Goodbye Yellow Brick Road
Peter was asleep on the couch, snoring loudly. His arm was dangling off the couch and touching the floor, an empty coffee cup hanging off his hand. Miles and Ben exchanged looks. The two hear the front door knob jiggling and as the door opens, MJ is in the doorway, carrying a bag of bagels. “Still asleep?” She asked the two. Miles nods and MJ she sighs. She sits next to Peter and strokes his hair. “He’s been through so much.”
Peter is sitting on the edge of a building, feeling the wind through his hair. His uncle appears next to him and looks out to the city. “Nice view, huh Peter?” Peter looks over to his uncle and feels as if the situation is believable and unbelievable. Peter nods and looks forward to the city. “I’m proud of you son.” Peter turns around to see his Uncle behind him, Gwen next to him. “We both are.” Peter starts tearing up and his uncle embraces him. They stay in the embrace for a longtime, when his uncle lets go Peter looks back at Gwen ,who smiles and nods to him. The two fade away as Peter wakes up from his dream.
Peter looks into MJ’s eyes, still groggy. He looks over to Miles and Ben. “Has your uncle filled us in about the next target?” Miles nodded. “Unc called a few hours ago, The target is gonna be at the Central Park Tower tomorrow night.” Peter nodded and shot two texts to Cindy and The Thing. Miles and Peter spent a few hours killing time by playing Mario Kart, eventually heading out to get Hot Dogs for everyone, leaving Ben and MJ alone in the apartment.
“So, how’s Janine?”
“She’s good. How have you been MJ?”
“I’ve been hanging on. These past few weeks have been…”
“Rough?” Ben finished. MJ nodded. “I get that. Being part of the Parker family is almost asking for trouble, but I still…”
“Wouldn’t have it any other way?”
“Exactly.”
Ben and Peter walked in, hot dogs in hand ,and they handed MJ and Ben their hot dogs. The four ate their hot dogs as the Spider-Men discussed their plans. There was a knock on the door and Peter answered it. Cindy waved and Peter invited her in. After coming in she sat on the couch as the three explained the plan to her. MJ was sitting on the recliner reading one of her magazines, occasionally asking a question about the plan, to which Peter would answer her. The plan was water tight, but Peter knew that knowing his luck something would go wrong, so the group came up with ways to change the plan in the event of anything going wrong.
It was 5:00 when Peter stepped out to get some air. He passed by Gwen as he spent time just walking down the streets. Sure, he could swing by as Spidey but honestly, he just didn’t feel like it today. While walking he bumped into Eddie Brock, who looked less than pleased to see him. Peter sighed and winced to himself as he opened his mouth to talk. “Sorry Eddie I…”
“Look, Parker, I get it.”
“You… What?”
“I know things ended roughly for us but you need to stop following Me.”
“Woah, first off you broke up with me, second of all I haven’t been following you.”
“Don’t lie to me Parker.” Eddie said, his frame seeming to get bigger, Peter saw the symbiote tendrils squirm for a moment. “I KNOW I’ve seen you around.”
“Wait, am I appearing in random places and emotionless?”
“You already know you are Parker.”
“Ok, Yeah no that’s not me, I know this because I keep seeing the same thing, only it’s my… It’s someone who was close to me and died.”
Eddie raised an eyebrow. “So what you’re saying is that someone is messing with us?”
“Yeah, I just don’t know who.”
“... I may have an idea who.”
“Who?”
“Let me look into it first, I’ll tell you what I find. Your number is still the same right?”
“Yeah, haven’t changed it.”
“Good. I’ll send you a text when I’ve confirmed my suspicions.”
