Chapter 58: World on the Edge Part VII

Chapter Fifty Eight: A World on the Edge Part Seven:

“In the end, even if I've lost, none of you have won!” yelled the Red Skull in a crazed manner, as he stood.

“I could hardly believe that even you would be capable of something like this,” said Magneto as he took a step back.

“Are you mad?” grumbled Fury and the Red Skull just looked absolutely sadistic, as the machine began to start up.

“No one will be able to top what I have done, ever,” said the Red Skull, but Peter, pulling his mask back on as Spider-Man had looked forward at a message at the computer screen.

“Still transporting, of course, it would take longer to transport dozens of black holes than just one, and at different parts of the planet, they would have to be transported all at once,” said Spider-Man. “I've got to stop it!”

Spider-Man sprung right at the Red Skull with a kick but the Red Skull ducked it, but the web slinger was not aiming for the Red Skull. He landed right behind the machine and one line of webbing was shot, to grasp the key of the machine and Spider-Man gave a tug, before the rusty key was ripped out of the machine and he caught it before the Red Skull could react, and crushed into a twisted mess with great spider strength.

Several black dots raised in the air, over the machine and began to absorb power.

“Don't you know what you've just done?” demanded Fury as he looked at Spider-Man, who looked confused but the Red Skull seemed perfectly happy to elaborate.

“You stopped me from transporting them, Spider-Man, bravo,” said the Red Skull as he clapped slowly and sarcastically. “However, you failed to realize one thing. A creation of a black hole cannot be stopped once its started. You only managed to damage the transporter.”

“Of course, you can't do anything right, Parker, you idiot!” thought Spider-Man, as the Red Skull jumped from the window. Despite it being several stories up.

“Take care of this, I'm going for him!” yelled Captain America, who refused to let the Red Skull get away. Not this day. Despite suffering a severe beating, there was just enough fight left in him to finish this. He would not finish him off.

The dots began to rumble and Spider-Man just looked on, before he shook his head, as the dots grew in size, until they began to draw objects into them as they continued to grow.

“The magnetic instability is getting stronger!” shouted Magneto, as he concentrated hard. “I can only keep it at bay for a few moments at most and even then, it is uncertain. This entire complex will be destroyed and without the transporter, there's no way to recall the holes.”

“I refuse to give up now,” said Spider-Man shortly.

“That's what got us into this mess in the first place!” yelled Fury, as the holes got rather bigger and the scientists managed to get away, but Professor Ohnn was ripped from his chair. Spider-Man tried to grab him with a line of webbing but the webbing just missed him, as Ohnn was sucked right through several different black holes simultaneously. He was ripped apart as he entered oblivion with a blood curdling shriek!

“We best leave while we still have the smallest chance,” suggested Magneto.

“No, I'm trying to figure out what we need to do to stop these things,” said Spider-Man and Fury looked exasperated.

“Don't you get it!” shouted Fury angrily as he held on for dear life.. “There's nothing we can do! NOTHING!”

“Not with that attitude,” muttered Spider-Man shortly. “The machine is the one that is creating the black holes. Destroy the machine, and the black holes will just seal themselves, after all, they don't seem to be real black holes per say, otherwise the transporter would have collapsed itself the first time, they would have sucked up the machine, just some kind of pseudo-version of them, portals of some sort to nowhere.”

“Draw the machine into the magnetic instability,” said Magneto calmly, as if this was the the most simple thing in the world.

“That's impossible!” yelled Spider-Man, as he grabbed onto something. He would be entering nowhere within seconds, as even his ability to stick to surfaces would not be able to fight this forever.

“The machine is made of metal,” said Magneto calmly. “I will have to enter the instability to bring it inside.”

Without another word, Magneto stepped back and locked right onto the machine. With all of the power he could muster, he dragged the machine and started to carefully warp his power around the black hole and the machine, as he summoned every bit of power that he could have.

“Mutant kind will hopefully benefit from the sacrifice that I will make,” said Magneto weakly, as he allowed himself to get drawn right into the instability, dragging the machine right with him.

There was a loud humming sound, and the spider sense blasted into complete overdrive, signifying to the web slinger that it was time to leave.

