New York — Streets of Manhattan — Evening
The wind howled in Peter's ears as his body plummeted at a terrifying speed between the towering skyscrapers of Manhattan. The chains still wrapped around him hindered every movement, making his fall even more uncontrollable. The buildings rushed past on either side of him while the pavement drew inexorably closer.
Acting purely on instinct, Peter raised his arm exactly as he had done thousands of times before. His fingers automatically assumed the position needed to activate his web-shooters.
But nothing happened.
He immediately understood, and his eyes widened.
— "They took my web-shooters! SHIT!"
Panic instantly overwhelmed him. He pulled on his chains with all his strength, again and again. His arms trembled from the effort, his legs desperately pushed against the steel restraints, and every muscle in his body tensed until it hurt. Yet nothing gave way.
Before his eyes, the pavement grew larger at a terrifying speed. Every passing second made the impact that much more inevitable.
— "Fuck... come on! What's the point of having super strength if I can't even break free...?! COME ON!"
In one final effort, every fiber of his body seemed to contract at the exact same moment. Several cracks rang out from the chains.
At last, they gave way beneath the sheer force of his strength, dragging the chair apart with them as they snapped. It literally exploded into pieces.
He was free…finally.
Without wasting a single second, Peter deployed his spider wings.
But it was far too late.
Just moments before impact, the fabric snapped open with a sharp crack, and his body skimmed the pavement just inches above the ground before the wings allowed him to regain a little altitude.
But it wasn't enough.
He was still moving far too fast, and his body was far too unbalanced. He desperately tried to correct his trajectory, but every effort was in vain.
The next instant...
BOOM!
He slammed headfirst into a bus
The impact was unimaginably violent. The entire body of the vehicle crumpled under the collision, leaving a massive dent where he had struck.
Around him, pedestrians screamed in panic. For several moments, no one understood what had just happened. Then, little by little, every gaze turned toward the young man lying against the vehicle.
Whispers began to spread. At first, they were hesitant. But they quickly grew louder as people realized what had just happened.
One by one, every eye focused on the person responsible for the commotion and the accident.
It wasn't an ordinary pedestrian. Nor was it some object that had fallen from the sky…It was Spider-Man.
But more importantly…
He wasn't wearing his mask.
— "Hey, that's... that's SPIDER-MAN! Look! It's Spider-Man, and he's not wearing his mask!!"
— "Oh my God... you're right!"
— "What are you waiting for?! Take a picture of him, hurry!"
Within seconds, dozens of phones were pointed in his direction. Camera flashes began firing without interruption, illuminating his face from every angle.
Still completely dazed from the force of the impact, Peter nevertheless managed to move. Struggling, he braced himself against the bus before slowly pulling himself to his feet. Agonizing pain coursed through his entire body, and with a trembling arm, he instinctively tried to hide his face.
He couldn't let even more people discover his identity.
Gathering what little strength he had left, he leaped toward the wall of a nearby building. His hands immediately latched onto it, and he began climbing...Slowly. Painfully.
Several times, his grip slipped, and his body swayed dangerously, threatening to send him falling once again.
Yet he kept climbing. Meter by meter. Despite the agony tearing through every muscle in his body. At last, he reached the rooftop.
The moment one knee touched the concrete, every ounce of strength left him. His body collapsed heavily onto the ground, where he remained motionless for several moments, struggling to breathe.
Blood flowed from several wounds, and every breath felt as though it were ripping his chest apart. He closed his eyes for a second.
Then, with tremendous effort, he slowly forced himself back up. He had to leave. Immediately. This crowd had become far too dangerous.
— "I have to get... to the Connors'... lab..."
Parker House — Peter's Bedroom — Evening
Lying on Peter's bed, Gwen stared at the ceiling, her eyes lost in the void. She could no longer truly see the room around her.
The minutes continued to pass…
Endlessly.
The night was already well underway, and yet she still hadn't heard a single thing from the one she loved. Not a call. Not a message...Nothing. The silence had become unbearable.
— "Peter... where are you...? Please... answer me..."
She tightened her grip slightly around her phone. For hours, she had been turning its screen on over and over again, hoping to see Peter's name appear.
But nothing. Suddenly, her phone vibrated several times. A flood of notifications filled the screen. Gwen's heart instantly leaped into her chest. She sat upright in a single motion.
— "Peter?!"
Her trembling fingers hurriedly unlocked her phone. But the hope that had just lit up her face faded almost immediately.
It wasn't him. Just several messages from the group chat she shared with her friends. A deep disappointment washed over her.
She was already about to put her phone down when one of Miles' messages caught her attention.
— "Watch this video. This is completely insane."
Her eyebrows furrowed.
A few seconds later, another message appeared.
— "It's about Spider-Man! People saw him without his mask and recorded him!"
The moment she read those words, Gwen felt her heart stop. An icy wave of fear immediately swept through her entire body.
New York — Connors' Laboratory — Evening
Peter landed heavily on the roof of the laboratory. The landing was brutal, and the moment his feet touched the ground, a sharp pain shot through his entire body.
