Somewhere in the cosmos are hundreds if not thousands of worlds connected by strings that we can’t see, together they form the pattern of a web. Each world is a separate universe with its own history and rules, but history has a way of repeating itself. In every universe there is a spider, and through chance it manages to bite someone.
The person bitten has been chosen by fate, granted incredible powers beyond their imagination. It’s up to them to decide how to use their new incredible abilities.
Scott Everett was one of those bitten, and he chose wrong.
——
It was a school night in Brooklyn, but that didn’t matter to a dropout like Scott. A Sunday evening was his favorite time to lurk the streets in search of a target. People retired early for the start of the week, and less people meant less witnesses. Scott circled the same couple of blocks with his hands in the pockets of his black hoodie. Eventually some schmuck caught his attention; a well dressed young man holding a suitcase and walking hurriedly.
“What is someone like that doing ‘round here?” Scott thought to himself.
Scott Everett was a sixteen year old delinquent, his blonde hair was long and messy and he had piercings in his ears and one below the lip. His clothes were baggy and had holes in them.
Seeing an opportunity too interesting to pass up, Scott did what he’d done a hundred times before. As the unsuspecting man got closer to him, Scott ran full speed at him and shoulder checked him to the ground. Before the guy knew what had happened, Scott was sprinting down an alleyway with the suitcase in hand. In seconds he was gone.
Scott’s apartment was on the third floor facing an alleyway, he could use the fire escape to get to his window and slide it open to get inside without using the front door. In the apartment was the man who helped him afford to live here; Darren Banks. Darren was twenty years old, four years older than Scott, and was the closest thing he had to family. Darren and Scott looked a lot alike, so much so that people mistook the two for actual brothers. Darren was older of course, his blonde hair was short and he had a bit of a goatee growing. He was taller and skinnier than Scott as well.
Both of them were put through the foster care system as kids, chewed up and spit out into a world that rejected them. Darren worked at a restaurant at the edge of town, where he sold dope on the side to make a little extra money. He sat on the couch using the PlayStation.
“You’re back quick.” Darren remarked.
“Yeah I found this suitcase.”
“A suitcase?”
“Yeah, I’m gonna crack it open. See what’s inside.”
“It’s probably just clothes.”
Scott rushed to his room and sat the suitcase down on his twin sized bed. There was a four digit combination next to the latch to open the suitcase. He didn’t worry though, after all he had a talent for this sort of thing.
Scott slid open the bottom drawer of his dresser, inside were all of his tools. He rummaged through screwdrivers, wire cutters and a couple of ski masks before he found what he was looking for. At the bottom of all the junk was a stethoscope, he yanked it out and listened carefully to each click as he cycled through the digits on the lock. In no time the suitcase was opened.
Turns out there were no clothes in the suitcase. Instead there was a glass box with tiny holes in it and inside that box a large spider.
“The f**k…”
Scott felt his stomach drop as a wave of regret came over him. There was nothing valuable here; just a stupid spider.
“No, there has to be something else.”
Scott desperately felt around for a hidden compartment full of money. He traced his finger over the inside of the briefcase and sure enough felt a raised button, which he clicked without a second thought. The button made a click sound, releasing the spider from its glass cage. In a sudden moment the spider lunged forward and sunk its fangs into Scott’s hand.
“Ow!” Scott yelped in pain as he tossed the spider away from him and lunged back in fear. His backside made a loud THUD as it slammed against his bedroom wall.
“You good?” Darren called from the couch.
“Yeah.” Scott said, soothing his now stinging spider bite. “I got bit by a spider. Agh.”
“Ha.”
This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.
“Not funny d**k.”
Scott quickly scurried out of his room, armed himself with a trusty shoe and came back ready to finish the spider which was now crawling up the wall. Scott reared his arm back to make the killshot but hesitated nervously. The sight of bugs made his stomach curl, and this one was big and… red?
It looked almost like a tarantula, except skinnier. Its hairs were a sharply bright red color, it looked unnatural but Scott wasn’t an entomologist so what did he know? Besides he needed to deal with this arachnid menace now or he’d have an unwanted roommate in his bedroom tonight. Scott aimed carefully and slammed the sole of the shoe onto the spider; crushing it in a single blow and leaving a splat on the drywall.