“GET OUT!” shouted Spider-Man, as he grabbed Fury, and swung from the window, with Wolverine following, before the black hole just collapsed right from within itself, as the entire laboratory just began to crumble right into dust, with nothing but a crater. Spider-Man, Fury, and Wolverine landed right on the ground. “Everyone okay.”

“I've had worse,” said Wolverine with a grimace and Fury just grumbled, gritting his teeth.

XXXXX-XXXXX

The Red Skull made his way to a getaway helicopter but Captain America grabbed him from behind by the ankles and pulled him to the ground. A huge punch rattled the Red Skull. The Red Skull tried to grab a knife but Captain America blocked it and punched the Red Skull right in the face. Both men fought, with neither gaining the advantage, despite the Skull trying every underhanded and slimy tactic in the book.

“We're both going to die,” said the Red Skull simply. “But, I'll be a gentleman and let you go first.”

The Red Skull kicked dust in the eyes of Captain America, temporarily blinding him and the Red Skull collapsed in the helicopter, but out of a bag, he pulled a gun. Captain America went for the Red Skull, but a gunshot had caught Captain America. A shot that would kill any normal man but thanks to the super solider formula, Captain America had managed to survive the bullet.

The Red Skull stepped forward, as he heard a sound in the background.

“It appears that my machine has been destroyed, a pity,” said the Red Skull. Had he had time to worry about petty details, he would wonder how those fools managed to find a way to do that, without sucking themselves into oblivion. “Its a pity for you, as I'm going to have to kill you to make amends for that grievous oversight.”

The Red Skull grabbed Captain America and wrapped a hand around his throat. The hero tried to struggle.

“A bit soft in your old age, I'm afraid, outdated, too bad I don't have that problem,” said Red Skull as he continued to throttle Captain America. “I could shoot you one more time but I prefer to throttle the life out of you. So I can look right in your eyes as you die, to see the life slip out of you and any hope that you would have defeated me!”

“NOT...GOING...TO....HAPPEN!” yelled Spider-Man as he jumped down and kicked the Red Skull right off of Captain America. “You still have to deal with me!”

“If you insist on dying,” said the Red Skull as Spider-Man aimed a punch but the Red Skull blocked it, before his fist aimed right into the chest of Spider-Man and grabbed his head. Spider-Man propelled the Red Skull right off of him, as he aimed several punches right to the Red Skull who blocked them. “You fight with a determination that is quite foolish. Why do you insist in prolonging the inevitable?”

“You killed them, my parents!” yelled Spider-Man as he aimed a punch but the Red Skull blocked them.

“That means nothing to me,” said the Red Skull in a bored tone, and this just caused Spider-Man to violently stomp the foot of the Red Skull, which caused the villain to grimace and Spider-Man continued to drill punch, after punch right at the Red Skull!

Until another punch was blocked and the Red Skull hoisted Spider-Man up off the ground and launched him to the side like a piece of garbage. The Red Skull punted Spider-Man right in the side several times and he stepped over, before he grabbed Spider-Man and continued to throttle the life out of him. He hoisted Spider-Man but Spider-Man shot two globs of webbing in his face. Skull threw Spider-Man to the ground and yanked the webbing from his face, but he was nailed right with a violent kick.

The Red Skull staggered and Spider-Man punched the Red Skull several times. The Red Skull staggered over the fence and reached for a gun, but could not find it. He staggered up a set of stone steps, as he pulled one off the ground and threw them right at Spider-Man but Spider-Man dodged the toss. He deflected another toss as the Red Skull was up several feet off the ground.

“End of the line,” said Spider-Man with a satisfied voice, but the Red Skull looked at the pit below him on the other side, with several jagged rocks and an uneven surface a couple hundred feet below. The Red Skull turned and casually jumped off.

Multiple web lines shot at rapid rate, and wrapped around the legs and the arms of the Red Skull, to prevent him from getting too far.

The Red Skull let out a pained scream as his legs and arms were snapped in several places when he was caught in free fall. Bones shattered and Spider-Man carefully, but roughly pulled the Red Skull up. The Red Skull found himself webbed together tightly.

“That won't dissolve for at least six hours,” said Spider-Man, as the Red Skull struggled but he gave a pained grimace. “If you try to break it, I think the only thing you're going to break is more bones.”

