Takes place in a slightly different Earth than we're used to in the Marvel Universe. This universe's heroes would have sprung up at the start of the eighties, giving these thirty some odd years for them to work stuff out.
My name is Peter Parker, but most people don't know who that is. Most people only know me by the name of my costume, Spider-Man. I had a great power thrust upon me in 1985, when I was only sixteen. An age that I should have been worried about girls, money, and grades, I was worried about mad scientists flattening downtown Manhattan. Although all that other stuff seemed important back then too.
I don't need to tell you how I got my powers. You know that. A few weeks later, my Uncle, the man who raised me, was shot in the street by a random criminal, I tracked him down, and for the first time in my life felt evil creep into my heart. However, fear crept into his, and he died before I could choose the moral path of my life. At that point I swore never to kill.
My life ever since I have received these powers has been a constant war. I was the youngest of all the heroes when I started and now I'm easily among the oldest. My old friends and allies have all told me I need to give it up, but they don't understand that I can't. One of the greatest men I've ever known once told me, "With great power comes great responsibility."
"Hello and welcome to the eight o'clock news, I'm Danielle Jones." The brunette anchor on the left always spoke first. "And I'm Darrius Merryweather." The black anchor on the right was a lot younger than her, and Peter hoped that was why he spoke second every broadcast.
"Our reporter Anne Hayashi was filming an interest piece at four thirty this afternoon, in the Goldman Sachs branch in New York. What was meant to be an interview about commercial banking interests in the election of national senators quickly turned into the filming of another battle of your friendly neighborhood Spider-Man. We take you now to the scene, moments before the would be heist."
The feed cut to Hayashi, Peter always liked when she got a segment, she was one of his first hires when he set up the Daily Bugle news network. She was a harsh interviewer, "So please, tell me. You have said several times that your company has had nothing to do with the senatorial elections in two-thousand fourteen, but the recent leaks on WikiLeaks reveal that Goldman Sachs funded nearly half the republican candidates elected. Are you willing to give us an explanation as to how these two facts could both possibly be true?" The camera switched to show a short man in his forties, his toupee almost sliding off his head from perspiration.
"Well-" he began, before a massive force took down the marble wall that could be seen behind him. "Oh my god," Hayashi's voice sounded as the camera zoomed past the now fleeing executive to get a better look at the breach. Darrius' voice came over the feed, "This is when the four perpetrators entered the bank." A woman in full black Kevlar combat gear walked through the hole in the wall. "Their leader was believed to be Angela Donovan, codenamed Tesla, who could manipulate field of electricity."
The leader was followed by a giant shadow, which stepping into the light, looked exactly like the Rhino, because in a way he was. "Providing muscle for the group was Xavier Felix, son of a former member of the now disbanded Hellfire Club, who's believed to have stolen the Rhino suit from a Shield Convoy."
The last two came in together, one male, and one female. Peter sipped his orange juice. These kids couldn't think of a name if it bit them in the ass. "Up next came brother and sister Vito and Maria Castialneto, Shifter and Runner, respectively. Shifter with the ability to move things with his mind, and Runner with the ability to pass through solid objects. The two are believed to be Mutants as well as illegal Italian Immigrants." Danielle took over the voicing, "The group had only been in the bank for about half a minute when Spider-Man showed up, not the best luck for such a green team to go up against the old dog, but good luck for the citizens of New York."
Their audio cut out, and Peter could hear Hayashi say, "Disconnect my mic, we need to get them-" Suddenly the sound of the villains barking orders at the frightened, now huddling witnesses.
Tesla noticed the camera, still rolling. "Xavier, stop the presses." The giant turned and saw the camera and started charging. Peter laughed and took another sip. People at home knew no-one had been killed. They wouldn't have shown footage of the robbery if there was something as sad as that waiting at the end. Still, he just knew they had to be shaking on their couches, unsure of what would happen next. He was sure.
Massive glass shards fell onto the new Rhino, and without his Mech, that could have stopped him. He grunted, and looked up at broken window, then the ceiling, with the camera following his line of sight, finally focusing on Spider-Man hanging from one hand.
There were some clear changes from the hero he used to be. He had been lithe, but now he looked more like Arnold in Commando. His costume was almost all navy, with none of the webbing he'd worn in his younger days. Now the only part which was the famous red was the cowl, which covered all of his face except his eyes and mouth, exposing his trimmed brown beard, though as the camera zoomed in, Peter could make out more gray hairs than he would like.
He dropped from the ceiling as the Rhino bellowed in anger. "Oh don't worry this is a big company, they have window insurance." The rhino threw up a right hook faster than the camera could capture, the only evidence it had been thrown at all being the fact that his fist was held firmly against Spider-Man's forearm. "Kid, you aint no Aleksei." Spider-Man then grabbed the fist with his other hand and spun him, throwing him like a shot put straight at Runner. As his enemy flew, Spider-Man said, "But you might be as dumb."
