Chapter 5

Standing atop one of New York's many massive buildings, Liam and Lydia, donning a mask of her own similar to Liam's, stood on the edge of the building. Liam was in his usual Spidey outfit, and was doing some stretches to warm up.

"I am having second thoughts." Lydia stated as she neared the edge of the rooftop. Looking down, her head began to spin. "About almost everything."

"Nonsense." Liam said, trying to look cool while sticking on the wall behind him. He was in a relaxed pose, but, in reality, his heart was beating out of his chest.

"Ok…" Lydia said softly before taking a few steps back for a running jump.

"Whoa!" Liam quickly hopped down to stop her. "What're you doing?"

"I was… gonna jump..?" Lydia replied, unsure.

Liam was flabbergasted.

"Don't you wanna at least try to learn how to thwip?" Liam asked.

"Thwip?"

"Shoot your webs." Liam answered while making the hand motions.

"Oh, right!" Lydia turned around, her cheeks flushed with embarrassment. "So, how do I-?"

She trailed ofd as Liam stood next to her.

"I'm not sure." Liam answered. "I have these web shooters-" Liam held up the shooters on his wrists. "-so I think this one might be on you."

Lydia took a deep breath.

"Ok…"

Stepping to the edge of the roof, Lydia thrust her right arm out multiple times while making different hand gestures.

"Fllllly. Shoot. Go, web, go! Up, up and away, web! Shazam! Go. Rock on!" She threw up Devil's Horns and rocked her hand back and forth a few times. To no effect. "Erm." She glanced back at Liam, frustrated, before turning back to the open city.

Pressing her four fingers firmly against her palm, a web suddenly shot out from her wrist.

"Ah-ha!" She cheered, shooting out a second one and keeping hold of it. "Alright. Now what?"

Liam walked over and checked the flex ability and the sturdiness.

"Okay." Liam twitched his head. "Swing to that building." Liam pointed out at a lower building. "Try to land on the roof. And don't worry about biffing it. The pain isn't nearly as bad as you'd imagine."

"Uhm… okay..?" Lydia said softly. "What if I miss or something?"

"I'll be right behind you." Liam assured her. "I'll catch you."

Lydia's heart skipped a beat as she heard that.

"Okay…" she said high pitched as she stepped up on the ledge of the building. "Okay… he'll catch you." She began speaking to herself, trying to find the motivation to jump. "He'll catch you."

Staring down at the street far below sent a sharp tingle up Lydia's spine.

"Nope!" She backed off the ledge, dropping her web while shaking her head frantically. "Screw. That!" She emphasized those words. "I don't know how you do it, but-"

"Easy, easy." Liam began to try and calm her down. "It's a bit much for your first day, so how about we wrap it up and try sometime later?"

Lydia breathed a sigh of relief.

"Thanks."

"No problem." Liam said with a smile as he walked by her. "I'm sure you'll improve in no time."

"Wait!"

"Hm?" Liam turned back to her. "'Sup?"

"Could you-" she paused to look back at the edge. "-give me a lift home?"

After dropping Lydia off at home, Liam went out to gain more information on what Kingpin and the other villains are planning.

Lydia sat in her room, twirling in her desk chair while staring at her wrists.

"Alright. Time to practice."

Setting up multiple objects around her room, Lydia stood in the center, facing her first object: a Dr. Pepper can.

Thrusting out her left wrist, Lydia thwiped a web at the can, grabbing it and pulling it towards herself.

She cheered gleefully as she cracked it open with a satisfying pop. Taking a sip, she turned to her lamp and shot a web. Pulling the lamp towards herself, she quickly ducked as she realized just what she had attached to.

"Whoa!"

The lamp shattered against the wall, alerting her mother in the other room.

"Lydia?" Her mother called as she came to check on her. "Sweet pea?"

Lydia quickly rushed to shut the door just as her mother began knocking.

"I'm fine!" Lydia shouted through the door. "Just experiencing some cramps."

"Oh. Do you need the heating pad?" Her mother asked.

"Nope!" Lydia shouted. "It's passed. Thank you!"

"Alright." Her mother said before returning to her duties.

Lydia let out a breath of relief as she turned to face the mess. Webs lay strewn all about everywhere.

"I did not think about the cleanup." She said softly before beginning to pick up her webs. "Jeez."

After it was all said and done, Lydia went over to the fire escape and shouted a quick goodbye to her family before the descent. However, instead of taking the stairs as usual, Lydia swung both legs over the side of the hand rail.

"Alright." She took a deep breath. "Here we-"

"LYDIA!" Her father shouted at her, causing her to lose her balance momentarily. "What on EARTH are you doing?!"

Seeing his daughter doing something dangerous made his heart skip multiple beats.

"I'm, uh, trying something new?" She said, innocently.

"Get down this instant!" Her father demanded out of fear for her safety.

Lydia nodded slowly before obeying her father and stepping back over the handrail.

"I don't ever want to see you pull some shit like that again, understood?!"

"Understood, sir." She said softly, head bowed in shame.

"I love you."

