T H E H E R O I C S P I D E R - M A N
"Sins of the Spider"
Part 1: Regret
High above the streets of New York, a single champion looks down upon the massive metropolis searching within himself for the strength to go on in his fight against the forces of evil. The champion's name: Peter Parker; but the rest of the world, for good or bad, will always know him as Spider-Man. He finds the strength he needs to continue in the words of a man long dead: "With great power, comes great responsibility."
…6 days earlier…
The spider soars with acrobatic grace through the Manhattan sky while in the west the sun starts its descent. It'll be night soon, he thinks to himself knowing full well what that entails in these parts; danger's a comin'. As he continues through the city, slinging his way from building to building, he thinks about all the things he has to do; all of his responsibilities. College: having to maintain a 3.0 GPA to keep his scholarship to NYU. Job: making sure he gets enough good pictures so he gets paid. Girlfriend: trying to keep Mary Jane happy. For an average person, that would be stressful enough, but Peter Parker is Spider-Man; he has a lot more on his plate than most.
Suddenly, the sound of an explosion blasts through the air and firelight pierces the darkening sky. The webslinger quickly shoots a web toward the nearest building and swings himself toward its roof. He searches for the direction of the explosion and finds a cop car burning on the street. Looking closer, Spidey becomes horrified when he notices that the car's riders, two NYPD officers, are still trapped inside and screaming in agony.
After rushing as fast as he can toward the edge of the building, Spider-man jumps off the roof he's on and rushes toward the direction of the cop car; but by the time he's halfway there, it's already too late. The two cops, who only moments ago were crying in pain and trying to escape their infernal prison, are now just lifeless figures turning ash black as the fire burns their bodies into nothingness.
Now he's pissed. If he would've acted faster he might have been able to save the officers; well, probably not, but that's what's going through his mind as he continues toward the burning vehicle. He does a forward mid-air somersault before landing on the ground next to the still-flaming car. Staring at the charred remains inside, Spidey lowers his head in disgust. Suddenly, his spider-sense goes insane warning him of some oncoming danger. No time to think, only to react. He does a backflip and lands in a crawl position on the side of the closest building as a small missile hits the ground he was just on causing another explosion.
"I thought that might get your attention," a voice from across the street says. Spider-Man looks up and sees an unrecognizable figure in ironclad armor from head to toe. The armor sort of reminds him of Iron Man's, only this guy's is chrome-colored and it looks a little less sophisticated.
Spider-man, searching through his memory for any recollection of the man, asks, "Who are you? Did you kill these cops?"
"Well, I had to get your attention somehow," the armored man responds. "As to who I am, I'm the man that's going to kill y…" Before he even finishes his sentence, Spidey shoots a web at the small missile launcher in his hand and tosses it far enough away that the armored man can't reach it. "Oh you sneaky little bastard," he says, realizing what Spider-man just did, "I'm gonna enjoy ending you."
Spider-man's signature cockiness comes along when he responds by saying, "Yea, yea, yea, I've heard it all before. 'I'm going to kill you,' blah, blah, blah. It always ends the same though; the bad guy goes to jail and your friendly neighborhood Spider-man rides off in the sunset." He was right about that, it does always end the same. Somebody gets hurt, or even dies; Spidey stops the bad guy and waits for the next day when it happens all over again. It was disillusioning at times, but that didn't matter at the moment. For now, he just had to focus on his job which was to stop this smug son of a bitch from killing anyone else.
Spider-man jumps off the building and shoots a web out in the distance that allows him to swing toward the armored man. Like a lightning bolt, he comes straight down on the villain with both his legs stretched out and kicks him with his heels. The armored man just thrust his chest out expecting the blow and when it comes, it hurts Spidey more than the armored man as it just knocks him back a couple of inches. Before Spider-man has a chance to jump back, the armored man delivers a hard right cross to the spider's midsection knocking him through a nearby parking meter and onto the street where he rolls to a stop.
