Shimmering Spider

by Sense of Humor

Job Offer

"Here's the ticket, little lady. Hang on to it, in case you need it. You'll be in car 423B."

Samantha pocketed the ticket dutifuly and readjusted her backpack's straps so that she didn't risk losing by way of dropping. It was odd to be so stiff and uncertain about a simple train ride back to her neighborhood, but it was only her second day doing this. A train felt infinitely different than an averge car ride, where people you actually recognized rode with you. People from all walks of life and all types of ages crammed themselves together on the train and eyed her the same way everyone else at school did. She didn't like it, but unless her mom was quitting her job, there was no way this would be ending. At the very least, she could start to learn a tips about riding a train; tips that could benefit her later in the future.

For one, she'd have to get to the subway station much earlier than two minutes before departure or she would lose any good seats to some greasy dude or a prissy woman. Nothing but luck got her a spacious seat right next to the back door of the train, where an empty seat sat to the right and tother the front of her. A college-aged gentlemen chose to stand when he boarded, leaning against the metal pole and picking bits of dirt out of the wheels of his skateboard. Samantha flinched as some of the dirt pieces hit her face but found more trouble from a fancily dressed woman sitting in front of her with a child no older than eight perhaps. Given her attire and the way she was practically yelling into the phone, Samantha found that the woman reminded her of her mother. The teen didn't care to listen on the conversation, especially when the woman's daughter took notice of her.

"Your hair is different." The girl pointed out, and quite literally to.

Fed up with the insults about her hair color, She rolled her eyes. "Yeah, kid. It is."

"I like it." The girl smiled widely, showing a missing tooth with hesitation. "It's pretty."

"Oh. Um...thanks."

She wasn't sure what else to say to that, but the little girl's mom had a sentence at the ready, even when in the middle of a complex phone call. "Don't talk to strangers honey." Her gaze turned to Samantha, rather disapproving and cynical for some reason. "That goes for you too. Now, Linda, no. That's not what..."

She rolled her eyes and turned her focus off of the woman. Instead, she gazed out of the window at the world underneath the rays of the powerful sun and if the train moved close enough she could spot tiny specks of people too. The clothed ants were walking along the street or getting into their cars or just standing at a phone booth. Not a single person was standing still; everyone was busily moving and busily doing...things. Even some of the buildings, especially the more impressive ones, seemed to be alive with the faint sight of movement behind those windows. In the distance, some five miles or so, stood a building with a distinct slope at the top and an easily recognizable tightly to it. The Avengers tower.

Anyone could name it just by glancing at the huge A at the top of it. When it first showed up publicly, Samantha wasn't sure what to think of who owned the place and what they started doing around the world. On one hand they were saving people and at the same they caused collateral damage. It was kinda like some ironic form of balance, keeping both aspects of them in view of the world so that most people didn't know what to think of them. At least they knew how to control their abilities most of the time...No. She didn't have those weird beam abilities anymore, and she shouldn't compare herself to the likes of Thor or The Hulk. She could be normal again with the abilities now gone, and she'd only see another superhuman from far away distances. Hopefully for a long time.

An upside down head suddenly appeared in the window, made to ovalish by a tight red mask. Her eyes widened as she recognized the black web pattern on his face and the expressive black lenses that looked straight at her. Before she could really gasp, he held up a small sticky note for her to see and gestured for her to read it. She swallowed a tad nervously and after looking around to see the unobservant passengers on board, leaned forward hesitantly to read what was written in Sharpie:

Meet me in the first alley you see when you get off the train

She opened her mouth to try asking him why he wanted her of all people to meet him, let alone in some disgusting alley, but he turned the note around:

T.T.F.N: Tata for now, Samantha!

Then he was gone, leaping from the window and disappearing into the air. She snarled in frustration; an answer to one of the many questions bubbling inside her would be nice. How could he expect her to suddenly meet him somewhere, when she barely knew anything about him except that he was...common around Queens? To top it all off, her curiousity was highly peaked now; she was starting to want to find out what he wanted. He could've broken into the train and snatched her, so he was being nice and civilized.

Samantha sighed.

---

Took her long enough for her to get here!

Peter wasn't expecting to wait an extra ten minutes for her to arrive, and the excitement of being able to talk to her was wearing off. He spent the first three minutes reciting what he would say, from the greeting to the end if she agreed to his idea. Then a black cat came along on the roof somehow, and he was distracted for the remaining time by playing around with it. Around the end of the tenth minute, however, is when he heard his soon to be partner in the alley.

"Okay! This is the FIFTH Alley I've been in! Are you gonna show up or what?"

Oh,yeah. He had said the first alley.

Peter gave the cat's head one last scratch and then peered over the edge of the building; Samantha was down there, alright. Seeing the girl so impatient gave him a better idea for an introduction and he aimed a wrist down at her. Seconds later he yanked on the webline attached to her shoulders and she was sent flying upwards with a shriek of surprise. He contained a laugh long enough for his hands to shoot out at the right time and grasp her by the waist. Then to finish, he twirled around and set her down on the rooftop with him.

