Peter Parker sits on his best friend's couch notebook and pencil in hand, carefully drawing a schematic for a new mask with the voice changer built into the fabric.
After three months of swinging around Queens with a plate pressed against his mouth and wires against his face he was officially over it.
He was over it from the first week but it was difficult designing a circuit layout for fabric.
"You should make the eyes bigger." Harry Osborn recommends as he leans over looking at the sketch with critical eyes.
"Hm?" The boy hums questioningly, his eyes never leaving the paper.
"Like, you want to be the Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man? More like Superman than Batman, right?"
The preteen turns to look at the teen, "I… yeah, I guess you can put it like that."
"Well you should make your eyes bigger, less intimidating."
Peter huffs a bit in disbelief, "You think my mask is intimidating?"
The rich boy makes an unsure noise in the back of his throat, "A bit but I know it's you. I think if I didn't I would be downright terrified of you if we meet off the street, especially in the dead of night. Frankly, I think you need a whole new costume."
"What? Like spandex?" He jokes but Harry doesn't laugh.
"If I'm being honest, yeah. I mean you're the world's first superhero Pete and you dress like a thug! No one wants to be saved by a thug. It was fine when you were this mysterious stuntman performing death defying feats but now… " He lets the sentence hang.
"Now I'm trying to save people." The genius finishes and sighs, "You're right, I got to start thinking what's best for the people out there and not my own preferences. If I want to act like a… a superhero then I need to dress like one."
Harry rubs the other's shoulder.
"What ideas do you have for a new costume?"
The other frowns in thought, "I think you should keep the red and blue color scheme, especially in the shade you already have; they're bright and friendly but lose the yellow it's too angry. Like I said before, make your eyes bigger, cartoonishly big if you can so people take you less seriously and if you can maybe make them expressive like those LED masks? The most pressing thing is that your voice needs to change, you sound like a robot pretending to be human and failing hard at it."
Peter blinks owlishly, "You've been thinking about this for a while, huh?"
Harry just smiles.
"Anything else?"
"I like the spider symbol, very superheroey, very marketable."
The boy genius blinks, "Marketable?"
His friend sits up straight, "Well, we're still trying to make money right?"
"Well, we're making plenty of money already aren't we? I mean Spidernest has over two hundred thousand subscribers, we're going to make millions a month."
"Yeah sure." Harry waves it off, "But is that really enough? I mean you're trying to do private research, right? That's going to take a lot of dough. Not to mention May is trying to expand F.E.A.S.T, which takes serious capital."
Peter nods, "You're right." He shakes his head. "Of course you're right but I'm not sure how I feel marketing Spider-Man like, like a product." He looks to the other with confusion and doubt. "It feels wrong, like… like I'm just doing it for the money."
"Well you're not." The rich teen deadpans, "You know you're not, this conversation proves you're not." He leans back towards the boy and wraps an arm around his shoulder, "But just to remind you, Peter Parker can make just as much of a difference in New York, in the world, as Spider-Man can but Peter Parker needs money to do it and needs a lot of it."
He huffs, "Ain't that the truth." Looking at his friend, he raises an eyebrow. "What do you have in mind?"
"Plushies."
"... Plushies?"
"Plushies." The older boy nods, "To start with."
Peter sighs, "Alright, you're my… what are you again?"
"Media manager, co-blogger, and publicist." Harry grins.
"... I don't pay you enough, do I?" The superhuman asks.
"We'll talk about that later." The rich teen brings his younger friend Into a side hug.
The preteen laughs and returns the embrace before getting back to work, Harry leans into the couch turning his attention back to the T.V.
The older boy changes the channel a few times only to pause on a news channel with a big smile, "Hey Pete, looks like your interview is airing!"
Peter looks up and sees himself, not as Spider-Man but as plain old Peter Parker wearing polarized yellow-orange rimless rectangular sunglasses and a slim fit two piece burgundy suit with a golden yellow button up dress shirt. Sitting on his side is John Jonah Jameson Jr, the Editor-in-Chief of the Daily Bugle and the Head News Anchor for the Daily Bugle Broadcasting Company.
Jameson is an older man in his late sixties with a thickset build. He has a sand complexion, steel blue eyes, and salt-pepper hair styled in an ivy league crew cut with a bushy walrus mustache.
The broadcaster is wearing a navy blue three piece suit with a white button up dress shirt and a red tie.
"Dude, wearing sunglasses inside? Douche much?"
Peter snorts, "Did you forget? I have night vision."
The teen makes a confused noise.
"Which means my eyes glow on camera and I couldn't exactly bring my digital jammer, so I did the next best thing."
"Ah." The other makes an understanding sound, "Well, not the worst downside."
The boy hums, "No but I do look like a douche, don't I?"
"Yeah~ sorry." Harry shrugs.
~Spider-Man Evolution~
"New York I would like to welcome our guest for the morning; Dr. Peter Parker. That's right I said Doctor! This young man here, not even a teenager, holds a Phd in Biochemistry! He is the youngest person in the world to hold the title! Not only that but he is the first person to document the exploits of the world's first superhuman: Spider-Man!"
The boy nods in greeting, a small smile sitting across his face.
"Now with introductions out of the way let's get in the meat and potatoes of why you're here! Spider-Man! What is he?"
Peter clears his throat, "From what I've gathered by analyzing his D.N.A he is a subspecies of humans, human-adjacent."
"Adjacent? adjacent! What do you mean by adjacent?! Either someone is human or they're not! There's no in between!" The man roars out getting a slight flinch in his guest.
"Well you see Spider-Man's D.N.A had been altered, from his accounts, completely at random. 4.44 percent of his genetic code has been mutated beyond human recognition and now closely resembles that of an arachnid, more specifically a black widow."
"So less than five percent? That's barely anything!"
"It's actually quite a lot. Neanderthals, our predecessors, have a variation of 0.3 percent, much less than Spider-Man and yet we classify them as a different species. Chimpanzees, one of our closest living relatives, have a variation of less than two percent and we don't consider them human. Both of these species are human-adjacent."
"Truly?"
The doctor nods, "I was even able to name the new subspecies he belongs to: Homo rex aranea. "
"How is this possible? You claim that Spider-Man wasn't born the way he was and if that's true then could this happen to anyone? Could someone just randomly be bitten by some radioactive insect and be granted extraordinary abilities?"
"Well Spider-Man has two variations in his biological makeup, both genetic, that predated the widespread mutation; one makes his enzymes highly absorbent to radiation like some types of fungi and another is what I classify as the Insect gene or the Broad-Complex Gene found in insects. If he lacked either variation then well, he would be dead."
"And how are you so sure these variations were there before? That they weren't the results of this radioactive spider?"
"Well for a couple reasons, spiders don't have the Broad-Complex gene, that is something unique to insects, and I found no other alterations linked to any other species in his genome besides the one which tells me it's highly unlikely it's the result of the bite which means it must have been there before it. Another is that exposure to radiation isn't like a vaccine shot where it grants you antibodies, you don't develop an immunity."
