Post by Drake on Aug 31, 2013 15:13:29 GMT -5
All Star Spider-Man #5
The Rebirth Part 5: The Responsibility
[/size]The Rebirth Part 5: The Responsibility
Miles awoke at about eleven. At first the thought of school caused him to panic and leap out of bed, but after realizing it was Saturday, he calmed down and sat back down on his bed. He glanced briefly back at his clock. He hadn’t stayed up late. In fact, he had gone to bed right when he’d gotten home. Yesterday must’ve taken a lot out of me, Miles drawled. He lay down and rolled over onto his side, scowling. It had gone horribly. All he’d managed to do was save a cat and he hadn’t even done that well. Maybe Dr. Parker had been right. Maybe being a superhero sucks.
Miles sat back up and forced himself to go downstairs. He really didn’t feel like facing his parents now. It just…well, it would feel…wrong. But food was calling him. So, like any normal teenage boy he answered the call. Miles trudged down the stairs.
“Good morning, hon.” His mother was cheery as always.
“Morning,” Miles mumbled. He sat down next to his dad, who was caught up reading the newspaper.
“Jefferson…” Rio began.
“Right, right,” Jefferson didn’t even look up, “Mornin’.”
Miles sighed. Nothing new there. His dad still being perpetually the biggest ass he knew. Miles decided to bite first for once, “Who still reads a newspaper anymore?”
That caught his father’s attention, something Miles only managed to do whenever he came home with his report card. He looked up at Miles, frowning, “I’m old fashioned.”
“Leave out the ‘fashioned’ and you’ve got it,” Miles quipped.
“Miles!” Rio scolded, stopping momentarily from her place at the stove, where she was brewing coffee. Miles didn’t give her a response. He really wasn’t in a good mood. And it only got worse.
“What…what does that say?” Miles nearly gasped after seeing the article his father was reading.
Jefferson didn’t respond. “Dad?”
Jeff sighed and looked up, “What?”
Miles took a deep breath to calm himself and repeated, pointing to the newspaper, “What does that say?”
Jefferson paused to look first at the newspaper, then back at Miles. “This? It’s about some crazy dressed like Spider-Man. Title’s ‘New Hero In Town?’ The whole thing’s essentially the reporter bashing this new Spider-guy.”
Miles leaned back in his chair and mouthed the words ‘what the hell.’
He had been trashed. Publically. And it wasn’t even on the front page!
…
Miles jumped from roof to roof, looking down over New York City. Today everything was going to change. At the very least it couldn’t be any worse than yesterday, right? Wrong.
He heard the police cars first. And then he saw them. They were all stationed in front of a Bank of America. Cops were scattered about around the vehicles, weapons at the ready. A few stood to the front, speaking into walkie talkies. Miles had seen enough movies and read enough comics to know what this meant.
Bank robbery, baby!
Without a thought, Miles hopped a few more roofs, leaping from the last over the heads of the police officers. The policemen were too stunned to say anything. Miles ran right in.
“Stop, you idiot! You’re going to get the hostages killed!” One of the officers cried. Miles ignored him. This was his time. There was no way that this could go wrong.
“The fuck you doing?!”
Miles was completely thrown off guard. The cop hadn’t been messing with him—Miles wondered if he’d actually believed him in the first place—a dozen or so armed men were holding people hostage. One of these men was very, very angry and currently shoving a pistol down a middle-aged woman’s mouth.
Miles put his hands in the air, “Whoa, dude, calm down. Don’t—don’t do anything rash.” There was a roaring in Miles’ ears. He couldn’t think straight. What the hell was he supposed to do?
“What the fuck?!” one of the other thugs cried out. The thug who’d yelled at Miles was shaking now. He looked scared. Really scared. If he shook anymore…
Miles took a deep breath. Why were they freaking out? What was so…oh. Miles looked at his hands. He was camouflaged. Shit.
He didn’t have time to think this over. Miles ran up to the first guy and pulled the gun out of the lady’s mouth. The guy fired, but luckily the bullet did nothing but ricochet once off the ground before flying into the ceiling. Miles then punched the guy. He fainted, and Miles figured it wasn’t because he was that strong.
“Yo, guys, over here!” Miles shouted. He immediately slid away to the left. All the thugs fired at where Miles had once stood, just a few feet away from the once-hostage woman. Big mistake, Miles realized. He was learning.
