The Sensational Scarlet Spider.

Chapter 3: The Night of the Spider.

I shrug on my new vest, deciding to break it in today wasn't a bad idea at all. The patches are nice and the spikes are cool. I walk out of my room and Dad steps out of his. He's already ready to go and of course that's more normal than anything else.

"Hey. How about I drive you today?" he asks, walking next to me, "Been a while since we did it, huh?"

"Yeah, I wouldn't mind that." I say as Dad tosses me my lunch and I catch it. He whistles and grins as we get into his truck. We drive along and he looks at me every now and again. I don't talk much other than look at my phone a little.

"Jack." he says and I perk up.

"Uh huh?" I ask.

"Listen, I know you got these powers and you're on top of the world, but I heard about what happened at school a week ago," he sighs.

"Dad, listen, Osborn and Lawrence-" he cuts me off.

"Jack, lemme finish. What you did wasn't bad, but there are times in life when you gotta fight, and I know your powers are scary and you got a lot of abilities that'd floor tough guys." he says, "But being responsible with that power doesn't mean you do nothing with them."

"Dad, are you saying…" I try to answer but he looks at me out of the corner of his eye.

"Sheesh, I'm not good at speaking and stuff, so I'll cut to the chase." he huffs, "When it comes to being responsible, it's not about not using them. It's about when. Because…"

"With great power comes great responsibility?" I finish and he chuckles.

"Nah, even though that is a good point, great even." he reasons, "It's more about using them in a good way, to help others. I can't stop what happened and I can't stop you from doing what you want with them, just… keep in mind that the whole thing about having power is that it is best used for helping others."

"Still, what about the bad guys? Or the companies that have power that don't help?" I lean against my knees, "We can't just force them to comply with all this stuff."

"Right, but in a more narrow sense, it's more about doing what's in your power. What you can do." Dad says, plunking his hand on my head, "So in this case you should do what you can with what you got."

He pulls into the car line, pulling forward and I unbuckle my seat belt. He smiles and watches me get out, "Have a good day, bud." he says. He looks uncomfortable, his dark eyes staring right ahead. I noticed earlier he had his concealed carry gun with him and the bullets too.

He wipes his mouth, "Hey, hang on." he says.

"Yeah dad?" I stop and turn.

"You do your best today, kiddo." he says, "I love you."

"Yeah! Love you too!" I call, he pulls out of the line and drives off. I head into school with my vest sort of billowing behind me, it's not that well fitted because Dad is bigger than me by a good bit. I head into History class with a big smile on my face.

Eddie whistles, "Well! Look at you!" he exclaims, "Lookin' for trouble? Or are you wearing that for your hot date tonight?"

"Eddie, it's not a date." I hiss, striding to my desk and sitting down with Eddie next to me. He grins at me with that dopey smile and I huff.

"What?" I ask.

"You know what." he says, "You and Felicia, huh? Ditching like that a week ago?"

"We just got ice cream!" I snap at him, "That's it!"

"Whoa whoa, okay. Calm down." Eddie cautions and I plunk down in my chair, the rest of the class trickles in and I see Osborn not too far ahead of me. I knew that he'd probably be pissed off at me for what happened, or maybe not considering how he hasn't said anything to me since the flagpole incident.

Class goes on without much incident, in fact most of today goes on without incident. Gym is better than usual and I wonder why, but then when I see Felicia… it all makes sense. She's sitting at our lunch table, running through a few tabs, but on her computer I see her email being open.

"Uhh… hey!" I greet as she looks up from her guitar. Her hair is tied back from her face again, her smile widens.

"Thank me later, Jacky." she motions towards the computer, "You shouldn't have to worry about Osborn or Lawrence."

"Wait, how?" I ask.

Felicia plays a few chords, "Lady's secret." she says, "Just things I found through the grapevine about the two of them, things that they don't want found out."

"Wow…" I breathe, "That's… you really didn't have to do that."

"Oh come on, Jack, really? You're gonna be humble? I don't like when my friends get fucked with." she puts her guitar away in her case with the clicks punctuating her words, "Besides, not a guy like you."

