Anonymous: Heroes Need Heroes

by rebornwhole

Riley thought she was good at few things she thought that she simply had dumb luck. She thought it unlikely that she would get a summer internship, since that she sent her form in at the last minute. Riley thought that she got lucky, that is was simply a one time of luck. Then her luck spiraled out of control, she needed saving, even if she wouldn't admit it.

1. Chapter 1

Young Justice & Spiderman-Anonymous: Heroes Need Heroes

WARNING: CONTAINS SUBSTANCE ABUSE, CHARACTER DEATH, AND ABUSE (BOTH (I just had the strangest urge to put an "e" on both…talk about weird) PHYSICAL AND SEXUAL)

DISCLAIMER: I OWN NEITHER THE RECOGNIZABLE CHARACTERS FROM YOUNG JUSTICE, NOR THE MARVEL UNIVERSE. ALL STORY LINES ARE FICTITIOUS AND ANY SIMILARITIES TO A PERSON, DEAD OR DECEASED, IS COMPLETELY AND UTTERLY COINCADENTAL. I OWN THIS PLOT AND RILEY.

ENJOY!

CHAPTER 1:

Stuffing her hands in her pockets, she ran down the road until she reached her destination. Her internship was starting today; it was with an assistant named Peter Parker. Pulling her sketchbook out, she roughly sketched a picture of the tall buildings, and then sprinted inside. Grabbed her ID and started up the escalator. She was already late, and on her first day. She almost tripped several people as she skidded into the office. Pencil behind her ear, ID clipped to her old black jacket and windswept short hair that fell into her lens-covered eyes, she looked very much like a boy, and it detracted attention from her.

"I'm sorry I'm late, it took me a while to find the building, I know, it's the biggest building around, but I'm new to this city, you see, I just moved from Gotham and I've been trying to find my way around for about a week or so, but I'm hopelessly terrible at it. Hi, I'm Aurelia Jacobs, but you can call me Riley." The girl, who could be no older then fourteen held out her hand to the dumbfounded Peter, who took it and shook it, motioning of her to sit after he let go. Setting her bag down, she faced the scientist.

"Well, I'm Peter Parker, assistant, and your, apparently, boss. I did not know why they would get an assistant for the assistant. You can call me Peter."

Riley shrugged, and smiled crookedly at the older teen, brushing her hair from her face "Alright, I need you to file these papers, you can just leave your stuff by the door, so you can get out as fast as you came in." He handed her the papers and winked at her. Riley mock-saluted him and knelt by the file cabinets. She learned a bit about the older teen over the hours in which she ran errands. This continued for most of the summer, she enjoyed his company, and Riley considered him a friend, but was unsure if the feeling was returned. She told him about her love for superheroes, whether they have powers or not. He told her about Spiderman, and his endeavors throughout New York City soon enough, another hero was added to the sketched in her book and the symbols on her corkboard at home. Riley was a tinkerer, which Peter learned, and she did odd jobs with computers, to earn herself some extra money. Her family was financially challenged, and Riley, being an only child had to take care of her family.

One day, Riley was running an errand and she saw a room that caught her eye. Pushing the door open, Riley stepped inside. Behind a glass door were webs. Pushing open the glass, she saw that spiders crawled across the webs. Setting down the file outside, she walked into the chamber, fascinated by the creatures that crawled across the webs, she let one crawl onto her hand. Without warning, it latched its small fangs on the inside of her wrist. Crying out, Riley quickly pulled the spider off, yanked her jacket sleeve over the bite, and left the room quickly enough so that no one knew she was there. Quickly dropping the file off, she checked her watch, she could leave. Running into Peter's office, she grabbed her bag and board, quickly leaving the building, waving good-bye to the receptionist as she rolled past.

Riley reached her mom's small apartment, expertly dodging her mother, who was passed out cold, sleeping off her hangover. Once in her room, she inspected the bite, it was red and inflamed, sighing she just showered and went to bed, not expecting anything to happen because of a spider bite.

