Nichos Jessup slid the glove over his hand. The costume was complete, except
for web-shooters, which he still had been unable to build.
Nic had created an exact replica of the costume that the original Spider-Man
had wore. He walked across his bedroom, tucking his mask into his belt. A
make-shift lab was set up on his desk. Nic was still uncomfortable with his new
surroundings in Xavier City, but his mother had told him he would adjust.
Nic ran his hand across his desk unconsciously while looking at the beakers
bubbling on a burner. He picked up an empty capsule and one of the hot beakers,
and poured part of the contents of the beaker into the capsule, filling it. Nic
snapped it shut, pressurising the web capsule. He checked the magnetic lines
wrapped around his forearms and filled two other capsules of webbing, just in
case.
After he placed the capsules into his belt, which blended in with his
costume, Nic took the mask from his belt and slipped it over his head. The
lenses worked perfectly, giving Nic one hundred percent visibility.
Nic walked over to the window and flung it open. It was dark outside.
Perfect.
He threw the line to one of the nearest high rises to his apartment building,
the magnet at the end attaching to the building.
Tonight Earth would regain its champion, Spider-Man!
Erin Farr walked along the jungle floor outside Xavier City. This was one of
her favourite places. She had walked here with her beloved Jakob before his
sudden accidental death.
Or so Xi'an, the blasted city council member, had said. She believed that
Jake had been murdered, but by who was beyond her. She turned her eyes to the
sky and watched a shooting star, imagining Jake with her, his strong arms around
her, caressing her neck with kisses, their bodies pressed together.
Then she realised the shooting star was getting closer. Erin's precognitive
abilities suddenly kicked in, and she saw the meteor crashing in the jungle, and
seeing a magnificent creature coming out of it. Erin marked the star's
trajectory, and ran to where she guessed it would land. Sure enough, she stopped
at the clearing that she had seen in her vision moments earlier.
The meteor was already there, but the creature hadn't exited the craft. Then,
suddenly, it did, and fantastic spider-like creature, with delicate legs, and a
beautiful glistening coat, stood in front of her. Erin took several steps
closer.
The spider leapt from the meteor-craft and attached itself to Erin's breast.
It tore aside Erin's shirt and pressed against her skin. Slowly, the spider
melted into Erin's skin. Erin stared at her bare chest where the spider had
been, feeling a new power within her.
Two spider legs suddenly erupted from her back. Erin laughed. Her lover's
murderer would pay. After, of course, mating. The Black Widow started walking
back to Xavier City. The Great Barrier had fallen,
and this world was ripe
for the conquer.
(in 2099: Manifest Destiny - David)
Of course, that wasn't her concern.
Mating was.
Nic swung over the city, hoping he wouldn't attract too much attention just
yet. Spider-Man was a well known figure in the world, and he wanted word to
spread slowly about the new Spider-Man.
He'd thought the city was awesome before, but the view from the rooftops was
breath taking. Nic decided that it was time to head back home, tonight just
being a 'test drive,' so to speak, of the costume, mag-line and webbing. Nic
pulled one of the three impact web capsules from his belt, and flung it at a
nearby window as he swung.
It hit and exploded perfectly, leaving a web that would have held the Hulk in
place. It would dissolve in an hour, but the other batches were stronger,
remaining for two to three hours, leaving time for the authorities to arrive at
the scene and take the criminal into custody.
Nic smiled. He had actually made the formula too strong on accident, but
wouldn't admit it to anyone but himself. Of course anyone would have done the
same thing if they'd got their hand stuck in their pocket with webbing for two
hours.
Nic swung into his still open window. He quickly undressed and collapsed into
bed smiling. He soon fell into a dreamless sleep.
Ben Reilly was confused. Where had he woken up? This city was strange, very
much unlike New York City. It seemed that this city was more advanced than where
he was from by decades. Ben had just seen Spider-Man overhead, which confused
him.