"What do you mean?" I lean against my arms.

"Well, you're the only kid in the whole school that has any bit of a spine when it comes to shit like this. You're tough, Jack." she grabs one of my hands, "Besides, I like guys with a Battle Vest, looks nice."

"Uh, thanks, it's my Dad's." I lift it a little, "Dad saw The Grateful Dead, it's really kinda funny when my Mom told me she met my Dad wearing this and being high." I fondly chuckle at how embarrassed Dad got when she told me that.

Felicia laughs, her laugh sounds nice, but she reins it in, "Really? Wow. My parents met on a really, really weird trip in… hm I wanna say Paris?"

"Paris?!" I exclaim.

"Mm hm." she nods with a smile, "Why? You wanna go?"

"No, but… sheesh, that must've been an expensive first date."

Felicia laughs and I don't get why. Of course I'm nowhere near that dense. But she settles down with a cheeky smile.

"Hey, maybe we can go sometime? Spontaneous, just like that!" She snaps her fingers with a little nudge against my shoulder.

"Sounds irresponsible." I see her smile fall and she turns, almost squatting over the bench of the cafeteria table. She swings herself over it, crawling over languid and almost feline-like.

"I'd like to call it, 'sweetening the pot.' you get me, Jackyboy?" She touches my cheek gently with her soft, smooth hand.

"I like you, Jack. You're just so much fun to mess with~!" she pats my hot cheek and sits back up, "See you tonight," I watch her leave with the only thought in my mind being:

'What the fuck?!' I almost flip up a hood that isn't even there, breathing hard, thinking of her. Thinking of how easy it was to mess with me. I just clear my lunchbox and leave.

I sit in Study Hall, my drawing pad open since Homework was light work this time. Most of the talking is not lowering beneath a dull roar of barely quiet whispers.

"Did you see Parker and Hardy?"

"Yeah, weird."

'I hope they know that I can HEAR them.' I think, drinking a leftover drink from lunch and drawing out another picture of the Scarlet Spider. There's not much more than just different anatomy studies here and there. I work as if I'm Pygmalion and I'm chiseling out Galatea. Stroke by stroke and line by line careful to not mess it up for anything. No webs, a hoodie covering the red spandex marked with two spiders. My gloves have slats for my webbing to come out of.

Maybe I could add my braces to them? Or ask my podiatrist if he can recommend anything. I gotta cover up the whole Scarlet Spider idea because Dad and Mom would probably flip out. After Study Hall, I move on to Literature class. This class we're reading something called the Importance of Being Earnest, which is all about Marriage I think. But I don't really think about that.

Not for a lack of trying at all. Just the feeling that I might need to take up the fight. Take up the noble name of a Spider and face the darkness of the city. Not just the city but the world. Once I get out of my last class all I can think about is what's gonna happen tonight. I'm gonna see one of my friends do something really cool. I mean, cooler than getting my bullies off my back but at the same time I just can't wait for tonight! It's gonna be so much fun! I get a text from Mom after school that says she's gonna get me and I go out to the car line.

Her car pulls up and I get in with a bright smile, "Hey mom!" I exclaim. She smiles and focuses more on the fact that I'm still wearing my Battle Vest.

"So, what'd your friends think of your vest?" she wonders, "Did Felicia like it?"

"Mm-hm! She kinda… well, I wouldn't call it flirting really, but it's something I guess." I ramble with Mom nodding.

"Flirting, huh?" her tone is flat and she glares at me.

"Mom, what's the matter?" I ask.

"If she breaks your heart, I will be very angry." she states, "Very. Angry."

"Uh… okay?" I warble, "Felicia and I are just friends."

"Uh huh." Mom still keeps the flat tone to her voice and I don't get why. Sometimes she gets weird about these things and I never get it. It's a weird thing that she does whenever a girl gets involved. We get home and Mom gets out first.

"Your father is going to be working late tonight, do you think you can ask Eddie for a ride home or…"

I wiggle my fingers, "Webs." I smile and she sighs.

