Origins Issue #02: Just a Normal Spider. . . Right?
The next day, Nico felt drowsy and tired. And he had the most killer headache ever. He stayed in bed, thinking he was going to die from this headache. Then on Sunday, he was wishing that he died while Grandpa prayed for his recovery. Then he forced himself to walk and have Grandpa drive him to school that night.
But it went away by midnight, so one can say there's advantage of having a priest/minister as a grandfather. Hallelujah.
And add that to the list of most painful experiences in his life.
He woke up with burning eyes as his alarm went off. "Conall, get the alarm." he groaned and his roommate Conall Morgan turned off the alarm in the middle of his sentence.
Nico grunted his thanks and got out of bed. He walked over to his drawers and grabbed his clothes before heading to the bathroom for a shower. It had been almost a week since his last shower. Another week and Conall will notice his head smelling.
After his shower, Nico was pulling his pants up his legs when noticed something very important.
The Hell is this? When did my pants shrink? Nico thought as he looked down his legs. The pants hardly reached his waist and the legs were above his ankles.
Are these my pants? Shit. Did someone switch my clothes again? Wait, why is the voice of my thoughts louder than usual? Like an echo or something. Or am I talking out loud?
No, not talking out loud. Just the thinking voice in brain speaking louder than before, Nico thought to himself. Oh great, the headache is back.
The rest of the day went by in a blur, even his interaction with Gwen seemed to fly by faster than ever. Though he is certain that he told her that he got bit by a racist spider. She seemed interested in that fact but Nico couldn't remember what she said through his killer headache other than her concern if he was okay. Then there was this strange buzz happening in his head all of the sudden, like his head was vibrating or ringing like a phone as he said, "Relax, Gwanda. I'm fine. Totally fine."
(I should start a list of weird experiences now that something like that just happened.) And then he had his therapy session, just after lunch. Like said, earlier, it gives him a breather for the day/week.
"Hello, Nico." the therapist greeted with a warm smile. "How are you today?"
"Ms. Hopkins," Nico grunted through gritted teeth. "Killer headache."
"Oh, I'm sorry to hear that." Ms. Hopkins said sympathetically. The Native American teen grunted again while rubbing his head. He uncaps his thermoflask and drinks his water.
She asked how his week went, as usual and he replied as much as he could through his headache that it had gone positive.
"Though I was bite by a spider a couple of days ago," Nico stated, his headache now seemingly toned down now that he didn't have to hear more than ten students speak at once in the same room.
"I see." Hopkins wrote it down on her clipboard. "Now, have you used violence in any situation lately?"
"What?" Nico asked, a bit taken aback by the question. "Come on, Hopkins. Do I look like a guy that blows his top like a volcano for every little thing?"
"Appearances can often be deceptive," the therapist replied sagely. "And there's the fact that you had blown your top, Nico."
Nico sighed. "What I did was normal. Look, the kid was a bully and made a crack about my parents." he said a little defensively. "Anyone who loves their parents would have done the same as I did."
"Giving a black eye is normal," Hopkins pointed out. "Punching a few teeth out is excessive. Breaking the boy's nose in two different places is extreme."
". . . Agree to disagree." Nico shrugged.
"Would you like to talk about your parents?" Hopkins asked carefully. "Or your sister?"
The Native American teen stiffened and looked away, out to the window. He saw something move away that didn't look like a bird but he didn't focus on that. He focused on his reflection. Or rather the reflection of a six-year-old boy who had a traumatized expression, his brown eyes looked like they were also burning with a cold fury.
". . . Look, that was a long time ago." Nico said after a moment of silence. "It was awful, but I hardly think about those events these days."
"You know, repressed trauma is something you may not realize that you're dealing with," Hopkins pointed out. "Those tragedies in your childhood are obviously and reasonably a tender spot. And you clearly repressed the impacts they have on you. This whole life that you've built in the city so far from your homeland. A student in Visions. An outstanding artist, an excellent writer and a fantastic actor. A quiet kid who rarely interacts with students and just the teachers. It feels so, I don't know, obvious. Almost a cliche. Maybe it's a way to shield yourself from pain. Have you ever considered that you've repressed yourself in other ways?"
