Marvel: A Tale of Shadows

Peter was shocked when he swung back in. His chest was still hurting from getting hit earlier. The motorcycle helmet guy was gone. It was too dark for him to see anything but the guy had clearly disappeared.

Peter could hear the sound of police closing in. So Peter quickly went forward and noticed the Beetle guy. He was still breathing, but knocked out. So he stepped back and flung himself up into the air. Quickly swinging out of the tree tops he made his way to a roof.

He grunted in pain as he landed on uneasy steps. He walked a few steps before he gathered himself up and started swinging down the street. He had to get home. He was in no position to even swing with this much pain.

So he arrived quickly at home. Swinging into his room collapsing on his bed in exhaustion. He started pulling off his shirt when his phone rang.

He picked up, "this is Peter."

"Peter! It is MJ. What happened? They said Spider-Man beat a man half to death in the park." She was whispering quickly.

"It wasn't… me." He grunted in pain, "I was swinging on the end of my usual patrol route when I noticed explosions heading toward central park. When I arrived this Beetle guy was floating in the middle of the park. Apparently he was after someone, but all I saw was a person in a black motorcycle helmet. That was only after-" He groaned in pain as he looked down at his chest, the large bruise was already turning blue. "After he dropped on the Beetle he tore the guy to shreds, slicing through metal like it was nothing. The first time I tried to hit him he hit me so hard my chest hurts. The second time he threw me clear across the park onto a roof."

"Wow… he sounds strong, was he as big as the Rhino?" MJ asked as he could hear ruffling in the background.

"No…ah… he was bigger than me but not that big." Peter moved over to his desk and sat down in the chair. His whole body was stiff from muscle use.

"Hmm… anything distinguishing that you would notice or remember? I am sure their is a database or something we can get access to." Now he could definitely hear the shuffling as she moved.

"Umm… motorcycle gear, a single knife, moved quickly and easily like fighting was second nature to him. Was there anything else…?" Peter became lost in thought for a few minutes before he was interrupted by the sound of knocking. Looking out the window he saw MJ waving at him.

He quickly opened the window and let her in. "Sorry, I just had to come see for myself." Peter backed up as she climbed in and closed the window behind her. "I brought a first aid-kit. Let's get you patched up. It might be good to take a rest for a few days."

Peter smiled as he leaned back then he frowned as he remembered something, "actually, the guy did not trigger my Spider sense."

"Your what?"

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"Detective Watanabe," the doctor walked up from the emergency room. "The person that was brought here has been looked over. Aside from severe head trauma, which has put him in a coma."

"Are you able to give us a name or anything else to go on?" Yuri asked as she accepted the medical file from the doctor.

"He is a John Doe, his skull is cracked but he is not in any danger. I doubt we will even get a name if he wakes up. We already handed over his clothes and equipment to your forensics department. You can be assured that we will alert you when he wakes up. But I heard that it was the new vigilante that did this. Is that true?"

"Maybe. It is not his style." Yuri hesitated for a moment before continuing, "I did hear that there was another person when this guy started blowing up stuff. But he disappeared before we could get there."

"Then maybe there is hope for a new hero and not a vigilante." The doctor whispered as he walked away. While Yuri could only mentally agree as she left.

—---------------------------

Ethan walked into the apartment just as the morning sun was coming up. He was tired but satisfied with his progress.

He managed to find the Hydra base where Viper, or better known Ophelia Sarkissian, operated out of. He learned that there is a type of friction between the Hydra factions. He has a lead on the New York based Hydra faction.

Then he went up against the Hydra operative known as the Beetle and out did him easily in hand-to-hand combat. Ethan also managed to see Spider-Man up close and personal.

Which was not very impressive. The kid was untrained and reliant too much on his natural-er or rather his enhanced abilities. He clearly needed someone to train up his abilities, but no way was Ethan volunteering.

So instead he grunted as he stripped out of the sweater he had changed into and collapsed on the couch falling asleep instantly after a long day's work.

—--------------------------

The next morning Peter woke up to the feeling of something heavy resting on his arm. As well as the pain in his chest and soreness in his limbs. He barely had time to blink the blurry vision away before he heard something that made him go still.

