PLEASE READ THIS: If you haven't read my other story, Hidden in Plain Sight, then you're not gonna get this. I'm presuming most people here have, but if you haven't, this is a spin-off/au version of this story with characters/events that only really make sense if you've read the original. So why not check it out? It's wayyy too long though ugh.
Hello! I'm writing again! Man, I'm excited to write this and I hope you guys enjoy it. I'll give you a rundown: Peter, Adara and Harry are adults now, the Avengers be old but nothing's gonna stop them from trying to save the world (even with their cracking joints), Infinity War and Civil War never happened but basically everything else did (it'll be explained as we go along the story and Adara and Peter aren't the happy couple we wanted them to be :(
This story mainly rotates around Miles Morales (I stan) and Emmy (daughter of Adara) but we'll see a lot of Adara, Peter and Harry too. We'll see the Avengers pop up once and awhile (Steve, Tony, Nat) and Ned and Michelle too. There's also gonna be a lot more Oscorp shit and a familiar, Spiderman villain returning hmmmm.
Anyway, I hope you enjoy this story because it's quite fun to write and there's a lot of room to do my own thing. A lot of Miles' story is based off the Spiderverse movie, but adjusted slightly but the actual plot won't be that much like the film.
"Wake up, there's a new kid in the town
Honey, he's moving into the big house
Remember when I was so very hopeless
Darling, he's gonna make it all better"
Chapter One:
Queens, New York
Monday, September 1st
Midnight
New York was the city that never slept, Peter supposed it was relatable in that way. He enjoyed it though, late nights in Queens where the world was quieter than usual and he had time to think. Between his job and being Spiderman and sleeping, he rarely got a chance to clear his head as much as he used to. So, it was nice to get out every once and awhile to stretch his legs and catch his breath and contemplate how he had got here.
Not specifically here, on the roof of this building he was crouched atop, but just where he was now. Peter Parker was thirty-seven now, and had been Spiderman for over twenty years at this point. His suit had changed a lot, mainly thanks to his own modifications. Tony had implemented a lot of features, which he was grateful for, of course, but he needed to tune it down. Now, at least, he had hooked up Karen to police transmitters so he could keep his eye on crime all around the city, he had improved on his web shooters and its abilities overall. He would always be grateful for Tony, of course, he would've never really become Spiderman without him, but he was an adult now and had to become more independent as a person and as Spiderman.
However, adulthood probably hadn't been as breezey as he thought. Being Spiderman as a student had been hard. But it had been harder as an adult. Now he had to get a job and pay rent and do all the other boring adult stuff that really limited time as Spiderman. But he hadn't given it up, he was persistent like that.
It was probably that persistence that caused his divorce. But he didn't like to think about that much.
Before his thoughts could spiral into that depressive hole, he got a call.
"Incoming call from Harry Osborn," said Karen, "shall I answer it?"
"Yeah, sure," he said, "hey, Harry."
"Hey, Peter," came his friend's voice, "You're up late."
"When am I not?" He pointed out with a snort, "you wouldn't be calling this late unless you needed something, so what's up?"
"It's my dad, mainly, you know how paranoid he gets. Anyway, he thinks that Roxxon industries is up to something."
"I don't want to get in between some company, lawsuit battle," said Peter with caution, but he stood up anyway.
"It's not just that. Dad says that someone managed to access his private files on his laptop and saw some experimental technology we've been working on. Anyway, he's just on edge, thinks that Roxxon is gonna send one of their hired people to steal some of the blueprints he saw. I think we both know that Roxxon can't handle any of that kinda tech. So, I was wondering if you could just keep an eye on the building for me. Please?"
Peter nodded, this was probably a fair point. Roxxon Corporations was always trying to find a new source of energy in a world running out of fuel but their scientists never quite had the same skills as those from Stark industries or Oscorp, so had been known to hire some dodgy people to steal so Norman and Harry's paranoia wasn't unfounded. However, Roxxon was fairly incapable, unlike Oscorp. If Roxxon got hands on some of the high-tech developments going on inside the Oscorp tower, they wouldn't even begin to know how to use it.
"Alright," he said, knowing he had nothing else to do, "I'll keep watch."
"Thank you," relief was heavy in his voice.
"Yeah, yeah," Peter got to the edge of the building, "I'll call you if anything happens."
He put down the call and shot out a web, from there it was an easy swing through the city, cool wind hitting his face as he arrived in Manhattan. Oscorp tower was one of those buildings that dominated the New York skyline, hitting the height of the Empire State building with the word 'Oscorp' glowing brighter than any christmas decorations ever could.
Peter landed on top of the roof with a thunk after pulling himself up to the top. He crawled to the edge, lenses on the mask narrowing as he peered down. Nothing, silent.
