Chapter 2: Power and Responsibility

"Every spider needs a web," Peter pointed out as he scrolled through the internet on his laptop.

He had just gotten home, and Peter needed to figure out how he could shoot webs. Online, he searched for different materials that he could use to build web shooters. To make sure they were cool-looking and functional, Peter decided that old watches and cables would best make them.

"How the hell am I gonna pay for this?" a frustrated Peter sighed. He had spent two hours searching online for a way to make money quickly, and nothing could match Peter's price.

Peter's eyes suddenly widened in excitement. "Bingo!"

WANT TO MAKE MONEY FAST?

TEST YOUR SKILLS AND SEE IF YOU HAVE WHAT IT TAKES TO DEFEAT SKULL CRUSHER IN THE RING!

$1000 IN CASH TO THE WINNER!

Peter leaned back in his chair and put his feet on his desk. "Now THAT'S a prize."

It had taken 3 days, but Peter eventually finished putting together his costume for the wrestling match. Comprising of a red and blue hoodie, red mask, dark sunglasses, and red Nike kicks, Peter somewhat felt proud of the finished product. Putting on the costume for the first time was an exciting moment itself.

"It was the best I could do," Peter admired as he checked himself out in the mirror.

Peter then quickly took off the costume and put it in his backpack. After dressing into his street clothes, Peter went downstairs to leave. However, Uncle Ben was reading a newspaper in the kitchen.

"Whoa, where are you going, sport?" Uncle Ben asked.

"I'm just gonna head out to Harry's house. We gotta study for that huge chemistry test tomorrow."

"All right," Uncle Ben said. "Just be back by 7."

"Don't worry about it," Peter shouted as he ran out of the house.

"SKULL CRUSHER! SKULL CRUSHER! SKULL CRUSHER!"

The stadium was packed with fans, with a majority of them supporting the infamous wrestler Skull Crusher. Known for putting several of his opponents in the hospital, Skull Crusher had ended 13 careers.

"WHO'S MAN ENOUGH TO FACE SKULL CRUSHER?!" Skull Crusher yelled at the crowd.

Knowing someone needed to stand up to him and finally defeat the undefeated champion, Peter stood up. Dressed in his cheap costume, he felt optimistic. The crowd looked at him, bewildered.

"I am," Peter said confidently.

The crowd started booing him as Peter slowly walked onto the ring.

"Great," Peter whispered to himself.

"Oh, is this the cute little "Spider-Man" that came here to challenge me?" Skull Crusher taunted. "I expected you to be bigger."

"I expected you to be skinnier," Peter responded with wit.

The entire audience laughed and ooh'ed as Skull Crusher's face went red.

"You're gonna regret that, bug boy!" Skull Crusher roared as he raced at Peter with a fist.

Peter scoffed and easily moved aside to dodge the fist. Frustrated, Skull Crusher threw more punches, only for Peter to dodge them all. Peter then grabbed Skull Crusher and threw him against the cage.

"Aw, did I just crush your skull?" Peter sarcastically asked.

Peter laughed and turned around to wave his fist at the crowd. Skull Crusher snuck up behind him, picked him up, and threw him down onto the ground.

"Gah!" Peter groaned.

Skull Crusher climbed on top of the ring and lunged at him. Peter noticed him lunging and kicked Skull Crusher in the stomach, knocking him against the cage. Holding his stomach in agony, Skull Crusher slowly tried to get up. The umpire quickly ran over to Skull Crusher, who collapsed in exhaustion.

"One, two, THREE! Ladies and gentlemen, the new champion, SPIDER-MAN!" the umpire announced as he grabbed Peter's arm in victory.

The crowd started cheering. Peter smiled as he earned his applause.

"Finally!" Peter proudly exclaimed as he walked out of the promoter's office with his $1000.

Inside the promoter's office, however, a sketchy-looking man walked in. With platinum spiky hair and sunglasses, the man gave a vibe that made the promoter nervous. Before the promoter could ask any questions, the man pulled out a gun and threw a bag at him.

"Money, now!" the man demanded.

