The Conversion Bureau: Heroes Shall Rise
Chapter 1: Can I have some Skittles?
“Talking.”
Thinking.
Disclaimer: I don’t own the Marvel Universe, nor do I own MLP.
Fair warning, I had some major Writer's Block during the last few parts of this story.
…..New York, Manhattan…..
“~Spectacular, Spectacular, Spider-Man!” Sang Peter as he swung from building to building, not even caring to look where he shot his webs as he turns a corner, and then let’s go of the web strand.
Spider-Man loved this part of his job. Swinging around the city never got old; even when he would end up doing it for hours. It was the one thing Spider-Man would always miss when he’s not crime fighting or doing his superhero thing. And the fact that the views in Manhattan were always good looking from high up. Unless you move into the bad parts of the city.
Which is exactly where Spider-Man was heading for now. Right back into his same schedule he made long ago. Every few days he’d change and go different routes, before changing again and again in a random fashion. Yet there were times when Spider-Man would find himself repeating a path he had used long ago, and tonight's just happened to be one of them.
With a quick ‘thwip’ of his webs, Spider-Man web zipped right over one of the smaller buildings in his path, running over what he hadn’t skipped already and jumping off the roof to continue web slinging his way to the rough part of the city. The last time he had went there, Daredevil showed and helped him beat up on some of Kingpin’s thugs. Plus Bullseye, but that was all Horn Heads fight.
Now that Spider-Man thought about it, he hasn’t talked to Daredevil in a while anyway. Maybe he’d see him in Hell’s Kitchen tonight? Eh, unlikely. Their meetings weren’t exactly a regular thing. And it always involved Kingpin in some way of form.
“Ahhh, enough of that!” He says with a small grin under his mask. Today was hopefully going to be a slow day; no supervillains, PER or HLF kidnappings, and especially no convoluted plots against humanity.
“~Yup. Today is going to be a good-”
*SWOOSH!*
“The hell!?”
A sudden wind caught Spider-Man unprepared, sending him flying in the air for a bit. His eyes widened while he tried to look at what had caused the gust of wind. And to say he was a bit surprised was an understatement.
Hovering right where he was, was a technicolored Pegasus with crayn fur and a rainbow colored mane. Wide magenta eyes, and a proud smirk that adorned her mussel. He wings flapping at a medium pass to keep her floating. A quick check to her flank revealed a Lightning bolt. A speed demon perhaps?
Regaining his composure, Spider-Man quickly web-zipped to the edge of a nearby building. Which just happens to be a conversion center.
Great, a pony ambushed me near one of these places. Spider-Man really didn’t like how this was going. One random citizen looking up and seeing the both of them there would lead to a wide spread of rumors and wild stories that could either lead to good publicity for Spider-Man, or fuel for J.J’s Spider rants.
Turning to look at the still smirking Pony, Spider-Man couldn’t help but feel like he’d seen that rainbow hair before. But he put that away for later. Snarky comment now.
“Hey! I’m swinging’ here! Do you even have a license for those wings on your back?” The pony seemed annoyed for a quick second, but then the face of confidence came back in full swing.
“Yeah, I have one.” She said in a tomboyish voice, one that really got Spidey's brain moving. Slowly, a look of realization hit him like a ton of bricks. And the smirk that the Rainbow haired mare had only grew larger as his own robotic lenses grew as well. He had met this pony before, at a HLF attack on one of the Pony facilities.
Apparently, she was an official from Equestria that decided she would keep any hostile Humans away from the facilities in the first place. Which only gained more attention from the HLF as they planned a big attack on the compound. Spider-Man had just made it there as the soldiers of the HLF started to raid the place.
Now, Spider-Man may sympathize with the HLS for their reasons, but taking the lives of random ponies on the streets was a no go. No matter the reasons. And so, Spidey did the only thing he could in that situation. Help the ponies defeat his fellow humans. Being a hero really sucked at times, but he had to help. Responsibility and all that.
As soon as they really started to get working on their plan, Spider-Man himself swung down and quickly put a few of them down. And wouldn’t you know it? Skittles here burst forward and took a few of the stragglers out. She tried to tackle Spidey, but he proved a bit too agile and ducked under her rather rude attack.
Then, after a few words here and there, the two started to work together to take down the HLS soldiers. The mare even backed up a few of his witty quips as they decimated the HLS forces. The ones still standing ran for the hills, screaming about ‘TRAITOR!’ this, and ‘DEMON RAINBOW!’ that. At the end, Spider-Man and Rainbow gave each other a nod and went back to business as usual. Well…. Not before she tried to unmask the webbed hero.
