Chapter Text
The spider crawled over his shoe, its spindly legs nimbly zipping over his laces. Peter watched it with both a mix of fear and fascination. It didn’t take long for the arachnid to reach the hem of his jeans and pull its fat little body under the fabric.
Peter’s hair stood on end as he felt its legs touch his skin and begin their ascent. He badly wanted to shake his leg and rid himself of the creep but instead he stood rooted to the spot feeling it pull itself quickly upward. Those little legs soon appeared from under his waistband and continued their journey over his stomach, skipping over his navel.
Peters breath hitched as the spider reached his chest, his heart pulsed faster, still the spider edged ever further onwards. Before long it had reached his throat. Peter’s breath came in heavy pants as panic began to overcome him. Its legs touched his chin and Peter could feel himself overwhelmed with fear. His eyes strained to see the creature, to know where it intended to go. He longed to swat at it and yet his body still disobeyed him, keeping him locked in place. The spiders slender legs brushed against his lips and Peters eyes widened to a disproportionate size to his face. It pushed against his lips forcing them apart and slid its legs in to rest on his tongue.
Peters breath turned to a dry, choking wheeze, tears began to trail down his face. He glanced upwards sensing movement in front of him, a blurred figure.
“Peter this is your burden,” the figure said.
Peter strained his eyes past the tears. There was a familiarity to the strangers’ voice. “Uncle Ben?” he thought unable to move his lips.
The blur cleared and his uncle stood before him.
“Please,” begged Peter inwardly. “Please don’t let it take me!”
“This is your responsibility,” his uncle continued not hearing his silent pleas.
The spider pushed the rest of its bulbous body into Peter’s mouth and began sliding over his tongue and down his throat. Peter fought to breathe past its little body as it began to descend. Shortly afterwards he felt a sharp stabbing pain in his chest.
“Uncle Ben!” his mind screamed.
“You must accept it, be one with it,” Uncle Ben continued.
The spider cut through his flesh and dug its way through muscle and tissue to Peter’s heart.
Ben walked towards Peter, only stopping mere inches from his face. Peter could see dried blood on his uncle’s clothes, his face looked almost translucent.
Ben raised a hand and laid it on Peter’s chest directly above his heart. It felt cold. So, so cold.
“Everything you need is here Pete.”
Blood began to pool in Peter’s mouth and drip off his lips. He could feel the spider pausing on his heart for just a moment before calmly beginning a web. It unhurriedly walked all over the organ wrapping it as it would its prey. Peter waited for pain but instead there was just numbness. The fear though did not disappear. The fear felt as though it was entangled in that web, drawing itself tighter around his heart.
Ben’s eyes bore deep into Peters and he tapped his chilled finger against his nephew’s chest.
“Listen to it. Trust it.”
Peter stared back still fixed in place. His uncle frowned.
“Are you listening Peter?” he asked. “Peter, Peter, Peter?”
Peter longed to reply as his uncle repeated his name over and over. The spider had settled and nestled down, its work done, the heart covered and secure in its web.
“Peter, Peter, Peter?” his uncle continued monotonously. “Peter, Peter, Peter...”
Peter’s eyes shot open.
“Peter!”
He raised his head expecting to see his Uncle Ben but instead his Aunt May stood in his bedroom doorway, arms folded and a stern look upon her face.
“Peter, I’ve been calling you for last twenty minutes!” Aunt May irately said. “You’re going to be late for school! Where’s your alarm clock?”
Peter sat up wiping the drool from his mouth and blinking hard to clear the remains of the dream.
“Uh, it broke,” he explained.
It had more than broken. He’d accidentally smashed it last week after it woke him from a very much needed sleep following a late night crime fighting.
Aunt May threw her arms up and sighed. “You’re hopeless. Get up and get ready... fast!”
She left the room leaving him to get himself sorted.
Peter quickly pushed the dream from his mind. He had long since given up trying to interpret the inner workings of his mind at night. It wasn’t the first time he had dreamt something so dark and he very much doubted it’d be the last.
***
Peter arrived at school still half asleep and slightly disheveled with a slice of toast hanging out of his mouth.
“Hey Pete!”
Peter looked behind him to see MJ and Ned hurrying up to catch him.
“Hey guys,” he managed to say around his breakfast.
Ned grinned and slapped his back. “I see you’ve managed to reach school on time for once. Congratulations!”
“Shame you look like crap though,” MJ nonchalantly said.
Peter looked at her and cocked an eyebrow.
MJ shrugged. “Just telling it like it is.”
They walked in together, Peter quickly polishing off the last few bites of his toast whilst he and Ned eagerly discussed the next part of their Lego Death Star build. MJ stayed silent, instead choosing to look on distastefully at the antics of the other students.
Flash Thompson was leaning against the lockers as they turned the corner, his gaggle of groupies hanging on his every word as normal.
“Yo, Penis Parker! Nice shirt,” shouted Flash a smirk plastered across his face.
