Spiderling swung through the bustle of Manhattan, expertly navigating through the buildings. As she approached her destination, her movements became more streamlined and less showy, and she darted into the shadows; her focus now on stealth and on drawing as little attention to herself as possible.

She found the building, and creeped and crawled her way up to the grand terrace of Normie's Manhattan penthouse; she knocked on the French doors before letting herself in.

"Hey Spiderling!"

"Normie!"

She almost didn't recognize him. Normie usually dressed in business attire, a sharp crisp suit, designer shoes, the works. But now, he was dressed casually in basketball shorts, a hoodie, and nothing but socks on his feet. He looked a lot younger, much more like a 19 year-old kid. Annie smiled.

They embraced. They hadn't seen each other in almost a month. Because he only knew her as Spiderling, she couldn't see him while she was adjusting to her pump as Annie May Parker. They did talk to each other almost every day on the phone, but still, that wasn't the same.

"It's good to see you," he said. "Here." He handed her a box of juice, knowing she needed the glucose after swinging over. Of course, she had some in her back, but Normie always had the expensive, organic brand. She thanked him and chugged it down.

"I got a pizza in the oven. You hungry?

"That sounds amazing." She couldn't think of a more perfect lunch. Annie flopped down on his outrageously comfy couch, in front of his outrageously large television set. She saw gaming systems hooked up to it, controllers haphazardly left on the floor.

She didn't know he was into video games. "What're you playing?"

He sat next to her and shrugged. "Nothing really, just trying to pass the time."

She nodded and dug her pump out of her pack. She lifted her shirt, exposing a thin layer of skin, and plugged her pump into her infusion site on her belly. She clipped her pump onto her waistband.

"I always thought that was a one piece, like a unitard kind of thing."

She laughed. "Yeah, it's not, it is two separate pieces. Makes going to the bathroom easier."

"I bet," he chuckled. "How's it feel to be back on patrol?"

"It feels great, I was going crazy being stuck at home. And how are you? How'd everything go with Oscorp?" He had told her he was selling his company to his mother.

"Its done," he said with some finality. "Oscorp is now part of Allen Biotech." He fiddled with a glass of water, appearing lost in thought. His silence was heavy.

"Its weird not seeing you in a suit."

He smirked. "Good weird or bad?"

"Oh, definitely good." She suddenly felt a little embarrassed.

His smiled, but she could tell he wasn't happy.

"Is it weird not being at Oscorp," she asked. He nodded. "Good weird or bad?"

"I'm not sure."

They were silent. Normie had been the CEO of Oscorp since he was a little boy. His entire life. She couldn't imagine what this moment was like for him.

"Hey," she elbowed him. "You know what is, without a doubt, completely bad weird?"

"What?"

"Growing four extra arms."

"Oh my god!" He groaned. "Yeah. That was bad weird. I'm glad that's over." Last year, Normie accidentally hired a mad scientist, Mr. Sinisiter, who spliced a piece of Spiderling's DNA with Normie's, resulting in him spontaneously growing four extra arms. Spiderling and her universe hopping friends, god she missed those girls, were able to reverse the effects of Mr. Sinister's experiment, leaving Normie with the two arms he was born with, and not an appendage more.

"And where exactly did that happen?"

"…Oscorp."

"Exactly. Look, Normie, I know this is a big change for you, but just remember, your chances of growing extra limbs have decreased significantly."

Normie laughed. "Thank you Spiderling."

The oven beeped.

"Pizza's ready," he went to the kitchen.

"So, what're you gonna do now?" She asked.

"That's what everyone's been asking," he said from the kitchen. "I have no clue. And that is driving me crazy." He came back to the living room bearing a plate of sizzling pepperoni pizza, and the empty pizza box. She glanced at the nutrition label, and then at her pump for her blood sugar. She crunched some numbers and knew how much insulin to bolus.

She grabbed a slice. "Why don't you travel? See the world."

Normie shrugged. "That's what everyone tells me."

"Maybe that's your sign. I wish I could do that."

"I wish I could do what you do. Climb walls, swing through the city. You're practically flying."

Yeah. It was pretty cool. She did it so often it was easy to forget how incredible it was to have super powers. Still, she couldn't understand why Normie was being so nonchalant about traveling. That is what she would do if she had all of the money and time in the world. But, she wasn't him.

"You should pick up a hobby." His response was just a shrug. Maybe she was coming in too soon with the pep talk. Nothing she said seemed to be helping.

"Do you have any hobbies, besides crime fighting?" he asked.

"Yeah, theater."

"Really? Like acting, and plays?"

"Like tech work, and yes, lots of plays." Acting was a hard pass for her.

"That's cool." He grabbed a slice and took a bite. "I didn't know that." He asked her more questions, about the shows she worked, what she did in tech, and what she liked about it. She loved answering his questions, and felt normal, like she wasn't hiding half her life from him. She wished she could invite him to a show, but knew that she couldn't. It would blow her secret identity, so she skated around the invite by saying she wasn't doing much now. The time flew by, and he seemed to perk up, like his normal self. Then her earpiece hummed, and her father's voice came through.

"Hey Spiderling, we got a situation in Times Square, and we need some crowd control."

"Yeah, I'll be there." Then, to Normie, "I gotta go."

"I figured." He sounded so sad.