Eddie started walking away, turning his head and giving Peter one last look before disappearing into the crowd. Peter rubbed his eyes and continued walking. Him and Eddie had dated for a little over a year, back when he initially dropped out of college to focus on photography full time. He had met Eddie at the Bugle when Jameson put the two on the same news story. The two had thought they were compatible with each other, however the symbiote had something to do with that. The two started dating shortly after the symbiote attached itself to Peter and the symbiote is what made Peter ignore Eddie’s red flags and start a relationship with him. It wasn’t like Peter regretted dating Eddie, but after ridding himself of the symbiote he realized how toxic the relationship was and decided to end it, however the symbiote got to Eddie first and made Eddie break up with Peter. For a while, Peter hated whenever Venom showed up because he had to fight off two bitter exes. Him and Eddie never really talked about the break up, choosing to avoid each other instead. Peter looked around, noticing that the streets were oddly empty, minus himself. He looked at the store next to him and saw that it was a comic book store. Curious, he stepped inside.
Peter looked around, seeing no one else in the store. He walked over to a section that was just marked Spider-Man. He grabbed Amazing Spider-Man #121 and flipped through it. He froze and broke out in a cold sweat when he discovered that not only did the comic use his real name, but it also showed Gwen’s death. Beat for beat. Peter looked around, the comics store now covered with the cover of Amazing Spider-Man #122. Many Gwen’s suddenly surrounded him, circling him so he couldn’t escape. Peter curled into a ball on the ground, mentally unable to handle the situation. All this taunting over Gwen’s death was taking a toll on him. When he opened his eyes again the Gwens and comic store were gone, instead replaced with the bridge where he fought The Green Goblin on that fateful night. Looking down off the bridge he saw a highly stacked pile of dead bodies, all belonging to one Gwen Stacey. The sight made Peter fall off the bridge, however once he fell, the surroundings became a black void. As he fell, Gwen’s face appeared in the darkness, taunting him. Peter hit the ground with enough force to make his back sore. As he got up he found himself in a graveyard. Gravestones marked his Aunt and Uncle’s graves, as well as Gwen and her father, Harry and Norman as well. As he walked over to an unmarked grave, his phone started ringing.
“Peter It’s Eddie, my suspicions were true, the one who’s been fucking with us is Qu-” The phone turned to static. Just then, among the gravestones rose a figure with a crystal ball instead of a head. It had a green suit, short gold pants, a purple cloak and gold gauntlets. The crystal ball flashed images of Gwen’s death and laughed.
“Poor, Pitiful Peter Parker!” It called out with a metallic voice. “Can’t save the ones he loves, and yet he keeps trying. It would be funny, if it weren’t so SAD!” Peter jumped out of the way before a giant fist could smash him, debris hitting him in the leg. The figure raised it’s hands, and when it did the ground came up with it. The figure clapped it’s hands together, and when it did the ground chunks collided with each other. Peter leaped out of the way before it hit him and he started swinging towards the figure, dodging pieces of rubble being thrown at him. He almost reached the figure before a stray rock hit him, knocking him away and knocking the breath out of him. Peter felt a breeze on the lower half of his face, noticing his mask was ripped, exposing his mouth. The figure floated down to him, clapping sarcastically. “I thought you’d be stronger than this Peter Parker.”
“WHO ARE YOU!” Peter yelled, spitting blood out as he did.
“I. AM. MYSTERIO!” It said, growing taller with each word. Peter couldn’t believe what he was seeing. Peter got up before Mysterio could step on him. He was moving noticeably slower and felt like he could pass out at any moment. Mysterio picked him up and threw him a distance. Peter felt himself hit something, looking back however, he just saw endless darkness. He got himself up, using a stray tombstone, and walked towards the darkness. He was suddenly stopped by some sort of barrier. He punched the darkness and, to his surprise, discovered an abandoned warehouse behind it. He looked back and saw Mysterio shrink down and start looking for him. Peter cleared more of the wall away and exited the graveyard scene. The warehouse had a smell to it, like old rubber and latex. Peter had visited MJ on movie sets before and noticed that a lot of the equipment looked like special effect equipment. There was a small desk with a lamp illuminating it. Peter walked over to the desk and noticed a cork board. In the center of it was an image of Peter and MJ, Peter’s face crossed out and a heart drawn over MJ. There were threads connecting Peter to Spider-Man, and news clipping about Gwen’s death. There was also a string connecting him to Venom and Eddie brock. Peter looked down at the desk and saw a picture of MJ with someone. Peter looked closer at the picture. He recognized the person in the photo. It was Quintin Beck. Peter looked back at the cork board and saw several photos of Gwen. Something clicked in Peter’s head. That’s why he was seeing Gwen everywhere. Quintin must have been placing her, but how. He heard a door open and used his web to get on the ceiling quickly. Out stepped someone in a robe, with a face that looked just like Gwen. Then, the figure proceeded to peel it’s face off, revealing a shiny, metal, blank face underneath.