“Yeah that webbing, it costs a bit more to make, to make it that long lasting, but it came in handy today,” thought Spider-Man, as the Red Skull gave him an absolutely hateful glare, but he was caught tight. “Good thing looks can't kill.”

Spider-Man hoisted up the webbed up form of the Red Skull and he swung down, where several shield agents waited, with Fury, who had his arm wrapped up and he looked at the Red Skull.

“Well, looks like you finally got caught,” said Fury, with a satisfied smirk. “Radioed some people who jumped at the chance to help take you in.”

The Red Skull refused to speak and made a bid for his freedom, but he was secured too well. Fury looked up, carefully overseeing Captain America loaded onto a stretcher, as the Red Skull was heavily sedated to prevent him from causing any problems. Spider-Man stood with Fury, there was some uncomfortable silence, with both individuals not speaking at the moment. The silence could be cut with a knife and Fury looked at the chasm, before he saw a faint glow.

“Something's down there,” muttered Fury, as he waved a couple of shield agents over to check it out. If there were any nasty surprises still there, they would have to be dealt with.

“Commander, its Dillon!” yelled a voice in surprise. “Or at least it was Dillon.”

A small group gathered around, to see and they saw a body, but it was weak, malnourished and while it gave off a faint glow and a sign of drool out of the mouth, there were no other signs to signify that it had ever been alive. It looked to be about eighty pounds at the very most, with lifeless, colorless skin, that hung off its bones, and the eyes were open, but there were no signs and life. The only way anyone could have identified the stunted, malnourished body as Max Dillon, was that there were a few tattered remains of the Electro costume on him,

“Return him to Ravencroft, they can figure out what to do with him,” said Fury in a forced calm voice, as he turned around, and saw Spider-Man swing off. It was just as well, as he had to think carefully to figure what he was going to do about the Spider-Man situation and how he was going to take care of him.

XXXXX-XXXXX

“That's right, Spider-Man he helped Captain America take down the Red Skull, you should have been there!” said an excited young man who had the fortune of hiking near the Red Skull's complex when the entire situation had occurred. “I got it all on tape, I can't believe it...yeah I'm going to make millions on it, I better send it to the news station, the world needs to see this.”

By the next couple of hours, the entire would would see footage of the battle of the day outside. The footage was not of the best quality, but everyone could make out what had occurred. Still that added to the intrigue and there would be stories told of this battle for years to come for sure.

XXXXX-XXXXX

“The longest day in my life finally ended, the Red Skull taken down, thanks in part to me, and the world is saved,” thought Spider-Man in a dazed manner as he swung back into the city, tired but rather pleased. “Now time to explain to Aunt May where I was all this time and why my face looks like raw hamburger. There has to be a perfectly logical explanation, that is also not going to lead to me exposing my secret identity.”

Spider-Man dropped down. The city was in shambles from where Electro had really torn into it, but hopefully everyone would be able to get back to some semblance of a normal life.

Or at least what passed for normal in New York.

“Never a dull moment,” thought Spider-Man, as he stepped forward, but there were several people who stepped outside and looked at him.

“Spider-Man,” whispered someone. “Look, its Spider-Man!”

There was a slow applause and several yells that announced that Spider-Man had returned to the city.

“Okay this is new,” thought Spider-Man in a dazed confusion as more people stepped out to get a look at him.

“Thank you Spidey!” shouted several voices.

“You showed him Spidey!” yelled another voice.

“We owe you our lives!” shouted another voice, as Spider-Man had swung across the city, news having spread of his defeat of the Red Skull. After it all, he could not help but have a small smile appear from beneath his mask.

“People getting a closer look at me, its going to be much harder to get home undetected at this rate,” thought Spider-Man. “Minute I get close to the ground, they're going to mob me, I just know it. Well its better than them throwing rocks at me or whatever. Well at least this day's over and Red Skull's been taken down. Hopefully they can keep him from causing any more trouble.”

XXXXX-XXXXX

Deep within the shield facility, the Red Skull began to get up out of his groggy state, to find himself shackled several times over and restrained. Once the sedative wore off, he felt racked with pain, due to the multiple broken bones that he suffered in the final moments.

