Helpless

SPECTACULAR SPIDER-MAN

VOL 1: IN THE WAKE OF TRAGEDY

ISSUE 2: WHERE WERE YOU WHEN THE WORLD CHANGED?

PART 5

ARTHUR STACY

Where was Arthur Stacy when the world around him changed forever? He was currently driving down the busy street on his way to the hospital for a chance to interrogate Edward Brock, and maybe check in on this Peter kid, and it seemed that the voices of New York City had conflicting thoughts on his vigilantism. On the radio, he heard Sally Floyd of Frontline call him a hero of a new age, while someone from the Daily Bugle tried their best to make him out to be the bad guy but it sounded like they were reading from a script, but the ever tired and cynical Detective Arthur Stacy grew quickly detached from talk radio.

Instead he flipped to the closest station available, which was playing the number one smash hit song in America right now, performed by some young lady named Dazzler called “Outsider Looking In”. Arthur pulled out and lit a cigarette while the song played, and as usual he grew tired of waiting for the traffic so he pulled his detachable police siren out of his glove box and switched it on, and the effect was immediate. “That’s more like it!” he chuckled and drove at a higher speed.

Some of the people he passed he noticed out of the corner of his aging eyes flipped him the bird, but he didn’t care. He had seen much worse than middle fingers in his career, and he was well past caring for anything other than his family and the bare necessities of his job. “Just a few more years before retirement.” He said more to himself in his empty car as the hospital started to come into view, and he didn’t think anything of it at the moment, but a news van with Daily Bugle’s logo came up and then passed him.

Minutes later as he got closer to the parking lot, another news van, this one with the logo of WHiH. Though what really surprised him were the three blacked out humvees with the Department Of Damage Control logo emblazoned upon the sides and backs. “Well if a teenager in an armored suit almost destroying an entire apartment complex wasn’t reason for them to show up, nothing will.” Arthur spoke out loud, but more to himself.

Within another few minutes, Detective Arthur Stacy had pulled into the hospital parking lot, taking in the scene before him of a group of reporters were getting geared up while armored DODC Agents were preparing for war it looked like to Arthur. As he parked, he pulled out a silver drinking flask from his inside jacket pocket and took a swig.

AUNT MAY

Where was Aunt May when the world around her changed forever? She was sitting in a rigid hospital bed beside her nephew Peter as the doctors got to work trying to figure out how to get his vitals through the high tech suit of armor that seemed skin tight, she herself was starting to check out psychologically, it was almost too much for her to wrap her mind around. Finally, a couple of nurses came to her side and gently tried to usher out into the hallway where more comfortable seats awaited family of the patients in the waiting area, still kind of mentally checked out she hardly registered that her phone was blowing up with texts from her nieces and next door neighbor.

There was a kind of ringing sensation in her ears that drowned out all noise as she stared off into the painted wall of the hospital, but what felt to her like eternity it had ended and everything rushed back. Taking her phone out of her purse, May dialed Anna May first, “Hello-“ she gulped, her mouth had become very dry on the ride over in the ambulance, “Hello Anna May, what’s going on? Why are you lot calling like crazy?”

There was silence on Anna May’s end for a moment before she returned in hushed tones. “Something isn’t right, May, there’s government agents outside and they’re trying to- oh no! How’s Peter? Is he awake yet? We might need to leave soon.”

“They’re trying to what?” May asked, quickly standing up as she approached the waiting room window, and sure enough the hospital parking lot was now incredibly full of government vehicles, news vans, as well as a lot of curious civilian passerby. “Anna, what’s going on?” May asked her friend with genuine concern creeping into her voice, and while Anna May Watson didn’t immediately answer back, she could hear some kind of commotion through the phone’s speaker.

Getting ever more worried, May retreated back into Peter’s hospital room after the doctors and nurses informed her that they finally got lucky and stabilized him, she tried to tell them about what was going on outside, but they were all already stretched thin as it was with all the other patients they needed to see. Resigned, and hoping it wouldn’t have to come to it, May propped the visitor chair against the door handle in a weak attempt at keeping everything at bay.

PETER PARKER

Where was Peter Parker when the world around him changed forever? Currently his physical body was laying in the patient room at Queen General Hospital with wiring the doctors barely managed to hook him up despite his armored carapace wrapped around his body in order to read his vital signs, which all read as being steady. Beside him, his Aunt May knelt down on the floor with her back to the bed facing the locked door, unaware that his room window was unsecure, but an idea struck her as she turned on the television in the corner in an attempt to find any news coverage on the situation.

Finally, after a few minutes of searching she landed on the Daily Bugle’s channel, which she thought was a big stretch to be considered news in this day and age. Out of the corner of her aging eye she thought she saw Peter move and adjust himself, but rationalized that it was just a trick of the lighting. She grabbed his hand and squeezed before kissing him on his uncovered forehead, “You’re going to have a lot of explaining to do when you wake up, young man.”

Once more she kissed his forehead, clearing away his long brown hair as she stayed by his side, deciding to turn the television off and just listen to the rhythm of the heart monitor. “You better wake up soon, young man. This family has lost too damn much, I’ve never known the universe to be so cruel in all my days.” Aunt May spoke to both nobody, as well as the empty room, wishing she had her cross with her to pray for Peter’s safe return. Though that was back at their house, broken on the floor from her fit of angry protest at a higher power.

She needed something, someone to blame and she was unaware that the perfect patsy in her husband’s supposed killer was in surgery in this very hospital, she kissed Peter’s forehead one last time before getting up to go get something to drink from the outside vending machine, realizing that they were supposed to eat during the wake. Though with everything going on, it was understandable she had eaten or drank anything until now, so she took a dollar from her purse and grabbed the bottle of water before returning to Peter’s room.

PETER’S MIND

Peter began to cry in his Uncle Ben’s station wagon, with the unbearable weight that he let his uncle, and his aunt down, but worst of all he let himself down for not doing a damn thing when his uncle was killed and this went on for a while, but no matter what his uncle stayed in the car with him. When he finally finished crying and wiping his tears with his sleeve, Ben rested a hand on his shoulder and smiled silently before sitting back in the driver’s chair, and suddenly the scene changed and they were sitting on a park bench in Central Park, Ben was feeding some birds while Peter got his bearings. He was now dressed up as Spider-Man with his head uncovered, he could hear a soft beeping noise all around him, which was the heart monitor in the real world.