"Mhmmm… stop moving Tiger, I am trying to sleep." Peter looked over at his longtime childhood friend, and now girlfriend, MJ. The beautiful redhead was sleeping on his arm. She was still clothed but it was still a shock to his system. What happened again?

That's right! They were talking and fell asleep, they did not do anything else. He sighed as he pulled up the blanket a bit more but it was badly timed.

Because the door opened at that moment. Aunt May peeked her head in, "Pete I plan to-" She stopped mid-sentence as she noticed MJ. There was a minute of silence as she blinked then she smirked mischievously, "I am gone for the day. Make sure you two use protection!" She then quickly escaped the room.

MJ shot awake as she realized where she was. While Peter was facepalming at his Aunt May's cavalier attitude to the situation. He looked over to see MJ was beet red in the face. He was not any different; he could feel his face heat up in embarrassment.

—-------------------

Scott Summers was walking into his family's Hawaiian home. He would be staying here for at least the next few months. Far away from his new family who had apparently disappointed too much, the X-Men. Now that he had some time to cool off away from them even he could acknowledge that he had screwed up time and time again.

He just got so angry and heated whenever something was involving Jean. He sighed as he looked out of the back yard balcony onto a nice view of the city. But he only got a moment to appreciate it as he heard a creak and cracking of wood.

He spun around just in time to see the front door come flying off of its hinges. He prepared to remove his glasses when something hit his shoulder. He grunted and looked at it to see a dart. His vision started getting blurry and his arm went limp as he looked forward just in time to see a smiling devil that he had seen several times before.

Mister Sinister.

The X-Men were convinced he was created to make mutant's lives miserable. He constantly annoyed and bothered them. Kidnapping and brainwashing their people, he even created clones a few times. But Scott barely had a chance, it was almost as if Mister Sinister was waiting for him.

As he lost consciousness he noticed another man with an evil grin. He was red skinned with blood red hair and a suit and tie to match his red skin and hair. He could hear the last word as he went out, "as agreed Mephisto…"

He had no idea how long passed when he woke up. But he shot awake in a cage. He wasn't the only one there were several others in cages as well. It appeared they were the bay of a cargo plane.

Scott looked around and noticed he was bound but his eyes still only had his glasses. So he looked at his chain bounding his arm and whipped his head causing his glasses to fall. He then opened his eyes and an uncontrolled beam easily melted through his chains. He quickly closed his eyes and moved his unlooking gaze toward where he figured the other chain was and opened his eyes.

The chain melted and broke. He was free so he crouched and moved around grabbing and picking up his glasses and putting them on. He moved to his cage's lock and blew it off. He then went around breaking free the other mutants, he had barely walked a few feet when he saw a masked figure running towards him. He quickly shot an eyebeam which proved to be a mistake.

As the figure jumped to the side the beam hit a door and blew it open. From there chaos broke out as Scott hit his head and started losing consciousness again.

When he woke up this time it was to the sight of a redhead looking down at him as he could feel his head resting on something soft.

"Why did you bother to save him, Madelyne? He almost killed us all with his stunt." A gruff voice said towards his side. Scott looked over to see an old man, who had scales across his skin.

"Because he helped us, besides we are in this all together. Not to mention we will need the help, we are clearly stranded until someone can find us." The red head, Madelyne pointed out before looking down at Scott. "Hello there," She gave him a sweet smile that made his heart melt. She looked so much like Jean. "My name is Madelyne Pryor. Me and my unhappy friends were captured by that pale faced man like I am sure you were as well. Might I ask your name?"

"Umm…" Scott pulled himself and looked over his new companions and noticed for the first time that they were on the beach of an island. Presumably stranded, like the other guy said. "My name is Scott Summers, I don't suppose you know where we are?"

"Nope, stranded on this tropical Island. Which for the record is not actually that big. We have a few fruit trees, berry bushes, and a river where fish collect. I only saw so much in the way of food." Another of the survivors answered.

"But don't worry Scott, because we will survive together." Madelyne answered with an enchanting smile.