Chapter 11: Recognition
"Whoa, whoa! Phew!" Spider-man sighed out of relief, nearly losing his footing on the building's ledge, wearing a new and improved Spider-armor Mk 1.5, sporting a new dark-bluish color scheme that's supposedly lighter than its shiny silver predecessor. "Lost my poise back there."
"Waahoohoo!" Liz exclaimed, hovering and zooming around the air in making fiery hoops and leaving a trail of fire in her blazing form before gracefully planting her feet on the ledge and lets her fire dissipate, wearing her full body fireproof suit with a crest resembling a candle flame that forms an upside-down heart shape on her chest. "Whew that was a great morning rush, wasn't it, Spidey!?"
"Not exactly. I'm still getting used to this new suit. What do you think?" Spider-man shows off his suit.
"Well, the style seems kinda fancy for my taste, no offense. I like you better in red, my favorite color," Liz admits.
"Um, thanks? I'm curious though, why won't you like, I dunno, wear a mask?" Spider-man wondered.
"Why bother? I mean, all of Manhattan saw my face a long time ago. Waste of money and materials if you asked me," Liz prudently answers before rekindling the fire again all over her body and her hair kindling into a scarf of flame, walking up to Spider-man cutely. "Plus, I feel a whole lot free without a mask. Don't you think so?"
"Uhm, yeah! Ahem—yeah! And waaay hotter, pun intended," Spider-man playfully replied and cleared his throat after cracking before getting a tad flustered from her approaching him so closely.
"Oh wait— I'm sorry! W-Were you feeling steamed if I was up close?" Liz immediately backs away.
"What? No! Trust me, this new suit can withstand hotter temperatures to some extent, hot enough that should usually bake me into a crispy canned arachnid, that is," Spider-man assured before opening his arms wide. "…Wanna test my theory if it's right…?"
Liz could barely keep a blank stare as she tries to suppress her excitement to avoid increasing her temperature and then goes to embrace her webbed armored boyfriend, who is totally unfazed by her extreme warmth as he returns the embrace, looking into her golden glowing candlelight eyes behind the insulated armored mask.
"See? What'd I tell ya? I also happened to put some insulation in the suit's lining. So technically, you heating me up kinda warms my day better in this human-sized cooler," Spider-man smoothly replied before being taken aback by her sudden peck on his lower cheek, leaving a scorched kiss mark on his mask. 'Holy macaroni!'
"I dunno if you actually made this suit just so you could be with me… or for some other practical reason," Liz hummed with a satisfied smile as she laid her fiery head on his chest. "And I wonder how Gwen would react with this mark on you?"
'Oh dang right…! Sure hope this mark isn't that deep— and permanent!' Spider man internally screamed before clearing his throat and changing the subject. "Ahem! Anyway uh Liz, mind if I ask how things were with your family? Having a superhero for a daughter, I mean?"
"Well, rough start for sure, but my mother was not very surprised and was awfully quiet when the news came. I think she remembers…" Liz confesses.
"Yikes, do you think she will accept a superhero boyfriend for her superhero daughter?" Spider-man bluntly asked.
"Can't really say for sure. I'm worried that she might tell my dad about you. I mean, he accepts Petey, but you now… ermmm, not quite sure," Liz hesitantly replies and shrugs her shoulders.
"Ah right, he knew what happened to Mark, didn't he," Spider-man deadpanned.
"Even Mark was anxious of all people, especially after what he's been through. He is still kinda tense whenever he hears about you on the news or just hearing you, your "hero" you," Liz replied, turning her anxious and sad kindling face away.
"...Well then, do you think we should, you know, come clean with him? Just him maybe?" Spider-man nervously suggests, unsure if that will solve the tension around him.
She gently puts a bit of distance between them and turns away from him upon remembering some sour memories. "I…I'm not sure, Spidey. He has not forgotten what happened on Valentine's day, back in high school when we celebrated at our place. You remember, don't you," Liz brought up their sour memory from long ago, being left out during the most romantic night of the year and getting sick of love in the air out of bitterness and jealousy.
Even with the helmet and mask on, she could tell that Spider-man frowned upon hearing her words, the thought of how much she genuinely valued their time together back in high school, just to throw it all for a relationship that was past its breaking point until all the events have transpired to this day. "...I… yes. That was really not my best too. I'm not dumb, I was a jerk, a selfish one at that. Nothing's really gonna change that."
"Maybe. Unless you start using that big intelligent head of yours instead of moping around, I think you still got a shot at it," Liz cheers him up, tapping on his mask's forehead with her fiery finger before taking him aback by shooting her radiant encouraging smile.
As they were enjoying themselves in another time-stopping moment, Peter's smartphone rings out loud and creates a sound barrier that quickly separates them in an effort for him to answer the call, with the caller's name being MJ. "Oh snap, it's MJ! Ahem! Hellooo?"
'Hey Tiger, you doin' alright?' Mary Jane called from the other side of the line.
"Oh yeah! I'm doin' great, just great!" Spider-man answered before thinking of a subject to turn the tides. "Wazup? How about you? Tried checking the news? I bet the Bugle had a field day with the events that came about."
'Yyyyyyeah, that's what I'm kinda worried, about your webheaded buddy of yours,' Mary Jane nervously replied, catching Spider-man off guard from her slowly catching on his secret identity.
"What do you mean? What's it say?" Spider-man wondered what she meant by that and kept the call on while going to scroll and surf the internet on his smartphone, seeing a recent article titled…
"Man and Mutants Unite! New York is now safe from dealing with that Wall-crawling Menace and giant robots!"
"Awwwwww you have got to be kidding me! And here I was hoping JJ won't stoop this low to something like this!? Second, Spider-man does not own any robots that are skyscraper size! He can't even afford a car! Like, c'mon!?" Spider-man rants out loud and facepalms in frustration.
—
"Ummm, Pete, what's all that got to do with you?" Mary Jane questions his tone out of suspicion while reclining on a chair in a cafe. "Sounds like it's getting personal…?"
'Gah-uh! Well, I am kinda acquainted with him since he's noticed and followed my line of work. Don't tell the Bugle about this please,' Peter nervously came with that excuse.
"Hmmmm, well anyways, enough about Spidey. We need to talk about the internship program," Mary Jane changes the subject to something lighter yet urgent. "Have you managed to apply yet?"
'Yeah! I have and I received an email back that I'm accepted!' Peter replied. 'Now I could keep you company.'
—
'That's assuring, Tiger. At least someone I know can be a potential coworker. Makes things easier for me,' Mary Jane spoke her mind out of honesty.
"Aw shucks, anytime, Red," Spider-man replied, smirking beneath the mask.
