Villains, Vocations, Vixens
The web launched through the air and slapped onto the brick wall above. The rope like substance grew taut under the pressure of the swinging hero that was at its mercy. The red and blue figure stuck the landing on the high roof and looked down to the New York city streets. As a gust of wind threatened to push Spider Man off the ledge, he barely budged. His feet stuck to the cement as he leaned out peering down methodically. His masked eyes looking for something far below, it wasn't apparent until the ear shattering scream took over the sound of honking horns.
With a single motion Spider Man leapt from the roof and free dove off the skyscraper. A web flung from his wrist and caught a light pole just before he splattered into the ground. His feet were pulled to his chest as his stomach sank to his toes and his momentum shifted. He launched back upward and flew directly towards the flying creep.
"Vulture!" Spider man screamed. "This is not what I meant about picking up chicks!" He called out to the bird hybrid creature that had a merciless woman dangling in his talons.
Spider Man struggled to keep up as the feathered criminal soared above the crowds. Then with an experienced mind, he shot two webs. One web attached to the green winged annoyance, and the other to the woman slipping from his grasp. He connected both webs seamlessly and pulled forward, in turn pulling back Vulture. Spider Man grabbed the woman as she fell, and Vulture was unknowingly pulled down by the sudden weight of both a falling civilian and her savior.
As Vulture struggled to instinctively stay in the air, he slowed their descent until Spider Man landed holding the woman in his arms. "Thanks for the lift bird brain." He called out as he set the woman down on her feet. Vulture grunted at the cocky bug and spun around in the air ready to squash his adversary. Spider Man quickly shot a web over his eyes and suddenly a blind bird barreled towards him.
Just then a black streak zipped between buildings behind the battling buffoons. Everything froze as Peter paused the footage. He rewound the video and watched it in slow motion. "Thanks for the lift bird brain." Peter heard his voice say in a slow and distorted manner. He watched the streak go by and saw that along with its black, it had golden hair.
"Who are you." He said to himself as he paused the video on that frame. As his eyes focused on the blurred figure, he noticed the time in the bottom corner of the screen. "Crap." He closed his laptop and the video of yesterdays events and placed it in his bag before throwing it over his shoulder. He grabbed his camera with the extraneous amount of added materials on the back.
He had created a simple machine that tracked his Spider Man suit, so, whenever he webbed his camera to the side of a building it would be able to follow his movements. He needed the cleaner shots if he was going to keep his job at the Daily Bugle to help pay for his college tuition. Although, if he was going to keep being late it wouldn't have done him much good anyway.
Today's tardiness was not completely his fault. He had to be at class much earlier than normal as he was giving a tour to some kids about the school. He hurried into the building and fumbled with the door handle as he quickly made his way into the group of the other tour guides.
The college senior that was giving the new tour guides their usual run down shot him a glare but continued. "Remember, these are only middle school students. They are here to see our facilities and technology as our principal is generously donating our old hardware to the school."
Peter held back a yawn and waited patiently as the yellow school bus pulled up. He may have only been a college freshman, but the scene of the bus gave him a sense of nostalgia. Once assigned a small group of rambunctious children he began to lead them through his planned route.
"Over there is our large library. It has five floors with varying levels of information. The bottom floor is more of a gathering place while the top is packed with computers and large textbooks to answer pretty much any question on Earth." Peter said walking backwards and seeming to have eyes in the back of his head. "Anyone here like to read?" Peter raised his hand as if to lead the motion. No one joined his extended arm and he let it fall awkwardly back by his side.
"Moving on to our medical classes." He said trying to pull him out of the terrifyingly judgmental gaze. He opened a door and walked the students into a filled room. A large group of college students worked on their computers while the professor approached the group. Peter looked over to the working students and was shot a kind smile by a familiar girl typing away.
"Hello kids." The professor said placing a hand on the back of Peter. "This young man right here fixed twelve of my computers in one night. You have quite the knowledgeable guide." She said making Peter shake his head.
"Why thank you. I was actually hoping you could explain to them a little about how these new computers really improved the class since you started working here." Peter said happy to have someone else to look at rather than the blank faced children.
"I think that is a job for Gwen. Oh Gwen!" She called out, the girl quick to jump from her seat and walk over to them.
"Oh, no Professor Jackson she doesn't have to-..." He was cut off by Gwen grabbing his arm and kissing his cheek.