Morning came for the residents of New York, and one in particular was groaning from the bruises he acquired the night before. Another groan came when he looked down and saw his costume. It had rips covering the chest and back. Pulling it over his head, he pulled on his spare and stuffed the ripped suit into his bag and ran downstairs, always acting as if nothing was wrong. As he wolfed down his breakfast, and gave his aunt a kiss before jogging out the door to another day at his summer job. He walked in, and popped his back, waving to a silent Riley, who was inspecting a red mark on her wrist. When she caught a glimpse of the other teen and immediately dragged him to a bathroom. Carrying her bag, she ordered him to take off his shirt. She did not ask any questions, she just cleaned his cuts, making sure they were properly bandaged. Her eyes had a certain protective light to them as she tossed him an old sweatshirt from her bag. She never said a word to the other boy as she pushed him out of the room and sat him down at the desk, whispering "Don't do too much, you cuts might reopen, and I don't want blood on my sweatshirt." Silently, she pulled out her sketchbook and quickly drew something and put it away, then watched Peter, who silently went about his work. He nearly fell asleep on the keyboard. Rolling her eyes, she rolled the chair away from the desk when he finally fell asleep and continued his work for him, filling out form after form until the older teen woke up to see almost all of his work done and a brunette rubbing her eyes fiercely, trying to finish the work. Hands on her face and pencil in hand, she feverishly scribbled on the pages before her, leaving every signature line blank for him. Placing a hand on her shoulder, he gently shook the girl from her stupor and checked the time. It was about an hour past the time when they were meant to leave and the office lights were slowly going out. Riley groaned when she saw the time, saying "My mom is going to kill me, raise me from the dead, and then kill me again. And do this repeatedly." Waving to Peter she sprinted from the room at a nearly inhuman speed.

Riley ran home, dodging people as they yelled after her. A few teens smirked knowingly after her as her backpack bounced on her back and her feet slapped the ground quickly. She came in to an irate mother. Her eyes widened and she dropped her bag by the door and slowly moved away until she was up against the wall, hands splayed against the cool plaster. A glass bottle came hurling at her, quickly she dodged it and assumed her old position, the glass shards rained down and cut her hands. Riley didn't flinch as she took blow after blow from her mother. Soon, her mother had passed out on the floor, and Riley rose from the ball she was in, and started to scrub the stains from the linoleum. She didn't know that someone was watching her as she cleaned the floor before even looking at her wounds. It was obvious that Riley had put up with this for longer than it can be imagined. This is where her obsession with heroes came from. Her fierce protection of the weak is what made her only stronger against her mother. She knew there were those who always meant well. No matter what. That night, Riley noticed something. Everything seemed sharper, clearer. She was thinner, and had firmer muscles, but somehow ravenously hungry. Silently, to avoid waking her mother, she warmed up a pizza from the freezer and ate the whole thing. She inspected the spider bite, the swelling had gone down and it was completely unnoticed to Riley unless she was actually looking for it. After sliding into bed, she closed her eyes and dreamed of a better world.

School started in a week. Her internship was only for the summer and ended today. Going up to the office, she double checked her concealer in the window before walking up the stairs, nodding to the receptionist, who gave her a slight smile. Pushing open the door of the office, she dropped her bag by the door and slumped into the chair, waiting silently for Peter, who without warning, jumped from behind the desk with a yell and threw a pencil at her. Yelping, Riley flipped the chair over and was up the wall and hanging down in about five seconds. Quickly, she opened her eyes and immediately dropped down, picking up the chair and sitting in it. She gave the other teen a well-practiced stink-eye. Peter began to laugh as Riley continued to glare in a Batman-worthy fashion. She herself was surprised by her own reaction. She hid it well, so that her face only showed a bit of anger at Peter's reaction. Wrapping her arms around her bruised ribs, she waited patiently until she was given something to file. Peter just waved his hand and told her to go play with her toys. Giving the other boy a deadpan expression, she left the room for her small tinkering station in the main labs, picking up her screwdriver, and began adjusting the valves of one of her many projects. She consulted her blueprints and worked until it worked. The hoverboard she had been working on for months was finished. Stepping away from the desk, she picked up a joystick and pressed the top button. I lifted off smoothly, increasing the altitude, she flew it above her head in the near empty room, a grin splitting her face. Moving it back down, she caught it easily with a hand and strapped it onto her backpack, checking her watch, she ran back to the office, and gave Peter a hug whispering

"Thanks, you idiot, don't hurt yourself too badly. Spiderman." He sent Riley a sly look and the girl returned it, brushing her unkempt hair from her eyes as she shouldered her pack and left Oscorp for what she hoped would be the last time.