Chapter 1:
The death of Spider-Man!

It has been six months since Doom’s power trip and all of the creatures involved went back to their lives; all but one: Spider-Man. Said hero had positioned himself beside a gargoyle, one that he often visited on off days or when he just needed to talk, and was speaking with it. “Well…that’s all that has happened to me today. Sorry, that it isn’t as normal as other stories, but after the whole Doom fiasco things have been pretty quiet.” After telling the stone creature that he added a board sigh, showing that off days were okay, but not for six months straight. After an hour of silence for the exception of traffic below he said to his stone friend in an almost mournful tone: “I’m going back to my apartment. I’ll see you tomorrow, Brutus.” He stood up on the ledge he had been sitting on and swung away, back to his lonely apartment.

“He’s still in so much pain.” A red head woman stated softly while hiding in a shadowed spot watching the red and blue man swing away. This person knew how this hero thought which made her add, “Please, don’t do anything my fri-no, Spider Friend.” She then flew off into another part of the concrete jungle, away from her former teammate.

“If this silence keeps up I may as well retire early.” Peter muttered happily after he entered his apartment through his window. This thought often entered his mind before but this time it feels like it will stay; he even looked over to a picture he made with the latest Photoshop program. This photo contained three women he truly loved. ‘No, I can’t start that way of thinking.’ He screamed through out all the corners of his mind. Before going to bed and falling asleep he forced himself to put the picture face-down, he did not deserve to look at those three faces, he then yanked off his shirt, web-shooters, and gloves to the floor.

“Spider over here; I have something to tell you.” A white haired woman said to the red and blue hero. Naturally, he obeyed since she was an old friend. He landed in front of a warehouse and advanced in very, very, very carefully.

“Cat? Cat, you in here?” He yelled with a hand where the typical human mouth should be. If he was not looking for his feline friend he would have noticed that this warehouse was the same one that he found his uncle’s killer in.

“Over here, Spider.” A voice whispered out in a seductive tone. The hero turned and saw the skin tight black leather, open cleavage suit belonging to his thief friend standing under the only working light in the whole complex.

“Cat, what are you doing here?” He questioned while slowly walking over to her. He should have known that something was up when the light began to flicker but thought it meant nothing. “I thought you were off vampire hunting with Blade and Morbius?” He asked her in curiosity once he stopped and stared into her beautiful green eyes.
“I am, but I wanted to tell you one last thing before I go back with them for more hunting.” She replied back while standing in the light, not moving a single inch. She wasn’t even blinking.

“What is it?” He questioned the former thief. He was worried because her face held a seriously grave expression on it. He knew that she never had that look on her face…ever.

“Good-Bye.” She said in a low enough for him to hear and in a dead serious tone. The answer confused him and in his confused state something came by and ripped off his gloves and sleeves. The action happened so fast he did not feel anything until it was over.

What’s going on?!” He demanded before falling to his knees because of energy drain. He then struggled to see who it was that had his arms in a vice grip hold, and once he saw who it was he was blown away. “Rouge…” He said and the rest of his time was trying to keep his energy in his body.

“This is for my son.” The new voice from Black Cat’s mouth was different and yet very familiar. The person turned from a white haired thief friend into something else: blue skin, short red hair, and angry yellow eyes. Even the outfit changed from a single leather outfit into a two piece black leather outfit.

“No…” He gasped as he recognized the woman: Mystique, he never met her personally but the X-Men had told him plenty. She held a gun to his forehead and before she fired he heard his brown and white haired friend say in a ticked Southern tone.

“Consider this pay back for not saving my step-brother and Jean.” The gun fired, and the shell escaped its hole; killing him instantly. He sat up and the sights and smells of his apartment welcomed him back to the physical plane.

“Oh crap.” He muttered after waking up in the dead of night. He then felt the sheets and they were soaked with his ice cold sweat. This has become redundant ever since that faithful day. The routine was simple: grab a pair of boxers, take a shower {from scolding hot and iceberg cold} an attempt to rid the memory of his second murder, grab a warm Root Beer and lye down on the couch. “That makes the zillionth dream on how my friends kill me for picking Jean over Nightcrawler.” He spoke with plenty of anger in his throat. After chugging down the 2 liter bottle he stood up and headed to his balcony with a grim expression on his face.

