"Pete told me what happened when you were facing off with the Flame guys." Miles said, "You said your heart was beating fast?"
"It hurt, too. But when it was happening, the whole world slowed down." Cindy said.
"Think its a fight or flight sort of thing?"
Cindy shook her head, "It started happening before those guys tried to get me with those tendrils."
"Maybe because you grew up with your powers, your senses became much more acute than me or Pete's. And maybe that fight or flight caused that to happen. Pete said that you moved so fast you barely left a blur."
Cindy rubbed her chest, "I don't think I wanna use that anytime soon. Speaking of Peter, how long are we gonna wait for him?"
"Said he had something to give you. And if its what I think it is, its gonna be something."
"Its not... bad, as it?"
"Nah, it shouldn't."
Cindy paused, "Think what Wilson Fisk said was true?"
"'Bout making friends with enemies and the Chosen Flame cultists?" Miles sighed, "The symbiote invasion felt like a year ago. It was odd how in a matter of days, things relatively went back to normal. Guess it just shows how strong people really are."
"But, if another invasion happens, what will we do then?"
"Wanna say that me and Pete will handle the big stuff, but, when Peter left for Symkaria last year, I had to grow up fast. For you, I don't know what will happen. The best we can do, is give you the tools to make yourself better when that time comes."
"...What if I'm not ready?"
"Life comes at you fast - if you're not ready, you gotta be willing to make yourself ready. Some things I had to learn in the moment. That winter when Roxxon was trying to make moves in Harlem, I made a lot of mistakes. Trying to stop the Underground caused the bridge to blow."
"I remember that. That, uh... What's his name again? The white guy?"
Miles paused, "Uh... Okay, that's weird. Started with an 'S'. I had a friend, almost a sister really, Phin. He was the reason she lost her life, in more ways than one. Funny how our minds latch onto loss more than memories. And here I thought I wouldn't forget the details of what happened, at all."
"...Yeah."
The sound of someone landing onto the roof top brought their attention - Peter, with a package in his hand.
"So you did do it." Miles said, Cindy could hear the smile in his voice.
Cindy's eyes darted back and forth between Miles and Peter, "What's going on?"
Peter held out the package, "Your first official suit."
Cindy blinked, stepping back, "Are - are you sure?"
"Call it a Spidy tradition." Miles said.
"Made the first step, but now for the rest of the first set." Peter said.
"O-okay." Cindy gingerly took the package, "I guess I'll change in there." She pointed to the water tower.
"Take your time." Peter said, "Besides, I might have gotten the proportions wrong."
"We'll know for sure once I put it on." Cindy said, before leaping up to the water tower's railing and entering through the loose panel.
Cindy took off the covering of the package and saw something inside that made her sigh. She put the package down and began pulling off her red hoodie. After dressing into the suit, she went outside and leapt down and pointed at her eyes.
"This goggle-visor-headset thing really necessary?" Cindy said pointing to the object in question on her face.
Her new suit mirrored Peter's original suit but was a darker red and blue. The green jacket she had worn over the costume previously was on again, zipped closed to hide her torso. A spare mask of Peter's was cut and pulled up to hide the lower half of her face, and on a black frame that went across her face, over her nose and to her ears, two lenses of goggles that covered her eyes and at the ends two headphones that covered and latched comfortably onto her ears.
"Does it feel weird? Wasn't really sure it would fit right on your face." Peter said.
"Fits alright, and I understand the need for a heads-up display, but its still kinda weird." She waved a finger at the goggles, "Suit... feels a little thick and a little tight. And are the headphones at the ears really necessary?"
Peter poked his finger at the center bridge of the goggles and the lenses slid into the frames, startling her.
"Ah! Uh, that works, I guess." Cindy said.
Peter put a hand to his temple and a call was automatically answered in her headphone.
"Check check (check check)," Peter said, "Can you hear me (Can you hear me?)"
"Yeah, and you're echoing again."
"Great," Peter said, ending the call, "And for the headphones, you'd rather get your ears clogged with wax?"
Cindy frowned but didn't argue on the gross prospect.
"Its almost time, Pete." Miles said.
"Oh yeah. It is."
"What now?" Cindy hung her head.
Soon after, there was a clicking sound as her headphones tuned into a broadcast of a talk-show -
"...Spiderman is already showing that new Spidergirl how to follow his webs - now we have three-times the menace in New York!" Came an angry-sounding voice through the headphones.
"Oooh..." Cindy said, "This guy. Your number one fan."
Peter chuckled, "That's one way of putting it. Sorry to say but I can't stick around. We got a breakthrough at work, although Dr. Connors needs more samples. We just might be able to make limb regeneration possible. Connors might be able get his arm back."
