The Web Part Three

Gwen knocked on the blue painted door of the Parker residence. Gwen ran a dainty hand through her hair. Wind wiped the many dead leaves covering the small patch of property surrounding the small blue home. The leaves caught on Gwen's brown cotton coat, clinging securely to her. She quickly brushed of the dry foliage from her coat, watching as they danced in the light breeze for but a few fleeting seconds and settled upon the ground.

The sergeant's daughter turned to face the opening wooden barrier.

"Hello Gwen dear!" greeted Aunt May joyously, "You're here to see Peter I bet."

"Yes ma'am," Gwen replied with a smile.

"Well come on in honey, I'll put on some mint tea. I think I heard him in the shower." May led the girl inside the home. Gwen enjoyed the quaint feel of the small home. The distinct sent of cinnamon and maple wafted across her nose. That was something she always liked about the Parker household.

Gwen followed May into the tiny kitchen, and watched as the middle-aged women filled a teakettle full of water. May went through all the motions of tea making, boiling the water, sticking the packets of leaves into a duo of cups, and finally pouring the now steaming water into them.

May handed Gwen the cup gently, as not to slop the hot contents. Peter's girlfriend did except, the mint tea gratefully enjoying the flavor.

"Gwen?" Peter said, surprised by her presence.

"Peter!" Gwen exclaimed wrapping him in a tight embraced as he came down the squeaking stairs. "I so glad your okay!"

"Uh, m-me to, hehe." Peter grinned nervously. Okay? Okay! Yeah, Peter was okay if you mean one day waking up a scrawny little runt, getting bit by a spider, and then waking up ripped beyond anyone's business!

"Peter, are you sure your ok? You still look a little pale." May said, making tea for her nephew.

"Yeah, I'm feeling great!" Peter took the cup of steaming tea from his loving aunt. "Just a little tired is all." Peter felt a knot form in his stomach. He hated lying to Aunt May's face.

"So, Gwen, why are you here?" Peter asked with a very thin smile.

"Oh so I can't be worried about my boyfriend? Well, I guess I just leave then!" Gwen said playfully.

"No! I mean, please stay. How are you?" Peter fumbled with a chair for his girlfriend.

"I was concerned that you were still dying, so I came here to check up on you." Gwen sat down, still holding her mint tea. Peter followed suit, sitting across from her.

"Thanks, but I feel great! Um, Aunt May, is it okay if me and Gwen go for a walk?"

May thought for a moment before nodding and giving them a warning to stay safe.

"Thank you Aunt May! Will come back alive!" Peter, followed by Gwen Stacy exited the small home and began walking along the empty sidewalks.

"So, why were you in such a hurry to get out of the house?" Gwen asked after they had turned the block, having to talk over a barking Doberman, safely chained behind a fence.

"Oh, I um," Peter grasped for an answer. He had planned on getting out of the house. Get some air. See what else that spider had done to him. Peter never intended for Gwen to be there when he came down. "I just really wanted to get out, ya know?"

Gwen looked at him suspiciously. Gwen's eyes narrowed, she stuck her head out, looking him over, and seemed to sniff the air around him. She always did this when she didn't believe something. "Come on Peter, tell me the truth! If you don't-"

I Get Knocked Down! But I Get Up Again! The pair stopped in their tracks as Gwen's cell phone went off, playing Knocked Down as its ring tone.

Gwen pulled her sleek cell phone from her coat pocket and pressed the small button labeled with a green telephone. She brought the communication device that was essential for teenage life up to her ear.

"Yeah, what is it? Oh! Daddy! I mean hello Daddy! Yes sir. Yes sir. What? But Daddy, please! Huh, all right I'll get on a bus home. Good-bye. Peter, I got to head home. Daddy's been really worried about me since he got this case. Something on Clay, Ray…"

"Cletus Kasady?" Peter corrected.

"Yeah! Him! Daddy's freaking that, he'll jump me, on the street's!" Gwen rolled her eyes.

