Volume I: The Rhino
This is the 9th chapter of Volume I. Peter Parker tries to be friends with Liz Allen again as Spider-Man gets seriously injured for the first time and begins to have doubts. This will be the first appearance of Alexei Sytsevich as the Rhino. I apologize for taking so long to get this out there. I originally had written a different story, but I scrapped it because I really didn't like it.
Peter is in history class at Midtown High School when he notices Liz Allen looks at him from across the room. Gwen looks across from her seat at Peter and notices that Liz is looking at Peter with an embarrassed smile on her face.
"Okay class, who can tell me why a bill of rights had to be added to our constitution?" Mr. Harrington asks.
"I know I told Liz that we could be friends after I started dating Gwen, but I haven't really made time for her. I should go up and talk to her after class," Peter thinks to himself.
After class Peter goes up to Liz to talk to her.
"Hi Liz" Peter starts.
"Hi Petey, how have you been?" Liz asks.
I've been okay, just super busy. I know I said we could still be friends, but I haven't really made any time for you because of just crazy stuff going on in my life right now," Peter says thinking about his team up with Doctor Strange and Wong from last week.
"It's okay Peter don't worry about it," Liz reassures Peter.
"Thanks Liz, but do you want to get some ice cream after school with Gwen, Harry, and me?"
"Petey I'd love to, but I already have plans with Flash after school. I forgot to tell you, but we're dating now. Me and Flash. I know he's bullied you a bunch in the past, but I think he's a changed man," Liz says.
"I think he's a changed man too Liz. He asked me for advice on how to ask you out, about a month ago," Peter reveals.
"He did? What did you say?" Liz wonders.
"I told him to be your friend first and then ask you out when the time is right," Peter smiles.
"Thank you Petey," Liz hugs Peter. "How are you doing with Gwen?"
"We're doing great. We've been dating around a month now and there's really been no feeling like it," Peter says.
"You deserve her Petey, you're such a good guy. I should get going to Flash. Don't want him to wait on me for too long," Liz tells Peter.
"Thanks Liz. Have a good time with Flash. You two deserve each other," Peter says as Liz walks away.
Unknown to Peter, Gwen watched the whole conversation Peter had with Liz but couldn't hear much of it.
"Peter, what did you and Liz talk about?" Gwen says from behind Peter.
"I was apologizing to her," Peter says.
"About what?" Gwen is curious.
"After we broke up, we said we would be friends, but I haven't made much time for her," Peter admits.
"Pete, do you still feel guilty about breaking up with her?" Gwen asks with tears starting to form in her eyes.
"In a way, yes. I never wanted to hurt her feelings. I just wanted to be with the woman I love. The love of my life. And that woman is you, Gwen Stacy," Peter looks at Gwen.
Without any hesitation, without thinking, Gwen pulls Peter close to her and kisses him in the middle of the school day.
"You're the love of my life too Peter," Gwen smiles.
"Woah, that was amazing Gwendy. You know next time you do that; I might not stop kissing you," Peter flirts.
"I'm looking forward to that," Gwen flirts back.
Across town in the Kingpin's office, James Wesley comes in to give a report to the Kingpin of crime.
"Sir? I'm afraid we have some more bad news," Wesley reveals.
"What is it?"
"We've been following the Parker kid for a month now and we still haven't found any relevant information about Spider-Man. It appears that this Parker kid and Spider-Man aren't connected in the slightest," Wesley states.
"Then how on earth is Peter Parker always taking Spider-Man's pictures?" Kingpin asks.
"We haven't the slightest clue," Wesley responds.
"Keep following him, he's bound to make a mistake sooner or later," Kingpin says.
"Yes sir," Wesley says.
"Any other news?" Kingpin asks.
"Yes, unfortunately Captain Stacy and his lieutenant, Yuri Watanabe arrested a large number of our operatives that were working overtime in Harlem and Hell's Kitchen," Wesley admits.
"Captain Stacy again? We need to take him off the board immediately. Who's his family? Anybody we can threaten to get results?" Kingpin asks.
Wesley types some information into his tablet and quickly gets the relationship information about Captain Stacy.
"Captain George Stacy is a widowed husband and has one daughter, Gwendolyn. His daughter also appears to be the girlfriend of Peter Parker" Wesley is surprised.
"Parker? Again? There has to be a connection somewhere, and we need to find it. Anything else?" Kingpin says.
"Yes, one final thing. The carbyne enhanced exo-suit you invested in to take down Spider-Man has been completed and has been delivered to the warehouse on 75th Street as requested," Wesley reveals.
"The one that looks like a rhino? Excellent, bring the suit to Mr. Alexei Sytsevich and have him attack Midtown where George Stacy's precinct is. It's time for our mob enforcer to kill Spider-Man and if George Stacy just happens to be killed in action, all the better" Kingpin smiles.
