[Meanwhile, hospital]
Following Martha's arrival at the hospital, George and Helen Stacy were shocked to hear the news about their old friends being involved in the incident. Without another word, they rushed to her room and saw Gwen sitting at the chair next to the bed, which Martha was resting on.
Seeing their daughter, Helen instantly ran and held her into a tight embrace. "Thank god that you're fine, honey."
"Yuri told us everything," George said, kneeling down to her level and gave her an apologetic look. "I'm sorry... I should be the one to tell them about Billy."
"It's fine, dad," Gwen said reassuringly, glancing at the bed behind them. "Also, Mrs. Connor is more important than me right now."
Hearing her daughter's word, Helen broke the embrace and glanced at the bed. "How's Martha?"
"Minor concussion and light bleeding from the head," The blonde girl replied. "But overall, she's fine."
"Thank god..." Sighing in relief, the older blonde stood up and watched over Martha.
"I think she's sleeping, mom." Gwen deadpanned, sighing and took out her phone. "Mom, dad, I have something to do first..."
Trailing off, she stood up and walked over to the door. "I'll be right back, you don't need to worry about me."
With that said, she exited the room and instantly typed on the virtual keyboard. Walking down the hallway to the elevator.
Gwen: Pete, you're still around?
Peter: Kinda.
Gwen: What do you mean by 'kinda'?
Gwen: Whatever, I'll be at the front door.
Peter: Got it :)
Gwen: And you're gonna explain EVERYTHING.
Seeing no response, Gwen just assumed he got it and continued her walk, arriving at the front door of the hospital. And just at the exact time she stepped out of the door, the voice in her head rang again.
Behind you!
Startled from the sudden voice, she turned around and glanced a trace of red and blue. Before she could do anything, Peter swang down and grabbed her by the wrist.
Gwen was too shocked to say anything or to scream, and she stayed that way until the two landed on the roof nearby. "...Holy shit," She murmured, coming back to reality.
"I was kind of surprised, Gwen," Peter smiled, still in his costume. "Normally, they'll just scream like they're gonna die-"
"Peter! Why the hell are you doing this?!" She exclaimed, interrupting his word. "You almost scared the shit out of me..."
Taking off his mask, Peter looked away to something else. "Sorry 'bout that..." He said apologetically, rubbing his neck.
Shaking her head to clear the mind, Gwen crossed her arms and glared at him. "Anyway, can you explain how did you become this?"
"Oh... right," He awkwardly nodded. "Remember our trip to Oscorp last year?"
"Of course I remember that field trip, you got bit by a spider and-" She stopped herself, widening her eyes in realization. "Wait a second, don't you tell me..."
"Yes, I got my power from that bite," Webhead smiled.
"OK, but I remember that you weren't wearing this costume when you first started..." Gwen trailed off, poking the spider logo on his chest.
"This suit was made by Mr. Stark."
"Mr. Stark- Wait, you mean Tony Stark?!"
"The one and only," Sighing, Peter walked over to the edge and sat down, looking down to the street below.
"Care to tell me how?" Gwen said with a faint smirk on her face, sitting down at the edge and right next to him. "I'm curious."
"Well, after being Spider-Man for a few months, Mr. Stark just show up in my apartment talking with May," He explained. "Turn out he found my secret identity and asked me to join the Avengers."
Widening her eyes in surprise, the blonde leaned closer. "Did you answer the call?"
"Yep, and now I'm a reserve member," Peter shrugged. "But he did make this suit for me, with a personal AI."
"Personal AI?!"
"Yeah, she's called 'Karen'," He said, giving Gwen his mask. "Here, put it on and you'll know what I mean."
"...Thank god that I cut my hair a while ago." Raising an eye in curiosity, Gwen took the mask and put it on. "OK, so... Karen?"
"Greetings, Pete-" Karen interrupted herself, as if she just found out that it's not Peter she's talking too. "Oh, a new user."
"Just call me Gwen."
"Well, greetings again, Gwen." The AI paused for a moment before turning on the speaker. "Peter, you know I'll tell Tony about this, right?"
Peter's eyes widened in shock, frantically shaking his head. "N-Please don't tell Mr. Stark about this!" He begged. "I already had enough trouble from Black Cat..."
"Fine, I'll let you slip this time."
