and the suicide of the emotionless Kim. Though he had lived, even though his happy memories had returned to him, he was still a shadow of the former, wise-cracking Spider-man. MJ noticed the difference. Compared him to the much more moody Daredevil. Then she suggested a vacation. Daredevil, the Avengers, the X-Men, Dr. Strange they could take care of New York for awhile. A few weeks in sunny California. A second honeymoon.
It was working, Peter admitted. The sunny beaches. The more open skies. The drivers were almost, but not quite, as crazy as New Yorkers. Just crazy enough that Peter didn't feel too much home sickness.
It also didn't hurt that for their first week there he hadn't needed to be Spider-man even once. It was just the two of them. There were other heros to deal with the crimes. Usually quicker then Parker could change into his alter-ego.
So at first he hesitated the night he felt his spider-sense going off like a red alert klaxon on the Enterprise. Mary Jane, who could read her husband like a book with a glass cover, said, "It's okay, Tiger. Go get 'em."
A quick kiss goodbye, and Peter Parker was replaced by Spider-man. Following the one who had set off the alarms. In a way, she reminded him of Kim. Blond, over weight, short. But unlike Kim who had no capability of feeling emotions until just minutes, seconds, before she died, this woman had an aura of sadness. A wound deep and bleeding in her soul.
She paused now outside a restaurant. People were entering, laughing, well dressed people.
Embracing each other. One sign declared the place closed for a high school reunion. Another
sign welcomed the alumni. The woman opened her over-sized purse. Spider-man saw the glint of
cold black metal. His senses screaming to him now.
No one was looking. It took just one second to swing out, grab the woman, and take her to the roof of a nearby building. While California didn't boast as many skyscrapers as New York, it still had a few. The woman didn't scream but looked green when he set her down. Before taking her purse and confiscating the gun.
"And what, pray tell, are you going to do with this?" Spider-man said, dangling the offensive thing from his fingertips.
"A way to make them listen." The woman said, a hard, cold edge to her voice even though what she said came out like a childish whine. "Force them to hear for once. Make them believe."
"This doesn't look like a bullhorn to me." Chastised the man in red, waving the gun under her nose like a piece of rotten meat before snatching it away again.
The woman glared at him, her blue eyes filled with rage and hurt. "It's the only way to get the
bullies' attention! For four years they made my life a living hell and laughed about it. They tore
away ever last bit of my self esteem. Just because I was fat and a sci-fi geek. It wasn't right, it
wasn't fair! And the teachers, the teachers were even worse because they would just tell me to
get over it, said it would make me into a stronger adult! Well, do I look stronger to you? DO I"
The last was a hysterical shriek ending with a sob. "And they still don't believe they did any
harm."
Spider-man took an involuntary step back from the shouting woman. It wasn't the first time he had dealt with someone who never got over high school bullying. It wasn't that long ago that a former bullied classmate had covered himself with vibratium. Still, he held onto the gun. "This isn't going to make things better."
"Oh don't be stupid." The woman said, sniffling. "It's not a real gun. It's a prop and it's loaded with blanks."
Not really trusting her, Spider-man checked the gun. An old fashion revolver-type of gun, he swung the chambers out and looked. She was right. It was loaded with blanks.
So why was his spider-sense still going wild?
Screams came from the restaurant. Looking down over the edge of the roof, Spider-man saw a man standing outside it. His arm around the neck of an obvious jock going to seed. The jock had fear in his eyes and Spider-man realized that the attacker's arm was wrapping around the jock's neck like a boa constrictor.
"Oh my God," whispered the woman, "it's Barry."
In the mythical time of 1991...
Norton "Buster" Adamson was the best freshman football player at Harborside School. Everyone already loved him in only the three months since school had started. Even the seniors.
There were a few that hated him though. Barry Gilman was one and so did his group of friends.
Sandra James was another.
Neither Barry and his friends nor Sandra even spoke to each other, but all six shared the same deep, venomous hatred of old "Sporty Norty." For good old Nort was a big, bad bully and his popularity caused others to pick on them too.
