CH4: New problems.

Life was good.

I'd taken down Kingpin after our first confrontation just like that. I barely had a plan, he surprised me with Electro and Bullseye, and I still managed to make him get confident and spill his secrets.

At school, I saw a couple people sporting Spider-Man t-shirts they'd bought over the weekend. Every shirt bought, and every pair of web-patterned leggings and every accessory carrying the Spider-Man theme was another dollar in the Parker piggy bank.

And, surprisingly, I was slowly figuring out how to balance out my life as Spider-Man and my life as Jake Fletcher. Crime was slowly going down around New York, and Hell's Kitchen was even starting to average out in crime rates. There were still problems, but I could tackle those one at a time.

And as I swung my costumed self across the New York skyline, I couldn't help but laugh a little. Yeah, life was definitely good.

Still, a part of me couldn't help but- is that building on fire?

And there it is! Why can't good things last? I didn't even get time to make my ominous monologue!

I swung myself at the burning building with boisterous bravado.

Heh, I love alliteration.

"What the hell happened to your eye?" asked Peter as we waited for the bus.

"Eh, a wall fell on me," I shrugged. "You should have seen me last night, I was pretty much 97% bruise."

"And now…?" He asked,

"I'll be fine by the weekend, next week at most."

"Healing factors are bullshit."

"Hey, Wolverine would've been fine by the time he went to bed."

"Wolverine is the king of bullshit healing factors."

"I won't argue that," I shrug. "… Except I will. Deadpool can take more damage."

"Nuh-uh."

"Yuh huh."

"Wanna bet?" Peter asked eagerly.

"Loser does the dishes for a month?" I smirked, knowing from previous research that I was right.

"You're on."

We remained in companionable silence for a few moments, before I broke it.

"Hey, yesterday, I noticed Stacy was looking at you."

"Stacy? Gwen Stacy?"

"The very same," I said, already seeing where this whole conversation would go.

"Why she be staring at me?"

"She's crushing on you." I immediately reply, pulling out my phone.

"What? No, that's-"

"Totally possible, and I'm willing to bet another month of dish-washing on it." I say, checking out the news. Bugle was still talking shit, but other than that, nothing too interesting.

Peter stayed silent. He knew that, unlike him, I only started bets I would win.

"Holy shit," he whispered.

I didn't reply, asking James if he had any news through text.

"Holy shit," he repeated, this time a little louder.

Hm, James didn't have anything too bad, just a few names and faces that needed remodeling. I could deal with that that night.

"Holy shit, Jake!" Peter shouted.

Ah, this is the part where I come in.

"Yup," I nodded.

"What do I do?! Do I ask her out?"

"I wouldn't, if I were you."

"Huh? Why not?" Peter asked, confusion written clearly on his face.

"Peter, she has all the personality of a ham sandwich."

"Well, yeah, but she's the hottest girl in our year!"

"So?"

"Uh," Peter suddenly looked embarrassed. "Well now I just feel shallow."

I snort, before looking going back to my phone. There was nothing new with the News, and no updates in the fanfics I was following.

Okay, so I'm still a big nerd in this life, sue me.

"… I'm gonna ask her out." Peter decided.

"Why?"

"Well, it's impossible to have no personality, right?" Peter reasoned, "Maybe if I get to know her better, we can actually… you know?"

"Fuck? Get married? Give me a clue here, Pete."

Blushing, Peter sputtered. "Buh, you know, like, get, serious and stuff."

"Right, fuck," I nodded, "It's nice that you want to get to know her for real, Peter. You're a man of principles and manners."

Peter groaned; blushing to the point he was red like a tomato. I chuckled and patted his arm.

"Okay, but do it in private, buddy. Confessing in public never ends happily." I wondered where the hell the bus was.

"Right," Peter nodded, frowning adorably with determination. He snapped out of his planning to smile at me. "Thanks for telling me, Jake. Seriously, you're the best."

"No prob, Bob." I patted his shoulder. "You know I got your back."

I proved that I meant what I said when I punched Flash in the face for the first time in months.

What?

What?!

He was picking on Peter! No one messes with my bro! Not that I'd ever say that.

Besides, Flash was long-overdue an ass-kicking. He'd gotten cocky(er) with all the time I spent not shoving him face-first into a wall.

