Ultimate Spider-Girl
[USM, Rule 63]
5 July, 2014
Chapter 4: Great Power II
X
So, here was my day so far:
Fighting with the Trapster. Being harassed by SHIELD. And, let's not forget, getting tracked by the rest of the Frightful Four back to my high school cafeteria, which they were currently in the process of trashing.
I was still up in the crawl space above the ceiling, but now I was fully suited up, web-shooters on, and ready to teach them a lesson they weren't going to forget any time soon.
From where I was sitting, I could see where the cafeteria's ceiling had already been half-destroyed— most of the ceiling panels were gone, and when I crept over, I could see out with no problem. I scanned the scene, and the first thing my eyes caught on was Klaw. The living boom box was menacing a group of my fellow students, and as I watched, he brought his sonic blaster to bear.
I had a clear jump to one of the nearby pillars and wasted no time in taking it. From there, I fired a web line right at Klaw's blaster; just as he was getting ready to fire, I tugged.
The movement caught the villain completely off guard— the blaster went off in his own face, staggering him. I decided to help the process along by plowing his face into the floor, courtesy of my two feet.
"You know they say it's rude to point things at people," I remarked, still crouched on his head and rapping on the side of it with a knuckle. That was one down. I then glanced up at the kids, who looked like they were somewhere between scared and star struck. I gestured to one side. "Get out of here, get someplace safe!" My urging seemed to do the trick, and they scrambled to get their feet under them before darting away.
Turning, I searched for a new target; I still couldn't entirely rely on my hearing, so I had to go by what I saw— only to see Thundra lifting a kid by his throat. My eyes narrowed.
"Hey! Little Miss Muffet!" It took a moment for her to realize that someone was talking to her, and in that time, I had launched a web at the ceiling between us. "Don't look now, but here comes a spider!"
By the time Thundra's eyes fell on me, widening with recognition, I was swinging through the air. And before she had time to react, I was already descending on her, feet first. I wasn't just content to knock her over like I had Klaw, though— I pushed off with my legs, executing a kick flip that had me landing gracefully on the floor and her smashing through a table fifteen feet away.
"Tadaaa," I intoned, spreading my arms wide.
Only to jump in surprise as a guy fell into them. What the— where the heck did he come from? …Oh! Riiight… the guy Thundra had been holding… who probably got thrown into the air when I kicked her across the room. Oops?
He seemed just as surprised to find himself in Spidey's arms, although after a moment he started to grin; under my mask I raised an eyebrow, hastily putting him down.
"Spider-Girl!" I just caught the exclamation and whirled in place to see Wizard regarding me, a grin plastered across his face. "Finally," he murmured, and I could see him raise a hand to his helmet.
I didn't have time to figure out what he was doing, though, because Thundra had pried herself out of the table and it seemed she had not appreciated the finer points of that 'Miss Muffet' joke. (Supervillains— no sense of humor, whatsoever.) She charged towards me, throwing a wild haymaker— I somersaulted over her head and kicked out, striking her in the back and launching us both apart.
I landed on three limbs, then spun, ready for round three. My spider sense had other plans though, as it was suddenly demanding I move! Rolling to my right, I avoided another blast from an apparently-recovered Klaw, although it kicked up even more debris. As the smoke cleared, I found myself crouching between him and Thundra, who— gah! Now had a table hefted over her head.
She brought it slamming down towards me, and I flipped to one side as it smashed to pieces against the floor. "Y'know, are you upset about something?" I asked casually. "Just this feeling I get…"
I dove into another roll to avoid one more sonic pulse from Klaw and fired a web shot at Thundra's head. It had the desired effect of making her even angrier, as she tore it from her face and proceeded to charge at me like she was a bull.
"You wanna talk about it?" I offered, backflipping onto the pillar behind me— she slammed right into it, and I propped my chin on my hand, elbow on one of my knees. "Y'know, I'm a great listener, and my hourly rates are quite reasonable!"
Thundra answered my generous proposal with a scream of rage and started pummeling the pillar's base, trying to knock it out from under me. Staying stuck wasn't an issue for me, but out of instinct, I tried to steady myself anyways.
