Volume I: The Shocker
Note: This is the 3rd chapter of Volume I, it will explore the introduction of the Daily Bugle, Betty Brant, Peter learning how to fight, and the introduction of the Shocker aka Herman Schultz. In this chapter Gwen will finally realize that she has feelings for Peter.
Today is September 5th and the homecoming dance is coming up soon for the students at Midtown High. Across town, J. Jonah Jameson is faced with a dilemma.
"It's been 2 weeks since this spider-menace has shown up…" Jameson starts.
"He's not a menace Jonah," Robbie Robertson, editor of the Daily Bugle interrupts.
"I write the headlines here Robbie. We need to get pictures of this masked delinquent, and we need to be the first to do it. Tell you what, put an ad in the paper. Cash money for pictures of Spider-Man," Jonah says.
"Alright New York what do you have for me today?" Spider-Man asks himself as he's swinging through Manhattan early in the morning.
Off in the distance Spider-Man sees police sirens heading down 3rd street.
"Ah well what do we have here?" Spider-Man says to himself.
As Spider-Man continues following the police sirens he sees that the situation is a bank robbery in progress with someone familiar stealing the money.
"Herman is that really you again?" What is this the 4th time I've caught you in the past 2 weeks? How are you not in jail?" Spider-Man asks.
"The Kingpin has people everywhere. I'll always be able to get out of jail," Herman smirked.
"Look man, this doesn't have to get violent, you could just surrender now, and you won't get a broken nose," Spider-Man promises.
"You don't understand bug, I've been given an upgrade. I'm the Shocker!" Herman taunts.
"You dressed up in a yellow and brown jacket. Is that really an upgrade? You look like a rotten banana bud," Spider-Man jokes.
Spider-Man runs up to the Shocker, rips a fire hydrant off the ground and throws it at Herman using his webs. Shocker responds by firing a vibrational shock blast from his gauntlets at the fire hydrant shredding into a million pieces before it can get to him.
"Huh, well that's new," Spider-Man remarks.
"Enough of this spider, you're a dead man now!" Herman yells as Herman fires a vibro-shock blast at Spider-Man.
Spider-Man quickly flips out of the way of the blast and attempts to kick Herman in the chest to no avail as Herman was able to absorb the blow thanks to his new suit and punches Spider-Man hard across the face with his gauntlets knocking him back several hundred feet.
"Alright boys let's move out!" Shocker tells his crew as they escape underground into the sewers with the money as Spider-Man has been defeated for the first time.
Later in the afternoon MJ hears a slight knock on her bedroom window to see Peter in his Spider-Man suit waiting outside her bedroom window with a backpack full of his regular clothes in his hand.
"Peter! Don't scare me like that!" MJ says as she opens the window.
"Sorry MJ. I just needed to talk to you. I-I was defeated," Peter admits as he takes off his mask showing a black eye.
"Peter! What happened to your face?" MJ is concerned for Peter.
"I tried to stop a guy in a rotten banana suit using vibrational blasts to rob people and well he didn't take it too well," Peter laughed while wincing in pain.
"Tiger, you need to get rid of that black eye. May will freak if she sees you like this. Let me put some makeup on it to hide your black eye," MJ says.
"Yeah, good point, MJ" Peter agrees.
"Look Anna I don't want Peter to know that I've had to take a 2nd job because I don't want him to worry" Mays says as Peter enters the house.
"Hey Aunt May, I'm home," Peter says. "Who are you talking to?
"Oh, just Anna Watson, don't worry about it Peter," May says.
Peter goes over to the kitchen table and sees a copy of the newspaper offering money for photos of Spider-Man.
"Aunt May do you see this? Is the Daily Bugle really offering cash for photos of Spider-Man," Peter asks.
"Oh, yes sweetie. Apparently, no one has been able to get one good photo of Spider-Man since he has been out masquerading as a hero for the past few weeks," May says.
Peter keeping to himself thinks, "I bet I can use Ben's old camera on auto-shoot and web it to the side of a building while I'm fighting crime as Spider-Man and take those photos to the Daily Bugle to help Aunt May out around the house. I know the bills have been getting tough to pay since Ben died."
Peter is tired and heads upstairs to sleep for the night.
Gwen is by herself in a burning building. The floor beneath her is about to collapse. The fire is starting to get close to her and Gwen thinks she will be burned alive.