"Just… be careful, okay? I don't want you to smack headfirst into billboards." she kisses me on the forehead, "Also no landing in back alleys, you stick to well lit areas, okay?"

"Okay, okay!" I laugh and she passes me some money. About thirty bucks.

"Merch?" I offer.

"Yes, that's for merch, sweetie." Mom says, "Oh! Wait, wait, wait." she grabs my hand and leads me inside, "Dinner first."

I swing over the buildings, my body looping through the air with my Battle Vest billowing around from beneath my backpack, the concert venue is outside of Queens, towards Manhattan. A concert bar called the Rumbler. Of course a lot of bands get sick here so they call it the Petri Dish too.

As I swing all I can think about is how much fun I was gonna have. How much I wanted to see my friend rocking out with the rest of the band. The unbelievable feeling of flying, no. Swinging. Swinging through the air on a string of Spiderweb just flying above the buildings and scuttling across the rooftops, reaching the Rumbler and landing just up the street.

I walk up to the low, small building big enough for all of us and wait in line around my fellow fans of my friend's band. It's called the Cat's Paw. The concert venue smells like a weird cleaner mixed with vape smoke. It's a strange combo of those two things and I move closer to the stage, against a pillar not too far from the back. I lean against it.

Standing on and near the stage are the openers, the Mary Janes, with their instruments being set up and everything. I don't notice someone coming up behind me until I see Felicia coming my way. Her lips are dark red and her eyes gleam in the low light of the venue, her long hair is down and almost billowy in the AC. She turns me around and hugs me.

"I'm so glad you made it!" she exclaims, "Do you want the front row? Maybe get in the pit?"

"Nah, I'd much rather stay back here. It's better than getting run down." I smile and she grins.

"Well, MJ's gonna have her turn, and then we'll have ours. Maybe after… me an' you can go hang out?" she leans in, "That is if we don't have an encore."

"I'd like that." I let her lean on me a bit, "Hey, Felicia, quick question."

"Hm?" she hums.

"What's the deal with the MoMA heist Eddie and I heard about? Do you know anything?" I see her move off.

"No. Not at all. Only a really big thing got taken." she states, I nod and she waltzes off to the backstage and as MJ, a girl with red hair and probably going to Midtown Tech by the looks of her, was singing punk style. I sat and thought.

Something wasn't right about what she said. I know the article was published but the thing is that it seemed too easy to handwave. But I shoved those feelings back down my throat just so I can enjoy swaying along to the punk. Most of the opener's set passes in a blur, the ringing in my head starting. Something felt wrong and I don't know why. I was wearing my earplugs and everything. I don't know what was happening. Just the vibrations must've been interfering with it as I lurch back to the bathroom, the music fading a bit with the door's closing.

I stare into the mirror, something about my haggard expression just doesn't gel well with the rest of my night. My Sense just doesn't pick up on things that aren't direct threats so this is just new. A constant droning thrum as it goes on, MJ's set ends and the cheering forces me back out to watch Felicia's. I needed to. Just to make my Sense shut the hell up. I look down at the X's on my hands. God, I wish I could just make my brain shut off the power for a little bit. Just make me go dumb but something about tonight just feels off. Ever since dinner, Mom told me that Dad was working late.

He never works late. He never works this late. Felicia's band is more of heavy punk and she looks absolutely beautif- the feeling comes back as I slump down against the pillar at the start of the songs, she doesn't notice. Thank god. Her silvery blonde hair is messy, her green eyes with smoky- Thrumming again. This time stronger, more pronounced, making me hunch back down, the music so loud and the people louder. Every sensation hits me. My body wants to run and jump and get out of there, web sling away like nothing happened.

What's wrong? What's wrong? My brain screams at it, Danger? Gun? Drunks?

The middle of the set goes through and the thrumming turns into something piercing.

Dad. Dad. Dad. Dad.

Dad. DAd. DAd. DAD.

Something's wrong. Dad.

He never works this late.

He was… was… the gun. He has the gun. Where does he work now? A site in…

Hell's Kitchen.

