Am I (Not) a Hero?

[Peter Parker's POV]

So, I was just accompanying… well, a friend, I guess? Since she spent so much time with me.

"So now Flash won't be bothering you anymore?" 

Jessica asked.

"Yep… You know, I feel this emptiness inside now. Like I threw away a piece of my life." 

I placed my hand over my heart.

"Are you serious?"

She turned to me with the most skeptical expression.

"Did you suddenly develop Stockholm syndrome?"

"I don't think so… What do people say?" 

I pretended to snap my fingers, trying to remember.

"Like a weight has been lifted off my soul."

"Oh, come on. You said that with such a sad face, I almost believed you."

"It's precisely because you believe that I tease you."

"However, I'm not sure he got it, and I might have to repeat it two or three times. To be honest, he went down with one hit. I didn't even get to enjoy it, so I'd be happy to repeat it."

"We'll see, maybe he'll turn over a new leaf." 

She shrugged.

"You seem grown up, but you still believe in miracles." 

I shook my head.

"Oh, is that your bus?" 

I pointed at the approaching vehicle.

"Yes, see you tomorrow, Peter."

"See you tomorrow." 

I waved at her and waited for the bus to leave.

Then, I instantly took off in the right direction. 

Honestly, it was amazing. 

I saw the world around me more slowly than when I was running, so I didn't feel like I was pushing through jelly. 

It wasn't some incredible speed, but it was enough to easily overtake some especially slow cars without crashing into anyone.

I had ten minutes of free time to walk to the warehouse, but running a marathon without getting out of breath was great. 

I looked around and saw no one nearby. 

The spider-sense wasn't signaling, so I crawled along the warehouse wall to get in through a hole in the roof. 

We didn't need a key before, but the warehouse had been closed with a heavy chain and a lock for a couple of years now.

I jumped off the wall and felt no pain upon landing.

"Alright, what else did Spider-Man do?"

First, I tried to shoot webbing from my wrist, and nothing happened. 

I kept pushing my hand with black claws emerged, but the web still refused to shoot.

Straining my hand to the limit, I managed to get a black… stinger? 

I wasn't exactly sure, but it was oozing a green liquid as it burst from my wrist, painfully breaking through the skin like a hidden blade. 

It didn't corrode the floor, so its properties were less obvious. 

With a flash of pain, I summoned an identical blade from my other hand. This seemed like something from a certain canon… but he couldn't summon it at will.

'Nothing is true, everything is permitted… God, I'm a genuine mutant now… What else am I going to surprise myself with?'

I retracted the stingers; the wounds hurt, but at least they weren't bleeding and seemed healing. 

Of course, not nearly at the speed of Wolverine or Deadpool, but I wasn't going to complain, and I wasn't going to give up either! 

I ignored common sense and tried something different. 

I brought my hands together as if casting a spell, concentrating on something. I definitely felt something… and now to release it sharply from my hands!

What came out was a greenish flash of electric shock. Is it from Miles Morales? Or from the clone chick, Jessica Drew? 

I couldn't remember… but I had read her profile on the wiki. She had a pheromone charm ability that I didn't observe in myself.

'Alright, that was cool, but what the hell did that bastard Norman Osborn mix into that serum?'

I did something I hadn't tried before: the world-famous Spider-Man gesture, pressing my middle and ring fingers to my palm…

Phew

'I'm not going to facepalm myself, definitely not. Let's just pretend this never happened?'

The web shot out and struck an old tire lying against the wall. I caught the web with my hand and yanked the tire toward me. 

It was so light that I barely felt it move.

'This weighs somewhere between nine and eleven kilograms. And I can swing it over my head like it's nothing. Cool."

I shot a web at the ceiling and pulled myself up, ending up sticking to it. I must study its composition and refine the formula, but that can wait.

With artificial webbing, I could do a ton of cool tricks like in that game, but let's remember the cons. 

It runs out. 

Natural webbing, on the other hand, reproduces itself over time. However, I'm not giving up on the idea of spider gadgets. 

It would also be cool to be Spider-Batman.

"And now, what about strength?"

I lifted a rusty car above my head… it was too easy. 

For a more precise test, I decided to move the car and throw it onto another one. 

Lifting it was no trouble at all, but I could feel the weight a bit more this time.

'Wait, how did I get up here if I was wearing shoes?"'

This situation made me look at the ceiling with a genuinely dumb expression.

I tried climbing the wall with my shoes on again, and I succeeded. 

How? 

This was really some kind of metaphysics.

'I'll have to think about this… and experiment.'

Next, I needed to test the piercing ability of my claws and stingers. The first ones sliced through the car door like it was wood. 

That was enough for now but in the future… Where could I find adamantium? 

If I remember correctly from fanfics, it was with Ulysses Klaw, something related to Wakanda. 

He did have vibranium for Ultron. Stryker has enough Adamantium after the mess with Wolverine.

'Hmm, did the events of the X-Men and Wolverine already happen? Do they even exist in this reality? I need to Google Charles Xavier.'

