CHAPTER 10: Great Responsibility
Disclaimer: I don't own any of the Spectacular Characters or Marvel Characters.
'I remember what Doctor Connors used to say; in nature, everything's connected. As scientists, we explore and expand upon those connections. He'd say the same thing for our body, everything's connected, from our brain to the tiny neurons. They show our behavior and our behavior reflects who we might become… And right now, becoming a certain wall-crawler… again, to stop lunatics from destroying New York… Eh, what else was new?'
INTRUSIONS - FISK TOWER
The dawn after dusk came upon them. A small glimmer of light in the dark tunnel had appeared earlier this evening. Everything they've done seemed not right to him, so the so-called 'Devil of Hell's Kitchen' patrolled the vicinity of Fisk Tower. He made sure that Fisk wouldn't escape New York's eventual wrath without consequences.
HELL, the vigilante even rocked new red body armor with short horns on the helmet, in case any of Fisk's cronies came after him. Of course he couldn't make it himself, not knowing how to sew, so he called in a favor from an acquaintance, Melvin Potter… a man under Fisk's use.
'But enough from him, he had a stakeout to focus on.'
Instantly, he sensed a distant individual with a familiar 'thwip' sound included. But soon he'd realize that this man… was no threat, only New York's infamous web slinger, swinging by.
Spider-Man observed as he swung by, "Wow, Devil man! Weird to see you here! Especially with the new costume. And gotta say, not bad for a new suit although, the horns are a bit much…"
"Thought you quit?" the horned vigilante asked.
"I did… for like weeks. But… look, I made the wrong choice… so I'm here to make things right," the web slinger explained.
The Hell's Kitchen Guardian responded with a subtle nod and smile, assuring him that all was well.
"So… you're waiting for Kingpin too, huh?" Spidey observed.
"He's exposed to this city for all of his crimes… and the FBI and the New York police departments are after him. It's up to us to make sure he doesn't escape"
"Wouldn't it make sense for us to go in right now, cause he's vulnerable?"
"Fisk expects us to be there. It's a trap," the vigilante expressed.
"Isn't everything a trap these days? Plus, if we don't go in now, he'll scheme his way around us… fleeing from the city!"
"Not bad… For a guy in a sweatsuit. It's not the best smell in the world"
"I know… the suit's not the greatest at the moment, but it'll do for now…" the wall crawler answered. "Also, did you ever think of the name?" he asked.
"A name?"
"Yeah… like a superhero name? Like if you're gonna be doing this at night more often, at least don't call yourself the man in black, or Devil of Hell's Kitchen… kinda on the nose, don't you think? Especially with that devilish outfit"
"Are you usually this chatty?" The horned vigilante mentioned with an annoyed tone. He's never met someone so chatty before in his life. And that's saying something… when he's been around chatty people before.
"Well… it gets the nerves out when you're brawling lunatics. I recommend you try it," he advised.
"I'm good," he immediately dismissed.
"Suit yourself, Mr. Devil-"
BAM! A sudden crash was heard from where they were, catching their attention. They were in disarray once that crash echoed through the evening sky.
The horned hero refocused himself, "Something's happening"
But he focused in and listened to what the FISK TOWER and one thing was clear, they weren't the only ones going after the Kingpin of crime… there was an independent variable they weren't fully aware of yet.
"What? Wait… you can hear that?"
"Pretty much"
"How the-"
"Yeah, Scorpy's gonna for the kill"
"Gotta get em, before he does"
"So we're gonna fall into the trap"
"Yep"
"Welp… race you inside, WAIT-" the wall crawler quipped at him, before realizing how stupid he sounded.
"Need a lift?"
The horned vigilante nodded, which immediately, Spider-Man scooped him up like a bride and swung towards the building.
Like all life plans, they go quickly south.
One aspect that wasn't a part of Wilson Fisk's chaotic contingency plan was Mac Gargan. An unstable former hitman arrived in his dark green exoskeleton and intruded into the Kingpin's base. And he gave all the surrounding guards a beating, with no signs of slowing down.
Then there was Fisk, backed into the corner, like a caged animal. And like a scorpion, his tail ready to strike.
He snarled at him and towered over him, "You don't know what you've done to me, Fisk!"
