I stared at the wall, well Joshua, as Peter and Jess fiddled around with a few gadgets and scanners on their wristbands. Yu stood next to me, my spider sense still tingling slightly as he rocked back and forth on the balls of his feet whistling to himself. It’d taken a while but, we’d rescued everyone from the building and secured the place with web.

Now only Joshua remained. And Peter and Jess were struggling to do anything about him. They continued mumbling to each other, their conversation a series of quick questions and answers as they worked, checking over their gadgets. Josh for his part had stayed surprisingly still, the building only shaking once when they’d tried to scan him with something.

I sighed. I didn’t have nearly enough experience with to anything about the situation, and trying to help would probably only make things harder. I looked away from the wall, strolling to the edge of floor, and looking to the street below. Police and firemen remained outside, cordoning off the space from the public as they tried to assess the damages and contact the necessary people.

It was a bit later now, and a large crowd had gathered, a sea of faces and phones looking up at the warped and twisted concrete and brick of the building. It was weird to see, to be on the opposite side of this whole hero thing again.

A few glanced up at me and pointed, calling out. I quickly dipped back into the building and turned back to the wall. Jess and Peter spoke now, the frustration clear in their demeanours.

“Everything all right?” Yu asked.

“Not exactly” Jess said. The building rumbled slightly.

“It’s ok Josh. We’ll get you out of here, but it’s probably going to take a little longer”

“How… long?” the face on the wall croaked.

“Only a few hours” Peter said. Without another word, the face sank back into the wall.

“Dammit” Peter mumbled, stepping back.

“Uh, is there anything we can do to help?” I asked.

“Uh… actually, can you two head over to HQ? It might help if we get some more stuff, bring it over here”

Yu and I glanced to each other.

“Uh… sure” I mumbled.

-

I swung cleanly between skyscrapers, the wind buffeting loudly against my mask. Yu swung behind me, using long tendrils of the black goo to move through the air. Occasionally I glanced to him, watching him out of my periphery before looking back to the buildings in front.

His movements were smooth, fluid in the same way Ricardo’s had been. A shiver shot down my spine as a flood of memories came back to me. It was weird, knowing he had the symbiote. I hadn’t really been aware of the uneasiness it was causing until we’d been alone together. Now, swinging through the streets, the near constant buzz of my spider sense felt louder.

I shook my head. I felt slightly weird around his suit, but it seemed like he had everything under control. He wasn’t Ricardo after all.

I glanced back to him again, and he briefly looked to me then looked away

“So… uh… you enjoy this job?” I said, calling out to him.

“Eh?”

“I asked if you enjoy this. Being a superhero”

“Oh yeah” he said, the grin on his face practically audible. “It’s amazing”

“So, uh… the symbiote… Peter mentioned a few things, but how did that happen?”

“Well, it’s a bit of a long story” he said.

“We’ve got time”

“Uh… ok then. Where to start. Well, I found Peter’s suit in the trash after he quit. I put it on, pretended to be Spider-Man and saved a few people, then there was this whole mess with Jess and these clones, then that Dr guy, Octavion, I think. He had this weird lab underground. I fused with the symbiote in there and there was this whole explosion and everything, but I was fine afterwards. Well as fine as I can be with this thing in my head”

“Uh… oh” I mumbled. “That’ is a lot”

“Yep. Been a hero ever since and it’s been pretty cool” he said. “Me and my brother have always loved superheroes and the Vanguard, and all that stuff. I used to watch their cartoon show religiously when I was little, and Spider-Man first became a thing I was a major fan”

“I mean Peter is pretty cool”

“No, I mean you. When you wore the black hoodie and beat up that outside that monster outside that school. I went around on Halloween with my brother in a copy of your costume. Though I will say nobody knew who I was.”

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“Seriously?”

“Yeah. I thought it was so cool when you destroyed the street” he said. “Not that I think property damage is cool or anything”

“Wow” I said, looking forward. I guess there probably were some fans who’d seen me on TV when I’d first come around.

I frowned. Maybe not everything back then had been all that bad. Sure, I’d been reckless, but I had helped a few people, hadn’t I? Yeah. That guy with the broken leg, even that woman on top of that building. I wonder how they were all doing now.

“I hope that’s not too creepy or anything?”

“Huh?”

“The wearing your suit on Halloween thing”

“Oh, no way man, that’s seriously cool”

“Really?”

“Yeah. I bet a ton of kids are gonna wear your suit”

“No way”

“You’d be surprised. Everyone thinks you’re like the cool emo Spider-Man”

“Emo?!” he said, eyes widening.

“Yeah” I laughed to myself. “You have a dedicated fan club but at my school you know?”

“Seriously?” he said, suddenly growing sheepish.

“Yeah. There’s another one for all three of you, and just Jess, but Peter doesn’t have one. He’s practically the face of the main fan club anyway”

“Wow. That feels weird” Yu said. “I don’t know what to do with this information. Do I send them a signed card or something?”

“You can if you want. I’m pretty sure they’d lose their minds”

He nodded going silent. I continued swinging forwards, my smile fading as Yu stayed quiet.

“What’s wrong?” I asked, glancing back.

“I guess… I don’t know. I just forgot the scale of things sometimes” he said, his voice suddenly serious.

