//------------------------------//
// Issue #4: Discussions 
// Story: Spider-Man: Web of Magic 
// by MetalJrock 
//------------------------------//

A truck sped by the street, forcing cars and people to move out of the way of its wrath. In the seats was a man wearing a gray hoodie in the driver's seat. His passenger was a man wearing a green striped polo shirt, confident grins seen on their faces as they drifted around a corner, the driver steering as fast as he could.

"Come on, man! Floor it!" the passenger shouted, hearing the sirens of police cars behind them. Money bags were bouncing around in the back as they turned. "And be careful!"

"What do ya think I'm doin'!" groaned the driver. "The police are on our tail!"

Then, a thud was heard on top of the truck. A red hand knocked on the window, which the driver rolled down. Popping his head down was a familiar wall-crawler, in his first costume now, "Well well... If it isn't my favorite pair of incompetent crooks, Marko and O'Hirn! So, what brings you driving down this road?" he asked, leaning on top of the truck. He offered a friendly handshake, but the crooks refused.

"Spider-Man!" growled Marko.

"What's with the hoodie? Lost your old suit?" O'Hirn joked.

Peter shook his head, "Well, if you must know, some bad guy tore it up a bit, and it's in the shop. So I'm stuck with this. So, what's up with you guys?" he explained casually before pausing.

Peter chuckled, "Oh right. We're not friends!" he dodged O'Hirn's elbow as he turned the wheel, leaning his head back. "Look, I'm kinda in a hurry right now, so I'm just going to have to end this little chase scene faster than usual."

Spidey shot two lines of webbing on their backs and forced the door open with his foot, allowing him easier access. "What do ya think you're doing?" O'Hirn asked.

Reaching another web-line to a pole, Peter held the four strings together as much as he could. "Oh, just a little thing I've been practicing on the occassion we met again." he quipped, jumping out of the truck, holding the two crooks with him as he did. "Glad I get to finally do it."

As fast as he could Peter tied Flint and Alex to the pole, keeping them from moving, "I'll be back to write the note!"

"Oh man!" whined Marko.

Then he zipped back to the driver's seat of the truck. He cracked his knuckles. "Okay. It's about time I practiced driving." he pressed his foot on what he hoped to be break pedal. Luckily, he heard the truck screech and he turned, making sure it stopped nefore anymore damage could be done. "Oh, thank God that worked." he wiped the imaginary sweat from his mask.

Seeing that the truck stopped, Spider-Man swung out and looked back, seeing Marko and O'Hirn still tied up, and he perched himself on the pole where they were. "So, guys. How does it feel to be the first catch of the weekend?" he asked.

"Shut up!" O'Hirn groaned.

Peter snickered, "Well, I gotta go! Hope you learned a valuable lesson from all this!" he swung away, leaving the authorities to handle the crooks he dealt with time and again.





Now back in his civilian clothes, Peter opened the door to the Sweet Shoppe, which looked as crowded as it normally did on Saturday. He saw kids from his school, adults wanting a quick bite, and strangers he's never seen before. Looking around, he saw Ned wave to him, where he sat across from Trixie in a booth.

Seeing the seat, Peter sat down on a chair next to Ned, "It's about time you showed up. We were gonna talk about this stuff without you." said Ned in a joking tone.

"No, we weren't." Trixie groaned, "I am still new to this after all."

Peter chuckled, "Sorry. I had to stop a car chase with my old pals, Marko and O'Hirn. They were breaking the speed limit with bags of money in a truck and I had to stop them before they actually hurt someone in their rampage."

"Haven't heard from those two since Shocker jumped into the scene." Ned realized with a smile, "They're still trying?"

"Well, this is Marko and O'Hirn we're talking about. From what Parker said those two aren't very bright." Trixie responded.

The wall-crawler grinned, "That's why it's so much fun." he looked at the tables, "You guys didn't get anything?"

"We were waiting for you." Ned explained, "You were about ten minutes. Not a big deal."

The girl sighed, "Well, Trixie was getting hungry."

