I bet you were expecting Spider-Luz 2. Well, you'll have to wait a little longer.
Oh, yeah. All rights go to Disney.
The Timeskip
It is March when Luz's mother dies. When Eda takes her in. When she makes a solemn realisation. That with great power, comes great responsibility.
Fortunately, Eda lives in the same area as Luz's school and her home isn't that far a drive from her old neighbourhood Falling Swallows. The home in question is an apartment penthouse. Boxes of belongings are strewn on the floor - she hasn't been living here for that long. A week at most.
However, mounted in a glass case in the living room is Eda's old Superhero costume. A form-fitting oak-brown bodysuit along with a chocolate cloak of artificial feather that Eda tells Luz helped her to glide and to look cool in. Both excellent capabilities, if you ask me.
Finally, a white Domino mask with a white 'Owl Beak' on it.
"Wow, Eda!" Luz gapes as they stand in front of it two weeks later "You must have looked awesome back in the day!"
Eda smiles fondly "Yeah, I was. I stole from rich mobsters and the corrupt, gave most of it to the poor. Kinda like Robin Hood, except ten times hotter."
"Am I gonna do that?"
Eda smiles, placing a hand on her shoulder "You're gonna do things your way, kiddo."
Luz beams in response, before a question comes to mind "What if there's visitors that don't know you used to be The Owl Lad? How do we hide it?"
"Glad you asked." grins Eda "The glass is made from the same stuff they use in interrogation rooms. Basically, with a flick of a switch-" She took out a remote and pressed a button on it. The glass turned blacker than midnight "-and it's modern art!"
"Neat!" grins Luz "So, where are we gonna train?"
"Anywhere! The sky's the limit, kiddo!"
"Neat! So, where's my super-suit?"
Eda smiles mysteriously "You'll design it when you're ready, and I'll make it."
"When will I be ready?"
"You'll see."
Luz decides not to press it. "What about rent?"
"Rent? HA! I own the building!"
...
After some tests, Eda says that Luz's powers are at a developing stage. That it wasn't unusual for a body to adjust to the powers and vice versa. After all, science.
For the next week, Luz's powers continue to adjust to her body. Her strength and web-shooting powers (that's what they have decided to call them) had already developed to the full. Now it was time for the senses to catch up
One minute, her hearing was normal and so was her sense of touch.
Next, a fly's wingbeat was like a hurricane, and her sheets were rougher and more course and itchy than goat fur (which, fun fact, is the most itchy substance known to humanity).
This goes on for five days. So for the most part she stays in her room, trying not to move except to eat and go pee.
On the sixth, Luz just sleeps.
On the seventh, she wakes up and realises something; her enhanced senses of touch and hearing were gone.
The thunder and the feeling of hard rocks scraping against her skin that came with them are gone too.
Over the next day, they do not return.
Nor the next.
Nor the next.
When Luz asks Eda about it, she shrugs "Some powers fade away kid. Raine told me they developed amazing confidence for about a week, which i don't believe for a second."
As they laugh about it, Luz forgets about the past week and focuses on eating her dinner - which, if you must know, was a McDonalds.
...
It is April when the boxes are finally unloaded and the penthouse's white walls are simply covered with stuff - photos, paintings, weapons - anything a middle-aged woman training a teenage superhero would need. Raine - who Eda has both gotten back together with and convinced to reveal their identity - is a constant visitor, and Luz loves them immediately. Even though Raine's job in their part of the city keeps them from moving in, they often stay over for the night.
And then Eda takes in two others.
A scrawny eight-year-old orphan simply called King. He has black hair with locks that seem to have been carefully cut at different lengths and constantly wears an old brown leather jacket that used to belong to his father. It's far too big for him and has the sleeves rolled up 24/7, but he never takes it off (not even, he claims, in the shower). He acts like a Prince - he's lazy and rather entitled, but a genuinely nice kid most of the time and Luz adores him. Oh, and he can turn into a black collie Labrador Puppy, which prompts Luz to take every opportunity to cuddle him when he does that. Eda has been training him to use this power to his advantage, but doesn't want him fighting crime until he's a little bit older.
