He exclaimed rather loudly.
Peter blinked as he stayed silent for a good minute before speaking.
"What?"
To Be Continued