Maybe a little explanation was required on my social life:

See, this is a list of how many friends I had.

Peter.

That's it. That's the list. I had Peter.

Besides that, I had my parents, my biological parents, some people I worked out with at the Muay Thai class, and the bullies of Midtown High.

You know what the bullies thought of me?

They were fucking terrified of me.

The first day, I saw Flash picking on some nerdy guy. I rushed over and punched the jock in the face, breaking his nose.

As he lay in the ground, I glared down and cracked my knuckles.

"My name is Jake Motherfucking Fletcher," I growled. "And I don't like bullies."

Peter was facepalming in the background, but I'm told a lot of people thought it was a cool moment.

And that's how my reign of terror campaign against bullying began. Every time I saw or heard of someone getting picked on, I intervened with extreme prejudice.

I didn't care for race, gender, or age. I got into a lot of fights, but I managed to avoid expulsion thanks to the victims backing me up. Pretty soon, I had a reputation as that weird guy with the hero complex.

Unsurprisingly, I didn't make friends thanks to that; since a lot of people thought I was just the helpful kind of unstable.

And considering I put on web-patterned tights and swing around punching criminals in the face that might be a bit true.

Anyways, back to the present, I was punching Flash on the face.

See, Peter had decided that the best way to ask out Gwen in private would be to approach her while she was in the middle of the hallway and ask if they could talk in private.

… While she was surrounded by people.

… Including the cheerleaders and jocks that regularly (tried to) bullied him.

What Peter lacked in common sense, he made up for in courage, I guess.

Anyway, Flash did his usual thing, called Peter 'puny', pushed him against a wall, and was about to hit him, before I caught his arm.

He looked over his shoulder, saw me smiling, and paled.

And then I punched him in the face.

Don't worry, I held back. If I hadn't, his head would've flown off of his shoulders.

Instead, all of him flew down the hallway.

"Heya Flash!" I cracked my knuckles. "What's good?"

Things went to hell from there.

I walked home with Peter, a new bruise on my jaw. I was smirking cockily.

"I know you could have kicked his ass in seconds if you didn't have to hide your identity," Peter muttered, poking me. "I'm just saying it doesn't count if you don't actually win."

"I won morally and spiritually." I explained.

Peter, poor fool that he was, didn't get it and just rolled his eyes at me. He hadn't gotten to talk with Gwen, due to the fight and all, which I apologized for. He shrugged it off, but I knew it was bothering.

Luckily, I also knew what was going to happen next.

"Hey, I'm gonna go ahead while you talk to her," I said to him. Peter stopped and opened his mouth to ask what the hell I was on about, when Gwen Stacy poked his shoulder and asked what he wanted to talk about.

'Yeah,' I thought to myself, sneaking into an alley and taking off my shirt and hoodie to reveal my supersuit underneath. 'I'm an awesome wingman.'

I put my civilian clothes in my backpack, replacing my mask, and I rushed back to Queens, trying to keep myself out of sight.

After dumping my backpack at an abandoned building near my house, I rushed to hit the streets.

Spider-Man was on the scene!

BOOM!

… The scene seemed to have relocated somewhere a little to the left, but Spider-Man was headed towards the scene!

I rushed towards the scene and found a car with actual bills pouring out the windows, rushing away from the bank.

'Wow, now that's a cliché,' I thought, shooting a web at the roof of the car mid-air and letting it drag me behind it for a second. 'I'd be impressed if I weren't so annoyed.'

I waited until gravity had lowered me enough and used the web to pull myself onto the roof.

There, using my cling, I did a handstand on the front of the car, back to the driver.

And then I threw my feet down and held onto the street.

The front was immediately destroyed under my hands, and the robbers inside smashed their heads against whatever they had in front of them.

"Yup," I whispered, smirking cockily under my mask as I pulled my hands out of the engine, "I'm awesome."

I walked around it, shaking my hand a bit. Despite making it look easy, it did leave 'Righteous' and 'Fury' a bit sore.

Yes, I named my fists. Righteous is my right fist, if you were wondering.

I tore off a door and put all the money bags onto the street, where I webbed them to the spot.

