A/N: It's been a while buts I have decided to continue the line of teasers for one more chapter or two. You guys will be happy to know that recently I have regained some motivation to start working again on these stories. Right now, the teasers will show a lot more Spider-Man stuff while also establishing some important major events for the main story. Also, another good news, I have finished an outline of the first major part of the main story and I'm now coming up with a final title for it as well. I hope you enjoy this chapter, and it feels good to write again.

Also, A small update, looking back on some previous chapters there was something that bothered me in the first chapter that was a bit inconsistent. So in order to keep things less confusing, the Aaron character that talks to Nathan has had his name changed to Devin. He is now completely different from Aaron Caulfield who will finally make a fuller appearence here.

Mid December 2013

Seattle, Washington

This Monday was colder thanks to the oncoming winter, it did not help Aaron that it was also a slow crawl for most of the day and school was still going on. However, the 14 year old was not really bothered by this reality. In 2 weeks, school will be out soon for the oncoming holidays leaving Aaron a lot of free time. Not just to relax for a week and a half but also to continue exploring his new superpowers.

As Aaron walked through the quiet streets of his neighborhood looking to reach the artificial warmth of his house, he held in his excitement of the abilities he now possessed. He also still in disbelief. How is it that during a mundane math lesson in school, it leads to one of the craziest things that ever happened to him. He remembers the stale tiling of the class as he sat on his desk. He was just going with the flow and trying to take notes being written by his trigonometry teacher. It was early October and the smell of the air followed by the cool winds were seeping into the classroom. He was mentally complaining of the teacher's speed as he kept writing and erasing simultaneously. Everyone needed these notes for the upcoming test, yet he was frustrated that he did not keep them on there. There was still space on the board! Aaron thought. But nevertheless, he had to persist. It was the second to last class and after P.E. he could just leave. There was not really any reason to stay, making friends at high school was probably harder for him than keeping good grades.

Whenever some student would talk to him or ask him something, trying to respond was agonizing. It felt like he was losing air, constantly just needing distance because he didn't want to deal with the world. It wasn't like it was worth dealing with anyway. People kept giving him strange looks, some of the jocks though they didn't pick on him yet already were known to shove some people around and be bullies. Besides, he really didn't like talking too much, he was afraid he was going to stutter and make himself look like a fool. It didn't even matter that his high school was known for being one of the best academically or athletically in the city. Couldn't life be simpler and just let him be? As his train of thought progressed this route, he suddenly felt a small tingle on his right hand, a small red and purple spider, containing the faint number 15 had apparently just sunk it tiny fangs into the flesh, breaking his skin. Aaron got annoyed. The school had a problem with the bugs, and he was starting to get frustrated at the number of flies and mosquitoes coming in. After flicking it away, he gives a glimpse at it falling onto the floor by his foot and eventually just shriveling up into a corpse. He gave no mind as he continued writing his notes.

Continuing his walk home, he began to reflect on the sudden appearance of his new powers. He remembered waking up the following day after bite. There was a little lump, but it did not feel painful nor did he get sick. He remembers waking up to discomfort. Struggling to grab the pillow just to get a few moments of sleep. However, after finding none he had finally woken up. Only to realize, he was not on his bed but the ceiling. Now usually the first reaction was to scream but for Aaron, it was more akin to wonder. He stuck to the ceiling, defying the laws of gravity itself by laying on his back. Slowly he rose, attempting to stand on two feet. As he did, it didn't feel like the blood was rushing to his brain. Rather it was remarkable, it felt natural. It was like he was born to do this kind of stuff on instinct. Wonder became curiosity as he calmly tried to get down from the ceiling. It was a struggle at first, his feet would not let go of the ceiling. He tried to remain calm and took some deep breaths.

In a second's notice he experienced the quick descent from his ceiling to having a safe landing on his bed. Now that was awesome! It was like I was Spider-Man…. shock came to him afterwards when he realized exactly why it felt so familiar. Being a superhero geek, Spider-Man was one of his favorites. He never really expressed too much of it but in his personal time he would watch and rewatch YouTube and social media videos of Spider-Man swinging around and saving people in New York City and fighting villains. But how!? He asked himself, how can there two people with spider-powers? How can someone across the country receive the same type of powers? The odds of that are 1 in 1.2 billion! He told himself.

