3) Watch out for Rookies
"I have GOT to work on my speed" Miles Morales huffed out frustrated as he launched himself forward once more into the air.
It was a cool, fall day in Brooklyn. Leaves were kicked up into the air as he swung very low to the ground only to be shot up into the air once more. He was trying to gain more momentum to increase his speed.
Peter had talked briefly about optimal angles for releasing and Miles was trying his best to think about the lesson he had just had in Physics the other day (one he should be doing homework on instead of this). But regardless of how quickly he was gaining speed, the target in front of him kept the same distance away.
His adrenaline was high, he felt at home with his powers; feeling every shift and move within his muscles propel him faster through the streets. The windows and trees were almost a blur in his vision. The chase was the perfect combination of exciting and challenging.
Miles would say that he was having a blast even...if lives weren't on the line.
A villain called, you ready for this? The Kangaroo, Miles still couldn't say that name without giggling slightly. Yeah sure his name wasn't all that creative either but it's not like he had a say in picking it. But anyway, kangaroo had been robbing a bank (what was with these villains and robbing things), taking several hostages. When Miles had arrived, the springy villain had hopped away with a bag of cash in one hand and a hostage in the other saying 'no one follow me or this guy gets it.' Which probably would have been more intimidating coming from someone who didn't look like the Easter bunny with a rat tail.
So of course Miles was now hot on the trail, still trying to figure out how he wanted to handle the situation.
He heard police sirens in the distance. He doubted they could help any in this situation. It was too dangerous, they might hit the hostage.
A particularly high release sent Miles rocketing into the air. He gained a bit of distance in between the two.
"Hey Kangaroo I'm coming for you!" He called out, managing to attrack the attention of the villian.
Surprisingly enough, the Kangaroo stopped hopping when he heard Spider man call out. He settled himself on a roof and turned to face the young hero; a scowl on his face that did not fit the demeanor of his outfit.
"Man you are really quick!" Miles landed on the rooftop and put his hands on his knees catching his breath. "Why'd ya stop running, seen the error of your ways?"
"Stop following me or I'll shoot him" The Kangaroo grumbled darkly in his Australian accent.
"Woah Mate, very to the point kind of guy aren't we?" Miles started walking forward casually trying to distract him with movement. It did not work however because as soon as he took a step forward the Kangaroo pulled a gun up to the man's head.
The man whimpered, panicked face now hidden behind a literal sack of cash.
"Yoink, I'll take that" Miles expertly shot a web string at the gun, taking it away. He caught it in his hand and crushed the barrel so it was unusable before throwing it to the ground. "Never bring a gun to an animal throwdown yo. Time to figure out who would win. Arachnid vs marsupial. Basically Australia's past time"
"While I appreciate that you know that I'm a marsupial, I've gotta say that I'm not interested in a fight lov" The Kangaroo backed up and Miles narrowed his eyes suspiciously. "Plus there's more than one way to kill a man"
And before Miles could say anything, The Kangaroo tossed the man off the building, turned and hopped away. "Gday mate"
Miles quickly jumped into action, literally. He jumped off the side of the building, released a web shooter and hit the man straight in the chest. Then he turned his body in midair and clung to the brick wall to stop their descent. He also made sure to hold his arm out so the man did not swing against the brick and injured himself.
Miles looked down, letting out a sigh of relief when he saw he had succeeded. "You alright Sir?"
"Y-yes. But please get me down from here!" The man was swinging slightly. He was only about 5 feet in the air at this point.
Miles thanked his amazing reflexes that he had reacted so quickly. If he had just jumped after the man, there would have been a different kind of pizza in New York. A street pizza made of hostage.
A police car pulled up on the street below, lights and sirens blaring. For some reason, there was a low buzzing of spider sense. That was strange...
"I'm going to lower you to the ground now. The police will take it over from there. I have to catch up with the rabbit" he yelled slightly over the siren.
