Author Notes: Hope I don't burst anyone's bubble but this is not the pace that the story will be released at. I just worked on 2 chapters at a time and meant to upload this with the first but wanted to tweak it more.

Thanks to: Marco A. Salazar and StraightedgeEpyon for your reviews.


Amazing Fantasy Issue #02

Flights of Fancy


It could be lonely at night working at WILLE, Kirito had found. He didn't mind the solace though, he found it relaxing. It did give him a chance to stretch his legs and think. As a security guard he was tasked with patrolling the grounds and making sure no kids climbed over the fence to graffiti anything. Really, it was more being paid to wander around looking alert and thinking about what would happen next in his favourite anime.

He passed by storehouse B and frowned. Now why was it open? He shook his head. Once again somebody during day shift had gone in and forgot to lock. Honestly, he should tell Ms. Katsuragi but he didn't want to feel responsible for somebody losing their job.

With a grumble he walked on over, ignoring a crucial rule of his job: Inform someone else if something looks amiss before going near it.

Kirito was just outside the entrance when he heard a silent hum, like one you'd hear when near an electric box. Two pinpricks of green light fell on him. His stomach turned to ice as he reached for his gun.

'Hey, don't move!' Kirito clicked his flashlight into the darkened storehouse.

The green lights vanished behind something and Kirito panicked.

Blam!

Blam!

He heard the bullets ricochet off metal and the figure rushed at him.

It was huge, a mockery of man, and slugged him with a mighty crack on the chest. Kirito blacked out sporadically after the hit. His ribs shifted uncomfortably, maybe broken by the assault. He thumbed his walky-talky hoping someone would find him.

He couldn't speak. He just kept clicking the call button on and off.

The figure loomed over him. Tiny green eyes glaring down. Huge wings unfolded from its back and silently the figure fled, leaving Kirito to struggle for air.


It was early in the day and school had not yet begun. Rei Ayanami stared out of the window. On some days she caught sight of something strange. A distant figure moving between buildings. She didn't see them today.

A shadow fell over her and lazily she looked up. It was Shinji Ikari and he looked anxious.

'Um, good morning, Ayanami.' She noticed his brow twitched when he was uncertain. He had very calming hazel eyes. There was something about him though. Something she couldn't quite place or put words to yet.

'Um, Ayanami? Are you okay?'

The girl blinked.

'Good morning, Ikari-kun. Did you fix my camera?'

'Yeah, sorry it took so long.' He mumbled collecting the camera from his bag with extreme care. 'But it's done. It was just a misalignment on the inside which caused the weird blur.'

'Thank you. I have your money here.' She reached into her bag to retrieve the yen.

'No, no. its fine, Ayanami, really.' Shinji waved his hands. 'I don't need it.'

'But it's not right to take things for free.'

Before she could protest more a loud voice and a video camera entered her space.

'Hey Shin-man!' Touji Suzuhara put an arm around Shinji's neck. 'You chatting up, Ayanami?'

'I suppose he is.' Rei said bluntly.

Touji's eyes grew wide and he cleared his throat before speaking again.

'Ayanami, Shinji is the smartest dude ever. You could never go wrong with him.' Touji leaned in close and Rei crinkled her nose. 'Just watch his hands.'

'I wasn't-that's not what was happening.' Shinji seemed distressed. He was turning red like he had done at his house with Katsuragi.

'Uh, Touji I think you messed up Shinji's plan of play it cool. He's reverted to plan pretend nothing happened.' Kensuke Aida piped up.

'Here, Ikari-kun. You must take this.' She held out the yen. 'I cannot accept what you did for free.'

'But-'

'Uh…Shinji, what's Ayanami talking about?' his two friends scrutinised him.

'I just fixed her camera. Ayanami, please you keep it. I don't need the money.'

Rei kept holding the money out.

'Hey, I have an idea. Why not pay Shinji with information, Ayanami?' Kensuke said with a gleam in his eye.

'I suppose that will have to do.' Ayanami said with a sigh. 'What do you wish to know?'

Shinji frowned. What would he need to ask Ayanami? He just didn't feel right taking money from her, why was this so difficult?

'Here, let me help out again. See, we've been trying to guess Emi's bra size so could you help us out?'

