New York
August 28, 17:14 EDT
In the second-floor classroom, which also served as the photography club's club room, a meeting was taking place. Nearly all of the thirty available desks in the room had a student sitting at them, and that included Peter, who sat at the back next to the shy June Moone, who was sketching in a notebook. When he first entered the classroom, he was surprised to see that the club had so many people, but he figured it was probably due to the club's lax nature.
He looked around and saw that besides June and him, there were only three other freshmen, none of whom he had classes with but had seen around.
As he waited for the meeting to begin, he thought about the past week.
Thanks to being in sub-zero temperatures while wearing only a thin spandex suit, he had contracted a cold that he spent nearly all of Sunday recovering from, a cold that his mother wondered how he had contracted. He explained that it was because he had slept with wet hair and no socks; he wasn't sure his explanation would be enough to convince her, but she seemed to have accepted it and made him chicken noodle soup to help him recover.
The cold, along with healing his torn muscles from using more strength than he normally had, meant he didn't have much time on Sunday to do the things he needed to: fixing/upgrading his web-shooters and suit, and analyzing the Venom sample he took.
It did, however, give him more than enough time to think, some of which he spent thinking about the Zatanna situation. He mulled over what he should do, even looking up advice on the internet, which did not help, before deciding to let nature take its course. His train of thought was that the only reason Zatanna liked him was because she had known him for so long, but she would eventually get over her crush. To that end, the best way to continue was to act like he had always acted with her, and hope her crush fizzled away.
On Monday, he decided to skip his usual after-school vigilante activities, choosing to rush home instead to attend to the things he needed to. He first repaired his suit, as it was the easiest thing to do. As he did so, he wrote down some thoughts on ways to make his suit more durable, à la the Advanced Suit. He also mused about the possibility of unstable molecules.
As for his web-shooters, he had brainstormed some ideas for making them more resistant to cold while nursing his cold, funnily enough. The ideas still needed some fine-tuning, so he settled for just fixing the broken web-shooter. The same went for his web-fluid; he had ideas, but they needed more work.
After fixing his equipment, he moved on to analyzing the Venom sample, or rather, attempted to; his lab, while relatively well stocked with equipment and materials, wasn't exactly state-of-the-art. As he began trying to analyze the sample, he quickly realized he was missing certain equipment and materials; the kind of equipment and materials that weren't readily accessible to the average Joe Schmoe.
While initially frustrated, after a few moments of thinking, he came up with a solution, one that didn't involve stealing what he needed or breaking into a privately owned lab that had what he needed and using their things. His big, brilliant idea was to use his school's chemistry lab. He remembered reading in the school's brochure that his school's chemistry lab was surprisingly well stocked with equipment and materials ordinarily not found in a high school. It was as if an unseen force[1] were helping him out.
With that plan in mind, he decided to wait until it was dark before sneaking out and going to his school, but until then, he would work out. Struggling so much with the rubble had been a wake-up call, reminding him not to be too complacent. Because of that, he decided to see if he could get stronger like a normal person. It wasn't something he remembered being explored in the comics, so he didn't know if it would work, but he saw no reason why it wouldn't. He just needed to make sure it was intense enough to be considered a workout.
To that end, he went back to the abandoned warehouse where he had first tested out his web-swinging, and because he hadn't grown into his powers just yet, he was able to use the abandoned industrial materials as weights. The workout felt like a workout did back before he had gotten his powers, but only time would tell if it was effective.
He had finished with his workout just as it got dark, so he headed to his school. He avoided using his outfit or web-shooters when breaking in since he figured if he got caught, it would be better if he wasn't breaking into a school dressed as nor using Spider-Man's signature equipment. He didn't want to add more fuel to the anti-Spider-Man fire, so he only wore nondescript black clothing and a ski mask.
After a little bit of science, he determined the chemical composition of Venom, but instead of clearing things up, it only left him with more questions. Though somewhat impressive and complicated for a street drug, there wasn't anything in its composition that helped shed some light on why Dr. Frost wanted it. It wasn't until he had run through various theories in his mind that one somewhat clicked.
Dr. Frost had become, as he called it, a heat vampire, needing to feed on heat to survive. Because of that, he theorized that the accident had caused her body to be changed at a fundamental level. He further theorized that since Venom was a drug that altered the body, she wanted to try using it to cure her condition and/or use it as a starting point to create a cure.
The more he thought about it, the more he felt he had figured out the motivation behind her stealing Venom. He even went so far as to share his theory with Daniels, asking him to be on the lookout for any reports about stolen lab equipment and/or chemicals, as it was likely she would need them to synthesize a cure. Daniels was receptive to his theory but told him not to put all his eggs in a basket, especially when he didn't even know if the basket was real.
