CHAPTER 4: Power

What the hell is happening?! Peter thought to himself. Did I just beat up Flash Thompson?! And what is with the buzzing?! Did I really jump that high?! What is going on today?! School had just let out, and Peter was the first one to leave the building, which was unusual for him. Peter ducked into the first alley that he came across. He stayed there and waited until the other students had passed him.

"This day is too weird," Peter said to himself. He leaned against the brick wall, resting his palms on it. "What is going on? Am I a mutant?!" Peter, calm down. We'll work this out, he thought to himself. Besides, even if you are a mutant, then you get to be an X-Man or whatever! Oh, who am I kidding, that would still suck! Peter tried to walk away, but his hands were stuck. "What the hell?" Peter asked himself. His palms and fingertips were stuck to the wall, almost like they were glued. "Come off!" Peter commanded his hands. He pulled and his hands separated from the bricks. I need to get home!

Peter walked into his house and his aunt and uncle were upstairs. Peter walked over to the kitchen table. There was an older issue of Popular Science on it. Norman Osborn was picture on the cover with the caption, "OZ – The Miracle Serum." Peter sat down on the couch and began to read the interview.

"What is OZ?" the reporter asked.

Norman responded, "OZ is a serum that we here at OsCorp are working to perfect. If perfected, it could be the next super-soldier serum."

"So, in theory, OZ could create the next Captain America?" the reporter inquired.

"If all goes according to plan," Norman replied, "Yes, that's what we hope to achieve. Currently, OZ is in its starting phases. In fact, we recently injected OZ into a spider. The natural abilities of the arachnid were augmented beyond our wildest fantasies!"

They put OZ into a spider? Peter wondered. Then, the pieces started to click together. But I was bitten by a spider at OsCorp! And if OZ is just the new super-soldier formula…then…then, Peter thought. "I'm the next Captain America!"

"Sure you are, dear," Aunt May said as she entered the room. She smiled at her nephew.

"Oh," Peter said, slightly taken aback, "I didn't see you there, Aunt May." Peter then buried himself in the magazine, absorbing all the info he possibly could about OZ.

The next day in school, Peter was full to the brim with confidence. Flash and his goons weren't bothering him, and the entire school heard about the incident. Harry was the first to congratulate Peter, and MJ caught up with him in lunch.

"If it isn't the school's new tough guy!" MJ said sarcastically.

Peter looked up from the book he was reading. It was a book about the super-soldier experiments and all the attempts to re-create it. "Oh, hey. Guess you heard, huh?"

MJ sat down next to him. "It's so amazing! I mean, Flash is such a jerk-off! He totally got what he deserved!"

"What goes around, comes around," Peter said valiantly. "I guess Flash should've realized that his actions would bite him in the ass someday."

"God, Pete, look at you! Hero to the geeks and the bullied!" MJ responded proudly. Just then, a student walked by their table while handing out flyers. He gave one to MJ and she began to read it. "Check this out!"

Peter looked at it. It was an advertisement for some wrestling league. It said in bold letters, "$300 dollars to the man who is brave enough to defeat CRUSHER HOGAN!"

"Sounds like it's right up your alley, Mr. Big-Shot-Fighter!" MJ suggested sarcastically.

I could use the money, Peter thought. And with my abilities, who could ever hope to defeat me? I bet the whole school would think I was a freak though…Peter looked at the flyer, it said that the big event was open to the public. It was going to occur tomorrow, at 8 PM, in the warehouses down by the bay.

Peter went home that night and started to get a costume together. A lot of people wouldn't approve if they knew who I really was, he reasoned to himself. So it's better if no one sees my face. Peter stenciled a big spider on an old blue sweatshirt of his. He ripped off the sleeves and wore a red long-sleeve shirt underneath. For a mask, he used a black ski-mask, and he wore swimming goggles under it. Not bad! If only I knew how to sew!

Friday night came quicker than Peter ever expected. MJ called to see if Peter was going, but Peter lied about being sick. When Aunt May and Uncle Ben asked what Peter was doing, Peter said that he was going to the library. Peter threw on his costume outside and made his way down to the warehouses.

Minutes later, he walked up to Warehouse 15, the location of the wrestling league. Pete could hear the chanting and screaming from the outside. Peter found the entrance on the side, and he made his way to the sign-in table. After being met by chuckles there, he walked down the entrance ramp. "Next," one of the workers said to Peter. "Good luck, kid. Try not to hurt yourself."

Peter walked down to the ring, where Crusher was sitting in the corner. He was drinking water and wiping sweat off his forehead. The announcer motioned for Peter to enter the ring. "Well, well, masked man, do you have what it takes to defeat Crusher Hogan?" the announcer asked. He then placed the microphone up to Peter's mouth.

