Pilot

Xavier was having a perfectly normal day at the office when the world ended. At least that's what it felt like to him. He had just reached the end of his terribly long day of running around, juggling orders, and fixing all the bugs on this new game the big boss wanted made -because no one else knew how to do his job. Even if he was just an intern. 

'Hopefully, I can get out of here without any problems today.' Xavier sighed, leaning back in his chair. For some reason, some of the other interns here thought this was high-school. A group of those he liked to call, 'The Jockeys'. And just like high-school, they always cause problems.

Anyway, Xavier dragged himself up from his chair and made his way to the lockers. Inside, he changed into more casual clothes, grabbed his jacket and keys, before leaving. 'Heh, that's surprising,' He thought to himself. 'No problems just yet.' And just when he thought that, someone stepped into his way to the elevator.

"Where do you think you're going hmm?" Asked Clarice. "Don't you still need to finish up our project?" She said as she giggled to herself. They had been paired together for a new project but she hadn't been doing any of her work, preferring to push it onto Xavier.

Xavier paid her no heed as he stepped around her towards the elevator. It was then he noticed something strange with my feet- they were numb. "Hey! I'm talking to you! Don't walk away while I'm speaking!" Again Xavier ignored Clarise, her shrieking was less impactful than the rumbling the building was going through.

Something began to tug at the back of his mind, something he'd seen on the news this morning. There had been a construction zone shut down because of a burial ground being found underneath it. Apparently there was a risk of it becoming a sinkhole because of how big the cavern surrounding the mass grave was. But there had been something else on the coverage- The construction crew were refusing the orders to stop.

Xavier ran over to the window, which had an amazing view of central park a couple of blocks away. Or what had been a few blocks away. Where central park had been was a massive ever-expanding sinkhole. Which also happened to be traveling towards the office Xavier stood in. 

As the ground under the office was eaten away, the building began to slowly careen towards the hole creaking and groaning. It was the noises that made Xavier break out of his trance. With the fear of the incoming ground weighing heavily on his mind, he sprinted to the other side of the building. People all around him started running in the same direction, as well as a good few running for the stairs. It was at this point that all of the windows started shattering, and now the run Xavier had to make was extremely uphill.

But he made it. He had run all the way from the other side of the building while it was falling and now stood out of the building as it fell. It was almost completely sideways now and as he was near the top, he began to 'float'. The office falling faster than he was.

"All that running was for nothing wasn't it?" Xavier muttered. 'Well…' He grinned, 'at least I won't have to pay rent anymore right?' 

===

It was dark, very dark. To Xavier's eyes it was so dark that he couldn't see a foot in front of himself. It was the kind of dark that played tricks on you. The shadows swirled with different shapes and images that you could swear that there was something in the dark with you, even if there wasn't. 

For some reason, Xavier was seeing different memories from his life flash by in front of him. He saw his mother lying on that hospital bed again, her life trickling away every second. The image brought tears to his eyes. His father sitting in front of the television, his limp hand holding the six shooter. He remembered calling the police, and being questioned. Then he remembered meeting his grandpa again. 

As far as he could remember, his grandfather was a kind man. After all, he had agreed to take in all twelve of his grandchildren and raise them in his dojo. By some hellish coincidence, all the children's parents had either died or abandoned them. Xavier remembered him being quiet, almost never speaking at all. He preferred to teach by showing rather than telling. 

His grandfather taught them all along with everyone else in the dojo. As always, he taught the first years meditation and the basic stances for his mixed martial arts style. Nothing complicated, just the basics to ensure that everyone understood its purpose. Even if you decided to skip meditation, you'd have to do it at some point. That's because he barred you from going out on the weekends if you hadn't. 

Xavier was always the top of the class when it came to meditation and martial arts. He was the most focused and determined to accomplish what their grandfather had set out for them. But he was most dominant in spars. He had never lost a single match against anyone but his cousins, and the older students of the dojo. And when he did lose, he would listen to his grandfather's words on his mistakes and give his all at fixing them. 

On his meditation skills, he was one of the best. Towards the end of his stay with his grandfather, he had accomplished what he called 'Absolute Focus.' To him, it was as if all color faded from the world, and it slowed down. No matter what he faced he could stay calm and react accordingly. That and he could fall into a very deep trance-like meditation, he didn't know what it was called so he named it 'Zen.'

Breaking him out of his memories was an abyssal grinding sound. It was as if stone was grinding against itself, and suddenly he could see again. All around him was more darkness, but breaking up that darkness was what looked like cracked glass.

It was almost like he was caught in a web of lights, forming colored portals inside of their gaps. In them, he could see Spider-man. All kinds of different iterations that he knew about from reading comics as a kid. Even ones from the movies, and Xavier could swear that he saw a Spider-Man with a white spider emblem. 

"... I like you, child." He heard, the grinding morphing into a woman's voice. Xavier turned to look, and saw a giant spider staring at him.

He froze in place like a deer in headlights. Why wouldn't he? There's a spider the size of the building he died in, speaking to him. And worse than that- He could see its body shivering in anticipation. Or was that amusement?

Suddenly the stand-off stopped, as it repelled down onto the floor. "Hello youngling, I am Madam Web."