Spider-Man: Close To Home
Chapter 6: Limits
Peter made his way down the street, his hands in the pockets of his jacket as he walked. His eyes were scanning around, looking for an alley to duck into or a building where he could climb to the top of. Thankfully, there weren't a lot of people around to see him.
Seeing an empty alley with a corner to go into, Peter quickly sidestepped into the alley and made his way into the corner. He pulled the hood of his jacket over his head and looked around, making sure that he was alone and no one could see him.
He smiled a bit and jumped up onto the wall, eagerly climbing upwards. His foot slipped a little bit, but he was able to catch himself and make his way up a bit. He looked back to a wall on the other side of the alley, and tried to jump to it.
He held his hands out as he made a leap for it. His body hit the wall, and with a grunt, he was able to hold onto the wall. He felt his nose tap the wall as he stuck his hands and feet to the side of the building. He began to climb up again.
"Woo! This is awesome!" Peter grinned as he hopped upwards and climbed over the roof. He stretched his arms out a bit and looked down at the ground to see how far he had just climbed.
Peter smiled a bit, clapping his hands together in approval at his work. He turned around and looked out, seeing a series of rooftops of varying heights in front of him. He looked around, seeing that he couldn't do much more climbing…
But he could jump.
"Alright. This'll be easy. Just focus. Free your mind." Peter said, clapping his hands and directing his attention forward in front of him. He took in a breath and began to run.
Peter prepared himself for the jump and stepped onto the edge of the roof, pushing himself off of it as hard as he could. He shot up and outwards into the air. He began to flail as he launched up much further than he intended to, and he completely cleared the building he'd intended to land on.
"Woah my god!" Peter yelled out, starting to lose control of his body. His upper body began to creep forward as he hit the ground, and he stumbled a bit in order to keep himself from falling. He grunted a bit as he finally got control of himself.
"Whew… That's insane." Peter said, beginning to chuckle to himself as he started to realize that the limits of his powers went much further than he thought.
He began to run forward again, pushing himself to go much faster than before. He jumped again, launching himself towards a taller building. He hit the side of it hands and feet first, bouncing slightly before beginning to climb it.
He vaulted up to the top of it and continued to run. From a much higher point, he could see more around him. He decided to take a sharp left and jump over a street. He made the jump, and he easily cleared it, rolling onto an apartment building on the other side.
Peter looked down at his hands with a wide grin on his face. This was without a doubt the best feeling he'd ever felt…
But where did all of this come from?
As midday was beginning to transition into the evening, Peter made his way towards Parsons Labs; the place where he'd been bitten by that spider just a couple days ago. It was after that when all of this started happening.
Whatever had happened to him, it probably came from here.
Peter looked down at it from an adjacent building. His eyes fell to the dumpster that he'd climbed to. He awkwardly shifted his weight and began to climb down the side of the building. When he was low enough, he hopped to the ground and proceeded to climb inside.
"Alright, where is that thing?" Peter wondered aloud as he looked around, using the screen of his phone to provide some light as he searched. He moved aside cardboard and junk to see if he could find any spider carcass.
Eventually, he did find it. Its body had slid down towards the bottom of the dumpster. He scooped it up in his hand, looking at it closely. Right away he could tell that, while it at first appeared to be a normal spider, there was something very different about it:
Its colors were altered. It appeared to be actually be a faint shade of blue with streaks of red on it. Peter tilted his head a bit curiously as he turned it over to inspect the underside of it. There were strange lines on its thorax.
"That's not what spiders look like." He hummed thoughtfully, setting it down and peeking his head around. He didn't see anyone nearby. He decided to investigate what was going on inside Parsons Labs.
He hopped out of the dumpster and onto the wall, climbing up to the roof. He searched for a way to get in, and he eventually found it in the form of a metal grate. He pulled it off of its screws and climbed into the ventilation shaft.
He made his way inside until he found a place where he could climb out through. He pushed the vent door open and carefully exited out. From his vantage point up by the ceiling, he was able to look down and see what was going on below.
The first thing he noticed were lab coats; several men and women walking around different machines set up. Some had clipboards in their hands, while others had various tools. Peter turned his attention to an experiment that was going on right at that moment.
"Are these like mad scientists working on something nefarious?" Peter wondered to himself.
"Are we ready to begin the gamma laser experiment?" One asked another.
Peter watched as they prepared a strange looking laser on a large metal arm aimed towards the ground at a clear orb. They turned on the laser, and it began to prime to fire.
"Are we clear this time? We had some obstruction last time, and I don't want that happening again." The scientist who was apparently heading the experiment asked. The gentleman next to him nodded in confirmation.
"Yes. We're clear to fire. No spiders or moths getting in the way this time." He replied.
"Good," The scientist nodded. "Let's begin then." He said. The laser was fired towards the orb and began to fill it with some sort of substance. Peter's eyes widened.
"This was all some kinda freak accident." He said to himself, realizing. He quickly climbed back into the vent and hurried out of the building…