Avenging Justice 3:

To Infinity and Anti-Life

Part XV

Earth, New York, Hempstead

A lonely teen walked down the sidewalk, behind him the source of his pain. Home was not fun right now, especially after that last report card. Pulling all "C's" despite busting his ass to study, well suffice to say the parents weren't happy. Even worse when you're the son of a principal, as there were those expectations, and then you became a target for other kids. Throw in a smart mouth and the inability to back down, and well let's say there were some fights.

So, with the report card not being what they had hoped, his parents had started in again. Which is why he had decided to leave that situation. He was frustrated enough, and just needed to cool off, clear his head. How was escaping him as his walk wasn't really helping. In fact what he spied next was only going to make it worse.

One of the numbskulls that took our their frustrations with his father, on him, was walking by. Wanting to avoid anything that might get him into more trouble, he tried to duck down a nearby street. If he remembered right, there was a cross street up ahead, take him near somewhere quiet. Already he had some tunes pulled up on his iPhone.

"Look what we have here guys, Rider the Snitch," came the familiar voice behind him.

Richard turned and his mouth went off before he could think better of it, "Listen Justin Wannabe, I'm sure all the girls are in love with that amazing frost tip hair job you've got. I'm just not in the mood. Why don't you keep going that way, and I'll keep going this way. Hate to mess up that three hundred dye job."

The kid's name was Joey Spriganni, but he did bear a slight resemblance to the older pop star. Especially with the blonde frost tips, dark hair and boy band slimness, not that it made the comparison any nicer. Of course, Richard wasn't here to be nice to another kid messing with him. All he wanted was some peace, he couldn't get that from home, nor school, so he'd be getting it somewhere.

"You got a mouth on you don't you, little snitch," Joey moved forward to grab Richard. It was then he noticed the other three with Joey. Probably should work on keeping his head on a swivel, he'd have to make mental note to do that. It'd got on the pile of all the other things he had to work on, with quite a few suggestions from family and school.

Richard decided to try diplomacy, "Listen, whatever you think I did, I didn't. I have this policy against telling on people."

"Yeah, well tell me how your pops found out about those test answers?" Joey pushed Richard hard, sending him back.

Taking a quick breath, "Do I look like I have test answers? I got a C minus on that one. If I knew you had them, I might have asked for them!"

"Thanks to you, I got suspended from school. You know what my old man thought of that?" Joey asked as he pushed Richard again, this time tripping him up. "Why don't I tell you how he and Ma reacted."

Suddenly above a loud crack of a sonic boom stole the four assailant's attention. A golden light washed the five teens, before narrowing on Richard. Then just as quickly a golden helm materialized, and rocketed towards Richard Rider. The others scattered, wisely in a world where alien invasions weren't exactly uncommon. They thought for sure he'd be dead, they didn't see the helm land gently on his head or the Nova Corps armor materializing around their intended target.

"Richard Rider, you are the last hope of the Nova Corps," a voice filled Richard's head. "Thanos has attacked with denizens of Apocalypse. This is the last remnant of the Nova Corps. You must seek out others and safeguard our people."

Unsurprisingly the youth was a little overwhelmed, "Whoa, wait just one minute. What the hell are you talking about? I'm just some doofus from high school, and who is Thanos, and are talking about the biblical apocalypse?"

"I had forgotten how much the education on Earth is lacking," the voice came back. "I will fill you in, but in the meantime, I think we need to be leaving."

To accentuate this point, sirens erupted not too far away. Richard really didn't want to have to answer any police questions. Quickly as he could, he bolted away, only slightly surprised at how quickly he was moving. What really caught him off guard was the chain link fence he was heading towards. He could have sworn it was a lot further away, but there it was right in his path. Running into that at full force would definitely stop him, and probably hurt.

Using his arms to brace for the coming collision, only for his hand to glow and the fence to be blasted apart. Energy blasts, he'd have to remember that for later. His attention though was brought to a heads-up display that appeared on the visor helmet atop his head. An overview of the nearby neighborhoods displayed, with a course for maximum obscuration. Not bad for a magic space helmet thing.

"Hey, does this mean I have powers like Thor?" he asked.

The helmet responded with what he could only describe as amusement, "You have the power of the Nova Corps, not the Asgardians. The full knowledge and power of ours is yours. You are the last hope of a desperate people."

"Whoa, you made a big mistake, I'm just a kid trying to survive high school," Richard said, a deep sensation of unworthiness swirling about inside.

This time the helmet sounded more paternal, "There is no mistake, Richard Rider. Long ago my people visited your world, and one of us saw something in your young species. A brave warrior from here, came and fought against all odds for us. He held no special powers, no extraordinary knowledge. His only reason, was because the fight was a righteous one. That being was an ancestor of yours."

"Wait, what? Who was it?" Richard asked.

With more sirens erupting around them, the helmet wisely responded, "Let us find a more quiet place, and I will tell you more. Do know this, Richard Rider, you are not mistake. Inside of you, is the spirit and blood of a hero."