“This isn’t a memory,” Peter quickly surmised as he looked around, and saw that there was nobody else around. “Where are we?”

Finally Ben looked up and set the bird food to the side and smiled at Peter, “We are wherever you want to be, we were just in a place where you felt destroyed. Aside from this incessant beeping noise, the Sun is set perfectly and the weather is nice, it’s…”

“Peaceful,” Peter answered and nodded as he tried to follow along, “so that means I’m trying to make peace with your death, letting down my family, and letting down myself. Yeah, that’s not going to happen.” He scoffed at the idea and slumped back on the bench, soaking up the fake sunrays.

“Not if you don’t talk about it with someone, what makes you think you really did let down your family, Peter? I doubt my May thinks so little of you.” Ben spoke in an attempt to sound reassuring, but Peter shook his head.

“’Your May’? You know you aren’t real right, this is all just a figment of my imagination, my subconscious attempting to put the pieces together of my emotional jigsaw puzzle.”

ALEXA REILLY

Where was Alexa Reilly when the world around her changed forever? She was running about through the halls of the hospital asking everyone she could about the authorities outside and if it were legal for them to conduct some kind of seizure of Peter from the hospital. Most hospital personnel barely took note of her, too busy getting ready for the influx of wounded from the destroyed apartment complex, but there were a couple who took the time to try and calm her down and explain that the authorities couldn’t legally remove a patient from the premises without prior authorization from an attending physician.

This information she relayed back to her sisters before letting her Aunt May know through her friend Anna May Watson, but still she was worried about the gathering crowd out in the hospital parking lot, so she gathered up her sisters to try and devise a way to keep the authorities out of the hospital, when after seeing the Daily Bugle news van an idea struck her. “Amanda, how do you feel about being on the news?” Alexa inquired

“What are you thinking?” Amanda asked her sister in a cautious tone of voice, and she stole a brief glance at her sister Amy, who listened but added a simple unknowing shrug of the shoulders.

“Well, how good are you with doing interviews back at school for the paper?” Alexa asked, bringing up the fact that her sister ran the school newspaper back home.

“I think I do pretty well, though it’s not just me that’s by myself running the paper, why? What’s that got to do with our situation?” Amanda asked her with a quizzical look in hey eye towards her sister.

“I think it’s about time we gave the people what they want,” Alexa said with a smile, “what about you girls?”

Amy and Amanda smiled mischievously at each other before Amy piped up, “Just tell us what to say, dear sister,” she spoke with a playful cackle and got the attention of several people waiting to be seen by hospital personnel.

“Well here’s what I want the both of you to do…”

SPECTACULAR SPIDER-MAN

VOL 1: IN THE WAKE OF TRAGEDY

ISSUE 2: WHERE WERE YOU WHEN THE WORLD CHANGED?

PART 4

AMY REILLY

Where was Amy Reilly when the world around her changed forever? She was bringing up the rear of the family gathering as everybody rushed to Peter’s side as the EMTs pushed his unconscious self through on a gurney into the emergency room, but everybody was stopped by an intake nurse who explained that now wasn’t the time for visitors. Though after some debate and pleading, Aunt May was allowed entry and she promised to update everyone on what was happening via text message.

So the rest of the family went to hunker down in the lobby, but as Amy got herself comfortable she spied on the Daily Bugle news van that had been tailing them earlier had parked out in the lobby, but nobody was getting out. “Hey girls,” She motioned from the windows to usher her sisters over, Amanda grumbled something about just finding a right seat, “remember the van from earlier?” Amy asked them.

“Yeah, should keep an eye on it,” Alexa piped up after looking outside for a minute, then she looked over at Anna May Watson, “but we don’t want to raise any alarms just yet.”

“What should we do?” Amanda asked and crossed her arms, looking at her sisters for guidance, after a few minutes of solid contemplation, it was Alexa who piped up again.

“Here’s what I got, Amy you keep tabs on the podcast, if there’s any issue with them coming to sniff out a story here, let me know. Amanda, you say close by Anna May so she doesn’t feel worried and so you can give us a head’s up on any updates.”

“Sounds good,” Amy concurred, peeking out of the curtains before looking back, “but what about you?”

“I’ll run interference between the two of you, and I’ll ask around the place, see if anybody knows anything important.” Alexa placed her hands on her hips, feeling like she had outdone herself with the strategy thinking.

“I always knew you were the most intelligent of us,” Amanda complimented her sister and gave her a hug, “guess I should go get into position, right?” she broke away from her sisters to join Anna May.

ANGELA DEL TORO

Where was Angela Del Toro when the world around her changed forever? She was escorting the little boy and little girl out of the crumbling apartment complex, keeping them out of harm’s way as best she could, diverting their attention from those that had been trapped for far too long, or burning apartments from ruptured gas mains. It took everything she had to see these kids to safety and not run the opposite direction to deliver her vengeance, she helped the little boy over a fallen wall, who in turn helped his sister over and they were able to keep this rhythm for what seemed like several eternities before they finally reached a hallway with an emergency exit.

Angela got down on one knee and put a hand on the boy and girl’s shoulders and smiled at them, “You guys were incredibly brave, your mommy and daddy would be proud of you.”

“I was brave like Captain America!” the boy piped up and held out his toy Captain America, but through their journey and the heat from the fires, it had clearly seen better days.

“And I was brave like The White Tiger!” The little girl exclaimed, but she started having a coughing fit from the smoke inhalation and tried giving Angela a hug.

“Okay, let’s go find your mommy and daddy,” Angela said with a light chuckle and took the hands of the both of them and started to walk outside, they were greeted by fresh air and the dimming light of the evening Sun. “What a day,” Angela said, trying to hide her exhaustion and let out a series of coughs from her smoke inhalation.

“Should we go ask one of the policemen where our mommy and daddy are?” the little boy asked her, pointing at the police made perimeter, and Angela looked at the emergency workers look up at the broken structure before them. Even though Spider-Man and Spider-Girl had done the best they could, the building was on the brink of collapse, Angela sensed that it was about to go any minute.