The city was much more peaceful from up here, the chaos of car crowded blurred into a mesh of headlights, making it impossible to distinguish one vehicle from another. The sound of the streets were far away, no sounds of yelling or cars honking, just the light whistling of the wind and the distant rumble of a plane flying overhead, hidden away by the clouds.
"Hey, Karen," he said, sitting down and leaning against a satellite pole, "what's Norman working on that he wants to keep so secret?"
"Oscorp industries always keeps their projects top secret in files that would take an expert to break," the AI told him.
"I swear, big companies are always up to something dodgy," he paused, "don't tell Tony I said that." He had reached the point where he had known the man long enough that he no longer needed to address him as 'Mr Stark.' "Any signs of a recent break in?"
"No, the building is completely silent."
A decade or so back, Oscorp tower used to be in Queens, which was convenient for Harry who used to live in it so he could attend Midtown. In his younger, high school days, Peter would go round to Oscorp tower a lot. Not anymore. Then it had moved to Manhattan where it could be built bigger and better to house the growing business. Harry still worked with his dad and was becoming a bit of a high-flyer within the business, but had moved to Brooklyn with his husband and highschool sweetheart, Jason. Adara was living in Brooklyn, Peter was pretty sure of that. He had thought about checking in every once and awhile, but figured that Adara didn't really want to see him.
He heard something, quiet but it caused his senses to tingle. Carefully, he peeked over the edge again to see a dark shape moving against the light of the OSCORP sign, somehow climbing up the building. He couldn't make out the figure straight away, but his lenses narrowed as, whoever they were, placed a device against one of the windows, releasing a high pitched sound, almost too high for any normal human to hear. But Peter wasn't a normal human and flinched back before the noise stopped and heard the sound of glass shattering.
"He's broken in," realised Peter. Harry had been right!
The figure dodged through the broken window and Peter listened carefully, no alarms had been set off. Guess this was up to him. He crawled down the side of the building, heading towards where the window had been smashed and peeked inside.
It was pitch black, no lights were on and no one was home.
"Karen," he whispered, "activate night vision mode."
Within his suit, the lighting turned green and everything was now visible. He glanced from side to side, but couldn't see where the trespasser had gone. Silently, he dropped into the building, avoiding the tiny, glass shards scattered across the floor. He was in an office of some kind, but it was empty. He quickly left the room, pushing open the door to see it let to another corridor but it was wide and filled with metal doors that seemed to be locked. Peter quickly dropped to the ground when he saw the trespasser was in the corridor, trying to get into one of those rooms blocked off by the thick, metal doors.
Now that he got a closer, look, he peered at the burglar. He couldn't make out the colours of his suit with the green night vision, but he did recognise the design. It almost mimicked the Spiderman suit, just darker and with a cape and with white slits that were alike to the lenses on Spiderman's mask.
The Prowler.
One of the most notorious thieves in the whole of America, let alone New York, and the perfect choice to steal from Oscorp. He had many devices, such as code breakers and magnets in his gauntlets, which allowed him to climb all the way up to the top of this very building. His gauntlets also allowed him to punch hard and deadly, they were heavy and thick and dangerous. His suit was a dark purple and black, and his eyes were slits of white that glowed in the dark, allowing him to see anyone no matter the lighting. Peter had to be very careful if he wanted to stealthily taking down. This wasn't the first time he had tangled with the Prowler, and he was keen on making sure it would be the last time. He was a fearsome opponent, and had a knack for escaping, no matter how tight the situation.
Peter latched onto one of the walls and silently crawled across it, approaching as Prowler managed to get the door open and step inside. Whatever was in there was probably what he was after. Had Roxxon hired him? Probably. Even if they hadn't, it didn't matter. Whatever technology was in there was Oscorp, which meant it was probably pretty powerful. Having that kind of science fall into the incapable hands of Roxxon or any other corporation could end in a big disaster. All Peter had to do was stop him…
He glanced inside the room Prowler had entered and, from his limited view, could just about make out the cages that lined the walls. Strange, what could be inside them. The Prowler seemed to ignore these cages though and headed straight for the centre of the room where there was a series of desks with lab equipment strewn on top of them.
Peter ducked into the room, careful to keep out of sight by ducking behind one of the cages. It was empty. Strange. It didn't matter, he kept his sights trained on the Prowler, watching as he glanced at the lab equipment, obviously searching for something. Peter tilted his head to the side, curious and waiting. Though he desperately wanted to make a quip or something, he was too intrigued by the actions here that he would just have to wait.
Then, the Prowler seemed to find it, a set of what could be blueprints had been rolled up on the table. The burglar then walked to the other end of the room and Peter dived towards the desks, peering over them to get a closer look as he made his way towards what could be a safe. Unravelling the blueprints, the Prowler glanced at them for a second before typing in something to lock. The code.