Aside from that, he had also been working on a formula/serum to counteract the effects of Venom, though it was slow going since he couldn't break into his school every night.
The rest of the week was quite typical, with Peter attending school and then going about his vigilantism afterward. The only atypical thing was on Wednesday, Dragon called him and told him there wouldn't be a lesson. All he said was that he had things to take care of and that he would call Peter when his lessons resumed. Again, Peter felt he had some help from fate, as he was still unsure whether he would stop going, and it gave him more time to mull it over.
CLAP CLAP
Linda Park, president of the photography club, clapped her hands, snapping Peter out of his recollection.
"Okay, so, today is the first football game of the season." said Linda, a lot more subdued than when she was hoping to recruit Peter. "That means at least two of us have to be there."
A round of groans was heard, coming mostly from those who weren't new to the club.
"Send two of the freshmen to do it." said an older girl with glasses, receiving a bunch of approval from the older club members.
"You know the deal for the first game: one freshman, one senior club member. They need someone to show them the ropes and make sure everything is done the way it should be done." said Linda, receiving more groans. "I'm sure you're all very busy with whatever it is you're doing, but you know how the football coach is when it comes to taking those pictures. If we send the freshmen alone, they'll get chewed and spit out. So who's going to volunteer?"
Peter saw that none of the older or newer club members raised their hands, all looking away or down at their phones. He looked over at June and saw that she raised her hand a bit but looked unsure/nervous before putting it back down.
"Sigh. Fine, I-" said Linda, looking resigned.
"If you show me some examples of how you want the photos shot, I can do it." said Peter, raising his hand.
"One of our new freshmen, ladies and gentlemen, Peter Parker." said Linda, smiling, as she introduced him. "Peter, I'm happy to see you're stepping up to the plate. You said you're proficient with cameras and taking pictures, correct?"
"That's right." he said, nodding.
Whether it was because of his past life's experience with a camera or something that came with becoming Peter Parker, he had become a skilled photographer and even enjoyed collecting vintage cameras. He didn't have any plans to pursue photography professionally, but if the opportunity to make some cash on the side with his photography presented itself, he would consider it.
"Come take a look at some examples and see if you think you can do it." she said, opening her laptop as Peter walked over.
"Linda, is that all the meeting was about?" asked an older club member. "Can we go?"
"Yeah, sure. See you." said Linda, rolling her eyes.
With her assurance, all the members quickly filed out of the classroom.
"I know one of the main selling points of the club is that no one has to do anything they don't want to, but I swear, sometimes." said Linda, shaking her head in frustration. "I mean, I expected that from the older members, but even the freshmen?"
"Not all the freshmen." he said, looking at June as she walked up to the podium.
"June." said Linda, surprised to see her still there. "Did you need something?"
"I-I also wanted to volunteer for the game." she said, her voice quiet yet soothing. "I-I'm new to using cameras, but I want to help. I-If I can."
"Great!" she said, smiling as he looked over at Peter. "Peter?"
But judging by the look she was giving him, he could tell it wasn't a request; though it wasn't like he was going to turn her down.
"No problem at all. I'd be happy to show you the ropes." he said, smiling at June.
"T-thank you!" said June, looking very happy.
"What a charmer." mumbled Linda, elbowing Peter with a smirk on her face.
"The photos, please, madam president." he said, ignoring her little jab.
"Right." she said, pulling up the photos on her laptop. "These are what the coach likes. Action shots, the players looking like a team, photos of them pumped up, things like that. He really likes it when you take pictures when they're winning, and hates pictures of when they're losing, so keep that in mind."
"Easy peasy." he said, looking at the photos.
"Good." she said, heading to the back of the room and unlocking a closet filled with cameras before picking up one, locking the closet back up once she had it in hand. "You can use this camera, but be careful with it."
"Sure." he said, taking it from her hands and inspecting it. "Is this Queen camera from before or after Oliver Queen lost his company?"
"Before." said Linda, making a face of disgust. "Those new Queen cameras suck. Nobody buys them anymore."
"It's too bad the company lost its way." he said. "Though I prefer Wayne cameras over anything else."
"A man after my own heart." she said, smiling. "Used up my freelance photography money to buy the new Wayne M3. Shoots like a dream."
"You do freelance stuff?" asked Peter, interested.
