• Published 7th Jul 2017
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Spider-Man: Web of Magic - MetalJrock



Peter Parker must juggle being a normal teenager, Spider-Man, and a mentor when threats appear from the woodworks.

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Issue #20: Astonishing Team-Up

Sunset yawned, the red aura that was covering her palm faded at last. She began to notice her use of her Equestrian magic improving. She's been at this for hours in her room, using it for more menial tasks like moving small objects.

As of recently, she had gotten a better handle of her powers. At first it was spontaneous, but after a while, she realized that she could control how to use it, and maybe put them to use.

Her trail of thought derailed once she heard her phone ring. Curious, the girl picked it up and read the ID, 'Twilight? Normally she'd either be asleep or studying.' she thought.

Curious, Sunset answered, "Twi? Is everything okay?"

"Y-Yeah...?"

The fiery-haired girl raised a brow at her friend's apprehension. As though Twilight could hear it, she let out a sigh, "No not really. It's about Peter." she revealed.

Sunset could already deduce what happened what with her knowing he was Spider-Man, but for the sake of Peter's privacy she decided to not say anything, "What happened?"


'So yeah, I'm still pretty annoyed at myself.' thought Spider-Man, using his adhesive abilities to lift the manhole cover with his fingers. The webslinger dropped down and closed the cover behind him. He whispered, "Night vision lenses activate." his lenses glowed green after he spoke, allowing him to actually see.

'I ended up ruining Twilight's day. Now I don't even know if she wants to talk to me. I messed up again. I wonder if I truly can make it up to her... But I'll worry about that part tomorrow.' Peter thought while he dropped down from the ceiling and started walking, 'So here I am, wandering the sewers in hopes of clearing my mind and hopefully find Doc Connors. Breaking curfew is pretty weird for me to say the least.'

Peter crouched and looked around. "Hm... Nothing yet." he glanced down and saw a glass object on the floor. He picked it up and noticed that it was a broken vial. "A vial? Why would this be here? Unless... Connors. He must've gained enough of his sanity back to start making a cure. Looks like this didn't work." he noticed, getting clued in based on the fact that it was broken.

He used his mask examined it further, "There are still traces of the chemicals he used and his clawprints. Maybe I can use this to track it." he began to scan the vial and his lenses changed to better analyze, able to track the chemicals in the air and Connors' footprints. "Awesome. About time I got somewhere!"

Peter continued in the direction of where the Lizard apparently went to and found himself wandering further into the sewer, 'I would talk to Ned, Trixie, or May about where I'm at now, but it's getting late. They don't even know I'm down here today. Ah well. Maybe I can get a souvenier out of this, like a cured scientist reunited with his family. Yeah, that'd be pretty nice.'

'Speaking of the Lizard. Things have been getting ridiculous.' Spider-Man thought, looking back all of his recent battles. 'The giant robot, Dr. Connors suddenly becoming Lizard right after, Marko turning into Sandman, O'Hirn turning into the Rhino, and Gargan the Scorpion. No doubt that Norman Osborn is behind this little supervillain posse showing up. But why would he want me taken down? Why ally himself with the Big Man? It just doesn't make sense to me.'

He touched a wall, feeling some deep scratch marks. "Whoa. Lizard's got some tough claws on him." he whispered. He knelt down and found an old brick. "I guess he was on a brief rampage or something. Fighting himself's gotta be hard."

Spider-Man scratched his head, feeling his usual danger sense striking back. 'Okay, Spider-Sense is starting to go crazy. That probably means I'm not alone. That's kind of a creepy to think about when you're alone in a dark sewer. I'm starting to think I made a mistake.'

Curious, Spider-Man crouched down slightly and turned around. Nothing. He turned his head left and right. Still nothing. When his guard was down, his Spider-Sense went off again.

SNIKT!

'Oh crap. Of all people...' Peter thought after hearing that sound echo. He knew exactly what it was once he saw the metal blade-like objects appear on the sides of his face.

"Alright, bub. What're you doin' following me around?" asked a gruff, older voice. Peter exhaled upon hearing him.

"I'm here for personal reasons. The better question is what are you doing here, Wolverine?"

Peter heard a sniffing sound and a quiet grunt. The blades retracted. "Oh great. I'm stuck with the kid. Thought I recognized yer scent."

