In the span of a few hours, Chloe's life has gone from weird to weirder.
Because not only did she somehow gain the powers of SPIDER-MAN after a school trip to a lab, but now she was talking TO Spider-Man!
Granted, it was Miles Morales and not Peter Parker, but still! He was fictional!
Yet she was sitting down being forced to listen to his origin story and watch him scarf down food.
"...Anyway, that's how I defeated my archenemy, the Spot!" Miles said to a completely uninterested Chloe.
"Ok, this shouldn't be happening." Chloe got up from the chair she was sitting on. "You should not be happening! You are a comic book character! Fictional! NOT! REAL!"
Miles shrugged. "There are a lot of universes where someone is real in one verse is fictional in another. Heck, you could be fictional in one."
Chloe sat back down pinching her nose. These spider-powers and Miles were headaches enough. She did not need an existential crisis on the side.
"Okay, why are you even- what are you doing." Chloe deadpanned. Miles was currently writing something in a notebook.
"Uh, that IS how you spell your name, right?" Miles showed that apparently, he was writing her name down. In fact, for some reason, he had multiple names written down next to pictures of other spider-people.
Percy Jackson
Ruby Rose
Cindy Moon
Yuji Itadori
Jaime Reyes
Chloe Bourgois
"BOURGOIS!? It's Bourgeois! And why are you even writing my name?" Chloe was STUNNED.
Miles shrugged. "It's a habit of mine to draw the suits of the Spiders I met, so, I write down their names, so I don't forget who has which suit." He closed his notebook." But anyhow, I am here to teach you how to Spider."
"Huh?" And now Chloe was confused.
"I am going to teach you the basics of Spider-Manning. Swinging, fighting, identity keeping, all that stuff. You in?"
And now Chloe was conflicted. On one hand, she could finally become a superhero. Like Ladybug! Oh, and Cat Noir. But on the other hand, SPIDERS.
This may have been the one time in her entire life where the upsides of spiders were greater than the downsides.
"I'll do it."
Tristan was oh so very mad.
It was supposed to be a simple job. One. Simple. Job. Steal the weird tech from the lab. Sell it on the black market. Get rich. Maybe even become one of Paris' crime bosses.
But when weirdos in spandex are in your city, not even purse-snatching can be simple.
Now he was stuck in this stupid jail cell without pay. Or entertainment. Seriously, the only entertaining thing in the cell was the comic book he smuggled in.
Spider-Man vs. Shocker. A very underrated piece of literature.
Tristan sighed. Many people joked and laughed, but the Shocker was legitimately so cool! I mean, did you know any supervillains who fought with pressurized air blasts? No? That's what he thought!
Man, if he had powers like Shocker, he'd be unstoppable!
Too bad it's hard to get superpowers. The moment he did, Ladybug and Chat Noir would get it! He promised that!
After a call from Chloe detailing the ABSURD situation that just occurred, Sabrina showed up at the hotel to talk to her friend.
First thing she saw when she opened the door? Chloe somehow STANDING on the CEILING.
"…Woah."
Chloe stood there embarrassed. "I was practicing, okay!?" She walked to the wall, and then walked down till her feet were on the solid floor again.
Sabrina looked around with a confused expression. The sudden gain of superpowers is something that someone would tell their best friends. And Chloe only has two best friends: Her, and…
"Where's Adrien?" Sabrina asked.
Chloe shrugged. "Didn't pick up. Probably has a modeling session." She sat down and put her head in her hands. "Y'know, this is still pretty hard to believe. I'm about to be taught how to be a superhero by Spider-Man himself!"
As if the universe itself has a sadistic sense of humor, the second she said that a kaleidoscope-like portal opened, and Miles Morales himself walked out, this time wearing his full spider-suit minus the mask he was holding, some odd, large bracelet, and a backpack.
"I got black, I got white, what you want? Hop outside a Ghost and hop up in a Phantom. I know I'm boutta-" Miles took out his earbuds and looked at Sabrina, who was waving awkwardly. "Is she your friend?"
"Miles, Sabrina. Sabrina, Miles. And yes, she's my friend." Chloe did introductions.
"Woah, this is... unreal." Sabrina was cleaning her glasses to make sure she wasn't seeing things. "You're Spider-Man. The Ultimate Spider-Man!"
Miles fanned his face. "Please, stop, I'm blushing. Seriously though, please stop. It's no big deal." He opened the backpack and threw a ski mask and two weird red bracelets at Chloe. "Here you go."
Chloe somehow caught all three effortlessly. 'Still need to get used to these super reflexes.' She inspected the bracelets, noticing that "bracelets" wasn't an apt descriptor for these...things. "Gauntlets" would fit better. And there was weird...button-thing extending outward from the rim.
"Uhhh, what are these?"
