Toan Greenlow
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The Marvelous Spider-Man (Prologue: Along Came A Spider)
🕑 Added 2024-03-12 20:32:57 +0000 UTCHis alarm blares loudly, waking the young boy with a start. How it didn't affect the nearest neighbors, he has no clue. The boy, twelve year old Peter Parker, groggily sits up as he attempts to slam his hand against the stubborn alarm clock. After a few missed tries, and more than a few solid smacks, the alarm silences. Peter yawns tiredly.
"I hate mornings." He mutters to himself, as he stretches hard, seeing spots in his eyes. He then clumsily untangles himself from the sheets, and reaches near his alarm clock for his glasses. He finds the pair easily. A sign that today will hopefully be good. No, seriously, yesterday he took twenty minutes to find his glasses and then not only was he late for school, but he managed to score his first B in a long time. Granted, he was one missed question away from an A, but still!
If he finds his glasses quickly, he usually has a good day. The opposite is also true sadly. But nevertheless, the young preteen puts the pair on, making his vision 20/20. Peter slowly gets up, and nearly falls face first onto the floor. He groans.
"I really hate mornings." He says, louder this time. Peter makes his way out of his room and heads into the bathroom. He yawns loudly once more as he grabs his toothbrush and freshens himself up.
A few minutes later, his teeth and face clean, Peter feels much better. He puts his glasses back on and exits the bathroom. He catches the briefest smell of something absolutely delicious downstairs. Peter smiles as he hurries down towards the kitchen. He hits the bottom of the stairs and turns right, going head first into the best smell in the entire world; Aunt May's cooking. His Uncle Ben is sitting at his usual spot, the morning paper in his hands. The plate in front of him has scraps of food left, but it's obvious that breakfast has been done for a while.
Peter sits down in his seat, and Aunt May, the psychic that she is, takes his plate out of the microwave. Peter chuckles as his Aunt smiles at him, bringing him his plate. "How'd you know I came down already?" He asks. He thought he was silent. Uncle Ben snorts.
"You make a lot of noise waking up in the morning Pete." He says, lowering his paper and smiling. "Morning Peter. How'd you sleep last night?" Peter groans.
"Absolutely terrible. But at least I'm feeling better now." He says with complete honesty as he takes a bite of his food. He nearly purrs, which is funny since he's not a cat (nor a cat person).
"Aunt May, you've got to teach me how to cook like this." Uncle Ben laughs. "Good luck Peter, she hasn't told me anything and we've been married almost thirty years." Aunt May huffs out a small laugh as she sits down, her own plate in her hands.
"It's a trade secret. But I promise to teach both of you a little something about it one day." His aunt says with a mischievous tone. Ben points at her. "I'm gonna hold you to that little lady." He says, and May playfully rolls her eyes. She herself starts to eat and a comfortable silence passes over the small family.
They... They weren't his parents. But they were everything Peter could ever want. He lets the nostalgia hit him only a little bit before he scarfs the last bit of his plate down. He grabs his and his Uncle Ben's plates and puts them in the sink.
"Thanks kiddo, you heading out now?" Uncle Ben asks. Peter nods. "Yeah, the bus should be here soon." Peter takes his phone out of his pocket and checks the time.
7:06 AM. The bus arrives at his house precisely at 7:16 every morning for school. Except for when there's a new bus driver. Then it's usually around 7:22-7:25.
"Yeah it's about that time I guess. I love you guys, see you later!" He says excitedly. His Aunt and Uncle wave as he rushes to the door. Peter grabs his shoes nearby, thankful he had the presence of mind to stuff socks in them already. His eyes immediately widened when he remembers that he forgot his camera upstairs. Peter starts to stalk back towards the staircase, but his aunt meets him there.
"I assumed you'd want your camera for the trip, right?" She asks, and points to the other side of the living room. The camera is sitting nice and neat in the center of the coffee table. Peter's cheeky reddened slightly at the obvious mistake, and laughs nervously. "Uh, opoosie?" He says lamely. Aunt May shakes her head and pulls Peter into a quick hug.
"I love you. Stay safe and have fun on the field trip ok?" She says softly, and Peter hugs her back tightly. "I will. See you and Uncle Ben later today." He says, and breaks the hug. He gives her one last goodbye before he opens the front door - grabbing his nearby backpack - and goes outside. The bus arrives a short time later, just as it always does.