ANN WEYING

Where was Ann Weying when the world around her had changed forever? She was in mid-throw of tossing her son to the ledge across the way of the several story drop. She could see some poor souls trapped in the rubble below, screaming for help that may never come, and she watched with her heart in her throat as Dylan landed with a wobble and roll to safety and she realized that she could never make that jump. She wanted to sink to her knees in defeat, but she had to be strong for her son, he yelled for her to join him and as the fires around them illuminated her surroundings for a moment she noticed a floor below theirs, a fire hose still rolled up and attached to the wall.

“Dylan, baby,” She called out, “I need you to be really brave and find a way out, Mommy is going to find her own way out.”

“What?!” Dylan exclaimed and started to approach the edge, but she put up a hand to stop her young son from going further. “No, Mommy! Don’t leave me!”

“I’m not leaving you, honey.” She said as she started to get back on her feet, “I would never leave my little Brock-ly. Find a way out, and Mommy will be there too, but if you can’t find me, go find a grown up who can.”

“No!” Dylan said as tears started to stream down his face, “I don’t wanna leave you!”

“Oh my brave boy, I know you don’t, but it’s the only way.” She looked down into the rubble, and listened into pit for the screams, and began crying her own tears. Then she looked back up at her son, so close, yet so far.

“I love you, Dylan!” and then as she heard one last cry of indignation and stubbornness from her son, she plunged herself into the hole. Her whole life started to accelerate as within a second, she grabbed hold of the fire hose, and it spun rapidly as she descended and held on for dear life, the fires licked at her but couldn’t connect with her speed. Down a couple more flights and couple of stories and some rubble caught her in the side and caused a not so pretty gash on her side, she grimaced and howled in pain, but her hold on the hose did not relent, as she went down. Finally the hose became rigid somewhere around the fifteenth to the tenth floor, and she lost her grip, falling another two stories, and her head’s force of impact caused her to rather quickly lose consciousness.

ANNA MAY WATSON

Where was Anna May Watson when the world around her changed forever? She was sitting in the main lobby of North Shore University Hospital, and yawning from a long and adventurous day that was presumably just winding down, and the blonde sister, Amanda came to sit down next to her to try and manage some small talk to which she politely obliged. She felt her phone vibrate through her purse on her lap while talking with Amanda and checked the caller ID, her dark irises constricted in hope that her niece Mary Jane wasn’t calling due to any issues on her end, but she also wasn’t the kind of person to excuse herself mid-conversation, she was a polite and well mannered woman of maturity.

After the conversation had run it’s course though within a few minutes, Anna May excused herself to go find a secluded corner and re-dialed her niece’s number, to which she picked up within a few rings. “Mary Jane, is everything okay? How was the play? You’re not in any trouble are you?” Anna May asked all at once, it had been awhile since she spoke to her niece, who was at an acting workshop that doubled as a boarding school.

“I’m fine Auntie A-M,” the voice on the other end let out a bit of light hearted laughter, “The play itself went pretty well, it was kind of broadway-esque with a lot of singing, but my minor character didn’t really do much. Enough about me though, I’m watching the news, did the next door neighbor really save a collapsing building?”

“The news?” Anna May asked, getting caught off guard, she turned her attention to a tv set that nobody was watching, found the remote and flipped through the channels until she found WHiH playing their footage of Peter from earlier, the anchor and anchoress she recognized as Christine Everheart, who just so happened to be the author of an expose on Tony Stark. “Oh no, that’s not good.”

“So it’s true? Peter is this Spider-Guy? And is what the Daily Bugle saying true, that he set it all up with the bombs?”

“Mary Jane Watson!” Anna May got really stern all of a sudden, “use your brain, silly girl. He’s a high school student, where would he have gotten bombs?”

“Yeah, I guess you’re right, but if I was almost swayed by this slander, how do you think the rest of the viewers are going to react who know nothing about him?”

ANNA MAY PARKER

Where was Anna May Parker when the world around her had changed forever? After almost exposing her grandfather’s identity to the world through a national news network that would one day turn him into public enemy number one, she was now swinging from building to building trying to locate his suit’s signal, when the Spider-Drone on her chest began emitting a pulse to track said signal from the safety of Amadeus’s souped up laptop. Using her advanced Head’s Up Display, she whooped out loud that she found it in an ambulance headed for North Shore University Hospital, but then that name rang a bell and she swore under her breath hoping Amadeus didn’t hear it, so with a quick thwipp to the university across the way she landed on the roof and activated a holo-projector on her palm and took off her glasses in case Amadeus hacked them too. The projector showed a digital news clipping of the day’s events that she was here to prevent from happening, first was the public outing of Peter as Spider-Man which she failed, but at least she kept him from killing that Brock guy, but then there was a third issue that was soon to happen at the hospital.

“What happened, why’d you stop?” Amadeus asked through the drone, his voice being modulated.

“Just had to check something, I’m running low on web fluid.” Anna May said with a hopefully undetected lie, technically her suit created it’s own supply of webbing through a miniature storage space in her lower arms.

“Well get going so we can check on Peter, we’ll cross that bridge when we get there.” Amadeus said, feeling like it was a race against the clock, which for Anna it really was.

“Alright already, Grife!” Anna May exclaimed as she jumped into the air after using cryptic slang that wouldn’t be around for quite a while.

“What was that?” Amadeus asked from his end, but Anna May was about to explain what Grife meant before he interrupted, “Not that, whatever word that was, I just got a hit on another signal, and it’s coming from the opposite direction of the hospital.”

SPECTACULAR SPIDER-MAN

VOL 1: IN THE WAKE OF TRAGEDY

ISSUE 2: WHERE WERE YOU WHEN THE WORLD CHANGED?

PART 3

AUNT MAY

Where was May when the world around her had changed forever? She was in the car of her good friend and neighbor Anna May as they drove behind their police escort on the way to the hospital for Peter, but honestly this was the second or third time that May’s world had gotten abruptly shaken up. The first being the death of her soulmate and husband, the second was finding out that her nephew Peter had been some kind of vigilante for the past month dressed up as a Spider, and now they were going to the hospital for Peter who had just revealed himself to the world and nearly killed the man who supposedly killed her husband.

“Do you want to talk about it, hun?” Anna May Watson asked from the driver’s seat, “I mean, if I found out my Mary Jane was going out at night to hunt for a man who’s actions ripped my heart to shreds, I would definitely want to talk about it with you.” She said with a consoling shoulder rub.

