Mum unwrapped the last of the bandages, gently wiping down my shoulder as she did so with a wet cloth. "There we go, like nothing ever happened." It was early in the morning, because Mum had insisted on unwrapping the injury herself. And because I'm not allowed to miss school, I was here at six am, two hours before school began. I was just glad that I had gotten to bed at a reasonable time last night, otherwise I would be a dead man walking.

I shifted my shoulder, happy to discover it wasn't even all that stiff. "Only took a couple days. I told you my healing was pretty good."

She put her hands on her hips. "I'm still happy that I found you before you tried to wrap it on your own. You would have hidden it from us if you could have."

I flushed. "I promised you guys I would tell you. I was going to let you know in the morning, just not in the middle of the night."

"Uh huh, sure you would have, Miles Morales," she huffed, raising a single eyebrow.

I winced. "Ouch, first and last name?" I got up, heading towards my bedroom. "Besides, with the new suit upgrade coming soon, a bullet grazing me will only need, like, a bandaid."

I glanced back and found Mum with her arms crossed, a look of 'even-try-that-and-hell-will-rain-down on her face.' I gave her a sheepish smile and she just rolled her eyes and threw the bandages in the bin.

"We haven't talked about Kraven yet, Miles," she said, washing her hands.

I stopped and leaned against the door frame. "Uh, yeah, guess we haven't. I have to fight him, you know that."

She hummed, eyes refusing to meet mine. "You know I support you being Spider-Man, but you've got to be careful."

"I wouldn't be fighting this guy on his terms if I could help it. But I can't risk you or the school," I said firmly.

She raised an eyebrow at me, "You'll be careful and call for help if you need it, won't you?"

I straightened back up and came over, giving her a hug. "I'm sorry Mum, this whole thing is pretty crazy. But I'm not going to die at the hands of a doof wearing safari gear in New York in March. Mark my words."

She hugged back tighter. "You'd better, Miles."

I gave her one small squeeze before letting go. "I've got to get ready anyway."

"Yes, go," she said, walking into the kitchen. I smiled and went into my room.

I threw my stitched-up costume on and then put the clothes I had come here with into a bag. I came back into the living room. "So Dad's already patrolling?"

Mum nodded, swallowing her bite of cereal before saying, "Yes, he left before I woke. I'll be at work in an hour, but remember-"

"If I ever need help, give you a call," I interrupted. I kissed her on the cheek and went out the front door. "See you Friday!"

I thwipped my first web and leaned into my first swing, gaining momentum with each new arch. What would be twenty or so minutes via walking was cut down to five minutes. It was a pretty good deal, if you ask me.

My phone pinged in my pocket and I grabbed at the nearest lamppost, swinging around it to slow my speed before crouching on top of it. I grabbed my phone, looking at the newest notification. Bank robbery, huh? Looked like it wasn't too far from school, either. I still had like an hour until school started- I had the time.

I backflipped off the pole and swung towards the bank. There were a bunch of police officers already hanging around, some with guns pointing towards the inside of the bank. Others were talking to each other and I spotted one with a megaphone.

"Come out with your hands up!" One of them yelled.

I landed on the closest cruiser. I was almost surprised at the officers non-reaction to me. "Hey guys, need some help?"

The officer glanced up at me before looking back to the bank. "Miles. Go to the ambulance, your Dad is there."

"It's Spidey while I'm in the suit," I grumbled, but did what he said anyway.

I slid off the car and walked over to the ambulance. Why was Dad over here anyway? Supervising? Caring for a patient? Talking to someone? A witness maybe?

I peeked around the corner and found Dad sitting on a gurney. His face was scrunched up in pain and his foot wrapped up in bandages. The blood drained from my face. "Dad?"

"Hey kiddo," he said, putting on a brave face. "Shouldn't you be at school?"

"There's like an hour until school starts. Not the point. Dad, what happened?" I asked, walking up to him and folding my arms. Maybe it was the shock setting in, maybe it was because I was Spider-Man right now, but I felt surprisingly calm. Find out what happened, take down the bad guys. Simple.

"Got shot in the foot. Don't worry, Miles, I'll be up on my feet before you know it," he reassured, patting my back.

'Don't worry,' yeah, right. Has he met me?

