Post by Drake on Jul 25, 2013 8:43:13 GMT -5
All Star Spider-Man #3
The Rebirth Part 4: The Mask
[/size]The Rebirth Part 4: The Mask
Miles was dumbfounded, completely at a loss for words. Just seconds ago, Peter had revealed that he was Spider-Man. THE Spider-Man.
“I know it’s probably tough to believe but…” Peter was interrupted by Miles, who still remained completely shocked.
“This…this isn’t some sort of geek obsession thing, right? I’ve seen those with Ganke…they look a lot like this. B-but you’re serious…?” Miles struggled to find the right words, just letting everything flow out.
“Yes,” Peter admitted, “I was bitten by a radioactive spider during my junior year. From there I became Spider-Man.”
“Shit…” Miles massaged his forehead.
Peter walked around his desk and to Miles, his expression sullen. He put a hand on Miles’ shoulder. The teen flinched. “Miles, now you understand. Being Spider-Man isn’t…”
Miles slugged him. Completely, full on, punch to the face. Peter’s response was completely logical. He fell to the ground, a look of complete disbelief painted on his face.
“You coward!” Miles roared. Peter looked up into Miles’ beaten, angry eyes.
“What?” was all Peter managed to get out.
“You-you gave up! Quit being Spider-Man! Not because of some life threatening injury, but…but because you were scared!” Miles didn’t move. He continued to stare Peter right down. In all honesty, the ex-hero hadn’t felt this genuinely afraid since his first time fighting the Green Goblin.
“I do have a bad right leg, courtesy of Kraven,” Peter tried to argue. His words fell on deaf ears.
“God! I can’t believe I actually looked up to you! I can’t believe New York City STILL looks up to you!” Miles exclaimed, hands in the air.
“That isn’t fair,” Peter said, “I left for a reason. I had a family. I…”
“You really don’t get it do you…?” Miles’ voice finally lowered. He looked like a beaten dog, dejected and outcast from society.
“On the contrary, I ‘get it’ better than anyone, especially some kid like you,” Now Peter was angry. The boy had pushed his buttons too many times. “I WAS SPIDER-MAN! I sacrificed everything for years! But…but there came a time when I knew I had to stop. You met Mayday?” Miles didn’t response. Peter knew the answer. “When I imagined her living on without a father…I just… I couldn’t bare it. I knew I had to quit. I had to live on to see her get into college, to walk her down the isle. But that wasn’t even the end of it. I couldn’t even think about the prospect of her…HER getting hurt! What if it wasn’t me that died? What if it was her? Or Mary Jane?! I had to protect them!”
“Shut up!” Miles shouted. “You don’t get it! No matter how much you think you do, you don’t. Maybe sometime long ago you did, but you sure as hell don’t now. Spider-man…Spider-Man isn’t just about saving the lives of the people you love! It’s about saving everyone! It’s about being a symbol of hope! Spider-Man is proof that there is someone out there to help you, even in your darkest hour; that you aren’t alone. Sure, it always starts with an over eager kid looking to reconcile for something they believe they did wrong,” Miles said this as if he really felt that way himself, Peter realized, “But that isn’t it. That isn’t the reason why you keep going. Spider-Man isn’t about your personal problems. It isn’t about saving one person’s life. It’s about saving, protecting, giving hope to everyone!”
“And if you won’t do that, I will,” Miles finished. He turned around and began to leave.
“Miles, please! Let’s just talk this over!” Peter begged, his anger having subsided.
Miles looked back, only briefly, “I remember the day Spider-Man died. It was as if a light went out in the world. A light everyone needed. And they still need it.”
With that final word, Miles left. He ignored the odd looks Mary Jane gave him on his way out. He ignored Mayday’s peculiar stare. He ignored it all. There was only one thing on his mind as he left. He had to become Spider-Man.
“Ganke?” Miles had called his friend.
“Yeah, what’s up?” Ganke answered.
“I’m coming over,” Miles replied.
“Um…ok. I’m just chilling here with Tommy, so…yeah, come on over.”
Meanwhile, back in the house, Peter remained on the ground, motionless. The boy had struck a chord. And Peter didn’t know what to think. Was he right?
Did the world need Spider-Man?
…
Miles gently knocked on Ganke’s one-and-a-half stories apartment home. To his surprise, Ganke’s mother answered the door. The woman was nearly always at work. Ever since Ganke’s father died, she’d had to support the family herself. If she was home then this either meant she’d gotten laid off or she had a day off. It wasn’t a holiday, Miles surmised. Poor Lifen.
“Oh, hello, Miles,” Lifen greeted, surprised, “Mingyu did not say you were coming over.” She used Ganke’s real name.
“Yeah, sorry.” Miles apologized, “I just called him. I have to borrow something from him for school.”
“Oh, okay,” Lifen understood. She motioned inside. Miles nodded in thanks and walked in. “Mingyu is in his room with Tommy.”
“Thank you,” Miles called back as he headed to Ganke’s room.
“Yo,” Ganke greeted. Miles hadn’t even entered the room yet. Maybe Ganke was the one with a spider sense. “I heard you come in,” Ganke read his mind.
“Hey, Ganke, Tommy,” Miles waved.
“Hey,” Tommy didn’t even look at Miles, completely sucked in to what appeared to be Halo. Ganke set down his controller and stood up. “Ganke, aren’t you going to at least hide. We’re freaking online, man. The Reds are going to slaughter you.”
“It’s fine, man,” Ganke replied, “Just one game. I don’t really care about the stats.” That just showed how important this Spider-Man thing was to him, Miles realized. Ganke ALWAYS cared about his stats in videogames.
