(JK, it's a real chapter)
- Voiceover -
[FADE IN - CITY MONTAGE]
Morning light breaks over New York City. Sirens wail, pigeons scatter, and a red and blue blur swings past skyscrapers.
Peter (V.O.)
All right, let's do this in one take.
My name is Peter Parker.
A shot of Spider-Man flipping over a taxi, landing perfectly on a lamppost, and waving at a group of kids pointing at him before leaping off again.
A little over a year ago, I was just your average kid.
[CUT TO - PETER'S BEDROOM]
Textbooks piled high. Trophies lined a shelf. A vintage camera on a desk. The camera pans to a family photo of his parents, his younger sister, and him smiling.
Peter (V.O.)
Sort of.
[MONTAGE - PETER'S ACHIEVEMENTS]
Peter making trinkets in his laboratory, blowing up a chemistry set, and getting perfect grades on all his tests. Peter training with different martial arts teachers over the years, moving on when he couldn't learn any more.
Peter (V.O.)
To make a long story short, I'm on my second life.
[QUICK CUT - FLASH OF WHITE LIGHT]
A faint heartbeast. A skinny boy in a bed with wires and leads. His eyes close, then another pair of eyes snap open in a different world.
Peter (V.O.)
Yeah, you heard that right, second. Somehow, some way, I got a do-over.
Comic panels flash, images of laughter, family dinners, and late nights reading Spider-Man comics under a blanket.
Peter (V.O.)
My first life wasn't perfect, but it had its moments. I had a family who loved me, a few good friends, and a lifelong admiration for one hero: Spider-Man.
[QUICK CUT - COMIC PANEL OF CLASSIC SPIDER-MAN POSE]
Peter (V.O.)
He wasn't just a character to me. He was a symbol of trying, of failing, of getting back up no matter how many times life knocked you down.
[CUT TO - SWING SEQUENCE]
Spider-Man swings between skyscrapers, flips midair, catches a falling phone for a tourist, and tosses it back mid swing.
Peter (V.O.)
So, you can imagine how surprised I was when I opened my eyes in a new world, in a new body, and discovered I had been reborn as Peter Parker.
[QUICK CUT - DAILY PLANET HEADLINE: "SUPERMAN SAVES METROPOLIS"]
Peter (V.O.)
Except this isn't the world I knew. This world has Batman, Wonder Woman, Superman, and the Justice League running around saving it.
He swings past a massive WayneTech billboard and an advertisement for Wonder Woman merch.
Peter (V.O.)
Yeah, that was a fun day.
[CUT TO - CITY STREET]
A street of brownstones. Peter steps outside, backpack slung over his shoulder. His mom says bye to him before kissing his dad good-bye, and his sister rolls her eyes at their antics.
Peter (V.O.)
I should also mention that I was lucky enough to avoid the traumatic event that haunts Peter Parkers across the multiverse: the death of my parents. Thankfully, they are both still alive, and I even have a sister, Teresa.
[QUICK CUT - TERESA SMACKS HIM WITH A PILLOW]
Peter (V.O.)
Teri for short. She can be annoying sometimes, but I still love her.
[QUICK CUT - TERESA'S ROOM, ZATANNA DOING A CARD TRICK]
Peter (V.O.)
Oh, and she's best friends with Zatanna Zatara. Yes, that Zatanna. DC's resident sorceress supreme. Though she's still in training ... I think.
[QUICK CUT - ZATANNA SMILING FLIRTATIOUSLY WITH PETER, MANY TIMES]
Peter (V.O.)
And between you and me, she's had a crush on me for years. I only found out recently, which is a little awkward considering she's my younger sister's best friend and I've known her forever. Since I found out, she's gone from a giggly girl to a more confident and flirty person, which has made things ... interesting.
Anyway, things were about as normal as they could be when you live in a world with vigilantes, aliens, and gods, until a year ago.
[QUICK CUT - REGULAR SPIDER CRAWLS ONTO PETER'S FINGER AND BITES HIM]
Peter (V.O.)
That's when it happened: the spider.
[MONTAGE - TRAINING SEQUENCE]
Peter climbs his room wall and shouts in joy. Cut to him swinging around an abandoned warehouse, shouting in joy.
Peter (V.O.)
Same story, different world. I got bit, and the next day, I could stick to walls, bench press a car, and move faster than most people could think. It was probably, no, definitely the best day of my life.