Since that day was during the weekend, there was no school. He decided not to tell his parents or anyone else, much less his sister up in Oregon but he spent the next hours in his room skimming through videos of the web slinger to grab a glimpse of any of his powers. Over the next few days, in between school and home, he found a decent abandoned building to test out his new powers with no one looking. One of things Aaron knew he excelled at aside from academics was learning on the go. First, he crawled on the walls, then walked, then ran around 10 times without falling or getting tired. He remembered having lifted an entire 6-foot metal shelf with one hand. It barely felt like it had any actual weight.

When the time came to jump and leap over them on a Monday after school, he did so with some minor failed moments. Usually he was scrawny. Yet he remembered feeling like a baby with candy when he jumped over a tall stack of objects multiple feet into the air with relative success minus that one time where I tripped mid-air on the obstacle and landed on my face as he reflected on this moment. He remembered practicing until the evening. That was when he decided to go home before his parents started to get worried. But instead of walking, he decided to take advantage of these new spider-powers. He crawled up to the rooftop of the abandoned building. The area was quiet at that point in time, so no one came outside then. Soon, he found himself sprinting across the rooftop, jumping at the last second to find himself in the air for a few seconds before jumping down on the rooftop across hard. Yet there was no pain. He didn't break any bones nor sprain them.

His excitement grew, confidence filled his lungs as he practically flew across the urban architecture. He jumped, he leaped, and while on the go, he decided to dare himself to balance across the wires. He did so. As he could feel the constant motion of the cables beneath him swaying from side to side, his excitement grew when he realized he could maintain his balance and reflexes perfectly without any fear of falling. He continued this train of motion all the way home, attempting to perform tricks he never thought he could ever do. He managed to pull some flawlessly, others not so much. The latter to the point where it was a miracle, that he could even survive. But the moments of failures did not break his spirit. Rather, it gave him a feeling that made him feel invincible. Is this what Spider-Man feels when doing this? He asked himself

Later that night as he remembered, as he entered the front door of their house amid containing his excitement. He tried keeping himself calm as he passed the main hallway into the living room. He saw his parents, Ryan and Vanessa sitting in the dining room to the left. "I'm home!" he said. His expression turned to concern as both parents showed an expression of sadness. His observed his mom, her long dark brown hair that passed on to him was usually kept neat. Tonight, he could see strands of it out of place and her eyes were a bit red. Was she crying? He asked himself. Aaron also saw some dried tears on the face of his father, his beard also a bit unkempt.

"Hey honey. You're just in time, there's something we have to tell you." His mother said. Aaron's lungs filled with fear, something happened. Was it Max? School? He thought.

"What's wrong? Did something happen?" Aaron asked.

Ryan decided to take the reins, he felt the tensity coming from Vanessa's hand and spoke with a heavy and weary tone. "Your sister called us, something bad happened in the girl's bathroom at her school. She said that a student had argued with another girl about money"

"Yeah?"

"Well, the argument got heated and…the boy had decided to pull out a gun. He threatened the girl with it until he…he shot her. She died." Ryan said

Aaron's eyes widened, a shooting in Max's school? How? His sister said once that her school, Blackwell, was hardline about stuff like drugs or guns.

"I'm…I'm still not getting it. Was the girl a friend of Max?" Aaron asked. Of course, he felt horrible. But he knew there was a something else.

Ryan replied, "It was Chloe, Chloe Price."

Aaron's heart dropped faster than any of the stunts he did on the way home. Chloe Price? He thought. The same Chloe Price who was practically a second sibling to him and Max in all but blood. The same Chloe Price who was inseparable from Max until the day they moved to Seattle. He remembered that day. Chloe's father William had recently died. A fate he didn't know until years later since it was kept from him. But her too? He hadn't talked to her in years, yet she was still one of the only people he could talk to without hesitation. A surrogate older sister, that was she once was. Now she is gone, and Aaron could only realize that he will never talk to her again. What was she like just now? Had she changed? Those were some questions he had for some time after he discovered William had passed. Questions that may not ever be answered.