While Spidey's preoccupied on his phone, Liz gets startled by her own caller and quickly answers her customized fireproof smartphone, a gift from her father's suggested suitor, her boyfriend's physical opposite, Roberto Da Costa.
'Oh no, not now!' Liz internally panics before answering the call. 'Hello?'
' 'Ey la chica. How are you doing?' Roberto called from the other side of the line.
'Roberto, you know I—'
'Whoa hey, why are you being so formal? Call me Berto like always,' Roberto wondered, taken aback by her tone.
'Roberto, you do know I have a boyfriend right? You and I, we're nothing close to that kind of relationship, just strictly business and referral,' Liz strictly points out in a serious tone. 'Look, I appreciate what you have done for me, really! But I hope this won't be some step or transition for something else you have in mind.'
'You wound me. After helping you and your friends out from a psycho entrepreneur and his killer robots? I was hoping for a word of thanks,' Roberto jokes behind the line.
"Okay then, thank you. Now, goodbye. I do hope to introduce you to my boyfriend, on a later date. That is all," Liz quickly and sternly replied before ending the call so abruptly and sighing with relief.
However, when the pressure was thought to be out of her chest, she turns to see her webheaded boyfriend watching her looking dumbfounded with a blank stare behind his mask at both her and her smartphone. "Uhmmmmm, did I miss something? And who was that?"
"No! Nobody! It's nothing, Petey!" Liz nervously replies with frantic arms up and her phone in one hand, but makes Spidey a tad suspicious and then lets out a sigh. "Okay… yeah, there is something I have to tell you, and better now than later."
"Annnd, what is that?" Spider-man curiously asks with crossed arms.
"Well… my dad might or might not have erm, tried to romantically set me up with this family friend of his that I've never been familiar with. But believe me when I say I do not love him!" Liz nervously assures.
"Well uhm, can't really comment on that. I thought your dad kinda liked me," Spider-man sighed from the events that happened behind his back and sat on the ledge of the building, rubbing the back of his helmet to try digesting the thought into his head. "Sorry, I'm not sure how to make sense out of that…"
The disheartened fiery cheerleader sits beside him, gently putting a lukewarm hand over his with a soft grip and looking into his eyes behind the helmeted mask. "...Petey… please. Believe me. The only guy I got is just you and nobody else now."
"Liz… thanks. I just hope I could break the truth to your dad if I could. To make things right, right?" Spider-man sighed.
"Maybe, but not yet. Or, I can try to make something out of myself, maybe then my dad can trust and approve my life choices, and you. I'm sorry, but that's the long-term plan I kinda have," Liz apologizes, feeling her phone vibrate with a text message notification from her father, telling her to return home for the day. "Ugh, nuts, dad wants me home. Petey—"
"No no, you go on ahead. I promise I'll be fine. And I still got some homework anyway to finish back in ESU, then I just gotta drop a deposit to pay for Aunt May's rent bills," Spider-man assures and nods away before feeling two hot fiery hands caress his helmet's cheeks and a warm peck on the side.
"I'll see you then, take care," Liz bade, standing up in front of him and with a saddened look in her fiery appearance before jumping off the ledge and hovering over the busy streets back to the Allans' Hotel in a stream of heat.
"...Man. If only the truth were easy. But—oh well, I guess it's for the best. I'd hate to know any of my archnemesis would be dropping by their place for anything other than lodging," Spider-man sighed, holding his head in frustration before falling off the ledge and swinging back to ESU's male dormitory. 'Yup, I still don't deserve her, and this happens…'
Watching silently as the two of them depart, one after the other, someone was taking a slight interest in them from afar, clad in dark reddish garb while levitating in midair atop a metal plate, wearing a helmet that looked like it came from a Spartan movie.
—
In a luxurious upgraded ward of Manhattan's General Hospital, one of which is privately owned by the Osborn family…
"Ohhh Baaaabe! how are you feelin—babe…!?"
At the drop of a flower bouquet, Harry internally screams and panics as he enters a ward that's ruined in shambles with a dirty vandalized open restroom. But what spooked him out even more was when he can't find Lily anywhere inside the room and spots the window open with a makeshift rope made of knotted blankets tied in place to a leg of her hospital recliner.
"No… Lily!" Harry calls out in a frightened tone and rushes to look out the window, stunned and shocked to see her nowhere. 'No, Lily, where did you go?!'
—
"Thanks for taking care of my suit, Doctor Connors," Peter thanks as he puts the Spider-armor Mk 1.5 into a hidden armor case hidden behind shelves in the Connors' office.
"Anytime. I owed you too much. This is one of the least things that I could do," Curtis assured, gently holding his prosthetic arm. "Just try not to mess around with the lab when we're not around."
"I know I know, I just need to find a better place to store it next time. My own lab maybe? But again, thanks for keeping my stuff safe. Gotta run!" Peter jokes and races to the door, only to be greeted by Billy in the way, staring blankly with widely opened eyes and a low jaw drop. "B-Billy!?"
"No… way… was that a— are you—!"
Just before Billy could let out a scream, Peter cups his mouth and pulls him into the office. After a few minutes of simple explanations, the little boy's eyes shined as he just now knows that the very hero who saved his life and fought alongside Eddie in the Venom symbiote, turns out to be his parents' intern assistant and the Daily Bugle's amateur photographer Peter Parker. However, knowing that this is a big and dangerous secret, William "Billy" Connors promises to keep this secret with his life, which also means adding another indirect victim endangered by Spider-man's secret life. The moment Peter staggers out of the lab from all the sudden pressure and anxiety, he barely makes his way back to the boys' dormitory and tries to recollect his bearing before going up the stairs to the shared apartment.
'Ughhhh, c'mon Spidey, c'mon! This isn't the end of the world! But… ugh…' Peter sighs and scowls at the event that just transpired.
After he unlocks the door with his key and enters the apartment, with Hobie, Johnny, and Randy not in the room, he stops in his tracks when he finds one of the people that he'd least expect to meet again after the reunion…
"Hey Parker! Ya miss me?" Flash smirks as he stands up out of Randy's bed and puts his football under the bunk bed, flaunting his camo green jacket that blends well with his dark dirty gray jeans.
"F-Flash! Wh-What are you doing here!? I mean, it's great to see you! But uh, what are you doing here?" Peter stuttered.
"Just wanted to drop by and say hi. Guess Rand forgot to tell ya I was coming," Flash laughs out loud before pulling Peter into a noogie.
"Ow owowow, yeah!" Peter yelped before breaking free from his hold, thanks to his Spidey strength.