"Yeah, mostly event photos, restaurant pop-ups, blog stuff, things like that." she explained. "But recently, I got a pretty good Spider-Man photo that GBS paid a good chunk of change for. Even put it on the front page of their paper."
"Cool." he said, internally smiling. "What time's the game again?"
"6:30." said Linda. "But be there by 6 to take photos of them beforehand."
"Sounds good." said Peter, nodding before turning to June and holding out the camera. "I'll teach you some of the basics as we walk to the field. You can take some test shots also, so that you can get a feel for it."
"Okay." she said, grabbing the camera and putting the strap around her neck.
"Look at you two, already friends." said Linda, smiling in contentment. "If either of you needs any help, text or call me. Get some good shots and enjoy the game."
"We will." they both said as they got their stuff and walked out of the classroom.
As they walked to the field, Peter explained the basics of photography to June, besides the obvious point-and-shoot. He provided a detailed yet simple explanation of the various options on a camera, and had her take different photos each time a setting was changed.
"When you're shooting under good light conditions, you should use a low ISO setting. In those situations where there's not much light available, you'll most likely have to set a high ISO setting." he explained.
"Got it." said June, who immediately began fiddling with the ISO setting to see the difference.
Her focused look as she fiddled with the camera was a big contrast to her usual demeanor, and he found that interesting.
As they reached the field, they could see that there were already people waiting in the bleachers, both the home and away sides, even though the game wouldn't start for another hour. They could also see both teams' players warming up on the field.
'There he is.' thought Peter, easily spotting Ronnie running a drill.
Part of the reason Peter volunteered to take the photos for the photography club was that he already had plans to watch the game and support his friend, so it was a win-win situation. He also felt a little bad that all the club members were making Linda pick up the slack.
"Where should we set up?" asked June.
"It'll be easier to take good photos if we don't have a crowd of people blocking us, so let's sit as close as we can to the field." he said, pointing at some free space at the bottom. "There should work."
As they walked over to the bleachers, he saw Ronnie make his way to them, stopping at the little fence separating the bleachers from the field.
"Yo." said Ronnie, fist-bumping Peter in greeting.
"First game of the season. You nervous?" asked Peter.
"Not really. I'm only the backup quarterback, so I probably won't even get to play." he said, not a hint of nerves on his face as he turned to look at June. "Who's this?"
"This is June Moone. She's a freshman like us, and she's part of the photography club. June, this is Ronald 'Ronnie' Raymond, current backup quarterback and future football star." said Peter.
"Hi." said Ronnie, shaking her hand.
"N-nice to meet you." she said.
He saw that she wasn't making eye contact and was practically looking at the floor, but assumed she was just being shy about meeting a new person.
"So you're here for the photography club? I thought they didn't make you do anything?" he asked, seeing the camera around June's neck.
"They don't, but I was already going to watch you play, and they needed someone, so I volunteered." he said, shrugging. "What can I say? I'm an upstanding student."
"Raymond!" shouted the coach, signaling to Ronnie to go back.
"Gotta go." said Ronnie.
"Good luck." said Peter, fist-bumping Ronnie again.
"Nice meeting you, June." he said before walking off.
"See, he's a nice guy." said Peter as the two sat down on the bleachers.
"We have art together, and he didn't remember me." she said, looking down.
"Oh." said Peter, awkwardly. "You know, I think I remember him saying he's not good with faces. That must be it."
"Really? It's not because I'm invisible?" she asked, looking up at him with a level of hope in her eyes that made him feel bad for lying.
"Of course not." he said, trying to smile naturally.
"Okay." she said, smiling and gazing out at the field, making him feel even worse.
~
FWEET
"Time out called by the Bradley High Bears." said the announcer. "So far, the Bronx Legacy High Broncos have scored two touchdowns in the first quarter, and are leading by 14. What was initially supposed to be a blowout by the Bears seems to be leading to a possible upset from the Broncos."
"Should we take pictures of them huddled up?" asked June, readying the camera. "Linda did say the coach hates pictures of them losing. What do you think?"
Peter had let her take the lead on taking pictures since she was a quick study and had gotten the basics down.
"Better to be safe than sorry." he said.
"Right." nodded June, pointing the camera at the huddle and taking pictures.
But judging by how the coach was red-faced, screaming at the quarterback, Peter knew Linda would probably delete them.
"Wow, the coach is really mad." said June as she took pictures.
"Well, it wouldn't be a high school football game without the angry coach cliché." he said.
"The quarterback is walking to the bench, angry. I think your friend Ronald is being subbed in." she said, looking at the scene through the viewfinder.
As she finished saying that, the announcer was heard.
