Sinister Year

Peter was barely awake when he heard a voice speaking.

"Felica Hardy." Karen said.

"What?"

"The thief. I spent all night cross-referencing her picture with my database."

Peter sat up and went to his computer. Karen had downloaded all the files on the girl. There wasn't much. 

"Only some small things. How did she get so skilled to be pulling off these heists?"

"Unknown."

"Keep me posted on anything else you find. She was up to something. That necklace wasn't her priority."

"Will do, Peter."

"Thanks, Karen."

Peter did a quick check of the news for anything he might have missed. Nothing in New York but there was a big news story of some killer in California being set to be executed on Friday.

Not something he wanted to read. The man seemed to be the worst kind of human but Peter would always be against killing. Even if the guy deserves it.

He closed his laptop and went down to the kitchen for breakfast.

"Morning, Peter." Pepper greeted as she put down some pancakes for Morgan.

"Morning, Petey!" 

"Morning." He smiled and poured some juice.

"Fun night?" May asked.

"No. Boring really." He shrugged. I'm going to figure out this Felicia on my own. "Where's Tony?"

"Fury and him are talking. By that I mean they're arguing over something." Pepper answered.

"Right."

"Oh, Peter. I've had talks with someone who might be able to help you and Tony with your prosthetics project." She revealed.

"Really? You support it too?"

"Of course. It's a good idea." Pepper smiled. "If you're interested, I can arrange a meeting for Friday afternoon."

"Sure. Sounds great. Do they know what they're doing? I mean, of course they do or you wouldn't be talking about them. Oh, did they see my designs? Or do they have some of their own? Can I see them?"

"Peter!" May raised her voice but had a smile on her face. 

"Oh... I was rambling, wasn't I?"

"You do that a lot." Morgan said.

"So do you." Peter retorted. 

Morgan stuck her tongue out at him which the much more mature boy gave back to her.

"Enough. Morgan, finish your breakfast." Pepper ordered.

"Peter, start yours." May followed up.

Peter sat and began eating. "Oh. I didn't ask. Who is it?" He looked at Pepper.

"Dr. Otto Octavius. He's been working on prosthetic limbs for years and made some very interesting progress."

"Looking forward to meeting him." Peter dug into his eggs.

All the time after Thanos and Mysterio and the press wasn't as bad. Sure, Peter had people following him and taking pictures or asking interview questions but he managed.

Luckily, they seemed to die down around school. There were some really stubborn ones though. They mainly focused around the Tower, but he always had to dodge them at the end of the day. 

Peter was happy the photos in school stopped. He figured the paparazzi all had enough to fill multiple books.

But what he couldn't stand were the trashy magazines that made baseless claims. One that Michelle was reading at the moment as they waited for the rest of the Decathlon Team to meet.

"Get this. You apparently have pheromones that attract females. Can even put them under a hypnotic trance to obey your every command." She said.

"Come on. Stop reading that." He groaned as he laid his head on the table.

"Yes, my Spider Lord." She teased

Peter couldn't stop himself from laughing. He looked up and saw the smile on Michelle’s face.

"You only read that to embarrass me, don't you?"

"I would never do that, my lord."

"Stop!" 

Both laughed as Peter took her hand in his.

"Had a weird night." He spoke after a few minutes.

"How so?"

"A thief. Not like the usual."

"I'm listening." Michelle put the magazine down.

"Well, she stole a necklace and only set off the alarm after she did it. Then waited for me on the roof.

"She?" Michelle narrowed her eyes.

"Yeah. Something was off with her. She seemed to be... toying with me. I chased her to another roof before she gave me the slip."

"You let a thief get away? Losing your touch, Tiger?"

"She distracted me." 

"How?"

"Tricks and smoke bombs. And she tossed a fake necklace at me. But she was up to something else. She's not going through all this for jewelry."

"How do you know that?"

"A feeling."

"Spidey senses?" 

"No. Anyway, let's talk about something else."

"Yeah… there's something I've been meaning to tell you." Michelle suddenly looked nervous.

"What is it?" He squeezed her hand.

"Well, you see..."

"Peter!" Ned ran over to them. "Dude, look!"

Ned held up his phone, which showed a hostage situation on the news. Five blocks away.

Peter looked back at Michelle.

"Go. I'll tell you later."

He gave her a kiss on the cheek and ran out of the room.

Across the school, the hunter watched. 

The car his prey drove was very distinctive. Plus, it wasn't hard to follow Peter Parker. The kid had eyes all over him. Or media vultures tracking him.

Peter was easy to track. Spider-Man on the other hand...

The kid never followed the same pattern on patrol. Very clever.

The boy was smarter in the suit. Out of it, he tries to be a normal person.

This left the hunter with a choice. Take the kid when he's a civilian or wait for a chance when he is in the suit.

I won't risk it at school. Too much possible collateral damage.