I swallowed, nodded and skipped back. "I'll get them Dad."

"Be careful," he said, giving me a Look.

I webbed myself up the closest lamp post, just as the robbers came crashing through the front of the bank in a car. I'll give them credit for that. It was louder and more inventive than most goons. But they got no more credit, because they were still bank robbers.

As the police scrambled to get into their cars, screaming into walkie-talkies, I webbed after them. With each web I drew closer to the speeding car. Every arch getting me higher, lower, and inching towards it. So close...

I was mere inches away from them, aiming to gunk up a tire, when my spider-sense set the alarm. Look out!

I looked to the side just in time to earn myself a foot to the face. Which was surprising to me, especially since I was several stories high webbing through the air. I was sent hurtling towards the closest building. I tucked myself into a ball as I smashed through the glass, crashing through almost a dozen desks and narrowly missing just as many people huddled behind their computers.

I skidded to a stop with my head touching the wall of another cubicle wall. I hoisted myself up onto my elbows when a figure approached me . I rolled out of the way and on to my feet.

The villain of the day was wearing a skeleton mask and had a long white cape. His body armour was blue, and he had a sword, shield and bows on his back. Plus, a belt with all sorts of nifty looking devices. Interesting costume design, to say the least.

"Did the swords come with mask at the halloween store? Wait, isn't it March? You're, like, seven months early to the party." I said, crouching lower. Whoever this asshole was, I could smell trouble wafting from him like a bad smell.

"Miles," the guy said, sounding like he was grinning smugly from beneath his mask. I narrowed my eyes.

In a flurry of movement, he dove towards me and I jumped over his head, kicking him in the head on the way. He stumbled but didn't fall. "What do you want with me anyway?" I whined, thwipping a few webs his way. He dodged them.

He then grabbed two swords from his belt, holding them high. They were about as thick as my thumb, at the thickest point and looked sharp as hell. Ah, crap.

Skeleton guy threw one of them at me, and as I sidestepped it he leaped towards me and tried to stab me with the other. I narrowly got out of the way by flipping backwards, uppercutting him in the jaw in the same movement.

"Seriously, what's your deal? You still haven't answered my question!" I exclaimed, grabbing a computer and chucking at the skeleton guy as a distraction. At the same time, I jumped towards him and tried to punch him.

And that's when everything went wrong. He grabbed my punch and used my momentum to throw me to the ground. As I tried to roll out of the way, he stomped on my chest - pinning me. I brought my hands up to protect my head, spider-sense screeching at me, but I shouldn't have even bothered.

It felt like I had been slapped, but I hadn't been. And not even a normal slap, because he had done it right in the centre of my hand. Without looking, I knew what had happened. The crunch of metal as my webshooters got destroyed clued me in, even if the pain didn't. My hand was pinned to the ground, out of the fight. I curled my feet in to my chest, around skeletons guys crushing foot, and kicked him in the stomach forcing him back a few feet.

I grabbed at the sword sticking out of my right hand and tried to dislodge it, but in the seconds I had to get free I couldn't - it felt like it had been driven deep through the floor as well as me. Skeleton guy was over me and grabbed my legs with one hand when I tried to kick him again.

"You will want to listen to me, Miles," skeleton guy finally began, leaning on the sword and driving it further down. I blinked tears out of my eyes.

"It's Spider-Man while I'm on the job," I spat. I tried to wriggle out of his grasp, grabbing again at the sword but only cut myself on the sharp side. Adding insult to injury, the wriggling earned me firey, slicing pain and the sickening feeling of the bones in my hand moving around in ways they were not made for.

He hummed, bending down further so he was all I could see. "I come here with a warning."

"And a sword or two, too," I remarked, breathing heavily as I tried not to scream in agony.

Skeleton guy grabbed the sword and wiggled it around just to be a dick. I clenched my teeth hard enough that they could have cracked, refusing to give this guy the satisfaction of me uttering a single whimper. "Listen to me, and listen to me carefully. Your dad's foot is a warning. Stay out of the OWL's business, or we'll aim higher," he murmured for only my ears.

He stood straight back up and pulled the sword out in one smooth motion. I almost gagged at the sick feeling. When I glanced up, all I could see was the ink dark blood dripping off the sword he had used on me. That wasn't good. "Hope we don't meet again."