“AH! Skittles! Now how could I forget that wonderful hair style?” He joked, clearly relaxing as he crouched on the roof. “Really brings out the anger in your eyes.”
Spider-Sense!
Yet before Spider-Man could react to the tingling sensation in the back of his skull, Rainbow had tackled the arachnid to the ground. Pinning him to the roof as her cocky attitude quickly shifted to a mean glare. A glare Spider-Man really couldn’t look away from.
“My, my, how forward. People will begin to talk soon.” Just because she had a mean glare, didn’t mean he wasn’t going to stop joking around.
“Let them. I have a bone to pick with you.” Anger traced her voice as the unsaid threat hung in the air.
“Yeah, well I didn’t bring my pick axe. So rain check Skittles?” Spider-Man got his answer as she only glared harder at him. Clearly she was willing to let him leave peacefully.
“Shut up. I want answers, and you’re my best bet at getting them.”
“Well when you put it that way how could I refuse?” He shrugged. Getting a nod from the rainbow haired Mare.
Rainbow Dash then stepped off Spider-Man, content to keep a close eye for any tricks the web-slinger may have. Spider-Man then got back to his feet, glad that the pony had let up. Anyone seeing that would defiantly spread the word. His reputation in the city would take a huge hit. Being pinned to the roof by a, what, 120-250 pound pony? And in a scandalous pose no less.
“Okay Skittles, tell Uncie Spidey what's got my tongue?” Wow, he really couldn’t stop with the jokes today, could he?
“I have a lot of questions for you. But first off, why are you webbing ponies to be sent to jail!?” Rainbow yelled. Spider-Man was taken back by the sudden question. It should have been common knowledge why he webs up ponies. Because their part of the PER and were usually trying to kidnap some random sap on the streets.
“Is that really what this is all about?” Spider-Man had to be sure here. If she was misunderstanding his actions, then his whole relationship to the ponies could already be damaged. Well, more damaged than it might already be.
“Yes! Why are you webbing up random PER members and sending them straight to the human slammer!” This time there was a fierce fire in her eyes. One that made Spider-Man realize, she meant business here.
“Okay, first off. Calm down.” She did, but still gave the hero a hard glare. “Second, I’m not just webbing up every PER member I see on the street. I web up the PER members that I see kidnapping humans off the streets.”
Rainbow’s eyes widen a bit at the news, but she shakes it off and then continues to glare at Spider-Man. A snarl coming from her mouth.
“The PER doesn’t kidnap. They convince humans to turn into Ponies willingly.” Spider-Man just stared at her, watching her smirk like she’s won some grand argument. Well, she was in for a very rude awakening.
“Yes they do. I should know, because I go out on the city almost every night and stop about 10 to 15 attempted kidnappings. So don’t you DARE tell me that they don’t!” He may have been a bit more harsh than he originally wanted, but no one was going to convince him that the PER didn’t take people off the streets.
“No they don’t!” Rainbow yelled back.
“Oh yes they do! And you want to know why I’m so sure?” This pony was really starting to get under Peter’s skin.
“Oh yes, please tell me how they made someone’s life a bit better!”
Spider-Man’s eyes went wide with rage, giving him an intimidating look as his lenses copied his muscle movement. After the things he had seen them do to people? Taking them while they kick and scream? Forcing that damned Serum into their bloodstream? No way in hell were they making people’s lives ‘better!’
“Now listen here you uneducated pony.” He said, venom spilling into his voice as the memory of his best friend replayed in his head. How she use to condemn the PER, and how he had failed to save her.
“One of my friends. No, my BEST friend, was taken one night. She was a ‘high level target’ as they put it. Sent a crap ton of more PER soldiers after her than others. As I was fighting off about 20 different ponies, she was taken. I was to slow, and to full of myself to stop them. And you know what happened!?”
Rainbow found that she couldn’t help herself. She asked the one thing on her mind at that specific moment.
“What?”
Spider-Man’s lenses narrowed to a dangerous degree, making the normally happy-go-lucky hero seem intimidating to the rainbow haired mare. Something she realized a bit too late. Rainbow had opened the can of worms.
“She was injected by it. I had just found her, strapped to a table and gagged.”
“Then what?” Shut up Rainbow! Just shut yourself up! But the Rainbow mare just couldn’t help herself.
“I think you can piece the rest.” He said, loosening his shoulders. A sigh of annoyance coming from his mouth. He had no idea why he acted like this so suddenly. It would normally take much more than a simple disagreement to get him that pissed. There were only a few that could get under his skin like that, and one was dead while the other was locked up, hopefully for good.
