'C'mon, Peter, a couple more seconds and a full week of spidey time and relaxation.'I was tapping against the ground rapidly as his heartbeat quickly in excitement. As good of a teacher Gwen's dad is, it's hard listening to his long, boring lectures without thinking about spring break or Gwen.
Things have been awkward between Gwen and me recently. Harry hasn't even noticed, and I can't blame him, he's been a wreck ever since what happened with Norman.
'No, don't start thinking about that Peter, you've done everything you can, I can work on it later.'
Suddenly my thoughts were interrupted when the bell rang out with ear-piercing volume. 'Spring Break, here I come.' As all of us in the class started to pack up and get up, Mr. Stacy stopped us and began to speak.
"Now class, listen I know you're all excited for spring break but remember to control yourselves, I don't want any reports of kids in my class getting into trouble." He tried to put on his infamous cop glare for the class, and it might've worked if I wasn't looking at the door ready to bounce out of my seat the moment he gave us the green light.
Letting out a sigh he looked around the room staring at the class and exhaustedly dismissed us, knowing that none of us cared.
Mr. Stacy already knew that he'd be seeing some of them during the break. flash hasn't been exactly quiet leading up to this point about his plan for a party of the year party, hopefully, Sha can keep him out of trouble and reign him in a little, yet all of us know that won't stop him.
"Peter, a word before you go?" He spoke with the tone and caution of someone walking on eggshells.
"Yes, Mr. Stacy?" I spoke tensely. I already had an idea of what he was going to bring up but was dreading discussing it, ' just please don't bring up Gwen, please don't bring up Gwen, please don't bring up.'
"Peter, I know you're probably going to be swamped with extracurricular activities this break but try to enjoy a little time off, we both know you deserve it."
My body slightly trembled with nerve-racking stress as thoughts flooded me. 'Why does he say it like that? Does he know I'm Spider-Man? But why is he giving me the go-around then? Is this a trap or something?'
"… MMM yeah, sure, I'll try to take it easy." I grab my bag and begin to head to the door. 'Even if he does know, it could be a good thing to have someone to talk about Spidey issues.' I walk out of the school and begin to head towards the bus to go home.
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Hopping off the bus I began to head home. Nearing my house, I saw Aunt May sitting on the porch and sipping on tea, and when I got to the house she headed up the stairs with me.
"How was school, Peter, no troubles I hope," she asked me while taking a sip of her tea.
"Hmm, school was fine, even if there were any troubles, I can worry about it later after I relax." I pulled up a chair and sat down next to her and stretched out my arms in front of me.
"You young people and your 'relaxation' during my spring break, Ben and I used to tear the town up. We went to parties, and the beach, and saw movies, OOOHHH, you know that's where Ben and I had our first kiss?
"Maybe too much info there, I don't need the image of you and Ben kissing in my head." I began to place my hands over my ears to ignore her words, but she stopped me and continued talking.
"Oh, don't be like that, mark my words you'll be like us one day when you have kids." May rolled her eyes while she spoke as she moved from her chair and kissed me on the forehead.
"One more thing before I go, I left a number on the table, Martha Connors, from the internship called and wanted to speak with you, when you're done lying around you should give her a call. She said there was possibly an internship opportunity available but I stopped understanding what she was talking about halfway through and decided you would want to hear about it later." After she spoke, she grabbed the screen and left to go inside the house.
'God damn it, the last thing I need on my mind is lizard problems.' I knew things on that front weren't just going to stay quiet for as long as I wanted. I started to get up from my seat to make the call before I heard the sound of wailing police sirens.
'Just what I needed to take my mind off things.' The lizard problem can wait a couple of hours. I ran for the door and screamed to May, "I'm going to take some pictures, I'll be back before 10." Leaping off the steps, I ran to the alleyway and took my shirt off, and slid on my web-shooters. 'Watch out New York, your friendly neighborhood Spider-Man's on spring break."
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"C'mon man let me g-."Thwip. "Hmmm hmmm!!"
I walk away from the lamp post towards the owners of the bodega after taking care of the criminal. Hopefully, nothing was destroyed too badly. "The cops will be here pretty soon, you think you can handle things while I head out ma'am?."
Ignoring what I asked, the lady pulled out her phone and walked up to me, "Thanks for the help Spider-Man, can I get a picture before you go? My little sister is a big fan of yours and would go crazy if she saw Spider-Man in a pic with her sis."
"Sure, anything for a fan," I said as she took her place beside me she pulled up her phone.
"Say peace!" I pulled up my fingers and made a peace sign as the camera flashed.
"Thank you so much for this! Be sure to come by whenever you want. I'll be sure to hook you up with a discount at our shop."