Now, it's time to test the second ability. I pressed my palm against the car and released the stinger. 

It pierced through the poor door sharply and accurately, but this was definitely a weapon for killing, not for close combat.

Overall, I was satisfied with my abilities. 

Moreover, I was as happy as a child, but the possibility of encountering an Ultimate Green Goblin made me overthink.

However, I snapped at those thoughts and bought materials at the mall. Afterwards, I returned home sometime in the evening. 

In the bag were materials for a mask, fingerless gloves, the sturdiest sneakers I could find that took almost all my savings, and black compression pants. 

It's not too thin, just right. 

The kitchen smelled nice, and I peeked in.

"Welcome back, Peter. Don't you want to tell me something?" 

Aunt May addressed me with a smile as I stepped into her territory.

"Um…" 

My intuition was silent, and my spider-sense was too.

If Flash had made us pay compensation, she wouldn't be smiling so mysteriously right now… probably?

On the contrary, my spider-sense told me that starting my confession with "Yes, I beat up Flash, but he deserved it" would not be the best idea.

"What exactly are you asking me about that I don't want to tell you, Aunt May?"

I asked awkwardly with a smile.

"Something I'll find out from Ben, not from my dear nephew."

I shifted my anxious gaze to Ben. 

What had that old man told her? 

That I was bitten by a spider? 

That I beat up Flash? 

About Peter's porn collection? That folder had a 22-character password, and someone needed another password with 20 characters to log in.

"May, don't scare the poor guy like that; he's practically sweating." 

Uncle Ben cheerfully defended me.

I wiped my brow and realized that.

"God, Peter, don't worry so much. I'm just asking about that cute girl who walked you home yesterday. Is she your girlfriend? Didn't I teach you that you should walk girls home, not the other way around?" 

She scolded, wagging her finger.

"Aunt May… I'm going to die from a heart attack soon." 

I calmly sat down on a chair, pressing my hand to my heart. 

"Of course, she's not my girlfriend. We just talked for the first time yesterday. Jessica was sitting beside me because her friend hadn't accompanied us on the trip. As for her walking me home…" 

I tried to come up with something believable. 

"She's just a very persistent person who argued her point until she noticed she had gotten off a couple of stops too early."

It sounded a bit weak, but it was reasonable. 

I remember once arguing with the class president in college until I ended up at her apartment where she finally told me to get lost.

"What were you arguing about that was so interesting?" 

She probed casually.

"About how she's a superhero fan who's really nothing special." 

I shrugged.

"Peter, you shouldn't hurt girls' feelings, even if you're telling them the truth." 

She scolded me. 

"Anyway, boys, I made banana bread. Would you like to try some?"

"So that's what smells sweet—bananas." 

I realized. 

"Sure."

Uncle Ben and I tried her new dish, but the result was disappointing.

"Well, what do you think?"

Uncle Ben started diligently chewing another piece, leaving me to answer.

I looked at him like a traitor, but he heroically ignored me.

"I have two responses: to answer honestly or to take your previous advice into account, Aunt May?" 

I smiled.

"Oh dear, is it that bad?" 

Mrs. Parker looked disappointed.

"No, no, it's great with tea." 

I waved my hands negatively. 

"It just smells like bananas; the taste… well, it's like plain bread without sugar?"

"It can't be." 

She said, trying a piece. 

"Mmm… yeah, I should have added more sugar? Or maybe that's how it's supposed to be?"

 I shrugged helplessly since I had never tried banana bread before.

"Alright, I'm off to the lab."

After getting into the basement, I shut the door. Peter had set this place up pretty well, and most of the scientific junk came from his father and was of decent quality. 

Of course, there was more advanced equipment available, but the old stuff continued to serve me faithfully.

"What were Peter's parents like in this world? Some kind of unknown nonsense always happens to them in each new reality. They are sometimes S.H.I.E.L.D. agents; other times, they're developing the Super Soldier Serum for Hydra. In one reality, the symbiote isn't an alien life form but was created by Richard Parker. What the hell?"

However, I would have to leave those questions for the Marvel writers.

I sprayed some web onto a glass slide and examined it under the microscope. 

It looked beautiful and interesting, and more importantly, it would help me advance in my formula. 

Strangely, the web just dissolved in the air after a few hours of real-time. 

It also dissolved quite well in my saliva... I wanted to taste it… To be honest, I'm not sure about my mental health after everything that has happened to me. 

Secondly, I dripped a bit of my venom. 

There were no mice around to test its effects. However, I discovered that this venom was a neurotoxin.

It's hard to say how quickly it incapacitated and how long it lasted, but I would have plenty of test subjects that's for sure.

Peter's curious side took over me, and I completely lost track of time until Aunt May finally kicked me to bed around two in the morning. 

I begged her for a few more minutes, saying I had forgotten to send the excursion photos to the teacher. 

While they were being sent, I managed to write down my results and went to sleep with almost a clear conscience. 

"Almost,"

Since I hadn't had time to make the mask. I'd have to take care of that tomorrow or just make do with a balaclava.

...

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