Miles released the web fluid slowly to lower the man to the ground. "Thank you Spiderman!" The man exclaimed, looking very relieved to not be bouncing anymore.
The young hero was just about to swing away when the police door opened and someone started screaming at him. "FREEZE!"
Now a strong tremor flared in his head, alerting him to imminent danger. It scared him as it came out of nowhere and it certainly wasn't from the villain.
A shot rang out. On instinct he turned invisible whipping his head around to find the source of the danger.
But he should have dodged instead of disappearing.
He felt a sharp sting in the back of his arm, a cold piece of metal was lodged into his tricep. The sudden intense pain forced him out of his invisibility.
Another shot rang out, hitting the brick next to his head this time.
Someone was shooting at him.
Miles quickly ducked into cover by swinging around the other side of the building. His spider sense screaming at him to move it.
"Ceasefire!" Someone called out among the noise, and the firing stopped as suddenly as it had started. "What the hell do you think you're doing?"
Miles clung to the brick, shaking. The police. The police had just SHOT at him.
"Hijo de puta..." Miles cursed under his breath. His right arm was shaking so he had to lean on his legs more for support as to not slip. The pain was bearable for him, but his muscle was in a hard spasm.
"YO WHAT WAS THAT FOR!?" Spiderman yelled out. He looked over his body, noting that he had dodged every other shot except the first. "I'M ON YOUR SIDE YA KNOW!"
"Oh my God I'm so sorry!" The other cop, who he recognized by voice as one of his father's friends, turned off the sirens and yelled out to him. "He's new!"
Miles laughed, more on the border of panic attack than actual laughed. "You've got to be kidding me."
His father had warned him about police being trigger happy, just in a different context.
"Hey Spiderman. You okay?" The man who he had just saved asked, looking very pale.
No. He wanted to say...wanted to scream. Simple scrapes and cuts would easily be taken care of by his accelerated healing factor. But a bullet hole...that was a whole different story. He would need to stitch himself up, disinfect things...Plus he could FEEL the bullet in his arm.
"Uh y-yeah" he tried to keep his voice calm. He was less shook by the fact that he was shot. He had been shot at a lot and figured one day he would very well be in this predicament. He was mostly shaken at the fact that his allies were the ones that shot at him.
He would have to fish the bullet out later. He didn't have time for this, Kangaroo was escaping.
"YALL AINT GUNNA SHOOT ME AGAIN ARE YOU?" He yelled as he began climbing up the brick with one hand. "CAUSE I WOULD LOVE TO DO MY JOB WITHOUT THE ADDED DIFFICULTY PLEASE"
"You heard the spider, guns down" The older police officer said sharply.
Miles hesitantly came out from around the alley corner.
He got a good look at his attacker. The officer glared up at him, gun in hand still but pointed at the ground.
When no sensation alarmed him in his head, he quickly took off into the night sky back on the track of the villain.
Except now he was fwipping with one hand. And the villain had a very large head start. He could see the figure way off in the distance but he had no idea how he was going to get there.
So instead he slowed his movement after a couple of blocks, landing on a light pole and cursing to himself. He guessed he couldn't win them all. He would have to web up the bad guy on their next encounter. Plus he had saved the hostage and taken a gun from the villian (of course now they could probably buy a whole mob of guns)
He would just have to hope that they had shoved a dye pack in the cash. He made a mental note to practice his speed the next time he was out patrolling.
The pain in his arm decided to make itself known once again, breaking him from his thoughts. Miles hissed through his teeth as he tried to look over the wound. It was in a bad position on the back of his arm. He had to crane his neck to even see the tear in his suit. "Aw man I just resewed this last week. I'm gunna have to get some more fabric."
Spiderman felt a vibration in his hidden pocket in his suit. He unzipped the small zipper pulling out his cell phone in a very protective case to keep it from breaking when he was inevitably punched.
"Hola Madre" Miles said as he answered the call. He tucked the phone between his left ear and shoulder so he could still get a better look at the wound as he talked. "Que paso?"
