Amazing Fantasy

The man in the purple and orange metal suit searched around the site where the storage unit that had exploded over three months ago*, hoping to find what he’d come for. Holding a scanner on a wrist-mounted gauntlet, he sensed a trace amount of energy as he kneeled, seeing a teal mist of energy on the ground.

(*Amazing Fantasy #57)

“Perfect,” the man said as his gauntlet absorbed what little energy there was. “Pure, uncut, energy. There’s a whole deposit of of it in the city somewhere. I just have to find it and dissect  whoever’s holding it.”

ALPHA RISING

Part II

By Tobias Christopher

*This issue takes place two years before Marvel Omega’s Spider-Man #1!

New York, a city filled to the brim with bitter bad-guys and felonious foes. Luckily it has two protectors willing to cleanse crime’s crazy campaign of carnage.

“Who are you talking to?” Spider-Man asked as he sat perched next to Alpha on a building ledge. Alpha wore the black and teal costume covered in unstable molecules that Reed Richards had given to him. The costume had originally been intended for Reed’s son Franklin when he got older and decided he wanted his own identity outside of the Fantastic 4.

“Setting the mood,” Alpha said in a serious tone as Spider-Man noticed two men robbing at ATM.

“A grown man and his teenage ward are wearing spandex costumes on a Tuesday night. The mood right now is ‘child endangerment’. Come on, it’s showtime, kid,” Spider-Man told him. “First lesson: Every hero needs a cool introduction. Want to take a shot?”

“Okay,” Alpha said as he cleared his throat. “Up, up and—“

Spider-Man covered his mouth before anymore came out. “We’ll work on that.”

The two robbers pried open the ATM and were about to take the money when Spider-Man webbed the crowbar away from them.

“I don’t think that was right PIN,” Spider-Man said as the men turned around and pulled out their guns.

“Criminals, always gunning for the big score,” Alpha said as he used photon blasts to knock the guns away.

“Oh, nice!” Spider-Man said as the criminals started running. “Go get ‘em, Tiger!”

“Okay, Alpha, you can do this,” the young hero-in-training said as flew to catch up with the thieves. “Stop! In the name of the law!”

“You’re not the law!” one of the robbers shouted.

“Wiseguy!” Alpha said as he charged up a larger photon blast. “This should slow them down!”

Alpha tossed the photon blast that would have been soft enough to knock them to the ground, but the robbers avoided it as the blast continuing flying forward.

“Luckily my photon blasts don’t cause much damage in small doses,” Alpha told himself. “They’re mainly for knocking objects down.”

The photon blast hit a light pole, causing it to fall over as it sparked before landing on a gas truck sitting at a stoplight.

“Shit. Must have put a bit too much charge in that one,” Alpha said as he flew as fast as he could, pulling the truck driver and the robbers away from the truck as it exploded in a fiery ball, tossing the robbers in front of Spider-Man. “Well, I caught ‘em!”

“Not bad for my first night, huh?

Spider-Man just stared at Alpha as they sat on the roof’s ledge.

“What?” Alpha asked. “I put the fire out.”

“You tossed the truck into a lake, causing a splash that wiped out an empty playground the orphanage kids play in,” Spider-Man told him.

“Buuutttt, no one got hurt,” Alpha restated.

“This is going to take longer than I thought,” Spider-Man sighed.

“Not a good start,” Andy said as he watched the footage of the truck exploding on the news while sitting in Peter’s apartment. “And the footage is blurry, it didn’t even show me rescuing those guys.”

“You mean the guys you put in peril to begin with?” Peter asked.

“I didn’t mean to blow the thing up,” Andy told him. “It was an accident. I just need to learn to aim better.”

“I think it’s more than that,” Peter said. “You have flight powers, you could have easily caught up with them.”

“Spider-Man said the same thing,” Andy told him. “At least it was just the truck.”

“And the pavement under the truck,” Peter told him. “And the playground. And the river now that the truck has to be fished out. And the gas that was destroyed on the way to the delivery. And the fire hydrant that has to be replaced.”

