Marvel: I Have A Super USB Drive

Forest Hills, Joe's old warehouse. 

10 A.M. 

♪ Way down we go♪ 

Music softly played in the background, intermingling with the hum of the advanced equipment in the pristine lab.

In the middle of the room, Joe was deeply engrossed in looking at the IPS screen. There were drawings of benzene rings and multiple biochemical compound equations. A vaccine needs multiple elements to work properly, from buffers, stabilizers, antigens, and preservatives. But was the pharmaceutical science something complex for him? No. It was fairly easy compared to coming up with a complete cure for cancer. 

Dressed in a plain black shirt and a lab coat, Joe's figure had become an integral part of the lab. He lifted a vial of yellow solution and nodded to himself. "This is enough to put me ahead of my future pharmaceutical rivals for quite some time." 

Some might be wondering why he was doing something as mundane as coming up with a slightly better vaccine than what was on the market, right? Because It was all according to his plan. 

WHOOSH! 

The sound of the secret rooftop window opening and the brief howl of the wind traveled to Joe's ears. 

Without even looking back, Joe knew who the intruder was. Um, calling them an intruder was a little odd. 

Peter landed softly, but his movements were rushed as he yanked off his Spider-Man mask. His brown hair was slightly damp and stuck to his forehead. Within his right hand was a voluminous folder tightly held due to the uniqueness of his sticky fingers. 

His breath was a little hurried as he absentmindedly took a moment to listen to the song he had never heard. 

"Yo, Pete, are your ears enjoying the tune?" Joe asked in amusement, his back still facing Peter. He glanced at the vial for the second time before storing it in the cryogenic micro-chamber. 

Peter was startled for a moment before smiling awkwardly. He had been too caught up with the beats of the new song. 

"Dude, I like this song. I've never heard of it. What's its name?" Peter curiously asked. 

'Of course, no one has ever heard of it except for me. This is a song from my home universe—a place with music that you would die to listen to.' Joe smirked. 

"Way down we go—that's the title. But please don't go looking for it over the internet," Joe mildly warned him. 

"Why?" 

"Because I told you so." 

Peter blinked. "This guy..." His gaze focused on the LCD screen and the meticulously calculated mathematical and biochemical equations. 

'They look like dumbed-down versions of something bigger and more complex. Hmm...' Peter's eyes narrowed. 'A flu vaccine?' 

'I'll just ask him, but for now...' Peter tossed the thick folder on Joe's desk. 

"This is all I could get from hounding Fisk in just a week," Peter said. "I did what you asked of me, even though you needn't to." 

"I would have investigated Fisk no matter what." 

Joe cast a side glance at the desk, just a few steps away from him. He briefly scanned the notes and pictures that had fanned out before releasing a deep sigh. 

Unhurriedly, Joe turned and leaned on the counter. "You did a good job." He gave a soulless compliment. "But..." 

Peter furrowed his brows. "But what?" 

Joe casually crossed his arms. "It's not enough—just futility." 

"But I have all the evidence to shut down Wilson Fisk for good. It's all in there. I didn't omit even a single detail," Peter countered, pointing at the thick folder on the desk. 

"And you haven't even bothered to look through it." A look of disappointment settled in his eyes. 

Joe straightened as he uncrossed his arms. He then gently replied, "I didn't mean to be snobbish. Sorry about that." 

"There's something interesting that I want to show you. You weren't alone in the race to collect dirt on Fisk." 

Peter arched his brows in confusion. 'I thought I was the only one involved in an active investigation.' 

"Minerva, it's your turn to shine. Do us the courtesy." Joe snapped his fingers. 

"Thought you'd forgotten my insignificant existence." A sarcastic voice sounded omnidirectionally as the overhead lights dimmed and Minerva's holographic figure materialized, catching Peter off guard. 

His eyes twinkled with the light of Minerva's mesmerizing form. It was their first time meeting officially in the physical sense. 

A sudden, egregious thought came from deep inside him. 'Would you?' 

Peter furiously shook his head to drive away the obscene thoughts. 'Of course, I wouldn't. I-I am not that guy. On second thought, I think being maidenless for so long has clouded my judgment. Peter Parker, you can't stoop that low.' 

Joe noticed Peter's strange behavior. A one-sided grin tugged the corner of his lip. Even Minerva caught on to Peter's conflicting emotions on his face. She found it both amusing and less savory. Even though she couldn't read thoughts, she could roughly guess what kind of indecent thoughts ran through an adult teenager's mind. Honestly, she didn't wanna know. 

"Hello, Parker." Minerva greeted him and before he could respond, she gestured in the air and multiple holograms containing encrypted videos, pictures, and documents of anything connected to Wilson Fisk. 

"These are all the investigative materials I got from sniffing around on the internet. There are bank records, private messages, audios—basically everything Fisk-related and his shady operations," Minerva coolly explained as a picture of an enormous man secretly meeting with the deputy captain of NYPD randomly came into focus. 

"Peter, as you can see, I went an extra mile beyond you. There's almost nothing on the internet that can hide from me," Joe chimed in. 

Peter's expression soured. "Isn't that an invasion of privacy?" 

Joe smirked evilly. "Peter, buddy. Millions of people leave a lot of digital footprints on the net with each passing second. And you..." He eyeballed Peter, a diabolical expression on his face. 