Drawing my attention from the rapidly evolving problem below me was a strange sound, and I glanced right— nothing there? Then I shook my head— duh, genius, everything sounded like it was coming from the right. I turned to the left this time, only to see that Wizard had used more of his anti-grav discs to levitate what tables and chairs hadn't already been destroyed. A sudden twinge from my Spidey sense had me leaping from the column as Klaw unleashed another stream of sound at me, this one continuous.
I twisted in midair, firing a web at Klaw's arm; as I landed, I yanked just enough to redirect the blast at Thundra. This time when she went flying across the room, it was straight through the lunch counter and its glass cover. She fell out of sight behind the counter, and I had to hope she stayed down this time— this fight was feeling a little crowded.
My web line suddenly went slack, as Klaw pulled himself free. I closed the distance between us, grabbing his arm and forcing it upwards as he tried to fire again— destroying even more of the ceiling. Debris rained down on the two of us and inwardly I winced; I needed to be a little more careful. The way this was going, the cafeteria was going to have a new skylight to go with that new window.
Outwardly, I had to duck as Klaw decided to try punching me off of him with his free hand. Puh-leeze. Even if this guy wasn't as slow as molasses, my spider sense was more than enough to keep him from landing a blow. "So, Klaw," I started conversationally, "Do you do birthday parties?" I danced back from his pitiful attempt to kick me, and moved round behind him, twisting his arm behind his back as I did so. "I mean, dressed like that— you are a clown, right?"
With a noise that sounded suspiciously like a growl, Klaw attempted to slam his head back into my face. I bent backwards; "Aw, you almost had me!" I consoled him. "Tell ya' what, you can be the DJ, too, now how's that sound?" Unfortunately, Klaw's distraction worked— and I only figured out that's what it was when he fired the sonic blaster point blank behind his back, catching me squarely in the stomach. "Guh!"
That sent me skidding across the floor on my back, the breath knocked out of me. Meanwhile, Klaw was rubbing at his wrenched elbow, before taking aim for me again. I couldn't quite breathe yet, but luckily, my web-shooters don't require oxygen to operate. I tagged Klaw with a web again, this time yanking him directly towards me.
The surprised look on his face told me I'd caught him off guard with that— or, at least I think it was surprise, maybe it was indigestion? Hard to tell with that guy. Even better was the look on his goofy face when I lashed out with one leg, intercepting him with a kick that— well... to be fair, I was trying to kick him in the stomach, but I was still laying on the floor. Needless to say, Klaw was probably out of the fight for a while.
As he fell, though, I leapt back to my feet; I still had my web line attached to him, and spotting Wizard getting ready to pummel me with cafeteria furniture, was struck by a sudden idea. Again I hauled on my line that was attached to Klaw— this time, much harder. Then I spun in place, his limp body swinging like a tether ball. At just the right moment, I twisted my wrist to cut the web line, so Klaw's momentum would send him crashing into Wizard— instead, he smashed into the tables that Wizard had summoned to form a protective barrier around himself. So much for being teammates, I guess.
Still, as Klaw crumpled to the floor, it seemed he had been knocked out cold. At least that was— hopefully— two down. Just one more to go.
Wizard leered at me, and I affected a kung fu pose, bending my fingers in a beckoning fashion. He was more than willing to accept my challenge, and with a sweeping gesture of both arms, sent all of the floating tables streaming right for me.
I jumped for the first one, then pushed off, launching myself at another. I ran, leapt, and climbed my way through the mess, until I reached the last one.
Firing two webs at my feet, this time I jumped to the floor, then hauled on my web lines. The table slingshotted around and over my head, and despite Wizard's sudden look of panic, there was no way for him to get out of the way before it impacted— and smashed him right into a wall. When he fell, he didn't get back up.
"Oh yeah!" I gloated, pumping one fist. I did it! I had completely taken down the Frightful—
The sound of crunching glass cut off my premature celebration, and I fought the urge to groan as I looked back to my right. There was Thundra, looking very angry and very covered in leftovers. Couldn't she just stay down?
"Y'know, cream corn is a good color on you," I snarked to cover my annoyance.
Apparently that was enough to push her over the edge, because she let out a strangled scream, tore out a section of the lunch counter, and hurled it straight at me.
