Chapter 238: A Worrisome Scuffle
27th September 2012, New York City
(Peter Parker POV)
Well, Peter wasn’t going to let this happen. He webbed up the visor, blinding the eye beam guy, and picked up the woman and swung her to the roof of the opposing building. The woman’s eyes visibly widened at this, and Peter spoke up in a hopefully confident tone, “Don’t worry, Ma’am, I’ll take care of this.”
It was such a cheesy line that Peter blushed in embarrassment before turning and returning to fight that eye beam guy. This was Peter’s first fight against a mutant, or at least he assumed that the man was a mutant, and he hoped that everything would turn out alright.
What's the worst that could happen?
Peter landed on top of a light pole and watched as the eye beam guy was trying to remove the webbing from his visor. Too bad for him, the web formula was a very strong one, and it couldn’t be torn apart with brute strength, except if someone had super human strength, that is.
With the situation being as confusing as it is, the teenaged hero decided to speak up and get some information, “Why are you hunting down a woman in the middle of the street?”
“She’s not just some woman, she’s a vicious criminal.”
Peter gave the guy an unimpressed look, “Seriously, I just heard your boss say that he was going to frame her without any evidence. What is wrong with you people?”
“What’s wrong with you, asshole? She’s a very dangerous criminal, and you just let her get away. Do you have any idea what damage she could do?”
“Well, no. Why don’t you tell me what she’s supposed to have done?”
The man growled, “She killed the secretary of the World Security Council, that’s what she’s done.”
Peter didn’t seem convinced. Alexander Pierce’s death was thought to be very convenient, so his corpse was investigated, by multiple experts, separately, for any sign of foul play. Every single one of the investigations showed that the man’s death was due to a heart attack, that happened due to a blood clot forming because he had too much cholesterol in his bloodstream. It was a completely natural occurrence, and it happened to thousands of people all around the world every day.
Jasmine Sayre, mutant or not, couldn’t have killed Pierce, unless her power was to control cholesterol or something as unlikely, “Everyone knows that Pierce’s death was natural. Why are you trying to frame her for it?”
“He wanted to buy her company. He met her days before he died.”
If he was honest with himself, Peter would say that he was flabbergasted with the man’s answer. What was wrong with these people? He had to see how bad this is, “That’s it? You want to arrest a woman because she met the victim a few days before he died? You don’t have a shred of proof and you want to illegally arrest a woman for something this hypothetical?”
“We don’t need evidence. We’re SHIELD and she killed one of ours. We won’t let that go.”
Funnily enough, a small crowd had gathered because of the fight, and they heard their little conversation. They murmured in surprise and disgust at the audacity of the organization. Some even cheered him on against the eye beam guy, something that Peter wasn’t really used to; Spider-Man had made many mistakes in his hero career. He was still a rookie, after all.
The man though, realized that the crowd was against him and scowled. He looked at Peter and released an eye beam at him. The man was still blinded by the webbing, so it didn’t hit Peter, but what it did hit, was the café, which ended up almost being a wreck with a big hole going through the building. This, of course, freaked the crowd out and they ran away screaming at the man’s reckless attack.
The blast was able to disintegrate the web on his visor meaning that the man could now see properly. He glared hatefully at Peter, “Alright, this is the last warning, let us go, or I’m taking you in as an accessory to her crimes.”
The gall of that asshole, “Are you fucking retarded, dude. You can’t charge me with something like this, while she isn’t charged with any crimes. You just went there one day and decided that she was a criminal for some reason. And you fucking blew up a building, for no reason. And you’re calling her a criminal?”
“That’s it, you little brat. I’m done playing nice.”
Peter’s Spidey sense warned him about the incoming attack, which he dodged by jumping in the air. He then webbed up some of the debris behind him and threw it at his attacker.
The man sent an eye beam at the projectile, destroying it, but it proved to be a very good distraction as Peter webbed up the floor next to his opponent and pulled himself into him, kicking him in the chest with both of his feet.
Peter could hear a couple of ribs break slightly, but not too much damage. He didn’t want to go too far and accidentally get one of the broken ribs to pierce his lungs. The man flew back, and landed on his back, groaning in pain. Peter was ready to punch him and finally knock him out, but his Spidey sense warned him of a danger. He jumped away and managed to dodge the bolt of lightning that came at him. He was still hit a little, and it did hurt slightly, but Peter was a hero, he could handle a little pain.