"Wait, really? That's great man! Need any help? Anything that you can talk about?" Miles said.
"Not really. Still too much theoretic and speculation to give a solid run down. Plus we're doing a controlled group with rats at the moment, three out of the five managed to get to limbs back. Even though we are doing human samples right now, that's until later and its in-house." Peter finished, rubbing his arm then rolling it.
"...You gonna cut a finger off to test this?" Cindy asked, her voice trailing off.
"No no no. It involves the agent that we're developing. Can't really say anything yet, but, prospects are good."
"I can tell by the tone of your voice that you really want to break NDA." Cindy said.
Miles snickered.
Peter chuckled, "Well, you're not wrong." He then gestured to Miles, "Miles will help you with the ropes of patrolling around the city. Any questions you got, don't be afraid to ask. And,"
Peter stepped forward and pressed the center of Cindy's goggles again and the lenses popped back up, startling Cindy.
"Sorry." Peter said, "Best get used to having those on, lotta stuff you can't see with the naked eye. Alright, see you guys, call me if you need anything." Peter leapt up and zipped away, the last of him seen was him swinging around a corner.
Miles gestured for Cindy to follow and they went off in to the city.
"Don't like swinging, huh?" Miles said, as they went around, "Why not?"
"Its a... I don't wanna talk about it okay." Cindy said dashing along a roof top before leaping and zipping at a taller building to launch herself up like a dart to a target.
"Alright," Miles said, "In that case, doesn't running around like that tire you out? Sure, we got powers, but even we can get tired."
"Yeah," Cindy said, catching herself on that building she was flying towards before then shooting herself off in the next moment with the kick of her legs and the shoving of her arms, "For you, maybe. But this is more like a jog to me. It doesn't take much for me to jump off, either."
"About that," Miles said, launching himself up at the peak of his swing to gain massive amounts of air and using the slow down to take a moment to talk, "If moving like this is a jog, then what's your 100?"
"That night where you and Peter were chasing me." Cindy said, as she vaulted down the side of a water tower by webbing her hand and using that as a catch to control her descent when she slapped her hand against it, effectively skipping off its side, and slid to a stop on a rooftop, "When I pass the limit, that's when it feels like my heart is about to burst."
Miles landed beside her, "Like that time where you 'slowed down' time?"
"Yeah, but, that time it just hurt. After losing you and Peter, I, uh... made a hole in the ground to deal with the pain."
"How?" Miles paused, "Y'know... Maybe that time slow really is a kind of fight or flight reflex as a way of hyper focusing your perception. I mean, in dangerous situations like that time would slow down for anyone, really."
Cindy shrugged, "Eh..."
"You don't sound so stoked to figure out your powers."
"Not important." Cindy snapped.
Miles paused for a moment, "Where did you learn how to fight? Cause you never really struck me as a person who knew how to fight, at all."
"...Uh." Cindy rubbed her neck, "I, didn't. Its all my spider sense. But, I gave myself room to put some moves in there."
"Like what?"
"Well, uh, y'know... Stuff I see - watch."
"Oh! Trying out stuff you see on boxing and wrestling."
"Yeah!" Cindy nodded, she hoped not too much, "Yeah, exactly!"
"Its okay, no need to be shy about it. I did the same, gotta get the ground running somewhere."
Sirens then went off in the distance, and in their HUDs a red window with yellow text appeared at the right hand corner of their vision. A jewel heist and a grand theft auto was in progress.
"Speaking of which," Miles said, "Ready to bust your first crime?"
"Lead on, Coach." Cindy said.
Miles leapt off in a somersault before swinging off,
Cindy stayed for a moment, looking at the view of the city. The bones of civilization reaching up to the sky, some of them piercing into the clouds. Though made of concrete flesh and metal rebar of bones, they were living monuments of people of generations past and generations later in the future.
A modern jungle.
Cindy stared a moment longer at its vastness, feeling insignificant and tiny, before running off the roof top and zipping herself to the closest building to catch up to Miles.
The sight of a speeding car chased by police cars and gun shots popping off wasn't an unfamiliar sight and sound to New York. Some people still ducked and covered, while those that were jaded or merely tired by everything that had happened in the last two years merely looked over at the sight with expectancy. A smaller number of those people eating something as they watched as if it was something so normal.
After a moment, there was another familiar sound,
One so unmistakable,
One so signature.
One followed by another sound so similar, sounding softer.
People looked up to the sky and saw the Spiderman from Harlem swinging in to view, and the new Spidergirl - dashing along sides of buildings, zipping and kicking off pieces of the environment like a living bullet.
"What's the play, Spiderman?" Cindy said.