Before Peter could even make it to the elevator, shouting was heard. Shocked, Peter turned around to see a burglar running out of the office. Wanting to walk out alive, Peter quickly decided it was best to avoid the situation and stepped aside.

"Thanks, kid!" the burglar quickly told Peter as he escaped in the elevator.

Two security guards quickly arrived, only for the burglar to be gone. As one of the guards ran down the stairs to try and catch up with him, the other one stayed behind to give Peter a piece of his mind.

"The hell was that?" the guard scolded. "You could've at least tried to stop him!"

As bad as he felt. Peter was still annoyed by the situation. "If I recall, stopping criminals isn't my job."

Aggravated, the guard ran off to find the burglar. Peter could hear him mutter, "Stupid kid!" Shaking his head, Peter left in the elevator.

"Where the hell were you?"

That was the very first sentence Peter heard as he opened the door to his house. Uncle Ben was standing with his arms crossed, and he looked pissed. This was a rare sight for Peter, and it made him cringe.

"Well? I'm waiting for an answer!" Ben angrily said.

"I told you I was going to Harry's house," Peter calmly responded.

"Oh, really? Do you know what time is it? 9:15! Not only are you 2 hours late, but I called Harry's father, and he had no idea what I was talking about!"

Peter didn't know how to respond to that.

"Look, Peter, just tell me what's going on!"

Annoyed, Peter voiced his honest thoughts. "You want the truth? Fine! Things have been changing, okay? All of a sudden, there's stuff I didn't even know was possible, and I don't know how to deal with it! So just give me a break!"

As Aunt May entered the room after hearing the commotion, Uncle Ben's angered expression changed to a more calm and sympathetic one.

"What do you mean, things have been changing? Pete, what's happening?" Ben asked his nephew.

No answer.

"Look, Peter, I think I know what you're talking about. I was a teenage kid once, too, you know. I probably went through the same stuff you did," Ben stated.

Peter shook his head in disbelief. "No, you're wrong."

"Peter, where could you have gone at 9:00? Meeting some drug dealer or something?" Aunt May asked, concerned.

"What? No! You don't trust me or something?" Peter blurted out.

"This isn't about trust, Peter," Ben replied. "It's about the decisions you make. Whatever you do always affects your future, so you have to handle your decisions well and make sure you do the right thing."

"Like I haven't heard this talk before," an annoyed Peter sighed.

Ignoring what his nephew said, Ben continued speaking. "When we were growing up, your dad didn't always make the best decisions and sometimes hung out with the wrong people. I was always there to help guide him through life, and look where he ended up before he died. He was one of the smartest scientists who could've ever lived, and you've inherited his genius! Peter, I always told him, with great power, there must also come great responsibility."

"Why couldn't he have told me that himself?!" Peter exploded.

"Don't you raise your voice like that, Peter!" May sternly told Peter.

Furious, Peter ran out of the house.

Shocked by his behavior, Uncle Ben went to follow Peter.

About 2 hours had passed, and the entire time, Peter had just spent the time walking around, contemplating what Uncle Ben had told him. With great power, there must also come great responsibility? Although he had an idea, Peter didn't fully know what to think of it. As he continued walking, Peter heard sirens. Curious, he followed the sound to find a crowd of people looking at something. Police officers were trying to hold the people back, and there were cruisers at the scene. Peter ran over and made his way through the crowd of people. As he got closer, he could see a man's arm. On his arm was a silver watch. It looked just like the watch that Peter had bought Uncle Ben for his previous birthday.

"Oh, no!"

Peter pushed past more people, only for a cop to hold him back.

"Sir, you can't-"

"THAT'S MY UNCLE!" Peter screamed as he ran over to the dreadful sight of his uncle lying on the ground. Clenching his bloody chest, tears slowly went down Ben's face. Peter found his eyes starting to water as well.

"What happened?!" Peter yelled.

"It was a burglar," the same cop answered. "He's been shot."

"Uncle Ben," Peter whimpered. "I'm here."

In his last dying breath, Benjamin Parker couldn't find the strength to say anything. As his eyes closed for the final time, Peter started crying more than he ever did since he found out his parents had died. The crowd of people looked sympathetic.