“I-” But a hand from Spider-Man made her close her snout, her eyes looking at him with a bit of worry.
“Now, I’m going to leave before I do anything I might just regret.” And before the bearer of Loyalty could comment, Spider-Man was already swinging away from the building. Doing various flips and exaggerated, yet graceful, movements that could put any many highly skilled Pegasus’s to shame.
Looking at his retreating form, Rainbow couldn’t help but feel a bit stupid. After his sudden outburst, Rainbow Dash felt a small but powerful wave of guilt fill her. She really believed that the PER were innocent in all of this. That Spider-Man just webbed them up for being ponies. But the more she thought on it, the sillier the idea seemed.
The arachnid themed hero had captured just as many HLF members as he did PER. Wow… she may have screwed this up big. She COULD have been a little less forceful, and maybe she could have had a little more tact when talking to him.
Hell, the only reason she was out here was because she saw a story on the Human's news about the many stories they had about Spider-Man. Safe to say, some of them weren’t very flattering. This got her thinking that Spider-Man was a bad guy, and that he was actually leaving innocent ponies for the human police to pick up. Turns out, she was wrong.
Maybe the PER wasn’t as good as I had first believed. Maybe… No Rainbow! Celestia and Twilight put their trust in the PER and their goal, and so will you!
She may not have a lot of experience with the PER outside of business, but she knew her friends! And it’d take more than some ‘hero’ in a costume to make her believe otherwise! There was no way her princesses would give funding to criminals.
Right?
……….
“Stupid Parker!” Swinging through the city normally cleared his head. Gave him a nice place to talk about personal issues on his own without worrying about anyone else’s input. Sadly, this was not like those times. This time, Spider-Man was spending his patrolling arguing with himself over how he had acted with Rainbow.
Firstly, he was way too pissed. Sure, she touched on a rough spot for him. However, that doesn’t excuse his angry tone and basically telling her off like that. She didn’t know, and it was wrong to yell at her like he did… Even if it was her fault to begin with…
A sudden realization came upon Spider-Man as he made yet another swing around the skies of New York. One which really set his guilt trip up… the fact he had just yelled off an official of Equestria.
“Ooooooooooh. Oooh crap,” Spidey said, aiming his Web Shooters at a nearby roof. “I just screwed up, BIG!”
Landing on the roof with little problem, Spider-Man quickly began pacing back and forth on the small roof. His head running with what sort of backlash his anger had caused him, AND THE EARTH! He was now an official representative of his ‘species’! Not to mention that this meeting was supposed to WORK things out! Not cause a political debate over whether or not he was in the right over YELLING AND INSULTING one of Equestria’s officials!
“Oh I’m boned! I’m so-so-so-so-so boned! I don’t even use the word ‘boned’! That’s how BONED I AM!” Peter began clutching his head in panic! He may have just threw the whole ‘peace talk’ OUT THE GODDAMNED WINDOW! How was he supposed to tell this to Cap!?
“Wait…. CAP!!!” What would the Sentinel of Liberty think when he hears that the ‘Web-Menace’ of New York botched up the meeting BEFORE IT EVEN HAPPENED!?
‘Why did it have to happen now of all days?’ Spidey thought to himself, aiming a web at a nearby corner.
“Okay,” He said to himself while yanking on the web, bringing him to the corner so he could collect his thoughts. “Let’s just thing this through.”
He sat on top of the corner, crouched with his hands holding on to the edges. He sent his city a look, staring directly out into the part he called home. Through the years of him being Spider-Man, things have been rather simple. At first it was stopping a robbers, muggers, and murders. Then Super Villains showed up, and things got even more complicated. Crime bosses then made him a target, sending even more crooks and baddies his way. And that was how it was for so many years. Then ponies came outta nowhere and now everything’s changing again! Now politics are being involved, terrorist groups at a worldwide war, and a whole new species that isn’t fond of humanity.
“…. Is it weird that I actually miss when the worst I had to deal with were the Sinister Six?” No response came to Peter, but he already knew the answer to that particular question.
For what it’s worth, things weren’t as bad as before. Mutants are now much more widely accepted by the public, minus a few racist here and there. Police are less likely to shoot him and other heroes at the drop of a hat. While he still isn’t loved by the city, Spider-Man is now the unofficial icon of New York. So yes, it is very weird that he’d prefer the older days.
“Ugh, I need some rest.” With a quick thwip of his webs, Spider-Man began to swing through the streets of New York once more. Making his way towards his apartment to catch some much needed rest.
.....END….. �ໂ����