Chapter Text
"Ladies and Gentlemen, it is my highest honor to announce this year's graduating class from Empire State University."
Curt Conners stood on a small stage set up in the middle of the college football field, standing before a podium, a microphone, and a large audience seated in folding chairs in the field, containing the family's of the graduating students.
Curt tugged as his purple tie then adjusted the white folded up coat sleeve of his missing right arm before continuing, "The students graduating today have dedicated their time, their spirit, not to mention their hard earned cash-" the small joke caused a ripple of chuckles to echo out from the crowd. "-to the pursuit of science, to the pursuit of understanding and bettering the world around them. A pursuit that, excusing my bias as a fellow lover of the field, I insist is the most noble pursuit possible. I won't bore you with the difficulties that come with pursuing science, most, if not all of you, know plenty how difficult this field is given how hard this class had to work to make it here. Yet I'll insist that you recognize the great achievements that has come from many like me and this class, and realize that this class will undoubtedly blow those achievements out of the water in the coming years."
Curt paused for a moment to catch a full breath of air after saying so much, letting out a quick exhale before contuing on.
"Before we get to the part I know just about everyone before me and everyone in this year's class is waiting for, I'd like to highlight one student. One student who won this year's annual Fleming Award, named after the man who created Penicillin, this award is given to one student who's senior project was deemed most likely to change the world for the better. This one student, an odd mixture of confusing behavior and unbridled brilliance, I and everyone else on the Fleming Award Committee, believe that Peter Parker's project will change the world for the better. Welcoming Mr. Parker to the stand."
I ran onto the stage in my cap and gown, absolutely beaming with joy as the crowd clapped for me.
I couldn't believe it, I still can't, I doubt I'll ever believe it. I actually finished college, won an award, all while being Spider-Man, while helping the Avengers every now and then, while trying and failing to have a social life, I somehow still did it.
As soon as I actually placed a foot on stage, I clapped my hand into a strong firm handshake with Dr. Connors. Connors pulled me in for an equally firm hug, one I happily gave back. During the hug, Connors quietly whispered in my ear, "This isn't because of what you've done for me, but nonetheless, thank you for everything."
Dr. Connors, my mentor, known to exceptionally few as The Lizard, was one of the first 'villains' I fought once getting into ESU. After he turned himself into the Lizard trying to regrow his missing limb, being cured, and forced back into becoming the Lizard more times then I can count, he lost everything. His wife left and took his son with her out of fear of their safety. He lost his family. A month after the divorce was finalized, I caught Connors in his office in shambles. He was alone, all because he wanted to heal himself and others like him. I had to help him. I told him who I was, that he wasn't alone, that we can work together to fix this. We worked for months on end to purge the Lizard DNA still in his system, and after a few dozen sleepless nights, we did it.
I insisted he not do anything in return, especially with grades, I wanted to earn what I got, but ever since then I always had the good doctor in my corner.
"I'd do it again in a heart beat doc." I whispered back, before we both ended the hug, given a simple nod in respect to each other.
I stepped over to the podium and mic, looking out over the crowd ahead of me. A nervous chill went up my spine as the crowd's eyes all met directly on me. Oddly enough, I wish I had my mask on, being confident as Spider-Man was a hell of a lot easier then being confident as Peter Parker. My eyes scanned the entire crowd in barely hidden abject horror, before my eyes landed on the one person I knew I could always trust to have my back. My Aunt May, her tired sunken eyes filled with nothing but pure pride, her smile as wide and infectious as ever. I couldn't help but smile back.
"Thanks, I think, for the introduction Dr. Connors, and of course thank you to everyone for helping me get to where I am now on this stage. I can't imagine where I'd be if I didn't have my Aunt May, and my many teachers helping me along the way." I said, beginning my speech, as confidently as I could.
"As Dr. Connors said, I got into this field, specifically Biochemistry, because I wanted to use it to change the world, to help people in a way no one else could. When it was time to start my senior project, I thought of what I wanted to change, not just in the world but in my own life. I thought of the man I wish was here to see where I am now, my Uncle Ben."