With a quiet chuckle, Spider-Man said, "Eh, it kinda happens. It's probably all the sweat and blood from my last fight. I'm surprised you don't smell yourself."

Wolverine looked exactly the same as he remembered. Short, gruff, and easily annoyed. And he was wearing his traditional X-Men yellow and blue uniform. "You better keep that mouth'a yers shut, kid. I'm not afraid to use these on ya." his claws popped out of his knuckles.

"Oh trust me, I know." Peter quipped, recalling their brief scuffle in Germany. "So, what brings you all the way here? Aren't you a fugitive or something?" he wondered.

Logan sniffed the air, "I'm a mutant, kid. I've never stopped goin' against the law cause of that. Heard ya had a lizard problem over here and I came to clean it up. Permanently if I have to."

"Whoa! No, he's an innocent man!" Spider-Man said.

'Great. Not only am I wallowing in disappointment, but now I have keep Wolverine from going all stabby on a mutant lizard.' Spider-Man groaned in his head.

"Look, Wolvie--"

"Don't call me Wolvie."

Peter shook his head, "Wolverine-- Whatever you want to be called. I can handle this myself, the last thing I want is to ally myself with a criminal. Trust me, Jameson's already going nuts with tabloids about me."

Wolverine said, "You really think you were in the right that day, huh? Well you weren't."

Spider-Man shrugged his shoulders and started walking behind Wolverine saying, "We were. Mister Stark said that Cap's group went crazy and went against the law despite wanting to compromise. You were with him that day. There's nothing more to it than that."

"Mister Stark..." Wolverine repeated with a light chuckle. "He really did brainwash ya. Yer what? His sidekick? Just willing to do whatever it takes to join the big leagues?"

"I'm not his sidekick." Peter huffed. "And yeah, I kinda want to be an Avenger, but I'm needed down here. Well, in a place that obviously isn't a dirty sewer."

Wolverine said, "Listen, the only reason why I'm not as pissed as you as I should be is because I know Stark didn't give ya the whole truth. Yeah, we went against the law, big deal."

"So you admit to it?" Peter replied smugly.

The X-Man continued, "We had a reason, one I'm sure you weren't briefed on. Some dumbass named Zemo planned to unleash an army of super assassins or some crap. None of us were there to pick a fight with Ross' ass kissers. I bet 'Mister Stark' never told ya he tried to help Cap and his friend after he imprisoned most of us, huh?"

Peter blinked. He had no idea about that part. "O-Okay. No... No he didn't. How do I know I can trust you though? As far as I know, you're some nutcase with claws."

"And there you go not being able to shut the hell up." Wolverine grunted loudly. "You better choose your next words wisely." he paused and pointed ahead, the scent of the Lizard aiding him.

"Alright, fine, that was a little harsh. I'll admit that. But we were on opposite sides of a superhero war not that long ago. So why should I believe you now?" Spider-Man said.

Wolverine said, "Because I don't half-ass the truth. Summers would tell ya that much. Steve's an old war partner. One of the best people I know. I didn't give a crap about the politics, but he's one of the few people I can trust in this damn world. Do you really think he'd go against the law if he didn't believe what he was doin' was right?"

"Uh... No?"

"Exactly. Sorry to say, kid. But you were lied to."

Peter blinked, "But, Stark said-- Ugh!"

Spider-Man scowled and was silent. He thought back to the battle, how Captain America tried to talking to him. How he didn't listen. He heard the conversation before he was called to action. It all started to add up. He was already annoyed at himself as it is. The fact that instead of helping Captain America do the right thing, he chose to follow Tony's word upset him. In a brief fit of rage, he punched a hole right through the nearest wall, causing pebbles to fall onto his feet. Peter panted and lowered his now sore fist.

"Damn. Didn't think you had it in ya." Wolverine smirked.

"Yeah, My disappointing night just got worse. Sue me." Peter growled.

"I can tell." Wolverine taunted. "Get over it."

Peter raised his fist again, "I'm trying to, but then you had to show up. Now you're telling me someone I looked up to lied to me to use me as a weapon against Captain America. So excuse me if I'm not in a pleasant mood."

"Quit yer whinin' then. It sure as hell ain't gonna help you feel better." Wolverine responded.

Spider-Man walked ahead of Wolverine, "I'm already getting sick of your attitude."

