"Finally, we're going to need some photographs of the paper's coverage for the Spring Fling," Diamond Tiara said, the rest of the school newspaper's staff listening intently. All except one.
"Featherweight, I'm going to need you-"
"Snrrr..."
Diamond Tiara blinked, glaring at the sleeping photographer- snoozing away for the third time this meeting. She tossed an eraser at his head, and Diamond Tiara sword he almost reacted before it hit him.
"Ah! I- nothing! Paying attention!" He scrambled, batting the eraser away as it harmlessly sailed at his forehead.
"Earth to Featherweight- I need you to pay attention during these meetings if we want to actually get anything done!" Diamond Tiara said, as the rest of the newspaper club nodded in agreement. Featherweight blushed slightly.
"Sorry, I uh- didn't get much sleep last night."
"Well, get yourself fixed up or whatever- you're on photo duty for the Spring Fling."
Featherweight nodded, patting his trusty camera, "You got it, boss."
"Good," Diamond Tiara nodded, and shuffled a few more papers, "Now, I think that about covers it for today's meeting. See you all next Wednesday."
Everyone went their separate ways, eager to head home for the day. As Featherweight walked down the halls, he could still make out the thrumming sound of music coming from one of the practice rooms. Rainbooms still had to keep their music skills sharp, it seemed.
His phone started buzzing, and Featherweight quickly whipped it out of his pocket.
Hold up on docks. 3 blocks SE from school. U done w/ news club?
Featherweight tapped out a response, going from a casual walk to a swift jog out the school's front doors.
Club's done, be there in a sec
Dashing to the side of the building, Featherweight crouched low as he hid behind one of the sports equipment sheds. Home would have to wait just a little bit longer, as he zipped off his jacket, revealing a familiar (and incredibly trademarked) outfit underneath.
"So glad it's close to Halloween, sewing this myself would've sucked," He whispered, stashing his normal clothes in his backpack and stuffing it behind the shed. Taking a running start, he clenched his fist and jabbed it forward in the air, as a small wire shot forward with a "thwip!" and dug itself into a taller clocktower. Featherweight's lightbow shimmered to life as he soared through the air, gliding from arc to arc as he swung downtown.
"Spider-Kid to base, I'm en route to the disturbance," He said, the radio built into his mask crackling to life.
"I read you Spider-Kid, authorities have not yet converged on the scene yet," A voice called back, similar to his own but older.
"Roger that, Wiz. Going silent."
With a click, both of Spider-Kid's "weblines" returned back to their gauntlets, and he lightly landed on top of the warehouse roof. Below him, he could clearly make out a group of thugs holding a team of dockworkers hostage, guns trained on them while one of them shouted over a cellphone.
"-And we don't want any funny business, capisce? You and your little boys in blue stay out of this, and nobody gets hurt- it's a win-win."
With a click, the man- probably the leader, as far as Spider-Kid knew- hung up the phone and trained his pistol back on the hostages. This was going to be fun.
Crawling over the roof, Spider-Kid found an open skylight and hung from it. Clenching his fist again, the pressurized webline dug itself into the ceiling, and Spider-Kid slowly descended above the group of armed individuals.
"Alright, you boys keep sitting here all quiet like, eh? The police ain't gonna help you- we're just going to take what belongs to us and if you all can just behave, nobody has to get hurt, alright?" The leader shouted. None of the dockworkers made a move.
"I guess that makes your name 'Nobody', huh?" Spider-Kid called out from just a few feet above him. The thug whipped his gun up, and Spider-Colt detached the webline and tackled him to the ground. Two punches, each followed up with a quick "zap!" quickly knocked him out.
Before the other three could get a solid bead on him, Spider-Kid's mind flashed- images of himself doing his best impression of swiss cheese- and he leaped backwards into the air, spinning once and landing feet-first onto the thug directly behind him. Using him as a jumping pad, he barreled right into the next with another venom blast- knocking the triggerman out cold. His mind flashed warnings again, and he whipped around, webline digging into the last thug's gun and yanking it out of his hand. He stumbled, and was about to eat fist before a pastel colored blur burst through the front door, tackling him to the ground. Spider-Kid stood there, surprised just for a moment as the blur made quick work of zip-tying the four thugs together.
Sunny Skies brushed a lock of pink hair from her face, before looking at Spider-Kid with a raised eyebrow.
"Good work, handling those four- but you might want to think about changing the look before Marevel comics sends you a Cease and Desist," She quipped. Spider-Kid blinked, scratching the back of his head.
"Oh- well, I mean- it was just on sale, you know? I'm not exactly great at sewing myself..."
The captive dockworkers stared in shock as the pair of heroes started trading quips, one of them standing up and dusting off his pants.
"Ey, uh- you two ain't after whatever those guys were, eh?"
Sunny and Spider-Kid both looked at the hostages they just freed, and the kid shrugged, "Not really- just your friendly neighborhood Spider-Kid, doing my civic duty."
"Oh, lord you're even using the name?"
Spider-Kid held a hand to his chest, "Well excuuuse me, I wasn't exactly gifted with the super power of imagination."
"Aren't you a little young to even be doing this?" Sunny questioned, frowning. Spidey rolled his eyes under the mask.
