Chapter 12: Frickin Birthdays

It had been just a couple weeks since Peter had taken down Shocker. Things had slowly been ramping up in terms of Gwen and MJ's competing for his attention. He had decided to pay it no mind until one of them decided to actually do something about it. It happened to be his birthday today, meaning he was now 16.

He yawned, stretching. He had gone out a few days ago for clothes that actually fucking fit him, so he came down in a black t-shirt and blue jeans. He had chemically replicated his original webbing compounds into mechanical webshooters, just when he need a straight line of webs to last longer than a fuckin minute. Yeah that was annoying sometimes. His webshooters were very conveniently hidden in little black wristbands, and they were triggered by bending his hand forward twice, the backbone of his wrist hitting a trigger on the underside of the bands.

He was busy stretching, so he almost ran face-first into a massive banner strung in front of the stairs. The Avengers internship thing was basically exactly what Peter figured it would be, and it was extremely easy to make sure the Avengers were in tip-top shape. As soon as he had started working with them, knowledge about things other versions of Spider-Man had helped the Avengers make had come to him quickly. His reward for his help, under Peter's ask, wasn't money, but instead materials. His suit was cool and nice and all, but it needed an upgrade. And badly.

He ducked under the banner hastily, stumbling a little down the stairs to be met with Aunt May, Uncle Ben, Gwen, MJ, Harry, and...Harry's dad? Peter, through his memories, hadn't seen Norman for quite awhile. Peter's past self though, recalled instantly that Norman was Green Goblin, or just Goblin, depends on the comic. They all collectively said Happy Birthday to him, and he chose to temporarily block Norman out of his mind for a second. Or at least, that side of him. Peter dreaded when his phone would inevitably go off, Peter having hacked into a few police radios.

Overall, the party was awesome, and during a lull while everybody was eating, he got a text from Gwen, directly across from him, that she had "a present" for him, and a similar text from MJ, but neither got to give them to him just yet, because Norman excused himself to make a call. Mere seconds later, Peter's phone went off with a ringtone. He'd programmed the hack to save the radio communications as voicemails. And go figure, there'd been a break-in at a nearby SHIELD armory with a fight outside of it. Peter was hyper aware from there, as Norman came back in soon after. "I'm sorry, I must excuse myself. You too, Harry, time to go." That was absolutely not a coincidence.

Peter gulped. "I'll walk you two out. And I think I'll make s run to the store real quick while I'm at it. We're out of paper plates." Peter did just as he said he would, walking Norman and Harry out, spotting a suspicious look from Gwen. As Harry and Norman got into their car, driven by a chauffeur of course, Peter heard Gwen slip away too. MJ apparently stuck around for some reason. He shrugged, waving to Gwen as he quickly headed to his room. MJ was still with May, so he had a window. He slipped into his suit and ditched the place through his, literal, window. His swinging was still breakneck speed.

He reached the SHIELD armory quickly, finding everything already relatively cooled down. In fact...it was almost like it was fabricated. His spider sense rang like hell, as he zipped off of his streetlight perch, turning around. There on the street was a legion of crooked cops, who didn't have police badges on. Instead, they were...Oscorp badges? Peter didn't have long to ponder, as a big green monster came hovering over the cops a second later.

His comic knowledge told him this was the Ultimate Comics version of Norman Osborn's Green Goblin self, but it's weird. He did indeed look like Goblin, but with a difference. He'd modded himself with tech to accompany the OZ serum, an arc reactor ripped straight from Stark tech. If Peter had to guess, the "police" were the ones who'd stolen from the SHIELD armory, and given it straight to Norman.

Arc Reactors didn't have a whole lot of weaknesses, so Peter began to sweat some. He was lucky he had fucked Death, or he would have absolutely no chance against Goblin combined with an arc reactor. Peter quickly realized, via comic knowledge, that there was a high chance that Norman knew who he was. Cracking his knuckles, Peter stood straight on his streetlamp. "Norman, hey, how are ya? Nice night, isn't it?" Peter taunted, thinly veiled aggression building in his chest. Every detail about the Ultimate Comics version of the Osborns bubbled into Peter's mind. (Look it up, it's kinda fucked. If you ask for a link or something in a comment, I can put one or two in the reply. Norman gets zero sympathy from me OR this version of Peter.) Endless malice toward Norman burning within him, Peter's inner wrists burned, and he let out a furious growl as the inner sleeves of his suit ripped open, making way for his stingers.

Norman, in his Goblin form with fire dancing around his fingertips, grinned evilly. "Indeed it is, Peter. Tell me, did Mary-Jane and Gwen already leave May's? Are they all there still? Maybe I'll go visit, hm?" He looked to the bad cops below. "Keep him busy. I have some family friends to go visit." He leered, gliding away.