Despite his reputation, he didn't hurt anyone but his prey. Amateurs risk others. He is a professional.

I'll watch and wait. Always learn everything you can about your prey before you act.

And the proper bait to use.

Peter would have empathy for most people but as he landed, he saw the situation and felt anger fill him.

It looked like a lone man was holding up a jewelry store and locked himself in when the alarm triggered.

Peter counted six hostages but the one the robber had a gun pointed at was what set him off. The girl couldn't be much older than Morgan.

Times like this, he was glad his suit didn't have the Instant Kill feature. 

As the police tried to negotiate, he made his way to the roof and down a vent.

"Karen. Any cops out there I know?"

"Officer Davis is present."

"Good, call his cell." As soon as it picked up, Peter started talking. "Davis. Listen, I'm inside the vents. I see a phone directly under me. Get the negotiation going from there and I'll take care of this."

"Spider-Man?"

"One and only."

"Listen kid, this is a delicate situation. I can't..."

"Davis, trust me. The guy’s looking more unstable by the minute."

"...Don't make me regret this."

"Copy."

The phone rang a few minutes later. When the guy moved under the vent, Peter dropped.

The gun was out of the robber's hand and he was slammed hard into the ceiling. Webbed in place and unconscious.

It happened so fast, nobody reacted until Peter was standing by the girl. "Hey, it's over. You're okay." 

It took a second for the child to realize who was talking. 

"Spider-Man?"

"Did the suit give me away?" 

The girl tackled him around his waist, sobbing. The rest of the group realized the situation was over and breathed a sigh of relief.

The mom rushed over and her daughter latched on to her. 

"Thank you." The mom cried.

"You're welcome."

Peter helped the hostages out the door. Once everyone was outside, he stepped out into the flurry of the media taking photos and asking questions. The police line was holding them back, fortunately.

"You might want to get out of here, Spidey." Davis advised as he stepped over to him.

"Great idea. Oh, thanks for the help."

"I have no idea what you're talking about." Davis gave him a wink.

Peter smirked before jumping up and swinging away. He pulled out his phone and sent MJ a text.

Situation over. Meet at the Tower later?

Saw it on the news. Nicely done Tiger. Yeah I'll be by. Wait...are you texting and swinging?!

Got to go. Love you

Stop doing that!!!

After practice and hiding from photographers, Michelle finally made it to the Tower.

Seriously, how many photos of Spider-Man's girlfriend do they need? At least none are asking for interviews anymore.

She casually strode into the living quarters. Michelle had her own pass now and FRIDAY called her 'MJ'.

"Hi, Michelle." Pepper said from her desk.

"Hey." 

"Petey's down at the gym." Morgan told her as she licked her juice pop.

"Thanks, Morgan."

A short elevator ride later and Michelle arrived at the "gym". That was technically the name but it was built for superhumans so a regular person would be hard pressed to work out here.

"Come on, you piece of crap!" Peter's voice grabbed her attention.

She looked up and saw him, shirtless, and apparently using a new arm. One that had him stuck to the ceiling.

"Let go!!" He pulled at the webbing holding him there.

"What are you doing?" She asked.

Peter realized he wasn't alone and looked down at her. "Oh… hey." He looked embarrassed. "Let's face it, this isn't the weirdest thing you walked in on me doing."

"True. Why are you stuck up there?"

"Testing a new webbing and arm feature. It's going… well?"

"Really?"

"One second." Peter hit the button and left his arm attached to the ceiling. With a flip, he landed on his feet. "I'll get that later." He motioned to the arm still stuck. He went to a table with multiple arms laid out.

"New ideas?" Michelle examined them.

"Yeah." He smiled. "Like this one." He attached a red and gold one on. "Check this out."

He aimed the arm at the wall and an Arc blast fired out. But the force sent him flying back.

Michelle saw the huge hole where he fired and the small dent in the wall where he landed.

"I'm good!" Peter jumped up, a little dazed.

"I think you're far from good, Tiger." She teased, unable to hide the smirk on her face.

"A little too much on power level." Peter popped off the arm and laid it down when he came over.

"Any of these not going to be disastrous?"

"They're prototypes! I'm still fine-tuning them." He defended.

"What's that one do?" She pointed to the red and blue one.

"Cap helped me with that one." Peter said proudly. He popped it on and flicked his arm. A shield then materialized, attached to his forearm. "Cool, right?"

"Yeah. Can you throw it?"

Peter stepped back a little. "Just keep an eye out. If I yell ‘duck’, duck." He warned her.

That didn't make her feel at ease.

Peter flung the shield against the wall. It bounced to another, then another. One more hit and it flew towards him. He jumped up and caught it in mid-spin.

"Yes!" He said triumphantly as it reconnected with the arm.

"One out of three’s not bad." 

