Web of the Spider Woman

"THOUGHTS" !SOUND EFFECTS!

Chapter One

"You ready for the science field trip, Peter?" Aaron Chang asked his friend and fellow martial arts student while the two were on the Midtown High bus driving towards their destination.

"I'm ready Aaron. I'm looking forward to this. I hear Professor Otto Octavius and his assistant, Dr. Carolyn Trainer, will be there. They're reputed to be the best nuclear physicists in the world!" Peter Parker answered excitedly.

Peter Parker was a fit and somewhat muscular 155 pounds standing at five feet, eight inches tall with short-cropped brown hair and eyes covered with glasses.

"You mean the way I'm one of the best martial artists in the world?" Aaron asked in fake arrogance.

"Still as humble as ever, eh, Aaron?" Peter said to the handsome, Chinese American with a classic mod men's hairstyle and a square-fringed, layered haircut with a touch of the bowl shape on the head, similar to the hairstyle the legendary Bruce Lee had. He stood at five feet ten inches, weighing a sinewy yet muscularly defined 175 pounds.

"Hey, I'm just kidding. It will take some time before I'm the best," Aaron answered.

"I was wondering. Why would a martial arts expert like you be even interested in a science field trip like the one we're going on?"

"A martial artist should also have brains. I'm not just a guy who can fight. Don't confuse me with Flash Thompson who really can't fight all that well anyway. What I am is much deeper than that. But your skills aren't that bad either. Even though all you had was acrobatic and tumbling skills from when you were brought up in the circus, you did pretty well. You're one of the few people in our class who can spar with me even if you spend a lot of time dodging and running away. I appreciate the fact that I have to work hard to beat you. And my great-grandfather teaching you some tricks and exposing some weaknesses in my defenses to you has kept me on my toes."

"I'm not just an ordinary acrobat. I've gone through Chinese acrobatics, too, the kind of training Jackie Chan went through. But I also have gone through some boxing, kickboxing, a year of Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, wrestling, Taekwondo, Wing Chun Kung Fu, and even some military commando and street fighting techniques. And don't forget I've learned speed hitting from that book I read by that martial artists master from Oregon," Peter answered.

"You didn't master any of those arts; you just learned the maneuvers and strikes. The only thing you truly mastered was the Chinese kung fu acrobatic style which is the only style you learned I have a good amount of respect for. You adapted well to my family's Shu Ciao Kung Fu style. I wish I had taken acrobatics when I was younger but my father wanted to make sure I could fight first. Learning acrobatics only recently has been difficult. That's why you're so good at running away from me; you're so hard to hit or catch. But why did you learn so many different martial arts before finally settling on my family's kung-fu style?"

"After my parents died in a trapeze accident I went to live with my aunt and uncle. My sadness over my parents' death made me shy and withdrawn; for that reason, I got picked on a lot. My uncle had me learn a lot of different martial arts styles but nothing helped a whole lot except for Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. Then someone told my uncle about your kung-fu style. I'm very glad I started learning it. It was really helpful to me in many ways, not just fighting off bullies."

"Yeah. My family's style is one of the best in the world. But as I was saying, martial arts go deeper than just fighting. However, I sometimes wonder if any of those fighting styles you went through really helped you at all, Peter," Aaron commented.

"The fighting styles I 'went through' did help me. I know I'm not as skilled as you but now and then I pull a rabbit out of my hat' and come up with a maneuver you haven't seen before.'

"That's why it's good to spar with you. I have to pay attention whenever I fight you. You also get lucky sometimes. But I'm still the best," Aaron said matter of factually.

"That's so interesting!" a voice called from the left of them. On the other side of the bus sat Mary Jane Watson. She had bland red hair which was set in a bun, making her look like a frumpy, mousy secretary. In addition to that her huge coke bottle glasses and conservative clothes helped to complete the female "Clark Kent" look she had. The teenage girl was around five feet six inches tall weighing a hefty 150 pounds. She was a female nerd if there ever was one.