Earth, New York, New York City

"Spider Crook is at it again," J. Jonah Jameson's voice was unnaturally unhinged. "This menace brought six of his cohorts into the city, to steal from banks, jewelry stores, and from your grandmother. You heard me, this miscreant has these buffoons taking candy from babies and money from little old ladies. This is the 'Hero New York' ladies and gentlemen. He's a sham.

Meanwhile real heroes, like the Avengers are out there mopping up the chaos left from Superman's death. Yes, my loyal viewers, he is dead. We haven't seen the big blue boy scout, his cousin is trying to take up the slack, but he's gone. If there was anyone that could have taken care of our Spider Menace, it would have been him. Though, he had bigger fish to take out, including that gray skinned alien monster, Doomsday.

So, my loyal listeners, it is up to us. We must help the police capture this menace to our fair city. If you know how Spider-Man is, call in and I'll give you a reward. Five thousand for a successful unmasking, twenty five hundred if you can lead the police to one of his friends or family. Together we will take this city back, and make it safe for decent folks once more."

There was more to the Jameson's rant, but Mary Jane turned it off. Her window was open, meaning Peter had probably stopped by. He would have heard all of that, and gone off to do the solitary hero thing. She wished he hadn't, she wanted to hug him, tell him that buffoon was full of hot air. That his constantly going out and stopping crime and injustice really was making a difference. He wouldn't listen, he never did. All because he failed his uncle, the only real father figure he'd ever known.

"Tiger, you better come back in once piece," Mary Jane turned and switched the station to something more fun to listen too. "Now how does a lady get superpowers, to protect the guy who thinks the whole world is on his shoulders?"

Three blocks away, Spider-Man was agilely slinging through the skies on webs. At the apex of his current arc, he felt gravity loosen its hold on him for just a moment. He was weightless, like those astronaut trainees when they had their plane do a parabola in the sky. Forty five degrees up, followed by a forty five degree dive, over and over again. It gave the trainees the sensation of weightlessness. Something he got to enjoy at times like this. However, it was always too brief, as gravity reasserted itself.

Below another sound interrupted his peace, police sirens. He dove forward, sending out webs to increase his speed, and keep up with the chase going on below him. Gunshots erupted from the car they were chasing, with bullets firing everywhere. The criminals didn't care there were civilians were around, and the cops were trying to hold back from returning fire. Some didn't and shot back at the criminals in the speeding car. This was a recipe for disaster, and for the innocent to be harmed.

"Not on my watch," Spider-Man said.

He dove as fast as he could, gaining speed. He waited till the last possible second to fire another web, and felt his arms pull as gravity tried to yank him to the ground below. Still, there were times the proportional strength of a spider was a wonderful thing to have. This was one of those times, and he used that momentum to fling himself on top of the speeding car.

"Hey not to be a roof side driver," Spider-Man looked into the driver side window. "Don't you think this is a little dangerous? How about we stop, get a Starbucks and then we can make this right with the police. Sound good?"

The answer from the criminals came with two shots, both missed. Both criminals immediately found their arms webbed to the car, and found it extremely difficult to pull the triggers on their pistols. Next he jumped up, webbed the hood and pulled up hard. As he wanted, the hood came up, blinding the driver. However, he wasn't done. If he left them like this, the yahoos would probably try to keep fleeing. That would put more people into danger, but he had a plan for this.

Webbing the tires of the car, and slowing it, he jumped up and hit the car at the right crux. The car, using the wheels as a fulcrum, launched its rear end up, and Spider-Man webbed that to two light poles and one telecommunications pole. Jumping off, he webbed the now dangling front end to the street below, effectively suspending the car in midair. Just in time for the criminals not buckled in, to slam into the seats in front of them. Spider-Man was courteous enough to web them to those spots, for "safety."

"Now, fellas, it didn't have to end this way," Spider-Man said. "We could be sipping overpriced coffee and dealing with your parental abandonment issues, or whatever drove you to this life. Now, you'll get to do it with the cops, but their coffee sucks. Anyway, catch you later!"

He leapt away just as the cop cars arrived, and to plausibly deny he heard their commands to halt. Instead, he swung away to one of his favorite places in the city, with a good view of Avengers Tower. Taking a quick breath, he continued cycling through the police bands, looking for another other trouble that he could stop. He was used to J. Jonah Jameson's rants at this point, but every so often, they still hurt. Maybe it was the recent loss of the big guy, but Spider-Man was easily feeling like the cards were stacked against him.

"In latest news, it seems New York's very own Spider-Man is moonlighting in San Francisco," he heard from a news podcast. He switched back to the station for more information. "I tell you, our resident spider has either gotten a lot of frequent flyer miles recently, or is now teleporting. San Francisco authorities are giving us information now that they have a manhunt under way. They've also reached out to New York police for assistance in apprehending Spider-Man.

Most of the reports say that he has taken to more brutal methods of dealing with criminals in San Francisco. Though here in New York, he seems to be his friendly neighborhood self. Still, some of these criminals have had their brains devoured, or were left with life changing injuries. Stay tuned True Believers and I'll be back from break with more information."

"Venom," Spider-Man sighed. "I need to get out there and stop him. It figures I'd get the blame. Black costume, a very nice look though, just once in my career, and now anyone who copycats it is me. I need a vacation."