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It had been a long, uneventful patrol on a refreshingly chilly February night, and Jules was feeling the need to do something productive with her evening, so she had paid for an extra hour’s childcare and headed up to roof, her costume safely packed away in her wardrobe. Her hood was pulled up in a half-hearted attempt to conceal her identity but she wasn’t too concerned. If people did somehow manage to spot her and note that she had the same power set as Glacia, she could always lie. Better that way round than having Glacia connected to her home address.

No one ever went up on the roof of her building because, technically, no one was supposed to be able to get there. Fortunately Jules had long ago figured out how to sneak her way up onto it from the top of the fire escape with a boost from one of her ice walls and so it made the perfect place for her to spend a little time honing her skills.

She preferred it up there than in the specialist Hero facility – no one could see her mess up, and there was something deliciously rebellious about looking down onto the street below.

For a moment, once she was up there, Jules just stood and stared at the sky. The light pollution didn’t make it a particularly interesting experience, but there was still something calming about looking deep into the darkness and not feeling any urgent sense to do… well, anything. Then she took a deep breath and focused her attention on the rooftop.

She’d stored a whole heap of flattened cardboard boxes up here over the course of a few weeks for her to use a target practice. Jules busied herself for a while with assembling a few and placing them at various points around the roof, then she stood back and formed an ice dagger in each hand.

With the left hand, she simply tried to hit the target square in the middle from a distance. The throw lacked enough power and she pouted in dissatisfaction as the dagger slid across the floor. She’d have been able to handle it with her right. However, she was trying out something harder with that hand, taking aim while running.

That dagger was faster, and surprisingly close – just glancing off the box she had been aiming at. A partial success, she decided. She formed two fresh daggers in her hands and returned back to her starting spot, taking a second to psych herself up before trying again. And again, until she got it right.

@spidey | 433 words

LAIKA OF GS!

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LIVING ON THE EDGE, FIGHTING CRIME, SPINNING WEBS, LOOKING UP WITH NO SURPRISE, ARRIVING AT THE SPEED OF TIME— FRIENDLY NEIGHBORHOOD SPIDER-MAN

[attr="class","monsterexo"]Heroes were not the only one who would patrol the city.

If not for his sudden decision, though, such reality would be unknown to August. The man who had seriously decided to take on vigilantism after a cosplay— he couldn’t say he was all too familiar with the franchise as a whole but similar to the way a childhood idol would; the figure of Spider-Man simply just attracted him, combined with the powers he received.

Ever since then, the man swung atop the skyscrapers of New York City. Okay, more or less. He did need some time before he’d get used to the immense pattern that was home to the big apple; it was honestly as intricate as it could get and as far as it’d look easy doing all of that on film.

Web-slinging wasn’t actually all that easy. It was all a matter of positioning. Your torso, your legs. Hell, even the amount of force you’d hold in your arms at the time.

But he did eventually get the hang of it.

The crimson web-head exclaimed in utter enthusiasm as he shot a web after another; his legs ever so spread as he did, the elbow of his other arm bent as the hand almost reached down to his thigh while he pressed his other hand’s middle and ring finger against his palm and released the silk that quickly formed into a web.

With that same hand, he abandoned the famous ‘hand gesture’ and took a firm grasp of the weeb and also took a firm grasp of it with his other hand as he held onto the web and launched himself forth with both his legs positioned forth and next to the each other.

“Woohooo!”

With that exclamation, the man let himself go in the air as he let his body flip a few times until he shot one more tail and pulled himself onto it and traveled New York with his webs. He couldn’t help but show off, yes.

But for whatever it was worth, as he surfed the skies of the metropolitan, he could not quite find himself satisfied; nothing happened. It was indeed quite eventful and eventually led the masked vigilante to retreat back to his apartment. He swung from one building to the other and he eventually stepped onto the thick glasses of a building in the proximity of his apartment.

He rested his feet and hand over it, as his back was laid against it and watched from the distance…

There was someone on the roof.

“Huh-oh.”

August used the roof to switch from his normal clothing to the suit, but how was he going to now that— wait, how did they even get there?! The male was pretty sure he was the only who could have gotten up there with his wall-climbing powers.

He sighed.

“I guess I am gonna have to suck it up and find another place…”

That was his first thought. But then, as he observed, he eventually realized she was… stabbing boxes? What was she even doing? Alright, good old Spidey may have gotten a little curious and all.

The male aimed one more web to stick at the surface of a building next to his apartment as he swung his figure forth and let himself go over a water tank, landing with his feet and a hand planted onto the top of the small water tower as he gripped its cone and planted his feet against its surface, while his torso leaned forward and his gaze directed towards Julia.

