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Getting spider powers from a radioactive spider made sense. The radiation mutated his cells which in turn changed his body. However, deep down in his guts or was it his Spider Sense? Peter Tingle? Whatever it was called, Peter Parker knew there was something else. Something more intricate than a simple spider bite.
He didn’t notice it at first. He was so excited about his new role as a superhero; looking out for the little guys and eventually helping out Mr. Stark with Avenger business. He just attributed all the changes due to the radioactive spider bite. Looking back, he had a hard time to pinpoint for sure which ones were the signs.
Maybe it was that exhilarating rush he always got when swinging with only a string of web that he made himself.
Maybe it was the relief he gets when a rescue goes according to his plan or a robbery being thwarted successfully.
Maybe it was the satisfying feeling in his heart when he spotted the fear in a criminal’s eyes. The fear of being caught in the act, the fear of being helpless when being immobilized in his webs while waiting for the cops.
Maybe it even went way back to his childhood, before the spider bite. His first memory of a spider was when he encountered one while he was exploring his father’s home office. The creature looked so alien with multiple eyes and eight legs. He remembered staring at it for hours before his father came in and released it outside. He learned to fear them from his peers’ reactions when they saw a spider in class. Everyone was screaming so Peter thought that they must be dangerous. Since then, he had a slight fear of arachnids.
That was until Uncle Ben, who was removing a spider from the bathroom, shared some cool spider facts with Peter. This prompted him to do his research and he concluded that yes, they can be dangerous but they are also cool.
After Uncle Ben’s death, Peter took up his role as the spider remover. His feelings regarding spiders did not extend to cockroaches. Aunt May was the one to deal with them. Cockroaches were nasty.
Overall, the signs were in the background. Peter was busy performing his responsibilities as Spider-Man. That and he was hoping to impress Mr. Stark enough to join the Avengers one day.
Then, Peter messed up with the Ferry incident and his suit was taken away. This forced Peter to slow down on his superhero activities and to focus more on his studies and friends. For some reason, he felt more tired during that period than the extra time he spent on patrolling and catching criminals. He felt restless but he assumed it was because he was not out there helping people.
The restlessness decreased in its intensity every time he had dinner with Aunt May, laughing with her over Thai. It was the same when he was building the Lego Death Star with Ned, putting the right pieces at the right places with a trusted friend. He felt better when he watched MJ outwit Flash during the academic decathlon practice. The restlessness was almost gone when he managed to get Liz as his partner for the Homecoming dance. All of these instances reminded him that there was more to his life than just Spider-Man. That thought grounded him and his urge to go swinging high in the New York skyline subsided.
Then it was Homecoming night.
A prom date went wrong.
He sat speechless and helpless as Toomes threatened him and everyone he loved. It took all Peter had to not shake in fear, lest he gave it away. He thought he failed in that regard.
Peter made a choice to go after Toomes.
A confrontation went wrong.
He was buried under the debris like a spider trapped under a shoe. The pressure kept on crushing, crushing, and crushing him.
Help!! Please!! Anyone Please. I’m down here. I’m down here. I’m stuck. I’m stuck. I can’t move! I can’t…
He screamed for help, but no one was there. No Karen. No Ned. No Mr. Stark. Peter Parker was scared. He was desperate for anyone to help him. He detected a shift in the air. A line, a string being tugged in his gut. He looked down at his makeshift mask and remembered what Tony said.
If you are nothing without the suit, then you shouldn’t have it.
Determination filled his heart and Peter pushed up.
Come on Peter. Come, Spider-Man. Come on Spider-Man. Come on Spider-Man!
He got out of there with his own strength, but he was never sure if there was anything else that helped him out that night.
A heist went wrong. The rescue almost went wrong. A rescue went right.
Watching the Vulture falling amidst the flames after his wings exploded, Spider-Man felt that same tug in his gut. For one second, Peter was tempted to let him be. Toomes refused to be saved. His web fluid had run out. There was nothing to be done here. He could just leave.
"No", Peter whispered.
He remembered he was a hero and he needed to save Liz’s dad. She didn’t deserve to lose her father. Peter knew how hard it could be. With that in mind, Peter ran through the flames and saved Liz’s dad, burning his hands in the process.