Aunt May's mouth lightly opened in surprise, I hadn't told anyone what my speech would be about, I thought it'd be a nice surprise for her, and him, if I honored Uncle Ben. She looked like she was about to cry tears of joy.
"My Uncle Ben was shot in a home invasion. I wasn't there, and...and I always wished I was. I wished that I could have done something to save him, I couldn't stop thinking about if I did one or two things differently then it might not have happened. I'm told that's pretty normal for grief, but I decided to use that incident as inspiration. My senior project is what I call the Bonding Epidermis Nurture Spray, also called the B.E.N Spray. The B.E.N Spray was inspired by the skin glue you might see some surgeons use to close small cuts, but I modified it to A. pressurized into a spray and B. be quick acting and solid enough to quickly close gunshot or stabbing wounds. This piece of biotechnology can help keep a victim of a violent crime stable enough for an ambulance to arrive and take them to get the life saving surgery they need."
My eyes didn't go anywhere near the actual crowd, only focused on my Aunt May, a silent crying mess, doing her best to keep from making a scene as she pulled a small package of tissues out from her purse. I spend my freetime saving people, I take pride in this, but this moment right here? I've never felt more proud of my own actions.
I went on to the demonstration part.
"But actions speak louder than words, Dr. Connors you have the demonstration set?" I asked, turning to the doc to see a confused expression. He whispered back, "I thought you grabbed it, it wasn't in the lab."
I put a hand over the mic before replying, "I didn't see it there, I assumed you grabbed it. Where did the B.E.N spray-"
My eyes went wide, my spider-sense going off the charts screaming about danger. I turned back to the crowd, scanning the nearby area for what my spider-sense was yelling about. No one in the crowd looked suspicious, we were in the middle of a wide open football field with nothing but empty sky above us, the football field was surrounded by a grated fence, there couldn't be anything wro-...Oh No.
"TRUCK! Move! Everyone move!" I yelled pointing as a black armored truck rammed through the grated fence, breaking it open like it was cardboard.
The truck, with a NYPD armored truck with a red 'HA HA' graffitied over the gold colored NYPD logo, drove directly onto the football field. The crowd jumped out of their seats in a panic, running to the sides, as the truck barreled straight for the group of fold out seats. My eyes darted to where I last saw Aunt May in the crowd, quickly spotting her running off to the side out of the truck's path with the rest of the crowd, thank god.
The armored truck smashed through the metal chairs, crushing most and sending a few flying, before the truck suddenly slammed the breaks, skidding across the field a few more feet. The truck parked directly in the middle of ruined seating arrangement, the crowd split in half, one half on the right side, the other on the left of the truck.
"What the hell was that!?" Someone yelled out from the crowd, as everyone yelled similar statements.
The driver and the front seat passenger both threw open their doors, climbing out and showing everyone the clown masks they had strapped to their faces, and the most important part, the tommy guns they had in hand.
The clown masked driver held his gun straight up at the air, firing a full auto burst into the air, causing the crowd to scream. "EVERYONE SHUT UP AND LISTEN! NO BODY MOVE OR WE EMPTY THESE THINGS!" He ordered.
I still stood behind the podium in my cap and gown, trying to rack my brain to find a way to get out of sight. I need to get somewhere I can change, somewhere I can put the mask on and get to work but there was nothing! There wasn't any cover, I was standing on a stage in the middle of a wide open football field, there wasn't anything to hide behind, nowhere to run to and secretly emerge as Spider-Man. Oh god, but May! If anything happened to her- Damn it all!
The back doors of the armored truck threw themselves open, a few more masked gunmen running out along with a woman in a black and red jester-like spandex outfit accompanied by a near cartoonishly preportioned giant mallet.
Normally this would surprise most folk, but...yeah I've seen weirder.
"Keep em' back boys!" The Jester ordered, skipping out from behind the truck to the front of the army of armed clowns. "I'm only gonna ask this once before I let my boys squeeze their triggers, and trust me they're been dying for some action! Where's the science geek Parker!?"
My eyebrows raised in confused shock, what the hell does the circus want with me? Sure Spider-Man would make a hell of an acrobat, but 'science geek Parker?'
