COMET

"Tightie whities, that explains everything!" Spider-Man said as he hit Doctor Octopus in the face after pulling his pants down. Seventeen year-old Zakk Willis laughed out loud as he read one of his favorite lines from the Ultimate Spider-Man comic. Zack was five-foot ten-inches tall and had a slim build. He had short blonde hair that was spiked in the front and blue-grey eyes. Zack was, as far as he knew, the biggest Spider-Man fan in his school.

"Mr. Willis!" Mrs. Reid, the Spanish teacher said, "Is that another Spider-Man comic you're reading?" She placed her hands on her hips as she finished asking the question.

"Um, do you want the truth?" Zakk asked with a slight smile. Reid shook her head.

"Zakk, this is the last time I'm going to tell you to stop reading those comics in my class." Zakk looked around the classroom for support, but found none.

"Pero, me gusta mucho leer Spider-Man." Zakk said, hoping that his speaking Spanish would persuade the teacher to change her mind.

"De veras?" Reid said in a sarcastic tone, "Pues, no me gusta. Put it away Zakk." Zakk frowned and put the comic back in his backpack.

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"You really have to stop reading those comics in class Zakk." Mark Sims, Zakk's best friend said. Mark was a few inches shorter than Zakk, but was slightly more muscular. He had short black hair and brown eyes. "I mean, you didn't get into Stuyvesant by reading Spider-Man comics."

"I know, I know, I got into it by my SHSAT results." Zakk said exasperatedly, "Where is there a rule that says just because you're a science wiz, that you can't read Spider-Man comics?" Zakk and Mark boarded the A train that led to Greenwich Village, where they both lived.

"There's not, but most people that go to Stuyvesant aren't lazy and procrastinatory." Mark said. Zakk looked over at him and raised an eyebrow before sitting down.

"Yeah, and most people who go there don't make up words on the fly." Mark smiled.

"Most people can't." Mark said before sitting down beside Zakk, "Really dude, you were in the top five percent of people who took that test. I've heard what the teachers say about you."

"And what's that?"

"That you aced the SHSAT, but you need to take more interest in your school work."

"Einstein didn't like school either."

"Einstein was a super genius, you're just a regular genius." Zakk smiled and looked out the window.

"Well thanks, but just because I'm a genius doesn't mean I can't have fun Mark..." Zakk looked back at Mark, "Speaking of genius, I have something to show you when we get to my place."

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"Charlie!!" The foreman called out. Charles Egbert looked in his direction. Charles stood at six-foot two-inches tall and had a large muscular build from working at construction sites most of his life. He was thirty years-old, had short brown hair and green eyes. "Richard wants to see you." Charles raised an eyebrow, Richard Ward was an architect who was currently over everyone at the construction site.

Charles turned and started toward the trailer at the far corner of the site. He opened the door and breathed in the clean air. Richard was currently sitting at a table looking over the building plans. He looked up when Charles closed the door.

"Hello Charlie." Richard said turning back to the plans. Richard was six feet tall and had a slightly muscular build. He had medium-length brown hair and blue eyes.

"How many times do I have to tell you Richard, I like to be called Charles." Charles sighed. Richard looked back up at Charles.

"Sorry, it slips my mind every time." Richard went back to looking over the blueprints, "Anyway, the reason I called you in here is to tell you that Debbie wants you and Dorothy to come over for dinner tonight." Charles raised an eyebrow. Not only was Richard his 'boss' until the building was done, he was also Charles' next-door neighbor in Greenwich Village.

"Sure, what time?" Richard stopped looking at the blueprints and tapped his pen on the desk a moment.

"Eight-ish." Charles nodded and turned to walk out, "Oh and Charlie, wear something nice, eh?" Charles slammed the door to the trailer behind him and walked back to where he was working earlier.

"Arrogant jerk..." He muttered.

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"What the hell is that?" Mark asked Zakk as he pulled out what looked to be an oversized bracelet with a small tube about a half-inch long and an fourth-inch wide out of his drawer. It also had a two and a half inch long piece of metal as wide as a pencil with a quarter-sized metal circle on the end. This protruded from the inside of the bracelet. The bracelet itself was probably three and a half inches wide and seemed to be broken into inch wide segments, which all together equaled six segments. Zakk slipped it on over his hand and it seemed to fit perfectly.