Jumping to the ceiling, I fired a web at the incoming hunk of counter. Now, while that wouldn't normally be enough to yank me off of anything— when I say I can stick to stuff, I can stick to stuff— it was enough to rip the panel I was clinging to completely out of the ceiling; I found myself suddenly flailing in the air as the piece of debris crashed to the floor. Still, I had managed to slow the thing's progress and keep it from smashing into anybody. I'd also managed to turn my not-so-graceful landing into a roll. Keeping my momentum, I came out of that roll leaping into the air, firing both web-shooters at Thundra.
Catching me completely off guard, she seized both of my web lines and cracked them like a whip— smashing me headfirst into the floor. I grunted in pain, then groaned, just laying there for a moment. My spider sense was insisting that now would be a really good time to get up, but my body was protesting.
Thundra was running for me, this I knew— I had to get back to my feet. Yet as I pushed myself up, I realized she was already far too close and started to flinch against the inevitable blow— only for Thundra to slip?
I'd barely caught the movement out of the corner of my eye, but MJ was standing not twenty feet away, and had kicked a plate of that awful lime jello into Thundra's path. Not only had she made the villainess completely lose her footing— Thundra had fallen right onto her butt and gone skidding to yet another crash landing among the pile of destroyed tables.
My heart swelled with pride in my best friend, although my head was demanding, what are you doing, get out of here! The rest of me was just glad to have a moment to rest, and I laid my head back down on the floor. I was gonna get up… in a second. It was kind of nice to sit still, actually; my head was still throbbing from that sonic blast I had taken, and all the zipping around was not helping.
MJ being MJ, of course, was holding up her phone, filming Thundra's defeat. "Here's my first front-page story," she remarked, sounding very satisfied. I was sighing inside because I knew I really needed to get up and get her out of the way, just in case. Neither one of us noticed Klaw, who had had managed to recover yet again.
Apparently, the guy was very anti-paparazzi, because the first thing he did was the blast the phone right out of MJ's hand. She shrieked, and I flung myself from the floor, trying to get my feet under me and cursing myself for not making sure Klaw was down.
MJ was okay, but no thanks to me— it was Harry who had seized her around the middle, yanking her out of the way of Klaw's blast. "Hey, leave her alone!" he demanded, trying to shield her from the villain.
"Oh no," I breathed, as I saw Klaw lift his arm. "No—"
"Auggh!" Klaw's sonic pulse slammed into Harry point blank, blasting him across the cafeteria.
"Harry!" It was both mine and MJ's screams, but while MJ raced to get to Harry's side, where he'd collapsed into unconsciousness, I was charging straight for Klaw.
He seemed utterly unconcerned with what he might have just done, instead scoffing, "This school is full of would-be heroes." By the time he realized I was on the move, though, I was about half a second from planting a kick squarely in his face, knocking him headfirst into what was left of the lunch counter.
Thundra was back up at this point, but I was done playing. When she threw a punch at my head, I caught it, then kicked her in the stomach. Then yanked down on her arm, slamming her face into my knee. That was enough to stun her, and I flung the woman to the floor, applying a generous heaping of webbing to ensure that this time she really would stay down.
It seems we had gained an audience at this point, because several of the students cheered at my brutal takedown of Thundra. I glanced up, only to go wide eyed as I realized Wizard was back in the fight as well, and looming behind the other kids.
The cheering abruptly turned to panicked cries as Wizard's anti-grav discs stuck themselves to the students' backs. "Floating hostages," Wizard was musing. "You won't dare attack," he insisted.
As if to call his bluff, I seized half of a table and lifted it over my head. Wizard blanched, but only for a split second before he gestured, clustering all of the students in front of him to form a shield. I smirked, letting the table fall to one side— then fired a web line at the opposite wall.
Before Wizard could figure out what I was doing, I slid myself along the floor, spinning around to face him in the process. "Real smart, Wiz— you left the back door standing open," I deadpanned, tagging him with both webs yet again.
I decided to fling him back into that same pile of wrecked tables. All those hard edges, it had to hurt. It didn't knock him out this time, though; he started to push his way back out, not looking particularly happy. I imagine he was less so when I smashed my foot into his face, kicking him straight across the room and—
Crap. Out the cafeteria doors, into the hallway. I leapt after him, pausing only to stomp on Klaw's gut one more time, just to make extra sure he was down.