One of the thugs screamed and ran out of the bank, yelling, “I didn’t sign up for this superhero shit!”
This was…actually going well. Huh. Miles ran up to another guy and slugged him. This one didn’t faint, however. He fought back, kicking out. Miles would’ve been hit if his spider sense hadn’t kicked in. He jumped over the guy and kicked the back of his head.
And then Miles got shot right in the shoulder.
“Agh!” It was then, of course, Miles’ camouflage wore off. The thugs all seemed to calm down at once. And then they let loose their ammunition. Miles only survived by diving behind an ATM. The machine on the other hand wasn’t so lucky.
“Nice aim, guys! Really good job!” Miles yelled back. Where had that come from? Shit, he was going to get himself killed.
“Fuck you! Your costume’s in bad taste!” One of the thugs yelled.
“Yeah!” Another shouted.
Miles’ head cleared. Something just…clicked. “What? The tights? At least I’m man enough to show off my big—“
“Get your ass out here or I’m going to put a bullet in the brain of every one of these losers!” Another thug roared.
That wasn’t good. Miles was dead if he stepped out in front of them.
“Five…!”
Shit!
“Four...”
What to do?
“Three…”
Miles took a deep breath and concentrated. And then he felt the tingling. He looked down. He couldn’t see his arms or legs.
“Two…! I’ll seriously cap these dicks!”
Miles hopped out from behind the ATM. He ran behind the ‘countdown’ thug and kicked him between his legs, right in the family jewels.
“One! Or zero more likely than not after that kick,” Miles joked, using the thug’s back as a launching point, leaping onto another thug, slamming his fists into his eyes.
“Oops, sorry about that!” Miles laughed, jumping around again. The thugs were too stunned to move. Miles took out two more before one got up the courage to take action. And it didn’t go well for Miles. The body fell to the ground, lifeless. It took Miles a second to process what had just happened. He couldn’t believe it…the body on the ground…
“Shit, man! We didn’t actually plan on killing anyone!” one of the thugs screamed. The murdered was at a loss for words. He had just…killed somebody! Someone’s father, brother, friend! Miles’ vision went red. When he could see straight again, he found himself atop half a dozen bodies—the remaining thugs. They were beaten to a pulp, blood gushing from places you couldn’t imagine. What had he just done? What the hell had happened?
“Oh my God…” Miles stepped back, shaking, “My God!”
It couldn’t get worse. It couldn’t get worse. Itcouldn’tgetworse. Itcouldn’tgetworseitcouldn’tgetworseitcouldn’tgetworse.
“Miles…my god I know that voice!”
Miles twisted his head to the side. He stared Tommy Fireheart right down. And Miles knew it…he could tell by the look he gave him…Tommy knew who he was.
“Sh…SHH!” Miles shushed. And without another word he ran out of the bank. No cops tried to stop him. No one did. Or…or maybe they did. Maybe Miles just beat them like he did the thugs. Miles’ body spasmed. Before he knew it, he found himself pounding on the window of Dr. Parker’s office. He hadn’t been there before. He didn’t even know where it was. How did he…?
Miles had no chance to think that over. Before he knew it, the panel opened up and he fell inside, unconscious.
…
The sun shined brightly down on the park as children ran around playing tag. Miles was among them, struggling to stay away from the person who was ‘it,’ Ganke. Ganke had yet to put on weight. He was lanky, and quite quick actually. Miles on the other hand was short and not athletic in the slightest, Before he knew it, Miles had been tagged.
“Huf huf…Ganke! It’s my birthday! C’mon, please don’t make me it!” Miles begged as Ganke ran off. He reached out towards his friend, “Ganke!”
Miles sighed, resting his hands on his knees. It wasn’t fair! He was so short. How was he supposed to keep up with the other kids! They had longer legs! “It isn’t fair!” Miles grumbled.
“Hey, Miles! Stop that!” The cheery voice threw Miles off. He knew that voice. Miles looked up into the eyes of his uncle Aaron.
Wait, that doesn’t make sense. Uncle Aaron’s dead. And that’s when Miles realized it. He was reliving his past as a dream…this was when…
“Man, Miles, you need to turn that frown upside down! It’s your birthday party, man!” Aaron smiled, exposing his crooked yellow teeth. But in the light, with his impossibly gleaming smile, they didn’t look all too bad. In fact, Aaron looked great. Better than ever. His dreadlocks were smoothed back, his clothes, a simple sweatshirt and jeans, were spotless. And his face…it shined. Literally. It looked like there was a faint golden glow gleaming across his face. Odd. Miles hadn’t remembered that. It must just be the dream, Miles decided, but in the back of his mind, he continued to wonder.
