With Great Power Comes Great Leverage

Chapter 1

AUTHOR'S NOTE: Peter has already been bitten by the radioactive spider at this point. This takes place after the Leverage finale episode. Spider-Man is based on Ultimate Spider-Man combined with the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

"Ben," said May, "another letter?"

Ben Parker waved the paper in the air, and said to his wife, "another offer, and just as insultingly low. I've talked to our neighbors—they're all getting them. Apparently this company 'Fisk Industries' is trying to spin this as 'blight control.' Can you believe it?"

"Now, Ben Parker, you'd better calm down, or you'll give yourself apoplexy!" declared May.

"A blight!" said Ben. "This is the safest area of any of the boroughs! A blight!"

"What's a blight?" said their nephew Peter, who swung over the bannister with one arm and landed on his feet in the living room.

"Do I see someone who finished their homework?" asked May. She leaned in, and Peter presented his cheek for a kiss from his aunt.

"Absolutely," said Peter. "It was a breeze. Say, can I run over to the library tonight? I've got something I want to research, and I need an actual book instead of looking online."

"And they have the book?" Ben asked.

Peter smiled and nodded. "I found that out online."

Ben chuckled. "Well, I don't see any reason why not. You'll be back by 10?"

"Of course!" said Peter.

May shook her head. "I don't know," she said. "You've just gotten over that sudden flu, and there are so many unsavory characters out after dark."

Peter rolled his eyes. "You know I'll be careful, Aunt May," he said. "It's only a block past the bus stop. I'll be fine."

"Be careful then," said May. "And eat something first!"

After dinner, Peter packed up his school backpack, but he didn't put any books inside. Instead it held a costume that he'd put together, with a ski mask, a secondhand turtleneck shirt, and jeans. He'd drawn a stylized spider shape on the shirt.

The Amazing Spider-Man, he thought, soon to be the world's best wrestler! With these new powers, I can defeat anyone! Then Uncle Ben and Aunt May can ignore those foreclosure letters, and we'll all be happy!

He skipped the bus, deciding to save the fare. The buildings weren't skyscrapers; they were mostly two-or-three story homes, stores, or apartments. They didn't get in his way, since with his new powers he was fast and nimble enough to crawl up buildings and leap between rooftops. Besides, the bus went toward the library, and the library wasn't where he was headed tonight.

The sign proclaimed it to be the "Wrestling Crushers Arena" and it had seen better days back when it was in a better neighborhood. But they had offered $3000 to anyone who could "survive" a cage match with the local champion for 10 minutes, and Peter knew he could. An extra $2000 was on the line if he actually won. He anticipated winning the full $5000 tonight, telling his uncle and aunt about his new powers, and making everyone happy.

As Peter entered the cage in his homemade wrestling costume, two figures near the rear of the crowd took an interest.

"The Amazing Spider-Man?" said Alec Hardison. Wrestling really wasn't his area of expertise. Instead, he was putting his hacking skills to work, entering the gym's wifi network using what looked like an ordinary cell phone. Since he had built it himself, it was far from ordinary. "Hokey name."

"You need a name like that in his business," said Eliot Spencer, who was more interested in the fight than the hack, and not just because he was the team's hitter. The local champion, who used the name "Bonesaw," was as tough a wrestler as he'd ever seen. They had just watched him injure several of his opponents. "Besides, this Spider-guy is just flash. Look at that—a wrestling mask? This ain't Mexico, hombre. Bonesaw's gonna rip him up bad."

"Have you actually done this?" Hardison asked, suddenly curious.

Eliot shook his head. "Nah," he said. "No challenge. These guys are tough, but they don't usually know how to fight smart, just dirty, and… what the hell?"

Hardison looked up from his phone. "What? What?"

"That guy, 'Spider-Man,' just jumped completely over Bonesaw," said Eliot. "How's he doing that? A trained athlete might be able to make that jump, but… is he climbing up the cage?"

"Yeah," said Hardison. "Is he… is he like one of those super guys? Like the Avengers?"