Pushing through the doors, I crept into the hall, glancing around and searching for any sign of the Wizard. My search was abruptly interrupted by a certain blonde head popping up in my field of view.
"Spider-Girl!"
"Gyah!" One downside to Spidey sense? It only warns me when I'm actually in some kind of danger. Although having Flash Thompson that far into my personal space was dangerous enough in my book.
What was more frightening though, was the way Flash was looking at me. He looked… thrilled. "I'm your biggest fan!" he insisted, pulling open his letterman jacket to reveal a shirt with my mask's design on it, only in the shape of a heart. "Let me help you!"
I blinked; I had been about to demand what he was doing out here in the first place, but now I was caught between baffled and creeped out. At his determination to 'help', though, I couldn't help but chuckle. "Sure thing, 'number one fan'." I popped open a locker. "Step in."
I almost busted up laughing right then and there— Flash did it without question. In fact, he was wearing a hopeful smile. "Now what?"
Affecting a serious tone, I pointed a finger at him. "Wait for my signal! Jump out, and we'll surround them. Remember— wait for my signal." And with that, I closed the locker on his face.
…Yes, it was completely immature. But it felt so good!
"Hah!"
The guttural cry had me spinning, only to see the cafeteria doors explode outwards as Thundra smashed through them, still covered in bits of webbing. She ran into the hall, whirling around, and was shortly followed by Klaw. A moment later, Wizard floated out from behind a corner to join them.
"Where is she?" Thundra demanded.
Ah, yeah… at that point, I wasn't exactly in the hall anymore. As soon as I'd seen Thundra and Klaw come bursting in, I'd jumped up to the ceiling and tucked myself into an air vent. And I was not hiding… I was pulling back to re-evaluate my strategy. Which was actually a pretty serious problem, considering that I couldn't seem to get any of these three to actually stay down. How the heck was I supposed to beat them?
Something seemed to catch their attention, but it took a moment for me to realize what it was, since I could still only hear out of my right ear— police sirens.
Thundra growled, clenching her fists, but Wizard held up a warning hand. "We're not being paid to fight cops. Lets go."
And watching them from the air grate over their heads, there was nothing I could do, except… let them go.
After a moment I let out a long, weary breath, bowing my head forward. I was exhausted. I was hurting. I wanted nothing more than to curl up and sleep for a week… but I needed to get back to the cafeteria. Not just to make an appearance as Pete, but to make sure everyone was okay, especially MJ and— Harry.
My breath caught in my throat. That hit he had taken… That was enough to spur me into action, even as my limbs protested in pain.
I didn't need to jump down into the hallway. In fact, it was easier for me to just stay in the air conditioning duct and follow it back to the cafeteria. A good chunk of the duct work had been ripped up too, so I slid right out and quickly found my clothes and shoes, trying to work them back on without falling through the already-unstable ceiling.
By the time I was fully dressed and back on the ground, there was a crowd of students formed around Harry. I rushed up, pushing my way through— then came to a halt upon seeing MJ on her knees. She was cradling Harry's head in her arms.
"Harry— it's MJ. Can you hear me?" she asked anxiously. He was very much unconscious, though, and I kneeled next to both of them. MJ shot me an apprehensive look as I placed a shaking hand on his shoulder. Then I let out an aggrieved sound.
"This is all my fault," I whispered, shaking my head.
There were sudden footsteps and the teens in the crowd shuffled to either side. I didn't glance up until I saw the shadow fall across us. When I did, I blurted out, "Mr. Osborn!"
Harry's dad was standing there, the cops behind him. Norman looked shaken, and I tried to formulate some kind of explanation, something to offer him. "I— I'm sorry, I— it just—"
Norman's expression just hardened as he kneeled next to his son, and cut me off. "Why apologize, Peyton; what could you have possibly done?" he asked as he lifted Harry into his arms. I couldn't help it; I flinched, and nothing more was said as Norman carried his son out of the building.
I just sat there, staring at the floor; I could feel MJ's hand on my back, trying to be comforting, but all I could focus on were Mr. Osborn's words. I knew the only reason his question came out so harshly was because he was upset and scared for Harry… but the words hurt doubly. Because I had started the chaos that led to the other students getting involved, and Harry getting hurt— and because I could have stopped it. Should have stopped it, before it got to that point.