"I love you, too." Lydia said back.

"Now take the stairs." Her father said before returning to what he was doing.

As Lydia began to take the fire escape, normally, her father rubbed his eyes.

"That girl is gonna be the death of me."

Once out of view of her window, Lydia glanced up before stepping back over the railing. This time, she didn't hesitate as she followed the rail to the side of her building.

Having seen Spider-Man climb walls countless times before made Lydia begin to question just how similar her powers are to Liam's.

Placing her left hand on the brick, she took a breath, closed her eyes, and sent out her foot. Then her other hand. Then her other foot.

Opening her eyes, Lydia realized she was holding onto the side of her building with absolutely nothing.

"Hoooo-ly shiiiiit!" She shouted with a wide grin on her face.

Soon, she was on top of the roofs, running along them and leaping across the gaps in between. Rolling across one, she sprung to her feet.

"This is what Liam does?" She asked herself before heading to the side of a building. "This is fun!" She began to think about all the good Spider-Man has done. And now she has the same abilities to do the same good.

Hearing shattering glass, Lydia was about to hop to investigate when she paused and touched her face. Her identity.

That problem was quickly solved as her eyes darted to her wrists.

Shooting out a layer of web, Lydia wrapped it around her face, spraying some more over her clothing. She took a step back and pulled out her makeup kit to get a look at herself.

"Can't tell it's me." She said with a satisfied nod. "Now, time to go he-" as soon as she heard gunshots, Lydia skidded to a halt. "Maybe not."

As she stared off, she realized the reason for the gunshots.

"C'mon, guys!" Spider-Man shouted as he dragged a man across the ground by the back of his shirt. Tossing him into another goon, Spider-Man shot a web to keep them restrained to the street. "This seems kinda low, even for you. I mean, a- whoa!" Spider-Man ducked under a register thrown at him by another generic goon. "Strike three, you're outta here!"

Webbing the goon's legs, Spider-Man swung him into the wall of the building and used webs to subdue him.

"You guys!" Spider-Man looked down at the group of thugs. "This never ends well for…" his spider sense alerted him of Lydia's presence. Looking up to her, a grin crept under his mask. "…you. Anyway, wait here for the cops."

"We're gonna-"

Thwip.

A web shot out and covered the mouth of the goon talking.

"Shh. Quiet time."

With that, Spider-Man swung off to meet up with Lydia.

Landing on the roof, Liam made sure he was out of sight of any and all civilians before removing his mask.

"Still stalking me?" He joked with a smirk.

"Not you. Spider-Man." Lydia quipped.

"Oh, ha." Liam rolled his eyes. "Nice improvisation with the mask."

"You like it?" She gestured to her work. "Took all of 2 seconds to put together."

"I see."

"I was gonna help." Lydia stated. "But-"

"You got nervous when you heard the gunshots?" Liam finished.

"Yeeeah… how'd you know?"

"I felt the same during my first few shoot outs." Liam said. "But, if your powers are anything like mine, then you-" he paused to physically turn Lydia around so her back was facing him.

"What are you doing?"

"-should be able-"

Liam brought his hand back and balled up his fist. He quickly lunged forward with every intent to strike, only for Lydia to duck out of the way and to the side, narrowly missing Liam's fist.

"-to sense my attack." Liam finished with a smile. He had a brief chuckle. "You're seriously like me…" he said in disbelief.

"How did I-?" She looked at her hands. "I knew you were trying to attack. I knew! How?"

"Spider sense." Liam answered. "You think it was always luck that I never get shot?"

"I can sense when I'm about to get hit." Lydia said, slowly understanding her abilities.

After parting ways, Lydia continued testing her abilities, which eventually led her to sticking on the side of a very large building.

Staring down at the ground below, Lydia clenched her eyes shut before shaking her head and forcing her eyelids to part, slowly.

"Gotta get over it." She told herself as she looked at the traffic below. "However long it takes."

Keeping an eye on the traffic, Lydia slowly felt her fear of heights begin to fade.

"This… isn't so bad." She said as she began to relax. Suddenly, her grip slipped, causing her to yelp in fear before sticking to the glass once more. "Hoh!"

Once she felt enough progress was made for one day, she retired to her bedroom for the night.

Crawling in through her bedroom window, Lydia dropped from the ceiling. She was getting the hang of her abilities quick, thanks to a few tips from Liam.

Before she drifted off, Lydia turned on the radio in her room as she undressed. The very first channel was an overly angry man shouting about Spider-Man.

"Look here, folks." She was about to change it when she realized it wasn't just Liam he was talking about. "The Spider-Menace was seen with a new 'trainee' earlier this day!" J. Jonah Jameson shouted.

The two of them were already spotted together? They were trying to be so discreet.

"It was bad enough with just one, but now we have TWO Spider-Freaks?! Creating havoc and mayhem ALL THROUGHOUT OUR BEAUTIFUL CITY! Is it just me, folks, or is this getting out of HAND?! Stay tuned, we got a commercial break."

After that, Lydia crawled into bed and drifted off.

End of chapter 5