[ACTION CUTS - FIGHTS AND HEROICS]
Spider-Man dodges bullets, stops a car from hitting a woman and her kid, and webs up bank robbers.
Peter (V.O.)
Since then, I've been juggling school, friends, family, and helping people who really ought to hold on to their purses tighter.
[CUT TO - BRADLEY HIGH SCHOOL FOOTBALL FIELD COVERED IN ICE]
Spider-Man dodges as a pillar of ice erupts from the ground, but the edge catches him on the side, slamming him into the column. Hurt, he dodges a wave of ice spikes, but one spear him through the arm. He screams and slides behind cover.
Peter (V.O.)
I don't have a coterie of villains, per se, but I have fought Killer Frost and almost died, though I was able to outwit her, and it reinforced my will to be Spider-Man, so not the worst trade-off.
[CUT TO - DARK ALLEY IN UPPER EAST SIDE]
Grundy scares a couple of trick-or-treaters before Spider-Man saves them. They talk, and they end up going for more candy, sitting down afterwards to eat it together. Grundy gets stabbed by a boy in a costume and turns into dust.
Peter (V.O.)
And it turns out, the scary story of Solomon Grundy wasn't just a story, and he's real. Or was real, anyway, since he got skewered in the heart by a kid with a broken broom.
[CUT TO - ANGRY BLUE CAT INSIDE A SACK]
Spider-Man webs the two punks torturing the cat to the ground before saving it. A red light comes from the sky before leaving. The cat licks Spider-Man's face.
Peter (V.O.)
Oh, and I saved a blue cat named Dexter from almost being drowned by a couple of punks. We almost got attacked by a red light from space, but it was gone as quickly as it came. Weird that I haven't thought about that since then.
It turned out his owner was murdered in a home invasion by another guy I've dealt with named Black Spider.
[QUICK CUT - BLACK SPIDER AND LEAGUE OF SHADOWS BEATEN BY SPIDER-MAN]
Peter (V.O.)
Yeah, I sent him to jail, and then he got rescued by a bunch of ninjas that I fought before they escaped. And I'm pretty sure one of the ninjas has a crush on me. Not that I can blame her.
Anyway, I'm fairly certain that Dexter is genetically modified or something, because no normal cat understands human speech.
[QUICK CUT - DEXTER NODS AS PETER TALKS]
Peter (V.O.)
But he's cute and everyone in the family loves him, so not really a big deal.
[CUT TO - CITY SWINGING IN BRIGHT DAYLIGHT]
Spider-Man swings through Times Square, waving at a crowd of tourists taking selfies.
Peter (V.O.)
A year of being shot at, punched through walls, almost turned into a popsicle, yelled at by cops, and thanked by people who don't even know my name.
He swings past a police car, salutes the officers, and zips up a skyscraper.
Peter (V.O.)
But I wouldn't trade it for anything.
Because no matter what world I'm in, one thing hasn't changed: Spider-Man always tries to do the right thing.
[CLOSE UP - HE LANDS ON A ROOFTOP OVERLOOKING THE CITY]
Peter (V.O.)
My name is Peter Parker.
And I'm the friendly neighborhood Spider-Man.
~
New York
August 27, 07:14 EDT
At Harlem's famous Rucker Park, sneakers squeaked against the blacktop, the hollow thump of a basketball echoed, and a small but growing crowd gathered along the chain-link fence. They weren't there just for the game; those were a dime a dozen in Rucker Park. They were there for the sight of one very unusual player.
Spider-Man, in his outfit, in the middle of a 3-on-3, playing as if he were in the NBA Finals.
The ball was in his hands. With a quick crossover and a burst of speed, Peter slipped between two defenders, their arms grasping at air. At the three-point line, he stepped back and let the ball fly.
SWISH
"Nothing but net for the rookie from Manhattan!" Peter said in a mock announcer's voice, hands in the air as some of the onlookers clapped and cheered. "What can't he do? Seriously, folks, we're watching history tonight!"
The opposing team's teens groaned, one of them grabbing the ball on the rebound, while the ones on his team smiled and laughed. "Come on, man. When we invited you to play a game with us, we didn't think you would use your spider-powers or whatever they're called. That's not fair."
"Powers? Me? No way. If I had been using my powers, you'd be watching the most absolutely ridiculous dunks this world has ever seen. You guys just suck." Peter said jokingly, smiling under his mask.