"Very well sir. It will be done," Wesley replies.
"My efforts to convince Spider-Man to give up when he was framed have failed. But a spider matched against the power of a rhino? Spider-Man's death is all but inevitable," Kingpin says with a huge grin on his face.
School has ended now and Peter is by himself getting some homework from his locker when Mary Jane walks up to Peter.
"Tiger, you doing anything after school? There's been something I've been meaning to tell you," MJ says.
"Well yeah, I need to make some more web fluid. Ever since I started using the impact webbing I've been short. I need to somehow increase the storage capacity of the cartridges in my webshooters. I have no clue how to do so though," Peter answers. "What is it you wanted to tell me?"
Peter smiles and turns to look at MJ. MJ blushes at Peter.
"Peter, I just wanted to tell you that I like you," MJ confesses.
"I like you too MJ, you're my best friend," Peter hugs MJ. "Anyways I gotta get going and make some more web fluid. I'll see you later tonight, right?"
"Yeah Pete, I'll be there" MJ says with an uneasiness in her voice as Peter heads home.
(A few moments later)
"Hey MJ, is everything okay?" Gwen walks up to Mary Jane and notices her shedding a few tears.
"Yeah, I'm fine Gwen. I was talking to Peter, and I just got a little too emotional. He's going back to his place to make some web fluid. You should join him. He's trying to figure out how to increase the storage capacity for web fluid in his webshooters," MJ explains.
"You sure, that you're okay MJ?" Gwen asks.
"Yeah, I'll be fine. Don't worry about me. Go spend time with your boyfriend," MJ smiles.
Gwen gives MJ a quick hug and runs off to catch up to Peter.
It's 4:37 in the afternoon on November 11th as Peter enters the Parker residence and sees his Aunt May starting to make dinner.
"Hi Aunt May" Peter says.
"Peter, how was school today? Are your studies going well?" May asks.
Everything's going well so far this semester, but I'm going to work on a school project down in the basement. Shout down if you need anything," Peter says.
Several minutes later the door to the basement opens. It's Gwen Stacy.
"Hey Pete, need any help?" Gwen asks.
"Yes, I'm trying to solve an impossible problem," Peter answers.
"What do you mean impossible?" Gwen is curious about Peter's problem.
"Ever since I created the impact webbing, more and more of my webbing is getting used up. I need to find a way to increase the capacity of web fluid that my cartridges can hold. But I have no clue how.
"Have you thought about restructuring the chemical formula you use for your webbing?" Gwen asks.
"How so?" Peter is curious as to what Gwen's thought process is.
"Histones," Gwen smiles.
"Histones? Why would—Wait a minute histones! Gwen Stacy, you are truly brilliant. I could kiss you right now," Peter beams with excitement.
"Then kiss me Pete," Gwen flirts.
"If we can introduce a protein that will tightly coil each molecule of the web fluid, like histones do for DNA on each chromosome then it should increase the capacity in each cartridge by at least 100 times, maybe even more," Peter smiles at Gwen.
Gwen's phone starts to ring in her pocket, taking Gwen's mind off of Peter at the moment.
"Dad?" Gwen says as she answers the phone.
"Gwennie, are you with Peter right now? I need to speak with him."
"Yeah Dad, I'm with him right now. Is everything okay?"
"Just dandy. I need to talk to Peter and see if he can get into contact with Spider-Man."
Gwen hands her phone to Peter and says, "Here Pete, my dad wants to talk to you,"
"Mr. Stacy? Is everything okay," Peter asks over the phone.
"Peter, can you get Spider-Man to come to Midtown? We need him to—"
"Hello? Captain Stacy?"
No answer came back from George Stacy.
Shit. That's not good," Peter says under his breath.
"What's not good? Peter, is my dad—" Gwen says with fear in her voice.
"I don't know Gwen, but he wanted me to come to Midtown. He said he needed Spider-Man before our call got disconnected. I'm headed there right now," Peter says.
"Peter! Please make sure my Dad is okay, please" Gwen says as tears start flow down her face.
"I promise, Gwen. I love you," Peter looks Gwen in her eyes as she's crying and kisses her on the forehead.
Peter bolts upstairs to his room, grabs his Spider-Man suit, and swings over to Midtown as fast as he can.
5 minutes later, Spider-Man arrives at Midtown, and he cannot believe what his eyes are seeing. Destruction everywhere, police cruisers turned on their own head, fires raging.
"What could cause this much damage?" Spider-Man wonders.
"Spider-Man! Over here!" Spider-Man recognized the voice, but he couldn't quite place it. It definitely was not George Stacy's voice.
Spider-Man runs up to the voice he heard and sees that it belongs to Yuri Watanabe. Captain Stacy's 2nd in command at the precinct.
"Yuri! Where's Captain Stacy?" Spider-Man yells.
