Pete burst through the doors of the blood lab, apologizing profusely for his tardiness. "So," he said, out of breath, "What'd I miss?" He looked over his friends, expecting snarky comments and smirks, but instead he received silence. "Well?" His friends continued to stare at him, a look somewhere between dumbfounded and confused residing on their faces. "C'mon, guys," He said, starting for the test results on a small screen behind them. Grace stepped forward, placing a hand on his shoulder. "Peter..." She looked into his eyes. "You... you..." She tried to say, the words escaping her. "You have it." "I have it?" "The Spider Gene." Pete took a step back, glancing over Joseph and Jesse, whose nods confirmed it: Peter Benjamin Rogers was a direct descendant of Spider-Man. "No, no that's impossible. If I'm not Spider-Man's son. I'm the son of May Parker-Rogers and Johnathan Rogers. My mom is a journalist. My dad is Captain America. There's no way I actually have the Spider Gene." Grace touched his cheek, tilting his head down so she could look into his eyes. "It's true." Jesse let out a loud breath. "Dude, why're you denying it? This is awesome! You can be Spider-Man! Heck, everyone knows Spider-Woman's getting too old for the job; she hardly swings around anymore, she resigned from the Avengers, and her biggest break in the last year was a car thief." Pete looked to Jesse. "Spider-Woman. You mean my mom." Jesse averted his eyes. "I guess so." Joseph spoke up: "You weren't adopted, were you?" "No," Peter turned away. "Pretty sure I wasn't. It's hard to fake having Cap's regenerative abilities." Grace put her hand on Pete's back. "Pete, what's wrong?" He glanced back at her. "It's just... my mom's been Spider-Woman this whole time, and she never told me? Why? Why would she keep something this big from me?" "To protect you." In the tension of the moment, no one had seen the door open, or noticed May Rogers standing there. Pete looked up at her. "Mom?" May crossed the room to Pete, placing her hand on his shoulder. "Peter, I raised you your whole life, hardly there for you because the world always needed saving, never able to make a promise to you because I wasn't sure I'd live through the next 'adventure' with the avengers, and always so afraid that one day I'd come home and find you, my precious boy, lying dead because I'd gotten sloppy and one of the Osborns or the Fisks had discovered my identity." A tear rolled from her eye. "I kept this from you because I wanted you to have a normal life. And I guess... I guess I thought that somehow by ignoring the fact that you had the gene, it would somehow keep your powers from manifesting." Peter looked into his mother's eyes, and saw she mean what she said, and that she was terrified of what might happen next. "How long?" Pete asked. "What?" "How long till my powers fully manifest?" May sighed, looking down. "A day. Maybe two. At least from what I'm seeing, and the fact that they partially manifested today." "Wait, what?" Joseph asked, stepping forward. "What do you mean?" May looked to Peter, and he nodded, turning to his friends. "Yeah, uh, right after we got done at my house, I, uh... ripped a can in half." Jesse chuckled. "Like a soda can?" "Yeah..." "So how exactly does that amount to your powers manifesting?" "Well, I picked it up and tried to drop it in the trash, but it stuck to my hand, so I tried to pull it off, but it stuck to my other hand, and when I pulled them apart, the can... stretched, like pulling silly putty apart, except it was easy. I didn't even notice It'd happened till I saw the two halves." The others all nodded slowly, then Jesse asked the question that was on all of their minds. "So what now? I mean... you've got spider-powers. Cool. But what now? Are you gonna become Spider-Man?" "No," May cut in. "No, no Spider-Man. No super-heroing. I told you I was trying to protect you from this life, and just because you found out doesn't mean I'm going to stop." Grace spoke up this time: "All due respect, Mrs. Rogers, but I don't really think that's your choice." May looked almost incredulously at Grace. "What do you mean by that?" "Well, you did go off superheroing when you discovered your powers, didn't you?" May averted her eyes. "And I'm sure your father wasn't too keen on his daughter swinging around in the ol' colors, attracting the attention of characters like the Green Goblins and Mysterio." May met her eyes. "I... I..." She sighed dejectedly. "You're right. All of you. I suppose..." She looked to Peter, "If I made these choices of my own accord, they're yours to make as well." Pete shook his head. "No, I don't have a choice." "What?" Grace said, searching his face. Peter stared at the door, not wanting to meet anyone's eyes. "It's like Grandpa always said: 'With great power must come great responsibility." He looked to his mom. "How many lives have you saved?" "Well that's not exactly--" "Too many to count, right? And Grandpa, too. In fact he saved the entire multiverse a few times over. If it weren't for him, for his actions, everyone and everything would be non-existent right now. So do I get a choice? Do I get to choose to step down, let the other hundreds of heroes fight my battles for me? No. Because I'm different. I hold a higher moral code. I hold a greater responsibility. The very purpose of my existence is to protect the fabric of this universe, because I am a Spider. And from this day on, I, Peter Benjamin Rogers, am Spider-Man." Jesse chuckled. "Well, maybe starting... tomorrow? I mean, you don't even have the full power portfolio yet, dude, never mind a suit, and web-shooters, and maybe some surveillance tech... a rep with other heroes, training, man, you've got a long way to go before you can fill dem' shoes." Pete sighed. "Okay, alright. Tomorrow. I'll get to work on the tech and everything... I mean, you're right." Jesse and Grace grinned in unison, and Joseph... Joseph stood in the back, not minding to join in the smiling and hugging. Instead, he slowly made his way to a tall cylindrical machine and tapped the screen a few times, ejecting a vial filled with a red liquid, which he slipped into his pocket. His father would love this...
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Spiderman Legacy
FanfictionPeter Parker has grown old and given up the mask. His daughter, Mayday "May" Parker has taken the mantle upon herself, and protects the city as Spiderwoman, but she, too, is approaching old age, and quickly. But there's still hope for the quickly dy...