"Whoa, little Parker's built a li'l muscle, huh? Don't worry, I promise I won't do any roughhousing on you like the old days," Flash jokes. "It's unbefitting for a corporal to be involved in misconduct."
"W-What!? Y-You're a corporal!?" Peter screamed.
"Hehe, pretty cool right? I got the rank insignia to prove it, man!" Flash shows off an insignia with two arrows on the side of his bicep.
"Wh-Whoa! You weren't kidding! I—"
"Never thought I'd get this far? I know what you think, Peter, especially after our days in high school. But, well, if it weren't for you, and my idol, I wouldn't have gotten here in the first place, and I wouldn't have met Sha Shan," The military jock remembers both the good and the not-so-good moments with Peter. "I'm not asking for you to accept my apology, but I just wanna say sorry for… well, everything really…"
"..." Peter stood in awkward silence and thought it through in a matter of seconds to take in what Flash, the most arrogant jerkish bully he's known for a long time, comes in with an apology to the friend he abandoned in nursery school. "...Uhmmm, Sha Shan didn't talk you into this, did she?"
"Ermmmm, well, honestly she did. But that does not make my words any less sincere!" Flash assures. "Parker, I really am sorry for all those times I bullied and picked on you like those elementary days. And I wanna make it up to you, one way or the other."
"…Hmmmm, well, I don't know how to refuse when you say it like that. Trust me, I'd be lying if I said I was cool with all your antics back as kids. But truthfully, I am glad and I accept your apology, for now that is," Peter hesitantly replied.
"Okay then, I'll take what I can get. I didn't really come here to just apologize. It's just that uh, I may or may not get to see you guys because uh, there are harder times outside the country, and apparently, me and other reserves might be needed out there," Flash explained in a heavy tone.
"Oh… does Sha Shan—"
"Yeah, she does, and she's worried, obviously! Her own man's going out to fight for the nation! Of course she'd be worried that she drenched my back a long while ago!" Flash adds, trying to lighten up the heavy atmosphere.
"I see…" Peter muttered as he frowned in fear of his former bully's fate.
"Well, that was the third part of my bucket list done before my dispatch," Flash smirked as he tapped on the digital checklist in his smartphone.
"What were the first ones?" Peter asked out of curiosity.
"Well first one was the reunion, and that was a blast that you kinda missed, especially Liz! Who knew that she's one of those cool superhuman superheroes, like my boy Spidey!" Flash smiles at the thought in awe of his ex-girlfriend, imagining her fighting alongside his idol.
'Well you're not wrong,' Peter smiled weakly in response.
"And the next one was going on a date with Sha Shan at one of those traditional modern Vietnamese noodle places," Flash excitedly recalled. "She looked real cute with the way she was elegantly eating like some of the other customers in the place."
"Oh I bet," Peter nods in agreement before being startled by a loud banging of the apartment door.
"Ayo Pete! I go— whoa Flash! Y-You're here!"
Standing at the entrance with some mail in his hand was Peter's best roomie Hobie Brown, aka the Prowler aka the Hornet. After a quick scan around their room and seeing their secrets are totally safe, he softly exhales with relief. "Heheyyy bro! Why didn't you call to tell us that you were coming?!"
"I just dropped by without thinking," Flash joked with his killer jock smile.
"Classic Thompson. Oh hey uh, Pete," Hobie hands him several mails that he found from the university's mailbox. "Just happened to find some of these. Seems important."
"Gee thanks man!" Peter eagerly accepts and then skims each of the five letters, but does not see any notification from STARK Industries. "Hmm, okay…"
Peter starts to open the letters one by one, reading each of them to immediately realize they were docked rent payments that seemed to have been put on hold. His eyes, mind, and heart sank heavily from the amount that is due and having been left alone for a while, which is surprisingly a miracle that the landowner hasn't kicked his aunt out.
"Bills, bills, and more bills, again. I hate this kind of deja vu," Peter sighed, checking the letters and leaning next to his bunk bed. 'Aw nuts…'
"Peter, bro, you okay?" Hobie asks out of concern with a worried look.
"I…I am…" Peter replied before remembering his virtual application for the STARK Internship program. "Yeah, I'm more than okay. With one more shot!"
"Oookay, well, good luck with that, Parker! I'm gonna go do a raincheck in Midtown if you need me, bye!" Flash quickly replied as he saw himself out of the dorm apartment.
—
Meanwhile, somewhere within New York that's located near the suburban village at Queens, May Reilly Parker drops out of a gray minivan that parked next to a sidewalk in front of a building with the branded name SHELTER, holding a charitable pantry staffed with volunteers, serving food, water, and clothing to the needy, the homeless, and the unfortunate that have been able to take part in the program, some of which seem to be coming down the stairs from a sturdy stairwell. Coming out of the passenger seat next to the driver's was the CEO of the branded building who had also gone through unfortunate turns of events, Mr. Martin Li.
"Oh dear, so many people! So many that have it harder in life than I have," May gasped as her heart goes to those living harsh and unfortunate lives.
"This is the least we could do for them. And for those that have no roof on their heads, this apartment building we managed to purchase could hold most of them in here for as long as they can until they could get themselves back on track in life," Martin assures with a gentle yet confident smile.
"You're a good man, Mr. Li. I used to think people like you would be far from possible to exist in this sad world. Keep doing the good you have done today," May beamed with a smile.
"Well, we have been proposing to expand our range of support elsewhere, but we still need more volunteers and have the need of some professionals to lend their expertise and assistance," Martin explained his proposal. "You just might meet some of them now actually."
And with his word being spot-on, a red prius drives into the scene and parks behind the gray minivan. Two people get out of the red car and walk into the building, one of which is someone awfully familiar to May, a family friend.
"Oh my goodness, Eddie!? Is that you!?" May gasped excitedly.
"Yup. It's li'l ol' Eddie, as always, Aunt May," Eddie chuckled with a smile before gently holding his superior's hand standing right next to him.
"Oh hello! My name is Doctor Ashley Kafka," Ashley kindly introduces herself while carrying a laptop bag that's holding her laptop, a compilation of patients' files, and blank session sheets. "I am a psychologist from the Ravencroft Institute, and I am here as requested by Mr. Li, to hold counseling sessions for the day with my fellow assistant, Mr. Edward Brock. I hope that we can be of good service today."
"Why Eddie! I didn't know you could do counseling!?" May happily comments with a smile.
"Well I learned a lot from the best," Eddie points out before winking and cracking a smile at Dr. Kafka, making her notice his subtle yet romantic antics in openly expressing himself. " But I'm strictly just an assistant. I have yet to give real advice to patients like she does, believe me."
"Learning comes along, that's why I brought him along to immerse him with great experience to help counsel others," Ashley briefly explained with a gentle smile.
