Spider-Man: LOUD Season 3 Chapter 2
"Presentense"
"It's all my fault…" A voice echoes through a dark ocean.
"Why am I so selfish?" The same voice rings out.
His body floats deeper and deeper into the ocean, the darkness surrounding him, he reaches up, hand open, the light from the sun above slowly fading.
"Everyone is suffering because of me…" The voice claims.
Suddenly, he feels the need to breathe, he opens his mouth and water fills it.
"It should've been me…not him…" The voice echoes once more.
The light fades completely, his arm floats down to his side.
"With great power…"
"Please be okay…" A familiar voice says.
Spider-Man's eyes slowly open, seeing his sister Lucy's face above his, his head resting on her thighs.
"Lucy?" He groans out, "What are you doing here?"
She exhales in relief, "You stopped responding over the comms, so I ran over to your location that was pinged on the tracker I put in your suit."
The teens eyes widened, "You put a tracker in my suit?"
Lucy nodded, "It was a good idea too, look what happened, who knows what would've happened if you were found here tomorrow morning?"
"Fair…" He looks away, "Hold on…you know how dangerous this is? Just showing up after a villain beat me up? What if he was still here?" he asks, making eye-contact with her once more.
"I know, but I needed to make sure you were okay."
"Fine, just…promise you won't do it again?" He asks.
Lucy shakes her head, "No, I can't sit there when you could be dead…"
Lincoln exhales, sitting up, "Okay, I know I can't stop you, just…make sure the area is safe before rushing to my side, okay?"
Lucy nods, "Who was that?"
"I don't know…he matched my speed and strength perfectly…maybe even exceeded it." He said, looking down at his lap.
"He called himself the Green Goblin, didn't he?" The goth teen looked to her brother.
He nodded, "He's definitely not some villain of the week." He looked to his sister, "If he's willing to go out of his way to get my attention, then there's no saying when he'll strike next."
"Yeah, unfortunately we can't really predict where he'll show up next, but we at least know he's a threat, and that we should stay cautious." She responded.
The white-haired teen stood up, "C'mon, we need to get home, we don't want anyone waking up and seeing that we're gone."
Lucy nodded, getting behind her brother and jumping on his back.
He put his mask back on and leapt from the building, swinging through the city.
"Oh, Lola and Lana wanted to talk to you the other day." The goth brought up, her arms wrapped around his shoulders.
"Yeah? What about?" He said, breaking from one web and shooting out another.
"Um…let's just say that they're finally going through puberty." She blushes, looking away.
"Oh…well, did they talk to you about it since I wasn't there?" The hero asked.
"Uh…you could say that." She replied, looking forward once more, reminiscing on the events that took place.
"Lucy!" The twins exclaimed as they ran up to her.
"W-what?" The goth said in confusion, getting caught off guard.
"Lucy, what are boobs and are they fun to play with?!" Lola asked.
"H-huh?!" Lucy was beyond shocked.
"Yeah, and why are our hips getting so big?!" Lana continued.
"E-excuse me?!" Lucy exclaimed before taking a deep breath, "O-okay…let's go to my room, okay?"
The twins nodded, following the goth into her bedroom, where the door was shut behind them.
The two twins sit on the goth's black bed, Lucy pulling the chair from her desk and sitting down, facing them.
"Okay, where did you two hear those words?" She asked, setting her elbows on her knees.
"I heard the word boobs from Luna! She was saying something about how they're fun to play with." Lana said, recalling the time a few years back when she overheard Luna and Sam in her bedroom.
Lucy drops her head into her hands, sighing heavily, "Of course it would be Luna…"
She looks back up to the two, "You can't just say words like that, they're…sensitive words."
"Why? Boobs are just boobs, people like them don't they?" Lana asks, cocking her head to the side.
Lucy blushes, looking away slightly, "I mean, yeah…people love boobs…but some people are more sensitive to words like that."
Lola scoffs, "Those people sound like prudes."
"Well, some people just have different experiences in life…" The goth responds.
"What kind of experiences?" Lana asks, an innocent smile on her face.
Lucy faces the twins, "Very different experiences that make them more sensitive to words like that, I don't think you're old enough to know about them just yet."
"What about your boobs?" The tomboy asks.
Lucy looks away slightly, "What do you mean?"
"What about your boobs? Are you sensitive to that kind of stuff?" Lana asked.
The goth cleared her throat, "I mean, not really."
"Do you have fun playing with your boobs?" Lana asked again.
"Well, I don't not have fun when I play with my-" She quickly blushes, realizing what she's about to say, "T-that's not the point! I'm trying to tell you two that those are adult words that you can't be saying!"
"But why are we getting them?" Lola asks.