Miles smiled, and began to speak, like before, as if everything was recorded, “But Uncle….” He couldn’t speak freely. He couldn’t warn Aaron…
“No ‘buts’ Miles. C’mon, if you go play with your friends now, I’ll treat you to the movies later,” Aaron said.
“Promise?” Miles couldn’t help but to feel happy, dream or no dream. His uncle had always taken him to the movies when he was young, when Aaron was alive. But…but after the party…
“Cross my heart,” Aaron directed Miles towards his friend. Miles didn’t fight back, but he knew…he remembered…it was the one time Aaron had broken a promise.
Later that day, Miles opened his presents, one of which was a wallet from his uncle. Miles had immediately gone to thank his uncle, but he was nowhere to be found. He had searched for nearly ten minutes before his father forced him to stop and bid farewell to his friends. He had cried the entire time. And he was sure he would’ve for hours had he not remembered something his uncle had always told him. ”Real men don’t cry, Miles, and I know you. You’re a real man.”
So, Miles stopped, although in reality, out of the dream, away from the memories he didn’t want to. That had been the last time he’d seen his uncle. And that wallet…it was the last present he would ever get.
…
Miles woke up with fresh tears drying atop his cheeks. It had been so long since he’d dreamed about his uncle. So long since…
“I’m happy to see you’re awake and well.”
Miles was shaken out of his thoughts by a voice he had become all too familiar with. Dr. Peter Parker stood in the doorway of what appeared to be his office, staring softly at Miles.
The teen was surprised to discover that he hadn’t been moved from the office since his abrupt arrival, and more so that Peter appeared to be the one taking care of him.
“Did you…?”
Peter chuckled, a contrasting act to his rather dark expression, “Tell anyone? No. I, and I alone, took care of you. You’ll be fine, by the way. The bullet didn’t penetrate too deeply. As a matter of fact, I’m not at all worried about your physical health,” could of fooled Miles, “but your mental health.” And there it was. Miles braced for impact.
“Do you still plan on being Spider-Man?” Peter bluntly asked.
“I…don’t know,” Miles admitted. He hadn’t really been thinking straight on his way to Dr. Parker’s office, and it had all been a rush, but he did briefly remember considering giving up Spider-Man. And then he’d remembered his uncle and…
“I…I think I’ll keep it up. I mean…” Miles blushed and rubbed the back of his head, “I kind of got all preachy on you, and I’m…I’m sorry. After today—I think it was today—I really experienced what it’s like being a superhero and…well, you’re right. It isn’t for everybody. It isn’t for anybody, really. But…I think somebody does have to do it. And I guess that somebody is me. Also…uh…sorry for hitting you.”
Peter’s expression tightened, as if he’d been expecting this answer, “I expected as much, but…Miles, I’m sorry too. I shouldn’t have yelled at you…and to a certain extent, you’re right. The world does need a hero.” He paused for a few seconds, before saying, “I’m in.”
“What?” Miles exclaimed, “You…you want to be Spider-Man again?”
Peter laughed, “Spider-Man? Hell no! I couldn’t even if I did want to. Physical issues, etc. But I am willing to help you.”
“You…”
Peter lightened up, grinning, “Yep. I guess Spider-Man’s a team now.”
Miles laughed, which hurt a lot, but it didn’t matter. For once, things seemed to be going his way. And maybe…just maybe, everything would work out.
THE END
…or is it?
Atop a worn, crumbling roof overlooking Miles and Peter’s little “talk” stood a figure shrouded in a purple cloak. The figure made a noise like a growl. There he was. He had changed so much since he’d last seen him. He was so much…darker.
Speckled, grimy yellow teeth formed a grin, exposing the briefest flash of green lips. He loved the dark. It was always so welcoming…so hungry, ready to devour the smallest hint of light. And ready, waiting patiently, for a new future. A future where it ruled. A future where nobody could stand in its path. A future when it had all that it deserved, when it had…
Everything.
TO BE CONTINUED IN SPIDER-MAN: DARKEST NIGHTS