"I've done nothing to you, Mr. Gargan! You're delusional… unstable!"
"You sure about that? You wanna test your luck?" He aggressively taunted him.
Then Wilson took a moment to process what's happening, and how much leverage he actually had. In short, he had PLENTY!
"YOU KNOW WHAT?! FINE! You're right, Gargan! I played my part in your downfall. But all you needed was a push… even from the start of your career, you started off stalking your neighbors. Your sanity was nonexistent from the start of your adolescence," Fisk aggressively talked down to him.
"SHUT UP! SHUT UP FISK!" Gargan screamed.
"I've said my part. It's time to do yours… cause I'll never stop! You can cut my tongue out and I still won't stop"
"You're right… and you deserve everything that's coming to you, you piece of sh-!" He proclaimed as attempted to thrust his tail into Fisk's heart.
But he felt a slight tug on his tail…
BAM!
The Spectacular Spider-Man intervened, kicking the Scorpion out of the way. Also, without a single thought, webbing Kingpin to the corner. The Devil of Hell's Kitchen held his guard up against the dangerous mob boss.
"Stay there, Humty Dumpty," the wall crawler pointed at him.
Gargan screamed, "WHAT'RE YOU TWO DOING?!"
"You're losing yourself, Scorpy! Letting Kingpin turn you into something you're not… Taking out Fisk won't fix anything!"
"It'll stop him from hurting anyone else"
"Yes, and once he goes, another one takes his place. That's how crime-bosses work!" the wall crawler explained. "Is that what you want? You want to lose your sanity to him?" he continued.
"I-I put this on myself!… All of this is cuz I signed up to be his guinea-pig hitman. It's my fault for trusting him!… There's people I care about here and taking him outta this world could stop him hurting anyone else! That's my responsibility… to every person this bald BASTARD screwed over!"
Spidey pushed back, trying to stand his ground against this giant.
"Look, I get that… I really do. HELL, Fisk tried to destroy my neighborhood… filled with people I care about… so, it would be so easy to take him out," the horned vigilante empathised with him. Spider-Man immediately turned to him, with no idea where he was going with this. 'That's not what I expected'
"But he doesn't deserve an easy way out, after everything he's done to you. He deserves to be in a cage, and pay for his crimes against this city," he added.
"You really believe that can stop me?… Pathetic!"
"Shut it Humpty Dumpty!"
But the large crime boss continued taunting them, "It's even more pathetic that you believe you can make a difference in New York! You believe running around in your colorful outfits is going to change the landscape of this city. Now that's a child's dream."
"You two live in a fantasy. I live in reality, changing this city on a scale that matters. My father believed the same thing as you do… but he failed… like all of you will if you keep at this delusion. This is a dying city, way before I was born. The dead rats on the floor rotted away. Hell's Kitchen is a part of the problem, yet it isn't THE problem. The problem is the people, who look the other way, ignoring the filth, the nastiness of New York. This city is a wasteland, ready to happen, and I'm the only one to stop it," he explained.
"Mr. Egghead, you're trying to fix this city, by destroying it? Doesn't that contradict itself?" Spider-Man interrogated.
"That's how you save a rotting home, Spider-Man. A home that's rotting away each passing day must evolve, to reach its full potential. You must tear it down before you could build it back up. That's what I'm trying to do. But you vigilantes are infesting this home, attempting to prevent the inevitable"
"But you're hurting people and their homes"
"And I'm going to hurt more! It's unfortunate. Honestly, it really is… but inevitable for what I need to accomplish… for a better tomorrow for New York"
Scorpion aggressively turned to them, "SEE! This is why he must GO AWAY! He won't stop hurting people to reach his goal and with the resources he has, he can do some damage from a jail cell"
"So you're going to try stopping me, and my plan, huh? Like the caped heroes you are?"
"Well, we don't got capes… and well, we kinda already stopped you"
Fisk responded in absolute silence. Just with a devious smile growing on his face. A rare creepy smile from him… alarmed them.
"Crap…"
His spider-sense rung…
BOOM!
The nearby wall blew open, leaving only dust and smoke that filled the room. The blast sent them feet away from Fisk and in that instant, his men in body armor guided him to his escape.