"Miles honey, just checking to see what time you were coming home? Dinner's almost ready"
Stomach dropping, Miles almost dropped his phone. Oh no. He had totally forgotten he had promised his parents to stay at home this weekend. He had been so busy with vigilante duties that he hadn't had time to visit them for a few weeks. He had blamed it on school work piling up. "Yeah I'm just walking there now"
"I wish you would have taken the bus, I don't like you walking alone at night."
"Technically it's not night yet." The sun was just starting to set. He would actually like to stay out later than this. But even he knew it was careless to stay out with only one working arm. "Plus what's the worst that can happen?"
Maybe getting shot? Or even worse getting shot by the people supposed to protect him?
"Don't talk like that Miles. You know that your padre does a wonderful job cleaning up the streets, but that does not mean you should not be careful"
Miles laughed to himself, genuinely this time despite of the situation. "Yeah I know. I'll see you soon"
"Te amo, see you in a bit"
"Love you too Mom" He hung up the phone and groaned letting his limbs hang off the pole.
So he now had another issue on his hands (well one 'hand' in particular) Blood was dripping down from his arm. It needed to be dealt with and fast. He contemplated swinging over to May's house to have her help. But that was all the way on the other side of town. Plus if she wasn't home, then he would be really late and still stuck in the same situation.
He could go back to school. Unfortunately he didn't have as many supplies there. And he wouldn't be able to sneak into the bathroom to wash off all the blood. He could probably go buy some more supplies and maybe some wet wipes. He didn't have his wallet on him. Ugh.
He hated when he got hurt. It was more annoying than anything. Thankfully G's eating chart had been working wonders for him and he hadn't had another fainting incident since then. Even now he didn't feel bad, the wound just hurt terribly. He wished he had a better healing factor. But thick skin worked better than nothing. He wasn't sure how a spider would give him thicker skin but he could punch rocks without his arm exploding so he wouldn't question it. Especially when his enemies were often built like rocks.
He would have to deal with it at home he decided. If he could make it to the bathroom without alerting anyone he could stitch himself up no problem. His mom had a myriad of health supplies stocked in his bathroom.
So he slid off the lamppost and swung away, making sure to keep a wide berth around the street that the police car had stopped.
...
The sun was just setting beneath the horizon when Miles landed on the roof of his home. His head was buzzing; this time not from his spider sense but from trying to decide what would be his next step.
He would need to stop the bleeding to get into the house. He probably couldn't just sneak into his room without his parents noticing, especially since they were awake and waiting for him.
Plus he had to get into the bathroom to disinfect the wound.
Ow okay first things first let's get this bullet out. Miles thought to himself. It did not feel too far deep it and he was actually surprised with all the movement during the swing over that it hadn't fallen out.
Without thinking too hard about it, he jammed his finger into the hole and scooped it out. He cursed to himself as there was a flash of searing pain up and down his arm. But, he did indeed nail it and the bullet landed with a small clatter onto the roof. He jumped up and down a while on his feet, clutching his arm, until the pain was bearable. Ow ow ow owwww.
Now he had another issue of course, the bullet had been keeping a lot of blood in his body. Oh that's what they meant by 'just leave it in'.
He didn't want to rip up his clothes. What could he use as a bandage?
Well Gwen had talked about how she had used webbing once as a bandage mid fight. That could work.
Twisting his body in a funky way, he aimed the web shooter at the hole and let a very small amount of webbing out. He winced at the sudden pressure but somehow the goop like substance felt soothing on his hot skin.
Thankfully he had also remembered to keep a backpack of clothes hidden inside an air vent on his roof for such an occasion. He opened said vent, the grating came off very easily. Then he reached inside, finding the bag that had been stuck to the metal via a stronger web fluid that May had lent him for things he really wanted to stay stuck (otherwise the fluid melted away after a couple of hours so the city was not covered in long white strands). Better for the environment and so he could not be followed as easily.