"Then it's possible that others that share these traits could end up with powers similar to Spider-Man?"
"That's a tricky question. For a person to be born with the Broad-Complex gene along with radiation absorbent enzymes and then be bitten by a radioactive spider or insect to trigger body-wide mutagenic changes can't be quantified. It's the work of pure randomness, a twist of fate, a stroke of good luck. If you're asking if Spider-Man will be the last to have powers then the answer is I don't know but probably not."
"Proba–? What does that mean?!"
"Well in 1984 Doctor Sharon Fischer, a geneticist of great acclaim at the time, published a paper predicting that humans would soon or already had entered its next step of evolution and start developing powers."
"Excuse me? That's… that's…"
"Insane? Outlandish? Deranged? That's exactly the reception she received at the time, Dr. Fischer was laughed out of the scientific community because of her theories but considering what we now know, what Spider-Man proves, I'd say she hit the bullseye. Spider-Man, before being bitten had been born with two genes that no human should have which perfectly facilitated the development of his superpowers. That's evolution."
"So you're saying it's possible that there are people out there right now with abilities straight out of a comic book?"
"Maybe. Spider-Man is undeniably the link between homo sapiens and those that will inherit the earth, the, as Dr. Fischer called them, homo sapiens superior, but that doesn't mean they aren't already here. After all, neanderthals coexisted with homo sapiens for around ten thousand years."
"Amazing. Truly but what does that mean for us as a society?"
"I… don't understand the question?"
"What I mean is if people start developing powers or already have them then what would stop them from abusing such gifts? I mean Spider-Man himself swings around New York like he owns the place! Defacing public property without a care in the world! And, as you yourself reported on your blog, took the law into his own hands, assaulting citizens!"
"You mean criminals? As far as I'm aware and captured on video he's stopped numerous crimes all without throwing a punch, keeping the people of New York safe."
"Safe?! I don't feel safe! Not with him prowling about looking for trouble! Who's to say he won't go too far? What if someone does something he doesn't like and decides they need to be webbed up? Or worse?!"
"He won't." The other shoots back, "All he wants to do is help."
"How do you know? How can you be so sure?! If he wants to keep people safe, why not join the police? Why wear a mask? What does he have to hide?!"
The boy laughs, it's short and sharp and ugly, "You can not be serious? Are you an idiot?"
"Excus–"
"You must be! In case you've been asleep for all of history, the human race has never been good with anyone that doesn't look or sound like them or should I remind you of the first and second Crusade. What about the Trail of Tears, the Tulsa Race Massacre, the Holocaust, and the Japanese American Internment? That's a fraction of a fraction of a fraction of what we as a people are capable of doing to each other for no other reason that we differ from one another and you want Spider-Man, the first public superhuman, the most different person on the planet, to take off his mask?!"
"Then why reveal himself at all? Why go out there and make a mockery of himself? Why allow you to analyze his blood?! Why fight crime?! If it's so dangerous WHY DO ANY OF IT!?!"
"Why shouldn't he?!? Should he just hide away from everyone and everything because of what could be? Should he never get close to anyone ever again because of what might happen if they learn the truth? Should he turn away when he sees a man being mugged or a woman about to be assaulted or a child about to be hurt because they may hate what he can do? No! He has a right to live just as much as you or I!"
Jameson's eyes widen, "Of course he does! Every single person on this planet, every one of them, has the right to live! That's not what we're arguing about!"
Peter blinks, "It's not?"
"No! I'm asking how do we hold him responsible if he does something he shouldn't! Should we just turn a blind eye because he has powers, wears a mask, and calls himself a hero?! And what about others like him? These mutants? Our justice system is predicated on the fact that everyone is equal under the eyes of the law but if some of them have powers how can we properly incarcerate and rehabilitate them!"
The doctor's lips pull down, "I see your point and I do agree in principle but we're not there yet and we may never be and frankly I don't appreciate calling these hypothetical people mutants, it's derogatory. They would be marvels of human evolution. "
"Mutants or Marvels, it doesn't matter. I'm of the opinion it's better to be safe than sorry."
"It's a dangerous line of thinking, it's the same line of thinking our government used for Japanese American Internment, the same line of thinking law enforcement uses when profiling minorities. Better safe than sorry. There's a line between being vigilant and racist or in this case speciesist."
A middle aged man with a sand complexion, swept back honey blonde hair that tickles the back of his neck, steel blue eyes, and a lanky build leans forward from his seat with intense eyes.
Charles Xavier, a world renowned geneticist and headmaster of Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters, frowns at the interview. He has spent a lifetime concealing the nature of mu– marvels from the world; monitoring the emergence of super powered individuals, guiding any who took his hand, altering memories of those who bore witness to them, and even inhibiting those who abuse their gifts for selfish means.
It wasn't fool proof and the governments of the world knew of their existence, doing their own cover ups but the general population remained largely ignorant.
Until now.
Spider-Man was a wild card, something new as he was no marvel but a science experiment gone wrong… or right. By the time Charles learned of his existence so had the rest of the world and there was no way to put the genie back into the bottle but he had at least hoped that his kind would remain unknown.
Looks like he was wrong.
Peter Parker managed to uncover the truth and reveal it to the world, the only upside is the boy had no idea how right he was and seemed to be a staunch supporter.
At least in theory.
"I was hoping for more time." He mutters to himself as he leans back into the couch and closes his eyes.
~Spider-Man Evolution~
Peter had poured in days of research into designing and creating a superhero suit. One thing he learned during the whole process is how hard it was; specialized equipment, precise technique, and a lot of space would be needed especially with his idea of using his web fluid as the bases.
But if he was going to do this he might as well do it right and it wasn't like he didn't have the money. Why have it if he wasn't going to use it, right?
The basement had already been converted into his lab but the attic was up for grabs. It took only a couple hours to clean it out, keep a few mementos that were gathering dust, reserve a second storage space from the same facility that safeguarded all the junk they kept from the basement, and call in movers to place it there.
After he built everything he would need to craft the suit besides the simple appliances of course.
That took time but he didn't really have a choice as what was available for purchase either couldn't fit in the attic or would require the space to be remodeled for it to function properly or much too old school for what he was planning to do.
He was done by the end of the week.
After that it was simply trial and error. Surprisingly it was easier to build the machines than learning how to use them, let alone the by hand techniques that were necessary for the more intricate work but turns out he had an act for it.
All the reading the boy had done told him it may take months for a complete novice to make clothes even somewhat presentable but he had done it in a week.
Sure, he hadn't slept or ate but still.
He stared at the suit with proud eyes and a wide smile. It resembled a skintight unitard with knee-length boots and high forearm-length gloves with horizontal slits down the wrist for the nozzle of his web-shooters.
