New York
August 20, 18:10 EDT
Suddenly finding the person who had murdered Dexter's owner had temporarily stunned Peter, causing him to swing into the side of a building. Thankfully, he had not collided with glass; otherwise, that would have been a whole lot of mess to clean up and explain.
'Oof.' he thought, rubbing his cheek and making sure his mask hadn't torn or shifted from the impact as he clung to the building. 'I hope no one saw that.'
He shook off the embarrassment of crashing into a building and turned his attention back to the purple-clad figure. They had used their red web to climb up and land on the penthouse terrace, looking around to make sure no one had seen them.
'If I didn't have my spider-sense, I wouldn't have seen them either, especially not at the speeds I usually swing at. I mean who would expect a single person to scale the side of a skyscraper with no climbing gear just to rob a penthouse, much less expect that same person to have engineered a substance that would allow them to swing from place to place like a weird spider/monkey hybrid.' thought Peter, realizing that he himself could climb skyscrapers with no gear and had engineered a very similar, but obviously much better, substance. 'A bit of the kettle calling the pot black, but hey, I'm no thief and murderer.'
That word, that title, murderer, gave Peter pause.
He had been in scuffles with muggers and carjackers, had been shot at by drug dealers and bank robbers, but he did not know whether or not any of them were murderers. He, without a doubt, knew the look-alike was one. He had seen the crime scene left behind, the vile act they committed because Dexter's owner happened to be in her house when the look-alike broke in.
But the pause was temporary because he knew that the look-alike was a murderer. He had been searching for them for a week, waiting for the chance to take them down, to stop them before they killed again. That was more than enough to override what little worry he felt about confronting a killer.
Although he had overcome his worry, it didn't mean he would face the killer without a plan.
'Chances are, I'll catch them by surprise, and unless this is another crazy cosmic coincidence, or a case of Parker Luck, the look-alike will be a regular person with no powers, just equipment. That seems to me to be the most likely case. They're probably a not-so-subtle nod at a Spider-Man copy from DC, ala something like Sentry being a sort of copy of Superman or Namor and Aquaman. Giving them the same equipment and the same powerset is just blatant copying and no longer a fun nod. Anyway, if that is the case, I win the fight. Unless it turns out Batman is secretly moonlighting as a knockoff killer version of me, but I don't think even the Parker Luck would screw me over that bad.
That said, even if I take them down, I don't want them back on the street. I'll have to have enough evidence, irrefutable, iron-clad proof that they killed Dexter's owner so they can be charged with it and put away for good. Looks like it's time to make my directorial debut.'
He took out his phone and opened the camera app, switching to the video function and adjusting the settings to make sure he would get the best possible recording. He didn't want an unfocused video to be the reason the look-alike wasn't charged.
'Okay, phone's ready. Too bad I don't have my camcorder or a recording function on my mask, which I'll look into after this, but the phone will suffice. All that's left is for me to set it up inside the penthouse in a good location while not letting the look-alike see me do it, or they'll clam up and I won't get a confession.' thought Peter.
He turned his attention back to the penthouse terrace, where he saw the look-alike had just finished lockpicking the door, taking one last look around before sliding the door open and entering the penthouse.
'Better move quick. Don't know if someone's in there, and I don't want a repeat of what happened to Dexter's owner.'
Peter shot out a line, web-swinging and crossing the two-block distance to the high-rise in a few seconds, landing on the terrace with a spider's grace and nary a sound. As he pressed record on his phone, he could hear the look-alike loudly rummaging around while speaking, the voice being distinctly male.
'I assumed they were male, but hey, who am I to say murderous knock-offs can't be female?' thought Peter. 'If he's rummaging around and talking to himself, that means the apartment is empty. At least, I hope that's what it means.'
Before entering the penthouse, Peter looked through the glass sliding door, trying to see what the layout of the apartment was and to try and see the look-alike. The inside of the penthouse looked exactly like what Peter thought a NYC penthouse apartment would look like: marble flooring with sleek metal accents, a large designer sofa, statement piece coffee tables that doubled as a sculpture, a giant crystal chandelier, a minimalistic staircase leading to the second floor, and multiple paintings on the walls. Meanwhile, the look-alike was nowhere to be found.
'Wonder why he didn't take the paintings. He might be looking for the smaller and more valuable stuff in the bedrooms first. I don't imagine it's easy to sell stolen paintings.'
