Spider-Man: Web of Magic

by MetalJrock

Interlude: Homecoming

The day after returning to New York...

'So much for a grand return.' sighed Peter, his body stiff within a locker Flash Thompson stuffed him in. He exhaled. Hopefully someone was able to get him out. 'Sometimes it's real hard restraining my spider powers. And I get real tempted sometimes.'

A few clicking sounds later and he suddenly found himself facefirst on the ground. He raised his head, spotting a blue-skinned girl shaking her head in disappointment, "What am I going to do with you, Parker? You've only been back for twenty minutes and you're already getting stuffed into lockers. And for some reason it was mine again."

Standing up, Peter dusted his body off, "Yeah, nice to see you too, Trixie. It's the kind of welcome wagon I expected to be honest. Did I miss much?" he asked.

"Nope. Except for magic running rampant again." Trixie stated, "The Friendship Games nearly fell apart. We could've used your spider-powers there."

Peter raised a finger and cleared his throat, "I was too busy helping Mister Stark, remember? I had my own adventure down in Germany. It was seriously awesome."

Trixie rolled her eyes, "I'm sure Ned would love to hear more about it at lunch. You know how that dork is with the Avengers. Same as you." she commented.

"Speaking of Ned, where is he?" Peter wondered.

"Already at first period." the girl replied, "Come on, you know how Mrs. Harshwinny gets when we're late."

---

"So you really met the Avengers?" Ned asked, leaning his head in to ask the question to Peter, who was sitting in front of him. "Were they just as cool in person?"

Peter stopped tapping on his pencil in annoyance, waiting for second period to begin, "Yes, dude. I said this ten times already. Mister Stark came to my house. There was a battle in Germany, I was in it. It was cool. I'll show you what I recorded at lunch. Now be quiet, Mr. Slott's gonna be here in a second."

---

"Can you show me now?" Ned wondered.

Peter turned his head, the two of them walking to lunch now, "Dude. Once we get to the cafeteria, then we will. Can't have my alterego being shown like this. It's all recorded on my phone anyway. Got so many good moments too." he bragged. "Now let's--"

"Oof!"

Two bodies bumped into one another, books scattering on the floor as a result. Peter moaned as his eyes were shut from the sudden impact, "Ow... My bad..." he apologized, kneeling down and opening his eyes grab whatever fell. Then he raised his gaze to look at whoever he bumped into.

And he swore his heart skipped a beat.

Standing across from him was a purple-skinned girl, standing awkwardly in an attempt to reach for what she dropped. Her hair was kept in a bun, some strands hanging from the sides of her head. She seemed to wear a uniform, more formal than Peter was used to for the school, And she wore some of the thickest glasses Peter's ever seen. She bit her lip, as thought she was afraid she made a terrible first impression.

And Peter couldn't stop looking at her.

Finally, he realized he needed to break the silence before things got even more weird and he said, "Uh, sorry about that." he reached down for the girl's books and took a glance at one of the covers in an attempt to break the ice, "Oh, cool. A copy of Reed Richards' simplified quantum theory." he commented, looking at one of the books, "I should really find myself a copy. He and Bruce Banner have some good stuff that I'm curious about as well."

The girl blinked, "Y-You know about their research?"

"Heh. Yeah," Peter chuckled, "Them and Max Modell. I didn't think anyone else in this school would even care about their studies to be honest... It's uh, kind of a first to notice."

After adjusting her glasses, the girl seemed to give him a thin smile, "That's... great! I-I didn't think anyone besides my friends would bother talking about that."

"Well, trust me, I'm all ears." Peter replied simply.

"Ha! Look at Puny Parker trying to make friends." Peter scowled upon hearing that voice and groaned, noticing a taller kid passing them, a smug grin on his face as he walked. The girl blushed in embarassment at the comment.

Peter inhaled, "Alright, Eugene. Whatever..." he muttered, "Ignore him. He does that with me all the time... Who are you anyway? I don't remember seeing you around before."

"T-Twilight Sparkle." the girl introduced. "I just transferred here after the Friendship Games."

"Peter Parker." Parker introduced himself, "Welcome to Canterlot High."

Twilight's smile grew, "Thanks... N-Now I have to go before my friends wonder where I'm at..." she paused, holding the books over her chest, "It was nice meeting you."

Peter folded his arms, watching as the new girl walked away. Ned cleared his throat, "Uh, dude. We should probably get to lunch." he commented, gesturing in the opposite direction.

"Oh, right. Hey,,, is it me or... Did she... kinda look familiar?"

Ned shook his head, "Remember that one girl who came from that horse dimension or whatever with Sunset and came to stop those singing girls? That's her doppelganger from this world. Showed up and transferred from Crystal Prep after the Friendship Games. It's a long story. I'm sure your side is more interesting anyway."

"...Right."

---

Peter held out his phone, showing Ned and Trixie what he managed to record down in Germany. The video showed him at an airport, looking at the various heroes standing around, "There's Captain America, Iron Man, Wolverine--" he paused once he saw someone in sleek black armor designed like a panther jump out of nowhere, "Whoa! Who's that new guy?!"

"Underoos!"

The camera turned to face Peter, in his new Spider-Man costume, "That's my cue!"

He dropped the camera and leaped in the air, webbing up Captain America's hands he grabbed his shield, holding it in his arms. Iron Man said, "Nice landing, kid."