------Spider-Man------
The bus ride doesn't take long at all, though for Peter it's an eternity before the bus makes its way to Oscorp. Peter was on the edge of his seat, and for the first time since he'd skipped grades, he was actually grateful to be in high-school. Oscorp was one of the biggest medical and engineering companies in the world. There were so many advances that the company had made in just the last decade alone.
Peter was absolutely thrilled to be here. He couldn't wait to have what was hopefully going to be the best day of his entire life.
He and the other students made a single file line as they went through security and into the building proper. As Peter gets close to the security guard, he pulls out his camera. "This is all I've got on me, is that alright?" The guard grunted as he ran the scanner over Peter's clothes and his backpack. After a few seconds the guard shrugs.
"So long as you don't take pictures of anything top secret, you'll probably be fine." Peter heavily doubts that Norman Osborn would allow anything secret to be shown in the first place, so that wasn't really a problem. Of course, he then immediately has to sign his name on a piece of paper - along with everyone else - to not speak of anything seen past the entrance of the building.
Peter passed through the security gates, his face stretched into a grin that just couldn't be broken. "Alright class..." Their science teacher seemed pretty excited as well. Peter couldn't blame her. This was awesome. "Here we are, in perhaps the most important building of the 21st century." She says in awe. A guide seems to spot them, and quickly walks over. Peter thought for a moment that the man looked stressed, but as he got closer, he smiled.
Guess it was nothing.
"Nice to meet you all! I'm so glad Midtown High could be one of the first student groups we've allowed the privilege of visiting our prestigious abode." The guy seemed a little pompous, but that's fine, Peter's used to much worse. The man then starts to gesture around him. "My name is professor Miles Warren and I'm pleased to show you all the vast amount of products we're working on here at Oscorp. Please, follow me and let's get started." The professor says, and the students all follow the tour guide.
Peter gets pushed slightly as someone passes him. "Watch it Parker. Not in the mood." Peter winches.
"Sorry Eddie." He says quietly, as the older teen rolls his eyes. Thankfully he doesn't say anything else. Peter really doesn't want anything to go wrong today...
He follows along diligently as he snaps a few photos every so often, making sure to avoid everyone - especially Eddie. Peter has so many questions, but professor Warren is moving so quickly past everything, only giving small explanations for the experiments, medicine and the tools they're making.
"And this little beauty here should be able to effectively eliminate skin cancer entirely, though it's not quite ready for the testing stages yet." The professor says. Peter snaps a few more pics, excited for examining these things in more detail later on. The guide leads them down a large hallway, where every so often he has to use his badge or even his hand to unlock a door.
Peter is ecstatic. There's so much tech and he can't even wrap his head around some of it.
"And this is where we keep some of our more secretive projects. I see a few of you have cameras and I really would appreciate it if you'd put them away." Peter was the only one with a camera out. He's a little upset, but he puts the camera away in his backpack. At least now he understands why they signed an NDA as they entered the building.
The professor smiles as he continues walking ahead of them, and Peter's mouth drops wide open as they enter a large, circular laboratory.
"This is where we are currently working on top secret projects. Some of them could truly revolutionize the world." The guide says. "Limb regeneration, near infinite energy - even more potent than Tony Stark's technology - cloning, and even more are being developed right here."
Peter is amazed. He sees a large number of scientists on at least three different levels working on computers, devising formulas or even testing things out. Peter really is freaking out inside now.
"I'll admit there was a minor setback earlier. But it was nothing major thankfully." The professor says, which apparently was an answer to something Peter's teacher asked, but he was too entranced with everything around him to notice.
"Hey, are you sure I can't get a large shot of the lab sir?" Peter asks. The professor gives a sad smile.
"Odds are it would be fine, but on the off chance it's not, both of us could be in very big trouble young man." There's a few snickers among his classmates, but Peter just ignores them.
"Now, who wants to see the newest advances in medical technology?" The professor asks. Peter starts to walk with his group, but suddenly his hand starts to sting. He looks down and sees a medium sized spider on his hand. Peter quickly flings his hand, sending the spider flying over the railing.