“Hey— What if those boxes have feelings? That’s not nice at all, y’know.”

@jules

MADE BY ★MEULK

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The sudden noise of a man landing on the water tank was not unnoticed by Jules. She span, instinctively forming an ice dagger in her right hand as she did so – braced to throw it in case the intruder meant harm.

Then she actually saw how they were dressed and her eyes widened in confusion, widening further as he expressed his concern for the boxes’ feelings. She wondered briefly if the boredom of the day had been so intense that it had induced hallucinations, and that was why Jules now found herself standing in front of some guy dressed as Spider-Man on the rooftop. How had he got here? Was he some mega comic book nerd obsessed with Heroes? She didn’t know if she should feel flattered about this potential stalker or not.

Then she remembered a Hero briefing that had discussed local vigilantes and realised quite quickly that the Spidey impersonator hadn’t been a joke mention after all.

She twirled the ice dagger idly through her fingers, keeping it raised for the moment. “They looked at me funny,” she said simply.

Jules moved slowly towards him, looking up at him from beneath the fabric of her hood. “Can I help you? I’m kinda in the middle of a cardboard genocide here.”

She grinned and gestured back to the array of cardboard boxes – some more battered than others. Jules definitely hadn’t quite mastered the art of target practice just yet but she was feeling a lot more confident. She wondered briefly why the vigilante was here. Maybe he’d seen her from afar and wanted to check out the situation for himself, or maybe he knew exactly who she was. The thought of apprehending him didn’t really cross her mind – for a Hero, Jules was pretty sympathetic towards vigilantes. Only the nice ones though, of course.

Time would tell as to whether the wannabe Spidey was one of the good guys or not.

@spidey | 322 words

LAIKA OF GS!

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[attr="class","monsterexo"]The man had landed safely on the water tank, but perhaps, he was not all that safe given that the woman seemed able to form ice from her hands or something like that. She didn’t take action, but she was definitely going to be wary of herself. He did wonder where she would have gotten all those knives to stab those cardboards anyway— turns out she was apparently training?

It wasn’t all that unusual ever since metahumans appeared. Heroes even had their own training programs. It had definitely gone off in a professional way, but August did not like how he’d put himself in the hands of a government; he preferred to be independent and make a name for himself.

Or well, for Spider-Man.

The man, behind the mask, pursued one eyebrow and lifted the other in amusement. At least there was someone with a sense of humor in this city! So many people didn’t even dare and take him seriously at times, but hey, he got the job done most of the time. Matter of fact, he had become known for vigilantism and impersonation of the web-head.

“Right. Sorry, ice lady. I almost forgot legitimate defense was a thing!”

The crimson-suited vigilante soon weaved a web from his hand as he brought himself at least to eye level, hanging upside down from his own web with his fist that held onto the end of the web and his red feet’s soles that joined together against the solid canvas.

“I, uh…”

Spidey couldn’t certainly ask her if she would be leaving anytime soon; he didn’t want anyone to know the slightest information about his real identity— especially his whereabouts. Therefore, the illegal hero blanked for a moment; his mind wandering like a blank slate, unsure of what he’d tell her.

“No, it’s just. I was passing by and—”

Great. He did seriously blank out for a moment. He had to work a little on his jokes; they had to be ready at any time. But, the least he could do was only to suddenly shift the course of the conversation and eventually found a new target.

“How did you even get up here? Can you climb walls or something other than making ice? Should I worry about wall-crawling competition now?”

Spider-Man smirked as he tilted his head slightly; he could not help but feel like he might have heard about someone with ice stuff, but he couldn’t quite pinpoint anything about the other’s identity. As a matter of fact, shortly after that, the masked vigilante eventually looked at the cardboard again and then, back at Julia.

“Are you training to be a hero— not like you need to be that to use your powers. But hey, you’re not one of the baddies at least. Right?”

@jules

MADE BY ★MEULK

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This vigilante was both aptly named and aptly costumed. Jules watched as web protruded from the palm of his hand and he weaved himself a perch to hang upside down from. She resisted the urge to pinch herself – this guy was legitimately like he had been born from the pages of a comic book. Jules had seen the latest Spider-Man movie and, while the costume was probably not on the same level as Tony Stark’s creation, she recognised the design. She hoped this one didn’t have an instant kill mode.

“Did I accidentally invade a Marvel set?” she asked in amusement as she moved closer still, stopping a few metres away, level with his upside-down face.

No, this costume was on a fantastic level for cosplay, but it didn’t seem to be hiding any secret technology from what she could tell.

He stumbled over his next few words, a half-attempt at an excuse for his presence blurting out before fading away. He started afresh, this time directing a barrage of question Jules’ way. It felt odd to be the legal Hero and on the receiving end of an interrogation from an illegal vigilante, but Jules was kind of enjoying it.