The middle schoolers all gave their respected giggles to one another at the action. Peter would hardly have minded Gwen's kiss, if he hadn't known the level of immaturity that he was walking around campus.
"Well, kids." Peters girlfriend started. "These computers have helped all of us. I couldn't imagine having to write twenty pages by hand in such a short amount of time. You guys are about to get a massive upgrade." Gwen stood, her arm still locked with Peter as her soft and whimsical voice made Peter's seem even more bland.
"Thank you, Ms. Stacy." Peter said smiling to her and locking eyes as he let her return to work.
The tour went on and Peter had walked the tired things to death. They trudged back to the courtyard exhausted. They hadn't asked him a single question during the entire tour, only giving soft whispers to one another as the day went on. They ate lunch while Peter sat with all the other tour guides. Harry Osborn seated next to him.
"Come on Pete what were you doing this time?" Harry laughed. "I am starting to wonder if you have your alarm clock set to the right time zone."
"I was working on a piece for the Bugle." He said stuffing his face with a sandwich. "I lost track of time."
"You also skipped breakfast I see." Harry muttered. "Dude, between the Bugle, school, and this new YouTube thing you're never going to have time to sleep. How about you slow down with all this stuff and cut back on some of the work you do. I'm not saying quit, ill loan you whatever money you lose with the decrease in hours. I know you're good for it."
"Harry I wouldn't ask that from you. Plus, this YouTube thing isn't taking up anymore of my time. I just upload some of the footage I get of Spider Man that I don't think Jonah would like, or actually, sometimes I upload the stuff I'd know he'd like, just to spite him." He admitted.
Harry shook his head and gave up on fighting his stubborn best friend. They finished up lunch and began to gather their things. One of the lead tour guides stood up, ready to announce that the kids should clean up and get ready for the second half of the tour. As her mouth opened, her words were replaced with a large thud and rumbling crash.
Panicked students scattered and ran from the rubble that poured off the broken building. Standing in a heavy cloud of dust was a figure so big it could only be from one terrorizing force, Rhino. Harry turned to see Peter already bolting towards the nearest building. Peter turned back to see his friends horrified face.
"I gotta get the best shot! He'll be here soon!" Peter yelled to his friend in a confident voice.
Peter jumped ran into the nearest building and barreled up the stairs. He jumped into a bathroom stall and pulled the web shooter from his bag and webbed the door shut. He threw on the suit and ran out. He burst through a window and mid jump stuck his camera to the exterior wall.
He attached to one of the courtyard trees and launched himself forward. The large Rhino mutant slammed his fist into a fountain causing water to rush down the sidewalk. "Do you have any idea how much their water bill is going to be now?" He called out as the Rhino searched for the figure behind the familiar voice.
Spider Man's feet slammed into the side of Rhino's head. Only causing the massive brute to stumble because of the surprise. "Spider Man. You get crush like bug." Rhino said, the muscles in his balled fists equal to that of a normal man's whole arm.
Spider Man perched himself at the top of the now crooked fountain. "You know I'm proud of you. Finally coming to learn how to speak proper English." He quipped before leaping off the stone structure and grabbing one of the broken rocks from the ground with his web. He flipped in the air, using the weight of the rock to propel his spin faster and slammed the jagged rubble into Rhino's back.
The villain grunted in pain, his grey body wincing in pain. His grimaced face turned to Spider Man and charged at the now grounded man. Spider Man jumped up and webbed Rhino's large horn to the ground causing him to tumble, but his strength broke him out of the hold as he brought himself back to his feet. Spider Man tried to ready for another aimless charge, but a sudden burst in senses made him jump over a long green tendril that tried to knock him from his feet. He webbed over and stuck to the side of a building looking down on Rhino who was now joined by Scorpion.
"Hey Scorpion, can you give me and Rhino a minute we were kind of having a moment." The courtyard was now rid of all people, Spider Man could see a few curious individuals peering over bushes and out windows at the battlefield, but luckily no one seemed in any immediate danger beside himself.
Rhino charged straight for the building Peter clung too, he knew he wouldn't hit Spider Man, but he was just trying to inflict some damage. Spider Man jumped over the massive man and webbed his back. He landed and dug his feet in the ground, pulling back on the Rhino's unmatched raw strength. Scorpion moved in to attack the man holding his partner like a horse with reins, but Spider Man jumped up and attached the webs to Scorpion causing him to be yanked forward. Both men were thrown into the building causing a massive crater in the side.
