Chapter 5: Gang War

Note: From the last chapter being Peter creating his Spider-Man suit, this chapter takes place after Peter has been Spider-Man for 8 months and gotten some experience.

Bullets whiz by Spider-Man's mask fired by the Kingpin's men, armed with automatic weapons and bulletproof vests in his favorite bodega on Crescent Street in Queens. Still, the bulletproof vests didn't mean they were immune to punches and kicks from Spider-Man.

"I've been Spider-Man for 8 months now and you guys still can't hit me? Man, stormtrooper syndrome is real," Spider-Man quips.

Spider-Man's phone begins to ring in his utility belt, while he dodges the slew of bullets through the air kicking one of Kingpin's men across of the jaw, while his fist connects with another of Kingpin's men's shoulders sending him flying out of the bodega and out into the street, unconscious. Spider-Man flips behind the counter of his favorite bodega to check who's calling. Gwen Stacy.

"Can't forget. I promised to meet Gwen in the library before school starts. Can't be late," Peter tells himself.

Looking under the cracks of the counter, Spider-Man shoots a webline onto the shoes of the Kingpin's men and pulls on the webline causing the crooks to fall backwards on their asses.

"Maybe you guys should re-think this whole bad guy thing. I mean clearly, it's just not working out for you," Spider-Man jokes.

Flipping back over the counter, Spider-Man launches a jar of peanut butter directly at one of the crooks with another webline as he answers Gwen's call.

"Hey, Gwen. What's up?"

"Peter, you better not be running late," a stern voice on the other line said.

"I'm good. Just ran into some trouble at Teo's Bodega. I'll be at school soon, for whatever you have to talk to me about.

"Trouble?"

"Yeah, there is just some traffic at Teo's, but I'm fine. Heading towards school now."

Spider-Man launches a roundhouse kick onto the last of the Kingpin's henchman causing him to fall onto the ground with a resounding thud. Spider-Man cautiously makes way towards the register to make sure Teo, the owner of the is okay.

"Teo? You okay? Sorry about this whole mess, honestly wasn't even looking for trouble today. Just wanted to grab a coke on my way to school," Spider-Man tells Teo, muting his call with Gwen for the moment.

Teo, slowly gets up with the help of Spider-Man the fear in his eyes slowly evaporating, "Spidey, you saved my life. B-But how do you know who I am? I'm just a random bodega owner," Teo stutters.

"Not just any bodega owner. The owner of the best bodega in New York. Let me help you pick up the mess I made," Spider-Man smiles.

One by one Spider-Man picks up the knocked over soda cans, packaged chips, and snacks cluttered throughout the bodega as he continues to talk to Gwen on the phone as he unmutes the call.

"Hmm. Okay Pete, just hurry. I wanna talk to you here in the library before school starts soon."

"Will do Gwen. I'll be there as soon as I can."

Spider-Man ends the call as he finishes picking up the last of the knocked over debris and food items and makes his way over to Teo once again.

"Teo, sorry again about everything. Really didn't mean for this to ha—"

Teo interrupts Peter's alter ego before he can even continue talking. "Nonsense, here, have this on the house," Teo says with a subtle smile as he slides a coke bottle over to Spider-Man.

"On the house? Teo, you don't need to do this," Spider-Man responds.

"It's the least I can do Spidey. Besides you even said you just came here to get a coke. Have it as a thanks for saving my life," Teo smiles.

Spider-Man looks across at Teo, the man he's come to know as the friendliest bodega owner in town smiling back at him, thankful for his life. Spider-Man returns the favor by offering his thanks towards Teo.

"Thank you, Teo" Spider-Man hesitantly says.

The sounds of police sirens begin to fill the air surrounding Teo's bodega as thunder can be heard rumbling in the clouds high above. A pair of police squad car skid to a drifting halt just outside the bodega that was previously under assault.

Teo, look. I'd love to stick around, but the police aren't exactly my biggest fans. I owe you one," Spider-Man yells as he swings away.

Teo can only smile as he watches Spider-Man swing away into the early morning as two police officers come rushing into the bodega, with their names encrusted onto their uniforms. Lt. Y. Watanabe and Capt. G. Stacy.

Peter stumbles into the library where Gwen is waiting for him with her eyes glued to her phone screen reading a news article on interestingly enough, Teo's Bodega. Walking up behind Gwen, Peter read the first few lines of the article detailing Spider-Man's intervention of the armed robbery at Teo's just earlier this morning.