Standing up, Peter held some dollars in his hand he pulled from his pocket, "Well, how about I get something for us? My treat." he offered, pushing his chair in. "You guys want anything?"

Ned shrugged, "Eh. A doughnut will do."

"Trixie would like a cup of coffee." Trixie added.

The boy nodded, "Sure thing."

"Uh, Pete--"

Ned didn't finish his sentence, because Peter accidentally bumped into someone as he turned around. "Oh man, I'm so sorry!" he apologized, hearing a female voice say the same exact thing at the same time. Wiping his eyes and opening them, he realized it was Twilight he just bumped into and he instantly lost all his composure, putting a hand on her shoulder. He inhaled as his cheeks turned red, 'Aw, Breadcrumbs...'.

Peter instantly noticed that the tray was empty and he looked up, seeing seven cupcakes in midair and descending. So, with his precision and reflexes he moved his arm so that he caught each one perfectly as they landed on the tray. He knelt down to catch the last one and he let out a sigh of relief.

The boy stood up and handed the tray to Twilight, "Here you go, m'lady." he offered, his voice going deeper and changing accents this time. Twilight giggled at his exaggerated elegance. "And again, sorry about that. Guess I should focus more often. It was rather... uncool of me." he apologized again.

"N-No, I'm sorry Stupid, clumsy me..." Twilight scolded herself and paused with a light chuckle, "...How did you do that so quickly?" she questioned, observing the tray and pointing at it, "Doing that must've required good reflexes and precision." she reasoned.

Peter blinked, realizing what he did, "Oh, uh... I work out?" he answered with a nervous, sheepish grin. He held back the urge to flex and show off and handed the tray back to Twilight while rubbing the back of his neck.

"O-Okay..." stammered Twilight, gripping onto the sides of the metal object, "Thank you."

The boy smiled, "No problem."

Once Twilight walked back to the table with her friends, Peter heard clapping. From Ned nontheless, "That was sick, dude! You should use your Spider-Man powers in public like that more often." he said quietly, hoping no one heard him, which luckily was the case.

"No thanks." said Peter. "That was a reaction thing."

Trixie smirked, "Well, whatever you did, it certainly caught Twilight's eye. But saying you work out? And what was with the deep voice?"

The teen shrugged, "Like I said, my brain goes all stupid when I'm around her. I can't explain it. Ugh, now I feel like an idiot for doing that." he facepalmed. "I wasn't this nervous when I was around the Avengers, and I've looked up to them since childhood!" he exhaled, "Look, I'm just gonna get our food and whatever and we'll talk then." he suggested and walked away.





Twilight smiled and placed the tray on her table, "Sorry, girls. So, did anything eventful happen yesterday?" she asked, hoping none of them would bring up what happened. The seven friends reached into the tray and picked out a treat.

"Nope! But I did eat an entire pizza covered in frosting by myself!" Pinkie revealed, earning some confused looks from the others. "It was really... not that good like I was hoping..." she gagged.

Applejack nodded, "Farmwork, the usual... Wheelbarrow broke and I had to fix it though."

Sunset held up a pen, "I was working on learning more about the magic that leaked here still. To see if there's anything we can do to make sure it stays within out school."

Rarity raised a hand as a knowing grin appeared on her face, "Now hold on... I do believe Miss Sparkle here is trying to change the subject on what happened just a mere moment ago."

"Oh no..." gulped Twilight.

Rainbow smiled, "Oh yeah! How the heck did Peter do that anyway?" she wondered, "Even I'm jealous. If he could do that, why didn't he join the soccer team? We could use someone like that! Not that we need him of course. Heck, last year when we worked together in gym class, he could barely throw a ball."

"H-He said he works out now...?" Twilight stammered out.

Applejack raised a brow, "Works out? No offense to him, but Peter looks as scrawny as a haystraw."

"Um... He does wear baggy clothes all the time, though..." Fluttershy defended.

Sunset hummed, "He says he works out and he can catch seven flying cupcakes in seconds without missing? And then there was that basketball incident."