One day, Luz, who's hair is a little longer than before, is listening to King asking Eda questions:
"How old are you?"
"45, but i look thirty."
"No, you look your age."
Eda grumbles slightly as King asks another question "Who are the people in the pictures?"
"Glad you asked!" smiles Eda, her mood changing quicker than me running when there's triple chocolate cake to be eaten. She points with her metal hand to a photo what appeared to be her and Raine when they were teens "This is me and Raine when we were teens." She says, unknowingly copying the writer before pointing to a Thai woman wearing a blue, yellow and red get-up which Luz recognised.
"YOU KNOW CAPTAIN MARVEL!?" Luz screeches, thundering up and jumping up and down like an excited puppy wanting a new chew toy that they'll likely destroy in five minutes or so.
"We've known each other a long time. Took me to space once or twice." chuckles Eda "It's not as peaceful as you'd think it is."
She moves on to the next picture and hesitates. It's of a teenage her and a girl with equally big hair, except a bit more crimson and a lot more poofy. They are eating ice-cream and Eda is giving the other girl the Bunny ears sign.
She checks her watch "Uhhh... sorry, kids. Gotta run! Got a date with Rainestorm!" she runs to the elevator, leaving the penthouse.
Luz stares at the photo. The other girl is clearly Eda's sister, if you look at them close enough. Or maybe just look at them, they're so similar. But what happened between them? Did she die? Turn evil due a complicated series of unfortunate misunderstandings?
Maybe she could find out later on...
...
Luz is practising her web-shooting.
Eda has set up paper cups in the balcony edge for Luz to shoot with them. She stands aside, taking her prosthetic off while she watches and setting it down.
Luz extends her arm. She aims. Years of gaming on her computer helps with this as she fires.
THWIP!
A cup is knocked off the balcony, falling towards the ground.
THWIP!
And another.
THWIP!
And another.
Eda holds her hand up "Nice job, kid. I'll take you to swinging practice after lunch."
Suddenly, there is a scream from down below.
Eda winces "Ooh, I think one of those cups wasn't empty."
...
'Swinging practice' is a trapeze club in the local park. Eda says this reminds her of when she was training to be a hero and joined a trapeze club herself, and the things she learnt often helped her out.
Most of the kids there take one look at Luz and start talking to one another, evidently about her. Maybe because she's new, Latina, or Maybe her leotard has the Bi flag on it. Either way, the whispers don't sound Positive. Luz just ignores them. She's dealt with this nonsense before.
The only kid who isn't whispering is Amity, who just stares at her. Did I mention she was there? I don't think I did.
"L-Luz!" She stammered, running up to her "Did you join the club too?"
Luz nods "Yeah! I didn't know you went here!"
Amity blushes "Well... yeah. I've been going here since I was ten."
Suddenly, the instructor comes up. He is a smiling Asian man with a loud booming voice "Alright, everyone! Grab a partner and get on it!"
As the other kids went to find a partner, Amity puts her hand up "Uh, Luz is new. Since I know her from school, is it okay if I show her the ropes?" she asks, awkwardly.
The Instructor smiles "Oh, go on! Who am I to separate two good friends?"
...
At the platform on one of the many trapeze sets that have been put up, Luz and Amity stand.
Amity places the bar into Luz's hands "Just don't let go. You'll do great!" she grins encouragingly "When you push off, tuck your legs in backwards, then relax and stretch them out when you get to the other side. That make sense?"
Luz nods "Away we GOOOOOOOOOOOO!" She pushes off, doing exactly what Amity told her.
The air rushing against her gave thrilled her. Gave her a sense of freedom. She felt like she was flying. Like she was immortal.
In three seconds, she had reached the other side. She relaxed and stretched her legs out, landing on the platform.
"DID I DO GOOD?" she yelled across.
"YOU DID AMAZING!" clapped Amity, excitedly, as Luz accidentally dropped the bar.
