Peter had regrets. Many, many regrets.
It was only meant to be a joke. Heh.
The new villain had appeared a while ago. Her sole purpose was to unmask Peter, and he would just avoid her - she wasn't causing any damage to anyone but him - but she kept deliberately getting herself attacked by street-level thugs, and Peter rarely realised it was her until she was thanking him and trying to yank off his mask.
A scream broke the air, and Spidey raced over the rooftops to where a teenage boy was struggling against the arms of his kidnapper. Peter webbed the kidnapper's face, sending them stumbling back, and tied them up.
"Are you okay?" He asked the boy, moving closer. He was wearing a hood, and it was only when he looked up that Peter realised it was actually a girl. He jerked his head away as she lunged for his mask, and leapt up to perch halfway up a wall.
"Hey! You've got to stop this. Someday I won't get here in time. Besides even if you do get it off, you might not like what you see," he said with a wink to balance out the gravity of his first warning.
The girl said nothing, running out of the alleyway instead. He didn't follow her - she'd done nothing illegal so he couldn't attack her. Instead, he dealt with the confused kidnapper and continued with patrol.
The next time was almost a week later. A criminal gang Peter had been tracking were surrounding a trembling old lady.
"Hey!" Peter yelled, shooting webs at the lady and pulling her gently into the air, leaving her on the fire escape as he leapt into the road and took on the several thugs. It was a hard fight, especially after a long day of dealing with Flash's nonsense, so he relaxed a little as he swung back to the victim. "Sorry about that, ma'am." He put an arm around her waist and lowered them both slowly down to the ground. Halfway, the lady began wriggling, and reached for his mask. He couldn't stop her without dropping her - one hand was around her and the other holding the web supporting them both - as she tugged his mask clean off.
"Hey!" He yelled, dropping the web when they got close enough to the ground for him to absorb the impact safely, and pushed her away, stumbling a little. She looked at his face, wide-eyed, straightening her pretend stoop as she staggered back.
"H-how many of these do you have?" she demanded, holding up the mask she'd pulled off - his spare one, that he'd worn over the top in case. Just as well, it seemed. It was the first time he'd heard her speak, and her voice was small but firm.
"What, so you know how many times to put your life in danger?" He checked his actual mask was secure. After the first near-miss when she'd almost tugged it right off, he'd started wearing two masks as a precaution. But this really was the only one left. "You really have to stop this. You're going to get one of us killed, and if you try this again I will issue a restraining order for harassment." She flinched a little at his tone, then held up his spare mask.
"I'm sorry. Here, have it back. I'll stop, you're right." She stepped forwards, and he met her halfway, reaching for the fabric. Instead of handing it over, she dropped it and lunged for him, legs wrapping around his torso as she scrabbled at the seal at his neck, momentum sending them both crashing into the wall.
"Hey-ow! - stop it!" He yelped, trying to get his hands up to push her off without hurting her. She tugged at his last mask, and he closed his eyes.
But he'd been expecting the attack, and had used his powers to stick himself to the inside of his mask. So when she pulled, nothing happened apart from his skin tugging where it was attached.
"Ow!" he cried out as she yanked it. "Stop! That hurts!" Her nail had piercing something at the back of his mask, causing the interrogation mode voice filter to flash on. "Get off!" He shoved her away instinctively, the sensitive skin on his face complaining too loudly. She flew across the alley, slamming into the opposite wall. Peter blinked at the retina control in his mask, de-activating interrogation mode as he realised what he'd done. "Oh my- are you okay?" He felt his lenses open as wide as they would go to convey his horror.
She scrambled back from his, her own eyes wide and horrified. "Stay back!"
"I'm so sorry! Are you hurt? I didn't mean it, I swear-"
She got shakily to her feet as he stopped and held up placating hands. They stared at each other for a moment, both breathing heavily, and whatever she saw in his mask made her start screaming uncontrollably and sprinting for the main street.
"Wait! No, come back! Please, let me-" And she was gone. Peter slid down the alley wall, burying his face in his hands. He'd sworn never to use his power to hurt another. So how had he managed to make one teenage girl so very terrified of him? Uncle Ben would be so disappointed.
Ned phoned Peter at midnight that night. Peter was still awake, worrying about the girl he'd pushed. She hadn't seemed hurt, but... his phone rang.
"Dude, what the heck?" Ned screeched into his ear. Peter pulled the phone sharply away before it could damage his eardrums.
"What is it?" He asked worriedly. "Are you okay?"
"Have you seen the news recently?"
"No?" Had the girl told the news? Would Spider-Man be hunted as a corrupt criminal who used his powers to harm innocent young girls?
"Go look at the news."
"Okay." Peter hung up, and opened the news app on his phone, plugging in headphones so he didn't disturb May.
"Is Queens' friendly neighbourhood Spider-Man actually a man? Could those puns and easy-going nature be masking something much darker? An anonymous witness report earlier today said that when the hero's mask was removed, his face looked the same underneath, but wasn't another mask. They said they tried pulling it off too, but it wouldn't move and seemed to be causing the hero pain, to the point that he lost control and lashed out. 'It was only for a second, but his voice changed as well - low pitched and scary, like a growl.' The hero tried to stop the witness as they fled the scene, terrified.
"So could it be? For years we've let this being with strange supernatural powers swing around our city uncontrolled, content not to look too close as he saves our citizens and jokes his way through villains. But is it really a man under that mask? Or has some other creature been haunting our planet for three years, unnoticed and disguised? Is it really helping, or does it have some ulterior motive? What will it do now that its secret has been revealed? Stay tuned for more."
Peter blinked at his phone. They thought... they thought he was an alien?
Peter phoned Ned back immediately.