“Okay, I get it,” Andy told him as he wrapped his arms around his legs, feeling worse than ever now. “I’ll do better. It’s not like anything worse can happen.”

At the hidden lab, a scientist  watched the news report and paused it, zooming in on the blurry image of the hero in teal.

“You,” the man smirked. “You hold the secrets of the universe. Secrets that will soon be mine to exploit. Then I can awaken you, my son. I will bring you back.”

The next night

“How did you manage to set the lake on fire?” Spider-Man asked. “All the gas burned up in the initial explosion.”

“I just wanted to clean up the mess by fishing the truck out the lake myself,” Alpha told him. “I didn’t think I’d set what was left of the playground on fire, too.”

“Luckily there were no orphans around,” Spider-Man told him.

“Why would there be, there was nothing left to play on,”

Spider-Man rubbed the bridge of his nose in frustration. “I think you need a break, here’s a few dollars, go to the mini-mart and get a few dogs and drinks. I’ll handle the next threat.”

“On it, boss!” Alpha said cheerfully as he headed to the mini-mart as Johnny Storm appeared next to Spider-Man, sipping a soda loudly.

“Of course,” Spider-Man told him without having to turn around to see his good friend standing there. “Come to make fun of me?”

“No, I came to watch,” Johnny told him. “I’m finding this absolutely hilarious. Never pegged you for the type to take on a sidekick.”

“Keep laughing, Matchstick. In a few years you’re going to have Franklin following you on adventures,” Spider-Man reminded him.

“Hardly,” Johnny said. “I love Franklin, but the boy’s not that bright. I give him a phone to watch his Rifftrax and he’s distracted for a few hours while I fight Doom’s army.”

As Johnny and Spider-Man talked, they weren’t paying attention to the mini-mart behind them where two masked robbers were holding up the place as Alpha was microwaving burritos.

“Too bad I can’t distract Alpha like that. It’s not going well training him,” Spider-Man said as Alpha confronted the robbers.

“I noticed,” Johnny told him. “Reed mentioned he’s got a pretty high power level. Why not just de-power him and be done with it?”

“Because I made this mess,” Spider-Man said as the robbers opened fire on Alpha behind him. “What kind of person would I be if I just let the kid run loose with no way of shutting him off?”

“Just wait for Reed to finish whatever he’s working on,” Johnny told him as Alpha started laughing upon realizing he was bulletproof. “He thinks he might onto something. He just needs a few rare gems from The Negative Zone and he should have everything he needs.”

“And what if Alpha ends up losing control of his powers in the meantime?” Spider-Man asked as a brawl broke out in the store, with Alpha tossing the robbers around like rag dolls. “The last thing I need is a hormonal teenager with the powers of Gladiator and Phoenix combined running loose.”

“Could always drop him in another dimension until Reed’s thing is ready,” Johnny said as one of the robbers tried to stab Andy in the back with a knife. 

“I’m not ditching Andy in an alternate universe,” Spider-Man told him as Alpha held up the knife, twisting it like a balloon animal before tossing it away. “The kid’s got potential, he needs to focus a bit more. I have faith in him, he can do—“

An explosion rocked the mini-mart as Alpha walked out holding a burrito.

“Two robbers are tied up inside,”

“And the explosion?”

“Microwave was on the fritz, so I tried to… give it some juice,” Alpha told him. “Microwaves and photon charges DO NOT mix well.”

Several days later

Andy and Aidan walked along the street, hand in hand as they saw the screen in Times Square with footage of Spider-Man and Alpha over the last few days, which played out like a blooper reel showing the amount of damage Alpha had been causing trying to apprehend villains.

“How did Alpha end up destroying a construction site on his own chasing a cat burglar?” Aidan asked as the footage played out like an Ernest movie with Alpha carrying the burglar while a bulldozer with no driver chased him.

“It wasn’t easy,” Andy said as he coughed and smiled at Aidan. “I think Alpha just needs time. The guy’s pretty powerful, probably doesn’t realize just how much power he actually has.”