"Why would he be wrestling if he's got access to Tony Stark?" said Eliot. "$5000 would be chump change."

"Maybe he was part of S.H.I.E.L.D. when they disbanded," said Hardison. "Now he needs money."

"Hey," said a voice in their earpieces, "some of us are still hanging outside. Could you speed it up?"

"Sorry, Parker," said Hardison, "our esteemed colleague distracted me." He continued to hack the gym's surprisingly good systems, despite Eliot's attempts to get him to watch the match.

"There," he said. "The outside alarms are turned off, as well as the safe's connection to the alarm company. If the combination is correct, you'll have no problem emptying one small-time bad guy's safe."

"As soon as the manager leaves his office," she said. "He actually has the safe open right now."

"OH MY GOD!" cried Eliot. "He actually won! That's amazing!"

"Probably why they call him the Amazing Spider-Man," said Parker.

"Parker, you'll have to wait," said Hardison. "It looks like the one-and-only Amazing Spider-Man is headed upstairs, probably to get his paycheck."

"Terrific," she muttered, and continued to cling halfway up the building on her rope line. She risked a peek into the office, and saw the masked wrestler enter. She placed a microphone against the window to listen.

"I'm here for my money," he said.

"Fine," said the manager, and threw a bundle at him.

The wrestler counted it. "There's only $1000 here. You said $5000. I beat him."

"You didn't last 10 minutes," said the manager. "The money's for entertaining the crowd, not makin' 'em go home early. Take it and go."

"I need the $5000," said the wrestler. "My uncle and aunt…."

"Not my problem," said the manager. "Now get."

The wrestler's shoulders slumped. Parker saw him shove them money into a backpack, and then leave the office and head for the stairs. The manager stood up. Parker flexed her hands, ready for action.

It was right then another man burst in.

"Someone else is in the office," she whispered. "He's got a gun."

"That must be the guy we saw go out the door," said Hardison.

"Thanks," said Parker. "He's robbing the place!"

The robber pulled the contents of the safe into a duffle bag. Not just the money, but all the paperwork the Leverage team wanted to steal, the secret books that might tie this small-time arena to the bigger fish.

"We're coming," said Eliot. He and Hardison shoved through the crowd towards the door that led upstairs. They reached it, but couldn't get through. The masked wrestler, the Amazing Spider-Man, stood in the door as the robber came downstairs.

"Stop him!" the manager yelled. Instead, the wrestler stepped to one side, coincidentally blocking Hardison and Eliot.

"Thanks, man," the robber said, and ran out the side door and into the night.

"Why didn't you stop him?" demanded the manager. "I saw you in the ring. He'd have been no match for you!"

The Amazing Spider-Man shrugged. "Not my problem," he said, and left the building.

"Not your problem?" demanded Eliot.

Peter turned around. "Didn't see you doing anything, loudmouth," he said, then ran out of sight.

"Parker," said Eliot, "do you see anyone running away?"

"I was in the office," said Parker, "to see if there was anything else. I'm just leaving now."

"He got it all, didn't he," said Hardison.

"'Fraid so," said Parker.

"Are you outside then?" asked Eliot. "Did you see the wrestler, the Spider guy? He was heading your way."

Parker looked around as she lowered herself to the ground. "Not a sign," she said. Over her head, a masked figure jumped unnoticed across the alley and headed for home.

"Come on," said Hardison. He ran for their van.

"Now what?" said Eliot. "We can't just drive around until we find them."

"Don't need to," said Hardison as Parker threw her toolkit in ahead of her, then slammed the door behind her. "I threw a tracer on the thief."

"You what?" demanded Eliot.

Hardison tossed a tiny device to Eliot then put the van in gear and pulled out into traffic. "I've been developing these little tracers," he said, "for awhile now. I thought they might come in handy. A quick toss, the legs grab on to clothing fibers, and we can track them using any frequency I choose if we can get close enough." He flipped a switch, and an arrow appeared on the screen. "And he's still close enough."

