MIDTOWN MANHATTAN
On this typical, noisy morning in New York, Peter was again dressed as Spider-Man as he swung high above the traffic and made his way toward the Daily Bugle. He also wore his backpack, which contained his regular clothing, camera, and cracked-screen laptop. Equipment that he used to create what could be his last 'Spidey Video' earlier in the day. And he did so back in…
QUEENS, FIVE MINUTES EARLIER
…In the back alley of a jewelry store, one that wasn't due to open for an hour, three men in ski masks, which all had openings in the eyes and mouths, were gathered at the store's back door. One of them, a thin man with a blue jacket, a black t-shirt underneath, black gloves, and matching black boots, typed on the combination-operated lock to open the door so they could sneak and steal the jewelry inside. The code was given to him when he was a manager of this very shop, but he was fired the day before and took part in this robbery as revenge to collect his 'severance pay' in the form of diamonds and jewels. However, much to his frustration, the masked man finds out that his code is not opening the door despite his numerous tries. "Oh, come on! They said that they were going to change the code next week!"
The second mask man, who stood by the mask former store employee turned robber, looked at his colleague, annoyed. "Well, just a thought, Lenny," said the masked man in a sarcastic tone. "But don't you think that your former boss changed the code early because he, oh, I don't know, fired you and would be worried that you would try something like this?!"
The very agitated Lenny took a moment to breathe in and exhale out his nose before calmly giving this answer. "Wow, that's very insightful, Joey. So nice of you to bring that up. Also, shut the hell up!"
The third masked man, a large bulky man who towered over the two of them and wore a red jogging suit, quickly stepped in to do his job as ringleader and make his fellow robbers stop arguing. "Both of you shut the hell up!" he hissed, then pushed Lenny, who was his cousin, to the side and stepped in front of the door with a crowbar in his left hand. "Move! I'll get this door open the old-fashioned way!" Before the ring leader could even try to pry the door open, he was alerted by feeling something stick to the top of the crowbar and yank it right out of his hand. This shocked the masked man enough to make him around, only to have his hands and feet bound to the wall behind him by four web balls.
This only scared Joey and Lenny, as they had an idea of who fired the balls that incapacitated their leader. And as they turned and faced forward, their eyes grew large as their fears were confirmed.
It was Peter, high above the robbers and sitting casually up against the wall, using his feet to cling to the surface. He held his right hand up as he used it to fire the four web balls, all so he could use his other hand to shoot the web line and pull the crowbar out of the now-bound masked man's hand. "Sorry, guys," Peter said with his usual light-hearted demeanor as he caught the crowbar with his open left hand. Then, in an act that surprised all three of the would-be robbers, Peter used both hands to bend the steel crowbar like it was playdoh, then casually tossed it into the opened trash bend on the left side beneath him. "But in Spidey's neighborhood, 'old fashioned way' means waiting for the store to open. Boring? Sure, but hey, at least it's legal!"
"It's Spider-Man!" The ringleader yelled in disgust, then quickly turned to the equally shocked Lenny. "Shoot him!"
Not needing to be told twice, Lenny reached into his right hip with his left hand, pulled a pistol out of its holster, and took aim at Peter.
However, before a single shot was fired, Peter proved to be the real 'quick draw' by utilizing the web shooter on his right wrist to shoot another web ball that hit and covered both Kenny's pistol and hand. This tactic would cause the gun to backfire and explode should Lenny decide to fire it, thus rendering the weapon useless.
As Lenny struggled to get the webbing off, he caught a glimpse of Joey looking on in fear and bewilderment. "The hell are you waiting for?! Shoot him down! Now!"
A very hesitant Joey could only give this answer. "I…don't have a gun."
"YOU WHAT?!"
"Hey, I thought it would be a simple in-and-out job!"
As Lenny and Joey argued, Peter jumped off the wall, performed a back flip mid-air, and landed on all fours. Upon seeing the two robbers bicker, Peter could help but smirk behind his mask as he thought this to himself. "What do you know, my favorite type of criminals: dumb."
Though still stuck to the wall, the third masked man saw Peter land and quickly turned to his still-bickering robbers. "HEY, DUMBASSES!" The masked man barked loudly enough to get Lenny and Joey's attention. "Will you two stop arguing like kindergarten school girls and get him?!"
The two men did not dare argue with their ringleader, especially Lenny, who was constantly bullied and intimidated by him, even in adulthood. After a moment of fearful silence, Joey got Lenny's attention by tapping his shoulder. "And hey, since you're the one who couldn't get us when you said you could, you go first!" Joey exclaimed, trying to sound tough to mask his fear of fighting Peter but not being very successful.
