So I'm social distancing, right? And I'm sitting on this first chapter of a fanfic that was almost a collab with one of my best friends, right? And it's not a collab anymore, so I really can do whatever I want, which includes... Which includes publishing it with no clue of when the next chapter will come out or where I'll go from here. Because life is terrifying right now and I just... I want to create, and I want to put out content. So that's what I'll do.

All characters are my OCs, my Spidersonas and such, or my versions of popular Spiderman characters.

I clearly don't own the concept of Spiderverse.

Enjoy!

Chapter 1

"Let's do this one last time, my name is Emily Allen, and, for the past five years, I've been Spiderling, a six-limbed vigilante taking on the world that killed my father with the technology that was used to do it. Vengeance and danger are easy, college has proven to be the real challenge."

Emily was doing her best.

That could be the entire story right there, that our shy, tech-savvy and artistic heroine was doing all she could to survive her English class at eight AM, pass the rest of the classes, make her mom, her brother, and her best friend proud, and try not to crumble under the pressure of each incoming social situation. But that's never it for superheroes.

"Are you going home for the weekend?" Her best friend Shores Octavius-Osborne asked, poking her in the arm.

"Hey, personal space," she reminded, slipping a wireless earbud into his ear so that they could listen to the same music. He ran his hand through his chocolate brown hair and repeated himself

"I asked you a question, Em, you going home or are you staying here?"

"Far as I know, I'm not, but if something changes and you need a ride I'll let you know."

"Thanks, Em. Mom really wants me to come down this weekend but I'm not keen on driving alone so if you're going back…"

"Is something going on back home? Because I can totally take you back. I just have one more class today."

"No, no, no, no, no. Mom's fine. She's just whiny because I saw dad over Fall Break. That's what we agreed on but she was hoping I'd change my mind."

"You're always welcome to spend breaks with my family if you ever need to avoid an argument." He waved her comment away and tapped the scar above her ear that was hidden by short caramel blonde hair, apparently talking directly to her AI implant, Um.

"Let's get some music going. And hey, I'll walk you to class. Let me know about the weekend thing though. If we're not headed back we should do something."

"We should do homework."

"You're so boring."

"Yeah, whatever." Cool Kids by Echosmith started playing as they walked away, but the day wasn't over yet.

The last thing Emily was expecting on her Friday night was a run-in with danger. She'd been going to the caf to get pizza to go, which would be directly followed by going back to her dorm to work on her media planning assignment she was doing on Oscorp. Maybe she'd listen to music during dinner. She was listening to Machine by Imagine Dragons as she walked. And then, out of nowhere, her spider-sense grabbed her attention.

"Um, prepare to change into the Spiderling costume, and have the police and public safety on speed dial. Now let's go see what's going on."

"Got it, Emi," Her AI promised and Emily headed towards the science building, which was admittedly one she did not frequent very often.

Thankfully her spider-sense guided her through the halls, towards the room. She'd shifted into her spidery form, which, while still an embarrassing 5"4, boasted four extra limbs and her spider-suit, which was really just a dark gray hoodie with light gray webbing and a set of glasses with eight lenses (adapted from her normal glasses with two lenses) that masked her face. After donning her gear she cautiously approached the scene, secretly hoping that it was a supervillain. It had been forever since she'd properly defeated anyone, too busy with homework and all, and so she was eager for a challenge.

When she swung the door open what she saw was definitely a challenge. She let out a surprised squeak, eyeing the lit up blue-gray nano-cloud and the tall engineering student who stood next to it, holding a remote. He was surprised as well.

The word tipped her tongue, Julian? But she dared not give herself away. She couldn't help gape at the boy who sat next to her in English. She vaguely recalled that she had never returned the pencil she'd borrowed from him on the first day. He'd practically laughed at her when she'd nervously asked for it, embarrassed about being unprepared. She was unprepared now, not sure she could fight a classmate.

"I wasn't expecting an audience," Julian said, giving her another critical look before turning back to the machine."

"Easy, no audience. Just a concerned ally." Julian shed his leather jacket, dropping it over his backpack. He sent her one more glance, reminding her of the awkward conversations they'd had at eight in the morning about weekend plans and favorite bands. He was as big a fan of Imagine Dragons as she and Shores were. He could have no idea he was staring at the girl he'd emphatically argued the virtues of Imagine Dragons' Yesterday with.

"Please step away from the machine. This doesn't seem safe," she spoke as if talking a friend off a ledge, but it was hard to get the words out. This was too reminiscent of another disaster.

"Breakthroughs are never safe," he told her, before pressing a button on the remote, disappearing into the nano-cloud. But he'd said something else, he'd said a name. It was quiet, but her heightened senses didn't lie. He'd said her name. Emily let out a sharp, pained cry as she watched him disappear, her mind flashing back to the scene from almost 10 years ago, when her father had disappeared, smothered under a sea of the nanotech that he'd created. She did her best not to cry from remembering. She wasn't that close to Julian but seeing someone else destroyed by a breakthrough was enough to make her breakdown.

"Um, cancel the speed dials. I don't think anyone could actually help. But maybe he isn't dead, maybe we could, maybe I could still save him…" She picked up his jacket and his backpack.

"I'm sure there will be some leads…" She muttered to herself before her spider-sense went off again, and she saw another blue-gray glow flash before her eyes and then a figure appeared in front of her. It only took two seconds to realize that this wasn't Julian.

"Who are you?" She demanded, looking at the man dressed in a webbed super suit, not that different from her own.

"I could ask you the same," he said, tugging off his mask and revealing black hair and brown eyes. She felt compelled to switch her glasses back to normal mode, so that he could see her face the way she saw his.

"I asked first."

"Fair point. The name is Noah Lancaster, and I don't think I'm from this universe."

"My name is Emily Allen, and I suspect that you're right about that."

"So about those leads you just mentioned. I think we'd both like some answers."