Nico crossed his arms and was silent for a long moment. He uncaps his thermoflask again and drinks his water. "Nope. Can't think of any repressing when I got this killer of a headache."
Hopkins sighed before nodding. "Very well then," she concurred. "Then perhaps that should be all for today. Take care of yourself, Nico. And consider making new friends."
Nico sighed at that before nodding his head. "I'll consider it."
"-How is your special assignment going? Nico? Nicodemus?" The teen shook his head and glanced up to his teacher, Ms. Calleros. "I said, how is your personal assignment going?"
"Sorry, teach," Nico rubbed his eyes. "Remind me what it's suppose to be about, please?"
"Of course." Calleros nodded. "It's not about physics, not math, history. Just you. And the kind of person that you want to be in life. Whether in school or out in the world."
Nico nodded. "Okay, thank you, Ms. Calleros. That part has had me stumped." he admitted. He picks up his bag as he stands up. "See you tomorrow."
He suddenly feels the base of his skull vibrating like a phone again and grimaces as he walks out of the classroom. Okay, now he feels like he should be concerned about what is going on with-
"Nico? Are you alright?"
And suddenly that vibrating disappears all of the sudden as Nico notices Gwanda's presence. He squinted his eyes as his thoughts were in a jam.
Did she get short all of the sudden or I am taller than I was yesterday? That's weird as Hell, right? I was sure I had my last growth spurt last year. Damn, she looks hot and sexy. . . Okay, brain, shut up. Shut up.
"Hey, Beautiful." Nico said playfully as if nothing was wrong. "Nothing's wrong. Just a normal day for Nico Tomeo."
Gwanda seemed surprised at his nickname for her and blushed slightly. "Y-You sure?" Just then she felt a spike in her senses. She raked through her head, trying to decipher what it meant before she realized what its meaning.
. . . He's just like me.
"Believe me, Blondie," Nico said, putting his hand on her shoulder. "I feel a lot better now that I saw you again."
Gwanda shook her head out of her thoughts. "Oh! I see. Look, Nico, we need to talk."
"We're talking now, ain't we?" the Native American teen asked.
"No, in private." Gwanda shook her head. "It's, uh, important. Do you understand?"
Nico briefly considered it. He shrugs. "Okay, we'll talk tomorrow." he replied as the bell rang. "It's a date."
"Great!" Gwanda smiled as the hall began to fill with students. Then she paused as she registered what else Nico had said. "W-Wait!" She squeaked in surprise, blushing as she cleared her throat. "A-Are you sure?"
"I don't see why not?" Nico shrugged. "That's about as private as I can get, unless you want to talk on the phone. I gave you my number already."
"Okay. . . It's a date!" Gwanda thought it over before she smiled.
Nico smirked at her. "It's a date." He winked before walking away.
Wow. I got a date, Gwanda thought to herself in surprise with a blush.
Wow, I actually asked her out, Nico thought in surprise. I mean, sure I was going to eventually, but not when I had this killer headache. Not to mention, I still have shit ton of work to do. Wait, you know what? Forget it. All I've done is work, work and work. Time I made some free time to myself. A date with a girl like Gwanda sounds like fun.
He moves to his locker to put his books away before he paused and noticed that his locker's lock and the key were stuck to his hand. "The Hell is this?" he muttered.
He shook his hands up and down but the lock and key stuck to his hands as if he was glue. Nico narrowed his eyes as he clapped his hands, only for the key to stick to his left hand with the padlock. This felt strangely familiar. . .
Nico went straight to his dorm and the next day, he dug around for a particular comic about Spider-Man. Yes, Spider-Man has his own comics. Along with a theme song, a TV series, a Christmas album, breakfast cereal, action figures and a so-so Popsicle.
The comic he was looking for was covering Spider-Man's origins. Aha, here it is. He was bit by a spider that was experimented on and he wakes up with superpowers. The start of which was that his hands were sticky like a spider's and he could climb walls.
