Chapter One
Burn

'The nefarious Doctor Octopus has captured a poor old woman after holding up a bank only minutes before. Spider-Man, the only thing that has been able to stand up to this threat is no where to be found. New Yorker's are crowding around the scene, trying to get a glimpse at the two

Now some background for those that just are joining us...HOLY SH- SMOKES! Spider-Man has seemingly came out of nowhere to man-handle Doctor Octopus! This could be the feed of the century, and we got it! Stay tuned to Channel 5 Action News for some more shocking footage!'

"Go get'm Spidey..." The lights flicked on in the small apartment as a shadowy figure entered the room. He had a grizzly moustache growing around his face like he had tried to shave but it hadn't gone over to well. His hair was very messy and slicked back, but no matter how old he looked his eyes could remind you very quickly what his true age was. His eye's were dark green and were always shining mysteriously, as if he were playing a large joke on everyone that he talked too. The young man was 21 years old, and his name was Cole Carlson.

He pulled off his black jacket and smiled as he looked over the interior of the bedroom. It wasn't much, but it worked for Cole perfectly fine. There was a small bed laid out against the wall with numerous Spider- Man poster's hanging above it. Cole idolized Spider-Man very much, and was always watching the news's on anything covering Spider-Man. Since Cole lived in Chicago he didn't get to watch Spider-Man live, but sometimes pondered the thought of moving to New York. He walked over to his phone and began to play new messages on the answering machine.

BEEP "Yo...Cole, its Luke, call me back man!"

BEEP "Cole, I didn't want to do this over the phone, but you've been so busy at your job and well...I think we should see other people." He could hear a soft sob on the line and sighed slightly. "I love you and I hope you'll be O.K."

BEEP "Luke again, seriously man! Call!"

BEEP "We need you down at the News Room now! It's about 7:00pm and we're going on at 8:30pm to cover the Spider-Man story in New York. GET OVER HERE!"

BEEP "End of final messages."

Cole pulled his eyes away from the startling images of Spider-Man and Doctor Octopus. Man, wouldn't that be great to see in person. He replayed the last message and hurried into his restroom, freshening up slightly before hurrying to his jet black Camry waiting for him outside. Cole had taken the job at the News Station after being recommended by his cinematography teacher, Professor Langford. Ever since then Cole had found himself spending most of his time at the news station, filming numerous reports of murder and robbery. Cole was a camera man, one of the best. He sometimes found himself gazing over old reports and wandering how the crime in Chicago had gotten so bad! He knew the cops tried, but sometimes even that wasn't enough.

Cole glanced at the time and his eyes widened. "Ten minutes!" He slammed down on the pedal only to find himself slamming on the brakes when he pulled up to a large traffic jam. "I'll never make it in time, unless." He put the car into reverse and sped backwards, narrowly missing a green beetle that had pulled up behind him.

"What the hell are yah doing!" The angry driver yelled, "Wait! It's Cole! I left a message on your machine, call me man!"

The driver was Luke Lancaster, Cole's closest friend from childhood. Luke yelled after him but Cole couldn't hear as he sped down different back streets, swerving this way and that. He finally came to a screeching halt in front of WGN Chicago with only moments to spare. Cole jumped out of his car and hurriedly ran into the large building.

The secretary at the front desk stopped him with a grin. "Johnny's been looking everywhere for you, we go on in five!" Cole stepped into the backroom and was greeted by grunts and sounds of disappointment.

"Who cares where he's been, he's here now!"

"Looking good, Cole,"

"Lucky you made it, Johnny said he wasn't going to let Tim film anymore after what happened last week."

The sight of the newsroom was still a sight to see: Different anchors wandering this way and that, lights flashing off and on as they were tested, different electrical wires hanging off of the strangest places. Then Cole saw her, Michelle Meadows. To Cole she was the most beautiful woman in the world. She was an anchor woman for the station and always drawled in lots of viewers. Cole walked up to her and put on his best smile. After his harsh breakup over the answering machine he thought maybe he could try for Michelle.

"Michelle, hey." Cole said awkwardly. It had been a while since they'd spoken to each other and he wandered if she even knew his name.

"Hi...Cole is it?" Cole nodded and decided to get straight too the point.

"You're really great on TV...some people are saying Johnny might let you be lead anchor."

"That would be nice...but I don't know if I'm good enough."

"No sweat, your better then half the anchors we have now. I think you'd be great as lead anchor." Cole was as nervous as ever, and he didn't think Michelle was up to talk to him. But he kept on trudging on, being persistent as ever. There was no way he was going to give up.

