My night was plagued by nightmares. They pulled me down, trapping me in the dark expanse that was my mind. At first there was nothing, only an empty black space. Then Uncle Ben was there, blood dripping from his chest, lifeless eyes trained on me. "I trusted you Peter." He moaned. "You were like a son, yet you let the man who would later kill me run free."
I fell to my knees. "I'm sorry, I didn't know!" I screamed but Uncle Ben just gave a mirthless laugh. "You've lied to me before son." He spat. "You probably planned it!" I squeezed my eyes shut and rocked back and forth slowly. "No." I moaned. I slowly looked up. Uncle Ben was gone, a bloodied and bruised Captain Stacy stood in his place. "Peter." He rasped. "I trust you with my daughter's heart, and I end up dead because of an aspect of your personality? You're not good enough." He said venomously.
The words still played in my head when I jerked awake, sweating with the blankets around my ankles. I let myself flop back into the bed. No villain had killed me yet, but my won guilty conscious might. The police radio on my bedside table began to beep. Crime has started already? "We have a Mysterio sighting down on Times Square." A male voice hissed over the static. I, albeit grudgingly pulled my suit on and jumped from the window.
I arched my body and allowed myself to free fall before catching myself on a strand of webbing at the last second. If I had been in a better mood I would've yelled or let out a happy yahoo. But I wasn't in a good mood. If I had been going to deal with a street thug it would have been one thing, but instead I was dealing with Mysterio and all of his mind tricks and holograms. The closer I got to Times Square I began to notice anomalies. Like the fact that it was all on fire.
Flames licked my suit and the heat slowly made my skin boil. It's not real. I reminded myself. Scared citizens ran out, screaming like chickens with their heads cut off. There had to be something to ruin the illusion… I let my eyes wander around the scene and silently chanted to myself that it wasn't real. Finally my eyes rested on a fire hydrant. "That might work." I muttered to myself as I shot a piece of webbing around the hydrant. My muscles strained as I reared back, pulling the top of the hydrant off. Water exploded into the sky, dousing the fake fire and stopping the panicked civilians. Everyone looked around, realizing that there was truly no fire damage. "Don't worry ladies and gentleman! The fire you just experienced was a hallucination from the menace Mysterio. Please continue on your way!" I yelled.
The dazed citizens began to whisper to each other. Now it was time to deal with a bigger problem. Where was Mysterio? As I surveyed the crime scene I noticed one thing. The masked menace was gone. I took to the air again, flipping and swooping on my webs. Nothing really beat the feeling of web slinging through the New York skyline. I landed easily on a building wall. Mysterio was nowhere to be seen. With a groan I allowed myself to free fall towards the damp concrete. Right before I hit it I hit the ground my webbing kicked in and I shot up again.
The city was blank and empty, well as quiet and peaceful as New York could be. It was almost like everyone had picked up and gone to the Hamptons in the middle of March. I perched on a lamp post, taking everything in. Where was everyone? Then something caught my eye. A person was walking down the street, but every time she took a step her whole body shimmered. Like a hologram. Maybe Mysterio hadn't gotten away. My spider senses flashed and the image faded. In its place, a crowd of surprised citizens appeared, pointing at me and whispering. They must think I'm nuts just sitting up here. And in the middle of the crowd, pushing away was Mysterio. I flung myself off the post and into the crowd, hot in pursuit of Mysterio. The crowd parted for me to run through. I shot a ball of webbing at Mysterio's feet.
The green clad villain stumbled and collapsed into a pile. Moments later the police apprehended him and I could only watch proudly as he disappeared in a cop car. My work here was done. As I swung away I couldn't help but smile. My city was safe, and Gwen seemed to feel better. Images from my nightmare flashed in front of me and for a second I lost my concentration. I smacked onto the cement and waited for the stars to vanish. A few cars swerved around me. I could only imagine what J. Jonah Jameson was going to write about this. Spiderman tries to start car accidents. The headlines would read.
I groaned mentally at the thought of my editor. He really was a pain. A pain who would only accept pictures of Spider-man pictures from me. I picked myself off the concrete and headed out again back to the apartment. In moments I was home and dressed back in street clothes. I rubbed my sore back as I went to make a phone call. After a few rings Gwen picked up. "Hey, it's Peter." I tried to sound as chipper as possible. Gwen didn't sound too thrilled. "Hey." I struggled to remember what I was going to say. "Do you want to go and see a show tonight? I'll treat?" I heard Gwen sigh. "I wish I could. However, one of my friends from college is coming over tonight. Care to join us?" I mentally groaned.
Gwen Stacey happened to be very popular, unlike nerdy Peter Parker. Her friends looked down on me to say the least. "Sounds fun Gwen but..." I heard Gwen laugh on the other end of the line. "Good. See you at seven Pete bear."
Pete bear. She must really want me there. I just sighed and picked up my camera. If I had to hang out with one of girlfriends I could at least get some photography in first. Over the next few hours I completely immersed myself in my art, forgetting about dead fathers and alter-egos. Of course, the Daily Bugle wouldn't actually publish any of these pictures though. All Jameson wanted was a good shot at Spider-man. I considered my situation very ironic. Every time I gave the Bugle a photo of Spider-man, it was twisted into some sort of fraudulent Spiderman crime picture. I was persecuting myself.
Oh the life of a Superhero. I pulled myself out of my photography induced haze and checked my dented and scratched wrist watch. It was one of the only things I had from my Uncle Ben. Aunt May had almost taken it from me when I had revealed my hand in his death, how I had let his killer escape and how that had led to his carjacking and death, yet at the last second she had relented and let me keep it. It would have probably been better if she had taken it. I couldn't even look at the thing without guilt causing bile to rise in my throat.
I managed to make out the time beneath the ruined glass. 6:55. Shoot. I glanced around. It would take at least fifteen minutes for Peter Parker to get to Gwen's. But for Spider-man it would be quicker. That was a different story. It's safe to say that I made it to Gwen's with a minute and thirty seconds to spare. Inside I heard Gwen and an unfamiliar female voice laughing hysterically over something. I steeled myself and gave a mental reminder that I was doing it only for Gwen. That's what boyfriends did after all.
I politely tapped on the door. The laughing paused for a moment and I heard Gwen say something in a muffled tone. Then a pair of heavy footsteps thudded to the door. Gwen stuck her head out. "Peter!" She squealed as she coated my skin was kisses. Besides her eyes which seemed to be stained red from crying, she looked as impeccable and beautiful as always. Even her signature black headband was perfectly placed on her pale locks. She stepped aside to let me. "Hey!" She yelled. "Come meet Peter?"
A pair of stilettos peeked around the corner, followed by a pair of long legs and a very beautiful owner. Gwen's friend stood before me, dressed in a tight black tank top and a cream skirt. There was something so familiar about her long crimson hair and smoky eyes, but I couldn't put my finger on it. Gwen smiled. "Peter, this is Mary Jane Watson. Mary Jane, this is Peter." Suddenly, everything clicked into place. Mary Jane's red lips curled into a smile. She practically purred.
"Tiger, you just hit the jackpot."