"Over here! Under this prison transport truck!" Yuri yells back.
"Oh my god. Captain Stacy, can you hear me? Are you okay?" Spider-Man says as he runs up to George Stacy trapped under the prison transport truck.
Pe—I mean Spider-Man, I'm okay. Just trapped under this damn car.
"Can't believe I almost called him Peter and ruined his secret identity," George thinks to himself.
"I got you Captain Stacy, don't worry" Spider-Man says as he looks under the car to make sure George isn't caught on any part of the car.
Spider-Man bends down to the ground and grabs the car by its frame and starts to lift it off of George Stacy.
"Ready? 1, 2, 3…" Spider-Man grunts as he's never lifted something this heavy before.
Spider-Man continues lifting the prison transport truck upwards until it's completely off of Captain Stacy and back on all 4 wheels.
"Yuri, Captain. Are you guys both okay?" Spider-Man asks.
"A little bruised but otherwise okay," Yuri responds.
Spider-Man pulls his phone out and immediately dials Gwen to tell her the good news.
"Peter? Is my dad—"
"Gwen, I saved him. He was trapped and pinned under a police car. I think his ankle might be broken. But he's alive and coming home right—"
Suddenly a huge explosion rips across the scene causing multiple buildings to catch on fire
"Captain Stacy! Yuri! You have to get out of here right now. It's not safe!" Spider-Man yells.
On the other end of the line Gwen is watching the news and can hear Peter screaming at her dad and someone else to get out of there.
"Peter, what's happening?
Gwen I—Oh my god...Gwen stay in Queens! You cannot come looking for me, no matter what, okay? Your dad will be home soon, I promise."
Before Peter hangs up, Gwen hears a heavy voice with a thick accent at the other end of the phone call.
"Ah good evening, Spider. Are you ready to die?"
Gwen looks up at the television in Peter's basement and sees a giant man towering over Peter in some kind of suit.
"Oh my god Peter, please be okay," Gwen says to herself.
Spider-Man looks back and sees that Captain Stacy and Yuri have made it out of harm's way.
"Spider! I'm talking to you!" says a monstruous voice from behind Spider-Man.
Spider-Man's spider sense goes off and he flips out of the way of a car that just thrown at Spider-Man.
"Hey man, if you're gonna throw cars at me I'm not gonna talk to you. Who even are you anyways?" Spider-Man asks.
"I'm the Rhino! And you're a dead man!" Rhino yells.
"Aw man, if I had a nickel for every time I've heard that" Spider-Man jokes.
Spider-Man fires a webshot in Rhino's eyes to blind him and then leaps over Rhino's head to land behind him.
"Where are you, Spider!" Rhino yells as he rips the webbing off his face.
"Right here!" Spider-Man smiles as he fires a webline and hits Rhino from behind. "See if you're nice and just ask I'll always be happy to answer."
Spider-Man flips over Rhino again, but this time Rhino catches Spider-Man's foot and slams Spider-Man against the wall. Rhino charges once again and impales Spider-Man with his horn.
"AHHHHH!" Spider-Man screams in pain.
"Now, Spider I'll make sure your death is quick and then I will take your body back to the Kingpin for payment," Rhino smiles.
"Kingpin? Wh-why does he want me dead?" Spider-Man groans in pain.
"Don't care. Never asked. As long as I'm getting paid, I'm fine with anything. But I do know that when I dump your dead body in Kingpin's office everyone you care about will be next to die," Rhino laughs as he throws Spider-Man across the street.
"Gwen. MJ. May. Harry. Gwen. You're not dying because of me. I'm not dying here," Spider-Man says to himself.
Spider-Man looks down at his chest. Rhino's horn is still impaled in his chest, but it broke off from the Rhino's suit.
"God, I can't stay here any longer, or else I won't make it out of here. Gotta get back home. Aunt May has a first aid kit I can use to stitch myself up with," Spider-Man says.
Spider-Man tries to websling back home as pain shoots through his chest and arms.
"It's not much longer, only gotta swing like 30 more blocks," Spider-Man says as he grits his teeth in pain.
It's 6:33 PM in the evening at the Parker residence when Mary Jane arrives and expects to see Peter in the basement, but instead is met with the sight of Gwen sitting down on the couch watching the news on the television.
"It's unclear what has happened during Spider-Man's fight with this new villain, but one thing is clear. Spider-Man is injured and it's not clear how much longer he can survive. He has since left the scene and his current whereabouts are unknown."
"Gwen? Where's Peter?" MJ asks, not paying attention to the news broadcast.
Gwen turns around to look at MJ with her eyes full of worry for her boyfriend.
"I-I don't know. I—Peter left to go save my dad, because he was—" Gwen starts.
Suddenly the cellar doors to the basement slam open and Spider-Man bursts in taking off his mask and sees both Mary Jane and Gwen there.
