Well, here we are, in L.A. Who am I? I’m Peter Parker, your friendly neighborhood Spider-Man!

I wanted to reconcile with my wife, Mary Jane, so together with my friends Flash and Felicia, we trekked across the country so I could talk to her. But what was supposed to be a simple reunion turned into a job for my alter-ego when I had to rescue a young actor from being kidnapped. It turns out the kid’s being targeted for some reason, and Mary Jane’s appointed herself the kid’s protector. And since I’ve always swore to protect MJ, I have to protect the protector from… I don’t even know what.

Oh, well, it beats sitting around New York and trading punches with the Vulture.

WELCOME TO SPIDEY-WOOD

Part II

By Tobias Christopher

Several Years Ago

Another night, another big score… The infamous burglar known only as the Cat took the thousands of dollars worth of loot he’d just plundered from the high rise apartment building toward the van parked in the alley. He’d hide it in an underground cache until the heat died down, when he’d be able to fence the stolen goods for money that would pay for his daughter’s future.

After loading up the van, the Cat was ready to make his getaway. That was when he heard a woman screaming for help from not too far away. Every instinct told him to ignore it and make his getaway before it was too late, but he couldn’t fight it. He had to help whoever was in trouble.

Not too far away, a woman was lying on the ground, clutching a newborn baby in her arms. She was suffering from stab wounds around her body, as the attackers weren’t after her. It didn’t matter if the woman lived; all they wanted was the child.

As they were about to finish her, the Cat struck from behind. There were four armed attackers but none of them were prepared for the Cat’s lightning fast reflexes, easily taking them out. While they were on the ground, the Cat helped the woman and her baby to the van.

“You’re badly hurt, I’ll drop you off at the hospital,” the Cat told her.

“No, no hospital,” the woman weakly said as she held her baby. “Please.”

The Cat sighed as he drove down the street. He knew of an underground doctor who handled things like this. He’d drop her off and leave her and the baby. The last thing the Cat needed was to get involved in something like he’d just stepped into.

Now

Riley was on his back as the Black Cat stood over him. She’d tracked him to the studio through the various leads she’d uncovered since finding one of her father’s hidden caches. Several weeks ago, the Black Cat had stumbled upon one of her father’s hidden treasure caches, along with a note that was addressed to Riley, telling him that a bigger treasure cache was awaiting him on his 21st birthday.

“Please, I don’t know what you’re talking about!” said Riley nervously. “I’ve never even heard of the place!”

“Then why would my father leave a note for you personally?” asked the Black Cat as she picked Riley up by the collar of his shirt. Riley closed his eyes, expecting the worst when a line of webbing attached itself to Riley’s back, pulling him out of her hand.

“Alright, kid, this is the second rescue today,” said Spider-Man as he grabbed Riley and pushed him to the side. “You only get one more freebie, then I’m starting a tab. Cat, I only have one question…what the hell?!”

“This is the kid I’ve been looking for,” Black Cat told him as she pulled out the letter. “He’s the one my father left this letter for.”

“This is your brother?” asked Spider-Man as he looked at Riley, then back at her. “Don’t see the resemblance.”

“My father died before I was born!” Riley told them as he backed up toward the door. “And my mom died when I was little, so I never had parents! I don’t know who this guy is that you’re talking about, but he’s not my father and I don’t know where this treasure cache is!”

“Cat, I believe him,” said Spider-Man as he looked at her. “Look, we need to just calmly talk about this. You’re not going to murder this kid just to find some buried treasure.”

“Can I–”

“No, you can’t rough him up, either,” Spider-Man quickly interrupted.

Several Years Ago

Walter Hardy hadn’t planned on it, but he had quickly fallen into a relationship with the woman after helping her that night. It turned out that she had been on the run from a cult, escaping just shortly after giving birth to her child, a boy named Riley.

Walter had helped the woman get a new identity and life in New York, all while continuing his night life as the Cat, a world class burglar. He’d also been spending time with his other family, including his young daughter, Felicia. He knew that his two families could never meet but, if they did, Walter would hope that Felicia would care for Riley like a real brother.

The affair had carried on for several years, as Walter had watched both Felicia and Riley grow, making an attempt to guide them both while stashing away his stolen loot in hidden caches to provide for Felicia and her mother should something ever happen to him.

It was Riley’s fifth birthday as Walter was coming to see him. In his hand was a wrapped toy (stolen of course) but in his pocket was something much more valuable: a locket that he had given to Felicia when she was younger had broken and he was taking it to have it fixed, something he’d planned on doing after seeing Riley and his mother.

As Walter approached the door, he saw it had been kicked in. Running in, he quickly saw that the woman he’d been carrying on affair with was on the floor, dead in a pool of her own blood. After getting over the initial shock, he wondered where Riley was.

The entire apartment had been torn apart, with nothing left standing. Whoever had been there was obviously looking for Riley, leaving nothing untouched. Running down to the basement, where the search had also been conducted, destroying everything in the process, Walter opened a secret passage in the wall. Riley’s mother had begged him to add that feature, fearing that something like this might happen.