It took May a moment to find the right words in her now hoarse voice, “I’m not even sure what to say,” she finally uttered. “I mean, why didn’t he tell me? How could I have not known? Has he done this to anybody else?”

“Well that last one is a scary thought,” Anna May said with nod to her head while keeping a close distance to the hospital, “Maybe we can ask the hospital staff if anybody’s come in after getting beat up by a Spider-Guy?”

“Would you want to know though?” May asked and finally turned to look at her friend and comforter, “if you knew Mary Jane could do this, would you want to know?”

“That is a scary thought experiment, May, but I think the question we have to ask is, ‘Is Peter really in the right frame of mind to be a vigilante?”

As they got closer to the hospital, May took a deep breath and came to an understanding. “I don’t think this is the same Peter anymore.”

PETER PARKER

Where was Peter Parker when the world around him changed forever? He was laying unconscious on a stretcher, still in his armored shell as a perplexed female EMT with the nametag Jane Foster tried to figure out how to properly treat him in route to the hospital. After a few worthy tries of putting heart monitors and other medical equipment on him, she rubbed her tired face and checked the clock, the fact that it had been a forty-eight hour shift not even fazing her, but then something caught her attention in the form of where the armor’s central chest piece was supposed to be.

“Hey, Blake,” she said, moving up to the driver while keeping an eye on Peter, “I think something’s happening to the kid’s suit!”

“What kind of something?” The driver, Donald Blake said, and took a quick peek over his shoulder, the empty chest socket’s electronics were glowing blue and making a whirring noise.

“Oh, I don’t know.,” Jane said, sitting back down, “When’s the last time we had a teenager in a suit of armor in our company?” she asked in a mocking tone of voice, then a sensor started combing the back of the ambulance, emanating from Peter’s web shooters.

The voice of the suit’s AI chimed in, making Jane jump back a couple of inches. “Detecting less than nominal bodily and active function, activating Diagnostic Operating Systems.” The webbing pattern of the suit began to light up blue, and the web sensors began hacking the ambulance’s gps system. “Exterior assistance required, opening shell.” A hissing noise escaped the suit as it began to unfold around Peter’s chest cavity, like the opening of a can of tuna.

“Please begin chest compressions.” The suit said to nobody in particular.

“Here we go.” Jane said with confused sigh of relief as she began to get to work on her unique patient.

“Well alright then,” Donald added with a quick look back at the scene in his truck, “Don’t see that everyday, do you?”

PETER’S MIND

As Peter’s body was being handled, his unconscious mind began to drift, and it created for him the exact scene of one month ago in front of the library and he was in his Uncle Ben’s car. Peter couldn’t hear any noise, but he had nearly ingrained the events of that day in his head, he had just found the suit and wanted to test it out, but didn’t tell Ben about it, and instead asked if he could have a ride to the library to study. Peter told him about witnessing a bullying incident at school, and they got into an argument about Peter needing to be a better man, a good man who helps others when given the opportunity.

Then the sound came rushing back like someone had turned the volume up eleven notches, “Peter, are you listening to me?” His Uncle Ben had said, and slammed the steering wheel in a moment of frustration, but Peter was also hearing echoes of other voices.

“Yeah, I hear you, be a better man, but you really want me fighting at school? I barely got accepted there as is.” Peter asked him with an attempt at discreetly rolling his eyes, remembering what he had said that day, and knowing the sting of what was to come.

“Peter-“ His Uncle said, but he went back to mute before a voice he had never heard before cut him off, and the scene suddenly froze in time.

“So, this is where it begins.” The voice full of power and androgyny spoke within his very core and all around him.

“Who’s there?” Peter called out, trying to roll down and look out the window, “this isn’t what happened.” He said out loud, but to himself before sitting back down and the scene resumed, the volume as well.

“Peter,” Uncle Ben started again as if nothing happened, “what do I keep telling you?”

Peter forced his way through the emotions and physical movement, wanting with all his might to spare this great man any kind of heartache on the last day of his life, but there was no changing it. “If I have the power do act, then I have the responsibility to act. But, guess what? Maybe I’m the kind of guy who freezes up, who can’t act responsibly, I mean, you expect too much from me, I’m just a kid!” It broke his heart, but those were the last words he would ever say to the man who was like a father to him.

ALEXA REILLY

Where was Alexa when the world around her changed forever? She and her sisters were closely following their Aunt May in her beat up, yet dependable VW bug down the road as they in turn were following the ambulance to the hospital. She turned on the radio to fill the void of silence and reporters from the Daily Bugle, WHiH, a mid-day talk show narrated by show host Gordon Allsworth, and Good Morning America. All of them were abuzz with the show of strength from the young man and some were debating on his identity, Alexa spotted a Daily Bugle news van coming up behind them and decided to adjust the station to the Daily Bugle Podcast.

“For any true New Yorker just tuning in, this is J. Jonah Jameson with a Daily Bugle sound off about, what else? This punk, Spider-Kid and his attempt to kill not just a family man, but take the lives of our Boys in Blue and some honest citizens of our fair city with the destruction of an apartment complex down in Queens. Don’t worry though, my faithful Bugle-Horns, we have our reporters following this psychopath to a hospital so we can deliver you all to the truth, so for right now, this is J. Jonah Jameson sounding off.”

All three Reilly sisters were in stunned silence, Amanda and Amy slowly looked at each other from the passenger seat and back seat respectively. “What. The. Hell?” Alexa said finally, “Is this guy trying to turn the city against Peter?”

“Why would he do that?” Amanda asked her sisters, “Peter’s a hero, he saved those people, especially those on the ground, if that building fell-“ she started to get choked up and couldn’t continue.

After a moment, Amy piped up from the back, “Is it possible that Peter’s being set up, or framed?”

“By who though? He’s only been doing this for a month, like you said, Amy, right? How many enemies has he made already?”

“I think the more important question,” Amanda suggested, “is, what caused that building to topple?”

AMADEUS CHO

Where was Amadeus when the world around him had changed forever? He was still at Peter’s home holding down the fort and being the quote, unquote “Man In The Chair”. He was doing some last minute rescuing and stabilizing the structure with the mechanical drone’s web-fluid supply that was just showing a widget of fifty percent remaining when he stole a peek behind his laptop to watch the news, which reminded him to go talk to this mysterious Spider-Girl.

