Season 4 Chapter 10: Discrimination
It was a draggy morning that day, not long after the time she recklessly bared her powers in its amateurish potential before a huge crowd of people. The moment the media quickly recognized and identified her, she was hunted by journalists until they were barred from going any further thanks to her family's power and several other family friends lending their assistance. However, her harrowing days are now just beginning….
"Liz, are you really sure everything's gonna be okay? Now that all of New York saw your little spectacle last week, everyone's on edge around superhumans or mutants," Peter asked out of concern, talking with Liz and the gang in a group video call beside Hobie on his laptop.
"...To be honest, I'd be lying if I said that I'm fine. My folks already got lots of things to work on, and now after the ruckus I created, it dealt huge blows to some relationships and projects that the company invested so hard in. Just makes me wish I could, kinda take it all back, you know?" Liz admitted with an aching heart over her smartphone while lying in bed in her parka over green loungewear, still taking a short leave of absence from ESU and its dormitory to avoid further commotion during and after classes.
"Aw cheerup, Liz. Not everybody hates you. In fact, the guys we all know back there thought you were amazing! "Awe-mazing"!" Hobie assures.
"Yeah! I mean, Bobby and I've been through even far worse. We're with you, Liz!" Kitty adds, with Gwen nodding in agreement as he looks over her laptop screen.
"We really owe you, big time," Gwen added.
"No matter what you're made of, girlfriend. We're always on your side," Mary Jane assured, leaning beside Kitty.
"MJ, Petey…gee, thanks guys. It means a lot to me," Liz lightly sobbed before wiping her small tears with her parka's sleeve.
"Mija? Are you there?" Mrs. Allan knocked behind the door.
"Sorry to bail guys. Gotta go," Liz apologizes.
"It's cool, take care of yourself, Liz," Gwen bade.
"Be careful, and try not to get into any trouble, especially with all that's going on," Peter adds.
"Thanks, love you guys. Take care too," Liz bade in return before turning off her phone and getting off her bed to go to her mother by the door. "Yes, ma?"
"Mija, there's someone that Papa wants you to meet. He's a family friend who's well-acquainted with us," Mrs. Allan replied, guiding Liz to the living room.
As they made their way to meet her father, she also noticed their guest being a young Latino man with nicely kept hair, wearing a casual polo shirt with joggers and sneakers. He seemed to be having fun chatting with her father until his eyes lingered and met hers, catching her off guard with his simply dashing appearance and his radiant smile.
"Ahah! Mija! Come sit with me!" Mr. Allan urged, tapping the seat beside him as he was about to introduce one of their family friends to Liz. "Liz, I would like you to meet Roberto, Roberto Da Costa."
'Waitaminute, Da Costa? Isn't that name on the hotel we went to for a reunion a long time ago?' Liz thought to herself.
"Uncle please, Berto is fine," Roberto kindly urged with a gentle smile on his dashing face.
'Holy smokes he's hot! Hotter than— way no way waitaminute Liz. Don't think any of that, you're already taken by the best man in the world…!' Liz screamed and thought to herself internally before clearing throat and fixing her composure. "H-Hi, I'm Liz, nice to meet you too!"
"Please, the pleasure's all mine! Initially, it was kinda hard to find the time as I was helping my family manage some of our assets and dealing with minor issues. But, here I am!" Roberto cheerfully assured.
"Hahah! Ever the energetic hombre you always were, like your father back in my days," Mr. Allan laughed before feeling a tap on his shoulder from Liz, quietly asking him a question.
'Wait, Pa, I don't get it. Why is he here? Not that I really mind, but there has to be another reason why other than an informal intro like this, right?' Liz demanded with a whisper.
"Oh why yes! Actually, my daughter, he personally asked to visit us!" Mr. Allans answered. "I believe you will know later, because he seemed eager to open himself up to you."
"Uh ahem. Uncle, TMI," Roberto cleared his throat, catching Liz's father off guard.
"Ahhahaha, yes yes, Berto. Ah Liz! Why don't you show Berto our humble establishment! We leave his care in your hands!" Mr. Allan requested before slowly leaving her alone with the hot young Brazilian millionaire as he and his wife mind their own business.
The atmosphere suddenly turns eerily awkward, especially on Liz's part after her father dumped all the heavy responsibility on her. That was until he broke the silence with a huge missile in the room…
"Soo, you're Liz Allan?" Roberto asks for clarification.
"Ummm, yes?" Liz nervously answered in a flustered and embarrassed tone.
"Please, there's no need to get so formal. I've been in your shoes too," Roberto admits in a friendly and embarrassed tone.
"Thanks! Wait, um, what do you mean by that?" Liz nervously asked before being shown a video clip from the Daily Bugle's online news channel, showing her manifesting her abilities and defeating both Carnage and Shriek in front of a crowd before taking Spider-man and Ghost Spider away from the scene, after all the trouble trying to forget about it all.
"It's you, isn't it? The diva on fire?" Roberto interrogates, catching her off guard as a response.
"Um, no?! She looks like me, but really, she's not! I mean—"
Before Liz could talk more, Roberto closes the distance between them and then grabs her wrist, troubling her from what could possibly happen next.
"Ow hey! What are you doing!?" Liz yelled, trying to shake off his strong grip and then felt an aggressive air around him in silence before thinking of what Peter would think of her. "No! Get away!"
With no other choice, she activates her powers and engulfed her arms in flames, burning away the sleeves of her shirt and making Roberto release his grip, though totally unfazed by her powers and her flames still kindling on his palm.
"Huh!? Wait, how did you!? What are you!?" Liz demands, covering her naked arms while keeping her distance.
Roberto smirked as he rekindled the flame in his palm even brighter before igniting his other hand and then setting his whole upper body on fire ablaze and scorched dark like a sunspot, leaving him in his own yellow-orange customized fireproofed spandex-like suit.
"Heheh, like what you see?" Roberto arrogantly spoke with a smirk in his sunspot-like appearance before Liz's eyes.
—
Meanwhile, in the Ravencroft Asylum…
"Bro, you better watch your back. I don't trust those idiots detaining those psychos. They just might escape with whatever they're capable of. You just got lucky," Eddie calls over the phone.
'I know, I know. Got my butt handed out to me,' Peter replied over the other end. "How did he escape anyway? And I thought you, well, "eradicated" the rest of the red goo?"
"You tell me. But I think something bigger's happening behind our backs, so you better watch yours, you and Gwen," Eddie replies.
'Yeah, it's hard enough to keep up with one psychopath, but two of them? You need better security,' Peter quipped.
"Hmph, I sure wish…" Eddie trailed off before leaning next to the telephone booth by the institute's gates.
"Eddie?"
Peeking from around the front gate was Dr. Kafka, the institute's founder and Eddie's superior, who appeared anxious for some reason.
"Sorry bro, gotta go, duty calls. See you," Eddie bade as he hung up the phone before Peter could bid in return, giving his undivided attention to the doctor. "What's up, doc?"
"I apologize for disturbing your business, but it is something important that our staff should know, Mr. Brock," Ashley replied in a formal tone.
"Ummm, sure?" Eddie shrugged his shoulders, curious with her being formal out of nowhere. "What's the occasion?"
Before she could give an answer, a black limo rolls into the scene and parks by the front of the sidewalk, with the car door opened by a man in a suit to give way for a classy looking Chinese businessman.