"Hey, I read the comics- if I don't use these powers for good, then who else will?" He cleared his throat, before scuffing a foot on the floor, "I mean, besides you. I just... it's the right thing to do. The responsible thing to do! If I weren't here, and you coming in as late as you did- someone could've gotten hurt, with you trying to take them all on at once!"
Sunny looked over Spider-Kid for a few long seconds, before sighing.
"Well, your heart's in the right place, at least." She nodded over towards the dockworkers, "You all inform the authorities that the situation's been handled. And you," She pointed back to Spider-Kid, "You need to come up with a more original name. I'd hate to see you taken out of action over something as simple as a copyright infringement."
Spider-Kid snapped a salute, before weblining out the skylight, "Yes, ma'am!"
As the door shut to Featherweight's house, he was immediately confronted by the sight of his older brother, Wiz Kid, grinning at him like the cat that ate the canary.
"Holy smokes, you got to work with SUNNY SKIES?!"
Featherweight shrugged, "I mean... yeah? Kinda? She's a lot taller than I thought she'd be- like, freakishly so."
Wiz Kid, still grinning, clapped a hand on Featherweight's shoulders, "Dude! That's unreal! Oh man, I've totally gotta put priority on the new suit now- we're working with the Big Leagues, kid!"
Featherweight dutifully followed Wiz up to his room, ducking under some low-hanging wire.
"What about getting actual webbing for the weblines?"
Wiz waved a hand at him, "The micro grappling hooks work fine as is- I mean, you heard her! We gotta be more original!" He booted up his laptop, half a dozen images of various spider-like insects popping on screen.
"What about 'The Tarantula'? Or maybe the 'Cazadore'- you do have those weird stinging punch things you do."
Featherweight sighed, climbing up the bunk bed to the top, "I don't know, man- can we talk about this later? I'm kinda beat."
Wiz turned his swivel-chair around, frowning up at his brother, "You okay?"
"Yeah- I'm just... I dunno, it was just weird? Actually seeing someone else doing what I do?" He said, fiddling with his camera, "Maybe she's got a point though, I'm just some scrappy kid- the danger sense isn't gonna save my butt every time..."
Wiz stood up from his desk, leaning his chin on Featherweight's bed.
"Come on, buddy- all the adults act like that! Thinking we're in over our heads about all this," he ruffled Featherweight's hair, "Besides- Sunset was 'just some kid' too. You've got your gifts, I've got mine- we gotta use them to do good, right?"
Featherweight thought for a moment, before nodding, "Yeah, you've got a point." He flipped over, peering over the edge of the bed to see his brother's computer better.
"So, what was that about Cazadores?"
Featherweight's head was already up before the ruler could even smack on his desk.
"Augh!"
Mr. Doodle glared at the young student, hands both gripping the yellow measuring stick.
"Featherweight, for the last time- sleeping is for home, not for school! Shape up, kid."
Featherweight barely muttered a "Yes, sir," before Mr. Doodle went back to his lesson. Featherweight wasn't the academic his brother was- his grades were already middle of the road before he started moonlighting as a kid superhero. He yawned, rubbing a little gunk out of his eyes.
"Man, if only so much crime didn't happen at night..."
The rest of English class passed in a blur, and as the bell rung Featherweight prepared for his favorite subject- lunch. The river of students flowed through the hallways, and Featherweight zombied his way with the rest of them.
"Featherweight! Could you step into my office for a moment!"
Looks like lunch would have to wait. Featherweight sighed, and stepped through the open door to Principal Celestia's office as she offered him a seat. The chair squeaked as Celestia sat across the desk from him.
"I've been getting a lot of reports of you falling asleep in class, Featherweight."
Well, at least she wasn't trying to mince words with it- Featherweight nodded.
"I'm sorry, Principal- I've just been having trouble sleeping the past week."
Celestia nodded, steepling her fingers, "I see- just trouble getting to sleep?"
Featherweight nodded, "Yup."
"No late-night troublemaking? Sneaking out?"
"I uh, don't see why I'd be doing anything like that..."
"Of course not," Celestia said, and opened up a drawer behind her desk, "While you may not be the best student, your record for behavior has been pretty sterling."
"Just... doing the right thing?" Featherweight said, frowning, "It's what anyone else would do."
"I should hope so," She replied, shutting the drawer. Featherweight gulped.
"Is there, uh, anything else you needed? I kinda don't wanna miss lunch..."
"Just one more thing," Celestia said, before affixing a very familiar domino mask to her face, "Have you at least thought up a more original name than 'Spider-Kid' yet?"
Featherweight's jaw dropped. Celestia grinned, "Sorry for intruding upon your identity like that- it is my job as principal to make sure my students are safe. Plus, it's hard not to overhear radio chatter with these ears."
He blinked once, before shaking his head, "Wait, so- you're not going make me stop?"
"I don't really see how I can," Celestia said, "You seem rather dedicated to the task- you and your brother work well as a team. I do have a few pointers, though."
"Does that mean what I think it means?"
Celestia grinned, "Just so long as you've actually taken my advice from yesterday."
Featherweight nodded, smiling, "Actually, I have- seeing as how I've got the wings too, I was thinking of going by 'The Amazing Spider-Hawk'."
Celestia chuckled, "Well, it's a good start."