Family Tree ~ An El Hopper and Peter Parker Story

Chapter 2

Peter Parker walked outside of Midtown High as soon as the bell rang. As he walked out, he had a huge smile on his face from earlier that day when he kissed MJ. This was the happiest he had felt ever since Thanos, and it made him feel good inside. It felt fresh, new, and relieving that there was still some happiness left.

The teen went into a nearby alleyway and quickly changed into his Spider-Man suit. He then hid his backpack in the alley and swung off to go on patrol. He sat down on a roof and scanned the city for any kind of crime occurring. It was mostly just small crimes or someone needing help with directions, but he didn't mind as much as he did before. In this way, there wasn't much death or destruction.

Unfortunately, that wouldn't be the case that day.

"Peter," Karen came in all of a sudden. "There is a hostage situation occurring near you at the corner. Criminals are taking people on a bus hostage and threatening to kill them."

"WHAT?!" Peter cried out. He immediately swung off to see what was going on. He quietly crawled onto a building nearby the bus and looked over. There were many people sitting in front of a bus, looking terrified at the ground in front of them. The police had surrounded the area in order to keep people from moving in. He also noticed two armed men walking around and someone on top of the bus, who Peter immediately recognized.

"Karen, isn't that Otto Octavius?! What is he doing there?" He quietly asked his AI.

"That does seem to be Otto Octavius, but he is not a hostage. He is leading those men to take the hostages," Karen answered.

"But why is he doing this? I gotta get in closer," Peter said to himself. He quietly moved himself down another building and snuck to another building that was close to Octavius. The spider was now behind him, but he noticed something on his back that curioused him. All of a sudden, four long arms grew out of his back and he was now standing taller on top of the bus. Peter drew in his breath, shocked at what he was seeing.

"I am going to ask this one last time," Octavius spoke loudly. "Where is the lab?!"

"We are not going to tell you, and we are not going to let you kill innocent civilians to get that information!" The police chief shouted back. "You are surrounded, Octavius. Let them go. No one needs to be harmed today!"

Octavius smirked and his extra arms carried him over to the police chief. "If you don't tell me where the lab is, then people will be harmed!" He told him. The villain then turned around back to the hostages and noticed something. "Where did Davis go?"

The other armed man pointed up at a wall on a building. Davis was hanging up on the side of the building, covered in webs. Octavius swore under his breath and ordered everyone to be on the lookout for Spider-Man. He quickly ordered in more men over his walkie talkie and others came out of the bus, guns up and ready. 

Peter bit his lip nervously, recognizing one of the hostages in front of him. He had to act fast or else the hostages would die. He told Karen to set his webs into what would be the most appropriate for the situation, but then quickly said not to do instant kill. He quickly took out more of the armed men as fast as he could. Then, while Octavius was distracted, he crept over to the hostages and started to release them from their binds.

All of a sudden, he heard the voice he was dreading to here. "Don't set anymore free or I will shoot her." Peter turned around and saw Otto holding up a woman from the hostage group he didn't set free yet. It was Aunt May, who normally went on the bus to get to and from work each day. Peter froze up when he saw her in Octavius's grasp, not knowing what to do in order to not get her killed.

"Hey Otto! Where did you get the arms? They're nice, I'd like some!" Peter said, trying to sound casual. It didn't work because his fear could be heard from a deaf person.