I nodded my head and pointed my web-shooters up to the nearest building. Thwip.
'Shit, what time is it?" I pull out my phone, an old dusty thing but it gets the job done, "Damn, nine-thirty, I don't need Aunt May shortening my curfew when I know somethings bubbling." Things have been too quiet in the city and I like to think I've gotten into the swing of things just enough that when things are going quiet I'll be having a bad time soon enough. I'm never able to stay completely calm, I can alway tell that something was coming and that feeling had gotten even stronger.
'Screw it, I'll just do one more lap around the city.' I was already in the Bronx. Taking a swing through Manhattan and Brooklyn on the way home should get me home before curfew. " Sorry Staten Island Seems like you gotta go without Spider-Man tonight." Hoping off the roof and shooting out a web to the nearest building I start my last patrol of the night.
I didn't know at the time, the series of events that would unfold akin to dominos, the pain that scared me, it all started here, this would be the last patrol I'd ever do in my city.
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By the docks where I had an encounter with hammerhead and sable is where the problems began, a big Sandy problem.
One of the destroyed docks buildings that had been smashed in during the fight had a sand trail that led to the middle of the rubble. 'I haven't seen Flint since the oil tanker. Could there be a new guy with the same powers, but I've never seen someone with the same powers as another person, what's going on?'
I approached the rubble cautiously, not trying to alert whatever was under the pile, if anything at all. I began to move some of the rubble to the side from where the sand was on top. It took me a while to reach the bottom where my suspicions were assured.
A tightly sealed metal hatch was where concrete was supposed to be. "I'm so gonna be late." I lifted the hatch and made a web-line to begin my descent down the long hole.
The rustic smell of rusted metal hit me as I made my way down. The walls had a slightly orange tint where you could see in the dark hole. 'Bright side it's not the sewers; the bad side I'll have to get a tetanus shot."
I realized a change in scenery the moment I touched the ground, a smooth steel floor meeting my feet. The tunnel had smooth walls and even lights. 'Whoever made this has been working on this for a while.'
Thunk. Thunk. Thunk. A sound at the end of the tunnel pathways echoed towards me. "The hell is that, An engine." Whatever it was, I could tell it was loud and mechanical.
I was about to start walking down the tunnel when my phone started to blare. I fumbled with it for a few seconds before I took a look. 'May, oh shit.'
I quickly answered the phone and pulled it closer. " May I'll be home in ten minutes tops, you don't have to worry." All I heard on the other end was a chilling static, the kind you'd hear when your tv wasn't working. I could barely piece any of it together.
'Another thing to worry about.' I hung up the phone. If things go smoothly here maybe I'll only be a couple of minutes after the curfew. I began to walk down the tunnel, hearing my steps faintly echo against the walls.
What I saw when I reached the end of the hall shook me down to the bone. Looking from the edge of the room the whole setup was reminiscent of base Octavius that was set up by Doc Ock but bigger, not to mention the most terrifying part of the room, the giant collider that took up most of the room.
'How the hell do you build something that big and keep it secret?' This entire thing would have taken more than a few construction companies to be flooding in and out just to start the foundation for it.
Up from one of the raised platforms I heard an outraged voice, a familiar one."What do you mean speed up?!!"
'C'mon Flint, give me back my feelings and just when I thought you ended things on the right track." Putting aside those thoughts I shot a web-line on one of the scaffolding near the collider.
Another voice I recognized began to say, "my escape from the vault is imminent. Our current backer has set things in motion for my escape in the coming weeks and as such, you must have the collider ready for my arrival, this is not negotiable."
Hoping forward among the scaffolding I found a spot on the wall where I couldn't be seen by anyone and began to crawl up.
"C'mon doc, I've been pushing myself a lot and even with the few guys you've sent me to make sure things are on track, but if you want this done faster I'll need more people to help me and people will notice them moving in and out."
'Whatever they're talking about I gotta stop them now. I'll have to remember to contact Mr.Stacy and make sure he cracks down on the guards at the vault.'
I finally reached the top edge and slowly poked my head out just enough to see flint standing in front of a large monitor with Otto on full display.
"You'll be given an adequate amount of manpower for the job to be completed. You'll have to lead the men to the collider, be ready I'll give you the date-...." The moment he paused I noticed him glancing in my direction and immediately pulled my head down from the side.
'Shit, did he see me?'
I heard Flint's voice start up again, "Doc what's up, is the screen frozen?"
"What?…..No, listen I'll give you the meeting spot sometime soon just make sure you get rid of any bugs that may be around before that time comes. Do you understand me?"