“Please, if you have any mercy in your heart; do not doom me to a life of guilt. Save Jean, let me be the one to perish.” Peter recalled that each night since the end of their mission; that was what he told him to do.

“Believe me, Crawler it wasn’t the mercy you had to worry about…it was the guilt part; the guilt of being the cause of your death just like my uncle.” He mumbled before adding, “They don’t have to say anything I know they hate me for it.” He soon went back into the apartment and thought: ‘With evil now gone maybe I can retire without regret.’

‘With great power comes great responsibility.’ A mantra deep in his mind said aloud whenever he thought like that which often led to…

“I can’t start relaxing now because everytime I thing of hanging up the mask for good something BIG always pops up.’ He thought before looking at his left hand and counted down from three. As expected once he got down to one finger his cell phone rang. “Knew it, I knew that it would happen.” He muttered and after tossing away a pair of socks that haven’t been washed for six months he found it. He wasn’t surprised of the name of the caller either: Stark.

“Hey there, web-spinner.” The armored billionaire greeted once he flipped it open. “We’ve got a big problem.” He stated in a serious tone before continuing, “It’s Doom. Somehow, he has returned.”

“That really doesn’t surprise me.” He replied to the metallic man. “To paraphrase ol’ tin face: Not even an Asgardian prison can stall the might of Dr. Doom for long.” He added while trying to shake off his gloom.

“Yeah, you’re probably right.” The armored hero said with a chuckle in his voice. “Well, Fury wants everybody who fought him at his castle now.” He said in a serious tone.

“How does Nicky expect me to get there? I mean with the money Jameson gives me I can barley afford Coach, and I don’t have enough webbing to swing to Latvaria.” He yelled out, feeling like his old self after he said the one name he hated worse than Kingpin: Jameson.

“You don’t have to worry about that because there is one of my Quinjet on the roof of the building next door.” He informed the arachnid before hanging up.

“I hate it when they do stuff like that.” He muttered angrily before flipping his phone down. He then put on his costume and once it was on he felt his skin feel like it was on fire, but he knew that what he felt was guilt because no matter how many times he defends someone is always harmed with him as Spider-Man. As expected once he climbed to the top he saw the jet one building over.

“Hey, Pete, long time no see.” A blonde haired man with a number ‘4’ on his chest said to the new arrival. “I see you are wearing the traditional red and blue suit.” He added as the web-head walked in.

“What can I say: I’m a sucker for the classics.” He told the flame based hero before taking a look around to see who was there. He was four, not counting himself: Wolverine, Human Torch, Iceman, and Luke Cage.

“Good to see you again, Spider-Man.” Wyatt, a pilot from their first war with Dr. Doom, said after swiveling the pilot’s chair to see the latest arrival.

“You too, Wyatt, so have you been able to keep Johnny out of trouble?” The latest arrival questioned and pointed with his thumb to Johnny.

“That’s a full time job, but thanks to two of his friends and his sisters…it’s been pretty easy.” He told with a smile before turning around: gearing the jet for flight not noticing the angry expression on his old friend’s face. Once in the sky it took an hour for a conversation to start.

“Hey, Spidey, have you heard?” The ice sculpture questioned with a suspicious smirk on his frozen mug. The spider knew that he was not going to say it right away so he took the bait.

“All right you glorified air conditioner, what are you grinning about?” He questioned with an intrigued expression under his mask.

“It’s Firestar, she’s in New York for a while.” He informed his old friend, but Spider-Man expression barely changed. Bobby continued to speak after five or ten minutes of unusual silence, “I thought since we were a team and since you really liked her; I just thought you’d…” He let the sentence hang there; wanting to finish it, but the spider did it for him.

“Sorry, I guess I’ve been busy and besides, she has Justice in case you haven’t noticed.” He replied, trying to keep as little venom in Firestar’s husband’s name. Before, Iceman could delve deeper into the conversation Wolverine with his usual angered tone said to them.

