Note: So, if any of you spider aficionados out there are unaware, Marvel is running a mini-series in the current wonderful psychotic jumble that is Secret Wars where Spider Man remains married to MJ and they have an adorable, probably-going-to-be-awesome daughter with spider powers. They're also inhabiting a reality that's dominated by a rather OP prick who makes his villainous debut by power-stealing and killing the X-Men and the Avengers (and a bunch of street heroes, like Punisher, Daredevil, and Moon Knight), thus superheroics for the Parker family are on the backburner for obvious reasons. So I thought to myself, "Suppose the Parker family existed in a more hero-hospitable reality." And thus, we have The Spectacular Spider-Dad.

I do not own Spider Man. Please review, comment, or criticize constructively. Most of all, enjoy.

The Spectacular Spider-Dad

Chapter 1

Nightmares in the Parker Residence

The symbiote was swarming off of Brock's broken body, whirling around him.

"Face it, Peter," He could hear the oily voice coming from every angle, "When it mattered, you were no better than us."

He sprung awake, the nightmarish twisting of that fateful night still fresh in his mind. He almost jerked at the hand that quickly grasped his shoulder.

"You okay?" Mary Jane asked him, concern painted across her face.

"Yeah, just a bad dream." Peter replied. He slid his hands across his face and took a few deep, calming breaths. "What are you doing up so early?" He asked, realizing the sun had yet to come up. His wife simply lifted a blinking, beeping device in response, her expression turning slightly sardonic as she did so. Peter groaned, his head falling to rest on his knees. "Whose turn is it this time?" He asked, defeat coloring his voice.

"I was thinking we could both tackle this one, make it a family bonding experience." Mary Jane said, throwing back the covers.

Peter opened the door to Annie's room, and as soon as he saw her bed was empty, turned his gaze upward. She was curled up, asleep, on the ceiling, hanging by one hand and her feet, her small form still enough to trip the motion sensors he and Mary Jane had decided to mount into the upper corners in an effort to be proactive about her power use. They didn't need the occasional guest or any neighbors across the way seeing their daughter drop down from the ceiling every other morning when she got frightened. Or when she got bored, which was also an oft-occurrence.

Peter turned to the wall and quickly climbed up the side, reaching with both arms when he got close to the ceiling to pull his daughter free. When he got her settled in his arms, he lightly dropped from the wall, landing smoothly on the floor. Despite going years without putting on the costume, he'd still managed to keep himself familiar with the motions of his powers. Mostly thanks to the little girl he was holding. He'd been spending the last few years having to keep up with a super-powered youngster.

Mary Jane reached over his arms and gave Annie's shoulder a shake. The young red-haired girl slowly opened her eyes, and glanced around. Once she realized that both her parents were in her room, and that it was still dark out, her expression morphed into one of guilt. Peter turned her in arms and set her down on the floor feet-first.

"I'm sorry," Annie immediately said, keeping her eyes rooted to the floor. "I know I'm not supposed to, but…" she looked up uncertainly at her parents, who hadn't said a word so far, just looked at her understandingly. "There was something there. Under my bed. It was that… that shadow-monster-thing. It was going to get me!" Her voice had risen steadily as she'd gone on, reaching a terrified pitch by the end of it, and ensuring that whatever scolding she'd receive would be severely de-fanged, if it happened at all. Her parents still had nightmares about that night; they couldn't even imagine how Annie would be dealing with it, beyond 'not very well.' Peter leaned down and set a hand on his daughter's shoulder.

"Annie," He began, doing his best to sound serious, but not so serious she'd think she was in trouble. "I know that that thing was scary, but it's not there. It's never been here once since, and it'll never, ever be back again."

"How can you know?" She asked him timidly.

"I just… I do, alright? Do you trust me?" Peter asked. Annie nodded. "Then believe me when I say that it's never going to come back, and if by some cosmic alignment of terribleness it manages to, which it won't, I won't ever let it touch you."

He might have said more, but Annie crashed into him and wrapped him in a tight, desperate hug. Peter quickly returned it, and Mary Jane kneeled down to join in. They stayed that way for several minutes, before Annie made moves to pull out. Disentangling his arms, Peter laid a kiss on Annie's head. Mary Jane, however, had other ideas, and kept a light grip on her shoulders, turning her around to face her mother.

"Now," She said, tone indicating she was being quite serious, "We're laying down some new rules regarding powers in the house." She gave Annie a pointed look as the girl moaned disappointedly at the news. "If you get scared, if this happens again, you don't climb up and spend the night on your ceiling. At most, you stop in the middle of your wall, and you come down to our room, understand?" Annie nodded. "Now, you wouldn't be able to just sleep up on your ceiling anyways, because we'll know. We put up sensors in the corners so we'd know exactly when this sort of thing happens, but I think we can all agree that we'd much rather-"

"You put sensors in my room?" Annie cried indignantly.

So, yeah. This is a sort of re-write of the first few pages of issue 2, in which things happen roughly in the same fashion. Some things obviously change, in that Annie needing to hide her spider powers is far less imperative, because there's no power-stealing overlord who'll vivisect her (probably) to get his hands on her abilities. At the same time, I imagine in-retirement superheroes who had secret identities that remained mostly secret, and who have kids with powers, would want to keep their super-powers on the down-low even in a safer world for people with powers. Thus, the discussion (and even the existence) of rules involving the appropriate use of super-powers in the house. And the desire to make sure that few, if any people, find out about said super-powers.

Further context for what's been going on in this more normal reality, and some super-hero action, will be coming, if you guys and girls want to see more of this.