Aaron had no words to really say, he tried to think of some, yet he couldn't. Was there anything to say about this? He had no idea. The only thing he could do was let a tear drop. He'll let the rest fall when no one is looking.

Some days had passed after that. He continued to practice and experiment with his new abilities. He found that when night came, he could see everything without the need for light. When an object was about to fall on him, he realized how fast he could react as he could sense it beforehand. However, Aaron felt a different emotion that drove him. He could not find the correct term, but he found that he was pushing himself harder. He still felt confident, more so than trying to socialize with people, but it wasn't mainly excitement that motivated him but something stronger. What was it? He asked himself. He felt anger but not hatred. He felt frustration but almost everything was alright in his life. He felt sad, but no one had hurt him. He felt responsible, but it wasn't his fault. So, what was it? He recycled these thoughts again and again, confused on the complex emotions he felt. This continued even as he was attempting to balance himself on one hand.

No one knew he was doing this, his parents assumed he was studying as long as he was home by a certain time. Max is still in Arcadia Bay, most likely she just went to Chloe's funeral and now still dealing with classes. He hadn't talked to her much since she left. He found himself limiting any conversation with her for a year now. Talk enough to look normal, keep silent when you don't need to. He thought once. Disappointment and anger still filled him when she told him about William's death like that during that day. Not in a sad way, but in a petty manner like she wanted to hurt him where it counts for once.

As Aaron approaches the doorstep, he failed to realize the snowdrops that were starting to come down. He had only realized it when a car came by and the roaring of the loud engines broke his train of thought. As he entered the main hallway, he found a post-it with a message from his parents.

Hey kiddo, Mom and I went out to grab take-out. Remember that we're waiting for your sister to call us to let us know if she got that gift, we sent her. If she calls and you're there, could you get it? You two haven't talked in ages. - Dad

"Will do Dad" Aaron said to himself, he realized that his parents decided to send a rare vintage camera they got from a garage sale before as a gift to Max. One of the ways they thought of to comfort her after Chloe's death two months ago. Although, its been three weeks since that happened due to postal service issues. Aside from helping with the packing, Aaron did not know what was up with the delivery.

Aaron was pretty sure today would be no different. His parents had been concerned lately that Max wasn't calling back much. It came to the point where Blackwell called to inform them of how withdrawn she had been lately in class following Chloe's death. His parents had decided to pick her up directly from Blackwell at the start of winter break, but until they hoped this gift would help bring her mood up.

Aaron, putting away some of his belongings such as his keys and wallet had decided to take a nearby telephone to his room to keep an eye on it in case Max called. In the meantime, he decided to look further into the internet to investigate further into DIY methods that he could utilize with his powers. He hadn't used his room much in the past 2 months aside from homework and sleep. As a result, it had been kept relatively neat and clean aside from the occasional wrinkles on the bed sheets and tools lying around. DIY topics and small chemical experiments with his kit were some of his favorite hobbies.

As he surfed, Aaron pondered the possibility if he should take up a mantle like Spider-Man, be his own superhero. Go around saving bystanders and whatnot. It would be pretty awesome he thought, but he decided against it. The more he thought about it, the more discouraged he felt. How can he go out there and face the world when he couldn't even speak to his peers without embarrassing himself? Besides, Seattle life had been relatively peaceful. Aside from normal crime, supervillain threats were extremely rare. It doesn't really need a superhero, and there should only be one Spider-Man in this world anyway. What could he himself do anyway? A 13-year-old kid without a clear idea on his purpose in life much less dealing with his own insecurities.

However, the cycle of doubt was broken when the telephone rang on his desk. Looking at the caller ID, he saw it was actually his sister calling. She must've gotten the box Aaron thought. He pressed the talk button and held it on speaker. Seeing as there was no one else.

"Hello? Max?" Aaron asked as he started to speak

"What the hell is your goddamn problem?" Max said, her voice was shaky, but it contained anger.

"Huh? What are you talking about?" Aaron asked, confused. Is she angry? It's extremely rare for her to get angry.

