Chapter 1
New York
August 21, 03:45 EDT
2010
Spider-Man swung onto the spire of the Empire State building, flipped around, back to the spire and leaned back to look out at his city, it had been eighteen days since he had fought the robot and after he left he had got changed and back on his way to New York and to the apartment that was waiting for him.
After Buffy, Willow, Cordelia, Deadboy and himself escorted all the children that they could find after that nights fiasco with their costumes, Xander walked home by himself and when he got into his house, he went up to his room and got undressed to get in bed when his head hit the pillow he fell asleep.
Xander jolted awake, but only saw darkness, except for the cone of light that he was in, "Hello?"
"Welcome to the Web Alexander Harris."
Xander spun around and saw a redheaded woman, wearing a red trench coat, red boots, black boots and red sunglasses, "Who are you?"
Madame Webb smiled at the young man who had dresses up as Spider-Man, "I am Madame Webb. I watch and care for the Web across the multiverse, and in each universe there is a Spider-Man, who is the center of the Web, but this universe hasn't had one and was about to crumble under the weight of its villains and heroes."
Xander looked at Madame Webb with a skeptical look, "I don't believe that."
Madame Webb sighed, "Unfortunately it's true, but without Spider-Mans' unique moral code to encourage young people with powers to take up the weight of becoming heroes, they turn to become villains."
Xander thought about that for a minute or more, "What was his moral code?"
Madame Webb stared at Alexander, "Can you not remember it?"
Xander was about to tell her 'no' but then it came to him, "With great power comes great responsibility."
Madame Webb nodded, "That code has a certain innate ability to lift the Spider-Mens spirit up when it has sunk to its lowest points, but combined with your own moral code it will have the ability to inspire this worlds young heroes to stand and be counted among the greatest heroes of all time and for there to a team of young heroes for centuries to come, but it all comes down to what your choice is."
"What choice?"
"To both stay as Spider-Man and inspire young heroes or for me to take the powers that you have gained away forever and to let this world crumble into nothing."
Xander fell back and landed on a chair that appeared, rocked by the choices that where presented before him. He sat there for a while trying to weigh the pros and cons of each choice. Xander sighed as he rubbed his face and then stood up, "I'll stay as Spider-Man."
Madame Webb nodded, "I will warn you, for you to truly grasp his code you will need to feel the loss he felt to truly engrave it into your psyche instead of it just being imprinted there."
Xander looked at Madame Webb with a stunned look, "What?"
Madame Webb sighed, "When his Uncle Ben was murdered, his last words where engraved into his mind, body and soul. You need that to happen to you, because if it's only imprinted it will not have the same effect."
Xander hung his head, "Who will it be?"
Madame Webb shrugged and shook her head, "I have no clue."
Xander lifted his head and the look that he sent at Madame Webb, made her blood freeze, "You're lying."
Madame Webb stared at Alexander, "If I told you, you would try to change it, just like you challenging that prophecy that stated that Elizabeth 'Buffy' Summers was fated to die. That cannot be allowed to happen, Spider-Man has been shaped by the losses of his loved ones. You must also feel these losses to shape you into the Spider-Man that this world needs." Alexander looked at her with such an expression on his face that it almost made her want to tell him everything that was going to happen to him, but she held firm.
Xander sighed when he saw that she wasn't going to tell him anything about what was coming, "Anything else?"
"Yes. But they are things I will only tell you if you chose to stay as Spider-Man."
Xander fell back and landed on a chair that appeared, rocked by the choices that where presented before him. He sat there for a while trying to weigh the pros and cons of each choice. Could he really condemn one of his friends to die? But if he didn't, he was dooming the world, however, how he knew he could trust this Madame Webb? What if all of this was just setting the path for dooming the world instead of saving it?
Xander sighed as he rubbed his face and then stood up, "I'll stay as Spider-Man, but only in one condition."
"Oh, and what that will be?"
"I want you to give me your word, in the name of your immortal soul or whatever you have in place of it, that you are telling me the truth. That this isn't an evil plan to just doom the world instead of saving it."
Madame Webb eyes opened wide despite the fact that she was blind, she really wasn't expecting that reaction of the young man in front of her. But then, the Powers had not seen this same man saving the Slayer, she had picked well indeed, this was gonna be interesting.
"Very well, you have my word, satisfied?"
"Yes, now tell me what else I need to know."
"There is a bank account in your name at the New York Banking and Loan. I am also giving you the Spider cycle and electrified webbing from one of the alternate Earths. There is also a small apartment building in the Lower East-side of Manhattan Island, it has a good sized basement and it connects to a 'lost' railway line that will take anywhere on the island," Madame Web said as she held out a brown manila envelope towards Alexander. She then pulled out another envelope, "This has a list of people who you should find to put an extra team together in the shadows of the Light. I will wish you good luck Spider-Man, but I know you believe in making your own luck."
Xander took the envelopes from Madame Webb, "These won't be here when I wake up."
Madame Webb arched an eyebrow, "What makes you think that you're asleep?"
Spider-Man sighed when his spider sense warned him that someone was behind him, there was about ten people on Earth who could find him, and only one that would try to surprise him, "What can I help you with Batman?"
Batmans eyes narrowed slightly, "Who are you."
Spider-Man thought for a second, "It depends on who you ask. Some people call me amazing, some call me spectacular, a few call me ultimate, and there are some who call me astonishing," he turned to look at Batman.
If Batman was truthful to himself, those wide white eyes on his mask unnerved him a little bit, but only because that he couldn't see what he was thinking, "I want you to join a team. It's called Young Justice and is mostly formed by young heroes like you."