It seemed rather insufficient a payment but Rei had no other option.

'Emi wears a size 34C. Though I suspect she should be wearing a 36 as her bras seem too tight.'

Something untoward happened on Kensuke and Touji's faces. It puzzled Rei, Shinji seemed struck dumb, glowing red now.

Touji leaned in close and whispered. 'Say, what about the class rep?'

'Who cares? She's flat.' Kensuke got a punch on the shoulder.

'She wears a 32A.'

'Hm, okay this is a good start Ayanami.' Kensuke said. 'Let's see, who else should we think of.'

'I think that's enough.' Shinji said hurriedly. 'Um, thanks, Ayanami.'

Shinji sat in his desk and tried not to think about what Rei had told them. God, he would be lying if he said he wasn't interested in Emi's bust but did his friends have to take advantage of Ayanami? He shook his head and tried to focus on something else.

He pulled out his notebook and flipped over to his latest page on his webbing formula. The writing was nothing specific to anybody peeking. He did have to work out a way to improve his fuel consumption. He just couldn't make enough to quick enough.

As he pondered on his dilemma his ears caught a conversation about him. Well, not him, but Spider-Man. Some of his fellow classmates were talking about recent news.

'Did you hear what happened at WILLE?'

'Yeah, a guard that was attacked and said it was that weirdo, Spider-Man.'

'Aw, really? I thought he was a good guy. That sucks!'

Shinji stood up.

'Gee, Shinji, what the hell?' Kensuke looked at him with a raised brow.

'Uh, nothing.' The boy realised he'd been gripping his desk so tight the wood was beginning to crack. He let go and sat down. He hadn't gone to WILLE. And he certainly wouldn't attack anyone. That wasn't what Spider-Man was about! Whoever was doing this, he'd stop them.

Once school was over Shinji switched out of school clothes and into his costume. He swung over the city, his head filled with thoughts. He'd read up about the incident online during class. The guard had just mentioned green eyes and was still in critical condition at hospital. There wasn't much else really, aside from online guesses.

He needed more info if he was going to catch the real culprit. But where could he find some?

Oh, duh, Misato.

The boy stopped on a wall and pulled out his cellphone.

'Moshi, mosh.'

'Hey, Misato. How's work?' Shinji asked.

'Hm? Oh, fine I guess.' She knew something was up. He never called for anything, just texted if necessary.

'I just heard in the news that someone had been hurt…'

He could hear the smile Misato was wearing.

'You don't have to worry about me, Shinji. I'll be fine. It was just a break in.'

'I heard it was that Spider-Man guy.'

'It's just speculation really, but I've got WILLE all geared up to protect its people and its stuff. I'll be home to enjoy your cooking, okay?'

Shinji hadn't realised how dry his mouth had gone while talking to his guardian. It suddenly dawned on him that it could have been Misato who was hurt. Just the thought scared him.

'Yeah, I promise.' He said softly. I don't want to lose anyone else. 'I love you.'

The words just slipped out and Shinji felt stupid. Misato was going to have a field day with this.

'I love you too, Shinji.' Her voice was warm and comforting. It wasn't what he expected her to say. He expected a joke, poking fun at him. Instead the way she said it reminded him a lot of his mother.

'Thanks.' He mumbled embarrassedly.


Misato put her phone away and it gave her a lot to think about.

Poor kid. All worried about me.

She remembered meeting him the first time. It was here at WILLE, she was looking for a job after her stint in the army a good seven years ago. She found a little boy with brown hair sobbing in the corner.

'Hey little guy, what's wrong?'

'I lost my mother. I got stuck on the elevator and can't remember which-which-' he dissolved into sobs before he could finish.

'Don't worry, kiddo. Captain Katsuragi's here to save the day.'

'Are you a soldier?' he stopped crying for moment looking at her uniform.

Misato nodded. 'Yup, I'll be able to navigate us out of here and to your mom in no time.'

Misato sat at her desk smirking at the memory. Thank god for intercoms, because she'd entertained Shinji for an hour while going in circles. At least he seemed amused with her antics.

