Not too much to say as far as new things going on, other than I'm coming off a fun session of Mutants & Masterminds. It wasn't quite as action-packed as some of the past couple sessions, but that's fine as it gave the Stormbreakers (you know, Emerald City's greatest heroes, it's what the media calls us) a chance to catch their breath and be people instead of heroes.
So in that vein, here's a little something I wrote a few weeks back, pertaining to Spidey's history. It's not something that would really be discussed during the campaign, but I still wanted to flesh out some of the details of how my character got into the superhero gig. Plus, it's been a while since I did any sort of fiction writing so I wanted to try and get those creative juices flowing.
So without further preamble...
Tales of a
Web-Slinging Hero – Origins of a Hero
“Mister Reilly, if
you would be so kind as to answer the question?”
Peter’s attention snapped back to the classroom, his
thoughts having drifted off during the teacher’s lecture on some aspect of
European socialism.
“Oh, uh, sorry… um… what was the question again?” Peter
asked in his usual fumbling manner of speaking, drawing a collection of
derisive snickers from several students.
The teacher simply gave Peter a disproving look before
shifting his attention to one of the students that had laughed. “Mister Potts, perhaps you can enlighten the
class as to the primary faults of socialist policies outside of theoretical
applications?”
Peter breathed an inner sigh of relief, more due to the
attention being taken off of him than any worries about not knowing the
answer. One of the big perks of having
such a great memory was that he could just read an assigned chapter once and
retain most of what he’d read; it was part of the reason why he was in the
Honors Society for several years running with a 3.9 GPA. His relief was short lived as after Jacob
Potts, one of the top jocks in the school, had fumbled his way through an
answer, the teacher turned his attention back to Peter and asked him to
elaborate. And one of the downsides of being so brilliant, Peter thought
briefly, is that the teachers expect you
to have most of the answers because you probably do.
As the final bell rang and school let out for the day,
Peter barely paid attention to the various insults made as he passed; mostly referrals
to his scrawny build or that he was such a know-it-all. Downside
number two to being so smart, Peter mused.
Of course, if anyone at the school had the faintest idea why he’d
started showing up to school looking like he’d barely slept, or why he was far
less attentive in class than he’d been just a month ago, they’d probably be
amazed. Heck, he was still amazed at how
his life had changed, and Peter was the one living it.
Truthfully, it had all started just under two months ago,
when Peter had gotten accepted into ASTRO Labs’ junior intern program. While the program was typically reserved for
students of at least the collegiate level, Peter’s GPA and high score on the application
tests had earned him a spot on the spring schedule. Since he was still a minor, that meant that
he had to get his Uncle Jay’s permission, which the older man did without
hesitation; while Uncle Jay may have been a simple repairman by trade for most
of his life, he had always encouraged Peter’s interest and passion for all
things science, even if his Aunt Martha sometimes fretted that such enthusiasm
came at a cost of having a social life.
The first few weeks working at ASTRO Labs was almost like
a dream come true, as Peter was surrounded by and working with people that
appreciated him for his smarts and couldn’t have cared less about his physical
appearance; he was a science nerd in a building devoted to scientific research
in the company of other science nerds.
Sure, there were a few nights he’d get so wrapped up on the experiments
he was assisting with that he’d missed the last bus home and had to take a cab
instead, but it was worth it. The
on-staff researchers had nothing but praise for Peter’s dedication and
intuitiveness regarding some of the higher theoretical principles of the
projects he assisted with; one of the department administrators had even
suggested that Peter could very well have a job waiting for him once he
graduated college if he kept up the good work.
But then came that fateful day late in the month of April when
everything changed.
On that particularly day, not that much different than
today actually, Peter had been let out of school early due to his reduced class
schedule (technically he’d met all but a few academic requirements to graduate)
and had headed over to ASTRO Labs to see if there was anything he could help
out with. Things had gotten a bit
chaotic with the advent of the Silver Storm and the creation of “stormers,”
people who’d been altered in various ways while often gaining superpowers of
some sort or another. On that particular
day, a stormer of unknown identity (not that he’d wanted to know at the time)
had decided to stage a raid on the labs for reasons unknown. The raid was violent, destructive, and caused
a significant panic amongst the staff, Peter included. In the rush of that panic, Peter had stumbled
into a highly-restricted area that he was definitely not cleared to be in. His
curiosity got the better of him though once he noticed that an active
experiment was in progress, one that at first glance seemed like something
right out of those B-grade mad science movies that he’d seen on many a Madame
Macabre show while growing up. And if he
was reading the monitor display correctly, the experiment in process was attempting
to splice the genetic material from one species into a different host species
while using various degrees of radiation in low-degree bursts to merge the two
individual DNA strands into a single stable strand. Having enough knowledge about bio-chemistry
to grasp the fundamental concepts, Peter was so engrossed that he didn’t notice
that in the commotion one of the subjects of a prior attempt, this one a spider
that had been infused with the traits of several different breeds, hadn’t been
properly returned to its storage cage.