"Peter, oh my god, what happened?" Gwen cries while looking at Peter with the Rhino's horn lodged in his abdomen.
"Peter?" Mary Jane says in shock.
"Gwen, y-your dad is going to be fine. I made sure he got out in time. MJ, in that drawer over there is a first aid kit. Grab it for me please," Peter groans in immense pain.
"Peter, we need to get you to a hospital," Gwen says with tears in her eyes.
"Can't do that Gwendy. They'll force me to unmask at the hospital. C-can't have anyone finding out who I am. You two are the only ones who can know. Gwen, I'm going to be fine" Peter moans in pain.
"What do we do then?" Gwen asks with fear in her voice.
"Since May is a nurse, I actually know a little about what we need to do. We need to pull out the horn, obviously that's step 1. Step 2 is to stop the bleeding with a towel or something and disinfect the wound as well. Step 3 is we stitch the wound up if we need to and go eat dinner, which May is making right now," Peter tells Gwen.
Mary Jane is back now with the first aid kit and a towel for the blood.
Peter looks at Gwen and starts to pull the Rhino horn out of his abdomen. Pain instantly floods into his abdomen where the horn is as soon as Peter touches it.
Gwen looks back at Peter and sees him in more pain than anything she's ever seen before.
"AHHH—Owwww," Peter screams as he pulls the horn out of his body and falls down onto the floor below.
"Peter! Are you okay?" MJ is concerned for Peter.
"Better now that I'm not impaled by a horn anymore," Peter sheepishly smiles.
"Tiger, I'm going to go and get some clothes for you upstairs so you can change into something… less revealing," MJ laughs.
"Thanks, MJ" Peter smiles.
MJ leaves the basement leaving just Peter and Gwen alone.
Peter starts to take off his suit but is still struggling with some pain in his chest.
"Do you need some help taking off your suit?" Gwen asks.
Peter looks at Gwen, who's still looking at Peter with worry in her eyes for her boyfriend.
"Actually yeah, I'd like that, Gwen. And I'm sorry, I didn't mean to make you worry so much," Peter says.
"I'm just happy that you're okay, Pete" Gwen hugs Peter and starts to help him out of his suit.
Within the next few minutes Gwen manages to help Peter out of his Spider-Man suit and grabs a towel so she can start cleaning up Peter's wound from the Rhino's horn. Peter looks at Gwen and smiles.
"So Gwen, be honest, you really like it when I don't have my shirt on, don't you?" Peter jokes.
"Well, I do have a really hot boyfriend, so yeah I like to see him without a shirt on," Gwen smiles.
"Good, because you're the only girl that's allowed to see me without a shirt on… well I guess MJ too when she inevitably comes down with my clothes," Peter says.
Gwen finishes cleaning Peter up and places a bandage on top of his wound. A big smile creeps across her face, and she looks up at Peter's blue eyes looking down at her.
"You okay Gwen?" Peter asks out of curiosity.
"Yeah. Whenever I'm around you everything is perfect Pete."
Gwen stands up and leans in to give Peter a kiss as Mary Jane returns back from upstairs. Mary Jane waits a few moments before interrupting Gwen and Peter's moment.
"Ahem… lovebirds… I've got some clothes for you Pete," MJ says.
"Oh, thanks MJ. Good news is that I don't need stitches, but it'll still take a few days for me to heal," Peter says.
"Tiger, that's great news. I'm glad you're not dead. Now get changed so we can go up and eat dinner, I'm hungry," MJ replies.
"Me too I'm starving, but also still in pain. I think my ribs are broken," Peter groans in pain.
The next day at school Peter is walking to school with Gwen and Mary Jane with something on his mind.
"So, I think Spider-Man isn't going to be seen in public for a little while," Peter tells Gwen and MJ.
"Peter, I know I was super worried about you yesterday, but the city needs you out there. My dad wouldn't be alive without you. He told me last night before I went to bed that you've saved his life twice now," Gwen says.
"Tiger, Gwen is right. You can't let being a little injury sidetrack and get you down," MJ agrees.
"No, it's not that. I-my Spider-Man suit. It was ripped to shreds by the Rhino, it's gonna take me a while to be able to afford to build a new one. All I have left is my mask. I still have some Spider-Man photos I can turn into the Bugle for some money, but… it's going to take a while," Peter says.
"Don't worry Tiger, we'll get you back out there soon," MJ smiles.
"Pete, you'll be back out there before you know it," Gwen kisses Peter on the cheek.
"Also, I think I can add a new superpower to the growing list that I already have," Peter says.
"What?" Gwen and Mary Jane both say together.
"Cellular regeneration. My wound from last night, it's completely healed. I thought it would take days at least for that to happen but it happened overnight. I'm not even in pain anymore," Peter reveals.