But the blind-vigilante navigated through the debris with ease. However, with obvious help from his enhanced senses. Although the overwhelming amount of smoke hurt his smell, and a constant ringing was in his ear. He tried to shake it off, but it stuck with him from moments on end. The constant coughing didn't help.
Once Spidey rose off the ground, he faintly observed through the smoke how overwhelmed the horned vigilante was. He looked stuck on sinking sand, unable to move.
Spider-man ran and checked up on him, "Hey, hey, hey man, are you alright?"
It took him a moment till he focused, "Yeah, I… I am."
Spidey held his hand out and helped him up.
"He's going up!"
"How'd you know that?"
"Let's just say my hearing's spectacular"
Meanwhile, with so many FBI vehicles and cop cars have surrounded the building, there's no practical way of fleeing on the road. There should be no way!
Yet, money can get your assets… MANY useful assets. In this case, Kingpin had a getaway… helicopter. A getaway helicopter… What the hell can't this man get?
Anyway, he quickly made his way through the doors of the chopper, with a pilot already on board.
"GO NOW!" Fisk urgently ordered.
In that instant, the helicopter got ready for takeoff and eventually rose off the roof.
Moments after, they were going into the vast night sky of New York, flying over those who he deemed as incapable of his help. Those officers on the floor felt useless when seeing the crime boss flee in the helicopter. Especially George Stacy, who felt defeated, knowing that Fisk got away scot-free.
So it felt fulfilling to accomplish their escape… nearly. Just till a slight tug was felt on the lower end of the chopper. Then the aerial vehicle came to a screeching halt. It was odd… the rotor blades were moving smoothly, so the chopper wasn't broken. And they weren't free falling. Something was definitely up. When the pilot looked back, he noticed a web hanging off by the ends of the helicopter. Who held the strong web was just your friendly neighborhood Spider-Man. He barely hung onto the webs, as his feet planted into the ground, trying his best to hold the helicopter from going any further.
"Sir, we have a situation!" The pilot urgently turned to Fisk.
Just then, a hyper focused and furious Scorpion burst out of the tower and recklessly lunged at the helicopter. He barely grabbed onto the landing skid and with such ferocity it caused the helicopter to tip down. Without another thought, his large tail spurted out lethal acid at the rotor blades, leading to a freefall. And they were directly above plenty of officers who parked around the tower. They immediately rushed aside, without caring one bit about their cars, even though those patrol cars were very expensive to replace.
'CRAP! I did this before, I did this before… I did this before! C'mon Parker luck!'
He didn't think about reason at the moment, and started spraying webs all over the helicopter. And everything around it as well. Every single edge of a building or a window could be used as a support to stop it from crashing on all those officers. Spidey made sure to just rapid fire webbing to each end of the helicopter to the two buildings. A sloppy, tedious process, but it was a necessity. Each web strung aside every part of the chopper. It covered even the windows on the cockpit in webbing. What the finished product looked like was a fly stuck to a Spider's web.
Spider-Man just hung onto the window of the building, catching his breath after sloppily saving a helicopter and the people on the ground.
'Wow… didn't think that would work a second time, such Parker luck… huh'
After catching his breath, he launched himself back into the helicopter. He journeyed through the webbing and broke through the helicopter. He wrapped up with the remaining webbing, like into cocoons, and lowered everyone down, including the Scorpion. All of them being knocked out.
'Well, that's it with the web fluid… ugh, how am I supposed to make it home in time'
But when he looked up, Captain Stacy made his way towards, after checking on his officers.
"Spider-Man… looks like you saved the day again… obviously with some help"
The Captain noticed the acrobatic vigilante in black making his way down to the suspects.
He wanted to get a sense of them, especially the Kingpin. But noticed a change in smell from his suit. It wasn't the same fragrance… from literally 15 minutes earlier. This man had a distinct, distasteful scent from what he had earlier.
So he knew exactly what this meant, as he cursed, "DAMMIT!"
"What?"
"It- it's not him… it's not Fisk"
"What do you mean? He's right here," George Stacy objected.
"Trust me, it's not-" The Devil of Hell's Kitchen assured as he reached for Fisk's face.
