"Hey Mr. Robber! Are you one of Santa's elves? Because I can see a big sack full of goodies right in your back~" Spider-Man chimed as he suddenly popped out in the street, hanging off from the tree and right in front of said robber's face. His blank lenses watched him attentively as the crook just stood there all flabbergasted, not expecting the web-crawler to show up and scare the living daylights out of him.
Slinging the garbage bag full of stolen goods on his shoulder, varying from computer parts to wads of money, from toys to electronics, he swung a punch at the vigilante with one hand but that attack was easily avoided. Peter did a little flip as he landed behind his target and shot a web at the thin plastic sack, hoping to pluck it out of his tough mitten-clad hands. Feeling a sharp tug from his back, the robber yelped and tried to pull his loot back towards him. They kept pulling the bag back and forth, back and forth, back and forth... it was like they were playing tug-of-war.
"Dude! Just be a good boy and let go for once. Pwease~?" He said in a kiddie voice, his white lenses appeared to look like puppy-eyes. That guy's grip was tough, but Spider-Man was sure that his own force was stronger than that.
The street robber didn't say anything; he just growled and kept tugging for his property.
The vigilante sighed. "Fine, you asked for it." With one hand latching onto the garbage bag, he used his other hand to shoot out a long rope of web at the other guy's end. With a sharp and swift pull, the web strand yanked the heavy sack out of the robber's reach. At the unexpected force of strength, the crook lost his footing and slipped on the sidewalk as if he slipped on a banana peel. He was knocked out cold as a result, bashing his head on the pavement.
Spidey winced. "That's gotta hurt." But then the bottom of the street robber's garbage bag started to fall apart and the objects inside were rolling their way to the road!
His eyes widened behind his mask and in a moment of quick reflex, he swiftly picked up every electronic, every clothing item, every toy, and every dollar bill with his hands, feet, and webs, all whilst avoiding cars and buses.
"Woah, hey! Easy there- woah, woah, alley-oop! I got ya-" He rambled on as he grabbed whatever fell out of the crook's torn bag. Sure enough, a bundle of stuff was loaded into his arms. Spider-Man was about to sigh in relief, but then saw what looked like a $5 bill near the bars of the sewer. "You've gotta be kidding me.." He groaned. With an agonizing stretch of his right leg, he extended it long enough to grab the bill with his spandex-covered toes. After he picked that up, the vigilante collected everything, including what didn't fall out of the garbage bag, and covered them with his webbing, turning it into a net-like ball. He even made sure to web up the street robber and to stick his little card between the strands. The words, 'Courtesy of Your Friendly Neighbourhood Spider-Man' should be enough to attract the police. Sure enough, sirens were heard and the hero had to swing away from the scene.
As soon as that was over with, Spidey dusted off his hands and said, "Well, now that's guy done, I'm gonna-" Mentally waking up from hero mode to observe the surroundings, a look of confusion was etched behind the mask. "Wait, why am I here again...?" But the question he asked himself became rhetorical, however, as he realized, "Oh yeah..."
Realization hit him like a frying pan to the head; yesterday, he and the rest of the team were sent to random parts around the world because they'll need more 'worldly experience', whatever Fury called it. Normally, he and his team fought whatever conflict affected their native New York City, but there must've been little protection in other corners of the world, hence the situation this webslinger was currently in.
A miniaturized version of the S.H.I.E.L.D tricarrier was circling around the globe, dropping off chibi!Nova in Afghanistan, chibi!Iron Fist landing somewhere between North Korea and South Korea, chibi!Power Man in Minsk, Belarus, and chibi!White Tiger must've went to the north of Norway.
And this little chibi!Spidey... well, he ended up in Vancouver.
Yup, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. That Canadian city that hosted the Winter Olympics before Sochi. Peter had heard of the place, but he never expected to actually fight crime there.
He remembered some bits about the Olympics there, but other than that, he knew little about the Canadian city in the West Coast. From what he observed so far in his moments stopping conflict, the buildings were somewhat similar to New York's, yet they echoed the voice of the West, rather than the East. Some were made of stone, others of bricks, but most of them were glass skyscrapers and houses resided farther away. However, the streets weren't littered with garbage and the air felt cleaner (or maybe that's just him; he blamed Manhattan's congestion).
So far, the webslinger stopped a car accident, prevented one rapist from creeping this girl, and then there was the robbery he just dealt with. There wasn't a lot of street crime here, but he didn't mind it; it was a nice change of pace. But now he needed a break... and something to eat; he was hungry. People would say superhero duty can work up an appetite and he sure believed it.
There weren't any restaurants or fast-food places from where he was standing... but he did see what looked like an island or peninsula across the body of water. And in that bit of land stood a market with metal walls and yellow edges. Boats sailed across the marina and people would sit around munching on food while sitting on benches or under the candy-cane and mint-striped roofs.
"They gotta have food in there..." Spider-Man said to himself as he rubbed his growling stomach. So he shot a few webs and swung around the buildings and under a bridge. From the view above, he could also see warehouses, art studios, a brewery, a university, painted concrete trucks, and even a street performer in front of a bakery, all residing in that little island-like land.
Changing into a military-green coat, hoodie, and jeans as Peter Parker, he wore those over his costume while hiding behind a warehouse. Once he was done with that, he briskly walked to the market.