Lucy sighs, "Listen, this isn't really something you should be talking to me about, this is more of a conversation for mom…but…" She thinks for a second, contemplating if she should say what she's about to or not, "You two are starting to go through puberty…You'll notice differences in your bodies, like boobs, wider hips, and so on."
"So wider hips are a part of it!" Lana exclaims, looking at her twin.
"That means what we're going through is completely normal!" Lola exclaims before standing up, "My pageant career is saved!"
The goth cocks her head to the side, "What?"
"Lola was worried that her pageant career would be ruined because of her boobs, but now that we know it's all normal, she feels better." Lana explains.
"Oh, I guess that makes sense…" Lucy says, standing up.
"And from what I've learned today, my pageant career will be even better because of these changes!" Lola exclaims, slightly touching her forming breasts.
"And we're done here." Lucy says.
The two arrived back at their house, Spider-Man dropping off Lucy through her bedroom window, then crawling back to his bedroom, peering the window to see if his visitors were still sleeping.
"Nice." He whispered, seeing that they were still fast asleep.
He slowly and quietly crawled through the window, stripping out of his costume and putting on the pajamas he was wearing prior to sneaking out, and crawled back into the bed, closing his eyes, right before the alarm clock went off, his eyes shot back open, the two girls beside him starting to stir.
"Lincoln…turn it off." Sid complained from the opposite side of the bed.
He groaned, reaching over and pressing the alarm button, turning it off. He sat up, only now starting to notice the bags under his eyes.
"Mornin' Lame-o." The latina girl said as she sat up, stretching.
"Yeah, morning." He said, getting out of bed.
Ronnie-Anne got out of bed after him, only wearing a pair of purple pajama shorts and a white tank top.
"Sid, get up." She said, looking back at her friend who was still bundled underneath the blankets.
"Mmm, five more minutes…" The asian girl mumbled as she turned over to face the wall.
Ronne-Anne sighed before grabbing the blankets and ripping them off the bed, causing Sid to cry out from the sudden action.
"You didn't have to be so rough." Sid said as she pouts, her full body being revealed to be wearing a pair of dark blue panties and a loose white crop top.
"If I wasn't you wouldn't have woken up." She responded, throwing the blanket back on the bed as Sid stood up.
"Also, put pants on before you walk downstairs." The latina said as she handed her friend a pair of gray sweatpants.
She took the sweatpants, "I was planning on it, not like I wanna flash everyone in this house." She said as she put them on.
"You've already flashed Lincoln." Ronnie-Anne stated, pointing a thumb behind her at the person in question.
"Well, yeah…but Lincoln deserves it." She said with a chipper attitude.
Ronnie-Anne groaned as she opened the door that led to the hallway, exiting with the two other teens.
Across town Max Dillion woke up. She slept on a mattress on the floor, slowly getting up and walking through her baren bedroom and walking through the door.
Walking out of her bedroom into the slightly larger living room that was littered with trash and empty beer bottles, she calls out, "Dad?"
She waits for a second before not hearing any response, "Must be out getting alcohol again…"
She turned to the kitchen, which was also filthy, having some expired food rotting on the countertops. She opened the small fridge door to find nothing but a few ketchup packets in the fridge, no signs of food anywhere.
She sighs and closes the fridge, returning to her room and grabbing her small beige coin purse, opening it up she finds three dollars in quarters, "Let's hope this could get me something…"
"We can go to that store!" Sid said excitedly, pointing at a bored games store, "No no, let's go to that store instead!" She said, her attention being pulled towards a clothing boutique, "Actually, let's go to that-"
"Enough Sid." Ronnie-Anne said, putting her hand over her friend's mouth.
"She seems excited." The white-haired teen says, walking behind them.
"She gets like this whenever we go somewhere, it's why her parents task me with doing it, so they don't have to." The Latina said, walking backward to face her friend.
"Hey, stop talking about me like I'm not here!" The brown-haired girl exclaimed, pouting at the two.
"That's a familiar line of thinking." Lincoln thought, "Oh, you two hungry? I know a good store around here."
"Only if you're paying." Ronnie-Anne responded jokingly.
"Did I hear something about free food?" Sid said, turning around.
The three teens made their way to a small corner store, walking around the small building, picking out several food items and drinks, until Lincoln ran into someone familiar.
"Max?" He said, walking up to the familiar face.
She turns around to view the teen, "Lincoln? Funny seeing you here."
"Oh, some friends from out of town are visiting, so I was just showing them around." He scratches the back of his neck.
"Oh, how fun. I just came here for…" She looks behind her to a hot food display, before looking back to her friend, "Food. I'm kinda hungry."