Ignoring the decor of the penthouse, Peter noticed that the layout of the penthouse had vaulted ceilings with an open floor plan, which was good for his plan. If there were a lot of walled-off rooms, he'd have to make sure to take the phone with him if they moved, making it much more likely his plan would be discovered.
'With the way the penthouse is laid out, I can web the phone to a ceiling corner and get practically the entire apartment in the shot. Only thing is I'll have to bring the look-alike out to the living room, but that shouldn't be too hard.'
Peter stepped through the open door into the living room, the sounds of the look-alike rummaging getting louder. He could also tell that the look-alike was definitely on the second floor, which was most likely where the bedrooms were. Ignoring the look-alike for a second, he looked up at the ceiling and found a corner that offered an unobstructed view of the first floor before quietly wall crawling to it, setting up his phone.
'The spider has spun his web. Now it's time for the ... other spider to enter it? Yeah, that works.'
Peter picked up the remote to the giant Luthor Technologies TV and turned it on; the last channel being a gossip news channel which happened to be talking about Bruce Wayne's latest fling with a Gotham socialite named Silver St. Cloud. Even though he was not a big DC reader in his past life, one of the things he knew about Bruce Wayne was that he pulled, maybe more than any other comic character, and it seemed like that was true in this reality, too.
Tearing his eyes away from the gossip, he put the remote back where it was, silently jumping up to the ceiling directly above the staircase to lie in wait. The look-alike had stopped rummaging as soon as the TV had been turned on, going completely silent, so Peter focused, straining his ears, tuning out the sound of the TV to try to figure out what he was doing.
He could hear the look-alike's steady heartbeat and muted breathing, the sound of his spandex outfit stretching and relaxing as he moved, his deliberately slow footsteps on the marble floor as he made his way to the staircase. There was also the faint clinking of metal, most likely from some jewelry he took and put inside a bag.
'By how steady the sound of his heartbeat and breathing is, this guy's either no stranger to home invasions or he's a sociopath.'
An entire minute passed with Peter silently lying in wait, listening to the look-alike move from the bedroom to the staircase at a snail's pace until he finally emerged from the hallway. He was crouched low, practically crawling on the floor, his eyes forward to see why the TV had been turned on.
He slowed even further, creeping his way to the edge of the staircase where he could get a good look at the living room. The look-alike slightly tilted his head in what must've been confusion when he saw that there was no one in the living room before scanning the rest of the first floor.
"Hello? Is anybody home? It's the milkman." said the look-alike in a falsetto voice.
"The milkman? Really? Dude, you need to modernize your material into something from this century." said Peter, shaking his head.
Immediately, the look-alike turned around, both hands pointed up at Peter before shooting red globs of webbing from the gray bracelets around his wrists.
"I would've said something like 'Pizza's here,' you know? Much funnier than milkman." said Peter while slightly repositioning himself to avoid the two balls of red webbing. "Or since you're a murderer, you could've said 'Here's Johnny!' but using your name, obviously. Unless your name is Johnny, then you would just say 'Here's Johnny!' Is your name Johnny? Cause I really don't want to keep referring to you as 'the look-alike' in my internal monologue."
"And you said I need to modernize my material. 'Here's Johnny' has been done to death." said the look-alike, beginning to shoot ball after ball of red webbing at Peter as he made his way down the stairs. "Just like you will be."
"I don't get it." said Peter as he dodged the balls of webbing, making sure to move in the direction of the terrace doors so he could intercept the look-alike if he decided to bolt. "Never mind, I just got it. Just like 'Here's Johnny' has been done to death, so will I, ie, you're going to kill me. Clever."
"The best jokes are the ones you have to explain, aren't they, Spider-Man?" he said, reaching the bottom of the stairs and grabbing a heavy-looking knick-knack, throwing it at Peter.
"You know my name, but I still don't know yours. Unless you do want me to keep referring to you as 'Cheap Knockoff' in my monologues." said Peter, repositioning himself so his back and feet were against the wall, freeing his hands before catching the knick-knack with his left hand.
"The name's Black Spider, and if anything, you're the cheap knockoff." he replied.
"Black Spider? But you're purple. The only thing black about you is that ugly spider emblem on your forehead." said Peter, confused. "Unless ... oh god. I'm sorry, I didn't mean to marginalize your experience."
"Ah, millennials and their social consciousness." said Black Spider, shaking his head in amusement. "I don't suppose you'd let me go now that you know I'm black, would you?"
"Even if you are black, I can't verify it unless you take off your suit, and I doubt you will." said Peter. "Besides, wouldn't it be more racist not to stop you because you're black?"
