Peter Parker (Part 3)

"Parker. Mr. Parker?"

Peter Parker's wandering consciousness was yanked back by the geometry teacher's raised voice and the sharp crack of a ruler hitting the blackboard. He realized he was sitting in algebra class.

"Would you care to answer the question, Mr. Parker?" The geometry teacher pointed her ruler at the geometric figure on the board.

Peter blinked, staring at the figure for a few seconds. "The answer is 60 degrees, ma'am."

"Correct. Thank you, Mr. Parker."

The teacher turned her attention back to the lesson, and Peter Parker returned to his daze, like a battery-dead electric toy.

He'd been in this state for quite some time. His attention was scattered, he was listless and dejected, his gaze seemed determined to fixate on his own shoetips as he walked, utterly dispirited like a zombie.

He ignored everyone, even when his few friends tried to show him concern. Even when Flash Thompson – a muscular idiot from the school football team who always delighted in bullying Peter – tried to pick a fight with him after school, Peter simply walked around him, ignoring him.

The football star clearly wouldn't accept being ignored by a nerd. Flash grabbed Peter's shoulder, snarling, "No time, Parker? I'll make time for you."

Flash never expected that this weak, bookish nerd he'd been bullying for years would suddenly erupt with strength and courage from nowhere. He didn't see what happened at all; he just felt the nerd turn around, and then an immense force detonated in his abdomen like hot dynamite. Flash turned pale, clutching his stomach with sweat beading on his forehead, and collapsed to the ground, unable to speak for a long time.

"Not in the mood today, Thompson."

Peter said darkly, slinging his backpack over his shoulder and striding out, ignoring the stunned crowd around him.

Peter Parker wasn't like this before. What kind of kid was he? Perhaps most people who knew him would give similar answers.

Peter Parker, Caucasian, sixteen years old, high school student. He was a complete bookworm, much better at dealing with books than people. Apart from his excellent grades, he had no other talents. His sports performance always hovered around the passing line, and according to his gym teacher, his physique didn't even measure up to the average level of the girls' group.

But that was before this year.

Ten months ago, an accident during a school-organized field trip to Osborn Corporation changed his life. A spider contaminated with "Oz serum" somehow escaped its containment unit and bit him. The Oz serum infected his blood through the wound, further modifying his genetic structure and granting him extraordinary strength far beyond human limits.

If Peter Parker's life before that was just a glass of plain, unremarkable water, then from that point on, his life became a rich stew of all flavors.

First, Peter lost his most beloved Uncle Ben due to an irresponsible mistake, learning the adage "With great power comes great responsibility" in a painful way. To avoid similar regrets, he donned a suit, became "New York's friendly neighborhood" Spider-Man, and made it his mission to punish evil and eliminate harm.

Things started off incredibly smoothly. His superpowers, his suit, the good deeds he did, and the people he saved – for years, Peter had imagined his life taking a turn more than once, just like countless teenagers his age who longed to be the center of attention, the object of girls' affections. And now, it seemed he finally had that chance, like the protagonist in a movie. He put on the suit and fought for justice, feeling as though this was his destiny, as if he had found his purpose for the first time in his life.

Peter was smart, but he was, after all, just a sixteen-year-old boy. The buzz around Spider-Man briefly clouded his judgment, leading him to make the decision he regretted most in his life, besides Uncle Ben's death.

He told the girl he had a crush on for a long time that he was Spider-Man.

Her name was Gwen Stacy, a classmate. She had grades as excellent as Peter's, and at sixteen, she had already secured an internship at Osborn Corporation. Peter's impression of her was a dazzlingly bright blonde hair, skin like Snow White, fashionable and cute attire, and sometimes a black headband.

Peter could hardly describe how happy he was when Gwen agreed to be his girlfriend. For a while, he truly felt this was what his destined life was supposed to be.

Until Harry Osborn – Peter's best friend – put on the Green Goblin gear left by his father and came to seek revenge on his glider.

If anything, Harry used to be a pretty good guy, at least to Peter. Harry often stood up for Peter when he was bullied by classmates. For a long time, Harry was his only friend.

Peter still didn't fully understand what happened later, but from Harry's incoherent ramblings while high on the Green Goblin serum, he gathered that Harry seemed to blame Spider-Man for his father's death.

Nine months ago, countless eyewitnesses saw the Green Goblin attack a banquet. Spider-Man smashed through a window trying to stop him, and the two wrestled on the Green Goblin's glider before disappearing into the night.

The next day, newspapers reported an explosion at the Osborn residence. A charred corpse wearing tattered Green Goblin armor was pulled from the rubble. DNA tests confirmed the individual was Norman Osborn.

Although the police and the FBI found no corresponding evidence, Norman's son, Harry Osborn, insisted that Spider-Man had killed his father. He also injected himself with the Oz serum, stole company equipment, and became the second Green Goblin, seeking revenge on Spider-Man.

The Oz serum further twisted and fractured Harry's already traumatized psyche, making him manic and erratic. Later, by chance, he discovered that Spider-Man's true identity was his best friend, Peter Parker. This made him believe Peter had betrayed him, further exacerbating his mental illness.

This was why he threw Gwen off the Washington Bridge.

Peter was at the scene. He watched Harry throw Gwen off the bridge with his own eyes and desperately tried to save her. The web he shot caught Gwen at the last second. For a moment, he felt relieved, thinking he had succeeded.

But he hadn't.

The combined pull of the webbing and gravity snapped her neck, instantly taking her life. For a moment, Peter, consumed by grief, truly wanted to kill Harry. He unleashed his full strength, punching the Green Goblin's face again and again, shattering his mask and tearing his skin. He beat him until Harry was barely alive, only able to let out unconscious groans.

But in the end, he didn't.

What was the point? Gwen was dead. Even if he killed his once best friend, it wouldn't bring her back.

If there was one thing this incident made him realize, it was how absurd and laughable his efforts over the past ten months had been. Spider-Man was a joke, and everything he did only hurt those close to him.

So he gave up. At least he still had Aunt May. He couldn't let Spider-Man's messes involve Aunt May anymore. He decided to go back to being an ordinary boy, attending school on time every day, coming home on time, and no longer getting entangled with supervillains on the way.

Just as he thought this, Peter's Spider-Sense buzzed in his mind like an alarm set to maximum volume. Spider-Sense was one of his abilities, warning him of approaching danger.

Without hesitation, Peter instinctively performed a backflip, narrowly dodging a surprise attack from a dark silhouette. He landed on his palms, flipped again, and crouched, creating distance.

Peter looked up. In the middle of the empty road before him stood a dark, strange figure. He had messy red hair like a bird's nest, wore a blue and black bodysuit, and a tattered red cape.

Peter held his breath. Instinctively, he sensed something inexplicably odd about this figure whose aesthetic sense was rather unfashionable.

He narrowed his eyes. "Who are you?"

No answer. The dark-clothed figure let out a sound somewhere between a roar and a wail. He pushed off the ground and lunged forward like a charging leopard.