The Amazing Spider-Man! Chapter 2, Part 1
Benjamin Parker was dead. The sun shone brightly down at the small crowd gathered at his funeral. There weren't many of them, friends and family from the Queens neighbourhood that had been Ben Parker's home for five decades.
Chief among the mourners were Ben's wife, May Parker, and his fifteen-year-old nephew, Peter. Peter had an additional reason to mourn, one that could never be suspected by his fellow mourners.
It's all my fault, he thought. I could have stopped that thief! But I didn't! I let him get away. All because I looked out for number one.
The service did little to soothe Peter's troubled emotions. The Parker family had been a part of the Episcopalian Church for decades, and their minister was a drunken lout. He slurred his way through the service, all while Aunt May cried beside him. Peter shot the occasional glare at the minister, but that didn't help much.
Peter looked out over the crowd. He knew most of the mourners; old friends from the neighbourhood or Ben's old co-workers. There was Rabbi Rosenberg with his unkempt beard and perpetual wide eyed stare. He too was glowering at the pastor. Beside the Rabbi stood Khayrat Ali, the local imam, imperious and grand in his robes. Peter was glad those two were there. There was Uncle Ben's old boss, sobbing quietly in the back row of the gathering. Beside him were two people that Peter didn't know. One was a large, squat black woman in a black suit with a broad-brimmed hat. Beside her was another woman. Probably Latina, Peter guessed, based on the woman's skin colour. But he could be wrong. In a city as diverse as New York, it was dangerous to assume a person's heritage based on their skin colour alone.
The ceremony wound down. Uncle Ben's coffin was slowly lowered into the open grave. Peter scowled at the sky. It wasn't fair that the sun should shine so brightly when all happiness seemed to go out of the world. As far as Peter was concerned, everything should be overcast and grey.
With Uncle Ben's casket safely lowered into the grave, Peter joined those who dumped handfuls of dirt into the hole. Then he left. He needed to be alone for a bit.
Apparently Aunt May disagreed, for she followed her nephew to a bench near the grave. They both sat down and cried. The sound of a throat being cleared snapped them out of it. Peter looked up to see the two women he had spotted earlier. The larger of the two women spoke:
"You must be May and Peter Parker. I'm Amanda Waller, this is Agent Avesta. I'm so sorry for your loss."
"Oh, yes," Aunt May said. "Mrs. Waller. You were my husband's last client for his woodworking. It's so good of you to come."
"It was the least we could do," Waller replied. "I'm only sorry I wasn't able to meet your husband in person. He sounds like a wonderful person."
"Yes, thank you," May said before breaking down in sobs.
"Not that you'd know that from the service," Peter muttered bitterly as he rubbed Aunt May's back. Angry tears streamed down his face.
"Your minister's delivery does leave a lot to be desired," Agent Avesta agreed, casting a backwards glance at the funeral crowd.
"That's an understatement," Peter muttered. Waller snorted in agreement.
"I suppose you're here about that carving," Aunt May said. Peter shot her an angry look. Surely this woman wasn't so crass as to discuss business at a funeral?
"We can pick it up anytime," Waller assured her. "I believe the agreed upon amount was twenty-five thousand dollars?" Waller arched an eyebrow at Agent Avesta, who promptly produced a cheque.
"That's…" May started as Avesta handed her the cheque. May stared at the cheque before continuing: "That's very generous, Mrs. Waller. But we can't possibly…"
"Generous? Please," Waller snorted. "I'm shorting the man. His work was worth more, a lot more. But that was what we agreed on and that's what I'm going to pay."
"Thank you," Aunt May breathed. Waller stared at the older woman for a minute or two before turning to Peter. "You take care of your aunt now, you hear me?" she said. "And if there's anything you need, anything at all, you just call me. Here's my card," she added. In her outstretched arm was a small business card.
"Thank you," Peter said, snatching the card out of her hand. Peter didn't like this woman, not one bit. He didn't like the way she flaunted her wealth or the way she had crashed his uncle's funeral. But he supposed he should be grateful; he knew damned well that his uncle had not charged this woman twenty-five thousand dollars. The most Uncle Ben had ever charged for his carvings was a thousand a piece. Waller gazed steadily at Peter for a minute or two before cracking a smile.