The boots and gloves are candy apple red with messy silver webs etched into the textile, the pants were an azure blue while the top is separated into two distinct sections; the shoulders and front are the same color as his boots with the same webs while the sides, back, along with the sleeves are colored the shade of his pants.
The front covers his whole chest before narrowing into a point at his waist with his shoulders following the same pattern. In the center of his chest is a fanged silver spider that stretches to where his belly button would be. It's shaped with an oval at the top and a dagger at the bottom, the eight legs are sharp with multiple curves and corners facing away from each other.
The last piece of his costume is a candy apple red full face mask with the same messy silver web pattern as the other red parts of his costume with bulging black eye lenses about as large as his hands made from a LED display screen shaped like curved raindrops, making them look like bug eyes.
The suit's texture is rich as if made with the finest materials in the world and looks extremely soft, like a cloud given form.
He makes some final adjustments to the golden circuitary around the mask's inner eyes and throat before turning it outside in and placing it on, he clears his throat, "Hello, hello?" His voice is deep, soothing, and warm with no mechanical undertone.
He sounds like Ben.
Taking out his phone he swipes it open and enters his camera. Looking at himself he sees the eye display is on, glowing a bright silver with an azure blue outline.
Winking, he sees the left lens mirror the gesture.
Laughing, Peter takes the mask off and places it on his engineering table in his lab with the rest of his suit and sits down, looking back at his phone he exits from his camera before noticing several dozen missed messages and calls.
Wincing the genius sees most of them are from his girlfriend, some from M.J, and a couple from Harry. He decides to call his best friend first.
He waits a few moments before the other answers.
"Oh good, you aren't dead." The teen snarks out, "Man, I haven't seen you in like two weeks! Sally rimmed me out because Liz was crying to her, saying you were ignoring her? What the fuck man?"
"Sorry, sorry. I've been working on something. Lost track of time."
"For two weeks? You were so busy you couldn't even check your phone?"
"Yeah, sometimes I get really focused and I just lose track of time, Ben usually…" The young doctor lets the sentence hang, a sadness suddenly envelops him.
"So what, you haven't left that lab of yours for two whole weeks? Haven't eaten? Slept? Take a shower?" The rich teen asks with a hint of disgust.
"Yeah, I don't need to sleep or eat as much. You know spiders don't sleep, they just stop moving for a bit and larger spiders like Tarantulas can go months without eating. I'm the biggest spider in the world so I could go years without eating. Maybe. Probably not considering how complex human anatomy is compared to a spider's but a few weeks shouldn't be a problem." He explains absentmindedly.
"... That's interesting. Where is May and Teresa? I didn't think either of them would just let you rot in your lab without checking on you?"
Peter is silent, "Things have been a little strained. May is in a funk, she's focused on F.E.A.S.T and though she still hasn't said anything her chemo is taking a lot out of her, she's barely been home. Teresa is… well she isn't taking Ben's death as well as me."
His friend hums in disbelief, "Peter, you've decided to put your life on the line for total strangers because of your uncle's death."
Snorting, the boy nods, "Point. Anyway Teresa has gotten really into acting, she's taking a whole bunch of lessons. When she's not doing that she's spending the rest of her free time with Bobby and Angelica. I… I don't think either of them like being in the house anymore. I've tried making them feel more secure, installed a high-tech security system; fingerprints, voice recognition, a retina scan, cameras everywhere but well…"
"Doesn't change the fact that your uncle was murdered there, does it?"
Sighing, "No, it doesn't."
"I'm sorry to hear that Pete, you… my dad isn't exactly a present parent, hasn't been since mom died."
"I figured. I never see him at your house and I've been there a lot over the months."
"Of course." He laughs, "So what exactly have you been up to?"
"So what have you been up to?"
"Ah, well remember when we talked about my costume?"
"Yep."
"Well, I decided if I was going to make a superhero suit, I was going to make a 'superhero' suit. So I got to thinking and realized my web fluid would make an amazing fabric but it took time not only to learn exactly how I would do it but to build what I needed for it and you know, actually make it."
"Ahuh, send a pic." Harry simply says.
Rolling his eyes at the bland praise Peter grabs his mask and places it back in the container before doing what was asked, "Oh, that's sick! God Peter, it looks straight out of the comic book!"
"Thanks."
"You said it would make good fabric, what do you mean?"
"Well it's shock absorbent so if I ever go splat against the pavement the suit will absorb most of the impact, insulated so the cold won't bother me. Not to mention it's tear resistant and bullet proof."
"Whoa but isn't it really sticky? Won't it get stuck on you?"
"Nah, I changed up the formula for the process."
"Hmm." The older of the two hums.
"What?"
"Well, it sounds like you could sell this to the police. Like make uniforms for them or hell, what about the military? I mean it would be perfect for them wouldn't it? They get shot up all the time."
The superhuman blinks at the idea before slowly nodding, "Yeah, it could be."
"Anyway, talk later. Call Liz alright, apologize and take her out."
"Alright, bye."
They end the call and Peter sighs and thinks about who to call next, 'M.J or Liz? Liz or M.J?'
He had no idea what he was going to say to Liz, how to smooth over his fuck up. He needs more time to come up with a proper apology, "M.J it is." He calls the singer and waits.
He doesn't wait long.
"Peter Benjamin Parker!"
The mutagenic hero winces, "Full name, huh?"
"Damn right! You completely ignored me for two weeks?! I know we aren't close but come on!"
"I'm sorry, I've been busy, lost track of the days."
"For two weeks? You really expect me to believe that?"
"It's the truth, swear to God. I'm really sorry, M.J. " He pushes as much emotion out as he can, "How can I make it up to you?"
The line is silent, "You really want to make it up to me?"
"Yes, of course."
"Well I would like some company for this protest I'm going to. Maybe you could even write an article for Spidernest, get the word out about what's going on?"
"Done, when is it?"
"Now. Meet me at the Empire State University library. Thanks, Peter."
Before he can respond the call drops. He pulls the phone away from his ear and stares for a moment before sighing, "Well alright."
~Spider-Man Evolution~
Mary Jane Watson watches from the crowd of protestors as a woman stands on the landing of the library staircase, holding up a white sign with large black block letters written across it saying; Community Before Corporate Greed!
She's wearing a long sleeve lavender crop top under a silver studded black moto racer leather jacket, low rise black skinny jeans, and black converse sneakers. The teen feels a slight tap at her shoulder and turns around finding Peter smiling nervously at her.
The girl finds herself looking the boy up and down; he's wearing a tight fitting short sleeve black hoodie with a white long sleeve undershirt, orchid jeans, and black work boots.
"Purple jeans? Brave choice." She comments with a smirk.
Peter rolls his eyes, "Yeah, well, Teresa said I should dress my age and I do like purple. It's my third favorite color. "
The other hums, "Advice I agree with, you look a lot cuter now."
The boy raises a brow, "Ah yes and all it took was me growing a foot taller, getting contacts, and changing my whole style." He responds with a sarcastic tilt in his voice.