“That’s fine, though? I mean you’re here, helping people, right?”

“I guess. But it’s not exactly like I’m that good at this stuff”

“What? I’ve seen you on the news man. Fighting all those monsters and metas. You’re amazing”

“That’s all Peter and Jess. I just go where they tell me”

“I mean, it’s still pretty hard to fight monsters for a living”

“Maybe. Sometimes I feel like I barely do anything though”

“Peter said you were the strongest though”

“Physically maybe, but Pete and Jess would still beat me up easily. They’re both seriously smart and better at things for all this superhero stuff, in ways I’m just… not”

“Yeah, but Pete’s a grown adult and Jess has got all his memories. And you’ve only been doing this for what, six months? You’re probably way better than when you started, and you’ll probably keep getting better”

“Maybe. If I don’t decide to get rid of this thing” Yu mumbled.

“Get rid of it? The symbiote?” I said, glancing back to him.

“Yeah”

“Why?”

“Well for starters it’s all slimy and horrible. Sure, it makes me feel good, but it makes me crave chocolate all the time and makes my dreams all weird”

“Makes you dreams weird? How?”

“I don’t know… just weird. Like random flashes of stuff. Different parts of the city, strange memories, and sometimes it’s just chocolate. Literally just darkness and a floating chocolate bar. I never thought I’d be able to get sick of chocolate, but this thing’s really pushing it”

“Well, there’s better things to be addicted to” I said.

“Yeah” he chuckled. “I guess it just feels a bit like it’s got a hold over me you know?”

We carried on swinging, and I glanced back at him, my eyes narrowing briefly. It was a weird way to reference a craving, like it wasn’t his choice, but I guess from the way Ricardo had spoken during the BRC incident it was like there were two minds in one body.

I frowned for a moment then looked over his suit, my spider sense tingling once again. It felt different now, but there was definitely a familiarity in it. Not one of danger, like I’d felt so clearly before, but still a negative sense. A bit closer to unease. An almost alien discomfort that came from just looking at it.

My mind briefly flashed back to the ruins of Amy’s apartment building, the smell of blood and that horrible laughter. I shook my head. It wasn’t him anymore. Yu seemed like a nice, normal kid, not some psychotic murderer.

“Well, you seem to have things under control” I said, more for myself than him.

“I-” Suddenly Yu’s phone began to buzz, interrupting him. His suit suddenly pulled away revealing the jeans of his pocket, and he grabbed, answering quickly.

The wind picked up, muffling his speech as we swung. I tried to listen closer, but as the wind died down the call ended, and Yu turned to me.

“Who was it?” I asked.

“Peter. He says we don’t need to go to the lab anymore but we will need to get something from his apartment”

“Where’s his apartment?”

“Brooklyn” he said. I sighed.

“We better hurry up then”

“I’ll race you”

“Oh, you’re on”

We veered off course, swinging quickly around the corner before racing along the glass surface of a skyscraper and jumping smoothly into a dive towards the East River. We fell fast and hard, before both firing webs as we whizzed through the air, nearly skimming the rooftops of cars as we emerged from the sprawl of buildings over the Manhattan bridge.

Together we zipped past cars with speed, both firing webs and pulling ourselves forwards to gain momentum as we reached the bridge.

Yu laughed loudly and looked back to me as he pulled away slightly.

“Oh, don’t get cocky now!” I shouted over the harsh river winds. Then with a sudden pull of speed I swung low, skimming the water with a hand briefly before pulling up. I shot upwards, releasing my web, flipping into the sky past the bridge and onlookers in cars before firing another, pulling myself past Yu with a burst of speed.

“Show off!” Yu laughed out loud from behind me.

“Hey, it’s not my fault I’ve got style!” I laughed.

“You think that’s cool?!” he said. “Watch this!”

In a sudden burst of black goo he shot upwards into the air, the tendrils spiralling around him like a twisted mess of tentacles. Then, as he slowed, suddenly the tendrils moved. Almost in unison they all pointed towards the ground, their edges sharpening. Yu descended quickly, a mass of black in the shape of a human missile that hurtled towards the water, quickly picking up speed.

Then suddenly, he spun out of it, thin membranes beneath his arms as he soared through the air, gliding with the help of the winglike membranes. He let out a whoop of pure joy, and shot past me, gliding smoothly over the bridge as he practically flew. I stared wide eyed and slack jawed slowing slightly, as he curved back towards me.

“How about that?” he said, falling back into a lazy swing.

“Ok. That was fucking amazing” I said. “You can literally fly”

“Well, it’s closer to gliding, but… yeah” he said, the pride in his voice clear.

I laughed to myself as we left the bridge, swinging into Dumbo, downtown Brooklyn not far away.

“So, I think you won that, but where exactly is Peter’s house?” I asked.

“It’s not too far. Just a minute over th-”

Suddenly a scream rung out beneath us. We both looked down to a huge half-man half-spider pulling a woman into the sewers. It dragged her kicking and screaming down under, then disappeared, pulling the manhole cover neatly back over the hole.

“Holy shit” I muttered, slowing to a stop. I glanced to Yu, and he looked to me, then nodded.

“Guess we’ve got a change of plans” I said, leaping down.

“Another man spider. Geez, I really hope this doesn’t get weird” Yu mumbled, following suit.