"Yeah, your parents didn't much like me either, kid," she admitted. "But what the hell. I was never here to be liked. You two take care. I'll see you around, Peter. Don't let high school get you down. You'll show all these cats before long." And with that, Waller and Avesta left, leaving Peter and Aunt May to ponder just what she had meant by that.
Amanda Waller and Agent Avesta were almost at Waller's car when Waller's phone rang. Waller dug around in her pockets to pull the phone out.
"Waller," she answered.
"Manda, what did I say about going to Parker's funeral?" Colonel Nicholas J. Fury demanded.
"I don't work for you yet, Nick," Waller countered. "The U.N. still hasn't agreed to fund S.H.I.E.L.D."
"Formalities," Fury said dismissively. "The Parkers worked for us, a long time ago. And Peter is way too young to know about what his parents did for a living."
"I don't disagree, Nick," Waller said as Agent Avesta opened the car door for her. Waller got in. "But I don't think that means we should disrespect them by not showing up for Richard's brother's funeral. Especially given that we don't know why Ben Parker died."
"You've been in contact with Captain Stacy of the NYPD," Fury said. "What does he say about the murder?"
"Nothing much," Waller admitted. "Captain Stacy may just be the only honest cop in the NYPD. He's definitely the only cop who doesn't care what Cadmus wants or what his superiors tell him to do. He's given me the brush off every time we talk. The only thing that Captain Stacy will confirm is that the killer robbed a wrestling arena earlier that night. It's pretty thin, Nick."
"Could be that's all there is to it," Fury suggested. "Not everything's a conspiracy, Manda."
"Maybe," Waller conceded. Agent Avesta got in the front seat and started the car up. "How's it going in the Middle East?" Waller asked.
"Great!" Fury answered. "We should have most of the major wars wrapped up in a couple of months. The Russians are being assholes, as usual, but we've made several key alliances with the locals, who are the only ones who really matter, anyway. Though Washington is probably not going to be very pleased with some of the deals we cut."
"Shouldn't have given you unilateral authority, then," Waller said. "Can't complain that somebody isn't doing what you wanted when you don't give them direction."
"C'mon, Manda," Fury said. Waller could almost hear his trademark grin over the phone. "Since when is anybody in Washington rational?"
Peter was helping his aunt clean up their house after the funeral reception when several sheets of paper fell out of his aunt's hands.
"Oh!" Aunt May said as the papers hit the floor. She hurriedly bent down to grab them, but Peter was too fast for her.
"It's all right, Aunt May," Peter said as he grabbed the papers. "I got them."
"Oh, thank you Peter," Aunt May said as she grabbed the papers out of his hands. "But you really shouldn't trouble yourself. I'm still spry enough to bend down!"
"Right," Peter said distractedly. May had snatched the papers as fast as she could, but it wasn't quite fast enough. Peter had been able to read them before she took them away, and saw that they were bills. Worse, that the bills were enormously high. "Aunt May," he said quietly, "how are we doing financially?"
May spun around, an angry look in her eyes. "You never mind, Peter!" she snapped. "You just worry about your studies. I'll take care of the finances!" And with that she spun on her heel and kept marching past.
"Right," Peter said again. But that was where his aunt was wrong. Peter was the man of the house, now that Uncle Ben was gone. And he had learned, however painfully, to never shirk his responsibilities again!
Peter raced up to his room and switched into his Spider-Man costume. Over the past few days, ever since Uncle Ben had died, Peter had resented his costumed alter ego. If he had never been bitten by that spider, if he had never put on that dumb costume, then maybe Uncle Ben would still be alive! But in his heart Peter knew that he was being silly. Spider-Man wasn't the cause of his troubles; Peter himself was. And Spider-Man just might give Peter a way out of it.
Peter was once again swinging through the rooftops, his drone following close behind him. This video would have to be extra special, he knew, and so he did far more acrobatic stunts than usual. Flips, backflips, swan dives, everything he could think of. He even webbed up a space between two skyscrapers and did a human fly stunt.
He only hoped it would be enough. The video was being live streamed this time, and he was getting all sorts of suggestions from his followers. Some of them were pretty stupid, but others were kind of cool. Like webbing up a space between buildings just above the street and using it as a trampoline.
