CHAPTER 5: Responsibility
Peter took the long way home. He had a lot of thinking to do. His aunt and uncle didn't trust him, Mr. Ditko wanted him to throw a fight, and now Peter had nothing to do with these powers. It seemed that Peter had inherited the 'Parker luck.'
As he approached his house, he heard the distinctive sounds of police sirens. Once he was within eye-sight, he saw several police cruisers parked in front of his lawn. An ambulance pulled up and a couple men got out with a stretcher. Peter ran inside with 1000 possibilities running through his head. Did Aunt May or Uncle Ben have a heart attack? What if one of them fell down the stairs? Why would the police be here?
Peter entered the living room and saw Aunt May crying profusely with a police officer standing next to her. "Aunt May…Aunt May!"
She looked up at her nephew but was unable to muster any words. Instead, she buried her face in a tissue and continued to sob loudly.
A police officer came over and put a hand on Peter's shoulder. "Listen, son, your uncle has been shot." The words ricocheted through Peter's head. "A man broke into your house, looking for a place to hide. He didn't realize that your uncle and aunt were here. When your uncle confronted him in the kitchen, the man panicked and fired several shots."
Peter fell to his knees, overwhelmed by this news. He watched as the men from the ambulance carried the stretcher out the front door. Peter could see the shape of a body underneath the cloth. Peter began to weep bitterly.
A second police officer came over to the first one. "Look, we have the shooter. He's heading eastbound in a blue sedan. Let's get in the cruiser and go. There's nothing else we can do here."
Peter's grief was instantly replaced by rage and vengefulness. When he saw that Aunt May wasn't looking, Peter rushed out the door. He quickly removed his sweats and pulled his mask over his head. He went running after the police cars.
Peter leapt onto the rooftops and kept an eye on the speeding police cruisers. However, he quickly reached the end of the roof and he had nowhere to go. Peter looked around and saw a flagpole across the street. Peter looked down at his wrist while contemplating his plan. Eventually, his lust for revenge overpowered his common sense and he fired a long, thin web at the flagpole. Peter grabbed the end of the line and jumped off the roof. He used the web much like Tarzan used the vines in the jungle. Peter became like a human pendulum, and once he had reached the height of his swing, he fired another web. Peter began to perform that motion repeatedly and he was quickly gaining speed. Even though his mind never strayed from his objective, he couldn't help feeling that this was so much fun.
Peter watched as the police cars screeched to a halt in front of an abandoned apartment complex. There were 'CONDEMNED' stickers plastered all over the old structure. Peter could see the blue sedan pull to a stop, and he saw the man run out. As soon as he saw his uncle's killer, Peter was filled with so much rage that he never felt before. He landed on top of the apartment building and started to crawl down the side. The police will never get to him in here, but Spider-Man will! Peter swore.
Peter climbed through the side of the building and heard the man running down the hallway. Peter chased after him silently. Eventually, the man entered a room and locked the door. This was no match for Peter. He merely kicked the door off its hinges and cornered the murderer.
"Stay back, freak!" the man threatened. He pointed his gun at Peter. Peter fired a web and covered the barrel of the gun. The man tried to fire, but the webs were too strong and they caused the gun to misfire. The man yelped in pain and Peter could see smoke coming off the man's hand.
Peter slowly walked towards his uncle's killer. "Did you ever realize that your actions would affect anyone other than yourself? Did you ever think, for one second, that when you pulled that trigger, you were killing someone's uncle or husband!?"
"What the hell are you talking about?" the man screamed in confusion. "Is this about the old guy that I wasted back at that house?!"
"That 'old guy' was my uncle, you murderer!" Peter yelled as he put his hands around the killer's throat. Peter finally got a good look at his face. He seemed so familiar…that's when it hit Peter…this was the guy that robbed Mr. Ditko! This was the guy that I refused to stop! If I hadn't been so selfish, my uncle would still be alive!
The man coughed as Peter's grip tightened around his throat. "What, are you gonna kill me now?"
"No," Peter answered blankly, "No, I'm not like you. I'm not a murderer." Peter lightly tossed the man aside. Peter unloaded several web-cartridges on him, leaving him motionless underneath the webs. "This…this is my fault," Peter murmured to himself.
Peter didn't return home right away. He couldn't face Aunt May after everything that had happened. He knew that no one would understand why he felt responsible, but it didn't change the fact that he did. Peter's act of selfishness would haunt him for the rest of his life.
When Peter did make his way home, he locked himself in the basement. His guilt transformed into devotion. He knew then that he was being called towards a higher purpose. Peter began to improve upon his wrestling costume. He added raised webbing on all of the red cloth, and he fixed a small black spider on the chest. The most noticeable change was the large red spider that he placed on the back. Peter also improved upon his web-shooters. He made the canisters larger, and shrunk the overall size of the device. Peter then occupied himself by working on a special type of tracking device. He built the small devices in the shape of a spider. They were hardly larger than a thumb-tack. Peter then programmed them to work on a frequency that would trigger his 'spider-sense.' By the end of the night, Peter had compiled a small arsenal of crime-fighting technology. Never again would Peter fail to act. For here on out, he was dedicated to using his gifts wisely and responsibly.