Again, I apologize for my tardiness. I have been suffering from serious Writer's Block.
But you didn't click on this page to read me ramble on abput several of my undiagnosed disorders. You came to read about Spider-man. And read you shall.
Lets recap (again):
Peter ran late for class again. Doctor Connors introduced John Jameson, an astronaut who brought back a moon rock with a living goo on it. Connors gave Peter a way to pass his class. And Gwen was turned down by Peter.
Meanwhile, the Rhino is in lock up. Interrogations yielded few results. But Rhino's "employer" promised him a solid defense.
And now here are Scenes 4-8 of the Sensational Spider-man!
SCENE 4
Peter Parker made it to his aunt’s house in Queens by 7:30 pm. You might find that odd seeing how he left Empire State University at 5:45. But then of course, most people didn’t notice Peter stuffing red gloves and what looked like a mask into the pockets of his jacket. When he walked through the door his aunt flung herself onto him.
“Oh Peter thank goodness!” exclaimed his aunt, “I thought that something had happened to you!”
“I’m fine Aunt May,” choked Peter through her surprisingly strong hug, “I was just taking photos of Spider-man. That’s all.”
The look on his aunt’s face clearly said that she was not relieved, “I still do not understand why you have to take pictures of that HORRIBLE man!”
Peter led his distraught aunt into the kitchen. A sweet aroma emanated from the oven. Peter took this as his cue to change the subject.
“Soooooooooooooo…………………….. is that your world famous blueberry pie?
“Don’t you dare try and change the subject on me, Peter Benjamin Parker!” snapped May, “The newspaper that YOU work for calls him a and I quote: ‘MENACE TO SOCIETY.’ It’s not that I don’t trust you. But how can you trust a man that hides his face behind a mask?”
Inside his head, Peter was shaking with laughter at the irony of the situation. But his face would not have been out of place at a high stakes poker tournament.
“Aunt May, I love you. But that is a pretty stereotypical accusation to make.” Once he saw the offended expression plastered on her face he instantly backpedaled, “Y’know Spider-man isn’t the only hero that hides his face behind a mask.”
“Yes but you don’t see the newspaper attacking them do you?”
“Okay do you want the truth?
“More than anything.”
Peter deliberated his decision for about two seconds.
After a brief pause, “It’s just that I………..”
“Yes?”
“I cannot explain how much the editor is so much like a five year old.”
“I don’t buy that and you know it.”
“Really?”
“Who would make a five year old the editor of a major newspaper?”
Peter walked over to the stove and got the pie out of the oven. He cut out two slices for both of them.
Once he sat back down, he continued, “Mr. Jameson yells a LOT. He has a temper tantrum once an hour just to make the quota. And he would never admit it, but Jonah is insanely jealous of Spider-man.”
“And why pray tell would the editor of a major newspaper be jealous of a man who dresses like a clown?”
This was starting to get on Peter’s nerve, “Aunt May, in case you haven’t noticed, people are not reading the paper as much as they did back in the day. Instead they use tools like the internet to get information which just happens to be unbiased compared to the ramblings of some really angry editor. And you wanna know he’s angry?” he took a breath, “It’s because this so called ‘Menace’ is actually making a difference compared to some idiot in an office.”
Peter had risen from his seat and trudged over to the window. Aunt May was in shock. Her nephew had only taken that tone of voice with him one other time. It was about four years ago……..
May bit her lip, “Peter, I-“
“No it’s fine Aunt May. I shouldn’t have shouted. I’ve been…………… dealing with a lot lately. I’m the one who is sorry.”
“Peter,” May rubbed her frail hand across his face, “You have never shouted at anyone and I am sure that you want to so many times during the day. It must be hard and I am so very proud of you. Now,” she struggled with wiping a tear from her face, “Let’s have some cake.”
SCENE 5
FIVE YEARS AGO……………………………………………………
Peter Parker was not what you called popular. He was that geeky kid in the front of the class who wore the outdated clothes, glasses two sizes too big, and was ALWAYS carrying six books at least eight inches thick. One day, this geeky outcast met a fellow outcast, Harry Osborn. But Harry was an outcast for an entirely different reason. He has dropped out of so many schools. Harry Osborn may have been rich, but he wasn’t what you might call smart.