As one side was gray and yellow, the rest of it was a brick-red, with a sign that said Granville Island Public Market not far away. Inside the market had an eclectic variety of stalls and vendors. From fish caught in the BC coast, to colourful flowers, from artisan meats and cheeses to homemade pasta and deli items, from local jewellery to portable works of art, from fresh fruits and vegetables to handcrafted chocolate and candy... that place got all, more than the market most chefs in New York go to. And then there were the food vendors; it's a bit smaller than the typical food court but most of the food there were homemade and used local gourmet ingredients. It was enough to made Peter's mouth water... in the end, he decided to feast on a bowl of chicken pot pie and a cup of hot chocolate.
As he savoured the creaminess of the soup and the moist, flaky pastry that covered the top, the scientific teen pondered on what was he supposed to do. Obviously, Fury said to deal with whatever crime and conflict affected the city, but for how long? None of the S.H.I.E.L.D agents said anything, not even Coulson. Aunt May had to work today so there were no issues with that, but how long will he be here? That would mean he would have to wait around until further notice... has Sam, Luke, Ava, or Danny dealt with this?
While he was finished eating, Peter dug around in the contents of the backpack he was carrying. He didn't bring much; inside there was extra web fluid for his webshooters, the Canadian money that one of the agents supplied him with ($25? $30?), his communicator, spare batteries, and his Sony NEX-7 camera.
His camera... it was an early Christmas present from one of his family members. What his teammates didn't know was that before he worked with S.H.I.E.L.D and during his earlier days as Spider-Man, one of Peter's favourite hobbies was photography. He enjoyed using traditional film cameras, but digital ones worked just as fine. He was also pretty good with Photoshop and could work his way to the dark room. Other than science, taking pictures was his speciality. He hadn't photographed anything for a while, as his hero duties were making it difficult. He missed using it...
As he sipped some of his hot chocolate, the velvety sweetness soothing his mind, he watched the people in the market, who were either ordering food, enjoying their meals, taking pictures outside, or doing their shopping for the holidays (as it was early December). Now that Peter thought about it, he never got to figure out the city he was currently in, the Canadian city of Vancouver, and since he brought his digital camera with him...
Aha! That just gave him an idea! Since there wasn't a lot of crime to deal with now, he could actually explore the city until S.H.I.E.L.D arrives! And he could experiment with his camera while he's at it! But how will he do will be the question... for now though, he'll just take pictures as Peter Parker; student, science-whiz, and impromptu American tourist.
Once he cleared up the table he was sitting on, he went back outside to test his camera. It was late afternoon here in Vancouver, but it will be dark in an hour or two (no daylight savings). Peter started off with a snapshot of the public market, first in colour, then in black-and-white. Fiddling around with the buttons, he found a 3D Sweep Panorama as one of the exposure modes. He saw people using panorama with their phones but with cameras?
That prompted the scientific teenager to try out something. He set the 3D Sweep Panorama on and slowly turned from one end of the market, stretching towards False Creek, and then stopping at the bridge above the island. As soon as the picture was finished, he checked it out and was amazed at the results.
"Wow, it's actually pretty good." Peter can't help but to comment in surprise. Displayed in the screen was a panoramic view of False Creek, all in high-quality glory. At least the camera worked well and he still got his skills. Then he saw something at the corner of his eye; there were little rainbow-coloured boats slowly sailing towards the small harbour, carrying a few people from the city, to Granville Island, and back. They were like taxis, only as boats. Curious at this sight, he ran to the dock and found that the boats said Aquabus.
"Welp! If I want to explore the city, might as well travel like the locals do." He talked to the air rather than anybody in particular. Most of the Aquabus already took off, but one stayed behind with only a few passengers. After paying the ferryman a few dollars, Peter found a place to sit inside and the rainbow boat floated away.
As the secret vigilante watched the public market and the rest of the island disappear, he wondered what will await him in his first step towards adventure.
Eugene: Ok, it's not the kind of story people would expect when it comes to Spidey, but I thought I'd write something fluffy for Christmas, something heart-warming. It's supposed to be a one-shot, but I wrote it longer than I thought, it'll be split into 2 parts, or maybe 3, I don't know. I'll end up finishing it sometime after the 25th. XP And another thing, it's also a Christmas present for the one and only FrivolousThoughts.
...Yeah, I actually wrote this fanfic for him of all people. I wasn't sure what to write at first, but I had so many ideas, it's hard to decide! I thought of replicating holiday specials, reinventing Christmas carols, stopping bad guys Home Alone-style, or even parodying those Coca-Cola Christmas commercials... but in the end, I came up with this. I also wanted to combine the following elements: my hometown, which is Vancouver (just like Spider-Man's the spirit of New York, my heart and soul belongs to Vancouver), and photography; as you all know, Peter is usually depicted as the photographer for the Daily Bugle, but it didn't happen in Ultimate Spider-Man. In fact, there was no mention of his own camera and photos AT ALL. So in this little story, it's a homage on Peter's photography, but for now, he's just having fun and will start experimenting later on. ^^
And if you look closely, the Sony NEX-7 was probably the camera Peter used in The Amazing Spider-Man movies (product placement in Sony's part.. that was the closest anyone could guess). I had to ask FrivolousThoughts to figure out which model was it (dude, if you're reading this, you just figured it out, haven't you?) and yep, it's another Spider-Man reference! While this is only the beginning, you'll eventually discover the magic of my native city. Either way, I hope you readers will enjoy it! And Merry Christmas! *waves around like crazy*