...
It is May when Amity makes a surprising change.
It is a Monday, and Luz is talking with Gus and Willow before first period. Gus's voice is getting deeper with puberty, and Willow's been working out these past few months. Pretty soon, she'll be the strongest person in the school (apart from our protagonist). As for Luz, the sides of her hair is almost at her neck now.
Then Amity comes up.
Luz gasps. Her hair, last week a bright green, now a lilac purple. Once shoulder length with a small ponytail, now cropped short.
Luz stares at her, unable to speak for a few moments. It felt like a hurricane had invaded her mind and drowned any other thoughts.
"Do- do you like it?" Amity asks, blushing "I decided to make a change..."
"Hermoso..." murmured Luz, awestruck.
Suddenly, the bell rings for first period "C'mon, guys. We got Phys. Ed!" yells Gus, dragging Luz as they all run to the Sports Hall.
...
In the sports hall, Luz distracts herself from Amity by focusing on making her press-ups look hard. If she didn't care about revealing her secret identity, she'd be doing them in a manner I would be jealous of (technically true. Press-ups are my mortal enemy!).
When the lesson is halfway through, she looked at her friends. Gus is doing poorer than I usually do in gym class, Willow is doing them with ease due to her muscles, and Amity...
While not doing them with as much excellence as Willow, Amity is still doing them pretty well. Luz suddenly notices that her arms are a lot more toned than Luz had thought...
Come to think of it... Amity is rather pretty...
Then the raging bull of a gym teacher teacher yells at her to keep on doing the push-ups.
...
Sniff, sniff!
"Dog food."
Sniff, sniff!
"Hot dogs."
Sniff, sniff!
"EEEWWWW! Gym socks!?" Raine gags like a cat coughing up a hairball, pinching their nose. For a challenge, Luz had challenged them to identify objects by their smell.
Luz laughed, putting the plate of gym socks away "Not bad, Raine. Now let's try something harder." she brought something to Raine's nose.
They took a sniff "Something to do with nature..." They sniffs again "Uhhh... flowers?"
"Good. Can you tell me which kind of flower?"
Raine frowns for a moment, then smiles with confidence "Roses. By the way, can I give Eda those and say they're from me?"
Luz excitedly thrusts the bouquet into their arms "Go for it!"
She then watches as Raine does so, smiling like the shipper she was.
Suddenly, she gets a text on her phone. She looks at it.
Blightmare: You coming to trapeze Club tmrw?
Luzura: u bet i am! Gonna try and catch me in midair like we planned?
Blightmare: ofc! c u there!
Luz smiled. Amity was such a good friend.
And for some reason, the idea of Amity catching her was very appealing to her...
...
It is late May, and Eda is giving Luz combat training. She has been mostly teaching Luz how to hold back with her super-strength, some parkour and how to fight with her powers. Now she's teaching her how to fight with her fists.
Today, she is attacking her with her walking stick in the boxing ring.
As Luz hits the gym floor for the tenth time that day, King laughs his head off. Despite her restricted mobility due to whatever reason she's using a walking stick, Eda is kicking her butt without actually kicking anything.
In response, Eda shoots him a look "I don't know why you're laughing. This'll be you in a few years, pipsqueak!"
That shuts him up.
One hour and fifty-three knocking-overs later, they are changed out of their workout clothes in the changing rooms.
As Eda pulls her black leather jacket on, Luz notices something just below Eda's shoulder on her left arm.
A black mark shaped like an Owl.
As they walk out of the gym, they all squint at the sudden low-light-ness. It seems they had all been in the gym longer than they had thought.
They walk to the car, an old brown 1966 Mustang with two yellow stripes running along the middle. Eda says she bought this from an old wizard back in the year 2000, only to discover it was a magic car with an Owl demon inside of it. the demon goes by the terrifying name of... Hooty.
Hooty in question is pretty good-natured. Sure, he's really annoying, but they all love him dearly when he isn't talking. Hooty can drive himself, but Eda doesn't let him - except in extreme circumstances. Luz shudders to think what that could mean.