Using the drone’s bodily heat sensors, he found her up on the rooftop, trying to do what Peter was doing earlier, attempting to hold the webbing together but without all the media attention. “Here, let me help you out.” He called out through the drone’s audio speakers and tied the ends up with relative ease.

“Thanks, that was getting tiring, is everybody out?” She asked, sounding like she was barely breaking a sweat as she traipsed over the cracks and dislodged cement pieces.

“As far as I can tell, but how are you not running out of web-fluid?” He asked as he watched her through the monitor attach herself to a large slingshot made of webs.

“Well, Uncle Cho, future you-“ Anna started to say, but Amadeus muted her and interrupted.

“Don’t tell me about my future, the less I know the better, and the less Peter knows the better.” He added with a little warning that came across as a glint in one the drone’s eight lenses.

“I guess you’re right,” She said as she pulled herself backwards, creating tension on the sling shot, “but I have to save my grandfather, at any cost.”

“Then let’s get to him,” Amadeus said in agreement, he typed in a few key commands and the drone attached itself to Anna May’s back.

“Up, Up, And Away!” She exclaimed, and launched herself with enough force to send them flying several city blocks, Amadeus scanned the streets from the back of her for the suit’s signal while she swung.

AMANDA REILLY

Where was Amanda Reilly when the world around her changed forever? She was in the passenger seat of her sisters vintage VW bug as they neared the hospital parking lot, closely in toe of the ambulance that their cousin Peter and resident vigilante was inside being worked on. Amanda looked into her side mirror, keeping an eye on the Daily Bugle news van that wasn’t far behind them, only a few cars separated the van from her Aunt May and her friend Anna May who were just behind the sisters. Amanda tuned the radio trying to find the Daily Bugle station again, and she motioned for Amy who was in the backseat to try and find if they had a podcast or mobile app.

“What are you thinking, sis?” Alexa asked her from the driver’s seat, clearly interested but unable to keep her eyes off the road.

“Just an idea, but maybe we can get them off our tail? Amy see if they have a podcast or something where we can interact with them.”

“I’m on it,” Amy piped up as her sister fiddled with the radio dial, and after a minute or two of looking on the internet she spoke up, “hey guys, I don’t think we’re messing with a small time agency.” She spoke deliberately and handed her phone to Amanda who looked at the webpage.

“What is it?” Alexa asked, unable to take part in what was going on.

“They don’t just have one location, they have buildings in San Fransisco, Houston, and DC. They’re all own by one guy, this J. Jonah Jameson creep. Like, why the hell would he have a mustache like Hitler?”

“Maybe we shouldn’t be messing with them then,” Amy suggested as she took her phone back, just in time for the ambulance to pull into the emergency room section. Alexa pulled away from them to go find a close parking spot.

“Not yet, anyway, who knows what they’re willing to do to get a story.” Amanda said and unbuckled her seatbelt as Aunt May’s ride pulled up next to them.

SPECTACULAR SPIDER-MAN

VOL 1: IN THE WAKE OF TRAGEDY

ISSUE 2: WHERE WERE YOU WHEN THE WORLD CHANGED?

PART 2

ANGELA DEL TORO

Where was Angela Del Toro, or as she was currently dressed up and going by The White Tiger when the world around her changed forever? She had just managed to find herself inside the apartment complex minutes before it was structurally unsound and she was wandering the hallways looking for a way down into the basement of the building where she thought she was sure to find the answers she had long been seeking about the destruction of her family. As she turned a corner though and came upon an elevator that miraculously had a down button, the whole building shook with the intensity of an earthquake, she tried to find anything to stabilize herself but her hopes were dashed as the ceiling caved in in front of the elevator and the walls were splintering from the crushing weight, she watched as a family ahead of her were trying to escape, but the parents and two kids got separated.

“Help us!” she heard the little boy and girl cry out in desperation, Angela looked back at they way down to where her vengeance fueled mission could lead and saw a hole in the rubble big enough for her to slide past, then back to the helpless children and realized she had a choice to make. Was she a vigilante fueled by hate and anger, or was she a good person who wanted to make her parents and uncle proud? Taking a deep breath, closing her eyes and counting to three she swore quietly enough that the noise was carried away by the sound of the structure giving way and ran to assist the children.

“Don’t worry, I’ll get you guys out.” She said coming up behind them, “let’s get out of here,”

“But my mommy and daddy!” the little girl cried and pointed at the dust filled rubble, Angela got down to her and her brother’s level on one knee, her white and black mask getting dirty easily.

“It’s okay honey, I’m sure they’re going to meet us outside real soon, but we have to hurry.” Angela told the both of them, but was unsure of the parents’ fates. She held onto their hands as she stood back up, light from outside showing through the broken walls illuminating her outfit. “I’ll keep you safe.”

“Are you a superhero?” the little boy asked as they hurried down the hall, in his free hand was a Captain America action figure.

“Yeah, but not as cool as him.” She smiled down at the little boy as they turned a corner and found a way to an emergency exit, “come on, just a little further.” She said, urging them on.

“What’s your name?” The little girl as they reached the door, which Angela noted had some blood and soot on it.

“Well my superhero name is White Tiger,” she smiled and got on their level again as she took off her mask to show them she was afraid like them, “but my real name is Angela.”

ANN WEYING

Where was Ann Weying when the world around her changed forever? She was racing down destroyed hallways and broken stairwells with her young son Dylan following closely behind, trying to keep him from seeing too much that a young boy shouldn’t be seeing, but the truth was that her world had changed long before that. change for her was the equivalent of a revolving door that had grown numb to ever since she was a little girl.

She made a promise to herself once though that if she had children that she would give them as normal a life as she could provide, but now as she climbed over a toppled wall to another flight of stairs that she had failed in that promise. “We’re almost there sweetheart,” she said with a lie through a cough as fires began to spread and helped her son over the obstacle.

“Spider-Man saved us mommy, he saved us from Daddy. Where is he now though?” Dylan asked as they took their time going down a caved in stairwell.

