Falling is second nature to me. Gravity’s my natural enemy. I close my eyes and the din of the city rises before me. Yeah, yeah… second nature. The wind hits me and I dig my fingers into the wall. Whew… just… just one push. One little push and I hit the air, wind ripping through my ears, diving down, down, down! My arm lashes out and the web shoots out, swinging forward with my weight. The world rushes by below me, my body knowing what to do. The air, the sun, the blue sky. Tears sting my eyes from behind the goggles I’m wearing. I’m limitless. I’m unstoppable! My throat rips out a cry of…
“YEAHAHAHAHAAAA!” I scream, flipping and swinging out into Times Square, landing near one of the billboards. I break into a weird, jerky dance. Until my body seizes and I clack down onto the roof with my Sense buzzing and getting overwhelmed.
Gaaagh! Okay, let’s do this!
Hey. My name’s Jack Parker, and I guess you’re here because you’re expecting a tragedy, right? Lost love, lost parent, loss loss loss? Well when I was born I was cut off from oxygen that gave me my disability…
I clack my braces, Cerebral Palsy! My parents, Ben and May Parker, really took good care of me for a long while. But you’re not here for the deets on my life, right? Well…
I’m now twenty one and falling still terrifies me. Sure I have stupendous Spider Powers that I’ve yet to figure out, and the fact that I’m swinging from webs that come out of my hands from a slat between my middle knuckles makes this insane. How I got it was some weird spider in my apartment, it bit me and BAM. Next day I’m pretty much a superman. Breathing gently, I close my eyes. This city constantly moves, pulses, every person and every car engine. My Sense captures it all in a harmony. All of it in one constantly moving place. Mutants, humans, weird superpowered guys, fellas in costumes…
It’s all here.
But where do I fit in?
Ever since I got out of high school my life has just been, ‘Get the degree of your dreams!’ but when you’re limited by your body, when you can’t be spectacular… it… it’s sad. Everyone was gunning for me at home, everyone was counting on me. That’s when I see his face. My older cousin, Peter. Dude’s literally everywhere as Tony Stark’s wunderkind and I just wanna punch the billboard to sparking cinders. God, I don’t know what’s worse.
The fact that Pete’s got everything figured out or the fact I can barely go home without…
My phone dings, a text from Dad.
Settled in, buddy?
I sigh and type back, Yeah. I’m settled. Just thinking.
No, no. Delete that, Jack! He’ll be onto you! I deleted Just Thinking. Whew! Nice save! Another text.
Good!
Letting out a small puff of air, I close my eyes with a small smile. I got this. I got this.
Your Mom’s worried about you.
I don’t got this. Oh god I don’t got this at all. Okay, okay. Settle down! You’re gonna be-
My Sense blares, the vibrations break into screams. Holy shit what’s… a train. Somewhere nearby! I pocket my phone and yank up my hood, feeling more and more of it going down. People panicking, the driver trying to stop, the screech of the brakes but it’s just not going to stick. Pulsing, thundering, crashing through my Sense like a bull in a china shop. I don’t even think about staying back, my Battle Vest on my back with buttons clinking and hood billowing like crazy trying to stay on my head.
I have to catch it. I have to help. The train’s rollicking off the tracks soon and I gotta- I put myself on the front, the wind whipping back my hood and lashing my face. Why in the ever-loving FUCK would I put myself at the FRONT?! My webs shoot out and stick to some buildings, thick enough to try to slow it down, my back dents into the front, “It’s alright! It’s alright!” I yell, my webs bending hard around the sides. My Sense screams along with the pain thundering through my muscles.
The engine pushes through my Sense, slowing down but something rips through my back, two long legs pop out and stab into the tracks ahead, grinding through the gravel, trying to find a way to stop the train. They catch and the Train grinds to a slow stop, “I got it! I got… I got it!” my muscles and legs scream for release, but I slump down against the front. Weakly, I turn my head towards them. My Sense sending tinnitus and brain fuzz through me but at that moment, looking at all the people looking at me in sheer awe?
Relief, pride, all of it surges in my chest as I try to smile and stay awake without slipping into unconsciousness.
Wheezing, panting, chest jerking and legs keeping me up, “Everyone okay? Call the… call the cops…”
“What do we tell ‘em?” the driver pipes up.
“Tell ‘em the Recluse saved you guys!” I salute with two fingers on the side of my temple, quirking them almost like a windshield wiper. They cock their heads and I wave my hands in front of myself.
“Look, look. I’m a new vigilante. Like ah… Iron Fist!”