She returned to her work, scouring over the inventory list of the storage unit that had been broken into. The list was a bunch of equipment names, metals and tools but one thing stuck out to her. Magnetic Propulsion Prototype. Why did she remember that? What was it for?

Right! The VTOL design for the JSSDF WILLE did a year back. Ritsuko had asked her to escort one of the engineers out when it turned out he was trying to sell specs to another company.

Looking at the list what was stolen were electronics for the Magnetic Propulsion system. Misato grinned, feeling chuffed with herself. Maybe she should have been a detective.

She dialled the police to give them the info. Hopefully this was all resolved without anyone else getting hurt.

Ritsuko Akagi had had a long day at work and she was looking forward to some food. Misato had invited her over for dinner (and she was glad to find out it was Shinji's turn to cook). She waited for the Security Chief to bring her car up.

Once the Renault Alpine had pulled up, she got inside.

They drove along, chatting as they went until Misato brought up something interesting.

'You remember Adrian Toomes, the engineer?'

His last words Ritsuko replayed in her mind.

'That design is mine, Akagi! And unlike both senior and junior Akagi's supposed creation, it works! If WILLE won't use it to its full potential then I'll gladly take it somewhere else.'

Ritsuko pulled a bemused face.

'Yes, vividly. He was quite a character. Especially that nose.'

'I think he had something to do with the break in. The only things taken was equipment for his propulsion system.'

'WILLE's propulsion system.' Ritsuko corrected. She sighed. 'Honestly, this is ridiculous. Is it really worth risking jail time for?'

'I dunno. If someone took the MAGI from you what would you do?'

Kill them slowly, Ritsuko thought without hesitation. To Misato, she just shrugged.

'He signed a contract which was crystal clear.'

They stopped at a red light and Misato changed the topic.

'Shinji called me today. He was pretty worried. He even said "I love you" before hanging up.'

'And you didn't run away?' Ritsuko teased. She knew it would rile her friend up. 'Huh, I'm impressed. You've really matured these last few years. This is officially your longest relationship.'

'Hey, that's low.' Misato said. 'Sides, when was the last time someone said that to you?'

'Well, it definitely wasn't my mother. My cats love me.'

'Ooh, how romantic.' Misato teased.

The light changed, and the car seemed to darken for a moment. The two women didn't think much at the time until something else happened. The car groaned as if suddenly taking on weight.

The wheels spun but they weren't running on the ground. The car was being lifted up.

'What the hell?!' Ritsuko clutched the side of her seat, watching as the street grew smaller and more distant. They were being pulled up by something.

Misato rolled her window down and stuck her head out.

'Misato!' Ritsuko cried out.

'Holy crap,' Misato blinked. Huge metal wings with fan blades embedded were attached to a figure in black with glowing green eyes. Their feet had claws affixed to whatever they were wearing and had dug into her car!

Misato aimed her gun at the figure's chest and fired twice. Both shots were on point, she had lined them up perfectly but saw the sparks from her bullets glint off the wings instead. It didn't seem to do much in way of damage but it got the guy's attention.

He glared down at her through his mask. It looked like a one a fighter pilot would wear, with a pipe for oxygen leading to the mouthpiece. Misato simply glared back and slipped into the car.

'Okay, so there's a birdman dragging the car up and my bullets just sort of pissed him off.'

'He's going to drop us!' Ritsuko said hysterically. She was shaking with fear.

Misato tried to think. There had to be something she could do to get out of this. Bullets seemed to be miss as if something altered their trajectory. While she thought the car was climbing higher and higher in the sky. Eventually her and Ritsuko would need oxygen to breathe.

'Hey, whatever Toomes is paying you I can double it!' she yelled out the window.

'This is not about money! It's about my work!'

Seriously. This guy should be chilling with his grandchildren not dressed up for Halloween trying to kill people. Misato wisely kept this thought to herself.

Misaot opened up the glovebox and dug around. She found a spanner and screwdriver, and prayed.

'Misato! What are you doing!?' Ritsuko cried as her friend began to climb out of the window.

'Well, I'm not dying without a fight.' Misato said with a wink, that was more to reassure herself than Ritsuko.

She grabbed at the leg and hauled herself up, clinging to it for dear life.

'Are you mad!?' Toomes cried. 'You want to die sooner?'