"Hey Gwen, whatcha reading?"

Gwen, recognizing the voice immediately, drops her phone onto the library desk and swirls around embracing Peter in a hug.

"Peter! Thank god you're okay! Why didn't you tell me about the shooting? I thought you died!" Gwen cries.

Seeing the tears flow down her cheeks regret instantly fills into Peter's mind, wishing he texted Gwen that he wasn't hurt in the shooting. Peter slowly lifts his hand to brush the tears off Gwen's cheeks.

"I'm sorry, Gwen. I just didn't want you to worry."

I hate lying to Gwen like this, but it's for her own safety. Especially with how many times my life has been threatened in the past 8 months as Spider-Man," Peter laments in his thoughts.

Gwen's crystal blue eyes look up towards Peter swimming with emotion as she wipes her eyes in an attempt to stop the tears from flowing.

"Thanks, Pete. Just next time tell me when something like that happens, so I don't go worrying my head off," Gwen says with a half-smile.

"Will do. So, what was it you wanted to talk about here in the library?" Peter wonders.

"Well, I just wanted to ask how your date went with Betty when you guys went to the movies on Friday night," Gwen says.

"Right, Friday night. The date. Well, it didn't go exactly according to plan," Peter mutters, as he begins thinking back to what happened on Friday.

(Flashback to last Friday night at the movies)

"Pete, come on! We're gonna be late!" Betty tells her date.

Betty grabs Peter's hand leading him towards the ticket lines leading up to the box office of the movie theatres, while Peter can only smile at Betty. Grateful to be on a date with her, his first date ever with a girl as a matter of fact.

Peter wanted this first date to be perfect, he still couldn't believe that he was dating someone as good-looking as Betty Brant. As they arrive at the movie theater Peter's heart skips a beat while Betty gives Peter a small kiss on his cheek.

While waiting to obtain their tickets an explosion rips across the street, sending Peter, Betty, and every other pedestrian on the street tumbling towards the ground. Peter takes a quick glance in the direction of the explosion and immediately can tell what the cause of the giant explosion was.

"Schultz," Peter mutters under his breath, remembering the news of his breakout from prison a few days ago.

Peter's heart beats and pounds in his chest. He had to do something; he could hear Uncle Ben's last words echo in his mind over and over again.

"With great power there must also come great responsibility."

He couldn't let Shocker get away with another bank robbery, the police were outmatched as it is. But he wasn't in his suit; no way he could take on the Shocker without his suit, lest his secret identity be exposed.

Another vibrational blast from the Shocker came hurtling in Peter's direction. Peter knew he had to act. Taking notice of Betty's temporary distraction, Peter quickly sneaks out of sight as he changes into Spider-Man.

Moments later, the leaping figure of Spider-Man lands on top of an abandoned car right outside the bank.

"Hi Herman," Spider-Man smirks, making sure to get Shocker's attention.

Shocker turns to face Spider-Man, his mustard yellow and chocolate brown suit shimmering in the hazy afternoon sunlight shining down upon Manhattan. Dollar bills can be seen fluttering around in the air from the wind and destruction already caused inside the bank by the Shocker.

"It's you," Shocker growls, remembering the first and only time he went toe to toe against Spider-Man ending in an embarrassing defeat.

"Yeah, I know it's me. But, uh Herman. Jailbreaks are little out of your… oh how do I put it nicely… intellectual capacity. Who broke you out of Ryker's?" Spider-Man asks.

"You'll pay for that wall crawler!" Shocker seethes, ignoring Spider-Man's question and unleashing a vibrational shock wave right at his adversary.

Flipping over the vibrational blast, Spider-Man fires a webline, just managing to grab onto one of the police officers in harm's way from the chunks of concrete that continue to fall towards the ground due to Shocker's destruction of the bank. Performing a swing kick, Spider-Man knocks Shocker back into the bank with his loot stolen still firmly in his hand.

"Why are you doing this Herman? You knew the police would be looking for you everywhere once you escaped jail. Why go into the heart of Manhattan and rob a bank?" Spider-Man asks trying to make polite conversation.

Spider-Man fires two weblines toward Shocker propelling himself towards Shocker as fast as possible. Spider-Man fist connects directly with Herman Schultz's jaw, but due to Shocker's vibrating suit much of the force from Spider-Man's punch is deflected.

"Because if I didn't. They'd kill my sister," Shocker admits, while slamming Spider-Man against the wall after firing one of his vibrational shock blasts.