“I think he’s an idiot,” Aidan told him. “He’s cocky, doesn’t take the job seriously. How the hell did Spider-Man choose this guy to train?”

“Come on,” Andy told him. “He’s not that bad.”

“He’s lucky he hasn’t gotten someone killed,” Aidan said. “You’d probably do a better job with that guy’s powers. I mean, you’re not the most coordinated person, but at least you try. This Alpha guy’s just a show-off.”

“I think I should go,” Andy said in a disappointed tone as Aidan stared into his eyes.

“I hope I didn’t say something wrong,” Aidan told him. “It’s just… I’ve always believed in superheroes. That guys like Spider-Man and Captain America, those are heroes to really look up, to strive to be like. Alpha? He’s a circus clown, Andy. What kid would want to be like that? He’s mocking true heroes that deserve recognition.”

“Aidan, what if I told you something about me that you didn’t like,” Andy told him.

“I know about the glow-in-the-dark underwear,” Aidan told him. “I saw you wearing them through your bedroom window when you lived next door,” Andy looked sad as Aidan gave him a soft kiss. “You’re my boyfriend, Andy, it would take an awful lot to make me look at you differently. I fell for you because you were different, not like any of those jerks at school. If you’re in trouble, you can tell and we’ll work through it together, okay? I’m here to help you.”

“Okay,” Andy said. “Aidan, I’m—“

“This is proof positive that Spider-Man is the menace I’ve always feared him to be!” Jonah Jameson said as he appeared on the screen in footage from the Daily Bugle’s Website. “It wasn’t enough that he’s caused chaos throughout New York, now in bringing in hired goons to help with his dirty work! This Alpha punk is the first in a line of Spider-Man’s demonic hellspawn that will rip this city asunder and I will not tolerate Spider-Man’s menace spreading!”

“I’m— I’m gonna go,” Andy said as he let go of Aidan’s hand.

“Andy, wait!” Aidan told him. “Please. Andy?”

Andy disappeared into the crowd, leaving Aidan standing there, not knowing what he did wrong.

“And in other news, military personnel are baffled by the mysterious disappearance of an experimental battle exoskeleton that’s highly classified and not to be aired on live television to alert the general public to the—“

The screen started beeping with a ‘technical difficulty’ sign as Aidan headed home to sulk. 

“This should draw this supposed hero out,” the man in the armor said as he programmed the large yellow exoskeleton. “He’ll drag him back here and I’ll have his power for my own. Then,” the man said as he looked at the cryogenic chamber. “You’ll be cured.”

As Dr. Omega worked in his lab, the cryogenic chamber started to sound as the heart monitor started flatlining…

The Alpha costume landed at Peter’s feet. 

“I can’t do this anymore,” Andy told him. “The city hates me, and if I tell Aidan, he’s going to hate me. It’s best to just give this up before I lose him.”

“You’re giving up being a hero because of a guy?” Peter asked.

“Not just any guy, THE guy,” Andy said. “I’ve been crushing on Aidan for the longest time. Being with him is more important than playing hero.”

“Okay, I’ll tell Spider-Man when he comes by later,” Peter told him as he put the costume in a backpack. “It’s your call and for what it’s worth, I’m proud of you. But what about your powers?”

“I guess I just wait for Dr. Richards to find a way to remove them,” Andy told him. “It’s just not worth losing my boyfriend.”

Peter patted him on the shoulder. “Sounds like you’re starting to use your head. I knew you were capable of making smart decisions when you have to.”

“So you’re okay with me not wanting to be a hero?”

“You’re giving up something you barely wanted for something your heart really wants,” Peter told him. “Sounds like a hero to me,” Peter said as he tossed the bag onto the couch and looked at the time. “Be in bed by 10, I gotta go run some errands. See you later.”

As soon as Peter was gone, Andy picked up the phone.

“Aidan? Can we meet somewhere to talk? I feel like a huge weight’s been lifted from my shoulders and… I just want to see you.”