"Don't play dumb with me Aaron, why the hell did you rig the box to blow up in my dorm!?" Max yelled, Aaron could tell she was seething with anger, yet she's accusing him of rigging the box? He only wrote a small message and packaged the camera. He couldn't believe she thinks he would be this petty.

"I didn't rig anything! I just put the camera and provided a postcard and Styrofoam. That was it! I didn't touch anything!" Aaron retorted

"Said camera also came with firecrackers that nearly set fire TO MY DORM!" Max yelled

"Firecrackers?! Why would I put firecrackers in there? Are you out of your mind? You think I'm that much of an ass to sabotage a present meant for you?" Aaron replied, his throat started to strain, he was starting to get frustrated that she was pointing the finger at him.

"As a matter of fact, I do! Admit it, this was a perfect opportunity for you to get your petty revenge for what happened last year. We both know you can hold a grudge! Are you that spiteful? That you'd go as far as to HUMILIATE ME in front of everyone in school? AFTER WHAT JUST HAPPENED TO CHLOE?" Max screamed, this got on Aaron's nerves, but he tried his best to try and get her to calm down. He took a deep breath as he attempted to respond. But Max wasn't finished yet.

"You know what Aaron? Screw you! You don't care about shit! Not mom and dad…"

Aaron was getting heated now, oh she is not going there….

"Not me! Not Joyce..."

He tried to restrain it, but she just kept going farther, his mouth grew warmer and tears started to flow down

"Not Chloe! Not even William! Just you and your own goddamn amusement! You are nothing but a selfish insecure ungrateful prick who should've never existed!"

SELFISH PRICK? Aaron thought, his eyes were seeing red and he couldn't hold back his rage anymore.

"OH! I'm a selfish ungrateful prick. Well that's fine! But you know what Maxine? You're even worse. You spend 2 months sobbing and sniveling over someone you never talked to IN FIVE YEARS!" Aaron roared, his voice filled with hatred, anger, and pain.

"How hypocritical can you be? All that goddamn talk and friendship over the years meant nothing to you since you hadn't even bothered to give so much as a damn phone call! Don't suddenly act like your world's come to an end and we both know you never really cared! And just now after your best friend died, you suddenly act like you deserve a hug for every step you take! Go to hell Max! You're the one whose selfish, never really giving a damn about anyone expect to make yourself feel worthy! Admit it, you never cared about Chloe! All you ever do is use people and make their lives harder. You just wreck everything you touch! You're honestly better off dead and turned to dust! That's the only thing I care about right about now!" Aaron roared, not bothering to hear Max's response, he hears something akin to a small sob before hanging up. Throwing the phone to the side after deleting the caller history, he decided to just cool off by grabbing water and just watch Netflix. The argument putting off his mood to do further research.

Several hours had passed since then. Aaron, still angry about the call decided not to pick up Max's phone call in the case she tried again. When his parents returned, true to their word they bought take-out which became their dinner for the night. While they were eating, his parents asked if Max ever called. Aaron decided to lie and say she didn't. His parents commented further, saying they tried calling and texted and hour before but to no avail. For the remainder of the night, Aaron decided to withhold the truth from them and keep it to himself.

Three days later at school, Aaron couldn't even go through the entire day without thinking about the entire conversation the previous night. Not even the occasional bully making fun of his weirdness could break his train of thought. When lunchtime came around, he decided to head out into the school courtyard that split the building into two. The administration liked to be hardliners on the 'no phones' policy but they turned the other cheek if students went 'outside' into the school courtyard.

Aaron rarely did that; he never really had any social media accounts to use. Who am I supposed to be 'friends' with on Facebook? he sometimes thought. But he knew his sister had one that had an active feed. Since no doubt she would be giving him the silent treatment. So, after a quick visit on Facebook he found his sister's public account and saw it had been barely updated. However, he saw many messages on her feed and comments that stated a different story.

Aaron saw many of these messages were dated the last three days. He never was a nosy kid, but he was curious to know what was going on with Max.