Nico glanced at the lock and key still stuck to his hand after reading that.
Okayyyy . . . This has to be a coincidence, Nico thought. Just because I got bit by a racist spider that didn't look like he was from around here does not mean that I-
Suddenly the vibrating buzz happened again and the word, Intruder! echoed through his head. He looked around frantically before he slapped his hand on the wall, killing a fly. . . Okay. . . that's new.
Quick reflexes, he read next as he wiped his hand. Spider-Man could catch an insect in his hand with relative ease or dodge any attacks from his bullies before it could happen, most of this was thanks to what he called the Spider Sense. An extra sense that warned him of danger and would often take control of his body if he didn't act fast.
Nico sighed, rubbing his face before he realized that the lock and key had fallen from his hand. He looks at his hand and at the objects in his lap. He shook his head.
There is no way this is happening, Nico thought to himself as he walked back and forth in his room. I must be going crazy. There is no way that that random spider was just like the one that gave Spider-Man his powers! It was just a normal, racist spider and I'm just feeling the affects of its bite. Which is giving me hallucinations about having the same powers as-Wait, what the Fuck?!
Nico paused in his thoughts as he noticed that he had walked onto the wall and ceiling of his dorm without realizing it! What in the world?! He looks at his feet sticky to the wall without any help before look straight ahead and slapped himself as hard as he could in the face.
. . . Not a dream. Not a drug induced hallucination. Definitely not drunk. . .
And another thing he noticed was when he looked at his upside down reflection in the bathroom mirror when he went to splash water on his face. He suddenly had muscles that he certainly did not have.
Like, what the Hell? Nico thought as he looked in the mirror. The teen had worked out, but that was well over a year ago. Did someone give me steroids?
Nico realized there was only one logical option.
I have to look for that spider.
Nico raced through the streets of New York to get to the subway entrance. He bumped into people on the way and gave them half hearted apologies before they started giving him rude as Hell comments and responses. Well then, consider my apologies taken back. Rude ass people. I say sorry and get rude comments.
He tried to convince himself again that he was just bitten by a normal (And racist) spider. This is not happening! Something needs to tell me that this isn't real!
He was so lost in his doubts that he didn't see that he was running right onto a street when he shouldn't. He heard a car horn honk and for a brief moment, he saw a five-year old Native American girl standing next to him with a betrayed and hurt expression before his instinct took over and he jumped high into the air and landed on the other side of the street.
Nico pants, crouched down low with wide eyes, ignoring how some people saw his stunt as impressive and were clapping or cheering for him. He looks around before pulling his hood over his head and continued to run to Brooklyn.
As he reached the subway, he briefly considered telling someone about this.
Grandpa? Maybe.
Miles? Also maybe.
Mr. and Mrs. Morales? That's debatable since Jeff didn't really approve of Spider-Man and Rio would be worried about him.
His roommate? Nah, the dude hardly interacts with him except for the occasional homework.
His siblings? But they were on the other side of the country.
Gwanda? . . . I don't know, maybe?
Nico shook his head. "You have to be losing your mind on this, Nico." he mutters to himself. "All over a spider that's probably just a normal spider. . . Right?"
He takes out his phone and turns on the flash light and looks around for the spider upon arriving in the abandoned fenced off station where he, Miles and Aaron had painted.
About four minutes later, Nico finds something on the ground. It was hardly noticeably but he identified it after closer examination.
A spider leg. It was the same color as the racist spider that bit him. Meaning that something ate the arachnid and this leg fell off.
"Well, it looks pretty normal to me," Nico said to himself. "Ah, who am I kidding? It's a spider leg. Of course it's going to look-"
Just then the tiny little leg began to glitch in a flash of multiple colors. "Well, that seems. . . not natural."
So much for being a normal spider, he thought.
Just then he felt a buzz in the back of his skull like before. Not alone was what it told Nico. The teen slowly stand up and look around with a weary expression before he sees a shadow move within the darkness on the walls. He narrows his eyes as he gets ready to bolt as it moves towards him.
