Spiderling, slow down!"
Annie rolled her eyes as she shot out another web-line. The web hit the building. She grasped the other end of the iridescent strand, almost invisible in the bright sunlight, and let herself fall. She swung her legs behind her, and held the arc, preparing to kick up and through the bottom arch of her swing, catapulting herself into the sky.
She approached the main ESU campus. Annie's sharp eyes spotted two figures surrounded by cops and campus security. "I see them," she called behind her.
"Roof top," her father said.
Duh. She knew the drill. Annie spotted a roof that was nestled in a cluster of taller buildings. They'd be out sight of whatever shenanigans were happening below. After one more web-line, and a double back flip for good measure, Annie stuck a graceful landing on the roof top.
"Show off," her mother grunted, landing in a squat. Her father joined them.
"Wonder were she get's that from?" he said.
"If you're implying me, I'm gonna smack you," MJ said with a smile.
Her dad approached the edge of the building. "Looks like Hydro-Man and Shocker. Shouldn't be too bad. We need to get them away from the crowd, and the cops. Duke it out, web 'em up. Easy as pie. Spinneret, you and I will swing down and grab them. Spiderling, you'll head down once we get them away from the civilians. Capiche?"
Annie suppressed a groan. Her dad was so lame. "Yeah."
All three of them hopped off the edge of the building, and landed in a crawl on the adjacent one. They creeped and crawled to the perfect vantage point of the action below.
Annie's family made an impressive sight. They only used their code names in costume, no matter how private the setting. It was safer that way. Her father, Spider-Man was in his classic red and blue costume. Her mother, Spinneret, in white and crimson, her long red hair piled up in a messy bun atop her head. And Annie, Spiderling, god she needed a new code name, was in blue and black, with accents of red around her writs and ankles. Her Pack, a lightweight, insulated, yet practically indestructible backpack, perfectly matched her costume. Her father had designed it with tech and lab space from the X-Men and Oscorp. It held her diabetic supplies, extra insulin, and sugary foods and drinks for low blood sugars. It also had a very safe pocket for her insulin pump, and extra sites.
Spiderling crawled with her parents. Her dad gave her mom a nod, and they were off, swinging towards the perps down below.
Spider-Man swung right into Shocker, tackling him into the air and catapulting themselves away from the police. He made it look easy.
Spinneret did the same to Hydro-Man, or at least, she attempted to. She did manage to swing into him, making him airborne. One second it was her body against his large frame; her strength being syphoned from Spider-Man. She was no weakling, but there was no way in hell she'd even be able to knock this goon down on her own.
But the next second, she found herself choking on a mouthful of water, on the ground, and sopping wet. She looked up and saw a humanoid plume of water. The top and middle of the churning column solidified into the head, chest and torso of a man, who smirked at her. Which really ticked her off.
"Spinneret, you good?" Of course Peter saw the whole thing. She should've knocked Hydro-Man out cold, not even giving him the chance to morph into his water-form. It was an amateur mistake.
"Yep. Fine." She got up, and squared her shoulders. Annie was waiting for her cue. MJ had to figure out how to get this guy away from the crowd. The cops yelled at them both to get down and drop their weapons. But neither of them were armed, at least not in the traditional sense. But the cops sounded panicked. It was only a matter of time before they started shooting. Bullets would do little against Hydro-Man, and she could dodge them with her Spider-Sense, but what of everyone else on campus? Students, faculty and staff were scattering in their haste to flee the scene, and few brave, yet stupid souls were lingering with their phones out, recording and live streaming the unfolding action.
Hydro-Man sized her up, and then chuckled. She wasted no time in slugging him right in the face. Her punch landed alright, but it did little damage as he liquified his face, causing her fist to slosh right through him. She pulled her fist back, and he raised a column of water, what would have been his arm, and brought the water-bludgeon down on Spinneret, but she jumped out of the way in the nick of time.
Shots were fired, people screamed and swore. She dodged bullets, twisted away from Hydro-Man's drenching punches, and pushed and webbed terrified bystanders out of harms way.
Spiderling was suddenly at her side. Of course her daughter refused to stay put, safe and sound.
"Dad's luring Shocker your way," she whispered, and then gracefully leaped away from Hydro-Man's assault. MJ glanced over at Peter and Shocker.
The Shocker, aka Herman Schultz, was dressed head to toe in what looked like a yellow quilt with umber accents. He wore steel gauntlets. They produced powerful, concentrated bursts of air. Depending on their strength, his blasts could pulverize bones and topple buildings. His quilt-like costume wasn't for aesthetics, but his own protection, safely insulating his body from the aftershocks of his attacks.
Shocker sent a blast towards Spider-Man, but missed. MJ knew Peter could take Schultz down, but saw instead he was allowing Schultz to chase him. Annie was zooming around the perimeter, focusing on the civilians and webbing up the cops firing at the melee. She knew Peter's plan. Smiling, she whacked at Hydro-Man, baiting him into their trap.
Spider-Man approached, and was clipped by Shocker's blast, knocking him out of the air. He fell hard onto the ground. Shocker, raised his arms over his head, reading himself for another debilitating blow. All the while, MJ kept pummeling at Hydro-Man, who maintained his watery form, chuckling as her punches splashed through; his laugh a wet gurgle.
"Game's up Web-Head," Shocker said. "Give up now, call off your family, and ya won't get hurt."
Spider-Man slowly sat up, looking dazed. "Come on Quilty, you know we can't do that."
"Have it your way!" He bellowed and slammed his arms down, sending a vicious blast of air towards her husband. And her. They were sitting ducks.
Except they both leaped out of the way, safely clearing Shocker's attack. She wrapped her arms around Spider-Man, mid-air, as he shot out a web.