Ann didn’t know how to respond in a good way to that question, she herself was in shock as her whole life erupted like a volcano of change today. First her ex-husband takes her hostage, then a masked vigilante destroys her home, and now she and her son were alone trying to escape a large apartment complex that could topple at any moment. So as she neared a gap in the stairwell that looked like it went down quite a ways, and then she noticed a ledge that was just out of her reach, she turned around and got down on his level.

“He’s being a brave man, he’s saving other people right now, so I need you to do something for Mommy ok? I need you to be our brave hero. Can you do that?”

Dylan took a deep breath, posed like he saw Spider-Man do in a newspaper one time, “I’ll try Mommy.”

“That’s my brave boy, want to use your power to fly us to safety?” She asked with an encouraging smile as she looked behind her at the chasm and the ledge, “Mommy loves you okay.”

ANNA MAY WATSON

Where was Anna May Watson when the world around her changed forever? The world changed for her a long time ago when she became the guardian of her niece Mary Jane after a drunk driver killed Anna sister and brother-in-law. Now here she was at a SWAT Command Center watching along with the police force of Queens and her neighbor’s family as the young and impressionable Peter Parker was doing everything in his power to save the occupants of a falling building. She placed a concerned hand on her friend May’s shoulder everyone took in a collective gasp of shock as Peter could no longer hold and fell several dozen stories until he landed on an impromptu landing pad the officers made out of mattresses.

“OH MY LORD!” Anna May and May Parker exclaimed in unison, the whole family and several paramedics raced over to the mattresses, “Is he okay?” she heard May cry out in the crowd. Peter was stretched out in his spider-armor without his mask and he seemed to be unconscious from the stress of the event, the family and Anna watched as the Paramedics tried to wake him up. When they were unsuccessful they radioed dispatch and told them to get an emergency room prepped and ready, “we’re going with you guys,” Anna May heard one of the cousins tell the paramedics.

“We’ll have to take our cars, there isn’t enough room for all of us in one ambulance,” Anna May said, putting a comforting hand on her friend’s shoulder, “We’ll meet him there, and when he wakes up, he can tell you guys how the Heck he got into this mess.” Anna May told them all reassuringly as they started back to where they had parked their cars, but they quickly realized that that meant going through the sea of people once more.

“Maybe we can ask for a police escort?” The black haired girl, Anna just remembered her name was Amy said from behind them.

“That’s a good idea,” Anna May responded, then she looked at her desperate, all consumingly tired friend asked her to hold on a minute while she and the cousins went to go talk to whomever was in charge.

ANNA MAY PARKER

Where was Anna May Parker, or The Spectacular Spider-Girl when the world around her changed forever? To be honest, her world changed forever the moment she travelled back in time, then again when she met her grandfather as a 15 year old vigilante, and once more when said grandfather nearly killed a man today. Now here she was flipping from story level to story level using her own webbing to keep the apartment complex’s indoor support structure from failing like Peter had done outside.

She wondered for a moment who Peter was doing, so she launched herself through a vacant, yet destroyed family’s apartment, passing flaming walls and out a living room window and stuck a landing against the brick wall. Her eye lenses adjusted to her own eye movement when a bright headlight from a Daily Bugle news helicopter spotted her, “Hey everyone!” she said with a wave, but seemed to egg the reporter on as he said something over a PA system rigged into the helicopter, but she couldn’t hear him. With a quick flurry of flips and webbing ejections though she stuck a landing outside the sliding door, “sorry, I didn’t catch that!” she said over the whirring blades.

“I asked who you, and that other guy are, do you mind an interview right now Miss-“

“Oh no Miss, you can call me Spider-Girl, or Spectacular Spider-Girl. Down there that’s Spider-Man, we’re both a little new to this whole saving the day thing.” She spoke excitedly, running a hand through her wind swept short red hair, which made no difference because of the whirring blades.

“Spider-Man, he doesn’t look older than twenty. The reporter looked into the cameraman’s lens who had pointed it down at the scene on the ground. “who are those people? Do you know who he is? Mind if I ask who you are?”

“That’s his family, they’re in town to pay respects for a funer-“ She caught herself speaking a little too much in the excitement and tried to course correct, “I gotta go, but tell Jameson we’ll keep in touch.” And with that she performed a backflip and thwipped her web-fluid to ride down to the ground to check on Peter, but keep a distance from his family.

ARTHUR STACY

Where was Arthur Stacy when the world around him changed forever? He was getting what little evidence he had on Edward Brock’s alleged murder of Benjamin Parker and he figured he was going to do the interrogation at the hospital, since he saw like everyone else did what that the vigilante Spider-Man, who it turns out was just some teen punk, had beaten Edward up significantly and dropped him from a great height. He knew already that his brother and police captain George would call in an arrest for this kid once all the hysterics died down, but his job was homicide and he didn’t really care for the theatrics of the day. So he hurriedly carried his box of evidence out into the downpouring rain and ran what distance there was to his beat up sedan, put the box of files into the back seat and got out his phone to give himself driving directions.

As Arthur pulled out into the road, he pulled out his magnetic police siren so that everyone would give him a wide berth, and he called his brother, the Captain. It took forever to ring, which Arthur assumed was simply because of the chaos, but when he finally picked up, “Everyone doing okay? Arthur asked.

On the other end he heard his ageing brother scoff, “So the great detective does have a heart,” He let the silence fill the static for a moment, “Only joking, Arthur. We have some emotionally issued civilians, and we don’t know how long this building will hold, I got some uni’s doing crowd control, so I have it handled. I hear a siren, where are you going, Arthur?”

“I’m headed to the hospital, I assumed you were sending Edward there after that beating he took on TV.” Arthur let that earlier jab slide, he was the kind of guy who picked his battles.

“Yeah, I got the medics to take him,” George let the sentence hang there for a moment before continuing, “The kid’s unconscious, so we’re sending him and a half a dozen Boys in Blue to try and keep them separated if something happens. Another thing, you know there’s leaks in the department right?”

It took a second to click, but when he figured it out, Arthur said in a matter of fact tone, “It’s going to be a journalist’s feeding frenzy.”

i haven't read it, but i really like the title of American Alien. you could also do something in the vein of the Earth One stories where Clark uses his powers, but isn't quite Superman.

also, if i want to post a library of a group of series that i am planning on writing with solicitations and a brief overview of what each series is/will be about, would i post that here or somewhere else?

so i've got myself a load order of 149 mods in addition to several plugins and patches and i tested it out up to level 10, and while i can see a few issues here and there, i otherwise like what i have, but if anybody has any recommendations for mods that i don't have that improve the game in a lore friendly way, I'm all ears.

