I used to think being a superhero or just someone who could make a difference and people could look up to was the coolest thing in the world. I still do, but after what had happened, I wish none of it ever did. Who am I? You sure you want to know? This story is definitely not for the faint of heart. If someone said "This story was a happy tale", and if someone told you "I was your average ordinary guy that no one cares about, and has no care at all in this world", that person lied.
But let me assure you this. This story, like any worth other, and any superhero do have a beginning, and it's all about someone we look up to or are just special to us. For me, my story, and the people I care about start a few months ago, and on that day, my life changed forever.
"Tonight, I'm gonna have myself, a really good time," A young man sings along to a song playing in his headphones, as he lies back on a chair sketching an image that resembled a page in a comic book. He loved comic books all his life, and music, and drawed comic book heroes a lot of the time, and even drew and made his own comic books in the past. He listened to Don't Stop Me now by Queen, as he and his Uncle were huge fans of the band, and owned many CDs of their music. The young man was a fan of a lot of forms people would now call art, from drawing-music-movies-more. He rolled back in his chair, and put his feet up, and rested on his desk, with the song blasting in his ears, and looks up to a poster of his favorite comic book character, and fictional character ever, The Scarlet Spider.
"Cameron!" A woman shouted from across the doorway into his room. She knocked on the door hard, and looked to her watch. They would be late to get to school if Cameron continued not listening to her. "We have to go!" She shouted.
That caught his attention, and he takes off his headphones, and looks to the clock in his room. It was 8:02 in the morning, and he panicked in his head. "Uh-Uh… Just a second, Aunt Serena!" He responded nervously with a panic in his voice. Serena rolled her eyes hearing him, and slowly creaks the door open. "Hurry up, or you'll be late!" She ordered.
He nodded quickly, "I'm coming, don't worry!"
Serena sighed, as she was closing the door, "Teenagers…"
Cameron quickly bolted to his closet, and changed into a T-Shirt with Optimus Prime standing tall and proud on the center of it, holding his energy rifle in his right arm. He put on a fresh pair of underwear, socks, and jean pants, and charged out of the door in his room, and bolted for the kitchen to eat his breakfast. He had his phone in hand, and his headphones around his neck, and took a seat with a plate of fresh pancakes in front of him. He couldn't resist his Aunt's pancakes, along with New York style Pizza. It was to him, like his form of kryptonite, only goey, and steaming, and delicious thankfully for him. "We gotta go, Cameron," Serena told him.
"I can take him," A man said, as he walked in the kitchen. The man could tell he had just gotten up out of bed in a hurry, as he saw some of his dirty blond hair curved and sticking up, and chuckled.
Cameron noticed, with half a piece of pancake in his mouth, "What's so funny?" He was confused.
"Nothin', Cam. But if you want someone to drive you, we gotta go, like now," He told him, as he pointed to his watch.
Cameron rolled his eyes at that, "Y'know, there is such thing as a school bus, right?" He asked.
He didn't much care for that comment, "That ain't going to work."
"Aww, c'mon, Uncle Ash. I'm old enough to take a bus. I'm not 10 anymore," Cameron wasn't happy by that, and got up to continue getting ready.
Serena didn't like the tone Cameron was presenting, and stepped in, "You missed the bus, mister," She said.
Cameron hearing groaned in defeat, and continued to the bathroom.
Serena once they arrived at Cameron's school kissed him on the cheek lovingly. Cameron didn't like being seen in public with his Aunt kissing his cheek, or even his aunt and Uncle just around him in public in general around people he knew. "Aunt Serena, you're embarrassing me!"
"In a sec," She said looking to him, with a bright smile, and kissed his cheek again. Cameron mentally face palmed knowing people are most likely going to laugh at him again, and his bullies are going to have a ton of insults regarding his current situation. She stepped back in her car once she was done, and waved to him, "Bye, sweetie! Have a good day!"
Cameron waved back, and turned around, as she drove off. Cameron clenched his fists in anger, feeling embarrassed, and gritted his teeth, and took a deep breath, "Relax, Cameron. It's only one time. You get through today, and you're one step closer to never seeing this hellhole again," He said to himself. He walked along the pathway into school quietly, and looked around to see students hanging out, or just studying. Figures, he told himself. He looked all around the entrance of the school, but didn't find his friends anywhere. Where are they? He asked himself in his head. This wasn't the first time any of his friends had not gone to school, but he thought they would at least come to hang out with him today of all days.
Suddenly, out of nowhere, the young man is hit hard on the back of his head by a basketball. "Ow!" He looked back, and gritted his teeth angrily at three kids.
One of them couldn't contain his laughter at that, "Oh, sorry," He said jokingly. Cameron knew he wasn't sorry, judging by the laugh and mischievous smile on his face. He could tell them from any other student apart from a mile away. One in the center was tall, and had short brown hair, and blue eyes. He as usual wore a gray hoodie, with a Metallica shirt, jeans and black sneakers. The one on the left had worn a red and white baseball cap, a blue T-Shirt with Captain America's shield on it, brown khaki pants, and white sneakers, and had a black apple watch on his left arm. The one on his right was the shortest, and wore a black bandanna on his head, with sunglasses to match, a gray shirt with a picture of an X-Wing from Star Wars, shorts, white socks, and black nike sneakers. They were whom Cameron hated the most in school, as they had bullied him ever since 1st grade, and he looked away from them annoyed.