Hydro-Man wasn't so lucky.
Shocker's blast smacked into him, splattering him into a sun shower.
"Ah, crap!" Shocker said, as his partner dissipated. "He's gonna be so pissed."
Spider-Man and Spinneret landed, arm in arm.
"When are you two gonna learn? I mean seriously, it's almost too easy."
Spinneret, chuckled. Her husband wasn't wrong. This wasn't the first time something like this happened to them.
Spiderling swung above them, two civilians hanging onto her. She dropped them off, away from the scene, and swung back, landing next to her parents.
"Alright, Schultz, you're outnumbered. We can do this the easy way or the hard way. Your choice," Spider-Man said.
Shocker roared and sent another blast their way, which they easily dodged.
"Kay. Have it your way," Spider-Man said, swinging towards Shocker. Every time he got closer, he needed to jump to avoid a blast. "Lets see if we can find out what the quilted-not-so-quicker picker upper was trying to pick up from ESU."
Spiderling groaned. MJ shared her daughter's sentiment. Peter could do better than that.
MJ was ready to swing in for backup, but Spiderling grabbed her arm.
"I got this mom," she said. And in one swift movement, Annie pulled something flat and shiny out of her Pack, and hurled towards Shocker. It hit one of his gauntlets with a loud clang! She threw another, and it zoomed up the side of his arm.
"Hey, what the hell?!" He cried, prying a quivering something out of the metal. "You broke it!" He surveyed his arm. His costume was ripped from his wrist to his shoulder, but MJ didn't see any blood. "Damnit!" He took off running. One gauntlet down, and his costume was ripped, compromising his protection from his blast's aftershocks. Yeah. Shocker was done. Peter could handle the rest, no problem. He easily webbed him up.
MJ whirled to her daughter. "Did you just pull a knife out on him?" Technically, she pulled two.
"It worked."
Yes, it did, that was true. But still. "Where did you get knives strong enough to do that? And you could've seriously hurt him. We have a code, you know."
"I didn't hurt him, I stopped him." MJ noticed Annie didn't answer her first question.
"Spiderling. Answer me. Now."
Annie shrugged, dismissing her question. "Hey, Mr. Schultz," she said, approaching the webbed perp. "Sorry about that, I didn't cut you did, I?"
"No, but jeez kid, you're always kicking my ass."
Spiderling smiled. "Well, it gets harder every time."
Ah, shut it. Don't need to spare my feelings, I lost to you enough to get used to it by now." MJ could hear the humor in his voice. Shocker had a developed a soft spot for Spiderling over the years.
The police approached. Shocker sighed. It was back to jail for him.
"Don't worry Mr. Schultz," Annie said. "You'll be out soon."
"Thanks kid, and call me Herman"
"Alright Herman," Spider-Man said.
"You call me Shocker, Web-Head."
"That hurts, Quilty."
"Hi Spinneret!" Shocker said as the police led him into the van. It was one of those massive vehicles that could contain the superpowered. But, with the damage to Shocker's gauntlet and costume, it was seriously overkill.
MJ waved half-heartedly. When was he going to give this up. It was a vicious cycle with these guys.
Bystanders were starting to surround the scene now that it was safe. The police took Shocker into custody, and then went to work on clearing the crowds.
Spiderling went to retrieve her knives. MJ followed her daughter.
"Let me see that," she said, grabbing a blade from Annie. It was a simple, bat-shaped blade. "Where did you get this?" Annie just shrugged. MJ was ready to lose her cool. She had no idea what Annie had done or who she had met with to get these.
"You need to answer me right now, young lady."
"I know exactly were she got those from." Spider-Man said, suddenly at her side.
"How long until Hydro-Man reforms?" Annie asked.
"Don't change the subject." MJ crossed her arms over her chest.
"Do we have to do this here?" Annie asked, putting the blades back into her Pack. Which was supposed to be for diabetic supplies, not weapons.
"Yes." MJ turned to her husband. "Spider-Man, where'd she get the knives."
"They're razor bats. She got them from Normie."
Oh, well, that made her feel better. Normie was a nice kid, and that meant Annie wasn't dealing with any shady strangers on the black market. "Why didn't you just say that!"
"You're not mad?" Annie asked, as she rummaged out a box of apple juice. She ripped the corner, off and chugged it down.
"No, of course not," she said.
"We're not?" Spider-Man said. "I'm sorry, I'm not letting my daughter swing around with Goblin paraphernalia. You're returning that, today. And I'm going to make sure he doesn't give you this crap again." "Dad! Come on. It worked didn't it?" Spiderling grabbed another juice box, and used the straw this time.
"Are you low?" Spider-Man whispered, referring to Annie's blood sugar level, the razor bats forgotten.
"I'm fine. Just getting ahead of it." She pulled her pump out of the pack, and studied the screen, likely looking at her blood sugar level. Her pump was a translucent blue, beeper-sized device. It had clear, thin tubbing wrapped around it. Annie would reconnect later at home.
MJ fought the urge to take out her phone and open the app that would show Annie's sugar levels. The endocrinologist had encouraged her and Peter to foster independence in their daughter. To respect her privacy and autonomy.
And Annie wasn't showing the signs of a low blood sugar. She had every reason to believe her daughter.
She caught Spider-Man trying to surreptitiously glance at his phone. She gave him a look and he stopped. Atta boy, Tiger.
"Can I please keep the knives?" "Absolutely not. Spinneret, you need to back me up on this." "Mom, come on, he's being ridiculous!"
Good god this was annoying. "Let's get home, we're starting to draw a crowd. We'll discuss it more after dinner."
Father and daughter agreed.
MJ and her family took to the sky.