At first, the skin felt realistic, too realistic. His hands made his way around to the neckline, where pieces of the skin peeled away. So it was way too apparent that it was just a mask. His hands removed it, slowly revealing the true identity of the mysterious individual. As soon as the mask dropped, the truth made officers' jaws drop. It wasn't the bald maniac at all, it was Spider-Man's costume-shifting foe, The Chameleon.
"Chameleon?! Man, really not a huge fan of these Scooby-Doo reveals… but gotta say, that fat suit was pretty convincing"
"I wasn't paid enough for this," Chameleon grumbled.
"Mr. Fisk is probably long gone now! We'll never catch him in time!" Captain Stacy noted.
"Maybe the goal wasn't to take him in. Sure, that would've been great, but a man like Fisk can't be trapped… but he can't afford to be exposed. That's the worst thing that could happen for his image"
"This city will turn on him…"
"Exactly"
Suddenly, an unhappy Scorpion rose. He powerfully ripped through the thick webbing, and confronted them, "YOU GUYS LET HIM GET AWAY! WHY?!"
"He outsmarted us. But if he ever tries coming back, we'll be ready," Spider-Man acknowledged.
"READY?! WE COULD'VE PUT AN END TO HIS SCHEMES BY ENDING HIM! YOU GUYS ARE JUST JUSTIFYING FOR LETTING HIM ESCAPE!"
The hulking, dark emerald Scorpion came even closer to the wall crawler, with his tail ready to strike. The surrounding officers got their firearms drawn out and fingers to the trigger, ready to shoot, if they have to.
"Please don't do this. This would cause more problems… you'd become the person Fisk wanted you to turn into… the hitman. And I know, you don't wanna be that. I don't even know you well, personally… but you seem like you want to do the right thing or do something to help others. And we need more people like that, in this city, to look out for those we care about, and those we don't even know. I'll try to make sure to keep this city safe… but I can't do that alone. I need help from everyone else around me… to prove that this city soul won't die, like Fisk says it will"
Although Peter didn't know it, Mac's expression changed underneath the armor. He became conflicted with himself, with his intense mindset being called into question.
"I also know that you don't want to hurt anyone here, because that's not who you are… so please, stand down! And yeah, they're gonna arrest you and bring you to jail. But they'll get you the care you need. And what I can do is visit those you care about… and tell them you'll be back, even a better person than you were before… and that you care about them very much. That'll be my responsibility," he expressed.
The wall crawler even motioned the officers to lower their weapons, and they eventually did… with some reluctance.
But Macdonald Gargan noticed the change in their behavior, because of Spider-Man. He gazed around everyone around him, and no one had their weapons aimed at him. They didn't see him as a threat, so why should he act like one. So Gargan lowered his tail down and took off his helmet. He even dropped to his knees and raised his hands up. Immediately, one of Captain Stacy's men approached and cuffed him. They also got specialized restraints for his tail, and boy, did it need it.
"Spider-Man…" Gargan called out.
"Yeah, dude"
"Her name's Elizabeth Gargan… she's at the Midtown Children's Hospital. 2nd floor, first room on the left, room #20… You promise me"
"I promise"
The man responded with a slight nod before being moved into the large police van. Peter just gazed at the large vehicle until their doors closed.
"So what am I supposed to call the dude in the horns in my police report, cause 'The Devil of Hell's Kitchen' is a bit too long," Officer Stan Carter asked.
"Told ya," Spider-Man playfully jabbed at him.
"How about… hm… Daredevil?" the officer proposed.
"Short and simple, that could work, and abit on the nose" he agreed.
"Rolls off the tongue much better… don't ya think?"
It took a moment for the vigilante to process the name, but Daredevil was an interesting name. It was better than his other name, the Daring Devil. Plus Spider-Man was right. It rolled off the tongue a lot better. DAREDEVIL.
…
RAMIFICATIONS - NEW YORK CITY
'It's Monday Morning, rain is falling!... wait that's not how the song goes.'
Usually it'd be a drag to wake up, knowing that school or work were the prime destinations for the day. Wasn't the best way to start the morning, especially for most students in the New York School district.
However, Midtown's own Principal Davis announced Midtown High would be closed for two weeks, because of the damages to the school, especially to the gym. They had to rebuild and maintain a safe atmosphere for most of the kids, especially for those who're too traumatized to even come back after what happened.
So practically, the students got a two-week break from school. And they couldn't be happier.