As they enter the car, Hooty's 'face' smiles at them. The 'face' in question is what appears to be a painted owl face on the dashboard - if Owl Faces were completely circular and could move around the entire car as they liked.
"HI YOU THREE!" screeches Hooty, his face zooming up to the Window to get on eye level with Eda.
Eda chuckles, then winces in pain. Luz looks over from the passenger seat - her right leg is raised slightly, as if it was hurting.
Wait a moment, that probably means it is hurting!
"Eda... are you okay?" Luz asks, tentatively.
Her mentor sighs, before muttering "Just bumped an old injury, kid. I'm fine."
With that, she puts her foot on the pedal (with her left foot, Luz notices) and the car sets off.
About five minutes into the journey, Hooty's face zooms onto the dashboard "Hey, who're your friends?"
Eda glanced at the rear mirror while Luz and King look behind them.
A car is right behind them. A Honda Accord with White paint and being driven by two guys.
"Hooty, how long have they been behind us?" Eda asks, her expression unreadable behind her black sunglasses.
"Since we left the gym. Are they gonna have a tea party with us?"
"Let's play Grand Prix Legends instead." remarks Eda, taking her hands off the wheel "Hooty. Drive."
For a brief moment, there was silence.
"DRRIIIIIIIVVE!?"
"HOOT! HOOT!"
Hooty shudders. The Windows turn pitch black.
Then Hooty surges forward like a rocket. Whatever the speed, it's enough to throw Luz against her seat and feel vomit rising in her throat. The car seemed to go in all directions at once and at different times, spinning and flipping and driving on the ground all over again, then repeat. Sounds of crashing and screaming come from outside Hooty yells and crushing sounds which Luz hopes is stone.
Luz holds in her lunch. She does not want to throw up right now.
After the second worst five minutes of her life, Luz feels Hooty stop, throwing her forward and against her seat belt.
The Windows turn back to normal, and Eda takes the wheel again.
After throwing up out of the windows (she doesn't care if she hit some passer-bys) Luz thinks about looking behind them, then wisely decides not to.
Then she notices King is rocking back and forth in his chair, somewhat horrified at what had just happened.
Luz takes a deep breath, Luz stares at Eda and says very firmly; "Nunca Vuelvas a hacer eso."
"What does that mean?"
"Never do that again."
Eda winces "That's... fair. Sorry, kids. I guess I forgot you're not used to that."
"Who wants ice cream?"
That snaps them out of their horror and gets them saying "Me! Me! Me!"
Well, Luz did just lose her lunch.
...
It is June 1st, and Luz is in the playground with Amity, Willow and Gus. They are talking about a School gathering the Principal had given about Independence Day next month.
"We'll probably be learning about it in history class." said Luz, twirling her hair in her fingers. It's shoulder length now, and she thinks she'll keep it that way. "About the day everyone in America was freed - everyone who was white, straight and male, anyway."
Amity chuckles at this, blushing. "Knowing how Patriotic Mr Brown is, probably. Did you see the Azura Movie?"
Luz nodded up and down, excited "Yeah! How can something be so different to the books yet still be so amazing?"
"Ever read the How to train your Dragon Books?"
"There's books!?" gasps Luz, going into 'Fantasy nerd mode'.
"Yeah! And the only things similar to the movie are the names!"
"Dime mas."
"What?"
"It means tell me more, but actually don't-" Luz blushed "-because actually can I borrow your set?"
"I'll bring it in tomorrow!" yelled Amity, Equally red. Suddenly, her phone rings "Ugh... sorry, i have to take this." she walks away, talking on the phone.
Gus and Willow look at Luz. Gus asks "Can I ask something?"
"Sure can, Gus!"
"Why can't we tell Amity? I mean, she's part of the friend group too!"
Luz blinks, and her face falls. She gives him a sombre look "I'm not having anyone else get hurt because of me."
"But-"
"It's my choice, Gus."
There is an awkward silence.
Then Luz gets up and walks away.