"Assholes…" Cameron muttered to himself quietly.
"Good mornin', Winkler," The kid said, as he and his friends walk past him, and pats Cameron on the back. That however felt to Cameron like a mockful pat, and not a friendly or supportive one.
Cameron sighed, "This is going to be a long day, isn't it?" He asked himself.
However, that would soon feel like it could change for him, as he had glimpsed at a girl sitting by the front entrance of the building. He wasn't sure if she was a cheerleader, but that gave him an idea, and a confident smile came onto his face. He then began to take a step, and continued walking with the smile still on his face.
Many students however notice, and some raise an eyebrow confused by the young man's actions. "What's he doing?"
"Dunno, but I bet it's going to fail for him."
"He's got some guts all right. Probably doesn't have any brain cells though."
Cameron could hear all the chatter around him, and didn't like any of the insults and doubts about him being talked about. He however ignored the comments, and confidently stood in front of the girl. "Um… Carly?"
The young girl looked up to see the confident young man, and wasn't happy to see him.
"Is he?"
"I think he is."
They all waited in shock, and confusion, "ARE YOU NUTS?!" Carly shouted angrily at Cameron.
"He did," Some of the kids laughed.
She got up, and narrowed her eyes at Cameron, "Why on this planet would I ever want to go out with Xavier High's reigning champion nerd?!" She scoffed.
"I didn't know, I swear-" Cameron however heard the bullies coming back.
"Hey, Terrance. Winkler is hitting on your girl," He heard Nick, the school football star, and bully say behind his back.
Carly walked back to them, and pushes Cameron rudley to the side, "You're damn right he was! I can't believe that dickface would think of something like that," She gritted his teeth looking back at Cameron.
The students all around them were laughing, but for Cameron, this wasn't just a joke. Nick grabs him by the collar of his shirt, "Best you try not to hit on my girl, Winkler. If your comic nerd sweat gets within even 1 mile of Michelle-"
"Shut it, Nick. I'm not your personal punching bag anymore. Things have changed," Cameron cut him off, and narrowed his eyes and gritted his teeth, and even clenched his fists at the jock.
Nick chuckled, and pushed him back, and Cameron fell back, and hit the stairs hard. He laughed, "You guy hear him threaten me like that? He thinks he can take me on," He continued laughing, and Cameron was angry. He clenched his fist, ready to punch Nick hard in the face, but he felt he couldn't do anything other than get in trouble, and he thought Nick would punch him harder. So, he got up, and just walked away, minding his own business. "Aww, look at that. Wimpy Cameron runnin' away, like a chicken," Nick laughed in his direction.
Cameron walked to the front of the entrance to school, and looked out to the skies, and many tall buildings all around him. New York was famous for those, and Cameron loved living in the city a lot. Though, all he wanted was to just teach Nick and his buddies a lesson for bullying others, but he couldn't.
"Hey, Cam," He heard a familiar voice approaching, and he jerked his head to see his best friends walking up to him, and all had bright smiles on their faces.
"Hey, guys."
"So, how'd asking Carly go for ya?" A boy had said. He was Cameron's best friend, Mordecai, who was the son of NYPD officer Solana Quill. He was 15 like Cameron, and had short brown hair, green eyes, and wore a black hoodie, with a Star Wars T-Shirt of Darth Vader, jeans, and black Nike's. He had asked his friend in a cheeky manner, and winked at him.
Cameron rolled his eyes, "What? Didn't you hear the laughing?"
A girl next to Mordecai had sighed, "We heard, Cam. We're sorry that had happened, and we just thought we could help cheer you up," she explained. She was the smartest of Cameron's group of friends, Lucy. She had known Cameron the most, as the two had known each other since kindergarten, and had long brown hair, blue eyes, and wore a plain gray T-shirt, jeans and brown boots.
Cameron sighed, "Relax, Lucy. I'm over it. Frankly, I don't know why I even did that," He looked away. Cameron was always an over eager, and brash person. He had been that way after he won multiple drawing contests at school at a young age. That however was amplified when he turned 14, and tried to become popular, and even qualified for the Basketball team, but failed miserably.
"Attention students, please report to the parking lot to get onto the bus. 2 students per seat."
Everyone had heard the inner com, and Cameron, Mordecai, and Lucy all walked together to the bus. They were together, like a team, and they all cared about each other a lot, and Cameron was glad to have them, by his back, especially Lucy.
"Xavier High Sophomores, no wandering, proceed to direct-" The teacher was cut off, as he had caught a crumpled ball of paper thrown at his direction by Nick and his friends. "Knock it off," He looked to the three with his eyes glazed over. He looked back to everyone within an instant, "Remember, it is a privilege to be here. We are guests of Empire State University's science department, so let's not have this be like our trip to the Art Museum last year."
