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The wind screamed through Manhattan's steel canyons as Spider-Man swung between the towering spires of the Empire State Building, his web-shooters firing in desperate succession. Below him, the Sinister Six had turned midtown into a war zone Electro's lightning split the night sky, Sandman's massive fists crushed police barricades, and Doctor Octopus orchestrated the chaos from his perch on the building's observation deck.
"Come on, Parker," Peter muttered through gritted teeth, dodging a barrage of pumpkin bombs from the Green Goblin. "Just another Tuesday night in the Big Apple."
His spider-sense exploded in warning as Vulture dove from above, razor-sharp talons gleaming. Peter twisted in midair, firing a web-line that caught the elderly villain's wing and sent him spinning into Mysterio's billowing smoke cloud. The impact dispersed the illusion master's fog, revealing civilians huddled on the building's lower observation platforms trapped between the battle above and certain death below.
"Thirty-seven civilians on the south platform," Peter calculated, his enhanced reflexes allowing him to process multiple threats simultaneously. "Eighteen more on the east side. They're sitting ducks."
Rhino charged across the building's facade, his horn sparking against steel and glass as he aimed for a support beam that would send debris raining down on the trapped innocents. Peter's web caught the charging brute mid-stride, but the villain's momentum was too great the web snapped, and Rhino's trajectory shifted directly toward the civilian platform.
"No, no, NO!" Peter launched himself downward, abandoning his defensive position as Doctor Octopus's mechanical arms reached for him. He had perhaps three seconds before Rhino's bulk would crush twenty people who'd done nothing wrong except visit New York's most famous landmark.
Time dilated as Peter's heightened senses kicked into overdrive. He could see Mrs. Chen clutching her daughter's hand, could hear little Tommy Martinez crying for his mother, could smell the ozone building in the air as Electro prepared for another devastating attack. His web-shooters were nearly empty maybe two shots left.
Peter fired both cartridges simultaneously, one web catching Rhino's horn and pulling him off course, the other creating a safety net beneath the civilians. The plan worked perfectly Rhino crashed harmlessly into the building's steel framework while the people below found themselves cushioned by webbing.
But Peter had forgotten about Electro.
"Lights out, spider!" Maxwell Dillon cackled, his electrically-charged form crackling with malevolent energy. "Time to fry!"
The bolt hit Peter center-mass as he hung suspended between his web-lines, sixty stories above the street. Fifty thousand volts coursed through his body, every nerve ending screaming in agony as his muscles seized and his heart stuttered. His enhanced physiology, which had saved him countless times before, could only absorb so much.
"That's... that's for Ben," Peter whispered, thinking of his uncle as electricity cooked him from the inside out. "For everyone I couldn't save."
Through the haze of pain, he saw the civilians safely evacuating down his web-lines, guided by arriving emergency responders. The Sinister Six were retreating their coordinated assault broken by his sacrifice play. Doctor Octopus's frustrated roar echoed across the city as police helicopters closed in.
Peter's grip failed. He fell, his charred body spinning through the night air past windows full of people living their lives families eating dinner, children doing homework, couples watching late-night television. Normal people living normal lives because heroes like him stood between them and the darkness.
The pavement rushed up to meet him, but instead of impact, there was only... nothing.
Consciousness returned like a tide rolling in slowly, then all at once. Peter's eyes snapped open, expecting to see either the sterile white of a hospital ceiling or the eternal darkness of whatever came after. Instead, he found himself staring up at a narrow slice of purple-black sky, framed by grimy brick walls that stretched impossibly high on either side.
"What the hell?" Peter groaned, pushing himself to his feet. His body felt... wrong. Not injured, exactly, but different. The electrical burns were gone, his costume was intact, and he felt stronger somehow. More alive than he had in years.
The alley around him reeked of urban decay and human misery. Garbage overflowed from rusted dumpsters, graffiti covered every available surface, and somewhere in the shadows, rats scurried through pools of stagnant water. This definitely wasn't Manhattan.
"Where am I?" Peter asked the empty alley, his voice echoing off the narrow walls. The architecture was wrong too Gothic, too brooding. Even the shadows seemed heavier here, as if the very air was saturated with darkness.
A faint blue glow caught his peripheral vision. Peter turned, and his enhanced senses immediately detected something impossible a translucent interface floating in the air beside him, filled with text and symbols that pulsed with their own inner light.
[SYSTEM INITIALIZATION COMPLETE]
WELCOME TO THE WEB SYSTEM
Player: Peter Benjamin Parker
Status: Registered
Thread Level: 1 [UNLOCKED]
"Okay," Peter said slowly, reaching toward the floating display. His fingers passed through it harmlessly, but the text responded to his proximity, scrolling to reveal more information. "This is either the weirdest dream I've ever had, or I'm seriously not in Kansas anymore."
BASIC STATISTICS INITIALIZED
STRENGTH: 12
ENDURANCE: 11
AGILITY: 15
INTELLIGENCE: 16
SENSORY: 13
The numbers meant nothing to him, but somehow Peter understood their significance. They represented him quantified in a way that felt both alien and strangely familiar, like a video game character sheet made manifest in reality.
DAILY QUEST SYSTEM ACTIVATED
Current Objective: Establish Heroic Presence
Requirements: Stop 3 crimes, save 5 civilians, maintain secret identity
Reward: Experience Points, Statistical Improvements
Failure Penalty: [CLASSIFIED]
"Daily quest?" Peter muttered. "What is this, some kind of cosmic RPG?"
His spider-sense, which had been blessedly quiet since his awakening, suddenly flared to life with an intensity he'd never experienced. Not the usual tingle of nearby danger, but something vast and malevolent turning its attention toward him from across impossible distances. The sensation made his teeth ache and his vision blur at the edges.
The System interface pulsed urgently, new text appearing in blood-red letters:
WARNING: COSMIC ENTITY ATTENTION DETECTED
THREAT LEVEL: [CALCULATING...]
RECOMMENDATION: IMMEDIATE POWER GROWTH REQUIRED
From the mouth of the alley came the sound of approaching footsteps heavy boots on cracked pavement, accompanied by the distinctive swoosh of a cape in the wind. Peter's enhanced hearing caught the subtle whir of advanced technology, the quiet hum of what sounded like surveillance equipment.
A shadow fell across the alley's entrance, impossibly dark and seemingly alive. Two glowing white eyes appeared within that shadow, fixed directly on Peter with an intensity that made his newly enhanced senses scream warnings.
The Dark Knight of Gotham had found him.
And somehow, Peter knew his new life was about to become infinitely more complicated.