Spider-Man was seen swinging from building to building wearing his blue and red costume, flipping through the air and zipping off buildings like an Olympic gymnast. For the man beneath his mask, Eren Parker, life was beginning to look up again.
The symbiote was gone, the timeline was saved, and he was on his way to go see his friends for a trip to the beach. Everyone was already waiting at Harry's house, Eren was just going to pick up one last friend before his steadily growing friend group headed out together.
However, Spider-Man's duty would call on his way there, as his Spider-Sense began to buzz within his brain. 'My Spider-Sense is tingling. What's going on?' he thought, looking in the direction of where his sense led him before changing his trajectory by slingshotting himself to the side with his webs.
Once he was close enough to the danger, he could see that one of the skyscrapers was on fire, though it was already being put out by firefighters and many people had been evacuated already. Spider-Man landed on top of a firetruck, generating a loud thud that startled both the firefighters and the civilians who were saved by them.
When they all turned around to look at the hero, their fearful expressions did not cease. Many of them had seen what he had done to the Green Goblin, and the rumors about Spider-Man eating people never went away, they only continued after his black and white costume was revealed to the world.
It'd been about a week since Spider-Man killed the Green Goblin. He was used to these fearful glares at that point so he pretended not to notice them. "Are there any others in the building?" Spider-Man asked one of the firefighters, ignoring the fearful glares.
"Y-yeah. There are people in both elevators. Fifth floor and sixteenth floor." he told the hero. Before the firefighter could say anything else, Spider-Man shot two webs at the burning building and slingshot himself toward it like an arrow.
Inside the building, there were two elevators filled with people of all ages. On one elevator, the one near the fifth floor, there were two elderly people and a young man wearing a suit. In the other elevator, the one on the higher floor, there was a family of four; a mother, father, son, and daughter.
The two elderly folks were trembling as the young man tried his best to comfort them. "We're going to be alright. The firefighters are outside, I'm sure of it. They'll-" the man's voice was cut off by the sound of the elevator creaking and lowering slightly. At this point, even he was starting to lose hope.
The elderly couple began to pray together in Arabic, hoping that the god they believed in would somehow save them, hoping that he would send anyone, a firefighter, an angel, or any single person that would save them from their untimely demise. The young man began to join them, praying in English quietly to himself. He wasn't even religious in the slightest, in fact, he was agnostic. However, he was desperate at that point.
"Please, get us out of this. Please." the young man whispered to himself, still doubtful as he prayed.
However, his prayers would soon be answered.
Slowly, the sound of the door to the elevator being pried open could be heard, prompting all three of them to slowly open their eyes and see ten red fingers pulling the sliding doors open. Soon enough, they could see that iconic black spider symbol on their rescuer's chest, that symbol of hope as Spider-Man had finally arrived.
Using everything he had, Spider-Man opened the elevator doors completely before webbing them in place, looking up at the three citizens with his lenses widened. "I'm here, you're safe." he reassured them, extending his hand outward to the elderly couple. The old man and the young man led the old woman over to him, allowing her to get out first.
"I got you, ma'am." Spider-Man said gently, grabbing her hand and pulling her upward and out of the elevator. "I'll get your husband out next." he told the lady, extending his hand out to the old man who was still being helped by the young man in the suit. "Grab my hand, sir." Spider-Man instructed him, prompting the man to grab Spider-Man's arm with both hands to be pulled up by the hero.
Just as the old man was being pulled upward, the firefighters began to arrive, attending to the elderly couple to escort them out of the fire-filled building. "C'mon, buddy, you're next." Spider-Man said to the suited young man, grabbing his arm and pulling him up and out of the death trap.
"These guys are gonna take care of you, alright? I need to help the others." Spider-Man told all three of them before crawling through the gap on top of the elevator to enter the elevator shaft and make his way to the other elevator.
"Thank you, Spider-Man!"
"Thank you!"
"Thank you so much!"
Spider-Man didn't have time to acknowledge their thanks as he still had a family to save in a different elevator on the sixteenth floor.
Inside the elevator, the family of four held each other tightly, knowing that their fate was likely going to be sealed at that moment. "Mommy... Daddy... are we going to die?" the little girl asked, causing her brother to weep more and her parents to look down at her sadly.
"We're going to be okay, Sweetheart. Don't worry." the father lied, wanting his daughter's last moments to at least have a little bit of hope.
The fire outside the elevator was directly next to the door, blocking it completely and turning the elevator into a furnace. If they weren't going to fall to their deaths if the elevator broke, they would be cooked alive if the flames continued to spread.
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"I'm scared." the little boy muttered, still crying as he didn't have any hope that the firefighters would be able to get to them in time.
"It's okay. We're gonna be okay." His mother reassured him, rubbing his head as they all continued to dangle in their death trap. However, her reassurance would soon prove to be nothing more than empty words.
𝙎𝙣𝙖𝙥!
The last cable keeping the elevator from falling broke, causing the entire elevator to begin plummeting downward. The family held on to each other and one of the handrails tightly as they plummeted with their metal box of death, screaming at the top of their lungs as their demise was near.
This was it.
They were certain that they were goners at that point. No firefighters or police officers could save them now, it was far too late. It would only be a couple of seconds before the elevator would slam onto the bottom floor, allowing the impact of the collision to immediately eradicate them.
However, the elevator suddenly stopped.
Everyone quit screaming and the elevator grew to be completely silent, gently swaying ever so slightly as if they were being held up by some secret cable at the last moment. "What happened?" the wife asked her husband, though she would only receive a look that said 'Hell if I know?' as a response.