She opens her eyes and sees Peter Parker standing in front of her.
Gwen wakes up and sees that it's 7:00 AM already and is curious why she keeps dreaming of her best friend, Peter Parker.
"Peter… why am I always thinking about you. My heart always skips a beat, and I get flustered and nervous when I think of you," Gwen thinks of Peter as she can feel her heart beating in her chest.
George Stacy comes into the bedroom to make sure his daughter is up in time for school.
"Gwennie are you up?... Gwen, you look like you've seen a ghost. Are you okay?" George is concerned for his daughter.
"I don't know. Just got something on my mind… Actually, not something, someone,"
"Who?" George is curious.
"Peter Parker. I don't know why, but I can't stop thinking about him. I don't know why I always get nervous and excited when I hear his name like it's an old friend I haven't seen in years. But it's Peter and I've known him for years, he's my best friend," Gwen admits.
"Gwen, do you think you might have feelings for Peter? Do you think that you might want him to be more than just friends?" George asks Gwen.
Gwen blushes. "Do you think that is what's happening Dad?
"I think that it was only a matter of time before my daughter had her first crush and her first love. To me you guys are the perfect match. Both smart and a strong passion for science and doing what's right," George responds.
"But what if Peter doesn't like me in the same way?" Gwen asks.
"Well, that's the thing Gwen you don't know until you ask. You gotta put yourself out there, letting those feelings stay inside isn't good for anybody," George says.
"Thanks Dad, I love you" Gwen says as her father leaves her room.
It's 10:43 AM as science class is about to end at Midtown High. Gwen is sitting next to Peter, thinking about him.
"Thinking about Peter, it feels like I have butterflies in my stomach," Gwen thinks to herself.
As class is wrapping up Mr. Warren asks one final question, "Does anyone know what it is called when a single cell in the human body splits from a diploid cell in 4 haploid cells? Anybody? Miss Stacy?"
Gwen is too busy thinking about Peter that she didn't hear her name called.
"Miss Stacy?"
"Sorry I-I was distracted. But the answer is meiosis. Meiosis is what happens to cells in sexual reproduction in animal cells, including humans.
"Correct Miss Stacy, but please try to pay attention during class," Mr. Warren asks.
Gwen is embarrassed but the moment passes, and class ends.
"Mr. Parker and Ms. Allen, a moment of your time please."
"Am I in trouble?" Peter asks.
"No, of course not. Ms. Allen on the other hand, I'm afraid the answer to that question is yes. Your grades in this class warrant a tutor so you'll be able to pass this upcoming test in 2 weeks. I'm recommending my best student Peter," Mr. Warren starts.
"No offense Mr. Warren, but wouldn't Gwen be a much better option for this. She's the smartest student in the whole school."
Gwen is still getting her stuff in her bag and starting to leave the class blushes at Peter's comment.
"Mr. Parker, you are the student I am recommending and that is final, besides Miss Stacy has been rather distracted as of late," Mr. Warren responds as he leaves Liz and Peter alone in the classroom together.
"So, I guess I'm your new science tutor," Peter says to Liz. Do you just want to meet up at the coffee bean in a little bit?
"Yeah, Petey sounds great. Is it alright if I call you that?
"Yeah Liz, I like that nickname," Peter smiles.
Great Petey see you in a bit," Liz says as she kisses Peter on the cheek.
Gwen who was outside the classroom with MJ starts feeling jealous seeing another woman kiss Peter.
MJ looks at Gwen and notices something is bothering her.
"Gwen, something on your mind?" MJ asks.
"Peter is," Gwen admits.
"Oh… do you…" MJ starts.
"Yes, I just realized this morning that I have feelings for him, and I don't like seeing Liz kiss Peter like that.
"You wish you were the one kissing Peter on the cheek?" MJ wonders.
"Yes, is that so wrong?" Gwen says sadly.
"No, but you need to tell Peter how you feel. I know he feels the same way about you Gwen, I know it" MJ responds.
"I know, it's just when I see Peter it's like my world just comes to a complete stop and he's the only person that matters to me. I bet I sound crazy MJ" Gwen admits.
"You're not crazy Gwen, that's what love is. When someone makes your entire world stop and all you can do is think about them," MJ is happy that Gwen is in love.
Later in the afternoon Peter is at the coffee bean with Liz as he starts to tutor Liz.
