Earth-717: Spider-Man Vol 1
Chapter 1: Nobody
As the morning sun slowly rose over the East River and its light started to spill onto the buildings of New York, Peter stared out at the city he called home. He had made sure to leave early so that he could try and get to this spot in time. He was standing on one of the tallest ledges of the Empire State Building, and he felt like he was literally on top of the world.
Peter blinked from behind his mask. After weeks of fiddling with his eyepieces, he finally felt like they were fitted properly. His red and blue costume completely covered his body, and allowed him to fully use his flexibility. He was also wearing his backpack, which had both his civilian clothes and his books stored inside.
After stretching out his arms, Peter then started to jog on the spot.
"Okay, okay. Time to make it happen."
Peter breathed in and out a few times and clapped his hands together. Standing still again, he then looked down at the drop, which was more than three hundred metres.
"I can do that. Right? I can, I can . . . ."
Peter rubbed the back of his head.
"Ugh. Maybe, maybe not? Nah, I mean, sure I can, uh . . . ."
Peter closed his eyes and let out a deep breath, taking a few seconds to calm himself.
"Go time."
As he opened his eyes, he jumped off the edge of the building. His muscles, which were now imbued with superhuman strength, allowed him to leap over a dozen metres into the air. Flattening his body, Peter then started to fall downwards. The wind rippled across his skin as he plummeted towards the Earth. It was a pure adrenaline rush.
"YEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!"
At just the right moment, everything seemed to slow down as his heightened senses kicked in. Allowing his newfound inhuman instincts to guide him, he held out his right hand and pointed it at the closest building. He didn't need to spend time aiming, because, by now, he trusted his senses to keep him safe.
Peter pressed his middle and ring finger against his palm, pushing the trigger on his web shooter. A web line launched out of it at incredible speed, all because of Peter's ingenious mechanical design. The web line latched itself to the nearby building, and Peter closed his fist. Holding his hands together, he then swung forward, letting his web line carry him through the air.
With a wide grin on his face, Peter let go of the web line. His momentum sent him rocketing forward, and he soared over a hundred metres above the cars. He had never experienced such speed before, and was loving every second of it. Holding out his left hand, he fired another web line, and used it to swing again.
Although he knew that he should be heading for a particular destination, he was having far too much fun simply swinging around the city. He had done this before, but he had never felt both so in control and so liberated. Letting go of his web line, he performed an aerial spin as he cleared another several dozen metres.
While Peter had spent his entire life in New York City, the last few months had given him an entirely new perspective on it. Certainly it was just as much the sprawling metropolis it had always been, but he had a greater sense of its character that could only be discovered by someone who saw it from so many unique angles that most never got to see.
He could sense plenty of patterns in the movements of the people and the cars. He saw so many small interactions within a very short time frame. Familiar locations were made brand new by getting to look at them from above, and he was certain that he would never get over the euphoria of literally running up the side of a skyscraper.
The entire city was his playground.
Swinging towards another building, Peter let go of his web line and allowed his momentum to carry him towards the wall. Instead of landing on it, Peter turned himself sideways so that he could wall-run laterally, keeping himself moving forward. As he did, he could see a window washer a few floors below him, who looked up at him in shock.
"Madre de dios!"
Peter gave a playful salute to the man before jumping off the building and shooting another web line. The man put a hand on his head as he watched Peter swing away, still unsure that he was actually seeing what he was seeing. Peter chuckled to himself, happy that he was making an impression. But as he got closer to the ground, his smile faded.
His senses warned him of danger.
Looking down, Peter saw a man burst out of a convenience store with a large bag. One of his hands was inside his jacket. He couldn't see it, but Peter could sense that the man was holding a weapon. Narrowing his eyes, he swung lower, adjusting himself so that he would be right behind the fleeing criminal.
"Yo, buddy! You have breakfast yet?!"
"Huh?"
The thug looked over his shoulder just in time to see Peter's fist coming towards his face.
"Knuckle sandwich, comin' right up!"
The thug was knocked to the floor and left completely dazed. His pistol flew out of his hand and landed on the ground. Peter swung up and onto the top of a nearby street light before firing a web shot that glued the gun to the sidewalk.
"And unlike the money you just tried to steal, that actually was free of charge."
Peter fired a web line at the thug's legs, and then pulled him up into the air. He shouted as he let the bag drop, spilling some of the cash onto the floor. The shopkeeper from the convenience store ran out and looked down at the bag in confusion before seeing Peter. Some of the other pedestrians on the street also stopped to look, with a few of them pulling out their cameras to take pictures.
The thug blinked as Peter hung upside down so he could look into his eyes.
"Where . . . . w-where did you come from?"
Peter shook his head.
"Wrong question."
Peter then gave the thug a quick slap on his cheek.