"This is Ravencroft? Looks bigger than how I imagined it," the man commented as he looked and examined the institute's structure in awe. "And to think you are able to manage this entire place. What an amazing feat!"
"All of this wouldn't be possible without the help of reliable people who are under my care. We are thrilled to have you here, Mister Li!" Ashley greeted with a slight bow.
"Whoa, no need to bow. We're not in Chinatown. And please, Martin's fine," the man named Martin Li, permitted.
'Li, Mister Li? Is this guy the investor doc's been contacting…?' Eddie thought to himself, looking at Martin with a scrutinizing gaze of suspicion.
"E—I mean, Mr. Brock?" Ashley called out, getting him introduced to one of the institute's major investors. "I would like you to meet Mr. Martin Li. He is one of our investors and also happens to be the head of the great charitable organization called—"
"FEAST, Food, Emergency, Aid, Shelter, and Training," Eddie continues as he reaches to shake Martin's hand. "An amazing privilege to meet the founder. When I was an orphan, your people helped me cope with going through a lot of phases until I was able to do part-time jobs to help myself. I'll never forget the great stuff you're doing for this city."
"Aww, the pleasure's all mine, and thank you for not being stiff with me. I'd prefer being a little more lax when I'm not doing any official business. I just came here to pay a visit," Martin kindly replied as he sighed in relief after taking off his business blazer and folded it over his shoulder.
"Oh I see. You are always welcome to look around. Although it's not yet advisable after the recent issue with two of our patients," Ashley nervously confesses.
"No worries, doctor, no worries. Now, would you care to show me around?" Martin kindly asks.
"We'd love to. You're always welcome," Ashley replied with a professional smile, though unaware of Eddie's harboring some uneasy feelings for some reason.
—
In the underground research facility, found below the Trask Industries tower…
"Servos and visuals are operational, Mr. Trask. They're capable of being remotely controlled, so that—"
"No need. Tempting, but I prefer to show the world what my Sentinel program can do for the greater good of humanity. Tomorrow marks a historic transition for the survival and evolution of the human race," Bolivar smiles while looking at the huge robot in a blue-violet color pattern, pressing a button on a touchscreen panel, activating the Sentinel's red glowing optics. "Have you checked the city? We must be prepared for those fiends that plague our roads and streets."
"With our sensors, we've identified a few locations that have detected mutants in the area," another associate scientist replied.
"Good, good. Now, have these units on standby. Those monsters will know the feeling of terror soon enough," Bolivar smirked, staring at a row of seven giant humanoid armored robots with menacing looks on their face plates. "Did you upload the database on those other infernal superhumans?"
"We tried, but we can't identify them with the mutant detection system we've already installed for the program," the scientist adds.
"Not to worry. They will make themselves detectable like the startled pests they are, including that masked menace," Bolivar scoffed.
—
A new day comes to start another week in ESU. Everyone in the gang's in their own separate classes taking their own majors, though some are majoring in the same class and building. Few hours in class, right after a lecture in Dr. Curtis Connors' genetics subject…
"That will be all for today, everyone. And as you all know, Doctor Morbius can't be here with you for your advanced chemistry classes. Due to recent events, he is on a temporary leave from teaching," Curtis announced as he tucks his textbook and files under his prosthetic arm. "But don't worry. The higher-ups of this university have managed to hire a substitute! He was more than willing to come and teach you all and to forge strong bonds with the people of this city. He has come all the way from his workplace in a school founded in Massachusetts. He will be here shortly. See you again tomorrow."
"Hmph, none of that would've happened if that web-headed menace just didn't poke around," one student sarcastically remarked with venom in his tone.
"Say what!?" Johnny barked before being held back by Kitty, who shook her head to tell him to stand down.
"Mr. Smythe, that's not nice. I might count that as a demerit on your behavior today," Curtis reprimanded. "Be nice with the next lecturer."
"Gotcha, doc!" Hobie replied.
Few minutes passed after Dr. Connors left the room, and everyone's having fun in their own little pack of friends, that was until a sore thumb stirred up a sour atmosphere…
"Oh please, don't tell me you're all chummy with that vigilante, are you? I'm telling you all, he's total trouble for New York, whether he hates it or not," the student barked, identified as Alistair Smythe on his student identification card.
"Sheeesh, who is that guy?" Peter wondered, crossing his arms in annoyance from his rude remarks towards his alter ego.
'He's Alistair Smythe, his dad owns a huge robotics company. They're both geniuses, so they're capable of that industry. There were tensions and resentment towards those that were responsible for Oscorp almost going out of business and making them lose millions worth of funding for several joint projects. You know what happened…' Hobie quietly explained, making Peter uneasy upon hearing this.
'Aw gee—I —it's not like I wanted that to happen. If only they knew their partner was another Goblin copycat… another Osborn ripoff…' Peter muttered with a heavy heart.
"Hey hey, you did what was right. Things could've been worse if you never did anything about it," Gwen assured with her hand on his shoulder. "So cheer up, okay?"
"I wish, but now that Harry's back in town, things won't be the same. I can feel it— with my Spider-sense," Peter quipped.
"Hey, I thought that's only for sensing actual danger in the moment, not like some enhanced intuition, is it?" Kitty joked with a cute smile.
"Wanna bet? We'll see," Peter bets with a raised eyebrow.
"Oop—time to get back to your seats, guys! Teach is—here!?" Hobie exclaimed out of shock as if he was jumpscared.
"Good morning, class! Thank you for welcoming me today!"
Entering the classroom with a lab coat and a pair of black trousers and shoes over his blue burly and furry appearance like an intelligent sasquatch from another universe, he tips his glasses as a sign of playful courtesy before the students, catching off guard or in shock except Kitty for some odd reason.
"Greetings to everyone. I am Doctor Henry Philip Mccoy, but please, you may call me Hank or doc, whichever fits you," The blue furry man introduced himself, making the students give awkward looks, except for the gang who seemed ecstatic or interested.
"Wait, whoa, what?!" Hobie reacted.
"No need to be alarmed. As you all may have known, there are another kind of humans living among us called mutants, and I am one of them. I hope you will be patient with me being your substitute professor, but I dare not hold you back for any misgivings you may have towards my appearance. Rest assured, I don't bite," Hank straightforwardly adds with a cheerful grin showing his sharp canine-like teeth, spooking everyone in the classroom before ending with a hearty chuckle. "I'm just kidding. Anyways, for everyone let loose with an exercise in my first day of class, why don't we all head down to the chem lab and make some stink bombs play with?"
"Whooo! I'm in!" Johnny playfully cheered out of excitement.
"Now this class just became my favorite!" Hobie smiles with excitement.
"Ummm, I'm not sure about that, because…" Peter trailed off as he subtly pulled the collar of his costume from under his shirt.
"Oh, right. Just make sure your reflexes don't give "yourself" away. If you know what I mean…" Gwen cutely smiled with hidden intent.
"Awwww nuts," Peter deadpanned in a miserable tone, sensing a greater danger without his Spider-sense even tingling.
—
In the building utilized for the business department, where Liz, MJ, and a few others are holding their classes…
"MJ, are you really planning to be an intern at STARK Industries? Why not come to me? I'd welcome you with open arms!?" Liz assured while arranging her folders and a calculator. "Man, I hate accounting."
