Disclaimer: I Own Nothing
"So you have to study at the library tonight?" asked Uncle Ben rounding the corner and pulling up to a stop outside the building. Peter had sprung this study session on him out of nowhere the previous evening, "do you want to go in and get your stuff and then head home?" he asked willing to wait a little while for Peter if he wanted him too.
"No that's fine" replied Peter undoing his seat belt and grabbing his bag that was filled with a change of clothes and a ski mask he had gotten for Christmas one year. He needed to be at the arena in 15 minutes if he wanted to make in time to sign up for the 10,000 dollar challenge match. He went to get out when Uncle Ben grabbed his arm.
"Hold on a second, I want to talk to you real quick" he said as Peter sat back impatiently. "I just want to tell you how proud me and your Aunt May of you. You're doing great in school and you seem to finally be coming into your own as a man."
Peter smiled, "Thanks" he moved to get out again but was again grabbed by Uncle Ben.
"Part of growing up is taking on responsibilities Peter and you need to be ready to for them. You have incredible intelligence Peter and that intelligence gives the chance to do great things. Always remember with great power comes great responsibility" Ben finished hoping that Peter understood that he had a responsibility to do the right thing.
Peter sighed, he hated these speeches, he got the point but hearing his Uncle preach to no end about responsibility and he didn't have time for this if he was going to make it in time, "I got it okay. I need to go" he said once again moving to exit the car.
"Hold on what's your problem?" he asked wondering where the outburst was coming from.
"The problem? The problem is that you don't need to lecture me about responsibility. I know what I have to do and how I need to do it. I don't need you to come at me pretending like you're my dad cause you're not" he said letting out his frustration. He looked and could see the heartbreak on Uncle Ben's face.
Ben nodded and turned his head to look out the front of the car, "I'll be here in two hours to pick you up."
Peter wanted to apologize but he didn't have the time to do it and he got out of the car and watched his Uncle Ben drive away. He started walking briskly with to the arena stopping just outside the entrance. He turned down an alley way and changed into a pair of sweat pants and an Under Armor workout shirt. He pulled out the ski mask that he brought to hide his identity since he didn't want anyone to know about his powers. The mask was blue with red vertical stripes with the only opening being for Peter's eyes. He approached the entrance and entered slowly hoping to avoid attracting unwanted attention.
Harry Osborn was sitting in the box at the arena watching the 10,000 dollar challengers line up and get knocked out. His father had paid for the challenge and arranged for the Unlimited Class Wrestling Federation to send its toughest man for a MMA challenge, they had sent Antonio Rodriguez who was currently destroying a young man in the cage. It was supposed to be a father-son bonding event but as usual his dad was working away on some special project that required his "full attention" as he often said. Harry was an incredibly intelligent person but even that was not good enough for his father who demanded perfection. He got an A minus on a test and was grounded for a week because he didn't get an A plus. The Oscorp Empire was going to be his eventually but all he ever wanted was for his father to be proud of him for once.
Norman was making final calculations on the serum for Silvermane, but he was stuck with Harry at the 10,000 dollar challenge which he was planning on leaving soon anyway, he was going to leave it up to the promoter to pay out the winner or Rodriguez at the end. He looked at Harry who was enjoying himself, Norman sighed to himself. Harry didn't understand as much as he thought did, Norman knew that Harry was resentful of his high standards but Harry needed to understand perfection is not a goal, but the only thing that any person should strive for.
Antonio Rodriguez was slightly under six foot tall and weighed just over the 200 pound mark. He was a Mexican wrestler by trade but he was also a fighter and he wouldn't mind taking Norman Osborn's money and beating up a bunch of young punks in the process. The wrestling community knew him as the "Armadillo" for his hard hitting style and his toughness. Not a single opponent even landed a punch on him and the boredom had started to reach the crowd forcing the ring announcer to start making nicknames for the upcoming opponents.
Everyone was laughing at Peter who was the smallest guy in the backstage area, the lady who handled the signups nearly refused him at the door, but here he was the next in line after the big guy that just went into the ring with Antonio Rodriguez. He sighed deeply, five minutes that's all it would take for him to walk out with 10,000 dollars. "Hey kid" he heard a voice from the other side of the curtain. "What's your name?"
Peter stood there dumbfounded, it never occurred to him to come up with a name "Ummmm the Spider" he said acting like that was his choice the whole time.
"That's it?" came the voice.
"Yeah" he replied.
"That sucks" the voice said walking away from the curtain and walking towards the ring. The guy he just sent into the ring was getting smashed by Rodriguez and the next guy couldn't come up with a better name than "the Spider" which caused a light bulb to go off in his head. Rodriguez knocked the guy out as expected and the spotlight shown on the curtain "Ladies and Gentlemen I now present to you the greatest threat that Antonio Rodriguez has faced all night. He is fast, strong and mysterious I give to you the Amazing Spider-Man!"