As Spider-man jumps back up to his feet, he looks around and notices a crowd gathering around, though keeping its distance from the battle. Focusing back on the armored man, he says, "Well, I guess that's not plastic you've got on," hoping to get a response.
"Nope," says the armored man as he bangs his knuckles twice on his chest, "Cold hard steel." That's what Spider-man needed to hear. If it were adamantium or whatever the hell Cap's shield was made of, he wouldn't stand a chance, but he might be able to get through steel. He looks down and sees the parking meter he went through lying on the street and takes note of it before shooting webs from both of his arms toward the armored man. After the webbing hits the armored man's shins, Spidey pulls as hard as he can making the armored man fall backwards.
Acting quickly, Spidey grabs the dislodged parking meter and leaps high in the air ready to strike a blow to the armored man, who was getting up after his fall. As Spider-man comes down, he humorously says, "Spidey's at the plate. He swings…" He does as he says; he lands and swings the parking meter, but the armored man reacts quickly and grabs the meter with his left hand. The armored man smiles as he says in a calm, relaxed voice, "Strike." He pulls the meter away from Spider-man and attempts to punch him with his free hand. Spidey dodges the blow but isn't quick enough to avoid a second attack where the armored man whacks him with the parking meter and knocks him across the street.
Spider-man lies on the damaged sidewalk as onlookers watch his agony; some in horror, some in amazement, and some in excitement. He hears nearby voice say, "Stop or I'll shoot." Spidey turns his head to see a cop pointing a gun at the armored man. Though a little dazed, Spider-man notices that the cop is sweating and shaking nervously. He sees the armored man going toward the cop and tries to shake the pain off because he knows that the armor is probably bulletproof and the cop won't stand a chance.
The cop shoots the armored man. The bullet hits the armor making a ding sound, but does no damage, just as the spider predicted. With an evil smile still on his face, the armored man swipes the gun from the cop and knocks him about twenty feet away with a swing of his arm. "Thanks for the gun," he says. "This'll work just fine." He points the gun at Spider-man, who is already on his feet but holding on to his stomach with his right arm. The armored man holds the gun steady and says, "The end of Spider-man" as he pulls the trigger of the gun.
Spider-man hears the gun shot and leans backwards to avoid it. Arching his back and holding himself up with his left hand, he sees the bullet screech by him. For everybody else, the moment happened instantaneously but for Spider-man, everything happened in slow-motion thanks to his super senses. Leaning his head back, he sees what's going to happen before it does. A small boy in the distance licks a popsicle and cheers for Spider-man to beat the bad guy. He's not upset that Spidey's losing, because he knows his hero will come through at the end. All these thoughts go through him until the bullet pierces his forehead and knocks him to the ground.
The crowd is speechless. Other than the ambient, big city noise the only thing heard is a loud scream, "Noooooooooooooooo!" It's the boy's mother, at least that's what everybody there assumed. She picks up the boy and tears of misery fall from her eyes onto the lifeless body. Spidey is paralyzed. The cops were one thing; yes, it was sad, but they were grown men whose job made them look death in the eye everyday. This was an innocent child who lived for maybe a decade if not less, and now he'll never have a life.
The spider-sense is roaring once again and Spidey knows exactly why. The armored man moved in closer while he was focused on the dead kid. Now, at point-blank range, the armored man prepares to shoot him again but the enraged Spider-man turns quickly and punches the armored man in the head as hard as he can. The punch nearly breaks Spidey's hand but the intensity of it knocks the armored man flat on his back and rips off his helmet. His head bangs against the street pavement knocking him out on contact. One more villain down, another innocent lost, and darkness envelopes the city as the sun finally sets on this tragic day.
Moments pass and your friendly neighborhood Spider-man swings off in the night wondering about the three lives that could've been saved had he been a little bit faster, a little bit stronger, or a little bit more heroic.
To be continued…