"Well, I'd love to, but I just wanna broaden my horizons. Lots of opportunities to try out! This lady's a free agent— and a single pringle," Mary Jane coyly replied while filling in her registration form and resume. "Wonder if Peter's taking this chance? Being brainy and all, he could easily take a shot if you ask me."
"I suppose that part is true," Sha Shan nods in agreement. "Geniuses like him are in demand in those kinds of industries."
"Really now?" Liz wondered, pondering on those words before being startled by her smartphone ringing, with the caller being Berto on the screen, quickly ignoring his persistence by dropping the call.
"Liz, are you good?" Mary Jane asks out of concern, noticing the startled and nervous look on her face.
"Hm? Oh yeah! Yeah, never better. Just that there's this one persistent playboy chasing someone taken," Liz snarkily replied.
"Ohhhhh, c'mon girlfriend, do tell?" Mary Jane asks, piquing with interest.
"Ugh, you girls really have nothing better to do."
Scoffing at their excitement and dampening the jolly mood was her detached former best friend, Sally Avril. A long time ago in the middle of their college days, it became even more difficult as she was desperate trying to make a name for herself. Her insatiable desire for attention was unbearable that her boyfriend Randy soon broke up with her, making her feel even worse. And adding fuel to the fire, the days she was suspicious of Liz being a superhero infuriated her, especially when the moment came to light that she reveals herself as some sort of superhuman and a superhero in front of a huge crowd to save Spider-man.
"Wow, aren't you a buzzkill?" Janice scoffed back, sitting on the table beside Liz and crossing her arms before Liz tapped on her thigh and shook her head to avoid any more animosity.
"Hmph, I wonder how Stinky Pete would feel if he knew you were swinging with that wall-crawling menace behind his back," Sally scoffed as she packs up her things and discreetly leaves the room, annoying Liz with the old nickname she kept calling when they were back in high school.
"Now that she mentioned that, I really wonder how Spidey would feel if he heard that you might be going with the guy who's basically the "Hero's Personal Photographer", right?" Mary Jane slyly points out, resting on her elbows on the table. "You seem pretty tight with both Tiger and the Spider."
"Uhmmm, well, I…" Liz nervously trailed off, knowing full well that Peter and Spider-man are actually both the same person and promised to keep their alter egos a secret.
"Hey, Peter is a smart and nice guy, and he seems to trust you a lot. So just don't have anyone on the side when you have him," Janice comments and nudges her shoulder with her elbow.
"Gee, thanks, I guess…?" Liz replied as she packed up her calculator in her gym rucksack. "I wonder how Petey is doing right now…"
—
Meanwhile, in the physics-chemistry laboratory, with proper clearance and approval…
"Bwagh choo! Whoa!" Peter yelped as he nearly dropped the cylinder he's filled with chemical fluid for the stink bomb. "Whew. That was too close."
"Are you allergic?" Kitty wondered, mixing another batch of chemical fluids in a flask by gently holding up the flask and spinning it.
"Nah, I'm fine, probably the fumes got inside my nose," Peter replied, putting the cylinder aside before taking off his safety goggles to comfortably scratch his itchy nose.
"Hey, you already made three bombs. Why are you making more?" Gwen asked, noticing a tray of readymade stink bombs.
"I heard Liz's class ends a little earlier than ours, so I thought of inviting her over with the others," Peter answered while closely examining the changing fluid in the cylinder.
"Wow, what a sweetie," Gwen snarkily replied and crossed her arms in an unfamiliar tone.
—
In a bar near the dormitory building where Bobby and Kitty used to occupy…
"Aghhhh, keep the change," Logan grunted after chugging down a glass bottle of beer that was strangely sliced in half clean off. "Recycle this, will ya? Hrrmmm….."
"You seem to be having quite the time, Logan."
Towering over him with an intimidating aura was the director of SHIELD and his old acquaintance, Colonel Nick Fury.
"Hrrrgh, Fury," Logan growled.
"At ease, I only wanted to talk," Fury straightly replied.
"Yeah? Then why are your goons outside the entrance guarding my bike for free?" Logan points out in annoyance.
"Because this is a serious talk, between you and me," Fury threatened, seeing him close to popping out his claws.
"I'm done doing your dirty work long ago," Logan snarled as he stood up from his seat out of anger and grabbed his helmet on the table. "Find someone else stubborn."
"Just to warn you: keep an eye on those kids you're taking care of. And another thing: someone wants "the Canadian" back in the game," Fury calmly replied, watching him leave the bar and silently ordering his men outside to stand down and leave Logan riding away on his motorcycle.
'The Canadian, no, impossible, that was decades ago…' Logan pondered internally, remembering that name while cycling down the road. 'Gotta check on those kids. Hopefully I would rather not deal with annoying paperwork to just pay a visit.'
While on the road, he was unaware that somewhere in the skies, something huge hovering over the cloudy skies was looking down at him from above, secretly scanning and observing him…
—
After quarter of an hour has passed, It was fun but a tad unfortunate in Dr. Mccoy's first class, because right after the students made their batches of bombs, they were given permission to also head to the open gymnasium, where they all shortly started throwing and attacking each other in a kind of free-for-all stinkbomb deathmatch. However, there were tensions in between during the exercise, especially when Kitty had the greatest advantage of phasing through the thrown stinkbombs, and when Peter was able to nimbly evade the bombs as if he were a ninja, sparking suspicions among the normal students.
"Hey doc! They're cheating! That's no fair way to play!" Alistair tattled.
"Hey! You don't know that! Peter's been trying out a little gym training with a friend of ours!" Gwen defended.
"Gah—well, what about her!? She can just make our shots go right through her body!" Smythe yelled back.
"Yeah!" One student yelled.
"He's right, it's no fun!" Another one yelled out in frustration.
"Why you!" Johnny growls, about to throw a fit until Hobie stops him and pulls him back by his shoulder.
"Let it go, man. They're not that worth the trouble," Hobie shook his head.
"Well, I guess that's enough for all fun and games for one day. Our next meeting is going to be a little more serious. That's all for today's class, so hand over all your stink bombs. I would rather not have my superiors reprimand me for a student's carelessness," Hank announced.
"What!?" Another female student grumbled. "Ugh, way to go, Smithy! You ruined the game!"
Because of his own pride, it became his own downfall when some of the disgruntled classmates started blaming and pointing fingers at Alistair and his unruly behavior, making him storm out of the classroom to save his own face, all the while having the other students get dismissed from the exercise and prepare themselves for lunch break.
"Wait!" Peter called out, trying to reach him until the professor intervened.
"He needs to cool off, I believe. Things like this can happen, but his behavior today was quite intolerable. He needs to accept the consequences of his actions," Hank assured, realigning his glasses.
"Yeah, yeah you're right," Peter replied back.
"Oh Peteyyyy!"
Catching everyone's attention without restraint, Liz shows up at the court with MJ, Janice and Sha Shan, making Peter blush and embarrassed from her being so carefree out of nowhere.
"Awww man, did I miss out on all the fun? You should've told me sooner, Petey," Liz sassily complained with her hands on her waist.
"Well, yeah! Something unexpected happened and then, uh—"
"Hey Liz! You made it, but you should've tried it!" Kitty giddily exclaimed, tackling her into an embrace and getting in between Peter.
"Long story short, mishaps happened, and so classes ended earlier," Peter shrugged his shoulders.
"Awww, too bad, but oh well, can't do anything about it," Liz reluctantly replies back. "Anyways, so what are you guys gonna do for lunch?"
