Darkness.
That was the current situation of the city, since Spiderman had lost the battle against Electro. Peter lay on his bed, deliberately ignoring his spider sense, and the sound of people screaming.
He was scared, terrified, broken.
Nightmares became his closest acquaintances, every time he closed his eyes he saw dead people, he was hunted by the repeated memory of uncle Ben's death, the people he murdered that night, and the people he failed to protect.
For the first time he didn't feel like saving people, he just sat on his bed sobbing.
His spider sense warned him again, it wasn't Electro, it was a robbery. He slowly put on his costume and swung to the scene.
"Make it snappy boys! Collect every dime you find!" A muscular robber shouted, seemingly the leader of the group. They were robbing a large supermarket, and had lots of hostages.
Suddenly, a web carried one of his goons up, leaving him dangling down the ceiling.
"I'm really surprised. Eleven men gathered together, just to carry out a robbery! Couldn't y'all do something else instead?" Spiderman spoke, landing behind them.
The remaining ten goons just laughed at him, and pointed their fierce looking guns at the hero.
The bullets shot forward in a deafening roar, as they scattered various goods. One even hit a teddy bear.
Spiderman dodged with practiced ease, as the bullets wheezed past him. He made quick work of the robbers and was about to leave the scene when the door of the supermarket suddenly exploded.
Spiderman webbed the civilians out of the way quickly, saving their lives.
Out other exploded door post walked Electro, clothed in vibrating electrical glory.
Spiderman felt his knees become weak.
He wasn't ready to face Electro. He looked at the people who were now trapped inside the supermarket, he had to save them.
The wall crawling hero gritted his teeth and shot himself forward like a catapult.
He webbed a shelf and slammed it on the over confident Electro, making the latter fly outside and crash on the road.
"Look who suddenly decided to be brave. Seems like you've recovered from your last beating!" Electro spat, standing up.
"Well it's time for Punching 101, glad you could make it to class on time. Prepare to take some notes!" Spiderman quipped, charging towards Electro.
Electro shot a bolt of lightning, the same fluid precision and accuracy that made Spiderman's blood run cold. He jumped up, twisting his body acrobatically mid air, dodging the bolt. He had learnt that hitting Electro directly was a terrible idea, so he stuck to webbing up things and slamming them on the villain. And well that he did.
The moment his feet touched the ground, he webbed a large table that was randomly chilling in the streets, behind Electro, and pulled it forward. His muscles bulged as the large table left the ground and flew towards Electro. Andd since the latter didn't have the spider sense, he got hit straight on the head and was sent flying, towards the hero.
Spiderman jumped towards him and webbed a broken table leg and smashed it on Electro's face. The villain landed with a grunt, as he rolled on the ground.
The clouds became darker as Electro stood up.
"You have enjoyed enough Spiderman, but now I must end this. You're the only thing that stands between me and my conquest over this city."
"What do you even stand to gain Electro!" Spiderman yelled, looking up as the villain levitated.
"I control this city's electricity. I decide when they use their electrical appliances, I literally run this place. That is power, but I want more! I want to see you dead!"
"You're crazy!"
Bolts of lightning descended from the sky, destroying the city's once calm streets.
People ran like lost sheep, as the bolts hit their houses, cars, and even hospitals.
Spiderman was stuck between trying to protect the citizens and stop electro.
ZWOOONG!!
A very strong bolt hit Spiderman, and he felt his body dry up. He was sent flying, crashing into houses. He finally landed, a jerking mess. He jerked as he coughed out blood, his suit horribly damaged.
He tried to stand, but he just fell back to his knees. Smoke came out of his body, and he pulled himself slowly out of the destroyed house.
He had fallen again, still unable to defeat Electro.
He saw a little girl running around crying, as the bolts seem to target her. The air screamed and roared as the darkness became worse. The only source of light was the menacing bolts that dominated the sky.
Spiderman yelled at the girl trying to tell her to hide somewhere. But she couldn't hear him.
He swung hurriedly towards the girl, grabbing her and attempting to swing away.
—spider sense —
It was a warning, a loud ringing alarm. But it came slightly too late, and a bolt that looked like it was created by Zeus himself struck Spiderman, alongside the girl who was clinging to him. He used his body to shield her, suffering the complete blow.
With a loud bang, they were smashed into the ground. And everywhere became calm.
"You all are at my mercy." Electro said, turning to the fallen Spiderman. "You have lost again Spiderman."
Those last words hit him harder than any bolt of furious electricity. The city became bright again, the skies suddenly becoming clearer. Spiderman slowly rolled over, the little girl softly laying on his chest.
"You're safe, I promise." Spiderman said, patting her head. But with a chilling realisation, he discovered that she was stiff. He quickly sat up, trying to shake the girl.
"No! No! Wake up!" Spiderman frantically screamed, trying to wake the girl.
"Please no! Don't die! Noo!!" Tears were running down his cheeks already. The girl was dead.
He slowly stood up and swung to what remained of a building. He sat down, took off his mask, and burst into tears.
He cried due to his powerlessness, his inability to protect people. His mind flashed back to uncle Ben.
"I've failed you uncle Ben!" Peter repeatedly said, sobbing heavily.
"It's okay." A voice said from behind, and a little hand patted his shoulder.
He saw through the corner of his eyes, a girl that looked like she was thirteen, sitting next to him.