The Runner didn't have time to move out of the way. She activated her powers, and the Rhino passed through her, and straight toward her brother who managed to stop the hulking mech suit with his mind. The girl made the mistake of going solid as she turned her head to see if her brother was alright, and left herself open to a swift blow to the head. She slumped to the ground, unconscious. "Kitty Pryde would skin your hide if she knew you left yourself open like that girl." Darrius' voice came back in, "We believe Spider-Man refers to Shadowcat, the retired member of the X-Men, current ambassador to Wakanda."
Shifter dropped the Rhino, and threw three large oak desks at Spider-Man. The Web Slinger broke one with a fluid punch, then spun into a kick that shattered a second. The last one he caught with both hands on either side and ripped in half. Danielle broke in, "Ever since his reappearance eight years ago, Spider-Man has shown a degree of Martial Arts ability unseen before his disappearance."
Spider-Man shot two webs onto Shifter's face, and swung him into the heaping mass that was the Rhino, who had been lifting himself from where his ally had dropped him. Both of them didn't look like they were getting up.
Spider-Man turned to look at Tesla, who swung her fist at the air. A light bulb burst in the ceiling, and a ray of blue electricity shot from it down at Spider-Man, who had jumped to the wall to Tesla's left. He then jumped down right behind her. "Have you never heard the phrase, 'My Spider Sense is tingling?'" Tesla slipped while turning to look at him, and started to crawl away.
"So your team got your abilities, or equipment, probably what a week ago? How likely was it that you would meet someone as green as you? You stood no chance if you ran into a Cape who'd been in the game for a year, let alone one of the Vets. So here's the deal. You're going to go to jail. You'll probably get out, you freaks always do. If you stay in New York never put on your costume again." The camera quickly zoomed out, as Spiderman covered the four villains in a few individual webs. "If you do, well, I assume you've heard of the Punishers?" Then, Spider-Man shot a web out of the hole in the wall, and swung out faster than the cameraman could turn to follow.
The footage changed to the anchors at the studio. Darrius smiled into the camera, "One teller at the bank's arm was broken, and a young man suffered a concussion, but no one was seriously injured." Peter turned off his television and stood up, leaving his glass on his glass end table.
He walked from his living room toward the twin's bedroom, but not without stopping to look out of his window at his city. It was the safest it had ever been, and while he wasn't sure how moral his system was, he knew that it was the best way. The first time a villain showed his head, Spider-Man would be the hero to swing in and fight him, providing one of the younger kids didn't step up. He would usually win without much trouble, and then issue a warning. If they continued to put innocent lives in danger, he wouldn't stop one of the more… eccentric 'heroes' from doing what they did. Most often, it was the Punishers, a team of former soldiers trained by Bucky Barnes and Frank Castle, but Spider-Man had recently given the same leeway to a younger hero named Swift, a speedster who was more violent than most of his ilk.
He came into the twin's room, and just looked at the two slumbering boys. After a few moments, he closed their door, and walked over to their younger sister's room. Tonya was much quieter than her older brothers and she slept in her crib almost without moving. Peter smiled, and left the girl to sleep.
Peter slipped into his costume, and then slowly went about putting on his Tuxedo. He needed to be able to present himself, the Owner of the Daily Bugle couldn't look like a kid who was late to his graduation. He was just tying his tie when the door buzzed.
He hurried to the door, "Paul?" The answer came back, "It's me Mr. Parker." Peter pressed the button that opened the door to his hallway, and a few moments later, Paul Sloan walked through his door. He was a young SHIELD agent, who had been assigned to Peter as an assistant. Really he was around to keep tabs on Peter, make sure he didn't leave, or start working outside of the rules Shield tried to give him. It was cute actually.
"Hey Paul. The kids are asleep, there's Pizza in the fridge, and you know the combination to the armory. If you don't mind, I have a very stupid fundraiser to get to with a very pretty date." Paul simply nodded. He was a Harvard Graduate, a Navy Seal, and was on a track to go into space when he took his job at SHIELD. Now he was a babysitter. Peter took the escalator down from his room, it was a long way down, almost eighty floors. As he stepped into the street, he hailed a cab. There was something he liked about taking a cab, people of his social standing rarely did.
The cab driver was from Morocco, and Peter talked with him about what he had been doing since coming to the United States. He tipped well, he always tipped well. Money was something criminals wanted and people like the driver needed. He had enough money, there would never be a reason to hold back.
He walked through a flash of cameras on a blue carpet, which was a nice touch. He had thrown together a fundraiser to pay for the damages done to the city through super powered battles, and while a few celebrities had shown up he didn't think it warranted the red carpet his planning committee always insisted on.
His editor was already two martinis into the evening as she walked up to him. "Mr. Parker, hello, I was beginning to be worried you'd be late. No date tonight?" Peter smiled at her, "She should arrive shortly my ex-wife, we wanted to discuss a few matters with the kids and you know how hard I can be to get a hold of."