"Thank you..." trailing off, Peter finally released a breath he'd been holding for a second now. "Sorry Gwen, Karen's kinda..."
"Snarky?" Gwen raised an eyelid, taking off the mask and gave it back to him. "Anyway, about Noir."
"I only know him as a partner in crime-fighting," He instantly answered. "And no, I don't know who's under that mask. If I have to say something more, it'll be that he's investigating some gang with Black Cat. "
"OK..." Surprised from his sudden answer, Gwen awkwardly giggled. "So, about that lizard, do you know anything about it?"
"No, I just got news about a giant lizard and I instantly came to see what's happening," Peter shook his head in response, "But now he's escaped, we'll just wait to see where it's going."
"Maybe it's the sewers," She suggested, earning a raised eye from him. "Reptiles usually love dark and humid space to live in..."
"...And sewer is a perfectly place for them." He finished for her.
Nodding to each other, Gwen was about to open her mouth when her phone suddenly rang. Taking it out from her pocket, her face fell into a growl. "Oh, dad should be worried about where I am."
"Well, let's just call it a day," Peter sighed, putting on his mask and wrapped his hand around her wrist. "Hold tight."
Giving him a nod, the blonde wrapped her arms around him. Without another word, Spidey jumped and swung back to the hospital, putting her down lightly.
"See ya tomorrow." He waved, taking a few steps backward before firing a line of webbing, leaving her sight at high speed.
Gwen's glance lingered for a while before sighing, looking down with a faint smile. "A step closer to him, I guess."
[Three days later, Midtown High] (Ethan's POV)
Stepping out from the school bus with Rachel on my side, I took a glance at her to see if she's alright.
And she's mostly alright, just a bit nervous. I guess.
"You'll be fine, Rachel," I said reassuringly, patting her head. "Just make some new friends and you'll love coming to school."
"I know..." She muttered out loud, sighing heavily before continuing. "But I don't think I'm fluent enough..."
"It's fine, Catherine and I had been drilling you for a week now. It'll be fine."
"If you say so..." Sighing again, Rachel took a deep breath before taking a step. Then another, and another toward her classroom.
Well, she's gonna be fine. Give her some trust, Ethan. Pinching my nosebridge, I was about to walk to my locker when a voice suddenly rang behind me.
"So today is Rachel's first day?"
Oh, it's Peter.
"Yeah," I nodded, grabbing my chemistry book from the locker and closed it. "She should be fine."
"I hope so," He shrugged. "But I was wondering, how did she get into your family?"
...Was he implying something?
Shrugging this thought off, I shifted my book in my arms. "Catherine found her homeless and hungry in the street, and she just adopted her for some odd reason."
"That's it?"
"I think there's more to it, but it doesn't matter now," I said. "I suggested Catherine send Rachel to somewhere better for her, but she insisted to adopt her."
"But Rachel's about our age, how can she-"
"She's a mutant," I answered (Well, that wasn't a total lie), much to his surprise. "And yes, Catherine knew about this and still adopted her."
"...Well, that's something,"
"I know," I nodded with a faint smile on my face. "But she's a good girl, and kinda cute too."
"That doesn't mean anything." Peter deadpanned.
"Maybe," Shrugging, I turned around and pointed at our classroom. "But class is five minutes away."
"Wait what?!" Widening his eyes in surprise, he hastily took his chemistry book and rushed to the classroom.
Meanwhile, once Rachel was in her classroom, she quickly took an empty seat in the corner and took out her History textbook. However, a blonde girl with green eyes walked up to her with a slight frown.
"Excuse me, but this is my seat." The girl said, pointing at the seat Rachel was sitting on.
"Huh? S-sorry," Surprised by her sudden appearance, Rachel awkwardly laughed before standing up from the seat. "I-I'll find another seat..."
"It's fine," The young blonde pointed the seat next to hers. "That one is open."
"O-oh, thank you,"
The new transfer hastily switched to the other seat, and the blonde girl casually sat down and took out her books. "Um... I've never seen you before," She said with a raised eyebrow. "Are you new to Midtown High?"
"Y-yeah, this is my first day," She replied, tugging a strand of hair behind her ear.
"Oh, that's why." The blonde smiled. "I am Elizabeth Brant, just call me Betty."
"I'm Rachel, n-nice to meet you," Rachel shuttered, holding out a hand with a shy smile.