"Don't forget the hair." The wannabe rocker looks towards the fluffy red mess that she really wants to touch, "The dye job is impeccable and it looks so soft, like cotton candy."
"Thanks." He smiles, "So, what's all this about."
"Well get this, ESU is bulldozing the housing projects near here, Villeroy Towers, to expand the campus for some science center."
"That sounds unethical but they must be compensating them for the forced eviction right?" His face twists at the news, "I'm pretty sure that's the law."
"They are but not nearly enough, I mean the people who live here have to live here, Pete! They couldn't afford anywhere else and now they're being kicked out. It's just wrong." She proclaims.
Peter nods, "Alright, so what's the goal then?" His hands enter his hood pocket and pulls out a camcorder; it's sleek and silver, and fits perfectly in his hands.
Turning it on and raising it to his eye he begins scanning the area.
"We're hoping with enough bad press the university will shut the construction down and I suppose failing that upping the compensation so they can actually afford to relocate."
"Sounds like a plan; why don't we do some Interviews, get the thoughts and feelings of the victims in all this."
"We?" The teen raises a brow.
The blogger laughs, "Yes, we. People like seeing the interviewer, makes it more… personable I guess and since I'm operating the camera I'm going to need you to ask the questions."
She looks hesitant, "I've never–"
"You'll do fine." He interrupts, "I mean," He turns the device towards her. "The camera does love you."
Mary Jane huffs in amusement and smiles, "Fine, you've convinced me. What do I need to do?"
"Nothing too difficult; just ask questions you think are important, have a bit of a back and forth. We'll only do four or five of these before trying to interview the lead protester about how all this started."
"Sounds simple enough." She hums out.
"First introduce yourself, where you are, and why you are. Don't worry about any mistakes, we can always try again."
The guitarist clears her throat and she stares into the lenses of the camcorder with a strained smile, "Hi, I'm Mary Jane Watson and I'm at Empire State University where a protest is, um, underway for the eviction of nearby apartment complex to makeway for the, the expansion of the college campus."Her face twists a little as she finishes, her voice getting smaller and trails off.
"Good. That was good, M. J."
"Yeah?"
"Yeah!" He reassures, "Let's try again and mention the name of the apartment complex so our viewers can search this up on their own if they want."
The girl winces at the mistake.
"Also try to relax and keep your voice level."
She nods and tries again.
Eventually the two started interviewing fellow activists before finding an opportunity to talk with the lead.
After they finished, the friends stayed at the University for a couple hours more, showing their support to the residents of Villeroy Towers. Eventually the two left, walking their own ways but promising to meet again tomorrow.
Well one of them is walking, the other is swinging across the skyline in his new costume. It's form fitting, contorting to every curve of his body which kept the fabric in place.
He can already see a few improvements he can make; for one his web-shooters bulge out from beneath the gloves making his wrists look bulky, two he has no pockets so if he wants to make a call to the police on his old flip phone he'll be forced to open his web backpack, wasting web fluid.
Maybe redesign the mask to incorporate a comm system and a digital jammer, he'll also have to upgrade his web-shooters to be sleeker.
Or create pockets?
'Oh! I could make a utility belt! I bet Teresa would love that.'
"It is indeed my pleasure to add these gems to our temporary collection."
Peter pauses at the voice and leaps off his web to perch on an opposite building from the Manhattan Museum of Art where a woman standing in front of the entrance is speaking to a crowd with a security guard. Stationed in front of her is a large red gem in a golden frame, it's protected by an oval shaped glass case within a larger diamond shaped glass case, the jewel is raised on a golden cylinder shaped pillar on top of a golden cylinder base.
It honestly looked ridiculously.
"The jewel in the crowd is a seventeenth century, two hundred and fifty carat star ruby."
'Damn, that's worth millions!'
Peter shakes his head at the thought before he aims his wrist to swing away only to catch a white blur speeding through traffic. He tilts his head before his lenses widen as the blur stops in front of the ruby revealing itself as a person in some sort of white space suit-like armour with an orange visor and glowing blue highlights running across the body.
Faster than anyone can react the highlights turn red and they pull the jewel from its case without ever touching it before speeding off.
The preteen leaps off the building to follow the thief, he's never timed his web swinging but even when pushing himself he can barely catch up. Though he does, in the end, reach him.
Swinging low, he's moments away from grabbing them only from them to dodge, somehow lifting themselves off the ground and turning around to face him.
"Nobody likes a tailgater!" A distinctly male voice yells out.
The hero's spider-sense tingles and he pulls himself up, flinging himself in the air, just as the other somehow throws themself up with no leverage.
The criminal misses their attack and lands in the middle of the streets, cars swerving out of his way.
The preteen makes a U-Turn, swinging low but blinks as the man pulls a medium sized delivery truck towards himself and then throws it.
He lets his webline go and slides under the attack.
Screaming enters the costumed genius ears, his head tilts back and sees a group of people in the vehicle's tumbling path, 'No!'
He tries to think of a way to stop it, keep it from crushing them, he spots two lamp posts on both sides of the group and an idea forms; A web barrier! 'No, my web-shooters can't make those!'
He has no more time, the truck is above them and falling down. Peter pushes himself off the ground and leaps high in the air, he spins two web lines at the hazard and pulls himself towards it, as his palms the transport and braces for impact as he lands in the middle of the crowd, ready to buy them a few extra seconds.
Only to find himself deadlifting it, he can feel a strain like he's carrying something semi-heavy like several grocery bags full of food but that's it. This is thousands of pounds of weight, five maybe six tons and it's barely anything.
"My God."
"That's… that's amazing."
"I knew he had super powers but this is beyond anything I thought he could do!"
The people around Peter mutter as they stare in awe at his feat, a few though look freaked out.
Scared.
He can assume it's because they almost died, that if it wasn't for him they would be crushed but it wasn't.
They were afraid of him, afraid of what he could do to them.
… maybe they should be.
The changes he'd undergone must have been more radical than he had originally thought. He shouldn't be so strong, sure black widows could lift one hundred and seventy times its body weight but scaling that to human size, the physics just didn't make sense.
At most he should be able to lift a ton, maybe a ton and a half if he really pushed it but not several and not as easily as he did.
That means he missed something, misunderstood the genome report and assumed the changes were minute while in reality they were major.
Peter gently turns the truck over in his hands so the wheels are parallel to the ground before gently putting down.
The driver of the truck bursts out and almost falls to the ground but he steady's them, "You okay?" Only to feel a pinch in the back of his skull and move away as a meaty fist passes where his cheek used to be.
"Don't touch me, freak! I don't want to get cancer!"
"Cancer?" Peter questions insidiously.
"Yeah! Everybody knows radiation causes cancer and you got your powers from it! You're radioactive!"
"That's, that's, not how that works. I'm safe to be around." He tries to correct the driver only to be scoffed at.
"You're a freak of nature is what you are! What couldn't you have done us all a favor and died from the fucking spider!"