Peter rested on a rooftop, afraid to go home. He was more angry than he'd ever been. For a moment, he'd been tempted to follow the robber and take the money he knew he was entitled to, but he couldn't bring himself to cross that line. He couldn't imagine facing Uncle Ben and Aunt May with stolen money in his hands, even if he did deserve some of it.

"I've got $1000," he said to himself. "That should help a little. I'll tell them I've been doing odd jobs for people." He stood up, swung his arms to limber up, and got a running start for a street-clearing jump.

Maybe I can get a gold medal in the Olympics, he thought as he sped home. In the distance ahead of him, he saw the flashing lights of a police car, so he decided to stop while he was still a block away. He dropped between two buildings where it was dark. Instead of changing clothes, he just zipped up his coat. Home was only a quick jog away.

His heart felt like a rock when he realized the police car was parked in front of his home. Worse, there was an ambulance there, too.

"NO!" Peter yelled, and ran. A policeman stood in the front door.

"I live here," said Peter, before the officer could say anything. The officer let Peter shove him out of the way. May was sitting on the couch next to a female officer. She was crying.

"Aunt May?" asked Peter. His voice broke.

"Peter!" she cried. "It was… a man came… Ben was on the porch…."

"Where is he?" said Peter. He turned to the beer-bellied policeman standing next to him. "Where's my uncle Ben?"

"I'm sorry, son," said the officer. "A man accosted your uncle, demanded the car keys and his wallet. Your uncle gave him his keys, but he didn't have his wallet on him. The man shot him. I'm sorry, son. Your uncle is dead."

May let out a wail. Peter stood like a statue, to stunned to move.

"No!" he finally yelled, and ran out of the front door. He heard his aunt call for him. In his grief and anger it sounded like she was miles away, and all Peter could think of was finding the man who took his uncle's life. Nobody saw him as he dashed across the rooftops, only pausing once to put on his mask. He heard sirens coming from in toward to the heart of the borough. He followed the sound.

"Your tracker is broken, Hardison!" yelled Eliot.

"He's just in a car!" said Hardison. He wasn't used to high-speed chases, especially in a van designed for surveillance and hacking more than it was car chases. He swung on a major street, and activated a siren and a flashing light.

"Parker," he said, "your FBI jacket is in the back locker. Put it on."

"Okay," said Parker, grabbing the coat. "When the cops stop him, we 'request' the papers," she said. "I can do that."

The tracker led them to a construction site. There were cop cars surrounding the unfinished skeleton of a building.

"He's inside," Harrison said.

"Change of plans," said Parker, shrugging out of the coat. "You play FBI. I'm going after him."

Hardison caught her eye. "Be careful," he said, enunciating each word carefully.

She smiled. She knew he was only that serious when he was talking about things that truly mattered to him. She was proud to be one of them. "Don't worry," she said, "No one will see me." She jumped out of the van when as it pulled to a stop, ran behind a pile of girders, and then she was one with the shadows.

Peter had no problem spotting his uncle's car, especially since it was being followed by three cop cars and a police van. His uncle's murderer must have run into the framework of the building that was under construction.

"He won't be coming out," Peter swore. He jumped off of the neighboring building and landed on the roof, then swung himself inside with one hand.

"Here, murderer murderer murderer," Peter called out in a sing-song voice. "Come and get what you deserve!"

"Did you see that?" said Eliot.

Hardison had been looking at his phone. "What?"

Eliot touched his earpiece. "Parker, that wrestler, Spider-Man… he's in the building! He just went in!"

"What's he doing here?" she whispered.

"They're in it together!" said Eliot. "It's the only thing that makes sense. They're going to split up the money or something. Hell, maybe he works for the Kingpin! Just watch out!"

Peter ran across the floor, trying to find his quarry. He saw movement behind a post, and sprung around to the other side.

"Surprise!" he yelled, then he stopped, confused. It wasn't the man with the bag. It was a young blonde women dressed all in black. "Who are you?" he said.

