Darkness closed in around his vision. The only sound before the whole world disappeared was of a stick snapping, somewhere out in the woods.
Peter smiled at the blonde. She'd been staring at him for almost twenty minutes now when all he wanted was to be invisible.
As he rapped his pencil against the desktop, Peter muttered, "Come on, come on." He tried to make the minute hand move just a bit faster.
The Professor up front kept ranting on about physics and things. Peter, normally, would be aptly absorbed, but today…
The bell rang and Peter dashed out of the room, barely stopping to grab his bag. The blonde disappeared into the crowds of the high school, and Peter let out a large sigh.
The sun was bright and the sky was blue. Spring was coming soon, and the world was poised to call it forth. The air was still chilly, however, so Peter zipped up his jacket as he jumped down the steps to the pavement.
Mary Jane, as always, was there, waiting.
"Know what today is, hero-boy?" she asked, grinning.
Peter stuffed some books in his bag and nodded. "Yeah."
"Don't be so nervous." Mary Jane adjusted Peter's collar. "You look like you're about to propose or something. It's only Aunt May's birthday."
"Only?" Peter shook his head and looked at a point beyond Mary Jane. "She's like…a grandmother and a mom to me. She raised me. I…feel like I can never do enough to pay her back, you know?"
Mary Jane smiled. "The good part is, you don't have to."
"M.J., Pete! Don't leave with out me!" Harry came tumbling down the steps, Gwen close behind.
Gwen, who had been more concerned with getting down to the ground and her friends, had misjudged the height of the steps, and, given her high heels, she tripped.
Before she could fall on her face on the cement, Harry whirled around and grabbed her.
"Careful," he whispered in her ear.
Gwen giggled as she gained her footing back. "Thanks."
"Alright, are we ready to go now?" asked Mary Jane, with a silly look on her face.
Peter and Harry laughed. "Yeah, I think so," said Peter.
The four friends walked down the street, unaware that a certain, dark being was watching them. Its red eyes followed the sound of their laughter, and a low growl emanated from its throat.
"Peter…Parker…We will meet again, sooooon…"
Peter took a deep breath and opened the screen door. Mary Jane just shook her head and followed him into the house. Peter had wanted to skip school today, just so he could spend time with Aunt May, but she hadn't allowed him to. As it was, he had woken up at 5 in the morning, just so he could make her breakfast in bed. Needless to say, he wasn't the best chef.
The lights were off in the living room, and in the kitchen. Peter's brow furrowed.
"Where is she?" asked Harry. Gwen looked concerned.
"Ah…She hasn't been feeling well lately. She's probably in her room." Peter went upstairs, and then came down a few minutes later.
Mary Jane looked at him expectantly. "Well?"
"Yeah, she's taking a nap. I left her the gift."
Mary Jane smiled. "Good."
The foursome made their way to the kitchen, where Mary Jane began the preparations for cake. Gwen and Peter went out to the living room and pulled streamers and all kinds of decorations out of their backpacks. They taped them up and attached them to the roof.
Harry was in charge of going to the store to get chicken and potatoes for the birthday dinner. It didn't take him very long to get the stuff, so soon the four were in the kitchen, baking, laughing, and dancing to the latest tunes. Quietly, of course.
When Aunt May did wake up, it was to the exclamation: "Surprise!"
She was, of course, appropriately delighted. They spent many, many hours until late at night, laughing, talking, and having a great time.
Peter walked his friends home, and when he got back, Aunt May was asleep again. He 'tucked her in' and went to his own room.
Peter sighed and collapsed onto his bed. It had been a long day. Thank goodness there hadn't been any need for Spiderman today. For Aunt May, Peter was enough.
He turned out the light and smiled.
Keith opened his eyes to see…nothing. It was just as black as having his eyes closed. For a second, he reasoned that he must still be unconscious and dreaming, but then he heard footsteps, and saw a light rounding a corner.
Keith blinked his eyes, trying to adjust to the sudden brightness.
Then he screamed.
After the screaming subsided, for you can only do that so long, Keith swallowed and looked at the…thing that was responsible for the footsteps.
It was a thin, yet bulbous thing. It reminded Keith of a real tall, stooped balloon. It was golden in color, and glowed.
"What…what are you? Are you going to kill me?!" Keith struggled against the straps that bound him to the rocky wall, restraints that he had just noticed.
The creature shook slightly. "No," it said in a very deep voice, even though it didn't have a mouth.
"Uh…" said Keith. "Then let me go!"
The creature swayed. "No."
"What the h-"
"Golden!" A man came around the corner, his steps much more solid and loud than the glowing creature.
"You don't want to scare our guest." The man smiled. He seemed like a very ordinary man, except for his extreme eyes and red streaks in his hair.
"Hello, Keith Warran," the man said. "You are obviously wondering why you are here."
Keith said nothing.
"I need your…talents. You see, certain technology of mine has recently been, well, pretty much destroyed. I would love it if you could repair it for me."