Peter had never even seen a spider like that before. Just what -
"Mr. Parker!" His teacher calls, and Peter quickly rushes over towards his group. Whatever. A dumb spider-bite isn't going to ruin his day.
....... [Spider-Man] .......
Peter throws up. Again. He's lucky that both times he managed to make it back to the bathroom. At least he didn't puke over in the Oscorp building. That would have been horrible. He's pretty sure that that dumb spider made him sick. He'd tried to just continue with the tour, but a few minutes later he was feeling deathly ill.
Barely thirty minutes later, his aunt came to pick him up and take him home. An hour after that, he was throwing up. Which led him to this point here, crouched over a toilet as his aunt looks at his thermometer with worry.
"102 Peter. Are you sure you don't want to go to the doctors?" Peter chuckles softly as he finishes throwing up his breakfast.
"Aunt May, I know you can't afford that. I'll be fine, I just need to rest." Peter says, hoping that he's not lying. Aunt May looks at the thermometer again before sighing in defeat.
"Alright. You get to bed then Peter. I'll fix you some soup in a few hours." Peter stands back up, ignoring how dizzy he feels, and heads into his room. He throws off his shirt as he gets under his blankets.
Within seconds, he's out.
His dreams are surreal and frankly insane. New York is underwater, the population drowning and gasping for air. Then suddenly he's running down a large beach, far faster than he's ever ran before. After, he's then soaring through the sky, flying higher and higher until he starts to fall. The sky is replaced by a dark void, and all he hears is the most diabolical laughter he's ever heard in his life.
Then he gets flashes. He's eating soup, and then nearly pukes. Peter then sees himself watching TV in bed, covered up with a bunch of blankets. His uncle comes in and just stares at him with a look of worry matching that of his aunt.
Things change again, and this time Peter is suffering from pain - he's being electrocuted and the burning pain is absolute hell. Just when the pain is too much to bear, things change once again. He's falling off of a building, and he watches as himself tries to reach for him, but it's too late. More evil laughter is heard, and finally... Peter wakes up.
....... [Spider-Man] .......
Peter screams, gasping for air as he twists in the covers, his body moving on its own accord. Peter breathes in and out carefully as he attempts to calm down. "I hate sick dreams." He says to himself, shaking his head. Peter turns over and scans the clock.
4:56 AM.
Peter sighs. At least he's feeling much better than he was earlier. As he lays back down in his dark room, his door swings open, his aunt and uncle rushing into his room.
"Peter! Are you ok? We heard you screaming." Peter now feels bad about waking them up.
"Sorry. Weird dreams and nightmares - you know how being sick is." Ben sighs in relief, as May frowns.
"Peter, you're sounding much better... Are you feeling ok?" Peter nods, surprised at just how good he is feeling. Must have been a short flu or something.
"Yeah actually, much better. I guess a few hours of sleep was all I needed." Ben and May quickly turn to face each other, both looking concerned.
"Peter, it's been days. It's Tuesday." Peter's mouth drops as he looks at his aunt and uncle.
"The... The trip was Friday, I've been asleep since then!?" He asks, surprised. He really slept that long? Ben shakes his head.
"You've been out of it the past few days. You'd eat, mumble stuff and go back to sleep." Maybe some of those weird dreams wandering the house and being in bed weren't dreams after all...
"Are you really feeling better now Peter?" His aunt asks, and Peter slowly nods.
"Definitely. I'm feeling good. Like... Really good." Ben pats his blanket covered legs, and May smiles.
"Then you probably need to get some more rest before school starts." She says wisely, and Peter laughs. He honestly isn't sure if he's gonna get any more sleep at all. But they leave, saying goodbye and Peter covers back up to try and get more sleep.
....... [Spider-Man] .......
The alarm blared, making Peter groan quietly at the offending noise. Peter reaches for it, slapping his arm down a few times until he makes contact with it - and pulls his hand back in surprise when his hand crushes his clock.
Peter jolts him, freaked out. His alarm is half caved in, the digital numbers gone from the mostly destroyed screen. Peter isn't... He... He can see. Clearly. Peter grabs his glasses next to his broken alarm, and tries them on. Instantly his vision is even more blurry than it usually is if he didn't have them on.