"Y-your sister?" Spider-Man grits through his teeth while painfully crumbling to the ground from Shocker's attack.

Taking advantage of Spider-Man's dazed state right now, Shocker fires another vibrational blast right at Spider-Man's face knocking him unconscious. Shocker steps out into the open and uses his vibro-shock gauntlets to launch himself into the air and away from the police and Spider-Man.

…

Sometime later Peter comes to, not sure how long he's been unconscious for as he's being vigorously shaken by a police officer. Peter looks through the white eye lenses of his mask at the dark hair woman of Asian decent who brought him back to consciousness.

"Spider-Man! Are you okay?"

"Ugh… my head is killing me, but I think I'll be fine, all things considered. Shocker said he was only robbing these banks because someone was going to kill his sister if he didn't," Spider-Man mumbles.

"You better get out of here Spidey. Other cops won't look too kindly on you, but thanks for saving me back there. If not for you Schultz would've killed me," the officer responds as she offers a hand to help Spider-Man stand up.

Standing up with the help of the police officer, Spider-Man looks at the nameplate of the police officer on their uniform. Lt. Y. Watanabe. Brushing some concrete debris off his shoulders Spider-Man says his goodbyes before taking off.

"Thanks Lieutenant Watanabe. Just glad I could help out," Spider-Man says.

"H-How do you know who I am?" Lieutenant Watanabe stumbles.

"Uh, well it's right there on your badge," Spider-Man smirks, pointing to her badge on Lieutenant Watanabe's uniform.

Lieutenant Watanabe lets out a small chuckle as Spider-Man starts walking away, preparing to swing out of the bank as his mind starts to drift towards Betty.

"Crap! Who knows how long I've been gone. Betty's gonna kill me," Spider-Man berates himself in his mind.

"Right of course. Well, keep fighting the good fight Spidey, and call me Yuri. Everyone else does," Lieutenant Watanabe smiles.

"Will do. See ya around Yuri," Spider-Man says as he swings away from the bank to get back to Betty.

(Present Day)

"How did the date with Betty not go according to plan?" Gwen asks.

Peter's face turns beet red with embarrassment as he still thinks about how he basically abandoned Betty during their date to go take on the Shocker.

"Well, I kinda had to leave in the middle of the date to go take care of something," Peter admits, not wanting to lie to Gwen.

Gwen crosses her arms with her eyebrows furrowing down upon her face, "You mean you flaked out on her and ditched your first date with her. What the hell, Peter. That's not cool. She's obviously super upset about it if she hasn't bothered to text you back all weekend long, and by extension I'm upset with you too. She deserves better than that, Peter."

Peter had never seen Gwen so angry before, he could practically see the steam coming out of her ears. He knew he deserved this lecture from Gwen and hangs his head in shame as he softens his voice in shame.

"I know I screwed up massively, there was something really important that just had to be taken care of."

"Peter, all of us are dealing with stuff, okay? It's like you have a whole secret side to your life that nobody knows about. You have to think about the consequences of your actions, Peter.

"The consequences of my actions, huh? If I didn't intervene as Spider-Man on my date with Betty, well Yuri would be dead," Peter laments in his thoughts.

At the top floor of the Daily Bugle in Midtown Manhattan sits J. Jonah Jameson and Robbie Robertson discussing some recent city events involving a certain spider-themed webslinger. Jameson sits down in his office chair lighting a cigar, while Robbie continues to press on about Spider-Man.

"Jonah, I'm telling you he's not a menace!" Robbie argues.

"Then why does he wear a mask, Robbie? What's he got to hide? He doesn't want people to know who he is? I'll make him infamous!" Jonah huffs.

Robbie paces around the room for a few moments before speaking again, briefly looking out the window at Central Park just off to the side before returning his attention to Jameson.

"Jonah most heroes in this city wear masks to hide their identities. Iron Man, Daredevil, Iron Fist…"

The Devil of Hell's Kitchen? You think he's real? Robbie! He's a figment of the underworld's imagination! He doesn't exist, first of all! Second of all, IF the devil did exist, he's a vigilante! Not a hero," Jonah exclaims.

"Jonah, you have to look at the facts here. All Spider-Man has done is save people over and over for the past 8 months without even asking as much of a thank you from anyone," Robbie insists.

Removing the cigar from his mouth, Jonah closes his eyes and blows some smoke out of his mouth as he leans back in his chair putting both of his feet on top of his desk. Opening his eyes, Jonah finds Robbie still staring down intently at him.