"You did your best Spiderman. You really did. Don't cry over the people you didn't protect, but look at the people you protected." She said, but Peter continued crying.
"I saw everything. You're not prepared. You're fighting a man brimming with electricity with ordinary clothing. You could do a lot better in a rubber suit." She continued speaking, but Peter didn't reply. He just stared at his feet, still lost and sad.
"My name is Anna. Here's my card." She said standing up.
' Did she just say card? ' Peter thought, finally looking up.
He gasped as he saw her face. She wasn't a teenager! She was a fully grown woman! Who was just short too.
"Wait what— umm you're a woman!" Peter blurted out, before quickly covering his mouth.
"And you're just a kid!" Anna shouted too.
They stared at each other, and burst into laughter.
"Are you really ok with me seeing your face?" Anna asked, looking slightly worried as she slowly sat down.
"It's fine. I'm done with being a hero anyway." Peter said with a shrug. "Electro taught me that I'm not good enough to be a hero. Though he did it the hard way."
"And I'm here to teach you that you can be a better hero than you are now. Technically speaking, your current suit offers negligible impedance against Electro's high-voltage discharges. In other words, it's like wearing a shiny invitation for electrons to party on your nervous system. However, if you were to don a suit fabricated from vulcanized rubber and, say, aerogel-infused polymer, you'd essentially be cloaked in an electrically non-conductive fortress. Rubber resists electron flow, while aerogel's ultra-low density structure disrupts charge propagation. Translation: Electro zaps, you shrug. Science wins." Anna explained, smiling at Peter.
"I thought of that. But I don't have enough money to build an Electro-proof costume." Peter replied, looking into the sky, reflecting on how broke he currently was.
"Follow me." Anna said, standing up again.
They went to her house, and she led him to her backyard. A door lay flat on the ground, a door that led to her basement.
"Umm I don't know if it's safe to enter am unknown woman's basement but—" Peter said scratching his head. He had changed into a blue trouser and black hoodie.
"Just shut up and get in." Anna interrupted, shoving Peter.
They entered the lab and Peter gasped.
It looked like a high tech secret lair, the type you see in spy movies.
"Woahhhhhhhh!" Peter said excitedly, as he ran around the lab. "This looks like a place where someone will say "Begin phase one of the experiment". Gosh Anna! You're awesome!"
Then he slowly turned to face her.
"Did you steal this stuff?"
"What! No! My..erm... boyfriend have them to me. He works at Oscorp." Anna said looking away awkwardly.
"Woah no way! My girlfriend works there too! Umm I mean she's an intern but yeah!"
"That's great. She must be really intelligent. So I don't know if I'm the only one who finds it weird that I have seen your face but don't know your name."
"Oh. Well my name is Peter Parker."
Anna just nodded and hurriedly cleared her working desk. She brought the necessary materials for his anti Electro suit and looked at him with a serious expression.
"Peter."
"Yes?"
"You must not tell anyone about this place ok?"
"Well you don't have to tell me twice. I won't tell anyone Anna, and thanks for helping me."
"It's nothing. I have been going through some...stuff... recently and just needed a way to clear my head."
"Mind sharing?"
"It's umm... complicated. I was about to end my life when I saw you."
Peter gasped, he wasn't expecting that.
He was about to ask more but she quickly changed the topic, talking about his new suit.
"It'll take me sometime to build it, but I'll try my best to do it really quick. The next time you face Electro, he wouldn't know what hit him."
Peter nodded with a smile. He was starting to like Anna.
She was like the elder sister he never had. It made him slightly forget some of his burdens, though a great deal still weighed him down.
"I think this will make a good base for you." Anna suddenly said, interrupting his thoughts.
"Huh?"
"I'm talking about my basement. You know, you can use it as your secret lair." She explained briefly, smiling at him.
"Oh no Anna, that'll be asking for too much."
"But you didn't ask for anything. I'm giving it to you. Think of it as my .... contribution to the society."
"Thank you very much Anna. You helped more than you know."
"Ahh it's nothing Peter."
They charged for a while and Peter prepared to leave.
"Peter."
"Yeah?"
"Thank you. For trusting with your secret."
He just nodded with a bright smile and walked away.
🕷️🕷️🕷️🕷️🕷️🕷️🕷️🕷️
Herman Schultz, popularly known as the shocker walked to his secret apartment. He had just witnessed the battle between Electro and Spiderman. He was preparing, watching out for Spiderman's weakness. And he was confident that he had found it.
🕷️🕷️🕷️🕷️🕷️🕷️
Carla sat on the couch eating some popcorn. Her younger brothers ran around with their toys, making shooting sounds with their mouths. Her father was busy at the station, and her mum was busy doing God knows what in her bedroom.
She slowly stood up and looked out of the window, her mind wandering to Peter. She thought of his sudden change, the last minute cancelling of appointments, his bruises that he always tried to hide. And how he looked like someone was hunting him. She didn't want to over think it, but that was becoming a slowly unavoidable outcome as she sat alone.
'Maybe I should call him.' She said reaching for her phone.
A/N: Hello! Thanks for the reads and all. I'm really grateful. I was also surprised that some people commented. Thanks for dropping your views and opinions. It means a lot to me. So as usual please don't mind any typo, and run me your pockets 🙂.