After securing both Toomes and the Stark tech, Peter swung his way back home. He focused all his remaining attention on the swinging, on the cold refreshing air and not on his injured body. He thought he could not make it to his destination. He couldn’t. He landed hard on a cold rooftop, his body focusing on healing himself as the adrenaline wore off.
In the process, Peter switched between consciousness and unconsciousness. He vaguely registered the sensation of being carried in a comfortable embrace and of being encased in a material similar to his webs. His Spider Sense was silent. There was no danger because he was now safe with a Mother? “That was weird”, Peter thought to himself. He only had two mothers, not three.
Peter Parker woke up the next morning fully healed and hungry. He was also covered in cobwebs. Peter decided to not pay too much attention to the latter fact. He tried to figure out how he got into the apartment. Aunt May did not say anything other than she was glad the Peter returned safely while she went to cover for an emergency shift at work. Ned bombarded him with missed calls and text messages, only to stop when a text of Peter reassured him that he was home safe. A chill went down his spine. His Spider Sense detected nothing. Peter did not remember that he sent that one message to Ned.
His hunger distracted him from freaking out. He made himself a big breakfast, but it was not enough. An extra sandwich from the deli did not lessen the gnaw in his gut. Doing one quick patrol and stopping a snatch thief did the trick for some odd reason. Vulture’s helpless form on the sand lingered in his mind. There was no reason that image should make him feel better, but it did.
Tony Stark accepted him back and Peter can’t deny how great the acknowledgment was coming from Mr. Stark. As much as he wanted to join the Avengers officially, the latest series of events convinced him to reject the offer. He left with a vague sense of someone being slightly disappointed with his choice. Peter was sure it was not Mr. Stark. The disappointment was connected to someone or something else. Whatever it was, he shrugged it off in favor of the warmth on his shoulder where Tony had held him with pride in his voice.
Things changed a lot after Homecoming, but they changed for the better. He communicated more with Mr. Stark who allowed him access to his labs. Peter had fun tinkering and discussing ideas with Mr. Stark every weekend. Aunt May had a huge freak out when she found out about Spider-Man. After a long talk accompanied by Thai food, she accepted his choice. Her acceptance dislodged something heavy in his chest and he could breathe easier. Peter could only laugh in relief and amusement as she set ground rules to balance Spider-Man duties and his studies. Ned and he got used to working together as a duo. Karen was amazingly helpful, but he felt more comfortable knowing that his guy in the chair had his back. He found a new friend in MJ who was interesting in her own way. He was content in his new stage of life.
Then the Spider incident with Flash happened.
Flash usually bullied him using scathing remarks and Peter just learned to ignore it the best he could. It was routine until it was not. Either Flash was extra cranky due to his bad grades or Peter was tired from the previous night’s patrol, but the incident was definitely bad. Flash had never been physical with his bullying.
Flash pushed him against the locker. His right hand on Peter’s left shoulder put unwanted pressure on a hidden bruise. An extremely aggressive mugger managed to get a hit on him. Peter was uncertain if he saw the man's eyes glowed red like blood. Even after Spider-Man webbed him up, the mugger kept on cursing and snarling death threats. The bruise was healing slower than usual.
When Flash squeezed to emphasize a point he could not catch, Peter gasped in pain. Despite that, he did not want to push Flash away in this state. He knew his super strength. He caught a bus once. What happened if he reverses the same amount of force? The pain increased and Flash’s tirade was getting louder when Peter did not respond. He wanted Flash to stop hurting him.
Flash stopped.
Flash let go.
Flash screamed.
Peter took a deep breath and focused back on a panicking Flash. The other student pat down all over his body, frantically trying to get something off. He did another sweep over his hair and down came a spider. A big fat one. Flash shrieked and ran away. The observing crowd dispersed, leaving Peter to pick up the spider and thanked it. The spider waved its front two legs happily and crawled into his unzipped bag. Peter planned to release it outside but he needed to get to his next class, so he just let it be for now. The spider remained with him throughout the school day before crawling away once he was outside.
Peter learned two things that day. One, Flash had arachnophobia. Two, spiders liked him.
He told the second fact to Ned who excitedly wanted to test if he can now summon spiders to do his bidding. He couldn’t do that much but they were more receptive to him since the Flash incident. He started to notice that there were more of them around him, especially in his room. As long as they did not make much mess, Peter didn’t mind them being there.
One night, he was building Legos with Ned and they were missing a piece. A spider scuttled from under the bed with that piece. Peter thanked the spider which prompted Ned to do the same.