So i sort of recently bought myself Skyrim Special Edition on PC (I've been playing on Ps4 for the longest time) and got it primarily for the mods, but then an idea struck me, i want to write a series about my character's adventures and roleplay the situation by imposing rules on myself. would anybody be interested in reading something like this?

SPECTACULAR SPIDER-MAN

VOL 1: IN THE WAKE OF TRAGEDY

ISSUE 2: WHERE WERE YOU WHEN THE WORLD CHANGED?

PART 1

ALEXA REILLY

Where was Alexa Reilly when the world around her changed forever? She was at the police precinct with the rest of her family watching in horror and awe as the apartment complex with dozens of cops and families inside of it started to fall down to the ground where dozens of other police officers and innocent bystanders stood frozen in terror until they started to run from the scene n hopes of not being crushed. Then something miraculous happened, a person swinging around began attaching ropes around the building incredibly fast, which kept the building from momentarily falling on everyone, occasionally he’d shoot more rope to catch a man who was falling to the ground to slow his momentum.

Alexa watched all of this with her hand close to her openly shocked mouth, her eyes tore themselves away from the television for just a moment to look at Aunt May’s phone that Peter had just called only a moment ago, then back to the television.

“That’s Peter?” she asked the room, who didn’t seem to hear her as they were all remembering the last time a building fell to the ground tragically in New York City.

“How?” She heard Aunt May mutter as she was glued to her seat. “How is that Peter?” She repeated in utter shock.

“It’s a suit of armor,” Amy said quietly as she watched Peter heroically tie up the building and he clung to the front with both hands holding onto a series of ropes that seemed to be the only thing that kept the building from falling down.

“How do you know?” Everyone asked in unison and turned themselves away to look at her with shocked expressions, and then briefly looked at each other to let out nervous laughter.

“Well, a few nights ago I was waiting up for Peter when I heard a noise in the backyard,” Amy started to explain and approached the television set. “I went to investigate and found Peter taking it off and putting it in your shed.” She said, looking at Aunt May and reaching for her trembling hand.

“But how did he get it?” Aunt May asked her, looking up at her with confusion and disbelief in her eyes.

“He didn’t tell me that part,” Amy said with a shrug, “but I’m really glad he has it now,” she said with a bit of nervous laughter.

Everyone watched as Peter in his armored suit slowly lowered Edward down with his ropes to the ground where the officers who had rushed into the building earlier came rushing out and telling everybody to evacuate the area before it was too late. The cameraman zoomed in to look at Peter, who had forgotten to re-attach his helmet in the chaos and now the news anchors were trying to speculate on who the hero was who just saved everybody. Everybody was again shocked in the conference room as they realized that Peter’s world had forever changed.

AMADEUS CHO

Where was Amadeus Cho when the world around him changed forever? He was sitting in his friend Peter’s living room with his attention glued to the television screen watching his best friend struggle to keep the apartment structure from falling before the world as they watched him from the safety of their homes. His laptop that was linked to Peter’s suit had a diagnostic of his vitals and it was sounding off erratically, so Amadeus hurried over to the computer, but because Peter wasn’t wearing his helmet Amadeus was unable to talk him through the dire situation. He had to figure out another way to communicate with him.

He input a series of commands into the computer and then a camera feed pulled up from the large chest-based Spider-Emblem, he watched as it separated from Peter’s chest and he gained manual control of the flight mechanics as well as the remote voice activation commands.

“Hey Pete,” Amadeus said through the audio of his laptop as the drone floated before Peter’s straining and reddened face, “don’t worry, I got you.” Another few commands and the drone shot out it’s own supply of web-like adhesive fluid that connected the strands that Peter was struggling to hold onto.

“Check for survivors,” Amadeus barely heard Peter say through his gritted teeth and strained face. Down below on the ground a few cops had the bright idea of setting up mattresses that they found in the hallways for Peter to land on if he fell. “I think I’m going to let go now.” Peter said quietly and Amadeus could do nothing but watch as Peter let go his now connected webbing and slowly fell away, down several stories until he landed with a small bounce.

Amadeus made the medium sized drone fit through a crevice created by the falling structure and started looking for people to help evacuate, and after several minutes he came across the first of the many survivors in a family of four cowering in their bathroom. “Hello,” Amadeus said to them and watched their confused expressions at the floating mechanical spider-drone. “you’re all safe now, come with me if you want to live.” Amadeus laughed to try and lighten the precarious situation for them as after a few key strokes, the eight lenses that were the spider-drones eyes lit up like headlights to illuminate the safest way out of the crumbling building.

After escorting the family to safety, Amadeus made a mental check and counted all the families that made it out and by his calculations there were still a few families that hadn’t yet escaped when he cross referenced the poorly organized file system on the Slum Lord’s system. So to the unknowing world, it appeared as if a self-piloting drone that Spider-Man owned was in search and rescue mode, which is how Amadeus preferred it as he hated the limelight, he already had enough attention with his intelligence being as high as it was. As he piloted the drone, he saw that Anna May Parker was using her own specialized electrical webbing to keep the building’s infrastructure from falling apart and so he made a mental note about asking her later when the calamity was completely averted if she’d be willing to share the recipe with him.

AMANDA REILLY

Where was Amanda when the world around her changed forever? After watching Peter fall from a great height on the local news and probably now on national or even global television, she and the rest of Peter’s family hurried out of the police station to go rescue him from the gaggle of strangers who would no doubt want to figure out who the first modern public superhero was. The Reilly sisters piled back into Amanda Reilly’s 1970’s era dinged up yellow Volkswagen Beetle that they had come to town while their Aunt May and her neighborly best friend Anna May Watson got back into her white Toyota Camry, the ride started out silent so that they could listen to the news on the radio.

Amy was in the backseat watching the Daily Bugle’s viral vlog about Peter saving the day for the police and innocent bystanders, the radio program was being narrated by announcer and field reporter Ben Urich who was on the scene giving his listeners a play by play of the moment.