Or was it Spider-Man? Had Peter started superheroing again? Or was it someone
else?
Ben decided to investigate, although he wasn't that wonderful of a detective.
He ducked back into the alleyway in Xavier City.
"NIC!"
Nic jolted awake.
It was his mom, Doctor Amanda Jessup, Doc to everyone except Nic and his
brother Sam. Nic hurried and got dressed. He was pulling his socks on when he
realised that he had slept in. Nic cursed and finished pulling his socks on and
grabbed his shoes, hoping to pull them on at the breakfast table. He ran out of
his room and did a triple flip off the stairs of their two-storey apartment.
He landed perfectly, and silently thanked God for giving him his mutant
spider-powers. His mother frowned at him, while Sam cheered and his best friend
Kessa Halle clapped. Nic bowed and put his shoes on, knowing that if Kessa was
here, he was really late.
The two left quickly, hoping not to be late to school.
Even though Xavier City was new, with still had schools, as much as Nic had
wished that it would be destroy by the previous day's battle between the X-Men
and Glitterspike.
(in X-Men 2099
#3 - Tony)
"What did you do last night that tired you out like it did?" Kessa asked
suddenly. Nic looked at her, surprise evident on his face.
"Well, um," Nic made a show of playing with his light brown hair, and was
thankfully interrupted by a classmate.
"Hey!" the kid yelled. His name escaped Nic for the moment, and it seemed
that Kessa had forgotten as well.
"Uh, hi," Kessa said politely. The kid smiled a wolfish smile as he looked
Kessa up and down. He wished Kessa would use her distortion powers to displace
him.
"Have you guys heard there's a new Spider-Dude?" he said, jolting out of his
sick thoughts about Kessa. Nic cringed. Someone had seen him in the webs. He
felt like kicking himself.
"It's Spider-Man you, moron," Kessa retorted, "and no we haven't."
'I knew about him,' Nic thought to himself.
"Well Jimmy Johnson's brother's girlfriend saw him last night," the kid said.
Nic wondered if there really was a Jimmy Johnson, or if he was just made up. The
name sounded incredibly fake.
"Don't you mean them?" Nic corrected. The kid nodded and then yelled at some
other person he saw, directly into Nic's ear. Nic felt like slapping the kid as
he ran past, but he didn't. Kessa leaned over to him.
"Did you know who that was?" Nic shrugged. "Neither did I." Nic grinned and
the two walked into the school.
All day, all Nic could think about was getting on patrol. People had seen
him, and, from what he guessed, another Spider-Man, probably in a different
costume.
Finally school let out, and Nic and Kessa met outside. Kessa insisted on
walking past the statue of Charles Xavier in the city centre, so, although Nic was eager
to put on the webs, he followed.
(The statue was unveiled in X-Men 2099
#1 - Tony)
Kessa stopped and stared at the statue while Nic took the time to read the
names. He read the names of legends like Scott Summers, Remy LeBeau, Logan, Jean
Grey-Summers, Nathan Dayspring, Kurt Wagner, and many, many others. Most had
been killed in the Sentinel Dawn. And then, his gaze moved to the last two
names. Uatu the Watcher, and Steve Rogers. Steve Rogers was perhaps the greatest
legend ever, the only hero to survive from the twentieth to the present day.
"Let's go," said Kessa. Nic nodded and followed. They walked in silence for
several minutes.
"Wouldn't it be great to have your name there?" Kessa said suddenly.
"On the statue?" Nic asked. Kessa nodded. "Heck, a couple of mutant kids, we
might end up in the X-Men."
Or as Spider-Man, Nic thought to himself.
"I don't know if Xi'an needs members right now, but we can't just walk up to
him and say, 'Hey let me join the X-Men.'"
"Good point," Kessa said. They stopped in front of Nic's building. "See you
later Nicky," Kessa continued, punching him playfully.
"Yeah," Nic said, "later."