"THIS, Mark, is a web shooter." Zakk said proudly as he pulled another web shooter out and put it on his left hand. Mark raised an eyebrow and smiled.

"Like from Spider-Man?" Zakk smiled and shook his head.

"Exactly, I made a real web shooter." With that he turned and pressed the quarter-thing, which was in the middle of his palm, twice rapidly. A web fired from the tube on the bracelet and connected with a chair at Zakk's desk across the room. Zakk grabbed the end of the web and drug the chair across the room. Mark's jaw literally dropped.

"You made a web shooter.." Mark said in disbelief, "How?" Zakk laughed.

"Well, besides being a super smart techno-genius, I have a lot of spare time and a lot of allowance money." Zakk fiddled with something on the web shooter.

"No, that's not what I mean, I mean how did you make the webs?" Mark said, still amazed, "What kind of materials? How does the firing mechanism work?" Zakk frowned in thought a moment and returned the chair back to it's former position across the room, the web trailing behind.

"Well, as for the materials, it's really just some adhesives, a small bit of diluted sulfuric acid so it dissolves in about an hour, nothing too much." Zakk looked at the web shooter, "As for the firing mechanism, the web fluid is just that inside the cartridge; fluid. But it's very compact, and is under a lot of pressure; if someone were to hit it hard enough, it would probably explode. When I press the button, a small cover over this tube here opens up and the web flies out, inside the tube is a spinneret kinda thing that makes the web take the shape it does. When it hits air, it becomes extremely sticky on the end, but sides are just kinda tacky."

"How strong is the web?" Mark asked as he walked over and examined the web that was still attached to the chair. Zakk scratched his head and thought a moment.

"Uh, well, theoretically if I were to stick one end to a brick wall and one end to a car or truck that was driving by, chances are the brick wall or car would break before the web would." Mark looked up and raised an eyebrow.

"You tested this yet?"

"No, not yet."

"Well, what else can it do?" Mark tugged on the web, "Can you swing from it?" Zakk laughed.

"Well, theoretically I could, but if I did I'd probably end up hurt." Mark shrugged his shoulders and waved the notion away.

"Dude, you used to jump hurdles in track at your old school, I'm sure you can manage land on your feet on top of a building." Zakk frowned a moment.

"Are you sure you're supposed to be at Stuyvesant?" He joked and walked to the door, "Well, hell, let's try it. What's the worst that could happen?"

--------------

John Sulkens yawned as he tried to stay awake. He was almost done with his twelve hour shift. At six o'clock, he could leave and get some sleep. He propped his hand up against his chin and stared at the computer screen. John worked at NASA.

John was thirty-five years old, had short brown hair, and blue eyes. He wore small glasses that he always had pushed to the edge of his nose.

"Hey John, how's the probe doing?" A co-worker of John's, Kyle, asked. John gave a thumbs-up. He was watching the probe Explorer V that was sent to collect comet samples. It was due back any day.

"In ten more minutes I really don't care anymore…" John muttered to himself. He yawned again and stood to go get some water. He wasn't supposed to leave his desk, but he was sure that the probe wouldn't explode in the next five minutes.

John reached the Pepsi machine and pulled out four quarters. As he was inserting the quarters Jacqueline, an engineer, walked up to the snack machine beside him and began pulling out change. John looked over to her and smiled sheepishly. She was very pretty and John had never really been good with women.

"Hi." Jacqueline said when she noticed John was smiling at her. John straightened up and cleared his throat.

"So, uh, what are you doing later tonight?" He said very professionally as he pressed the button for a Mountain Dew. Jacqueline chuckled and deposited her money.

"I'm not doing anything tonight, how about we meet up or something?" John's eyes widened in surprise and he stammered a moment.

"Uh, sure, that sounds great." He said as he finally composed himself, "What time?" Jacqueline pressed the button for Reese's Pieces.

"How about nine?" John nodded slowly as he took his Mountain Dew and watched as Jacqueline retrieved her Reese's Pieces before turning and walking off. John turned to walk back to his desk as a feeling of victory swept over him.

