Bab 4: Reasons for why we do what we do
Aunt May's house wasn't anything fancy but it was a fairly spacious area, with separate bedrooms for Peter and May and an expansive living room.
She has a neighbor named Anna Watson who is the aunt of Mary Jane Watson or MJ as she likes to be called. The two elderly women once tried setting up a date between MJ and Peter before they actually met.
The date didn't exactly worked out, something about MJ wanting to focus on her modelling career than waste time dating someone.
I stood outside Aunt May's door as I contemplated what I am going to say to Peter.
After contemplating for what seemed like hours, I knocked on the the door.
"Coming!" The melodious voice of Aunt May's greeted me. I stood there for another 10 seconds and then door finally opened.
As the door opened. I was greeted by a woman in her late 30's with dark brown hair and hazel eyes with a curvaceous body.
"Michael, its been a while since you last visited us." Aunt May beamed after seeing me.
"Hey Aunt May, how's the most beautiful girl in Forest hills this evening?"
"Don't hey me, are you okay? I heard from Peter that there was an accident in the expo?"
"Yeah, I am okay. And besides you know this city, lunatics with a big ego is like a everyday thing here."
"That's what I hate about this city. "
"Is Peter inside? I need to talk to him about something."
"Yeah, he is in his room. Why don't you two talk while I go and make some muffins that you like." Aunt may said as she went to prepare the delicious muffins.
Aunt May is like a family to me in all but blood. I was very young when my Mom died. Dad got devastated at the news and burried himself into work ignoring his sons, prompting me to spend most of my day at Aunt May's.
Uncle Ben was a man that I admired a lot. He was the kindest person I had ever met. I along with the Parker's were devastated when we heard that Uncle Ben died due to being shot at as he was trying to stop a man who had a gun with him.
Some people by nature are kind and charitable. Uncle Ben always reminded me that we each contain all the nobler and meaner aspects of humanity, but some get a bigger dose than others of one thing or another. Some are pretty, and mean, and uncharitable. That's their nature. You can hope for better, even try to lead them to better, and you may even succeed.
I am guessing Peter's secret life as Spider Man endlessly complicated both his and his aunt's lives. Aunt May lived in constant fear for her 'frail' (but now unaccountably secretive) nephew who insisted on a job as a freelance photgrapher at Daily Bugle. Spider Man was a vigilante whom Aunt May feared because of her unquestioning acceptance of the Daily Bugle's smearing.
I went to Peter's room and opened it to find Peter who was working on something on his computer.
"Uh.. hey, I guess we need to talk." Peter said as he turned towards me and averted my gaze.
"Yeah..."
Awkwardness hung in the air as neither of us were prepared for this imminent discussion.
Even after contemplating what I was going to say to him and I am guessing he did too, we still wasn't able to blurt out what we truly wanted to say.
"So you're Spider man." I managed to stammer out awkwardly. It wasn't a question but a fact.
"Yup." He answered just as awkwardly.
"How did you get your powers? Are you like a mutant or...?
"No, not a mutant... look do you remember that Oscorp field trip we went to last summer."
"Yeah quite vividly, you were bitten by that spider after... all... wait did that spider gave you your... spider powers?"
Realization dawned upon me as I managed to piece together how Peter got his powers however, along this realisation came a memory that I was trying to repress very hard.
The bite that I got from that spider on the rooftop... the meeting with that being called Anasi... the curse of power... the changes in my body... the constant ringing in my head whenever danger is nearby.
If Peter really got his powers from that spider bite as I deduced then the changes that is happening to me all made sense. I too have powers that I got from that spider bite.
"Yes, it was a radioactive spider artificially created by Oscorp. I think that it altered my DNA by merging some of that spider's genes with mine and hence spider powers as you so eloquently put it." Peter said as he regained some of his compsure.
I wanted to deny it, deny that I don't have some kind of superpowers. However, as much as I wanted to deny that I don't have powers, it wouldn't change the truth and the truth is that I do in fact have powers that I got from that spider bite.