I saw two cops approaching, so I waved at them to put down their guns. "Hey, I got this under control. The crooks are a bit banged up, but they're fine."

"You're Spider-Man, from MeTube, right?"

I nodded. I was probably being recorded at the moment, and I didn't feel like ruining my 'creepy awesome' persona with whatever stupid thing came out of my mouth.

The cops –a man and a woman, were lowering the guns. The man was even starting to smile, when suddenly they snapped to attention and aimed their guns.

"Look out!"

I looked behind me. My Spidey Sense hadn't detected danger, and it made sense. The driver was getting out, clutching his head with one hand.

Wait, what was his other hand doing?

He pulled an orange pill bottle from his pocket, popped it open with one hand (which really shouldn't be possible, those things should be child-proof) and he shoved a bunch of little red pills into his mouth.

Suddenly, my Spidey Sense started screaming at me, a little after my Common Sense shouted at me to stop him.

But, I wanted to see what he was doing, so instead, I turned back to the cops and rushed to get them away.

I put them both over my shoulders and turned around, just in time to see a mutation take place.

The Driver's wounds disappeared in seconds, and a cruel smile painted his features for all of a second before he winced in pain.

His muscles started bulging out, stretching his skin until it ripped open, no longer capable of holding his mass. He kept growing, his body reaching to be about twice my height (no mean feat, seeing how I'm 5'9''). His skin tore itself almost completely to shreds, as opposed to his clothes, which didn't survive.

(Sidenote: gross, that's a giant penis. (A detached part of me wondered how long until someone called this guy their fetishes come to life))

His muscles were a vivid red, and he dripped slightly. His face was a bit deformed, some muscles bulging.

He made a few pitiful noises, and took a few steps.

I set down the cops and took off my hood, before putting up my hands.

"Hey, it's okay," I slowly walked forward. "I'm sorry that I hurt you, it's gonna be okay, I can see you didn't know this would happen," I kept blabbering whatever comforting stupid thing came to mind, taking slow steps towards him. His focus fell on me, and he glared, "Easy big guy, I can get you fixed. You'll be nice and back to normal, does that sound- SHIT!"

At the last second, I jumped away due to the blaring of my Spidey Sense.

The hit was fast, almost faster than I was, and strong enough to shatter the street.

Then his other fist caught me mid-air.

All the air left my lungs and I only realized I went flying because crashing down snapped me out of my shock.

I got up groggily and realized that I was a block away from where I just was. Oh crap.

I pulled up my suit and saw that the front of my body was mostly just a big bruise. Oh, crap!

I looked back to where I was and saw the two cops shooting at the mutated crook, who was grinning savagely as he slowly walked up to them.

Oh hell no.

I rushed as fast as I could go. Honestly, I always held back in everything, except my Spidey Sense.

If I didn't hold back with my strength, I'd just kill everyone I fought. Not to mention, I liked having an ace up my sleeve.

It was finally time to use my ace.

I rushed, breaking a bit of the street under my feet as I rushed.

I was halfway there when the crook raised his arm.

I was three-quarters of the way done when he started bringing it down.

I was there when it almost touched down, only for me to catch it.

A crater formed under me, and my arms shook slightly under the strain, but I pushed back, and to the crook's obvious surprised, I lifted his arm until he could look me in the eye.

I glared as fiercely as I could.

"Okay then," I growled, "No more Mister Nice Guy."

I dropped the arm, rushed under his guard, and hit his stomach with all my strength.

He went flying back a few feet before he landed on his feet. I was already on him, though.

I rushed forward again and jumped to reach his face, which I punched down as hard as I could.

He fell on his ass, and I used a web to fling myself at him, driving my knee into his chin.

He seemed dizzy, but I didn't buy it.

The cops, unfortunately, did.

"Kid, that was-" the male cop approached, smiling widely.

"Hold on!" I shouted, putting a hand towards him.

Before my Spidey Sense could warn me, the crook grabbed me.

"Crap."

He tossed me at a building, and I went through a wall.

I bounced a few times, rolled a little, and stopped right in front of a pretty redhead wearing a skimpy dress.

I groaned as I got up and looked around. I seemed to be inside some kind of studio.