"How about that…" He said to himself, "John's got himself a date." He reached his desk and began chugging his Mountain Dew before a flashing red message popped onto his screen. John swallowed the rest of the soda and leaned in to get a better look at the message. 'Probe in close proximity of comet' read the screen. John raised an eyebrow and shook his head.

"No, that can't be right; the probe already left the comet three days ago…" John opened up the current radar from the probe and found that the comet was five miles behind the probe. Both were headed toward Earth. "Shit!" John hollered as he turned to run to his boss's office.

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"Alright, you ready for this?" Zakk asked Mark in an alley five blocks north of Washington Square Park. Mark nodded eagerly and Zakk shook his head before taking aim at the corner of a building on the other side of the alley. He fired a web that connected with the corner. Zakk grabbed onto the end of the web with both hands.

"Hey, you have pretty good aim." Mark said. Zakk looked back at him and smiled.

"I've been practicing." Zakk said as he turned back to the end of the alley, "This is gonna hurt." Zakk said as he snatched the web with all his might. It reminded him of a bungee cord, it stretched all the way behind him, but he could feel the tension in the strand. Zakk suddenly felt the strand pull back, with triple the force in which he pulled it.

The next moment Zakk was flying fifty feet in the air, going at least thirty miles per hour. He looked up to see himself headed straight for the corner of the building where his web was attached. Zakk let go of the web strand and allowed himself to free-fly for a moment. Zakk was scared out of his mind, but he didn't let it get to him.

He extended his left arm out quickly and fired off another web toward another building across the street. The web connected and snatched Zakk away from the building forcefully. Zakk felt something pop in his shoulder and he screamed as he realized his shoulder had dislocated. He flew across the street faster than he had been flying only a second before and he let go of the strand on account of the pain that shot through his arm.

Zakk saw the edge the building that the web was attached to pass three feet under him with astonishing speed. He spun around to see the other end of the building approaching quickly. About halfway across the rooftop Zakk threw his legs down and his body pitched toward the rooftop violently. He hit hard and rolled at least ten feet before sliding a few more feet.

"Ow, son of a bitch that hurt…" Zakk groaned as he clutched his shoulder and attempted to roll over onto his stomach. He heard the roof access door slam open and he saw Mark run over to him.

"Zakk, are you okay?" He asked as he kneeled down beside Zakk, who looked up at him and smiled slightly.

"A lot of words spring to mind about how I am right now Mark, but okay's not one of them." Zakk retorted before sitting up and groaning.

"What's wrong?" Mark asked when he noticed Zakk gripping his shoulder in pain.

"I dislocated my shoulder…" Zakk replied as he stood painfully.

"How do you know?"

"Because I felt it dislocate." Zakk laughed and started toward the roof access door, "C'mon, we gotta get to a hospital before I go into shock or something." Mark followed Zakk to the door and stopped before closing it.

"Wait, what'll I do if you go into shock?" He asked before closing the door.

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"Are you serious?" Larry Watkins, John Sulkens' boss, asked John after hearing the news. Larry was forty-eight; he had worked at NASA for twenty years. Larry had medium-length graying hair and brown eyes. He brandished a thick mustache and square thick-rimmed glasses.

"As a heart attack sir…" John told him before showing him the readings.

"My God…" Larry said as he looked over the pictures, "How long do we have?" John paused in thought a moment.

"We have approximately two days…" He replied grimly.

"Where will the point of impact be?"

"It's a little early to tell sir, but all the tests I've run it through say it will hit somewhere on Manhattan Island; most likely Central Park…"

"My God…" Larry sat down as he put his hand on his forehead, "Wait, comets are made up of ice and space dust. The thing will melt before it even gets through the atmosphere."

"I've taken that into consideration sir…" John walked over to the other side of the desk and sat down on the edge, "All the computer tests say that we have a one in three chance of the comet making it through the atmosphere…" Larry's eyes widened and he looked at John slowly.

"One in three chance?" He asked quietly, "I was expecting something like one in a thousand or something…"

"No sir, one in three…" John stood and began pacing around in front of the desk, "I must have run it through twenty tests while I was waiting for you, and the result was always the same. Thirty-three point three percent of impact. One in three chance of the comet hitting Earth." Larry ran his fingers through his hair and sighed heavily.