Peter frowned and looked down perplexed. His plain white t-shirt was cover with orange stains from yesterday’s dinner. He’d grabbed Aunt May’s plate of spaghetti as she had stumbled and ended up smooshing it into himself. He’d meant to chuck it into wash but had been in such a rush to get to his nightly patrol he’d just chucked it on the floor. He must have just grabbed the first item he’d touched in his daze this morning. He mentally faced palmed.
“I did tell you so,” interjected MJ.
“Thanks Flash,” Peter muttered and pushed past him to his locker. He thanked his lucky stars when he found an old jumper buried at the bottom. It smelt like it’d lived in an antiques store but he preferred being a bit musty over sporting the look of a toddler at dinner time.
The bell rang signalling the start of class and Peter gladly took the excuse to walk further away from Flash.
***
The rest of the day passed pretty standardly. Classes were tedious and Flash was on top form with his taunting. Lunch was a welcomed relief. MJ, Ned and Peter grabbed a table to themselves and began picking at the offerings from the cafeteria.
“We still meeting tonight?” Ned asks between mouthfuls.
MJ nods, “Guess so.”
Ned nudges Peter. “You in? We need to get some work done on that science project.”
“Sure,” Peter replied, “I’ll be there!”
“Will you though?” said MJ, a serious look on her face.
Peter shifted on his seat feeling uncomfortable under her gaze. “Uh, yeah sure, I mean why wouldn’t I be?”
MJ knitted her fingers together and stared at Peter long and hard. “I don’t know Pete. Why wouldn’t you be?”
Peter swallowed his mind racing, wondering if she knew his secret.
A quick short laugh burst from MJs mouth. “Relax, I’m joking.”
“Heh,” Peter nervously replies his stomach still jumping.
He was about to change the subject when the TV in the corner of the hall grabbed his attention.
‘...assailants are I repeat armed and dangerous. Any persons in the area are advised to vacate the area immediately. The jewellers which only last year had donated a $50,000 necklace to the Mayors Ball in aid of the children’s charity Bright Star...”
“Peter!”
Peter whipped his head around to see MJ and Ned staring at him.
“You ok Pete?” asked Ned. “We were talking to you.”
“Sorry, yeah, yeah, yeah, I just, uh, I’m not feeling too good,” Peter blurted out. He jumped to his feet. “In fact I think I’m going to go, uh, to the bathroom. Sore stomach. See ya later.”
MJ wrinkled her nose as Peter ran off. “Well that was weird.”
***
Peter crouched on the edge of a roof looking down at the robbery in progress below him. Police were lining the street, guns aimed at the store windows. He could hear their radios blaring.
“...Four masked men... five hostages...all armed...”
Peter pulled on his mask.”Time to work Spidey.”
***
“You!” shouted a large man, a dark navy balaclava pulled down over his face. “Open the safes!”
A petite red headed girl sobbed as she fumbled with a large bunch of keys.
“Move it!” the thug shouted louder spitting the words out right in her face.
Another man, smaller than the first, stood to the side wearing a matching balaclava. He hovered over four more hostages watching them with nervous eyes. Two more thieves stood near the window keeping a close eye on the movement of the local law enforcement without getting in their line of sight. Small handguns hung loosely in their hands.
"Didn’t your mothers ever teach you not to take things that don’t belong to you?”
All four men looked up to see Spider-Man hanging from a ventilation shaft above them. The men at the window spun around and began to shoot at the webcrawler. Spider-Man nimbly jumped out of the way, aiming their fire away from the hostages. He shot two quick bursts of webbing at the larger of the two men, pinning both his hands and the gun to the wall behind him.
“Why don’t you stick around for a bit?”
The second shooter paused at the sight of his partner pulling on the web gluing his hands before quickly regaining his wits and shooting at his target again.
Spider-Man back flipped onto the wall before pushing off again and barrelling into the unexpecting man. The gun went flying as the man tumbled to the ground. Spider-Man quickly webbed him up before he could climb to his feet and kicked the gun off to the side away from tempted fingers.
Spidey turned to face his final two opponents. “I’m going to call you Hefty,” he said pointing to the larger goon before scratching his chin and tilting his head in thought. “Aaaand you look like a Scanty to me.”
“I’m going to squash you Spider!” snarled Hefty.
Spider-Man frowned. “I hate insect puns. They really bug me.”
The two men rushed the wall crawler simultaneously, Scanty circling behind his back hoping to divide his attention. Spider-Mans spidey sense suddenly ramped up and he ducked down before he even realised what he was doing. A beat later he felt a strong waft of air flow over him as Scanty swung a stanchion aiming for where his head had been.
Spidey heard a loud crack and a yowl. Raising his head he could see Hefty hugging his face with his hands as blood poured from between his fingers. Behind him Scanty took a few steps back and stared wide eyed still holding the now dented metal bar.
“Cracking shot!” Spidey laughed.
