Chapter 1: Ordinary Day
Mary-Jane Watson sat by the window in a very small apartment. It was the apartment of Peter Parker. She smiled as she though of him. It had been exactly one month since that fateful day when she left her fiancé at the altar and ran to Peter. Peter, the "nerd" from high school. Peter, the one who had told her twice that their relationship could never be. Peter, the one who then told her that he did in fact love her, and that he always would. Peter, the love of her life. She smiled just thinking about him. They were engaged now, with a wedding scheduled in a few months. And as she sat there, gazing out at Manhattan, she wondered what Pete was up to.
Five blocks away, Spider-Man was hurtling toward the ground at ninety miles per hour, toward three masked men dressed in black, stepping into a general store. The hero had dived from the top of an eighteen story building, which really was nothing for him. Three or four feet from the ground, he shot up two strands of webbing, which, a split second later, where firmly adhered to a window about ten stories up. It slowed his fall enough so that he had a gentle landing on the sidewalk.
He leisurely strode into the general store. No rush today. He had the day off from class. His employer at The Daily Bugle was sick, which meant he would get a break from J. Jonah Jameson yelling at him for pictures. Even the pizza parlor was closed, due to a family reunion of the manager. Nobody in the general store seemed to notice Spider-Man walking in. Under his mask, Peter Parker grinned. This could be fun.
A moment later as the robbers' bags were being filled with loot, Spider-Man walked up to the register.
"I'd like to buy these oranges please," he said, holding up two fruits. The cashier gaped at him. The thugs stopped what they were doing. One even dropped his sack of money. Spidey continued, "What? It's not like I'm trying to rob the place." More stares. Peter choked back a laugh. "Fine, if you wanna do this the hard way then," he finished. He dropped the two oranges and kicked them to the side.
One of the thugs began fumbling in his pocket for something. After a moment, he pulled out a small pistol. He had his finger on the trigger and was pulling it back, the gun trained on Spider-Man. In less than a second, the gun, as well as the man's hand, was encased in a cage of web. Now Spidey would get the job done. The fist man charged at him, screaming as he went. Spider-Man stepped aside, letting the man run straight into the wall. Peter shook his head. Pathetic, he thought.
Pete grinned inside his mask. This would be the fun part. He front flipped clear over the heads of the two remaining prisoners-to-be. Just as the thug whose hand was covered in web turned to face the hero, a fist was in his face. Out cold with one punch. Now the third thug was scared. He started to back away rather slowly, his speed gradually quickening. A few seconds later, he stepped on one of the oranges. It rolled under his foot and he fell, his head hitting the ground with a sickening sound.
Spider-Man walked to the cash register and gave the cashier his money bags.
"I think the police can take it from here," he said. On his way out, he picked up the orange that the thug had tripped on and handed it to the man.
"This, sir, is your lucky citrus." With that, Peter Parker strode out of the general store and onto the sidewalk. He promptly leapt high into the air and grabbed onto a building. After climbing to the top of it, he decided that Manhattan could take care of itself for a few hours. His patrolling work was done for now.
He figured he'd surprise Mary Jane with lunch and spend some time with her. Acting on that idea, Spider-Man leapt off the building and began swinging through Manhattan's busy streets. Changing in the alley outside a popular deli, Peter Parker, now just, well, Peter Parker, walked into the deli, bought two chicken wraps and walked home, which was only half a block away.
Mary Jane opened the apartment door to find Peter, standing there with a box of food and a big grin on his face.
"Surprise," he said, receiving a gentle kiss before walking to the table and taking out the meals. They ate slowly, talking about the general store robbery and what Mary Jane did with her morning. She gave him a sad smile.
"What?" He inquired.
"Hate to tell ya, Tiger, but Mr. Jameson called. He needs you at the Bugle."
"Why!? He's sick!"
"Apparently he's OK now. Hey, whatever assignment you're gonna get won't be half as bad as the lecture I got about leaving his son at the altar." She laughed. He grinned at her.
"I promise, I'll be back as soon as I possibly can, Mary Jane," he apologized.
"I know Pete." She kissed him gently and told him that she'd see him later. Reluctantly, he walked out the door of the apartment and began descending the stairs. Mary Jane is too good to me, he thought. She always understood when he had things to do. Then again, that's love, isn't it?
"Parker! You're late again! You better get these pictures, pronto! There's a big construction site two blocks from here. You can't miss it. On second thought, you could." The cigar in J. Jonah Jameson's mouth bobbed up and down with every word he uttered. Peter thought nothing of the harsh tone. He was used to it by now.
"I'll get right on it, Mr. Jameson." Peter walked out of the office and rode the elevator to the roof of the Bugle Building. Changing quickly, Pete dove off the building, which was fifty or sixty stories high. Within seconds, he sat atop one of the construction site's numerous girders.
He dropped to the ground and began snapping pictures from several different angles. Several times he leapt high into the air and captured a shot. When he had fifteen pictures, he stopped and examined them. They were quite beautifully taken, at least in the mind of a photographer. After all, how beautiful could a construction site get?
Spider-Man swung through Manhattan at an extreme speed until he arrived at the Daily Bugle. He did a neat little front flip and landed on the roof. He opened the door that led to the elevator and stepped onto the lift, changing as it moved. He got off at the proper floor and stepped into Mr. Jameson's office.
"Parker! Next time you take that long, you're fired!" Peter smirked. The job had taken all of twenty-five minutes. Sighing, he handed Jonah the pictures.
"Here you are Mr. Jameson, and sorry about the wait." Jonah surveyed the pictures, one by one throwing them down on his desk.
"These look like a blind guy with shaky hands took them!" A pause. "You must be getting better."
Peter was webslinging his way home as fast as he could. Between Jonah, a carjacking, and a stolen running shoe, Peter had been distracted every time he had tried to get home. By now, it was 9:00, and he still wasn't home to Mary Jane. He was so close to the apartment. Not even half a block left. His window was in sight. And then came a bloodcurdling scream.
Just below the apartment window, a burly thug dressed in black was snatching a woman's purse. I've had just about enough of this, thought Spider-Man. He never even stopped swinging. He simply lowered his altitude and swung right into the mugger. The hero's feet hit the man in the throat and sent him flying about thirty feet. The purse was knocked into the air, falling back into the woman's waiting hands.
"Thank you, Spider-Man!" The woman's call of gratitude made Peter grin.
"All in a day's work. No problem," responded the masked hero. He speedily jumped to his apartment building and crawled into his window.
Peter sighed when he saw Mary Jane sound asleep in his bed. Even though he knew he was wrong about it, he felt as if he had let her down. He would have liked to spend time with his bride-to-be that day. He changed and went into the bathroom to wash up.
"That you, Tiger?" Peter grinned widely and stepped into the bedroom.
"Hey, MJ!" He gave her a kiss on the forehead. She looked extremely tired and almost half asleep. She smiled gently at him.
"So, anything interesting happen today?"
"Not really. Just an ordinary day."