AUTHOR'S NOTE: JUST A HEAD'S UP, I DECIDED TO CHANGE MJ'S RELATIONSHIP TO PHILLIP TO THAT OF BEING HIS STEPDAUGHTER. I FELT IT WOULD MAKE MORE SENSE FOR THE SERIES GOING FORWARD, AND MADE THAT CHECK BACK IN CHAPTER 7 IN CASE ANYBODY WANTS TO TAKE A LOOK. ANYWHO, ENJOY THE SHOW!

JT NATIONAL BANK

Police quickly arrived on the scene, parking their police cruisers and SWAT vans right in front of the bank, with officers all having their weapons drawn. Among the officers was Phillip Watson, who, along with his partner, an African American man, stood behind their police cruiser with their guns drawn, ready for a standoff. Finally, the leader of the SWAT officers, a pale-skinned man in his late forties named Sergeant Rex Saxton, approached the bank with a megaphone over his mouth. "THIS IS THE POLICE,"said Rex with his voice amplified. "WE HAVE THE BUILDING COMPLETELY SURROUNDED! COME OUT, SO COME OUT NOW WITH YOUR HANDS UP! YOU DO NOT HAVE A CHANCE!"

The answer that Rex and the other officers received was one that none expected. Namely, that of a massive blast of hair bursting out of the front entrance and sending the two front doors flying, forcing the officers to duck and cover behind their cars as the doors flew over their heads and crashed into the building behind them, narrowly avoiding the pedestrians.

This display of raw power shook Phillip to his core because not only were he and his fellow officers at risk but so were the citizens in the area. He turned back to the bank's front entrance to see what caused such a blast, and what he saw caused his eyes to grow large.

It was Herman who walked out of the bank with smoking gauntlets and bags filled with the bank's money strapped to his back.

Though Rex was still shaken by what transpired, he knew he had a job to do and thus dropped the megaphone, grabbed his assault rifle, which was slung to his side, and took aim at Herman, which caused Phillip and the other officers to do the same. "FREEZE! GET DOWN ON THE GROUND, OR WE WILL OPEN FIRE!"

The undeterred Herman only shook his head and laughed at this command. "Really? You're still going to go with the whole 'freeze' routine after seeing what I just did?" Herman asked condescendingly, feeling powerful thanks to the gauntlets. "Well, sorry, chief, but since you're too stupid to notice, let me show you why you're not dealing with your average perp again!" Herman again pressed the buttons in his gauntlets with a sick glee, and they began to vibrate. Just before the officer could open fire, Herman pointed his gauntlets forward and fired another blast toward a police car parked right in front of him.

A car that Phillip and his partner were hiding behind. "OH, CRAP!" Phillip yelled in a panic as he and his partner ran to the left as the blast hit the car and sent it flying into the air and towards screaming pedestrians on the sidewalk.

The news of a police car crashing into innocent people would've been the biggest tragedy of the day. But thankfully, it was prevented when Peter, fully clothed in his Spider-Man costume, swung in and used his hands to grab hold of the police car's hood and held on to it as it flipped upside down. Still maintaining a firm grip, Peter landed on his feet on the pavement. Though the pure three thousand pounds on the vehicle put a massive strain on the muscles on his legs, Peter still held firm and held the car over his head and successfully prevented it from landing on the people on the sidewalk. As for the stunned citizens that Peter saved, they all stood and stared at the young man in complete shock at what he just did.

Peter's heroic deed was seen byHerman, who let out a loud groan. "Oh great, that idiot's here!"

The police looked at the young hero with mixed reactions, some seeing him as an asset that arrived just in the nick of time, while others saw him as a reckless vigilante who was about to make the situation worse. And out of the officers, Phillip fell into the latter. "Oh great, that idiot's here!"

Meanwhile, while still holding the car over his head, Peter noticed the people staring at him. "Hey folks," said Peter with a strained but friendly tone. "Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man here with some friendly advice; RUN!"

Not needing to be told twice, the people ran from the scene, mainly from the 'Spider-Man,' due to Jameson's less-than-positive reports about him.

With the people now out of harm's way, Peter set the car down on its wheels, then turned forward, shot a web-line, and zipped towards the top of a SWAT car. After flipping forward and landing on the vehicle's roof, Peter stood in a slightly crouched posture, looked down at Herman, and was naturally perplexed at his appearance. However, he also noticed that the gauntlets were once again smoking, which means this padded criminal was the one who fired the blast that he saw when he was swinging over here. As such, Peter saw Herman as someone who, despite his appearance, was someone he needed to take down quickly.

As for Phillip, he continued to look on at Peter distrustfully as he knew that things were about to get worse by showing up, and thus, his and his fellow officers' jobs were now made more difficult.