"Looks like the Bears are subbing in their backup quarterback, freshman Ronald 'Ronnie' Raymond." said the announcer.
"Whoo! Go, Ronnie!"
Turning to look, he could see Doreen, full of school spirit, sitting with her friends and cheering for Ronnie.
"I bet he's nervous now." he said, smiling, as he looked at Ronnie stand up from the bench and join the huddle.
Peter wasn't the biggest football fan and initially only went to support his friend. Since he wasn't playing, he hadn't been paying much attention to the game. With him subbed in, though, he sat up straight, ready to pay attention to his friend's high school football debut.
BRR BRR
The vibration pattern he felt let him know it wasn't his personal phone, but his Spider-Phone. He had set different vibration patterns on his phones so he could tell which was which, though the ringtones were the same; that way, if either of them rang out, no one would know it was two different phones.
Brows furrowed, he took out the phone and saw he was getting a call from Daniels.
'Ah, shit, here we go again.' he thought, feeling a sense of deja vu.
"June, I need to take care of something real quick. You're okay doing this by yourself, right?" he asked.
"Uh, yeah. J-just point and shoot." she said, nodding like a baby chick.
"Thanks. I shouldn't be long." he said, nodding in thanks.
He picked up his stuff and quickly made his way away from the field and the loud crowd, stopping in a quiet area with no one around before answering the phone.
"Let me guess, she's back again." he said, preemptively.
"No, it's not Killer Frost this time. It's Needham." said Daniels.
Like last time, there was a sense of urgency in his voice, and the sound of wind rushing by accompanied by a siren.
"Black Spider?" asked Peter, surprised to hear that name.
"Yeah, him. He was on the prison transport to Rikers Island when his transport was attacked, and he broke out. He's in the wind." explained Daniels.
"He's just now getting transferred to Rikers? It's been a little over a week since I caught him." he said, confused as to why it had taken so long.
"The DA's office likes to have its ducks in a row before doing anything. You being part of the equation made them more wary about the whole thing, and it took till today for things to get rolling." said Daniels, clearly not his first time dealing with the DA's office.
"You said his transport got attacked? By whom?" he asked, moving to find a more secluded place to change into his suit and swing to the scene of the crime to help find Black Spider.
"The reporting officer's precise words were, and I quote, 'Crazy ass ninjas.'" he said, sounding like he didn't believe the words coming out of his mouth.
"Ninjas?" asked Peter, surprised. "Like black cloth clothes, face masks, katanas, and throwing stars, ninjas?"
"Yeah, that kind."
"Oh."
He was ready to hear about old thieving buddies staging a rescue, gun-wielding drug dealers hoping for revenge, or even mercenaries hired to save him, something more normal. He was certainly not ready to hear about ninjas.
"Were there four rad skateboarding humanoid turtles named after famous painters led by a giant rat chasing after them by any chance?"
"Uhh ... not that I know of." said Daniels, sounding confused. "Are there some new players in town you want to let me know about?"
"Forget it, must've been a dream I had." he said, smiling as he remembered the TMNT franchise did not exist in this world and thus Daniels had no way of knowing what he was referring to.
"Okay." said Daniels, still confused. "Anyway, since you were the one who caught him in the first place, I was just giving you a heads-up."
"I thought you were calling me because you wanted my help."
"Well, this is a little more in the realm of things the NYPD can handle on our own." said Daniels.
"The NYPD is trained to handle ninjas?" he asked, holding his phone between his head and shoulder as he changed into his suit.
" ... per se."
"Black Spider is dangerous. If whoever broke him out gave him his equipment, it'll be like going up against a version of me that kills. I mean, a much weaker and less handsome version of me, but still. Against other regular people, he may as well be Batman."
"Hard to argue with that. I'll see you there, but try to stay out of the way. You're still not really well-liked among the rank and file." said Daniels before hanging up.
'There was nothing in the files from Eric Needham's time in Gotham about him having a connection to any criminal organization, much less a clan of ninjas.' he thought as he finished suiting up. 'It's obvious there's something bigger at play here. Hopefully, whatever it is doesn't bring more chaos to the city.'
~
As he swung onto the cordoned-off street full of police cars and officers surrounding the overturned prisoner transport van, his spider-sense, which had been going off for a couple of blocks, intensified.
When the response first started, he thought he was being watched, as it felt similar, but he realized his spider-sense wasn't responding to a specific danger but rather an overall danger. Since it was the first time he had felt his spider-sense create a general response to danger, he hadn't been able to immediately tell what it was. Though thanks to it, he knew there was something wrong at the scene of the escape, and started swinging faster.