Martin silently gazes with a smirk at the gullible psychologist before averting his eyes when Eddie feels unease, like some sort of Spider Sense he never had.
—
"Erm, mmmm… uh huh?"
Later that night, after another tiring day, the escaped patient Lily wakes up and strangely finds herself in the secret laboratory of the Green Goblin, located in the Osborns' old home before oddly feeling great aches and pains swelling around her arms, legs, and her head.
"W-What? What am I… doing back here?" Lily whimpered before seeing her fingernails and toenails seeming slightly chipped. "What…did…I…just…do?!"
She quickly stands back up on her feet without propping herself up, spooking the heck out of herself before she ends up staggering and groaning from the fatigue lingering in her legs. All she could do was drag her half-dead body in desperation across the lab, utterly confused by what just happened before looking at her reflection in the somewhat tinted glass of the gas chamber.
Only, it wasn't really her reflection, but one appearing like a monstrous witchlike complexion with yellow green skin on her face with a sharp elongated chin and pointy ears, donning the same similar purple garbish attire of the nefarious Green Goblin, which utterly scared her to her wits end that she backed away and sees the old battle-damaged half-mask that belonged to the Hobgoblin, before he was arrested and she puts it on while feeling the stressful pressure overwhelming her like a mental tidal wave so strong it caused her to slowly black out again.
—
Soon, the big day for the STARK Internship Program rolls in, with Peter, having arrived at the entrance at least ten minutes early than the said time in simple jeans and rubber shoes with Uncle Ben's coat over his shirt, feeling the jitters from the exciting thought of working with one of the biggest technological enterprises in the world, and the home of the world-famous Armored Avenger, Iron Man aka Anthony "Tony" Stark.
He stands in awe of STARK Tower's sheer 93-storey height, shining over a row of darkened infrastructure as it reflects the light of the radiant sun, wondering how things would feel to live in such a luxuriously decorated lifestyle, a lifestyle that one of his girlfriends has gotten used to to a certain extent… a lifestyle that pales in comparison to his own.
"Man…maybe someday, it won't be so bad to live like that," Peter thought to himself out loud before looking at how out-of-place it actually seemed, making it an enormous target for anyone within a large radius. "On second thought, maybe make it a little inconspicuous for size. Oh well, showtime…!"
With a breath of courage, he enters the front entrance of the lobby, glamorous and modern for its aesthetics with gold trim structures and pillars aligned to the brown walls or arranged positions around the lobby on the glimmering golden brown floor. 'Okay… this is wayyyy, shinier than I thought it'd be!'
He nervously strolls down the lobby to the receptionist in the center, just right next to the elevators with bulletproof glass shafts. "Um, hi, good morning! Uhh, my name is Peter Parker, a student from ESU, and I am here for uh, applying for the internship program?"
"Wait, ah—Mr. Parker! Yes, we have received and accepted your application! Please wait a moment while I contact the higher ups for verification," the receptionist assured with a tap on her phone to contact her superiors.
With that, Peter politely nods and then walks to a nearby sectional sofa placed next to the wall with a couple of business magazines showing the face of STARK Industries' CEO Tony Stark, sitting on a round glass table near it. 'Wow, I wonder if I could be like him someday…maybe Liz will— whoa whoa whoa, nevermind that Pete. You got your own skillset and stats, no need to keep wanting more.'
"Hey Tiger!"
With the same vibrant energy of an actress-in-the-making, Mary Jane Watson, slinging a simple brown office purse over her shoulder while wearing simple black heels and trousers and a white buttoned shirt with its sleeves folded up to her elbows, finally arrives on time with an eager and excited smile, especially after finding Peter sitting by in the waiting area. "You made it, Pete! How long have you been waiting?"
"MJ! Well, just a few minutes ago after a little confirmation with reception," Peter plainly replied as he closed and tossed a business magazine to the table. "Just, wow though! You look way prepared for this. You pumped?"
"Oh I'm pumped, more than you maybe!" Mary Jane replied, nudging his bicep. "Hm! You sure built a little muscle under there for a bookworm!"
"Y-You think so? I just, well, exercised?" Peter nervously replied, lightly patting his bicep.
"Oh? What motivated you? Or more specifically, WHO motivated you?" Mary Jane slyly asks out of curiosity with a teasing smile that leaves Peter a nervous wreck.
"W-Well, I-I gotta keep my strength up! Rent can't pay for themselves, after all!" Peter quipped with the swing of arms and shoulders, somehow successfully dodging a gossip bullet.
"Mr. Parker! Aaand, Ms. Watson! Oh my, I've seen your recent play, and you played your character really well! It's a pleasure to have you with us! Please proceed to the 10th floor," The receptionist geeked out as she welcomed the applicant and the rookie redhead idol to the elevator not before handing out their sophisticated ID cards, imprinted with their names, portraits, and certain codes.
"Wow… that was hysterical!" Peter stammered after entering the elevator with MJ and pressing the button 10, automatically shutting the elevator doors before lifting off.
"Psh, it's no biggie, Petey," Mary Jane teased, catching him off guard with the nickname again. "I will eventually have to get used to things like that in the foreseeable future if I were to be acting."
"Teach me your ways, oh fair red-haired maiden!" Peter replied with playful panache, tugging on Mary Jane's nerves.
"Are you making fun of me now, cause I think it's working…!" Mary Jane nearly snaps as her heel clacks loudly on the elevator floor.
"Hey, I am kinda serious. This is my serious face, okay?" Peter jested with a weak smile, making MJ almost crack a giggle, almost.
"Well, guess so, coming from you," Mary Jane snickered, just right before the elevator stopped.
The doors open and reveal a narrow waiting area with LED posters playing company advertisements with the face of the CEO, posted in screens embedded on the walls as they leave the lift. Exploring the place in awe with stars in their eyes and walking down the corridors, they stop to enter a minimalistic room with a glass door passage that leads them to a dimly lit dark bluish office and a lone desk standing in the center in front of large glass panes that allow great amount of sunlight to light up the room. However, they were not alone as they were warmly welcomed by a freckle-faced female redhead in a shirt and pencil skirt on heels, holding a clipboard with files printed with their personal information. "Hello! Mr. Peter Benjamin Parker, right?"
"Ye-Yes! Yes ma'am!" Peter stammered again, awed by possibly their interviewer before being elbowed in the gut from the redhead beside him. "Ow!"
"Okay, and Ms. Mary Jane Watson, correct?" the interviewer pulls up a page while scanning.
"Yes ma'am," Mary Jane confidently replied.
"Mhm, good! My name is Ms. Virginia Potts, but you can call me Pepper! Pleasure having the both of you here!" The redhead introduces and welcomes the two applicants.