Hefty dropped his hands down into fists and roared. He swung hard at the web slinger, his movements filled with rage. Spidey stepped back and gracefully dodged each swing with ease before grabbing Hefty’s wrist and using his momentum to throw him over onto his back. A quick shot of webbing secured him in place.
Scanty stood silently gripping his stanchion tightly against his body. His eyes darted between a stuck Hefty and Spider-Man.
“So Scanty what’s it gonna be?” asked Spider-Man, crossing his arms across his chest. “Planning on going out swinging?”
Scanty's eyes widened and he quickly dropped the bar with a loud clang and threw his hands up in the air. Spidey grinned beneath his mask.
"Smart choice.”
***
The door to the jewellers swung wide open and a small group of smartly dress people hurriedly ran out, hands in the air and tears coating their cheeks.
“Hold your fire!” shouted the officer in charge. “It’s the hostages!”
Slowly a few police officers edged into the building, guns raised, poised and ready. They were greeted with the site of three men webbed together on the floor whilst a fourth stood pinned against the wall. A note stuck attached to his chest.
How do you protect a jewellery store? You locket!
I’ll leave these gems for you.
- Spider-Man
***
Peter walked through his front door and shut it loudly behind him.
“Hey Aunt May, I’m home!” he called out.
He headed straight to the fridge, glancing at the clock as he walked past. He’d luckily managed to get home the same time he normally did from school but still made a mental note to call Ned and get him to fill him in on the stuff he’d missed that afternoon.
After a quick rummage, he turned from the fridge with his arms full of bread, butter and cheese and was greeted by a very pissed off looking Aunt May.
She folded her arms tightly.
“Where have you been?” she asked her voice tight with anger.
Peter’s stomach knotted. He kicked the fridge door closed and walked to the kitchen table, dumping his finds on the surface.
“At school,” he replied finally, trying his best to keep his voice casual.
“The school called.” Aunt May said glaring at his back.
Peter began buttering his bread. “Oh.”
“Oh,” repeated Aunt May.
Peter could practically feel her twitch from behind him. He was pretty sure his spidey sense was even starting to tingle. He sliced the cheese and laid it on the buttered bread.
“May, I’m sorry. I just had to...”
“Don’t!” May suddenly shouted, cutting Peter off and making him jump.
Shaking her head she let out a breath and steadied herself.
“Don’t lie to me Peter. We don’t lie to each other in this family. Tell me where you’ve been. What was so important you had to skip school and disappear without telling a soul?”
Peter felt as though the dream spider was back in his chest tightening the web around his heart once more. His throat felt tight. He didn’t want to lie. He didn’t want to keep secrets. He loved his Aunt more than anybody but that was why he did do this. He had to protect her even if that meant he would make her hate him.
He pulled the fridge door open again and returned the items.
“I can’t tell you. I’m sorry.”
Aunt Mays face fell. Tears pricked at her eyes.
“Please Peter. Just talk to me!” she begged.
Peter ran his hand through his brown curls in frustration.
“I can’t May! I’m sorry!”
He grabbed his sandwich and dashed past her almost running to his bedroom. Shutting the door he leaned against it. His ears could hear her almost silent crying in the kitchen. Guilt gnawed at him making tears fill his own eyes.
“I’m sorry.” He whispered to his empty room.
***
“Tony! Get down!”
Iron Man hit the floor with no hesitation as a shield came singing over his head and straight into the man flying through the air towards him.
Iron Man stood and gave a quick nod to his saviour, “Thanks Cap’.”
Captain America quickly made his way over to retrieve his shield.
“This isn’t right Tony,” he said as he returned the shield to the magnets on his back. “These aren’t our run of the mill bad guys. They’re enhanced.”
Tony grimly nodded. He watched as Black Widow fought hand to hand with another assailant. His arm glowed a strange blue and almost seemed to hum with energy. Clint was also nearby, desperately trying to get a shot to land on another attacker who was producing heavy duty shields from nowhere.
Tony snorted loudly.
“These guys aren’t just enhanced, they’re walking weapons!”
Steve nodded his agreement.
“You’re right and if they’re hitting this storage centre it can only mean one thing...”
“Someone wants to make more of them,” finished Tony.
He gazed around at the hundreds of boxes surrounding them, each filled to the brim with Chitauri technology.
“Enough chat,” Iron Man said holding his palm up ready to fire a repulsor ray. “We’ve got to teach these assholes that you can’t just break in and help yourself to other peoples shit.”
Steve frowned, “Language,” he muttered before running to catch up with a now flying Tony.
As he jumped into the fray he noticed one of the enhanced villains stood off to the side hidden in a shadow. He could just make out him saying ‘yes boss’ before the man’s eyes flicked up to the ceiling. He didn’t get the chance to look more into it though as a figure barrelled into him knocking them both flying through a nearby wall. Steve grunted as he hoisted himself up and faced the man who had rudely interrupted his spying. He’d have to check out the interesting scene he’d just witness in a moment. Right now though it was time to let his fists do the talking.