Landing atop a light pole, he took in the scene, both to try and get a picture of what happened and to see if he could determine where the danger was coming from.
The prisoner transport van was overturned and was badly damaged all over. Judging by the fact that there were pieces of the van scattered everywhere and scratches on the road, it was clear that it had been hit hard and spun out. The doors in the back had scorch marks as if a high-temperature apparatus had been used to open them.
Feeling like he had seen all he could from his perch, he was about to jump down so he could get a closer look, but feeling his spider-sense intensify made him pause. Oddly, pausing caused the intensity to go back down, so he tried to move again, only for it to intensify once more.
'Whatever the danger is, it's in/near the transport van, and the fact that my spider-sense gets more intense when I try to get closer doesn't bode well.'
He ran through various possibilities, but without more information, nothing could be determined.
'I'll have to move quick.' he thought. 'Hop down right near the entrance to the van, and my spider-sense should do the rest.'
He took in a deep breath and readied himself to act fast. His spider-sense intensified as he fell through the air, but it became painful as he landed by the entrance. His eyes instinctively moved to a SWAT helmet inside the van. Normally, it would be an inconspicuous item, but his spider-sense told him that's where the danger was, and it was very dangerous.
Everything he knew so far ran through his mind: the size of the helmet, the general sense of danger, the intensity of the danger as he got closer, Black Spider's escape, and his personality. Suddenly, it all clicked.
"Hey! You can't -" said an officer who was standing by the van's doors and had been startled by Peter's sudden appearance.
The officer's words were interrupted by Peter, who pulled the SWAT helmet to him with his webs before using all his strength to throw it up into the air.
BOOMSHATTERHONK-HONK
A big explosion rang out in the sky, causing everyone at the scene to duck and pull out their guns. Luckily, the street where the van had been overturned didn't have very tall buildings, and Peter was able to throw the bomb high enough to avoid blowing any buildings up. However, the force of the explosion did cause windows to shatter and car alarms to go off, but that was a lot better than the alternative.
Though relieved that he had managed to throw the bomb far enough away without hurting anyone, the constant tingling from his spider-sense still remained, leaving him on edge.
"What the hell was that?!" shouted a bunch of officers, guns drawn as they looked for the culprit.
"It was him!" shouted the officer near Peter. "It was Spider-Man!"
"Hands in the air!" shouted an officer as Peter was quickly surrounded.
"Everybody, calm down!" shouted Daniels, pushing his way through the crowd of officers. "Put your weapons down!"
"But I saw him grab the bomb!" said the officer near Peter.
"Weapons down!" shouted Daniels again, more authoritatively, and everyone reluctantly complied. "Go make sure no one was hurt from the explosion."
The officers hesitated for a second before walking off to do as they were told, throwing Peter one last look as they did so.
Daniels began walking toward him when his spider-sense intensified. He dodged backwards, webbing and pulling Daniels at the same time as he did so to move both himself and Daniels out of the way of a barrage of throwing stars.
CLINK CLINK
"Holy shit. Thanks." said Daniels, looking at Peter and then at the throwing stars on the ground in surprise before taking out his gun. "It's the ninjas."
Peter looked up in the direction the throwing stars had come from and saw two ninjas, exactly as he had described, standing on the edge of the rooftop. But just as quickly as they had appeared, they moved out of sight.
"Stay on alert. They're definitely up to something." he said to Daniels before webbing himself up to the rooftop.
As he crested over the roof, his spider-sense intensified, and he tilted his head, dodging two more throwing stars thrown by the two ninjas as he saw they dropped down into a courtyard.
The fact that the two ninjas had thrown throwing stars at both him and Daniels long after they were supposedly gone, only for them to then run away into a courtyard, was suspect enough. And the fact that his spider-sense had kept tingling after getting rid of the bomb didn't hurt in confirming his suspicions.
'Looks like I'm being led into a trap. The bomb that didn't explode until I got near the truck, the ninjas attacking and leading me into a courtyard, all while my spider-sense is tingling. It all reeks of a trap. Though the question is why, I know the who of it has to be Black Spider since his escape is the whole reason I'm even here.' he realized. 'The only way I'm getting answers is by going into that courtyard.'
Dropping down into the courtyard, only accessible by fire escapes, he could see the two ninjas waiting for him, seemingly alone, but his spider-sense told him there were others hidden. He couldn't be sure exactly how many, but he knew it was a lot, as the amount of stimuli he was receiving was more than ever before. The many stimuli, plus the fact that his spider-sense had been going for a while, it was almost too much for him.
