Very quickly, a big thank you to anyone who reviewed, favorited, alerted, checked this out, I appreciate every little bit of support. It means a lot, thank you.

ZEROBEN'S SPIDER-MAN

"The Responsibility" Part III

For anyone that wants to be a superhero, an ordinary hero, or just a good person in general... There are moments in your life where you'll be given the opportunity to do so. What you choose to do with that moment is entirely up to you. But, it will answer the question... Are you ready to be a hero?

Is Peter Parker ready to be Spider-Man?

The Goblin stood tall, the only articles of clothing being that purple shroud he wore and a ripped pair of pants. There were two fires at each end of the room, one larger than the other. The Enforcers and Flint Marko had ran for their lives, which gave everyone else the chance to escape as well. On the second level above the main room, Gwen Stacy had tore herself out of Crime Master's clutches, and was ready to savor the freedom she had finally found after so long...

Only to be once again grabbed by her tormentor... "I don't care what kinda super freaks crash the party, I'm getting my revenge!"

Another fireball from the Goblin, this one taking out a chunk of the ceiling. Luckily, it fell right for Crime Master, giving Gwen yet another chance to break free.

The Goblin searched for one person in particular, but didn't see him. There was barely anything left of Van Adder. The monster had swallowed him whole, leaving barely any scraps behind. If Adder was still somewhere inside, he had been reduced to nothing more than a spectator. He was running on the most basic of instincts and most distant of memories.

"What vile creature are you?" the voice of Norman Osborn, seeing a golden opportunity to make himself and Oscorp look very good, "You have no right to be here!"

Adder turned his hideous form toward Norman, scowling grimly, loud and deep breaths, his clawed fists once again lighting up as the heat radiated.

"Are you mad, Osborn?" Kingsley asked, shouting, "Provoking a bloodthirsty creature?"

"My son is laying not twenty feet from it," Norman pointed out, making sure any reporters could hear him, "What other choice do I have?"

Snarling, growling, the red-skinned Goblin raised a fist, preparing for a lethal strike to Norman...

'Damn it, Adder, don't you recognize me?'

With a violent roar, Goblin unleashed a fireball from his fist, headed straight for Norman Osborn. But, then there was a thwip sound, followed by Norman being swung over to the second floor, out of harm's way. The next moment, there was Peter Parker dressed as Spider-Man, hanging upside-down from a web...

"Oh no, is there a dress code?" Spider-Man worried, "Crap, and here I am in my Spider-Jammies."

"BROCK!" Jameson screeched, wanting to seize the moment.

However, Eddie Brock was nowhere to be seen. He must have escaped with the others who ran away. As if things weren't bad enough being trapped in the corner with a few others, including Roderick Kingsley, now Jameson had no photographer to snap the Bugle some pictures of an honest to goodness super-powered battle. Of all the rotten luck! That Eddie Brock would be lucky if he wasn't fired come Monday morning.

The Goblin swatted at Spider-Man as he swung around the room, then clung to the wall, 'Too dangerous. I can't fight him in here. Gotta lure him away from these people.'

The Goblin flung another fireball, this one going right through the wall just after Spider-Man swung away and out of the building, through the mass of broken windows. He jumped to a building across the street. Kind of a low roof, easy to get to... Especially for the Goblin. The monster chased Spider-Man, proving quicker than before, landing only a few feet away from the new hero, taking a strong swing.

'Gotta get farther away,' Parker reminded himself, then punched the Goblin, "Tag, you're... Wow, that had absolutely no effect on you, did it?"

The Goblin simply roared.

"Good to know," Parker squeaked before swinging away, the Goblin easily keeping up the pursuit.

:::Parker Household:::

"Chaos has erupted at the 'Clothes Out of Kindness' charity event tonight. Reports have been coming in fast and furious that it has become a disaster scene. Not only was the mysterious Crime Master there, but the Goblin appeared as well, smashing through the front wall of windows. Apparently, the new superhero known only as Spider-Man was also there, seen saving Norman Osborn and fighting the Goblin. As of now, the Goblin and Spider-Man are gone. And, though no one at this time has been reported dead, there are numerous injuries."

May nearly cried, fear crippling her as she looked to her Ben, "Peter went there, Ben. Our Peter could be one of the ones who were hurt."

Ben was angry and frustrated. This was exactly why he didn't want Peter going out tonight. The exact reason. Well, there was nothing Ben could do other than going there and searching for Peter himself, "I'll be back, May."