There was a click, followed by a sudden bright light as the safe creaked open, the door acting almost like a fridge, the light turning on when it was opened. Inside was shelves upon shelves of glass cages containing small, scuttling animals. In the centre of it all, a syringe.
This seemed to be what the Prowler was after, as he picked up the syringe and turned around.
Peter was standing up, "hey! Long time, no see. You're looking good! Lost some weight?"
"Spiderman," his voice was a growl thanks to the voice distortion, "do you always have to get in my way?"
He shrugged, "yeah, it's kinda what I do."
The prowler stuffed the syringe away and leapt at Peter, who saw it coming with no problem, gracefully ducking underneath it and causing his opponent to lose balance.
"Wow," he said, "you've gotten slow. Maybe you've actually gained a few pounds- woah!"
He was cut off mid-quip as one of the gauntlets came careening out of nowhere, hitting him in the stomach. Peter was sent flying backwards, smashing into a stash of crates which came crashing down on top of him.
"You better staying out of this one, Spiderman," warned the Prowler, though menace remained in his tone so it was not a friendly piece of advice, "you have no idea what you're dealing with. You're in over your head."
"When am I not?" He asked, firing a web that wrapped itself around one of the Prowler's gauntlets, "besides, I don't think you know much about this either. I think someone hired you to do this. Who? Roxxon?"
The Prowler didn't give him an answer, just ripped the web off its gauntlet and grabbed one of the cages, which Peter barely managed to dodge as he swung himself up onto the ceiling and then dropped down onto the lab table below as the cage smashed against the door.
"Honestly, I don't think this is a great way of making money," he said honestly, "I mean, why not try becoming a chef? Or a doctor? It's a lot more rewarding, or so I've been told."
Another cage was sent flying his way, but this time he was prepared as Peter attached a web to it and flung it around in a circle, causing it to hit the prowler who went crashing back into the safe. The sound of glass smashing signalled the cages holding the insects and small creatures from earlier had been broken.
"You'll regret that Spiderman!" Said the Prowler, jumping back onto his feet, unaware of the actual spider, released from its cage, crawling up his leg.
"No, I think you'll be the one doing the regretting," said Peter as he webbed one of the gauntlets, sticking it to the wall, before doing to the same to the other one. He hopped off the lab desk, walking over to the Prowler and reaching into his belt, "I'll be taking this."
The thief struggled against his restraints, "no, give that back!"
"Why should I?" Asked Peter, "it's not yours, you stole it."
Suddenly, he relaxed, his posture changing, "they'll kill me if I don't get it to them…"
Peter's lenses narrowed, "who will kill you? Roxxon?"
"I have a nephew, Spiderman," he said, "young, starting a new school. Are you really just gonna let him lose his uncle?"
Peter's stance shifted from tense to relaxed, "I can help you-"
Bang! The Prowler had taken that few seconds of distraction to loosen his restraints, allowing him to jump on top of Spiderman, ripping the syringe out of his hands and knocking his head against the lab desk, which made a painful cracking noise.
Peter sank to the floor, dazed as the Prowler walked over to him, standing above him. "Who'd thought it?" A Brooklyn accent could just be made out from beneath the distorted voice, "I'm the one to finally take down the Spiderman."
"Think again," said Peter, ignoring the pain as he fired a web at the syringe the Prowler was holding.
As it was torn from his grip, the Prowler made a grab for it, causing Peter's web to got a bit haywire and, suddenly, the syringe smashed against the floor. It shattered to pieces, the liquid spilling out before dissolving into the floor. Gone for good.
"No!" Yelled the Prowler.
Suddenly, the room was filled with a choking gas. A smoke bomb. Damn, the Prowler was trying to escape. Peter got to his feet and clumsily raced out the room, his usually heightened senses dull thanks to the smoke bomb. By the time he had stumbled back into the office, the Prowler had already jumped out of the window and away. There would be no arresting him today.
"Karen," said Peter through heavy breaths, "did you see what that substance was? Inside the syringe?"
"I'm sorry, Peter," came the soft reply of the AI, "I didn't get enough time to do a scan."
"At least it's not in Roxxon's hands," he sighed, "hey, Karen, call Harry, will you?"
"Calling Harry…"
"Hey, Peter, did you see something?" His friend picked up almost instantly.
"The Prowler was trying to steal something," weariness was obvious in Peter's tone, "hired by Roxxon probably, but he's not one for straight forward answers."
"The Prowler? Shit," muttered Harry, "What was he trying to steal?"
"I don't know," he shrugged, standing on the window sill and firing a web at the nearest skyscraper, "something in a syringe, either way it's gone now, dropped and smashed while fighting. Any idea what it was?"
