It was Central Park on a cold day. Peter sat on a park bench, overcoat pulled up against the snow. A figure walked past him, turned, sat.
A moment went by. Peter had a strange feeling. He turned, looked at the person who just sat down next to him.
It was Uncle Ben!
Peter gasped and made some inarticulate sounds. Uncle Ben flashed an enigmatic smile.
"You..." Peter said.
"Relax, kiddo." Ben said.
"This isn't possible..." Peter said.
"It's a dream, Pete. You're still back at home. You fell asleep on the sofa, it's about seven in the morning. You're gonna wake up in a few minutes." Ben said.
Peter just stared, stunned for a long moment, absorbing this
information. And then, he launched himself across the bench, grabbing his uncle and hugging him as tightly as he could.
Uncle Ben laughed, taken pleasantly by surprise.
"Woah, woah..." Ben said.
"Uncle Ben... Oh God, I'm sorry, I'm so sor-" Peter said.
"Hey." Ben said.
He pulled back, sharply, put his hands on Peter's shoulders.
"Don't apologize to me. My life was my own; the day I was born I was a book that was already written, and my story ended how it was always meant to end. But you, here, now, today... you're a work in progress." Ben said.
"There's so much I want to ask you, so much I want to tell you..." Peter said.
"I've only got a minute or two, before the doorbell wakes you up." Ben said.
"I love her, Uncle Ben." Peter said.
"I know you do." Ben said.
"All I'd have to do is tell her, tell her who I really am, and she'd-" Peter said.
"Be pretty easy, huh?" Ben said.
"Sure would." Peter said.
"So why don't you tell her?" Ben said.
"Because she wouldn't be safe a single minute for the rest of her life." Peter said.
"Is that why?" Ben said.
Ben looked at him, knew there was more.
"Partly." Peter said.
"She needs to love you, Pete. Not the guy in the mask. But burning that mask isn't the way to protect her, or yourself. You can't deny who you are, buddy." Ben said.
"Who I am? Because of who I am, you were killed. Aunt May almost- who's next? How can I be sure no one else will get hurt?" Peter said.
"You can't. It's called life. You can't bet on it, you can't manage it or control it, all you can do is lead the one you were meant to live." Ben said.
A faint buzzing sound started in the distance. Uncle Ben turned his head at the sound, looked back at Peter.
"Kiddo, the one thing you gotta know, the only thing you gotta know, is who you are. The rest is just noise." Ben said.
The buzzing came again, more insistent. Peter turned, looked for it. Next to the park bench, he saw the front door of Aunt May's house, standing right out here on the grass in Central Park, with just a frame around it. A man stood outside the door, ringing the bell, visible through a skinny glass window in the door frame.
Peter turned, confused, looked back at Uncle Ben, but he's gone, and Peter was alone on the bench again. The buzzing came once again, Peter turned back to look at-
Xxx
-the front door of Aunt May's house, in reality, a man standing outside it, ringing the bell, visible through the skinny glass window beside the door.
Peter sat up, groggy, still fully dressed, same clothes as last
night. He went to the front door, opened it. A man in a black suit stood in front.
"Peter Parker?" Man said.
"Yes?" Peter said.
Wordlessly, the Man in the Black Suit handed Peter a creamy white envelope, then turned and walked away.
Peter looked down at the envelope, curious. He opened it, his eyes scanned the page, the typed letters dissolve into the image, backwards red letters that spelled OSCORP.
NEW CHAPTER
The early morning was thick with fog. High above OsCorp Plaza, on top of the towering black OsCorp Building, behind its red neon sign. Down below, three solitary figures were approaching the middle of the plaza from three different directions. The plaza and the building were deserted at this hour.
Down on the ground, Peter, walking toward the plaza, recognized one of the people coming toward him.
It was Kuri.
Peter looked to his left, recognized the other person.
It was Harry.
They met one another in the middle of the plaza.
"Well? What do you want?" Harry said.
"Me? She sent me a-" Peter said.
"Harry, you're the one who-" Reiko said, coming up.
"We're in trouble." Kuri said.
She stopped herself and the three of them stared at one another in confusion. But they weren't looking at each other for long before they heard something, something whistling as it sailed through the air.
It landed with a clunk about twenty feet from them, whizzing out of the fog from above. It bounced twice, hard, rolls to a stop right in the middle of them. They all took a step back, away from—a pumpkin bomb.
"Oh, God..." Harry said.
They all leapt back as the bomb exploded.
Harry, Peter and Reiko each hit the ground with a crunch, stunned by the force of the bomb. Suddenly, the whistling sound came again.
Another pumpkin bomb dropped inexplicably out of the fog, landed to one side of them. They leapt to their feet and took off as the second bomb exploded behind them. They turned in another direction, but a third pumpkin bomb thunked to the ground in front of them.
They changed directions again, scampering away just before the third bomb exploded.
"This way!" Harry said.
Peter and Reiko followed him, racing toward the twin glass elevators that run up the side of the OsCorp Building. Harry whipped a set of keys from his pocket, fumbled to key the elevator.
Another bomb dropped behind them.
The doors whooshed open. Harry and Reiko raced into the elevator, but Peter stopped in the doorway, a look of terror on his face. He shot a hand to the back of his neck.
"Danger!" Peter said.
"What?!" Reiko said.
"The elevator! Don't go in it!" Peter said.
"Fine, stay down here and die!" Harry snapped.
He jabbed one of the two silver buttons, the one with a big arrow pointing up. Peter took a step back, the doors began to close.
"PETER!" Kuri said.
But the doors closed.
Behind Peter, another bomb exploded, hurling him to the ground.
On the other side of the wall, there was an odd-shaped object, located right at the base of elevator machinery, near the giant wheel that is running the elevator cables.
It was a bomb. Pumpkin shaped.
There was a chunk and the wheel started to turn, drawing in the cable. The elevator box began to rise.
In the ascending elevator, Kuri turned to the window, saw Peter stranded in the plaza below, amid the smoke of the explosions.
"PETER!" Kuri said.
Xxx
Peter stood in the plaza, watching as the elevator slowly rose.
Instinctively, his hands darted up to his shirt, pulled it open, he felt underneath for his costume.
But of course, it wasn't there. He burned it.
Peter turned, thought like crazy. In the distance, sirens started to sound, people started to emerge from the fog, having heard the explosions.
Peter looked around frantically. He sees something, his eyes light up.
Across the street, a sign in the window of a souvenir shop on Broadway said "HALLOWEEN COSTUMES HALF OFF."
He took off, across the street, and was nearly hit by a car, racing toward him.
The car stops, but Peter kept going.
Peter raced past a rack of Halloween costumes. There was a clown, a cowboy, Mr. Potato Head, Wolverine- ah hah! He yanked a Spider-Man costume off the rack. He tugged at the sleeves, checked out the crotch.
At the register, A twenty dollar bill landed on the counter. Peter stood in front of the clerk, now in the Spider-man costume.
"Can I wear it home?" SpiderMan said.