What on Earth -
"Peter! You need to eat breakfast!" His aunt calls for him. Peter doesn't have a single clue what's going on, but he does know he'll have to figure this out later. He quickly gets dressed, and leaves his glasses upstairs for now.
He goes downstairs and turns into the kitchen, sitting down at his usual spot between his aunt and uncle.
"Peter! You'll have to eat fast, the school bus will be here any minute." Peter just nods, as he starts to stuff his mouth full. Ben chuckles.
"Hungry huh kiddo? I'm not surprised after the last few days." Peter isn't rude enough to talk with his mouth full, so he swallows his food.
"Yeah, I'm practically starving. Thanks again Aunt May." He says, smiling at his aunt. She gives him a small smile in return.
"Well, just eat quickly Peter. Your bus should be here soon." And Peter does eat faster. As soon as his plate is gone, he grabs his plate and sets it in the sink, before he makes a mad dash for the door, grabbing his backpack as he runs outside.
He watches as the bus turns a corner, and he nearly curses. But... But instead he keeps running. He's not tired at all; he's never felt like this, so energized and athletic. He manages to keep up with the bus, and at the next stop, gets on.
He's not sweating. His breathing is perfectly normal... Just what is going on?
....... [Spider-Man] .......
All day at school he can barely focus on anything. Instead, he's wondering just how and why he now seemingly has superpowers. He's not a Mutant, at least he's fairly certain he's not. If he had the gene, then surely it'd have come up at some point in his early check ups at the hospital.
He was perfectly normal until his trip to Oscorp, so why - oh, the spider? Hmm, but why would he be faster and stronger from a spider bite? It doesn't make much sense.
At lunch, he texts his best friend in the whole wide world.
You: [Gwen, I have superpowers.]
The response is almost instant.
[Yeah sure u do, and im the leader of the Avengers.] :BFF♥
You: [Gweeeeeen I'm serious! I was bit by a spider and got super sick - you didn't text me, how dare you - and today I broke my alarm clock and missed my bus, then ran over four blocks without getting tired.]
[So a spider bit u, made u delirious and now puberty is kicking in? That doesnt sound very superhero-y] :BFF♥
You: [I promise I'm not lying or crazy! Meet me at my house today after school?]
[Hmm fine, but only to make sure u actually arnt insane.] :BFF♥
As soon as school is over a few hours later, he heads home. But not by the bus. Instead, he runs. And yeah, he's definitely not starting puberty. Puberty doesn't let someone run nearly a full mile in just two minutes. He's fairly certain he's broken a few world records actually.
He gets home and runs up to his room, just barely remembering to wave at his aunt as he goes up to his room. Peter is excited, though his excitement is dashed a little when he sees his destroyed alarm clock. He grabs his second oldest friend and throws it in his small trash can. At least his phone can act as an alarm so he's not missing much.
An hour or so later, Gwen knocks on his door. He opens the door and ushers her in quickly.
"So Boy Blunder, what superpowers do you have?" The blond girl says sarcastically. Peter flops on his bed as Gwen takes a seat next to him, tossing her backpack on the floor
"Ok so, so far I've got extreme strength - " He shows her the destroyed clock in the trash. "I'm definitely faster, I ran home from school in just over two minutes, and my eyesight is nearly perfect now." Gwen playfully rolls her eyes.
"So the alarm clock is old, puberty kicked in and made you faster and maybe this spider fixed your eyesight." Peter groans
"Gweeeeen I'm totally serious here, I have superpowers!" He holds out his hand. "Come on, try and pull me." Gwen grabs his hand and tugs. Nothing. He barely even feels her. She tries harder, and her face gets scrunched up as she uses two hands to no avail.
He doesn't even budge.
"Holy crap, you've got fucking superpowers." Gwen whispers. Peter raises both arms.
"Thank you! At least you've admitted it." Gwen quickly pushes her glasses up to her nose and grabs her backpack, pulling out her laptop.
"Ok, so this spider, did you recognize it?" Peter immediately shakes his head.
"Nope. I know I didn't get the best look at it, but I definitely never saw it before. It was like red and blue I think." Peter says, trying to recall any details he can. Gwen types things on her computer.
"You got sick - and I'm sorry I didn't text, family was over this weekend - and then after you got better this morning is when you noticed everything?" Peter nods.
