It's up to you now.
"…Spiderman?"
It was barley a whisper spoken out loud with clear disbelief. I hated the way my voice cracked, and I sounded like the girl I was the first night I ever met him. Sometimes, I'd dream about seeing him again and he'd see how grown up I was and how I was a decent hero. In my dreams, he'd congratulate me, and we'd go fight crime together. We were an unstoppable team. Most nights though, I'd dream about the bite and how he died in my arms a second later.
The more I stared at the man above me, my eyes wide and refusing to close in case this was a dream, the more I realised he wasn't quite like my Spiderman. This one wore a very similar spider costume and was beyond buff. Like seriously bulking. Muscle on muscle. I don't remember Spiderman ever being that built, he had more lean muscle and was smaller. The talons coming out of that man's hands were also a bit longer and sharper. I felt so conflicted staring at this man. Was he Spiderman? And the way he looked at me. I shivered. His eyes on the mask were narrowed and predatory. Spiderman didn't look at me like that, he was gentle and kind.
This guy did not look gentle and kind.
A roar sounded from behind me, and I quickly turned around to find the lizard pouncing onto me. "Offt," I grunted as I landed heavily on my back, and I was squished by the lizard. It roared in my face, getting spit on my mask. With a grimace, I quickly grab onto its face to keep its snapping jaws away from me. From the corner of my eye, the lizard raises one hand and its claw shimmers in the moonlight. My breath catches in my throat and my scar aches with the sense of déjà vu. However, before it can bring the claw down onto my face, the lizard is tackled off me.
My breath is knocked out of me, and I take a couple of seconds to catch it. Shaking my head, I jump up and find this guy beating the absolute shit out of the lizard. Not wanting to seem unhelpful, I dig my claws into the wall and begin to heave myself up using my hands. Using upper body strength, I scale the wall up to the top and across to where the lizard was fighting. It was clear the lizard was losing; claw marks covered its entire body, and it was starting to back away to run.
Finally seeing an opening in the fight, I extracted my claws from the wall and pushed off with my feet. The wind threatened to knock my mask off, but I ignored it and held my claws down, ready to latch onto the lizard. I landed on its back and sunk my claws deep into its skin to hang on. The lizard howled with pain and rage, beginning to fling itself around to get me off. I dug my claws further into its skin to hang on tighter and opened my mouth. It felt like second nature to feel my canine teeth extend into fangs and begin to drip with venom. Without wasting a second, I sunk my teeth into the lizard's neck and ejected the venom.
The lizard stiffened before falling.
I quickly jumped off to avoid being crushed.
Wiping my bloodied claws on my leg, I quickly remember the other visitor and whip around to face him. His mask eyes are wide open, staring at me with disbelief. I'm instantly intimidated with how crazy tall he is and how he could probably crush me in a second. I desperately want to stand tall and act brave in front of him, but his gaze has me feeling weak at the knees. My claws and fangs stay out to try and appear threatening.
I need to confront him. I need to know if he is Spiderman, and if so, where the hell had he been over the past three years?
My back straightens. "Thank you for your help… Who- who are you?" I curse myself for stammering.
He seems to stand taller when I address him, and it takes everything in me not to bow down to him. I don't understand why my body is acting this way towards him. Just at the sight of him, it's like I just want to… submit? WTF. The thought has my virgin-self blushing like crazy and I quickly shake the thought from my head. That's not what I meant; I scold myself internally. He just looks like a natural born leader, and I'd follow him?
The guy doesn't answer me straight away, taking the time to dust himself off and check his wristband. Then he shakes his head and begins stomping towards me. I say stomping because this man looks like he wants to stomp on me. I really want to be brave and stand my ground, but when he stops right in front of me; chest inches away, I let out a small squeak. A furious red blush taints my cheeks, and my face feels boiling hot. I'm incredibly glad to be wearing a mask right now to hide my embarrassed face.
"Isn't it obvious?" he sneers, gesturing to himself. "You said my name five minutes ago, poca."