"Would you like to go with me to a, uh, Cubs game this Saturday? There's going to be a great firework show afterwards."

Michelle looked into Cole's eyes, wandering if she should go. After a couple tense moments she nodded and her eyes lit up. "Could you pick me up around 5? And we can get a bite to eat before the game?"

Cole nodded, "That would be great!"

"Alright then, it's a date. I'll see you then."

Cole wandered past all of the smiling faces until he reached his designated spot behind a large video camera. Sometimes the attention he got was unreal, he was never mentioned on T.V. during the news, but was like a god at the station. There was only one backup for Cole, and that was Tim Meadows. Most people made fun of him and told him the only reason he was allowed at the station was because of his beautiful sister Michelle. He had messed up more then once behind the camera, once forgetting to switch on some important lens alterations, and the whole news broadcast had came out in blue. Johnny Jacobson, the man that had been mentioned to Cole several times as he walked through the news station was the owner of WGN. He ruled over the station with an iron fist.

"COLE! You nearly made me pop a vein! I swear, you're gonna be the death of me boy!" Johnny's voice thundered from behind Cole. "Keep up the great feeds and I might let you go on location. That's when you start to make the big bucks."

"I appreciate it Johnny," Cole said with a grin. He had begun switching on different gadgets on the camera and nodded after he was positive that everything was set just right.

Everything seemed just right for Cole at the moment, but trouble was brewing in a small office located inside the WGN building. Tim set inside the room, all the lights were off. He had a black bandana around his face and had his eyes closed. Smoke fluttered around the room, engulfing him in smoke. Tim had red hair spiked straight up, and he was well built...looking like he had only worked out a couple times in his lifetime.

The smoke in the air wasn't just any normal fumes. Tim was smoking illegal chemicals that he had bought from Oscorp, a small factory stationed in New York. Oscorp was owned by Norman Osborn, one of the richest and most influential people in New York.

"Now it's time to pay, soon enough I won't be a second hand camera man for WGN, I'll be the boss. And I'll make sure that Cole Carlson never sees a camera in this station again."

The door was flung open and two security guards ran into the room. "We thought there was a fire -- What the hell? Are you smoking!" The officer yelled as he pulled out a black handgun. "Put your hands up."

Tim shook his head as he stood, "Really? You think I'd come peacefully?" WOOSH! A large flame erupted in front of the guards, lighting up the doorway. "Stay back! I don't want to hurt anyone...except...him." The guards ran off quickly as Tim began to advance forward. He walked through the flames as if it was nothing, they licked his arms and legs but no burns were apparent.

Everywhere he went flames followed, people scattered and screamed but Tim could barely hear over his own muttering. Tim was only a flight of stairs away from the main news room where the lead anchors would go on in moments to cover the Spider-Man story. He walked down the stairs as four police men ran up the stairs, each holding a gun.

"Don't make a move, freak!"

Tim's expression turned into a freakish scowl. "Freak...? How dare you! I am no freak! I am revolution!" Flames spurted out of Tim's hand engulfing the officers. He hadn't meant to send such a fiery blast but he couldn't control himself. Anger had taken him over. "Now for the one person that's standing in my way...COLE!"

The news report had just gone on the air and Cole did everything naturally, zooming in at the right times and so on. Michelle had happened to be going on the air and Cole grinned at her, giving her the thumbs up as all attention turned to her. Then an unexpected twist came from nowhere. Flames erupted all around the news broadcast and Michelle screamed loudly. She caught herself quickly and yelled into the camera. "There is an emergency at the station and we will return to you shortly- AIIIEE!"

Cole didn't mind switching the camera off and let it sit poised as he tried to find the cause of the fire. Then he saw the sinister figure. "Tim?" He breathed silently. It couldn't be...he had only spoken to Tim once or twice but knew he wouldn't do something like this. He could see the messy green hair, the blood red jacket, and the black baggy jeans. But he still couldn't believe his eyes.

Tim's eyes scanned the room until they fell upon Cole. He let out a yell as he thrust his hand forward. A power surge of fire flew out towards him and he had to do a flip to get away form the wreckage. BOOM! The camera erupted in front of him. More screams came from nowhere as the camera made the fire spread even more. 'I guess taking gymnastics for five years paid off.' Cole thought to himself as he sprinted over to Michelle. He had a feeling that Tim was after him, but he wouldn't dare pull anything near his sister...would he?