"Yeah, though I've got no clue why I'm so fast and strong." He says, before he starts thinking seriously. "I guess some spiders do have pretty abnormal strength for their body weight." He says, and Gwen hums.
"Think you can do anything else? Climb walls, shoot webs out of your body, maybe grow a few more legs?" Peter laughs at her joke.
"I mean, the only way to know for sure is to test these things." Peter says, and Gwen points to his cleanest wall.
"Go climb the wall, Wall Crawler." Peter gives her a deadpan stare. She huffs. "It's a working title, you'll need a superhero name." Peter stands up, scoffing all the while.
"I dunno Gwen. Saving people is ok and all that, but I could easily be like a pro football player or something now." He puts his hand on the wall, and tries to go up it, only he nearly falls. He easily catches himself though.
"You would make for a funny looking football player though Pete. You're still tiny." He turns his head, sticking out his tongue as his noticeably taller best friend. He tries again, and something happens. He can feel as his hand somehow sticks to the wall. He gets his other hand stuck too, and then clicks his tongue in thought.
"I uh... I don't want to rip the wallpaper off." Gwen holds back laughter, and goes over to help hold him still. After a few minutes, Peter finally thinks he's figured it out. He successfully sticks and un-sticks his hands multiple times on his wall.
He and Gwen high five, and Peter laughs when he makes her hand stick to his.
"Well I mean, everyone always said we were glued together when we were younger." Gwen just returns his deadpan stare from earlier, and Peter laughs as he un-sticks her hand.
"What else can you do though Peter? Like, this is legit incredible." His best friend says as she types more things into her laptop. Peter shakes his head, as he lays back across his bed.
"I've got no idea. All I know is that my life is finally gonna turn around." And he's got an idea for what to do first.
....... [Spider-Man] .......
As Peter walks through the school's halls the next day, he's hoping beyond hope he'll run into Flash Thompson. Eddie may bully him, but Flash has tormented him ever since being transferred here. That guy has done nothing but belittle and beat Peter up since day one. Peter wasn't going to have it anymore though.
He's also not above showing Eddie what's what either if he's being honest, but thankfully his main target appears before too long. Peter holds back a smile as he 'accidentally' bumps into Flash.
"What the hell twerp? Watch where you're going!" The jock says. Peter looks up at Flash.
"Why don't you watch where you're going Thompson? I'm the small one, I look up, you're the tall one, you look down." The talking in the hallway instantly ceases. You could hear a pin drop.
"What did you say to me half-pint?" Peter snorts.
"What, are you stupid and deaf now? You heard me." There's an odd tingling sensation in his head as Flash pushes him up against the nearby locker.
"Alright, you've earned this beating fair and square. Where you want the first punch? Ribs, chest, face." Peter rolls his eyes as the tingling sensation begins to grow stronger. It's actually kind of annoying.
"How about you put me down and we both get to walk away without any injuries?" Flash laughs, and some of the other students around him do too. Hell some even have their phones out.
"Face it is then." The tingling finally becomes too great to ignore, as Flash's fist soars towards him. Peter's head practically moves by itself as Flash slams his fist directly into a locker. He drops Peter, and the tingling sensation vanishes.
"Fucking shit!" Flash screams, holding his hand. Peter laughs like a gremlin at the bully.
"You really showed that locker who's the boss, huh Flash?" The tingle comes back, and Peter ducks under another punch from Flash. Huh. Does he have a danger sense or something?
As the tingle vanishes again, Peter sweeps his leg, taking Flash down and putting him on the ground. The bully hits the floor surprisingly hard. Everyone in the hallway loses it.
"Did that runt just kick Flash's ass!?"
"Oh my - I'm posting that to YouTube."
"Flash just frigging ate dirt!"
There's more noises of excitement, which quickly disappear as the principal himself walks into the hallway.
"And just what is all this racket?" Uh oh... Peter's eyes meet the principal, and he gives him a little wave.
"He started it?" Peter says weakly.
....... [Spider-Man] .......
"It's not fair! He's picked on me forever and nothing happens, but the one time I fight back I get suspended!?" Peter says angrily in the car. His Uncle Ben shakes his head.
"Athletes always get special treatment Peter." The older man says. Peter grits his teeth. At least when he starts doing sports he'll get that level of privilege too.