Immediately, a man who was glowing blue and wearing an armored suit that seemed enveloped by lightning landed next to his opponent, “So, he’s the one that kicked your ass, Cyclops?”
Great. Now, he had the bastard’s name. What a stupid code name ‘Cyclops’ is. Peter chuckled at his own joke, the now named agent of SHIELD grumbled at his teammate, “Shut up, Electro. He took me off guard. Where are the others? I’m not supposed to be on my own?”
Electro – who probably has electricity powers – shrugged, “Well, I called Rhino to give us some backup since we’re all that’s left. Kid took care of Bullseye, Shocker, and the backup squad. Sabretooth got hit with something and fell off the roof, Fury is knocked out, and you accidentally took out Taskmaster. I have to say, that seeing you fail this miserably is very funny from the outside. I can’t believe that you’re losing to a kid.”
Peter could almost hear Cyclops’ teeth grind, “Just take care of him so that we can find Sayre.”
Electro nodded, “I’m going to show you how to squash a bug.”
Peter had to interject here, “Look, man, your powers look cool and all, but let’s get one thing straight. Spiders are arachnids, not bugs. Get your facts straight.”
Electro didn’t seem to like his correction, and sent another bolt of lightning at him, which Peter dodged thanks to his Spidey senses. The man started flying, and just kept bombarding him with one bolt of lightning after another. Peter could do nothing other than dodge. But then he webbed up some debris and sent it at the flying lightning manipulator.
The man effortlessly dodged the debris by flying down. Peter took advantage of the low height and jumped at him and tried to kick him. As soon as his foot connected, Peter felt like his entire leg was burning.
The teenaged hero fell down to the ground and was rammed by another force. He got up groaning and in pain. His vision was blurred slightly but was soon readjusted. It was some sort of humanoid suit that resembled Shocker’s slightly, with the alien power core and everything. But the suit looked like a rhino for some reason.
Electro chuckled, “Rhino, you made it. Seems like we have another bug to squash.”
The Rhino suit guy laughed, “Is this the guy that’s been giving you so much trouble. He’s barely a twig.”
“Nah, he messed with Cyclops too much and allowed our target to escape.”
The man in the rhino suit snorted, “Fine, whatever,” he looked at Peter for a moment, “I’m sorry, kid, it’s nothing personal. We have a mission and you’re in the way. Who knows where that woman went after you let her get away?”
Rhino then ran towards Peter with surprising speed. Nothing that size is supposed to be that fast, it's unnatural. Peter analyzed the suit and immediately recognized a vulnerability in the suit’s legs. For one, it wasn’t armored properly, or at least not for fighting someone with super strength. Some of the hydraulic piston was slightly visible, which meant that Peter had a plan to deal with him properly.
Peter then swung himself to the right, webbed up the man’s legs and punched the armor, bending it as if it was a piece of cardboard. He then grabbed the hydraulic piston with both of his hands and broke it. This stopped the suit’s lower body from moving. After having done this, he grabbed the Chitauri power core from the suit’s chest and sent it at Electro with his super strength.
It happened so quickly that the flying man didn’t even have time to dodge the projectile which was activated by the lightning, creating a small bomb that exploded right in front of Electro.
Peter was almost blinded by the explosion, but he powered through and ran towards Cyclops who was still groaning from his injuries. Peter immediately grabbed his head and pointed it at the still flying electro and pressed the button to release the optic blast. The man fell down to the ground, knocked out. He then pointed it at the Rhino suit to destroy it as well. He then punched Cyclops and knocked him out as well.
With that done, Peter had won. He fought an entire team of superhumans and still won. Limping, he decided to check up on the woman he saved, only to find that the woman had disappeared. Instead all that was left was a note.
‘Thanks for the help. You’re going to be a spectacular hero, Spidey, I know it. You got me out of a pretty sticky situation, so expect a reward shortly.’
Well, that was weird. It was pretty much the first time that someone had this much faith in him as a hero. It was nice, not to mention the ‘reward’ she was talking about. He had no idea what it could be, and if he was honest, he didn’t need it. He didn’t become a hero because of any promise of rewards or fortune, he did it because it was right, and because it was his responsibility to save people, like his uncle did during the invasion.
In the end, Peter limped away and walked towards the apartment. This was the most intense fight he’s been in by a mile. He changed his clothes and went to his home. His aunt was waiting for him, and she was crying on the couch. Peter asked her, concerned, “What’s wrong, Aunt May?”
