The past hour and half had been a worsening anxiety attack filled with confusion for Spiderman as he tried to make sense of his situation. He'd been swinging through midtown, trying to squeeze an early patrol in before his shift at Octavious industries, when his spider sense had suddenly activated. He turned quickly to each of his sides expecting a sudden attack but nothing arose. He swung down to the nearest building rooftop and readied himself into a combative stance, expecting a foe to appear and attack. He turned around, fists ready, but nothing appeared before him. He would have dismissed it as a false alarm, but his spider sense had yet to quell. In fact, it was ringing continually like an unchecked alarm since it activated. A new experience for Spiderman, since previously, he'd been used to his spider sense activating and the sensation lasting no more than a second.
"What is this?" He wondered. He contemplated the meaning of this continued sensation. He'd been used to his spider sense activating to immediate danger in his area, but perhaps the danger wasn't so local? He wondered if his senses weren't alerting him to immediate danger in his area, but to danger in an area far away. Then he realized someone he cared for might be in trouble. He called Aunt May.
"Hey Aunt May, just wanted to check in."
"Oh…Okay, everything okay Peter?" She responded.
"Uh yeah, I think I left my backpack in my room. Could you check if it's there?"
"Yeah sure. No not here, sorry."
"Oh no problem, just needed to check. I'll uh check in with you later after work."
"Okay Peter, I'll see you at home."
He gave a sigh of relief. Aunt May was safe but his spider sense hadn't stopped ringing. He called his ex girlfriend Mary Jane next.
"Hey Pete what's up?" Mary Jane answered.
"Oh nothing. I just wanted to make sure you're….safe."
Mary Jane let a heavy sigh that echoed through the phone's speaker. "Yeah Pete I'm fine."
"Oh great, I uh need to call you back later."
"Sure Pete."
He gave another sigh of relief hampered by his embarrassment at how awkward his previous exchange was. His spider sense was still ringing though.
"Not Mary Jane, what else could it be?" He thought. Maybe someone he loved wasn't in danger, but there was danger happening or about to happen soon.
He called Captain Yuri.
"Captain!"
"Spidey! Make any new busts today?"
"Looking for some actually! Are there any crimes nearby?"
"It's New York City, there's crime everywhere."
"Yeah well let me help with that! Anything major happening right now?"
"Uh yeah actually there's reports of an armed robbery happening in the Financial District right now."
"Great! Send me the directions!"
After he received the address, he swung into action. As he swung past the buildings on the way, his spider sense kept ringing like a bad case of tinnitus. He arrived about 5 minutes later perching atop a building overlooking the location, a high end jewelry store. He could see a squadron of police cars stationed outside, cops taking cover beside their vehicles as bullets rained out through the store entrance. A number of armed masked thugs were standing by the store entrance unloading their automatic rifles mercilessly onto the officers. Large drum mags made sure they had a continuous stream of bullets to keep the police pinned down until their escape van arrived. Spiderman wasted no time springing into action, launching himself into a nosedive towards the armed thugs. Their focus had been on keeping the cops pinned that they hadn't bothered to look up and see Spiderman swooping towards them. By the time one of them noticed the webslinger in his line of sight, he was already flattened against the ground. Spiderman leapt from the man's body and hurdled feet first towards the man's nearest comrade. Once the second thug had been knocked out, Spiderman launched quick barrage of web shots towards the other armed thugs weapons. The shrugged helplessly as their weapons had been affixed to their bodies. A quick series of punches would put the rest down. Just as he knocked the last man, a black van had suddenly appeared driving violently onto the curb of the building. Three armed masked men exited and turned their attention towards Spiderman.
"Shit it's Spiderman!" One of the men yelled as he aimed his weapon towards him.
Spiderman jumped onto the building side and raced upwards as a trail of bullets followed him upward.
Just as the men unloaded their weapons onto Spiderman, the previously pinned down police officers turned their attention and unloaded their weapons onto the distracted criminals. The men fell down as they were struck multiple times in the legs. The driver of the van sped off, but with his tires shot off, he didn't make it far and crashed into a parked vehicle knocking him out. Spiderman leapt down once he realized the shooting had stopped. He landed right beside an officer who was handcuffing one of the previously knocked out thugs.
"Thanks Spidey! You really helped us back there" the officer said as he led the criminal away.
"Oh yeah no problem! That's what I'm here…for!" He stuttered as he realized the ringing still hadn't stopped. He swung away as he tried to make sense of his situation. He thought about calling Yuri again, but he had a feeling the result would be the same.