She responded with a roundhouse kick aimed at his head. The odd sensation he'd felt the last few days whenever he was in danger kicked in, and he let his reflexes move him out of the way. She kicked twice more, missing both times, then fell through a hole in the floor.

Peter blinked behind his mask. He realized she hadn't fallen, she'd deliberately jumped, and had kicked him only to cover her escape.

"You meet the weirdest people in New York," he finally concluded, and then resumed his hunt for the uncle's killer.

Peter heard footsteps, and followed the sound until found his target. His uncle's murderer was glancing around, first one way and then another, back and forth. He was holding on to a duffle bag like his life depended on it.

Peter called out, "Looking for someone?"

The man whirled in place, and Peter's spider-sense kicked in again, letting him dodge as the man emptied his gun. To the thief, it was like Peter vanished into the shadows.

Peter crawled along the ceiling behind the man, then stood upside-down behind him.

"Boo!" he said.

The man screamed as he spun around, He tried to fire his pistol, but the empty chambers only clicked.

"You think you can murder an old man?" said Peter. "You think you can get away with it?"

He realized he was yelling, but he didn't care. "You think you're going to survive me?!"

The man dropped the duffle bag and ran. Peter caught up with him just as he reached the edge of the building and lifted him with one hand.

"Let's see who you are," said Peter. Beneath his mask, his eyes widened in shock and fear.

"It's you," he whispered. "You robbed the arena."

"Did he send you?" the robber suddenly yelled. "He did! I'm sorry I took the money! I'm sorry! Please don't kill me! It's all there, in the bag! Everything he wanted! Please!"

"I could've…." Peter dropped the man, and fell backwards against a support beam. "I was there, and I let you get away!" He yelled at his uncle's killer. "I LET YOU GET AWAY!"

"NO!" yelled the man. He backed away from Peter, not realizing how close to the open edge of the building he was. Peter realized it too late, and couldn't grab the thief in time. The man fell from six stories up.

The police pointed their high-power lights up at Peter, but he ducked away before they could see him. He pulled his mask off and fell against a beam.

"He killed Uncle Ben," Peter said. His voice wavered and broke. "He killed him and I let him get away. If I had stopped him… if I had…." He sank down and wept until he heard the cops coming into the building. Then he stood up, wiped his eyes, and looked around for the duffle.

It was gone.

He ran for the edge of the building. Nothing there but police cars.

Police cars? he thought. Wasn't there a van? And the man… he was afraid someone was going to kill him for what was in that duffle. Someone else is involved. But who?

Parker unzipped the duffle as the van drove off down the main street. It held a lot of money, but it also held the documents they'd been looking for. Parker handed some of them to Eliot as they drove, and she described her encounter with Spider-Man.

"He was fast," she said. "He dodged every kick. I've never seen someone that fast. But he didn't know I was escaping. I think he could have stopped me if he'd wanted to, but he was interested in the robber. He was yelling about getting away with murder."

"I talked to the police," said Hardison. "The guy murdered someone and stole his car. This Spider-Man must have felt guilty for letting him go."

"He should," said Eliot. He held up the paper he was reading. "This is it. The arena is definitely held by one of the Fisk Industries holding companies. He's definitely behind the buyouts and the foreclosures."

"We knew that, though," said Parker. "Do we have anything we can use?"

"These will let me better track his finances," said Hardison. "Triangulate a little bit, baby."

"Let's hope so," said Eliot. "He's already bought up so many of the areas that were damaged in the alien and Hulk attacks, it's like he wants to become king."

"Maybe that's why he's called the Kingpin," said Parker.

"My point, Parker," said Eliot, "is that kings have armies. It's not going to be enough to hurt him financially. We'll need to find something with all of this that will drive him out of society."

"I'll find it," said Hardison. "All I need to deeper access into Fisk Tower and I'll get it."

"You think you're pretty smart," said Eliot.

Parker smiled. "He is."

Hardison pulled into the parking garage at Leverage Consulting and Associates's brand new New York City office. "Age of the geek, baby, age of the geek."