He took off his mask, gloves, web shooters, and boots, swapping it out for normal clothing. He would keep the suit on underneath his clothes as extra protection so that he wouldn't drip blood everywhere. So far the webbing was holding well.
He shoved on his jeans and his kicks. It was hard to do with only his left hand. The hardest part was getting his baggy sweatshirt on. But with some effort and interesting facial expressions he was all dressed and looking normal.
Slinging his backpack over his good shoulder, Spider man jumped off the side of the building and clung to the brick. He slowly stuck and unstuck himself so he slid down to the ground.
"What a night" he smiled to himself. Just another crazy situation that he had been finding himself in more often.
He walked up the stairs and rang the doorbell. He had forgotten his keys at school. Well not really forgotten because he hadn't originally planned on going home today. Hopefully his mom wouldn't ask.
Miles thanked the stars that she was too distracted when she opened the door to think about it. "Miles honey!" She exclaimed, opening her arms wide. "Give me a hug! I haven't seen you in weeks!"
Nooooo. Miles forced a smile and lifted his arms to returned the hug. He tried to hide the amount of pain that shot up the muscle just from the simple movement. "Hola madre"
"I love that you're busy with the new school but you should visit more often" His mother smiled sweetly, pushing him inside lightly.
"Yeah, well, It's good to be home" He chuckled.
His temporary hold wasn't holding as well as he had hoped. He started to feel blood oozing down his arm. Probably tore the hold during the hug. Thankfully it was soaking very well into the fabric of his suit and not his baggy sweatshirt. Yet. "Is Dad home from work?"
"He should be back in a bit. He was responding to a last minute call"
"Anything serious?"
"Didn't seem like it. On the news it seemed like the situation had been handled."
Miles peeked into the family room where the TV was on. He caught the headline on the screen flashing 'Kangaroo keep away - villain remains at large'
He shook his head trying not to think about it. He would go out again after his parents were asleep.
"I'm going to take a shower before dinner" he started walking towards the bathroom as his mom turned to the kitchen. "I didn't get a chance to after class. And it was gym."
"Ay si porfavor, you smell horrible"
Hopefully not like blood.
His mom went back to watching the news, distracted. Good.
Okay Miles. Its go time.
Miles made his way into his bathroom, closing and locking the door behind him.
He took of his sweatshirt and tried to remove his spidey suit. But his webbing bandage was attached to his skin and his suit.
Regretting using the temporary bandage and saying sorry to future Miles for having to do more sewing, he ripped the fabric away so he wouldn't have to deal with it now.
His shirt now successfully removed, he now just had to remove the rest of the bandage. From his skin. Oh. Oh no.
His blood ran cold and he desperately grabbed the bandage with no luck.
He couldn't get the webbing off. The parts that had stuck to his skin had really dug in, doing what they were designed to do.
OF COURSE. Miles banged his foot against the small bathroom rug in frustration. He must be cursed with bad luck.
He would either have to wait an hour for the fluid to dissolve, or rip it off like a real band aid.
It would be fine to keep it on and do the stitches later if there weren't small gaps in the webbing where blood was bubbling out. There was no way he could keep his parents from knowing if he didnt stitch himself up right now.
Miles swallowed thickly; he felt sick. He really did not want to do this.
Instead of thinking of it too hard and potentially chickening out, he quickly undid his belt from his pant loops and stuck the leather into his mouth.
He then turned and put on the shower faucet like he was getting ready to clean up. He also connected his phone to the small bluetooth speaker that he kept on the sink. He turned on some rather loud music (not too unlike what he usually did).
Biting down hard on the leather belt, Miles gripped the webbing. His fingers filled the holes where the blood was flowing, making a small squishing noise.
He then pulled with all his might, ripping the webbing off in one strong motion of his left arm.
Miles choked back a scream, tears welling in his eyes as intense pain ran up and down the back of his right arm. Thankfully, biting down on the belt muffled most of the noise.