"No," she stood up, blocking his path to the door, "What if something happens to you?"

"I gotta find him," Ben's mind was made up, "I gotta bring Peter home."

May kissed him on the cheek, and then briefly wrapped her arms around him, "You be safe."

"I won't be long," he opened the door.

"I love you."

"I love you, too, May."

:::Charity Event:::

Amidst the chaos and carnage exploding everywhere, Crime Master had caught up with Gwen in an empty hall. There was an elevator at the end, but he had reached it before she did. Her escape was blocked...

"Fine," he spoke, ripping off the mask, revealing the face of Nicholas Lewis Jr., "Screw it, no big show. But, I'm still going to kill you!"

"The hell you are!" Captain Stacy entered the hall, his weapon aimed right between Jr.'s beady little eyes, "It's over. It's done. Give it up."

Gwen ran to her father, clinging to his body for dear life, never happier to see him than this, "Dad!"

"It's not over," Crime Master warned, "Not yet. I... I had everything planned perfectly. It was all set. Then, a stupid stroke of luck, a god damn fluke screws me?"

"Calm down," Stacy had his daughter move behind him, his weapon still ready to fire, "Let's just get out of here safely and call it a night."

Crime Master looked past, suddenly smirking, as he swiftly pulled out a hidden gun, "Better say that to your daughter."

BANG!

"GWEN! NO!"

:::Meanwhile:::

'How do I take this thing down?' Peter said to himself as he backflipped out of the way of a car being thrown at him and through a brick wall by the Goblin, 'He's stronger than he was last time. Faster, more developed all around. Think, Spidey, think!'

Spider-Man zipped up to a traffic light, squatting atop it, over an intersection that was thankfully empty. As he tried to think of a way to remedy this situation, the Goblin seemed to be growing more and more determined. Two fireballs later, Spider-Man was jumping into the air and the traffic light was obliterated into literally nothing.

Parker stuck to the corner of a building about halfway up, 'Whatever I hit him with, it's gotta be big and it's gotta be fast.'

The Goblin jumped right for Spider-Man, forcing the kid to leap out of the way, swinging to the next building. Goblin missed, but punched out a solid chunk of the building where the hero was sitting mere nano-seconds ago.

"Miss me, miss me, now ya gotta kiss me!" Spider-Man teased from a rooftop, instantly wishing he didn't when a barrage of fireballs were casted in his direction, 'Me and my big mouth!'

He dove out of the way, web-zipping to another structure as the roof exploded with fire.

The Goblin leaped up to the very same rooftop in one single bound, confronting Spider-Man face to face, his fists still burning, disgusting saliva dripping from his gnarly teeth, those yellow eyes so haunting and terrifying.

"Why are you after me!" frustration from the hero.

The only response was a loud and primal growl, followed by a swinging arm. Spider-Man leaped over the arm with ease and landed a punch right across the monster's jaw, but it did absolutely nothing. Not even a scratch! What the hell was he supposed to do when he couldn't even scratch it?

Before Spidey could react, there came another swing from the Goblin. This time around, the monster managed to grab hold, and started squeezing as tightly as he could, causing some pain for poor Peter Parker.

Locked in this bear hug, the seconds seemed like hours as the life was seemingly squeezed from him like toothpaste from the tube.

Through gritted teeth and sheer determination, Spider-Man freed his arms and fired two hefty lines of webbing into the Goblin's face. The creature couldn't breathe, and had to release its grip in order to rip the webs away. With it in disarray, Spider-Man jumped onto its upper back, wrapping his arms around its neck in a rather unorthodox sleeper hold. Which was the best he could come up with at the moment.

It was like trying to ride a mechanical bull stuck on overload. Scratch that... It was worse! Made even more so by the monster regaining its bearings and throwing the spider like a lawn dart across the street and through a window into some kind of top floor office space. Parker painfully tumbled over a row of desks and computers, not stopping until he hit the back wall.

"Okay, seriously," he spoke through a hoarse voice as he tried to collect himself, the midsection and back portions of his costume ripped, some blood seeping out, "Where's the reset button?"

Another fireball later, the front portion of the building erupted in flames as it exploded inward. Then the Goblin was standing there at the edge, Spider-Man weakly picking himself up, trying to compose himself, trying to get his head right before this thing attacked him again.

There wasn't enough time to clear his head, not enough time to even attempt to think clearly. He had to act on instinct, act upon the first thought that crossed his mind. And what that first thought was... The computer monitors in the office weren't flat screen, they were the last generation of models.