'One of the downfalls of spider-sense. Too much stimuli.' he thought, more wary than before. 'I need to be careful.'
"Sorry to chase after you, but Halloween is right around the corner, and I wanted to know where you got your ninja costumes because those are really something." he asked. "Now I know what you're thinking, 'Can't you use what you have on for Halloween?' I could, but I wore this last year, and I don't like to repeat costumes, you know what I mean?"
The two ninjas said nothing while unsheathing their katanas.
"Do those come with the costumes or are they more of a sold-separately type of deal?"
Still wordless, they rushed him, but before they could get far, he webbed their feet to the ground. Because they weren't expecting it, their momentum carried them forward and made them fall face-first, but before they hit the ground, they used their hand to stop themselves. At the same time as they stopped themselves from falling, they swung their katanas at the webbing on the feet, freeing themselves before using their hand on the ground to spring toward him.
"Hey, you're making my webbing look like silly string. I'm starting to think those costumes aren't just for show."
He jumped up in the air to dodge the two blades, grabbed their heads, and conked them against each other, causing them to fall over. Back on the ground, he webbed them and their weapons down so they wouldn't be any more trouble.
"So, can you guys talk, or have you taken some ninja clan code of silence? Because I have some questions and I'd feel awkward if I were talking and you guys didn't say anything." he said, acting as if he didn't know he was surrounded.
"Don't bother, they don't talk."
He flipped backwards, dodging a shot of red goo, and as he was in mid-air, he shot a line of webbing to the wall on his right, using it to dodge a big metal object thrown at him.
Wall-crawling with his back against the wall, he looked up and saw Eric Needham, gear and all, standing on a fire escape. To the right of him stood a muscular Caucasian man with white hair brushed forward in a Caesar style. He wore bandages around his torso and left hand, and was clothed in a green jacket, blue cargo pants, and black boots. The main attraction, however, was a metal contraption on his right hand that had a chain leading to a large metallic hook embedded in the ground.
Aside from the two of them, a dozen more ninjas like the two he had taken out appeared all along the other fire escapes.
"Eric, you threw me a surprise party? You shouldn't have; my birthday's not till November." said Peter, as he took in his surroundings and came up with a plan of action.
"What better way for a surprise party to be a surprise than for it to be a surprise?" said Black Spider, shrugging. "And if you love this, you should wait to see your gift."
"Please tell me it isn't you, Captain Hook there, and all these ninjas in handcuffs with a one-way ticket to Rikers because wouldn't you know it, I just bought that for myself a few minutes ago." said Peter, looking at the man next to Black Spider. "By the way, that metal arm is awesome, dude. How'd you lose your arm, reaching for the crab legs at a Vegas buffet?"
" ... " the man said nothing as he reeled in his hook.
"Not a big talker, your friend." said Peter to Black Spider.
"Hook's a man of mystery." he said. "Me not so much."
"Since you're not a man of mystery, can we skip the part where I dance around kicking your guys' asses while simultaneously using cleverly worded quips to get information out of you, culminating with all of you beat up and webbed up?"
"There's no fun in that, so I'll do you one better. I'll tell you what you want to know, and then we'll kill you." said Black Spider.
With his words, all the ninjas took out their weapons, ready to move.
"I do like that first part. Not so much that second part." said Peter, hand on his chin as if in thought. "You drive a hard bargain, but I'll take it."
"Great, let's get through the boring part so we can get to the good stuff." said Black Spider. "These associates of mine are called shadows; they are part of an organization called The League of Shadows."
"Wow. I'm guessing not a lot of time was spent on coming up with that name."
"As for why they're helping poor little me out, let's just say I've been recruited. The plan was underway long before you came into the picture, and your little interference made things take longer, but it ended up presenting a nice opportunity for me." he continued. "The death of Spider-Man will mark the rise of Black Spider into the ranks of the League."
"So all this is so you can join a secret club?" asked Peter. "If you want to be a part of something, join a book club."
"Book club's good, but I can't kill people in it." he said. "Well, I could, but you know what I mean."
"I see. Look, I appreciate the info, but are you sure you should be telling me all this? This all feels very need to know what with it being a secret coterie of ninjas kind of deal."
"Did you already forget the second part of our deal?"
"No, I remember, but it doesn't count since I had my fingers and toes crossed." said Peter, showing his right hand with fingers crossed.
Before Black Spider could say anything else, Peter aimed his hand down and shot two balls of impact webbing at the two. They barely dodged them, and while Peter would've liked to have hit them, their dodging them was part of his plan, as it distracted them.
