Link: https://fiction.live/stories/Spiderpunk-2077/u29gTvGPjXeXZG9a7/home
(A different world. A different life. A different Peter. Same Spider-Man.)
Synopsis
Peter Parker pre-Spider bite gets isekai'd into Cyberpunk 2077's Night City. That's it. That's the synopsis. We'll figure the rest out as we go.
Your name is Peter Parker.
You are a 15 year old young man from Queens, with a love of tinkering and science. You're smart, smarter than most teenagers your age, and possess some of the best grades in your year.
Your golden heart beats, and you dream of a world-- a future-- where everyone can be happy and the woes of the present are but tall tales and bedtime stories to the young an innocent.
Many would call your dreams foolish and naive, and perhaps they're not wrong. But it is a good dream, and one you'll strive to accomplish. But first, you'll need to survive today.
It's a special day for Midtown High. Through no small amount of luck and bargaining, the faculty were able to secure permission to do a roadtrip to the Baxter Building-- residence of the famous Fantastic Four.
Only the top 40 students in the school were eligible to go, and you were among the top 10 through sheer academic prowess alone. The jocks might have heckled you about your nerd status, but screw 'em! You're gonna get a meeting with the Fantastic Four and they won't! Hah!
Maybe… maybe you'll even get a picture with Susan Richards too! Oh man, wouldn't that be great!
You're up early today, partly due to habit and partly due to excitement for the field trip to the Baxter Building. You're practically wide awake when you roll out of bed and get to work on your usual morning schedule.
Washing the sleep out of your eyes, brushing your teeth, gripping the bathroom sink and staring down the water swirling into the drain in preparation for the day ahead. You know, the usual stuff.
After that, you shower off the night's sweat and get dressed. You pack light for the trip-- stationery, notebooks, and a camera. You'll want all the photos to remember this day by; it's not often anyone can get into the Baxter Building.
Preparations done, you descend the stairs to the ground floor and follow the scent of pancakes to the kitchen where your parents are waiting.
Well, no, they're your aunt and uncle-- but you consider them parents all the same.
"Mornin' Aunt May. Uncle Ben." you beam.
"Good morning Peter." your father figure nods. "You look energetic. That excited for the field trip or are you excited for the girls joining in?"
"Uncle Ben, c'mon!" you blush. "It's the Baxter Building! The girls can take a back seat for once."
"You're a growing boy, Peter. When I was your age, I was sweeping Janes off their feet left and right." Uncle Ben chuckles.
"Leave the boy alone, dear. Let him have his fun." your mother figure huffs at him as she sets down your breakfast. "Don't listen to him Peter, he wasn't that good looking when he was younger."
"Thanks Aunt May." you beam, tucking into the good food.
"Besides, he's all old and wrinkly now. Who'd like him?" she teases.
"Oh, I know one gal who does~" he chuckles back. She giggles and practically skips to the sink. You roll your eyes. "I saw that eye roll young man. You do that now, but we'll see how much that's going to change in a few years."
You banter with Uncle Ben to pass the time until the bus comes, but you honestly don't believe how you can get with any girl. You're Peter Parker, the resident nerd of Midtown High. You're frequently picked on by the likes of Thompson and his cronies, the main laughing stock of the school, and…
Well. Long story short, you don't see anyone getting with you any time soon.
The banter is fun and heartening as always, and you wash your dishes before leaving for the bus. It's as energetic and chaotic as always, but you tough it out as you find your friends.
"Pete! Hey man!" Harry beams. "Get over here, kept your seat nice and warm!"
"Thank Harry." you smile. "You excited for the field trip?"
"You bet. Practically couldn't sleep last night from the jitters." he laughs, patting your shoulder as you sit down. "Dad gave a big speech about making sure to live up to the 'Osborn name' and all that. Ugh, he's so stuffy."
"I can imagine." you wince, remembering all the talks Uncle Ben gives you. "Was he at least quick about it?"