“QUINTIN!” The person yelled. A door near the graveyard scene opened as someone with a bowl cut and a motion capture suit stepped out.
“Oh, what is it now Dmitri?”
“You told me that you were going to start using more digital scans and projecting them, WHY am I still going out and tricking the nerd and the jock?”
“Because, the tech isn’t perfect and they need to FEEL like the person is there, why is this still a problem?”
“Because you idiot, Brock nearly beat me up!”
Quintin smiled. “Good, that means he’s ready to fight Peter.”
“Jesus do I have to spell it out for you, HE. KNOWS. THAT. I’M. NOT. PARKER!”
“What?”
“Ugh I swear, I would leave now if you weren’t paying me so much. He knows I’m not Parker, and if HE knows that means…”
“...oh no.”
“Yeah, oh no is right you idio-”
Suddenly Dmitri found himself webbed to the ceiling. Before he could go back into his room, Peter fell down and landed on Quintin. “Hey there “Mysterio”, how’s it going?” Quintin made a face of displeasure.
“You. Ruining my life YET AGAIN!”
“I’m sorry, again?”
“You stole the woman I loved! The woman I was going to marry!”
“...Gwen?”
“No, not Gwen. Mary-Jane Watson.”
“I’m sorry, you had the hots for my wife? I mean I know a lot of guys do but-”
“Before you got your-” He shivered “HANDS on her, I was going to ask her out, she was the most beautiful woman I had ever seen, and her ability to work with my special effects was phenomenal. We could’ve been a Hollywood power couple, but NO! YOU had to get your radioactive SPERM inside her to make a hellspawn!”
“Ok first off dude, My sperm isn’t radioactive. That’s just wrong. Second, why did you EVER think you had a shot with MJ? Like, genuinely.”
“She saw the brilliance in my special effects!”
“Yeah, because they’re impressive, that doesn’t mean she likes you.”
Quintin looked like something snapped inside him, he freed himself from underneath Peter and he ran towards a desk, grabbing a remote off of it. As he hit the buttons on the remote, a machine with several blades on it flew towards Peter, who jumped out of the way. The machine continued flying in the same direction. It cut Quintin across the chest before lodging itself in the wall. Quintin coughed up blood as Peter rushed to him. “Hey man, we have to get you to a hospital.”
“Ha! That’s -cough- rich, Peter Par -cough- ker wanting to help me. Nah.”
Quintin hit a button before going limp in Peter’s arms. Peter’s spider sense started going off like crazy as he saw the building start going up in flames, Peter rushed to get out of the building. He went to grab Dmitri before the roof fell, crushing Dmitri in the process. Peter shook his head as he made his way out of the building into the evening. Taking in the evening air, he swung all the way back to his apartment, where he knocked on the balcony door. MJ opened the door and gasped at Peter’s condition. She helped Peter onto the bed where he passed out.