Once he got out, he would find out who this Spider-Man was, track him down, kidnap all of his friends and family, and torture that hero by killing them slowly and painfully right in front of him one by one. He had the face to go by, he just needed a name to attach to the face and when that was done, vengeance would be the Red Skull's. He gave a grimace, bones would heal, but his desire to accomplish his goals remained.

“Well, you're awake, good,” said Fury, arm in a sling, as he looked right at the Red Skull. “You're here and not getting out anytime soon, not that you could walk out if I unlocked you and left the door open. You don't have a Doomsday Weapon and your facility has been destroyed. This time, you lost.”

“Lost, just merely a setback,” said the Red Skull coldly. “I will return better than ever and everyone who played a part in disrupting my plans...they will suffer beyond anything than you can imagine in your worst nightmares.”

Fury just gave him a twisted smile.

“The leaders of the world have agreed on one thing for once, the crimes you committed mandate that you will be put down like the mongrel dog you are,” said Fury. “Normally there is a wait for this thing, but in your case, we're going to make an exception to jump you to the front of the line. Don't thank me, it's no less than you deserve. The gas chamber will be ready momentarily.”

The Red Skull sat in his cell, not giving Fury the dignity of even responding, for a mere second. The Skull leaned back, as Fury stared him down, not bothering to disguise his contempt.

“I would give you a last meal, but I don't waste food,” said Fury gruffly, as a group of about twelve heavily armed shield operatives stepped in and carefully began to remove Red Skull from his cell, to bring him to serve his punishment for several decades of heinous crimes.

XXXXX-XXXXX

Spider-Man dropped down right on the side street, a block away from his house. As he quickly slipped to the side, he began to change back into Peter Parker. He pulled off his mask and looked at it on the reflection of the side window of a nearby car.

“Well, I won't win any beauty pageants with this face for a while,” thought Peter with a wince as he looked at his bruised and battered face. “Thankfully my eye didn't completely swell shut like I thought it would. I have enough to worry about.”

It had hit Peter that right now it is extremely early on Tuesday morning the sun was just coming up. He had been gone much longer than he thought and not had any sleep at all, so he was quite worn down. He was only glad that it was during the holiday weekend, so there was no school on Monday.

“Well, look who decided to turn up,” said a voice, which caused Peter to hastily stuff his Spider-Man mask out of site. He turned to see Mary Jane standing right on the front porch, looking at him rather curiously. “You better get inside, you're aunt's really freaking out, you've been gone all night.”

“I've noticed,” said Peter. “I was with Gwen, I got dinged up pretty good myself.”

“Well your aunt didn't mention that,” said Mary Jane as she looked at Peter.

“Well I didn't really want to mention it,” said Peter with a shrug. “I didn't want Aunt May to worry.”

“Well, you kind of need to work on that plan a bit better,” said Mary Jane. “If I didn't want someone to worry, I wouldn't stay out for days on end. Just a little friendly advice.”

“I'll keep that in mind,” deadpanned Peter. “Anyway, better go, before Aunt May worries herself sick. Bye, Mary Jane, talk to you later I guess.”

Peter barely heard her response, as he quickly opened the door and he say Aunt May sitting in the living room.

“PETER, OH THANK HEAVENS!” cried Aunt May as she got up. “I was so worried...I mean with that Electro and the Red Skull and all of that insanity and mutants firing into the city, I thought something really bad had happened.”

“Relax, Aunt May, I'm fine,” said Peter weakly, as his aunt hugged him. “Although I won't be if you don't let me breathe.”

“Right sorry Peter,” said Aunt May. “I'm just happy that you didn't get yourself hurt...with what happened to Ben....”

Aunt May trailed off and she had really no need to finish that sentence.

“Aunt May, I just got banged up a little bit when Electro attacked Gwen, it's really nothing, I was hiding where it was safe,” said Peter in a strained voice, as his aunt just frowned at him.

“Yeah behind my mask, as Spider-Man, perfectly safe, well in theory,” thought Peter.

Aunt May just sat, shaking her head.

“There's no need to worry, I was fine,” said Peter but she was far from pacified with this statement.

“It's my job to worry, young man,” said May sternly with a frown. “Enough about that. Breakfast I think, you look completely famished.”

XXXXX-XXXXX

A loud explosion echoed from above Antarctica and a small warp in time and space opened, as a figure fell out, before it sealed itself shut. A battered figure, cut up badly, began to cough blood on the snow.