Her natural meekness and shyness along with her high-level intelligence had made her a target of bullies to the point that two years ago on the last day of school in her freshman year while drying herself off after taking a shower during P.E., Buffy Thompson, Flash Thompson's fraternal twin sister, and some of the cheerleaders of which Buffy was captain had grabbed her, tore off her towel and shoved her out of the girl's locker room exposing her naked to the whole school while the cheerleaders laughed and kept Mary Jane from getting back in the locker room. Many of the boys and girls laughed and mocked while Mary Jane had lain on the floor, curled herself into a ball, and cried. Peter had noticed her, took pity on her and put his jacket on her covering her up despite the threats and insults of some of the people there. Ever since that day Mary Jane had had a crush on Peter.

"Oh, hi, Mary Jane. I didn't even notice you there," Peter answered kindly.

"You know, I've taken martial arts as well."

"You have, huh? What martial arts have you taken?" Aaron asked with his eyebrows raised.

"I've been taking tae kwon do for about two years. My father taught me some street fighting and wrestling techniques and I've even taken boxing and judo," Mary Jane said with a smile.

She had taken these fighting styles because her parents had insisted on it since so many bullies had picked on her so much but despite all this Mary Jane was still called Wimpy Watson by Buffy Thompson and the cheerleader squad. She had tried to stand up to Buffy but had still lost the fight when some of the other cheerleaders had helped Buffy when Mary Jane had begun to get the upper hand.

"That's great, Mary Jane, but you might consider taking my family's kung-fu style. We have strong woman martial artists in my family; they could teach you how to fight as well. Weren't you a gymnast at one time?" Aaron asked her.

"Yes, I was but I wasn't very good. The exercises I've had to do weren't all that difficult for me but when it came time for me to do gymnastic feats I fell flat."

"Where did you learn how to escape bonds after being tied up? I heard you almost always escaped whenever someone tried to tie you down."

Mary Jane blushed a little. Then she said, "that was more trial and error. The cheerleaders and sometimes the football team would often tie me up and laugh at me. I tried to escape many times. After so many failed attempts, I figured out how to do it."

Peter nodded his head. "I've often had the same thing happen to me where I had no choice but to increase my knowledge and skills in escaping from being tied up. I even had to learn how to escape grappling holds as well. However, I did grow up in a circus where I had the opportunity to see escape artists in action and learn a little bit from them too."

"That's all very impressive, Peter," Aaron said. Then he turned back towards the girl about whom they've been talking.

"But I still think you should learn martial arts from the women in my family, Mary Jane. Here, call us up and get started as soon as possible. By the way, Peter trains there too," Aaron said as he handed her a card with the number of his martial arts studio on it.

Mary Jane took the card and smiled at Peter while Peter smiled back at her nervously.

"I think she likes you, Peter. Why don't you string her along a little bit so she'll come and train at my family's studio?"

"I can't do that, Aaron. She's nice and everything, but the girl I'm in love with is Gwen Stacy. Besides, why does your family need more students? You got plenty."

"It's not just for my family's business; it's for Mary Jane as well. She needs it. I know what has happened to her. There's a rumor going around that one of the football players raped her a little while back. She's been bullied worse than you, Peter, so she needs the help. She has 'victim' written all over her despite the little bit of training she's done."

Elsewhere on the bus, some other guys were talking.

"Look at those two over there, the guke and the geek," Flash said to some of his fellow football players who laughed.

Flash Thompson was a large athlete who stood at six feet four inches tall weighing 250 pounds of solid muscle and bulging biceps. He was a handsome young man with medium length, reddish-blond hair, and blue eyes.

"When are we going to get even with those guys for ruining our fun, Flash?" Kong McFarlane, one of the offensive linemen on the high school football team, asked. He was a very large guy with a round physique and bald head who weighed in at 350 pounds and stood at six feet eight inches tall. Despite all of his bulk, he moved a lot faster than expected as he blocked for Flash as Flash ran with the ball as a running back.