Patrol the next day was chaotic to say the least. People stared as he swung overhead, nobody yelled for him to do a flip, and when he dropped into alleyways people ran from him, victim and mugger alike. Nobody even asked him if he was actually an alien, they just stared at him with wide eyes or screamed. Peter ended his patrol a lot sooner than usual and got an early night for once.
The next day was the same, and the next. Online, conspiracies were spiralling wildly out of control. Spider-Man was all anyone could talk about - where was he from? Did he lay eggs? Why was he 'helping out'?
Finally, on the fourth day, a news company waved him down. Hoping this wouldn't come back to bite him, Peter dropped towards them. Many news companies had tried to interview him before, but he usually had something else to do. Now, nobody wanted his help. In fact, crime had gone down because criminals didn't want to be caught by him.
"S-spider-Man," the reporter began, cringing a little as he came close.
"Geez, I'm not going to bite," he muttered as he stepped back, raising his arms. "I can talk from here, that's fine."
The reporter swallowed and glanced nervously at his cameraman. "U-um, Spider-Man, is it- is it true that you're not human?"
"I crawl on walls, what do you think?" Peter couldn't help the bitterness. That girl had ruined the thing he loved most. At the reporter's wide eyes, however, he waved away his words. "I'm not an alien."
"H-has anyone seen your real face?"
"Yes, quite a lot of people."
"Anyone who could vouch for your humanity."
Peter slumped. "Mr Stark was the only one who knew. But he's not much use to either of us now."
The reporter was trembling. Peter closed his eyes and took a deep breath.
"What do you have to say about the witness report that caused this controversy?"
"What about it?"
"According to the source, your face looks the same as your mask."
"Is that seriously what all this is about? I wear two masks, as a precaution. And it's just as well, really."
"Apparently the second mask wouldn't come off."
"I'm sticky. That's my power. I stuck my face, to my mask. Not an alien, just sticky."
"What about your voice? Apparently you lost control and lashed out at the witness, growling in an, uh, 'inhuman voice'." the reporter flinched, as if expecting Spider-Man to lose control and attack him, too.
"I made a mistake, and I apologised to her and made sure she was okay. As for the rest of it, I don't think it's fair that she's the victim here. I'd been telling her to stop following me for weeks, she was putting herself in danger and assaulting me, trying to reveal my identity. She damaged my mask and activated the voice changer when she leaped on me and tried to claw my face off."
"And can you p-prove-"
"Karen, activate interrogation mode. Like this, see? Fake voice. Deactivate." He pulled his mask up to his mouth. "This is my normal voice, I swear."
The reporter blinked, and relaxed a little, moving a step closer. "Even if this is some huge misunderstanding, those who never believed you were an alien are asking more about your powers. Where do your webs come from? Are they organic?"
"No, they're a chemical compound I created." Peter hesitated, then pulled off his web shooter and held it out to the reporter. "Try it."
Hesitantly, he took the bracelet and slipped it on, aiming at a nearby wall and pressing the button. A string of web shot out and stuck to the wall. Spider-Man took the weapon back.
"As for your other powers, the viewers want to know-"
"Peter, there appears to be a commotion on the police radio," Karen said in his mask, even as sounds of sirens became clear to Peter's enhanced hearing. "Plotting route now."
"-how you got them."
"I'm really sorry, I need to go." Peter said, pulling his mask back down over his mouth and shooting a web on his way back across the sky. Faintly, he heard the buzz of a news drone following him as he sped towards what was evidently a car crash. He flipped into the road, where a car had run into a lamppost and crumpled. He pulled a door open, releasing the seatbelt of the unconscious driver and dragging them onto the street. From the backseat there was a quiet keening noise, so Peter ripped off the back door, revealing a mostly unharmed young girl. Peter unbuckled her, too, and lifted her out.
"Is Pa going to be okay?" She asked tears in her eyes.
"He'll be okay," he told her, setting her down and crouching in front of her. "Are you hurt?"
"No." A sniff, then a shy, wary glance up at him. "Are you an alien?"
"No, but that would be really cool."
"How come you can walk upside down, then?"
"How come you can't, huh?" He tickled her. "Stay here for a sec." He hurried to the driver. There was a bruise forming on his temple, and a scrape along his collarbone. Spider-Man webbed up the cut to stem the bleeding, and made sure he was in the recovery position before returning to the girl.
"Are you a doctor?" She asked.
"Not a real one. Are you?"
"Yes. Mr Snuggles's arm fell off, and I helped Ma sew him up again. Do you eat little girls?"
"No, I eat cheeseburgers and sometimes churros when I'm allowed them," he winked. "Do you know your address?"
A small concentration line appeared between her eyes. "I think I know my... postcode." She said slowly.
"Good. Remember that, because the police will want to know when they get here, okay?"
"Are they going to arrest me?" she asked worriedly.
"No," he booped her nose. "Not unless you've been naughty. They'll take care of you, alright? And the ambulance people will take care of your Pa. You've been very brave - I don't have any sweets, but I can give you this special invisible sticker," he made a big show of producing a pretend sticker out of nowhere, and pressed his fingers to her shoulder. "There. Take good care of it, and make sure it doesn't fall off."
"Okay," she said with determination.
"I'm going to go now, but you need to stay here and tell the police that address you can remember, okay, and tell them where your Pa is. Can you do that, brave girl?"
She nodded firmly, extreme focus evident on her little face. He smiled, stepping back and then webbing away. But before he disappeared into the maze of buildings, he gave a wave to the news drone that had been recording the whole interaction.
The headlines that night were a relief, but also-
"What?" Peter blurted, staring at his phone.
Spider-Man proves himself not an alien - but does he actually exist? Experts present theories on how local vigilante could be a mass hallucination.