Between one blink and the next he was gone. I picked myself back up, cradling my hand against my chest. I just breathed, getting my feet back under me. In for eight seconds, pause, out for seven. In, pause, out. Someone gently shook my shoulder, grabbing my attention. I inwardly sighed, I knew it was one of the office workers.

Cause I had crashed into an office. Which had people in it. People who had just witnessed me get my ass thoroughly kicked. Great. Just great.

"Spider-Man? Miles?" They said, words laced thick with worry.

I brushed their hand off of my shoulder. I pulled my glove off in one swift move, before the blood could crust. Still breathing deeply and purposefully, with my intact webshooter I began wrapping my hand. Those first-aid classes really were coming in handy. Ha, handy.

I knew I couldn't put my glove back on, so I wrung the minute amount of blood and stuffed it in my pocket. I knew my webs would not do the job of proper treatment but they would keep everything in place for the moment.

The pain flashed through me like a lightning strike with every movement, making me feel sick. But it was a feeling I could deal with.

I looked back at the floor. There was a small patch of thick, goopy puddle of dark red blood, staining the carpet. Great.

"Miles?" The officer worker said again. I blinked a few times and looked around. There was a crowd of office workers standing around me. A couple were on their phones, some talking to others and another few filming me. Great.

The mask really did come in handy. No one could see my face, scrunched up in pain and trying desperately to keep it together.

"I'm okay, I've got to, uh, stop the robbers." I pulled myself up onto my feet, ignoring the protests. One of them even grabbed my arm, stopping me.

"You're hurt," they whispered, like it was a secret.

I shrugged nonchalantly. "I know, I'll be fine." I shook their grip off and jumped onto the nearest desk. I shook their grip off my arm. "Thanks."

I thwipped a web with my unhurt arm and swung out the open window. I just gotta find the robbers, stop them and then I can get treated before seeing Dad. Simple. Besides, this wasn't the worst injury I had ever had. Worst part about it was that this skeleton guy had stabbed my right hand. But, I was pretty ambidextrous at this point - I would be fine.

I was half way down the block when I spotted the car already stopped at an intersection. Looked like it had crashed into another car, bringing it to a halt. I could have stopped and gone back home - or to school - now that everything was settled, but I had to know.

I landed on the roof of the crashed car, crouching. The police officers hanging around took one look at me before continuing with their jobs. I didn't mind, I just needed at least one of them to pay attention to me for a minute. I waved one officer over.

"Hey, uh, question, did they have like… owl eyes on their costumes?" I asked, proud of the way my voice didn't waver.

The officer nodded. I could see her eyeing the webs around my hand. "Sure did. Why, do you know something?"

I tipped my head from side to side, "Yeah, you see, that's an up and coming criminal empire. So, y'know, you should maybe start a database on all the owl eye wearing goons. For later."

She folded her arms, "And how do you know this?"

I began numbering off on my fingers, "May Parker, getting threatened and stabbed not even three minutes ago for getting involved, over hearing conversations, documents I've stolen from them-"

She waved her arm around, cutting me off. "Ok, I get it Miles-"

"-Spider-man, I'm on the job," I interrupted.

Her eye twitched. "Spider-Man," she muttered through gritted teeth, "you know all this stuff. When were you going to share this with the police force?"

I looked away. "Well… criminal empires always have moles with the good guys, and I'd like to keep all the evidence safe."

She raised an eyebrow. "Isn't your Dad a cop?"

"Yeah, doesn't mean that there aren't OWL members in the police force." I pointed out. I stood back up. "Anyway, I've gotta go. Good luck with the clean up."

"Wait!" She shouted after me, but I had already thwipped my first web and was on my way to school. I ignored any other shouts after me. I had more important things to deal with, like the fact that Dad had been shot.

This counted as a family emergency, right? The school wouldn't mind me being gone for a day. It would just be a day.

I almost hit the ground at the bottom of one of my swings by mistake, forgetting for a crucial moment that I only had one webshooter working. Crap, don't get sloppy.

I continued to ignore the burning, stabbing pain in my palm. Besides, if I can do pain now, I can do pain later.