Absolutely not having any of this, Peter's dark grey webs shot to Norman's glider, his superhuman and also supernaturally-enhanced strength, as he yanked, easily grounding him. Norman turned around, shocked by Peter's strength, before a figure below moved. A white, hooded figure with strange blue ballet shoes, began quite easily taking out the crooked cops below.

Peter immediately knew who it was, and turned his attention back to Norman, who was currently standing and quite furious. "No! My plans!" 10 strands of webbing literally shot out and punched Norman's chest, where the arc reactor was, and he zipped, a flying left head kick aimed for Norman's jaw. It would've landed too, if Norman's right hand didn't come up and grab Peter's foot. He held Peter up and grinned, thinking he had Peter where he wanted him. He truly wasn't expecting Peter to have no mercy or restraint, proved wrong when Peter swiped both stingers like scissors. They didn't pierce deep enough into Norman's neck to kill him, given the limited range Peter had. Nonetheless, blood still poured down Norman's chest.

Caught off-guard, Norman hesitated to act, opening a window for Peter. He sheathed his stingers by instinct, and his webs punched Norman in the face, yanking him into a colossal headbutt. The recoil sent Peter into a half backflip to land on his feet, his goggles shattered. He tossed them aside, Jumping and pulling a 3/4 somersault to slam his right heel into Norman's jaw. This kick landed, and Peter watched 3 teeth fly out. Peter spun, and his right foot lashed out again, landing heavily in Norman's gut. Norman fell back a few feet, but acted quickly, his mouth opening as fire began to erupt in Peter's direction. Peter, too, acted quickly, weaving a flame-retardant shield out of webs and bringing it up from the floor and up above his head. The instant the fire stopped, Peter pulled it, using it to slingshot back at Norman. This time, Peter finally got caught, flying right into a hefty right hook. Peter went flying, creating a dent in a police car. Ghost Spider, secretly Gwen, glanced his direction as she finished with the last cop. Norman, irritated, began lumbering in her direction. Just before he could grab her though, the neurotoxin from Peter's stingers finally began working, slowing Norman down, as he grit his teeth.

Taking the opportunity, Gwen punched him in the face and yoinked herself under him, running passed him to Peter, who was standing and supremely pissed. He figured Gwen already knew who he was, so Peter brought his facemask down to his neck to reveal his bared teeth, his mouth contorted into a snarl. Gwen stood there for a second, beginning to take off her mask before Peter stopped her with a raised hand. "Later, Gwen." He hissed, stalking towards Norman just as he recovered.

Off to the side, a still conscious cop called in crooked reinforcements. Peter chucked his hood back and his webs shot passed Norman, punching into the side of a car. with a mighty yank, Peter brought the car slamming into Norman's back just as Norman was about to gloat a bit. The car slammed into the unprepared Norman, bringing the car and Norman both in Peter's direction. The yanks acted as also a zipping point, as Peter met Norman's face and the car midair with a flying kick. Immediately after the momentum began to take hold of the situation, Peter stuck to the car, letting Goblin fly passed from the impacts but with the car raised above his head. Norman stood up, holding his head in pain, before a car was slammed into him from above via Peter. Shortly after, a swarm of more Os-cops came driving in. Fed up, Peter wrapped Norman in webs, squeezed them, and then let them go, restricting his movement, as he immediately began swinging home.

Gwen hesitated for a second before she swung after him. Peter made a call to Fury on the way. "Norman Osborn is a green monster right now with a arc reactor that I just broke. And Fury, he knows who I am." Peter let that hang for a second. "You see everything, you know how powerful I am now. If you fuck up and let him attack my family or anyone I care about, I will happily destroy SHIELD single-handedly. Don't say I didn't warn you."

Fury began to respond coolly. "And how do you plan to do-"

Peter interrupted him with a single sentence that made every ounce of Fury's bluster die in his throat. "How's project Insight going? Can that go to public knowledge yet?"

Fury stayed on the line for a second before he cleared his throat. "Your point has been made, Parker. I'll triple the protection over your aunt and Uncle. You have my word."

Peter scoffed. "Whatever that amounts to." He hung up and slid into his window, stripping off his suit before he turned toward the door to go make sure everybody was okay, coming face to face with MJ who was A) Very awkwardly wearing red lingerie, and B) Supremely shocked by what she saw. Gwen came swinging in through the window shortly thereafter.

Peter was the first to break the tension. "Well," He licked his lips. "this is awkward."