The Spider

Chapter 31: The Octopus

Liz got a lot of attention in school that day thanks to Johnny's heroics the other day. Most didn't realise she was dating the Johnny Storm, but now they did.

I stuck to the side lines, Liz and MJ tried to talk to me about helping Johnny take out the vulture but I just ignored them, I wasn't in the mode. And I couldn't tell them what they wanted to here. That their hero was back.

After school ended I drove down to the cafe Felicia and used to go. Where I spent so much time with her. I sat down in the booth we shared near the back, I ordered a cup and simply stay there waiting, maybe one day she would walk in through those doors and I would see her again, maybe….but it didn't look like that was today.

As I sipped my drink though someone else sat down. I looked up and saw Nat looking at me. She was dressed in a heavy winter coat, it was getting colder lately. She took off her glasses and put the down next to me, "hello Peter."

I nodded, "Nat. Want something?"

"No," she replied, "you know why I'm here?"

"Johnny told?" I asked.

"No, Adrian Toomes," she told me. I raised an eyebrow and she clarified, "he calls himself the Vulture."

"Ah," I smirked, "I was betting on Birdman."

Nat said nothing. She and I looked at each other before she spoke up, "are you returning?"

"Into the hero life?" I asked to which she nodded. I scoffed, "hell no." I sipped my drink, slowly I got curious, "tell me about Toomes."

"I thought you were out?"

"Call it curiosity," I replied.

Nat nodded, "he runs a secret arms trade, specialising in weapons made out of Chitauri tech. They are not very good but...they are powerful. And in the wrong hands, dangerous."

"Why did he come after Harry Osborn?"

"Norman Osborn had been trying to get his hands on alien tech ever since the invasion," Nat spoke in a silent tone, "he apparently hijacked and took a large shipment from Toomes."

"And he wanted Harry to make Norman give it back," I drew the natural conclusion.

Nat nodded, "exactly."

"These weapons, are they powerful?"

"Yes."

"What's has SHIELD got on Norman?"

"He's been trying to combine the Chitauri tech with Otto's solar energy concept. Tritium is very rare, he plans on using the glowing purple rocks as a substitute."

"It would get him enough energy," I hummed, "and the fact that radiation causes it to burst out would lead to a chain reaction creating more and more power. Otto's machine could run forever."

Nat nodded, "which is what we assumed as well."

I looked at her, she hadn't moved. I sighed, "I can't do it."

"I didn't ask you anything."

"Yes you did," I sipped my drink, "if you hadn't you would have walked out of her a long time ago after making sure I wasn't going back into the red and black. You want me to make sure Osborn doesn't do anything crazy."