Chapter 2

Soon, Dana reunited with her family and glomped her father with a hug. Phantasmo chuckled before hugging his daughter back.

"Where did you go, my spooky little bat?" He questioned, knowing Dana liked being called that nickname. "We were starting to worry."

"Sorry, Dad. I saw the snow owl in Central Park, started following it, and knocked into someone," she summed up the answer, looking down in embarrassment and guilt. "I was so determined on where that owl was going, I guess I went too far from everyone without realizing it. I'm really sorry."

Sighing, Phantasmo gave a sincere smile before releasing the hug. "It's okay. You were just curious. But please understand that we're not in Staybrook. When in a new place, it is important to stay together," he said gently.

"Your father is right, Dana," Melodica reasoned, stepping close to her husband. "We do not know much about this city. It can be dangerous." She hugged her daughter.

"Yes, Mom," the girl said.

Just then, they heard something and looked up to see a familiar person swinging in. "Mind if I join the party?" The person asked in a playful tone of voice.

"Spider-Man!" Dana exclaimed in happiness, already running over to the web-slinging hero to give him a great big hug. "I missed you so much! I haven't seen you since our team-up with the Howling Commandos!"

The hero laughed. "Oh, I'll never forget that," he said, hugging her back before seeing the others. "Hey, guys."

"Hello, Spider-Man," Snare-Oh said with a smile, giving the hero a fist bump.

"It's good to see you under more pleasant circumstances," Phantasmo said. "I never got the chance to properly thank you and your fellow associates for saving us from that horrible monster."

"No sweat, man. I was glad to help," the hero said. "How are you all doing?"

"Good, thank you," Melodica said.

"Enjoying the sights of the city," Ghostfreak said.

"Dana is especially excited, aren't you, sis?" Kuphulu asked teasingly, laughing as Dana playfully jumped at him and he caught her as they both laughed.

"That reminds me. I got a call and heard you were around the city and thought you would like your friendly neighborhood Spider-Man show you around," Spidey explained with a smile.

Dana gasped with excitement, looking at her parents. "Can we?!" She asked hopefully.

"Let me guess, Rachel called you," Snare-Oh said knowingly. "And you couldn't refuse a favor from her."

The hero chuckled. "Hey, I owe you a lot," he said. "I'm happy to do anything for my pals."

Hours later, Spidey showed Dana and her family a few good spots in New York. They got to see a live play of "The Sound Of Music", one of their favorite muscials, eat as some of the best restaurants in the city, and even seeing the majestic parks that were talked about so much and the buildings too that were said to be amazing.

"Wow," Dana breathed out.

"Even better seeing it in person, huh?" Ghostfreak asked.

Suddenly, Spidey's communicator went off to give him a 10-minute warning about training session starting.

"Oh, man! I nearly forgot about my training instructing at S.H.I.E.L.D. Academy. Looks like we have to cut the tour short," he explained.

"Awww, but we were just having fun!" Dana whined, really not wanting this to end.

"I know. Believe me, if I could get out of this, I would," he said. "But Fury would have my hide if I skipped out on my duties as a teacher."

"Spider-Man, if I may, you are teaching next generation heroes to defend themselves with whatever danger comes their way, correct?" Phantasmo questioned.

"Yeah," Spidey answered, curious as to what the Ectonurite had in mind.

"Well, would you oppose of having my daughter be a guest student to participate? She could learn a lot from professional heroes."

"I'd love to meet the other teachers and students!" Dana exclaimed happily, very excited. "I can even wear my spider poncho, just like last time!"

The hero smiled. "Let me run it by Fury and see what he says," he said.

When Fury heard the plan, he readily agreed to it. "I do owe Miss Jocklin for the time she hosted the Commandos," he said. "Alright, Dana and her family are more than welcome to see the Academy and you can give them the tour."