Peter pulled the arm off and reattached his regular one. "Sorry I had to miss practice." He grabbed his shirt and pulled it on.

"Luckily, the woman in charge has a soft spot for losers."

"Yeah, she's pretty amazing." He wrapped her arms around her and pulled her close.

"Nothing bad came from your little adventure earlier?" Michelle asked as she wrapped her arms around his neck.

"No one was hurt and the guy’s in jail. Seriously, who uses a kid as a human shield?"

"A coward. Guess you have another member of your fan club?"

"Kids like me, what can I say?" He smirked. "But what did you want to talk to me about earlier? Looked pretty serious."

Michelle suddenly became nervous. "Yeah. It's not terrible but it is." She slipped off him.

"Okay?"

"My mom wants to have you over for dinner." She said in a fast breath.

Peter suddenly went pale. "That's good or bad?"

"Neither." She sighed. "Apparently, I've put off you meeting her for too long."

"Do you want us to meet?" 

"Yes. No. It's complicated. She's great but can be intimidating."

"Well, she is your mom." He smiled.

"What's that supposed to mean?" She gave him a glare.

Peter held up his hands in surrender. "Nothing!” But he was still smirking.

"You are lucky you're cute." 

"Just cute? I'm adorable." He teased back. "So when is this dinner?"

"Tomorrow night. If that's alright?"

"I'll do a short patrol and be there." He reassured her.

"Okay." Michelle smiled back.

"One last thing." Peter looked uneasy. "She's not a criminal mastermind, right?"

"Probably not." And she turned her back to him to leave the room.

"That's a joke, right? Right?!" He yelled as he chased after her.

"You weren't supposed to be friending the kid." The person on the monitor said.

"Relax. I'll get what you want." Felica waved off as she examined the necklace.

"You're attracting too much attention with your collection."

"That's the point." She sat up. "You want the goods. Let me handle this my way. I haven't let you down before."

"There's a first for everyone. If you want that intel, get the job done." The feed cut out.

"I always get the job done." Felicia kicked her feet up on the table.

Well, Spider. We'll be getting to know each other a lot better.

Peter swung over and landed on the side of a building. 

Okay. I'm meeting my girlfriend's mother for the first time tomorrow. Is it odd that all the things she’s probably worried I want to do with MJ, we've already done?

Shit, I better not think about that tomorrow. Won't have the luxury of hiding behind my mask.

"Okay, just relax, Peter. You faced Thanos. The Scorpion. Mysterio. You can handle one dinner."

"Peter, your stress levels are rising. May I suggest meditation?"

"No, Karen, I'm fine. Just thinking out loud. Hey, let's find some bad guys to web up. Much better than meditation."

He found a good candidate trying to get into a car.

Okay, I'll watch for a few minutes. No need for a repeat of webbing the wrong guy. Okay, he's looking around a lot… and there's a bar to slip in the window. I'm taking my chances.

"Hey, this car totally doesn't match your outfit." Peter hung upside down to the guy.

"What the shit?!" He spun around and soon, their positions were reversed. Peter was on the ground and the guy was webbed upside down. "Come on, man!"

"Don't steal cars. Simple enough." Peter shrugged.

"Annoying brat!"

"Oh, that hurts me. Really." Peter hit the hood, setting the car alarm off. "Have fun waiting for the police!" 

He jumped up and swung off.

"Peter, reports of shots fired nearby."

"On it."

On top of a roof, Peter saw several bikers standing around one man. The guy was near the ledge and clearly in danger of the others.

But the strange thing was the leader, Peter assumed. He was large and pale white.

"Karen, enhance hearing."

The audio reached his suit. 

"Robbie, Robbie, Robbie, you really screwed up tonight." The pale guy spoke.

"Lonnie..."

"The name is Tombstone." The man smirked. "Come on, Robbie. No need to be afraid of an old friend."

"Friend? I don't think you understand what that means."

"That hurts." Tombstone flashed a razor-sharp smile. "Listen, I'll give you a chance. You saw nothing. Say anything else and I'll be forced to do something drastic. You don't want that, right?"

Tombstone grabbed Robbie by the neck and held him out over the ledge.

"I'm done being afraid of you."

"Bad choice." He let go.

Robbie screamed, then stopped suddenly.

"Gotcha!" Peter grabbed the man and swung away.

"Holy hell!" Robbie screamed.

Peter landed nearby on another roof. "Stay here!"

He jumped back and swung back to the roof with the bikers.

"Not everyone can fly, jerk." Peter landed on the doorway to the stairs.

"Spider-Man." Tombstone smiled. "Big mistake."

"Can we skip the 'I'm going to kill you' and get to the part where you are all unconscious?"

The men pulled out their guns and Peter acted. 

He webbed the guns out of their hands and threw them back right into their heads. Three guys down.

He jumped down and took the legs out of two others before pinning them to the roof with webs. The last one pulled a knife.