Peter clenched his fists at the crash, wanting to avoid the damage, but not having much of a choice. Then, Spider Man became heavier. His feet wobbled like his limbs had fallen asleep. He looked to the gash on his arm and realized that Scorpion had managed to hit him with his poison tipped tail while being pulled away by Rhino. Spider Man fell to his knees as his vision turned unfocused, he just managed to see the dust covered DNA abominations recover as he held himself up on all fours.
"Is this what it feels like to get drunk?" He asked. Scorpion stood with no hurry and brushed off his dirt covered skin.
"You seem tired Spider Man." Scorpion said approaching him. "Why don't you take a nap." His tail swung and slapped him across the face causing Peter to fly back and land on his side.
"Yeah…" Spider Man wheezed. "Let's all take a five." Just as he was ready to be squashed by an excited Rhino, the black streak with golden hair returned.
The woman flew by so fast that Scorpion mysteriously vanished to anyone that blinked. When she returned the green tailed creature was no where to be seen. Rhino stood stunned for a moment then grunted.
"Sorry little lady." He said putting his head down and moving toward her on all fours for maximum speed. The woman's hands lit up red and she flew up over the Rhino and brought a glowing fist down onto him knocking him out cold. Just as Peter blacked out, the woman appeared above him.
When Peter awoke, he was thankful to still be in his mask. Although, when he looked down, he realized that was all he was in besides his boxers. He shrieked and jumped off the small table looking around the black walled room for his clothes. When the automatic door shot open, he saw a familiar, yet never smiling, face.
"Calm down kid. Ms. Marvel brought you back and we made sure you weren't dead. We are patching up your suit now." Nick Fury said. His voice was demanding and hard to retaliate against, but Peter tried anyway.
"Cool, cool. So, what about my other clothes? The ones I wore UNDER the suit?" He asked annoyed.
"We took them all off to make sure your wounds didn't extend passed the cut." He said tossing him his clothes back from the counter beside him. "Don't worry. No one saw you without the mask." Nick Fury knew his identity, the man knew just about everything, he was lucky Fury didn't have a reason to share this information.
"So, who was she?" He asked sliding the clothes back on. Feeling a sharp pain as he pulled his shirt over his arm that had a bandage wrapped around it.
"Ms. Marvel." Fury repeated. "SHIELD recruited her a few months back. I'm expecting her to be in the field more often now that she feels comfortable around here." He explained.
Peter was offered a SHIELD recruitment; however, it would have meant that he quit the Bugle and school to make time for the extensive training. He politely declined and had more of an on again off again type of relationship with the agency.
"She seemed pretty damn good. What are her powers?" He asked buttoning up his pants.
"Not sure if she wants to be sharing that, ask her yourself." Fury said. He turned to the door as if awaiting her arrival.
"She's here?" Peter asked, angry at himself for his excitement. He had spotted her in his pictures a few times and never knew who she was or why she always seemed to be there.
The black suited beauty walked in with a soft strut, holding his Spider Man suit in hand. "Your laundries done." She joked tossing it back to him.
"Thank you, Ms. Marvel is it?" He asked her, trying to seem sophisticated. "Also, thank you for saving me back there."
"No problem, two against one didn't seem very fair." She said kindly smiling at him. Her thin black mask allowing him to take in all of her facial features.
"Well, I would normally be able to take 'em. Just didn't get much sleep last night." His excuse seemed childish, but true, nonetheless.
"Yeah, after that fight with Vulture I'm amazed you had the strength." She said, almost sarcastically. Peter wasn't sure if he was being made fun of. "What is it with all the animal names anyway?" She asked.
Peters eyes widened under his mask making it unnoticeable to the woman. "Right?" He agreed. "You know they all came after me. They aren't even doing it right either. They just take the name outright, I at least added man to mine. You would think 'Rhino' would be copywritten or something. They named a whole species after it. There's White Rhinos, Black Rhinos, Indian Rhinos." His rant would have continued if he didn't see the soft smirk on the woman's lips and Fury's one squinting eye.
"Yeah, totally uncool of them." She said, making it quite clear she had been poking fun at Spider Man's childish nature.
"Well, thank you again for the save. Ill be going now." He walked out, knowing his way somewhat around the helicarrier.
"I'll give you a ride down." Ms. Marvel said following behind him.