“You said it yourself, I’m an ice lady. I’ve not tried climbing any walls just yet…” Jules pursed her lips for a moment in thought. “Even if I could, I don’t think you’d have to worry about me taking your spider-crown.”

Webs and wall climbing. “So you’re just straight-up Spider-Man, huh? That’s pretty neat.”

She followed his gaze to the cardboard boxes, admiring one particular shot that had neatly pierced straight through the middle of one of them. His question pulled her attention back to him.

“I’m trying to get better at aiming,” she said quickly, dodging the Hero question. “And just throwing in general, really – the Event didn’t bless me with any super-strength, unfortunately.”

Jules grinned. “And no, I’m not a baddie. But even if I was a baddie, I wouldn’t tell ya, would I?” She stuck her tongue out. “You wanna join in? I’m sure you could use that web to make the boxes into moving targets. That would be pretty fun.”

@spidey | 364 words

LAIKA OF GS!

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LIVING ON THE EDGE, FIGHTING CRIME, SPINNING WEBS, LOOKING UP WITH NO SURPRISE, ARRIVING AT THE SPEED OF TIME— FRIENDLY NEIGHBORHOOD SPIDER-MAN

[attr="class","monsterexo"]August could not help but chuckle behind the mask; maybe the Hero was right, she might have invaded a Marvel set, in more ways that one. The male did perhaps make a good choice in impersonating the famous comics book superhero; web shooting and wall climbing. Quite the obvious choice.

“Well, yeah. I’ve just recorded for Avengers Four and everything— On a real point, they should totally hire me,” - said Spidey until he replied back to his own statement a few moments later. “But you know; great powers come with great responsibility.”

This was quite interesting; he wasn’t probably supposed to use those powers for money and as much as the Event had no correlations with a phrase from a comic book— if he had to play Spider-Man, he had to do it right and honestly? It didn’t feel all that cool to him, either. If he used them for money, he’d have just been a show-off or a stuntman. He preferred the whole vigilantism idea.

She did get a little too close, though. She wasn’t going to pull off his mask, right? He wasn’t expecting that but he’d rather not take the risk.

The hanging spider turned his head just ever so slightly as he stared at her.

“...Spider-crown? Man. I want that now. King Spider-Man! Actually no, that sounds edgy,” - he briefly mentioned before he let himself go and did a little flip as he fell, landing on both feet.

The man straightened his back and pointed his index finger at her.

“Your friendly neighborhood Spider-Man, to be precise. But hey, you’re cool! You’re probably one of the first people who hasn’t thought I am just some kid going to a convention. Then again, in most cases, that makes my job a lot easier— no way they would see anything coming that way.”

Julia revealed her training activity to be based around aiming and he couldn’t blame her; it wasn’t all that easy. He did remember quite a few ‘failed attempts’, so he could sympathize with the hero.

From behind the mask, August expressed his amusement with a smirk. “Huh-uh. Right. My spider senses are not tingling— but I will keep an eye on you, ice lady.”

Not like he had spider senses, but he didn’t believe such a nice and laid back person could be a villain.

Then, the other offered the vigilante to join her— Spidey didn’t mind to help. His original plan was to see if he could sneak back into his apartment without her noticing but hey, he was all up for some action. Or at least, help someone. Given how eventful this day had been.

“Sure, why not? So, you just want me to move those boxes around, right?”

The vigilante soon aimed his hands, in the famous gesture of the crimson web-head, towards the objects and soon released a fabric, which, as it extended, soon widened into a web that stuck onto the boxes’ faces.

“On your signal, ice lady.”

@jules

MADE BY ★MEULK

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Letting out a dramatic sigh, Jules planted her hand on her hip and leaned into it. “Oh brother – with great power comes great responsibility? I see you take your name as Spider-Man just a little seriously, huh? You’re a nerd’s dream.”

She was grinning as she said it, highly amused by the vigilante’s commitment to the role.

Fortunately this guy seemed to have a healthy amount of good humour in him and could take her teasing in his stride. She would have expected no less of a Spider-Man copycat (copyspider?). It was a fresh take on some of the few vigilantes she had encountered who had been taken in by other Heroes; those who had been apprehended were normally sullen and angry, which was no fun to joke around with at all.

“Yeah, let’s not try out King Spider-Man, that’s not so charming.”

She stepped back in alarm as he suddenly dropped, watching as he flipped mid-air and landed on his feet. She nodded wordlessly, impressed.

“Buddy, if I thought you were a kid heading to a convention, I would tell you that you’re awful lost right now. And also, I would have a million more questions about that whole spider web ability thing. Always assumed that was a little out of reach when it came to costumes,” Jules said with a smirk.