"We were planning to head to the Silver Spoon," Peter replied.
"Our favorite old time hangout!" Kitty exclaimed.
"We'll just need to find Bobby first. He should be done with his class in probably like an hour or less. He didn't tell us his schedule for the day," Hobie recalls.
"Oh well. Classic Bobby," Peter shrugged and deadpanned in a joking manner, making everyone laugh at his remark. "Wanna come with, MJ?"
"Thanks Tiger, but can't. I gotta go finish some work before the day ends. I have to meet with Sir Devereaux and his crew later tonight for another play," Mary Jane explained. "Feel free to drop by, though we won't really be expecting the whole theater to fill."
"Bummer," Peter booed.
"Well, I also got to prep my resume for the STARK internship, Pete. You still planning to register?" Mary Jane wondered, sassily holding the left side of her slim waist.
"I…oh shoot, right. I'll try doing it tonight," Peter curses himself with a facepalm.
"You better hurry, Tiger. Last I checked, I reckon that it's almost the deadline's end," Mary Jane quipped.
"Understood, ma'am," Peter playfully replied, feeling awkward from the menacing stares of Liz, Kitty, and Gwen.
'Rrrrrngh!' Alistair growled, watching from afar with malicious intent before walking away from the gym court.
—
"Grrrgh, it should be just right around the corner he says, but which corner anyway!" Logan growled while speaking his mind out loud in frustration and confusion, looking around the roads and streets before asking another person some directions. "Hey bub, where's this Empire State University at?"
"Why you askin', gramps? A little too late to enroll?" One delinquent sarcastically jokes, only to make the hotheaded biker growl and show his shiny metal claws, popping out of his hands. "...that way!"
"Thanks," Logan thanked before cycling away again.
"Whoa sheesh, what a freak," The delinquent muttered out loud under his breath, tugging on his collar.
In the middle of the road, he smells and senses something strange from his surroundings, quickly looking around before he looks at the blurry reflection of the sky on the glass on his motorcycle's gauge meter, staring at two huge gleaming yellow lights poking through the clouds like a pair 'suns'. "...What in the…?!"
—
Lunch break starts for the students, and the gang hangs out at a table seated near the wall far from the window in the Silver Spoon as planned, excluding Johnny, who was unfortunately told to house-sit the Baxter Building for the day…
"Hey Bobby! Mind hitting me with some ice? Bobby?" Peter requested, tapping on his shoulder. "Hellooo, earth to Bobby?"
"Huh? Oh yeah!" Bobby snaps out after staring into space and then carelessly sprinkles ice shavings on both Peter and his drink.
"Ow ho—cold!" Peter yelped and jumped out of his seat, bummed out from his red t-shirt getting wet. "Awww man."
"Yikes! My bad," Bobby quickly apologizes.
"Dude, what's up with you?" Hobie wondered.
"Hmmmm, lemme guess…" Janice snickered while scooching for a sip from Hobie's frappuccino. "Ahhh. Some girl caught your eye?"
"H-Hey!" Hobie yelled, taken by surprise by Janice.
"Oh yeahhhhh. I saw this crazy beautiful lady somewhere in the Arts department building. And she's hot, grilling!" Bobby described, making Gwen, Liz, and Kitty glare at Peter for showing slight interest.
"Really? Who?" Peter asked out of curiosity, getting the tip of his shoe burnt and felt the pain from Liz removing her shoe and sock, using only a bit of her fiery power. "Youch!"
"Broooo, she was smokin' hot! She usually wears something purple and sometimes buns up her long black hair, making her cute! And behind those purple glasses, awwwww she makes my heart melt!" Bobby exclaimed like any other healthy boy.
"Hmmmm wait, you're not talking about Ms. Lee the librarian, are you?" Kitty guesses. "Ms. Gali Lee?"
"Yeah! That's her name!" Bobby answered.
"Piece of advice: please try not to interact with her too much, especially for a guy like you," Kitty advised.
"Ummm, whyyy?" Bobby shrugged his shoulders in confusion.
"She— can be a little eccentric at times, and she has moments where she just might barrage you with words on a certain topic that might pique her interest out of nowhere, so guys like you just might have a hard time, no offense," Kitty explains as a friend. "Believe me, I tried, but she is hard even for me to interact with."
"Um, by eccentric, how?" Peter asked out of curiosity before getting a needle made of Mania's symbiote crawling up the tip of his shoe and lingers down to his socks. "Brrgh!"
"Ummm, well…" Kitty trailed off, hesitant to explain.
However, just when they're getting to the fun part of the conversation, Peter and Gwen's Spider-sense or enhanced senses are triggered and tingling out of nowhere as they instantly wear tense looks on their faces and search their surroundings.
"Bobby, ice!" Peter yelled pointing to his left, making Bobby form an ice wall shielding everyone.
Then, like thrown debris, something crashes into the cafè through the window and breaks the fall with a table and a couple of empty chairs. As the dust clears, the gang pokes their heads out of the ice wall, noticing an injured Logan lying down beaten and slightly scorched over the pile of splinters, glass and metal.
"Ohhhh mannnn…!" Bobby muttered in shock.
"Oh no, Mister Logan!" Kitty screamed and ran over to her instructor along with Bobby and the rest of the gang. "Mister Logan! What happened to you?!"
"Urrrrrngh. Half…pint…run…" Logan groaned in response.
After his warning, something huge and heavy lands on an intersection of tight streets, probably standing meters away from outside the Silver Spoon. Suddenly, the ground shakes from large stomping sounds coming towards their direction.
"What was that!?" Liz gasped and panicked.
"Not sure, but something's coming from outside," Peter points out. "Something… big…!"
With caution, Peter carefully walks over and looks outside through the window, followed by the others behind him and sees a giant menacing looking three storey robot towering over the chaos and panic on the streets.
"Oooooooh, now that's a giant robot! Was an exhibition announced behind our backs? Never heard of any from the news!" Peter geeked out before snapping back from Gwen pulling his arm.
"Yeah, really cool, but it does not seem like a nice robot!" Gwen hysterically reprimands.
The giant blue violet patterned machine slightly looks at the gang from afar amidst the chaos, zooming its optics closer and scanning them for some reason. However, that reason showed itself when it scanned the vitals of Bobby, Kitty, and Logan, identifying them as mutants. He automatically gets encoded with malicious intent as it slowly approaches the gang, targeting the three mutants.
"Mutant threat identified: extermination in progress," The Sentinel blankly declared as it slowly walked to their direction and raised its giant hand to whip out a retractable metal tendril.
"Um, Peter…?!" Gwen nervously whimpered, feeling something wrong.
"Yeah, something bad…!" Peter nervously nodded, noticing the tendril bolting towards their direction.
"Gotcha!" Bobby yells and fires an ice beam too quickly in front of Peter and forms another giant ice wall to block and shield them before transforming into his translucent ice form. "Stand back, everyone! I got this!"
"Nngh, nnno! You kids gotta run…!" Logan pleaded in pain before being laid down.
"Bobby, wait!" Liz halts, but is unable to stop him.
"Okay, you big rusty tin can, you look awesome and all, but time for you to chill!" Iceman quipped as he went to confront the Sentinel from a distance and fired another ice beam at it.
Catching everyone by surprise, the Sentinel retaliates and switches from using the metal tendril into a palm repulsor that fires a strong concentrated laser beam, incinerating through Iceman's ice beam and incapacitates Iceman as it blasts and pushes him down to the pavement.
