A Different World

Patrolling with TaskMaster

The day had come and gone quite quickly and without much incident from the former friends of the web slinger.

He had got some lunch, which was a surreal moment still for him, as he ate alongside the heroes who were his old villains. He watched as they conversed with each other in idle chitchat.

He wasn't entirely uncomfortable in their presence but for the first time the arachnid was silent and made no effort to joke around with them.

Hours passed by quickly and before he knew it the next day had arrived and he awoke in his room that was provided to him temporarily, at least until he can make it back home.

Peter wasn't sure what to do in this world, he couldn't just go out patrolling like he normally would since he was dead in this world, plus the threat of an attack by the evil Avengers or X-Men or some other super group would be problematic.

When he left his room he was greeted with the presence of TaskMaster, which caught him by surprise that the mercenary with photographic memory was waiting outside his room this early in the morning.

"Uhh... what- what do you want?" He asked hesitantly.

"I was just stopping by to ask if you wanted to accompany me on the early morning patrol?" He responded.

"Early morning patrol? You guys do that?" He asked tilting his head.

"Of course. We made sure to keep a close eye on the city but it was you who suggested regular patrols during different times of the day. Even if it was to help with the most innocuous or trivial task it made a difference for the people." TaskMaster informed him.

"Oh. Cool. Yea I'll go out on patrol." He said cheerily.

"Ok, get ready then. We leave in ten minutes." TaskMaster said before departing.

Peter watched as the mercenary or whatever he was in this world leave him to prepare for their patrol before closing his door and arming his web shooters with new web cartridges.

He left shortly after and met with TaskMaster once more in the garage where Peter could see the different vehicles they had stationed. Large vehicles that certainly held a great amount of people in the back for reinforcements and was heavily armoured to deal with oncoming attacks, smaller vehicles which no doubt had greater speeds or possessed some technology that gave it some advantage. His eyes quickly scanned over the motorcycles they had which were sleek and completely black in colour, he never would ride on one but he appreciated the coolness of the vehicle.

"So, where we headed to then?" Peter questioned as he approached TaskMaster.

"We will drive through the city streets and keep in tune to any broadcasts or distress calls in the area. If we get any hits we will intervene, other than that we help people where we can." He said before opening the door to one of the smaller vehicles.

"Wait... 'we will drive', you know I have web shooters right. I can just swing above you and probably get around much faster than in the car. No offence." Peter said showing his wrists which housed his web shooters.

"Yes I know you have web shooters, but it would be easier for us to travel together and for you to save on web fluid." He answered a bit too seriously.

Peter flinched a bit at his harsh tone, he wasn't sure if he offended him or something but he certainly wasn't going to argue with the man and relented to hoping in the car with him.

They drove for a while with no much happening in the city and not much conversation between them in the car, which made Peter feel even more uncomfortable from the slight offence he brought to the man not long ago.

He really didn't think that TaskMaster, even in this world, would be someone who would get offended easily by his remarks. He dreaded to think that he may have harboured some resentment towards him for being a replacement Spider-Man to the friend he lost.

Unlike Moonknight, who had multiple personalities, TaskMaster was very much sound of mind and quite one tracked in thinking, so this wasn't some misspeak on his part he was definitely voicing his own thoughts if he had distaste towards him.

They came upon a robbery in progress as three armed men came rushing out of a convenience store with one of them carrying a bag which presumably was full of money.

Both heroes jumped out from the car and rushed to stop the thieves, TaskMaster pulled his shield off his back readied his sword with the other, Spider-Man however shot some webs and pulled himself forward and landed on top of the robbers van.

"Sup guys. I don't think that belongs to you." He said pointing to the bag.

"Spider-Man? I thought you were dead." Said the man holding the bag.

"Probably just some poser, kill them." Said another man aiming his gun towards the web slinger.

Spidey jumped from the van and webbed one of the armed mens guns out of his hands leaving him open for attack by TaskMaster who rushed forward and hit him with his shield knocking him back.

Quickly turning around he blocked incoming machine gun fire from another one of the robbers by using his shield and waiting for the bullets to stop. Once he heard the last bullet fired he ran towards the gunman and before he got the chance to fire off again his gun was cut clean through by his sword, rendering it useless and open for a hit to back of the head with the hilt of the sword.

The last gunman who had the bag was facing Spider-Man who was crouched on the ground waiting for an opportunity to strike, in an instant he leapt forward and punched the man in the face, he followed up with another punch and kick to the chest sending the man crumbling to the ground.

Peter webbed the man down and took back the bag of money, the three gunmen were thrown together and webbed to the van by Peter until the authorities could arrive and take them away.

"All in a days work, right?" He said rhetorically, receiving no response from TaskMaster.

They were alerted by the arrival of the store clerk who came out after all the commotion had ended.

"Oh thank you, thank you so much." She said approaching the masked mercenary.

"It was no problem ma'am. Anything to help." He replied stoically.

Peter approached handing the bag back to the lady who seemed unimpressed by him and looked at him with disdain.

"You should be ashamed of yourself. Wearing that suit." She said walking away with the bag held tightly in her arms.

Peter was visibly distressed by the woman's reaction to him, prompting TaskMaster to put his hand on his shoulder in comfort. It wasn't just because he was in a different world that he felt out of place but with his alternate self dead he felt like he didn't belong there.

Both left and headed back to the car so they could return to the base, on their way back they had sat in silence for a while until TaskMaster tried to break awkwardness.

"Don't think about it too much... what the store clerk said. She doesn't know that your from a different world and... are basically the same person under the mask." He said reassuringly.

"It's not just what she said... seeing how all of you are and what the other me had... I feel out of place anyway. I just need to get used to it until I can get home." He replied sadly.

"Well... you'll always have a friend in us. You know that. So don't worry about fitting in with us." He said before returning to silence.

Under the mask Peter was smiling after hearing what he had to say, it relieved him to know that the rest of them thought of him as their friend despite being from a different world.

Maybe things could be looking up for him.

(You can decide which story I update next.)

(The Silver Spider)

(Spider-Man OneShots)

(A Different World)

(Silver Sable OneShot Series)

(Comment which one you'd like to see updated next.)