Just then it jumped and slammed into his chest, causing him to stumble back slightly. It was small and furry. And. . . licking Nico's face with a tongue.
"Gah! You're just a. . . random. . . dog?!" Nico exclaimed as he fumbled with his phone/flashlight and looked at the dog that jumped into his arms. ". . . Awww! Aren't you the cutest?" he said with a smile as he held the little dog close to his chest. The dog's tail wagged at the boy's affection and whined happily.
"So cute! No collar? Okay, I shall claim you as my own." Nico declared. The dog seemed to smile at that and the jumped in the air and landed on the ceiling and stuck on there. Like an insect.
Or arachnid.
Nico stared up at the dog with wide eyes before the little dog jumped back in his hands. "A spider powered. . . mini German Shepard." he muttered. "Are you a German Shepard? You have the same colors as one."
Suddenly he heard a low rumble that made him freeze and turn to the direction it came from. The dog closed its mouth and looked at the same direction with its little ears straight.
"You heard that too, huh?" Nico asked. "Well, it seems logical for us to investigate."
With that, the Native American teen slowly walks to the direction of the rumble.
As he walks, Nico begins to hear voices in his head as his headache returns tenfold with the Spider Sense. No, not voices, just one. His.
"Why is this happening to me?!"
"You're like me? Or is it I'm like you?"
"They're going to pay. All of them. I'm going to make them pay. And you're going to help me."
"You old fool! What the Hell were you thinking?! If you-If you-! I can't. I can't do this job without you."
"That's a warrior right there. You hear me, that's a warrior. A warrior of the Nii'Mii'Puu."
"When I took this mask, it was to protect lives! To save lives! Not stand on the side lines and let innocents die!"
"I was willing to spend my whole life to find you. And yet. . . you weren't willing to do the same."
"Deep down, you must know this is wrong. You must have been a good man once."
The headache and the voices go away as soon as they started as Nico pushes a plastic tarp out of the way of his path. A small group of bats flew past them, causing Nico to duck down before realizing that they weren't attacking him. The dog in his arms sniffed at the wall next to them and Nico looked at it. On the wall was a radioactive symbol, under it was the word 'Alchemax' with its V symbol.
The Spider Sense goes off again and Nico comes to a conclusion while staring at the wall. "Alchemax. . . made the spider and they made you?" he looks at the dog in his arms. The dog didn't really understand the question and just barked in response.
"Huh. Don't know why they thought a dog with spider powers would benefit society, unless they were thinking of turning you into a Military Dog." Nico says more to himself than the dog as he continues walking.
And then his Spider Sense goes off again. This time he hears different voices in his head.
And they were all saying the same thing.
"You're like me," two feminine voices, one familiar and the other unknown.
"You're like me," four male voices, one older than the others, one deeper, the third with an rebellious attitude and the fourth sounded a bit high pitched.
"You're like me," and then came his own voice again. What the Fuck is going on with his head? The comics never mentioned this!
"Nico, look out!" Oh, now what? "This is what I want! I want to be a hero."
"Nico." said one of the male voices, the older one or the one with the attitude.
"NICO!" Wait, was that. . . Gwanda?
Suddenly his Sense stops and he notices the dog barking at something above him. LOOK OUT!
Acting on instinct, Nico jumped back as a large shipping crate lands in front of him. Looking around, he saw that there were lights on in the large room he had walked in.
Then he sees a red and blue blur fly over him and land on one of the crates. "Norman, listen to me!" Nico gasped in surprise. It's Spider-Man! Holy shit, it's him!
"I cannot let you open a portal into another dimension!" Spider-Man says to whoever he's talking to. And most likely fighting. Nico looks where the famous Web Slinger is looking and sees that it's the Green Goblin and that he is less than twenty feet away from him!
"Brooklyn is not zoned for that!" Spider-Man remarks.
"It's not up to me," the Green Goblin replies in a almost demonic voice.
Nico steps back and watches in awe as Spider-Man and the Green Goblin fight one another.