Spider-Man swung through the city, feeling a huge relief wash over him.

Andy’s a good kid, but this hero thing isn’t suited for him. It’s best he step away before someone seriously gets hurt. And here I was worried he’d go berserk if I asked him to give up being Alpha. Kid’s more responsible than I gave him credit for. 

The 90’s X-Men theme played over Spider-Man’s phone as he answered.

“You called the Spider-Man hotline, $9.99 for the first minute, twenty dollars for each additional minute,” 

“It’s Reed,” Reed Richards told him as he watched Franklin running into a wall with a bucket on his head as he fell to the floor. He slowly stood up and did it again.

“Dad, a little help?”

Reed just rubbed the bridge of his nose as he went back to talking. “I think I have a temporary solution for your Alpha problem.”

“I think we’re good, Doc,” Spider-Man told him. “I’ll drop by the Baxter Building after my rounds to explain.”

Spidey hung up as he noticed the buildings ahead shaking. It was coming from a business district slated for demolition and reconstruction as new apartment buildings. 

“Great, The Blob must be eating chilli again,” Spider-Man said. “Better make sure no one’s hanging around before the toxic gas is released.”

As Spider-Man swung through the city, the rumbling got worse until he landed on the ground.

“Why do I feel like that X-Men arcade game I used to play at the arcade and Juggernaut’s about to pop out and shout “Welcome to die”? Oh, hang on!”

The hero pulled out his phone and tapped a few buttons a the rumbling stopped as the large yellow exoskeleton burst through a wall, walking up to him as Spider-Man played the boss music from the X-Men arcade game.

“WELCOME TO DIE!”

“Ha!” Spider-Man said as he stared up at the machine while putting his phone away.

“Bring me Alpha!” a booming voice shouted from the robot.

“Sorry, pal, Alpha’s on an extended leave of absence,” Spider-Man said. “But if you like, I can kick your can.”

The robot backhanded Spider-Man through the wall of a building.

“Bring me Alpha or I’ll level the entire city, starting with this block!”

As the exoskeleton fought Spider-Man, the scientist flew around in his power armor to track the energy signature that Andy was giving off.

“He won’t fight? I’ll find Alpha myself,”

“I’m sorry,” Aidan said he kissed Andy as they met up outside of the pizzeria. “Whatever I said, I didn’t mean to—“

“It’s okay,” Andy told him. “I guess I was just upset about something else. But it’s over now. I’m happy with you and I want to stay by your side. For the first time in my life I feel good about myself, and it’s because I have you.”

The two were about to kiss again as Andy saw Aidan’s friends again and pulled back. “We can do this later.”

Aidan turned to see them and pulled Andy back to him. “No, we can do this now. It’s time to tell everyone.”

Aidan gave Andy the most passionate kiss he could as Aidan’s friends stared in shock.

“What the hell is this?” Kyle asked. “I knew Maguire was a fairy, but you?”

“ANDY is my boyfriend,” Aidan told him. “Deal with it. I don’t want you guys messing with him from now on. The bullying ends here.”

“And what are you going to do?” Kyle said as he grabbed him by the shirt.

Andy flicked his fingers, sending a small proton charge to hit Kyle’s pants, causing them to fall to the ground. As he went to pick them up, Andy sped around to the others, pushing them into Kyle to knock them all to the ground without seeing him.

“I’m not afraid of you guys anymore,” Andy said as he took Aidan’s arm. “I’m not taking your crap ever again. And if you mess with Aidan or any kid at school weaker than you, you’ll deal with me.”

“When did you grow a pair?” Kyle asked.

“The second I realized I didn’t have to hide anymore,” Andy told him. “Who’s afraid now? Get out of here before I get angry.”

“This isn’t over, nerd!” Kyle shouted as he ran away with his friends. “We’ll be back!”

When Aidan wasn’t looking, Andy sent a photon charge to hit Kyle in the rear, sending him flying forward and onto his face.

