Chapter 40: My Fantastic Enemies Part 1

Chapter Forty: My Fantastic Enemies Part One.

“I’ll really miss this old place when they tear it down next week,” said Peter, as he walked with Gwen outside the mall.

“Yeah, well don’t worry, there just going to tear down this mall to put up a new one, with all the latest overpriced Roderick Kingsley clothing,” said Gwen with a roll of her eyes. “Does someone like Kingsley really need an entire mall to peddle his cheap designer clothing?”

“Oh come on, Gwen, Kingsley is the hottest line of fashion,” said Liz as she walked up with Harry. “Everyone’s wearing it.”

“I wouldn’t jump off a bridge if everyone was doing it,” answered Gwen as she looked at Harry.

“Hey, don’t look at me, its clothes, I don’t know anything about it,” said Harry defensively as he threw his place up. “This isn’t going to improve my Dad’s mood any. He hates Kingsley.”

“To be fair, he’s not the only one, all of those low level fashion chains that he put out of business,” said Gwen before she shook her head. “Let’s enjoy this old place where we can.”

There was a decent crowd of people, taking advantage of the liquidation sales. Peter was on the look out for a different reason. This mall had already been robbed twice in the last several days. There was talk that it would be shut down early. His intent look was not missed by Harry.

“Don’t tell me Jameson’s interested in this old place?” asked Harry and Peter responded with a shake of his head.

“No, only because he doesn’t think it would sell papers,” said Peter, as he looked around but sure enough, there was hardly even a shady looking teenager in the mall. Liz and Harry moved slightly away, as Gwen turned to Peter, gripping his hand.

“Come on, let’s see if they’re still selling something edible to eat here,” said Gwen and Peter agreed, he could use something to eat right now. The two walked off as Peter tried to relax and not be so nervous.

“Now, Pete, just keep calm, you’re not going have to deal with villains every time you walk outside,” thought Peter, as he walked with Gwen but suddenly he froze, as he heard a loud bang. “Yeah, right, Pete, you can’t have a day off.”

A scream was heard as Peter and Gwen stood in the mall.

“Maybe someone found a good bargain?” suggested Gwen hopefully and Peter just gave a slight smile, hoping this was right but there was another scream as he took a step forward.

“Help, stop thief!” shouted a strained shopkeeper.

“Or maybe not,” said Gwen her shoulder sagging in frustration. It was the perils of dating a super hero. There was a chance that he would have to go into battle. As Peter walked forward, he saw a very familiar blur, of the Human Torch blast down the hallway.

“Well it looks like I got beat to the punch,” said Peter, happily and it was sentiments that Gwen shared.

“If there’s one member of the Fantastic Four, then the others can’t be far behind,” said Gwen relaxed suddenly but there was another scream as the shopkeeper rushed down the mall corridor.

“Stop, the Human Torch just robbed my store!” shouted the man which caused both teens to look at each other with disbelieving looks.

“What?” gasped Peter as he processed what he said. “Surely, I didn’t hear him right.”

“He said the Human Torch just robbed his store,” whispered Gwen and the rest of the crowd moved in.

“That’s what I was afraid of,” answered Peter, as he let go of Gwen’s hand, before he hastily moved off. He would have to get to the bottom of this. Surely, there was some kind of misunderstanding or shape shifter or robot or something involved.

-

The crowd watched anxiously, as the Human Torch bolted. There was much confusion, as the last person that they expected to see in the Mall, was one of the Fantastic Four. There confusion increased even more when he was screamed as a thief and two security guards chased the Human Torch down the mall, as he moved his way down, with the contents of a cash register in a bag, overflowing with money.

“Alright, Torch, I don’t care if you helped save the world a couple of times, we don’t take too kindly to thieves,” said the security guard as he raised his nightstick. “Drop the loot and come along quietly, the cops are on their way.”