"Why won't you quit?!"
"I don't know. I guess I don't like Brooklyn being sucked into a black hole!"
A black hole? The Hell is the Goblin up to? Nico thought in confusion.
"Staten Island, maybe. Not Brooklyn."
Understandable, Nico remarked mentally in his head.
The dog suddenly barked again and Nico saw a construction beam swinging towards him. Protect the dog! Thinking fast, Nico held the dog over his head just as the beam slams into his chest. Ow! Pain! Is the dog okay? he looks at the dog who pants at his face. Worth it.
Nico climbs onto the beam and groans as he feels pain shoot through his chest. Okay, I should see a doctor after this. He looks back and sees the Goblin and Spider-Man still throwing fists at one another before the Goblin began throwing his pumpkin bombs at the Spider.
One of the bombs detonated close to Nico and sent him stumbling back until he hit his head on a beam. "Gah! Shit!" he hissed.
The dog tugged on his sleeve before Nico was actually getting dragged by a dog. Right, super strength, Nico thought with wide eyes as the dog dragged him under a crate to hide. As he catches his breath, the crate above his head is suddenly lifted up by the Green Goblin and tosses it like a softball at Spider-Man.
Nico looked around before he saw a tunnel nearby with a light. This better be the exit, he mentally prayed before picking up the dog and making a run for it to the tunnel. He nearly got crushed like a fly by the Green Goblin's massive hand and jumped over the green hand as Spider-Man and the Goblin continued their fight and the Native American teen ran down the tunnel.
Only to stop on a dime as he sees that the light was not an exit but a very large cylinder shaped room. There were two viewing stations on either side and two large metal structures.
"What the Hell is this place?" Nico asked out loud. "Is this supposed to be the black hole Spider-Man mentioned."
Suddenly, Nico was shoved off the edge by the Green Goblin who was punched by Spider-Man.
Nico flailed his arms before he slammed down on the wall and began to slide downwards. He slammed his hands down to stop but ended up ripping a panel off instead. Luckily, when he fell he landed on a platform below. Thank goodness construction was still being worked on this weird ass place. And the dog stuck to his chest.
Just then the Goblin landed on the same platform as him and it broke under his added weight. Damn you, Goblin! Why couldn't you be a normal sized human?! was Nico's thoughts before he and the dog began to fall again.
Nico cried out as he fell before he felt someone's arm catch him and then he was swung over to a scaffolding and placed gently down.
Nico panted and looked back at the unconscious Green Goblin before looking ahead and saw Spider-Man kneeling down before him.
"Thanks, Spider-Man," Nico panted. This was the third time he had been saved by the Web Slinger. The first time was from getting hit by a car, then there was being saved from falling debris during a fight with Shocker and Sandman.
"I remember you. That's a third time, Kid." Spider-Man chuckled in amusement. "Hey, you got a dog with you this time. Nice."
"It's a Spider-Dog." Nico said with a weak chuckle. The dog tried to unstick himself from Nico's chest but instead tore a whole on his shirt.
"A Spider-Dog? Really? That's new, I-" Just then Spider-Man's Spider Sense went off in his head and Nico's went off in response. Based on the dog's fur standing on end, his Spider sense goes off as well as they all stared at one another. For a brief second, Nico saw his favorite colors black, red and grey before it changed to red and blue.
Spider-Man's eyes widened after their senses stopped. "I thought I was the only one. . . You're like me." he said in surprise.
A part of Nico recognized the words and the voice from earlier in his head before he spoke. "I didn't mean to get bit. I don't know what to really do, Spider-Man." he admits. "I thought I was dreaming or losing my mind. But. . . I guess not. Can you help me?"
"For sure!" Spider-Man replied excitedly. "You don't have to ask. I'll help."
Nico smiled slightly. "Really?"
The Web Slinger nodded. "It's what we do. Stick around and I'll show you the ropes."
Nico stared in awe before nodding his head. "It means to help people, and. . . " his mind drifts to the reflection he saw in the window at school while remembering something else. Something he had said long ago. They're going to pay. All of them. I'm going to make them pay. He shakes his head and focuses on Spider-Man. "Helping people is what I wanted to do."