Cameron was just waiting to get inside and get the trip over with, as he did not want to go to the university at all. His Aunt and Uncle had thought about him attending the college for the last few months, and have been looking into their art department. The group walk inside, and pass through one corridor to another, and to another.
"There are over 32,000 species of spider in the world," A tour guide had told them, as she showed the class all around the lab. Some, like Lucy were amazed as to what they were seeing. Many machines and tables were scattered across the whole room. Computers with workers in front of them were present, and cages full of animals, and insects were across the walls of the lab.
Terrance yawned completely bored, "Boring!" He said out loud.
The Tour guide wasn't happy by Terrance's attitude, and sighed, "And here we have ESU's priced specimens. Genetic traits from all three spiders we've seen have been combined into these 15 well, let's call them "Super Spiders"," She said, as she looked to a cage containing the arachnids. Lucy however may have been afraid of spiders, but she was too curious to not know what those things looked like.
However, she had noticed something. The spider on the top right was missing. Did one go missing? She was confused. "Um… There's only 14. One's missing," She commented after looking at the cage for a few seconds.
"Huh... I guess the staff had taken it back for further study," The Tour Guide was confused, and looked to see she was right.
Nick rudely pushed Cameron forward, and snickered behind his back, "Move it."
"Jerk…" Cameron muttered again. Cameron moved back away from the crowd, and sighed. However, he and the rest of the security didn't know where the spider had gone. The spider however had been crawling on a thin strand of silk down to Cameron, and detached from the web, only to land on his shoulder. All Cameron wished for was to be like his hero, Scarlet Spider, and he sighed knowing that would never happen. Suddenly though, the spider had reached his hand and bit hard, sinking its fangs down to his skin, "Ow!" Cameron reacted as he felt the bite, and looked to see the spider sink its teeth. He swatted it off, like a fly, and watched it land on the ground. The hell was that all about? Thoughts raced through Cameron's mind, and he looked back to his hand to see the bite mark.
"Winkler. Let's move it," He heard the teacher call for him, and he needed to go with them. Suddenly though, Cameron fell down hard unconscious, and he was blacking out.
"Oh my god, Cameron!" Lucy saw her friend on the ground, and unconscious.
The group her her scream, and all circle around Cameron, "Call an ambulance, now!" A teacher ordered, as he crouched down, and comfort Cameron.
"Oh, god. Look at that," Cameron could barely hear anything around him, but could hear Nick and his buddies laughing.
"Cameron! Oh, god. Please wake up!" Lucy cried, as she put her hand to his face.
Cameron lied in the hospital still in a comatose state after the bite. Doctors, nurses, and Ash and Serena all wait in hope he will wake up. Something however was happening inside his body, but no one knew what. Serena held his hand, and prayed that he would wake up. His heart rate was normal on the monitor, but suddenly, he woke up, and sprung up out of his hospital bed, like a horror movie. He gasped heavily, and everyone around him were surprised that happened, and Cameron breathed heavily, and the monitor showed his heart rate beating rapidly. "You're awake!" Serena was over the moon seeing he was okay.
Cameron looked around confused, "W-What happened?" He asked.
"You're the hospital," Ash replied.
Cameron raised an eyebrow, "Uh… Why?"
"You got bit by a spider from the lab at ESU. You fell into a bad coma, and we were worried sick," Serena explained.
Cameron saw she looked worried, and shedded tears and felt bad he scared them, "I'm sorry…" He hugged her.
A Doctor looked to Cameron in concern, "How many fingers am I holding?" He asked raising his hand and only showing three fingers.
"Three," He answered.
"Are you feeling any nausea? Dizziness?"
Cameron wasn't sure if he was or not. He didn't feel dizzy, or feel sick at all. In fact, he felt fine. "I don't think so. I feel… Great I think," He answered after a minute of silence.
That had shocked everyone. "Are you sure? You were out cold for hours," Serena said.
"Yeah," He responded.
"Nurse?" The doctor asked.
"Yes, Doctor," The nurse responded.
"Does your hand hurt, sweetie?" Serena was concerned seeing his hand wrapped up in bandage.
"Relax, Aunt Serena. I'm fine. In fact, my hand doesn't even hurt anymore."
The nurse slowly approached the young man, and was holding a needle to get his blood. "We're going to be taking some blood tests to see how someone would fall unconscious like you did today," The doctor explained.
"Well, the thing is Cameron has always been suffering from allergies. Perhaps that nasty bite, and-"
The Doctor took what she said into consideration. "That's a definite maybe. We'll run a full blood work, and analysis."
The nurse slowly lowered the needle to Cameron's right arm, but doesn't go in. The nurse and doctor notice, and both are confused by this. "Tuff skin you got there," She commented. The needle then goes inside his arm.
"You coulda fooled me."
Ash and Serena take Cameron home a few hours later, and both are very relieved that he's okay. Though, once they got home, Cameron just crashed on his bed and drifted to sleep instantly. "You think he'll be okay? The doctors said it'll be swollen for about a week," Serena and Ash talked in the living room, leaving Cameron to sleep.
