Spider-man Unleashed

Chapter 1

Chapter 1

It was the Flash, the star of the football team and his annoying bully that finally managed to push Peter over the edge.

He was having a terrible week. J. James Jameson, his boss and his biggest nemesis, had turned the intensity of his attacks to eleven, all because he had made the terrible mistake of breaking the arm of one of the criminals he had arrested. Of course, for Jameson, it was just an unimportant detail that the guy was trying to rape a woman while brandishing a knife, telling stories about how he was going to leave her bleeding if he doesn't find her tight enough. Still, that didn't matter for Jameson, nor for police, who had brought an arrest warrant for his name. None of the field officers actually tried to enforce it, of course, who had a different view about the rights of the rapists, but still, it was enough to damage his reputation significantly.

It was enough to make him angry, but the fact that Gwen Stacy, his crush and prospective girlfriend, started to date one of the jocks, making his mood infinitely worse. He understood where she was coming from. After all, he had ditched her during their first date with no explanation, and she had no idea that he was at the other side of the town, trying to save two children from a burning building. To her, he was just being an asshole. And to get revenge, she took the invite of one of the school jocks, whose favorite past time was trying to humiliate and bully Peter, to tonight's school dance, despite knowing the full history between them. A fact that Flash found very amusing, unable to keep himself from reminding Peter during each break.

He was glad when the last bell rang, announcing his freedom from the hellhole that the government, with all its infinite wisdom, called high school. He sincerely hoped that he came across a mean villain tonight, one with enhanced durability for preference, allowing him to cut loose, blowing some steam.

With his mind busy with the patrol routes, he wasn't able to react in a timely manner when he felt his danger sense going off. He realized Flash was trying to push him, but it was too late to react. He could have avoided it, his spider senses gave him sufficient time, but not without revealing that he was far more agile than a baseline human. So, he prepared himself for collusion, and a second later, the metallic noise from the locker rang in the corridor.

Peter felt anger tickling his heart. The push itself didn't hurt, but the laughter that followed it did. Several football players surrounded him, covering his escape route, while Flash and his best bud Jason took the center. "Hi nerd," Flash exclaimed, as he patted his friends, shoulder. "Jason had decided that you're not going to come to tonight's dance. He doesn't want your ugly mug to disgust the chicks. We want them appropriately horny for the after party. He is curious about how loud this Gwen chick going to squeal."

Peter gazed at the students that surrounded him. Some were snickering, clearly enjoying the situation, while others bore forced grins, happy that they weren't the ones that got the attention of the school kings. Still, nothing hurt as seeing Gwen on the side, watching the proceedings with a conflicted expression. She wasn't laughing, but she wasn't doing anything to help either. She just watched.

Then Flash spoke once more. "Come on nerd, answer, or are you going to go and cry to your uncle."

Peter felt something twisting and changing inside him irrevocably. He tried to help people to the best of his ability, day and night, risking his life in the trash-filled streets of New York, only to be vilified and insulted at each step, both by media and government. And here there was, people he was protecting, throwing the death of one of the people he respected most to his face. He stood up, his face twisted in anger. Flash proved that he had a brain and a survival instinct despite his stupid image, and took a step back, realizing that he had crossed a line that shouldn't be crossed, and awakened something that best left sleeping. Jason, on the other hand, didn't. He took Peter standing up as a personal insult, and took a step towards him.