THE MOMENT
Wayne felt like his life had been transformed. By seemingly random chance, he found himself stuck to a wall one day while being shoved aside by a rushing pedestrian. He had a moment of panic, but managed to free himself. None of the busy commuters that morning had noticed, but he tried it again and again; then he went home to walk around on the walls inside his house. Once he got the hang of that, he wondered what else he could do.
Within a week, he had it in his mind that he was not only ready to be a hero, but destined to be one. He'd spent a lot of time trying to solve the mystery of where his powers came from. There was most definitely a spider theme. He couldn't exactly shoot webs at will yet, but he had enhanced strength and agility, the ability to adhere to any surface angle, and a subtle danger sense that he was still developing. It sounded a lot like an obscure comic-book hero, and thinking back on it, he remembered a school trip that resulted in a visit to the nurse because he got a pretty bad spider bite. It had to be the source of his powers, but that was years ago. He'd never even been sick since then.
Then, he waited almost a whole month after that to get certified. Chroma Corp. offered monthly superpower assessments for free for prospective heroes and he'd just missed the latest one as he learned how to use his abilities. It was a busy scene in their towering corporate headquarters, but the lines of odd strangers and flashy abilities moved pretty quickly. The comic-book hero he was thinking of was obscure mostly because Supers did exist, and comics about fictional heroes weren't as prominent as those that told stories about real heroes.
He watched the process as he made his way to the front of the line. Candidate by candidate, each person was taken into a separate interview room for an average of less than five minutes before walking out again fully certified. And, thanks to Chroma Corp.'s size, they had over a dozen parallel interview rooms, as far as Wayne could tell. Though, there were likely more, his line wasn't the only one being serviced. He finally made it to the front and was called into an interview room. It was an empty, lab-like space with a large circle of gold electronics in the center of the room, both on the floor and in the ceiling directly above it.
"Hello, Mr. Webber, please step into the circle," the nurse's electronic voice filled the room, but he could see her standing on the other side of reinforced glass. "And on your way there, please answer this question: What is your favorite number?"
He'd started moving toward the circle, still unsure of what might happen, and he blurted out his answer without thinking about it.
"33!" he said instantly before fully entering the electronic circle.
"Oh," the nurse smiled. "Hold still, please," she said once he was centered. He heard ambient electronic whirring, but didn't notice anything. It only lasted for a moment before she spoke again. "Please exit through here and into the next lobby. Someone will be with you shortly," she said.
"Huh?" he glanced back at the door he'd just entered. The same one he'd see everyone else leave through, fully certified for Super work.
"I understand your confusion, and it will be explained to you. But we have a long line outside; please keep moving," she gestured at the open door.
"Oh, right." Wayne nodded and exited the lab room. He found himself in a smaller lobby that was currently empty. There was a digital sign on the wall that displayed his approximate wait time of 45 minutes. 46 minutes after he sat down in that empty lobby, he was sitting down in front of a Chroma Corp. executive named Orion.
"Mr. Webber, I'm sure you have some questions." Orion smiled and got right to business once they were both seated. "I'll start out with the bad news. I'm afraid you don't actually have any superpowers," he said.
"What do you mean?" Wayne shook his head. "I'm super strong, and I can stick to walls."
"Yes, that is true," Orion nodded with a seemingly permanent grin. "By our internal defintions, those are not actually 'Super' powers. They are Abilities of your Unique Soul. You are Unique Soul #33, La Araña," he said.
"We define 'Super' powers as additional features of a normal human soul. That doesn't apply to your soul. Being able to walk on walls, along with your enhanced strength and more, are all natural expressions of your soul's capabilities. Unfortunately, without any actual superpowers, you're ineligible for a Super license, but it does open the door to wider opportunities for you," he said.
"What?" Wayne was still having trouble wrapping his head around the distinctions, and he had other questions. "I got bitten by a spider when I was in high school... did that somehow infect my soul?" Orion laughed.
"Sorry," he cleared his throat and refocused. "It was just funny to me that an Araña got bitten by a spider. But no, it's an unrelated coincidence. You were born with this soul. And you can do considerably more than just walking on walls, but that's a longer conversation with someone else. I'm only here to gently turn you down," Orion said. "You're not eligible for a Super license, but Chroma Corp. is happy to welcome you into our services. We'll be sending an invitation to your personal node so you can enroll at your leisure and make an appointment with Mundo."
"Who's Mundo?" Wayne asked.
"You'll find out when you make the appointment," Orion smiled. "Oh, and you'll also find more features of your node unlocked. There's a certain element of secrecy involved with this whole 'Unique Soul' thing. You're the first one we've found on this Earth."
"This... Earth..?" On top of his disappointment, Wayne was now astonished.
"Chroma Corp. is quite a large, multiversal corporation," Orion nodded. "You'll learn all about that during your visit with Mundo." The multiverse? He'd spent weeks equating his powers to a lesser-known comic hero, but if the multiverse was real...
"Chroma Corp. is a multiversal corporation... and you sponsor the Super Leagues... does that mean there's a real Spider-Man hero out there!? Can I meet him!?"
"No, sorry," Orion shook his head. "There isn't a singular hero, and none of our league members can use that name," he sighed. "The multiversal licensing around that name is too complicated to bother with. It was a pain just to get the rights to a few stories, and they weren't very popular on your Earth."