I looked into the crowd, my eyes meeting Aunt May's, a silent plea to keep quiet from her reaching me. I wished I could, but I wouldn't be Uncle Ben's nephew if I kept quiet would I?
"C'mon where is he!? Peter picked a peck of pickled peppers Parker! Where is he!?" The Jester repeated, surprisingly saying the tounge twister flawlessly, I wonder if she practiced before coming here.
I cleared my throat and said into the still hooked up mic, "Right here digital circus."
The 5 total armed clowns and The Jester, looked directly at me, The Jester clearly not happy about my comment.
"Mr.J wants a word with ya Pickled Peppers!" She yelled, pointing her gigantic mallet at me to accent her point, seemingly not caring or noticing the weight of the mallet.
"Should I know who that is?" I said with a level of confidence that visibly bewildered and confused the crowd.
Right right, gotta play the scard college graduate right now.
"Look, just don't hurt anyone and I'll go with you." I said into the mic, adding a slight fearful quiver to my voice to help sell the part.
"Atta boy Pickled Peppers! Grab 'em boys!" The Jester ordered, as two of the armed clowns began to run up to the stage.
I turned my head back to Dr. Connors, who stood on the stage still, stunned in a mixture of shock and fear, taking a second before meeting my eye. I gave him a silent, confident nod. He knew who I was, that I could handle this, but I knew this was also objectively scary for anybody that wasn't a superhero. After he saw my confident stature and composure he relaxed some.
The armed clowns climbed up on stage, both of them grabbing my arms, as they began to drag me away I kept talking into the mic for the last few seconds I had left.
"Everyone stay calm. It'll all be okay, just remain c- Alright alright stop yanking me!" I said, my voice getting quieter as I was dragged further and further away from the mic.
I sat in the back of their stolen armored truck, shoulder to shoulder with the armed clowns that grabbed me, with their Jester leader sitting across from me, the driver and the front seat passenger sitting behind bulletproof glass.
"Better get comfy Pickled Peppers, we got a long ride to Gotham." She said, casually dropping one of the worst pieces of news I've ever heard.
"Wait Gotham!? That's in Jersey!" I exclaimed, my little NYC heart beginning to break at the thought. "Can you guys just shoot me now? Save us all the heartache of going to- blegh- Jersey."
"Not till you tell Mr.J about your science fair project." The Jester answered, rolling her eyes at my completely fair and reasonable concerns about New Jersey.
"Wait, Mr.J is your boss. What does the leader of some criminal clowns care about the B.E.N spray?" I asked, tilting my head. "It's gonna be in the back of ambulances, hopefully country wide, hell I wanna get it in pharmacies for regular people to buy, your boss could've just waited a few months instead of kidnapping me and stealing my project." I said, reasonably figuring out that these literal clowns are the reason my project went missing.
"You'll find out when we get there Pickled Peppers, now shush! I had to get up nice and early to make it out here, mama Harley needs her beauty sleep!" The Jester, or Harley, said while leaning back against the outer wall of the armored van, closing her clown makeup covered eyes shut.
"You have got to be kidding me." I scowled, as suddenly the man to my left gave a sharp elbow to my stomach.
"The boss lady's sleepin' Pickled Pep- Guy!" He said, giving up on the tongue twister nickname Harley gave me.
It took a lot of strength, but I was able to force myself to actually close my big fat mouth for once.
Great. I'm stuck in the back of a police armored truck, between smelly clowns with guns, what a normal life you have Parker. Anything I do now would either get me shot or reveal who I am, I have no idea where I'm heading, who this Mr.J is, or anything else about my current situation.
So why was I so calm?
See, I knew that I would be busy with the graduation and getting my Fleming Award, so I asked for someone to cover my 'shift' of patrolling NYC. That someone, with a very close contact to the NYPD, undoubtedly knows that an armored truck went missing, and probably has heard about what happened at my graduation by now.
So in any minute now...........
Roughly 15 minutes after my conversation, if you could call it that, with Harley something began to happen up in the driver's cabinet, behind the bulletproof glass. The passenger side door opened by itself, scaring the red nose off the armed clown sitting beside the driver.
"What the hell did you do now!?" The driver yelled, continuing to drive straight.
