Spider-Man: Close To Home
Chapter 10: New Guy
Aunt May was cooking in the kitchen when she heard a sudden thump in Peter's room. She looked up with a puzzled expression to the door to Peter's room, which was closed.
"Honey? Are you alright over there?" She asked. There was a bit of a delay before Peter responded.
"Uh, yeah! Everything's fine! Something just fell off the bunk bed!" Peter called back to her. Aunt May chuckled a bit.
"Still getting used to it, huh?" Aunt May presumed, since they had just taken out his single bed and replaced it with a bunk bed as per Peter's request.
"Yeah! Just getting used to it!" Peter replied.
"Well come on out in a bit, okay? Dinner's almost ready!" Aunt May said.
"Got it! No problem." Peter said with a cough. After a bit, Aunt May decided to go over and knock on his door.
"Hey, hun?" She called through the door.
"Just a second!" Peter called back. There was a bit of shuffling in his room before Peter opened up the door wearing pajama pants and an old T-shirt with a math equation on it.
"Are you exercising in there or something?" She asked with a strange face after noticing the redness on Peter's face, as though he'd been straining himself somehow.
"Uhh… Yeah. Just doing push-ups, you know how it is." Peter chuckled it off. Aunt May smiled a bit and made her way back to the kitchen.
"You know, a new gym just opened a few blocks down. Maybe you should try going there. Put some muscles on you for the ladies." Aunt May said, faintly teasing.
"Heheh, yeah, 'cause that's why I wanna work out… Uh, actually, that might be a good idea." Peter agreed with a hum, seeing this as a good opportunity to cover up what he was actually planning…
It was a dark and misty evening in New York. A woman was walking down the street with her dog in tow, her headphones over her ears. She was making her way down the street towards a nearby park when she started to notice a strange presence following behind her.
It was a man in dark clothing. He was on his phone and didn't appear to be looking at her, but something about him made the woman feel funny…
Not sure where to go, she decided to tug on her dog's leash and start heading back to her apartment. She turned a sudden corner and began to make her way towards an alley that would provide a shortcut. It was just a straight shot there to the other side, no places to hide by either wall.
As the woman turned the corner, she quickened her frantic pace even more. She looked back behind her and saw the man was still behind her, getting closer to her. She slid her headphones off her ears and down to her neck before turning around.
"Back off, creep!" The woman shouted at him, reaching back and sliding her exercise pack off. The man said nothing as she started to reach into it for her pepper spray.
However, before the man could get close enough to touch her, a strange white strand suddenly shot down and hit the man in the back of the neck. He flinched and felt for it when all of a sudden he began to be pulled up into the air.
"Ah, what the?!" The man yelled in a panic, trying to pull the web off of him.
"Nuh uh uh, buddy. You just hang out here for a second… Sorry, that was lame." Peter said from the top of the building as he pulled the man up higher.
"Let me go man! What the hell is this?!" The man yelled.
"Quick, get out of here, missus lady! I got this!" Peter yelled to the woman. However, instead of running, the woman pulled out her phone and began to film this strange encounter.
The web got caught in Peter's shooter now, causing the web to snap off. The man fell to the ground, landing flat on his face. Peter cringed.
"Ooh, sorry about that, that wasn't part of the plan." Peter said, shooting a web at the building on the other side of the alley. He jumped down from the roof and swung into the other wall, landing at a lower elevation with his feet against the wall.
"How're you doing that?!" The woman yelled to him. Peter looked over at her.
"Huh? Oh! I'm glad you asked! It's actually-" Peter was interrupted by the man suddenly getting up, pulling out a knife, and attempting to slice at Peter. Peter jumped over him, flipping forward and landing on the ground.
"Hey man, that's kinda rude of you to cut in like that… God, that one was awful too." Peter groaned as he turned towards the man.
The man tried to jab at him with the knife again. Peter jumped backwards a bit, trying to figure out his next move. He noticed a dumpster behind the guy. He shot his webs at it and pulled it towards him. It rolled into the man's back and knocked him forward.
As the man stumbled, Peter reached forward and grabbed the man's hand with the knife in it. He tried to wrestle it out of the man's hand. The man pushed his shoulder into Peter's neck, causing him to stumble back a bit awkwardly.
The man threw a punch at him. Peter instinctively ducked under it and decided to throw his own punch. He threw an uppercut into the man's stomach, causing the man to lurch forward awkwardly and fall to his hands and knees with a groan.
"Ooh, sorry about that. That was a little hard. I felt that man," Peter said, leaning down and helping the man sit against the wall. "Here, let's just go ahead and do this." Peter held up the man's hands and then webbed them to the wall.
"Woah!" The woman exclaimed as she saw all of this transpire, "You totally took care of that creep! Thanks, man!" The woman said to Peter, getting a little closer while still holding up the camera. Peter, upon seeing this, cleared his throat and stood up a little taller, speaking in a deeper voice.
"Uh, n-no problem, ma'am. It's all in a day's work for a superhero like me." Peter replied with a nod. The woman took in the strange appearance of her rescuer.
He had on a red and blue outfit: he wore a blue sweater and blue pants with red boots, red gloves, a red vest hoodie and a red mask. He also wore black goggles with frames that were attached to his eyebrows; this allowed her to see when his expressions were getting bigger and smaller.
"Weird outfit." The woman said.
"Thanks! I-I made it myself." Peter replied without thinking, mentally hitting himself after saying it.
"Is that webbing stuff coming out of you?" The woman asked, pointing the camera towards the man webbed to the wall before turning it back towards Peter.
"Uh, y-yeah, kinda. We don't talk about that." Peter answered.
"What's your name, superhero guy? My 16 followers are dying to know." The woman questioned humorously. Peter chuckled a bit.
"Uh, my name…? Uh, my name is… My name is Spider-Man. I'm-I'm Spider-Man." Peter replied after coming up with the name on the spot.
"Cool. Spider-Man," The woman repeated. "So, you're a new superhero, huh? What kind of powers do you have?" She asked.
"I'll show you as I swing away, for duty calls! Farewell, miss!" Peter replied, shooting a web out behind him and jumping into a swing. He turned the corner and swung away while the woman filmed it with an elated expression.
"God, that was so lame…" Peter said to himself…