Spider-Man threw back his head and laughed, after a few seconds he stopped laughing and wiped away imaginary tears, "You are laugh riot Bats. Me join the sidekick team," he shook his head, "sorry Bats, I'm not a team player."
Batman narrowed even more, "You do that or you join the League and get stuck in crew controlling duty."
Xander eyes opened wide behind his mask, who did this guy think he was? Granted, he was Batman, but still, couldn't they have asked a nicer guy to do this job?
Spider-Man looked back at Batman, then climbed down the spire, when he got to the roof he jumped his way to where Batman stood. He got down there and stood in front of the Batman, the most feared man of the underworld mob and other degenerates in Gotham, he tilted his head side to side studying him, "Let me guess, you are the one nicely asking me because Superman is fighting an alien in space and Green Arrow is on a date?"
Superman was fighting something in space at least once a month, and everyone knew Green Arrow was Oliver Queen, that mask didn't fool anyone, not with that beard anyway.
"Superman is helping to evacuate people in Africa after a flood, but you are right about Green Arrow."
"Fine I'll join the team for now, but if you put me in charge I'll quit and that is not up for negotiation at all."
Batman nods, "Deal."
"So where is the club house?"
"In Rhode Island," Batman said as Spider-Man looked down at his arm as a keypad slid out and he typed a command.
"My ride should be here in a minute," Spider-Man said as he looked over at Batman, "I take it you won't be needing a ride?"
Batman arched an eyebrow and then looked up, there in the sky was a black shape of an airplane hovering above them both.
"Well know don't I feel stupid for asking," Spider-Man muttered as a low whirling noise caught both their attention, they both looked and what looked like a motorcycle came to stop hovering besides Spider-Man, "well, this is the spider cycle."
Batman walked up to the cycle and gave it a once over, "Impressive, let's get going."
Spider-Man sighed, "You need to lighten up."
"I'll lighten up when I'm died."
Spider-Man climbed onto his hover cycle, "Now that's a morbid thought. Where in Rhode Island?"
"Follow me."
Spider-Man shook his head and then put on his helmet, while Batman shot his grapple hook, at the slot under the batwing for the hook, and then pushed the button to take him up to the cockpit, he climbed onto his bike and followed the batwing to Rhode Island.
Mount Justice
August 21, 04:00 EDT
2010
Artemis sighed irritably, "Why are we still here?"
Red Tornado looked at the female blonde archer, "Batman wants you to meet your new teammate."
Wally, Kaldur, Dick, Connor and Megan looked over at Red Tornado, "Who?"
"Batman to Red Tornado, open the hanger bay, and tell the team to come."
"Acknowledged Batman," Red turned to the young ones, "follow." He then headed to the hanger bay. The team followed slowly behind Red Tornado, to discuss who their new teammate was going to be.
"Speedy, it has got to be Speedy."
"Maybe a new hero has a partner that he had join our team."
"It could be Spider-Man."
That statement stopped the others in their tracks and they stared at Connor, who shrugged.
Kaldur looked thoughtful and then nodded, "That could be true. Let's get to the hanger bay." They started walking again, making it to the hanger bay just in time to see the Batwing land, followed by a motorcycle type thing that stopped and hovered by the batwing, then the four hover pads slowly moved until it looked like a four wheeler, then the four wheels came together to make it into a motorcycle.
Spider-Man sighed as he looked at the team, and saw that they had added a new member, who was probably the person who fired the arrow during that robot fiasco, and if he was honest with himself, she was good looking, she had blonde hair, wore a green suit, that showed her slightly muscle toned stomach, and had a light green arrow on her chest, he took off his helmet and hung it on the cycles' handle, "You must be new," Spider-Man looked over at Batman, "So this is the Young Justice."
The team looked at Spider-Man with looks of confusion, "What did you call us?"
Spider-Man sighed again then pointed at the adults, "They are the Justice League, and you lot are their partners, hence Young Justice."
The others looked at each other, "Why didn't any of us think of it?"
Spider-Man shrugged, "Sometimes even the simplest answers can evade sharp minds like yours."
"This is Spider-Man, he is joining the team, but will be based in New York, I'll set up a zeta tube near your apartment," Batman stated as he walked over to the Zeta tubes and encoded Spider-Man into it.
Access Granted Spider-Man B08
Spider-Man nodded, "Sounds like a good idea."
"Why are you wearing a different costume?"
Spider-Man looked at Kid Flash, "Because this is my normal suit, the suit I wore when I first met you is undergoing some work."
"Why didn't you come back to the team when they could have used your help," Artemis asked as she glared at the masked hero, she slightly backed away when those solid white eyes turned to look at her.
"This is a team of former sidekicks, I have never been a sidekick. I am the first Spider-Man."
"What about Black Spider," Artemis asks as she continued to glare at Spider-Man, but stepped back a few feet when an aura of pure anger surrounded the hero.
Spider-Man glared at the archer from behind the white lens, "Never mention that wanna be assassin to me again. He will never be more than a thug who is agile and skilled in hand-to-hand combat. While I am in a different category altogether. I have the proportionate strength of a spider. I have the knowledge to make webbing. I can climb on walls, ceilings and generally stay sticking to any surface I want. I have a fast healing ability and an accelerated metabolism, so that I need a larger dose of whatever drug that an enemy uses. I am incredibly durable, I can take punch after punch and anything else that's thrown my way. That poser Black Spider is nothing compared to me!"