-Hey Max, are you alright? You were crying in your room the entire night after that box blew up this afternoon. - Kate

Aaron read that first one, it came after the phone call. Of course, she was crying. She accuses her own brother and then claims I never cared. I'm not the one who went back and still didn't talk to my own best friend

-Max I heard that a box blew up in your dorm when everyone else was in class. They said you were the only one inside. Are you alright - Warren

So I could be harsh, but if she was alright she wouldn't have falsely grilled me for it. Aaron thought as he continued reading.

-Girl! Juliet told me she heard you yelling at somebody before breaking down. You wouldn't even answer the door for Kate. Is everything ok? Was it about that explosion? – Dana

She'll be fine right? It's nothing more than some inside sibling drama Aaron's thoughts continued as he read through some later comments.

-Hey Max, is everything ok? Stella said she never saw you eat anything the entire day -Alyssa

Not eating at all? I couldn't have been that bad right? I wasn't trying to actually make her suffer. She just got on my nerves! Aaron thought. Feelings of bitterness slowly swept into remorse as he realized that his words had hurt her more than he thought.

The last message he saw was a little harsher, but it struck as some sort of love/hate kind of thing

-Ok 'selfie', What the fuck is up with you? You didn't show up at all in class nor did anyone see you. You think isolating will make you feel better? – Victoria

Maybe I did go too far. I just wanted to let her know what it's like to get on someone's nerves. I didn't mean to actually hurt her. No wonder why she's not talking. Aaron thought, regret flowed through his eyes as he started to see the consequences. Exiting his phone, he decided to continue with school and pretend nothing happened. He was tempted to use his new powers to really get back at some of the people in school, but then he'd have to deal with conversations which is not what he wanted to do. So, he continued to keep to himself.

During the evening however, he was pacing on his ceiling. He decided to do something about trying to apologize to Max. However, he found the situation being harder than normal. He tried calling, but no one ever picked up. Which didn't surprise him but didn't make him happy. What should I even tell her? That I'm just sorry, I didn't mean to? Should I tell her about my powers? Does Mom and Dad even know? What should I even do? He thought like this for a hour before coming up with a solution, he decided to try something out of his grandfather's book. Letter writing was something he would do as a hobby. Perhaps he could try that.

The next two hours were dedicated to writing the letter. Aaron made sure to carefully convey his message in hopes that she could go through the entire message without throwing it out. He never thought he had to spend this much time writing something before. But right now, he just felt the need to own up to his errors. His parents still didn't know about the entire altercation. If they did, they would have been more disappointed towards him then they've ever been before.

When he was finally done, he found an envelope and stamp and made sure to write the postal address of the school. Hopefully, she gets this. Aaron thought. As he looked at the window, he observed the oncoming early sunset thanks to the winter. After looking at the time, he was confident that there was still time to drop it off at the nearest postal box. Aaron then proceeded to put on his clothes and leave the house to walk there. He decided not to use his new 'gifts' to traverse unless he wanted to risk being caught since there was still daylight.

As he descended the steps to the living room. He heard the muffled voice of his parents conversing down below. But something did not feel right when he concentrated on their words.

"What are we going to tell Aaron?" He heard his mother say.

His father replied "I can't call the school. No one is picking up" He sounded frantic, as if something bad happened just now

"It has to be fake, there's no way something like that could've happened!" his mother said, as he emerged into the living room, he could see some tears falling from her eyes

"I can't get through to Max. She's not picking up!" His father said, he looked to be frustrated, something that rarely happened

"This can't be happening; this can't be happening…" his mother repeated, when he finally faced them he was compelled to ask what had happened.

"Mom? Dad? What's wrong? You guys are panicking." Aaron asked, his mother looked at him with loving but eyes of denial, but not of him.

"Aaron sweety…" she struggled to find the words to explain whatever calamity had fell upon them now.

"…something bad happened honey. At Blackwell." Vanessa said

Aaron's heart started to beat faster, it was going at an rate more intense than what he was used to. He quickly started to assume the worst. No, please no. Max is fine, right? She's got to be. She, she has to be ok. Please God please! Let her be okay!

" What happened?" Aaron softly said, his voice became shaky like his mind was aware of the end-result but was unable to comprehend it to speech. His mouth started to become heavy and stressed despite having not spoken much.