Betty returned her smile with a brighter one, taking her hand and shook it. "I'm curious, what brought you here?"
"What brought me here?" The transfer tilted her head in slight confusion, not noticing what she was implying. "My big brother... I guess?"
"Oh, you just moved in and transferred to the same school as your big brother?"
Surprised with her sudden association of ideas, Rachel was speechless for a second before deciding to went along with it. After all, that wasn't too far from the truth.
"Yeah, that's right," She hastily nodded. "I'm surprised that you connected the dot on your own..."
"Reporter's instinct," Betty said with a wink, earning a confused look from Rachel.
"Reporter?"
"I'm the newscaster and the reporter for Midtown High news club," She explained.
"Wait, news club?" Rachel asked, raising an eye in confusion. "But I don't think there's any newspaper or news broadcast here..."
"Well... you're new, so no wonder why you didn't see our show," Betty sighed, leaning forward and supported it with her hands. "Even though my old co-host Jason is an excellent editor, we are short on newscasters. And I'm literally running the show on my own."
"Oh... That must be suck." The transfer tilted her head in more confusion.
"I know," The newscaster admitted, tugging some hair behind her ear. "It's just... hard to find someone else to be my co-host."
"Really?"
"Yeah, I've been asking everyone for months now," Betty finally gave out a heavy sigh, leaning back to her seat. "But well, I have to focus on preparing for homecoming though."
"Homecom-" Before she could finish her question, Rachel instantly interrupted herself. The memories of Ethan telling her about different events quickly surfaced in her mind. "Oh right, homecoming is only weeks away."
"Lucky you," The blonde girl couldn't help herself but giggle. "Hope that you have a dress for it."
"It shouldn't take me this long to find a dress..."
And at the time she finished the word, Mr. Dell walked into the classroom. Knowing that it's already time for class, the two tenth grader stopped their little chat and quickly shifted their focus on the class.
[A while later, school canteen]
(Ethan's POV)
After the bell rang, signaling the arrival of the lunch period. Even though I was expecting a barrage of questions to Gwen(mostly about the bridge incident), I didn't expect...
This.
"Did you do anything inappropriate to Rachel? Or did she did anything inappropriate to you?"
"Why did Catherine suddenly decided to take her in?"
"Did she said something with weird implication?"
Oh, by the way, all of them were asked by Felicia. And she's leaning closer and closer toward me with each question (She was sitting opposite to me).
"OK..." I said as I leaned away from her, holding my hands up. "Can you just... back to your seat?"
"I won't back to my seat until you answer my questions," She said with a death glare, continuing her leaning until our face were only inches apart. "So, answer my questions, Ethan."
"People are watching..." I whispered, glancing at my left.
Flash was taking his phone out to record us (For god sake...), a huge shit-eating grin stuck on his face. Peter, who was sitting next to me, leaned back with an awkward smile. On the other hand, Gwen and MJ only glanced at each other before sighing in unison.
And the worst of all this, Rachel and a blonde girl who looked like Angourie Rice (So... she's Betty Brant?) was sitting on the table near us, holding a hand over her mouth to hide her giggles.
Great, just great.
With a heavy sigh, I closed my eyes for a brief moment before answering her. "First, we didn't do anything inappropriate to each other."
"OK, one big stone off of my chest," Felicia nodded, finally leaning back for a bit and free up some space.
"As for why did Catherine take her in... I don't really know," I admitted, leaning forward for a bit too. "And no, she never did anything with weird implication."
"So in all and all, we're only brother and sister."
Satisfied with my answers, she sat back to her seat and tugged a strand of her hair behind the ear.
Flash tapped his phone and cut the recording. "OK... I think there's nothing else to see!" He shouted, and everyone went back to their own business.
Seeing that everyone's back to their own things, MJ nudged Gwen's shoulder with a smirk. "So, I heard that you're involved with that bridge fight."
"Huh?" Gwen raised an eye in confusion. "Yeah, I was there."
"Did you met Spider-Man?"
"Uh..." Widening her eyes in surprise, the blonde glanced at Peter for a split second before nodded. "Y-yeah, he saved me and Mrs. Connor."
MJ almost squealed at her answer, her smirk widened into a grin. "Oh my god! You're so lucky!"
"Yeah... Kind of," Gwen hesitantly nodded, taking another sip of her water. "...Ki~nd of."