So there they were. Two outcasts from separate worlds. But maybe that was how they became such good friends. Both of them never had any friends. People never associated with “Puny” Parker and most students were Harry’s “friends” because he was rich. That all changed when his father dropped him off at Midtown High in Queens. Of course, right before hand, the Osborns’ chauffeur hit a young man with the Bentley.
“Mr. Osborn sir?”
Norman Osborn did not even look up from his newspaper (the Daily Bugle), “What?”
“I think we hit a student.”
Harry was in a state of shock, “We DID hit a student Dad.”
“Well, if you feel badly about it, get out of the car and pay the kid.”
“You can’t pay everyone you hurt Dad.”
Norman, exasperated, put his paper down, “Okay son. Don’t pay him. And when he sues us for everything we have-“
“ALRIGHT DAD alright!!!!!!”
Norman went back to his paper as Harry got out of the car and helped the guy up. The student just managed to slip his glasses back on when a wad of cash was forced in his hands.
“Here,” Harry turned to grab his bag from the car.
“What’s this for?”
“For whatever we may have broken.” Harry said through clenched teeth.
“Nothing’s broken.”
“So?”
“So that means I don’t need your money. Here.”
Harry stopped in his tracks. No one had ever refused money from him before. This had to be a trick. Some test of Dad’s. leave it to him to get his hopes up. There really wasn’t such a thing as a decent person was there?
“How much did Dad pay you?”
The student, Peter Parker if you haven’t figured it out by now, didn’t understand,” What?”
“I said ‘How much did my father pay you to get hit by that car?!’”
“He hasn’t paid me anything. Who’s your dad?”
Harry was speechless. This couldn’t be. How was it that the only apparently decent guy is the only person who could possibly be hit by HIS car?
“My father is Norman Osborn.”
The look on Peter’s face was not unlike he had just been nominated for the Nobel, “You mean THE Norman Osborn of Osborn Industries?”
“Yep. Hence the name, Norman Osborn.”
Peter helped Harry grab his stuff and they walked off towards the high school. They became fast friends and because of Peter, Harry managed to graduate with a B+ average. But of course, tragedy strikes at the most unlikely times and places. As both Harry and Peter would know.
FOUR MONTHS LATER
Peter and Harry were the dynamic duo of their time. Not exactly popular, but not outcasts either. Everyone became self involved and ignored Peter for the most part. Except for one exceptionally dim jock whose name you should be able to guess. One day, Peter decided to drag Harry on a special trip to a science exhibit at (). After taking several bus stops (Peter refused for Harry to go through the effort of calling his personal chauffeur.), they arrived on campus. The exhibition was being conducted by nation renowned Otto Octavius.
“Gather round everyone,” the slightly obese scientist called.
“I still have no idea why you thought I had to come see this,” whispered Harry.
“It’s groundbreaking, that’s why!” retorted Peter, “Not to mention it will give you that extra credit in Physics.”
“Honestly! Who needs Physics?”
As Peter was about to exclaim that without Physics, we couldn’t exist a voice called from the front of the crowd, “Gentlemen,” Dr. Octavius chided, “Are we finished?”
The “duo” mumbled, “Yes sir.”
“Now, who here can describe this device?”
Dr. Octavius revealed a machine that resembled two mechanical arms with pincers attached at the end. Parker’s hand was instantaneously in the air.
“Yes, Mister……?”
“Parker sir.”
“Okay, Mister Parker, can you tell the audience what these are?”
Peter strode forward and examined the device, “They appear to be in lamens terms, mechanical arms but would I be correct in assuming that these are more durable and articulate than even Japanese prototypes in Tokyo?”
“Yes, Parker that is absolutely correct!” Octavius flourished his arms in a dramatic fashion, “These ‘arms’ as you call them or actuaries, allow me to manipulate materials that would otherwise be lethal to human interaction. Of course these two are just prototypes. They do not have the sturdiness to withstand half of what I project the finished product can endure.”
The portly scientist the attached the device to himself by way of a flexible harness. After he made sure that all of the adjustments had been made he walked over to another device much larger than his “arms.”
