"Thanks sir!"

"No hay problema!"

Taking a plastic cup of cappuccino in my hands, I sip it as I walk under the crescent moon. April's already come and gone so quickly after that spider-bite, making my costume and going through fights in the underground arena. Now a month into the new school year I can't help but think of my plans for the future.

The underground fighting gives me some quick bucks but… I can't exactly keep going there forever or else somebody will tick off the police, only needs to be a single person who decides to do that and I'm toast.

Being a professional hero is pretty much one of the few institutions within this country that can use their quirks for money, but the path to gaining a license is a long one. And as much as Ben and May try to keep their money troubles away from me, I can still see right through them.

Being a criminal… No, even above me absolutely not wanting to go against my morals, it'd hurt to see the pain on Ben and May's faces if I ever got caught.

Well, even if I don't have much of a path to go with my quir-I mean newfound abilities. Heh, already calling this spider bite a part of my quirk now, jeez. But yeah, even so I still have my smarts. In addition to some new inspiration that's gotten me to create my web shooters, and in the middle of a process on getting web wings added to the suit for better maneuverability, I also have the mystery of my powers in the first place to unlock. If I can figure this stuff out, I could make it big in the scientific world, hell I could even change the entire world itself with this.

Flash years later living as a bum, staring up to my intellectual greatness as I live a successful life? That's the dream!

As for the current though… To make sure nobody figures my identity out I've started taking a bag with all my clothes with me and changing in some unseen alleyways. Got a few close calls at times but I've been getting more used to doing it. Even just walking around in those clothes will get someone mistaking me as a hero after all.

…

The sound of police sirens is only getting closer the more I walk.

A little too close in fact.

I pick up my pace, walking faster. It's just me worrying right? But still, that doesn't make me any less anxious. Just one more corner turn and I'll be there.

It's not like they're gonna be…

In front of…

"My house?"

Standing there is a police officer at my front door, seemingly waiting for someone as I see their car along my driveway. I only feel dread as I just start running there.

"Hey officer! What happened?"

What I see when they turn around is not a casual expression like I hoped, but one of sorrow contemplation.

"Sonny, do you… Have any relation to Benjamin Parker?"

My breathing goes unsteady, but it can't be what my worst thoughts are suddenly thinking. It just can't. "Y-Yes. I'm his nephew."

"Then I'm sorry. Benjamin Parker got shot multiple times by a villain who was escaping arrest and got surprised by him, he was pronounced dead on the spot. But don't worry, we have the villain trapped and it is only a matter of time until we get him."

As soon as the word dead escaped the older man's mouth I was no longer looking at him, the cappuccino in my hands slowly slipping down as I try to process those words.

Uncle Ben is… Dead?

That's it? No chance to talk with him one last time? Not a single goodbye? Just some random criminal scum killed him on the spot and that's the end?

That's how my time with him ends?

"...where is he?"

The man can only blink at that sudden question.

"I said where is he!?" Finally, my voice goes up as some rage is let out, confusion and hurt can be heard within it.

"He's in an old supermarket building up north from here, but as I said lad, heroes will be coming to get him. Do you need a rest? It would be best if you sit down."

Rest? Rest!? Who cares about that right now!?

If that villain is where I think he is… Yeah, it's gotta be that deserted location then. But if he's there then it's gonna be practically impossible for any hero to get a jump on him! Who knows if he'll take advantage of the place and kill more there!

"Your aunt is at your neighbours, would you perhaps want me to escort you-"

"No-just-stop!" As I grit those words out I start running as I pass by the cop, my cappuccino dropping onto the floor as I open the door and start going to my room. They look to want to go after me but think against it, leaving me as I make my way to where all my gadgets are. Despite me making all of this, I haven't tested it out in the ring at all. But now… There's no time to think, I just have to do it.

Looking out my window to make sure that cop won't see me, I then put everything onto myself and crawl out the window and onto the roof, now as the costumed Spider-Man.

Okay Parker, it's make it or break it time.

Tapping the button on my palm, it makes a thwip sound as the web shoots out at a blinding speed, attaching to the top of a three-story building.

A killer is out there, and there is no time to be careful and learn. I've just gotta do it. For Uncle Ben. And with a few steps… I feel my legs fall, then my body, as I swing in an arc upwards.

High up I release, and with my dexterity I thwip to my next target with ease.

Again, and again. Thwip, release, thwip, release. Turn up the speed as the building get more higher and plentiful.

This is it, I'm doing it! I'll catch that damn criminal as fast as I can and then-

Then-

Whatever! I'll figure that out, I just have to do something against my uncle's murderer at least! Anything at all!