"That's the spirit," Spider-Man said, no doubt smiling under the mask. Just then the whole room rumbled. The giant machine began to extend outward.
"That doesn't look good," Nico said nervously.
"Nope, it ain't." Spider-Man shook his head. "I just need to destroy this big machine real quick before the space-time continuum collapses."
"Wait, what?"
"Don't move. I'll see you in a bit." Spider-Man said before quickly swinging away on a web.
Nico leaned up and looked over the edge to watch the Wall Crawler as he lands one of the rotating cylinder parts of the machine and used it to ride to the top of the machine before jumping off and then webbing to a certain part of the ceiling.
"Wicked," Nico muttered in awe. "I am definitely going to do something like that."
He sees Spider-Man opening a panel and pulls out a flash drive. Before he plugs it in though, he pauses before he was tackled by a dark purple blur. It's another villain. One that Nico had seen twice in the past.
"Prowler!" Spider-Man exclaims in greeting before catching the Prowler's clawed gauntlets. "Man, I was in the middle of something!"
Nico watches with rapt attention as Spider-Man fights Prowler before the Green Goblin returns to the fight, pinning the Web Slinger with his giant scaly foot. He leans down to roar in Spider-Man's face.
"Ah, So gross," Spider-Man says in disgust.
Nico glared as he stood up. I should help him! he thinks to himself.
Just then a deep voice is heard on a intercom. Someone humming. . . the Spider-Man theme (Whaaa?) while clicking a pen. Nico looks around before seeing a very large man walk into view within one of the viewing rooms on the side next to the scientists in the room.
"Watch out! Here comes the Spider-Man," Kingpin sang darkly as his eyes land on the Wall Crawler who glares under Green Goblin's foot. "You like my new toy? Cost a fortune, but hey can't take it with you, right?"
One of the things on Nico's mind was How the Hell is a man that big? How did he fit through the door that is smaller than him?
"You came all this way, might as well watch the rest. It's a Hell of a damn light show!" Kingpin said with a laugh. "You're going to love this."
Just then the room began to rumble again with energy, shaking like a five point earthquake.
"No! NO! Don't do this!" Spider-Man shouted. "Stop! You don't know what it can do! You'll kill us all!"
The panels all light up with bright lights. His words are ignored by everyone but Nico who sees something being risen to the center of the machine before it is hit by two different giant beams of energy made up of orange and red particles.
In the back of his mind, Nico realized what this machine was thanks to his Quantum Physics class. A particle accelerator. And possibly the biggest one he had ever seen.
"I see multiple dimensions opening!" shouted one of the scientists in the room besides Wilson Fisk. "That's three, four, five, six separate dimensions!"
Holy shit, other dimensions exist, Nico thought, his mind going back to one of the lectures he had during Quantum Physics.
"It's unstable! We should stop!" another scientist said in worry but was ignored by Kingpin.
The collision multiple dimensional particles cause the whole area above on the surface to glitch and this did not go unnoticed by the people of New York.
Nico felt the scaffolding he was on begin to collapse under him. He looks around before picking up his dog and then jumped off to the nearby wall. He looks around and climbs down to the floor.
Spider-Man looked up to the ceiling and noticed something. "Norm, what's your take on head trauma?" he asked cheekily.
"Huh?" the Green Goblin asked before looking up just as one of the panels of the machine falls and lands on his face. Stunned, he slides down the machine, letting go of the Wall Crawler.
"I tried to warn ya, pal." quipped Spider-Man, rolling his head before webbing up to the ceiling, where he was before the Prowler showed up.
The Green Goblin snarls, clearly pissed off more than before he lunges up to the Web Slinger. He slams into Spider-Man with his foot and grabbing him with his claws.
Nico reached the floor and saw the Green Goblin lowering Spider-Man into the colliding beams of dimensional particles.