'Man, they're so lucky!'
Some of them, however, couldn't spend their break like they hoped, especially Hobie Brown. It was his last day with his family before he went to Rykers Island for 'aiding and abetting' in Wilson Fisk's crimes. And since he's a senior, and turned 18 this year, they could charge him as an adult.
Captain George Stacy stood outside their home, right next to his patrol car, ready to take Hobie in. But he let the family have their last moments with their son.
"I'm sorry… for all of this, Dad"
"No, no, no, Hobie… I should've been there when you needed me. We both screwed up"
Then Hobie turned to his younger brother, whose tears flowed down to his chin.
"Miles… It's fine. I'm gonna be fine. I promise"
"I'm gonna miss you! I'll try to visit any time I get," he uttered as he embraced him as tight as he could.
"No, Miles. We'll visit anytime we get"
"Thanks Mama"
"Love you Hobie"
"We'll see you around. And We love you, Hobie"
"I love you guys so much!… But I'll be back. I promise," Hobie reassured his family.
They gathered together and embraced for one last time, each of them shedding a tear before letting go. His mother pecked him on the cheek and gave a wave before he led Hobie into the patrol car. Captain Stacy gave the family a final wave before going inside the car. Then Hobie gave a last wave from inside the car, with a tear in his eye.
"Man, I'm gonna miss that place," the young man uttered to himself as they drove past his home.
"Um, Mr. Stacy… gotta admit, you gotta watch out on your men. Not all of them can be trusted. I'd bet that some of them are ready to flee the state, since Fisk's gone"
"I'll monitor them, Mr. Brown. Nobody can keep this up forever. So thanks for bringing it up"
"And Mr. Stacy… you promise to keep my family safe… please"
He painfully gulped before making such a promise.
"Yes, Hobie… I will," the captain's voice rasped a bit.
NELSON & MURDOCK ATTORNEYS AT LAW
"Karen, Matt, we did it! We FREAKING did it!" the furry-hair Foggy celebrated.
He plopped down his newspaper on his desk, and jumped all over the office.
"Did what?" Karen asked.
"We took out the biggest mob boss in town," he explained as he handed over the newspaper. "Technically, he's not in jail. But He ran him out of this town! And this leads us to get new clients, which eventually leads us to more money in our pockets," Foggy continued.
Karen skimmed through pieces of the newspaper, "With the help of the vigilantes, Spider-Man and… Daredevil?... Is that what they're calling him these days?"
"The nut in the mask? I guess so"
"He's not a nut… and the name Daredevil sounds a lot better than Devil of Hell's Kitchen"
"Matt, you seem a bit more quiet than usual. Are you not happy that we could possibly get more money"
"Foggy, we didn't become lawyers for the money," Matt mentioned.
Instantly, Foggy glared at him, where even a blind man could feel the intensity.
"Although… money couldn't hurt," Matt finally admitted with a grin.
"Cheers to that!"
Slowly, new clients started knocking on their door, one at a time. Once the three of them heard those knocks, they couldn't help but feel excited.
Especially Foggy, who had a huge grin, quickly greeted those who entered, "Welcome to Nelson & Murdock, Attorneys at Law, how can we help you?"
…
ALLAN RESIDENCE
During that drizzling Monday afternoon, Peter swung by Liz's home with his damaged, improvised outfit. Earlier, he had gotten a text message from her saying that she had something for him, which intrigued him. Everyone loves gifts… or the idea of gifts… but usually, the actual gift can be really disappointing. But it's the thought that counts. Right?
Once Peter arrived, he discreetly knocked on her window, and caught her attention.
After opening the window, she warmly greeted him with a hug.
"So… how's New York's hero?"
"Great!… Really great, actually! Sure, catching Fisk was a bust, but we exposed him… showing New York, he's another phony. And there's nothing Jonah can say, cause Fisk's a menace, and now, on the run. It made Hobie's sacrifice worth something"
"Yeah, I know. Glory told me all about it… I still can't believe he worked for him, and… I can't believe you didn't mention it!"
"Well, that's my fault… There was so much going on, I forgot. He made things right though… It makes me think what I can do for them. Make things right for this city. They need me out there, Liz. They need Spider-Man, again," he expressed.
