The Difference

"In an orderly fashion, if you please!" the man with the large, over-the-top wings bellowed out. The maniacal look was enough to get people even more fearful. Flapping his wings now, the man began to hover a few inches off the ground. People gave off impressed expressions and some gasped in horror. Hence, almost everyone was too scared to comply with what the crazy man was asking for.

'Well, he just came out of nowhere.' Peter thought. The act was uncalled for as Peter thought and completely unexpected. Peter did not understand how such people turned weirder than he was.

"Shall I have to resort to doing things myself, then?" he shouted with terrifying glee.

With no hesitation, the psychotic man began to fly around the entire mall grabbing several people and stealing their belongings in mid-air. He dropped several of them screaming near several small inflatable houses put on display.

'Why am I always put in these situations?' Peter thought suddenly panicking. He could not risk compromising his secret identity.

"It's an airborne attack." Peter whispered.

"Oh my God! Peter do something!"a desperate Gwen said as she grabbed his lapels.

He could not let Gwen know about his secret. 'I can't let anyone know.' he thought but it was what he really wanted to say. In the midst of the occurring chaos, Peter did the only logical thing he could do right now. He took Gwen's hand and made her run with him.

"Come on!" he had said.

As he ran alongside the crowd of people that ran as well, Peter saw to his horror several people still being picked up. Peter did his best to avoid being grabbed. He also had to protect Gwen. For some reason, he had to. Despite everything she did to him, he could not afford her getting hurt.

Eventually Gwen and Peter were running alone in an empty floor. Peter led the way and he knew he was just trying to mislead Gwen. At the same time however, he needed to become Spider-Man to combat the flying man threat. They entered a vacant department store where Peter and Gwen immediately hid underneath a register table.

"Peter, what are you doing?" she whispered and panted at the same time.

"What do you mean?" Peter tried to sound as perplexed as he could. "We're hiding. Can't let that flying nut get us." Peter muttered.

"I mean, I know about you. I know you're 'Spider-Man!'" she said out loud.

"Huh?!" Peter said sounding like she was nuts. He had to lie unfortunately. "What are you talking about?"

Gwen explained everything in a rushed whisper. "I saw you, Peter. That day at the stadium when that green pointy-eared creature showed up. You were there kneeling beside a man who was shot. My dad said it was Ben Parker, your uncle."

Peter looked appalled and for that he couldn't say anything. 'She was right behind me that night! I thought I felt her presence.' he thought. All of a sudden, he felt he couldn't gulp and did nothing but stare away from Gwen.

"I wasn't there, Gwen." Peter whispered.

Gwen rolled her eyes. "Peter, this isn't the time for the secret identity bullshit, it's time for you to kick some ass, now go put on the suit!" she said urging him to go.

There was something in Peter's mind that told him to follow Gwen's advice but seeing as he was adamant on keeping his superhero side a secret, he had to keep up the act. "Gwen...I'm sorry. But I'm not Spider-Man. I don't know why you think I am." he said shaking his head.

"You're going to let that crazy guy just get away with people's money just so you can keep pretending to be a nobody?" Gwen said a bit infuriated.

'And just when I thought she liked me for being me...Well, all the more reason not to be with her.' Peter said in his mind.

Peter thought that was the last straw and he had no choice but to go with a unique alternative. "Just because I'm not Spider-Man...doesn't mean that I want that maniac wreaking havoc!" he said standing now.

"So you are going to do something?" Gwen nodded.

"Yeah..." Peter took out the one object that was going to get them out of their predicament. "I'm calling 911!" he declared as he put his cell phone in his ear.

Gwen looked astounded.

"Sorry.." Peter started as he saw Gwen's look. "But I don't have Spider-Man's phone number." he muttered as he marked the number.

Suddenly another loud noise distracted Peter. He saw that the walls of the store burst and in came the man who had a strong fascination with flying. He saw Peter and looked at him in devilish delight. Without tearing his gaze away from the dreaded man, Peter made a motion with his fingers indicating that Gwen not leave the desk. Right now, Peter was caught. If anything happened, he would want to happen to him and not to Gwen.