"Likewise, bub." Wolverine snarled.

The two scowled at one another, their tension coming to a head. Spider-Man growled and said, "...Unfortunately the two of us are the only ones who can save an innocent man, so for now..."

Wolverine said, "Let me guess, we're still gonna work together? Listen, kid. I'll agree to this fer the doc's sake, but just know this doesn't make us friends."

"Friends with you? Never counted on that." Peter muttered.

"Shut it." Wolverine snapped back. He sniffed again, now tracking a new scent. One that mixed with the Lizard's. "...The hell?"

Spider-Man said, "What?"

"I smell oil and metal. I don't think that's yer lizard friend." the mutant responded.

Peter groaned, "Great. I think I know exactly what it is."

CLANG.

"...Yep. Spider-Sense is tingling. Something's definitely down here with us." Peter commented after hearing the loud noise.

Wolverine said, "Can't ya track where it's comin' from?"

"Can't you? I can only sense danger, not pinpoint it. Use your nose to track its robot BO or something!"

CLANG.

The web-slinger crouched down, "Okay. Now it's getting worse."

Peter noticed a dim light coming towards Wolverine. His lenses widened and he shot a web-strand onto the X-Man's back, yanking him backwards right as a missile landed in the water. "Could'a warned me."

"Really? No, 'thank you Spider-Man'?" Spider-Man grumbled.

Finally stepping out of the shadows was a robot, just as large as the one Spider-Man encountered in Canterlot University. "I really wish my instincts weren't right."

The robot's bright red optics looked down and scanned the two humans. It beeped and said, "SPIDER-MAN AND SECONDARY MUTANT TARGET FOUND. OBJECTIVE: ELIMINATE."

Peter shrugged, "Aw. Can't we talk this out like civilized people? I’ll take you to Sugarcube Corner, my treat.”

Wolverine unsheathed his claws, "Heh. Ya wanna clock out, kid? No problem. I'll slice this tin can to pieces!"

Spider-Man felt his Spider-Sense go off right as Wolverine leaped after the robot, a giant beam hitting his being in a matter of seconds. "NO!" he shouted, watching it envelop his mutant ally. He covered his eyes as the sewers got brighter. His night vision combined with the sudden flash blinded him for a moment, causing him to see spots. He gripped his face and accidentally stumbled backwards.

Once he got his sight back, Peter turned off the lenses and looked down at Wolverine, who looked burned beyond belief. "Holy crap. Wolvie!" he gripped the X-Man's shoulders and shook him.

Wolverine opened his eyes and sat up, the burn wounds suddenly vanishing. "What the heck?" Spider-Man asked. He also noticed Wolverine's costume coming back together. "How the--"

"Healin' factor kid." Wolverine responded, looking no worse for wear, including his yellow and blue suit, showing no tears or stains at all. He then said, "As fer the costume. Beast's science. But enough about that. There's a robot that needs to be cut down. I believe he's one'a yer problems?"

Spider-Man rolled his eyes and webbed up the robot's hand as it slowly moved downward. "Yeah, surprisingly. I'll distract him. Think your claws can tear through the metal?"

"Just watch and learn, bub." Wolverine smirked.

The webslinger shouted, "Yo, giant robot! You want me, try to catch me!" he moved his hands fast enough to a giant web hammer and swung it at the robot's leg, causing it to lose balance for a moment. 'Okay. No clue how I did that. My webbing's cooler than I thought.'

Wolverine growled and leaped, forcing his claws into the robot's chest, removing some wiring. Beeping was heard and missiles shot out of its shoulder. The X-Man did the only thing he could do and leaped, claws stretched right in front of him. The missiles were shot too far of an arc to hit him, giving the mutant an opportunity to strike the head, making it snap backwards slightly.

Seeing that the missiles were coming right for him, Spider-Man ran up the wall to divert their trajectory. The webslinger shot a web-ball at the exhaust of one and jumped, catching it. He threw it at another projectile, their collision causing them to combust. "Huh. Guess I should'a done sports as well." he quipped, kicking himself off the ground and creating a web-strand to grab the third and final missile, aiming it for the robot's chest. With a simple spin, he tossed it perfectly, causing the robot to short out more. "Think that did the trick?"

Wolverine said, "I wouldn't count on it."