Gwen looks at Peter in deep thought about what Peter just said.
"I don't know about cellular regeneration, but definitely an increased healing factor, that's for sure," Gwen says.
"Parker!"
Peter turns around to see who is calling his name before school starts. It's Flash Thompson and Liz Allen running up to Peter.
"Flash? Liz? What's going on?" Peter asks.
"Parker, I know you and Spider-Man are tight since you take pictures of him, but I just wanted to know if he's still alive" Flash says.
"Spider-Man? Yeah, he's still alive, but injured. It'll be a while before he's seen again," Peter tells Flash.
"How long?" Liz asks.
Peter thinks as to how long it'll take him to make the money needed to buy some more unstable molecule fabrics and how long it'll take him to make the suit.
"Like a month, maybe more," Peter answers.
"A month?" Flash yells.
"Did you see what happened to him Flash?" Peter says.
"Peter! Hi, can I talk to you for just a second, alone" Gwen interrupts.
"Sure. I guess… what's up?" Peter leaves with Gwen to talk to her.
Gwen looks at Peter with an irritated expression on her face.
"Peter, what materials could you possibly need for the suit that it would take you a month?"
"Um… unstable molecule fabrics. They're stress resistant, elastic, and flame proof,"
"Huh. I would've thought they were just spandex. I gotta go Peter, and so does MJ. Don't follows us," Gwen says as she quickly leaves grabbing MJ's hand.
"Whoa, Gwen, wait. Why are you mad at Peter?" MJ asks.
"He's planning on giving up on Spider-Man for a whole month. Even though I worry about him every time he goes out there, I'm not gonna let him abandon Spider-Man," Gwen says with determination.
"Okay so what are you going to do about it? Make him a new suit?" MJ asks.
"Exactly. Peter said his suit is made from unstable molecule fabrics. Well, I have some leftover fabrics from my science fair exhibit last spring. You want to come over after school and help me?" Gwen says.
MJ just smiles at Gwen and agrees to help.
Downtown in the Kingpin's office, the Kingpin is currently reading the Daily Bugle with a smile on his face as James Wesley comes in with another copy of the Daily Bugle newspaper.
"I take it, you've seen the news about Spider-Man," Wesley looks at his boss reading the paper.
The title of the front page of the Daily Bugle reads "RHINO AND SPIDER-MAN IN CAHOOTS"
"Yes, Wesley. The Spider-Man has been injured. He is not invincible after all. But Rhino did not kill Spider-Man despite what some people think," Kingpin says.
"Why do you say that?" Wesley asks.
"Spider-Man is not dead until I pull his mask off his rotting corpse!" Kingpin yells.
Wesley has an uneasy look on his face after the Kingpin just yelled at him, which Kingpin notices.
"Sorry Wesley, this Spider-Man has cost me a fortune in terms of revenue. My underworld, my criminal empire has taken irreparable damage. Spider-Man must be destroyed at all costs and the Rhino came close yesterday. Call Rhino and tell him to start causing chaos in upper Manhattan. As always make sure the call is untraceable, so no one can find out" Kingpin says.
"And if Spider-Man doesn't show up?" Wesley asks.
"He will show up, I'm sure of it," Kingpin smiles.
"Very well sir, I'll call the Rhino right now," Wesley says.
Wesley exits the Kingpin's office and proceeds to call Alexei Sytsevich, also known as the Rhino.
After school Peter heads to the cemetery to talk to Uncle Ben for some advice on his life as Spider-Man.
"Hey Uncle Ben, it's been about a week since I saw you in the dream dimension. I miss you, and I've been doing a lot of good as Spider-Man lately. But my suit, it was torn to shreds and now I can't be Spider-Man for a little while until I make a new one. Gwen and MJ both think I should still be Spider-Man for all the good I try to do," Peter says.
Peter kneels down and looks at the gravestone of Ben Parker.
"Gwen? S-she's the best. She makes me the happiest person in the world when I'm with her. I love her. But I can tell she worries about me every time I'm out there saving the city. Especially when I got hurt yesterday," Peter continues.
Peter looks at the trees above him and then back at Uncle Ben.
"Y-you're right Uncle Ben. Suit or no suit, with great power comes great responsibility. I can't forget that, ever. Thank you," Peter finishes.
It's 5:18 PM at the Stacy residence when George hears a knock on the door. George recently got back from the hospital after the incident yesterday and is talking to Yuri inside.
"Don't worry Captain I got the door," Yuri gets up to answer the door.
Yuri opens the door and is surprised to see Peter Parker there. Likewise, Peter is surprised to see Yuri opening the door to Gwen's house.
"Hello Ms…" Peter asks, careful not to give away his secret identity since he already knows Yuri.
"Hi, I'm Lieutenant Yuri Watanabe. You must be Peter Parker, the man who takes pictures of Spider-Man," Yuri says.