Peter decided he was going to go with his usual charm. 'I'm just gonna wing it. No pun intended, of course.' he thought. "How ya doin?" he nodded and added a smile as a personal touch.

"Hi. How's it hangin?' the man nodded.

"To what do I owe this sudden outburst?" Peter said sarcastically.

"The outburst of...the Vulture!" he gave off a huge grin.

"Man...that's some get-up you got there. Trying to make a name for yourself with that?" Peter pointed at his wings.

"You got that right." the man calling himself the Vulture stated. "I mean, hey! I didn't make it as an engineer. Lost my job because of how the economy is. But hey, I found another goal! Crime!" he said the last word with a hiss.

Peter waited for the man to further elaborate.

"You see, that's what this world is coming down to. People taking things! So basically...aside from other freaks in this city, I'm going to be ahead of them!"

"You sure got some goals alright and I know where this is going..." Peter said as he slowly walked around while the Vulture's wings flapped in response with every step he took. "But you I'm afraid you ain't getting anything."

"Oh! So you're one who likes to take a moral stand now huh?"

"Calm down, old-timer. What I mean to say is...you're not going to get very far." Peter said with determination.

"And just what do you mean by that?" the vulture asked outraged.

It was now Peter's chance. He threw a perfume bottle at the man. The Vulture immediately spread out his wings in front of him as a shield. The perfume shattered due to the steel-like wings he had on.

Folding them back, the Vulture looked stunned as Peter was nowhere in sight. He turned from left and right and eagerly tried to find him. "You youngsters always getting hotheaded huh?"

SWIP!

The sound was enough to make Vulture look to his left and for that he did not have time to deflect an entire table being thrown at him. The Vulture was hit back several feet until he was out of the store entirely. The table broke upon impact.

On the floor, several people whom were hiding took a peek at what was occurring. The vulture was staggered from the hit and got out from the broken wood and plaster on his body. He had seen what threw the table. A long sticky strand had been attached to base of the table. "Now, that's a horse of a different color." he muttered and groaned from general discomfort.

Gwen, by that time, got out from the desk and walked out of the store to see what was going on.

"What the hell was that?" the vulture had asked coughing now.

"Me!" a gleeful voice from the back of the store responded.

A web-line came out several feet from the inside of the store and the end of it attached to a support column outside. Out swung Spider-Man in full costume and clung to the wall next to the store.

"Oh great! You now?" the vulture was annoyed.

"Yesiree. I hear you're crazy as hell and that you can't seem to take it any more. If you know what I mean." Spider-Man said.

"You smart-alecky freak!" the vulture growled and flew toward Spider-Man with incredible speed.

Spider-Man got out of the way in time to avoid the tackle. As Spider-Man flipped himself upward, he saw that the Vulture crashed to the wall as expected. Apparently he didn't stop in time. A dent had been made immediately, the Vulture was still an old man from what Peter could tell. Aside from his impressive wings, the vulture wasn't invulnerable and it was noted from the blood coming out of the man's nose. Getting out of the crater he was in, the vulture pulled his head out and saw Spider-Man, who was already beside him clinging on.

"I think you're retired, buddy." Spider-Man said as he gave a hard punch to the Vulture's jaw.

The Vulture was knocked unconscious from the blow and fell away from the wall and down to the floor where a large spider-web was immediately formed from Peter's web-shooters.

Spider-Man landed on the floor with incredible ease. With his lens, he was surveying the man caught in the web he made. "Sorry, to do that old timer." he said to the unconscious Vulture. "I don't usually hit senior citizens. But damn man, you need some professional help."

Several people came out of the stores and formed a large circle around Spider-Man and the Vulture in the web. All of them looked relieved. Some were pleased that the matter was settled. Spider-Man saw this, nodded, and gave a thumbs up to the people. A standing ovation was given and Peter saw to his astonishment many people clapping for him.