"They always needed you. And if you're gonna do this more often… here-I made this… since your entire outfit's shredded, and… I don't want you wearing pajamas while you're fighting guys like Electro or Mr. Octopus," she handed him the newly made suit.
"It's Doc Ock… but yeah, I get it. Pajamas aren't cutting it. It's actually getting kind of stinky around the old webshooter"
His eyes noticed the new color scheme, "Ah-I didn't know it was Christmas already-ooh, you saw my design?"
"Yeah, you dropped it on the floor. Although I made a couple of tweaks," she mentioned.
He observed, "hmm… red & black…"
"Sorry, I couldn't find blue spandex, so I settled with black," she reasoned.
"Don't apologize, Liz, it looks great. Thanks!"
"You like it?"
"Sure… although it'll never beat the classic Red & Blue. You do know that's my signature?" he jokingly pointed out.
"You wanna try it on?"
"Yeah… sure"
Peter grabbed his new, sleek red & black Spider-Man suit and quickly headed to her restroom, quickly dressing in there.
'Obviously he didn't dress in front of her, as the gentleman he was… that was rule number 1, that's what Aunt May told him.'
It took him a moment to adjust to that 'new suit smell'… Sure, it was mostly still spandex. It was a new feeling that someone was helping him with his vigilante activities.
"Hey! At least you won't stand out like a sore thumb at night. Black's stealthy at night," she pointed out.
"And basic. Liz, you know, I'm trying to set a fashion statement!" Peter humorously jabbed at her from inside the restroom.
"So you fight with style? Instead of a spider-sense, it's… a fashion sense!"
"Good one. Ha-ha-ha-ha," Peter sarcastically complimented.
As soon as he got out of the restroom, he gave her a slight smile.
"Gotta admit Petey, that's pretty funny," she playfully punched his shoulder.
"Jeez, are your jokes as bad as your cheer routines? Now that's a joke," he humorously insulted.
"Wow, you're really gonna go there… aren't ya. Mr. Parker?"
Without knowing, Liz grew closer to him and stroked his chest. Her tiny grin grew on her face as she observed Peter's cheeks slowly turn pink.
"Don't get me wrong, I enjoy em, but… not for that reason," he smirked.
"Well, what's the reason, then? You get to see many beautiful girls?"
"No, I get to see that one… beautiful girl," Peter answered.
Immediately, he froze for a moment. 'Crap… did I really say that? C'mon Parker… that wasn't smooth at all. Or was it?'
"Oh… who? Out of pure curiosity," she flirtatiously asked, with her cheeks blushing pink.
"Well… she's great. She's funny, talented, brilliant and… well, she helped me out of a dark hole recently. You'd definitely like her," he admitted with a smile.
That small grin grew larger on her face.
"It sounds like I would."
In a moment, they gazed at each other, admiring the beauty in each other's eyes.
"Yeah… look, Liz, if you ever wanna-"
Before he could say anything else, his phone alarm went berserk and sounded off on the desk.
"Wow, your aunt is really cracking down on your curfew, huh? 3:00 is pretty early," she acknowledged.
"That's not for my curfew… I gotta meet someone. I made a promise to her dad I would"
He gazed back up from his phone, and reached for her hand.
"Hey Liz… I gotta go… but when I get back, you wanna, you know?… Grab a bite? We could go to Nelson's Meats… actually wait, that has meat… and-" Peter stammered.
She immediately answered, through his stammering, "Yes, I'd love that… I'd love that alot, Petey!"
His hands were getting all clammy and gross.
"Great! I mean… ahem, that sounds good," he nodded at her.
But before he could turn for a second, she called for him, "Petey." He felt her hand softly tug at his, so he quickly turned to her.
"Yeah?"
She held onto his hand and leaned close to his chest. Her hazel eyes gazed into his soft amber eyes for a tiny moment. That's when Peter lifted her chin toward his mouth, before both their eyes softly closed and their lips met.
Peter hasn't felt this way with Liz before… It wasn't like he wasn't attracted to the young lady, but this was different. He didn't know if he could call it 'love.' But it wasn't like he didn't love her… cause a fraction of him does. But it felt more complicated than that… like a twisted take on it. A mix of Black Cat's seduction, Gwen Stacy's sincerity… and a sprinkle of Mary Jane Watson's charm… was Liz Allan, and at that moment, he lived in the moment, and embraced it.
