A thin stream of webbing cut through the night air. It stuck to the edge of a rooftop and the line went taut as it carried some added weight. A flash of red and blue streaked across the sky, swinging from the webline.

Spider-Man released the line and his momentum caused him to fly up. He twisted in midair as gravity once again took hold and pulled him down. Spider-Man threw his arms to his side and dove headfirst towards the city streets below.

He extended one of his arms and fired another webline from his wrist. Once it caught something, Spider-Man’s descent was halted and he swung upwards. He twisted and turned, flying through the air.

It had been about two months since Peter Parker was bitten by a genetically-modified spider. Two months since he gained an array of superhuman abilities. In that time, Peter discovered that what he loved most was the web-swinging.

He landed on a rooftop in a crouch. Coming up behind him was one of the Spider-Cams that followed him around the city. They were designed by Oscorp, the company Peter now worked for. Norman Osborn had discovered Peter’s powers and made him an offer—to use them as the world’s first real-life superhero on a reality television show called Amazing Fantasy.

Peter agreed, on the condition that no camera crews would come along and no one other than Osborn would know his true identity. All of Peter’s earnings were deposited in a bank account only he and Osborn knew about. Osborn had a costume designed for Peter—the red and blue spandex suit he currently wore.

Peter wasn’t sure what the material was made out of, but it had grown quite comfortable. And despite its seeming thinness, Peter didn’t feel at all cold in the crisp night air. He wondered if it was because of the suit or because of his altered DNA.

Most of Peter’s time as Spider-Man was spent swinging through the city, seeing what kind of trouble he could run across. From the studio, Osborn and his crew monitored Peter’s progress via the Spider-Cams. They also monitored police bands to see if any calls came in that Peter could handle.

“We’ve got something for you.”

Peter heard Osborn’s voice come through the earpiece he wore beneath the mask. “What’s that?” he asked in response.

“Two men knocked over a convenience store, the police are involved in a car chase with them right now.”

“Just point me in the right direction,” said Spider-Man. As Osborn told him where it was, Spider-Man leapt from the rooftop and shot a webline to begin his own pursuit.

RESPONSIBILITY

Part I: Exposure

By Dino Pollard

“Spider-Man, Spider-Man! Does whatever a spider can! Spins a web, any size! Catches thieves, just like flies! Look out, here comes the Spider-Ma—”

A click of a remote control and the television set went dark. The man who held the remote stood before a long table lined with people. A cigar was perched between his lips, despite the clearly labeled “NO SMOKING” signs outside the conference room.

“Someone mind telling me what kind of world we live in where a glory-hound in a mask is considered a hero?” He circled back around the table to an empty chair at the head. His hair was short and brown, gray at the temples and he had a thin mustache.

“It’s just a TV show, Jonah,” said a man who sat to Jonah’s right. He was dark-skinned with white hair. Joe “Robbie” Robertson, editor in chief of the Daily Bugle.

“Just a TV show?” asked Jonah, expelling smoke through his nostrils in a huff. “It’s a reality TV show, Robbie. They claim this guy actually has superpowers, that he’s out there crusading for justice. And I smell a hoax. Who’s behind this show?”

“Oscorp Media,” said one of the reporters, with a goatee and glasses. “One of Norman Osborn’s subsidiaries.”

“Congratulations Mr. Urich, you just volunteered,” said Jonah with a grin.

“What?” asked Ben Urich. “Jonah, I can’t. I’ve got other stories I’m working on.”

“I don’t give a rat’s ass about some urban legend in Hell’s Kitchen,” said Jonah. “This Spider-Man is the big draw right now. I wanna know how Osborn is perpetuating this hoax and I wanna know who’s beneath that mask, you hear me?”

“Jonah, I—”

“Urich, if the next words out of your mouth aren’t ‘I’d be happy to do it,’ then you can start fishing for another job,” said Jonah.

Urich sighed. “I’d be happy to do it.”

“Good,” said Jonah. “The Daily Bugle is going to be the one that breaks the secret of the Spider-Man, sure as my name’s J. Jonah Jameson.”

The Mustang roared through the streets of Manhattan, the driver willfully ignoring every light or stop sign that came at him. His passenger leaned out the window, firing with a handgun at the police car chasing them.

The passenger climbed back inside and ejected the empty clip from the gun. He loaded a fresh one and snapped it into place, then cocked it. “Damn pigs don’t know when to quit,” he said. “Can’t you go any faster?”

“I’m pushing it as hard as I can!” said the driver. “It ain’t exactly easy trying to speed through the city like this!”

“Don’t care how easy or hard it is, just get us outta here!” said the gunman.

He leaned out the window again and continued to fire at the squad car. He was only able to squeeze off two shots before something struck the gun, engulfing it in an adhesive substance.

