Chapter 1

"My name?" the boy sitting at an old metal table asked cautiously. The officer across from him glanced up from his papers, lightly tapping his pen with one of those: 'You know what I mean.' looks. The boy shifted uncomfortably in the creaky metal chair he was handcuffed to. He nervously squeezed the arm wrests, quickly stopping himself when he realized he was leaving slight indents in the hard steel. "Owen" he finally replied.

"Last name please." the officer huffed.

"Don't have one… that I know of…" Owen said. He bit his lip, now the officer actually seemed interested. He looked up with an ice cold glare.

"I'm not here to play games, Kid."

"I honestly don't know sir, I'm a foster child." Owen replied quickly. The officer leaned back in his chair and groaned, rubbing his temples.

"How old are you?" He sighed, squinting through his head rubbing.

"I was born in 2025… We don't know what month or day."

"So you're about 15? The officer said as he leaned forward again. Owen nodded. "Alright," the officer said. He stood up and walked around the table, sitting on the corner next to Owen. "Owen, right?" Owen nodded again. "Look Owen. it's late, we're both tired, and I got a birthday cake waiting for me at home." the officer said. Owen grinned a bit "You seem like a good kid, with good character so I'm gonna make you a deal: I'm gonna let you go with a warning, but don't let me ever find you getting into a fist fight in an alley again. Got it?"

'if only you knew what i was really doing' Owen thought. He kept it to himself and replied "got it. Thank you, sir" instead. The officer unlocked the handcuffs. Owen pretended to rub his wrists, but there was no pain. He could have broken them off himself if he really wanted to. The two walked out of the room and over to the evidence lockers. The old metal door swung open and slammed against the wall. The officer walked in and shuffled around inside. He came back out with a plastic bin.

"Ok. White face mask. Ski goggles?... Alright. Ummm, cell phone. Earbuds. And two wristband, watch things? What are these?" The officer asked. Confused. Gesturing to the bulky contraptions.

"They're a science project for school…." Owen lied. The officer looked at him suspiciously.

"Ok… Whatever you say… and last thing, a necklace." The officer said as he pushed the bin over to Owen. He shoved the mask, goggles, and phone in the pockets of his hoodie. He slipped the "watch things" onto his wrists and pulled the necklace over his head, slipping it under his shirt.

"Have a good night." The officer called as Owen walked toward the front door. He turned around and walked backwards. Doing a little two finger salute with a small grin, he slipped out the door and into the cool, morning air. Owen pulled out his phone, it was 1:30 AM. He walked down the street a ways. Till he came to a 4 way street. There was an old comic shop adjacent from where Owen was standing. He ran across the intersection and up to the window of the shop. An old man sat behind an old wooden drawing desk with a single lamp on to light his work. Owen tapped on the glass and the old man looked up. A bright smile filled his wrinkled face. He put on a pair of aviator glasses and hobbled over to the door.

"Owen!" He yelled with his friendly old voice.

"Hey Mr. Lee" Owen replied

"Oh stop that! You're my friend, and friends call me Stan!" He rambled. "Come in! I got some new stuff for ya!" He said as he opened the door wide and swept his arm in a welcoming gesture. Owen smiled and stepped in side.

"Did you find any of the comics from 2025?" Owen asked. As Stan walked behind the counter.

"No, I got something better! The biography for the original Spider-Man." Stan reached under the counter and pulled out a large, thick book, Slamming it on the counter with pride. "Hows that for 2025 comics, eh?! This has got everything about good old Peter Parker from his birth to his resigning as Spider-Man. And a few conspiracies if you're into that sort of thing. Published in 20230. It doesn't get more accurate than this." Owen picked up the book, flipping through its pages.

"How much do you want for it?" Owen asked. Stan shook his head.

"No charge, its yours." Stan said quietly. "Now get it out of here before i change my mind!" He smiled. As he waved Owen out the door.

"Thank you Mr. Lee, thank you!"

"Dont mention it kid! Tell Miles I said hi." Stan said happily. The door closed before Owen could respond. He smirked and gave a thumbs up. Then turned and jogged down the street. He waited till he was a ways down the street before he pulled out his phone and earbuds. Plucking the buds off the end of the wires. He revealed two small connectors. Shoving them down his jacket, he plugged them in to his wristbands.

He sighed to himself. "I wish i could just have these ready to go all the time."He tapped a app on his phone and looked around to make sure the coast was clear before pulling the white mask and ski goggles over his head. A small male voice played into his ear from a little bluetooth speaker hidden in his mask.