"Oh no…" Liz gasped.
"Bobby!" Kitty shouted in horror, running out to him and phased through Gwen's arms and symbiote tendrils, exposing herself in front of the Sentinel.
"Kitty, wait!" Liz follows her from behind while trying to reach out to her before noticing the Sentinel preparing to fire his repulsor at Kitty, quickly triggering her flames all over her body and burning away parts of her clothes again that were concealing her fireproof suit while slowly levitating herself off the pavement.
"Mutant threat identified: extermination in progress," the Sentinel identified and pointed its palm repulsor at Kitty.
—
In the underground lab below the Trask Tower…
"Are we still in command of our units?" Bolivar asked, looking concerned over what was seen in the chaos surrounding the Sentinel through the monitor.
"Yes sir… most of it," the operator reluctantly replied while monitoring the Sentinels' functions online.
—
She quickly gets in between the line of fire and attempts to block the Sentinel's repulsor blast head-on, only to get shot down in midair as she failed to completely absorb the beam's power. But before she could hit the ground, out of nowhere, the infamous web swinging Spider-man zips into the scene and catches Liz before landing safely on the ground.
"Well uh, now we can call things even," Spider-man jokes and gently lays Liz on the ground beside an abandoned car before facing the Sentinel.
"What the—!?" Gwen yelped and looked to notice Peter vanish out of nowhere beside her.
'Uhhhh, Hobe, you didn't happen to bring the suit with you now, did you?' Janice nervously asked her boyfriend with an awkward gaze, embarrassed to find him to have gone away as well.
"Oh hey! What's up, Shadowcat? Iceman?" Spider-man quips. "I've met a bunch of super sized villains and goons, but this took huge into a whole new level! Way better than that one melodramatic poser got."
"...Unidentified threat detected: scanning... Analyzing database: threat identified: Spider. Man," the Sentinel identified in its monotone mechanized robot voice.
"Well what do you know! It knows me too!" Spider-man geeks out.
"Acknowledged: proceeding with extermination," the Sentinel repeated, pointing its repulsor at Spider-man.
Before the giant robot could fire another beam, Spider-man quickly shoots webs at its huge eyes to try blinding him.
"Now you see me, now you don't!" Spider-man quips and swings over close to the blinded Sentinel. "Keep the streets clear of civilians!"
"On it!" Kitty replied and phased away with Bobby and Liz to the ground, immediately rushing to change into her hero suit as she phased out with them from a safe distance.
Meanwhile back in the Silver Spoon, where Gwen and Janice are left with Logan…
"We need to go, now!" Janice panics.
"But, what about the others!? What about Peter and Hobie!?" Gwen hysterically halts.
"Agh… those two knuckleheads will be fine. But I don't think the idiots around the block will—ergh! If they stay to enjoy the show," Logan groaned, trying to get up as his body recovers miraculously fast after the injuries he took. "I'll take care of those two in a bit, you two take care of the bystanders."
But before Spidey could get any cockier, his Spider-sense triggered, noticing the Sentinel's optics glow bright red before shooting intense laser beams out of its eyes like heat vision, incinerating parts of nearby buildings and the streets as it burns his webs away.
"Whoaaaaa, it has laser eyes!? That is wicked!" Spider-man geeked out before his Spider-sense triggered again, making him dodge a retractable metal tendril. "Whoop! Too slow!"
"Hey Spidey! Need a hand?! I got bombs in hand!"
Swinging into the scene with his grappling hook as he throws a barrage of green gas bombs at the Sentinel's face was none other Hobie, donning his Prowler suit and alias again with some purple durable vestlike chestplate armor, spray painted with his green signature sign and accompanied by sturdier boots and gauntlets, all the while excluding his durable fireproof cape and replacing it with a masked fireproof helmet durable against shock and bullets.
"Like the new look, Webhead? Cause I've totally got some new goodies to use," Prowler jokes in his active voice disguiser.
"Well, you sure love purple and green, total opposites from my own colors," Spider-man shrugged, internally envious of his new gadgets and stuff.
"...Well, someone or some "thing" seems to be a fan of both blue and purple," Prowler quipped, confronting the Sentinel alongside Spider-man. "Any ideas on how to stop that thing?"
"Non-mutant threat unidentified: scanning…" the Sentinel automatically scans Prowler as its optics zoom around Prowler's vital signs with its built-in x-ray and sees no abnormalities. "Non-mutant threat identified: civilian."
"Okay, now that makes me wanna trash you so hard, tin can!" Prowler fumes with rage as he pounds his fists and then swings away furiously with his grappling hook towards the humongous robot.
"Waitaminute! This gave me a plan!" Spider-man quipped as swings after Prowler to double-team the Sentinel. "Hey Prowl! You saw how that thing ignored you, right!?"
"Are you making me mad!? Cause it's really working!" Prowler roared before throwing another pair of gas bombs right in front of the Sentinel's face, getting its attention and dodges one of its metal retractable tentacles.
"No no! You're not seen as a real threat, making you a great diversion! Keep making it mad though!" Spider-man yelled before nimbly dodging the Sentinel's optic laser that's close to incinerating him in midair. 'Well, it looks like we're all gonna be absent for the afternoon…'
—
"What are you doing!? It's not supposed to attack non-mutants!" Bolivar points out.
"We're trying to control it sir, just a glitch!" The operator replied, desperately trying to get the Sentinel's proper response.
—
"You guys will be safe here. I gotta go back and help," Kitty urges as she leaves Liz and Bobby at a nearby alley before phasing out of her civilian clothes to wear her super suit and put on her blue mask.
Suddenly, before she heads out, she hears a ringing tone, coming from Liz's half-scorched jeans overlaying her fireproof suit, pulling out a ringing smartphone with the caller's name Roberto being shown.
—
"Hey Spidey! Your turn!" Prowler called after getting the Sentinel's attention successfully while swinging around and wall-running on the apartment building away from incinerating lasers.
"Taste the power of a human sized bullet!" Spider-man quipped as he slingshots himself towards the Sentinel, launching himself by webbing lines to two poles and blasts his double kick through the robot's armor plated head before nimbly landing with a superhero pose on a building and looks back. "Timberrrrrrrrr!"
With most of its mechanical mind scattered in pieces, the braindead Sentinel slowly falls to its knees before collapsing flat on the streets, quaking the ground upon impact.
"Mu-mu-mutant-th-the-threat-d-d-d-dete-tecteddddd…." the Sentinel glitched with its damaged systems before going offline after suffering from Spider-man's "Spider-bullet" to its head.
"Whoo baby! That was fun! Glad that was over!" Spider-man huffed with relief before jumping off the building for a closer inspection of the Sentinel's body. "With enough time, if I could learn and reverse engineer this one hunk of junk, think of all the cool tech I can gather outta this one…!"
"Uhhhh, Spidey," Prowler stuttered with fear in his eyes.
"Not now man, can't that wait?" Spider-man retorted while examining the Sentinel, but barely touching it.
"I don't think "they" can…" Prowler trailed off in a frightened tone as he looked up, making Spider-man look up out of curiosity.
Coming down from the sky like straight out of an action packed sci-fi film, four more of the same gigantic Sentinel robots show themselves as they descend down to the streets with their built-in thrusters. Two of them land at the street perpendicular behind Spider-man and Prowler's position, the nearest to the Silver Spoon where Janice and Gwen are still helping the bystanders and citizens around the block evacuate, and then another two in front of them replacing the one they just scrapped.
