Previously, Peter Parker hit the road to L.A. with Flash Thompson and Felicia Hardy in order to win back his wife, Mary Jane. Currently they’re in Vegas, where Spider-Man just finished a fight with the Hypno-Hustler. But, while Spider-Man and his amazing friends are out of town, trouble is brewing in New York, endangering Peter’s loved ones…

The lock on Peter Parker’s apartment door was jimmied open as A.J. Michaels cautiously stepped in and looked around before heading to Peter’s bedroom. He knew this was going to get him into a massive amount of trouble but he had to do what he felt needed done.

The first thing you should probably know is that Drew and I aren’t biological brothers. My real mother died during childbirth. Dad never flat out said it, but I always kind of felt that he blamed me for that. When I was six, he met Drew’s mother, Gwyneth and, for a while, things were great…we were an actual family. Even though Drew and I knew we weren’t blood related, we still treated each other like we were actual brothers.

Then one day, Gwyneth just up and disappeared, leaving two boys behind for Dad to raise. That’s around the time I was diagnosed with cancer and he was laid off and subsequently started hitting the bottle. After that, it was Drew who took care of me, got me to my chemo sessions and generally was the one person in my life who gave a damn whether I lived or died, at least until Billy came along. But that’s a story that’s too painful to get into right now.

And now, Drew and a bunch of other people are being held hostage. The guys holding them say they’re going to kill one person an hour until Spider-Man shows up. And since only a handful of people, including me, know that Peter Parker is Spider-Man, that means no one knows that Spider-Man is out of town with him except me and a handful of people who aren’t here.

Where’s Ben Reilly, you ask? He’s off with the Defenders, meaning he can’t go in and save the day by wearing Mr. Parker’s costume. My brother’s life, as well as everyone else’s, is on the line. Drew’s given everything he has to make sure I lived. And now—

A.J. stepped out of Peter’s bedroom wearing the black Spider-Man costume, holding the mask in his hand. On his wrists were the backup pair of webshooters that Peter kept in case his others were damaged.

It’s time to return the favor. If those bastards want Spider-Man, that’s what they’re going to get. I’ve lost too many people already. They’re not taking the one person I have left.

ACCEPT NO SUBSTITUTES

By Tobias Christopher

The F.E.A.S.T. Project Headquarters

Rhett Carson was lying on the floor in a pool of his own blood. He’d been shot by the gun-toting men who’d broken in as an example that they weren’t playing around. He could already feel the wound healing, thanks the goblin serum that Norman Osborn had him injected with. Rhett’s alter ego was the Hobgoblin, who had been tasked with getting close to Peter Parker’s Aunt May.

It was May who had asked Rhett to volunteer his time at the F.E.A.S.T. Project to help the less fortunate, and he had been glad to do it, but having been shot at point blank range kind of soured things. He knew he’d recover but he also knew he had to get out of the building and bring the Hobgoblin back to kick the ass of the guys who’d shot him.

May was standing over him, trying to keep the bleeding down. The old woman was showing genuine concern for him. Ever since he had moved in next door, she had seen the good in the young man and was glad to have him around. “It’ll be alright, we’ll get you to a hospital soon,” replied May in a calm tone. She was hoping that Ben would come in at any moment and save everyone. Peter was headed toward L.A. to reconcile with Mary Jane, so that just left Ben Reilly to put on Spider-Man’s costume to save the day.

“Hour’s almost up,” said the gang’s leader as he looked amongst the crowd of hostages, “and no sign of Spider-Man. Now, which of you wants to be the next to pay for Spider-Man’s tardiness?”

The gunman pointed his gun at various people and stopped at Drew. “You’ll do.”

A.J. arrived at the back of the building, looking up at the fire escape as he pulled off his street clothes, revealing the black Spider-Man costume underneath. He stashed the clothes in his backpack and hid it behind the dumpster. The police had gathered out in front of the building, trying to negotiate with the gunmen into letting the hostages go and making it impossible for him to go in through the front.

I have no spider-strength, spider-sense or any powers in general. I am pretty athletic, but having stitches in my side from being impaled is going to mean that jumping around a lot isn’t an option. However, I do have a few tricks up my sleeve.

Suction cups in the gloves and boots were something I was able to add at the last minute on the subway here. They’re not enough to let me stick to surfaces for long, but it’ll let me fool these guys into thinking I’m the real deal. And years of playing lazer tag and paintball (and kicking Drew’s ass every time) will hopefully give me good aim with Peter’s webshooters. This might get me killed, but I couldn’t live with myself knowing that a group of people were in danger and I did nothing.

A.J. climbed the fire escape and found an open window on the second floor. Climbing in, he looked out the door to make sure the coast was clear before proceeding to the staircase.

I’m starting to know what Mr. Parker feels like whenever a situation like this comes up, although it’s probably easier on him since he’s actually got the powers and skills to go charging in. I’m just a kid from Brooklyn with no real powers whatsoever. But, powers or not, this kid’s not going to let some gun toting thugs kill a bunch of innocent people.

The Daily Bugle

“Jonah, Drew’s in the middle of that crisis situation!” Robbie told him as he watched the news.