Blood began dripping down his arm now and he quickly realized he was probably going to get some on the floor if he didnt move it over to the sink.
He stood up quickly, a bit light headed, and swung his arm over the faucet.
He sat there, watching the blood run down his skin, transfixed. He could only hear his own breathing but after blinking a couple of times, tears running down his face, he found he could once again hear the sounds of the shower and music.
The young hero breathed in slowly. Next step Miles next step. Keep going it is not that bad.
His mom had dragged him to every first aid course class that was available since he was in middle school. So he knew what had to be done and how to do it. He just really didn't want to.
He reached into his bag, grabbing the practice needle and thread he had been given for sewing a couple of weeks ago. He cursed himself for getting shot in his dominant arm. He hadn't tried sewing with his left hand yet. Well no time like the present to start learning.
He plugged up the sink so that it would act like a bowl. Then he reached into the medicine cabinet and pulled out some peroxide and dumped it in the sink. He then let the thread and needle soak in the sterilizing chemicals. He took a small cloth and dabbed some of the peroxide onto the wound as well to sterilize the area.
He couldn't stay in the bathroom too long, his parents would get suspicious. Which was fine because he wanted this to be done with.
Thankfully, the needle was already threaded and tied on the end. He just needed to thread it into his arm.
That was the part his brain was having a hard time comprehending.
He touched the surrounding area of the wound with a finger. Actually, ripping off the webs had left the area a bit numb. He could use that.
Sucking in what seemed like the thousandth deep breath, he put the belt back in his mouth, looked at the wound in the mirror and got to work.
You got this Miles, just like sewing up a doll.
He tried not to wince (or gag) as he shoved the needle through his skin for the first time. He had to bite down harder on the belt to keep from screaming. It was a slow, meticulous process. But he did not want to rush through it. He didn't want to have to do it again. Or worse have the wound not heal correctly.
The hardest time was keeping his eyes focused on what he was doing. The combination of him breathing heavily, tearing up, and wincing did not mix well.
Nevertheless, he continued on. His arm practically on fire anyways.
He only needed to do three crude stitches when the blood started to clot and stop bleeding as heavily. He probably would have needed more if he wasn't a mutant.
He stood back, double checking his work. Once satisfied, he tied off the other end of the thread, and bit the rest off using his teeth. That would have to do.
Once that was finished, Miles practically tore off the rest of his clothes and dove into the shower. The hot water washed away the thick blood all over bis arm and soothed the burning muscle. He washed his face of the tears and sweat, sighing in relief.
He realized his hands were shaking slightly. He took some deep breaths to calm his adrenaline. It was cool. Everything was fine. No one had saw, his wound was cleaned and on the mend. He was proud of himself. He had taken care of business like a professional. Hopefully that was the last time he would get caught so unprepared.
He kept the shower brief, once he was back in the right mind and felt a bit less shaky.
As soon as he stepped out of the shower, he groaned internally, realizing he still had to clean up. There was blood splatters over the sink and a bit on the floor tile (thankfully his carefulness made sure he didn't spill any on anything that would leave a stain like the rug)
But first he needed to dry off and wrap his wound before it started bleeding all over. He had done a decent job with the stitches. they were holding strong and the while was not gushing blood like before.
He picked a towel on the drying rack and dabbed around the area. It was still tender. The muscle was sore and it felt weird to have thread in between his skin. He would probably have to remove the stitching in a couple days.
Observing his stitching, Miles felt pride from his work. The wound looked clean and on the mend. He still did not have full mobility in his upper arm just yet.
The spidey gang (and probably even the sewing girls) would be proud.
Once dried off he took some clean gauze from the cabinet and firmly wrapped his arm. The pressure was both painful and easing at the same time. Like touching the top of a warm oven.