The whole court erupted with laughter, a couple of the teens smacking each other on the shoulder and shaking their heads. The one who had gotten the rebound, a tall and lanky teen wearing a Gotham Knights jersey, spun the ball on his finger and pointed at Peter.
"Alright, webhead, no excuses this time. Next basket wins."
"Man, now that's not fair." said one of the teens on Peter's team. "We're up almost 30 on you guys."
The tall teen just grinned and shrugged his shoulders. "Doesn't matter. We ain't in the pros, this is a street game. You want the glory, you have to earn it."
Peter hopped on the balls of his feet and cracked his neck. "Ah, that childhood rule where everything that happened before doesn't matter. Well, can't say I don't like it." He looked back at his teammates. "Don't worry, guys, with the power of friendship, anything is possible."
His teammates had been getting fired up for the final point, but hearing him say that caused them to make a face. "Man, I don't even want to be on your team anymore."
"Yeah, man, you lost me at 'power of friendship.'" said the other, shaking his head, laughing.
"That was so corny, dude." said the first one.
"Yeah, yeah. Corny or not, you'll be happy when we win." Peter said, waving them off.
"Talk less, shoot more, Spidey!" shouted someone from the crowd watching.
"Hey, you can't rush greatness!" Peter said, pointing toward the voice.
"Alright, insect boy, let's see what you got." said the lanky teen as he stared Peter down while bouncing the ball.
"Come on. Does no one know they're two different classes of creatures?" muttered Peter to himself.
The ball was checked in. Peter caught it, spun past a defender, and as the others closed in, he made to shoot the ball, but it was actually a feint; he then flicked a behind-the-back pass to his teammate. The kid with the Gotham Knight jersey was the fastest to react to the pass, but even then, he was too slow. The boy whom Peter passed the ball to jumped and laid it in clean, dropping neatly through the hoop.
"Game!" Peter shouted, throwing his hands up as the court erupted in a mix of cheers, laughter, and good-natured groans.
The kid who made the winning shot ran up to Peter, sporting a big grin, and dapped him up. "Now that's what I'm talking about! Game-winning shot thanks to an assist from Spider-Man himself!"
"All you, dude. I seriously think you guys can go pro." said Peter. "Every one of you."
"That's the dream." said his other teammate, hope in his eyes.
"That's a good dream. I believe in you guys." Peter said, looking not only at his teammates but at the opposing team. "All of you."
The tall kid in the Gotham Knights jersey blinked. "You ... you mean that?"
"Of course I do. You've got the skills, the teamwork, and I see you guys practicing whenever I swing by, so you've got the work ethic. And you have that killer crossover that almost broke my ankles earlier."
The kid laughed, rubbing the back of his neck as if he was embarrassed.
"Man, no one ever says stuff like that to us." said another player, his voice quieter. "Usually, people just tell us to stop wasting time and stay in school or get real jobs."
"You know what's funny? I've heard the same thing before. That what I'm doing is pointless, that I should stop trying. But if I did, a lot of people wouldn't get help when they needed it most." he said thoughtfully. "Dreams are only a waste of time until you prove everyone wrong, so just prove everyone wrong."
The group went quiet, then one of the kids chuckled. "Dang, Spidey, didn't know we were getting a TED Talk today."
Peter laughed. "Yeah, sorry. Kinda heavy stuff for so early in the morning."
With that, the mood lightened, and Peter noticed the kids looked rejuvenated. Whether it was because they had someone rooting for them in their corner, he didn't know, but he hoped so.
"So, you trying to play another?" asked the tall kid in the Gotham Knights jersey.
"Nah, I'm good. I got up early because of sc-" Peter, mid-stretch, realized he was about to say something he shouldn't. "COUGH s-something I had to do, so I'll just hang out for a bit and watch you guys play."
Because he was hanging out with other kids his age, he almost forgot he was currently Spider-Man and not Peter Parker, and let it slip that he was still in school.
"I feel you. We forgot it was Teacher Development Day and we had the day off." said one of the kids. "Could've slept in."
"Alright, but can you at least do one of those dunks you were hyping up?" said the kid, holding the ball out.
Peter tilted his head, pretending to think about it. "A dunk, huh? I don't know. The rims already had a rough day. Don't wanna break its spirit."
