Spider-Man: Marvel Knight

Chapter 5-Superpowers?

What could he do? Peter didn't know what to do. He just didn't know what to do! All he could was go look at himself in the mirror over and over again. He had to keep pinching himself to make sure that he wasn't dreaming. Where did the abs come from? The biceps? The pectorals? Although his face looked the same, he was kinda hot now. He was roughly as built as Flash, but he knew that he was stronger. He could just feel it in his gut. How could someone just jump over a car like that? How could he cling to the ceiling?
Finally, he remembered what Doctor Connors had said. He said that the spider venom was like a super steroid. But what was the other stuff about? No drug, especially not steroids, can make you cling to ceilings, or jump over cars, and they sure don't give you a sixth sense about jumping over, those said, cars. The whole thing made Peter's head hurt. He could feel something coursing through his veins. It made his body tingle. It felt weird.
He grabbed his first aid kit from his closet and took out the empty syringe. Peter always hated needles, so he began preparing himself for the stick of the needle. The funny thing was, when he jammed the needle into his arm and pulled out some blood, he barely felt it. To be straight, he didn't feel it at all.
He put his blood in a test tube from his science kits and added only a drop of chloric acid to look for a antibody reaction. If it was normal, the acid would begin to evaporate the blood; if it wasnt, the acid would rise to the top and not touch the blood. What surprised Peter the most was that it did neither of these things, but it evaporated into a cloud of vapor as soon as it touched the blood. His blood completely destroyed the acid. How could that be possible? How could blood break down acid? Peter's genius mind began racing until he thought of something.
Radiation. Immense concentrations of radiation waves are the only things that can break down acid. His blood was completely radioactive. He felt tingly and weird because he was a walking biohazard.
Pete had gotten bitten in the radioactivity lab, he remembered; he then began to put two and two together. The spider must have been infected by the radioactive waves in the room. When it was infected, it became agitated and bit Peter as soon as it landed on him. Since the radioactivity mutated the spider's venom, it genetically mutated Peter's body, and somehow gave him superpowers? Peter's head kept on hurting from thinking about it. It wasn't possible. Radioactive spiders can't give you superpowers...can they?
Peter was so preoccupied with his current situation that he jolted in fear when he heard his phone buzz. There were messages left and right on his phone from his friends.

Harry: Pete u alright?

Harry: u didn't come to my house.

Harry: did u go by urself?

Harry: Pete answer ur phone!

Gwen: Peter Harry said that u didn't go to his house and u didn't come to school. R u ok?

Gwen: Harry's worried Pete

Gwen: where r u?

MJ: Pete please answer your phone

MJ: did something happen? Remember your anxiety.

