Spider-Man: Home For Halloween

Chapter 1

The cooing of pigeons, the bustle of citizens, and the faint honks of impatient drivers was enough to confirm that today was just another typical day in the lively setting of New York City. Most would consider the noisy commotion nothing more than an ugly jumble of sounds, but to our hero, it was like hearing that really good song you always kept playing on loop. It was his home calling back to him. It was NYC saying that it needed Spider-Man. Suddenly, the usual hum of it all was interrupted by the spack of web fluid sticking to the rough brick of a worn-down building. At the end of the web line was a teenager clad in what seemed like red and blue spandex, gripping the string tightly and kicking his feet forward so he'd vault over the building.

"Better not waste any time, lunch break is only an hour long!" A young and innocent voice spoke out loudly from under the mask, seemingly speaking to himself, trying to be heard over the wind rushing past him as he began to descend down to the streets below. Just before hitting the ground, Peter fired another strand of webbing at a window beside him. "What do you got for me today Karen?" He asked, grazing the asphalt road below with his fingertips before yanking on his webbing to propel him up higher into the air. He could hear several citizens clapping and cheering at the sight of his acrobatics, making his lenses squint in joy.

"Witnesses reported a hold up on 52nd street. Would you like me to set a destination?" Peter launched himself upwards again and shot a line onto a stone wall, pulling himself onto it and transitioning into a wall run. Ever since May had discovered his secret a few months back, he had to be selective about the crimes he chose to handle himself. She'd made him promise not to do this anymore and if she heard news about Spidey stopping another big bad like the Vulture or worse, she would definitely kill him.

"Sure, should be nice and easy." In less than a second after his response, a small three-dimensional map appeared at the bottom right-hand corner of his vision. Within it, a red icon blinked just a few blocks away from where he was located. "Let's get to work!" Peter twirled his way through a fire escape and onto the roof of a Daily Bugle delivery truck. From there, he swung from another web that he shot onto the corner of a ledge, forcing his body to spin and face the direction of his destination. After a couple more minutes of flips, spins, and tricks, Parker was nearly there.

"Incoming call from Ned Leeds." Karen said in her trademark calm tone. Peter gave the suit's Artificial Intelligence verbal confirmation to answer the call and Ned's contact image appeared to the side of his HUD. He was expecting his best friend to go on and on about whatever was new like he always did so after Ned greeted him, Peter spoke before he could say anything more.

"Hey uh Ned? You mind getting to the point? I'm just kinda in the middle of something important." Peter tried his best to not sound rude or annoyed. He loved talking to Ned about girls they could never get with, Superheroes they admired, or even just how their classes were going, but Ned did always seem to have the worst timing when it came to making conversation.

"Sorry, yeah. I was just gonna ask if you were almost done doing whatever a spider can? Cuz remember lunch is ending early today since it's the first day of our new classes, that way we can get to meet our new teachers and all that stuff." Peter arrived at the scene of the hold up and stuck beneath a fire escape, whispering so he wouldn't alert the crooks. He slapped his forehead, disappointed with himself.

"Crap, I'm not gonna make it. I'm all the way across town! Just my luck... Think you can cover for me again?" Peter could hear his best friend's dramatic sigh over the phone and imagined that his eyes were rolling back in aggravation the way they always did when he was asked this. "Please Ned, I know I ask way too much but it's really important. I can't just leave this lady to get robbed or worse. Ned went quiet for a moment before breaking his silence with an exhale.