"Uh…sure," Peter stammered. Crusher looked over at him and scoffed. The announcer then walked Peter over to his corner.

"We shall see if this mysterious fighter is strong enough! Begin the fight!" the announcer exclaimed. He then made his way out of the ring, leaving Peter and Crusher by themselves.

Crusher stood up unenthusiastically. He walked towards the center of the ring and cracked his knuckles. "Come on, kid. Try to make this fight last longer than the others," Crusher taunted. But Peter was frozen in his corner. "Alright then, I'll come to you!"

Crusher lunged at Peter but Peter did a front flip over him. The crowd went crazy at this spectacular feat. "You know, I changed my mind. I'm really not much of a fighter," Peter explained.

"Then you better be a quick runner!" Crusher threatened as he lunged at Peter again. Peter dodged to the right and Crusher ran into the corner. Peter looked at the crowd cheering him on. Peter felt himself getting caught up in the excitement, so he went over to Crusher and grabbed the back of his head. Peter then smacked Crusher's head against the corner. The crowd went crazy, and underneath the ski mask, Peter smiled. Peter then grabbed Crusher and lifted him over his head. Peter held him there for a minute, basking in the cheers of the crowd. Then Peter threw Crusher at the ropes, and Crusher hit the floor with a THUD! The crowd went absolutely nuts as the announcer declared Peter the winner.

The announcer pulled Peter off the side and whispered in his ear, "Kid, meet me in the office in 5 minutes." Five minutes later, Peter found the office and let himself in. The announcer was in there, waiting for him. "If it isn't the new champ! Sit down!" Peter sat in the chair by the desk. "Kid, my name is Mr. Ditko, and that was amazing! Simply sensational!"

"Um…thanks," Peter said politely.

"Look, kid," Mr. Ditko said as he sat down. "Here's the long and short of it: I want you to become one of my full-time fighters. You'll get paid for every fight you participate in! But I'll be straight with you…the fights are fixed. You know, give the people what they want."

Peter thought for a moment, "How much does it pay?"

"Seven-hundred a night," Mr. Ditko told him.

"Alright, but on one condition," Peter started. "My identity is kept strictly secret. No one can know who's under the mask."

Mr. Ditko rubbed his chin before reaching his hand out in agreement. "You got a deal, kid! Now, we need a name for you…some kind of gimmick…let's see, you've got the spider on your shirt…"

"Yeah, I'm trying to shoot for the spider theme," Peter elaborated.

"How about…the Scarlet Spider?" Mr. Ditko asked him.

Peter shook his head. "Scarlet? What am I, a woman?"

"Yeah…you're right…what else? Tarantula? No…Steel Spider? Let's not…Man-Spider? Hey…wait a minute! Flip it! SPIDER-MAN!" Ditko said to himself.

"Spider-Man?" Peter asked skeptically.

"Yes, Spider-Man. It's simple, and it describes you perfectly. Now, do you want the seven-hundred a night or not?" Ditko asked him. "Now, get outta here and go rest up for tomorrow night."

When Peter got home, he went into the basement. He was looking through the boxes of his father's stuff. I could've sworn I saw something in here before, Peter thought to himself. "Aha!" he exclaimed.

He pulled out a file labeled, "ORGANIC ADHESIVE." I've read through this before, Peter thought, it's a small experiment of my father's. He wanted to create an organic adhesive that was stronger than any other substance on Earth. However, he was unable to sell it because he could never perfect the formula. The adhesive always dissolved in an hour.

Well, if I'm going to be 'Spider-Man' – which is a really lame name, by the way – I'm going to need webs! And since the spider bite didn't give me webs of my own, Peter thought, I'll use my father's old adhesive formula to create them!

After hours of fiddling with the formula and some chemicals, Peter managed to create his first batch of 'webbing.' Man, that was a pain to create…this stuff better work! Peter thought. Now, I need some kind of device that will compress the webs so that they can 'fire' like real webs.

Peter began to work on this new device. He designed it to fit comfortably on the wrist, since it was the only logical place to put it. The general concept was that one could attach small canisters full of webbing to the wrist-band. The canisters would be air-tight and have a valve to control the releasing of the webs. A switch could be hidden in the palm so that the simple pressure of a finger could release the valve and cause the webs to fire. Once a canister was emptied, the canisters would revolve around the wrist-band so that a new canister would be in place. Unfortunately creating such a device was much harder than designing it. Peter stayed up all night building it.