"Web-shooters. You're gonna need them if you want to be a Spider." Miles explained. "Just slip them on your wrist, make sure the buttons are on your palms, check the capacity, and boom! Good to swing!"
"Wait, these are how you spew web?" Chloe asked.
"Yeah. What, you think we make webs naturally?" Miles said.
"...Yeah?"
Miles just stood there in shocked silence for a couple seconds before gagging. "Ignoring that-" He pulled a notepad out of his backpack. "Time to list the most important rules of Spideying!"
Chloe rolled her eyes. You just had to swing around, beating up robbers. It couldn't be that hard.
"Rule 1: Don't tell your identity to anyone you don't trust with your life. That mask is the one thing stopping some random supervillain from killing your loved ones out of pettiness. But secrets can easily tear relationships apart."
Chloe's eyes widened. Okay, maybe it was easy.
"Rule 2: Prioritize saving people. Never let innocents get caught in the crossfire because you're too busy fighting a supervillain."
"And Rule 3: Never hurts to have backup. Superhumans are still human."
"Okay, this is cool and all, but I thought you were gonna teach me to web-swing and stuff." Chloe said.
"Oh, we are. Just had to lay down the basics." Miles opened the window to Chloe's balcony and slipped on his mask. "Put on your mask and glasses. Don't want people seeing your face."
Chloe looked at the dull ski mask Miles gave her. "No."
"People can't see your identity, remember?"
After a few curse words in French, Chloe obliged and put on the ski mask, putting on her sunglasses too to hide her eyes.
"Now then, shall we swing?" Miles jumped onto the railing. "And pro tip, listen to your spider-sense unless you want to become physically acquainted with a lamppost."
"Wait." Chloe was standing on the balcony with her web-shooters on. "You expect me to JUMP!? From this high? Ridiculous! Utterly Ridiculous! It would make more sense to start on a lower level."
Miles shrugged. "Sorry, disagree. In my experience, the best way to learn how to Spider... is a leap of faith." With that, Miles jumped off the balcony. Then a white strand of web flew to the side of a nearby building and Miles was swinging away.
Chloe jumped onto the railing. It was only now she realized how high up her room was. Her legs were shaking.
But it was like Miles said. Leap of faith.
So, she took a step forward. And began to freefall.
Chloe's heart started beating so fast she swore it would come out of her chest. The wind was blowing against her ears, making it hard to hear. This was more terrifying than she thought it would be.
'Just pretend you're Ladybug. Just pretend you're Ladybug.' Chloe repeatedly said mentally in her brain. She had seen Ladybug using her yo-yo to traverse the city. She just needed to act like her.
'PRETEND YOU'RE LADYBUG!'
Thwip
A strand of web flew from Chloe's web-shooter and stuck to a nearby building. With that, she swung up until she was high in the air.
She aimed her wrist. Thwip. Again. Aimed her wrist. Thwip. Again.
She was doing it. She was web-swinging!
"There ya go!" From her right side, Miles swung into view. "Told ya, leap of faith!"
"Yeah, yeah, I'm web-swin-"
Before Chloe could finish, her Spider-Sense randomly activated, and her face became very acquainted with someone's drone. She was falling for a few seconds before Miles managed to web her back and stop her from hitting terra firma.
"Oof, drone strike. Been there." He threw Chloe, who was now reorientated, into the air, allowing her to continue web-swinging.
Chloe muttered under her breath. "Morceau de merde. Does that happen often?"
Miles didn't answer, and while the eyes of his mask were hard to read, she could tell he was looking away.
"Morales. Does this happen often?"
"...Only a couple times a week."
Chloe sighed. This superhero stuff was getting slightly more annoying.
After a while, web-swinging became easier. There were still areas where Chloe struggled, but hey! Progress! Now she and Miles were sitting on top of some apartment building unmasked catching their breath.
"How do you do that swinging so easily?" Chloe asked. "I nearly hit a building three times!"
Miles shrugged. "Progress. My first swing was WAAAAY worse."
Before this conversation could continue, the sounds of sirens filled the air. Police sirens. Chloe and Miles looked to the street and saw two police cars chasing after a couple of trucks.
"A car chase! Perfect way to test out your skills!" Miles put back on his mask and started swinging after the truck.
Chloe put back on her mask and sunglasses and swung after him.
Then the cars split up in two directions. One going left, one going right.
"Okay, we're gonna have to split up!" Miles swung to the right. "Remember the rules!"
"Dégage-toi du chemin!"
Bernadette Boucher barreled through the streets of Paris like a madman. The heist went off perfectly! They managed to get the money from the casino without even the slightest difficulty.
Unfortunately, she knew that was the easy part. The hard part was the superheroes.
"Right right right!" Francois, one of the other thieves in the car yelled.
Screech
If robbing the casinos didn't get on the news by now, then racing through the streets of Paris like Fast and Furious did! She had to get out of Paris before-
Knock knock knock
When he looked to the side, she expected to see Ladybug or Chat Noir staring at him. Not some random girl in a mask with sunglasses and some ugly yellow jacket!