"Well, he did, kidnap, murder, and eat, twenty girls in less then a month. And when he escaped from Maximum Security, he killed three guards trained to handle mutant criminals. I think his concern is fairly understandable." Peter said with a sickened look on his face. Kasady was as sick as you could come.

"I suppose Pete. Well, if your concerned about me, how about you escort me to the bus stop?" Gwen took Peter's hand in her own, leading him along the dirt sidewalk.

They arrived a bit later at the bus stop. Really, it was nothing more than a tall sign with the words 'bus stop' painted on the top in big bold lettering. Thankfully they were the only ones there at the time when the city transit bus pulled up. Its sides were covered by dings and dents. The buses blue paint was chipped and faded in spots.

Gwen cautiously stepped up the sticky black stairs. She turned back to Peter for just a second. "See you later Petey." Was all she said as she stuck fifty cents in the collection, box. The door hissed shut, and the long bus drove away, leaving Peter hacking in a cloud of exhaust.

Well, that's one problem down. Now, back to business. Peter thought as he walked of, rubbing his philtrum (the small cleft on a persons upper lip just in case you did not know).

Peter had already learned something else the spider bite had given, besides replacing his scrawny body with that of an Olympic athlete. It had happened when he went back to his room, well stumbled really…

Peter closed his door, not really thinking of the act. The dazed teen slipped on his under garments and jeans. He placed his palm against his bedroom wall.

"Okay Peter, get this together. Let's see what you already know. I was bitten by a spider at the, Bio Lab. I collapsed from poisoning, probably a combination of the 'hamburger', and spider venom. I come home a day later with a six-pack! That spider must have mutated me! Question is what else did it give me?"

Peter went to move away, but was stopped when his hand, refused to budge from its position on the wall. Peter tried to pull his hand away again, with little result. He grabbed his wrist tightly, placed his right foot on the wall, and pushed and pulled simultaneously. Now, not only was his hand glued to the wall, the same, went for his foot!

"What the heck is going on!" he growled. Suddenly, he fell backward with a painful thud.

"Ow…So NOW I get off the wall! I wonder." Peter got off of the dirty floor of his bedroom. He once more faced his wall, and warily placed his hand on the plain blue wallpaper.

A very soft, barely audible slurp like noise touched the teen's ears. This time however, he was able to pull his hand off the wall with relative ease. Peter again placed his hand on the wall, and pulled it away with no resistance, whatsoever.

"All right Peter lets see if you're right!" Peter mumbled to himself. Maybe, just maybe…Peter placed his right hand on the wall, followed by his left hand. Then, slowly, placed his right foot, firmly on the wall. And finally, he stuck his left foot on the wall, and did not fall. In fact, he clung to the wall quite securely.

Peter's heart raced with excitement. This was incredibly! Peter began to climb along the wall, then the ceiling.

"A-amazing! I'm like a spider! I have the abilities of a spider!" Peter tried to control his voice as he descended viva the opposite wall. He got to his feet, shakily, completely enthralled by his new powers. The spider-boy finished dressing himself.

"Okay Pete, time to see what else you can do! If anything." Peter rushed out his door to in act his plan…

And so, here he was, wandering the streets of New York. Alone. In a city filled with a good number of super-beings.

In his contemplations, Peter had failed notice his walking into the road. He didn't notice a red sports car with a hideous phoenix hood ornament blazing toward him. The driver was far to busy listening to music that was turned up far too loud, to notice Peter.

Suddenly, Peter felt a prickling sensation run through his head. The prickling became a throbbing sensation. Peter, gripping the side of his head, turned and faced the speeding red car. It seemed to move in slow motion. Acting purely on instinct, he crouched down, and jumped.

The world record for the long jump was set, in the1991 Olympic games, by one Mike Powell, in Tokyo Japan. The record was an outstanding 8.95 meters. The long jump is started by a short, fast run, followed up by, of course the jump. Peter however, was not running but standing still. Peter leapt over ten meters.

The arachnid empowered youth found himself, clinging to the brick wall of a building on the opposite side of the street. Peter felt his eyes bulging from his head. His breathing was rapid and panicked.

