Well, Doctor Strange didn't have a fix for Spider-Man... But I'm not as mad about it as I thought I'd be. Still, loved the movie, and so many doors are now open for the MCU!

I won't spoil anything for anyone who hasn't seen it yet. But I will say this: in terms of the continuity I've created, the events of "Multiverse of Madness" happened the previous year, in 2026.

I own nothing from Spider-Man or Marvel

Chapter 2: Gang-War?

The next morning, she woke up before him again, finding his head resting on her breasts. That seemed to be his favorite place to lay on her as a body-pillow; that and her shoulder.

She combed her fingers through his hair. Peter smiled and nuzzled his face up against her.

"You're awake, aren't you, dork?" she asked.

"Maybe," Peter muttered.

She giggled at him, then kissed the top of his head.

"Do you think we'll get married?" he asked out of the blue.

"Where's this coming from?" MJ asked in surprise.

"I don't know, I just...I've been binge-watching The Flash, and the relationship between Barry and Iris is my favorite thing about it," he answered. "It made me think of us. I mean, we're not exactly like them, but there are similarities."

"Do they get married?" she asked.

"Yeah, in Season 4," he replied. "But, it made me think about us getting married someday."

"Well...if we did, it would be a long time from now," she said.

"I figured, I just wanted your opinion," he replied. "Don't take this the wrong way, but...I feel like you're my soulmate."

"Are you gonna get all cliché on me?" she asked, but she was still smiling.

Peter chuckled, "Sometimes, but it's just one of my ways of saying how much I love you."

MJ giggled before she kissed him on the lips. He kissed her back, then got out of bed to make breakfast, since it was his turn.

MJ took a shower, then joined her boyfriend in the waffles he'd made. He also made himself some eggs, but also made some bowls of fruit for them; some sliced bananas, pineapple and blue berries.

As she dug in, MJ asked Alexa to play her pop-playlist. It started with "All to Myself" by Harlin James. (A/N: From the PS4 game!)

Soon, MJ was bopping her head to the beat, and then Peter walked over to her and grabbed her by the hands, and they started dancing.

She giggled and mouthed to the lyrics "We gotta keep it undercover. Nothing matters if it's you I'm with".

Peter chuckled as he gently twirled her around, then pulled her close. She gave him a quick kiss before they sat down to finish eating. Once Peter was finished, he went to take his own shower.

After MJ was finished, she laid on the couch and checked Twitter on her phone. As she expected, it was full of praise for Peter saving that baby from a fire.

Ever since the summer after graduation, Peter got more involved in social media as Spider-Man. Under the pen name, NYCWebHead, he had over 30 million followers, which meant over 30 million admirers across the country, maybe the world, who were such big fans of him. Best part, he actually replied to his followers' tweets about him.

It was just another reason why lots of people loved Spider-Man. He listened to and cared about everyone, even what they had to say online. When there's praise, he'd express an "aw, shucks" kind of response. When there's criticism, he shrugged it off and replied casually.

She was glad he didn't let the short-sighted assholes get to him.

She then turned on the news and saw that the Daily Bugle was under heavy fire! Spider-Man's approval rating was at 95%, while Jameson's website used for his slander campaign against the web-head was down to 3% of viewers.
People were finally getting tired of daily posts of basically the same thing; twisting every single one of Spidey's good deeds into something malicious. One person even said that the Bugle just didn't have anything else better to do!

Betty had commented that it wasn't the Bugle itself that was the problem, it was just Jameson. Some people felt that Jameson was in actuality just a jealous man who hated all the publicity that Spider-Man was getting.

Eventually, Jameson actually launched into a live broadcast in an attempt to put these, in his words "Absurd false accusations" to rest.

He said that everything bad thing he says about Spider-Man are facts that people NEED TO HEAR. That the only problems the vigilante fixes are the ones he causes.

Sighing with frustration, MJ dialed the Bugle's number to speak on the air, and hopefully silence this egocentric gasbag.

Peter had heard Jameson's voice, and when he saw what his girlfriend was gonna do; he told E.D.I.T.H. to hack the Bugle's network to mute Jameson if he tried to interrupt, or stop him if he tried to hang up on MJ.

Jameson just finished with one other caller, then MJ was put on,
"Next caller, speak...!"

"Yeah, serious question; do you ever take a moment to realize how asinine you sound?" she questioned.

"Excuse me?" Jameson questioned.

"You heard me," said MJ. "You're saying that all these accusations are false, but you do realize you're being a damn hypocrite, right? Just because someone has an opinion that doesn't agree with yours, doesn't mean it's completely wrong. That's just being dogmatic."