"Car's not theirs, don't break it. Get the criminals out of the car." Miles said.
"That's pretty vague," Cindy said.
"Improvising's part of the job." Miles said, "Criminals first, car second. Follow my lead."
Miles zipped for a burst of speed and landed on the roof of the speed car, "Hey guys! Not all girls want jewels for presents!"
The answer of the criminals was one of them shooting holes in the roof for Miles, who flipped to the side to pull one of them out and zipping them to the passing street lights.
In the car, Cindy heard one of the reaching for what sounded like a heavier gun than a pistol as Miles webbed another criminal from the car. Cindy kicked off the building side she was running along and kicked off, thumping loudly against the car on the driver's side.
Inside, she saw that the one in the passenger's seat was pulling a shotgun from a bag.
"Nope." Cindy said as she webbed the criminal's hand, before deciding to web the criminal to the seat by shooting with her fingers.
The criminal in the driver seat thrust out his pistol at Cindy, aiming for her face and she merely pivoted her body to avoid the first shot. With a slight wince, realizing the that headphones were a good idea after all, she grabbed the gun out of their hand and webbed it to the roof of the car as Miles zipped them out.
When the car was still speeding, Miles sighed, "Why is it only cars in New York that do this?"
Miles leapt behind of the car and made a web line to the car and another to the road to stop its momentum. Cindy helped by making web lines on the side to the road, and soon the car stopped.
Cindy dropped to the ground as Miles approached her with a fist bump, as common courtesy as she bumped it.
"Nice. You did good." Miles said.
That was when another crime alert appeared in their HUDs. Soon after, they heard a walkie talkie in the car -
"Squad B, status! Squad B!" Came a voice through it.
"A heist?' Miles thought aloud.
"Spiderman!" An officer from the chasing police car yelled as they got out of the car, "Got men pinned down a few blocks to the west. Go, we'll deal with these guys."
"You heard the man." Miles said before leaping and swinging off.
Cindy zipped to a street light, swung off, zipped to building, dashed up diagonally its side, and kicked off to zip to a larger building to launch herself up, following Miles.
"Do heists happen often?" Cindy asked, sprinting, then throwing herself at a ventilation duct to launch herself up with the kick of her legs even higher.
"No. With the two Spidermen in New York, we haven't seen something so daring unless it was people like Fisk or Hammerhead, maybe even Tombstone. But those guys? They just looked like common crooks."
"New guy on the block, maybe?" Cindy suggested as she dashed along side another building.
"Maybe. Maybe its just guys that are trying to push their luck. Either way, they gotta be stopped."
Soon, they arrived on the scene and saw three armored personal cars from which criminals were using for cover, shooting at the police cars that were in opposition to them. What was immediately noticeable was the rattan-tat-tat of machine gun fire.
"Machine guns?!" Miles said, "Cindy, can you handle this kind of heat?"
"One way to find out," Cindy said, perching on a roof nearby, out of sight, "Any tips, Coach?"
"Don't get shot." Miles said before shooting out a concussive shot from his web shooter through some sort of gadget that stunned or threw a majority of the crooks to the ground.
Hearing the sound, Cindy grimaced, wondering how loud it would actually be if she didn't have the headphones.
"Thanks, Coach..." Cindy targeted one of the crooks and zipped herself to them, shoving them down.
"Its Spiderman and that Spiderchick!" One of them called out.
"If only you guys put this much effort on not being criminals." Miles said as he started throwing punches and kicks.
"Decide boys," Cindy said, making a fist, "Girl or Woman, pick one."
Then she let herself go -
Her attacks were aimed to stun then finish them off by knocking them out or incapacitating them, using her webs to even pull them off balance or to discombobulate by webbing their faces. One to another, she seamlessly zipped back and forth between enemies, getting lost in the moment that she didn't even realize the acrobatics she was performing.
Dodging by flipping back to kick the gun out of his hand, then grabbing the crook's shoulders to then spin with the twirl of her legs to throw him down,
Stomping on the face of one crook while above to stomp another then finishing a third with a spinning kick,
Rushing towards a crook who was spraying bullets and managed to avoid all of them even as she was somersaulting consecutively to build momentum for the kick that knocked him out.
She saw one with a shotgun aim at her and made a fast shot with her webs into the barrel that caused the gun to explode upon hitting the chambered shell inside.
Like a cat she skipped off the side of one of the APC's to make a lunging punch,
And rushed to attack the last one but managed to stop herself once she saw the sheer fear in his face once she got close, seizing up and dropping his gun, trembling in fear.
One grabbed her shoulder from behind and she twisted her body to spin around for a back-handed fist, which was caught by Miles. The sight alone made her flinch and blink.
