It's a Little Strange

9. CHANGE

There was darkness. Pure black. So dark, even, that Spider-Man had thought he and the girl were floating in a bleak space with no stars- which wasn't possible. He was on Earth. He was in Queens. He was protecting a little girl before the building fell on them-

Spider-Man didn't know what to do. Karen's helpful insight would come too late for him to follow through. Instead, he braced himself by lowering himself to his knees and embraced the girl. Spider-Man hugged the girl as her guardian and exposed his back to the crumbling building.

They both squeezed their eyes shut to await their fate. Peter twitched and shuttered, not quite believing that this was it. This was how he was going to go. People would say he died a hero, protecting a little girl, dressed as him. People would unmask Spider-Man and reveal Peter Parker. People would wonder how could a high school student such as he risk his life for strangers.

What they didn't know is that Spider-Man would die weak and defenseless. He wasn't strong enough to save one person, much less be a guardian to Queens.

May would live on in the devastation that yet another family member was ripped from her.

Tony would have lost a protégé who had the potential to be so much more.

Ned would have lost his best friend and would isolate himself to cope.

Flash would have tossed and turned, his stomach churning and twisting, and he would blame himself since he has relentlessly tortured Peter.

His teachers and other peers would have lost someone that they see every day. Another face that passes by, someone that they could have known if they had tried hard enough...

And Michelle... what would you have lost?

Spider-Man waited. He waited for something to come- death to come, whatever death feels like. Would it be a sweet release or a painful torture? Would there be nothing or another world that he couldn't possibly imagine?

Yet nothing came.

Like a serpent, a black figure slithered from the cracks of the street. It was in a bubbly, semi-gaseous state, clumping together only to pull itself apart as it rose in the air. It drew together as if it was the center of its own gravitational pull to shape itself into a person.

The young man, from a crouch, lifted his palms to the air and emitted the same black energy from which he had formed from. The black smokey energy exploded around them, foaming around the perimeter of himself, Spider-Man and the girl.

The girl whimpered in Spider-Man's arms and he tried to soothe her by rubbing her back, but he wasn't looking at her. His head was trained up to watch as the building that was just seconds from crushing the two of them. Instead, the building hit the protective force field that the young man had made. Spider-Man stared at the young man controlling this madness in disbelief.

The young man dropped his head and groaned in agony. "Move dammit!" he yelled at presumably Spider-Man. Spider-Man didn't need to be told twice.

Picking up the girl in his arms, Spider-Man made a mad dash for light. He just made it clear of the building and spun around, unsure as to how the young man would get out himself. Spider-Man let the little girl down and he attempted to rush back in when the black force field popped like a bubble. The building smashed into the ground, the impact collected a cloud of dust that blew Spider-Man. He tumbled and rolled, but came up sliding on his feet and with his hand against the ground to slow his slide.

"No!" Spider-Man yelled.

Somehow, this was worse than him dying. So much worse. At least he thought that he would die saving everyone that he could, but he had willingly let this powered young man take his place. Spider-Man wasn't supposed to do that. He was the hero! He was supposed to die. No one was supposed to die on his watch.