“What the hell?” he asked. He sat back in the car and examined his hand.

“What is that stuff?” asked the driver.

“Looks like… webbing?” said the gunman. He tried to pull it from his hand, but had no luck. “Whatever it is, it’s—”

THUMP

Both men looked up to the roof where the noise had come from. “What was that?” asked the driver.

The gunman turned his head to the right to see the large, white lenses of Spider-Man’s mask looking back at him. He jumped and cried out in surprise.

“I’m not sure if you guys are aware of this, but you’re speeding,” said Spider-Man. In a lightning-fast movement, he reached in and grabbed the gunman, pulling him out of the window and leaping from the car.

Spider-Man webbed the man up and hung him from a lamppost. He swung to catch up to the car again and shot a webline at the roof to pull himself back to it. He flipped onto the hood and covered the windshield with webbing.

“You crazy bastard!” screamed the driver. He swerved the car, driving completely blind. Spider-Man slid into the passenger side.

“Hi there, think you’d mind stopping the car?”

Empire State University

The elevator hit the tenth floor of Lieber Tower and Peter stepped out. There was rap music so loud that he could hear it from the elevator. As Peter walked down the hall, the music got louder and he had a sinking suspicion of where it was coming from.

The door to his dorm room was open. He looked inside and saw his roommate, Flash Thompson, lying on the bed, the music blaring from his stereo. Peter sighed and continued down the hall to the room with RESIDENT ADVISOR on the door. He knocked.

“Just a minute!” came the response from the other side. The door opened and Gwen Stacy stood in the frame. She smiled when she laid eyes on him. “Hey Pete! How are you doing? Haven’t seen you around lately.”

“Yeah, I’ve been pretty busy,” said Peter. “Thought I’d stop by.”

“Come on in,” she said, gesturing for him to enter. He crossed into her room and took a seat on her futon. She plopped down on her bed, lying across it. “So where have you been hiding yourself?”

“Just been busy with a lot of work, studying and all that, what with midterms coming up,” said Peter.

“I hear you,” said Gwen with a sigh. “I’ve got three papers to write this weekend. Ugh, I am not looking forward to it.”

“Sounds like you’re going to be pretty busy,” said Peter.

“Yeah, I bought a case of Red Bull today to get me through it. It’s going to be an all-nighter weekend,” she said. “Hey, do you have any plans tomorrow night?”

“Umm… nope, not that I can think of,” said Peter. He felt his heart beat faster at her words. Was this what he was hoping for from her?

“There’s this new stir fry place that just opened up a few blocks from here and I’ve been dying to try it,” she said. “You wanna come with?”

“Sure!” said Peter excitedly. He stopped himself and restrained his speech a little. “I mean… yeah, that sounds like it’d be fun.”

“Great, I’ll come by your room at seven?”

“Sounds fine,” said Peter. He stood from the futon. “I’ll see you then.”

“Leaving so soon?” asked Gwen.

“Yeah, I’ve got some studying I need to do,” said Peter. “But I’ll see you tomorrow night?”

“It’s a date,” said Gwen.

“Right,” said Peter with a smile. He left Gwen’s room and had to resist the urge to start jumping with excitement. A date! A date with Gwen Stacy! He couldn’t believe this was happening, he never would have expected a girl like her to go for a guy like him.

When he got back to his room, the stereo was off. Instead, Flash was glued to the television set. Peter walked in and Flash raised a hand in greeting. “Yo,” he said.

“What are you watching?” asked Peter. He took his backpack off his shoulders and set it on the floor by his desk.

“Amazing Fantasy,” said Flash. “Have you seen this show yet?”

“Nope, haven’t heard of it,” said Peter.

Flash gave him a dumbfounded look. “Are you serious?”

“Yeah, what is it?” asked Peter, even though he already had far more knowledge of the show than Flash ever would.

“It’s a show about that Spider-Man guy I saw,” said Flash. “Remember? You guys thought it was some hoax? Well he’s real! Check it out!”

Flash pointed at the screen as the familiar theme song came on. There was footage of Spider-Man swinging through the city as the music played over the title credits. Peter couldn’t help but feel a small sense of satisfaction as his roommate, who had proven to be a complete annoyance since day one, was completely infatuated with Peter’s alter ego.

“So someone made a show based on this Spider-Man guy?” asked Peter.

“Nah, it’s a reality TV show—cameras follow him around the city as he does his superhero thing.”

“I hate reality TV,” said Peter.

“Lame,” said Flash.

Peter sat at his desk and turned on his computer. He clicked off the away message on his Instant Messenger program. Almost instantly, a message appeared on his screen.