Barry at least had his four friends, Angela, Roger, Ash, and Fred. For all five shared one thing in common. They were the only mutants in the school.
Sandra had no one except herself. Fat, short, a drama, choir, and science fiction geek, she was
equally ostracized by all. Though she had more acting and singing talent in her little toe then the
drama and choir departments put together, both teachers of the classes ignored her because of
her weight. Thinking with the Californian attitude that people don't care about talent, they just
want someone to drool over. Looks always more important in the golden coastal state then
anything else. Add to that her tendency to quote Star Trek and Star Trek: The Next Generation,
Sandra was more looked down upon then the mutants.
Most of Barry's group had no major powers. Ash made small, colorful sparks that occasionally were used to light things on fire. Angela never showed what she could do, but it was rumored she could speak to animals. Roger and Fred, mirror image twins, had the abilities to do perfect impressions. Their Elvis was uncanny. However Fred's words when he did his impressions were backwards.
Barry stretched. Mr. Fantastic type stretching. Add to that super strength that Mr. Fantastic
couldn't hope to match. As for his appearance, well, there was a reason he was named Barry. He
looked like a young Barry Manilow. What the singer must've looked like as a teenager. There
were subtle differences. A slightly different shade of blue in his eyes. The nose just a hair longer,
or maybe he was stretching it always to make himself look different. The hair had more blond in
it then brown. Still, the resemblance was there, and so he was named Barry.
In California they like to pretend they're so liberal, so open minded. They brag about voting for the democratic candidate, even when the one running had no business being in office and even they knew it. They're for gay rights, women's rights, prisoner's rights, rights to privacy even when it puts their own children at risk. To an extent they even claim to be for mutant rights.
Hypocrites, the entire lot of them.
It started that day when Buster threw the cookie his mom so lovingly made for him at Sandra.
Mooing. His friends joined in, pelting her with various foods as she walked by, making barnyard
noises. Calling her "Miss Piggy" and other names referring to her weight. One asked her where
her Storm Troopers were.
That was the only time she responded. "That's Star Wars, not Star Trek, you dolt."
This earned her another round of name calling. She turned her back to them, even as teachers walked by and did nothing. They never did anything. Claimed it was good for a child's character to deal with these things on their own.
The truth was, if it wasn't for the fact her parents had spanked her as a child, Sandra would bring a gun to school and kill them all. Well, not kill them, but scare, maybe wound them a little. But Sandra was scared what her parents would do and how disappointed they'd be. The American justice system was a joke. She knew she could claim temporary insanity and get off light. Her parents wouldn't hesitate to put her across their knees.
"Why don't you do something? Retaliate?" The questions came from Barry, leaning against a wall with his friends around him, doing various things.
Sandra shrugged and looked at her feet before mumbling. "It doesn't do any good. If you talk back they get worse, if you ignore them they keep at it even more. I can't fight. I'm not special like you guys."
"Special." Angela snorted, looking up from her biology textbook. "You mean freaks."
"No, I mean special." She looked at them now, and there was actually a tinge of jealousy in her eyes. "Talents that cannot be fully copied or repeated. There'll always be better actors, better singers, better anything. But there'll never be someone with your exact talents. Your special combinations."
They snorted and laughed, but somehow they all looked pleased. They had never been praised like that before. Heck, most of them were in foster homes except for Barry who's mother loved him no matter what.
"Hey, look! The cow's talkin' to the muties!" Buster said with a laugh, approaching with his
gang. "Can't say I'm surprised. They say the girl-mutie can talk to animals. Is it true, Sandy?
Can she actually understand you?"
Sandra curled up into herself. Staring at her feet. Just taking it.
"Leave her alone." It was Barry again. To the shock of everyone, even his friends. "What did she ever do to you to deserve this?"
"She was born." Norton replied, grinning like a shark. "But maybe you want some, eh you big nosed mutie freak? You want some of this?"
The teachers and security guards milled about but did nothing. After all, everyone liked Norton.
He could probably get the school to state someday. Still, guilt ate at one or two of them.
"Stop it, Sporty Norty." The voice was soft, a whisper, and yet somehow strong. Sandra raised her eyes to Buster. "Leave him alone. Leave all of us alone."
