All night I had nightmares and raved in delirium. In my dreams, I saw myself turning into a Spider-Monster.
Dying from a bite.
Devoured by a thousand little spiders.
But all things come to an end, and so came the end of these horrors.
I woke up on a bed wet with sweat. Honestly, I haven't felt this bad in a long time. But the mere fact that I didn't reach for my glasses when I woke up, because I saw everything as sharply as I'd never seen it before, made me glad I'd taken the risk. And I had not failed.
I jumped out of bed and made my way to the mirror in one leap. Holy shit, look at this protein-pumped hottie, if you know what I mean.
All right, strong biceps and triceps, confident flat abs, tight but not massive muscles. It's the perfect package. I can only thank the spider that gave me all this. Hopefully the rest of the day is without any major surprises.
Gathering up my clothes from yesterday and sending them to the laundry basket, I decided to check my own wardrobe. It didn't turn out to be all that disappointing. I'm not a fashionista, of course, but I still had a couple of normal outfits. Speaking of outfits. It's time to start thinking about creating my own "uniform". I don't know if it has something to do with my spider nature, but I've been craving something to sew. Perhaps here's an explanation for how a sixteen year old kid made his own costume? It could be anything.
The most important thing is that I felt a tremendous power in every cell of my body. And even though I can only theorise about my current capabilities, I can't wait to try them out. The most important thing is to train and test my abilities, but I can't be late for the field.
Whistling a pleasant tune, I went downstairs. The kitchen still had the same nice warm Parker family atmosphere. I'd always wondered why May and Ben didn't have children. Was it related to the fact that I had suddenly descended on them after my parents died, or was it a medical problem for one of the spouses? Maybe even both of them. I don't know, but seeing these two now, looking at each other with such love, I can't help but wonder. Is this really that rare bond that holds two people together and they stay with each other no matter what happens? If so, I'm incredibly happy for my folks.
- Good morning, Peter, how you scared me yesterday, you fell asleep at once, you didn't have dinner, how are you feeling? - Auntie said, worriedly.
- Better than ever, lady. I'm sorry, please, auntie just very tired yesterday, but today I'm full of energy and ready for new achievements, - smiling I reassure my relatives with my confidence.
- Great, champ. By the way, today I need your help, I need to paint the garage. You don't have plans, do you?
- I'd love to help, Uncle. You can count on me, what time?
- Well then, you come home from school and we'll get started, okay?
- Of course I'll go.
- Don't forget your lunch, dear.
As I left the house, I began to think. There's a very, very, very strong desire in me to skip school and run to some abandoned warehouse to test my abilities. The original me would have done just that. But that's the danger. You can't give yourself away in any way. It's a miracle that my aunt and uncle didn't ask about my glasses, which I'd forgotten to wear. It's all right, in case of anything, there's a plausible excuse.
That's the human mindset: if you give them a simple answer, they won't want to look for a complicated one. It doesn't work, of course, not always and not with everyone, but we are ready for difficulties.
I smirk smugly. Yeah, with this approach, Parker's Luck will cease to be ironic.
Suddenly, time seemed to slow down, and I felt a buzzing in my skull. I looked up sharply and saw a bus coming straight at me. Before I could even think about it, my body jumped from the middle of the road to the pavement on reflexes alone. Before the driver realised what had happened, he ran away from the scene. There weren't many people in Queens at the time, and no one saw me. I hope so.
Running into an alley, I decided to catch my breath. Figuratively, because now I don't even know how fucked up I'd have to be to catch my breath. As I looked around, I realised I was in an alley, and as if beckoning, there was the wall of a huge brick building twelve storeys high and fifteen metres wide. The bait was too sweet. I looked around like a thief, looking for every little thing, and especially, I listened to my Sense. I try to set it to detect any surveillance, an ability I'll train more than any other.
Coming to the wall, I put my hand on the masonry, put my right foot, pushed off, hooked my left hand and.... started to rise. The only thing that kept me from shouting with joy was the realisation that I shouldn't draw any attention to myself at all. At least not while I'm not in a suit.
