A girl with shoulder-length brunette hair put some comics up on the counter. "Hi," she smiled.
"Hi," I started adding up the totals.
"These aren't for me, they're for my little brother Tommy. He's sick," she told me hastily. I guessed she was embaressed that she was buying comic books or something.
"Oh, I was wondering where he was. He ussually comes in around this time every week," I replied.
"Yeah, he likes superheroes. A little weird but I guess everyone needs a hero," she replied.
"I can understand that," I gave her her change.
"I'm Jill by the way," she told me before she left.
"Jason," I replied. Something about her seemed familar, I just couldn't place my finger on it. Maybe I'd walked by her before on the streets before or something.

After work I was walking to the bus stop when I noticed a building was on fire. Without much thought I walked over to see what was happening. Firefighters were battling the flames. Then I noticed Jill who seemed to be hysterical.
"Jill!" I ran over to her. "What's going on?"
"Tommy's still inside. Oh god, he's still inside and they haven't been able to get in yet," Jill wheeped.
"Where is he?" I asked.
"2nd floor-" Jill started.
I didn't bother listening to anything more. I ran through the open doorway and into the blazing fire. The heat was intense, the last time I ran into a fire I didn't feel it because of my costume but now I was just regular person in regular clothing who stupidly ran into a burning building. I ran up the nearby stairway and started looking for Tommy. "Tommy!" I called. I heard some sort of muffled response from a nearby room. I hurried over to it and put my hand on the door knob but yanked it off after burning my hand. "Idiot!" I muttered at myself. I kicked the door open instead. Before I walked in some ceiling from above fell and that ceiling made the floor below it fall in. I hopped over the gap. "Tommy!" I called again as I wiped sweat from my forehead.
"Here," he called under the blankets of his bed.
I ran over to him. "I'm gonna get you out of here," I told him as I picked him up. He was sorta heavy, I missed my super strength. I barely managed to get across the gap with Tommy in hand. I made my way towards the stairs. More debris fell and got in the way. "Oh crap," I thought to myself. I jumped over the burning debris and landed a few steps under but I slipped and fell on my back and slid down the stairs but Tommy was alright and that was the important thing. I struggled to my feet and got out of the building.

"Jason, thank you so much for saving Tommy. That was really brave," Jill told me.
"Thanks," I replied as the paramedics examined me.
"I still can't believe you did that. You're totally my hero," Jill told me.
"It's like you said, everyone needs a hero," I replied.

"Ohmygod Jason, what were you thinking?" Kitty asked me after I told her about me running into that fire. "You don't have your powers. You coulda died!"
"I know, I know. It's just, I knew the kid I saved and I wasn't thinking when I ran in. I just did... out of instinct. Look I'm alright, don't I get points for that or something?" I tried to explain.
"Just promise me you won't do it again. I don't wanna lose you. You can't just web yourself out of danger anymore. Please... no more," Kitty asked me.
I hesitated, "Kitty you don't need to worry."
Kitty hugged me then kissed me, "I know, I just can't stand the thought of losing you."
Suddenly the alarm for the X-Men to report to the war room went off. Out of habbit I still went down. About half way down I remembered I was powerless, so I stopped and went back upstairs.
"I hate being powerless," I thought to myself. After laying on my bed for a few minutes I got an idea. I went downstairs and picked up the phone and dialed a number and waited for the ringing. "Hey Peter," I said when he answered. "You don't still have those old webshooters of yours do you?"
"Yeah, why?" he asked.
" I wanna borrow them. I know I may be powerless but that doesn't mean I can't still be a hero. I need to do this. You know better than anyone how important being a hero is to the people of this city," I answered.
"I know, and you made a good point. Come on over. I'm gonna need to show you how to make more web fluid for when you run out," Peter told me.
"Got it. I'll be right over," I hung up. Okay maybe I was going against what Kitty asked me but she was asking me. She should understand

"Peter had to step out for a few minutes. Robbery a few streets over," Mary Jane explained when I got to their apartment.
"Okay," I walked in.
"You mind if I ask you something?" Mary Jane requested.
"Yeah, okay," I accepted.
"Why'd you decide to start being a superhero again?" she asked.
"Oh, well last night I kinda saved a kid from a fire. I didn't even realize I had run into the fire powerless until I was already in there. I just did it out of instinct. Then earlier when the X-Men went on a mission I couldn't go but I wanted to. So I just sat in my room thinking when I realized I didn't need my powers to still be a hero. Like Hawkeye, she doesn't have any powers and she's my leader when I'm with the Young Avengers," I answered.
"You're a good person. Most people would just live a normal life after losing their powers but you're still gonna be a hero and help people. It takes a lot to do that," MJ told me.
"I just hope my girlfriend feels that way. Earlier she made me promise not to try being a hero," I worried about what Kitty might do if she knew what I was doing.
"She loves you right?"
"Yeah."
"Then she'll be okay with it and she'll learn to trust you, like I trust Peter," MJ explained.

My heart pounded as I put on my costume and placed on my webshooters.
"Jason," Emma walked in. "You promised Kitty you wouldn't."
"I know," I said weakly. "But I need to do this. I'm Aracnor wheather I have powers or not. I can't just sit by and let innocent people get hurt."
"Just be careful," Emma told me.
"I will," I reassured her.

"Help! Oh god! Someone help me!" a lady screamed. I swung into the alley from where I heard the scream and saw that 3 guys were attacking a lady. I wasn't exactly used to the swinging yet though. It should've been like riding a bike for me but it was like I had broken arms and legs while doing it. It was just awkward. I was actually afraid to go up too high because I thought I might splatter on the ground.
"Hey!" I yelled. All 3 looked and I shot weblines at two of them in their legs to trip them. It was harder than I thought. I never realized how much I used my super strength until now. The other punched me, I fell over. And my spider senses. Maybe this was a bad idea to do without my powers. I punched the guy back but it didn't seem to have as much impact as I hoped. He kneed me in my stomach and went back to the lady. I was doubled-over. I reached into my utility belt and pulled out a stinger(small needle like projectile) and loaded it into my webshooter. I aimed and shot the guy in the back. He screamed in pain. I shot him again. He grabbed the lady's purse and ran away, his associates long gone in the other direction. I failed to help the woman. I turned around and started swing away.
I noticed something about webslinging now. Every time I looked down I realized if I slipped I'm dead. I realized that I needed some sort of training if I were to actually help people. Part of the problem was the lady didn't run but still I was supposed to protect her.
"You only stopped one crime tonight?" Emma asked when I entered the locker room to change.
"No. Zero, they still got her purse," I corrected Emma.
"But they wanted to rape her. I was following you with cerebro and I read the thoughts of those guys. They were gonna rape her if you didn't save her," Emma over-ruled me.
"Oh... Wow, I didn't know that," I was astounded that I actually did something good.
"But you were right about one thing. You do need training," Emma told me.

Minutes later..."Hey Kate," I called Kate.
"Hey Jason," she answered.
"What do you do to, you know, keep in shape for crime fighting?" I asked her.
"You're gonna keep fighting?" she asked me.
"Yeah," I replied.
"Good to know. How 'bout you meet me at my house tommorow morning at 6, that's when I go to the gym," Kate suggested.
"Got it," I replied before hanging up.