Chapter 9- What Lies Beneath The Mask We Wear?

Author's note: Support the story if you enjoyed it, and the final chapter of the first season drops today.

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"This was really a good idea?" Arthur asks the other spiders, all inside the bus on the way to the collider, except for Peni with her robot. The issue is that people were visibly scared of them, especially the man in black and white and the talking pig.

"We're just conserving energy," Peter B. replies, shrugging. "This is our stop!" He exclaims, standing up enthusiastically. Upon noticing people shrinking back into their seats, he tries to ease the situation: "No need to be scared, folks, it's just a spider tour!"

Arthur shakes his head, following him off the bus.

They all shoot their webs at the nearby building, swinging from a crane near Fisk Tower. Stopping at the top, they assess the situation, seeing a large number of people.

"Kingpin has an exclusive elevator from the roof to the collider," explains Peni.

"I didn't count on this audience," says Noir.

'The possibility of this building collapsing is... very high', thinks Arthur, considering a possible delay in shutting down the collider. "Neither do I. If we take too long, the entire building will collapse. Peni, schedule a call to the fire department in 10 minutes, warning them of a possible collapse of the building."

"Leave it to me."

They all jump at the same time and swing to the glass of the tower's rooftop.

"No way," they all say at the same time, realizing that the large number of people in the building was due to a tribute to Spider-Man.

"It's an honor to be with you all tonight in tribute to Spider-Man. We were very good friends; he was always there..." Kingpin was addressing the various guests.

"Shameless pig," Gwen couldn't believe the audacity of the guy.

"Forgot I'm here, huh!?"

"Wait! Look at the waitstaff uniforms," Noir interrupts. Everyone then notices that the waiters are wearing Spider-Man masks. "It's tacky, but we can pull it off."

***

They managed to infiltrate the party. Peter B. and Gwen were pushing Peni's robot with a cloth over it, resembling a food transport cart. Noir was carrying a waiter's tray with Porker hidden under the cloche. Arthur walked behind the invisible group, staring directly at Kingpin, who was still giving a speech.

"I want to thank Mary Jane Parker for being here tonight. My condolences," Kingpin has the audacity to express sympathy for the wife of the man he killed.

'I need to get her out of here!' Arthur thought. He had to control himself not to lose invisibility. Anger was one of several emotions he felt seeing Kingpin taunt Peter's death.

"Don't get involved! You have to move on," Gwen couldn't believe that idiot Peter wanted to talk to this dimension's Mary Jane. 'This clown is going to ruin our cover!!!'

"Just a second, I'll go-"

"Hello."

"Wow!" She was right in front of him, the same face he had been dreaming of seeing again since the day they parted ways. Peter B. missed her so much that he lost focus on the mission the moment he saw her in the middle of the crowd.

"Hmm... I just wanted to ask for more bread for table 12," Mary Jane explained, noticing the strange behavior of this waiter. 'This guy is weird.'

"I... just wanted to ask for... forgiveness."

"Oh, it's okay, these things happen." And he was touched.

"No, I let you down when you needed me. I should have tried harder."

Gwen: (つ◉益◉)つ

"...it's okay, I think I should be going." Maybe he's crazy.

"I know I could be better if I could have one more chance to give you... the bread you deserve."

'This guy is completely nuts,' Mary Jane felt like she needed to get as far away from this guy as possible. "Are you sure you're okay?"

"Let's arrange for your bread right away," Gwen interrupts the awkwardness she was witnessing, pushing a disheartened Peter back on track. "Everything okay with you?"

"Yeah... everything's amazing," Peter B. responds in a melancholic manner.

"That's wonderful, because we're not bringing any bread at all."

Arthur witnessed everything from the side; he knew it was important for Peter to have that conversation. 'We lost a few seconds, but maybe now he can talk to her in his dimension.' Turning around, he approached Mary Jane, who was distancing herself as quickly as possible from the crazy waiter.

***

These days have been the worst of her life; first, she lost the love of her life, and now, she constantly had to be 'harassed' by the hero's fans. Didn't they know that she suffered more than they did? That their condolences didn't help at all?

She just wanted to be home, away from all the cameras and questions, but she kept being strong in front of everyone; she needed to. Now that the city's guardian had died, thieves and villains would go wild. Mary Jane had to convey, at least a bit, hope to these people.

That's why she spoke at the funeral, that's why she was at this dinner, even if Fisk was one of her husband's enemies. What she didn't expect was that, after talking to a crazy waiter, an... invisible hand covered her mouth.

"Calm down, I'm not going to harm you."

'That's what all the villains say!' Mary Jane thought, trying to free herself from the hand and scream for help.

"Listen carefully, what killed Peter Parker is underneath this building, you need to get out of here now. Firefighters will arrive in less than 10 minutes." She stopped struggling; Mary Jane couldn't... believe this.

"I'm going to remove my hand, don't scream, okay?" She nodded.

He takes his hand off her mouth; she had so many questions, but only two came out of her mouth: "Who are you? And how do you know this?"

"Visit May's house; she'll explain everything to you. And I am... the new Spider-Man."

***

As they take down two guards who were guarding the elevator door, Noir kicks open the door, and everyone jumps through the elevator shaft hole that had just taken Fisk down. 

***

"They've already activated the collider." Everyone was running towards the collider from one side of the machine.

B̷̡̛̹̥̗͔̜ͦͮ̆̓͐͞͡Oͪͨ̿͊ͧ̀͟͏̶̷̼̹̗̥͚Ô̵̢̧̧͚̘͎̙̫͑̇ͩͮ͡M̢̓̃͗̐̽͜͏͙̰̯̳̯͘͜M̶̵̢̛͈̯͈͔͈̀̾͌͐́̚

"Darn it... it's already started," Arthur says, watching the collider begin to distort reality. Looking around, he realizes that the spiders were glitching. "Guys, I think you'll become more unstable with the machine running."