"Wait, question, Ms. Potts? Are we the only applicants in the whole program?" Peter nervously asks, pointing at himself and MJ.
"Oh no! Several others have already applied and were transferred to their preferred fields of work within our enterprise. You two on the other hand, you were set for a later date, which is today!" Pepper assures with glee.
"Cool! Cool…" Peter sheepishly trailed off.
"Anyways, formalities aside, welcome to STARK Industries!" Pepper welcomes them again.
"Uh gee, thanks uh, but don't you think this is a little over the top?" Peter nervously pointed out.
"You said it. Even I don't get this kind of ovation from just anyone, in and out of my acting side job," Mary Jane continues.
"Well, yes, you two are truly different. Especially you, Parker," Pepper smirked as she flipped another page.
"Whoa uh, okay?" Peter responded with a voice crack.
"Please proceed to the 12th floor for your internship, using the elevator," Pepper instructs before turning to Mary Jane. "Ms. Watson, on the other hand, you will come with me."
"Okay then, guess this is where we go separately instead of a package deal," Peter joked, shrugging his shoulders before leaving the office for the lift. "See you later, MJ!"
"Ditto, Tiger," Mary Jane bade, watching him run off to the lift before following Ms. Potts to another workplace.
—
Few minutes spent in the elevator went by like a second, and Peter walked into a whole new technologically advanced world in a nutshell. From actual automated machines and robots minding their own functions and tasks, innovating testing facilities compartmentalized in cubic boxes until he travels down a very bright corridor with a glass wall that lets the sun brighten up the passage. The view from the passage's glass wall was breathtaking alone, but after spotting the wide aerial balcony built outside is surely a different kind of experience.
And at the end of the corridor, he finally meets the man, the myth, the legend, the self-proclaimed Armored Avenger aka Iron Man, Mr. Anthony "Tony" Stark, CEO of STARK Industries, just standing by his personal working desktop with a personal bar that's luxuriously built and filled with expensive drinks of all kinds.
Even in normal everyday business attire like a white sleeve-folded shirt and black trousers, his new reputation and goodwill speak more words of impact than his chiseled playboy face and hairdo, his entrepreneurial manners and attitude, all that makes him one of the most enviable men on the planet. Fate totally smiled upon him just for being born attractive, both in appearance and intelligence. However, for Parker, does this make him a potentially better boss than the loudmouth he usually meets in the Daily Bugle…?
"U-Uhm, hi! I mean—good morning, sir!? I am—"
"Peter Benjamin Parker. I heard all about you from your résumé."
With a deep yet gentle charismatic tone while carrying an intimidating aura on his person, he slowly strolls down the bustling workshop towards Peter while interacting with what seems to be a neon bluish holographic desktop, a portable one that's able to hover around his body. With a swipe of one hand, he pushes away the glowing holographic screens aside while pinching and holding a little gloring square which he expands with his arms stretched out, expanding it as big as one of those flatscreens showing Peter's application form and personal info right in his face, awkwardly catching him off guard—kinda giving him a sense of relief.
"Number 1 in your class since high school, just like me. Golden in your science exhibits among many others. And I see that you took a prior internship program as well in ESU, working with Dr. Curtis Connors," Tony listed a few of the written achievements before tossing it like a ball and making the hologram collapse and vanish. "Quite the arsenal of credentials."
"Uhm, y-yessir?...!" Peter whimpered in a nervous tone.
"Oh right! I keep forgetting my manners: welcome to STARK Industries! My pride and joy! It's over 90 storeys tall like heaven on earth," Tony warmly welcomes with wide open arms, motioning the lights to brighten up his workshop. "I'm sure you've already heard of me, Tony Stark, CEO, Philanthropist, Playboy—"
"Aaand, the Armored Avenger, Iron Man?" Peter slyly adds, making the casual entrepreneur playboy crack with a smirk.
"Yup, and an Avenger," Tony noticed the calmness of Peter when he mentioned his alter ego and hero alias. "You know, Peter, not many good people are comfortable with the fact that I fight for what's right, and do it with open arms. But you seem quite cool with that, really rare."
"Guh-uh yeah! I mean, you were fighting for what's right, and helping everyone, putting yourself in danger for everyone, a hero!" Peter nervously remarked, sparking suspicion in Tony's eyes.
"A hero, huh? Not everybody sees it that way, Peter. Pretty sure you know that already in your side job with the Bugle," Tony smirked with a sharp gaze towards the intern.
"H-How what—!?"
"Kid, please, I read the newspapers, on print and on screen. Your name's on every photo that's taken with the Webhead. Pretty amazing shots like a pro, but it's hard to believe that they're from a kid like you," Tony snickered with compliments, confident in his sneaky intuition around Peter.
"W-Well I—"
And in the middle of their conversation, his face and back tense from his Spider Sense triggering, detecting hostility creeping closer, but can't find out where until a loud yet faint maniacal laugh was heard from far—coming straight from the glass wall. "Get dow—!"
And before they know it, a ball of fire suddenly explodes by the glass wall, catching Tony off his guard and getting injured from the unexpected attack whereas Peter manages to safely dodge it. Amidst the dust clearing from the scene, a witchlike figure pierces through atop what seems to be another new upgraded model of the Goblin Glider that's more fearsome with black batlike gliding wings. A red-violet bloody coat is draped around her to cover her grayish bumpy skin and a grotesque silvery-gray-colored mask that looks similar to the Hobgoblin's half mask that's just fused with a mask visor with metal curled ram horns that are able to partially hide her dirty red shaggy hair.
"Hahahahahahahah! Awwww, poor powerless Mister Stark!?"
The fourth generational Gobin-themed maniac hovers over the tower's floor and picks Tony up from the ground by his neck, choking him slowly with a strong superhuman grip while menacingly staring at him with her fiery eyes, cracking a grin under the creepy Hobby mask.
"Just a handsome crab without its pretty shell! I would just love to eat you up, right after I burn you to a crisp!" the masked female Menace laughed maniacally before igniting a palm of fire, preparing to burn Tony without remorse.
"Hello Gobby babe! Am I late to the party!?"
Sticking close to the glass wall on all fours was the one and only Spectacular Spider-man, spectating from behind the transparent wall and getting the attention of the menace, only to web up her face quickly and lunge over to catch Tony while she's momentarily distracted.
"Hi, and sorry for the intrusion, mister Stark, and uh, sorry for the uninvited unsolicited guest. She's probably cranky being late for a costume party," Spider-man casually apologizes, getting in between the angered attacker that she burns the web into ashes with her fiery rage and pulls out a sharp collapsible axe and engulfs it with her burning fire. "Awwwww biscuits…!"
