The Marvelous Spider-Man

Chapter 212

By

Jason Richard

Peter was waiting at the abandoned house, and it was still as run down as ever. Harry guessed Peter didn't have time to get it fixed up any more than Captain Stacy had, and wondered why Peter wanted to meet here, even more so when he saw Peter waving so enthusiastically.

"Hey Harry," said Peter. "Come on in. Captain Stacy said we could use this as a hideout like we were planning before."

"Really?" asked Harry, uncertain about this. "I don't know Peter. This feels weird without Gwen. Besides, what can I do to help you?"

"Follow me inside and find out," said Peter, stepping into the house. Harry, still not sure what Peter was up to, followed.

Once inside Harry saw a rather strange sight. In the middle of the small house was a spider shaped robot, about the size of a large dog. It was mostly plastic, like something a teenage barely managed to put together on their allowance, and yet it had this air of sophistication to it that even a robotics company would envy.

"What's this?" asked Harry.

"This," said Peter. "Was originally designed by Gwen. It was going to be how you would help us. A remote controlled spiderbot with web shooters and...well...I'll show you everything it can do. Gwen didn't finish it before your accident, so I finished it recently. I was thinking I could use a little help. You know, once stuff starts up again."

"Wow," said Harry, feeling overwhelmed. "I mean...I don't know what to say. Wait...would this make me your sidekick?"

"Of course," said Peter, grinning. "You didn't think I'd make you a full Superhero did you? As if I needed the competition."

Harry laughed, and Peter laughed, and then a third person spoke, making Harry jump.

"Yeah," said Felicia, hiding in the shadows. "He'll have enough competition from me."

"Yeah I was wondering when you were going to speak up," said Peter, smirking. "You do remember that sneak attacks don't work on me."

"Worked on him just fine," said Felicia teasingly.

"Yeah," said Harry, a little irritably, "What are you doing here? You followed me?"

"Followed him actually," said Felicia, pointing at Peter. "Just stayed out of range of his Spider Sense. Anyway I wanted to suggest a partnership. We can work together to fight crime in New York."

"Hmm," said Peter, intrigued. "I hadn't thought of that. What do you think Harry? She did help us out a lot in the resistance."

"Yeah," said Harry. "So I heard. I mean...I don't even know If I'm going to be helping him myself…"

"So take the spiderbot for a test drive," said Felicia. "If you don't like it you can focus on other things."

"Sounds like a plan to me," said Peter. "Felicia, I'd love to work with you. Harry, come on and join us. What do you say?"

Harry thought about it for a second, and then said, "Well, I suppose it wouldn't hurt to test the spiderbot."

"Now you're talking," said Peter.

…

And so they spent the afternoon doing that, giving Harry the remote interface, a computer with a complicated controller, and letting him try out this spiderbot. It could swing around on artificial webs, shoot every projectile web that Spiderman used, and even had a radar system. For something one teenager designed and another finished it was a pretty sophisticated piece of equipment. Harry just tested it out for a while, swinging through a condemned building, and then he started training with Spiderman and Black Cat.

They swung around in sync, set up targets to blast with webbing and grapple lines, and learned to work together. By the end of the day they were shaping up to be a pretty solid team. Now all they needed was a mission to go on. In the meantime all they could do was keeping training together.

And wait.

…

It was three days later when it finally happened. Peter heard the call go out on his police radio. It was a bank robber.

"Harry!" Peter called on his cell excitedly as he swung through the city. "We got a robbery!" then he added in more somber tones, "Not that I'm excited or anything. A robbery is bad you know."

"Of course Peter," said Harry on the other end, shaking his head in amusement as he walked through the Oscorp Penthouse. Ever since his recovery he had been living there. Technically he was waiting for foster parents, but in the meantime one of the Oscorp board members who had resisted the Green Goblin was looking after him.

Of course that didn't stop Harry from sneaking to get his Spiderbot while the man was at work.

In the meantime Peter got a call from Felicia.

"Did you hear?" she asked enthusiastically. "A robbery! Finally, something to do!"

"I know right!" said Peter, before they both started hesitating.

"I mean," said Felicia. "We want to stop people from getting hurt."