"Amazing! I sensed that car! Before I even saw it! Its like a, like a spider-sense! Wha! Gah! Okay, I can still grip walls with my shoes on as long as my hands have a good hold. Good to know." Peter began to climb the rough, brick wall. Peter was amazed, at how he felt the wall, every fracture, every pore, Peter felt, them!

The teenager could see better too, much better. Everything seemed so clear and vibrant!

Peter had started laughing after he reached the top of the building. Grabbing the edge of the roof, Peter easily pushed himself into the air, and down onto the roof.

"Awesome! I feel so much stronger! Stronger then I ever thought I could be! This is the best thing that could have ever happened to me! WHAHO!" Peter cried joyously, reveling in his abilities.

Peter stared at the tall building to his left. Peter surmised that it was an apartment building. Maybe it was fifty or, sixty feet tall. He could jump it.

Peter broke into a sprint, determined to reach the roof with a single bound!

"Here I go!" Peter jumped at the edge of the brick building, easily clearing the alleyway, making a perfect landing on the roof. Peter kept on running, his heart pounding in his chest, all outside sound drowned out by the thrumming of his heart in his ears. He leapt from building to building, covering city blocks, mile, after mile, going higher and higher.

Peter whooped and hollered with excitement with the air rushing past his face, mingling with his chestnut colored hair. He bounced from wall to wall, twirled acrobatically around flagpoles, flying away from them with great speed.

Peter came to a stop, clinging to the side of a building miles away from Queens were he had started, with one hand. Peter huffed and puffed trying to get more oxygen into his body.

"This…Is…AWSOME!" Peter gazed all around him. Him figured he was somewhere on 42 Street. The question was, wear on 42nd Street was…

Peter looked up and realized that he was sticking to the side of the Chrysler Building. A hushed 'wow' was all he could muster.

He jumped across to another building to get a better look at the structure. It was a beautiful sight. Towering over 1,045 feet high, it was formerly the world's tallest building until 1931 with the completion of the Empire State Building. Its spire was an amazing 125 feet tall. The art deco ornamentation at the crown of the building was ravishing in design.

Peter took a second to look down at the street below. It was sheer luck no one had looked up and saw him jumping around like he was. Peter's attention was drawn to a certain red car coming down the road.

"That's the car that almost killed! I recognize that gaudy hood ornament anywhere! Wow, my eyesight is really good. I think its time for a little revenge, hehe!" Peter bounced from building to building, always keeping an eye on that one car. What he should have been paying attention too, was the building it was about to pull into.

Johnny Storm was your average sixteen year-old. Loved fast cars, hot women, loud music, hot women, and saved the world from time to time as the Human Torch, member of the Fantastic Four. Yeah, being bathed in extra-dimensional energies, tended to do that to some people. Or, horribly kill them, most of the time.

Johnny only recently got his drivers licenses, and he loved his cars. Yes, plural, cars. Being a world famous super hero had its perks. As I said before, Johnny loved his cars, and pet names for each one, this particular car was named Wenonah.

One thing Johnny hated was to get dirt on Wenonah. Let alone for someone to jump out of, nowhere onto Wenonah's hood. Like what just happened.

"BLAH!" Peter landed on that jerks hood with a painful sounding thump. The driver slammed on his brakes, seconds after Peter had back flipped effortlessly of the car.

Johnny got out of his car, completely infuriated. "What the hell did you do to my car?!" Peter had already jumped away, wall crawling and jumping up the side of buildings. "Oh, great! A mutant! Well, maybe he can defend himself. FLAME ON!" Johnny pushed himself into the air as blazing flames sprouted all around his body, turning him into a true Human Torch. Riding upon his own burning air currents, the Torch flew after Peter, rage burning as hot as his body.

Peter dared a look back as he felt that strange sensation once more. "Oh crap! I knew he looked familiar! I just ticked off the Human Torch! OhgodIdon'twanadieIdon'twanadie!" In his fear, Peter missed his jump, causing him to descend to the ground. Almost on instinct, Peter thrust his arm out in the air, cracking his hand bank so that his fingers pointed to the ground. His two middle fingers rapidly folded back on his palm.