"Oh, yeah, I think I got the gist of it. I'm gonna sign out and everything will be handled on my end." I heard a click as the computer shut down and everything went silent.
"Y'know I really wanted to do all this quietly without any problems, least of all you."
'Looks like I've been caught huh?' Hoping up to the top and landing on my feet I stood face to face with Flint.
"Yeah I bet you would've liked that. But you and I both know that's not how this is about to go down huh?" We stood there for a moment, neither of us making a move, both of us feeling the tension in the air before it happened.
Tingle
Without thinking I jumped, avoiding a hit from his hammer, and shooting out a webline and pulling myself towards the computer. "Hey, the hammer again? I guess some things never change."
"Hey, if it ain't broke don't fix it webhead." Moving out of the way of another hit I heard the sound of the monitor behind me smash into pieces as it was destroyed by his attack.
Krrr-chunk landing towards the ground I heard the sound of something moving, whatever it was, it was mechanical.
'The collider! Gotta stop it!' I realized what was happening as I slid under another wild swing from flint. I sent a web line up towards the scaffolding I used to lead me up before and launched myself up.
"Hey, why are you running away spidey?!"
"No reason it's just New York isn't zoned for any colliders, just gotta shut this down and I'll be outta your hair." Zipping forward I slipped under a sand whip and reach the scaffolding
Balancing and hopping I made my way up the scaffolding and finally made it close enough to hop onto the collider.
Taking a look at the situation I could see the magnetic collars were speeding up and twirling.
'Maybe some webs will slow it enough to put it out of commission. Or maybe at least give me enough to deal with flint.'
I lifted my hand and began to let loose some of my webbing, the collars straining against it. "That should be enough for this side."
I moved closer to inspect if I would need any more. Loudly the machine started to break, Kerr-Chunk-Pow!, "Oh shit, that's not good, at least it isn't moving anymore."
Tingle
Moving on pure instinct I jumped up and looked down just fast enough to see Flint slash my webbing off.
I Landed on the edge reactor and started a dash towards Flint, "Cmon I just finished that! Now I'm mad."
"Come and do something about it then web-head!" He shifted his hands into his classic mace and hammer as he prepared for me to come closer.
Brrr-woosh-woosh-krrr-chunk! I halted and felt the air start to shake as the collider collar went into overdrive spinning ten times faster than it did before.
Strange energy started to pulse from the collars and my spidey sense went insane.
"Flint we gotta move!" I announced as I jumped out towards the scaffolding and pulled myself forward with some webs only to get caught up in Flint's whips.
"Oh no ya don't, no more running webhead this ends today!"
"Flint you idiot if you wanna fight at least take it somewh-Aargh!" The sand tightened around me, silencing me instantly.
"Nah here's good, I'll slowly squeeze the life outta ya and high tail it outta here when I'm done." The sand continued to tighten, but that wasn't the worst part. My spider-sense was pounding my head and was only getting worse by the second as a faint ringing began to grow louder in my head.
"Arghhh, Flint move." I could barely muster the strength to speak.
"Huh what you say? I can't hear you over-Arghhhhh!!"
Booooooom
The entire room lit up in bright colors as I fell towards the ground along with the sand Flint used to hold me.
I shot out a webline towards the scaffolding and slingshot up. Taking a look at the collider I was on before, there wasn't a trace of Flint left and the collider was still spinning with energy pulsating from it.
"Shit shit shit shit, this is my fault, I could've saved him, I've gotta stop this." Taking a view of the situation, the middle of the room had what I could only describe as a black whole sucking in small objects. It was definitely growing in scale with heavier objects starting to move.
"What do I do? What do I do? What do I do, argggh! Damn it, maybe the webs could stop it again? It slowed down the last time I tri-woah." I ducked under a metal pole that was connected to the scaffolding. "This is only going to get worse. I've got to at least tryto stop it."
Steadying my footing I leapt and shot out a webline towards the inner part of the collider away from where the energy was being shot out. "Alright let's see if this can slow it down." I let loose as much webbing that I could on the collider which unfortunately it did fuck all, if anything, it ran better after dissoviling my webbing like messed up Wd-40.
"Great now what?" I was about to make my next move before it happened.
krrr-chunk
The collider bent, my shoulder tilting into the energy. It was a strange sensation, similar to being burned and punched, or eating something hot and burning the roof of your mouth. It hurt so much that I loosened my grip that my feet had on the collider for a moment and that was all that was needed for me to be flung face-first into the energy.
My whole world changed at once. I saw colors I've never seen before all connected in a web. the pain seared my whole body. I couldn't even lift a hand to send out some web. I was definitely passing out from the pain. Everything was turning to black.
'Sorry May I tried ...'