“There… it's dead.” Scott said with a sigh.
“Oh I thought you were gonna ask me to kill it for you.” Darren teased from the living room.
“Yeah yeah, real funny.” Scott looked down at his hand, which was now swollen. “I’m heading back out there.”
——
It was now 4:00 AM, and Scott was rarely out this late. It wouldn’t be long until the dreaded morning people would start their daily commute making his whole thievery thing more risky. Right now Scott didn’t care, he was still sour about the tease of a briefcase full of money turning out to just be an ugly spider. He didn’t want his nightly excursion to be wasted getting nothing valuable. It was getting difficult to afford to rent and if Scott couldn’t provide some money, who knows how long Darren would let him stay here.
In desperation Scott circled his neighborhood in search of a lowly purse to snatch, all caution gone now. It didn’t take long before he found someone; a woman wearing some kind of business jacket and a handbag over her shoulder. He kept a safe distance behind her, she turned a corner and he followed her only to feel a sudden rush of vertigo.
The dizziness was so bad that keeping his balance became a challenge, but that wasn’t going to stop him. He sped forward to catch up to the woman and lunged for her bag. Suddenly his stomach churned something fierce, Scott felt like he’d puke and instead of nimbly snatching the handbag he practically fell on her.
“Oh my god, are you alright?” The woman asked.
Scott didn’t answer, he simply reached for her bag and pulled.
“Hey! What the hell!” The woman yelled as she resisted his attempt.
In his dizzy state Scott was no match for the woman, she had an iron grip on her belongings and he couldn’t seem to break it.
Then Scott felt the hairs on his neck stick up, his gut told him he was in danger. Instinctively he knew where to look, as across the street was a parked police car that started flashing its lights. In a panic his body acted on its own, letting go of the bag and leaping back into an alleyway. Scott managed to launch himself over ten feet in the air and stick to the wall of a building, and it took him a couple seconds to process what just happened.
As the cop car approached, Scott climbed up the building. Something, a gut feeling, told him that this was possible. In the heat of the moment he didn’t question it. When he got to the rooftop he sprinted as fast as he could until he made his way to his apartment fire escape.
He slid the bedroom window open and climbed inside, letting out a long sigh. “That was a close one.” He thought to himself.
Scott looked down at his hands, they seemed normal. He sat on the edge of his bed and took his shoes off, his feet were normal as well. “What is going on?” Scott looked over at the splattered mess on the wall, and then at the spider bite on his hand. “It’s been a weird night.”
——
The day passed, the sun went down and Darren finished his shift at Porky’s. He fumbled with the apartment keys, opened the door and found Scott sitting at a table scribbling on a piece of notebook paper.
“Hey.” Darren greeted him, but Scott didn’t reply.
Darren walked over and looked down at the drawing, it was a shoddy looking sketch of a black costume with a mask. Scott was deep in focus, he didn’t even seem to notice him. Darren went to startle Scott by shaking him, but Scott grabbed his wrist without batting an eye.
“Woah.” Darren said. “What’re you doing? Getting ready for Avengers tryouts?”
“No.” Scott replied.
“Then what?”
“Dude something crazy happened last night.”
“Yeah, you didn’t eat the last hot pocket in the fridge.”
“No. Look.”
Scott stood up, it was clear he hadn’t slept last night from his messy hair and twitchy eyes. He bent his knees and jumped, doing a flip in mid air and landing on the ceiling where he hung upside down.
“What. The. F**k! Yo!” Darren exclaimed. “How are you doin that?”
“Spider bit me.”
“Man a spider ‘bout to bite me too I want to do that.”
“It’s dead though.” Scott said as he dropped back onto the carpet. “You know what this means right? We’re going to be rich. These powers are perfect for stealing, I’ll know the cops are coming before I even hear them.”
“So is that what the costume is about?”
“Yeah. For what I got planned I need to hide my face. This isn’t just some small time pick pocketing Darren, this is big.”
“Just don’t get yourself killed.”
“I won't, I won't. Oh I know, I need a name.”
“Captain Criminal?”
“Nah nah.” Scott rubbed his chin contemplating. “I got it. I'll be known in the streets as Spider-Man.”
“Uh. Are you sure you're not just on drugs?”