The superhuman shakes his head and leaps up, swinging away.
If he had turned around just a second later the boy would have seen the driver getting the worst tongue lashing ever seen.
~Spider-Man Evolution~
Peter can't help but think the person in the white suit is an absolute genius, looking back on the altercation it's obvious the man's ability came from the suit with some sort of repulsion and attraction technology decades ahead of anything on the market.
He spent hours trying to figure out how it would work.
The boy spent a couple more hours searching for the inventor, finding a few articles on a N. A. S. A. engineer who proposed the concept but was discredited and fired shortly after.
No one was named but it was obvious they were the jewel thief. He had to wonder why not patent it and sell it to the highest bidder?
Not like he could do that anymore, the authorities would be looking for him and the first thing they would do is check for a patent like he did.
After running into a dead end Peter spent the rest of the night in his lab adjusting and creating some new equipment; first was his mask, he added to the circuitry so he could call anyone he wanted with a simple voice command.
Next were the web-shooters, they still operated as a hydraulic press but he managed to thin the pistons to the size of a finger, adding to the number of them to compensate for the lack of power they would now bring.
Before there were five, now it's ten.
He also added a third setting to the spinnerets, if he pressed the pad three times in quick succession his webbing would spread out thinly, like a blanket.
You could barely even tell he was wearing anything around his wrists.
Though the new web cartridges capacity were reduced, so instead of lasting for a day or so he'll need to replace every twelve hours.
Of course that's only accounting for normal patrol times, routes, and criminal activity.
Something to keep his eye on he supposes but they should last until the protest and it's not like he's planning on patrolling after.
The last of his upgrades is a candy apple red utility belt with a messy silver web design etched into the metal, the end tips were shaped to fit the pointed end of his top leaving only the hint of blue between them. It didn't have a buckle to fasten it so instead he added a magnetic strip on the inside of his top so the band would remain in place.
Its main purpose is to act as a digital jammer and encrypt his calls. It even had an on and off button.
His phone rings beside him and he answers it without a thought, "Hello?"
"Peter! I could kiss you!" M.J shouts and he pulls the phone away from his ear.
"Sorry, I have a girlfriend who I… still need to call, shit." He closes his eyes and hangs his head.
"Never mind that! You posted my interview with the ESU protesters!"
"Yeah?" The doctor begins searching on the internet for apology ideas, keeping his phone between his ear and shoulder.
"Yeah, he says." She mocks, "Peter, you linked the Villeroy Towers defense fund."
"Uh-huh."
"Peter!" She yells at his nonchalant tone, "it's up to one million dollars!"
"That's great Mary Jane, listen what should I get for Liz as an apology for ignoring her?"
The teen on the other end sighs, "Flowers, all girls like flowers, Dr. Parker. Do you know what her favorite kind is?"
"No but I know her favorite color is yellow."
"Then get her bouquet of sunflowers, a box of chocolates, and shine your puppy dog eyes at her."
"I don't have puppy dog eyes." He frowns.
She snorts, "You one hundred percent do, those eyes are lethal." The singer rolls her eyes at his grumbling before moving on, "Anyways the protest has changed locations, some rich bitch is holding a press conference in support of ESU expansion, so we're going there at around seven. Still want to come? "
"Of course. I wouldn't miss it for the world M.J. "
M.J huffs out an amused laugh, "I'm holding you to that Peter. I'll shoot you a text of the address."
The boy smiles, "You got it." He utters a goodbye and hangs up before standing from his seat and stretching.
He quickly changed into his costume before putting his regular clothes back on and walked up the stairs to the main house. Entering the hallway he heads towards the dining room and blinks as he sees his sister, Teresa Parker sitting at the table with their aunt, May Parker, the both of them eating.
"Hey guys." The preteen greets with a bright smile, "It feels like I haven't seen you two in ages." He kisses the crown of his little sister's head before kissing his aunt's cheek.
"Hey Pete."
"Hi Peter."
The two give a wave.
He strolls to the stove and spies the leftover food; scrambled eggs with cut up hotdogs, he quickly makes himself a plate and sits down, "So what's the plan with you two? "
"I'm hanging out with Angelica, Bobby's birthday is coming up and we're brainstorming present ideas."
"We're doing a clothing drive at F.E.A.S.T."
They didn't offer any more information and the silence stretched between the three of them.
"So, what are you up to?" His sister asks.
"I'm going to this protest with M.J. " Peter begins, "ESU wants to tear down Villeroy Towers but aren't compensating the residents enough to properly move, we're hoping with enough protesting they might give more money or stop the project."
"Good on you Peter, participating in the community. Ben would be, be,–" The woman's eyes water and she stands, "I'm going to be late, I hope the two of you have a good day."
"Ma–" Peter stands up and tries to stop her but she quickly moves past the boy.
"I'm going to be late too." Teresa mumbles and follows her aunt's lead leaving her dish half done.
"Te, please don't–"
She doesn't listen to his pleas, his sister just walks out of the door but he can see a trembling lip as if she's holding in a sob.
As he hears the front door close, he sits back down and places his head in the palm of his hands, 'Ben, I don't know what to do? How… how do I fix this?'
He finishes his food listlessly before standing up and walking outside to the open world, "God if you're listening to me, can you give me a break. Just a small one. please?"
Sighing, he spies today's newspaper from the Daily Bugle and narrows his eyes at the headline; Masked Menaces, Turbo Jet and Spider-Man, steal priceless Jewel.
~Spider-Man Evolution~
Peter and M.J stood with more than two dozen protesters on the sidewalk and streets of the Hardy Foundation, the moon hanging above them.
The Executive Director, Anastasia Hardy, an early middle aged woman who stands at a respectable five foot-nine with platinum blonde hair, a warm ivory complexion, and a stocky frame is standing on the lower landing in between a L-shaped double staircase behind a podium with a serious expression across her face.
Her steel blue eyes look over the crowd with a small down turn of her lips.
"Science is the building blocks of our society and without it we would still be savages banging rocks together in the dark. Which is why we need to take every opportunity to nurture the next generation and their interest in STEM because only through them can we progress." She starts and a man walks over to her, in his hands was a terribly old telescope in a protective case which he passes over, "Galileo, the father of astronomy, looked through this and saw the possibilities–"
Anastasia is interrupted as Turbo Jet appears above the crowd on the higher landing.
"Is that for me, sugar mama?" He asks with a lecherous tint to his voice as he raises his arms and highlights of red appear on his suit.
"Who is that?" M. J questions, she turns towards her friend but finds the space beside her empty, "Peter?"
"I'll be taking that!" The blue on the criminal's suit glows red and the case in the woman's hands is pulled into his own, the lines turn blue again before speeding away only to be caught in a barrier made of webs.
"What the Hell?!"