"Thankfully, yeah. Had another late meeting to go to." Harry snorts. "Bah, enough about him though. Today's focus is gonna be on the Baxter Building and the heroes in it leading our tour."
"Yeah, can't wait." you grin. "Even brought my camera too."
"Hey, sweet! You think she'd pose for a photo with us?" Harry laughs. "Maybe one-on-one…?"
"She's married, Harry." you snort.
"I can admire beauty I can't touch." your friend promises. "And so can you."
"Right, sure." you roll your eyes with a laugh.
"You boys better not be acting up before the field trip even starts." a new voice comes in. "The last thing we need to get in trouble before we even get there."
"Have a little faith in us Gwen-- we're gentlemen. Not Thompson." Harry laughs. "Back me up, Pete."
"Peter, you're one of the good ones. Don't go down Harry's side." she warns you, playful. "Or I'll have my dad arrest you."
"I wash my hands off this business." you wisely declare, to your friends' mutual protest. "Wha-- hey! Ack! Stop!"
You don't immediately go on the field trip. There's two classes to go through first, and all that entails. Then a briefing from the Midtown High principal.
He reminds everyone to be on their best behavior and to not cause any trouble for both their chaperones and the staff of the Baxter building. He espouses how this is supposed to be a great opportunity for everyone in the field trip to learn and grow, and a chance to catch a glimpse into the future they're going to be a part of.
It goes through one ear and out the other for half of the field trip participants. The rest either only catch some of it or quickly forget not long after. Not that you blame them-- the principal's speeches were always terrible.
The bus rolls in and everyone files on. The rest of the school watches on, envious. You see a familiar face among the crowd and can't stop yourself from smirking.
"I see that smirk on you, Pete." Harry snickers. "Flash is looking, isn't he?"
"Second floor, sixth window on the right." Gwen giggles. "He's not happy."
"Good." you sigh in petty satisfaction. "The dunderhead deserves to every bit of it."
"C'mon Pete, lighten up. Letting him fester in your mind is just going to make things worse." Gwen tells you. "Ignore him. Focus on the trip. We can rub it in his face when we get back."
"And if he starts something, I'll be there to stop him." Harry grins.
"Harry." Gwen frowns at him. You sigh.
"It's okay guys. And you're right Gwen." you nod at her. "Today's supposed to be a fun one. Let's not let a bully ruin something he's not even a part of."
"That's the spirit." Gwen beams. "You brought your camera, right? Then make sure to take all the photos you can so you can look back on these happily."
"Maybe make a whole photo collage or something, like from those Home Decor shows." Harry teases.
You laugh as the bus trundles forward, but… Harry's suggestion isn't a bad one. You could genuinely see something like that on your bedroom wall.
It'll be a good way to remember the good 'ol day when you're older, you think. Maybe something to talk about if you have guests in your bedroom. A way to remember the good times.
…
Sometimes murphy has an odd way of warning you about things to come.
The trip to the Baxter Building is short, owing to you going there when traffic is least troublesome. Finding it is even easier-- just look for the shiny building in Manhattan with the 4's emblazoned near the rooftop.
The bus stops at the designated parking space and everyone steps off. Waiting for you is one of the Fantastic Four.
"Hello and welcome to the Baxter Building. It's a pleasure to welcome all of you here, the best and brightest of Midtown High." the Invisible Woman says with a slight smile. "I'm Susan Richards, member of the Fantastic Four. I'll be your guide for today."
A ripple of awe noises and expressions spreads through the crowd. You fight the urge to produce a camera and start taking pictures.
"First, some ground rules." she smirks. "I know you guys and girls want to see all the toys we have inside, but we have to prioritize safety first and foremost. Is that clear?"
She leads everyone inside as she talks, and you make sure to remember everything she says even as you devour the interior of the Baxter Building.
They're simple enough-- don't wander off, don't touch anything you're not allowed to touch, and while photography is allowed video is not. Break any of these and the consequences will not be pleasant.
"I don't mean that as a threat-- they actually will be unpleasant." Mrs. Richards says, voice hardening. "They range from legal trouble to bodily harm. We don't want either of that happening to any of you, so be on your best behavior. Okay?"