The Human Torch turned in the air slowly, before he raised his hands. The nightsticks of the guards burst into flames. They threw them into the air, as they quickly were reduced to ash and the Torch dropped down, before he placed his foot on the ground. The ground beneath the guards heated up before it began to melt and they sunk lower and lower into the ground.

In an instant, Spider-Man swung by and pulled them to safety, before they were severely injured. The two guards were dropped down, as the web slinger dropped down, just in time to dodge a heavy blast of fire. The wall to the side was singed, as Spider-Man turned.

“Look, I don’t know what you’re trying to pull, impersonating the Human Torch like that but…” started Spider-Man but his opponent was in no mood for games, as he tried to barbeque Spider-Man. Spider-Man moved forward and swung his fist, which connected but also caused him to stagger back. “Oww, my hand!”

It was almost like he had touched an oven that was set to the highest temperature. The web slinger took a step back, as the Human Torch rose into the air and made his way towards the exit. Spider-Man raised his arms and shot his webbing forward, before he pulled the door shut.

“Go, get people away from here, I’ll take care of him!” shouted Spider-Man to the flummoxed looking guards, who hastened to walk off. The Torch stopped at the door but raised his hands, melting the doors down. The Human Torch continued to bolt forward, but Spider-Man followed him.

“I just had the strangest idea,” thought Spider-Man. “No, come on its absurd, but still, no one could duplicate the powers of one of the Fantastic Four that well….”

Spider-Man’s thoughts were cut abruptly, when the Human Torch had blitzed him with a heavy blast of fire. They were now in the mall parking lot, where there was a crowd of onlookers. Spider-Man raised his web shooters but paled, when he realized the intense heat had the Human Torch had generated had melted them. The Torch raised a hand and sent Spider-Man flying backwards, as fire flew from his hands.

“Well, Spidey, I guess this is the Torch, but how?” thought Spider-Man but he spotted a fire hydrant behind him. “If it is, that means he also has his weaknesses.”

Spider-Man did a back flip and landed behind the fire hydrant, before he forced it open and sent a torrent of water flying right towards the Human Torch. The Torch was quickly put out and knocked backwards. Spider-Man dove right at the Human Torch but an invisible force field had appeared, causing him to smash against it.

“Now what?” grumbled Spider-Man, it was almost like he was shot head first into a brick wall with a canon. He turned, to see a very familiar face, looking down at him with a vapid, almost blank expression on her face. “Not the Invisible Woman too. I thought she was supposed to be the sane one.”

Pulling himself to his feet, Spider-Man lunged forward into an attack. Once again, the web slinger smashed against an invisible barrier. Despite all of his might, all of his intense concentration, he could not break through and in fact, the barrier was exerting force against him. It sent Spider-Man spiraling up in the air, before he crashed down to the ground with a colossal thud.

“The Four, well two of them right now, don’t know about the other two…there has to be some reasonable explanation,” thought Spider-Man as he struggled to his feet, but found himself trapped inside an invisible dome. “Great, I feel like a mime trapped in an invisible box now, only it’s kind of for real…got to get out of here somehow.”

Spider-Man struggled, as he watched the Invisible Woman and the Human Torch depart, with ill gotten gains, the most shocking thing that he had ever seen in his short career as a super hero. The pain in his burned hand returned but Spider-Man was trapped.

Only to be release when the force field had failed, long after the Invisible Woman was long since gone. The web slinger collapsed to the ground, panting, completely confused and unable to string together what was going on.

-

Peter returned to the mall moments later, carefully shielding his burned hand, as he sought out, Liz, Harry, and Gwen. The police were already combing over the mall, shooing people out.

“As long as those people are in this area, it is not safe,” said one officer in a crisp voice. “You folks should all head home, let us take care of it.”

“I can’t believe it the Fantastic Four,” muttered an officer as he shook his head.

“Neither can I,” thought Peter who strained to listen for any more information. “The World’s Greatest Heroes gone evil…no, I can’t believe it, I refuse to believe it.”