"Well, that didn't help! What the hells wrong with me!? Am I sick? Maybe there's something causing my spider sense to go haywire. Maybe a brain tumor,…oh god!" He shook his head dismissively at the idea. As he swung and tried to reorient his focus he suddenly realized he was late for his shift at Octavius industries. He swung back to where he had stashed his backpack and change of clothes. After grabbing his gear he swung towards Greenwich. He landed on the rooftop of Octavius Industries and changed into his civilian attire. He raced downstairs and headed towards the entrance. He brushed his hair with his hand quickly before wiping the sweat from his face and entering the building. Otto was at his work desk, his eyes fixated on the bundle of black fibers he was stringing together. He turned his attention to Peter who entered suddenly.
"Parker, only an hour and 15 minutes late I see."
"Sorry Doc, things came up. I tried getting here as fast as I could."
"Parker," Otto stood up and approached Peter. "You know I'm accommodating but…." He stopped suddenly noticing the sheen of sweat across Peter's face. The slight tremble in Peter's body made Otto concerned about his well being.
"Jeez Louise Parker. Are you alright?"
"Yeah, I just ran five blocks to get here. I'm just super exhausted."
Otto shook his head dismissively. "No this isn't exhaustion. Parker look at you you're shaking all over. What's wrong?"
Peter sighed. "Alright, I just I don't why I'd have this terrible feeling something bad is going to happen all day."
"Sounds like you're having a panic attack. Here go lie down in the break room."
Peter followed Otto's instructions and lied down on the couch in the break room. His spider sense hadn't stopped ringing and it was severely affecting him. He laid down for a minute before Otto appeared with a cup of ice water and a few pills in his hand.
"Here, this is valium. When you get to my age, those are life savers. This should help out."
"Thanks Doc," Peter replied as he took the pills and cup from Otto. Peter ingested them and followed them with the ice water.
"Here lie down and take a nap. I'll check back with you later."
Not seeing any better option, Peter took his boss's advice and went to sleep. The ringing of Spider sense seemed to subside and his trembling eased as he slept. He awoke about an hour later, his trembling gone and he wasn't sweating profusely anymore. The spider sense was still ringing but it seemed muffled and wasn't bothering him as much.
"I guess that did the trick," Peter said as he got off the couch and reoriented himself. When he left the break room he saw Otto back at his work station, the mesh of black fibers he'd been working on now woven together in a mesh resembling muscle tissue. Otto turned his attention towards Peter, eager to know if his young assistant's well being had improved.
"How are you feeling Parker?"
"A lot better, thanks Doc. So what are we working on today?"
"No, not today Parker. Why don't you take today off? I can tell you're not 100%"
"No, Doc it's fine, really."
"Peter," he cleared his throat," you've been my assistant for some years now. You've been good to me. I want you to go home and rest. Come back when you're feeling better and if you want to make up the hours later this week just let me know, alright?"
Peter begrudgingly agreed. Although he enjoyed working with Otto, he was right. He wasn't 100%. Though he was feeling better his spider sense was still ringing and he had no idea how long his improved status might last.
"Alright Doc, I'll go, thanks," Peter said as he grabbed his things and left. Otto saw him out and gave a sigh of relief mixed with some disappointment. He really could have used Peter's help today, but Peter had been his only assistant for past years and he cared enough about him to suspend his work duties for his well being. Otto returned back to his work station and resumed working on the black fibers he'd been working on previously.
Outside Peter was in a hurry to get home. He pulled his phone out and called his Doctor's office.
"Mount Sinai, Dr Klein's office," the receptionist answered.
"Hi I'd like to schedule an MRI and PET as soon as possible," Peter replied.
"Uh let's see, we have an opening tomorrow 3pm."
"Great book it! Name's Peter Parker."
"Alright you got it Mr. Parker we'll see you tomorrow at 3."
"Thanks!"
Peter hurriedly made his way towards the subway station and hopped on the train. As he sat alone on the subway seat, he could feel his trembling returning, his spider sense starting increasing in intensity and he was beginning to lightly sweat. The relief he got from the valium was beginning to wear off. After about 40 minutes he reached his station and raced home. He got home not long after. Aunt May was finishing the dinner she had made for the evening.
"Oh Peter you're home early!" May said in surprise to Peter's sudden appearance. Her expression turned worrisome when she saw his anxious appearance.
"Oh Peter! Everything alright? You look terrible."
"Yeah Aunt May. I wasn't feeling good today so I came home early. Save dinner for me okay? I'm going get some sleep."
"Sure Peter," she said as she saw him walk upstairs to his bedroom.
Peter immediately huddled himself into his bed, wrapping the sheets around. The proceeding hours involved Peter frequently tossing and turning and occasionally rubbing his forehead. The lingering thought that he might have a brain tumor crept further into his mind as the sleepless hours passed. It was only after midnight, about 10 hours after it started, did the sensation suddenly stop. His trembling ceased and his mind felt at ease. He let out a deep sigh of relief as the physiological anguish had finally come to a stop. Before he got a chance to think further on his condition, he closed his eyes, his exhausted mind succumbing to sleep.