“That was incredible!” Aidan said as he hugged Andy. “I knew you had it in you! I’m so proud of you. You’re far more or a hero than Alpha will ever be!”

“You realize they’re going to make your life hell on the football team, right?” Andy asked.

“I can take it,” Aidan said. “Plus if worse comes to the worst, I’ll just reveal that everyone on the team’s on steroids.”

“Everyone?” Andy asked with a raised eyebrow.

“Please,” Aidan said as he held up a muscle. “100% Aidan Denbrough, baby!”

“Nice,” Andy laughed as he put an arm around Aidan’s shoulder. “What do you say we Netflix & Chill tonight?”

“How about we Disney+ and—“ Aidan whispered into Andy’s ear as his eyes grew wide.

“Well, that’s not family-friendly in the slightest,”

Aidan laughed as he ruffled Andy’s hair. “Go home and get a pair of pajamas, I’ll meet you back at my place for a sleepover. Oh, and bring the glow-in-the-dark underwear.”

Andy smiled as they kissed goodbye. Making sure no one was watching, he flew off as fast as he could back to Peter’s apartment. As Andy ran off, the person following him, having witnessed Andy and Aidan’s kiss, smirked to himself.

“What do we have here? It looks like bait for the fish.”

Flying through the window, Andy rushed to his room and grabbed a pair of pajama pants and the requested underwear as he turned on the t.v. to see if he was out of the news yet.

“And this is live footage taken moments ago of Spider-Man fighting a large robot in the heart of the old business district,”

Andy watched as Spider-Man was tossed around effortlessly by the robot.

“He needs my help,” Andy said as he looked at the backpack on the couch. “But I can’t bail on Aidan, not when we’ve just made up. What do I do?”

“We’re gonna get that punk,” Kyle said as he pounded his fists together as the jocks waited outside of Peter’s apartment, waiting for Andy to come out. “He spread that gay disease to Aidan and now he’s going to pay.”

“There he goes!”  Richie shouted as Andy came running out with the backpack over his shoulder. 

“Old business district is just a few blocks over,” Andy told himself. “I can save Spider-Man and make my date in no time. Nothing’s keeping me from Disney+ and… the unmentionable thing.”

“Follow him,” Kyle told him. “We’ll jump him the second he’s alone.”

The scientist jimmied the lock of the front door so as to not make any noises as he heard noises from the upstairs bedroom.

Aidan was getting things ready for Andy, cleaning up his room to avoid his boyfriend seeing anything embarrassing like underwear on the floor or his Playgirls. 

“Mom and Dad took Brie to Grandma’s for the night, so I have the whole house to myself,” Aidan told himself. “Okay, I have snacks, drinks,” Aidan grabbed a can of Lysol and sprayed it around his ground, covering it in a cloud of linen smelling dust. “Gross football odors are taken care of, now I just need to get myself ready.”

Pulling off his shirt, Aidan admired himself in the mirror as he grabbed his Guillotine body spray. “Shirt or no shirt? If I don’t wear a shirt, Andy will probably take his off, too, and I don’t know how comfortable he is with his body. But what shirt should I wear? Casual, non-casual, oh, I don’t know! I don’t want to scare Andy off, I really care about him. This night has to be absolutely perfect!”

That’s when Aidan noticed the armored man in the mirror behind him as he was pulling on a freshly laundered football jersey.

“Oh, it’ll be perfect,” the scientist said. “Perfectly awful!”

“Who the hell are you?” Aidan asked. “I’m calling the cops!”

“By the time they get here, we’ll be long gone!” the villain said as he fired a bolo from his wrist gauntlet, wrapping around Aidan and electrocuting him into unconsciousness. “Nothing personal, boy, just insurance. If Alpha survives the exoskeleton, you’ll be my back-up plan. Whether or not you live will be completely up to how much he cooperates. Then, his power will belong to… DR. OMEGA!”

“Why are you doing this?” Aidan asked.

“My son died this morning,” Dr. Omega told him. “I have nothing left but vengeance now.”