"Spidey, this is baaaaad news," Prowler points out in horror.
"Don't need to tell me twice. One of 'em is already plenty enough, but three no—four of them… This is going to be a massacre…" Spider-man added as he and Prowler are totally backed against each other facing the three giants. "How are there more of these tin cans!?"
"Threat detected, resuming extermination," the Sentinel declared, slowly stomping down the streets as it stared down at the two small heroes like little pests in their optics.
"...You know, Hobes, next to Bobby and Harry, you've been the best pal I never thought I'd have," Spider-man lamented as if he was facing his death.
"Really? You're planning to give up now!? There's gotta be another way outta this!" Prowler retorted in anger.
"How about a little backup!?"
Getting everyone and the Sentinel's attention, appearing at the top of a building was Kitty, donning her Shadowcat alias. The giant robots immediately scanned and identified Kitty as a mutant.
"Kitty!" Spider-man and Prowler screamed below on the street.
"Mutant threat detected: proceeding with termination," the Sentinels declared and prepared their arsenal of mutant-killing weapons.
"Not just me!" Shadowcat quipped.
Suddenly, pink hued portals start popping out of nowhere beside Kitty and near Spider-man and Prowler on the streets. Stepping out of them were several uniformed men and women, exhibiting and wielding different abilities, some of which seemed a bit familiar to Peter and Hobie. After that, one more mutant appeared in a yellow-orange fireproof spandex suit, burning as bright as a sunspot.
"Whoa! Big fella! Nice muscles," Spider-man yelped, seeing a tall burly man step out of the portal before being petrified as the man pounded his fists and transformed his entire body into some sort of hardened steel. 'Meep…!'
"Nice suit," the man replied in a Russian accent before facing the Sentinels in front of them. "These rust buckets will feel the power of the mighty Colossus."
"Came out running as soon as you called," Roberto replied. "Is Liz doing okay? I was worried."
"Yes she is, no thanks to these metal heads though," Shadowcat points to the Sentinels.
"Alright, X-Men! Attack pattern delta four!" Scott orders, wearing a visor instead of his red shades before firing a huge laser beam out of his eyes through his visor, knocking and pushing back the nearest Sentinel.
"Target locked," the Sentinel declared, firing its laser eyes in return, only to be blocked by Jean's telekinetic shield.
"Thanks, Jean!" Scott thanked.
"Whoo! Now's my time to go boom and boom!" one of the tomboy members shrieked as she hurled a rain of glowing combustible orbs at the Sentinels that instantly exploded upon impact, damaging most of its upper armored plating. "Whoa, they sure are tough cookies."
"Then how about an alternative to fire," Ororo quipped, levitating off the ground and summons dark nimbus clouds out of nowhere and drops bolts of lightning on one of them that instantly staggers the Sentinel.
"Hmph, show off," The blonde tomboy grumbled before climbing down the building by sliding on a pipe.
"Hey!" Shadowcat called before jumping and phasing down into the pavement to soften her landing before phasing back up and running to Spider-man in the middle of the mutants fighting the mutant-killing robots. "Spidey, we'll handle the fort here! You and Prowl gotta find and kill the source of our problem, and hurry!"
"R-Right, got it!" Spider-man stuttered before recalling having examined a shrapnel of the Sentinel's plating, bearing a small brand of its maker: TRASK Industries. "And I think I know who we should visit."
"We'll be back fast. Take care of Janice and the people here!" Prowler kindly asks before he and Spider-man swing out of the scene to their next destination.
In the distance, Janice donned her Beetle suit while Gwen wore her Ghost Spider suit, protecting and helping the civilians evacuate from getting entangled in the battle they couldn't fight.
"Wait, so you really know who we actually are behind the mask?" Ghost Spider asks again while webbing up parts of a cinched apartment building after Lady Beetle guessed her identity by calling her Gwen, getting a nod from her in response. "W-Why didn't you say so? We'd welcome you to help us around the city, do a greater good than your father, you know."
"I'd love to, but too many crew members can sink a ship. Besides, I'm trying to rectify my dad's wrongdoings and setting things right, legally of course. Wouldn't wanna get on your dad's bad side after busting out a couple of baddies for my old personal vendetta," Lady Beetle explained, helping two kids descend off the building window before returning them to their parents. "Okay enough about me. What about you? What did Pete got on you?"
"Pete?! What—what are you talking about?" Ghost Spider stammered, almost losing her grip on the wall and startling her symbiote Mania.
"Don't lie. You obviously like him a lot, but you're playing things too safe, girl," Lady Beetle snickered, guiding an old lady to the other civilians. "C'mon, let's go. There are still two more apartment buildings around this block."
'Peter…' Ghost Spider softly muttered before hearing Lady Beetle call her attention. "Huh! Oh yes! Got it!"
—
After fifteen minutes of swinging and looking around the city, they found an entrance into the Trask Tower, thanks to Prowler's sleek new reusable laser cutter, cutting an opening through the glass window big enough for them to enter a certain barren floor with a lone receptionist looking through a monitor.
"Gee, think this is the lobby?" Prowler wondered, seeing how clean and empty the area is. "Where are all the people?"
"Well, why don't we ask her?" Spider-man points out to the receptionist and walks over to her counter. "Excuse me miss?"
"..." The receptionist blankly stares at Spider-man and Prowler with a straight face in silence. "Are you here for an appointment? We are not taking any more appointments for the day. Come again next time."
"...okay, nevermind. Plan B," Spider-man deadpanned, bummed out by the negative response and went to the elevator with Prowler. "Well, this is pretty convenient."
"Hm, too convenient for my taste," Prowler scoffs and looks around the elevator. "Wanna bet that something deep and mysterious might be under us?"
"Uhhhm, I'm too broke to bet, so let's go with your plan," Spider-man shrugged and hung up on the ceiling of the elevator, giving Prowler enough space to cut a hole on the floor with an intense blowtorch built into his new gauntlet.
After Prowler successfully cuts through, Spider-man quickly grabs his hand after Prowler kicks down the floor to the seemingly bottomless elevator shaft.
"Whooo boy, thanks for your concern. Your Spidey-sense is really handy," Prowler whimpered.
"Well, into the tiger den we go," Spider-man quipped as he webs a line for Prowler to hold while hanging on the ceiling. "If you make it to anything weird down there, tug twice, and I'll follow you down."
After Prowler nods, he then continues to carefully let out his web down the elevator shaft and it went on for a few minutes, anxious with how deep the shaft actually is.
"Man, that's a long way down," Spider-man thought out loud, staring at the dark shaft. "Hope Hobes isn't claustrophobic. Pretty surprised that I still got lots of web fluid after—"
Suddenly, his web shooter squirted the last of its current cartridge, catching him off guard as he nearly fumbled the line. He almost yelped out a sound that could've echoed down the shaft and dragged unwanted attention to themselves.
'Whewwwww, that was close,' Spider-man muttered and quickly webbed the line to the ceiling with his other web shooter before replacing the empty cartridge and then descending down the line to meet with Prowler. 'You find anything?'
'Other than getting a little heart attack, yeah,' Prowler angrily replied, sliding and bouncing off the walls like a cat down to the shaft floor, letting Spider-man come close and before knocking on the floor. 'You hear that? It's hollow.'