"I don't know everything my dad works on," said Harry, "I'll tell him about what happened. He'll probably be pissed and try to sue someone."
"What's new there?" He swung out of the Oscorp building, "there's no tracking down the Prowler now. I'm gonna call it in for the night."
"Right, Peter," he said, "I'll call you if anything else happens."
"Yeah, please do," he said, landing on a different roof and yawning, "see you, Harry."
"Yeah, bye."
The call ended and he began the long trek all the way back to his small apartment in Queens.
The next morning
Brooklyn, New York City
Miles was woken up by the sound of his dad yelling his name, followed by a loud pounding on the door.
"Miles!" He yelled, "are you up yet?"
"Yeah, yeah," he said, rolling out of bed and onto the floor, groaning, "I'm up, dad."
"Then hurry up and get ready," he said, "you don't wanna be late on your first day." The sound of footsteps signalled his dad had moved away from the door.
"First day?" Miles continued to lie on the floor, staring at the ceiling before the realisation hit him, "first day! Mierda."
He scrambled back up to his feet and rushed to get ready. Today was supposed to be his first day at Brooklyn Visions Academy and, glancing at his alarm clock, he had overslept. Way to make a good first impression, Miles. He was moving there from his old high school, where he had spent his freshman year, after he managed to get the final spot in a charter school lottery. He was nervous about moving of course, he fit in well at his old high school and, though he wouldn't brag about it, was pretty popular too. At Visions, every kid was smart and Miles would probably struggle to keep up. He wasn't dumb, but he wasn't a whiz at science or math or any of that crap. He preferred to stick to his artwork but he wondered how much time he would get to do that kind of thing at a place like Visions Academy.
"Miles!" His dad yelled again, five minutes later.
Miles, who had just shoved most of his clothes into a suitcase and was now sitting on top of it so it would close, glanced up, "uh- yeah, yeah, I'm coming!"
He dragged his suitcase into the kitchen, it was heavy and not exactly suited to his skinny arms. His dad appeared, rolling his eyes as he took it off of his son, picking it up with one hand with ease. Miles grinned and shoved some bread in the toaster.
"You don't have to walk to school," his dad said, "I can just give you a ride."
Miles pulled a face, "in your cop car? No thanks, I don't want people's first impression of me to be that I got arrested on my way to school."
"So your just gonna carry that case all the way there?" He looked at him doubtfully.
"I can do it," Miles said, "it's not like it's that far. Besides, I'm super strong."
"I'm sure you are," he said, not sounding very convinced, "but the offer is still up for a ride."
"I'll be fine, dad," he insisted, the toast suddenly popping out of the toaster, causing him to jump. "Anyway, I need to go if I don't want to be late. Mom!" He yelled, "me voy ahora!"
"Wait!" Came the reply from the other room and his mom appeared, "you think you could just leave without saying goodbye?"
"I'll be back by Friday," he said, "you won't even notice I'm gone."
His mom seemed to disagree and, after two minutes of fussing, Miles just managed to scoff down his toast and put his trainers on as he dodged out the house, backpack round his shoulders, headphones in and ready to leave. He said one last goodbye to both his parents and headed off to school. First day, this had to go well otherwise that spelt out doom for the rest of the year. But, so far, everything was going smoothly. Sure, he had overslept, but he was still gonna arrive with plenty of time to spare. And he hadn't burnt his toast or tripped over on the way to school yet, which was always a plus. That, and his backpack was fairly light. And his suitcase...
He had forgotten his suitcase.
He was already halfway to school, and it would be a ten minute walk all the way back to his house at this point and if he had to go back, he would probably end up being late for school. Not a great first impression.
His saviour came in the form of his dad, driving his nypd car and pulling up on the curb beside him. He looked at his son, and gestured to the suitcase next to him.
"Forgetting something?" He asked, eyebrow raised.
"Yeah, yeah, whatever," Miles rolled his eyes, climbing into the backseat.
Jefferson Davis was a cop, one of the cities finest at that. Sure, he wasn't as well decorated nor did he earn a crazy amount of money, but he was definitely the best cop out of them all. Unlike all those over-paid, doughnut-eating pigs that sat at the top of the hierarchy with their badges and certificates, Officer Davis worked on the streets and dealt with the real dangerous situations. He'd been shot at, stabbed, beaten up and blasted, but he still got up. He treated his job with respect, which made him the greatest cop in Miles' eyes, though he would never admit it.
And he really wasn't enjoying sitting in the backseat right now, looking like he had just been arrested as his dad switched on the radio.
"I mean," he began, "how long did it take you realise you'd forgotten it?"
"I don't know," Miles shrugged, "I knew you'd turn up at some point so…"
"Sure you did," Jefferson shook his head.