Several minutes later, Nic swung over Xavier City Centre. He knew that if the
high school knew about him, then most of the city knew. People pointed into the
air as Nic swung over their heads. It was perfect. Xavier City, and soon the
world, would know Spider-Man was back!
Nic stopped over an alley. He could hear a mugger below with an older woman.
Nic took a thing of impact webbing from his belt and got ready to throw it as
soon as the woman was clear. Spider-Man jumped into the alley.
The mugger had his back to him. Perfect.
"Step away from the woman," Nic said in his most authoritative voice. The
mugger spun, his gun held at arm's length. Nic slowly slipped his hand into his
belt and drew another web capsule.
"Who do you think you are?" the mugger said. "Some sort of superhero? Some
kid playing Spider-Man?"
"I ain't no kid," Spider-Man said. "I'm Spider-Man!"
With that he threw one of the capsules at the gun, effectively gumming up the
gun, and covering up the hand. Shocked, the mugger stared at his hand, and then
rushed Nic. Nic easily side-stepped, and put his black-belt in karate into use,
kicking the mugger, and knocking him up against the wall. Angered, the mugger
pushed away and leapt at Nic.
It was then that Nic threw the other web capsule. The mugger hit it, and it
exploded, covering the mugger in webbing. Nic walked over to the woman, who had
been pushed to the ground as the mugger spun to face Spider-Man and stayed there
the remainder of the fight.
"Are you okay ma'am?" Nic asked as he helped her up. She nodded. "Good,"
Spider-Man continued, "call the police to take him into custody, and tell your
friends about me. You can feel safe now. Spider-Man is back."
Xi'an was sat in his office, wondering how the team he had founded were doing
as he went over the administrative chores that were part of his office. He
didn't like doing them but he didn't have much of a choice, if Xavier City was
to run smoothly. Then a holo-call came in for him, and immediately he put the
paperwork down to answer it, hoping it might be the X-Men with word of what was
going on. However it wasn't them, it was Miguel.
"Any word from the X-Men?" he asked.
"Nothing," said Xi'an. "They haven't checked in yet either. I'm a little
concerned, though I feel that they will be able to handle any problems that
arise."
Then the door burst open.
"Sir, you have to see this." Xi'an looked at him, then back to Miguel. "Duty
calls," he said. Miguel nodded and Xi'an followed the aide, sending a signal to
Victor Ten Eagles.
Nic watched as Xi'an rushed into the alley with one of his aides. He saw the
webbed up form of the mugger and his jaw dropped.
"The lady who called this in said it was Spider-Man," the aide said. "She
said he saved her life."
"I want the line to Miguel re-opened by the time I get back to my office,"
Xi'an ordered. "He'll want to hear about this."
Nic smiled under the mask. He was having the desired effect. Nic threw the
magnetic end of his line and swung away, not seeing the arrival of Ten Eagles on
the scene, or the man slipping away in the crowd.
He had no idea he was being followed.
The holo of Miguel was up by the time Xi'an got to his office, just as he'd
ordered. Miguel look more anxious then he had been several minutes ago.
"What is it, Xi'an?" he questioned, wondering what had happened. He wasn't
expecting his call back to sound so urgent. Xi'an looked directly at Miguel and
swallowed. There was only one way to do this.
"You're not going to believe this. I just saw a sign that there's a new
Spider-Man in town..."
Nic made a perfect landing on the roof of his building. He looked around and
started to undress from his costume when he heard someone land behind him.
"Spider-Man?" the voice inquired. Nic pulled his mask and shirt back on and
turned to look at the new arrival. He was dressed in street clothes, but had
gloves over his hands.
"Yes, what do you want?" Spider-Man asked.
"I'm Ben Reilly," the man said, "I need your help..."
In Spider-Man 2099 #2: The shocking secret of Ben Reilly revealed! The
return of Punisher 2099! And what does Miguel O'Hara think of the new
Spider-Man?!? All this and Kessa's mutant power in thirty.