Ash looked to his wife with concern, "I honestly don't know, Serena. He was out cold when he got to the hospital, and now him saying he felt great just doesn't make sense to me."
Serena couldn't bare to think about what could happen, and looked to him scared, and hugged him tightly. They both cared about Cameron deerly. They had treated them with love, like he was their own child, and not just their nephew. They had been through so much together, and went to many places together from Disneyland-Star Wars Celebration-even New York Comic Con. Ash comforted his wife, scared that Cameron could potentially die like her, and looked to a photo taken of them years ago. Cameron was still a little boy, and looked down to Serena hoping he would be alright.
Cameron in the morning awoke after sleeping for several hours, but was hearing multiple things at once loudly, from dogs barking-cars honking-even people just shouting. That's weird. Why am I hearing so many things at once? He asked himself in his mind, as he got up out of bed, but felt somewhat taller than normal. "Huh?" He looked down confused. However, the noises he was hearing got louder, and he couldn't handle it. What the heck is going on?! Why am I hearing so many things at once?! Thoughts raced through his mind, as he looked all around his bedroom. He quickly changed his clothes, and went downstairs to eat his breakfast and continue getting ready. Things got only weirder when he was at school, as he roamed through one corridor to the next. He however could hear more going on at school, and potentially more stuff from blocks away in the city. It didn't help it was New York, which was already louder than anyone would want it to be. What is going on? He looked around the hall, and opened his locker.
Suddenly however, he felt a sharp tiny prickle in the back of his neck. What the?! He was confused, but then, it felt as if his instincts took over, and grabbed whoever was behind him, and threw him hard, and he smashed into the wall. He looked down only to see it was Mordecai on the ground, "Ow. What the heck was that for?!" He shouted.
Cameron didn't even know what he had just did, other than throw his friend. "Mordo. I'm so sorry. I-I didn't-"
"Woah, Winkler's now beating up his friends? Genius!" Nick laughed from behind his back, as he had saw the whole thing.
Mordecai got up, but still felt pain on his shoulder, "Look, I'm sorry."
"It's fine. Just didn't expect that to happen," Mordecai walked away.
Cameron wasn't sure if he was fine with it or not, and was confused as to what he did. "Okay, now I'm throwing my friends at lockers. Something seriously is wrong right now…" He said to himself, as he walked along the hallway. Class was normal, thankfully for him, but he was still thinking of that strange prickling on the back of his neck.
That thought had been on his mind for the rest of the day, and when he got home, he needed to get some answers. He walked all around his room thinking of possible explanations."Why is this happening?!" He flopped back onto his bed more confused than ever as to what's happening. Suddenly however, a car honked, and that caused him to jump surprised. However, to Cameron's surprise, he jumped much higher than he had thought, and landed on the ceiling. But, he was sticking. "What the-?" He was confused. He couldn't let go, like he was glued to it, "Stop sticking!" He tried to get down, and eventually did, but broke a small part of the ceiling layer off, and dropped down onto his bed hard. Tiny parts of the ceiling broke off, and fell onto his bed, and Cameron's eyes widened in shock as to what he did.
Cameron couldn't help but feel reminded of his favorite hero, and looked through all of his comic books of Scarlet spider, and to his shock, he saw all the events that happened to him today happen to Peter Parker, "This can't be real…" He said to himself, as he flicked through the pages. "How can there be a real Scarlet Spider?! That's not possible!" He flicked through the pages, and saw the Scarlet Spider in his red and black costume swinging through New York with ease. Can it be possible? He asked himself.
Cameron looked up at the ceiling again seeing the hole he had made, but he looked back at the comic book and saw a page of Peter Parker clinging and climbing up the wall in his bedroom. He looked at the book, and got up off, and like the comic book hero, Cameron placed and his fingers pressed against the wall, and Cameron put the comic down on a small box next to him, and placed his other hand on the wall, and both clinged to it. He began to climb, and within a few minutes, Cameron hung onto the ceiling again, but he was amazed by this, "No way…"
The day had passed, and Cameron knew he couldn't tell anyone about his newfound power. Not even his Aunt and Uncle could be told of this, and Cameron needed some answers still about the whole thing. He went through his locker after 1st period, but all he could think about was that he was able to cling to surfaces, and that mysterious prickling feeling on the back of his neck. Okay, just get through today with… whatever it is and my sudden hearing boost problem, and then go to try to get some help on how to deal with… whatever it is that's happening. You can do it, Cameron. Just relax, He told himself, as he walked through the hall. He had his headphones on to try to block out any sounds he didn't want to hear, and minded his own business.
However, he realized something. He forgot to grab his homework for English from his locker, and English was in a few minutes. He turned and bolted back to his locker fast, and opened it, and grabbed the sheet. Just then though, Nick approaches the young man, "Hey Winkler."
Suddenly, Cameron felt another prickle on the back of his neck, and like before, he grabbed Nick, and slammed into the wall, "Oh crud," He let him go quickly. "Listen man, I'm sorry," Nick wasn't happy by that. He found it odd, and everyone around them were shocked that Cameron did that.
