A bolt of lightning flashed across the black night sky, the brilliant white light briefly illuminating Peter Parker's bedroom. He laid there asleep on his twin bed, crammed against the wall of his cramped studio apartment amid piles of dirty clothes and empty Chinese food containers.
The roaring rain pounded steadily against the window, covering up the slithering sound of the black ooze as it gradually crept up his legs and enveloped Peter's entire body. When the thick black goo reached his head, it wrapped around his face strand by strand, forming a mask.
"Hooooh," Peter gasped as he awoke. Sitting up in his bed, he sucked in gulps of air. As his breathing returned to normal, it was only then that he noticed the slick black material covering his arms.
"Ahh! What the hell?" he exclaimed to himself. Turning his arms around, Peter inspected the black coating on them before ripping off his covers, revealing that the same silky black stuff covered his body from head to toe.
"
We've got a four-seventeen in progress near 130th and Park Ave
," the police scanner on the floor in the corner buzzed.
Peter scrambled into action, throwing open his window. As he climbed through, he caught of glimpse of his own reflection, a now all-black Spider-Man mask covering his face. He had no idea what was going on with his body and this mysterious black suit that had appeared, but he needed to go and stop this gunman first.
The black suited Spider-Man flung himself through the window and dove down toward the alley before shooting out a string of webbing and swinging back up to the next street over. He felt faster as he swung over the streets of Manhattan, each movement he made quicker and more powerful than ever before. Peter wasn't sure what was happening, but whatever it was, he felt
good
.
* * *
Two weeks later, Spider-Man swung through the air, patrolling his city. In the high-rise buildings all around him, air conditioning units hummed away, trying to fend off the heat on this extra warm summer night. However, inside his black symbiote suit, it was the perfect temperature. Peter could even feel some cool air filtering through tiny microscopic vents in his mask as he swung on his webs.
At first, the black Spider-Man suit had felt strange, but Peter had soon grown accustomed to his sleek new look. The dark color helped him blend into the shadows at night, and the criminals he'd encountered lately seemed more intimidated by the black suit than his former friendly neighborhood red and blue suit.
From the analysis he'd done over the last few weeks, the sample of the symbiotic cells that had merged with his own showed it to be an incredible organism. The symbiote greatly enhanced his speed and strength, and he could will it to morph and look like any clothing he wanted, negating the need for him to wear his old red and blue Spider-Man suit under his clothes. In fact, he didn't need to wear clothing at all since he could now alter his appearance completely and instantaneously.
In addition to his own analysis, Peter had sent a small sample to his old professor as well, Dr. Curt Connors. Dr. Connors had been likewise amazed by the organism, though Peter had lied about having more than the sample he'd sent, ignoring Dr. Connors's warnings about avoiding contact with it should he find any more.
It was an incredible feeling, almost like invincibility. In addition to augmented speed and strength, Peter felt keener senses of sight, sound, and everything else. And though he couldn't quantify it, he sensed as if his memory and mental acuity had been heightened as well.
As he swung high over the streets of Manhattan, he detected a variety of sounds all around him. There were the distant sirens of an ambulance heading south behind him, probably toward the hospital. And he could hear a loud pop to the west, but with his heightened senses, Peter could distinguish that it was a blown tire and not a gunshot. All these ambient noises he ignored as he continued to scour the city for trouble where he might be needed.
Finally, he heard a faint scream coming from an alley to the east. Releasing his current web strand, Spider-Man vaulted high into the air and shot another string of webbing in the direction of the screams. After a couple of minutes, he landed on a rooftop soundlessly, another benefit of this new black suit.
Below him, three burly men had surrounded a young woman in a little black dress.
"Please," the brunette begged, her back literally against the wall of the alley. "I already gave you my purse and my phone. Just let me go."
"What about your fancy bracelets?" one of the thugs pointed as another rummaged through her purse.
Peter began slowly crawling down the wall head-first.
"Take them!" the girl unclasped her jewelry and threw it at the feet of her attackers. "They're just cheap knockoffs, not real diamonds. I'm just a poor college student. I don't have anything you want!"
The thug going through her purse pocketed the cash and threw the bag away to the side. He sneered, "Oh, you've got something we want..."
On cue, his two friends ran up to her, each grabbing one of her arms and pinning her against the wall.
"No! Please!" she screamed. "Someone help!"
Peter crawled to his left to avoid the fire escape, moving into a position to strike as he prepared to intervene.
"Stop! Help! Get away from me!"
The lead thug approached her, dodging her desperate, flailing kick and pressing his body against hers to prevent her from kicking out again. In one swift move, he pulled down the front of her black dress, exposing the sobbing woman's torso and petite breasts.
Just as he began kissing and slobbering at her neck, Peter cleared the fire escape and shot a strand of webbing directly onto his back. He pulled back, and the man screamed as he was launched backwards into the air.
"Ahhhhh!"
His yell was abruptly silenced as Spider-Man slammed a fist into the side of his head in midair. Peter felt a surge of adrenaline and elation as he knocked out the would-be rapist. He then quickly shot a web blast with both wrists, securing the now unconscious villain to the fire escape.
"What the fuck?!"
The muggers beneath him panicked and ran. But they didn't get far. Spider-Man swung down and landed in front of one criminal.
"Hi there! It's your friendly neighborhood Spider-Man. I was wondering if you could leave a review for this alley. Five stars? Nice ambiance? It's one of my favorites."
One of the thugs swung at him, but Peter dodged it easily and parlayed his momentum in a front flip, kicking the mugger square in the chest with both feet. With all the air leaving his lungs, the man was out like a light even before his senseless body landed in a heap of trash bags.