And I wasn't just remembering that night, with Uncle Ben… but what Fury had said that morning. "Three minutes," I whispered to myself. …Right.
Instead of the usual light hearted conversation that I would be sharing with MJ as we walked home, we were both just quietly trudging along. Oh, sure, we had tried to talk, to offer some kind of support or comfort to each other… but MJ was clearly distressed by what she had witnessed. And I was feeling low for an entirely different reason. So all our attempts had eventually fallen off into awkward silence.
It had taken a while for us to all get released; first they had to actually evacuate the students from the school— then they had to make sure everyone was accounted for before they finally let us go. It hadn't helped that Flash had still been sitting in that locker, insisting on 'waiting for Spidey's signal'. I'd at least gotten the chance to call Aunt May and let her know I was all right. But all in all, it had taken a couple of hours. By now, I was just ready for this day to be over.
We came up to my house first; "Bye," I murmured. MJ just hugged me, and I squeezed her back.
"I'll… I'll call you tomorrow?" she offered, almost uncertainly. We would definitely have the time to talk— the school was being completely shut down while it was getting rebuilt.
"I'll try and keep my phone on me," I promised.
With that, I slowly climbed our stairs, pausing only to glance back at Mary Jane. She was still standing there, and tried to force a smile. I did too, then watched as she started heading further down the block. Then I took a breath, and pushed the door open.
The TV was on somewhere in the house, but the volume was high enough that I could clearly hear Jameson's familiar bellow as I closed the door behind me.
'In a shocking betrayal of the justice system she claims to uphold, Spider-Girl today led known super criminals in an attack on innocent school children! Believe me, ladies and gentlemen, it gives this humble commentator less pleasure than I imagined to say— I told you so!'
I was still standing in the entry way, my hands tightening into fists around the straps of my backpack. But why should I get angry at Jameson? I asked myself bitterly. For once, he might as well be telling the truth. I led them there. Everything that had happened was my fault.
"Peyton? Is that you?"
I let out a long puff of air. "In here, Aunt May," I called back after a moment.
A second later, my aunt appeared from the kitchen, still wearing an apron. I tried to give her what was supposed to be a reassuring smile; the first thing she did, though, was to wrap her arms around me, and despite myself, I buried my face in her shoulder.
Finally, I admonished myself for acting like a little kid and started to pull away. Aunt May let go, but then pushed a lock of hair back from my eyes, placing her hands on my cheeks, then my shoulders. "Are you okay?"
Again I smiled, and tired though it was, it was a little more genuine. "Yeah, Aunt May, those psychos never touched me," I lied.
Luckily, my ear hadn't bled too much, and I'd made sure to clean it up. With all the confusion and what had happened to Harry, people had mostly forgotten that I'd been singled out for Klaw's attack too. Besides, I was up and walking around, and now that my head had stopped ringing, I was actually able to hear a little out of that side.
Regardless, there was no way I was going to tell Aunt May what had actually happened— she worries about me enough as it is, and she doesn't even know about the really dangerous stuff I do. Anyways, I always seemed to heal faster than normal; hopefully that would be the case again.
…Wish I could say the same for Harry.
Aunt May immediately picked up on my change of expression. "What's wrong?"
I glanced up, before sighing, and repeating my thought out loud. Aunt May gave me a regretful look and another quick hug. I had briefly told her what'd happened to Harry when we'd spoken on the phone; she hadn't pressed me for details then, and she didn't now. Just another one of the many reasons why I love my aunt so much.
She let go, moving back into the kitchen, and I followed her. It looked like I'd caught her in the middle of chopping vegetables, which she returned to. I glanced over to the small TV in the kitchen.
'—and it is the opinion of Daily Bugle Communications that the police should issue a warrant for the wall crawler's arrest! Nothing less than deadly force should be employed in the pursuit of Spider-Girl!' I rolled my eyes, letting out a disgusted sigh.
"You know," Aunt May started musing, and I turned towards her, grateful for any distraction from Jameson's rant. "If we had Norman Osborn's money, I'd put you in private school, immediately."