"Oh, would you please be a good gent?" Spider-man kindly asked, with Prowler using his blowtorch again to cut another hole on the floor.
Afterwards, Spider-man gets the piece of the floor and sets it aside, revealing the underground laboratory where they actually build strange-looking weapons and the humongous Sentinel robots.
"Okay, this is like some messed up sci-fi stuff out of a spy movie," Prowler thought in awe.
"Look!" Spider-man points to a certain section where it's filled with monitors and operators, looking at several screens that showcase the battle near the Silver Spoon. "That must be where they're controlling those bots. Shut them down, we shut those bots down."
"Alright then, so how do you wanna approach this? They don't seem like a welcoming kind of committee," Prowler points out, noticing guards armed with guns.
"Simple. We go in stealth mode," Spider-man replied, getting Prowler's nod.
With that in mind, they both quietly scamper around the underground complex's gray areas and shadows, avoiding detection from guards and surveillance while being spooked by the weapons they're developing—or in worst cases, selling.
'This is way bigger than we thought. How are they able to stay under legal eyes with all this stuff being made!?' Spider-man hysterically whispered while attached to the wall over Prowler.
'Simple: bribery maybe? Works all the time in my experience,' Prowler deadpanned as he inspects the monitors from around a dark corner.
"Sir, there is a problem. For some reason, we are not in control of the units' motives! It's like, like they're doing these things on their own!" The operator cried, seeing how ruthless the Sentinels suddenly became in their methods.
"Turn them off! Or withdraw the units immediately!" Bolivar furiously orders.
"I-I'm trying! It will take some time, but there will be further damage if this goes on for longer!" The operator cried, typing on the monitor.
"Hey! Mind if we give you the solution?"
Catching them off guard were Prowler and Spider-man from the corner, alerting them all until Prowler prepares to throw knockout gas bombs to make him and the hostile people in a standstill.
"Hey hey, play nice," Prowler urged.
"Look, you seem to have a really big problem with these machines, so how can we help you stop them? Unless of course you want your company sued by the Daily Bugle and all of New York, once they find out you made those killing machines," Spider-man quipped.
"Nonsense. This is only a minor setback on our part. Your help is not needed," Bolivar differed, with men armed-and-ready surrounding the two heroes. "I will not let you ruin what I have started to usher in a new era of safety and security."
"Okay, no more Mr. Nice Spider," Spider-man grumbled and quickly webs up several guns, causing them to jam and malfunction before roughly vaulting over the startled goons to knock some of them down with a drop kick and throwing another to the ground with judo headlock with his leg. "Croooootch!"
Meanwhile, Prowler didn't hesitate to throw his gas bombs at the soldiers and quickly incapacitates many of them with his improved martial art skills before making his way to the commanding monitor in the midst of the panic in the room.
"Spidey! Cover me! I might be able to stop them, but I need some time!" Prowler demanded before parrying and dodging a baton to his head and then knocking the guard out with a sucker punch while trying to interact with the computer.
"Take your time! I got this!" Spider-man answered as he stood behind the before opening his eyes in horror from spotting several soldiers wearing armor and wielding strange rifle-like weapons. "Uhh, on second thought, would you please try working a little faster, Prowl?!"
"I'm trying!" Prowler screamed as his head switched between the screens watching the battle of the mutants and his monitor before pulling out a small flash drive from his utility belt and inserting it into a port. "Sure hope this baby works!"
"Anytime now!?" Spider-man screamed as he dodged another plasma blast and evaded them by running around using armored guards to shield himself from the bullets while knocking them out with his Spidey strength.
However, just right after the guards were demoralized seeing Spider-man take down many of their comrades, loud stomps gradually echoed across the room before being followed by the sound of thrusters. Scaring everyone in their evacuation of the facility and facing the webbed hero in a huge mechanized suit was Bolivar Trask.
"You pests will know what it means to meet your exterminator!" Bolivar barked, pointing a mounted missile launcher with an infrared laser in front of Spider-man.
"I'll take that as a compliment, as an arachnid," Spider-man jokes with a silly grin under his mask.
"I won't!" Prowler screamed in anger before successfully hacking through the system. "Bam! Now you're mine!"
He then clicks on his flash drive that contains a certain malware and uploads it into the Sentinels' AI, slowly causing a heavy disruption in their locomotor and thought process that should disable them from combat, indefinitely.
"Try this on for size, dumb metal heads!" Prowler quipped, watching his baby work its magic.
"Get away from that computer!" Bolivar roared and recklessly fired a missile at Prowler and the monitor out of anger.
"No—Prowl! Lookout!" Spider-man alerted.
"Huh? Whoa!" Prowler yelped until the projectile reached him and detonated instantly at his spot, leaving a cinched crater engulfed in flames and electricity.
"Noooo!" Spider-man roared and furiously tackled Bolivar with his Spider-strength, landing deep dents as he stops holding back his punches while enduring the mech's retaliating attacks in return.
—
"Extermination in progress," the Sentinel declared, carrying and wrapping one of the young mutants with its metal tendrils.
"Eat energy, bro!" the X-man quipped, shooting lightning out of his hands but not leaving a scratch or scorch on the armor. "Okay, nevermind."
"Take cover!"
With ease, a howling Colossus sneakily free falls from a high altitude to pulverize the top of the Sentinel's head to stun it and make it release the electric mutant, thanks to the portal summoned by the pink skinned X-man.
"Nice shot, Blink!" Shadowcat yelled. "Send me up top too!"
"On it!" The X-man codenamed Blink, replied and summoned two portals that are connected to a similar altitude high enough for Shadowcat to free fall on another Sentinel, phasing through its systems and disabling its inner electronic workings, causing it to implode into segmented pieces of scrap.
"Whoo! That was wicked cool!" Shadowcat huffed from the thrill, unaware of the occupied Sentinel aiming its optic laser beams at her from behind.
"Kitty!" Blink warned from afar.
However, as the Sentinel was close to fire its laser eyes on Shadowcat, it suddenly malfunctions and starts glitching when she flinched, along with the other Sentinels that start ceasing to retaliate because of the sudden glitches—thanks to Prowler's uploaded malware— which eventually led to the Sentinel's loud downfall on the pavement. The uniformed mutants look around with a mixture of expressionless and curious faces.
"What just happened?" Scott wondered, astounded from the battle ending so suddenly.
"Spidey just happened!" Shadowcat smiles, taking this as a sign that Spidey took down the source. "They actually did it! We won!"
"But wait, where are your friends from earlier? They are still not here," Jean asked out of concern.
"I-I'm not sure, can you look for Spider-man?" Shadowcat kindly asks.
"I'll find him for you," Jean nodded and used her telepathy to mentally search for Spider-man's mind, successfully finding his consciousness and sending a telepathic message to his mind. 'Spider-man? Are you there?'
—
"Your kind are nothing but a plague to humanity! A natural anomaly!" Bolivar roared, popping out a metal claw out of his mech's hand to lacerate Spider-man.
"But you know nothing about what we've been through!" Spider-man roars back and manages to hold his own against the claws with his strength, tolerant to his hands bleeding from holding back the claws.
"Oh I know full well the potential danger you all are, whether you wanted to or not!" Bolivar barked as he tried to bend Spider-man down to his knees.