He reached down for Misato and the car lilted and they almost hit a building.

'Whatever! We're high enough already. Goodbye, Doctor Akagi!' Toomes growled as he clicked a button on his glove.

Their course changed and Toomes realised that one claw was still engaged, clutching the car. Something was jutting out of the mechanism, refusing to allow the claw to detach.

'Oh, so that's were my spanner went. Silly me.' Misato grinned. She reached out and stabbed at his mask with the screwdriver, puncturing the pipe.

Toomes grabbed the woman and hauled her up. This was enough to jolt the claw from the car.

'Rits!' Misato cried.

Toomes' next words were cold as ice.

'You wouldn't want your friend to die alone, would you?'

He dropped her and watched both the woman and the car sail down.


What was this airborne car week? Shinji asked himself.

Honestly, he didn't think he had enough webbing for this. The fuel consumption on his webshooters were not exactly economical but it would just have to be enough for today. Especially today. He'd been staking out WILLE, worried sick about Misato when he'd noticed her car drive off and a giant bird follow.

Shinji had struggled to keep up but once the car was headed downward with Misato following behind, it made a compelling argument for him to catch up.

Once again, he was atop an out of control car with people screaming. Including him.

He grabbed Misato and yelled at her to hold on, then he set about halting the car.

'Please work, please work, please work!'

Shinji fired webbing everywhere. Several shots trailed off into air but others found walls to stick to. He kept going, triggering the shooters and attaching webbing to the car.

Click-click.

'Crap!'

This was it. Right web shooter was empty and left had misfired! He grabbed as many lines as he could and pulled. He pulled and pulled and felt their descent slow.

Would it be enough? They drawing closer to the ground! A line or two started to take the strain and snapped.

No! No! No!

Eventually the car slowed enough and the elasticity of his webbing came into play, bobbing the vehicle up and down.

He'd done it. The car was stuck a few stories above the road but everyone was alive.

Misato was hugging him. This was super weird.

'Thanks. I thought I was gonna die back there.'

'Uh-yip. Just your…friendly neighbourhood man. Spider-Man.' His fake hero voice was dumb but it would keep Misato and Ritsuko from recognising him. He set her down for a moment to figure out his next move.

A chill ran up his spine and his head buzzed.

A hand was around his throat and hauled him off the car, he was being strangled and dragged higher and higher. How!? He didn't even hear him get near!

'Insect!' the birdman cried and punched Shinji in the face.

He had to blink away stars. Shinji had been punched a couple of times before but this was a whole other level. It hurt. It really hurt.

'Actually, its arachnid. We're part of the arthropod family.' Shinji choked out. He managed to gain footing on the guy's chest and pry the fingers from his throat. He kicked off.

No fall was a problem for Spider-Man! Shinji thought to himself.

Pfft-

Right. No webs. Think. Think. Think!

The bird guy dove and air-tackled him.

Thank you, crazy birdman.

Shinji took a moment to struggle out of his grasp. This guy was strong, possibly on his level or damn close. And he was…humming? Wait a minute. That wasn't him.

Breaking out of the birdman's hold, Shinji scurried over the wings and kept out of reach. He looked over the suit the guy was wearing. There was a lot of padding and metal bracers. This guy wasn't strong naturally. It was his suit. And the humming was coming from the pack on his back.

'Get off me, you idiot!'

The birdman strained to reach Shinji, spiralling in the air and looping around but like an itch on the small of the back he couldn't reach him.

Birdman's still trying to shake me off, good thing I've got sticky fingers.

Shinji crawled and stuck between the wings. He made sure they were headed towards a building and then put a hand to the metal plating that protected the humming device.

Shinji had to hold himself up by the feet between each wing to use both hands. The metal began to rend as he pulled.

'Are you insane!? Stop that at once!'

The casing popped off and exposed a series of coils, wiring and LED lighting that was confusing to look at. Shinji just punched it.

'Hey, the Hollywood kill switch actually works!'

'You idiot! We're both going to die!' the birdman cried as they spiralled downward.

'Lucky for you, Spider-Man is here.'

Shinji stretched out his hands and found purchase on a wall. They did not fall to their deaths. And neither did Misato or Ritsuko.