Spider-Man is lowered face first into the build up black mass of particles. At first he was rejected before it spread over his body that caused him to glitch. He couldn't move away if he tried. Outside of the darkness, he could faintly hear alarms ringing before Kingpin shouts in a panicked tone, "GOBLIN, NO! GET HIM OUTTA THERE!"
Spider-Man opened his eyes and saw something within the darkness that parted in front of him.
The Web. And it was beautiful. Beautiful beyond words.
Then he glitched again and hears voices while seeing different. . . variations of himself.
"Kingpin!"
"My name is Nicodemus Tomeo. . . I don't call myself a Spider, but I do the same as any other Spider would. As any Spider should. So nothing, I mean nothing is going to stop me from doing this for the Multiverse!"
"I am. . . Batman. And my legacy overshadows yours. . ."
"I promise on my life."
The build up of energy was too much for the collider to hold and then it exploded outward, knocking everyone back by a powerful burst of energy.
Up on the surface, a wave of energy spreads through out the city of New York while glitching, absorbs all the power before returning it back in a split second.
Nico opens his eyes as his ears ring like crazy. He coughs as dust and smoke fill his lungs. He feels a weight on his chest and sees that he was pinned by debris that fell during the explosion.
He hears a faint bark in his ringing hearing before the small Spider-dog runs into his vision, sniffing his face before pawing at the debris. Nico lifted his hands before pushing the debris off his body.
"Ow," he muttered with a wince. He rubs his head in pain as the dog jumps into his arms again. His brown eyes widen. "Spider-Man. . ." he whispered.
Pain shoots through his leg as he tries to take a step. He grits his teeth but pushes himself forward.
"Spider-Man," he whispered again before speaking louder. "Spider-Man!"
He sees the clawed feet of the Green Goblin, the body buried under a ton of debris. And then he sees the Wall Crawler's red and blue suit.
"Spider-Man!" Nico rushes over and crouches down, the Spider-Dog jumps down and paws at the superhero's head. "Hey, hey. You okay? Please say yes."
"I'm fine. I'm fine." Spider-Man replied, clearly not sounding fine. "I was just. . . resting." He lifts his head as he rolls over. His left lens is cracked open, revealing a blue eye.
"Spidey, I don't mean to sound demanding, but you need to get up." Nico said urgently. The Native American teen gets ready to pull the superhero up to his feet but the spider themed stops him.
"Yeah, I always get back up," he chuckles before coughing harshly. ". . . The coughing's probably not a good sign."
"Find him," Kingpin's voice speaks from close by. Very close by. "Now."
Nico's eyes widen as he looks in the direction of the voice before he looks back down to the Wall Crawler. He grabs onto his arm and gets ready to pull him up, maybe even carry him on his back. He can do it with his super strength, right? But then Spider-Man stops him.
"Kid, listen. We don't have a lot of time," Spider-Man said urgently while coughing.
"Yeah, exactly!" Nico whispered. "Which means you need to let me carry you on my back-"
Spider-Man shakes his head weakly. "No, you don't understand yet." He gives something to Nico's hand. The teenage boy looks at it and sees that it's the flash drive Spider-Man had. "This override key is the only way to stop the collider." Spider-Man coughed again. "You'll get up there, use this key, push the green button and blow it up."
"What? Spider-Man, why are you telling me this?" Nico says in confusion.
"You need to hide your face," Spider-Man said, ignoring the question. "You don't tell anyone who you are. Not your grandfather, not your friends. Nobody."
"Spidey," Nico tried to speak up but the Web Slinger continues on. "I said listen. No one can know. He's got everybody in his pocket."
Nico shook his head in confusion, his eyes wide. "If he gets turns the machine on again," Spider-Man goes on. "Everything you know will disappear. Countless lives will be lost because of this. Your family, friends, everyone. Everyone."
"I-I can't do this. . ." Nico shook his head.
"Yes, you can." Spider-Man nodded his head. "You're the one that can do it. I know you can do it. You're the one that will save us. Without you, everyone will die."
"H-How-? How do you know this?" Nico asked, feeling very afraid.