"Yeah, how did you…" Peter starts.
"Unfortunately, as much as I hate it, because Spider-Man should recognized as a hero, the NYPD has a task force out there to find out who Spider-Man is under the mask," Yuri reveals.
"And because I take pictures of him, everybody knows about me?" Peter guesses.
"Exactly, so did you come by to see Gwen? I think she's upstairs with a friend. A redhead," Yuri remembers George telling her that Peter and Gwen are dating.
Huh, wonder what Gwen and MJ are doing together," Peter thinks to himself.
"No, actually I came here to see Captain Stacy. I heard what happened, and just wanted to make sure he's okay," Peter says.
"Oh, well come on in then," Yuri invites Peter inside.
Peter walks inside and sees Captain Stacy sitting on the couch in the living room with a cane and a boot on his foot.
"Hi Mr. Stacy, how are you doing? I'm sorry that you got hurt yesterday," Peter says.
"Peter don't worry about me son, I'll be fine. Spider-Man made sure of that" George Stacy smiles at Peter.
"Peter, have you heard from Spider-Man at all? No one has seen him since his fight yesterday with that rhino creature. Some are starting to think he's dead," Yuri says.
"Spider-Man is still alive, don't worry Lieutenant Watanabe," Peter smiles.
Yuri's police dispatch communicator on the coffee table suddenly springs to life.
"Attention all units the rhino creature has been spotted by the Museum of Natural History on the upper west side of Manhattan. Proceed with extreme caution."
Yuri grabs the police dispatch.
"This is acting captain Yuri Watanabe. Create a perimeter as far back as 71st and 90th streets. Do not let him escape into central park. Escort any civilians you find to safety. I'm on my way."
Yuri leaves the Stacy residence in a hurry, leaving just Peter and George Stacy alone. George looks at Peter as he starts to look upstairs towards Gwen's bedroom.
"Peter, do you need to head down there to take pictures of Spider-Man?" George asks.
"Yeah, it's just—we didn't get into a fight, but I could tell Gwen was frustrated with me today. I-I just want to talk to her" Peter thinks about how Gwen was irritated with him at school today and left with MJ in a hurry.
"You should go and get those pictures, so you don't miss Spider-Man for your job. I'll tell Gwen you stopped by and wanted to talk to her," George Stacy says.
"Thanks Mr. Stacy, I'll see you around" Peter turns around and runs back to his house to get his mask.
Peter's Spider-Man mask is the only part of his Spider-Man suit that was not destroyed after his fight and injury with the Rhino that occurred yesterday.
"Go get 'em Spider-Man" George says quietly after Peter leaves.
Yuri Watanabe arrives at the scene at the upper west side and sees nothing but destruction all around. Yuri grabs her walkie talkie and speaks into it.
"Has the perimeter been established? We need to contain the Rhino!" Yuri yells into her walkie.
The Rhino explodes into view across the street, and he throws a police car straight at Yuri. Yuri sees the police cruiser being thrown her way and falls down while closing her eyes, expecting to die.
A few moments pass and Yuri starts to open her eyes wondering why she's not dead. She looks upward and sees Spider-Man holding up the police cruiser that was thrown at her. Spider-Man is only wearing his mask and missing the rest of his suit which confuses Yuri.
"I'm glad you're not one of those cops who rides a horse," Spider-Man jokes.
"Spider-Man? You're still alive? What happened to the rest of your suit?" Yuri asks in curiosity.
"Yeah, turns out spiders are hard to kill. The Rhino basically destroyed the rest of my suit yesterday. So, these jeans and sweatshirt will have to do for now, until I can make another suit," Spider-Man tells Yuri as he sets the police cruiser down.
"Do you have a plan on how to take him down? We don't have enough firepower to take him down," Yuri admits.
"No, not really. But I can't let innocent civilians get caught in harm's way. Yuri, can you clear out any civilians in the area and I'll focus on distracting Rhino and looking for a way to defeat him?" Spider-Man says.
"Roger that. Do your thing Spidey," Yuri smiles.
Mary Jane and Gwen are currently sitting in Gwen's bedroom putting the finishing touches on the suit that they are making for Peter. Gwen looks at the new suit, deep in thought.
"Do you think Peter will like it? With the new colors and everything?" Gwen asks Mary Jane.
"Gwen, Pete is going to love it. Besides the new colors make the suit look even better. A brighter red and a darker shade of blue makes the suit pop a lot more," MJ remarks.
"Thanks, MJ. I just—"
George Stacy knocks on the door and Gwen steps outside to talk to her dad, leaving MJ alone in the room with Peter's new suit.
"Gwennie, are you mad at Peter at all?" George asks.
"No, why? I'm actually making something for him in my room with MJ right now," Gwen answers.
"Peter was just here, and he mentioned that he thought you were angry at him because of something that happened this morning," George Stacy says.