"Yes, ma'am!" you say, echoed by the rest of the field trip attendees. She beams, satisfied.
"Good. Now, if you'll follow me, we can get started immediately." she levitates off the ground, eliciting awed noises and a few cameras flash. "Right this way, everyone!"
The Baxter Building is practically a self-contained research facility, filled to the brim with every possible science fiction trope made reality.
Anti-gravity engines, forcefield generators, self-repairing materials, A.I holograms, robot drones replacing manual labor-- a literal smorgasbord of futuretech you've only ever seen in comic books, manga, or theorized on online forums.
You takes a many pictures as you can while jotting down notes-- about your observations regarding the various tech on display as well as Mrs. Richards' own brief explanations on what they do as well as how they work.
Most of it flies over everyone's heads, and you know she's only doing this to be polite, but there's plenty in the crowd who listen. Yourself among them.
Gwen and Harry aren't, but that's okay. You'll gush about all this to them later.
"…are you actually keeping up with all this, Pete?" Harry asks.
"What're you even writing?" Gwen blinks. "It's all chicken scratch. Literally."
"Wha-- damn, she's right. Pete, even I can't read this and my hand writing is horrible." Harry tells you. "Slow down man, we're not gonna miss anything."
"Right, sure, whatever." you murmur. "Now shush-- she's talking about particle manipulation and how the cold-fusion engine works."
Just before that, a door opens and someone else walks through.
"Ah, Susan!" Mr. Fantastic greets. "Great, I caught you with the tour group! Come, I've got something to show you!"
"Wha-- Reed?" she blinks. "You look like you haven't slept!"
"I haven't! But that doesn't matter-- I made a new discovery!" he boasts.
The tour group breaks into excited murmuring, and you quickly flip to blank page even as you take more pictures-- a difficult juggling act that has you use both hands at once.
"Whoa, a new discovery?" Harry breathes. "Oh man, this is gonna be great!"
"Didn't you hear what Mrs. Richards said?" Gwen whispers. "Mr. Fantastic hasn't gotten any sleep! Are-- Are we sure his new discovery is safe?"
You blink and properly look at Mr. Fantastic. Now that Gwen mentions it, the man does look a little haggard. Designer bags hang from his eyes, his hair is bedraggled, and a messy stubble lines his jaw. The man looks like he's fueled through the power of enthusiasm and caffeine alone.
The two superheroes pull away, talking about something with heated but hushed tones. From their body language, you can tell Mrs. Richards is not happy about her husband while Mr. Richards is adamant.
"It's Mr. Fantastic we're talking about!" Harry answers. "Of course it's gonna be safe!"
"…I think we can take the middle ground." you propose. "We trust Mr. Fantastic, but keep our distance just in case."
That's enough of a compromise for your friends, and just in time as the Invisible Woman floats over.
"Alright everyone, we've got a little extra on our tour today." she says. "My… darling husband here just made the scientific discovery of a lifetime, and he's very excited to show it to you all."
"A way to revolutionize travel, on and off-world!" Mr Fantastic boasts. "A way to cut distances from thousands of miles to but a single step! Right this way, everyone!"
You follow him with bated breath into a hallway that leads to a secondary chamber. Inside are two giant machines, circular and unconnected. A computer terminal is connected to both devices, which Mr. Fantastic is quick to position himself in front of.
"Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls," he spreads his arms with a flourish as the machines activate. "I give you my greatest invention yet-- the Space-Connector!"
His explanation is simple enough once you remove all the technical talk, and you're happy enough to give a dummy-ed down version to Harry and Gwen.
"They're wormhole projectors. They bend space-time to connect two separate volumes of space together, effectively make a tunnel between where you are and where you want to go." you tell them. "It's amazing."
"…doesn't that also take a tone of energy to make?" Gwen squints. "Like, more than anything we can make right now?"
"They have cold-fusion generators here Gwen." you point out.
