Spider-Man's Arc

Chapter 3 of 10

Nine spiders clung to Spider-Man's arms. He tried for a tenth. He reached with his mind toward a spider on the wall and pulled. Nothing came. He pulled again, harder. The spider stayed where it was. His bond was full. It held nine, and no more. He pressed his back to the cave wall and breathed. Nine was not enough. To command the whole cave, he needed a bigger bond. But he had no idea how to grow it. Heavy steps shook the floor. Hulk ducked through the tunnel mouth, the same giant who had first brought light into this dark. Behind him came two others. One was red-skinned and broad, fists like boulders. Spider-Man knew him only as the red one who fought beside Hulk. The last was small and quick, with claws that flashed in the wand-light. "Bond's stuck," Wolverine said. He sniffed the air. "I can smell it on you. You're pulling and getting nothing." He tapped his own chest with one claw. "Your rope's too short, bug. You gotta stretch it." "How?" Spider-Man asked. Wolverine grinned. "Strain breaks a thing, or grows it. Push it past the edge. Same as muscle. Same as bone." Spider-Man didn't like the sound of that. But Hulk nodded slowly. "Hulk push things. Things get stronger after." The red one crossed his arms. "Or they snap. Then you got nothing." Spider-Man looked at his nine spiders. He could keep them safe and stay small. Or he could risk the bond he had for the chance of more. He set his jaw and chose. He reached for a tenth spider and pulled. The nine bonds strained. His head throbbed. He pulled a second spider, then a third, all at once, dragging on threads that would not stretch. Pain lanced behind his eyes. The bond screamed against the limit. "Keep going!" Wolverine barked. Spider-Man screamed and pulled harder. Something inside him tore, then gave. Not a break. A widening. The wall of nine cracked open. New threads spun out from him, raw and hot. Spiders poured off the wall. Ten. Fifteen. Twenty landed on his suit and held fast. He fell to his knees, shaking, covered in spiders. He counted. Twenty-one bonded now. The cap was gone. Hulk laughed and clapped, and the sound boomed through the tunnel. But the strain had left Spider-Man weak. His hands trembled. Sweat soaked his mask. Each new bond drained him more than the last. He could grow the swarm now. Growing it, though, cost him strength he was not sure he had. Wolverine hauled him up by the arm. "There's your stretch. Now you find out how far you break." Spider-Man stood with twenty-one spiders on his body and no strength left to reach the next. The wall was still full of thousands. To take them, he would need more than a bigger bond. He would need to last.