One officer, a young fair-skinned man in his early twenties, was starting the force today and couldn't believe what he saw. "Is it always like this down here?!" The rookie whispered in disbelief.

Phillip's partner responded with a brief shrug. "About once a week. I think the Hulk was here last time."

This answer left the rookie in pure shock. "Wait, WHAT?!" the rookie asked, flabbergasted and silently wondering if this was the right line of work for him.

Phillip soon joined the conversation while looking at Peter and Herman with narrow eyes. "Life in the big city, rookie. Now shut up and be ready for anything!"

Meanwhile, Peter was about to enact the first part of his plan when dealing with Herman. Namely making sure that this new villain stays focused only on him and tries to keep innocent bystanders out of the crossfire, be it the people still in the streets or the police who cannot stop him. And he did this by using the one thing that always helped him get criminals' attention: his mouth. "So, who are you supposed to be? Captain Cushion? Plaided Pete? The Punishing Pillow? I mean, help me out here."

"I'm the Shocker," replied a very aggravated Herman, as he had never taken to kindly being mocked. Whether it was from his former co-workers at Oscorp, the people who laughed at him inside the bank, or this talkative superhero he's heard so much about. "I'd tell you not to forget it, but you're not gonna be around long enough to worry about that!" After saying that, Herman charged up his gauntlets, pointed them up at Peter, and fired a blast, hoping to 'squash a bug' before he ruined a robbery, he had so long prepared for.

Luckily for Peter, it was an attack he was quick enough to avoid. And he did so by leaning back and allowing the blast to fly over him and into the sky. Once Peter stood straight up, he went on with his mastery of quipping to maintain Herman's attention. "Okay, normally, that line would be intimidating. But the thing is, you're wearing a costume that doesn't make you look…well, intimidating!"

This snide comment further aggravated Herman, who let out a loud growl as he fired another blast.

As before, the agile Peter avoided getting blasted off the top of the SWAT car, but this time did so by performing a cartwheel to the right side. Once he stopped and ended up crouching, Peter continued his banter. "Wait, so you shoot blasts when your gauntlets vibrate?" Peter asked as he then stood up. "If that's the case, wouldn't it make more sense if you called yourself 'The Vibrato-?'"

"DON'T YOU FRIGGIN' DARE!" Herman yelled in a rage, as that quip was the last straw. After all, many of his former colleagues had given an earlier model of his shockwave emitter such a suggestive name back when it was initially designed for deconstruction. But now, he redesigned the machine into the gauntlets as weapons for revenge. And once again, he put said weapons to use as he fired another blast at peter, intending to shut him up permanently.

Luckily for Peter, he saved himself from this by jumping and flipping off the SWAT car in a cartwheel fashion, allowing that blast to hit nothing but air. While he was upside down in mid-air, Peter enacted the next phase of his plan to bring Herman down. Namely, he pointed both hands at him in a web-shooting fashion, and with three quick clicks, he shot a massive web that looked like a net the size of a tent.

It didn't take long for the web net to completely cover Herman, forcing him to struggle and inadvertently fall back first onto the pavement.

As for Peter, he had landed safely on his feet and kept his hands pointed at the fallen criminal. "Okay, I admit, that last joke was beneath me." Peter thought as he cautiously walked towards the still struggling Herman. "Especially with the tech nerd in me being curious about the guy's iron mittens." Suddenly, Peter stopped dead in his tracks when he was alarmed by the intense tingling of his spider-sense. "Whoa! Spider-Sense going off!" The alerted Peter looked back down at Herman, and his eyes grew with horror when he came to this theory. "Oh crap, this guy's suit might be booby-trapped!" This prompted Peter to point his hands down at the fallen Herman and was about to cover him in more webbing until he was wrapped in a cocoon and incapable of moving his body before he set off whatever presumed bomb before he could detonate it.

But before Peter could fire another strand of webbing to incapacitate Herman fully, the true source of his Spider-Sense revealed itself to be two officers pointing their handguns at Peter's masked head. The first was Rex, who pointed his gun at the left temple after exhausting all the bullets in his assault rifle on Herman. And the second was that of Phillip, who held his gun on the right, with his partner not far behind. And both officers made their presence to the young man known when they shouted in unison. "FREEZE!"

By hearing the guns' clicking, their raised voices, and feeling his Spider-Sense subside, Peter instantly knew the real 'danger.' Still, instead of putting him on edge, it only caused him aggravation, especially since he was trying to help them. "Oooorrrr, it's just these two," thought the annoyed Peter, then moved his eyes behind his eye lenses from side to side to see which officers were now holding him at gunpoint. But once Peter glanced to the right side, his eyes grew as large as softballs when he saw that Phillip, Mary-Jane's father, had his gun drawn at him. "Mr. Watson's here too?! Oh, this makes everything much better!"