"Oh no." Peter said dramatically.

The guy came at him. 

Peter sidestepped and tapped the guy’s back as he went by. The force sent him off the edge.

The man screamed, then the small device on his back activated, shooting a web out and pulling him against the wall.

Just the big guy remained.

"Didn't want to help your friends?" Peter asked.

"Wanted to see you in action. You're tiny but fast."

"Why does everyone keep bringing up the height?" Peter mumbled to himself.

Tombstone charged.

Peter jumped up and threw a punch, landing square onto Tombstone’s jaw. But it didn't feel like a jaw. Peter felt like he punched a solid boulder.

"Ah!" Peter shook his hand.

Tombstone smirked back. "Not bad, kid." Then he slammed his fist into Peter's chest. 

Peter flew back from the force, going right off the side. He shot a web and swung back up.

Tombstone looked over, only to see Peter's feet slam into his face, knocking him onto his back.

"Okay. I'll admit, you're strong." Peter held his chest.

The pale man moved to his feet. "That's just a taste." He ran his tongue over his sharp teeth.

The back and forth went on as Peter hit Tombstone and tried to not get hit in turn. He always pulled his punches but this guy didn't seem like he needed it. His skin was harder than steel.

Tombstone caught his leg mid-strike and spun him around. Unfortunately, he didn't calculate how close they were to the edge.

Both went over. Tombstone held on to Peter as he hit him. Peter slipped one of his arms free and shot a web.

It stuck and sent both of them flying into the side of the building.

They separated as they hit the ground. 

"I'm enjoying this, kid." Tombstone stood up.

"You have issues."

"I'm not the one dressed like a circus clown."

"Well, if we put some lipstick on and a rainbow wig, I think you could pull it off."

That took the smile off the man's face. Now he looked angry.

Tombstone brought his massive fist down on Peter. Peter jumped back and dodged. The man was strong but not very limber. 

His fist slammed into a pole and the whole thing snapped like a twig.

Peter saw that as an opportunity. He grabbed the pole mid-fall and rammed it against Tombstone, sending him crashing into the wall.

It was a short break as the man dusted himself off and came at him again.

Peter swung the pole around to hit Tombstone again but this time, he caught it. Peter found himself lifted with the pole and thrown into a car.

Before he could get up, Tombstone was upon him. Slamming him down with each punch. Peter used his arms to block. His left arm slammed into Tombstone’s the same time he was bringing it down. 

A shockwave was sent out from the vibranium, taking Tombstone's legs out from under him.

Why didn't I think of that sooner?!

Peter shot a web up. He flew off the ground and spun around, hitting Tombstone in the chest with another web, stuck just like he wanted. He yanked but with no leverage, he was pulled fast towards the man.

Just like he planned.

"Heads up!"

Tombstone only caught the sight of Peter's left elbow slamming into his head briefly. Then, everything started to spin.

"Timber!" Peter yelled as the man hit the ground, unconscious.

Robbie came down to the street just as he saw Tombstone getting hit and Peter webbing him to the ground.

"Wow. Impressive, kid."

Peter looked over at Robbie. "Thanks. So what was that all about?"

"A report gone wrong." Robbie sighed and sat down. "Got a tip. Arrived just as my informant was getting his head blown off."

"Shit. And the big pale dude?"

"Bad news."

"Kinda figured that out. What the hell is he made of?"

"About three years ago, Lonnie was involved in a chemical accident. Made his skin bulletproof."

"Punch-proof too." Peter shook his very sore hand.

"Still. You got him." Robbie breathed a sigh of relief.

"Cops are on their way. I'll stick around in case he wakes up." Peter sat next to him.

"Thanks, Spider-Man. I told Jameson he was wrong about you."

"Jameson? You a friend?"

"I don't think he understands friends. I work at the Bugle. Name’s Robbie." He offered his hand.

"Spider-Man." Peter shook back. 

A few minutes later, Robbie was giving his statement while Tombstone and his crew were hauled off. Peter watched from the side of the building, then swung away.

Not a bad night. Suit needs touching up. Maybe a new color scheme?

"Mayor Osborn. A pleasure to make your acquaintance." The heavy Russian accent came from the man waiting.

"Pleasure’s all mine." Norman shook the smaller man's hand. "What can I do for you, gentlemen?"

"We're here to discuss a business partnership with you. One which your predecessor had an understanding about with us."

"Let me stop you. I can tell you are 'upstanding' members of our city. But whatever deal you had with the previous administration is irrelevant. I make no such deals."

"Think this through, Mr. Osborn."

"I have. Now please leave."

"I'll let you reconsider. My card." He placed it on the table. "Do the right thing."

Norman glared at the man as he left. Criminals think they can run MY city?!

He picked up his phone. "Yes. You remember the security firm you mentioned? Turns out, I may have use for them after all."