"And what are you going to do about it, fatty?" Norton loomed over her. Angry she was challenging him. "Well?" He pushed her just a little and in return she glared at him. Glared so hard that he was actually afraid. Yet instead of showing it, he curled his hand into a fist and swung at her, hitting her before anyone could react.
Barry jumped on Buster's back. They struggled but Barry was obviously stronger, quicker. The others on both side just stood by for already teachers and security guards were rushing in. Yet Barry wouldn't let go.
"Barry, Barry stop! You're going to kill him and he isn't worth it!" Sandra shouted as a teacher tried to drag her away. "Please, Barry, don't!"
Listening to her, Barry released Norton. Allowed himself to be dragged away. But not without one last look at Sandra.
For a few days afterwards, people tried to blame Barry. Said he and his mutant friends started it.
Sandra though, with her black eye, stood up and clearly stated it was Norton who started it.
Norton who belittled them all and hit her first. Barry was just trying to defend her. She said this
to the police, said it to the reporters, said it to the FOH who came to protest at her school and
even on her front lawn.
Norton was suspended. Barry, Sandra, and the others treated worse then ever when the school
lost it's next game. Even by the teachers. His group became a group of six, but not for long.
Angela was moved to another foster home, farther away. The twins mysteriously vanished one
night. Ash, well, he couldn't take it anymore and hung himself.
So it was only the two of them against the whole school, which to them was their world. Then Barry's mom hit the Lottery and at the end of their junior year, he left. Going off to a private school somewhere far away. They wrote for awhile. Then the letters stopped coming from his end.
Sandra faced the rest of the time in Harborside alone. With no Barry to protect her anymore,
people were worse to her then ever. Especially Norton and his friends. The teachers did nothing
unless it became physical. Sandra begged her parents to let her change schools, sue them,
something, anything. They wanted to, there just wasn't the time or the money. They tried to
comfort her the best they could. Telling her to "just ignore them and they'll get bored." They
were wrong. It just got worse. Once a dead pig from biology class was in her gym locker.
Another time she found the words "Mutie Lover" written in her library book. Her grades
suffered and she withdrew more and more into a fantasy world. Crying herself to sleep.
Vowing one day she'd tell them how they ruined her life. Force them to listen.
Now back to the current reality...
"You've got to put me back down there. Barry's going to kill Norton for sure this time." The woman was saying, yanking at Spider-man's costume, stalling him. "Please, he'll listen to me."
Spider-man wanted to leave her behind. Tell her she'd only slow him down, but he saw the look
in her eyes. Leaving the prop gun out of her reach, he grabbed her up and swung down.
Scattering the crowd.
"Barry!" The woman shouted, moving forward. "Barry it's Sandra. Don't do this Barry. Please."
Barry paused, relaxed his grip on the one Sandra had called Norton. His eyes suddenly not as wild. "Sandra?"
It was then that Norton decided to slip up. "Well, now Miss Piggy's here. The gang's finally together again."
"SHUT UP, JUST SHUT UP NORTON!" Barry shouted, applying slow pressure.
Now Spider-man stepped in, flinging his webs out, grabbing Barry's wrists with them and
pulling them away. He was strong, but Spider-man had the advantage of getting special leverage.
Jumping along a lamp post, and pulling until Barry's arms slackened and Norton wiggled out.
In return, Barry whipped his arms back, yanking Spider-man from his perch. Smashing him into the restaurant. "Mind your own business, Web-boy!" He shouted.
Spider-man would've had a witty come-back, except that the air had been knocked from his
lungs. And he had to admit, he just wasn't fully recovered from the encounter with Glass-man.
He just wasn't himself.
As soon as he could recover, he shot his webbing at Barry, wrapping him in a cocoon. Quickly ejecting the now empty web capsules and replacing them.
"No!" Barry shouted. "You don't understand!" He was struggling to break through the webbing.
"Sandra, help me! Norton is dangerous!"
"Only dangerous person I see around here is you." Spider-man replied, flipping down between Barry and Norton.