The two walked back into the hallway. On their way out, Ganke grabbed a bag from the edge of his room.
“What happened?” Ganke got right to the point.
Miles shrugged, “Not sure where to start.”
“How about—as cliché as this may sound—at the beginning?” Ganke said, eyes practically bleeding curiosity.
Miles thought back to the beginning. To Mayday. “Nah, the beginning is boring,” Miles lied, “Let’s just skip to the important stuff.”
Ganke shrugged his shoulders, “It really doesn’t matter to me.”
Miles sighed. He didn’t know how to say it. What he’d found out…should he tell Ganke?
“So…?” Ganke pushed.
Miles took a deep breath and let it all spill out. “Peter Parker is Spider-Man.” Ganke’s mouth dropped.
“No. Way.”
“And he’s a coward.” Miles finished. To this, Ganke gave Miles an inquiring look. Miles explained, telling the whole story, just skipping the part with Mayday.
“Wow.” Ganke honestly said, “So are the rumors about his wife true?”
“What?” Miles had no idea what he was talking about.
“Is she really hot?” Ganke continued.
“What?! Ganke! That’s-that’s gross! She’s, like, forty.” Miles shuddered, completely in awe at his friend.
“What? I’m a teenage guy. I find these things on the internet. She was on some Top 20 MILF list,” Ganke replied casually.
“Ganke!”
“What?”
“Let’s just change the subject,” Miles decided, having realized that Ganke was serious. I mean, she was Peter FREAKING Parker’s wife. And Mayday’s mom.
“I…I need to go out. Today,” Miles added in.
“As Spider-Man?” Ganke inquired.
“Yep.”
“Good thing I have this then,” Ganke pulled out a plastic bag from the backpack he’d brought. It looked like an ordinary…
“Costume? Is that really what it is? It looks like one of those crappy store-bought ones,” Miles noticed.
“It isn’t,” Ganke argued, “It’s top of the line, Ebay-bought Spider-Man wear. With it, you’ll be hugely recognizable, and you should be able to function easily.”
“But…it’s…” Miles tried to think up an argument that would convince Ganke to let it be. Nothing came to mind. It did look halfway decent, to be honest.
“Take it. Go.” Ganke pushed the bag into Miles’ hands. The teen shrugged, and stuffed it in his backpack.
“Thanks, man,” Miles said.
“Anytime.” Ganke replied.
Miles rushed off, but before he could fully leave the house, Ganke stopped him. “Hey, Miles!” Miles turned back around. Ganke grinned. “Go get ‘em, Tiger.”
Miles’ face contorted into an expression of shock, “What the hell?”
“What?” Ganke shrugged, “I saw it on a movie.”
Miles just laughed it off, running out the door. It didn’t take long for Miles to find an empty alley and go the stereotypical superhero route. But before long, Spider-Man was back in town, hopping from roof to roof, watching below for any little crimes he could stop.
After half an hour, the only thing Miles had successfully done was trip and fall onto the concrete below, which hurt by the way, and be seen by a number of people, who either took photos are yelled at him, “It’s in bad taste!” In the end, Miles sighed and just sat down at the edge of a roof, looking down a hundred or so feet at the people below.
I really need webs was Miles’ prevalent through throughout this time. In a close second was this costume is really too tight. Nothing about being a superhero was working so far. It all honestly sucked. Miles lay back and relaxed.
“AAIIEEE!”
The teen superhero-in-training shot up, looking for whoever was crying. Was it a woman being assaulted? A bank robbery in progress? Or…well, damn, Miles realized, it’s a cat in a tree. But Miles had nothing better to do, so he hopped down to do the most boring, stereotypical little superhero job he could do.
“Hey, hey, calm down,” Miles pleaded the girl, who turned to look at him. She screamed even louder. Miles sighed, realizing he wasn’t going to calm the girl down until he got her her cat. He sprung up into the tree and quickly produced the feline.
“AIIEEE! This man stole my cat!” The girl screamed.
“What? I didn’t…” Miles protested, but he was interrupted by a large man,
“Did you steal her cat?” the man inquired forcefully.
“No, I saved it. She was screaming about it, and, I—I just saved it,” Miles explained, still holding on to the cat.
“Then why didn’t you give it back to her?” The man got into Miles’ face.
“Whoa, dude, chill out,” Miles said, “Here, she can have the cat.” Because the man took up so much space in between Miles and the girl, he had no choice but to toss the cat around the man. Instantly upon hitting the ground the cat sprinted off, away from them all.
“Yo, man! Look what you did! The cat just ran off!” The man yelled.
“I—I didn’t mean to…”
“Wahhh!!” The little girl cried, tears leaking down her face like a waterfall.
“You seriously screwed up, man,” the guy pushed Miles back.
“Calm down, dude. I said I was sorry. Look, I’m a freaking superhuman. I’ll go get the cat back if you just let me go,” Miles coaxed.
“And run away? God, you think you’re some sorta superhero just ‘cuz you wear a costume? Which is in bad taste, by the way,” The man pointed out.
“So I’ve heard,” Miles drawled.
“This is ridiculous,” Miles stated.
“I agree,” the man nodded, pushing Miles yet again. Miles sighed, realizing he had no other way out of his mess but to use his powers. He concentrated, thinking about being invisible. Nothing happened. His head tingled. The man was attempting to punch him. Miles ducked.
“Ergh!” The man growled. Miles didn’t want to fight him. Concentrate! Miles pushed himself. And then it happened. The man was looking around, completely shocked. Miles had, yet again, disappeared. Somehow.
Without another thought, Miles ran off down the road towards his home.
And thus ended the first day of Miles’ tenure as Spider-Man.