“Alive,” managed the figure weakly, as he pulled himself up. Even it its pained state, the face of Magneto could not be mistaken. He reached down tentatively, to pick up his helmet, that was slightly warped from his trip through time and space. With a wave of his hand, he readjusted it with the power of magnetism.

The trip through the void, ripping himself forcefully from the magnetic spectrum of the Earth had drained him severely but the machine, detached from its power source forcefully had blown up. The stored power had created one final imbalance, an exit portal, to allow him to return, with the return to the magnetic spectrum super charging his power and returning the Master of Magnetism to Earth. Had he been a human, he would have been killed instantly, but his mutant powers had allowed him to survive. Although he wished that it had been to a more habitable area than the middle of Antarctica. Pulling himself to a standing position, Magneto looked from right to left, but he saw a cave, with a light visible from outside.

“Intriguing,” muttered Magneto weakly, as he wiped the blood from his mouth off of his chin. He stepped forward, towards the cave to investigate the light. It seemed impossible but there was life of some sort.

He stepped forward and disappeared into the depths of the cave.

XXXXX-XXXXX

Sinister held the briefcase that he liberated from Red Skull. He just smirked at the news that Red Skull would be executed at any moment. Even someone like Mr. Sinister would not shed any tears for the death of the Red Skull. He managed to open the briefcase and looked at the contents it held within.

Or rather lack of contents.

“Well, I should have expected this,” said Sinister calmly, as he held the empty briefcase and threw it to the ground as he turned his attention to Miles Warren, who hunched over a glass case as Sinister removed the blood sample that he liberated from Wolverine from his pocket. I'll have to deal with a consolation prize.”

Sinister put the sample next to the hundreds of other samples that he had acquired over the decades.

“Doctor Essex, it is ready,” said Warren with pride. “Months of work and I believe I have completed it.”

“I'll be the judge of that, Warren,” said Sinister as he stepped forward, and looked at the contents of the glass case, obscured slightly in shadows, by everyone but Sinister and Warren. “Well, a good start, but we'll see in a moment if you've actually accomplished this on your first try.”

“I have the utmost confidence that it will work!” yelled Warren, as he unscrewed the knob, to open the glass and the figure sat up. It opened its eyes, dazed, and seconds after open air hit it, it began to degenerate right before their eyes, before it crumbled to a large pile of dust. “I don't understand, it should have worked!”

“As a scientist, you should know that there are not should have's.” said Sinister. “Harvest the remains and study them. Then start a new one, and then again and again, until you get a perfect copy that is not going to crumble to dust five seconds after it is exposed into open air. I believe it will be another several months of late nights and just enough sleep to function in your work.”

Sinister stepped back and Warren closed his fists in anger. He had been slaving over this project for months, while Sinister had offered little to no help. Now he had to start from scratch and he doubted that he would be done any time soon.

XXXXX-XXXXX

In the depths of Ravencroft, the malnourished body of Max Dillon laid on an operated table, in his normal secured cell, as Doctor Hamilton and two other doctors stood over him.

“It appears that in his own pursuit of power, Maxwell overcompensated and thus put himself in this horrific state that we see before us,” said Hamilton as he looked at the form, who only gave the most shallow signs of breathing as a feeding tube was inserted into Dillon by one of the doctors and a guard from outside of the cell, had rolled in a table with a car battery.

“Is there hope?” asked a second doctor as there was barely even faint signs of life and did not appear to be any in the foreseeable future.

“Perhaps but young Maxwell will get the best treatment that he can afford, until his deceased mother's bank account runs out of its last cent at least,” said Hamilton, as he signed the paper to authorize the treatment as Dillon was hooked up to the battery. As the chief administrator at Ravencroft, he was authorized power of attorney to the bank accounts under the name of all his patients, to pay for their treatments. It was less of a strain on the taxpayers of New York. “Perhaps in time he will be rehabilitated but right now, he will need to recover first. Let us leave him to his treatment.”

The doctors and guards stepped back, as Dillon laid on the table. A few signs of life and a guard turned around, almost expecting to see further signs, a spark or an electrical surge, but he found nothing, other than the shallow breathing and the slight drool.