"Of course," said Peter, landing and putting on his Spiderman mask. "Of course. Meet you here."

"You got it," she said.

…

And so the three of them met on a nearby rooftop, Peter in full costume as Spider Man, Felicia in full costume as Black Cat, and Harry in a hoodie with a bandana around his mouth, hunched over a complicated remote control and laptop, the spiderbot next to him.

"So this is it," said Spiderman. "First crime fighting mission as a team. Here's the plan. Harry's Spiderbot will do some scouting while Black Cat and I approach on opposite sides. This building's closed during the day so Harry should be safe up here. Just in case though," he handed harry what looked like a plastic pistol. "This is a web gun. It's just a prototype so it only has one function, but it's a good one. One shot and anyone who approaches will be wrapped up in webs."

"Thanks," said Harry. "That could come in handy."

"What did you get for me?" asked Black Cat Teasingly.

"A good does of my charming personality," said Spiderman, grinning under his mask.

"Lucky me," said Black Cat sarcastically before flipping backwards off the roof and swinging towards the back. Spiderman leapt over the side and swung that way, while Harry piloted the Spiderbot in the same direction.

And thus their first mission as a team began.

…

All was quiet as the bank robbers kept their guns on the hostages while others looted the vault. And even more watched for the cops. Well, they were actually on Superhero watch. By this point this Avenger's were out of the city, but Spiderman was bound to show up at any time.

One of the bank robbers, wearing the same black masks as the others, was getting a little weirded out. Normally when he robbed banks the hostages would have looks of fear on their faces.

These people were bored. Very bored. They had rolled their eyes when the robbers had rounded them up.

"Hey!" he demanded. "Why aren't you scared?"

"Spiderman's coming," said One. "And he took down the Green Goblin. You think he can't handle a bunch of thugs like you?"

"Shut up!"

"Hey," said one of the other robbers. "Stop talking and just point your guns at them. They'll be shaking in their boots when we take down Spiderman."

The hostages all collectively sniggered, which did irk the robbers, though no one spoke again.

Then it happened...and it happened quickly.

"You have that much faith in me?" said Spiderman from a wall, putting his hands on his heart. "I'm so touched!"

He disappeared behind a column as gunfire rained on that location. After moment of non stop gunfire everything went silent, and one of the bank robbers spoke up.

"Spiderman!" cried the lead robber. "Come on out or we'll shoot hostages! We know you're webbing won't work on us!"

"Yeah," said Spiderman from high up on the column, "I tried some stealth webbing on your guns and it slipped off, just like my own suit. Not bad. It only took your kind a year to do what I figured out in one day."

"Shut up and get out here!"

"Well you see I would," said Spiderman, "But you really shouldn't have taken your eyes of the hostages if you wanted to use them."

It was true. Every single robber had taken their eyes off the hostages, and when they turned back they saw Spiderman web mesh, fine enough and strong enough to deflect bullets, surrounding the hostages, who all waved the robbers smugly.

And looking up at the wall, they saw the Spiderbot that had spread the webbing while the robbers were shooting at Spiderman.

"Okay," said the robber. "We just need to…"

"Boss!" came one of the other robbers over their communicators. "All of our escape routes are blocked off!"

"What?!" demanded the head robber.

Black Cat had worked fast. She hadn't been a part of many bank robberies herself during her lawbreaking days, but she knew enough. There was the bombs they would use to break into an obscure back alley to escape. She scratched the robbers with those claws, tranquilizing them, an disarmed the bombs. There were the sewer lines running right under the building. She made certain the robbers digging into it were down and their equipment dismantled. And one last resort they had was a set of ladders they would use at windows in the back of the bank, climbing into an adjacent building. The robbers with those ladders had been incapacitated and the ladders scratched to shreds with her mechanical claws.

"You hear that Spiderman?" she asked into the communicator in her ear. "They can't get out."

"And now!" said Spiderman, rubbing his hands together gleefully. "The fun part!"

