Death and Realization

I walked down the street, listening to music on my headphones. As I walked, I looked around New York. It was strange, I had lived here all my life, but I always liked to just take in the sights and look around. It was as I was walking that I got a flash, a vision, of a mural. One depicting a mask with web-like lines draw along it.

For a while now I had been getting these flashes. They would show me a different version of me, one that was a hero, like Batman and Superman, who went by the name Spider-Man. I didn't know why I would get these visions, but I was even more surprised when I got bitten by a spider like he did and got powers as well.

I got stronger, faster, more agile. I could stick to things and had a sixth sense. My bio-electricity could be used as a weapon and sometimes I would fade from view, like camouflage. But there was one power I had that my other self didn't. I only discovered it when I had accidentally breathed in some water while I was swimming in a pool.

An hour later, I had gotten back in and went under water, playing a game to see who could hold their breath the longest with my friend, Ganke. I really wanted to win and stayed under longer than I should have, when I ran out of air and gasped, only to find that I could now breathe under water. Ganke was the only person I had told about my powers, so later that day we talked about what could've happened and figured it out.

My body seemed to adapt to something I couldn't do. We went to a train yard to test it. I could lift a lot of weight with my powers, but eventually I hit a limit. We stopped for an hour and tried again, and this time I could lift it with no problem. Reactive adaption, we called it.

Even with all those powers, I never wanted to be a hero. It was a cool thing to have, but I wasn't going to risk my life like the other me did. I never told Ganke about the visions, but he did want me to become a hero.

"Come on man, it'd be awesome. Imagine fighting the bad guys, like Superman and Batman." Ganke had told me.

"It would be cool, but it's not worth putting myself at risk like that." I had replied.

That wasn't the end of it. Ganke was my best friend, but it got on my nerves a little that he wanted me to do this so badly.

I was walking down the street when a little ways in front of me, I heard gun shots. Living in Harlem, you knew, when you heard gun shots, go the other way. So I moved, getting behind a car. Even if I knew that I should leave, I was curious. I heard the sounds of cop cars pulling up and watched as out of one of them came my old man.

He'd been a cop as long as I could remember. It was the real reason I didn't want to be a hero. I felt like it was wrong. Heroes made a lot of what cops did obsolete, I wasn't taking that away from him.

I watched as the cops held the line while the robbers had some type of high tech weapons. I was getting worried when Superman flew down, standing between the cops and the robbers.

"You guys already know how this is going to go, why don't you just surrender now." He said, with the calm, self-assured smile on his face.

I could see a lot of the cops already putting their guns back in the holster, confident that Superman would handle it, but my dad kept his out.

One more person exited from the bank, walking forward slowly.

"Hello Superman, nice to see you here." the Joker said, with his trademark grin on his face.

Now I was worried, the Joker was the worst of the villains that existed.

'If only Batman would just end him already.'

"Joker, what are you doing so far from Gotham." Superman asked, still calm.

"Thought I'd give New York a try, see what it was like. There's always people who need a laugh." Joker replied.

"I won't let you hurt these people." Superman said.

"Well we can't have that now can we." the Joker said and pulled out a high tech gun. Before he could use it, Superman rushed forward, knocking him out quickly.

"Well that takes care of that." Superman said. He then turned to look at the rest of the robbers. Now that I looked closer, they were all wearing Joker masks.

While Superman was looking at the robbers, the Joker was slowly waking up. I could see a smirk form on his face as he looked at the cops across from him, zeroing in on the one that still had his gun out. He pulled something out and threw it at the group.

"Dad, watch out." I called out, running out from behind my cover to try to warn him.

"Miles..." my dad said but before he could do anything the thing Joker threw detonated, creating an explosion.

"Dad..." I said as I fell to my knees, looking at the destruction and crater that had formed where my dad had just been. My sadness quickly turned to anger as I looked back to where the Joker had been to find that he was in the grasp of Superman. I thought Superman was going to finish it, but instead all he did was wrap him up with a street light, watching him this time.

'He just watched him kill people, kill my dad, and still won't end it. If he had just killed the Joker instead of knocking him out none of this would've happened.' I thought angrily.

I couldn't see his body, not like this. I sat there, behind a car as I heard the sounds of sirens as ambulances came. Everything after that passed by in a flash. Days passed by before my eyes as my mom and I cried for hours. Ganke did his best to help out, which I appreciated a lot. From there it was planning for the funeral and saying goodbye to my dad.

