Chapter 1
Peter knew two things for certain. One, Aunt May’s cherry pie was to die for. Two, the Fantastic Four might well be the death of him. Specifically, Johnny Storm. He could not handle another day of him. What with his ego, his fame, his money, the fact that the city loved him, his killer abs…. Yeah okay, maybe Peter was petty. But it wasn’t fair! No one should be allowed to have a body like that as well as having other good qualities. There had to be some rule written down, ‘Thou shall not combine the abs with the good personality’. It was outrageous, it was a scandal! Peter had a half mind of going out there and starting a riot. Hmm… I wonder how many people I could get to join me? Maybe-
“Spidey, look out!”
Peter leaped out of the way as a huge boulder came hurtling towards him.
“You okay dude?” Johnny was hovering next to him.
Peter gritted his teeth.
“I’m just dandy thank you.”
“Did you just say dandy in a sentence? Surely that’s illegal!”
“Shut up flame brain.”
Johnny laughed, diving out of the way of another boulder. Peter liked his laugh. Peter liked a lot of things about Johnny. Maybe he should tell him that? He wondered what Johnny would do if Peter just walked up to him, pushed him against a wall and- Ok no. No, nuh-uh. Not going there. Spandex did not hide anything.
Peter hadn’t realised that he’d zoned out until he saw something large and grey, moving at what seemed to be the speed of light. He moved without thinking, narrowly avoiding another huge rock aimed right for where he’d been crouched. Where the hell is this guy getting all these rocks from?
Peter rubbed his forehead, trying to get himself to concentrate. Pay attention!
Johnny flew past him again.
“Are you sure you’re okay Spidey? You’re acting kinda odd right now.”
“I’m fine. It’s just… You’re just really distracting.” Wait… No. He did not mean to say that.
Johnny snickered. “Oh yeah? I’m just a distraction to you? Is that all you think of our friendship? That I’m a pretty light for you to look at?”
Peter blinked a few times. Johnny couldn’t be that thick, could he? “More like a nightlight, I reckon.”
“Why a nightlight.”
“Because all the parents can’t wait till you’re gone, and the children love to reach out to you.”
“Hey!” Johnny shot a flame towards where Peter was perched. “Rude.”
“I’m rude?” Peter dodged another rock. “You’re the one who tried to make me a fried spider!”
The villain was glaring at them, Sue, Ben and Reed trying to hold him off.
“So, who are we fighting?”
Johnny looked at Peter weirdly. “What do you mean? You were the one who literally shouted into the sky: It’s Rockman everyone, run!”
“No I didn’t.”
“Yes you did.”
“I definitely didn’t because if I had, I would have come up with a much cooler name for him.”
“Please,” Johnny grinned, “don’t lie to me. You would have come up with some awful puns.”
“It’s sedimentary, my dear Watson.”
“No! Shut up!”
Peter laughed. “It’s too late! Do you want to hear some more rock puns? Just give me a moment, I’ll dig them up!”
“I’m begging you to shut up.”
“Why did the tectonic plates break up? It wasn’t her fault, but there was just too much friction between them.”
“Spidey, what did I ever do to deserve this torture?”
“You should stop taking me for granite.”
Johnny looked to be on the verge of setting Peter on fire. Then, his saviour arrived, in the form of one Sue Storm.
“Spider-Man, I hope I’m not interrupting anything, but we could really use some help.” She fixed her gaze on her brother. “You too, Johnny. And after we need you both to come back to the Baxter Building.”
“What! Why?” Peter couldn’t help himself. “Is it something about to, rock, this world?”
“Spidey, for the love of all things in this world, will you shut up!”
“Make me.” Peter really needed to find a way to gag himself. Shut up you idiot.
Sue’s eyes were flickering back and forth between them, before they widened slightly in understanding. Peter silently begged her to say quiet. For once, luck appeared to be on his side. Sue merely gave Peter a wink, before flying off.
“What was that about?” Johnny asked.
Peter lied. “I have absolutely no idea.”
Johnny shrugged. “Huh. Oh well then.” Then he flamed back on and flew after his sister.
How can one person be so freaking oblivious?
“Stupid Johnny Storm.” Peter muttered, before swinging after them.
Everything had been going pretty well, until Peter was blown out of the sky. He hadn’t seen or felt it coming, this entire fight, his spidey-sense had been eerily quiet. Usually, he couldn’t get it to stop irritating him. But in the middle of a fight, where insane villains in spandex were ditching rocks at Peter, with the intent to hurt him, it would have been quite useful to have some warning. And it hadn’t even been a rock that hit it. It was some sort of weird light thing.
“Spidey!” Johnny stumbled to the ground, flaming off as he landed. “Spidey, are you okay? What happened? Where are you hurt?” Peter could see Sue landing gracefully beside her brother, and in the corner of his eye, Reed and Ben were finishing off the villain.
“Spider-Man. Can you talk?”
Peter groaned softly, his hands reaching up to grasp his head. “It hurts, May.”
Sue and Johnny shared a look. Sue crouched down next to him. “My name isn’t May, Spider-Man. Do you remember who I am?”
Peter felt fuzzy everywhere. He couldn’t control his mouth anymore. “May, where are my parents? Where did they go? Why aren’t they coming home? May, please, I’m scared. I want my parents!”
Peter saw Reed and Ben make their way over to them.
“What’s wrong with him?” Reed asked.
“I don’t know. I think he’s hallucinating or something.”
Peter clutched his head and screamed through his teeth. He could hear a voice in his head, quiet and deadly.
“Don’t they need to know the truth, Peter?”
Peter gasped. He fixed his eyes on Johnny, putting all of his energy into controlling his own words. But it was useless. “Can’t control yourself Norman?” Peter screamed again, and felt a sob began to build in his throat. “Please! Help me! I’m down here, I’m stuck, please somebody help!”
“Hm… how about we show them? How does that sound Peter? You know, some people learn better when they see.”
Johnny’s face was blurring in front of him. Peter reached out his hand and tapped out a pattern, over and over again.
R.U.N.
Peter saw Reed’s face light up in recognition.
“Sue…”
Sue looked down to where Peter was tapping out the letters. She shared a look with Reed, before a stubborn expression came over her face, one that was awfully similar to her brother’s.
“I don’t think so, Spider-Man. Not without you.” She turned back around to face the others. “We need to get back to the Baxter Building, stat.”
The team moved instantly. Johnny flamed on and flew back towards the Baxter Building faster than Peter could blink. Ben reached down, picking up Peter, before Sue made some sort of force field to lift him in the air. Reed was probably somewhere inside the small safe bubble Sue had made, but Peter couldn’t see him.
“Where are you going Peter? Who are you trying to hide from?”
Peter gasped. “Please…” he managed to breathe out. “Please… leave me.”
“We’re not leaving you, Spidey. Now stay still.”
Why couldn’t they see that he wasn’t worth it? That Peter didn’t know what was going on, and there was a chance that it could come back to hurt them.
Peter felt his body be jolted violently in Ben’s arms and it was too much, his head was splitting open, he was pretty sure he had a broken rib or something and Peter felt his eyes slip closed against his will. Leave me. Please. But it was too late. And now he had endangered everyone, again. Peter felt the darkness surround him and he passed out.