"Yeah, but who would know. It'd be between you and me." he said, taking out a black cloth bag from behind his back. "And to sweeten the deal, what say we split the loot? 30/70."
"Counteroffer, 100/0. Hundred for the owners, zero for you and me." said Peter, snatching the bag of jewelry with a web from his left hand.
"I really hate you heroic types. Always ruining the fun." he said. "It's why I left Gotham. The Bat's no fun."
"Oh, yeah? What's he like? I feel like we probably wouldn't get along. Too broody. Too serious." said Peter, making a mental note to find anything relevant on Black Spider's time in Gotham.
"He's all business. No quips. So far, I like you better." said Black Spider.
"Aw, how sweet. Can't say the feelings are mutual."
Black Spider threw another knick-knack at Peter, which he caught with his right hand. Thanks to his spider-sense, he knew it was done as a distraction to tie up his hands, allowing Black Spider to shoot a line of web at his right leg. He could've dodged, but he decided to let it land.
"Now you're in my web, little spider. Time to wrap you up for dinner." he said, pulling on the web, hard, only for nothing to happen.
"Looks like someone's been skipping out on their morning eggs. Let me show you how it's done." said Peter.
He threw the two knick-knacks and bag of jewelry up in the air, webbing them to the ceiling to keep them safe before shooting a line at Black Spider's right foot and pulling it, careful not to overdo it and dislocate his leg. Still, it was enough force to launch Black Spider across the apartment and crash into the wall right next to him, where he then webbed him to it upside down.
"That's how it's done and that's how you know, you're the knockoff, not me." said Peter.
"Great, another superpowered freak in the world." said Black Spider. "Whatever happened to the regular people? Now you throw a rock and you'll hit ten freaks."
"You sound like you should be sitting in a rocking chair with an oxygen tube in your nose, talking about the good old days when you could get a burger for a nickel." said Peter.
He gave Black Spider's web shooters a once-over and saw they had tubes that ran under the suit along his arms and down his back to a container.
"So that's how your shooters work." said Peter, easily wrenching the container off his back to study it closer. "Your webbing is stored under compression in this tank. Have to say, it's pretty resourceful."
"I'm a pretty resourceful guy."
"Yeah, too bad your webbing is just glorified glue." said Peter, webbing the container to the wall since it was evidence.
"Like yours is any better."
"Isn't it?" said Peter, smiling under his mask.
"Whatever. So, what's the deal here? You going to beat me up and then call the cops like the Bat does, or are you just going to call the cops? Because I got dinner reservations later."
"The former option does sound tempting." said Peter, holding his chin as if in contemplation. "But first, tell me something. You are the one who killed that lady over in Tribeca last week, aren't you?"
"Last week? Let me think, what was I doing last week?" said Black Spider. "Broke into a few places, stole some cars, robbed some drug dealers, caught a few movies, and yeah, killed a lady in Tribeca. Why do you ask?"
"You admit it? Just like that?" asked Peter, surprised.
"Well, yeah. I did kill her."
"Why?" asked Peter, clenching his fist.
"Why'd I kill her? Because she wasn't shutting the hell up. Wouldn't let me concentrate while I searched her place." he said. "Much good it did me. She didn't have shit and I had to lay low from the cops. And you apparently."
Hearing him say that so casually, talking about murdering a person as if it were just something normal like making a sandwich, made Peter angry. His already clenched fist shook from how angry he was, and he was tempted to punch Black Spider without holding back, but he didn't.
He wouldn't.
"So, we done here or what?"
"Not yet." said Peter, grabbing Black Spider's mask and taking it off.
"What? You wanted to make sure I wasn't lying about being black?"
"I wanted to make sure I saw your face in case I have to pick you out of a lineup." said Peter.
"I'll be out in no time, Spider-Man. Breaking and entering doesn't carry a big sentence." he said smugly.
"No, but murder does."
"Can't charge me. I left no evidence. I am a professional, after all."
"Gosh dang it. If only I had thought of setting up my phone to record our entire conversation, including when you admitted to murder. Oh, wait." said Peter, pointing at the ceiling to his webbed-up phone.
Black Spider looked over at where Peter was pointing, and his smug smile dropped as he saw the phone.
"Spider-Man - 2, Cheap Knockoff - 0."
~
Instead of calling 911, Peter chose to call Detective Daniels directly, telling him everything that happened. Daniels was impressed and was at the penthouse with the cavalry in no time flat.