His mother tried to explain, but tears started to form and come down. She seemed to be in suffering from the most emotional pain ever experienced in a few moments in life. As if she lost someone Aaron said.

Ryan, seeing the emotional pain in his wife decided to take over and complete her response with a heavy voice. "The news is talking about your sister, and everyone else in Blackwell. A security guard who survived said that they all vanished no matter where they were."

Aaron was stunned into silence, his father continued to speak but his words were phased out by Aaron's mind. Instead he found himself listening to the news anchor discussing the event on the T.V.

…. Authorities in Arcadia Bay have cordoned all school grounds off from the public as they continue their investigation. But photos released on the internet by bystanders show positions of ashes where these students were currently located before their 'disappearance' As of this moment almost no other survivors have been found nor have any of the bodies of the currently vanished. Neither police nor the town government have yet commented on the matter. However, recent reports from local news sources from both Arcadia Bay and nearby counties say that they have already been declared dead. This marks the second massive tragedy in the small town of Arcadia Bay, happening just 2 months following the arrest and incarceration of world - renowed photographer Mark Jefferson, following evidence discovered in a secret room that contained photographs of several young women as they were kidnapped and drugged. All of whom were students in Blackwell Academy. He is also being charged with third-degree murder follwing the confession of his accomplice, a student of Jefferson, of his part in the kidnapping and death of Rachel Amber. The 19 year old high-acheiving student who was reported missing six months prior to Jefferson's arrest...

Dead and turned to dust, just like he 'wished' before. His sister, the only one who ever could understand him. Gone. His last words to her being one of malice and wishing for her death. A cold, sick irony that came from his mouth. Now, his sister and everyone else suffered, coincidentally by his words.

The next day, everything was quiet. Aaron's parents decided to call him out of school to give the family time to cope. All Aaron could reflect upon was the events of last night. It all seemed like a blur to him following the bombshell dropped upon him. He remembered just breaking down, he remembered crying non-stop for what felt like any eternity. He could remember how he said he was sorry even after they asked what he was sorry for. Today however, his eyes were red, but his tears had all dried. He decided to read over the letter he will never deliver to Max. After re-reading it for the 10th time. He threw it away from him. In a moment of self-anger, he elbowed the wall behind him so hard he had created a hole. It was a surprising amount of strength that he didn't think he had.

But that didn't faze Aaron, rather he proceeded to lower his head into his legs. Condemning himself repeatedly while contemplating old memories and the recent events. Why? Why couldn't it have been me? Why her, I didn't mean what I said, I didn't want her to die, I didn't want anyone to die! Aaron claimed in his mind.

If I hadn't said what I said, could she have lived? Could anyone have lived? Her best friend just died, and I had to rub it in with salt. Aaron thought, as he continued his emotional condemnation, he looked up to see a spider's web already crafted in a corner of the ceiling. As he focused on that particular web, he saw how the common little house spider was still weaving it, crawling among its silky domain to create a structure with purpose. But as he observed, a sense of realization stuck Aaron. Now he realized what struck him before when Chloe died, the same thing that struck him now. It was grief and guilt. It plagued him, but it also drove him. He was better not because he had power, but because he pushed himself to be able to better handle the power.

Aaron only had one thing to say I'm responsible, I could've said something kinder but I didn't. I could've done something to help her, but I didn't. I could've already done something with this power, but I didn't. Aaron's eyes narrowed now with determination, the answer already in front of him. He may not have been able to do better before, but now he realizes he always could have.

I know what to do now Aaron thought, as the spider emerged from the web and crawled along the ceiling. It rapidly crawled out the window to face the sun. Above it, was the skyline of Seattle in the distance.

A/N: That ends the first chapter I've written in a while. I hope everyone enjoys this chapter and I apologize for such a lengthy delay. For the time being, I just wanted to use this chapter to introduce one of the main characters of the main story. Also, I wanted to announce that I've some incredible progress on developing the main story plot and narrative. So, I might create one more chapter to end these series of one-shots after so long. Thank you and please be safe during COVID-19. Remember to review, I admit I probably rushed towards the end but there was a lot of details I wanted to add into this chapter. Enjoy!