The webbing was starting to snap under the strain. Sandra was pausing, torn between her old friendship and her moral beliefs.
"I'm telling you, he's a murderer! Sandra, Ash never killed himself, Norton did it. He also killed the twins!" The webbing began to break as Barry struggled. "I have proof but the police won't believe me because I'm a mutant! So I came to make him confess!"
"Don't listen to them, Spider-man." Norton said, sounding a little panicked. "How could I kill anyone? Let alone three mutants!"
"Liar!" Barry roared.
The last strands were breaking and Spider-man made the quick choice to wrap Barry up again.
However at that moment Sandra stepped in the way and so she ended up wrapped from head to
toe. Spider-man cursed and yanked some back, freeing her face so she could breath.
Barry could've taken advantage of this moment to grab Norton again. Instead he pulled Sandra away from Spider-man and began to rip the webbing from her. Norton began to laugh.
"Look, everyone! The mutant freak loves the wide-load!" He called out.
Only a few laughed. Most too horrified by the original attack to even move. There were a few uncomfortable chuckles. Spider-man turned to the bully, in shock.
"Do you never learn? Did you never grow up?" The wall crawler asked.
The bully snorted. "At least I'm not still wearing footie pyjamas, freak."
As Peter Parker, he was use to being bullied. Tormented. In high school Peter had been everyone's physical and verbal punching bag. And yet, this one small taunt, a mere nothing, not even well thought out, hurt Spider-man deep down to the soul.
"Don't." He heard Barry saying. "Don't let it affect you. That's how he does it. He - he feeds off the negative emotions that he creates."
Norton grinned a shark's grin. Hunger danced in his eyes. "Okay, so I did kill them - they were
worthless to me. No longer providing any food." He laughed, moving closer to Spider-man.
"Freak. Web slinging mutant freak. Do you have a girlfriend, freak? No, in an outfit like that
you're more likely to have a boyfriend."
Each word stung like a knife and once again he couldn't come up with a snappy comeback.
Instead he was able to put two and two together. "You're like Kim, like her brother. You were
created to kill mutants."
"So you have more then web for brains!" Norton jeered.
It was different then what Glass-man did. He had drained all positive emotions, leaving the negative emotions to scare the victims to death. Norton created negative emotions, drowning out the positive ones, hiding them. Then feeding on the psychic vibrations this caused. Even now Spider-man could see him sucking in the air close to him. Like a blue whale sucking in sea water to shift out plankton.
"You are all idiots! All fools!" Norton crowed at the crowd. "So quick to follow me in high
school because I was so strong, so fast, and so much better then the rest of you idiots, morons,
fat little cows..." His eyes turned towards Sandra as Barry ripped the last strands of webbing
from her.
Spider-man forced his feet, suddenly feeling like lead, so he was more firmly between the jock
and his intended targets. "I don't think so, buddy." 'Buddy?' the web slinger thought to himself,
geez, he was losing it.
"Buddy?" Norton snorted. "Is that the best the famous Spider-man wit came come up with?"
Ouch, that hurt. And the more it hurt, the more Spider-man flashed back to his teenage years as awkward Peter Parker. The tripping, the name calling, the general disrespect. Trying to avoid them. Not succeeding.
Norton's fist slammed into Spider-man's gut. The jock gone to seed look was mysteriously gone.
Now he looked like the teenage terror he must've been. With every punch he called out another
insult. To Spider-man, to Barry, Sandra, to the crowd itself. At some point the media showed up.
Even as Barry tried to save Spider-man, but he too was overwhelmed by the jock's punches.
Norton was getting stronger.
"Leave them alone!" A woman screamed out. It was Sandra, running in, an empty trash can over her head. She slammed it against Norton's back. "I won't let you hurt them!"
Norton stumbled. Wrinkles appeared around his eyes, but only for a moment. Now he spun around and grabbed Sandra by the throat. "Oink, oink, little piggy." He growled out.
Barry stretched his arms out, grabbing Norton, pulling his head back. "Leave her alone!"