"Quick thinking, using your phone to record the conversation." said Daniels, watching the video that Peter had sent him.
"Will it be enough?" asked Peter, looking over Daniel's shoulder to see Black Spider being stripped of his web shooters and cuffed by a uniformed officer.
"I have some friends in the DA's office. They'll be more than happy to add putting away a murderer to their list of accomplishments."
"Good. I'll testify if I have to." he said. "With the mask on, obviously."
"That'd be a sight to see." said Daniels, shaking his head in amusement.
Before Peter could say anything else, he felt his phone vibrate. Checking it, he saw that he had a text message from Ronnie.
'Oh shit.' he thought, remembering that he was supposed to be tutoring Ronnie.
He texted him, telling him he was running a little late, but that he would be there in no time.
"Sorry, Detective. Duty calls." said Peter.
"No problem. Thanks again." said Daniels, patting him on the arm.
As he was about to leave, Black Spider spoke up.
"I'll see you around, Spider-Man." he said, smiling. "Sooner than you think."
Peter gave him one final glance before running out the terrace doors and jumping off. As he swung, Black Spider's final words and confident smile replayed over and over.
~
'Being late is part of the Parker experience.' thought Peter.
He landed in an alley near Ronnie's home and changed out of his suit after making sure no one was watching. Changed, he ran out and made his way to Ronnie's house, which was the first floor of a brownstone in Morningside Heights.
He pressed the buzzer for Ronnie's house and was let into the building. As he was about to knock on the door, it was opened by Ronnie.
"Sorry, I'm late." said Peter.
"All good. You said after 6:30, and it's not even 7. I'm just glad you're here." he said, stepping aside. "Come in."
"Thanks." said Peter.
Entering the apartment, Peter took a look around. It was an average New York home with nothing out of the ordinary about it.
"You want something to drink?" asked Ronnie, moving to the kitchen.
"I'll take a water." said Peter, looking at a picture he could only assume was of Ronnie's mom.
"Here you go." said Ronnie, handing him a water bottle while he drank a sports drink.
"Thanks." said Peter, cracking open the bottle and downing nearly all of it.
The front door opened, and in came a man who looked like an older Ronnie, wearing a coat and a black hat like the ones journalists wore in old movies.
"Oh, hello." said the man, surprised.
"Hello, Mr. Raymond." said Peter.
"Dad, this is my friend Peter. He's here to help me study for a test we have tomorrow." explained Ronnie.
"So this is Peter." he said, reaching for a handshake with a friendly smile. "It's nice to meet you. Ronnie's told me all about you."
"Nice to meet you, too, sir." said Peter, shaking his hand.
"Please, call me Ed." he said. "And thank you for helping Ronnie out."
"What are friends for?"
"There's some food in the microwave, Dad." said Ronnie.
"Thanks, kid." he said. "But I just came to pick something up. I'll be back later."
"Alright." said Ronnie before looking at Peter. "We can study in my room."
Peter followed Ronnie down the hall to his room, which was a typical teenage boy bedroom: a hastily made-up bed, a desk littered with stuff, a stereo with a bunch of CDs, movie posters, and posters of football players on the wall.
"See you in a bit. Good luck with your studying. Love you." shouted Ronnie's dad from the front door before the sound of the door opening and closing was heard.
"Journalist life must be pretty hectic." said Peter, sitting down on the edge of the bed.
"Yeah, he has weird hours sometimes, but he loves it." said Ronnie, sitting down on the desk chair. "Still getting used to it."
"Not much to report back in Montana?"
"Not like New York. The most exciting thing that happens in Montana is a chili cook-off."
"Sounds like my kind of journalism." joked Peter, causing Ronnie to chuckle.
"Alright, let's study. We have a lot to cover and not a lot of time to do it." said Ronnie, pulling out his textbooks.
"So what do you need help with exactly?" asked Peter, pulling out his book.
"Everything."
"Everything?"
"Everything."
" ... Let's get started, shall we?"
~~
AN
Apologies for the long gap in between chaps, busy times.
I knew some people wanted Zatanna for the love interest, but good lord. I, too, am a Zatanna fan, but I made her the love interest in another novel I wrote (which is included in my compilation book), which is why I didn't choose her as the main love interest. Operative word being main. She might be one of the girls he dates. Or she might not. Don't know.
I was going to make it so Peter recognized the voice of Black Spider as the voice of Peter in Spectacular Spider-Man, but thought it was too meta.