"Not a bad show, man. How about signing up for our regular prime time slot?"
"Sorry, no. It was a one-time offer. Can I get my winnings?"
"Sure," the bookmaker takes out a wad of bills and counts out four hundred bucks.
"Your reward," he smirks.
"Is this a joke? The ad clearly says five hundred for three minutes in the ring and TWO thousand for the win."
"In case you haven't noticed, kid, you knocked out The Crusher in TWO minutes. The conditions weren't met. So say thank you and stomp on before you get into trouble," the unpleasant man remarks cheekily. What a bitch! It's true, technically I did knock out Hogan and I deserve my money, but legally I didn't last three minutes in the ring… So what do I do now? While I was thinking, the office door swung open. That same robber burst into the room. The reason for Spider-Man's eternal responsibility. Honestly, he doesn't look impressive. His hands are shaking, his eyes are darting around. He's not even wearing a mask. Is he... on drugs or something?
"Hands up, this is a robbery!" he said, pointing the gun at the terrified bookmaker, from the calm me.
"You, put all the cash in the bag, quickly!"
"And how do you expect him to hand over the cash if you said hands up?"
"Are you some kind of fucking joker or something?!" the robber came up close and pointed the gun at my head. "What's funny now, you joker! Come on, fucking laugh!"
I jerk my head back, shoot a web at the gun, ripping it out of the criminal's hand, and hit the thief in the jaw, knocking him out instantly.
In fact, I wasn't taking any risks. My instincts were silent and didn't react to my choice of actions.
"Perhaps I've earned my prize after all, saving your jackpot and your ass?" My adrenaline is pumping, so why not try my luck?
"S-s-sure, here you go. T-take it and get out," the man stammered, fearfully throwing some money onto the four hundred bucks.
"Thanks. By the way, I'd call the cops, you never know when this guy might come to his senses." I salute, take the money, and head for the exit, throwing the stolen pistol in the trash at the door. I hope he wasn't so cooperative because of the gun. In any case, it's best not to linger here.
I run to the locker room, pass by the fighters wanting to congratulate me, grab my things and run out of there, full speed ahead, without changing. Who knows what this bastard might want to pin on me? Jumping out of the building, I ran into the nearest alley, trying to hide from prying eyes.
Finding myself in an alleyway, I run up the nearest wall, unaware of the danger. Having climbed onto the roof, I finally took off my mask. Breathing in the night air, a few minutes later I start laughing uncontrollably.
It worked, no way. Nothing could have gone better. In my first public appearance, I knocked out Hogan. Made… fifteen hundred bucks! And, most importantly, I stopped Uncle Ben's potential killer. Excellent.
And the best part is, there's still half an hour until the promised time! Is fate trying to give me a hint? I go to the edge of the roof and look down. Then I look at the web shooters. Then down again. This is insane. A really, really bad idea. I haven't tested the technology. I can tie up the bad guy, no big deal. But for the famous web-slinging? Oh, screw it, whatever. Inhale, exhale. I go to the other end of the roof, run up, and jump!
"aaAAAAAAAA!!!!!"
The wind cuts through my clothes, but I'm not cold. This excitement just warms my blood! Queens is seven kilometers away. Great, the web is nowhere close to running out and I also have extra with me.
"WOOOHHHHOOOOOOO!!!!!!"
*****************************
[Half an hour later, Queens.]
It's a shame that in the quiet residential areas, buildings reach a maximum of three stories.
So, when I left the more "presentable" areas of New York's concrete jungle, I immediately went downstairs and, away from prying eyes, returned to civilian clothes. The first flight was a success.
True, I had hoped to do everything rationally, to retreat to my "testing ground" for some practice, but sometimes you have to act based on emotion, not a scientific approach.
"I'm home!"
"Peter! You were almost late and didn't answer your phone. We couldn't contact you!" Aunt May started yelling at me, although this was more out of worry than anger.
"Sorry, Auntie. The project turned out to be so... exciting, I lost track of time. And where's Uncle Ben?"
"At first, I asked him to come get you, but then he calmed me down and asked me to trust him. So he's in the room."
Phew, I was starting to worry. You never know, canon might want to take over. But it seems to have worked out.
"Are you hungry?"
"I could eat an elephant," I announced, pleased. After waiting for Uncle Ben, the whole family settled down to a late dinner. It turns out the family was so worried they didn't even eat. I love these old people, what can I say? After finishing my meal, I went to bed. Tomorrow will be an interesting day.
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Thank you all for reading ,please vote with power stones.