One Sunday evening, he watched a spider ate a cockroach. He thanked it again. Aunt May even remarked on how she was not on cockroach duty that much. Moreover, there were fewer spiders on sight. At least the ones that she couldn’t see. Peter knew there are more of them around the apartment, but he politely told them to not scare his aunt. They listened and he thanked whenever he saw them.
One day, MJ spotted one of the spiders sitting near him during the academic decathlon practice. The spider’s appearance prompted her to infodump about Arachne and the different interpretations of the myth. Peter was mesmerized by her eyes which came alive with an incredible passion for the subject. When she finished her rant, she stared back at him.
She immediately asked him for the last year Halley's Comet was spotted.
Peter gave the correct answer, a bit confused about the suddenness of the question. Maybe she wanted to go back to the training.
Ned pointed out that she looked redder than usual and asked if she is okay.
MJ glared at him. Ned let out a drawn-out ‘oh’ and wiggled his eyebrows. MJ snapped at him and asked him to give the name of the man who created the periodic table.
Peter didn’t understand what happened but at that moment, he was happy to be with his friends.
Flash did not bother him anymore. He could never look at Peter for too long. Peter noticed how Flash’s eyes were still searching for something. Something he can’t see. Peter couldn’t deny that it felt nice to not worry about Flash again. He also couldn’t deny the satisfying feeling in his gut every time he saw Flash flinching at nothing.
It was a stressful week. There were bombs hidden all over in New York City by a terrorist duo. The bonbs was set to blow at specific times so everyone involved with the operation was on the time crunch. The threat was so significant that the police department requested help from Mr. Stark. Iron Man and Spider-Man were seen all over the city but there were a few more bombs left hidden.
One of the perpetrators, who got captured, refused to give up the information of the bombs and they were running out of time. SHIELD, or what remained of Shield, brought in the Archivist, straight from Scotland. That name sounded so cool that Peter thought he was a superhero. In reality, the Archivist looked like a bedraggled and extremely exhausted professor. By his side was a tall man who had round glasses and a very soft-looking sweater who also looked tired.
They must be jet-lagged and dehydrated from a long trip. Spider-Man grabbed a couple of water bottles and headed towards their seats. When the Archivist’s eyes landed on him, Peter froze. His Spider Sense was tingling at a rapid frequency. He felt too many eyes scrutinizing him, keen to know all of his secrets. He was thrown back to the time when Toomes made him feel helpless with his threat. The Archivist glared at him and the painful scrutiny increased. It was cut short as he was ushered into the interrogation room by a Shield agent. The man in the sweater accepted the drinks with a thin smile and a thank you. Spider-Man nodded and walked away.
He initially wanted to watch what the Archivist will do but the short eye-contact told him that it was not a good idea. He exited the room. He did ask Mr. Stark who looked shaken after the questioning. He shook his head and said nothing. Peter shuddered at the implication but at least they got the information to find the remaining bombs.
The operation went well but it turned out that the perpetrator’s partner set a secret bomb in an apartment building. They were too late to disarm that one. Iron Man and Spider-Man rushed to the scene. He tried his best to save as many people as he could. A mother grabbed him by the arm and implored him to find her daughter in their apartment with the number 315.
On his way up, Karen warned him that the building was unstable, and he needed to leave the building in a few seconds. A flash of fear struck him, but the face of the mother pushed him to find the girl. He would not leave the building without her.
He found the terrified girl hiding in the closet of her bedroom. She was clutching a ragged teddy bear. She was trembling, her tears were all dried up in the heat. Peter lifted her in his arms and was about to swing out of the building when his Spider Sense warned him a danger from above and below.
The ceiling dropped over him and the floor cracked underneath his feet.
The only thing he could do was to immediately cover the girl with his body and braced for impact.
When he came to consciousness, the reality of his situation dawned on him.
Another building collapsed on him again. He was buried again. He was stuck again. He was helpless again. Not again. His chest began to tighten. The crushing sensation was more malicious than he remembered. He wanted to cry for help again.
The girl in his arms reminded him that he couldn’t do that now. Not until he reunited her with her mother. He refocused his attention on what he can do. His suit was badly damaged, meaning Karen was not operational. The girl, who introduced herself as Lily was fine, just shaken. He had bruises all over his body and maybe some cracked ribs but nothing he could not heal.