"What happened Peter? You're not usually like this." His uncle asks softly. Honestly it just makes Peter more angry.
"I just - he deserved it! Every few days it's something else he wants to blame me for, or he stuffs me in a locker or beats me for no reason!" Peter angrily crosses his arms.
"I just wanted to even the score." Peter says. His Uncle Ben frowns.
"Getting even with bullies isn't going to help Peter. You can't stoop to their level." His uncle says. Peter whips his head around.
"But why!? Why is it always me who has to be the bigger person, why can't I be selfish for once!?" His uncle takes a deep breath.
"Because with power comes responsibility, and with great power comes great responsibility." Peter rolls his eyes. He's not in the mood for this lecture. As they stop at a red light, Peter opens the car door.
"I'm taking a walk, be home soon."
"Wait Peter!"
He doesn't let his uncle finish, and instead does a brisk jog to get further and further away. Peter is just so unbelievably fed up with this. No matter what, he can't seem to catch a break. He kicks a can on the sidewalk hard as he passes it.
"At least I wasn't expelled. And Flash shouldn't mess with me anymore." He whispers to himself. "I'll take a few days to relax and make a new game plan. The only question I should be asking now is whether I want to be famous at football or basketball." Both have serious pros and cons, and Peter can't just do both. It'd already be really suspicious for a nobody like him to be good at any form of physical activity anyway.
He licks his dry lips, as he passes a gas station. Peter checks his wallet. He's got two bucks. Should be enough to get a drink. Peter walks into the store, listening to the bell as it jingles. He immediately heads for the back and grabs a Dr. Pepper. The store bell jingles again as he walks up to the counter.
"Just this, thanks." He says, as he pulls out his money. The clerk grumbles as he scans it.
"That'll be $2:06." Peter hands him the two dollars.
"I don't have any change. That's fine right?" The clerk snorts derisively.
"This ain't no charity kid. Either get me the full amount or you don't get it." Peter's day could not be going worse right now, he swears. He groans.
"Please dude come on. Hell I'll come back tomorrow and give you six damn pennies." The clerk points to the door.
"Get the fuck out kid." Peter starts to get angry again.
"Dude what the hell!? Can't you overlook this one time, I'm just thirsty!" The clerk scoffs.
"I missed the part where that's my problem kid. Get out." Peter aggressively grabs the two dollars back from the guy, and walks off. As he opens the doors though...
"Give me everything you've got in the register right now." Peter turns his head back, looking at karmic justice. The asshole clerk is getting robbed.
The robber, a long blond haired, thuggish looking guy, looks right at him, then at the Dr. Pepper that he left on the counter. The clerk freaks out.
"Kid! Call the cops or something!" The robber grabs the drink, and tosses it to Peter, who easily grabs it. Peter shakes his head as he starts to walk outside.
"Kid I'm being robbed!" The clerk yells.
"I missed the part where that's my problem!" Peter yells back, mocking him from earlier as he leaves the store. He opens his drink, taking a sip as he does.
Man he loves Dr. Pepper.
Peter continues walking, over to a nearby park not too far away from the gas station. He sits on a bench and watches as the cars go by, drinking his soda. Today may have been shitty, but he's determined to make the best of it. He's got a body that actually works right now, not a little twig that could easily snap in half. First, get into sports, then get fame and finally get some money.
Oh damn, he actually could do superhero stuff on the side! Maybe one day he'd be as famous as Tony Stark. A kid can dream after all. As he's lost in his thoughts, looking up at the sky, he hears a gunshot coming from nearby. A few seconds later, a car speeds off. Peter looks in the direction that the gunshot came from, and sees a group of people in a small circle.
He downs the last of his drink and tosses it with the rest of the garbage people have dumped, and walks over to the group.
"Holy shit he's dead! Did anyone see that guy!?" A man says from inside the circle. Peter maneuvers his way past the group, and as he hits the center...
"Un- Uncle Ben!" He screams, pushing the rest of the way past them. Peter falls to his knees as he sees the gunshot wound in his uncle's chest. Peter can't think. He can't breathe.
"Did anyone call the cops!?"
"Poor kid..."
"That's fucked up, he stole that guy's car."