"Uh, yeah… that'd be sweet," I offered, not entirely truthful, but I doubted there was any risk of it actually happening so I wasn't going to worry. Meanwhile, Aunt May finished cutting up one carrot and reached for a second. I snagged a piece. "Hey, when's dinner?" I asked before I started munching on it. I was starving; I'd never gotten a chance to eat my lunch, after all.
She gave me a tolerant grin. "It's almost ready." She then lifted the cutting board, dumping the carrots into a nearby salad bowl. "Do you want to go ahead and put the candles on the cake?"
It was an innocent enough question but it hit me like a dump truck— and considering that actually happened to me once, it's not a comparison I use lightly. I let my backpack slide off my shoulder and to the floor, turning to grip the counter as I ducked my head. How could I? How could I have totally forgotten what day it was?
"Pete?" My sudden silence wasn't missed by my aunt. She turned and saw me leaning against the counter. "Pete," she repeated, this time with her voice full of understanding.
I just winced, ducking my head further. "I— I-I'm sorry, Aunt May, I— I guess I—"
"Peyton," she cut me off, "it's all right." She took me by the shoulders again, turning me to face her. I still avoided meeting her eyes. "With everything that happened today, it wasn't fair of me to have expected you to remember. I'm just happy you made it home safely," she insisted.
The words were sympathetic and I knew she meant well, but it was just another reminder of how royally I had screwed up today, and I flinched. I then pulled back, mumbling something about changing out of my dusty clothes before dinner. From the glimpse I got of her face as I headed for the stairs, I knew she didn't quite believe it, but she let me go all the same.
I sat on the end of my bed, a framed picture in my hands.
Dinner had been awkward and uncomfortable— not through any fault on Aunt May's part. She had tried to engage me in conversation, reassure me, make me feel better. And I wanted to do the same for her, I really did… but my mind just kept going back to the complete mess I had made of things.
Uncle Ben's birthday was only about two weeks before the anniversary of his death. Aunt May and I had decided together that we wanted to celebrate the man we had both loved, instead of letting this be a time of year where we felt miserable. So, the plan was that we would have a birthday dinner in honor of him— Aunt May would put those French cooking classes to good use, and I'd pick up a lemon cake with chocolate frosting— Uncle Ben's favorite.
I sighed, rubbing a thumb across the edge of the picture. It was of one of my birthdays— couldn't even remember which one, but Uncle Ben and Aunt May had gotten me a chemistry set. The photo had been snapped as Uncle Ben was helping me set it up, and Aunt May had come over to warn the both of us, if we spilled any kind of chemicals on her carpet, we were cleaning it up!
The hints of a smile came to my face as I set the picture down next to me. I then reached for my backpack, starting to pull the contents out. And of course, buried under everything else was the familiar fabric of my costume.
This time of year also happened to be the one-year anniversary of me gaining my powers… How fitting, I reflected sullenly, that I had gotten so wrapped up in my fight as Spider-Girl that I had let one of my best friends get hurt and completely forget what Aunt May and I had planned.
My hand came out of my backpack, gripping my mask, the white lenses staring back at me.
Why should Aunt May be any different? I asked myself. She was just one more person I had let down. Let down her, let down Harry— Harry, who had gotten hurt because I'd made a dumb mistake and led the Frightful Four right to our high school. Not to mention putting everyone else there at risk, and the cafeteria getting destroyed. I was lucky no one else got hurt… and even more lucky that no one had put two and two together.
That hit I had gotten in on Wizard with the lunch tray. The fact that I took Klaw's attack with no worse than a popped eardrum, when Harry ended up in the hospital. That Peyton Parker had disappeared right before Spider-Girl showed up.
My face twisted into a grimace, before I flung my mask across the floor.
"Fury's right," I mumbled, rubbing at my face with my palms. "I am a clueless rookie."
So what are you gonna do about it?
The unexpected thought caught me off guard, and I glanced up. My eyes drifted over to my mirror. I don't know what I expected to see there; maybe some impressive, heroic figure. Instead, I just saw me: five foot two, blue eyes, brown hair bobbed short at an angle… but I didn't look like a hero. I looked like a tired and upset and frustrated teenager.