“This of course is the Main Event. The Electromagnetic Radiation Light Transference Radium. ERLTR for short. This little BIG beauty has the ability to convert light into usable and RENEWABLE energy.”
“But sir,” a random visitor asked, “Hasn’t this already been achieved? Solar energy ring a bell?”
“Ah. A skeptic! Well you answered your own question. The term solar as in the Sun. that is why many of you have to wait for noon to use your calculators,” this got a light chuckle, “But this device converts any light. Say…… from a lamp or a cell phone. Of course this prototype is only for exhibitionary use of course. So, without further chatter, let the show go on!”
Octavius strapped on a pair of goggles and began working with his two extra arms on the device. A slight whirring could be heard. And then between two of the oversized rods, a lightning bolt zapped. This bolt stayed consistent for about a minute and then suddenly shut off.
“What?”
Octavius was more surprised than anyone. Apparently the machine was not supposed to stop working. But of course what everyone including the astute doctor failed to notice was the spider. The spider which had been trapped inside that airtight room for ages upon ages had finally been given a chance at a meal in the form of a fly. The fly had landed on Peter’s neck.
The spider had not long to live. It was already a runt despite its species tendency to run into at least two inches in the abdomen. But then again, the spider’s exact species could no longer be determined because it was so emaciated. The color of its once furry exoskeleton had degraded into a light gray. The spider in its desperation crossed the bolt’s path on its way down to feed.
Which was when the flow of the device was interrupted, and which was why the machine malfunctioned. The bolt blew the spider to the front of the crowd where stood Peter Parker. The spider landed on Peter’s collar but the fly had sensed the predator and flew off. But the spider stayed. It felt a pulse. Pulse meant blood and warmth. Blood meant food. The spider traveled down the sleeve to the exposed wrist. It wouldn’t last much longer……
The spider plunged it’s long fangs into the pink flesh beneath the sleeve.
“OW!!!!”
Everyone was looking at him. Even Doctor Octavius who was still baffling over the machine.
“Pete, what is it?”
“A spider bit me!”
Peter looked at the bite and it was already inflamed. The skin around the bite was red raw and swelling fast. The bite mark itself was pearly white. As if the venom running through his veins was glowing. Peter did not remember much after that. Except an agonizing week of pain where his hysterical aunt and resigned uncle finally made him go to the hospital. But by then, what was done was done.
THE NEXT DAY
Peter awoke in a sopping wet bed. All the fluids were apparently from his own body. He couldn’t tell if it was sweat or possibly his own urinary tract gone haywire. But what Peter noticed most of all was that he was no longer in pain. Even weirder was the fact that his eyes rejected his own glasses. Quite literally, he had 20/20 vision. But that wasn’t the end of his surprises.
As he was walking to school, a delivery truck’s brakes failed. Peter jumped out of the way just in time or he would have become a part of the pavement. But you see, the astonishing thing was where Peter landed. He wasn’t on the sidewalk or on the grass. He was ATTACHED to the WALL of a FIVE STORY BUILDING THREE STORIES UP!!! Such was Peter’s fright, that he fell off the wall and landed on his feet.
For a normal person, a fall from that height would have shoved his legs past his ribcage. But as it is, Peter Parker is no longer normal. The fall did nothing more to him than if a toddler were to fall six inches.
As time went on, he discovered he did not only have enhanced agility. He also had enhanced reflexes and strength. Peter Parker went from geeky nerd in the front of the class to super powered teen faster than it would take Flash Thompson to throw a football thirty yards. And as it turns out, Peter could get cocky just like the rest of us.
SCENE SIX
Present Day
Night had fallen in the city of New York. But it was if no one slept. Thousands of cars crawled the street in front of the police station. Everyone moving along and too involved in their own business that they wouldn’t notice anyone else’s even if they looked at it. Which is why it would not have been much help to anybody if they had looked up. The silent figures running along the roof like oversized cockroaches had already taken out the cameras of the station. If you had looked out from the adjoining building would only have seen the figures adorned in black set something in the center of the roof. They then ran away to opposite sides of the roof. That was when the explosion happened.