After a web line to one of them, the monitor was flung at Goblin's head. Then another and another. The attacks were working, the Goblin was leaning backward, tipping dangerously over the edge. Spider-Man picked up a desk and threw it, making direct impact with Goblin's chest. The force was too much, and the red creature ended up falling backward into the night air and landing hard below with a resounding crash.

Parker staggered over to the hole created by the monster, and looked down. The Goblin had landed atop a taxi, crushing the roof in the process. He was still moving, though. This thing was still alive. It was just picking itself up, probably more determined than ever to snatch Spider-Man away and bring him to wherever he wanted to.

Parker couldn't waste time, not a single second. Every single one was crucial. He had to stop this thing before it caused any more havoc. He had to get down to street level and fast. Luckily, he had an idea. A was a little out there, but if it worked...

After a deep breath, Peter somersaulted out of the office, and amazingly clung to the front of the building with his feet and ran down it like he were running some twisted form of a track meet. When he was just the right distance away, he webbed up a hand and dove off, spiraling toward the Goblin just as it was rising up...

DIRECT HIT!

With bystanders and on-lookers watch from a safe distance, the Goblin staggered back into the street, right in the middle of what would typically be a busy intersection. When he landed the punch, Peter heard a crack. At first, he thought it was his own webbed hand, but it wasn't. He could see now... It was the Goblin's jaw. But, he was fixing it, trying to set it back into its place.

Act now, Parker! NOW!

Spider-Man fired two web lines across the street, to either side of the Goblin. Then held on tight before slingshotting himself right into the thing's skull, rocking him yet again! He landed across the way, on the side of a lamp post, watching as this creature struggled to maintain a vertical base, bleeding and growling from the pain of broken bones. A sign of his growing weakness, the flames were smoldering on his ghastly hands.

"Hey, look! He's doin' it!" a random New Yorker, "That spider guy is beating the monster!"

"Keep going! It's not dead yet!" one more cheered on the new hero.

Hard to go wrong with that logic. Spider-Man fired two more lines, attaching them to the Goblin's chest and then flinging himself forward. How about a double-footed stomp to the chest and throat, taking the monster down with a thud in the street? For good measure, Peter jumped back into the air, flipped and landed one more double-footed stomp. Then he back flipped off onto the pavement, crouching like a true arachnid, waiting to see if the end had truly come. It this battle was finally over.

The people cheered and applauded when the monster didn't move an inch, nor did he breathe. It was over. Spider-Man had defeated the...

Spider-sense!

The Goblin sat up sharply in that spot, eyes going wide, a massive wad of disgusting blood and only god knows what else erupting from its mouth, plus a little bit that just happened to catch Spider-Man's attention. He instantly zipped a web, catching it, bringing it to his hand...

'A spider?' he asked himself silently, realizing it was identical to the one that he was bitten by at Oscorp.

Confused, Spider-Man crushed it in his hand and then witnessed the Goblin creature revert to the form of a man. And, not just any man. Not just some random citizen. Not just any New Yorker. It was...

"I remember you!" Spider-Man leaped to his side, crouching down, shocked at this development. It... It was the man from Oscorp. The man that followed him from school. Was... Did... How... None of it made sense.

Adder's eyes were open merely to the size of slits, his body covered in bruises and wounds, his time on this Earth fleeting and final, "Talk... To... Me."

Talk? Great. Maybe Peter could get some answers. Not in front of everyone, though...

"Hold on," Spider-Man ordered, picking Adder up and carrying him away, swinging to a quiet rooftop close by. It was there that he set the man down in a seated position against the ledge.

"I... I a-am... S-s-s-s-o... sorry," he apologized with blood bubbling past his lips, "I-I lost... Control. Became... Became... The monster."

"How did this happen?"

"Not enough... T-time," his pulse was already fading, "O-Osborn... Knows."

"Knows what?"

"You," Adder coughed, tears too weak to cry, "D-Don't... Trust... Osborn."

Norman was behind this? He was willing to go this far to try and take Peter? Of course! It all made sense now! It was...

"W-Wife," Adder mumbled, his last seconds of life spent on a last wish, "Tell... Tell her... I... Love..."

Gone.

The pants the man had been wearing were barely shreds now. But, there was a pocket intact. And, in that pocket, a wallet. Spider-Man dug in, pulling it out and read the I.D. card.

"Dr. Van Adder," he read quietly.