“Quite screwing us, this attitude aint about Justice, it’s about you not able to save Nightcrawler: get over it.” The wall-crawler stood there silent, unable to say anything after that. Two more hours passed by with uneven silence with them until another voice interrupted it.

“Guy’s we’re approaching the others now, I suggest we focus on the mission at hand.” The pilot said as he and the others saw Castle Doom through the window. The tallest member finally spoke once they landed.

“Sure.” The five of them left the aircraft to join up with the other twenty heroes; to also be briefed on what the game plan was in terms of stopping Doom this time.

Luke, Johnny, Iceman, Spider-Man glad you could make it.” The one-eyed cornel said to the others that just arrived. He then saw an old friend, “Logan I see that your doing all right.” The war hero said with a smirk.

“You know it, Fury.” The claw wielder questioned and waited, knowing that the man that saved him from The Hand.

“Listen up Doom, likey knows we’re here so from this point we divide and storm Doom’s Castle.” He said before noticing that Spider-Man had his hand raised like a student in a classroom. “What is it, Spider-Man?” He questioned with a mental groan knowing that if it was Deadpool or the web-head the question was mainly made to annoy.

“Why didn’t we use the Orb of Teleportation to get in?” The others were surprised that his question was so serious and so very sane, but a few of them suspected that it was probably because he has yet to truly recover from the Judgement incident.

“We couldn’t take the chance of being sent to Murder World again.” He answered still surprised that it wasn’t a bonehead question. “Here are the teams so listen up because I am only going to say them once:

Iceman, Storm, Wolverine, Colossus

Ghost Rider, Moon Knight, Elektra, Luke

Captain, Iron Man, Thor, Daredevil

Ms. Marvel, Silver Surfer, Dr. Strange, Blade

Ben, Sue, Johnny, Reed

Deadpool, Spider-Woman, Panther your with me.” They all nodded afeter hearing their teams. “Each team will go inside anyway possible while Widow, Hank, and Wyatt will stay behind to leave the castle once we use the portal.” He informed before leaving.

“Don’t everybody die this time.” The red and black maniac called out before running with his team. They all went their own ways: walls, windows, and the traditional door.

“Well, to answer the question ‘if the others don’t trust with their lives it would be…yes.” Spider muttered as he climbed up to the third window and jumped in. As expected: the castle was heavily fortified. It had plenty of Doom bots, Iron Man bots {luckily it was easy to tell them apart since Doom had a thing about using silver and green while Tony prefers red and gold or black and silver} and his twelve foot golden bots.

“I’m insulted that Doom made his Iron Man drones out of flimsy titanium.” The real deal said after plowing through thirty of them.

“True, but I guess Doom wasn’t expecting us so early so he wasn’t able to power them to full strength.” Steve Rogers, Captain America, said after decapitating a Doom bot. Steve spoke out of experience since he Wolverine, Thor, and Spider-Man put an end to Doom’s power trip. “Tony, look out!” Captain yelled out before throwing his shield at a set of laser guns, destroying them instantly.

“Looks like I owe you one, Cap.” Iron Man said in a joking manner. For the exception of the endless robot army there are also hidden guns that could attack at anytime; however after elemental attacks, shield attacks, webbing, swords, and bare fists that part of his defense was gone in no time.

“Progress report, team.” Fury asked the others once they all entered a very, very, very big and empty room. The whole room was solid stone: pillars, walls, floor, and ceiling.

“Nothin’. Face it Fury, Doom isn’t here. Maybe he’s trying his buck of being more powerful than Zeus.” Wolverine said with a sneer, He was still ticked off that his old friend kept all of the information from the others. There was an eerily calm silence between the heroes and the air around them…that was until Spider-Man sensed something.

“I wouldn’t buy your tickets to Mount Olympus just yet.” Spider said in his usual comedic tone before turning around to an open doorway. The others also faced that way: on their guard.

“I congratulate you for getting this far with my enhanced guard.” Doom said clapping his hands. He was still wearing his silver armor with green cloak as he advanced from the shadows. “I will make you all pay for taking my powers away.” He yelled before activating a double barrel rocket launcher from the back of both hands. As soon as the projectiles had been launched from Doom; Spider-Man created a web-shield out of instinct forcing all four to hit the web-based defense. Instead of blowing up it created a pretty thick smokescreen.