And Wolverine was right, for the robot moved just a bit more. Sparks flying out of its body. "This is kind of slow. Never thought I'd say this, but we're gonna have to coordinate better. Y'know, like how Cap lead you back in Germany."

The X-Man spat, "Wouldn't be the first time. I'll play nice and let ya choose what we do. I don't feel like playin' leader."

"Uh..." Peter paused, 'You know, I was hoping you'd take charge since you're more used to this but oh well.' he thought, "I'll distract it from afar and use my webbing to jam the missile launchers. You keep doing your stabby thing, it's pretty effective."

Wolverine lunged at the robot and sliced the metal covering its leg. Spider-Man stuck to the wall and stretched an arm out, shooting a thick web ball at the launchers on the robot, jamming them. While it tried to burn through the webbing, Peter jumped and gripped the robot's shoulders, crushing the metal with his bare hands and throwing them on the floor. Even Wolverine was impressed at the sight, "Huh, didn't think you had that kinda strength."

"Proportionate strength of a spider. Surprised me too." Peter boasted.

The mutant smirked and sliced vertically, making the metallic being fall to a knee. Once Spider-Man landed, the two shared a nod and leaped, uppercutting the robot's head off together. The head snapped off and the body fell right after the heroes cleared out of the way. The head was heard clanging and rolling on the sewer surface. Under his mask, Peter smiled at what they did, "Okay, that was pretty awesome." he admitted to himself.

"For you maybe." Wolverine said, "Let's get back on track now, kid."

"Ssspider-Man...? Wolverine?"

Crawling from the ceiling and landing on the robot's head was the Lizard, standing a lot more upright than Peter remembered, "Doc? Is that you? For real this time?"

"Yesssss, it issss..."

"How the hell are ya able to talk?" Wolverine asked.

"I have been ssssitting here, pondering, musssssing. My mind and ssssanity came back, but I am unssssure for how long." Lizard revealed to the heroes. "I want to be cured. Help me..."

Spider-Man said, "Luckily that's what we're here to do. Let's get you back to the lab."

"Really? How issss my family?"

"Most likely distraught." Wolverine said, "But we'll get ya there no problem, unless you go nuts on us or somethin'."

Lizard crouched, "I refussse to do sssso. In fact... Sssspider-Man, usssse your webbing to hold me sssstill."

"You sure, doc?" Peter asked.

"Of courssssse. I wisssh to protect my family." Lizard admitted.


Spider-Man and Wolverine arrived at Canterlot University with the Lizard in tow and trapped in webbing (something he recommended). Martha, Billy and Eddie grouped around the heroes and mutated scientists. Martha was the first to speak among them, "Wolverine? What are you doing here?"

"Lent the kid here a hand helpin' yer husband. He's back in his right mind, but I'm here to make sure his other half doesn't try anything funny." the X-Man explained.

Billy inched closer to the reptile, "Daddy...?"

Lizard hissed out softly, "Billy...?"

"You recognize me?"

Lizard said, "Of coursssse I do... You're my ssson." he faced his wife and said, "Martha... I am sssorry for everything..." then he turned to Brock at last, "Eddie... I truly am... I didn't want to hurt any of you..."

"I don't know what it is, but he somehow retained enough of his sanity to act like his old self." Peter explained, "The webbing is to make sure the Lizard doesn't lash out suddenly. We came here as soon as we found him though. Do you have a cure to this?"

Martha nodded as she grabbed a syringe, "Yes, actually."

Wasting no time, she injected the syringe into Lizard's neck. After a moment, Lizard hissed, growled and screamed as his form changed and shrunked. He was no longer green and bulky, had no more scales, but his coat remained tattered. He was back to being Doctor Curtis Connors. He raised a hand and rubbed his now smooth skin, "I-I'm back? I'm human again?" he whispered. Glancing down, he observed his other arm, noticing that it was no longer there. For a moment, a look of sadness and disappoint was seen on him.

Peter ripped the webbing off the scientist, and the very first thing Curtis was greeted with was a hug from his son, "I'm sorry, Daddy."

"...Don't be, Billy. I'm just happy to be back here."

Martha leaned forward and kissed her husband, happy to see that their family was reunited. They embraced in a family hug with Billy, "Thank you, Spider-Man and Wolverine."