"Alright Liz so the test at the end of this week is on cell division and cell structure. Do you wanna start with cell division or cell structure?" Peter asks Liz.
"Division. I think that's what I remember the most about," Liz says nervously.
"Alright tell me what you know about mitosis," Peter says.
"Well, mitosis is when the cell divides, right?" Liz starts.
"Correct, mitosis happens in both your body and mine in most cells in the body. Muscle cells, bone cells, lung cells, gastrointestinal cells, and countless other types of cells in the body. Can you remember what happens during cell division within the cell?" Peter asks.
"Everything duplicates in different stages and then the cell just like splits apart, right?" Liz guesses.
"Exactly Liz! See you're a natural at this! Peter is happy talking science with Liz.
"Thanks Petey," Liz says while blushing.
Just then a huge explosion rips across the street into the Federal Reserve and sees Shocker strolling along the street with his high-powered gauntlets.
"Liz! You need to get out of here now. This place isn't safe. I'll meet up with you later," Peter tells Liz.
"Petey wait! What about you?" Liz is concerned about Peter.
But Peter was already hidden from sight and changing into Spider-Man to take on the Shocker.
"Peter!" Liz yells out.
"Ma'am you need to get out of here now!" Spider-Man screams at Liz.
"But my friend he's missing!" Liz talks back to Spider-Man.
"That Parker kid? Don't worry about him, he's safe. I promise," Spider-Man says.
Alright Liz is gone, now to deal with my old pal Herman. But first let me set up Ben's old camera to auto-shoot so I can snap some pictures of the fight I'm about to have with Shocker" Spider-Man says to himself.
"Alright boys let this freak have it!" Shocker orders his crew to kill Spider-Man.
"You know Herman that's not very sporting of you. 10 against 1 aren't very fair odds" Spider-Man jokes.
"Don't care. Kingpin wants you dead. You're not really helping him out with his whole criminal empire thing he has going on. Oh wait! You don't know, do you? That day where you first appeared, publicly at least. You saved all those cops. The Kingpin ordered that hit after George Stacy and that lady cop took down one of Hammerhead's businesses," Shocker monologued.
Rage immediately filled Spider-Man's mind. This Kingpin almost killed Gwen and now he's about to kill countless others with all the damage Shocker is causing.
Spider-Man immediately fires a webline towards Shocker and Spider-Man immediately gets knocked to the ground. Spider-Man gets up and punches Shocker's gauntlets as hard as he can without thinking.
"AHHHHH!" Shocker screams in pain as Spider-Man completely shattered Shocker's wrist and rips the gauntlets right off his wrists and webs him to the ground.
Spider-Man looks around for Shocker's men as they've seen to completely disappear from the scene.
"Spider-Man I forgot to tell you. My gauntlets will explode if they are ever taken off by force. Good luck," Shocker smiles under the webbing he is trapped in.
Shocker's gauntlets exploded moments later, creating a huge crack in the Daily Bugle building causing a billboard to come crashing down upon the police below, where both George Stacy and Yuri Watanabe were trying to contain the scene.
"No! Captain Stacy!" Spider-Man screamed as he fired a webline and moved as fast as he could, pushing George Stacy out of the way before the billboard hit the ground. However, Spider-Man himself was trapped under the billboard and unconscious from the impact.
Back at the Parker residence Gwen, Mary Jane, and May are shocked by what they are seeing on the news as they see Spider-Man trapped under the massive billboard.
"Please be okay Peter," MJ says softly under her breath.
"MJ, can I talk to you up in Peter's room for a quick second?" Gwen asks.
Mary Jane obliges, and the two girls go up to Peter's room.
"Mary Jane I'm going to ask you this one time and you better be honest with me. What did you mean by 'please be okay Peter'?" Gwen asks with a serious look on her face.
MJ knows that Peter's secret isn't hers to give away and she thinks of a little fib to tell Gwen that would make sense.
"I-I overhead Peter say he was going to meet Liz at the Coffee Bean to tutor her after school and the Coffee Bean is right next to the Daily Bugle," MJ lies.
Just then Gwen's phone rings and it's her friend Liz Allen.
"Liz? Is Peter with you? Is he okay?" Gwen says as she picks up her phone
"No Gwen I don't know where he is! I was with him at the Coffee Bean and there was this huge explosion and Peter told me to get out of danger and Spider-Man told me to do the same thing, and I don't know where Peter is and I'm scared for him,"
"You just left him there?! How could you?" Gwen screamed back at Liz as she hung up.