“Hang on, Spider-Man, I’m on my way,” Andy said as he saw smoke rising in the distance. “Just have to find a place to change into costume.”

“Where’s he going?” Kyle asked, staying far enough behind so Andy wouldn’t spot him.

“Who cares? That part of town’s mostly abandoned, we can nail him there,” Richie said as they followed.

Spider-Man slammed into a wall as the giant mecha stomped toward him.

“There’s never Power Rangers around when you need them,” Spider-Man said as he stood up. The robot prepared to swat Spider-Man again when something held the robot’s arm back. Alpha floated there, keeping the robot from hitting the hero once again. “Alpha?”

“In the flesh,” Alpha said. “Saw you were in a pickle so I came out of retirement to help.”

The robot brought its fist down on top of the teenager, slamming him to the ground.

“Are you alright, kid?” Spider-Man asked as Alpha tried to stand up and looked up in a daze.

“Amazing Fantasy #58? I couldn’t have been introduced a lot sooner?” Alpha asked as the robot went to grab him, but the young hero grabbed the robot by the arm and flipped him onto its back. “My turn.”

As the robot stood up, Alpha flew forward, delivering a barrage of punches. 

“It’s like punching concrete,” Alpha said to himself. “I’m not even denting this thing.”

“Reinforced adamantium alloy,” Dr. Omega’s voice said through a small loudspeaker. “Made just for you, Alpha. I’ll call it off before it destroys the city if you surrender now. Otherwise…”

A hatch opened, revealing a time. “You have one minute, otherwise the whole block goes up. Then I will send one bomb out every day to a different neighborhood until you surrender to me.”

“Gotta get rid of this thing now,” Alpha said as he used all of his strength to pick the mechs up and started lifting him into the air.”

“What are you doing!?” Spider-Man shouted.

“For once… the right thing,” Alpha said as he lifted the mecha higher into the air. As it lifted higher, Dr. Omega’s voice laughed at him.

“Stupid boy, do you really think you can stop me?” the voice said as the robot electrocuted Alpha into dropping it. Both Alpha and the robot slammed into the ground as Spider-Man ran over to Alpha.

“GO!” Alpha shouted as he tried to stand up and that’s when saw Kyle and Richie standing in the alley with bats, but the electric shock had sapped almost all of his energy. “No…”

Falling forward, Spider-Man saw the timer. “Come on kid, we gotta go.”

“Too late,” Alpha said as he grabbed Spider-Man and using the last of his strength, tossed the hero as far as he could before falling over. “I’m sorry. The world needs Spider-Man, it doesn’t need Alpha.”

The bomb went off, taking the entire block with it just as Spider-Man clung to the side of a building.

“NOO!” Spider-Man shouted as the fireball took out every building in a half-mile radius. “ANDY!”

As Spider-Man got closer, he saw something moving in the flames. Alpha fell through the wall of fire with tears in his eyes. “I couldn’t save them.”

Having taken off his costume, Andy went to the Baxter Building with Peter wearing a pair of swimming trunks and a Thing t-shirt.

“You could have worn your costume until you got home,” Peter said. 

“I never want to see that costume again,” Andy said in a whisper. “I want to get rid of these powers for good. I don’t deserve them. Those guys are dead because of me.”

“That wasn’t your fault,” Peter told him. “That was that psycho with the giant mecha.”

“They followed me there to beat me up,” Andy told him. “They hated that I was dating Aidan. They wouldn’t have been there if I hadn’t decided to play hero. Please, get rid of these powers.”

Peter took Andy up to the home of the world-famous Fantastic 4 where Reed was waiting for them.

“I think I have something,” Reed told them. “Using crystals from the Negative Zone, I believe I can tune this laser to Andy’s body frequency and cut his ties to the universe.”

“Will it hurt him?”

“It might sting for a moment, but it’s no worse than cutting an umbilical cord,” Reed assured him. “He’ll be normal again in no time.”