"Dad, do I have to go to this school?" Asked Miles, "I mean, I'm probably not gonna be as good as all the other kids there, am I? And, honestly, I like my other high school. I mean, people like me there and I like them. What if these new kids don't like me?"
"Why wouldn't they like you?"
"Because I'm not like them," he pointed out, "they're all super smart and stuff, and I'm just… not."
"Listen, Miles," his dad began, "you got this place, so you go there. You ahve as much of a right to be there as anyone else. It doesn't matter what any of those kids say or think about you. Got it?"
"Yeah, I know, dad," said Miles, catching his dad's eye in the rear view mirror, who smiled at him. He could be pretty tough and strict at times, but his dad was usually just trying to do what was best for him.
"Last night, a break in at the Oscorp Tower in Manhattan left several laboratories destroyed," came a reporter's voice from over the radio, "including some of Oscorp's projects to be left permanently destroyed. The suspect of the break-in is believed to be the Prowler, who had been notorious for stealing from Oscorp industries in the past. Luckily, nothing was stolen thanks to the Spiderman, who managed to fight off the Prowler. Unfortunately, the Prowler escaped and his current whereabouts are unknown."
"Tsk," Jefferson shook his head, turning down the radio, "Spiderman. Thinks he can just swing by and do whatever he wants, whenever he wants. Then, he leaves all the paperwork to us, no care for the real cops who are putting themselves out on the line. Someone really should be keeping all this vigilante justice in check."
Miles didn't really care, he thought Spiderman was pretty neat, but didn't really want to say that in front of his dad. "Okay, dad. We're here. Listen, can you park down the block or something?"
"Why?" Asked his dad, already pulling up right in front of the school.
All the kids, in their full, Visions uniform, turned to stare at the cop car right outside the front gate. Miles cringed, "that's why. I don't want everyone staring at me on my first day."
"Miles," his dad said firmly, turning to the backseat to look at him, "it doesn't matter what they think, remember? Besides, they're just jealous they can't have a dad as cool as me."
Miles shook his head and opened the door, heading to the front to pull out his suitcase, "see you on Friday."
"Hey, Miles, I love you."
Miles rolled his eyes, "yeah, love you too, dad."
His dad hit the siren, which blared loudly for a second, causing everyone to jump and then stare again. Miles cringed, "seriously?"
"Copy that," his dad said, "see you Friday."
He pulled away, leaving Miles in front of the school with everyone now staring at him. Way to go, Miles! What a great first impression. It didn't help that now they were all gonna watch him weakly attempt to drag his suitcase inside. This day couldn't get any worse. He felt his ears go warm under the hot stares of everyone else, but chose to ignore them as he went inside.
This sucked, everyone here knew each other and no one knew who he was. So, he was left to navigate this place by himself. He really did miss his old school.
Brooklyn Visions Academy was very clean and well-kept compared to his other high school. With pristine, white floors and walls lined with rows of green lockers, that weren't covered in chewing gum and were kept perfectly uniform. The staircase was as white and dentist-like as everything else here, and no one was attempting to slide down the banister or skateboard on it. Everyone around him was gathered to the side in there groups, talking between themselves. Of course, they were all friends. At the sight of Miles, they couldn't help but stare at the new kid. But, it didn't help but make him uncomfortable.
Sighing, he tensed his shoulders and continued walking before promptly crashing straight into someone.
"Ah! Merde," said whoever it was, "sorry, I wasn't looking where I was going."
Miles hadn't been knocked over or anything, that would've been really embarrassing. Still, his pride was a little hurt and he felt a little dazed. Yet, his mom had taught him manners.
"It's okay," he said, "I wasn't looking where I was going either."
Looking up, he noticed it was a girl he was standing in front of. Probably just a inch or so shorter than him, with a dust-coloured, brown hair that was tied back in a high ponytail, though several, shorter strands still fell in front of her face. She had a light, golden complexion and strangely deep green eyes, that looked at him brightly. She was pretty, he supposed, he was a teenager, after all.
"Guess it was both of our faults," she said with a shrug, before peering at him closely, "sorry, what grade are you in? I don't think I recognise you."
"Oh, I'm a sophomore," he said.
"Really? Me too," she looked confused.
"You probably don't recognise me because I'm new," he said, "this is my first day. I'm Miles, by the way, Miles Morales."
"Nice to meet you, Miles," she said, smiling at him, "I'm Emmy. Emmy Thomas."
Thirty Minutes Earlier
Brooklyn, New York
"I'm not letting you give me a lift on that thing," said Emmy, "I can carry the bag myself. It's only a fifteen minute walk."
"Whatever you say, Emmy," said her mother, not looking up from the newspaper she was reading, "but it would just be easier to let me give you a lift."