"Saving people? More like reckless endangerment. Stay out of the way and let the police do their job," Jonah counters.

Robbie's frown turning even more sour, "Regardless, we need to figure out to get pictures of Spider-Man. No other competing newspaper has had even close to a clear picture of him. He simply moves too fast for anyone to get a clear shot of him."

"Agreed. Tell you what, put an advert out in the afternoon edition of the paper. Freelance photographer wanted. Cash, money for pictures of Spider-Man" Jameson says, putting his cigar down on the table.

The rest of the school day passes quickly for Peter as he focuses on his studies and paying attention in his AP classes. Throughout his classes that day Peter looks over to Gwen several times, guilt swelling in his mind over ditching Betty, with Gwen now angry at him.

"Good old Park luck always has my back. She won't even look at me. My best friend, the person I tell everything too. Well, except for Spider-Man… but now I can't even talk to her," Peter laments in his mind as he leaves his last class and makes his way over to his locker.

At the lockers Peter starts to gather his stuff from his locker while secretly putting more cartridges full of web fluid into his webshooter, which are hidden on his wrists under his sweater. On the other side of the hallway Gwen is at her locker grabbing her stuff to go home, while chatting with Betty Brant.

"Betty look, I'm sure Peter didn't want to flake out on you this weekend," Gwen starts.

"Is that so? Just doesn't feel like we're meant to be," Betty replies.

"Look, I've known Pete for years. He wouldn't do that unless he had a very good reason too," Gwen insists.

"Listen, Gwen. Pete's pretty cute…okay he's really cute. But Gwen, I've seen the way you look at him. When are you going to tell Peter how you feel about him?"

"I—Wha-What do you mean?" Gwen stammers.

Out of the corner of her eye, Gwen spots Peter heading for the exit as he leaves school for the day with his blue backpack slung over just one shoulder while Betty continues to pepper Gwen about her feelings for Peter.

"Gwen, come on. You like Peter, don't you?" Betty presses.

"So, what if I do? You're the one dating him, Betty" Gwen counters.

"Gwen Stacy. For me, Peter is just an attractive boy at our school. But you, Gwen Stacy. You actually have feelings for him. There's no future between me and Peter. But you and Pete? There's something there, why are you so hesitant to talk to him about your feelings?" Betty asks.

Gwen shifts her gaze down to the ceramic tiles on the ground of the school hallway, while shifting her feet around uncomfortably.

"I don't know, Betty. Guess I'm just waiting for the right time," Gwen sighs.

"Gwen, at this point the right time will never come. Don't be afraid about what might happen, drink some courageous juice and show Peter how you feel about him. Pete may not know it yet, but he definitely likes you too," Betty smiles.

A few hours later, the last remnants of the spring sun disappear below the horizon of New York City as a familiar red and blue clad figure lands on the side of the Chrysler building. Spider-Man eventually makes his to way over to a deformed gargoyle creature sculpted onto the Chrysler building and takes off his mask as darkness begins creeping over the city. A smile begins to creep upon Peter's face as he pats the gargoyle he nicknamed Bruce on the head.

"Hey Bruce. How's it going?" Peter asks the gargoyle.

The gargoyle just stares back at Peter as if trying to tell him something.

"Yeah, I feel that Bruce. I've been Spider-Man for 8 months now…and I've done a lot of good. Saved a lot of people. Put away some bad guys like Electro, Vulture, and that guy who dressed up in that big bear suit. That was funny. And Shocker…Whose sister is being threatened by someone. And then there's Gwen… I know it's to protect her from being put in harm's way, but I absolutely hate lying to her."

Silence. The gargoyle's hard cut, stone eyes pierce through Peter's soul as thunder starts to rumble in the distance.

"No, you're right Bruce. Doesn't matter who people are, I still can't look the other way when I can help. I need to find Shocker again and talk to him. And Gwen, now she wants nothing to do with me."

Down on the streets of Manhattan, the glowing sirens of several police cars make their sound audible to Peter, who is currently perching on the skyline of Manhattan. Peter makes one more passing remark to Bruce before putting his mask back on and diving off the Chrysler building towards the police squad cars below.

"See ya around Bruce, until next time," Spider-Man smirks.

Spider-Man quickly follows the group of squad cars towards the Williamsburg bridge where a slew of gunfire can be heard ringing throughout the streets as his phone rings inside utility belt pocket.