"Pete was here?" Gwen is surprised.
"Yeah, he said he wanted to see you. To talk to you. But the new rhino creature was spotted by the Natural History Museum on the upper west side, so Peter left to get pictures of Spider-Man for his job. Gwennie, why does Peter think you're mad at him?" George Stacy says.
I-Peter was just a little down on himself this morning and I was kind of rude to him this morning on accident," Gwen says thinking back to earlier today.
"Gwen, do you love Peter?" George asks.
"Yes" Gwen says without hesitation.
"Then you need to communicate with Peter. Your mother, before she passed, we had some communication issues, and it almost tore our marriage apart. If you and Peter aren't on the same page, things won't be good, and you might lose Peter. You should call Peter, you need to communicate with him," George gives Gwen advice.
"Thank you Dad, I will" Gwen replies.
Tears fill Gwen's eyes as she thinks about Peter and the last thing she said to Peter. Gwen's phone buzzes, she pulls out her phone and finds that Peter left her a voicemail.
"I'll be downstairs if you need me Gwen," George says as he leaves Gwen's room.
After George leaves, Gwen plays the voicemail that Peter left her out loud in the upstairs hallway.
Gwen, I'm on my way to fight the Rhino right now. You were right, the city does need me. But I need Gwen Stacy more. I need the love of my life by my side. I stopped by your house earlier. Originally, I just stopped by to check in on your father to see how he's doing, but I realized that I actually stopped by because I wanted to talk to you. I-I know you're mad at me for something, even though I don't know what it is. Whatever it is, I'm sorry Gwen. I'm sorry. I don't know if I'll survive the Rhino, but the one thing I do know is that I love you. I love you more than there are stars in the known universe. My heart beats for you and nobody else. No matter what happens, I'm willing to work this out with you because I love you above all else."
Tears are now flooding down Gwen's face after listening to Peter's voicemail as she walks back into her room. MJ looks at Gwen and notices how upset she is.
"Gwen, what's wrong?" MJ is concerned.
"It's Peter, MJ. I love him. I love him so much and he thinks I'm mad at him," Gwen cries.
"Gwen, it's okay. You can tell Pete when he gets back," MJ reassures Gwen.
"No, I need to tell him now… I-I need to see him now," Gwen says.
"Your dad will never let you," MJ says.
"I know that's why I going to climb out of my window and bike over there," Gwen reveals.
Mary Jane looks at Gwen and thinks about her own feelings for Peter and her friendship with Gwen and understands her.
"Okay Gwen. I know you love Peter. I-I'll stay here and finish working on his new suit. You go meet up with your boyfriend," MJ smiles.
Gwen looks back at Mary Jane, embraces her in a hug, and leaves the house to go talk to Peter.
Rhino, with a newly constructed horn, currently has his back turned to Spider-Man as he continues walking down the street destroying everything in his path. Spider-Man grabs an orange construction cone, leaps onto the side of a building, and throws it at Rhino to get his attention. To Spider-Man's surprise the orange cone lands perfectly on Rhino's new horn.
"Oh-ho! I got the thing on the thing! Wha-What do I win?" Spider-Man says.
"YOU!" Rhino says as he turns around to face Spider-Man.
"I win me? Ah, that makes no sense," Spider-Man jokes.
Spider-Man fires a webline punches Rhino across the face. The only exposed part of his rhino suit.
"You don't get it, do you bug? Nothing can penetrate this new armor of mine. Not even you. I'm unstoppable!" Rhino yells.
Spider-Man's spider sense is screaming as Rhino keeps charging towards Spider-Man with murderous intent. Spider-Man is able to dodge all of these attacks by flipping onto walls and keeping his distance.
"So Rhino, you mind if we play 20 questions, while you are, you know trying to kill me and stuff?" Spider-Man asks.
"AARGGGHHHH!" Rhino yells as he misses Spider-Man yet again.
"Yeah, that's what I thought. So, how much is Kingpin offering to you if you kill me?" Spider-Man wonders.
"$200,000, but like I said pauk, nothing can penetrate this armor. Any attempt to do is futile," Rhino says while breathing heavily.
"Pauk? Why you gotta make up insults man? Just make fun of me. I mean come on I don't even have my suit anymore," Spider-Man replies.
"Pauk is not insult, spider. Pauk is russian for spider, da?" Rhino says while trying to catch his breath.
Spider-Man fires a webline around Rhino's two feet and pulls up on the web causing Rhino to trip and fall down. As Rhino gets up, Spider-Man fires another webline kneeing Rhino right in the chest causing him to stumble backwards.
"Rhino, you're right. Your suit is impenetrable. Nothing can break through that armor of yours, not even me. But since nothing can get in your armor that also means nothing can get out," Spider-Man smiles.