"You think that's supposed to be funny?" Nick asked.
The crowd all around them all wonder what's going on. Lucy and Mordecai all look in concern to them.
"I smell a fight coming," Lucy says worriedly.
"Same."
Lucy looked to Mordecai, "Help him," She ordered.
"Nick, I don't want to fight you. Just leave me alone."
Nick chuckled, and raised his clenched fists in a fighting stance, "I wouldn't want to fight me neither, twinkie."
Cameron slowly backed away, but Nick tried to swing a punch straight at his face. Cameron shifted his head to the right to avoid, and Nick tried to swing another, only for Cameron to shift his head to the right.
"FIGHT! FIGHT! FIGHT! FIGHT!"
Nick threw another punch again, but this time, Cameron ducked fast. He was shocked he had done that too, and it looked to some he reacted before Nick even swung his fist toward him. Suddenly, he felt another prickle, but he wasn't sure what it was this time. Suddenly, Cameron jumped into the air, avoiding a tackle from Terrace, and the crowd was shocked. Cameron landed on his feet, like he had done it effortlessly.
"Which one?" Mordecai looked to Lucy.
Nick tried to swing a few more punches, but Cameron dodged them effortlessly again, by shifting his head to the side. However, he had then grabbed Nick's hand, and began to apply pressure, and it hurt the bully. "AAGH!" Cameron heard him scream, and suddenly, Nick dropped down onto his knees, with the lower side of his arm being twisted, and suddenly. There was a snap in his arm. He broke his entire arm. "AAAAAAAGH!" He let go, and watched Nick scream in pain, and Cameron couldn't believe it.
Everyone, including a few teachers who tried to intervene all looked to the young man in shock.
"Holy shit…" Mordecai said as he and Lucy looked to Cameron, who himself was shocked that he had done that.
The news had broke to Serena and Ash once Cameron had gotten home. Cameron had felt extremely bad for what he had done, and no doubt to him, his uncle and aunt would be extremely angry. Ash had hung up the phone, as he had called
"Perfect…" Ash hung up the phone.
"What now?" Cameron looked down at the table.
"Well, we just got a Thirty five hundred thousand dollar hospital bill now, and if we don't pay-" He explained.
Serena looked to him in concern. "What?"
He sighed, "And if we don't pay, we're going to be sued."
They both look to him in shock. Their eyes widened, as they couldn't believe what they had just heard. "Are you kidding, me?!"
"Oh my god. What are we going to do?" Serena was scared about that. She was shocked to hear what Cameron had done, and hearing this news was even worse to hear.
Ash sighed not knowing what to do, "What can we do? We can't just get a lawyer, since they would charge us dry on top of that. We just have to pay the bill."
"But-"
Ash looked to his wife with a serious face, "Serena. Cameron broke the kid's hand. What can we do?"
"For the record, people, that was his fault," Cameron commented.
Serena looked to the young man in anger, "That didn't give you the right though to break his arm."
Cameron couldn't believe what he was hearing. "He freaking tried to beat me to a pulp. I was trying to defend myself. Y'know, something you two had taught me to do?!" He said. "I'm tired of that jerk always picking on me, like I'm his private punching bag! I try to defend and stand up for myself, and what do I get in return?!"
"Cameron, that's not what we had taught you to do!" Ash shouted.
"Oh yeah?! Well, at least it's better than being a cowardly wimp like the both of you!" Cameron shouted, as he stormed off to his room in rage.
Ash and Serena couldn't help, but be shocked as to what they had just heard. Cameron pounded his fist at his desk next to his computer, "This isn't fair! I shouldn't-" He stopped and took a deep breath, and thought about what had happened. As much as he hated to admit it, he did break his arm, and it was his fault. He had triggered Nick to do what he did, and Cameron sighed. "What am I going to do? It's not like I can use my new powers to make me money…" However, that thought had stuck in his head.
He had grabbed his old video camera he had gotten for his 13th birthday, and then looks to his computer, and saw it was on YouTube. That however gave him the idea, but he needed some more insight on his powers. However, it only took days to practice, and like clockwork, he began uploading videos of himself to YouTube. He was wearing a red mask to hide his face, and recorded multiple videos of him doing insane feets. He was jumping off of rooftops, like a comic book character with ease, lifting up dumpsters, like they were pieces of paper, and even him running and crawling along the sides of buildings. He looked at the videos, and all of them were getting thousands of views within seconds. He had just become famous. All over school, students were talking about all the videos of him, and Cameron loved hearing everyone of them. He was even the most talked about thing on his social media feed.
"Dude, have you seen the newest video of that masked guy?" Mordecai asked as he had caught up to his friend.
Cameron wasn't sure how to word his response, but looked to him, with a what do you think look on his face. "Dude, the guy is literally the conversation of the entire school," He said.
"Can you blame anyone though? The guy is nuts, but it's like he's got superpowers or something!" He said.