"I'm not rocking up to school on the back of my mum's motorbike," said Emmy, "that's just weird and I have a reputation to uphold."
"Hm, I'm sure you do," she nodded, flicking over to the next page of the paper.
Emmy looked a bit like her mother. They had the same green eyes and the same skin tone, though Emmy's was slightly lighter. However, she was shorter (though there was still time for her to grow) and her hair was a far lighter shade than her mom's, whose hair was such a dark shade of brown that it was almost black.
They were both sitting at the kitchen table in their modest apartment in Brooklyn. Her mom lazily reading a copy of the New York Times while Emmy was making her way through a bowl of cereal.
"I'm serious, mom," insisted Emmy, "I'd look pretty lame if I turned up to school on the back of a motorcycle being driven by my mom. It's so uncool."
"You teenagers are so judgy," she sighed, closing the paper and putting it on the table, "I don't ever remember being that judgemental when I was in high school."
"But you were," said another voice, entering the kitchen, "don't listen to your mother, Emmy, she was the most judgemental person to ever set foot in Midtown, though MJ was a close second. She'd look at you funny for even breathing weirdly."
"I pointed that out one time," she said.
"Adara, the kid had asthma," said Harry Osborn, "of course he breathed funny."
"You're up early," observed Emmy, "why?"
"I'm gonna have to go into work early," he said, opening the fridge and grabbing the milk, "there was a break-in last night. Nothing was stolen but now one of my dad's projects has been destroyed, which isn't very helpful and makes my life far too difficult."
Emmy had known Harry her entire life, and had basically become her dad as her actual one was nowhere to be found. He didn't live in there apartment, just bunked there when his husband, Jason, was working out of town, which was surprisingly often. In her younger years, Emmy had coined him 'Uncle Harry' and neither her mom or he had disputed this. The two had known each other since high school and had been close for a long time, so the two were basically siblings at this point.
"Break-in?" Adara raised an eyebrow.
"Yeah," Harry sighed as he made his own cereal, "the Prowler. Dad reckons he was hired by Roxxon."
"The Prowler broke in and didn't steal anything? His standards are slipping."
Harry shook his head, "I called in Pe-" he stopped himself, "Spiderman to keep an eye on things. My dad was paranoid about a Roxxon trying to steal something and turned out he was right. Anyway, he managed to stop him from stealing whatever he was after, though it got destroyed in the meanwhile, so the Prowler got away empty-handed."
"And you think Roxxon hired him?"
"It wouldn't be the first time Prowler has been hired to do someone else's dirty work," pointed out Harry, "and who else would you hire except America's greatest thief?"
"He can't be that great if he didn't steal anything," Adara pointed out.
Emmy shook her head, "if I was the Prowler, I would've dropped shit and ran the moment I saw Spiderman."
"Don't let Steve hear you using that kind of language," said her mom, warningly, "and what's so scary about a guy in red tights?"
"He can stop a moving car."
"So can you if you press the button at a set of traffic lights."
"You're so funny," Emmy deadpanned.
Emmy didn't think her mother liked Spiderman very much, which she had never quite understood. Her mom knew all the Avengers, Emmy knew that because the Black Widow and Captain America would come round to visit every weekend. Most of the Avengers were old now (or older, in Steve's case) and were probably a decade or so from reaching retirement years. So, younger people like Spiderman tended to do a lot more superheroing than them. He had saved the city and probably the world too on numerous occasions, he seemed like a nice guy and was well liked amongst most of the city. Besides, he was friends with Tony and so was Adara, so surely the two must've met at some point? Yet, whenever Spiderman popped up on screen, her mom would always find a way to scoff and roll her eyes.
"So I've been told," her mother drank the rest of her coffee and stood up, "you need to be heading off soon."
Emmy checked her watch, "I still have ages."
"Then you can get there early," her mom pointed out. "Harry, you do know that MJ's gonna call you, right? How much are you gonna tell her?"
"The same thing everyone else knows," he said, "I don't even know what the project was myself, so she's not getting any answers there. It's one of my dad's top secret ones, top floor and only about five scientists, including himself, working on it."
"Why doesn't he let you in on it?"
"Got too many other things to do."
"Alright, rich boy," Adara rolled her eyes, "you better be going then."
"Christ, you really do want everyone out the apartment this morning. Why? What are you doing?"
"I've gotta go to work at nine, but it's just for a couple meetings so I should be done by midday. Besides, all I'm doing is translating Italian so no problem there."
"What about after that?" Asked Harry, "you gonna mope about all day?"
"What else would she do when I'm gone?" Pointed out Emmy.
"No," said Adara, voice turning cautious, "I'm visiting someone."
"Who?" Harry said before realising, "oh. Come on, Adara, even Natasha thinks you should just leave that jackass alone. You're not getting any younger visiting him every week, and it's not exactly making you a better person either."