"I don't know! I swear I didn't touch it!" The passenger seat clown yelled back, trying to pull the door shut again.
All of a sudden, the guy in the passenger seat had his seat belt unbuckled and was yanked out of the vehicle out into the street.
"Holy-! We lost Tony!" The driver said in shock, doing his best to keep driving despite the open passenger door.
"What's going on up there!?" Harley shouted, apparently not actually asleep.
"I don't know! He just went flyin'! Do we go get him!?" The driver asked, keeping one hand on the wheel and using his other hand to gesture as he talked.
"He probably broke his neck out there already! Just keep driving and close the damn door!" Harley barked, pointing aggressively at the still open passenger door.
All I could do was smile quietly, I had figured out exactly what was going on as soon as that guy went flying out. Fortunately, I also knew that the poor clown undoubtedly landed safely too.
Harley noticed my smile and turned her aggression towards me. "What's so funny Pickled!?" She threatened.
"What? You guys are dressed as clowns, aren't clowns supposed to be funny?" I sassed back, a cheeky smirk covering my face without an ounce of control.
The armed clown on my left elbowed me in the gut again without a moment of hesitation.
Worth it.
The driver wobbled the car to the side a bit, forcing the door to close naturally before continuing to drive normally. "You don't think it's the Ba-" the driver began, only to be cut off by-
"Don't even say it!" Harley ordered. "He's in Gotham, and we aren't anywhere near there yet!"
"Does New York have a Bat?" The driver asked, his tone betraying a sense of fear. "I'm telling you Tony ain't touch the door, he even had his seat belt on! Something weird is goin' on!"
"I'm not a Bat, but you're not far off." Said an unknown voice, or rather unknown to everyone besides me.
Sitting in the passenger seat appeared out of thin air my back up, Spider-Man 2.0, in his black suit with red webbing, large and wide white eye lenses, and having physical stature of a particularly skinny 16 year old.
"WHAT THE-!?" The driver shouted.
Miles Morales, my would be savior today.
2 years ago now, Oscorp tried to recreate the spider that gave me my powers, and somehow they actually did it. Not that they got the chance to revel in that. By some odd coincidence, Miles' uncle, the Second Prowler, broke into Oscorp to steal confidential information. Somehow that one spider hitched a ride with him, and the next day when Miles' was visiting his uncle, he got bit. Oscorp never knew they actually succeeded, they scrapped the project thankfully, never knowing that they actually really had made another Spider-Man.
After Miles started developing spider powers he went out and tried to find me specifically. I was fighting the Green Goblin at the time and I was losing, bad. Osborn enhanced his Goblin serum, made him stronger, faster, more insane. For a second, I thought I wasn't gonna make it, but all of a sudden some random kid with a paper bag with sharpied on spidey lenses for a mask jumped in to help. He didn't do much, it was his first fight after all, but the distraction alone was enough to help me end the fight.
Afterwards, we talked and he told me he was bit by a random spider and got the same powers as me, we only found out where the spider came from by complete accident when I was hacking an Oscorp sever to track the Goblin.
He's young, still inexperienced, but he's doing better then I was at his age. Plus, he has a few extra powers that I don't.
Such as that little invisibility he was just using.
"Killer clowns, that's a new one!" Spider-Man said, sitting in the passenger seat of the armored truck like it was just another Tuesday.
"What are you waiting for!? Ice 'em!" Harley ordered helplessly beind the bulletproof glass keeping the back cabinet of the truck separated from the front compartment.
The driver went for a handgun tucked by the side of his seat, only for Spider-Man to cut that short by firing a small web-line onto the driver's forehead, using the web-line to pull the driver's face into my rescuer's fist.
The driver fell limp, his foot thankfully being off the pedal, as Spider-Man scanned over the car controls.
"Okay! Parking brake, parking brake, oh where are you park- Ah!" He said, finding the correct lever to pull. "Hope you guys got seat belts back there!"
"Wait hold on-!" I began, trying and failing to grab onto something before the armored truck suddenly lurched forward, skidding to a stop in the middle of the road as everyone in the back, myself Harley, and the other three armed clowns were thrown into chaos. I had to actively stop myself from using my wall-clinging abilities to catch myself as the sharp stop of the vehicle threw everyone into the air, fully off the vehicle's floor.