“I hope Peter’s okay.” Amanda said, breaking the unbearable silence as she let up on the gas pedal after realizing she was going a few miles over the speed limit, something she often did back home with her friends.

“Did you know he had that kind of strength?” Alexa asked Amy turning in her seat to look at her, Amy at first didn’t hear her as she was occupied with the Vlog.

“He isn’t super strong, or anything like that,” Amy started to explain and brought her phone up so that the two of them could watch the live footage. “The suit acts like an exo-skeleton, like an actual spider. The ropes that he was shooting out are adhesive carbon nano-fibers, at least that’s what he calls them.”

“So like spider-webs, but for a person?” Amanda asked as she turned a corner, hearing the sirens of the gathered police vehicles growing louder.

“I think so,” Amy nodded, “he told me that the webbing does most of the heavy lifting, while the suit itself can only lift about 100 tons, he once went to a car impound lot and lifted a limousine clear above his head because he was frustrated.”

“Holy Hell!” Alexa exclaimed, surprised but remembered Peter yelling at her. “Yeah, that sounds like our something our new Peter would do though.” Amanda had to pull over to the curb because there was a police blockade blocking the road and people were able to walk through it to go check out the situation.

“Well, it looks like we’re walking the rest of the way.” Amanda said with a sigh as she turned her Beetle off.

AMY REILLY

Where was Amy when the world around her changed forever? She was running with her family through a crowded street of people who wanted to see the apartment building that the Spectacular Spider-Man (as he was dubbed by the Daily Bugle) had saved from crushing several dozen onlookers. Some she passed with her sisters mentioned wanting to get a selfie taken with this superhero of sorts. Amy was in the middle of the running family, being closely followed by her Aunt May and her Aunt’s next door neighbor Anna May Watson whom Amy was amazed that she had stuck with them as long as she had.

She noticed that the police had all but given up on trying to keep people at bay with barricades, but the closer they got the thicker the crowd had become until just a block away they were immovable, and everyone tried to hold hands so that ebb and flow of the crowd didn’t separate them. “This is crazy!” Amy yelled to one of her sisters over the murmuring of the crowd.

“It’s like they think it’s a free concert at Radio City Music Hall!” Amanda yelled back to her, she was at the front of the Reilly chain of hands and managed to squeeze past a few other girls who talked about wanting to date the Spectacular Spider-Man.

Pulling Amy up behind her, Alexa looked over the crowd as best as she could and found that the reason everybody wasn’t moving was that the SWAT officers had created their own human chain of sorts. “Maybe we should try to talk to them?” She suggested with a raised voice, her voice was already loud without her needing to yell so it got the attention of her Aunt May who was bringing up the rear with Anna May Watson.

“That’s as good idea as any.” Aunt May tried to yell to her nieces, but all the crying she had done over the past few weeks had seriously sapped her energy and her voice was no longer as far reaching so only Amy and Anna May Watson could really barely hear her.

Amy got her mouth up to Alexa’s ear and passed on what their Aunt May had said, “okay, we’ll try.” She said as she relayed the messaged to Amanda who nodded and continued to push her way through the crowd.

With a series of ‘excuse me’s’ and a made up story to a guy who was in the middle of writing a screenplay at a local coffee shop about who she thought Spider-Man really was, it took them awhile, but Amanda finally got everyone to the front of the line. The next hurdle was getting the attention of the armored SWAT personnel who seemed to just focus on keeping their human chain strong and scanning the crowd for any indications of violent behavior that would make all Hell break loose. Amy tried to get one guy’s attention, but her voice didn’t seem quite loud enough, and that was when she had the bight idea of using her StarkTech branded cell phone to try and write a message to him with a picture of Peter’s face.

ANDREW DAVIS

Where was Mr. Andrew Davis when the world around him had changed forever? He had been listening to the radio announcer talk about what was happening with The Spectacular Spider-Man whilst he was driving to Peter Parker’s house. completely unaware that The supposed Spectacular Spider-Man was Peter Parker. He finally pulled up to Peter’s family home and parked against the curb, Andrew Davis got out of his car after finally calming down from his run-in with the young Latina girl in the catsuit who called herself the White Tiger.

He walked up Peter’s driveway and he rang the doorbell, expecting to be greeted by Peter and his family so that he could offer his condolences, but instead was met at the front door by Amadeus Cho, who was in line to be valedictorian despite only being fifteen at the prodigious academy that Andrew was the head of.

Andrew opened his mouth to speak to see if Peter could come to the door, but his eyes found the hallway mirror that reflected the living room television which was playing a recapped news footage of the unmasked Spider-Man trying to hold the apartment up, and he silently pointed at the mirror with a growing expression of shock.

“Is that Peter?” Andrew asked Amadeus with a slight stutter, the young Asian fellow slowly looked behind him at the mirror trying to let the awkward shock give him time to formulate an excuse, but alas he couldn’t find one.

“What are you doing here, Mr. Andrew?” Amadeus asked his administrative head, trying to change the subject but he was failing at it as Andrew couldn’t stop looking past him at the mirror.

“I was just coming by to tell Peter my condolences for his Uncle, but I had no idea that he was that Spider-Guy.” Andrew said, trying to blink away the disbelief.

“Well actually, he prefers to go by the Spectacular Spider-Man these days,” Amadeus said, “it kind of offsets the dark and brooding persona he’s developed.”

Andrew nodded, understanding that Peter had become a new person almost without the guidance of his Uncle Benjamin Franklin Parker. “Is there anyone else home?” he asked Amadeus, wondering why nobody else had come to the door.

“Uhh, not right now. They went out to go find Peter.” Amadeus said, half heartedly trying to rush Andrew out so that he could return to the laptop and keep an eye on the scene at the apartment complex.

“Oh, well could you tell Peter and his family I stopped by and pass along my thanks to Peter. It appears he actually saved my behind not so long ago.”

“Sure thing,” Amadeus said as he started to close the door and Andrew started back to his car.

From the mind of Marvel Universe Reborn: Spectacular Spider-Man, comes a spin-off that involves the vengeance of a man at the end of his rope and a mission to deliver criminals into the hands of the devil. Who is Frank Castle on and off the battlefield, and if he's lost everything then why does he soldier on?

A story about death, justice, and seeking peace where there is none.

Coming soon to a thread near you: The Punisher's War