"Peter? What are you doing?"

"Gwen? Uhh… I'm just in Manhattan right now but I'm going to swing back towards Queens soon. What's up?"

Peter's spider sense goes off as some of the stray bullets start to fly in his direction from the criminals spotting him swing by. It's another gang fight in the streets. Spider-Man easily deciphers who the gang on the far right side of the street under the Williamsburg bridge by their brightly colored purple outfits with the name "Kingpin" stitched onto their backs. What isn't clear, however is how the Kingpin's men are firing at.

Spider-Man lands down on the street below on top one of the Kingpin's men, instantly knocking the wind out of him before firing two weblines onto the two Kingpin thugs behind Spider-Man. Peter pulls on the two weblines smashing the crooks into each other and knocking them out.

"Oh well, Pete I know it's kind of late and everything, but I wanted to ask if you just wanted to come over to study with me."

Spider-Man immediately fires a webshot blinding the last of Kingpin's men in the face and takes out his feet from under him with a webline before Spider-Man finishes him off with a swift kick to the face. After knocking out all of the Kingpin's men, Spider-Man swings over to the group of criminals on the other side of the shootout. The other gang that is entirely unknown to Spider-Man.

"So guys, did you wake up this morning and decide to dress up like Don Corleone's men from the Godfather? I mean you do know that Halloween isn't for another 6 months, right? Or am I not one to talk because of…" Spider-Man jokes, gesturing to his own costume.

"Pete, who are you talking to?

"What? Oh, it's nothing. Just some people on the side of the street who are talking to each other. It wasn't me. I'll drop by your place as soon as I'm done running this errand for Aunt May."

"Okay Pete. Just stay safe out there. There's a gang war shootout in Midtown, it's all over the news."

Spider-Man ends the call and flips through the air dodging a plethora of gunfire before performing a roundhouse kick right across the crook's face, knocking him out cold. Firing a webline, Spider-Man yanks the automatic weapon away and following up with a kick to the face as the last criminal drops his weapon in surrender. Acting quickly, Spider-Man webs the surrendering criminal's feet to the ground, preventing him from escaping.

"We can do this the easy way or the hard way, now who do you work for?" Spider-Man deepens his voice in an attempt to persuade this criminal to give him information.

"Spider-Man. He works for the Hammerhead maggia crime family," a strong, deep voice comes from behind the webslinging hero.

The wall crawler whips his head around to see Captain Stacy making his way towards Spider-Man with his gun still drawn at a fast, brisk pace. The other police officers of the NYPD stand back in awe as if watching a standoff in a western movie.

"Hammerhead? The maggia? You mean organized crime? I thought they went out with swing dancing, back in the 50s" Spider-Man jokes.

In the corner of his mind, Peter reflects how Gwen's father only recently warmed up about Spider-Man's vigilantism in New York City after saving essentially the entire 19th precinct from one of Electro's attacks.

"Spider-Man you do realize I'm not that old, I hope," Captain Stacy replies sternly.

Scratching the back of his mask, Spider-Man answers the police captain. "Heh, sorry. Right, so what's this Hammerhead's deal anyways?"

Captain Stacy's eyes and cheeks through a thoughtful expression towards Spider-Man, while the webslinger begins to tamper with his webshooter, exchanging web fluid cartridges.

"Same as always. Hammerhead and Kingpin fighting over territories. Oh, and Spider-Man before you leave, you shouldn't always believe what the criminals tell you," Captain Stacy smiles.

"Why is that?" Spider-Man questions.

"Criminals lie," Captain Stacy smirks as he turns around walking back to his squad car leaving Spider-Man speechless for perhaps the first time in his webslinging career.

"What are you saying?" Spider-Man yells out after a few moments pass by.

"Yuri told me what Shocker told you. I'm say, yes, Shocker has a sister who's been in trouble with the law before and yes, we believe Hammerhead broke Shocker out of prison and hired him to rob some banks for the maggia. However, I doubt that she's been taken hostage by Hammerhead. Last we checked, Lisa Schultz lived in upstate New York," Captain Stacy reveals.

"So you're saying I should be careful of who I trust out here."

"Yes, Spider-Man. Always be cautious with the truth," Captain Stacy warns.

Response to Reviews:

CT311998:

Good catch there. But yes, I do plan on revealing the Osborns soon. After all, Peter didn't meet Harry Osborn until he got to ESU. Not sure if I want to wait that long in this story but I for sure want to introduce Norman pretty soon.