I didn't quite feel it, but I sat up a little straighter, trying to hold my head high… nope. Still looked like some ordinary kid who had no idea what they were doing. I sighed… but then after a moment, lifted my head back up anyways.
"Fury is right," I repeated, whispering to myself in the mirror. "I can do better… I need to do better." Maybe all I could see was some scrawny teenage girl, but I knew there was more to me than that. And if I was serious about being Spider-Girl— for other people's sake, not for my own— then: "I have a responsibility to be the best I can."
I stood, fists clenched at my sides. There was only one thing left I could do, at this point. Maybe I wasn't thrilled about it, but… I owed it to the people I was supposed to be protecting. I glanced back at the mirror one more time, and smirked.
First, though… I was going to need a change of wardrobe.
Of course, it had to be raining. Guess the universe was taking the 'wash the costume' decision out of my hands.
I frowned under my mask; the rain wasn't so much of an issue, though it could make it hard for my webs to stick to smooth surfaces. The bigger worry was the lightning storm overhead. I mean, I'd never been struck by lightning before while web-slinging through the city… but I also didn't have a desire to tempt fate either.
Sighing, I grit my teeth. Either I was gonna do it now, or not. "Okay," I answered myself. "Let's do this."
I rose from where I had been crouched on top of a low building, and started off at a run. I had a good momentum going when I reached the edge, and launched myself out over the street, firing my web-shooter. It wasn't long before I settled into the familiar rhythm.
The Helicarrier was over south Manhattan, so it would take me a few minutes to get there. I just had to hope SHIELD would roll out the welcome mat for me— it was the middle of the night, but this was something I needed to do now. No stalling, no talking myself out of it…
I landed on a wall of glass windows. This time, I told myself as I began running up the side of the skyscraper, I wasn't going to flake. I was going to step up, and show Fury and all the rest exactly what I was capable of.
I had reached the crest of the building, and fired one more web, this time towards the spire, hauling on it even as I jumped, using the extra force to launch me up into the air. It would be a tricky shot, just at the limits of how far my web-shooter could reach. I tucked my legs up under me, extending my right arm to fire a line up at the Helicarrier right as I reached the apex of my jump. The web played out and played out and—
Ran out of web fluid?!
"Crap!" In the all the chaos today, I had gotten so distracted, I'd forgotten to check if my web-shooters' cartridges needed to be changed! I quickly fired with my left, but I'd already started falling— my web-shooter just wasn't powerful enough to reach that far and that line missed as well.
Glancing down, I had a moment of panic as I realized I was plummeting straight back towards the building I had launched myself from. Normally not a problem— I could just catch myself on a different building and swing away. But I was headed straight for the tallest building in the area, which didn't leave me a whole lot of options for anchor points.
I was starting to get frantic when I suddenly had a moment of clarity, and my eyes fell on the second web-shooter attached to my right arm. It was still there, where I had left it stuck to the costume, and I reached over, flicking it on.
"Fury's tech boys better be on their money," I hoped out loud— hoping that I was doing this right as I took aim— I fired—
And holy cow— the pressure on that thing must have been ridiculous! Not only did it fire much faster than my own, but the line kept flying, unerringly, until—
"Yes!" It had hit its mark! I tightened my grip, catching myself on the new web line, and yanked myself upward. "Whoa— yeah-ha-hah!" I cheered, the sudden burst of adrenaline making me feel giddy.
When I finally landed on the side of the Helicarrier, a laugh bubbled up from my throat, and I regarded my arm. "Okay, not too clunky," I admired, and I had to admit, I was impressed.
My moment of elation was just as abruptly cut short as a computerized voice began announcing over some kind of speaker system, 'Intruder Alert! Intruder Alert!'
I spun to see a panel on the side of the carrier lift up, revealing a weapons emplacement underneath. "Oh no," I started to groan, right as the gun swiveled up and turned towards me.
The thing immediately opened fire, and I dove into a roll to avoid it. "Whoa! What gives?" I demanded to the Helicarrier at large. "You guys are the ones who invited me!"
The laser turret refused to listen to reason and continued attempted to blast me to smithereens. I continued to dodge, this time towards a spot where I could see the surface of the Helicarrier curving away from me. If I could get past that curve, the turret wouldn't have a line of sight on me anymore.