Peter was blinded by the spotlight as the curtain opened and he was pushed onto the ramp. He started gingerly walking towards the cage where Rodriguez was waiting for him. Harry looked Spider-Man over top to bottom "Check out this guy" he said hoping to get his dad's attention. Norman waved him off and continued to work on his tablet. Harry frowned and turned his attention back to the cage. Norman was so close but he couldn't think straight with all the noise, so he got his things and told his driver to take him to the office and to have an assistant come and pick up Harry after the show was over.
Peter entered the cage slowly and surveyed his surroundings, the fans were shouting different things at him. The door closed behind him and he looked over Rodriguez who was pacing like an animal. The bell rang and before Peter knew what hit him Rodriguez charged him, luckily his danger sense slowed things down and he was able to jump over Rodriguez who crashed into the side of the cage prompting laughs from the crowd. Peter smiled behind his mask and held his arms up to garner some cheers from the crowd but that was stopped when his sense tingled again as he dodged a punch from Rodriguez from behind. He turned and dodged several more strike attempts from Rodriguez, he ducked and did a leg sweep knocking Rodriguez to the floor. He rolled back and watched Rodriguez get up slowly. "You little punk" shouted Rodriguez charging at Peter.
"Time to put that strength to the test" Peter said to himself once again jumping over Rodriguez and then turning to face him as Rodriguez turned around. Peter brought his arm back and planted his right fist on Rodriguez's chin sending him to the mat. The referee began the ten count as the crowd exploded with Spider-Man chants.
Harry stood at the punch Spider-Man delivered to Rodriguez and his mouth dropped as the ref counted to ten, ringing the bell after Rodriguez didn't answer the ten count. The bell rang and the ring announcer hopped into the ring, "Ladies and Gentlemen I give to you the winner in one minute and fifteen seconds…Spider-Man!"
Harry looked and saw that his father had left the building and frowned. He grabbed his things and went down to the lobby where he assumed an assistant would be waiting to take him home.
The crowd started to leave after Peter won and he went back to the offices to get his 10,000 dollars. He walked up towards the office and looked over the promoter. He had left the mask on and the promoter scowled when he entered. He pulled out a stack of 100 dollar bills out of a lockbox and pulled five of them out of the stack and threw them towards Peter. Peter furrowed his brow, "The prize is for 10,000 dollars" he said staring at the large stack of cash that the promoter had in the lockbox.
The promoter sighed and reached into his desk pulling out a stack of papers and turning four or five pages in, "This is the contract that you agreed too when you signed up and the contract states that the participant, which is you must last five minutes in the cage with Antonio Rodriguez. Well guess what you only lasted one minute and fifteen seconds, so you're lucky that you get that" he said pointing at the money. Peter picked it up and looked at the man, "Now get out of my office."
Peter turned and started walking down the hallway towards the elevator, he had a little bit of time before Uncle Ben would be picking him up. The elevator opened and a man with a hoodie and sunglasses on walked by him without even looking at him. The elevator closed before Peter could reach it and he hit the down button and waited for the elevator to return. He heard yelling from the office and figured that the promoter had screwed somebody else out of their money and ignored it. The door to the office opened at the same time that the elevator door did and he heard the promoter scream thief. He turned to see the man who walked by him running towards the elevator holding a bag which Peter assumed was full of the money, Peter knew that he could stop this guy easily but the promoter had screwed him and Peter needed to teach him a lesson. Peter sidestepped the man allowing him to get on the elevator and he watched the doors close and the man escape with all the money.
"What the hell?" shouted the promoter who had run up to get in Peter's face.
"Guess you can call that karma for screwing me out of my money" said Peter deciding to take the stairs down to go outside. He walked back to the library slowly as he figured that five hundred dollars was enough to pay for dates with Gwen for a little while but he needed to make sure that he got a better job than some MMA challenge. He was there early and decided to just walk home in order to give himself sometime to think. He texted his Uncle Ben that he was walking home, his phone battery died soon after he sent the text.
The walk home was shorter than it normally would thanks to his powers as he rounded the corner of the house he spotted a police car sitting outside his house. He ran up to the porch and entered the house and spotted George Stacey sitting with his Aunt May. They both looked up and Peter could see that Aunt May was crying. Gwen and Eddie stepped out from the living room, both of them running up giving Peter a hug. "What's going on?" he asked with a confused face.
George stepped forward with a grim look on his face, "I'm sorry to tell you this Peter but your Uncle Ben was carjacked this evening, he was shot."
Peter's heart dropped "Well what hospital is at?" he asked ready to run out the house to go see him.
George's head dropped and tears filled his eyes, "I'm sorry but he died at the scene."
Peter's world stopped moving "Uncle Ben is dead" he said out loud as tears filled his eyes and he let out a sorrowful yell.