Spider-Man: The Indomitable Human Spirit

Words that are italicized like this represent Peter's internal monologue

The sun shone brightly, letting its rays delicately warm those walking the New York streets. However, despite the beautiful weather, those beneath the bright sun weren't very happy with the traffic jam they were trapped in.

"Aye! C'mon! Move it, people!"

"Drive! Go! I'm gonna be late for work!"

"Where'd you get 'ya license, a cereal box?"

"Move it!"

The sounds of New Yorkers yelling and horns blaring only set people off even further with every passing moment. Inside one of the many stuck vehicles, a man and his daughter were seen sitting next to each other. The daughter had her wireless earbuds in her ears, mindlessly scrolling through TikTok with a blank stare. Her father, taking glances at her occasionally, attempted to get through to her with his words.

"So uh... what do you wanna do this weekend?" he asked her. Her mother had custody of her and due to his work schedule, he rarely saw his own daughter. Due to not really seeing her much, it was hard for him to gauge what she liked.

"I don't know." she told him monotonously as she continued to look through the app mindlessly as all kids her age did.

"Oh. Well, what do you and your mother usually do?" he asked, trying desperately to at least learn something.

"I don't know." she again replied without any emotion in her voice as her attention was all locked on her phone.

"I see..." the father didn't really know how to get her to open up. He remembered the old her, the one that used to love jumping in his arms and playing princess or play house with him. He regretted not making enough time for her and her mother, but the only thing he could do at that point was to try and be a better man in the now.

"Well... what do you like to eat? I'll buy you anything you want." as soon as he said this, her eyebrows perked up. It seemed that food was the way to her heart after all.

"Oh! Can we get Canes?" she told him, finally looking away from her phone and up at her father.

"Canes? Of course." as the father spoke to his daughter, looking at her face that finally showed life, he noticed a shadow appearing over her face, one that was rapidly growing. He then looked out of the windshield, spotting a car flying toward them like a missile.

Both he and his daughter screamed, understanding that these were their last moments on Earth. The father could feel his life flashing before his eyes, feeling those same regrets from earlier begin to flood his mind.

He regretted taking that new job out of state.

He regretted choosing work over his wife and child.

He regretted not being there for the women who loved him.

He saw his first date with his daughter's mother, then their wedding day, followed by the birth of their daughter. He remembered seeing his daughter wearing that bright pink princess dress she used to love so much, she wouldn't let him wash it because she wanted to wear it every day. He remembered her first day at school and her first dance recital.

Then he remembered leaving home on what was supposed to be a short business trip, one that turned into an out-of-state job that ended his marriage.

Accepting his fate, the man closed his eyes.

A few seconds passed, and by the time he opened his eyes again, he saw a young man standing on the hood of his car wearing a blue and red hoodie, along with blue sweats and red shoes. He wore a red mask on his face, and the front of his sweater had a poorly drawn spider on it.

"Don't worry, sir." the boy spoke with a grimace in his voice as he held the car with both hands, showcasing an incredible amount of superhuman strength. "Just, whatever you do... DO NOT press the gas." using his strength, the boy dropped the car in front of them in a small gap between the traffic before a man in a mechanical rhinoceros costume sprinted by, knocking over parked cars, fire hydrants, and whatever else was near the side of the road.

"Gotta go!" the boy in the blue and red costume saluted to the man and his daughter before pressing two fingers against his own wrist, firing what looked like a spider's web, and attaching himself to the rhino man. Eventually, the kid was able to yank himself on the back of the rhinoceros and began trying to steer him with his webs.

Yup. I'm doing this. I am on the back of a giant man in a rhino costume. Now, why exactly am I doing this, you might ask? Well, that's simple. Because it's my responsibility.

My name is Peter Parker, but we're not gonna talk about him right now.

My other name, the name of the man in the red and blue costume, that I made myself, I might add, is someone completely different. When I wear this costume, I am Spider-Man.

A few months ago, I was bitten by a radioactive spider. Shortly after that, my uncle was shot and killed. It was all my fault. I could have stopped the man who killed Uncle Ben, but because of my own selfishness, I let him go, not knowing it would seal Uncle Ben's fate.

I still remember the last words Uncle Ben told me. With great power, comes great responsibility.

I'll never forget those words.

They're why I chose to become Spider-Man.

They're why I wear this silly costume.

They're why I'm currently steering a man dressed as a rhino through the busy streets of New York.

"Hello, sir. Is that a rhinoceros horn, or are you just happy to see me?" Spider-Man quipped, controlling the rhino by using webs tied around the rhino's horn as if his webs were reins. His webs were something he made himself, capable of withstanding hundreds of pounds of force. However, he was working on a new, stronger formula to make crime fighting a bit easier for himself. "I'm going to need you to stop!"

Spider-Man then yanked his webs backward, causing the rhino to stop in his tracks and reel back, losing his balance. Spider-Man's webs snapped, causing him to fall off of the rhino's back. As Spider-Man's back hit the ground, he mumbled to himself. "I have GOT to upgrade my web formula..." Spider-Man's eyes then widened beneath his goggles as he notice that the rhino was still losing his balance. "Oh, shit." Spider-Man said to himself before shooting a web at a nearby building to yank himself out of the way.