Gwen, who had stood outside the store and saw the spectacle, ran to the scene where Spider-Man was standing. She just couldn't believe it. "You're amazing!" she said to him admirably.

"Umm...thanks I try and who might you be?"

"Peter, drop the act. I know it's you. Relax, it can't hurt for several people to know." Gwen said.

"'Peter?' Oh! You mean the guy who ran out of the store after throwing a perfume bottle at this guy?"

"What?" a disbelieving Gwen asked.

"He ran off. He was mentioning something about warning the authorities. Now that's a real hero." he pointed at the store in emphasis.

Spider-Man and Gwen looked ahead as several security guards and police made their way to the scene. One officer in particular pointed at Spider-Man and shouted "Hey you! We want to talk with you!"

"Apparently that's my cue to leave! See ya!" Spider-Man waved and shot off a web-line and got out through the hole that the Vulture had made a while ago.

Despite the officers wanting to get Spider-Man, several people were chanting his name. SPIDER-MAN, SPIDER-MAN, SPIDER-MAN!

Gwen apparently was not taking Spider-Man's departure pretty well. She had wanted to know more. The guards and police had made a perimeter and apprehended the man called the Vulture. Gwen didn't care. She was very upset.

"Hey what's going on? Is everything OK?" Peter said as he ran towards Gwen.

"Peter!" she said with great surprise. "Where were you? Please tell me the truth! You were Spider-Man and managed to subdue this deadbeat, right?" Gwen asked carefully and pointed at the police taking in the Vulture in handcuffs.

"Gwen, I had to leave so that I can get the police and the security team out here. That's why I motioned for you to stay under the desk so that that creep wouldn't get to you."

"You really expect me to believe-"

"Yo, kid!" an officer came up to them. He then shook Peter's hand. "Thanks for getting us kid. Who knows what else could have happened here."

"No-No problem sir." Peter said as he shook the officer's hand in return.

The officer then went on his way leaving Peter and Gwen alone again. Peter gave Gwen an 'I told you so' look.

"So...you just went off and got these guys, huh?" Gwen asked reluctantly.

"Yeah. After I got outside, the security team was stationed at the other half of the mall. They didn't know what was going on until I told them. They called the police." Peter explained.

"I see."

"So you say Spider-Man was here? Damn, I knew I should have stuck around a bit longer to just, you know to just see him, Gwen." Peter said with as much disappointment as he could muster.

"Yeah, I guess." Gwen said morosely.

They finally left the mall with Peter and Gwen ending up standing in the parking lot with the firefighters and police cars all around. "I know you're disappointed that I'm not who you think I am, Gwen."

"Tell me about it."

"You've hurt me. You called me a nobody when we were hiding and-"

"Peter, I didn't mean it like that!" she gritted her teeth. "Like I said before I do like you and when I said 'nobody' I mean just an average person. That's all."

"You sure have a way with words then." Peter muttered.

"I deserved that." She went quiet until she spoke again after a while. "So you love Mary-Jane then?"

"More than you know." Peter repeated Gwen's words.

She nodded slowly. "I guess I'll have to find some other way then."

Peter raised his eyebrows. "What do you mean?"

"I mean, I'm not going to stop until you're my boyfriend, Peter."

Peter sighed. "You do understand how that makes you sound?"

"Love makes you do crazy things." Gwen said simply. She began to walk away leaving Peter alone, looking confused. She then stopped, turned back toward him and spoke. "But I'll be your friend, Peter if that's what you want and I know I've made some mistakes but I'll try to earn your trust if that's what it will take. I'm saying maybe we can start over."

Peter looked a bit pleased with Gwen's approach. "Alright then. Sounds fair." Peter agreed after thinking about it.

Gwen then added a farewell. "See ya later..."

"Yeah. See ya." Peter said with a hint of a smile and walked away from her.

"...Spider-Man." she smiled mischievously as soon as Peter was out of sight.