Finally, at 3 in the morning, the device was ready for testing. Peter loaded the web-canisters and placed them on the wrist-band. Peter then curled his middle and ring fingers back and pressed the button on his palm. The webs fired from the top of his wrist and stuck to the wall. "Nice," Peter said to himself. Peter then decided to test the strength of the webbing. Peter pointed his hand straight up and fired a web at the ceiling. Once the web stuck to the ceiling, Peter lifted himself off the ground. The webs held his weight without breaking. "Thank you, dad!"

The next couple weeks went well. Spider-Man became a smash hit at the wrestling league. In fact, Mr. Ditko even got Pete a brand new suit. It was red and blue, and it had big, white lenses for the eyes. Granted, it needed a little work, but it was still a nice suit. The one thing Peter was uncomfortable with was sneaking out at night. His aunt and uncle were becoming weary of their nephew's actions, and tension built in the household.

Eventually, it came to a head one fateful night. Peter had his costume on underneath his clothes. He needed to be at the warehouse in 15 minutes, but his aunt and uncle wanted to talk.

"Peter," Ben started, "Where are you going? And don't tell me the library, because no human being, not even you, could possibly spend this much time at the library."

Aunt May interjected next, "Peter, please tell me that you aren't doing drugs or are part of a gang or something!"

"May, don't alienate the kid. Let him explain himself," Ben corrected her.

Peter responded, "I…I'm just doing kid stuff, I swear. Please, don't worry about me! It's just a phase, I'll get through it."

"Peter, it always starts as a 'phase.' Now, do you remember the talk we had?" Ben asked him. "Remember, Pete? With great power comes great responsibility. Don't ever forget that."

"I got it, Uncle Ben," Peter said, becoming more irritated by the moment. "Now, can I go? I'm gonna be late."

Aunt May spoke up. "I really don't think it's a good idea that he leaves the house tonight."

"May, let the kid go. We raised him properly, he can handle himself," Ben corrected her again. "After all, we don't want him thinking that we don't trust him. We just want him to know that we care."

"Thank you, Uncle Ben. I'll be back by midnight," Peter explained. Then he walked out the door and headed for the warehouse.

That night, Peter was getting ready when Mr. Ditko visited him in the locker room. "Kid, you got a minute to talk?" Mr. Ditko asked. Peter motioned for him to sit down. "Listen, we've got a new fighter tonight. His name is Deathlok. We need you to throw the fight."

"What?" Peter asked indignantly.

"Look, kid, don't play innocent with me. I was honest with you from day one. I told you that this is how things are run around here. Now, listen, this is a new guy so he needs publicity. What better publicity could he get than beating the undefeated Spider-Man?" Ditko tried to reason.

Peter stood up. "Have him beat Crusher then! I don't lose!"

"Crusher's old news, kid. He's yesterday's news! You're the hit thing right now!" Ditko explained.

"So you want me to throw this fight, just like Crusher threw all of those fights before? And then I'll become the washed-up fighter? No deal…I'm nobody's punching bag!" Peter argued. He then slammed his locker shut and started walking out the door. "Don't get up. I'll let myself out!"

"Kid! Get back here! That costume is our property! I'll have you arrested for theft!" Ditko yelled at him as he walked out the door. Then Ditko remembered, the kid never revealed his identity. There was no way to get back at him! Ditko returned to his office and slumped down into his chair.

Just then, a thug walked into the office. He placed a gun to Ditko's head and asked, "Where's all your money?"

"It…it's in that safe!" Ditko said, pointing at the safe in the corner of the room.

The thug pulled the gun back and asked, "What's the combination?"

"It's…it's…" Ditko stammered. He pressed a secret button under his desk that triggered a silent alarm.

The thug got more impatient. "WHAT'S THE COMBINATION?!" he shouted. Then he pointed the gun at Ditko again.

Outside, Peter heard people yelling. Maybe I should go see if everything is alright, he thought to himself. Nah, not after that guy asked me to lose…I could beat every guy in his league!

The thug came running towards Peter. He had a bag of money under his arm and a gun in the other hand. Mr. Ditko was chasing after him, yelling for help. Rather than stop him, Peter side-stepped out of the way and let the thug get past him.

"What the hell are you thinking?! I've seen what you do in the ring! You could've flattened that guy!" Mr. Ditko yelled at Peter.

"I'm sorry," Peter said flatly, "I thought you wanted me to throw my fights."

Mr. Ditko looked at him angrily and opened his mouth, but he was unable to respond. Instead, he continued to run down the hallway.

Peter smiled at himself, proud that he had gotten back at that guy. Serves him right! What goes around, comes around!