Spider-man watched as grey suddenly streaked Norton's hair. That's when Spidy got it. Norton
fed on negative energy that he created by bullying and insulting. Positive energy hurt him,
poisoned him.
Positive energy like - true love.
Keeping MJ's face in his mind, recalling how much he loved her, Spider-man felt his own pain receding. He launched himself now at Norton as well. Using his webbing to bind him much like he had done Barry earlier.
Yet there was still enough negative energy from the non-helpful crowd to give Norton the
strength to rip through the webbing. He called out more insults, but they just bounced off Spider-
man, he didn't even hear them. Barry came alongside Spider-man. Sandra was yelling at the
crowd, telling them to either fight or leave. Either way, just stop standing there being useless.
"We need to get him away from this crowd." Spider-man said. "They're giving him just what he needs."
Barry just nodded, then like Mr. Fantastic, stretched himself out and around Norton. Trying to haul him on top of a building. Norton responded by punching Barry in the face. The mutant's grip loosened just a bit. Norton tried to wiggle out but Spider-man webbed Norton's feet together and Sandra ran up and slammed the flat of her hand into Norton's nose. Blood gushed forth from the offended facial part.
Tightening his grip again, Barry began to lift Norton up as before. To retaliate Norton grabbed Sandra by the hair. She screamed in pain and Barry hesitated. Spider-man shot his webbing out and helped lifted her up so they could continue on their way. The wall crawler did not like taking a normal human with no real fighting skills along with them, but Norton wasn't going to let go anytime soon and they needed to hurry for he was starting to get stronger again.
The fight went from one building roof to the next. Norton would try to get away, get back to the
crowd. Spider-man or Barry would fling him to the next roof. Sandra was left far behind. Spider-
man kept thinking of MJ. Their first kiss. Their wedding day. Every good moment that reminded
him how much he loved her.
With each thought he could see Norton getting weaker. When Norton tried to call out an insult,
Spider-man would shrug it off. Barry seemed to also be able to shrug it off.
More then that, Spider-man was suddenly spouting more witty stuff. Not his usual stuff, but when Norton missed him Spidy couldn't help saying "You missed me, you missed me, now you gotta kiss me. Um - ew. Nevermind." And when Norton got too close for comfort, Spider-man said, "Want an Altoid?"
Norton began to grow more wrinkled, fatter, his hair turned snow white, then began to fall out.
He stumbled. Barry slammed his fists into him, pinning Norton against a large air vent.
"Why?" Barry asked. "Why did you kill them?"
Norton, looking like what the picture of Dorian Gray must've looked like in Oscar Wilde's mind, laughed wheezingly. "It was why I was created. To kill mutants. Me, and the others."
"How many others?" Barry demanded. "How many are there of you?"
"I - I don't know. Three I know of, counting me. Spider-man's already eliminated two."
"That's not true." Spider-man said. "Kim killed her brother by absorbing him into herself to stop him. Then she killed herself."
"What did you do to the twins?" Shaking Norton, Barry growled.
Norton coughed, he had suddenly gone bone thin. "I cut their throats, dumped them in the sewers
beneath the school. They were useless to me. Same with Ash. I got all they could from them"
He laughed. "You and Sandra were such a feast."
With a final sputtering cough, Norton died and crumbled to dust.
The bully had been defeated by the most powerful weapon in the world. Love.
"He must've picked on you because he needed what you could give him." Barry was saying, his arm around Sandra's shoulders. "While the rest of us were picked on because we were mutants."
"I've never gotten over what they did to me." Sandra said softly. "I was going to confront him myself tonight. Confront all of them. Spider-man stopped me."
They looked to Spider-man who was standing off to one side. Just taking a breather before returning to MJ. "I was bullied too, when I was a kid."
"How'd you ever get over it?" Sandra asked, cuddling closer to her high school sweetheart.
Under his mask Spider-man smiled. "I was bit by a radio active spider."
"No, seriously." Sandra said, not falling for the famed Spider-man wit.
"Seriously?" The web slinger said. "The love of a good woman."
With one quick swing, Spider-man was gone. Leaving two people with injured souls to heal each other.
He had to get back to his own personal doctor of love.
The End