Chapter Text
swinging over the city should be exhilarating or even relaxing for peter the air blowing in his face the lights of new york beaming bright the people down below walking to work, heading home or seeing family, and theres spider-man heading over to face a threat that no civilian can fight to face someone that’s ten times his size and when the odds are stack against him Spider-man always stands tall.
but things are different now he’s not that 15 year old kid that thought he can change the world with his powers that if he used them right he can save everyone he loved but no matter how hard he tried and begged them to stay away they got hurt or killed. and and it was always on him at least that’s what he thought, so with that kind of mindset being spider-man never felt the same he always felt like a curse a bad omen a jinx and he’s tired of it putting on the suit feels like like a weight is being pressed on his chest he hasn’t been the same since that night and sometimes he wished he died there but god decided the world still needs him and he guess's he can’t say no to him, which makes all of this ironic cause the world he’s in isn’t his anymore.
zaun for the most part a much more “rougher” new york it’s got all the crime you could think of drug trafficking checked robberies checked gang violence checked supervillains specifically on one checked but more importantly this city is in dire need of help poverty, famine, families living on the streets, it angered peter it enraged him even more knowing that he was helping the people that’s been causing this in the first place, he swings throughout zaun deep in his thought remembering the past events of how he got here,
one night back in new york he got a tip of an drug deal going on in a alchamax warehouse which isn’t surprising alchamax has been proven to be a very shady company, spider-man swings in the top window which leads into the attic and already hears a conversation.
“i’ve checked the schematics and everything seems to be running right, our latest test runs have been successful i can assure you that it’s safe to run tonight.”
“are you sure of it? the last time we ran this the last we ran this two of my men were turned into charred corpses and one of them is missing!”
”that is because your men rushed the process with MY knowledge, you are very lucky only two died because if things had gone wrong your world would have DIRE consequences.”
whoever was speaking sounded regal and big his voice literally echoing the room but what caught peter’s attention was “your world” whoever was speaking wasn’t from here ”whatever this is it’s not a drug deal.”
peter looking around in the gap he found in the floorboards seeing a good portion of the room, he’s able to see construction equipment laid out in the room crates with something inside and blueprints of whatever they’re building, it’s strange ominous even he’s able to make out a pad with four spires at each edge with a sphere in the middle. ”really hoping this is just a pretentious art project.”
he’s able to see who’s in the room finally getting a good idea on who’s in on this.
shocker who seems to have a new suit beetle who hasn’t been seen in awhile and prowler a new guy that peter’s fought once in a jewelry robbery but theres 2 people that he hasn’t seen before, there was someone that seem to have a skull mask with a hood his armor seemed pretty advance then the other one had a mask with a target on his head with a blue suit that had a white outline around the neck
”skeletor and target man it is.” the only people peter can’t see were the two people talking before.
”if you’re sure about this then start it, we need those crystals you keep screaming about.”
“so thats what they want crystals? then this must be A very elaborate drug deal then?” peter cracks his knuckles getting ready to jump on in this parade. “showtime.”
peter crashes through the floor catching everyone off guard. “i just wanna say that roof was already falling apart and i think that should brought up to management.”
“WHAT THE HELL! you said this was underwarps.” shocker says with rage in his voice.
“shocker! i knew you missed me with that tone gotta say looking like a hotdog with mustard is definitely the right look for you.”
peter gets a fullview of the warehouse, it’s more like a workshop his main attention is the device that he saw on the blueprints is in the middle four spires and all minus the sphere. but he finally sees the people that were talking earlier, first is an middle aged man his hair balding wearing an expensive grey suit, he knows who this is, Alistair Smythe.
but the second person was the hard to say he wore an asymmetrical armor, black red & grey were the main colors he had a mask that resemble a human face and a sliver crown on the top of his head.
“guess mysterio got a new gig.”
shocker begins to charge up his gauntlets ready to attack spider-man but smythe stops him before he could.
”what the hell you think you’re doing boy?”
peter does not like being called that
”first of all it’s spider-MAN not spider-BOY and also you look like someone that would ditch their girlfriend the moment they turn 25 and secondly whatever YOU’RE doing looks like it’ll nuke new york so yeah i know what im doing.”
smythe laughs “boy what we’re doing ain’t hurtin new york, we’re benefiting it this can help and improve the lifes of not just new yorkers but for everyone!” smythe’s Southern accent adding to peter’s annoyance
“what is with him calling me boy??”