"Michelle! God, are you O.K.?" Cole yelled over the flames.

"I'll be fine. But you have to get out of here! He's after you, he's been telling me about you and how he'd get you someday. I never thought his threats were real. Don't take it from me...RUN!"

Cole looked up, Michelle's severe warning still running through his head. He could hear the screams of innocent workers, the burst of flames from every corner, all because of him. 'I have to fight him; I can't let him get away with this. If someone dies...I'll feel responsible.' Cole thought to himself as he heard Tim's yell.

"Cole Carlson!" He yelled as he held up Johnny Jacobson's secretary up with one hand by the neck. "Come out...or the girl gets a nice black burn to match her dress."

"Let her go," Cole said as he stood up from behind the desk he was hiding under. "You want to fight me...here I am!"

Tim turned, his eyes had become an eerie red color and his stare almost froze Cole. He had got himself out of some strange situations before, but he felt like there would be no way to escape Tim. "I don't want a fight Cole...I want to rip you apart!"

Tim's signature hand thrust sent another burst of flames straight at Cole. He dived down against the ground and could feel the warmth of the blast over his head. He stole a glance upward at him and saw that he was still holding the girl. Cole stood and began to run straight for Tim. "I said...let...her...go!" He yelled as he joined his fists together and swung around. The blow knocked Tim backwards, and Cole had moved so quickly that Tim hadn't had enough time to send another set of flames at him. The girl fell to the ground and Cole swept her up suddenly. He held her over his shoulder and began to run across the news room to get her too safety when he felt a warm sensation around his ankles. He glanced down and saw a small red rope around his ankles. He dropped the girl.

"Get to safety!" She nodded and ran off as Cole turned to face his dreadful enemy. Tim moved his hands in a circular motion causing a circle of fire to appear around them.

"No where to run now Cole...not even you can escape my little trap."

Cole thought for a moment about all his possible moves before receding upon an old technique used by Spider-Man. Piss the bad guy off by saying a whole bunch of corny jokes.

"Why would you do this? You're pretty hot right now, you're on fire!"

And that was just enough to push Tim over the limit. He let out a startling yell as he began to shoot fire balls straight for Cole but he was to fast. He dodged a few of the firey blasts but one caught him on his side burning his shirt off. Cole regained composure and stood to face his enemy.

"Your really boring me here tough guy." Cole said with a laugh, trying to sound like he was on top of things.

"I'm just getting started, bub."

"What are you know? Wolverine?"

"SHUTUP, SHUTUP, SHUTUP!" Tim yelled in fury as his whole body lit up with fire.

"Covering up your looks won't help much, ugly."

"AGH!" He yelled as he charged straight for Cole. This is what he had hoped for. A large piece of sheet metal lay next to Cole that had been hidden from Tim's view, he picked it up just as Tim approached and slammed it down as hard as he could right on his head. Tim collapsed in a heap of fire. Michelle yelled out slightly, an officer stepped forward, and several firemen appeared consistently to put out the remaining fire. Cole looked to Michelle and frowned. "I'm so sorry..."

He didn't get to finish his sentence as Michelle interrupted him. "You're a hero! You saved us!" She said as she clung to him. He smiled and put his arm around her. Was this really love?

It was a short time later after the firemen had put out the fire and everyone was safe. Cole had been wrapped up in a towel and gave same oxygen after his long battle in the smoke. He had just finished being questioned by a police officer and was sitting absently, thinking about the incident.

A large burly man approached him, he had on a cop uniform but he looked more casual then the others. "That was pretty heroic of you, risking your ass to save all those people. I wouldn't recommend next time though, hero. Everybody wants to be recognized, get there thirty seconds of fame." He said with a laugh. "If you ask me, anyone stupid enough to risk there lives like that for some airtime…deserves to burn with the rest of the station."

The cop planted his foot on the cord that was hooked to the oxygen tank, sending a spurt of it into Cole's mouth. Cole sputtered and coughed weakly, lowering his head to his knees. When he looked up the large man was gone. Another officer rushed over and helped unhook the tank, helping Cole breathe regularly again.

"Thanks" Said Cole, his voice was there, but his mind was somewhere else. He had taken what the officer said to heart. An idea that would change Chicago forever was brewing inside of him.

Stay with me True Believer! You won't believe the surprises I have in store for Cole next chapter! The next chapter is filled with so much excitement giving you even the slightest detail would be unethical! I can only tell you one thing...don't miss chapter two in this great saga!