“Aw man, you have spider senses too? Definitely a nerd’s dream.” She was continuing to be amused by the ‘ice lady’ moniker. Was it too late to change ‘Glacia’?

She moved back to her starting mark, conjuring another ice dagger in preparation. “Not too fast, okay?” she called, suddenly worried about embarrassing herself. “I’m still learning, go easy on me!” She readied herself. “Okay, go!”

Jules leaned back and extended her arm, throwing with all the strength she could muster at the spot where she hoped the box would be. It was tricky to predict – she might even have had the same result with her eyes closed. Still, it was an important skill to learn, and she watched intently to see if her dagger had hit its target.

@spidey | 351 words

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LIVING ON THE EDGE, FIGHTING CRIME, SPINNING WEBS, LOOKING UP WITH NO SURPRISE, ARRIVING AT THE SPEED OF TIME— FRIENDLY NEIGHBORHOOD SPIDER-MAN

[attr="class","monsterexo"]August couldn’t settle over what made this encounter more hilarious; the essence itself of their beginning which was a pretty random decision from a guy in blue and red pajamas who wanted to take some rest or the fact that he was actually enjoying this. He couldn’t tell too much about the other person, given the amount of time he had known her for but she was funny.

Typically described as ‘cool’; a person who would just go along with the conversation and man, shoot some phrases that fit and actually brought an uncontrollable smile to the person. Yeah, she was definitely cool. One example of it came from her statement on his ‘morals’. The man himself didn’t exactly know what to think about those, but he thought that— as long as he was wearing that costume, he’d have had to do his best at being the Ultimate Spider-Man.

From beneath the mask, the man could not help but raise one eyebrow and lower the other as she defined him as a “nerd’s dream”. A part of him went on to wonder if he was that much of a nerd— well, maybe he was. But he loved it, so it was all good.

“Hey, I mean. I will be happy even if I am just the next door guy’s dream. But if I am some nerd’s dream,” - paused Spidey for a moment as he lifted his shoulders up and shrugged. “I’ll give ‘em a hug!”

He didn’t know how he would hug himself.

But that was beyond the point!

“...So this isn’t the rooftops where they host the Masked Losers convention? Oh man. I’ll be late at this point,” - stated Spidey as his hands had then reached out with his hands for the boxes.

“I have my tricks, maybe you could take a look at my webs yourself. Just tell me, ice lady, and I’ll take you for a swing sometime.”

Julia then asked for ‘mercy’, let’s say, he didn’t exactly plan to make it too hard. Not right away after all. Maybe.

“Just try not to stab me with those!”

As the woman signaled her readiness, the male simply gripped onto the spider-like rope he had created and pulled as he quite literally moved the box around in mid-air and didn’t quite make it harder than that— as he watched the dagger scratch the box— he could not help but come up with an idea.

“I think I have an idea!”

Soon, the male crouched down and flipped backward against the water tank as he climbed back up. “You’ll find it easier to improve on the field, I guess. Since we can’t afford big villains, we’ll have boxes thrown at you— if you hit them with the daggers, they’re out. But I’ll keep throwing the same boxes at you as long as they remain unscathed. And I guess you’ll also get those legs running. No need to thank me!”

Before long, the male aimed a pair of webs to stick right onto the sides of a pair of boxes as, without any prior warning, he pulled them to fly right towards their center, which happened to be Julia, similarly to the shape of a V.

“Dodge and hit them!”

@jules

MADE BY ★MEULK

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[Deleted]

Shaking her head with a chuckle, Jules returned his nerd’s dream comments with a grin. “Ah… You going for that huggable, nerd-next-door appeal, huh? It’s a shame you can’t market it – maybe the Hero program would let you get away with Spider-Dude instead.”

Her recognition of his status as a vigilante was implicit in her words – whether he would acknowledge it was up to him. Certainly she wasn’t about to give away her identity as a Hero; hopefully he would just think that she was either a fellow vigilante or just a quietly powerful civilian interested in honing her skills for fun. What federal pay check?

She snickered. “Masked Losers? You know that would only ever be held in a basement, not a rooftop!”

His offer to take her for a swing sometime was a surprise, Jules decided to delicately step past the potential innuendo for now, but actually quite a tempting one. Her ability was cool and all but it didn’t enable her to travel round the city at high speeds – wind flowing through her hair. No, Jules was stuck as the same old pedestrian she’d always been, just slightly frostier.

“You can carry people with you? I am so down.”