"When we attempted to pants some of the members of the audio-visual club a week ago that geek, Peter Parker, made us waste too much time chasing him down and even got some good shots in," Kong said as he rubbed his still large, aching neck.

"I remember when that happened, Kong," the defensive lineman and captain of the defense side of the football team, said. He was the nose guard (the lineman who faces the center. The center is the guy who's right in front of the quarterback and gives him the ball during snap off).

Mann Montaine Marko was also known by his nickname, Man Mountain Marko. He was a handsome, giant of a man with broad shoulders and close-cropped, bluish/black hair, sideburns, and eyes, standing at seven feet, two inches tall weighing 450 pounds. The square-headed young man had a square build as well as large, well-defined muscles, being even bigger than either Flash Thompson or Kong McFarlane.

"Then that Chinese guy used his karate to beat some of us up. I don't know why he hangs around a geek like Parker."

"I think it's kung fu, not karate. Karate is what Japanese guys do. Kung fu is what Chinese guys do," another football player said.

"Whatever?!" Kong yelled in anger.

"We gotta do something about them. I'd like to grab that guy after beating him up and say to him, 'get out of here, man. And take your kung fu witcha, you're kung fu witcha, you're kung fu witcha," Mann stated while balling his fists up in a rage, the veins in his arms becoming more prominent while his eyes reddened which shocked his teammates.

"We'll get them, Mann. I was thinking about shoving one or both of them into some chemicals or something like that. Our best opportunity will be today since we're going to a science lab. We'll only get one chance for this so listen up." Flash then whispered the plan to his fellow jocks.

After Flash had explained his plan with his buddies, his sister, Buffy had heard the whole conversation since she and some cheerleaders had been sitting right behind them.

"The guys shouldn't have all the fun, should they, girls?" Buffy said to her cohorts. Buffy Thompson was a tall statuesque young woman with supermodel good looks who had the same reddish-blond hair her brother had. In addition to being the captain of the cheerleading team, she was also a star athlete in volleyball, basketball, and other sports.

"What do you have in mind, Buffy?" Harriet Osborne asked, enthused.

Harriet Osborne was also an attractive, young lady with her long hair being composed of cornrows much like her father, Norman Osborne.

"After the football team has shoved those guys into whatever they're going to shove them into we'll quietly shove Mary Jane into those same chemicals. Hopefully, she'll get sick and die. I want that geek girl, Mary Jane to suffer for standing up to me. How dare she do that?"

"All right, but I figured all of us beating her up was enough."

"It won't be enough until I say it's enough! Don't you dare challenge me or I'll throw you off the cheerleader squad!"

"OK. OK," the cheerleader said, backing down.

"Don't be such a wimp, Tina," Harriet Osborne said with a toothy smile licking her lips.

"So what's the plan?"

"Here it is," Buffy whispered to her cohorts.

XXX

When the school bus arrived at its destination, the students and the teachers supervising them exited the bus and made their way inside the lab.

"Hey, Peter! Hey, Aaron! Wait up!" Maynard Goldberg, the president of the Audio-Video Club, called out as he ran towards them.

"Hey, Maynard. We didn't see you on the bus. This is pretty interesting, isn't it?" Peter said to the nerdish boy with the horn-rimmed glasses.

"Yes, it is, but you guys need to be careful," Maynard whispered to them.

"Why is that?"

"Flash Thompson and the football team have something planned against you guys."

"Oh, don't worry about it. Those guys are nothing. I can take anything those guys throw at me. And Peter can dodge around until they get tired of chasing him. So there's no problem," Aaron said with confidence as he continued to walk with his shoulders back and his head held high.

"Uh, can I hang out with you guys?" Maynard asked, doing his best to keep up with the two martial artists.

"Sure, dude. I might need a good cameraman when I become a great martial arts movie star," Aaron said with his thumb to his face as Maynard walked alongside them.

