"Nice to see you again, Spider-Man." A robotic voice spoke from the speakers in the WEB.
"Is that Paul?" Peter asked, his voice brimming with excitement.
"Yes it is. This is Paul 2.0, the same old assistant you know, but just a lot better." Otto said, smiling at Peter who looked like a kid that just saw some nice looking candy.
"I missed you Paul." Peter said with a little smile.
"Heads up." Anna yelled, tossing Peter a new mask.
He went to a corner to change, before coming back to them.
"Anna, I know I don't deserve to ask for this, but can you make another suit...with ummm nanotechnology?"
"The last one I made got destroyed by you Spidey I can't go through all that."
"Well it wasn't on purpose okay? I was fighting a weird metal man-bird....erhhh Vulture thingy!"
"No can do."
"Please Anna!"
"I can do that." Otto spoke, drawing attention to him. "Infact I've been working on something, and in the process of working on that thing I built this." He pressed a button and four mechanical limbs came out of his back.
"Woah! That's just like the Iron spider! Did Anna steal your blueprints?"
"No I did not —"
"Yes she did."
Anna and Otto glared at each other, sparks flying out of their eyes. Otto then walked to Peter with a smile.
"If you want Spider-Man, I can help you. We can work together! We'll be an invisible and unstoppable force. Crime won't see us coming! I'll make you stronger—, I'll make you a better Spider-Man, a superior one."
Peter froze, as he didn't expect that offer. He was about to reply when he suddenly blacked out.
"Must be the stress from his fight." Anna said, before turning to face Otto with a frown.
"What the hell was that all about?"
"Huh?"
"Don't play dumb with me! All that 'I'll make you a better Spider-Man' bullshit! Spider-Man and I are already a team, so what the hell do you think you're doing!?"
"Woah, Anna calm down. I was just offering to help him."
Anna frowned and turned away, walking towards the monitor on the wall.
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Later that morning, May anxiously paced the living room, biting her fingers. Gary walked in with a loud yawn, stretching his body.
"What the hell May? Are you still worried?"
"Yes Gary! I AM WORRIED!" May yelled in anger.
"Geez, alright I'll go look for him. Just relax and go to work, I'll call you as soon as I find him."
With a reluctant nod, May walked to her room to get ready for work.
Gary shook his head with a little smile, put on his jacket that was hung on a chair, and left the house.
Meanwhile, back in the WEB, Peter just woke up from his "short" nap. He saw Anna still facing the monitor, which made him shake his head.
"If you continue working like this you might die you know." He joked, standing up from the surprisingly soft bed. Anna didn't respond, she just continued staring at the screen.
"Anna?"
Silence.
"Paul."
"Good morning Spider-Man, how can I be of help to you?"
Peter walked to Anna and saw her sleeping.
"Paul, can you run a full body scan on Anna?"
"Yes, I can. Initiating scan, please stand back."
Peter took a step back, and a green light from the monitor scanned Anna.
"ERROR." Paul said after a brief pause. The AI itself sounded confused.
And it wasn't alone, because Peter was also confused. "Huh?"
"Unknown parasite found."
"Unknown parasite? What the hell?"
"Please do not attempt to remove it."
"The f*ck? Why?"
"Because it's her heart."
Peter paused, his eyebrows raised.
"Paul, what the hell are you talking about?" Peter asked, his voice shaking slightly. The weird parasite is her heart, what the fuck was the damn AI talking about?
"Miss Anna doesn't have a heart."
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Few minutes later Anna woke up. She saw Peter typing hurriedly on the keyboard, his forehead covered in sweat.
"Peter... what're you doing?"
"Did you know?"
"Know what?"
"That heart of yours? How long have you known about it?" Peter asked, not turning to face her, his attention locked on the screen in front of him.
Anna sighed, a sad sigh, and slowly stood up.
"I didn't want you to worry yourself—"
"Well you did a damn terrible job!" Peter yelled standing up. "You told me it was a disease! But a goddamn alien parasite!? What else are you hiding from me!? Why can't you just be honest Anna!? We're supposed to be a team!"
"I know!" Anna yelled back, her voice cracking. "My brother died! He died trying to figure out what that thing was! The world isn't what you know it to be Peter! The government, the systems, everything is just a big cover up! There's something darker, a whole lot darker going on and my brother accidentally discovered that while trying to figure out the cure and it cost him his fucking life!!"
There was a long silence, and they both stared at each other. Peter wasn't wearing his mask, so she could see his surprised look.
"How...how did it even get there?"
"It was supposed to be an experimental treatment, to help with my failing heart. It happened when I was a lot younger. But I guess it was just a lie, the government just needed a lab rat to test the parasite on, and I guess I was the unlucky person."
Another silence followed.
"What does it do?"
"Huh?"
"The parasite? What exactly does it do to your body?"
"Well.....it slowly takes over other organs, turning them into parasites like itself."
"Oh my God! Anna—"
"Leave Peter, I'm sure your aunt is worried sick."
""Leave!? Hell no! I—"
"Paul kick him out."
Suddenly, mechanical arms came out of the wall and grabbed Peter, dragging him towards the elevator.
He would've easily broken free, but he just silently looked at Anna, a sad look that'll hunt her for months.