“you’re working…WITH SUPERVILLAINS! thaf already sets off red flags the only people that are getting benefited is people like you! the only reason people are still living on the streets is because of STUPID CRAP! like this!” peter begins to point out the hypocrisy in smythe’s beliefs, alchamax has been rolling out anti-vigilante squads throughout new york prosecuting anyone that even resembles like one and yet smythe sets up his own supervillain squad.
peter is fuming now, he hates people like this he hates people like kingpin like norman osborn ever since alchamax formed they have tried to make everyones lifes a living hell somehow enforcing laws cutting heath insurance raising rent and gaining power where they shouldn’t have in the first place, peter can’t stand that.
”you fail to see the potential in this, you getting in the way hurts more americans then it should and you already have a track record of doing that boy.”
that strike’s a cord in peter, ever since the death of the goblin spider-man has been ridiculed for being much more reckless lately unintentionally causing harm.
”do you hear yourself? IM the reason you guys haven’t accidentally blew new york up IM the guy that cleans up your messes and now you’re gonna create a bigger mess with this!, and if you call me boy again you’ll be eating food with a tube down in your throat, now…tell me who that is.”
peter points at the mysterious man,.
smythe sighs “with that kind of language theres a reason why i don’t like you vigilantes.” smythe looks over the mysterious man “turn it on.”
he does exactly that and in a Instant disappears in a flash of light.
peter’s spider sense goes into panic mode as the device begins to power up the spires activating one by one.
peter holds his head in pain “AHG! what are you doing!”
”it’s nothing personal. just Business, now then…kill the boy.”
peter is knocked violently in the back head knocking foward.
”oh! i forgot to introduce my friends, you already know shocker prowler and beetle but i’d like you to meet taskmaster and bullseye.”
spider-man vision slowly returns as sees taskmaster appear from the shadows seeming to have a cloaking device which must’ve masked him from his spider sense.
bullseye throws steel edged cards at spider-man but he’s able to dodge them only getting grazed at worst.
beetle begins firing at spider-man, spider-man tries to retaliate with his web shooters shocker charges at him into a box of crates which leaves beetle
“THIS IS GONNA BE THE LAST NIGHT YOU’LL INSULT ME!.” shocker voice cracks with rage.
”insult? Herman what i said was a compliment!”
before shocker can land a blow spider-man shoots a web in his face and yanking it down on the ground.
peter is able get up before he notes the weird pink substance on the ground that came from the crates.
”really hope thats paint.”
his spider sense goes off seeing prowler and bullseye readying a sniper shot.
spider-man launches a kick to prowler and shoots a web to the scope making bullseye misfire hitting beetles jet pack.
“ya know hobbie, im really disappointed in you..i thought you were done with the villain life.”
prowler glances up at him
“i know…but i need this money.”
prowler swings at spider-man but he’s able swiftly dodge
“he’ll kill my family if i fail this!”
prowler swings his claws at spider-man again.
”who smythe?!”
“no…the big man.”
spider-man notices taskmaster approaching him and tries to shoot a web but thats when prowler finally lands a blow leaving a scar on his stomach.
peter winces in pain but still keeping his guard knowing he’s screwed if he stops moving.
taskmaster strolls to spider-man acting like this is just a normal day on the job.
”you’re taking your sweat fuckin time t’!” bullseye says in annoyance.
”this would be over if i wasn’t working with fucking amateurs.” taskmaster declares.
”i know right! anyway what’s superpower being good at taskmanager!”
”that’s a good one but nah.”
taskmaster ignites his sword.
“im just good at beating the best.”
“…you might be the coolest person i’ve ever seen.”
taskmaster swings his sword in a calculated manor spider-man dodges each swing just by a inch spider-man sees an opening and goes to strike but taskmaster perry’s the hit and returns with a knee to the ribcage
peter tries to fight back but taskmaster keeps countering his moves dealing devastating blows to his neck and abdomen.
peter is winded each hit and doesn’t notice shocker grabbing him by the chest and slamming him down in the concrete with his shock gauntlet. the villains gang up on spider-man making sure they get a hit in until spider-man collapses.
”finally got a hit on the twerp!” shocker celebrates “after 5 years i get to finally kill the little shit.”
“he was my kill idiot im the reason you got a free shot.” taskmaster replies “i was the first one to lay their hands on him! YOU took too much time.” shocker points his finger at taskmaster. “you were also the one that got knocked out first.” which leaves shocker silent in shame.
“and for dex over here someone who claims they don’t miss all he could do was just graze him.” taskmaster points to bullseye
”that’s bullshit! he kept jumping around and to make it worst shocker was too trigger happy and kept getting in my way.”
”TRIGGER HAPPY? YOU GOT THE NERVE TO SAY THAT HUH BULLSEYE?”
“ENOUGH!” prowler says “let’s just get this job ready so we could get paid already.”
the villains take a moment until they finally on the same page.