Once the rhino hit the concrete, Spider-Man lept off the building and began firing webs at the rhino's limbs, flipping in the air like an acrobat as he did so. Once the rhino was completely secured down, Spider-Man landed on his chest and began taunting the man with his hands on his own hips. "So what do they call you? Rhino-Man? No... What about Rhinoceros-Man? Still no. What about... the big loser in the metal rhino costume that just got OWNED by Spider-Man? Yeah, I like that one a lot."

Spider-Man's taunting did nothing more than begin to infuriate the rhino, prompting the man from beneath the armored costume to roar in fury. "My name is the Rhino!" he shouted before breaking free from Spider-Man's webs, attempting to strike him with his fist during the same movement.

Spider-Man, who was then attached to the wall of a nearby building, looked at the Rhino with an unimpressed glare under his mask. "The Rhino? Seriously? That's like if I was just called the Spider." as Spider-Man teased his opponent, the Rhino began throwing punches, striking the building instead of the spider due to how fast he was.

Spider-Man then lept onto a traffic light, spinning around it a few times before he continued to taunt the man. "That's like if Captain America was just named the Captain. Or if the Human Torch was just named, the Fire."

The Rhino was really getting sick of this kid, compelling him to grab a mailbox and throw it at him. Spider-Man dodged to the side, avoiding the mailbox as he perched atop the traffic light, before webbing it and throwing it right back at the Rhino. It didn't do any physical damage to him, but it did do one thing...

'Heh. Emotional damage. That outta be enough to get him to follow me.' Spider-Man thought to himself before continuing to tease the Rhino. "That's like if the Thing was named... Actually, that name is already dumb enough." Spider-Man began swinging away, making sure to stay low to the ground while going at a slow enough speed so the Rhino could follow closely.

"C'mon, where is it..." Spider-Man whispered to himself before he eventually found exactly what he was looking for. "There you are..." he muttered before looking back to make sure the Rhino was still following him. "Instead of the Rhino, they should call you the Sloth. Get it? Because you're too slow to catch me!"

Spider-Man then web-zipped forward, landing on a crane that had a wrecking ball attached. Using his bare hands, he broke the safety mechanism that held the wrecking ball in place and began riding it toward the Rhino.

Blinded by rage, the Rhino continued to run at the spider, convinced he could tank the attack from the wrecking ball. "Let's see who wins; unstoppable force or immovable imbecile!"

𝘾𝙍𝘼𝘾𝙆!

The Rhino was struck in the chest by the wrecking ball, sending him flying backward and crashing into the street. "Haha! Get fucked!" Spider-Man shouted, still holding onto the wrecking ball. However, what he failed to notice was that the wrecking ball he was riding on was about to strike another building.

Spider-Man's head began to buzz from the inside of his brain. "Huh. AAAH!" he turned around to see that the wrecking ball was about to crash into a nearby building. There was so much force behind it, the wrecking ball tore through multiple floors of the building and completely decimated part of it.

Acting quickly, Spider-Man webbed the wrecking ball down to the crane it was attached to and lept off of it, flinging himself into the building to make sure everyone inside was alright. By the time he landed on one of the four damaged floors, Spider-Man already saw a couple of business workers sliding down the recently inclined floor.

"Don't worry, I got you!" Using his webs, Spider-Man created a barrier to stop them from sliding out of the building before flipping out of it and web-zipping up to the next floor. "I got you too!" Spider-Man once again used his webs to make a makeshift barrier to block anyone from falling out before quickly pulling himself up to the next floor to do it again. "And I got you!" then he did it one more time to the final damaged floor. "Aaaand I got you too!"

Simultaneously, all of the sliding civilians fell into the webs, preventing them from falling to their deaths. "Everyone get out of the building!" Spider-Man shouted, however, his brain once again started to ring aggressively. 'My Spider-Sense again?' he thought before turning around to see a car being hurled at him at full speed. "Oh, God!" Spider-Man yelled as the car created an even larger hole as it crashed into the building.

Using both of his hands, Spider-Man stopped the car, sliding back a few feet before the car came to a complete stop. With haste, he jumped on the hood of the car and lept out of the building, slinging a web at a nearby building before landing in front of the Rhino, whose costume bow had a cannonball size hole in it. The wiring inside was visible, as was part of the man beneath it all. 'Guess I found his weak point.' Spider-Man thought to himself as the Rhino started sprinting toward him.

Spider-Man fired two webs into the chest of the Rhino, yanking out the wiring, along with multiple other mechanical pieces. Holding one in his hand, Spider-Man looked at it and quipped once more. "Yikes. This one looks important." as he said this, the Rhino's costume started falling apart with each step. The sounds of metal hitting the concrete, along with mechanisms short-circuiting could be heard as the Rhino, or at least, what was left of him continued trying to run at the spider.

As each piece of armor fell, the man beneath it all could be seen. It turns out, the Rhino was nothing more than something similar to a mech suit as the man beneath it all was short, frail, and dorky looking.

By the time all of the metal had broken, and the suit was completely destroyed, the skinny man fell to his hands and knees just inches away from Spider-Man's feet. "The... Rhino... will not... be..." the man tried to speak, but it seemed the damage from getting hit by a wrecking ball, along with minor electric shock injuries got the best of him as he fell unconscious.

"Don't worry little guy, how about we tuck you in?"

Before long, Spider-Man was seen standing with his hands on his hips, looking up at the man who was now inside a web cocoon, hanging from a street lamp. As the sound of police sirens drew near, Spider-Man fled the scene, leaving behind a mess of broken buildings, damaged streets, destroyed vehicles, and a chipped wrecking ball.