Spider-Man's Arc

Chapter 1 of 10

Spider-Man wanted every spider in this cave to obey him. But he could not find a single one. The dark swallowed his whole body. His spider-sense, the tingle that warned him of danger and living things, went silent here. He crawled along the wet stone and felt nothing. No web threads. No skittering legs. Just cold rock and his own loud breathing. He reached out with his mind, the way he had practiced for weeks. Come to me, he thought. Nothing answered. The spiders were here. He could smell their silk. But he was blind, and a blind man cannot lead a swarm he cannot sense. A green glow bloomed behind him. Spider-Man turned. Hulk squeezed through the tunnel mouth, shoulders scraping both walls. In one huge fist he held two dogs. They wore tiny wizard hats and capes, and one had a small glowing wand strapped to its collar. The light came from that wand. "Hulk found puppies," Hulk said. "Puppies make light." Spider-Man stared. "You brought a lamp made of dogs." "Smart lamp," Hulk said. He set the dogs down. They trotted forward, and the glowing wand lit the tunnel ahead. Spider-Man's jaw dropped. The walls moved. Thousands of spiders covered every inch, packed shoulder to shoulder, all frozen in the sudden light. He had crawled right past them in the dark. He had never even touched one. "Don't scare them," Spider-Man whispered. He knelt slow and low. Now that he could see the spiders, he could aim his mind. He pictured one small brown spider near his hand. He reached for it, gentle, patient. Come here. The spider lifted two legs. Then it crawled onto his knuckle. Warmth spread up his arm, a thread of connection, the first real bond he had ever made. His heart pounded. One spider. He had one. Behind him, the dogs barked. The whole wall exploded into motion. Thousands of spiders scattered from the light in a boiling rush. They poured up the walls and over the ceiling, and they streamed straight past Spider-Man toward the dark tunnels. "No, no, wait!" Spider-Man grabbed for them. His one bonded spider clung to his hand, but the rest fled. The barking had spooked them all. "Hulk sorry," Hulk said. He snatched the dogs up. The glowing wand swung, and the light jumped everywhere. In seconds the walls were bare. The spiders were gone, deeper than before, scattered into a hundred cracks. Spider-Man stood in the light with a single spider on his hand. He had solved the dark. He could see now. But the noise had driven the whole swarm into hiding, and they were far more afraid of him than before. To command them all, he would have to draw them back out. And now they would run from any sound at all. Spider-Man looked at the tiny spider on his knuckle. "Okay," he said. "Just you and me. For now."