Rex continued to stare daggers at Peter as he kept his gun pointed at the young man's covered head. "Just stop with the webs and keep those hands where we can see them, bug boy!"

Though Peter understood why the police didn't trust him, he still couldn't help but be baffled at why they would arrest him instead of Herman, who was still on the ground, moving like a fish out of water trying to get out of the web net. "Wait, hold on!" Peter said in a mixture of confusion and irritation as he turned to Rex. "Did you seriously not see that I just helped by webbing up Captain Quilted Picker Upper right here?!"

It was here that a very firm Phillip soon interjected. "You've got the right to remain silent, Web-Head, do yourself a favor and use that right!" Phillip barked, forcing Peter to turn and face him. He then noticed his partner arrive through the corner of his eye. "Jenkins, cuff him while I finish giving him his rights!"

Being in an altercation with the police was one thing, but for Peter, having one of the said cops being his best friend's stepfather felt like salt on an open wound. However, Peter's luck would soon change for the worst when he suddenly felt his Spider-Sense return. This prompted him to turn forward, and his fears were realized when he saw the TRUE danger. "Oh, crap!"

Somehow, even when covered in webbing, Herman sat up on his knees. And worse, he charged his gauntlets, aimed them right at Peter's head and fired, bursting a hole through the web-net in the process.

"GET DOWN!" Peter screamed and, without a second thought, grabbed the two officers that held up at gunpoint by the back of their collars and forced them to the pavement, allowing the blast to fly overhead.

Though he missed his target, Herman knew he wasted enough time dealing with the cops and this 'web-spewing freak.' As such, he ran his gauntlets through the hole of the web-net, then spread his arms outward and tore it off his body. Moments later, Herman made his move to escape by placing his gauntlets over his head and once again charging them up.

While down on the ground, Peter looked up and saw Herman holding up his gauntlets and, thinking that he was about to attack again, grabbed Rex and Phillip by their waists and, as he stood up on his feet, hoisted the two officers up like they were pillows. "EVERYBODY GET BACK!" Peter shouted to the police officers and jumped backward.

Many of the officers still weren't very trustful of the web-swinging vigilante that Jameson ranted and raved about. But given what they've seen since they arrived on the scene, none of them were foolish enough not to heed Peter's warnings. As such, they all took his advice and soon ran away to avoid whatever Herman was about to try.

Finally, Herman threw his gauntlets downward and fired a blast at the pavement, which made a small crater and propelled him into the air and away from the bank.

Meanwhile, Peter landed on top of the car he had hoisted earlier, then looked up and watched Herman take to the air, feeling befuddled but, at the same time, slightly impressed. For as an inventor, he was curious how said gauntlets could be used to send the shooter airborne. "Okay, that's different," said an astounded Peter, but was soon brought out of his tech admiration when he felt both Rex and Phillip struggling to free themselves from his grasp. "Oh, right!" Now reminded of the situation, Peter looked down at Rex in concern. "Hey, you okay?"

"PUT ME DOWN, YOU DAMN PUNK!" Was the only reply that Rex could give as he tried to free himself from Peter's grip.

For the unsurprised Peter, it was an answer he expected, given his popularity with the police. "I'll take that as a yes," said the young man, then turned his attention to Phillip, albeit with an awkward expression behind his mask. "And how about you…um, officer?"

Phillip's answer proved to be just as less enthusiastic. "Now you've got two things, bug boy! A charge for assaulting an officer, and my foot about to be planted up your unitard-wearing backside!"

This remark also came as no surprise to Peter, for when he saw Phillip, he seemed to be a devoted family man; he also knew the man was a bit temperamental. "Also, a yes." With the safety of the officers now confirmed, Peter sat them down on the hood of the police car, then jumped, flipped forward, and ran off upon landing on his feet.

Something which did not please Phillip in the slightest. "Hey, get back here! You're still under arrest!" Phillip yelled as he and Rex slid off the car hood.

"Sorry, chief, but I'm gonna have to take a rain check," Peter called back as he jumped to the right, bounced off the side of a SWAT car, and landed on top of another SWAT car on the left side. "And by rain check, I mean, well…never." Were his parting words as he jumped up once again, shot a web-line out his left wrist, and swung off. "Hate to give Mr. Watson a parting quip like that, especially since he's MJ's stepdad," thought Peter as he swung past one rooftop. Moments later, he caught a glimpse of the airborne Herman just three blocks away, which prompted him to point his hands out in front of him, shoot two web lines, and zipped forward in a desperate attempt to catch up with him. "Hate yourself later, Parker! Right now, you still have a cotton-covered nutcase nut case to stop before he makes off with the bank's money and, worst of all, kills someone!"