"Come on, man. You talk all that big game and now you're scared?" the kid with the ball said while smirking.
"Dunk it, Spider-Man!" shouted a kid watching them.
"You heard the little man." said another of the teens. "Don't disappoint him."
Peter sighed dramatically. "Fine, fine. But if this ends with a 'no superpowers on the court' sign, that's on you guys."
He took the ball, and everyone gave him some space. He dribbled the ball to get a good feel for it before taking off from half-court and jumping. Naturally, he didn't use all his strength, or else he would have overshot the hoop by a few dozen feet at least. He used just enough to make it look like he was floating in the air way longer than any regular person should be able to.
As he moved through the air, he decided to make it worthwhile for those watching and did a reverse 720 windmill dunk. Still, he was careful not to use more strength than a normal person, or he would crumple the hoop like a can.
The crowd cheered.
"Yeah, Spidey!" "I love you, Spider-Man!" "Do you have a girlfriend?!" "Or boyfriend?!"
Peter landed lightly on his feet, grabbing and spinning the ball on his finger before passing it to the Gotham Knights jersey kid.
"Sounds like you got some fans." he said, grinning.
"Ah, it comes with the territory." Peter said, dusting his gloves off casually.
"You're alright, man. Like for real." said the boy. "Never thought New York would have a hero or whatever. Even if it did, I didn't think they'd be helping around our side of town, much less hanging with us."
"Do what I can, but I wish I could do more." said Peter, his tone softening. "Too bad I'm only one man."
"I don't know. More you's with the corny jokes? I think I'd rather have the crime." joked one of the kids, causing them all to laugh.
"My humor's an acquired taste, thank you very much." Peter said in mock offense.
"Like spoiled milk." one of the boys shot back, and the whole group laughed again.
Peter chuckled, shaking his head.
The laughter died down, and for a second, the mood shifted. The Gotham Knights jersey kid spun the ball absently on his finger. "Still, it means something, you being here. Most people don't come out this way unless they're looking for trouble. But you just showed up. Played ball. Treated us like people."
Peter felt a quiet sting in his chest. "Hey, you are people. You've got just as much right to dream big as anyone in this city. Don't let anyone make you think differently."
"Thanks, Spider-Man. For real." said the kid, putting his fist out.
"Don't mention it." Peter said, smiling under his mask as he fist bumped him. "Just remember today that way when I ask for an autograph when you're all in the NBA, you'll give it to me."
Peter chatted with the boys for a while longer before excusing himself. He still wanted to watch the boys play, but he didn't want to be a nuisance to any other park goers. So instead of sitting on a bench, he decided to swing up to the roof of the nearest building with a good view of the courts and watch from there.
Before that, however, he stopped at a food cart he had seen by the entrance of the park and got a breakfast burrito. Like the boys, he too had woken up early because he had forgotten that there was no school due to Teacher Development Day and hadn't eaten breakfast. Not that he would have been doing anything else anyway if he had known, but still.
At the roof, Peter leaned back, legs dangling over the edge of the building as the morning breeze rolled through Harlem. The air was crisp and cool, carrying with it the sounds of the early morning. He tore another bite from his burrito, chewing thoroughly as his gaze drifted toward the skyline and reminisced.
It had been a little over a year since he'd become Spider-Man and just shy of one since the incident with Killer Frost. Since then, New York had been relatively calm, at least compared to other major cities. There were still the usual crimes and things, of course, but nothing on the scale of the Killer Frost incident.
Two notable events that occurred were the confrontation with Grundy, which ended with him turning to dust, and Kite Man's attempted robbery during the Thanksgiving Parade. To Peter's surprise, there were still rumors and supposed sightings of Grundy, but he himself had not seen him since Halloween. Considering the world he was in, he wouldn't be too surprised if Grundy was an undead revenant cursed to come back no matter how many times he was killed.
Kite Man, on the other hand, had become a staple for Spider-Man, and not in a good way. Once a week, the flying headache would swoop down from the skies and try to rob something, only to be thwarted by the world around him: a gust of wind, or a flock of birds, or something. It always ended in his arrest, only for him to be released in a couple of hours because he technically hadn't committed any major crimes. It was as if the universe had specifically designed him to be Peter's minor headache.
One of the more unusual days of the year had to be the Fourth of July, as that morning, across the country, multiple ice-powered villains, Captain Cold, Icicle Jr., Mister Freeze, and Killer Frost herself, attacked almost simultaneously in different cities.