When I slammed back into the floor of the vehicle I....I admittedly went unconscious after smacking my fat head off one of the seats.
I came to a few short moments later.
The armored truck was fully stopped in the middle of a busy street, the doors wide open letting in the blinding day light.
Spider-Man held out his hand to me, bent down on his knee. Before I took it I looked around and saw the armed clowns and Harley covered in webbing, stuck to the walls of the armored truck.
I grabbed the hand Spider-Man held out, pulling mysef back up onto my feet.
"Spider-Man, pleasure to meet." I said, holding a hand to the side of my head, never letting a small concussion enjoy some dramatic irony.
"Mr.Parker, your Aunt was worried about you." He said back, also getting a kick out of the situation.
"They're all okay right? Nothing else happened at ESU?" I asked, walking out of the armored vehicle into the crowded and, due to the truck being stuck here, blocked off street.
Spider-Man followed me out. "Signs of a burglary, someone stole your senior project, probably someone workin' with these guys, but besides that everyone's safe." He explained, still keeping the secret of us knowing each other while properly laying out the situation.
"Yeah I figured. They wanted me to meet some guy called Mr.J." I said, the incapacitated clowns and Harley all trying to yell at us through the webbing covering their mouths. "The police can handle the investigation. Right now I gotta get back to my Aunt. I hate to ask a big time super hero for an uber but-"
"Don't worry about it. Just don't puke on the suit, that's happened a lot more times then you'd think." Spider-Man said with a nod, barely waiting a second before wrapping his arm under my own and around my shoulder.
"I'll try not to-" Suddenly Spider-Man launched into the air while holding me, not letting me get another word in before getting going. "WOAH! SLOW DOWN-!"
Miles and I talked while he swung my back to ESU to meet Aunt May.
"So! How'd I do?" Miles asked, his smile audible behind his face covering mask.
"Pretty good, but I do have notes." I answered, no longer pretending to be bothered by the high speed motion of web-swinging. "Took out the driver and his passenger well, 10/10 on those parts, but you don't want to use the parking brake to stop a truck if you have another option."
Miles let out a grunt of exertion, launching us high into the air with a long and fast swing. "Because then the people get all jostled if they don't have a seat belt." Miles correctly concluded, given that I did, indeed, get a concussion.
"Exactly! If there's no other option then its a good solution, but climbing over and pushing the break with your hand or moving the driver's foot onto the break work better. That way you can slow the truck down before you stop." I explained, the fast winds web-swinging brought doing little to stop my Spider-Man lesson. "Besides for that though you did great! Did your dad tell you about the truck?"
"He mentioned it at breakfast, his leg healed up okay by the way, I know you were worried about him." Miles reassured, referring to the last time I worked with Jeff. Ran into him when I came to fight off The Spot.
"That's good. I saw it myself and I still can't believe some random villain of the week to put him out of work for a month." I said, shaking my head in disbelief.
"So! What do you think about these clown guys? What'd they want with you and your project?" Miles asked, casually changing the topic.
"No clue! The B.E.N spray is for first aid, why does some clown crime boss from Gotham want it?" I said, just as confused as Miles seemingly was.
"Gotham? Isn't that in...ugh not Jersey." Miles scolded, having the same reaction I did.
"Right!?" I exclaimed, glad to have my very valid feelings...validated. "I'm gonna try to stop by the Daily Bugle, I could probably convince JJ to fund a trip out to do some investigative journalism"
"I thought you were gonna quit after you got your degree!" Miles replied, repeating my initial plans.
"Yeah, but I just got it! JJ definitely knows I'm not staying much longer, he ain't happy but he is understanding." I said, somehow describing JJ as 'understanding'
"We're talking about the same JJ right?" Miles checked, knowing exactly the kinda guy JJ is.
"I know I know. Figure I'll pitch the Gotham trip as one last reporting job for me." I decided out loud.
"Long as May doesn't freak out about sending you to Jersey, especially after being kidnapped." Miles reminded me.
"We're New Yorkers, everyone here freaks out about going to New Jersey!"