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Hero (Spider-Man)
Chapter Twenty Six

Chapter Twenty Six

It always felt weird walking around New York. I’d swung through the streets a lot more than I’d walked through them. Well, technically I hadn’t because of the litter picks, but that didn’t count because I’d been too annoyed to think about it then. I glanced back down at my phone and took a right. It should be just ahead. I looked up, looking at all the stores on this road. There it was. Tapestries and Textiles. I made my way over to the shop and stepped inside. I took a second to look around taking in all the beautiful, patterned rugs and fabrics that lined the walls. There were even some on the ceiling.

I made my way closer to the front, seeing racks of nice clothes as well.

“Hey there, are you looking for anything in particular” a voice behind me asked. I spun around to see a twenty something woman smiling brightly at me. She was pretty, with hair dyed a dark blue, a lip piercing and large hoop earrings.

“I was looking for Amy” I said.

“Oh you’re Lucas! She’s in the back with Heather. You can head inside” she said, cheerily.

“Thanks” I replied, making my way to the back. I walked past the counter and through a row of dark silk curtains and found myself at a door. I opened the door and peered inside to see Amy and Heather watching TV in a nicely decorated room. Amy was already in costume. They both turned back to see me, and Amy’s face lit up.

“Hey” I said with a smile.

“Hey Lucas!” Heather said excitedly.

“It’s good to see you” Amy said standing up, her cheesy grin plastered onto her face.

“It’s good to see you too” I replied. I felt a nice warmth in my chest. It did feel good to see Amy again. Amy glanced at her sister and Heather jumped up and darted into a separate room.

Heather came back in grinning and holding a bunch of fabric. She handed it to me.

“Your costume, try it on. Bathrooms over there” she said.

“I… thanks. Seriously” I said. I stepped into the bathroom and locked the door. I held the suit up. It was predominantly purple with parts of black and white trim. This was seriously high quality. The colours weren’t exactly my taste, but black, white, and purple worked well together. I guess the colour scheme made you think of a spider, so it was probably fitting. I liked the style too. I ran my fingers across the surface, feeling the web pattern. I held it up again staring at the large white spider symbol on the chest against a backdrop of purple.

I closed my eyes and took a deep breath. I was really doing this. Seeing the suit really put things into perspective. It reminded me of all the misgivings I’d had in the first place. I shook my head. That didn’t matter. I’d promised Amy that I was going to help her with The Bears. Even if it was only for now, I was going to be a superhero. I threw of my clothes leaving them on top of the toilet and then slipped into the costume. It fit well. It felt exposing, but I guess I’d just get used to that. I held onto the mask, grabbed my clothes and stepped out of the toilet.

“How does it look?” I said.

“Ten out of ten” Heather said grinning. Amy grinned as well.

“It looks good. Really good” she said. I nodded, feeling my face flush. She stood up, putting on her mask.

“Are you ready?” Amy asked, her tone suddenly serious. I pulled on my own mask and nodded.

“Let me get a picture before you go!” Heather said excitedly.

“That’s not a good idea sis” Amy said.

“Oh come on, I’ll put it in my hidden” she said. Amy hesitated for a second.

“Ok fine” she said. Heather grabbed her phone and snapped a picture of the two of us standing together. She smiled looking at it and showed us. I righted my mask slightly.

“Come on Lucas, we’ve got bad guys to catch” Amy said, making her way to the fire escape in the corner.

“Break a leg” Heather said. I gave her a thumbs up as Amy stepped outside. We stepped into the alley next to the building and closed the door behind us. I rubbed my hands together. I could really feel the cold now. Dammit. Amy’s wings fluttered and she floated slowly into the air.

“Come on Spider-man. Let’s go” she said.

“Spider-man?” I said.

“It’s what the news called you. It’s basically Spider. I didn’t think you’d mind” she said. I shrugged.

“You can use whatever. Let’s go” I said. I leapt up onto the wall and fired webs up to the roof yanking myself upwards. I soared up to the roof and landed before breaking into a sprint.

I leapt from the edge of the building and fired a web far out in front of me, yanking myself forwards. I shot forwards twirling through the air before firing another web and swinging downwards into the main street. The cars beneath rushed up to me and I swung through them before shooting upwards. I came to a stop and time seemed to slow down as I stared out at the New York skyline in front of me, bathed in the glow of golden sunlight.

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I looked down as I started to fall again, seeing people pointing up at me. I shot out another web as I fell, my heart hammering wildly in my chest, and swung through the street again. The buildings beside me turned to blurs as I arced downwards, the sound of rushing wind filling my ears.

I let out a cry of joy as I swung my legs forward, my heels almost skimming the cars below me. I shot out another web and pulled myself up it as I swung forwards, before leaping onto the roof of a building. I landed in stride still sprinting and flipped effortlessly over a vent before sliding under a tube. I hopped back up and did a backflip as I came off the building. This was amazing. Seriously.

My spider sense buzzed, and I shot out a web, zipping away before I hit any pedestrians. I swung upwards and landed on the side of a building staring over the street. I stood up on the wall face, facing perpendicular to the ground. People stared, looking up at me. I looked down at my hands. I didn’t feel cold anymore. I felt alive. I hadn’t realised how much I’d missed swinging about.

I heard a faint buzz above me and turned around to see Chrysalis.

“Having fun?” she said with a grin.