My phone buzzes in my pocket and I get it out, seeing it was my mom. I duck into the bathroom in the middle of Felicia's encore and answer. The music pumps and my Mom answers.

"Jack… c-come home, okay?" she warbles.

"Mom, what's wrong?" I ask, hearing her sniffling on the other end, her breath ragged and her voice shaking.

"Mom?" I continue, before my heart drops into my stomach. The words she said next just killed me.

"It's your father, Jack…" she huffs, "He's… he… he's dead."

I stay quiet, my eyes stinging and my throat trying to swallow the lump in it. The burning feeling in my gut singes my body as I slump against the wall, "Mom…" I hiss.

"What do we do?" I want to ask.

"I…" I force out in a murky splurge, "I… I'm coming home, okay? We'll… we'll go from there." I stumble through the door, pushing softly through the crowds. I get outside into the night air but I don't feel the cool breeze.

Mom doesn't hang up, she stays on, listening to me walking home. The tears don't stop falling. Dad was gone. He… he's gone and I was wasting time at a punk concert. I could've been there. I could've saved him. I could've… I clench my free hand into a fist, listening to my mom's warbling sobs. I know I can't. I know I can't save him now. All I can do now is live on. But the burning in my stomach spreads to my chest, my arms, my legs and feet.

I dig around in the pocket on my vest, taking out the sketch of the Scarlet Spider. Holding it out and looking at it. I hang up the phone, stuffing it in my pocket and crumpling the sketch. Clenching hands, legs going weak, tears raining down my face, falling to the pavement and my throat tears out the lump, screaming into the air, shaking and crying. I wasn't there. I wasn't there. I wasn't there.

I cry myself hoarse, my mind repeating those three words. I wasn't there. And now he's gone. In a numb daze, I lurch to my feet and finish the journey home. The Battle Vest on my back flapping in the night breeze. Mom's at the door, her eyes red from all the crying, she draws me into her arms fierce and strong, kissing me on the forehead and hugging me. She stays there, my world crumbling down around us.

"I should've been there." I whisper, "Mom, I could've…"

"Baby, you couldn't have known." she murmurs into my hair, "You were being a kid. Having fun…"

"No… no, I felt it, Mom. The… the sense. It… it was bothering me…" I shut down and sob, burying my face near her chest, He had his gun. We should've been there.

Mom slowly rocks, "It's okay… it's okay. We'll figure this out."

The next few days were the funeral, the wake… whatever. All I wanted was to be left alone. I sit on top of the Empire State building. All I want is to sit here all day. Watch the clouds drift through the sky. I don't want to talk. My phone keeps ringing, I put it on silent. Yet I want to go back down. I want to do something about this. I never took off my Battle Vest. That way Dad was always with me. I don't want to leave.

I want it all to pass by. Just the memory that my Sense was feeling something just makes it worse. I gently swing back down to the observation deck, a back corner nobody really cares about to look out of, it's not pretty at all. I get to the elevator and go down, the tower still so high but I gotta get to school. I swing off towards Queens, the early morning sun shining amber. I get to school after breakfast.

I get inside, almost robotically moving towards my locker, hearing footsteps coming up near me.

"Parker." Harry's voice says.

"Not now, Harry…" I sigh, shoving past him, "I'm not in the-"

"No, I want to apologize." he says, "It was…kind of a bad idea to diss the kid with spider powers and a disability."

"I accept it." I state, "Just… stay outta my way."

I walk towards History and sit near the back with Eddie coming in near me, he sits down and he's wearing a dark shirt today. He looks at my Battle Vest and at my haggard face. My mind is hazier than fog and just as dark too.

"Hey man, sorry about your Dad." he says, "If you and May need anything I can help!"

"Thanks." I look down at my patches, "I think that's a good idea."

Eddie looks concerned as I lean against the desk. Tired and mostly hungry. He's been orbiting me for a while now and all I can do is let him. There's not much else I can do other than think about what to do next.

Eddie nudges me, "You don't look so good, man." he says.

"I know…" I yawn. "I've been busy."