"Who is this?" Jameson asked, growing more and more annoyed.

"My name isn't important," MJ answered. "But I am someone who has seen Spider-Man in action a few times, and he's even saved my life, twice. I was at the Washington Monument in 2016, where he saved my friends from a collapsing elevator, and we all know he teamed up with the Avengers to defeat Thanos. I was also in London during Mysterio's attempt at trying to make himself look like a hero with holograms, but the drones that were making them came after me and my friends. If Spidey hadn't stopped Beck, we would've died."

"WRONG! Those are just-" Jameson started.

"And that doesn't even BEGIN to cover all the countless things that Spider-Man has done," MJ pointed out.

"You are clearly emotional, young lady-" Jameson started, only for MJ to laugh mockingly.

"Excuse me, I'm emotional? That's why you're a hypocrite. You call me emotional when I'm saying in a calm tone all of the good things Spider-Man has done, things that I know for a fact are true. But you always shout in your attempts to give your twisted opinions. You aren't even a real reporter; you're an egocentric hack with delusions of grandeur who's judgement is clouded by a deep-seated hatred for our beloved hero, and won't be satisfied until everyone agrees with him or has suffered for failing to. And let's not forget that long before Spidey came along, you've slandered Tony Stark, a man who died saving the entire universe. Stark may've had his flaws, including an ego of his own, but at least he died a hero. Everyone watching or listening, think on that."

With that, she hung up.

"...Did I ever mention how awesome you are?" Peter asked.

"You could stand to mention it more," MJ said before they both laughed.

He hopped over the couch to sit next to her, kissed along her bare right arm to her shoulder, then kissed her on the lips.

"You are fucking awesome," he whispered. "And every other adjective people use about Spider-Man. I fucking love you."

MJ smiled at him before she kissed him again.

"I mean criticism is normal, but when it's twisting something good to make it sound bad; that's not criticism," she said. "That's sophism."

"That's a word you don't hear often," Peter commented. "I've wanted to put a video of me in costume explaining why I do what I do on social media, but I think you did better."

"Well, that jackass was slandering my big-hearted boyfriend into making him sound like a selfish, destructive glory-hound," she said. "And anyone with half-a-brain knows that's not what you are. Plus, quite frankly, I was sick of listening to him."

"Make that two of us," he replied.

"Besides, I know it's fiction, but look at what dogma brought to that Bishop in Castlevania," she added. "Hey, could you grab my nail polish?"

"Sure," Peter got up, went to their room and grabbed the black nail polish.

"Thanks," she said as she took it.

"Gonna have yourself a little manicure, are you?" he asked.

"Nah, I just like the idea of having my nails painted black," she replied. "Ava even suggested it."

"Nice," he smiled while she gently painted her nails.

While she did that, he turned on Fresh Prince on HBO Max.

And it was the episode where the Banks' got robbed and Will was screaming and doing that silly dance.

Ashley- "What happened?"

Will- "We was robbed!"

Hilary- "Oh my God! What'd they take?"

"Are you blind?" Peter questioned.

"Apparently," MJ said with a chuckle.

When it got to the reveal that Uncle Phil's assistant, Edward had been the one who robbed them, instead of ex-con Luther...

Uncle Phil- "Why would he wanna rob me?"

Officer- "Well, according to him, he's sick and tired of getting you bagels, it's not his job to iron your robes, and he said you unfairly accused him of dialing 1-900-HORNY."

Carlton- "The man's obviously a deviant."

"He actually dialed that number," MJ stated. "Little shit."

"He could not be more obvious," Peter added. "Plus, Will knows he did it, too."

When Ashley revealed that she borrowed Will's autographed baseball for batting practice...

Will- "Where is it Ashley?! That thing is worth a lot of money!"

Ashley took off her backpack- "Really? It didn't look like it. Somebody wrote all over it, but don't worry. I cleaned it off for you."

"Oh~!" Peter and MJ both mused.

Will- "Where are those damn Tevin Campbell posters?" He ran off with Ashley chasing him and screaming!

Both Peter and MJ laughed loudly at that, but then Peter's phone started vibrating, so he checked it.

"What is it?" MJ asked.

"Illegal weapons trade," he answered while going to grab his suit. "Hopefully that snitch that Daredevil knows is there."

"You mean Turk Barret?" she asked.

"Yeah."

"Well, good luck out there," said MJ. "I have an exam to study for, anyway."

He proceeded to exit from the window after suiting up and headed toward where the trade was taking place.