The first dagger she’d thrown glanced off the side of the cardboard and Jules frowned in disappointment as she watched it skid across the rooftop. Close, but no cigar. Then Spider-Man announced that he had an and she watched as he clambered back on top of the water tank. She paled a little at the idea of getting her legs running. Jules and Cardio were barely acquaintances, let alone friends, but it was a good shout and she readied herself for the cardboard onslaught quite happily.

Spider-Dude gave no warning – just a quick shout of advice as the boxes hurtled towards her. Jules leapt back and launched both daggers simultaneously, stumbling as she did so and landing rather ungracefully on her backside. Still, she noted triumphantly as she hauled herself back onto her feet, the right dagger had mercilessly stuck down its target with deadly precision. The left had missed, unfortunately, but she could try again.

“That was awesome!” she yelled with a grin. “Look, see – I got one!”

@spidey | 371 words

LAIKA OF GS!

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LIVING ON THE EDGE, FIGHTING CRIME, SPINNING WEBS, LOOKING UP WITH NO SURPRISE, ARRIVING AT THE SPEED OF TIME— FRIENDLY NEIGHBORHOOD SPIDER-MAN

[attr="class","monsterexo"]“I mean. Friendly neighborhood Spider-Man. I wouldn’t deny anyone a hug,” - replied the male with a little bit of an amused tone until his attention shifted towards the idea of becoming a Hero. Surely it would come with benefits and he wouldn’t have to worry about heroes aspiring to catch him, but he wasn’t all that interested in the idea of being controlled by the government, nor did was he too enthusiast about ‘Spider-Dude’.

But it was catchy, he could at least give it that much.

“I am sorry for all the kids who won’t get to play with toys of this spectacular Spider-Man, but eh. I don’t need to become a Hero to be one.”

Spidey stayed silent for a moment or two before he quickly shook his idea. “Okay, that didn’t make sense. But I think you get it,” - and with that, the male paused the conversation until his head instinctively lifted up as a little lamp lit up in his head. “Maybe, just maybe if they could give me a real Iron Spider suit but that’s not gonna happen in like ever, so I’m good!”

His quick comment defined his closet nerd self; he would have exchanged an Iron Spider cosplay for an eye. Two if it was actually as advanced as Tony Stark’s creation. Okay, actually not. He did need his sight, after all.

As the training session had begun, the male watched the… decent but also poorly executed performance— he couldn’t blame her, of course, he would have probably done something akin to that a few years ago. He had to spend hours and hours, all over the course of months to learn how to swing like Spider-Man.

Between a chuckle and a suppressed giggle, though, August did recognize her accomplishment. It was better than none.

“Alright, that was pretty good, ice lady! I wonder, would you melt if I make you break a sweat?”

That was his warning. As the left box had remained untouched, Spidey still considered the game ‘to be on’, therefore he pulled onto the already attached web and forced it up in mid-air above Julia’s head— until he released his strength and let the box fall and go for Julia’s head.

@jules

MADE BY ★MEULK

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[Deleted]

God, this guy was committed to his character. Impressively so, really. Even down to his insistence at being the friendly neighbourhood Spider-Man. Jules could almost picture him in a ‘free hugs’ t-shirt. She laughed at his next words though. “Man, I think they’ve got enough Spider-Man toys to choose from. That’s kinda your problem right there.”

She nodded, perhaps a little solemnly, at his Hero-comment, however. “Yeah, yeah, I get it. You’re right. Not everyone needs to be an official, government-sponsored crusader to do good in the world. I’m sure the Program would love to have the monopoly on the word ‘hero’ but they don’t.”

Laughing, Jules stuck her tongue out at the idea of him in a fully functional, Stark-built Spider-Man suit. “Hey, you can dream! Maybe you’ll meet somebody who can make one for you some day. The world’s crazy these days, I wouldn’t be surprised.”

Jules wondered what kind of super suit she’d have. Instantly her mind went to some kind of propulsion system – anything to get her out of more cardio workouts. It was no fun being a Hero and relying on your own, painfully human speed and stamina to get from A to B.

She propped her hand up on one hip. “Pretty good? Look at that!” She lifted the box she’d managed to hit, highlighting the expert precision with which she’d hit it before tossing it aside. “So I missed the other one, that’s okay,” Jules added with a grin.

There was a sudden quick movement from Spider-Man and Jules snapped suddenly back into combat mode, unleashing an instinctive protective ice wall with her breath which stopped the box dead in its tracks. It balanced carefully on the top before sliding comedically down the side, collapsing onto the rooftop. Jules threw an ice dagger at it for good measure.

Grinning, Jules peeked around the side of the ice wall to laugh at him. “Oh yeah, I don’t just conjure up little ice daggers. Forgot to mention that.”