"You guys are gonna be okay." A young man's faint voice could be heard from above them, followed by the sounds of a person seemingly climbing toward the trap door above them. "I'm going to remove this door, okay?' the voice said before the door was immediately pried from its hinges, revealing a red-masked face.
It was Spider-Man. Once again arriving just in time.
His lenses shut slightly in relief upon seeing that none of them were seriously injured, however, they were looking at him with those same fearful gazes as the ones outside. 'They must've heard the Bugle's stuff about me.' he thought to himself, knowing that the public opinion was being swayed by conspiracists and the media. They portrayed him as a monster, however, he wouldn't deny those claims personally.
They were all true.
He knew doing what he did would have resulted in that.
"I'm not gonna hurt anybody, okay? Look." Spider-Man retracted parts of his mask, showing his young face to the people in the elevator. He knew that no one would see it but them, and he wanted to show them that he was nothing more than a boy beneath the mask.
"I'm just some guy, see? Don't be scared. Now listen, everyone. We're going to have to work together to save everyone, okay?" he told them, getting a nod from the kids as their parents continued to look at him standoffishly.
"You, little girl. What's your name?" he asked her.
"Megan." she said, still holding onto her parents tightly.
"Okay, Megan. Grab my hand, you're going to be first. Okay?" Spider-Man extended his arm down toward the girl, looking over at the father before asking him for help. "Hey, Dad. Can you help Megan, please?"
The father was reluctant at first, but then he remembered all the times Spider-Man was there for everyone. It didn't matter what the media said, Spider-Man was still that guy from the past. He was still a hero and people were losing sight of that.
The father helped his daughter, allowing Spider-Man to grab her hand and pull her up to the top of the elevator. "Hold onto me, okay Megan?" he told her before extending his hand back down into the elevator.
"Okay, kid. What's your name?' he asked the little boy.
"Michael." the boy said weakly before his father grabbed him and lifted him up toward the hero's hand. "Alright, Michael, I'm getting you out of here. C'mon, buddy." Spider-Man pulled him up and placed him next to his sister. "You hang on too, alright?" the boy nodded after the hero said this and held on to Spider-Man tightly.
Meanwhile, firefighters started to open the door to whatever floor was right above them at the moment using their tools. Once it was open, they looked down to see Spider-Man helping the mother get out of the elevator as the kids held onto his shoulders.
Spider-Man looked up at the firefighters, thanking God and Bast that they came just in time to help. "Hold on, okay?" Spider-Man said to the father before shooting multiple strings of webs up toward the open door above them.
He crouched down next to the little kids and gave them instructions. "You guys ever climb ropes at school? Or use a jungle gym? It's the same thing alright, just climb it and the firefighters will get you while I get, Dad. Alright?"
"But Spider-Man, I'm scared." the little boy muttered.
Spider-Man grabbed both the kids by their faces, smiling softly at them before the Spider-Matter from his gloves began transferring to their faces, giving them Spider-Masks of their own. "It is scary, I get scared sometimes too. The mask will keep you safe and make you strong, okay? Trust me, now climb."
Spider-Man lending his strength to the kids immediately gave them the motivation to turn around and begin climbing his webs up toward the firefighters. Their mother began climbing up right behind them as Spider-Man knelt down to help the father climb up next.
"They're gonna be alright, Sir. You're next, c'mon. I got you." Spider-Man extended his arm, however, Spider-Man failed to notice that his webs that were attached to both the elevator and the ceiling of the shaft were being weakened by flames. His webs were resistant to fire, however, they were not completely unaffected by flames.
𝙎𝙣𝙖𝙥!
Spider-Man's web that was connected to the elevator snapped, causing the elevator with the father inside to begin to plummet. This would prove to be nothing more than a minor inconvenience to Spider-Man, as he immediately shot another web toward the elevator, connecting it to the man's chest and pulling him out from the falling metal box of death. At the same time, Spider-Man attached himself to a wall and held the man in place, looking down at him and taking a sigh of relief.
The man was panicking, breathing sporadically as he dangled in the elevator shaft, his fear only progressing after hearing the elevator crash below him. Spider-Man with a slight smile on his face, reassured the man. "See? I told you that I gotchu. I'll pull you up."
Spider-Man pulled the father up into his arms before leaping off of the wall and onto the floor where the firefighters and his family were. Immediately, the family embraced each other as Spider-Man grabbed the two kids' heads and recovered his Spider-Matter from them, using it to cover his hands and face once again.
"We can handle it from here, Spider-Man." One of the firefighters told him. "And thank you. We couldn't have saved them without you."
"It's no problem. It's my responsibility after all. Keep them safe for me, alright?" he told all of the firefighters.
"Will do, Spider-Man."
Before Spider-Man could leave, the mother looked up at him and spoke. "Thank you! Thank you so much, Spider-Man! We're sorry!" her saying this confused him. He didn't quite understand what she was apologizing for.
"Sorry? This wasn't your fault. You don't need-" Before he could finish, she revealed the true nature of her apology.
"We're sorry for forgetting who you are. We're sorry. They're all wrong about you." she confessed, bringing a smile to Spider-Man's face beneath his mask.
"Oh, that. Don't worry, it's all good. Sometimes we all need to do better, right? I'm just doing my best. Take care of yourselves, alright?" with those words, Spider-Man lept from the building and seemingly fled the scene.
However, he didn't actually leave until he was sure that everyone was safe. He knew how firefighters and police officers would get when he did all of their jobs for them, it was a pride thing, so he let them do it, but he just wanted to make sure they got it done. Once everyone was safe, he fled the scene entirely and headed to where he was going before he was distracted by the disaster.