DISCLAIMER: CHARACTERS SUCH AS THE AVENGERS, THE X-MEN, ETC. ARE ALL COPYRIGHT PROPERTY OF MARVEL COMICS, AND BASED ON THE SHOWS 'AVENGERS: EARTH'S MIGHTIEST HEROES' AND 'WOLVERINE AND THE X-MEN.' BOTH OF WHICH WERE WRITTEN BY CHRISTOPHER YOST. NO PROFIT IS MADE FROM THIS STORY, AND ITS PURPOSE IS FOR ENTERTAINMENT ONLY. IN OTHER WORDS…PLEASE DON'T SUE.
ALSO, AND THIS MIGHT BE REDUNDANT ON MY END, I WOULD ALSO LIKE TO POINT OUT THAT WHILE THIS IS BASED ON THE YOST SERIES, THIS IS NOT A SEQUEL TO CONTEST OF CHAMPIONS. NAMELY THE SPIDER-MAN IN THAT SERIES IS BASED FROM THE SHOW 'THE SPECTACULAR SPIDER-MAN', AND ON THE ONE IN THIS STORY IS FROM THE EMH SHOW (THOUGH LIKE MANY FANS, I WOULD PREFER THAT THAT VERISON BE VOICED BY JOSH KEATON AS WELL). ANYWAY, NOW THAT ALL THAT IS OUT OF THE WAY, ENJOY THE FIC!
UNKNOWN LOCATION
Inside a large throne made entirely of white marble, one man sat on the throne, looking at a large crystal ball in front of him. He appeared to be a light-skinned, handsome man who appeared to be in his mid-thirties. He possessed a broad physique, curly black hair, and eyes that glowed in a bright yellow light comparable to a sun. He was dressed in a white suit with matching white shoes. Underneath his jacket was no shirt, and thus showed a large chest with black hair. Though he appeared to be a man, he was anything but that. He was a mighty deity who, if he wanted to, reshape any matter to his will, no matter how big or small. Few people knew of him, and those who did refer to him as simply 'The Beyonder.'
At that moment, the focus of this all-powerful being was the image inside the crystal ball, one of a blue planet that was primarily due to its vast oceans and contained one large continent and an island located above it.
And the sight of this beautiful planet brought a somewhat sinister smile to the Beyonder's face. "Yes, this world will do quite nicely!" The Beyonder said to himself, pleased and in a soothing but almost echoing voice. "Now, time to bring in the players." With that said, the Beyonder pointed his left hand at the crystal ball across from him, and with a bit of concentration, he caused the ball to glow into a bright, white light then and transform into a giant glowing platform on the wall. The Beyonder did not stop there, however, for he channeled more of his willpower, and with a split second, the glowing platform flashed in the same blinding light that consumed the entire room…
PLANET EARTH: NEW YORK
It was a dark and rainy night in Manhattan. A city that, just one year ago, was nearly destroyed when a world-eating cosmic being known as Galactus almost consumed the entire planet! For the people outside on the street and not inside the buildings or inside cars that made up the traffic lines, they tried to keep themselves dry in different ways. From using umbrellas or covering the top of their heads with magazines, newspapers, or anything they had their hands on to try and keep their heads dry, albeit with minimal success. Inside the Baskin apartment complex, many residents watched the rain through the windows of their apartments, many of whom felt sad or annoyed as they had plans for the night and the storm had ruined it.
One of said residents watching the rain in depression was Peter, a lean, fair-skinned young man from Queens who appeared to be eight-teen years of age, with brown hair and hazel eyes and dressed in a blue sweater, blue jeans, and white, worn-out tennis shoes. He watched the storm from a studio apartment that was so small and cramped up it would be confused as a single room to those who walked into it.
Despite the cramped living conditions, Peter tried to make the most of it. For one thing, he had at least four books on top of the small table next to his messy bed. All of which covered science, engineering, and physics, fields that enticed Peter ever since he was eleven years old. This passion helped him excel in and graduate from Midtown High School and was enough to get accepted into Empire State University. Though Peter saw ESU as a great place of learning, it was the location of that faithful senior field trip. As he and his classmates visited the campus lab, he received a bite from an escaped genetically altered spider, and he became a man with a double life. And through the corner of his left eye, Peter could see something that was part of that life.