It was clear to Cameron that his friend was a huge fan, which to him was weird seeing that he was just jumping on smaller rooftops, and climbing up walls. He may have superhuman strength, but he wasn't sure how strong he was now, but it was clear that he was famous. "Well, the guy is clearly something, I guess," Cameron finally spoke up.
"Yeah! I even heard a rumor he's so big, even talk show hosts are hoping to have him appear," Mordecai looked to him in excitement.
That however stuck to Cameron. He hadn't heard that rumor, but the idea of him being on a talk show proved to be an idea that would be dumb to him to not pass up. Though, it wasn't the idea he had for today, but it would be a good idea. At least in his head.
"Are you serious?!" The two friends hear Nick shout in shock, and both look to see the tryout list for the football team, and Cameron smirked. "How could Winkler even think of trying out?!" That shocked Mordecai, and he looked to him.
"You're trying out?" He asked.
"You need him to repeat that?"
Mordecai couldn't believe what he heard. Cameron was never much a fan of sports at all, and he had tried once to be part of the football team, but failed horribly. "You can't be serious about this."
"Well, if you doubt me, be my guest. But I got practice to do," Cameron said, as he walked away with a smirk on his face. His ego, and overconfidence had taken full advantage of him thanks to his new powers, and his strength now felt it would be perfect, and he felt he was a shoe in to get into the team.
Cameron had stood in front of the coach in the football field in uniform, ready to make a good impression. Lucy and Mordecai watched from the bleachers from afar, and Lucy was nervous about Cameron getting hurt.
"I still can't believe Cameron is doing this," Mordecai commented.
Lucy didn't speak, as she was too worried.
The Coach began to speak, "Alright people. I only got room for two of you on the team. One starter and one backup. Helmets on, let's play some football!" He ordered.
Cameron put on his helmet like the rest of the team did, and Cameron stepped backwards, but still had the confidence he had. Nick had the ball in hand, and looked to where he should throw it too, and aimed for Terrance. Cameron smirked, and dashed forward, charging at the ball, when it was thrown.
Mordecai and Lucy noticed Cameron was running faster than a normal football player would, "What's he doing?" Mordecai asked.
"I don't know."
Suddenly, Cameron leapt into the air, and he jumped far into the sky, and everyone's jaws dropped and eyes widened surprised. Cameron then catches the ball, and lands a foot behind Nick, but looked like he didn't feel a thing. Everyone was amazed by that feet.
"Mine," Cameron held the ball, and looked back, with a smirk on his face.
Nick and the others all charged to him quickly, but Cameron bolted to the goal fast, but suddenly, his hand began to hurt. He ignored the pain at first, but then, it began to feel like it cramped horribly. "AAGH!" He dropped the ball and it fell onto the grassy ground, and he fell onto his knees in pain.
Everyone were concerned, but Nick couldn't help but laugh, "Aww, what's the matter? You need your auntie to kiss your booboo?" He said, and made kissing noises in a mockful tone.
That however angered Cameron very much, and he gritted his teeth at him, and he snapped, "Would you just Shut up?!" He shouted loudly. "Or better yet, how 'bout I come over, and rip off your goddamn head?!"
That shocked everyone, and the couch couldn't think of what to say, but spoke up, "Winkler. Go to the nurse, now!" He ordered and pointed to the building, and Cameron left in anger.
Cameron pounded his desk in rage. He was sick of Nick mocking him, and now wanted to teach him a lesson, but needed to take a deep breath. He had still kept what Mordecai had said about him potentially being on a talk show thanks to his antics online. However, while he wanted payback, he still needed to get some more money to pay the bill for Nick's healing arm. Thankfully, Nick's arm had healed enough so he could play with it, but it wasn't enough for them to drop the bill.
Cameron grabbed his phone, and called a number in hopes to get on a show. "Hello? It's uh… The spider. From YouTube. I was wondering about a rumor I heard today about a talk show wanting me on and-"
"You heard correct! How'd you like to be on Jimmy Fallon, kid?" The agent asked on the other end.
That shocked him, "Sure, but I'm gonna need a suit. Don't worry, I think I can come up with one easily," Cameron responded.
"Alright then! Just let me know if you need anything because in no time, you'll be a bigger household name than you already are!" The agent was excited to get to talk to him. Cameron could tell by his voice on the phone, and he quickly hung up.
One problem occurred however. The costume. All he used in his videos was just a red mask he had cut holes to see out of, and nothing else. Cameron thought if he wanted to be a bigger star than he was now, he'd need a better suit. However, one idea came to his mind, and he began sketching in his notebook. The idea was a suit inspired by Scarlet Spider, but colors were inspired by Optimus Prime, and Captain America, and it took countless designs, but at the end, he looked at it, and he was proud. He had borrowed his aunt's sewing machine, and began to create the red and blue skin tight costume he had drawn. Thankfully, he had been taught how to sew by his Aunt, which to him wasn't good to be proud of, but now, it helped him a lot.
"Alright world. This may sound cheesy, but prepare to witness me, but from now on, you can call me…" He looked at himself in the mirror, but he couldn't think of a name. Though, naming himself was the least of his problems, as his suit looked in the mirror, like a baggy loose mess.