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Gary walked to the park and saw Peter sitting on a bench, head down.
"She discovered your weiner was too little and broke up with you?" Gary said with a chuckle, giving Peter a light punch on the shoulder before sitting down.
"What the fuck Gary! No!" Peter said angrily, turning to face Gary.
"What happened kiddo?"
"It's nothing Gary, nothing."
Gary frowned a little, but didn't ask anymore questions. Instead, he brought out his phone and called May, letting her know that he had found Peter.
"Boy, you're getting an earful when she returns."
Peter chuckled nervously, because he knew Gary was right.
"Since that's settled, I'm guessing we can leave now."
"Uhh, actually, I got one more place to go."
"Seriously? Where? I'll drive you there."
"No! I mean, uhhh.....no..... I gotta go myself. I'll make sure to call you so you won't be too worried." Peter said before running away.
"What the hell is wrong with teenagers?"
Suddenly, his phone rang, and a dark expression appeared on his face.
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Spider-Man swung to George's house, and the officers who were sent on that suicide mission were gathered, waiting for him.
"Sorry for keeping you all waiting, I'm sure we all have places to go today." He said like a CEO who was attending a business meeting. "Let's get straight to the matter now, shall we?"
"What is it Spider-Man?" Officer Simmons asked, getting nods from the other officers.
"I researched all of you," (thanks to Paul) " and discovered that none of you have a bad record. Instead, you've exposed officers who had some dirt on them."
They all looked at each other in shock, wondering how he knew that.
"And the fact that all of you down to earth, homest, diligent and hardworking officers were sent to die makes something in me tingle. And it leads to the big question, who sent you?"
Everyone turned to George, suspicious looks on their faces.
"He's not talking about me you dipshits!" He yelled, then turning to Spider-Man, he said calmly, "it was our superior officer, Sikorsky."
Murmurs soon filled the living room, and they exchanged surprised glances.
"Sikorsky? What lot of good would our deaths bring him?" An officer named Raymond asked with a deep frown, voicing out everyone's question.
"That, we don't know, but we'll definitely find out soon. Before that, we have to keep you guys safe."
"Safe? From who? Sikorsky?" Simmons asked with a raised eyebrow.
"Yes....." Peter replied in a 'that was obvious' tone.
"Look kid, we can't just hide, they'll look for us; Sikorsky and whoever he's working with—or for." George said, folding his arms, his frown deepening.
"And you can't go back to work either—" Peter said, but an officer interrupted him.
"So everywhere we go just leads to our death?"
They looked at each other in silence.
"Let's resume in the Station, come clean on everything that happened. Spider-Man and Speedy saved us, and not to draw the attention of whoever ambushed us, Spider-Man told us not to drive. I know Sikorsky, we've worked together as a little team before he got his big promotion. He is always cautious, and he won't just act rashly like trying to kill us. He'll investigate, find out what went wrong, and during that time we investigate too, find out his motive, and put some dirt on him." Raymond said, causing the room to be silent again, like really silent.
"Raymond my boy! You bloody genius!" Simmons yelled, patting him on the back as other officers joined to praise him.
"Officer Raymond, your plan is brilliant, like really brilliant." Spider-Man said, drawing everyone's attention back to him. "But it has one little detail that we need to pay attention to."
"What's that?"
"What happens if Sikorsky finishes his investigation before us?"
"What if he's an innocent man too? Just doing his job like the rest of us. So while we're barking up the wrong tree, someone else is hunting out asses down." George added, inviting silence back to the living room.
"Sikorsky is responsible, I just know it." Spider-Man said, with a little nod. "But how fast can we dig up some dirt on him?"
The officers looked at each other, each feeling confident in his ability.
"It seems like having powers has made you look down on ordinary people." George said, a little smirk forming on his face.
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Peter swung away, after concluding his meeting with the officers. He has Speedy take them back to their houses (since he brought them there in the first place) to avoid any suspicion.
Now he had to deal with Aunt May.
He got to a dark alley, changed to his civilian clothes, and walked a few blocks to his house.
As soon as he opened the door, he saw May standing with her arms on her waist, furiously tapping her foot on the ground.
"Peter Benjamin Parker!"
'Oh God....'
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May gave him a lecture that lasted till evening, before leaving, not without giving him a heavy smack on the back of his head though.
'I totally deserved that.' He walked upstairs to meet Gary, but for some reason he couldn't find him.
"Gary?" He called, but there was no response.
"May, where's Gary!?"
"He said he had something to handle and wouldn't be coming back in a while."
"What the hell?" Peter muttered, entering his room.
He saw a little note on the table, a smiley face was drawn on it.
It read:
"Hey kiddo, sorry I couldn't wait for you to return. If you're reading this then it means you survived May, congrats!
Anyways I had to handle a very important issue at work—"
Gary works?
"and I won't be back soon, depends on how easily I handle it though. By the way, do you like Spider-Man?"
The last question made his spider sense buzz quietly.
[A/N: I'm really sorry for delaying..... it's been almost a month I guess, will prolly check later. I don't even have an excuse to give. Well to that ome person who's patiently waiting, thank you. So please don't mind any typo, and kindly send me the stones 🌚🙏]