The guard turned around and walked from the hallway. It was quiet and still not one sign of recovery any time soon from the once proud and dangerous Electro, who had terrorized many barely a day ago. Yet he was essentially reduced to a vegetable and even more harmless than a newborn baby.

XXXXX-XXXXX

Wolverine stepped into the X-Mansion, to see the assembled group, that sat around.

“So you got out,” said Wolverine casually.

“Yeah, Professor Xavier managed to convince them that Electro was the one who did the damage, not us,” said Marvel Girl. “It might have gotten us out, but I doubt we're completely off the hook.”

“There was a mob right outside of the jail,” added Iceman. “They were yelling, throwing things at us, it was insane.”

“It's just begun,” added Cyclops stiffly. “They're not going to let up.”

“But surely they have to understand,” said Rogue. “Ah mean, those idiots ought to figure out that super powered nutcase was the one that...”

“No Rogue, people will believe what they want to believe and it's sometimes easy to believe the most simple thing in the world,” said Marvel Girl and Rogue just looked frustrated. “Things will have to work out in the end.”

“No, they won't.” said Wolverine gruffly as he stepped into the next room, where Professor Xavier watched the morning news on the television.

“Good to see that you've gotten back in one place, Logan,” said Xavier without even looking up, but his focus was still on the news.

“After the harsh and brutal attack by the mutant terrorist group known as the X-Men, many people fear to even step outside their front doors,” said the newscaster. “While the authorities have cleared the X-Men of all charges, many remain unconvinced that these mutants are innocent and there is an outcry to put controls on these mutants. Senator Robert Kelly was the most outspoken of these critics and word is that he will spearhead a bill in a special session at the end of the week that will require mutants to register with the government and be tracked closely. Kelly states that this is a matter of national security and our freedoms are being threatened by the mutant menace.”

“I'd like to have a word with this Senator Kelly,” growled Wolverine.

“Robert Kelly has a lot of support Logan, you would only complicate matters if you confront him,” said Xavier. “I have made arrangements to attend this session. I hope that they'll be made to see logic in the situation, how this is just limiting freedom, instead of protecting them.”

“Good luck, Chuck, you're going to need it,” said Wolverine. “There's something else you should know.”

“And that is, Logan?” asked Xavier curiously.

“Sinister was with Red Skull and he escaped, but he took some blood” said Wolverine. “My blood.”

“Well this is a grave bit of news,” said Xavier as he closed his eyes, to think what someone like Nathaniel Essex would do with Wolverine's blood. None of the possibilities seemed to be all nice and pleasant, as Xavier rolled off into the next room, to ponder the implications of what he had just heard.

XXXXX-XXXXX

Breakfast at the Parker household was a rather subdued affair. Aunt May seemed to look at Peter's injuries a bit suspiciously a time or two, but if she had suspected that there was more to them than what Peter was telling, she was not pressing the matter, which Peter was rather grateful for. He had a long enough night without being grilled by his aunt.

The whirling of helicopters outside had caused Peter to bring his head up and he knew the sound and so did Aunt May.

“Oh for Heaven's sake, not this again!” cried Aunt May as she looked at Peter who just shrugged.

“Fury surely isn't going to lock me up after I helped bring down Red Skull?” thought Peter. “Would he?”

Fury entered the household, flanked by some shield agents.

“Good morning, Mrs. Parker, I had hoped after what happened last time, we wouldn't have to swing by here,” said Fury.

“You mean when you accused my nephew of doing something on flimsy evidence when he was innocent,” said Aunt May in a stern voice, as she stood, one hand on a frying pan that was still on the stove.

“Yes, well that bit of unpleasantness has cleared up but I need to speak with your nephew on another matter,” said Fury as he looked at Peter. “We both know what it is. Outside now.”

Peter pulled himself up, as he looked around. He briefly entertained the notion of gouging Fury's other eye out.

“No, Peter, get a hold of yourself, you don't want to risk a fire fight with Aunt May here, don't want her to get hurt,” thought Peter.

Aunt May took a step forward, but the shield agents formed a wall around her, as Fury lead Peter outside, with the door shut behind them.

“No army of agents to take me down, Fury?” asked Peter coolly, as he looked around.

