A new day for a new chapter in Peter's life begins. He graduates high school, gets a scholarship set for him in ESU, and even then, he is not alone, no more.
"Peter dear! Are you awake?! Your friends are outside waiting! College can't wait for you!?" May urgently called from downstairs.
"Coming Aunt May! I promise!" Peter panicked after waking up early at 4 o'clock in the morning to cram most of his things, his clothes, and then lastly his trusty tools and Spider-man suit before wearing his favorite blue shirt and his favorite sneakers. "I think I'm missing something, oh yeah!"
He then wears his satchel over his shoulders and puts his web shooters inside before fixing his bed neatly. As he was about to leave his room with his luggage in hand, he spotted a group picture of him with Uncle Ben and Aunt May together on his sides, standing on the small table beside his lamp.
"Almost forgot this one," Peter quickly gets the picture and its frame and then gently jams it into his luggage before taking one last glimpse at his room and closes the door as he leaves.
As he goes down the stairs with all his belongings, meets his Aunt May sitting on the living room couch with a brown jacket laid on the coffee table, clearly waiting on Peter for one last time as her kid nephew before sending him off as a young man.
"Peter?" May called.
"Yes Aunt May?" Peter responded, leaving his luggage by the door before sitting beside her on the couch.
"Peter, today...another chapter in your life ends, and another starts—this time...in college," May replied, wiping her tears away with a smile. "If only Ben could see the kind of man you are now, I'm sure he'd be more than happy to be like a father to you."
"Aunt May..." Peter trailed off, holding his tears in before embracing Aunt May. "You guys have been the best people I'll ever have. I...hate to say goodbye, really. So...I promise to visit and drop by whenever I can, not just on semester breaks. I'll also keep sending money to help ease the rent bills! I love you, Aunt May."
"Love you too, Peter. Oh! Before I forget," May gets the folded brown jacket on the coffee table and hands it to Peter. "This jacket... it belonged to your Uncle Ben... and he would want you to use it when you can fit in it. I believe now seems to be the time..."
"Aunt May, I can't take this," Peter tried to gently refuse.
"Yes you can. It was just sitting around in the house collecting dust. I can't use it, but you can," May replied, holding in her tears.
Without saying another word, Peter embraces his Aunt May one last time before taking and wearing the brown jacket that his Uncle Ben wore, astonishing his aunt from their almost impeccable resemblance, despite having an uncle-and-nephew relationship.
'Just like Ben alright,' May thought to herself before huffing to lead Peter to the door. "Well now, young man, time for you to get going! Sorry to drag you long enough when your friends are already waiting outside!"
"Psh, it's nothing, they can wait as long as they want!" Peter joked, kissing his Aunt May on the cheek goodbye before getting his luggage and leaving the house through the front door. "Take care, Aunt May!"
After closing the door, he spots a shiny red car parked near his house, with Liz as the driver while Kitty, Bobby, and a third person beside him sat as passengers. Surprisingly, Hobie also came along on his motorcycle while waiting for Peter.
"Whoa! Now this is one awesome ride, Liz! Where'd you—!?"
"Dad gifted it to me after I learned how to drive! I forgot to tell you, but I just recently finished my driving course over the summer, so now I'm a licensed driver!" Liz bragged.
"C'mon dude, whatcha waiting for!? College fun awaits!" Bobby yelled.
"Yeah man, wouldn't it be rude to keep the ladies' impatient?" Hobie teased before putting on his helmet.
"Knock it off, Hobie," Peter huffed, making Hobie laugh in response before hopping into the vacant passenger seat beside Liz.
"Ready for another new journey, Tiger?"
Startling Peter from the voice and nickname was none other than Mary Jane Watson, who is sitting beside Bobby on the passenger seat.
"MJ!? You're coming along too!?" Peter responded hysterically.
"Kinda. I was thinking of finding a bus and cab all the way to ESU, but I took advantage of the situation when they offered me a ride all the way there," Mary Jane playfully shrugged.
"Check it out Pete! Best seat in the house!" Bobby smirked, sitting in between two attractive girls in Liz's car, only to get another elbow to his gut from Kitty.
"Ehehehe, I-I see, but wait, where's Gwen?" Peter wondered.
"Gwen says that her dad's taking her to ESU. They're probably there now as we speak," Kitty answered.
"Then it's time to roll!" Hobie rallied, revving up his motorcycle.
"Agreed!" Liz excitedly replied as she started her car's engine.