"The question you should be asking is, where am I going? See the backpack? I'm going to school, which is where you should have gone so that you could avoid such an illegal line of work. Instead, you're likely going to prison, but hey, we all got our flaws, isn't that right?"
"Wha . . . ."
Peter fired a small web shot, shutting the thug's mouth.
"Actually, don't answer that," said Peter. "Probably don't have anything interesting to add to the conversation anyway."
Peter then hopped back up to the top of the street light and crouched as the shopkeeper looked up at him.
"Sorry for the inconvenience sir, especially since you own an establishment that sorta, you know, runs on the exact opposite. I'm sure the cops can take it from here."
"Are you that Daredevil guy?"
"What?! Daredevil? Do I look like Daredevil to you?"
The shopkeeper shrugged.
"I dunno. I've never seen him before. Heard he wears red."
"So what? So does Melisandre."
"Who?"
"Oh, come on. You don't watch . . . . ah, never mind. Not important. Look, I'm not Daredevil, okay? He is a completely different red . . . . guy."
"So who are you?"
Peter stood up.
"Who am I? Why, I'm your friendly neighbourhood Spider-Man!"
Without another word, Peter jumped off the street light and swung down the street as everyone kept their eyes on him. As he fired another web line and swung around a building corner, he heard a loud ripping noise. Looking down, he saw that the left arm strap on his backpack had been torn off by the force of his latest swing.
The backpack then fell off his other arm.
Time slowed again as Peter's senses activated. Holding one arm down and one arm up, he fired two web lines at once. The one going down caught the backpack, while the one going up latched itself to a flag pole that emerged horizontally from the side of a building. Holding onto both web lines, Peter then found himself completely still while dangling in the air.
Blinking, he then looked up and down again to realize that he was basically stuck.
"Awh, man. I suck."
"Thanks for the ride, Dad."
George smiled at Gwen as she got out of the squad car. She was wearing a green blouse with a black skirt, and had a purple band in her hair. She looked around as hundreds of other kids walked towards the front entrance of Midtown High.
"Call me when you get out," said George.
"I'll text."
After her father pulled away, Gwen turned around and sighed. She took a couple moments to adjust her glasses. Looking to the side, she watched as a rather expensive car pulled up to the curb, and she immediately knew who was being dropped off. A few seconds later, Harry stepped out of the rear passenger side door.
She jumped up and widely waved her left arm. He responded with a dorky smile.
"Don't smile like that."
Harry looked back at his father, who was still sitting behind the driver's seat. Norman was wearing a black business suit and looked at his son with disdain in his eyes.
"If you're going to smile at a girl, do it with confidence," he said, his tone both monotone and intimidating. "Otherwise, don't do it at all."
Harry silently nodded. Norman then looked forward as Harry closed the car door. He gulped as he watched the car drive off. He was so focused on his father that he barely noticed that Gwen had approached him.
"Hey," she said.
"Uh, hey."
"What was that about?"
Harry rubbed the back of his neck.
"Uh, er, nothin'. Nothing. Don't, don't worry about it."
"Look a little . . . . distracted."
"Heh. That's me. Distracted."
Harry then looked over Gwen's shoulder to see Peter emerging from behind the side of the school, wearing a blue shirt, brown pants and his backpack. Harry raised an eyebrow, because the only thing back that way was a fence and some bushes. Peter then stumbled onto the sidewalk. Gwen was in the middle of talking about something when she realized that Harry wasn't paying attention.
"Harry?"
"Peter," said Harry.
Gwen looked over her shoulder to see Peter approaching them.
"Hey, you!" said Gwen.
Gwen held out her arms to the side. Peter stood still and blinked, seemingly unsure of what to do. After a couple awkward seconds, she instead placed her hands on his shoulders. Harry frowned.
"You okay?" asked Gwen.
"Yeah," said Peter.
Gwen then narrowed her eyes as she noticed a strange white patch on the left arm strap of Peter's backpack.
"What's that?"
"Uh, tape. I dunno. Weird tape. My aunt had it lying around."
Peter shrugged and scratched the back of his head. Gwen raised an eyebrow.
"You sure you're okay?"
"Just, uh, just a bit, distracted, I guess."
"Uh huh. Haven't heard that one today. Come on."
Gwen started to walk towards the entrance. Peter and Harry followed after her. Harry held out his fist to Peter, who promptly pressed his own fist against it.
"So why did you come from behind the bushes?" asked Harry. "Sleep in the fields last night? Decided to become one with the Earth?"
"Ah, thought I, uh, I lost something back there. Didn't, didn't find it."
"Can't possibly imagine why."
Peter, Gwen and Harry walked through the front entrance and into the foyer. The three of them stopped as they looked around at the chaos that was their high school.
"Another day, another dollar," said Peter.
"Sure," said Gwen. "Except we don't get any dollars."
"But I guess that 'another day, another panic attack' doesn't have the same ring to it," said Harry.
The three of them simultaneously sighed.