The highest priority was the air. Peter estimated the amount of air in the pocket. It would not last long especially since they both were breathing hard from fear and shock. Should he move some of the debris? Would that make things worse? What can he do? What can he do?
There was a tug in his gut and Peter remembered the spiders. Time to see if he could summon an army of spiders this time. He focused on the string in his gut and pulled on it hard. There was a responding tug. Peter sighed in relief.
The spiders came, crawling over them. Lily screamed. Peter tried to calm her down to prevent her from dislodging anything or hurting herself, but she was so scared of them especially in the dark. Peter realized he could see in the dark. He could see the spiders started to spin their webs around them. Lily screamed even more. For one second, Peter wanted to let the spiders do what they need to do. It would be easier if she did not move. The spiders would help him out. He did this to save them both. It didn’t matter if she was scared. It didn’t matter if she was helpless.
Helpless. Helpless like her mother. Helpless like Peter when Toomes threatened him. Helpless like Peter when he was trapped under the ruins of a building alone. Helpless like Peter when the man shot Uncle Ben.
"No", he whispered.
Peter gasped. He quickly told the spiders to get off of Lily. He dispersed the beginning of webs around the poor girl. He tightened his arms around Lily and told her everything is going to be fine. Spider Man will not let anything hurt her. Spider Man will bring her back to her mom. That seemed to work as her frantic breathing evened out. Once she calmed down a bit, he tried to distract her with cool spider facts.
“Spiders can see what we cannot see.”
“Can they see ghost?”
“Maybe, who knows?”
“Spiders can go fishing”.
“Oooh, how?
“They use their webs like a net and then they scoop up smaller insects”.
“Wow.”
“Spiders are nearsighted”
“What’s that supposed to mean?
“They can’t really see things far away”
“You think they need glasses?”
“Sure, if they can find glasses for eight eyes”.
“Do you need glasses, Spider Man?”
“No.”
“Why?”
“Because I have two eyes, not eight eyes”.
“Oh, that makes sense.”
“Spiders have blue blood”
“Why?”
“Because they have copper in their blood which makes their blood blue.”
The conversation changed to him talking about Iron Man and his friends’ antics. The crushing pressure on his chest lessened.
Lily was excited to hear all the stories but after a while she said she was sleepy. He was not sure if that was a good thing, so he asked her to share her stories. She shared with him about a dance she was going to do for her school’s talent show. She hoped her mother would like it. She talked about her teddy bear, Koko and how she was going to get a new teddy bear friend for Koko's birthday which would be on next Monday.
Meanwhile, he diverted some of his attention to the spiders and what they can do to help without freaking out Lily. He started by mentally asking them to open some air ways toward their pocket and surprisingly they followed his instructions. Cool, he had a mental link with spiders. Next, he told them to stabilize their pocket. He watched as they constucted webs above him. He did ask the spiders if they could lift anything, but they told him that they couldn’t do so. He asked them to check the rubble surrounding them to see if there were any way he could lift some of it to get out of there. They told him that there were none.
Desperation started to sink in. He was about to ask the spiders to go find help outside the rubble when he perceived a change in the air. There were suddenly too many eyes watching him, but it disappeared immediately after a few seconds. Then, he heard muffled voices above the pocket. Lily and Spider-Man called out for help. The concrete slab above them was lifted and Iron Man appeared. The sight caused Spider-Man to laugh with immense relief. The girl was passed to the paramedics and her mother. The mother thanked him profusely before Peter was whisked away to the Avengers’ more advanced infirmary.
While he rested, the Archivist entered the infirmary. He looked less grumpy and less tired compared to the first time they met. Maybe he got a good New York meal or something.
“Are you an Avatar of the Web?” The Archivist asked and his Spider Sense tingled.
Static filled his ears. The word jumped out from his mouth. “No". Peter's mouth was his again. “Wait what? Are you talking about the Internet? The World Wide Web?”
The static receded. The Archivist sighed and said that they would talk with him tomorrow.
Then they both exited the room.
Peter was confused but he was too tired to care. Before he closed his eyes, he noticed small eyes twinkling from a corner of the ceiling, watching over him like a guard. Peter smiled and slept.
“Are you okay, Jon?” Martin asked as they walked away from the infirmary.
“I'm relatively fine. Too much fear from today. I want to go home”.
