Disclaimer: I do not own USM or any of it's characters. If I did, it would still be on today T-T

Enjoy :)

Heart of a Wolf

Chapter Four: A New Home

The sun shines bright over the city. It was a warm spring day as people in the parks were enjoying their day. There were people having cook-outs, playing football, playing Frisbee and other activities, as well.

One family in particular was having a picnic on the beautiful green grass. There was an older man in his mid-fifties with grey hair that still held black streaks in it that was held in a low ponytail, copper skin with slight wrinkles on his face and his dark brown eyes that held much wisdom in them was sitting on a picnic blanket with two other people. There was another man, who was younger, in his late thirties with long black hair, copper skin and dark brown eyes. Lastly there was a woman in her mid-thirties with chestnut brown curly hair, tan skin and emerald green eyes smiling warmly. Behind her was a baby stroller with a little baby girl in it sleeping.

They were smiling happily and laughing while talking to each other. Not too far from them, was a little girl around six-years old with copper skin, black curly hair and emerald green eyes. She was giggling as she was trying to catch an orange and black butterfly with her hands.

"Tamera! It's time to go home, darling!" the woman called to her daughter who looked up and smiled brightly at the sight of her mother.

She ran over to her mother and hugged her legs tightly while her father and grandfather were packing up.

"Mommy, do you have to leave tomorrow?" Tamera asked her mother as she knelt down in front of her with a warm smile on her face.

"I'm afraid so, darling" Her mother, Jocelyn answered her, "It's an honor to serve my country and to protect the people I love. Like you, Ayanna, Grandpa and daddy, darling"

"Can I come with you?" Tamera asked hopefully.

"I wish you could, Tamera. I wish all of you could, but I'm afraid not" Jocelyn answered sadly.

"I'm gonna miss you, mommy" Tamera hung her head sadly.

Jocelynsmiled warmly as she lifted her daughter's head up under her chin with her finger, "I'm gonna miss you, too. I'm gonna miss all of you, but I'm only gonna be gone for six months. I'll be home in time for your birthday and Christmas"

"I'm still gonna miss you" Tamera said sadly.

Jocelyn'ssmile held as she straightened herself up and pulled a gold heart locket necklace over her head and held it in front of her as she knelt in front of Tamera again, "Here, Tamera. Take this, that way you will always have a piece of me with you and you will never be alone"

Tamera was in awe as her mother placed the necklace over her head and around her neck. As Tamera looked down at the locket, she smiled bright and hugged her mother tightly.

"Thank you, mommy" she said happily, "I love you"

"I love you more" Jocelyn returned the hug and hugged her daughter tightly, "And I always will"

"Always...always..." I muttered as the dream began to end. I then snapped my eyes open, "Mom?" I sat straight up and looked around to see that I was still in the sewers. I looked down at my hands and saw that I was still a wolf. Tears began to fill my eyes as I hugged my knees to my chest and buried my face in my arms.

"Enough with the waterworks, I don't need a flood in here"

I looked up at the sudden male voice and my tear-filled eyes widened slightly at the sight before me. It was a muscular guy, who looked to be around my age and he was wearing a red and black spider suit with a large black spider on his chest, black fingers, black shoulders and a black mask with large reflective red eye holes. He looked like a Spider-Man wanna be.

I glared at him as I stood straight up and growled at him, "Who the hell do you think you are talking to me like that?"

He then glared down at me, he stood a good six inches taller than me, but I wasn't intimidated.

"I think I'm the one that just saved your life" he shot at me.

"You saved me?" I asked confused, but still had a harsh tone.

"Yea, I found you blacked out and bleeding in front of my place. So, I brought you in before you froze to death or bled out" He explained, "I also patched up your leg the best I could, it's hard to keep it clean down here, but I did what I could"

I looked down at my right leg and saw that my pants were ripped where the wound was and there were bandages over it.

"Thanks" I look up at him, "But I had everything under control"

He scoffed, "Not from where I'm standing" he crossed his arms over his chest.