"I'm not getting in the middle of this debate again," said Emmy, getting to her feet and grabbing her bag, "I'm gonna shoot. I'll just stop off at Starbucks or something on the way. See you on Friday, mom."
"See you, Emmy," she said, ruffling the girl's hair.
"Bye, Harry," said Emmy, grabbing her suitcase.
"Bye, kiddo," the man waved as Emmy shut the apartment door and headed out for school.
Emmy didn't live what one would call a normal life. Sure, she walked to school with her headphones on and hated homework and exams like any other kid her age. And she fit in just fine, there were just aspects of her life that were unusual. Like the fact that she could partially shapeshift, not as well as her mother but more than the normal person, that was for sure. She was also stronger than most people and had a much higher metabolism, so she ate on a near constant basis. She had basically been raised by the Avengers at some point, and it wasn't like everyone could say that their babysitter was the Winter Soldier.
Her mom was a bit of a paradox, who didn't really speak much about her life. Part of it was probably trauma as, while her mom was happy to talk about defeating Ultron, she was very quiet when it came to instances such as Hydra or any other part of her teenage life. Emmy got broken bits of information from Natasha and Steve, who enjoyed reminiscing on these things like an old, married couple. But her mom was a private and surprisingly closed off person, even to her daughter. She had sworn Emmy to secrecy about her abilities and the 'superhero' aspect of her life. That, and Emmy didn't even know who her dad was. But that was a sore subject, so she chose to avoid it.
As she walked down the street, swerving to the side to avoid an incoming taxi, she did feel pretty normal. Emmy had never lived that angsty, double-life style that Adara had when she was her age, and she felt satisfied that she fit in at her school. Brooklyn Visions Academy. Sure, she wasn't exactly the smartest kid there and she hadn't inherited her mother's talent for languages (though was bilingual, thanks to her mom), but she wasn't stupid and got fine grades, from B to As usually.
As she stood outside the school, she sighed, dreading the idea of another year. School work and homework and all that other work. If you asked her, it was too much work. Plus, sophomore year. That wasn't going to be easier than Freshman year, was it? In fact, it was all downhill from here.
She heard a loud blaring sound of a police siren and jumped. Turning, she saw a boy standing beside a cop car. He wasn't familiar, she thought she would've remembered someone who got driven into school in a cop car from last year. Must be their first day or something. She didn't think much of it as she quickly shouldered through the crowd and into the front entrance.
Her heart sank at the thought of another long week back at school.
"Hey, Emmy!" She glanced to see her friend and roommate, Alice walking up to her.
Alice was popular, pretty and a lot more social than Emmy, which said a lot because Emmy was talkative to the point where people begged her to shut up. Her mom had likened Alice to a girl called Liz, but Emmy hadn't really known who that was. She had blonde, curly hair which was a tad longer and neater than Emmy's with a perfect facial structure and a great figure. Sometimes, puberty loved to bless people.
"Hi, Alice," she returned the greeting, "how's life?"
"Not great now that I'm back here," sighed her friend, "but, did you hear the news?"
"If you're gonna go on about Spiderman again, Al, I already know," she sighed, "and, for the record, I think you should get over him, he's been around since our parents were teenagers, so he's probably, like, fifty."
"Who says I don't like an older man?" Alice joked.
"Ew," Emmy pulled a face.
Being back at school meant homework and schoolwork and teachers yelling at Emmy because she wasn't concentrating, but it also meant seeing friends again, which was the only thing enjoyable about this wretched place. In a way, Emmy enjoyed school, she felt like she fit in and had never been an outsider or one of those weird kids. She wasn't mad popular, but no one was shoving her head in a locker either.
Emmy knew that her mother hadn't ever really fit in or tried to fit in at high school. Unlike Emmy, she had her small group of friends and was happy to stick with that. Then again, she supposed it was understandable. By the time Adara was Emmy's age, she had been through a lot more than her, but sometimes it was just difficult to talk to her mom about these kind of 'trivial' things that mattered to her but didn't matter to her mom.
She checked her watch, "hey, Alice," she said, "I'm just gonna quickly go to the restroom, I'll be right back."
Alice nodded and Emmy went off.
"Ah! Merde," she exclaimed, as she suddenly walked into someone, "sorry, I wasn't looking where I was going."
"It's okay," said the guy she had walked into, "I wasn't looking where I was going either."
"Guess it was both of our faults," she said before looking at him closer.
He was probably a couple inches taller than her, though was just as skinny. His hair was black and short, neat and in place. He had a dark brown complexion with friendly, brown eyes, though he did seem slightly dazed. Whoops. He was wearing the same uniform as everyone, but it looked a little baggy on him. Oh, and his trainers were bright red, which was pretty distinctive. Emmy didn't think she'd ever seen him before, that or she wasn't as observant as she liked to think. Then again, she wasn't sure how she had ever missed him, he was cuter than at least eighty percent of the guys here.