"Uhhh, I take it she's not your ordinary psycho ex-girlfriend?" Tony nervously jokes, backing away from the confrontation. "I've met lots of ladies, but this stranger takes the rotten cake!?"
"What!? No way! I've never seen this girl in my life, ever! If anything, she's probably just another Goblin copycat!" Spider-man shook his head and screamed before pushing Tony away to dodge the attacker's sharp axe, but instead took the hit from the ramming head of her glider.
Barely holding onto the one-manned flying machine and his bearings, they both flew wildly around the room, bumping, hitting, breaking and destroying some of the most expensive technology in the world ever made by the genius CEO himself, that was until they finally took off to the skies out of the tower and hover around Manhattan's busy car-crowded streets.
"Whoa mama, this is way higher up close than when we're inside! And who the heck are you, female Gobby!?" Spider-man screamed after taking a glance below them while barely holding onto the flailing glider in midair.
"I am your worst nightmare! The Menace of Manhattan! Now… off with your head!" the female Goblin shrieked in a mocking tone, trying to ineffectively hack at the sneaky Webhead underneath her feet with her axe. "Grrrgh, no fair!"
"Yeeesh, Why don't you call yourself the Grey Goblin? You know? Pasty grey skin and the Hobgoblin lookalike? Whoa!" Spider-man tries to hold his own while avoiding the heavy slashing blade of her axe and trying to find a way down without endangering the innocents below them before dealing with the villainess at hand. "Whoa lady! Mind if I take the glider!?"
With his Spider Strength, he nudges the glider's wing from below with a good kick, messing with its trajectory in midair that they both crash into a nearby offed neon sign and flop onto the road, though it would seem that the black glider manages to sustain lesser damage from such a crash. Cars immediately halted at the moment of the scene, causing more chaos as other cars stopped and curious gullible citizens spectating around the vigilante and villainess.
"Awwwgh, ooohhhkay, next time, I need some compact miniature airbags. That landing didn't stick," Spider-man painfully groaned as he got up on his bruised elbows and then his wounded knees before noticing the horribly greater danger of exposing the civilians to the deranged female Goblin copycat.
"Urgghhhhh…!" Grey Goblin growled in frustration as she props herself up with her axe and faces off with the Wall-Crawler. "My face, my grotesquely beautiful face! You've ruined my faaaaace!"
"Wait wait wait! Can't we talk about this!?" Spider-man screamed before ducking to dodge her swinging axe and then kicking her from below her chin, instantly putting her into a daze and getting her weapon to break it into two with his knee strength. "Whew, much much safer."
"Nnnghnraaaaaagh! You broke my favorite toy!?" Grey Goblin howled in anger that fire burned into her eyes and in her clawed hands, making the webbed hero realize that maybe it wasn't a good idea to break her "toy".
"Well… this just keeps getting better and better," Spider-man yelped in fear before gulping it down, preparing his mind and body for what might just be getting a painful suntan.
But before the Grey Goblin could attack, she looks up and gets quickly bombarded by a swift barrage of plasmalike energy blasts from afar, sustaining a few burns from the projectiles.
"Sorry for being fashionably late. But I'm sure glad I didn't miss the party!"
Landing heavily on the ground in red and gold patterned armor with a red unibeam chestplate was none other than Iron Man, finally here to lend the Webslinger a metal hand with a repulsor or more in the fight with his own assailant.
"No hard feelings. I was just repaying what you owe me from trashing my stuff and my favorite space in the entire tower. But I guess that it wasn't enough," Iron Man bluntly replied in a metallic voice at the two of them and showed his restrained rage by barely pulling his shots. "She reminds me of Osborn, but much creepier and reckless than him."
"You don't know what you're talking about…!" Spider-man snapped in protest, being the only person who fought the first Green Goblin.
And just as they're distracted, the Grey Goblin got back on her feet and manages to remotely control her glider to return to its owner before mounting atop it and popping a pumpkin bomb out of its dispenser to throw at the crowd of innocent bystanders. But because of Spidey's Spider-sense, he caught on immediately but then hesitated as he quickly webs up the bomb to her hand, making her panic frantically as the bomb is already set to detonate that she quickly flies straight for the people.
And being the heroes Spider-man and Iron Man were, they immediately get in between with Spidey tugging a few lines onto the Grey Goblin's glider while the Avenger hovers over and takes the heavy explosion head-on, instantly sustaining little or no damage on his spotless colorful shell. The Grey Goblin, on the other hand, is found unconscious lying on the ground next to her damaged unusable glider with her mask partially scraped from the blast, exposing her regenerating greyish witchlike complexion, much to Spider-man's relief of not committing manslaughter on the fly and reliving that traumatic incident with the Green Goblin, especially in front of a crowd of people with the possibility of encountering journalists from his most-beloved newspaper The Daily Bugle.
"Well, that wasn't so hard. It could've been far worse if she was like an ordinary girl," Iron Man huffed before feeling uneasy from Spider-man's silence. "Um, Spider-man?"
"...H-Huh?! Oh uh, yeah, yeah… I just… need a moment to think…" Spider-man replied after looking so downcast, even with his mask on.
WIth all said and done, the two of them immediately take the Grey Goblin and her trashed equipment to the nearest NYPD building, wrapped up nice and tight in webbing, hanging on a streetlight for the cops to take her in. Watching her from above helplessly get arrested left a somewhat sour taste in Spidey's mouth, to think that he fought a small "Goblin Family" in his superhero career.
"...She'll be alright. She's just unconscious, probably might wake up in one of those Oscorp-owned prison cells. Pretty sure they'll love to cash in on the villains you've fought. Like a cycle of crime," Iron Man smirked while hovering over the NYPD, reminding him of the horrid practices Spider-man's foes have done to disturb and disrupt the peace in the city, especially whenever he tries to live his normal life.
"No, it will end someday. It has to. You can count on it," Spider-man spoke in protest while sitting on a ledge. "I… feel like I have a duty to help these people, with these powers I have. 'Cause with great power comes great responsibility."
"True. Even though you don't get certified to be a hero, Peter."
Sounded alarms rang in his head the moment he heard his name called out, but was astounded when he followed up with a flip of his metal mask with a smile. "Don't worry, Webs. Your secret's safe with me. If anything, heroes like you should eventually step up, making this world a better place, whether you like it or not, maybe even without anything in return. It's not like anyone would throw you a party for saving their lives, am I right?"
"Yeah, you're right. But still, it feels good to know you did a job well done at it," Spider-man adds to lighten up the mood.