"Crap..." Kevin, another thief in the car said.
The girl pointed downwards, signaling Bernadette to roll down the window. Bernadette, for some reason, obliged.
"Hello, miss. Uh, quick question: you know you're breaking the law, right?" The girl joked.
Francois rolled down his window, stuck himself out from behind, and attempted to punch her off the car. But despite not even looking at him, she easily dodged the blow, before pulling Francois out of the car a little more and sticking some weird white string to his back and then to a lamppost they drove by.
"I think you missed your stop!" The girl said. With that, Francois was pulled out of the car completely, with the girl crawling somewhere else on the car out of sight.
"AAAAH!"
"Holy-" Kevin fumbled around in the car, before pulling out a rifle. Apparently, being as dumb as Francois, stuck himself out with the gun in hand. The girl suddenly appeared right in front of Kevin.
"AAAH!" Kevin pointed the gun in her direction, but before he could fire, the gun was yanked out of his hands by another white string.
"Didn't your mother tell you to be careful with your toys?" The girl kicked Kevin in the face, before grabbing him by the shirt and throwing him onto the sidewalk.
'Crap crap crap crap crap!' Bernadette slowly pulled out a gun of her own. Now she was the only one left.
Then she felt two feet connect with her face. The girl flew through the passenger door window, kicking Bernadette with enough force to send the car door flying off and Bernadette flying out.
Chloe did not believe what was happening. She was somehow fighting off a whole car or criminals! By HERSELF! This was amazing!
Oh right, she had to stop the car too.
Chloe jumped in front of the car, planting her two feet on the ground. She kept pushing at the runaway car, until it came to a halt. When it stopped, Chloe put her hands on her knees and started to catch her breath a little.
Then she saw something. Bernadette was not kicked unconscious and began fleeing. Chloe swung after her. The thief turned down an alley, only for Chloe to cut her off.
The thief pulled out her gun. "Stay back! I know how to use this thing!"
"I-is that a gun?" Chloe asked.
"Hell yeah it is!"
"Oh, please no, that's my weakness! Please spare me, Ms. Criminal!" Chloe fell to her knees, pretending to beg in a sob.
"Then let me through!" Bernadette yelled.
Chloe looked up. "Nope." She webbed Bernadette in the face, blinding her, before yanking the gun out of her hand, jumping up, and using a web line to leave her hanging upside down.
Chloe web-swung away, leaving the incapacitated thief for the police.
Chloe was swinging around Paris, looking for Miles.
She stopped, landing on top of a water tower, looking around. A couple seconds later, Miles swung from the side, landing on the other side of the water tower.
"Welp, my guys are currently on a one-way trip to the slammer. You have the same luck?" Miles asked.
Chloe nodded. "Not bad for a first day, if I do say so myself."
Chloe and Miles removed their masks and sat down.
"So, what now? Am I gonna fight a supervillain next?" Chloe asked.
"Patience, young Padawan." Chloe rolled her eyes at the Star Wars reference from Miles. "Trust me, fighting supervillains is scarier than it looks. But I'll teach you. Just not here."
"Huh?" From the way Miles said the last part, Chloe could tell he had something planned. "What do you mean by that?"
Miles smirked. "You'll see." He put back on his mask and started swinging away. "Last one to the hotel is an unspun web!"
"SON OF A-" Chloe put back on her mask and started swinging after Miles. Chloe Bourgeois was many things, and a loser was not one of them!
"Surprisingly, the robbers were not stopped by Ladybug and Chat Noir, but two other superheroes. One of the heroes had a costume identical to the costume wore by the second Spider-Man, but the second remains unidentified."
Adrien sat in front of the TV with a serious expression. There were two pictures, one of Spider-Man, the other of someone wearing a ski mask with sunglasses.
"Whatcha thinking about?" A black fairy-like creature resembling a cat flew up to Adrien. This was Plagg, the source of Chat Noir's powers, a literal destruction god, and the laziest being in the universe.
"Chloe stopped those robbers."
"Huh?" Plagg's jaw dropped. "Uhhhhh, are we talking about the same Chloe? 'Chloe Bourgeois' Chloe?"
"Yep. Think about it. That red bump, feeling sick, and now a new superhero shows up. That's Chloe." Adrien was confident.
"Did you bump something up there?" Plagg asked, genuinely concerned.
"Nope. Perfectly fine. Think about it. How did Peter Parker get his powers? Spider-bite. What happened to Chloe during the lab trip? Spider-bite. One of those new vigilantes must be Chloe." Adrien said.
"...Isn't that comic book logic though?" Plagg asked.
"Well, yeah, but, doesn't it make sense? Mark my words!" Adrien pointed to the heroes on screen. "One of these two is Chloe! I know it!"