“Good,” Peter said as he looked over at Andy, who was staring at the floor and digging his toe into the carpet. “Andy wasn’t cut out for this life. Maybe if we cut him off now he might have a chance at leading a normal life after some time.”

Meanwhile, Franklin Richards sat next to Andy while watching a movie on his phone.

“Wanna watch a movie with me?” Franklin asked. “I’m watchin’ Santa & The Ice Cream Bunny.”

Andy gave in and leaned over to look at the screen to see a person in a bunny costume wink its eye in the most terrifying way possible.

“HURR HURR HURR HURR!” the Ice Cream Bunny said menacingly as it hopped up and down.

“What the fu—“ Andy said as a loud ringing was heard coming from the phone. When it stopped, Dr. Omega stepped in front of a camera.

Alpha, you’re out there somewhere. I tapped into every tv, computer, and phone in the city to reach you so that you couldn’t ignore me. You WILL surrender to me. I have something you want. Say hello, brat.

The camera panned upward to the Long Island City Clock Tower where Aidan was bound to the hour hand.

“Aidan,” Andy whispered.

You have five minutes to save him. When the clock strikes 6, he gets cut loose. And it’s a very, very long way down. 5 minutes, boy.

Andy started breathing heavily as he stood up. I have to save him.

Peter and Reed ran into the room. “Kid, let me change and we’ll go together. We can fish the Alpha costume out of the garbage bit and—“

“No time!” Andy shouted as he raced out the door. “Don’t worry, Aidan. I’m coming to save you.”

Peter looked over at Reed. “I’ll never make it there in time web-slinging.”

“We’ll take the Fantasticar!” Reed told him. “Franklin, tell your Uncle Johnny we’ll be back.”

“What’d you saaaay?” Franklin asked without looking up from his phone as the Ice Cream Bunny left a dozen children alone on a beach to die.

Andy flew back to find the Alpha costume he’d tossed away and prepared to put it on.

“No,” Andy said to himself. “Never again. I’ll save Aidan but Alpha is never coming back. This is the end. Maybe when I go back to get rid of my powers, Dr. Richards can take this back, too.”

Andy shoved the costume into his book bag before flying off, putting the domino mask on his face as he went.

Long Island City Clock Tower

As the hour hand got closer to 6 o’clock, Aidan tried to keep calm.

“Okay, my fate is in the hands of a hero I don’t trust while I’m trying to figure out how long I have before I become a red splat on the pavement,” Aidan told himself. “Also, I live in New York with pretty much every hero in existence, so… WHERE THE FUCK IS EVERYBODY!? And the worst part is… I won’t be able to say goodbye to Andy. One of the best things to ever happen to me.”

The sound of a bullet in the air was heard as Andy flew as fast as he could toward the clock tower with less than thirty seconds to go.

“I’m here!” Andy shouted as Dr. Omega came from out of nowhere and punched him into the side of the building. The clock struck 6 as a small explosive caused the ropes holding Aidan up to snap. He quickly caught the bottom of the minute hand but was slipping fast. As Andy punched Dr. Omega, he saw Aidan struggling. “Okay! I surrender! Just let Aidan live.”

“You know what? No,” Dr. Omega said as Andy grew angrier, finally punching Dr. Omega into the distance just as Aidan lost his grip and started falling. “I lost the person closest to me this morning. Now it’s your turn to suffer.”

“NO!” Andy shouted as he darted toward the falling boy as fast as he could. Just as he reached out his hand, his fingers barely touching Aidan’s, Dr. Omega came from out of nowhere, slamming Andy into the wall, letting loose a barrage of punches as Andy was helpless to watch Aidan disappear from his view. Andy felt a sudden surge of anger as he started punching the villain as hard he could, denting the adamantium armor. “WHY!?” Andy cried as he continued punching. “I LOVED HIM! Why me? What did I do to deserve this?”

“Because you were there,” Dr. Omega smiled sadistically. Andy grabbed the man around the throat and started squeezing.

“Andy, no!” Spider-Man shouted. “Don’t do this.”