Grief is felt in my body as I swing from building to building, creating momentum for myself as I try to reach where I think the killer is. I can see people notice me as I swing with all my might, but that doesn't matter.

…I'm never going to see him again. Not a single talk or loving hug from one of the few people who I cared about in my life. Gods, May must be devastated. And it's all because of them.

With a rage that fills my heart, my swings get wilder and wilder. More loose in how I position it. If only I got that web glider made by now, I'd be more stable whilst doing it. Whilst my thoughts are on that for the moment, I see it.

The broken-down supermarket. As old paint and graffiti sticks to it, along with pieces of wooden planks scattered all over it. Along the front I see an enormous amount of cop cars, along with some heroes going through the front of the place. There doesn't seem to be any flight-based heroes who can go to the higher places to get inside, shit.

But that's what I'm here for, ain't it?

I try to the best of my ability to swing around a different way so that the heroes and cops don't notice me, along with the possibility of that villain too. Making my way through I get to the back of the building, and with a few swings and crawling up the side of it.

A broken window. Good.

Just slip on right through. Tch, nobody I can see in my line of sight, the next floor up then?

***Duck down!***

"BANG!"

I listen to my quirk and duck just in time, a bullet whizzing right over me! With a quick turn I see a figure in the shadows, the inside of this building doesn't give me much to see at the dead of night. All I can see if a cap on his head, the shadows of it covering his face in pitch darkness.

"You."

At the barest of my sights, I see smoke coming from his fingers. My eyes widen as he pulls up his right arm, and motions his hands to me like it's a gun. Then, suddenly, the tip of his finger pops open revealing a barrel-like hole.

***Jump!***

"BANG!" Before his finger suddenly fires shooting a projectile at me I jump up with strength to my legs, back against the ceiling as I stick to it with the back of my feet and hands. Why didn't I think about that sooner!? No normal villain is going to have a gun in this country!

How does it work, is there a time limit between shots, or does he have a limited amount? Are there any specialties to it other than acting like a bullet? With a quirk like that, I can't be keeping my distance. It's better for me to get into a position where I can get up close and personal with him.

A kick my legs against the roof, flying towards him as he doesn't get enough time to line up a new shot. "Surprised to see me?"

As I reach him, my fist hits his gut, sending him hurtling across the ground away from more, tumbling until he makes a stop. He's twitching and trying to get back him.

"No. You don't get to do that." And with a thwip coming from my right arm, even in the darkness I focus and hit the hand where his finger pistol is.

With his hand stuck to the ground, he then yells out to me. "J-Just who the hell are you!?" Thinking that question would distract me, he pulls up his other hand and pops a finger open, aiming at me.

"Thwip." And there goes the second hand, also stuck to the ground.

I walk towards him, slowly. I know I'm wasting time and the heroes could turn up any moment, but this… "No more running. With you laid out like that, how's about an extra punch for size." As soon as I get near him, I swing my arm to his face! And with a crunch that I hear from his nose, his head lands back against the hard floor, banging against it as I see the light from his eyes fade, knocking him unconscious. As he does, I notice that his cap flew off from his head in the fall.

At first, I didn't notice it. Didn't recognize it.

But as the light from the moon shines through the window, I look at his face. And a sense of dread fills my body.

No.

No no no.

My breathing gets heavy once more, as I take a few steps back in shock.

This can't be! That face!

The same blonde haired man! The one I didn't stop all those days ago! It can't be him! It just can't be!

"Who's there!?"

I don't turn to look around, the heroes are already here. With a jump out the window and a swing of some web, I'm already out of there. "Wait!"

But I do not wait.

Each swing gets more chaotic as my breath wavers. Got to get away, don't think now, just swing damn it!

It doesn't take long for me to be far out of sight and land myself in a random alleyway, checking around to see if anybody is there.

No, there isn't.

…It was all my fault. My fault that Uncle Ben died.

My thoughts are in a spiral of confusion as I change out of my gear into my normal clothes, robotically doing it. My legs wobble as I just… Walk.

I killed him.

Not by shooting him, but I did so with letting that man escape. Why did I let him escape? Why? Why!?

A step. And another. And another. Just walking with no destination in mind.

I let that man go because… Because… I just couldn't be bothered to!? I could've stopped it.

I should've stopped it. But I didn't. And for that reason, my uncle is dead.

"All because of me."

Finally, tears fill my eyes as I hold my hands up to my face. How am I going to be able to face Aunt May after this? How can I go on with my life after causing this?

All of this power. And yet I did nothing with it.

Nothing at all.