She gave him a bittersweet smile, “Ben’s life insurance called up.”
Wait, Uncle Ben didn’t have any life insurance. Peter would have known since he takes a look at the bills coming soon. He knew how sensitive their financial situation was going to become. The money they had gotten from Uncle Ben’s boss was almost gone by now, and May was probably going to have to work more shifts to make ends meet, “I didn’t know he had a life insurance.”
She nodded, “Neither did I, but apparently, because of the invasion mess there was a mix-up in their paperwork which is why they’re late. Take a look at this.”
She handed him the letter and Peter started to read it, and then he reread the letter again, until he was sure that what he was reading was correct. “This is Three hundred thousand dollars, May!” he exclaimed.
May nodded, “It seems that your uncle is still taking care of us even now.”
Peter’s aunt looked both depressed and relieved. She still wasn’t done grieving her husband, just like Peter himself wasn’t done grieving his uncle. Still, he wanted to distract her, “Come on, let’s go out tonight. It’s been ages.”
She nodded and went to change. Peter did the same but went to the basement first to put his costume away. What he found there made him stiffen. It was a suit with a similar look to his, but it was somehow more metallic, offering more protection. The suit was obviously high tech, although, he’ll need to experiment on it later.
On the suit was a small sticky note, ‘A little gift to keep you safe in your hero career. Be Fantastic, Spider-Man’
As fantastic as this was, Peter was still wary of the fact that the woman knew his secret identity and was able to break into his home without him noticing it and in such a small amount of time. Still, he was thankful for the new suit. He’ll probably start wearing it, now, after a lot of testing from his part to make sure that it isn’t booby trapped or anything. But for now, he had an aunt to cheer up and a dinner to go to.
Alright, this is it, we're finally caught up to the current events of the story. This means that there will be no more mass uploads. I generally post four chapters a week, on Sunday, Tuesday, Thursdays and Fridays. I tend to be consistent (I have been for more than a year now) but I will let you know if I miss an upload day.
On the other hand, if you want to support me, check out my Patreon. I tend to upload drafts of early chapters on there to get people's opinions of them so you can read up to 15 chapters ahead as a bonus.
Thank you guys for your support in these hard times.
Chapter 238: A Worrisome Scuffle
27th September 2012, New York City
(Peter Parker POV)
Well, Peter wasn’t going to let this happen. He webbed up the visor, blinding the eye beam guy, and picked up the woman and swung her to the roof of the opposing building. The woman’s eyes visibly widened at this, and Peter spoke up in a hopefully confident tone, “Don’t worry, Ma’am, I’ll take care of this.”
It was such a cheesy line that Peter blushed in embarrassment before turning and returning to fight that eye beam guy. This was Peter’s first fight against a mutant, or at least he assumed that the man was a mutant, and he hoped that everything would turn out alright.
What's the worst that could happen?
Peter landed on top of a light pole and watched as the eye beam guy was trying to remove the webbing from his visor. Too bad for him, the web formula was a very strong one, and it couldn’t be torn apart with brute strength, except if someone had super human strength, that is.
With the situation being as confusing as it is, the teenaged hero decided to speak up and get some information, “Why are you hunting down a woman in the middle of the street?”
“She’s not just some woman, she’s a vicious criminal.”
Peter gave the guy an unimpressed look, “Seriously, I just heard your boss say that he was going to frame her without any evidence. What is wrong with you people?”
“What’s wrong with you, asshole? She’s a very dangerous criminal, and you just let her get away. Do you have any idea what damage she could do?”
“Well, no. Why don’t you tell me what she’s supposed to have done?”
The man growled, “She killed the secretary of the World Security Council, that’s what she’s done.”
Peter didn’t seem convinced. Alexander Pierce’s death was thought to be very convenient, so his corpse was investigated, by multiple experts, separately, for any sign of foul play. Every single one of the investigations showed that the man’s death was due to a heart attack, that happened due to a blood clot forming because he had too much cholesterol in his bloodstream. It was a completely natural occurrence, and it happened to thousands of people all around the world every day.
Jasmine Sayre, mutant or not, couldn’t have killed Pierce, unless her power was to control cholesterol or something as unlikely, “Everyone knows that Pierce’s death was natural. Why are you trying to frame her for it?”
“He wanted to buy her company. He met her days before he died.”