@spidey | 333 words

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[attr="class","monsterexo"]“If only I had my own toys, I’d totally give you one for free. But see? That is not possible because of the government! It’s their fault if you won’t receive a free toy.”

Spidey couldn’t help but chuckle to himself for a moment. He didn’t exactly blame heroes or anything— he just wanted to be on his own and do his stuff. Of course, there was the problem that he’d be considered a criminal, but hey, he could still do his heroics and whatnot.

“I wouldn’t want it to be any other way. If I were a hero under their tutelage, I’d have to worry about their decisions and stuff. If things were any different, though, like a few years ago or something like that… I’d feel like just one of the many people who put on a mask and did things. So you know, being considered both a hero and a menace at the same time is kind of neat.”

It was stronger than him, though! The idea of a real, fully-functional Iron Spider suit was so goddamn cool! It was probably the one thing he would have become a hero for… he’d have probably just taken the suit and left, but that was not the point.

“The person who can ever make me that… I promise on my Spidey honor that I will give them all the hugs they want.”

Seriously.

But hey, by all means, Julia wasn’t even too shabby. He expected she’d be training to learn, but it looked like she did at least get that part right. It made him wonder a bit, but not too much other than that. August grinned and shook his head. “Alright, alright! I didn’t expect to meet the future champion of Olympic shooting tonight,” - he said and pointed his crimson index finger towards her. “But hey, can’t say you aren’t doing great so far!”

In response to Spidey’s little assault, the fellow metahuman decided to reveal a broader extent of her ‘cold’ powers and left the masked vigilante only to watch in amusement at the creation of an ice wall that served as a defense to Julia. Alright, now Spider-Man was kind of impressed. It did make sense, though, as the ability to create ‘ice daggers’ wasn’t exactly a power that made too much sense as a whole.

Spider-Man could definitely see how useful her powers could be in this case; she could not only use them offensively but also to protect others concretely. A little thought in his mind did hop all over the place: ‘how come this girl is not a hero?’. She couldn’t be a villain— if she were, he wouldn’t have ever believed it. Maybe she was a vigilante such as himself? He was curious but preferred not to imply any further, for the moment. Secret identities and all could be quite a pain in the neck and if he ever were to ask anyone about something like that; he’d also have to take off the mask.

He wasn’t too sure it would have been a problem with someone like Jules anyway. She didn’t exactly know him. But ah well, they had their training to attend!

“Looks like the ice lady’s got some tricks up her sleeve. Or hood. But I also have a few things up my...—” - paused Spidey briefly as the masked hero lifted his up for a moment before he looked down at his costume only to realize he didn’t exactly have sleeves.

“—Up my… mask.”

If the speed of an object applied to it by the Earth’s gravity was enough for her to react— it would have been far more interesting to see how she’d do against a box that was completely and unpredictably under the control of someone else’s will.

Soon enough, the male did indeed shoot another web to reach out for another box, but this time instead, it was a larger web that covered over several boxes and soon wrapped over them as he had just created…—a web bag?

It was quite heavy, but at least the webs’ tensile strength and the soon to receive kinetic energy would make up for it as he leaped off the water tank, he used the time he could make use of in mid-air to pull the box off the ground and forcingly spin it around together with his body as the ‘super-vigilante’ gracefully danced in mid-air— but before the bag would do a full circle around him, he let it go, for it to fly menacingly towards the woman’s side.

@jules

MADE BY ★MEULK

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Now that was a strong argument. Jules was a big fan of free things.

“I’m sure my daughter would love a free Spider-Man toy. Maybe a big soft cuddly one that she could nap on – that would definitely suit your pro-hug agenda!”

The phrasing amused her greatly, launching a brief but vivid daydream of a vigilante solely driven by the desire to hug each and every person on the planet; villains included. Some of the villains she had encountered were just young and misunderstood so a hug may very well have been their saviour, after all. It was a tactic to consider, at least…

“That’s true, there used to be tons of vigilantes after the Event.” Okay, not tons, but definitely quite a few cropping up to help push back the wave of meta-crime that inevitably plagued the cities. “Now most of them work for the Program, but that doesn’t mean their motivations have changed. You are right though, they’re kinda tied to doing what the Program wants, and it’s definitely pretty badass to be some goodie-baddie hybrid.” She laughed.

At least Spider-Man had decided to offer her a little further praise – Jules may have started pouting if he’d continued to describe her performance as merely “pretty good”. And then, with the production of her ice wall, the masked man seemed even a little impressed. It was pretty hard to tell through the mask, but Jules was going to tell herself that he was definitely impressed.

She laughed openly as he raised his arms to reveal a distinct lack of accessible sleeve and instead switched to mask. He then shot even more web – loads of it now which captured several boxes at once – and Jules watched as he swung the mass of boxes in a graceful circle before launching the large, web-covered object at her.