"MJ I'm going to go out there to look for Pete, are you coming with?" Gwen asks.
"Definitely. But we can't tell May… yet. I don't want her to worry for Peter unless she has to. She already lost Ben," MJ pleads to Gwen.
"Alright, let's go then" Gwen says.
Several minutes later Peter wakes up and realizes that he's trapped under the billboard, unable to move.
"Come on spider strength," Peter says to himself as he tries to lift the massive billboard off himself.
(Outside the billboard)
"Captain! Are you okay?" Yuri asks as she runs up to a bloodied George Stacy.
"I am thanks to Spider-Man. He pushed me out of the way right before this billboard fell on him. We're working on removing the billboard but it's gonna take time and there's no telling how badly injured he is," George says with a serious expression on his face.
At that point a loud scream is heard from beneath the billboard. Both George and Yuri are shocked to see Spider-Man still alive and attempting to lift the billboard off himself.
"Men help Spider-Man lift that thing off of him!" George Stacy commanded.
"AHHHHH!" Spider-Man screams as he is using every ounce of strength he has in his body.
"Gwen I'm not gonna die, I'm not gonna die. I care about you too much," Spider-Man says to himself as he lifts the 10-ton billboard off his body.
"Spider-Man! Are you okay?" Yuri asks as she drags his body out from under the billboard.
"Owww… yeah, I'll live. Thank you, lieutenant. I owe you one," Spider-Man says wincing from the pain.
"Glad to see you still alive Spidey. This city needs you. Get out of here though, you stick around any longer and I'll have to arrest you as the police department still has a no vigilante policy," Yuri says smiling.
"Roger that lieutenant. See you around," Spider-Man says.
Spider-Man swings off to a nearby building where he webbed his camera to and looks at the shots he got from the fight.
"Yes! These are amazing. First thing tomorrow before school I'll go to the Bugle and give these to them," Peter says to himself.
Peter then notices both Gwen and MJ down below.
"Huh, wonder what they're doing here," Spider-Man wonders.
"Spider-Man?" a feminine voice from behind him says.
"Uh sorry, who are you? If you here about autographs then you'll have to call my agent," Spider-Man jokes.
"My name is Barbara Morse, but most people just call me Bobbi, and I come on behalf of Nick Fury and S.H.I.E.L.D." the mysterious woman says.
"S.H.I.E.L.D. as in like the super secret government agency that looks out over the entire world?" Spider-Man asks.
"Yep, that same one. Kid we'd like to offer you a spot with S.H.I.E.L.D." Bobbi says.
"No offense but I'm uh only in high school and my life is pretty hectic as it is," Spider-Man replies.
"Then let me train you kid. Nobody knows who you are under that mask. But you wear that mask to protect your loved ones, right?
"Yeah, I do" Spider-Man replies.
"You keep fighting against the people you fight when you have no clue how to fight your loved ones will be attending your funeral. You're gonna get yourself killed kid. Let me train you, tomorrow after you get out of school," Bobbi says.
"Fine, but I keep the mask on, call me crazy but I don't trust a strange woman who just came to talk to me on a rooftop," Spider-Man wants to be trained.
"Fair enough Spider-Man, meet me at the warehouse by 44th Street and Crescent in Queens" Bobbi agrees to train Spider-Man.
"See you then Bobbi" Spider-Man says.
Down below Gwen and Mary Jane have arrived on the scene and are talking with George Stacy.
"Dad! Have you seen Peter? Please! He was here when Shocker attacked and I'm really worried for him," Gwen pleads with her father.
"Gwen I'm sure Peter did the smart thing and got himself to safety. I'm sure he's fine" George says with a little worry in his voice.
"G-Gwen?" Peter says softly behind Gwen still wincing in pain.
"Peter! You're okay! I was so worried for you!" Gwen runs up to Peter and hugs him.
"Of course I'm okay. It'll take more than a supervillain to take me out," Peter says as he kisses Gwen on the cheek. "Gwen, I'm sorry I didn't mean to—"
Pete, it's okay. I quite liked that kiss a lot actually" Gwen says while blushing quite a bit.
"Well, I did too Gwen," Peter is blushing as well.