His friends... he then remembered what his friends did. This was their fault; of course it was. He had a right to be mad at them: they couldn't just leave him all alone like that. His anxiety wouldn't let him be normal at that place. If they were with him, this never would have happened. He couldn't talk to them. He just couldn't talk to them. For the first time in his life, Peter was angry. He was actually angry, and at his friends too. He felt like he needed to blow off some steam.
He looked at the single window in his room and slowly opened it so he would not make any noise. If he had these new powers, then he might as well try them out. He sat on the window sill and placed his bare foot against the brick wall, and was surprised when it adhered to it so quickly, almost as if it were covered in glue. When he took it off, it was if it didn't even happen. It just came natural to him. Completely climbing out of his house, Pete placed both hands and both feet to the outside wall and silently climbed to the very top of the roof.
Pete looked at all of the houses next to theirs in the small suburban area, and of course they weren't that far away; about five feet. It gave him an idea: since some spiders can leap a long distance to catch their prey, maybe one of his powers was leaping great distances. His eyes moved to a home that was about four houses down. It would be a good starting point to practice. He took a deep breath, gave himself a running start and he jumped. Suddenly he looked down and saw how high up he was and kmmediately was inflicted by his fear of heights. He shouted out loud in fear, and with that, he crashed into his neighbors trashcan because his eyes were closed. When he heard their lights switch on and footsteps from inside, Pete got back up quickly and ran as fast as he could back to his house.
Pete felt something trickle down his arm. It was blood; he had cut himself when he fell on top of the metal trashcan. After climbing back into his room, he grabbed the first-aid kit that he had left in the middle of the floor and snuck to the bathroom to tend to his minor wound. After taking his shirt off to see how bad it was, he realized something....that cut had stopped bleeding, and it was almost completely gone. From the way it was healing, he wasn't even going to have a scar.
Peter heard a knock at his door. "Peter, are you okay?" Ben's voice asked. Pete almost answered the door but realized that he was still shirtless. His uncle was used to him being scrawny. He couldn't see him with his new...bodily additions.
"Yes, sir, one second!" Peter quickly threw on a baggy sweatshirt and opened the door. "Hey, unc, what's up?"
Uncle Ben studied his nephew for a few seconds. "You okay, Peter? You looked awful when you came home today."
Peter shook his head. He had to think of something to say quickly. "I'm fine, unc. I really am. I think I just had food poisoning from yesterday when we ate out, but I'm better now. Yes, I'm better now one hundred percent," he lied.
"Okay," Ben said while nodding. He could tell his nephew wasn't telling him something. "Well, your aunt cooked dinner tonight. Spaghetti and meatballs, Pete. It's your favorite..."
Peter didn't want any company that night. All he wanted was to be alone and figure out all the ways his body had changed and all the powers that came with it. "Actually, Ben," Peter said while cutting off his uncle, "I still feel kinda queasy. I think I'm just gonna lay down and go to sleep."
"Come on, son," Ben said. His words were full of worry for his nephew. "You haven't eaten anything today. You've got to be at least a little hungry."
Peter almost felt like he wanted to cry, but he suppressed it. "I just... I feel... I just think I need to lie down," he lied again. "Please, unc."
Peter felt horrible lying to his uncle, especially after seeing the worried and despaired look on his face, but at this point, the only thing that he wanted was to just wanted to be alone. "Okay," Ben said, still suspicious. "Well, if you change your mind... We'll leave you a plate in the fridge."
Peter smiled. "Thanks, Ben. Goodnight."
"Goodnight." Peter went to close the door but was stopped when he heard Ben say something. "Peter, you know you can talk to me about anything, right?"
"I know," Peter said with a fake smile. He felt so horrible. He wanted to tell him but how could he?
"I love you, Peter," his uncle said.
Peter felt a lump in his throat. Those words made him feel even worse about lying to the one man that taught him everything in life. "Love you, too, Uncle Ben," Peter said while holding back a waterfall of tears.
Ben nodded. He knew something was up, but he wanted to respect his nephew's privacy. When he was ready, he'd tell him what was wrong. "Well... Goodnight."
"Goodnight," Pete said, and then he shut the door.
Ben walked back down the stairs and scratched his head. He kept looking back at Peter's room door to see if he would walk out at any minute. But of course, nothing happened. Ben walked to the kitchen table and sat down with May to continue eating dinner.
"He still feels bad?" May asked obviously concerned.
Ben shook his head. "I don't know. I called Connors today after Peter got home. He said that Peter was the only one who went to the fair."
May's face turned worried. "Peter went by himself? His anxiety, Ben. You don't think his friends left him by himself on purpose, do you?"
"Gwen and Harry?" Ben asked in recoil. "Never. They love Peter like he's their brother. Anyway, I don't think that was the only thing that had him upset."
"Why?" May asked, still concerned. "What happened?"
Ben looked at his wife with a worried expression. "Connors said that Peter also got bit by a spider there."
"My God," May gasped. "Do we need to take him to the hospital?"
"No," Ben said. "He's going to be alright. It was a venomous spider, but it's used for medicine. He'll be okay. That would explain his nausea."
"Why didn't he tell us? Tell you?"
"I don't know... Maybe he's just having a teenager moment. You know how we were," Ben said smirking.
May chuckled, "Oh, don't remind me, darling." Her tone turned serious again. "Will you talk to him in the morning?"
"Yeah," Ben said, "I will."