Peter remembered watching the chaos unfold on the news and being surprised that Killer Frost, who he thought was securely contained at Rikers, had somehow escaped. Obviously, he immediately began investigating and discovered there had been a citywide power outage during the night. That power outage affected Rikers and had knocked out her containment systems just long enough for her to break free. By the time the backup power came online, she had escaped.
The city had decided to hold off on reporting the fact that Killer Frost had escaped to save face and hopefully rearrest her before anyone found out. Obviously, that plan failed, and the city faced major backlash over it.
Peter shook his head, taking another bite of his burrito. The news clips from Hawaii still made him clench his fists in anger. Seeing the harbor frozen over, ships encased in ice, and civilians fleeing in panic, made him angry at the city officials who covered it up. He also felt a flicker of guilt at having not been more prepared for a possible prison escape. Still, he was glad that Aquaman and his sidekick Aqualad had been able to take her down before any casualties.
As happy as he was that she had been taken down and secured at Belle Reve, the metahuman prison, the whole thing reeked to him. The power outage that allowed Killer Frost to escape, only for her to then end up halfway across the globe in Hawaii, attacking at the same time as other ice villains are attacking in other cities. It all reeked of a bigger conspiracy.
But that was way above his pay grade. That's what the Justice League was for.
Speaking of, that day was the first time he had seen so many heroes and sidekicks on the news at the same time: Batman and Robin, Aquaman and Aqualad, Flash and Kid Flash, and Green Arrow and Speedy. It was impressive seeing the heroes and their proteges working together, and he couldn't help but feel a little envious of them. Not for any other reason than he had no friends in the same line of work, and he wished he did.
Later in the day, they all appeared on the news again, this time outside the Hall of Justice. There was no official reason why, but people online speculated that they were being inducted into the Justice League. Seeing all eight of them standing together evoked a sense of familiarity in Peter, but he couldn't place it.
On the Venom front, before it disappeared, Peter had been chasing down shipments, shutting down dealers, and doing his best to stop it. After it disappeared, he dug deeper, questioning people who might know what happened, but nobody knew why it had dried up. In his search for answers, however, he found a new drug called Drops, but just like with Venom, he didn't know where it came from or who was in charge. It was frustrating not getting answers, but he knew the only thing he could do was try his best to make sure those drugs didn't flood the market.
Anyway, the slower pace of the past year had allowed him to upgrade his gear like he had been wanting, though it had taken some time since he had to do research and tests to get exactly what he was looking for, especially since he didn't have all the proper equipment. His suit had been upgraded with stronger, lighter materials that were more in line with the Advanced Suit from the games, but the classic red and blue design remained. As much as he liked the look of the Advanced Suit, he had a soft spot for the classic look that wasn't easy to overcome.
He had also been and was still trying to see how feasible it would be to discover/create unstable molecules, but it was very slow going since, again, he didn't have the equipment.
The material wasn't the only thing that he upgraded in his suit. He added small web wings for gliding to make traversal easier and equipped it with several technological enhancements to improve overall efficiency, such as a built-in camera, radio, and communication system. He also made the lenses of the suit expressive, allowing him to squint inwards as well as outwards. Unlike the suit in the game, his did not have a built-in AR HUD as he was still working out the kinks on the program and trying to find a workaround to the hardware limitations.
He'd also finally upgraded his web-shooters entirely, and they were more in line with his ideal mental image from when he first built them. They were red and black chevron-shaped devices that could be magnetically fitted onto bracelets with rotary systems to replace empty cartridges. He had also improved on the web fluid formula itself, making it overall better, and more of it fit inside the cartridges. Also, a few experimental web gadgets were sitting on his workbench in the lab, still in need of further testing and tweaks.
On the personal side, things were going well. School was steady; he'd kept up with classes, maintained good grades, and was still close with Ronnie and had become better friends with June. Home life was stable, too. His parents, aunt, and uncle were well. Teresa remained her usual self, Dexter was still smart and adored by everyone, but the biggest change came from next door.
Now that Zatanna had started high school, her flirting had become impossible to ignore, and Peter found himself constantly wondering whether he should respond or keep acting like he hadn't noticed, which was hard because the more he thought about her, the more he realized just how great she was. She was smart, talented, confident, and kind, and she was also somewhat in the life like he was. He could see that objectively, she was practically the perfect girl, but there was something about the whole thing that held him back.