“alright lets get bob ready then we- wait where is he.” taskmaster says in shock while the other villains turn around and see that spider-man is gone.
“oh GOD where is he???” shocker says in horror
“wherever he’s at he can’t hide forever so lets- LOOK OUT!!!” bullseye in absolute terror witnesses spider-man swing a giant metal bar on top of them, the other villains get out of the way but beetle isn’t so lucky getting crushed by it.
peter launches himself onto bullseye footstomping his chest so hard it leaves a Crater. he stares down taskmaster, taskmaster has his and sword armed ready for spider-man to strike, peter notices prowler to his left.
”it’s end of the line kid you ain’t making it out of this one, anymove you make i can predict it so please..do something stupid.”
”ok.”
peter shoots two webs at prowler and swings him like battering ram into taskmaster crashing them into more construction equipment.
peter finally crumbles to his knees it seems like adrenaline is finally wearing off but his spider sense won’t stop going off and he sees why, the sphere from the blueprints is here, it brights the room up with his pinkish glow it swirls around like water it pulses sending an aftershock throughout the room slowly covering the room in it’s goo, peter grabs his head in pain yet again but he can’t stop staring it the more he stares the more he hears it he hears …
”…? for some reason he can no longer hear his own voice just replaced with white noise, peter gets up from his knees and begins to approach the the sphere like he’s in a trance he can’t control his body both his arms and legs are in autopilot.
“…is that you?” peter can just barely make out what he’s saying he tries to break out od this trance but his body feels like it’s asleep
“whats going on??? i can’t move my body im stuck!?”
peter’s mind is terrified but his body persist’s
“m…m!? m…im coming!” the white noise begins to fade as peter sprints to the sphere as the memories of her overwhelm him.
”THATS NOT ME SPEAKING!…I NEED TO GET OUT OF THIS.”
he’s close to it now he doesn’t even notice the entire warehouse is shaking, he reaches out his hand to it and he swears…he can see .. in there.
”m..y?”
”LET…ME…OUT!”
peter finally breaks free from whatever possessed him before he felt like he was in underwater again struggling to breathe like ultimatum. peter taking a few seconds to catch his breath would ultimately be his worst mistake cause shocker lands a punch right in his face knocking him directly in the sphere.
the entire room is glitching the sphere is freaking out Smythe and the rest of the villains retreat everything has gone completely wrong.
peter can feel the energy course through his body his vision blurring he can feel the ground beneath him give away until finally the blinding light eats him whole.
then after that..some of the most intense 5 days of his life, he’s in entirely different world he meets people he’s never met before he joins up with a taskforce to take a terriost down but it turns out that they used gas warfare without telling him then the leader of the group almost SHOT a child right in front of him which caused peter to then THREATEN the leader right in her face which now makes him an enemy of a facist regime and then to top it all off the terriost that they were looking for…looks a lot like….peter can’t bring himself to even think about it but yet it still clings to him.
peter realistically should be dead right now they probably already declared him dead in his world which doesn’t help with the amount of information he’s absorbed today his head feels like it’s gonna explode those violet eyes staring right back at him forever burned in his brain it was like staring right back at a ghost, a ghost he knew. a ghost he loved. a ghost he promised to protect. a ghost he failed. a ghost that died because of him. a ghost named mj.
peter lands on a rooftop taking off his mask to catch his breath his heart beating to hard his vision blurring the memories of mj flooding back to him her beautiful green eyes her fiery red hair her wonderful voice it tortures him nonstop the memories of that night oh god that night he can’t take it anymore, peter struggles to grab his phone violently shaking but it has the one thing that can calm him down peter finally finds it, uncle bens final message
“hey peter, i know things have been difficult lately..and im sorry about that, i think i know what you’ve been feeling..ever since you were a little boy you’ve been left with so much unresolved things well take it from an old man…those things send us down a road that make us who we are, and if it’s anyone that’s destined for greatness…it’s you son..you deserve to show your amazing gifts to the world you just need to figure out how to use them, and know that whatever they take you…just know we’ll always be here you’re gonna do good kid, get home safe pete…i love you.
peters breathing finally slows down, he stares at the phone tears pouring down his face he doesn’t know why this helps but it always comes in handy, he closes his phone and sits at the edge looking at the view of the city and he can’t help but laugh that a spider bite led him to this, maybe if it didn’t bite him he would’ve had a normal life living with ben & may..and mj but did he have a normal life to begin with? he clutches his mask tightly he closes his eyes and decides to remember bens promise to use his great power for good he used it in new york now he needs to use it for zaun, this world doesn’t have an ultimates or an xmen but they got a spider-man now he can’t let his emotions get in the way he’s not gonna let these people suffer he’s got the power, he’s got the responsibility he’s spider-man it’s time to act like it.