"Hey, Peter. There's the girl of your dreams, Gwen Stacy," Aaron said with a chuckle as Peter pined over the amazingly stunning, inhumanly beautiful, golden-haired blond that had the body of a supermodel with more curves than the Indy 500. She also had a nice fragrance and a charismatic aura emanating from her matching her sparkling blue eyes. In addition to that, Gwen Stacy had an athletic yet full-bosomed hard body that stood at attention even though she was frantically trying to get away from an overly amorous Mann Marko who couldn't seem to keep his hands off her.

"Aaron. Keep it down. You want them to hear you?" Peter said a little embarrassed.

"You know you dig her," Aaron said.

"Well, I think she's still dating Mann Marko, captain of the football team."

"Don't worry about him, Peter. I'm sure you could take him," Aaron replied as the three boys made their way towards an encasing of radioactive spiders that glowed within their encased environment.

"They're nearing that radioactive laser that's operating inside the glass casing on that table over there. How about if we 'accidentally' shove those geeks into the casing of those irradiated spiders? That will fix them," Mann said to Flash Thompson and the rest of his teammates who were there.

"That's a good idea, Mann. Since Aaron is the toughest one, I'll make sure he gets the worst of it. They're right in front of one of those glass cases now. Let's walk up to them real quiet-like," Flash whispered as his teammates followed him.

"The nuclear radiation here is very intense and concentrated. Dr. Octavius is a genius!" Maynard stated as he went on and on about the experiments that were taking place.

Then without any warning, the group of football players shoved the three boys towards the table in which the Plexiglas container with the irradiated spiders in it, breaking it. Aaron took the worst of it as he was in the center of the three while Peter absorbed a great deal of the spider radiation, him being on the right of Aaron. Flash and the boys had also ended up shoving Maynard who was on Aaron's left into the mess as well. While Maynard was hurt, he hadn't taken any radiation.

Then Buffy and the cheerleader girls quietly and quickly grabbed the nerdish Mary Jane who had been daydreaming and staring off into space and shoved her into the area that the football players had shoved Peter and Aaron into. Mary Jane had nimbly kept from falling into the tumbled mess of the boys but screamed when a spider which had been living in the now broken glass container and thus had been irradiated, bit her, causing her to faint and fall on top of the guys who had smashed into the glass casing.

"What a wimp!" Harriet Osborne said while the others laughed.

"The sight of blood probably caused her to faint," another cheerleader said.

"Buffy, what are you doing?!" Flash demanded as he abruptly turned towards his sister.

"I'm joining in on the fun, brother dear."

"You should have asked first..."

"You don't tell me what to do!"

"It's no problem, Flash," Mann said, admiring the enthralling cheerleading captain.

"What's going on here!" one of the scientists who worked there called out, running towards the boys with security right behind him.

"Uh, these guys fell into the glass dome here. We didn't have anything to do with this," Flash Thompson lied as the other guys and cheerleader girls behind him nodded in agreement as the three boys were sprawled on the floor while Mary Jane was writhing in pain on top of them.

"We need to get these people to the hospital! Call an ambulance!"

"Flash!" Mr. Peabody, the teacher who was in charge of the field trip, called out. Mr. Peabody was a short, balding man with white hair and glasses.

"What?"

"What have you done this time?!"

"I ain't done nothing, Mr. Peabody. These guys fell," Flash answered looking innocent as the teacher looked at him suspiciously.

"It's true, Mr. P," Mann piped in. "They tripped and fell."

The other football players and cheerleaders again nodded their heads in agreement as the teacher narrowed his eyes in on them.

XXX

"Peter? Are you OK?" Peter heard as he started to wake up in his hospital bed.

"Huh? Aunt May? Where am I?"

"You're in the hospital, son," Ben Parker answered.

"The hospital?! How did I end up here?"

"You crashed into a glass container filled with radiation so you were fortunate. Your friend, Aaron, was practically bathed in radiation and broken glass. The doctors aren't sure how long it will take for him to recover. Maynard's OK but Mary Jane is in a coma. The doctor said you'll be all right. How did all of this happen?" his aunt asked.

