Tarantula (Spider-Man)

Probable Cause

   Once in the Midtown suburb, Tarantula locates the Parker household, a quaint one story identical to all of the ones around it, with the exception of the number on the front door. She lands on the roof, her feet balancing on the thatch. The minute she arrives there’s a crashing sound from the house. On the second floor, a single light is visible, and Tarantula recognizes it as the source of the sound. Crawling from the roof to the wall in a spider-like fashion, she pushes the window open and ducks in, landing silently on her feet.

Thomas, in his animal form, flies in front of me, slamming into the wall and collapsing into the messy bed in the corner of the room. Peter, completely out of costume, leaps onto Thomas, straddling him with his weight,

“Oh, hey! Thanks for showing up on such short notice...I seem to be having a pet problem.” he explains.

Thomas grabs Peter’s leg and throws him across the room, knocking him into the desk. His room is in shambles from their fighting, papers and books strewn everywhere, as well as a broken table and scattered mechanical parts.

Tarantula jumps in, diving toward Thomas. He swipes at her, and she shoots down, dodging his hand and sliding under his arm. Landing on the wall, she attacks him from behind, grabbing him by the shoulders and slamming him into the nightstand, knocking over a the mess on top of it.

Just then, the sound of a garage door creaking open rings throughout the house. Peter jumps up, “My Aunt May’s home!” he looks around his room, “Man...she’s gonna kill me.”

Tarantula blasts several webs to tie up Thomas, “Here, I have an idea-” but before she can finish, Thomas rips out of his restraints, punching Tarantula in the face and knocking her across the room, crashing into a collapsed bookshelf. Peter launches himself back into the action, coming in sideways like a torpedo, pushing Thomas back before kicking off of him and landing on his feet. He shoots webs out of his web blasters, pulling back to restrain him,

“Tarantula, help me!”

She gets up and contributes her webs, and their combined webs bring Thomas down. Peter, panting, glances around the room as Tarantula picks up Thomas,

“What’re we gonna do about him?” she asks him, lifting his body up.

   Aunt May opens the door to Peter’s room, “Peter? Are you still awake?”

She sees Peter sitting in the middle of the room with Valerie, playing a board game, “Oh...Peter...who’s this?”

Valerie, wearing a large sweatshirt and baggy sweatpants, gets up to firmly shake her hand, “You must be Mrs. Parker, Peter’s told me all about you. Dr. Valerie Polina ma’am.”

“Doctor?” Aunt May asks, “You don’t look much younger than Peter.”

“It’s true Aunt May, didn’t you see her on the Betty Brant show?” he asks.

She presses her chin, “I...I think I remember seeing something like that-” her eyes widen with realization, “oh yes! You’re the new girl at school Peter’s been telling me about, I remember now! I’m sorry I didn’t realize sooner.”

Valerie chuckles, “It’s fine Mrs. Parker.”

“Oh no, please call me Aunt May. Should I get you two some snacks or something…?”

She shakes her head, “Oh no, it’s getting late, I should probably be getting home soon,” she glances over to Peter, “I’m just waiting on a call from my parents.”

“Oh, alright then,” Aunt May smiles, but before she closes the door, “and Peter, please clean up your room, it’s a mess.”

Valerie throws off the sweatshirt and sweatpants to reveal her costume. She hands the clothes to Peter, “Thanks for letting me use these.”