“Can you believe it Pete?” asked Harry as Peter turned around, to see his friend. “I saw it, the Thing rampaging the mall, he ripped the entire cash register out of the wall and just ran off with it.”

“I saw the Human Torch run by here doing about the same thing,” said Peter. “These guys…I don’t know….”

“Maybe they cracked,” suggested Harry.

“Or maybe there’s another explanation,” said Peter to himself, wondering who he was trying to convince. The Fantastic Four had been doing this hero thing long before he had gotten that spider bite that had given his powers.

“They seemed alright, I mean they did help me get out of a tight spot that one time,” said Harry with a shrug as they walked out, where Gwen and Liz were sitting. Gwen rushed over to Peter and embraced him, without saying a word, before she backed off.

“Do you smell that?” asked Liz as she looked around. “Something’s burning.”

“I’m sure it was nothing,” said Peter in an unconvincing voice.

“Yeah, nothing, Peter,” said Gwen with a neutral look but it did not really take a genius to pick up the burning smell, when she was standing so close to Peter. “Liz, Harry, we better get going, I just remembered that I need to get home soon and Peter promised that he would walk me home.”

Gwen looked at Peter with a prodding look and he followed. When they were out of hearing range, they could talk without worrying about anyone overhearing.

“So it was really them?” asked Gwen.

“I’m afraid so,” replied Peter, unable to completely wrap his head around the entire situation. “I mean, none of this really make sense. The Fantastic Four, the World’s Greatest Heroes…well two of them but that’s not the point. Common criminals robbing a mall, I mean it doesn’t make sense.”

“No, it doesn’t,” agreed Gwen. “But we both know what we saw.”

“So did Fury when he thought that I broke into that government facility,” said Peter firmly. “So we know that we can be fooled but it would be an awfully great con to duplicate the Fantastic Four’s powers. Yet, their powers were there, no question about it. It was just the way they were used, well, I don’t know. They just seemed a bit off.”

Peter just looked in the distance, as Gwen watched him. To some extent, Peter had idolized the Fantastic Four before he became Spider-Man. Or at the very least, followed their exploits very closely and now they were doing this.

“What now?” questioned Gwen quietly.

“I’m going to get to the bottom of this, uncover who is behind this, because I refuse to believe that the Four is doing this, there has to be some other explanation,” said Peter without really taking a breath, as he put his hand to his head. “And if they have turned evil…then Spider-Man is going to have to stop them.”

“Somehow,” added Peter mentally.

“Your hand, though, Peter,” said Gwen in a worried voice.

“It’ll heal, Gwen, don’t worry,” said Peter. “I’ve had much worse. I would be like if I touched the top of a burning oven, no big deal.”

“An oven that was several hundred degrees, that is,” thought Peter, but his mind then began to work into overdrive. “I’m going to have to find a way to contain them to figure this out, before they cause any more damage…and if necessary stop them. Well you’re in for it this time, aren’t you Parker?

-

“It is inconceivable but we must believe our eyes, the Fantastic Four, have turned to the side of evil,” stated a newscaster. “Two years ago, the Four stopped the plan of the megalomaniac Doctor Doom, who threatened to level the entire Eastern half of the United States, just one of the many times the Four have saved countless lives. Yet, this recent crime spree has left authorities unable to cope. Captain George Stacy could not be reached for comment but word has reached us that the police have little hope in nailing down the Fantastic Four. Our only hope lies with the web slinger, Spider-Man, who has his share of extremely vocal critics. Yet in our hour of need, the web slinger is our only hope to take down the Fantastic Four….this just in, millions of dollars with of diamonds have been lifted, by a combined attack by the Four. The state of the art security system has been disabled…”

A shadowed figure watched the newscast, as late breaking news of the thefts of the Fantastic Four came in. Right by his side, were four clay duplicates of the Fantastic Four. He would arrange for more of the stolen loot to be brought here and then he would blow the entire city. Scratch that, the entire country and would leave the Fantastic Four to left held accountable for their crimes. They would either be forced to fight, to further tarnish their reputations, or they would surrender, locked in jail forever.