Simply throwing an ice dagger wouldn’t halt its course, and it was too large to simply duck or jump over. Unless…

Jules looked down and exhaled quickly, jumping as she did so to ride the ice’s growth. Just before the boxes slammed into the side of it she leapt neatly onto the top of it before springing off it again immediately and landing with a roll onto the rooftop. She turned and threw an ice dagger into it for good measure, looking steely and determined for a moment, before letting out an exhausted sigh and sitting on the ground.

“That was… that was awesome…!” she exclaimed between breaths. “You’ve got a great sense of control over your power, huh?”

She wondered what it must be like going out there alone as a vigilante, constantly training yourself in secret. Clearly this guy was either naturally talented, had a lot of time on his hands for practice… or maybe a mixture of both. Whatever it was, he was good.

@spidey | 472 words

LAIKA OF GS!

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LIVING ON THE EDGE, FIGHTING CRIME, SPINNING WEBS, LOOKING UP WITH NO SURPRISE, ARRIVING AT THE SPEED OF TIME— FRIENDLY NEIGHBORHOOD SPIDER-MAN

[attr="class","monsterexo"]Spider-Man could not help but immediately gasp in response.

“Whaaat?!— You have a daughter? Okay. Next time I see you I am totally going to give you a Spidey plushie for your girl. Every kid needs a lil’ old spidey in their life.”

And he totally actually wanted to buy a toy for a kid. It was just a little bit of that instinct that was left over from his time with his wife; the projects and all— it always brought his mood down a bit. But somehow, the Spider-Man outfit at least distracted him a bit. It was as if he was another person or something like that, more or less. He could just hold it in better when he was New York’s friendly vigilante.

Maybe because it helped him to disconnect from reality just a bit.

Which totally sucked, of course. But he was still self-aware of his real identity, else it would have been quite a handful; baddies to web up, considered a criminal— he wasn’t looking for an identity crisis all that much at the moment.

But yeah, she was pretty much right. She knew where it was at, too, with how he felt about his status as a vigilante. Finally, someone who could understand him! “See? You get it! I am not even all that much of a veteran vigilante. I have been actually on the field, doing my best to make the world a better place just recently. I did save a few kids at the Shockwave incident and I gotta say; I still hope no one actually noticed me. Y’know… secret identity and everything.”

But enough talking! The vigilante proceeded with his plan, but at the moment that was closest to the impact; the heroine actually managed to genuinely amuse him as the male watched, still in mid-air, as to how in a few moments Jules pretty much used her powers as if she were riding a wave and escaped from danger; pretty much unscathed, too.

August landed onto the rooftops— his legs spread as one foot was planted forth, while the other leg was extended to the side; his stance supported by his left hand that served as a pillar of sorts for him not to fall forward.

The man sighed and pushed himself back up, his back straightened ever so slightly as he stretched; he could have definitely used a little stretching before doing that motion. But hey, it worked out and everything. Julia had also pulled one heck of a number, he couldn’t actually help but smirk widely behind that mask as he stepped towards her and folded his arms over his chest.

He chuckled slightly at the mention of his control. “Well… great exercise comes with very little income,” - said the man as he rested one hand on his hip while his other hand was very close to his bust, gesturing and whatnot as he spoke. There was a period in his life as a metahuman where he spent days just to perfect his movements as Spider-Man. He didn't regret it. Of course, though, that didn’t do wonders for his career and only recently he realized he would have had to also look out for a job or else, August Young would not have been comfortable in the long ride.

“But hey. If I was awesome, you were totally spectacular over there! We should actually team up sometime if you ever get into the whole vigilantism business.”

Seeing her tired and everything, though, pushed a little thought up the vigilante’s mind. He tapped his chin ever so slightly for a short moment until he lifted his index finger and pointed it towards her.

“You know what? Don’t move your butt from there— I will be right back!”

Spidey turned around and made a little run up until the edge of the building and hopped off as he let himself go down until he caught a grip of himself— quite literally, as he set a web straight towards a building block nearby and used the kinetic energy he had gathered this far to do a long swing, enough for him to settle a certain distance until he turned around an alley and let himself down on the ground again.

From behind a trash can and in its shadows, August pulled up his mask and took it off as he took a deep breath. “Alright, now… wait… my clothes are still up the roof!” - he exclaimed as he realized he had left his webbed up backpack on the side of the water tank. Whatever. He could do this while dressed as Spider-Man, after all—

Of course, though, an alarm had to blast right through his ears. He didn’t find a single criminal this whole day but they just had to do commit a robbery when he had something to do. Awesome.