"Screw you!" Lenny replied defiantly, then charged towards Peter and threw his webbed-covered left hand to pistol whip the masked young man.
Fortunately for Peter, though, it was an attack he easily avoided by simply ducking and allowing Lenny to stumble forward. Moments later, Peter stood up and spun around to face Lenny as he barely stopped himself from falling face-first into the pavement. "For shame!" Peter said in a mockingly disappointed tone, shaking his finger at Lenny as he finally turned to look at him. "Name calling? Insults? That's no way to settle disagreements!" Suddenly, Peter ended his quipping as he was alerted by the intense tingling of his Spider-Sense, which prompted him to jump up into the air and back-flip over Joey, who attempted to grab him from behind. Once he landed on his feet, Peter waited for Joey to turn around, then in a move that stunned the criminal, the nimble Peter slid right in between Joey's legs and ended up behind him once again and right in front of Lenny.
Before the former clerk-turned-criminal could use his webbed hand to attack again, Peter jumped up all while throwing a right uppercut, nailing Lenny in the chin and with just enough force to propel the criminal in the air and not take his head off. This culminated in Peter shooting two web lines into the dazed Lenny's chest. "Now, hug it out!" Adding just a little bit more to his Spider-Strength, Peter spun Lenny around in the air and threw him right into Joey's chest, which knocked both men senseless as they fell hard into the pavement. As soon as Peter landed on his feet, he made sure that the two loopy criminals did not get back up by shooting more webs from out his wrists, but this time, tapping the buttons in a succession that caused his web shooters to spray the webbing instead of shooting in a line. This feature, which Peter rarely used, proved successful as the web covered Joey and Lenny's bodies, minus their heads, and prevented them from moving.
The sight of his hapless cousin and cowardly subordinate being handled quite easily by Peter did not sit well with the ringleader, who looked at his fellow robbers with pure disdain. "Are you freaking kidding me?!" The irate ringleader barked. "Two of you couldn't hand one freak in red tights?!"
This crude remark reached Peter's ears, which prompted him to look up at the wall-bound ringleader with an irritated look behind his mask. "Huh, looks like I missed a spot on that guy."
Once he caught Peter's gaze, the ringleader's emotion soon changed from fiery anger to quivering fear. After all, he still could not defend himself, and aside from Lenny and Joey, he heard reports of how Spider-Man could handle guys bigger than him. All led him to conclude that even if he wasn't stuck to the wall by the web, the ringleader stood no chance against the web spinner looking straight at him. "Hey man, take it easy," said the nervous ringleader as he tried to reason his way out of this and used his chin to point in Joey and Lenny's direction. "If you let me down, I'll give you both their cuts! I mean, hey, with how you handled them, maybe I can have you as a-!"
At that moment, Peter gave the ringleader his answer to his answer by quickly holding up his hand and shooting another web ball, this time hitting and covering the criminal's mouth. "And there we go," Peter thought with mask hidden smile after covering up the 'missed spot.' Moments later, Peter placed his hands on his hips as he addressed all three of the would-be robbers. "Now, just sit tight and wait here for the cops! They'll be sure to get you out of those tacky masks and give you something to wear that suits you much better. Namely, orange jumpsuits. Oh, and remember, of all the things of what not to do when you get to prison, dropping the soap is chief among them! See ya!"
With his job now done, Peter pointed his hands up to the left side, shot two web lines, and zipped over to the roof of the building right behind the jewelry store. Once he landed on the right corner of the roof, Peter briefly reached down and pulled out his video camera, which he strategically placed via webbing to shoot and record his altercation with the crooks. Peter stepped off the ledge and onto the roof itself, where he also kept his backpack with the laptop inside. He then picked it up, briefly placed the camera in one of the side pockets, and proceeded to zip away from the scene so he could make the video in a more secluded place and without people that could spot him…
MIDTOWN MANHATTAN, PRESENT TIME
…much like how the people in the streets spotted Peter above them swinging from one web-line to the next. The reaction that Peter received from the on-lookers would best be described as mixed. Some cheered in approval as they saw Peter's heroics firsthand and knew he was a true force of good for the city. While others only booed and shouted insults and some other obscenities at him, as they believed in Jameson's reports of him being a masked menace. Something which made Peter sigh in disappointment as he released a web-line and ended up clinging to the top of a skyscraper. "Ah, my loving public," Peter thought to himself as he briefly hung his head, then, as he looked up, he saw something that only added to his frustration. "Well, half of them, anyway. The other half is a fan of the guy who runs THAT building!"
What caught Peter's eye was that of the Daily Bugle, the building of which was his workplace and his destination. And more importantly, where J. Jonah Jameson, the building's editor and number one Spider-Man hater was waiting.