"Holy crap. This is gonna be good." Ned commented.

It was a spectacle to be sure, Spider-Man fanboying at the idea of sharing presence with all these big name superheroes. However, Peter wasn't focused on the video. His eyes darted to the table across from him, his mind and gaze wandering to the girl he met earlier, sitting a few tables down. He closed his eyes, trying to focus his thoughts back onto the video he was showing.

Trixie waved a hand in front of the boy, "Parker. I may be watching the video, but even I can tell you're daydreaming." Peter shook his head upon seeing and hearing that, "What's got you so focused? Remembering being with the Avengers?" she joked.

"...Sure." Peter replied, a half-lie. He looked back on the video, "Oh this part's great. I managed to sneak my cam over into the building where I fought Falcon and the Winter Soldier. And totally kicked their butts." he added, pointing back to the small screen.

Ned, though listening, was silent in the previous conversation. His own gaze turned to where Peter was looking. A devious smirk seen on his face, knowing exactly what had his attention. Deciding not to say anything, he continued to watch the video, seeing Spider-Man block Winter Soldier's fist.

"You got a metal arm? That is awesome dude!"

---

With his first school day back from Germany done, and Peter web-zipped upwards on a wall in his new costume, his waist hitting the edge of the building painfully before his knees scraped the wall. "Oof!" he grunted, his body collapsing onto a few trash cans, scattering the metal cylinders as his body landed. "Ow... Okay... Gotta get used to how sleek this new suit is." he moaned while rubbing his head.

'I feel a lot lighter in this, that's for sure. Need time to adjust to everything...' Spider-Man thought, dusting his chest off. He decided to climb the wall the old fashioned way, 'My mind's been all over the place today anyway. Even I can't explain it. Me. The guy that got bit with a radioactive spider.' he mused, 'Why am I thinking about that girl all of a sudden?' he wondered.

Spider-Man stood on the roof of the building once he finished climbing, 'I'll admit... She is cute. But all I know about her is that she's new, really shy, had a doppelganger from a parallel dimension, and is really into science... Heh, the look on her face when she realized I wanted to talk about Reed Richards and Bruce Banner's research, maybe I should've told her I know Tony Stark now. Could've seen that cute smile grow even wider.'

The webslinger slammed his palm onto his forehead, 'Okay, Parker. Cool your thoughts. You just met her, that's weird to think about. You need time to process this, maybe get to know her a little more before you can admit you have those feelings-- Oh, who am I kidding?'

Then, Spider-Man heard something below him. Sirens, and the sound of a speeding car. "Sirens. Oh thank God, some action." he looked down, noticing two crooks in a car, "Ha. Marko and O'Hirn. This should be a cakewalk. Let's give them a taste of Spider-Man 2.0." he quipped, jumping down into the fray. "I'll focus on this crush thing later!"

Perhaps he'll figure these emotions out soon enough.

---

Now...

Peter awoke, the memories having flooded back into his mind. 'Well that was a trip down memory lane.' he thought, yawning as he stretched. 'Maybe what Harry said at the charity event was good advice. I should find a way to deal with this whole Twilight crush thing.' he thought, covering his eyes from the rays of the Sun, 'But I got a whole lot of other things to worry about... The Big Man, Kingpin, and now the Green Goblin. At the very least, I think Sunset's done trying to play hero. Can't have her or Twilight figure out who I am yet.'

He looked at his desk, hearing a small vibration. It was his phone. Curious, the boy picked it up and read the message.

'Yo, Dr. Connors agreed to give me a tour of the University before I start working. You wanna check it out with me?'

'PS. Trixie already said no.'

Peter smiled, "Alright, Ned. Sure, got nothing else to do this weekend." he replied back right there.

---

Ravencroft Prison...

Two cells, occupied with three separate criminals: Flint Marko and Alex O'Hirn in one and Maximus Gargan in the other. Two of them were the partners in petty crime, and the other was an assassin hired by the Kingpin.

Two officers walked to their cells. One of them speaking, "It's your lucky day, gents. Someone actually paid for your bail." he said.

Marko raised a brow, "Who?"

"I did."

Standing at the doorway was a man with a flat head, "Pack your stuff, boys. The Big Man wants ya." said Hammerhead as they all turned away from their cells. The three criminals walked out of the prison with this stranger.

Alex blinked, "The Big Man?"

Hammerhead folded his arms, "Did I studder?"

"Why should we?" Gargan wondered. "What the hell do we get out of it?" he asked.

Hammerhead replied, "Ya want revenge on the Spider-Man? Go see the Big Man. Got ourselves somethin' you might wanna see. Trust me, you might be of use if ya want 'em out of the picture."

Mac Gargan smirked, "Alright then. All I needed to hear."

"Same here." Flint agreed.

O'Hirn nodded, "I got a bone to pick with that wall-crawler too. Sure, I'll follow your lead."

Hammerhead smirked, "All right then, gents."

Comments

[Mr-Astounding]

precursor to Sandman, Rhino, and Scorpion? yes please

[Fluffy-Boi]

Oooo. Very cool!

[Boltstrike58]

The webslinger slammed his palm onto his forehead, 'Okay, Parker. Cool your thoughts. You just met her, that's weird to think about. You need time to process this, maybe get to know her a little more before you can admit you have those feelings-- Oh, who am I kidding?'

Thanks, puberty.