Those last words hit Peter like a freight train. He whips his head up, looking directly at the guy who said that.
"Where'd he go?" Peter's voice says. He's hoarse. Why?
"Guy drove off down main street just a few minutes ago." He says, as he starts to dial a number. Presumably 911.
Peter takes off like a rocket down the street. His feet carry him fast as he barrels down Main Street. He curses when he can't see anything, and then he turns into an alleyway. He rushes onto the wall, easily climbing up it like an angry spider. As he hits the rooftop, he looks around.
... There. He sees Uncle Ben's car as it turns the corner.
Uncle Ben. Who was alive just twenty minutes ago. He's dead now. Peter's eyes get flushed with tears and he can barely see as he rushes to the nearest rooftop. He jumps without even thinking, but he easily makes the gap. Peter keeps running along the rooftops, desperately trying to find the car again.
As he lands on the fifth rooftop, he sees it as the guy ducks the car into an alleyway. Perfect. No witnesses.
Peter runs, jumping off the roof and landing on top of the car. The glass shatters as the roof caves in slightly, and he quickly lands on the driver's side as he rips the car door wide open. He grabs the driver by the throat, and throws them out of the car, against the nearby wall. There's a thud as the killer hits the wall. Peter stomps over to the guy, who's groaning on the ground.
Peter kneels, as he flips the guy over - and immediately Peter's face goes pale.
It's... It's the guy who robbed the gas station. Sure, the guy is out of it, and his head is bleeding from the wall Peter threw him at. But it's him.
Peter falls backwards, crawling away.
"No... No no no." He could have stopped that guy there. He could have stopped him easily. His heart starts to beat, and his throat clenches tightly.
The killer groans in pain, and moves to stand. Sirens can be heard nearby. The police are close, Peter can just barely register in his foggy mind. He stands up, and then runs. And runs. And runs. He doesn't even know where he's going; he just keeps moving.
He did this. He did this.
If he'd just - it would have taken nothing to easily stop that robber and give him to the cops. Peter gladly let him do it, all because the clerk wouldn't cut him a break.
Peter's a monster.
His eyes water, and he starts to sob as he runs harder and harder. Peter can't move anymore. He drops to the ground, and cries.
"I'm sorry. I'm so, so sorry." He mumbles over and over.
Peter doesn't know how long he lies there, on the dirty streets of New York. But eventually he picks himself up. He... He starts to move again. In no time at all he arrives at his destination, and effortlessly climbs the house until he finds the window he's looking for. He knocks on it, and the curtains pull back.
"Peter?" Gwen's muffled voice says questioningly. The window opens. "Why are you crying? And you're filthy -" He goes through the window, and grabs her tightly as he starts to sob again.
"Peter, really tight." Gwen says, and he has enough presence of mind to ease up. They slide to the floor, and Gwen hugs him back.
"Pete what's wrong?" He can't even explain it. He just keeps crying.
"My fault. It's - it's all my fault." Gwen just hugs him tighter.
"I don't - you're fine Peter. You're fine." His best friend says, as she holds him close. He's not fine.
He'll never be fine again.
He cries into her shirt, as his body violently sobs. Gwen rubs his back softly, as the two sit there.
"My uncle. I-i-i could have saved him - he's dead - my fault." He says through his tears. Gwen doesn't say anything though. Instead, she just continues to hold him tightly, as she soothes him.
"I'm so sorry Uncle Ben. I'm so sorry." Peter says. His uncle died because he was being a selfish brat. It's his fault. He chose to do nothing, he let the robber go and that robber killed his uncle.
Peter may as well have shot him himself.
No, no Peter isn't letting anything like that happen, not ever again. Screw fame and fortune. Plans have changed.
As he finally starts to calm down, he looks up at Gwen.
“I'm… I can't let this happen again. I can't.” Gwen rubs the back of his head.
“What do you want to do?” She asks softly. Peter rubs the tears from his eyes.
“I'm going to save people. I've got…” Peter remembers the last time he and Uncle Ben talked. How his uncle tried to teach him something, and how Peter left because he didn't want to hear it.
“With power, comes responsibility. And with great power, comes great responsibility.” He says the words, just like his uncle had said them before.
He's not going to let anyone else feel this pain. Not if he can stop it from happening to them.