"Wait wait, when did you just get your license again, if you don't mind me asking, Liz?" Peter nervously asked for clarification.
"Ummm, about a few weeks ago. Trust me Petey! I got this!" Liz assured him with a bright and confident smile.
"Alright then," Peter shrugged before strapping himself in.
—
"Any luck on finding that buzzard?"
"Nope. He's off the radar for some reason. But we'll find him eventually."
Back at the Big Man's headquarters, with a feeling of unease and regret, Norman searches for the scientist Miles Warren just right after dismissing him a few days ago.
"Might take a day to upgrade our surveillance systems, just a day," Phineas assured while monitoring the system with the assistance of Quentin Beck—who narrowly escaped from being captured again thanks to another of his robotic decoys.
"See...? This is what you get for being quite the spoiled selfish brat you are, my little green friend," Tombstone mocked.
"Thank you, for the unnecessary comment, Lincoln. However, I still have plans in mind, all the while waiting for great opportunities. After all, all good things come to those who wait," Norman casually answered.
"Oh really? Then any great plans in mind? Right now?" Tombstone jeered.
"Why of course, with the help of a friend," Norman smirked, checking his phone's text receiving messages from the sender named Trask.
—
"Dr. Vincent? Dr. Vincent!" Debra called, finding him at his desk. "What are you doing sitting around here? The ceremony to welcome the new college school year is about to commence! Punctuality presents a great model for the students to follow."
"Yup! I'll be right there!" Vincent responded, seeing her leave while looking through research papers of Dr. Connors concerning the use of lizard DNA and also around hidden data on utilizing and controlling mammal genes by Dr. Warren. 'I'll be right there.'
—
Finally, Peter and the rest of their group arrive at the campus after managing to find vacant parking spaces for their vehicles and meet up with Gwen at the center of the campus, sitting on the ledge of the fountain that's really found in the middle of the campus.
"Guys! You made it right on time!" Gwen called as she rushed over to tackle both Peter and Liz into a hug before noticing Mary Jane among them. "MJ! You made it!"
"Hey girlfriend, if you didn't give me your seat, I would've been "fashionably late" for our first day in college, so thanks for telling me," Mary Jane thanked.
"No problem! Anything at all," Gwen gleefully answered.
"Well hello, young freshmen! Ready to blend into your new life in ESU?"
Greeting the gang out of nowhere was a platinum haired beauty in a feminine business suit, a pair of slightly slimming trousers and black heels with some papers in a clipboard resting over her hand and arm.
"My name is Felicia, you can call me Felicia. I'm a student as well here taking my masters' degree in criminology," Felicia briefly and kindly introduced, with her identification card unintentionally showing her surname to be Hardy, which caught Peter's slight attention. "May I have the privilege to know your names?"
"Uhhh uhh uhh, oh! My name's Bobby! I mean, Robert! I mean Drake! Wait!" Bobby stuttered badly, making everyone including Felicia laugh out loud before recomposing himself. "Ahem, my name's Robert Drake, but you can call me Bobby!"
"Bobby huh? Cool," Felicia shrugged.
"Hobie! Hobie Brown's the name," Hobie confidently answered with a silly looking smirk on his face.
"Okay, Hobie," Felicia chuckled.
"Uhm, Peter. Peter Parker," Peter answered.
"Peter—is it?" Felicia wondered , raising an eyebrow out of curiosity before coming for a closer inspection on him. "Hmm, sorry about that. You just sounded much like a friend of mine."
"Oh no worries! Honored to sound like a friend of yours!" Peter nervously replied back with an awkward smile, inciting jealousy from Liz, Gwen, and Kitty that they secretly pinched his hind sides painfully, which caught Mary Jane's attention from the sidelines while confusing Felicia as she gave them a confused look.
"I'm Gwen Stacy," Gwen introduced herself.
"Liz Allan," Liz replied.
"Katherine Pryde, but Kitty's fine," Kitty reluctantly replied, feeling a familiar presence around Felicia.
'How weird, could've sworn that he sounded a lot like... him...' Felicia thought to herself before recomposing herself. "Anyways, welcome to the Empire State University. If you guys need anything, no matter your course, I'm your gal to turn to, except dating."
"Aww maaan," Bobby moaned out of disappointment in response.
"Better luck next time bro, sorry," Peter playfully shrugged.
"Yeah man, you'll get your chance, hopefully," Hobie assured.
Suddenly, the magnophones on poles situated at specific locations around campus and inside the buildings start to sound and activate for an important announcement.