He facepalmed, "God… Note to self, next time, ask if the agent on the phone can get me a good looking suit…" He said to himself. However, he still needed a name. He couldn't just use Scarlet Spider, as that would no doubt would put him through copyright laws, so he needed to think of a name that sounded catchy and iconic. "Hmm… Web Head? Nah… Maybe… Human Spider?... Nah… Hmm…" He thought for a solid few minutes, but one name stuck in his head. Spider-Man. He liked that name, and quickly called the agent he had met the night before. Thankfully, it was Saturday, and had spent a couple of days prior putting the suit together. He even met up with the agent he had contacted and got a number out of the guy.
He quickly called to give him an update, "Hey, it's Spider-Man. Listen, I know I said I could make my own costume and all, but-"
The agent interrupted him, "Kid, your timing couldn't have been any better! We'll get you a suit in no time because in 3 weeks, you're going to be on Jimmy Fallon!"
KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK!
Cameron quickly hung up the phone before he could respond. He quickly took off his suit, as he heard the knocking on his door more, and hid the suit in his closet, "Yeah, come in," He said.
Ash quickly opened the door, and walked inside, "Hey, Cam. You got a minute?"
"Yeah. What's up?" He replied.
"Well, it's just Serena and I had gotten a call from school saying you wanted to join the football team," Ash explained.
"Okay, what about it?"
"Okay, I'll just cut to the chase. Point is, that she and I have been noticing you've been… well, changing lately. I should know. I went through the exact same thing at your age."
Cameron's eye twitched, "No, not really."
"Yeah really. You're starting to become an adult, and in a few years, you won't need us to help you out anymore, and you're going to have multiple things coming and multiple things you can do."
Cameron took that into consideration, "Well, if I had multiple things I'm able to do, like a talent, let's say, you had talents. Would it be wrong to cash in on them?"
Ash looked back to him, "Well, no, but that kinda depends on what talents we're talking about," He put his arm on Cameron's shoulder, "Listen. After what we heard, I think it's best for you to know this. With Great Power, Comes Great Responsibility."
Cameron took that advice into mind. He hadn't ever thought about that regarding life, and more specifically, his new powers, but feeling famous did feel all too sweet. However, there was no stopping him from saying no to the talk show gig, but to him, he didn't need to try to do the right thing.
Lights shined on the stage, and Jimmy Fallon stood proud, with a smile on his face to the audience watching at home, and the crowd watching the show in person. Everyone was excited to see what was next, "Welcome back to Late night with Jimmy fallon!" The announcer said, as Fallon bowed with a confident smile on his face.
CLAP! CLAP! CLAP! CLAP! CLAP!
The audience at home could hear the audience clap in excitement for the next guest on the show, and Fallon began to speak, "So, I've had probably the most exciting career, and I've got to talk to countless celebrities in Hollywood, but our next guest is a rather interesting one. You people ever hear the reports, and those videos on YouTube of some Spider guy runnin' around the city?" He asked the audience, but there was no answer.
They all looked to the talk show host in confusion, but Fallon laughed it off, and felt it was okay. "Well, who better to ask about these videos than the man himself?" Suddenly, Cameron began to emerge in full costume covering him from head to toe. "Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome our next guest, The Incredible Spider-Man!" Fallon looked up at the wall to see Cameron, or as the audience now knew him, Spider-Man on the wall in full costume.
"Hello New York!" He said happily.
Spider-Man leapt off the wall, and landed in front of the talk show host in a dynamic pose resembling that of an actual spider.
Fallon looked down to the wall crawler, and began, "Well, now that you're here, how about we ask some questions? Like, what do you look like under that fancy mask? You got a girlfriend? Why'd you start popping up all over YouTube?" He asked.
"Uh… Well, I thought I'd show off my mad skills to the public. Though, I thought I was just going to do some tricks, not a Q&A," Spider-Man admitted.
Fallon and the audience all laughed, "Are you kidding? A guy dressed like you wants to keep his privacy, how reclusive of ya."
The show had gone on for another hour, but Cameron's segment had been over for nearly half of it. His agent was excited, "What did I tell ya, kid? This is way better than those YouTube videos you've been doing," He said.
Cameron began to take off his mask, "I guess," He said, as the lower part of the mask was off revealing his mouth and chin, "Sorry, but it's a little hard to breath in this thing."
The agent put his arm around his shoulder and pointed to his chest, "Look, I don't care for your actual face. Judging by your voice, you're probably a minor, but as far as I'm concerned, I only know you as Spider-Man."
Suddenly, the two's talk is interrupted, as the alarm had suddenly gone off. What's the alarm all about? Cameron was confused.
"Hey! That guy just robbed me!" A security guard shouts, as he chases after a thug who passes him and the agent, and bolts for the door.
The guard stops to catch his breath, and looks to Cameron shocked. "What the hell is wrong with you? You just let him go!"
" Hey sorry pal, but I missed the part where that's my problem. I'm a celebrity, not a cop."