Thweep!

To Peter's amazement, a thin, silvery rope shot from his wrist. It impacted the side of a building, sticking firmly to the wall. Peter grabbed on to the rope as he swung toward the hard concrete. The spider-boy reached out with his other arm and duplicated the motion, making another thread fire from his wrist, sticking to another building. He swung from building to building using this new 'web power'.

Peter felt the wind rush through his hair, embracing his lanky body. He was almost completely over come by joy when he remembered…

"Come back here so I can roast you punk!" Johnny Strom shouted at Peter, who only speed up his swinging.

"Sorry, but I am allergic to fire!" Peter shouted back at the superhero. "And death…Especially fiery deaths!"

"Hah, that was pretty funny, but I'm STILL going kill you!" Johnny roared, the flames surrounding his body becoming white. He pulled back his burning arm, preparing to launch a deadly fireball that could probably melt steel. Johnny Storm was stopped in his proverbial tracks as a loud, annoying ringing filled his head.

He pressed his finger to his right ear, opening up a channel on his compact communication device. "What is it?" Johnny bellowed angrily.

"Johnny, were are you? You're late!"

"Come on Sue, I chasing this punk that messed up my car!"

"So what? You can take it through the car wash later. You need to get back here, its time for combat practice!" Susan Storm aka Invisible Woman, his elder sister ordered him.

Johnny huffed in defeat. "Fine all right. But I'm going get that little wall-crawling son of a-"

"Johnny!"

Peter landed in an ally, far away from were the Torch had stopped chasing him, smiling like a maniac to himself.

"I don't believe this! I got away from a member of the Fantastic Four! I'm unstoppable! YES!" Peter jumped into the air, pumping his fist in the air, and came down on the roof of the small building to his left.

"Yikks! I really need to watch that!" Peter quickly scaled down the back of the small building, and hurried back to Queens, practicing with his web slinging.

"Peter, you've been gone nearly an hour, where were you?" Ben questioned Peter as he walked in the door.

"Uh, well…Gwen got called by here dad and had to go home, so I took her to the bus stop and um, I decided to walk for a little bit, get some air." Peter hastily tried to explain. He did plan on telling them the truth about his powers, some day. Assuming that they even lasted of coarse.

Aunt May and Uncle Ben gave Peter strange looks.

"Are you okay Pete dear?" Aunt May asked her nephew.

"Yeah, am all right, um, I'm going to go up to my room now." Peter scurried up to his small room, avoiding anymore unwanted questioning.

OSBORN MANSION 10:00 p.m.

Harry yawned, exhausted from the day's activities. Harry had donned his yellow and gray pajamas and crawled into bed. He had spent the day breaking his back on insane tests, sweating to death in gym class trying to climb a lubricated rope, and having the side of his face repeatedly caved in by girls slapping him. He was not the greatest pick-up artist in the world, and refused to use his the fact he was rich as an advantage.

Harry folded the comforter of his large, four-poster bed in half, worming his way under the warm sheets. Pulling the sheet over his shoulders, he gave a final yawn, finding sleep.

Norman Osborn however, was still wide and awake. He sat at his broad Sequoia desk in his private chambers in the seventh floor of the one hundred seventy-three million dollar mansion.

A giant grandfather clock sat against the right wall of Osborn's office sending its characteristic, base dongs through the lavishly furnished office as the two hands declared the arrival of the new hour.

Norman had his phone pressed against his ear as doctor Paxton. "How many were you able to get back? What! Do you have any idea how much money I spent for that project? Yes, that's right, so how do you think I'm feeling right Mr. Paxton. Right again. But, I am a fair man. For you, I shall allow, this little slip up to, go away. In fact, I think you deserve a new project. Report to Facility 37, oh, sometime around six'ish tomorrow." Norman smiled as he heard Robert Paxton's high-pitched 'thank you's' and 'I won't let you downs'.

Norman Osborn quickly dialed the number for Facility 37. "Hello, Dr. Warren, you know the new test subject you've been asking for? Yes, well, you can except it to arrive around, oh say, six'ish." Norman said with a big wide smile.