"Great…" He said dismally, "What will happen?"

"I don't know sir; a comet has never had a run-in with Earth." John stopped pacing for a moment, deep in thought, "As a matter of fact, I don't think a comet's even come anywhere near Earth, EVER…" Larry chuckled coldly.

"Well, there's always a first time for everything." Larry stood and looked at the radar readings, "Go public with it. Especially in Manhattan. Tell everyone to get their stuff and get the hell out."

"Yes sir…" John nodded and started toward the security room.

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"There we go." Doctor Jones said as he popped Zakk's shoulder back into place, "You're lucky, you're someone who can dislocate their shoulders whenever you want."

"Like Mel Gibson in Lethal Weapon?" Zakk asked the doctor as he rubbed his shoulder.

"Yes, like Mel Gibson." Jones laughed, "I say you're lucky because it could have hurt a lot worse if you couldn't do that." Zakk's smiled slightly.

"Thanks a lot Doc, I owe you." He said as he hopped off the examination table.

"How did you do that anyway?" Jones asked, "It was a clean dislocation, no unnecessary scratches or rub marks on the joint. It just seemed to be pulled out." Zakk gritted his teeth in thought a moment.

"I was trying to catch a taxi." He said quickly, "Yeah, the guy kept driving and I was gonna slap his window a little, but I didn't see that it was down. My shirt sleeve got caught and it just popped out." Jones nodded and patted Zakk on his shoulder. Zakk was surprised, it didn't hurt anymore.

"Well, try to take care of yourself." Jones said before walking out of the room, leaving Zakk to gather his things.

"So, are you better?" Mark asked as Zakk walked into the waiting room. Zakk replied by smiling and rolling his shoulder.

"Let's get outta here." The two chose to walk home, which was only a few blocks away. Zakk and Mark were next door neighbors. On the other side of Zakk was a man named Richard Ward, who Zakk and Mark always thought was kind of arrogant. On the other side of Mark was a man named Charles Egbert. Zakk and Mark always liked Charles, he was like a uncle of sorts to them, he had lived next to them as long as the two teens could remember.

Zakk and Mark reached Zakk's apartment around eight o'clock. As the two walked up the steps they saw Charles and his wife Dorothy walking into Richard's apartment.

"That's strange…" Zakk said, "You don't see that everyday." Mark nodded.

"I thought Charles didn't like Richard?" He asked.

"Either he's changed his mind, or he's doing it for his wife." Mark slapped himself in the forehead.

"Duh, their wives are like, best friends." He laughed as he and Zakk walked inside to be greeted by the gloomy faces of Zakk's mother in front of the television.

"What's wrong?" Zakk asked as he walked into the den himself to look at the TV. The screen showed what looked like a computer model of a comet crashing into Central Park. "What is that?"

"Zakk, NASA probes picked up this comet heading straight for Central Park." Zakk's mom answered, "They're telling everyone within twenty blocks of Central Park to evacuate."

"Are you serious?!" Zakk asked as he looked from a dumbfounded Mark back to his mother, "How long do we have until it hits?"

"It says we have about forty-four hours." Zakk backed up to wall and leaned against it.

"Forty-four hours…?" He said quietly while thinking frantically. Suddenly an idea struck him like a brick. "Be right back!" Zakk shot towards the front door, dragging Mark with him.

"What?" Mark said after they got outside and Zakk closed the door, "What's going on?"

"I have an idea!" Zakk said excitedly.

"No surprise there…" Mark smiled.

"Seriously, I know how to cushion the impact." Zakk said quickly. Mark raised an eyebrow. "My web fluid! Big ass truckloads of my web fluid."

"I thought you said that it would explode if hit hard enough." Mark said slowly.

"No, no, no, no, no…" Zakk said with increasing speed and thrill in his voice, "That's only in my web shooters. That's only because they're under a lot of pressure in my web shooters. If I can concoct a large amount of my web fluid and stick them in the back of a dump truck or something, then it would cushion the blast so it's nowhere near where it would be normally." Mark sighed and crossed his arms.

"Three problems…" He said as he held up three fingers, "One: Where are you going to get all that web fluid, that crap costs money from what I understand. Two: Where are you going to get dump trucks. Three: They're clearing everyone out from twenty blocks from Central Park, there's no way you could get in there…" Zakk smiled as if challenged.