The guard groaned and continued to chase the crook down the hall. "Kid, you're already gettin' the hang of fame! You're already lookin' out for number one!" The agent comments.
Cameron after that headed back home, but when he got there, he saw multiple police cars and an ambulance parked outside of Lucy's house. Why are those here? Cameron asked himself in his mind, making him curious. His curiosity had gotten the best of him, and he ran over fast.
"And what did the perp want?" Sergeant Solana asked. Lucy's mom was still trying to process what had happened, as he husband, and Lucy's dad had gotten shot.
"I… I don't know. All I know is that Bruce went to check a break in, and the next thing I know is that he got shot."
That wasn't good for the NYPD. A murder is one thing, but a murder by a desperate crook in these times was another. NY was famous for crimes, as so many American crime families had established themselves right in Manhattan, and the NYPD haven't been having such good luck with that, but low level crime like robbers were easy. Solana sighed feeling bad for her, as her son Mordecai is best friends with Lucy, and she was good friends with her.
Lucy's mom and her, along with a few other cops heard the door creak open. It was Cameron. "Ms. Diamond?" He asked, but then saw the living room a complete mess, and a blood stain right in front of her and Solana. "W-What happened?" He asked.
A cop intervenes, "Sorry, son, but this doesn't concern you."
"Well, actually, I'm good friends with that woman's daughter, so it is kinda my business," Cameron responded annoyed at the cop.
Solana walks up to the two, "It's fine, Frank," She said.
Cameron looked to her, "So, what's up?"
Solana looks back to Lucy's mom, and then to Cameron, and the two walk outside, "You see, Brian, Lucy's dad. He was shot by a perp."
That shocked Cameron, and his eyes widened, "Who and why did they do that?!"
"We don't know yet, but I got officers saying they tracked him to a warehouse on the lower east side."
Cameron didn't respond to what he had heard, but instead ran off in rage. Solana watched confused, and concerned about him. She looked back to Lucy's mom worried about her, and hoped the perp would be caught soon. Cameron meanwhile grabbed his costume out of his bag, and headed after the perp, hoping he would get revenge for his friend.
Police cars surround the warehouse, and multiple officers all step out, with guns in hand. The Captain of the NYPD, George Stacy steps forward, "You're surrounded! Come out with your hands behind your head!" He ordered.
The crook meanwhile hid in the warehouse. It had been abandoned for years with it having rusty rafters, and broken tables, and even old trucks scattered throughout. He was scared, and held his gun shaking, hoping no officer would find him.
"Call in the update, over," The crook heard dispatch over the broken window. This just got much worse. "Crap…" He whispered, and quickly loaded his gun. "Cops are everywhere…" He peeked out to see many cars parked outside, and cops ready to shoot at any second.
"Officers at 412, backup is on the way," Dispatch replied.
The crook quickly bolted, "I gotta get outta here, and fast!" He said to himself.
"I was hoping you would say that!" The crook heard a voice, but it didn't sound like it was from an officer. It sounded, younger? He was confused, and looked all around, and his eyes widened in shock. Spider-Man clung onto the wall in front of him, and he couldn't tell how he was feeling, but, it probably wasn't happy, "Murderer!" He said.
BLAM! BLAM! BLAM!
Officers heard gunshots suddenly, and were confused. "What the hell?" Stacy asked.
"G-Get away from me y-you mutant freak!" The crook screamed, as he tried to shoot at the wall crawler, but he leapt into the air, and kicked the crook hard in the face.
BLAM! BLAM! BLAM!
"Everyone down!" A cop ordered, as more gunshots were heard being fired.
The crook ran for his life, not believing what he had just witnessed, "This must be some sorta-" He was cut off, as the wall crawler threw a tire straight at him, and hit him in the back hard. "Agh! I-I gotta-"
"Try runnin', but there's no place you can ever hide in this world from me!" The wall crawler grabbed the crook by the collar of his shirt. The wall crawler then swings and punches the crook hard, knocking him back far, and he crashes into a crate, and is knocked out. Many pieces of wood were flying and scattered across the ground, and the wall crawler grabbed the man once again, but this time to end him.
Suddenly though, he saw his face, and it was the crook he had seen in the studio. "That… That face…" He whispered, as he remembered seeing the thug, and remembered him passing by.
"Not my problem…" He remembered what he had said to the cop, and remembered what Solana told him.
"What have I done?! I-I killed Lucy's dad! No! No!" He couldn't handle it, and felt even worse for his friend.
Cops went in, but found the crook, but didn't find Spider-Man at all.
Cameron stood on a rooftop alone, and looked at his mask, and shedded a tear. "I'm sorry Lucy…" He clenched his fist feeling tremendous guilt. He had let his greed and ego get the best of him, and he paid the price. "I'm sorry Uncle Ash… Aunt Serena… Brian… Lucy…" He said as he looked to his mask. "I didn't know what you meant unc, but I do now. With great power, comes great responsibility," He said now knowing what he had meant. He ignored his responsibility, but now knew he could make a difference to the city, and so, he put on his mask now determined to help people as a hero.