"On display. What are they using to power that thing with?" she stresses. "What if he calls for a volunteer to step through and the power cuts while the person's stepping inside?"
"That won't happen." you say, fully believing in Mr. Fantastic. "This is the Fantastic Four we're talking about."
"It's a risk!" Gwen hisses.
"Alright you two, ease up." Harry steps between you and puts an arm over both your shoulders. "No need to argue in the middle of a field trip-- this is supposed to be a good time for all of us."
"…fine." Gwen huffs, crossing her arms.
"Trust the science, Gwen." you tell her. "It's not like Reed Richards to make a mistake like this."
You turn to the man in question and he turns on the machines. They come online with a dull electronic hum, electricity arcing along the circular devices. A mass of blue light gathers in their center, and suddenly snaps into a full circle-- a flat plain of blue light.
It… ripples. Like water, but not. There's weight and consistency to it that doesn't match fluid, but isn't quite solid either.
"These portals with dramatically shorten travel time between two points! Allow me to demonstrate." Mr. Fantastic beams. "Sue, float in front of one portal, please."
"Richards, if this summons demons from Hell, I swear to god…" the Invisible Woman complains even as she complies, drawing snickers from the crowd. "Alright, I'm here."
Mr. Fantastic produces an apple and stretches one arm in front of the other portal. He tosses it in, and immediately it appears through the other portal. Mrs Richards catches it, blinking.
"Huh. It works." she notes.
"Hah! Told you!" her husband crows. "Now for an even bigger object!"
"Reed." Mrs Richards says warningly.
"It will be fiiiine, Sue." Mr. Fantastic assures her. "An apple passed through fine. What's the harm with trying something bigger?"
He stretches to a metal cargo container that looks as heavy as person, and hauls it up.
"Reed!" his wife hisses. "At least wait until the kids are out of the room!"
"Nonsense! They came here for a show, I'll give them one!" Reed beams at the everyone. "Take note kids, this will be the future of long distance travel! Gone will be the planes and cars and trains-- no more will fossil fuel emissions harm the planet. It will be as simple as pressing a button," he tosses the containers into the portal, even as his wife moves back to catch it. "One, two, thr--"
The container stops halfway in and halfway out. Its momentum ceases entirely. Reed blinks at the sudden stoppage, and reaches out to push it.
It doesn't budge.
"…odd. This never happened in previous tests." Mr Fantastic blinks, shoving harder. "Sue, see if you can--"
The circular devices shatter. Red warning lights come on and alarms blare. The world rattles as the container disappears into the blue portal, and gravity turns off.
You hear screaming as something starts pulling you-- and everyone else-- towards the portal. Mrs. Fantastic's signature forcefields come to life around most of the students, but you and a few others are already floating towards the portals.
"Peter! Gwen!" Harry screams.
The force pulls you closer to the portal, but Gwen's farther. She screams as she flails, reaching out to you. You reach back and your fingers touch, but she's too far out of reach.
"Richard grab them!" the Invisible Woman yells.
Something long and rubbery wraps around your leg, and you see Mr. Fantastic's stretched-out arms do the same for the other students who aren't caught under the Invisible Woman's force field.
A black gloved hand grab's Gwen's ankle and you almost smile in relief.
Then the heavy container shoots back out and lands on the stretched-out limb that's wrapped around you and Gwen. Mr. Fantastic cries out in agony and his grip around both you and Gwen loosens.
You feel weightless, helpless, as you and Gwen float closer and closer to the rapidly shrinking blue portal.
Both Gwen and yourself would pass through before it closes, and you're terrified to think about what may be waiting for you on the other side. Gwen is full on panicking as she flails for something to hang on to.
Without thinking, you take off your bag and use it as it to reach out Gwen. Her hand grabs a shoulder strap, and her screams stop at the presumed belief of safety. Then she turns to you, and notices what she's holding on to. You give her a smile.
"Tell Aunt May and Uncle Ben I love them." you say.
Then you grunt and swing your arm backwards. You let go of your bag, effectively flinging her backwards to Mr. Fantastic's stretched out arm.