...
That afternoon, Luz steps out of the penthouse Elevator to see darkness.
She blinks. Maybe Eda forgot to pay her electric bill again. Unless...
She squints. She notices that objects are knocked over and broken. Wall decorations on the ground. More food on the floor than usual.
But oddly, her spider-sense doesn't go off.
She hears noises from Eda's room. She creeps over, peering in.
Eda is tied up and gagged, and a mysterious figure in all black is standing in front of her. Luz can't see them that well, but she can tell they have a sort of ski mask without any holes in it on.
Luz shoots a web at them. They leap to the side, spinning in midair before rushing Luz.
She blocks their next strike to the her chest with her arm and retaliates with a blow of her own, making sure not to punch them too hard. The intruder stumbles, then runs and leaps over Luz's head like a cat, sprinting out of the room and into the lounge like a greyhound.
Luz chases them, sending two web lines at past them. She then pulls herself forward, propelling herself towards her foe.
The enemy then performs a roundhouse kick, sending her into the couch. It hurts a little, but her super-strength makes her a lot tougher than the average human.
She staggers up, putting her fists up.
The enemy gets into a stance. There is a standoff.
While the standoff is happening, Luz has a thought. Why isn't my Spider-sense working?
The figure attacked.
Fast as lightning, they send blow after blow at her. She blocks two of them, but the other three hit her body.
Luz retaliates, trying to beat them. She punches, then blocks another attack.
Punch.
Block.
Kick.
Block.
Feint.
Luz staggered, panting. She had no idea who this person was. Either way, they were gonna regret messing with Eda.
Looking for a way to beat them, Luz spies their feet. She has an idea. She leaps back, webbing their feet as she goes. Soon, the enemy is rendered immobile (in their feet, at least), no matter how hard they struggle. Luz pants, slumping on the couch to rest for a moment.
Then there is a chuckle "Good job, Luz."
Luz freezes.
She knows that voice...
The figure takes the mask off. It's Raine!
"Wait... then why...?"
Luz does some Math real quick.
"Wait... did I interrupt-"
Raine goes bright red "What!? No! No, no, no, no, no, no. This was a test for you!"
"Ooooohhhh..."
"Now, let's go free your Guardian."
"What about you?"
"Oh yeah..."
...
Once they had freed both Eda and Raine, they all sit down and have some hot chocolate.
"Luz..." said Eda, slowly and seriously "I think you're ready."
"For what?"
"To go out onto the streets."
Luz blinked "What?"
"I mean, I'm not done training you yet... but you've learnt a lot and... I think you're ready."
For a moment, Luz's mind is utterly and completely blank.
Then she leaps up, energised as heck as she jumped up and down "Really? Really? Really? Really?"
"Just think of a hero name and draw what you want your suit to look like and-"
One second later, Luz returned with a sheet of paper.
Eda took it "You sure about this?"
"Definitely."
...
That Friday night, Luz is about to head out.
Her costume consists of a bodysuit. Most of it was crimson, the mask, parts of the sleeves and the gloves and boots. Most of the chest was covered with it, with it then going down the middle and stopping at the waist, where it then covered that area like a belt. To top it off, all the crimson parts are covered with a black webbing pattern as well as a crimson Spider-symbol on the back of it. White lenses are on the mask to let Luz see, surrounded by a black outline that was designed to move with her eyes.
The rest of it is white. The hips, the undersides of the arm, the back and the pants were all chalk white.
Finally, a black Spider symbol on the chest.
She takes a deep breath. Just like she practiced...
Spider-girl jumps, shoots a web-line and swings towards adventure.
...
1. Turns out Crimson is a different shade of red than I thought. Still looks good though.
2. What do you think of the suit design description and Amity cutting her hair?
3. I kept forgetting to write this in present tense lol.
4. Some of you might not like the 'Some Powers fade away' bit. I'd like to point out it has happened before in the actual comics. For example, In the comics Kamala Khan eventually lost the ability to shapeshift.
Favourite and review!