The crowd looks up and sees Spider-Man crouching on the side of the wall holding the ends of the barricade, "We just got to stop meeting like this." Placing the ends on the wall he clings to the costumed preteen shoots a webline at the telescope case and pulls it towards him before flipping off the building onto his feet.
"You again? How did you find me?!"
"Happy coincidence." Peter replies as he walks to the speaker and hands over the artifact, "Parker told me about the protest, thought I would show my support and wala; here you are."
Growling, the man struggles to break free of the barricade, "Why are you doing this, huh? Do you know what this bitch was going to do with that telescope!?"
"My mother is not a bitch!" A thirteen year old girl, Felicia Hardy, yells out with a scowl, she has a natural skin tone, bright white hair that cascades over her shoulders, and blue green eyes.
She stands from her seat revealing her small dainty frame, standing at four foot-ten, and stomps up to the lower landing towards her mother who shoots her a heated look.
"If the shoe fits!" He screams out.
"It's hers and she has a right to do with it what she wants." Peter cuts in, turning towards the lawbreaker.
"Right? Does she have the right in helping to kick out hundreds of people from their homes! " The other barks out, "You know how much this is going to sell? hundreds of millions! You think the university would ever change their mind on tearing down Villeroy Towers after that?"
"So what, you're Robin Hood now? Is that why you stole the ruby? Except that can't be it because the defense fund is only up to a million dollars and that jewel is worth five." He points out.
The man shrugs, "You know what a man can do with that much money?"
The costumed preteen walks towards the captured crook, "Someone like you? Nothing good. Now let's see who you really are." He reaches for the helmet only to feel his spider-sense tingle rather harshly, jumping away as jets of plasma shoot out of two ports from his back.
The web barricade rips from the force and the armoured robber circles around the area, grabbing Felicia under arm.
"No!" Anastasia yells out trying to grab her daughter only to fall on her knees as he rushes off.
Peter leaps up high in the air before slinging a web to swing through the bustling city towards the retreating back of Turbo Jet going much faster than last time.
'Those plasma jets are increasing his speed! I barely caught up to him last time!' He struggles to increase his pace, 'I need to build up momentum! But how?'
As the hero questions himself he hears a wiz of air coming from his left wrist, quickly switching hands the sound repeats.
'I… I ran out of web fluid.' Peter falls to the ground and braces for impact, 'I can't stop now! Whatever he does to her will be on me if I let him get away.'
"Smack!"
He groans as hits the floor, he feels the collision reverberate through his body before he shakes the pain off and starts running, passing speeding cars.
'With that much speed, that much acceleration there's no way he can make any sharp turns.' Crouching low the boy leaps high, higher than the buildings around him and spots the white blob, 'If I angle my body just right as I fall I can then–' Just before he hits the street his body tilts forward and his knees bend and the ground breaks under his strength as he springboards ahead.
The distance closes between him and his target but not by much. He leaps again and again, maybe if something blocked the kidnapper's path it would allow Peter to gain some much needed distance but from what he's seen from above the stretch of road is long.
All it would take is a second and the girl is lost! 'If only I could move like him!' The thought strikes something in his brain, an idea, 'Wait, wait! Maybe I can! I can cause friction with my adhesive ability which means I can use it for motion!'
The boy takes a moment to think, to weigh the choices and comes to a troubling truth, 'I'll lose them anyway, I can't catch up. It's better to try everything.'
As he lands Peter drops to the ground in a bear crawl stance and activates his adhesive power, willing himself forward.
The genius moves an inch and nothing more.
'Come on, Pete! It's not a superpower it's a biological function; like breathing! You don't think about breathing, you just do it! So don't think about moving, just pick a direction and move!' The hero reminds himself.
His body jerks ahead before suddenly stopping.
'Forward!'
The young genius travels a full foot.
'COME ON!'
He shoots off, 'This isn't like running or jumping! The power of my muscles plays no part in this. I'll go as fast as I will myself too.' He tastes copper on his lips which he ignores.
He moves in between cars as his momentum builds, stretching his body out in a straight line he cuts wind resistance and picks up even more speed.
'Think about Hardy! She might lose her daughter like you lost Ben because you weren't good enough! Weren't fast enough! Weren't strong enough!'
"RaGhH!"
He screams loudly as stars explode from behind his eyes, 'If you want to be a superhero then be a 'superhero' and save the girl!' The world blurs as he gains a greater amount of velocity.
The spider powered superhuman sees the criminal and Felicia struggling in his arms, banging on his back with trembling fists.
'You've caught up, Peter! Now what? You can't suddenly stop him or the whiplash might kill them both! If you had your webs you could spin several weblines at his back and gradually slow him down but you don't! So genius, what's the plan!?' The boy demands of himself, 'Trip him, the momentum will continue and the armour should protect him from the worst of his injuries. The girl will fly out of his arms but I'll catch her while moving and decelerate.'
The masked hero moves beside the criminal and spins a three hundred-sixty degrees with his left leg stuck out.
"FUc–"
As the man skips across the street Peter stands up and catches Felicia by the stomach and thighs.
The cars around them skidding to a stop at the accident.
She blinks as the world finally starts to slow down before stopping, suddenly on her feet the teen stumbles around to look at her savior and tries to thank him but ends up barfing all over the front of his suit.
The two stare at each other in stunned silence before the boy begins to chuckle which turns into a laugh, his laugh grows louder and louder until it echoes all around them.
The girl's face burns brightly at the sound of pure amusement that eventually dies down, Peter steps forward and wraps his arms around the girl bringing her into a tight hug.
Freezing, her whole body goes rigid before melting into his embrace, Felicia's eyes water, "I… Thank you. Thank you so much."
"Of course." He pulls away and his lenses narrow into an eye smile, "Let's get you to your mom, she must be worried sick."
The small teen nods but looks at her kidnapper with a scowl, "What about him?" She points at the groaning man who lays in the middle of the street, pieces of his suit lying broken behind him leaving him in nothing but a black long sleeve footed unitard.
Peter walks over and turns him over revealing a young black man, maybe in his mid to late twenties. He has a golden skin tone, wide square features, and short darkest brown hair styled in dreadlocks.
"I was expecting someone older." He mumbles. "I guess we'll take him with us."
The rich girl scowls, "Do we have to?"
"Well usually I would just web him up but," He tries to shoot out a web line but nothing but air comes out, "I'm out and I don't really feel comfortable just leaving him here where he can just walk away."
She looks at the unconscious man, "I don't really think he's going anywhere."
"Still." As if that explains everything and to be fair it kinda does. He looks towards the shattered armour littering the streets and signs at the loss of tech.
Lifting the man onto his shoulder he gestures to the girl with an open arm.
Huffing, Felicia walks over and squeaks as Peter's arm wraps around her waist and lifts her up onto his free shoulder.
"Comfortable?"
"No." She bites back.
"Sorry."
"You don't sound sorry at all." The damsel mumbles out.