Officer Walter Higgins had been running the night shift with fifty other officers. He was dozing by the security monitors which showed no sign of the mischief going on outside. Which was why everyone in the station save one large inmate were surprised when the roof caved in. THAT jolted Higgins awake.
“What the devil?!”
He had his burretta drawn, and he was poised to fire. But he was not trained to take on hardened mercenaries who had fought in two wars each. Higgins was gunned down by two lithe and heavily armed mercenaries. Higgins didn’t even have time to pull his trigger. The dark company passed the body with no less than open contempt and sarcasm.
“The way they train cops nowadays,” said the smallest “merc.”
“Pathetic ese,” replied the one next to him.
Their accents hid their ethnicity. Although if I had to guess, two of them were American, one Asian, and three Latino.
They crept through the destruction of the police station as stealthily as they could, even though most of the “residents” of the station were in a MILD state of panic. The mercenaries moved in a hexagonal formation, taking out any officer that they noticed. When they got to the holding cells, the big Latin merc purged the need of a night watchmen. He gave the keys to the “leader”, or should I say, SMARTEST, of the mercenaries.
“Here ya go boss.”
The leader walked over to Alexie Sytsevich’s cell, and rung the bars with his rifle.
“Wakey wakey Alex.”
The inmate did not turn over.
“You’re late.”
The merc shrugged, “Couldn’t be helped Alex.”
Alexei got up, walked over to the bars, and glared, “You’ve got a lot of nerve Dillon. The name is Alexei.”
“I know,” Dillon sneered.
“Where’s my suit Maxipad?”
“Oho! Big Guy’s got jokes now!!!! Someone fetch him a bone!”
Alexei hand shot out and grabbed Dillon around the throat. He then took the liberty of lifting Dillon off the ground.
“I said where’s my suit?”
“It’s in lockup,” said one of the bigger, more easily fooled mercs.
Alexei dropped Dillon and let him unlock the cell. After they had reached lockup, the mercs stepped outside so that Alexei could assemble the suit.
“Only enough room for me and my undies,” Alexei jested as they walked out.
After about five minutes, the Rhino busted through the door as if it were paper.
“Lead the way boys.”
The seven left the station in two humvees parked two blocks behind the demolished building. Five got into one Hummer because Rhino needed the room. He had to remove his helmet, grieves, breeches, and shoulder armor to fit in the back seat. As they drove away, the sirens arrived at the police station. And about two seconds later, George Stacy got a phone call.
SCENE SEVEN
It was 2 o’clock in the morning. Why in God’s sweet name was someone calling me?! George Stacy had been asleep for two hours. And he did not appreciate being woken up at this ungodly hour.
“If this is another one of those tele-marketer people, I’m gonna seize the phone company,” groaned the drowsy police captain.
He picked up the RINGING phone slowly, hoping that this was some sort of dream that would prove he was still in blissful sleep.
“Hello?”
“Captain Stacy?”
The urgent tone of the voice on the other line shook all drowsiness away from Stacy.
“What is it?”
“There’s been an attack.”
“What do you mean an attack? Where?”
“The Eastside station. More than twenty officers are either dead or wounded. Whoever these people were, they were professionals.”
Captain Stacy was in shock, “ Twenty? How many of them were there?”
“I would say no more than six. Maybe less. And they were heavily armed. They managed to knock out the cameras before making a vertical insertion.”
“Vertical insertion?”
“They came in through the roof sir.”
This was frustrating George to no end. So Stacy did what he always did when he was frustrated. He grabbed his pipe and stepped outside with the phone still in hand.
After he took a few puffs the voice on the other end got anxious, “Sir?”
“Sorry son. Just thinking.”
“Oh. Okay.”
“So you said that these were professionals?”
“I would stake my pension on it sir. From the look of it, at least two of them were ex-military.”
Another puff, “So then they could be guns for hire.”
“Yes sir. And Captain?”
“Yes?”
“We got the count back for the officers and inmates.”
“Any missing?”
“Just one.”
Stacy knew the answer already, “Sytsevich.”
“Yes sir.”
“Alright son. I’ll be there within a half hour.”
“See you then sir.”