“Yeah”

“Well have fun in the right direction next time. We’re going the wrong way” she said, laughing.

“S-sorry” I said, feeling my face flush.

“It’s fine. Keep having fun. Just follow me” she said. She flew away and I followed, leaping from the side of the building and sending out a web.

We soared through the streets, Chrysalis flying slightly ahead of me. Her wings glowed in the sunlight, the rainbow hue of the wings enhanced. I had to admit, she looked pretty cool. We turned and reached Queensboro bridge. I glanced back as we swung further across it, watching as the buildings grew further away.

“Spider!” Chrysalis shouted above me. I looked up as she floated down.

“Yeah?!” I shouted back over the wind.

“You see that warehouse, the second one from the bridge?! That’s us!” she said.

“Got it!”

We carried on down the bridge before Chrysalis suddenly descended, landing by the shore of the east river and under the bridge. I let myself fall before swinging and landing on the ground.

“I’ll carry you. We’ll go high and land on the roof so they won’t see us” she said whispering.

“Why not just barge in?” I whispered back.

“This place is a bit bigger. I think it’s one of their main hideouts” she said.

“So… be prepared for metahumans and lots of suits?” I asked.

“Suits?”

“Yeah… like goons. Random henchmen, you know”

“Whatever, you ready?” she asked. I nodded. She floated up and grabbed me under the armpits before shooting high into the sky. I felt my stomach lurch as we ascended higher and higher. We shot past the top of the Queensboro bridge and I glanced down.

“Holy shit” I croaked. I watched, my heart in my mouth as everything became smaller beneath us. Suddenly we veered left then shot forwards. I felt queasy. Chrysalis could change direction quickly. My stomach lurched before I could even realise what was happening. I clamped my hand over my mouth as I tried not to vomit up the contents of breakfast and the ground zoomed up towards us. I shut my eyes lifting my knees to my chest. Then we stopped. I felt myself fall again and my heart shot into my mouth, but I landed on the roof with a slight thud. I peeked one eye open, as Chrysalis hovered over me, trying not to laugh.

I stood up quickly and she put a finger to her lips. She pointed to the far end of the warehouse and pulled out her phone and pointed at the camera. I nodded. I’m guessing she wanted to take a few photos before we attacked. She landed and we crouched low as we walked to the edge of the warehouse. We peered over the edge. Now that we were closer to the edge and one of the windows I’d expected to hear the sound of voices inside, but it was quiet. Outside, there wasn’t anyone around except for one guy who sat in a car completely still. He looked like he was sleeping.

I glanced at Chrysalis, and she shrugged. Was she just going to take the photos from this window anyway. Well, that didn’t feel very careful. Chrysalis motioned for me to stay back before floating down to the window. I felt my heart hammer in my chest as I stared at the guy sleeping in the car. Chrysalis floated back up to the roof frowning. She showed me the photos. The lighting and angle weren’t great but it was clear what was going on. There were loads of science equipment in the centre, surrounded by glass walls. This was definitely some kind of main production lab. Question was where was everyone? The place seemed to be completely empty.

“D-do we go in now?” I whispered, nervous. Before Chrysalis could answer I felt my spider sense buzz. I grabbed Chrysalis and dived out the way. Someone shot past us and spun mid air sliding across the roof. Before I had a chance to get up they shot towards us with a woosh of air and slammed into me, sending a shock of electricity through me that sent me flying. I flew through the air and slammed to the ground, skidding across the gravel. My spider sense buzzed and I dodged as someone attempted to crush me from above. They dived towards me with their hands outstretched, electricity crackling between their hands. My spider sense screamed at me and I panicked, swinging a wild punch. It connected and they went flying, crashing to the ground. They didn’t get up.

I didn’t have time to think about what that meant before I heard a shout behind me. Chrysalis was wrestling in the air with the guy who had first attacked us. I webbed him from the ground and yanked him downwards towards me. They both crashed to the ground, with Chrysalis on top of the assailant. She recovered first and hit them with a mean right hook, swiped their feet of the ground and drove and elbow into their solar plexus. She hit them with two concise punches to the face and they didn’t move again.

My heart pounded in my chest. I needed to get used to this again. I glanced between the two, breathing heavily. I recognised the equipment. It was similar to the Oscorp’s guards but with extra modifications. The first and larger assailant’s armour was brown, with patches of neon yellow. The smaller assailant’s armour was just dark electric blue. Both their visors were orange.

“Who the hell are these guys?” I asked.

“No clue” Chrysalis replied. “Tie them up quickly and let’s check inside.” I nodded and grabbed the two, webbing them up to the ground. We headed inside to find that the place was empty. We split up looking around, but all the compartments had been emptied, with nothing left behind. The only thing here that told us this had been a hideout was the lab.

“They knew we were coming” Chrysalis said frustrated.

“You think they packed up a few days before?” I asked.

“I don’t know… it doesn’t make sense…” she said. Suddenly the warehouse rattled. Something had hit the walls outside. We rushed outside, Chrysalis far faster than me.

“Shit” she said as I exited the building. Strands of web lay all over the place and I watched as our the larger of our two attackers dived into the east river, carrying the smaller one on his back.

“Do we follow?” I asked.

“No, I can’t fly if I get my wings wet, and the thought of fighting those electric gtíalets underwater makes me nauseous” she said. Dammit. I felt my shoulders slump. This hadn’t gone well at all.