Smiling, they all went to S.H.I.E.L.D. Academy and Spider-Man gave them the tour, answering questions on how the heroes trained. Dana was wearing her spider poncho plus black suit underneath as she was excited to be there and they soon came across Agent Venom. "Who's that?" She asked gently.

"Dana, this is Agent Venom. A good friend of mine who is both an instructor and member of the Web-Warriors," Spidey introduced.

Dana stared at the black spider hero in wonder, her hands together with an eager smile upon her face. "Whoa…You look so incredible. Your armor is frightening, but not entirely. Is it really alive?"

Flash blinked, noting the girl looked familiar and it hit him that it was the same girl he had run into in the park. "Yes," he said, snapping out of his shock. "And...you really don't find my armor disgusting?"

"Not at all," she replied with a genuine smile.

Venom was surprised. "Thanks," he said.

The training session began and the family was quite impressed to see how the course was handled until alarms began blaring. "What's going on?" Snare-Oh asked in worry.

"We got some bad weather outside," Venom said before lightning flashed and cries were heard as the anti-gravity system started to go haywire. "This isn't good. The lightning is getting go close and messing up with our systems!"

Just then, another alarm blared. "System lockdown initiated," a computer voice said.

"Everyone stick together," Spider-Man said worriedly.

Dana clung to her father and mother, who hugged her in worry as their sons gathered close as the doors and everything shut down.

"Man," Venom said in worry. "The lockdown is going to make it difficult to get to the control room."

Dana perked up and looked at her parents, who nodded as they knew she wanted to help. "Are you sure, honey?" Melodica asked.

She nodded and transformed, surprising Venom who was shocked before he blinked. "Wait...I knew I sensed something. You guys are aliens from the Grant Mansion Spidey has talked about."

"We are," said Kuphulu as they revealed their true selves.

Dana looked at Venom. "I can help to fix the systems, but I'm going to need some help," she said.

"Okay," he said. "But...how do we do that?"

She smiled and showed how she could phase through the walls and he nodded. "Okay," he said.

Together, they got to the control room and the girl looked at the system, describing what she saw the Venom as he began working with the system to get it going again. With the two of them working together, they soon had the systems back up in no time.

After getting congratulations from the others, Flash and Dana managed to make time in talking on the rooftops in S.H.I.E.L.D. Academy after the storm was over with the sun setting down. Dana looked at him before sighing and deciding to ask him something.

"Do you…hate me now? Or think I'm weird, after everything that happened?" She questioned, looking down sadly.

"What!? No, Dana, why would you say that?" Venom asked.

"Because I'm not entirely human. I live in a home with aliens as part of my family, I freak people out with my alien side, and I don't fight exactly like the other heroes," Dana explained, rubbing her left arm. "Not many use dance skills as fighting moves."

He was quiet before smiling and revealing his face, to which she gasped. "You!" She said in shock, having not expected to see him again after the incident in the park.

He chuckled. "Dana, I'm a jock that has an alien on me," he said. "I was afraid you'd freak out if I revealed that to you, but after seeing that you're similar to me in a way, it made me feel like I can level with you. Besides, I think it's cool that you use dancing as fighting moves."

"Really?" She asked.

He nodded. "It's a perfect tactic. No one would think twice about someone dancing to them is really a ruse to surprise them," he said. "And I think you're really cool and pretty."

This made the hybrid girl smile gently and blush a bit. "You…You really mean it?"

He nodded and she hugged him happily. "Thanks, Venom. I do like helping my friend and family, even trying to balance both my forms into battle. My only issue with my human form with the spider poncho getup is that my feet ache, occasionally," Dana said, now bringing her right foot to rub it. "Frankenstrike has this special cream for that kind of pain, but it would be nice to find something to support my feet that goes with the poncho plus fight. Especially when it comes to doing ballet."

He nodded understandingly before getting an idea. "Hey, Spidey mentioned your birthday is coming up, right?"

"Yeah," she said with a nod. "In a few days."

Flash smiled as he knew exactly what to get his new friend for a gift.

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