"Pete! Peter!" Gwen shouts.
"Peter!" Harry yells.
It's all you can do to not cry as you're enter the portal and blue light engulfs you fully. The world stretches and pulls, and suddenly you're hurtling forward through a vast emptiness.
The light fades into an expanse of black with hundreds and thousands of winking lights. You think they're stars at first, but then you hurtle past them and see them as… shards. Shards of a TV screen, playing events in places you've only imagined.
There's a shard showing schoolgirls with halos battle the likes of tanks and robot soldiers with rifles. There's another showing a giant mecha dancing as a base burns around out. Another shows a samurai with a red mask battling against a whirlwind of tentacles with his bare hands.
All these and more pass by you and your hurtle forward, faster and faster, the images becoming less and less legible until they're blurring past you. The way ahead becomes white as the horizon ripples, as though it's stretching.
Then you land on some invisible surfaces, rolling to a stop.
You blink the tears out of your eyes and look around.
You're laying down in some… vast white space. There's nothing here but white, like paper. It goes on forever, seemingly without end.
The scratching of pencil on paper reaches your ears and you turn around. You see someone in a black shirt and holding a gigantic 2B pencil, hunched over. He looks like he's writing something.
Then he turns around and blinks at you, and rises to his full height.
His head is a yellow-black slug, complete with two eye stalks. He's got a beer belly. He stands no taller than your waist. His pencil is three times his height.
He waddles over to you, dragging his pencil with him wordlessly. He stands in front of you. You glance behind him and see scenery that looks like it's made up of words. Thousands-- millions of words.
You back to him and find him raising his giant pencil over his head. He brings it down on your f--
=X=X=X=X=X=
You gasp awake, panic and fear like a vice around your racing heart.
The memory comes to you-- the field trip, the portal, your friends, hurtling through that dark space with all those shards, that fat slug person hitting you in the face.
And now you're here. In this dark alley-- no, it's not dark. The sky is still bright. Daytime, then.
It's filthy though, and reeks of garbage and piss and all the horrible stuff alleys are usually filled with. Only, it's worse somehow. The stink is horrible-- worse than Manhattan's. The garbage bins here are practically overflowing.
The portal must've brought you to another city, maybe. In America, maybe? You force your feet under you and stumble forward, walking out of the alley to hopefully get your bearings.
The first thing you see are neon lights. Everywhere.
You take a second to stare at everything, devouring this strange new place. You wrack your mind, trying to find a name and place that fits with what you're seeing, but nothing comes up.
The design of the cars, the clothes, the over abundance of neon lighting, hell even the buildings are different. Advanced, too, but not in a good way.
A glance at the building next to you tells you that this was a prefabricated structure, built first then assembled into position. The people walk around with clothes made of synthetic materials with fashion that looks tacky and ugly, at least to you. And many of them have some kind of cybernetic augmentation.
An arm, an eye, part of their face, their hair-- at least one part of their body is cybernetic. It's equal parts fascinating as it is horrifying, that there's so much artificial replacement done in front of you.
"Hey, choom. What's gotten you all frozen?"
You blink and turn to the speaker, a man in a hoodie. He has three others behind him, dressed like something out of a chic thrift store.
The pommel-end of a handgun hanging out of his jacket makes you tense.
"He looks scared, bro." one of the other thugs laughs. "What's up with that?"
"I-I, uh--" you stammer. The four march in. "W-Where's--"
"Don't stammer, gonk. Y'know tha's bad manners." the lead thug says, a cybernetic arm pushing you against a wall. "Speak up. What's the matter?"
You stammer out a stream of words, terrified.
"Sound's like he's disrespectin' ya' man." one of the other thugs chuckles.
"Tha' right?" the man nods, getting a mean expression. "Guess I should teach you a lesson, hm? C'mere."
He drags you into the alley you just walked out of.
There's no better way to describe it-- they hand you your ass. No, that's too kind of a descriptor because that implies they had some civility in the 'handing' process.