"Attention everyone! May we request all of your cooperation to go to the conference hall in the theater room, located in the main building! Thank you!"
The magnophones repeated the announcement for another time before turning off shortly...
"You heard them, people. Shall we get going?" Felicia smirked.
"Yeah, we should!" Liz replied.
However, startling Felicia was her cell phone ringing in her pocket, which caused her to find a way to excuse herself...
"Sorry guys, I gotta take this. Meet you all in the main building," Felicia excused herself before leaving the scene to answer the phone.
"Well, what are we waiting for? Let's go! We'll see her again later, right?" Bobby shrugged.
"Yeah, let's," Kitty agreed.
—
As the gang make their way to the main building, Felicia looks at the caller's anonymous name before answering it...
"Hello, may I know who is calling me?" Felicia asked for clarification.
'Ah, just the thieving cat I wanted to hear. Remember me?' The anonymous caller replied.
"Not exactly. I've talked with many other people like you. Give me a hint," Felicia deadpanned, leaning onto a post.
'You failed to get me that black ooze, remember? C'mon, how could you do this to me when I let you off the hook instead of hunting you down,' the anonymous caller added.
"What do you want now this time? I don't have all day," Felicia asked in an annoyed tone.
'A simpler task this time: I am going to send you a list of specific items and their locations, and your job is to use the skills in your field of expertise to get them and then bring them to me. Understood? I promise that your efforts will not be in vain,' the anonymous caller explained.
"Hmmm, tempting, I'll think about it," Felicia replied before ending the call and heading to the main building where the huge welcoming ceremony's about to start.
—
In Ryker's Prison, an isolated jailing facility where many of New York's most wanted criminals, villains, and inmates were monitored under heavy and tight security that almost gave trouble even for Spider-man to handle; leaving outside its gates were several police cars guarding the perimeter around one armored vehicle carrying a straitjacketed female inmate with a muffler, who's also guarded by a couple of specialized officers while being monitored by an appointed psychiatrist from Ravencroft.
"Ms. Barrison, are you...comfortable somehow?" The psychiatrist asked out of concern, frightened by the officers' strict presence and surveillance while accompanying them in the armored vehicle on their way to Ravencroft.
"..." the straitjacketed inmate stayed silent with a muffler on her mouth, looking strange with a black tinted tattoo around her left eye and merely turned her gaze away.
"Doctor Nieves, watch yourself. She is still unstable," one of the officers warned.
"Only because you have your weapons out and armed. Ease yourselves, please," The doctor urged, wearing an identification card with her name saying: Tanis Nieves, M.D. 'I hope things won't get worse than this when we're there...'
—
Three hours passed and it's lunch time. The ceremony and college orientations were finally finished to be introduced for ESU's college freshmen and allowed the students to meet their supervisors, professors, and other members of staff...
"Huaaaagh! Man, that was some boring speech," Bobby yawned while stretching his arms.
"I'll say. You did sleep throughout the entire speech that the dean was giving," Kitty deadpanned.
"Yeah well, not at the part where some of the staff are introduced! Some of them are actually cute," Bobby immediately replied, making everyone in the group laugh. "Hey wait, where did Hobie get to?"
"Huh, now that you mention it," Peter wondered, looking around before spotting Hobie casually chatting with a girl who he finds to be somewhat familiar for some reason. "He's... over there...?"
There, they walk over to meet with Hobie and the girl he's talking to, unintentionally disrupting their conversation. Well, almost unintentional...
"Yo Hobie!" Bobby yelled, getting the attention of Hobie and the girl he was talking with.
"Oh guys! Sorry about ditching you all for a while, but uhm," Hobie nervously replied, trying to introduce his new friend. "Everyone, this is Janice. Janice, meet my buds: Peter, Bobby, Liz, Gwen, Kitty, and Mary Jane."
"Pleased to make your acquaintance. My name is Janice, a freshman like you guys!" Janice kindly replied back, astounding the boys being a pretty girl with a tan, wearing a red sleeveless shirt, plain black joggers, a brown parka tied around her waist, and white sneakers. "If you're wondering about how we knew each other, it was because your friend here is the hero that dragged me out of a horrible vacation from that incident at Coney Island."
"Wow, well what do ya know. Looks like your hard work paid off, Hobes, huh?" Peter teased, playfully nudging Hobie's arm and getting back at him after the many times he gets teased by him.
"Thanks Pete, I'll take that any day," Hobie smirked, not shying away, making everyone including Janice laugh out loud, all the while making her sassily put her hands on her waist in response.