When I walked up that path, to stand before his coffin, I found myself completely out of tears.

'I'll make it right dad. They won't finish the job, so someone else will.' I thought.

Some time after my dad's funeral, I called Ganke and asked him to come over.

"What's up bro?" Ganke asked, trying to stay lighthearted.

"I want to do it. I'll become a hero, but I need your help." I said.

"Wait really, you're going to do it?" Ganke asked with muted excitement, tempered by recent events.

"Yeah, I can make a difference. Maybe if I had been there as a hero, I could've saved my dad and stopped the Joker." I said.

"Don't think like that." Ganke said.

"Fine fine, but I need your help. I already know what I want to go by and what my suit should look like, but I need your help designing it." I said to him.

"Lemme see it." Ganke said, more excited now.

Moving over to my desk, where I had already drawn a sketch of what my suit would look like, with big words written on the top of the page.

"Spider-Man. Awesome!" Ganke said.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------From there it was a lot of testing, working on making the right material for the suit. Ganke and I were both smart, we went to a gifted students school. I started making web-shooters while Ganke made my costume, testing different materials to see what could be the most durable.

It took a while, with us having to take breaks to go to school, but eventually, the suit was done. Holding it up in front of me, I looked at it. It was mainly black, with red web-designs along it.

"It looks awesome Ganke."

"Thanks, try it on. Try it on." Ganke replied, urging me to get on with it.

I nodded and put on the suit, testing how it felt. It felt right, being in the Spider-Man suit after all this time seeing it from the perspective of someone else.

"You look cool man. You've been practicing with those shooters, so why not check out the city!"

Ganke and I had spent some time going to the train yard, practicing with my web shooters. I had practiced using the web shooters to pull myself, zipping forward. I had also stacked some train cars on top of each other and swung between them, practicing my web swinging. I felt confident enough to put it into practice, so I nodded my head when Ganke said that.

Moving to the window, I opened it and took a deep breath. Shooting a web line onto the building across from me, I swung out into the air. Continuing to swing above the street. People began to take notice of me, looking up to see my form swinging through the air.

"Whoo hoo." I cried out. It was exhilarating. I loved the feeling of freedom it gave me as I swung through the city, when I heard a bank alarm going out.

"Alright, go time." I swung over to where the alarm was coming from and dropped down on one of the unsuspecting robbers. Quickly taking him down while he was surprised, I webbed him up against the wall, so he couldn't get free.

'I'd prefer to leave the regular crime to the police, but I need the practice. I can just start fighting super villains right away.'

The other 3 robbers reacted after I took down their friend.

"Get him" one of them called out. They pulled out their guns and began shooting. I could feel a warning before they fired, telling me about the danger and letting me dodge out of the way of their shots. Jumping into the air I shot a line, pulling myself towards one of them and taking him down, quickly webbing him to the ground. I got another spider-sense warning, but I didn't move fast enough as I took a punch to the back, throwing me forward.

Shaking off my disorientation, I turned around and caught the next punch, delivering a quick set of jabs to the guy's stomach, knocking the air out of him and sending him collapsing to the ground. While he was down, I ducked under a punch from the last one and pulled him over my head, throwing him into his friend and webbing him to the ground with his friend.

Looking at my handiwork, I turned to look as police pulled forward. They stepped out of their car and looked at me.

"Who are you?" One of them asked.

"Me? I'm Spider-Man." I said before shooting a web and zipping into the air, swinging away from the scene.

The rest of the day I swung around, stopping smaller crimes where I could find them. I also did the more menial stuff. I gave a kid his balloon back that had floated into the air and helped and old lady carry her groceries to her house. Even if I wanted to take down the big villains, so like what happened to my dad wouldn't happen again, I still wanted to help people, like my dad did.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------POV Change Batman

I sat in the Batcave, looking at the news of a new superhero who had just been revealed. It seemed that he used a spider motif, exhibiting super strength and reaction. I couldn't tell if the webs were artificial or biological yet, but I would know eventually.

"It seems there's a new hero Master Bruce." Alfred said as he walked towards me.

"He's young and he's fighting entirely on his superior reaction speed." I replied.

"Much like many were when they started out. Master Dick was only 9 when he started, this Spider-Man is older than he was. Give him time, maybe he'll surprise you."

"Dick had me to teach him and make up for him if he made a mistake. This Spider-Man is working entirely on his own." I said.

"Perhaps that's his preference." Alfred replied.

"We'll see, if he puts people in danger, I'll take care of it." was my final reply.