Location: New York City
Date: Friday, January 13th, 1989
Mark POV:
Mark was moving across the city rooftops in relative silence. While doing so was good exercise and helped train his powers, his mind was elsewhere.
The liquid assets of the New York criminal world was only a small part of their total assets, just a couple percent. But it had still been about $1.24 billion.
Now it was his.
Mark had no real expectation about the amount one way or the other, but it had been much more than he thought and also depressingly high. Given the amount of money they had available, he was surprised that the crime lords were not that much of a threat in the comics, at least from what he could remember. He would have thought they could buy some villain's tech, start mass producing it, and become a major faction or something.
'Or maybe they tried and were squashed by the Avengers.' he thought.
Either way, he had been surprised and exhilarated. Having been less than rich when he died before coming here, Mark had enjoyed having a little luxury after the last few months of his, now destroyed, abandoned house. He had spent this week in a hotel penthouse enjoying some good food and the best sleep he'd had in this world by far.
But after a day or two, the question of what he was going to do had returned, and the money was only part of it. For the first time he was in a position to try and bring about a change in the world if he wanted.
However, this week had revealed that he was not sure exactly what he should do.
The first thing that came to mind was to join the Avengers when they form, and the idea was tempting. But his conversation with Cortana before, about using the money to help people and do some good, was still echoing in his mind.
Sure, being an Avenger, going on adventures, fighting villains, and having fun all sounded great. But he wanted to do something more than just that. However, helping people the way Spider-Man does, by patrolling the city and stopping street crime was definitely not for him either.
Over the last week, crime overall had dipped, but thefts and robberies had spiked significantly. It was not that hard to figure out why, at least for Mark, and he had been helping when he could. Just this evening he had stopped a few people who robbed a store and someone that was trying to break into an ATM.
His conclusion was that, frankly, dealing with street level crime both could be somewhat dangerous, and was not very engaging or interesting.
But it had led Mark to respect Spider-Man, and all other street level heroes a great deal more than before. The level of dedication and effort it took for very little in return was significant. This type of hero work was honestly more of a job with no pay and no benefits than anything else.
So with both of the two usual hero paths set aside, Mark had been more introspective for most of the week.
In the meantime Cortana had helped him find a nice, nondescript house that he bought through a shell company she set up.
It was away from the heart of the city and would hopefully avoid being destroyed. There was no paper trail connecting it to himself either, and he was glad for a safe place of his own, but it also felt, lacking somehow.
So he gave Cortana an excuse that it would be his safehouse and he wanted to find a place that could be made into his primary base of operations.
She probably did not buy his excuse but fortunately seemed content letting him be, and Mark was thankful to her for the space to think. Meanwhile she had been spending her time learning about this world, its important people, and keeping an eye on the news for anything interesting.
So each day after school found Mark considering his path and his goals while looking for a place that caught his eye. That was when he felt someone through the Force, moving fast across the rooftops in the distance.
Changing direction to intercept, it did not take long for them to come into view. Mark was likewise seen very quickly and they started moving toward him.
'Interesting.' he thought, as they both leapt to the same rooftop and he got a good look at her. It was Gwen Stacy, or at least it was a girl in a homemade version of her spider suit from the comics. She was standing with a slight crouch, clearly on guard and ready to move at a moment's notice, her full attention on him.
'I guess that answers who that girl was that cracked my ribs.' Mark thought with a slightly complex feeling. He did not exactly hold it against her, suspecting it was influenced by the Purple Man's call for help. But he had thought about what he might do if he ever got the chance for a little innocent payback...
"You! ...I have been looking for you." she said, and he could feel a storm of emotions from her. She was determined, but also very nervous, maybe even scared.
In that moment before she could continue, Mark knew just how he wanted to handle this and spoke with a barely contained grin, "Well, well, if it isn't my greatest nemesis, the dreaded Rib Tickler!" he said dramatically, and raised a fist, "Our battle shall be legendary!"
"..."
There was dead silence from her for several seconds as Mark did his best to keep from laughing. The storm of her emotions was somehow both calmer and more chaotic as she stared at him behind her mask in total confusion.
Eventually managed a, "...What?"
Mark dramatically clutched his side as he continued, "The trauma was immense. The doctors say I'll never emotionally recover."
"...I cracked, like, two ribs."
"Exactly." Mark said, nodding solemnly, "A grievous injury. Many brave men would have perished."
He was pretty sure she had to contain a laugh at that, and she seemed to have relaxed a little as well. But she quickly recovered, gathering herself and said seriously, "You saw my face."
"Yes." he said and she stiffened at the response.
"Do you know who I am?"
Mark's mouth twitched, "Who knows..."
She clenched her fists, and sharply said, "What are your intentions?"
"My intentions?" he asked, a little confused, "Such as?"
Her fists remained clenched as she said, "Such as, why didn't you tell the police who I am?"
"Why would I?"
"...I broke your ribs." she said, and he could feel her sudden hope and uncertainty.
"Yes. A terrible tragedy. One that I shall recount to future generations." Mark replied as he started to piece together what was going on. But he could also practically feel her irritated glare at his words and became serious again, "You were under his control, isn't that right?"
Gwen visibly flinched at his words, "You know what that was?"
He dropped the teasing entirely then, "Yes. He could control people."
She looked away for a moment and hugged her arms, as the mood changed, "I couldn't stop."
"I know."
She looked back at him for several seconds before she said with some accusation, "You killed him."
"I killed a monster. And I would not hesitate to do it again."
She stiffened, taking half a step back, "He was a person."
Mark paused at that, "He was. And he was a monster." then shook his head, "That... man, had the power to make others do ANYTHING he said. A power he took full advantage of with many people, especially beautiful young ladies like you."
Her shock at that was evident and she seemed to consider everything that was said.
"So... you won't tell anyone about me?" she finally asked with uncertainty.
"Hmm... well... " he said, dragging out his answer. The worry at a reluctant answer was rapidly building up her nerves again so he decided to let her be, "I have no reason to tell anyone. It is your secret to share, for now."
Her flood of relief hitched at his 'for now' and she immediately said, "I do not want anyone to know. In fact, I have no intention of getting wrapped up in anything like this again."
She made her statement with finality but he snorted at the words, and thought to himself, 'This is Marvel. A spider person actually being left alone? Not a chance.'
Then the glimmer of an idea came to him and his attention turned back to Gwen, "It is too late for that. And now that you have powers, well let's just say that whether you go looking for trouble or not, I would be shocked if trouble did not come looking for you, one way or another." he said, then looked her up and down, "And honestly, you do not look ready for it when it comes."
Gwen's shock was clear and she glanced down at herself before looking back at him, "Excuse me?"
But his thoughts were elsewhere, 'Yes... maybe it is something worth doing... all kinds of shitty comic bullshit happens to many, or even most heroes, sometimes multiple times...'
Mark was starting to grow more confident that his idea could be what he wanted to do in this world, and Gwen may be the perfect person to start with.
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A.N. - Hello all and hope you enjoyed the chapter.
I did not have time for a full chapter and will put up a bonus chapter this week, likely Tuesday.
But that got me thinking and I am considering changing my upload schedule: shorter chapters twice a week, ~1,500+ words per chapter.
Nothing is decided just yet. What do you think?
Thank you for reading.