“Storm, clear the air.” Wolverine said in between coughs. He did not receive an answer just her white eyes and a powerful gust of wind that blew the smoke away.

“It looks like Doom got away.” Reed said after looking around and did not see his old collage companion. That sentence seemed to get under the wall-crawlers skin.

“Guess again, Mr. Fantastic!?” He said angrily before running off into the hallway. The others watched him run into the hallway that Doom must have fled in, they all should have known that facing Doom was truly bringing back his worst memory of their battle with him.

“Come on, we better follow the kid before he does something stupid.” Wolverine said and with that they all ran off in hopes of truly catching up to the wall crawler. There was one that did not go into the cramped tunnel.

“I will find another hall to locate Doom.” Storm said to the others before turning around, but stopped when something grabbed her arm.

“Not so fast Storm, you’re staying with us.” Wolverine said in a voice that was surprisingly compassionate. “I know that you hate tight spots, but it’s the fastest way to get to Doom.” He added and that is when she felt the grip go from her arm to her hand. “I’m got about to lose you like we almost lost Jean.” He said sternly.

“Very well, Logan. Let’s go.” She said truly touched by the loner of the X-Men’s kindness. The two of them journeyed into the tunnel. The two of them didn’t have to travel far since the team didn’t go in very far. “What is the problem?” The weather witch questioned the others.

“It’s Spider-Man. For one reason or another he stopped dead in his tracks.” Jessica Drew, Spider-Woman, said to her fellow female super hero. For the ones that could see their enemy he was standing in a doorway on the other side of this new room. Their previous room was about the size of five football fields while this one was half its size. Spider-Man new it well since it was the same room that Doom used to ensnare Odin.

“What are you waiting for, Spider? Let’s take him!” Iceman yelled out and was about to stop the metallic maniac with an ice attack but Spider-Man halted him with a simple hand gesture.

“No, not yet.” He told the ice warrior as if he was in charge. “How did you get away from Odin?” He questioned to the deceitful doctor.

“Like your insignificant minds could comprehend the brilliance of my escape.” Doom said boastfully to the heroes, gloating about his brilliance of being evil. In truth Spider would have beat the tar out of him but something was off. “I leave you with a gift.” He pressed a button on his right arm.

“What could Victor mean?” Reed muttered aloud, and just like that all of them heard the sound of cracking stone. The floor caved in revealing a familiar vortex.

“The Infinity Vortex.” The wall-Crawler gasped staring at the damn portal. The force of the vortex was son great that all of them were losing their grip; all except for Spider-Man.

“Enjoy my gift. I know that you will enjoy it most of all Spider-Man.” Doom said with a pure evil cackle.
“It’s too much of a risk to cross this vortex. We better find another way to get to him.” Invisible Woman, Sue Storm Richards, informed them: afraid of losing another friend like last time. The others agreed and stomped, flew, or in Mr. Fantastic’s case stretched out of the hallway. There were three that stayed behind: the Black Panther, Elektra, and Spider-Man; who didn’t want to leave.

“Spider-Man, Elektra shouldn’t we be going with the others.” The big cat super hero questioned not wanting to be laft behind in this strange place. The red ninja also wanted to leave but the wall-crawler just stood there: staring at the vortex.

“You guys go on ahead; I’m taking the direct approach of kicking his tin plated butt.” Spider-Man said while turning his attention from the vortex to the doorway on the far wall.

“What are you talking about Bug-Boy? You may be skilled, but not even you can take on Doom alone.” Elektra warned, but remaining true to form the web-head didn’t listen to his comrade.

“Look, this is Doom we’re talking about: he probably has ten thousand ways out of here.” He said to them before firing two web-lines to the ground and pulled on them. He then glanced over to them and added, “You guys go on ahead. I’ll surprise him from behind.” After that was said he launched himself, and by some strange twist of fate he made it over the vortex.

“He may be right. A two sided attack may work to our advantage.” Panther informed his female friend. Reluctantly she went with him for a little while; still planning something else.