Miles also popped 3 painkiller tablets into his mouth to try to take the edge off. Now that he was out of the heat of the shower, his heartbeat pounded painfully against the tight bandages on his arm. He contemplated taking a fourth for safe measure but since the recommended dosage was 2 capsules he decided to hold off for now.
He gathered all his stuff (including the bloody web patch job he had attempted and a small cloth that he had used to wipe off the blood on the sink) and shoved it in his bag. He would have to sneak in some laundry tomorrow before going out to fight crime. Thankfully YourTube had provided a lot of examples on how to clean out blood easily.
He wrapped himself in a towel, trying to hide the stitching using his backpack. Once he made it into his room he shoved the evidence deep into his closet.
He went with a pair of comfy sweatpants and a dark red long sleeve shirt (just in case).
"Dinner's ready!" he heard his Mom call down the hall.
Miles stomach flipped a bit at the thought of food right now. He was all riled up still. But he had to act like nothing was wrong. He was a teenage boy, teenage boys are supposed to be hungry all the time.
Plus he could probably us the extra energy to put back into healing, in lieu of sleep. He still had to go out later. Spider man didn't have the luxury of a night off.
His dad was already sitting at the table when he finally entered into the kitchen, saving him from having to give his dad a full hug. Miles did however greeted him a side hug with his good arm. It was nice to be home with his family despite it all. He wished he got to see them more; well despite seeing his dad almost nightly on the streets. "Hey Dad what's going on?" he asked, taking a seat next to him at the table? "Busy saving the world?"
"Busy is right. We've been hiring new police like crazy after the whole Kingpin incident." His dad said, sounding a bit tired himself. "A bunch of undisciplined rookies from Jersey. Looking to make a name for themselves here by taking down super villains now that Spiderman is gone"
Miles groaned internally watching as his dad begin to eat. He hadn't thought about how he was actually going to eat the food. His arm hurt to move. It would look very peculiar if he just randomly started using his left hand now. Like hey mom and dad I'm trying to become ambidextrous? That might work...no that would be dumb.
He leaned forward, resting his arm against the table. He then picked up the fork and tested out his method of using only wrist movement. He had to lean in to have the fork reach his face. It hurt, but it was better than moving his arm up and down repeatedly.
Hopefully his mom wouldn't decided to lecture him with manners about his elbows being on the table.
Thankfully she didn't say a word as she set down a plate of chicken, rice, and peas in front of him.
"I heard there was a shooting down on Manhattan Ave." His mom asked instead, looking concerned. "Was everyone okay?"
"Yes, it was a false alarm and no one was hurt."
Pendejadas no one was hurt, Miles picked angrily at his food but realized that wasn't a great idea as the motion made pain rocket up his arm. He let out a cough instead of a yelp and waited for the pain to stop before starting to pick up more food with his fork.
"It was a misfire." His dad continued. "One of the rookies apparently hadn't been trained for the new Spiderman"
Probably something that should have been covered in the orientation slides. He chomped down on a big bite of peas trying to hide his sour attitude.
"So what is going to happen to them? Did you have them fired?" His mom asked.
"No, he'll have to go back through training and-"
Miles tried very hard not to spit out his food. "What!?" he choked out. "You didn't fire him!?"
He instantly regretted his outburst ant hoped his dad wouldn't realize that he had used 'him' instead of 'them'. "I uh, I mean that seems like a pretty big deal. For someone to shoot at...the wrong person?"
The officer looked down upon his son in surprise as he had mostly been quiet up until now. "No. It was a rookie mistake. Besides it sometimes is hard to judge who is a hero and who is a villian."
"Aren't you like...always training that appearances don't matter?"
"I'd say there's a difference between judging someone for their race and judging someone for being a mutant who could possibly be dangerous."
Miles stopped talking, deciding he didn't want to talk about it any further. It was something that couldn't be helped for now.
He couldn't fix everything wrong in the world right away. He would just have to remember to be a bit more cautious of those on duty.
Picture for chapter: /dd0y787