Early the next morning, Peter is stopping by the Daily and Bugle to drop off his photos of Spider-Man and Peter is surprised to see someone right outside J. Jonah Jameson's office.
"Betty? What are you doing here?" Peter asks.
Betty Brant is one of Peter's classmates at Midtown High, has dark hair with some freckles, and is 5'4.
"Pete? You look… good but what on earth are you doing here? I work here as an intern before and after school" Betty says.
"Thanks Betty, but I heard you guys were looking for some pictures of Spider-Man and I got some," Peter smiles.
"Really?" Betty asks.
"Yeah, ever since my uncle died my aunt has been having a more difficult job paying the bills so I'm trying to help her out by getting some money for these pictures," Peter says.
"That's admirable Pete, I'll go in the office with you if you want," Betty responds.
"Thanks Betty, I'd appreciate that."
At that moment the doors to Jameson's office burst open.
"Hoffman that is the dumbest idea I have ever heard, and you have had some doozies!" Jameson yells.
"Ms. Brant why are you wasting time talking to strangers, get back to work" Jameson ordered.
"Actually, sir my name is Peter Parker, and I'm here to sell you some pictures of Spider-Man that I took yesterday during Shocker's Federal Bank Reserve heist," Peter interrupted.
"Let me see those kid," Jonah says as he grabs the photos from Peter's hand. Kid, how'd you get these? Nobody been able to get a photo of this guy," Jonah asks Peter.
"Uh I climbed the side of a building," Peter smiles nervously.
"Ms. Brant! Get these photos authenticated immediately!" Jonah yelled.
Betty obliges as she grabs the photos and disappears into the Daily Bugle building.
"Authenticated? You can't take me at my word? I promise those photos aren't doctored sir," Peter says.
"Kid we've had at least 10 people come in with doctored photos yesterday. We can't put those in the paper. I gotta protect the Bugle's integrity," Jonah explains.
A few minutes later Betty returns with a smile on her face.
"Good news Mr. Jameson. These photos are 100% authentic and not doctored," Betty says with a smile on her face as she looks at Peter.
"What? How is that possible? Let me see those."
Jameson starts sifting through the photos with a smile creeping upon his face knowing that these photos of Spider-Man are legit.
"Crap, crap, crap, mega crap, worst photo I've ever seen. Alright I'll give you 150 for all of these," Jonah says to Peter.
"Make it 300," Peter says thinking of his Aunt May and wanting to help her out with bills around the house.
"That's outrageous. Done. Ms. Brant, give Peter Parker his money and both of you get out of here. School's starting up for the both of you" Jonah says.
Peter and Betty make their way out of the Bugle and start heading for school.
"So Pete, am I gonna be seeing more of you at the Bugle?" Betty wonders.
"I think so Betty, I'll stop by whenever I have pictures to sell" Peter smiles.
Betty looks back at Peter and can't stop noticing how good looking he looks.
"Peter, am I really falling for you?" Betty says in her thoughts.
"See you at school Betty," Peter says as he runs down the stairs to change into Spider-Man and swing to school.
School has now ended for the day and Peter is getting ready to head to the abandoned warehouse in Queens for his first day of training with Bobbi as Liz comes running up to Peter.
"Petey! Wait up!"
"Liz?" Hi, what's up?" Peter asks.
"Hi Petey, I just wanted to say thank you for starting to tutor me. I can tell it's really helping and, I'm really glad you're okay and didn't get hurt" Liz says.
"Well, I'm glad the tutoring is helping. Haven't ever tutored anyone before so I'm happy it's working for you" Peter says.
Liz keeps looking at Peter, which causes Peter to get a little flustered.
"Uh is there anything else you wanted to tell or ask me" Peter is nervous.
"Well, I was just wondering if you're doing anything Friday night?" Liz asks.
"Well yeah, aren't we going to be tutoring together?" Peter asks.
Oh yeah of course, sorry I forgot about that. But I was asking if you were going to the homecoming dance or not," Liz says.
"Liz Allen, are you asking me to the homecoming dance on Friday night?" Peter is blushing quite a bit.
"Yes?" Liz says nervously.
"Yeah, I'd be honored to be your date to homecoming Liz. But I gotta be honest, I never thought in a million years you would ever be interested in a nerd like me" Peter is curious.
