Family Tree ~ An El Hopper and Peter Parker Story

Chapter 14

Peter Parker stared up at the supervillain, scared out of his mind. After being tossed around by the arms after trying to kill him, he didn't know if he was going to make it out alive. He hoped that El and the others would be coming for him, but even he didn't know where he was. All the teen superhero could do was writhe in pain and stare at Doctor Octopus.

"Now that we've tried to kill each other, let's start over. Hello again, Spider-Man. Long time no see," Doctor Octopus greeted him in a menacing tone. "Welcome to Hawkins, Indiana. The place where I will be opening the gate to another dimension."

"What are you talking about?" Peter asked him, pretending to be confused. He already knew what the supervillain was talking about. El told him everything.

"I have been doing research on alternate dimensions my whole life, as well as prosthetics," Octavius explained. "When I learned that a part of the government already opened a gate by accident, but refused to share with the public, I was furious. Who wouldn't want to know about a dimension that could be controlled? We could use it to destroy our enemies and fight against the people who have wronged us!"

Peter shook his head at the doctor, knowing what would happen if he opened the gate again. "Otto, there's something that you don't know," he said. "If you open the gate, monsters inside will try to destroy the whole world and everyone in it! Please think about what you're doing! You won't be able to control it!"

Octavius just smirked at him. "You can't stop me, Spider-Man," he said. "In fact, you can't stop us!"

"Us?!" The superhero exclaimed.

In just a few seconds, a familiar supervillain flew down next to Doctor Octopus. Peter's eyes widened in fear as he realized it was the Vulture. He escaped from the Raft and was now after him again. Another familiar face popped up as well. It was one of Toomes's men from the boat that Peter sent flying into the water. But now he had on a green suit with a scorpion tail. After him was a familiar looking fishbowl showing up. It was Quentin Beck, also known as the superhero, Mysterio. Peter had teamed up with him during his trip to Europe, but now he was with supervillains. Two other men showed up, but Peter didn't recognize any of them. One had electric bolts shooting out of his body and the other one was white and black with glowing eyes.

"Who are you guys?" Peter asked, terrified as to what was going to happen to him. "Some sort of new boy band? A book club?"

"Nice to see you again, Spider-Man," Toomes said with a smirk on his face. "You made a mistake putting me and Mac away. Now you will get your payback."

"I saved your life from your wings exploding!" Peter yelled. "Being in jail is better than dying from your own creation! At least from what I know. And your buddy has a name now. Mac the Scorpion?"

Mac smirked at the young superhero. "Adrian made me this suit after we escaped from the Raft with Octavius's help," he said. "Mess with me, and I'll poison and torture you to death."

Peter's eyes widened in fear from underneath the mask. "Wow. You're crazier than I thought you were," he said. Then he turned to Mysterio, still shocked at the fact that he was with the other supervillains. "Beck, why are you with them? I thought you were fighting for good!"

Beck just laughed at him. "It's so easy to fool a 16 year old," he said. "In fact, it's so easy to fool the world. I was never a hero. In fact, those Elementals weren't even real. They were projections the whole time, and so was this whole hero persona."

Peter's heart dropped at his words. He never expected this kind of supervillain that would pretend to be a hero. "You could actually do something good instead of tricking people for no reason!" He shouted. "And what's the other two's stories? Are they fake heroes as well or are they just crazy?!"