Peter looked at the cops to hear what they were saying.

"We've tracked him down. He's at a warehouse north of 7th Avenue."

Peter's grief quickly turned to anger. Someone had taken the life of his uncle and father figure. Benjamin Parker was a man that didn't deserve death, and he was about to receive justice.

Running as fast as he could in his costume, Peter tried to find any possible way to get there faster. Some people gave him weird looks, but that was the last thing on Peter's mind. Jumping on top of a bus, Peter looked around for his location.

"7th Avenue," Peter reminded himself.

The bus later made its way into 7th Avenue, and Peter jumped off. Running around, Peter eventually found the warehouse. With police cruisers surrounding the place, Peter needed to find a way to get in.

Reloading his gun, the burglar remained terrified of what would happen. Plus, he didn't think he'd be safe in the warehouse for very long. Noticing a shadow crawling across the ceiling, he panicked and fired bullets in its direction.

"WHO'S THERE?!"

"Your worst nightmare," a voice responded.

The burglar shot more bullets in the warehouse, only for his efforts to be in vain.

"There's nowhere on this Earth where you can hide from me. You're gonna pay," the same voice snarled.

The burglar turned around to see Peter on the ceiling.

"MURDERER!"

Filled with vengeance and fury, Peter lunged at him and dodged the bullets that came his way. Knocking him to the ground, Peter threw the burglar across the room. The burglar quickly got up and threw a knife, only for Peter to step aside and dodge it. Desperate, he ran to the door to try and escape, only for Peter to reach him and slam his face against the wall. Punching him down, Peter grabbed his collar.

"You're gonna pay for what you've done!" Peter growled.

What happened next was something Peter definitely didn't expect. As he glared into the eyes of his uncle's killer, he noticed that the face was familiar. Where had he seen it before? After thinking for a few seconds, Peter's eyes widened in disbelief.

"No, no, you can't be! I could've stopped you!" Peter panicked.

Uncle Ben's killer just happened to be the exact burglar that Peter had let go. Peter could've stopped the burglar, but he didn't. He chose to be careless and let the burglar go. He could've prevented his uncle's death, but he didn't. He made the wrong choice and was now inadvertently responsible for the tragedy. He suddenly remembered his uncle's words. "It's about the decisions you make. Whatever you do always affects your future, so you have to handle your decisions well and make sure you do the right thing." Peter's furious expression turned into one of despair. He had made the wrong and fatal decision. The burglar tried to slowly reach for his gun, but Peter snapped back into reality and punched the guy unconscious. At that moment, the door to the warehouse was busted open by cops.

"NYPD, put your hands up!" one of the cops yelled.

The cops walked in to find Uncle Ben's killer unconscious. There was no sign of Peter anywhere.

Peter silently sat on top of a building. He had his mask off, as he didn't really feel like he had to hide anything at this point. With tears slowly going down his face, Peter thought of every single major event of his life involving Uncle Ben. From getting dropped off at his and May's house as a kid for the first time, to the various times they had hung out at the movies and restaurants, and now the speech he had given Peter. Peter knew that he would forever remember the last words he had heard from Uncle Ben. "With great power, there must also come great responsibility."

"I know what that means now," Peter declared. "From this moment forward, I'm not gonna let the same thing happen to anyone else. No one else is gonna die because of me."

Peter stood up and looked at the city. He didn't think nobody else would die because of him, he KNEW nobody else would die. Not again, not ever. With this newfound gift, Peter vowed to defend New York City from danger that moment forward.

As Spider-Man.

All May Parker could do was sob in grief. Although she had received news that the killer had been apprehended by a mysterious vigilante, that was nowhere near enough to cheer May up even a tiny bit. Her makeup was running, and her graying brown hair was also a mess. The doorbell rang, and May got up to answer it. Once May opened it, Peter was waiting, and his face was red from crying.

"Peter," May sobbed.

Peter started crying again and hugged his aunt. In that moment, they both did nothing but embrace.

Next Chapter July 27