The quartet are mean in their dishing out of abuse. Kick, punching, and even spitting on you as they remind you of your place in the metaphorical totem pole. They call you every name under the sun, and a few you don't recognize in haitian and japanese or some other asian dialect.
There's very little you can do to stop them; augmented and experienced, you're forced to stay there and take the brunt of the punishment the same way you did back in Queens.
Queens… that thought breaks your heart, and the tears come not long afterwards. Your family and friends must be worried sick about you.
"I-I'm sorry…!" you half-plead and half-sob as the blows rain down. "P-Please! S-Stop..!"
"Hell nah, gonk! This is Night City!" the lead thug crows. "If you don't have the guts to stand up to yourself, you deserve the shit that's thrown your way!"
"Yeah, take it pendejo! It's a dog-eat-dog world out here!" another thug laughs, kicking you. "Fuck yeah! Take it, bitch!"
You curl up and the blows keep coming, the bruising piling up.
"Hey, don't break 'im!" one of the thugs says. "We can hand his ass over to some scavs! Get some free edd-- urk!"
You blink as the lights go out. Your assailants pull away with a curse, and in the darkness you see their barely-illuminated forms move, drawing someong from their bodies-- guns. They go click, and the leader recoils backwards.
"Sh--!"
Three gunshots ring out, briefly showing a woman, and you watch as three bodies drop to the floor. The last remaining thug, the one that got knocked out in the beginning, is spasming on the ground as though experiencing a seizure.
But there's no mistaking the fear in his eyes as he looks up at the woman who just gunned down his friends.
"Pathetic." she says, putting him out of his misery. "Jumping a kid? What's Night City coming to?"
She walks over and looks at you as you sit up, hands raised.
"I-I don't have any money…" you start. "P-Please don't shoot."
The woman say nothing, but she does put away her gun. The lights come back on and you see your savior in full.
"…what's your name, kid?" she asks.
"P-Peter." you stammer. "P-Peter Parker."
"Peter huh? That's good name." she stands up. "You can call me Kiwi. Come on, lets get you sorted."
Kiwi gets you on your feet and hauls you out of the alley, leaving four dead bodies behind. She keeps you talking, asking you about various nonsensical things to get your mind off of the four murders she just committed.
She talks to you about who you are and your past, and you in turn ask her about where you are and what place this is.
"You're Night City-- the City of Dreams, the City on the Edge of Tomorrow." she tells you. "Founded and built in 1994, on the border between North and South California."
"Never heard of it." you murmur.
"I figured you wouldn't. Nobody your age would out and about in Night City alone, and in the edge too." Kiwi snorts. "You don't even have any chrome on you, you're a full 'ganic. How'd you even get here? You a Bennie?"
"A what?" you blink.
"It's slang for 'out-of-towner'." she blinks at you. "You… do you know what chrome is? A deckhead? A joytoy?"
…
"N-No?" you blink. Kiwi gawks at you.
"You sweet innocent gonk-- what rock have you been living under all your life?" she asks in disbelief.
"I'm not from here." you sigh. "It's a long story."
"You've got plenty of time to tell it to me then." she says. "I'm taking you to my place and you're staying there until you can go out on your own."
"I-I wouldn't want to impose--" you start, but she touches a bruise on your arm. "Ow."
"You can barely stand up straight, and you don't have any scratch." she snorts. "If some prole sticks you up and you don't have any eddies, they'd flatline you."
You just stare at her, uncomprehending. She sighs.
"Come on." she says, chagrined. "I'll teach you the basics."
"The basics?" you blink.
"To survive Night City." she snorts. "Welcome to your new home, kiddo."
…Still with me? Great. Thanks for toughing it through the prologue of Spiderpunk 2077. From here, the Quest really starts.
If you haven't read in the Mechanic appendix, then here's a quick rundown:
- This is a turn-based quest.
- You have 5 AP to start with.
- You use them to research stuff, do (small) gigs, and socialize.
You got it? Great. Let's move on.
Next:
Chapter 1: Settling In