Peter chuckles and tries to… spider-streak? 'Nope, that sounds terrible.' Spider-Slide? 'That sounds better but just ain't it.' Maybe… locomotion? 'I'm just bad at naming things, does it even need a name?'
Moving over to the other side of the road to go with the flow of traffic he begins sliding across the ground, heading back towards the protest. He doesn't push himself like he did during the chase, so it takes him around ten minutes to reach the protest.
He sees Ms. Hardy sitting down on the steps of her building, eyes red and tear stains on her cheeks. Her eyes flicker over to them and she sprints over with surprising speed especially as she's wearing heels, "Kit-Kat!"
"Mom!" Felicia back on her feet rushes to her mother and the two meet in the middle hugging each other tightly.
Anastasia pulls back and cups her daughter's face, looking her over with sharp eyes, "Are you okay?"
The girl nods and smiles, "Yeah, Spidey saved me." She turns to look at the hero and gives him a brilliant smile.
The woman's eyes flicker over to him and he gives a wave, gratitude clear in her face, "Thank you Spider-Man, thank you from the bottom of my heart. If there's anything, absolutely anything I can do to thank you…" She lets the sentence hang.
Peter is about to wave the offer away but pauses as he sees the protesters looking over with complicated emotions, "Well, If I could, can I make a suggestion?"
Anastasia nods.
"Can you donate Galileo's telescope to Villeroy's Tower's to auction off?"
Everyone stares at his request, "Is that it? Is there nothing more you want?"
The masked genius shakes his head, "No, I just want the residents of Villeroy to be able to relocate with as little as grief as possible."
Anastasia gives a hesitant nod, "Okay."
"Thank you, Ms. Hardy."
The older Hardy smiles in response and pulls her daughter away but before stepping completely away he asks one more question.
"Sorry but you called the cops right?"
She turns and nods, "I did just after you started chasing that ruffian."
"Mom, no one says ruffian anymore." The daughter snorts.
"Well, the word I really want to use would be inappropriate in company." The woman jokes lightly as she and the girl turn away.
As the two walk Peter lays the unconscious man against a street light bit just before he leaps on top of the canopy he hears a shocked mutter.
"Lewis?"
Turning to look at the whisper the boy sees the lead protester with her hands covering her mouth and several of her friends comforting her.
"You know him?" He calls out and the woman flinches back at being called out.
She hesitates for a moment but walks forward and stands next to him.
"He's… a friend. Moved into Villeroy Towers a couple years ago; Lewis Wyler is his name."
"Huh, so he really was stealing for the Villeroy Towers Defense Fund?"
"No, he thought we were a joke, just fighting off the inevitable. He never came to a single meeting or protest." She shakes her head with frustration and sadness, "He always seemed so above it all, like no matter what happened it didn't concern him."
Peter stares at the man and thinks back on the technology he used, "Can you and your friends keep an eye on him? I need to check something."
"Um, sure?"
"Thanks."
He crouches down and leaps up landing on a nearby roof sitting opposite of the Hardy Foundation. The hero travels the New York rooftops until finding himself across Villeroy Towers and spies the resident directory.
Finding Lewis's name along with his unit number, he leaps across the street and clings to the side of the building. He quickly locates the criminal's window and tries to pull it up from above but finds it locked.
He pulls harder and hears the lock break, allowing him to climb into the messy cramped room. There's newspaper clippings of his disgrace at NASA, 'Way to rub salt into the wound.' Along with the headlines of priceless artifacts that have mysteriously been stolen over the last few months.
"You've been doing this for a while haven't you." The boy mutters.
Peter walks over to the work station where notes and schematics of the suit litter the table along with an exact copy of the armour's upper half except colored gray.
Perhaps a possible upgrade or failed prototype?
Maybe a previous model?
Gathering the pages he begins reading through them.
It takes a good twenty minutes and finds himself totally in awe of Lewis's genius. The suit was powered by a quantum battery, a theoretical energy source using quantum mechanics.
"My god, this… this is revolutionary. Why, why would he use this to steal? It makes no fucking sense!"
When the suit is charging it causes a body wide repulsion effectively supercharging the wearer and allowing them to move at super speeds. When that energy is released it causes attraction to anything that output is released towards.
Looking back at his first fight with the man he can see those exact mechanics in play.
He takes the armour and begins examining it trying to get a deeper understanding. The hardware is like art, sophisticated and firmly beyond his current ability to replicate.
'He would have been the next father of quantum physics. This man would have had world wide acclaim, a Nobel Prize, celebrated across the scientific community for the rest of time and… and…'
"I should have talked some sense into him. I treated him like a two bit crock and he could have changed the world." Peter mutters to himself, "I just don't understand, why steal? It wasn't to fund the suit, so why?"
The hero slouches in his seat staring absentmindedly ahead.
"All this work it's going to be taken by the police, put in a storage locker never to see the light of day again. Maybe even auctioned off to the highest bidder and the credit stolen."
Lewis may be a criminal but this is his life's work and he deserves the credit, deserves the recognition.
Right?
Ben always said his intelligence was a gift, one to be used for the betterment of others but what did Lewis do with his gift?
Steal a priceless artifact, tried to steal another, and then kidnap a girl for god's know what?
Maybe it was best to just leave. To leave and let the police do their job and allow Lewis to face the consequences of his actions.
.
.
.
But… Ben believed in second chances and Lewis is what, twenty something?
That's pretty young, isn't it? In the grand scheme of things, right?
The man would be rotting in jail for a long time, decades possibly, but after he served his time wouldn't the man have earned a second chance?
Peter struggled with the decision but what clinched it for him is that Ben would have looked past Lewis actions as long as he learned his lesson and served his time.
If the boy wanted to follow his uncle's actions then… he had to follow his philosophy.
The boy takes the papers before applying his adhesive ability, he feels a heat at his palms and the notes burn to ash. After he rips out the hardware of the upper armour stripping it of anything that could be used to replicate it.
He puts anything that he doesn't feel safe destroying off to the side before searching the rest of the unit.
Finding nothing of worth but a burner phone, he grabs a garbage bag and places the striped hardware into it before climbing out of the window towards the roof.
As he reaches his destination the preteen leaps to the next building. Sighing, Peter comes to the realization that he has a long journey to Queens.
He stops by the street where he rescued the Hardy girl and sees the remains of the suit crushed, he sighs in relief knowing there's no way anyone could reverse engineer the technology with those scraps.
The next couple hours pass slowly and his legs burn from the exercise, he sees his house and smiles beneath the mask. He carefully lands on the shelter.
Walking on the side of the structure towards his window from the top he pulls his mask up above nose, "Great power and greater responsibility." He utters the voice recognition password and hears the click of the lock opening, sliding it open he tosses the garbage bag in first before crawling in after.
He flips off the ceiling and stretches out his muscles before pulling his mask completely off with a relieved sigh and tossing it off to the side. Closing the window, he turns around and freezes.
Sitting on the edge of his bed is Mary Jane who stares at him with wide unbelieving eyes.