While talking to Black Spider, he had been taking in the scene: in front and above him were Black Spider and Hook, while to his left, right, and directly above him were four ninjas in each direction. His plan was to take care of as many of the no-name ninjas as fast as possible, as there was a chance his spider-sense might not be able to keep up in a fight with so much stimuli.
With that in mind, he shot lines of webbing at the fire escapes on his left and right before pulling hard. The fire escapes, which looked rusty and unkempt, easily came off the walls and crashed down. He didn't wait to see how the ninjas would react; instead, he leapt up level to one of the ninjas on the fire escape directly above him. He shot a line of webbing at the wall and pulled himself to it, using the momentum to collide feet first with a ninja's head, knocking him out.
The other ninja, who was on the same level, brought his sword down on Peter, but he dodged to the right, and the blade collided with the wall.
"Crotch!" he shouted, jumping off the wall and wrapping his legs around the ninja before spinning him around and slamming him down.
For good measure, he webbed the ninja onto the fire escape before swinging up the outside of the fire escape to go up a level. With the force of his swing, he again collided feet-first with a ninja, this time aiming for the stomach. The ninja was hit with enough force to cause him to collide with the other ninja, allowing Peter to shoot a few globs of impact webbing, rendering them out of the fight.
'Four down, ten to g-'
His thoughts were interrupted as he had to dodge a giant hook shot at him, followed by a barrage of balls of Black Spider's red goo.
"Don't you just love my balls? Hot sticky web balls, coming right up!" said Black Spider, continuing to shoot red goo.
"Sounds like someone's overcompensating." he said.
As he dodged, he saw that the ninjas who had been on the fire escapes he had pulled down were getting back up. He jumped toward the ninjas, sliding under the legs of one of them and ending up in between all four of them. Using his right arm as a pivot, he did a one-armed spinning handstand to kick all four ninjas in the head and knock them out.
"And you say I'm overcompensating." said Black Spider, who began shooting a continuous stream of goo.
"That's not overcompensation, that's style." he said, backflipping to dodge the goo while also making his way to the last group of four ninjas who were already back on their feet.
Just as he was about to launch into an attack, his spider-sense tingled, forcing him to jump upwards. He saw a dart land where he was standing, but he realized it hadn't come from any of the six people left. He looked in the direction it had come from and saw a woman standing on the rooftop. She had black hair and wore a dark green-colored kimono tied around her waist, its length reaching just above her knees, and paired with black knee-high boots. She also wore a white mask, resembling a cat's head with red stripes and a wide grin.
'Who is t-'
"Oof."
Thanks to being distracted by the newcomer, he got hit with the metal hook launched by Hook, causing him to collide against the wall.
"Oops. Did I distract you, little spider?" he heard the woman say, her voice playful as she waved at him.
"Little bit." he said, climbing out of the small pit made when he hit the wall. "Let me guess, you're part of the super-secret ninja club, too. And your name is cat-related. It's not Catwoman, is it? Because I think that's taken already?"
"Sorry, spider, but you'll have to take me out to dinner first if you want to get my name." she said. "We can eat at my favorite restaurant."
"Don't tell me, they serve roasted spider." he said.
"No, but they do serve skewered spider." she said, taking out two sai. "Everyone at once!"
With her shout, everyone attacked him: the four ninjas left standing all threw throwing stars at him, Black Spider and Hook came down from their fire escape while launching their respective attacks, and the woman came down from the rooftop while also throwing a throwing star.
He saw the many objects thrown at him and knew the easiest way to avoid them was to jump, so he did. Simultaneously, he shot a line of web at Hook's metal hook mid-air and pulled.
"Time to go for a spin." he said, using Hook's body as a wrecking ball to knock down the four ninjas before spinning him around a bit and tossing his body at Black Spider.
The woman had already gotten near him and began a flurry of attacks with her sai that he easily dodged.
"Kitty's got claws." he said as he dodged her attacks.
"Oh, kitty's got more than just claws." she said, stabbing her sai at him.
He was initially only going to move back to dodge the sai, but his spider-sense tingling caused him to bend over backward. His eyes followed a thin, nearly invisible needle pass by where his head had been.
'Boy, do I love my spider-sense.' he thought, very glad for his ability.
Distracted again, the woman managed to leg sweep him, causing him to fall to the ground, giving Black Spider an opening to web him up with his red goo.
'Might love it too much.' he thought.
Peter was about to try and get free from the goo when he felt the woman's sai rest against his body.