Peter finished his burrito and shifted slightly, letting his legs swing over the edge as he took a deep breath of the crisp morning air. His mind was still half on Zatanna, half on the city below, when a sudden tingling at the back of his neck made him sit up straight.
He looked south toward Manhattan and squinted at the horizon, scanning the rooftops and sky for any sign of what may have triggered his spider sense. At first, all he saw was the usual cityscape, but then, he focused harder, and his vision zoomed in. That's when he could see the figure of a man gliding across the sky on a kite.
"Not again." Peter muttered to himself in annoyance before smiling. "But at least this new vision is being put to good use."
The biggest surprise of all over the past year came on the first anniversary of the bite when he experienced a dream/nightmare again. He found himself in a vast wasteland of red dirt covered in dead trees, standing in front of a large, strange tree decorated with bones. The dead tree limbs stretched above his head, and from it a small black spider descended on its web, landing on his hand. It looked at him for a few moments before biting him, causing him to wake up. When he woke, he discovered that he had gained telescopic and night vision, which he knew was an ability that Spider-Man 2099/Miguel O'Hara had.
He didn't know why he had gained another spider variant's power, or if he would receive others, or even what the dream's significance was. He only hoped the dream wasn't related to anything like the Web of Life and Destiny in Marvel, since that was a massive headache.
Whatever the reason, he was more than happy to get it. Though he would have preferred something else, like Silk and/or Mayday's spider sense or Mile's Venom Blast, he was still grateful for something.
As virtually harmless as Kite Man was, Peter knew he still needed to web him up before his weird luck caused any damage.
Peter tossed his garbage into a trash can on the corner. "Damn, I'm good." he said, seeing the wadded-up foil land cleanly in the can.
Not wasting another moment, he took off swinging. As useful as the web wings were, he still preferred swinging everywhere; after all, he was Spider-Man.
After a few minutes, he arrived at the scene of the crime. Kite Man's kite glider floated a few feet above the armored truck, attached to it via two hooks. Judging by the singed hole on the cab, Kite Man had blown open the armored truck and went inside to steal the cash. Meanwhile, the armored truck was driving down the street, swerving to try and shake off the kite attached to it to no avail.
Peter landed on the roof and stuck his head inside the hole. Inside was Kite Man in his brightly colored green suit, stuffing a similarly colored sack stitched with a big golden dollar sign with cash. The security guard who rode in the back was on the ground, unconscious, probably from a knockout gas pellet Kite Man liked to use.
"Chucky, baby, fancy seeing you here." Peter said, only sticking his head inside the hole. "We really need to stop running into each other like this. Seriously. Stop. Please."
"Come on, dude. I asked you to stop calling me Chucky." Kite Man said, sticking his head out from behind a pile of bills. "Professional courtesy and all that."
"Sorry, sorry. Kite Man." Peter said, making finger quotes. "But seriously, man, when are you going to give it up? I mean, we've done this dance at least once a week since Thanksgiving, and it always ends the same way."
"I'll never give it up, Spider-Man." he said, emphasizing Spider-Man. "See, I don't call you Spidey."
"I said sorry." countered Peter. "Anyway, instead of poorly robbing stuff with your kite schtick, why don't you put that brain to use and actually use it for good? I mean, you obviously have a knack for interesting inventions." Peter looked at Kite Man's kite, which was surprisingly high tech for such a jokey character.
Kite Man scoffed, slinging the money bag over his shoulder. "That baby is more than an interesting invention. It's a masterpiece of aerodynamics! Self-stabilizing thrusters, smart polymer tethers, and an AI-assisted steering system! Do you know how many all-nighters it took to-"
"-rob armored trucks?" Peter cut in, raising an eyebrow beneath his mask.
"Ugh, you just don't get it, Spider-Man. You and your fancy powers, your super strength, your ... whatever else you have. Some of us have to work for our gimmicks." He said, jabbing a thumb at his chest. "Everything I do is all me. No superpowers required."
"Yeah, and you're really putting that genius to good use. I mean, clearly the best way to stick it to society is stealing payroll money from a catering company." Peter said, glancing at one of the bags marked with the company's name.
"Wait, this is payroll money?" Kite Man said, freezing.
"Yep."