“Same. At least SHIELD covers for our flights and hotel. I hope we can find a cab at this time of night.”
“Screw that. You can stay here for the night. As for your flight home, you can use my private jet to go directly to your nice cabin in Scotland,” said Tony Stark as he stepped towards them.
The man looked exhausted from the chaos of today. His suit was crinkled, and his hair was disheveled. Contrary to the rest of his appearance, the light in his eyes was still bright like stars, a mark of the Vast.
Jon ignored that in favor of his question. “Not to be rude but why? You know I am dangerous from the previous times we work together, and you see firsthand what I can do today. Why the sudden hospitality?” Jon asked, trying hard to not compel the Avenger.
The inventor spared a glance at the infirmary and his tense face softened a bit.
“I know how terrifying you can be, but you save the kid. I mean, you save Spider-Man and the kid, despite whatever problem you have with Spider-Man. I noticed the glare earlier today. I guess you have your issues with spiders, but you used your psychic powers to find him under the rubble”.
“It’s not psychic powers, Mr. Stark,” Jon bristled. Martin gave Stark a look, knowing that man was just trying to tease Jon. He seemed the type.
“Fine. Not psychic then. It’s still hard to believe that eldritch horror exists in this world. What’s next? Time travel? Anyway, I am grateful for what you did today. Again, thank you. I owe you another one”.
A ringtone cut him off. Stark reached into his pocket and answered his phone. He nodded a few times and looked back at them.
“Ask Friday to show you the guest rooms and tell me whenever you are ready to fly back home. Excuse me, I need to talk with my wife. "Hi, Pepper...”
They were now in the guest room with their belongings. Martin had to admit that the bed was very comfortable. Jon sat down; his body still tense. Martin waited, as he usually did, for Jon to speak his mind.
“I hate spiders and the Web.”
“Does this extend to Peter Parker? I can’t believe it when you tell me that Spider Man is a 15-year-old kid.”
“No, Martin. Mr. Parker seems alright. I try to Know more about him without taking his statement. He is unaware of the Web’s hold on him. He thinks it is from the radiation of the spider bite. He is lucky to have a handful of Anchors to keep him in check. He is not a full avatar yet. Any feeding he needs to do is covered by the fear that he gets from criminals and typical arachnophobes. That is fine, I suppose. I am just worried about how ignorant he is with his situation. The more he keeps getting into danger, the more he would rely on the Mother. She seems to have a liking for him. Though, for someone affiliated with the fear of subtle manipulation, he is really obvious. You see his costume, Martin? Very obvious”.
Martin chuckled. “Maybe he is more on the spider side. He has to stick with the gimmick. From what I had seen, he is a good kid”. Martin stopped before it clicked. “Oh, Jon”.
“That’s why I am scared for him. It will hurt even more. He is so young, but he is so deep in the Web. He also got marks from the Slaughter and the Buried. Martin, he encountered the Buried twice. The first time, he was alone. This time, he is so afraid that I barely need to See the web threads to Know where he is. Yet, he pushed down his fear to comfort the girl. He could feed on her fear easily to get out of there quicker, but he didn’t do that. He is not like Annabelle Cane. He is a kid way over his head”.
Jon looked so distressed which prompted Martin to pull him into a hug.
“Jon, you say it yourself. He has anchors to help ground him. He is also inherently good like you.” Jon huffed at that. Martin rolled his eyes. He rubbed circles on Jon’s back and the man just melted.
Martin continued. “Now he has you to help him before he goes full avatar. He is nowhere near dead to make that final choice. How about this? We will talk with him tomorrow and give him a way to contact us when he needs our help, okay? What we can do now is to take a break after a stressful day. I don’t know about you, but the jet lag is killing me.
Jon pulled back. “Stark is not going to like this. He is dealing with the Vast. I am not sure how he is going to take it when I confirm that his protégé is related to the Web”.
“Stark will listen. He owes you for that time with Simon Fairchild. Besides, Stark works with Black Widow. I figure, unlike Spider-Man, she is extremely adept with subtle manipulation. I think Stark is good on the whole spider in his team thing.
“She is definitely an Avatar of the Web”.
“Oh. Well, she is not here so I think we are fine for now. Let’s just go to sleep. We have a big talk tomorrow”.
“Fine. Promise me you are going to make tea tomorrow.”
“Sure thing. Good night, Jon”.
“Good night, Martin.”