peter puts on his mask and swings into the city.
welp everythings gone to shit….again jinx didn’t really plan to make it this far she realistically should be dead at this point taking her sister and piltover as well but a certain party pooper had to come in..that wall crawling freak spider-man, jinx thinks, was piltover and caitlyn that desperate they had to make a freak of nature just to stop her? well to be honest they almost did that man spider thing lifted an entire piller over his head like it was nothing!? jinx wonders why it didn’t kill her she wishes he did, “he had the killshot and everything sev! it was gonna be perfect, but then he looks at me all funny and starts getting all sad! on me.” jinx explains to sevika her thoughts on what happened at janna’s temple or more importantly on the spider-man “he starts apologizing like a mad man, i think that’s the first time i got freaked out heh.”
“does he know you?” sevika asks “nah! that was the first time i ever met him unless i got a secret admirer.” jinx chuckles at the thought “unless i killed his family or something i got nothin.”
sevika slowly paces around clearly nervous, her seeing him in action was nothing like she ever seen him lifting up literal pillers like nothing really scared her the thought of piltover making more of those super soldiers terrifies her. “well whatever that thing is it’s gonna become a problem and we can’t just sit here and do nothing, we have to fight back cause who knows what that thing could also do.” jinx sevika’s warning off “pffft im pretty sure that dork died when the temple collapsed.”
”he was just seen swinging over the city jinx.”
that got jinx’s attention her head slightly perks up at that revelation “….guess he really is a spider damn thing don’t know when to die.” “jinx!” sevika shouts “this isn’t the time for jokes, this is the time to fight back..that thing could be a threat to the rest of zaun.” jinx could only scoff at that she knows what sevika is doing trying to goat her into being the big fat hero of zaun “if you only knew sev.”
”the chem barons have been out of order since silco’s death.”
”don’t you dare say it sev.” unbeknownst to sevika jinx begins to get more frustrated “they need someone to set them right jinx,”
”don’t.”
”you need to carry that responsibility jinx.”
“I DONT.”
”you need to be their silco jinx.”
that does it for jinx as she throws a screwdriver to sevika’s eye but sevika catches it in time “i think it’s time for you to leave lefty.” jinx says with venom, sevika is left startled upset and overall disappointed, she had a feeling this partnership wouldn’t last so she gives jinx one last look and leaves, jinx is left in her lair the only company being the kid, she really wishes silco was still here, if only she didn’t pull the trigger
but that didn’t happen and now she doesn’t know what to do, jinx sits in her lair that thought lingering in her, the fact that she’s being called a hero. “me..a hero? what the hell happen to this place.” she can’t help but laugh at that thought, one moment she called someone that destroys everyones lives by just existing hell shes the reason they’re even in this war in the first place but now? she gives piltover a taste of their own medicine and all of sudden her sins are washed away? bullshit.
but then theres the kid…gods what is she gonna do with her she looks over to her sleeping, shes looks peaceful like the world hasn’t gone to hell she envy’s that
“you have a talent for killing kids pow.” mylo taunts through her mirror, jinx doesn’t reply.
“i mean you killed me and claggor we didn’t even get to be adults, grown ups!” jinx begins to breathe heavily “then you work with slico! the same guy that put children in drug factories what are you gonna do with this one huh? put her to work for your criminal empire!”
jinx clutches her chest beginning to feel it tighten she struggling to breathe she feels like shes gonna throw up.
“shutupshutupshutup.” desperation in her voice then anger ”come on don’t play victim you’ve already done that enough.” mylo continues to taunt her making sure she hears every bit of it.
”you’re a failure powder, the only thing you’ll kill that isn’t yourself is her.”
“SHUT UP!”
jinx repeatedly punches her mirror each punch she sees a glimpse of everyone shes hurt
mylo
claggor
vander
slico
ekko
vi
powder.
the mirror is completely shattered and her hand is a bloody mess, she looks at it shards of glass pierced in her hand, she can’t feel it it’s either adrenaline, shimmer or both ”that spider-man ruined everything right?” jinx looks up at her shattered mirror mylo is still there but instead of tauting her he’s…encouraging her?
“he got in the way of everything right? he took vi he helped caitlyn he’s even the reason you’re still alive.”
jinx squeezes her hand the glass continuing to stab her hand. “maybe sevika was right mylo…i think it’s time i squash this bug.” a grin begins too form on her face, she laugh: maniacally as she begins to repair her weapons a new fire lit inside her she’s in pure mania she doesn’t even notice that the kid is awake concerned for her well being not that jinx cares jinx feels rejuvenated she knows that this will be her last hurrah before she leaves this plane of existence and shes going to make sure she takes spider-man with her.