"Man, what a crowd you guys are. C'mon! Lemme show you a great eatery just a block away. I know because I work there part-time," Janice playfully suggested, most particularly at the last bit. "Trust me, the food and beverages are good, and will give us enough time to return back on campus for afternoon orientations, sound good?"
"Sure! Thanks for the offer!" Gwen thanked.
"Hey um, if you know some girlfriends, mind if we try to set up a meetup?" Bobby playfully requested, getting a kick to his shin from Kitty. 'Yipe!'
"Hmmm, lemme think about it next time," Janice slyly smirked, depressing the suave young man from her facial reaction.
"Well then, let's go and eat! The food awaits!" Hobie excitedly rallied, making everyone laugh from his gleeful antics.
—
Back at Ravencroft Institute, Eddie Brock was able to blend himself well into the working environment around the institute and acquainted himself with the faculty and staff members—even after giving them massive headaches and pains from rehabilitating and then becoming Venom again for a short while.
"Whoa!" Eddie screamed as he shut the door and barely escaped an insulated room in one piece after another short session with the erratic mutated criminal Electro. "Whew, okay, not a good talk. Now let's see, well, probably would have a chat with Mr. Redhead, and wow, guess I'll be free."
"Enjoying your workplace, Mr. Brock?"
Coming Eddie's way from the central corridor was none other than Dr. Ashley Kafka, the founder of the institute, along with a new face who appears to be an acquaintance of hers, wearing a lab coat and an M.D. written on her identification card.
"Hey doc! Mighty fine I'd say," Eddie confidently replied before looking at the doctor beside her. "Hello um..."
"My name is Tanis, Dr. Tanis Nieves, an associate of Dr. Kafka. Pleasure to make your acquaintance," Tanis kindly replied.
"Oh same here, Dr. Nieves! My name's Eddie Brock, ma'am, you can call me Eddie," Eddie replied. "So um, any special reason why you're here?"
"Why yes, Eddie. I have been appointed to treat a certain patient that will be joining this institute, where she can rehabilitate and ensure her chances of a normal life again, like most of the patients here," Tanis bluntly explained.
"Oh really? When is she arriving then?" Eddie asked out of curiosity.
"She is already here actually. She will stay in this cell number here," Tanis pointed out, referring to the cell number that is adjacent to Cletus' cell.
"Well what do you know? My old place," Eddie playfully mused, not amusing Dr. Kafka for some reason however. "I think she can fit well here. Won't mind having a few chats with her if possible. Been there and done that."
"Really? Thank you Eddie. Sorry to trouble you then," Tanis thanked.
"No trouble doc, but just curious: what or who are we dealing with anyway?" Eddie wondered.
—
"Man, that was some first day, right?"
Once the afternoon classes have finished, the gang regrouped from their respective classrooms of their selected college courses—along with Janice joining them— slouch around at the nearby university cafe shortly after some of the other college orientations have ended on the first day.
"Yeah! With Dr. Connors being one of our professors, I think it's going to be exciting!" Gwen geeked out.
"Right you are, Gwen! Not to mention Dr. Vince being around, along with that strange guy called um—what's his name again...?" Peter nervously trailed off.
"He called himself Dr. Morbius, remember? He looked like he came out of a Dracula movie," Kitty casually replied, sipping on some iced tea.
"If you guys are enjoying your classes, check me out: first day, already introduced to the workshop area," Hobie huffed confidently. "I tell ya, it was a sweet experience with all the heavy duty tools they got around the place. And the best part: as long as you get some permit from our advisor, the lab can be easily borrowed!"
"You're kidding me, right?!" Peter geeked out.
"I'm not kidding, bro! If you like, we can both borrow the place whenever we want!" Hobie excitedly suggested.
"Awesome!" Peter accepted. 'Great! I can push some of my plans that could help in my future fights. At least I don't have to worry about finding a place to secretly work on them.'
"The only catch though is that bomb-making is totally off-limits. There's a sign about that on the wall near the entrance," Hobie pointed out.
"Man, I regret my decisions: physical education reeks, literally and figuratively. It's bad enough that the training's straight from some military instructor, but I have to deal with some bullies being scrawny and short—one of whom being Kenny, again!" Bobby groaned before slumping his face into his arms resting on the table. "Plus, there are no girls in the class too, which really sucks, a lot!"
"Oh wow...that's ummm, pretty tough," Peter shrugged, before turning to Liz at his left side. "How 'bout you, Liz? Mind if we pry into your 'college business'?"