Turk Barret is a small-time crook who usually operated in Hell's Kitchen. Despite having been busted several times by Daredevil, and even threatened by the Punisher; he still operated as a criminal. Thankfully, this made him the go to guy to question for info, and right now, Peter needed some.

~~~~~~~~~~~Flashback~~~~~~~~~~~

As Peter got closer to the location of the disturbance; his Spidey-Sense warned of incoming, so he maneuvered his body as he flew through the air! Strangely though, what he avoided was some kind of sonic blast!

His HUD pointed out who shot at him; it was some man wearing some kind of yellow suit that looked like padding, with a brown leather vest, bulky gauntlets that were sparking, and some black goggles over his eyes.

The man actually punched a car into the air to hit him, but Spidey managed to avoid it!

'Wait, that move...' He thought back to when he left Liz at homecoming to stop her Dad, only to be intercepted by a black guy with an electric gauntlet that packed a super-punch!

Spidey gracefully landed on the street, "You were on Toomes' team."

"Glad you remember me," The man chuckled. "That new suit is definitely better than that homemade one."

"Seems like you've upgraded as well," Spidey responded. "So what's your title; The Cushion?"

*chuckle* "Nah, I'm the Shocker," he then fired another sonic blast at the hero!

He dodged it, then Shocker gathered energy into his gauntlets and punched the ground, allowing him to jump a great distance away!

Spidey chased after him, web-zipping across the buildings or web-swinging!

"You're never gonna catch me, bug!" Shocker shouted.

"You didn't say that last time!" Spidey responded. "In fact, you barely said anything!"

"Come on, my grandma moves faster!" Shocker taunted.

"Okay, low blow!" Spidey web-zipped to a building he anticipated Shocker would go to next, and tackled him. "Now, let's talk."

"Nah," Shocker elbowed him in the face, then punched him away before taking off again.

"Okay, that hurt," Spidey said before he began to swing after him, once again. But as he did, Shocker fired some blasts at him, which he easily avoided!

"Oh come on, that's hardly fair!" Spidey commented.

After a couple more minutes of chasing and dodging blasts, Spidey managed to hit Shocker with taser-webs, which short-circuited his gauntlets, allowing the hero to web him up.

"What was that? 'You'll never catch me'?" Spidey mocked. "Still, good effort on the chase."

Shocker chuckled, "Still so easily duped."

Before Spidey could ask what he meant by that, he felt the impact of an explosion several blocks away! He could see the fire and smoke from where he was!

"Uh-oh..." Spidey muttered as he realized that this was all a big distraction. He hurried over to the burning building and helped the fire department get any survivors out of the building. Sadly, one person didn't make it.

When the police arrived on the scene, Peter was sitting on top of one of the fire trucks, feeling guilty.

"You alright?" Captain Stacy asked him.

"...I feel terrible," he said.

"That's the hard part about being a hero, son," Stacy said. "You have to realize that you can't save everyone."

Peter remembered Aaron telling him that, but he'd never actually experienced it before.

Yuri came over next, "Captain, the main targets of this bombing were some guys having a private meeting. We weren't able to ID all of them, but we got a few names; Frederico Frezelli, Sal Patrillo-"

"Those guys are part of Hammerhead's crime family," Spidey recognized the names.

"Someone must've hired Shultz to distract us while their people bombed Hammerhead's men," Yuri surmised.

"Shultz?" Spidey asked.

"Herman Shultz, the Shocker."

"Oh," Spidey scratched his chin in thought. "If someone was doing a hit on Hammerhead's forces, they might be looking to take over. I hope this doesn't lead to a turf war."

"We'll keep an eye out," Stacy said.

Spidey then swung away.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~Scene Change~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Back at the apartment, MJ cleaned up the place then went to take a quick shower. She got finished just as Peter got home.

The moment he entered, he just flopped on the couch.

"Is that you, Peter?" she called from the bathroom.

"Yeah," he managed to answer in an exhausted tone.

Soon, MJ came out...and she was wearing one of his shirts, for some reason. He briefly glanced at her before reaching for the remote.

"So, how'd it go?" she asked as she sat down beside him...but Peter didn't say anything. Just quietly flipped through channels.

She poked him gently to get his attention, "Hey, Aaron told you not to shoulder things by yourself, and you promised not to."

He stopped changing channels and muted the TV, "...Some people died...I couldn't save them..."

MJ's shoulders sagged before she pulled him into a hug.

"I'm sorry," she whispered.