:::Charity Event:::

Gwen Stacy was on the floor, shaking like a leaf in front of her father. At the opposite end of the hall, Crime Master stood, trembling as well but not quite as bad. His arm was extended, smoke rising from the tip of his gun. A moment or two later, the gun fell from his limp right hand, blood pouring from his shoulder.

He dropped to the floor, sitting upright just enough to keep his eyes on the scene before him.

In Gwen's hands was a weapon. She had found the gun while everything was happening. One of Crime Master's goons must have dropped it or something. It just wasn't until now that she had summoned enough courage to use it. To pull the trigger and put an end to all of this horror.

Shocked to his very soul, George carefully took the gun away from his daughter, "Honey?"

No answer, she was far too shaken by this point to even respond.

George choked back a sob and walked toward the individual responsible for all this hell, "Give me one reason not to finish you o..."

The color was rapidly draining from Crime Master's face. He was bleeding out, she hit an artery, "Twenty years," he spoke very weakly, "Twenty frickin' years... I've been planning this. Only to be cockblocked by a fluke and a stupid kid."

Crime Master coughed before continuing, "Thing is... This turned out even better... Than I could imagine."

"You son of a bitch..."

Crime Master spit blood before speaking further, eyes closing, "I wanted... I wanted to kill your daughter in front of you, and I still did. Just... I killed her alive... Ins-Instead of killing... Her... Dead."

His head tilted back and that was all she wrote. The end of the line for Crime Master. Or, maybe not?

As Captain Stacy looked away from his nemesis this past week and a half, turning to his daughter, he could see exactly what Crime Master was referring to. The expression on her face, the way she couldn't stop shaking, the way her breaths and heartbeat seemed to skip... Early signs of a possible trauma. His sixteen year-old daughter had killed someone with her own two hands.

George took one last look at Crime Master, determining once and for all that he was deceased. Then, he moved to his daughter's side, kneeling down and lifting her up, cradling her in his arms.

"It's okay," he whispered, strangely envisioning her as a little girl instead of a teenager, "It's all over. You're safe now. It's all over."

"You're safe now."

:::Adder Residence:::

When Spider-Man arrived at the Adder residence - having learned the address from the I.D. card - he found the lady crying on the back deck. Sitting in the moonlight crying. Long and sorrow-filled tears. Ones fueled by heartache. She must have known that her husband had transformed into the creature. She must have already known that he was dead. That she would never once again see him, touch him, be with him.

Spider-Man was perched to the side of the house, clinging to the siding, "Mrs. Adder?"

Startled, she gasped, turning back to find none other than Spider-Man, the one who killed her husband. Her eyes were full of hurt and anger, her fists clenched so tightly that her knuckles turned solid white. Yet, she soon softened, "Thank you, Spider-Man."

He wasn't expecting gratitude.

She took a deep breath and sat down, "My husband was suffering. You put him out of his misery. For that, I thank you."

Spider-Man respectfully bowed his head.

"He wanted me to tell you something," Peter lifted the mask up halfway, so that she could hear him clearly, "He said... He loves you."

She only cried in return.

:::Elsewhere:::

He didn't care to use such sour speech, but Benjamin Parker was pissed off. He had just left the event and there was no sign of Peter, anywhere. He did run into Norman Osborn, and he claimed that Peter must have run off somewhere when all hell broke loose. Which was understandable. But, damn it, Peter had a cell phone. Why couldn't he use it? Why couldn't he call them and tell them where he was? Why was he so insistent lately on defying their wishes?

Ben thought he heard an alarm from somewhere, but he was so worked up that he didn't give it a second thought.

He just couldn't believe Peter. What had gotten into the boy lately? Acting weird, not wearing his glasses, sneaking out, and not coming home when asked to. Not staying home when told to, either. Was it just a teenager being one? Was he just going through a little spell of rebellion? If that was the case, then it was simply a matter of him growing out of it. Though that begged the question... How long until he did?

Maybe Ben was just never cut out for the parenting thing. Before Richard and Mary passed away, he saw himself as the cool uncle that visited on the weekends, took Peter to ballgames, that sort of thing. Of course, that all changed in a heartbeat on that fateful day. Which, at times, gave him guilt for ignoring what really happened, for never telling Peter the truth. For never telling his nephew...

What really happened to his parents.

The driver side window smashed in, a piece of glass cutting his forehead. Before Ben could even make sense, he was being dragged out of his car by some young punk with a knife and somewhere to go...

"Please, please!" Ben shouted, trying to break free, "I have a nephew and wife that need me."

"Not as much as I need the car!" he punched Ben in the gut, doubling him over, knocking the wind out of him.