You're, you're, YOU'RE–" Before she could scream out his identity for his whole family to hear, Peter rushes over and covers her mouth.
"Calm down." He hisses at her.
She tries to pull away but he holds her still.
"I'm not going to let go until you promise me you'll–" He feels something wet and warm through the fabric of his glove, the boy's face scrunches up in disgust, "Did you just lick me?"
The older girl glares.
"What are you nine?" Sighing he lets her mouth go, he feels a small tingle and rolls with a stinging slap to the chest.
"Ow." She mutters rubbing her palm, "What are you made of?"
"Haven't quite figured that out yet." He quips and sighs, he walks over to the door and turns the light of his room on before sitting at his computer desk, "Why are you here M.J, sitting in the dark." The preteen asks.
She doesn't say anything, just states confusingly at him.
"What?"
"You're…" She gestures at her face.
Peter raises a brow and turns to look at his reflection in the computer screen only to pull back at what he sees; dried trails of purple liquid coming from his eyes, ears, nose, and mouth.
'Invertebrates have hemocyanin proteins that transport oxygen throughout their body that when exposed to air turns blue. Considering my blood was red when I took a blood sample after the bite I may have developed a secondary open circulatory system similar to a spider's.' He theorizes, 'When I was chasing Lewis I had to have had bursted several blood vessels which mixed with my spider blood before leaking out which created the purple shade.'
"Don't worry about it, now answer my questions."
M.J frowns, "Why do you think you jerk? You left without warning during a, a, villain attack!" The singer whisper-yells, "I figured after Spider–" The girl pauses and closes her eyes. "After Spider-Man showed up you went somewhere to record the fight to post on your blog which I found to be a dick move."
Peter winces, he didn't even consider how just leaving would look to M. J.
"I was going to ream you out, shake some sense into you that just leaving during an emergency wasn't going to fly with me but… but…" She slumps down, unable to finish the sentence.
"And how did you get in? And why are you sitting in the dark?"
"May let me in, said I could wait for you in your room." She blushes, "And, well I, I, was going for those surprise reveals that you see in movies you know?"
He snorts and stands up before sitting next to the girl, "You're such a dork sometimes."
"Says the king of dorks." The teen mutters out before sitting straight, "You're Spider-Man."
"I am."
"You're a superhero." Her voice is filled with awe.
"Trying to be."
"I… does anyone else know?"
"Just Harry and I guess now you." He answers.
His friend frowns, "What about Liz? I mean don't you think she has a right to know what-"
"-what she's dating?" The boy finishes the sentence with a sad tilt to his voice.
"No! That's not what I was going to say!" She rebuffs the phrasing.
Peter shrugs, "It should have been." He lays down staring at the ceiling, "When I first changed I thought it was the coolest thing in the world, I mean I understood that It was dangerous if the world knew but still. I grew a foot taller, my glaucoma was cured, and, and, I'm handsome now but I'm not human anymore. I'm other. I like being in the dark, hanging upside down, I don't need to sleep or eat, and I'm so strong, stronger than I should be, than anyone should be. "
He feels calloused fingers wrap around his own, he turns to look at M.J who stares at him with warm watery eyes.
"You're amazing." She starts, "You're kind and brave and so smart. And yeah you're strong but not in the way you're thinking, your heart is so strong. Sure you're different from other people but you were always different and that's what made you amazing. "
The boy feels his cheeks heat at the words.
"You know if I got powers I don't think I would have become a superhero."
"I didn't either, I didn't think it was my responsibility but I was wrong." His voice wavers, "It is because when you can do the things I can and you don't and then the bad things happen they happen because of you."
She shakes her head and squeezes his hand tighter, "That… no. That's a horrible way to think about it, bad things happen all the time to everyone and they would have happened anyway even if you weren't there."
"But I am there and I can make it better, so I must because with great power comes great responsibility."
M. J face scrunches up, "Get that off a fortune cookie?"
He snorts, "No, it's a lesson Ben taught me."
"Oh." She mutters out in guilt with a sigh she lays beside the boy and stares at the ceiling with him, "How's Liz doing?"
The spider powered hero groans, "Fuck, I still need to call her."
"Wow." His friend replies with raised eyebrows, "You're a bad boyfriend."
"I'm starting to get that."
"I mean seriously, what were you doing that you ignored everyone for two weeks?"
"Creating my suit."
The girl blinks, "What was wrong with the old one? I mean I like the new threads, like seriously you looked awesome out there, but why go through all the trouble?"
"Well Harry brought up some interesting points."
"Yeah?"
"I'm a superhero, your friendly neighborhood Spider-Man and well I didn't look all that friendly."
She hums, "I guess but, I don't know, it made you look real I guess? Like you were a real person out in the world. I liked it."
"Yeah?"
"Yeah."
"Thanks, I liked it too but Harry was right, it's not really what I want but what the people need and they'll trust me more if I look like an actual superhero." He states.
The silence stretches.
"Hey, Pete?"
"Yeah, M.J?"
"Where are the clothes you wore at the protest?" She asks with confused pout.
"Oh, there on a roof near the Hardy Foundation, I didn't think it would be safe to make a web backpack with all my stuff while facing Lewis."
"Whose Lewis?"
"You must have left before I came back, Lewis is the guy I chased."
"Ah." She makes an understandable noise, "Hey, Pete?"
Chuckling, "What's up?"
"You know my birthday is coming up?"
"Is it? So is mine."
"Mine is August nineteen."
"August tenth."
"Do you mind if I tell you what I want?"
"Sure."
"I want you and Gwen to be friends again." The guitarist tells him, her eyes wide and full of emotions.
He looks at her with a raised eyebrow, "Wow, you got it bad don't cha?"
She hits his shoulder with her free hand much softer than last time, "Shut up." Sighing, she turns on her side and stares at him. "She misses you, like really misses you and I know you said you needed time–"
"When and where?" He interrupts.
M. J smiles brightly and tackles him into a tight hug, her face resting in the crock of his shoulder, "Alright! July eighteenth, okay? She's doing this summer course at this ballet school and we can observe her class. She's super proud of being accepted and I know she'll be brimming with excitement that you'll see her hard work."
"Ballet, huh? Sounds… fun." He says with hesitation.
The teen rolls her eyes, "No it doesn't but it's important to Gwen."
The younger boy nods.
"Great, I'll talk to Mr. Stacy and explain the plan. I'm sure he won't mind skipping this observation." She pulls away, her face inches away from his.
Mary Jane gulps realizing how close she is to the boy, her eyes briefly flicker to his lips before returning.
"Everything alright?"
She blinks at the question but before she can answer her breath catches as her friend's eyes glow a brilliant yellow, "So your eyes do glow." She mutters while sitting up.
Peter hums and follows her up, "Sometimes, my eyes developed a reflective layer of tissue similar to a wolf's spider. It's why my eyes are now yellow and can glow when the light hits just right."
"That's so cool."