Why did it sound dirty? Why did he have to make it sound dirty. Man had me flushing and feeling stupid at the same time. It was so degrading. His mere presence is degrading. I don't like it. I don't like him. And I don't know what he just called me, so I don't like it either.
"So, you are Spiderman? But- but I thought you died?" I exclaim in disbelief. "I watched you die!"
He takes a step back and cocks his head. "Lyla?" is all he says. I'm about to tell him my name isn't Lyla when a small holographic woman appears at his shoulder, wearing glasses and holding a clipboard. Around them, a couple screens appear, and I take a step back when I see they're showing what happened that night.
"In this universe, you die saving this girl and somehow transfer your powers to her through a bite. We already know the bite causes paralysis, so this is a new development. I recommend we look further into it and hold back on biting people until we figure this out. Anyway, she is now this universes Spiderwoman and also a huge anomaly," Lyla explains to him.
I barley register what she's said, my eyes are focused on the way my small body is surrounded by multiple men, how Spiderman slashes them all, how he reaches out to me and the gunshots that follow. They're now up to watching the part where I cradle Spiderman to my chest and cry out how much I want to be the one to die in his place instead. It's dark that night, my face isn't visible, but you can see my body flinch back when Spiderman bites me then dies a second later.
It's strange watching it all happen from an outsider's perspective, but it doesn't hurt any less.
"Fuck – is it disruptive? What about the cannon? How did we miss this?" this Spiderman growls out.
"It doesn't appear to have caused any disruptions to the cannon. The cannon appears to have adjusted to the anomaly, but there's no guarantee it'll stay that way."
What the hell are they talking about? This universe? Anomaly? Cannon? I have no clue what's going on, but I don't like how more aggravated this Spiderman seems to be getting. His hands are clenched to his side like he is struggling to hold himself back from lashing out. I instinctively take a step back. But I need answers. This guy can't just show up out of nowhere and act like a dick. He just saw the moment where I was traumatised and my entire life fell apart, but he's acting as if it's my fault.
I take a deep breath, "Look, I don't know who the hell you think you are, but I think you need to leave." I gave myself a pat on the back for how assertive and brave I sounded.
He turns his gaze back to me and his eyes narrow. I gulp. With a wave of his hand, Lyla and the screens disappear around him and he takes a step closer to me. Without realising, I'm taking a step back every time he steps forward. I gasp when my back hits the hard surface of the wall, and my eyes dart to the side to find a way to escape. Just as I'm about to jump away, he steps into my space, towering over me and uses both arms to cage me against the wall. A whimper escapes my mouth and I quickly slap my hand against his chest as an attempt to keep him away. It probably felt like a tap to him.
"Listen closely, poca, because I'm not going to repeat myself." My eyes snap up to his, attentively. "I'm not this universes Spiderman even though we are the same, I'm from a different universe. I don't know how it is possible, but you have my abilities, so you are going to come back to HQ with me. Do you understand?"
No, I don't understand. And I don't like how he isn't giving me a choice. I don't like him. How dare he manhandle me this way! Whoever or whatever or wherever this lunatic is from, he's got to go. My claws sharpen and I lightly hiss, before attempting to grab his shoulders. However, the man is so fucking tall, I could only reach his pecs, so I basically groped him to shove him off me. His eyes widen as he is shoved back into the bins behind him, falling onto some trash bags.
I point one sharp claw at him when he attempts to get up and he pauses. "No," I snap. "You listen closely because I'm not going to repeat myself. I don't know what the fuck you're going on about, but you need to take you and your bullshit back through the… thing you came through! And your fucking lizard! And I swear to god if you ever come back here, I'll beat your arse so hard, you won't even know what fucking dimension your mother gave birth to you – "
He quickly points his wrist at me. "Okay, that's enough."
Organic, neuron web fluid flies out of his wrist and hits me square on the mouth.
Then I'm suspended and locked into a red cage.
The lizard is also locked in his own cage. "How does it feel to be treated like a criminal?" he laughs.
I don't have time to even think of an answer.