The next morning Peter woke up to see several people looking at him. MJ, Ben, Miles, Cindy, even Eddie was there. Peter sat up and everyone hugged him. Peter was stunned for a moment before wrapping his arms around the group. After they let him go, he walked into the kitchen and poured himself a cup of coffee. Miles informed Peter that there were only a couple hours left before Tombstone would attack the Central Park Tower and Peter nodded, heading to the closet for a new suit, since his regular one would need to be taken to the tailors. He found the replica of his black suit and put it on. Coming out of the bedroom, Eddie raised his eyebrow at the suit. MJ hugged Peter, asking him not to go. Peter grabbed her hand and placed it on his cheek, looking deep into her eyes, assuring her that he would be back. After suiting up, the 4 Spider-People (and Venom) went to the rooftop, looking out at the Central Park tower. They all started swinging towards the tower, ready for whatever awaited them there.
After arriving at the tower, Miles looked down at the arriving convoy. He looked down at his phone and confirmed that that was the convoy his uncle was in, and the others would be following suit. As Tombstone exited the convoy, Peter noticed Kingpin exit from the other door. More convoys arrived as Tombstone and Kingpin’s goons started pouring into the building. That was their cue to swing down. After entering the lobby area, Peter saw Kingpin, Tombstone, and Sandman enter a large elevator with the device and a few assorted thugs. As the elevator started rising Venom yelled out. “You, Scarlet, and the girl follow them. Me and the boy got this.” Venom and Miles started fighting off the goons in droves, Miles pretending to fight Prowler and Venom controlling the crowd, well, by being Venom. The three chased the elevator up several stories before reaching the top. As they kicked the door open they were greeted by Kingpin, who started removing his jacket. “You ain’t ruining this for us Spider-Man.”
“Awww but ruining things for you is my favorite pastime, Willy.”
Peter shot a web from both arms towards Kingpin, but he caught them and, after yanking Peter to him, punched him right in the face. Peter groaned, but still got back up. Kingpin then punched him in the gut and, after falling down again, Peter started laughing.
“What’s so funny?”
“I just love how single minded you are Willy.”
Kingpin stood there puzzled, but then felt both of his legs being tied by web as Ben and Cindy spun around him. He raised his arms to slam them down on Peter, But his arms got tied up too. Falling over, all three Spider-People wrapped Kingpin in a web cocoon and headed back to where Tombstone was. The three were greeted by not only Sandman, but a Water Man and Lava Man. “Ah good, you’re here.” Tombstone said, leaning back in a chair. “Spiders, I’d like to introduce you to Hydroman and Moltenman, you guys already met Sandman. The Spider-People braced themselves for the incoming fight. Each person took one elemental. They struggled with the elementals, however, Peter noticed that when Hydroman got too close to Moltenman, Moltenman evaporated while Moltenman hardened, which gave Peter an idea. He lured Moltenman over to Sandman who, once touched by Moltenman, started burning away. Tombstone banged his fist on the table as Sandman was fully burnt away. Peter, Ben, and Cindy lured Molten over to Hydroman and watched as they took each other out. Tombstone leaped over the desk and tried swinging at Peter, who dodged and shot a web, sticking his feet to the floor. After meeting up with Miles and Venom the 5 secured the area and Peter let Reed know to come and get the device, which he did with the help of the other Fantastic 4. After the device was secured the 5 all headed back to Peter’s house to celebrate their victory.
Epilogue: 5 Months Later
Peter was watching Mayday play with a plush doll in her crib. He smiled to himself and looked over to MJ, putting on a nice dress. Peter ruffled Mayday’s hair, adjusted his tie and walked over to MJ, giving her a kiss on the head. MJ smiled and returned the kiss with one on the lips. The two had finally been able to go on a date for the first time in a year. Peter had saved a famous playwright and managed to get two tickets to his newest show, which MJ had been dying to see for months. A soft knock was at the door. Peter went and opened it, Seeing Miles and Kamala standing on the other side.
“Hey thanks for doing this last minute Miles.”
“No problem man, how hard can watching one baby be?”
Peter smiled and shook his head. “Oh, you’d be surprised.”