“He’d better be getting some good shots of the action,” said Jonah as he smoked his cigar while he watched the report.

“Aren’t you even the least bit concerned that he might get killed?” asked Robbie with a raised eyebrow.

“That kid is Spider-Man’s personal photographer, there’s no way that web crawling psycho’s going to let him get hurt,” replied Jonah as Robbie left the office. Jonah sighed as he looked out the window. “If anything happens to that kid, there’s going to be hell to pay.”

A.J. was watching the gunmen as they selected Drew out of the hostages. Alright, A.J., you can do this. Do this for your big brother. It’s now or never.

Holding out his right hand, he pressed down on the web shooter and shot a ball of impacted webbing toward the gunman. The ball hit him in the back of the head, causing him to stumble. “What the–”

Gotta work on that aim, thought A.J. as he jumped out of the stairwell. Well, the cat’s out of the bag now!

“It’s Spider-Man! He’s here!” shouted the head gunman. “Kill him!”

“Sorry, boys, spider hunting season doesn’t start until fall,” said A.J., trying his best to disguise his voice. He was close enough to the first gunman to knock the gun out of his hand and kick him in the stomach hard enough to bring him to his knees. The adrenaline rush is really kicking in. Just hope it lasts long enough to get me through this.

While A.J. was dealing with the gunmen, Rhett saw this as an opportunity and snuck away. There was a Goblin lair not too far away. It was one that he rarely used since Osborn had started supplying him with gadgets, but it would do. Meanwhile, Drew was snapping all the pictures he could of the action, knowing that’s what Jameson would want.

The second gunman ran toward A.J. but the costumed boy held out his hands and fired both webshooters at once, pinning the man to the wall in a large amount of impacted webbing. Two down and –

CLICK!

A.J. found himself with the third gunman’s gun pressed against the back of his head.

“Say goodnight, Gracie,” said the last gunman before he felt a sharp pain in the back of the head. As he fell to the ground, Aunt May stood over him with a pot from the soup kitchen.

“Is everyone all right?” asked A.J., still hiding his voice. “Good, then I’ll leave these scumbags for the police.”

He headed toward the back exit, but before he could get out, May grabbed him by the arm.

“Not so fast,” said May as she held a firm grip on arm, one that you wouldn’t expect from a little old lady. She had heard this Spider-Man’s voice and it definitely wasn’t Ben’s and, since she knew that Peter was out of town… “Who are you?”

Not too far away, a cackling was heard as the sewer grate opened and the Hobgoblin rose up out of the ground. Spider hunting season was coming early…

Norman Osborn was watching the report on the news, smiling to himself. He’d known that Peter Parker was out of town, which was the main reason behind setting this whole situation up. All he had to do was wait until the Scarlet Spider was otherwise occupied, then strike when the perfect moment came. Having the men he hired shoot the nearly unkillable Rhett would endear him even further with May, and make Peter feel even more worthless when he returned from his trip. He’d ordered the men not to outright kill anyone, only to wound. Osborn had promised to pay their legal fees and get them off if they were arrested, something he had no intention of actually doing. He just wanted to make Peter Parker feel miserable; it didn’t matter who got hurt.

Then the reports started coming in about Spider-Man having saved the day at the same time of the reports of the Defenders still on their other mission. Osborn leaned closer as he started formulating even more devious ideas. “A new player? This is interesting…”

“Who are you?” asked May as she held tight onto A.J.’s arm.

“Me? Uh…your friendly neighborhood Spider-Man?” asked A.J. innocently.

May reached for his mask when Drew called out to her. “Hey, where’s the guy that got shot?” asked Drew from the front room. A.J. used the opportunity to pull away from May and run as fast as he could out of the back door before she could stop him. May walked back to the front where she saw the blood in the spot where Rhett had been laying.

“How did Rhett manage to get out of the building?” asked May as she started to worry about the young man.

Meanwhile, the police stormed in, ready to arrest the hostage takers. Thinking the third man was still unconscious, they got the first two gunmen cuffed. Meanwhile, the third was reaching for his gun when he opened his eyes. He aimed it at May as Drew saw what was happening, ready to take out the old woman who’d humiliated him.

“Die you old–” the gunman said as he fired the gun.

“No!” shouted Drew as he pushed May out of the way, pushing them both to the ground as the officers grabbed the gunman and forced the gun out of his hand.

“Are you all right?” the officer asked as he helped May up.

“Yes, this young man saved my life,” replied May as she noticed a small pool of blood forming under the back of Drew’s head as he lay on the ground. “Oh my God!”

That was close, thought A.J. as he ran down the alley. Now I just have to change back to my street clothes and get home before Drew–

Before A.J. could reach the dumpster, he was hit hard from behind and flew into the wall before smashing to the ground. Holding his side, A.J. felt the pain of his previous injury, hoping he hadn’t blown any of the stitches. He heard a horrible laughter coming from behind him as he got up.

“I told you that I’d be back, Spider-Man,” said the Hobgoblin as he hovered over A.J., who was trying to catch his breath…

To Be Continued…