"Oh..." She said, then looked around, seeing the other criminals on the ground, "Uh, didn't think it would be over so soon."
"You made it quick." Miles said, before webbing the presenting wrists of the crook Cindy was about to sucker punch.
"Oh, uh..." Cindy rubbed the back of her neck, "Sorry?"
"What was that?"
"What?"
"The way you were fighting just now."
Cindy paused, "Uh..."
Miles looked at the cops approaching the crooks they fought and jerked his head for Cindy to follow before zipping himself up. Cindy followed him up to a rooftop away from the crime scene.
"Okay." Miles said, turning to Cindy, "Sparring match."
Cindy glanced around, "Right now?"
"Yeah. It might even make things more clear for you."
Miles leapt for her in a flying punch,
Cindy sprang up in a flying kick that smashed into Miles's chest. Miles was thrown back, rolling but recovering into a low position.
He rubbed his chest, "Ah... Not only are your senses more sharper but also your reflexes."
"Is that... not the same?" Cindy said, scratching her head.
"While Pete's powers and mine do make us react faster, you're the fastest I've seen so far. And for someone who isn't as strong as us, you still hit pretty hard."
Miles stood up, "Alright. Let's go, again. Your move."
Cindy waited.
Miles shrugged, "Well if you're not gonna -"
She sprang out from a neutral pose, doing that same flying kick as before. Having seen it already, Miles was able to dodge it but felt its wind as it flew by his head. He grabbed Cindy's leg, spun around, and slammed her to the ground. With the smallest window of opportunity that she had, Cindy curled herself to roll on the ground, webbed the environment with both hands, and launched herself to kick Miles a third time with both feet, this time into the door that led to this rooftop.
"Ah-ha! Okay..." Miles said, holding his chest as he stumbled up, "I think I see the problem."
The moment Miles stepped away from the door, it exploded open, revealing a security guard with a baton readied to swing until he realized it was just Spiderman and the new Spidergirl.
"Oh, its you two. Goddamn it, watch what you're doing!"
"Sorry, sir." Miles said, "Just showing her the ropes."
The security guard shook his head before leaving the way he came.
Miles looked over, "Cindy? You okay? Why so stiff?"
"Huh? O-oh, just, surprised me is all."
Miles took a moment to rub his chest and cope with the pain, "Your problem is that you're not holding back, are you?"
Cindy tilted her head, "Pe - Spiderman holds back?"
"Oh yeah," Miles said, "He showed me how he didn't hold back during the symbiote invasion. If I didn't have my powers, I would've lost my jaw."
"But... If he didn't hold back," Cindy said, "Surely criminals would straighten themselves out, right?"
Miles paused, "Yeah... Peter thought that, too."
"He, did?"
"During the symbiote invasion, me and Martin Li, that Martin Li, had to go into his mind in order to save him from the symbiotes. He's thought about it, alright. No doubt more than once. But he didn't. I don't think he would have forgiven himself if he did."
"But why?"
"I don't want to say, too personal. Plus, he was finally able to have a life to be himself for a month. But I think I know why, if I'm right. If I am, that's what makes him special even compared to me, even you, maybe."
"...Special."
Miles put a hand to his head, "Don't see anything happening right now. Wanna go grab a bite to eat?"
"Uh... I'm just gonna run around the area for a bit. Stretch my legs, y'know."
"That's fine. Most of the time, the crimes are pretty small compared to today. Just call in case you run into trouble."
Cindy nodded, then, turning, went at a hesitant trot before picking up the pace and leaping off the roof, zipping herself to a building and running along it. She disappeared from view when she launched herself in a jump that had her twirling in the air.
Miles called Peter.
"Miles!" Peter said, "What's up, need help with something?"
"You got time to talk for a moment?"
"Sure, bout maybe... ten minutes."
"She scared the criminals in the heist we stopped."
"Saw the headlines, but didn't see the video that popped up. What happened?"
"The way she moves, the way she fights - its..."
"Aggressive?"
"Ferocious, almost like an animal. She's not holding back."
"Ah... Right. That's something I had to teach myself, and you."
"That hole in that old room of yours?"
"Yeah. Different circumstance, but same principal."
"She might learn better from it if its from you."
"Cause of that 'thing?'"
"Yeah, might make things more clear and easier."
"I'll see what I can do tomorrow. She's already been through enough today. One step at a time. Got your college application stuff done?"
"Yeah. Just waiting for a response."
"Same one I went to?"
"Yup."
"Its great! Just make sure you balance the time."
"Of course, the stuff you've said..."
"Nearly failed more than one class..."
Miles chuckled, "See ya later, man. Talk to you later."