SCENE EIGHT
Gwen awoke abruptly by the front door closing. She crept out of bed and tip toed downstairs to the door. She pressed her ear against the mahogany frame and listened closely for her dad’s voice he sounded frustrated, if not downright hostile.
“I don’t care what you think sir! With all due respect we have a serious problem on our hands!”
Whoever he was yelling at, was sure to have a hearing impairment. Suddenly, she heard the snap of his cell closing and his footsteps coming towards the door. Gwen immediately scrambled over to the kitchen to get herself a glass of water and a good alibi. She quickly poured herself a glass and made for her bedroom just as the door clicked shut.
“Gwen? What are you doing up so late?”
“Dad,” Gwen stifled a fake yawn, “Didn’t know you were up.” She held up her glass, “Just came down for some water before I crashed.”
Her father looked at her sternly then smiled, “Liar.”
“What gave me away?”
“You mean minus the running I heard AFTER I hung up? Or the creak at the bottom of the stairs three minutes ago?”
“Soooooooo,” Gwen started, “What’s up?”
George rubbed the back of his head, “It’s nothing. Some people higher up the chain in my department are ignorant of the fact that we just had a massive incident at the station.”
“What kind of incident?”
“Can’t say yet. Just keep an eye on the news.”
“So you’re going out tonight?”
“Can’t be helped sweetie. I’ll see you sometime later tomorrow afternoon.”
“’Kay. G’night Dad.”
“Love you Gwen.”
“BTW, if there’s a mess in the house it is NOT because I had a party.”
“Yeah right. And then you would start paying rent here.”
After he left the house, Gwen went up to her room and laid down. After an hour of not being able to sleep she decided to check and see if any of her friends suffered from insomnia. She called the first person who came to mind. After the phone rang several times there was a CLICK.
“Hey Peter! It’s Gwe-“
“Hi, this is the cell phone of Peter Parker and as you can tell this is my voice mail. Just leave your name and number and I’ll try and contact you as soon as I can. Bye.”
She snapped her phone shut and dialed in another number. This time, it only rang once.
“Hello,” the voice on the other end sounded groggy beyond belief.
“Hi Harry, it’s Gwen.”
“Oh! Hi,” Harry yawned.
“Did I wake you?”
“Nah. I was just readin’ inside my eyelids. Get a lot more work done that way.”
“Sorry.” Gwen blushed, “I just needed someone to talk to.”
“About what?”
Gwen bit her lip, “I don’t know.”
“You DON’T KNOW! You wake me up at 3 in the morning to tell me you don’t know what to say?!”
“It’s not that.”
“Then what?”
“It’s just……… Do you know if Peter likes me?”
This completely threw Harry off but he recovered well, “I must say that it wasn’t like I didn’t see this coming.”
“Excuse me?”
“Look Gwen, I’m not a couples therapist and the relationship that you two have isn’t exactly a boyfriend/girlfriend kinda relationship.”
“Your point?”
“My point is: yes, Peter likes you. But before you get all excited like half of those girls on kids’ TV, I gotta tell ya something.”
“Yes?”
“Okay, you know how shy and timid Peter is right?”
“Yeah……”
“Well. I think that’s how he feels about you. You are probably the most gorgeous woman that has ever paid attention to him. And look at him. He calls himself a wallflower for crying out loud!”
“A wallflower?”
“Apparently he picked it up from his aunt and uncle. I think it’s a ‘50s term for geek.”
“Ah.”
“So what you need to do is give Pete some space. Soon, he’ll realize just how lucky he is.”
“Thanks for talking to me Harry.”
“No problem. Just one thing.”
“Yeah?”
“DON’T EVER CALL ME AT 3 IN THE MORNING AGAIN!!!!!!!”
“Alright,” Gwen chuckled,” G’night.”
“Night.”
After Gwen hung up, she laid back down. She fell asleep knowing that she didn’t say what needed to be said, she felt better all the same.
I hope you enjoyed this session and if you're interested in more of my work, just click on the links below!
MARVEL:
Spider-man Part 1
Spider-man Part 2
Secret War
The Initiative
Doctor Strange
DC:
Batman 3
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