"What were you doing at BustyAsians.Com on my computer? Bro, you didn't even bother to hide your ISP or delete your history. Were you in a rush?" 

Peter cringed hard, his cheeks reddening in extreme embarrassment. He palmed his face to muffle the strings of profanities from his mouth. Ugh, he wished for the ground to just gobble him up and make him disappear. 

Joe chuckled, enjoying the scene of Peter fidgeting nonstop. "As a true bro, I'll overlook it this time. I trust you didn't indulge in that... behavior in my lab."

Minerva cleared her throat. It was getting awkward for her too, the longer the topic continued to linger. After all, she had accidentally witnessed Peter's unsavory bits after being frustrated by an experimental failure. She had just silently disappeared instead of ruining his fun moment, em, pent-up desires. 

'But please, why can't you exercise your spatial awareness and mind your location?' 

Joe clapped his hands once. "Okay, that's enough for a break. Peter will eventually learn from his mistakes and be better. Isn't that right?" 

Peter sniffled. "I-I am sorry. I didn't know~" 

"Man, get your head straight for a moment. The matter's already closed." Joe assured him. It was only then that Peter stopped being pathetic and sobered up, remembering they were discussing something very important. 

"Okay, um, that's going to stain my reputation for a while." Peter silently groaned. 

Both Minerva and Joe responded in perfect synchrony. "Definitely not for a while." 

"Again with the flames. Don't you fear you might burn me to cinders and leave nothing behind?" An aggrieved expression showed on his face, his lips twitched incessantly. 

"It's just fun playing with you. No offense," Joe shrugged. 

"So, about the investigation..." Joe locked in immediately. "It's all useless when it comes to Wilson Fisk. That's my final evaluation." 

"But—" Peter wanted to protest. 

"Our evidence is legit enough to bring a local influential figure to their knees. But Fisk isn't local. He has control over almost everything happening in New York in one way or the other, from businesses to politics. While you can spew webs from your web shooters, Fisk is the man that knows the webs more than you do." Joe patiently shared his understanding of the deeper issues.

"Take him to court and he hires the most troublesome lawyers that you can never win against. Heck, he might even have the judge in his fat pockets. The police are his minions, and even some political leaders are his acquaintances. He's a tumor—he has made sure to spread his influence to every corner of New York." 

"When you have a multimillionaire with a net worth nearly reaching billions and is involved in the underworld's atrocities, there's nothing that can easily stop his momentum." 

Joe strolled over to Peter and silently shook his head. "Spider-Man has nothing on him." 

Peter defiantly met his gaze, conviction shining in his eyes. "There's nothing Spider-Man can't do to save the people of New York." 

"Can you kill? Are you willing to go the extra mile to protect your own, regardless of the situation? Can you?" Joe inquired, his voice low and icy. 

Peter vehemently shook his head, his fists tightly clenched at the mere mention of taking another's precious life. "Spider-Man doesn't kill. I can NEVER kill. It goes against the code I live by." 

Joe smiled faintly. "Ah, morality. I respect your beliefs, Pete. I really do." 

"Do you know why Fisk has the nickname Kingpin? It's because he's above such restrictions called morality. He does what he wants the way he wants it to be." 

"Kingpin and I are not the same, Joe." 

Joe leaned in and whispered. 

"Pete, Fisk nearly killed Gwen." 

Peter froze, his mind going blank for a second. "W-What? What are you talking about?" 

He tried to process the sentence once again, but the meaning remained the same.

'I didn't want to use that card for my own selfish benefits. I can't believe I'm trying to manipulate him to side with my logic. But he has to understand.' 

"Several months ago, Gwen suffered after being manhandled by thugs under Fisk. Luckily, I received her distress call and acted quickly," Joe said with an expressionless look on his face. 

Peter clenched his fists, his nails digging deep into his palms. Blood dripped from his hand and painted the floor with dots of red. His face twisted into madness as anger bubble inside of him. 

'Oh boy, Peter is angry. An angry Spider-Man is someone you wouldn't wish to cross paths with.' Joe knew it better than the D-listers that usually survived Spider-Man's pulled punches. If Spider-Man rarely held back, a fist into someone's gut would have been his signature move. 

"Come down, boy." Joe placed his hand on his shoulder and pressed firmly. 

Peter immediately calmed down as he unclenched his hands. Peter felt it was out of character for him to get that angry. But how was he supposed to feel when another one of his dear friends had her life nearly jeopardized? Suppose Joe wasn't present? What if she didn't make it? What could I have done? 

"The 'What ifs' is a hole you don't wanna spiral into, Pete. Don't linger in the past. We have the present to rectify what we couldn't. We can eliminate this tumor." Joe's expression softened. 

"I will do it for you, Gwen, Aunt May, and the people we hold dear. I'm not forcing you to kill. Leave that to me. For once, let me be the villain." 

Peter looked at Joe in disbelief, shocked by his heavy words. "But you are not a villain. You are a good person, Joe." 

Joe laughed, finding Peter's statement so hilarious that he could cry. 

"I am neither," he declared after his laughter died down. 

"I'm just a realist with no qualms doing what's right for my survival. Tonight, we raid the Kingpin." 

"No killing. Promise me that," Peter spoke with concern. 

"I promise," Joe replied with a straight face. It was borderline angelic and deep down deceptive 

Could he keep that promise? 

***

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[Word Count 2010]