Telling Peter about the bite would be a logical decision. He knows how to deal with situations like this far better than me... and I don't think I can deal with all this by myself.
However, before I could tell him about the bite, the ringing in head head erupted again but this time it wasn't warning me of any danger but rather attracting me to someone, someone like me, to Peter and by the looks on Peter's face it was safe to say that the same phenomenon was happening to him.
"Y-you... you're like me!" Peter stated as his eyes widened to the extreme. He was expecting many things but I guess this was something on the bottom of the list.
"...Right. This is what I was going to say before spider sense as I have decided to call it now went nuts. I was also bitten by a spider yesterday."
Neither of us anything after this. Peter eyed me for what seemed like hours as he processed this newfound knowledge. Honestly, he couldn't be blamed for his shock, even I still don't belive it completely.
"What are you going to do now that you have powers?" He asked as he was done processing my newfound situation which was quite fast, way faster than me.
"All I really want to do now is to go back home, forget than I have powers and live my boring and uneventful life."
"But you won't... will you?" He asked no stated with his eyes seeming to gaze through me. Being out in the open like this was a very uncomfortable feeling.
"No, as Uncle Ben always used to say 'With Great Powers, there must also come Great Responsibility'. I can't live with myself knowing that I have powers that I can use to help other people but won't due to some selfish reason, it will be going against everything Uncle Ben stood for." I replied without hesitation.
"You are certainly doing a lot better than I did when I first got my powers." Peter said with relief and worry respectively crossing his face.
"And what did you do when you first got your powers?" I asked with a eyebrow raised. I really wanted to know what Peter did when he first got his powers, did he choose a selfless cause and vowed himself to it or did he use his powers for what normal teenagers with powers do?
"Well, I participated in a wrestling match with $3000 prize money in order to buy a car to impress Liz." He said with a embarrassed expression but along with that there was another expression that was hard to place... regret?
"Right, you had a puppy crush on Liz at the time so you thought buying a car like my brother will impress her... idiotic but continue."
"I actually got the name Spider Man from there. Anyway, I won the match in like 10 15 seconds and went to get the money but he refused to give me the money saying I finished the match too early."
I don't think I like where the story is heading up to.
"I was angry at that man and then I saw him getting robbed by someone. I could have stopped him but I didn't due to my anger." Before it was hard to see but now Peter's face was full of regret like he had committed the greatest mistake humankind had ever seen.
"I was coming home feeling shitty from the earlier events but then I heard... Uncle Ben died due to being shot at. I was angry, angry at the perpetrator for doing what he did, angry at myself for not being there."
"I then heard from the police radio that the perpetrator was hiding in an abondoned building which was encircled by police from all sides. In my anger, I went to find him and do to him what he did to Uncle Ben."
"I did find him. I had him againt a wall, I could have killed him but Uncle Ben wouldn't have wanted that so I let him go but then I saw his face... it was the same man that I let go during the wrestling event."
It all made sense, why Peter was feeling this much regret. You couldn't blame him, any kid including me would have done the same thing as Peter did.
"My fault... all my fault! If only I had stopped him when I could have! But I didn't... and now... Uncle Ben... is dead."
He said with such emotions that I was overwhelmed. I was sad when Uncle Ben died, he was like a family to me but I could only imagine how it must have felt for Peter.
How much guilt and regret he carried on since that day. It was honestly depressing.
After a moments hesitation, I wrapped my hands around him in a hug.
"Um.. what are you doing?" He asked with confusion but a smile was etched on his face.
"Trying to comfort you. I know I suck at this sue me if you will."
We stayed like that for around 5 seconds and then went to eat the muffins that Aunt May had made which were delicious as always. Aunt May could say she was 5 star chef and we would belive her that's how good her cooking were.
I guess this is the start of my superhero career.
Status Power Mingguan
-- Peringkat
Power 
-- Power
stone