Morning light pierced through the crack in the heavy curtains, though it didn’t slice through the room like a scalpel.
It was a completely ordinary morning.
Outside the window, sparrows hopped along the power lines, and the roar of a garbage truck’s hydraulic lift drifted up from downstairs.
This was the real world.
Leon opened his eyes.
No hangover haze—his body felt impossibly light.
He raised his hand and looked at the lines on his palm.
His five fingers clenched shut.
The air cracked with a dull pop between his fingers.
It wasn’t raw, swollen muscular strength, but a qualitative transformation born of bone and tissue compressed to their absolute limit.
In the lower-right corner of his retina, pale blue data cascaded down like a waterfall.
[Physical Remodeling Complete]
[Current Status: Peak Carbon-Based Organism (Untransformed)]
[Neural Reflexes: +40%]
[Bone Density: +40%]
[Evaluation: You are now a walking weapon.
Try not to kick steel plates—your foot won’t break, but your shoes will.]
Leon dismissed the prompt without expression.
He turned his head.
May Parker.
This formidable woman, who usually kept the house spotless and badgered Peter endlessly for dropping his socks everywhere, was half-reclining on Leon’s bed.
Her hair was tangled, and her hand tightly clutched a corner of Leon’s shirt, as if letting go would cause him to pop like a soap bubble.
Leon felt a pang in his heart.
Memories from last night flooded back like a tide.
The gunshots, the blood, the mugger sprawled in a crimson pool, and the terrifying splash of red across his father’s chest.
He reached out, wanting to smooth the messy strands of hair from his mother’s temple.
The moment his fingertips brushed her cheek, May jolted awake.
“Who is it?!”
She practically bounced up.
The terror in her eyes froze the instant she registered Leon’s face, and then the armor she wore—the mask called “strength”—shattered into pieces.
“Oh God…
Leon, you’re awake!
You’re finally awake!”
May lunged forward with unbelievable strength, wrapping her arms tight and pressing Leon’s head against her chest.
Her body quivered violently, her warm tears soaking right through his pajamas.
“Those maniacs…
those maniacs with guns…” May babbled incoherently, her voice raw.
“I thought I lost you both!
I thought…”
Leon let her hold him, the familiar scent of laundry detergent wafting from Aunt May.
He raised his hands and gently patted her shaking back in a soft, steady rhythm.
“It’s over, Mom.
It’s okay.”
His voice was no longer weak or faint like before; it carried a reassuring, steady warmth.
“Dad’s fine, and I’m fine.
The bad guy is gone.”
May cried for a long time—a purge after surviving a nightmare, an exhaustion following sheer terror.
A few minutes passed before her sobs gradually subsided.
May let go, wiped her face haphazardly, and scanned Leon from head to toe with her red, swollen eyes.
Once satisfied that he was intact, the formidable presence of the Parker matriarch surged back into place.
Her eyes finally locked onto Leon’s left wrist.
There sat a strange black-and-green wristwatch, faintly pulsing with a cool glow.
It looked nothing like any commercial electronics on the market, resembling instead a living piece of tissue clinging tightly to his skin.
May’s breath caught.
She snatched Leon’s left hand, her fingertips ice-cold.
“Take it off.”
An order.
Zero room for debate.
“Can’t,” Leon replied bluntly.
May stood up, grabbed a pair of scissors off the floor, and marched over to the bed.
“Give me your hand.”
Leon complied, extending his left hand.
May gripped his wrist and wedged the cold blade of the scissors beneath the band of the Omnitrix, prying with all her strength.
*Screeech—*
The agonizing sound of grinding metal filled the room.
The watch band didn’t budge.
Not even a scratch was left on it.
May gritted her teeth, straining harder.
“Mom, it’s useless.”
“Quiet.”
May’s hands were trembling.
The blades slipped several times, nearly slicing Leon’s skin.
She muttered under her breath, her movements growing rougher until she was practically stabbing the tip of the scissors at the watch dial.
“Nothing is impossible to get off!” May snapped, losing her composure.
“I won’t let you carry something so dangerous!
That red monster last night…
Oh God, what if you turn into that and can’t change back?”
*Snap.*
Leon reached up and caught May’s wrist.
Gentle, yet unyielding.
“Mom.
Look at me.”
May tried to tug her arm free twice, but couldn’t.
She looked up, the rigid front she had been maintaining finally showing a crack.
“Dad is downstairs drinking coffee,” Leon said, staring straight into her eyes, his words deliberate and firm.
“He’s reading the paper and complaining about Stark Industries stock dropping again.
He is alive.”
May’s lips began to quiver.
Leon’s voice wasn’t loud, but it struck May’s ears like a sledgehammer.
“If I took this off…
if I hadn’t used it last night…”
Leon released his grip and pointed out the window.
“There would be black drapes hanging downstairs right now.
You wouldn’t be standing here arguing with me—you’d be trying to pick out the cheapest casket you could find.”
It was as though May’s spine had been pulled right out.
She collapsed onto the edge of the bed.
“Stop talking…” She pressed a hand to her mouth, tears bursting forth once more.
“I have to say it, Mom.” Leon refused to back down, tightening his hands around her shoulders to offer support.
