Chapter One
Peter Parker's life had started going downhill at the tender age of four. He still remembered the last time he had seen his parents, Mary and Richard Parker. He couldn't remember the entire incident, he had been only four after all. But he remembered his mother's soft smile and his father's scratchy mustache. The long, thick coats they wore and the briefcase his father carried.
In a second, they were gone.
He remembered Uncle Ben and Aunt May crying, then hiccupping whenever a young Peter would ask them where Mommy and Daddy where. Peter would later find out they'd died in a plane crash.
Eventually Peter became old enough to know that the topic of Richard and Mary Parker was enough to make Ben and May unusually somber, so he knew better than to bring it up. May and Ben eventually adopted him, and Peter could say he had a happy childhood even though May and Ben could never have children, so Peter didn't have any siblings or cousins to play with. He was a simple boy, and he was content with the love his uncle and aunt gave him even if money was a bit tight sometimes.
When Peter was eleven, Ben was killed. Peter still remembered the night vividly even though it had been three years ago. Ben had come to pick up Peter from Ned's apartment after the two boys had spent the afternoon playing with Ned's new Lego set.
It had happened so quickly. A man had come out of nowhere and pointed a gun at Ben's chest demanding money. Ben had refused, never one to be bullied. The man had fired the gun and then had ran. Eleven-year-old Peter had stayed behind, cradling Ben's head and waiting for the ambulance to come.
He even remembered Ben's last words, "With great power comes great responsibility." He didn't know what the hell that meant even now. In short, he had had a pretty miserable life with the exception of May and his friends Ned and MJ.
He had thought becoming a teenager would finally be a positive experience for him. He was wrong.
When he was thirteen May meet a man named Jake. He reminded Peter of a Ken doll with clear blue eyes and slick blond hair. Unfortunately for him he wasn't an airhead like an actual Ken doll. Peter quickly found out that he was quite smart. He could insult Peter, humiliate him, and grip his arm in a way that would leave a bruise all in under an hour, and without May seeing him. It was quite a feat.
Peter wondered why he never said anything. Why he never complained or brought attention to May at the fact that Jake's favorite activity was to torture him. He knew May would have destroyed the man on the spot if she found out he had touched a hair on Peter's head.
But he didn't say anything. He couldn't. May seemed so happy. He had never seen her so happy.
It had been Peter's fault that Ben had died anyway. He would have never been killed in that alleyway if he hadn't gone to pick up Peter. Gritting his teeth and bearing it was the least he could do after all. May married him later that year in a Christmas theme wedding.
When he was fourteen, him and the rest of the freshmen at Midtown high school went on a tour at the infamous Oscorp corporations. Flash had dared Peter to go into one of the bolted rooms not guarded by a security guard.
He had done so and gotten bitten by a small black and red spider. After that everything had changed. He called it having Parker luck.
Present Day
Fourteen-year-old Peter Parker closed his eyes as the bus's wheels rumbled under him. He was so tired. He had stayed up to finish a math worksheet, then Jake's snoring could be heard throughout the entire apartment. It didn't help that the odd spider bite he had received had enhanced, well everything.
It had been six months since that fateful day at Oscorp's when Peter had sneaked into one of the forbidden rooms and got bitten on the back of the hand by a tiny spider which seemed to have come out of nowhere.
Peter knew he should have told someone, or at the very least gone to a doctor. But he knew if May found out that he had broken the very strict rules of Oscorp's and gotten bit by a strange insect then she would get upset and when May was upset then her new husband Jake got upset. When Jake got upset then Peter usually ended up paying for it, in one way or another.
Since that fateful day six months ago, Peter had started to realize he was different. He was faster and stronger and for the first time in fourteen years actually managed to beat every single boy in his P.E. class at everything from doing push-ups to climbing the awful rope in gym. His eyesight had gotten better, and he could finally ditch his dorky glasses. His hearing was also more attuned, and it seemed he could hear every little noise, which truth be told sometimes annoyed him, but most impressive of all were his reflexes. He seemed to detect everything exactly 2.5 seconds faster than the average human.
"What's with you?" MJ looked up when Peter flinched. She looked up from her sketchbook where she was currently drawing a snoring man. "You're all fidgety."
"I heard something above us," Peter explained weakly as he tipped his ear to catch the faint roaring sounds. His heart dropped when he recognize the sound. He had been avoiding said sound for the past three months.
Ned who had been stuffing his face with animal crackers looked up. "It's Iron Man," he said with awe. "I heard on the news he's been paroling around New York to find the Spider Monkey."
MJ took a sip of her drink. "I thought it was Tarantula Man."
"No, I'm pretty sure it's Spider Monkey."
Spider Man, Peter silently corrected his friends. He had been the famous crime fighting spider for exactly three months. Saving the little people that was what Spiderman did. Uncle Ben would be proud Peter was using his powers for good. So why since he'd donned on the costume had Iron Man been chasing him as if he were a violent criminal?
"I thought he would be over that by now," Peter's voice cracked. Everyone knew Tony Stark had a short attention span so why was he super vigilant on one lone costumed boy? "Surely this is above Iron Man's paygrade."
His friends shrugged as the bus stopped in front of Midtown high school. "Maybe he's tired of sharing the spotlight. With the amount of crazies this city has seen we can't exactly blame Iron Man from looking in."
Ned soon lost interest in the conversation. "Hey, dude do you want to come over after school? My mom just got me a mega Han Solo Lego set. It has 258 pieces."
Peter's face fell as he remembered all those fun afternoons he and Ned used to spend together, but ever since Jake and May got married, Jake had been keeping him of a tight leash and May didn't seem to notice. "I can't man."
MJ wrinkled her nose. "Is Jake still treating you like a five-year-old? He does know May used to let you be outside until like eight, right? You're fourteen, not seven."
Peter grew uncomfortable at the mention of Jake. Just the mention of his name was enough for his stomach to grow queasy. "I just can't go, ok. Let's hurry otherwise we'll be late to class."
-End of Chapter One-