"I'll stop by later." They said their goodbyes and she leaped from his terrace and swung towards Time Square. Halfway there, she realized she forgot to give the razor-bat blades back to him. But that was probably for the best. Giving him back weaponry with a direct tie to Oscorp would've been a little insensitive. She decided to hold onto them a little longer. Maybe they'd come in handy.

Amanda's body felt heavy, her limbs like lead weighing her down into her bed. She struggled to open her eyes, and for the next half hour, she oscillated between deep sleep and dozing. Finally, her eyes opened, and she was able to sit up, her slumber overcome by an intense hunger and thirst.

She got out of bed, peed as fast as she could, and rushed to kitchen, and grabbed whatever she could shove in her mouth, from slices of bread, to cookies, to spoonfuls of peanut butter. Her appetite was almost rivaled by her thirst, and she chugged glass after glass of water. Satiated, she collapsed onto a dining room chair, feeling absolutely spent, as if she had ran a marathon the day before.

She was shocked by two things. The first was the time. It was one in the afternoon. She hardly ever slept in so late, and despite sleeping in, she felt exhausted. The second was her parents' absence.

Amanda's parents were always up at this hour, one person manning the flower shop, and the other watching her. Since Paul, there was always someone around.

Her eyes itched, and her body buzzed with an unfamiliar pressure. She went to the bathroom to splash water in her face, but after glancing her reflection, she screamed and jumped back from the sink, eyes locked on the frightening image staring back at her.

Amanda's skin was a sickly pale, and deep, purple bags hung under her eyes. Her long, dark brown hair was a tangled mess, strands bursting out of her ponytail. But these details had become the norm for her after Paul. What had made her scream were her eyes. Her irises were a gray blue. But today, the color had lightened significantly, almost blending in with the whites of her eyes.

Was she going blind? Did she have some strange disease? Panic welled in her chest as bathroom door burst open. The building panic peaked and her body heaved forward towards the door.

Her dad yelled as his hands flew up into a defensive pose. A reddish-purple force field burst from his hands, spanning from the floor to the ceiling, and something hard ricocheted off of it and into the wall behind her.

Her dad's eyes were wide as he lowered his hands. The force field disappeared, and Amanda saw her father's eyes. His were also blue, at least until now. Now, his eyes were the same shade of magenta as the force-field.

What was happening? Did she do that to him? Maybe her change of eye color wasn't a sign of sickness, but of some latent mutant gene kicking in, and her powers infected her father. But that wasn't how it worked, right? No, she was sick with some sort of new superbug and she spread it to her father.

"Amanda," he whispered, taking a step towards her.

She stepped back, nearly tripping over the tub. "Stay away from me!" Tears streamed down her cheeks. First Paul, and now, this, whatever this was. She had hurt her family again.

"Amanda?! Will?" Her mother's voice filled the hall, and then she arrived in the cramped space. "Oh my God! Sweetie you're bleeding!"

She couldn't back up anymore, but she couldn't risk hurting her mother.

"Mom, stop, please," she said between sobs. "Something's wrong with me, I hurt dad."

"I'm okay, you didn't hurt me. You gotta calm down, alright?"

Her mother placed a steady hand on her shoulder, and Amanda gasped. Her mother's eyes changed too. Once brown, they were now black. Her mom studied Amanda's face intently, barely flinching at the changes in her. How was she so calm?

Her mother placed a cool hand on her cheek, and she realized she was bleeding from a cut on her face. Then she felt something come loose from her body, displacing her from where she stood. Her back against the tile, she started to slide down the wall, feeling cold and hollow, but stopped at a tugging sensation in her chest.

She looked up and saw a form identical to herself in shape and size. But the creature was a shadow-thing, standing between her and her mother. Amanda looked down and saw two ropy strands of dark shadow leashing her to the creature. The shadow-girl's featureless face was marred by a red gash, identical to the one on Amanda's face.

Her mom touched the shadow's gash, and Amanda felt faint as her mother's very essence mixed with her own; her pain and guilt and grief all on display. She tried to reign the emotions back, but she couldn't.

Her mother must have sensed her resistance and yanked her hand away. The shadow's face was now completely black, not a slash of red in sight. Her mother gently pushed the spectre back towards Amanda, and her body absorbed the phantom girl. The faintness disappeared, and she stood, feeling whole again. She touched her cheek and found that the wound was gone.

"Incredible," her mother whispered reverently. "Will, it worked."

What was that? Did she hear her mother right?

"Baby, I need you to tell me what happened," her mother said to her.

She wished she could explain. She had no freaking clue. Maybe this was a dream? A nightmare?

Her father spoke. "I heard her scream, and ran to the bathroom. Or I tried to run, I had to fight to stay awake. But when I arrived, she, uh, those came out of her towards me." He pointed to the long shards of what looked like glass quivering in the wall behind her.

That came out of her?

What the hell was it? Whatever it was, it was strong enough to pierce the drywall and tile of the bathroom. It looked like she had shot out three of them. If her father hadn't had the shield…

A sob ripped through her, and she shut her eyes, willing this nightmare to be over.

"Amanda," her mother's voice was low and careful. She reached a hand out to her, but she ducked away from her touch. She didn't think she could handle a second encounter with the shadow-girl.

Her mother's now-black eyes flash with pain, but she lowered her hand and took a step back from her daughter. "We need to talk."