Spider-Man landed in an alleyway with his backpack. He then changed into his normal clothes with his super suit under his clothing. He threw his backpack over his shoulder and began to walk out of the alleyway, when suddenly, he began to feel nauseous. He stumbled over and held himself up against the wall by putting his hand against it and holding himself up.
He looked up, and began began hearing a menacing cackling. HIS cackling. The Green Goblin's cackling.
He looked around himself quickly and worryingly. The sky's blue was replaced with green.
He then heard water bubbling. He looked to the street and saw how a green liquid began to bubble out of the sewer from the manhole cover.
Peter shut his eyes and breathed in deeply, trying to focus and stay calm. Soon, the sounds of bubbling ended. He opened his eyes and saw everything back to normal. He let out a sigh of relief and stood up straight. He rubbed his eyes, "I need some rest..." he muttered to himself.
He then felt his phone vibrating. He took it out and saw a message from Artemis of where she would need to meet him. He put it back into his pocket and made his way to the destination.
Later,
Peter finally made it to the location. He stopped outside the Big Belly Burger and looked through the window, seeing Artemis sitting at a table... along with someone else.
He was an old black man with a bald spot across the top of his head. A cane lied beside his chair he was sitting on.
Peter entered the building, ringing the bell above the door and grabbing Artemis' attention. She turned towards the door and smiled when she saw Peter. She raised her hand, gesturing to Peter where she was sitting. Peter walked over to her table and stood between the 2 people and in front of the table, "Hey." he greeted.
"Marcus." Artemis lied, concealing his real name. "This is Mr. Hart." Artemis introduced, gesturing to the old man.
Peter raised his hand slightly to greet him and Hart nodded his head at Peter, also greeting. Peter looked around and pulled a chair from another table to sit down. He sat down on it on one end of the table as Artemis began to explain, "So, to catch you up, Mr. Hart was just busy explaining to me about... Wilson Fisk."
Peter's eyebrows raised at Artemis, "Wi-Wilson Fisk?" He turned towards Mr. Hardt, "That's his name?" he asked him.
Hart nodded, "Yes. I saw him when he was just a boy. A sad child. Him and his mother were pure victims of the horrors of Hell's Kitchen." Hart explained.
"And his father?" Peter asked.
Hart's expression quickly changed to one of resentment, "His father was nothing but a pile of trash. He would constantly abuse him and his mother. But nobody would , nor could do anything about it. Anytime police could get involved, they would get bribed or somehow look the other way. Any chance they got, Wilson and his mother would come over to my apartment for safety." he explained.
"Well, how do you even know that Wilson Fisk is the Kingpin?" Peter asked.
"He looks over out neighborhood, specifically me." Hart replied.
"And here's the important question." Peter jumped in as he leaned forward, crossing his arms, "Why are we supposed to trust you if you and him are friends?"
"Marcus!" Artemis silently scolded.
Hart put his hands up to calm her down, "No, no. It's alright, miss. That is a very sensible question." He looked back at Peter, "Truth is, son... Wilson's mission to save Hall's Kitchen was pure at first. He wanted to get criminals that should be put in prison, IN prison and make them stay there. he wanted to make it better... But eventually... while his goal was still the same... his way of doing it changed. Corruption, murder... He crossed a line. THAT I could not stand by and watch no longer."
Peter and Artemis shared a glance before they looked back at hart, "So do you have any idea what he might be planning?" Artemis asked.
Hart looked at her, then past her at a wall. Peter and Artemis turned to look at the wall to see what he was looking at, seeing a campaign poster to become mayor of New York City. The man on the poster John Lindsay, the current mayor of New York. The 2 immediately knew what Hart's answer was. They both turned to him with shocked expressions, "He wants to become mayor???" the 2 questioned at the same time.
Hart nodded, "Yes. He mentioned it to me the other day."
"You don't think he could actually win, right??" Peter asked Artemis.
"Well, considering his mission and his resources, it's entirely possible." Artemis told him.
Peter sighed and buried his face in his hands, "This is a problem." he stated.
