Peter had remained rather deathly silent to his Aunt and Uncle that morning, eating breakfast as quietly and as quickly as possible. Good lord... was he a mutant? All those books he had read in the past said that most people with Mutant genes had them activate in their teenage years (essentially the worst possible thing to add in to puberty) so it would make sense. It just seemed so sudden was all.

But if he was a mutant, he was just going to keep quiet about it (Not that there was anything wrong with being a mutant...). After all, he hardly wanted to bring in attention from the likes of the Brotherhood or that Xavier school, it would only make things harder for May and Ben. And they had done a lot for him over the years, so he could hardly drop a bombshell like this on them.

He left his glasses resting in his messy brown hair, the temples and temple tips resting on his ears, while he ate. It wasn't that uncommon for him to wear them like that while he ate, so hopefully his relatives wouldn't question it. He just needed to keep them around until he could devise some excuse about why he didn't need them anymore... he'd likely just tell them that Harry bought him contacts. Or he could just buy glasses with fake lenses. Assuming he didn't wind up dressing like a douchebag in every other respect, then nobody could call him a hipster.

"Peter, dear?" May asked, peering his way from her own spot in the table "You'll be late if you don't hurry up," she added. The teenager paused and glanced at the clock on the wall, giving a small gulp when he realised how right she was.

"Oh! Aha, right, sorry" he said, picking up the pace of his eating. Crazy superpowers or not, he still wasn't going to risk his perfect attendance. Who could he even tell about this? Ah, he had to figure out just what the hell was going on before he told anyone.

Ben cocked his head slightly "You okay son?" he asked finally. "Still feeling queasy from yesterday? I mean you could stay home if you are," he added.

On the contrary, Peter felt better now that he had in his whole life- supremely fit in almost every aspect. His eyesight was 20/20, his head was running faster than ever, and there was a great sense of freedom behind every movement he made. "Ah, it's okay Uncle Ben, I'm fine." Peter got up and took his plate with him safely depositing it in the old dishwasher. They really could do with a new one... "I'll be back home on time, I promise."

With that Peter hurried for the door, stepping neatly into his red converse shoes on the way, took his bag up and hurried on his way,

There was one lingering thought on Peter's mind as he walked down the sidewalk, a rather odd theory that alternated between making sense and no sense at all the more he thought about it. That spider, the one he caught from the corner of his eye after it bit him. It was supposedly some sort of mutant, a rarity of its kind, and after it bit him he had felt all kinds of illness... and he was now starting to shoot webs out of his wrists to boot. Was he turning into some sort of Man-Spider? Were-Spider? Man the next full moon would be weird if that was the case.

Still, was such a thing possible? A bite from a spider giving him weird spider-like powers? Sounded like a story from one of those nutty pulp magazines that Uncle Ben kept in the attic. He supposed he'd have to test himself after class, see if he had any other abilities.

All he knew for sure now was that his eyesight was perfect, he had some degree of superhuman strength (That he had yet to test the limits of) and when pushing down a certain part of his palm he could fire webbing from some unseen spinneret's in his wrists. Maybe he could crawl on walls or something like that? Worth looking into.

Peter glanced ahead, able to see Mary Jane just ahead of him on the street walking along at a leisurely pace. Well, no sense in ignoring her. He jogged forward, moving with a degree of speed and grace that genuinely surprised him, and within seconds he had caught up with the athletic redhead "Phew! Morning Red, how you feeling?"

"Well well, if it isn't Peter Parker. And here I was thinking you'd be late for school and decide to become a bad boy," she joked. Mary Jane gave him a teasing smile and then asked "So how was your date with Harry the other day? I heard it got cut short."

"It wasn't a date," Peter corrected firmly, giving her a small pout "As for why it got cut short, I wound up feeling sick. Couldn't stick around unfortunately..." He shrugged then "It was fun for the fifteen minutes I was in there," Peter added.

MJ gave a small nod in response "Eh, that sort of thing happens I guess," she replied. The duo passed by the a newsstand, baring more prophecies of destruction and doom- 'Tensions between Latveria and Wakanda increase!', 'Philanthropist goes missing in Middle East!' 'Mysterious 'Punisher' strikes again!' Honestly Peter didn't know what to make of them sometimes. Some of those tales just seemed like somebody elses fever dream.

The redhead looked Peter over again, some sort of scrutiny in her gaze "You seem kinda different," Mary Jane remarked. "How come you're not wearing your glasses?" Her free hand dipped into the pocket of her blue and white Varsity jacket, her curious gaze lingering on the spectacles resting atop his head.

"Oh! That? Well you know, I just ah... I don't think I really need them anymore. I mean my eyesight feels good enough on its own now... ya know?" Peter tried to explain. It wasn't technically a lie- his vision really had just gotten spontaneously better through means he couldn't currently explain.

After rounding one corner and moving through the crowds of people that filled the New York streets, they could see Midtown coming up over the horizon. Still, Mary Jane continued to watch him curiously "Eh, well if you say so. I always thought the glasses were kinda' cool on you though," she mused aloud.