More confusion. I rub the back of my head, still mercifully covered by my hood. Which I think I willed to stay stuck.
“Harsh. Daredevil?”
“Oh yeah!” one guy exclaims.
“See?! One of you guys gets it!” Turning, I take off, “HAVE A GOOD NIGHT, NEW YORKERS!”
Falling has always scared me. But now? I don’t think I have much to fear. As I sling back, there’s the happy buzz in my chest again. Just the idea I saved people, me. I did that. Just the gratification but also… The fact I barely hesitated. Just went for it like it was normal? That’s… that’s not… oh my god. I pause in my swing, hanging there on a webline. I just stopped a goddamn train. A train! Got four spider legs out of my back, used my Sense to track down where it was, and now I’m acting like it was normal?!
Just what is today?!
This is Hell. Just… god, this is worse than my surgeries. The constant pulse, the aches in my muscles, the fact my back is constantly tapping. Fucking hell. And I have a lecture about human evolution to sit through. I didn’t sleep well. It shows. Slowly making it to class despite me being in a time crunch. But just as I get to the bathroom in my apartment… I pass out. Everything just kind of fades. Sleeping the day away, my Sense picking something up at my door.
The knocks are quick, rattling my skull awake. Did I already fuck up rent? Well no, Mister Ditkovich doesn’t collect rent until the first of the…
I’m at the door now. Opening it and seeing someone standing there.
“Hello… I don’t have time to talk…” I hear a warm laugh, bright blue eyes and graying dark hair in a ponytail. He’s wearing his big coat and I can’t believe he’s here but he’s all happy to see me so I grin and let him in.
“Heya, Jack!” Dad exclaims, pulling me into a hug, “My big ol’ college boy!” he’s big and rough handed, a worker’s man to the last breath. He smells like metal and tool grease. His truck is probably downstairs but he lets me down and I guide him in.
“So ah… I ended up moving in about a couple of days ago.” I start, “I know, I’m not in class right now, but I ah…” I rub the back of my head, “I don’t really feel good.”
“I can tell.” Dad sighs, “Look buddy, what’s wrong?” I jolt and turn a little, Sense pitches up with vibrations of him trying to figure out what I’m going to do.
“Wrong? Nothing’s wrong! See, I’m just… nervous! Nervous, yeah!” I sputter, “I mean, new school and all that can you go now? Nice to see you an’ all but-”
He grabs my shoulder with my Sense jolting my aching body into action and the popcorn ceiling digs into my feet. My hand steadies me, “Dad!” I squeak as he gawks.
“Jesus Christ! What the hell? What happened?!” he gasps, that’s when my legs pop out and stab into the ceiling gently, lowering me and keeping me upright, a shooting pain going through my spine and head.
“Listen, just a day or two ago, actually yesterday-”
“What, you got bit by a mutated Spider?”
“Yep! Well, that’s what I think anyway…” I mumble, “I don’t know where it came from, Dad.”
“Do you still have it?” he wonders, “Look, I know it sounds weird-”
“No I didn’t keep it! I just… passed out and woke up all sticky and junk with these coming out after I stopped a train-”
Dad holds up a hand, “You stopped a what ?”
“A train.”
He slumps down onto my couch, “Oh fuck…” he breathes, “You stopped a train. You can… can sprout Spider Legs, and what else?”
“I can Sense things. Like the vibrations in the air, I can feel… well, everything.” I sigh, “Look, it’s… it’s okay, I’ll be okay.”
“No, it’s not OKAY. None of this is! We shoulda never let you out of Queens and here you are with Spider stuff! What were you doing?”
“I was just moving in! Stop making it seem like it’s my fault because it’s not!” the pain builds in my head, spreading down to my mouth with my canines slowly being pushed out but I stumble towards my bathroom.
“Jack?!”
“Dad, don’t look!” I squeal, my canines tinking in a flood of blood while the new ones slide out smooth as butter. I stare into the mirror, and Dad backs off.
“Kid, is this normal?” he asks.
“No! I just have fangs now?!” I yell, “Search me because I dunno how the hell I even… Wow, they actually adjust length…” they retract into a normal tooth length without pain, I wipe the blood away and start the water with the blood swirling into the drain.
Dad gently grabs my shoulder and turns me around, “Look, look. I won’t tell your mother. Just… just don’t do anything crazy, okay? Back to normal, right?”
“Back to normal? I… I can’t just stop, Dad! I saved those people on the train! I have the power to swing from webs, to practically fly! I’m not scared of falling anymore!” I grab his hands.