"Well, why can't we just go to where Fisk lives and deal with him?" Artemis suggested.
Peter's face left his hands, "For what? That gets out, people will just see a hero, or heroes, attacking an innocent man. We can't arrest him for anything either, because I would've got a connection from the people that works for him. Like a name or something. But there was nothing." he said, completely tired for some reason before he began rubbing his eyes.
Artemis noticed and put her hand on his shoulder, "Pe-... Marcus? You okay?" she asked concerningly.
He opened his eyes, "I don't know." He looked up, then looked to the side at her, seeing... Gwen?
Peter stumbled back, knocking his chair over and surprising Artemis and Mr. Hart. The 2 continued to look concerningly at him.
"Peter?" She accidentally let out, but didn't care. She walked towards him, "Are you sure you're okay??"
Peter's heart began to beat faster as he looked around himself quickly and breathed even faster. Everyone in the building was staring at him awkwardly. All Peter saw was his first love coming closer and closer.
"I need to go." Peter said and quickly got up, grabbed his backpack and rushed out of the building.
Artemis and Mr. Hart watched him leave concerningly. While Hart was completely bewildered, Artemis knew exactly what he was seeing. "What on Earth is wrong with him?" Hart asked.
She simply stared at the door in confusion, "I have a feeling..." she said to herself. She quickly took out her phone from her purse as she turned around to take it from the chair, "Thank you for seeing us, Mr. Hart. Be safe." she told him and rushed out the door as she called a number.
Hart nodded at her, "You be safe too, miss..."
Artemis walked out of the building and began speaking to her contact, "Hello?... Yeah, I need you to see a sample of something for me... It's a poison... Already on my way."
She hung up before she called someone else... a friend, "Hey... I need your help... It's Peter."
With Peter,
Peter ran past everyone on the sidewalk, pushing them out of the way. Words started to be said in his minds of his past...
"You were always like a son to me... how could you?..."
Norman. He said the first part, but not the second...
"I just wanted to be seen! Look what you did!"
Electro. Didn't say that either.
"Everyone dies because of their connection to you! How many more lives will be lost before you finally learn your lesson??"
... Gwen...
He stopped around and alleyway and clenched onto his head. the voices of everyone that dies because of him flowed through his mind.
"I'M DEAD BECAUSE OF YOU!"
Uncle Ben.
"You were my friend, Pete! How could you have killed my father!"
Harry.
He went around another corner of the alleyway so now nobody could see him. He rushed towards a lonely dumpster and grabbed onto it for support.
"If you were better... maybe Ben could still be alive..."
Aunt May.
He clenched his fist around the part of the dumpster he was holding onto. The sounds of boiling water came back.
He let go of the dumpster and saw now bent metal around the part he was just holding onto. He turned around towards the source of the bubbling noise. A green liquid began pouring from around the corner.
It looked like the whole alleyway was about to be flooded with the green liquid.
Peter didn't know what to do...
He could crawl away, but his heart was beating so fast he couldn't focus. He didn't know what to do. He was frozen with fear.
He dropped to the ground and leaned his back against the front of the dumpster. His breathing intensified as he sat against the large object.
The liquid began pouring closer and closer.
He shut his eyes and awaited for the liquid to take him whole.
That's when he heard it, "Pete."
He didn't trust the voice nor could he recognize it at the moment. He continued to heard all the other voices of his past villains, his friends, the people he lost, Scorpion - all their voices attacking him. "Just block it out, just block it out, Peter." He muttered to himself.
"It's okay, Pete. It's me." The voice was much closer this time and suddenly... felt a hand caress his cheek.
He flinched at the sudden touch and grabbed onto the hand, but the person clearly didn't flinch. "Peter... It's okay... Open your eyes." she told him.
His breathing slowed down as he slowly began to recognize the person. He opened his eyes and the light creeped in. He finally got a clear view of who it was.
The green-skinned girl smiled when she saw him open his eyes.
"M'gann..." He greeted.
He held onto her hand tightly for comfort as M'gann replied, "Hey, Pete."