Peter was quick to glance away, cheeks flushing slightly "Aha, you don't say... I mean I think that's the first time I've heard that one," he said. He shrugged then and gave her a quick smile "But thanks for that MJ, it was pretty nice to hear." It was just a compliment, all he had to do was take it at face value and not expect anything else from it.

"No probs, Parker. Anyway I gotta hurry on ahead and get my stuff, so I'll see you in time for geography," MJ said before quickly jogging on ahead into the tall ivory high school. And just lik that Peter was alone, another day with Harry coming in late.

He stood alone on the grass just outside the main school building. He raised his wrist up, taking a moment to check the time on his watch. Well he still had a few minutes before class started, so all he needed to do was find a way to pass the time and-

A voice suddenly called out to him, immediately filling the brunette with dread and scorn. Flash Thompson, no doubt trying to repeat yesterday's success. "Hey Parker! Heads up!" Flash yelled out before flinging another cup full of ice coffee at his favourite target, the lidded cup hurtling across the campus like an odd-shaped football.

Without looking, without turning or moving in any way, shape or form, he already knew exactly the direction and trajectory. He could feel it, a distinct buzzing in his brain that told him of the incoming projectile, and through some hitherto unknown sense he could feel the air molecules distorting around the incoming cup as it hurtled his way. It was... shocking, strange... as if the world was in slow motion.

Peter's hand shot up suddenly, moving faster than a speeding bullet and rapidly intercepting Flash's thrown object and catching it by the lid. He didn't even have to turn his head, it seemed entirely as if he did it on a reflex which was the most surprising thing about it.

All eyes were on him, people staring in shock at the rather shocking degree of skill and dexterity shown by the young man who, by and large, was often regarded as the clumsiest and least coordinated person in their school. Peter made a small gulping noise and let his grip loosen, the cup falling onto the grass beside him. Good thing he caught that, it would have ruined his white shirt otherwise.

"Oh... ah... nice reflexes, Parker..." Flash murmured, clearly dumbfounded at the shocking display of skill he showed. He must have been higher than Harry Osborn right now...


The rest of the day, Peter seemed distracted. He answered whatever questions his teachers sent his way, did his reading when he could, but for the most part he lacked the same degree of focus he usually had for his classes. He was after all still wrapped up in thoughts related to his newfound abilities, these strange powers that had come to him from seemingly nowhere. He still needed to test them, and that was what had him so distracted.

As soon as classes were finished for the day he had give his goodbyes to both Harry (Who had seemingly materialised into the school halfway through the day) and MJ, saying that he needed to do some shopping of his own. And that was technically true- the first place he headed to was a clothing shop three blocks away, snatching up a pair of glasses with fake lenses. They looked exactly like his old ones, but he could wear them without getting a headache.

Once Peter had these new glasses, he slipped them into his glasses case and left that in his bag before walking steadily along the streets of New York, moving through moving waves of people. He needed too find somewhere relatively lonesome where he could test his powers out, because the last thing he needed was someone spotting him and forming an anti-mutant lynch mob or whatever.

Peter ducked down one narrow alley, carefully slipping around trashcans and discarded bits of rubbish as he moved deeper in, stopping when he came upon a large opening between several stores. The area was filled with large dumpsters loaded to the brim with crap, backdoors leading into the different stores. Seemed to be a loading bay of some kind, just a particularly small one. Well whatever it was, he was alone at least.

Now he had the exact room he needed to test himself moved over to one large dumpster that dwarfed him in size, his arms reaching around and hands gripping the blue material of its sides. "Jeez... I shoulda picked something better smelling to try this out on."

He struggled for a moment, gaining proper footing before slowly raising the dumpster up off the ground until he was supporting its entire weight and holding it above the asphalt. "Ah... geez it stinks... good thing the lid is on tight..." This thing must have been filled with rocks or something... still, by his own estimation he must have been lifting the weight of a car right about now.

Gently and carefully he set the dumpster back down on its wheels, breathing out a relieved sigh that turned into a small chuckle "Okay... super strength is pretty awesome... what else can I do?" Peter mused to himself. He paused in thought before figuring that if the muscles of his arms were superhuman, then the ones in his legs had to be too, right? Well he just needed the right way to test that.

Peter moved out into the center of the loading bay and then crouched slightly. And then he shoved his legs forward, flinging his body skyward with a powerful leap, the brunette teenager yelping out of shock from just how high that jump had thrown him- almost two storeys high in a single bound!

He threw his hands forward, wildly scrambling for something to grab onto before he plummeted to the ground... and then suddenly his palms smacked off the red brickwork of one structure, and he was left hanging with his palms stuck to the wall as if by glue. The brunette blinked in surprise, glancing about to make sure there was nothing beneath his feet... Sure enough, his palms really were stuck to the wall. He was crawling along solid surfaces just like a spider would...

A goofy childlike grin broke across Peter's face, and he slowly pressed the soles of his feet against the brickwork. And then with a swift backward shove of his legs he was sent tumbling though the air and landing on the opposite wall, pressing his palms and his shoes into the wall and anchoring himself to that spot. "Holy hell... this is awesome..."