As he bounced one more time on his makeshift trampoline, Peter hoped desperately that this would be enough to help his aunt.
It was all he had.
Peter's fans weren't the only ones watching his stunts, however. J. Jonah Jameson, owner, editor, and publisher of The Daily Bugle was also watching. And his stomach was knotting up every time Spider-Man did one of his insane stunts. He just knew that this kid would end up as pancake batter! And judging from the video's comments, he was just about the only person who had come to that conclusion. Fortunately, there was a lot he could do about it.
Jameson picked up the phone in his office and dialed. "Hello?" he said. "NYPD? Yeah, I'd like to report a disturbance…"
Peter wasn't getting as much out of web-swinging as he normally did. His worries about his aunt kept intruding. And he was about to have a lot more to worry about!
Peter's spider-sense tingled, almost causing him to drop from the web-line he was currently swinging on. He corrected instantly and swung his way to a rooftop where he could get his bearings. He looked around and saw them: a pair of NYPD helicopters bearing down on him. Peter wasn't sure what they wanted, but he was sure he didn't want to find out. Using the remote control on his belt, Peter summoned the drone to his hand and shut it off. He then strapped the drone to his back and took off. The police helicopters were right behind him. Peter was forced to lead them on a merry chase around the city before he finally spied an opening down near the Bowery. Peter quickly distracted the pilots with a couple of web shots and when they weren't looking, slipped down into an alleyway. There he changed clothes and walked out.
That was close, Peter thought. I guess I pushed it a little too far?
Peter arrived home a couple of hours later, to find his aunt parked in front of the T.V.
"Peter, have you seen this?" she demanded as soon as Peter walked in through the front door.
"Uh, no, Aunt May, I haven't," Peter said as he took off his shoes. He had already deposited the drone in his room before sneaking back around to the front door. Peter finished taking off his shoes and walked up to the living room where his aunt was sitting.
"It's that awful 'Spider-Man,'" May said pointing her finger at the T.V. "Look what he's doing!" she demanded. Peter looked. It was him, all right. Whoever the shot the footage of him was good; they captured everything Peter had done over the course of the day. "Do you have any idea how many people he endangered?" May demanded. "He must have broken over a thousand laws!"
And, looking at it now, Peter could see that his aunt had a point. Several times he came close to tripping up a car or a helicopter and there was at least one point where he almost flattened a couple of civilians. Peter felt a little sick. He hadn't learned his lesson after all.
The news cut to a press conference. It was J. Jonah Jameson himself. Peter felt even sicker. He didn't think he would like this very much.
"People of New York," Jameson said. "We have all seen the terrible actions committed by the criminal Spider-Man this day. We have seen the way he recklessly endangers the lives of others. We have seen his total disregard for the law! Laws that were put in place to keep us safe. Well, the Bugle will have none of it. We are committed to bringing this criminal to justice! We're already chasing down the account he uses to upload his videos. Soon, we will bring Spider-Man to justice!" The crowd whooped and cheered. Peter thought he would throw up.
"Isn't that just awful?" May asked.
"It sure is, Aunt May," Peter agreed. "Um, listen, I've got some homework I've got to finish. I'll talk to you later!" Aunt May waved him off and Peter dashed up to his bedroom.
He had to work fast!
A couple of hours later, it was all done. Peter had successfully shut down the Spider-Man videos, collected every cent from his various accounts and then shut down those accounts. Peter only hoped it would be enough to keep people from finding him. But he just wasn't sure.
END CHAPTER
Author's Notes:
Just a short chapter this time, guys. In keeping with this series goal of being an update/re-mix of the Lee/Ditko years, this chapter is also taken straight from a Spider-Man story. In this case, Spidey's first story in his own book! This is just part one; part two will be all action as Spidey meets Jonah's son and saves him from a terrible mishap! Stay tuned, you don't want to miss your regular dose of Spider-action! Also, I hope you guys like my little tease with Waller and Fury. They're going to be much bigger players down the road.
The Amazing Spider-Man created by Stan "The Man" Lee and Steve Ditko. Amanda Waller created by John Ostrander, Len Wein and John Byrne. Nick Fury created by Stan "The Man" Lee and Jack "The King" Kirby. Agent Iman Avesta created by Telltale Games.