He only became aware of the spider after it crawled onto the base of his
neck and bit him, but a fresh round of alarm klaxons put it out of his mind
until much later, when he’d gotten home.
In hindsight, he realized he probably should have been a lot more
worried when the spider that bit him didn’t match the description of any known
genus of the species, but at that point he was simply too fatigued. Or at least that’s what he’d thought at the
time.
The next couple days had certainly been weird as the
spider’s irradiated venom worked its way through his system, but to say that
Peter was a changed man afterwards would be a gross understatement. For starters, slamming the snooze button on
his alarm clock usually didn’t result in said clock being smashed to pieces,
and a look in the mirror while dragging himself to the shower revealed that
Peter was now sporting the kind of build that would put most pro athletes to
shame. After a brief yet perfectly understandable
freak-out, Peter put his scientific aptitude to work and came to the only
conclusion that made any sense, no matter how unlikely or improbable it seemed…
the spider’s bite had granted him abilities very much like those of a spider, running
the gamut from enhanced agility and strength to a reaction time that bordered
on precognitive thanks to a heightened sense of awareness of his environment, especially
in regards to immediate danger to his person.
Naturally, Aunt Martha had been worried that Peter has been exposed to
something during the attack on ASTRO Labs, but they were at least willing to
accept his rationalization that it was simply the shock of the event and the
psychological comprehension of just how much danger he’d potentially been in
finally catching up with him, and that even his increased appetite wasn’t
anything to be too worried about.
Once his body had found its new biological equilibrium, Peter
had set about testing what his new limits were; since ASTRO Labs was closed due
to damages incurred from the stormer’s attack, he didn’t have much else to do
with his free time. Before the spider
bite, it’d been pretty clear what his future held; graduate from Emerald City
University, get a job at ASTRO Labs or some other high-end research company,
work on getting his doctorate. But with
these new powers came new opportunities that he had to at least consider. He’d overheard talk at school about some kind
of “secret underground stormer fight circuit,” but Peter quick dismissed that
notion, mostly since the notion of becoming a glorified pro-wrestler was
patently ridiculous on top of the fact he wasn’t a stormer to begin with. He could just keep his powers a secret and
continue on with his life the way it’d been going, but Uncle Jay had instilled
in Peter the notion that people owed the world their gifts, even if it took
them a while to figure out how to best use them.
Five days after the bite, Peter had been on an extended
late night walk when he heard a woman call out for help from an alleyway on the
other side of the street; without even thinking about it he made a quick leap
across and found himself facing several gangbangers, behind them a lone woman
cowering at the alley’s end. Lucky for
him the lighting was pretty bad, not that he really needed it as much, but the
gangbangers wouldn’t be able to see his face.
One of them snarled a warning to turn away and get lost, brandishing a
vicious-looking knife while another grasped what was probably the poor woman’s
skirt. Peter’s response was a pretty
lame quip about them being in the wrong part of town for the urban poetry slam
and dance recital, but that was enough to incense the thugs to forget the woman
and focus on him.
Five days ago, Peter would have gotten overwhelmed and butchered…
but thanks to his recently-acquired powers, in less than minute the gangbangers
were scattered in a heap of fresh bruises and smashed-up faces, with Peter only
suffering a very minor cut that was already healing by the time the fight was
over. When the young woman stammered a
quiet ‘thank you’ for coming to her rescue, Peter had that flash of
clarity. Naturally, his uncle had been
right, and now Peter knew how to best make use of his new gifts; it not only felt
good to help someone in need, but it felt right. The fight had drawn the attention of others,
and noticing that one of the approaching parties was police officer, Peter
figured it was in his best interest not to stick around. He was almost out of sight, having literally
climbed up the side of the building in moments, when he heard the woman ask who
he was.
“Just a friendly
neighborhood hero,” was Peter’s reply before vanishing into the night.