He returned the hug, nuzzling his head into her neck,
"I'm glad you're here, baby."

MJ smiled as she kissed his forehead, lovingly.

"I'll always be here."

Peter smiled, grateful that he had such a loyal and devoted girlfriend. She was his rock; without her, he'd probably self-destruct.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~End Flashback~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

A few days after that, that same unknown party was attacked by another group. Some bikers that all had leather vests or jackets, all with the same logo; "Pale Horse Ridez".

Peter hoped he was wrong, but this seemed like the precursor to a gang-war. Soon enough, he arrived at the location, and Turk was there.

Spidey quickly tied up the buyers with a web grenade, then pulled Turk over to one of the alley walls, and webbed his hands to it.

"Oh dammit ta-hell!" he cursed as Spidey came to hang upside-down from a webline.

"How many times has Daredevil caught you? Better yet, how many times have you encountered the Punisher, and he left you still breathing?" he questioned. "I'm very disappointed in you, knucklehead. But I might be willing to let you go, IF...you can tell me who hit Hammerhead's crew a few weeks ago?"

Turk scoffed, "You think I'm stupid enough to cross Hammerhead? That guy scares me as much as Fisk, AND Castle!"

Spidey sighed, then used some kind of spray from his web-shooters to dissolve the webs on Turk's hands. Confused at first, the criminal didn't have much time to relax before the web-head grabbed him by his collar and took him up to the roof.

"H-hey, what are you-?!" the thug asked. "Put me down!"

Once they were on the roof, Spidey held him upside-down by his right leg,
"Turk, buddy, you're really lettin' me down here. Tell me who killed Hammerhead's men."

"I don't know nothing! I swear!" Turk exclaimed, only for Spidey to drop him! He screamed as he fell, only to stop just before he hit the street, his right leg being held by a webline. Spidey pulled him back up, but still left him hanging.

"Eventually, you know your head is gonna pop off," he stated. "I'm gonna ask one more time, and if you don't answer, I'm not gonna catch you the next time I drop you. Who? Killed? Hammerhead's? Men?"

"Silvermane! SILVER, MANE!" Turk finally answered.

"Who is Silvermane?" Spidey asked.

"He's the head of a Maggia crime family," Turk said. "He's been around for decades. I don't know why, but he doesn't have as much power in this city as he used to. He actually joined Fisk's whole group when he was using the FBI as his foot soldiers, but he was never fully onboard."

"Because he had a feeling Daredevil would beat him again, despite the impossible odds," Spidey figured. "What about the bikers who attacked Silvermane's guys? Does "Pale Horse Ridez" sound familiar?"

"They work for a new guy," Turk answered. "Well, he became new during year three of the Blip. Calls himself "Tombstone". That's all I know, man! I swear to God!"

"Thanks. See, that wasn't so hard?" Spidey gently lowered him down to the street before releasing him, so he didn't go "splat". But as Turk got up, he was suddenly webbed to the wall!

"But you said-!"

"I said I MIGHT let you go," Spidey refuted before swinging away.

Soon, the police had Turk surrounded and prepared to arrest him.

Spidey then called Captain Stacy, "Captain, I know who killed Hammerhead's men a few weeks ago; he calls himself Silvermane."

Stacy sighed, "Shit. That's a name I hoped I'd never hear again."

"Turk Barret said he's the head of a "Maggia" crime family. What is that?"

"The Maggia is an international crime syndicate that originated around the 13th century in southern Europe, mostly Italy, then expanded throughout the rest of Europe and the Americas," Stacy explained. "In the US, they eventually ended up controlling most of the nation's loan-sharking, illegal gambling, and narcotics. Protection rackets and prostitution were also very important to them."

"So why target Hammerhead's goons?" Spidey asked.

"Ever since Fisk was arrested again, the Maggia families have trying to restore the balance of power," Stacy explained. "But Hammerhead has bigger ambitions. Killing his men was most likely a message-"

"For him to stay in line," Spidey figured. "Well, the bikers who attacked Silvermane's men work for someone called Tombstone..."

"I've heard that name a few times, but haven't seen him yet," Stacy said.

"Well...I think I know what I'll be doing for a while," Spidey muttered.

"A word of advice, young man," Stacy said. "Don't bite off more than you can chew."

"Trust me, Captain," Spidey answered. "I've learned that lesson way too many times to count."

With that, he shot a web at a nearby lamppost and swung off.

MJ really stuck it to Jameson, huh?!

So, the Shocker reappeared and we know about Silvermane and Tombstone. Is a gang-war coming soon?

Read & review, please!