"The Web showed me. Showed me everything." Spider-Man replied. "This is your destiny, Nicodemus. This is why you were bitten. This is what you were meant to do. Who you are meant to be."
"No, no, Spidey, I-" Nico tried to protest. The superhero had to be exaggerating. Him? Saving the world? How can he save the world when he couldn't save his sister?
"Promise me you'll do this, Nicodemus." It was then that Nico realized that Spider-Man had used his name, his full name.
The Native American teen stares at him in shock, a couple of tears form in his eyes and run down his face. "O-Okay, but what about you? Spider-Man saves everyone, right?" Hell, you saved three times. Surely you can't expect me to not return the favor.
"Exactly," Spider-Man nods. "Saving you means saving everyone else."
Nico stared at him, breathing hitching before he nods solemnly. "I promise on my life, S-Spider-Man." he vows.
"Thank you, Nico." Spider-Man sighs heavily, visible eye closing in relief. He places a hand on the boy's shoulder. "You'll be the best in you're own way. And believe me, they will see that soon."
He then pushes Nico back when he sees the approaching threat come closer. "Go. Destroy the collider. Save us all."
Nico moves back, grabbing his dog and gives the superhero one last look. "Thank you for saving me again, Spider-Man. I promise to return the favor."
"I know you will," Spider-Man whispered with a nod, smiling under the mask.
Nico disappears into the shadows and climbs up the pile of debris just as Kingpin and his croonies arrive.
The Native American teen looks up to the ceiling, thinking of climbing up there now and get back down and save Spider-Man. But then his dog growls, bringing his attention down and sees that Kingpin and his croonies are less than ten feet away from the Wall Crawler.
"Tombstone, we're done with tests," Kingpin said to the mentioned supervillain, the Prowler standing beside him.
"Get that thing ready to go again," Kingpin said to a scientist firmly. "And soon."
"Run faster," he says to the retreating scientist before looking down to Spider-Man. "I'd say it's nice to see you again, Spider-Man. But it's not."
"Hey, Kingpin." Spider-Man greeted weakly. "How's business?"
"Booming!" Wilson Fisk replied with a dark chuckle.
"Nice," Spider-Man rolls his eyes before Kingpin reaches down and pulls off his mask. "Hey, that's a no-no." Always with a quip.
"This will open a black hole under Brooklyn," the Wall Crawler says to Kingpin. "It can't be worth the risk."
"It's not always about the money, Spider-Man." Kingpin replies before signaling to Prowler who unsheathes his claws.
"Don't you want to know what I saw in there?" Spider-Man asked, hoping to reason with the Kingpin one last time.
"Wait." Fisk holds his hand up, halting the Prowler's advance and gestured for Spider-Man to continue.
"I know what you're trying to do," Spider-Man said to Kingpin solemnly. "And it won't work. . . They're gone."
Fisk was silent, multiple emotions show in his eyes, even looking close to crying before he screams in rage and slams both of his large fists down on Spider-Man's body, cracking the ground beneath him and sending a gust of wind that blows the dust away.
Nico stared with wide eyes. And stared. No. No, no, no! That didn't happen. He'll get up. He always gets back up. Spider-Man can't be-
"Get rid of the body." Kingpin said coldly.
Nico stared and shook his head before the dog growled and barked. Loud enough to be heard by everyone.
"What was that?" Kingpin asked as he, Prowler and Tombstone turned to Nico's direction just as he quickly decided to run before they could see his face.
"Kill that guy," Kingpin ordered and the Prowler took off after the Native American teen.
And that's where we'll stop right now.
Whew. That was fun. World building and character building as well. Got some inspiration from the Batman series "The Caped Crusader" on Amazon Prime for the therapy session, in case anyone was wondering.
And I've introduced a Spider-Dog. For those wondering what species he is, he's a mix between a Chihuahua and a Rat Terrier. Plus made some foreshadowing for Nico's story like R3DSPADES did in his story. (Hope that's okay.)
Next Issue: Run Boy Run.
Until then.
Take care.
Peace.