As the passage slid open, Walter found Riley sleeping peacefully. The boy was unaware that his mother was upstairs, dead because of the people who had come for him.

Today

“The kid’s not going anywhere,” Peter promised Mary Jane as they stood just offset while Riley was filming his scenes. “Even if whoever’s here gets past us, they still need to get past Felicia.”

“I still can’t believe you brought her along,” said Mary Jane as she drank her coffee.

“MJ, I swear, nothing’s going on between us,” Peter told her as he stood there. “Hell, nothing’s been going on, period, since you’ve been gone, and you know how many villainesses I run across on a weekly basis. Why, just a few weeks ago there was this insane chick with a large hairdryer–”

“Pete, I think it’s sweet that came all the way out here,” MJ said as she stared into his eyes, “but there’s a lot more than distance separating us and it’s going to take a lot more than traveling across the country to fix what’s broken.”

“But I love you,” said Peter as he took her hand. “Isn’t that a start?”

“Let’s keep Riley safe for now, and we’ll see where we are after that,” said MJ as she pulled away from him.

“I need to get some new parts for my webshooters,” said Peter, making sure no one else was listening. “I made the mistake of leaving the bag in the room at the last hotel, and while I was out Flash got a little too excited watching a late night movie and when I came back, the bag and its contents were covered in–”

“Pete, ew!”

“What? He dropped an entire tray of nacho cheese all over my bag,” Peter finished. “Luckily the webshooters weren’t badly damaged.”

“Well, the special effects department isn’t far from here, maybe you could find a few spare parts there,” said MJ. “With the movie nearing the end of filming, they’re just going to trash most of the stuff anyway.”

“Thanks,” said Peter as he looked at his watch. “I won’t be long. Felicia’s around, keeping an eye on things in case I lose track of time.”

As Peter rushed off, MJ sighed. She hated to admit, but she did miss having Peter around, even if Spider-Man still came first in his life.

Flash stood in the boxing ring set of ‘Real Steel Magnolias’ wearing a pair of gold boxing shorts and black boots as famed elderly actress Ruby Dee entered the ring.

“You’re in this movie, too?” asked Flash as the cameras got ready to start rolling. “Don’t worry, I won’t hurt you or anything, I was a pretty good boxer in high sch–”

“ACTION!” shouted the director.

Flash looked away for a split second but when he turned back Ruby Dee’s fist flew into Flash’s jaw, sending him flying back into the ropes. What followed for the next ten minutes of filming was nothing short of the most jaw breaking, brutal, violent beatdown in the history of film. Never letting up for a single second, the elderly woman let Flash have everything she had, and then some.

When the director finally yelled cut, Flash fell to his knees, then onto his face, bloodied and beaten. Ruby Dee kneeled down and smiled at him. “You remind me of a young Marlon Brando. Meet me in my dressing room and I’ll show you my ‘Streetcar Named Desire’.”

Years Ago

Walter had no choice but to put Riley into hiding. There were dangerous people after him and Walter knew he couldn’t raise the boy himself, and asking Felicia and her mother to take the boy in was right out of the question, so having the boy underground with people that would keep him safe was the only option.

But Walter felt guilty about the boy losing his mother. He felt there was more he could have done to protect them both and he had failed both Riley and his mother. But there was one thing he could do to at least ensure that Riley had a future to look forward to.

Walter took the boy to a contact, one who specialized in hypnotic suggestions. Walter had two hypnotic suggestions put into Riley’s subconscious. The first one would reveal itself on Riley’s sixteenth birthday, revealing a small hidden cache of hidden treasures. It wasn’t much but it would get him by for a short while.

Then, on Riley’s eighteenth birthday, a second would reveal itself, leading Riley to a larger cache, one that would set the boy up for life so he’d never have to worry about money again. After the hypnotic suggestions were implanted, Walter left the boy with his new family, hoping the boy would live a full life.

Visiting the second cache one last time, Walter left a note for Riley. As he turned, he didn’t notice as Felicia’s locket fell out of his pocket, landing amongst the treasures. It was shortly after that when Walter himself would finally be brought to justice, spending the remainder of his days behind bars.

Riley’s life with the new family wouldn’t last long, as his foster family would die within a year, landing Riley in the foster care system, eventually ending up in L.A., where he finally fell onto the radar of the cult that had been after him a few years later, who had been keeping an eye on him ever since…

Peter had snuck into the special effects department and, upon turning on the light switch, immediately felt like a kid in a candy store. Everywhere he looked there were gadgets, wires, electronics and everything else a science nerd would wet his pants over.

“It’s like Charlie & the Chocolate Factory, only without a psychotic Gene Wilder,” said Peter as he started messing with the equipment. After a few minutes of tinkering, he got his webshooters fixed, which is when he noticed the prototypes for the Spider-Man movie’s version of the webshooters. “Are you kidding me? These are the cheapest knock-offs I’ve ever seen.”

Grabbing some pieces of wire and a few other pieces lying around, Peter started messing with the prototypes.

“Hey, what are you doing in here?” asked a stagehand as he walked through the door. “You can’t be in–” The man looked at the improved webshooters. “Did you do this?”