ACTGRRL47: hey stranger

Mary Jane Watson. The two had been best friends for as long as either of them could remember.

SciPete15: hey whats up?
ACTGRRL47: nothing just bored
ACTGRRL47: where have u been?
SciPete15: just around, busy with studying
ACTGRRL47: lame
SciPete15: my roommate just said the same thing
ACTGRRL47: lol
ACTGRRL47: anything new in the life of peter parker?
SciPete15: actually yeah 
ACTGRRL47: oooo do tell
SciPete15: remember that girl i told you about? my ra?
ACTGRRL47: yeah…
SciPete15: i got a date with her tomorrow!

There was a pause. Mary Jane didn’t type a response. Peter sat looking at the screen in confusion. He typed something back.

SciPete15: mj? u there?
ACTGRRL47: yeah sorry
SciPete15: np
ACTGRRL47: well thats good… hope u have a good time
SciPete15: u ok? 
ACTGRRL47: im fine just tired
SciPete15: rehearsal?
ACTGRRL47: right
ACTGRRL47: hey i really gotta go, i have to memorize lines
SciPete15: o ok
ACTGRRL47 has signed off.

Peter was slightly confused by the turn of events. There was something off about Mary Jane in the conversation. She wasn’t acting like herself for some reason.

“HOLY SHIT!” shouted Flash.

Peter nearly jumped when his roommate screamed. He looked at Flash. “What?”

“Dude, you totally missed it!” said Flash. “Spidey fired this web ball at a guy and it like exploded with webbing when it hit him! It was so cool! I am so looking that shit up on YouTube tomorrow!”

The phone rang and Peter answered it. “Hello?”

“Hi, I’m looking for Peter Parker.”

“That’s me.”

“This is Detective Jean DeWolff with the NYPD. I’m investigating the disappearance of Curt Connors.”

Peter hung up the phone in shock. He wasn’t sure what he should say to her and he panicked. A few moments later the phone rang again. Peter picked it up and slowly put it to his ear. “Hello?”

“Don’t do that again, kid,” came DeWolff’s voice.

“Sorry, it got disconnected,” said Peter.

“I have some questions I wanted to ask you about Connors. Do you have some free time on Friday?”

“Yeah,” said Peter. “But I don’t have a car or anything.”

“That’s fine, I’ll come to you. When are you done with classes?”

“Umm… around two,” said Peter.

“Then be in your dorm room by two thirty.”

“Sure,” said Peter.

“See you then.” There was a click and the call ended. Flash looked at Peter in curiosity as he hung up the phone.

“What was that all about?” asked Flash.

“Professor Connors is still missing and this detective wants to ask me questions about it,” said Peter.

“Scandalous,” said Flash. “What, were you boning the prof?”

Peter gave Flash a disgusted look.

Flash shrugged and turned his attention back to the television. “Just askin’.”

The drive to the restaurant was a short one that passed in relative silence. Peter wasn’t sure what to say to Gwen but he was certain things would change once they sat down. They’d have much more time to talk then.

He was nervous and trying to figure out something to talk about. But every time he opened his mouth, no sound came forth. Gwen found a parking spot and they walked inside the restaurant. The hostess smiled at the two of them.

“How many tonight? Two?” she asked.

Peter was about to say yes when Gwen spoke up first. “No, it’s three. Although our third party is running late, as usual.”

The surprise on Peter’s face was evident and although Gwen didn’t see it, the hostess did. She said, “Oh sure. Did you wanna wait before you get a seat?”

“No, we can go ahead,” said Gwen.

The hostess took three menus and led them to a table. Peter and Gwen sat across from each other. Peter wanted to say something, ask whom it was they were meeting here. But again no sound could come forth.

“You’re pretty quiet tonight,” said Gwen. Peter just sipped his water.

“Just tired I guess,” said Peter.

“Oh sorry, if you want to do this another night—”

“No it’s fine,” said Peter. “But I was wondering, who—”

A hand slapped Peter’s shoulder. “So I finally get the bookworm out of his room for once. Too bad I had to use a beautiful lady to do it.”

The voice was a familiar one and Peter sighed when he realized who it was. Harry Osborn, the son of Peter’s boss (although Harry didn’t know that). Peter wondered just what was going on here. Was Gwen trying to set him up with Harry? No, she wouldn’t do that. Not without telling him.

“You’re late as usual,” said Gwen with a smile.

“Can’t help it, my dad was talking my ear off,” said Harry. He took the seat next to Gwen and leaned in towards her. Peter was expecting a hug, not the mouth-to-mouth kiss he witnessed instead.

Harry put his arm around Gwen and the two looked at Peter. “So have you been protecting my girl from any guy who might try to hit on her?”

The shock on Peter’s face grew enormously.