"One: By now Richard's heard of this thing and he'll be willing to donate all kinds of money to keep his project (which is only a few blocks west of Central Park mind you) from being destroyed." Zakk's smile broadened, "Two: Charles can help me out with the dump trucks, that's no problem. Three: All we do is sneak in the night before and dump all that web fluid into the backs of the trucks." Mark nodded a moment, as if he was against it.

"Sounds like a plan." He smiled and walked over to Richard's door, "One thing though, YOU'RE talking both of them into it."

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Zakk stood on the edge of a roof overlooking the military blockade that had been set up ten hours ago. Zakk looked at his watch; the time was 11:03 PM, Zakk still had 17 hours to go. Over the past seventeen hours Zakk had been working tirelessly to make enough web fluid to fill two dump trucks. He had heard on the news that the comet was approximately the size of a tank, so he figured that two dump trucks should do it.

It took twenty minutes for Zakk to convince Richard to donate the money. After that, Charles, Zakk, and Mark prepared the dump trucks where NASA predicted the comet would land. He didn't tell Charles or Richard what he was going to use to cushion the impact, but he promised them it would work. The three had to sneak in and out through the sewers whenever they needed to get into the park.

Zakk had been working on the fluid in a building across the street from the park. Every building within twenty blocks of Central Park was empty, it was like a ghost town. Zakk had finally made enough web fluid three hours ago, but they had to leave on account of patrolmen. One truck had been filled and the other only halfway. Zakk was furious when Charles and Mark insisted that the fluid they had would be enough, even though Zakk and Mark figured up earlier that day that both the trucks should be filled completely to be fully effective.

Now Zakk was back alone to finish filling up the dump truck, he didn't tell the others. He wasn't going to go through the sewers again, he was tired of taking showers and explaining to his mom why he smelled the way he did. He yawned and scratched the back of his neck. He had been awake over twenty-four hours, and he was beginning to feel it. Zakk reached into his hoody pocket, pulled out his web shooters, and put them on.

He looked across the street and scanned the line of apartments looking for an open window. He found one a few moments later, Zakk estimated it was about one hundred feet away. Zakk aimed carefully and fired off a web strand that landed not far below the window. Zakk growled and aimed a little higher and shot another web strand the went in through the open window and hit something inside.

"God, I hope it's a wall…" Zakk whispered to himself as he ran toward the edge of the building, wrapping the strand around his arm as he did. He leapt off the building as far as he could and pulled on the web line with all his might. He felt the strand tighten and he was suddenly yanked toward the window with such force that he felt his neck pop.

Zakk was approaching the window at an alarming speed, so he tried his best to aim so that he went through the opening. He was about five feet away when he closed his eyes and crossed his arms around his head. He landed on a soft carpet, rolled onto a tile floor and hit the leg of something wooden, where he finally stopped. He heard a crack and he opened his eyes to be greeted by the sight of a dining table crashing down on top of him.

He stopped the table from falling on top of him and lifted it back up. He then grabbed the broken leg and placed it back into it's rightful position. He looked around and waited a moment to let his eyes become adjusted to the darkness. He was in a plain apartment, nothing peculiar. He walked over to the window to pull his web line in before heading to the door.

"Only nineteen more blocks to go…" He said to himself as he left the apartment.

One hour ago…

"Sir, we have a BIG problem…" John Sulkens told his boss, Larry Watkins.

"What is it now, John?" Larry sighed exasperatedly. One could tell that he hadn't had much sleep lately.

"Well, it seems that the comet has been greatly increasing its speed for the past few hours…" John said with a heavy sigh, "It's going to arrive earlier than expected…" Larry's eyes widened.

"How much earlier?" He said with dread in his voice.

"It's going to collide in about an hour and a half sir…" Larry stood quickly.

"Hour and a half?!" He hollered, "Are you fu-- Are you kidding me?!" John smiled slightly, grimly.

"No sir, I'm not…"

"How much faster is that damn thing going?"

"Well, in the past five hours, it increased its speed by about ten times." Larry, dumbfounded, sat back in his chair and stared at his desk.