At the same time as she said that, Peter slightly flinched before calming herself.
OK... What exactly happened to them? Hmm...
Maybe Peter told her that he's Spidey, and now she knows. At least he didn't get caught redhanded by Gwen, not like how I did...
Whatever.
[Nighttime, Turner Residence, Rachel's room]
"Are you sure about this, Ethan?" Rachel asked as I shifted my protective goggles, her eyes filled with worry. "I know that Eletro is a thing, but you don't need to do this now."
"I know," I said, putting my web-shooters on the stand on a table. "But prepare for anything, right?"
"...I have no word for you now." She deadpanned, wearing goggles as well. "It's the fifth try already..."
"I'm sorry..."Giving her an apologetic look, I tap the button twice and shot a web-line onto the wall. Then, I detached the line from the web-shooter, and Rachel held it with one hand.
I took my notebook on the table and clicked my pen, nodding. "Go ahead, I want to know what should I do this time."
With a faint sigh, she concentrated onto the web and blue lighting sparkled around her hand. And the web-line glowed red for a second before burnt into ashes and faded away.
The web didn't just straight-up turned into ashes, but it was able to stand the heat for a second. So... I needed to make the web a bit more heatproof, right.
"OK, I think I know what I need to do now," I said, glancing at the tubes which containing different solution. "Rachel, can you hand over the web-fluid?"
Without another word, she handed the cup filled with web-fluid. Thanking her and took the cup from her hand, I grabbed the tube with the label 'anti-heat' and poured the content to it.
If my hypothesis is right, this should do the job.
Stirring it for a few times, I took a syringe and extract some of the new web-fluid, then I inject it to a new cartridge. Switching to the new cartridge, I fired a new web-line to the wall.
"Rachel, try to melt it," I said, taking my notebook and readied to record. "I hope it'll be the last time."
"Me too," Sighing, Rachel held the line and concentrated again. "Please, don't melt..."
We both clutched our eyes, praying that it'll work this time. Then, five seconds passed, thirty seconds passed, a minute passed...
Feeling that nothing had changed, we opened our eyes in unison. "Fin-fucking-ally..." I murmured, giving out a breath of relief.
"We did it..." Rachel sighed in relief as well, sitting down onto her bed. "We finally did it!"
The web-line didn't melt or burnt into ashes! It only glowed in bright red, but it stayed intact!
...But now, it's time for the clean-up.
"Rachel," I said, walking to her side and help her up. "now we did it, we need to clean this mess up."
"Clean up?!" She exclaimed in shock, hastily shaking her head in disapproval. "You used my room as a lab, I won't clean this up for you!"
"...Fine," Sighing, I took the 'Web dissolve spray' (I made it for things like this) and sprayed onto the line. After the web was dissolved, I started to clean everything up and made a few more cartridge. Packing everything up and took them to my room.
In the meanwhile, Rachel watched me boringly and noticed my phone's buzzing. Picking it up, she checked who's calling. "Ethan, who's 'Yuri'?"
Yuri's calling me? For what?
"My contact in the police," I said, taking the phone and accepted the call. "Hello, Ms. Watanabe?"
"Noir, I need you at Bayside right now!" Yuri exclaimed through the line, and it seemed like an emergency.
"OK, I'll be there ASAP," I said, holding the phone between my head and shoulder as I put on the web-shooters. "But what happened?"
"We just got visual on the Lizard," She said. "It's heading toward the neighborhood there, just get there!"
Wait, Bayside? What's so special about there?
Before I could even say anything, Rachel suddenly stood up and widened her eyes in shock. "...I may know where it's heading toward."
"You know?" I asked with a raised eye, taking my phone a bit away from my ear.
"Yeah, Betty told me that... Curtis Connor and his family lived in Bayside."
...
Oh. Shit.
This is fucking bad, real bad.
Quickly snapping out from my shock, I turned my focus back to Yuri on the line. "Ms. Watanabe, is Curtis Connor and his family in the hospital?"
"No, they got out from hospital yesterday..." She trailed off, pausing for a second before continuing. "Wait, why are you asking this?"
"Nothing," I replied. "I'll be there in a second."
With that said, I cut the call and changed into my costume. I know Rachel was here and seeing my half-naked body, but I couldn't care about it at this time.