"Aw, man!" Kite Man said, deflating a little. "I thought it was like mob money or big-time CEO money or something cool."
"Hate to break it to you, but you're robbing wedding deposits, Chucky."
"Dude!" Kite Man said, exasperated.
"Sorry, sorry." Peter said, putting his hands in apology.
Before Kite Man could come up with a comeback, Peter's spider-sense flared hard. He stuck his head out of the hole just as the ground in front of the truck exploded, sending chunks of asphalt and concrete flying and any bystanders running in fear.
The armored truck driver attempted to avoid the explosion, jerking the wheel. The truck swerved hard and began to flip.
Before it could tumble out of control, Peter moved, shooting two lines anchored to nearby buildings at the truck, halting it mid-roll. He moved underneath it and caught the vehicle as if he were squatting it. With a good push, he managed to right the truck.
"You guys okay?" Peter asked the guards who gave him a thumbs-up.
"We're good too." Kite Man said, coming out of the hole unsteadily, still carrying the bag of cash. "What the hell was that?"
"I have no clue." Peter turned toward the crater in the street, hoping to find an answer to that question, and find it he did.
From the crater rose a hulking, muddy mass that shifted and sloshed into the shape of a large, humanoid creature. The creature had blank white eyes and sharp teeth set irregularly in the jaws.
"Clayface?" Peter muttered to himself in surprise while his lenses widened to show his surprise.
Although he wasn't a DC reader/watcher/enjoyer in his past life, there was some stuff he knew. Most of that included common things any comic reader would know about certain popular characters, like the Trinity. That also included recognizing certain iconic characters like Bane and Clayface, though he mostly knew them visually and by name rather than by their stories.
"Uh ..." Kite Man said. "Yeah, no thanks. I'm good."
Before Peter could even say anything back, Kite Man's kite lowered itself down onto his back, unhooked itself from the truck, and quickly took off, leaving behind a "Hell no!" as he disappeared.
"Can't say I blame him."
Clayface turned to Peter and smiled mockingly. "What are you supposed to be? Bug Man?" His voice was thick and gurgled, like wet cement being mixed.
Peter tilted his head. "Close, but I think you're thinking of my lesser-known cousin, Roach Man. I'm Spider-Man, the friendly neighborhood edition."
"Oh, Spider-Man. I've heard of you." Clayface said, his form bubbling and shifting.
"Really? Glad to hear humble ole me has gotten some fame in Gotham." Peter said, rubbing his chin.
"Gotham?" Clayface said, confused. "No, the Shadows have mentioned you before. How you humiliated them."
"Shadows?" Peter asked, perplexed. "Like the League of Shadows? How do you know about that? Are you a shadow?"
In the year since, he hadn't had any run-ins with the League of Shadows, nor had he heard anything about them. He half expected Black Spider or the cat-mask lady to show up one day and try to kill him, but nothing. Not that he would've wanted them trying to kill him.
"Who knows?" Clayface said mysteriously, shrugging his clay shoulders as his grin stretched unnaturally wide, almost splitting his face in half. "But they sure didn't like how you made them look."
"My mother always said it's important to understand how other people feel. So how about we see what it's like to feel the way they did?" said Peter.
His spider-sense flared as Clayface rushed him, muddy fists turned into hammers swinging down on him. He flipped backward to avoid a crushing blow, landing lightly on the hood of a nearby car.
'Okay, for whatever reason, Clayface, a villain that I've never heard mentioned/spoken about in this world, has shown up in New York. That means I'm smack dab in the middle of his origin.' Peter thought to himself. 'Don't know much about him except that he's made of clay and is kind of like Sandman, except wetter. So attacking him physically probably won't do much, and water shouldn't work on him like it does Sandman, but dehydrating him might.'
"And here I forgot my giant dehydrator at home." Peter muttered as he jumped over the incoming blow, ending up behind Clayface.
"You and that other one, both like monkeys." Clayface said, grabbing the car he smashed and throwing it at Peter.
"You were fighting someone else? Here I thought we were going to be exclusive." Peter webbed the incoming car and, using its momentum, threw it right back at Clayface.
The car splattered Clayface's body everywhere before crashing on the ground, worrying Peter for a moment until he saw all the clay reform back into Clayface. Glad as he was he hadn't accidentally killed Clayface; seeing his body reform gave Peter some ideas.