"ISAC online. Starting systems, please standby" Owen pulled his hood up and continued walking hoping no night owls were peeking out their windows. "All systems active. Web fluid levels at 53% left, 47% right."

"Cool." Owen said as he took a deep breath. Owen and his friend, William, had developed all of Owens tech…Well, it was mostly William, but Owen had helped... ISAC,or Integrated Suit Auto Control, was a small AI they had put on Owens phone to control certain functions on his web shooters. He wasn't the smartest AI, but Owen always liked the charm behind his mechanical sounding simplistic speech.

"Ready for Instruction…" ISAC said.

"Start agility mode. Record my acceleration and velocity and give me feedback on new records if I break any " Owen ordered.

"Confirmed." The small AI replied. Owen quickly spun some webs around the large book, turning it into a small backpack. He jumped into the air and stuck to the side of a nearby building. "New vertical jump record, 67 ft." Owen smiled, he was still getting stronger. But now it was at a rate he could handle. He climbed up the rest of the building and up the radio tower on top. Looking out over the city, he breathed in the cool air. Most of New York was asleep. But pockets of lights and activity were scattered around. Owen deeply wanted to go explore. Night time was perfect for just that. But Miles would be home tomorrow. And Owen didn't want to sleep in and miss welcoming him home.

With that. He jumped off the tower into a free fall. Shooting a web at the last second to catapult himself. He easily flew over buildings and streets. Shooting another web to the right as he descended which arced him around a corner. Ever since he got the ski goggles, web swinging was much easier. His eyes didn't constantly get dried up anymore. Owen made his way over to the old penthouse he called home. It wasn't a super luxurious penthouse, but Miles had worked hard to get it, and he gave Owen the best room. It was large and had a big skylight window over his bed. Owen landed on the roof and walked across the window to a hinged section and opened it, dropping inside with a soft thud.

"Welcome home" ISAC said.

"Can you upload the data you recorded today and send it to Will for me?" Owen asked. He Walked over to his computer and turned it on.

"Connection required. Please connect me through usb to your computer." Owen had already begun fumbling with the cord. He plugged ISAC in, and waited for him to confirm the connection before he took his mask off and disconnected his web shooters. After changing into his pajamas: some sweat shorts and an old baseball tee that was too big, he made his way downstairs to get a drink.

The lights were off in the old penthouse. Just a few weeks earlier, he would have had to turn them on. Now he could see just fine. He walked over to the fridge and pulled out a half empty gallon of orange juice. He took the biggest cup he could find and filled it nearly to the brim. Owen was about to take a big gulp when suddenly, the lights flashed on. Owen tried to close his eyes, but it was too late, his eyes overloaded with light. He quickly covered his eyes in pain, forgetting about the orange juice that was now a puddle on the kitchen floor.

"Owen!" He heard a man say. "You ok man?" Owen was too busy rubbing his eyes and wiping away tears to respond. But he managed to squint on eye open to see Miles, grabbing an ice pack out of the freezer.

"Here, get this going before the headache comes. I'm sorry I keep forgetting." Miles said as he hands Owen the pack.

"Its fine, I'll be ok" Owen said. Giving a half smile. This had happened before. Both Owen and Miles were still trying to get used to these new abilities. "I thought you weren't supposed to be home till tomorrow."

"Yeah. I thought I'd surprise you! Plus, It's almost your birth month!" Miles said happily.

"Almost…" Owen sighed.

"Well you don't seem too excited. So once I'm done cleaning this up. I'll just eat this gallon tub of Reese's ice cream by myself" Miles smirked as he pulled a large tub of ice cream out of a plastic bag. Owens head snapped in Miles direction. His eyes wide. There was only 2 things Owen loved more than orange juice. Peanut butter, and peanut butter ice-cream. Holding the ice pack on the back of his head, he ran over to the silverware drawer splashing orange juice everywhere.

Miles smiled "You're gonna help me clean this up right?"

"Nope!" Owen said, his face already full of ice cream. Miles sighed and started laying towels down while Owen noisily shoved more ice cream in his mouth. Owen watched as Miles cleaned up his mess. 'It's not the worst mess I caused that he's had to clean up' Owen thought to himself. Half the tub was gone by the time Owen finished. Even with his increased metabolism, he was feeling sick. He bro-hugged Miles and went to bed. Humming an old toon about Spider-Man.