The white haired teen raised an eyebrow, looking at how she reacted to seeing the food, "I can pay for you."
She looks at him, eyes widened, "What? N-no, I can't let you do that…we barely even know each other."
He waved his hand, "That's fine, you look like you need it."
The two walked over to the food display, "U-um…are you really sure you can pay for me?" Max asked nervously.
"Yeah, I'm sure. Pick whatever you want." He replied.
She looked to the food, after a few seconds she grabs a burrito and holds it nervously.
"Here, six dollars should cover it." He hands her the cash for her food, she looks up at him, a small smile forming on her face.
"T-thanks…I really appreciate it…" She says quietly, going to the register to check out.
"Finally, some alone time." The teenage hero says, flipping from building to building.
He'd just managed to shake Ronnie-Anne and Sid by getting Lori to talk about how her and Bobby had met.
Flipping off a building and shooting a web, swinging from it, "I need to figure out who that Green Goblin guy is, no time to hang with friends right now."
He swings from building to building before landing on one, perching at the edge, "Problem is, I don't even know where to start looking for him."
With a heavy sigh, he rests his head in his hand, "Man, why can't being a crime fighter be easier?"
He looks around for a second before seeing a woman struggling to carry a bunch of groceries, seemingly nobody around to help her.
Jumping down, he lands behind her, tapping her on the shoulder, "Ma'am?"
The woman turns around, seeing the teen hero, "S-Spider-Man?!" She says, her expression shifting to one of shock.
"Yeah, it's me." He scratches the back of his neck awkwardly, "You seem to be having trouble with those groceries, you need any help?"
She looks down at her grocery bags, thinking about how long it would take her to carry them by herself, before turning back to him, "Sure, I wouldn't mind some help."
"Sweet, just lead the way." He says, taking some grocery bags, following the woman as she walks.
"So, why are you helping me? Shouldn't you be out there stopping bad guys?" She asks, turning her head to look at the red and blue clad hero.
"I mean, they wouldn't call me a friendly neighborhood Spider-Man if I didn't help people out." He says, smiling under his mask.
She shrugs, continuing to walk down the sidewalk, "So, how far out are you?" Spider-Man asks.
"Not too far, just down the road." She says nonchalantly.
"Well it's nice to be so close to groceries, isn't it?" He says, cocking his head to the side.
She shrugs, "I guess, not that I have much money for them."
"Financial troubles?" The teen asks.
"Yeah, parents kicked me and my boyfriend out when they found out I got pregnant." She says, looking away, a glum look on her face.
"Dang, but you look so young. If you don't mind me asking, was it a teen pregnancy?" He asks carefully.
She nods, "17, not planned…but me and my boyfriend refused to get rid of him."
"Well…at least you know what you want…I won't judge. As long as you and your boyfriend are happy, that's all that matters." He replies, looking back ahead.
"Thanks Spidey…I didn't expect you to be so chill…" She says, also looking back ahead.
He shrugs, "Well, I know the way people see me. Some people hate me, some people love me. And most of the people who love me are kids. I've gotta be a good role model, y'know?"
She chuckles slightly, "True, my little boy is obsessed with you. He turns five next month."
"Well, it's good to know I'm at least doing something right." He says.
The two reach her apartment, she grabs her keys from her pocket and unlocks the door, "Thank you so much, what do I owe you?"
He waves his hands, "You don't owe me anything, just knowing that I made your day a little easier is rewarding enough."
She looks down for a second, a smile on her face, "You really do put the friendly neighbor in friendly neighborhood Spider-Man."
"Thanks," He hands the groceries to the woman, "I hope you have a great rest of your day."
She takes the groceries, "You too Spidey, stay safe." She says before closing the door behind her.
Once the door closes, he leaps into the air and swings off, landing on a building to look over some streets.
He felt his phone buzz, taking it out he saw it was a text from Cristina, "Interesting, Cristina's never texted me before."
Unlocking his phone and tapping on the message, he opens up the text to see it's a picture of Cristina, almost completely naked, wearing nothing but a pair of red panties and covering her breasts with her arm, on her knees in front of a mirror with the message beneath it saying "Told you I'd send you something~"
His eyes widen, immediately swiping off the messaging app, "Goddammit Cristina."
Norman Osborn looked at the suit he'd worn the night prior, the one he'd used to steal a cylinder from Roxxon, a power source that can supply power for years, with no extra cost, he'd taken it to power the suit and glider without it coming up on the records.
He looked down at the file he was holding, a picture of a man and a woman inside of it, "I should've known to not leave a stone unturned."
He closes the file and sets on the table next to him, "I'll pay him a visit, and tell him everything…"
To be continued…