Eddie rubs my back. "Look Jack, it's not healthy to keep on doing this. I know you could've been there but it happened, okay? Your Dad would… well, I…"

I glare at him, "Eddie, stop it, okay? I know he wouldn't want me to wallow but come on…" My voice cracks and warbles, "He and I… we…"

Eddie takes me out of the classroom, telling Mr. Lieber that we needed some time. He takes me outside and we sit down against one of the walls, he has his arm wrapped around my shoulders.

"You don't have to help us…" I whimper.

"No, I don't. But you're my best friend, Jack." he squeezes me a little, "So yeah, I'mma help." I let myself feel the way I do about all of this. Not exactly crying but just sitting with my friend. Just letting the world pass by as we watch videos together.

The trapped in a box feeling still is there. I just want to bust out and go somewhere where I can feel strong enough to make this count. To make sure nothing like Dad's murder ever happens again. Dad's killer is still out there. All I do now is work on my suit. Mostly red spandex I got from a friend of Mom's. I already cut off the sleeves and got to work on the mask before school. It's almost done.

When I get to Lunch today I sit near the door. Just quietly eating and keeping to myself. Looking down at my food and chewing. The food turned to tar in my mouth and slid down my throat just as slowly. I avoided Felicia today. Yet she came over anyway, sitting down next to me and eating calmly. She seemed a lot less chatty today. Which isn't good. She didn't know my dad but judging by her expression she could relate.

"Jack, I'm sorry about your Dad." she doesn't say that.

"Hey." she offers, scooching closer, "Here." she hands me a small black pick and smiles.

"Good luck." she hugs me gently and pats my back.

I don't know what she's talking about but that gives me a little comfort as she sits next to me.

"Thanks."

I get home and go to my room, not finding Mom around. She's probably handling something at her job. I sigh and get out my suit, finding my mask and slowly stitching up the final seam. It's nowhere near perfect and I'm not a seamster but this is as close to a suit as I can get. I take off my shirt and pants, along with my braces. They can't be here with me because they'd just be weighing me down. I get on the boots and the gloves with slots for my webbing to shoot through. When I finally get to the final touch.

Mom is in the doorway. Her eyes on what I'm doing. She huffs softly through her nose.

"Jack…" she sighs, "Is this what you've been doing all this time?"

"Mom. Just… just sit-" she cuts me off with a glare, marching closer.

"Jackson Steven Parker, you will hand that suit over right now." she hisses, her voice low and tense, "We already lost your father."

"Mom. Just wait." I try to spit out but she stays firm.

"No, Jack. Suit. Now." she snaps, "Don't even think about going out there."

I sit down on my bed and so does she, her eyes on my suit. It's rough and not very good, but she just hugs me. I gently bury my face into her shoulder, with my hands still on my mask. All I want is this. Just this one chance to do something with my powers other than run away.

"I don't want you getting hurt, Jack." she says, "Simple as that."

"I won't, Mom." I want to say but I don't, "I know." I say instead.

"So why are you doing this? I've been worried about you. You're not eating or sleeping, just spending your time doing this."

"Because I want to do something more with my powers, help people, just that. That way it won't… it won't happen again. Not to you, not to Eddie, not to me…"

Mom pushes me off her and holds me by the shoulders, "Honey, it's not an easy thing. You're not like the other two."

"I know, okay? I know I've been different since day one, Mom! Disabled, treated like crap by a linebacker and a rich kid, the one night I get to go do something outside of being at home and Dad gets shot!" I yell, forcing her hands off gently.

"Just let me do this. Let me do something right. I'll make sure everything is gonna be okay. I'll make sure there's no more kids losing their dads, no more crime. Just…" I slide on my mask, looking back over my shoulder and webbing up the other building nearby.

"Keep a light on."

I swing off, the night air hitting me as I get out of the open window but instead of squinting I'm flying. My hoodie billowing in the winds, the spandex stretching along as I swing through the air and run towards wherever I could find some action. 'I'll make sure nobody has to go through this again.' I think, swinging into the night. The Scarlet Spider is here and he's ready to rumble!