Rhino charges hard at Spider-Man again, this time catching Spider-Man off balance as he tries to flip out of the way. The impact from Rhino's hit causes Spider-Man to be flung right into a police cruiser that Yuri is watching the fight from.
"Spider-Man! Are you okay? You figured out a way to stop the Rhino yet?" Yuri asks.
"Owww… I'm fine. I think I've figured out a temporary way to stop him. We need to dehydrate him… Yuri! Watch out!" Spider-Man screams as he swings Yuri out of harm's way.
Rhino is throwing nearby cars at Spider-Man to try and knock Spider-Man off-balance again. Thanks to his superhuman agility and spider sense, Spider-Man is able to maneuver around all of the thrown cars.
"What do you mean dehydrate him?" Yuri asks.
"His armor, it's impenetrable. It means nothing can get into it, but also nothing can get out of it. The only exposed part of his suit is his face, which means his entire body is sweating from just his face. His homeostasis is probably completely out of whack right now. I just need to tire him out," Spider-Man tells Yuri.
Spider-Man fires another webline and jumps back into action where Rhino is. Upon arriving Spider-Man can see the Rhino is visibly sweating all over his face.
"Good almost there, just need a little more energy expenditure from him," Spider-Man thinks to himself.
"Rhino! Missed me, missed me, now you gotta get me! Oh wait, actually forget that last part!" Spider-Man quips.
"AHHH this is your end spider!" Rhino screams as he charges at Spider-Man again.
Spider-Man flips onto Rhino's back while he's still charging and blinds Rhino with his webbing. Unable to see Rhino slows down and tries to remove the webbing, but before Rhino can do that Spider-Man flips off Rhino and delivers a hard roundhouse kick to Rhino's exposed face knocking him out cold.
"Thank god that strategy actually worked. I tried a roundhouse kick yesterday and it barely affected him," Spider-Man sighs in relief.
Quickly before Rhino can recover, Spider-Man covers Rhino in so much webbing that he actually runs out of webbing in both webshooters.
"Spider-Man. Thank you for stopping him, we couldn't have done this without you," Yuri smiles as she runs up to Spider-Man.
"My pleasure Lieutenant," Spider-Man smiles as he runs off to change back into Peter Parker.
As Peter emerges from the dark alley where he took of his mask, he looks back at Yuri when his spider sense goes off like crazy all of a sudden.
"Ahh!" Gwen screams as she almost crashed her bike into Peter who thankfully sidestepped out of the way.
Gwen stops the bike and looks back at who she almost ran into. Her boyfriend, Peter Parker.
"Gwen? What are you doing here? I-I thought you were mad at me?" Peter is confused.
Gwen hops off her bike and runs up to Peter hugs him as tight as she can.
"Peter. I promise I'm not mad at you. I promise. I love you. I-I'm sorry for how I acted this morning. I didn't –um I have a surprise for you back at my house," Gwen smiles.
"I love you too Gwen. D-did you like the voicemail I sent you?" Peter wonders if Gwen checked it yet.
Peter yes, I loved it. It's the most romantic thing anyone has ever done for me," Gwen blushes.
"I was just scared of losing you and I wanted to be sure that you knew how I felt about you," Peter smiles.
Gwen looks Peter in the eyes and says, "Peter Parker, you will never lose me. You are the love of my life, and I will always be right by your side.
Peter looks Gwen in her beautiful eyes and kisses her.
"I love you too Gwen. So, I'm kind of really hungry right now. Want to get dinner somewhere together before we head back?" Peter says once they stop kissing.
"Dinner? You mean like a date?" Gwen asks.
"Yeah, like a date" Peter smiles.
"I'd love to Pete. I know this great shawarma place on 68th street," Gwen says as she locks her arm around Peter's arm and holds his hand.
Note: Please write any reviews or comments about this chapter and what you like about it. Thank you for all the support!
Responses to Reviewers:
GIJose25:
Thank you! The support is always appreciated. A madame web/Spider-Man 2099/Spider verse chapter is eventually going to come but that's a long way down the line right now. I still want this story to be pretty grounded for the most part. I want Peter is to be a friendly neighborhood Spider-Man and not a universal avenger like in the MCU. Yeah, Gwen really wanting to help Peter but not feeling able to do so is part of the reason that is going to lead her to become Ghost Spider in the distant future.
Alix:
I appreciate the feedback. I'll admit the only Doctor Strange media I've seen is the movies and some tv show crossovers. Next time I write about him, I'll be sure to include spells. I'm planning on having Human Torch and the Fantastic Four come back soon. Keep an eye out for what happens in 2 months…
Helen:
Yes, you're totally right on that. When I refer to MJ or Gwen being a damsel in distress I am mostly referring to the movies.
Extro:
Mutants are definitely coming soon, but I just need to figure out how to introduce them. If you have any ideas I am always open to hearing them!