Empire State University

“BOOYAH!”

Peter Parker jumped in shock from the sudden intrusion into his dorm room. After his classes, he relished in the opportunity to relax and read peacefully without his annoying roommate present. For one afternoon, Peter thought he would be spared the sounds of horrible hip hop music rattling the walls, or his roommate’s boasts about his performance on the football field.

Unfortunately, as Peter was beginning to learn, luck was rarely on his side. His roommate, Flash Thompson, had just charged into the room, practically knocking the door down. He threw something on Peter’s lap, covering the book Peter was reading. Hesighed and looked to see it was the latest issue of the campus newspaper.

“So what?” asked Peter.

“Dude, did you read the headline?” asked Flash.

Peter rolled his eyes and read aloud, “‘Mysterious Spider-Man battles escaped animal’. And?”

“This is what I was tellin’ you guys about, remember?” said Flash. “I was right there, man! They even quote me in the article! Look!”

Flash pointed at one of the paragraphs and Peter continued to read: “‘Flash Thompson, freshman, witnessed the entire battle. He claims the escaped animal had both him and Dean Miles Warren cornered when a masked man arrived and fought off the creature, rendering it unconscious until help could arrive. ‘That Spider-Man was doing all sorts of crazy thing, like shooting webs from his hands and lifting rocks like they were paper,’ said Thompson.’ So what?”

“Whaddaya mean, ‘so what’? This is huge!” said Flash. He yanked the paper away from Peter’s hands. “Think about it. We’ve got a superhero on campus. An honest-to-god, real-life superhero! Just like in the movies!”

Peter returned to his book, disregarding Flash. A part of him felt a tinge of pride, though. Flash Thompson, the guy who had been nothing but a supreme annoyance to Peter since move-in day, was now in awe of him. Only… Flash didn’t know it. When he thought of it that way, the revelation lacked some of its luster.

His eyes turned to the clock by his bed. It read three-fifteen. Peter’s Uncle Ben said he’d swing by the dorms around five o’clock to pick him up. Peter was looking forward to it. Soon he’d be back at home, eating his Aunt May’s cooking instead of the crappy dorm food. And then tonight was Midtown High’s homecoming game. Not that Peter was ever a fan of high school football, but it gave him an excuse to see his best friend Mary Jane.

But the more he thought about it, the more he realized he wasn’t that excited to see MJ. At least, not as excited as he thought he would be. It was probably just because he was still shaken from his battle with Doctor Connors. No, not Connors… the Lizard, he should say. What it came from didn’t matter—that thing Peter fought was not the Curt Connors he knew.

That was another fear Peter was experiencing. Connors lost his mind and changed into some monster. Is that what was going to happen to him? Was it just a slower process since Peter didn’t have as high a dosage as Connors did? Or was it something else entirely? There were so many questions running through Pete’s mind, and he didn’t know who he could turn to for the answers.

Peter closed his book. He had far too many thoughts on his mind that made reading absolutely impossible. He stood from the bed and tossed the book on the covers. As he walked towards the door, he heard Flash call out. “Where you going?”

“Just down the hall, I wanna ask Gwen something,” said Pete. “Hey, if someone calls for me, come let me know.”

“Get a freakin’ cell phone, man. What am I, your answering service?” asked Flash. “Besides, I don’t feel like taking messages from your boyfriends.”

“I’m not g—”

“Yeah, yeah, and de Nile’s just a river in Egypt.”

Peter felt like putting Flash’s head through the wall, but held back on that urge.

BIG-TIME SUPERHERO

Part I: Heart to Heart

By Dino Pollard

Harry Osborn felt out of place.

He was seated at a table in one of the finest restaurants in New York, and he was alone. His only companion was the latest issue of ESU’s campus newspaper. Of course, it’s not as if he was unaccustomed to this scenario. He had become quite used to it every month since he moved to ESU. It was a bonding ritual for him and his father to meet once a month for lunch.

Except his father was always late. And today was no exception.

Harry had read the front-page article about the Spider-Man five times already. As for the rest of the paper, he had read it cover to cover at least twice while waiting. His attempts to reach his father with his cell phone proved to be a wasted effort. Finally, he heard rushed footsteps approaching.

“Afternoon Harry,” came the voice of his father, Norman Osborn. Harry didn’t even bother lowering the paper.

“Hey Dad,” he said.

“Did you order?”

“Nah, I figured you’d be late again, so I decided to just wait.”

“I had a meeting,” said Norman.

“I know. You always have a meeting.”

Norman took a sip from the glass of water before him. A waiter handed him a menu and Norman opened it without even acknowledging the waiter. “I’ll have the duck.”

“Yes sir,” said the waiter. He turned to Harry. “And you?”

“Caesar salad, no chicken,” said Harry.

“You order the same thing every time we come here,” said Norman. “What is it with you and salads?”

“I’m a vegetarian, Dad.”

Norman scoffed. “Vegetarian. If your grandfather were still alive—”

“—he’d smack me upside my head. Yeah, I know. We have this conversation every month.”

“Don’t get smart with me, Harold,” said Norman. “And put that paper away. Show some respect for your elders.”

Norman’s hand shot out and he grabbed the newspaper from Harry’s grasp. “Hey—!” said Harry. Norman ignored his son and looked at the front page.

“The Torch?” he asked with a raised eyebrow.

“It’s ESU’s paper,” said Harry. “You know, that place I go to for an education?”

“I know. I pay the tuition bills, don’t I?” said Norman. He read the headline to himself. “What’s this ‘Spider-Man’? More of that MTV crap?”

“Anything that has to do with people under the age of forty is ‘that MTV crap’ as far as you’re concerned, Dad,” said Harry.