"Sorry, what grade are you in?" She asked, "I don't think I recognise you."
"Oh, I'm a sophomore," he said.
"Really? Me too," surely she hadn't forgotten everyone over summer.
"You probably don't recognise me because I'm new," he clarified, "this is my first day. I'm Miles, by the way, Miles Morales."
"Nice to meet you, Miles," she said, smiling at him, "I'm Emmy. Emmy Thomas."
"Hey, your police boy, right?" Said some kid. Oh, it was Elijah Kendawi, great.
"What?" Frowned Miles, confused.
"You were the one who got arrested on the way to school, right?" Elijah was a short kid with an upturned nose and a boyish attitude. He was a nerd, like most people in this school, though he liked to make sure people knew that he was better than them.
"What are you talking about?" Emmy furrowed her eyebrows before it hit her, "oh you mean the cop car outside?" She glanced at Miles, "I'm pretty sure he wasn't being arrested."
"That was my dad giving me a lift," said Miles, looking annoyed.
Elijah still looked smug, "I-"
"Elijah, don't you have someone's head to go shove down a toilet?" Cut in Emmy, "cuz you're kinda being a right prick right now."
"You know you like me."
"Va te faire enculer."
"Alright, alright, I'm going," he raised his arms up in surrender, "I'll leave you with convict boy here-"
"Hey," Miles suddenly lunged forward.
Emmy stopped him, "seriously, Elijah, fuck off if you know what's good for you." The boy gave a casual shrug and wandered away, she turned to Miles, "he's just trying to provoke you so you get into trouble, he's not worth it."
"Good to know I've made a good first impression," he sighed, shoving his hands in his blazers.
"You shouldn't care what Elijah thinks," she said, "there's a group of posh fucks in this school who think they're better than everyone else because they get alright grades."
"He wouldn't have fit in at my old school. Prick."
"He's still a prick here," she said, "and I wouldn't worry about the whole cop car thing, most people in this school don't give a crap to pay enough attention or remember those kind of things."
Miles relaxed a little, "any other tips about surviving here?"
Emmy thought about it for a few seconds, "there's a side door next to the canteen that they use to take out the trash but always forget to lock, it's a good place if you wanna try and sneak out."
"You do that often?"
"Sometimes being stuck in school all week is exhausting," she shrugged, "anyway, I gotta go."
Oh, right. He had been so distracted he had forgotten that she had probably been going somewhere before they bumped into each other. "Oh, right, see you around then."
She glanced over her shoulder as she walked away, "yeah, I hope I see you around, Miles."
Meanwhile
Oscorp Tower, Manhattan
Norman Osborn, CEO of Oscorp Industries, stepped into the elevator and rode it all the way to one of the top floors, dressed in an all grey business suit with a red tie as he walked down towards the laboratory.
He had called in his son, Harry, to help out with the general chaos around the tower after last night's break in. But he was late, typical. So, Norman was left to sort everything out himself as he opened the door to the scene of the crime, the door which was barely on its hinges after the fight. Inside, there were no police, just other scientists searching around the la, attempting to tidy up broken glass and spilt chemicals.
Norman looked around and sighed, this was his experiment he had been working on for so long, to see it in this state was almost like losing a child.
"What's the damage?" He asked one of the scientists who stood up straight.
"The Prowler didn't manage to take anything," said the blonde scientist, he thought her name was Franchesca or something, "but, in the fight, they did manage to destroy almost everything."
"Including?"
"The vial of the OZ-Formula was smashed and the must have substance evaporated or other because we can't find any traces of it."
Norman swore under his breath, "what about the mutants?"
"All the spiders were crushed," she paused, "well…"
"Well?"
"We've retrieved all the crushed bodies of all the spiders to attempt to see what we can recover from them," she said, "but, there's one of the spiders missing."
"Missing?" He repeated before letting out a sigh of frustration, "as in it could be wondering around anywhere? Biting anyone?"
"More likely that it got carried away by someone else, sir," she said, "possibly it crawled onto Spiderman or the Prowler during the fight."
He put his head in his hands, squeezing the bridge of his nose as he tapped his foot, "shit," he muttered, before looking at all the scientists, "clean up in here and then get back to work. Do anything to recreate that formula."
Now he had to worry about that formula running around in the city in the form of a spider, able to bite anyone. Who knew what that meant? Another superhero running around? Or another super villain destroying things?
Who knew, maybe there'd be another damn Spiderman.
Let me know what y'all think of this chapter!
Next Chapter: The Avengers! Flashback! And Uncle Aaron!