“That mugger had a gun pressed to Dad’s head.
He was about to pull the trigger.
If I hadn’t blocked that bullet, if I hadn’t…
taken care of him…”
Leon paused, glossing over the gory details.
“…Dad would be dead.
Just like I almost died.”
He raised his left wrist.
The Omnitrix reflected a cool, metallic sheen in the morning light.
“This world is about to go crazy, Mom.
It’s not as peaceful as it looks here in Queens.
Mutants are rioting in the streets, Stark Industries weapons are ending up on the black market, and supervillains are popping up out of nowhere.”
Leon stepped forward, taking May’s cold hand and pressing it against his chest.
Beneath it, his heart beat strong and steady.
“I don’t care about being a superhero, and I don’t care about saving the world.
I only want to protect this family.”
His eyes softened, yet remained unshakeably resolute.
“If a gun is pointed at you or Peter next time…
what am I supposed to do?
Hide in a corner like a coward, call the police, and pray they arrive before it’s time to collect the bodies?”
“I can’t do that.”
Every word landed like an iron stake driven into the ground.
She buried her face in her hands, her shoulders heaving violently.
The fear she had repressed all night broke through the dam.
Leon said nothing.
He simply reached out and stroked her frail back—once, twice—for five full minutes, until she quieted down.
May raised her head and wiped her face roughly.
Women of the Parker family had an extraordinarily resilient streak.
Her eyes bloodshot, she stared at the watch, her fear transforming into a fierce, unflinching resolve.
“Listen to me, Leon Parker.” May’s voice steadied, taking on a cold, hard edge.
“This world is dangerous.
We can’t rely on luck.”
She seized Leon’s wrist back, her fingernails digging into his flesh as if sealing a sacred vow.
“You can keep it.
But Leon Parker, you listen to me very carefully.
This is the Supreme Constitution of this household, and it overrides orders from the President of the United States.”
Leon sat up straight.
“I’m listening.”
May raised a finger.
“First: unless you, Ben, Peter, or I are in mortal danger, you do not use it under any circumstances.
Even if someone’s getting mugged on the street, as long as nobody’s dying, you sit tight and call the police.
You are not a cop, and you are not God.”
“Agreed,” Leon nodded.
May held up a second finger, her eyes glinting dangerously.
“Second: no matter what kind of monstrosity you turn into, absolutely no one can see your face, and no one can connect you to the Parker house.
If your identity gets exposed one day and brings trouble…”
“I’ll leave immediately so I don’t bring trouble home,” Leon chimed in.
“Shut up!” May glared at him and gave his ear a hard twist.
“I mean if your identity gets exposed, we pack up and move immediately!
To the countryside, overseas, wherever!
If anyone touches my family, I’ll fight them to the death!”
Leon blinked in surprise, a faint smile touching his lips.
That was May.
She didn’t care about abstract justice; she cared about her family.
“Third…” May let go, took a deep breath, and looked at the watch with a conflicted expression.
“Only three people can ever know about this: Ben, me, and you.”
“What about Peter?”
“Absolutely not!” May reacted almost reflexively.
“That boy is as naive as a blank sheet of paper.
He can’t keep a secret.
If he knew our family was sitting on power like this, or found out the truth about last night, his entire worldview would shatter.”
“Let him be a happy nerd.
That’s the best protection we can offer him.”
Leon fell silent.
Protect Peter?
The future Spider-Man, the heart of the Avengers, the unluckiest hero in the Marvel Universe…
was currently the family’s top priority to be sheltered.
The sheer dark irony of it made Leon want to laugh, but he held it in.
“Alright, I promise.”
May let out a long breath, slumping against the headboard as if drained of all energy.
Just then—
*Bang!
Bang!
Bang!*
Someone pounded on the bedroom door hard enough to rattle the frame.
An energetic, almost noisy teenage voice pierced through the wooden panel, instantly scattering the heavy atmosphere inside.
“Hey!
Wake up, slacker!
Up and at ’em!”
“Open up!
The Oscorp Industries science exhibition starts at nine!
Norman Osborn himself is hosting it!
We’re gonna be late!
Leon!
Stop playing dead, I know you’re awake!”
May’s expression froze for a second.
She quickly smoothed her messy hair and gave her cheeks a firm slap to restore some color.
By the time she turned around, she was back to being the nagging aunt.
*Click.*
The door pulled open.
Peter Parker stood outside wearing a giant backpack, waving two crumpled admission tickets in his hand, his face radiating pure, goofy excitement for science.
He had no idea what this household had gone through last night.
And he certainly had no idea that at today’s seemingly ordinary exhibition, an irradiated spider was practically sharpening its fangs, preparing to sink its teeth into the back of his fair hand.
“Hurry up, Leon!
Any later and we’ll be stuck in the back!” Peter yelled excitedly.
Leon leaned back against the headboard, idly tracing the Omnitrix on his wrist.
The gears of fate were meshing together flawlessly.
His dad had just cheated death down here, and over there, his brother was rushing off to embrace his mutation.
“Coming.”
Leon swung his legs out of bed, a wry glint flickering in his eyes.
“Quit rushing me, Peter.
Go run along and meet your destiny.”