"Then move down wind" I spat at him as I tried to walk past him, but he grabbed my arm and I looked back at him with a glare.

"Listen here, princess" He began as his eye holes glared at me, "You're on my turf now and I make the rules here. One of them is, nobody tells me what to do and the other is nobody talks to me like that"

"Well, there's a first time for everything, isn't there?" I said to his sarcastically as I yanked my arm out of his grip.

"Hey! We're not finished here, princess" He said angrily as he grabbed my shoulder.

My eyes narrowed and a growl erupted from my throat as I turned my head to look at him. I then grabbed his arm with both my hands and before he could react, I flipped him over my shoulder like he was nothing and he collided into the wall.

He landed head-first on the floor and groaned as he rubbed his head. I stood over him with my hands balled into fists, "Don't you ever call me 'princess'" I growled at him.

He groaned as he stood up in front of me, "No problem... princess"

I growled at him, but then I noticed something in his hand. My necklace!

"Give me that!" I yelled as I snatched it from his hand, "Where did you get this? This is mine! Why do you have it?"

"Take it easy, princess" he replied as he put his hands up in mock defense, "I found that necklace on the ground when I found you"

"Well, don't you ever touch this again! You hear me?! Don't ever touch this!" I screamed at him seething before I turned away from him and placed the necklace back on around my neck. I sighed deeply as I held the locket in my hands.

"Is it that important?" He asked. It wasn't a smart remark, he was genuinely curious.

"You have no idea how important" I said in a whisper as I opened my hands and looked down at the locket sadly.

I took a deep breath as I calmed down before I turned back to him, "I'm sorry for yelling and being so harsh towards you after you helped me. I guess I'm so used to doing things on my own that I never had anyone help me before"

"Forget about it, punk" he waved it off.

"Maybe we should start over" I said looking at him with a small smile, "I'm Tamera" I held my hand out to him.

"Scarlet Spider" He took my hand and shook it, "So, were you always like this?" he referred to my new appearance "Or what?"

I turned around and began to walk around, "No, I wasn't. I used to be normal"

"What happened?" he asked as he walked up to me.

"I used to be human until some freako scientist with eight arms experimented on me and turned me into this" I told him as I looked down sadly at my hands.

"Eight arms?" Scarlet questioned, "He wouldn't be Otto Octavius, would he?"

"The one and only" I answered looking at him, "Why? You know him?"

"He's the reason I live down here" Scarlet answered as his eye-holes narrowed and looked down, "He kidnapped me years ago and experimented on me... painfully. He gave me these powers and made me into a monster" his fists clenched tightly, "Now I live down here... alone where I can't hurt anybody. It's the only place for a monster like me"

"Monster?" I questioned, "Why would you think you're a monster? Because of your powers?"

"Not the powers" he answered as he turned his back to me, "It's what I've done and what I can't change"

"...You hurt someone you loved, didn't you?' I asked him with sympathy in my voice.

He said nothing as he turned back to me, "So, are you feeling better enough to go home or what?"

"Are you kidding me?" I asked him in disbelief, "I can't go back home to my family looking like this" I referred to my new appearance as I hugged myself, "They would never understand. They'd sooner turn me away than welcome me back" a lone tear escaped from my eye and splashed onto the ground. It's true, I can't go back home. My family would never take me back if they saw me like this.

I then feel a hand on my shoulder and I looked up at Scarlet, "I got some spare blankets laying around. You can use them until I get a spare mattress for you"

I smiled brightly as I jumped up and hugged him tightly. I wrapped my arms around his neck as I felt him stiff up, probably because he's never been hugged before.

"Thank you" I say to him, the smile never leaving my face.

"Uh...sure" he answered as he hesitantly placed his hand on my hip and the other hand on my hair, "Don't mention it, punk" I then broke the hug as I looked up at him with a happy smile.

"I'll, uh... go get the blankets" he said as he began to walk off, "You make yourself at home"

I smiled as I watched him walk away to get the blankets, "He's not such a bad guy after all" I thought to myself with a smile.

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