“Aidan’s gone! I couldn’t catch him in time!” Andy shouted. “He’s dead and… it’s all my fault.”

“You can’t let this take you down a dark path, kid,” Spider-Man said. “I lost someone I love, too. Someone I could have easily saved. But I didn’t let her death consume me, I used my love for my girlfriend to become a better person, to save the lives I can because that’s what she would have wanted. Aidan’s gone, but he’d want you to be the hero he believed Andy Maguire is. Turn your loss into something positive.”

Andy looked over at Dr. Omega, breaking the thrusters on his armored outfit before tossing him into the Fantasticar as tears fell down his face. 

“I gotta go,” Andy whispered. “I can’t be in this world anymore. My parents don’t want me and I lost the first guy I’ve ever loved. I just… I can’t be around people right now. I’ve already destroyed three lives.”

“What about removing your powers?”

“I’ll hang on to them for a while until I figure things out,” Andy said. “Tell Mr. Parker I’m sorry for being a pain in his ass. And yours.”

“Where are you going?” Spider-Man asked. “Are you coming back?”

Andy just looked up at the stars. “I don’t know and… I don’t know. I just gotta think about things right now and I can’t do it here, not when everyone on the planet hates me.”

“Nobody hates you,” Spider-Man promised.

“I wish I could believe that,” Andy said. “Truth is, I’d probably be better off somewhere else. Goodbye, Spider-Man, Mr. Richards.”

And with that, Andy flew upward into the sky, disappearing into the distance as he left Earth.

As the Fantasticar landed to hand Dr. Omega over to the police, the lights of an ambulance were flashing in the distance. Taking a deep breath, the hero walked forward, not wanting to see the mangled body of his student laying there. As it turned out, Aidan was still in one piece, having landed on top of a parked car, barely clinging to life.

“I don’t believe it,” Spider-Man smiled under his hood.

“Andy didn’t know about the bomb, so Dr. Omega’s being charged with the murders of those high-schoolers,” Peter said as he stood in Reed Richard’s lab. “He’s going to go away for a very long time.”

“And what of Andy’s friend?” Reed asked as he worked on a device.

“He’ll never walk again, but he’s going to live,” Peter said. “He keeps asking to see Andy. I don’t know what to tell him. Andy thinks his boyfriend died in that fall and I have no way of contacting him to tell him the good news. He could be on the other side of the universe by now.”

Reed help up a small box. “This might help. Using a sample of Andy’s kinetic energy I built an early warning system. If he re-enters Earth’s atmosphere, an alarm will sound. Provided he ever returns.”

“He’ll come back, he has to,” Peter said. “Yeah, he was an annoying little goofball, but there was a hero in him. Maybe someday he’ll get to prove that to the rest of the world.”

On the moon, Andy sat with his arms around his knees, tears streaming down his face.

“I’m sorry, Aidan. I’m so sorry.”

Joan Lee Memorial Hospital

“This kid isn’t dead,” the doctor said as he examined Dr. Omega’s son as he was brought in. The police had raided Dr. Omega’s bunker after the arrest to find the cryogenic chamber with the boy still inside. “He’s in a deep coma, but this kid’s alive. The heart monitor wiring must have malfunctioned. I think we can save him.”

Four Years Later

Nashville, Tennessee

A young man sat on the porch of his family farm, drinking cider when he saw a bright flash of light streak out of the night sky, coming to a crash in the local cornfield.

“What the—“, the young man said as he grabbed the nearest gun, which just happened to be a powerful home-made potato gun and went to investigate. In his other hand, he had a flashlight to see his way through the dark. Seeing the smoke rising not too far, he got closer and saw a small crater in the ground. “Hello?”

Holding the gun in his hand, he shined the flashlight into the hole only to find a teenage boy with shaggy blonde hair unconscious inside.

Alpha had returned.

Far away in New York, the early warning system had started to sound. Unfortunately, it was buried at the bottom of the closet in the living room as Peter slept soundly next to his wife, the siren going unheard until the battery gave out.

TO BE CONTINUED?

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