With the pack busted it seemed to power down his suit and the bird guy was harmless now. He hopped down to the street and set the guy down, noticing he couldn't move much at all.

'Damn you.' He snarled. 'They took everything from me!'

'So, they deserved to die?'

'I deserve some recompense!'

'And it doesn't matter if other people lose their everything?'

Shinji was face to face with the man. His hand balled into a fist. He was furious.

The boy stepped away. He had to help Misato and Ritsuko down. He didn't have to waste time with someone like this.


Shinji sat with Ritsuko Akagi and his guardian at the table. Both he and the doctor ate slowly. It was takeouts tonight thanks to Shinji being "too busy with homework" and forgetting to cook.

Misato didn't even challenge him. She just stared blankly at her food, picking at it with absolute apathy.

'Almost a write off.' She mumbled to herself.

'Um, at least you're here with us.' Shinji said.

'I much prefer this over being paste on the sidewalk.' Ritsuko agreed.

'That car was my pride and joy. I saved up for years.'

Shinji chewed his food slowly. The TV was on and it did nothing to improve Misato's mood.

'It was here, in the financial district that a fight between Spider-Man and the Vulture occurred above the rooftops.'

They showed cell phone footage of the tussle. Shinji sniggered seeing the Vulture trying desperately to shake him off.

'No one was seriously injured but there was some backed up traffic due to a car being suspended poorly above the street. Clearly done by Spider-Man's webs.'

The very next scene in the news was the aftermath of Misato's car plunging to the ground when some of the webbing gave way. Its wheels were misaligned, windows cracked or shattered, doors buckled and dented and paint scratched.

Shinji sighed. Being a superhero was tough. No matter what he did he always managed to upset somebody. Still, today wasn't all bad. Misato was still here and Ritsuko too. He could live with that.

He did wonder about the Vulture. That suit of his was pretty fancy. He wished he could upgrade his own like that but he didn't have the money.

Actually, that was a good thought. Where did the Vulture get his suit? He was wearing it the night of the first attack so it wasn't something he stole in parts and then put together.

'You alright, Shinji?' Ritsuko asked casting him a look.

'Hm, oh, just thinking. Where do you think that guy got his suit? Must have been expensive.'

Ritsuko shrugged. 'Who knows? I didn't get much of a look at it. Regardless, the idiot was playing with fire.'

Seeing Shinji's confusion, the doctor continued.

'Toomes thought his design was safe enough to use for smaller units. It leaks some dangerous radiation. It's low level but if someone was wearing that for long periods of time it could have health issues.'

She lit a cigarette, took a drag and continued.

'So, WILLE decided to build larger units with better shielding to make use for VTOL systems. Toomes tried to make money on the side by selling parts of his design to our competitors.'

'And then he went and tore up my car.' Misato grumbled.

'I'm sure your insurance will pay out.' Ritsuko said. 'I'm actually interested in that Spider-Man character. The way he moved…it's fascinating. I'd like to know what makes him tick.'

'Hmph, he seems a little short for you to hit on him. I mean he was practically Shinji's size.' Misato said.

The teenager gulped.

His guardian finally took a bit of food and chewed thoughtfully.

'He's probably just some mutant kid looking to do some good.'

Shinji couldn't help himself and turned to Misato. 'You think he's doing good, Misato?'

She shrugged. 'It depends. Today things worked out but he's clearly out of his depth. He's got powers but no skills or training. You can only get by so far until your luck runs out.'

'Just between us, he was kind of a dork. He put on this fake voice to sound heroic.'

'Don't worry ma'am. Your friendly neighbourhood Spider-Man is here.'

The two women laughed as Shinji scowled.

Misato's impression was clearly exaggerated, but Shinji could not correct them of this without complicating things. This deflated the boy who had been hoping for a little praise not to be a joke. He couldn't really argue with her logic. He had been getting by on luck and the raw power he'd been given. It wasn't something he had really been working on improving.

Shinji focused on his meal as Ritsuko and Misato chatted the night away. Perhaps it was time to really dig into what his powers could do. He needed to know his limits. He still did not know how strong he really was or how strong he could be. He wondered what the future would bring.