They stood like this for a minute, not breaking the kiss until they needed to take a breath. Which their foreheads on each other, heavily breathing, with a smile on their face.
"I-I gotta go… I'll see you later. Pick you up at 4 - 4:30? But you get it… if I'm… late..."
"Yeah, of course… as long as Peter Parker comes back in one piece… I'll be fine. He still owes me a date," she answered, as she caressed his chest.
Peter goofily smiled at her, and gave her another kiss, before he put on his mask, and leaping out of her window and swung to the incident.
All Liz could do was gaze out her window, with a face filled with happiness, but a slight bit of doubt diluted it. Seeing him become the big time hero he was… enlightening, and frightening. Especially the thought that he'll outgrow her. Sure, she could envision a future with Peter Parker… There's no question about that. But a future with New York's superhero, Spider-Man, was a far different story.
…
GREAT RESPONSIBLITY - NEW YORK CITY
Peter dialed up his Aunt, while sitting on a ledge.
"Aunt May… um I'm gonna late for dinner again"
"Why dear?"
"I-uh… got a date… with ahem… Liz"
"OH Elizabeth?! Awe, she's a really sweet girl"
"Uh-yeah!"
"You need money?"
"No, I'll pay Aunt May. Just wanted to tell you"
"Okay then Peter. Have fun on your date! Just make sure you're not out too late"
"I won't. Thanks! Love You!"
Then Spider-Man dove into the city streets, riding along with the traffic, following along the police cars. He swung all over the city to find the children's hospital.
"Hey Spidey! I'm glad you're back, and loving the new suit!" one citizen called out to him.
"Thanks man! Do you know where Midtown Children's Hospital is at?"
"Up the road!" the citizen instructed.
"Thank you… random citizen!"
'Gotta love New Yorkers, am I right'
He made his way up the road to see the hospital he's been looking for.
MIDTOWN CHILDREN'S HOSPITAL
Peter contemplated whether he should come in costume. With a hospital, filled with children. But it wasn't about the spectacle, he just needed to meet one girl.
'You know what? No costume for this one'
So once he changed out of his outfit, he made his way through the hospital doors. He checked in with hospital staff and told him he was a friend of Mac Gargan. They immediately directed him to her room, which was exactly what Mac said, '2nd floor, first room to the left.'
And once he was there, he observed how every other kid had their family around them… while there was just one girl, sat alone in her room. A 9-year-old girl, with no hair because of the chemotherapy, was alone. But Peter wanted to change that and went into her room.
"Hi. Are you Elizabeth Gargan?"
"Yes… um-who are you?"
"I'm a friend of your dad's? I'm Peter"
"You look a little young to be a friend of my dad's"
"I get that a lot," he subtly chuckled.
"Is he not coming again, huh?"
"Yeah… he'll be gone for a while, to get the help he needs"
The girl glared down in hopelessness, and tears fell down her face. She tried her best to wipe the tears away from her eyes.
"Hey, hey, Lizzy… Can I call you Lizzy?"
She responded with the most subtle nod ever, but he went with it.
"Before he left, your dad wanted me to tell you he loved you… so, so, so much, and it hurts to leave you! But when he comes back to see you, he'll come back better than ever. And it's my promise to be there for you. Okay?"
"Okay..."
The young man took a moment and gazed all over her room. He noticed the chess game that was out next to her.
"You like chess?" he pointed out.
"Yeah. I usually play it with my dad, and I usually beat him"
"Wow, you're that good?"
"I'd like to think so"
"So, you wanna challenge me to a game"
"Cool. Just letting you know, I'm pretty good," she smirked.
"I'm not bad at chess myself so, bring it on girl," he challenged.
Then a bright smile formed on Elizabeth's face as he prepared the chess game on the table. He had a grin on his face as well, not expecting this to go as well as it did. And he finally understood why he was resilient for all this time.
'I think Doctor Connors was right about one thing… Everything's connected. And with that connection, it results in need. Especially Spider-Man and I, no matter if I like it or not… It's my responsibility forever! Just like Uncle Ben said… this city needs heroes! It needs The Spectacular Spider-Man!'
THE END.