“None that you can see, Parker,” said Fury briskly, as he stared down Peter, without blinking, not even once. “Now, that we're one on one, I want a quick word about what happened....”

“Well you want a word with me Fury?” challenged Peter. “Well, you can have all of the words that you want, because I have plenty to get off my chest. You know, after all the crap you gave me, I still proved that I could come through. If I didn't pull that key out, we wouldn't be out having this conversation. If I didn't take out the Red Skull, he would still be out there, to kill countless more. And If I didn't convince Captain America that he could still be a hero, he wouldn't stop Red Skull at the right time. And if he didn't stop the Red Skull at the right time, then where Washington is, there would be a giant gaping crater and this entire nation would be overrun with riots and anarchy! So, Fury, after all of that, after all of what I did, to keep you from dying, to help beat the Red Skull, you're just going to throw me around like some common criminal!”

“Now listen here...” started Fury but Peter was not done.

“No for once, you're going to be the one who's going to listen, whether you like it or not,” said Peter a bit sharply and so loud that the entire neighborhood could hear him, before he lowered his voice so only the two of them could hear what Peter was saying. “I went against your orders to never be Spider-Man ever again. I put on the mask and the outfit when I didn't. I accessed private information on a computer, information that you covered up about my parents mind you. I disobeyed your little ultimatum to never become Spider-Man or else but guess what Fury, I would do it again and again, because as I've learned with great power, there must also come great responsibility! So what do you have to say to that?”

“Thanks, for helping save the world, Parker,” said Fury gruffly.

“Yeah, I thought so...wait what?” asked Peter in confusion.

“Parker, it's hard to admit when I'm mistaken, but twice I've been mistaken with you and this time, I'm glad I was and I'm glad you went against the order I gave you, this time,” said Fury as he lit up a cigarette and took a drag. “You're green as grass and fall on your face a lot because of stupid mistakes, but you've got potential. Just don't let it get to your head.”

“Believe me Fury, I won't,” said Peter as he stared down Fury without blinking.

“Your parents, I believe that you may be right, perhaps I should have been up front about them,” said Fury. “Of course, one could argue that you should be upfront about the fact that you're Spider-Man to your aunt.”

Peter just folded his arms and did not response.

“They were not the best agents, but I've had far worse and they were dedicated to the mission,” said Fury. “They put their lives on the line to help protect us from monsters like the Red Skull. In a way, you finished the work they started.”

Peter stood, not saying a word, not blinking.

“Parker, you saved my life, so if you ever need help getting out a tight spot and you will, if you need some strings pulled, I won't turn you away,” said Fury as he looked at Peter, before giving him a nod and what appeared to be a flicker of a smile. “Just don't do anything too stupid and you've won half of the battle.”

Peter just turned as Fury motioned for his shield agents to exit as he turned

“Your nephew never got a formal apology so I figured it would be best to deliver it to him,” said Fury with a nod. “Hopefully we won't be calling on this place again.”

“I should hope not,” said Aunt May with a frown, as she looked at Fury with a cold look, as Peter sat on the chair and Aunt May turned away from Fury, without missing a beat. “Your breakfast is getting cold dear, you best finish that soon.”

“Of course Aunt May, I wouldn't want that to happen,” said Peter, who looked a bit more cheerful now. He had a feeling that no matter what he ate, it would be better than the crow that Fury had to ate.

XXXXX-XXXXX

Steve Rogers sat on the edge of a bed at the infirmary in shield headquarters, as he heard the footsteps right towards him and step towards.

“Commander,” acknowledged Rogers. “What brings you to visit me? Making sure I'm not going to disappear for another sixty years?”

“No, nothing like that Rogers, you took a nasty shot from that maniac, I just figured I'd look at the best agent that this country has ever had, to make sure he's doing right,” said Fury before he looked at Rogers. “Don't you think that there are times were shield might even be a bit over their heads?”

“I think the last few days with the Red Skull and his device answered that,” said Rogers.

“The country needs a super powered team to deal with some of the more dangerous threats,” continued Fury. “shield is willing to fund the entire operation.”

“So a good of heroes to avenge the wrongs done against innocents,” inquired Rogers.

“Something along those lines,” stated Fury. “And I can't think of a better man to lead that group than the one who is sitting before me.”