"You… you don't think I know that!? Ever looked up the Daily Bugle!?" Spider-man retorts as he pushes the claws away and bloodily webs two lines to Bolivar's mech's neck before pulling him down to the ground and lunges onto his mech's back.
"W-w-wait, what are you doing!?" Bolivar screamed on the floor before flinching from seeing his cockpit door forcefully opened by the furious Webslinger.
'Spider-man? Are you there? It's me, Jean, remember me? I'm Kitty's friend?' Jean called in his thoughts.
'Whoa whoa what!? Who's there!?' Spider-man froze from the mental message until his Spider-sense blocked her, alerting him to dodge away from a stun gun.
"You think you're so heroic, so self-righteous, so good to the people of this city, when you are the reason for all their troubles!" Bolivar grumbled, crawling out of the cockpit and pointing his stun gun at Spider-man.
"Dude, you got your judgment all backwards. I fight not out of my sense for self-fulfillment. If I did that and it worked, I would've won in life a long long time ago. But no, with great power comes great responsibility. That's what someone precious to me has taught me," Spider-man explained before grabbing hold of the stun gun and crushes it into scrap, scaring the mad CEO's hand and lifts him up by his collar. "I would knock you off your high horse permanently if I wanted to, here and now after you killed my friend! But that won't do any good for him… only for me…"
'Spider-man, is everything alright? Kitty's worried, and she told me that—'
" Aaagh! Look, whoever you are and wherever you are! Stop messing with my head!" Spider-man yelled hysterically, dropping the fainted CEO while trying to make sense of the telepathic message in his head.
'I'm sorry if this is your first time hearing a telepath, but where are you and, Hobie, was it?' Jean calmly asked in his mind.
"Hobie's dead! And it was my hubris! He's gone…" Spider-man sobbed under his half-ripped mask.
'No, Hobie's alive. I can still detect his consciousness, but it's growing faint,' Jean replied. 'Hold tight! We'll be there in a minute!'
Upon hearing her assuring words, he leaves Bolivar alone and runs to the monitor section engulfed in flames and ash, finding Prowler around the corner in one piece all tattered and slightly scorched from the explosion if it weren't for his new helmet and armor. "...Hobie!"
"Ughhhh, Spidey? That…you…?" Prowler groaned before being carried over Spider-man's shoulders. "Did…Did we win?"
"Hang tight buddy. Help says they're coming any minute now," Spider-man assured before spotting a pink portal just blink out of nowhere inside the room that's connected to the area near the Silver Spoon, where Jean, Scott, Kitty, and Blink are waiting at the otherside. "Whoa, you weren't kidding when you said you'd be here in a minute. He's in a rough shape right now and needs medical attention."
"Oh man! It's incredible that he is still breathing with the state he's in," Scott then comes to help set Prowler down before Jean levitates him off with her telekinesis. "If you like, we could try to send him to the institute. We have medical facilities there too, so he could be back in shape in no time."
"Y-You mean it? That'd be great actually. At least I don't have to spend a lot for those heavy medical bills in the hospital while keeping his identity a secret," Spider-man playfully confessed. "Thanks for the help um…"
"My codename's Cyclops. Don't call me Scott out here," Scott replied. "A friend of Kitty is a friend to the X-Men."
"Okay, thanks a lot for the huge help, Cyke," Spider-man nonchalantly replies back.
"No need to thank me. The person who allowed us to be here is the one you should be thanking. You've met him before with us in your high school graduation," Cyclops pointed out.
"Really? W-Well, if there's anything you need from me and the gang, try to stop by again in Manhattan!" Spider-man offers, shaking Cyclops' hand before looking back at Bolivar lying flat on the ground unconscious. "Ummm, be right back. I still gotta drop a present for the police…"
—
Two hours later, the group of mutants, calling themselves the X-Men, immediately assisted some members of the gang in discreetly cleaning up the debris and aid the citizens that were affected by the battle before leaving the scene in a certain invisible jet, just right before the area was being occupied by men and women wearing uniforms, inspecting the scenes.
"Hm, things are just getting increasingly interesting nowadays huh, Hill?" Nick scoffed.
"Well, aside from failing to recruit a former colleague perhaps. So what's our next move, Colonel?" Agent Hill asks.
"I'll call in another old friend. Hopefully he will be of help," Nick shrugged.
—
In the dead of night at the former residence of the Osborn family, Harry and his girlfriend Lily, pay a quick visit just to get some of his stuff that he deems valuable. But while his girlfriend explores around the living room after gazing at the balcony's view, she examines an antique knight armor on its stand.
"Wow Har, I never took you to be the type keeping antiques this exquisite," Lily commented as she tapped on the armor, realizing that it's not completely hollow before tinkering with the arm to look at it, only to reactivate the old dusty stairwell leading to the wine cellar. "Whoa, just like in the mystery novels that I used to read: secret rooms in a noble's mansion."
With her adventurous spirit, she courageously strolls down the stairs that lead to the wine cellar, which almost discouraged her if it weren't for her intuition as an enthusiast for the mystery genre. After pacing around the cellar, its racks, and the walls for about ten minutes, she spots a faint light hidden in the racks adjacent to the wall and presses it. The wall then cracks and slowly opens revealing the hidden laboratory that was occupied by the "Goblin clan" for the longest time, with some of the equipment still intact along with the gas chamber.
"Wh-wh-what is all this stuff doing in here?" Lily wondered, exploring the laboratory and seeing an tattered suit that belonged to the Green Goblin, encased behind glass. "So, Harry wasn't lying when he mentioned that his dad's gone mad. And Spider-man… aw great, now I just had to get a headache."
She then walks to check the side of the gas chamber and sneezes from how dusty it was. And popping out from the shadows, a rat squeaked and scampered around the corner, scaring Lily by surprise.
"A rat!? Get away!" Lily screamed, backing away and tripping into the gas chamber by accident out of fear, crawling away from the rat but unknowingly triggering a bug that reactivated the chamber, loaded with the Green formula. "H-Huh!? Wh-What is happening?! Harry! Harry!"
Just as the chamber closes the door, Harry's intuition got him too late as the gassing procedure commences with a tank still full of the Green formula.
"Oh no! Nonononono! Babe, what did you do!?" Harry demands, trying to break the gate down.
"Help me! Please, get me out of here!" Lily screamed hysterically as she pounds on the gate.
"H-Hold on, I gotta override the procedure!" Harry assured and ran to the monitor, trying to turn the machine off but was suddenly locked out after panicking and typing the override passcode incorrectly after several attempts. "Aw no, why is it not working!"
"Harryyyy!" Lily screamed again.
However, the procedure starts and emits green gas into the entire chamber, blanketing the sight of Lily from the horrified Harry.
"No…no, please no! Lily!" Harry screamed and then cried from the helplessness in having to see the dark history repeat itself.
—To be continued
A/N:
Hello Spidey fans and fellow readers!
I thank you all for patiently waiting all these months, though unsure if you grew tired of waiting and dropped this. (Man, this was the longest chapter I've ever written by far)
I assure you that I will see this fic through another one or two more season(s) of chapters, but I just got really busy with my own problems and working on some stuff for college.
Okay there were times I got burnt out as well, but not really all the time.
But because you guys are reading my stuff, it warms and motivates my heart to still keep writing.
Anyways, get ready for more Spidey content right here, though not the best as the one TheTypingAvocado wrote— you should check his current Spectacular Spidey story out.
And again, take care out there everyone! Stay safe! God bless!