If only he was in shape like the old days. If this was back then, the rotten punk wouldn't stand a chance. Wouldn't have a prayer, he'd already be out cold on the pavement, seeing god damn birds. But, these weren't the old days. The muscles and reflexes weren't what they once were. Neither was the strength.

Punk had a backpack on, money stuffed inside, a couple bills sticking out through the zipper. And, he was just a kid, couldn't be much older than Peter. A kid... Just a kid...

"My nephew is missing," Ben said bravely, "I need my car, I need to find him."

"Nah, old man," the punk got ready to deal some hurt, "I need the car!"

"No," Ben shoved him back, which warranted a kick to the leg and a punch to the head, knocking Ben back against the side of the car.

"Fine, screw it!" the kid exclaimed, raising his arm to stab Ben, the old man closing his eyes...

Thwip!

"What the... YYYAAAAAHHHH!"

Benjamin Parker opened his eyes to find the would-be murderer stuck to the side of a shop, trapped in a massive spider's web. Then he saw the superhero himself, Spider-Man, crouched atop a traffic light, his costume ripped on the torso section.

"It's you," Ben said, breathless, "Spider-Man? Is it?"

Peter didn't say a word in return, only kept his gaze on his uncle through the bug-eyed lenses.

"Listen," he had to ask, "Have you seen a high school kid, about so-so height and size? Shaggy hair? Smart looking?"

Peter smiled somewhat under the mask, realizing it was time for him to go home. He then pointed down the street.

"Okay, thank you very much," Ben got in the car and drove off. "Uhhh... Bye now."

Spider-Man simply nodded his head, then quickly web-swung away.

About five minutes later, Ben stopped the car when he found Peter stumbling out onto a street corner. He was a little worse for the wear, but the old man sprang out of that car and threw his arms around Peter, so incredibly happy to see him...

"Uncle Ben," Peter was concerned, "Are you... What happened?"

"You wouldn't believe it if I told you," they both got in the car, "Now, where have you been?"

"What happened at the charity event had me all messed up," Peter explained, "I got lost... I'm sorry, you were right, I should of stayed home."

"Why didn't you call?"

"Phone died," easy explanation, "I forgot to charge it this morning."

Ben sighed, "Your aunt May and I were so worried."

"I'm the one that should be worried," he gestured to the minor cut, "What happened?"

"Oh, well... I was almost car-jacked."

"Almost?"

:::Midtown High School:::

It was insane how mundane and plain average Monday morning felt. It was so... usual and normal. Peter really couldn't believe it as he walked through the front doors with Harry and Randy. These past few weeks, Peter had been bitten by a genetically enhanced spider, gained super special spider abilities, became a superhero, saved Norman Osborn, defeated a Goblin monster, and saved his uncle Ben from a thief.

Maybe it wasn't so cut and dry, maybe it wasn't that easy to sum up the experience. That Goblin was a human being, turned into a monster by Oscorp. One of Van Adder's last words were don't trust Osborn. Norman knew that Peter Parker not only had super abilities, but was Spider-Man. And, something told Peter that this wasn't over. There was more to come. There would be more for him to go through, to fight.

Right now, though, it was Monday morning and he wasn't Spider-Man, he was Peter Parker. A scrawny school nerd who had just been shoved into the lockers by Flash Thompson and flipped off by Sally Avril. An accident-prone kid who tripped over an untied shoelace and embarrassed his best friend in front of the girl he was in love with. A boy who was happy that new redhead with the pretty eyes was back on her feet, and hoped she would talk to him.

It was Monday morning at Midtown High School and Peter Parker was just an average boy.

Yeah, an average boy who just happened to also be...

The Amazing Spider-Man.

ZEROBEN'S SPIDER-MAN

The three-act origin is complete. Uncle Ben has survived. Kind of controversial, but in this... Peter's been taught since day one about great power and great responsibility. It's already in his head and he understands it. So, I didn't want to kill off the character just so he could learn a lesson he didn't need to be taught. The last little scene in the school basically represents that life goes on. Yeah, he's Spider-Man, yeah he's a superhero, he just fought a Goblin monster, but he's still Peter Parker at the same time.

I'm gonna be continuing with blending the arcs, though not every storyline is going to be three acts. That was just for the origin. There's a One-Shot next chapter that kinda bridges this storyline to the next one. I didn't want to include it in the next arc, because it's really it's own thing. I'll end the origin off with this...

9 down. 91 more to go.