Norman folded the paper and set it down on the table. “Then why does my network have high demographics for that age group?”

“C’mon, OsCorp’s got so many subsidies, you barely know what’s being shown on your network,” said Harry.

“I see school hasn’t improved your manners,” said Norman.

“I learned from the best…” was Harry’s muffled response.

“What was that?”

“Nothing, sir.”

Empire State University

“…yeah, I saw,” said Gwen. “It’s amazing what guys like Flash Thompson will resort to for their fifteen minutes of fame.”

Peter looked down at the newspaper, then back at Gwen. “So you think the story’s a hoax?”

“Oh come on. It has to be,” said Gwen. “First off, if there were superheroes—which there aren’t—do you honestly think they’d come to this shithole? Not even a badly-dressed one, which this guy allegedly is, would be caught dead at ESU. Not when he could be in Manhattan or Boston or Chicago.”

Peter’s spirits dropped. He had hoped the enthusiasm Flash showed for Spider-Man would translate to Gwen as well. Unfortunately, he was proved wrong. On the other hand, it was a bit empowering. Gwen didn’t care at all about the Spider-Man, but she seemed to enjoy spending time with a dorky freshman like him.

“Still going home for Labor Day?” asked Gwen.

“Yeah, my uncle should be here to pick me up soon,” said Peter.

“Too bad, you’re gonna miss some great parties.”

“C’mon, we both know I’m not the partying type,” said Peter.

Gwen allowed herself a grin. “Could’ve fooled me.”

Peter blushed. She referred to the night when he threw up outside the Alpha Sigma Lambda house. Everyone at the party simply assumed he drank too much. In reality, the nausea came from the spider bite which granted Peter his newfound powers. A night of excessive drinking proved to be a convincing cover story, and Pete awoke the next day on Gwen’s futon.

“That’s… not how I usually am,” he said. “Let’s just say it was a weird night.”

“Fair enough.”

“What about you? Going home or staying here?”

“My dad’s swamped with work, so there’s no point in me going home, unless I want to sit home with my cat and watch Lifetime,” she said.

“What about your mom?” asked Peter. “Didn’t you say she lived in Boston?”

“Yeah, she does… with her new husband and she’s enjoying her new life,” said Gwen. “I haven’t talked to her in a few years, and I don’t plan to start now.”

“Oh, sorry to hear that,” said Peter.

“Don’t be. I’m not.”

Peter felt a little uncomfortable with the turn the conversation had taken. He felt bad for bringing up Gwen’s family, because it seemed to be a sore subject for her. Even though his parents were dead, his aunt and uncle were really good to him while he was growing up and he couldn’t have really asked for a better pair of parents.

“This is starting to get depressing,” said Gwen. “What are your plans once you go home?”

“I’m gonna go to my high school’s homecoming game,” said Peter.

“Ugh, I always hated those things,” she said and made a face.

“I’m not a big fan either, but I wanna see some old friends,” he said.

“That should be fun,” said Gwen.

“Yeah…” said Peter. He felt he didn’t have much else to say, so he changed the subject. “So you really think that the Spider-Man thing is a hoax?”

Gwen nodded.

“Why’s that?”

“Well look, Flash is the only witness that the paper talked to. See, look at this part: ‘Both Dean Warren and police officials declined to comment.’ And the only picture is an artist rendering based on Flash’s description. And… it looks like something out of a comic book.”

She handed the paper to Peter and he had to admit, the drawing did look like it came from a comic book. Even if it was extremely accurate.

“What do you think?” asked Gwen.

“I… I dunno,” said Peter. “You’re right, it’s probably a hoax.”

An hour later, Peter was sitting in a local coffee shop. Across the table was his uncle, Ben Parker. Peter had a regular cup of coffee in front of him, with cream and sugar, whereas his Uncle Ben had a cup of green tea.

“Thought we’d relax a little before we head back,” said Ben. “No reason we have to rush home. We can let your aunt worry a little, can’t we?” He winked and Peter smiled. Uncle Ben always had a way of cheering him up. “So how’s it been so far?”

“Okay, I guess. Classes are pretty easy so far,” said Peter.

“How are the people? Making friends up there?”

“A few, yeah. My R.A. is really nice. And there’s this guy from one of the frats who’s been pretty nice to me.”

“Ahh frats… I remember those days…”

“You were in a frat?” asked Peter.

“No, but I went to a lot of their parties,” said Ben with a smile. “Don’t tell your aunt I told you this, but that’s where we first met.”

“Really?”

“Oh yeah. But just remember my word of advice, Pete—everything in moderation. Including moderation.”

Peter laughed.

“And your roommate?”

“He’s… kind of… well… annoying,” said Peter.

“First ones usually are,” said Ben. “Don’t worry. Just gotta last through freshman year and then you can move in with one of your friends.”

“Yeah.”

“So, is that it?” asked Ben. “Nothing else exciting happen?”

“Well… there is something that happened. And I think I should tell you about it.”

Ben’s ears perked up. “Lay it on me, kiddo.”

“You know how I got that science scholarship?” asked Peter. “And how I was going to work with Professor Connors as his lab assistant?”

“Yeah…?”

“Well, during one of the experiments, there was an… an accident.”

Ben grew concerned. “What kind of accident?”

Peter opened his mouth to respond, but then he stopped himself. He looked down at his coffee and took a big gulp of it. This was not going to be easy to say, but he had to tell someone what was going on, what happened to Connors, all of it. Because it was beginning to eat him up inside. And if he didn’t talk soon, he would burst.

“Okay… now I know this is gonna sound like something out of a bad movie and I know it’s gonna sound crazy, but you have to just hear me out. Okay?”

Ben leaned forward. “I’m all ears.”