It was a newspaper article pinned to the wall where the photo showed Peter himself, but dressed in a red and blue spandex body suit with a full head mask and swinging above the city streets via web-like lines that she shot from out of his wrists. The red portions of the costume, from his mask, chest, gloves, and boots, have a black web pattern, and the mask has white eye lenses with pointy black rims. Completing the costume were two spider symbols. The first was a small black spider symbol on the chest, while the other was a large red circular one on his back. And by donning this costume, Peter puts the abilities given to him by the spider bite by fighting crime and saving innocent lives as New York's Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man. He did this as a promise to his dear departed uncle, Ben Parker, who taught him that 'with great power comes great responsibility.'
This photograph, in particular, was taken by Peter himself via a camera he strategically placed and set to flash a picture every five seconds. He took this photo and many more and sold them to J. Jonah Jameson, the editor of the Daily Bugle. But instead of phrasing Spider-Man for his heroics, the man saw people like Spider-Man and all superheroes who wear masks as careless vigilantes and people who were just as many menaces as the villains they fought. And as a result, the people's opinion of Spider-Man was mixed at best, with a majority of people believing Jonah that Spider-Man should be hated and feared. In contrast, some of them, notably the people that Peter saved, chose to ignore the pig-headed editor and saw Spider-Man as a true hero.
Peter admitted that this method of earning money wasn't the most honest one and something Ben would disapprove of. But it was during a time when his aunt, May Parker, struggled with the bills to their home and felt that this was the only way to help keep a roof over their heads. Luckily though, by the time Peter graduated from Midtown High School, May had already taken a job at a homeless shelter known for providing Food, Emergency, Aid, and Shelter Training. Hence the abbreviated name, 'F.E.A.S.T.'
With May now working, Peter used money from the Bugle to focus on paying the rent for his apartment and buying expensive materials for his 'Spider-Man' gear. Not only that, but over time, his expertise in computers managed to help him get another position to work on the Daily Bugle's website. He would often use the Bugle's resources to research whatever criminal he was facing and trying to bring down. Not only that, but Peter also used his photography skills to take pictures for reporter and co-worker Betty Brant on whatever story she chased. Peter felt these two new tasks were more honest than, as he would put it, taking 'over glorified selfies' of him risking his life-fighting superpowered villains or saving people from whatever life-threatening emergency would come up.
Recently, however, Peter felt he strayed away from these teachings since he discovered and donned 'new clothes.' Namely a costume that made him feel like a new person. A new reckless, arrogant, aggressive person. So much so that it proved Jameson right, saying that Spider-Man was indeed a danger to New York and its people. Though he got rid of the clothes that influenced him to do such careless things, the majority of the city now turned their backs on him, and Peter knew that the only person he could blame for how things turned out was himself. At one moment, the saddened Peter turned to the right to look out the window, and a brief glimpse of his reflection…but wearing said suit, which was all black with wide white eyes, two large white spider symbols that connected to his chest and back, and two white squares on top of his hands. Naturally, this startled Peter intensely, enough to make him tumble backward and fall on his backside to the floor. After a few short, anxious breaths, Peter barely managed to calm himself. As he slowly got back up, he saw his reflection in the window had returned to normal, leading Peter to think that maybe it was a hallucination, given that he hadn't had much sleep lately due to all the guilt he felt from all the things he said in did while wearing the black suit.
Now calm, Peter briefly turned back to the newspaper photo. Once he was reminded of the hero he used to be and ultimately failed to be, Peter's sadness turned into rage as he reached over, yanked the picture off the wall, and bitterly crumbled it into a ball. The furious Peter then turned and threw the crushed photo across the room, and moments later, he noticed something that caused his heart to shatter again.