With the outbreak of the Silver Storm and the advent of
so many new superhumans appearing in Emerald City, Peter felt that maybe there
had been something more than just random chance at play at here; he had never
been big on religion due to his preference for hard facts over something as
intangible as “faith” but sometimes you just don’t argue against
providence. Opting to run with the
theme, Peter set his considerable intellect and tech-savvy to creating the
tools he’d need to complete his spider-powers, those being a bio-degradable web
fluid and a pair of pressure-activated wrist-mounded devices to store and
launch the substance in tightly controlled bursts. A few days of further practice and Peter was
ready to hit the streets as a super-powered crime-fighter… except that he’d
lacked a decent costume.
His initial attempt at a costume was pretty laughable, being
little more than a glorified ski-mask, sweat pants, light gloves, track shoes,
and a silk-screened shirt with a spider emblem, but it did the job until Peter
could save up enough of his allowance to put together something that wasn’t
quite as embarrassing. His new costume
was a spandex bodysuit in dark blue with red spider-theme designs on the chest,
shoulders, forearms and ankles; not only did it have the advantages of fitting
better while providing far less loose fabric for any bad guys to get hold of,
it also looked pretty cool, especially with the mask’s enlarged eyepieces
giving him a slightly creepy look that had been quite unnerving to some of the
hoodlums that had the rotten luck to cross this spider’s path. The whole ensemble made it a lot easier to do
a full costume change since all he really had to do was slip on the gloves and
remove the outer layer of casual clothes he wore. With a proper costume, Peter felt as ready as
he’d every be to take on whatever the seedy underworld of Emerald City could
throw at him… now he just needed to
figure out an appropriately cool and intimidating name. Peter had come up with a handful of ideas,
but none of them really clicked or had the right flair. There was the blatantly obvious option, but
he really didn’t want to be that unsubtle.
“God Peter, you have been such a space-case lately, you
know that?” said a very familiar voice that instantly snapped Peter out of his
reverie. Peter flinched as though he’d
been slapped, ealizing that without meaning to, he’d walked right past the Starbase Coffee shop that had
been his destination this particular afternoon.
He knew what was coming and that he deserved it, so with a muted groan
and slouching of his shoulders, Peter turned around…
Standing there was Elizabeth “Liz” Warren, arms crossed
and giving him a look that suggested she wasn’t quite as upset as she had
sounded. Liz was probably his best
friend, the two having met during middle school, when Peter had wound up being
volunteered as an assistant stagehand for the drama club’s presentation of
Shakespeare’s ‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream.’
Most girls, especially the really pretty ones, had generally ignored
Peter, but Liz never had. She was more
in the “approachable girl-next-door” type of pretty than “curvy bombshell” or
“slender yet haughty” types, especially with the glasses she wore, her slightly
up-turned nose, and reddish-brown hair that was worn short and seemed to be in
perpetual need of combing no matter what she did. Her expression softened at Peter’s physical
act of contrition. “Just so you know,
I’ve been trying to get your attention for the past two blocks,” she said, her
face softening into that smile that had always made Peter feel better when he’d
had a particularly rough day. They went
to different high schools, but had still tried dating for a brief time during
their sophomore year before agreeing they worked better as “just friends”
rather than being an “item.”
“I’m really sorry Liz,” Peter said sheepishly. “Just, you know, had a lot on my mind, what
with the internship at ASTRO Labs and college starting next fall,” he offered
in what he hoped was a properly apologetic tone. As understanding as Liz could be, the fact
remained that Peter had little experience in talking with girls of any stripe
outside of very limited circumstances.
“Um, how about, um, about it being my treat, to make up for up?”
“You think you can get my order right? Because last time…” Liz inquired teasingly.
“That wasn’t my fault, the guy at the counter used
two-percent instead of skim and only added two packets of sugar instead of two,”
Peter replied defensively. “And it’s not
like the owner didn’t give you a freebie by way of apology.”
Liz shook her head before giving a quick little laugh. “Why
am I not surprised you remembered exactly what they got wrong. C’mon Pete, I left my backpack at the shop
and I’ve got a school laptop in there.
And you did promise to help check my pre-calc homework.”
As usual, Peter didn’t have to do much in terms of
checking Liz’s homework; while not in Peter’s league academically, she was
still quite smart and good with numbers.
Still, it was a chance for them to hangout and just talk about
“stuff.” For Liz, it was about the
issues the high school drama club was facing, both in getting a production of
MacBeth (or “the Scottish play” as she kept calling it as part of what Peter
felt was an utterly ridiculous superstition; not that he’d ever say that within
earshot of Liz) off the ground and how the cheerleading squad was trying to get
their funding increased at the expense of the drama club’s already limited
budget.