“I just–” Peter started to say as the man pushed the button, causing a string of foam webbing to shoot out.

“Come with me,” the stagehand told him.

“I know you’re there,” said MJ as Felicia dropped down to the floor, gracefully landing on her feet without making a sound.

“How’d you know?” asked Felicia as MJ continued to watch Riley filming his scenes.

“You don’t spend the majority of your adult life around super-powered beings and not pick up a thing or two,” MJ replied with her back still turned. “I believe Peter when he says he’s not interested in you, but that doesn’t mean I trust you’re not up to something.”

“I’ve moved past your husband,” Felicia told her. “Truthfully, obsessing over Spider was holding me back. I’ve got bigger things to worry about that chasing after someone who clearly loves someone else. This whole trip Peter hasn’t gone two sentences without mentioning how much he loves and misses you.”

“And what about Riley?” asked MJ as she turned to face Felicia. “He’s a good kid and I won’t let you hurt him for whatever reason you need him for.”

“I don’t plan on hurting him, but I will get the information I need,” Felicia replied.

A car pulled up to the studio gates as the man inside looked at the security guard. “Need to see your I.D.,” said the guard as the person inside the car looked at him.

“No, you don’t,” said the man as he looked at the guard. “You need to let me inside while you go throw yourself off of a bridge.”

The guard didn’t reply he just pushed a button to raise the striped arm allowing the car to pass through. As soon as the car cleared, the man started walking toward the nearest bridge.

Peter was brought to an office where the prototype webshooters were examined.

“You altered the design of these props,” said a man in a business suit. “Before they were pieces of crap, but now they’re fully functional. How did you do that?”

“Technology is my bitch, sir,” Peter told him bluntly.

“If you can do what these idiots I’m actually paying can’t, then I wonder what else you can do,” said the man as he put the props down. “How would you like a job as the lead special effects designer on the Spider-Man movie?”

The scene finished filming as Riley saw Mary Jane and Felicia standing off to the side. He was walking toward them when a clean cut man, dressed in an expensive Armani suit, stepped in-between them. “Riley?” asked the man as he looked at the teenager. “You are to come with me.”

Riley just stared blankly at the man before blinking, letting the suggestion sink in. “Okay.”

“Hold it right there,” said Mary Jane as she put a hand on the man’s shoulder. “Riley’s not going anywhere with you!”

“Oh, but he is,” the man said as he looked at Mary Jane. “And you and your friend are going to–”

Before the man could finish his sentence, Felicia punched the man in the jaw. “I know a mind control job when I see one.”

The man snapped his fingers as a group of entranced security guards ran in, fully armed. They rushed toward Felicia and Mary Jane, who had no choice but to start fending them off. While they were distracted, the man took Riley’s hand and pulled him toward the door, which was when Flash arrived. He looked bruised and beaten, but was still aware enough to know something was going on when he saw Mary Jane and Felicia fighting the security guards.

“What the hell is–” Flash started to ask as the man looked at him.

“Come with us, I’ll need a bullet shield in case of trouble,” said the man as Flash walked behind them, unable to control himself.

As soon as they were gone, Felicia and Mary Jane looked at each other. “What do you say, put aside the differences to kick everyone’s ass and save the kid?” asked Felicia, tossing off her coat to reveal her Black Cat costume underneath.

“Truce,” said Mary Jane as the two started working in unison to put down the security guards. When they were finally in one huge heap on the floor, they started running for the exit. By the time they got outside, they saw a car rushing off.

“Find Peter,” said Black Cat as she started climbing a ladder on the side of a building. “I’m going after this clown.”

As the car drove down the street, Flash and Riley were sitting the backseat, unmoving. They were completely under the man’s trance, not even realizing what was happening.

“I have him,” said the man into his cell phone as he was about to pass under a bridge. “I’ll be there in five–”

It was then that the security guard fell from the bridge and hitting the car’s windshield, causing it to swerve off the road and into a ditch.

Just then, Black Cat arrived, having been following the car from the rooftops. She ran up to the car, opening the door to find the man was gone. Flash and Riley were laying in the backseat, having been knocked unconscious in the crash. As she saw how injured Flash was, Black Cat realized that she really was worried about him. Before she could get to him, a hand grabbed her shoulder. She turned around and was met by the gaze of the man’s hypnotic stare.

“It looks like I just found a new hostage,” said the man with a smirk as he entranced Black Cat before she could resist.

Peter was heading back toward the set when Mary Jane rushed up to him.

“Peter, where the hell have you been?” asked Mary Jane. “Something’s happened.”

“Don’t tell me…they cast Carrot Top as Spider-Man?” replied Peter.

“No, Flash and Riley were kidnapped,” Mary Jane told him. “Felicia went after them, but they could be miles away by now.”

“Relax, I planted a tracer on Riley in case something happened,” Peter said as he looked at Mary Jane. “It’ll lead us directly to the kid, where ever he is, along with Flash and Felicia. Everything’s going to be okay. We’ll save everyone before someone gets hurt.”

Having taken Felicia and Riley, the man left Flash in the backseat of the car in the ditch. Flash was broken, bleeding and unconscious with no one around to help.

To Be Continued…