"Tell the blockade to clear out immediately."

"I've already made the call, sir…" John said, "They'll all be out in about an hour or so…" Larry nodded and took a deep breath.

"Well, I pray that nobody's near the park…"

Now..

"Gosh damn, that thing's bright…" Zakk said as he snuck into another alley, "That's a little too bright for it to be hitting in… Seventeen hours? Hm…" He said to himself as he saw a helicopter fly by overhead, heading south. The comet itself was almost like a second moon in the sky. Zakk peeked his head around a corner and, seeing that the coast was clear, ran toward the park.

As he heard another helicopter, he ducked into another alleyway. This helicopter was headed south as well, and it didn't have its spotlight on. Zakk watched it fly away and began running toward the park again as the realization of what was going on hit him.

"Shit…" He said to himself, "I gotta hurry…"

Twenty minutes ago…

"The comet's going to hit in half an hour?!" Mark said after he heard the special report on TV. He leapt up from his bed, ran to Zakk's apartment, and knocked on the door quickly. Zakk's mother answered the door, smiling slightly when she saw him.

"Hello Mark, what are you doing?" She asked him warmly.

"Where's Zakk?" Mark asked quickly.

"Oh, he said he was going for a long run, he said he wanted to go out for cross-country next season…" Mark's jaw dropped, "I sure hope he's careful, I wouldn't want him to get hurt…"

"Yes ma'am, I'd hate it myself…" Mark said as he turned to go back into his apartment, "Dammit Zakk, what's wrong with you?" When Mark entered his apartment, he went straight to his brother's room. He knocked on the door and waited for his brother to open it.

"Look Mom, I already told you---" Mark's brother Michael, said exasperatedly as he opened the door, "Oh, hey Mark, whatcha need?" Michael was Mark's older brother by three years. He looked a lot like Mark, except he was a lot taller and had dark brown hair.

"I need you to do something very important for me." Mark said, "Zakk's gone to Central Park to finish something we've been working on the past twenty or so hours…"

"What is it?" Michael frowned.
"It's a way to cushion the impact of the comet."
"What?" Michael asked as he cocked his head to the side.

"Yeah, he found a way and is at the park putting the finishing touches on it." Mark said quickly, looking around anxiously.

"What do you want me to do about it?" Michael asked calmly.

"I want you to go warn him and get him out of there." Mark said sternly.

"Why can't you go?" Michael asked quickly.

"You know mom would never let me go out this late." Mark replied sharply, "You're nineteen, mom will let you go out anywhere."

"Not to the park, not now."

"Tell her you're going to the arcade or something."

"Alright, I'll go." Michael said as he reached back inside his room to grab his jacket after a moment of thought. He shut his door after pulling on the jacket and started toward his mother's room. "Hey mom, I'm going to meet some friends at Burger King."

"Alright baby, be careful." Mark heard his mother's words floating out of her room. Michael nodded, turned, and walked over to Mark.

"So, where is he?" Michael asked as he and Mark walked to the door.

"He's at the point of collision, which is just west of the Metropolitan Museum of Art."

"Oh, you mean in that big field thing?"

"Yeah."
"Okay, shouldn't be too hard." Michael said as he opened the door to leave.

"Wait, stop by Charles' place first; he'll show you how to get there." Mark said hurriedly.

"Alright, that should make things a little easier." Michael said as began closing the door, "Don't worry, we'll get him."

Michael closed the door and walked over to Charles' apartment. He knocked on the door and waited a moment. He heard footsteps and prepared himself to explain everything.

"Hey Char---" Michael started, but stopped short when he saw that it was Richard that had opened the door.

"Well hello, Michael." Richard said smiling widely and slightly menacingly.

Now…

"Dammit!" Zakk yelled as he smashed his finger between a twenty gallon barrel and the tire of the dump truck he was getting ready to pour it in. He recoiled in pain a moment before clenching his fist and grabbing the barrel full of web fluid and slinging it beside the ladder laying against the truck.

Zakk climbed the ladder and grabbed a rope off the edge of the truck. He tied the rope around the sides of the barrel and began dragging it up the ladder. When he reached the top of the truck he began pouring the fluid into the back of the truck. While waiting for the barrel to empty he looked over his work. He had two dump trucks connected side by side. Both were filled with web fluid to cushion the impact of the comet.