“I'll give it a thought,” said Rogers but it did have some potential and there was a need.

XXXXX-XXXXX

Gwen gave a yawn, as she returned to the world of the awake. Her mind was a bit rattled and it took a few moments to remember what happened. She had a bit of a headache, but it all came back to her what had happened as of late.

“Could be worse,” thought Gwen wearily as she sat up and looked at the mirror at the table to the side of her bed and winced as she saw her face, the souvenir from Electro attacking her and Peter. “That's going to leave a mark.”

“Miss Stacy, good you're awake,” said a nurse wearily as she walked inside of the room. “You should be okay in a few weeks, your broken ankle should heal up by then and the cast will be off. You were very lucky not to suffer severe injuries, the burns on your hands will heal. The cut on your face...well I'm sorry, but it might scar a little bit. You should really be more careful.”

Gwen just nodded, not trusting herself to say anything.

“Careful, yeah, I'll be sure to ask the homicidal maniacs really nicely not to try and kill me next time,” thought Gwen.

“You missed all of the excitement, with Spider-Man,” said the nurse and Gwen's eyes perked up but she tried not to betray that she was worried about Spider-Man or rather the man under the mask to be more accurate. “He stopped the Red Skull from taking over the world. He's a real hero.”

“That he is,” said Gwen barely able to suppress a smile of pride. That was her boyfriend, her Peter, who saved the world from Red Skull.

“I'll leave to rest Miss Stacy, you've had a dreadful ordeal...wait a minute, a Mr. Peter Parker is here to see you,” said the nurse. “If you're feeling up to it.”

“Yes, of course I'm feeling up to it!” yelled Gwen firmly.

“Right, I'll send him in,” said the nurse. “Don't take too long visiting.”

Peter walked in with candy and flowers, as Gwen studied his face, it was obvious that he did pay a price for heroism.

“Hey, Gwen, feeling better?” asked Peter.

“I am now,” said Gwen, as Peter pushed over a chair to sit next to Gwen. “Oooh chocolate, thank you Peter, this hospital food...well it's not as bad as some of the cafeteria food, I swear some of that stuff might have been sentient, but still...thank you.”

“It's the least I can do after I got you nearly killed,” said Peter. “I'm....”

“No, don't you dare apologize for this,” said Gwen eyes narrowed. “If I didn't get hurt, then you wouldn't have put that mask on, would you?”

“Well, no, I guess not but still I don't want to see you get hurt,” said Peter with a frown.

“Well, I'm not too fond of it either, but things happen,” said Gwen, as she slowly chewed on the chocolate that Peter brought her thoughtfully. “So, saved the world from Red Skull.”

“Yeah, but it was painful,” said Peter wincing in thought and the fact that his face was banged up. “How do I look?”

“Like the world's most dangerous raccoon,” answered Gwen dryly. “Peter, I knew you could do it.”

“Yeah, glad to say that makes one of us,” said Peter. “Spider-Man's a real hero.”

“Peter Parker's my hero,” said Gwen as she looked at Peter and leaned forward and gave him a kiss.

“You can be amazing sometimes, Gwen,” said Peter.

“Yeah, and you're spectacular, Pete,” said Gwen as she looked around, as she saw the nurse walk down the hallway.

“I thought I lost you,” whispered Peter. “For a moment...I...freaked out...”

“You're not going to get rid of me that easily, Parker,” said Gwen with a teasing smile. “And for the record, I told you it wasn't going to last and I was right.”

The two teens laughed at that and continued to hang out, until Peter was evicted from the room so Gwen could get her rest.

XXXXX-XXXXX

Norman Osborn sat in the office, as he watched the news footage of the mutant attack on the city over and over again.

“So much power,” muttered Norman as he watched the clip yet. “This can't be allowed.”

Norman Osborn remembered what happened now. And he was none too pleased what happened. The entire mutant race would need to be brought down below his level where it belonged.

“Mr. Osborn, Senator Kelly will arrive in an hour for your lunch meeting,” said Donald Menken over the intercom.

“Thank you Menkin, believe me, I have much to discuss with the noble Senator,” said Norman, as he continued to stare at the images of the X-Men before him, with a fixation only reserved for one other person previously and plans pieced together in his mind.

Next Chapter