"Well, you're a hot science nerd to me Petey," Liz says as she kisses him on the cheek. I'd stay and walk you home, but I have cheerleading practice in 10 minutes."
"It's okay Liz I actually really have to be somewhere in 10 minutes as well. See you tomorrow," Peter says as he embraces Liz in a hug.
Peter enters the warehouse as Spider-Man and is looking for Bobbi as Peter is eager to start his training. Spider-Man sees a couple of punching bags and some gymnastic mats laid out. Without warning Peter's spider sense goes off and Peter just manages to dodge the bullet that was aimed at him. Peter looks behind him and sees Bobbi with a gun in her hand.
"Bobbi? You could have killed me!" Spider-Man yells.
"Relax Spider-Man, this is only a paint ball gun. I just want to see if the rumors were true. If you have a pre-cognition sense that warns you of danger. It's the only explanation for how you've managed to stay alive this long," Bobbi explains.
Spider-Man with a much calmer expression under his mask softly says, "Oh that's my spider sense. Warns me of danger and instinctually tells me how to avoid said danger. But uh can we get started with the training. This cute girl just asked me out to homecoming, and I probably need to get home at a reasonable hour."
"Okay then. Let's get started. Why don't you strike this punching bag," Bobbi suggests.
Spider-Man strikes the punching bag of the warehouse so hard that the punching bag gets knocked all the way across the warehouse and out onto the street.
"How was that?" Spider-Man asks.
"That was really good, if you wanted to kill someone. You have to hold back on your strength, or you are going to kill people. Spider-Man if you really want to be a hero just knock out the bad guys. There's no need to send them to the hospital. It should be a last resort. You've sent hundreds of bad guys to the hospital because you're not holding back. You need to show some restraint" Bobbi says.
"I'm sorry Bobbi I never wanted to hurt them, I just wanted to stop them and protect the innocent people from getting hurt. I'll start holding back on my punches," Spider-Man says in a serious tone.
"Alright let's get started then," Bobbi smiles.
Over the next few days from the hours of 4PM-11PM with dinner in between Bobbi trains Peter in a mix of many marital arts forms including Kickboxing, Taekwondo, Karate, Lucha Libre, and Wing Chun.
"Spider-Man you've progressed and learned all of these fighting styles faster than I ever thought possible. You now know how to fight. Thanks to Wing Chun you know how to block and counterattack an opponent instead of just leaping out of the way each time. Thanks to Kickboxing and Taekwondo you know how to strike with your feet and not just your arms. There's one final fighting style I want to show you. I think it'll work well with how flexible and maneuverable you have shown to be in combat prior to our training. It's called the Capoeira," Bobbi is proud of Spider-Man.
"The Capoeira? Sounds Portuguese" Spider-Man says.
"That's because it is" Bobbi responds.
Bobbi proceeds to show Spider-Man the ins and outs of the Capoeira and the Martelo de Negativa move. Spider-Man sees that the Martelo de Negativa move uses the entire body as a pendulum to deliver a knockout kick.
Thanks to Spider-Man's understanding of physics and pendulums he is able to easily incorporate the Martelo de Negativa into his own unique combat style which uses a mix of all the different fighting styles he has learned.
"Spider-Man I have taught you everything I know. Now come and prove to me you've truly mastered everything I have taught you," Bobbi challenges Spider-Man as she steps onto the gymnastic mat.
Bobbi strikes first which Spider-Man is easily able to evade without relying on his spider sense. Spider-Man counters with a flying knee into Bobbi's chest. Bobbi attempts to counter with a leg sweep, but Spider-Man swiftly delivers a roundhouse kick and knocks Bobbi down to the ground.
"Spider-Man you are spectacular. You have mastered everything I have taught you and I have nothing left to teach. My work is done for now," Bobbi is proud of what Spider-Man has accomplished in his training in a very short time period.
"Bobbi, I have to ask, why did you decide to train me?" Spider-Man is curious.
"Nick Fury's orders. He didn't want a teenage hero to end up dead in the streets," Bobbi answers.
"Well thank you, I appreciate it, but how does he know I'm a teenager?" Spider-Man asks.
"Spider-Man your voice just cracked, obviously your body is still changing. Although we still don't know who you are under the mask, but that's okay for now. See ya around kid."
"See ya" Spider-Man says as he swings out of the warehouse.
"It's Wednesday so I have 2 days until homecoming. I need to plan out what I'm gonna do for Liz," Peter says to himself.