I looked at the redhead and nodded, trying to sound confident and mature. "Hey, I'm Spider-Man. How you doin'?"

The redhead actually giggled at that, and smiled at me. "Not much, I just saw this guy come in through a wall."

"He sounds charming," I shook my head and started running off.

… Okay, look, nobility obligates and I shouldn't have gotten distracted, but she was really pretty.

… Yeah, I know, I'm an ass.

I jumped out of the hole I made coming in and used two webs to slingshot me at the mutated crook, who was walking away.

I arrived with a kick to the back of his head, from where I back flipped away.

This did, of course, absolutely nothing.

But I surprised him, and I pressed my small advantage. I connected his legs to the ground using webs, running between and around them to avoid capture.

As the idiot spun around trying to catch me, he tangled himself further, and I used more webs to stick him to buildings around us.

By the time I finished, he was stuck in a gigantic web cocoon that connected to everything around him. It reached up to his mouth, and I could hear some muffled cursing.

"Okay then," I fell on my ass and cracked my neck, wincing at the stiffness on it. I should be thankful that becoming a demolition tool only left me with sore bruises and a stiff neck. "Just gotta keep an eye on him until he turns back or the proper authorities show up. Whichever happens first, I guess."

"Uh," I turned and saw the cops from before, giving the cocoon wary looks. "Is it safe to approach now?"

"I wouldn't bet on it, but I'll warn you," I wave their worries off, going back to observing the cocoon.

"Right, I just wanted to tell you that that was the bravest thing I've seen in a long time." The man said, smiling at me. A small smile formed under my mask, and I gave him a thumb up.

"Pretty stupid, too," the lady noted.

"This is coming from half the pair that chose to stick around and shoot the giant mutated crook?" I asked sarcastically.

She raised a finger, before putting it down. "Okay, you've got me there."

"Heh," I chuckle, before I look at the crook and blink in surprise. His eyes were closed, he was shaking, and a muffled, pitiful scream could be heard.

"Shit, something's happening!" I jump to my feet, getting dizzy for a second, before walking closer and putting a hand on his leg.

I hear the cops run away behind me, but I'm staring at the crook. I know he's not trying to break out; then he'd be making a scream of wrath.

The pitiful noise coming from him… it could only mean he was shifting back.

I tore the webs away. "Hey, it's okay, don't-"

I couldn't finish. I had just torn the web covering his mouth, and the blood-curling scream he released froze me on the spot. His body was shrinking unevenly, one hand getting to a normal size while the rest of the arm stayed giant-sized.

By the time it was finished he was completely normal.

Normal, except he was still missing his skin.

I…

I would see a lot of horrors, over my time as Spider-Man.

But seeing that deformed man, wheezing his last breaths in a hollowed cocoon of my webs? It was something that would haunt me for a long time, as one of my greatest failures.

I let him drink those pills because I wanted to see what they'd do.

It was my fault, completely.

I got cocky and stopped the car with unnecessary violence, let him take the damn pills, and now…

I sighed, dropping to my knees and staring at the man.

"Spider-Man," one of the cops said. I looked over my shoulder and saw it was the lady. "This… you couldn't have known."

I stared at her for a second, then back down at the man. He looked at me as he took his last breaths.

A selfish part of me hoped he'd say something like 'not your fault' to drive the point home, or something like that.

But no such luck. All I saw was a horrible fear in his expression as his body shook, right up until the light left his eyes.

I kept staring for a while, before I forced myself to move.

I closed his eyes, muttered a few words asking any listening deity to take pity on the man's soul, and walked over to the car I stopped.

I looked inside and I saw his partner, shaking in his seat. There was no one else; the back seat was occupied by bags of money.

"You saw what those pills did to your friend?" I asked.

He nodded, shaking.

"Give me your bottle and I won't break your legs for letting your friend do something so stupid."

He handed them over in a flash.

I put one in my pocket and handed the rest of the bottle to the cops.

"Have your guys look into these, whatever they are. I'll have mine do some work, see if I can figure out a cure for the next… whatever the fuck that just was." I rubbed the bridge of my nose through my mask. "I think I'll turn in early, I need to do something about this. Also, I'm kinda of a giant human bruise right now."

The cops chuckled and gave me the go-ahead.