"A net made of glass was a bad idea to be fair." Pinkie chimed in.

Twilight adjusted her glasses, "Maybe he's just that... good?" she suggested.

Rainbow snickered, "Hey, Twi. You should totally ask him to hang out. Maybe we can get some answers out of him?" she budged, "We got Spring Break coming up soon too! And I think we're going to a camp or something."

"M-Me...? No... Plus, he wouldn't go with an anti-social nerd like me." stammered the bookworm in a hasty mess of words. 

Sunset shrugged and suggested, "It wouldn't hurt to try at least. And I doubt he'd say no."

Rarity smiled and put a hand on her friend's, "Darling, you do what makes you feel comfortable. But enough teasing from us, I do believe I heard Rainbow say something about a camping trip? We actually raised enough money for it?"

"Yeperoo! Maybe I can create the best ghost story ever!" Pinkie exclaimed.

Sunset grinned, "That sounds fun."

A head popped out of Twilight's bag, revealing a purple dog, "Did someone say camp? Finally, we're in my element."

"Were you napping in there this whole time, Spike?" Twilight asked.

The dog paused, "...Maybe?"





And then a few moments breezed by and he came back with a cup of coffee and two doughnuts. He sat down and said, "Here you go." he gestured.

Trixie held the cup, trying to ignore the heat and reached for the sweeteners and sugar, "Why thank you, Parker."

Ned took a bite and swallowed, speaking up, "So, you were mentioning something yesterday before your aunt walked in."

Peter perked up, "Oh, right. So, I got more information and was thinking about it last night. I think Vulture might be supplying the weapons he's finding to someone else. I heard the name Big Man being thrown around recently from Shocker, the Enforcers and the Vulture. Something tells me they're all connected."

"He's a big, big man!" Ned joked in a deep voice like a certain cartoon character. Peter let out a small laugh at that. "Sorry, you know I had to do that."

The webslinger snorted, "I thought the same thing. Anyway, we have to figure out where the Big Man is at though."

Trixie took a sip of her coffee and afterwards asked, "And how do you intend to do that?"

"Well, first of all, we should investigate things at Oscorp what with the harness coming from there. I have a hunch that Vulture has a connection there, I intend to gain answers and I'll figure out the rest from there." Peter declared, clenching his fists as said this.

Ned spoke up, "I don't think Spider-Man would be welcome at Oscorp though."

"Who says my alter-ego was going?" asked Peter.

The girl rolled her eyes, "Okay, I'll bite. How will wallflower Peter Parker get into Oscorp in an instant? It's one of the biggest companies in the city."

Peter raised a brow and wondered, "You do know I was friends with Harry Osborn and on good terms with his father since before he graduated last year right?"

Trixie spat her coffee, "Harry Osborn?!" she asked through gritted teeth in an attempt to stay quiet, "How the hell you continue having these strange connections, I will never figure out."

"The son of Norman Osborn?" Ned questioned. "...Oh yeah, I forgot! He used to sit with us sometimes!"

Peter raised a finger, "I used to tutor him, and we sorta realized we had a lot in common and became good friends even after his grades improved by Norman's suggestion. I check in with him every now and then now that he's in Canterlot University." he folded his arms, "And I think it's about time we pay a visit today."





Back in the warehouse, Toomes slammed his hands on the table Mason was working on, "How is the newest upgrade to the harness turning out, Phineas?"

Mason adjusted his glasses, "It's actually fixed and ready."

Toomes smirked, and looked at the upgraded exosuit, a thicker metal used for protection and the dents repaired from the battle last night, he snickered, "I think it's about time we paid my old boss a visit and show him how much better I am without him."

"You need any backup, Toomes?" Herman asked.

Adrian shook his head and held the helmet, "No. Gonna be a slim chance the kid's gonna be there. Once I'm done there, it's about high time we make the biggest heist: Avengers Tower. The Big Man is gonna be pleased once we pull that off."

Schultz looked to his gauntets, "...Sure thing. I'll be here waiting to do it... It's gonna be so good."