The only potential cog in the wheel was Spider-Man but the controlled Four could easily take out the web slinger. They had great powers that had leveled galactic threats. Some impudent punk in a Halloween costume was no match for the Fantastic Four.

-

Peter ran from school the next day, several web cartridges filled with new chemical compounds. He had managed to borrow some old chemicals that were about to be thrown out and with his scientific skills whipped up several modifications to his webbing formula.

“I just hope this works,” thought Peter. “I mean, I don’t really have a chance to test them. Of course, based on what I know about the powers of the Fantastic Four, this should really work. At least in theory. Maybe not in practice as much.”

An alarm rang up and the distressed population let Peter in that something was amiss. So with careful precision, he slipped away, undetected and sometime later, from around another set of buildings, Spider-Man swung, just in time to see the Thing walk carrying an entire vault.

“Okay, drop the vault!” commanded Spider-Man but the Thing just looked at him, no sign of recognition, before the vault was thrown right at Spider-Man. The web slinger was knocked off balance but thankfully the vault did not smash into him. Just as he dropped down, an arm wrapped around him from the alleyway, as Mr. Fantastic stretched into the scene. The Thing walked forward, arms raised, but Spider-Man managed to shift his weight enough to get free and fling Mr. Fantastic out of him. Mr. Fantastic stretched up, to avoid the Thing’s swung punch and Spider-Man was forced to evade it. He dodged several more attacks.

“This is crazy, I don’t want to fight these guys,” thought Spider-Man as he scaled the wall but the Thing grabbed onto it, ripping it out of the ground. “But I’m going to have to, got to insert the right web cartridge for the right member of the Four.”

With a splat, Spider-Man landed on the ground, where the Human Torch flew right towards him. Quickly, Spider-Man dodged the attack, as the Human Torch turned around, as the air heated up around him and ground began to get too hot to stand on.

“Yow, ow, ow!” shouted Spider-Man as he jumped up and down, like he was dancing on hot coals, as suddenly, he was stuck to the ground, as it melted to the point where the black top was a thick tar.

That was the last thought that went through Spider-Man’s head before the Thing’s fist went through it. Spider-Man spiraled to the ground and crashed down, before he landed outside of a department store. Mr. Fantastic’s fist connected with him, stretched from across the street.

The Thing jumped up and grabbed Spider-Man, before he threw the web slinger and launched him right at the outstretched Mr. Fantastic, who grabbed Spider-Man’s legs and arms, before he stretched outwards.

“Ow, listen, Reed, I don’t stretch, let go of me….” grunted Spider-Man in pain, but he managed to get his arm free somewhat, before he shot a line of webbing right around a ledge. Quickly, he pulled himself up, so he could catch his breath.

“This isn’t exactly going as….”thought Spider-Man.

“YOW!” shouted Spider-Man, as the Human Torch had once again heated up the surface where he was standing on. Sliding inside the building, Spider-Man looked around, for something to use on the Human Torch. The Torch burst through the walls, as flames flew right towards Spider-Man. Spider-Man spent most of his time ducking and dodging, not even able to fire off a cutting quip.

Spotting a bucket on the floor, Spider-Man hastily picked it up and sloshed the contents at the Human Torch.

“Oh, crap, that wasn’t water!” thought Spider-Man hastily, as gasoline was thrown right at the Human Torch and a big burst of fire had erupted, engulfing that entire floor of the building. Spider-Man just narrowly threw himself down the stairs. “Stupid, stupid, stupid, Spidey, really stupid!”

Spider-Man landed on the ground, as he saw the floor crack from above him, as the Human Torch dropped down, glowing to his greatest intensity.

“There should be a sprinkler system around here somewhere, that should be going off right about now!” thought Spider-Man in a panicked manner, before he looked up and saw the damage. “Or not…welded shut, just my luck!”