I swung home, feeling defeated.

"Do you need to talk?"

I stared at Ben. I was holding an icepack to my eye, resisting the temptation of scratching under the Band-Aid on my chin. I looked like I'd been run over. Which was convenient, because it made the explanation that I'd been run over more believable for Aunt May.

"What is there to talk about?" I asked as I switched the hand I was holding the icepack with.

"You couldn't save him." Ben said with a pitying expression, and I hid a wince.

"I can't save everyone. I know that much." I glared at the red pill on my hand. "But I can save the next person suckered into buying these."

"You know what that is?" Ben asked, curious. I was smart for my age, but smart in a well-read sense of the word. I was no Peter, and we both knew that.

"I have my theories, now I just gotta wait for Peter to come back from his date." I realized what I'd said too late.

"Peter's what?" Ben asked, frozen in shock.

"Uh, his, uh…"

"Jake. Does my boy have a date?"

"… yeah, he does."

"Is she cute?"

"She's the hottest in our year, according to Peter. Not really my type, but-"

"MAY! MAY, PETER'S GOT A DATE WITH A CUTE GIRL!"

The hurried footsteps of an old lady came from the kitchen, and May appeared suddenly in the living room, looking.

"Did you say-?"

"Yeah!"

May whooped with joy, and danced a jig, while Ben did his level best to imitate her. I rolled my eyes.

With how awkward and shy Peter could be around people he wasn't that familiar with, Ben and May had been really worried he would never make friends outside of me.

Slightly insulting, but I got why they thought that.

Still, I knew better. Peter had the potential to be a social butterfly.

I sighed and leaned back, smiling despite myself. Yeah, this was nice.

The door opened and Peter stumbled in. Some smudged black lipstick could be seen on the corner of his mouth.

The old Parker Charm at work, ladies and gentlemen.

He was greeted with the image of Ben and May dancing, and a frown immediately settled itself on his face.

"Jake, you ass, did you tell-" he stopped when he saw me sitting on the couch, covered in bruises. "Sweet merciful Thor, did they torture it out of you?!"

"Nah, sorry, but it slipped out. Didn't you check your phone? I got run over."

Peter checked his phone and saw the texts I'd sent him, explaining my fight earlier. Then he saw he had a new one, telling him that we'd talk later.

He looked up at me, and I nodded at his Aunt and Uncle. They were staring at him with giddy expressions, ready to ask a million questions.

Peter sighed, put his phone in his pocket, and stretched his arms.

"Ask away," he said, with a tone like he was sacrificing himself for my sins.

I watched with amusement as he was lost to a sea of parental excitement.

"This is fascinating, Jake." Peter said, as he examined the pill giddily.

"Care to elaborate?" I grunted as I texted away from my spot on the basement wall. James promised me he and the others would ask around. I got the feeling I would need more informants.

"Well, in layman's terms, it's like it makes people mutants for a while, and then it burns out. It should have a different effect with everyone." Peter chuckled, adjusting the microphone. "It's ingenious, in an evil kind of way. It's also a bit of a drug, so it makes you powerful and a bit high. Keep people addicted to the high and the power."

"And an overdose ends in a big-ass mutation, huh?"

"Yeah…" Peter lost the energy, and turned in his swivel chair. "Jake, if you need to talk, you know I'm here, right?"

"Yeah, I know Pete, but…" I shook my head and sighed. "I dunno."

Peter got up, sat down on the couch I'd helped move down here years ago, and patted a spot next to him. I jumped on it, winced at the pain I caused myself, before slowly leaning back.

"I guess, I guess I just thought that I could save everyone. Logically, I know that I can't, but…" I closed my eyes. "This is the first time it hits me head-on like this."

We talked a while more. No tears were shed, I don't make a habit of crying, but I did find myself shaking.

Peter offered comfort and a shoulder to lean on.

Eventually, I cleared my head, and just rested there with my head on my brother's shoulder.

I felt like something was tight around my throat, keeping me from breaking the silence, but I cleared my throat and tried anyways.

"So, how did your date go?"

"Didn't you hear when I told May and Ben?"

"I wasn't paying attention."

Peter huffed good-naturedly and told me.

I'd take care of the problem later. Now I could rest.