"Looks like I'm the better spider after all." said Black Spider, his voice full of schadenfreude as he and Hook approached Peter.
"Please, if it weren't for the League, you would've been in Rikers, cozying up to your new boyfriend." said the woman. "Even if you had somehow managed to break out, the encounter would've gone just like the last time."
"You may be a ninja assassin, but I think I'm starting to warm up to you." said Peter.
"Guess we'll never know, will we?" said Black Spider, kicking him in the ribs. "Now, how should the death of Spider-Man go? I think hanging would be ironic."
"Just kill him and get it over with." said the woman. "You've already wasted enough time on this."
"Don't I get a say in this? What with it being my death and all?" asked Peter.
"Why not?" asked Black Spider, crouching down to talk to him. "How would you like to die?"
"Old age." he replied.
Simultaneously, he head butted Black Spider, shot webbing in Hook's face with his right hand, which was just free enough, and kicked away the woman before using his strength to free himself from the goo.
"Son of a bitch, you broke my nose!" said Black Spider, his hand over where his nose was under his mask.
"Sorry, that was my first time headbutting someone." said Peter. "And you don't really have much room to complain, considering you're trying to kill me."
"I'm going to kill you!" shouted Black Spider, rushing him.
"Weren't you already going to do that?"
Peter jumped up, flipping as he did, and attached two lines of web to Black Spider, yanking and throwing him at Hook, who was unable to dodge as he was blinded by webbing.
Landing back on the ground, he moved out of the way of another thin needle thrown by the woman, who then threw her sai.
"Hey, I think you lost this." he said, grabbing them with his hands and throwing them back to her.
She deflected the sai with a collapsible sword she took out as soon as she had thrown her sai, before throwing down a couple of smoke bombs that quickly covered the area.
"Throwing stars, katanas, poison darts, sai, needles, and now smoke bombs, you guys really are ninjas." said Peter.
He focused since, though confident he would win, he knew that he would need his spider-sense to help him, and if he was distracted, it might fail him.
He dodged a throwing star from behind him by tilting his head and then dodged a needle thrown from his right by bending over. He backflipped over a stream of red goo and kicked away the metal hook launched at him, making sure to hit it toward where the red goo came from.
Landing on the ground, he was ready for the next attacks, but was surprised when nothing came. He waited a few seconds before something came to mind.
'Don't tell me.' he thought, jumping up and out of the smoke, seeing that all the ninjas who had been incapacitated were gone.
"Aw, man." he said, before seeing something appear on the ground as the smoke dissipated.
He went to it and saw it was a note held in place by a sai. Picking it up, the note said 'See you next time, spider.' followed by a small cartoon drawing of the Cheshire Cat from Alice in Wonderland.
"Looks like her name is Cheshire or something like that." he said, crumpling up the note. "I can't believe they all got away. I hope that means it's the last I'll be seeing of Black Spider and the secret coterie of ninjas, but somehow, I doubt it."
Now that the fighting was over and he had relaxed, he could feel a headache coming on from his spider-sense being on for so long.
'Wonder if an aspirin will help.' he thought, rubbing his neck. 'Guess it wouldn't hurt to pick some up on the way back to school, but I should check in with Daniels first before I go.'
Just as he was about to head back to the scene of the breakout and fill in Daniels, his Spider-Phone vibrated.
"Speak of the devil. I was ju-" he said, answering the phone.
"Killer Frost! Bradley High School in Upper Manhattan! Now!"
~~
AN
Now this is my longest chapter yet. I keep unintentionally beating the record.
For those wondering, Killer Frost does not know his identity. It's just his Parker luck that his school is being attacked.
The next chapter (or two, depending on the length) is the big confrontation between Spider-Man and Killer Frost, and the final bit in the Killer Frost arc. Haven't written it yet, but I have an idea of how I want it to go, though, as I said in the previous chapter, I am a middling writer, so don't expect the next great American novel.
After the Killer Frost arc, there will be a timeskip of just about a year to YJ canon, but I plan to have interlude chapters before then. As of now, I'm definitely doing interludes set during Halloween and Christmas, and possibly two others set during Thanksgiving and the 4th of July, but those two are still up in the air.
And I know sometimes chapters take long (for xyz reason), but unless I say dropped/hiatus or whatever, a chapter is on the way. Might take long but it's on the way. I do like this story.
PS - I've decided to make Zatanna the LI, I just forgot to put it in the AN. I will try and make the connection seem authentic, but I'm not the best at romance, so we'll see. It won't be one day he doesn't like her, and the next he does. (Or it might, who knows.)
[1] *WINK WINK*