For Peter, it was about the interesting stuff going on at
ASTRO Labs, as Liz got a kick out of hearing tales of “beneficial mad
science.” More than once, he’d seriously
considered telling Liz about the lab accident and his powers, but for some
reason the words just wouldn’t come out.
His aunt had always told him that secrets come with a cost, and it was
hard enough keeping his nocturnal activities a secret from his adoptive parents;
if they knew what Peter was getting up to, he was certain that neither of them
would take it well. He was pretty sure
that Liz would have a similar reaction, and knew that she was really trying
hard to secure at least one scholarship to pay for her tuition to Emerald City
Community College. He really didn’t want
to distract her from that with worries about his new hobby; smart as he was,
Peter knew that not everyone was going to be lucky enough to have their tuition
costs to Emerald City University completely covered by academic scholarships.
Still, he thought about testing the waters; Liz had made
it clear that she was all for new heroes cropping up, having even gone so far
as to indulge in some very fangirlish gushing over the plant-based hero Nature
Boy on a couple occasions, not that she’d ever admit to it. He was about to broach the subject of the
surge in Emerald City’s population of superhumans when a loud crash followed by
several screams grabbed both their attention.
Well of all the rotten…, Peter
thought briefly even as he got to his feet to see what the cause of the
commotion was.
Standing some distance down the street was an oversized
robot, built like a linebacker and having just smashed somebody’s car front-end
first into the street. Just behind it
were a pair of men wearing leather biker jackets and wielding pistols, and
standing not far off from them was a guy with crazy bright-red hair in a white
labcoat leaning on a cane, flanked by a statuesque blonde in a short pale blue
dress. The two guys with pistols were
shooting in the general direction of pedestrians and motorists alike.
“Peter! We need to
get out of here!” exclaimed Liz, and Peter was suddenly aware that she was
tugging desperately on her arm. She was
on the verge of panic; made sense as she didn’t have the benefit of
super-powers like he did.
Peter nodded his consent and scooped up his
backpack. “Uh, yeah, let’s go,” he said
as Liz started guiding them away from the commotion. Gotta
find a way to make sure she gets to safety before I go back and do the hero
thing, Peter thought. A group of
panicked shoppers rushed past, bumping into the two teens, and Peter took this
as his chance. It wasn’t hard to pull
his shirt sleeve free of Liz’s grasp while making seem like it wasn’t a
deliberate action on his part. “Keep
going, I’ll catch up!” Peter said as a
portly middle-aged man cut between them.
He heard Liz cry his name, and the obvious tone of worry in her voice
made Peter feel even worse about lying to his best friend like that; she was
going to be furious and frantic when it became clear that Peter wasn’t going to
be catching up to her. But the his
deceased father’s mantra of “great power carrying with it great responsibility”
was something he’d grown up with, and compared to the scrawny geek that he’d
been just a few weeks ago, it was clear where Peter’s responsibility was…
A quick leap up to the side of a building followed by an
even faster scramble to the rooftop, and Peter had a pretty good view of the
chaos. Yeah, it was possible the
Stormbreakers might show up, but there was no telling how long it’d take or how
many people would get hurt in the meantime; for all he knew they could be busy,
maybe even on the opposite side of the city.
Taking a second to calculate the angles and determine the best way to
approach the mad scientist-looking guy and his coalition of rabble-rousers,
Peter quickly ditched his regular clothes.
Oh man, am I ever glad I’ve got
the new suit for this fight, otherwise I might die of embarrassment. That is if I don’t die of a severe case of
acute iron poisoning first. Taking a
final moment to steel himself for the fight, Peter sprang into the air and
triggered his web-shooter… he might not have much experience with this sort of
thing, but sooner or later he’d have to tangle with a member of the
super-villain crowd. In the back of his
mind Peter wished he’d managed to settle on a cool hero name, but maybe
something would come to him in the midst of the fight. Provided he didn’t get squashed in the
process…
*** *** ***
Yeah, bit of a cliff-hanger ending, as it's the as-yet-unnamed Spider-Man about get into his first fight with an actual super-villain. Astute members of the Atomic Think Tank will probably have sussed out who the villain is. Of course, since Spidey's gone on to become a member of the Stormbreakers it's pretty clear that he survives. But the question is, does he win? Or does his first public outing as a super-hero end in an embarrasing defeat?
Sadly, the details of that fight will have to wait for next week's post. Hopefully, you found the above tale to be some flavor of entertaining, and that you'll find the my write-up of that first villain fight to be of similar enjoyableness.
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