It's Thursday now, the day before homecoming and Peter goes over to talk to Gwen and Harry who are having lunch together at school.
"Hi Harry, hi Gwen. Do you guys mind if I sit down with you?" Peter asks.
"Yes, we mind. Please just leave me alone Peter," Gwen says angrily.
"Oh sorry. I didn't mean to interrupt. I'm sorry" Peter said with a sadness in his voice.
Peter left the lunchroom quickly and left school as well in the middle of lunchtime.
Gwen immediately regretted what she told Peter and instantly wanted to apologize but she was too late. Peter had already left.
Gwen looked for Peter in her next few classes, but Peter didn't show up to a single one of them. Gwen started to worry for Peter as she had no idea where he was.
Later in the afternoon, MJ arrived at the Stacy residence after school and is hanging out with Gwen.
"Gwen what's bothering you? I've never seen you this sad before. Ever since lunch you look like someone just kicked your dog," MJ is concerned for Gwen.
"I'm mad at myself for the way I've been treating Peter lately. We've been distant ever since he started dating Liz and he tried to talk to me at lunch today and I told him to go away and leave me alone. I've been a jerk to Peter and it's not even his fault. I mean I never even told him how I felt about him and now he's dating Liz, and I feel like I lost my best friend," tears start flooding down Gwen's face.
"Gwen, Peter still deeply cares about you, otherwise he wouldn't have been hurt that much. I know this is gonna sound crazy but Peter, I know he feels the same way about you. He's just confused right now."
"I don't want to be his second choice" Gwen says still crying.
"Gwen, I promise you're not, but Peter needs you as his friend right now. He needs you more than he realizes" MJ tries to cheer Gwen up.
"You're right MJ. I have to fix this. Let's go find Peter," Gwen says as she's wiping away her tears.
A few minutes later the two girls arrive at Peter's house to find May pacing on the front porch worrying about Peter.
"Mary Jane, Gwen have you seen Peter?" May asks. "The principal called and said he left the school after lunch and hasn't been seen since."
Mary Jane spoke up.
"Mrs. Parker, we're actually looking for Peter right now. We'll find him don't worry, I promise we will find Peter," MJ reassures May.
"You two ladies are too nice. I'm glad Peter has you two in his life," May smiles.
Half an hour later Mary Jane and Gwen are still looking for Peter when Mary Jane has a question.
"Who is one person Peter would always go to for advice, maybe that's where Peter is?"
"Ben!" MJ and Gwen said at the same time.
That's where Peter is… at the cemetery. I just know it" Gwen says.
Sometime later at the cemetery, Gwen and MJ both arrive and see Peter looking at Uncle Ben's gravestone with tears in his eyes.
"Uncle Ben… I don't know what to do anymore. I've been listening to the last words you said to me. With great power comes great responsibility. I've tried my best to honor you and use my powers for good. But this girl Liz Allen asked me out and I said yes, and it's been great being with her. But ever since we started dating, Gwen and I have grown apart and I miss having Gwen in my life. Today at lunch I wanted to tell her exactly that, but she told me to leave her alone. I don't know what Gwen is going through but I want to help Gwen. I just don't know how. I miss you Gwen"
"Peter I'm so sorry" Gwen says from behind Peter.
"Gwen?" Peter is surprised to see Gwen here.
"Peter I'm so sorry for what I said to you at lunch. It was unforgiveable what I said. I've just been struggling with some things recently and I took it out on you. I'm sorry and I miss you, Peter. I miss seeing you in class. I miss talking to you every day. Peter, I need you in my life," Gwen cries.
"Gwen, I need you in my life too. You're too important to me. You too Mary Jane" Peter says with happy tears in his eyes as he embraces his three friends in a hug.
"Peter, does Liz make you happy?" Gwen asks as each of them are making their way back home.
"Yes, yes, she does. Things have been great between us since we started dating a few days ago," Peter smiles.
"Pete, I just want you to be happy, and if she makes you happy then Liz is perfect for you," Gwen says as she and MJ go inside Mary Jane's house and Peter goes inside his house.
(Inside MJ's house)
"Gwen" MJ says.
"Look I know what you're going to say and you're right. I'm in love with Peter Parker and there's no way around it. But I love Peter to the point where if he can't be with me then I just want him to be happy, okay?" Gwen says.
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