A meeting that Peter did not seem too enthusiastic about. "The same guy who used all my videos to make ME look like the bad guy despite how obvious it was that I was trying to save lives! And, until now, I tried not to complain too much because the money was enough to get by. Be it with the bills and with my Spidey gear." At one point, Peter was soon alerted by a peculiar voice that belonged to a happy seven-year-old girl…
"Aunt Flow!"
This elated voice made Peter curious enough to look down and spot the light-skinned blonde girl happily running towards her aunt, a fair-skinned brunette woman bent down and waiting for her niece with open arms.
As Peter watched the aunt and niece embrace, he couldn't help but be reminded of his aunt, which caused him to feel anger towards himself. "But now, I see how my work at the Bugle has been tearing Aunt May up inside by making her worry constantly." Through the corner of his right eye, Peter soon noticed a digital billboard sign. One that showed a movie poster for the film 'The Girl with the Stake Tattoo' showing a pale-skinned girl in punkish attire and a red dyed mohawk, and the tattoo mentioned above located on her right cheek. An image that reminded the young man of a certain punk girl who was his best friend and was making him feel something much more. "Not to mention MJ, who told you this over the phone and looked pretty hurt doing it. And the reason why these two women are worried is that they think 'Peter Parker' is risking his life shooting videos of a spandex-wearing superhero fighting criminals and costumed psychos! And they're not wrong either."
After enough moping, the memories of the saddened Aunt May and MJ motivated Peter enough to clinch his fists and stand straight up in determination. "Which is why, as of now, the paycheck I'm getting from the Bugle…will be my last one! No amount of money is worth making two women whom I love deeply suffer for my actions. Still, I wish I had a better video than the one I shot. Knowing Jonah, he'll probably see it as 'same boring crap.' If only something big happened to help me end things with a bang!"
Suddenly, Peter was again alerted by noises coming from a few blocks away, but not the pleasant kind. Namely, the sounds resembled something big hitting the pavement, followed by people screaming. Now concerned, Peter immediately looked down at the street and saw a few people running in a panic from where the explosion occurred. Though he was worried about what was causing such chaos, Peter was also somewhat optimistic, seeing it as a way to make a video that would truly be his 'grand finale'. "Normally, I'd feel like I jinxed myself, but in this case, why lick a gift horse in the mouth?" Moments later, Peter leaped into the air and web-swinged towards whatever danger awaited him.
The cause of such hysteria was that an armored car containing large amounts of money tumbled on its right side due to its tires being shot out. It didn't take long for the shooter to reveal himself to be a man in metallic armor, which was primarily painted red, but the boots, gauntlets, face plate, and winged jetpack were colored silver. The fact plate had large round yellow eye lenses with two long 'horns' that pointed upward. His jetpack, which he used to stay airborne, appeared to have four wings on the sides to resemble those of a winged insect, but they served as stabilizers as the thruster at the bottom that granted the armored man flight. It didn't take long for the winged man to land on top of the truck, then turn and bend down to the closed back door and place a circular device on one of the doors. But before the armored man could activate the device, he was soon stopped by the voice of a certain web-slinger coming from above…
"Hope you plan on using that money to get a lawyer, pal!"
Naturally, this alerted the armored man, who looked up and saw Peter swinging and, using both his feet, kicked him in the chest plate and sent him flying backward. However, he managed to stop himself from falling onto the street by flipping back and activating his jetpack, allowing him to hover safely in mid-air.
As for Peter, he also performed a back flip and landed on all fours on top of the armored truck and finished his quip to this new armored criminal floating right in front of him. "Because I think Tony Stark is gonna sue somebody!"
Though many bystanders ran off in fear, a few still stood in shock at what they witnessed. However, one of the said bystanders, a blonde, fair-skinned muscular man in a black leather jacket, white T-shirt, blue jeans, and khaki boots, was videotaping the fight with his own camera while standing with a few other people on the left side of the street. "Looks like my luck is finally starting to change," thought the man that was Eddie Brock, an employee of the Daily Bugle. Since Spider-Man showed up in town, Eddie had tried, and rarely succeeded, to get pictures or video of this web-slinging 'menace' to please Jonah and get him into a higher position. However, he felt his job, and further success for his career was threatened when a young Peter Parker came around with his own videos. As such, Eddie was determined to catch every last second of this latest fight in the frame. "Just gotta keep that web-spewing freak in my sights," Eddie thought as he zoomed in and got a clearer view of Peter and Beetle's standoff. "And I'll have Jonah give me the big bucks…and leave that snot-nosed prick Parker in the dust!"