The Human Torch moved in for the attack but Spider-Man rolled underneath him, wincing as he felt the floor burning beneath his back, before he shot two lines of webbing, before he began to pull, ripping the sprinklers open! They exploded with several jets of ice cold water, cooling down the hallway, and the Human Torch. Johnny Storm stood right in front of Spider-Man, holding his hand up, but only a few small embers could raise from his hand, as he was drenched with water.

Quickly, Spider-Man shot a line of webbing around the Human Torch and struck him up from the still running sprinkler system.

“This could keep you at bay, for long enough, Johnny, even if you flame on, you shouldn’t be getting out of the material of that webbing any time soon…” stated Spider-Man, before his spider sense had went off and he just leapt up, in time to avoid being sliced to ribbons by the security laser grid. “Fantastic, someone just turned on the security system…got to be careful…one slip and I’m finished.”

Spider-Man crawled across the soaked wall, very carefully, as he watched, as the security grid seemed to be rising higher off of the ground, towards him.

“What kind of security system is this?” thought Spider-Man. “It was almost someone reprogrammed it but who could be…that smart…yeah Reed, duh.”

Spider-Man carefully maneuvered around, managing to pick up the Human Torch before he was sliced to ribbons. As quickly as he could manage, before the laser grid could catch up with him, Spider-Man exited the room, just as it had sliced right into the ceiling, causing it to crumble and the building began to cave in.

“Need a window,” thought Spider-Man desperately, as he saw an open window and he swung right towards it but suddenly an invisible force field appeared around it. He struck it, the impact causing him to slide down. A hand reached out, grabbing the webbing line that the Human Torch was hanging from.

Spider-Man laid on the rubble, barely able to catch his breath and now he avoided an attack from the outstretched Mr. Fantastic, now wielding a weapon of some sort. He ducked and dodged, as the weapon appeared to vaporize everything that it blasted.

“Or, as Reed would say, breaking it down into microscopic particles that no one could see,” thought Spider-Man desperately, as he swung around, before he managed to aim perflectly, knocking the weapon from the hands of Mr. Fantastic. The arms outstretched but Spider-Man ducked and dodged around them, before he loaded one of his cartridges into his web shooter. “Hopefully this modification worked.”

A spiral of webbing wrapped around the outstretched arms of Mr. Fantastic, tying them together. Mr. Fantastic strained to break the webbing, as he stretched with all of his might, but he could not. He still could extend his legs, but not for long, as Spider-Man shot even more webbing.

In an instant, Mr. Fantastic was bound, completely tangled up and stiffened, unable to move. Spider-Man stepped back before he was grabbed roughly from behind.

“Oh come on, don’t I get a breath,” grumbled Spider-Man as the Thing spun him around, before he smashed right into Spider-Man’s ribs with a rocky punch. Spider-Man was flat on his back, as the Thing lifted up a steal support beam and lifted it over his head, but Spider-Man just barely managed to block being smashed to bits with his own feet. “Listen, I don’t know what’s going on but Thing, stop, you always seemed like a rock solid guy, you don’t want to do this, you don’t want to clobber your friendly neighborhood Spider-Man.”

Spider-Man did a back flip to avoid another vicious swing by the Thing. Shot after shot was narrowly evaded, as Spider-Man began to lead his adversary further out. He winced, as the Thing just narrowly missed hitting him.

“Got to find some way to slow this guy down,” thought Spider-Man as he swung through a window and then into another one in an adjacent building. The Thing smashed through the wall like it was paper. “There you go, easy does it now.”

The Thing continued to move, as Spider-Man looked at his surroundings, discovering that he was in fact in a gym. Quickly, he hoisted up a heavy metal weight bar and swung it towards the Thing, but the Thing caught it, before he hoisted Spider-Man off the ground. The web head leapt off and kicked right at the Thing. The Thing turned around and swung a punch, as Spider-Man looked over his shoulders, before he spotted an elevator right behind him.