From what Zakk had seen and heard on the news, the comet was about the size of a medium-sized tank. He figured that if the comet hit in the exact place where it was projected to, he could keep the damage to a minimum. If not, then he would have worked for nothing.

Zakk looked up to see that the comet was putting forth more light than the full moon. He frowned and shook the barrel as he realized that it was empty. He flung the barrel off the truck and tried to climb down the ladder hurriedly. Halfway down he slipped on a rung and fell on his back, knocking the breath out of himself.

"Damn, things just don't seem to be going my way tonight." Zakk said to himself as he sat up after regaining his breath. He sat up slowly and stretched. "Best be getting the hell out of here." He turned and began jogging south, toward his home. He stopped after running about one hundred yards because he saw three people running toward him. They came out of the shadows and Zakk saw Michael, Charles, and Richard running toward him urgently.

"Zakk, we gotta go now." Michael said panting heavily as he reached Zakk.

"I realize that." Zakk said as he stopped to talk to the three, "What are you doing here Richard?"

"I came to see what I was putting my money into." Richard replied as he looked at the dump trucks, "Is that it? Dump trucks?"

"I really don't have time to explain Richard, we gotta go now!" Zakk said as he began turning the group around.

"Yeah I know." Charles said, "If they were right, the comet should be hitting in about… Four minutes…" Zakk looked at Charles with pure fear on his face.

"MOVE!!!" Zakk shoved all three and they began running toward the south end of Central Park. All four were scared out of their minds. None said a word through the entire ordeal.

Just as the group reached the southern fence of the park they turned to see the comet collide with the Earth. They all leapt over the fence and as their feet hit the ground the concussion of the collision hit them full force. The force of the blast threw the four almost two hundred feet. Zakk hit the ground, and slowly skidded to a stop. He saw a pale blue light fading out as Michael, Richard, and Charles attempted to sit up, but fainted. That was the last thing Zakk could see before his vision went black.

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"NO!!!" Zakk screamed as he sat up in a bright white room. He squinted his eyes and laid back down on a mildly soft mattress. He felt something inside his wrist. He looked to see and IV connected to a machine. A nurse came in and started when she saw that his eyes were open.

"Oh, you're awake." She turned and ran out of the room.

"Hrm." Zakk said as he slowly pulled the IV out of his arm. He raised an eyebrow, it didn't hurt as much as he thought it would. A few minutes later a doctor came in carrying a clipboard. He was tall, had blue eyes and balding grey hair.

"Hi my name is Dr. Smith." The doctor said, "You've been unconscious for three days. Do you remember your name?" The doctor asked.

"It should be Zakk Willis, unless someone's changed it?" Zakk replied with a slight smile.

"Okay." The doctor wrote something on the clipboard. "I see your IV is out. You should have waited for a doctor to take it out."

"I'm sorry doc, it's just that I don't like having needles stuck inside me." Zakk said as he flexed his hand, feeling muscles in his arm that he had never felt before.

"It's quite alright Mr. Willis." The Doctor said, "Now, were going to run some diagnostic tests on you."

The next few hours involved Zakk going through various tests to see if he was all right. He passed all of them with flying colors. According to the doctors, his was the best results they had ever seen. After the tests Zakk grabbed his things and checked his hoody pockets for his web shooters. They were still there and intact.

"All right Zakk, you're good to go." Dr. Smith told Zakk as he walked out of the test room, "Be careful and don't get into anymore trouble."

"Trouble?" Zakk stopped in his tracks.

"Yes, you were caught within the blockade; you and your friends." Smith said, "There should be some city officials waiting for you in the waiting room."

"Wait, my friends?"

"The other three guys that were with you when you were found."

"Holy hell…" Zakk said under his breath, "How are they?"

"They're still unconscious as of this moment, but other than that, they're fine." Zakk sighed in relief.

"Okay, thanks." Zakk walked toward the waiting room slowly. He opened the door and saw two men in business suits and two police officers talking to his mother. Zakk entered the waiting room and they immediately walked over to him. His mother looked relieved to see him, but upset as well.