Every muscle...Every bone...Seemed to protest against even the slightest movement. He remained motionless for a few moments, breathing heavily, simply trying to catch his breath before finding the strength to move again.
After quietly entering the building, he switched on a dim light.
A faint glow immediately spread through the laboratory, revealing the workbenches, the research equipment, and the many shelves lined with scientific instruments.
The silence that filled the room was almost oppressive. Only Peter's uneven footsteps disturbed it, echoing faintly through the laboratory as he staggered forward, on the verge of collapsing.
He hurriedly opened several drawers and began searching through the equipment with growing desperation.
Flasks. Test tubes. Chemicals...His hands grabbed everything that could possibly help him—or at least everything he believed he could use.
He had to recreate his web formula. He had no choice. But the more the seconds passed, the more his hands began to shake. His movements became less precise.
His breathing grew heavier and heavier. And his vision slowly began to blur. Suddenly, he lost his balance. His foot slipped, and he stumbled violently. The vials slipped from his hands before shattering against the floor.
Glass exploded across the laboratory as the various chemicals spilled over the tiles. Peter remained on his knees for several seconds, breathing heavily.
He took a deep breath before trying to stand again, but he only managed to stagger.
Every step now demanded a tremendous effort as he painfully made his way toward the containment sphere holding the symbiote. When he finally stopped in front of it, he struggled to raise his eyes.
— "I think... I'm going to pass out..."
His vision became blurrier and blurrier. The outlines of the laboratory seemed to dissolve before his eyes. Then his legs finally gave out. His body pitched forward.
As he fell, his arm accidentally struck the button controlling the capsule's release. The mechanism activated instantly, and with a soft hiss, the sphere slowly began to open.
Inside, the symbiote immediately came to life, as though it had sensed Peter's presence. The strange black substance rippled for a few moments before flowing out of its containment like a living creature.
It quickly slithered across the floor before leaping onto the young hero, gradually covering his entire body.
Already on the verge of unconsciousness, Peter no longer had the strength to react. His eyelids slowly closed...Then...Darkness consumed him completely.
New York — One World Trade Center — Night
A deep, rough, gravelly voice shattered the absolute silence.
— "Wake up!"
Peter's eyes flew open, and his breath caught instantly. For a brief moment, his mind was incapable of understanding what lay before him.
Around him stretched the night sky and the thousands of lights illuminating New York. Far below, the void seemed endless. His eyes widened.
To his utter astonishment, he realized he was at the top of the One World Trade Center, the tallest skyscraper in the entire city. His body was suspended over the void.
Only one of his hands was gripping the building's narrow metal spire. Caught off guard, his fingers tightened instinctively and nearly slipped. His heart immediately began racing.
— "How... how did I end up here? What happened...?"
Completely disoriented, he instinctively looked down at his hand...Then at his chest. His breath caught once again. The moment he saw his suit, he noticed something deeply unsettling.
His suit...Was black. Not simply darker than usual. It was a deep black, almost alive, its surface seeming to absorb the surrounding light.
A massive white spider now stretched across his chest before extending all the way onto his back.
Larger. More aggressive. And infinitely more unsettling than the one on his old suit.
— "My suit is... black?! But... how is that possible? I was injured in the Connors' lab, I passed out, and now I wake up here wearing a completely different suit! Am I dreaming?"
By reflex, he pinched his arm. But the pain was real. So this wasn't a dream. Yet another sensation almost immediately caught his attention.
He frowned slightly before looking over his body.
— "Wait... my injuries... my pain... I don't feel anything anymore! Actually... I feel amazing. It's almost like my body's been completely reset."
The feeling was strange. Very strange. Peter knew that perfectly well. Nothing that was happening to him made the slightest bit of sense.
And yet, instead of immediately searching for an explanation, he spent several moments simply staring at his own body. Every trace of fatigue had vanished.
Every ache seemed to have disappeared, replaced by a new energy flowing through each of his muscles. Every breath felt lighter...More natural... As though his entire body had just been freed from an invisible burden.
He felt unbelievably good. Better still...He had the overwhelming feeling that he had never felt more alive.
Then, without the slightest warning, Tombstone's words suddenly echoed through his mind. His body immediately tensed, and the look in his eyes changed completely.
— "Aunt May! Gwen! Shit... I've gotta get home! Now!"
Without wasting a single second, he pushed off from the tip of the skyscraper and launched himself into the void.
The force of the jump was phenomenal. His body was hurled through the air with a power he had never experienced before.
For a fraction of a second, even Peter was stunned by the sheer force of his own leap.
How was that possible?
Was it him...
Or this mysterious black suit?
He dove at tremendous speed between New York's skyscrapers. The moment the first buildings came within range, he instinctively fired a web.
The tension was immediate, and propelled by his incredible speed, the momentum almost instantly launched him back toward the sky, where he soared through the air for several seconds without losing nearly any altitude.
A few moments later, he deployed his spider wings. Carried by the wind and by this newfound speed he was still discovering, he continued racing above New York, heading straight for home.
TO BE CONTINUED.