"Hm, speaking of jobs, so what do you think of working under me? I can assure you that it won't affect your scheduled "side jobs", whatever you've been doing normally, with or without your mask," Iron Man offered. "This is not an internship anymore, just so you know."
"I—I'll think about it. I thank you so much for everything, though it's just our first meeting. Okay that sounds a little awkward," Spider-man nervously thanked with sincerity.
"Well kiddo, you still have much to learn about the adult world, and I'm sure you can make a difference, one way or the other in this world."
—
Meanwhile back at the STARK Tower, in the wreckage of Tony's favorite floor, the two redheads from the 10th floor rushed to the scene appalled by the damage repair that's being run by some of Tony's expert specialists and automated machines. And even though Pepper seems to be just one of many who are high up in STARK Industries' positions, she looks like she's about to break into tears, if not for her ability to slowly keep her cool and immediately proceeds to assist in the cleanup—especially in his desk area.
"You think your boss can cover all this? I'm not rich, but even I would be mortified by the costs to be covered in all of… this…!" Mary Jane points out as she transports a cart of tools out of the way, totally fazed by the glass wall being reduced to shards, a hologram projector thingy with its casing trashed and exposed, and the overall destruction done in just a single floor that caused a panic within the building save the two redheads.
"Oh he can. You have not seen anything yet, Ms. Watson. You'll see when you start learning the ropes here," Pepper assured in a confident tone, though harboring an anxiety from knowing well about her employer's alter ego.
But before she could worry much longer, he arrives safe and sound in gold-titanium clad armor as the Iron Man, just simply hovering outside by the window. "Uh, hi, Pep?"
"Where have you been!? And what happened here!?" Pepper scolded in a concerned tone.
"Sorry for the um, huge mess. Just another peaceful day, is all," Iron Man calmly and jokingly assured.
While chatting in midair, Spider-man, who was holding onto a line webbed to one of Iron Man's thrusters, quickly latches onto the building before creeping around to the place where his satchel and things are kept hidden when he changed outfits. It would've been much easier, however, if his bags were left untouched except when Mary Jane curiously found his bag before he could. Again the mental sirens sounded, unable to reach for his stuff to change that he looks to the bold Tony Stark for a little "hero" help, who responds with a smirk and gets Mary Jane's attention.
"Hey you, yeah you! You seem familiar. Are you… Mary Jane? As in, Mary Jane Watson, the young actress?" Iron Man wondered, making her yelp from hearing her name called.
"W-Whoa! M-Me? I…" Mary Jane yelped, speechless by the charm of the rich genius in armor.
While she was distracted, Spidey quickly reaches for his bag before crawling away to a nearby empty room to change back into his clothes, immediately entering the scene with a confused and scared look from around the corner like a spineless civilian.
"I-Is it over now?" Peter meeped, poking his head behind the wall.
"Peter!" The redhead actress-in-the-making quickly dashed at him into a embrace, totally worried sick after not being able to find him and nearly heartbroken on how to even tell the bad news to his aunt. "Where were you!? When we heard that there's an attack on this floor, I was worried that you… you might've caught yourself tangled into danger again…!"
'Well, I have dealt with the danger already, but she doesn't need to know that,' Peter nervously thought to himself before gently returning the embrace. "It's fine, I was able to find a place to hide when a creepo Goblin girl showed up to attack Mr. Stark. No biggie. I can handle a little suspense, Red."
"Pete, your life is not just a book, it's a life. So don't treat it like a game just to lighten the mood," Mary Jane scolded in a concerned yet strict tone.
"Wow, shocker, she sounds just like you. I thought it's just the looks, but the voice, too?" Iron Man deadpanned in a somewhat intrigued tone, unfazed by Pepper's elbow to his armored abs, reflecting the pain twice as bad to her.
"Hehehe, well, you got me there. I promise to take proper care of myself, ma'am," Peter playfully assured with a hand raised.
"Good enough. I can't always tell you what to do and what not to do, so better be careful," Mary Jane snickered with a grin and a pat to his arm before sassily putting her hands on her waist.
"Suddenly, I feel conflicted whether to take that as a tease or a warning," Peter gives her the weird look with mixed feelings.
"Uh, ahem, hey you two, we're still here?" Iron Man cleared his throat and snickered, catching both Peter and Mary Jane off guard.
Soon after Tony's 12th floor was quickly cleaned up, Peter and Mary Jane were kindly dismissed for the day as it seemed like an unexpectedly bad day to continue the program. They were both assured to be kept up to date regarding their work as interns until the day they would accept actual job offers from Stark Industries. But with everyone vacating the premises minutes later, Tony taps on his holographic projecting desktop to accept an urgent hologram meeting, popping a life-size hologram of the gray-streak haired militant director of SHIELD, Colonel Nick Fury.
"What is this about now, Fury?" Tony questions with his arms crossed.
'Have you made contact with the person of interest?' Fury brushed off his question, with hands firmly put in the side pockets of his black jacket.
"Sir, if I may, what you're doing is not pretty. He's just a kid. What exactly makes him just so important to you?" Tony demanded with a raised eyebrow. "Not like I'm just gonna let you take him away for your own agenda. Don't lie to me. I know the dirty work that you do."
'Believe me, I have "cleaner" work that you might be interested with.'
Standing away from the camera, another person in a white lab coat appears with a face that's a somewhat more tanned look of that intern Parker, wearing an ID that also has the name Parker. The sight of the scientist left Tony in awe, speechless as his mind tried to connect the dots with logic and guesses until the person spoke. 'Hello. Greetings, Mr. Stark. This is our first time meeting with one another, though not physically.'
—
Later that same day in the dead of night, in the infamous Ryker's Prison. The grey-skinned Menace was left locked away in maximum security with most of Spider-man's defeated foes in her own comfortable well-lit Oscorp-customized plasma prison—except, she is not grey-skinned anymore at the moment, wearing a drab and loosened red coat with little clue of what happened that day.
'...No way… wh-where am I!? Why am I here?!' Lily internally screamed as soon as she regained consciousness and scurried around her little enclosure before looking at her outer surroundings within the confines of her cell.
"Lily! Thank goodness!"
In the midst of the angry atmosphere with cranky prison neighbors, her very concerned boyfriend Harry comes running to her, drenched in his sweat and tears when he hears that she was arrested for a crime that she was not completely conscious of. Panting by the plasma barrier, he sighs with relief after finding her, but not comforted by her looking distraught and confused, recalling the times that he and possibly his father underwent because of the Green.
"Harry! What's going on!? What's happening!? A-Am I in jail!?" Lily continues to freak out behind the cell, desperate for answers which Harry couldn't give just yet at the moment.