However, Rachel suddenly spoke up as I put on my jacket. "Ethan, let me help you."
...What?
"You want to come along?" I asked, zipping up my jacket.
"Yeah," She nodded assuringly, standing up and took a step closer to me. "I have power too, so why wouldn't I stand up and do something?"
"Rachel, it's life and death we're talking about."
"But you're throwing yourself to danger!" Rachel exclaimed, staring directly at my eyes. "I know what you're going say, 'If I care about Catherine, I shouldn't leave her in worry.'"
"You're just doing to do the exact same thing I just said! I know it's not fun and game, I know my life is at risk when I choose it!" She yelled, gripping my jacket's collar. "I can't just sit here and let you do this alone!"
"..." I looked down onto my shoes, taking a deep breath.
...Yes, she had power. And with that, she also have a responsibility. I chose to be Noir with a second thought, and I shouldn't be the one to tell her 'no'. But, what if she ran into someone like Kilgrave? I didn't want her to be another victim and ended like how Jessica Jones did.
But I couldn't stop her from that path. She knew my other identity, seeing me going to the street and risk my life for others.
After a few moments of pondering, I sighed and looked at her blue eyes. "Rachel, even though we're not in the same bloodline, but you're my sister."
"And I don't want you to throw your new life away for me," I took her hands away from my collar. "You should be enjoying your new life, at least for now."
"But..."
"We'll talk later."
With that said, I put on my mask and leaped out of the room's window.
[On the other hand, Hell's Kitchen]
In the dimly-lighted and messy office of Alias Investigation, a raven-haired woman in her late-twenties was sitting in her chair, checking the pile of files on her desk.
"Affair... fucking affair... and another fucking affair," The woman sighed, closing the file and leaning into her office chair. "I fucking hate this."
However, a knock on the door stopped her train of thought. "...OK, keep calm and expect another fucking affair case." She murmured to herself, standing up from her chair and opened the door.
"Good evening, Jones." On the other side of the door was a young blind man who was in his early thirties, wearing a formal suit and a pair of round sunglasses.
"Murdock," The woman deadpanned, stepping aside for the man to step in. "So, what are you going to need me for? Another investigation on Dead-Bridges?"
"Well, I did in need of some help from you." Murdock shrugged. "And you're somewhat right, it is related to Dead-Bridges."
"Cut the bullshit, Matt."
"Always straight to the point, Jessica," Matt smirked, adjusting his sunglasses. "I need information for a new vigilante called 'Noir'."
"Noir? Ain't he the new guy with spider power?" Jessica said with a raised eye, crossing her arms. "Why would you, the devil of Hell's Kitchen, want me to investigate him?"
"I was in a hideout of Dead-Bridges when I overheard some goons," He explained. "They mention this 'Noir' and the Black Cat was into them."
"So?"
"I want to know what he knows about Dead-Bridges, and maybe I can have a chat with him-"
"Or a heart to heart on the rooftop, like that one time you did with Frank Castle." The raven-haired investigator finished for him, sighing and pinching her nosebridge. "Matt, you still owe me from that case, you know?"
"I remember that." The blind lawyer gave her a faint smile, only to be met by a scowl from her. "And I'll make up for what I owe you, after this one."
"Don't you fucking dare to break that promise."
"Promised." With that said, Matt's smile widened before turning around, exiting the office.
AN:
Now the Lizard is attacking Connor Residence, will Noir and Spider-Man be fast enough to save the Connors from their mutated father/ husband? Not only that, what will happen to Rachel? Since now she started to have ideas of being a hero, will she be a hero of her own, or ended in a tragedy?
Other than that, now Noir's action had caught the Devil of Hell's Kitchen's attention. How will the two(or three, or four?) people path will cross?
Review Response:
Raidentensho:
Well, sorry to disappoint you, but Daredevil and Noir's relation will be a peer one. And Ethan would probably say something along the lines of 'eskrima stick isn't my thing.'. His stealth approach and web are already compensating his lesser strength and reach.
(For reference:
Spider-Man: 25 Ton
Noir: 10 Ton)
As for Stan Lee's cameo, I did need to find a good way to put him in here... Hmm...
And for Shocker's gauntlet, (It's coming from the TASM 2 game, right? *wink*) I think it's still a bit too early to tell. Yeah.
Anyway, I hope you enjoy the story so far!
R&R please.
