Spider-man Unleashed

Chapter 20

There were times Peter was unhappy about receiving superpowers. Not the powers themselves, but the responsibilities that came along with it. Hunting criminals was a difficult challenge, and their superpowered variants didn't make the challenge any easier. New York had a lot of crime, enough to make addressing all exhausting.

However, tonight was not one of those days.

During the day, New York was a loud, dirty place, a little yet oppressive corner of hell. The nights were different, with skyscrapers reaching the sky, glowing with lights. Especially on nights like this, with mist covering the ground. On nights like that, moving between the buildings was a beautiful, surreal experience.

The mists blurred and obscured the buildings, the distant ones turning into ghostly silhouettes. Streets and the endless crowds that covered them disappeared completely — visually, as there was no helping the constant noise.

And, as an added benefit, the number of muggers working decreased, which was against his expectations. But it seemed that they had learned that not many citizens walked out, afraid of that exact event, which taught the thieves that there wasn't much work to be done.

The misty nights belonged to strange creatures, like him, he thought as he ran along the side of one of the highest skyscrapers of the city, glimpsing down the tiny beads of illumination before throwing himself down.

The cool breeze wrapped around him as he left the rooftop behind, the haze shifting as if it was caressing his cheek. A pure feeling of calm filled his being as he fell, aware that others might have found that sensation terrorizing, especially in a mist, with his vision impaired.

For him, it was a beautiful, untouched moment of calm, where all his problems were forgotten, the violent sound of the wind against his ears silencing the city for a moment.

A sigh escaped his mouth as he threw a line of web and flew forward, the momentary silence gone without the terminal velocity, the tugging on his arms reminding him that it was not a beautiful dream but real life.

It was hard to believe he was doing this for barely more than a year. It felt more like a lifetime, the struggles of an ordinary teenager long forgotten. Well, almost forgotten, he corrected himself as the memories of some beautiful moments he shared with his lady friends came to his mind, each more striking than the last.

He changed directions, and the mists curled around him, the nearest lights turning into an uninterrupted light. He had heard a shout of celebration. "Hey, that was the Spider," called an enthusiastic, childish voice behind him from an open window. It would have disappeared if he didn't make a point of making a turn and passed through the same window once again.

The enthusiasm of the children was the other thing that made him feel glad. It made him feel like Santa, flying freely. He already had the red, didn't he?

After patrolling down, he moved closer to the Hell's Kitchen, but avoided that place. He made a point of avoiding it unless there was something really important going on. Daredevil was a good ally in a fight, but he often got touchy when Peter touched on what he saw as his responsibility.

He had a feeling that Daredevil's approach was not exactly a healthy one, but he didn't talk about that. It was not a comfortable talk…

And, not like he had the right to talk about it.

He threw another web, and his descent was arrested by a sharp pull that would have dislocated the shoulder of anyone without superpowers easily, and used another pull to change direction, passing near another window. A careful nudge against a wall as he slowed down allowed him to dodge a building, and then he jumped over another, enjoying the night as long as he could manage…