Oh, well. Spider tenacity's up to par. My senses are working, too. I'm not talking about reflexes, and the power burning in every cell of my body is hardly deceptive, so my superpower should be fine. I was more surprised by something else... the change in my body, pleasantly surprised.
All these thoughts rushed through my head as I raced across the rooftops, but unfortunately the high-rise buildings at the edge of the neighbourhood ran out and I had to walk the couple of kilometres to school like a mere mortal, but I was as happy as a few elephants.
- Hey, Pete! - Miles Morales called me out of the blue.
A couple of blocks away from school, it's more fun to walk with company anyway.
- Hey, Miles, what's up? - I greeted my friend cheerfully.
- Great, how are you after last night? Honestly, did you look like shit?
- Actually great, I just needed some sleep.
- That's great, did the sleep fix your eyesight too? Where are the eyepieces?
Evana's so observant.
- No, my sleep isn't that miraculous. I just don't need them anymore. You know, vision training techniques and proper nutrition work wonders, and I'm not lying, those things really do improve your eyes.
- Well, congratulations. Did it really work?
- Yeah. And I didn't have the worst case.
So, talking and discussing small things, we reached the school.
Behind the fence, in the school grounds, the whole gang was waiting for us, led by Thompson.
- Whoa, Kong, Ken, look at that, Parker and his new mate. You think he can run as fast as Petey?
- I don't know, Flash, why don't we check it out?
- Why don't you guys run out of here as fast as you can and don't hurt any decent young people? - I ask with a teasing smirk.
- Guys, look who's got a little voice. Feeling brave, Parker?
- You're no more cowardly than a dumb oaf who only knows how to bully the weak and hide behind his underlings, hiding behind his supposed status as king of the school. Wake up, Thompson, you're pathetic, and the sooner you realise it, the better," I said unashamedly, spilling everything I'd been saving up for years.
Surprisingly, not only the athletes and cheerleaders were speechless, but all the students in the radius of my speech, and I wasn't whispering. Of course, Eugene couldn't tolerate the attack on his authority, so he came over to me and grabbed me by the pecs and hissed:
- Today. After school. Brolley Lane warehouse. You're dead.
- We'll see which one of us is.
Boiling with anger, Thompson let me go and chased his men back to school.
- Dude, are you out of your mind?! Flash is gonna kill you!
- Don't worry, my friend, a wise warrior knows when to challenge.
- You do realise that watching Bruce Lee movies doesn't automatically make you a martial artist," the guy said sceptically
- Really? It's a shame. That was my only hope," I fake sadness.
- You have a plan, right?
- Will you come with me and find out?
- Of course, someone will have to bring your corpse to the family.
- Don't be so pessimistic, Miles. Look at the bright side. Your dad's a cop, so in the event of my untimely demise, my spirit will rest in peace knowing the Flash will be shut down on your testimony.
- Yeah, that's comforting.
We walked into the school and went to our lockers. Miles is a normal guy. Maybe I should have stopped him from getting powers. Either way, what's done is done. And in the comics he was kind of bitten by another specimen, so maybe fate hadn't said its last word yet.
I took the books, closed the door, and right behind it was the disgruntled face of Gwen Stacey.
- Jesus, Gwen! In the name of all the saints, do you realise how scared I was," which is funny, I actually jumped because it was unexpected.
- What. You did. You did? All the girls are running round talking about your fight with Flash. Peter, I've only been here two days and I already know how it works, and you know why?
- It's a cop's daughter's instinct. That's right. They say all policemen's daughters have it.
- It's not funny, Pete. School's like a menagerie, there's alpha predators and then there's peaceful herbivores. That's the age we're at. And, I'm sorry, but Flash is a predator.
- So maybe it's time for the peaceful herbivore to show that he's really always been a wolf in sheep's clothing. - decided to play along with the Stacy analogy.
- Are you sure, Peter? - The blonde asked worriedly.
- Don't worry, I have a plan.
- I really hope so, let's go to class.
***
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