Peter Parker's Arc

Chapter 1 of 1

Peter Parker wanted one normal night. Just pizza and a movie with people who knew his name. Instead he crouched on a rooftop ledge in his red and blue suit, alone, watching the city. He counted his life on his fingers, the way his aunt counted grocery money. Aunt May. Uncle Ben. Dr. Connors, his favorite teacher. Martin Li, who ran the food kitchen called F.E.A.S.T. That was the whole list. No friends who knew the truth. No girl who called. Just those four people, and none of them knew about the spider that bit him. Before the spider, Peter had been ordinary. Now he swung over car crashes and dropped in on muggings. He kept telling himself the job was worth it. Tonight he wanted proof he was still Peter under the mask. Then the streetlights below him died all at once. A man walked out of the dark. Yellow electricity crawled across his flight suit and lit his face. Sparks jumped from his fingers to the parked cars, and the alarms screamed and cut out. Peter had never seen him before. He didn't need a name to know this was bad. The man raised one glowing hand. "Stay up there, kid," he called. "This isn't for you." Peter did not stay up there. He never could. He fired a web line and swung down between the man and a woman frozen on the sidewalk. "Sir, your whole body is on fire," Peter said. "Have you tried water?" The man threw a bolt. Peter's spider-sense screamed and he dove sideways. The bolt hit a mailbox and melted it. Peter fired web at the man's chest. The strand touched the electric field and burned to ash before it landed. So webs were out. Peter learned fast. He learned harder when a second attacker stepped from the alley. This one wore a padded yellow suit and heavy gloves. Peter had read about him in the news. The Shocker. He built his own gear and worked alone, chasing a big score. Now he stood beside the electric man like they had planned it. "You're Herman Schultz," Peter said. "I follow the crime blotter. You don't team up." "I do tonight," Schultz said flat. He clenched his fist. The gauntlet hummed. "He kills the lights. I open the vault." They hit Peter together. The shock wave threw him into a wall. Electricity chased him along the pavement. Peter rolled behind a truck, ears ringing, heart slamming. Two of them. New powers he didn't understand. And he was alone, because he was always alone. Peter pressed his back to the cold metal and made himself breathe. The normal night was gone. It had been gone since the spider. Wanting it back would not save that woman on the sidewalk. He flexed his fingers and stood up. "Okay," Peter whispered. "Just me, then." He swung out to meet them.