August huffed and put his mask back on as he hopped off the ground and once more lifted himself off the ground, only to swing by the direction of the alarm. Two criminals, not even all that professional as they were a pair of guys with two black socks on or whatever they were.

The two were currently holding a huge television box from either side, trying to move it out of the shop from a broken window.

Of course, until Spider-Man suddenly showed up directly behind one of the thugs, hanging upside down thanks to his silk.

“Don’t you guys know you’re supposed to knock on the door?”

It didn’t even take him too much time. Thugs were that easy. He just webbed them upside down with his webs and that was about it. Alright, now, what was he supposed to— Oh, right!

August made a run for it on the sidewalk, but again, his phone began to ring. The man quickly slid his hands over to reach his phone and lifted it up his ear as he answered, without stopping in his tracks.

“Hello?... No. No, I don’t want to subscribe to the ‘nerdy but hot single men’ magazine. Why am I even eligible for that?!...—What do you mean that I am qualified because I have looked up Spider-Man over a hundred times on Google?”

Shortly after, August simply hung up and groaned. But hey, at least he was finally there. He could see the emporium! The ‘cosplayer’ quickly side-stepped whoever was on his way and slid inside the shop and made a run for the right department— grabbing a box in the process. Now, time to wait at the counter! Thankfully there was just a pair of girls in front of him. Alright, he could work with that.

But, of course, the two girls glanced over and suddenly admired the amount of detail his costume had as they were quick to smile by and ask for a photo. “With me? Uh, okay. Just a few, though,” - stated August as the three of them posed for the girl’s smartphone and took some pictures.

Finally, though, Spider-Man was out and with his treasure as he jumped off the ground and caught the ‘spidey-train’ as he once more swung in the direction to his apartment.

It could have been from two to five minutes. He wasn’t too sure himself, but once more, he suddenly popped up from the edge of the building as he swung up from one of the blocks next to their apartment. He shot a quick wave towards Julia as he walked closer.

“Okay, this took longer than I expected. Just had to deal with a pair of thugs and all, but hey— I hope you like chocolate chip!” - he exclaimed with a smile behind his mask and offered her a box of the cookies he had just bought.

@jules

MADE BY ★MEULK

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[Deleted]

So apparently Spider-Man was a big fan of kids. Or maybe he just wanted to take any excuse to purchase a Spider-Man toy – Jules wouldn’t be remotely surprised if he had one or two of his own already.

“I do! I don’t think she knows who Spider-Man is but I’m sure she’d love a Spidey plushie all the same. The kid loves anything squishy, really. I can’t promise she won’t nom it a little though,” she added with a grin.

Her eyes widened in surprise as he revealed that he’d been present for the incident at Grand Central Station last year. Hundreds of people died and apparently he’d been one of the lucky survivors – a low key hero, even. It didn’t sound like he was claiming to have been the vigilante who had gone face to face with Shockwave, however, just an innocent bystander who’d managed to rescue a few kids. It was almost a cool fact if the whole ordeal hadn’t been such a traumatic event.

“I can’t believe you were at Grand Central! That must have been terrifying.” She wasn’t sure what to say – certainly she didn’t want to pry but she didn’t want to bring the mood down either. “I’m glad you made it out okay, and managed to save some lives on the way! Awesome!”

She grinned at his suggestion of teaming up as vigilantes – the Hero Program wasn’t likely to be thrilled with such an arrangement at all, so it was a total no go, but it was surprising how tempted she was. If it didn’t have such a crappy salary, maybe she’d consider it with more enthusiasm.

“Thanks, but I don’t think turning into a criminal would be good for my health or my bank account.” Jules giggled. “I’ll stick to hiding on the rooftop for now.”

Suddenly Spidey’s finger was pointed right at her and, before she could process what he’d said, he was running off the building and swinging away until he was out of sight.

Jules checked her watch – she still had a little time until she needed to go relieve the Nanny of his duties, so she could wait – and started gathering up the surviving boxes to pass the time. She had no idea where he’d gone or how long he’d be gone for, but Jules was happy to hang out on the roof for a little while longer. She entertained herself for a moment by pretending to shoot web around the place, making the noises and leaping around like a kid.

Eventually she settled on the edge of the rooftop, feet dangling over the edge, and stared at the light-polluted sky. Not for long, however, because suddenly Spider-Man swung into view with a box in his hand.

“What’s th- oh, cookies!” she exclaimed delightedly. “You bet I do!”

Jules reached into the box and grabbed herself a cookie, patting the spot beside her. “Hey, come sit here, and bring that box of cookies with ya.” She winked. “And hey, what did you say about a pair of thugs?!”

@spidey | 509 words

LAIKA OF GS!