"I d͆̔̚҉̬͖͙̀͟š̞̪̼́͂́͟͜v̷̰̥͕ͬ̃ͮ̕̕ agree," Peter B. comments.

"Let's go!" They swing up to the ceiling, crawling with Arthur in the lead. 'It was around here...' he starts tapping on the panels, searching for the compartment. "I'll use the key to control the portal; after you guys go through, I'll blow the thing up... found it!"

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When Arthur went to put the key in the socket, all the spider-senses activated; looking up, he saw several tentacles emerging from the ceiling towards him. One of them latched onto his hand, and another on his neck, pulling him in front of Octopus.

"What a pleasure to see you again, Spider-Man," She says before forcefully sticking him to the ceiling.

"Ouch!"

***

The other spiders had to jump from the ceiling and start dodging the various shots; there were many of the Kingpin's henchmen with guns on platforms around the collider.

Little by little, they managed to bring them down with great difficulty; everyone was failing too often.

"They don't give up," Gwen said, taking down the twentieth henchman. Looking up, she sees Peter B. heading towards Arthur, who had been wrapped up in the mechanical arms. "I'm going to take down a few more and help them," she concluded, heading towards more henchmen.

***

Peni had just taken down a henchman when she was thrown away after receiving two punches. Looking up, she sees a mechanical scorpion coming her way.

"You're going to pay for breaking my robot's glass!" She was really angry now.

***

"Argh," Arthur exclaimed in pain; Octopus' mechanical arms tightened further, and he couldn't use the shock with the system key in his hand.

"What are your last words, Spider-Man?"

"Hmm... goodbye, Uncle Paul, bye, Grandma and Grandpa, Aunt Titous-" He said with difficulty. 'Where are you!?'

"Goodbye, Spider."

"Coming!" Peter B. interrupted, coming from a blind spot and delivering a punch right to Olivia's face, causing her to release Arthur.

"You... took your time," Arthur said after securing himself on the ceiling next to Peter.

"You're wrong, young padawan. I arrived at the most impactful moment possible, jot that down, that's one of my tips," Peter B. boasted to his student.

"Alright... the situation is not good," Arthur said, observing a portal beginning to form in the middle of the collider. 'We have little time; the city should start experiencing tremors in a few seconds.' He concluded, watching buildings and vehicles emerging through the collider.

"True, be-," Peter interrupted himself, having to dodge a panel thrown at him by the doctor. "I had forgotten about her."

"I haven't." Arthur tossed the key to Peter and swung towards Octopus, with Peter following closely behind.

"Wait!" Peter caught the key and tried to prevent Arthur from facing the supervillain alone, but what he saw left him paralyzed.

'My Spider-Sense is still slower than theirs,' Arthur quickly thinks as he approaches Olivia, who is already extending the tentacles toward him. 'I need to feel.' He closes his eyes and points his hands backward.

ZAP!

Lightning bolts shoot out of his hands, propelling him forward. With his eyes closed, Arthur doesn't see, but he feels the imminent danger.

The mechanical arms snake towards him, and Arthur, confident in his powers, executes agile and calculated movements. 'Right, below, in front.' Skilfully dodging between the tentacles, he approaches Olivia in less than 2 seconds.

Surprised by Spider-Man's movement, Doctor Octopus has no time to react and is hit with a precise kick in the stomach, knocking all the air out of his lungs.

Feeling the blow connect, Arthur opens his eyes and reacts quickly, shooting two webs at the exact spot where the only arm holding Octopus to the ceiling was anchored. Pulling with force, he displaces the panel, causing Olivia to fall disoriented into the singularity below them.

'Didn't you want to see my friends falling apart? Let's see if you'll like it when you wake up wherever this portal takes you', Arthur thinks coldly, clinging to the ceiling, feeling Peter arriving at his side.

"Kid, what did you do!?" Peter asks seriously.

"What do you mean, Peter?" Arthur said, watching Gwen knock out and catch Olivia in the midst of her fall. "I left Olivia for Gwen to finish."

"Oh! I get it," Peter responds relieved; for a moment, he thought Arthur had sent the villainess to a potentially deadly destination. 'You scared me for a moment there, kid.'

"Hey, guys, sorry for the delay," Gwen commented, arriving beside them with Olivia in her arms.

"What delay? I left Olivia for you," Arthur remarked, pointing to the unconscious villainess.

"Yeah, I noticed," Gwen replied, webbing Olivia to the ceiling with several webs. "She shouldn't be a problem anymore. Let's finish this."

"Let's!" "Where are the others!?" Peter and Arthur say respectively.

***

Due to the collider, several parts of the city began to collapse, and the population of Brooklyn began to panic, both due to the failures of buildings and vehicles and the tremors.

George Stacy didn't understand what was happening to the city, but he continued to help the desperate people on the streets. 'I hope you guys are okay.'

***

Gwen Stacy was very worried and irritated with her half-brother. In the past few days, he had simply disappeared. She thought about telling her mother about Arthur's nighttime escapades, but decided to wait and force him to confess himself.

Gwen looked at her desperate mother, trying to call Arthur amidst the tremors. In these days, she suffered the most, even having to take a few days off from the hospital.

Helena cared too much about her baby, that was a fact. With no news from Arthur, she practically collapsed, resorting to medications. That's why Gwen was at home now, taking care of her mother.

She didn't know why, but she felt that Arthur's disappearance was related to these tremors. Her instincts never failed, of that she was sure. Gwen would find out what her brother had gotten into.

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Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters or songs featured in this fic. Additionally, I do not claim ownership of any products or properties mentioned in this novel. This work is entirely fictional.