In fact, I managed to get to the next section of the carrier without taking a single hit from the offending gun. I was in the middle of congratulating myself for my quick thinking (and I really should have known better by now) when— a dozen more guns just like it rose up from the side of the ship.
"Oh you've got to be kidding me," I deadpanned. The turrets responded by turning the air into a hailstorm of painful lasers, and again I was on the move— hissing as one of the blasts caught me under the arm.
Okay, enough of this! SHIELD or not, I wasn't going to take this laying down. I aimed my right arm, suddenly remembering that it was the unfamiliar web-shooter— well, now was as good a time as any to test how it did in a fight. I fired a web shot straight for the closest gun— and to my amazement, knocked it clean off of its mounting!
"Ha ha!" I crowed, gleefully repeating the action with two more of the guns, all while dodging and skirting their fire. "Not bad at all!"
Now that I was dealing some damage, my confidence was boosted; I slipped under the muzzle of the next turret and ripped it clean off of its base, before flinging it at another, causing a very satisfying explosion.
The computerized voice seemed to take extra offense to my actions, as it started bleating again: 'Intruder Alert!'
"Yeah, we got that already!" I shot back, firing more webbing at the turrets. "Y'know, you're starting to sound like a broken—"
My bad joke was cut off by a new gun emplacement rising from the side of the Helicarrier— a much, much larger gun— and several more small ones with it.
A laser sight suddenly flicked on, and with the smoke still lingering from the various destroyed turrets, I could see the laser sighted squarely on my torso— I dove out of the way, only for it to follow, apparently locked on. What was more, some of the smaller guns began to fire, not at me but at the spot I was trying to dodge through. I skidded to a halt, trying to dodge back the other way, only to be met with the same problem.
"Eh heh," I chuckled nervously; the big gun started to whir as it powered up and I hastily threw my hands in the air. "Call it a draw?"
I was starting to flinch, anticipating a whole lot of pain in my immediate future when I heard a click followed by a sudden chirping noise. Confused, I dared to open one eye. And, speaking of 'one eye'…
None other than Nick Fury was standing there, holding some kind of remote, and looking utterly unimpressed. I cleared my throat, dropping my hands. "And what exactly are you doing here?" he pointedly asked. Fury continued to stare at me expectantly, arms crossed, and I rubbed my palms against my thighs. Then I took a deep breath. You can do this, Spidey.
Standing up straighter, I did something I had never done before, and that went against my every instinct— I slipped my mask off and looked Fury straight in the eye. Then I mustered up by best 'confident smirk' and gave him a mock salute. "Your friendly neighborhood Spider-Girl, reporting for duty."
He regarded me for a moment, before answering, entirely serious: "Welcome to SHIELD, Spider-Girl." He turned, starting to walk off, and I hesitated for a moment before I began to follow. That was when he casually called back over his shoulder, "Let's hope you survive the experience." I ground to a halt.
"…Wait— what?"
X
A/N: And here it is! Thanks again for everyone's patience, for the wonderful feedback, and for continuing to read, review, follow and favorite! It makes me feel so amazing to know that I'm producing something that other people are enjoying so much. You might even say, it makes me feel... spectacular? (Hey, I have to practice my groan-inducing puns if I plan on writing in Peyton's voice for a long time.)
The bit where Spidey catches the guy that Thundra was menacing may seem like a weird bit from the show to keep in, but I find it too hilarious— because it plays out in the show exactly as I wrote it here. Spider-Man catches the kid, who proceeds to give him a winning smile and Spidey gives him a weird look. I encourage you to re-watch it.
Since a couple of people have asked me, either in reviews or PMs, what Peyton's appearance is, I went ahead and added that in to the scene where she is looking at herself in the mirror. I know it's not much, but... honestly, the easiest way to describe her is that she looks like Peter... except as a girl, and with slightly longer hair. ^_^' In my own mind, she's also a little bit shorter than him. I am kind of hoping that we get to see an unmasked Petra Parker when Season 3 comes out later this year.
So, next chapter is one that I know you're all waiting for— Peyton finally meeting the team! I'll do my best to do justice to it. :)
Until next time! (And props to the person who spots the Shattered Dimensions joke. ;) )
::DemonicK