It was another photograph that sat on his small work desk, which had a laptop with a broken screen, and another science book that Peter rented from the ESU library, this one on college-level biology to use to help him study for an upcoming exam. The picture was of Peter when he was just seven years old, in the family garage holding down measuring tape. All to help the grey-haired, portly, middle-aged man that was Ben Parker measure a table the jolly man was trying to fix. Though usually, seeing his uncle smiling happily and proudly that day would be enough to brighten Peter's day, it worsened his depression, as he feels that Uncle Ben must not be so proud of him due to the current circumstances. "I'm so sorry that I let you down, Uncle Ben, the shame consumed Peter thought as he stared at the image of his smiling uncle. "I made a promise to you that I'd use my powers responsibly" Moments later, Peter felt his anger return as he remembered the 'new clothes' that helped him create the mess he had made. "But instead, I let that…THING take control of my body and let it mess with my head! Let it turn me into an arrogant jerk that nearly got people killed and, worse, said things that hurt the people closest to me and made them not want to have anything to do with me. Especially Aunt May. I honestly don't know how I'll be able to rebuild the bridges I made with everyone."
As Peter turned to the left, he walked over to his bed, where he had his Spider-Man costume and three other metal items he used on the field. The first two accessories were silver steel bracelets with metal springs with buttons at the end, and these 'Web-Shooters' were used to fire synthetic webbing of his creation to use in various ways. Be it swinging around the city, apprehending crooks, or whatever task he needed to keep the people of New York safe. And the third was that of a steel belt that contained cartridges of his synthetic webs and a red light on the buckle, which flashed a symbol that looked like his mask.
Though this was not the costume that caused this whole mess, Peter still looked at the outfit with pure disdain. It represents how he let 'Spider-Man' has taken so much from him, even before tonight. Namely how, being a superhero forced him to miss out on time with friends, May, and even a date with Liz Allen, another former classmate from Midtown High who was now attending ESU alongside him. These frequent disappearances caused them to think that Peter was forgetful, insensitive, and unreliable. And thanks to the attitude change that came with the 'new suit,' they were now offended and even scared of him.
It was these sad instances that, as far as Peter was concerned, were brought by Spider-Man, no matter what the costume. For whatever life he saved or villain he stopped as the superhero, his relationships with people he cared about suffered, something which he now wanted no part of. "But there is one thing I do know. Spider-Man has caused a lot of pain lately! And it stops tonight!" With his decision made, Peter bent down and picked up a cardboard box, which he originally used to help move into this apartment when he got accepted into ECU, but he never got to dispose of it, primarily due to swinging around the city fighting crime or saving lives. A task which, as of now, he was going to leave to both the police and to other heroes as well, such as the Avengers, the worldwide superhero team whom Peter once fought alongside with, including during the Galactus event. Sadly, they were also part of the many people who lost all trust in him, which further convinced Peter that what he was about to do was the right thing.
And so, after taking a moment to look at the costume one last time in disgust, Peter began to pick up the costume one piece at a time. Once the suit, belt, and web shooters were in the box, Peter immediately closed and was about to walk out and use what cash he had left to hail a cab and travel to the Hudson River. There, he would throw the box into the water and say goodbye to 'Spider-Man' once and for all. But once Peter picked up the box and took two steps away from the bed, he was stopped dead in his tracks by the sounds of loud banging on his door and the raised voice of an older man with a thick Ukrainian accent.
"PARKER, YOU'RE RENT IS DUE!"
At that moment, Peter closed his eyes and cursed himself as he forgot that today was the day to pay his rent, and he was so caught up in his inner turmoil he forgot all about it. The only money he left was for cab fare, which was not nearly enough to pay the angry landlord outside. As such, the panicky Peter began to think of an excuse for why he didn't have the money and prayed that it would be convincing enough to wait just a little bit longer and not throw him out of the street. "Oh, uh, Mr. Barno!" Peter replied nervously. "Listen, I'm afraid I I-!" While struggling to come up with his story, Peter suddenly witnessed something strange that made his eyes grow in shock and horror.
A strange white light suddenly covered Peter's right hand, scaring the young man enough to make him drop the box on the floor. This peculiar new light then moved up the bewildered Peter's hand like water and covered his entire arm until his whole body was finally glowing. "W-What?! What's going-?!" Those were the last words the frantic Peter exclaimed before the light that covered his body suddenly flashed and consumed the entire apartment.