"Everything's going to be fine, Lily! I promise! I will get you out! I promise!" Harry replied back in a despaired tone before being apprehended by two wardens, not taking any chances with the baddies that the Wall-Crawler fought. "Let go of me! Stop! Please!"
"Harryyy!" Lily cries in pain that her knees gave in, sobbing from being forced to be left alone again as the guards take away her chance to be released and prove her innocence. "Why!?"
'Why… bother?'
In the middle of her sorrow, a strange voice spoke to her, not sure where but for some reason, it is strangely present that it broke her out of the pain with confusion. She gasped as she was startled by the voice that caught her attention before seeing a blurry faint reflection on the silvery shiny wall. 'Over here, dum-dum!'
"Wh-What!?" Lily whimpered as she crept close to the side of the wall with a reflection of herself—or at least, her "other" self, an image of the Grey Goblin. "W-Who are you!?"
'I am you! Your emotions, your true self!' the Grey Goblin spoke to her mind.
"Wh-What do you mean!?" Lily demanded for an answer, still confused by her reply before remembering the accident in the secret laboratory. "No…that time I…!"
'Please, we were doing what we wanted to do for the person we wholly and truly love…! Harry…!' the Grey Goblin whispered in a snarky tone. 'He's pressured… stressed… scared… and yet he's still a little mama's boy who couldn't man up to do the job!'
"I-I'm not buying that!" Lily protested, skeptical at where she is getting at.
'But what about you!? You love him don't you!? But you're too weak, too estranged from what he's been busy dealing with that he can't even have the time to really be with you!' the Grey Goblin barked. 'Soooo…?'
"Soooo, what?" Lily reluctantly asks.
'So… I made "us" do him a little favor,' the Grey Goblin answered with a maniacal chuckle.
"Wait… you did all those bad things…!?" Lily whimpered before bursting away in anger as her alter ego's reflection slowly nodded with a grin. "You… you're the reason I'm put in jail! You're hurting people!"
'Wrongo! "We" hurt them! Those that stood against our little Harry! Him and his failing family enterprise!' Grey Goblin hissed, slowly getting into her head.
"No! Stop! Get outta my head!"
Lily snaps out with a fist that lands a great blow to the sturdy wall and leaves a fractured imagery of her reflection that slowly vanishes. She stared at her hands in horror of the scary powers she just gained, realizing that it is from the accident in the Osborns' old home and just started breaking down in tears. "I…I'm… a monster…"
"No, little girl, you are not a monster."
There again, another voice was heard nearby, but it sounds a lot different than her grotesque new self. The lights suddenly died and darkened the corridors, causing panic among prison wardens that most of them scurried around and scrambled for the power stations in the facility. Next thing she hears were sounds of agony and pain before being startled by a warden's face being slammed to her cell's post. She then turns to spot a strange mysterious man stepping into the light of her laserlike door, just standing outside of her cell while wearing a black mask with white stripes on its cheeks. "On the contrary, I see this accident as a blessing for you."
"W-Who are you?!" Lily demanded, backing away from the figure.
"Relax, Ms. Hollister. I am not your enemy. In fact, I would like to make you a simple offer: join me and I will break you out," the man smirked, stretching his open hand out to Lily.
"Why should I trust you? And how did you get in here!?" Lily pressed for questions.
"Well, I may tell you, but you have to first trust me," the man slyly replied. "So, will you come with me? I don't think the guards will take their time outside."
Every second at that moment just clicked in her mind, torn between choosing to stay and rot in her cell for Harry's futility, or the chance to escape with the mystery man that has some secret agenda. Silence drags on in the dark while she organizes and rationalizes in her brightly lit cell, conscious of her precarious position and the man just onlooking outside. '...Anytime…but not for long, Ms. Hollister.'
Then bam! A rumbling wave of wardens immediately storm back into the building like rapids, checking the prisons that became a loud pointless forum of panicking inmates before stumbling upon the maximum security facility being pilfered of some of its residents, leaving a empty prison cells including knocked out wardens that were stationed to stay.
Outside the facility, hovering into skies in an anonymous helicopter with a pilot in a balaclava similar to the man's mask, Lily escapes the prison with Kraven, Silvermane, Tombstone and an armless Doc Ock, three oh which are disgraced crime lords that were single handedly defeated by the Webslinger— except if not for Tombstone's snitching betrayal.
"You know, mystery man, I must say. To break all of us free with ease and finesse, you have some style in this part of town," Silvermane snickered.
"Shut it, Silbo! We don't even know who this man is!" Doc Ock silenced with a rude nickname.
"If I were you two oldies, I'd stay quiet before running my tongue. After all, he is our benefactor," Tombstone sternly warned in a calm tone.
"Says the pale-faced fox in stone!" Doc Ock barked in protest.
"...I see that you're all so lively tonight, talking face-to-face with your good neighbors," the man lightly chuckled to disperse the tense mood while sitting on the passenger seat next to the pilot.
"Who are you, really?! I. Demand. An answer!" Doc Ock barked on, out of character from being usually choosy with his vocabulary.
"Rest assured, doctor. I am your friend, and I am merely a businessman," the man replied. "I am known by many names, but among them I'm recently known as— the Crime Master."
—
By this time, everyone's sound asleep in their peaceful homes, especially in the humble suburbs of Queens. And in the Stacys' residence, where Gwen slumbers…
'Hey, Gwen,' Mania poked in her mind.
'Mania? What's up with you now?' Gwen replied in a somewhat annoyed tone, somewhat disturbed in her dreams.
'Well sorry to burst your bubble, girl, but I was hoping to try something good for you for a change,' Mania offers.
'Um, I'm questioning your way of defining what "good" is to you…?' Gwen reluctantly replied out of skepticism.
'Trust me. Just. This. Once,' Mania assured before vanishing away, injecting someone else familiar into Gwen's mind, someone… very close to Peter.
'Y-You seem kinda familiar. Don't tell me, are you—!'
'Hello, Gwendolyn! You're all grown-up now since we last met!' Ben Parker replied with his jolly old smile.
—To Be Continued
A/N:
Finally done it! I'm terribly sorry for the month-long wait. My finals are coming, but my mind dashed faster.
This season's coming to an end and I'm preparing a new one after the next two more episodes.
Hope you guys still enjoy reading this, though how weird events might turn out.
Anyways, take care again everyone! Try checking out my new branching out to Wattpad!
Same name with two works on.
Little survey to try add in reviews:
—Who would you like to be introduced in the fifth season? (Hero/es and Villain/s)
—What other gangs or teams would you like to see?
—Should there be any other girls aiming for the Webhead, with all the troubles he already has?
Okay that's all for now. Take care and God bless!