"I'm Lionel Santos, and this is my partner Josh Benenhaley." One of the suited men said. Lionel was about five foot four inches tall and looked to be of Philippine origin. Josh was tall, about six foot three inches tall, thin, had dark brown eyes and short orange hair. "We'd like to talk to you about why you were within the blockade."

"And don't lie to us Zakk, we found you the morning after the comet hit, unconscious right outside Central Park."

"Well…" Zakk sighed, "Truth be told, I was in there to cushion the impact of the comet." Lionel and Josh looked at each other.

"How's that?" Lionel asked.

"Well, I concocted this type of goopy fluid that can be used as a shock absorber." Zakk said, "Me friends and I filled two dump trucks full of it where the comet was projected to collide. I thought I had more time, but something happened and the comet hit sixteen hours early."

"So that's why the damage was way below what was expected." Josh said, "Kid, you're a hero."

"I guess, but I don't want you to tell anyone." Lionel and Josh looked at each other with surprised looks.

"Why?" Lionel asked, "This thing is like, big news. You'll be a hero."

"I don't want to be a hero, not for this." Zakk said exasperatedly, "Look, just tell your higher-ups what happened, and that's it. I don't want to be acknowledged for any of this. I have enough to worry about without people calling me a hero everytime I walk down the street." Lionel nodded and extended his hand.

"Well, good luck kid." Lionel said as he shook Zakk's hand. "We might run into each other again one day. Until then, stay out of trouble." Josh shook Zakk's hand as well.

"We'll be seeing you." Josh said as he and Lionel turned to walk over to his mother followed by the police officers.

They told his mother something and she sighed in relief. After that, they walked out of the hospital. Zakk's mother walked over to him and hugged him.

"I'm so glad you're okay!" She said, "Don't worry, Lionel told me that you're not in the wrong and that they're looking into who drugged you and the others."

"Oh yeah…" Zakk couldn't help but smile, "They're pretty good guys aren't they?"

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"Hey man, how are you feeling?" Mark hugged Zakk as he walked into Mark's apartment.

"I'm feeling fine, great even." Zakk said before sitting down on the couch. He stretched, again feeling muscles he had never felt before. He lied down on the couch and yawned.

"Well, that's good." Mark said sitting down in the chair beside the couch, "We went to see Michael today, but he was still asleep. I guess you woke up right after we left."

"I guess so." Zakk replied sitting up. "Hey, I think I'm going to go for a quick run… I need to stretch my legs." Mark nodded.

"Go ahead Mr. I-Live-on-Whims." Mark said smiling.

"I'll be right back." Zakk said as he stepped out of the apartment.

Zakk stepped out on the sidewalk and began walking toward Central Park. After walking a half-mile, he got the strangest feeling in the back of his head. It felt as if there was something scratching the inside of his skull. He shook his head and looked around. He noticed a car speeding around the corner. It nearly collided with some people and began speeding down the street he was on.

"Oh shit!" A man next to him said in a Russian accent before attempting to run away. The people in the car screamed something in Russian and began firing automatic machine guns. The scratching came back immediately and Zakk instinctively leapt out of the way and ran into the closest alleyway. He fell over the bullet-riddled corpse of the guy who had tried to run away. Zakk leapt back up as he heard the car turn around and cursed when he saw that he was in a dead-end alley.

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The Russians got out of the car and walked over to the body of the man they had killed. They looked around for the blonde teenager they had seen run into the alleyway as well. There was nowhere for him to run, it was a dead-end alley. They searched through some trash cans and decided to give up when they heard police sirens in the distance.

They grabbed the body of the man and threw him in the trunk before backing back into the street and speeding off.

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Zakk looked over the edge of the roof as the Russians sped off. He looked at his hands in disbelief. He had leapt at least forty feet off the ground and stuck to the wall with his hands. He had then proceeded to climb the wall like Spider-Man. Zakk looked at a thick steel pipe on the roof and walked over to it.

He grabbed the pipe and squeezed it. It crumpled in his hand like a piece of paper. Zakk let go of the pipe and stepped back a few feet. He began running toward the edge of the building and leapt with all his might. He cleared the space between the buildings and landed halfway across the roof.

"Holy shit…" Zakk said with a huge smile on his face.