"Aaaand she sticks the landing!" Spidey announced, clapping like a one-man audience while Samantha briefly hyperventilated and stared at him with wide eyes. "Gotta say, that was awesome. Amazing acrobatics. I give it a 10 out of 5."

"You...Y...What the hell is your problem?!" She snapped lowly, briefly looking around to look at her surroundings. She seemed less excited to see him, he noticed. "You don't just randomnly pull someone up on a roof! There's whiplash--a list of things you have to worry about."

His lenses made a motion similar to eye-rolling. "I did not go at the speed at which you'd suffer whiplash. If I wanted to, you'd...uh, your gloves are..."

She looked down at her leather clad hands and saw the smoking holes in the palms. He guessed that her powers currently worked on the danger she could sense or maybe surprise, kinda like how his spider-sense worked." Aw, sh!t. These were my favorite gloves."

"Yeah, that sucks. But they had ketchup on them from the lunch table, anyway. Anywho, it's time for introductions!" He recited, crossing his arms heroically. "I am Spider-man, Defender of Queens and stuff."

"Yeah, I know that." She removed the gloves and stuffed them in her pocket, before once again wearing a look of suspicion. "What do you want with me?"

"Ah, yes. The truth behind our meeting. What could it be about? What could be about...? Oh yeah. Those." He pointed at her smoking hands. "Remember yesterday when those babies flipped a car like you were flipping a coin?"

Most of her cynical side seemed disappear shortly after that, and she took a step back worriedly. "...I wasn't trying to! I swear I wasn't--The car was just there and--"

"Pfft, I'm not here to arrest you or something like that. If anything, I should thank you; the driver was a total lunatic and a serious thief. You stopped him and fast too, so it's all good. That's actually why I brought you here."

He paused and nodded at her. "I want you to be my sidekick, my partner-in-crime! The final piece to a dynamic duo, that sort of thing!"

"...wait. what?"

"I want you to be my help in keeping the city clean!" Peter felt a sense of Deja vu and noted that he was kind've in the same position as Mr.Stark not that long ago. That meant he was on the right track, since Peter readily agreed to joining Iron man."Of course we'll have to make up a costume for you, something practical, you know? You cant have any stark-made suits like mine--sorry. And I've already got a cool name for you!"

Samantha frowned at him. "I'm not going to do anything remotely related to what you do."

"...come again?" Peter seemed to deflate slightly.

"Uh, Spider-man, right? Maybe you have me confused for someone else, and that's why we're here right now. Or maybe you really, really got your hopes up." She explained with a deadpan look. "But I'm not a superhero and I don't think I want to be."

Spidey shrugged as if this were the most surprising thing to hear, which it was. Maybe it was because of his long time as an idolized hero, but he couldnt see anything bad about it. "Who wouldn't want to be one of the good guys? You got powers, anyway! Use them in a responsible yet cool way."

"Just because I have whatever they are...It doesn't make me a superhero. For all I know this only temporary anyway."Samantha retorted, subconsciously clasping her hands together. "My life's already been changed enough as it is. I just want things to be as normal as possible for me."

"A little late for that, don't you think?" Peter remarked before he could stop talking. His Spidey-persona had a tendency to do that sometimes.

"You..."She glared at him fiercely, cutting herself off for only a moment. "Look,Can you put me back down now and leave me alone?"

He was losing her, and his only chance at promotion in the superhero biz! How did it fail so horribly?! Peter desperately gestured to the majority of Queens that they could see. "But...It's be awesome traveling through all of this! I'td be awesome saving lives everyday and making a difference! Can't you just give it a chance--"

"No! " An involuntary glance from both of them noticed that her hands were glowing again, this time red instead of yellow. With a gasp, the red returned back to her normal skin color. She reluctantly looked back at him. "Just please let me down."

Peter sighed. He supposed that he didn't really have a choice in the matter, and clearly couldn't change her mind about it. "Yeah. Sure." He pouted as he walked over to the edge of the roof and cast a line down to the hard ground. Nice going, Peter--now we're back to square one again. The young man secured the end and gestured for her to approach the way down. "Hey, uh...thanks for at least trying to meet me."

Samantha paused, but didn't stare at him as he continued."I...really hope that power does go away with time like you wish."

As she began to descend down the line, he heard her mumble in agreement.

Comments

[Boltstrike58]

Spider-Man: Let it go, let it-
Samantha: No, God! No God please no! No! No! NOOOOOOOOO-

[How to avoid swords]

Dude awespme job with the cover art! Did you do that by youre self? If so respect man RESPECT!

[How to avoid swords]

Ok so i just finised reading all the chapters so far and i got to say i love this story so far!
I realy hope you decide to make more man this is top quality!

[Sense of Humor]

8567312
Tanks very much!

[MatTheBook]

8567653

"I understand what you mean. Ever since I got my powers, I only had one week where my life felt normal"

[MatTheBook]

8567653
That conversation could've gone better instead of just throwing in the request of joining him

[MatTheBook]

8567653

"With great power, comes great responsibilities"