"No need, I've fallen-… or jumped off this thing many times." He stuttered over his words as he made his way to the small exit door. He slammed his fist on the button and the door slowly opened. "Nice meeting yo-" He was cut off as he was sucked out of the ship and began plummeting to the ground.
That was less smooth than planned. He thought as he began spraying web and folding it in the air. The makeshift parachute slowed his decent enough that his arm wasn't pulled from his body as he webbed onto the nearest building and reentered his swinging.
As he flew carelessly in the air, he remembered his camera still stuck to the wall at his school. He gasped mid swing and began pulling harder on each wall, gaining momentum. Once he reached the school he snuck to the building. Luckily the entire student body was evacuated from the area and a few damage control workers were left to clean it up. He was able to retrieve his camera and sneak back into the building to grab his bag from the bathroom.
No one but Fury knew who he was, not his Aunt May, not Harry, not even Gwen. He walked back to his dorm room where he was met by Harry sitting in their couch.
"Peter!" He said pulling his hair back and letting out a sigh of relief. "You scared the shit out of me!" He said walking up to him as he closed the door.
"Sorry, you know the drill. I got the pictures meaning I was the first to be questioned by the police." He had cover stories for basically any situation.
"Pete!" He heard Gwen's voice shout as she came out of his room. "Can't you at least call next time?" She said annoyed.
"I'm sorry," He repeated giving her a hug. "But did you see that crazy chick save Spider Man?" He asked changing the subject.
"Yeah, who the hell was she?" Harry asked finally leaning back against the counter and relaxing.
"No clue, but no way am I sending that footage to J. Jonah Jameson. He would eat up Spider Man getting beaten and saved by a girl." He scoffed at the thought of it.
"What's so wrong about getting saved by a girl?" Gwen asked raising a brow.
Peter paused and he could practically hear Harry's smile as he watched the exchange. "Well, nothing. She just… well, she seemed cocky. Not noble in the saving." He tried to explain his annoyance of Ms. Marvel's obvious lack of respect for him without actually having a way too.
"And Spider Man is always so humble." Gwen teased Peters obsession with the wall crawler. All Peter could do was accept defeat. She laughed and kissed his cheek. "Let's go see what you got." She said nodding to the camera still sticking out of his bag.
After watching the footage, he began to upload it to his YouTube channel. A simple way to make some money with videos that would either go to waste or was too valuable to JJ. His channel had grown fairly fast as he created it right after his pictures of Spider Man's winning battle with Doc Ock was released in the Daily Bugle. No one else had footage of the document, but Peter said after all these years following Spider Man, he had ways of knowing how to find him. He led others on to believe that him and Spider Man had secret ways of communicating, hoping that Peter's obvious recognition of the hero would one day drown out Jonah's hatred of him.
Now, him and Gwen laid on his bed, the laptop that was uploading the video sat on the floor. Gwen moved a hand aimlessly through his hair while Peter rubbed her leg. It wasn't long before their lips were locked, and they brought each other into a tighter embrace. Peter would give anything for Gwen, her brilliance was all he needed, but her curves never ceased to amaze him. His hands ran down her body, but as he felt her hand move down his arm and near the bandaged gash in his arm he flinched and pulled back. How was he supposed to explain a sudden bloodied bandage covering a wound right where Spider Man had been hit an hour ago?
"What's wrong?" Her soft and innocent voice asked. Her face was disappointed by his pause to the affection.
"Nothing. I'm just tired from all that's happened. I was up late trying to work on the Vulture piece and then this today. Just don't think I'm up for this right now. I'm sorry." He explained.
Her face of annoyance scared him more than any villain he had ever faced. He was amazing at building a story and committing to his lies, but he was weak around Gwen. He was worried she would one day ask too many questions and he wouldn't be able to keep her safe from the truth.
"Fine. Take a nap." She stood up and stormed out of the room. It was silent until the sudden door slam and Peter waited for the inevitable sound.
"OOOOOO." Harry teased from his room right around the corner.
Authors note:
Hello readers! Welcome to a hopefully new story for everyone to enjoy. To try and clear up some of the confusion around the universe I have come bringing knowledge. This does not follow any movie, comic, or cartoon in specific. Don't go thinking this is like my other story, which is specifically linked to the MCU. Imagine this as another Earth. Not 616, but a different universe in which many things are slightly different. It won't be confusing! I will make sure everything is as clear as can be! Let me know if you have any questions regarding this topic or any notes for me in general. Have fun~