"Cheeky. And well, it's not that interesting: we all are urged to wear stiff business attires for a number of occasions, most of which are actually playing some business-simulated meetings and such," Liz briefly explained. "Thankfully, I learned some skills in the summer around my place, so I think it's manageable, probably."
"Yeah, probably gonna need to have some hands-on experience around an actual environment. At least you got the training early on," Mary Jane shrugged and pointed out.
"Yeah you should! You could try to learn how to manage a resto if you'd like, but I just hope my Dad won't mind," Liz offered.
"That's very kind of you, Liz, but I'll try finding my own way. This free agent is not completely helpless," Mary Jane playfully assured.
"Heck yeah, girl power!" Janice high-fives Mary Jane out of excitement. "Hope we all get to have fun like this quite often. And thanks for um, welcoming me, you guys are the best!"
"It's nothing. Us freshmen should stick together, although we may be in different classes and courses," Peter replied while looking around the café before gazing at a wall full of pictures.
He then stands up from his seat to quietly excuse himself before making his way to view the wall covered with old and recent photos of students that have come to the cafe in the university over the years. Catching him at the corner of his eye was an old photo of people sitting around a table, two of which appear to be the Connors' when they were younger, and the other two who seem awfully familiar for some other reason.
'Strange, why do they seem like...my—'
"Petey, is something wrong?" Liz asked out of concern, snapping Peter back into his senses.
"Hm yeah?! What's up?" Peter awkwardly responded.
"Uh, it's kinda time to return to the dorms? We have to get all our stuff and bring them over to our rooms already," Liz briefly explained.
"Oh alright, sure!" Peter answered before taking a quick glance of the photo again.
—
Just hours before dusk rolls in and at a certain apartment found just a few blocks away from ESU, where the young scientist Dr. Vincent Stegron resides...
"This is... amazing! Such a breakthrough could be done to enable humans to have control over animalistic instincts and tendencies," Vincent thought out loud while reading the data and experiments that Dr. Miles Warren left behind, along with some footage that reveals his experiment on the birth of Kraven. "But then... Why wouldn't Curt disclose such a discovery for the human race to actually thrive or even possibly evolve?! This is just amazing! What if... I too could evolve?!"
Suddenly, he pulls out a drawer containing a spiked bone in a frame that is almost intact, belonging to a Stegosaurus...
"Tomorrow...tomorrow I shall confirm this theory...if this can actually work," Vincent thought to himself.
—
'Hey Petey, how's "meeting your roomies" doing on your end?'
"Doing great actually! You'll never believe the odds for me and some of us!"
After being able to unpack their things and relax in their respective dormitories, the gang meet their roommates that can become either a great boon or a great bane to their new lives in college...
"Heyo Liz! Guess who's your guy's roomie?!" Hobie playfully yelled from Peter's end.
'Wow, now that's awesome! At least you guys are together as roommates. Kinda got separated from the others except with Janice,' Liz nervously replied over the phone, looking back to see the snobbish Sally, minding her own business while giving her the silent treatment in the room with Sha Shan and Janice as their other roommates. 'Luckily for the others, they're all in one room with Glory in my place.'
"Aww don't feel bad, Liz. If anyone should be feeling bad, it'd be Bobby, 'cause he's stuck with none other than Kenny Kong, and another guy named Powers, but I forgot who the last guy was," Peter assured, making Liz laugh a bit loud from her end after telling about Bobby's current predicament. "Rand's also here with us as our roomie, but we're still kinda waiting on one last guy."
'Oh? And might that be?' Liz wondered out of curiosity.
Suddenly the door to their shared room was opened with a strong kick—startling Peter, Hobie and Randy in the process—by some blond guy carrying two bags, one on his back and another as his luggage.
"Heeeeeeere's Johnny!" The guy exclaimed with a bright smile.
"And there is our last roomie," Peter deadpanned.
"Yo dudes! Johnny Storm's in the house!" The guy named Johnny Storm, playfully introduced before putting down his stuff and taking off his red jacket. "Sorry for being late, guys. I got kinda lost around the place."
"It's cool," Randy casually assured. "Glad you could make it. I'm Randy, Randy Robertson."
"Hobie Brown, you can call me Hobie," Hobie replied while reclining over his chair.
"And I'm Peter Parker," Peter briefly introduced. "Nice to meet you, Johnny! Hope we can make this year a spectacular one!"
—To be continued