'I know Sandman is weak to water and heat, but he also has that single grain of sand that contains his consciousness, called the Soul Molecule or something like that. Even if Clayface did have something similar, it'd be nearly impossible to find it. The fact that he reforms means he might be employing some kind of morphic field to maintain cohesion. If he is, with the right frequency, I can disrupt his morphic resonance pattern with a simple taser. Unless it's magic, then I'm screwed.'
"Whole lot of ifs, but won't hurt to try." he muttered. 'If I had Venom Blast here, this would have been so easy, but I guess trying out the Electric Web attachment isn't too bad.'
He dug in his utility belt under his suit and took out the prototype Electric Web shooter attachment. He didn't know exactly how they worked in the game, whether they were a completely separate web shooter or not, but he made it an attachment he put over his web shooters, which would electrify the webs.
As he finished attaching it, Clayface charged at him again. Peter ducked under his swing and flipped forward to dodge the follow-up attack before shooting an electrified web shot at Clayface's leg. The clay twitched, little sparks running across its surface, and he saw Clayface lean to the side before quickly catching himself.
'Needs some tweaking.' Peter thought.
"Fish gills already tried electricity on me and failed, bug. And his electricity was much stronger than that insect zapper." Clayface said, sneering.
"Another person, seriously? When will you stop hurting me?" Peter said, turning away as if he were crying into his hands.
Clayface paused for half a second, but it was long enough for Peter to act.
He fired a line at a nearby car, yanking the door clean off its hinges before swinging it like a discus and hurling it straight at Clayface. The metal door sliced clean through his left arm, sending it splattering across the pavement.
"Okay, that was kinda gross." Peter muttered, making a face under his mask.
Clayface roared, and his arm slithered back into his body, growing out from whence it fell. "You think that'll stop me?!"
"Honestly, I was hoping it would at least slow you down." Peter replied, hopping back as Clayface lunged.
The massive hammer-shaped hand slammed into the pavement where Peter had just been standing. Peter backflipped, firing another shot of electric web. It hit Clayface in the chest this time; sparks crackled, and the surface of his body rippled like water.
Clayface stumbled for a moment again, and if he had normal facial features, Peter was sure he would look irritated.
'Bigger charge, different frequency. If my math's right, his morphic field should respond somewhere between organic cohesion and liquid conductivity[1]. Basically, I have to play mad scientist and guess.' He adjusted the dial on his Electric Web attachment, thankful he had spent a little extra time adding it.
"Time for a mudslide." he said, taking aim.
The electric web glowed brighter from the stronger charge before firing. The shot hit Clayface in the chest again, except this time the sparks danced all across his body. Clayface screamed, his body convulsing violently as chunks of clay began to lose shape. After a few seconds, Clayface finished collapsing into a steaming, motionless pile of clay.
He crouched near the pile, cautiously poking at it with a bit of rebart he found on the street.
"That was kind of ... anticlimactic. But better than another Killer Frost event, I suppose." Peter muttered, a little disappointed. "I should find a Chinese takeout box for him."
His spider-sense tingled, and he looked up. There was a large blurry figure in the sky, as if something was hovering while camouflaged. He traced its descent as it landed on the street, uncamouflaging itself to reveal a red aerodynamic ship in a style he had never seen before.
"First, a clay creature, and now an alien invasion? Here I thought New York was safe-ish." muttered Peter, getting ready to act.
A hatch opened on the rear of the ship, and out stepped a group of people Peter had only seen on TV: Robin, Kid Flash, Aqualad, and two others who looked like a gender bent Martian Manhunter and a copy-paste of Superman.
"Uh ... hi?"
~~~
AN
The voiceover thing doesn't read too well because I just did it after reading one example, so apologies for that, but I liked it. Some of the stuff mentioned in the voice-over is mentioned again when he's reminiscing, but I had to expand on it so.
Speaking of, I didn't mention everything because that would have been like half the chapter, and I want some stuff to remain a surprise/secret, so more stuff will come up as it comes up.
For the spider-variant powers, I was debating giving him Venom Blast first, but thought it was too early for him to receive such a big power-up. He'll get another spider-variant power on the anniversary of his bite again, for a total of four more times, probably.
Next chapter, Peter meets the Team for real. And Batman. Finally.
[1] two big phrases to make him sound smart, the first is something completly unrelated to conductivity but it sounded good