"It was Flash Thompson and his jock friends! They shoved us into that glass casing! Ever since Aaron and I stood up to them, they've been waiting for an opportunity to get back at us for a long time now," Peter answered hotly, rising from within the bed.

"Take it easy, Peter," his uncle said, restraining him. We know Flash Thompson has been picking on you and others for some time now. That's one of the reasons we put you in all those martial arts classes. They worked up to a point. You didn't have so many 'accidents' after you got your first black belt."

"I don't know if I like all this fighting. People get hurt when fights happen. I thought the purpose of taking martial arts was for you to feel good about yourself and have more self-esteem," Aunt May interjected.

"That's right, Aunt May. But being able to fight and stand up to Flash and the other members of the football team has helped me a lot too."

"Isn't Aaron Chang the prize student at the karate school you've been attending? A fat lot of good karate did him," Aunt May responded.

"It's kung fu, not karate. Yes, he's good but he's not invincible. I'm sure he'll recover from this. There's a saying, 'that which doesn't kill you can only make you stronger.' That's what will probably happen with Aaron," Peter responded, looking up at his Aunt May.

"I understand that statement, Peter, but it's not always true," a cultured, ancient voice articulated.

A very old Chinese man had walked into the room with such a sense of grace and stealth that no one had noticed him until he had spoken. He was five feet four inches tall with long, gray/white hair. He looked very frail but his eyes showed strength and experience unknown to most people.

"Mr. Chang! How's Aaron doing? I heard he was seriously injured!" Peter said to the martial arts master.

"I'm not sure if Aaron will make it or not. Things don't look too good for him right now, but thank you for your concern."

"I'm sorry to hear about that, Mr. Chang. I hope and pray Aaron will get better," May Parker said graciously.

"Thank you for your kindness, Mrs. Parker. Now that I've seen that Peter is OK, I'll be taking my leave." With that, the old man left.

As the old man left, Peter thought, "I didn't know better, I'd think Master Chang had trained me while I was here in my dreams."

"May!" a slender and short, middle-aged woman with light brown hair called out as she ran into Peter's room.

"Yes, Ruth?" May answered.

"Is Peter OK? My son, Maynard, told me how that brute, Flash Thompson and his goons shoved him, Peter, Mary Jane Watson, and that Chinese kid into that radioactive glass container!" the frantic woman announced with wide eyes and shortness of breath.

"Peter will be OK, Ruth. How's your son, Maynard doing?" May asked their neighbor.

"My son will be OK, but I heard the Chinese guy got the worst of it. I wonder what will happen to him. Anyway, something should be done about Flash Thompson! He's been picking on my poor Maynard for years. When will it all stop?!"

"That's not a bad idea, Ruth. I'm planning on calling the school tomorrow," Aunt May answered.

Hidden in the shadows was a small ancient woman. When no one was looking she moved through the hospital like a ninja towards Mary Jane Watson's room until someone noticed her.

"Good evening, Madame Shokakugan. What are you doing here skulking around?"

"The same thing you were doing some time ago when you trained Peter Parker in his subconscious while he slept."

"So you noticed me. And here I thought I was the only one who knew how to train someone in their dreams," Mr. Chang said with a wizened smile.

"You're not. However, I had no idea Chinese martial arts masters could do that," the old woman answered.

"It wasn't too hard for me since I've been training Peter for some time now. But have you been training that little girl at all?"

"That is my problem. However, I'm a lot more skilled than you can imagine. Now excuse me while I take my leave."

As the ninja vanished into thin air, the old man smiled. Then he did an about-face and walked away, leaving the hospital.

XXX

A little later, Madame Shokakugan arrived in Mary Jane's hospital room after visiting hours were over, being unseen by the hospital's security.

"So, there you are. You have a lot of talent and power residing in you, child. So I'm going to make sure you learn how to use it."

Then the old Japanese woman put her hands on the girl's head and concentrated.

XXX

AUTHOR'S NOTES: I'll end this chapter right here. Thanks for reading this fic. Now please review.