Spider-Man rubbed his head, "It was nothing guys. I couldn't let Connors suffer because of me."

"You're right about one thing, it was your fault." Eddie taunted as he marched forward to Peter, "Don’t think this’ll make me forgive you. I'm not sure why, but whoever you fight attacked us to get to you. Because of you, Doctor Connors was mutated against his will, the lab was destroyed and we nearly died. As of now, I'm working at the Daily Bugle to help pay for the damages you caused."

"Eddie..." Curtis groaned.

Wolverine replied, "Alright, that's enough. Be grateful the kid came through in the end."

Spider-Man turned around, his back facing everyone else, "No, he's right. I screwed up big time. All of this is on me..." he walked away, "I'll be on my way now."

Following Peter outside alone, Wolverine put a hand on the teen hero's shoulders. "So what's the plan, kid? You gonna go mope about what Eddie said to ya?"

Peter retorted, "I mean... Is he wrong? All this time, I thought of being Spider-Man as some fun adventure with no consequences, I wanted to be with the big leagues like the Avengers, but today I found out my hero lied to me to break them apart and I screwed up royally in my personal life, and before that Doctor Connors and his family suffered because some bad people wanted to get to me. They didn't deserve that, nobody deserves to suffer because of my actions."

Wolverine said, "Want some advice? Shit happens. I've been at this long enough to realize that and grew numb to it. Yer green though, still new to it. You will have some seriously crappy days both in and outta that mask. Yer just gonna have to accept it."

"Gee, thanks." Peter muttered with a roll of his eyes.

"I told ya, I don't half-ass the truth..." he paused, "One day, you'll thank me fer this. What does matter though, is pickin' yerself up. Unlike me, you still have a chance to do that."

Spider-Man shrugged, "Maybe." he smirked, "Does this little speech make us friends?"

Wolverine said, "Not quite. It just means I won't kick your ass next time we meet. Though I will admit I can see what Cap meant when he said he saw potential in ya, whatever that means. If only you can shut that mouth of yers and maybe I'd agree."

Peter perked up, "Whoa. Captain America said good things about me?! That's awesome!"

Wolverine smirked, "I'll let ya figure that one out." he then went back to his usual scowl, "Now go. Don't ya have school or something?"

"Oh crud, you're right!" Spider-Man shouted, making a sprint, "Okay, gotta go! See you next team-up!"

Shaking his head, Wolverine could only say, "Idiot."

As Spider-Man sprinted back to the city, he thought about the past few hours, ‘Okay, hate to admit it, but Wolverine has a point. I can’t mope forever. Not when I have hero business and personal matters to worry about. Huh, I guess being as old as him has its benefits.’

‘But one thing at a time though. First, I have to apologize to Twilight about becoming the Spectacular Ditcher, and then I can focus on bringing down the Big Man’s empire.’

‘And then at some point, Tony and I are going to have a little talk about my time in Germany.’


"No, I lost the signal to the Spider-Slayer!" Smythe said, slamming his fists on the keyboard.

Norman folded his arms at this, "I take it you not only failed in destroying Spider-Man, but failed to retrieve the doctor? Not only that, but you failed twice in the span of a single day."

Spencer closed his eyes and sighed, "Yes..."

Hammerhead replied, "The Big Man ain't gonna be happy about that, ya know."

Octavius gulped, "W-Well, we could always try again. This Spider-Slayer was merely a prototype. There's always room and time for improvement next time."

Norman growled, "Always with the excuses with you, Octopus. The Big Man wanted Spider-Man out of the picture, and you have failed multiple times!"

"I-I still don't like that name, Mister Osborn."

Osborn responded, "Does it look like I care?" he paused, taking observation of Otto's metal harness and the arms attached to it. "..." he mused, "Actually, I still have a use for you in this little deal, but for now we shall return to Oscorp to continue your little experiment."

"Uh, okay?" Octavius answered back.

Author's Note:

And with that, the Lizard sub-plot is over. And we’re also one chapter away from finishing the Project: Spider-Slayer arc.

The reason why I put Wolverine in here was to start planting the seeds for an arc later down the road. I don’t want to say what it is yet though, but Peter’s broken trust in Iron Man will play a part.

As for next time: While still thinking about how to make amends with Twilight, Spider-Man is pitted against a foe who claims to be his superior: Doctor Octopus!