“Come on, is that the best you can do?” asked Spider-Man, as the Thing just charged him, a dazed expression on his face, but Spider-Man quickly switched web cartridges, before he shot webbing around the legs of the Thing. With a tug, he managed to yank, but the Thing snapped the webbing and charged into the elevator. Quickly, Spider-Man flipped off of the wall.

“Sorry but this is going to hurt me a lot more than it hurts you,” thought Spider-Man as he quickly smashed a button, causing the elevator doors to slide shut. “Well here goes absolutely nothing.”

Spider-Man smashed on the buttons, just as the Thing was beginning to smash through the doors to the outside. His hearing caught the elevator plummeting down several floors of the gym, before it crashed with a suddenly stop. In an instant, Spider-Man pried the doors open and saw the elevator, dented, but over wise mostly in tact. In an instant, several lines of webbing was shot down and Spider-Man began running up the wall. He looked down as the Thing had began to stir inside, but the web head managed to find his way to the top of the building. Quickly, he wretched the elevator slightly to the side and shot multiple lines of webbing, just enough to hold the Thing up. The Thing struggled.

“I wouldn’t try and break that if I were you, it’s longer than your first drop,” remarked Spider-Man but suddenly, he was knocked right off of his feet and nearly from the side of the building.

Groggily, Spider-Man pulled himself up and went face to face with the Invisible Woman, who hovered above him. He jumped up but bounced right off of the force field.

Immediately, he switched web cartridges. The particular chemical compound used to create this webbing was the one that had the most room to fail.

“Let’s see if your force field holds up to this!” yelled Spider-Man as he shot a line of webbing right at the force field but it broken only for the barest of seconds.

Before Spider-Man was sent flying off of the side of the building. He immediately shot his webbing around a flagpole and swung down to the ground. He tried to move forward, but another force field appeared around him.

And the size of that force field was beginning to grow smaller around Spider-Man. He threw his body against the force field in an attempt to disrupt it somehow, but the Invisible Woman held it. Her focus was amazing, it was almost like she was detached from reality, and the force field just began to grow even smaller

“Think, Peter, if you don’t find a way out of here, you’ll be an awfully lot thinner,” thought Spider-Man as he struggled, in an attempt to push out, but he could not. He looked down, as he was levitated in the air now, so there was no way out. “One chance, if I can just aim my web shooter, before I run out of room in here to breathe.”

Spider-Man took careful aim and a line of webbing cracked against the force doom. The reaction was just enough for the hero to pull himself out and tuck his head, before rolling onto the ground. Breathing heavily, he looked up, where the Invisible Woman slowly turned and while she was caught by surprise, Spider-Man took aim.

The line of webbing wrapped around air. It caused a force field that had been created to cackle and Spider-Man found himself crashing down to the ground. Wincing, he pulled himself up, as he stood on the ground, as a force field from above had pushed down on him, rattling him. It was like being on the inside of the pressure cooker and Spider-Man tried to point his web shooter, but groaned, when it had been crushed as well because of the pressure.

“I swear, I go through more web shooters, than most people go through underpants,” thought Spider-Man bitterly.

Immediately, Spider-Man dropped down, to by himself some time and rolled around, even if he was dangerously close to being squashed flat. Lifting up his good web shooter, he took aim and shot webbing right underneath the forcefield, latching onto a manhole cover, before he pulled with all of his strength and the cover spiraled right towards the Invisible Woman. She blocked the manhole cover with ease, but her concentration was disrupted enough, for Spider-Man launch himself right at her.

Just seconds before he would have connected, a barrier was put up and Spider-Man was struck down, before he was trapped within a bubble. He struggled, as he was levitated several feet in the air.

“Well this day has just gotten worse,” thought Spider-Man, as he began to go higher and higher. “I don’t know the limits of her powers, but if I go much higher, I’ll be the first web slinger sent into orbit.”

Suddenly, as he was hundreds of feet in the air, the bubble suddenly popped and Spider-Man found himself hovering in the air for the briefest second, before he began to plummet downwards at a fast rate.


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