He swung down, quickly punching a couple of bank robbers into unconsciousness. He swung away as more bullets sped towards him, webbing a nearby bench and smashing in into five guys at once. Even the Spiderbot got in the action, knocking a few guys in the head with a few blasts of impact webbing before disappearing jumping behind a column. Then Spiderman swung low to the ground, punching another guy before leaping to the next guy, and the next, and the next, all while dancing around the spray of bullets. By that point even Black Cat showed up and joined the action, sneaking up on bank robbers and scratching them with her tranquilizer claws. After a few minutes of punches, impact web blasts, and scratches from Spiderman, Black Cat and the Spiderbot all the bank robbers were down, and the former hostages were cheering.

"Thank you!" said Spiderman, bowing. "Thank you! But don't just clap for me. May I present my partners in this endeavor, my personal sidekick the Spiderbot!"

The spiderbot waved one of it's and people clapped.

"And last, but not least," said Spiderman. "She used to be a master thief, but after a change of heart she helped us fight off the Green Goblin's forces. May I present the Black Cat!"

She stepped out and gave a bow, and earned more cheers.

"And.." said Spiderman. "Well we don't really have a team name yet, but I'm sure something will come to me." and two his companions, Black Cat next to him and Harry through the receivers on the Spiderbot, "You know guys, we're going to be a great team."

"I think we already are," said Black Cat.

"Here here," said Harry back at his controller.

…

And so they continued to fight crime together for some time. In their private lives both Peter and Harry were still technically underage, but rather than go through the foster care system they got taken by someone they knew, none other than Captain Stacy and his wife. Captain Stacy figured it would help him keep a better eye on them and their "extracurricular activities," and neither of those boys had any complaints about that.

Felicia, while also underage, had learned to take care of herself while on the run, and decided to keep doing just that. She managed to get employment doing what she had always done. Thievery. Though in this case she was actually testing security systems for various museums. Given her expertise as a thief whenever she found a way inside she'd report it and the security firm would work to patch that weakness. It was actually quite a lucrative job, and scratched her itch for a thrill quite well, when she wasn't helping Peter and Harry with crime fighting that is.

Dr. Connors was kept under strict observation, especially when it was the Lizard's turn to exist, but they made it work. The good doctor was allowed to see his family, and even continue his work. The Lizard didn't seem to want much. Just to eat, sleep and browse the internet. It seems the entity did have a certain curiosity about things, though for the Lizard it was really a means to figure out what it wanted to do. It had no goals, so it would look for one.

J. Jonah Jameson went back to bashing Spiderman with his newspaper, occasionally reporting the news. Peter went back to taking pictures for him, as he he didn't have any other flexible options. John Jameson went back to being an astronaut, sending an E-mail to his dad from space from time to time telling him to lay off Spiderman. His dad didn't listen.

And Peter kept visiting his Aunt, while Harry avoided his catatonic father. While the last of Peter's family wasn't all there, and the last of Harry's father had gone away a long time ago, neither of them felt alone. Practically brothers, they pulled through their troubles together. They were there for each other during their missions, as they started applying for college, and as they occasionally visited the graves of the people they had lost. Uncle Ben, Harry's mother, Gwen, they were all gone, but Harry and Peter would honor their memories by living the best they could, and they really loved being Superheroes...or one Superhero and a sidekick.

And all in all, it wasn't a bad life.

THE END.

….

A note from the author.

Dear Readers,

So I don't think anyone was expecting those two words just now, but unfortunately I have to put them down...though if you like you can put a "for now" at the end of them. The thing is I put so much of my attention on the Green Goblin takeover story that I didn't leave much thought to anything after that.

Now that I've pretty much tied up all the loose ends I don't really have anything substantial to continue the story with. I mean I have a few loose ideas but given how well I feel this storyline turned out I don't think I could justify continuing unless I could really follow up on it with something just as good, or best case scenario better. I'm not quite confident enough with my few jumbled ideas to believe I can do that at this point in time.

So for now The Marvelous Spiderman is officially on hiatus. If I can get something really good together I won't hesitate to continue it, but for the moment I'd like to try my hand at a few other things. I still have a Superman story going if anyone's interested, and I have ideas for things I'd like to do outside of Superheroes. We'll see how it goes.

As always thank you so much for reading. You're words of encouragement have really kept me going. All of you are awesome!

God bless you.

Jason Richard.