send me a ✍ to see a glimpse of a muse i might want to play.
"Whoa! -- hey there! Look out! Comin' through!"
spiderman, spiderman, can do whatever a spider can -- oh man, that's a little too meta. oh -- oh -- oh no!
In his haste to get to the scene, young, intrepid hero Peter Parker slams smack dab into the middle of a street pole -- thinking of Mary Jane's legs no less! People don't pay him any mind, it's New Yawk, right? So even as his nose is bleeding and he groans to pick himself, people simply swarm around him, and he casts a series of short, accusatory glances at all of them. His skateboard has already been tossed into the street, run over by an eighteen wheeler. Aw man, Uncle Ben bought that for me before he -- and even that thought process is interrupted by a flash of pain in the back of his head.
car accident on 14th and broadway children in the car mother crying for help children could die mother's fine but children can die
And in an instant, he is in the alley, crawling up the brick wall with all the ferocity of a spider chasing after its prey -- even in this case, where his prey is a child's life. He sheds his skin, metaphorically of course that'd be kinda gross eugh human beings are not meant to shed their skin, and is transformed into the spider, swinging from the balconies and canopies and radio towers until he gets to the scene -- that scene he was distracted from earlier, that scene his inner sense begged him to pay attention to. The car's a wreck, it's on fire and he can see, he can see the children, a young boy and girl, stuck in the car and he hates himself for just a split second.
if i'd gotten here sooner i would be able to save them with no effort with no trouble the mother wouldn't be crying and fearing for her children's life i should have paid attention i should have listened
but it's gone, and he shoots a series of webs that wrap around the hood of the car, where the fire originated, where it is burning through the web with no trouble at all -- how he was jealous of that fire -- even as he leaps to the car and tears open the door, it is spreading quickly. he gets the boy out fine, the mother is grateful, but when he goes for the girl, her foot is caught in a crushed piece of door on the other side and for an instant, he doesn't hate himself, he hates this little girl. wear your damn seatbelt once in a while maybe we wouldn't be in this mess but that's the cynic in him talking, that hateful, disgusting man he was sure was a part of the physiology of the spider that bit him, but he crawls in the car, looks down at the girl and smiles through the mask.
"It's okay -- what's your name, little girl?"
"Mel- - Melissa." she chokes out, and a little part of him dies inside if this little girl can't be saved.
"Alright, Melissa, that's a pretty name, did your mom tell you it sounds like a princess?"
"Y-yes." she's in pain, the grimace is a surefire sign of that, but he's trying, he's trying to distract her when he figures out a way to get the door open.
"Okay -- Melissa?" she nods. "I'm going to need you to take in a deep breath, the door's wrapped around your ankle but I'm going to knock it off -- it's going to hurt, it's gonna scrape a little bit -- you're lucky, Your Majesty."
and this time she smiles, and he falls in love. At some point, maybe he'd like to have a kid. . . but she's distracted, and he kicks the door off and she screams and the mother drops her son (who lands on his feet, he's like a cat, Peter thinks) and is so worried and the car explodes and she is downright scared now.
But Peter is there -- no, Spider-Man -- and he hands Melissa, crying and snot-filled and bleeding but safe, but alive, to the mother who profusely thanks him -- thanks the man behind the mask but she is paying more attention to the suit, he knows -- it's the suit she cares about, the idea of Spider-Man, and it's partially the reason why he wears the mask. Even if he doesn't get the credit, the city of New Yawk has something to believe in. Something to hold onto hoping.
Maybe things will get better.
"Of course, Ma'am, just be sure to thank your Neighborhood Friendly Spider-Man in the suggestion box over at the Daily Bugle -- compliments of J. Jonah Jameson!" and he's off, he's swinging through the city again, but some small part of him wishes he could have stayed, wishes he could see Melissa the Princess' smile one last time.