If he was honest with himself, Peter would say that he was flabbergasted with the man’s answer. What was wrong with these people? He had to see how bad this is, “That’s it? You want to arrest a woman because she met the victim a few days before he died? You don’t have a shred of proof and you want to illegally arrest a woman for something this hypothetical?”
“We don’t need evidence. We’re SHIELD and she killed one of ours. We won’t let that go.”
Funnily enough, a small crowd had gathered because of the fight, and they heard their little conversation. They murmured in surprise and disgust at the audacity of the organization. Some even cheered him on against the eye beam guy, something that Peter wasn’t really used to; Spider-Man had made many mistakes in his hero career. He was still a rookie, after all.
The man though, realized that the crowd was against him and scowled. He looked at Peter and released an eye beam at him. The man was still blinded by the webbing, so it didn’t hit Peter, but what it did hit, was the café, which ended up almost being a wreck with a big hole going through the building. This, of course, freaked the crowd out and they ran away screaming at the man’s reckless attack.
The blast was able to disintegrate the web on his visor meaning that the man could now see properly. He glared hatefully at Peter, “Alright, this is the last warning, let us go, or I’m taking you in as an accessory to her crimes.”
The gall of that asshole, “Are you fucking retarded, dude. You can’t charge me with something like this, while she isn’t charged with any crimes. You just went there one day and decided that she was a criminal for some reason. And you fucking blew up a building, for no reason. And you’re calling her a criminal?”
“That’s it, you little brat. I’m done playing nice.”
Peter’s Spidey sense warned him about the incoming attack, which he dodged by jumping in the air. He then webbed up some of the debris behind him and threw it at his attacker.
The man sent an eye beam at the projectile, destroying it, but it proved to be a very good distraction as Peter webbed up the floor next to his opponent and pulled himself into him, kicking him in the chest with both of his feet.
Peter could hear a couple of ribs break slightly, but not too much damage. He didn’t want to go too far and accidentally get one of the broken ribs to pierce his lungs. The man flew back, and landed on his back, groaning in pain. Peter was ready to punch him and finally knock him out, but his Spidey sense warned him of a danger. He jumped away and managed to dodge the bolt of lightning that came at him. He was still hit a little, and it did hurt slightly, but Peter was a hero, he could handle a little pain.
Immediately, a man who was glowing blue and wearing an armored suit that seemed enveloped by lightning landed next to his opponent, “So, he’s the one that kicked your ass, Cyclops?”
Great. Now, he had the bastard’s name. What a stupid code name ‘Cyclops’ is. Peter chuckled at his own joke, the now named agent of SHIELD grumbled at his teammate, “Shut up, Electro. He took me off guard. Where are the others? I’m not supposed to be on my own?”
Electro – who probably has electricity powers – shrugged, “Well, I called Rhino to give us some backup since we’re all that’s left. Kid took care of Bullseye, Shocker, and the backup squad. Sabretooth got hit with something and fell off the roof, Fury is knocked out, and you accidentally took out Taskmaster. I have to say, that seeing you fail this miserably is very funny from the outside. I can’t believe that you’re losing to a kid.”
Peter could almost hear Cyclops’ teeth grind, “Just take care of him so that we can find Sayre.”
Electro nodded, “I’m going to show you how to squash a bug.”
Peter had to interject here, “Look, man, your powers look cool and all, but let’s get one thing straight. Spiders are arachnids, not bugs. Get your facts straight.”
Electro didn’t seem to like his correction, and sent another bolt of lightning at him, which Peter dodged thanks to his Spidey senses. The man started flying, and just kept bombarding him with one bolt of lightning after another. Peter could do nothing other than dodge. But then he webbed up some debris and sent it at the flying lightning manipulator.
The man effortlessly dodged the debris by flying down. Peter took advantage of the low height and jumped at him and tried to kick him. As soon as his foot connected, Peter felt like his entire leg was burning.
The teenaged hero fell down to the ground and was rammed by another force. He got up groaning and in pain. His vision was blurred slightly but was soon readjusted. It was some sort of humanoid suit that resembled Shocker’s slightly, with the alien power core and everything. But the suit looked like a rhino for some reason.
Electro chuckled, “Rhino, you made it. Seems like we have another bug to squash.”
The Rhino suit guy laughed, “Is this the guy that’s been giving you so much trouble. He’s barely a twig.”
“Nah, he messed with Cyclops too much and allowed our target to escape.”