He started leaping two and fro, bouncing around the walls like a human pinball at superhuman speeds, each time catching himself off the wall with whatever force was allowing him to adhere to solid surfaces. Each time he felt his bag start to slip off his shoulder, he was quick to catch it and yank it back into place, doing it almost subconsciously given just how fast his reflexes were now.

He quickly grew bored of bouncing between four walls and decided to test himself in a wider space. Peters fingers gripped suddenly onto the rim of one rooftop, and with a quick jerk of his arms he flipped up and landed neatly on the roof, sending a flock of pigeons scattering to the winds away from him.

He started running, racing across that roof until he vaulted up with another springing flip that led to him scampering up the face of one slightly taller building with his newfound powers. Hell, screw walking, he could get home just fine like this!

The more he ran, the more refined and articulated his movements became, as if he was gradually awakening these new powers of his. He was inhumanly fast, impossibly agile, but his coordination, flexibility and sense of balance had extended far beyond that of even the worlds finest gymnasts! "So this is why people hate mutants, they're jealous of the awesomeness of super powers," Peter mused aloud, jumping onto one roof access hut and then using it as a springboard to reach an even higher roof.

Peter raced forward, flinging his body and then gripping onto one flagpole, swinging about on it and then using his momentum to launch his body across the sky. His feet planted perfectly on the vertical face of the apartment building, allowing him to sprint neatly along the surface of the bricks before kicking forward, launching himself down and landing in a neat roll on the scaffolding of a nearby construction site.

"Heh... hehehe..." Peter said, pausing for a moment to catch his breath and then wipe the sweat from his brow with the back of his hand. "Man, I guess they should start calling me Peter Parkour from now on... I'm really glad nobody else heard that."

After a little more time spent getting his stamina back, he resumed running, jumping from platform to platform on the scaffolding and somehow managing to remain unseen all the while. He reached the topmost layer surrounding the tall old building and leapt forward into the air, leaving him hurtling high above the roads. He was sure he could reach the building across the road despite the distance... and then gravity started yanking him downward while his arms flailed outward uselessly.

"Crap! O-oh crap!" Peter yelped, continuing to flail as he plummeted downward. Just out of desperation he squeezed his middle and ring finger down on his right palm, hoping to god that his webbing wasn't a one time thing! The white rope shot outward at a surprising speed, sticking onto the corner of one building and quickly growing taut. Peter braced himself, closing his eyes tight, and then suddenly his body was swinging upward at a shocking speed until the webbing snapped and sent him flying up higher than he had ever gone until now.

He opened his eyes, and once again time seemed to have slowed down for him again. His lips began to open as if to let out some sort of soft gasp of surprise. The people down below were starting to crane their necks upward, as they could have sworn they saw some sort of shape zooming overhead at a positively shocking speed. Of course going by his height, and the speed he was going at, nobody on the streets could tell they were looking up at an empowered teenager.

Time sped up, Peter's gasp turned into a howl of joy. He was free, he was... Amazing! Spectacular! Astounding! He wasn't just 'Puny Parker' anymore, always at the whims of the world around him! He could do what he wanted now, he could live his life however he wanted!

And then suddenly he smashed down onto one rooftop, as he had not taken the time to calculate when and where he was going to land. His body rolled and skidded along the concrete until he landed flat on his back, staring up at a few passing puffs of white clouds. "Worth it..." he groaned.


A/N: Peter Parker is getting his first taste of his newfound powers and is starting to feel a kind of liberation that he never could have known before now. But he'll soon learn a rather vital tenet to live by, the same thing that will tell him just why dicking around with his powers is far from a good idea.

Nightmarefire: Nice Enjoyed the Chapter. Is this fic going to be the start of a new Marvel Series you are going to write or this just a standalone fic

I wanna stick to Spider-Man for now. If people wanted to use this setting for other Marvel characters, well then they'd be open to it. Well after I've expanded more on this story.

Perfect Carnage: I at first thought his origin would have some magic involved, since Anansi spiders do have magical properties in the marvel world, if I remember correctly.

The Honest Trailer for Amazing Spiderman sums up our thoughts on Andrew Garfield's Spiderman, and so I hope you won't be using that as too major an influence.

I'm a fan of both the original radioactive spider story, and the theory put forward by JMS about Peter being a mystic totem inheriting his spider powers through magic. So I decided going a route that could have it interpreted as either.

I did like Amazing Spider-Man in some regard and disliked it in others, so that interpretation might have some presence in the story... but not a whole lot.

Glossary:

Latveria: A small Eastern European country bordered between Romania and Bulgaria, very little is known of it due to its isolationist nature. What is known is that it is exceptionally wealthy and advanced in the fields of science and magic. Ruled by the equally enigmatic Lord/Doctor Doom, Latveria's advanced technology means that it can be almost entirely self-sufficient.

Wakanda: An African nation situated between Niger and Mali, it bears several similarities to Latveria. It took is exceptionally wealthy and advanced, comparable to Japan or America in terms of industry- and with highly advanced technology of its own. It is perhaps less isolationist than Latveria. The country's great wealth comes from the useful mineral known as 'Vibranium' which seems to be found solely in Wakanda,