“Dad, I can’t be normal. I never was! I… I can be more if you just let me.” my eyes close and he stands up, his hands landing on my shoulders and everything coming back into focus.
“Son, I don’t want this to go to your head! You have enough on your plate as it is.” he sighs, “Just… mind your head, mind your power, and be responsible with it.”
So here I am, slinging out. Thinking about it. My aching went away after Dad left, at least an hour or two after anyway. A wasted day and I’m already behind on my classes, just great. After emails and trying to take it easy I put my hoodie back on and my jeans, with my braces and shoes too, hitting the air again. Swinging like a good goddamn pro at it, I smile and stop at the MoMA, so I can get a pic of it so I can remember where I am at any part of the city. But my Sense picks up on something odd. A signature that my Sense is particularly interested in. It’s not the middle of the day, so…
It’s a languid, almost cat-like signature, deftly moving through the vents like it has no issues. Slowly scuttling across the ceiling I come upon her, she’s looking at the art almost like she’s there like a normal patron.
But uh… she’s behind the glass. She’s got long platinum blonde hair and she’s in a jumpsuit looking thing with fur around her arms and legs, both white and I lower on a web line, reaching out and knocking on the glass. She jumps and looks at me from behind a domino mask. There’s a few seconds but I smile under my scarf. She doesn’t really react until I talk to her. She’s trying to figure me out, her eyes kind of darting up and down.
“Excuse me, Miss. Closing time.” I stand there and she smiles.
“Oh this? Well, I need it for something, sweetie.” she lifts the painting with a soft grin and something at her waist lifts her up but I web up her exit.
“Okay, so now this is your cage. Sorry.” I state, “So put it back and I’ll unstick your exit.” That’s when a new signature comes in, screaming on an even louder one. It’s constant and picking up speed. She perks up at the constant sound, it doesn’t really sound like a high pitched scream but more like the grinding engine.
“Listen, you help me get outta here and I’ll just leave this be.” The lady’s tone sounds really desperate and I look towards the entrance to see a bright gold glider and its rider crash through with a cry of…
“Goooooooo… GOLD GOBLIN!” he flips off and poses, white and gold jumpsuit with a shiny golden mask and gauntlets with a white scarf billowing behind him. He stands tall with I think a cocky grin?
“You, Black Cat! Prepare for a serving of SHINING JUSTICE!” he cries with his hand shooing me away, “Also you, mysterious Spider-Boy, go away!”
“Hey!” I snap, “I saw her stealing a painting first, you Power Ranger reject!” my legs shoot out of my back and pock into the glass, the alarms going off and the Gold Goblin blasts forward. The security guards backing off because they’re really outclassed with this shiny plated prick.
“Mischief… KICK!” he almost closes in but I whack him down with one of my legs.
“Look dude, if you’re gonna call out the attack names, maybe consider NOT doing that.” I sigh with the Black Cat sauntering out by me but I web her and pull her back from the entrance. Dodging out of the way of another flying kick from the Goblin.
“Aha! I see now!” he taps the side of his helmet, “You two are partners!”
Shock goes through my system as I vault over him and plant my legs into the floor, “Look buddy, I’ve never met her in my life!” his gauntlets start glowing as he shoots out a stream of rubber bullets from an arm cannon.
“What the fuck?!” I squeak, dodging through the stream and my Sense picks up Cat heading outside. The painting’s gone! I dash towards the nearest vent and dart into it with all cylinders going. No no no no no! I’m not letting that go! As I move, all I can think of is the fact that the painting’s expensive, why would she steal it if she’s got a suit the way she does? I skid into her path and the scream of his glider sounds overhead.
“Stop right there, Spider and Cat!”
“Okay, first of all, I’m a Recluse!” I made a grab for the painting, with the Cat dancing out of the way and swiping at me with a clawed hand, but I ducked at the last second, “Second of all, we’re not partners!”
My hand goes right for the frame, a webline reaches out and she grips it hard, turning it into a tug of war. The Goblin is firing more of his bullets at us and all I wanna do is get him to stop. But then right as I’m about to clean his clock she goes over the side, the painting clattering to the roof.
I leap after her, “I gotcha!” my web shoots out and catches her. She hangs and smiles up at me. With the Goblin flying around to hover over us.
“Seriously?! What the hell’s your problem?!” I yell, “Stop peltin’ us with shit and leave us alone! I’ll get her to put it back!” But at that, he flies away all of the sudden and the Cat lets go, grappling to another place.
I stick to the side of the building, the painting in my hand.
“Well. Let’s go put it back.”