The man in the rhino suit snorted, “Fine, whatever,” he looked at Peter for a moment, “I’m sorry, kid, it’s nothing personal. We have a mission and you’re in the way. Who knows where that woman went after you let her get away?”
Rhino then ran towards Peter with surprising speed. Nothing that size is supposed to be that fast, it's unnatural. Peter analyzed the suit and immediately recognized a vulnerability in the suit’s legs. For one, it wasn’t armored properly, or at least not for fighting someone with super strength. Some of the hydraulic piston was slightly visible, which meant that Peter had a plan to deal with him properly.
Peter then swung himself to the right, webbed up the man’s legs and punched the armor, bending it as if it was a piece of cardboard. He then grabbed the hydraulic piston with both of his hands and broke it. This stopped the suit’s lower body from moving. After having done this, he grabbed the Chitauri power core from the suit’s chest and sent it at Electro with his super strength.
It happened so quickly that the flying man didn’t even have time to dodge the projectile which was activated by the lightning, creating a small bomb that exploded right in front of Electro.
Peter was almost blinded by the explosion, but he powered through and ran towards Cyclops who was still groaning from his injuries. Peter immediately grabbed his head and pointed it at the still flying electro and pressed the button to release the optic blast. The man fell down to the ground, knocked out. He then pointed it at the Rhino suit to destroy it as well. He then punched Cyclops and knocked him out as well.
With that done, Peter had won. He fought an entire team of superhumans and still won. Limping, he decided to check up on the woman he saved, only to find that the woman had disappeared. Instead all that was left was a note.
‘Thanks for the help. You’re going to be a spectacular hero, Spidey, I know it. You got me out of a pretty sticky situation, so expect a reward shortly.’
Well, that was weird. It was pretty much the first time that someone had this much faith in him as a hero. It was nice, not to mention the ‘reward’ she was talking about. He had no idea what it could be, and if he was honest, he didn’t need it. He didn’t become a hero because of any promise of rewards or fortune, he did it because it was right, and because it was his responsibility to save people, like his uncle did during the invasion.
In the end, Peter limped away and walked towards the apartment. This was the most intense fight he’s been in by a mile. He changed his clothes and went to his home. His aunt was waiting for him, and she was crying on the couch. Peter asked her, concerned, “What’s wrong, Aunt May?”
She gave him a bittersweet smile, “Ben’s life insurance called up.”
Wait, Uncle Ben didn’t have any life insurance. Peter would have known since he takes a look at the bills coming soon. He knew how sensitive their financial situation was going to become. The money they had gotten from Uncle Ben’s boss was almost gone by now, and May was probably going to have to work more shifts to make ends meet, “I didn’t know he had a life insurance.”
She nodded, “Neither did I, but apparently, because of the invasion mess there was a mix-up in their paperwork which is why they’re late. Take a look at this.”
She handed him the letter and Peter started to read it, and then he reread the letter again, until he was sure that what he was reading was correct. “This is Three hundred thousand dollars, May!” he exclaimed.
May nodded, “It seems that your uncle is still taking care of us even now.”
Peter’s aunt looked both depressed and relieved. She still wasn’t done grieving her husband, just like Peter himself wasn’t done grieving his uncle. Still, he wanted to distract her, “Come on, let’s go out tonight. It’s been ages.”
She nodded and went to change. Peter did the same but went to the basement first to put his costume away. What he found there made him stiffen. It was a suit with a similar look to his, but it was somehow more metallic, offering more protection. The suit was obviously high tech, although, he’ll need to experiment on it later.
On the suit was a small sticky note, ‘A little gift to keep you safe in your hero career. Be Fantastic, Spider-Man’
As fantastic as this was, Peter was still wary of the fact that the woman knew his secret identity and was able to break into his home without him noticing it and in such a small amount of time. Still, he was thankful for the new suit. He’ll probably start wearing it, now, after a lot of testing from his part to make sure that it isn’t booby trapped or anything. But for now, he had an aunt to cheer up and a dinner to go to.
Alright, this is it, we're finally caught up to the current events of the story. This means that there will be no more mass uploads. I generally post four chapters a week, on Sunday, Tuesday, Thursdays and Fridays. I tend to be consistent (I have been for more than a year now) but I will let you know if I miss an upload day.
On the other hand, if you want to support me, check out my Patreon. I tend to upload drafts of early chapters on there to get people's opinions of them so you can read up to 15 chapters ahead as a bonus.
Thank you guys for your support in these hard times.
