Chapter III: Meeting The A-Team

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          IT WAS A day I would never forget so long as I lived. Today was a day where I busied myself swinging through the colossal towers and skyscrapers of the neighborhood I patrolled, trying to spot any crime that needed to be taken care of. For once in my nearly six-year-long career as Spider-Man, there seemed to be absolutely none. Not one crime being committed, nor any reports of would-be crimes in the area. It was uncharacteristically quiet for the metropolis, and that was a fact that had my Spidey senses going haywire.

          The streets that were normally filled to the brim with cars that honked all day long, were nearly empty, not even the skipping of a rock. The buildings, which normally were lit up like a Christmas tree, were dark, and blank, and not alive with their typical spark of life. The city of New York appeared to be lifeless, not a single soul in sight; the image of it had me extremely worried, shivering down to my very core. My heart raced in my chest, pounding against my rib-cage in a quick-paced thrum.

          I pushed my arms to swing faster, pushed my fingers to shoot webs quicker, trying to get around the city that I swore to protect the day Uncle Ben died—as quickly as I could. No matter where I went, or how fast I got there; not one person, pet, or living thing showed up. I was definitely panicked now, not knowing what in the world was going on, and definitely confused as to why there was an entire city-wide evacuation, by the seems of things.

          My heart thumped even more dangerously in my chest as I neared central park—loud clangs and grunts coming from the mini forest. I snuck my way into the underbrush, looking up every so often as I got closer to the strange noises, trying to discern what they were and who—or what—they were coming from.

          What I was met with surprised me, and I couldn't help but to feel smug at the sight before my eyes. The Avengers, the almighty heroes of whom save the world from daily—or yearly, you never know around here—danger, were struggling with the villains that I liked to admit were homey. Though it was kind of a pain that they kept breaking out of jail—only to try to kill me. I mean, they weren't even original anymore, even if they were still pretty dangerous and life-threatening to face. It was tiring, and just plain boring. They didn't even respond to my jokes anymore. They were a broken record, at best.

          The sight of their battle was something that I hadn't expected, but, I do suppose it could have warranted a city-wide evacuation, considering the Avengers didn't quite know who they were dealing with. So, for a few more minutes, I sat and watched the fight, noting that for some reason, the Green Goblin was nowhere to be seen. That is, until I saw him rush by on his hoverboard and look at where I was hidden as he zoomed past.

          'Shit.' Goblin had definitely spotted me, and even if I had been planning on joining the Avengers sooner or later, I had no choice but to do so now. Thus, with a sigh laced heavy with the weight of responsibility, I swung my way into the fray of the fight between the Avengers, and the gang of villains that seemed to just love trying to put me six feet under.

          "Howdy, Avengers! It seems we really have met again. I was hoping that it wouldn't have been so soon, but eh," I shrug my shoulders in an act of nonchalance. "What're ya gonna do?"

          Just as I finish my small little speech, Rhino charges me with all of what I could call the pent-up rage that I saw everytime we fought, and kept growing, every time I put him in jail—or, really, defeated him for that matter. All I did was jump over Rhino when he was close enough, waiting for him to smash into a tree, and then disabling his suit via the circuit board—sticking him to the tree with my webs afterward.

          The fight took merely moments to finish, simply because I knew all of my villains' patterns, technology, and techniques. I had been through the routine nearly a thousand times, and it still never got old, and it never changed. It most likely never will. I turned to the Avengers as soon as I had webbed things up, finding them dumbstruck at—most likely—how quickly I had finished off the Sinister Six. I couldn't stop myself from keeling over in a fit of laughter at their priceless expressions.

          "Y'know," I breathe heavily, trying to contain my laughter. "Your faces are priceless! You look like Loki just said "I love you" to Thor, without any resistance." I slowly wiped the tears from my eyes, having to have rolled up my mask in order to slip my hand under it to do so.

          "Wait . . . Wha- . . . How-" Clint gaped at me like a fish, seemingly stunned at the feat of defeating the villains that, as I had said earlier, were coming after me since I started. He cleared his throat when he saw me place my hand over my mouth in a terrible attempt to stop the onslaught of giggles that followed their expressions. "How? How did you defeat them when even we were struggling to? We're Earth's last resort!" Tony just looked curious.

          The question sobered me considerably, though there was still some leftover amusement about the situation. My voice came out slightly higher-pitched when I spoke, thanks to laughing so hard I felt like my head was spinning. It probably was. "That's easy." I took a deep breath to slow my beating heart. "That's because they're my villains. Y'know, the ones I've been fighting since I started?" They all seemed to hesitantly nod. "Besides, you guys are more qualified in fighting the big threats, not these guys. I mean, I'm just your friendly neighborhood Spider-Man, I'm used to guys like these. So, if you guys were having trouble with them, maybe you should stick to your own villains, and leave mine to, well, myself. Anyway, I should be going then, if you need nothing else. I mean, I've got a lot of work . . . to-"

          I cut off my incessant rambling, looking down at my stomach to see an increasingly large red stain. I must not have noticed it before, because I was still high on adrenaline . . . or maybe, maybe it was because it was a small wound before I made it worse by laughing; either way, it was starting to become serious. Or maybe—maybe I hadn't fully taken care of Green Goblin.

          "Oh . . . It looks like we have a small-" I cough. "Small problem here." I look up at the Avengers, smiling slightly at the joke I was thinking of in my head. "Y'know, everyone always did tell me that my rambling would be the death of me . . . heh . . . it looks like they were right."I laugh silently to myself. I'm so funny.

          When I turned around to face the tree I had webbed Goblin to, his arm was free, and one of his blades was missing from his belt. I looked down at the ground, seeing the missing blade, while drops of blood seemed to splatter to the ground around it, slowly dripping from my wound. "Well, would ya look at that. It seems that I'm leaking." Goblin spike up, his voice menacing and cocky—even though he was relatively tied up.

          "Ya should have stripped me of my weapons," his voice lowered when he reached my name, only to increase in volume when he continued. "Parker, and now, you only have yourself to blame if you die. I bet you'd like that, though; getting to join that fiance of yours—the one that you killed. Besides, what kind of rookie let's the bad guy keep his weapons?" His words snapped me from my moronic hysteria. "That's just such a beginner thing to do, wouldn't you-" His voice was suddenly cut off, but he had already done the damage he needed to do. Goblin began laughing, a crooked, evil sort of laugh, and before Hawkeye could get in another jab, he said the thing that pushed me over the edge. Because he spoke the truth, and we both knew it. "After all, you're no hero. You're just a murderer. And that's all you'll ever be."

          I passed out before I could hear any of the Avengers' responses. Or if they were even still there.

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Hello everyone! Your, hopefully, favorite author here! Just a quick note before I leave you to the next chapter, which, I am hoping to have up for your viewing pleasure soon. I would just like to ask you all to critique my writing, especially what I'm doing with the characters. Do I have their personalities correct? Are they acting according to their on-screen and/or their comic-book selves? Any feedback, whether it be a word I missed, or a lack of plot, or even just a friendly comment or critique would be nice. PLEASE don't be a silent reader and give me some feedback. Also, as a final note, I'm sorry for the extra-uber-long chapter you're all about to be subjected to. But, it has important things in it, so, you can't really blame me.

Your lovely author,
I.S. Saul

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