“Good, they left.” Spider muttered after looking over his shoulder. ‘I have to face him alone, so we don’t loose anyone else.’ He added to himself before turning toward the black as pitch tunnel. Soon after walking his Spider sense flared, warning him of a figure behind him.

“Primary objective obtained.” The robot announced in a monotone voice, and before the agile arachnid knew what was going on he found himself being flung toward the vortex, or perhaps that is what he really wanted.

‘Doom must have thought ahead, knowing that someone would be dumb enough to try it.’ He thought before glancing over his shoulder and saw that he was over the eye of the vortex. ‘Time to swing to safety.’ He added before firing web-lines, one from each wrist, but something went wrong. “No, I’m out of webbing!” He announced before falling. ‘Maybe it’s for the best, since they are probably still ticked at me for Nightcrawler’s death.’ He thought and let the vortex take him.

“Spider!” A voice cryed out after seeing this; the voice belonged to the red coated ninja: Elektra. She stayed behind because she had a feeling that Doom must have thought ahead. She ran over the edge but not before plunging one sai into the ground and her free hand went around his wrist.

“Wha…what is happening?” Spider-Man questioned wondering why he felt the pull of the vortex, but was barely falling. He looked up and saw that it was Elektra who held his wrist in a death-grip.

“Don’t worry, Spider, I’ll pull you up.” The assassin said to him with determination in her eyes. At first he was grateful for the save until a thought crossed his mind.

‘She probably will kill you once you are away from the vortex.’ This thought made the most sense since his first group mission, and the image of her forcing a sai into his chest. ‘She claimed that she gave up killing, but for me she may make an exception.’

“Almost there.” Elektra said to him even though her sai was loosing ground: fast. He knew that she couldn’t pull him up: thanks to the black hole beneath him.

“Let go, Elektra.” The web-spinner said in defeat. This surprised her because usually Spider-Man wouldn’t give up this easily. Before she could say anything he forced her to let go by pulling away his captured limb eventually he succeeded and the assassin stood up watching as the vortex disappeared: accepting its offering.

“No.” She gasped as she stared in disbelief at the now empty room. At first she stood there for the moment before reluctantly running to the others. She entered another big room where the others were waiting for the enemy. Thanks to Fury and Hank Pym they knew that Doom was heading their way.

“Nice of you to finally show up, Elektra.” Dardevil said looking at his ex-girlfriend before sensing that there was something wrong. “Elektra, where is…”

“So, it seems someone tried to leap over the vortex and failed.” The demented deviant doctor said, cutting off the blind warrior. “Looks like only that insect is gone. Oh well, I can take the rest of you.” He added with a pure evil sneer. The cloaked villain was about to add something until he was slammed by a familiar shield and hammer.

“Your going down hard, Doom!!!” Logan yelled out while leaping over the recalling weapons. He slashed away a few pieces of armor with his adamantium claws.

“Full frontal assault?!” Fury yelled out in anger. With that said ALL of them attacked. Cage and Ben’s fists, Iron Man’s missiles, Ghost Rider and Humantorch flame attacks along with several others; the attacks were so strong that Blade and Deadpool had to slice off his armor.

“Let’s see how many sardines are in this tin can.” The maniac assassin said with a hysterical laugh. Blade casually ignored him, and did his job.
“Sir, what about Spider-Man?” The symbol of the United States: Captain America, Steve Rogers, wondering what to do with this latest news.

“Nothing we can do Captain.” Fury said seeming to be unaffected by the passing of another hero.

“Then let’s get going.” Wolverine said with a snarl while dragging a bleeding and unconscious doctor by his left ankle. The others nodded and left the castle. Once outside they told the ones that stayed behind why they were down one hero. The three had different thoughts but Johnny Storm’s best friend: Wyatt Wingfoot said it best.

“This can’t be happening. Just as soon as we get over losing Nightcrawler we lose Spider-Man the same way.” The bad thing was that knew that it was true. They prepared to leave, but not before Thor relieved some of his anger by using one of the biggest lightning bolts to obliterate the castle.

‘May you finally find the piece you seek, my arachnid alley.’ Thor thought as he flew away. The problem was that Spider-Man was not destroyed…just redirected.

Copy Rights:
Spider-Man, and the others, are owned by Marvel and Stan Lee.