"Why couldn't you just…ask me?" Keith finally said. "Instead of- kidnapping me."
The man smiled his creepy smile again. "Now then," he held up a charred mask and Keith's eyes widened. "I wouldn't want you telling."
Peter groaned and rolled out of bed. It was Tuesday. Nothing too bad about Tuesday, just, it wasn't Friday, and it wasn't close to Friday either.
"Peter, if you're not up by now, you'll be late!" Aunt May called up.
Peter pulled on his shirt. "Yeah, be down in a sec!"
Five minutes later, Peter was shoveling some toast into his mouth. Aunt May laughed.
"Alright Aunt May, see you after school!" Peter headed for the door.
"Have a nice day, dear." She laughed and shook her head.
Walking at a nice, speedy pace, Peter was confident he'd make it before the bell rang. Maybe even with some time to spare.
Suddenly, the sound of sirens blasted into the morning air, and a tingle went down Peter's spine.
"Dang it," he whispered. He began to sprint.
A few streets over, a man nervously ran down an alley, holding a handful of jewels in his fist. He kept looking around, and panting for breath. He was obviously not used to running from the law. Or even walking, quite possibly.
"Looking for someone?" Peter smiled beneath his mask. It definitely wasn't the Venom-suit, but something about his normal Spiderman costume made him feel powerful.
The jewelry thief shouted and backed up against a wall.
"Hey," said Spiderman as he shot a web at the guy. "Maybe if you promise not to do it again, they'll let you off. First offence and all that?"
The guy whimpered and didn't even try to loose himself from the web.
As Spiderman swung away, and the cop cars stopped at the front of the alley, Peter mumbled to himself. "If he was gonna make me late to school, couldn't he at least have been worth it?"
"Mr. Parker." She said it slowly, like a death sentence.
"Yes, Mrs. Reed. I'm late. Again."
"I would like you to know that now it's a detention," said Mrs. Reed from the front of the classroom.
Peter fell into his seat and sighed. "Yes Ma'am."
A few classmates snickered.
"Aaaanyway, back to English," Mrs. Reed said, and that seemed to be that.
"Peter, couldn't you at least try to make it to school on time? It's a new year. Wasn't that one of your resolutions?"
Peter looked down at the ground as the rest of his peers filed out. Actually, it was more like flowing out, like a tide.
"I do try Mrs. Reed. Things come up. I even try running sometimes."
"Well," she sighed as she signed the bottom of the detention form and ripped it out- "At least you're trying."
Peter accepted the form and pushed it into his backpack.
"Have a nice day, Mrs. Reed."
"Another detention?!" Harry asked, in a sort of astonished way.
Peter shrugged. "Not much I can do about it." The two were walking down the crowded hall, weaving and dodging through crowds of kids.
"See, I remember a time where you were like…Class genius and good kid. What happened man?"
They looked at each other and grinned.
"You started hanging with gansters, dude," said Peter, laughing.
Harry shook his head. "Jim isn't a ganster. He's just…a connection."
"Yeah, gotta have them connections, Mr. Underworld leader."
"It'll pay off," said Harry.
"Yeah, whatever."
They stopped by Harry's locker, and then parted ways, Harry to his Science class, and Peter to his history class. Peter liked History; it was pretty straightforward.
He grabbed a seat by the window, and dropped his books to the desk. It was sort cloudy outside, but light still shone through in some places.
"Hmm…" said Peter, imagining Spiderman swinging through the spaces in-between the skyscrapers.
It's been a pretty quiet month, Peter thought. Ever since what happened with the Green Goblin, I haven't seen any super villains.
He turned to look up at Dr. Morse. Not any major ones anyway.
Peter was pretty sure that Dr. Morse was a super villain, or had 100% potential. He was that evil, at least to Peter. He'd never liked the boy.
Peter closed his eyes and attempted to drown out Dr. Morse's droning. "Alright," he whispered to himself, "Nap time."
Keith opened his eyes and surveyed his work area. Tools and metal were strewn everywhere. Circuitry and wires lay around and in boxes. He shook his head. The golden creature stood guard in a corner, watching every move Keith made.
"So, can you build this for me?" the man had asked. How long had it been? Three days?
Keith had looked over the roughly drawn schematics. "Yeah, I guess. Not much of a metalworker though. I'm more…gadgets and gizmos tech."
The man had smiled his evil smile. "Of course. Then you'll know exactly how to make the 'gadgets and gizmos' I'm going to propose."
Keith sadly sautered some metal pieces together. He could build most anything that one could think of. Unfortunately, in this case, he didn't want to. However, early on in the project, the mysterious man had informed him that any reluctance to cooperate would be met with harsh consequences, as well as escape attempts. After all, there were quite a few more people in the world that could do what Keith could. Not a lot, but more.
Keith was intelligent enough to know, though, that in the end, he probably not going to make it through this alive. He was a loose end. And to securely keep someone quiet…they have to be dead.